The Break is Over

[00:00:00] This week, The Blucifer Brothers are back, just like the Denver Nuggets. And just like the Denver Nuggets, we didn't work too hard the past week. We are going to break down the Nuggets, Big Win Over the Hornets, and more. Including my red-hot Christian Brown take that will leave a scorched earth behind it, and hopefully motivation for someone. All that and more, Dan. Play that funky music.

[00:00:30] All right, welcome in to another episode of The Blucifer Brothers. I am your host, Kyle Pohl, and joined as always by my delightful younger brother, Ryan Pohl. Ryan, how is this week treating you? The week has been pretty good, I suppose. It felt long. We're recording this on a Friday night, and I'm ready for a weekend. How about you?

[00:00:58] Well, that would sound great, Ryan, except for the fact that my wife has had the flu all week, and now it appears that it's been passed on to our son. You're pregnant, my dude. This weekend, I'll be trying not to get sick from someone who I would put in his top five favorite things to do, either raspberrying or licking me. So, I predict I'm not going to be successful in that this weekend, Ryan. But, at least I'll have Nuggets basketball to keep me going.

[00:01:28] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, we had... Good luck with that. Yeah. Yeah, pray for me is the bottom line there. And, Dan, if you just want like a week off, just let me know, and I'll come... We can meet outside, I'll cough in your mouth real quick, and you can take a break in the basement for a week.

[00:01:52] It does appear to come with a pretty severe fever and body aches and chills and some mucousy cough. Overall, it seems pretty miserable, but you can be alone in your basement for a week. It's honestly debatable the correct choice. But, this podcast, we want to get into Nuggets here. They came back from the All-Star break, continued their winning streak. They won 129-115 over the Hornets.

[00:02:21] Hornets were on a back-to-back, no LaMelo. And, it was... It looked like the Nuggets were going to handle business at different times. And then, in the third quarter, I was almost positive we were just going to lose. Because it looked like that kind of game where, like... They just had, like, a high-energy, like, annoying young guy. And, the refs were just letting him push Jokic and foul him. And, Jokic gets so pissed sometimes about that. Like, you saw it end of the first...

[00:02:52] End of the first half, when he tried to draw those two fouls. And, was like... Couldn't beside himself. Like, couldn't believe they didn't get called. At least his fouls. So, it felt like maybe he was a little frustrated. And, it felt like a losable game. But then, the bench. Russ was back. DeAndre, those guys went on a 12-2 run. And, the Hornets did not have the firepower. With a frustrated, starting unit coming back in.

[00:03:21] Murray continued to stay hot. It was the first reintegration of Murray, Porter, Jokic. And, I thought it was interesting that... I mean, Porter had... A pretty invisible game. Right? Like, he had the one big dunk. Like, he had some things here and there. But, like... He missed some open threes. He just, like... The two-man game with Murray and Jokic was so prevalent. That, like... That, like...

[00:03:51] It didn't feel like he got many shots or many looks on a dribble handoff. A weird night there. Do you think that's... I mean, that's been a complaint sometimes from Michael Porter. Famously in the bubble. But, Nuggets fans, sometimes, too. Of, like... We can become too quick with the... Like, we're just gonna... Murray, Jokic, pick and roll all the time. And do nothing else. Yeah, I think that's pretty much...

[00:04:19] Where did you feel about the offensive diversity there? I think that's pretty much what we should do. Like, that pick and roll is so effective because they're both so effective passing the ball as well. Like, Michael Porter Jr. standing in the corner. Yeah, it doesn't look like he's doing much there. But it's exactly where he should be. Because if the defense collapses, which they're gonna have to start doing more.

[00:04:47] Like, we really haven't seen them, you know, in the back half of some of these games. They might start defending Jamal like he's bubbled Jamal. But it's not usual. Like, they're not blitzing him in the same way that they did last playoffs. They're not doing that in the same way. So, we're gonna start to see more of that. And then Michael Porter Jr.'s game will open up. Like, and he's honestly... He's been streaky in the past. And he's had disappearing acts in the past.

[00:05:16] And one game is not gonna make me feel any different about him. Like, he's looked great shooting the ball. He's been more athletic. Getting put back dunks and whatever. You know, he's rebounding. So, he's doing things that you want him to do. I don't think he's inactive in the game, to your point, I guess. But, and I think the offense will come. Yeah.

[00:05:43] He's just felt like, to me, a guy that you have to try to keep engaged. But I did want to... Something you said there kind of made me think about the way teams are defending Jamal Murray. Like, last night's press conference, he was... They were asking him, like, what he was seeing. And he was like, well, I mean, they're just going under on screens. Like, he's like, if they go under, I think that's just pretty obvious, right? Like, I'm gonna shoot that.

[00:06:09] Um, and it made me think of back when J.J. Redick was, um, doing color commentary. And it was into that Nuggets run. And J.J. was pointing out, like, Jamal Murray, if you go under a screen, you are just getting absolutely fried in, like, points per possession. And so, it feels like this Murray cold streak and Jokic's unbelievable run has made teams a little bit disrespectful.

[00:06:37] But to your point, how do you feel about Murray potentially handling more of a, you know, not a superstar, but more of a star-level attention from the defense? Like, the Hornets, he made his first three, and the Hornets went under the screen. Like, it was inconscionable. Like, you were just like, what are you doing? But that's not gonna happen in the playoffs. That's not...

[00:07:05] And obviously, that's where this team is working towards. How confident do you feel in Murray to handle that, like, kind of physicality, that kind of, like, hey, we're not gonna just give you walk-in threes. Like, you're gonna have to earn these points. How do you feel like him on a night-to-night doing that? Because even if we don't... Even if that opens up some things for Michael, I think, you know, you still would like points from Murray and like that threat, even under some increased pressure.

[00:07:31] Yeah, I think we have a bad taste in our mouth because he was so ineffective in the playoffs last year and seemed to really wilt under some of that pressure. Like, he was not engaged in the same way when they were really pressuring him in the front court and doing all those things. Like, he looked out of sorts a little bit. But I think he was hurt. Yeah.

[00:07:56] And, like, he was not in shape in the beginning of the year. He looks like a different player. Like, he could have... The Jamal Murray six months ago looked like he ate this current Jamal Murray. Um... But the... Uh... So, I feel confident in that. And I think what we're starting to see is a little bit more of what that championship run was like.

[00:08:26] Where it was truly just like, okay, you can't really stop Jokic. Like, he's gonna do whatever he's gonna do. And if the two-man game is working, then Jamal's kinda gonna get his 21, maybe give you 32 on the right night. And then you start to add in, like, a resurgent Christian Brown.

[00:08:51] And all of a sudden, it starts to look very similar to that starting five that we had. AG's, you know, I think he's struggled with injuries, but he's been doing exactly what AG needs to do. Like, um... You know, Porter, obviously, he's shooting the absolute shit out of the ball. So, we can't be upset at, like, his production. Given the opportunities that he's had, he's produced very well with the opportunities. No, no, no. I wasn't...

[00:09:20] I didn't mean it as an attack on Porter at all. I just... No, I know. You were... I think you were sort of advocating for him. Not putting it down. Yeah, we talked about it. I just remember us talking about it. I was like, hey, like, it feels like when there's only Murray or only Porter out there, it's a much more streamlined sort of thing, rather than a your turn, my turn. Last night, Murray got it going, and so it wasn't anyone else's turn. Like, it was like, yeah, me and Jokic, you're going to shoot a lot of these shots here. And if you're open, we're going to find you.

[00:09:49] But, like, we're feeling pretty good tonight, boys. We'll take it from here. Yeah. Yeah. Sort of a thing. But, to your point, it's interesting to me, that second unit, a lot of offense for Julian Strother. And so that makes me think of, are those, is that, you know, maybe still some Strother minutes, but is Porter out there with that unit where he can kind of get some of those curls

[00:10:18] and, hey, we're always bringing it to you on the dribble handoff sort of moments and sort of reps that maybe balance it out a little bit when you tighten up the rotation a little bit, too. That was another thing I thought of as potentially a solve for that little, not a problem, but like you said, it's being a lot awkward. Just in terms of rotation is, no, Peyton Watson makes this a lot different. Like, the bench option for bringing Mike out early and then running him with that bench unit,

[00:10:47] it becomes a little bit trickier when that's Zeke nausea as opposed to Peyton Watson. So, and Zeke's been playing pretty well. But, yeah, it's, I don't disagree. I think he deserves more opportunity. It's just like, where do we find that? And I don't think taking away from the two-man game is the way to do it. No, no, certainly not. Especially when Jamal looks like this.

[00:11:17] No. Well, especially if the defense is just going to go under. Well, they can't continue to do that. They're going to have to get creative like they've gotten in the past, which they haven't been forced to do that yet. The Lakers are going to have something for it on Saturday. We're going to see JJ try his little heart out there because there was, I was watching the Aaron Gordon interview with NBA Today and it's, Nuggets, you beat them 13 out of the last 14 times. Like, if we win this one,

[00:11:47] I mean, they don't have, like you said, a great chance in catching us, but they still have a chance. And winning this game is a big part of it. Because, to your point, when that league gets out to, you know, three and a half, four games, there's only 20 left, dude. Like, you're asking a lot of yourself down the stretch. And especially with like aging LeBron and that. So, I do think it's kind of a rare thing that we, I think we could see a really engaged

[00:12:14] and trying hard Lakers team on Saturday, which obviously I want the Nuggets to win. I want them to play well. But I also, I want teams that are throwing like different strategies or unique things that like they really think can throw a wrench in your stuff, which doesn't often happen in the Western Conference. Because, like we used to have to rely on the Raptors or Philly or the Celtics.

[00:12:44] Like teams that are in the East, but we're like, ah, we're not worried about showing the Nuggets too much for like the finals or something. Whatever. We're going to try to win this game on a Thursday. I think those things are really meaningful and see kind of where you've got to problem solve. Because right now, like it was just Jokic and Murray taking wide open threes. And it was like, well, if they go in, I predict you guys are going to lose. And sure enough, they did. Like,

[00:13:12] so it'll be good to see them get challenged. How are you feeling about that game? I guess. And this upcoming stretch where Malone talks about it being brutal. It's like, I mean, it's the Lakers, it's the Pacers. You get the Pistons and you get the Celtics. Now, or Milwaukee Pistons Celtics. Now, you are on the road, obviously out East for a lot of those. So that can add to the difficulty. But, you know,

[00:13:42] obviously the Celtics are insanely good. The rest of those teams are right around where you are. So to me, this is valuable experience. When you talk about a Julian Strothern, what does that look like for the playoffs? If Julian is on the road in Milwaukee and it's a close game and he's knocking down those threes, like, that to me is a signal for Malone of like, oh, okay. We got our, we got our spark plug score.

[00:14:11] Does it differently, obviously, but like our Bruce Brown type to where there were games where you're just like, holy shit, Bruce Brown had 24. We are for sure losing this game. Like, and you know, it's not an insult to Bruce Brown. It's just that you can only game plan to your point for so many things. Um, and, and so I guess, uh, before we get into the stretch, I wanted to ask, like, it looks effortless. Yeah. For like one 30. And like, there'll be stretches where they'll play bad offense.

[00:14:42] Like, or not like bad, like they're good, but like, just not surgically kind of cutting them up. Like they'll have a few possessions in the road and then they'll get a little willy nilly with it. Um, it's, I mean, but it doesn't feel like this is. It's easy to stop for anyone. Like at this point, it's, it's all grease over here, baby. Grind all grease. Uh, yeah, no, it, the offense looks unbelievable. Uh,

[00:15:11] I took the over in the first quarter. Uh, it was like 55 and a half yesterday. I was like, Oh, we're soaring over that. The nuggets might have 55 and a half points in the first quarter. Like these, uh, the defense is leaving a little bit. To be desired. I think it's been a little bit better lately. It was so bad earlier in the year that they're still not like, we're sort of middle of the pack in terms of defensive rating, which isn't terrible.

[00:15:39] I would like to see that number creep down a little bit. Like, let's get that a little bit better. Cause it does feel like that's the major difference when you're talking about the championship team. And this team is like, there were some games that that champion team, chip team clamped some teams in the regular season where we were like, Oh shit. Like we held a team to 98 and they're like, good. Oh my God. You know, like, and it doesn't feel like this team has had that type of performance.

[00:16:09] They've had spurts, but it feels much more like pressure turnover. This is a great, like get a stop, get a rebound, get a stop, get a rebound. Right. This current stretch is a great stretch to try to stretch that or to like flex that muscle a little bit. Like these teams aren't offensive juggernauts necessarily, but they're good teams. And if you can hold them to one 10, even that would be great.

[00:16:37] Like one 10 against this nuggets offense is a death sentence. Yeah. They're just a little bit crisper and have more ways to do that. It's a little bit of ways to solve problems, I guess. Like the one felt like the championship team, it felt like it was all based off of Murray, Jokic pick and roll or Jokic post-ups. And it feels like now, if you just like have a big rim protector, Rudy Gobert looking dude, we're just going to have Jokic go stand at the three point line and pop every

[00:17:07] time. And we'll play downhill off of that. Like, unfortunately for them, he's now the third best three point cheer in the league. Like we can play outside there. We've shown the ability to have like more of an ability to fast break. Then maybe we looked for before in terms of just like attacking downhill, if you fall asleep. And then the Porter on the side, handoffs was those games that Murray was out. That was deadly. Um,

[00:17:36] and he was playing against teams with long wings, like teams that, you know, in theory, the Pelicans for all their flaws length on the three and D type guys was not one of them. So the fact that he cooked them up twice, I think that was a sign that that's something they'd be comfortable going to. Uh, and then for some reason we, I don't know if it's in his new contract, um, or always has been,

[00:18:03] but we just do five stupid fucking Aaron Gordon isolations, uh, starting at the three point line of game. I don't know if those are mandated or if we can work those out of the office. Those are mandated by the way, because he does everything else on defense. We just say we're throwing five possessions away. We're throwing, I, and listen, he's trying to get back in his rhythm. I'm going to defend a G. I can't believe you're coming at his name like this. We need those possessions. Those possessions are vital.

[00:18:33] Those are as good of possessions as when Jokic can get in the low block against a smaller defender. They're equally as efficient and effective. And I won't hear anything more about it. I hear you, Stephen. A I hear you. Uh, yeah, I would never say anything like that. Oh, I thought you were making fun of him because the, uh, remember when he was, uh, debating with JJ Reddick and he was like, you know, it's just isn't like a post score like that.

[00:19:03] And JJ is like, Hey, since they've started measuring like most effective plays, you know what the highest points per possession is? Jokic post ups. Oh my goodness. Uh, John Collins just absolutely put, uh, I couldn't tell what thunder player that was at a poster. People are going to be watching that tomorrow. All right. Something to look out for John Collins. Uh, but so with this offense,

[00:19:35] where do you think the like playoff kind of average comes to? Obviously teams are just more prepared. Um, there's less kind of lazy points that you can get. We're like, Oh, this guy just didn't feel like full out sprinting back. Are you talking points per game? Yeah. So like, cause like right now, like I said, it one 30 just feels pretty easy. Right. Um, but obviously that is unrealistic. And I will go out on a limb and say,

[00:20:04] if the nuggets average 130 points a game, they're going to win the NBA championship. I don't think anyone's averaging close to that, uh, over the course of the series. So, uh, but like how much of this do you think is inflated by the familiarity of the team and like Jokic's brilliance? And then like some lazy, like, I hate to say it.

[00:20:31] I know I just got in trouble for maybe hating on AG a little bit. And this is another golden child of the nuggets, but can we all admit that Christian Brown's points are bullshit? All right. Like this guy just fucking sprints in a straight line and everyone's like, run Forrest run. And then they let him make the play up because they feel bad. It is. He's the most,

[00:20:58] there are no playoff points in there except when he accidentally trips and throws in a three. All right. He, I know. He's the NBA leader in transition points. AKA bullshit. Like, it'd be one thing if they were like, I don't know why you're, I don't know why you're just throwing flame throwers at our own team. He's just out there like a dog,

[00:21:26] like just tongue out side of it. Oh my God. Oh my God. Throw me one. This is a terrible take. This is terrible. It's not just, I'm just trying to prepare. Steven a now who's dancing. I'm just trying to prepare nuggets fans who are dancing on the KCP grave. And who are like, ah, yeah, we don't need those eight points. He averages more than that transition. Listen, I predict Christian is going to be right around KCP's five points,

[00:21:56] something in the playoffs. Like, and that may be enough, but like, don't expect these 15, 16 point Christian Brown averages. That's not going to happen. To get back to your original question, which was about how many points per game. Yeah. This offense is going to, uh, score in the playoffs. I just don't want to address Christian. I'm not, I'm not arguing with Ted. I'm not addressing a terrorist. Uh,

[00:22:27] the championship year, the nuggets averaged 113.5 points per game. Uh, and I think that I was going to say one 15, like, I think that's about right. That's a lot in the playoffs, by the way. Like, uh, and if you look at that list, if you just sort the 2023 NBA playoffs by how many points they scored, um, I can tell you that no, the nuggets are sixth on that list. So like, you know,

[00:22:56] it's not always, uh, putting up points is going to lead to success, I guess is what I'm saying. But, um, yeah, I, I think that this offense has the, the ability to be as effective as that offense was in the playoffs. Yeah, I, I think I would agree with that ceiling. Um, and I think to your point, we're going to see a lot about the defense here in this upcoming stretch. They've all kind of said, Hey, we need to lock in. There's 20 games. We just want to be playing a good brand of basketball.

[00:23:26] Like we want to, we know we need to, you know, show some defensive growth and all that. Like, okay, let's see it. And it's fine. If the Celtics don't panic and we're not going to panic. If in a week, the Celtics blindly throw in 43, like that can just happen against the Celtics. They're going to shoot 120. And if a third of them go in, it's going to be a bad night for you. Yeah.

[00:23:54] They're so not fun to watch play basketball. It's sort of crazy for all the talent on that team. Yeah. Just awful to watch and likable guys. Like not even like, they're like, Oh man, these like couldn't be nicer. And it's going to be, it's going to be very different if we see them in the finals. Let me tell you, I will hate all of them. I can't. I, uh, a question here for you, uh, of the potential,

[00:24:24] um, Eastern conference opponents. Um, maybe let's just go through the top two. Cause I think there's a pretty steep drop off after that. You kind of have to talk yourself into the box. Um, after that, or I guess the Knicks would be third. Um, yeah, but I'm not talking myself. No, no, no. Uh, but who would be your player, uh, uh, that you think you would hate first in a Celtics nuggets, um, finals. Hmm.

[00:24:54] That's a really good question. Porzingis probably. Or. No, I think it feels like it's Jalen. It feels like it's Jalen. Uh, Jalen kind of sneakily complains about other players and other teams a lot. Um, yeah. And he's pompous as hell. Yeah. It's just, you went to cow buddy. Like you didn't,

[00:25:22] you were not a fucking game that when, well, you know, when the old kids was bending over Chris stops and making him suck on his own penis, uh, that, that I don't like it. I don't like it out there. You know, something like that. Uh, so I agree. Jalen Brown. Uh, what about the calves? Um, cause I feel like nuggets fans just kind of respect Donovan Mitchell. Um, even though he torched us with Utah sometimes one,

[00:25:52] it helps that we weren't in the arena and like, cause I'm sure he would have been taunting us and then I might feel differently, but like, you know, we were just in the arena. We won the series and he played his ass off. I, Oh, Hmm. I think it would be Jared Allen probably, but it might be Evan Mobley.

[00:26:18] It depends on which one of them commits just the first heinous foul against Jokic that is not called because they would have to be just committing first degree assault down there. Uh, so whichever one of those probably I was, I was going to say Garland. Well, I was going to say him too, but I saw him smash his face tonight and I got a little sad for him. So that's why that's literally why I didn't say, I mean, like I said,

[00:26:48] the calves are a likable team too, really? Um, who do you think is coming out of the East right now? This, this stuff is coming out of the East to think anything else is fooling yourself. I'm kind of, I'm starting to kind of fool myself a little bit. Into who? The calves, the cat. No, no, no, no, no. The calves. You remember the Milwaukee? I think the Celtics are tired.

[00:27:18] I did Giannis with a bunch of like shooters, but then in the playoffs, they had to play the Celtics and they were all just spot up shooters and they couldn't dribble and couldn't make decisions and poop themselves. I think that's what a lot of the calves role players are. That's a way to like inflate your wind total is to just like have, you know, they're definitely going to just surround them with spot up shooters. Cause like definitely they've got some Oklahoma city thunder in them. They're,

[00:27:44] they're definitely a very good regular season team, but I, I, I think the Celtics are tired. I think they've got a little bit of the nuggets in them right now where like they, after three, two rounds of the playoffs, when you're losing games, you probably shouldn't lose. And then you get, you know, snake bit. Like I think that is probably the Celtics destiny this year. I think they're coming out of there. I would, I mean, I, I might,

[00:28:14] it might be dream casting too. Cause I'm starting to feel real good about this nuggets team. And, uh, I really don't want to see, I just want some Miami heat shit in there. Like let's, let's run it back, baby. Like, come on. I, uh, I don't want to have to stress in the finals. It was a celebration when we go on a run. And then right before they have to come play in Denver and beads, like I'm getting surgery. I'm sure. I actually have to get that now. My other knee now hurts.

[00:28:43] I got big damage out there. I actually came, won't be able to go. Uh, and then you have Paul George, just clanking shit off the side of the backboard. Uh, it would be fun. Um, yeah, I'm, I'm starting to get a little bit more optimistic. I've said some, I've, I hope Christian knows that came from a place of love. And feel like it. It did. He, he talks about how sometimes the naysayers motivate him. And I just wanted to give him a little pep talk. Well,

[00:29:13] you gave him bulletin board material there. We can cross him off the, uh, list of potential guests. And, Oh, I think he'd love to come on and talk shit to me. I think, I think he would sign up for that. No, if, if they won the championship, we should definitely invite him on using that clip. Cause I bet he'll come on. He seems like that kind of guy. Maybe he'd sign a rookie card for me or something. Since I defended him. I'd be pretty dope.

[00:29:43] I'd like that for you. Um, so Nuggets moved moved into second. Um, still only a half game ahead. Um, Memphis, uh, one tonight. Barla. Um, so important stretch here, Ryan, let's just get into it. So they go Lakers, they go Pacers. Um, they go Lakers, Pacers.

[00:30:15] I know they have the Pistons in there and the Celtics in there, but I feel like, Oh, they go Lakers, Pacers, um, Milwaukee, and then Pistons. And then the, uh, Celtics. So at the end of this stretch, Ryan, what do you think we are seeing? Lakers are at home. The rest are on the road. You are muted.

[00:30:49] Let's go one by one. I think that the Lakers game, I have a good feeling about it. I think we're going to win. W. I agree. W for you as well. Okay. So we're one to know the Pacers are playing sneaky. Well, it's the trap of all trap games. Yeah, it's really trappy. And it's, I'm pretty sure it's at a weird time too. It's five. It's kind of mountain. Hmm. Six. Okay.

[00:31:19] Five's not terrible. I thought it was like four 30 mountain or something. And I was like, Oh God. Um, so a little trappy there. Um, however, I do feel like the Pacers just kind of want to do the same thing. The Nuggets want to do. And I kind of trust us to execute a little bit more on the road than I trust the Pacers right now. Uh, that's a,

[00:31:46] that's a Michael Porter jr. Type of game. Like we're going to need somebody else to win that game. You're going to, if you swing the ball a few times, you're going to get an open three. If they probably, that'll be great. If not, then we can easily lose that game. Yeah. That game. I would put it 50, 50. Like I I'll give us the W. Um, but I agree with you. It's a trap game, especially if the Nuggets have just won 10 in a row. You can't tell me that like,

[00:32:14] there's not getting up for that anymore than they possibly. I think, uh, I think the bucks is a win. Um, yeah, I think, I think we're about boat race. They're a nightmare right now. Yeah. I mean, they, they got a win over the Clippers. Yeah. They came back against the Clippers, but like, they're just, especially against us. They're just in a bad spot. Like they, it's a regular season game. They're a team that if they really,

[00:32:43] really wanted to win and doc rivers was like, this is for you and me. And was like, I'm going to play this. Like it's the game seven of the NBA finals. Don't you just sit Brooke Lopez down and just be like, no, we're not going to give you a good someone to just sit and do nothing with on defense. Uh, no, thank you. Actually, we're not going to do that. You just run. Giannis is strong enough. He'll play.

[00:33:10] Pick and roll with Brooke all night because he can shoot the three pretty decently. And Jokic in every action. I don't know. I'm not, I'm, I'm not worried about the bucks. It's on the road. So you never know, but I'm not worried about them. I also think we like, I, if I'm being honest, I think we're going to win every game leading up to the Celtics. And then they'll probably end our win streak. Like we ended theirs last year. I was thinking the Pistons would be a hard one.

[00:33:40] Cause we beat the snot out of them with no Cade. Cade's going to be back. And like, that's just a young, hungry team. We're like veteran teams. If you're trying to win the championship. Yeah. You can get up for a game to try to stop a team's winning streak. But when you're the Pistons, this is your goddamn Superbowl. Like, you know, you know, it's going to be on sports. I think I just think. Hey, Cunningham takes down the 13 game win streak of the nuggets. Like, yeah, I just, I don't think that they have the talent to do.

[00:34:08] I think we're playing too well right now. Like I'm judging it based off of what this last stretch of basketball has looked like. And they've been consistently better than bad teams. And the Pistons are not a good team. So I, I think, I think we get past the Pistons and I think we, uh, lose to the Celtics on the road. Yeah. Yeah. In Boston, that feels like a hard thing. I think we're going to lose one of these games. May, like if we come back three and two,

[00:34:38] that's fine. If we come back four and one or five and oh, obviously that's like unbelievable, but yeah, it's a, it's a tough stretch of games and I think we'll learn. Yeah. I think, I think, uh, five and two are better or you're like, great. Give me that. Right. Um, there might be some games in there that piss you off that they lose. Um, but you know,

[00:35:06] if you lose one to the Celtics and one that maybe you shouldn't have for that long of a road trip, that's fine. That stuff happens. It's still the NBA, but I like, I would love a win streak here. Yeah. Honestly, to get out of that, like three, four mix. Like, I think that the Memphis is very vulnerable right now.

[00:35:31] So I think if we could put two games on Memphis in the next eight, like that's unbelievable. And if we put two games on them, hopefully we're keeping pace above those other teams where they're not, they're not really gaining on us. And we could end up with like a three and a half game lead for the two seed. And yeah, that's where you want to be. You, you're not going to catch the thunder. Like you're just not. And so you just want to be comfortably in the second seat so you can be okay.

[00:36:02] Um, all right. Well, that's, uh, all we had this week. We'll be back next week with more Denver nuggets breakdowns. Uh, it'll be an exciting week, Ryan. Um, um, have a good week and anything else to say to our loyal podcast. No, um, go nuggets tomorrow. I really hope we beat the Lakers. Yeah. We'd love that. That's step number one. Correct.

[00:36:31] Is Luca playing? Do we know? I think he will. I think it was just injury management on back to back. So I think they'll play. All right. Well, it's going to be fun. Yeah. Let's dance. All right. Uh, please rate five stars, subscribe, tell a friend to tell a friend, and we will talk to you next week. Bye. Lucifer brothers is a crab shell media podcast.