The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - The Big Suey: LeanbackeR

Episode Date: May 23, 2024

Who is Joe Piscopo? Mike Ryan joins us via zoom as he and Chris Cote lead our conversation on the Florida Panthers dominating the Rangers in New York in their Game 1 victory. Also, Mike leads the Shipping Container into an apology to Dan. Then, Lucy has ALL of the airport gadgets needed for top tier travel and it sparks a debate of whether or not it's okay to recline your seat on a plane. Plus, Stan Van Gundy is here to break down Game 1 of the Mavs and Wolves, Kyrie Irving's handles, winning at the free throw line, the sexiness of the Pacers, and basketball TV rights. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to DraftKings Network. Welcome to the Big Sui, presented by DraftKings. Why are you listening to this show? The podcast that seems very similar to the other Dan LeBattard podcast. I'm sorry, I'm not going to apologize for that. In fact, the only difference seems to be this imaging. I have been tempted in restaurants just walking past tables to grab somebody's fries

if they're just there. That hasn't happened to you guys? I've done it. And now, here's the marching man to nowhere, fat face and the habitual liar. Any interest at all from the room on Beverly Hills Cop 4? The trailer has been released.

Beverly Hills Cop 3 was a real horror. Like it deserved to end there. It was terrible. It's some of the worst work Eddie Murphy has ever done. But now- Spoiler alert. That's the third one. The third one was bad.

Like it was just unspeakably bad. It did not honor the first two. And I thought they killed it right on the spot. But in July, it is going to be released. The trailer is out. And I love Eddie Murphy. He harkens back to a different time for me. In fact, there's another subject here

that I'd like to cover with you guys because I was fairly heartbroken to see Joe Piscopo from the 1980 Saturday Night Live cast with Eddie Murphy. Eddie Murphy rescued that show. Would have died if not for Eddie Murphy that year. Joe Piscopo was at the Trump trial yesterday and I was like, it happened with Scott Baio for me. It happened with the kid from Silver Spoons,

where I'm like, oh no. Yeah, not you, not you, you were, and Joe Piscopo shows up at the Trump trial, and I was like, not you, not you too, Piscopo. I feel like you're just making words up. I don't know why, you just said, no clue. Piscopo. It's a great comedic name. You lost it when you stopped talking about Bluey, Dan.

Yeah, I know. Joe Piscopo is a funny name. Last night, the Florida Panthers. Oh, Dan. Yeah, it was great. And Bobrovsky doesn't have a lot of shutouts this year. Shutouts, those are pretty hard to come by. And he was great.

The Panthers had the hot goalie last night. Shout out to him. 15 minutes though. this is the thing that I just didn't see coming with this Panther team when they did it the way that Hubertou did it. 15 minutes without a shot on goal for the Rangers in a playoff game, 15 minutes? They're doing everything right now,

their five on five is good, their penalty kill is good, their defense is great, they could be a little better on the power play right now, but it is just, they are clicking. I felt way too good after that. I'm nervous of how good I felt after that game last night. This has to get scarier than this. Like this, I'm going up there tomorrow for game two. You're saying you weren't scared,

but you were a different person pre-own goal and post-own goal. Oh no, the sphincter was way different pre-own goal than it was post-own goal. Loosened up? It loosened up a little bit. But it's just overall, even before that, I thought the Rangers were gonna break through

in that game and get a goal, but just the Panthers five on five right now is crazy. And then they even had a few penalties, the Rangers are great on the power play, and we cleaned that up. So it's just, I felt great after the game. I was scared going into it, but I felt great after the game.

I think this will get scary. I was scared going into it, but I felt great after the game. I think this will get scary. I'm not overly confident, but that was just a great game won from the Panthers. How many shutouts did Bobrovsky have this year, and how many shutouts did Bobrovsky ever have in the playoffs? I'm not sure about this year in particular. I can look for that,

but this is just his second career playoff shutout, and that's someone with the nickname of Playoff Bob. I'm going to guess that he doesn't have over five or six shutouts this year. Do I have that wrong? Mike Ryan is joining us now from whatever debauchery he got into with his hockey friends last night. Where did you watch this?

His house. How drunk were you? Yeah, he's in his house now, but I wanna know the details of his, what did you call the hockey ho the hosers? You and your hosers? Yeah. You and your hosers.

Where'd you watch the game? What'd you do? There's this great hockey bar that's a brand new by Coral Gables called the bright side and it is electric. And we had a wonderful time. Taylor got booed out of the building. It was wonderful to see. It was great energy.

We had, We had a wonderful time. I do feel great about this series. I think in part because I don't think Florida was all that great in all the facets of the game they needed to be. And I think Sergey Bobrovsky, we've been hard on him in the past and we've given him his flowers when he's good. I think that might be his signature Panther performance. He was brilliant. They had three breakaways that he just stood on his head for and got lucky a little bit with the post. Florida had a little bit of luck in that game. I don't think that Florida's played particularly well on offense in the last three games and they're two and one in them. Give me those Bobrovsky stats when you can, Jeremy, because I'm trying to find out how rare that performance was where it

wasn't just breakaways on Bobrovsky that he's stopping. It was breakaways where I'm like, how did that dude not have a chance to score? Like you were on a breakaway. That didn't, you didn't look like you were going to score except when I started to fear it. And then I stopped fearing it and also get for me the The popularity of giving someone their flowers like when did that get more popular that now? Everyone says that we have to give people their fly it. I think it was plaz I

Agree, actually, I think the juju's right's right. Why do you hate it? It's just a dumb saying that everybody says. Anytime anyone does anything, someone picks their nose. Oh, you gotta give him his flowers for bigger than his nose. Stop it. And is it the giving of flowers or is it the throwing of flowers on stage? Yeah, it's like when they give you the bouquet, right? Like someone comes up to the stage and hands you a bouquet.

Which I don't know if they do anymore. It used to be like Frank Sinatra would be singing like, now. And then someone would come up and just give them a bouquet, which I don't know if they do anymore. It used to be like Frank Sinatra would be singing like, and now, and then someone would come up and just give them a bouquet of flowers. Maybe an underwear, a little panty wrapped around it. Maybe a hotel key, an actual physical key on there too. Lucy gave me flowers a few weeks ago, and they're still alive,

and I had to double check yesterday that they weren't fake, and I almost texted her, but they're real, and they're spectacular. CBS? What? Yeah, well I actually had to go, I was running really late, and I was running late enough, I actually had to go, I was running really late, and I was running late enough

that I needed an excuse for why I was running late, and Jess moved to a new apartment, so I was gonna get her a housewarming gift anyways. So when you're running really late, you just pick something up for someone. So that's like when you're late to work, you bring in coffee, so they're not like, oh my God, why were you late?

They're like, oh my God, you brought coffee, and that's what I did. Sorry, Jess. You know who also is real and spectacular? Matthew Kachuk. Mike, take it away. It was great to see him playing well. I think he's kind of had a quiet close

to that Boston Bruins series. I do want to make one thing very clear. I think Dan suffered from his reputation there. I think he was locked in on Blue's Clues, and everyone just assumed that he was confusing it with Bluey which is the children's show du jour and Amin was very quick to jump on him but Dan knew what he was talking about with regards to Blue's Clues. We just thought oh boy here comes Dan LeBattard he's got to mix it two up this is gonna be a disaster he's gonna call

Bluey a boy that wasn't the case he was very locked in on Blue's clues. Thank you, Mike. I appreciate it. We jumped ahead of Dan. We thought Dan was going down the path of this is a show that adults like, and he was going down the path of this is a show that they want kids to be addicted to. You know what?

We assumed he was gonna be old and dumb. So we jumped in and we were wrong. Sorry, Dan. And I apologize. Accountability here. I'm sorry. Well, I'm the one that voiced it. So I heard the rumors and the murmurs from the other room and I said, I got it, guys. Well, this is... I'm sorry. Well I'm the one that voiced it, so I heard the rumors

and the murmurs from the other room and I said, I got it guys, I'll save the day. This is excellent, first of all, for a number of different reasons. Thank you, I appreciate the general apology and accountability that I don't often get around here that's quite that overt. I don't think any of us are very good at an immediate,

I raise my hand, I'm sorry. But, I touched the ball coach. You can have the most confident about whatever it is that you're saying and the speed that these piranha will seize on you together when they have a leader like the speed of it will shake your. It's all the dump.

Yes, what I saw through the room sweep over like yes I mean we'll follow you into that fire I got my confidence shaken even though I'm looking at all of you and I'm like, I know I've read this book and they have it like I Know what a book? Let this be a lesson guys, no matter what people are saying if you are confident in yourself You can make it to the top it will shake your confidence So this room feeding like piranha will shake your confidence even on things you're confident about first of all

I'm amazed that you called me boring after all that but second of all, I have an important question for Mike Mike When's the last time you used a peloton? Yesterday I watched the game. Yeah I get some guff for this first off It's it's a household peloton my wife and I enjoy it. I've recently gotten into it. I just had my 51st ride Thank you for the congratulations, but what I like to do on the peloton is I take German peloton classes. Oh, I don't I don't really understand at all what they're saying. They're just angry. But I like how they're saying it. You like how angry they are.

And I find it extra motivating. Careful. Slicing, slicing, slicing, slicing. Damn, okay, slicing, I like it. Slicing, okay, I'm slicing now, okay. Bobrovsky has six shutouts during the regular season and in seven of his last eight games, he has allowed two goals or fewer.

Again though, as great as he was, 15 minutes, I'm watching playoff hockey and I'm watching the Rangers, the team that had more points than any in the sport this year. And for 15 minutes, they cannot assemble in a one-nothing game, a shot that gets to Bobrovsky. That is a level of hockey that the Panthers have never been capable of.

There has never been a Panther hockey team in my lifetime that can go to the playoffs and take a good team and keep them from a shot for 15 minutes. It's just never existed. Last year's team had a bit of that, but this team is bigger than last year's team, bigger and stronger. I think one thing that they figured out after, granted they were super injured by the time that final came to a close is we need to get bigger,

we need to get deeper, we need to get stronger because we kind of got pushed around by Vegas. So they added a bunch of size and also Barkov is just out of his mind right now playing so strong. I don't think that the lack of offense that we've seen over the last three games is a direct result of just how great and ferocious the the four check is for Florida because the power play is kind of struggled too even when they have an advantage. But that that that four check is as good as we've ever seen in Florida, no doubt.

And another note, like it's very easy to assume that Bluey is a boy because traditionally blue is a sign to, to boys colors. We, this is still going on to this day with, with gender reveals. And also I remember when I would answer the phone in my house when I was a child and there would be like a sales rep saying, hello, ma how's it going it's very hard to distinguish whether from a little child's voice especially in a cartoon whether or not that is a boy or a girl but Bluey is indeed a girl despite the color. Put it on the poll please at LeBatard show did you know Bluey was a girl and should Bluey by

name be a boy? Let's put up something here on the screen that's going to make florida fans very happy look at how empty that arena is at the end of that game last night the first playoff game for the rangers this is a giant game and at the toward the end of it they're still playing that is an empty arena that's not fans leaving that's fans who have who have left and taylor walked in here today saying, it's over. He saw 15 minutes of no shots,

and he's like, we're totally doomed. You know what? I wanna be on the side of paying customers being able to leave whenever the hell they want to. They pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for these tickets, and you wanted me to sit here and watch my team lose? No sir, I gotta go home, it's a school night.

No, Juju, that's not what this is about. This is about Miami saying, oh ho ho ho, I thought we were the ones that left early. We are very triggered by this. It is like, I'm starting to see it clearly. The Celtics fans who left early and then they ended up winning, Stugat style, I had to watch the game outside.

The funny thing to me was like, wait a second, you guys didn't leave to beat traffic? You were on foot? Then why'd you leave early? It was the tie game? It was like, why would you leave early to beat what traffic on foot? I don't think the series is over by any stretch of the imagination. I think Florida, while very good defensively, they also got pretty lucky. Um, those are chances that New York will put away and they're New York's top six is going to put up a better effort. I think of their top six, like half had decent games. The other half went totally missing.

Maybe there's some things that they can do to their line, but I think one thing that's really stuck out is Florida is still way, way more capable of playing a better game. They haven't played their best game, game, a complete game in actually quite some time. And I think that's a testament to how good they actually are. And the overwhelming depth that Florida has, Benny started skating really well yesterday, but you can still see offensively,

he's not quite there yet. So the luxury to have him on your third line and be able to grow back into form, while Anton Lundell has really put up a string of consistent efforts and that was always the thing with him, consistency. Florida is just really, really deep and it's a depth that is only really rivaled

in the league by Dallas and Vegas for my money and I think when we get a treetop view on that first round series, we'll realize, hey, maybe that was a Western Conference finals in the first round, but Florida has just never been this deep. And it's probably not a sustainable thing given their cap situation, gotta pay Rhino. I don't know if Montor figures into the equation next year.

So while Florida is primed to have a run here over the next couple of years, the talent level is so tremendous this year that you kind of wonder if it's if it's not going to happen for them this year it's going to be tougher to have this good a shot with this kind of depth. Since the dawn of mankind we've cooked our food over an open flame and debated the best way to grill. One thing not up for debate, grilling and beer always go together and not just any beer will do. Whether you barbecue Texas style to celebrate Wednesday with burgers and dogs,

you need a beer that tastes great and is less filling, so you have more room for food. You need Mililite. As you guys may or may not know, I'm a pretty decent cook, especially behind the barbecue. So when I start the fire for my smoker on a hot day, really the only thing that I have to worry about is what wood I'm going to use. The easiest decision for me is what I'll be drinking. That's a nice ice cold can of Milil. Oh and by the way here's a pro tip, it really goes well with brisket. Miller Lite keeps it simple, undebatable quality and tastes as great as your barbecue. A perfect companion for grill masters across America. With the Miller Lite in hand, grilling doesn't just taste great,

it tastes like Miller time. To get Miller Lite delivered right at your door, visit MillerLite.com slash Dan. Or you can find it pretty much anywhere that sells beer. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories per 12 ounces. Don LeBretard. Our Panther group chat, we're confident against the Lightning.

This is a different team. You're a Panther group chat though. No, I think there's, no, but dude, you're so wrong on that. We've been terrified of this team forever. And I think there's a different energy where the Panthers, they want the lightning. Stugats.

I want t-shirts made for this Panther run, what could be this Panther run. Our Panther group chat, we're not afraid of the lightning. That's a tagline for World Raw 3. This is the Dunn-Levatar Show with the Stugats. ["The Dunn-Levatar Show"] Stretching he is doing during breaks LeBatard show with the StuGards. Stretching he is doing during breaks to take care of himself because those red eyes are beating him up. But I just walked into the other studio and I heard what I'm going to describe

as a rabid Lucy explaining that the only time that she will put her airplane seat back is if someone behind her has pissed her off and so I want to ask the audience at LeBataille show because there are two people two kinds of people in the world people who don't put their seat back and people who do and I've always thought before being reprimanded for it that the button is there for you to be able to put the seat back and so if you're giving me permission to do that I would assume that anybody who wants to do that should do that but so many different people told me that that was the wrong thing to do that I stopped doing it so I asked the group what is

etiquette here what is correct etiquette on this? Because I was corrected by so many people that I was made to feel bad for it and Lucy doing it as an act of vengeance is surprising to me. Well, so I have, I'm a short person but my body is not proportional at all and I have really long legs and so when someone leans their seat back immediately that's my knees into the back of their seat. And so you've automatically just taken all of my space away. I don't think that's cool. I'm not trying to take anyone's space on a plane.

It's already small enough. It's already tight enough. So if you lean your seat back, I'm gonna open and close my tray table so many times throughout the flight. It's gonna bother you. I'm gonna put my knees up. Well, this is the only place they can go because they don't have a lot of space. It's gonna bother you. I'm gonna put my knees up, well, this is the only place they can go

because they don't have a lot of space. It's gonna be uncomfortable. I'm gonna be putting water bottles in and out of that little pouch. You are gonna be aware that someone is sitting behind you. And I never lean my seat back. There's only two situations where I'll do it. If the person behind me has leaned their seat back,

because you don't get to take space and not have your space taken. Or if you're on my nerves, like I didn't do it on my flight from Portland, but the two ladies behind me, they were just yap, yap, yap, yap, yap, and the whole flight. We left Portland at 10.30 at night.

You gotta shut up. It's too late. So you showed her, you leaned back. I didn't even do it. Oh. I didn't even do it. This is, I mean, the airline industry is winning here, because they're pitting us against one another

instead of having to answer for their crimes of shoving people in economy class like sardines where you have six inches of room between where your seat ends and the seat in front of you begins and most people cannot sit comfortably even if they are little like me and Lucy and it is terrible, it is the worst and instead we're all just fighting with one another. Society is split on this of like the whether you go back or not,

like you cannot find consensus on this. Everyone's got an opinion on this. I wanna know what the poll reveals, because I still don't know what the room feels. Is there anyone here who will aggressively argue on behalf of the buttons there for me to lean back? If you give me the option, it's my option. Because I used to to think like that and I was just shamed out of that kind of thing I think like that if the person in front of me comes back. I'm going back. That's how I live

That's not what he says not what I'm asking. I'm the button is there will you press it and always go back? I'm big. I'm physically big so I will remind you. Thank you Chris I will remind you guys that once upon a time, flights served prime rib. There was somebody in the plane who was cutting up prime rib and now they just put us all together. That flight from Atlanta, Juju,

I don't know which airline you're flying, but are you stuck on time? You're not small either. Like there are people stuck all over you because of how the airlines keep doing what the potato chip industry is doing, where they're tricking us with the way they don't, the way they use space tricks us.

Yeah, the way they use space is meant to trick us. You're in first class, I don't know what you're complaining about. Zagacki, look. Back when I used to fly in a way that didn't give me the personal freedoms that allowed me to put my seat back whenever I wanted to. But now you've got your dog I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like,

I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like,ju. They just do it to do it That's why I'm because it's like it's it's the ultimate asshole move. It's like up work like we found finally taking off

Oh, I don't have to have that regulations of seat backs up trays up like okay boom they go back immediately I'm like you seem like a lean backer. I'm not I Don't know what I'm saying about how I feel about I respect I respect, I respect the sanctity, yeah, first of all. Whoa, whoa! Amin just seems like a guy that would be like, I'm doing what I want here. That escalated to racism very quickly. He put hard R and lean back R.

I wasn't supposed to take that. No, because I wouldn't, I think Juju wouldn't. So you can't call me racist. That kick-saving abuse. Hey! Oh, I guess he got you guys there, I don't know. I don't believe we're defining racism correctly. I'm a lean backer, but Juju's a lean backer.

Totally different. I didn't say any of that. Chris, no one has your back here. Want that on the record? Yeah, if you're laying your seat back, bro, especially in the main cabin, if you're in the main cabin, leaning your seat back,

you are a butt munch, man. That is too rude. I'm tall as hell. I had to ride to Germany. I was in the main cabin. The person in front of me, leaning his chair back, I'm talking about every five minutes for 10 hours.

I gave him one of these. Like I' his chair back, I'm talkin' about every five minutes for 10 hours. I gave him one knee. Like I played football. I'm gonna make you know I'm mad at you. I ain't finna play these, salute my sister Lucy. I'm gonna let you know, scoot your seat up, bruh. Do you do the knee into the back where like they feel the knee hittin' their lumbar? I think when you send the messages

when you use the restroom, when I'm getting up, I am going to, you are gonna go on a ride. I'm gonna get up. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa. That is the worst person on the flight. The person that walks back and forth through the cabin

and is like pushing and pulling every step. Bumping into every elbow. Juju, I was not clear on whether you were doing football or basketball because at one point you were hitting the blocking sled but at another point you were throwing elbows to like get post position in basketball. It's a diamond con suit, pretty much a diamond con suit. We got him kicked out, yeah I just give him a little chuck but to that brother's support, he didn't move the whole time.

He must have took whatever people take. You know what I mean? Cause he ain't budge. Salute. Lucy's the person on the flight, by the way, who has like every gadget. She has every gadget, every type of thing to help her be relaxed and to sleep. Like she must be on Amazon 24-7 trying to find the latest airplane gadget. I don't know what that is Lucy, but it looks.

Let's go through her bag. That bag. That's not a bag. I don't know what that is. I mean it's a stocking of some sort of purple. It looks like a purple stocking for the purposes of the audio. It looks phallic.

It's penile shaped. You can say that. Yeah it is. This is a pillow for audio purposes. You guys talk while I blow it up. Okay, all right. She's gonna blow. I thought she was smuggling like alcohol in that thing for a second. This is a pillow for audio purposes. You guys talk while I blow it up. Okay, all right, she's gonna blow up. I thought she was smuggling like alcohol in that thing for a second.

It was a flask. This is still on max? Are we still live? We are still live, but it is not on max. Oh, okay, so we can curse now. We can curse on max. I don't know what you're doing. I'm a window seat girly, and so this is like a... Because of the regular neck pillows, they don't do anything for me.

I think they're really uncomfortable. So I put it in between the edge of like the little, of the window. The crevasse. And then I use this thing, and you hook it to the, to the like seat rest. And I'm gonna just. It looks a bit like an arm sling or.

Let's not talk about what it looks like. Okay, we'll stop talking about it, but she's holding it the way This is a bad visual, but this is how I this is how I sleep on the plane the visuals not as bad because No, it's scrotum would be like what are the other things that you have as devices And that help you fly when Jessica accused you of having an assortment of things you fly with? I left this at home so I didn't have it for my flight, but I have the little hammock thing, so I open up my... I fly a lot, so... I do too.

Let me take notes. So I open up the little tray table, and then it's a hammock, so I put the hammock in between, and then I close the tray table, and I can rest my feet on, and it makes a world of difference. It's so much more comfortable. And then I also have a little eye mask and then I have a heated eye mask that goes under. But I use those, I use those every night because they're good for your eye health. I learned that from my optometrist. Shout out Dr. J. She is lovely. Dr. J is your optometrist? Yeah. We follow each other on Instagram. What else do I have I have a little airfly thing

So if I have a like if I have a screen on the seat in front of me I can plug that in and my airpods Connect to it. Oh and I have this great travel backpack. It fits everything. It's huge Just a backpack. Yeah, but it's it's really fits all of it. And I put a lot of patches. I put all these patches on it. She wanted to show off her patches. I worked really hard on it. And I don't blame her. They're cute.

Let's go through some of the patches here before we bring in Stand Van Gundy. Betty Boop? Yeah, I love Betty Boop. Salute. So Betty Boop, Levi's, I got this in New York. This I got from a beer company in LA. They were handing it out.

I got this at Oklahoma State, because I thought it was so cool. What does it say there, big? It says big something? Near the... Oh, big tin! Okay, there it is. I have a little skeleton that says live, laugh, love.

I have North Carolina. I have a bunch of Grateful Dad stuff. I have this eight ball cherries. I have a lot of cool stuff. And I got two minutes, huh, for boring. I think this is really cherries. I have a lot of cool stuff and I got two minutes, huh for boring I think this is really entertaining Pin Do not watch that pop-tart movie by Jerry Seinfeld salute is not real and it's not spectacular

Wow, I've heard it's not good. It's disappoint. I don't want to watch it because I don't want to like it's not good And it's expensive because the one thing that is good about it, anytime a movie can actually transport me without thinking to a different time because they've actually spent all the money to create the 1950s, I'm impressed that the amount of expense

in going into, you know, taking me actually to a time that I'm like, oh, everything, the cars, all of the details. This seems extraordinarily expensive, but it's the only reason to watch that movie. Don LeBattard. You know how these late season games are? We don't know, it's a big game for the Knicks. We have absolutely no idea how Boston will play.

I don't know who they'll play, who they won't play. Stugarts. Okay, all right, that's fine. That's an excellent promotion. You know, I love that. That's great. That's it. That's perfect advertising for the game, the national game on TV tonight. I was going to watch. Now I'm not going to watch. Holy shit. That was a shitty sales job. This is consensus. There has never been anybody in the history of basketball who handles the basketball as well as Kyrie Irving, correct? I don't know

who second place is. Who is second place for the person who by consensus clearly has more control of what he does with a basketball than any human being who has ever played? Pistol Pete. Pistol Pete? Jamal Crawford? Chris Paul? Allen Iverson? Allen Iverson? Their names, but you're right. Kyrie Irving, it's as close to consensus as who's the breast shooter of all time. What are we watching Stan Van Gundy is with us now and I want to get into him like some of the what we're seeing now that is better than it's ever been because I don't feel like there's enough

appreciation of both history and what we're watching presently to just stand back in awe and say no one the size of Kyrie Irving has ever been able to do all of that with a basketball. Stan Van Gundy joins us now when we ask him the important question first. Stan are you someone who when he is not or back when he didn't fly first class are you someone who would put his seat back in coach or would you keep your seat back upright. I pretty much even now keep my seat back upright, I mean a little but I don't mean back all the way. We lean back a little lean back a little in first class or you

say even now you don't lean back in first class. A little but I don't I don't go back as far as it will go just slight recline I didn't know there were shades of gray in the recline I thought it was just back or up right what are you doing there and clap your claim will shine. Yeah, you are you are you kidding me you think that there's only you have to go all the way back or not at all I just argued that there are only 2 people 2 kinds of people in

the world people who who keep the seat upright and people who lean it all the way back. You offered an option that I had not considered. I'm in the gray area then. I'm in the gray area. Unbelievable core strength to keep that position off. Let's see the six packs then. Stan, you agree with us or disagree

that Kyrie Irving is the best Handler of basketballs in the history of the sport Well, I mean I heard your guys List of people and and it's a good list and we could argue about those guys for a long time But the fact that you're in that discussion You know, I think is is enough. And I will say this, I don't think there's anyone who's ever played that you could definitively say was a better handler than Kyrie Irving.

I was surprised not by the result last night, but how it came to be Dallas dominating the paint that way against that defensive team. Were you in any way surprised by that? Well, not, not once I saw how Dallas wanted to play things, you know, they were in, they were in drop coverage, but more than that, and Chris Finch had said it before the game, they were very concerned. Minnesota was about the corner threes.

So they didn't bring their guys in at all to clog the lane. The pick and roll was played two on two between McDaniels or Edwards whoever was the guard and Rudy Gobert and so Rudy Gobert was basically in two on one situations all night long. I mean there was nothing else to take except the paint. They weren't forcing them to kick the ball out. So, if that's the way they're gonna cover, then there's gonna be a lot of points in the paint. Stan, one of the things that was pretty shocking was,

if you looked at the box score, 18 made threes for Minnesota, six for Dallas. And what we've seen, at least in these playoffs, and really over the last few years in the NBA, is that when you see that stark of a spread on three-pointers made, the one making the threes is usually winning by a lot. How shocked were you that Dallas not only were able

to score as much as they did in the paint, but to only hit six threes versus 18 made threes and still walk away with the win. Yeah, no that is it is surprising and you're absolutely right. I mean what we have seen over the last couple of years actually that just doesn't happen very much but Dallas shot 60% on twos and got 49 shots in the paint I mean and those guys can convert in there You know and then Minnesota wasn't as good second half 7 for 24 from 3 in the second half so

When the 3 stopped dropping a little bit they didn't really have anywhere else to go but the surprising thing also, I mean, to me was the game was decided on free throws. Dallas has struggled mightily at the line. They had the worst free throw percentage in the league in the playoffs coming in under 70 percent and they won the game at the line. It was a three point game. They go 16 for 17 at the line and Minnesota goes 11 for 18. So Dallas lost game four of the Oklahoma City series shooting basically

the same number of free throws as Oklahoma City and couldn't make them. And last night they turn it around and win at the free throw line. Skipping over to the Eastern Conference for a second stand I'm not sure if you saw that this story getting aggregated But Tim Legler said on Ryan Roussillo's podcast that when he wanted to talk about the Pacers and ESPN Executive told him that the Pacers weren't sexy enough to talk about on ESPN So my question for you is do you think the Pacers are sexy? Well, you know, I mean, I guess it all depends. I mean, I think

Rick Carlisle would take offense at that. I'm sure Rick looks at himself and says, you know, sexy guy, you know, so it on the pole, juju does Rick Carlisle look at himself and say, I'm a pretty sexy guy. He says smoking. Yes. So yeah, I mean, you know, listen, I don't know. I can't comment on the stuff that goes on at at ESPN. I honestly, I gotta tell you, I watched game seven and I didn't think it was as one sided coverage as everyone else thought it was. You know, but, you know, everybody. Let me ask you about something you can comment on, which is TNT and everything going on with

TNT. Do you find yourself interested at all in the bidding wars for the streaming rights? Is this something that you're discussing with people? Because you've got one of the prime jobs in the industry and you enjoy what it is that you're doing and it's important to have people that you enjoy working with. How much turbulence is there right now around everything happening with the streaming rights war? Well, I mean, look, I'm not privy to anything. So, and to be quite honest, if they accept that and explained

it to me I wouldn't be able to understand it. I mean the financial stuff all those things are are way over my head. I think obviously everybody's concerned because we take great pride in what we do. We think we do good work at TNT and you want to see it keep going. So we're concerned to that regard but we know there's business decisions that have to be made and it's way above my pay grade. So I don't spend a lot of time worrying about things that I don't have any control over whatsoever. So we'll see what plays out. I think, you know, Charles Barkley had made one comment that I thought was most appropriate in the whole thing,

that who he's concerned with, and I would agree with this, is it's not the people that are on air like us. I mean, by and large, we all have made good money and everything else, and at least in terms of a financial thing it's something that all of us can can survive you feel for the producers the directors the camera people the sound people I mean those are the people that you know get really affected by this. And that's who we have to deal with. That's textbook response. I'm gonna go stand.

Such a vet. I mean, that's like, I'm standing. No, no, but, that I mean, I would say this too, and I have said this before. I just said it on somebody's podcast the other day. It's one of the things that I really hate. Not hate, but I just, people don't understand when they get onto all this Coach on the hot seat and demanding it guys get fired. Look, I don't expect any sympathy for Professional coaches, you know head coaches They all we all make great money and it's all part of the deal that you're not gonna have security

But I don't think people understand enough that when they're demanding that a head coach gets fired. When I got fired in Detroit, I had 50 people working for me and the vast majority of those people were making less than $100,000 a year. And you got to understand that those people go out the door also. You. When a coach gets fired and new people come in, I just wish people understood that. Doesn't mean that fans, media, whatever, can't think a guy should get fired, but a little more understanding that there's going to be a lot of people affected that really didn't deserve don't deserve that fate

and i've said this before you know what what really bothers me is there's people in the media who love the coaches hot seat thing in this guy should get fired but then when the media are laying people off we're all supposed to feel sorry for them no hell no uh... i was about to reprimand Stan Van Gundy for not giving us his fresh stuff for giving us recycled on someone else's I

said this. Yes, on some I think he said it on South Beach sessions which comes out tomorrow. I wasn't totally sure whether I could come after him. I think we gave him. Okay, I'm sorry, I apologize. But people should listen to that South Beach Sessions. Great keys. Because Stan Van Gundy was great throughout that South Beach Session.

You will enjoy hearing from him tomorrow. Stan, speaking of recycling conversations, I want to recite a conversation I had with you at a game recently where I bemoan the fact that more and more front offices, when they hire a head coach, they tell them, oh, by the way, here's your staff. Yeah, listen, I mean, that's become the norm, as you know.

I don't think it works very well. And I also just, in terms of accountability, like listen, how many GMs would want that? Like, okay, you're in charge of, you know, you're our general manager, but we're going to make the draft choices. We're going to hire the coaching staff and then we're gonna hold you accountable for the result It doesn't it doesn't make any sense And I've just said and I know I said it to you in that conversation. I mean but what I Don't understand is if you look around at the successful franchises, the consistently successful franchises, continuity is a big part of it.

And, you know, you look at Miami, you look at San Antonio, who's gonna be on the way back up. You know, you look at Denver, and you see the continuity, and you see that they'll go through the hard times without reflexively making a change and you can tell, hey that works and then instead people say, yeah that works but I'm not going to do it that way.

What I'm going to do is change my coach every year and shake everything up and you know I think a lot of it is quite honestly there's a lot of front office people that just give Since the dawn of mankind, we've cooked our food over and over in flame and debated the best way to grill. One thing not up for debate, grilling and beer always go together. And not just any beer will do. Whether you barbecue Texas style or celebrate Wednesday with burgers and dogs, you need a beer that tastes great and is less filling. So you have more room for food.

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