The Bill Simmons Podcast - Boston’s Big Game 1 Win: Takeaways From Row 3 With Bill’s Dad

Episode Date: June 7, 2024

The Ringer's Bill Simmons is joined by his Dad to discuss being inside TD Garden for the Celtics' Game 1 win over the Mavericks in the NBA Finals. They discuss the impact of Kristaps Porzingis's return, Boston's defense, the Mavs' lineups, Jayson Tatum's struggles, Game 2 predictions, and more! Host: Bill Simmons Guest: Bill's Dad Producer: Kyle Crichton The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Coming up finals game one live from Boston. Next. It's the bill Simmons podcast presented by fan duel footballs in full action. Fan duels highest rated sports book is the best place to bet at all. We've been doing pretty well. A million dollar picks this year. I love the first month of the season because you have to go into the season thinking,

I think Pittsburgh is going to be good. I think the chargers are going to be thinking, I think Pittsburgh's going to be good. I think the Chargers are going to be good. I think Seattle's going to be good. And then trying to back what you think in those first few weeks and then zag the other way if you were wrong. You can bid on new and fun markets on FanDuel like to catch a pass, same game parlays, highest scoring game across the Sunday slate, offensive TDs in the next drive. They have so much stuff. It's crazy. The app is safe and secure and easy to use. And when you win, you'll get paid instantly. Plus, look out for FanDuel Squares this season.

Here's what you have to do. Visit fanduel.com.bs to download America's number one sportsbook. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available and listen to the end of the episode for additional details. You must be 21 plus and present in select states. Gambling problem called 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com.

This episode is brought to you by Prime Video. You know me, I can't go a day without sports. I really can't. And now Monday nights are all about hockey. That's right. There's a new exclusive home for streaming Monday night NHL hockey, and it's on prime all season long. Watch prime Monday night hockey, deliver unreal plays. The biggest goals can't miss moments. Matthews, McDavid, Crosby, the NHL is best. They're all on Prime. Prime Monday Night Hockey. It's on Monday. It's on Prime. We're also brought to you by the Ringer Podcast Network, where we put up a new rewatchables for you on Monday night. We did Slapshot. You can listen to it on any platform, but try Spotify because it's a great platform. Or you can watch it on our Ringer Movies YouTube channel.

Our next reewatchables, we're kind of veering towards 70s sports movie month here and we're doing the classics and we're doing one of my favorite 70s movies, Breaking Away will be the next one. You have a few days to watch it. It has aged perfectly. It's an unbelievable movie.

If you haven't seen it, I promise you'll like it. Breaking Away, that's coming Monday night. If you haven't seen it, I promise you'll like it. Breaking Away, that's coming Monday night. So stay tuned for that. Coming up on this podcast, my dad and I went to game one in Boston, Massachusetts, the NBA finals, the Dallas Mavericks versus the Boston Celtics. I poured Coke into him. I gave him popcorn. He's old. Doesn't matter. Got him to stay up. And we are doing our post-game report next. First, our friends from Pro Gym. All right, we're taping this after game one of the NBA Finals 2024. It's 11.15 East Coast time. I'm in Boston, Massachusetts with my 76-year-old father.

I told him we were doing a pod after the game and he was like, after the game? Are you in bed now? You see, you'd be home just watching the highlights and stuff. I would be watching the after game show. Yep. What is your first takeaway

from Celtics 107, Dallas 89, other than it was the typical rollercoaster ride that the Celtics team has been on where we ran the game of emotions and then somehow won by 18. My impression sitting there was our defense was really good. And that was led, I think, by Holiday. I thought he was all over the place. And Jalen Brown, I thought, played very good defense as well.

I thought we did a good job on Dontrick, even though he scored his points, but he really had to work for them. And I thought Kyrie had the typical game he's had recently in Boston in the playoffs. I thought he didn't play well. I mean, we did a good job on him. Six for 19, 0 for 5 from three.

Yeah. Well, the two guys that jumped out to me, Drew Holiday and Porzingis. Yeah, Drew Holiday and Porzingis. They won the game. I will say, though, I thought Tatum had a poor game, but he played 42 minutes. I mean, he was there. And rebounded and did stuff. He had maybe 10 rebounds, something like that.

And I thought Jalen Brown played a very hard game. His shot just wasn't falling at times, but he also must've played more than 40 minutes. So they put their time in. It's great that we don't have to play until Sunday. So Mazzola was able to keep them out there. I didn't want to see either one of them come out for defensive purposes. Well, let's go with Drew first, because this is one of those you kind of had to be there. I'm sure it came across on TV too, but he was the alpha of the game for the Celtics. There's this moment, they're up 28 with two minutes left in the second quarter

and the crowd is delirious. I would say that was a 10 out of 10 crowd in the first half, right? Until two minutes left in the half. Yep. Yeah, there was, Brown got nailed on a pick, got knocked down, Dallas ended up, and it just kind of changed the energy of the game. And then Dallas had a couple shots. We had some bad possessions at the tail end. All of a sudden,

it was 21 instead of 28 going in the half. And the crowd was like, uh-oh. Second half starts, Dallas is awesome coming out of the gate. And Luka's doing Luka's stuff and

Joe called timeout early with like eight minutes left in the third all of a sudden it was 14 then it got to eight and I that was the first

playoff game I've been to in the Drew era Drew was the alpha on the court and he was the alpha in the timeouts and he was I thought Tatum

looked a little like oh god what's going on Brown was ever since he got hit by thought Tatum looked a little like, oh God, what's going on? Brown was, ever since he got hit by that pick, he seemed a little, just a tiny bit off. Waite, you know, he's a quiet guy, but I thought Drew was all over the place. And then he was just like, whoever I'm guarding is not scoring.

And he took over Luka and that was it for Luka. He had Irving for a while and then he took over Luka. And he made Luka a passer because Luka just couldn had Irving for a while, and then he took over Luka. And he made Luka a passer, because Luka just couldn't get by him. Luka a passer who had no assists. Luka had one assist. And that was one of the things. Dallas only had nine assists in that game. You know, I can't even remember a regular season game, let alone a playoff game, where the team had, the playoff team had nine assists, less than double-digit assists. Yeah, and we were watching it.

It's unheard of. I don't think we really noticed until deep in the second half where we're like, there's a lot of one-on-one stuff and a lot of people passing because at the last minute they couldn't get the shot they wanted. Well, you said something to me too. The alley-oop isn't working for them. Yeah, Porzingis especially took the alley-oop away.

You know, Porzingis, what a difference maker in that first half. And not only that, he got the crowd. The crowd was standing in that first half. Yeah, the crowd was into it anyway. Yeah, into it anyway. And, you know, the thing about Porzingis, every time he goes up for a rebound, you get scared that he's going to come down the wrong way. Yeah, because he had that stretch in the first half when he was just out of his mind.

Blocking shots. 48-27, and he has 15 points. There's halfway through the second quarter, he's six for eight, and he was just all over the place. And that was like a little before that. He hit the three, he hit the block, Hauser hit a three, and that was like the crowd got supercharged by that. I think he had his three blocks in the first half.

Second half, he looked not quite as sharp. They took him out. Well, they changed how they were defending him too. They did, yeah. It seemed like they were being a little more careful. It's true in the first half. We're doing this live. I don't take notes when we're actually watching the game.

I try to take notes from time out, but it felt like Drew was on Kyrie a lot. And then at some point in the third quarter, it became Drew on Luca. And it was interesting watching Luca. Cause normally he just brings the ball up, but Drew was like, I'm, I'm going 94 feet with you. You're gonna have to bring it up on me. And Luca was like, who, who wants to take this up a few times? Well, when you and I talked on the phone yesterday,

you pointed out that we'll play them differently than Minnesota did. Right. We'll hound them bringing the ball up. And that's exactly what Holiday did. And White does that also. Yeah. And it had an impact of Dallas getting into their offense with fewer seconds left

than the 24 second clock well a couple things happened in that first I mean the KP it was so funny when we were talking about it I got there super early and was talking to a bunch of people about it I was pretty confident heading into this series but trying not to be too confident on the podcast

because who knows KP could go down five seconds from now. But it was almost like people forgot how good he was because he hadn't played in a while. And from everything I heard talking to people today before the game, like he was going to play game five, Indiana. I think he actually could have played game four, Indiana if it was two months. They said he almost did. Yeah. So 10 days ago, he could have played. So you knew he was going to come out. And then

the other thing was like, well, it's going to take him a while to get used to it. It took him one second. He missed his first shot, I think. And then he went crazy. But you've watched him all year and you've been texting me and you've been going to a lot of these games. That was a typical KP game.

It was a typical KP game. That was a typical KP game. And the kind of playoff game we didn't have last year because we didn't have that guy in the middle. Right. And it wasn't just offense. How many shots in that first half did he change the direction of when Dallas was near the basket? At least a half dozen.

Yeah, he came in, it was 12-11. We were two frame from three. And all of a sudden it was 37-20. And he had blocked a couple shots and he had changed a couple shots and just completely took their lobs away, which was a huge part of how they won the last three rounds. I thought his defense was a huge factor in the way that Kyrie Irving played. Because Kyrie does the lobs.

Kyrie goes in for the crazy layups. Porzingis was all over the place near the basket. And then, of course, he changes things when Dallas is on defense because they can't have a center just standing under the basket. Right. They have to come out.

Well, it seemed like one of the decisions they made, I don't know how intentional it was, but they were trying to put smaller guys on him so they could still protect the rim. And he was like super insulted by it. And they had Luka on him quite a few times. Yeah, and they had, I mean, all their six foot seven, Hardy was on him once.

Jones was on him. Yeah, Jones was on him. But one time in the timeout, he kind of stared down their bench. I don't know if they caught it on TV, but it was after the fifth time he had a 15-footer. And he just kind of looked over their bench like, really? This is your game plan in this one? But it's what we talked about. If they put their center on him beyond the foul line, well, we noticed it right away.

There was a huge rebound difference in the foul line. Well, we noticed it right away. They got, there was a huge rebound difference in the first half. Yeah. They caught up a little bit. Well, yeah, they weren't getting, they only got 10 offensive rebounds. And one thing that I thought was notable was, so I wrote down 58-33, 250 up in the second quarter,

but I wrote down no centers for Dallas which I think had happened a couple minutes earlier but in the last couple series like and part of it

was because they didn't have Kliba but they always had centers and that was such a big

the lobs on offense and then the rim protection was a big reason why they won the Celtics kind of took that away when they made their comeback

in the third quarter it was small ball for at least a little bit, I think. You know, having been to so many games during the season, we have a consistent problem at the end of the half. The last two, two and a half minutes, I don't know what happens. The energy died, the crowd died. And then the beginning of the third quarter too, because people aren't back in their seats yet. They're not back in their seats. And I don't know what coaching could have done differently

the last two and a half minutes, but you said it to me, we look tired. It was a pretty emotional game. Like even the crowd was really into it from the moment Porzingis came out of the tunnel. You were in the bathroom. It was one of your five pee breaks. Yeah. But Porzingis came out of the tunnel. You were in the bathroom. It was one of your five pee breaks. Yeah.

But Porzingis came out and the crowd was like acting like Willis Reed was coming out of the tunnel. Right. And then the Bill Walton thing before the game, which was great. Very, very. Moment of silence for him.

They play a video for him. So that was emotional. Plus all the Celtics had Walton shirts on. Right. That was neat. Yeah. Which was, I kind of want one of those.

Yeah. But, so the crowd's nuts for that. Then, we went, go on that run in the first quarter and

the crowd for about a half hour was standing, going nuts. We ended the first quarter 37 to 20. We're up 17 points. Got it to 48, 27. Yeah. Got it to 48, 27. Got it to 58, 33.

And Porzingis had that one play. He was honestly looked like a video game character that like my son would have created. He did. He had that one play when he just on defense was flying down the other way, trying to block somebody from behind and just jumped. And I was like, oh my God.

Well, you and I were both saying, I'm not sure if I want him jumping in the air. Well, it's funny watching it next. We haven't gone to a playoff game together. Every time he went up in the air, you made a noise. Like one of your dogs was trying to cross the street or something. You're like, oh, oh no. It is terrifying. It is terrifying.

And you got a good look at how thin his legs are. Yeah. I just hope he survives Celtics in six. He looked great. I was watching him really carefully in the warmups. They're really, really diligent about when he's not playing. Like at one point he was on, I think the bike, he was in the tunnel at halftime.

He was stepping on that little calf thing, but I thought he moved. I think it's like the fifth or sixth time I've seen them in person. I thought he was moving great. I also thought at least one thing I thought Missoula did well tonight. Whenever Dallas took their big guys out, either of the two guys, he took Porzingis out.

Well, and then the other thing was he had Drew lined up with Kyrie. Right. And Kyrie came out, he immediately took Drew out. Kyrie came back and he immediately put Drew back in and was just trying to...

Drew is... I just can't believe Milwaukee traded that guy. And I've always loved him. Anyone who's listened to this podcast, I was like always riding for Drew. Anytime I did trade value, I always had him 10 spots higher than he probably should have been. But I just, I value what that guy does so much. When you see it in person and people look at his stats and be like, oh, did he, he's like 10.7 rebounds, five assists. But he was the dominant guy in the game.

If you didn't watch the game and you pick up the newspaper tomorrow or you look online at the stats, you'll say, oh, Drew had a mediocre game. Right. And you have to be there or you have to be watching carefully on TV. Yeah, I was texting Doc about it. And Doc Rivers, Doc said, his value is not what is seen. It's the unseen that makes him special. And I really felt that at the game, watching all the little stuff that he does.

Even coming out of timeouts, how, you know, like Dallas has taken the ball into their basket after a timeout or foul or whatever. And he just kind of walks all the way up and he's staring Luka down the whole time. And it's just like, I'm here. It's almost like watching a boxer. I just loved watching him. I do think, putting aside, what did Luka down the whole time. And it's just like, I'm here. It's almost like watching a boxer. I just loved watching him.

I do think, putting aside, what did Luka have, 30 points? Yeah. He didn't have a winning or productive 30 points. Right. Yeah, it was a lot of one-on-one stuff all the way around. Obviously, if they had nine assists. Yeah. With that said, it reminded me,

I think it was game two of the 08 Lakers Celtics series. When we had a better team with the Lakers, and it was pretty clear. Sorry, I'm saying we for everybody listening, but with my dad, we just say we. But Kobe had this stretch. I think it was game two. And he hadn't played well,

but then he kind of took over the game for like six minutes in the fourth quarter. And he tilted the crowd over the game for like six minutes in the fourth quarter and he tilted the crowd where the crowd was like, oh God, what's this guy doing? And Luka had one three in the third quarter where you could, that oh God feeling was in there

and they cut it to eight. They cut it to eight with the ball. And felt like they were going to tie the game. We got to talk about that. Let's take a quick break. The NBA Finals, they're here. FanDuel is giving you the chance to win alongside the champs. Right now, new customers get $200 in bonus bets with a winning $5 bet.

$200 to use on same game parlays, live bets, so much more. I am in Boston, Massachusetts. I went to the FanDuel app. The bets just jump out at you. Especially like same game parlays. You start looking at them, the future odds. They have like future parlay stuff. You can combine stuff.

I did a bet with the Panthers and the Celtics. I combined that for both series. But there's no better place to bet all the finals action than America's number one sports book. Download the app. Take a shot at an extra 200 bucks. Go to Fanduel.com slash BS to get started. Fanduel is the official sports betting partner

of the NBA. It must be 21 plus, 18 plus in DC. President select states. Game problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com. First online real money wager only $5 first deposit required. Bonus issued as non-withdrawable bonus bets, which expire seven days after receipt restrictions

apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. This episode is brought to you by my old friend, Miller Lite. I've been a big fan of Miller Lite, man, since college days when I was allowed to have beer. I think nephew Kyle is a fan too. Miller Lite keeps it simple for us. Undebatable quality, great taste. Picture this. It's game day. All the gang's here.

You're tailgating outside the stadium. It's a great time for beer. Or how about when you're standing at the grill and the smell of sizzling burgers is in the air? Moments like that. Or when you want a light beer that tastes like beer, that's delicious. You don't want to load up on those heavier beers and then you only have two of them. Then you feel tired. Your stomach feels full. Miller Lite, it's your friend. It just accompanies whatever else you're doing. You're super happy with it. Opening an ice cold Miller Lite can signal the beginning of Miller time. Miller Lite is the light beer

with all the great beer tastes we like. 90 calories per 355 mil can. So why not grab some Miller Lites today? Your game time tastes like Miller time. Must be legal drinking age. This episode is brought to you by Movember. The mustache is back with a vengeance. Look at Travis Kelsey.

Before he rocked that Super Bowl ring, he rocked that super soup strainer. Grow a mustache for Movember. You'll do great things too. You won't win the Super Bowl, but your fundraising will support mental health, suicide prevention, and prostate and testicular cancer research.

And if you don't want to grow a mustache, you can still walk or run 60 kilometers, host an event, or set your own goal and mow your own way. Do great things this November. Sign up now. Just search Movember.

RBC has helped millions of young Canadians turn their most likelies into most definities, making their ideas happen with scholarships, internships, and skill development, plus resources for artists and athletes. Learn more at rbc.com slash support youth.

So this Celtics team, which we text a lot about, we talk on the phone a lot, and you're at pretty much all of these, any of the big games. But you went to a lot of the games this year. I did this year, yeah. And this team, which always seems to be up by 20 at some point of every game they play. Until. And then something happens and all of a sudden you feel like they're down 30. And meanwhile, they're up 15. I know. And it just feels like the sky is falling and then they'll hit a shot.

But what's interesting when you're in the building for it, the crowd kind of senses when it's going to happen, when the game's tilting, and all of a sudden you feel these nerves. And it's like just the nerves of a fan base that's watched a lot of these games, right? With these guys. When it got down to eight, it was a really quiet crowd.

Time out, and it was like... And just everybody looking at each other going what the fuck just happened we're up 28 they went on a 29-9 run the Mavs really that's what it was so you've been there a lot for that where they've looked awesome well for me a couple consistent

things happen when we give up that kind of run we seem to stop moving the ball. Right, everything gets slower. We go isolation. Yeah. And we're taking three-point after three-point after three-point shot.

And they weren't going in during that stretch. And Tatum had rebounds. He had some assists. As you said, he had six turnovers. But he had a bizarre game. I thought he had a bizarre game. Well, he had, I mean, how many times did he drive to the basket? And it seems like he could have done the Dr. J swoop layup. Five times. And then he was kicking it back out or trying to thread a little pass to Horford. And three of the times it led to turnovers, he threw it out of bounds.

Six turnovers. Yeah. Why he can't finish is really puzzling. Or why he didn't realize he could finish was almost more of the question. It's like, it felt like over and over again, he had layups. What was interesting about what the Mavs did, and especially when they were coming back, the refs were letting everything go. It was a really physical game. Can I just cut in there? Yeah.

We won the game. You're going to complain about the refs? I thought they were terrible. I thought they were awful. Yeah, Tatum got mauled a couple times. You know, a couple times Brown got killed. Yeah, I just wanted to mention they had

16 fouls and we had 15, but I know you felt like they had four times as many fouls as us. I felt that we didn't get a fair shake from the refs. Luka definitely got a couple calls. And it's funny. I thought the crowd was going to be, by the end of the game,

we hate Luka the most. But in the second half, it was like Kyrie wasn't playing well and the crowd was really, really savoring it. We had that one guy about two rows behind us. Because we're in row three, so we're pretty close. He was vicious on Kyrie Irving. Not like

over the line vicious, but he was just kind of riding on Fer. He wasn't swearing. He said, Kyrie, you suck. You can't make a shot. Kyrie. You suck. You have 11 points. Three for 19. Kyrie. And did you see Kyrie looking at him?

Yeah. Yeah. And Kyrie did a smile. You know what's funny? I actually liked how Kyrie played in that game, except for his shots weren't going in. But that was the best defensively I've ever seen him play in person. And he was.

I didn't even notice him on defense. No, but he was doing like, he was trying to get steals and he was just really active. Yeah, he was trying to get steals. But sometimes he backfired on them. He had seven or eight fouls that weren't called.

Well, that's, but he was taking advantage of it. It reminded me of like those Chris Paul-Kupper games I used to go to where he would just, from the first minute, he's just mauling everybody

and saying, you're either calling or you're not calling it. But that was by far the most aggressive I've seen him. I just thought his shot wasn't going in. And they missed. Luka missed some shots around the basket. Kyrie missed a couple wide open threes that he usually makes.

KP made a huge difference around the basket. Yeah, true. Because they were seven for 27 from three with nine assists. So if you just told me those two things, I would be like Dallas lost. Right? And Dallas lost, right? And Dallas has, in the playoffs, has been a good three-point shooting team. Yeah.

A couple of things that made me feel, you know, the history of these things is the home team looks awesome in game one. Like we beat Golden State in 22. You and I always worry about game two. And then game two, there's adjustments. But what was interesting to me about Dallas in this game, first of all, they played Hardaway, who really was buried the whole playoffs.

He was hurt. Oh, no, he was hurt. He was hurt, but then he came back. He played the last game. That was it. But they played, I guess Exum came in late, but he played 10 guys. I felt like he was kind of trying to see who made sense,

which was weird because it felt like they had such a good identity coming out of the last round. Well, Exum played in garbage time, didn't he? But he usually played for them. Yeah, I know. Like Hardaway played over him. Yeah. And then Jaden Hardy was another one that...

He only played 11 minutes. He's a trick-or-treat guy. But they kind of needed him in this game because they were down. But PJ Washington, who was 0 for 3. 11 minutes. He's a trick or treat guy. But they kind of needed him in this game because they were down. PJ Washington, who was 0 for 3. I'm sure the OKC fans are watching this. Washington was 0 for 3? 0 for 3 from 3. He was 5 for 11. But he missed all his 3s.

And normally he's a corner 3 guy, but the Celts were kind of moving it so he was open on the top of the key. We covered the corner well. So his 3s were at the top. But if I'm Dallas. What was Luka's threes? Luka was four for 12.

Okay. 10 rebounds. Where does he rank for you? Scariest guys you've seen in person. Well, I watched all the Western playoff games. I thought he, I didn't think this was one of his good games compared to having watched him in the other three series, despite how many points he scored.

He wasn't scary tonight because we really guarded him well. Well, that's why I didn't understand how people were discussing the series where, listen, if they're not going to shoot this badly in game two and probably have a good chance to win, but we just match up pretty well with this team. Like we have big dudes to throw at Luka and we have

really good guards to throw at Kyrie and with Porzingis, real rim protection. And then the other thing, like Jalen had two big blocks in the second half, right? Holiday and White always end up getting blocks around the rim. Horford always gets a block. Tatum will get, like, they protect the rim really well. And I felt like people were forgetting that piece.

Yeah. I mean, Derek White is one of the best guards protecting the rim. You know, it's going to be interesting, the adjustments that are made, because I'm sure Dallas didn't expect that kind of Porzingis game. Right. Well, how could they? We didn't expect it. Dallas didn't expect that kind of Porzingis game. Right. Well, how could they? We didn't expect it. We didn't.

And it was obvious the game plan was to take Tatum out of the game. All right, so what do you do in game two? I'm hoping and expecting a big Tatum game because I think they're going to make adjustments to not let Porzingis hurt them so badly. He was really unselfish in the first quarter, which I didn't mind. And he was trying to set people up.

First quarter, yeah. We've seen him do that before in these games this year where, and then in the second quarter, all of a sudden he'll have 15, right? And I thought that was going to happen this game and it just didn't. Well, it could have because you said it earlier. He got to the rim five or six times.

I felt like it was like 10. And then passed out. He didn't used to do that. I'm not sure what's going on there. Or maybe they felt like that was an inefficiency they were trying to. Or they had open threes, but that's fine if you're making the threes. We weren't making them so much in the second half. Did you feel like, for the people listening who haven't seen a ton of the Celtics,

did you feel like that was a typical regular season Celtics, like what you saw? Yeah. To me, that looked like that's what we watched all year, right? Yeah, I do. With maybe the slight exception that taking the big lead like we did in the first quarter but how many times have we blown big leads like that and we're all of a sudden it'll be 12 and then they'll get it back up but i just didn't expect it in the playoff game that's all yeah true or in the finals game yeah finals game um i guess the one if you're looking at if you're looking at dark points for the Celtics, Pritchard was 0 for 7.

And every minute he was in the game was terrifying because Luka was like a cheetah in the wild noticing the stray buck. He was just like, where is that guy? And same for Kyrie. I defend Pritchard, though. I thought he shot well most of the season. He had good looks, and they just didn't go in. Wow.

But on defense... Hauser made a couple, though. Hauser made a couple. On defense, I'm not sure Pritchard could guard anybody on that team. Well, definitely not their two best guys. Hauser had one or two good Luka possessions where he actually stayed in front of them. I thought in general,

I really liked how they guarded Luka. And it almost seemed like they were trying, they kept trying to force Luka and Kyrie to the middle where they had the rim protection. And even if those guys were getting by them, they were kind of okay with it. They were just, everything was about steering them into the paint,

which I thought was smart. Well, I mean, Dallas did not have its lob game. We took that away. And Dallas did not have its open three-point shots in the corner. We took that away. And Washington's been very efficient in the corner. He certainly wasn't tonight. I love the adjustments from game one to game two, but we're going to make adjustments too. And I especially like the fact that Orford gets that extra night of rest and so does Porzingis. Yeah, I'm looking at, they have the make misses.

You could do the ESPN play-by-play. I mean, they had, it looks like they only had three corner threes. There were one for three corner threes. And if you look at the cluster, here, look, all the threes are top of the key, basically. And they killed Minnesota with their corner threes. Right. So we took those away.

Is it time? I have an announcement. Kyle, turn the TikTok camera on, even though we're doing this weird Zoom thing. Is it time to promote Joe Mazzulla from second row Joe to first row Joe? It's too early. No. It's too early.

What do you mean? He's 77 and 20. Somehow the lead got down to eight. We look terrible. He called some good timeouts. I'm going to defend. I'm going to first row Joe. He's back.

Come on. On Monday, on Sunday night, if we do a podcast after a second win. You're not on Sunday's podcast. Oh, I'm not on Sunday's podcast? No, it's Rosillo night. Oh, I'm sorry. Then I guess I... Well, you'll have to tell me in the seats.

I'm not ready to give Joe that movement up to the first row. I thought he did a good job today. We defended Luca and Kyrie great. I thought the way he used Drew was really smart. It was. I thought the way he, not starting Porzingis, turned out to be a good one. Because he came in and changed the energy. Except we were worried.

We got to our seats. They post the starting lineup. Yeah, and Horford's starting. And Porzingis also is not out on the floor. Yeah, the whole team comes out. The whole team is there. And nobody knows what's going on. Where's Porzingis? Yeah, that was rough. I forgot. I blocked not out on the floor. Yeah, the whole team comes out. The whole team is there, and nobody knows what's going on. Where's Porzingis?

Yeah, that was rough. I forgot. I blocked that out of my mind. That was a rough five minutes. I would give Joe a B-plus tonight. A B-plus? We were up 28. If he hadn't fallen asleep at the end of the half.

Yeah. Well, it's a weird one because you never want to call timeout with a minute left, but we clearly, something bad was happening and we could all see it. We could all see it. And they got the eight points down,

the seven points down at the end. Yeah. I am officially retiring second row, Joe. I think he's done a good job. The team's 77 and 20. Well, you're in a professional position where you have to schmooze with these people now.

No, I don't care about schmoozing. I can give my honest opinion for anybody listening. He's way better than he was last year. And the other thing, which I've noticed at other games, but especially that Charles Lee, who I know the Celtics absolutely love him. Charlotte's hired him at the end of the year. They're really going to miss him.

Yeah, and he's like right with them. It reminds me of like Belichick with when he had like Josh McDaniels and they were always together and I said to him. You know, having been to so many games this season, the assistant coaches have made a huge difference for Mazzola and he has grown.

I mean, I'm being a little facetious. I like that he was getting on the refs too today because Jason got killed a couple times and he was really mad. Yeah, he was getting on the refs too today. He was. Because Jason got killed a couple of times. And he was really mad. Yeah. He was like screaming at them, which I don't feel like he was doing last year. It looked like Cassell had to play mediator with the referees.

Yeah. I liked it. It was fiery. Joe Maz. Yeah. I'm not calling him second row Joe anymore. He's earned my respect. Well, you never called him that anyway.

No, I did. I called it because you were calling him second row Joe. I think you should, well, maybe after game two or game three. Yeah, maybe after the series. How's that? Tough crowd. Watching that game, especially when we're up 28, and I got flashbacks to 39 years ago, the Memorial Day Massacre.

It's funny. Which we went to on a Sunday. I thought the Memorial Day Massacre. It's funny. Which we went to on a Sunday. I thought the same thing. I took the train from Connecticut. We went to the game. We beat the Lakers by 180 points. And we already counted that we had won the championship. I took the train back and I was already trying to figure out

what I was going to get for the 85 championship poster for my room. And were you going to go to the duck parade and everything? Yeah. Could I get back? Should I leave school to try to come back? And then game two, Kareem absolutely annihilated us. We are always fearful of game two. And obviously in two of the three playoff rounds, the Celts have lost game two.

So we do have an extra day of rest, which we didn't have in the last series between one and two. Well, one thing that was really noticeable in this game, and I had said this all week, they have five of the seven best guys in this series. Yeah. And Horford has a case for eight, for being the sixth best guy out of the top eight.

Well, it's an interesting point because on all the TV shows, especially the NBA show and ESPN, all they talk about, their premise is that Dallas has the two best players in the series. All right. And they forget the whole team concept. Well, also, there's no statistical evidence for it.

I was talking about it on the other pods this week. Jalen's averaging more points a game than Kyrie in the playoffs, not only this year, but for the last four years. And like even tonight, Jalen wasn't, you know, incredible. He was efficient. But he had 22 and Kyrie had 12 because, and this happened

in the Oklahoma City series to him too. And I think he had a quick, Kyrie will have these games where he just has 11 points. They made him work. They never really got him comfortable. He wasn't getting

in the free throw line. They weren't falling. He has, I mean, he's just an amazing basketball player to watch. But he has so many different moves. There was one time he had in front of the Celtic bench, Horford came out and shut him down on a corner three and Kyrie let up for a second. So Horford let up and then he

just kind of went around him like a cat and just went baseline on him. He did. But if I recall, there was a period where Missoula had the two bigs out. He had Porzingis and Horford out at the same time. Yeah, you got excited for that one. Well, because I think that was an example where Kyrie got past Horford and there's Porzingis waiting. Right. And it makes a huge difference. It's weird that I still don't know what Minnesota was doing last round against them.

I don't know why they didn't have Jaden McDaniels on Kyrie the entire time. I don't know why they didn't play Nas Reed more and try to have him on Luka. I don't know why Gobert was so ineffective in that series because Porzingis made such a difference with his... Well, Gobert has no outside shot. No, I'm just saying defensively.

Yeah, defensively. He's as good of a rim protector as Porzingis, but Porzingis looked like 7'3 Bill Russell. That was another thing that made us feel good about this game. They do the heroes among us in the second quarter. Oh, yeah, yeah. And Chara came out, the beloved Bruin, who is 6'9 defenseman.

He was incredible, but he was wearing the Porzingis jersey. And he kept pulling it out and showing people. And he looked like he could suit up and play for the Celtics he's in great shape runs marathons it was interesting talking to I got there like three and a half hours early

and I was trying to talk to a bunch of people but especially the Celtics heard everything during this break I'm glad to hear that I think Tatum because what happens is when you forget this this break. Like they knew, they knew. I'm glad to hear that. I think Tatum, you know, cause what happens is when you forget this, it's not necessarily, it's not like a Kevin Durant situation where the guy's online looking and, you know, I think KD would admit he's online

probably a little too much. I don't know if the Celtics are online, but their family members and their friends are. And so they hear everything. So when there's stuff like Kyrie and Luke are the two best guys in the series, people are telling Jalen and Tatum that, or they're saying, Tatum, you know, you're not a top five player.

So I thought Jalen seemed like he translated it a little more personally tonight. Tatum, I could see having a big game too. And game two. I read today something around along that line in the paper that, uh, Tatum tries to stay away from reading about all that, but his mother doesn't know his mother and his mother was all over.

She's everything. Very upset. She's mad. I actually met her tonight and, and, uh, somebody said he's one of the national guys who's actually defending. I was like,

yeah, I'll take credit for that. But she was a nice lady. We'll take one more break and then I want to talk about your 10th finals. And now it's time for a special part of today's episode. It's called Outside the Box. It's brought to you by Sonic.

Sometimes we have to leave the mundane behind. We have to explore the unknown. Try those crazy ideas like the new groovy fries from Sonic with the crispy outside of a tot. Gotta love a tot. And the dippability of a fry. Each groovy groove is designed to hold more sauce. We wouldn't have these hot and crispy goodies

or their new groovy sauce without a little experimentation. Right now, you can get any size groovy fry for $1. And Sonic isn't the only one breaking the mold. You might have seen, think about the innovations we saw, right, during the NBA playoffs so far. We saw Oklahoma City trying to spread Dallas out with SGA. We saw the Jokic and Murray just trying to do the two-man game. We saw Minnesota solve Denver and try to see how to beat them with size and with

some timely threes. And then really the most innovative team of all them is Dallas, the way they've been using Luka, the way they've been using their bigs to try to get mismatches at the top of the key. That's the thing about basketball. As the three-point shooting gets better, the innovation, the spacing, the switching, how you defend people, you got to push those boundaries. A little like what Sonic's doing. Outside the box, brought to you by Sonic's. Remember, when you want innovation in the kitchen, you go to Sonic. They're always looking for delicious, fun, new ways to make food even more enjoyable, like their latest creation, the groovy fries. Hot, crispy, perfectly salted, made to hold all the sauce you want, which is perfect because Sonic also has, again, a new groovy sauce. It's creamy with a little kick,

a thrilling, tasty addition to any meal. Get any size groovy fry for $1. And don't forget to ask for groovy sauce. Live free. Eat Sonic. Tax not included. Limited time offer. Whether in the game or in life, the right coverage can make all the difference.

Securian Canada gives you that coverage. For more than 65 years, Securian Canada has been helping Canadians build secure tomorrows. Their insurance solutions are designed to help protect you and your loved ones financially, giving you the peace of mind to focus on what truly matters. Find their products through banks, credit unions, and associations. Or visit SecurianCanada.ca. Securian Canada. Insurance designed for life.

This episode is brought to you by Nespresso.ca. Securian Canada. Insurance designed for life. This episode is brought to you by Nespresso. Elevate your morning coffee ritual. From the first sip of coffee in the morning to the on-the-go cup. Make every morning unforgettable with Nespresso. Discover a world of possibilities with or without milk. Visit Nespresso.ca to learn more or an espresso boutique near you. As the world's population grows, so does the need for resources like potash to support sustainable food production. This is why BHP is building one of the world's most sustainable potash mines in

Canada. Essential resources responsibly produced. This is what BHP has committed to Canada. The All right. So you've had season tickets 51 years. This is your 10th finals. The first year, I've said this before, we got the tickets, 73, 74. Title. Title. We made the finals.

And this is 50 years later. And I did take you. I did carry you into one of those games. All right, I believe you. That was four. Four and a half. Yeah. I don't have a lot of memories of that one.

I remember the next season, the 76 season, but I don't remember 74. Yeah, so we one I remember the next season the 76 season but I don't remember 74 yeah so we won a title the first year with one ticket and then two years later so your finals record is 5-4 which I thought it was better for some reason I felt like you were 6-3 or 6 but yeah

5-4 is the record right now really? yeah lost in 22 10 87 85

yeah three to the Lakers fucking assholes wow that hook shot I still have nightmares about

Magic's hook shot and then 010 I made the mistake of flying you to LA for six and seven well suddenly our test makes a big shot at the mistake of flying you to LA for six and seven. Well, suddenly our test makes a big shot at the end of the game.

I mean, really? Rasheed Wallace, huffing and puffing. Yeah. 35 minutes of Rasheed Wallace. Yeah. Tough one. But haven't won a title in 16 years. And this has been the best team in the league since the season started.

Yeah. We have a lot on the line. That's how I felt walking around the city all day today and talking to people, and it just feels like you could feel the pressure when they started chipping away in that third quarter. You could feel it. It might have been one of the best playoff crowds I can remember at starting the game. But when they cut it to eight, everybody was nervous.

Yeah. I mean, you could feel the tension in the crowd. And I'll have to watch it. I taped it. I can't quite remember how we went from eight all the way up to 20 so quickly. But we did. I took notes during that. It was 72-64, 427, then the 80-64, Tatum three.

That's when they put Drew on Luca, five lively fouls. And that's when I wrote my notes. Drew was kind of the alpha. Because when it was 72-64 and the crowd was kind of zombies. We were watching the huddle and Mizzou and those guys were all on the court, the coaches. I said to you, look at that.

And you were like, Horford was really into it. Tatum was animated. Tatum was very animated. They were all like, what are we doing? And then Drew was just like, I'm guarding Luka now. And that was it. Yeah, it must have been. And Luka had 27. He finished with 30.

Only had three points after that. It was fascinating to watch that huddle because just like you said, the coaches weren't near the five players. And it looked like the five players made decisions on what was going to happen next, including Holiday was going to guard Luka. Tatum was going to come out more aggressively. I said to you, because I don't think it's happened all season, neither Tatum nor Brown came out in the third quarter.

Right. That never, ever happens. Right. He always staggers them. First row Joe. Do a little tweak for you. I'll give him that. It's a pretty good one. I'll give him that. It's a pretty good one.

I'll give him that. Yeah, because in the regular season, he would have done the stubborn, this is where I put my guys in and we don't deviate from what we do. Yes. And he did not do that. Maybe the assistant coaches told him to do it. Well, the thing we were talking about, because Luka and Kyrie, they shot their wide with those guys too the whole third quarter,

especially Luka. But they come out. They come in and out. L guys too the whole third quarter. But they come out. Luka played the whole third quarter, I think. I think he did. I want to say he did. Irving came out, if I recall. But I think when you have the game Tuesdays not until Sunday, you can get a little more frisky with your

big minute guys, right? We're playing Saturday night. It's a little different. A little different. We took their big guys out of the game. Gafford, I remember him having one shot. Well, it seemed like they wanted, they cared more about Lively, Dallas.

And Lively got the fifth crown. They put him, when he had five fouls, they put him back. There was a lot of time left. They were like, we're shooting our wild with this one now. But I thought Porzingis had his number.

Yeah. At least in game one. What did they all say about Lively? Who, you know, I really think he's a gem. Like that turned out to be a great pick. What a great pick, yeah. He was not afraid. Right. He was super physical.

I thought he was setting really hard, like borderline kind of flagrant picks. He made about 12 fouls. Yeah, he was really physical. But normally, like these 20-year-old centers would come into a finals game like that with the way the crowd was. I was even watching him during the national anthem, and he was like hopping up and down and nodding. Like he did not seem scared at all. I think he got a lot of confidence from the Minnesota series.

Yeah. Yeah, he's good I mean even if even if he's just this for the next five years like that's

an asset but the one thing he neither he nor Gafford neither one can shoot away from the rim right I mean

that is hard in this era the way centers are shooting three point shots and with the kind of defense the Celtics have yeah um watching Luka That is hard in this era, the way centers are shooting three-point shots. And with the kind of defense the Celtics have. Yeah. Watching Luka, and we've seen so many great players over the last 51 years.

I mean, first-year season tickets beat Kareem in the finals. I mean, he's at his apex. We had 76. That was McAdoo's last great year. Going through Dr. J with those Philly teams. Kareem and Magic. Andrew Tony, who absolutely killed us.

Going in with Dominique at his actual peak. We saw Jordan as he was turning to Jordan and Isaiah. Domchick might have 50 points Sunday night, but he did not control tonight's game. But could absolutely have 50 points. Yeah.

But who does he remind you of? Because to me, especially watch this, that's I think the third Mavs game I've seen for playoffs in person. There's a lot of Bird with him. A lot of Bird with him. Except Bird didn't control the ball like he does. No. Well, he never wanted to.

He always wanted the ball to move around. And that's why they had nine assists, because they did an awful lot of isolation, which was not to their benefit. Luke is scary because he's a lot bigger than you think. I don't think on TV you can appreciate how big he is. You know, he looks like he's a tight end, not even like a blocking tight end, not even like a Travis Kelsey type tight end. And the way he dribbles low to the ground, all of a sudden he's two feet from the basket.

Yeah. He had a couple of really good defensive plays where he like stripped, they're trying to hunt him and post him up. And he foiled Porzingis. We stripped him a couple of times, too. We did. So where does he rank for you?

Who's number one for you? Who's your number one scariest opponent in 51 years? Oh, but it has to be related to a specific series. Andrew Toney. Wow. People are listening to this going, who? Yeah. I mean, he won that series for Philadelphia that year.

Yeah, because it was twos, too. It was just 18-footers and 14-footers and layups. Yeah, I might agree with you, actually. I think he might have been... Because even Kobe, Kobe did fine against us, but I never felt like we couldn't stop him.

Well, Game 7, 2010, that was not Kobe winning the game for them. I guess 2012, LeBron, when he annihilated us. LeBron's got to be in there. LeBron. Andrew, Tony, LeBron. I guess for a career of watching playoff games against us, it has to be LeBron, I guess. Andrew, Tony, LeBron. I guess for a career of watching playoff games against us, it has to be LeBron. I mean, you and I, what year was it? 2012, game six.

Yeah, we're up three to two. Well, also 2018, game seven, when he basically beat us by himself. By himself, yeah. Although we missed like 43s. Yeah. That wasn't great. Both of those series. Yeah, he was awesome.

The one time we got his number was 2008 when he had the Manu and Manu against Pierce. I think my number one over all the years was Kareem. Kareem, I just never felt like ever we could stop him. As a little kid, never felt that way. Then I remember in 85, it just felt like he just owned Parrish. Well, it's just what you said, the Memorial Day Massacre that we killed LA. Who came back and killed us in game two? Game two was Kareem.

Yeah, he brought his dad. It was a famous story. He brought his dad on the bus and they saw his dad on the bus. They were like, uh-oh. Oh, I didn't hear that story. Yeah. They're like his daddy. They just sat in the front next to each other and like magic. And those they were like, uh-oh. Oh, I didn't hear that story. The Lakers, yeah. They're like, his dad, they just sat in the front next to each other, and like magic, and those guys were like, uh-oh.

He was, he killed us. He killed us, yeah. Although Walton was, that was one of the fun things about that 86 season and why we were so sad we didn't play them in the finals, because Walton really went at him. And they had that whole UCLA background. He beat him in 77. It would have been great.

And Walton played, if I recall, 80 of 82 regular season games a year. Do you remember, I talked when I did the Walton tribute, I talked about that Portland game we went to when I was eight, when they beat us. It felt like they beat us by like 100 points. And it was like the best team either one of us had ever seen. Portland game we went to when I was eight, when they beat us. It felt like they beat us by like 100 points. And it was like the best team either one of us had ever seen.

I thought, my memory of that game, and I think we made a joke about it, we were the Washington Generals and they were all in globe credits. That's how it felt, that game. It was so dispiriting. And it was the first year we were really sucking and it felt like that was the nail in the coffin. Like it was Habit Checks last year. It was like, not only are really sucking and it felt like that was the nail in the coffin. Like it was Havoc Chicks last year. It was like, oh, we're not only are we not going to win the title, we're not going to make the playoffs. But I think we also, as basketball fans, left that game saying, boy, that team really plays.

Yeah, that's a special team. That's a special team. A special team that plays teamwork game that you never see anymore. That was a great game. Was he the best college player you saw or was it Maravich? Probably Maravich, Alcindor, and Walton. It's tough to, I mean, Maravich didn't win the titles. Those two guys won.

Yeah, but you said Maravich was like appointment TV on the weekends. Well, I mean, it was an era when there was no cable and there was one college game on Saturday afternoon. And every Saturday afternoon, it was Maravich. Right. Because it was must-see television. It sounded fun. It sounded like the men's equivalent of whatever happened with Caitlin Clark there in the tournament.

Or it was just you kind of had to see what was happening. Yeah, the Walton thing, I remember when we traded Maxwell for him, and we were so disillusioned with Maxwell because he really killed us in 85. Because he was hurt. He didn't have a torn ACL, but he was just not in shape the whole year, and he really hurt them in the playoffs. You know, he just never really, some guys just have trouble coming back from injuries and he just couldn't do it. And flipping him into Walton, we were like, whoa. Cause he played a,

he'd had a good season with the Clippers, but then, and I was living in Connecticut. I was going to high school in Connecticut that year, but you were going to all those games and you were just, I was trying to watch as many as I could. It wasn't the same. We didn't have league pass in 1986. A friend of mine was asking me about Walton when he played that year. And what do I remember? And it's funny.

I certainly remember him playing. But the thing I remember most were his four sons. His crazy kids right next to us. Who sat right next to us. And they were out of control. You're right. The ushers could not control. One of them became coach of the Lakers.

Yeah, Luke Walton. But those four kids were totally out of control. I remember I had Luke Walton on the podcast and told him, they sat on the other side of the runway with us and we would just laugh because they were like the Von Eriks. They're like doing flying elbows on each other. Jumping into other aisles. I remember Luke was at UCLA and I was like,

Dad, remember those Luke Walton's kids? One of them's like an All-American in college. That's hard to believe. Yeah. But that was a really special year. I was glad they honored him. It's weird to think of somebody is like they called him one of the greatest celtics i thought that was neat and i

think that's that's fair it was one of the greatest celtics careers but he's certainly one of the right best 10 guys who ever played for the celtics and i think his experience here was the coup de grace of his career yeah um. It meant so much to him. I told you this, that when he would call the Celtics, like asking for, I'm coming into town, can I get tickets or whatever?

And whoever answered, he's like, Bill Walton, class of 1986. That's how he would identify himself on the phone. But it was cool. I was, I kind of felt like they were going to win for that

with all the Walton stuff. It was like, all right, this is good karma. Well, I'll throw you out something. This week win tonight with all the Walton stuff. It was like, all right, this is good karma. Well, I'll throw you out something. This week, I reread the epilogue of your book. Oh, my basketball game. About Bill Walton.

Yeah. It was very meaningful. Very sad to see that he passed. Yeah. Well, I was thinking about, I got to read Breaks of the Game again now, but he's such a big part of that book. I don't know how many times I read that book, but the what if potential of him was one of the things that I grew up with. And it was, out of all the great players ever, it's like him, Len Bias, there's only a couple where you're like, man. He got his two championships. Samson's a little like that too.

I really felt like Samson was not on the Walton all-time level, but you think of like Derrick Rose is like that. These guys, Grant Hill is a good one. Grant Hill was incredible. There's a lot of guys like that. But he was, out of all the what-if guys, he was the most talented

I think. Alright. What's your prediction for game two? But he was, out of all the what-if guys, he was the most talented, I think. All right. What's your prediction for game two? My prediction for game two is that Tatum has a really big game. Oh. Like a pounding it in the basket and controlling? Yeah. And that he looks at the tape of game one and says, I could have had seven layups.

Right. Uh, what, why, what was I doing? I hope that's what he does. Um, that's what I would do if I was looking at the tape.

Scale of one to 10, how horrified are you going to be to see Scott Foster? Um, who's your least favorite? Oh, Mark Davis is your least favorite. Mark Davis is my least favorite. Um, so we'll probably see him.

Although, again, I think it's okay to criticize referees when you won the game. I just thought we got... I thought Dallas could have been called for twice as many fouls as they did. We won by 18. I know. See, people listening, this is where I get it from.

What do you say? Make excuses for the other team. Yeah, now, it's probably a Mark Davis Sunday game too. I think it's probably Scott Foster. They always seem to throw him when the other team. You don't think he gets four and seven? There's 12 refs. Okay.

So somebody's going to get two games. I think a few people will get two games. You see, they may be worried that there isn't a game seven. And Scott Foster is one of their more veteran refs. I don't know. Well, game two, Sunday. Didn't they throw him out in the Minnesota game two? They did try to activate the Foster extension, and it didn't really. Sunday. Didn't they throw him out in the Minnesota game too?

They did try to activate the Foster extension and it didn't really... It didn't work. You were the most afraid of... I'm not... I swear I'm not jinxing anything here. You were the most afraid of Denver. I was. In the West. Jokic terrifies you because you went to that Denver game.

I thought Denver... We're just talking about that portland 77 team i thought denver played a little bit like that the way they move the ball around i'm i'm still shocked that they lost to that minnesota team i don't i still don't understand it yeah because then you watch minnesota just lay an egg in the next round not just like that they didn't play well, but some of their strategy stuff was bad. I don't know how they beat Denver.

Coaching was bad. Yeah. How did they do it? No teamwork. A lot of isolation with Edwards. I don't know how they did it. And how did he play as well as he was playing for some of that series? Because then he crashed to earth. He had deer in the headlight in the Dallas series.

And how do you beat Denver when you have the knucklehead factor of some of the guys on that team too? You know, like Towns was so bad in round three. Right. No, I, all season long, you and I said, God, I hope it's not Denver. Well, it ended up not being Denver. I never thought it'd be Dallas. I thought it'd be Oklahoma City. Yeah. Celtics win. It's now past midnight. I got to get you home.

What's your prediction for game two? I'm terrified of Luka. I do think they have at least solved Kyrie's not going to go off. They're too disciplined with how they're defending him. They have too many good guys. And they have room protection. But the Luka, he's just impossible. I thought he wore down as the game went along. And maybe it was part

of it, like some of the stuff they were doing, trying to force him to play defense in certain ways. I said that to you. I thought Dallas looked tired in the fourth quarter. So maybe Dallas will try to figure out some stuff with that. I'm trying to think. It's always about there was a game too. It's about the adjustments.

I'm trying to think what their adjustments would be other than they're going to have to figure out a different Porzingis plan. Right. I don't think they had a plan. And they're going to have to figure out how to have better ball movement. Cause you're just never winning a game with nine assists. If I'm Jason kid, it was one of the best point guards ever. And I'm talking to my team after that game or in preparation for Sunday, I'm saying we had nine assists guys. Right. What the hell? That's not team basketball. Well, I wonder if they'll try to move Luke a little further down to, to try to get

him kind of like what we were saying. They should, that we never understand why the Celtics don't do That's not team basketball. Well, I wonder if they'll try to move Luka a little further down, too, to try to get him. Kind of like what we were saying, that we never understand why the Celtics don't do it more with Tatum is post him up on the foul line. He's so good on the foul line. Right. Because he can spin and go to the basket or do little fallbacks. And when he's 25 feet from the basket, I just don't like it as much.

But I think with Luka, it's a mix of that. Like, just trying to get in the ball in different spots. And then they got to figure out the corner threes. Right. How did we take those away? How do you get them back? Right. How late are you going to be up tonight?

I feel like you're going to rewatch the game. It could be a three o'clock night for you. I'll watch it tomorrow morning. I'm bedtime. All right. 10th finals for my dad. All right. We got to win. This is fun. We, I'm bedtime. All right, 10th finals for my dad. All right. We got to win.

This is fun. We're going Sunday night. I guess Rossello's taking my place, I guess Sunday night. Rossello's taking your place. I think we're activating you for game five. Okay, sounds good. Monday game five.

Thanks Kyle Creighton and Steve Cerruti for producing. We're going to be back Sunday on the podcast. Don't forget, you can watch all the clips from this on youtube.com slash at Bill Simmons. And don't forget about the rewatchables on the movie's YouTube feed as well. Have a great weekend. Go Celts. On the wayside, never on the side I don't have a few years with him

On the wayside, never on the side I don't have a few years with him Must be 21+, 18+, D.C DC and present in select states. Fandle offering online sports wagering Kansas under agreement with Kansas Star Casino LLC. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit Fandle.com slash RG in Colorado, DC, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and Vermont. Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 in Arizona, 888-789-7777,

or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut, 809 with it in Indiana, 800-522-4700, or visit ksgamblinghelp.com in Kansas, 877-770-STOP in Louisiana, mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland, 800gambler.net in West Virginia, 800-522-4700 in Wyoming. Hope is here. Visit gamblinghelplinema.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8-HOPE-NY or text HOPE-NY in New York.