Portland Has a Path to the 8th Seed | How 2 Trail Blazers are Navigating Fasting During Ramadan

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What's up, a world at your pass verse point guard and trailblazers reporter Mike Richmond,

you're listening to another episode of Lockdown on Blazers, out of the Lockdown podcast

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every day.

And today show we're going to check in on the standings now that the Blazers got Danny

Avdia back in the fold and they look to be perhaps more, more competent heading down

the stretch of the season, actually goals of climbing in the standing seem real again.

So let's check in our friends to the south in California or maybe our hated enemies to

the south.

The clippers and the warriors and where they're at as the Blazers have a legitimate

chance still despite the way they came out of the all star break to finish eighth in

the Western conference and have a one game chance against the likely the Phoenix zones to

make the playoffs.

It is all on the table for well, we'll check on where the Blazers are, what they've got

left, what the clippers and warriors have been doing since the all star break.

And then I want to close the show with some interesting conversations I had in the locker

room about Blazers players fasting during Ramadan and this sort of the challenges both

mentally and physically with not eating a lot of calories during the month of Ramadan

and also playing in the NBA, which is a relatively demanding physical job.

Let's get into it.

The Blazers as I record this one after after I just watched the end of the Warriors game

and the end of the clippers game, the Blazers sit at 31 and 34, a game and a half back

of the clippers and warriors who are tied for the eight in the eight nine spot each at 32

and 32, the war, the clippers finally, finally, back to 500.

They started the year three and three.

Then they dropped to five and twenty one.

And then they have slowly called, crawled their way back, shipped off James Harden exchange

for Ben Matheryn and now they're at 32 and 32.

The Warriors have lost two straight to drop down to 32 and 32 and the Blazers, just

a game and a half back at 31 and 34.

And I think that alone is like to be there is pretty meaningful because when coming out

of the all star break, the Blazers were tied with the clippers.

You know, they, I guess they've dropped back at the clippers because they've been playing

a little bit better, but like they were, they were tied with the clippers and they were

two and a half back of the Warriors.

But Denny Avdia basically just like doesn't play out of the all star break.

You know, a place in the first game, the place was lost by 54.

They just got absolutely punked by the nuggets and then Denny plays, you know, a minute

of the following game, 50, 59 seconds.

So he, he's essentially missed seven of the nine games out of the break and the Blazers

are four and five.

And now like if you were to look at it, just sort of like the binary of like, did they

win the game?

They were supposed to win or did they lose?

I don't think they've had any like negative results in terms of just like binary win loss,

you know, that they bounce back and they play this incredibly shorthanded sons who just

like can't score because they don't have any offense beat the sons, you know, no grace

now and no Dylan Brooks, no, no Devon Booker beat a really shorthanded just underman

son's team.

Cool.

They beat a bad bull's team, the mini bulls who just like don't have size and are like

kind of halfway and tanking at at long last, but like not actually they beat the Grizzlies

who are no good and don't have any interest in winning and like rested, played their good

players the night before and rested them the following game against against the Blazers

as opposed to say splitting up some of their good players so they would have a chance to

win both games.

No, no, no, no, no, just play them all against Minnesota and then rest them all against

the Blazers.

You know, and and then they beat the on Sunday, they beat the crap out of a very bad

Pacers team, but like I this podcast really kind of rejects the the binary of win good

loss bad.

Like I think the qualitative stuff is what makes this podcast what it is, right?

We get into it, you know, so I don't like the winning is the sons ugly basketball

game.

The winning against the bulls, not a good basketball game, the winning against the Grizzlies,

not exactly a heartening basketball game Pacers, though they, you know, they get their

dudes back, you know, Denny, that do specifically know disrespect to Chris, Chris Murray who did

play ahead of city Soko in that game and city did not play until garbage time.

He was not part of the 10 man rotation.

So maybe Chris is a dude.

But like you get Denny back and scoot Henderson has after a really rough stretch of four games,

the best game he's had all season long and it's like, you know what?

You're coming back up for air after a kind of a maybe a little bit longer in the deep

end than you wanted to be and they're just they're not really in that bad of a spot.

Like I said, a game and a half back.

And then like the schedule is going to, it's going to soften up is the wrong word because

it's not like the schedule has been incredibly demanding out of the break, right?

They played some good teams, Hornets are good.

The Rockets are good.

T-Wols are good.

Denver's good.

Like those are all good basketball teams, but they, they, you know, they can play the Hornets

again.

That's their next game.

Tuesday, you're listening to Tuesday March 10th show.

And I think like, I don't know, I've been doing this long enough to know that like it

only takes one win by a bunch of points for everyone to be like, the blazers are good

again.

Champion ship.

And so I, I understand the feeling it's like when they win, it feels like they'll never

lose.

So I caution maybe against saying they're all the way back and I caution against saying

the schedule is incredibly soft, although the schedule is pretty soft.

It's pretty soft.

It's going, it is, it is, they have an opportunity here.

And I think that's, that's the really important thing.

It's like, if Denny plays and who knows if he'll play back to back, so he got a couple

on the schedule and who knows like if, if, you know, he's played, he's, you know, come

back and had some moments with his back and then it's just like, he can't keep, can't

keep going.

And I think that some of it's just like totally unknowable with where he'll be at physically.

If he is on the court, they're going to be good enough to be in all of these games

and they're going to be good enough to climb in the standings.

And if you look at the teams above them, what the blazers need to climb towards is something

up like 40 wins.

I think they're schedule if they just take care of business has a pretty clean path to 38

wins.

They got to find a way to win some of the easier games or some of the more challenging

games.

If you don't, if you don't flub any of the winable games, if you don't, if you don't

accidentally lose to, to, you know, just flub a game against a bad team that doesn't

actually want to win anyways, but just like accidentally did it because it's a basketball

game.

Um, then like their, their paths to 38 wins is pretty easy and, um, or at least doable.

Easy is easy, a little bit disrespectful to like the reality of their situation, but

it's doable.

You, you stack a couple like, hey, I didn't think they'd beat, uh, whatever Denver or

San Antonio in April, well, then you've got to path to 40.

Um, the blazers, it's, it really is a nice, uh, off ramp for the regular season Tuesday

against one.

It's this good team.

They've been the best offense in the league, uh, since January 1st.

And now because we're so deep into the season, there are top five offense overall on the

league.

And then they're like have an above average net rating among, uh, all NBA teams for

the whole year, not just like the part where they have been really good.

Like this is, they're just a legitimately good team.

They've been better on defense than I ever could have possibly expected this season.

Um, I know the Hornets have been great in this little, this rowdy that they're on right

now, but they're, they're, that, that's a good team.

And when the blazers played them last time, Hornets didn't exactly run off and score a

ton of points on them, which they have been doing, you know, and they only had 109 and

they really struggled to score in the first three quarters.

They just kind of put the blazers away at the end and, uh, the blazers just absolutely

under no circumstances could score in that game.

Uh, but, you know, the Hornets, that's a tough test.

And then you play, they play the jazz on Friday and, uh, the jazz, uh,

don't really have interest in winning.

And they'll, they'll make sure that they do not put particularly good rosters out

there, but they're, they're, uh, they can mess around the win.

They, well, I just watched them win tonight, uh, more than that in a moment.

But Hornets jazzed home and then a five game road trip that goes through Philly,

Brooklyn, Indiana, uh, Minnesota, and Denver.

And I think that's the perfect road trip because it starts easy and finishes hard.

And that's exactly what you want.

You don't want to kick off the road trip with tough challenging games.

And then when you've been on the road for, you know, for, for eight days and

you're playing your fifth game in eight days in a, in a fifth different city,

like, oh, well, this is an easy game against the nets when you're just, just exhausted.

Like that's no good stack.

The hard ones are going to be hard regardless.

You might as well have them be, you know, it might as well double them up and make

the easiest games more winnable.

I think that's the best path forward.

Some of you may disagree with that theory there, but I, I, I do believe it.

Um, so yeah, Philly, Brooklyn, Indiana to kick off that road trip, um,

after this, after these last two games at home, they're, they're in a position,

right?

They're in a position where it's like, you win this game against the Hornets on Tuesday

and like you have a very, very reasonable path, a very, very reasonable pass to,

to winning seven in a row, excuse me, six in a row.

Like, um, yeah, it's, it's, it's, it really is there for them.

But it's not just the Blazers and like this wouldn't, none of this would be on the table

if, um, Danny wasn't healthy.

And if Danny is not healthy, none of them, then we're, uh, you don't get

to look up in the standings.

So the reality of just like without him is that they just have, they do not have

enough ways to generate advantages on offense for it to matter.

Um, let's talk warriors and let's talk, uh, let's talk Clippers because those

the two teams of blazers are chasing down, um, and I, uh, I've been, I've been

tracking them.

In fact, I watched, uh, the second half of both of their games in full this evening.

So, uh, let's, let's get, let's get into a little bit of, uh, of Clippers and

warrior standings watches.

The blazers try to track them down.

Join me in that second segment, won't you?

First, though, let's talk game time.

It's a stretch run of the NBA season.

There's nothing like being in the building with your fellow fans with the people

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So what I like about the game time app is that the app is super clean and intuitive

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So pull up what you want to go to on your phone.

I want to go see the blazers Friday night against the jazz.

Well, the motor center map pops up on your phone, uh, and what you see is what

you get pricing.

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Oh, well, I want to sit downstairs and be this much money.

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All right.

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Okay, the blazers are chasing them down.

Can they catch the warriors?

Can they catch the clippers?

I didn't do this for two weeks because it's just like, yeah, it's, it's not on the table.

I think there's a little, they're feels like there's a little more, you know,

I, I joke that like when the blazers win and scoop place, well, it's like,

Hall of Famer,

Cronin Cook, he did it again.

But like, I do think just the fact that, um,

Scoot Henderson had a positive game and like the, the, the,

Denny Avdia looking a lot like Denny Avdia to have a super efficient game.

You can play a lot better, but he looked like physically a lot more like himself.

Um, makes me think like it is reasonable to look up in the standings and say,

yeah, they could catch those teams.

Um, and in part because like the warriors are not healthy.

They're three and six after the All Star break.

Steph Curry hasn't played since January 30th.

Has not played since the end of January.

Uh, the, the warriors are now five and eight in those games without Steph.

Some of those obviously include without Jimmy Butler because he got hurt too.

They're beat up, right?

They're beat up.

Um, they were top heavy to begin with.

They've lost their best players.

Uh, it's Drain Mawn and DeAnthony Melton and Pods, right?

And, and like a lot of geysantos, um, then it's, and like a very little bit of

Chris Abspore Zingas every so often.

Um, but they like, you know, I watched the game tonight against Utah Jazz and the jazz

did it to him.

They did it to him and Blake Henson, who can really shoot it,

but absolutely under no circumstances could have he have helped the Portland

Treblasers at any point this year hit a huge three pointer with about a minute and a

half left to break open a tie game when neither team could score stepped into a

right wing three cash.

He's got to like a high release straight up and down jump shot is built like a

linebacker.

Um, it's a huge three.

He shot very well and, um, with, with Utah Jazz, of course, he played for the

rip city remix for much of this season.

And I want to reiterate, there's no reason to think that his three point

shooting could have helped the Portland Treblasers at any point this season.

It just, obviously, it could not have helped.

Get that out of your head.

What are you crazy?

That's, that is a lunacy to suggest that a three point shooter that plays for

your, a G league affiliate could have been helpful when you had another G league

on the roster that you never played and then waived.

Well, I mean, just like, why would they help?

But, um, yeah, on a, on a two way contract with Utah Jazz, Blake Henson hits a

huge three to break open a game, a, a tied game at 113 warriors can't score

down the stretch because they don't like, they don't have dudes that can,

generate a lot of offense and they lose to the jazz.

They've had this really weird stretch out of the All Star break where it's like,

or excuse me, it was in Steph has been out where they have wins over Denver,

the win over Houston, um, and then they have losses to Memphis, New Orleans,

and Utah, if the, if the, excuse me of the jazz, if the words had just done

the sort of take care of business plan, beat all the bad teams and then like,

hey, you steal a couple games from good teams, they would have, they,

they would have had a comfortable edge, right?

They would have had a comfortable three game edge over the clippers right now and

kind of like be, be in a really, really good spot heading in, heading into the end

of this. Um, instead because they, they, because of the loss to Memphis,

New Orleans and Utah, like the words in a dogfight, right?

They're, they're like, it's going to be very tough for them.

Um, and it's not clear exactly when Steph Curry is going to be back,

but apparently he, uh, according to reporting from ESPN, he, he,

he text stream on green and say, you know, hold down the floor.

I'm coming back blah, blah, blah.

Like let's, let's, let's not waste this season, all these things.

Um, Steph's really good.

If you place, they'll be good.

But like, come on now, uh, Memphis, New Orleans, Utah losses.

Like again, the blazers have had some bleak moments, um,

that they have not played good basketball, but they haven't dropped any,

they have not, they don't have a loss post all star break.

That's like troubling, right?

They've had some gross games.

I've had some troubling.

They've had some beat downs against good teams, right?

Like losing to the hawks by 25,000, um, and, and then losing to the nuggets

before that by 250,000, like those are troubling losses.

But like in terms of like, oh, might they lose those games?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, the binary, right?

They, those are loosable games.

Uh, the glippers, I like I said, back, finally back to 500,

they're six and, a six and four post all star, um, like, you know,

Ben Matheryn's been very, Ben Matheryn for them.

He scores a bunch of points.

He's not particularly efficient, but every so often you watch him and he does

something like a very physical drive to the rim, scoring through contact.

And you're like, yeah, he's good.

Um, and then you, you also watch him do that and I cannot make a read

to throw to a wide open three to someone, you know, uh,

it's spotted on the weak side or, um, you know, just, uh, he just very,

Ben Matheryn, he had some, he had some undeniable skills,

but he's a frustrating, uh, frustrating player in terms of, uh,

feeling the game at full speed.

Um, but like he's helped.

Um, I think he's lead, they said on the broadcast.

I was on, uh, one of the networks prime, I think it was on one of the,

the hard to watch networks, uh, like it, that he leads all players and bench points,

uh, after the all start breaks.

So Matheryn's helped.

No doubt about it.

Um, they've, and Darius Garland played in, in, in, uh, this game and now that he's

back, like the, the, the, the, the clippers aren't.

They're not, they're not like good, I wouldn't say that, but they're like,

they're not a bad team, right?

Um, they could be, they can beat anyone because Kauai at certain moments is

the best player in the league.

I mean, he's, he can turn it on to be, you know, I think he's, he's,

he's maybe the best American player in the league right now.

He's up there, um, but like he's, um, yeah, they, they, they've, they're,

they're, they're even post James Harden.

They're a good, they're a good enough basketball team.

And I really think it's going to come down for the clippers and the blazers.

They play twice, um, once on March 31st and one on, once on April 10th,

which is the penultimate game of the season.

A very, it's very, uh, that's not odd, but it is rare in the league, um,

to have those like final couple games be like really meaningful.

Though that, that game might be really meaningful.

They might, that might be real.

Like usually, you know, you get three across the league that are like teams

jockeying for position that happen to play each other in the final, final two or

three games.

Clippers and Blazers might be that, that game on April 10th.

That might be like a legitimately very big game.

Um, and that'll be that, uh, one that's, you know, could decide standings,

could decide like if the, if the clippers or blazer on the seven eight line

or nine ten line, or if they're both in the nine ten line, if they're playing,

you know, playing, uh, home or away in the, uh, in a playing game.

Like, that's going to be a big game.

I, I imagine, um, if the blazers stay healthy and the, and the clippers stay

healthy, that those two games will basically decide their distance because you,

you get to, it's a big jump in the standings, winning head to head.

Um, you know, obviously you split them.

It's kind of a wash.

But if you can blazers wipe a chant, those are like sort of

control your own destiny type of games.

Uh, the blazers of course have won the, the season series against the warriors.

So if those two teams end up tied, then the blazers will, will cruise.

Uh, blazers and here's what they got left.

17, including nine at home and eight on the road.

Um, you know, this five game road trip and then seven of 10 to close.

Um, so Hornets, Jazz, five game, five game around the road and then seven of

10, seven of 10, uh, to, uh, at the motor center to, to wrap this thing up.

Um, they, they've, they've got a, they've got a shot.

Uh, warriors, they've got, uh, 18 left, nine and nine, nine at home, nine on the road.

Clippers, uh, 18 left, 11 at home, seven on the road, uh, crafted MBA has the

blazers with the easiest remaining schedule.

The clippers with a 30's, some remaining schedule on the warriors with the eighth

easiest.

So warriors as it looks right now projecting forward a little bit harder.

I think the relative difference in ease of schedules is hard to know into the

future.

But, um, you know, I, I think both the clippers and blazers have relatively

easy schedules like, I would say comparatively easy schedules remaining.

So I think that's, um, that's what you need to know.

And we'll check back in on this.

We'll follow this for the rest of the year because, um, again, if the blazers

have this group that they had on Sunday, they are good enough to look up in the

standings and with only a game and a half back of the eight seed with, uh,

17 left, it is right there for them.

They just have to take care of business.

No bad losses and they're going to be no bad losses.

And you, you, you either win a game against a team that, uh, a legitimately

good playoff team or you meet a legitimately good playoff team on a night

when they do not care to win and they gift you a bad roster to play against,

take it and hide, run away with it.

Um, that's, that's the path.

Like, you know, you played the nuggets and the spurs at the end of the year

in April and like maybe seeding is wrapped up or, you know, whatever it might

be, uh, and the West is pre crowded in the middle.

So I don't know if that will happen, but there's, there is a chance that that

is, that is the case.

Um, so that's, that's what they got left.

Um, okay, uh, cities of Soko and Jeremy Grants are both fasting during Ramadan.

Um, so I talked to both of them in the locker room on Sunday about what it

is like to play the demanding NBA schedule while limiting your eating hours

to before the sun rises and after it sets, uh, let's, and they offered some

interesting insights into both the technical and personal approach to fasting

during Ramadan.

I don't talk about that in the third segment.

Join me there won't you?

First though, let's talk about turbo tax.

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Still a pass for his point guard.

I'm still Mike Richman.

You're still listening to locks on blazers.

So this is why you join the members only discord.

This is this is why you join the lock down every day or club and then you

can get in the discord and come chat up with me because listen listener

Val discord member Val said like, Hey, I think that city

so go might be fasting during Ramadan.

And I said, I'll look into it and not only did I find out that city

was has been fasting during Ramadan is something that's been part of

his professional basketball journey for for a few years.

I found out that Jeremy Grant has also is it converted as long as three

years ago and has been spending the last three Ramadan's in season

fasting during the daylight hours.

So I went and talked to both of them about what that's like.

So, you know, join the join the locks and every day or club and get in,

get in on the inside help help make being a blazer fan.

More interesting by being a curious blazer fan and having someone who can go

ask the questions, you want answered.

That's kind of our relationship here.

And this is that's your access to do it.

So city has been fasting as a professional basketball player.

He said he really started doing it.

You know, it's been part of you know, raised it raised an Islamic household

and it's been part of his life for, you know, as from from early age.

But he started started being part of his sort of professional life when he was in

Spain and kind of figuring out how to balance as like a professional basketball

player.

And that was during the 21 22 season with spending a, a 30 day month each year.

It doesn't, it's a lunar calendar.

So it doesn't match up with our calendar here or like the Gregorian calendar

used by many of us in like half a bank based jobs.

But like spending, you know, a 30 day cycle not eating when the sun is up and the sun is down.

And I asked city about it like, you know, did he.

What, what, you know, what, what does he do to sort of prepare for?

He says, you know, it's just, it's, he sees it as an opportunity as a, like he sees it as a,

a chance to do something that is sort of a commitment to your faith, a commitment to doing

something that is hard, a commitment to having a sort of a personal challenge that proves

your, not proves, that's not the right word, but shows your sort of personal faith and a,

a journey that you will undertake on your own and your sort of relationship with a higher power.

I asked him if he'd like, you know, talked to other players about, he said, you know, not,

not really. And then I was curious about like how if he had, you know,

discussed it with other MBA guys, sort of how he started to do. And he said, he kind of just did

a trial by air, like, you know, like in the early on, his professional career playing in Spain,

it's like, let's, let's see how I can do this. And now he said he's got a little more dialed,

like he understands, you know, about the MBA is a little bit different. He was talking about just

sort of the amount of travel in the league makes it harder because with changing time zones,

means that you have to track the sun a little bit different. And you're sort of also maybe chasing

the sun or while you're on an airplane overnight and it can be, it can be, it can be challenging

with back to backs and all that road travel. In fact, city said that like when they got back really

late, heading into heading into the Sunday game against with daylight savings time heading

into the Sunday game against Indiana that kind of, it kind of did challenge him a little bit

just physically like in terms of waking up and getting the amount of food he needed to be ready

to play. And he said he was, he was going to eat a little bit during the day on Sunday just

to take care of his body, right? Because he just says, I've been sick the last week. I take care

of myself like this is, this is important. And, you know, I, I mentioned if he, I asked him if he

had kind of, you know, discuss the process with anyone. He said, he, you know, he doesn't because

he thinks it's very personal journey. Like that's, that's what was really important and was

a really person, sort of a really personal journey. And I asked Jeremy Grant, sort of a similar,

similar line of questions. City said like he's not a big eater. Like he doesn't wake up and need a

giant, a giant, giant breakfast and he'll, you know, he'll have food ready for him after the game

when he gets home. But he's not like, because of the way sort of the timing works, you know,

the sun sets right before tip off is not great. Exactly. Great time to cram a bunch of food if you're

going to go play an NBA basketball game. So, you know, he hadn't eaten and he was going to have to

go eat a real, a real meal after the game, although he had done some light snacking sort of

during the day on Sunday when I was specifically talking to him, just for sort of like taking care

of his body, health reasons. Jeremy Grant said he converted Islam three years ago. And he,

he told me that two things that I found very interesting and very Jeremy Grant is that he,

I asked him sort of, if, if he had talked to other NBA players. And what I asked him that is

because I remember when, and his cancer was here within Portland is that he said that he did,

like, reach out to a couple of Muslim players in the league and say, like, hey, how did you do this?

Like, what's the best way to just sort of take care of your body during, during Ramadan, right?

Like, I, you know, I want to fast. It's important to me. Like, it's important to my faith. It's

all these things. But like, how, how best, you know, seven foot three hundred pounds? Okay.

How do I do this and gardenically you'll get you in the playoffs? And he had talked a little bit

to a couple of players, including Kim Lajuan and like, kind of, um, got some insight. So I,

I figured that that wasn't on was, um, relatively common, right? Reach out to folks who would

experience before and understand sort of the demands of an NBA schedule and all that, right? And

so when I asked Jeremy Grant about it, in a very Jeremy Grant answer, he said, like, I don't want

to ask anyone because not only is it personal, but it's for me. Like, the part of what I'm doing

is, is figuring out how it works for me. And that, that is how he views, like, the, you know,

the month of Ramadan and, and, and, and sort of one of the pillars of Islam is faster than the

month of Ramadan. And like, why it, it's, it is important to follow that, um, the way you do it.

Much like city said, very personal. And then when I was sort of pressing the Jeremy on a little

bit and saying, like, well, you know, it's like, you're going to play 38 minutes. You're going to

get on a plane. Like, um, do you talk to nutritionists? And you know, guys talk to nutritionists all

the time when, not about fasting, but about like, where can I get my calories, you know, just like

take care of myself. And, and Jeremy said, you know, I think when you make it technical, it loses

some of its value. And I thought that was a very interesting Jeremy Grant insight is that he views

it as not only personal, but like, specifically doesn't want it to be technical about calorie and

taken all of those things. Jeremy says wakes up. Not told me on Sunday, he woke up at about because

of the time change, about 430 had a bagel, some eggs. He drinks a ton of water during the day.

Right. When the sun goes down before the game starts, city mentioned this as well, eat a couple

dates. Um, and then after the game, uh, Jeremy said, he'll, you know, he had a, maybe a salad and

like a wrap waiting at his house or something. He knew he had some food ready prepared to go eat.

But importantly, he said like his, his stomach is, uh, so small during during this fasting

period that he's just not starving. He's not eating these Olympic-sized breakfasts and trying

to get through the day. Um, he's, he's, uh, he is pushing forward with like this sort of the rhythm

that he has figured out on his own personal journey. Um, to do this, uh, to, you know, play it

at a pretty high level, um, and play a bunch of minutes. You're playing a lot more, playing a,

you know, starters minutes more than the city, like, um, while fasting throughout the day. Um,

and he's, he's when I was chatting with him after the game, he said, you know, I have this beat

juice and then I'm going to go home and have an eatin' all day. I've had a couple of dates in this

beat juice and I'm going to go home and eat and then I'm going to go to and like, but like the big

thing is, you know, just, uh, stay committed to it because the sort of the, the, the commitment is

the, is the whole process. That's why you're doing it is because you are, you are staying the, the,

the finding your rhythm in the commitment is what makes it a, you know, brings you closer to

as, as sort of a religious practice, brings you closer to your higher power as a religious practice.

Um, I thought it was fascinating. Um, it is, uh, a unique journey and like, you know, city and

Jeremy aren't really discussing how, hey, how are you doing? They're just like, okay, we're both

doing this. Um, and, uh, we're going on our personal journeys. Um, I, I, you know, I, I think

their teammates are like vaguely aware of it, but it is not a, like a sort of a big,

a big thing to celebrate. It is just a quiet, private practice that both of them are going through.

Um, and I found it fascinating and, um, uh, that I was, you know, they were open with chatting with me

and I appreciate their willingness to discuss it, uh, with someone who's like a, you know, total novice

in the area, um, and, uh, was, uh, I appreciate their time. So, uh, thanks Jeremy and city and thanks

again to Val and the discord for pointing that one out. Um, that's what we do five days a week,

wherever you get podcasts also on you to Blazers play the Hornets tomorrow evening. Next time you

hear my voice, we'll recap everything that happened in that game. I appreciate you listening. I will

talk to you soon.

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