The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Is It Time For Nikola Jokic To Demand A Trade? | Hour 1

Episode Date: May 1, 2026

"That's my lover. That's the woman with whom I lay bare." Dave Dameshek's wife just gave him some truly alarming information, but we have to get to Nikola Jokic's warning to the Denver Nuggets after Jaden McDaniels, Rudy Gobert, and the Minnesota Timberwolves punked their team. Also, if the Boston Celtics blow a 3-1 lead to the Philadelphia 76ers, will it be time to rethink the legacy of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Joe Mazzulla? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is the Dan Levitart show with the Stucats podcast. This episode of the Dan Levitard show is presented by Draft Kings. Draft Kings, the crown is yours. Wow. What's that song from Projum's like, yeah. All of them. It's all of them. That's all of them.

Yeah. I think that's creed, actually. No, no. That's not. No, same thing. No, that was a heavily inspired. Yeah. I just hurling insult.

Yeah. Seems my life. I'm going to try. John Zaslow. Now that's a good song. Oh, we have that. I love that one. Is that the same one of?

Dave, have you ever heard that? Have you ever heard the Pearl Jam hit John Zaslo? I haven't. But can I be honest with you? I'm a little down in the dumps. And I don't know if I'm really spiritually ready to press forward. Is it because you're a fledgling hockey franchise once again failed? Well, I mean, that's silly.

And I don't think you hurt my feelings. Live life in the rear view. No, well, listen. No, my wife just hurt my feelings. I mean, I just, during the break, I left here and I went into the kitchen where I met my wife, who just got out of bed, apparently. And she said, you know, I just, I could hear you through the floor, you know, yelling while I was asleep. In fact, it awoke me from my slumber. And she said, I just had a dream about a goose.

I was dreaming about a goose and I woke up and I realized, no, it was just your voice going, mah, man, man, man, man. That's all I could hear through the floor. That's my lover. That's the woman with whom I lay bare. And she's comparing me to a goose.

Yeah. I put myself on top of that woman on more than one of you. Oh, geez. Yeah. She's on top of me. and she just and she just compared me to a goose I don't know She must hate Friday

I'm shocked that's the first time Talk about Pearl Jam all you want Man Man Love that song Well I don't know if we're going to make you feel any better here Because I do want I do want to know how you experienced

Two nights ago Dave As a huge Pittsburgh Penguins fan You were out on them You didn't even like hockey anymore Was not an important sport when the penguins were down three games to none, but then they win the next two, and they're a road win.

They're a goal away from forcing a game seven back in Pittsburgh. So I'd imagine that they sucked you right back in. So how did you experience the sudden death of your season? Listen, we like to have fun. And yes, I like to puff my chest out about championships won in the past, but they are getting, let's be honest here, a little far in the rear view mirror for me. but maybe it's a rationalization on my part.

Something that's happened to me in the last decade, maybe 15 years, is some of my favorite seasons are watching a team that I know has no chance of winning the title. That's what happened with these Pittsburgh Penguins. The achievement was making the playoffs. They were supposed to be among the worst teams, if not the worst team, and all the NHL really knows what I'm talking about. And so they exceeded expectation. This was a borderline miraculous run, given the collective thoughts about how good or how bad this team was going to be.

All that being said, down 03, who gives a crap, the hated Flyers, let's turn the page to baseball, except then I have to watch the Pirates. So then that slowed me down a little bit. But when they got at the 3-2, I started to entertain. It would mean as much to me to rally from down-0-3. Because you hate Philly. hated against the hated Philadelphia Flyers especially. If they could put that level of shame and pain on Philadelphia, oh, it would have tickled me something.

And I think really, at that point, if that would have happened, the Flyers would have just had to fold up shop and no longer be an organization. Wow, they would have contracted. Well, no, I don't know about that. I think as an empathetic organization in the same state, maybe the penguins might have absorbed them, sort of like the Stiegel's back in WW2. Maybe we could have done them a solid like that. But there would be no coming back from that as a Flyers fan.

I mean, as it was, it doesn't mean anything. It doesn't mean that the Penguins deserve to win or any of that. But they dominated not just the overtime, but really they had the much better the play for literally like the last four games of the series. And it just didn't lead the victory. and so I'm bummed out, but I am, I can temper my sorrow there by recognizing what I knew before the playoffs. They weren't going to beat the Carolina hurricanes anyway. I just would have loved for them to have vanquished the Philadelphia Flyers and disgraced them. Instead, I'll just say this.

Man, man, man, man. I'm a goose. From my lady love, the mother of my children. She compared me to a bird. The woman you lay bare with. that's that's the one that's the one so it's a good reminder of what's at stake

in tonight with the rockets and the Lakers where the Lakers are going to try and close out Houston in a game six and avoid a game seven in a series that they led three games to none now can we take an

unbiased like no one here is a Laker fan no one here's a rocket fan I would assume everyone is rooting for the Rockets to win tonight because you want a game seven. Totally unbiased. Who doesn't want a game seven? Everybody here is totally unbiased room when it comes to LeBron.

This is Miami. That's two words in sports. He plays in L.A. This is an unbiased room, all right? But while everyone is going to be ruined for a game seven because who the hell doesn't root for a game seven, are we all rooting for LeBron and the Lakers? But really LeBron, above all else? LeBron to be the one, not the rest of the team, not Austin Reeves, not Luca, not Huchamara, Tony.

Thank you. LeBron. Are we rooting for LeBron to be the first ever to blow a three games to none lead in the history of the National Basketball Association? The only rooting interests that I have is wanting to see a game seven and see LeBron in a game seven spot with the weight of that on him. We've seen LeBron in go-home situations in Boston. I was actually watching highlights of that because that's what dudes do. Sometimes they get back to the RV after a late night of drinking, and they want to watch highlights of Game 6 in Boston

where LeBron James put the franchise on his back. That's what they like to do sometimes, these dudes. You know what that, Dave? I want to see Game 7, LeBron with that on the line because it will always be attached to his legacy. Not quite the same way that coming back from down 3-1, is attached to his legacy. That won a championship for Cleveland.

But every time there is like one of these Michael Jordan, uh, yeah, buck guys or any some of, any LeBron hater, anytime you mention 3-1 in the Chasedown block, there's going to be some guy over there or gal that's going to be like, but he also blew a 3-0. I'm curious to see how sports plays out. I don't know what I want.

And sometimes I like just sitting in front of the TV on my couch and letting the game tell me what I'm going to start rooting for. If I can put a meager hypothetical out of the, there meager. What if, a la Willis Reed, out trots number 77, does LeBron get the credit having Luca back in the game if they win a game

seven against the Rockets with Luca there? I'm not sure what that, because I don't know if the chances of that are low. They'll complicate it too. Like, will it be remembered depending on how he plays? Like, Luca bailed you out here. He gave them the three-o-leet. Yeah, I like, single-handedly. I was about to say I like this. In fact, it's the

exact opposite. What I hate is that that- Hold on, you mentioned You're just say what you hate is, but you almost said what you like is? I was being snarky about the fact that the advanced analytics people have kind of won the conversation because it is in my head like, well, one series is going to define LeBron James. To a certain degree, yes, that is the answer. It will define him. Dan said before the series started, if LeBron pulls this off, it's his greatest chapter of his career. and I don't think that's really all that hyperbolic to say.

So what's the other side of that? Blowing an 03 lead would also dent his legacy too. And people say, he's a 40-something-year-old man. And he's so many great moments. And you're going to reduce it to that that somehow impact. Yes, again, these playoffs are everything to the legacies of these guys. And the people who like to do math and apply it to sports, go off and do it with some mother matter, not with sports, singular moments, whether you think it's fair or not are everything

in sports. And they define who the best of the best are, not who the all stars are, who the icons for all of time are. So it does matter of LeBron blows an O3 lead because you know who never did, Michael Jordan, and that's who he's compared to. The Rockets are a three and a half point favorite tonight at home against the Lakers. When the Rockets win tonight, which I think they will. When the Rockets win tonight. The conversation, the 48 hours leading up to Sunday, it's going to be incredible. It's going to, it's going to, it doesn't happen very often that you have a team come back from 3-0 and force a game 7. It's happened a few times. I think they may be like three or four times that team did not win game 7. Correct. It didn't just never happen to Michael Jordan. It's never happened to anybody.

Right. And you're talking about LeBron James, the face of this basketball generation with the Los Angeles Lakers, a crown jewel for. franchise. I can't even imagine what the narrative is going to be throughout the weekend. It's the most, you know, I get that it can kind of be sort of you can take shots at like this is the most sports talk radio kind of conversation to have, but really as a human being. LeBron bailed on Cleveland because he wanted a ring and that's how he winds up winning them for you guys before he goes out to L.A. and who knows how he'll finish off his career. But it does matter that if we go all the way back to the all-time Miami icon Dan Marino that it's as though we're expected to ignore the fact or to pretend as though that in the paragraph, the first paragraph

of his bio includes like never won a Super Bowl. So would you, if you are, how incented would you be? And ring culture is not a new phenomenon as much as people want to make it. That it's always mattered who wins the titles. That's why we know who they are because they endure through the generation onto where we sit now. Do you guys think you would be like, I like this town? I'm Connor McDavid. I got to get out of here, man. I got to go somewhere where I can have a title or otherwise that will always come up for the rest of my life. How'll say you? I mean, you look at a guy like Mike Trout who doesn't feel that way at all. Like there are some dudes who, you know, being happy with their life is the most important thing. Like, and that's, and that's,

doesn't mean that they don't care about winning a championship, but just being happy with life is the most important thing. Joe Mower signed with the Minnesota Twins because he liked being in the Twin Cities and it cost him a championship. But how about you? I think being happy with my life is the most important thing. I want to win, of course, but if I'm happy with where I live, I'm happy with my teammates, I'm happy with my family's current setup.

I'm happy with how much money I make. That's going to mean more to me, more to me than, than, going somewhere and not definitely winning a championship, but it's all old as is trying to win a championship. Well, but the other side of that is, as you know, from having bounced off these guys, you know, we're all competitive to a degree. The difference between Michael Jordan

and other all-star level talents in the NBA is, I mean, like that. People, in fact, praise it all the time. Like, boy, Kobe, and he's a killer, man. Like, yeah, in any other walk of life away from, from sports, that guy's an asshole. Like, it's like, yeah, it's too much. Settled down, man. He wants to beat you at Tidly Winks.

Like, I don't know anybody who plays Tidly Winks, but that's always the one they bring up. If it's ping pong, he wants to win. He's a, he'll kill you to win at ping pong. Like, all right, if you grew up in the neighborhood with one of those guys and everybody dead, that guy was an asshole. It's like, chill out, man. Chill out. Would you, would you, would you Jerry or Jeremy, either way?

So that has to, like, if you're, Connor McDavid, he understands right now as he's sitting up in Edmonton right now thinking like, is this really going to happen? Like if I don't get out to Edmonton, I'm never going to win a title, and am I okay with that? Is it more important to me to wear the big oil sweater for the entirety of my career? I think I might be cool with that, but I'm not as hyper-competitive as those cats are. The other night I was staying in. At least, that was a plan. Then the text from my buddy Eagle Eye comes in. Mike, we've got the games on. I say, yeah, I grab a pack of Miller Light, and immediately my plan's gone.

Now it's playoff basketball. Every possession feels huge. Baseball's on another screen, and I somehow care about that, too. Everybody's got takes flying. Nobody's watching just one thing, and we're all way more into it than we ever expected. It was one of those nights that you take a sip, you look around, and you think, yeah. This was the right move. That's why I reached for Miller Light.

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or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere. They sell beer. It's Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories, 3.2 carbs, per 12. bounces. Hey, Roy, buddy.

You know that energy shift when the game gets good, and everybody altogether in unison knows to stand up on their feet? Oh, absolutely, Mike. Yeah, you've been at many big-time sporting events. You know that moment quite well. That's what it's like when you take your first sip of Cuervo. Oh, delicious. It's the signal that says,

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Dan Lebatard. John's as Loosing team. Stugats. These are smiles to love. This is the Dan Levatar show with the Stugats. I'm sure all of them there in Edmonton. are handling this situation very, very well, very, very maturely, as the Oilers and Cona McDavid were eliminated last night. But the NBA, we had two series end, and we had a game seven

confirmed that one being Sixers and Celtics. And I would make the case that all three of those games last night were shockers. I mean, obviously the Knicks winning by 51. The score at one point was 72 to 22. I checked my first. phone during the Guns and Roses concert last night. I thought it was a glitch. It said 72 to 22. Like, how is that real? Did you see, I think it was the Spitting Chicklets account on Twitter where they tweeted

out the score. And at the time it was 103 to 50. And the tweet said something like, great sport you got here. What do they know? I was wondering where you were going with spitting chicklets with the basketball. Right, right. Great, because that's an elimination game. Great sport you got.

not here, down by 53 at home the Atlanta talks. But that was obviously shocking. The Sixers, I think you could say, it's shocking that they're going to game seven. And the Wolves winning without Anthony Edwards, without Iyo Dissumu, without Dante Divencenzhou. They kicked the shit out of the Nuggets last night. That was shocking. Tony, the most surprising result from last night was what?

Timberwolves beating the Nuggets. In a do-or-die game for Nicola Yokic, for his legacy, for what we think of him going now 5, 10, 15, 20 years down the road, like to lose to a team in the Timberwolves who don't have their best player, who don't have one of their most important guards, and another guy off the bench who's an electric scorer, to lose to Jaden McDaniels who called you out by name, first name last week. Yogets got punked so hard. The whole Nuggets got punked so hard.

The entire series. The entire series got punked from the jump for Jaden McDaniels, who, by the way, legend is born, Star is born right now. Jaden McDaniels, you're watching the evolution of somebody who, four or five, 60 years down the road and be like, oh, that guy's kind of a superstar, which is a crazy thing to think about when they really put this Wolf's team together. But 30 and 10 last night for Jaden McDaniels, he talked to his thing, he backed it up. He sent Nicola Yokic back home.

I thought to me that was the result where I was looking around saying, oh my God, I cannot believe now we're going to have to do an autopsy of the Denver Nuggets and their run for the last five years. There's legacy stuff everywhere in this series because not only do you have the Nugget side where people are doing the, oh, Nikola Yokic team has never beaten a team with more than 50 wins in the playoffs. I saw that yesterday, and I didn't know that. Which is pretty wild. Like, you look at the teams they beat in 2023, capped off by winning the finals against a 44 win team. Right.

The Miami Heat. Right. It's crazy. And that Miami Heat team, like, their best player was hobbled and wasn't himself. Like, they, you look at that side of it. That's one thing. And the future of that team with the Christian Brown contract coming up and what they're going to do to fix things. But you look at

Minnesota, Jaden McDaniels, who you mentioned, is emerging in a way where now... He won't be a star for six years, though, according to him. No, but if you... I said we're going to look back six years and be like he's a superstar. Yeah, and whether he turns into a superstar, you know, go-to number one guy or not, now you look at your future built around

him as the wing for Anthony Edwards as your star, and you have these two emerging in their own version of the, like, Jordan Pippin dynamic, where Rudy Gobert is the anchor of that defense. And by the way, his legacy looks different after last night. Because that's now back-to-back years. It's twice where he has locked down Nikola Yokic, one of the greatest offensive players of all time, one of the greatest offensive big men of all time. Dan said he's the greatest offensive player of all time. Right. And that's how someone that is

supposed to have respect in this business views Nikola Yokic. And Rudy Gobert has been a punchline for a huge portion of his career. Right? No matter how many defensive player of the years, he's won. We've all sort of laughed at, oh, he gets played off the floor in the playoffs. That's a huge moment for him. We were grouping his trade with Minnesota in with, you know, the Desmond Bain trade or the Mikkel Bridges trade. Like, not at all the same thing. That was a massive franchise altering trade for them.

It's put them as a franchise into a place they've never been before. They were a fledgling franchise. And now Rudy Gober gets to cement himself in a place. Jaden McDaniels emerges in a fun way. They're going to be like America's team because of a lot of people rooting in some ways against Wemby and the Spurs. They punked the Nuggets Hard for the whole series.

It's a great series. Mike, you're angry with the wolves now? I'm really bummed because I was looking forward to Joker versus Wembe. I thought that... That's a good reason to be angry. Look, Dave hasn't really been paying attention to the NBA, but I think he would have been all right with the two

kaiju doing battle to see who could fight for the right. You know about that kaiju, Dave? to topple the OKC Thunder. And now we're not going to get that kind of series. And I was really worried because Minnesota presents so many problems for Denver that they would get in the way of Yokic versus Wembe. And they did. And I'm bummed for it because I don't think that series is going to be nearly as compelling

had Denver been in there. On top of that, you look at the Denver team, or excuse me, the Minnesota team that Denver was facing, and 40% of their scoring was done by three guys who didn't play in the last game. Is Edward, like, what's his current status? They said multiple weeks with the knee injury, so we don't know if that means four, or does that mean two? He's a guy who often bounces back pretty quickly.

If it's two weeks, maybe you can pray that he's back for, like, game four of this series, but it's going to be tough to expect getting him back. The reality is, like, the Spurs should win this series in four or five games, if he's not available. But what they just did to the Nuggets, like just attacking them, it makes you question everything their roster looks like. And they were without their two best defenders

in Peyton Watson and Aaron Gordon, but you can't use that as an excuse when Minnesota is down not only Edwards, but also DeVincenza. Well, you mentioned there what it means for the rest of their roster. So give this a listen here, Nikoliyokic, after the season ending loss last night.

Where do you feel like this team is, you know, in that bigger picture? and how far away or not far away do you feel like you guys are from being a championship contender? I mean, you just lost in the first time, so I think we are far away. Do you feel like changes?

Or like what type of changes do you feel like? I mean, that's not my decision, to be honest. Definitely, if you're in Serbia, we all get fired. If we were in Serbia, we would all get fired. Just to note, his arms do appear to be bleeding in that photo. Yeah, you see he's got cuts there. If we were in Serbia, we would all get fired. Like, what country can we say that, like, if we were all in Canada, would they all get fired?

No. No, they moved. They moved losers over there. Canada lets that fly. Yeah. Hey, you gave it your best effort. I mean, knoblock's pretty fired, yeah? Well, but that's different sport.

It's a different sport. Well, I mean, we're talking about mentality here. No, I think we're talking about mentality but basketball. You know, apparently in Serbia, basketball, very big deal. Russia, definitely fired. Wayne Gretzky fired the entire country of Canada and moved to Florida. You're very in on the Gretzky hates Canada. Well, he does.

No, I understand. But this is the second time he brought up at the show. You're very in on that today. And he's backed it up. He's talked that crap to Wayne Gretzky at the Kimmel Show. That is true. What about in France? Would the nuggets all be fired in France?

Yeah, they love losers over there, too. Okay, all right. Denmark? I think he's kind of saying fire our coach. He specifically said not to. No, no, no. Was he being politically correct? Was he being politically correct, you ask?

Was he being politically correct by saying if he'd be in Serbia, they beg it's fired? Was he really saying, like, in Serbia, everybody gets executed for this? Yeah, that's what I was. That's what I was trying to read under and see what it was. Like, in other places like that, yeah, you may not make it back. I know he said, like, we shouldn't fire this guy. But then he was like, but, you know, in proper basketball countries, they would.

It just makes me feel like they're in a position where he wants them to make changes to the roster. And that's going to be a tough thing for them to do because next year they have over $100 million committed to Aaron Gordon, who struggles to stay on the floor, Jamal Murray, who was God awful in this series, and Christian Brown, who was worse. Should we, perhaps, start throwing the question out there? Ooh, I like this already. Well, I didn't do this. I would have never mentioned him as a possible trade target until Kronki came out and volunteered. Go on.

Go on. And we are living in a post-Luca world where superstars don't actually have to ask to be traded. One day they can end up on a different franchise. That's right. They're like they did this. They're the ones that opened the door for us to speculate as to whether or not Yokic might be able to be had in an acquisition. All right. You send them bam.

Let's start with bam. Boom. You'd send them. Tyler. And then a bunch of picks. Like, Bam has to be a part of it. Bam? Pelay Larson. You'd give up Larson? Well, I mean, to get Yolkich?

Ooh, I don't know. Oh, please. I'm obviously kidding. I'm obviously, guys. Good. Relax. Yeah. Yeah. You also throw in Jovich, too.

Just because you can easily change that jersey if you're a Nuggets fan. Right. Right. That is an interesting way to look at. Nine firsts. Given the advantages of both sports towns, who is underachieve more? Denver. which always claims, much like Tom Brady was a sixth round draft picker,

Ryan Fitzpatrick went to Harvard, there is not a game that involves a Denver-based sports franchise where it is not invoked at some point, like, you know, the altitude is real high, it really impacts the visiting team. I know the loss was in one of the two Twin Cities last night, but either way. Another Denver team that has this apparent ongoing advantage over all comers is the high altitude that they've adjusted to and no one else does, then they should win every title if it's such an advantage to him.

Or is it Miami? Where everybody wants to live, allegedly. Everybody loves to be down in Miami. Shouldn't they be able to lure more people than all you guys in the row? Janis should be here and this guy, and Yolk it should now be here. Everybody, you know, if it weren't for LeBron, which I can't get a good read on, whether or not after the whole thing is said and done, if you like the LeBron experience or not.

This is an unbiased room here. We didn't like it. Do you like him or no? You like LeBron, right? But if it weren't for LeBron moving down there, then you are basically like Bill Walton in Portland kind of thing. Like, yeah, we won that one title a while ago. I mean, that's our claim to fame is that we won a title 20-something years ago. What are you doing?

What was the last time a Pittsburgh championship was in your city? What was the last time that happened? What claim? coming to the Rams now? Miami have to like, you know where yoghits should be with us. Doesn't he want to be with us? That's right.

Shouldn't everybody want to be down in Miami? Yeah. But teams don't land there because of the Miami Heat experience, apparently, right? Why isn't everybody clamoring to get down there, in other words? They're on their way. For the Marlins.

The Marlins I can't really speak to. Two has seemed to want to leave. Look. No, we broke up with him. He didn't break up with us. Marlins have Liam Hicks. That's Star Power, all right? So don't, don't you tell me anything else.

Levatard. My algorithm on Instagram is dance, all boobs. Stugats. It's a good algorithm. This is the Dan Levatar show with the Stugats. Hey, another destination supposedly that people desire,

although I hear a lot of bad things in the news about what other Americans think about Southern California. Either way, a guy in Southern California, an old Palomite, David Vassay, who does Dodgers talk and all the stuff he travels with the team and all of that. He's essentially their beat reporter. He said, I caught him on the radio last night, saying about the Marlins that he's like,

well, it's embarrassing that the Dodgers lost two or three to the Marlins, but you have to keep in mind that that was their World Series. How does that hit you? Does that hurt your feelings to hear that? It's sour grapes, man. Like the Marlins, A, the Marlins over. Sour grapes. Yeah. I don't know if it's sour grapes. They lost two out of three. Dodgers analyst. To a team with like a, what, a fourth, sixth of the payroll. And they've maximized what they're doing.

Clayton McCullough is a former Dodgers coach. Like, he's doing a solid job down here. And they've turned themselves into a really competitive team. I got to tell you. I think it's ridiculous to phrase it that way. It's 162 game season. Yeah, I think it's ridiculous too because I don't think baseball works that way. You know, like, I think that, I think you can.

say that in the NBA, hey, the Thunder, they're the champs, so they're getting everyone's best shot every single night. In hockey, the Panthers, they're the champs. They're getting everyone's best shot every single night. And like, there, there can be nights where you're putting forth more effort in those sports. We can say it in football too. But in baseball, if you're not putting forth maximum effort every night, it's such a hard sport. You'll get embarrassed out there. Like you can't, I'm going to low fit today because this team sucks. Well, you're going to look really bad if that happens. I don't feel there's as much a fluctuation in effort level depending on who you're playing in Major League Baseball. Does that make sense, Dave?

Yes, it does. And that's why I belly ache on and on about the baseball playoffs having too many rounds and too many teams in them because inherently, I mean, like one size doesn't fit all because it works in the NBA doesn't mean that baseball has to adopt it. I mean, obviously the North Star of all of these things is gate and TV, you know, is ad sales and all of that. And that's what motivates baseball to keep throwing in more and more postseason rounds. But inherently, the difference in baseball between the best and the worst is a lot closer than it is in basketball. If the best NBA team plays the worst one in 10, best of seven series, it would be stunning if the bad team won even, you know, even won three games in any of

those series. In baseball, the worst team in a best of seven series would beat the best. Like the Dodgers would lose a best of seven series to whatever, the Colorado Rockies or or shame the devil of the Florida Panthers because of the nature of the sport. I don't know that that happens often. Like when you look at best of seven, that normally even seems out. It's possible. it's possible, but more likely than not, you're going to have the best team get there.

You think the better team will win? The Dodgers. Yeah, it's like the Dodgers have won back-to-back World Series for a reason. They've had their weaknesses, but they've been the best team in baseball. But the Braves didn't. But the 90s, I get what you're saying. Yes, that did win out. And that sort of say, I mean, the best thing for the NBA right now to sort of go back and forth is,

is I think is Wenby winning it this year? And if not, then OKC, than OKC, because what you want is the suggestion that these playoffs makes sense, is that at the end of it, it's like, okay, I can let the Celtics are a great team. They're in the midst of something here. OKC is in the midst of something. Or the burgeoning star is now ready to take over the sport. Those are narrative you can get behind for the credibility of the season and the postseason

and all of that. I think the worst thing for it is it's exciting in the minute. in the moment, but I think what damages sports more than anything is when you get too many underdog stories breaking through, the alleged underdog, when everybody, it's what syndrome

says in the Incredibles. When everyone is super, no one is. Great villain. Great movie. Great villain. You kind of look like him if you had hair. Take it easy, all right? Ha! That goose is back at it.

I want to get to the other games last night, all right? And, Specifically, the Sixers forced game seven last night. Of course they did because did the Celtics shoot the three well? No. Oh, then they lost. All right. It's the dullest team.

And so, and now Jason Tatum left the game early. His foot, not the one that they had the Achilles tear, but the other one, there's a little bit of an issue there. So that's something to look for for game seven. The Heat fan obviously remembers back in 20203. Jason Tatum, he got hurt in game seven. The Heat won the game. They're going to win anyway.

Caleb Martin was the best player on the floor. But the Sixers last night, they, Force game 7, 106.93. I don't think I'm being hyperbolic. And Embed wasn't great last night. He was six of 18 from the floor, but still, lots of rebounds, lots of assists. He was the best player on the floor in game five, for sure, all right? And I actually think it bodes well for Philadelphia that Mbid wasn't so great yesterday because you can't possibly expect him to end up to put together three great playoff games in a row. So I actually think it's a good thing that he didn't play so great last night. Am I being hyperbolic when I say, I think game seven,

in Boston, who by the way, has not lost to Philadelphia in the postseason since 1982. And it's not like they've only played a couple times. They've played dozens of times. I think that game seven in Boston, even though it's first round for Embedd, considering who he is now in the regular season, considering he missed the first few games this series, I think it's potentially a pretty big legacy game for Joel Embed. If they can come back from a three, considering his history, he has not been a big time player in big time games.

He's never been out of the second round. And I get it that this is just the first round. But against this Boston team coming back from three games to one, it's in Boston. If Embed has a great game, if he's the best player on the floor, the Sixers will win. If Embed has a great game and the Sixers win, I think it's a pretty, I don't think I'm being hyperbolic when I say, I think it's a pretty large game for M. It's huge. It's huge, Zaz, because we've talked about the litany of injuries that he's had playing and playoff off, you know, the face, the Bell's palsy, the knee, the this, the appendectomy. Like, there's always something in his way during the playoffs and he can't really put things together. What I think of is the bounce from Kauai Leonard, right?

Like, that's another part where I'm like, oh, another thing that happened to Dwell & B. Like, if he steps up and plays the way that he played a couple of games ago, like this is a team that is very, very interesting. PG look great last night. Max, he's their best player, to be honest. And I'm going to keep banging that drum. Vijay Edge comes a great wing. Quentin Grimes plays well. Ubre plays well in roles.

This team has a lot of facets to where you're like, oh, wait a second. This team could make a run in the east, especially slaying Boston, who we thought was the best team all season. And then all of a sudden they got Jason Tatum back, and everybody's like, oh, wow. Okay, Celtics's going to the finals. Yeah, like looking at both Eastern Conference games last night,

you would have said to me, which road team is it more important for them to close out the series so they don't have to play a game seven? We know the Knicks, they won, they don't have to do that. The Celtics, they do have to do that. I felt that it was more important for these Celtics to close out this series. Like, I would have had total faith still in New York in a game seven in Madison Square Garden. But the Celtics, I think the Celtics are potentially in a lot of trouble. Because, like I said, if Embedd is the best player on the floor, which if everything's equal and he's 100%, he is the best player on the floor almost every night,

whoever they're playing. And the Celtics, if they don't shoot the three well, which they did not in game two, they did not in game five, they did not in game six. They lose. And there's not a whole lot of rhyme or reason to it sometimes. If they don't shoot the three well, they will lose. It doesn't matter if the game is in Boston.

And they kind of play better on the road than they do at home, which is another crazy stat. Tim Tebow's each time. I will not let Bosson get away with it. Nope. I will not. I will not. I will not let them sleep. I will not let them say, well, at least we won a title because I will be right there to remind them that the time that they won the title, they went through an entire playoff run where every series they went against opposition that lost their best player due to injury. All right? We start bringing that championship into the light and it starts looking real funny for Jason Tatum, Jalen Brown, and Joe Missoula. What is, though, to Tony's point, I think more practically, and you talk about legacy and all of that, Zaz, which is fair, but practically, I feel like the survivor of Sixers Celts or the Knickerbockers is the answer to who's going to represent the East, right? So, practically speaking, what it does for MBE. Well, but, but, but, but right, if MBE survives this one, I mean, he has a practical, great chance about as good a chance as he'll have in his career, um, to get to the finals through the East.

right? Because it's only the Knickerbockers that will pose a challenge to whoever gets through this this round one series, right? I mean, yes, I agree. I mean, they would still have to beat the next round, but then they don't have to, like, they would face maybe Toronto or Orlando, which is kind of crazy. If Toronto forces a game seven, then you are guaranteed either Orlando or Toronto, potentially if Orlando wins too, in the Eastern Conference finals, that's kind of nutty. but unless anybody has anything interesting about the Knicks win last night other than an unbelievably pathetic performance obviously from Atlanta like the Knicks are the best team of the east.

No, at this point it seems as though they are and that they're going to be able to make their way to the NBA finals unless obviously like Boston just gets hot from three again. And that's the thing where when Mike brings up the legacy of Tatum and Brown and Missoula, I think the thing that we can start to question, if they don't win this game 7. If they don't make adjustments to Philadelphia is, what kind of coach truly is Joe Missoula?

Because you look at a guy who just, it was a front-running team that would get hot from three, beat a bunch of teams, a bunch of teams that were injured in that run through the finals. It was a bunch of blowout games facing teams that didn't have their stars until you got to Dallas who had just gotten hot and made a run as a five-seed.

This is a guy who does not adjust. It's, hey, go out and shoot threes, be more talented than the other guys. And this would be three series. In 2023, when they lost to the heat, last year to the Knicks, and now this year, where they would have been giant favorites

in a series and blown it, it would be a chance to question Joe Mazzula and the type of coach he really is. Great words coming out of your mouth. I'm hard. Tell me you don't look like the guy from Incredibles. The other night I was staying in. At least, that was a plan.

Then the text from my buddy Eagle Eye comes in. Mike, we've got the games on. I say, yeah, I grab a pack of Miller Light, and immediately my plan's gone. Now it's playoff basketball. Every possession feels huge. Baseball's on another screen, and I somehow care about that, too. Everybody's got takes flying. Nobody's watching just one thing, and we're all way more into it than we ever expected.

It was one of those nights that you take a sip, you look around, and you think, yeah. This was the right move. That's why I reach for Miller Lite. It's clean, refreshing, easy to drink, root for taste with simple ingredients, just 96 calories and 3.2 carbs, the original light beer since 1975, and it still hits different. Cheers to legendary moments with Miller Light. Great taste, 96 calories. Go to Miller Lite.com slash Dan to find delivery options near you,

or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere. They sell beer. It's Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee with Sky. Johnson 96 calories 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.