EP 165: What’s Gone Wrong in These Hornets Losses

We react to the Hornets’ incredible comeback win over the Trail Blazers and break down the biggest takeaways from the game. We also revisit the two losses from the past week, focusing on LaMelo Ball’s inconsistency, Miles Bridges’ shooting slump, and a question that might spark some debate: are we really sure Coby White is better than Collin Sexton? Tune in for all that and more.

Check us out on Instagram and Twitter @hornetspodcast

Tune in every Wednesday!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello and welcome to the Hornets and Heartbreak Podcast. My name is Mark Bernacke, and I'm here with my co-host Tim Rogers. What's up, Tim? What do you do? Liquor Mark. I'm doing pretty well, man. The Hornets had a massive win last night against the Portland Trailblazers in Portland. We were down by 19 at some point in the second quarter, fought our way back, got the win on the road barely by five by five, I think, there at the end. And just felt like a game that the Hornets of 2025 or any time in the past four years would have lost for sure. But with this team, you can't ever count them out. And very good resilience shown by this team last night with some hot shooting by the by the Trailblazers. We were able to fight our way back and get the win.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

Yeah. Mark, I gotta be honest, man, kind of got spoiled with all those blowouts. Kind of forgot what it was like to be to be out there in the trenches, man. But yeah, I think that's a good point. Definitely pretty much every other Hornets team of the Lamello era probably would have just folded in this one.

SPEAKER_00 1:11

Yeah, and we did not. So, I mean, down the stretch, the Hornets were I think, yeah, up by one with about 30 seconds to play. Con Kanipple gets fouled uh shooting a three-pointer, but the poor the Trailblazers challenge it and we're in review mode for like three minutes. Um, and eventually they decide to overturn the foul uh on Con Knipple. So it goes to a jump ball, right? The Trailblazers win the jump ball uh and have the ball with 30 seconds left, down by one. Uh ball finds Jeremy Grant in the corner, who pump fakes, drives past Brandon Miller. And who's there, Tim, to jump in front of Jeremy Grant on this drive? Khan Kanipple draws the offensive foul. Uh Hornets get the ball back, make two free throws, the Trailblazers turn it over on the inbounds, and that was it. Um that was the end of the game. So yeah, Khan Knipple, I mean, I think is like sort of a stabilizing player in in moments like this, right? Where okay, he ended up not getting the foul call on the three-point shot, but he just kind of keeps the Hornets steady and makes just small winning plays like that. Uh so yeah, player of the game, shout out to Khan Kanipple. I'll I'll give him that award for last night.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

Yeah, I think I think with that, uh he he earned player the game. And um honestly, I just kind of, you know, obviously the same Hornets podcast, but kind of just felt for Blazers fans last night is you know, someone that's been on the other side of that loss so many times, it's like, oh man, you know, once you get that challenge, you think you're probably good to go. And then to blow it in heartbreaking fashion like that. But yeah, shout out to Khan. You know, it's just been said a million times by a million people, but uh guy just kind of looks like he's played in the NBA for six years already.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

Yep. Uh he was four for eight from from three last night. Brandon Miller also had a pretty good game. Um Lamello did not have a very good game. We're gonna talk about that uh a little bit later. Um, but okay, we we like talked a bunch of shit about Scoot Henderson last game that we played them. So, I mean, he was actually very, very good. Five for eight from three, 17 points in only 19 minutes. Still had four turnovers, but uh he kind of showed us the other side of Scoot Henderson, and then I thought Denny Avdia uh was awesome in in that game. Um and Jeremy Grant was like, oh shit, he's still good too, I guess. Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

Is Jeremy Grant kind of the most innocuous forgotten man in the NBA? For like an actually good player.

SPEAKER_00 3:51

Yeah, probably.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

Probably um, yeah, so I hear what you're saying, Mark, and I agree. Let's trade Brandon Miller for Scoot Henderson. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Uh yeah. Just kidding. But yeah, no, honestly, um, good, good for Denny. Um you know, good for him for leaving the Wizards. I know he got traded for like Malcolm Brogdon. Um, but Yando is really turned into like I think we we did that. Was the first time we ever did like, you know, draft takes or anything was for the Denny draft. Did you see this one coming, Mark?

SPEAKER_00 4:28

No, no, no, no. Also, shout out to that class, just like a very good draft class. Uh except for James Wiseman. I mean, there's a ton of hits. Tyres Maxie, Denny Avdia, Lamella Ball, Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Halliburton, and um, I'm probably forgetting somebody pretty big. But yeah, that's a lot of really good, really good players.

SPEAKER_01 4:46

Yeah. Definitely, definitely sleeping on your guy. You're the French phenom Killian Hayes. Um did turn, did turn into a good, good draft class. And just quick, quick aside on Killian Hayes, uh, worst gambling story I've ever heard. I've met someone recently that put$1,500 on Killian Hayes over in his rookie year. Um so it was quite alarmed by that. But yeah, shout out to that draft class.

SPEAKER_00 5:14

Yeah, okay. Um, so the Hornets in the past uh week, we had a rout against the Celtics. Um, finally lost a game against against the Heat that was close where the Heat had hot shooting, lost uh a game against the Suns, where the Hornets were just kind of inept in this in the second half on offense, and then and then we beat the Trailblazers. So we're two and two in the last last four games, which is kind of meh, Tim. But uh, I mean, when I talked to you two weeks ago, I said, can the Hornets be 500 in two weeks? And here we are. We're at 500 two weeks later, five and two over the last two weeks. If I had told you that two weeks ago, we would have said that's a good outcome. Um, but uh the problem is is that the rest of our division is also winning a ton of games. The Miami Heat have won six in a row, eight and two in the last ten. The Orlando Magic have won four in a row, seven and three in the last ten. And the Atlanta Hawks have won seven in a row in our eight and two in the last ten. Tim, that is 17 wins in a row for the three teams ahead of us in our division. And the Hornets are, you know, doing pretty well. We're seven and three in our last ten, but it's not enough. Uh, we're still a game and a half back of the Atlanta Hawks in the play in race. We're the 10th seed, and we're the 10th seed comfortably, but this vision or this dream of moving up to the sixth seed, I think, is kind of out at this point.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

Yeah, I don't I don't know about you, Mark. Um now that I've really tasted happiness and see what see what it looks like, it really sucks to go two and two. Um like this is this is like an eternal sunshine situation where I'm like, I don't know if my brain was meant to like feel this good. And to be on the other side of things, yeah, like the Atlanta Hawks going 7-0. When I hear that, I'm just like, God, that is so fake, like bogus, not a good team. Now, when the Hornets do something like that, I'm like, well, yeah, I mean, that makes sense. They're a great team. Uh, yeah, so it's not really that fun to be on the other side of things, Mark.

SPEAKER_00 7:22

Yeah, no, it's not. Um, I I mean, I think getting to the eighth seed is like still kind of in play, right? Uh, which is really important because if you get to that eighth seed, then you have two chances. So you just gotta win one of two games uh to make it to the playoffs. If you're in the 10th seed or the nine seed, then you gotta win uh two games in a row, right? To make it to the playoffs, which is really, really hard to do. Um but looking at the Hornets schedule, I'm not gonna lie, it looks pretty pretty tough. We got Sacramento, uh, Memphis, Sacramento again, and Brooklyn, and Indiana. Those are our only easy games. Outside of that, we have Miami, San Antonio, Orlando, uh, New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Phoenix, Indiana, or sorry, Minnesota, Boston, Detroit, New York again. Like, we have a lot of hard games remaining on our schedule and kind of only five easy ones. Um, the rest of them are against playoff teams. So yeah, it's not looking great for us in terms of our ability to actually uh move up to that to that eighth seed. Um where I think like two weeks ago or a week ago, it seemed like, yeah, of course, of course the Hornets will move up to the eighth seed. Like, there's no doubt.

SPEAKER_01 8:39

Yeah, and I had also kind of mentally prepared for like the last month where I was like, okay, well, like, you know, maybe those last two games of the season, because it's against the Celtics and the Pistons, uh, I was like, well, you know, like seating might already be locked up by then. Like, that could just kind of be a layup. And now Jason Tatum is back. Obviously, the Celtics have uh been pumping up. So two games that I kind of penciled in as potential gimmies, also looking a lot tougher now. Uh, so not great, Mark.

SPEAKER_00 9:08

No, yeah, and I mean we gotta talk about the heat real quick. Uh damn out of bio. Second highest scoring game in NBA history, 83 points. I have not seen the highlights yet. I'm in uh I'm in Serbia, so I wasn't watching last last night. Um it was on late. Um, I I need to watch them. Tim, it to me feels more like it's probably about the wizards just being ass than it is about uh Bam having an amazing game, but it's probably obviously both.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

Yeah, it almost makes me question if I like basketball. 83 points. Could you imagine any other player in NBA history where you woke up to the news that a player broke Kobe's record and you're like, I'll catch those highlights later. Only bam. Like that's absolutely absurd. Um, not even as a heat hater. Um, you know, one thing I am starting to come around on, Mark, I think maybe we should have drafted Bam over Malik Monk. Uh, still kind of on the fence about that one. But yeah, kind of I would say lit the most ridiculous stat line I've ever seen in my life. 43 free throw attempts. And like, Bam is the nerdiest thing I can say in the world. He is on my fantasy basketball team. We are in the playoffs, and even then I'm just like, not like this. I don't really want this.

SPEAKER_00 10:41

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it's it's kind of just disgusting, right? That that's possible for a player like Bam Adabaya, who's who's not an offensive, like, you know, that's not really his game. Uh his game is more of a defensive guy. Um, that's that's what's got him to like all-star status, is more more of his defense. Um I think I kind of hate it. I hate it also.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

Yeah, I think he's only scored 30 or more, like 13 times or 16 times his career. Uh got to catch him live on Friday, and at no point was I like, this is the guy that's gonna break Kobe's record. Um yeah, no, just just absolutely again, just uh just absurd, Mark. Um and yeah, yeah, just kind of at a at a loss for words that it was it was bam of all people.

SPEAKER_00 11:39

Alright, well, yeah, we'll we'll keep uh keep you guys posted on this little standings watch. Shout out to the East just being good. Uh this happened to us also, Tim, like four years ago when the Hornets were the 10th seed uh for two years in a row, but specifically in that in that uh 21-22 season where we are 43 and 39. We were the 10th seed with a four games over 500 record. And it seems like something similar could happen again this year where the Hornets could end up end of the season, something like you know, 44 and 38 and and be the be the ninth seed, the way things are are playing out. Um, but I do think it's possible that we that we definitely catch the Hawks, that we catch the 76ers, that we maybe even catch the Magic, um, depending on the way things shakes out shake out. But yeah, we need these teams to start losing. Um, and that hasn't happened recently. Um, okay, moving on, Tim. So we wanted to talk today. Uh given that we were two and two in the last four, um, and we had to plan this podcast before the Trailblazers game, we wanted to get a little negative uh and just just kind of bring us back down to earth a little bit. Um, because we've had very excited and happy podcasts for the first first three podcasts. Five reasons why we lost uh two games. Tim, you want you want to start us off? Do you have anything?

SPEAKER_01 13:04

Um yeah, I'm just gonna go go out and say it. In attendance uh Friday night, had a had a good time for the heat game. Uh thought Charles Lee kind of blew that game.

SPEAKER_00 13:18

Whoa.

SPEAKER_01 13:18

Okay, wait. Why? Um mainly just on rotations. Um I thought he kept in Kobe White too long. I thought he didn't put Moose back in big enough. I thought that he got a little too comfortable with that bench lineup and kind of seemed like he was coaching with a lack of urgency in the fourth quarter specifically.

SPEAKER_00 13:40

Interesting. Um yeah, the heat game, it it feels like it was like a while ago for me. So I'm not I can't exactly remember his rotations in the fourth quarter. Um, but I can kind of piggy piggyback off of that one where I had uh one one reason uh why we lost the past few games. And that's are are we sure that Kobe White is uh is better than Colin Sexton? And uh this is a this is a hot take that I've had brewing Tim since pretty much we traded for him. Um and you know, everyone is like, wow, like the Hornets stole Kobe White at the deadline, and I get it. That's probably true. Um, but so far, Kobe White has not been better than Colin Sexton. Um and I have their stats on the Hornets pulled up here. Kobe White, first of all, played played in only six games. Um, he's been injured. He didn't play last night against the Trailblazers. Colin Sexton was pretty reliably healthy. Um and Kobe White's not playing back to backs, only playing 18 minutes per game. So that's that's just a baseline thing. And then secondarily, field goal percentage, Kobe White, 40% on the Hornets, uh, 29% from three. He is getting to the line a lot. The most on the team, actually, per game, 3.8. That is a point in his favor. But guess what? Colin Sexton got to the line 3.7 times per game. Um, so there was he was also very good at that. Um Kobe White, assists per game, only four. Uh Colin Sexton had 3.7, but Kobe White, it feels like at times can get a little bit of blinders on. Uh and he's missed Con Kanipple like five too many times for me personally. Um and yeah, Colin Sexton was just like a better three-point shooter, uh, a better scorer at the rim, actually, than Kobe White has been so far. And I just want to kind of dampen the like, you know, we can't we can be excited about a lot of things that are going on right now. Kobe White is probably not one of them. He's not been very good in his in his debut for the Hornets. He could definitely improve and he could make this take look stupid in 10 games. But so far, I don't think he's been some sort of like amazing addition to the team.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

Is it a coincidence we won without him last night, Mark? Just go ahead and say it. Had your knives out for him the whole time. But yeah, I have to say, as someone who was like super pumped, uh, you know, when we got Kobe White, hasn't really been like the most fun. Uh he definitely can get to the rim and split double teams and everything, but outside of that, yeah, I I don't know. I'm still chalking it up to like it's getting used to a new team, but like doesn't really seem like there's that much to get used to, and the only thing you do is drive and don't pass. So what is there really to adapt to? Uh that's a little harsh, but um yeah, haven't haven't loved haven't loved the experience so far, Mark. And you did call it day one when he was traded. We're like, you really better see calling some next two.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

Yeah, private, privately. I had I've had this take since like 2020. I mean, I don't know. It's been brewing for a long time. Uh yeah. Yeah. Um, and I am gonna give him the benefit of the doubt. Like, there is some sort of adjustment period, and I've learned in my time podcasting that six games is not enough of a sample size to make any sort of judgments on a player. But yeah, let's just Hortus fans, you can be like, there's a lot to be optimistic about, and maybe don't talk about like how Kobe White's some amazing player, because that's that's not been true so far. Um, and I mean, shout out to Colin Texton, bro. He was pretty good, good for us. Um I I think that there's something to be said about like don't mess up the chemistry, don't mess up the good thing that's that's going on. If Kobe White's gonna just like walk at the end of this year, I'm not sure that that was a great move.

SPEAKER_01 17:47

Yeah, you know, but I do I see I see where they're where they're going, at least where like if you do just think he's a better player and you think the team truly has juice, then you know, make that move in Jeff We Trust. Um But yeah, so so far, you know, I don't know. It'd be interesting if this was if this was Jordan era hornets, would we be just like, eh, it's just because he's the UNC guy? Um which I don't think is actually accurate. But I also I feel like he's kind of due for, you know, as you said, 29% from three. Don't think that's gonna be the case forever. Um you know, I'd like to see him turn it around, and I think if things do end up working out, he does add something to the team that we needed. Because in my heart, I do believe he's better than Colin Sexton. But again, six games. Not yet.

SPEAKER_00 18:43

Yeah. Yep. Okay, cool. Um, hopefully the listeners didn't turn off the podcast already after hearing that. Uh I just been disparaging Kobe White. Uh, I hope I hope he plays better. I hope that we uh get some more quality minutes out of Kobe White. And like I said, it's also just the injuries. Like he just didn't play last night for load management. Um, and Sexton didn't have that problem. So, anyways, uh, I got another one for us, Tim. Um, Miles Bridges, he is 14 of 42 in the last three. That is 33% from the field. He is one of 13 from the three-point line in the last three games. Uh, so last night, especially in that third quarter, as you as you texted me, Tim, he was struggling um to find his offense. And I have some stats for us that I think can kind of explain this. So in 2025, he averaged 16.2 shots per game, 20 points per game on 16 shots per game, and 43% from the field. Now in 2026, that is uh those numbers are down. He's shooting only 11.8 shots per game, that is four and a half shots less per game. He's averaging 14.5 points per game. That's down five and a half points per game, but he's more efficient, he's 45.3% from the field. And I think that as teams are kind of prepping for the Hornets more, and as frankly, we're just getting like teams' best efforts, it seems like now against the Hornets. Like they're like, oh shit, this team's hot. Everybody's talking about the Hornets, we gotta play better. Uh, they're kind of guarding our big three in a way that's that's way better or way more way more intense. And sometimes we need bridges to kind of step up a little bit, but it's very hard to go from you know, role player, which is what he's been playing for us in in 2026, to like uh I need to go get go get some buckets because because Khan and Brandon are are being you know double teamed every time they get the ball. Um and I think that he's kind of struggling in that in-between where he is our fourth option, but sometimes we need him to be our second option. And yeah, last night against the Blazers, I think that was on display. It's it's hard to go from just not getting the ball to all of a sudden you gotta you're being asked to do everything.

SPEAKER_01 21:09

Yeah, I think that's I think that's a kind way to put it. And I think you're definitely right about them zoning in on the big three. Like what I always think of as like a fan is like if I was rooting against my team, like what would I want them to do? And it would definitely be for Miles Bridges to take, you know, 20 shots in a game. He was really bad last night. He was kind of just not, you know, just as you said, just floating uh through these last couple games. And I do think there's kind of a reason why, like, you know, part of it is roll and everything like that. He's just not like a super scalable player, unless, you know, even with good spacing, there's only so much Miles can really do, especially if the shot has abandoned him. Because he's not just gonna post somebody up and draw fouls, or he's not just gonna like electric enough to get to the rim. He's just kind of a player that's in no man's land. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Mm-hmm. And I feel like for the most part on this winning streak, he has been like pretty damn good. Um I think that just his his cold shooting nights kind of like stand out. Um because it's bricking like five foot hook shots. You know, like it's like uh he's open wide open from three, but like I said, he hasn't gotten the ball for two minutes, so he he clans it off the rim. Um yeah, and his and his bad nights just kind of stand out. Last night was definitely one of them. Yeah. What else you got, Tim?

SPEAKER_01 22:34

Um for that, and not not that it's entirely kind of Issa's fault. Uh outside of the Celtics game, Lamello's been pretty meh. You know, even like the Dallas game, you know, poor shooting. But like last night, what did he have? You know, four fouls relatively early. Just kind of like Yeah. Um, but you know, like the four I bring up the four fouls just because it seemed like it impacted his minutes a little bit and the flow, so like maybe give him pass on that. But just hasn't really hasn't really knocked my socks off outside of the Celtics game in the last, you know, like 10 days.

SPEAKER_00 23:15

Uh for sure. I have this too. I mean, it's the duality of the Lomelo ball experience, right? Um, where against the Celtics, he's hitting uh fadeaway one-legged 40-foot three-pointers. Uh, and then against the Trailblazers, he's it he's airballing floaters uh and he's getting six fouls. Just goofy shit, to be honest. Like, this is why I have I have a coworker who says Lamello Ball is not a serious basketball player. Uh, and you know, he he still gets that um from I mean feels like national media is just bandwagon fans. I mean, people some people were saying that, and it's still like kind of true. Uh, he still just is very hot and cold. Um like I I I thought that last night's game was sort of a perfect example of like why he's not there yet in terms of like all NBA player.

SPEAKER_01 24:12

Yeah, not not yeah. I mean that's that's just an absolute dud stinker of a game. Um that was out of there. I would um he was good in the fourth quarter. That but that was it. The first three quarters, he was awful. Yeah. Um and you know, not comparing him to this actual player, because I know we already established that they're better than these 17 Warriors. Um I remember in regards to Steph not winning those, you know, the finals MVPs, the first three championships, um, pretty much because he would have like one just stinker shooting night per series, where there's like the five for 21, stuff like that. Nate Duncan made the point in you know, like talking about like why Steph kind of left out of like the LeBron KD conversation at times, just because the bad games look so bad um when the shot is not falling. And Lamello has that as well. Like, obviously, shooting is not the only thing that he does, but he's not going to get to the line eight times in a game where it's not falling. Um so you know, when he is really just you know not hitting his shots, the game's just it just looks especially challenging for him in a way that you know it's not that case for obviously Anthony Edwards is just a better player, but even like a Tyrese Halliburton, you know.

SPEAKER_00 25:37

Actually, Halliburton can have some, I mean can have some stinkers too for sure. Um I think they're kind of similar players in in that way, but I know exactly what you're what you're saying. Like Lamello's offense is so predicated on on three-pointers. Uh it's so predicated on him having like a decent shooting night that if he's not, it just goes very bad very quickly. And he needs to find ways to contribute to the game when he's when he's having off nights. And I said that, and of course, I think he does. Like, he does have that passing ability, he does have that playmaking ability. Um, but one thing I I also noted was that in the last four games he has four assists, six assists, five assists, four assists. Like, that's not good enough. Um, you know, he needs to be getting finding other people uh way more than that for us to to be if we want to make the playoffs and win a playoff series.

SPEAKER_01 26:30

Yeah, especially, you know, we've been I feel like we've been very, very kind. Talk about the subtlety of Lamelo's game. Yeah, like it's not just shooting, but it's like, yeah, man, I wouldn't really mind, like, you know, you got a 27 and 12 in you anywhere, buddy.

SPEAKER_00 26:45

Yeah, exactly. Um, okay, so one more thing I had for us and reasons why we lost, and I've already kind of mentioned it. I do just think that we are getting teams like best efforts now when we face them. So against the Heat, uh Tyler Harrow was on fire. Uh, I don't know if he's had that good of a game all season. Uh Jaime Hawkes like made like three threes, and he's not a good three-point shooter. Um, against the Trailblazers, like I definitely feel like that was the case last night where they came out wanting to give up their their best effort. We were down by 19 in that game. Scoot Henderson randomly made five threes, like Scoots like third best game of his career. Uh a little shots fired. Scoot Henderson here uh for no reason. Um, yeah, and I mean the Suns, too. Uh you know, these teams just the only the only team that didn't get the memo was the Celtics. It feels like the teams after the Celtics were like, oh shit, we saw what the Hornets did to the Celtics. We gotta we gotta take them seriously.

SPEAKER_01 27:49

Yeah, you know, much like becoming an adult. It's like, man, it sucks to, you know, that you have higher standards now. Um it's like, yeah, man, we're we're not just like sneaking up on teams. The heat game, I especially felt like, you know, people, people in my office were like, oh man, should I bet? And I was like, no, I just never never bet on a heat game. Like, never know what Eric Spolster's gonna do. And they just have our number, which you know, we play them, play them here coming up again, and they just terrify me. But yeah, the you know, the Blazers, that's a great point. Yeah, no more just sneaking up on teams. It was fun while it lasted, though.

SPEAKER_00 28:26

Yeah, man. Um, it was okay. Your next question, Tim, uh, that you had for me was would you rather win the lottery or win a first round playoff series? And uh, I don't even really have an answer for this question yet. Uh, so I'm gonna let you go first.

SPEAKER_01 28:48

You know, I feel like for the first couple years of the podcast, I would have said long term. Let's do that. Wrong! Win that first round playoff series. Alright, Steven Jackson is my favorite player of all time, and part of that is the fact that they upset the Mavericks in 2007. Um that lasts forever, and you know, it doesn't say only one playoff series. But yeah, man, I I can't believe it. But at this point, who cares? You know, who knows what's gonna happen next year? If we get the first pick and Lamelo's hurt, it doesn't really matter, you know? Let's just ride this. Hypothetical.

SPEAKER_00 29:25

Um, I like I like that answer as well. The nerd in me wants to win the lottery, and then we'll have years of uh success to come. Um but if you think about it, like winning a first round playoff series probably entails beating the Pistons or the Celtics, because we're gonna be a playoff play-in team. Um, and like the the sweetness of either of those, right? Especially beating the Celtics. So if if it's beating the Celtics, I'll take I'll take win the first round playoff series. Uh if it's beating the Pistons, I'll take or anybody else, I'll take the winning the lottery. How about that for an answer?

SPEAKER_01 30:05

Yeah, I was I was leaning that way as well. God, dude. I mean, you know what? Let's dare to dream. We just we just crapped on the team for 10 minutes. Um, oh my god, yeah, dude. Beating the Celtics in round one with Jason Tatum there. God. I mean, that would be that would definitely be de facto, no question, best moment in franchise history.

SPEAKER_00 30:24

I mean, yeah, definitely. It definitely would. I mean, was was the best moment in franchise history the win against the Celtics? That's exactly what I was thinking.

SPEAKER_01 30:33

I was like, ah, you know, Glenn Rice breaking the all-star game points in a quarter record.

SPEAKER_00 30:41

Yeah. Yeah, no, obviously, we were not, uh, you know, me and Tim are 28 years old. We were not around for the uh 90s Hornets, but um, yeah, you know, they didn't win their division either. So can't have been that good. No, I'm just I'm just kidding.

SPEAKER_01 30:59

Uh morning done recently.

SPEAKER_00 31:05

Oh my god. Um, okay. So uh Tim, uh that's that's all I had for us for for today. Um I got some takes on the Hornets draft that um I'll save for next week because I I think you gotta get to work. Um, but what you got for Media Corner?

SPEAKER_01 31:24

Ah Mark, you'll be able to uh to relate to this. It's a movie called La Shimara. Um and it is about an Englishman played by Josh O'Connor, uh, who is just out in the kind of out in the shit in Italy by Frankly. He's an archaeologist, and um you know, falls in with a rough crowd, maybe falls in love, maybe gets into some trouble. Um, but it's an absolutely stunning movie, one of the most beautiful movies of the 2020s, and I highly recommend it to anyone out there. Is an Italian for a large portion of it.

SPEAKER_00 32:00

Um, okay. I have uh MJ Lenderman, Tim. Your recommendation. Uh yeah, so I was I was going to ACL Music Festival in Austin, Texas, um, in October, and I was like literally in line, and I was like, I don't know any of these artists. So I'm gonna text Tim and see see what he says I should go to. And you sent me a bunch of people to check out, but you said the MJ Lenderman was like a must-see. Uh and I went and it was really, really good. It's probably my favorite show. It definitely was my favorite show I saw at ACL. Uh, and yeah, ever since then, just been listening to him. Uh, Asheville NC, native, North Carolina. Check it out. Uh, music is a little little bit of uh what would you describe them as, Tim?

SPEAKER_01 32:46

Um, I would say that he's he's in the the like alt-rock, you know, indie country that's really been popping up, like the the wax a hatchies of the world who we played guitar on. But yeah, honestly, that whole Asheville uh contingent. Well, I think they were all in the grade, and shout out to our listener Kate, who actually recommended it. But yeah, MJ Lenderman, Wednesday, Indigo D'Souza. Um, bunch of really great artists coming out of Asheville and all lined up with our age, so maybe that's part of the reason as well.

SPEAKER_00 33:20

Yeah, I'm um I'm traveling right now, Tim, and sometimes there's like noise around where I'm where I'm staying. Uh, and so my move to fall asleep is to throw in the AirPods, put on some like noise canceling, and throw, throw right back to it on, and I'll fall asleep immediately.

SPEAKER_01 33:37

Ah, man, doesn't that just make you? That's that's beautiful. So you've been doing some traveling, Mark.

SPEAKER_00 33:43

Yes, uh, yeah, and actually uh on digital nomading, sorry to use that word. Um, but yeah, that's that's what I'm doing in in Europe. Uh and right now I'm in Serbia. I mentioned that earlier. Kind of a a basketball haven, if you will, here. Uh, I got here, got in the taxi, and the taxi driver's like, oh, you're from the US? You like Jokic? And I'm like, Yep, that's kind of why I'm here. Uh and uh and I was like, where can I play pickup? And he laughed and he was like, anywhere. Like anywhere you want. You can go play pickup at any park. Uh yesterday I checked out this like uh fortress that has a basketball court, uh multiple basketball courts, actually. And on Friday, I'm going to a Euroleague game between Red Star and uh a team from Istanbul that I cannot pronounce. So uh very excited for that. Serbian games are notoriously uh very, very like loud and very good fans. And really the big game is there are two two teams from Belgrade that are uh Red Star and Partisan. And you either like Red Star or you like Partisan, and like they don't they don't mess with each other. Uh that game is apparently crazy. But the game I'm going to is is a solid runner-up because the Istanbul team is number one in your league right now.

SPEAKER_01 35:12

I like it. That's that's real hoops right there, Mark.

SPEAKER_00 35:15

Yeah, man. And also uh shout out to uh Armando Bakot, uh the center from UNC, uh, is just the center on this Istanbul team.

SPEAKER_01 35:27

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_00 35:28

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

unknown 35:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:31

Oh man, that's that's awesome. Well, I hope the uh I hope the game is good. I hope that uh you don't get knocked with a beer bottle or anything. Honestly, for the pod, kind of worth it. Get in a fight, Mark.

unknown 35:42

Sorry.

SPEAKER_00 35:43

No, no, no, no, no. No, but I will be scouting. I will be scouting um for like T John Salon's a replacement. Sorry, T John.

SPEAKER_01 35:54

Oh man, we just glad we didn't go a whole episode with shitting on that guy.

SPEAKER_00 36:03

All right, Tim. Uh, it's been real.

SPEAKER_01 36:05

Uh, you be safe out there, liquor bark. Peace.