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00:00Exactly one week ago, we tried to explain and learn on the fly
00:10as best we could. The second iteration of the in-season
00:14competition in the association, the 2024 Emirates NBA Cup. Well,
00:19it's night number three now. Last Tuesday was the opening
00:23night. Friday night, a ton of games as well and this Tuesday,
00:28NBA Cup action group play continues and in group East Sea.
00:34Joe, we've got an absolute banger of a marquee matchup on
00:38this Tuesday in Beantown. It's the reigning NBA champs in the
00:43favorites to win the NBA Cup and the NBA Championship this
00:46year. The Boston Celtics who oh by the way are still eleven and
00:50three against the undefeated Cleveland Cavaliers. A perfect
00:55fifteen and oh beginning to this 2024 twenty-five season.
00:59The fourth ever fifteen and oh start in history of the NBA. So
01:05a marquee matchup on night number three of the NBA Cup
01:09inside TD Garden that sees the Celtics as a five and a half
01:14point home favorite and a total of 236. A couple of trends from
01:19my perspective. Perfect fifteen and oh start for the Cavs. They
01:23have been an underdog only twice. Of course, they have won
01:26outright in both of those games as a dog. The Celtics eleven
01:30and three straight up this year. A favorite in all fourteen
01:34games. Joe so favored to do everything this year. The
01:37Celtics they have been not only booked as a favorite in all
01:41fourteen NBA games this year for Boston. They've only been a
01:45single digit favorite five times out of those fourteen games
01:50often laying double digits. They're three and two against
01:53the number in those five games laying only a single digit
01:57marquee matchup tonight in Beantown. What do you what do
02:01you like? It's kinda hard not to be totally impressed with
02:08what Cleveland is doing but at the same time, Ben, can we all
02:12just agree that quietly what Cleveland is doing is how you
02:16build dynasties. When you guys take into consideration what
02:20they signed over the last year, they come in and bring in a new
02:25head coach. Plenty of success during a regular season. It was
02:29nothing to complain about for Cleveland during a regular
02:31season. They would fall apart during the playoffs. So, what
02:34did they do? They went out and extended Mobley, Donovan
02:38Mitchell, Isaac Okoro, Jared Allen. These guys are all
02:42signed for the next 5 years. Now, you got Darius Garland and
02:47Max Struess under the next 3 years under team control. That
02:51is how you build championships here, Ben. This is it's no
02:55surprise to me that they're having this kinda start because
02:58these guys have already been together for how long? It's the
03:01same thing with Boston but what's gonna win this game is
03:05going to be who is better at shooting the rock from three.
03:09Yeah. And ultimately right now, I don't think anybody is
03:12better than Cleveland. Forty-two percent from deep and
03:15that is impressive. Will the defense of Boston be able to do
03:19something? They're allowing just 33% from three this year. To
03:23me, that's what this is all about. If the Boston defense
03:27beats the Cleveland Cavaliers three-point shooting, Boston
03:31will win. If they don't, Boston gets run out of the gym
03:34tonight. So, this of course counts towards your regular
03:37season record which could be critical come the end of the
03:40year for playoff positioning between these two teams atop a
03:44relatively weak Eastern Conference. Again, when you
03:47look at the Eastern Conference this year, these two teams are
03:51two of four that are above 500 along with the Magic and the
03:55Knicks. Yup. That's it. The only two other teams above 500.
04:01Boston eleven and three. Cleveland of course is a
04:03perfect fifteen and oh but it's also important for NBA Cup
04:08positioning in standings as well. In Joe, in group EC, we
04:13knew it was going to be difficult for the Celtics
04:15despite being the pre-NBA Cup favorites to win said Cup
04:20because Cleveland was also in that group in the Eastern
04:23Conference and then the Celtics and their NBA Cup opener
04:27exactly a week ago as a sixteen-point favorite against
04:31the Hawks lost outright 117-116. In fact, Atlanta is a
04:37perfect two and oh and NBA Cup competition this season. The
04:41only in-season competition game so far for Cleveland last week
04:45against Chicago. They scored 144 points and covered against
04:49the Bulls as a ten-point favorite. So, important game
04:53for NBA Cup competition as well where we know we have seen
04:57some high-scoring affairs because everybody around the
05:00league understands point differential will matter in
05:04ultimate tie breakers to determine if you advance to the
05:07quarterfinal and knock out round 236. The total Joe, are
05:12we going to see a lot of offense tonight inside TD
05:15Garden? And again, this is I think without a doubt if you
05:20like the Cavs to win this, they're going to do it from the
05:24perimeter. Although they have been absolutely ridiculous on
05:28their percentage from inside two-point range as well. This
05:32total opened at the 233 and a half. We've already seen this
05:35thing be bet up three points and I agree. I think this is
05:39going to be much closer to a wild shootout than it is going
05:42to be any sort of lockdown playoff defensive style of
05:47basketball. I think they let it fly here tonight. The question
05:50is, can that defense, that perimeter defense of Boston
05:54that has been phenomenal this year, can they neutralize the
05:57three-point shooting of the Cavs? Either way, I still think
06:01it flies over the total. Interesting for Cleveland and
06:05there are two games winning outright as a dog this year
06:08against the Knicks and the Bucks. Total stayed under, but
06:10this is NBA Cup competition where that point differential
06:14is critical. Elsewhere out in the east, Group A action. Two
06:19teams that lost their NBA Cup opener, the Hornets and the
06:23Nets. Not nearly as much of a marquee matchup as that first
06:27game in the Eastern Conference. Brooklyn three-point home
06:31favorite inside the Barclays Center. Total at 221. What do
06:34you like in this matchup in BK? I like Brooklyn a lot. I have
06:40liked them a lot here, Ben. I mean, given what we, this team
06:44is actually playing good defense. They're actually able
06:46to shoot the ball. I thought they, it got away from them in
06:50the Knicks in that last game, but they should have won the
06:54first one that they played the other night and I think
06:58Brooklyn bounces back against a weak Charlotte team here. I
07:02think they get one and rather easily in this one. Two straight
07:06in a borough battle against the Knickerbockers. They did cover
07:09only losing by two in the NBA Cup opener on Friday as an
07:13eight-and-a-half point dog. The Nets only a favorite three
07:16times this year. They're two and one straight up against the
07:19spread and a lot of points in those games around the Western
07:23Conference and NBA Cup action next. NBA Cup action, six games
07:28on this third night of NBA Cup action in the in-season
07:32competition here at 2024-25 and Joe, now we go to the four
07:37games tonight in the Western Conference. We showed you the
07:40two in the Eastern Conference with the marquee matchup of the
07:43evening in Boston between the Cavaliers undefeated at 15-0
07:47and the Celtics. Let's start, of course, with the LA Lakers at
07:51home and hoping to defend that NBA Cup after winning the first
07:56ever in-season tournament a year ago. Eleven points spread
08:00in favor of Los Angeles against the Utah Jazz. Total at 234.
08:06This is West Group B where to start off NBA Cup action. The
08:11Lakers won their first game. The Jazz did not. Will the
08:15Lakers win comfortably tonight in Los Angeles?
08:20Yeah, you know, the Lakers at home is a spot where I want to
08:24back him. It's the road that I've got a problem. I think
08:27with Utah, what the hell's the difference? They can't win at
08:30home. They can't win on the road. No Walker Kessler, I
08:34believe, which means they'll have absolutely no answer for
08:37Anthony Davis. So, I'll be buying Anthony Davis props here
08:41tonight and I don't hate laying the eleven as the Lakers
08:45understand tiebreakers and how this whole thing works by
08:48winning by margin would not shock me if it's a total blow
08:52out by the Lakers here tonight. Lakers have covered or excuse
08:56me, have one in five straight. They have covered in three of
08:59those five. The Jazz and their last seven losses have only
09:03covered the number once. Utah has been an underdog for every
09:06single game or at least a good majority of games this season
09:10as I count them up. Yeah, every single game, Utah has been the
09:13underdog in all thirteen and they're just three and ten
09:17straight up. Should be a comfortable win in West Group B
09:20for LA that also features the Oklahoma City Thunder who are
09:24also a perfect one and oh, they head to San Antonio tonight to
09:28take on Victor Wiman Yama and the Spurs OKC nine and a half
09:32point road favorite total stands at 222 and a half. What's
09:37the play in San Antonio? Yeah, it kind of feels like an over
09:42doesn't it? Ben here is we have seen this OKC team trying to
09:47navigate through their big man, not not being checked, not
09:51being available to him. They've gone up tempo in this spot.
09:56They just lost. I believe 121 white 119 to Dallas on Sunday,
10:02another game that flew over the total and from this point on
10:06Ben, that's all I'll be looking at is up and over is in the
10:09Oklahoma City games. They're not playing a half court game
10:12anymore. They've gone small. They've gone up tempo and I
10:15don't see any reason for them not to do the same exact thing.
10:19They won't have an answer for a way by Yama tonight. So up and
10:22over for me that 222 and a half is a is a little light. Two of
10:27the four games for OKC without Chet have gone over but not
10:32their NBA Cup opener by NBA Cup standards. A very low scoring
10:36affair 9983 against the shorthanded sons who lost that
10:40game without Kevin Durant. San Antonio lost its NBA Cup
10:44opener against the LA Lakers on Friday by five did not cover as
10:49a two and a half point dog but the game did go over Eileen
10:53with you Joe. I think we see some points tonight over 222
10:56and a half a lot still outstanding for this next NBA
11:00Cup game between the Nuggets and the Grizzlies in West Group
11:04C Memphis four point home favorite in the grind city 227
11:08is the total will Nikola Jokic play. He has missed the last
11:12two games for the Nugs two straight losses snapping a five
11:16game win streak for Denver. Denver has gone over in all
11:21seven wins this year but under in a large way in each of their
11:25last two losses including by 15 to the Grizzlies over the
11:30weekend. If Jokic plays give me some points but that four point
11:33spread I think indicates as of right now his status very
11:37uncertain. Yeah, I mean he's a personal reasons. There are
11:42some questions on whether he had the birth of his child but
11:46there is no clarification one way or the other and we saw
11:50listen depth is a problem on Denver Ben. We've been saying
11:54it. It's going to be a problem all year. You take Jokic out of
11:57that equation now and it's no wonder they're not getting the
12:01triple digits here offensively. I mean they just lost the
12:04Memphis 10590 and Memphis pushed them around Ben and they got to
12:09be careful. They don't bring the physicality in this one.
12:11They're going to get pushed around again by this Memphis
12:14team. Yeah, no doubt about it. By the way, Memphis just one
12:17cover their first five games of the year. They have now covered
12:20in eight of their last nine. They are eight and six. Let's
12:23get you out to West Group C. One final game here just to show
12:26you the numbers. The Mavericks twelve point favorite now at
12:30home against the Pelicans. The Pels are having a disastrous
12:35season but they did win their NBA Cup opener on Friday
12:39against the Nuggets. Sanz Nicola Jokic.