Charlotte's Lemelle a ball against the Sixers and the King's Tyreese Halliburton against the Celtics.

Halliburton and Ball, both named January's rookie of the Month from the respective conferences.

So could be a very competitive race for rookie of the year guys.

Richard, Who do you think has the inside track right now?

I would say Ball, ball ball has the track to me.

In my opinion, I think Halliburton has been special.

I was quite critical of the Sacramental Squad early on, but he has been very, very impressive, actually talking to some people in the organization, you know?

And they think that eventually Halliburton could be their starting point guard.

And then you have the Aaron Fox be there to guard and that that looks pretty solid.

Dave, I like how Richard says talking to people in the organization like we don't know, because college roommate Luke Walton is the coach of the team, But sure, fine your sources.

Richard.

It was it was It was actually Harrison Barnes.

Look at that.

You could name check him.

I don't like to agree with Richard, but I'm with you here at the low.

Melo is, is the clear frontrunner here.

He's now in the starting lineup for Charlotte, even though both teams around 500 rookie the year has never really been about team success.

It's individual statistics.

Romelo already has an edge in that category.

I think they're only gonna grow gonna be great to see.

I would love a competitive race here, for sure.

Alright, guys.

The Boston Celtics stopping a two game losing streak with the win last night in Golden State, Boston dropping to fourth in the Eastern Conference there now five of five in their last 10 games.

Richard, do you think there are back on track with this win?

Or do you think the fact Marcus Smart is gonna be out for a little while?

Still, they're still gonna be able to shaky these next week or two?

I think they're gonna I think, the Boston Celtics, they're gonna be just fine.

I think getting Marcus smart is obviously key to their long term success.

But I think right now they have mawr than enough to be successful throughout this rest of the season.

There's a big minutes from Grant Williams in that Warriors game.

We just saw him hits.

The three is on the screen there.

Obviously, Kemba Walker is still working his way back in the lineup.

Get that one for 12 shooting night against the Lakers, but he said that he wants to be able to fit in where he gets in and allowed Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum continue their success.

I see Celtics as one of the two teams that could actually give the Nets a run for their money in the playoffs.

Them in Philly?

Yeah.

I mean, look long defenders, right?

I mean, that's kind of what is all gonna be about now in the Eastern Conference.

All right, I want to get, though, to this league pass game of the night.

There's a lot of games on the MBA slate friends, but our producers went with Mavericks at Hawks, 7 30.

Eastern won 10 games, but Luke and the Mavs in Atlanta taking entree young in the Hawks so much more than the old Luca versus trey storyline.

That's the 2018 draft.

We could put that to bed.

Now we know who both of these players are.

Let's talk more about the teams because the map started the year with high expectations, they have been free falling in the West.

Playoff standings.

Gentlemen.

Six game losing streak there on.

Remember last week we heard Luca make interesting public comments questioning his team's desire to win.

Meanwhile, the Hawks, sixth in the East, looking to bounce back from that loss to the Lakers that you covered.

Dave.

What your expectations for this game tonight, Dave.

You know, you would say the Mavericks could think that to be a game they could get back on track.

It's a 500 team in the East, a young team that hasn't figured out winning yet.

But I think there's another tough one for Dallas right now.

The they're playing with such camaraderie.

I watched them play the Lakers the other night, and you saw guys playing with purpose.

Trae Young.

There was some chatter earlier in the year that John Collins didn't really like the way he was fitting in with that group, but right now they're a group with purpose, and I think this is gonna be a tough one for the Mavericks.

What you got, Richard?

Well, I think this game is just going to be fun, To tell you the truth, there's very few regular season games that you can kind of look at and say, Hey, this is one that you really want to tune in because of the matchups.

Obviously, the Dallas Mavericks have kind of underachieved, and greatness is hard.

It's very hard to do it over long periods of time.

Do I think they're going to be fine with Luca and poor Zynga's and that crew?

Yes, but I think the Atlanta Hawks have, ah, very good opportunity.

When a team is struggling, though, Number one goal for you is to keep them struggling.

Yeah, and look, the Mavericks have lost a couple of those games lately.

Really close that last second finish to the Sons.

But as Yogi Berra once said, it's getting late early for that team.

They're not even not just in playoff contention.

They're not even in play in game contention yet.

They got to get back there.

Thank you, gentlemen.

Thanks.

Everyone out there.

We'll see you back tomorrow.

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