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Sixers get their first NBA Cup win of the season · The Cooldown Report

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: What's up?
• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: What's up?
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to The Cooldown Report.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Man, this feels crazy.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm coming back here after another 76ers win against the New York Knicks
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: in their first NBA Cup match of the season.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: The Sixers hold the Knicks to 93 points as they score 98 to win at home against
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: the New York Knicks.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: What a win for the Sixers.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: What a gritty win.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like I'm repeating myself over the past week now with these Sixers victories
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: and how they've been winning these games.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just been starting on that defensive side of the ball.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: LeBron James plays his best game so far as a Philadelphia 76er.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: We'll get into that.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Tyrese Maxey, great as always.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Great shooting from Anthony Simons tonight.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: And just kind of a lackluster New York Knicks team that...
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: Looks like they're still kind of hungover from their NBA title.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: We will get into that right now as the Sixers get that win.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: We'll start off with LeBron James,
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: who had that putback at the end of the game after that Tyrese Maxey layoff.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: LeBron was sensational.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Turned back the clock in this game for sure.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Got blocked on an alley-oop way up.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: You don't typically see that out of LeBron.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: You can kind of tell he's still kind of getting his athleticism back.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's still early in the season for him, but the jump shot was rolling for him tonight.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: Went two for six from three.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: He missed four of them, but...
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: He was able to space the floor a couple times earlier in the game.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: Was good on the glass, nine rebounds.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: Good on defense throughout the game,
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: especially late in that game, as the Sixers have been all season.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: Really good on defense late in these games.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Clutched up guarding Jalen Brunson a couple times.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Was guarding Carl Anthony Towns when he came back in the game late in the game.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: He was great on defense,
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: was good at grabbing rebounds,
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: was facilitating really well,
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: and an important factor that I haven't really mentioned
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: about LeBron James is something that really no basketball teams have
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: because LeBron is one of the only guys in our league who really doesn't.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: But when they're running out of timeout situations,
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: the New York Knicks that is in this game,
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: and LeBron is calling out the screen actions,
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: pointing everyone where to go, where to rotate, who to switch off on.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: OG and Anobi ended up getting a dunk on one of those last plays,
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: but it took them longer than it was supposed to because of LeBron rotating everybody
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: in the correct direction.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: And obviously,
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: you don't want to foul in that situation when you're up five points late in
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: a ballgame.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: He was great.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: He's great in this game.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: I thought he felt a little bit more comfortable.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: He was talking about it in his post-game interview how he's still trying
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: to figure out his way through this offense.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: He's letting Nick Nurse's system kind of
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: He mentioned that Joel and Tyrese really,
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: and Vijay, because he's been on the team, have it down.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: And those other guys,
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: like Dean Wade and himself,
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: and Jalen Brown,
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: who didn't play tonight,
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: are still trying to figure out their way around this offense and how to maneuver
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: through it.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: And it showed today that he's starting to get a little bit of a grasp.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like I mentioned, Jalen Brown didn't play tonight, so...
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: You obviously need a little bit of an offensive boost, and you didn't get it from just him.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: You got it from Anthony Simons, too, and Vijay played a better game than he's played all season.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: So you get it from those guys,
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: but LeBron was great tonight, and the Sixers definitely do not win this game.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: He's been rusty, at least against the Sixers so far this season.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: But LeBron has held that down.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: He held Cat down in the minutes he was guarding him.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like I mentioned, he locked down Jalen Brunson.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: Jalen Brunson felt a little bit more comfortable scoring against VJ Excombe,
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: who's 6'5", than LeBron, which is crazy.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: You would think that LeBron at age 41 going on 42 wouldn't be able to keep up with
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: a guy like Jalen,
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: but he was,
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: and forced a turnover,
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: or not a turnover,
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: him to throw it off LeBron's leg out of that game until he got VJ on him and he hit
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: that step-back three right in his face.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Great on defense.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, we just don't win this game without LeBron James.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: He was a consistent player for us throughout this entire game,
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: consistently orchestrating the offense,
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: just playing well, picking his spots, finding his jump shot a little bit tonight.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, he was great.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: We had to start off with him.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: Get to the rest of the Sixers here.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: The Sixers, you know, overall they shoot 49% from the field in this game, 35% from three.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of that led by Anthony Simons off the bench.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: Seven for 11 from the field, five for eight from three.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: He was hot.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Hot in that third quarter.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: In the third quarter,
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: in five minutes played,
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Anthony Simons had 13 of his 21 points,
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: went four for five from the field, and three for four from three.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: He was great, especially in that third quarter.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: We really needed the offensive boost,
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: especially because those were some of those minutes where Joel Embiid is off of
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: the floor and we'll get to, man,
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like I've been talking about it all season in these breakdowns,
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: but how badly the Sixers need a backup center?
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's getting desperate at this point, but he was great.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: He shot the ball really, really well, and shout out Anthony Simons' defense.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: The broadcasters called it out.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: You don't usually think of Anthony Simons as really a plus defender at all,
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: but he was definitely a plus defender tonight,
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: guarding those guards up in ball screens.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the defensive identity for the Sixers is just starting
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: to translate throughout the entire team.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: Someone like Dean Wade,
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: who didn't really have his best offensive game, Not even close to his best.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: He had zero points.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: But he was great on defense.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: Got a couple strips, a block.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: Dean Wade was really,
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: really good on defense tonight for the Sixers,
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: even though he wasn't able to score in his 27 minutes.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: I believe that KCP is playing really good defense.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: Vijay, Joel, LeBron, Tyrese, Jalen when he's playing.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: The whole team is playing good defense,
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: and if that's going to be the identity of this team,
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: And the offense is going to come later.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's a scary sight.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: This is really, really good for the Sixers moving forward.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: We'll get to the rest of these guys.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: Vijay, he played one of his better games of the season in 36 minutes,
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: had 13 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: Went 6 for 10 from the field and obviously hit a dagger 3-pointer game.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: To put the Sixers back up four after that Brunson three ball.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: We needed every bit of what Vijay was doing on the defensive and offensive end,
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: running his lanes,
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: finding his buckets in transition,
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: taking the open three When he's getting them and making them,
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: just being efficient,
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: 6 for 10 from the field,
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: he hasn't been efficient all season long,
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: and in this game he is picking his spots and getting to the basket
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: and feeling more comfortable out there.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, the offense for this team is just going to come.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: They're not playing their best ball on offense.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: They scored 98 points tonight.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: They've been a low-scoring team pretty much all season.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're going to put that effort in on defense,
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: if you're going to be surgical in the minutes that you are playing,
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: you're going to win a lot of basketball games.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why this team so far is 5-1.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: Tyrese Maxey in his 38-minute season.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: Man, this dude, Max, he's looking unguardable at this point.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: One of the best players in the league.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Lead the team with 27 points, four rebounds, four assists, a steal, and a block.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: 10 for 19 from the field, three for eight from three.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: Missed three of his free throws,
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: so could have got 30 pretty easily if he just knocks those down as
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: a 92% three-point shooter, I believe, last season, something like that.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: Could have easily got the...
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: This dude is a problem.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: He creates so many mismatch problems for every team that the Sixers face.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's ridiculous.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: He is so blazing fast.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: It is so hard to guard him, especially when his jump shot is gone.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: Going at this rate.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like he's comfortable on all spots of the floor,
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: sitting mid-range shots, layups, three-pointers.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, like I said, makes his free throws most of the time.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: This dude is really reaching an unguardable level of guard play that is going
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: to be needed for the Sixers.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: He's been our best player.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: He's going to be our best player.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: I can't say enough about Tyrese Maxey.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: From when he came in the league as a rookie,
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: I've been watching him for the past seven seasons he's been playing.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: The development is crazy with this guy.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: He has completely ascended to one of the best players in the NBA.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: Got it with Eastern Conference Player of the Week last week.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: He's just been awesome.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome for this team.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: On offense, and like I'm saying, every other player on this team and on defense...
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: His defense is great.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: His speed and athleticism just gives him the ability to catch up the guys,
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: stay in front of guys.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: He has great hands, great anticipation.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: With LeBron on the team,
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: you gain more defensive skills, apparently, and the anticipation is great.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: He's reading passing lanes really, really well.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: His on-ball defense is good.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: The Sixers' half-court defense as a whole is just great.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: Outstanding so far to start the season,
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: especially in fourth quarters so far, but it was great all night tonight.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, holding the Knicks to 93 points, and Tyrese Maxey on ball has been great.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: Sensational to start the year on defense.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I said a couple podcasts ago that if the Sixers are going to be like this
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: on defense throughout the regular season,
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: they're in for a lot of wins,
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: they're in for a lot of success,
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: and it translates to the postseason really, really well.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: So far through six games, it's been excellent.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: Excellent from the Sixers.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: I've been very, very impressed.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Joel didn't really have his best offensive night.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: Ten points, seven rebounds, seven assists.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: Was, you know, dishing it out.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: He had a really good pass to Vijay Edgecombe on a cut.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: He had a really nice kickout pass to the corner.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: I believe that was to Vijay and he missed that three-pointer.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know, he was passing the ball really well.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: He was defending really well.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: Really our only usable center on the roster right now,
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: but he shot three for 12 from the field and over four from the three.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: The three ball for Joel has not been there at all, at all this year.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'm hoping he finds it.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's something that usually comes with his Joel is not a bad three-point shooter.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: He's shown that over his career.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: He just has to get his legs underneath him, and they're not clearly fully there yet.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: He's not even really playing that.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: High above the rim anymore.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: Not that he's going to play high above the rim at all anymore,
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: but you can see he just doesn't really have his legs fully yet,
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: and he's only played five games this season.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: He's probably going to miss our next game in our back-to-back tomorrow that we have to play.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: He's only played five games.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: I believe he will get his legs underneath of him.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: You won't see it,
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: obviously,
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: in Charlotte tomorrow,
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: but he's getting there,
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: and I think it's a good thing that he's still kind of taking the three-pointers,
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: that he still believes in them,
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: that his ability to stretch the Defense is going
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: to be needed come postseason time.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, it's not there yet, but I believe it'll get there.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: Not his best offensive night so far,
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: but it was certainly better than the minutes that we got from Adem Bona.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel so bad harping on this guy, and I'm going to try to keep it brief.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to try to keep it brief, man.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: It is 14 minutes,
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: zero points,
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: two rebounds,
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: zero assists,
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: a minus six on the field, no shots taken, two turnovers, and four fouls.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: He just looks lost out there, man.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't know.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: His on-ball defense when he's guarding a guy straight up in the post is really, really good.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: Other than that, I can't support it.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: His transition defense, bad.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: His ability to rotate on defense, bad.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: His ability to stay in front of a guard without fouling.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: Jordan Clarkson was able to bait him into a foul.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: Jordan Clarkson, he just came off the bench.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't come into the game until the second half, was able to bait him into a foul.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's just not looking good from him so far this season.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm hoping he gets better because we're really going to need him.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: But it's looking like we really need Dominic Barlow and Jabari Walker to get healthy
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: because we need some size and some help.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: And in his minutes, we're just losing basketball games.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: The Sixers...
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: I believe going into the late third quarter,
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: we're up about double digits,
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: and the Knicks were able to crawl their way back in the minutes we had to have
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: a Dembona out there because Joel Embiid cannot play 40 minutes a night.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Joel Embiid cannot play 40 minutes a night.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: We just can't have that from him.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: Adem, he's just got to get better,
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: but we're going to need Jabari Walker and Dominic Barlow to get back ASAP
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: because we really, really, really need that size.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: I'll get to the Knicks now.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said,
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: they just look like they're in a championship rut,
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: 40% from the field overall as a team, 31% from three.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: Brunson didn't really have it going until that late fourth quarter.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: He had 24 points.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Carl Anthony Town was their best player by far.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: He was the only player on the team out of the starters to have
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: a positive plus minus tonight with 22 points, 12 rebounds, and three assists.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: He played really, really well tonight.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: Other than that, Mikael Bridges...
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: Essentially really a no-show.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: He went 5 for 8 from the field and had 12 points,
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: but he's not really affecting the game too much.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: OG Ananobi just struggling, 4 for 10 from the field, 1 for 10 from 3, 34 minutes, 9 points.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: Josh Hart getting left open, wide open.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: And that was a big part of the Sixers defensive scheme is when we're out rotating
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: and we're doubling the ball.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: When you're doubling Jalen Brunson,
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: you leave Josh Hart open on the rotation and dare him to make it.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: And he just wasn't making it.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: Two for nine from the field, two for seven from three.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: You live with that if you're the 76ers.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: Andre Drummond didn't really give him good minutes.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: Tyler Kolek didn't really come in and give him good minutes.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: He had two turnovers.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: Landry Shaman in 16 minutes went 0 for three from three.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: Their bench hasn't really been playing well.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: Jamie Brunson hasn't been playing well.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: OG Ananobi hasn't been playing well.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: Mikael Bridges hasn't been playing well.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: They just look like they're in a hangover.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: And like I said in game one, I'm not really worried about the Knicks.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like They're one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: They just won a championship last year.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: They'll be fine.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: I think they will be perfectly okay moving forward.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: They've just been struggling out of the gate.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: They're 2-4 on the season.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: They have Chicago and Brooklyn coming up next.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: Those are some get-right games against two of the worst teams in the league.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: And then you got Cleveland next Saturday.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: So they could easily turn the tide to have a positive record very, very soon.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: But as of right now,
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: they just have struggled
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: and honestly struggling closing out These really close games.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: They haven't won any clutch games when this team has been clutch all last season.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: They lost by six points to the Sixers,
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: four points to Boston, nine points to Orlando, and then five again to us tonight.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they've been a clutch team.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: They haven't been clutch so far.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: I believe they will become clutch and they will be a dangerous team.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: They've played the Sixers tight.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: They've played everybody pretty much really tight.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: They blew out...
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: The Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls,
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: basically,
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: in the two games that they played,
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: I know they won 133-127, but that was a high-scoring affair from the Knicks.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: They've shown that they can play well.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: They beat Detroit, which has been one of the best teams so far this season.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: They're a good team.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: They'll be okay.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: They just really haven't shown it so far to start the season,
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: and I think that championship rut, you know, come...
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: December will pretty much be gone and we'll be talking about the Knicks as one of
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: the possibilities to come out of the Eastern Conference once again and maybe win
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: a championship.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: But for the Sixers, Great win.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: They move on to Charlotte tomorrow in another back-to-back.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: You don't really expect LeBron James or Joel Embiid to play.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: They missed the last back-to-back.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: They kind of had him switched off.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: We had an NBA Cup game tonight, so it's probably prioritized for them to play.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, we get Jalen back tomorrow.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: He was dealing with With some lower body injury there.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: I think they just wanted to rest him just to keep it cautious for him.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then you have Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland up next.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: Chicago has been one of the worst teams in the league.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: But you get Detroit again and then Cleveland.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: Those are some tough games for the Sixers.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: And if they come out on top of the nose, man, they're in great shape to start the year.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: They already are in great shape and they would be in great shape.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: Getting those wins possible, you're just being competitive.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's going to do it for The Cooldown Report.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: Sixers win 98-93.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Ethan.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: Peace.