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00:00 [MUSIC]
00:02 After night number two of the 2023-24 NBA campaign,
00:06 it was night number one though, Donnie, for Victor Wembenyama.
00:11 The number one overall pick in the 2023 NBA draft,
00:15 making his association debut last night in home in front of the San Antonio Faithful.
00:21 A Texas tussle against the Dallas Mavericks.
00:24 As we shared to open up the show, it was Luka Doncic leading the Mavericks to
00:28 a victory, a 33-point triple-double.
00:31 The Mavs win by 7, 126-119, covering as a 4.5 point favor.
00:38 The total of 230.5 skies over, but
00:41 Donnie, Victor Wembenyama made his debut in the NBA.
00:44 Did it feel like the start of a new era to you?
00:47 >> It is, and it's always going to be here.
00:50 And sometimes we expect expectations just to be sky high, as if you're supposed to
00:53 come right in and drop a 25, 15, and 10 your first night.
00:56 Let's say this is why I was one of those generational players that you were
00:59 talking about.
01:00 Would have been nice to see him get a little bit of a hotter start.
01:02 Yes, it would have.
01:03 That's not the way things go all the time in the sporting world.
01:06 I'm fine with Victor Wembenyama.
01:07 As he learns and goes on, he will get better and better.
01:10 Cuz the one thing that you can understand is the talent is there.
01:13 The specimen is there.
01:14 We've never seen an athlete like him before.
01:16 He just has to get into that NBA game, find his rhythm, and
01:19 he'll certainly be able to do that.
01:20 As long as he works hard, from what everything we found out he is doing,
01:23 he'll be fine there with the San Antonio Spurs.
01:25 But again, the books loved Ben last night where he didn't hit any one of his player
01:29 props here when nobody was in the fade of Wembenyama on night number one.
01:33 >> DRS, I saw a great tweet last night for
01:36 some guy being like, if Victor Wembenyama doesn't score 18 points tonight,
01:40 he's got a year long hater, maybe a career long hater.
01:44 If he can't post 18, Wemby stays under 17 and a half points in his debut,
01:50 finishing with 15.
01:51 But again, some flashes in that fourth and final stanza,
01:55 where he scored nine of those 15 points, only attempted nine field goals last night,
02:01 Donnie, six of nine from the floor, three of five from deep.
02:04 Again, he is a seven foot four phenom and freak that he can shoot a three and
02:09 a 60% clip at any point of his NBA career is pretty sensational.
02:13 And Donnie, for the Spurs early on, it was a great start,
02:17 17 points out of San Antonio in that opening quarter.
02:21 Because it's not just Victor Wembenyama,
02:24 Kelden Johnson 17 points last night, that's where this team really can thrive
02:29 all around Vic, they had all five starters in double figures.
02:33 But the Mavs down by a couple of points at the half came out with a very strong
02:38 third quarter holding on in the fourth for that seven point victory.
02:42 Donnie, when you look at the Mavericks on the other side, again,
02:44 he's one of the best players on planet Earth, 33 points, 13 rebounds,
02:49 10 assists last night for an opening night triple double for the Mavericks.
02:53 Kyrie Irving, 22 points, one of eight from deep, 10 of 24 from the field.
02:58 We often forget, Donnie, that when these two actually were on the floor with each
03:02 other last year following the trade deadline in early February,
03:07 it wasn't all that prolific for this Mavericks side.
03:10 What is your evaluation, Donnie, for Dallas and the outlook for this year?
03:14 >> Yeah, just keep them both healthy and happy at this point.
03:17 It didn't work out.
03:17 We expected when Kyrie Irving got moved to the Mavericks that they would be like,
03:20 hey, you know what?
03:21 We don't know if they can win the NBA championship, but
03:23 they might be contenders in the Western Conference playoffs.
03:26 They were basically tanking at the end of the season just to keep a protected top
03:29 ten pick or top 15 pick or even lottery pick, whatever it was last year.
03:33 I'm fine with those two, and
03:34 the longer they play together, the better the field will be.
03:37 The fact I like is here, Kyrie Irving wasn't even that good last night.
03:39 As you pointed out, one for eight from three point range,
03:41 still able to pick up a victory.
03:43 And it gets back to the point we were looking yesterday about the Dallas
03:45 Mavericks, hey, maybe a little disrespect there on that total line here for
03:49 the Mavericks as they covered that spread,
03:50 even though they give up 43 points in the first quarter.
03:53 I'm not so sure Dallas, again, can win a championship, but
03:56 they will be competitive with those two superstars in the backcourt.
03:59 [MUSIC]
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