FIRST TAKE | Mavericks are the best team in West – Stephen A. on Luka drops 41 Pts as Mavs beat Suns

FIRST TAKE | Mavericks are the best team in West – Stephen A. on Luka drops 41 Pts as Mavs beat Suns

The young bloods in action last night good morning everybody welcome into first take as you can see Stephen A Smith is back and ready to go Brian wior is here with us Kendrick Perkins will be here in a minute and Stephen A as you mentioned obviously in Minnesota for the

All access tonight the big game bucks at t-wolves looking forward to that and Carl Anthony towns will also be joining us live so looking forward to talking to him as well how we doing guys well well first of all first of all Molly you look very nice Snow White you look very very

Nice congratulations with that very nice Wendy you know you know you know Wendy I mean I got to get on you I mean you look dapper don’t get me wrong The Blaze is nice and the shirt but I’ve noticed something about you you’re one of the rare individuals that has shown up on

First take and you’re never ever wearing a tie now you do understand that there is a standard on first take we don’t play that Wy so I mean it’s a beautiful Mall out here in in the Twin City do do I need to go and get you some ties I’m

Happy to do it before you jump in here Wendy Stephen A you got to admit though his hair is always tight he’s always has a nice ja so he always looks clean like I think he gets away with the no tie and it and it’s still he’s the only guy

Who’s here he’s the only guy who’s here look looks better he’s the only guy whose hair look better than Top Gun himself JJ reic I mean I Gotta Give it to Wendy on that R I know I’m saying Wy Wendy do you do your ha someone come style

That no come on Molly I’m a low maintenance guy first off Molly uh I want to welcome Stephen A to the Upper Midwest in February we’re always happy to have you and come back anytime and this is your show Mr Smith if you wanted to I I usually save the tie for

Countdown but if you uh if that’s what you prefer you will not see me on the show without I promise I just want you I just I don’t mind it from time to time I just want you reminding the audience how Dapper you can be first take we have a

Stand I know Daman Woody tried to lower it a little bit cuz he tries to show up with just this this crew necks and stuff now we’re not having that okay we’re not having that all right there’s a standard that is set on first take and we GNA

Live up to it but every now and then you can do that but next time I see you I want to tie don’t let you want me to buy you one I’m happy to go do all right well Stephen I’m certainly excited to see to see bucks at Timberwolves tonight

On ESPN 10 p.m. Eastern but we had some really good games last night in the NBA so let’s flash back real quick guys how about the Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns faced off in a highly anticipated match up from the NBA Allstar break the Mavs took the 123 113 Victory Luca donic

Totaling 41 points 11 assists nine rebounds Kyrie adding 29 in the win meanwhile look out for Shay gilis Alexander scored 31 points as the Thunder beat the Clippers 129 107 in a matchup of Western Conference contenders CH holr had 17 10 rebounds three blocks for OKC so gentlemen the Western

Conference looking like it’ll come down to the finish with the top eight seeds being separated by just seven games while the Thunder are just a game behind the t- Wolves for the top seed following their big win over the Clippers last night okay again uh Kendrick Perkin

Should be with us shortly Stephen A I want to start with you here bigger headline was it Dallas’s win or the Clippers loss for me it’s the Clippers loss it’s it’s the Clippers loss I mean Dallas is really really nice to see what Kyrie who was spectacular last night and Luca who

Seems to always be spectacular it’s really nice to see what they’re doing in the midst of the seven game winning streak but people keep remember they got to remember the previous 27 games or so neither one of them were in the lineup together one was missing games or the

Other was missing games and so what we’re seeing from the Dallas Mavericks now is what we expect to see from them when they’re on the court together I don’t know if anybody expected to see what we’re seeing from the Oklahoma City Thunder the Clippers didn’t lose last

Night they got their ass kicked they they got their ass kicked in that second half Shay gilis Alexander is a leading candidate for League MVP honors I’ve got Jason Tatum at number one I’ve got no problem with having Shay gilis Alexander at number two they’re 38 and 17 this

Brother’s averaging 31 a game he’s leading he’s second in the league in scoring and he’s the league leader in assist you’ve got eight players in NBA history that have averaged over 30 with two steals per game in a season he’s one of them he’s on the verge of being the

Ninth player Michael Jordan did it eight times this is what we’re talking about you watch Shay gilis Alexander last night you watch him Boogie on the on the Los Angeles Clippers Paul George is on that Squad he’s a Defender kawh Leonard is on that Squad he’s a Defender Norman

Pow Russell Westbrook in the world and others they ain’t slouches this brother was dancing on dudes dancing on them Shay gilis Alexander is special special now they might be a little thin they might be a little young I’m looking at jayen Williams I love this brother’s

Game Chad hram I can’t sniff at it I’m looking at Giddy and the rest of these brothers they can play but Shay gilis Alexander is on another level and we looked at the Los Angeles Clippers and we said to ourselves watching them over the last few months James Harden hasn’t

Missed the game since he arrived in Los Angeles I remember Wendy coming on this show and talking about kawh lenett should needing to be a leading candidate for League MVP with how Sensational he’s looking Paul George promised us he was going to play bully ball against everybody this season and has going

About the business of stepping on a basketball court and doing exactly that we look at Russell Westbrook and Norman Powell and what they bring to the table along with Terence Mann and the exceptional coach in the Ty Lou and we said yo the Clippers may take the west

And then they went against Oklahoma City last night and Shay gilis Alexander put on a show and danced around them and if he’s going to do that and these young thoroughbreds are going to answer the call we are 55 games in for that team

And they are one game out of the lead in the western conference right now they are 38 they got 38 wins they’re 38 and 17 okay with 27 games to go they’re in route to a 50 to 52 53 win season we have to pay attention to the Oklahoma

City Thunder and recognize the fact that if for no other reason about their realness it’s this brother right here Shay gilis Alexander he is special and he is the one it’s not just special he’s the one with the ball in his hands he’s the one they give the ball to he’s the

One that runs their offense he’s the one they go to to close he’s the one they go to to do everything in between and I haven’t seen anybody that has an answer for him look out look out Stephen A Shay gildas Alexander is inevitable and what I mean by that is

You can’t stop him you mentioned they played 55 games I think he’s played 51 or 52 of them guess how many times he scored 30 points 40 40 good luck keeping this guy out of his spots good luck keeping this guy off the scoreboard good good luck keeping him off the foul line

He just goes where he needs to go and he never breaks stride he never changes his facial expression he’s got gigantic long arms so he’s a beast to defend out in the point of attack and he’s got great Wing Defenders with him this team is so

Deep that they just traded a guy to the Charlotte Hornen and Trey man who couldn’t crack their lineup he instantaneously is starting for them in Charlotte and they’ve won like four games with him as a starting uh guard uh this team is tremendous now the this

Game meant a lot Stephen A I know it was a game in February first game out of the break and all it’s easy to be a little sleepy this game was for the tie break and they they came in a half a game apart in the standings and I think the

Thunder if they’re going to make a run they do because they’re so young they are going to need homecourt advantage and so that matters that game was an important game they they they get right up on the the Timberwolves who you’re going to see tonight and they then they

Win that tie break it was almost like a double wi for the Thunder and one thing I think we’re going to be talking about a lot Stephen A in the upcoming months when we look at this Western Conference cuz it could go a bunch of different directions I have no idea who two

Through eight is going to be and look at this playin tournament right now right now if the play in tournament started right now you’d have the Lakers the Warriors and the sun you don’t think seating and and stuff might matter holy Moses you might if you’re if you’re

LeBron you might have to get through Steph and Durant just to get into the 18 matchup okay so that’s right the big thing that we’re going to see as we watch these matchups on play is size because some of these teams in the West can play with it some of them don’t play

With size they play small some of them have trouble with it and the reason I’m bringing that up is I do want to talk real quick about the Dallas Mavericks at the trade deadline Dallas paid a heavy price they gave away a first round pick and a pick Swap and they really really

Pressed to to get a team here but the thing that they did Stephen A is they got bigger not only did they bring in PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford but they got Maxi kba back and now now all of a sudden they can play a lot bigger and I

Got to tell you you better pay attention to the Dallas Mavericks they have won seven games in a row all seven since Kyrie came back in they’ve only Kyrie and Luca have only played 29 games together this season and they’re 10 games over 500 now obviously Kyrie’s got

To stay healthy Luca is a averaging 34 points a game we were going crazy over embid averaging 35 right this guy’s averaging 34 one of the league leaders and assist last night Stephen A in this game against the Suns who you know they were missing Bradley Beal I’m not going

To freak out Kyrie and and and and and Luca generated a 100 points between scoring and assisting keep an eye on the Mavericks well you say that and I get that and I understand that okay and it it’s only appropriate for at least for momentarily that I bring up Minnesota

When you bring up keeping your eyes on the Mavericks because Dallas just got size Minnesota has it and has had it for over a year since the acquisition of Rudy goar and Cat and Gober which is something we’ll get into a little bit later on in the show seems to have

Figured things out in terms of how they play together they’re the number one defensive they’re the number one team in the NBA and defensive efficiency we can’t ignore that they also got their own star in Anthony Edwards and we know about Anthony Edwards and SGA gilis Alexander and what they were the

Chirping that they were doing back and forth with one another weeks ago so we got to pay attention that not to mention the fact that they’re the top two seeds in the Western Conference but let me get back to Shay gilas Alexander Wendy because you brought it up you talked

About him he’s averaging over 30 that’s second in the league he’s averaging two over two steals that’s first in the league he’s 66 he’s a 66 point guard with a handle with a shot and oh by the way you brought up free throws just so happens to shoot

88% from the free throw line and then the brothers that he’s playing with what we’re seeing they’re lacking is girth because obviously you look at Chad holgren and he’s about my size in terms of girth but in but he’s 7even feet tall here’s the bottom line with Williams

With Dort with giddy with him and the other supplementary parts that they have we’ve got to take that in consideration and say this they may lack girth they may lack size in terms of mass but their young thorough Breads and I’m going to say this on National Television right

Now at some point in time I want to be very clear Sam pry is an exceptional executive I don’t I’m not casting any aspersions on him but I want to remind everybody you’ve had Kevin Durant you have Russell Westbrook James Harden Reggie Jackson back in the day Serge

Baka back in the day you’ve had Carmelo Anthony on that Squad you’ve had Paul George on that Squad you you I mean you’ve had pieces you’ve done everything but win a championship Sam prey is never in danger of losing his job he’s never in danger of not being seen as an elite

Executive and I get that but at some point in time you got to close the deal and when you think about the assets that he has coming down the pike because of the multitude of Trades that he’s been able to manufacture involving Russell Westbrook involving James Harden involving Paul George Etc the bottom

Line is this in the next three years or so come on speee spee spe fore fore good spee speeech foreign speeech come come here wow w w wow w wow yeah yeah look money fore I know movies foree speee fore for for spe speech speech spe fore speech foreign spee spee spe fore

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FIRST TAKE | Mavericks are the best team in West – Stephen A. on Luka drops 41 Pts as Mavs beat Suns