The Bill Simmons Podcast - NBA Playoff Unicorns, Decoding Kawhi, and Round 1 Overreactions With Joe House | The Bill Simmons Podcast (Ep. 353)

Episode Date: April 17, 2018

HBO and The Ringer's Bill Simmons is joined by Joe House to talk NBA, including a breakout Giannis performance, the Knicks' hilarious coaching search, Kawhi Leonard and the Spurs, the 76ers-Heat series, and the Pacers' beatdown of the Cavs. Then they revisit the 'House of Carbs' NBA food cities pod with some feedback from the masses. You can find the official Ringer web store here: http://bit.ly/ringershop Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's very special episode of the Bill Simmons podcast on the Ringer Podcast Network is brought to you by ZipRecruiter. Sadly, the Celtics can't get a Kyrie Irving replacement on ZipRecruiter. They're going to have to settle for Terry Rozier and Shane Larkin tonight for game two against the Bucs. But 80% of employers who post a job on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within a day. They're the best at distributing your job to the best boards. Identifying the right people and inviting them to apply. My listeners can try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com slash BS. You can hear Hal's breathing heavily into the microphone.

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But with State Farm, you get more than just an agent. You get a teammate that gets what matters most to you, like eating to House. So go to statefarm.com to get an agent that gets you. If you go to theringer.com, you'll see Jordan Kahn's feature on Brandon Jennings, which is excellent. Danny Kelly's latest NFL mock draft. And Shea Serrano on Cardi B's latest album, House. I think you were the first hip-hop fan.

Does Cardi B have legs, in your opinion? I like the innovation that she kind of represents, but I'm the wrong person. I'm too old now to, to have an opinion as to whether or not she has legs. I like her legs. Congratulations on her pregnancy. Can we, can we go in a time machine? Can we go in a time machine and talk to you in 1988?

I would love your opinion on this. Ringer merchandise. All you have to do is go to TheRinger.com slash shop. Big weekend for us in this respect. Steph Curry decided to wear a BlogBoy t-shirt to game one of the Warriors Spurs series and was celebrating. And people were wondering what the hell was going on. I don't totally understand it.

I think his teammates were abused by the blog boys slash blog boys thing. But even though Ringer Merchandise just started easily housed the biggest moment in Ringer Merchandise history, I think. Right. I hope you printed enough. I mean, that's got to be the hottest item, right? We have run out. We'll put it that way. Of course. Also, speaking of the NBA, Ringer NBA show,

we have decided to start taping these on Sunday nights and Wednesday nights right after whenever the games end so that when you head to work or when you wake up or when you go to the gym or whatever you do on Monday morning and Thursday morning, you have a nice Ringer MBA podcast sitting there waiting for you. And we did that on Sunday night. Turned out great. A lot of people listened to it. John Gonzalez was in his hotel room with a freelance engineer. We don't know what happened.

We're not going to ask questions what they did after the podcast. It was like 1.30 in the morning. Was there a five-star lotion? I don't judge. I don't judge what happens in the hotel rooms after one o'clock, but it was great. Thanks to John Gonzalez. And thanks to everybody for doing that ringer NFL show too.

We got the draft coming up and we have blown it out with Clark and Mays GM street, the whole thing. So if you miss that, check that out, subscribe. Don't forget to subscribe to shack house, house of carbs House, let's talk some playoffs first. Pearl Jam. All right, house. I'm in Boston. You're in D.C. I'm going to game two tonight. Hopefully we can get this up a few hours before game two

so people can hear the following prediction. I'm willing to start the podcast with this. I think Giannis is going to have an all-time incredible game. I should say Giannis because it really is Giannis, and I call him Giannis, and I'm just bad with once I have a pronunciation in my head, I stick with it. But I think Giannis is going to put together one of the all-time classics tonight. I don't know if that's going to be enough for the Bucs to win,

but I'm feeling something in the 44-20 range. And between him and Anthony Davis and James Harden going up just up the ladder on Sunday night. We're seeing some under 30 stars raise their games just a wee bit. It's starting to feel like that's happening. What do you see in-house? Well, I will say this. I was pleased to see on Dr. Bill's Twitter. What's the handle again? Dr. Bill, 1947. He just thanked his cardiologist today. I think it's the number one senior citizen Twitter account. Dr. Bill had a procedure yesterday and he thanked all his doctors. It's fantastic. He gave a shout out to his electrophysiology team. He had a cardiac ablation that went very well. I think that that was in preparation for what the freak has in store

for the Boston fans tonight. I totally agree with you about the freak. I thought the freak had a pretty damn good game, game one. And you know, know, this is the great regret as a Washington fan, catching Boston at this highly vulnerable moment is about the best opportunity to advance to the second round. Now, I think that the Celtics are going to beat the Bucs because there's a maturity problem, but there's also kind of an institutional instability problem that begins and ends with having Jason Kidd as your preferred coach. And I mean this with all due respect to the Bucks current coach.

If Joe got in the elevator with me. Yeah. If he got an elevator with me five minutes from now, I wouldn't have any idea who the hell he is. There's been a lot of weekendend at Bernie jokes about him, which is now a 30-year-old movie. I feel like we need a 2018 version of the Weekend at Bernie's reference. I thought the Bucs had more talent. I think in a vacuum, if the coaches are even,

I think they win the series in five. I think it's ridiculous for the Celtics to advance to round two without their two best players and their third-string point guard and fourth-string point guard, basically. But the Bucs did everything I wanted them to do in game one. It was spectacular. On defense, they played straight man-to-man. They never switched.

And they started switching about six minutes left in the fourth quarter, and the announcers were like, oh, great move by here they're they're now switching on everything instead of it's like yeah they they should have been doing that the whole time and then they can't play the small ball unit with Giannis Giannis at center all the time but they should be doing it in bursts almost like what the Warriors stumbled into with lineup of death a couple years ago when it was like, we can't play this lineup 48 minutes a game, but when we play it, it's basically unstoppable offensively and we should be able to get by defensively.

They didn't really realize that that was the right lineup until the tail end of the fourth quarter. It's basically Brogdon, Bledsoe, Middleton, who I thought was excellent in game one. I think is really good just in general. And then Jabari or Snell with Giannis at the center. And then you spread everyone out. You put Giannis at the top of the key. And considering the league lets him take four steps on every drive,

he's effectively unstoppable. No, they do. Come on. They do. They do. Come on. Come on. He has giant steps.

He has giant. He's a very lengthy stride, the freak. There are three people in the NBA who are allowed to travel. And we can justify it any way we want. And we can talk about this continuation dribble and all this weird shit that they claim are now in the rules that were not in the rules 30 years ago. LeBron James takes three steps when he drives. James Harden takes between three and five steps on his drop back three. Sometimes he ends up-

He's a dancing fool. Yeah. He's on the left side of the court. He picks the ball up. And by the time he finishes his drop set, he's on the right side of the court. And then Giannis, because he's an alien, nobody can even figure out how many steps he took because he's taking seven, eight feet per stride. To be serious for a second, I just think they're really hard. Those are three really hard guys to officiate. You could call a foul on the defender against LeBron every time. Giannis is just a freak.

Nobody's ever seen anything like this. And then who's the third one I said? Oh, Harden. It's like a Jedi mind trick with the drop step. In the moment, it seems fine, but it doesn't feel totally right. And then you watch the replay and it's like, wow, that guy moved four steps. Do you think that's a travel house? You've played basketball your whole life.

What do you think? I don't think harden uh what harden does is a travel because that to me feels like something the league has been permitting for as long as i've been watching basketball and and i'm referring to what he does to gather himself the steps he takes to gather and square uh our steps that i feel like i've been watching great jump shooters um you know get away with those steps. I feel like I watched Reggie Miller do that 2,000 times. And even before then, shooters are allowed to gather.

That's not a travel. LeBron feels impossible. I was furious about it early in his career because I didn't think that he'd, you know, earned enough respect and credibility with the league to be getting that kind of favorite treatment from the refs. I mean, the crab dribble, which was essentially a technique to cover a blatant three-step walk, was maddening. Now he's an OG, 15 years, all the mileage. I don't have any problem with what

LeBron does. And I will tell you, the freak, I'm surprised so many times, I have been surprised in watching a replay, his strides are so long, he doesn't walk as much as it feels like. I know. It actually probably isn't a travel. I've just never seen somebody with, I don't even know what you would compare the strides to. Like watching a science fiction movie or something. I can't wait to see him tonight. I've only seen him twice in person. And I think he's a year or two away from being whatever he's going to start end up being. I don't even think he's close yet, which is frightening because he's basically 28, 10 and five in every game. He doesn't really know when to take over. He doesn't really know. He doesn't have a feel for the flow of a game yet. The sense that somebody like Harden has at this point in his career where he's like, oh, they're making a run.

This is the time to break out this move. Or, oh, I'm going to go on my little tear right here. I don't feel like Giannis, I don't feel like he totally gets that part yet, but he's going to. And in my opinion, since we have our favorite teams in the Eastern Conference, I really hope they continue to hire bad coaches. It's probably our best chance. Can they get Mark Jackson?

They're a pretty good team. Oh, God. Please, please. Run, don't walk, Milwaukee. He's available. Go get him. By the way, we should talk about the Knicks coaching search really quickly because it's just hilarious.

It's hilarious that the Knicks coaching search really quickly because it's just hilarious. It's hilarious that the Knicks just never change no matter who's the GM and who's in charge. And they just rinse rather, is it rinse, lather, repeat or lather, rinse, repeat? Lather, rinse, repeat. It's a lather, rinse, repeat franchise. Do you see the names that they're going to talk to Mike Woodson? They already had Mike Woodson. They already talked to Jeff Van Gundy. They already had Jeff Van Gundy. They already talked to Mark Jackson. What? What was wrong with Hornacek? Did Hornacek do a bad job? I think they didn't like him because he kept trying to win down the stretch and he ruined their draft pick by like three spots. I think he was on the wrong side of everybody by trying to actually

win games. You, you know, me by now, I never, ever, ever do the take the pandering take the, Hey, look at me, look how woke I am take, or though, Hey, this'll make, this'll put me in a better light and nobody will be able to criticize this take. Cause I hate that. And I really hate it on Twitter with that said, I really think they should hire Becky Hammond. I think that's a great move by them. I, first of all, when have the Knicks ever done anything that nobody will ever say a damn thing

about and everybody would be rooting for, right? Cause she's clearly qualified. Everybody who interacts with her loves her. She's ready for a job like this. And they'll make history. And why not? I don't understand. They're going to hire Mike Woodson?

This is the easiest no-brainer move of all time. I think it's possibly the very best environment, other than staying and succeeding pop in San Antonio. I think New York as a destination for her, it's such a mature basketball town. It's such a, you know, it's a place that's dying for, you know, some kind of innovation at all to come into their basketball lives. It's always great going to Madison Square Garden that those fans are smart fans I always enjoy being there and listening to you know folks making observations about what's going on and watching what what the crowd cheers for they know hoops so I think they would they would embrace the hell out

of Becky I think they would embrace her I think it's a massive story if it happens and if you're the Knicks you're coming off a season where that was just a completely lost season. And on top of it, you didn't even get a top five lottery pick. The draft before, you took this French kid who probably never has a chance to be more than an average offensive player. I think he could be a really good defensive player. But in the process, pass on a bunch of guys, including Donovan Mitchell who looks like Dwayne Wade, 2004 right now. So you had that, you have Porzingis, who's not back until halfway through next season.

You have LeBron as a free agent this year is not even going to look your way. You have all these dudes changing pieces. You don't have enough trade assets to get any of them. Like Kawhi Leonard, for example, you don't even, you don't even have the assets to put together for a trade. Cause you don't have enough trade assets to get any of them. Like Kawhi Leonard, for example. You don't even have the assets to put together for a trade because you don't have any real awesome assets except for Porzingis and this draft pick. Becky Hammond, you hire her and everyone's rooting for you from that point on. And also, she does all the media and she's the story for a year. You don't have to... All she does is distract everybody from

the freaking mess your team's been for two decades. And she might be a great coach. I think she's the best candidate of any name that I've heard. And I can't believe how stupid they are. I would have hired her already.

Well, there's still time. She's still coaching in the playoffs, so there's still time, right? Well, considering James Dolan is the same guy who had to pay like $12 million in Isaiah Thomas' sexual harassment suit and then waited a few years and then hired Isaiah Thomas to run his WNBA team, I doubt he's going to see the forest through, the force through the trees on this one. And the good point. And I could, I think it would be more likely here.

Here's who I think is going to get the job. And I haven't even heard his name mentioned yet. And people are going to think I'm starting shit and I'm really not. I just, this is if I had to bet on somebody, I would bet on doc rivers. Oh, wow. Yeah. Why? Why?

Because I think he's going to, I think the Clippers are going to push him out at some point over the next couple of weeks. There's just been too many signs. Yeah, that seems pretty inevitable and it seems like the right time. But why would Doc want to go right into another hot situation?

He's not been great at rebuilding the Doc. Last job. A lot of money. Big city. High profile. And, you know, you had the lottery pick this year, assuming that it actually works out. Porzingis is back in a year. You're going to have cap space a year from now.

I could see him talking himself into it. If you're Doc Rivers, where else do you go? What's weird to me is that the Knicks have, I would say, more media members and more fans than any franchise other than – they definitely have more media members than anybody. They're in the biggest city. I don't know if they have the most fans. It's them or the Lakers.

And it's weird how just accepting the Knicks fans are of their plate at this point. They should be having rallies and parades every day. Well, there's got to be some way to fix this or protest it or something. I saw the Mike Woodson thing. I was like, oh oh my God. They had Mike Woodson five years ago. You're going to bring him back? God.

Hey, let's take a quick break and then we're going to talk about coming up. Can I do a Mike Greenberg tease for you? Oh, I can't wait. Coming up, I'm going to do, can I do a Mike Greenberg tease for you? Oh, I can't wait. Coming up, I'm going to tell you why Kawhi Leonard is so unhappy in San Antonio. That's right after this.

Hey, with over 19,000 State Farm agents nationwide, you can get an agent that gets you as well as Al Horford and Jason Tatum get each other, which is the focus of the ringers new NBA relationships goals video. Which one, which one are you more jealous of? Uh, Jason Tatum that I have on my team, Jason Tatum or Al Horford, just for the wizards. If you could put either of them on your team right now, it would be Al Horford without a doubt, without hesitation. I'll accept all the criticism people may want to levy, but that kind of player is exactly what's missing here in Washington. And he should have been a Wizard.

We had a chance at him. We were in the running. It was a cold Saturday. Or maybe it was a hot Saturday, Whenever it was. Two years ago. It became very adversarial between you and I for about 20 minutes that day. Remember that? I mean, we were

exchanging texts. We were on the Twitter. There was a whole thing. Yeah. Well, the Celtics have Al Horford and it's awesome. Did you know the Celtics D actually improves when Tatum and Horford are out there without Kyrie? Or that they both shoot better when the other is on the court?

That's not a surprise. Be sure to check that video out on TheRinger.com, The Ringer's YouTube channel. YouTube.com slash TheRinger. The Ringer's Facebook or Twitter. And remember, like teammates on the court or relationship with a State Farm agent sets you up for success off the court.

Go to StateFarm.com to get an agent that gets you. Okay, Kawhi Leonard. A couple things have jumped out to me over the past two months other than how bizarre this situation is. One is that he's not even going to the playoff games, which tells me that he's done with the team. And I've looked at it every way. I've tried to give the whole situation the benefit of the doubt. I cannot for the life of me understand why he's not at these games. It seems like there's been an irrevocable breach between him, the coach, and the teammates unless he's trapped under something. He might be trapped under something. We don't know. We haven't heard from him. He might be

like a, what was that James Franco movie, 27 Hours? He might have been hiking and he might have just gotten an appendage trapped in a rock and we can't get to him. If that's the case, I apologize. If not, I can't believe he's not at these games. How hard is it to hop on a plane and fly to San Francisco? And if you're doing rehab, you can do rehab in San Francisco. What's your read just on that part? Well, what if he's at a crucial stage in this rehab

and everybody's in agreement that he's much better served going through a proper rehabilitation protocol and not interrupting it with going to the arena and sitting on a bench for three hours. And those benches are, I mean, on the chairs, it's not a bench, but sitting there and getting up and getting down, that that time is much better spent in a consistent rehabilitation kind of protocol where there's, you know, scheduled rest, scheduled treatment, scheduled rehab, and you just want to run that to its logical course. Is that possible?

You don't really believe that, do you? I have no idea. This whole thing is utterly unfathomable to me. I don't understand the injury. We had this conversation in October. I was sitting in your office in Los Angeles, California. I didn't understand the injury back then, but we knew enough at that moment

to be skeptical about his ability to return, and as a result, we didn't like San Antonio's fortunes very much this season, and in fact, they hit the under on season win totals. Yeah, but we're in the same spot now.

What is the injury? I can't imagine what rehab he's doing that can only be done in New York City. What do they have, some special UFO machine that Elon Musk created for them that can't transfer anywhere else? Get the hell out of here. Kobe had to go to Germany. Kobe went to Germany for his treatment. That's different.

If you told me he was in Germany I would understand it more but New York if you told me he was in I don't know Miami Miami do you like my cough there? It was a Letterman cough it sounded like a deliberate cough he told me it was like the South Beach

area and all of a sudden he was looking great. I would be excited. Did you have an H and a G and an H caught in your throat? There was a lot of H's and G's and H's in those coughs. Maybe A-Rod gave him some recommendations. Good doctors down there in Miami. Good doctors.

Great doctors. Very advanced. Advanced medicine down there. It's really great. D-Wade had a great game last night, by the way. Well, now that's different. He's just in shape. Did you read? I tweeted out the article that

Saratso wrote for SB Nation where D-Wade showed up in Miami and he had the worst body fat on the team. On the entire team, including like the 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th game. Well, how about this? He's the fattest guy on the team. On the entire team, including like the 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th. Well, how about this?

He's the fattest guy on the team. We were critical of the food in Cleveland. Maybe the food in Cleveland was good. Yeah, or maybe he just didn't give a shit. Really, like maybe he didn't give a shit anymore. And then Cleveland's like, hey, man, you got to go. And he's like, what? And then he goes to Miami and Udonis Haslam's like, what the fuck's happened to you? You're the fattest guy in the team. What's going on?

You're the fourth best guard of all time. What are you doing? And within two months, Dwayne Wade, who was washed up now looks, uh, now looks great. And I thought he was awesome last night. We'll get to that in a second. The second thing with Kawhi that I don't understand, everyone is so afraid of Popovich now. Popovich is like this 1950s Irish Catholic dad with like nine kids around who just shows up home from work and immediately has like a whiskey and is just like snapping at everybody. And the 1950s wife is running to get him dinner and he's yelling at her because the potatoes are too cold and everybody's just tiptoeing on eggshells around him. Kind of like basically my dad's dad. But in these press conferences, everybody is so scared to provoke him. Where is the reporter who just says, hey, Pop, no offense, man, but this is weird. You have

to admit this is really weird that your best player won't even go to your playoff games. Why give us? I tweeted this today, this question. I just want to hear one person ask him this question at a press game post conference. Can you tell us one sign from the last two months? Just one. Any sign, any story, any sign, anything that indicates that Kawhi Leonard wants to be in the Spurs next year.

Just tell us one story. Kawhi said so. What? That he would resign. That he wants to be a Spur for life. Didn't he just say that? Man, if he did, I didn't see that. He said he wanted to be a Spur for life? We might have to fact check this. Who's our most trusted news source? did, I didn't see that. He said he wanted to be a spurt for life. We might have to fact check this.

Who's our most trusted news source? Now, I can Google and talk at the same time. I've heard some weird, you know, the NBA scuttlebutt machine, which I love to dip into and love to get my little sources. And unverified facts and weird stories. I've heard some strange tidbits about Mr. Leonard, about the people around him. I think he has a bunch of people. Here's my take, knowing nothing other than just little tidbits I've been able to gather from different sources and people who seem to know things. It seems like the people around him, whoever,

however many people that they are, have started to convince him over the last year that he's not big enough and famous enough for how talented he is. And I thought when he turned down that Jordan brand deal for 20 million, which is really low compared to what these other guys get, that confirmed some of the stuff I was hearing, which was basically like, you're not big enough, man. Why is everybody else getting stuff and you aren't? And just all that stuff and you start hearing that for a year and you're like, yeah, I'm not big enough.

Man, I should be bigger. You're right. And you get in that mindset. And combined with that he has a real injury and combined with, you know, the most underrated part of this whole thing, which is the third point I was going to bring up the Isaiah Thomas situation last year, which I think was a watershed moment for any, any superstar who has a contract coming up in an injury. I, I,

I think for the future, we're going to see guys change how they behave. I don't blame Kawhi one iota for not coming back after what happened to Isaiah. Isaiah cost himself $100 million. Just flat out. That's not even an exaggeration. He cost himself $100 million by continuing to play when he was hurt last year. And I think it's going to completely change how these guys, quote unquote, played through pain and, quote unquote, look out for their and quote unquote they were a warrior i just don't see that happening

anymore after the isaiah thing what do you think well let me ask i i do want to uh run the isaiah thomas theory to ground because i'm very interested in it and i too um have a lot of sympathy for his situation and we've talked about this on on a recent podcast. I think the Celtics effed him. But what if Isaiah didn't play and had undertaken the surgery

earlier, like say in the spring, and didn't play in the playoffs, wouldn't he still have been a trade chip in that Kyrie trade? Yeah, he would have been. Because that was really the thing that cost him the money. Getting traded is the thing that cost him the money. I think he would have been a trade chip,

but I also think he would have been a more attractive trade chip than a guy who is rehabbing a hip over getting the surgery needed for it. Whatever happened last year never added up. It was pretty clear that he needed the surgery needed for it. It never, whatever happened last year never added up. It was pretty clear that he needed the surgery. They tried to bend over every possible direction to not have the surgery, really because he was in a contract year. And I think he got advice that he wanted to hear when the reality is in April, he should have gotten the surgery or whenever they,

I can't remember the exact day when they found out how bad it was, but he should have gotten it that day. It was a five month operation. He would have been back in November. It's, it's really no different than the situation Kyrie was in recently when, you know, Kyrie didn't a hundred percent have to have those staples out or whatever the hell were, the screws in his knee.

He could have played through pain through the spring and then taken him out. But after what happened to Isaiah, they're not doing that. That guy is the best asset they have. They're not messing around with that. I think it's a shame what happened to Isaiah. And I do think that there's a chance the injury was badly misdiagnosed. And I think he got bad advice, and he was trying to be an old-school warrior. And obviously Kawhi doesn't want to jeopardize what he has coming.

I don't blame him for that. I think it's inexplicable that he's not with the team. I just don't get it. Well, I mean, you have to countenance the possibility that the franchise and his medical team have some kind of his personal medical team some kind of unholy alliance where they've agreed to disagree about the proper path but you know they they both uh have the same mutual interest in in the outcome which is a healthy kawaii. And the Spurs still have the capacity to sign him to that super mega deal that nobody else has. So the Spurs still have the upper hand. And the right

thing to do, I think, is for everybody just to be patient. Let him come back. Let him get healthy. All this relationship stuff can get repaired. The most important thing is for his leg to be right and for his head to be right and for him to step right back in and pick up where he left off from last year's playoffs. How scared would you be if your team traded for Kawhi? Like this summer, if the Wiz traded just Bradley Beal straight up for Kawhi, for a year of Kawhi, he's unsigned. You have no guarantee he's going to resign with you. Would you be upset, happy, confused? What would your reaction be? I'd be thrilled. He's unbelievable. He's an outrageous talent. He's worth the gamble. This is the thing that we kind of went through

different circumstances, but the Wizards had an opportunity, if you believe the reports, to take on James Harden, and they chose to keep the very young Brad Beal way back when. I mean, Kawhi is in that class of player. He is one of five or six or seven or eight players in the league that can dramatically change the trajectory of your franchise. So he's definitely worth the gamble. I think I agree. I guess for me it would depend on your franchise. So he's definitely worth the gamble. I think I agree. I guess it would, for me, it would depend on the franchise. I feel like if the Wizards did it, that he would just stay hurt and it would never work out just because of the Bullets, Wizards, Karma.

No, I have to hurt my feelings. Well, I'm just saying, it's kind of the legacy of the Wiz cap, Wiz Bullets, right? I wouldn't call it a legacy. Everything can change. Everything can change in one night. Tonight's the night. You wouldn't call it a legacy. What do you call it? I guess 40 years of not winning 50 games starts to take on kind of a legacy feel. I think the Spurs are in a massive amount of trouble because I'm just not convinced that they,

that if they decide that it does make sense to trade Kawhi, that they're going to get market value for him. Like they can't possibly get market value for him. You're not getting back on a top six player. No. Well, or a top six player on paper. Cause he didn't play this year.

The it's the same thing with, with Kyrie. I, if Cleveland should have never traded him. Well, or a top six player on paper because he didn't play this year. It's the same thing with Kyrie. Cleveland should have never traded him. No. Well, now he's hurt, so maybe they did something. The Clippers, their hat was in the ring for Kawhi, which I thought was... What's really interesting is the two LA teams are very logical suitors for him. And so I hesitate to mention this, but I think Philadelphia. I had done a Kawhi Twitter trade poll and I didn't put Philadelphia in there.

And some people were like, you missed a team. Deliberately, right? It's actually going to trade. Well, because they might have like the sixth or seventh pick in the draft and they have cap space and there's packages they could put together that could trump everybody else if they wanted to or unless Boston would have to basically put Tatum on the table at that point if they wanted. Even then, the salaries don't probably work out. But the Lakers have cap space and young guys.

The Clippers could potentially put the Tobias Harris contract, who I actually like Tobias Harris. I think he's an above average player. They could put the 12 and 13 picks in this year's lottery, a future number one, and they could give them Patrick Beverly and take back Patty Mills' contract because Patty Mills' contract is like 10, 11 million a year for the next three years. And basically give the Spurs a semi-reboot. I personally would rather keep Kawhi unless I just felt like he was leaving in a year and there was no way around it.

But I don't know. We'll see. The dollars in that super deal are the thing that the leverage of the Spurs possess that nobody else can match. And that's what counts as in favor of patience for both sides. For Kawhi, get himself all the way right and come back renewed, refreshed, and ready. All of this stuff can be healed over the summer, all this interpersonal stuff. And, you know, the Spurs have demonstrated an uncanny ability to reboot on the fly. They've basically held it together for 25 years now. Trust that RC and Pop are going to pull it together again.

It's a nice, another competitive team in San Antonio, and you're ready to take your 200 and what is it, 220? What's the number? Some crazy number like that for himself. Here's the thing. When you say the Spurs have had an uncanny ability to reboot on the fly, I don't 100% disagree. But I want to point out that the two times that they cratered

and they won the lottery, there was a franchise center, David Robinson, who's one of the probably 30 to 35 best players ever. The second time they went Duncan, who is probably the sixth best player ever. And then the one, the one really shrewd move they made was the George Hill for Kawhi, which even in the moment, it seemed absurd that Kawhi fell to 15 or whatever it was.

I did a draft hire that year and was outraged even as it was happening. I think it would be really hard to get that lucky a fourth time. If you just look around the landscape of the league, I don't know what that fourth move is. Popovich is definitely hitting the tail end, I think. Kim and Belichick. It'll be interesting to see which one goes out first. And it's really hard to reboot in this league when you look around.

You've got Golden State. You have Philly loaded for the next 10 years. You have the Celtics. You have some teams that have just been stockpiling lottery picks, you know, even a team like the Lakers or a team like Phoenix, which is going to have Devin Booker and three top five lottery picks in, and then Houston, and then Portland. I just think it's hard, man. You can get lost.

Too much time can pass, and it's not great. All that's true. You're right. I actually feel very similar to the Spurs situation as I do about the Patriots. Like I, you know, you can really see the tail end coming now of whatever this Patriots thing

it's starting at. It's the Brady skipping the OTA and Gronk skipping the OTA. They have to spend all these picks and try to find a new quarterback. And what if they don't, what if they pick the wrong quarterback? Okay. We could turn into the jets pretty fast. Yes. I'm rooting for it. Yeah. You can go to hell. Hey, the captain will not rest until he has brought his adventurous spirit and

delicious rum to every corner of America. Original spice, coconut, pineapple, white, black grapefruit, whatever you want. The captain loves anyone who learns to mix like a captain. We are going to pick a captain for the first, I guess, five days of round one. What's been your favorite subplot of round one so far house i i think the uh reminder that anthony davis is the baddest mother effer of the last you know 10 years like everybody forgot about anthony davis because of the struggles that that franchise has had the last 10 years you're giving him that well as a number one draft pick, his fall into, it's not irrelevance, but he just went quiet on us a little bit. He went dark.

Because of his team. And now he's back and he's in the playoffs. I also was going to pick Anthony Davis as well, ironically. But I was also going to give an assistant captain to Drew Holiday and Regine Rondo. Drew Holiday is somebody that I was never really enamored with. And when they gave him all that money, I was alarmed. I think he's been great. I love how feisty he is.

I love how he went at Dame Lillard. I can't wait to watch tonight to see if that keeps going. He's a very, very good two-way player who seems to be peaking at the perfect time. And I don't think it's fair to say that Davis doesn't have help anymore. I think Holiday is – I thought about putting him for third-team All-NBA for a couple seconds. I really did. They finally got him into the right position. He can't play point guard.

It's not right to ask him to play point guard. That's not his role. So that's why Rajon is so crucial to them. And playoff Rajon, playoff Rondo. How about it? Playoff Rondo. My God. This guy was available for a million dollars for anybody in the league,

and they go get him. And when they got him, everybody was like, oh, all right. There's some potential there, Rondo and Davis. But Davis is like his soulmate. It's really crazy. The alley-oops and he just knows how to get in the ball. I really like their backcourt. And it was a big reason why I thought they were going to win this series

or come close. It's clearly headed for seven, but they do have the best player in this series. I'm so excited that Anthony Davis is on at least a competent team. Meritage has been really good. They have a couple shooters. Sneaky signing. I was really bummed out that the Wiz didn't go get Meritage. I thought that was a really quality signing at that stage of the season for

them. Well, Ernie, Ernie after trading his first round pick for a hundred straight years, finally, finally held off one year, right? I thought it was a great trade. It was a great trade. Ernie might not be awake. Anyway, Anthony Davis, you're our captain. Don't forget to check out captain Morgan.

The captain loves anyone who learns to mix like a captain. Miami, Philly. We have Philly to win the East at 7-1. Those odds dropped to like around plus 225 yesterday. It was a classic home team. Young home team looks great in game one. Everybody throws a party for two days about how great they are. And then game two starts and the Wiley veteran team changes three or four

different things, shows them a couple of looks that they weren't expecting, controls the pace of what's going on and really gets feisty with them. I don't want to overreact to it. I think Philly is a really good team. I, the things that, the thing that jumped out at me yesterday was that Simmons, who I think is brilliant and,

um, really has a chance to be an all timer. I really, I really think he has a chance to be like one of the best 25 guys ever. And you know, I don't say stuff like that lately. I really think he has a chance to be like one of the best 25 guys ever. And you know, I don't say stuff like that lately. I really think he has a chance to be all time. Um, that game was, was a really good learning experience for him. I thought, cause Miami got super physical. They pressured the shit out of them. Um, there were moments when he had to kind of take it himself. Like, you know,

they were blanking and everybody else, and he had to learn how to it himself. They were blanking on everybody else, and he had to learn how to just go to the rim or do little spin moves and things like that. All that stuff that Magic was great at, and Simmons gets compared to Magic a lot. And I think there is some validity to it, but I don't want to blaspheme Magic, who is the fourth best player of all time,

and I almost think nobody should be compared to him. But there is the size best player of all time. And I almost think nobody should be compared to him, but there, there is like the size of Simmons, his ability to see angles, his ability to go into the lane and do these little spins and always get near the rim. Like there, there is stuff that he does that reminds me of magic, but magic, it took him a couple of years by like 84, 85. He had such control over the game, over what everybody was doing and knew how to pick his spots, when to go to the rim, when to give it up, all that stuff. And yesterday showed me that Simmons is so far away from what he's going to end up being. And I already think he's one of the best 15 players in the league, but this is going to be

to, uh, excuse the pun, but it's going to be a process. I think he is four years away from being the point guard. I think he's going to be. And again, I think he has a chance to be one of the best 20 to 25 players ever. What do you see, House? So I've been stunned by how good he is. And I especially appreciate, I don't want Embiid to be hurt because I really enjoy watching Embiid,

but the stretch of 17 consecutive wins and with a slew of those with Embiid out really let at this late stage of the season, let us see all that Simmons has in the arsenal. And it really is like the perfect time to catch him because he has, you know, uh, he had 70 NBA games under his belt. So he knows what he's doing a little bit out there and he's just been a complete revelation, which seems like a ridiculous thing to say about the number one overall pick from two years ago. And a guy,

you know, um, with a triple doubles all up and down the block over the course of the season. But like actually watching him in this stretch, carry the team with Embiid being out was just what I said. It's just a revelation. I mean, his talent, the ceiling is, you know, there is no ceiling to what he's capable of. I'm not sure that it's going to be four years in terms of what, you know, there is no ceiling to what he's capable of. I'm not sure that it's going to be four years in terms of what he, you know, when we see him fully kind of develop all that,

that he's going to turn into, because I feel like as long as Embiid is healthy, that's going to Embiid is an accelerant in terms of producing the very best, bringing the very best out of Ben Simmons. Ben Simmons already knows that he needs a mid-range jumper. And if he had a mid-range jumper, that threat and execution, I mean, he took them last night and missed them. But just the threat of making that is all by itself a skill that would make him nearly

indefensible. See, you're going to laugh at this. I don't even think that's one of the top three things he needs right now. Magic couldn't shoot for six years. Everybody just gave him the 17-footer, and eventually he started making it, and then he stretched it out. But he was always a guy who was much more comfortable around the basket. If I had to rank the things Simmons needs to keep going up levels, the number one

thing is, and I couldn't believe they weren't doing it last night. I think Miami got out of game two last night and said to themselves, thank God they didn't post up Simmons. Because when they post him up, I always, when I'm watching basketball and I see like little advantages or disadvantages or whatever, I'm always looking to see how teams react when somebody throws a certain whatever at them. And if you watch these Philly-Miami games, when they post up Ben Simmons, the Miami bench is going nuts.

All five guys at Miami, they're just terrified. They don't want that. They don't know whether to double him. They're afraid of where he's going to find whatever shooter. What he needs in that low post, he needs to go on that right on the whatever. I can't even remember what his better hand is. I think it's secretly his right hand. He needs to find his block, and he needs to develop that little running jump hook that Magic had.

If I could give him any shot, I would give him that over the 17 footer, because if he has that, it's all over. I don't know what you do at that point, right? You put shooters around. If I double him, he's finding a shooter. If I don't double him, he's careening into the lane and he's doing these little six foot flip shots and they're going in. So that'd be my first one. The second one is, and it's funny because people always point to the jump shot. But the thing is, he doesn't really need a jump shot because when you play far off him like they did in game one, he just finds all the cutters. They've learned how to do all those cutters with him now. So he doesn't actually need a jump shot because if you'reening toward into the paint, doing those little 360 moves and the herky jerky. And Jalen was another one who was really good at this. But those guys that go in, they're not going 100% full speed. They're off balance. It's herky jerky. And they end up throwing in those little seven, eight footers. Right? You know what I'm talking about?

That's the Brandon Roy. Brandon Roy is my favorite of that. Yeah, but Brandon Roy was in control. I'm talking about like magic was always his four appendages were going like four different ways when he was like careening. But it didn't matter. He always figured out how to make it work. And Simmons had something yesterday where I just thought two years from now, he's going to make these. And then I don't know what the fuck happens when he starts making those. Because it seems like he has them.

It doesn't seem like he knows which hand to shoot with yet, which Kevin O'Connor has been writing about all year. But when he learns what to do, when he's kind of off balance, when guys are bouncing off him, when he's in transition, I think he's going to be ridiculous. Then the third thing, his handle needs to get a little better. His fast break goal full speed handle is great, but his half court when you're pressuring him handle, if you pressured Magic, he would just shove you and go by you. I think he's two, three years away from in the half court with pressure being able to make teams pay the way that he's going to.

I know he's going to do it. And then I'll put the jump shot forth. And then if he develops a three-point shot, we should just all leave the country. I agree with that part. But the thing, this is what's so beautiful about the playoffs. He's encountering things, and especially that pressure on the ball in the half-court set.

Like, that's not a regular season thing, because no teams push all the way up that way. That was one of the most impressive things about Miami's effort last night, was how they were in everybody's underwear, and not one guy on the Sixers enjoyed it. But you only get that one way, and that's through these high-, high clench moments when the game is in the balance and it's really meaningful. That's where the true development that happens on the most accelerated pace occurs.

And I thought that was the most exciting moment of the playoffs, even though we've had better games. When Philly started to come back in game two, I was so into how Ben Simmons was going to handle that and what he was going to, the chess moves you have to make in a playoff game versus just the 16 game winning streak where you're beating mostly shitty Eastern lottery teams and then LeBron and a couple other ones. I'm not besmirching the winning streak, but this is just a different level. It's a different level of problem solving. It's a different level of competition, of intensity, everything. And it was really fun to watch him experience that because I got to be honest, we've never seen him in that situation ever as a basketball player. I certainly haven't. In college, his college was a waste. He didn't play last year.

And this year he had regular season versions of it, but the playoffs are different. And you saw what Wade did to win the game, basically, that Philly has momentum. They finally get it within two. They have the ball. Simmons, who really, this is what I'm talking about with the half court dribble. He's a little too comfortable just getting rid of the ball 25 feet from the basket when he's being pressured. He gives it to Sarich. Wade sees it coming and does the MJ Carl Malone 1998 Game 6 Finals. You didn't see me. I'm just going to steal it from you from behind.

And a classic veteran savvy play. I thought that was a great game. I like this Miami team. I wish they had – like if they had Kawhi. I don't think it will happen. But if you just put Kawhi in like the Justice Winslow mode, whoa. They need that one awesome swing man. It's like this patchwork.

Why don't they just get James Harden? Yeah, if they had James Harden, it would be great. That's your professional opinion? But I love that they have athletes and they have a lot of gamers. And I don't know what the fuck happened to Dragic in game one, but he took game one off. And I don't know what they do with Whiteside.

I do think it's going to be hilarious when the Wizards trade for Whiteside, though. You're ready for that, right? It's just so rude. You know that's going to happen. Yeah, but you know that's going to happen. You know that's where this is heading. They had a much better opportunity

to do that in the offseason a year and a half ago, and they didn't do it. God bless. Amen. There's absolutely... Now it's out. Everybody knows what he's about. He's a bad egg. You can't have him. He takes too many plays off. He takes plays off in the playoffs. I don't want a guy

like that on my team. You're going to trade Jan Mahimny have him. He takes too many plays off. He takes plays off in the playoffs. I don't want a guy like that on my team. So you're going to trade Jan Mahimny for him this summer? Oh, that would be worth it. Okay, then I'm in. You're back in on the inside. Okay. I mean, he might be a wonderful human being and, you know, a humanitarian and, you know, a great family guy. I can't stand him as a basketball player. It hurts my eyes. I want to commit a violent act every time he gets run in these playoff games. He got like 10 minutes because Gortat had two fouls at the very beginning of game one.

You know, the dumbest thing ever. And he was on the floor for 10 minutes. I hated all 10 minutes of it. What's the track record with guys named Jan? I think Jan, and whether you spell it I-A-N or J-A-N, Jan Hammer, who did the Miami Vice theme. I loved Jan Hammer. Jan Hammer. Isn't there some good theme. I loved Jan Hammer. Jan Hammer.

Isn't there some good hockey Jans, aren't there? We've had Jan Vesely. We've had Jan Mahimny. This is... Jan's tough. It's just tough for a basketball player. It's not a good basketball name. It's not a good basketball name.

The reality is there are good basketball names, and then there's Jan Mahinny. Hey, our friends at Squarespace make it easy to build beautiful websites, whether you're starting a business, changing careers, or launching a creative project, or whatever you're up to. What are you up to, House? What are you up to? I need to turn my website back on because that's where I was pointing everybody for my recommendations for where to eat in D.C. We're going to have to work on this with you. I think there's a house eats recommendation site that needs to happen.

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Squarespace.com. When you're ready to launch, use offer code BS to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Again, that is squarespace.com, offer code BS to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Again, that is squarespace.com, offer code BS. Did you watch the Rockets game Sunday night? I did. I really, really, really enjoyed the Rockets game Sunday night. I want to save the James Harden discussion for another time. It certainly isn't something that we should be having at the 57-minute mark of a podcast or wherever we are.

I just want to know your feelings when Minnesota cut it to three, Houston had the ball, and Chris Paul with like 12 seconds left whipped the ball into the crowd to give Minnesota the ball back. Just walk me through the next four seconds for you at that moment. It was deja vu all over again. How many times have we seen this from Chris Paul in these high leverage moments? And there's all the pressure is on. It's the playoffs. And there's just a little something missing. Now, here's the thing that's so interesting about Houston.

And I hope all the hoops heads watched that game and paid close attention. Everybody is ready to replace Golden State and wants some fresh blood in the finals. And I understand that. I subscribe to it. I like the idea of there being some variety in our basketball lives. But Houston ain't it. I mean, they had a wonderful regular season, and all their

guys were, you know, all their role players played great through the course of the season. I'm sorry for saying this, Daryl, but this team is still missing an ingredient. And maybe it's the case that, I'm going to mess up his name,

Mabamute. Luke Mabamute. He's absent. Yeah, Luke. They do miss him. He was really good. Luke the Defender. Maybe he is that missing ingredient,

but look, all of those things that make Houston vulnerable, that we've seen them be vulnerable in past playoff seasons, all of a sudden, all their shooters go cold. I'm seeing Eric Gordon front rim it. I'm seeing Ryan Anderson front rim it. I don't see anything out of Trevor Ariza, and James Harden has to drop 44 to keep them in the effing game. When you said Ryan Anderson front-rimmed it, do you mean he front-rimmed the soup he was eating in street clothes? Yes, exactly.

I was making a point. I'm just naming names. I'm just pointing out he didn't play in game one. I understand that. I got it. I know didn't play in game one. I understand that. I got it. I know you're making your, I know you're making, you're doing your spiel.

Um, I emailed our friend, Sally yesterday who we've, um, I would say we were in a, in a, in a really bad gambling hole, but then Russell Westbrook,

um, needed 16 rebounds for, to average triple double for the season in game 82. And that we were able to climb out a little bit of the abyss. Thanks to Russell. A little, the whole thing. I love you,

Russell. But I emailed Sal yesterday and I pointed out that the Warriors were plus one 20 to win the title. And I was like, let's do nothing. And then a month from now forward me this email and we can talk about how stupid we were that we didn't do anything. So now we got 29 days to go. The Warriors are down plus 105. And I'm with you. I think, you know, look, the Spurs, it's not even close, Spurs versus Warriors.

No, no, no. Spurs versus Warriors. But I think what we're seeing now is a re-engaged Durant. Now, Durant might have tossed away first-team All-NBA in the last six weeks of the season. He was hurt for two of them, and then the last four just was not engaged. And LeBron's going to get one of those forward spots, and it's going to be between Giannis and Durant for the other one. And you know how this goes. Giannis is the new kid on the block.

New car smell. People love him. Unanimous approval rating. KD's the guy who ditched OKC. He's been around for a while. We've picked him apart. Some people think he's a complainer. People are a little tired of him, the whole thing.

And he's going to be second team all NBA. And it's probably going to look stupid when they go like 11 and 1 over these first three rounds or whatever the hell is going to happen. And he's putting up 36 and 6 every now and then. It's not going to look stupid. The regular season awards are for the regular season. And Golden State collectively took their foot off the pedal and so that means that the individual awards that

their individual players might otherwise get are compromised. They're vulnerable. You can't be grudgy, to be honest. Go ahead. Should, because we have talked about this in the past should should there be a little legacy from the previous season under special circumstances with certain players like i think

there is we know there is well i'm talking about with all nba like it's almost uh almost like in boxing when the boxing champ has the title you actually have to beat the boxing champ. You can't tie him or the champ gets to keep the belt. Okay. I feel like you have to defeat if it's somebody who was the finals MVP last year and who was clearly one of the best two or three players in the league. It almost feels like you have to defeat him. That's kind of where I came around when I was deciding between Giannis and KD for NBA. And the other thing was that the Bucs underachieved

and whether the coach is 100% to blame with that. But if it's KD, if it's Harden, if it's Anthony Davis, right? I guess not Anthony Davis, they'd have to win a couple of rounds, but the OGs you got to kind of knock off was where my head went to. Like in the 80s. It's a fair point. In the 80s when Bird was ripping off like first team all NBAs

and MVP stuff like that. At some point you really have to earn that spot that he's kind of held for eight, nine years. It can't just be like, ah, he was 98% as good. Now let's grab this new guy and put him in. That's what I was thinking. The thing about Giannis, and the new guy is the right way to say it, he's been playing competitive basketball for about three and a half years. That's the thing.

He moved here last week. I mean, that's what makes it so remarkable to me he's already shown uh a sense for the game that you know is indicative of somebody that's been playing their whole life so you know he's whatever he is 20 years old 22 years old uh and he plays as though he's been playing since he was four years old, even though he's been playing since he was 16. And that to me, the revelation of him this season, the underachieving is an institutional problem. It's not his fault. And so that's why I don't take issue with anybody that put him on the first team.

The first team, I thought there were eight guys that stood out this year. My first team was Davis, LeBron, Harden, Lillard, and then the Durant-Giannis conundrum for that other forward spot. And then Oladipo, who I actually voted for the fifth place MVP. Can you believe that? I do believe it. Sure. How the hell did that team win 48 games?

I don't understand it. I still feel that way. Every time I watched Indiana, I was like, that guy's fucking great. And then Westbrook, you know, they won 48 games and he averaged a triple double for the season. At some point it becomes stupid to – you can nitpick, but he's one of the best eight players in the league. And then after that, it goes into the Embiid, who only played 63 games,

and Aldridge, and Towns, Simmons, Paul George, DeRozan, Chris Paul, all those dudes. I was happy to be with you in Augusta, Georgia, when you were first sort of thinking about the vote, how you were going to do it, because the conclusion, as we were chatting about a little bit, a lot of guys had great 50-game seasons this year.

Yeah. Curry would have been first-team all-NBA if he even got to like 66 games. His shooting stats were just so ridiculous. And when he played, they won. And that was a shame. Kawhi would obviously be in the conversation if he even played 68 games and was at the level that he was last year. And I think Kyrie is another one that, you know, if he, if he got to 70 games, I think he's, it would have been him versus Westbrook for that second team on base spot.

I was surprised that I overreacted and didn't feel bad about it with putting Dame Lillard on a, on first team on BA. And I, and I think the think the more I think about it, especially if the playoffs keep unfolding the way it seems like they are, I'm going to be mad that I didn't do Oladipo. But I just thought Dame, I thought his team was a little bit better. And I thought the clutch moments

and the stuff he was doing was just at a really high level. His stats were a little better. There was a case for it. But, man, you watch. This will be the last thing we talk about is what Indiana did to Cleveland in game one and just how unafraid Oladipo is. And Lance, who's had this ridiculous career, just ridiculous,

and was on, I think, four teams in three years or something. But yet he sees LeBron and it's like he's LeBron's crazy nemesis from high school who punched LeBron out in the sixth grade and still has it hanging over his head, even though he didn't even really do that. I like the way that Indiana team went at Cleveland. Cleveland is still like a two-to-one favorite to win this series, and I don't get it. I think, I don't get it. I think,

I don't know. I would be very concerned if I was a Cleveland fan that about getting out of this round. I think Indiana is a legit, good, competent, knows what they're doing team that doesn't make a lot of mistakes and has one really good player.

And they're, you're not going to run. They're not going to roll over. They're just not. What do you see from that series? Everything you just said is 100% accurate. The problem with Indiana is Lance Stevenson. That's a great point.

He's wonderful until he's not. I mean, for a guy that has as much under his belt in terms of NBA mileage and the coaching and the tutelage and the people that have been in his life, he's still in the fourth quarter, take shots that I feel like if I was coaching an eighth and a group of eight year olds, uh, you know, I, I, I'd still be mad at them for taking the shots, his, his shot selection, his, his basketball intuition, his instincts for the right thing to do so often are so debilitating to the winning chances of Indiana that I think over the course of seven games, and I do think this is going seven games, because Indiana is, as you just observed, poised, competent, have a great player in Oladipo. Their role players are very effective.

Turner has been had a very solid season. But at some point you live by the Lance, you die by the Lance. The problem for for Cleveland is that LeBron can score what they play at Wednesday night. LeBron can put up 40 and 12 assists and they could still lose because of his supporting cast. The fact that Thompson is now a sunk cost and almost can't be played anymore, I think has had a really dramatic impact on them. Thompson really helped them the last couple of years at various points of these playoffs series with the defense and rebounding and second chance points.

And they just have so many new guys. I don't trust, you know, Jeff green, of course, everybody who's, did you have Jeff green on your team? Was he,

was he on Washington? No, but it makes sense that he would be here. It almost feels like I wouldn't believe you if you said, if you said he was, because it just feels like he should have been. But we've all had the Jeff Green tantalizing 35-point game, but then game one he goes 0 for 7.

I would be very concerned if I was them. And the situation that would be truly frightening to me is all Indiana has to do is split the next four, and they get game six at home to close them out. And we talked about this scenario in the Ringer NBA show playoff preview that Indiana game six to close with that crowd, which is awesome. I think it's going to to just knock these dudes out, these great, great, great all-time players as kind of they're hitting the tail end of whatever title run they're on. At some point, pride kicks in and they just take over, but we'll see. The only other thing I wanted to mention was just how awesome James Harden was

on Sunday night and how much fun that was to watch. But I want to save the Harden conversation for another time. But just the shit he's doing in these games is really, really, really, really, really, really way up there. Way, way up there. I hope that he keeps it going because he has this reputation of disappearing in the playoffs. And you can point to stuff from just last season where it's kind of inexplicable. We still – I know you harbor the theory that he was hurt and that he was probably concussed, uh, and it may or may not have gone, uh, undiagnosed.

Um, but they're really, you can, it doesn't take much to think about game six against the Spurs last year. Do you want to, you want to do a minute on the whiz? Do I have to? John Wall was who you thought he was in game one. He had a lot of great assists. He missed 10 layups. He might have missed 20 layups. Might have missed 30. I don't know. Went like five for 21. And then- He was six for 20 and he is finally in shape. You know, it's pretty apparent over the course of the season,

it seems like he showed up out of shape. He intended to play himself into shape. His knee was a limiting factor. It turned into more than a limiting factor. It turned into an injury. He needed surgery on it. He used that rehab time to finally get in shape. And now he's ready to begin his season, which means all of those great, you know, high-speed, high-action attempts at the rim layups are bouncing off the backboard again

like an eight-year-old. Like, he has to, you know, get back into the swing of playing and all those finishes, all that kind of touch around the rim. And he's throwing the ball hard off the backboard. It was a game they could have won because of the way how bad DeRozan and Lowry played in the first half. It was a game they could have stole. Toronto has a very good bench. Now, the caveat there is they have a very good bench. Benches matter more when you're home, I think. I don't think I'm breaking new ground by saying that.

The Toronto bench, I'll be interested to see how it travels. You know, and some of those guys with the crowd behind them. It's a depth thing, though. That, I fear, is going to be the difference in this series, and it might end up being a short series for my hometown heroes. Everybody on the Twitter, and we've talked about this before, the Wiz have every bit as much talent as Toronto does up front. The problem on the Wiz side is depth and the price that the guys up front have to pay,

the outsized price they have to pay because of the minutes they have to log. I mean, it was very nice to see Markeith Morris give a shit for the first time in about 25 games. Yeah, congrats to him. Playoff Keefe, you know, he can be a force. He can assert his will. I mean, it really felt like, hey, who is this guy did we just trade for him he did he basically did and you know uh ubre got into scotty brooks doghouse very quickly he played um well i mean it it's because he makes dumb mistakes on defense and and it it is it just is it hurts the team but that that we had a lot of Mike Scott.

And Mike Scott is the one that committed the foul that changed the course of the game. I do kind of like Mike Scott. He's unafraid. It's funny because the last- He's a good, tough player. When you signed him, he had had this whole felony drug thing going on

that I think we might have made fun of on this podcast. And when he was doing well in game one, I just Googled it to see what happened. And it was like all charges were dropped and it was like the worst case of racial profiling at 35 years. You always hear the initial story about the crime, but then when, when it turns out it was,

you know, they made a mistake or, Oh, and they dropped the charges, whatever. It's, it's always like a, like,

I didn't even know they dropped the charges. Well, he's been great all season long. To the Wiz credit, their bench has vastly improved over last season. That's not really saying a whole lot. They have a credible seven-man rotation, seven-and-a-half-man rotation, depending on your opinion of Mahin mehendi i i you know you know my opinion on it but um that seven and a half isn't enough against a team that has a solid 10 man rotation it's a winnable series for you but you won't but i you know you gotta win

tonight or you gotta win tonight and i think there's a chance you will because from a talent standpoint, especially the top five against top five, I think they're deeper. But I think the Wiz, I think it's toe to toe. I forgot to mention one thing with Philly. I just wanted to point this out and get on the record. I thought Covington was terrible last night for them. And I think every team has a guy that just kind of goes rogue at the worst possible moments. For the Celtics, it's Rozier, who has been for the most part effective, but I don't trust him. My dad doesn't trust him. He's one of the many reasons my dad was thanking cardiologists on his Twitter today. But every team has a guy like that. And I thought I was kind of alarmed by how bad Covington was in that game yesterday and

how kind of unprepared he was for a playoff game. Like with the mistakes he made, he was out of control, like out of control in, in a way, like when you're playing pickup with somebody who just comes in wearing jean shorts and is just doing crazy stuff. You're like, Whoa, I got to get off this guy's team. That was Co to yesterday and the Sixers fans love him and revere him and, and swear by him. And I'm sure they're even going to get pissed off that we mentioned this,

but I watched that game yesterday. I'm like, if this team's actually going to make the finals, they need to figure this piece out because you mentioned how Lance Stevenson can ruin it, ruin a team in a playoff game. Like Covington, what he was doing yesterday was as reckless and bad as anything I've seen from Lance Stevenson. Last thing before we go, we did a big podcast on House of Carbs that we simulcast on Ringer NBA Show last week. We ranked the 16 food cities that were possible NBA final destinations. We rightly left off Denver and kept Minnesota in,

which I was really proud of. That game hadn't even happened yet. We just had a sixth sense for it. But we ranked it from 16 to 1. We got a lot of feedback from a lot of different places about this alleged Cleveland food scene. That's great. And we underrated Milwaukee and how Milwaukee is actually better than Minnesota.

You asked for a lot of belly sourcing stuff. What was some of the feedback that you got? Yeah, I'm going to share some of the feedback. It was outstanding. The big overarching point is mission accomplished. We now have a list of like 10 great restaurants in each of the cities. Not everybody chimed in, but you and I are going to do some great eating. I really feel like we need to go on an NBA eating tour. First of all, the people of Salt Lake City, the pride in Utah. I mean, the very

first reaction, I probably got 30 different hits from people in Salt Lake City who were so thrilled that we gave them props, and especially that Italian joint that you mentioned for Kerr, Valters must be the name. Valters Osteria. Yeah, right.

Just incredible feedback from the people in Salt Lake City, incredible pride. A very funny mixed reaction from people from Oklahoma City. Wait, hold on one second. Go ahead. People from Salt Lake City, did this finally, did they finally forgive me for calling Carl Malone the mail fraud for the last 20 years and in my book and all that stuff? I don't know.

Is this it? Did I get over the hump of that? I mean, he was kind of the mail fraud. It's fine. Great regular season player. All right, so Oklahoma City polarizing feedback. Well, in the sense that a lot of people were like, yeah, you're right. The food here sucks.

But here are a few places that you should try. And then some people were like a little more like, oh, you know, you didn't do anything in terms of legwork or trying to find it. Here are some places you should try. And then they sent a list of eight places and six of them were meat or steak. It was like, well, okay. That's kind of what we said. That's fine. Yeah, okay. That's kind of what we said. That's fine. Yeah, exactly.

There was a lot of folks took issue. San Antonio, some San Antonio pride coming through. They didn't like that we characterized the food scene there as kind of one note with the Mexican food. So we have a wonderful list of non-Mexican places. Thank you to the people of San Antonio for that

great list of places for us to go try next time we're in San Antonio. It ain't going to be this NBA finals. It ain't going to be this season. Did they dispute our characterization of the Riverwalk? No, no. There was unanimity. Everybody hates the Riverwalk in San Antonio and outside of San Antonio.

The Riverwalk, it's almost like they spilled a nuclear reactor into that thing. I wouldn't put my finger in the Riverwalk water if you paid me. It's a stay away. It's definitely a stay away. And of course, we got a ton of feedback from Cleveland. Now, we're going to have a great opportunity to go try eight or 10 or 12 places in Cleveland, potentially this offseason. We'll see how it all plays out.

But it doesn't seem like we have to venture very far. There is a great diversity of cuisine that was brought to our attention. They have a James Beard Award winner, Chef Michael Simon, who is a media guy too. He's on ABC, The Chew. We're trying to get somebody from Cleveland on House of Carbs this week to come and tell all the hungry homies about the Cleveland food scene. So maybe Cleveland's moving up in the ranks.

But, you know, remains to be seen. We have to get there and let our bellies guide us, I think. Anybody else? Anybody? Did people from Minnesota weigh in with just complete delight? Yeah, well, they were all confirmatory. Well done. There's a lot, there's a pretty diverse ethnicity.

We talked about the Ethiopian food. Folks wanted to point out that there's also Somalian food, so we can do two different iterations of African, and then a big Vietnamese scene in Minneapolis also. The Milwaukee people were enjoyable. You mentioned they were very pissed off that we would give credit to Minneapolis without citing the OG Milwaukee. They feel like Minneapolis

is a new kid on the block. Milwaukee is the real food tradition there in that Midwest region. Yeah, I didn't really hear anything bad from Boston. I think people in Boston, they know. The food's good. Well, we talked about North End.

I mean, you know, we talked about great food. It was helpful, some input from Boston folks on, there was one guy who sent me a picture of this delicious Cantonese style lobster. So, you know, Chinese food, but especially the Cantonese cuisine. So I'm up for that. And there were a couple other restaurants

people in Boston mentioned, but people in Boston didn't really jump up and down about the characterization. The one picture that got mailed to us a couple times that I did a double take was Lobster Mountain in Toronto. Oh, I mean, that was in Dave Chang's, you know, last meal on earth. And that's why, you know, Toronto, among other reasons, I did the, everybody I got input from, from Toronto was appreciative. One guy wanted us to be sure that we mentioned

and that we try the Caribbean food. If we, if we get up there to the T-Dot. I'm into it. I want all the diverse ethnic food in Toronto that they have to offer. The Lobster Mountain. I mean, I like Space Mountain. One of my favorite rides. I'm ready to buy a couple tokens and go on Lobster Mountain. That looked delicious.

Yeah, let's climb to the top and try and eat our way down. Oh, my Lord. All right, House, give me one wacky prediction for the rest of the playoffs. I mean, for the rest of round one. I'm sorry. I don't know if it's going to be wacky or not. I think the Pelicans are going to beat the Blazers. Yeah, I think the Blazers have their work cut out.

They need somebody to get injured. Their best chance is the Davis-Rondo-Holiday knock-on-wood injury history and just the improbability of all those guys staying healthy for four straight months together. I guess we'll see. House, we can listen to you on House of Carbs. We can listen to you on

Check House. Yeah. House of Carbs this week, we're going to talk a little bit about the reaction to our NBA food city rankings. Danny Chow is coming on to give us some on-the-ground experiences in two cities that rank very highly, New Orleans and Portland. I am, you mentioned this at the outset of the podcast, the Sunday night recording of the NBA show. John Gonzalez is going to be here in Washington, D.C. I think he arrives today. We're going to go to the game together Sunday night and do a segment together here in Chocolate

City. So I will be on that NBA Ringer Show podcast. And if I may, a quick plug for a charity thing I'm doing this week. Golf Fights Cancer is coming here to Washington, D.C. for a 100-hole marathon. I am playing 100 golf holes, Bill Simmons, on Friday. Oh, my gosh. In collaboration with Golf Fights Cancer,

all to support the Children's Inn, which is a physical place at the National Institutes of Health where families and their kids that are undergoing cancer treatment and cancer research, they stay physically at the inn. And it's a beautiful place and it deserves our support. So I'm going to go play a hundred holes. I'm going to put on the Twitter, my link for the fundraising and hopefully a lot of our fans and a lot of your fans will hit us up and support this great cause. Yeah, I'm going to retweet the shit out of that.

Plus, our friend Brian Oates is involved in that, right? Of course. Oates is the man behind Golf Fights Cancer. He's been working hand in hand to try and get this thing off the ground. So it's going to be a great event on Friday. Oates, a guy who knows what he's doing. He married one of the coolest girls in my class at Holy Cross. Shout out to Mo. Shout out to Mo.

Shout out to Mo. All right, that all sounds great. I'm excited to watch you play 100 holes or hear about you playing 100 holes. I don't think you can do it. I'm going to be on Instagram. All you have to do is watch Instagram stories. I don't know how you do it. How are you going to do that?

Over the course of the day. I'm going to be upright at 8 o'clock in the morning, and the over-under for when I fall down first is around one o'clock. Don't drink. And that may or may not be due to the beers. Yeah. Don't have beers. Wait until like whole 60 to have beers. I don't want to wait. I need beer. Thanks for coming on buddy. And thanks to ZipRecruiter. Don't forget to check out ZipRecruiter at ZipRecruiter.com slash BS. Don't forget to check out ZipRecruiter at ZipRecruiter.com Don't forget to check out TheRinger.com slash shop if you want to see those

BlogBoy t-shirts that Steph Curry was wearing and a whole bunch of other stuff. Who knew that Kevin Durant was creating a BlogBoy monster when he did his crazy BlogBoy rant. Don't forget about House of Carbs, Shack House and Ringer NBA show is going to be updated Wednesday night

after all the games and will be in your little subscription box however you get your podcasts on Thursday morning. Shout out to Nephew Kyle. He's afraid I'm going to do an imitation right now, but I'm not. I'm not going to do that on a podcast. House, you're not going to do that on a podcast either, right? Let's just save it. Oh, it's going to be so good when we unveil it.

All right. Well, at some point, we have a story to tell about Nephew Kyle from the Masters that we're going to wait. It's going to be like breaking open a fine bottle of port. I can't wait. House, I'll talk to you soon. I can't wait. Back tomorrow with more. Can't wait. Back to my earth boy.