The Bill Simmons Podcast - Boston Gets Clocked, Round 1 Predictions, and a Mega-Mailbag With Chris Ryan and Joe House

Episode Date: April 29, 2026

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons is joined by Chris Ryan and Joe House to react to the 76ers extending the series against the Celtics, the Knicks taking a 3-2 lead against the Hawks, and the Spurs eliminating the Trail Blazers to move on to the conference semifinals (3:13). Then, they predict the outcomes for the rest of Round 1 and take a look at the NBA's anti-tanking draft lottery proposal (31:36). Finally, Bill and House answer some mailbag questions (01:02:29). Host: Bill Simmons Guests: Chris Ryan and Joe House Producers: Chia Hao Tat and Eduardo Ocampo #ULTRACourtside could get you closer to the game! https://michelobultra.com/courtside MICHELOB ULTRA® COURTSIDE ’25 to ’26. No Purchase Necessary. Open to US residents 21 plus. Begins on October 1, 2025 and ends on June 30, 2026 Multiple entry periods. See Official Rules at https://michelobultra.com/courtside for free entry, entry deadlines, prizes, and details. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit https://fanduel.com/playwithaplan to learn more about the resources and helplines Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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The Bill Simmons podcast brought to you by Fandul. We are also brought to you by the Ringer podcast Network where I put up new rewatchables. On Monday, we did Ghostbusters. First time ever we did that one. It was me and Chris Ryan and Van Lathen. That one you can watch on Netflix. All the movies that we're doing

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So when May hits, go check it out, and we are going to do them all through May. And then June moves into From Hell Month, which is the month I'm the most excited about and rewatchable sister. I'll explain more when we get to June. But there's something about Barry Monday. Yeah. Legata, which is our narrative series that we're doing. Episode 5 dropped today. It is, I think, a seven-episode series, but please catch up on that if you haven't been listening to that. Don't forget about Todd McShay, did a bunch of great NFL draft stuff. He has his two early mock draft newsletter that went out, I think, today. And then Sean Fantasy, who was on this podcast on Thursday, he's doing his projections newsletter as we try to try to eat. ease into newsletters a little bit more. I like newsletters. I wish my fingers still work. That would have a newsletter. Coming up on this podcast, me and Joe House and Chris Ryan, we recorded right after the three Tuesday night playoff games. And then we go in a time machine.

House and I did a mailback. I had so many mailback questions. I had to rip through them. So House and I did that actually before the Tuesday games. So it's going to be me, see our house, basically live right after the games. And then we go backwards in time a few hours. And we're doing a mailbag with Joe House. So that's the podcast. We're going to break. And then ProJamp. The Bill Simmons podcast is brought to you by Fandul.

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We're presented by New Air for this first segment. CR is here, Chris Ryan, fresh off a dramatic Sixers win. Joe House also here, fresh off a non-dramatic Spurs Blazers game. The Spurs wrapped it up. we made the fatal mistake of waiting for the entire game to end before we started this segment. I'm sorry, guys. You just never know with Denny and the Frisky Blazers what they were capable of. Let's talk Sixth or Celtics first.

C.R., do you expect to win tonight? What were you expecting? No, I expected this to be my customary cuck position where, you know, Boston defeats Philadelphia in something, and I have to come on and listen to you, talk about Jordan Walsh. But you got a big heart. Don't let anybody ever tell you otherwise, Bill. here we are going back to Philly for game six. And what did Joel and beat night?

That was really great. That actually was like a really great sports moment for me. What was the story for you, House, as a non-biased non-sixers and non-Seltics fan? Another guaranteed loser on an all-chalk charl parlay. Sit down. Oh, let's sit down and look at these favorites. Okay, Boston close out. Spurs close out.

Nick's Atlanta. I'm not sure. Let's see. Let's just go ahead and parlay all the favorites and give some money away to the sports book. I mean, honestly, throwing the Celtics as a big favorite at home, I was texting you guys on the gambling thread. Just a mistake. The Celtics in the last five playoffs, including the 22 and they made the finals, 25 and 11 on the road and 24 and 17 at home. Just over and over again. I don't know how many times they've lost as big favorites, but it's already happened twice this series. series. This went beyond a, like, regardless of if they finished Philly off or if they just have an unbelievable dramatic 1982 reverse, I guess it would be 1981 reverse of going up 3-1 and

then blowing the last three games, which Chris's Sixers did in 1981 against Celtics. This is ridiculous. If we flip that and you guys come back. No, big picture, I have some, I'm developing some real concerns with the Celtics team. Okay. And I think you saw some of them tonight. Like, this, Eric White thing is a real problem. He's averaging 8.2 points a game in the playoffs. He's shooting 29.8% and he's made five of 21-3s. And it felt like CR, the Sixers were just leaving him open tonight.

Yeah. I mean, I think that this was a little bit more about what the Sixers did right, than what the Celtics did wrong. But Derek White has definitely not blown my mind in this series. He's obviously accrued enough credit in the NBA that like it doesn't really matter if he has like an off series or something like. that. But it wasn't even like when I was watching. I wasn't like, well, it's not like he's

on VJ Island or something like that. Like I couldn't really figure out if he was being shut down by somebody in particular. He just seems like he's just missing something from his game right now. And the Sixers like, you know, the Sixers hit their threes tonight. That was the big story

to Sondh. Yeah. This confidence swoon happened for White in 2022 house in the five, and the, basically the whole playoffs. You remember that, Joe. Of course, 2022. I was there. Well, this is a weird one because it was on the fringe of happening the whole year. It was probably the reason he didn't make the All-Star team because his shooting stuff wasn't good enough.

And it felt like it was getting worse. And now it's a problem. My dad was at the game and he was saying the fans were really mad. They didn't bring Pritchard in sooner. They brought him in four minutes left, really after the game and end. The Seltzman's 12 shots in a row down the stretch in the fourth quarter. And they put big minutes on Brown and Tatum, which I thought was also weird, 40 plus minutes for each.

And I guess the part I don't understand watching this, and we can talk about the Sixers in a second. They had this whole bench mob thing and all these different lineups they could do and they were going small and big and all these different looks. And it just feels like they're going

chalk against the Sixers in a way that I understand. Whereas Nurse I feel like has changed stuff as a series went along. And now he's like, and Beads back we're playing six guys today. Yeah. Drummond played seven minutes, Barlow and play five. they really went six.

They went big minutes for everybody and they felt like they had real advantages, right? Yeah, and this was one of those games where I think that if you're a Sixers fan, if you watch them, you can see sometimes when Embed comes back into the mix, he seems to discombobulate the guards a little bit. Like they're not playing at the pace that they want to play at.

That happened in a game for. But yeah, so, but seeing him out there tonight, he was the best player on the floor the whole night. And when he went out with the knee scare, that was, I was like, oh, that's the end of the series, that if this is it for him. that's really tough.

But like pretty, pretty amazing him coming back in. Now, like, he's got, uh, Kada and, and, and, you know, he's not, like, exactly facing Olajuwon,

but like, he's doing a really nice job against those guys. And I thought defensively he was awesome tonight. The kind of turning point was that, that layup he swallowed on Tatum, where he just kind of like, yeah, changed his mind mid,

mid-air. Max, he stole it. PG gets it on the wing and pops it out to edgecom on for a three. And that kind of like, Every time the Celtics threatened to leave the Earth's atmosphere, the Sixers pulled him back in. And it was mostly because of Embed. Yeah, my dad was saying he thought they were going to go up 15, 16, 17 in the first half, never got there. Sixers hung around.

Embedd stopped chucking three's house. That was the other thing. That was the only thing. Once he started playing around the basket, the whole offense changed it felt like. Yeah. The only way for the Celtics to stop Embeded was to encourage him to shoot more threes. And at halftime, he went in having missed six. of them and said, you know what, maybe I should step inside the three-point line,

distribute some. The Sixers shot seven of 12 from the three-point line in the third quarter, and Mbid made seven of his first nine shots in the third quarter, and that swung the entire game. They were down 13 in the third quarter the Sixers were, and the Celtics were mainly scoring inside in the first half, all of their points. This is a reminder of who this Celtics team is. It is a team very much in transition. This wasn't a team built for a championship run, a deep run. It is by happenstance, good fortune, good planning that this team was as competitive as they were. This season, Tatum's return is really a goddamn miracle.

But this is not a team, a Celtics team built for a championship run. They're going to live and die on three point variants. And tonight they die. They had three guys. on the entire roster with double digit shot attempts. And they have three guys who scored in double digits. That's not a recipe for success. And they don't have anybody to guard Embed or to really take advantage of his immobility

except for the three point shot. And if it doesn't fall, they're vulnerable. But that was weird about it. First of all, I'm fine with Embed getting twos. When you start doubling him and giving up threes, that's when I think stuff can multiply and Sixers guys. guys can get hot. So I'd just like let him beat score. If he's going to have 40, he's going to have 40, but don't let the other guys get going. And then on offense, I just like just go at either

go at him, attack him or go smaller and pull him out, make him have to guard somebody. And they didn't really do either. He was kind of just floating around in the middle. It seemed like they were really afraid to challenge him. And then a couple times when they did, it was like those half-ass challenges that he swallowed up. Listen, there's a weird Jalen Brown thing happened in the series too, that the stats don't totally back up. I'm just going eye test from what I watched during the season. I thought the Sixers have done

this whole series that they made it really hard for him to go by people. It's also been a bit of a vintage Paul George defensive performance. He's been really good. He was really good again in a day. He played 43 minutes. We thought this guy, House and I talk about him later in the mailbag. We thought this was

a guy in his way out of the league. And I think he's been a real asset in the series. But Jaylen's had, Jalen was, he, I think he made the most two-point baskets of anyone in the league this season, was really good in the getting to the paint and getting these good shots and was doing it all year against Lou Dort, all these A-list defenders. And Philly has really, I think, throttled him a little bit. Even when he's scoring, they're really tough shots.

You know, Tatum's been up and down, which you can expect. But I think he's probably been the most consistent player. And then the fact that they're getting no offense from weight, if they get a game like Pritcher today where it's 12 points, all right, well, now. where am I getting the rest of my offense? Well, it's not coming from the bench with the defense going nuts back and forth. So I feel differently about this series than Hawks, Knicks, where it's just like there's just been in a complete reverse and like the talent kind of showed out.

Yeah, where I think the Knicks figured out the series and it's three, two, but the Hawks won two one-point games. I don't necessarily think the Celtics are going to lose the series and they're minus 2,200 to win it. But I also think Philly has a lot of confidence against him. And I thought, I think that the game three, they had a lot of confidence. The only thing that makes me think it's not going seven is just that Philly tightens up playing in in Philly. Like, I don't know

what the record is in the playoffs over the four years like you just said, but like they feel like they play a little more free on the road. And this was like a very South think certainly do. Yeah. And this was just a great anti-Kancoon game. Like these were a bunch of guys who were just like, we don't want our season to end tonight.

I think you could see also for as much backroom stuff as Sixers fans engage with of like oh should we you know is this is it for him be should we trade him should he ask out whatever like that team was really playing for him as much as with him

and I think that I think that was like a really nice meaningful capstone on what it's been like a very troubled season for him yeah I think that's fair he looked really good today the Seltz have some moves I think a little more practically you mean like yeah

Yeah, I think they really have to figure out the bench. Like Sharman once again didn't play a lot. And I think he's important, but it just feels like they need more energy and some more fight. The problem tonight, the Sixers had the two best guys in the game. So when I think like you're up three, two in a series, but you just played a game five that you didn't just lose. But there were two guys in the game who stood out and you had neither of them. That's a problem. And then the three point variance with the Sixers, you know, if they're missing threes,

it's going to come down to whether, you know, M. B. just can put the whole team on his back, which I'm dubious of because I thought he looked exhausted. Yeah. I mean, that's the, it's been a little bit of the thing with Nurse is that he ground Maxie down a lot during the season. Nurse plays his guys a lot.

He played him a lot in Toronto. And then tonight, I just felt like the team was gas. I mean, luckily Boston didn't have that much in the tank either, but turning around and playing on Thursday does not inspire me with like much Cinderella. of confidence. I'm not excited about seeing Joelle on what 48 hours rest. Right. After big minutes. House, I thought the move tonight, I thought for sure Missoula was going to do this was go back to kind of the regular season kind of line up rotation that the Seltz had, go big on the bench, try to get some confidence for Shireman, for Walsh,

maybe even Hugo, a little Garza and try to do, this was a team that in Game 82, they benched everybody and beat Orlando with their G-League team because they had these guys that actually played really well together. I thought they would do that. Instead, they put big minutes on Brown and Tatum. And I must wonder if Missou is like, we're going to close them out. We'll get rest. We'll put big minutes. And now they're playing 48 minutes later. And Tatum's played big minutes in this series. So I think the series has already been like turned out not awesome for the Celtics. Like this should be over already and it's not. I agree with all of that, except the, The thing is, you know, again, that that's who the Celtics team is.

Like, tonight should have been the night that they did the kind of hockey lineup kind of rotation, right? All those guys play good at home. They all feed off of that home crowd. That bench mob. And that might have changed the energy, but Missoula's playing, you know, kind of a longhand here, right? The long hand is to get, well, but you want Tatum and Brown on the same page if you're going to make a deep. Oh, so you feel like. He's like almost pressure testing the partnership in a game where he's like,

I bet we're going to win this series if we just win one more out of the next three. Yes, that is exactly what I think. That's the strategic call that I think he made instead of doing the thing that would have changed the energy in the first half, which was going in that benchmark direction that's been successful for the Celtics all season long. I think they need J.T. and J.B. to play together. I mean, J.B. was shot 39% from the field today and could not get anything in terms of that penetration. It's the point that Bill made where he was getting those twos all season long.

It's playoff time. And the one thing the Sixers have is good perimeter defense if Paul George is healthy. Yeah. And he is. And so there you go. If Edgecom hits his threes, then, like, I mean, Zach, whatever the reverse of Zach Lo's stat from the other night where it was like, VJ Edgecom is 0 for 16 in Sixers' playoff losses this year. So it's like if he's hitting three out of six, like we're looking pretty good. I got to say, I mean, for as much as Bill, like I, you know, admire what the Celtics have accomplished without Tatum and then bringing him back into the fold.

Like if you have Embed Maxie, Paul George playing well at Edgecombe rising and Grimes having a hot night, I'll put them up against the Celtics. It's like you can hang with it. Four or five. Sure. Yeah, we can hang. Yeah. Yeah. Grimes was really good today. I really liked, I thought he should have been playing more in this series.

played 24 minutes tonight he was plus 18. Dick is addicted to Kelly Ubrae. I know. He had two four point plays. Grimes is one of those when he's open. I feel like it's going in.

It's like fuck. This is happening. So yeah, they have some momentum. We haven't, have we had like an incredible maxi game yet? I guess game two sort of. I think his finger hurts.

I think he still has like a kind of busted hand and I think he's tired. But I think there was more zip in his game tonight. And I felt like the, even if it wasn't exactly like Denver level, it was the drivel handoff stuff that him and B were doing at the top of the key and whipping the ball around. Like, it just felt like they were like, we're not going home tonight.

Like, this is not the end of the season. And if they can bring that Thursday, you never know. My dad was, I'm excited. This has rekindled my excitement, you know. My dad was pretty disgusted afterwards. Although the Bruins, I don't know if he's a pastor neck big overtime goal. So that kind of lifted his spirit. That was on my smaller TV.

Yeah, beast. But he, he was pretty, he was just like, you could feel it. The game never had the right flow, even when we had the lead. And it just something felt off about it. House, I'm going to go glass half full on it, though. I do think this Celtics team, I'm okay with them having some adversity and seeing if they can ride through it or not with, with the Tatum just being thrown back into this like this, Tatum and Brown together, them trying to, like, let's see it now.

Let's go to Philly for a game six. Phillies got confidence. Embed is probably the best center. They're going to play in a playoff round unless they can somehow get to the finals and play whoever comes out of the West. And let's, like they found out tonight, Vucevic against some of these big scoring centers,

he's just not, it's not happening. He's not stopping anybody and he's a real liability. So what does that mean? Are they, you know, smaller, et cetera, et cetera. Who knows? The Hawks, Knicks. So I got to say like, who would you, let's say the Celtics get through the Sixers series and the Knicks finish off Atlanta. Who do you think would win a Knicks Celtics series?

Because I almost, even though Game Sevens in Boston, I almost feel like the Knicks would have to be a slight favorite in that series house. How would you have the odds? They won't be favored because the Celtics have home court advantage. Well, home court advantage that has not mattered to them as much as it should have for five years. Like, I don't know. What's the first reason why you say that, Bill? The Knicks were built to beat the Celtics. I think they have a lot of confidence playing the Celtics.

And I think they have a little more cohesion. Like you saw tonight when they can turn on their defense and Brunson, you know, can have a game like he had tonight. They're really good. Like they have the Celtics are a little lived by the three. by the three or some of their bench stuff. The Knicks feel like a little more consistent to me for a series. But the Celtics, I think, I really want to see them battle through the adversity. What do you think, Avs?

I have the Knicks in the finals. So, I mean, you know, my prediction for this NBA finals was the Knicks and the Nuggets. Good luck. That's not going to happen. Well. But the Knicks part of it, you know, this little odyssey, this mini experiment with Atlanta, when we were sitting back looking at the playoff matchups before the games got started, we kind of circled this Nick's hawks as like,

hmm, if you're looking for one where it might be surprisingly competitive, this might fit the bill because this Atlanta team is like kind of multifaceted. They can definitely defend. The one thing they can't defend is Carl Anthony Towns. And Carl Anthony Towns, the most important thing the Knicks did was make sure that he got touches in the first quarter. I mean, he ended up with, he didn't score 20 points, but he was a very, very important part of the offense in the first quarter. He got off.

Yeah. Yep. And that really set them up. They basically got out to the lead that they never really relinquished over the balance of the game from the first quarter on. Even bringing an Alvarado for these little cameos, it feels like it's supercharges them, which is what I was saying about the Seltz before. Like the Seltz used to get that from the bench, even let the little Alvarado run.

Brunson was made. masterful tonight. The CJ piece was really interesting, CR. Yeah, so I was mostly watching Sixers Celtics, and by the time I flipped over, this was pretty much over. So he only had six points. What happened here?

Yeah, he just was a non-factor. I think what happened is he's 34 years old and old guys in the playoffs. Just, you know, you're going to have nights where they just don't have it. Like you said, Drew Holiday tonight in the San Antonio game was another one. It can look great in a game two.

All of a sudden in a game five, It's a two for 15. But they, I guess the benefit house was that with CJ, now they're not going to have to pay him $35 million a year in the free agency. If they're missing six. And he kind of peters out near the end. Maybe they get him on a better deal. Somebody should.

Atlanta made some interesting industrial. They put Daniels on Kat. They put a congou on OG and they put Alexander Walker on Brunson. And watching the beginning, I was like, oh, I like this. I like Daniels on towns. This is good. And then the Knicks figured it out in about. 10 minutes and that was that. But I think,

C.R., I think we can retire the C.J. McCollum on the Reggie Miller villain MSG storyline. To be fair to him, I think he was like, I think he didn't even want to start it. To have some settle down juice, like I'm 34. I do wonder whether or not the front row of Stiller, Tina Faye, Tracy Morgan and Chalamey was. Don't forget, Jenner. And Jenner. And whether that was like kind of like a, a hat tip to Adam Silver

like we can't lose in front of these guys kind of situation first great to see Salome back out there having fun again it feels like the Oscars were a million years ago when was he not having fun

I'm glad he's living his life and I'm glad he's not wearing his dick's concerns on his face but I this playoffs really feels like the Knicks fans have passed the Laker fans from a star power standpoint that was a pretty impressive impressive fivesome that they had trotted out.

I was like, wow, this is, this is good. I don't know what the Lakers equipment. The Lakers are really struggling as Jack is getting older. I think they really struggled to pack. Who's the mayor of the Lakers right now? It's really tough. Like you hope Denzel, but Denzel is like also a Knicks fan. He's like a sports bigamist.

Does Flea still make it on the screen? Yeah, you have Flea of Diane Cannon. Like they can't. Oh gosh. They're in a knife fight with like a little, with butter knives. Yeah. They really need to double down on their fan base. Yeah, so I guess going forward with the Knicks,

the only thing is Bridges just seems like he's in Section 8 at this point offensively, and that's just how it's going to go. But what the Knicks had in game four, with the being down 2-1, this is a real people staring at each other. The fans freaking out, all right, what are we got in us? Are we going to come together and they did? It's not far away from where the Celtics are, these next. couple days now where they really looked they they legitimately lost tonight that was not uh we didn't

hit our threes that's why we didn't win it was like they got their butts beat tonight in the second half so what is that going to mean and what adjustments are they spurs blazers blazers thanks anyway portland thanks for uh thanks for all your efforts and your concerns um thanks denny thanks denny you tried you got mad at people a couple times you lost half of a tooth yeah thanks true holiday enjoyed your performance uh thanks Thank Scoot Henderson for that quick little cameo that boosted my stock before Dylan Harper took it to him. Donovan Kling, can he make a three-point shot or have I just not seen it? He'll take him.

Yeah. He'll make you think about him. Yeah. He'll shoot it. Yeah. Yeah, he'll take it. He's no drumming. Drummond's just automatic from the corner now.

I mean, Jesus. Yeah, so, House, is this a sweep without the Wembe concussion? Yes. Yes, it is. But, you know, I want to give some flowers to this Portland team. They were in it. Like, you know, they fought. That was a, they showed the value of, you know, pushing all the way to the end.

Because there was kind of an inflection point moment for their season where they could have found themselves in a lottery again without too much effort. But I mean, I love this revelation of Denny. And I'm interested in their offseason. They have cap space. they kind of need a point guard because I don't know if Scoot's going to be the point guard isn't Damian Lillard's supposed to be the point guard well then what's he going to do right

he will be something to them he will be a very important meaningful piece to them but they have some money and they have some interesting pieces they have 15 million bucks you have to ask maybe Tom Dunden thinks he gets to keep that I was going to say you're like I'm going to give them their flowers I think Dundon might be like I'm not paying for those flowers

These guys don't need flowers. They're basketball players. I got this email from a guy named Parker who had more ideas for Tom Dundon to save money. And one of them, he had stuff like on the bench only have seats for the coaches, for like the two best coaches and everybody else give to paying customers

because you can make more court side stuff. Use unpaid people to clean up the court. Half-time shows just don't have a halftime show at all. Honestly, there's a couple of these things that I'd be pretty into. Yeah. Like, he can really zag the other way. I just think that, like, like, Dundon is obviously going to drive. Like, if this keeps going, like, it'll be an embarrassment for the leave.

But, like, if he was like, you know what, you guys, we don't, we don't need somebody unicycling around during half time. Like, just go go to the bathroom, get a beer, come back. We're just going to play some music. He could have the scores table, could just have two people on it, try to sneak some court sides in there. What else could he do, House? I mean, the halftime is easy. That's kids playing basketball. Yeah.

And, you know, you can, depending on how cynical you want to be about it, you can set odds. Like, you know, you can bet on kids. Oh, my God. That's a thing. Same game parlay within the game. Yes, that's right. He thinks he can say, Parker thinks he can save money on the exercise warm up bike and maybe just use real bikes because they're cheaper.

So the guys would have to actually pedal around. Well, you could do that. You could just basically say to a guy, you'd be like, you're either in. in the game where you're out. Riding a bike is not going to change it. We've gotten rid of the bikes. We save $590. So yeah, this will be some Blazer summer.

They're going to be cheaping out on a coach. They do have some maneuverability with some trade stuff. They didn't have Shaden Sharp really for this series because he had a stress fracture thing. He barely played. He wasn't the same. And I do wonder, like, with his scoring, could they have made this a six-game series? Fun team, though. I'm excited to.

I do hope he doesn't. destroy them. I'm excited. Interesting team. The Bill Simmons podcast is brought to by Fandul. We are right in the middle of the NBA playoffs. I'm making picks left and right. Did, did an unexpected one on Monday night because I really liked the slate. So we did OKC Money Line, SGA 25 plus points, K-25 plus points, Tobias Harris 15 plus. And it hit. It was two to one. I'm going to try to every time I like any sort of parlay or any situation, probably just going to tweeted out. And if there's additional Fandau value like there is tonight where all customers get a profit boost, oh yeah, you love those profit boosts. And if you can match that with the parlay

or the bet that you like, your win hits bigger. Fandau giving you better payouts on same gay parlias on NBA playoffs, all playoffs long. Lock in your bets, boost your odds, make the playoffs payoff with Fandul official sports planning partner of the NBA. Head to fando.com slash BS to get started, Fandul, play your game. 21 plus select states are 18 plus D.C. Kentucky, Wyoming, restrictions, apply. See terms at sportsbook.fandau.com. Game problem called 100, gambor, call 888, 7877, or visit ccpg.

org slash chat in Connecticut. This episode is brought to by Miclobe Ultra. You know what my favorite thing about the playoffs is? I like during, and it's usually maybe a game four. Might even be a game five. Game seven, everyone's nervous. there's a different level of energy. But game four, game five, for one of the two teams,

there's this realization with like five minutes left in the fourth quarter. What's like, uh-oh, our fate is suddenly in real flux right now. Who's stepping up? What are we going to do? Let's calm down. Can we rise to the moment or are we going to shrink from it? And you can kind of see it with different teams. It's definitely like, for instance, going to happen in this Denver, Minnesota series.

It's going to be a moment in one of the later games when, all of a sudden either Minnesota's taken it from Denver, and at some point somebody in Denver is going to have to hit a shot, and you're going to look around and go, who's going to do it? Or in Minnesota's case, maybe Denver is punching them back, and now Edwards has to step up or DiFenzo, and you just never know, and you never know how somebody's going to respond to pressure.

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Celtics Sixers, Sixers are plus 1100 for the series, which seems way too high. and then Nick's Hawks plus 560 for the Hawks. This Rockett's idea is Durant. There's no Durant, right? I don't know. Is there Durant? Well, even if there isn't, is it better without him, right?

In some crazy way. Better without him? Like, do you want him on the bench? Well, he was laughing it up with Reechepard and Jabari last night. So, I mean, it seemed like, or the other night. So it seemed like everything was cool. Joe, you go first. So are you reading the prices as they exist right now in the Fandau sports book, Bill Simmons?

They are where I saw them a half an hour ago. Maybe they changed a little bit. And what is the Rockets price? The Rockets price. I'm going to give it to you right now. The Rockets price is plus 730. Okay. So that's because no team in the history of the NBA has come back from a three zero deficit.

Philly is still 11 to 1. and Atlanta is plus 570. And weirdly, I probably feel the worst about Atlanta. I feel like they had their, they're like the Turk and the Godfather. I missed my chance. I am the hunted one now. They had, they had the nick.

He's like Salato, yeah. I missed my chance. Who would you have, House? I think probably the Sixers, just because there's, The world where Maxi has one awesome game and Embed has another awesome game and then all of a sudden the Celtics are going home and it's like,

what just happened? We got Edgecombe. I mean, at the price, that's right. Yeah. We got one great Edgecombe game. He's capable of two. So if Edgecombe and Maxey together go off and they did do this a couple times in the season, I mean, we even have we,

there's still could be like a vintage Paul George game in there. I guess that's the one because of the price. What does a vintage Paul George game look like? honestly, though, he's right. It's like saying like a vintage Nell Carter performance. It's scoring in the high 20s,

early 30s, and locking down one of Boston's wings. I mean, I regret saying this. I agree. It's the Sixers. It is like, let's win game six and then game sevens are weird. Great theory about how the Rockets,

I mean, the Lakers didn't want to win game four because they wanted to extend the series so that the next series would start later to buy Luca more time. I don't believe this. I just say caught conspiracy bill's attention that the Lakers would lose game four and game five to push the next series to like Tuesday.

Oh, they would lose both. Yeah, they'd basically throw multiple games. I don't believe this, but conspiracy bill, it did come across his desk. I did hold it up to the light, didn't pass the, uh, do you think every time Luca watches Lou Dort trip a guy, he's like, ah, you know what? This is getting a little tight though.

One more second here. It's going to be fun watching SGA against, I don't even know who and the Lakers, if that ends up being the series. Smart? Yeah, that's not going to last too long. Okay. Next question. Which team would you rather be?

Denver minus 142 or Minnesota plus 120 right now heading into game six. If your life depended on it, which team would you rather be? Which team would you rather back? So I missed it. What's the state of Nasreid? he came back in the game I think he's okay okay

man that's really rolling down a hill against Minnesota would I rather be Denver or would I rather be who Minnesota Denver is minus 138 Minnesota's plus I thought it was a different series yeah I would rather be Denver

House why is that a question I don't understand it's a question I mean, which people are other like Minnesota just has to win one game. Yeah,

but they don't have Anthony Edwards. They don't have their best player. They're not going to be. I mean, well, can I give you that? What you're doing is you're saying that the version of the Joker that we've seen thus far,

even with, you know, an empty calorie triple double to stave off of the nation. That was not an empty calorie triple double. Why do you say that? He was great in that game. He was fine.

Here's my fear. The game five. Spencer Jones, Cam Johnson were really good at home in a game five. What is that going to look like in a game six in Minnesota when you're on the road and your team actually needs you? I just think it's easier for guys like that to play at home. That's one of the things that frustrated me with the Celtics tonight. Like home games are the time to bring out your bench guys and hope you strike oil with one

of them. I don't really trust that many of these Denver guys of Gordon's not going to play. And I don't think Minnesota needed that game. I just think that's the way the league works. It's like we're up 3-1. It would be nice that we can steal this. They don't have Anthony Edwards.

They need every game. There are no giveaway games for them. I'm not saying it was a giveaway game. I just think there's a level of desperation that one team has versus the other. You could feel it a little in Philly Boston, but especially in Denver, Minnesota. Where Minnesota's like, all right, we don't really need this game. Game 6 is the one they need.

But that's, wouldn't you call that a must win basically, though, that game 6 for them? I mean, I wouldn't because I don't, I think it's conceivable to go in somebody's building and win game 7s. We just see it over and over again now. Like, Kyle, it's not like what we grew up in the 80s where it was like game 7 at home, you won. And if you could win a game 7 in somebody's building, it was like a fucking miracle. I feel like anybody can win anyone. right now. If Anthony Edwards was playing for Minnesota, they'd win this series.

This is a Minnesota team that went to the goddamn Western Conference finals, two consecutive years. They have no problem beating Denver. And they demonstrated, you know, the idea for this series was that this is a new Denver. Denver reeled off 13 straight wins coming into the playoffs.

I don't know the last time they lost three consecutive games. They just lost three consecutive games to this Minnesota team. Because this Minnesota team has, they know how to beat Denver. They are built to beat Denver. They know how to beat Denver. They have no issue beating Denver. But they don't have Anthony Edwards. So I think that Denver's going to win three straight games and they're going to beat Minnesota in the series. Well, it sounds like you

should bet the Denver money line for the series. Done. I'll tell you this. Stay less. I think the line for game five is at a whack. Tampa, Minnesota is plus five and a half at home in game six. I think it's a 50-50 game. And I don't really trust Denver without Gordon, with him either playing hurt or not playing at all, they don't have five guys that I trust in a game like this. And I think that's what worries me with them. So if you have with Minnesota, even if it's just I.O. McDaniels, Reed, Randall, and Gobert,

and you get lucky with one of the bench guys, I think you could beat Denver in a game like that. So I'm leaning Minnesota. I mean, I would take the points, but I also, something's a little off with Denver. I don't, I don't like it. I think Gordon's too important to them. So you would really have to see Joker just go bonkers.

He has that game in him. Like, don't you, I mean, unless he's got some secret injury or a horse he loves dies, like he's got that game at him. Of course, I don't know. The fact that he's just not hitting threes anymore, worries me. The NBA did a little bit of the playbook in game four. McDaniels had two fouls in the first three minutes of the game, which was just a classic. And I don't, you're not getting that in this game.

And I bet McDaniels is all over the place. All right, so we disagree on that one. This one's probably a little easier. Which team would you rather be Cleveland or Toronto? Cleveland's minus 460. Toronto's plus 380. I would be very worried if I was Cleveland, though, because I think Toronto's found something

with the muck-it-up small-ball thing. And Cleveland has James Hardin. Those would be my two concerns. Zach Lowe called this one correctly. This is going to go seven, and the home team is going to win this series. and it's kind of unnecessary that it's going to go seven

because Cleveland should have it doesn't need to go seven Cleveland has advantages in a lot of different ways except is Evan Mobley a bitch I mean I think it's time to go ahead and put it on the table

I would use that word what word would you like to use because it's step up time it's step the fuck up time this team was built to be a 55 win this season coming in. They were supposed to be comparable

to the team from last year. They hit the reset button and brought in some really important valuable assets at the trade deadline because it wasn't working. The formula didn't work. And I just would like to see the guys that were adorning

with the, here, the leap is coming. Here it comes. This is what this team's supposed to be on paper. And I'm still waiting. We're playing. playoff basketball games now. That's where their advantage is supposed to reside.

Is that dude with his inside outside, you know, capacity? I don't know. I'll just sit tight and wait for it to happen, I guess. I said this to Zach on Sunday. He doesn't seem to have these games where it's like, wow, Evan Mowbly is running amok. He's just destroying Toronto tonight.

Like, he's kind of there. He does some nice things, but I don't know if there's that last level for him. might just be who he is, C.R. Yeah, I've not spent a ton of time with this series. This is always the one that seems to be on... You're not locked in the Raptors' caps? On Tobe at like 1.30 p.m. You know, like I'm never sure.

The Mobley thing, though, is strange because you would hope that something like the Hardin trade is the exact thing that would be like, look like... I mean, Hardin was very, very, very good for Embeddeed. Like, it's just like playing with a big man and being able to, like, facilitate that kind of stuff. And it just doesn't seem to have made an appreciable difference. I do kind of feel like Cleveland's playing with their food a little bit here and will win the series. But it is an unnecessary amount of labor for these guys, I think. I picked Cleveland and six. The two series ones I liked were Cleveland and six and the Knicks and six. Cleveland and six is now minus 105, so it's even.

Cleveland and seven is plus 170. And if you wanted to get nuts and think Toronto upsets Cleveland in game seven and we have another James Hardin moment. That is 7 to 1. I do think they found something with Murray Boyles, though, I'm going smaller. Like they've, you know, they basically have turned it into an athletic rock fight

and they made it really difficult for the cabs. And I'll be interested to see what the adjustments are. I'd probably lean Cleveland in six still. But if it goes to a seven, I would just be really nervous. The history of Cleveland sports, the history of James Hardin. So Donovan Mitchell.

Okay. And then Orlando, Detroit. Orlando is minus 240 and Detroit is plus 198. But we did find out that Franz is yet the latest one. Oh, now it's minus 250 Orlando plus 205 Detroit. We did find out, even though Orlando is up 3-1, that Franz has a calf thing and is going to miss game five. That's shaking. Like it's like probably for the rest of the series.

It's a calf thing where you're missing a game, which tells me that's at least a week and it's not 100%. And the way that, I thought that team really found something with the five starters and cane and a little black, but really like six and a half guys. So this changes that a little bit. I don't know, House. Where do you stand in this series house? It's the most impossible one to figure because of the schizophrenic magic. They were schizophrenic coming down the stretch. they lost seven straight games.

Then they finished the season on a seven and three over their last 10. They lost to our G league team. When they needed a win, they played all their starters. G league team. And then they lost to Philadelphia. Right. And the play in. And really didn't even show up.

Yeah, they thought they did not want to be in the playoffs against us. Yeah. That was a one, two, three, Cancun vibe they were giving off for sure, Paolo. But Franz reminded us. when like he was really important to them. He really can score. He really can create, but he's Franz questionable Wagner.

Tell me, take the cue out of the, you know, next to his name and go play. Just play. He can't play. He can't be on the floor. Chris? It's hard to imagine because Detroit's so new to this.

This is all happening so soon for them and playing as a one seed that I don't think they have like the institutional knowledge necessarily to claw themselves out of this. So even without Wagner, it doesn't feel like this is Detroit ripping off three in a row. And there's no guy on that team where I'm like, well, he's going to put it together. Cade's been playing, like, he's had a lot of turnovers, but he's been playing fine. It's just like it's exactly what you've been talking about, where it's just like they stood pat at the trade deadline. Maybe in three years they'll be able to be like, see, that's why we did that.

But this year, they're going to regret it. And it's going to be a little bit of like a bruise going into next season where you're like, number one seed. You were the number one seat almost like wire to wire. I think they were pretty high up there at least for most of the season. And to get beat by the eight seed of a bunch of guys most people were like, Jamal Mosley's going to get fired in between playing games. Still might get fired. He might win the series and still get fired. That's crazy. So I mean, I think that that's pretty unnerving for Detroit. Well, you get the stink on you because you have this great regular season, then you flame out in round one. And then you go to the next season.

And no matter what the result is for the first three months, people are like, well, this was what happened last year. Like, we've seen this happen with the calves. We saw it happen with the Phoenix Suns. There's these teams that can have these great regular seasons. And it just evaporates overnight when you have like a flame out. Yeah. I mean, I'm willing to be a tiny bit more generous with Detroit. They did, like, Jaden Ivy might have played an important role in this series.

It's possible. You can't dismiss it out of hands. He could have played meaningful minute. For TMZ headlines? Well, no, I mean, you know, he couldn't have been a viable starter. And it's the case that, like, you know, we complained that they didn't do more at the trade deadline. But they thought they were going to have Malik Beasley last summer. They thought Malik Beasley was going to play basketball for them, one of the best three-point shooters in the league last year.

Yeah, but they've known for a long time. No, I know. I know. Nobody put a gun to their head and told them to Sankerras-Lebert. when there are other free agents. I mean, I don't think they covered themselves in glory. I think Orlando won 60 games. No, but I'm saying that with the moves,

you can feel it now. Right. I really like the Orlando minus 240. And I just think they will win one of the next three games because I don't, their defense, the rock fight nature of this, I just don't see Detroit winning three. Yeah, and Duren seems like he's on another planet.

So, like, They, they, they, they saw something. If he was like, if he was balling and like it was just like they just are losing close games or something, but he seems. I mean, he just got new. Yeah. Right. We cover that later. Last thing.

The lottery proposal. Shams wrote this three to one lottery proposal that they leaked out. Lottery is now 16 teams. This would be the idea. Teams four through 10 in the lottery order get three lottery balls. but if you fall into the bottom three, you only get two. And then everybody else, nine and ten playing seeds in each conference also get two. And the losers of these seven, eight playing games get one.

And then they had some other stuff about no team would be able to win the top pick in consecutive years, which I like. No team would be able to win three consecutive top five picks. I like that as well. And then you would not be able to protect picks in the 12 to 15 slots going forward. Oh, interesting. So I thought this was too confusing. The only ones I really liked out of this were the ban on winning top pick and the ban on winning three consecutive top five picks. This other stuff, like, I still feel like there's going to just be different ways to tank.

Like, would Golden State have rather been a playing team or would rather be in the four through 10 spot with more lottery balls than anybody else than the other six teams? I would rather throw away the playing game at that point, which to me sounds like even more severe. So going into the playoffs, I was chatting a little bit with Zach about whether or not, like, the teams in this in this plan tournament, if that's what you want to call it, were like a validation of the concept of the plan

or a repudiation of it. And like, would you rather be in the AJ Peterson, you know, A. Cuff sweepstakes? or would you rather go get your teeth kicked in by Oklahoma City or I fought Detroit? And now it's like, you know, not only has Orlando now made this a series with Detroit and that's super fun, you know,

it'll probably be a little bit hard in the second round. But like, I don't know, man. Like, I kind of think that improving the enticing teams that are like mediocre or low mediocre to duck the playoffs or to be worse than they actually are because they might get into the lottery. Even if it's weighted that way, I still don't love it. And again, I know this is kind of a superficial critique,

but if you can't explain it to me in an elevator ride, it seems like it's not going to really be popular. And that's also one of the problems with this. It's not like the NFL draft where everybody is like, I can find somebody at 30 that can help my team go to the playoffs. You kind of tune out after the first four picks. What about you, House? Yeah, I mean, this is the inherent challenge that's super unique to the NBA.

And as long as the incentive structure rewards teams that fare worse over the course of the season with a higher draft pick than you are stone cold fucked. You have created an incentive structure for teams to go try and get that because the impact is outsized, the impact of getting a player. that can change your franchise, you know, in a split second. I mean, you know, Wembe isn't a good example because he's a once in a whatever kind of a player. And Detroit had the highest number that year and didn't get him. Yeah, that's right. I mean, and Washington has been up there in the mix for a handful of years. But, you know, Cooper flag to Dallas completely resuscitated.

It's absolutely a dead situation. It's a miracle that they got that lottery. I'll never get over. I'll never get over there. It's a miracle. It's like going to be a miracle when Gold State wins this year. When Gold State gets the top part pair, it's going to be miraculous. It's going to be a miracle.

I don't know why we can't just have the top 10 worst teams each get 8%. And anybody in from the 1 to 10, 8%, and then we split the other 20%. with how many teams you want to go and then put in those other things about the top five pick consecutive years and all that stuff. I'm fine with that.

The thing I really don't like about this bottom through record being penalized thing, what happens if you just have the year from how and a bunch of guys getting injured? Like, Indiana, I actually watched those games and felt like they were trying to win most of the time for the most part.

They weren't doing a lot of the chicanery of other. They just had a lot of injuries. In the first part of the season. Yeah. The second part of the season, I mean, let's be... But there were teams earlier in the season and earlier than usual. But then there were teams like, with no disrespect, Utah, who I felt like were... Utah definitely could have been better than...

Yeah, with no disrespect. Because they get very touchy about that. But Utah should have done that. Like, if the system is going to tell you to do this and this is the only way to get a have Markinen and JJ and be awesome next year. You know, like they could be really exciting.

I still wonder if there's some way to, to split, like split the seasons in half for the lottery balls. And if like in that second part of the season. Like Argentinian soccer. Well, if your record is just way out of whack with what it was in the first half of the season,

then maybe that, maybe that should be. But this gets into your elevator thing, C.R. I do think we're going to have to be able to explain this in a sentence. It's like anything else. It's like good TV shows you should be able to explain in a sentence. A movie pitch should be a sentence.

A pitch I have for a company should be a sentence. And the latter should be one sentence. And it's like, hey, top 10, the worst 10 teams, 8% chance each. You can't win the top pick two years in a row. And you can't get a top five pick three years in a row. And those are our new rules. And that's what we're doing. I think people would accept that more than what we have now.

The three to one thing is just like the teams that are 13th, 14th worst try to dip in. Look at this. This is the proposal. This is a fucking 400 words. That can't be your proposal. So hopefully this will not be what they end up doing. House just wants to win one more lottery before they pack it in. This is the one.

What are your big ones? John Raw. There's a big culture change happening in Washington. I was reading about it. Culture change. Yeah. They're doing one-on-ones with like the whole staff of the players. Like I was reading about it.

It was kind of cool. I was like, Ted. Well, how's that they're about to do a mailbag? We have a great, great, great Washington Wizard question in the mailbag that we're about to do. CR, what's life been like after CR month? Just searching for answers after that. Yeah.

Searching for meaning. Yeah. No, it's been pretty good. What are you talking about? Yeah, Ghostbusters, baby. Yeah, Ghostbusters was great. Bill, did you see the PSG-Bier Munich game today at all? I did not.

The Champions League game. Sadly, I was doing work stuff. I highly recommend you check it out. What was the final score of it? 5-4 PSG. It's one of the best soccer football matches I've ever seen. Oh, really? And this guy Michael Olise, who plays for Bayern Munich, is played out of his mind today.

I was hoping he would go to Liverpool next season. You know what I did say was the second division Spanish goalkeeper clocked that other guy and get jumped by 20 guys. I watched that. I watched a bunch of angles of that one. Can that happen more? Because the goal is not like the pads too.

He sent me that one. I want to see that one. Oh, it was great. He cold cocked the guy. Yeah, it was good stuff. Yeah, we're getting ready for the world cup over here. Is that what's going on? I mean, like, it's,

I think it's heating up, obviously. But no, the PSG Byron game was like the, like, revived my soul. It was amazing. Do you have a Champions League? for House and I? I think PSG is going to win. You think they're going to win the whole thing?

You got House's attention. Okay. He just... Where are the odds? I don't know, but I think the tough thing for Arsenal is if they beat Atlago, the Spanish team, they're... Plus 185, House. Okay, good. I'm in.

They're run in. Arsenal's run in as tight because they're going nose to nose with Man City for the title. So it's a little harder for them than it would be for PSG. C.R.'s just as soon as the Sixers get eliminated, whatever round, he moves right into World Cup mode in England, just thinking about everything, where we're going to go. Is that the, well, who's your World Cup pick? I, my World Cup pick.

He hasn't done all the research yet. It really depends because a bunch of guys have gotten hurt recently. So I have to kind of rethink a couple of French guys got hurt. He's doing, he's preparing for, Sean's doing a movie draft of the best Philip Baker Hall movies. They're running out of movie draft ideas, so they're doing that. He's hoping to get happiness with a second round pick. Hey, I don't want to keep House up very late,

but I have to ask him one question. Groggy House loves this. What are you talking about? Yeah, I'm good. For the last, like, 10, 12 days, maybe a little bit longer. He's been kind of trolling me about how unquestionable it is that REM is better than the replacements. Oh, my God.

I didn't know where you stood on this, but I know you must think it's a closer fight than Bill seems to. No, that wasn't what I said. As usual, classic CR, you twisted my words around. I said at the time, CR, that R.M. was a much bigger band than the replacements. And it wasn't arguable, and we didn't put them next to each other. That is true. And now is the years of past.

Bigger is different. People are like, no, actually, the replacements were better. And that's been a thing that is now happening. Those are two different arguments. And you following me down the hallway and being like the bums lost is not convincing me. Because you said they're bigger. I said, I know they're bigger. And you were like, and they were better.

And it's like, I just don't agree. They had a more successful career. Okay. Again, two different. Like, you know who had a more, sync had a more successful career than minor threat. Okay. Now we're talking.

Insync had, you know, made more money, was more well known, you know, more critical, not more critical acclaim, but, when we were in college,

REM, was the crown prince of alternative college radio. They were the band. I was a DJ at WCH, the College of the Holy Cross, the hip stuff, 99.1 FM from the day I arrived, you know, the first time they let me on in that radio station within the first couple weeks of school, they gave me, me and Jeff Macer,

the 10 a.m. 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. Friday night slot. A freshman, go suck a fat one. Here's your radio slot. Friday nights at Holy Cross. It's a good spot. Marlboro lights and Mountain Dew with Joe House and Jeff Mason. And I'm here to tell you, I didn't play R.E.M. in four years from the fall of 1987 to the spring of 1991, I didn't play a single R&M song, not once in my entire college career. Because they were two mainstream and you were on the Zagreb against the mainstown at that place. Say it against the R.

How much Tim did you do bang? How much? Amazing. Of course. Of course. Goes without saying. There you go. That's the only metric that counts.

The playlist. Mission of Burma, you know, replacements. Lemonheads back. Like, also amazing stuff we could do. Volcano suns.

Bang it, baby. So what's your answer, House? But what? Who do you prefer? has more, has established a lengthier career, but the replacements are irrefutably, incredibly impactful for the moment that they, they arrived in what they did. Okay.

I agree. We're all on the same page. We're all on the same page. So is Fugazi. Fugazi surpasses the replacements to be, I mean, respectfully. You know, it's got a much longer conversation. Early 2000s music is fucking back. Ben Simmons

Ben Simmons went to Coachella number one reason was because the strokes were playing he was more excited about them than anything else all that music is back from the Yayas the strokes all that stuff is back LCD I saw the strokes a bunch back of the day they were a little wet farty for me

like I saw them with guided by voices that's the problem CR and guided my voices kicked their ass right It wasn't even close. Yeah. So that's the problem. First time I saw the strokes where they played with God by voices.

All right. Can we, can we schedule like a late 80s, early 90s? Please. Alternative Rock. Is this the first time minor threats ever been mentioned

on your podcast? Yeah, that was pretty impressive. Definitely. There's a hundred percent chance. All right. House is going to stay because we're doing a mailbag. CR is going to go and celebrate with a couple of Vijay Hedgecombe, Bruce.

VJ. Hachcombe lights. Delicious. Some BJ lights. Guys, thanks so much. See you. See you. All right.

We are in full swing for the NBA playoffs. Great teams, great players, great action. Every single night, the stakes are the absolute highest. And when I watch, I love to bet on Fandall, especially when I'm on the East Coast, back for Celtic games, and I could just jump right in. Fandle, a brand I trust, easy to build by bet. I know I will get my winnings instantly. So Wednesday night, a couple really fun ones because we have.

We have Orlando, Detroit, Toronto, Cleveland, and Houston Lakers. And honestly, I don't think you can go wrong with the underdog money lines in any of those. I'm going to send out an official pick if I really love one of the matchups or a parley situation. But I think all of those series are 50-50 series, especially like Orlando might just be better than Detroit. Toronto has really figured out a small ball lineup to bug Cleveland and Houston Lakers. Who knows? I mean, that series should be 2-2. It's 3-1.

Anyway, I will figure it out. Check out my picks in the Fandil Sportsbook app and on my social feed. Don't forget to boost your potential winnings before you place it. Fandul, play your game. This episode is brought to by Volkswagen. All right, let's talk about the Volkswagen Atlas. This is a 7-C powerhouse that actually makes sense for real life. It's got cargo space for all your gear, the dogs, even half your rec league soccer team. And under the hood, a two-liter turbocharged TSI engine that hauls up to 5,000 pounds.

The 7-seat Atlas, you deserve more space. visit vw.ca to learn more. SUVW, German engineered for all. Amazon presents Jeff versus Taco Truck Salsa, whether it's Verde, Roja, or the orange one. For Jeff, trying any salsa is like playing Russian roulette with a flamethrower. Luckily, Jeff saved with Amazon

and stocked up on antacids, ginger tea, and milk. Habaniero, more like Habinier, yes. Save the everyday with Amazon. All right, you just saw a house with CR. Now we've gone in a time machine backwards about 10 hours house. And we're going to do some mailback questions. I had so many good mailbag questions. People sending them into BSPodcast33 at gmail.com. You came on and did the mailbag with me, I think last month. And you said after, I just had a great time. It's a true story. I love the mailbag. It's one of, I mean,

I'm not as sure that I'm allowed to talk about your re-apex, but the reintroduction of the mailbag into your steady stream of content is welcome, and America loves it. Yeah, when I started my column on this Boston sports guy at 97, I think the mailbag was like the third one I ever did. It was encouraging people to send email. So I'm glad they're still happening. I have a bunch of good ones for us. First one is from Chad H, who made a request. Oh, would prefer if you could answer this one with House for obvious reasons. Uh-oh. Yeah.

Where do you think this is going? There are two and three possibilities, none of which are good. He said, I was so excited for Arby's steak nuggets when they came out last year. And then it seemed like they dropped off the face of the earth. It was over before it started. I think this should be an NBA award. Who is this year's Arby's steak nuggets NBA player of the year? named for the player that showed such early promise,

and then for one reason or another, it completely fell off the map. Wow, tremendous question. Really good. I have a good answer for this, that I can go first unless you want to jump in. I need you to go first, but I will say in Arby's defense,

part of the allure of the nuggets was their scarcity. It was a limited time run, a limited edition. Now, I'm not suggesting that whatever player you have in mind and one that I'll think of in the next 35 seconds. also should be scarce or should be a limited run. But there's nothing keeping Arby's from bringing back to steak nuggets in the same way. Right. This player that we're going to talk about could ascend yet.

So the scarcity, I think what we're landing on here is it had to be somebody we felt like was going to be in our life more consistently and then it was abruptly over. Okay. But we know next season the player is going to come back much like the Arby's steak nuggets. So the candidates to me are basically anyone on Charlotte, we could go with, we could go with Conniple that we thought we were going to get a great playoff run from him. All of a sudden it was over. He didn't win rookie of the year. And it's just abrupt.

But I think the answer is Jalen Duren, who I voted for second. I voted for him second team all NBA. You're getting daily content out of this now. He hurt your feelings. You're really in your feelings about this. I really believed. I had him second team all NBA. I want to write into the NBA

and see if I can change my vote, even though I already sent it in. He's been so bad in these playoffs for him, for somebody that I thought was just impactful and consistent night after day. And now it just seems like he's a mess that I wonder if it's, but he's still playing, so I don't know if that qualifies.

So I was trying to think of teams that came out hot and then fell off at the beginning of the season. We thought, oh, look at this team. And then they fell off, but I can't really come up with any. that fits that very well. Does Janus qualify? Like the version of the Bucks that we all lost money on

because we thought that the Bucks were going to be really something this season. And we got tiny tastes of him and like, oh, Hollins. Look at this, you know, what he's done in terms of the, like they've got the role players. It looks like this Bucks team could be something. It was very fleeting. It tasted good for a minute and now it's gone. Yeah, that's pretty good.

Yeah. I think that's probably the answer. There was like this, when Yannis came back and the bucks had hung around in it. But the thing is, like the RB Steak Nuggets came out of nowhere. Janus we'd had for years and years. So I do feel like it has to be like a fast riser guy. Oh, a player. Yeah.

That we didn't anticipate. Well, you know, it could be Lamello too. Like we didn't realize this Lamella thing. Yeah, I think it's a little bit. That's pretty good. That's the answer. I like that one. Yeah, it abruptly ended.

And then we were mad at him and he just did. a bunch of dumb things and we don't know where he went. All right, we'll go with LaMello. Alex from Virginia said, I know you and Zach are old white guys. Good start. And maybe you need Van Lathen to inform you of important information that the beautiful Angel Reese used to date Jalen Duren. Now she is the proud girl of Wendell Carter and has taunted Duren on Instagram during the series.

So Carter may have taken Angel Reese outplayed Dern in a series and potentially even and sent him home as a 1-8 underdog, Wendell needs respect. So I didn't know about this until yesterday. So maybe that is because I'm an old white guy. Because she did an Instagram of cane on the magic, who raising cane came out of nowhere and dunked right on Duren's head. And she did an Instagram post about it and has been,

I guess, I'm not really on social like that. So sometimes I miss stuff and I definitely miss this storyline. I wish we could have incorporated into our bet. I feel like we might have even taken Orlando money line if we had known this was a factor. But anyway, did you know about this as another old white guy? Game by game. I'm familiar with who she's dating now.

I'm familiar with this current relationship. I didn't know the entirety of the history. I will say since game two with Orlando, I've thought Orlando's been super live. And I'm sure we're covering it in the portion with CR. So I won't elaborate right now. Okay. Zach wants to know for all the times you mentioned people saying Denver beat no one on the way to their championship in 23. I mentioned I didn't say I felt this way, but this is a thing that people are saying now that Denver's only won one title.

They didn't beat anyone that year. Zach wants us to remember that all the experts picked both the Lakers and the Sons to win the West A year. And the Sun's team was allegedly stacked. And the whole reason I started listening to your podcast in the first place is you were the only voice outside Denver that genuinely believe the Nuggets could win. I just feel like I need to defend our only championship as we potentially fall apart this year. It is one of those stupid narratives because Denver was not on the radar like that. And people did think it was going to be Lakers. I don't remember what the Sun's Nuggets line was that series, but I think people felt like that was going to be even.

Right? I loathe this. I loathe it. that is to say the storyline about a team with an undeserved NBA championship outcome. The only one within modern era that you could possibly take issue with poke holes in is the summer camp, the summer camp championship that the Lakers won. That's exactly right. I mean, did you see.

Everything else. Come on. Did you see what Davis said about that? He felt like they didn't even really totally win. And it was so weird there. And it was just completely different. Sounds like every other Davis. That makes sense to me.

Yeah. Shocker. No, I thought Denver, you know, when they played Miami, Miami was like a giant killer at that point. They'd taken out a lot of good teams. And you could make the case. The only thing you could really ding Denver on, it's not their fault was Dragage got hurt. And Dragage wasn't the same in the finals. And I think that would have been a really live finals for Miami if Dragage is healthy.

I don't know if they were one. We have examples of teams that suffer an injury in that way, you know, either as the finals get started during the course of the finals, that the NBA history is replete with those examples. Denver earned that title. It was legit. You can pave it however. You know,

so all the path because of the encounter this and that. Like every champion of the last 50 years has those kinds of. And by the way, if we're going to do that with teams and pick the 24 Celtics or another team, we're like, oh, who they play? If we're going to do that with half the titles, then we should swing the other way.

and we should talk about the 2011 Mavericks title reverentially, where they went through every good team in the West. I think they were underdogs. They beat Portland in a series they were down on. They swept the Lakers. They beat OKC when the OKC was really scary. And then upset this Miami team that everybody thought was going to win eight straight titles.

Then we should talk about Dirk reverentially. We should talk about the 2011 Mavs all the time. You can't have it both ways. That's fine. All roads aren't equal. We, we, but they're all hard. I mean, I'm not, why were you trying to win 16 playoff games? Yeah, no.

We're on the same page with that. I don't want to get into the business of, of, yeah, we're on the same side. Yeah, because you look at OKC this year, they get Phoenix in round one. They're going to get Lakers Rockets, you know, that winter in round two. And then, you know, potentially San Antonio, Denver, whatever. happens. Right. And maybe who knows

if one of those teams is even going to be fully healthy in that series. So I don't know. You could do this all the time.

This one I did not know about, and I checked today and it was not a big deal. It was brought to my attention by Dave Workman, who said, did you hear Jay Moore's

latest pod with Vladay Dvats? Now, there is a really funny part of this where Vlade explains why they took Marvin Bagley over Luca because they already had this

leader in Deeran Fox who was happy to be in a small market and he thought Luca was a big market guy. It might not be a fit. It was like insane. It was like he had six years to workshop it. Anyway, Dave says, obviously he's married to Jeannie Bus. When they were talking about Luca, he said, quote, I knew about the Luca trade for like six weeks because of Jeannie had to keep my mouth shut. And I was like, don't trade AD. That's crazy. And then he asked thoughts. okay. So this goes back to a great conspiracy bill thing that I've even tried to badger Rich Paul who does a podcast for The Ringer about, I feel like way more people than everyone claims knew about this lucid trade. I'm just always going to believe it. You've been saying it from

the very beginning. I'm always going to say it. I'm always going to, Cuban pretends he didn't know. The Dumonts pretended they didn't know until the last minute. Jason Kidd, who I wouldn't say has like an awesome truth history. He claimed he didn't know. JJ Reddick said he knew it the last second. It was basically... Every single person so far, I believe JJ the most. And I think Jeannie even said, yeah, we didn't know until the last second.

Well, now your boyfriend just went on a... Or now your husband went on a podcast and said he knew for six weeks. So... I mean, the proof was in the pudding. You spell it out immediately. 80 waved the trade kicker. That's it. That's all you need to know.

You wave the trade kicker almost overnight for reasons that remain unclear because he was fine with the trade because he wasn't 100% happy in LA. And I just, what would you say over under people that know? I'm going, if I gave you over now, over under nine and a half, would you go over under you. I thought you were going to set it at 15 and a half. Because think about everybody in that on the two ownership groups, right? Those ownership groups are, you know, have minority owners, whatever. Yeah. Nine and a half isn't over for me. Okay. This is one of the reasons I wanted to have you on. A fantastic email from Fergus Collins. All right, Fergus. I'm from Ireland. I mostly follow Irish sports, but I'm also a Celtics fan. Why does following Rory McElroy and following the Celtics feel like the exact same emotional roller coaster?

They both give me the most hope for success to a fan while also giving me the greatest chance of a dramatic collapse. The Celtics lost two 20-point leads against the Knicks last year. Mac Groy ties the round with Scott in the 18th and Ryder Cup. The heat upset the Celtics in the playoffs. Rory throws a four-shot final round lead in the Masters in 2011. Going up six on Saturday in Augusta, countless articles about how no golfers ever-surnered major. Then he's talking about the Celtics,

favorite to win the east, scrappy team, but always blows lead. He goes on and on, and he said, how did I end up with both of these people in my life, basically? What a great analogy, because Rory is the most talented, I mean, other than Scotty, he's the most talented golfer. Yeah. And over the last 20 years, he's really, you know, he's been in that upper, upper upper

echelon. And he, the greatest enemy to Rory is himself. And in a lot of ways, I felt the same way about the Celtics the last few years. Even the other night in Portland and in Philly when they're up in game four by 25. And I'm like, I'm fucking. I still have my seatbelt on. I'm fully prepared for them to just take 10 terrible threes in a row and all of and we're up seven.

There's something about their style of play. I just never feel safe, which I think is exactly the same feeling as Rory. So I actually think this is really good. It's great. Never feel safe with Rory, any lead whatsoever. I mean,

going to bed Friday night with that six stroke lead, you know, the conversations in my threads were like, you know, how is this going to get tightened up? We all know that it's, you know, that the six strokes are going to evaporate by hook or by crook.

The only thing I wonder about, and it is a tremendous, tremendous job by Fergus. Rory has an element of unmets potential because there was a 10-year gap between the majors that he won. Was there a point since, you know,

the Celtics won in 24, so they finally got the Jays, the championship. But it felt like that was on time. It didn't feel like the Js should have won a championship earlier than that to me. No, they should have won in 22. They just weren't ready to win it. Yeah, I agree.

They had a better, Curry just, that was Curry and the Warriors infrastructure and the, and the cells not being ready yet. But I think if you go back and watch those games, it's like, oh my God, how did they not pull this off? It was just Curry was the know-how.

You couldn't compete with it. That's right. I agree. 20 in the bubble is interesting because I don't think they were really ready that year and they had the Kimball Walker piece of it, but they really went toe to toe with all those teams that year. And that was easily one that could have made the finals.

And then 18, that game seven against Cleveland, one of LeBron's greatest games ever, he plays all 48 minutes. And it's basically just LeBron against the Celtics. What did they miss 100 threes? So they would have made the finals. So if you say this whole run from when they got Al Horford all the way to now, and it's basically they've only made the finals twice, I would say, that's a slight underachieve for the potential.

Okay. Yeah, because, I mean, you would point to for Rory, the U.S. Open that he coughed up against Bryson, when Bryson snatched it, you know, on the 18th hole with Rory missing a short put, or Rory lost the Open championship. Cam Smith a couple years ago, shot a super low score and Rory couldn't get any birdies to roll in. So it was right there on a Sunday on the back nine of those championships that couldn't get it across the line. Okay. And last year, too, like they blow two 20 point leads to the next. and then Tatum gets hurt and they squander that series,

Indiana ends up making it and taking OKC to seven and OKC's young and not totally ready yet, and who knows what the Celtics would have been. But I think that's a good analogy. I think we're going to look back at how they had Tatum and Brown basically combing in at the same time a year apart, which is impossible now in this day and age to keep two guys like that who are that expensive together,

but they also had cap space and a great GM and they only made two finals. That's why I think there's some pressure on them this year. That's a great point. You know what I mean? It's like, wow. Why didn't we make more finals than that? We had these two guys the whole time.

It's important. Speaking of Tatum, Xavier in New York says, Dante DiVincenzo, they said he already went full Tatum surgery. Are we at the point where that should just be what it's called? Like how Tommy John became T. Territ fixed it immediately no debate.

Tatum bounced back. have we now created the JT surgery because so much of it depends on how fast players get it after they tear their Achilles, you have to repair it immediately have a better chance to come back. Will this be called the Tatum surgery? I can't stand for it.

And it's not because I have any particular feelings for the player that I think it's appropriately assigned to. But we lived through it with Aaron Rogers. Aaron Rogers was threatening coming back and playing football games, you know, the season right after. But he got a different. Aaron Rogers got the different surgery, though. He got the quickie surgery. Tatum got the one where-

He did it immediately. Yeah, but he got the one that allowed him to come back faster. Tatum got the one where they did the full heel, but they did it within 10 hours of the injury. And they feel like that allowed it to come back 100%. I do feel like he might have, the doctor who did it. might have created some new version of this. I don't know. I don't like having Tatum's name involved with a surgery is my least favorite part of this.

How long to take Kobe? I feel like Kobe was his comeback. But then he got hurt again. Okay. Yeah, he came back, but then hurt something else. I threw this at, Zach, I wanted to get your take from Rob from Penisola. Could you consider rename in the Ewing theory after Trey Young? Got a few of these about the Hawks without Trey Young are eligible.

My take was pretty steadfast. Like he wasn't good enough to be eligible for the Ewing theory. And I don't feel like anybody thought the Hawks were screwed when they traded him. You're down with that, right? No. And also, I feel like an element of Ewing theory includes a kind of immediacy. Like the player is supposed to be part of your plan and the player is lost and you're not expected. Like Edwards getting hurt right now, Minnesota makes the finals without Edwards.

That's the Ewing theory. That would be the Ewing theory. Exactly. Trey Young had already been marginalized. Like the direction of the team with the trades that they made, the acquisitions, the offseason acquisitions, the direction of the team, they were looking to, I feel like they knew what they had with Trey. You know the answer to this because they didn't extend him. Like if he was the most important player to them, then they would have extended him. So I don't ever criticize anyone for trying, you know, let's be creative here.

Everybody's innovating with the theory. But I feel like we have to visit first principles on it. the bones of it are, which was a superstar that the media felt was the single biggest reason the team would win the title, gets hurt, everybody writes out, gets hurt or traded or whatever, everybody writes off the team, and then they do better without them. That is fundamentally what the union theory is Edwards would be an example. Another one would be like if Jalen Brunson sprained an ankle or something and all of a sudden the Knicks started running stuff through towns and were much better without Brunson, basically. And we're,

We were like, whoa, it's a different Knicks team, but are they better? And that would be an example of the Ewing theory. Like, oh, my God, we're so screwed. We don't have Brunson and then he's better. And it would be the Knicks. I mean, that would be pretty interesting. Or if the Celtics last year, if Tatum had got hurt and they came back from 3-1 and made the finals and then... Sure.

Yeah, sure. It has to be that level of player. Will Hanseman from Chicago writes, I didn't know this. He said a lot of people talk about Ripkin's consecutive games played a streak that you love dearly. Or Wilts 100. I will always think the most unbelievable sports stat is LeBron averaging 27-7-7 over 1,600-plus games, but never playing a single game that had the stat line 27, 7-7-and-7. I feel like it's more likely his points record gets broken than whatever the hell that record is.

It's the perfect metaphor for a guy whose historical consistency never stops changing and evolving. I had no way to look this up because I'm not smart enough. But if this is true, if he never actually had a 2777 while averaging 27 and 7 every year, that's fucking crazy. That's the single, that's crazier than BAM's 83 point games. So please, can somebody tell us once and for all if that is true or not? Let's get somebody to look that up. How is that possible?

For all the games that he played, when you think about, he made eight straight finals. So you're not just talking about regular season games. You're talking about playoff series after playoff series. And they weren't like, you know, 4-0s or 4-1s. Like, that's a lot of games to not get a 27-77. It can't be true. John Palmer asks, you'll love this one. Will pulling a Paul George become a thing?

Every aging start dealing with injuries should be taken tons of alleged H-GH-CH and other alleged banned substance, get stronger and recover faster. The penalty of caught is a 20-plus game mid-season vacation, which you probably would have missed anyway via load management, leaving you more time to recover and train. They come back healthier and better just in time to spin up for the playoffs. They're giving up money, of course, but what were the other negative consequences for Paul George?

Again, this is from John Palmer. So here's the thing. Paul George has looked really good in the Sixers Celtic series. I talked to this with Zach on Sunday night. It's like I think he's resuscitated his trade value. So he cost himself, what, 10 million with the suspension? But he's resuscitated himself as an asset, whereas March with Big Guas, he was the second pick in our worst contract strapped.

I don't think he would be the second pick anymore. So I love the concept of pulling a Paul George in general and trying to guess who would do this next year. It's like, oh, Zach Levine, he's pulling. to Paul George. No, it's got to be somebody good who needs the rest. Somebody, like Draymond. Like somebody, yeah, yeah, somebody who needs it in their 30s.

We're in that stretch right before the playoffs. That would be to me, if you're looking for an opportunity for there to be genuine salary cap circumvention, that would be one where the team and the player and its representatives are all like, you know, you felt like, you felt like just taking a little. Because, like, in terms of NBA public consumorship, I feel like it's, it's, you don't get as mad at the player for, oh, he got popped for a piss test as opposed to he's sitting out deliberately because he's resting up for the playoffs. True. I feel like it gives you a pass a little bit to fail the piss test. Plus, he brilliantly played the mental health card immediately, right?

When he came back and people were like, okay, I didn't realize. And that was it. Barry Bonds was like, fuck, why did I know that in 2004? If only, if only he knew. Yeah. I was thinking of some of the best pulling a blanks ever, and I think my favorite one is Vince Vaughn and Swingers saying, I want to grab two cocktail which says it pull me Afredo or whatever he said,

like the pulling a friday was my favorite pulling off. But pulling and Paul George, pretty good. And now it's time for a new segment called Era Comp. It is brought to by New Era, the official cap of the NBA. Today's players, I know they're incredible. It's also important to recognize the legends who shape the game we're watching today. As you know, I love to do this in my podcast, constantly bring up the past, bring up the history, everything. The new era NBA Hardwood Classics Collection celebrates a lot of those iconic moments in players who made that era unforgettable.

So let's put the era side by side, the 80s and now. They wanted me to pick up top player now and compare them to a player in the 80s. And this is a little unconventional, but I think there's a lot of yokeage and late 80s, Magic Johnson, who Magic Johnson was allegedly a point guard. He really wasn't. He couldn't guard the other point guard and the other team. He controlled the game. He could post up. He did a lot of stuff with his back to the basket.

He controlled the pace of the game. Unbelievable passer. He could score 37 points in a game. He could score 20. He could have 20 assists in the game. He could have eight. He could rebound. He could get triple doubles.

And was just all over. every single game offensively. And I think Joker, even though he's a center, when I watch them, they really remind me of each other. Joker is like the kind of spawn of bird and magic, but really closer to the late 80s magic side, I think, is the comp. And when I watch Joker, it's hard not to think of late 80s magic as Kareem is bald and old and everything had to run through magic.

Anyway, you can relive vintage logos and timeless icons with the new era NBA Hardwood Classics Collection, headware available in a wide range of fitted and adjustable styles. I'm personally an adjustable guy because I have a giant head, as well as hardwood classics apparel. Here's what you have to do. You have to visit neweracap.com slash ringer. That is new eracap.com slash ringer.

And you can shop now and you can use one-time code ringer for 20% off your first order. Go do it. D. Bob in New York, he says, I think the streaming resolution, I'm sorry, the streaming revolution of the last seven years was secretly pushed

by big advertisement. Before streaming, I never watched a commercial of my life. When the game went to break, I flipped channels. If I was watching on DVR, I fast forwarded.

Now I'm taking every second of commercials in because it takes too long to get out of the Amazon or Peacock app. Thoughts? It is true. Debob.

Debub is on the money here. I can't touch it. We're on Peacock. First of all, if you leave Peacock, you can't get back for another seven minutes. It's like, it auto locks you out. I had no, I thought it was me. I thought that, you know, I'm a pretty caveman TV person.

Yeah. So I thought it's because I'm using the internet to pull up my streaming, my streamers. Or peacock. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. I'm doing it. And I thought, oh, I must be the only moron who can't switch from there to, you know,

what ESPN to see what's going on in the hockey game. because it will take me, you know, another four and a half minutes just to get over to ESPN. So good. This makes me feel better. These sports on streamers, I think there's been some real ramifications that we weren't really fully able to assess until these playoffs started. Because like when Netflix had the Christmas games, it's like, cool, I'll just pop over and check out the Christmas game or I'll watch the Christmas game.

But now in late April, when there's hockey and basketball and baseball on, you really want the ability to maneuver around. And unless, like, thank God for me, I have multiple TVs and I can keep stuff on. Thank God for you. But if you're a college kid, you have one TV or if you're at a bar. Yeah. Like, somebody was telling me in New York. If you're at a bar, you can go from that portion of where that TV over to this

portion where the other TV is. Somebody was telling me at a bar in New York, they could only have the Amazon on one, one of like the ATVs because they lock you out after three devices. So the other seven TVs were like tied to ESPN and baseball. And there was like the one Amazon TV. And I was like, that makes sense. Like I can't even watch Amazon with my dad and my daughter hopping on my Amazon at the same time. We really, this is, we need a sports bar, sports are to really figure all of this out.

Because I just feel like Amazon should relax the device thing for the playoffs. And Peacock, same thing where it should just be like during the playoffs, 25 people can use my peacock or my Amazon. And then bar or maybe bars get a special exemption. I don't know. There's got to be a better way to do this. There's got to be a better way to do this. I just want the back function.

How do I get the back function restored? I can't have two TVs. Yesterday that Friday's Monday's game. The first one ended on Peacock. And I wanted to go backwards out of it. Yeah. And I just went in. to an abyss on the TV.

I was like, I was like Pluto. I was like, what happened? Yeah, I just skid it sideways. This email is no longer timely, but I really liked it.

And I feel like we got to figure out how to use it anyway. I am a proud female listener, and I've been riding hard for the pod for decades. Not a business. The playoff started on April 17th, and I need to know which matchups are you fully locked in for, and which ones are you not, absolutely not drinking any fucking Merlot on.

Do all eight matchups have some Pinot in them, or do any qualify as a Merleau matchup? Maybe you can spend quality time with your family and miss one. And this is written by Nicole quotes BJ Diamond in Larchmont, New York. I'm just reading the email. Tremendous. What was our, I like the idea of the Merleau matchup, though. I think it was OKC Phoenix.

was our Merlo matchup. Definitely. Definitely. I'm only interested in that to get a gauge on whether I'm going to live bet the spread, the second half spread or the fourth quarter is OKC going to cover. How am I going to live bet this? That's it. I would check in. Do I want to live bet it? I did a Fandall thing yesterday that actually hit where I had K25 plus Tobias 15 plus OKC to win and Shade 25 plus. So I was reading for Shea to score. And She had five points at the end of the first quarter. And it was really fun because it was like, all right, I'm probably safe here. It's SGA.

And then Shea just ripped off like 14 points in like three minutes. And it was like, this is great. I'm having so much fun that it is over. Yeah. Phoenix was very, very, very plucky. They were in that. But it was a really fun way to watch the Merlot matchup between OKC and Phoenix. So next year, I'm just going to.

to bet the over on Shea points. But I like the Merlot matchup because we don't have NBA TV anymore. So we needed somebody to replace NBA TV. And it really only applies to round one, right? Because we're not going to have every matchup in round two is going to be a delight. An absolute full, full on banger. Big reds. We're going to Big Red land, aren't we?

Yeah. Well, Lakers, OKC. If Luca's not back, will be interesting to watch. But isn't Reeves likely to be back? I understand. They're not beating OKC. No, they would need injuries in the OKC side. Braden from New Brunswick, Canada,

checked the average Roger Goodell hug time for the first rounds of 20, 26, and 2015 and said, my instinct, which I said on Thursday that I thought the hugs were getting longer, is correct. In 26, the average hugs were four seconds, and 10 years older, they were two seconds. and he wonders if this doubles each decade going forward in 2036,

eight second hugs. Now, he sent this before the guy who stayed in the green room the whole time didn't get picked, the nose tackle, and then got picked and came out a 19-second hug with Goodell. So that might have even bumped the hug number. Well, that was emotional. The move is somebody should come out. Instead of going for the hug,

just a firm handshake. A firm handshake. Like almost refuse to hug. I just would like to give you a business-like handshake. How would Godell react? Would he pull the guy in Trump style and like just mall him? What would he do? Yeah, it feels like, I mean, because Goodell isn't tiny.

He's not, you know, he's doesn't, he's not dwarfed by these guys. I feel like, yeah, Goodell, he wouldn't, he wouldn't tolerate it. As soon as he gets your hand. Yeah, he's Trump hugging you. Yeah. List their name. Why do we, why are the hugs longer, though? What's the explanation for that?

I don't know. Oh, I thought that's where we were headed on this whole conversation. Well, we know the hugs are twice as long as they were 10 years ago. So why? Is it because Rogers more comfortable? He's like, I own all this shit. I am the man in charge. Let me ask you.

You want to hug me. Who have you hugged for more than two seconds in the last 10? years that was a friend of yours. I'm not at liberty to discuss this out. Wait a minute. A friend of mine? Yeah, a friend, a male friend. Oh, I've had some very... When you saw the Holy Cross guys...

Like, Joey, I'm happy. Let me think about this. When you saw Finney and the Holy Cross guys, did you have a four-second hug with any of them? You go like this hug and then you go to the arm around each other. Bap, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, yeah, those lasted. But you didn't go four-second full-body hug with anyone, right? No, no, no, no, no. Not, not, not, you know, not junk to junk. I think the guys, it's like, it's like the quick, quick hug and then the back.

Handshake, you're tight. And then, and then I like the arms around the shoulders. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Stuff to chop it up on a little bit. The arms around the shoulder, like extends the hug. But it's not like a full, nobody goes genital to genital, which that was what, that was my favorite. Did he do that? Goodell didn't do that for four seconds with anybody.

He goes full straight on, like hugs. This is what, remember, this is my favorite NBA draft. moment ever. Darius Miles and David Stern went full waist-to-waste general song for some reason. And it's one of the funniest photos about time. Let's get the clip. Let's run the clip. Listener Bill Dahl

said, I am a wizard season ticket holder. I'm sorry, Bill. My hot take is that LeBron is coming to D.C. this summer. No, he's not. Here's the evidence. He was incredibly complimentary of the Wizards Young Corps and Steve Nash's podcast. I like that he called it Steve Nash's podcast. This is LeBron and Steve Dash podcast.

Number two, he was seen hanging out with Jaden Daniels post-Lakers game. Number three, he's a good fit with Trey and Anthony Davis, his old buddy. Okay. It's LeBron's team, nobody's else. Number four, shifting the Michael LeBron narrative by actually winning in D.C. Somewhere Michael couldn't even make the playoffs in. Oh, that's good. I like that.

Great job. Now that this is spoken to the ethos, it won't happen, but maybe those of us up in the 400s will actually get some decent basketball here in the nation's capital. A guy can dream. I like the MJ angle. That's tremendous. I did too, and I made the conference finals with Anthony Davis and Trey Young. It is kind of fun.

I mean, that team with him on it, they would be better than any team that M.J. played with during MJ's era here. Can we talk it out for a second? So you'd have Trey Young Anthony Davis LeBron James Alex Sarr

and who's your shooting who's the shooting it can't be Kulabali right It can't Kishan George Kishan George Yeah we like him Yeah he's good

We do with We like him with good reason And a little tray off the bench Yeah I don't know That could be Talked myself into 45 wins It's a low 40s

Yeah to 45 five, it's, it could win, they could win around in the playoffs. His goal could be like, look, this, this LeBron versus MJ thing, I brought to the table, I've played way longer, I threw an alley up to my son in a playoff game, and now I've won around one series in Washington. I've done three things Michael Jordan couldn't do. Also, I was never maybe secretly suspended by David Stern because of gambling.

So there's four. Great, great point. Speaking of conspiracies. This is from Peter L. Assume the conspiracy theory that the NBA draft lottery is rigged is real. And you've just been appointed the commissioner with these powers. How are you arranging the first four picks in the upcoming draft lottery? Wow.

It's a great question. We had this conversation, what was it, a month ago? Yeah. Who did we say was going to be the funniest to win? Well, Golden State. Oh, Golden State. Yeah. I'm going to throw it.

Well, that's not the funniest. That's an actual genuine, like, that's a conspiracy. Well, that's what he's saying. So, all right. So I get the commissioner job. I'd obviously immediately hire you as my Mark Tatum. I'd let you announce all the second round picks. And now to announce the second round, Joe House. So the lottery teams we have, I'll just give you the top 12. Well, I'll give you all of them.

This is in order of one to 14 for odds. Yeah. So Washington, Indiana and Brooklyn, I have 14%. Utah, Sacramento, 11.5. Memphis, New Orleans, Dallas, Chicago, Milwaukee, Golden State. OKC. They're out. Not fixing anything for them.

They're too good already. They don't need that. Miami and Charlotte. So if we're rigging this, Golden State has to be in the top four because it's our last chance to stay of Steph. So it's more a question of who is the best guy for him to play with.

And I actually think it's Caleb Wilson. Wow. Okay. So I'm happy just putting them at four so they end up with Caleb Wilson, even though I'm becoming increasingly concerned he could go, not for him, but for the Boozer family. I think he's going to leapfrog Boozer. I think his tape is too crazy. Like I really think you'd have to, if we were in the room, I feel like we would spend enough time scouting these tapes and at some point look at each other and be like, we got to take Wilson. Like this guy is a fucking freak. Man, I watched so much Boozer and he was so tough. I thought he was NBA ready every time I watched him play. I understand the limitations. I think there's a ceiling, right?

He is not the guy I would have for Golden State. That's totally fair. That makes tons of sense. So we'll put Golden State four and we'll give them Wilson. So now we have three teams before. Can we, Charlotte has 2.4% odds. But can we have them jump to three and take Boozer? Oh, wow. Wow. Right? That's pretty good.

Lamello Khan, Bridges, Boozer, and who my leave? Who am I leaving out? Oh, and Brandon Miller. And then Diabate, that's a fun team. Diabate, that's who I was thinking of. Atlanta, too, I was thinking because of Peterson, adding Peterson to what they have now as like the C.J. McCr. column understudy, eventually moving in. It's not going to matter if he doesn't have personality because that team has a lot of personalities already. So that's the New Orleans pick. Atlanta moves up. So I'm thinking them at two. And then number one, like, why not, why not Joe House? Why not Washington? Why not you have DeBanza? Why not? I would definitely fix it for me. That goes without saying.

But I think DeBanza, that's, it's the most fun teams for him would be Washington or Utah for him to go in right away. And then in this scenario, the clippers get the fifth pick. And that would be really fun too. And Indiana would not get any of the top four picks. Right. Because five to nine, the clippers keep it. Is that way it is? Basically five or six, they keep it. It can't go lower than six. Now, I do love Indiana. and I'd feel bad if they didn't get the pick. But I don't know. Why did they put the protection on it then? They shouldn't have put that protection. Yeah. Also, why did you give up all of that for Zubots? It was a lot of them up. Well, Zubots, I think it's going to be. be awesome on that team. I know, but that's a top

four pick in this draft? Yeah. It's a fair. I don't know. Now that we're here and that they could actually lose the pick, this draft is fucking incredible. It's going to be really good. The other one I was thinking, like Pliper's getting a cuff or something. Well, the other thing you could do, you put Indiana in that Darren Peterson spot at two.

And then you put Atlanta 5th, and Atlanta gets our guy A-cuff at 5. who I think the combination an A cuff and Atlanta, his name ends with first letters in A. There's like some A AA stuff. Okay. His game

in Atlanta could be really special. Yeah, like I feel like he'd be a hero in Atlanta pretty quickly. And they can run. So is that our answer for the fixing? Do it again. I think I agree. I know I agree with Washington. The Bandser won to Washington. Peterson to Indiana.

two. Boozer to Charlotte three. And then Golden State gets Wilson at four. Atlanta at five. Atlanta at five takes A-Cuff. And then there's one more team I wanted to take care of. Oh. We better go bet this.

No, number six. Dallas has to get top six because they need to get either A-Cuff or Wogler from Illinois. I want, I want Dallas. Dallas to fuck off. I'd like to invite the Dallas Maverick. Oh, their fans are like so traumatized. Come on. I understand. This isn't, they, they already.

All right. So that'll be our top five. Yeah. Okay. All right. Good question. Glad we talked that one out. Corey writes in, I'm 25 years old from the Bay Area and a lifelong Warriors fan, trying to come to grips with the fact that Steph Curry will be retiring sooner than later. My basketball life will be changed forever unless the expendables happens. I imagine this is similar to how you felt when Larry Bird was near the end of his career. what advice do you have for coping with the loss of one of the greats? House was in my place a couple of times in the mid-90s

when I would break out old bird Celtics tapes because the Celtics were so depressing. It was all I had to go back and watch old playoff games. And honestly, Corey, welcome to your future. If it gets super depressing with the Warriors, all you have are the old tapes and reliving curry games. And I had a two and a half foot bong at the time. That was really helpful.

to get super baked and watch all the Celtic games and pretend they're happening live. I've talked about that. But that would be my advice. That's what the post-currier, because you're never, it's just never going to happen again. This is once in a generation. You get somebody like that. You're never. And, you know, you look at it so fondly.

You say, I can't believe I was so lucky to enjoy that. And you, in the same way that Corey's being prepared, I mean, Steph is missing big chunks of regular seasons now. Yeah. And, you know, Bird was so broken at the end. Right. We knew. Yeah. We knew.

We knew. Paul and Las, I got a few people who mentioned, and this has been in the internet, too. Tatum, Halliburton, Lillard,

and DiFincenzo, all had the number zero. Okay. And all tore their Achilles. Okay. Do you have to be... A did not. Do you have to be crazy at this point to have number zero?

Is this like a jinx number? Would you change your number if you were a zero at this point? You know, I was making the joke about Gilbert Arenas as Agent Zero, but he did have a debilitating leg injury. Yeah, what's up with Zero? And the Wizards did give him a giant extension anyway. Are there any more zeros right now? I mean, the answer is definitely yes.

Oh, no, Tyrese Maxies is Zero. Oh, okay. Offseason number change. We need it. Jayland, Duren, Christian Brown, Kula Bali on your team? I'm just out on Zero. Don't get rid of the zero.

We've seen too much damage at this point. Kelly from Iowa, I know you'd like this one. Kelly from Iowa wants to know, can we please have Baby Doll get Waymo to sponsor Tiger Woods? Come on, baby, who loses here? I love the idea of Baby Doll taking on Tiger Woods as a client and trying to keep it low and making just calling different people in his life and making it seem like you're the only person he's told. And meanwhile, he would tell 150 people in five hours.

everybody would know and there'd be pictures of Tiger and a Waymo right away. Why couldn't Waymo offer Tiger like $50 million to be the first Waymo sponsor? It's actually a great idea. That is kind of brilliant. I mean, you know, we have to get to the point where we can ham a little bit of a chuckle maybe. I mean, it's tough to have a sense of you. We obviously just reached it right now. I don't know. What's a little Waymo sponsor for him? Chays from Kent, Ohio,

I didn't know about this, said that Cavs had a social media playoff theme in 2026, that they called Be the Fucking Difference for their fans. But they blotted out all the letters in fucking and just kept the C. So the T-shirts read, B the C-Diff. And then apparently C-Diff is the shorthand

for Clostridides difficile, which is a bacterial infection, in severe watery diarrhea and abdominal pain. One of the most known treatments is mixing your poop with the poop if someone you share bacteria with. Oh no. Is it to a dried up poop pellet they put in your stomach. I'm not even joking.

He wants to know where does this stand in your pyramid of poop jokes. How could the Cavs win the title of the postseason theme of B the C diff and would anything funny have ever happened? You know what actually would be funnier is if they got bounced in round one. after B, the C. diff became a thing. Yeah, this is, apparently this is a thing that happened. This is amazing.

Poor Cleveland deserves, but the fans deserve better. Now, they did have LeBron for all the time that they have. Yeah, they did win the LeBron lottery, but, you know. Yeah. So if you, if you Google this, the C diff, I can't believe they did that. How did they not Google that? Mitch from

Carl's Bad wants to know you and Zach touched upon Kevin Durant's complicated legacy a bit on Sunday too often his Olympic performances

aren't discussed and they should be he was often the best part on the floor to be a thing for a lot of things including leadership

skills lack of the same team jumping but I do think his Olympic performances should be mentioned you agree with this totally agree with this and the same goes

for mellow like part of what you know when those guys play with their peers and their peers find them and their peers, you know, revered the performance at that level and let them, you know, sort of take over the way that they have. That, that to me just says so much about, you know, who that player is in their era. Yeah. And so KD's ability to do it across,

what is it, five golds. Is that what he ended up with? That is something that needs to be mentioned. It's a top line on the resume for me. one of the top four lines on the resume. Maybe his legacy is he couldn't plan the bachelor party and he might have been a wild card at the bachelor party, but there's a bunch of different scenarios where he would have been really fun at the bachelor party. The MVP of the bachelor party.

He might have been the MVP of the bachelor party. Didn't plan it, didn't pick the location. You had to kind of fight for him to get there, but then he was tremendous for two straight days. Yeah, elevated everybody. Elevated the whole thing. But if you put him in charge, it might not have gone great. sure that's fair we've all got friends like that we'll never go to a bachelor party again we don't

know who says who says who i don't we'd have to have somebody our age divorce second marriage yeah does the second marriage people have a bachelor party i sure hope so i haven't been invited to one but i would go chris wants to know is he made doca getting himself fired the most underrated key to boston's continued success i can only imagine how quickly he would have mentally broken and buried Cato, Walsh, and Sharman, and how the Celtics offense would look with Chris Boucher and Xavier Tillman standing around while Tatum and Brown played Isoball. The Rockets are a bad sequel to the 22 Celtics in the finals.

Now, I don't think that's totally fair because they did make the finals. They did have some good wins. The offense was really rough, and we blamed Tatum and Brown a lot, and that we're watching the Rockets basically do the exact same thing. Game four, Zach and I talked about on Sunday was the first time. They actually were like, hey, we should maybe attack Luke Kennard. and spread out. And it was pretty bad.

What was your EMA take? Well, I honestly, the longer this has gone on, I'm subscribing to the theory that there is some dysfunction in the decision-making. Guys are not all on the same page inside the building at Houston. Because the Reed Shepherd bit is inexplicable. Our guy, Rahim Palmer, has been loudly all season long saying, You got to get Shepard his minutes. It doesn't matter whether, you know, how you feel about his, his contribution.

He needs to be ready for right now because Houston, for whatever reason, thought they could play this season without a point guard. I do want to go back, by the way. You guys, you and Zach on Sunday show, entirely appropriately giving C.J. McCollum his flowers, you, me and Zach sat in your studio and I said, hey, Houston, go get C.J. mother effing McCollum. He's going to be available. This was October. October of 2025. And look at this guy in the playoffs.

But be that as it may, EMA to me, even as early as November, you're watching end of game sequences. And it didn't make sense who was getting the ball. It didn't make sense the way the rotations were playing. I feel like there's something going on inside that building where personnel and EMA are not on the same page.

Yeah, I would look at it when you're talking about point guards that you know you're going to need in the playoffs. It's almost like scuba diving where you need to get X amount of hours to become an official scuba diver that can go 100 feet under the sea or whatever it is. I don't scuba dive, as you can tell. But it's like you can't do this until you've had this number of hours of instruction and now you're finally allowed to go below this level. Your body's got to acclimate to the pressure. Yeah, to me it's like I know it's probably going to be fresh. frustrating at that fun to play this guy 25 to 30 minutes a game, but you're

going to have to do it because in April this is going to be your one chance to do anything because Fred Van Bleets's not coming back. Yeah. The crazier thing, though, is that they didn't trade for Desoomu or Kobe White. I just don't understand the thinking of that at all. I mean, the Pistons, too.

We said this at the time when the Pistons were like, Kevin Herder, we're good. It's like, you're not necessarily good. Doesn't feel like enough? Yeah. Last question. This is from Chris Krauss, who for some reason was thinking of car-centric movies that I could parody with Khan Kniepple. Feel free to add your own, he said, but here are the ones he came up with.

Driving Miss Daisy, instead of solving racism, Bill teaches Khan the value of 1980s pop culture and why being on his phone less and allowing himself to be bored is good. Speed. Instead of having to keep the car at a set mile an hour, Bill and Khan have to keep podcasting. What will run out first, their gas, or list of topics. And then his last one, collateral. Bill already has the silver-haired look. So he's obviously the Tom Cruise assassin.

But in this scenario, it's Khan realizing Bill is driving to the houses of his least favorite internet trolls. Close shot of Khan looking terrified as Bill beats a keyboard worried a death with a copy of the book of basketball. If any of these are made, I only recruit producer credit. House, yep, these are my listeners. This guy wants me to remake collateral with Khan Knieple where I beat people to death with a book of basketball

that trolled me on the internet. Pretty phenomenal. I don't know where these questions come from, but I love all the... Great job, Kraus. Before we go, how do you feel about Sunny Stiles? You happy? Oh, I'm over the moon.

I just couldn't believe that he fell to seven for this while. I mean, this is why I'm out here, repping the squad. I think what Washington did on defense. And Stiles is a perfect fit for our new defensive course. the guy from Minnesota. He's so versatile. He's so fast.

He's so athletic. It's going to be a great fit. He's already, you know, but the team has already embraced him. Amazing job. Two things dear to your heart where he was the only one

that noticed $100 at the end of the playbook allegedly and mailed it back. Great story. Whether it's true or not, it's a great story. And then unbelievable high school basketball mixtape. Oh, outrageous.

My favorite. You love nothing more than that. The football player high school. Mix that on repeat. Even when Drake May had one, you went nuts, and you didn't even pick Drake May. But that, I mean, you know, that that gives your, your brain like, oh, he could do all of these things. Look at this.

It's great. I really, if I was in the war room, I would really factor that in the high school basketball mixtape. Like, look how generous he is with the ball and his teammates. Like this, maybe he'll be this way as a teammate. It counts. It counts. I mean, hoops like you is not a small thing.

All right. House, thanks for doing the mailbag with me. I appreciate it. Always a pleasure. Thank you for inviting. See you on Fairway Rowland and on the Ringar Gambling show as well if you want to check out more house. Happy playoffs. All right.

That's it for the podcast. Thanks to House and CR. Thanks to Eduardo and Gahow as well. Don't forget Ghostbusters. That is the new rewatchables and it's up and you can listen to it and you have six days to watch. There's something about Mary because that's going to be the next one. I will see you on this feed on Thursday night. God only knows what's going to happen with the basketball these next couple nights,

but we will have a big action-pack podcast on Thursday, probably taping at least the first part of it right after the game. So I will see you on Thursday. Go select this. Must be 21 plus in President Select States for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus in President D.C., Kentucky, or Wyoming. Opt and required bonus issued as Nomadryabobobobob. profit boost tokens. Restrictions apply, including any token expiration,

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