Games with Names - You Can't Handle the Truth with Paul Pierce | 2008 ECSF: Game 7 Cavaliers vs. Celtics

Episode Date: August 19, 2025

Paul Pierce joins us in studio! The Truth is with us to dive back into one of the greatest duels to ever grace the hardwood: when he and LeBron James went toe to toe in Game 7 of the 2008 Eastern Conference Semifinals. (00:21) Paul joins us on the couch. (38:42) We go back to May 2008. (49:31) We dive into the rosters. (1:13:42) We get into the game. (1:34:01) We score it. (1:41:01) We play an NFL Preseason edition of Jack Asks in this week's Chill Zone presented by Coors Light. Tickets for the Live Show are ON SALE NOW! GRONK & JULES PRESENT WELCOME TO THE NUTHOUSE! August 28th at MGM Music Hall at Fenway in Boston. Get Tickets Here!Support the show: http://www.gameswithnames.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Now you know with Noah de Barroso is a show about influence. Who's got it, how they use it, and what it means for the rest of you. It's not the news. It's what the news should be if someone Gen Z or Gen Alpha made it. Politics is wild and I'm definitely not here to payment, but I'm here to make it. make sense of it. Listen to Now You Know with Noah de Barroso on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Do you know when you're in the zone? You feel it. You're like, I can't miss. Yeah. You know when you're on the zone. It's so surreal sometimes. It is?

Because even after this game, I went home. And you shot, like, your remote into, like, the basket and then went in. You got, like, a donut and you threw it in the... I threw a can on my shoulder and it just went in. It went in. Welcome to games with names. I'm Julian Edelman, they're Jack and Kyler, and we are on a mission to finding the greatest game of all time. And on today's episode, we are covering Game 7, 2008, Eastern Conference semifinals with Basketball Hall of Famer, Celtics legend,

my brother for life, Paul Pierce. And we get into talking all things Celtics. You know, you're talking about one of the most historical franchises. It is a brotherhood. Going one-on-one with LeBron. He's a physical specimen. He's built like a power forward but playing guard. And the angriest he's ever seen Kevin Garnett.

I never seen a man's intensity that high that day. He yelled. I mean, Vane started coming out, started sweating. And then we play an NFL preseason edition of the famous game, Jack. Ask. We're all famous. And this week's Chill Zone presented by Coor's Light.

You got to stick around to the very end. Let's go. Games and names of production of IHeart Radio. May 18, 2008, T-D Bank North Garden, Boston, Massachusetts.

The kid from Akron versus the kid from Englewood win or go home. But the truth always prevent. This is that you can't handle the truth game. Welcome to Games with names. Today we are looking at Game 7 of the 2008 Eastern Conference semifinals between the Celtics versus the Cavaliers, young LeBron

versus the truth with the truth. Paul Pierce, Paul, welcome to the studio, but in one sentence, why this game? Man, why this game? I think, man, one sentence, uh, playing against a guy, game seven, who everybody was labeled in the king at the time. King.

The king already. He was only like 23, I believe. And these type of games are like, it just puts you to the next level. just career-defining. Like a supernova game? Isn't like a supernova when a star becomes a new star? I think that's what this did for me.

Supernova game. Supernova game. Yes. Is that what a supernova is? I don't think so. I don't know. I got out of Awasis, though. I learned it once in science, but it made me completely gone.

Is this the greatest game of all time? Man, this is up there. Up there? Yeah, this is up there. It's in the top. Probably 10 games all time, maybe. Probably top 10 of your games or all games? All games.

What is the greatest game of all time? The greatest game to me all time was probably Jordan versus Utah. When he hit the game winner. Was it a push-off, though? No, that was a good move. That was a good move. Good move. Who was that on?

Brian Russell. Brian Russell. Yeah, that was to me the greatest game. I remember that. That was the last one, right? Yeah, that was his last one in a bull uniform. forum. Yep. And then went to, he chilled for what, four years. And then Mike went to Washington when he bought the team. Yeah, he went to Washington. That's when I got to play against him because

he retired the year I came in. Yeah. So I was, man, it was a couple of things that happened when I came into the league. Jordan retired and the Lakers moved out of the forum to the Staples because I wanted to play in the forum going up, going to the forum, living down the street from the forum, that was like the two biggest disappointments of my like getting drafted, not being at a play on the forum and not being, playing against Jordan, Bulls Jordan. You played against Jordan, though. But I played against him in Washington. How was he?

I mean, it wasn't the same. You know, he wasn't, he didn't have that mystique. He didn't have that. He probably just didn't have the athleticism. No, he didn't have athleticism. No, but because Bulls Jordan was like scary. Scary. Yeah, I felt like I was on the same level as Jordan and Washington.

you know as a young kid yeah so but he was still Jordan you still looked at him like Jordan it just he didn't he didn't have that that bounce you know what I'm saying like that that or and then they wasn't the bulls though they was dominating everybody yeah 1,000 percent so it was always a little weird seeing that but it was just so cool to see him still play yeah it was cool to just play against him though and then being the all-star game with him I'm at the all-star game that year you're a jordan fan growing up yeah is that your favorite My favorite was Magic. Magic Jones.

Because you're L.A. kid? Yeah, growing up L.A. Magic was my favorite. Dan Jordan. But I had both day posters in my room. Yeah. You know, that's what's cool. I had about five posters. I had a lot of like 49er posters.

the old they're like trying to be retro cool yeah but poster game was everything or the banners remember the little like the pennants yeah yeah yeah you'd have a bunch of those flags and stuff little flags yeah i had a jordan i had a magic i had a berkeley i had a shack and a dominie wilkins poster my room dominique man shout out shack yeah i had a shack poster shack i love shack when he was in that movie what was that blue streak no no no no was the one back I know what you're talking about. Blue chips. Oh, blue chips, blue chips.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, Neon. That was a good-ass movie. That was a good movie. It still hits, too. This is going to be our last show in this nut house before we go east to the Boston Nut House. Yeah, baby. Boston Nut House presented by Duncan Downing's.

It's going to be a lot. Ooh, Duncan. The shipping up to Boston is blaring in my head right now. Diana, Boston guests. I just want a freaking large. regular regular it's going to be a time so double the sugar

that week is going to end with us at MGM Music Hall live show anytime I think of Duncan I think of Casey Affleck smoking a cigarette outside of the door what are you talking

I got the big one I'm outside that's one of the best bits I think that's one of the best SNL sketches I can't believe we still didn't talk about it when we have it never mind I got scared

too much time talking about selling sausages out behind Fenway It's a good episode That was awesome So go get the tickets We've got a couple left August 28th 8 o'clock

MGM music hall You get your tickets At Ticketmaster.com But they're running out So let's sell this thing out Yeah let's sell this thing out We're getting close We're getting close

We're going to be there A bunch of people are going to be there Maybe some active Patriots We're going to see It's going to be a fucking blast We're giving away a ton of merch autographs and Dunkin' Donuts stuff

It's going to be a boss On inside stories Robin Jules Signed a football that we are going to be giving it away to someone who gets a ticket. So if you buy a ticket, any gron spiked it. Any gron spiked it, so it's worth more.

So post your ticket, send us a story, tag us, whatever. Show us you want a ticket. We're entering a kind of a drawing to give you a sign, Gronk, and Jules football that has been spiked by Rob. It's going to give, it's going to be a fun night. Go, go. Ticketmaster.com. Mark your calendars, August 28th, 8 p.m.

MGM Music Hall in Boston, basically in Fenway. Crowdsurfing, stage dives. I don't know if I can crowd surf you on my neck. Rob will be crowd surfing. Probably best not. And then also, guys, hit us up if you have any ideas. We're past that. Okay, we're past that.

We already know everything. We're smart. When was the first time you, did you ever meet Magic? The first time I met Magic? Yeah, I met Magic a lot of times. The first time you met him, though, as an L.A. kid, were you in the league then? I think I was in the league. No, no, no, no, no.

I was, uh, I was, I was, in college, I first met him because he used to play at UCLA pickup games. Yeah. So they used to let me play when I was in college. I was like the only college kid that could play with the pros. And so that's when I first met Magic. But I didn't have no camera then.

And we didn't, you know, it wasn't no iPhones. Yeah. So, but I met him in a pickup game and got to play against him, guarded him. So, you know, but now I always see Magic. I feel like, you know, he goes to the fitness club

over here of Supervador I be going to. But like, it's kind of cool to, like, meet your idol. Hell yeah. You know what I'm saying? Who was your idol? For me, I loved Joe Montana. When I first met him, just because he was, like, Tom Brady before Tom Brady.

And I grew up in the Bay. And I grew up even more in, like, Steve's era. But, like, he was, like, the legend won four Super Bowls. You know, my dad loved. We had a dog named Montana. Like, it was just, like, we loved. Joe Montana. Yeah.

And then I got to meet him and it was, it was like, you don't even know how to act. Yeah. Because they're talking to, like, a peer, because I met him when I was in the league. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, we were at a Super Bowl thing. And, you know, I just didn't even know what to talk about. I kind of froze up like an Archie bunker. You know, I had, I just had nothing for him.

I was like, nice to meet you. Yeah, I met him. I never forget I met Joe because I idolized him, too, actually. I met him in the elevator, in Orlando while I was in the league. I had an elevator in which he was just right there. I don't think I said nothing, though. I think I just kind of like, I think I did the same thing he did. Because there's a lot of other people, too.

I was just thinking like, damn, that's your Montana. I don't think he's kind of, he's kind of a, he's kind of a, like he goops around a lot. Yeah, but then I had to just to meet him again at an autograph convention. I like said something to him. Yeah. Took a picture with him. That's the guy from the Skechers ad. I met Bill Russell at my first autograph signing.

Bill actually signed something for me and he doesn't sign. Yeah, he don't. He was at this autograph signing, though, signing for them. Yeah. And I have a jersey signed by Bill Russell. Oh, damn. That was like my... Where is it?

And why isn't it here? What jersey? It's somewhere here. He's signed a Bill Russell jersey? A Bill Russell jersey. I do not by Bill Russell jersey. You don't know where it is. Yeah, I got to get that. It was in my...

It's somewhere here. It's got to be here. Bro. We got to find that. You got to find that. I know. What's going on? Wait,

let's get back. This UCLA pickup game. Who else were at these games? These are like big. This was like a legendary. No, these was legendary. You're going to have Kobe.

You didn't come. Island Iverson, all the guys. Because a lot of guys are flying in for the summer and playing these games. So you had all the top players. K.G. would be in them. Baron Davis,

another local, a childhood friend of mine. Who's who in basketball? Like the big guys with, never show up like you never saw shack or you know tim duncan or nothing like that but kj was there because he lived out here uh but man everybody any fights no i don't remember no fights no one any like in you know because i mean you guys got into it people got into it but it wasn't no fights though because it was it was a lot of respect i think it was like near fights

arguing but i i don't remember no no no no blows being thrown that i could think of yeah that's that's the one thing about basketball like i envy like you like in the offseason you guys could put in real work yeah like real game kind not game but you guys can work stuff against other guys like in football you really can't no one's running one-on-one's outside yeah you are but it's like there's no like there's no like coverage right it's just mono e-mono the receivers should win every time because you have a hundred yards to get open right you know what i mean it's just it's a different so what's the workouts like like i'm i never thought about that it's straight technique on trying to just get your routes yeah routes crispy it's all on wind

it's all about bringing like when you find a quarterback that's available well i that's why i lived out here like like today if you want to go like hey i'm going to get some balls some balls right now So instead of, like, you had the UCLA pickup game, a lot of times there'd be like a throwing sesh where a bunch of pro quarterbacks, like we used to go to Golden West Community College over in Long Beach, I think. There'd be like a bunch of pro quarterbacks and a bunch of pro receivers. And we'd all like run routes together. That's like our like pickup game.

But like that's where we would learn from each other. Like, oh, look at how, you know, this guy breaks down on this, on this in-cut or look how he runs outcut, you know, it's really just repetition of training the stuff you already know. Right. And then all the, like, on-field, instinctive stuff comes in camps, but you don't get to work that instinct as much, like basketball, I think. Right, right. Because you instinctively are going to do stuff in basketball when a guy's on you.

You know what I mean? Right. Damn, that's what makes football so tough. You can go to the whole off-season. You don't get no kind of, like, game preparer. until you're actually in camp until you're in camp you get like i mean you'll get competition when you get into like the mini camps where you're in helmets yeah which it's it's very productive and it gives you a taste but the local the ultra equalizer is is the physicality of the game so like

some guys will look really good in spring in those helmet practices and you you call them off-season all-American and then once you throw the pads on they're a different player different player A different player. Yep. It's kind of like how we see every year, every spring, every summer. We get that clip of Ben Simmons knocking down jump shots. Every summer. Every summer they do come out with that.

That's great. It did. That time of year. Oh, right. It is that time of year, huh? Jack from the corner. Sorry, sorry. My bad.

Nothing above from Ben Simmons. Oh, my bad. But it's an annual, it's a tradition. It is. You know, mine. So you grew up a B.D. I loved Baron Davis. That was when I was a Warriors fan.

It was when Baron Davis was dunking on people. Like when they were shitty. Yeah. And then they got good. And then I moved out to Boston. I became a Celtics fan because I wasn't going to stay up until 12 o'clock to watch a goddamn basketball game. And we had camp the next morning. He was posterizing AK-47.

Posterizing. How was growing up with B.D? I went and did his podcast over at his compound. Yeah, you went to the compound? I went to the compound. The compound is kind of cool. It's kind of cool. Compounds kind of cool.

How was BD growing up? Man, I met BD. I think he was like a sixth grader. We all played at the Ingoil YMCA. So he was like better than all the kids. I'm talking about like way better. And I was watching this game before my game. And then I was just like, dang, I play my A.

I play AAU with a team called the K-Swiss Pacer. We wore K-Swiss basketball shoes, which nobody, nobody even heard about. I actually did. In the back in the day, I wore a pair of K-Swis. Swiss basketball shoes. You didn't have no K-Swiss basketball. I had an Iverson and a K-Swiss shoe. They didn't even,

K-Swiss basketball shoes. You did not have K-Swiss basketball. I think I did. You probably had the K-Swiss just like shoes to wear the school, like the flats, the white, the wall white. The strapes. I mean, I had those, but they had a basketball shoe, I think. Yeah, they had a basketball shoe.

But we were so broke that that's what we had. Yeah. That's what we had. You know, everybody else was wearing Nike, Reebok, Adidas. We wore K-Swiss. And so I got. What was B-V in?

So BD, I don't know what he was in But we got him on K-Swiss You got him on K-Swiss? We got him on K-Swiss And then he was our point guard But that's how I met BD And I've been knowing BD since It was elementary kids

And, you know, even to this day You guys still stay in contact? Yeah, I still talk to B We got a lot of mutual friends We still talk about to the compound When he has little stuff, doing stuff Yeah Yeah

What does he have that burger joint out there Over there? What is it, a Starburger or something? What's that? one that we had storm storm yeah i ain't tried them yet he's pretty good they good pretty good good he good he was kind of cool you know he he found out that i love burgers and i went to the compound and he had a bunch of storm burgers waiting for me he's like i heard you like burgers dog i was like he's like try my burgers these are from my area i was like yeah he's a good host

how's kg where's kg uh kg at the house i just talked to him this morning i'll text on text Like, how often are you guys, are you guys just texting all day? No, I see him about once a week, though. Once a week? Yeah. He's like, bro? Yeah, for sure. We're kicking in the backyard, chill.

You know what I'm saying? You know, summer, we retired. Is he training Wimby right now? I don't know. I saw that. I saw that on Instagram. I don't know if he trained at Wimby. Maybe he had a couple sessions with him.

Maybe it looked like it. Trying a little dog in the guy, huh? Man, if he gets, see, the thing is, you could train with. He could train with Wendy, but, like, you ain't going to get a KG personality in you. You don't just, that don't just, you can't just get that. You can't, you can't, it's hard to copy. You can't, well, you like, like, in teenage, I'll just watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with my kids. And, like, she's like, Dad, are those things like the Ninja Turtles, the other two things that became beasts?

It's like, those are mutants. You can't mutinize KG's personality into somebody. right right i was wondering this ain't fucking tv thanks for explaining where to land the plane that rough i was like what what heck yeah yeah yeah there it is i nailed it i'm gonna give me a t-shirt called mutinized is that a real word i don't know it is now it is now we just made it one mutinized baby mutinized now now paul are you training anybody no this is a different game you know what i'm saying they probably look at my moves like dinosaur or something. Do they?

Nah, I doubt it, but I don't know, man. It's a different game. They just shoot threes. If you just can shoot three, that's all you need. Yeah. For real. You know what I'm saying? Think about it. I'll be watching the games. It might be like 10 straight possessions. Three, three, three, three, three. Like, nobody

like, the creativity is like, you know, it's kind of missing, I think, a lot of times. The team that won, though, SGA, he's got he's got the best mid-range, doesn't he? Yeah, he do. So that's why is it going to swing back into the mid-range? Are we swinging back away from three? Because the only team that really won with threes is basically the Celtics and Warriors.

Right. Those are only two teams that have won with the threes. Right. Everybody else is trying to copy and mimic and everything and they weren't. Yeah. You know, none of the other teams really shot the threes like those two teams, like you said, like Milwaukee, Denver, they won the last few years. Even OKC, they shoot a lot of threes.

No. Like that. They play the right way, though. I like the way they play. I like, I like, uh, Shay. I do too. He's smooth. He's smooth with it.

Yeah, he's tough. He's also a good, like, he's, he's kind of what you want to face of your team to be now. Yeah. No, that's fair. He's kind of square. You're not square, but like, you know what I mean? Yeah. I mean, he's like a, yeah, he's a good dude.

Yeah, he's, he come off like, you know, cool cat. Cool cat, you know what I'm saying? All about the team. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, like the culture that they built over there is different. You know, like when you watch them do interviews, you see he got his all his team in the interview with them.

They all right there. You know, it's crazy how young he is to be at this level right now. They can start a dynasty, really. This team is built for the long run. We were saying that last year, though, with the Celtics. Yeah, the Celtics are too. They still build for the long run. They just got injured.

Oh, man, I know. You know, they still, they still, when Jason Tate will come back, They're still going to be Yeah, for sure I'm going to go to a lot of games this year Heck yeah, yeah, need that We gotta go to a game together Yeah

Paul is like I want to go with Paul As a fan man like what I need some hope for this year Like help me out man Man I just don't know what the plan is You know what I mean It's probably going to be like a transitional year

Yeah You know we lost some big names Perzagus and Drew Right now we got And Jason you know Usually Achilles injury I take a whole year That's 12 months

Yeah, but then, you know, after a whole year, you know, you start getting back. I mean, we got cases of it, you know, Paul, George, KD, you know, they look good after they came back from Achilles. So I'm not worried about him getting back to where he was before he got hurt. Well, I just saw JT at Pat's camp. He looked like he's walking around pretty good. Yeah, I think he's out of the boot now. He's out of the boot. Yeah.

You got to get on that TB12 method. Have Alex over there, Mr. Miyagi and his little, his little Achilles. up, dog. Man, we need that stuff. Y'all be getting in football. Yeah, you get the little Mr. Miyagi. Nah, that other stuff, y'all.

No, you see the Mr. Miyagi? The Tord, all. Set up a blue tent on the sidelines. No, no, listen, this is what basketball say. This is what Hooper say about the football players. The football players heal faster than any humans on Earth. You want to know why? Like, like why?

You want to know why? Like, Terrell almost broke his leg and came back two weeks for the Super Bowl. Because in. I saw Adrian Peterson tear off his leg and come back and win a rushing title. Almost 2,000 yards. Yeah, that's crazy. You want to know what that is? What is it?

I know what it is. I know what it is. No, you want to know the real what it is. If you don't play, you don't get paid in football. And there's 20 other guys they're trying to replace you every time. In basketball, you guys guaranteed contract. So you got a little busted ankle. You're going to chill for a while.

Man. You have incentive to come back in football. as fast as you can because there's always there's a guy that can replace you like that look at tom brady he was a six-round draft pick he replaced a hundred million dollar quarterback the first hundred million dollar player of all time drew bledsoe yeah like that's the crazy thing that's really what it is that's what it is that and probably some other stuff yeah some other stuff for sure hard work determination hard work determination hard work and determination and you'll be seeing Lance Armstrong man

I don't know Tiger bomb too Nah tiger bomb dude It's smelling salts bro They're taking those away from us We're doing those before the show I just say y'all come back faster From the same injury we will have Y'all will have the same injury

I'll come back months ahead No seriously do you think those playing surface factors in all The fact of the fact that you guys are jumping on hardwood floor We're on grass The injury is the injury though Yeah but torn ACL is a torn ACL no matter where you do it at. No, but on the coming back process,

it's going to be, it was for me, I tore my ACL, the hardest thing for me to get back was my jumping. I came back before I was jumping. I was exploding out, but I couldn't jump. Okay.

You know what I mean? Especially you're jumping on hard-ass surface or like if I ran on turf compared to grass, that, I don't know. You guys are large-ass men. You guys are like eight-footers, bro. It's crazy.

Anytime you go to a basketball game and you see basketball dudes in real life You're like these dudes are fucking trees Yeah somebody just said that like man Oh I was just you know I was just with the other day I was with Beastmo Beat how's Marshawn I did his podcast my guy

Yeah I was just what did his podcast A couple days ago he said the same thing I went to the game I went to y'all game Like y'all just y'all tall as hell He said I was looking up so I had to sit up in his seat He said he didn't want to look all little you have me cracking up you know which gets me to a point marshawn a bay guy me a bay guy you were born in oakland dog yeah so that's where your clutchness comes from that's where

you're a bay guy dog yeah i was born in oakland when did you come to l.a when i was like eight nine years old uh oh so you're oakland bro you try to play this l a ship but you're you're fucking East 92nd Street, dog. Let's go. East 9th, 40th Avenue. East Oakland. I live by Fremont High. Yeah.

Walking distance from there. My brothers went to Fremont. We lived around the corner from Gary Payton. Oh, my God. Yeah. We all grew up. My brothers grew up with Gary Payton and too short went to school.

A lot too short. Blow to a wish. Went to the same school. That's crazy. I saw that. I was like, man, it all comes, it all makes sense now. You know, I got a bit of Oakland and Inglewood and, you know, that's all, it's just, that's where my DNA is.

And a whole lot of Boston? Yeah, I got some Boston. I was out there a long time. Long time. Spent, what I did, 15 years? Talk to us about the Celtics Brotherhood because, like, it's probably like top two organization. Yeah. In basketball.

you guys and Lakers forever. When you think about the M-Bay, you think about the Boston Celtics and the Lakers. And the Pelicans, too. And who? The Pelicans. The who? The Pelicans.

Yeah, that's the third one. The third one. Sorry. Dang. Good questions. I don't even know if they have any retired jerseys in there. I can't even think of it. They have no banners.

They got nothing. They got nothing. Hey, they got Zion, baby. For a couple games every year. that's all they need oh my god but explain to us like being a Celtic

is it something different like especially for an LA kid really from the Bay but that reps LA then goes and plays for the Celtics I mean you got understand

the history the the the brand I mean it's probably the most you know you're talking about one of the most historical franchises

And so, like, you know, when I first got there, you know, all the former players was always coming back to the games, Bill Russell and John Havlicek, Coozy and stuff. And, like, you know, I would, like, talk to them. You know, I had their numbers, we'll call them. And it is a brotherhood, man. It's just like, I think just Boston sports is like a brotherhood when you think about it because it's like every franchise out there is legendary. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? It's probably, I tell people that Boston is the best sports town in all of America.

Not even close. It's not even close. Especially in the span that we got to play in. Yeah, that era, like everybody won a championship in that decade. You know what I'm saying? So it's just, it's different because, you know, I still stay in touch with the guys like Rondo. I just saw Rondo and Perk last week.

Yeah. Watching their kids play AAU. Tony Allen is actually out here right now. Me and him had dinner the other day. And, you know, me and KG. So, you know, I talked to Tatum and Brown. I talked to them a few weeks ago. And so it's just, it's just.

It's different. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? You understand it. I understand it. You lived it. You was out there. And you saw it firsthand.

It's just, it's not like any other organizations. You know. I try to explain to people that like, it was almost like a competition with the other sport teams too because everyone was winning so goddamn much. You see the Red Sox won something. You're like, oh man,

well, we got to go get something. And the Celtics win something. And you're like, oh, fuck. And then the Bruins go out and win. And then we would go, you know what I mean? it was just that's that is a 20 year gap that is going to be remembered forever yeah it's it's it really is crazy and i remember always seeing you guys i never saw you out because you were too big time at that

time but but i would see baby davis and stuff you saw the young guys out i would see the young guys out yeah yeah we'll go to like the little cigar lounge me kevin and sand the old heads will go to the cigar we was never going to be out out like that no what other guys did you hang out with other teams besides me. Dang. Let's see. I wasn't really going out like that. See, it's a thing.

You go out when you're young. Yeah, when you're young. You know what I'm saying? I started having kids and stuff. Small city too. Yeah. A small city. My going out was going to y'all games or something like that or going to the

Red Side. You know, that's the crazy. Like, we all supported each other. That's what I loved about Boston. Yeah. Like I go to Red Sides game. Y'all come to our games. we go to y'all got i remember being on the field before the game watching y'all warm up i was like

damn that's pretty dope i like the support we all gave each other so that was fun times i'll see who was my boy damn what's his name oh man y'all y'all the big will fork oh will fork oh will be over there in the septic jersey looking all big right there on the sub in the front row that was my man big will bill bill he was funny bro my first day riding into the parking lot it was so crazy i was there and there's a big ass semi like a semi truck without a trailer that was big v's car he drove a semi truck without a semi like a trailer that was his daily driver it was like an orange semi it was fucking crazy and it matched him perfect he'd get out he'd get out in his overalls with no shirt on and

shit barbecuing that was my man my guy big V's the best cool as hell what do you think about Coach Missoula you like him yeah there you go look he got the jersey all right there Randy right there he's right there to self he's out the game

we're talking about yeah yeah and that's Randy yeah that's Randy yeah you think Randy could have played NBA they said he was good yeah he played with white chocolate I think yeah in high school yeah they were both football and basketball.

Yeah. Yeah, man, he probably could. He was so athletic. He could fly. I don't know why Vince in the Celtic jersey is hilarious. It looks awesome. Man, he's always being in the San Jose to Cup. Brewski would always go.

I'd see brew there. Yeah. Oh, that was fun. Missoula. Missoula, man. I love Missoula, dude. He fits. He fits the kind of Boston mentality.

Yeah. Like, I'm telling you. He's a, he's young. I like that he's young. He can relate to the players. You know what I'm saying? That's what I think, you know. He's younger than us.

Yeah, he's younger than us. He is. But he's 34, bro. Is he only 34 still? He's 34, 35. Yeah, he grew up watching us because he's from Boston. He's from Rhode Island. I like that, too.

He's from the area. Yeah, he's from the area. See, that's what I like, and the new owners is from the area. He's 37. Yeah, he grew up watching us. Went to West Virginia, but I like, I like his mentality. I like how his press conferences are. He kind of like no nonsense type of coach, but the players love him.

Yeah, he's a great fit. He's going to be there for a long time, I feel. I like him. I like him a lot. How is this new ownership group? I had a chance to meet him, man. They seem cool. They're from the area, too.

Who, so who were they from? Boston. What's their names? Bill Chisholm is the, The main guy. Bill Chisholm. Yeah. But I met him.

I'm going to miss Wig. Wick was cool. Wick was cool. He's going to still be there, though, for a little while, I guess. Man, but you, hey, you know what so crazy? I was like, before the season, I did a podcast with a live podcast with Wick. I said, man, you never going to sell the team? Like, nope, I'm never selling them.

Five billion, nope. Six billion, nope. Seven billion. end of the year he sold the team five bills that's the way when that when that number comes to you actually when he took he bought the team for 380 380 million and they got sold it with five six billion yeah what did they what was a sale six seven it's like five or six six bill's a part of it too Bruce Beale is a part of it yeah six Boston guy six point one huh six point one billion yeesh we had Jeannie bus on right before she sold two she told us the same

thing she's like yeah we're never seen billy for the lakers that's wow yeah why i mean all you know you know what i noticed though now how like even in this is going to be starting to change in all sports that more you're getting more like these family ram sports franchises getting bought out by these big corporations groups yeah groups that's what we're seeing now this is the new error now yeah you know just group corporations is buying these teams which those groups are pretty good like look at look at Washington uh commanders yeah that was a brand new group then lucked in and got a brand new quarterback jaden daniels that's a fucking monster yeah but they still went to the nancy championship and changed that thing like that just like that yeah you got them getting lucky though

you know that i mean they didn't know jane danes going to do that no that that was the best rookie quarterback year in the history of the game ever and it's crazy because the year to what two years before stroud was right up there top five yeah because cj strad had an insane rookie year took him in the playoffs and got a win i think yeah they yeah they was talking yeah he was in mvp talks i remember that cj stroud about week nine he was in mvp got to get them back i like cj this is a big year for him they had a little rough year last year they didn't have offensive line in houston last year they got cayley new they lost their receivers receivers all hurt yeah All hurt.

Now, you know, you watch a lot of sport, all sport. I mean, you talk about it, but. Yeah, of course. Are you just going to continue this on the podcast, podcast route? What do we got going in the future going now? I'm in talks with some people now to do more sports stuff because I do the one with KG. Me and him do our sports car, but that's surrounding. Which I love.

You guys kill it. Yeah, we talk hoops. But I'm thinking about, and I have another podcast called The Truth After Dark where we talk about. relationships with me and the czar. I've been watching that one, too. Bro. Fucking hilarious. Paul, the Jack story in the club with the wheelchair.

Oh, my God. Unreal. She was pretty bad. Unreal. Man, you're, I mean, I think, I think, yeah. We need more truth after talking. Oh, I love that one. Yeah, man, you know, the crazy thing about that story, a friend of mine ran into her recently.

No way. To her, yes. Wow. And she's walking now. No way. Let's go. Let's go. Shout out to modern medicine.

Let's go. Hell yeah. That's fucking awesome. It is. It is awesome. Wow. Like she's walking now. This is no joke anyway.

Regardless. That's great news for everyone. Right. Right. So that was crazy. I wonder she's still going to the club. Man, I don't know. She's got to be in the 50s now, though.

Damn. We're not that young. no it's probably not what I love that out of silver lining that's great so we got we can't lose Paul in the takes bro I love hearing your takes like when you said they had no receivers

for the Houston Texas this guy is dialed no I know all football all of that who's your team growing up my team growing up was the Raiders because I was born in Oakland LA you know they was back and forth I was big Bo Jackson fan I like the Giants too

Lawrence Taylor Jones That team was cracking That era was good though That was a crazy era Yeah But my team now Like today is the Rams I like the Rams

They're good this year Are we worried about Stafford in the back? No, he was supposed to practice I think he practiced yesterday You've been 37 with some back aches Man y'all know y'all He'll heal quick man like you said we already talked about that remind me what's more he plays again

you're hanging puka no no i like it he's cool puka is awesome you would love puka and they got they got adams yeah that's what i'm saying they're going to be all right didn't they got that the defense is going to be better they're young but they defense that d line was fire fire versus i think they're the only team that could compete with philly well it they got the quarterback has to stay healthy. And anytime, like, regardless, when you're 37 years old and you got back problems going into a season, like you like to go into a season at least 95 or higher.

Yeah. Once you're going in 88, each week you're losing a percent or two. You know what I mean? That's just how it goes in football. Right. So it's like NASCAR. Who's got the best car driving the fastest at the end of the race?

Right. And sometimes when you blow a fucking trainee or your brakes are out, or your fuel lines fucked. You ain't got the best car. You ain't going to win the race. We'll be right back after this quick break. Hey, guys, it's AZ Fud. You may know me as a gold medalist.

You may know me as an NCAA national champion and recent most outstanding player. You may even know me as a people's princess. But now, you're also going to know me as your favorite host. Every week on my new podcast, Fud around and find out. I'll give you an inside look at everything happening in my crazy life as I try to balance it all.

from my travels across the globe to preparing for another run at the Natty with my Yukon Huskies to just try to make it to my midterms on time. You'll get the inside scoop on everything. I'll be talking to some special guests about pop culture, basketball, and what it's like to be a professional athlete on and off the court. You'll even get to have some fun with the fud family. So if you follow me on social media or watch me on TV, you may think you know me. But this show is the only place where you can really fud around and find out.

Listen to fud around and find out. a production of iHeart women's sports and partnership with unanimous media on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. There's stuff they don't want you to know. Is there a conspiracy of foot to create a rationalization

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Listen to Back 40 on iHeartRadio app Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast Let's all right Let's go back in a time around where the game took place This game took place May 18th, 2009 And go over some pop culture Number one movie The Chronicles of Narnia Prince Caspian

Damn that was the number one movie I don't think I haven't seen that Me neither think I did it either. Take a bow by Rihanna. I listen to that. I used to love Rihanna. This is Rihanna. Number one song, Take a Bow. Rie Re-Ree. Around this time, Iron Man, forgetting Sarah Marshall, sex in the city, we're all popping off. Sex in the City, they're due to reboot with that. Iron Man, that thing's been going for years. This is when it all started. That's the first one, yeah. The first Iron Man, baby. Start a Marvel. Lil Wayne, Carter 3. That was insane. I think

every song on that album was a hit. Bangor. Millions in the first week back when that was a thing now you so great the music industry since we were kids has completely changed and i was part of every every all all of this whole change i remember downloading napster and getting all these goddamn songs yeah you used all right let me see what i used to use bear share no no it was limwire because i'm wire i use line wire isn't that crazy damn that's where i got all my music line wire bro that's it it's so easy it's so easy now. Yeah.

Like, it was hard getting music because someone wouldn't rip right or take all day. Or the title would be like

written weird. Yeah. Or there'd be some shit in the song that wasn't in the song. Yeah. It'd be a bootleg of the song. When did Wi-Fi come about?

Wi-Fi. Because we was in the air and I was like, uh- dial-up. Dial-up. A-O-L. A-O-L.

Which just ended, I heard. A-O-L just ended. Whoa. Really? What you mean? Yeah, there's no more dial-up. I saw it.

Really? Gone. What about your no screen names? Fiber. That's one of like. I'll still have an AOL account. Wow.

Email. That rocks. What is it like Paul P. the truth X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, at AOL.com.

No. At AOL. My AOL X, X, I am was X, X, X, X, X, Edleman, 1-1, X, X, X. What the X? Yeah. I don't know.

It was like a, it was like a cool thing. Back in the day. Yeah, I still got it. So this day, I use it. Well, we'll bleep it out. We're not going to let you have your email out there. NBA champions this year, Boston Celtics, Kobe Bryant was MVP.

Ovi was the MVP of the NHL. That guy's still playing. Still playing. Still playing. I had a chance to meet him. He's a monster? Yeah. He's probably fun.

Cool. Barely understand him. Yeah, he's so cool. I think he was missing some teeth, though. Soundy. Like the hockey players, they... No teeth. No teeth, huh?

Ever. A lot of them. A lot of them. Damn. They'd be taking pucks off the dome, bro. Man. Sticks. Sticks.

Where'd you meet him? Well, when I played in Washington. Oh, that's right. He came to our locker room. And I had a chance to meet him. And I went to a couple games, though. That was the first time I went to a hockey game when I was out there in Washington. I watched him play.

We should probably blink that out. too. We don't want the Boston people know that you can go. Oh, no, you know what? No, that was the first time. I went to the Bruins game when they went to the championship. 13. Yeah, I went to the finals game. Yes, I did go to that. The Bruins. That was my first hockey game. Around this time, Usain Bolt breaks the 100 meter world record and ran a 9-7-200 meter. Do you remember that? He let up, too. He probably could have went faster. Remember that? That was fucking crazy. Yeah.

He went up. He actually revolutionized a sport. He was the first time a big guy was the sprinter. Yeah. Because then he, once he got out of the blocks, then his stride took over for everyone. And it was, you know, usually you got the little sprinters that are fucking little muscle heads just... Yeah. He was like...

And just gone. He made it look easy, too. Easy. Made it look easy. Man. I was like, man, that was this. It didn't look real. And he got the perfect name, Bolt.

Perfect. He broke his own record later this year, or the next year in Berlin. I think 9-5 is still the record. 9-58? Yeah, 9-58's still the record. 9-5-8? Yep. Yeah, he broke his own record.

Insane, bro. That is so gnarly. For rookie years for some notable NBA greats, Kevin Durant and Al Horford. Still doing it. Still in it. Still both of them. Big Owl, man.

How about his, it's been really cool to see him reinvent himself and be able to always produce for what his team needs through the years he's evolved his career because he used to be a banger, right? Yeah, he was a scorer. He was an all-star in this league

and, you know, he just, I mean, he's just shown that, you know, his hard work and how he's adjusted to the time because he wasn't shooting threes when I was playing against him. No. You know, he could probably knock down

a mid-range shot, but he was mainly a guy that played in the paint. Yeah. So now the way the game has changed, you're seeing a lot of these big men, they, you know, they're changing their games up to fit in, to fit in. You got to. Yeah.

Freaking Horford. I wonder where I was going to end up this year. I know. He's not with the Celtics. I hate it, man. Yeah, they lost a lot. What was life like for Paul Pearson 2008? Which month?

Before the championship or in June? June. After June 7th. Yeah. Man, I think we all went to Vegas. We all flew to Vegas. Immediately. After parade? After parade, we all went to Vegas. We had like the top floor, the Bellagio, and we was just partying and enjoying it. It was good. It was good. Just, you know, everybody was like, oh, you know, I remember us being in the club with, like, Floyd Mayweather and Michael Jordan and everybody. It was like, it was crazy. Like that whole, then I went to, I went to Spain that summer. I did a basketball. basketball camp in Spain. Oh, wow. That whole summer, that summer, I spent like two weeks in Spain.

Madrid? Madrid. Beautiful. Yeah. Yeah, I like Madrid. It was hot as hell. Hot, man. But I spent some time out there.

I did a little traveling, and it was just like, you know, that feeling that's being on top of the world. You know what I'm saying? Everywhere you go, you open up the ropes. You get a seat at a restaurant, no waiting. You know what I'm saying? You know, I remember I got a standing ovation. one restaurant they just all right stood up and just started clapping thank you i was just like damn

we really did that yeah the champ is here what uh did that what were some of your favorite food spots in boston some of my favorite food spots oh man it was one spot damn what's that hotel right there that was like the jail cell oh liberty the liberty hotel that restaurant in there the clink no that was that one lady's restaurant no no yes the one to the left yeah i know you're talking about restaurant was good. It slapped. That slapped. I like Strega, of course. Strega's not there no more. No. No, they closed. They closed them. I think so.

Isn't it not? I went to the one, the striga that was over like in the back bay wasn't there no more. Scampo? No, no, no, no. Campo. It was Scampo. The restaurant you're talking about in Liberty, right? Oh, yeah, Scampo. Yes. Lydia. Yeah, she was good. Her restaurant was amazing. I liked, uh, where else we used to go. Oh, oh, man. Man, what's my guy? Oh, I forgot his name. One of the top chefs in Boston. Ming Sai.

Ming Sai, his restaurant. Yeah, Blue Ginger. Yes. That's what it's called. Blue Ginger, Ming-Sy. That was over, off of four points, wasn't it? Or Blue Dragon? Was that his?

No, Blue Ginger? Blue Ginger, I think. I didn't go to that one. Yeah. Ming-Sai, I used to always go to his restaurant. I used to see him. And Wellesley, yes. It was called Blue Ginger, right?

Yes. His restaurant. And Blue Dragon. Yes, in Boston. Yeah, he had Blue Dragon, too? Both clothes now, but yeah. Okay. It was at four points.

Yeah, I used to go to his spots. Those were some good spots. I like those. And then I'd go get my clam chowder from like Atlantic fish or something. Get the bread bowl. I like that Yankees, lobster. Are the Yankee place over there? All the way at the end.

All the way at the end. Yeah. Past the music hall. There's that little shack. They had some good ass, like, fried seafood. How crazy has Boston changed? Man, it has changed. Since we, like, even since we were, I was there, you were there 10 years before me.

Yeah. Yeah, they built it up. I mean, you're seeing all the new developments around there. New skyline. New skyline for sure. The back bay, the whole seaport. Yeah, they built that up. Gone.

Yeah. It's just, that used to be where, like, Whitey Bulger were just burying people now. It's just hell. Baring people. Damn. 1,000 percent. That's where they used to do it. I watch the movies.

I watch BlackBass. That's how Johnny did. All right, let's jump into this game. Jackie, break us down. These guys went 45 and 37th. They're a third year under Mike Brown. Still coaching, Knicks now. This was LeBron's fifth year in the league.

He was All-Star Game MVP. He won the scoring title, average 30 a game. I mean, carried this team as he did in that era in pretty much every era. They were fresh off. A finals lost. The San Antonio Spurs got swept. Sweepety.

This was also. a big year for a mid-season shake-up, tried to do something to get over that hump and get back to the finals. Got Ben Wallace from Chicago, got Wally Zerbeck from Seattle, Joe Smith from Chicago, and Delante West from Seattle

to try to get a little juice to a mid-season. What do you remember about this Cavs team? Man, it was just, what I remember, it was LeBron. They had some pretty good players, though. I remember Delante and Boobie Gibson. Boobie.

yeah Larry Hughes yeah they had Ogascus who was an all-star Big Z he became an all-star if he wasn't this year but that was pretty much it was LeBron as they as LeBron went they went yep you know that's pretty much was it we feel like if we could slow him down or whatever

or minimize the other guys we would beat him now this is his fourth year in the league or fifth fifth this is fifth year in the league he's 23 years old yeah like just explain to the listener how athletic he was yeah he's probably the best like if you I was watching him taking on you you took on like everyone you guys had to have a plan to stop this guy because he was a fucking absolute beast in there like he's just so athletic so strong

so fast strength was insane like how he got up yeah I mean just I mean obviously you know you look at him it just he's a physical specimen he's built like like a power forward, but playing guard. You know what I'm saying? Like, and if he was born two years earlier, he probably would have been a power forward. You know, he's the same size as Ben Wallace. Everybody know Ben Wallace, how big he was

and strong, athletic he was. And he played the guard. And the way he could move was just like something that you really didn't see from guys his size. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? The athleticism, the IQ, all of that. And, you know, he had a lot of pressure.

coming in into the league you know he lived up he's lived up to every bit of it he has you know what I'm saying the hype yeah he had the most hype out of anyone like out of anybody we saw the we all saw the Hummer in high school as I cover the St. John's what was it St. John's

same John's? Same Mary St. Mary St. I mean I remember I was in Ken at that time I was in Ohio when he got drafted the Celtics or the Cavs I went Chapel Hill and bought a shoe It's crazy, bro He's a young dude

Now what's the difference between Cavs LeBron and Heat LeBron Is there a difference? Way different And current I thought he was faster, stronger, better When he got to Miami He just kept on getting better

Yeah Now it was crazy because I remember sitting Because I sat out the first game We played him In Miami I believe And I was just watching And I was like I couldn't believe

It looked like he was a faster, stronger player at the time because he got under the Spostra umbrella, which is like Pat Riley, that's like a no, they don't mess around in that camp. They're like, you got to be in major shape. You got to hit certain goals. They was like probably the strictest, most disciplined team in the NBA at the time.

Yeah. The way they ran their camp, just from the former players that played there, you know, it was just like, dang. He got under that. And so it looked like he got even better. I think that's peak LeBron for me. Peak LeBron's Heat LeBron?

Yeah. I think, yeah, that's peak LeBron. I believe. Headlebron is peak. It's still pretty impressive that he's still going. Yeah, it is. It's crazy. I mean, two years ago, he was still the best player in the Olympics.

Yeah. That was only two years a year ago. You know what I mean? I mean, he's still averaging 25. Crazy. At 40 years old. How do you defend LeBron, like when you had to go against him? Man, you just really got to, like, give him different type of look.

Sometimes you got to pressure. Sometimes you got to, like, and then you just got to hope his jumper wasn't falling because he didn't have a consistent jumper early on. You know, so, like, you would go under screens. You would just try to stop him from getting easy layups, getting on transition, and just hope his jumper that day wasn't falling. It was hit or miss. Yeah.

You know, like, it ain't like certain guys. Like, you can't let Durant shoot. You can't let Curry shoot. Whereas like now, LeBron has developed more of a consistent jumper. But then Cleveland, LeBron, it was hit or miss with his jumper. That's usually how it looks like it goes in the basketball. Early on, guys rely on their athleticism and then they learn to shoot. Yeah.

Like, look at Jordan. I mean, he learned to shoot, but like, he was still, he wasn't, early in his career, I felt like he was just out athleticism, I mean, everyone. Yeah. He was just the best athlete. Yeah. And then, you know, he still had that game winner at NC and he still shooting stuff, but he didn't feel the learn or the feel of the game until like, you know, you get a couple of those years in you. Yeah. Which is, I think, in any pro sport, the more like that fifth

year, that six year, seventh year, those are like your prime years because your athleticism and your knowledge, they're at the same peak. After that, then your athleticism could be dying. Your knowledge could be going up. Right. But, you know, that seven year mark, it's like, like, where, like, you become man strength, you get your man, you're, you've got some reps. Right. Yeah, your IQ keep getting better. IQ. Well, for some of us, I guess.

Yeah. Now, who are some of the favorite guys that you used to like battling against? I like battling against Brown, obviously. I like playing against T-Mack. T-Mack? Yeah, Vince Carter. Cope. I like to play against Kobe because I had to show out when I went to L.A. to play against him.

God, you're going home. Yeah, I'm going home. But, like, the perimeter was tough in our era because, like, just them four along when you talk about Cove, T-Mack, Vince, three of the most athletic players you ever gonna see in life. And then LeBron comes along.

And it's just like the position just keeps getting better. Then Kevin Durant, Carmelo. Yeah. You know, it's like, damn, I didn't get no days off at the perimeter at my position. It was like every night it was somebody.

That's the NBA, baby. Yeah. You got a good Kobe story that you've never told? I think I told them all, man. Oh, man. Now, Kobe was cool, though. You know, we didn't hang, you know, like that, but we run into each other, you know, in the summertime especially.

You know, we play pickup at UCLA and, you know, he was just different. You know, his demeanor was just way more different than everybody. Like, even like I seen him in the club one time, he was just standing there. in the corner. And I'm just like, you know, damn, what you doing? Like, it was serious. It was like, and he had, like, some sweats on, like he was ready to go to the gym.

But I was just like, and I'm older than him, too. And this was like when our first few years, he was just like, man, be careful out here. And I was just like, what? Like, I've been going out longer than you. You know what I'm saying? You're telling me, and I'm from here. He's telling me to be, so just be careful in here.

I was like, what you mean? I know the landscape. Hey, Paul. He was talking to me like I was his little brother, though. I was just like, well, all right, man, you got it. That's just who he was. That's who he was. Yeah, you know.

I was like, I'm older than you, man. I'm like a big brother to you. He's like, it should be careful in here. Bro, where did you develop the Paul Pierce arm out, chest up? Look, the this, after you should. shoot? I don't know. You'd be faving back.

Maybe from getting it. No, that's it right there. That's it. That's tough, bro. That's tough. What did that develop at the UCLA pickup courts? Where did that develop? I think that developed, like,

probably at the park growing up, because you'd have to be ready to fight. So that's just like. That's what you look like after any time you sunk a big bucket. Like, come get some. Right. Now, what was your shit talking game? like it depends on who the player was you know if i if i if i don't like them it's levels to it now

are you doing research on the levels to it like would you find out like some dirt on them no i wasn't that it wasn't that diabolical uh-uh-uh i'd just be like you know really you'd be just talking about the dude the dude's paycheck or something it'd be a lot of that and go to the heart yeah you go to the heart man you're over here you've minimum wage over there. Like something, I don't know. It'll hit him, though. Check the resume. And be like, turn around. What's your name again? Like, you don't know. Like, oh, I forgot your name. It'd be like little stuff like that. Yeah. Like, man, you average four points. This is probably a last basket other night. Like,

something like, you know, I'll say stuff like that. He can go score four points in the first two minutes. I was like, all right, he's done for the day. Something like that. That's the, that's the coolest thing about sitting courtside at a basketball game. get to see like you don't get to hear the shit talking really in football because you're so far yeah yeah you could hear like i was sit and watch paul get under underdudes freaking get underdudes and just get them all pissed off just with like little shit yeah it'd be little stuff it'd just be a little like check the resume after you hit a three check the resume with his little pump i remember one time i forgot the player though man he was he was on the perimeter

and I was guarding him and I just turned around and like man go ahead just shoot that I'm gonna go get the rebound like just then he had the ball still you know what I'm saying he still had the ball

man he was so pissed because he couldn't shoot oh man I remember it damn forget the guy's name man oh I just turned around like man go ahead and shoot you got it all right Jackie

get into Celtics should we get into these Celtics the Mbutu Celtics the first year of the big three the Celtics said we're not going back to 24 and 58 maybe 66 and 16 this is paul this is kg this is rayon this is big baby rondo rondo young rondo this is eddie house with the high socks p j brown i mean leon po this was this is the biggest single season turnaround in NBA history i mean like 20 and two start to the season jelled right away started off with an italy trip that brought

these guys together. Kevin Garnett, defensive player of the year, best defensive rating in the NBA, third most wins in Celtics history. I mean, the list goes on and on. Now, when did you guys know that the team was going to be special? In Italy? Pasatano, eating a couple, pesto. I don't know. Yeah, we knew early, though. We did. We knew early. We was like, because I remember we got to Boston early and we started playing pickups together. Yeah. You know, we was already there like a month before camp and so then we went to uh for camp we went to italy i mean that was one of the hardest i mean most like intense camps i ever been a part of in italy in italy i mean because it was like first team versus second team was like a battle every single day i'm talking about shit

talking you talking about dogs and our our we our young guys was dogs like when you talk about Eddie House, Posey, Leon Poe, Big, man, they, they, they, they, they, they weren't playing around. They wasn't playing around. Leon Poe was from Berkeley. California, yeah, went to the car.

I remember seeing Leon Poe when I was a kid at a hoop-it-up tournament. Was that three-on-three? Yeah. At Oakland Coliseum, Leon Poe came in is like McDonald's basketball. He had his McDonald's because he was on the high school McDonald's team.

Yeah, yeah. And I saw him when I was like 12 years old. I was like, man, Leon Poe. This is the second year on the seas, second year in the league. Young guy making plays, though. Yeah.

Dog. Man, yeah, we had some dogs. So we knew early. Explain this Italy trip. Uh-huh. What do you guys, what was that like? Man, I was like more like bonding.

Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Where in Italy? We went to Rome. You're in Rome? Yeah, we went to Rome. So we was just like every day, you know, we have practice.

We'd just be kicking it at like, like in the lobby restaurant or some outside eating and stuff, playing the cars together or go for the walk. I remember we all walked to the Trevi Fountain. Yeah. We all went there and we just did everything together, though. Did you all throw a little quarter in there and say, hey, well, wouldn't the championship this year?

I think I threw something in there. Did you? I mean, I thought everybody doing it. We can credit 66 and 16 to the Trevi County Nonveeigh. To the Trevi Fountain. It's real. Yep. It's real.

It works. They collect like a million dollars from that thing a day. Do you think so? Some crazy stat, I think. I saw a Uber suit on and get in there. I went recently. I was in Rome a few weeks ago. Oh, nice.

A million a day is crazy. No, they don't collect that much. Never know. I didn't throw some money in there a couple. I'd have been around like three times. That's got to be fun. You would need four million quarters for a million dollars. Maybe it's a year.

Okay. That's probably better. Maybe it's a year. A million a year? Yeah. That's good. Because they collect that. Yeah.

You know, I think. So, you guys go to Italy. Yeah. Eat a bunch of pasta. You go on walks. You play some dominoes in the streets. You're having fun. You come back, training camps over.

You guys start 20 and 2. Yeah. Rolling. Rolling. Rolling. Sum up with this generation and this era of the Celtics were becoming because of that little trip in Italy or whatever it was. Because you guys are like the most dominant defensive basketball team.

Yeah, we was, it was all, you know, that's KG, though. You know, he was just like, he set the tone on the defensive end. And you know how tense he is. Yeah. So if you wasn't playing no defense, he's going to get in your face. He's going to, man, you know, he's sweating and just slowly talking and he just spit coming out of his mouth. Might beat you up.

Man, he's going to hurt some feelings. over there. He's going to hurt feelings. On his own team. You need that. You need an asshole. I was like a little bit like that. He's going to hurt some feelings.

On a very minute level compared to him. So, you know, that's the reason for our good start, I want to say, because it was just like a, he set the tone, the culture. We're going to be a defensive team every night, no matter what the offense was going to be about. Because when you look, nobody had, like, killer stats like you see today, like somebody average in 30, you know. But we was just.

We prided ourselves on being a defensive team. And, you know, that's who we were. And it just set the tone for like, this is the culture we bring in. This is who we are. This is our identity. You know, it's a win. You got to have a certain type of identity. You know, that was ours.

You know, so when you look at all championship teams, you can say, oh, that team was, that's what they was about. Now, how was Ray? Ray was cool. I mean, you know, Ray had a different type. Our personalities was all kind of different. Yeah. I would say like out of us three, Ray was the most like,

I would like, he'll say he's like more of like the philosopher of the three of us. You know what I'm saying? The voice of more reason. Yeah. You know, like if it was chaos, he'll be the calm.

Yeah. You know, because it was a lot of chaos on this team. When you look at the names, I mean, we had a lot of chaos. He was mature. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. You know, he always sat in his locker, leg cross.

Like, you know. He's a professional. Was he the professional? Yeah, he was definitely the professional. Yeah, you know, and, you know, whenever his opinion came in to play, he just was like, you know, this is what I feel, you know, not too high, not too low. You know what I'm saying? Just kind of more even kill at all times. You need those guys.

Yeah. He was like the even kill guy most of the time. I mean, which kind of spits off his game. Yeah. That's how he plays, even kill. Yeah. Even killing that corner. Now, do you have a relationship with Danny Aange?

Yeah, me and Danny was cool. I haven't talked to him in a while, though. But we had a good relationship, actually. You know, we would talk in the summertime. He's a competitive joker, isn't he? Yeah, he is. Because I remember I came and I trained at the Celtics when I was rehabbing my knee. And this guy would always like, it was like, it was like,

he was competing with me when he was talking to me with everything. It's not compete with you while he was talking. Yeah, he's like, so what do you guys do? I'm like, I'm like, yeah, dude, I'm just here to try to get my knee right, dude. But you could just tell that he fucking loved basketball. He was always trying to think about

what he could do to make it better. Yeah. No, that's just who he was. Man, Danny fought a lot too. He fought a lot. Man, people got to go to YouTube and watch Danny Ains fights. He was always getting into the fight. Always. Scrapping. Yeah, he was. He was scrappy.

People hated Danny, but he was scrappy. So with KG, was there ever a time that you had to settle him down that he almost like beat up another guy? Man, yeah, I ain't going to lie. Man, it was one day. We was on the plane. We had a team meeting. You know, the team.

And this is the next year. KG was hurt this year. So this is the year after we won the championship, man. at some point it was like a disconnect between the older guys and the younger guys on the team and then i remember kendrick perkins has said something and all i know we all was on the plane all the coaches was on the bus because we was all just kind of clear the air and perk says something that turned on another switch of evil to kg and i'm sitting here so perk is right there and kevin is walking over to get in his face

and I thought he was going to kill Perk like for real kill him like he saw in his eyes unalive him like I saw it in his eyes and it was just the most intense moment that we had to like get in between him

and I never and I've been around KG for a minute and I'm like I've never seen this look I thought he was really going to kill Perk over with his bare hands because you saw like, you know, Kevin was heard and going through it because he couldn't play right now

and then I forget what he exactly said but it was something that was like shouldn't have been said and he would have unaligned him if, like if we didn't jump in the middle of that. You know, and that happens between the brothers. Yeah. That happens.

People don't realize we all try to fight each other every once while. Man. So we'll try to make anything crazy out of that everyone out there. Shit happens all the time trying to fight each other's teammates. That's what makes team good.

Bro, my money be on KG versus a bear or anything. KG by a zillion. By a zillion. KG. My money's always on KJG. I've never seen a man's intensity that high that day. He yelled and it was in his face, was yelling like, oh, kid, like, I mean, Vane started coming out, started sweating. We got all killed.

I was like, hold on, we got to get off the play, y'all. Yeah. It was intense. oh what's doc saying when this is all happened he was off the bus all the coaches well this was our team meeting on the plane oh this is team we landed oh his players only players only yeah this was players only this happened yeah this happens yeah do you guys ever have those jewels oh we had players only means we had players only is like that's bad that's not good when players only means being called you got it you got to like because you got to air out some stuff that means shit is not

going well so shit wasn't going well on the plane flight, probably got their ass kick the night before. KG wasn't playing. Perk probably bumped up and said, hey, man, you ain't playing, bro. And then KG wanted to kill him. That's exactly what happens. Yeah. In a player's only meeting.

Yeah. G might end up on the no-fly list, man. How does a player's meeting get called? It's like a captain's like player's only meaning or like what goes down with that? Paul, how did yours get called? I think it's just, it's like man, we all need to holler. It's got to come from somebody. Yeah.

You know, I didn't call some player meetings like let me let's chop it because you you can't call you just can't like players meeting means this is serious you know what I'm saying you ain't gonna just call a players meeting there can only be certain guys to call players meeting it's only certain guys can call it right yeah you can't be right you can't be any just slam jick jo and harry fucking calling team meeting you're like man shut up you know nobody shows like right right yeah so this was a much needed meeting and it was something had to do with the disconnect it was you know what this meeting was you know what this meeting was about though this was about some like kind of like off the court type issues yeah

we all got some of some of sometimes most of the time is on the full court or on the field issues this was about some off the court issues actually you know that i can't really really get into but you know but we all have them but we all have we all have we all have right how was young rondo he was he quiet he seems quiet and just kind of like oh he's just dishing you guys the ball just to yeah Rono yeah he quiet

but he will yell yeah Rhondo is fiery though Rhondo is spicy and you wouldn't even know it he got some spice to him he went to KG University low key

yeah like for real we always say that how do you get accepting to that university I mean you know what except my applicant he pulled him under his wing

and he went to KG University so he got a lot of that in him too just on a low key more side like when the lot behind closed doors yeah oh man telling you rondo is is a problem how was my dog sam cassell

sound good that's my man me and sammy that was my road that was my you know that was my rody so like we go on the row me and him out oh take us through that that's my I can only imagine me and Sam used to kick it back in the day out here in L.A

he'd be going to the bungalow and stuff yeah that's my man fucking Sam Lucasell is an awesome dude. Yeah, that's my, that was my roadie. If we was going to do something, it's going to be me and him. Go out to the restaurant, lounge or something, cigar. So who's in the roadies if you have a roadie?

On the team? Yeah, who are your roadies? Sam was my roadie. Tony Allen was my rodee. KG was my rodey. It was mainly the older guys. So older guys who rode. Like Rondo and them, they had, they, you know, their little crew, Rondo and Perk and went out and they did their things together with Leon.

Yeah, you know what I'm saying? They, you know. Ask for cold tea at the Chinese restaurant, remember? What was that one restaurant we all used to go to after the club? Yeah. And you asked for cold tea, they give you beer after two. Downtown, right? Yeah, you know what I'm not talking about.

I used to see Big Baby in there all the time taking down hell of mother freaking dim sums. Dem sums. I saw these dude eating some dim sum one night. I was like, man, he was a big dude. Yeah. Oh, man, that's funny. Best road cities. The best road city?

Yeah. I think for me. Miami? No. I'm going to say Toronto. Ooh. Toronto. I love Toronto.

I didn't feel like it was like, because I just felt like when you went to Toronto and you went to Canada, you didn't feel like you had to look over your shoulder for nothing. Like, you know, people wasn't wrong. robbing people. And some of these big cities, they're looking for athletes. Looking. You know what I'm saying?

And you guys can't hide. Yeah. So, like, Toronto was different. You didn't never have that feeling there. And then the culture is a lot different. It's all races. And they got great food. Yeah.

And nobody, it just, it just felt safe, you know. I love Toronto. It was on the water. It was pretty, especially in the springtime. Oh, Toronto. Yeah, I like Toronto. We'll be right back. after this quick break.

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Every Tuesday, make sure you listen to Pretty Private from the Black Effect Podcast Network. Tune in on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever. or you listen to your favorite shows. All right, let's jump into the game, Jackie. Leading up to this one, set in the stage, Celtics were the one seed, Cleveland was the four seed. The seas were just coming off a tough, tough series with Atlanta. Paul and Young Alhorfer going back and forth, a little jaw on in that one, but went to seven games, but toughened up the seas for this Cleveland series.

Cleveland beat Washington four to two to get us up to game seven here. The season went up to two nothing. Cleveland responded, tied it two, two. Seas went up three, two, couldn't close it out on the road back in Cleveland, forces the game seven, which brings us to the game we're here to talk about today. And a little bit on the Star Power in the building,

before we get it going, Vince Wilford court side, Kevin Falk, court side, Randy Moss court side, Tom Brady. Tom Brady. Not a bad, for Star Power later on, keep that in mind. This thing is Star has done it. And another stat of note, the Celtics were undefeated at home in the playoffs. Seven and O. Meanwhile, the Cavs, O and five in Boston.

Oh, and five in Boston. So just a little something to keep in mind. This was one of the lowest scoring series in NBA history. I mean, just grind it out. And that was apparent from the start of this game. The first quarter, physical low scoring, Paul's getting going, puts on a clinical first quarter. LeBron, a little slow to get started. gets going in the second,

but the Cs are kind of all first half maintaining him at 10 plus point lead, never could break it open, never really like, kind of him at 5 to 7 to 12, like back and forth. Cleveland was shooting 33% midway through the second,

but still hanging around with a, you don't let me down 5 or 7. And when you got a guy like LeBron, that's nothing. Gets us to halftime. Paul gets a little banged up before the half. No wheelchair, though. No wheelchair.

No wheelchair. No wheelchair needed. No wheelchair. Falls on the cameraman hits, I mean, I swear like, Paul, you used to fall so sometimes I'd be like, man, you fall so ugly sometimes. Bro, every time you fall, I'm like, I get, like, you're going to bruise your tailbone.

You fall straight on your butt. Real, yeah. Come on, man. Protect yourself. I'm still feeling those falls. My elbows are cooked. I used to have these Bursitis, what they call them Bersitis? Bursusitis.

Bursusitis in both my elbows. What, uh, like, and you went 11 for 12 on a free time. throw, which is crazy. That the line was big. When teams in it, which you don't see your guys, I don't see guys doing that anymore as much. What is your mindset going into a game? Going into a game?

It depends on what the game. All right, what's your mindset going into this game seven? Man, my whole mindset was like, man, I remember riding, I was like, man, we want. We had a favorite, you know what I'm saying? We had a favorite to come out of the East. We're in a second ground, and now we're playing in a game to where if we lose,

this could be one of the biggest most disappointing seasons ever in the history and I'm like there's no way I'm going home today like I don't care

like I was just there's no way I'm going home today so I came out there like it's not happening so I just tried to set the tone I was just like that was just my mindset

I got to the arena like the game was at like seven or eight I got to the arena that day at like three o'clock it wasn't nobody there And I just had my mind made up Are you shooting? Yeah, I was shooting.

I was getting there early Just because like, once you get to a game seven You already know how a team going to play you. You know, you know everything about them And so I'm already knowing what kind of holes and gaps I'm going to get And where I can score at Like you've like, they've thrown everything at you So now you've figured it out

And so I just was like going over what I was going to do for the game And the shots I was going to get And the shots I was going to give me And I was just going to be aggressive with them. And, you know, I came out aggressive, getting to those spots. And I was just like, ain't no way we're going home today. And I tried to set the tone, you know. Hell yeah.

That game seven reminds me of like a fourth quarter for us in an elimination game. Yeah. Because like what you just said, we kind of know how the game has been declared. Yeah. You know what they're doing. We know what we can do to beat that. We have to execute. It's all about execution at that.

point. Yeah. Who's going to shoot that night? You're right. It's like a 48 minute, fourth quarter. It's 48 minute fourth quarter. That's what it is. Yeah.

There's no, yeah, there's no hide in the secrets. What was up with the smoke in the building? Oh, my God. The full first half is, looked like the old Boston guards. No, that was the, uh, pyro technic. No, you know, our introduction was doing the fire and all of that.

Yeah, they didn't have the ventilation system wasn't that good still. you know so they they barred us from doing that the following year though because it was always smoky before the games always Mike brayton had to get on the telek he's like nothing's wrong with your TV sports fans crazy crazy at the half we get to the half paul takes that nasty fall but is all right hurts a thigh a little bit but at the half paul and lebron both have over half their team's points Paul's got 26 LeBron with 23 the Cs are up 50 to 40 at the half Feeling good

10 up 10 Damn I didn't realize it So we're 26 out of the half What do you yeah you You were killing it's going on me You had like 17 the first quarter Isn't you or something? Poring it in 16

Yeah that was my That was like look I want to set the tone Like no this ain't happening You love that little corner spot Right by the top of the The free throw don't you? The elbow We call it the elbow.

Yeah, the elbow. I'm not. I know, I know. The elbow spot. Because you and LeBron went back and forth like three different times and you shimmied them twice and hit that elbow, like right in that elbow area-ish. That was my spot. That was your spot?

Yeah. If I can get there, I can get a good shot off. Always. But they had to respect me driving all the way. So they're backing, I'm backing up. Once I get right there, I'm comfortable taking that shot. That was like my go-to shot. See, that's what the players today like.

they don't really have go-to shots like I can go to this because a lot of my game winners was those shots right there at the elbow because I knew that's where I wanted to get but if you get all the way up on me I'll go I'll go right by you yeah and so I'll always set it up like I'm driving though now you guys are battling you guys have three minutes to go and they start catching up what are you feeling in the final three minutes of that game when like you guys were going back they were kind of creeping on you yeah yeah but the good thing we had close games during the year so we didn't panic yeah you see there you don't panic so we like we knew how we wanted to execute we knew who the the ball whose hands was going to be in between me kevin down the stretch you know we knew what we wanted to do uh and that's the the beauty when you on these good great teams you you know what the end of the game looks like already you know what i'm saying yeah and it's just like Like, no panic. We're in a timeout.

We're like, all right, we're going to do this. We didn't be in here before in the close games. We know what we do in close games. Yeah. And so. Were you in the zone? Yeah, I was in the zone for sure. Because like, when anyone plays organized basketball,

there's one time in your life where you're in the zone. I remember once, I think it was sophomore year, Woodside High School. We were playing at Jefferson. Yeah. I had like six threes, I had a couple jumpers. I couldn't miss. Yeah. That was in high school.

You're in the zone in the NBA right here. Yeah. Was that, were you in the zone? Yeah, for sure. How many times have you been in the zone? I've been in the zone a lot. A lot? But yeah.

Are you just a zoner? No, I mean, man, I've been in the zone a lot. Do you know when you're in the zone? You feel it. You're like, I can't miss. Yeah. You know when you're on the zone. it's so surreal sometimes.

It is? It's surreal. Because even after this game, I went home. And you shot your remote into like the basket and then went in? You got like a donut and you threw it in the cold. I threw a can over my shoulder and it just went in. It went in. I'm telling you guys, some of you guys, you guys shoot so goddamn good, probably.

I think about that when I shoot trash in, I go, man, like, Paul Pierce is like these pro basketball players could probably shoot this from anywhere in the house. probably so some of us yeah it's that's a talent is there any rhyme or reason of how you like get into the zone notice any trends or patterns no it's unexplainable it's like you don't even know

because if you can put yourself in the zone you do it every night but be Michael Jordan you know like it's certain type of zones like as good as like like like I can have a good game and not be in the zone you know I don't know how to explain it though

yeah that makes sense like you know it's just like you have a certain rhythm and then it's just like okay and then they it's just like you're getting force fed the ball now everything slows down everything slows down and you know you you predict the opponent's

defensive matchup because I've been in the zone in route running and it's kind of like you guys got except I'm not scoring I had to catch but I just remember like all my routes would marry up to each other like I'd hit them with the and then I'd set up the under with the, then I get them on a bow. And then I, you know what I mean? It's just like everything that you want to do is doing.

Yeah, yes, yes, yes. That's the zone. That's the zone for sure. Like I've had a few good playoff moments where I was in the zone that when that was one of them. But it's like, I don't know, man. It's like you in a Matrix or something. Matrix.

Right? And it's like, it's the best feeling though. Yeah, it's a crazy. But you don't want to jinx it when you're in it, right? Or where you just going? you just, you're just going. There's nothing nobody else can do. It's like, but it won't last all game.

It won't last. You know what I'm saying? It might, but it's going to be for like a good stretch, say like a five or six minutes stretch. It's crazy. I've actually had probably like two games where it lasted the whole game. Which games? So one game was the close-out game versus Philadelphia in the playoffs. It was the whole game.

Whole game. It was unreal. And then at Indiana, we played Indiana in the playoffs, it lasted like, well, it went for a whole quarter. A whole quarter. That's a huge chunk. That's like, that is a huge chunk. Actually, it went for a whole quarter because I was as cold as ice in the first half.

And then the third quarter, it was just unreal. Part of like the Red Sea. Yeah. She's putting it in. It was like, even our announcers was like, this is unbelievable. Like, it was like, so when I rewatched it, it was like, yeah, I was in. NBA jams. on fire yeah yeah it was indiana third quarter and then there was the philadelphia game five

that was the whole game that was like you had 46 now yeah i was like the whole game i couldn't it was just like crazy what is what is it about your clutchness how come you perform so high when your team needs it the the most did you train that way is it just something in you i think it's It's a mindset. Yeah. You know, because I didn't care about failing. And I kept the confidence of the team when I did fail. So, like, it be games.

Like, you know, I don't win the game or something. It was tricky. But I go in the locker room, don't worry about it. I'm going to get the next one. Don't worry about it. You know, I owe you all that one. Yeah. Where some guys, they head down, like, you know, probably sometimes be,

it's just, they're in a funk. I was never in that funk. You know, it's just I always want them to know, I'm going to get the next one. Don't worry. You know, they had to be confident in me, even when I failed to be confident in me when I did. Help us get over the top. Real self-confidence. Not that fault, because there's always a false hype guy at practice when there's a shitty game.

And someone's trying to be falsely enthusiastic and stuff when you know it's false. Yeah. You know what I'm talking about. Yeah. False shit. Yeah. But it's got to be real. It's the real self-confidence.

Yeah. for sure so but that's it i wasn't afraid to fail when i failed i didn't care i was like i'll get the next one put a bow on this thing and down the stretch not only was ball in the zone but made a big old clutch hustle play to get the ball off the loose ball the tip off the jump ball there called timeout got the seize possession with just over a minute left and then we got to give a little shine to p j brown for hitting that clutch uh elbow jumper to put us back up three with just under a minute left and then Paul hits those free throws

to ice it at the end and Red gave that little one a little kiss in off the back iron and next thing. That was a tricky free throws too. Every time you feel, I feel like when you shoot your free throw I'm watching you

you look like you're like you feel like it's gonna you're like you have to guide it in like when I bowl. I got a guided in you know it did look like that that's what it is. You see two free throws in there

and I see you sliding back. I'm guided in. That's exactly what it. I do that a lot when I shoot too because I lean to one side or something. And Kevin used to always make fun of that. You were shooting that.

Slide, bro. Doing all this. 1,000% I see it too. I do it. I didn't know that. I never noticed it until I actually, when somebody brought it to my attention, I was like, damn, why do I do that?

It's like an out-of-body thing that I don't notice that I do. That's what it is, though. You know that. Why do it with bowling? Yeah, yeah. Not shooting. I can't shoot, but bowling maybe.

Right. Again, C's would take this thing, 97, 92. This would become Paul's second highest scoring performance in his playoff career. We talked about that 46er against the Philly. Celtics would get back to the Eastern Conference finals. He did not shit his pants. That was in the finals. Wheelchair, neat.

C's got back to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2002 and would only end up losing one game at home in the playoffs. Crazy. Yeah, to Detroit, yeah. Oh, Detroit. We ripped? Yeah, Rip. Yeah, I was ripping Chauncey.

Chonsie? Those were some fun teams. Those old Detroit teams, the Wallace's. Yeah. And then after Detroit, we all know what happened. Banner 17, baby. Banner 17. And Paul would go on to be NBA Finals MVP.

MVP. man that parade was incredible unreal explain the parade to us man did y'all going doing the same how did y'all's we did it like three two two like i'm saying that y'all on duck boats yeah we all i think everyone in boston does duck boats yeah yeah yeah that was insane right that's fun how insane was it i mean it it's just a sea of people and i just remember beers being thrown at us at all All angles. No, they was throwing shots. Those little shots.

Yeagers, whatever, fireballs. Throw them on the boat. I mean, it was, the, the parades are the best. Yeah, man. Wait, how many parades you did? Three. Three parades. Damn.

Three parades. How about Tom doing seven? Seven parades. Sheets. That's insane. What the hell? That's fucking crazy. I mean, Bill Russell did six or eight?

He did ten. Ten? Ten. He had ten championships. Yeah. That's crazy, bro. That's crazy. That's like, is that the icing on the cake for when the end of the season is when you go to the praet or is when you go to Vegas with the boys after the parade?

Man, it's all summer. Really? It's all summer until the next year start. Just, you know what I'm saying? The tour. The world tour. Yeah, you're just traveling, and it's hard to calm down. It's hard to calm down.

You know? What was the biggest bill you guys had to pay for on one of the team partying events in a certain city? Well, I'll say, I don't know. I know for me, for just me, I had a 20K bill. And just put in perspective, this is 2008, guys. So all you look, shake your heads out there going to the club, spending 20 racks in a weekend now. bottles were only probably what like 200 bucks then man it was this was like man I could I looked like that was the biggest bill I ever put up I just kept getting like champagne bottles

and just um just kept getting them just kept wanting them to come across with the things I just could all night all right champagne campaign maybe yeah oh my gosh it was like 20 thousand I was like damn worth it what's the legacy of this game you guys the first real big three team Which I like to say Big Four, because Rondo was a fucking monster in this little thing. But first big three team against Phenom King guy, what is the legacy of this? This, I mean, this is, the legacy of this is like one of the great NBA games at all time. Yeah. You know, that wasn't a finals game.

Because it was, you know, a young LeBron who was, and many people, considered the greatest basketball player to ever play, a young player who was carrying his teams to heights that they shouldn't been even going to. And it was just a battle of wheels between the two stars of their team. And it was a game, it was a winner-go-home situation. And, you know, this wasn't the game that sent them to Miami, but it was, it put something on his mind because when we did it again

a couple years later he had enough. He had enough. He had enough. You can't beat them, you join them. You go get your own big three. Amen, brother.

Let's name the game and then score the game. Is this the greatest game of all time? Let's score it. These are some of the names of the game that we came up with, Paul. But if you have a name

that you want to call this game, you could also. Give it a name? We got to give this game. a specific name. We came up with the truth prevails. You can't handle a truth game. Get the ball to Paul.

Game. That's what Kevin said. Game. This one's for red game. The shootout in the garden or anything else that comes to your mind. What do you want to name this game? I can't go where you can't handle the truth. Love it.

You can't handle the truth. Yeah. I like that. How many times did you watch that scene between Jack Nicholson and? We used to play. I remember. You know they put it in during the timeout? That was your thing?

Oh, that gave me chills every time. Every time they played that scene. Chills. You ever meet Jack Nelson? Yeah, I used to go shake his hand a lot. When we played the Lakers, I was going to be like, what's up, Jack? He's cool. The best time they played it, though, is when we were playing Philly.

Because, you know, Ella Arverson was called The Answer. Yeah. And then when they was like, you want answer? I want the truth. Oh, that was cold-blooded when they did that. Hell yeah. He said he looked up at it. He was like, that was cold.

It's cool, too. Let's score the game. Is this the greatest game of all time? Let's score it. Stakes, zero to ten, decimals encouraged. Paul, the stakes of this game seven semifinal game. On a scale of one to ten? One to ten.

Ten being the highest of all time. And I'm going to say eight. an eight very integrity type score it was it was it was it was second round second round yeah it's a man of integrity i'm gonna go with a uh 7.8 7 8 7 8 i go 9 9 1 winner go home baby it's winter goes when i go home star power lot i mean you got k g you got the truth lebron you got lebron you got lebron you got ray allen ray john rondo you got ron Andy is a drone to Zilgowski. In a Celtics jersey.

You got Will Forton in a Celtic jersey in the building. I mean, Randy? Wally was there. Oh, yeah. The Star Power was a 10. 10. Yeah. Yep.

I'm going to have to go with the 9.2. Yeah, we had, you know, we had the big dog. 0.9. 8.9. All right. Gameplay of the game. This thing, you know, what you think the gameplay was for the viewer or what you think for you as a basketball player, zero to 10, decimals encouraged.

All right, 9.7. 9.7. Defense of battle, back and forth. I'm going to go with. It was just that, that gritty type game. It was gritty. It was gritty. I was gritty.

I like basketball when it was under 100 points. Yeah, it was gritty. You know, this is, this was gritty. I'm going to go with the nine. And then the name of the game that you can't handle, 8.4. You can't handle the truth game. you got to you got to score the name of the game oh you can't handle the truth oh yeah that's a that's a that's a 10.1 a 10.1 our first 10.1 let's go baby that's our

first 10.1 said decimals of courage wow I mean it's a great goddamn it's a it's a nine great one what did I go I went 8 oh okay I went low. I went for your points. I'm going to go up. That was before we named it. I'm going to go five. Yeah, I got to go up to me.

I'll leave it a late. Five, five. Wow. We really went up a lot. Really went up a lot. Where does this put us in the grand scheme of all the games? 6.5. Nice.

High score. That's a high. Deservidly so. It puts us. Hold on. That puts us. Oh, my God. It's our new.

14th game. It's just below. It's just. below the 2011 AFC championship game, Ravens versus Patriots, and just above the Statue of Liberty game, 2007 Fiesta Bowl, Boise State versus Oklahoma. You remember that? Wait, which one? Which game?

Remember that Boise State game with Adrian Peterson where the kid, they did the Boise State versus Oklahoma? He did the Statue of Liberty and then they won and the kid proposed his cheerleader girlfriend after the game. Right, right. I do remember. Old Disney, man. Dang, y'all got all just all sports, huh? All sports. Go to the top.

What about? I know y'all have to have that Texas USC game in here. It's our number one we want to do. We're trying to get Vince Young to come. We want Vince Young to do it. We got, that's like we had Reggie. We had Matt Liner. That game was, and that Florida State National Championship with Auburn that was here.

Auburn. Yes. Oh, my God. We had Burke Chryser on to do that game. That game was unreal. That game was returned. That game was unreal. He didn't even go to the game.

That game doesn't get enough credit. It was incredible gameplay, but there's no lasting. There's no lasting names. No, that game. And that's what it was. James Winston. James Winston was the only ones, man. Damn.

Man. You're right, though, Paul. We got to do the Texas USC. That was one of the best games of them ever. Ever. Ever. Ever. The Grand Daddy of Mom.

Memorable games. I just, this is these national championship games that come to mind. I mean, y'all game versus Atlanta. That's our number one. That has to be number one. All time.

Oh, there it is. I don't think. I think the AFC championship. championship game between the Chiefs, Patriots was better because that was like the passing of the torch from Tom to the dynasties. The dynasties. That was it. Overtime.

Overtime. You know what I mean? It was on the road. That was a crazy game. It's not like bias or anything with Patriots and even the top three of Patriots. Not at all. No, that's not biased. That game was unreal because I remember we was getting off the plane.

It was in Toronto. We actually landed in Toronto because when we landed, the score was 28 to 3. It was like, damn. And then we started watching it in the lobby. We watched it in the lobby at the hotel. I never forget it. We watched it in the lobby hotel. We didn't move.

Me and Sam was right there the whole time. Like, damn, what the hell is going on? That was crazy. So basically because of the truth watching the game with Sam Cassell in the lobby, it gave us the good luck to come back. Those are the vibes we need and win. Which game was that where you caught that ridiculous? That was probably to me. I think he made the greatest catch of all time.

That was in that game. That was that game. That was that game. That was that game. That was that game. That was what I thought. That was the greatest catch ever. That was a crazy catch. I don't know how you caught that ball, dude.

How did you catch that? Keep your eye on the ball. You couldn't see the ball, dude. You keep your eye on it. You couldn't even see the ball. Your eyes will always bring your hands to the ball. Somewhere out there. That was crazy.

Paul, we missed anything for this game? no i think we covered it man you know what i'm saying everyone go check out the truth after dark paul's podcast great relationship advice women you'll love it too because you'll get to see how dumb we are as men and how we think kg certified awesome on that as well kg and him going out and paul going on their stories is always fun check them out up paul pierce on instagram and paul pierce 34 on Twitter. Paul, thank you so much, bro. Well, good to be. Good to see you again. My dog.

We'll be right back after this quick break. Hey, guys, it's AZ Fudd. You may know me as a gold medalist. You may know me as an NCAA national champion and recent most outstanding player. You may even know me as a People's Princess. But now, you're also going to know me as your favorite host. Every week on my new podcast, Fudder around and find out.

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Listen to Fud Around and Find Out, a production of IHart Women's Sports and partnership with unanimous media on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. There's stuff they don't want you to know. Is there a conspiracy of foot to create a rationalization

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There is a video of this sphere zigzagging through the sky. Listen to stuff they don't want you to know on the IHarp Radio app, Apple Podcast. or wherever you find your favorite shows. I'm Jake Hofer, and this is Back 40, a limited series show on Wire to Hunt, part of Meat Eaters Podcast Network. Each episode, I'll be asking eight wide-tail hunting pros, a focused, thought-provoking question

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I'm Ebeney, and every Tuesday I'll be sharing all new anonymous stories that would challenge your perceptions and give you new insight on the people around you. On Pretty Private, we'll explore the untold experiences of women of color who faced it all, childhood trauma, addiction, abuse, incarceration, grief, mental health struggles, and more, and found the shrimp to make it to the other side. My dad was shot and killed in his house. Yes, he was a drug dealer. Yes, he was a confidential informant, but he wasn't shot on a street corner.

He wasn't shot in the middle of a drug deal. He was shot in his house, unarmed. Pretty private isn't just a podcast. It's your personal guide for turning storylines into, lifelines every tuesday make sure you listen to pretty private from the black effect podcast network tune in on the iHeart radio app apple podcast or wherever you listen to your favorite shows freaking paul the truth baby you can't handle the truth i was in the zone for like the whole game not now chief i'm in the zone that was awesome he's he feels just like a brother he really i mean

You guys go way back. And fortunately we do. Fortunately we do. As soon as he leaves the house, he goes, no dugs a hazard. Citizen Citation, bro. Have you told that story on the show before? I think we've all told the story a thousand times. And because of that, I need to get in a chill mindset.

And 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 GwN. and celebrate responsibly. Oh, love that sound. Cheers, brother.

Fales. I almost asked him if he was rooting for the Raiders in the 2001 Patriots Raiders. Should have. There's an around game.

He should have. I didn't. I would have if I thought of it. Next time. Didn't think of it, though. Good Pelicans joked. Pelicans from the top rope out of nowhere. I think for a second, you're like,

is this guy really not a ball? I don't think they got any banners. And he retired jerseys. They had Brandon Ingram for a minute. Him and BD on the same AAU team. YMCA, bro. Crazy. I got to be honest, as an East Bay addict

and a self-proclaimed baller, I totally forgot. K-Swist did basketball shoes. I think I totally forgot. I honestly think I had a pair of them. I had a pair of them. I bought two pair from East Bay. I bought a pair of the black Iversons

where they were the all black mids. Yes. It was like... Like the Reeboks. Yeah, but it wasn't the answers. Yeah, the questions. Iverson had a different one. Yeah, the questions.

Iverson never had case whizzes. Are we talking like this? Nah, actually, I did not have a pair of those. Wasn't like, it's the... I had a pair of the classic white. That was Skechers. It's the S. See those right there on the left? You're left these.

I've had a pair of those. Those were like, Oh, yeah. When I was a kid. Those were like their answer to like the like a Stan Smith type joint. Kind of. Wow. We've had a couple of sketches references this episode.

Nice. That's mostly just huge. It's just huge talking about. Shout out, dude. So what are we doing? Can I just say something? And maybe I'm getting older, but I went on vacation recently and I bought new shoes for vacation.

Got some sketches? You got your sketches? They're tight. Like they slip on, but they look like they're real shoes and they're comfy. Wow. Yeah. I'm pro sketchers.

Wow. Yeah, I'm into it. I mean, Howie is a huge sketcher guy. You got influenced by Howie. Yeah, we're a Reebok show. Oh, yeah, true. I'm a Reebok guy.

Yeah. Maybe I'll get a Spock guy. You should, you should, bro. Danny Woodhead had it. What he did? Danny Woodhead had a Skechers deal. What? Back in the day.

Look it up. Oh, my God. Dude, so did Rick Fox. Remember Rick Fox had one? Rick Fox, maybe. Kim Kardashian? Kim. You're in good company, Kai.

Oh, where my, my, I'm my sketches next show. Let's see him. I can't wait to see these bad boys. I was stomping all over Europe? Uh-huh. Wow. Yeah. Doing 20 steps a day.

Oh, 3'Ibn, 3'i-in. 20K? Yeah. In Paris? Yeah. In Skechers. Wow. I like that.

Nice and warm over there right now. Hot. Was it hot? No, we got perfect weather. Oh, did you? Yeah. It was hot in Italy. Hot.

Yeah. Really? Yeah. Rome. Rome. Yeah. Hot. Hot.

And Florence. And they're not, like, set up for the heat either. Like, you see. We went to the, we went to the water. It was still hot, but it was hot. Yeah. But you're near water. Yeah.

All right. Your own boys. Let's go. What do we got? Let's get into this bad. Jack, what are we doing? This is your segment here. This is a little NFL preseason edition of a little segment we like to call Jack Asks.

Jack Asks. It's a good, good segment. Hey, hey, what's this one? It's a real, real Jay Leno type title to this one. He knows. He's a headline for you. He has a headline for you. Wait a review.

It's like that's a little Andy Cohen-esque title. Come on. But this is a preseason edition where I'll put you on the lukewarm seat, we'll say. Definitely not hot. Ask you some questions that kind of make you think for a minute. And these are all NFL preseason, season outlook type theme. How you like that, Jules? I'll pepper them at you.

You bring it back at me. We'll move on. rapid fire ish. Ready? Are you ready to enter? Enter the Jack Asks. You're ready to enter Jacks. Oh, God. Cut, cut, cut, pause. Geez, Louise. I really set myself up for that one. Eh, anyways. Who, ready? Who is an athlete that deserves a statue? I'll rephrase this. Who is an athlete that doesn't yet have a statue, but deserves one? I don't know many athletes that have statues. Tom?

Do you like Tom's statue? I like Tom's statue. Yeah, it's good. They're safe, but it's good. You can fuck up a statue and they didn't. I don't know how people mess up statues so much. That's the way to read. It looks weird.

Rinaldo. I know. I don't get those. Is it hard to do with the bronze? It's gold. Faces. This is hard. I mean, I've seen stuff.

that like ancient Aztec Mayans scoped it out of granite that looked just like the indigenous people we can't get someone to do Tom Brady's beautiful easily they nailed Tom's face

yeah they did a job they went thin face yeah went thin face didn't there's a little pressure oh 1,000 you got leaned on a little bit oh yeah what if they put on young Brady when he had chubby face like the stuff oh my God he was so mad the one thing

I would, I think the statue's cool. I think they did a good job. The one thing I would have liked it to be is from a specific moment, like, not just, oh, here is the embodiment of Tom Brady as opposed to, like, he used to do that, though, I think. Did he? Just like, I think. I thought it had been cool if he was doing the let's go, Tom, and he was facing the stadium. So he's, like, running in.

I don't know. Yeah. That's your statue. Who's a, who has a status? Who doesn't, Terry? Terry should have a statue. Does Joe Montana have a statue? He's got it.

I don't think he does. Does Bill Russell does? Yeah, because Joe Martinez got the one. Whoa, wait a time on, time on. Are they going to give Belichick a statue? He deserves one. Ooh. I wonder.

What would you do with him just with his arms crossed, like just scowling next to Tom? In a hood? Or like a way, like, yeah. Because he has the one outside of Levi's with Dwight Clark where. Does he? They're 10 yards. Didn't see that. The distance apart.

as the catch. Yeah, yeah. That's a great. Jordan has a statue? Yeah, probably like 10. Jordan's got a great one outside the United Center there. Bill, yeah. Bill Russell doesn't have one?

Larry Bird. No. I don't think they have many statues over there. Bill Russell does, but it's over there in the City Hall Plaza. Does that count? Larry Bird needs one in Boston. That's probably a good answer. Yeah.

Larry Bird. The Bobby Orr statue is an incredible statue. That is a pretty good statue. From that moment, perfect. Because Larry's got one back at Indian Estate, but I need one outside of that. Larry needs one in Boston. Yeah. Larry knows.

You know who else needs one, I feel like? Big Poppy. Big Poppy does. He's got a street named after him now. That's true. Is he called Big Poppy Street? It's called David Ortiz. Way.

What would Big Poppy want the street name to be called? This is my fucking street. This is our fucking street. Poppy fucking Ortiz Street. Or maybe call it, what's that stuff he was sipping on? What's that? Oh, fuck. crap. I wish I had it on my recalls.

Terrible right now. Dominican Liquor. Was he talking about that? Mama Juana. Mama Juana Avenue. Yeah, he definitely. The Mamawana. Okay, so Larry Bird. Larry Bird.

Larry Bird in Boston, not the Indiana State retreat. And then Bill in, you know, five years. Yeah. I mean. He's an athlete, though. He's a coach. Okay. I mean, be honest. I mean, he played lacrosse at Wesleyan.

No shade here, but shade. If we're going to give freaking Doug Peterson and Nick Foles a statue, what do we do? They go on right away. Yes, they go on right away for the Philly Special.

I mean, don't get me going. That was their first Super Bowl, though. That's so lame, though. Who's the, who's the, Jeff Lorry?

Who's the GM ownership of? I know, it's Jeff Lorry. Do you think that... He's a boss and guy. When they were about to fire Peterson, did you think that someone said in that room, I mean, we did just get him a statue.

Do you think that fact even for one fucking second. Maybe he thought about it. He's like, oh, I'm okay. They gave me a statue. No, I think Lori probably like, man, we gave this guy a statue. And he's like, damn, like, we could Saddam Hussein this thing and just. It isn't, it's on the table.

Saddam did have a statue. He did have a statue. He did. Oh, that thing came down, though, didn't it? Get some shoes. Just all these Philly dirt bags out there. with their wow oh my gosh that's her first super bowl i think that's true about that game that statute it's not about the individual right it's about that like play it's a statute commemorating

the play yeah because like nick falls on philly special no you know that was the spruce his hog might but he doesn't hey oh um they uh yeah i mean that that then you start having the conversation of not who doesn't deserve a statue but what's the premature like whenever when sabin had a statue while he was the coach at Alabama. Always thought that was a little weird. Sabes had a statue at Alabama? Yes. While he was still there.

College is different because a part of it is like recruiting. For sure. That they need to play that fucking game a little bit. For sure. But you know what I mean? Just the notion of it. All of the crypto.com arena. Like they've got like second team broadcasters that have statues there.

Oh my God. It's a little bit much. I mean, there's some iconic people that played there that deserve statues. But like. Right. It's because one box. Where's the crypto? Here.

Stables. Yeah. I mean, they got, yeah. Dustin Brown. I mean, cool. You want a cup. Two cups. Lamar Odom.

I mean, come on. What are we doing out here? I'm just kidding. If you were on the Lakers and you won something. All right. The answer is Larry Bird or Big Poppy. He doesn't have one. That's crazy.

It's crazy. It's crazy. In Boston. Jules. Next up. If you were NFL commissioner for a day, what is one rule you are changing or implementing? Ooh.

If I have one rule that I get to, in forever, or is it just that one game? No, forever. It'll stay. I'm going straight old school kickoff, three-man wedge. Yes. I want the old, I want to see just straight fireworks by like new age dudes running full speed, 4-4, 220 pounds, blowing up a 300-pound wedge guy. I like this clanging and bang. baby clanging and banging and bang and bring it back i like that dynamic it's cool yeah i mean

it's safer and it's it's still it's still a exciting play but nothing was more exciting than seeing a dude with long hair because usually one of the teamers had long hair going full speed like on the beach is enormous knowing you're not going you're you're it's nothing's gonna nothing good could happen of this it's just you got to go blow him up his job is literally you gotta go to hit him hard that's what i like oh that would rock maybe i just want a little special teams action do you have a question do you have uh what would you do hmm i like that one my mind didn't go there um i know it would be bad for pace of play but review every make everything everything everything oh my god everything

Jesus. Let's get it right. And I want cameras everywhere. Everything. Let's come on. Cameras in all the pylons like Bill always wanted. I know we're getting there already, but like everything should be challenging. There should be cameras.

They were like, well, we can't afford it. Remember that? That was the excuse forever. But I think everything challengeable. What do you guys think? Tyler, you got one? I can't afford it. That's too much.

You're coming from a good place, but I think with outcome would be bad. I'd want to all these like tick-tack. What about the road? Robot umpire, are they going to it? No, no. Oh, I think next year. And then they got the first down robot in football this year. So what are they going to have behind there?

What? I think it's still going to be a person, right? Oh, it's still going to be a person, but he's just going to press? I don't know. I got to look into that. Maybe he gets buzzed. No, I don't know. You know what I mean?

If I could do one thing, I would look at these tiki-tacky third down penalties that are automatic drive extenders. the like tickey tacky third and ten holding for five yards but a first down defensive holding or some of these tickey tacky offensive pass interference stuff yeah pull that back because there's nothing worse than like defense stopping you and there's some like little tug that's not even a part of the play that just extends the drive at least just going and chase the i'd also yeah i'd also uh with that i would i would allow picking cool oh like for man coverage i like that spoken like a true receiver what about is in and then in that vein do you what are your thoughts on altering pass interference rules and going more toward the college style penalty 15 yeah 15 is it 15 or is 10 thing is these dbs don't give a fuck if it's 10 10 yards don't do it yeah because they're gonna say there's gonna be one time the ref don't call it yep because or if it's 40 yard down the field yeah then you're like I'll take the 15 rather than the 40 I don't know yeah I'm with I think you should do reverse

spot fouls on offensive pass and offense. So if it's 40 yards down, you lose 40 yards. That'd be wild. That'd be wild. It's 10 year penalty. It's still a lot. I know, but still like.

Statistically speaking, it's like, oh, you know what I do? I would include wide receivers getting interceptions. What do you mean? So as a stat? As a stat. So if it hits, if it's like a wildly

catchable ball and it hits your hands and it becomes intercepted, I don't think that should go against the quarterback. I think that should go against the receiver. Then we got the dude in the box that's like the hit guy. That's always bullshit. Oh, wasn't a hit, was it? Yeah.

How fuck does that a hit? They do that in hockey like crazy. Also, what do you think about him going back to the, uh, letting bumping? I didn't happen. I just saw somewhere recently that who was it? Someone was talking about what I think it was Jared Allen. He was lobbying for a sack. a half sack oh yes that he's the official he should be the all time sack or single season sack

record record leader no 22 5 right no because he claims that he had because he only has 22 he claimed that he has 23 because there was a sack that would look like a sack but someone like fumbled it and picked whoever the quarterback was fumbled it and picked it back up and that's crazy there's a lot riding on that one play yeah and they counted as a team sack and it was against aaron rogers right yeah yeah the phantom sack i remember that yeah it was I just saw that somewhere. Mr. 3,000 that argument. You ever talk to chair down?

Back in the day, my boy Aaron knows him very well. May? May. You should hit him up. I would love to have one. He would be amazing on here. He'd be incredible. He's got Matt Light vibes.

Hall of Famer. Hall of Famer. Roop. Do the rope. I thought he was, yeah, I said on here that he was doing magic out of the hat. He was roping the cow. I was so down. Oh, it doesn't look like magic out the hat too.

Yeah. Roping the cow. You were talking about when you said that. He's a awesome dude. He's a beast. Hall of Famer, shout out. Hall of Fame or shout out. Congrats.

All right. Moving on, this is kind of segues into our next question nicely. What is one trend in today's sports world that drives you nuts? Flopping in soccer. Yeah. Is that a trend? No, but it's as relevant as ever, yeah. Oh, I think it's baked into the, like, the culture.

Well, regardless, that bugs me. It's hard to watch. But I guess it's strategic. They try to get more time, rest time, this, that, add time, this, that. Some dude comes on, sprays them, and then they're miraculously great. I've never even seen that spray, and I play professional sport. What is the spray? I don't know.

What is the spray? I know. It's got some sort of healing powers, though. I don't know. What are other trends? In that same breath, like that same vein? What is the real breath it's supposed to be, and I just completely bonnobiles? Oh, you're right.

That's, no, that's totally it. I hate foul baiting in basketball. We're talking about SGA on this episode. I think there's a decent bit of foul baiting going on there. Oh. And that drives me notes. I hate when D.Bs give the shutdown sign. Unlike when the dude drops a ball or it's an overthrow or if it had nothing to do with him,

we're giving neck throat no fly zone these guys everyone is celebrating everything it's awesome it's so db it's so deep it's awesome i think uh neck throat guys just dropped the ball is my no another thing i was going to say that that paul i was trying to get in with paul um i think everyone's a little too buddy buddy these days too kiki out there very kiki i don't like that very kiki i'm not saying i like hate hate each other but it's like oh come on like no it's too much don't you think yeah too kiki little too kiki i was never kiki no ask mackafee i don't kiki i don't kiki i like that's one of many things i love about you it's just like we can kiki we're retired oh we don't have time for that what kiler said what are some others that i love about you i said we don't

have time for that that that's a full episode right there brother lord have mercy an extended episode um just what do you tell me just list in all your good qualities yeah jack said that's one of the things i like about you is that you don't like something that you don't kiki with the other guys what are some other things that you like about them how much time you got brother that's the real answer i feel like it gets a little it gets a little ref ballie i feel like yeah i feel like reps get too involved too late in games and they're not just letting players play and I almost rather miss calls than overcalls

yeah I mean I get like let the boys play energy yeah I'm with you big house dip me up dog I'm with you there I got I got one I got a hot I got a hockey one oh lay it on us it's that there's a big variance between regular season

officiating and playoff officiating and I think you I understand why it's the way it is that it's tiki tacky in regular season and then like they swallow their whistles in the playoffs but I think because it's so different a team that's successful in the playoffs is not necessarily a team that's successful in the regular season and vice versa and it's like what are we even doing if it's two different sports what in hockey like regular season officiating is very different from that's all officiating though but it's like extra in

hockey and there's even like some stats which like they have dude I'm sure that's in every sport they swallow the whistle in basketball they freaking swallow the whistle in football they don't call anything the disparity is because you should be doing it but just getting it a little bit closer to regular season I'm much more of a casual than you but I know what you mean yeah

man all right let's go with oh and I like let's figure out NAL better and college team stop like going to bullshit conferences for money and like actually being in conferences oh those trends are crazy I hate that that's the one that's the one I hate yeah the conference realignment oh don't even get me started did you guys see

the presentation, the Virginia Tech AD got leaked? What happened? The AD for Virginia Tech did a whole like 20, 30 slide PowerPoint presentation to hit their board of directors about the state of college sports

and NIL and conferences and what they need to be doing and what they forecast is going to be the different tiers and all the decks got leaked on Twitter. It was like spot on, but it was essentially from Virginia Tech's perspective

was like, we need to spend way more money because we're going to get left out in the cold. Yeah, sounds about right. Yeah. You should actually be interested in that. I'd like to read that. I mean, it's crazy. The spending wars.

I mean, it's literally. They're literally privatizing universities. If you think about it, the sport has, if you think about it, the sport has nothing to do with the education anymore. Yes, completely agree. So now you got West Virginia who's going to spend more money on their football program that has nothing to do with their fucking university. Exactly.

And they're going to, so they can make more money on the other end. What's crazy though? That's crazy to me. A part of this presentation. We're just licensed. That's what they should say. These are pro teams that are licensing college university names. That's an interesting angle.

Because they need to collect a bargaining agreement too, because you can't have guys leaving twice a year. They need to like dial it in. This is probably the last year of the Wild Wall West, so I bet. It's coming. I suspect it's going to get fixed at some point. Which let the boys go out and get as much money as you can until the rules come in, boys. The gold rush this year, let's keep an eye on. You got a little kid's making $8 million.

$8 million. They're going to come in in the league making more than their fucking coach. They don't need the money. A part of what that league presentation had was that success on the basketball court and the football field has a direct revenue, a direct connection to revenue of the college of a whole. And that when a school goes out, George Mason goes out and wins the final four, goes to the final four, they get like 25% enrollment, which is, amount of dollars when fucking this team goes to there and does this thing like there

definitely is and they were saying that we should be thinking of our athletic department budget as marketing for the school and if you look at the marketing that goes into a Marvel movie it's way less than athletic department if you look at the marketing and a team going to a high level like finishing has even better how much can they make in a year though if they go to like the championships it's not even about the team making money it's about now I'm saying George Mason because they were a team out of the that went to the final four years ago all the kids are going to want to go there yes kids go there and now it's publicly in people's consciousness which is all marketing is yeah and that they have

revenue because of that so it's like because our team hasn't been in a bc s bowl or hasn't done shit in a while look at our numbers going down from an enrollment's perspective i don't even like talking about college football anymore because i i don't i don't reckon i don't know i don't first off i didn't experience like real crazy college football yeah like environment when it was like old crazy college football environment. Now, I, I cannot relate to any of these guys. It's lost the thing that made it special, which is like the culture of it and like the rivalries.

And like, I went there because I went this and this game. New robberies up. Pretty cool seeing Ohio State come out here. Yeah, it's cool. It'll be cool for five years. And then it's going to be like, why the fuck isn't UCLA playing? Well, by then, there's going to be one major conference. There's just be one league.

It's going to be two. It's probably going to be two. It's going to be the big time in the, and the SEC. And, I mean, honestly, NFC, AOC? And then they should break those down. I mean, it's going to be nuts.

These next five years are so, so, it's going to be funny to do a social study on it. What I'm kind of secretly hoping in a dystopian kind of way is that it becomes the two major leagues,

Big Ten, SEC conferences, and then they get subdivided back into regions that were originally, the old original conferences, roughly, right? So you've got Texas in Oklahoma and Missouri in the SEC

Central and they become the old Big 12. You know what I'm saying? If those universities make it. Those ones are already in. God. Yeah. There's like the last year of the gold rush before they might like actually start putting some parameters. And like UNC is talking about going to the, when I saw the SEC.

That's ridiculous. Who knows. Yeah. Can we win a game in the ACC before we talk going anywhere to SEC? Come on, man. Come on, man. I'm just telling you. We got to keep an eye on the.

those Red Raiders this year also. I'm just telling you. I've done a lot of backing for North Carolina. A lot of backing for there. A lot of backing. We've backed them. Lombardi, head coach, coach.

We've backed them. Do not start 0 and 4. Do not start 1 in 3. Don't go down. I'm begging you because I'm just going to get murdered. You're going to eat shit. I'm going to eat so much shit if they start 1 and 3. That's how big this is.

Okay, this is, this is pro football. And I just cracked my goddamn neck. You're right? It kind of felt good. Oh, nice. Is there any one or more of these who want to do? Yeah, I want to do a couple of them. Let's go, baby.

If you had to place, we'll quick, them though. Okay, yeah. Ready? If you had to place a bet today on the 2025 NFL MVP, I think this is easy. Who will it be? I don't think it's easy. I almost placed it. I'm regretting it every single day.

Did you go Joe Burrow? I was in Vegas. I had it queued up in the fucking machine. I had a Drake May MVP. Hold, bear with me with a Patriot Super Bowl fucking parlay. $100 with a win, $750,000. And yeah, it's not going to happen, but like, I think to this day, it's like, you're telling me there's a chance.

That one preseason game looked pretty good. You're telling me there's a chance. Preseason game looked pretty good. It's going to be. If you want to give me $100,000, I'll take it. If you just want to start throwing $100 away. I mean, it's Joe Burrow, Jackson, Allen, Mahomes. Pick one of the four.

Three horse race there, yeah. I would say, is there a dark horse? Does Justin Herbert come out of nowhere? Justin Lowe. Do you go with that? I can't see like a Sequin or a. I think Burroughs probably got to get it. How crazy.

I still can't believe the stats from last year. You had triple crown winner. You had best passing quarterback. And you had the most. sacks on the defense by one guy and they didn't make the playoffs that three combat i don't think has that ever done has that that's crazy bro the secondary was just so trash but the cheat the chargers had a number one offense and a number one defense i i know i heard about it from ntonio gates a million times about yeah we're in london how there's no way that we should ever beat him

when he was associated me with the team that i was not on i was in seventh grade i i kept on trying I'd tell them. I wasn't on those Patriot team, Antonio. That was you stripping the ball after that. Their special teams was hot garbage, though. Hey, the third phase. Don't forget about it. What do you think? We're also going to do this at dudes, too.

A preseason MVP, it's got to be Shador. Yes, bro. He has a guy walking in with the sickle. With the sickle? Oh, my God, that was epic. Playing his own unreleased rap song? There will have been one preseason game from the Browns between then and now. Yo, I just want to put this out there.

It's probably all gone. And there it goes. You could say what you want. Whatever you thought before that game, that game was a huge game for him. I don't care what anyone says. He showed. And Dylan Gabriel, you better get your ass healthy.

Yeah. Okay? I'm just telling you. He went out there and played fucking pretty good. He went out and played pretty damn good. man, he looked comfortable, and you could say whatever. It was against the twos. It was against the threes. They had

a level of execution that looked like a competent football team. And when is the last time we've seen that in Cleveland in a while? I mean, you know? So like before we want, and I know Joe's a starter, but I'm talking for that backup

role, Flacco. I heard they might keep four quarterbacks, too. You can't keep four quarterbacks. You can't keep four quarterbacks, okay? You cannot keep fourth. What are we doing? Keeping four quarterbacks? They got to trade someone or something

because right now he's number two to me regardless of what you say about anyone else. He went out there, he played, I heard, I've heard that he hasn't taken any first team reps, I've heard that all, I've heard all the pre-draft shit, he went out and bawled out

and he, 32 other teams saw this. Two tuddies. 31 other teams. So like, he's, he's, got merit right now he's got leverage not leverage to do anything fucking stupid but like if you're the other players on that team and you're in that

locker room it's it's mighty hard to fool guys in the locker room you're going to go in here and say all right what are you going to do you're not going to reward this guy for going fucking what he just he had 134 computer rating whatever two touchdowns yeah there was some shit that he has to

work on but he he looked pretty decent he looked good and I just saying, man. The fact that he's out there, availability is better than ability sometimes. That's what I was told. It's the best ability. My whole career. Amen, bro. When I got hurt, I went down the bottom chart. When I got hurt, I went, because, you know, they say you can't lose your shit to injury. Look at, look at blood so. And to go out there and on draft day, be, I mean, quite frankly, humiliated guys prank phone calling you. Yeah. You're sliding. People on the internet talking smack, opportunity they get.

He goes out there in balls, man. Regardless of what you think, that game, like he's the preseason MVP because that was a huge game for him individually, the pressure, like, every network talks about this kid. Every network talk. It's a fifth round draft pick, regardless of where he was supposed to go. He's fifth round draft pick. Yeah, his dad's D-on, his dad's goat.

But, like, he went out there, bowled out when, And everyone's been talking about him. And, you know, I don't like that he went up to the dude afterwards and said, you know, would he go up to the reporter? He did something to a reporter afterwards. I don't even see. I don't think. He was charming with it.

But he kind of, like, he got to go do it again now. Yeah. Or against, I don't know, NFL talent. I don't even have any ice on my wrist. Regardless, though, the first, if it's NFL talent or not. He still went out and did it. And people were rooting for him not to. Look at, look at Caleb, Caleb didn't go out there.

That is crazy to me, too. that whole thing. I know we didn't play the whole offensive line and I know we didn't play our stars, but Chicago not playing their ones when you got Patrick Mahomes playing and they've played together for

10, 5, 8 years now. Burroughs playing. Burrow played. You had Bubble Boy Tua playing. And what? we're not going to go out that dude that i don't i don't know ben johnson that's that's you got regardless i'm going to be out there this week or whatever we're dropping there i'm going to so you would have just come back i just came back from there but i'm just saying i'm going to be

very interested because like the only thing that makes you better at football is playing football especially when you got those are those are valuable reps the VR reps okay and if you if you if the I don't why is the offensive line not playing they haven't played together it's a brand new offensive line there's eight padded practices is eight padded practices in preseason why are we not playing can i can i put a pin in it right now let me here and say we're going to talk next in two days our dudes episode is going to be a whole yeah preview so let's audience go listen to dudes if you want to get the rest preseason height yeah see the things that i got to pump the brakes on you still got to

to pump the brakes on your door. Yeah. You, yes, you do. But I'm just telling you. I'm smashing the gas on. Regardless for a late round guy, a late round guy to go out and look

as short, look as good as he did. Yeah. That shows you he can play football. You put better players around him. He's going to probably get a little better. You know what I mean? I know the scheme's probably vanilla as fuck, meaning it's basic. A lot of the times, you know,

these teams have seen each other twice in practice they go out there in the game day and they run a bunch of basic ass shit just to see who can get open on what and they they load the deck for him but he looked good he made throws he sat in the puck his eyes were down on field the whole time because at one play we did the little like backtrack twice don't love that always but yeah you know dude I was I was like fuck yeah even though I don't I don't agree with some of the shit that Shador does like and how he approaches things but to go out there and bet on your like not bet on yourself but like this is like this was his little Super Bowl and he played it played it well that's how you got to think about it that's how

you got to think about it if you want to make it as that kind of guy yeah and he went out there now then you know what the next test is do it again how does he react yeah and it's all part of the evaluation process and that's what we really are at right now that's what a lot of people don't understand you know we're still evaluating our team we don't know what our team is chicago bears we haven't even called a play as as this team and we're going to have an opportunity for our young quarterback our young offense alignment our young team our team that's never played against each other our team that barely gets to practice with each other with the new cba rules and we're just going to let them fucking go out and and just shoot stroke jojos that's crazy

to me i'll tell you what monday night in minnesota out against Minnesota. Now, Ben Johnson was not playing a big, no, week one. Oh, yes. Now, big, like, he's not ready, but that's, this is the part to get him ready. Like, he needs to feel that. There's going to be losses in the game. You know what I mean?

So I don't know what the fuck they were thinking. I don't understand how everyone got the memo, Tua, played in preseason. And we're not playing our second year quarterback that's in. a new system, new scheme, new players all around them, new team, new play caller. We're not going to play them? I don't know. That was a scratch-the-head moment for me. So I'm smashing on the gas on that one.

I like that. I like that. Should we rip one more here? What we got? You already kind of said who you're pumping the brakes on, smashing the gas. I'm pumping the brakes on Shador. And also smashing the gas. And he's also your clutch is fucked.

My clutch is a little fucking. right now, too, my Mustang. You got to take this into Frank. I know. I'm pumping the brakes on them, but you also got to take it for what it is. The guy went out there, you tested him,

you threw everything at him, and he fucking handled it. Yeah. First test, passed. Passed. Yeah. Now, I don't know about the test before.

I don't know how many tests we've already taken. But that was like, that was cool to see. Shout out Shador. Shout out Shador. Just, you know,

be seen, not heard, Bubs. Be seen not heard. And that's, that's what that was. That was being seen. through your play. Can we smash the gas on Trevionn Henderson?

Oh, my God. Electric. Electric. But what did I say when I came back? Pump the brakes. No, I... Oh, about him. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. And, like, not was he just electric and he had that kick return. But then also, this is out of date, whatever we were recording this before the second preseason game. But he was, like, running with, like, anger. Like, not, like, hitting guys and, like, you know, finish the runs. You know what this reminds me of?

which reminds me of because there is a first rounder that went from Ohio State. Where do you go? Browns. It's the Sony Michelle Nick Chub's Switch. Did we get the, did we do the switch?

Now, Sony had a great career. Incredible playoff. And he helped us. Yeah. But like you look at the longevity of that. He had bad knees. He didn't get to continue his career because of that. Yeah.

And Chubb was, I mean, he was, we were talking about him being on the cover of Madden a couple times. almost yeah he was incredible you know what i mean so maybe we get the reverse this seems like a like a i don't know maybe we should cut that i don't want to talk about like we can kill him we'll cut that but henderson i i think he's you know i i was impressed when i saw him at work at practice you know he's a smart guy he i think he's a very mature guy the guy everyone speaks very highly of him as a professional meaning he worked

And so if you think about what is his pre-draft grade Everyone talked about how he knew protections and stuff So you know that he's working He's in the classroom. He's doing his behind the work work So I'm excited for that That's going to be a good You got to stay healthy We got to stay healthy

He feels like he was almost like designed in a Josh McDaniels lab For like a prototypical like running back for him We'll see to see how he uses them I'm excited for this, though. We'll see. Cool. We got hope, baby. We got some hope.

All right. Well, that was another edition of Jackass. I'm going to pump the gas. No, or wait, wait, wait, I'm going to pump the brakes on the Patriots, though, hype. We got to, we got to pump the brakes on it. We don't know what happened in the second three season game. Just that it matters. Just because.

Still valid. Yeah. It was good. We still had a colossal fuck up with our one team. That's the backwards pass. Oh, geez. Like, we got to eliminate that. Yeah.

We can't be going. and he hasn't turned the ball over all camp I heard you know but we can't have that in game day that's like that's how you lose I've seen it firsthand we've done shit like that we lose those games you know what I mean but like that's where that's a coachable thing all right second what was it it wasn't even that like a third down it wasn't anything was a play action yeah he could have just ate it yeah what are we doing yeah he's but he's gonna learn that hopefully I'm excited preseason football is back back maybe I'm bashing so much I don't the crazy thing with preseason football though you only watch I'll watch in depth like the first five drives

of each game and then I'll let a game play and you'll watch the highlights but like that's where you have to dial in because those are like the things that they've coached a bunch those first few drives you can see what their fundamental coaching of their skill. game system is what they're going to do. That's like their vanilla version of it. You can see where it can morph out of it. And you can see who's been executing at a high level at practice. And that's ultimately what these games are for. When people say there's, I hate when people say, why do we have preseason? Because you feel so many different things than you do at a practice when you have to go through the operation. Okay. I remember the first preseason

game like last week or like like it's yesterday the Friday before you have Ivan fears come in and we have to do a walkthrough of how we have to teach the warm up before the game because you have 90 guys out there you got there's so many little logistical operational stupid things that go into playing a professional football game that you don't want to feel on the for the first time on a regular season game where everything's on the line you got to experience that you got to experience coming off a drive where it wasn't great meeting with your coach going over the pictures going over the next drive the communication for what the next drive is going to be you know the defense the looks that they're seeing what's the that adapt up like you need that so

people that say the preseason is a bunch of hoopla or are they don't they don't know the game no it's facts and it's also a huge part of the evaluation of which guys are engaged during that and which guys are not. Because you're going to be with this guy for 20 weeks. Yeah. I don't know. I mean, I'm in the camp. You need more preseason. I don't want this sloppy football

come week one and week two and week three. Like, yeah. That's why we keep seeing it. And that's why I think we I mean, I've been in TV for four years now. I feel like every beginning part of the year we talk about how offensive lines are not getting the work. You know, they're not jelling.

You know, there's no time. It's because it's the hardest position to get timing with that you need through contact. You need to have those set nine on seven periods in practice where it's just group run against the defense ones versus ones. You need that one-on-one pass sets, you know, past set, past defender trying to get to the, you need that stuff for these guys to learn. They need to communicate while they're doing it, you know? And so you're seeing a lot of these coaches, Zach Taylor. at the Cincinnati Bengals. You took the words out of my mouth.

She's also, you know, I've been thinking about the Bengals situation too. Burroughs been hurt a lot of those camps. He had the penicitis. He had the knee. He had the fucking wrist last year that they were kind of like no quarterbacks ever had this wrist thing

and he showed that he's fine. But like, that's part of it. But like that's hard for the head. You know, I've been really tough on Zach. Just like, changed so. But then I think about it. Like the quarterback's never, they've had so many distractions pre or this,

that, you know what I mean? It's tough, but that's part of it. That's part of it. And this offseason is no different with the distractions on there. We're on the Bengals train this year too. Oh, I love the Bengals. With Teddy. They can stop someone. They're going to do something this year. I think Al Golden can get that defense tightened up a little bit. Why don't we wrap this up? All right.

Well, that was the chill zone. Thanks to our favorite beer. Coors Light. Delivered straight to your door. Visit coreslight.com slash GWN and celebrate responsibly. Well, what a game, what an episode. And thanks again to Paul Pierce. Always love catching up with him. We didn't even ask him about the goddamn walk.

It was in there. We didn't get to it. Those dogs still got to be barking dog. Man. In-house shoes? Slippers? Man, it was worth. He really was.

Fucking love, Paul. That's a great episode. And that's been another episode of games with names. Subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify. wherever you listen to podcast, comment a game you want us to do. And remember, great, and review! And leave us a five-star review on Spotify while you're there. And leave us a five-star review on Spotify while you're there.

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