FIRST TAKE | “Mavericks & Thunder are the best teams in West” – Stephen A rips Clippers & Suns’ loss

FIRST TAKE | “Mavericks & Thunder are the best teams in West” – Stephen A rips Clippers & Suns’ loss

Know what that means honesty is not only the best policy but it is absolutely mandatory ladies and gentlemen I’m tired as hell I’ve been traveling all over the place I’ve had no sleep but damn it if I’m going to call out players for not showing up I’ll be damned if I’m not

Going to show up it’s first take Wendy’s in the house my man big perk is showing up Molly showed up she a take a Friday off and your boy is here all access live from Minnesota baby Minneapolis this is what it’s all about this is what it’s

All about it’s Stephen A and the crew guess what you know what I’m going to say right holl your boy W let’s go now 27 step three wow because you normally don’t see that from Luka dur with a three Booker p in got it look at that what a

Play by Booker moving the other way behind the back into oh what a play by Kyrie and the Dallas Mavericks will be a season best 10 games over 500 the Suns go from number five in the west down to number seven crossover from MJ oh sh just

BW him to the floor and SGA once again from the midrange man that’s not an ankle breaker that’s like a runaway freight train easy two for the rookie and a little extra spice on that jam man you talk about an exclamation on this game 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 kendri 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 uh you you know you know you know Wendy I 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’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 withy 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 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 who’s here look better than Top Gun himself JJ reic I mean I Gotta Give it to Wendy on that R I know what I’m saying Wy Wendy do you do your own hair 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 say the tie for countdown

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

Standing I know Dam wood he tried to lower it a little bit because 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 going to live up to it but every now and then you can do 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 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 All-Star 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 gildas Alexander scored 31 points as the Thunder beat the Clippers 129 107 in a matchup of Western Conference contenders CH homr 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 it’s 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 are 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 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 gilis Alexander at number two to 38 and

17 this brother’s averaging 31 a game he’s leading he’s second in the league and 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

Westbrooks 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 gild just 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 Lennard 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 man and the exceptional coaching the tyou 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 Alex and 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 able 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 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 the guy to the Charlotte horren 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 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 home court 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 win 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 playin 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

One 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 averaging 34 points a game we were going crazy over embid averaging 35 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 with him 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 sized Minnesota has it and has had it for over year since the acquisition of Rudy gobear 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 Shay 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 wested conference but let me get back to sh gilgas 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 saying they’re lacking is girth because obviously you look at ched hom grin and he’s about my size in terms of girth but in but he’s 7 feet tall here’s the bottom line with Williams with Dort

With giddy with him and the other supplementary parts that they had really fore for one of these days I’ll find my old self the past is a dream tomorrow is a new day I’ve known death so I know precious has defeated one of these days I’ll find my old self

Even if I forget my name I’ll remember her smile you’re done for you have deated my life your tower has destroyed speech spee spe speech ultimate they need a sword but I’m just a person your team has destroyed a tower even if I forget my name I’ll remember her smile en

They need a sword but I’m just a person VI spee speech foreign spe back foreign fore spee fore need for foree hey

FIRST TAKE | “Mavericks & Thunder are the best teams in West” – Stephen A. rips Clippers & Suns’ loss