Games with Names - The Bubble Title with Jeanie Buss | 2020 NBA Finals: Game 6 Heat vs. Lakers

Episode Date: March 11, 2025

Jeanie Buss is in studio! The Lakers President and Governor is with us to relive one of the most unique NBA Finals of all time: Game Six of the 2020 NBA Finals between the Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers. Jeanie joins us on the couch (2:47). We got back to October of 2020 (37:49). We take a look back at these rosters (53:15). We get into the game (1:04:02). We score it (1:13:01). We wrap up with the a special edition of The Chill Zone presented by Coors Light (1:23:32). Support the show: http://www.gameswithnames.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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we take the news and boil it down to three essential stories so you can keep up without feeling stressed out. Listen up first from NPR on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. What's like the one thing that you learned the most from your dad that you use in your life now? If a deal isn't good for both sides, then it's not a good deal.

A one-sided deal is eventually going to either fall apart or come back and haunt you. It's just not the way to do business. And my dad was a very fair man and didn't take advantage of people. And that's, I carry in that tradition. I love that. That was a fair trade with the Luca thing, I guess.

I mean, it had to go there, Jeannie. Welcome to Games with Names. I'm Julian Edelman, they're Jack and Kyler, and we're on a mission to find the greatest game of all time. On today's episode we are covering Game 6 of the 2020 NBA Finals, Miami Heat vs. the LA Lakers with co-founder of WOW, Women of Wrestling, LA Icon, and Lakersakers governor Jeannie Buss. We get into talking LeBron James bubble championship. LeBron comes over and hugs me and whispers in

my ear I told you we would do this. What Kobe Bryant means to the Lakers? I know that Kobe knew how much we loved him. You can't replace that. And behind the scene of the Luca trade? It could blow up our season. So it was completely kept under wraps. Yeah. And then we're checking in with Jackie in this week's Chill Zone presented by Ours Life. You got to stick around to the very end. Games with Names is a production of iHeartRadio. October 11th, 2020 ESPN Worldwide Sports Complex Lake Buenavista, Florida. Uncertain times make for an unprecedented

path to winning it all. But one thing's for certain, LeBron James and the Lakers have Banner 17 in their sights. This is the Banner 17 game. Well, we have a very, very special guest, the Queen of L.A., the Queen of Sport. We got Jeannie Buss in the NUT House. Welcome to the NUT House in one sentence. Why did we pick Game six 2020 NBA Finals, eat versus Lakers game? Because that was the most recent one, most recent championship and a unique game

because it took place in the bubble. Is it the greatest game of all time? No. I mean, that's an integrity type score. Yeah, but I think it's the most interesting. Yeah, it is a very interesting game. I want to dive into it. But at first, can you walk us through the day to day

life of an owner of an NBA team? I'm interested because I kind of know what the NFL is. But you guys have so many less players. You have to have such intimate relationships with all your players. What's your day-to-day life? Well, we like to call ourselves governors now, as opposed to owners.

And I'm a co-owner, because it's my family's team. And we have other partial owners, but I'm the governor, which the governor means that you are responsible for every decision that is made by the team. You know, there's only one governor. There's only one governor. So, you know, it's it is about, you know, putting out fires when things go wrong. And there's always something that goes wrong. You're never prepared for everything. But, you know, I oversee the business operations, which includes broadcast,

marketing, sponsorship, season seat sales, you know, social media, and then of course the basketball department, which would be responsible for putting together the roster hiring the coach you know we're we're a particularly close team and I think some of the things that we've gone through the last few seasons especially most recently the fires in LA yeah, you know, kind of put the friendships in an even more meaningful way because you realize how quickly you can lose things. And so our, our brand new coach, JJ Reddick, you know, when we hired him, I was very excited, clearly a basketball mind, great communicator, great competitor,

wants to win, super smart, and he had to move his family from Brooklyn and his wife and two young kids, and I'm not sure they were really excited about moving because he took the job, they were already in school and so now they have to uplift away from all their friends and come to LA, so they rent a house and it lost it in the fires.

I heard about that. So I was worried that his wife was gonna to say, okay, I'm out. I'm done. I'm not. This was not meant to be. But instead, it's like they realize, you know, they want to be part of, you know, rebuilding the community. Yeah.

And they've already, you know, really taken their place in Laker, you know, the Laker family. And, you know, so, you know, I do a lot of different things. That's amazing. And when I when you talk about community in Laker, I've been in L.A. now for like. 15 years, full time, two years. And this is such a Laker town. Like that's the one thing, you know, is I'm a football guy. They always have a couple of football teams.

They're bouncing back and forth. Baseball is pretty good. They love the Dodgers. But this is like such a Laker town. And it's so great to see how you guys are with the community, because I watch the local news. You put on local news when you get older. I'm sitting there watching.

I see you guys going to charity events, rebuilding stuff. And it's freaking like the Lakers are LA. And it's awesome. I also have a really important question. I'm a podcast host. Do you think. Patrons probably give me a shot at a head coaching title. Are you interested in that?

No I'm not. Not at all. Are you sure? Cause JJ, man, he had a podcast, you would podcast the head coach. You know, Bob Kraft was really, really good friends with my dad. As a matter of fact, he credits my dad to getting him involved in sports. Oh wow. Because the very first team that Bob Kraft owned was a team called the Boston Lobsters, which was part of World Team Tennis.

And that was, you know, my dad's first team was the LA Strings World Team Tennis, a league that was started by Billie Jean King. And, you know, through their friendship every year on my dad's birthday, until he passed away, Bob Kraft would send him live lobsters from Boston, which was very cool. But he, you know, they were talking about the Patriots for sale. And he called my dad and said, what do you think about that? He said, absolutely, do whatever it takes to get the team. And so he got he bought the Patriots.

Oh, my. Yeah. History is a great honor. He's an he's an unbelievable guy. Like, I love Mr. Kraft, we had a very special, special relationship. I just want to thank you because it's because of your bloodline that I have that relationship with Mr. Kraft. It's all full circle. It's all full circle. What's it like on an NBA team? Like, and you were born in this because you were 18 when your dad got the team. You've been around the team.

You've had so many different roles in other sports to prepare you to become this. What's it like owning a goddamn? What's the biggest perk? You got to have some crazy perks out here in L.A. Do you know the tunnels? Is there underground tunnel system? I'm really interested in that. Is that is that real? I know you have a you have a key. You mean underneath? Yeah, there's underground tunnels.

Yes. Jesus. What is it? How is it? I mean, it's just so you can access across the street without having to leave the area and cross the street. Guys, it's real. But I still don't understand why you don't want to be a coach. Can I talk you into it? I'll tell you this right now.

I love football. And I have a lot of great experience from football. And I have a lot of knowledge of the game, because I learned from probably two of the greatest sports minds, three of the greatest sports minds in my sport, Mr. Kraft as an owner, Coach Belichick and Tom Brady as a competitor. So but I love. I love the game, but I remember as a player,

I would leave a 12 hour job, like 12, 13 hours of putting my work in all day football is different. We're preparing all day because there's one game. So you're literally doing everything you can to perform your best for three hours on a Sunday. So I would leave after a 14 hour day and our coaches are in the parking lot seeing their family for the first time. And they would go back in for night meetings. And that's the only time they would see their family. Now when you're a coach, you sacrifice in so much. And I've put my time in, and I've already had said

those no's to my family, my daughter, my brothers, my sisters, I've said those no's for a long time. So like, I enjoy football, I love football, I get my football fix on Fox, promoting the game. And then I love learning about other people and their preparation process and their love of their sport. So like and I get to have my relationship with my kid where I'm still picking her up every day or, you know, at school, I pick her up, take her, you know, when I have her.

So is there's a sacrifice. I love the time, but it's just you got to you got to have you got to have like coaches. I experienced winning at playing the game, like if you're a coach or someone and you love it like that and you're putting that much, do you got to have something wrong with you a little? Those guys are nuts. How about just don't rule it out completely? And do you mentor any players now?

I do. I mean, I talk with a lot of guys. Social media is awesome for that specific reason. Yeah, yeah. Like, you know, you hit a guy's story, a young player, he'll tap into you. And so it's a great way to communicate with young guys through that.

I love telling my story and giving what I felt. Help me get to where I was at to guys, because that's all you really have once you leave the game is the knowledge that you pass down to the other guys. Well, that sounds like a coach to me. I'm a podcaster, though. OK, all right. You know, so so the perks you you asked me what are the perks of being the owner. You need a podcast.

No, I don't. My husband has a podcast, and I was a guest on his podcast. That's actually how we met. Anyway, so I guess I can sit anywhere I want. No, I'm just kidding. You know, it's it's for me, it's about the fans. Yeah. And it's about doing things the right way. The way we play the game, the type of players we have,

you know, we we look at, you know, character integrity. And it really is about putting together a team of talent. But by coming together as a team, they can exceed their own expectations of what is it obtainable for their career. So it's, you know, that's the part that I love is, is watching the success of a team coming together and sacrificing for each other in order to win. And you know, my dad, you know, I mean, I learned from the best owner,

the most winningest owner of all time, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. I don't know. Is that good? That's really good. Is that good, guys? And so, you know, he talked about, you know, really if people in our position, you know, our job is to give the team the resources to get to, know get to the playoffs win a round or

two but to win a championship that comes from inside that comes from diving for that loose ball for you know just making that effort that you can't coach that you can't it comes from within and if you have that special you't coach that, you can't, it comes from within. And if you have that special bond that players play for each other, then the sky's the limit. That's when good things happen. A lot of perks. What's the annoying part of being the governor?

I mean, you don't make laws, but you gotta enforce them. You know, I think the part that kind of makes me crazy is when I you know fans tell me you know what the coach needs to do or what players to trade for and you know they're they it's kind of like wait why are you telling me this? Because I mean, you could not like the coach or you cannot like a move that was made. But like by you telling me how to correct it, you're insulting the people that work for me. You know, I'm going to be defensive about that. You know, it's got to be so much harder

to be an owner nowadays, because everyone has an opinion behind a keyboard that can somehow get picked up in another way. And there's just so many things coming from you in so many different directions with all the access to social media and the Internet and everything. And now we're in a eye is so gnarly. You talk with so much passion about your father you know and you can clearly tell that there was an unbelievable relationship and You know you've been in this family the Laker family pretty much

Along the existence of a lot of this What's like the one thing? That like you learn the most from your dad that you use in your life now? You know, it's about if a deal isn't good for both sides, then it's not a good deal, right? Like you can't, you know, a one sided deal is eventually going to either fall apart or come back and haunt you.

It's just not the way to do business. And my dad was a very fair man and didn't take advantage of people. And that's, I carry in that tradition. I love that. That was a fair trade with Luca thing, I guess I mean had to go there Jeannie you guys just got the best damn player at like 21 years old Look what we had to give up though. I know I mean Anthony Davis. We want to

That's a great owner. No, I mean like, do you know how hard that was? We were not looking to trade Anthony Davis. Dallas contacted us and he'd been making it clear that he wasn't happy, that he was having to play the five. He wanted to play the four. So it sounded like he was unhappy. And so, you know, I mean, it was a it was a deal that both sides wanted to make.

I mean, that's that's a mega that was a mega. That's like the biggest trade I've ever seen in all of sport, where you have two bases of the league swapping. And that's got gotta be awesome. That's so exciting for the Lakers to have another young, prominent face. I think that's gonna raise the Lakers even to higher levels, because he's international.

I didn't anticipate the global impact it would have. I mean, I knew it was gonna be a big story in the NBA, but that he really is a global superstar. And you know, another story that I'd like to tell about my dad is my dad was one of the best poker players, amateur poker players in the world. He was on the poker tour for a while and in 1993 was rookie of the year on the poker tour.

So he kept trying to teach me how to play poker. And I'm a terrible poker player because I don't have a poker face, right? Like I can't, I can't bluff. I'm not a good liar. And he kept trying and trying to find this like, Dad, why are you doing this to me? I don't like it. I don't I'm never going to be good. And he goes, he goes, well, I'm just I'm trying to teach you something. He said a lot of people think that poker is about, you know, like, you know, bluffing and, you know, he said, it's not.

It's a game of patience. And you have to wait until you have the cards. And he said, and I know you can get that part of it. He said, but once you get the cards, you gotta be able to go from zero to a hundred in a drop of a hat. And he goes, I'm not sure you can do that. And so, you know, when we traded for Anthony Davis,

we had to trade all of our young players plus draft picks, Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, and draft picks. I knew right then that's what he meant. Like, okay, here's the moment of truth, Jeannie. Can get Anthony Davis, but you gotta put your cards in. You gotta, you know, this is it. And, you know, we did that. We got Anthony Davis, and that led us to a championship.

So I think his lesson was learned. Man, you know, my dad's still around, but I still have my dad's head in my, anytime I'm making a decision, I just hear my dad, like, like the same way, the lessons that he taught me. And that's so I just that's touching that, you know, you still use it. Now, how big is this move going forward? You mean the trade? Yeah, I mean, I think we need to get

the right players around him. I think we have, it's very interesting to watch him play with LeBron. We don't have enough of a sample size yet, but wow, this kid can pass the ball. He sees the game like no one I've ever, I really had no idea how great of a mind he has for basketball.

So it's exciting. But people got to remember he hadn't played in months. He'd been out with an injury. So he's going to have to acclimate to playing full time again. And he didn't play last night. We played in Portland. We won. So all that part is good

But I think there's just gonna be It's gonna be a lot of fun. Our fans are already ecstatic Ecstatic going crazy see Luca jerseys everywhere in Brentwood. It's in Cray. It's crazy How they make those already And I love that he were 77 because we've never had like if he You can go down to the games. Yeah, I'll pass that. Like, how do they make those already? And I love that he wears 77 because we've never had, like, if he, you know, was wearing 24, it's like, sorry, you can't wear 24. It's retired.

But 77, we've never had a 77. He's got his own. Yeah. It's just, it's a, it's waiting to happen. Now, how does this move happen in the front office? The Mavericks call you. Are you sitting there like scratching you like, how does this go down? Do they call the GM and then they contact you and they tell you what's going like,

hey, we got to you know that the timeline started. You know, just because you'll never forget that day, January 7th, the Lakers were in Dallas. And that was the night that the fire started. So I was, you know, watching the fires, but also watching the game. And it was, you know, Luca was out. I think Kyrie was out. And, you know, I'm like, I think Kyrie was out and, you know, I'm like, oh good, an easy win, you know, like we can win this game. And of course the

players were all watching their phones because they didn't know what was happening, you know, especially JJ, you know, his wife had to evacuate. So it's like they were completely distracted from the game. And at that point, that's when Rob was at our GM, Rob Polinka was at the game. And he met with the GM of the Dallas team. And they had a conversation. And Rob thought about it for a day and then conversation and Rob thought about it for a day and then Came to me and said here's something that was kind of talked about a framework and I said well, I hope you told him that we're not trading Anthony Davis like that's not you know, we're not trading him and

As then we talked more and more, we figured out a framework that could work. And then the rest went on. And I said, what's the most important thing is that if the conversations become public, it could blow up our season because now you have a player who thinks they're going to get traded. It's hard for them to recalibrate. So you know what that's like.

So it was completely kept under wraps. And I think that's why it took everybody by such surprise. Yeah, that was. That that's going to be tough, like what a resilient group, though, for like the players looking at their phone. I was glued to the TV for six days straight. Shout out to all the news stations in L.A. I was like glued to this thing. They had the they had the maps and stuff so you could see the road with live pictures.

That was a crazy time. Well, unfortunately, and this shows maybe the lack of our preparedness from at the government level was that we were finding out our information from the news, not from any official, it was like there was a lack of leadership, unfortunately. And I agree with you, the news people, they're out there, there's embers flying, I'm like, how does their hair not catch on fire? Like, this is crazy.

They were going nuts. That was a cool time for the community during a very horrific time That I saw for the first time this community come together I was like my first experience of the LA community coming together to help people that were in need The responders people helping people that were from other neighborhoods that weren't affected and helping given time and food I mean it was it was pretty scary and given time and food. I mean, it was it was pretty scary.

Let's jump in and talk about the hiring process of a guy like J.J. Reddick. Like that is a splash because young gun, obviously brilliant mind coming from TV. Now, are we we here in pops in the brain? We're doing these are these these moves were like we got to how did how did that process go down? Yeah, you know, it's it's kind of like what you have to do is you have to decide, you know, what kind of team, what kind of, you know, what style of play you want to

play. And then you hire the coach that fits that and you fill the roster with players that mirror that style. You know, it's like, it's kind of like the most important decision you make and then all the decisions, you know, fall into line from there. And, you know, I had told our general manager, you know, I want you to find And you know, I had told our general manager, you know, I want you to find, you

know, a coach that, you know, mirrors what is important to you in basketball. And I want you to think differently. Like don't, you know, just do what the safe bet is, you know somebody you know, just like just give yourself the opportunity To like think outside the box, you know to use a cliche so You know, we started conversations with Dan Hurley Yukon which I'm sure you know him and

and JJ and And Rob was impressed with both of them. Both of them had a philosophy that matched his philosophy. And we kind of went on a parallel path. And the Dan Hurley path didn't work out. And so we pivoted to JJ and had him meet with key people in the organization. And he just kept impressing everybody. And you know, it's certainly a risk when you hire someone who's never been a head coach. And he was very forthcoming about, like, I don't have experience as a head coach.

So I need coaches on my staff that are going to help shore up what I don't know. So we have probably the best coaching bench in the league in Scotty Brooks and Nate McMillan, who've had tons of experience and tons of success in the NBA. And it all just came together the right way. The one concern I had was you know his wife is gonna say no way I'm moving to LA happy wife happy life. Yeah, they had just built a home They had just built a home in

Brooklyn and You know she jumped on board. I mean, I think it's it's been a great little move. Like he's like for me, I love former players that become head coaches. We just did that with the Patriots, with Mike Vrabel, guys that have performed at a high level, know what the locker room is about, but that are also brilliant minds. Like, I'm sure guys that play with JJ thought he was going to be a coach

because he seems like whenever he talks about basketball, he knows like all the X's and O's. That's a football term. Do they use it for basketball? Yes. Maybe all the X's and O terms. Like he just is one of those brilliant minds, but he also can communicate with the young fellows because he's been in that locker room as such early, like not that far removed. So I think it's amazing. You got to tell me about the forum back in the day.

What was the vibe like? It was exactly what the 80s were all about. Oh, man. I walked down those hallways because we did the roast at the forum. Oh, that's right. So we did the roast at the forum. Oh, that's right. So we did the roast at the forum. He walked down these. This is my first time at the forum. So I walked down these hallways and I see all these pictures. You see the pictures of all the stars that have been there, that have played there. And there's just like an aura about the forum because you're in the parking lot of the other place and then with the forum, it just it's a it's a landmark.

You walk in there and we went and saw I just took my daughter to Billie Eilish there. Oh, it was rocking. Well, like that had to be that help you with your experience of learning pro ownership, all that experience that you had doing all the forum stuff and all your other leagues. Yes, it was. It was a very important experience for me. I ran the forum for five years in the 90s and that I needed that experience for the position

that I'm in now because when you operate a venue, you're dealing with the unions, people, the box office, you know, the food and beverage customer service. And it was security. It was really good. Sanitation. Yes. And the forum is just one of the most beautiful buildings ever built and And if you notice the forum is built halfway underground So that it it's not this big behemoth that sits on top of the ground It's it's it's beautiful to look at. Yeah, so good. Well the whole thought my dad didn't build it

Jack Kent Cook built it and His thought was when people walk into the building Half of them are gonna walk downstairs like I'm sitting in the front row. I'm in the downstairs section, right? that's it was all marketing and I'm glad that your daughter is a Billie Eilish fan. Yeah, she's cool. She's really cool. We're talking about eating lunch, girls lunches and stuff. It's a little a little too much for an eight year old.

But dad try to be cool. We'll hit the concert. There's got to be what's the funnest memory you have of the forum. Oh, there's so many. Got to be one crazy story. You know what? It just pops in my mind.

What is it? Is that, you know, my dad was the first, you know, owner to have the Laker Girls, you know, and you know, people ask me, why, why isn't there a male dancer with the Laker girls? And the whole point that he made about having a dance squad was that when the men play, they're the center stage. When they take a break, now it's the women's turn to be center stage.

So it was all about equal opportunity and giving women the chance to perform in front of a huge audience. And so one of the very first Laker girls was a girl by the name of Paula Abdul. And because she- They didn't tell me. Yeah, so this is, that's how she was discovered

because she did a lot of the choreography for the Laker girls. And at that time, Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, all the Jacksons would come to Laker games, and they liked the way the Laker girls danced. And they hired Paula to do the choreography for their music videos. And then that led to her Music career so it's it's stuff like that that like it was just kind of the whole world came together For Laker games and the show it's a show. It's showtime. It's it's like When I went there, I didn't realize they don't even dim they dim all the crowd

It's like one of the only places that does that because they want everything on the show It's like the damn circuses in town or something you get excited Matches, yes, what they do. It's like this is what you everybody focus and how cool is that that story about dr. Bus Giving the girls the whole floor. This is their time to shine Hey the boys go sit down, get some water, let the girls get a little shine. Exactly, and that's where it's like, like why are like,

and you know, we do pay the girls money to rehearse, to do everything. It's the teams that, you know, don't do that, that I think it's not fair to, you know, don't do that, that I think it's not fair to, you know, because girls, you know, they have to sacrifice to be there, to practice, to be a Laker girl. So they should be compensated for their time. And so, but why they started canceling the girls,

the women's dance teams is, I don't understand it, cause it's equal time. Yeah, I've never even thought of that. That's like such a great perspective. How hard was it to leave the forum and go to the Staples Center? Oh, it's awful. It was like, I remember getting in a fight with a fan

who said, I don't want to drive down to downtown LA. I want my same seat at the Forum. And I said, well, you can have your same seat at the Forum, but the Lakers won't be there. So it's like, I don't think. It's like, and when you, when the fans are upset with a building, like the hot dogs taste bad They complain about everything right and so I recommend to everybody moving into a new arena

that Win a championship that first season because then all the complaining goes away So that you know, of course, that's exactly what happened Lakers had hired Phil Jackson as the coach. We had Shaq, we had Kobe, we won a championship, and the fans never looked back. Like, you know, they were worried about losing the mojo that the Forum had and that we'll never win in a new building.

Well, we did, and we won three in a row, as a matter of fact. That's crazy, because that's what Mr. Kraft did. Maybe he took another page out of your dad's book. We won a championship after we left. Foxborough Stadium was a dumb. Is this scripted, Jeannie? I don't know. Is this scripted? The universe has it. We'll be right back after this quick break.

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And I go in and she's eating my lunch. Or if hypnotism is real? You will use this suggestion in order to enhance your cognitive control. But what's inside a black hole? Black holes could be a consequence of the way that we understand the universe. Well, we have answers for you in the new iHeart Original Podcast, Science Stuff. Join me, Jorge Cham, as we tackle questions you've always wanted to know the answer to about animals, space, our brains, and our bodies.

Questions like, can you survive being cryogenically frozen? This is experimental. This means never work for you. What's a quantum computer? It's not just a faster computer. It performs in a fundamentally different way. Do you really have to wait 30 minutes after eating before you can go swimming? It's not really a safety issue. It's more of a comfort issue. We'll talk to experts, break it down, and give you easy to understand explanations

to fascinating scientific questions. So give yourself permission to be a science geek and listen to science stuff on the iHeart Video app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's a Martinez. The news can feel like a lot on any given day, but you can't just ignore las noticias when important world changing events are happening. That is where the Up First podcast comes in every single morning. In under 15 minutes, we take the news and boil it down to three essential stories you can keep up without feeling stressed out. Listen up first from NPR on the I HeartartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Prohibition.

It's no secret that banning alcohol didn't stop people from living it up in the 1920s. When we're five years into Prohibition, the government is starting to go, okay, this isn't working. In fact, you might even say it backfired spectacularly. I'm Ed Helms, and on season three of my podcast, Snafu, we're taking you back to the 1920s and the tale of Formula 6. Because what you probably don't know about Prohibition is that American citizens were dying in massive numbers due to poisoned liquor, and all along an unlikely duo was trying desperately to stop the corruption behind it.

They were like superhero crusaders turning the page on a system that didn't work, wasn't fair and was corrupt. So how did prohibitions war on alcohol go so off the rails that the government wound up poisoning its own people? To find out listen and subscribe to Snafu on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, let's jump into our segment where we go back in the time of when the game took place. And we go over to pop culture.

This game took place October 11th because of the covid season. This is weird timing. This is like literally what saved covid was being able to watch these damn things. Twenty twenty number one movie, which this everyone was just glued to their screens of some sort. But you couldn't go anywhere. This was this was a weird year, wasn't it? Twenty twenty. Yes. I mean, I was an I had to do I was still playing. But you couldn't go anywhere. This was a weird year, wasn't it? 2020?

Yes. I mean, I was still playing. And I remember we had to get tested every day. You guys did the bubble, which I think would have been kind of cool. It would have been like summer camp. If you think about it. But the routines and stuff of the 2020 was so terrible. Number one movie, The War with Grandpa. Is that we heard that one?

The real pop culture thing here is Queen's Gambit. That was the best one. Everyone was playing chess in the locker room after this. You were just playing checkers, though. No, I could play some chess. I got the last dance was released around this time, too. That was also that was huge. What did you think about that? Oh, I loved it.

I knew what happened was that last year they knew the Bulls were going to break up because the Bulls management had told Phil Jackson, this is your last year. We don't care if you win a championship, you're not coming back. So they knew that that's why they called it the last dance. This is our last time together. And so NBA Entertainment, being smart, said, hey, if this is gonna be your last year, can we film everything? And then we'll lock the footage in a vault for 20 years and no one will see it so that everybody by the time it comes out, everybody will be retired so there won't create any animosity because everybody will be out of the game.

And so there was 20 years later, you couldn't ask for better timing for it to come out because it was everybody wanted to they were so hungry for something new and it was all footage that had never been seen before. NBA TV is it what it's called the is that there? NBA Entertainment. NBA Entertainment yeah locked away for in a vault 20 years I actually recently just looked out. It's kind of reminded me of when I wrote a letter to myself in eighth grade. Did you? I got it when I was going to graduate.

It was like, hopefully you're going to the NFL. You're you're graduating from the University of Miami with the National Championship and you're happy. So Braxton Barrios is living your. Braxton Barrios is living your dream. Braxton Barrios is living my life. Laughter Now, champions you guys want this year, Aaron Rodgers, Giannis. Giannis.

Huh? Giannis. Giannis. Close. The Greek freak. Laughter Now, what are your thoughts on all the international players? Like, there's no American guy like the last NB and MVP.

They've all been international people. I mean, it's a global crazy now. It is. It's great. I think as an American player for me, like, I'm like, boys, let's skip. Let's get on the asphalt. Let's get better. We got to get it going. boys, let's get on the asphalt, let's get better. We gotta get it going. What was life like for GenieBus in 2020? You were in the bubble, right?

Yeah, I mean, I'd like to kind of go back to how that season started. So back to the off season of 2019, we made the trade to get Anthony Davis yeah so now we have this new player that comes in the the NBA every couple years you're required to go play overseas and you know that's happening in every sports league that you have to go overseas so So this, that year, October of 2019, we were scheduled to be in China.

So. The logistics for that as an owner. It's awful. I mean, it's, I mean, that's, that's, it's, it's a big burden to put on a team. You gotta bring like 600 people. And so now we are flying over to China, the team. I stayed in LA, but our GM,

a bunch of executives are with the team. And a tweet comes out from another executive in our league that talks about freeing Hong Kong from, you know, the rule of, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Political shit. Yes. And it didn't sit well. It not. And so as the team's flying over there, they land. And now the decision has been made by the Chinese government that they are no longer going to televise the games that we've flown

all the way over there. They did allow us to televise them back to our country but that's the whole reason you go is to celebrate the NBA in China. And now they took down, there was no mention of the games. They still allowed us to play the games. They even thought about not allowing fans to attend the games. So it was very intense because our players, they didn't understand what was going on. there was there was literally they watched them take down all the the banners of the players the advertisements it was it was intense and

you know thankfully they got back safely but during that time Anthony Davis got injured, injured his thumb. And you know, so the season didn't get off to the right start. Once we got back home, the team did start to gel and you know, we were doing really well. And for me personally, in December of 2019, my mother passed away and very suddenly. And I remember them calling me and saying, because she was in assisted living and she's, they said, we're going to transport your mom to the hospital because she's having trouble breathing. And she went so quickly, like I couldn't even get there in time. And it makes me think that that might have been the beginning of COVID, right?

Because they talked about how people all of a sudden they can't breathe and then they pass like that. And so that was hard on me. Then a couple of weeks later, David Stern passed away. And then a couple of weeks later, Kobe and Gigi passed away. So this all happened in the matter of December and January. And it was just really difficult to process all of what happened. When Kobe passed, we asked the league if we could, you know, we had a game the next day against the Clippers.

And our organization was in such shock, we couldn't function. And we had to bring in grief counselors. It was, it just, what I can't get over was how our fans, they didn't know where to go. And so they just went to the arena because everybody needed to be together. And it was like we were lost.

Like we just, it was so hard to comprehend this loss. And, you know, I mean, it's still hard to accept five years later, but, you know, it just really struck me But it just really struck me how important the team, we started this whole conversation about community and what a team means to the fans. And it showed me this is like our strength. This is what brings everybody together is under the purple and gold umbrella and how they process the good times when we're winning, but also process the devastating news. And, you know, the Clippers were very nice and agreed to postpone the game. home the game. But then we eventually had to get back to basketball. So we played January 31st. And LeBron addressed the crowd and he gave such a moving speech about how we have

to lift each other up and that through the game of basketball is how we cope with our grief. And that he said, I have I have big shoulders. Let me carry you. Let me climb on board. Like we're going to get through this together. And, you know, that just. Made, you know, made me realize. His ability as a leader and for him to articulate all of what we were feeling and what we needed to hear was beautiful.

And so we get back to basketball, we're doing really well, we won nine of the next 10 games, and we're looking great. And then at the beginning of March you know you're hearing stuff about COVID now and you know kind of what's happening and when you are in a business where you interface with the public you know that you bring people together. We were monitoring it very closely, but then there was, you know,

a famous press conference with Rudy Gobert where he, he kind of challenged COVID to come get him. And sure enough, the next day the league shut down. And at first it was going to be like for a week, you know, until we figure this out. Yeah. And then it became two weeks. Then it became, you know, it was like, are we ever going to finish this season? And as time went on, the isolation was unbearable, because we were dealing with the loss of Kobe and Gigi.

And I remember I would wake up and I'd been crying in my sleep. I didn't even know that was physically possible. But it was just so, the sadness was so overbearing and the idea that we couldn't come together as a community was like the total opposite. We had to isolate and be disconnected. And then of course, Zooms and you know, thankfully they that gave you a little bit of comfort to see other people and talk about how you were feeling talk about how you were feeling and, you know, the last dance and, and, you know, just things that, you know, sports could, you know, soothe you, take you out of your head. So then the

league came up with the idea of salvaging the season by creating this bubble. Much needed idea. It really was brilliant, but it was a huge sacrifice because now you're taking everybody away from their families and they have to commit to being, we were in the bubble for like 90 days, like that's months and months. And, um, that's a huge sacrifice that the players had to make. And they were able to figure out, okay, And that's a huge sacrifice that the players had to make.

And they were able to figure out, okay, we'll take the 22 teams out of 30 that look like they were gonna make the playoffs and then we'll create this schedule. And, you know, I mean, it was something. And, you know, the players union agreed to it and we took off for Orlando. And so, you know, they get that going because now when they get to Orlando, they've got a sequester for two weeks before they can all come together.

I mean, it was it's just it was so complicated how they did it. But it was it was the only way to make sure that you would have a pristine area that would not get infected. And so they started playing and doing all of that. And then there was a police shooting in Wisconsin of a person by the name of Jacob Blake and it was again another you know seemingly you know police shooting for no reason for you know and everything stopped again the players wanted to decide if they wanted to continue to play or not.

And mind you, they're worried about their families back home. And this was exactly the kind of things that they were worried about. And so the bubble was fragile. And the players asked to meet with all the governors on a Zoom call and it was a conversation that needed to be had in order for the players to feel that we were partners with them in wanting things to change. And the players agreed to resume playing again.

So after another four day break, we came back and played the games and the Lakers were playing great. And the playoffs started and I kept saying, well, I'll come to the bubble if it looks like we might go far on the playoffs. So eventually I joined the team in Orlando and we kept winning.

And we found ourselves in the championship against the Miami Heat with Jimmy Butler and of course my idol, Pat Riley. And I had mixed feelings about having to go against Pat because he's... Kind of like family. Like family. There's a type of soil in Mississippi called Yazoo clay.

It's thick, burnt orange, and it's got a reputation. It's terrible, terrible dirt. Yazoo clay eats everything. So things that get buried there tend to stay buried. Until they're not. In 2012, construction crews at Mississippi's biggest hospital made a shocking discovery. 7,000 bodies out there or more.

All former patients of the old state asylum, and nobody knew they were there. It was my family's mystery. But in this corner of the South, it's not just the soil that keeps secrets. Nobody talks about it, nobody has any information. When you peel back the layers of Mississippi's Yazoo clay, nothing's ever as simple as you think. The story is much more complicated and nuanced than that. I'm Larisen Campbell.

Listen to Under Yazoo Clay on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Have you ever wondered if your pet is lying to you? Why is my cat not here? And I go in and she's eating my lunch. Or if hypnotism is real? You will use this suggestion in order to enhance your cognitive control. But what's inside a black hole?

Black holes could be a consequence of the way that we understand the universe. Well, we have answers for you in the new iHeart original podcast, Science Stuff. Join me, Jorge Cham, as we tackle questions you've always wanted to know the answer to about animals, space, our brains, and our bodies. Questions like, can you survive being cryogenically frozen? This is experimental. This means never work for you. What's a quantum computer? It's not just a faster computer. It performs in a fundamentally different way.

Do you really have to wait 30 minutes after eating before you can go swimming? It's not really a safety issue. It's more of a comfort issue. We'll talk to experts, break it down, and give you easy to understand explanations to fascinating scientific questions. So give yourself permission to be a science geek and listen to science stuff on the iHeartVideo app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's Amartines. The news can feel like a lot on any given day, but you can't just ignore las noticias when important world-changing events are happening. That is where the Up First podcast comes in.

Every single morning in under 15 minutes, we take the news and boil it down to three essential stories so you can keep up without feeling stressed out. Listen up first from NPR on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Prohibition. It's no secret that banning alcohol didn't stop people from living it up in the 1920s. When we're five years into Prohibition, the government is starting to go, okay, this isn't working. In fact, you might even say it backfired spectacularly. I'm Ed Helms, and on season three of my podcast, Snafu, we're taking you back to the 1920s and the tale of Formula 6.

Because what you probably don't know about Prohibition is that American citizens were dying in massive numbers due to poisoned liquor, and all along an unlikely duo was trying desperately to stop the corruption behind it. They were like superhero crusaders turning the page on a system that didn't work, wasn't fair and was corrupt. So how did prohibitions war on alcohol go so off the rails that the government wound up poisoning its own people? To find out, listen and subscribe to Snafu on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or

wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be right back after this quick break. There's a type of soil in Mississippi called Yazoo clay. It's thick burnt orange and it's got a reputation. It's terrible, terrible dirt. Yazoo clay eats everything. So things that get buried there tend to stay buried. Until they're not. In 2012, construction crews at Mississippi's biggest hospital made a shocking discovery. Seven thousand bodies out there or more. All former patients of the old state asylum.

And nobody knew they were there. It was my family's mystery. But in this corner of the South, it's not just the soil that keeps secrets. Nobody talks about it. Nobody has any information. When you peel back the layers of Mississippi's Yazoo Clay, nothing's ever as simple as you think. The story is much more complicated and nuanced than that. I'm Larysen Campbell. Listen to Under Yazoo Clay on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

Have you ever wondered if your pet is lying to you? Why is my cat not here? And I go in and she's eating my lunch. Or if hypnotism is real? We will use this suggestion in order to enhance your cognitive control. What's inside a black hole? Black holes could be a consequence of the way that we understand the universe.

Well, we have answers for you in the new iHeart original podcast, Science Stuff. Join me, Jorge Cham, as we tackle questions you've always wanted to know the answer to about animals, space, our brains, and our bodies. Questions like, can you survive being cryogenically frozen? This is experimental. This means never work for you.

What's a quantum computer? It's not just a faster computer. It performs in a fundamentally different way. Do you really have to wait 30 minutes after eating before you can go swimming? It's not really a safety issue. It's more of a comfort issue. We'll talk to experts, break it down, and give you easy to understand explanations to fascinating scientific questions.

So give yourself permission to be a science geek and listen to science stuff on the iHeart Radio app, Hey, it's Amartines. The news can feel like a lot on any given day, but you can't just ignore las noticias when important world-changing events are happening. That is where the Up First Podcast comes in. Every single morning, in under 15 15 minutes we take the news and boil it down to 3 essential stories you can keep up without feeling stressed out. That's enough for us from npr on the I heart radio app or whatever you get your podcasts.

Prohibition it's no secret that banning alcohol didn't stop people from living it up in the 1920's. When we're 5 years into prohibition the government is starting to go, okay, this isn't working. In fact, you might even say it backfired spectacularly. I'm Ed Helms, and on season three of my podcast, Snafu, we're taking you back to the 1920s and the tale of Formula 6. Because what you probably don't know about Prohibition is that American citizens were

dying in massive numbers due to poisoned liquor, and all along an unlikely duo was trying desperately to stop the corruption behind it. They were like superhero crusaders turning the page on a system that didn't work, wasn't fair, and was corrupt. So how did Prohibition's war on alcohol go so off the rails that the government wound up poisoning its own people? To find out, listen and subscribe to snafu on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Let's, let's jump into it and break down the teams real quick and let's jump into the game. Also, the Miami Heat went 44 and 29 this year. Their 12th season under Eric's Bolstra. This was their first season without Dwayne Wade since the 2002-2003 season and the prior season back in July 2019. They traded for Jimmy Brattler. This was also Tyler Heroes rookie season. Tyler Hero. Heat culture.

Pat Riley is the main the main takeaway from from the Heat here. What's a what's a fun Pat Riley story when you were probably like a little kid? But how was he as a coach? Well, you know, he he really kind of backed his way into to being a coach. I mean, he wanted to be a coach, but he was, you know, what happened was he was, he was the color commentator with Chikern on the broadcast. We had hired a coach who had an accident at the start of the season. So his assistant coach had to take over for him. And at that time, you only had one assistant coach.

This was the olden days. And they needed to fill the assistant coach spot. So Paul Westhead said, how about Pat Riley? Because he's been with the team, he's watched practice, he was at training camp. He would be a good fill-in. So Pat became the assistant coach under Westhead. We won a championship that year,

but then Westhead wanted to change the offense. Magic Johnson didn't like that. Westhead was let go and Pat Riley became the head coach. And I'll never forget because, you know, I'd known Pat when he was, you know, just the the radio guy. And I was walking down the hallway one day. And his nickname was Riles. Like, that's what you come like, Hey, Riles. he stopped, stopped me. He said, call me coach. I'm coach now. And that's when he like started slicking back his hair, you know, like he knew,

like everybody knows me as this. I have to like now command respect as the coach. So everybody needs to think of me as coach. So from then on, I called him coach. He went Gordon Gekko from then on. Yep. Slick back. Is he the best dressed guy? And it's like he was like the most handsome.

That's right. I mean, he was he was L.A. for sure. Freaking Pat Riley. Riles. I'm not called. I'm calm. No, don't do it. Let's jump into the Lakers. They went 52 and 19. This is their first season under Frank Vogel, second season of the LeBron James era in Los Angeles. In the offseason, as you mentioned July 2019, the Lakers traded for Anthony Davis. What makes LeBron special? You told the story about him and his leadership

post Kobe After that through this run What when did you say like this guy's a bad man in a great way like bad man meaning good man I just am watching him work like in practice. I mean It just it doesn't it, it's hard to comprehend his age. Yeah. At his age and that he's hungry for it and that he worked so hard because there's no shortcuts for this guy. It's Kobe-esque. Yeah. But in a different way, you know, like he, he's just, I mean, he's, his, his physique, he's just I mean

He's his his physique. He's like a train. He's just so strong. You can't stop him There's if I saw Like oh my god scream if he's go sit Carrie, I mean that's probably what 90% of the league says I mean, that's probably what 90% of the league says. Exactly. Oh, he's so scared. Get out of his way. What's the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of this team? Well, here's, you know, I will say

that I kind of came from the philosophy, you know, kind of inspired by Phil Jackson, that when a team wins a championship they should have the right to defend their championship and we didn't do that and I regret that and one of the players on the list that Markeif Morris just rejoined the team in the trade for Luka. He was one of the players that came. And I told him, I said, I'm really sorry that we didn't get a chance

for you to defend that championship. And I'm really glad you're here. And, you know, so. And, you know, so we just. You know, obviously didn't win a championship the following year. But this that's still like the year you guys had. Going into this, it's like storybook ending stuff. Yeah, this is storybook ending.

I said,. needed that. L.A. needed it. L.A. was heartbroken over the loss of Kobe and this. And, you know, there was one play that A.D. won a game, I think, against in the Denver series, where he hit a shot at the buzzer and he screamed Kobe's name. And everybody heard it because there was no fans, but everybody could hear it. The microphone picked it up and it was,

that's how we all felt, this was for Kobe. What does Kobe mean to Lakers organization? Because he came and played 20 years for one team. That made him very special because he could have easily been traded and chased rings or whatever. But he went through one rebuilding period. After winning three, we traded Shaq to Miami, kind of hit bottom for a couple seasons. But then Palgasol came and he won two more.

So I think that that really endears a player to fans because they stick with it. They stick with their team. And, you know, he loved the Lakers and the Laker fans loved him. Lakers and the Laker fans loved him. And, you know, I talk about how glad that we had the opportunity because we retired both his numbers. He wore eight and 24. And if you just took his career as number eight and his career while wearing 24, both of those players would have gone in the Hall of Fame. So we decided to retire both his numbers and we had an opportunity to

celebrate him while he was still alive. And I know that he Kobe knew how much we loved him and appreciated him. What's your favorite memory of them? Your story, you know, what's what's the one thing like your happy place You know, he he was somebody that you know after my father passed away He saw that I struggled and you know, he was always trying to cheer me on. And I was with Phil Jackson for 15 years and when Phil took the job to go to the New York Knicks, the NBA literally made a sign, you know, an agreement that he and I would not talk

about basketball. No cahoots. Yeah. There just can't be in cahoots over there. Right. And, you know, but when two brothers are running two different teams or, you know, it's something about the male female relationship,

which I don't know how fair that is. But anyway, that kind of became that kind of eroded my relationship because he was in New York, I was in LA. But when Phil left, he said, you know, I want you to know I can't help you anymore. Like you can't call me and bounce ideas off of me. But you always have Kobe and Kobe will always have your back. You know, you can trust Kobe and you know, Kobe was that friend for me.

And you can't replace that. No. Sorry for bringing it up. That's OK. I love to talk about Kobe. Always. I can see how much you care about him through how you answer your questions and how big of an impact his career had with the Lakers. It's it's it's it's very touching. It's crazy. Everyone remembers that day. You know, if you're a sport fan or any kind of fan, anyone, everyone remembers that day.

Well, in in Lucas press conference, once he was traded here, he said this. The only thing that would make this better is if Kobe and Gigi were here. Yeah. So even he... He understands. Yeah. He understands. You know, the Lakers, you guys have so many great players and I, I, you don't want to

miss any of them. We got to do like a word association. We got to do the word association. First word that comes up to your mind when we bring up a player. Jack. Goofy, goofy. He loved to like play pranks, do you know, he just it's like a big kid. Kareem. Brilliant mind. Brilliant magic.

His smile could light up, you know, Los Angeles like he he he in Los Angeles are soulmates. LeBron. Tough. Phil. Zen. Your dad. He he loved this team. He loved it. He's just synonymous. Yeah. Synonymous. Yeah. Let's break down this team. The Lakers. He's just synonymous. Yeah. Synonymous. Yeah. Let's break down this game.

Okay. The season was suspended on March 11th, 2020. After 141 days, the season returned July 31st. In Walt Disney, 22 teams went to the bubble. The bubble consisted of 13 Western Conference teams and nine Eastern Conference teams. They would play eight regular season games to nail down playoff seedings. And there was also a play in game on August 13th between the Portland, Portland and Memphis, who would go on to play the number one seed Lakers

to start the tournament. And Miami were the fifth seed from the East. And this is post Dwayne Wade. Game five, the game play this thing. It was kind of a blowout. Game six or game six. It's kind of a blowout, wasn't it? When did you know the game play this thing, it was kind of a blowout. Game six. Or game six. It's kind of a blowout, wasn't it? When did you know the game was kind of,

because you guys went up 20 and then they came back and then it got, when did you feel, all right, we're getting it, it's in, it's in the bag. Yeah, like by the second half, but can we go back to game five? Game five, real cool. Well, I mean, we don't have to, I mean, it's just that game five we lost

and I wore my best outfit thinking. What was the outfit more importantly? I don't remember, but it was like, you know, I've thought, okay, I'm gonna be accepting the trophy cause we could win. And like- Did you have a- It was my better outfit,

like my outfit that I wore. I mean, I'm in the bubble. There's no you can't go shopping. There's no I've been there for weeks. You know, and you recycle. What did you do for the next outfit? I just you know, I just wore a blazer and a shirt. I mean, it was like I had a better outfit for game.

I wore it for I mean it was like I had a better outfit for game that I wore for I mean yeah, so Everyone's me of like You have a good hair day for a man You don't want it you have to shower You don't want to shower because it'll mess up the hair and you're never gonna be able to get that hair like that again That's my hair. I did I had a bad hair day bad hair day Well, what was the day like in the bubble? Like pregame, what's your pregame?

It's like there's nothing to do. You're hitting the buffet. Yeah, there's like, they had a menu, but there was like three things on it. Oh yeah. So like you're eating the same thing every day. You're having the same conversations because it's only like 50 people there.

You need to send someone to go get you a little Jimmy Butler coffee that he was selling in there. I heard he was slinging coffee, wasn't he? Yeah, I... It's like prison. They kept you so far apart, like you just couldn't... It wasn't like a party. It was like, just go to your room.

Go to your room. It was awful. Now, the atmosphere inside, when they had like the fans and the fake fans and you know what I mean? How was, that had to be almost like a practice. It was bizarre. Because when we were playing our games, we played in empty stadiums.

And I remember playing in Seattle and it reminded me of like. Reminded me of high school football when you were scrimmaging, scrimmaging against another team, because you could hear we could hear them making their calls. You know, you could hear the other coach, their coaches on the sideline. You could never hear any of that. It was just like all you heard was like the love of the game, which there was something special about that. You know, was it like that for basketball?

You hear is just, yeah, yes. Let's all you hear it because there's no surrounding noise. Yeah. So you guys have it in the bag. You have your second best outfit. Yeah. Did you have some prepared for afterwards to say the team? Yeah, I had I had my speech and you know written out and... That's like, that's your Super Bowl. Yeah, so like I, you know, I, I,

it was really important to me to get that right because that's, you know, that's what the governor does. And if you notice in my speech, you know, I talk about the fans and how it was really for them and that we were going to bring the trophy back to LA where it belongs. done with my speech. And normally, the commissioner would hand you the trophy, right? But we were like, everybody was like eight feet apart. So, so, you know, that part didn't happen. And I didn't want to walk over and pick up the trophy myself. And I so I said to the players, that's your trophy. You pick it up. Like, I'm not gonna hand it to you.

Like, I don't need the photo of me holding the trophy. So I, like, if you notice, I never hold the trophy. I walk over to the team and LeBron comes over and hugs me and whispers in my ear, I told you we would do this. This is what we, this was our goal and we did it. Enjoy this moment. And that was really, he's done it a few times. So he had better practice at it than I did.

It's something different though when you're a Laker. I mean, it's the Lakers. Yeah. There's the Celtics, Lakers, that's basketball. Yeah. So now like we win 17, now we're tied with Boston. Tied. In terms of championships,

but then they went in one number 18 before we did. So. We'll get there. Now we got to win two more. It we did so We'll get there Get it'll get there So the clock hit zero Lakers win 106 93 clock hit zero first thing you think about do I go over and give pet Riley a hug? You know and I didn't. I mean, I felt bad.

You know, I mean, it's hard. It's hard to lose, yeah. You talked about it, about sport being so much about relationship. And I mean, the relationship that you've had with Pat Riley and the success that you guys, those memories to see after the game, in between the lines during the game, everyone, we want to kill you with the aftermath.

Like that's when you appreciate your competitor and that real human side comes where you're like, oh man, but it was, you know, did you hug him? No, I did not hug him and I felt bad, but. It was still kind of weird to hug people then. Yeah, yes. And we were all still wearing masks until we got down. I was thinking about when you talk about LeBron hugging you, I was like, man, people probably got so scared about that during COVID, like people touching.

But just recently I had the wonderful opportunity to be on a Zoom call with a bunch of our former Showtime players and surprise Pat Riley with the announcement our next statue is going to be Pat Riley that we're going to have at crypto. Let's go so so we're in good we're in good You know you guys our relationship is still great that statue garden by the way is cool, right? I mean That thing is awesome. Yeah What's the threshold to get in the statue? There really isn't yet, but like Pat Riley, you know just you know slick, but yeah

So cool. Yeah, people want to see it. Let's put a bow on this game. So as we mentioned, the Lakers won their 17th NBA championship. This is the 11th for the bus family and first for G. Number control as governor in the Celtics, everyone's five since the bus took over. Everyone likes to do Celtics, Celtics Lakers, but I do 11. Let's go. He's from Boston, too. And I'm a hockey guy. You don't want to go. OK, thank you. And this'm a hockey guy. You don't want to. Right. Thank you.

And this was the longest season of NBA history. Three hundred and seventy seven days. Much needed, though, we needed this because there was no entertainment. Everyone was so bored out of all the same streaming stuff. That's what's awesome about sport brings. Brings people together. There's only so much Tiger King you can watch.

LeBron James won finals MVP and got his fourth ring and moved to first in career playoff games with 260. The Lakers and the Dodgers both won a championship this year and then in 2024 LA hired J.J. Reddick as head coach. That's the aftermath. And so I was the first female governor to win a championship. Let's freaking go! My first thought was who's gonna be the next. Who's gonna be the next? Her first thought, who's gonna be the next?

And you're also the first female and first owner in general to win the internment. Yeah, tournament. Yeah, ever. Yeah, that'll go down. Thank you. That was cool, too. Let's score this game. We so the last thing before everything we score the game and we see where it stands on all the games that we've done because

the reason for this show is determine what's the greatest game of all time. Let's name the game. Banner 17 game. These are some that we came up with. If you have a name that you want to name the game you can name it as well. South Beach versus Sunset. The bubble banner. Bubblicious. Ballin in the bubble. La Bubble Championship. Or any anyone that you have that comes up to your mind. It's like Banner 17. Banner 17. We still like call it that.

Banner 17. Let's score the game. Is this the greatest game of all time? Let's score it. Stakes, Genie. Zero to ten. Decimals, OK. Stakes of this game. Six game six game that cap off the championship stakes.

So I would say it's a nine nine. I'd say like nine, two, because. This was like a needed thing. I'm just saying for like the world, this like basketball was like the only thing we had going Yeah, only thing we had and fighting. Yeah You know Jack at 8.1. I had a 8.0 star power of this 0 to 10 decimals. Okay 9.5 9.5 I'm gonna I'm gonna go with an 8.8 because they didn't have the fans and the star power of the

Lakers. Jack Nicholson have to pay for his court side seats. Now. What's a fun Jack Jack story? There's got to be one fun Jack story. Well, there's let's put it this way. There's a reason we have him sitting next to the visiting bench because he's they just never know if he's going to be the Jack from the shining. He's a little Johnny. Exactly.

Awesome. Gameplay of the Jack at an 8.7 out of 7.8. Gameplay 0 to 10 decibels. Okay. I would say an eight. It's an integrity type score because it was, it was blowing out. Then they came back. I'm going to seven point to. Jack had a six point five, six point one. And then lastly, we grade the name of the game banner. Seventeen, ten, ten.

Yeah, I'm gonna go with a 9 Because we all know what it like the culture of revelants everyone knows Banner 17 Jack at 8.5. I had a 6.3. What's it come up to? An 8.17 or does it stand on the list that puts us? Right here 26th, just below the shrug game, 1992 NBA Finals, game one, Blazers versus Bulls, and just above the Millennium Wave with Larry Hamilton. You remember the Millennium Wave?

No. It was on Time Magazine. Oh, you mean just the wave that he was riding? Yeah, it was like the biggest, the heaviest wave of all time. Yeah, that's great. You know Laird probably, he's in LA. Oh yeah, I do. Yeah, I do.

And that, like, oh, I love that then. Is that what, like, who came up with that name? Did you guys come up with that name? The Millennium Wave? Yeah. I think Time did. We wanted him on the show because he's awesome. No, he's amazing.

So did you give him other suggestions? We did we googled some stuff and because he's not a competitive surfer He's like against the ocean We like looked up and then we found this thing like the Millennium wave and we looked into it It was like in 2000. He rode this crazy wave. That was like the heaviest weight so we broke down the wave We were breaking down the game Yeah, and then we broke down the surfer of Larry and his resume of the other waves that he surfed But this wave is taking lives Can I find this list somewhere? Yes? I gotta go through this brand new we can send it to you, but it's actually

To me. I mean honestly, this is Amazing we've had some fun little Patriots me if you look up to the top. Of course. I don't know what you're talking about. This is this is completely. There's no bias in any of this. I don't know what you're talking about. Well, Jeannie, do we miss anything? No.

We all got it. We got it. We got to plug some stuff. The wow. Can you talk to us about wow? Yeah, I it's it's my passion project. I've invested my own money, not Laker money. I, you know, saw a need, you know, there's so many great division one female athletes that don't get a chance unless you're a basketball player,

you know, or, you know, a golfer or whatever, there's no place to go pro after. And you know, if you played field hockey or, you know, whatever, it's like women deserve a place to go and they've become athletes. They've shown the dedication and the sacrifice of what it takes to be an athlete. So where can we help them get a platform where they can perform?

And so we're the only all-female wrestling outfit. We're in our third season, we're in syndication. In LA, we're on K-Cal on Saturday nights at 11 o'clock. And you know, I just, I can't tell you the amount of talent that we have. And what we do is, you know, women come and try out and if they show potential, we train them. And you know, it's character driven, it's good

versus evil, it's wrestling. But our characters are great, they're over the top. But what's important to me is that these women fight their own battles. They don't run to a man to save them and I think that's an important message for young girls. Especially there's so much bullying that goes on and to be able to stand up for what you believe in stand up for yourself you know and you know so that you know there's messages but it's still entertainment and I'm gonna send you one in about ten years okay no I it's like you want about ten year dad. You're a girl dad. I'm gonna say you got ten years And so I also if I could plug

Next week. There's a show that will Premiere on Netflix called running point. Oh, yeah, and I'm an executive producer along with Mindy Kaling, created the show, and it's loosely based on a character like me that ends up running an NBA team. It's, the team's called the LA Waves, it's not the Lakers. We didn't wanna go licensing. It's much easier, and I don't have to get league approval. We're dealing with that right now with the project. So smart. So see like that's I'm very happy and so it gives us license to be able to

Come up with storylines. It's really funny and the lead Actress is Kate Hudson. Oh, yeah is a movie star So the idea that we were able to get her to to to do this part She's fantastic. So that drops February 27th. That's called running point running point We've been talking with Max Greenfield to come on. Okay. Yeah He plays my character's Beyonce who's a doctor. Well, thank you so much for taking time

and coming to the NUT House. We are so happy to have you. We feel like we finally made it, being in LA, having Jeannie Buss in the Brentwood studio. Thank you so much, Jeannie. Thank you for having me. It was so fun to learn from you and hear your passion for the game

and your memory for everything has been crazy. Just like hearing your knowledge of all the rosters when we're breaking down roster like not of like the Magic Johnsons But we were talking about the guy who you just traded. Yeah more like Morris. Yeah, that's crazy Yeah, that's how in depth you are with everything from the hot dog stand Freaking charity events, to making your own other enterprises. It's been so awesome to get to have you here. Thank you so much for coming. Gee, what an interview.

Well, what an interview. Owner. No governor. Governor. That's right. Oh, governor. Governor class. I didn't know that's a thing. I had no clue. Is there is there a governor in an NFL After that other mayors too You should have saw the face she made

I don't know if I can say this but Afterwards cuz you and Jay Moore were going through the whole thing and we got to get him on the show, too He came. Yeah We told him to talk about the scores. I'm a I was really impressed She gave a great score really integrity score and I was like, you know Mark Cuban gave tens to everything and she's like had the biggest eye roll on the planet, which is just like she's like classic mark Just like the owners club. Yeah I wish we dove into more of like the owners dynamics, but I know yeah, it was okay I feel like we can get Jeannie again. Yeah, she was great. You know what I

Ever since we you know know we've done this episode Watching those Lakers a little little closer. I know you're gonna get a little Flirting with the enemy. I'm not flirty, but it's just like I'm out here Celtics games on at fucking five o'clock I'm still fucking I'm at soccer practice at five o'clock I can't catch a lake or the Celtics game I get Lily down we're you know she's in bed by the time that's it's fucking we're in the third quarter of the Laker game and all of a sudden I see Luca and Austin Reeves and fucking LeBron balling they look

pretty good Jeannie let's go. Well, it's about that time. It's that time. It's time for the Chill Zone brought to you by Coors Light. Get Coors Light delivered straight to your door. Visit CoorsLight.com slash G-W-N. Celebrate responsibly. Oh.

That's a great sound. It is a great sound. It's like a refreshing sound For today, I've got a little surprise for you. What do you got? Jackie What's up, how you been brother I'm hanging in there, but I'm hurt man Bob sugar was in the nuthouse without me. He's pretty cool, too You guys would have fucked. He he's a he's a Jets guy. Jay Moore.

And he you could tell he knows sports. He loves sports. I think you're kind of communicating via text. Oh, is he trying to sign you, bro? He's not sure. No, I think he's I think we're pod swapping. We got to get him on the pod. I think he'd be a fun guest

But fumble but fumble game. Yeah, we're with some sad jets game But fumble might be he's like he's hurt Jeannie was awesome You would have loved her is she gonna hook us up with some court sides or what? You know a I'm not gonna matter. I'm not if you're you know I Won't I'm not an asker I know we can't we're not if I had that kind of guy you have a mouse would cook the ass for a glass of milk Okay

Maybe she gives a couple of tickets in the rafters. I Know what the Celtics already came in town, so I know maybe I'll have to wait till the finals D are you saying Luca Austin Reeves Lele Taking them wait a minute you guys already cracked this bad boys without me by the way Get up in there ready. It's like when little Wayne used to spark the lighter into the mic little Wayne used to spark the lighter into the mic how good did that sound that sounds good Oh Jackie settle down Jack

settle down I'm just so excited it's so good when I hit your lips where you been I'm gonna pull back the curtain a little bit we talked about this internally at the Nuthouse but this hasn't really gotten out to the people so I'll speak candidly here if you will Jules you mind Yeah, go ahead speak kindly there comes a moment when I like that chorus light in the background, too. Yes So on the way back I come by your mirror there you get is that where you get flossed in the background is that where you're Is right get my fit picks off Yeah, all right, where you been where you been where you been as you know I Get my fit picks off Yeah All right, where you been where you been raving as you know in the nuthouse world when you hit a certain age

You gotta go out on your nuthouse mission Kyler went down to I don't know the rainforest I think in Brazil or something you were in the Outback out in Australia, so I'm over here in the American Southeast Moving up into the Rust Belt, you know mid-atlantic area. I'm just trying to convert these people to be in Nuthouse members, bro Circumcise the people of Southeast It's more of the Mormon route, bro Instead of the the shirt and tie the little slurped short sleeve shirt and tie we give him a house hat We go 47 brand hitch hats. We wear black tees. We get a company issued Honda ruckus, and I'm just going door-to-door, bro

Not knock knock. Have you heard the good word of Ernest Adams maybe the teachings of William Belichick mind if I come in and then I excuse me what do you think the greatest game of all time is wow you'd be amazed how many people they don't know about the Millennium Wave or you know game six of the 2007 opening round you know Baron Davis Dunk they just don't know dude What's the weirdest doorstep you like there's some weird people over in those Appalachians where you're at? Yeah, oh yeah, any did you go into it like It's been I open to see what I want to I want to know this is what I wanna know. They should make, they should make a TV show of all the crazy stories of the Mormons going into neighborhoods

that they probably shouldn't have been in. And there's gotta be some crazy stories about Mormons going to Texas, going on like property line guy with a shotgun coming out out chasing them Or you going up in the hood and stuff, you know, what's the Book of Mormon about? Is that about the founding? What I forgot but I saw it. It was really funny. They're like someplace they go down they get sent on their mission They go to Orlando or no, they want to go to Orlando. They get sent to Africa. Yeah

So they yeah, Hilarity ensuesues exactly all-timer like yeah What about those Mormons that roll up into Africa and like some there's got to be a group of people They're like what the who are these fucking people? Yeah, it's insane bro, it's insane Just got drafted bro by team course Swap in mid combo? Hat swap mid combo? I just got drafted, bro, by team course. But the thing is, dude, you don't really get kicked off porches or pulled shotguns on you when you got the cores on your arm.

They let me right in and let you right in. Next thing you know, you're talking about the Subway series from 2000. Mike Piazza. All right. Give me the I want I want to hear it right now. Yep. Lay it on me. Not you're knocking on my door. Let me hear. Let me hear your pitch. Yeah. What do you want, dude? Sir, do you have a moment to hear about a moment for fucking what?

Do you know about 28 to three or some of the other greatest games of all time? You mean when the Atlanta Falcons piss down their leg? Yep, that is the game, sir. What about that game? That old Brady boy, he's pretty good. Would you like to know what happened at halftime of that game? Or who came up with the phrase, gotta believe? Just a few more things about it to really learn about this game. What else we got kid? I?

Got it. I got a 12 pack of cores Come on in works every time bro Wow Works every time he told you it's something else man a lot of full conversions some partial conversions So I got a I got a whole book full to show you when I get back. I can't wait to see the book. Yeah. Of course. A full is you subscribe to the YouTube RSS feed and us on all social platforms. Partial is just maybe RSS, TikTok. Five Star Review on Spotify. Yep. We'll take what we can get, but you'd be, Kyler, man, it's eye-opening, bro. You'd be amazed at how many people,

they don't even know what the RSS feed is or a YouTube short. So I'm just doing a lot of teaching, bro, but a lot of fellowshipping and evangelizing and proselytizing, it's great. As long as you're spreading the gospel of the Nuthouse. Every day, brother, you're good. Every day I'm doing it the right way.

And our holy waters cores light. We just sprinkle. Sprinkle you with it. A little dab will do you. There you go. Thank you, Jackie. Thanks. See you soon.

Bye guys. And also people back home know Jack is Jack's a part of all the shows, right? When he's even not here. He's in Riverside He's texting me constantly so like if anything's like smart comes out of my mouth mostly It's just Jack's line so like Jack Jack DMing us so Jack's very much a part of the show even if you slide your DMs Kyler's wearing a wire every up, bro. He's wearing a wire. He's got an earpiece Kyler's wearing a wire every up bro. He's wearing a wire. He's got an earpiece. Yeah.

Alright Jackie. Thank you Jackie. Can't wait to be back in the flesh boys. We love you. Love you boys. Late. Later dog. Late.

Great to hear from Jack. So good to see him. Excited to get him back. Soon. In the near house. I'm hearing whispers. Got some couple episodes lined up that are gonna be awesome. I miss him.

But I still, we have him in he's like like we said He's here. He's here He's here. Yeah. Well that was the chill zone Thanks to our favorite beer Coors Light get Coors Light delivered straight to your door visit Coors Light comm slash GWN and celebrate responsibly What a game what a guest what a guest. Thanks again to Genie. That's been another episode of Games with Names. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you listen to podcasts, comment a game you

want us to do and remember, rate and review. Leave us a five star review on Spotify while you're there. Remember to follow Games with Names on YouTube, Instagram, X, TikTok, and Snapchat. Leave a comment on the YouTube full episode. We'll read the best ones in future episodes. So leave a bunch. We love those. They're great.

Keep them up. Leave a message on the hotline at 424-291-2290. And then one more thing. Go check out EF this in theaters now support our Nothouse brethren Tim and his movie for if this check it out if this if this hit the pitch Let's go in theaters now. We'll see you guys next week Games with names is a production of I heart radio for more podcasts from my heart radio Visit the I heart radio apps, wherever you get your podcasts.

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