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00:00Welcome back to the early line and not just the early line on
00:07sports grid, but the NBA Cup for the second ever in season
00:11tournament slash competition around the association again
00:16group play begins tonight in eight spots. We've got eight
00:19games on Tuesdays and Fridays regular season games have that
00:23additional component of being a cup game in group play groups
00:28are divided as such six groups made up of five teams three in
00:34the Western Conference three in the Eastern Conference and
00:37we've got some compelling storylines on this opening
00:40night of the second ever NBA in season tournament and part of
00:45the groups will face off tonight. That includes West
00:49Group C. Here are the five teams in that group. The
00:52Nuggets, the Pelicans, the Grizzlies, and then two teams
00:57that face off tonight. Geronery in a very impactful
01:00game for a variety of reasons, not just a cup game. The Golden
01:04State Warriors and the Dallas Mavericks. Clay Thompson makes
01:07his return to the Bay against his splash family. That is the
01:12Dubs two and a half point spread in favor of Golden State
01:15for the NBA Cup opener for both the Dubs and the Mavs in West
01:20Group C over under stands at 234 and I do want to remind
01:25everybody Joe that to get to the knockout round that
01:27quarterfinal round the three winners of each group in each
01:31conference advance. So those six teams in general and then
01:34two wild card teams make the knockout round as well as we
01:38saw last year. Everybody had to learn the tiebreakers, but one
01:42of the key tiebreakers in a group of only five teams could
01:45be point differential. So even if teams are up big, they might
01:49be trying to score at the end or even teams that are trailing
01:52trying to find some late minute buckets to run up the score and
01:56make their point differential look better 234 that total
02:00tonight in San Francisco. Yeah, and I mean listen, it's it may
02:06be a good night to buy low on on Clay Thompson who has not
02:09exactly been shooting the rock very well. I think he he hasn't
02:14scored more than thirteen points in in his last seven
02:17games. He was two of thirteen from three point range in the
02:20last two, but something tells me Clay's gotta be ready to
02:24roll here tonight in his return to Golden State and don't
02:28forget Luca has been slowed a little bit here dealing with a
02:31groin injury. So I would say these guys probably going to
02:36give Clay an opportunity to do exactly what he needs to do in
02:40order to show up and show out and nobody is going to be more
02:42familiar with that gym than he is. So this should be an
02:46interesting night for Clay Thompson. I would look maybe to
02:49go up and over his his PRA here tonight. Yeah, you see those
02:54numbers right there. Clay Thompson in his return over in
02:58five straight for Golden State. By the way, Joe, this is going
03:01to count toward your regular season standings. Of course,
03:04only the NBA Cup championship in Las Vegas as we have learned
03:08is the only game that does not count toward your regular
03:12season record. So when you look at the regular season records
03:16around the NBA right now, there is a fascinating narrative
03:19starting to build how strong the Western Conference might be
03:23and how weak the Eastern Conference currently looks. Only
03:26two teams out east are above 500. The only undefeated team
03:32in the NBA, Cleveland, the reigning NBA champs in the NBA
03:35Cup favorites, the Boston Celtics at nine and two,
03:38everybody else 500 or worse. The Mavericks currently, of
03:43course, at the season ended today, sounds crazy. 10 games
03:45into an 82 game regular season, but the Mavericks at an even
03:48500, five and five would be on the outside of the play in
03:52tournament looking in Golden State off to a great start,
03:55eight and two, but only three of the 10 games at the Chase
03:58Center in San Francisco to begin both two and one straight
04:02up and against the spread under in two of those three home
04:07games for Golden State. Again, group play begins in West Group
04:12C. The other groups in the Western Conference. Let's take
04:16you to Group A. In that group, the Clippers, the Kings, the
04:19Blazers, and then two teams squaring off or a team in
04:23square and the Rockets also included because I skipped over
04:25them. A team in the Rose City hosting the Minnesota Timber
04:29Wolves tonight. It's Portland and Minnesota in NBA Cup action
04:35West Group A. The Timber Wolves, nine point road favorite
04:38taking on the Blazers 219 and a hook is the total. Yeah, and
04:44boy, it wasn't a good show any other night with Bill. It's
04:47just ripping his team in Portland about how just
04:49absolutely embarrassing they are and now you've got a
04:53Minnesota team here and really this whole cup thing been a lot
04:58of this all has to do of course with the group stages and what
05:00your group is because some of these odds even looking at the
05:04board where I've got a two and eight Milwaukee team at better
05:07odds than what than what the Phoenix Suns are keep in mind
05:11right. It's all based upon the group stage. so it really
05:14doesn't matter what these teams have done prior to this. It
05:18only matters what they do on these Tuesdays and Fridays and
05:22Portland in an interesting spot with an opportunity to give
05:26Timber Wolves all they can handle tonight. I'm kind of
05:29shocked. It's only eight and a half and I thought it would be
05:31closer to double digits here, but I this is a spot I'd be
05:35willing to back Portland in a in a bounce back thing and give
05:40a little more effort here to Minnesota who might just think
05:44they can cake walk through this game. These two teams will play
05:48each other tomorrow night, but that's not NBA Cup group play
05:51action. That's just a regular regular season game. Portland
05:56has been booked as an underdog in every single game this year.
06:00They are three and one three and eight straight up. They are
06:04five and six against the number Minnesota six and four this
06:09year, but they've actually gone over more often this year than
06:12you would expect as one of the best defensive teams a season
06:15ago in the NBA. Is that the absence of Carl Anthony Towns
06:19who knows but over in six of ten games this year, maybe we
06:24see some points tonight in the Rose City at 218 being that
06:28total the team that has the best record by the way in West
06:31Group A. It's not the Timberwolves or the Clippers or
06:34the Kings. It's the Houston Robins off to a seven and four
06:38start this season. Now let's get out to Salt Lake where one
06:42of the worst teams in the NBA will host the Phoenix Suns off
06:45to a great start this year and yet the sun's not covering a
06:48ton of numbers at an eight and two mark, but the Jazz are the
06:51worst team in the Western Conference right now two and
06:55Joe both of these teams in West Group B as I see it. Yeah. No
07:02Kevin Durant. No Nurkic also looks like he's not going here
07:06tonight and the Phoenix coming off of that overtime loss in
07:09Sacramento on Sunday. This is not a great spot and as bad as
07:12Utah is they are finally healthy here and have been off
07:16since Saturday. Oh boy could be that underdog spot. Katie was
07:20singing the praises of the IST last night. He was showing up
07:23the cup opener for next NBA Cup action continues on the
07:28opening night of the 2024 Emirates NBA Cups formerly
07:32known as the in-season tournament now an in-season
07:35competition. We talked about some teams out in the Western
07:38Conference now time to highlight the groups out in the
07:41Eastern Conference East Group A Nets Hornets Magic the Sixers
07:47and the Knicks and what could bring Joel Embiid back to
07:51playing basketball? Of course, it's the 2024 NBA Cup Joel
07:55Embiid makes his 2024 25 debut tonight at home for Philadelphia
08:01as a two and a half point underdog hosting the New York
08:04Knicks to twelve and a hook is that total pretty minimal again
08:08Joe we have talked about it only two teams in the Eastern
08:10Conference above 500 that does not include the Knicks or the
08:15Sixers. New York is four and five a game below 500 the 76ers
08:19are just two and seven. Will JoJo's return no Tyrese Maxey
08:24but will JoJo's return lead to a win for Philadelphia tonight?
08:30I don't know but it feels like that number 215 and a half is a
08:34little light here too as well given the Knicks are averaging
08:37what about 115 points a game this season and the Sixers
08:42haven't exactly been all that great defensively and granted
08:46now Joel Embiid is be back but what are we going to get from
08:49him Ben? I mean, let's be realistic. I'd be willing to
08:52bet offensively. He'll be able to contribute enough and we'll
08:55open up some shots in the perimeter for some other guys,
08:59but I mean all in all how many minutes are we expecting from
09:03Embiid here? I still think the Knicks are going to go bombing
09:06away here. I think they're going to offensively continue to do
09:09what they do. They are challenged a little bit
09:11defensively. I think this can be a wild shootout here tonight.
09:16I think it lands in the 220s, not the teens here in this one.
09:20The total is too low. The Knicks over in four of their
09:24last six games. In fact, the Knickerbockers have been
09:27booked as the favorite every single game all eight since the
09:30season opener against the reigning champs inside TD
09:33Garden, that being the Celtics. They have split those eight
09:36games both straight up and against the spread. They have
09:39won four. They have covered in those four wins of course as a
09:43favorite. If you lose outright, you do not cover the
09:47Philadelphia 76ers. Just two in seven, both straight up and
09:52against the spread. Only one cover as an underdog in any of
09:57those seven losses. Joel Embiid tonight to return his points
10:01prop, Joe. 24 and a half. It has not been a great start to
10:06this season for the Sixers. Might some NBA Cup action light
10:10a fire in this Philadelphia team. The reigning NBA champs,
10:15the NBA championship short favorites, the NBA Cup
10:18championship short favorites. That's the Boston Celtics
10:22tonight at home against the Atlanta Hawks. The Hawks are an
10:25abysmal cover team, like really, really bad at covering
10:29numbers and the Celtics are a 15 point home favorite at 224
10:35being the total. This is East Group C that also includes the
10:40Wizards, the Cavaliers. As Joe mentioned, the only undefeated
10:43team in the NBA is also with the NBA Cup favorites. That
10:47could be interesting in the Bulls round out East Group C in
10:50the group of five. Yeah, I mean Atlanta games are pretty simple
10:56to bet. You never bet Atlanta but you usually always bet the
10:59total in some way, shape, or form and something like, oh, I
11:03don't know, the Celtics team total over is probably not a
11:06bad look here, Ben, given the fact that we know Atlanta ain't
11:09going to play any defense. We know this. So, I would not,
11:14even the team total over and the game total over, not a bad
11:18look here instead of having to lay the 15. The Hawks over in
11:24nine of eleven games. Atlanta is four and seven and they are
11:28three, three and eight against the spread. They've been
11:32favored in a lot of their wins or at least in a lot of their
11:34games and they just lose outright. That total might not
11:38be high enough tonight because the Celtics understand what is
11:41at stake. I believe it was Joe Missoula that understood the
11:44idea of the point differential and adding it up a year ago. So,
11:49fifteen point spread in favor of the Seas. The Bucks will take
11:53on the Raptors. Seven and a half point spread in favor of
11:56Milwaukee. No, Damian Lillard dealing with the effects of a
12:01concussion. Bad versus awful. Ooh, that's kind of tough to
12:05say. The Raptors are two and nine. The Bucks are two and
12:07eight. Who wins the NBA Cup opener for both teams? Yeah,
12:12well, it better be Milwaukee. Uh I don't know what else to tell
12:15them although their odds kind of say that they should be. I
12:17mean, Toronto has been pesky. I don't know that I'm running to
12:21lay that number with Milwaukee but I I'm confident enough that
12:24they should be able to win this game here though, Ben. That's
12:28East Group B. The Magic host the Hornets tonight as an eight
12:32point favorite. That's East Group A. The Pistons will also
12:36host the Heat tonight as a as a slight home underdog. That's
12:41also East Group B. The NBA Cup, man. It's a new thing.