Klay Thompson Returns, Warriors vs. Mavericks NBA Cup Opener

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00:00The Golden State Warriors and the Dallas Mavericks.

00:03Klay Thompson makes his return to the Bay against his splash family that is the Dubs.

00:09Two and a half point spread in favor of Golden State for the NBA Cup opener for both the

00:14Dubs and the Mavs in West Group C. Over under stands at 234.

00:20And I do want to remind everybody, Joe, that to get to the knockout round, that quarterfinal round,

00:25the three winners of each group and each conference advance.

00:29So six teams in general and then two wildcard teams make the knockout round as well.

00:34As we saw last year, everybody had to learn the tiebreakers, but one of the key tiebreakers

00:39in a group of only five teams could be point differential.

00:43So even if teams are up big, they might be trying to score at the end or even teams that are trailing

00:48trying to find some late minute buckets to run up the score and make their point differential look better.

00:55234. That total tonight in San Francisco.

00:59Yeah. And I mean, listen, it's maybe a good night to buy low on Klay Thompson,

01:05who has not exactly been shooting the rock very well.

01:08I think he he hasn't scored more than 13 points in his last seven games.

01:14He was two of 13 from three point range in the last two.

01:18But something tells me Klay's got to be ready to roll here tonight in his return to Golden State.

01:24And don't forget, Luca has been slowed a little bit here, dealing with a groin injury.

01:29So I would say these guys probably going to give Klay an opportunity to do exactly what he needs to do

01:36in order to show up and show out. And nobody is going to be more familiar with that gym than he is.

01:41So this should be an interesting night for Klay Thompson.

01:44I would look maybe to go up and over his his P.R.A. here tonight.

01:49Yeah, you see those numbers right there, Klay Thompson in his return over in five straight for Golden State, by the way.

01:57Joe, this is going to count toward your regular season standings.

02:00Of course, only the NBA Cup championship in Las Vegas, as we have learned,

02:05is the only game that does not count toward your regular season record.

02:10So when you look at the regular season records around the NBA right now,

02:14there is a fascinating narrative starting to build.

02:17How strong the Western Conference might be and how weak the Eastern Conference currently looks.

02:23Only two teams out east are above 500.

02:27The only undefeated team in the NBA, Cleveland.

02:30The reigning NBA champs and the NBA Cup favorites, the Boston Celtics at nine and two.

02:35Everybody else, 500 or worse.

02:38The Mavericks currently, of course, if the season ended today, sounds crazy,

02:4110 games into an 82 game regular season.

02:44But the Mavericks at an even 500, five and five, would be on the outside of the play-in tournament looking in.

02:50Golden State off to a great start, eight and two,

02:52but only three of the 10 games at the Chase Center in San Francisco to begin.

02:57Both two and one straight up and against the spread.

03:01Under in two of those three home games for Golden State.