The Daily Zeitgeist - MJGMB #117: NBA Finals Crossroads Talk with Sarah Todd

Episode Date: June 12, 2024

The guys were very pleased to be joined by journalist and NBA analyst Sarah Todd on the latest episode. The trio discussed Boston's 2-0 lead, the Porzingis health concerns and whether the Mavs can turn things around back in Dallas for Games 3 & 4!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I'm Keri Champion, and this is Season 4 of Naked Sports. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. Every great player needs a foil. I know I'll go down in history. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's sports. Listen to the making of a rivalry.

Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Elf Beauty, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. I'm Keri Champion, and this is Season 4 of Naked Sports. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry. Caitlin Clark vs. Angel Reese. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's basketball.

And on this new season, we'll cover all things sports and culture. Listen to Naked Sports on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio apps, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Black Effect Podcast Network is sponsored by Diet Coke. There's so much beauty in Mexican culture, like mariachis, delicious cuisine, and even lucha libre. Join us for the new podcast,

Lucha Libre Behind the Mask, a 12-episode podcast in both English and Spanish about the history and cultural richness of lucha libre. And I'm your host, Santos Escobar, emperor of lucha libre and a WWE superstar. Listen to Lucha Libre Behind the Mask on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you stream podcasts. Well, it looks like Boston has a two-game lead over the Mavericks in the finals,

and we're totally okay with that. One well. Usually you get more wells. Well, guess what, NBA fans? Just one well. Just a well. Just efficient today. but the action is heading back to dallas for the next couple games and we're not usually doesn't go well for people

from boston we're not caught we're not counting the maps out yet because the hopium is still there and we love embracing it and we'll discuss the first couple games what we can expect moving forward and more with journalists and nba analysts sarah todd on today's episode. Sarah Todd. I'm Miles Gray. And I'm Jack O'Brien. And this is Miles and Jack got wicked boosties, man. The whole episode, we're going to do it in this in honor of you, Boston. We're so impressed by your super team oh man get out get out guys it's it's happening anyway sarah todd welcome back to the show one of our probably didn't get the nuances of sorry oh sarah todd sarah todd look thank you guys for having me so much. God, it's such an honor

once again. We needed to have one of our favorite guests back on at this spiritual low point of my NBA fandom. Pure transparency. For the sake of transparency,

we are recording this on Tuesday afternoon. The series is currently 2-0. transparency uh for the sake of transparency we are recording this on tuesday afternoon uh the series is currently 2-0 uh by the time you hear this it may uh be 2-1 or 3-0 um but this is a bit of a time capsule yeah absolutely absolutely i mean before we get into the first two games sarah what were you like expecting heading into the finals? Were you like, everybody's like, it's the Celtics. It's Celtics to lose. It's theirs to lose.

Or were you, maybe you got another one. I mean, I certainly wasn't expecting for Chris Stapps to be an absolute monster. The best player in the league? Yeah. For his first game back. Right. That was wild. I didn't expect for Kyrie to crumble that hard in game one

and so i think it was about stuff that i wasn't expecting um i i have been on an apology tour lately just apologizing to all of the teams in the league that i didn't believe in basically until they were in their last two games uh it took me forever to actually believe in the Timberwolves and then I was like wow they're actually pretty good that worked out for them hey look at you guys all right and I I have not believed in the Celtics all year I was like yeah yeah they're number one in the East. They've done that before. In the East. I expect for them to choke at some point. Some of them are. I feel like I'm not ready yet, though,

to be on an apology tour for the Celtics because we have the most convoluted injury to Kristaps Porzingis in the history of injuries being reported that I've ever seen. And I wonder what that's going to do for them if they're like magic. You know what's wild? Przingis in the history of injuries being reported that I've ever seen and I wonder what that's going to do for them if they're like magic. They're saying it's the same one that Schilling had in the

like year that they came back from 3-0 down against the Yankees. Oh, when he was like in that full body suit. Yeah, the bloody sock. They're like this is actually the same injury and in another sport it could be like addressed with sutures, but because basketball,

you got them things flying all over in your legs, uh, to, I don't mean to get too medical on you guys, but you got things flying all over down there and them, them ankles and stuff. Um, it could be real bad.

It could be real bad. I have been of the opinion that this uh season is the celtics to lose that they're a super team um we called it last week we predicted uh boston m4 i think it was one of 52 predictions we somehow made yeah it was boston for celtics it could have been mavs in three i think was when was what I said. Three was also thrown out. Mavs in one, I think I said. But I really, my main thoughts after the first two games, we really needed Denver to win that game seven against the Wolves, it turns out.

It was fun when it started, but now it feels like garbage. This cannot be our champion. Yeah. But it's just so matchup dependent or everything was in the west so matchup dependent this year um and then it feels like we're just watching you know the team that happened to win the west run into a buzzsaw i feel like the the thing i've been most impressed with so far from boston is brad stevens and uh drew holiday but like just the team that has been assembled like the the difference between this team and last year's

celtics team like the best players on this team so far were not on the celtics and like i feel like it's taken us this long to be like, Oh yeah, they added two absolutely incredible players that are completely perfect for their weak spots and their weak spots are still there and weak, you know, like Tatum has not had a good series. That's always been the thing that we've pointed to as like the one chance the

rest of the league had against the Celtics is like, usually the team with the best player wins and the Celtics best player is not as good as usual super teams is best player. But I think, you know, we got the two bad games from him and I don't like, he's eventually going to wake up and have a good game. It's not just all going to be succumbing to Jason Kidd head games

like he did in game two. I guess that I feel the same way, but it would not surprise me for Luka to have a 40-point triple-double and for Kyrie to have 30 points and for them to absolutely knock them out of the park like none of that would surprise me it would not surprise me for the Celtics to have a bad game and for it to even up in Dallas yeah I think uh I think they had their bad shooting night in game two the Celtics did and they still managed to win the one thing yeah I think the fact that porzingis is probably

out for a game three and potentially the rest of the series does seem to give dallas a bit of a chance because like boston's defense has just been so suffocating so good and like even if you get past their perimeter defense which has been incredible like Porzingis is just gobbling everything up on the, in the middle. And that, that seems, that was the thing that was shutting off all hope for me as a rooting for anybody, but the Celtics, uh, NBA fan. like well you can't like all the supporting cast they're like not good enough to deal with this um but maybe without porzingis like things loosen up a little bit for for dallas but yeah that's a big that's a big if it's a big if i mean they just the way that even in game two when they're just like we just need to go at luca man just let's go at him he's got the sore knee and that's where like tatum although he wasn't great on offense He'd blow by Luca then everybody has to start rotating and then it's just like well

Let's just kick the ball around and until someone finds that corner three or whatever It was just it was just hard to like it was just really clinical. I was like they're doing it again They're going to look again guys Don't you see this and then even with the spacing right you have pressing it's like taking like lively out of the paint and stuff And you're just like oh man, they've man, they're just toying with them right now. And I just, I hope for me, on that hopium, that Przingis being out, hopefully will be something that just levels it up a little bit. Because, yeah, like, game two, I felt like if the Mavericks were going to win one,

it was that one. Celtics weren't shooting well. They were, the Mavericks were having a better time rebounding offensively and it just still wasn't just wasn't quite there and yeah the kairi part is also very it's kind of difficult to watch at the moment i thought it was i think i was incredibly incredibly disappointed because at the end of that game too like it started to get close again in those last couple of minutes yeah and it felt like, okay, this is your chance. And in those two minutes, you see guys like Drew Holiday and even throughout these two games, Drew Holiday and even some of their smaller role players,

Pritchard, Hauser, anyone who's on the floor, it's like they're killing themselves to get into those rotations and at least have a hand up as they're flying up to a guy, even if they're on a long closeout, even if they know they're not making it out. And in those last couple of minutes, Luka was pulled back near the nail or the elbow and just wasn't even trying to get out

to put a hand up in a guy's face. He just, like, Derek White shooting a three and no one's even attempting to pretend like they're going to close out. It's like, this is the finals, man. Do you actually want to win a title? And if you do, you have to put effort in those tiny little moments. Yeah. I thought like

Luka was about to do the LA Fitness clap when someone takes a jumper. Oh, man. Alright. He wasn't even putting in that effort. There were times when Kyrie was like, bro, get up there.

It was really, it was really, really difficult to watch, man. I, a lot, I was deflated for sure. For sure. I feel like this is a super team. Like when you look at how many, how good all the players are on both sides of the court, like this is, you know,

the metrics were not wrong during the regular season when people were like, oh, this Celtics team like has some of the best metrics we've ever seen. But who knows? It's, you know, a different era. Defense is a little different, but like they are, they're so good on both sides of the ball. But man, the Tatum thing is, I know it's getting a lot of coverage, but it, it does feel warranted because like, I mean,

talk Jack, he, people are calling him the fifth best player in the league. Like Celtics fans are saying he's the fifth best player in the league. He's been like the fifth best player on his team offensively so far in the finals. So I don't know. Like his defense is incredible.

Boston's defense in general is incredible. Like all of the Dallas supporting cast has turned into pumpkins after looking unbeatable. It's just so frustrating because I was rooting against Dallas in every series up to this point. And then I was like, yeah, but finally I get to root for L and watch him like take his opponent's heart

out and like feel good about that for once. And it's, uh, it's not been fun so far. Um, it's, it's been pretty rough, but I mean, I think it's a testament to, you know, the Celtics. It's like, oh yeah. Tatum isn't showing up. Yeah. You have, you met Derek white, Drew holiday.

And yeah. And then like, it's crazy that we talking about jaylen brown's like a tertiary character here uh i mean jaylen brown's been awesome yeah yeah i mean but like yeah but i feel like he fills that role that usually like people are like well you need that like player who's like alpha who's gonna like get it done in the clutch and it feels like you need a jaylen brown who's able to like get it done in the clutch. And it feels like you need a J Jalen Brown, who's able to step up when Tatum's not, but it's a bleak out there for people who aren't Celtics fans. Uh, it makes me think about Jason Tams contract.

Cause I think that it's got a player option for next season. And then like, and he's eligible for extension after that. If he disappears during the finals, then, like, is upwards of $40 million what Celtics fans want the Celtics to be paying him? Like, if it is about Jalen Brown, who is already going to be paid, like, I don't know, he's getting, like, $65 million in 2028 or something crazy like that. Yeah, yeah. something crazy like that like yeah yeah i just i can't imagine that like if you have the guy that's supposed to be the guy but he's not the guy do you want to pay him 40 45 million dollars right yeah i mean it seems like right now with the way the fans are talking and perzingis

potentially being out the rest of the series like everyone's like jt man you gotta you gotta step up yeah because it really is like it because perzingas was doing a lot of the heavy lifting and now i think this this will be a very interesting moment um but maybe we can talk about that after this break be right back i'm carrie champion and this is season four of naked sports where we live at the intersection of sports and culture up first i explore the making of a rivalry, Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. I know I'll go down in history. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Every great player needs a foil.

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And we're back. And I'm just realizing that by the time this episode drops, like like tatum will have had a 50 point game in game three i'm gonna have to go on another another apology tour yeah at the same time though if this was like anybody who he's mentioned next to like anybody who's like the best player on a championship team like that everybody would be doing the same thing like this is like what happens when you're in the finals

you're supposed to be the best player on your team and for two games you've been like you know just completely just out of sorts on yeah on offense like it just it feels It does kind of remind me of the Iguodala finals MVP where Steph just wasn't just couldn't really put it together in the finals. I could see

right now, if you had to give the finals MVP out after the first two games, it would probably be Porzingis and then maybe drew holiday, right? Like, wouldn't it have to be one of those two after the first two games? Yeah,

maybe. Yeah. Drew and dad, Derek white at times too. Like he was hitting those clutch threes. Like when they needed it to it's yeah. I know it's not Jason Tatum. Yeah.

It's not Jason Tatum is the point it's not jason tatum for sure but yeah perzingis so there's like okay what's going he came back from that injury the calf injury didn't seem to really mess him up and then he the what okay what exactly what what are we calling this injury again i know it's it's a mouthful. I saw that Sham's tweet. He suffered a torn medial retinaculum allowing dislocation of the posterior tibialis tendon, which sounds, it's an ankle injury. Well, it's a torn medial retinaculum allowing dislocation of the posterior tibialis tendon. Oh, retinaculum. Okay.

Okay. You know what? My bad. So it's nothing. Or it's everything. No, you should be fine. Okay. Okay. You know what? My bad. So it's nothing. Or it's everything. No, you should be fine. You should be fine. I mean, because right now, we saw even before this, he's like, I'll die out there trying

to win this championship. And then the next thing we saw from Joe Mazzulla is like, we have taken the decision to play out of Kristaps' hands. For Mazzulla to say that, it sounds like, it sounds like he's out. Like, out. I mean, it sounds like Chris Stapps clearly has the will to play, but from their perspective,

they're like, this could also render you, like, to lead to a much worse injury. But I don't know. I'm not a kinesiology major or a physiologist, so I'll just stop there. What is kinesiology?

Is that... It's like a study of the body's movement oh yeah god damn look at that yeah i wonder because i think that the bill walton vibes in game one and on the warm-ups and everything were so good that i didn't think that could be outmatched during the game like it was just like such a cool vibe that if Dallas had won, it would have ruined everything, right? And then that also being pushed along by, like, the resurgence and return of Kristaps. And now, like, on vibes only, like, what do the Celtics go into Game 3 with, right? They're like, well, we're in Dallas, and we lost Kristaps.

And honestly, I really think that it comes down to, like, JT we're in Dallas and we lost Chris Topps. Honestly, I really think that it comes down to JT, you gotta step up. JT, bro. It's so important. You gotta step up. They gotta, pal. I do think that's, I mean, he's the one with everything to prove and yeah, he's gonna be the focus

of a lot of media accounts. I guess he doesn't pay attention to that stuff, uh i mean he he seemed a little bit in his own head in game two like he would like miss a shot and like like look at his hands or like once he like made a shot and like looked at the sky like thank god like he was like mad at the basketball gods for having missed i mean he was missing some like layups that were like would like sit on the front rim for a couple seconds and then just like fall out so uh you got to feel for him a little

bit and not for nothing too like at least luca has the the benefit of not having finals experience right like that that's going to be a part of the narrative if this ends up with the celtics winning like no one's going to look at Luca and be like, Oh, you're a travesty. You're a failure. And be like, Oh,

that was his first time to the finals. Now he'll know what it takes on the other side of that. If the Celtics don't keep it going after this, the narrative is like, you've been here. You should know by now. Right? Yeah.

They've built a super team around Tatum. So they, they really do need to win this one. Like it feels like... It's okay if they don't though. It's okay if they don't. You know, I'm fine. I don't think it is for their fans. I think they're going to be...

For their fans, that's fine. I'm thinking purely for me, selfishly. And that's okay if they don't. Oh, you're going to be all right with that? I'll be okay with that. I'll be okay with that if they don't. Okay. That's fine.

You don't need 18 rings, man. You don't even have 18 fingers. You know what I mean? So don't worry about it. Yeah, for me, I'm fine if the Celtics lose the finals. I'm absolutely fine with that. But you think if they end up losing, the media is just going to absolutely eviscerate them, probably? Yeah, I mean, there's been questions about whether Joe Mazzulla is a legitimate head coach, right? And there's going to be questions about him if they lose the finals, there's going to be questions about the money that they have on the books for the next few years. And if it's worth it, like there's, there's going to be a ton of questions. It's really like hot seat for Celtics. And it like without that pressure on the Mavericks, I mean, it might help them if they had a little bit more pressure right like yeah if we played into the fact that like Kyrie maybe doesn't have as long in the NBA as he would have in the past few years right

like if you if you played into those kind of things but it that's not enough because they've got a rookie playing center and they have other young guys on the team and Lucas still so young and so like that it's just not the same pressure I think as the team that you know such a storied history you know the super team created around the jays yeah it's just a lot going in for them where it's like no matter what happens at the end of this yeah there'll be an inquest there's to luke's yeah it does feel a little bit like it's not as dramatic as the Warriors after they got Durant, but it feels a little bit like that where it's like,

you already had a team that was like good enough to get to the finals and win it. Like they should have won that one series against ironically golden state or, you know, I think they had the better team on paper. Um, against ironically golden state or you know i think they had the better team on paper um and then they put two people who have been the best players on the team through games one and two around them it's it does feel like all right guys well now what if you can't but i don't know why we're like they're gonna be the chances are they're going to be up 3-0

by the time this conversation happens. Because so much more has... Yeah, the Mavs have to do so much more. You know what I mean? Like, the Celtics, they can, like, not even get out of second gear and win this thing. Where, like, you need all those role players

on the Mavericks to do what they need to do. Kyrie has to come back and play, like, the person we saw because even in game two, I was like, okay, Luka's doing the thing where he's going to put in a lot of effort in that first half and then hopefully Kyrie can be like, look, I got you in the second. But when that's not happening,

you really are, you start looking around like, I don't know where it's going to come from. It's real tough out here. It's real tough out here watching them do it like this i gotta say it's like they've been stuck in second gear and it hasn't been their day their month or even their year you know that's what i'm saying that's what i'm saying all right let's uh equal opportunity offenders we should talk about the Lakers coaching Hunt.

Not going well. Incredible news for UConn recruiting. Yeah. Right. And was, did he allow the courtship to go on a little bit longer? So there is this big mainstream news story. Then he was like,

you know what? I'm coming back. Baby Huskies forever. Can you imagine being like a five-star high school recruit and being like, this guy just turned down $70 million from the Lakers.

Right, right, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's incredible recruiting. To coach in Connecticut. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Great recruiting. Personally, I think this was the best thing for both parties. Yeah. I don't...

We just haven't seen it work very often with college coaches going from amazing top of the heap success to the NBA. Stevens is the one example that kept coming up in my conversations about this uh my extensive conversations about this I was advising both sides uh no I just you know in talking to Miles and Jabari like Stevens comes up but I think when you're used to winning 90% of your games and they're only being like 30 something games and then you go and you have to deal with all the, you know, it's just a different level of player,

different level of personality that you're dealing with. And then you're also like having to lose so much. And it's just like, I, I think college coaches tend to be a little too tightly wound and if they're not like built too tightly wound they're probably like it's just like to a guitar tuned to a different frequency that's that's correct music wow right yeah let me tune my guitar to this scale frequency yes yes, yes. To a different scale.

Yeah, like you have to be so tightly wound that you can't let a single mistake go by. And then you go to the NBA and you're like, yeah, you just have to be good at dealing with losses a lot of the way. Yeah, with that Laker team, could you imagine the 2-18 start, the inevitable 2-18 start?

Right, right. With them, and then he's just like, what's going on with these guys? Yeah. Well, like, the Lakers need... Billy Donovan was the other example. The Lakers need one of two guys, right? Like, the Lakers need either a guy who's going to come in and be like the Pat Riley, Eric Spolstra tandem, where it's like, this is my team, LeBron, and you play the basketball

the way that we say it to play the basketball so you either need that guy with that amount of authority, P.S. Dan Hurley does not have that authority over LeBron or you need yeah exactly or you need the guy that's going to come in and be like oh I'm going to let LeBron coach the team for most of the time

and you know like I actually agree with a lot of stuff he says so in a way we're both coaching J.J.ick jj reddick yeah because like the second that podcast started i think a lot of lakers sounds like he's not he's like soft launching his head coaching job right now right because he's like wow they agree on everything and it sounds like this could be great but i think sam cassell would be a good pick i think jj would be a better pick than dan hurley personally that's my instinct i think it just yeah i don't know if i could handle the memes that again that would happen with a rocky start with jj reddick being the head coach but again

that's just emotions not necessarily what the results could be i think i like the way he looks at the game like sure but it's just like that lack of pedigree in terms of getting players to buy into what you need to do at least to be like a somewhat effective head coach that's where i'm a little bit like i don't know where you're where you're bona fides part of my hesitation with jj reddick as an nba coach is just that he there's never been an nba coach that looked like that like they're usually like i don't know they're all like pop or they look like dorks like you know like they just look kind of they don't they don't look like they're in a boy band and there's just something about him looking like he's like in a boy band that messes with my head

where i'm like nah i can't be him right so yeah I don't know who's got the full arm sleeve on that bench I don't know except for JJ I don't want to I don't want to feel bad for like James Brago right like I don't want James Brago to get it and then him be fired in two years and be like well we didn't really even see James Brago coach that's not

fair because that's how I feel a lot of the times with LeBron coaches that I just feel bad for them at the end of their tenure. Yeah. And so I don't think I would feel bad for JJ Redick. So you're just like rooting for whoever you don't mind seeing fail. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, yeah, this follows the time honored tradition of following up a great Laker coach with a potential college coach. Because yes, I am comparing Darvin ham to Phil Jackson. Because after Phil left, went after coach K and he wasn't into it either. So I get it. It's just a, it feels like a,

it's a tough, it's a tough one. The expectations are so high and you have like, there's so much reactionary stuff happening around to like, yeah, I don't know if you'll ever get the fair shot to be like, I just, just, I, you need time a little bit to get this thing to

happen, but we're sort of in the era of like, we need instant satisfaction and gratification or else it's a non-starter. Well, we got a little pickup basketball news and then we'll take a break. Two pickup basketball stories.

One, Steph Curry just out here destroying people. In Folsom, California. In Folsom, California. Pulling up at Lifetime. Yeah. Like, you know, playing at half speed. I don't know. I do wonder, like, is that beneficial

in any way to his skills other than, like, just going through the motions at like it reminds me of when in the offseason you know when the Sixers still had Ben Simmons and we would see like these

like half court workouts where he's like hooping in like three on three and like making shots and people are like Simmons been in the lab and then uh like yeah but it was different not that like steph needs any uh rehab or anything like that but it does just like how i feel like that would mess you up right like playing with people who stink well i think arty you're just such a hooper too you're like because apparently

he was he was in the area before his daughter's volleyball tournament yeah yeah so that feels to me he's like you know what i got my tights i got my shoes you know what let me just let me see if there's some action over here really quick because he even he even hit one of these rec center players with the night night pick a game i'm like yeah i was like steph come on man just leave them alone that's where i'm like you know what maybe he really is just like a just competitive animal like that he's like no man i hear a i hear a ball hitting parquet like my antenna goes up and i must be there and you know what anybody can get it some of those videos of like the people that were guarding steph at lifetime it's like they were like getting down in the low stance they were ready to go yeah they were like this

is my moment and i really respect that because if that had been me on the other side and like steph came in i'd be like well i'm just not gonna do anything i'm i'm not even gonna pretend like i'm guarding this it's not real or you do it for like the thing the thrill because you always when you watch these athletes you're like man honestly i would wonder what it would be like for me to try and guard Steph Curry. Just so I know like how ill-equipped my body is for that kind of task. And just be like, let me just see. Like, oh yeah, he blew right by me. Okay.

All right. That's what I thought. I think I've told this story before when I was in high school, probably at the height of, or near the height of like my basketball abilities. I was at the university of Kentucky basketball camp and Tony Delk, uh, eventually NBA 50 point score scored 50 in a game. Uh,

and is usually the example people point to as like, you believe that guy scored 50. I guess anyone can do it, but he was there and uh you know he was dribbling and you know just i i was like messing around and then i was like all right man i'm gonna try and like take the ball from him and it was like watching a close-up magic act like it was he just what he was doing with the ball just like putting it behind my ear like behind my back like putting it behind his back behind my back then producing a bouquet of

flowers i got like what he was like all right your turn and i would dribble and he would take it away from me so easily just yeah literally from you he He's like, give me that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Give me that. Like, I think you should leave. Exactly. Give me that. So I can't. Yeah, I can't imagine. Because there is also the genre of video where it's like, you know, I think one happened this summer with your boy from the Heat, Tyler Hero.

His name should be Kyle. Whose boy? Your boy from the Heat. Your friend i was like hi may your favorite player uh hi maybe tyler like getting cooked at a basketball camp and i'm sure like every one of those players on that court with him had seen that video and is probably extra annoying so that's probably a piece of context that we're lacking. There's definitely at least one player on the other team who is talking cash garbage to him the whole game.

Him doing a nice little betty by time is probably warranted. Can you imagine if Steph pulled up to your local pickup game and then he got... He's on the other team? Yeah. And you're like, no!

No, no, no! Yeah, yeah. I would get skins for shirts. I would just tear my shirt off. I'm like, nah, man. I don't know what you're talking about. I was skins this whole time. My shirt just broke.

I'm on his team. Why you got a Pikachu chest tattoo? I'm like, don't worry about it, man. Just don't let me get active in here okay this thing evolved and then there was also just a great clip of uh coach popovich cooking people at an la fitness now some say it wasn't coach popovich but uh yeah it wasn't but he looked a lot like him and just had the finest old man game oh yeah strong strong fine bouquet on the on this uh finely aged wine of a game i fully believe that kind of stuff would happen like i think it was maybe like 2013 24 uh 2014 15 something like that. I watched Jerry West, who even at that point was old.

And he was... There was like a... I think Steph Curry was having a camp. He was in Golden State. There was a bunch of kids around. And as he's talking and explaining how to shoot the perfect free throw, he's just standing at the free throw line

and one-handing free throws in just over and over again as he's explaining it. Not even looking at the rim. Yeah, not even eye contact with each making 20 in a row just looking at the kids like this is how you do it and yeah i was watching it i was like these seven-year-olds do not understand the beauty of what is happening oh he has magic powers yeah they're like how is camp you're like this old guy kept shooting free throws and talking to us and it was it was boring you're like dude what do you know there's jerry all right sure

there's a scene in uh blue chips where bob koozie and i think nolte are having a conversation i think koozie plays the athletic director and he's just banging free throw after free throw like as they're having a conversation like like casually and like barely move it. Like, it doesn't even look like he's trying or like moving his body. And Nolte is like, you ever going to miss? Yeah.

We're going to miss one of these Bob. You're going to miss. And that was like real. Like he was during the course. It was like, yeah. Cause that wasn't there. They're like,

he just literally wouldn't miss during the filming. Yeah. Like he couldn't, we asked him to try to miss. And he was like yeah you know because that wasn't they're like he just literally wouldn't miss during the filming of it yeah like he couldn't we asked him to try to miss and he was like i don't know what you mean sorry yeah sorry good luck i know i missed one like back in the 50s once but uh this yeah i can't i can't um did you ever you know do you do you remember they made uh like skybox made blue chips trading cards when the movie came out did you ever you know do you do you remember they made uh like skybox made blue chips trading cards when the movie came out did you ever have a pack of those yeah i remember his character is called vic roker because i remember having that and being like i got this like old dude with a card yeah yeah i want i want boudreaux you know what i mean yeah uh but no yeah yeah they had like a whole thing uh like there were all these cards i don't think they're worth much anymore.

This portion of the podcast is only for the olds. Yeah, 100%. Hey, man. Skybox trading cards? Do you remember Beckett Magazine? The blue chip, like the blue light special. It's only for the olds. Blue plate.

Blue plate. Blue plate. Blue light. Blue hair. You know? Thank you. It works for us all. No Marge.

No Marge. No Marge. Should we take a quick break and come back and do the rapid fire round? Oh, yeah. All right. We'll be right back. I'm Carrie Champion, and this is season four of Naked Sports, where we live at the intersection of sports and culture. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry.

Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. I know I'll go down in history. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Every great player needs a foil. I ain't really near them. Why is that? Just come here and play basketball every single day, and that's what I focus on. From college to the pros, Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's sports. Angel Reese is a joy to watch. She is unapologetically black. I love her.

What exactly ignited this fire? Why has it been so good for the game? And can the fanfare surrounding these two supernovas be sustained? This game is only going to get better because the talent is getting better. This new season will cover all things sports and culture. Listen to Naked Sports on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

The Black Effect Podcast Network is sponsored by Diet Coke. In a galaxy far, far away. No, babe, that's taken. We're in our own world, remember? Right. In our own world. We're two space cadets. And totally normal humans. Sure, totally normal humans.

Embark on a journey across the stars, discovering the wonders of the universe one episode at a time. We'll talk about life, love, laughter, and why you should never argue with your co-pilot. Especially when she's always right. Right. And if we hit turbulence, just blame it on Mercury retrograde. Or Emily's questionable space piloting skills. Hey! Join us on In Our Own World for cosmic

conversations, stellar laughs, and super corny dad jokes. Listen to In Our Own World as a part of the My Cultura podcast network available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And don't worry, we promise to avoid any black holes. Most of the time.

Do you ever wonder where your favorite foods come from? Like what's the history behind bacon-wrapped hot dogs? Hi, I'm Eva Longoria. Hi, I'm Maite Gomez-Rejon. Our podcast, Hungry for History, is back. Season two. Season two. Season two. Are we recording?

Are we good? Oh, we push record, right? Okay. And this season, we're taking an even bigger bite out of the most delicious food and its history. Saying that the most popular cocktail is the margarita, followed by the mojito from Cuba, and the piña colada from Puerto Rico. So all of these Latin cultures.

We thank Latin culture. There's a mention of blood sausage in Homer's Odyssey that dates back to the 9th century B.C. B.C.? I didn't realize how old the hot dog was. Listen to Hungry for History as part of the My Cultura podcast network. Available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And we're back. We're back.

Sarah Todd. Sarah. Oh my Todd. You really stepped in at this time. Oh my Todd, bro. Yeah, bro. Oh my Todd, bro. Yeah, bro. Oh my Todd. There we go.

LT, you have wandered into the rapid fire round of questions. The fastest question and answer segment of all the sports podcasts in history. Jack, or I will ask you a question. You will not think. You will just react. Give us your quickest, most concise answer. And if you slow the pace down of this segment, we will be rude. All right. I think that's clear. R exactly oh yeah the ire i'm so scared i know that you can you can't tell from the

smile but i'm really okay well i was just joking though we won't be rude it's just oh my god are you mad at me are you mad at me do you think be rude? Oh, my God. She hates us, Jack. She hates us. God damn it. She hates us. I knew we shouldn't have gone that hard, Miles. Yep. Nope. You're right.

All right. My way. Okay. Are you ready? Yes. Okay, good, Sarah. Brian, start the clock! This is going to be really fast.

Okay, so, Jack, do you want to go first? Should I go first? Yeah. You go first. Miles, why don't you go first you sure yeah yeah that's cool because i was just thinking bro oh no i guess i go first okay okay okay is this the fast part yes it is okay you can't be rude to us i can't handle that i cannot i can dish it out, but I cannot take it.

I'm a classic schoolyard bully. Look, Sarah Todd, you can go back in time to personally witness any NBA Finals matchup from history. However many games the series went, you got courtside tickets to every single one of them. Which NBA Finals matchup are you choosing and hopping in your DeLorean to go see with your courtside seats? I'm going to Larry Bird's first

championship. That's crazy because I started this thing out being like, yeah, Boston doesn't need any more titles. I don't care if they lose. I love Larry Bird. I would love to watch him win and the idea of how much it pissed off the Lakers. I would love to watch him win and just the idea of how much it

pissed off the Lakers. I would love to watch that. Oh, wow. Miles, that's your same answer too, I think, right? Yeah, yeah. I would say that too. If I had time travel capability, I would definitely use it to do that. That's what I would do. With tears in my

eyes, because I'm so happy about it. Oh my god. Miles is stone-faced, but there are just tears pouring down his face. Oh, no. This is courage water. This is courage water coming out of my eyes because I have so much courage. My body doesn't know what to do, and it expels it. My tears. Sarah, we all agree we want the Celtics to lose.

We don't want another Celtics finals. Correct. We've just given you the magical power to recast this finals with a different Western Conference finals team. Which team are you picking to defeat the Boston Celtics? I'm giving it to the Denver Nuggets. Yes. God, why didn't they win their game seven? I'm giving it to the Denver Nuggets. Yes. God, why didn't they win

their game seven? I know. Like, currently in today's age, I just love watching Jokic play basketball. It is so much fun. And if for no other reason than just to get his comments after, like, winning

the finals again and being like, well, job done. Go home, ponies. Wait, there's parade? That's my favorite. His face. The amount of disappointment when he was like, when's the parade? And they're like, it's Thursday. And he's like, no. No.

It can't be true. Can we do it now? Is there another Western Conference team that you feel like would have Actually given Given the Celtics a better game Than Dallas Because I feel like I got another one I mean I

What's yours? Go ahead Lakers Nah I'm not even feeling that bro I don't think I can handle it no the Los Angeles Lakers alright

I have a lot of fondness I have a lot of fondness for Mike Conley and so I was really hoping for good things for him because he's just not a more deserving person

in the NBA but you could put him on any team and I'd root for Mike Conley so Sarah what is one moment or game from NBA history you wish Twitter had been around for?

The Willis Reed moment would have been hilarious. Yeah. Probably a lot of really good memes for that one. Right. Jordan pushing off. Oh, my God. Oh, that would have been. twitter would be nuts oh the amount of like yeah i could already see just the whatever movie scenes people were going to intercut with

that that last shot it was gonna be a tragedy now see outside of utah that is known as the shot but inside of utah that's known as the push-. One of the things, when I first moved to Utah and started covering the jazz, uh, I had told people like, I just don't think I can ever admit that Jordan didn't push off. I think I just have to keep that to my, since then I've just become public enemy number one and admitted that Jordan didn't push off. So it's fine now, but. Okay. Yeah. The flu game is known as the flu game what's that known as in utah the perfectly fine pepperoni pizza game drama queen game yeah that would have been so good on twitter yeah i could see like yeah just making fun of brian wilson like years later he's getting

that tatted on his body like memento he's like Michael Jordan pushed off of you that game you're like exactly exactly Brian Wilson for the Beach Boys

I mean Brian Russell that's who Brian Wilson me too I was like why are the Beach Boys in this yeah man because at that time oh you don't know

they were also on Twitter yeah yeah those are called good vibrations by the way yeah those are yeah Because at that time, they were also on Twitter. Those are called good vibrations, by the way. Those are, yeah. All good vibes. We've seen teams like Memphis, OKC, and Orlando each take that next step over the last few years.

What is a team or two you think you expect to take a leap next season? It's probably like a cop out, but the Spurs, like just the, the Victor Wimbanyama ascendance into playoff basketball is what I expect. And then for the rest of the West to absolutely lose their minds over that. Yeah. Uh,

that would be very fun. I would, I mean, I'd like to see Orlando take another leap, right? Like that's a, that's a really fun team. That would be very fun. I'd like to see Orlando take another leap. That's a really fun team. I worry because I've never seen them do anything good since

Whiteheart and JJ Redick. I've never seen it so I worry that they just might not do it, but that would be a very fun team to do it. The Spurs and Orlando are the correct answers. So I worry that they just might not do it, but that would be a very fun team to do it. Well, the Spurs in Orlando are the correct answers. Sarah, you have once again, one rapid fire,

the rapid fire. Yeah. The only person returning champion. Thank you so much for joining us. Where can people find you? Follow you all that good stuff. You can find me on all the socials at nba sarah you can read my stuff at deseret.com that's d-e-s-e-r-e-t lots of e's and you can listen to my pod

unsalvageable it's a utah jazz podcast and we also take listener questions about advice life book recs it's the off season you guys so yeah no i get it no we're about to enter that too and we're gonna be talking about our favorite shoelaces of all time oh man yeah do you remember those remember or a little candy's first game dude oh recently we had a conversation about how the the playoff commercials uh timeout commercials are ruining our lives because now I am just like singing the Pepto Bismol theme song and I've got the old NBC themed

basketball slash SNL skit stuck in my head because Kevin Hart is dancing to it so I just sing ba ba ba ba ba basketball yeah got to man Tim Robinson give me the ball cause I'm gonna dunk it yeah high five well you can find me on

twitter at jack underscore o'brien how about you miles oh me you can find me at miles of gray there on twitter and you can also follow us at the hashtag mad boosties b-double-o-s-d-i-e-s for show links and updates and you can also find out about how to join the discord where you know occasionally pop in and say hey we got a last IES for show links and updates. And you can also find out about how to join the Discord,

where you can occasionally pop in and say, hey, we got a last-minute, very special guest. Any questions you think we should ask them? And you will soon find out. If you saw the Discord, we have a very special one coming up. But yeah, we encourage you to check that out. As always, thanks so much for listening. And by the next time we talk to you, there might be a new champ.

I think there might be a champ. We'll see. I think almost definitely there will be a new champ. I think so. Can I just say again, you guys have got mad boosties. Oh my God, thank you so much. Oh my God, did you hear that? And I have been just jumping like a pogo stick

this entire time, in no way begging for that compliment. You've just been spamming the chat window just copy pasta over and over and over and over again all right y'all we'll see you next week take care bye bye I'm Carrie Champion, and this is season four of Naked Sports. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. Every great player needs a foil.

I know I'll go down in history. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's sports. Listen to the making of a rivalry. Caitlin Clark versus Angel Reese on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast presented by elf beauty founding partner of iHeart women's sports.

I'm Carrie champion. And this is season four of naked sports. Up first. I explore the making of a rivalry. Caitlin Clark versus Angel Reese. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's basketball. And on this new season, we'll cover all things sports and culture.

Listen to Naked Sports on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio apps, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio apps, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Black Effect Podcast Network is sponsored by Diet Coke. Do you ever wonder where your favorite foods come from? Like what's the history behind bacon-wrapped hot dogs?

Hi, I'm Eva Longoria. Hi, I'm Maite Gomez-Rejon. Our podcast, Hungry for History, is back. And this season, we're taking an even bigger bite out of the most delicious food and its history. Seeing that the most popular cocktail

is the margarita followed by the mojito from Cuba and the piña colada from Puerto Rico. Listen to Hungry for History on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.