The Bill Simmons Podcast - Saturday Rollin' NBA Finals Edition With Joe House (Ep. 224)

Episode Date: June 10, 2017

HBO and The Ringer's Bill Simmons reports live from the road to discuss the NBA Finals with help from his old friend Joe House. Topics include: Cleveland's historic Game 4 (5:00), Kyrie's similarities with Isiah Thomas (9:00), Durant's place amongst the greatest forwards in history (14:00), the superteam misconcepcion (21:00), LeBron's long-term game plan (29:00), Kevin Love on the trade block (37:00), the NBA Finals officiating(42:00), Blake Griffin's fit in Boston (52:30), pre-draft NBA trades (58:00), the Bad Boy Pistons vs. 2017 Warriors (1:06:00), and whether the Cavs can come back down 3-0 (1:11:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Check it out. Listen to it. And on that note, show has come up. We are off. This is a rarely seen three times on zone podcast. I'm tape taping in L.A., Joe House in Washington, D.C., and I am in middle America. Let's just say there's a soccer tournament that's not in California that my daughter may or may not be involved.

But I'm in middle America. I watched Game 3 in person. I watched Game 4 on a TV in my hotel room. I fully expected the Warriors to win. So did my wallet. So did Joe House's wallet. It did not happen. 24 threes, some referee chicanery.

House, was that the game we should have had game three and instead we just had it in game four? The game always was a possibility. We finally got a couple things that we were puzzled by in this game. We were wondering, when are we going to see, in the first place, some pace control? This is the first game of the series where the possessions went below 100 over the 48 minutes. So the Cavs, you know, notwithstanding scoring 137 points on the possessions per 48 bases,

they finally showed a little pace control. Yeah, that was free throws and threes, bumped the points up. But I agree. It did seem like they weren't trying to turn it into a track meet quite as much, which is funny because they scored 49 points in the first quarter. But, you know, the foul trouble on the three is bump that up. Yeah, 86 by halftime. The other thing, strategy-wise, and I thought Danny Chow did a nice job of this overnight.

He mentioned this in his column that's up on the ringer.com right now. Cleveland defensively let Draymond take as many shots as Draymond wanted. And Draymond took more shots than Steph or clay. Yep. So that's good. Curry, Curry stuck last night. He was due to suck for one,

right? He was due to suck and he sucked and he had been playing really, really well. And he just, he didn't play that well. I, uh, you know, I went to game three, it was one 13, one Oh seven. It felt like, like the warriors were kind of not deer in the headlights. Cause they're a great team, but a little rattled. And I think, I think it was one 13, one Oh seven,R. had that chance to hit the three in the corner and he took the two steps to the left and he missed it. And then the Warriors scored.

LeBron came down, did a follow-away turnaround, missed it. Warriors scored, and the game just kind of snowballed on him. It was stunning. It was about as fast as I've seen a game turn in the finals like that. It actually weirdly reminded me of the Junior Skyhook game in 87. Lakers-Seltz were the Lakers. The Seltz were up like six or seven, and then

somebody made a shot, Koop hit a three. All of a sudden, it was one point, and you're like, what happened? And that's what the crowd was like. Yeah. You just beat me to the punch. I wanted to ask you about the crowd reaction because you were also at Spurs Heat. Was that three years ago? Yeah.

Yeah. Oh, that was in Miami. Yeah, that was the outing. In Miami, exactly. And they flipped it. Yeah. The Cavs fans were fantastic, super loud, angry. They're just angry.

Angry at every call. It's funny because the Cavs were, I thought, getting more favorable calls than the Warriors did, and yet the Cavs fans, anytime there was a foul, they were just losing their mind. And they really thought they were going to win. And it just kind of, you know, turned. I mean, it's been dissected ad nauseum,

but the coaching negligence in the last couple of minutes was really bad. Like not getting a two for one after Durant hit the three, which by the way, anyone who's watched Durant for 10 years, I know LeBron was tired, but wouldn't you have bet your life he was going to pull up and take a three? That's his spot. You just need to run at him. The three is so much worse for you than the two at that stage of the game too

yeah you had your spot at the foul line I knew you were going to shoot from there every time Durant it's like Durant's taking a million threes from that spot and they screwed up and then they screwed up the two for one and I'm okay with Kyrie going for one on one

because as we saw last night he might be one of the best of all time at it. And, you know. So anyway, it evened out. It feels like Game 3 was the game Game 4 should have been. And Game 4 was the Game 3. Cavs on fire. They get a recall. They cut the series

to 2-1. So it logically evened out. Here's the first question I have for you. Kyrie is now... I'm trying to think, is there ever been a better offensive point guard

that you've seen? Because obviously, Curry has the threes and he has all this other stuff and statistically, he's better. But from a pure

we have to stop this guy and we can't standpoint, I don't know if I've seen anybody better. We always are mindful of not over-exaggerating what's right in front of our eyes, the hyperbole. But I'm sorry to use this man's name in connection with Kyrie, because Kyrie still has a long way to go to accomplish who I'm about to say. But Isaiah Thomas is the guy that I think of who is an unstoppable scorer.

Yep. He's the evolutionary version of when Isaiah was in heat check mode because Isaiah didn't shoot threes like Kyrie does. And there's a couple things that he does that I've just never seen at this high level from a point guard before. One is, you know, the terrible threes that he takes and makes, which aren't terrible because he makes them, only Steph is really in the neighborhood of non-forwards, you know.

Guys that just can make 28-footers with a hand in their face, falling backwards in the blink of non-forwards, you know, guys that just can make 28 footers with a hand in their face, falling backwards in the blink of an eye. There's no, there's no bad three for him because he makes them right. You know, and it's really just him. You just think about guards under six, four, would you put Dame Lillard in there? Like, I'm not positive. I would, I feel like Kyrie and Steph are just one notch above anyone I've ever seen in my life. And then the other thing is,

his drives and finishes, which we knew last year, it's not like any of this is a newsflash, but just to watch him do this on a higher stage, I really, I think he's the best that I've seen of any point guard or any smaller person. I want to be fair to Dame.

I think Dame got the game. He just, you know, because of his team situation, the franchise that he's on, they're not only cracking the first round of the playoffs, so you're not going to get an extended run. And Kyrie also has the benefit of playing with the very best basketball player on the planet of the last decade. So what does that create for him in terms of opportunities?

And really, more than anything, confidence. You know, how can you not be confident if you've got that guy on the floor with you at the same time? But with all of those qualifications, he's still an incandescent, unstoppable scorer. We haven't seen a guard scorer like this. And the thing that distinguishes him, now Steph does get to the rack, and he's very, very good at the stutter step and, you know, the misdirection.

But Kyrie goes to the rack hard. I like the way that Kyrie finishes. I mean, everybody gives him such great, you know, kudos for how he finishes, and he deserves it. Kyrie in game three, and he ended up having a really good game. I thought Klay Thompson was spectacular in that game on both ends. Offensively, he was great. Defensively, the stuff he's doing to make Kyrie work for his shots was

at a whole other level. I mean, not Pippen Kawhi level, but a notch below how hard he was making him work and stretching and just like he was every step of the way with him. And Kyrie still went off. He's like 39. You know? He's going off every game.

He's been on a tear since that Boston series. Yeah, so he's had three games now. If you look at that Boston game four, which I think that was a game they were going to blow if he didn't do what he did just because LeBron had the four fouls. I'm going to swung against him as bad as myself. But then these game three, game four, it's just ridiculous what he's doing.

And it's... I don't think he made it of any of the all-NBA teams. I'm pretty sure he didn't. And I'm really starting to wonder if we need to really evaluate how we do these all-NBA teams. Because if you're just going backwards, Clay Thompson and Kyrie

are two of the best 15 players in the league. And if you're in the biggest series of the year, you want either of those guys on your team as one of your best five guys. And I don't know what that means, but we need to figure that out. You know that Clay got bumped. I mean, it was essentially a numbers game. Kyrie got bumped because Cleveland went 23-23 over the last 46 games. I mean, you know, those are regular season awards, accomplishments.

I know, but I'm starting to wonder if maybe with all NBA, they'll never do this, but maybe we just wait to watch

the whole season before we decide on any of this shit. It just feels weird. Or just make it very clear that these are regular season awards, or make

a playoff version of them. Yeah, I like that. You beat me to the punch. I want a playoff version of MVP. I want a playoff version, not just, you know, finals MVP. I want playoffs MVP. I want all NBA team for the playoffs. Right. So I did

playoff MVPs in my book because it was really frustrating for me to try to figure out the different seasons and not and really only have finals MVP and even we didn't even have finals MVP till 1969 and then in some cases the wrong person won the finals MVP like in 07 the Spurs swept the Cavs Parker was hot for four games he won finals MVP Tim Duncan was the best player in the world from start to finish that season, was not captured. Dirk won the regular season MVP.

And then Parker won the finals MVP for four games. It really does seem like we need playoff first, second team, all NBA, something because I think – Yeah, John Wall needs recognition. John Wall needs recognition for his 29% shooting in the half court in the playoffs. Tell John Wall to learn some moves. He would make the all-NBA playoffs team for this postseason. There's no two ways about it.

He'd make the all-NBA as long as we're going full speed on a fast break all-NBA team. I'd put him on that one. It was funny. After game one, Clay Thompson didn't shoot. Well, everybody's like, what's wrong with clay.

And Steve Kerr really stuck up for him after the game. I was like, Clay played great. He didn't make shots, but his defense was unbelievable. And he's one of the biggest reasons we won that game. He, uh,

he's been great. I actually think he's probably been the third best, but I think Draymond has been their fourth best player in this finals. I'm with you. I don't know what took so long for them to just say Draymond just beat us. I would be letting Draymond and Iguodala

shoot threes all day, all night. I would leave them wide open. I would do the Marcus Smart defense on them. Basically, just you're there. Take them. Knock stuff out. Do whatever you need to do. Because Durant and Curry are the guys that on them. Basically, just you're there. Take them. Knock stuff out. Do whatever you need to do. Because Durant and Curry are the guys that kill them. That's right.

The crazy thing is it took a record-setting performance by Cleveland. They set many records last night to beat this Warriors team. But in terms of creating these matchups, you know, you need to do everything that you can to tilt it a little bit. Cleveland was trying to force both John Livingston and Draymond to take shots, inviting them to take shots. It's not like those all by themselves is going to change the outcome of the series, but Cleveland needs to be doing all that it can on kind of every level just to create any kind of beneficial matchup

because of the incomparable, unstoppable force that is this Warriors juggernaut. I mean, they should have won game three, in my opinion. years juggernaut. I, uh, I, I mean, they should have won game three. In my opinion, I really think they choked and it was a choke of strategy. It was a choke of playing LeBron too many minutes at too fast of a pace in the first half and just wearing them out.

I just don't understand the, what one of the legacies of this finals to me is, like, why was it a good idea to have LeBron in fifth gear in the first half of game one, two, and three? What was the point of not pacing him at all? I don't understand. Let's dissect it. I feel like they – let's dissect it.

Do you think that anybody other than LeBron had a role in determining that approach? Yeah, you're probably right. He probably overestimated his own abilities and his own endurance abilities. Maybe he was too hyped. Maybe he got caught in the moment. Yeah, I mean, I think that's his competitive spirit. You got to leave something for the moment. Yeah, I mean, I think that's his competitive spirit. You gotta leave something for the fourth. He was...

I went to one and three, and he was just flying. You know, at a level that was not sustainable. It actually reminded me a little of your boy John Wall in Game 7. John Wall, and John Wall's not super human like LeBron, but John Wall was dead a minute ago in the third quarter. He had nothing left.

Yeah, it happened a bunch to the Wizards in that series. Yeah, you've got to spread it out. The Warriors are really good. I thought Durant played such a smart, awesome game in game three. I want to talk about him in a second. But he really paced himself. He didn't go all out. He never panicked.

He let the game come to him. I think I looked at my phone at one point early in the fourth, and he was like 7 for 13. They were all pretty good shots. And he was just kind of waiting and waiting and waiting. And my buddy Sully actually texted me. It was like four or five minutes up. He's like, looks like the Cavs got this.

And I texted him back, the rain is lurking. Because I really felt like he was kind of waiting for his moment and then he took it and he had a lot in the tank left and he took over the game at the perfect time I don't know if all that was by design but in person it seemed like it was and uh you know that shot he made the three that the play before that when he basically took I think Thompson off the dribble and hit that little baseline, little fall away shot that really only he has. And Anthony Davis, and maybe honest,

the athletic ability to create that space. And then the size to shoot that over somebody's outstretched hand. There's only a couple of guys in the world that could do that. That shot. And then the pull of three. It's I think it puts him at another level now. You know, I really think we have to start thinking about where we're going to put him all time.

Well, isn't that exactly the point of why he's on this team? He knew this. Well, you can't say he knew it. He anticipated it. He hoped that this would be the way it would work out. I think he knew there was a higher level of basketball out there and I think he wanted to find it. And I think he was done with the one versus five offense basically.

And three guys standing in a spot while he had to do everything. And he was confident that he gets from, from, you know, playing with a whole bunch of dudes that he knows know how to play right. Yeah. He, you know, if you're doing the top five forwards of all time, LeBron's one, Bird's two, Duncan's three. Some people would have Duncan two and Bird three, whatever. That's the top three.

And Elgin's four. I'm talking careers. Obviously, if you put Durant in 1962, they would think like an alien landed. But Elgin's four. And then I had Dirk at five, depending on whether Havlicek was considered a forward or a guard. I think Durant has hit a higher level than I've ever seen Dirk hit. Do you think Dirk ever played better than this? I'm going to say no.

I'm having a hard time making that comparison because this Warriors team isn't like any team that I feel like I've seen in 30 years. What all those guys do for each other through the, you know, four guys, four top 15 guys in the league on the same team together, it just is such a rarity. It really is, in many respects, you know, hearkening back to the basketball that we enjoyed that was pre-expansion where every team had, you know, every good team had three or four great players.

I love it. You know what? Screw everybody who bitches about that this isn't fair, all that stuff. To me, it captures the everyone gets a trophy mentality of how America works right now, where your kid can play Little League or be in his youth basketball team, and he's getting a trophy. He didn't win the title, but he's a winner anyway.

That's the fucking world right now. And sorry, but they drafted three of their best five guys, and they were smartly carved a calf space for the other two. Those are the fucking rules. Like, stop bitching about it. The whole league is meant to try to out... 30 teams trying to outsmart each other and draft

correctly and create calf space and use it correctly. And they did it. So shut the fuck up. It really bothers me. I love the super teams. I've never said one bad thing about it. I love KD going to the gold state. When the Lakers and the Celtics did it in the 80s,

they did it because of the sheer incompetence of other teams. The Celtics traded the number one pick and got McHale and Parrish out of it. They drafted Larry Bird when everybody else was too stupid to realize that all you have to do is wait a year and you're going to get one of the five

best players of all time. They got Magic Johnson because New Orleans signed Dale Goodridge, who's 33 years old, and gave up two first-round picks for it, and one of them became Magic. And they got James Worthy because they traded Don Ford, who was a bench player, to Cleveland,

who stupidly gave them a first-round pick and became a first-round pick. Shit happens. The super teams from back then were created because the other teams are so stupid.

This Golden State team was created just because they were really smart. And I think they get the credit. And by the way, if Sam Preston didn't trade James Harden, the Rams probably

would have stayed. Nobody mentioned that either. OKC screwed that up and that was one of the reasons he left. That's true. They had their super team. I don't mean to sound like a Golden State

defender because honestly I don't care. I'm a Celtics fan and the best case scenario for me is not Golden State dominating for the next five titles because I think my Celtics and your Wiz both have a real chance. But I just think to bitch about what a team did within the rules is insane.

It's the players too. We're in this the teams. It's the players, too. So we're in this era now. It's going to be super exciting and interesting to see where Gordon Hayward chooses to play. I'm fired up to see where Chris Paul lands this offseason because I think the Clippers, you know, should go through a little bit of a rebuild thing. Houston, San Antonio, Cleveland, Boston, maybe Washington.

I don't think I'm ready to put them in there yet. But Golden State, all those teams are circling the hoop with the possibility of luring in superstar free agents, and everybody wants to take a run at this, playing with the other best guys in the league. And I'm down with that. Yeah. And I don't know. I would say if we're going to bitch about teams in this series,

what about the fact that Cleveland won the lottery four times in like 11 years? You know, this is a 30 team lottery system. The system is so screwed up that Cleveland won in 03. The guy left in seven years because they couldn't put a good enough team around him. They won the next year's lottery. They won the lottery two years later. So they won again in 2014. And now they have Kyrie and LeBron, who are two of the eight best players in the league,

both times because they were completely incompetent. So if you're going to bitch about one of the two teams, I think it makes more sense to bitch about the fact that Love, Kyrie, and LeBron are all on that team because Cleveland was incompetent versus the team that was competent that put whatever together. I don't know. Again, I

think it goes back to the whole trophy mentality bullshit stuff. I like watching. Playoffs suck. They're disappointing, but to me, it was worth it for these last four final games.

I loved all of them. Even the first two games that were blowouts, I thought were just really, really super entertaining. Hold on. We got to take a quick break to talk about Wink.

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No, I mean, Dirk single-handedly won a finals. Dirk's already got the finals MVP. Durant's right there. But they've got to close this out. How do you feel about Curry if he's on two different title teams

but doesn't get the finals MVP on either of them? I'm fine with that. He's got two regular season MVPs. Okay. The finals MVP can be a little bit of an aberration. Tony Parker is a finals MVP. I saw some stats. It was like guys who have won two MVPs and two titles,

and there were only like nine guys on the list. Yeah, I'm not surprised by that. And it was like all the guys you would think would be on the list. It was like Bird, Magic, Wilt, Russell. I mean, it was like, who's who of the best? Yeah. And then it's

like, and oh, and Steph Curry would be on that list too. And Durant, a year from now, if he wins the MVP, which I think is definitely in place. So LeBron James, who has been, as usual, ridiculous. He's putting up, I think, 31-12-11 every game in the finals. For the playoffs, he's in the 42 club yet again. The 42 club I created in my book points, rebounds and assists averages for the playoffs have to play 13 games.

And for whatever reason, 42 becomes a great indicator for who's kicking ass and who's not in the playoffs. And yet again, he's doing this. Oh, Connor and I talked about whether there was a possibility he might go to LA a year

from now because that's been the buzz all over the place and the stories are starting to trickle out and you're hearing more and more people talking about it now. What would you do if you were LeBron? Right now? I would chill. What's your game plan? What's the rest of your career looking like in your head?

Let's say you lose to the Stairs at five. Let's say they lose to them at a day. So you have the luxury of being able to dictate your future on an annual basis. And I think what you do is you look around and, you know, you love Cleveland. You brought a title to Cleveland. You have all the, you know, that's not just friends and family. That's blood in Cleveland. Yeah.

Can he feel like, you know, will he say, we were in the finals every year after I came back, and we got you that one chip. I love you, Cleveland. But I'm now, whatever, 34, 35 years old, which he will be, you know, started thinking about this stuff. Crazy miles on him, like almost. Yeah. A year after next season, he'll have like 54,000 miles on him,

including playoffs. So I don't think it's nuts to think that he would look for a situation where he can play with other great guys. We just talked about this. All the great players want to play with other great players now. Can I posit this to you? Let me hear it. I think his best chance

to succeed is to stay in Cleveland. I wouldn't want to leave Kyrie. Who's a better wingman than Kyrie right now? Kyrie's unstoppable. I wouldn't leave Kyrie. Kyrie, who's a better wingman than Kyrie right now? Kyrie's unstoppable. I wouldn't leave Kyrie. That's crazy. If the Warriors are the hump that they have to get over every year, they can't play Thompson and Love together at the same time

for a long stretch against this Warriors team. So either keep Love, which if you get rid of Thompson, now you have basically no rim protection whatsoever. Or you turn love into something that, you know, can make you a little more dangerous. And I go back to February, and I really do think he'll deny it to the death, but I really do think LeBron was sending spidey signals to his organization and his owner and his GM that he wanted to trade Love for Carmelo. Because I think he saw what was coming. Well, let me ask you, if Carmelo's in this series,

what's different about it? Impossible to say. Melo's never played in the finals. Kevin Love has. And I've been pretty impressed with Kevin Love this finals. I'm glad that he's healthy. I'm not dissing Kevin Love. I'm just saying, you know, their best five players,

they can't really play together in this series. They have to play four of the five. And if you flip Love for Carmelo, now you could play Thompson, LeBbron kairi carmelo and jr smith or whoever corver whoever and that just makes more sense now on the other end they'd be thrown mellow into just as many high screens as they did with kevin love but um i don't know i i personally think they would have a slightly better chance with carmelo because it would just allow them to put better people on.

Now you're not – now you're not playing Shumpert all these minutes, you know, and you don't have to play Kyle Korver on crunch time and some of the stuff they've been doing. I don't like it. And the reason I don't like it is because we've never seen Melo play genuinely committed defense at the highest level. He's never made even a conference final, right? Has he played in the conference finals?

I don't think so. He didn't with that. Yeah, he played in 2009. They were tied 2-2 to the Lakers. That's right. Him and Mr. Big Shot went off a cliff in the last two games. Carmelo's biggest games have been in the Olympics, unfortunately. Right, so that doesn't give you a good feel for what kind of defense he's capable of either.

So if they could flip Kevin Love for Paul George this summer, which is conceivable. It's not inconceivable, put it that way. And LeBron could have Paul George and Kyrie Irving at his feet. With Thompson as the quote-unquote Draymond Green. I feel like that's toe-to-toe at that point. I'm not there. I think Cleveland's better off.

I want Cleveland to keep Kyrie. I mean, if we're talking about what can Cleveland do to get over this hump, to make themselves competitive with the Warriors, where they don't have to set a record to win a game. Right, shooting threes just to beat them once. Yes, exactly. Right. They need to add kind of one more piece.

And I wouldn't – I don't think Love, Kyrie, obviously LeBron's not going anywhere. You can't move. I think you just need to add an asset. Yeah, but here's the problem. It's impossible. They have taken this roster and bleeded every – bleeded? Bled?

Bled. Bled. Bleeded. I'm a professional writer. Bled every single possible trade slash move they could make out of this roster. There's no more assets to get. Don't underestimate. Look, we just talked about this.

The great players want to play with the great players. Dudes will take a little bit less. Maybe somebody was willing to take a lot less. Well, I mean, you'd be talking. They can't even use their exception because they got crushed by the tax so hard. So I don't need, I mean, they would have to be somebody taking the minimum.

I personally, to me, it's like, if you can't play Love and Thompson together against the Warriors for long stretches, then pick one and trade the other and try to get something for the other. Because both of them have value, you know? Well, you're not just solving for the one problem. I mean, I understand, as we sit here today,

it looks like the Warriors could be built for the next, you know, three, four, five years. But, you know, life happens. So who knows? You know, Steph's ankle problem reappears. So you're saying instead of making a trade, hire somebody to hurt one of the workers? I'm not saying that. I would never say that.

You just said you hurt Steph's ankles. I didn't hear that. I'm just saying life happens is what I said. You never know. You can't try to solve for a single problem. There's 30 teams. People always want us to disagree more on the pod. This is a good disagreement for us

because I think they have to trade love. I don't. I think they have to keep Thompson and trade love for whatever they can get and try to make next year's team better so LeBron can't leave

because I don't think they can beat the Warriors with this team. And I don't think there's any way for them to make it better because, you know, it all goes back to the Kevin Love for Wiggins trade.

When, which I think they should have done, I agreed with. But at that point, you're taking somebody who could have blasted into a real asset for them at a cheap price, right? And instead you had Kevin Love who's making just a shitload of money. And now, instead of paying Wiggins... No points with it, though.

They made the finals all three years. Listen, I'm not against what they did. I'm just pointing out that if they had kept Wiggins at $7 million, now you don't have to pay J.R. Smith $15 million, and you don't have to pay Shumpert $12 million, and maybe you could go out and get a forward. Like, they're locked into this roster, is my point. They lost all their roster flexibility

when they went all in on Love and Thompson and J.R. and Shumpert and all this stuff. And you could argue it was the right move because they made three straight bouts, which is what you're supposed to do. I just don't know if they could beat the Swords. And really, the person they should be maddest at is Klay Thompson

for getting hot in that OKC series. Because if OKC wins, then they win the title. Draymond's nut punch is... If you're Cleveland, would you rather have last year's title or the Draymond nut punch never happening? You lose in five if Durant doesn't go there. The title. You always take the and Durant doesn't go there. The title. You always take the title.

Yeah, I agree. But the irony of that title is it formed the Warriors' dynasty. That title... It's a ball. It's a dynasty. I'm not sure we can call it a dynasty yet. Oh, it's going to be a dynasty.

First of all, let's say they win monday night that's the best three-year stretch probably by any team in the history of the nba that didn't win titles all three of those years i would say yeah i think you're right 15 and one in the finals 73 wins last year they don't win they win the title the year before. Their record for regular season wins for those three years is a record, I think. And then their record for just total wins is a record. They revolutionized basketball. I just think, I don't know if we're going to see something better than that.

And they have two of the best five players in the league, which is also pretty good. Hey, Wade, I want to tell you about something else. We talked about wine. Oh, I thought we were going to talk about Dwayne Wade's red hair. No. I want to tell you about the blacktux.com. Oh.

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Yeah, find a breathable box at the blacktalks.com. Slash BS, $20 off your purchase. All right. So we didn't talk about the refs last night. It's going to be a hard conversation to have. I know. Do we even have it? It's probably not worth it.

Well, here's the thing that I'm interested in. I want one layer more transparency into how the league plans for the refs in the finals. I couldn't believe my eyes with Mark Davis and John Goble out there yesterday. What has Mark Davis done to make anybody think that he should be a ref in the finals? Yeah, I hate trashing the refs, but let's do it for a second. I know, but here we are. Mark Davis is one of those refs, and we all have them. If you're really an NBA junkie and you love the league and you love your team and you're nerdy and lame enough to actually know who the refs are,

Mark Davis is one of those refs that I see him, and no offense to him, I'm sure he's a nice guy, I'm sure he's a great family man, but I see him and I go, fuck. Me too. I love Mark Davis tonight. Right, so you felt that way too. And then when he did a Wiz Celtics playoff game, both of us were upset with him.

We were both mad. Yeah, it's just when he's involved, the game just always seems to come off the tracks. And I don't get it, man. They have game four is a Friday night. Game five is a Monday night. Just use your best guys. They know who the best guys are.

They know who the best guys are. Why can't you ref? He should ref every game. Why can't he ref every game? Use your best guys. They know who the best guys are. They know who the best guys are. Ryan Kutch is their best ref. He should ref every game. Why can't he ref every game? These NBA refs, they ref four or five times a week. This is what I'm asking for this transparency, that I want to see what goes into the planning. The same guys could ref all the games.

There's no question about it. The players play the games. We could have the same refs for the whole series. They know who the best refs are. They grade them. They go nuts with who's who. And, like, you know, they've had a lot of trouble kind of grooming younger refs to become signature marquee refs. So somebody like Zach

Zarbo, I think is pretty good. He's one of the younger ones. Goble's another one of the younger ones. I know they have to take chances with the younger ones and hope they make it, but man, that was one of those crews, when I saw him, I was like, oh boy. That shouldn't be my reaction to the

finals. Game four. Bring your best. Today's Saturday. You know, it was a special emergency podcast. Well, look. Who did I guess? I went and got Tate. I knew Tate would do a good job producing it.

It's also, again, I don't know. I went on the internet and ran a producer for the podcast that I was hoping would do a good job. I went and got Tate. a producer for the podcast that I was hoping would do a good job. I went and got taped. I feel bad about naming names. But we've already broken the seal. I mean, you've seen the stat. Mike Callahan has now refereed 11 straight, I don't know, pardon me, 12 straight Cleveland wins.

And the last three times the Cavaliers have beaten the Warriors, Mike Callahan. Oh, that's true, Danny. That is true. Oh, man. How do you like that? Let's just get off this topic. Yeah, let's get off it. I love all the people that work for the NBA.

I don't, you know, it's just not a good subject. But I really do think that you're looking at something that took them way too long to care about which was referees and where to find them how to grade them how to find new ones how to develop them this is something mark cuban was bitching about and i was and i was writing about in 2006 as the biggest epidemic in the league and i don't know if epidemic is the right word. Biggest issue? It's not the biggest, but it affects the quality of the product and you just don't want

23 throws in the first quarter for Cleveland. You just don't want that. And also, Cleveland's a team that you can decide going into the game how you're going to officiate them. LeBron's like Will. LeBron's like Shaq. You could call 45 fouls on guys. LeBron's like Will. LeBron's like Shaq. You could call

45 fouls on guys guarding LeBron. And same with Kyrie when he's going to the basket. It's just so hard to call it. You can go into the game with a certain mindset. And if they're telling the refs there was too much

contact in game three that wasn't called, like lock it down. That helps the refs there was too much contact in game three that wasn't called, like, lock it down. That helps the cap, you know. Anyway, it's not worth it. Cleveland would have won anyway, I think. But it also felt like a game in the first quarter where it was like, to not have Klay in there is so damaging for Golden State because he's by far their best guy in Kyrie.

Yeah. And if you're just going to knock him out of the first half, like, oh, gee, I wonder how they got to 86 points. It wasn't just that, but it was part of it. So what happens in game five? I think it's going to look like games one and two. I tweeted mid-game last night that I thought that the way the game was going

in terms of the efficiency that Cleveland had scoring-wise was a very bad omen for the ultimate outcome of the game. And I think we've seen with this Warriors team, if they're within 16 points with seven minutes left, they can absolutely win. There's no doubt about it. So I was looking for – Didn't you feel like last night?

I was waiting for their run last night. Me too. Exactly. I just – they got it to like 12 a couple times, and I almost tweeted like the Cavs better not let this get to single digits. The problem with Twitter now is if you tweet something like that and then it doesn't happen, they love shoving it in your face. Well, you could just say, when I tweeted mine, and I think Golden State was down 25 or something,

I said that I realized how stupid it was that I was about to say. So you could just make fun of yourself. People were nice to me. They told me I was about to say. So you can just make fun of yourself. People were nice to me. They told me I was stupid. But I think it's going to be like games one or two. And the reason for that is because last night, every Cleveland player who played at least 10 minutes shot over 50% from the field.

And I don't think that's going to happen in Golden State on Monday. We should talk about Golden State's defense, though, a little bit. Lack of defense from last night here's the problem though, and this is why modern basketball is I think becoming harder and harder to gamble on you just don't know when the game's coming when you have two teams like this

you don't know when the game's coming when somebody's getting 24-3 you know how do you know? It's like roulette you're just watching the ball roll around. You hope it's red or black. Um, the Cavs aren't going to hit 24 threes in game five, but if I were them,

I still feel like they have a move. That's almost like an NFL playoffs move, like a strategy move where they could just go super slow in game five and try and try to pace it so that LeBron can peak in the third and fourth quarter. You just go, you post LeBron up, take your time on possessions. Don't let the game outflow. Almost like their game seven strategy, which is the way I thought they're going to play the whole series.

Don't be talking about this at the outset of the series. I know this is the game. I would do it. I would have a completely different pace for this game and just try to make it a game that's like the outlier, weird, fucked up game. Well, you know, one of the ways to do that, speaking of the refs, if you do reintroduce the bully ball and try and make the refs keep you from being as physical as you

might be. I mean, I think it's about time to ratchet up a little bit of the physicality now. Yeah. I agree. I don't think their role players are going to show up like they did these last two games. You're not going to get, you're not going to get anything from J.R. Smith on the road just hasn't, hasn't happened in this series. I don't really trust. You're not going to get anything from J.R. Smith on the road. It just hasn't happened in this series.

I don't really trust. I trust LeBron. I trust Kyrie. I trust Love to an extent. Thompson has had a really strange series. I don't know what to make of him anymore. Darren Williams, like, signs a life in Game 4 compared to Game 3 where he was just a waterlogged corpse but i don't feel like they have that kind of wild card x factor dude it could be corver

maybe maybe by the way i didn't have it on a podcast of game three i thought that was a great play i was fine with that play oh yeah setting absolutely. Setting up the play for Korver. He got a nice corner three. He's probably one of the best five guys of all time at that shot, and he was open, and he got a good shot. I think he's the best in the league with that shot this season. Yeah, I was fine with it. Me too.

For other people who are like the hero ball people, you don't win titles unless other guys on the team make shots. Everyone's right. You said it earlier in the podcast. You're like third single-handedly won the finals in 2011. Actually, like Jason Terry had that one game in the finals when remember he was that lost his mind and started making crazy shots. Like that has to happen in the final.

2009, Derek Fisher made the biggest shot of that whole series. 2008, Eddie house, James Posey. You go on and on. It's always the role players that ended up swinging game. Yeah. Mike Miller had a game in a finals a few years ago.

Mike Miller, Ray Allen, one, one, that one, 2013 saved their ass. 2014, Danny green.

Always the random dude. So I like the Corver play, and I would run it again if I was them. Let's say the Warriors win by 20. Where do you put them on time? I'm only hesitating because the proper way to assess them, to me, is it's a three-year run. I mean, we talked about this a little bit earlier. They've accomplished things that the league's never seen before

in terms of regular season wins. If they go 15-1, it's only been done one other time. So that three straight finals, winning two out of the three, 15-1 in the playoffs, it really does, we really do need to start talking Lakers,

Celtics, Bulls. That's the territory. Yeah, you're right. It's almost not a season thing. It's more of a you know, for me, the Celtics was 84 to 86. The Lakers was 85 to 87. The Sixers were 81 to 83. The Bulls, you had 91 to 93 and you had 96 to 98.

Lakers, zero zero to 02. The three-year runs are a nice way to look at this stuff. You know, Spurs were 05, 06, 07. Spurs were 0-5, 0-6, 0-7. Lakers were 0-8, 0-9, 0-10. Usually it's a three-year run. And then if you can get more than that, awesome. Miami was, you could go 11, 12-13, or you could go 12-13, 14. But I think from that respect, they rank way, way, way, way, way, way, way up there.

That's right. And the funny thing is, using that three-year paradigm you mentioned earlier, Dynasty, we're going to – I mean, there's no reason to think they couldn't do it again next year. Yeah, I mean, all I can tell you is when those Dynasty odds go up, you're like, oh, I can't bet. Damn it. I'm going to convince you and start a bet on Durant.

I think those will be, whatever those odds are, will be the best odds, actually. Well, if he's the NBA, I mean, if he's the Finals MVP, the odds aren't going to be very good. No, but LeBron and Westbrook will always have the best odds for MVP, I think. That's true.

By the way, we have to, I want to talk about Capital One in a second, but you mentioned how Hayward is the big prize for everybody. Him and Chris Paul. No, I'm going to let you mull this over as we head into one more little break. Yeah, I want to mull. I just want to point out that Blake Griffin can opt out of his contract and become a free agent. Just mull that over, think about it, chew on it,

and we're going to take a quick break with a message brought to you by CreditWise from Capital One. Numbers don't tell the whole story. Cavs hit 24 threes in game four. Does that mean they're a better team than the Warriors? Nope. Credit isn't any different. It's all about how well you perform against the factors that go into a credit score.

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Plus, you can check it anytime without negatively impacting your credit. And the best part, it is 100% free for everyone, whether you're a Capital One customer or not. Step up your game. Download CreditWise today. So let's say the Celtics struck out on Gordon Hayward. Oh, for the record, Mark Stein reported this. Love to Steinimo. I saw Steinimo before game three.

It was emotional. Good. It was emotional. Good. It was emotional. I love that man. Yeah. What's happening is reprehensible. I will leave it at that. Really, like, man, I'm going to, I'm not saying anything about this.

Save it for another day. I'm going to save it for another day. But I just want the appropriate parties to know I know what's going on. Anyway, so he reported that Gordon Hayward, that Miami is a big suitor with Gordon Hayward. Here's the thing. Miami is always a big suitor. Here's a thing. Miami is always a big suitor. Here's a good recipe. If Miami has cap space and Miami has Pat Riley, they have to be taken seriously every summer.

They just do. It shouldn't be a newsflash that, you know, Gordon Hayward is on the Miami radar. Because to me, it's like Miami is always the number one threat. Never free agency, right? So I think they're a suitor for Gordon Hayward and Blake Griffin. I think they're going to come out of it with somebody because Pat Riley lands big stars.

That's what he does. He's been doing it for 20 years. You go there, he has a proven record. He puts the rings on the table. He's got the cap space, and you get major income tax breaks by going to Florida. Yeah, no state tax in Florida. You get to live in Miami. That's a really fun going to Florida. Yeah, no state tax in Florida. Speaking of... That's what else happens. You get to live in Miami.

That's a really fun place to live. I've heard that. You know, I think they have to be taken seriously for both Gordon and Aaron. I actually think Blake makes more sense. I also... I've got to give a shout-out to Spolstra as well

for talking about all the attributes in Miami that make it a desirable place. He's really been impressive to me since the big three cracked up and left. And Bosch had to, you know, much love to Chris Bosch. Said, yeah, we already, you know, have been through the emotion. We know that he's not going to play anymore, but it's kind of final now. But I think Spolster has done an unbelievable job after the run to

the finals all those years. You know who notices that shit? The players. I agree. They notice the really well-run and well-coached team. Even when I did the second podcast with Durant, where we talked about Deion Waiters, and he just started raving about Miami and Spolstra,

because the players noticed. They can tell, and Brad Stevens is a huge asset for the Celtics, that the players go against Brad Stevens, and they're like, wow, that team was really well coached. They were really well prepared. And Miami just has so many different advantages. So anyway, you know, Blake's

been under the knife a lot, multiple times. He's got the broken hand. Kevin O'Connor has documented all the different things that have happened to Blake's body. With that said, I think he's 28. I think if you're looking at him for three years in the back, something like that, and he wants to get away from the Clippers and start over. And as a backup plan for the Celtics, I think he makes a ton of sense.

Oh, I see. The primary plan for Miami. I think he makes a ton of sense, but you know, if you're the Celtics and you could get Blake for three years and you have Horford, you have Blake and you draft faults and you bring in visits,

it's a pretty good team, right? Huh? I mean, it was a lock of the century before we got caught on this podcast today that at some point we would be talking about the Celtics off season. So I'm willing to indulge it. I'm going to indulge it.

I do like, I do think the right place for Blake is a place like Boston. Because we, we observed this and we talked about this on some pods over the course of the season. He's a different player now than he was, you know, really, really as recent as 18 months ago. He doesn't have the same list by all indications and appearances.

This is just eye test stuff. So I know how dumb it is. Yeah. Definitely not healthy. Right. Not healthy. And, you know, what version of Blake are you getting? And what's your game plan for those three years

if he's only going to be able to play, you know, 60 games a season, if that's the kind of player that he turns out to be? I'll tell you this. The Celtics have one summer to go get a marquee free agent. After the summer, it's going to be a lot harder because they have contracts expiring, people they got to pay. This is the one summer they could sneak somebody else in. And Hayward and Blake are the guys that make the most sense.

And ironically, both of them make a ton of sense for Miami too. I think Blake actually makes more sense for Miami than Hayward. They have a lot of swing guys. But for both of them, they make sense. And I don't know. I just wanted to throw that out there. I think this summer is going to be a fucking free-for-all. I didn't get a chance to listen to you and Kevin O'Connor.

Are the Celtics residing Isaiah Thomas? Not this summer. Not with the hip thing. I don't think so. I still feel like, all right, you're an objective party. You don't carry the outside either team. Porzingis for the number one pick as the two, as the two major pieces in some sort of deal still makes the most sense to me

out of just about any move I've heard. And I don't know if it makes it even trade. I think it's a totally fair trade. Because from a Knicks standpoint, you have one and eight. You take Fultz. You make him your dude. You get whatever you can get for Carmelo. Then you take whoever at eight. And

you throw away 2018. And you rebuild around Fultz. And you have him for two more years. Then you have poor Zingas. Poor Zingas, the clock's ticking already. We're already two years in. And you already know he's unhappy. So it's just, that would be the reason to do it.

I still personally would, obviously, would rather have Porzingis than give up the number one pick for him. My guess, I'm just saying that if you're the Knicks and you're worried about keeping him. But there's some stuff that's going to happen, because if there's some real life to this LeBron stuff with LA, then they're going to try to dump that Dang or Moskov contract, or both of them.

We're only two weeks out now from all of these trades building towards the draft. I mean, are we going to see some trades this year? I do. I really do think so. I think we will. I think it's too logical for too many of the teams involved to do stuff.

You know? Fultz makes the most sense for Philly of any team in the ladder. The Kings love Fox. Lonzo and the Suns would be fantastic there's all these fun matchups with the ladder and with players and with teams and the sporting cast they have and then the the right teams have trade assets at the right spots right the kings have five

and ten the the uh the suns have four and then a whole bunch of stuff and cap space the Sixers have three and all these different moves like somebody was asking me would you trade the number one for Ben Simmons which is a trade that

I think makes a lot of sense for Philly I don't know if I would do it if I'm the Celtics I'm a little worried about my son coming off the broken foot we don't know if he can shoot I think false is more of a short thing right about my son coming off the broken foot. We don't know if he can shoot.

I think false is more of a short thing, right? It's impossible to say. You don't, you never know until the lights are on. Put the guy that's only been in college one year. Before the season started, we were kind of talking about, you know, is Brandon Ingram going to be a guy that, that, you know, is going to really surprise everybody. And, and you know, is going to really surprise everybody. And, and you know what?

He didn't surprise anybody. He sucked. I know, but not ready, not ready for the league. I added an NBA insider described fault to me this way, a six foot three Tracy McGrady. Pretty good.

And the point was unbelievable. Athletes can do absolutely anything on a basketball court a little laid back um and almost has no weaknesses and can shoot threes can get to the rim a plus athletic ability good passer just can do anything well I love him because he's from the DMV. Well, I know, and I had trouble. My only issue with Fultz was, like, who is he? What can I compare him to? And then when I heard 6'3", Trace McGrady, I was like, ah, that's it. That's who he is.

It's perfect. I loved it. It finally put his career arc into context. And also the fact, you know, the thing people are throwing at him is that he he he sucked in college. But Titus did a good job at debunking that, as did the fact that they fired their coach after. What what's how is your plan going with framing Jan Mahimny for a crime that would get him off the Wizards cap? Did you think about how you were going to do that yet? I'm willing to live with Jan. There is a role for him.

He's a $16 million bench player who should come in and, you know, help the second unit defend the rim for 12 minutes a game. Look, welcome to Washington. Congratulations. There's a trade out there. I'm ready. I know that we've been talking for about an hour and I've been mulling this, you know, how I

wanted to kind of present this. I'm ready to say this. I now live in a world where I have talked myself into the possibility of Dwight Howard as a Washington wizard. I really did it.

I've done it. I think it could make sense here. I think John Wall, this is the thing. I've been so blinded by what John Wall has done for so many players, both big guys and wing guys. He's made so much money for other guys. What if he could revive and revitalize Wade Howard on the pick and roll?

What if? I mean, I've been very quiet about it. This is the first time I've said it out loud. But I've been mulling it. I've been mulling it. I was going to read you some emails today. Because I thought if we ran out of steam, I'd have some emails ready for us. Paul from Denver asks,

Is there any way we can get Dwight Howard onto the Warriors roster this summer? Releasing the Dwight Bola virus in the Golden State locker room would be a great test of his potency. I thought that was funny. And now you want to keep it in the house. I didn't say I wanted to. I'm just thinking about it. I talked myself into it, how it could work. Would you trade Mahinny and Kelly Oubre for Dwight Howard?

No, no. Can't trade Oubre. Got to have Oubre. Mahinny, I would trade Gortat. How much are you giving out of Porter? Not the max, but he's going to get the max. A couple quick emails, then we're done. Chris from Texas.

If the aliens challenge us to a game of basketball, my first call is now to KD and not to LeBron anymore. Chris asks, am I right or am I an idiot who overreacts too easily? Here's my answer. The call still goes to LeBron. God bless KD. I think he's been on the exact same level as LeBron. I think it's now a legitimate argument.

This is the MJ versus Drexler situation that we always wanted in 92, and then MJ just pulled Drexler's heart out of his body and took big bites out of it. KD versus LeBron is fantastic. It's 1A, 1B to me. LeBron is still the first call. Yeah, no doubt. I'm not going to go through any rationale.

It's LeBron. Jack from New York asks, why would LeBron losing this series negatively impact his legacy? Did Jordan ever face a team as good as the 2017 Warriors in the playoffs and win? My answer is no.

I think the 93 Suns were fantastic. It was a really great team and kind of the early version of the basketball we're watching now although they weren't as good as shooting threes as these teams but he did play the

89 Pistons and the 90 Pistons in playoff series they lost in 6 and 89 and in 90 was the slugfest 7 games Scottie got the migraine in the 7th game I'm just telling you for people under 25 who don't remember this stuff, probably under 30, like those Pistons teams were fantastic.

Unbelievable. They were fantastic. And he took the 90 Pistons to seven with a very, very young team. And I think a new coach, I think that was, I think that was Jackson's first year, but that nine, that 90 Pistons team was off the chain. And it's actually a really fun argument if you had the 90 Pistons versus this Warriors team with Isaiah and Dumars and let's say the 89 team

because that was a better team. Isaiah and Dumars and Rick Horn and Lambeer and Dennis Rodman and Sally. They just had a lot of looks which is why historically I think I ranked the 89 Pistons fourth all time in my book nine years ago. Unbelievable. They were like the Swiss Army Knife team.

What a good matchup. I'm excited. That's a good one. And then somebody else asked me hold on, let me find. Somebody asked me about the 2004 Piston. I'm finding that, hold on. I can't find it, I'm sorry. It was an email from somebody who said,

Rashid apparently said the 2004 Pistons would be the 2017 Warriors for this year. And, you know, I don't think so. I don't think so either, but it's not ridiculous because you could have, you know, Ben Wallace would just run amok.

Yeah. You'd have Tayshaun on Durant. You'd have young Chauncey on Curry. You'd have Rip and Clay just chasing each other around screens the whole game. And then you would have Rashid and Draymond.

It's interesting. I think the Warriors, the problem is the Pistons couldn't score enough. You know, I looked up their three-point shooting stats and it was a disaster. Right. Their games are in like the high 80s, the low 90s. But defensively, probably the best defensive lineup

we could throw at this Warriors team, I think. And you would know that game plan-wise, they'd come in with a sound approach. Chuck Daly would have, you know. Yeah, good coaching. That was Dan from Detroit, by the way, last night. Thomas in Columbus said, Pop is 68, LeBron is 32. Who do you think is more likely to still be in the league in 10 years?

I'll answer. It's LeBron. I think Pop is not that far away from being done. Yeah, Pop's on a vineyard in Santa Barbara making his own wine. He's making a great life. Actually, there's a whole other chapter to Pop. His prominence this past over the course of the season here, kind of

politically and how articulate he's been and how passionate he's been. It seems like there might be, I don't know that he'll run for public office, but you could see him having another chapter. Tyson from Australia. A lot of Australia slash New Zealand listeners for this podcast and Cousin Sal,

because those people are degenerates like we are. I thought about it, put some thought into it, and I think Sal and you and me, we're all like honorary Australia-New Zealand people because they're all degenerates. I agree. I think that, too. I get so much nice things from people from Australia. Anytime they're in D.C., like, hey, Alice, we're in D.C. Where should we go eat?

I always respond to those. So, yeah, maybe we should open a ringer branch in Australia because obviously they dig our stuff. But he says, I'm a pretty big Cavs fan. I recently texted my brother telling him I sliced off a piece of my foreskin. The Cavs came back to win after being dabbed 3-0. If the Cavs do win, do I really need to do it, or am I disrespecting the basketball gods if I don't? I'm sorry, you got to do it.

If they come back from 0-3, you have to slice off some of your foreskin. Do you agree, Alex? Can we end on this? Can this be the last one? I mean, I don't want to talk about it. I don't like this idea. You want that to be the last one? I mean, I don't want to talk about it. I don't like this idea. You want that to be the last one? Why did he write that?

I don't know. Because we're weird slash listeners. He's Australian. Chase from KC wonders if the Cavs come back down from three games to zero and LeBron Wilson to a finals victory, is the debate for greatest of all time officially over. It actually might be. That might be that might

be the flip that we needed. Because it's never happened. LeBron LeBron pulls an 0-4 Red Sox. Yep. Wow.

Could he be over MJ though? Could he really be over MJ though could he really be over MJ last one what current NBA players would you choose if you had to beat the Warriors lineup of death in a sudden death game 7 scenario

I assume that you're allowed to use Cavs in here I came up with Anthony Davis Paul George LeBron Kawhi LeBron, Kawhi, and Kyrie. Okay, yeah. Kawhi, yes. LeBron. You're basically keeping the Cavs but improving them with Anthony Davis instead of Thompson,

Paul George instead of Love, and Kawhi instead of Jarrett Smith. It's funny. You know what? I personally, and I know that this is going to sound funny coming from me considering my view on this guy previously. I'd rather have Westbrook than Paul George. I would talk about Paul George for Westbrook. I don't care about the size.

I wouldn't. I'm talking about heart. No, because I think Westbrook would try to shoot 35 times. Non-caps lineup for me would be Davis, Paul George, Kawhi, Cardin, Conley. You left Westbrook on both. Yeah, because I want to win the game. I'm not interested in somebody going for his own death.

No offense. No offense, Westbrook. David from Flemington, New Jersey asked, watching game two of the finals on Sunday, watching how great Durant was on both ends of the floor, I thought to myself, is this what Giannis would look like if he had a jump shot? The answer is yes. And Giannis, by the way, is going to have a jump shot.

Everything I've read and seen and watching him play, he's working on that jump shot. He's working on it. He's working hard. He's working on it. He's also, he's been in touch with the other aliens from his UFO, and he might have more people coming. Last one.

This will really be the last one. Andrew Garcetti writes, as a morally dilapidated Knicks, Jets, and Mets fan who has never seen a championship in his 26 years, which of those teams do you feel is closest to a championship? Well, this feels like a setup. This feels like a little bit of a setup. I'm thrilled to say that it's my National League East nemesis, the Mets.

I just had a very nice conversation with Noah Syndergaard earlier this week. Got to spend some time with him, with Thor. Great guy. I told him, you know, we put aside our basketball differences, our baseball differences, pardon me, and we have a mutual hatred for the Dallas Cowboys, and we both love too little hot sauce. So the Mets is my answer.

Okay. I'm adding World War III to those three options, and I'm picking World War III to those three options, and I'm picking World War III. Do you have a pick for Penguins Nashville tonight? I'm rooting my balls off for Nashville, so that'll be my pick. Okay. Me too. Me too. And I wish PK7 and Punch Crosby were right in the face. I was disappointed that he didn't do that. Thanks to theblacktux.com.

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slash BS. Don't forget to listen to Shaq House. U.S. Open coming up, right, House? We got the open preview show. We're recording it Monday night. It'll be up late Monday, early Tuesday. A lot of picks. And I think I'm making a guest appearance this week on Against All Odds

to talk with the Cuz about some U.S. Open props. We're going to talk about whether or not anybody's going to make a hole in one. There's some good odds out there. Excellent. I'm very excited to hear that. We already put a little on Bubba Watson, right? We did. We put a little taste on Bubba.

This Aaron Hill golf course, first time hosting a U.S. Open. Big ballpark. Nice place for a big hitter. Bubba hits the ball long. I saw him on game three, and I knew I had bet on him at that point. I just kind of gave him good vibes. Thanks to Capital One, they created a CreditWise app, so you can check your credit score anytime you want.

It's free for everyone. Download CreditWise today. Availability depends on presence of credit history from TransUnion. CreditWise is offered by Capital One Bank, USA, and A.House. This is a pleasure. Thanks for dragging your hungover bones onto our Saturday special edition podcast. I hope it wasn't that obvious. I think I'm going to Game 5, so I have a full report from that.

Yes. And thanks to everybody for listening. Thank you, House. Thanks, Tate. Thanks, Tater. Thanks, Tater. I feel it's working On the wayside I'm a person I never was

And I don't have To ever forget