The Daily Zeitgeist - MJGMB #144: New All-Star Format and Celtics News with Noa Dalzell

Episode Date: December 18, 2024

Jack and Producer Jabari welcomed Celtics writer and podcaster Noa Dalzell to the show this week. The trio discussed all of the new format changes for All-Star weekend, the latest Celtics news and which EC teams could be the biggest threat to Boston's reign!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What's up everybody? Adnan Verk here to tell you about a new podcast. It's NHL Unscripted with Verk and Demurz. Jason Demurz here and after playing 700 NHL games, I got a lot of dirty laundry to air out. Hey, I got a lot to say here too, okay? Each week we'll get together to chat about the sport that we love. Tons of guests are going to join in too, but we're not just going to be talking hockey, folks. We're talking movies, we're talking TV, food, and Adnan's favorite, wrestling. It's all on Le Table.

Listen to NHL Unscripted with Verk and Demurz on the iHeartRadio app, TV, food, and then that's favorite, wrestling. It's all on Le Table. Listen to NHL Unscripted with Burke and Demers on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up everyone? It's Justin Penick from John Boy Media, the host of the Football Today podcast with Bobby Skinner and Chris Rose. We roll three times a week on Mondays, on Wednesdays, on on Fridays breaking down everything you need to know about the NFL We're gearing up for the NFL playoffs

I hope you can join us join in with us three times a week Listen to football today on the I heart radio app Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts and you will be glad you did We'll be glad you did. here to call it as I see it. And there's a whole lot of things catching my eyes these days. Listen to the I Am Rapaport Stereo podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, and wherever you get your podcast. Hi, this is Alex Kantrowitz. I'm the host of Big Technology podcast, a longtime reporter and an on air contributor to CNBC. And if you're like me, you're trying to figure out how artificial intelligence is changing the business world and our lives. So each week on Big Technology, I bring on key actors from companies building AI tech asking where this is all going.

They come from places like Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, and plenty more. So if you want to be smart with your wallet, your career choices, and at dinner parties, listen to Big Technology podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. He was the youngest undisputed heavyweight champion in boxing history, but his greatest fight was his addiction. I never knew what the spiral was coming up in my life. I never knew I was gonna go in that deep and just keep going and going and going.

And it just went out of whack. I just never knew that could happen. I'm like, there's hopelessness in how so many millions of people feel like that but have no help. Listen to this CINO show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Well, well, well, the NBA dropped a new All-Star format on us.

NBA Cup action will have concluded and we don't know what happened, but that's just our luck. That's how we do things around here. But by the time you hear this, you know more than we do, but we're going to still talk about the NBA. We're going to tap in with the latest Celtics and league news with NBA writer Noah Dalzow on today's episode. I'm Jack O'Brien and I'm producer Jabari in for Miles. And this is Miles and Jack and sometimes Jabari got mad boosties. Peace! the double team. Oh, night night.

Yannis with the take. Uh oh, look out. Noa Showtime. What you got Yannis? Welcome, Noa, to Miles and Jack and Sometimes Jabari Got My Boosties. How are you doing? I'm good. Thanks for having me. You are a CLNS and Celtics blog reporter. You're the lead WNBA writer for SB Nation and the host of you got Boston podcast Which I I'm told can be found on YouTube. Is that correct? Yes Yeah, you can find it on YouTube, Spotify, all the usuals. You started covering the Celtics professionally last year How I forget how did they do?

Was that a good For them it was a good first year on the beat. I have to say Me that it was not to get to not to get too comfortable with that's how the job is That's such a Boston thing to say don't get too comfortable It was I was actually it was everybody's first championship. So the entire beat, nobody had been there for 2008. So I had all these questions about the parade and you know, the banner raising, but nobody actually knew it. So we all kind of figured it out together.

Just picture him, Bob Ryan running up to you in the locker room as champagne is being spread beyond, don't get too comfortable. You look too happy. That's cool. Our listeners know this, but I root for everyone except the Celtics. I root for the field, which gives me like, yeah, exactly. I feel like that. I just anybody but the Celtics. I'm a not a huge Luca fan until last year's finals, at which time I'm like, come on, man, you're my guy.

Luke always have been, but it does feel like there's an inevitability about them. They feel as locked in as a defending champ has, how's it looking from where you're sitting? Do you feel supremely confident? And what's making it or not. Yeah, I would say I never feel like any one team is the obvious they're going to win the championship. We may as well pack it up and call it. Even the Warriors, I think if you go back to game seven versus the Rockets, everybody I think when you go back and you think about that dynasty, it's like obviously they were

going to win those championships, but they came a couple, you know, a couple shots maybe away from actually not repeating as champions. So I don't feel like there's an inevitability about this team. That being said, I would definitely pick them as my top choice and just being around the Celtics every day, like there's a supreme level of confidence and trust in one another and what they're doing and the system and Missoula that I just want that you have in most teams right now across the league, just because it's really, really hard

to have that level of continuity and to have that level of, you know, I mean, literally everybody came back from last season. So it's a pretty unusual situation. Yeah. Yeah, it's very frustrating. What's the feeling around poor Zingus? Cause I saw that he left Sunday's game, you know,

with some right heel pain. Yeah, so- Great hater question, Jabari, by the way. Great. Great. Hater question. No, no. Oh, you sound so confident. Have you? Are you aware? My. Well, come on. You know, my follow up is, I mean, Boston, maybe Boston may be the one team that they can sit back and let him just fully heal. Like they don't need to rush him back for any deal for anything.

I think I mean, they could have him not play the whole season and they'd probably be the number one or two seed in the East. Just still. The point is less about that to me. Like, I'm not worried about this heel injury. He'll be back whether he misses two games or zero games or four games. Kind of irrelevant. My concern is that he seems to really get hurt like every couple of games

that he plays. And last year, he actually had a pretty good stretch during the regular season that he was available to play and he really didn't miss much time. And then in the playoffs, obviously strained his calf, missed the entire playoffs, came back in the finals, literally two games later had a season ending injury that required surgery and six months of rehab and then comes back this year.

He's already sprained an ankle. Now he has this heel thing. So it just, I'm more concerned about his ability to withstand the entire playoff run than this particular thing. So it just I'm more concerned about his ability to withstand the entire playoff run than this particular thing, which seems pretty negligible. It's just his build. It's his style of play. You know, it's his length. It's just unnatural to be that size. You know, it's always the lower leg injuries with him. So I wonder, can they go for another playoff run without him? Because I did feel very confident last

season that they could. you know as you're older other teams are better other teams are potentially going to be healthier like that's the biggest concern I would say. Don't look now but the 76ers are eight and 16 and Joel MB's orbital fracture I'm told might heal pretty quickly so that's probably I know that's something that's in the back of your mind as a Celtics person, you know, what about the 76ers? That was my number one concern going into the year. I don't know how anybody could have foreseen it being this bad.

Other than Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, this bad, but all the Celtics people said when I picked 70s that Philadelphia is like, we looked at history like it literally never works out this way So, um, but I just feel like every year it's got it. It has to be their year at some point That's my perspective at least. Yeah, it turns out it doesn't it never has to be their year uh, I know I always every time like ESPN loves to do the like well historically this franchise has like You know a terrible record against this franchise. I'm always like, that means absolutely nothing.

Like none of these people were on the team for like half of those games at least. And then, yeah, it does end up bearing out a lot of the time, which drives me crazy as a man of science. And no, I know I feel guilty because every year I go into the year like messing with Jack, but not even mess with them, saying like, hey, you know what feel guilty because every year I go into the year like messing with Jack But not even mess with him saying like hey, you know what? This could be it this they've got to break that curse at some point. This could be it and Yeah for each of the last three seasons at least it's been it's been brutal good news is I'd never get carried away with myself

I'm always pretty pretty certain that it's going to be Doom as far as the eye can see. So something that I wasn't fully aware of until Jabari put in the doc today is how much Peyton Pritchard has stepped up this year. Like I saw, I kept, every time I would check in on the Celtics, I'd be like, man, they're playing Peyton Pritchard a lot. Like, I feel like that has to be a bad sign for the Celtics, maybe. No, it just turns out he's like gotten much better. He's putting up 16.5 points a game right now and shooting 43.5 percent on almost three,

three attempts a night, which is wild. What do you see? What has changed there? Yeah. So I'm a massive Peyton Pritchard fan. I think that he's actually been kind of ready for an increased role for a while. And he's just been behind a logjam of really talented guards on this team. There has not been a shortage of talented guards in recent years, but he's just somebody that everybody, no matter who you ask, they'll tell you he's an incredibly, incredibly hard worker. He works on all aspects of his game and he's always, and I know that's like what a lot of NBA players get, but you can tell it's different when people are talking about his work ethic. And, you know, he's, if not the best three point

shooter of the team, he's, you know, top two, top three. And this season he's been shooting lights out and he's like 43% from three on really high volume. He's second in the league on three pointers made this season. And so did I see this type of leap coming this season? I can't say that I did, but I famously tweeted last year that I thought that he eventually had all star potential. And I think at the time it was kind of a wild take. That is a wild take last year.

Yeah. But I think just looking at his game, you know, honestly, he's the best ball handler on the team. He's a, he's an excellent shooter and he's really a three level score. And that's when you started to see flashes of last season. And now you're seeing it in much higher samples. But, and then also assisted turnover ratio. There are a few guards last year that had as good of an assisted turnover ratio this he did limited time, but he performed in those minutes. And now you're seeing what

happens when you give him the reins. And a lot of these games guys are out, guys are resting. He's been one of the primary scoring options and he's produced. So I think we're seeing upward progression of several years and probably another leap will happen next season. Yeah. I feel like so, so producer Jabari out, like as recently as a couple of days ago, I think it was he was plus six thousand to be most improved player. He is now plus four thousand. So I guess I guess those odds are moving quickly, but that still feels like

really good value. I feel like the reason this is not a bigger, like more popular bet is just because people don't realize how many points he's putting up. Like I could not believe that he's putting up 16.5 points a game. Like I would, I would guys, we don't offer it. We're not like big gambling people, but like I would hop on this if I lived in a place where I could easily gamble. Like that's, uh, that, that seems like a good bet. Cause like that it's very unexpected just from like a narrative, just from like what he looks like perspective.

It's not what you expect. Um, so I'd hop on it. Yeah. I think the, the one challenge with the most improved is that it typically goes to an all star. I don't think he's going to be an all star this season, but generally speaking, like he really has like, this is what the award should be. I think not just somebody who was a first all star because they were a rookie who obviously wasn't going to be an all star. And then in their second or third year, they make that normal leap. Like he's actually doing it in like what the intention of the award is. There's other other great candidates as well. He'll probably win six men of the year. I don't think we'll give them both. So,

but generally speaking, yeah, I think he's made one of those leaps that I think he's probably getting some attention just because it's Boston. But, you know, if you haven't covered or him or watched him night and night out, it might just look like a point thing. It's really more than that. It's the defense, the ball pressure, it's all those other things as well. Yeah. I mean, just to put it in perspective, the odds on favorites so far, like just in descending order, Jalen Williams, Tyler Herro, Jalen Johnson, Dyson Daniels, Franz Wagner, Norman Powell, Evan Mobley, R.J. Barrett, Cade Cunningham, Jalen Suggs, Lamelo Ball, and then Peyton Pritchard. So there's a lot of people ahead of him.

I'm just saying, I feel like people should give that a look because I also think once people recognize what he's doing, it is going to have the same response that I just had, which is like Peyton Pritchard. He's that guy who like hits full court shots like he's, you know, nobody's nobody except you know, is looking for this from him. So I feel like, yeah, I don't know. People just keep an eye on that one. Although, yeah, it's a point well taken that he might be the sixth man.

But and also to, you know, to do his point, you know, which is an excellent point, I would hope at some point that award starts, you know, going to players like this, you know what I mean? You know? Players that have been ready, like as you mentioned, been ready for a larger role, get that opportunity, show their improvement, show their all around game.

And this isn't a knock against anybody that has recently won it, but to a certain degree, it's been high draft picks that maybe had an injury their first year, or maybe had a slow first year, but then certainly just made what you would expect to be the natural progression. I would like to see the league

find a way to start rewarding more of these type of guys. The person directly after him in the odds is Victor Wembingham, which is, I don't see that happen. That seems like a stretch. All right. Let's take a quick break so I can go find out why my son just broke into my studio. He just got home from school and pointed at his eye. So we're going to find out what happened to his eye and then we'll be back with more. We'll talk about the NBA Cup and some ideas they're trying out for the All-Star Game and any ideas we think they should give a shot to as well. We'll be right back. NHL Network Analyst and boy oh boy does daddy have a lot to say. I love you by the way on NHL Network. We're looking forward to getting together each week to chat and chirp about the sport

and all the other things surrounding it that we love, right? Yeah, I just met you today but we're going to have a ton of guests from the colliding worlds of hockey, entertainment and pop culture and you know what? Tons of back and forth on all things NHL. Yeah, you're going to soon find out we're not just hockey talk. We have all kinds of random stuff on this podcast, movies, television, food, wrestling, even the stuff that you wear on NHL now. You wish you could pull off my short shorts, Vorky.

That's sure to cause a ruckus. Listen to NHL Unscripted with Burke and Demers, the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's going on everybody? This is Justin Pennick from John Boy Media, the host of the Football Today podcast alongside Bobby Skinner and Chris Rose. We're rolling three times a week on Mondays, on Wednesdays, on Fridays, breaking down everything you need to know about the NFL. We're talking about the MVP race. Is Josh Allen going to pull it out? Lamar Jackson? Can Saquon Barkley even break the rushing record?

Can the Steelers keep up their momentum? We talk about everything. We break it down. Stats, analytics, and of course Chris Rose is bringing his perspective on being a pro in the media world as well. Listen to football today on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts and you will be glad you did. Hope you could join us for the postseason run. Hey everyone. I'm Madison Packer, a pro hockey veteran going on my 10th season in New York.

And I'm Anya Packer, a former pro hockey player and now a full Madison Packer stan. Anya and I met through hockey, and now we're married and moms to two awesome toddlers. And on our new podcast, Moms Who Puck, we're opening up about the chaos of our daily lives between the juggle of being athletes, raising children, and all the messiness in between.

We're also turning to fellow athletes and beyond to learn about their parenthood journeys and collect valuable advice. raising children and all the messiness in between. We're also turning to fellow athletes and beyond to learn about their parenthood journeys and collect valuable advice, like FIFA World Cup winner Ashlyn Harris. I wish my village would have prepared me for how hard motherhood was gonna be. And Peloton instructor and Ratchet Mom Club founder,

Kirsten Ferguson. And I remember going in there, hot mess. So listen to Moms Who Puck, a production of iHeart Women's Sports and Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. Happy holidays from me, Michael Rappaport. My gift to you is a free subscription to the I Am Rapoport Stereo Podcast where I discuss entertainment, sports, politics, and anything and everything

that catches my attention. I am here to call it as I see it, and there's a whole lot of things catching my eyes these days. Here's a clip from one of my favorite episodes. You are not a real fighter. You will never be discussed anywhere in boxing history. Ever. Fake Paul. The movie is The Apprentice, and the movie is about young Donald Trump and his apprentice, Roy Cohen.

Real character, obviously, both real characters. It kinda has a Scarface vibe to it, which I thought was very interesting. Listen to the I Am Rap Report Stereo podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, and wherever you get your podcast. Hi, this is Alex Kanczewicz. I'm the host of Big Technology Podcast,

a longtime reporter and an on air contributor to CNBC. And if you're like me, you're trying to figure out how artificial intelligence is changing the business world and our lives. So each week on Big Technology, I bring on key actors from companies building AI tech and outsiders trying to influence it. Asking where this is all going. They come from places like Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon and plenty more. On Wednesdays, I feature interviews with top leaders like Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky. Well, I'm in the details. Let me just say this. I actually stay in the details of the product.

And on Fridays, analysts Ron John Roy and I recap the week's news, looking at everything that's happened in the world of AI. That is an emoji red flag for me. I'm putting it up. Three emoji red flags. They told me they're going to fix Siri. for me. I'm putting it up, three emoji red flags. They told me they're gonna fix Siri. I dreamed, I dreamed. So if you wanna be smart with your wallet,

your career choices, in meetings with your colleagues, and at dinner parties, listen to Big Technology Podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And we're back. By the way, the Celtics are plus 200, which means that they have the odds. They have 33% odds of winning the championship, according to Vegas, which is pretty crazy for a team that won it last year.

And it is interesting, but it's like 33% still means they're most likely not going to win, you know? So that's what I always. Yeah. Doesn't feel like that to me personally. I mean, I said this last year, that like it, I was saying from pretty early on last year that it was like the Celtics first the field and I thought the Celtics had a better chance of winning than the field did. And I think the odds kind of reflected that last year, maybe not, but certainly they were statistically, unprecedentedly good.

And this season less so, but it also just feels like they're hanging back. And then when they need to, they will be dominant. I guess I do. I also want to just ask as somebody who's kind of watching all their games, who is the team that you feel like has given them the most trouble? Who do you think? Last year it was definitely Denver. And Denver beat them both times. And I felt like with Jokic, that's just, I mean, a nightmare matchup for anybody, but I didn't feel like they had a great answer for him. But hard to pick Denver now because they're just not seeming like the same formidable threat they were last year. Nobody that they have faced so far have I thought like, okay, this team, I actually would be concerned

in a seven game series because they haven't really gone out west yet. I think Oklahoma City is a team that's really impressed me. I'd be curious to see how they match up. I'll be in Oklahoma City next month. So we'll see how that looks. But outside of that, I mean, they've played like the Cavs a couple of times.

I know they've had a great season, but I don't really see them posing like a serious challenge in a seven game series Milwaukee I don't feel that way about either so it I think it would be a Western conference scene that they actually haven't faced so far this season. Yeah, that makes sense and that's great bulletin board material for the For the Cavs. I mean the Cavs do continue to you know, play really well and there is still in first in the East But it's close. All right.

Around the league, we got a new format for the 20, 25 NBA All-Star game. And it's interesting. It's complicated. We got, all right. So I'm just going to run through this. It's like a mini tournament with four teams, three games, and the games are two 40, so it's 24 NBA All-Star selections divided evenly into three eight player teams. And then there's a fourth team that is the Rising

Stars champion. So the right, I don't know how is the Rising Stars being played is just the same way that it always is with the rookies versus the sophomores. I believe so. And then whoever wins that is- Whoever wins that game would play. Then comes and plays as the fourth team in this tournament. There's three GMs, no, four GMs. Barkley, Shaq, Kenny Smith, and Candice Parker. And Barkley O'Neal and Kenny the Jet

draft their teams from a pool of 24 NBA All-Star selections. I do love that they're just like, these guys are like the best thing that we have going in the league. So we're just leaning into that. And then Candice Parker is GM of the Rising Stars champion. I feel like that kind of sucks. That's just probably, I don't know. I feel like they should have figured out who got which team and like picked draft order

live. Like that would have been more fun. And it feels weird that Candice Parker gets just the rising stars champion. Like doesn't that just feel like, why not? Oh yeah, you get that. Yeah. Why not just like make it a thing where you like, you know, have some way to determine draft order and one of the picks could be like, oh, I'm going to take the rising stars champion, which nobody, that would be the

thing that goes to the last pick. All right. Two teams meet in one semifinal, game one. The remaining two teams meet in the other semifinal, game two. And then the winning teams from game one and game two, you're never going to guess this advanced to face each other in the championship, which is game three. Uh, the winner of each game is the first team to reach or surpass 40 points,

which is very interesting. We've been talking about this in the context of what was the game that where the last like 30 seconds lasted 30 minutes? Was that I feel like that was Celtics caps, right? I think so. A bunch of fouls at the end here. Yeah, yeah. Just like a long and people were saying after that game, like we need to do there's like some acronym, right? For the thing where with four minutes left, the team that's in the lead, you just like put 11 points more than they have as the winning score.

And like you guys play to that. So this idea of playing to a fixed number of points has been in the air this season. I'm interested in it. I, my one experience with it in an NBA context was that all star game where they did it and it was a lot of fun. People played really hard and they're just like, I don't know. I don't know if it was just that it was something different at that time or what it was, but people were playing so hard. So I think this is interesting for sure. I don't know. Like if it's so interesting that like people are like, it's going to get

a number of a bunch of people to like tune in. People are speculating that's what the hope is because viewership has been, you know, between 4.5 and 7.5 million over the past decade. And in the 90s and early aughts, it was, you know, in the teens, but it's certainly like an interesting idea. I don't know. I'm all for it. What do you guys think? I think, I don't know. I mean, first of all, it's really just about whether the players are going to be competitive. And the only player I heard commenting about it today was Kevin Durant, who said he hated it. So again, you know, it just if they're going to play hard, it'll be fun to watch. I think we could go watch watch these Hall of Famers play pickup to no score. And it would be entertaining if they were playing 100%. Yeah, I don't know if this format incentivizes that. Maybe people will just tune in just because

they're curious because it's something different. But that's not sustainable, right? You just want to foster a more competitive environment. And I'm not sure why this format would foster that. I'm not sure what the rationale is of why a tour tournament versus a game would foster more competitiveness among the players. That's really what the question is, right? I mean, we had Obama calling out Tyrese Halliburton about this. So everybody's on board that they want to see a more competitive All-Star game. I think it's just, I'm not sure that this incentivizes that as much as some other ideas.

Piggybacking on that. I think that's where it is. Specifically, it's the competition. And in a weird way, even though it's a little bit funky throwing the rising stars in there, I think that's going to jumpstart at least more competition than we've seen. Because the young guys are gonna come out and try to play. And try to prove. And what happens if for example,

they actually win their first game. If that takes place, I think the championship game winds up being a competitive game as well. At the very least, I think it's an acknowledgement by the league that they had to try something. So while I don't think it's perfect or I don't know that it's perfect and I'm interested in seeing how it turns out, I do get the idea. I get the idea of wanting to heighten the sense of competition in some way. What are some other kind of ideas, wrinkles that you guys think could, could work, could be interesting, um, to,

to try out? Well, I'll throw one out there for you. You know, me, because it's a, it's a, you know, it's an exhibition game. I say, go full ridiculous, bring, bring in the rock and Jock, drop down a 20 foot basket at some point. I know they're not gonna do that, but the one thing I will say is, let me get a four pointer square,

or maybe from the logo. Throw something like that into the mix, it's gimmicky. Some people would definitely say it's silly, but for me, because I don't take the game all that seriously to begin with, I would be up for it just for the ridiculousness of it. Yeah, maybe they should play on ice, on ice skates too. Jabari, jeez.

So the WNBA has a four-point shot in their All-Star game. And I think it's cool. They don't make or take a whole bunch of them. Actually, they take some, but I don't think they've made a whole bunch in the All-Star game but certainly it's something that you have talked about with the NBA with you know the players range extending like it would it could be a cool time to just try out different things that like I think it's called the MDAL finish or whatever yeah yeah yeah

yeah but I think that's the same idea of like let's just workshop in things that maybe one day the NBA will want to adopt but again I think it's less about the gimmicks and it's more about getting player buy-in and obviously they haven't been able to get that. I don't know why I guess I was just alarmed because I'm like Kevin Duran has been really the face of or one of the faces of the All-Star game over the last decade. So why he wouldn't be in the room or engage like that's what that's why I guess what my concern was a little bit more but I would love to just see there maybe being some incentives for that for your actual team for the regular

season. Like I've been thinking about this with NBA Cup as well. It seems like the only thing that players care about is, you know, coming from these competitive, you know, playoff teams is their seeding and what seed they're going to have, whether they'll have home court advantage and the playoffs. And so is there a way that if you're on the team that wins the all-star game that maybe you you come back and it gives you half a spot up in the seeding i don't know but um i just think like the the more gimmicky that it gets the less it fosters competition and so it's on one hand it's like entertaining but really what people want to see is just guys playing hard because that'll be entertaining on up on its own i don't really understand why they

can't just play hard for one game. I really don't. I'm all about player empowerment. I'm pro player everything. This is the one issue that I don't really understand. But I guess, I mean, they've asked nicely and it hasn't really happened. So it's obviously a bigger question than just asking. I think they should have to put up the, you know, how in Fast and the Furious, they like put up your papers like the pink paper. They should just have to like play for their favorite car. You know, their favorite the pink slip of their favorite car because that gets it'll never happen because it'd probably be illegal.

But if it did, it would get like a pert because then you'd everybody be like talking about the players cars, you know, they'd be like, Oh, damn, like he had such a sick car. Devin Booker, also our game MVP for the next six years then, because he's like the one guy that we know. He's like, he's a car guy for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Like, I feel like that would be fun. Like you play for something of value and also like get to cover some aspect of some like weird little quirk of their personality.

I want to see them start messing with like alternate three point lines. I think that's an idea that like I've always thought is intriguing if different stadiums had different three point lines based on just, I don't know, what they wanted to do when they built the court, the same way that that baseball has different shaped fields. That's an idea that's been thrown out, especially now that three-point shooting is so bonkers. The other one that probably wouldn't work is for the WNBA, their All-Star game is great. And they have, this past year, they had the US Olympic team versus the world versus the

rest of the all-star field. And it's a much less globalized game. So it is mostly the American players. But even just I'm thinking of a team with Donovan Mitchell and Jalen Brown and Jalen Brunson and all these guys that didn't make the Olympic team go up against last year's Olympic team, like in some capacity. Right.

That would be fun. Like let's have some story. That would be so fun. More interesting than just random assignments and Shaq and Charles Barkley. I love, I love them. They're entertaining, but I think in a way it makes it adds to the gimmicky feel because it's like, you know, it's all for laughter and you know, highlights. Is this true? That's a good idea.

That's a great idea, especially like this year with like everybody feeling like this was, you know, the last hurrah for the Olympic team. There was all the like, you know, questions about are they the world champions or is the NBA team the world champions? I feel like hockey used to do this. I don't think they do it anymore, but I feel like that was that was the All-Star setup for hockey years ago. Like North America versus the world is that something like that? But like, yeah, I'd absolutely be here for it because quite frankly, while yes, I mean, it, you know, it, the NBA is an American game.

And we still have plenty of great American players that match up would be pretty good. You know, given the fact that, you know, right off the bat, the top five guys that are in the MVP conversation, no disrespect to Jason Tatum, five of the top six guys that are in the MVP conversation, probably are on the world side. Yeah. You could also, in my rules, so you could play for your car, you could play for a chain that is worth more than your car, or you could play for your Olympic gold medal. And it would be your opponent's decision on which of those you're playing for.

Taking your medal. Yeah. Just rip your chain off your neck. Let me get that. All right. In terms of the NBA Cup championship, you know, Giannis and the Bucks, this has been kind of, they've come on suddenly and looked really good. And it's kind of coincided with the cup.

I doubt that they were like, all right, guys, this is the NBA Cup. We've got to play for real now. I think they were trying the whole time and they started to figure everything out and put it together around the time. Yeah, started to get healthy around the time of the Cup. But, you know, Giannis put up 32, 14 and nine as they beat the Hawks to get to the finals. And then the Thunder pretty convincingly beat the Rockets 111 to 96 behind 32, eight assists, five steals from Shay. So it's going to be a good matchup that you guys have already watched, but I don't know.

Okay. See, like it's interesting. So I understand why the Bucks are like, you know, really focused and locked in right now because they had such a tough start to the season and everybody was doubting them right out of the gate. It's kind of cool to see OKC locked in at this level for the NBA Cup though, you know, the in-season tournament. It's I feel like they are not messing around. They're the not messing around crew to quote

the TNT version of heat. But what do you expect to see and have you guys been enjoying the cup? Yeah, I would say I actually think either, you know, I can really see you going either way. I love Oklahoma City being in this. I loved how last year was kind of a platform for a player like Tyrese Halberd and the Pacers to kind of ascend on the national stage. And, you know, he was doing kind of a whole media tour. I hope, you know, the Thunder are kind of getting that same boost. And it's honestly more fun to see those kinds of like up and coming teams that haven't had big playoff moments. We haven't seen this Thunder Corps in a big, you know, really significant playoff moments. I'd rather see them there than seeing Golden State there as much as Golden

State's fun to watch and certainly would be good for the ratings and everything. But yeah, I think, you know, the group the group stage, like the pool play games were kind of tough to watch. I don't love the courts. I think that some of it is kind of gets lost. Like people don't really there's not that much hype around like the Tuesday games and all that. But I will say I felt like once you were in bracket play,

like you could tell the players approach those games with a lot of intensity. They can say they care about it or they don't, but we know from watching them whether or not they're bought into something. And I did feel like all of those bracket play games actually were super competitive and really fun watches. So in that sense, like the league got some really exciting games in November, December that probably otherwise wouldn't have happened. **Jay Stommers** NBA Cup would be a good time to introduce some of the stuff we were talking, like try out the weird three point lines or I mean they're already messing with weird courts. Why not mess with a weird misshapen three point line?

I'm just saying. And since we know the league listens to every episode, literally listens to every episode, feel free, feel free. This is our blessing to you. Just put your lawyers in touch with mine and we'll work it out I won't and you want to make money. Yeah points on that. Yeah, I got you Points on the back end. All right, let's take one more break We'll come back for the rapid-fire round of questioning to close out

We'll be right back We'll be right back. Boy oh boy, does daddy have a lot to say. I love you by the way on NHL Network. We're looking forward to getting together each week to chat and chirp about the sport and all the other things surrounding it that we love, right? Yeah, I just met you today, but we're going to have a ton of guests from the colliding worlds of hockey, entertainment, and pop culture. And you know what? Tons of back and forth on all things NHL. Yeah, you're going to soon find out we're not just hockey talk. We have all kinds of random stuff on this podcast, movies, television, food, wrestling,

even the stuff that you wear on NHL now. You wish you could pull off my short shorts, Virky. That's short of Kazo Ruckus. Listen to NHL Unscripted with Virkin Demures, the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's going on everybody? This is Justin Pennick from John Boy Media, the host of the Football Today podcast alongside Bobby Skinner and Chris Rose.

We're rolling three times a week on Mondays, on Wednesdays, on Fridays, breaking down everything you need to know about the NFL. We're talking about the MVP race. Is Josh Allen gonna pull it out? Lamar Jackson? Can Saquon Barkley even break the rushing record? Can the Steelers keep up their momentum?

We talk about everything. We break it down. Stats, analytics, and of course, Chris Rose is bringing his perspective on being a pro in the media world as well. Listen to football today on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts and you will be glad you did. Hope you could join us for the postseason run.

Hey everyone. I'm Madison Packer, a pro hockey veteran going on my 10th season in New York. And I'm Anya Packer, a former pro hockey player and now a full Madison Packer stan. Anya and I met through hockey and now we're married and moms to two awesome toddlers. And on our new podcast, Moms Who Puck, we're opening up about the chaos of our daily lives between the juggle of being athletes, raising children, and all the messiness in between.

We're also turning to fellow athletes and beyond to learn about their parenthood journeys and collect valuable advice. like FIFA World Cup winner Ashlyn Harris. I wish my village would have prepared me for how hard motherhood was gonna be. And Peloton instructor and Ratchet Mom Club founder Kirsten Ferguson. And I remember going in there hot mess. So listen to Moms Who Puck, a production of iHeart Women's Sports and Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment

on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. Happy holidays from me, Michael Rappaport, and my gift to you is a free subscription to the I Am Rappaport Stereo podcast where I discuss entertainment, sports, politics and anything and everything that catches

my attention. I am here to call it as I see it and there's a whole lot of things catching my eyes these days. Here's a clip from one of my favorite episodes. You are not a real fighter. You will never be discussed anywhere in boxing history. Ever. Fake Paul. The movie is The Apprentice, and the movie is about young Donald Trump

and his apprentice, Roy Cohen. Real character, obviously, both real characters. It kinda has a Scarface vibe to it, which I thought was very interesting. Listen to the I Am Rapaport Stereo podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, and wherever you get your podcast. Hi, this is Alex Kanczerowitz.

I'm the host of Big Technology podcast, a longtime reporter and an on-air contributor to CNBC. And if you're like me, you're trying to figure out how artificial intelligence is changing the business world and our lives. So each week on Big Technology, I bring on key actors from companies building AI tech and outsiders trying to influence it.

Asking where this is all going. They come from places like Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, and plenty more. On Wednesdays, I feature interviews with top leaders like Airbnb CEO, Brian Chesky. Well, I'm in the details. On Wednesdays, I feature interviews with top leaders like Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky. Well, I'm in the details. Let me just say this. I actually stay in the details of the product.

And on Fridays, analysts Ron John Roy and I recap the week's news, looking at everything that's happened in the world of AI. That is an emoji red flag for me. I'm putting it up. Three emoji red flags. They told me they're going to fix Siri. I dreamed. I dreamed. So if you Three emoji red flags. They told me they're going to fix Siri. I dreamed.

I dreamed. So if you want to be smart with your wallet, your career choices, in meetings with your colleagues, and at dinner parties, listen to Big Technology Podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And we're back. And before we get to the rapid fire, we're out of questioning. Noah, we do like to pick a game of the week. We didn't do it this past week because we didn't know what the matchups were going to be at the time we recorded due to the NBA Cup. But we're trying to choose game for all of us to watch with our listeners this week and talk about next week. For some reason, the Celtics keep showing up on this list.

But, all right, so Friday we got Bucks at Cavs. That is on NBA TV, folks. Saturday we got a couple options. We got Warriors at Wolves or Clippers at Mavs. And then Monday we got Celtics at Magic. Which of those do you think we should be checking for? It's tough. You know, obviously, I have a Celtics bias, but the Magic are missing. They're two best players right now.

So, yeah, yeah, I guess we can't choose that one. Palo's back practicing, but he's not quite back in the lineup yet. Yeah. I mean, that box at the cows is kind of looking good to me. That's also an NBA TV game. So all our listeners could watch it. That might be the one, honestly. I do feel like the Bucks have their turnaround has been pretty fun to watch. And obviously the Cavs are, the Cavs are really having a dominant season so far. I don't want to say it's going under the radar because everybody knows about their 17-0 start,

but I feel like it's a little bit going under the radar how dominant they've been. So yeah, an opportunity to check them out versus another good Eastern Conference team seems like a good game. All right. That was a warm up and you got it right. So congratulations on answering that one correct. And now you are in the rapid fire round of questioning. Oh, you're in the hot seat. You're in the hot zone. This is just the fastest question and answer segment in podcasting sports or otherwise. We're gonna fire a question to you. We just want you to rapid fire, round it back to us.

No thought, we're idiots. We might accidentally distract you, but you can't, you gotta stay on focus. You gotta stay on topic. Yeah, it's- And if we dilly-dally, it's literally your responsibility to keep us on focus. You got to stay on topic. Yeah, it's in. And if we dilly dally, it's literally your responsibility to keep us on track. So dilly and or dally. It's on you.

All right. Brian starts the clock. There we go. All right. Thank you. We're in the editor. Okay. Jabari, you want to start?

You want to start? Sure. I will. I will jump us off. Okay. All right, Noah, give us your ultimate NBA Jam combination and you can mix old school with current if you want. NBA Jam? Yeah. This is the generational thing I just realized. I'm afraid I already have some challenges here. So there was a video game. That was the right answer actually. NBA Jam?

Yeah, it was an old video game. You mean play basketball? No. White man, shout out to White man. Another old reference, old and lost reference. But basically there was an NBA video game that we all played growing up in the 90s. It was two on two. Two on two.

And they generally would pick the two best players on the roster. But for our game, you can pick past and present players. At the time, I believe the Celtics had Dee Brown and Dino Raja. Yes, it was. It was Dee Brown and Dino Raja. It was not the glory days of the Celtics. So if you could pick any two-on-two team for your NBA jam combination across the history of the Celtics. I'm just picking two players. Two players. Two guys. Yeah.

That you would want in your two-on-two tournament. Yeah. Okay. I'm going to go with Paul Pierce and Bill Russell. Hey, okay. Paul Pierce and Bill Russell is a great... That is a great answer. That is a great answer. That is a great answer. Wrong answer. Thinking about

like the logistics of a 2-2 game, but I just, I feel like- You know what? So something that you didn't consciously know, but unconsciously anticipated is that you can goaltend in NBA Jam, basically. Yes, you can. It would make Bill Russell would be unstoppable. Like he would be the greatest NBA jam player of all time, as long as he had somebody who was good and could both dunk, which is an important part of it, and also shoot threes. And you. Yeah. So you've actually nailed that one.

Unfortunately, I was really rooting against you. Some of the stuff you've said about the Celtics has really broken my heart. But unfortunately, you got that one right. But let's see what you do with this. This is a segment that Jabari added to the doc called We're Sorry for Jack, Son, We Are for Real. I believe it's supposed to be, we're sorry for Jack, son, we are for real.

Brian? Oh, that's Brian. Brian, the editor. Anyways, just a couple of things that happened to my sixers this week that I just want for people who aren't paying attention. Joel Embiid broke his orbital bone again. And for context, there have been 16 such fractures in 15,000 seasons of basketball played by players in the NBA. There's been 16 total.

Three of those have been Joel Embiid. So this man just has a very breakable orbital bone. So that was bad. And then soon after we learned that rookie Jared McCain has torn his meniscus and is out indefinitely. I saw a fellow Sixers fan respond to that with the onion meme, man who thought he'd lost all hope loses last additional bit of hope he didn't even know he still had. And that is exactly what that news felt like to me. My question to you, Noah, is somebody who pays attention to a winning team whose success sometimes feels inevitable.

And, you know, as somebody who roots for a team that has the opposite of that, is it tanking time? Is it tanky time for the 76ers? Should they just be like, ah, and beads, orbital fracture worse than we thought? And just go in for Cooper flag? What do you think? I will add an additional detail that if their pick is anywhere outside of the top six, it goes to okay. Sorry, I just started crying there for a second. It goes to okay. I say no, no to the tank because it is still early on.

If I had information that Joel Embiid is not going to be able to have a healthy season here, if the situation with his knee is worse than we know, then maybe you do. But at the end of the day, you have Paul George, Tyrese Maxey, and Joel Embiid all on the same team in a really weak Eastern conference. And as much as things have sucked so far, like Milwaukee looked terrible a month ago and things look a lot better for them. I actually picked Philadelphia as the number one threat to Boston in the Eastern Conference. I still think I still understand why I did. Obviously, they've had a bad shake of things, but you don't want to tank when you have that much talent on your roster, especially with

the ages that they have. They're just paying too much money for guys like Paul DeWard, Joel Embiid, to to just watch the season. This early on, I would say it's premature. And Jared McCain, I love Jared McCain, it sucks that this happened, but he wasn't initially gonna be a major contributor this year, so I think he gotta maybe make some trades this season and figure it out.

But I wouldn't go in that, just from the fan perspective, like it's just, it's bad basketball karma to do it so often. And maybe we're finding that out right now. It would be them. Yeah. Yeah. All right. One more for you. If we're in town for one night for a game and need to grab a bite to eat, give us one spot. They have to check out in the Boston area. Your entire reputation as a region is pending on this choice.

I'm quite literally probably the worst person you could ask because I'm vegan. So now like, that's okay. Do I push one of my vegan restaurants, give them a little bit of a platform? Yeah, one of each. Okay, so I would say Mai Tai Vegan Cafe, if you're a curious person, it's close to TD Garden, it's where I go sometimes before. It's really good Asian food. And then thinking something that's a little bit more mainstream.

Quiznos, okay, cool. I've never paused before a question until you guys said it was rapid fire. Now suddenly every time there's a... No, it's a power play and I appreciate it. It is, no, it's not that. It's when they tell you on the touch of the painting and then you just feel like you have to.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's like a right next to the garden. There's like a food hall. So that would be the food hall at the TD guy and that guy. All right. Is there illegal seafood in there? Is there illegal seafood in there? Not right there, but a little mistake. River reference.

That would be my local ad for the food hall. Me as Sean Penn outside of the food hall saying, is there illegal seafood in there? Very dark reference. Very, very. No, that's probably before your time. But anyways, Noah, I'm just getting word from our judges that you got every one of those answers exactly right. Um, so congratulations. Uh,

it was wonderful having you on miles of Jack and sometimes Jabari got mad boosties. Where can people find you, follow you, uh, read you all that good stuff? Yeah, you can find me on Twitter X blue sky, all that, just my name, no one else L. Um, and then all my writing is on SB Nation, SBNation.com. And I have a podcast on YouTube called You Got Boston. We also have a post game show after every Celtics game on CLNS media. So pretty much you can find me on Twitter. I spam everything else over there. There you go. All right. Well, thank you so much for joining us. You can find me at Jack underscore O'Brien on Twitter

and Jackob1 on Blue Sky, Miles is at Miles of Grey on Twitter and Blue Sky. Jabari, where can people find you? On Twitter, Jabari A. Davis and on Blue Sky where I hang out most of the time, Jabari Davis NBA. And hashtag Matt Boosby's for show links and updates and be sure to join the conversation on our discord Which you can you can also find the link for when you search?

Hashtag Matt boosties and that's another one in the book Wow Swift did it from way downtown. We did it. We did it. They said we couldn't do it and we did it. That's right We'll be back with a special holiday year end episodes for the next couple weeks and then back in the new year. Hope everybody has a great, safe holiday and that all of your teams go undefeated. We'll talk to you all in 2025. Bye! Bye! What's up, everybody?

Adnan Verkan here to tell you about a new podcast. It's NHL Unscripted with Verkan Demers. Jason Demers here, and after playing 700 NHL games, I got a lot of dirty laundry to air out. Hey, I got a lot to say here too, okay? Each week we'll get together to chat about the sport that we love. Tons of guests are gonna join in too,

but we're not just gonna be talking hockey, folks. We're talking movies, we're talking TV, food, and Ed Mad's favorite, wrestling. It's all on Le Table. Listen to NHL Unscripted with Virkin Demers on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up everyone? It's Justin Penick from Jumboy Media, the host of the Football Today

podcast with Bobby Skinner and Chris Rose. We roll three times a week on Mondays, on Wednesdays, on Fridays, breaking down everything you need to know about the NFL. We're gearing up for the NFL playoffs. I hope you can join us. Join in with us three times a week. Listen to football today on the iHeartRadioApp, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts and you will be glad you did.

Happy holidays from me, Michael Rappaport, and my gift to you is a free subscription to the I Am Rapaport Stereo Podcast where I discuss entertainment, sports, politics, and anything and everything that catches my attention. I am here to call it as I see it, and there's a whole lot of things catching my eyes these days. Listen to the I Am Rapaport Stereo Podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, and wherever you get your podcast. Hi, this is Alex Kanczewicz.

I'm the host of Big Technology Podcast, a longtime reporter and an on air contributor to CNBC. And if you're like me, you're trying to figure out how artificial intelligence is changing the business world and our lives. So each week on Big Technology, I bring on key actors from companies building AI tech, asking where this is all going. They come from places like Nvidia, Microsoft,

Amazon, and plenty more. So if you wanna be smart with your wallet, your career choices, and at dinner parties, listen to Big Technology podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. He was the youngest undisputed heavyweight champion in boxing history, but his greatest fight was his addiction. I never knew what the spiral was coming up in my life.

I never knew I was gonna go in that deep and just keep going and going and going and it just went out of whack. I just never knew that could happen in my life. It's hopelessness and how so many millions of people feel like that but have no help. Listen to The CINO Show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.