The Bill Simmons Podcast - Boston’s Flop, Riley’s Genius and Denver’s Cinderella Story with Jackie MacMullan, Plus Shorting the Jets

Episode Date: September 18, 2020

The Ringer's Bill Simmons is joined by sports media legend Jackie MacMullan to discuss the Heat winning another close Eastern Conference finals game against the Celtics to bring the series to 2-0, the construction of the Miami Heat, the tenacious Denver Nuggets, the brilliance of Nikola Jokic, where the Clippers went wrong, how the 2020 NBA playoffs will be viewed historically, sports reporting in 2020, Jackie's advice to young journalists, and more (3:40). Then Bill gives out some Million Dollar Picks for this weekend's slate of NFL games (1:13:55) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up, everybody? I'm CC Sabathia. And I'm Ryan Rucco, and we make up R2C2. See, what do people get when they come to R2C2? You know, we started and wanted to be organic, and, you know, we bring our friends on and have great conversations. New episodes drop every Thursday, so follow R2C2 on Spotify.

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where we did a whole good fellas day this week, whole bunch of pieces about good fellas. And some people are asking, hey, where's the rewatchables on Goodfellas? Guess what? We're not doing it yet. We're not doing a Goodfellas rewatchables yet. We did do EZA on Wednesday. I was not on that one. We did Unfaithful on Monday. I'm not doing a Goodfellas rewatchable until I can be in the same room with Fantasy and Chris. I'm sorry. I'm not doing that one on Zoom. There's a couple this year. Almost Famous was another one. I'm not doing that one on Zoom. There's a couple this year. Almost Famous was another one. I'm not doing that one on Zoom either.

We want the rewatchables to last for a long time. You can follow the rewatchables right now on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. But check out Goodfellas and all the other stuff on TheRinger.com and The Ringer NFL show, which has been rejuvenated. Ryan Shazier was on Tuesday with Cole Wright

and then Warren Sharp, who was on with Chris Vernon on Wednesday and with Joe House on Friday, getting you ready for week two. Joe House also doing on fairway roll and he'll be tackling the U.S. Open. This is going to be an unbelievable sports weekend. I'll be there on Sunday night with Sal. We'll be doing football and probably a little basketball and then US Open as well. And then you can listen to House and Nathan Hubbard

on the Fairway Rolling podcast that night as well. Coming up, I'm going to have Million Dollar Picks, big comeback week coming up for Million Dollar Picks after our guest, who is the Hall of Famer, Jackie McMullen, who is going to be, uh, who's going to be part of the ringer family. We'll be talking about that with her. We'll be talking about the, uh, heat Celtic series that put me in a bad mood and what

are the Clippers do next and the nuggets and all kinds of stuff. And then million dollar picks after that. First, our friends from Pearl Jam. All right. Jackie McBowen is here. She's going to be doing audio with the ringer for the foreseeable future podcast. Trying to do a narrative podcast. Come on here.

Come on ringer NBA. Come on. So it's a pleasure. I've always wanted to work with you. So this is great. It's going to be fun. I'm looking forward to it. Well,

I was in a much better mood until about a half hour ago when the Celtics stopped playing. We're taping this right after the heat took a two nothing lead over the Celtics stopped playing. We're taping this right after the Heat took a 2-0 lead over the Celtics and all of the warts of the Celtics pop up in the second half. Not deep enough. Lack of coaching adjustments in the third quarter,

which has been a recurring theme in the playoffs. And then just going stagnant late offensively. Can they come back from this to, Oh, well, the thing is what,

what really bothered if I'm a Celtics fan, which I'm really not, I try very hard to be, I know you are, I've spent my entire career trying not to be, uh, the thing that just blew me away was the, the careless place.

I mean, it's one thing to have turnovers, but the careless passes. And then when you make the careless pass, it's one thing to have turnovers, but the careless passes. And then when you make the careless pass, it's three on none. When did you ever see a three on none in an NBA game? I saw three of them tonight. So if I'm Brad Stevens, I have major issues with my team's effort. And that, to me, is pretty mind-boggling,

considering you got outscored by 20 points in the third quarter. That to me is unbelievable that if that happens to you, that you don't come after it in the fourth quarter. And I don't really think they did. I mean, clearly Miami, by the way, Miami is such a fun team. So talented, so well coached. That zone had the Celtics tied knots.

They didn't know what to do with it. We know what to do with it. You penetrate. You drive and penetrate. But man, they couldn't figure that out. And Bam Adebayo, they did such a good job on him in the first half because the way you negate Bam Adebayo is make him make a play. Make him put the ball on the floor. Make him make a turnaround jump shot. Make him make a play. Because this terrific player is a really smart player. But if you let him run pick and roll on you, and you just let him run free, and you're late on your rotation on the weak side,

and you're going to allow those lobs, you won't win a game in this series. Not a game. They did a great job in the first half, as you said. And Miami tweaked something. And then all of a sudden, they were just unleashing him. Basically, he would set the pick and then do a full sprint to the basket. Right. And over and over again was near the rim and around it. But I thought the Celtics blew this game at the end of the second quarter.

And I was watching it. I was with my son and his friend, Blake and my daughter. And I, and I could feel it happening. Cause I've seen this team over and over again, where it's 60, 43 and all of a sudden they're going slow. And it's like, you're up 17 because you weren't going slow. You were pushing the pace. You're using your athleticism. As soon as they slowed it down, I started, they're like, dad, why are you mad? I'm like, cause this is, I know what's going to happen here. All of a sudden it's 13 points at halftime and then it carries over in the second half. Why do they, why do they not realize that they're not a team that is a slow-it-down, half-court team?

That's not them. I think they're trying to be a careful team and trying to nurture a league. And they're still kind of young. And, I mean, Kemba Walker isn't young, but he's sort of young for the playoffs in some regards. And I think that's what happens to him. But, again, adjustments miami made at

halftime you you mentioned one of them they just were like you know what we're gonna pick and roll out of bio to death we're gonna have him dive to the rim and dare you to stop it and it's kind of it kind of reminded me of like kevin mckayle of the old days where they'd set him up in the post and no one knew how to stop him so they just keep going to them. And even McHale after a while would be like, I'm bored, go to somebody else. You know, right? And so this to me was, I mean, that third quarter, the play that really stuck out to me in the third quarter

was, as you said, you could feel it, you know, because we've seen this over and over with the Celtics team, but that jump ball with Tyson out of bio, it was, I think it was a 10-point game. I mean, it wasn't a big play per se, but they went for the jump ball and Tyson out of bio, like clobbered him. It was a scrum for the ball. And I thought if I'm Brad Stevens, I'm challenging this play. Right. It should be our ball. They don't get the, they don't get the, they don't do that. It's a jump ball.

They lose the jump ball. And Jay Crowder, who if I'm the Boston Celtics, I'm like, shoot away, my friend. Shoot as many as you want. He hits his first shot of the night, and it's a four-point play. And I looked at my husband and said, nope, this isn't going to happen. But I kicked his leg out, too. And that's the new trend of these playoffs is the playoff three where you kick a leg out

and you get a four point play. I don't know why they started calling that. But I mean, let, if I were the Celtics, I'd be like, go ahead, Jay Crowder. Yeah.

Well, they did at the end when they were up three at the end and they let him, they were like, all right, our game's in your hands, Jay Crowder.

And he missed. Right. But I'll tell you what, Tyler Hero, I didn't pay enough attention to him during the regular season. What a sight to behold. The way he rebounds, the way he cuts without the ball. A couple of the possessions during the game,

I just watched him, whether he had the ball or not. He never stops moving. Reminds me of Ray Allen a little bit in that regard. Never stops, never stops, keeps going, never stands still. And that's why Miami, to me, will win this series. What they do without the ball is remarkable. What the Celtics do without the ball is somewhat, at this point, putrid, frankly.

Right. And Miami, it doesn't make sense why they would have more energy in the last four minutes of the game. But they have every game. And they shorten their rotation, too. I mean, their guys, they didn't play out. I don't think, did Igo Dali even play in the second half? No, he got bench game, but they have every game. And they shorten their rotation too. I mean, their guys didn't play. I don't think, did he go dolly even play in the second half?

No, he got benched. And so did Kendrick Nunn, which really hurt the Celtics because Kendrick Nunn was the MVP of the other team for them. Yeah. The, the Robinson and Harrow, the way they move without the ball, Jay Williams actually did a good job breaking it down and countdown how much energy you have to expend just following them around. And I do think Stevens is wary of that. Like that's why Cantor shows up in the first half and Romeo Lankford,

because he's trying to throw dudes out there. But that brings me back to the basic question is, is it realistic for this Celtics team in the first place to make the finals without Gordon Hayward? Before we get to how good Miami's been and how, you know, they're 10 and one and basically it could be 11 or no, but you just feel the Hayward that even if it's 25 minutes a game,

now semi's out there. Semi's just not somebody who should be in the rotation of a finals game. Yeah. I don't even think you play for the Lakers, you know, water makers out there. They're playing roulette with Cantor, even though, you know, he's going to get there. They're playing roulette with Cantor, even though you know

he's going to get killed on the high screens. And he can't shorten his rotation because his wings are playing so much on defense. They're moving so much

without the ball, you can't wear him out. Right. I just think they're a player short. Well, you're right. And Hayward would help a lot, a tremendous amount.

And people, it's funny, Boston, I think everybody, and this happens, and you know this when you sign those big deals, people get hung up on the money. And what they don't understand is he signed that deal. He had a catastrophic injury. I don't know if he'll ever be the same, but even if he was the same, he could never be Utah Jazz Gordon Hayward because of the personnel they have. Utah Jazz Gordon Hayward because of the personnel they have.

Utah Jazz Gordon Hayward had to be the leading scorer. He was going to take the big shots at the end of the game. Boston Celtics Gordon Hayward, you got to stand in line, dude. There's three other guys in front of you when it comes to that. And the thing that I was so impressed with Gordon this year was the efficiency with how he played offensively. He had so many hockey assists, as we call them, a lot of those. So it didn't always show up in the box, but when he did take shots, they were effective. You know, he was, he's, he's a high efficiency player, but, but his biggest skill, and I've said it a thousand times, he's the best facilitator on that team. He'd be the guy that would stop them from the stagnation.

And you know, something Danny, I did a piece with Danny Ainge. I think it was last week. Something I hadn't really thought enough about that Danny pointed out to me is how big Gordon Haywood is. Yeah. He's a big guy. He's a big guy. And he's a strong guy.

Just allows him to switch constantly. Well, that's it. Because they're small. The Celtics are small, obviously, And especially in the backcourt. They're really small. And that's where Gordon, I think, would help him too. Well, he also,

he's Marcus insurance, right? Marcus, love the guy to death. Yeah. There's going to be games where he doesn't have it. Right. Although tonight,

I love the way Marcus played tonight. He was good tonight. Yeah. He was really good. There's going to be names, games where he doesn't have it. And they, they have to ride with him

either way. In some ways, I think Marcus is better just when he knows he's playing 35 to 37. Yes. You know, he he's, it's probably better for him, but you know,

sometimes he, sometimes he's not there. Sometimes you have the random, where the hell is Jalen Brown game. And I, the best way to explain is like, all right, would Miami be the same team if Duncan Robinson did not play in the playoffs?

Like, yeah, they, they all of a sudden Iguodala has got to play more. And so it has hurt themselves. You know what? Give Duncan Robinson a ton of credit though. Cause I I've gotten to know Duncan a little bit. Williams college kid. My daughter was a NESCAC player. So I'm partial to the NESCAC. So it's an unbelievable, his whole story, but I watched him, you know, game one, very first shot. I don't know if you know, game one, very first shot. I don't know if you remember it, back rim, but he looked scared to death. And then he picked up two quick fouls. And I thought, oh, this poor kid, the moment is too big for him. Well, I was wrong because the moment was not too big for him tonight.

He took the first shot of the game. He kept them in the first half. No, he's a terrific player. And he recovered from whatever angst he had to get through. I was very impressed with what he did tonight. I think that there's a misperception with him. I talked about the... Rasul and I did a podcast before the playoffs.

And we did 25 Most Intriguing Players. And he was on my list. And I just think people think he's, you know, Kyle Korver or somebody. Just a spot-up shooter. That's all he can do. And he's so much better than that. And he's not soft at all.

Yeah. And he's tough. He's a tough kid. It just, he looks, you know, he looks like your next door neighbor that used to throw the newspaper through your window. You know, that's what he looks like. And he's not.

And he's worked really hard to get here and probably appreciates it more than anybody else that was on the floor tonight. I love having people like that on my team. He needs some facial hair, maybe. Maybe like a little Fu Manchu or something. Maybe it can't grow any. Maybe it translates. We can talk about the Celtics a little bit. I want to talk about Miami and just the construction of the team. And Riley, as somebody who's been in your life, you started covering the league when

84, 83, 85? Really more 84. Yeah, more 84. I was around the periphery. You know, I was the 23rd man in with the Boston Globe. So it really wasn't until later that I was, you know, really in the thick of it. But Riley, you know, I had such great respect for him. But for years, the dude like wouldn't talk to me, you know, because I was from Boston. He kind of had this Boston thing. And I was like, well, can you separate me from Boston. He kind of had this Boston thing. And I was like,

well, can you separate me from the city? No, he really couldn't. And but, you know, over time, I've worked pretty hard to get to know him in a different way. And and I think what they've done, you know, the Jimmy Butler gamble. I can't sit here and tell you that I thought they would work. I got to be honest. I mean, and you saw tonight, Jimmy Butler doesn't have to be their primary go-to guy. I mean, Bam Adebayo is their best player. I really think he is. If Bam Adebayo plays well, they'll win. If he doesn't, they lose. And what a statement that is. And we haven't even seen the best of him yet because he'll figure out how to put the ball on the floor he'll he'll learn someone will teach him a little turnaround

jump shot i i forget who's the big man on their staff now because joan has left and who's the miami's big big man guy you know someone will teach him a little turnaround flip right a little floater yeah exactly well what's crazy about but I mean, I think he finished with like 12 points, four rebounds. And this is why I hate box scores sometimes. Right, too big a steal. He was the most important player in the last six minutes of the game. And he was all over the place.

They did that little switch where they put him and Crowder at the top of the zone, which I always like when teams do that. But going back to Riley, so he gets to Miami in the mid-90s and he builds that little morning hardaway, whatever that thing was. And really, I think the 99 season

would have been the year for them, but it turned out that was the lockout season. Sure. And it kind of fell apart. That team never hit their potential. Then he does it again with the whole Wade era, gets Shaq, pulls up the Shaq thing with a little help from Bill Duffy.

Yes. Going way back, yeah. Gets the 0-6 title there. Right. And by the way, I just put up with Shaq because those two were not on the same page. Right, right, right. Then does another rebuild with LeBron.

And then as that's fading, gets the double whammy of LeBron leaves and then Chris Bosh, who is going to be the guy they build the team around, and he has his issue and he's, he's out. Does this crazy trade for draggage that I think me and Zach Lowe might've been the only two people who liked it. Gives up two unprotected first,

but then it's just always kind of lingering, hanging around. I think the thing that's interesting, we're still, and I talked about this a couple of weeks ago. Does he have a type? So we think like the Ravens in football have like a type.

And there's certain guys and somebody will get drafted by them in a draft. And you're like, oh, that guy makes sense for the Ravens. Does you think he goes after specific personalities?

Personalities more. See, that's why he's so great. Think about it. Remember now, Bill, where did he start? He was the coach of the Lakers. They were the Showtime Lakersakers they were finesse transition team you know the celtics beat him up and stole stole their lunch money and the title in 84 and then he comes back in 85 and you know makes them a little bit tougher but then then he's the coach of the new york knicks

collection of thugs i've ever seen in my life. And I say it with affection, with great affection, because I love the way they played. But to me, that tells you that he's adaptable. The best coaches are. So you don't think he's watching Jimmy Butler on these other teams thinking to himself, this is my kind of guy. If I get this guy, I could build something around him. Because I was like you.

It didn't make sense to me. Could Jimmy Butler be the best guy in a championship team? But Riley spotted something that I don't think either of us saw. The toughness. And I think, think about Shaq. Do you think he was sitting there going, Shaq's my kind of guy? He knew Shaq wasn't his kind of guy. But he also knew if he puts Shaq and D-Wade together,

they're going to win a championship maybe so he's no dummy I think what he probably saw in Jimmy Butler was okay he's out of chances right I mean he was out of chances and I'll just bring him in and tell him you're out of chances I'm going to make you a champion and you're going to make me a champion and we'll do it together and I'll give you some leeway but all the things that Pat Riley gives leeway on Jimmy Butler, that's good for him. But the stuff he won't give leeway on is conditioning, you know, listening to your coach, all of that. So I think that's the deal, right? He says to Jimmy Butler, I know you're in great shape all the time. I'm not going to have to check your body fat. Remember they used

to pinch him to check their body fat and all that. I don't have to worry about them to check their body fat and all. I don't have to worry about you. You're going to work hard. I don't have to worry about that. I need you to respect me. I need you to respect our coach. Give me that and we'll work on the rest of it. Well, one of the things with that team, and we'll get to the Clippers a little bit later,

just a bunch of dudes with a chip on their shoulder who play really hard game to game, and especially in a playoff thing. And Drogic is somebody that I always felt like never got enough credit for that. And I think he's had a weird career in some respects because he was basically Nash's caddy for about two years too long, right?

Where he was a backup, where he really could have started for a lot of teams in the league. And I always felt like he was underrated. He's absolutely shredded the Celtics these first two games, which was the easiest thing to predict on the planet. Cause he always shreds the Celtics. Right.

But what he did in the last four minutes was pretty fantastic too. That shot over Tice. Oh my God. Contested fall away three. Unbelievable. Hey, Tice. I like Tice by the way.

He doesn't get enough cred. I mean, he doesn't put up numbers. I'd like talk about looking at the box score and not understanding What this guy did for your team You know people are going to say Oh Adubato destroyed him inside Tice stinks it wasn't Tice at all

Tice was always rotating it was all the guys On the weak side that didn't come over like Tatum And Brown and all those guys Yeah and then the hero Pick It's the coin flip Miami wins that And ironically Probably determines the series

Because if you put a hero in the Celtics It's at least 1-1 right now He probably would play 35 minutes for them today He's just what they need too He's just what they need But the thing is The Celtics They look

When they play that zone And they put those forwards up high The Celtics are small in the backcourt anyway. They looked Lilliputian tonight, didn't they? There was no daylight. And once in a while, Jalen Brown, I thought, probably did the best job of, I'm just taking it to the teeth. I'm going to drive it to the teeth and either get a layup or get a call.

It seems like the move, I mean, Brad Stevens does more about basketball than I do, but it would seem like the move would have been to put Tatum at the foul line in that open spot in the zone because they were putting Smart there or Tice there. Yeah, Tatum was in the corner, which is a great place to trap somebody. Totally. So I would put like, if you're going to do that, I'm putting my best score in that spot and then he can turn and try to get to the rim.

So we're both very pessimistic about the Seltzer. Like they there's rumors. Hayward might come back for game three. I, I would tend to believe they'll try to steal game three because then there's a big gap between game three and game four. If you just, if you can pull out game three,

you're down to one and Hayward comes back for game four. But the thing is, I'm not sold on him being that good when he comes back. We've seen him come back from injuries a couple of times and it takes him a while to get back. Right. But you don't, I mean, I wouldn't start him, would you? I'd keep Marcus Smart in the starting lineup and bring Gordon Hayward off the bench. He can have 70 minutes.

I'll actually give him 70 minutes right now, even on crutches. Yeah. I don't think you're going to see a lot of shimmy. I mean, he only played four or five minutes tonight, I think. You know, I want to make her at a good game one, not so good game two. I just, the stuff to buy me, like that want to make her inbounds

pass. Like, how does that happen? How do you do that? You have I haven't seen that in an NBA game in a while. I just like, well, especially in the playoffs. Yeah, that's pretty rare. That's like an eighth grade eighth grade AAU game game or something. Right. So I mean, we can break down X's and O's all we want here, but to me it was all about, and it's so often is loose balls, you know, 50, 50 balls, effort, uh, aggression. How about the offensive glass, the damage that

they did? Um, hero, not, he had nine or ten rebounds? There was one point in the first half, the Celtics had a 27-14 rebounding advantage. By the end of the game, it was basically even. I'm with you. Loose balls. Miami is a team that over and over again, they can fall behind and then score 12 points in a minute

and a half. What happened? I was up 17. Now I'm up three. They hit those threes. Jimmy Butler is the epitome of that, isn't he? He's in the fourth quarter and he hasn't really done a whole lot. And then all of a sudden, he's like, yeah, all right, I'm balling. I'm going to the hole. I'm going to steal this ball.

He's so tough-minded. They're also a classic act like you've been there before, team. And I really noticed this in the Milwaukee series when they stole that first game or they didn't steal it, they were better. And there was no celebration at all.

Butler's just like, all right, guys. And he was acting like it was like January. Whereas like, look, the Nuggets had an unbelievable comeback. But when I saw the champagne

beer celebration after round two, I kind of cringe because I'm like, guys, you have a chance to win the title. Like, start thinking Lakers. So don't celebrate this much. I kind of cringe. Cause I'm like, guys, you have a chance to win the title. Like, like start thinking Lakers. So you don't celebrate this much. I don't know. I don't think, I don't feel like Miami would have done that, I guess is my point. Well, cause Riles wouldn't let him

cause he only light beer if you're going to, but, but I actually love the nuggets. I I've spent a lot of time with them. Uh. I went down two years ago, spent about six days down there. I was doing a Jamal Murray story and I walked in that gym and I'm like, wow, what a great vibe. Just a great vibe with that team. They seem to like each other and they hadn't done anything yet. This is two years ago. So Jamal Murray, I think was shooting 32% from the three point line and was, you know, turning the ball over and like, he wasn't, he wasn't the player he is now. Jokic was, but just watching them.

And I think so much of it is because they're homegrown. And so many of them were guys that they drafted. They drafted, you know, they drafted Jokic. They drafted Murray, Monty Morris, they, Torrey Craig, they signed. I don't think he, I think he went undrafted. They he's from there. He's from Harris, Michael Porter jr. I mean, these guys and Mike Malone is, you know, like Brad Stevens is his whole thing is don't let them see you sweat. Don't let you see any emotion. Mike Malone's a screw that, but come on, I love you guys. And I think it works for their team.

I'm not saying Brad should change his demeanor for his team. I'm just saying, I found them really refreshing. I mean, Tim Conley's done an unbelievable job. The, the, the GM or whatever we call him president of basketball operations, Graham Puba, whatever. They've just done a really good job putting that team together. So. You know, one of the things with that, and I was talking to somebody who knows the Nuggets owners who is saying how,

you know, that Jamal Murray extension was a lot of money. I was all for it. I was all for it. Go back and look. No one else was, man. I think 170 for five. By comparison, I think Jalen got 115 for four, maybe something like that. But they went all in.

And from what I was told, the reason they went all in they were like he's just our best two players love each other yeah and they love playing basketball and they want to be here and it's like how many guys are like that in this day and age this is a league where everybody's looking for the next chance next opportunity and these guys are like we're happy we're not only happy but like what they do with the pick and roll is just pure poetry. And the best part about it is they inverse the pick and roll. You know, it's not always pick and roll, traditional pick and roll. Murray will pick for Jokic, Jokic will pick for him. It's fantastic. And I'll tell you, I've never, I've covered a lot of athletes. Of all the young players I've been around in this new group of young players, none of them are more driven than

Jamal Murray. And when I went down to do that story, I talked to Doc about it. Because remember he had that issue with the Lakers. They had that, I think it was to do with Lonzo Ball. Remember he was sort of dogging Lonzo Ball. Like Jamal Murray early was a little, he had a little bit of a punk. And remember with the Celtics, he took the shot and all that. So I was asking Doc about him and Doc goes, oh no, I don't mind that at all. He said, that kid's going to lead the league in scoring someday wow yeah so these guys they knew they knew what he could be he

wasn't you know who else knew the celtics almost took him that was a big i didn't know that i thought it was jaylen versus jamal was i think though i mean they want they ended up picking jaylen they liked him more but Jamal was the other guy they liked. And then he fell another four spots. Yeah. I mean, I think they've got a real future there. And, you know, the rest of the guys, Millsap was a great signing.

Again, Tim Conley, I tip my hat to him. Because people were like, all right, well, they'll sign for the one year, but then they'll let him go, meaning this past year. You know, it's too much money. And they understood what the value he gives them. And, you know, he doesn't put up great numbers, but he won one of those games for them when he had that stretch. They're a smart team.

I don't know if they can beat the Lakers. Well, he won the series when he stood up with Marcus Morris. That flipped the series. That one moment where it was kind of like... It was a classic. It was like an 80s movie where you punch the bully, and then the bully where you punch the bully. Right. And then the bully goes running for the hills.

On Jokic. Actually, let's take a break and then we'll talk Jokic. All right, we're taking a break to talk about Pepsi. This football season will be different. Pepsi is here to get you ready for game day. No matter how you watch this season, Pepsi is the refreshment you need to power through game day. It's not made for those who play the game.

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84, 85, 86, 87. And he's putting up in, in playoff games, 30, 10 and six, 32, 11 and seven, stuff like that.

Toying with people, toying people. And one of the things was when you played the Celtics, it was like, all right, we can't double McHale. But then if they're doing this, if they're staggered on that one side of bird McHale,

and then bird, what do we do? And bird just thrived on that. It's like, oh, you're going to send a double? Awesome. I'm going to do this. Even though they're totally dissimilar players, I felt the way Jokic was kind of toying

with the Clippers at times reminded me of that. It reminded me a little of Nowitzki in 2011. There's been a couple guys like that with size who you can't win no matter what you do. It's like, do we double now?

I can't do that. Do, do we guard them with a bigger guy? He's just going to step back out further and shoot over him. It's got a small guy. He's going to post them up. The Clippers never figured it out. Do you blame them for not figuring it out?

I kind of do, because I think the one difference between Yoko and Larry, cause you're right. They both, they're, they're court visioning. How about those full court passes that you'll come? Oh my God. The only one that does it better is maybe Kevin Love, Kevin, you know,

and, and, uh, but the difference between him and Larry is Larry was, as you know, in exceptional condition at all times. So if I want to be the Koli Jokic, I'm just going to make him work on the defensive end. I'm going to run him ragged on the defensive end. Because even that game seven, the last game seven where they beat the Clippers, he was gassed. You know, he sat out, I think, the first four or five minutes of the first quarter. But he was still gassed. So if I'm going to beat Jokic, I'm just going to run that dude into screens.

I'm going to run him up and down the floor. I'm going to be Jokic. I'm just going to run that dude into screens. I'm going to run them up and down the floor. I'm going to run them ragged. That's, that's the best way you can is if he's tired and you know, he starts pulling on his shorts and meanwhile, Jamal Murray never gets tired. When I was down there doing that story, I, you know, he was on the Canadian national team, the younger, you know, the younger version team when he was a young kid and he would go to practice and they were all at the, you know,

a training center and practice would be over. And then they, one of the coaches would go back at night and the lights would be on and Jamal Murray would be practicing by himself. So they finally, they had to take away his sneakers because they couldn't get this kid to stop. So it would be nice if a little bit of that would rub off on Jokic. This would be the only thing, if I was a GM, this would be the only thing I cared about in the draft. Who are the guys that have the stories of the janitor got mad because it was 11 o'clock and they were still there.

I would just never take another guy than that. It would be like, oh, this guy's great, but he has no work ethic. I'm like, okay, good. No, right. Exactly. And yet Jokic, he has a work ethic. It's just a weird one. Well, he's like a savant, though.

I almost feel like he's a little like Luca to me. How about that pass to the fourth quarter when the game was fantastic? Well, how about he's out of all the... And people were comparing him to Bill Walton. They're talking about that in telecasts, things like that. To me, he's not... He's so different of a player

than Bill Walton. The one thing that I love is like, he has that weird slow motion from the top of the key going toward the basket game where it's like, if you come up on him, he can pass to anybody. Right. He can make these little goofy floaters. He's just has so many different options. And the thing that's the reason they're here still is because all of a sudden he can shoot threes. I mean, he's a 30-something percent three-point shooter, and he's been shooting well above 40% in these playoffs. And to me, they look good. Every

time he takes one, you can tell. You can almost tell. You can tell when he's tired because they go, you know, barely scrape the rim. But he just looks really comfortable shooting them right now. And again, off pick and rolls, what the two of them do together rim, but he just, he looks really comfortable shooting them right now. And again, off pick and rolls,

what the two of them do together to make each other better. It's pretty cool. And you know, how about the other thing that blows me away about the nuggets is Michael Porter, Jr. Playing significant, you know,

key minutes. When one minute he's throwing the game away. Like remember the behind the back pass. I forget which game that was in. I was like, what are you doing? Right. The next time down, he hasn't hit a shot all night. He drills a three. I mean, he's throwing the game away. Like remember the behind the back pass? I forget which game that was in. I was like, what are you doing? The next time down, he hasn't hit a shot all night. He drills a three and he's so talented. So I think they all understand he's our third guy. We just have to bring him along a bit. He's got a little bit of showboat in him, which is, Hey, so it's some of the greatest ever did magic did did. Kobe did. Not holding that against him. So he's not there yet,

but you bring him along this ride so you keep him engaged and keep him part of it. And, you know, he's got a lot of talent. They've certainly kept him more engaged than Casey Jones did during that year when he never played Reggie Lewis in the 1988 playoffs

and just kind of kept him holding the water bottle. Is Michael Porter, is he on the Nuggets in two years? Is he the missing piece for them where they could actually go and get somebody awesome using him as the bait? They could, or maybe they keep him. Maybe he's the guy. I don't know.

I don't know. It's a fun conundrum, right? Because if you feel like, if you feel like you're actually a championship contender, which I think they are, and that's somebody you could dangle with some salaries and a pick and try to get like Bradley Beal, Drew Holiday, whoever, and get your third star. And then you're like ready to roll for the next five years. I just remember teasing Tim Conley once. I'm like, you know,

you've drafted so well, you can't even keep all your guys. That's always a good sign. Like, you know, they, they had to shed Malik Beasley. I think they liked Malik Beasley, but they knew they couldn't pay him. He's a free agent. He's in Minnesota now, and I'm sure Minnesota will pay him. And I'm not saying he's a superstar, but they drafted so well, they couldn't even hang on to everybody. Sadly, we can't say that about the Celtics the last couple of years. No, we cannot. Maybe, yeah. Hey, I have a question about Doc Rivers and the Clippers. So your phone rings tonight after this podcast ends and it's Doc.

And he's like, hey, Jackie, I'm just kind of going through everything in my head these last two weeks. How did I fuck up? What was my mistake? Where did I go wrong? What would you tell him? You paid Paul George?

I don't know. I mean, you trusted Paul George. Yeah. I mean, I just am so underwhelmed by Paul George. And maybe that's unfair. As I know, I've seen him do great things. But is that Paul George past? I don't know the answer.

But I just, wow. He was an apparition, wasn't he? He was a ghost. And I know he's a talented player and he, you know, he has this great reputation as a defender and I know he's done that. I know he's done all these things, but when I, when they were down in the third quarter of that game against the Nuggets in game seven, I'm screaming at the TV, where's the urgency? Where's the emotion? Go to the basket. and like we know kawaii doesn't that's not kawaii's gig right we know that he's like this bloodless

and hey it worked in san antonio and it worked in toronto because you had kyle lowry for one reason right kyle lowry had enough emotion to go around for everybody so maybe that's one of the problems with the clippers that they were just this bloodless, those two guys. Where was the fire? And the fire was with Pat Beverly and Montrezl Harrell, who are very nice, complimentary players. But they're not your best players. And that fire's got to come from somewhere else.

My fear with them this whole season, and I picked them to, I thought they were going to make the finals and play Miami. I thought they were going to win the whole thing. Yeah. I thought they were going to win the whole thing. Yeah, I thought they were a perfect matchup against the Lakers, all of it. The thing that worried me was during the season, even before the pandemic hit,

they never had that one run that really good teams have. Now you could say like, oh, well, Miami didn't either. But I feel like Miami did have the run. It just happened in the bubble in the regular season where it was clear.

And with the Clippers, we were always assuming it. You'd see it for one game. Then the next game, somebody wouldn't play. But they never had the kick-ass run. And now, to me, I learned a lesson from that where it's like, I need to see it once during the season. Like, lay the smack down for three weeks, and they never did it. I feel like there was one game right before they stopped.

They looked really, really good. But, and the excuses were all built in, weren't they? Well, this guy is hurt. This guy can't play. This, you know, there was always, we got to rest Kawhi. He's, oh no, wait, we don't rest him. Sorry, we don't mean that. He's hurt.

He's hurt. You know, which by the way, I still think he was hurt. I still think coming into the beginning of the year, I wonder, this is pure speculation on my part, if he had some kind of off-season procedure, pure speculation, not reporting this at all. Just seemed to me like they were treating him like a guy that was coming off, I don't know, a minor.

Like a tiny arthro? Yeah, who knows? I don't know. This is just, like I said, pure speculation on my part. So, you know, you're resting hands. And then, you know, Paul George was out. And then, you know, guys were out. And you never got the full compliment.

But then you get into the bubble. And Lou Williams does what he does. And then Montrez has to leave. But other teams had that. You know, like the Nuggets, they couldn't even field a team. Because all their guys had COVID, for know, like the Nuggets, they couldn't even field a team because all their guys had COVID for crying out loud. You know, so it's not like this didn't happen on other teams. I mean, the Rockets are two best players at COVID, you know?

So, I mean, that just after a while, instead of a reason, it felt a little more like an excuse. That's how I felt too. Russell and I did a podcast right after the game, kind of like how we did it tonight. And I didn't know about the Paul George, Lou Williams comments. And I wish I had, because to me, that was, that's when I got,

we were straddling the line of, can we call, I hate saying professional athletes choke. They're better at their job. You know, you and I could ever be going out there, but yeah, it's,

if we're ever going to use the word choke, it felt like that those last three games. And then you hear the Paul George saying stuff like, look, this is year one for us. It wasn't championship or bust by any means and all that. It's like, all right, so you just don't get it. You're just out to lunch. And then Lou Williams is like, people that were so hard, wouldn't have the continuity. It's like, well, how the fuck do you explain Miami then? They got Jimmy Butler this year. They got Iguodala and Crowder in February. They just got Tyler Hero. And they almost traded

Drozdic. They almost shipped Drozdic right out of there. Totally. But that team just met too and they seem totally fine. It's like because you guys don't have any leadership and you don't know who you are and you don't know who your best five guys are. You didn't know until the and you don't know who you are and you don't know who your best five guys are. You didn't know until the bitter end.

That's why you lost. It just, and Doc, you know, I have great respect for Doc. Been around him a long time. He really looked to me like, you know, people kept saying to him, what's the answer? And he really didn't seem to know. I mean, I don't, he really didn't seem to know. I think it was shocking to him how, how much they underperformed. And, and again, you can under, underperform, you can play badly,

but play badly. You know, that's why I, I never will pick on Marcus smart because even when he plays badly, you can never say he's not playing hard. You can never say he's not going for loose balls. And sometimes, I mean, once I remember, I'm like, don't go for that ball. He broke his hand. I mean, you could see, it was like diving into the stands. I'm like, no, no, no'm like, don't go for that ball. And he broke his hand. I mean, you could see it was like diving into the stands. I'm like, no, no, no. It's a regular season game.

You're going to miss eight weeks again, you know? But my goodness, you never felt that way about anybody on the Clippers. Maybe Pat Beverly a little bit, but he, I didn't like what Pat Beverly did to Jamal Murray at the end of that game six. Yeah, that got glossed over a little bit. I thought it was a cheap shot. Yeah, I did not like that. And I bet he,

I bet he would want that back. You know, do you, I mean, you've been on the road. I've been thinking about this cause I'm trying to, I'm trying to figure out how normal are we going to end up treating these playoffs?

Like when we think about them historically, cause we've had some weird playoffs, right? 99 was a little weird. 2012 is a little weird. Right. And I was thinking about... They still count. No, I know they count.

But I'm trying to think like, all right, I'm putting myself in these guys' shoes. They're living in the same hotel room for two months. Right. And if your team isn't 100% tight, because I think Miami is tight. I think the Celtics are tight. I think Denver's tight. And the Lakers have LeBron.

And all the teams that are in the Final Four make sense to me. If you don't have that kind of chemistry, that closeness, that tightness on top of just living in a hotel room out of your suitcase. I mean, I remember one year we did countdown when it was the 2013 Finals. It was Miami two games,

San Antonio three games, Miami two games. Never went home. And it was 15 days or something on the road. I had two little kids like, but I like the 10th day. I was like bummed out. Yeah. You know, I was like, this sucks. Yeah.

I was the worst at that. I, once I had my kids, I was a disaster when I was on the road. I wouldn't be home. So I get it. I get that it would suck to be 60 days. I get it. But here's the thing. I think the bucks are pretty tight.

So what happened to them? Right. Well, that was, that was a fundamental issue though. Yeah. But I mean, but I think those guys are tight. I think they, they have each other's backs. I really do. I think those guys, you know, I think it's why for Giannis, it'll be a really big decision because I think he really likes the city. I think the ownership, the Lazarus have done a great job. They've done, I mean, they've been at the forefront of all the social justice stuff. They, I mean, they're good owners. And so, you know, I think for Giannis to love those guys, I mean, but we can also talk about,

did they re-sign the wrong guy? You know, when they gave Bledsoe all that money, I'm like, well, this means Brogdon's gone. You know, I don't know. El Presidente, I trust him. Well, the other piece of that is, I just think they went against the wrong team. And I felt this way for weeks and weeks now.

I just think Miami's really good. And I don't think there was a lot of shame for Miami. I mean, for Milwaukee, they lost to a team that was more athletic than them, that was tougher than them. And you could see from that first game, they were losing all the 50, 50 balls,

a lot like the Celtics tonight. And I think the Celtics are tougher team than Miami, but the Milwaukee was, but I just think that was a bad matchup. And looking forward, if Miami gets past Boston, I got to say, I think it's a pretty good matchup for them against the Lakers.

I think people are starting to think like the Lakers just have this easy path. They haven't really played a team that can truly play defense yet. And Denver, by the way, is going to be another one that can't, isn't going to really be able to stop them. They're going to get to the Miami series. And a lot of the stuff they've been able to do a couple of rounds, I think it's going to be harder. Well, and also what about them defensively? Are they prepared to run off all those cuts? Because again, don't you think Frank shortens his rotation the further we go? I mean, I thought it was interesting. I think it we all know that their best lineup is Anthony Davis at the five and either, you know, Morris or Kuzma as your power forward. Well, but I think that's how they roll.

I mean, that's how I would play it. I said to Rasil on Sunday night, if it's Miami Lakers, I think there's a major 2004 Pistons-Lakers upset potential with that series, with the matchup. That'd be cool. Where people look at, oh, they have Kobe and Shaq.

They're huge favorites. Oh, they'll win, not realizing who Miami was. Because I still don't think people realize who Miami was. They weren't favored going into the Boston series. I looked at the odds today to win the title. They were still like four and a half to one. Boston had better odds to win the title. They were down one to nothing in half to one. Boston had better odds to win the title. They were down one nothing

in the series. I just don't think people get it. Well, because they don't know who Bam Adebayo is. Like, the regular, the casual fan doesn't know

who Bam Adebayo is yet. They haven't seen what he can do. I think they know after the block. At least they finally have an idea. Right.

That was something else, wasn't it? What an incredible block. So we were talking about this on Around the Horn today. So, or was it yesterday? I don't know. They're all running together. They're blending together. So best block ever, playoff block ever. What's yours? It has to be LeBron. Yeah. But what's number two for you? So I didn't see it because I was minus 12 years old. Oh, okay.

But everyone says, and Tommy Heidson, who you know and love. I do love with Tommy. In the game seven of the Hawks Celtics, it was a double, triple overtime game, whatever it was. Everybody fouled out. Apparently, Russell made the greatest block anyone had ever seen to save it. Yeah, and then tipped it to Koozie. Yeah, that's a favorite. So there's no video of it, but apparently it was like just a fast break,

nobody within 20 feet, and Russell just came from behind almost like a Kentucky Derby horse and just got rid of it, started it the other way. That's a good one, yeah. That was the only other one I could think of. Well, see, I'm partial to Tayshaun Prince in 2004 in the Eastern Conference Final.

Against Reggie, that's a good one. Reggie, yeah, he's going down for that uncontested layup and you're like, oh, this game is, oh, wait, no, I'm partial to Tayshaun Prince in 2004 in the Eastern Conference. Against Reggie. That's a good one. He's going down for that uncontested layup. And you're like, oh, this game is... Oh, wait. No, it isn't. Well, that's won the series too. It did. It completely changed the series.

It's funny. I actually, I have a story. I guess I'm cross-promoting. Is that allowed? That's great. Am I allowed to cross-promote? I have a story on ESPN.com. I think it's running tomorrow on all the teams that eliminated LeBron.

So I went back. Oh, wow. I went to all the teams that eliminated him in the postseason. I mean, because he doesn't lose that often. As you know, he's gone eight consecutive finals and all that. So starting with the 2006 Pistons, and Tayshaun Prince was guarding LeBron, all the way up to the Warriors teams. So some of it's obvious.

But it was really interesting to talk to everybody because, you know, young LeBron was kind of cultish. He wasn't as big and as strong then. And, you know, couldn't shoot the ball particularly well. And Tayshaun was talking about how he was, you know, letting him, I think he shot 27% from three in that series, his very first playoff series against the business. But what Tayshaun was talking about was how they would,

Ilgakis and Verzal, those guys were sitting these just crushing screens. It's just not, you know, Tayshaun was talking about was how they would, Ilgakis and Verzano, these guys were sitting these just crushing screens. It's just not, you know, Tayshaun weighs like 210 pounds or something, but how difficult he was. And then, you know, I talked to Bruce Bowen. I talked to all these guys that, you know, shut him down or slowed him down, I guess. Because, you know, the Celtics, if you go back to 2008 and that great mano-mano series with Pierce,

I mean, they didn't really stop LeBron. He stopped himself in that one game, you know, the Celtics, if you go back to 2008 and that great mano-mano series with Pierce, I mean, they didn't really stop LeBron. He stopped himself in that one game, you know, where God knows what happened. Still, we'll never understand. And then, you know, 2010, there was that weird disconnect in game five. It was, right? Five? Five and six. He was bad.

Six, he had a good stat line, but I thought he was disengaged in both of those games. It was weird to watch as it was happening. But Leon Poe is the star of this story, talking about all the LeBron rules that Doc had. That's why I was so hoping they would play each other, because it was going to be very timely, because Doc

would be playing against him again. I thought the 08 Celtics series was an important loss for him because there was one play in that series. I don't know if he's ever even talked about it, but I was watching all this basketball during the pandemic. Because what else am I going to do

without basketball? Game seven, the mano a mano with Pierce. Pierce outplayed him in that series. He really did. They had that jump ball. And Pierce is stronger than LeBron. Pierce beats him to the spot and gets the ball, and he's stronger, calls timeout. And LeBron comes back the next year, and he's 20 pounds heavier.

Right, yeah. That moment never happened again in his career after that jump ball. No, you're right. And the next year, it was Orlando that eliminated him in the playoffs. Yeah, he did everything he could that series, though. Yeah, but he was... No, that was his career playoff highs and all, but that's Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis

and, of course, Dwight Howard. Bad matchup. The truth is, for LeBron, if you really look at it, and I've had my issues with LeBron along the way, and I know you have, too, but, my God, he was undermanned in almost every series he ever played in,

except for when he was with the heat. Right. Yeah. The 17 team that lost to the words and five, that team offensively was spectacular. I mean, that team just had bad timing. I think if that team comes three years sooner, they probably win the title. The only one that's really inexcusable to me is the 2011.

Yeah. And I think it was just. But that was the turning point of his career. Yeah. But that was nine straight months of, of having the shiny flashlight pointed in your eyes and everything. And I honestly think he just folded as that series went along. It's amazing to rewatch.

Like he would. Game four was on during the pandemic. And I honestly think he just folded as that series went along. It's amazing to rewatch. Like he would, that game four was on during the pandemic. And I was just, I couldn't believe how much he didn't want the ball. Like he's 28 feet from the basket, just like hot potatoing it. It's unbelievable. Dwayne Wade is like in his face.

Oh yeah. Yeah. No, I actually thought Wade was the best guy in the league that year. He had a great year. And they were both too busy deferring to each other. I think once LeBron came back after that summer and said, all right, look, I got to be number one.

And I mean, you'll be involved. But I've just spent the worst summer of my life. I've been meditating. I've changed my diet. I can shoot the ball now. And I think he came back and shot 53 that next year from the floor you know and he's not a shooter to this day still not his three point numbers are really very average but he is one of the greatest clutch shooters in playoff history and nobody who loves michael jordan wants to hear that but it's true and he has more playoff win shares than Michael Jordan.

He's really, I mean... Well, he also played the best game I think I've ever seen anyone play in person. The game one of the Golden State, the J.R. Smith game. It was basically him versus everybody. I've just

never seen anything like that. I was in disbelief. I've been to some great Larry Bird games as have you. I haven't seen some of the classic Jordan ones just because I didn't live there, but that was in person. I was just staggered by that one. Jordan had a lot of those too. Jordan in the finals,

you weren't going to beat him. If he got there, it's over. That's why I'm glad The Last Dance exists. I'm glad. I do think the impact faded away, and it's hard to explain it, but now people get it. Yeah, they do. And it's funny how they don't understand.

I'm laughing because people are like, well, he was so tough on them. I'm like, yeah? I mean, what? Of course he was. Why is that bad? I didn't understand a lot of that. By the way, Bird, Bird wasn't a picnic in the eighties. Well, I call those guys sissies. Remember that? Yeah. I mean, and, and look, he, he would used to tell me all the time, like,

I don't care if they like me, they just need to listen to me. That's what he used to say. And he was, you know, he was an interesting guy. Like he and McHale early were tight. We know, you know, know near the end not so much i think they've come right back around they're fine now um and that's just i think that's got to do with age and injury and losing neither one of them are you know all that but like his best friends from one year to next stoiko vrankovich was his best friend one year no i'm dead serious and then one year artist gilmore remember artist g Gilmore's illustrious career with the Celtics.

Rigor artist. Larry was hanging with artists all the time. You know, I mean, Quinn Buckner is one of his best friends from beginning to end. Rick Carlisle, those are two of his best friends ever. But, you know, he's tight with Walt. Well, and then we had to trade Roby to, so that Bert's career would survive.

They'd actually get him out of Boston. Well, they used to, at the end of games, they used to have beer, free beer, like beer in the locker room after every game. And so they drink a few, you know, 10 beers or whatever. And then they'd pack all, you know, they'd be ready to leave and Roby and Byrd would pack up like pillowcases

full of beer and take it out of the bus. I think my favorite Byrd friend was that he befriended Patrick Ewing during the Dream Team and they became like a buddy cop movie. Everybody was so confused by that. Well, because like, you know, when they were playing, he used to say to Ewing, here's what I'm going to do.

I'm going to take the ball. I'm going to come into post. I'm going to fake left. You're going to go and I'm going to come back right. And you're going to go right. And I'm going to go around you and score. And then you go down and do it. Yeah.

Patrick's like, man man i hate that guy they really have a great friendship it's kind of funny the the you know and he and michael were had a sneaky good friendship too they do you think oh good why no i was gonna say it was a sneaky sly friendship because like they didn't wasn't public because neither one of them were into that like magic's into public friendships right larry and i are best best friends and Michael and I are best friends. And, you know, I don't think Michael quite felt the same way about Irvin as maybe Irvin felt about Michael because Michael doesn't, all that cheery stuff that doesn't fly with Michael, you know? Do you think LeBron, you know, cause Bird and Magic, well, Bird and Michael really,

there were so many stories and everybody had their two stories about this time in Seattle. And I looked at bird cross-eyed and he took it personally. And are people going to talk about LeBron that way? Or is it just like in, in this era, we're not going to have stories like that about anybody. I think LeBron stories are all about the media, the media that, you know, that's his list, right? I don't know so much about players. I think it's an AAU era. We talk about this a lot.

They all grew up together. They all played together against each other. Like Leon Poe played on the Oakland Soldiers with LeBron James. You know, like all these guys have connections. They've known each other their whole lives. I remember Irvin telling me once that when he found out they were playing Indiana State, like before that, he had heard a little bit about Larry Bird. He thought Larry Bird was black, never seen him play because Indiana State was never on TV. Right. You know,

I mean, that's not happening anymore. Everybody knows who these guys are in the sixth grade, not even the eighth grade anymore. It's the sixth grade. Well, I wonder if that's an advantage for the foreign guys. Like Luka comes in, he doesn't have any leeches with anybody. He just wants to beat everyone in the league. Same thing for Jokic. Jokic, yeah, those guys. And I think too, like the Celtics were pretty good for a while. Not as good as San Antonio, that's for sure. About, you know, like Dino Raj, everybody's like, who the hell's Dino Raj? Well, Dino Raj didn't really work out spectacularly well with the Celtics because it was not the best time to come in. I mean, Bird was at the end and all that. By the way, Bird and Dino had a lot of fun together too. But, you know, like Dino Raja

was a really, really good player. It's just nobody had ever heard of him. So nobody knew that. I mean, think about Pascal Siakam. I mean, stashed away in New Mexico State there from Rwanda. I mean, from Cameroon, excuse me. I went to see his childhood home when I was on a trip to Rwanda and I was doing a story on Cameroon. I met Embiid's parents and I met Lut Baamute's parents, who are the greatest people on this earth, by the way. They treat you like gold. They're like royalty in Cameroon, but Pascal Siakam, like he's from this town called Douala. And it's just, I mean, it is down and out. It is not like, I would not want to be from there. It was unsafe. I had to have a security guard when I was like with me everywhere I went. And, and so like, he comes out of there and all his brothers went to America to try to play, but like, they're not worrying about, like, they're not thinking about, Oh,

I got to go to Duke or North Carolina. They're like, Hey man, I just want to play. You know, he was in a seminary studying to be a priest for crying out loud. So I think those guys in some ways are at an advantage because they're not bogged down with all this, you know, American nonsense, I guess is really what I want to call it. Nonsense. The whole AU culture to me is such a major problem, you know? Yeah. Well, I wonder what it's been like in the bubble with what have you heard about that with the guys with all the dead time hanging out with guys from other teams we everybody and their brother made the tampering jokes but but but i think those are happening i do think those are happening and you know we you go all the way back to uh when i went down to to brooklyn last last was that last year

was it this year? No, I guess it was the beginning of this year. Kyrie was playing at the beginning of this year. And, you know, I went down to do a story on their team and DeAndre's there and, you know, KD's not playing, but he's there. And they start very freely telling me all about 2016 on the cruise ship in Athens and how they're in a bar and they're planning, they vow to play together. Like, we're going to do this. This is going to is gonna happen and you know i don't know who they are but you know someone's down there i mean wouldn't you say that every superstar in the nba has sidled up to yannis at some point in a player's lounge down in the bubble i mean of course they have you don't think jimmy butler you know didn't send over

a plate of nachos you know and so i believe that stuff they there's it's interesting it's interesting. The coaches, I, you know, I kinda, it's the only time I wished I was down there when I start thinking about these stories. Most of the time, I'm glad I'm not, I'm too old to be down there for three months. We got great young writers that are down there doing a great job for us, but you know, I do, I do think it's fascinating when you hear these stories about Spolster and, and Brad Stevens, you know, walking around the tracks, seeing each other.

And then Mike Malone's like sprinting around and doing pushups. Right. Or riding some dirt bike or something. Right. Yeah. And they're like, what's that guy doing? You know? So it would be really fun to write about that. Well, it would seem like the move, if you're a reporter, would be to just basically repeatedly walk around that track for four hours. I've been thinking that the whole time. Like, put on your little stretch pants and put on your Nikes and do some pull-ups, you know? See what you can get out of it.

You know, one of the years we did Countdown, we were staying at the Mandarin because that was like the ESPN hotel and Adam Silver was there and I had heard that he was walking the track. So every day I would walk the track for like two hours, but kind of secretly hoping to run into him. And then I ran into him and I got him for like 20 minutes, you know, next to some tree just catching up. But it was like the networking of those, uh, power walk

laps are great. I'm telling you, man, I used to love the Chicago pre-draft camp for the same reason. There was this little hole in the wall, a luncheonette that all the coaches went to. I forget one of the assistant coaches told me, but they weren't supposed to. So I just went there and ate lunch there every single day. And, and I was young, I was really young and I really wasn't established yet. And that's how I got to meet and get to know a lot of the, they were, a lot of them were assistant GMs who are now GMs. And right. That's, that's sort of how you make your, make your way right in the league is you put the time in like that. I'm so happy. I know it was reported that Monty McNair is going to be the new GM in Sacramento. I think that like he's he's such a great guy.

And so I did a story on Harden and Chris Paul to two years ago, I guess it was for for our cover when we still had a magazine, which ESPN no longer does. And Monty McNair was helping me. They were telling me how they were going to have all of them on one or the other on the same floor, except for like four minutes of the game. And he was breaking down for me how they were going to do it and all the lineups. And he was just so understated. But he had this big board and all this analytics stuff. And I'm like, man, if I ever had an NBA team, I'd hire Monty McNair. Smart guy. So they made a good hire there.

So you're saying the Kings finally made a good hire? I think they did. I think Monty McNair is going to be really good. 2020 really is crazy. We're taking one more break, then come back. Let's take a break and introduce to you Bacardi Spiced Rum. You love the classic. Now you'll love the new Bacardi Spiced Rum.

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Florida. Rum with natural flavors and spices. 35% alcohol. Buy a volume. I had to ask you about reporting in 2020. Difficult. In this whole era where reporters can DM people directly. Everybody's got a team now. Everybody's trying to control some narrative. And, you know, the era that you kind of made your bones in

where you would just face-to-face kind of wear people bones in where you would just face to face, kind of wear people down, develop relationships. Like, does that exist anymore? Is everything almost like a senator dealing with the local reporters? No, I think it does. But I think, so I often blame you for this. I'll take the blame. Here's what you get blamed for, because you did such a great job writing your own opinion and your your thoughts and you know they were educated thoughts you did your research and but now everybody thinks they can do that and they don't have to report so i blame i blame you for this because everyone you know all these young writers that say to me

oh i really want to you know work for espn and and then i say okay great send me some stuff and they send me these long treatises on why you know why you know you know yokich for ESPN. And, and then I say, okay, great. Send me some stuff. And they send me these long treatises on why, you know, why, you know, you know, Jokic is going to be the best player. And so I always write back and I go, Hey, this is good. And it's interesting, but you know, send me something that, you know, you did some reporting, you were writing on deadline, like, do you have anything like that? And the answer is always no. Right. I blame you, but you, you, you've made a wonderful career out of it. So that's, but not everybody else is. I've tried to dispense.

I've tried to dispense wisdom to the young people. Like, thank you. Don't call three people. Call 10. No, that's it. That's good. Right. That's well, you really should call a hundred, but that's okay.

Yes. Yes. I've done baby steps. Right. So my, my point is, I guess that there are still a lot of people that, and I always tell, I always tell like when I work with young people, like show up early, like show up if the game's at seven, show up at four. Cause like, what else are you doing?

So show up at four, cause someone's either hurt and working out with a coach and we haven't heard from him or seen him. So you can see what he's doing or at least talk to him or someone's just going to be hanging around. Someone's always hanging hanging around now you may do that you may show up at four o'clock for 10 straight games and eight of them it may just be a bust so what you're there early you know just listen to a podcast you know but two of those games two of those times you're going to get a little thing and by the way the players always notice who's there, what time they're there, always. I learned this much, much later.

I mean, I remember the first book I did with Larry Bird, you know, one night I was like, how did you ask me? Like, I was so stunned when he asked me to do this book, you know, his agent called me and said, so confidentially, you know, Larry's going to be doing a book. I said, oh, okay. And I thought she was going to run some writers by meially you know larry's going to be doing a book i said oh okay and i thought she's going to run some writers by me you know and she said you know um do you want to write it and i was like i was so shocked i had no idea why larry bird would want to do this with me so after you know several months into the process i'm like why did you have me do this and he said you were kind of

always there like you're larry bird right that's were kind of always there. Like you're Larry Bird, right? That's the kind of stuff he cares about. Like who's there early. You know, like I was there watching, cause I always heard about him running around. I wanted, I wanted to see it. So I would go early, you know? And he's, he noticed that now not every player will, some other player might notice like there's some guys that are really analytically savvy. I'm trying, I'm learning. I'm still not there. It's not, that's how the business evolved. I'm trying to evolve with it. I'm trying to make second spectrum, you know, my best friend and learn about, but some guys are really, really good at it.

And so that resonates with young players today who are in the film room or in with the analytics guys, breaking down the numbers. So there's so many ways you can make in rows, but mostly it's just, it's good old fashioned, like legwork, like putting in the time, stay early, stay late. If a player has a, you know, a charity thing, go like, they're so relaxed when they're at those things, go to it, go to everything all the time and keep, keep asking, keep asking. And, you know, maybe one day somebody will say yes, you know. It's funny, you get so much out of those early, early shoot around

before the game, especially in the playoffs. Yeah. Because that's, there's always more people on the court. And I didn't even realize this. I remember like 11 or 12, one of those finals when I started like, hey, I should get there super early and I'm always going to run into people and I can actually get good information. You're always going to run into like the assistant GM or the guy who works for the head scout. Who's seen you on around the horn or whatever, and just wants to tell you stuff. And those are, those are always the best tidbits

because those are the people who are always going to tell you stuff. Well, and they're going to be the GM someday. Right. And you know, I I always tell that's the other thing I always tell young writers like when you're covering a locker room you know there's and you know those those seven guys that are the best guys there's five other people in the locker room that saw everything that the top seven guys said if something happened they were there too they saw it too and and some of those guys may surprise you I remember Rondo's rookie year remember never played like Doc never played him you know he really didn't play that much and I just thought he was kind of an interesting kid and I would go and sit down

and talk with him and no one else was ever talking with him and you know all those years later when Rondo became playoff Rondo of course he's going to talk to me because I was there talking to him when he when nobody else was you know and I tell young people that all the time. You're going to big time these NBA players who are all a million times better than we ever thought about. And the worst guy on the end of the bench is this very accomplished, gifted, smart, talented person. And just because they don't play in an NBA game doesn't mean they don't know

anything. Of course they do. And you notice, when did you start going around the horn? I don't know. Um, I have a thing over there that says we were on 10 years and that was probably 10 years. We've been on like almost 20 years, I think. I don't know. So you noticed that the players treated you differently as soon as you were on TV. A hundred percent. Didn't you notice that too? Yeah. Yeah. It's crazy. The story I always tell is, uh, I was, uh game and I was around the horn and they had shown a clip of Gary Sheffield. And Gary Sheffield has the most violent swing I've ever seen in my whole life. Right.

Scary. And so I was imitating it. And I was like, that dude has got the scariest swing. He's got to hit the baseball. I did a little riff on Gary Sheffield. So I don't know, two months later, I'm going to the Yankees clubhouse to get Jeter for something. And I'm in there and Gary Sheffield sees me and he's like, Jackie Mack. And I'm like, this is incredible. I've never, ever talked to Gary Sheffield in my life. And I'm like, yo, Gary.

But it's because someone told him or he saw it. TV is a very powerful medium. I remember telling because, you know, someone told him or he saw it. You know, TV is a very powerful medium. I remember telling Zach, you know, Zach a little bit. Oh, I love Zach. Zach's great. And Zach, I just think so much of him. And he's a guy like an analytics, you know, like he's taking analytics. He blends all of it.

And I sit next to him and we sit next to each other during the finals. Yeah. Because he doesn't like to talk during the game and neither do I. So we sit next to each other and really enjoy not talking to each other. You're like an old married couple. A little bit. Yeah. Except for, I always like peek at his screen and he's during the game, like instantaneously breaking down film. And I'm just, I'm amazed by Zach. Well, I remember, so it's like baby steps with them.

Because originally it was, coming on my podcast was easy, but it was when we had the Grantland basketball, I was like, Zach, you're going to have to come on this. You got it. The TV piece is really important. It's credibility-wise, it's going to open. Right. You know, these guys are going to treat you differently. I don't know.

I don't want to. The people are like, no, no, just do it. But now he's on the jump all the time. Yeah. Yeah. And that stuff matters to these guys. It's like, you've been vetted. You've, you've crossed some imaginary line for them where it's like, oh, I you're okay. Cause you're on TV, which is kind of insane when you think about it. Of course it is, but it's just the way the world works. And so the other thing is you have to, you know, the mistakes some writers make, and I've made it once or twice myself is when you're on TV,

when you're on a podcast, everything you say matters, like it counts. So be sure you're saying what you really mean. And I've, I've made a bunch of mistakes before we go. So you think Lakers Miami, that's going to be our finals I mean I suppose so but I'm telling you man I just believe in the Denver magic I kind of do too I'm not ready to write them off yet

they're like 4-1 underdogs I'm not ready to write them off yet so you're a better I'm not a better you know all the odds I don't pay any attention to any of that I just know the vibe I go back to two years ago and the vibe in that, that locker room and how they like they're at a point now, which is probably a little fool's gold, right?

They just feel like no, no deficit is too large. Like we can come back from anything. There's a, that's probably a little dangerous. You don't want to, but, but there's some great, there's some great karma about feeling like, no, we can, we can come back. We believe in, you know, I don't know. I'm not ready to write them off. Can't do it.

You know the irony of that, though? Mike Conley comes within six inches of winning game seven on that last shot. Okay, okay, okay. But Kawhi Leonard's shot rolls out and maybe Philadelphia's going to the finals last year. No, it's just sports is so funny sometimes with this stuff, right?

Yeah, absolutely. They come within a hair of getting through and they get through. And now we're talking about them potentially beating the Lakers. Hey, don't forget our below your beloved Celtics in 2008. They went to game seven in their first round happens. Well,

I'm not counting out a Marcus smart team anyway, but it, I, I am concerned. I didn't Smart team anyway, but I am concerned. I didn't like this matchup. I didn't like it before the series. I think Miami is way better than people realize. And I can't say I'm totally surprised by 2-0.

Last thing, we're all so excited to have you as part of the ringer. I'm very excited to be here. We're excited to utilize you in a couple different fun ways. I'm glad you get be here. We're excited to utilize you in a couple of different fun ways. And I'm glad you get to still write for ESPN and do the TV stuff for them. This is a perfect situation. Yeah.

I don't think I'll have very many days off, but I'm going to enjoy it. We're making it work. I don't mind that. This is it. This could be your highest usage rate year ever. Awesome. I could do it. All right. Thanks, Jackie rate year ever. Awesome. I could do it. All right.

Thanks, Jackie. Thank you. Okay. Now it's time for the State Farm surprisingly great segment of the week. Getting great car and home insurance from State Farm at a surprisingly great rate. That's a little like Saquon Barkley, who's getting written off. I've said it in the past. I think he's the greatest running back of all time.

I know it's a little bit of an exaggeration. Bad week last week, they were in a little bit of a dogfight with the Steelers, could never get it going, turned the ball over a couple of times. They weren't really able to run the ball. And now everybody who took Saquon Barkley with a top three fantasy pick is completely panicking. He's taking crap. He's not a good pass blocker. Um, maybe he's overrated. Maybe he's a great stats, bad team guy. Well, he's going against the Chicago bears this weekend. People are feeling good about the bears. Trubisky look great. They came back from 17 against the trade. You know, when I like to zag, when people start getting excited about the bears and Mitch Trubisky, you know, and I also like to zag when people start questioning whether Saquon

Barkley is good or not. I think Saquon Barkley is going to be surprisingly great this week and state farm. It's another thing that's surprisingly great. Their agents provide personal service. He can customize your insurance to fit your needs. Like a GM put it together. Their very own roster.

You need a team that supports you. State farms got a great one. In addition to agents, the award-winning mobile map, the award-winning mobile app helps manage coverage, pay bills, file claims, and more with a great price and even greater service. State farm goes from strength to strength, kind of like Saquon Barkley passing and receiving. Choose insurance that always brings the day game when you want the real deal, like a good neighbor. State Farm is there. Our surprisingly great player from last week was, I didn't pick one. This is my first one. It was Saquon Barkley. Here we go. All right, we're going to get into million dollar picks in one second. First, I was just, took a break to watch the end of the Bengals-Browns game. Joe Burrow threw 61 times

and has no offensive line to speak of. Nobody who can block for him in any way, shape, or form. A.J. Green, I think he was done two years ago. It's not like he's swimming in targets. They have some decent receivers, but he basically single-handedly willed the Bengals to a cover. They got a last-minute touchdown to cover the spread, and it was really remarkable and fantastic. Joe Burrow just has it.

I was on a text thread with Fantasy and some of the ringer guys, and we were just like, Joe Burrow has it. You can see it. Hopefully he can stay healthy the rest of the way. So that happened. And then the other thing, word trickled out of the Celtics locker room that Marcus Smart, he kind of had a tirade after the game. That's all we know so far.

We know that there was swearing. Things were thrown. It's not sure if it was directed at one person or many people, but I'm glad that he did it. I'm thinking about this Celtics series now. I sounded so doom and gloom during the Jackie segment, but look, they play Saturday and then they don't play again until Wednesday. And if they can just somehow pull game three out of their butts and drag it to Wednesday, get a nice four, four day break. And then Hayward comes back for game four. Who knows?

So yeah, I sounded like I gave up with Jackie 20 minutes ago as you're listening to the podcast. I'm back. Optimistic Bill is back. Here we go. Speaking of optimistic, million-dollar picks week two. I got my ass kicked in week one. That's fine. It happens.

Anytime I have an ass kicking, I try to look at it as, was I way off? Did I do a terrible job? Was I unprepared? Did I not know things or did I have bad luck? All right. So let's go back through my week one picks. I had a $400,000 tease on the Colts and the Steelers. I watched that entire Colts game and I still have no idea how they didn't cover. They didn't punt the ball. They never punted Minshew only threw the ball 20 times. He was 19 for 20. I don't know what the Colts are doing defensively,

but they controlled the game. Phil Rivers made a couple of dumb plays, but the reality is on that final drive, as they're driving to, um, to at least cover the teas, TY Hilton just starts dropping passes. I can't totally blame that on Phil rivers. I can blame some of the other terrible stuff on Phil rivers.

I can blame the fact that it's thinking dunk, thinking dunk, thinking dunk, and eventually Jacksonville figured it out. But, um, that was stupid and I should have won that game. And it makes me mad. Then you go to lions minus three, which I lost 200 on, 220 actually with the juice. And they blow a 17 point lead to Mitch Trubisky in the fourth quarter. It was only the fourth time in like the last 800 times since 2006 that somebody blew a 17 point lead in the fourth quarter. And to make it even worse, their rookie running back dropped the game-winning touchdown pass. DeAndre Swift dropped the game-winning touchdown pass.

So I look at those two and it's like, wow, I lost $660,000 last week on two games that I should have won. And then you go to Titans minus two and a half. That was the worst one of all on Monday night. I lost another 220 on that. And all right, what happened there? Well, I had the team that had the field goal kicker who missed three field calls and an extra point and they won by two.

I needed a half point from Steven Gaskowski. God forbid he came through. I'd be madder at him if he didn't win me a couple of Superbowls, but I have no idea how it is. I watched that entire game. I, it felt like the fix was in that's how fishy all of it was where you're just watching on the Titans are kicking their ass. What's going on here. How, Oh my God, are they going to lose this game? So they end up, they win and they don't cover. Didn't help me. So I lost $1.1 million in bets. But the good news, I won my long shot parlay of the week last week.

So 25K to win 242K on the Washington professional football team and the Cardinals both to win, they ended up winning. So 1.1, I lost. I won 242. So that means I am down 858 K through one week. Guess what? We're going to rebuild it right now. I'm not scared. Are you scared? I'm not scared. Let's start here. Let's start with the stay aways. I'm going to give you three games. I looked at long and hard and decided to stay away. And maybe I'll regret it. I don't know. First one is the Broncos are favored by seven and a half against the Steelers. You know, I liked a lot of the stuff they did in that Titans game. And I know they got some luck with the missed field goals that kept them hanging around. Their coach completely screwed up the clock management at the end.

They should have had at least, you know, maybe a minute to have the ball at the end of the game there. But just judging it from, oh man, is their defense going to be as good without Von Miller? Their defense was pretty good. They lost A.J. Bowie. That sucks. It looks like he's out for a while. So their defense isn't going to be as good. That's one of the reasons I'm staying away

because they're playing the Steelers. They're getting seven and a half points. I like getting over a touchdown in this game. I do think they can move the ball. I like what I saw from Melvin Gordon, even though he fumbled in that game. Jerry Judy looked pretty good they're almost definitely going to have

Cortland Sutton back this week too so I think they're going to be able to throw the ball and that feels like even they could be down 10 plus and still get the garbage time TD at the end they could keep it close who knows they could beat the Steelers the Steelers looked okay against the Giants

they didn't look amazing or anything and I just like that Broncos 7-0 but I'm going to stay away just because the defensive injury is another one Dolphins plus 6 against the Bills you could go one of two ways with the Dolphins last week the Pats could have blown them out if

Nikhil Harry doesn't fumble the ball out of the end zone the Dolphins could have lost by 20 at that point it might have just been a bad matchup. The Pats had a great game plan. They used Cam perfectly. Dolphins could never really get unlocked. Parker was out.

And maybe he just tossed that game away. In this game, they're home. They're playing the Bills, and they're getting six points. And what I like about this one, September Florida weather. We saw this become a factor in that Jacksonville Colts game where, you know, Florida weather in September. These guys aren't in the best of shape yet. They had no preseason.

The Bills, do you totally trust Josh Allen? I don't really trust him. I think the Dolphins plus six is a nice one. I think it really trust them. I think the Dolphins plus six is a nice one. I think it's worth considering. In fact, I thought about them for a long shot parlay of the week, but they just didn't look good against the Patriots last week. Even you look at the DVOA, and I know it's only been one week for DVOA, but they were 30th in DVOA in week one, 27th offensively, 29th defensively. And who knows?

They might just stink. So it's not worth my money. I'm staying away. Third one, this is a bummer for me because I really liked the cards. I liked what I saw from them in week one. And I also really liked what I saw from the Washington professional football team.

Now, they beat the Eagles. It was a little bit of a fluky game. They never had to fully have a drive. They got awesome field position. There were a couple turnovers. And their defensive line was able to just dominate a pretty ravaged Eagles offensive line. So, sure.

Washington, great win. Awesome. They answered some questions. They're not going to be as bad as I think some people thought. I actually thought they were going to be maybe 7-9, 8-8, 9-7, somewhere in that range. I wish they weren't playing the Cardinals this week. I think the stuff that Kyler Murray can do,

especially when he's ad-libbing, can offset some of this awesome defensive line that Washington has with the two blue chippers. I'm going to stay away. I thought about putting the cards in a tease for a while. And then I was like, well, maybe I should put Washington in the long shot part of the week. I'm going to stay away from both ends and just enjoy that game. All right, here we go.

Here's what we're doing. Million dollar picks. And as always, I'll probably end up using four of these, maybe even five of these for the mega contest that we're doing with The Ringer. The Ringer Mega Contest on Fando. Go to fando.com slash megacontest. You can still join.

You would have missed week one, but we're going to try to figure out who can pick games the best for free. Repeat, it's free every week. I won four. I got four out of six points for the first week. So you pick five games and you get to double down on one of them.

So I hit that. I had the Cardinals plus seven and a half. So I got a total of four points. There's a lot of people in this contest. Anyway, you can join. There's still time. FanDuel.com slash mega contest. And speaking of FanDuel, the lines that we're about to use for a million dollar picks are

brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. I know you know about their world-class sports betting app that FanDuel makes it easy to find and place your bets. They've got some of the best ads you'll find anywhere. They'll even get you your winnings in as little as 24 hours. There's a lot of reasons to try FanDuel Sportsbook, but here's more. Right now, new users can place their first bet on FanDuel Sportsbook risk-free and get up to $1,000 back in site credit if you don't win. No strings attached. Just place any bet you want. If you win, you keep the cash. If you lose, you'll get your entire bet up to $1,000 back in site credit. I am about to go through my million-dollar picks

using these lines. And make sure, check out the football double-up. Place a pregame money line wager, and if your team scores 35-plus points, double your winnings. Max bonus, $50 in site credit, eligible wager, one per person. I would just recommend the Chiefs.

The Chiefs are always going to have the best chance of scoring 35 plus. Go for that. And if you're ready to bet on the NFL this football season, download the FanDuel Sportsbook app. Be sure to sign up with promo code BS so they know I sent you. Must be 21 plus, present in Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, West Virginia, Indiana, or Colorado. First online real money wager only. Set credit non-retrievable.

Expires in seven days. Restrictions apply. Gambling problem call. 800-GAMMER. West Virginia, 800-GAMMER.net. Indiana, 809 with a Colorado. 800-522-4700. All right, so I am down for million dollar picks.

I am down $858,000, and I'm winning all back right now. Here's what we're doing first. Teaser. I'm going to put a little more juice on this too. Yeah. Yeah, we're going to open it up a tiny bit this week to try to win some back. The Chiefs are favored by eight and a half

points over the Chargers. And this game is in LA, not that that matters, but they are favored by eight and a half. You know what that means. You always want to tease the good team under three. You can get the Chiefs down to two and a half. Here's why I like this. The Chiefs are going to lose, I don't know, two, three times all season. Guess what? It's not going to be to the Chargers. I watched the Chargers last week.

Didn't really blow me away. Barely beat a Bengals team that also lost to the Browns this week. And to me, it's like, this is a free opportunity to get the Chiefs in the T's. The best thing about this, they're 10 day rest.

A lot of time to think about this, they're 10-day rest, a lot of time to think about this, maybe break out a little Clyde Edwards, Hilaire, goal line plays, who the hell knows? But I love getting the Chiefs, Andy Reid, 10 days, and all he has to do is get me a field goal,

and I win. So teasing the Chiefs down. Here's the other one I'm teasing. A team I don't even really like, the 49ers. They are favored by seven points at the Jets. Here's the thing. This is a bet against the Jets. This is

a bet against a team that has the worst coach in the league, Adam Gase, the most likely coach to get fired. A young quarterback, Sam Darnold, who I think all of us are wondering if he's any good or not. Le'Veon Bell's already gone. Say goodbye to him.

He's out for a couple weeks. Jameson Crowder was their best receiver. He hurt his hamstring. Rashad Perryman was one of their big free agent signings. He was hurt for most of training camp. I'm not even sure if he's playing this game or not, but I do know that Chris Hogan's playing and Chris Hogan was washed two years ago.

I know that Braxton Berrios is on their wide receiver depth chart and he was waived off the Patriots practice squad. The Patriots don't have wide receivers. So here's my point. My buddy Gus has a picks league that I've been in forever and we always have a couple of rules

for different games. And the Gus Ramsey rule for some of this stuff is he just looks at a game and he asks, how many points are they going to score? Usually it's for a team of the shitty offense going against the team against a good defense, the Niners. There's a lot of questions.

The receivers super banged up. I think they missed Debo Garoppolo's not look great. There's a little Nick Mullins buzz happening. They're down to one running back, one good running back, Mostert. But I certainly have some questions about their offense coming off last week. And, you know, who knows?

This might be Jimmy G's last year there for all we know. None of that matters this week. They have a really good defense. I think it's a defense that Kyler Murray made look worse than it actually is against the Jets. I just don't see how the Jets get to

10 points. The only way they get over 10 points is if Jimmy G starts throwing them pick sixes or they get fumbles or whatever, but I can tease the 49ers down from 7-1. I'm doing that. I'm just betting on their defense. Jimmy G, just manage the game. Hand the ball off. Stay out of the way. So Chiefs, minus eight and a half, 49ers, minus seven. I'm taking the Chiefs down to two and a half. I'm

taking the 49ers down to one, and we're opening up. We're putting 500K on that. We're going big time. We'll see how it goes. The lesson as always, when in doubt, bet against the Jets. So that's one. Then three more games are doing straight up. 250K a piece. Ready? First one, going back to the well with the Colts. I can't believe it. I swore I'd never bet on Phil Rivers again I'm just going to keep betting on Phil Rivers Until he wins me one But in all seriousness I thought the Colts looked good last week Except for the part that they blew the game

They moved the ball Again, they didn't punt the whole game Their defense was too vanilla I think they were just trying not to take any chances And it ended up being the worst idea they could have But watching that game It it was kind of unbelievable. They weren't up by 14. I still don't understand what happened.

I think they're pretty good. I don't see them going on to, as opposed to this Vikings team, which just has an atrocious defense. And whether that's going to be the case four or five weeks from now, when everybody gets used to playing with each other, they get some guys back who knows. But, um, I just think that Vikings team has that look this year and it's a look I don't like. Colts by three. I like it. Worst case scenario, you push on the minus three, but I do think I like the Colts at home. I like them in a bounce back game. So we're going with that. And then we have Falcons, Cowboys.

Where am I going with this one? No, I'm not going with the Cowboys. I actually like the Falcons. So this is a week two thing that I always enjoy. You got to look for the teams that looked a little worse than they actually are in week one for whatever reason. So you got like, you know, the Falcons get killed by Seattle. All right.

Why'd they get killed? Well, they went out of their way to say how we're not laying Chris Carson, run the ball at us. And Seattle says, cool, we're just going to have Russell Wilson throw it all the time. He's awesome. Put the Falcons on their heels. They do whatever they want. And then, uh, the Falcons got some back in garbage time, but it was too little

too late. Seattle won that game easily. I still like this Falcons team. Guess what? The Falcons are who I thought they were. A team that's going to give up a lot of points and score a lot of points. Now they're going against this Cowboys team that I was not that impressed with in week one. I didn't think they looked that good.

They are down two starting linebackers, including their best one. And I think the Falcons are going to be able to move the ball on them. So with the four and a half, could the Falcons win this game? Sure. Could they get a garbage time TD late when they're down 10 or 11 to cover? Great.

I just think this will be a higher scoring game. And I think the Falcons will hang around. And I don't think they're going to get their ass kicked two weeks in a row. That's usually not how the NFL works, especially when you have a good offense. So Falcons plus four and a half, put 250 K on that. And then the last one is,

so I'm, I'm proceeding cautiously with this one. Warren sharp on his podcast with Verno on Wednesday on Ringer NFL Show pointed out that 59% of the time when the spread is, I think, seven or less in week two and it's an 0-1 team against a 1-0 team, 59% of the time the 0-1 team covers. And we always know it's the zigzag theory, right?

You look bad last week, now you look good this week. The Eagles, there was a lot of action early on the Rams, and now it's kind of evened out. Now the Rams are plus 1.5. The Eagles banged up offensive line. A lot of pressure on Wentz now, not looking great. And you go back to that Redskins game where injuries during the game, they ran out of running backs. of pressure on Wentz now. They're not looking great. And you go back to that Redskins game where

injuries during the game, they ran out of running backs. They had to basically ride Boston Scott. Really weird game plan. And then the Washington professional football team rolls through them, and I think they scored

27 straight. So you could say, is that a fluke or do the Eagles suck? Then you have, you look at it and you go, Oh no, actually, this is a great time to catch the Eagles bounce back game. My theory is twofold. I think the Rams are actually good. I bet on them to win the NFC. I'm mad that I didn't bet on them last week. I think as long as they're healthy with the blue chippers they have, I'm riding them. And I love the fact that this is a low line, and I'm basically betting them to win. It's plus one and a half.

And I think we come out of this game and wonder what the hell is wrong with the Eagles. The only thing I don't like about this game is it looks a little too obvious, and that's what scares me. But on the other hand, maybe it looks so obvious that it's not that obvious. So I'm going with the Rams, and that's that. All right. Now the long shot parlay of the week. I don't like this one as much as I liked the one last week, but I like keeping the habit of doing these. So the one I definitely want to do is the Raiders plus one 94 against the saints as one of

the two pieces of the parlay. The Raiders are good offensively. It's the first game they've ever played in Vegas. And I don't know. I think there'll be a certain energy there. The saints team coming off a big win last weekend. No, Michael Thomas, who knows? Could the Raiders keep it close? Could they make some things happen offensively? Could they steal it? Yeah, maybe. So let's put them with the lions plus two 40 against the Packers. I still don't know how the lions last last week. They pretty much dominated that game. They, they were a little short in their secondary and I think they wore down and all of a sudden Mitch kind of Mitch had open receivers and even Mitch can't miss open receivers after a while. So you think like, all right,

well, why wouldn't that happen and get him there in Rodgers this week? I don't know. I like the Packers look so great last week that everyone's going to throw them in a tease. Meanwhile, I think, I hope Ngalade comes back. But even if he doesn't, I think the Lions can hang around. We're going lower on this one

because I don't like this as much as the one last week. So we're only putting 10K on this, plus 898. Lions plus 240 with the Raiders plus 194, 10K. So if we win, we get 90K, basically. So, all right, here are the million-dollar picks once again. The big one, teaser, 500K Chiefs down to 2.5, 49ers down to one. Then we're putting 250K on the Colts,

minus three over the Vikings. Another two 50 can the Falcons plus four and a half over the Cowboys. And then the Rams plus one and a half over the Eagles. And then just for the hell of it, a tiny long shot parlay of the week only because I don't love the one. I didn't love the parlay action this week. Lions plus two 40 with Raiders plus one 94. It is plus eight98 for both of

them to win. So we're sprinkling a little 10K on that one. Those are the million dollar picks for week two. And don't forget to join our mega contest. There's still time. You'd be just down behind the eight ball for week one. You would have gotten a zero for that. But for the rest of the way, Fando.com slash mega contest. Good luck with all your picks. Good luck with all your fantasy. All right. Thanks so much to Jackie McMullen. Thanks to State Farm. Thanks to Spotify. Thanks to SimpliSafe. They've got everything you need to protect your home with none of the drawbacks of traditional home security. You can set it up yourself in under an hour. No technician required, no contract, no push to sales guys, no hidden fees, no fine print. All of it starts at $15

a month. Head to simplysafe.com slash BS to get a free HD camera. For my listeners, once again, that is simplysafe.com slash BS, simply safe with two I's to make sure they know our show sent you. Well, I'll be back on Sunday night with the cuz. Good luck to the Celtics trying to pull out of this 2-0 hole. Good luck to your picks. I'll see you Sunday night. On the wayside I'm a person never lost I don't have feelings within