The Mismatch - Spurs on the Rise, the NBA’s New Moneyball, and Is This LeBron’s Final Season with the Lakers?

Episode Date: February 24, 2026

Verno and Jacoby return as they discuss the Spurs win against the Pistons and their push towards the top seed in the West as well as the Kings finally ending their 16-game losing streak against the Grizzlies. They then set up their bit of the day, ‘talk me out of this’, where they attempt to change their minds on a specific take.(00:00) Welcome to The Mismatch!(02:04) Spurs continue to push for the one seed in a dominant win vs. Pistons(10:26) Kings snap 16-game losing streak with win vs. Grizzlies(18:15) Dillon Brooks was the one guy the Suns couldn’t lose(22:30) The Spurs will be NBA champions… Next year(28:10) This should be and will be LeBron James's last year with the Lakers(33:53) The 65 game rule is stupid and should not exist(43:35) Playing hard is the new moneyball for the league(47:33) The play-in games are fun, but entirely unnecessary(53:08) If Fred VanVleet and Jayson Tatum return, then the Rockets and Celtics are title contenders(1:01:34) No sport provides a better finish than hockeyLeave us a message on our Mismatch Voicemail line! [phone]Hosts: Chris Vernon and David JacobyProducers: Jessie Lopez, Stefan Anderson, and Jeff ShearinSocial: Keith Fujimoto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the mismatch. I'm Chris Varnan and joining me to see us every week from the ringer.com is Dave Jacoby. Jacoby. What's happening to burn out? We are snowed in here in New York City, but that meant that I had nothing else to focus on besides the pistons and spurs last night. What a game we got. Oh, I figured you were signing up to go shovel for 30 bucks an hour. No chance. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Now we have mountains of trash covered by mountains of snow. Before we get into all of the NBA news, I do have to ask you about this because you are in the eye of the storm. How bad is it? Like, can you? Not that bad. No, it's not. Yeah. No. I mean, it was, you know, it snowed a lot. But this morning, I drove across town and took the train and got

wherever I needed to get to. But the kids, like they, one of my kids doesn't have school today. There's absolutely no reason to not have school today. No reason whatsoever. It's so frustrated. Frustrated me, I don't even want to get into it, but I already getting pissed off. home from school. And of course, he's on cloud nine, right? Yeah, she, she's kind of sick of sitting around the house all day. It's been like three days. I'm so, my family is so fed up with each other at this point.

Hold on. We need to get some time apart. 20 second time out. The reason I assumed it was the boy is because the girls are twins, but you have, I guess you have this rare instance where the twins go to different schools. They go to different schools. It would take me like a half an hour to explain why. Yeah, they go to different schools.

But it's nice for twins because they're not known as the twins. They have their own identities and lives. Which is unbelievable, though. Is the one twin messing with the other twin that she has school and that she doesn't? Absolutely. It's been a, there's a lot of reason for conflict and tension around my home, but that's just another one that they go to different schools. Speaking of conflict and tension, the two hottest teams in the NBA met as we record this on Tuesday morning,

Spurs Pistons last night, Kate Cunningham, loving Victor Wembe Nyama to the floor, getting into it with Stefan Castle. I mean, this was like, this was like a high intensity regular season basketball game between two of the teams that have certainly performed the best over the course of the last, really all season and certainly over the course of the past couple of weeks. And the spurs extend their win streak to nine. I read this morning, it's the longest win streak they have had, they have not had a nine game win streak since March of 2019.

So it has been seven years since the Spurs have had a nine game win streak, but they accomplished that by beating the Pistons last night. You were locked in. Give me the takeaways. It was interesting to start because the Spurs just jumped out and created a big lead. The Pistons bounced back. But one thing that was definitely noticeable was the Pistons game plan was to be physical. And it was the very first possession.

It was a pick and roll. and Cade just sort of checks Wimby as he sort of tries to roll. And then there was a couple of possessions later where Cade just sort of like took a foul basically. He just kind of like cross-checked him. Like he was playing in the gold medal hockey game and put him to the floor. And it sort of like it was really well handled by the announcers because after he got put to the floor, that that same possession he hits a three and was just kind of like, all right, like we can do this. And it just seemed like the pistons were trying to be physical, muck it up, turn into a rock fight.

and the spurs just had too many weapons. I mean, like the cell was just hitting everything. Champany was hitting everything. And, you know, Wimby didn't have an offensive explosion. He sort of didn't do anything in the second and third quarter. But what he does defensively is just, it's just, you know, the announcer just called it a never mind. Like when Duncan Robinson would go to the basket and see Wemby

and then just like sort of never mind and dribbled outside. There's a lot of never minds. He leads the league and never minds, Victor Wemba Jama does. Well, and it's funny, you bring up the Olympics, but it felt like Cade Cunningham, had watched that old Olympics documentary where Kobe Bryant decides he's going to run through the chest of Pau Gasol to start the game.

You remember this? He's going to just, and it's his teammate. And they were all like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, right? But that's how it felt, right? Like, I'm going to, I'm going to try to set the tone early here. I'm going to try to run through this guy's chest and check his temperature. And the Spurs responded.

This was very playoff-esque in the sense of, as I watch it back this morning, you're always counting on those role guys. And you've got Vassell and Champani who can't miss threes. Like they're just making everything in this game, right? And you know that there is a game plan when you're on the whiteboard, that you're going to give up something. And if they beat us, they beat us. And sure enough, they did.

The other thing is that second guy for Detroit. And it's something that we will think about a lot as we close out the season. And it's also because it is so Cunningham dependent. And obviously last night when he's five for 26 for 16 points, you're going, all right, who is the relief valve? Well, Duren had a big game for sure, statistically. But you look at their starting lineup and it's Cunningham. during Robinson, Assar Thompson, and Tobias Harris, and you're going,

there's one guy that's going to create this for everybody, right? Exactly. And so who is the release valve? And this is instructive when we think about playoff basketball and how teams are just going to load up and make Cade Cunningham C2 and three constantly. He has got to create everything for everybody. and so who's going to be that other guy that comes in and can create off the dribble, can create for others

and be that release valve for Cunningham when you get into super high leverage games against awesome teams. I think that's a, the point you make is right is who's going to create because it is so Cunningham dependent, like all of their other scores, but it's Duren or Robinson, those shots that they get are created by Kate Cunningham. Like it's not like a lot of people are getting their own shots

or operating or isoing or even, running pick and rolls. It's all Cunningham. And I think that's one thing they really need to address. And one takeaway from this one, you know, looking at the Pistons is like a Sir Thompson didn't play to finish the game. And they were just leaving him alone. They're putting Wemby on him. And then Wemby's basically playing like a zone. He's just kind of like standing in the middle. And every once in a while, he'll just to not get defensive three seconds. We'll step out. But when you have a player on the floor, the Pistons lack shooting. We all know

that. That's why they picked up Robison and obviously Beasley was important for them last year. But when you have Thompson on the floor, it just really makes it difficult for everyone else because he gets so little attention when he's away from the basket. And I think that's something that, and when J.B. was basically just like, this isn't working. We're going to have to go with other players like Jenkins. Well, and you wonder because we think about this through the prism of who won the title last year. Okay. So when SGA is going to get loaded up on in a way that is unnatural. Like, you have to have the Jalen Williams

that goes for 40 for you. Sometimes. You have to have the Ben Matherin or the Aaron Eastman that has the big game when you decide, all right, we're selling out on this guy. And so that is the thing that you're left with when the Pistons don't play at their best and aren't able to do everything they want to do.

You're left going, all right, who's going to be that guy? Because it's going to come, there's going to be the crossroads in a playoff game where you're going to have one of these. You're going to have a K and 5 for 26. And it's like, all right, who's going to step up and be that other guy?

Because it might be the only thing that could keep them from running through and ending up in the NBA finals. And the disperse were just absolutely so impressive. I mean, they really check all the boxes. Deere and Fox is running the show. Obviously, Wimby. And then, you know,

they get so much attention. and Wimby gets so much attention on offense that you have guys like Vassell and Champany and Castle that just kind of have room to operate or they're attacking closeouts or they're just getting like Champany's just getting catch and shoot three. It's like open. Well, and you've got to give up something.

And if I think they're probably like on that plane ride going, look guys, if Devin Vassell is going to go seven for 11 from three, then it is what it is. You know what I mean? Like he was getting great shots though. I got it. They were great shots. They were not contested.

They were not off the dribble like. He's going to go seven for 11 because not every three is created equally. He's just catching shooting. Right. Great game and obviously a big message sent by the San Antonio Spurs who now have won nine straight and are attempting to track down Oklahoma City. We talked about in our last show, how big a deal that is going to be where you look at the standings and you're going, boy, you might not have to play somebody until you get to

that semi-finals or even the Western Conference Finals, right? Like if you can get to one, you may miss Oklahoma City and Denver, whereas if you are, if you're sitting at two, you may have to face them in that second round before you get to the Western Conference Finals. So I do think the number one seed could be absolutely immense. And they have not slowed down. I mean, they're going.

And obviously, when Vinyama, I mean, he had six blocks. last night and it felt like 50. It did. And it's wild. And especially, I mean, again, like the Thompson thing was a big part of that too because he was just playing as a zone. But when you look at the Western Conference, you know, the, the Thunder got that nice win against the Cavs, right off because it was an ABC game, you know, sort of a big spot.

But they got a lot of guys in street clothes. And right now you're looking at the Spurs on the street street. And then you watch the Thunder. They got a lot of guys in street clothes. And I know they're all scheduled to come back. But, you know, Spurs look great right now. Well, every once in a while, I regularly say this, that if I go to the arena, there's a good chance I'm going to see something I've never seen before on a random night.

And I can honestly say I cannot remember ever watching a team break a 16 game losing streak. But I did last night with the Sacramento Kings versus the Memphis group. That's the game I was at. I will say, I mean, you. this is a game that if they are to catch terrorists,

they should put them in a room and make them watch it and just like hold their eyes open. Fine, I'll talk, I'll talk. I'll tell you whatever you need. We talked about the price

of Nick's games last show. I wasn't getting price for this game. They paid you. That should they do. Yeah. And I will say two things I'd never seen before.

A team break a 16 game losing street, which I did, Sacramento. I mean, just they were due. And then at the beginning of the game, you may have seen this viral moment where we're like a minute into the game. And there's a lady on the front row who's got like a, it looks like a high noon, which I didn't even know they had at the games, but a high noon or a white call,

maybe they started serving them after the season went the way it did. But anyway, she's got it like sitting next to her chair on the front row. and Westbrook like gets bumped by Scotty Pippen and goes into the front row like steps directly on it and the damn thing explode everywhere. And it takes like five minutes to clean it up and like Westbrook's just like sitting on the front row. He's sitting in the courtside seats.

And then turned into old MVP style Russell Westbrook. He had 25 last night. He's like going to the back. basket, he's knocking down threes, and I'm like, oh, my God, what a moment. What a moment. I can't believe I'm watching this. Your guy, Killian Hayes is out there. No. Listen, here's some players that played for the Memphis Christies. Jemai Mayshack. Yeah, two-way guy from Tennessee. Taylor Hendricks. Yeah. Rayon, Rupert. Who's this person? Ryan Rupert. Rupert. Rupert. Who is this person? He wore number 70.

for the trailblazers. Because when the Blazers were tanking and brought him in, I'm like, who wears 70? Yeah. And Javon Small. Just big names. Big names for the Grizzan. Oh, yeah.

It was a who's who last night. I got to tell you. So anyway, yeah. The only thing that is worth mentioning is that a 16-game losing streak was broken. And so that happened. And Russell Westbrook destroyed up. a shelter, I guess it was.

I never received. What's the vibe like in the building? Are people cheering? Come on. Are they doing like, what's happening? Is it full? Is it empty? So,

play music during the intermissions? Does anyone perform at halftime? Years ago, this is several years ago now. And I was the emcee at a comedy club. And there was a local comedian that used to come on before we would have. Like, they booked all kinds of like, awesome people like, you know, Maria Bamford and Sandra Bernhard and Doug Stanhope and like all kinds of,

like there was like a, it was a stop that people would come do. And so anyways, I was the emcee and then we would have like these local comedians that would come up to like warm up the crowd. It's a long-winded way of telling you, there's a guy named Sammy Barton who was a local comedian. And I love his first line, I stole it because I loved it so much. I would go, ladies and gentlemen, Sammy Martin, and he would walk up and people would be like, you know, whatever. And his first line was always,

thank you for that smattering of indifference. I say that to say. Smattering of indifference. I say that to say, that's what this is. Yes. Right. Every time there's anything going on,

it's like, and I always think of that guy saying, thank you for that smattering of indifference. That's what it feels like. It's just a giant smattering of indifference. And then people going, bro, I hope we get the bandsta. Mm-hmm. Right?

Or if we get Peterson, it'll all be worth it. Like, that's what these seasons become. I made up as a stat when I was at Grantland called T-Sop. And it's how I judge television shows. And it stands for time spent on phone. I feel like my T-Sop would be really high if I was at the Grizzlies game. Grizzlies Kings. I would spend most of my time just like scrolling TikTok and Instagram and then every once in a while looking up at the court.

This morning, I shouldn't even admit this. But you send me the rundown that we're going to do for the show. And so then I'll go and I'll start Googling stuff, right? So I pulled up the internet on my phone. And it was a search for best golf sunglasses. That's what I was doing in the fourth quarter. Best golf sunglasses. This is your job, Bruno.

I did the post game show. It can't blame me. Come on. What are you going to say? Yeah, come on. Dude, were you really Googling best golf sunglasses? For sure I was. What do you want me to do?

Pist and Spurs. and then we had that game and then it was the jazz and the rockets. It was just like, all right, NBA. I'm trying on this Monday night. We do have a great one tonight, which is Nick's Cavs. Hopefully everybody's going to be fully loaded for this game because this is a potential great playoff matchup if it is to take place. And so, and despite the Cavs getting run and giving up so many points with Oklahoma City

having like, what, four of their top. like seven guys out of that game and put up 120-something points. The Cavs have been one of the hottest teams in the league. And certainly have been outstanding. But that's a big one, right? Like now it's like, okay, here's what the Mitchell Hardin Cavs look like against the Knicks. And I do think that there is a very real possibility that we see those teams meeting up in April. And so this one is certainly worth checking out tonight.

We do have a good. Despite last night's schedule outside of the spurs and the Pistons, tonight's good. And I feel that, you know, this is not breaking news. The last couple of years, one of the big sort of points about the Nix is the defensive liabilities of Kat and Brunson. And I think that with Mitchell and Hardin sort of on the ball, I think that they're going to put a lot of pressure on those two. I think they're going to put a lot of pressure on those two. I think you're going to see him involved in a lot of action. I think we're going to see him manipulate the sort of that Carl Anthony Towns

is laxadaisical approach to that into the floor. All right. Today on the show, we are going to play a game of Talk Me Out of. We are going to make a statement. The other person has to attempt to talk them out of said statement, things that are going on in the NBA this week. All right, I will start. All right, Jacoby.

Talk me out of. Phoenix has been a great story, but Dylan Brooks was the one guy they could not lose. Okay. So I'm going to talk you out of this. Here's the thing. He'll be back. It's four to six weeks for the hand injury.

Devin Booker will be back. Goodwin will be back. So right now they do not look like a great team. But if you look at the standings, they're going to be in the playoffs. So really what it is is, it's a, happiness is a function of realistic expectations, right? So while Dylan Brooks is the guy that they can't lose,

I would say Devin Booker is the guy, they really can't lose, but they will be back. And it's not like the Blazers or the clippers are going to overtake them in the standings. They'll probably be in that seven, eight seed, and they'll probably be in the playoffs. And at that point, they are scheduled to be at full strength. So I don't know what I'm really trying to talk you out of it. All right, but you would just say as a function,

you'd think there's no chance that they fall to nine or ten, because there is a massive difference between the two. Yes. If you look at the standings right now, I could see the Warriors leapfrogging them, but I don't see the Blazers and the Clippers leapfrogging them. So I think they stay in that in the eighth spot. That'd be my guess.

Okay. So you're saying that, yes, it is a big loss, but because of the function of the standings, it's not, like, I mean, they're not apparent. Like, obviously, if they drop to nine or ten, that's a disaster. It is. It is in terms of like just being able to get to play. They want to play playoff basketball.

And your chance of playing playoff basketball is greatly diminished if you got to go and win two games on the road. Yes. And I also think that they are playing with house money too because no one expected the Sons to have this kind of a record. So it really is like what is the opportunity cost of if you slip a little bit? Even to get into the ninth seed, like really if you're the Phoenix Sons, you've had a very successful season. That's it. It's going to be interesting. I went to go pull his usage rate.

His usage rate is hot, man, which isn't surprising. But it's 28. I mean, he's right in line with, like, Tyrese Maxi and Denny Obdia. Jesus. That's insane. He is responsible for, like, 30% of their field goals. That's a lot, man. I mean, he is, he has been a massive, massive piece to that going on.

I mean, I'm just saying, like, outsized, I think. more than like if people haven't looked at the stats. Be like, whoa, man, like 30% of their field goals made and a 28% usage rate. Like, he has been a major cog in that deal in terms of the points that they're able to put up. And obviously what he brings on the defensive end and energy wise.

Like he's gotten a lot of credit this year for being a culture changer for them. Yeah. And I also think that, one sort of side benefit of all these injuries, especially with Booker being out, is it gives Jaylen Green an opportunity. I mean, you know, we saw, we all saw the shot in Orlando, but he was so bad in that game. Oh, my God. Because, you know, I don't think everyone's locked in on the Sun's Magic game, but we all see the double overtime three that he hits, you know, and then we got the fan camera and all that stuff. But he was absolutely atrocious in that game leading

up to it. But it is good timing. It is good timing that he's come back, especially when you need offensive punch. Like if there was going to be a timing for this, you know, and, and a guy that can replace usage and points, he at least fits that bill. While he will not replace anything defensively, he could replace on the offensive end when you're losing that amount of points and ball handling, uh, and playmaking, you know, he, he at least is going to, he's going to replace a percentage of that. It'll be interesting to see this off season because I think that they've found something in Phoenix with Jordan Ott and Brooks and Booker and I think that

they could obviously use a little bit more help in the front court. We'll see if they can address that in the soft season. They're sort of, I'll try to make a run for it next year. All right, what's your first one? The Spurs will be NBA champions next year. Talk me out of. Oh,

I don't know if I could talk you out of them being NBA champions next year. are you saying they will not be champions this year? Yes, that is also what I'm saying. This is the battle scars here. This is the Verno battle scars here. Okay, all right.

Well, look, as I told you, in the Battlescar manifesto, there is the line that this all becomes moot if there is a seven foot five alien that decides to start playing basketball. And you have had over the course of the past week, both two presidents in interviews mentioning aliens. Oh, right. And I mean, I wish they would have just said, have you guys seen the Spurs?

Look, one of the things that we talked about last week was my, I've had this running semi-thesis of, is it the young teams that are going to have the best chance at this because of the ability to have the amount of good players that is required and high-level players that is required when these guys are on rookie contracts. And you are seeing it now with the spurs. I brought up the whole Jalen Durant thing last week with the Pistons and the fact that what his contract is. And so the value of which, you know, the amount of guys you have that wildly outperform their contracts.

And that is just a hard, hard thing to do because if you're good, you get paid a fortune. There's really no middle class. So there's like the guys that make the fortune. And then there's the guys that don't make that much. And if you have been able to acquire super high level players that don't make that much, you're going to have a chance. So I'm going to tell you this. I don't know what you need to see, Jacoby, but we watched them play against the thunder,

and we loved the results. And we just watched them play the number one team in the East last night, and we loved the results. So unless you want to say the regular season is no indication of what things will be like in the playoffs, I would tell you that do not write them off for this year. don't write them off for this year because in any

series you know very well that guy could be the most dominant figure in the series absolutely I am hesitant did I talk you out of it? Do I talk you out of it?

No I'm not I'm not going to say that there's no chance they win the championship this year but I am going to say I have not seen a star player the best player on the team play their first playoff game

and win four playoff series. Like, I just, I just can't see that happen. I can't. Man, you sound like Chris Barton in a year ago. They need to take their scars. They need the ball scars. They need the ball scars. They ruined me.

The thunder ruined me. They check all the boxes, though. Like, I'm sitting there and then, you know, Wembe is Wembe. And he didn't even do that much offensively. ended up with 21 points, which like looks good in the box score, but they didn't like go to them that much, but Castle is just in the, Vassel and the Chippenny and then the guy, and then Deere Fox is there just like crossing people up and taking stepbacks. It's just they've, they've got it

in all phases everywhere. And they got so, and they've got so many versatile defenders that can also handle the ball on offense. Yes. You know what I mean? Like that's one of the things that stands out when we were talking last night. It's like, geez, man, if, if, if, if, Hey, Cunningham doesn't have the ball. Who's collapsing the defense at all, right? It's one of the reasons that despite his interview this week where he seems to have been really down emotionally. It's one of the reasons I didn't like moving off of Jaden Ivy.

Because I'm thinking at least the ceiling with Jaden Ivy is somebody dynamic with the ball in their hands, right? That might be able to play make and might be able to match the athleticism as a release vow. And I just didn't like it. I don't care if you can't pay him in the old. off season. Deal with that in the off season. Let's roll with this because I don't, I don't, I don't care about Kevin Herder. Like, it doesn't matter. Like, you're selling me that the guy is a sharpshooter,

well, when is he sharpshooted? I mean, we're, we're living in the past, we're living in the past to you. So I would have just kept, I would have just kept Ivy, you know what I mean? And, and at least had something else possibly dynamic. If it works, it works. If it doesn't, it doesn't. but I at least know he might be able to beat somebody off the dribble and get to the basket and kick out for threes and whatever else. Anyway, the whole point is San Antonio's got a bunch of those guys, right? If it ain't Foxx, it's Castle, if it ain't Castle, it's Harper. Like, they got a bunch of guys that can do something.

There's no one you can leave alone either. Like, Thompson, having Thompson on the floor was so detrimental to what they were trying to do. They had to take him off the floor to finish the game. But there's no one like that on the spurs. I mean, Luke Cornett, I suppose, are backup center. Which he, hopefully he's going to be fine with the bang knee that he had last night. All right.

It didn't look great. Next one. This should be and will be LeBron's last season in L.A. Okay. Talk me out. You said it yourself. You said it yourself that he wants a farewell tour. And it just seems his latest quote about this is let me see.

I got it written down here. Quote, I want to live when I know you guys will know. I don't know. I have no idea. I just want to live. That's all. Bruno. Do you really think?

like after a first round exit with the Lakers, LeBron James is just going to hang it up this offseason. Do you really think that? I didn't say, I didn't say that this is his last season. I said this should and will be his last season in Los Angeles. He'll go to another team, have his insufferable, all-on-video farewell tour and sell the streaming rights to it. So it doesn't matter what kind of money.

gets because he's going to be a paid actor for the whole season, miced up, you know, going to every, everybody can bow to the king for this last year. But the Lakers are going to end up having to pay Austin Reeves and they're going to move on to whatever the new era of Lakers basketball built around Luca Dodgich will be. I'm not saying it will be his last season. I'm saying it should be, and will be his last season in L.A. L.A. is specific. So our guy Bill Simmons,

he sort of posited this LeBron to the Warriors idea, which I found somewhat interesting, but I also see it as a little bit like what he's doing with the Lakers. Like, if you put LeBron on the Warriors, I don't think they're top four in the West. You know what I mean? Like, I still think they're kind of just like,

number six, number five, they're in the mix. But like, the Cavs, the Knicks, the Warriors, where does he go that makes sense? It's home. I don't think he puts on a New Jersey. It would be home and it will be like the full circle.

You know what I mean? Started in Cleveland, ended in Cleveland. Here's my pet. And like, oh, the movie's just going to be amazing. I mean, Hardin Mitchell, James. I mean, who knows, who knows how it gets there. No, no. I mean, you probably move.

Maybe you can do a sign of trade or something. I don't know. Who knows? I don't know how it happens. I don't either. Does he play for the minimum? Yes. So he plays for the bet minimum.

But then sells the streaming rights for a fortune. I'm not worried about LeBron James' income, but I just don't think he's going to like take such a team friendly deal. Oh, sure he would. To make the movie? Come on. What movie? I don't really want to watch that movie.

Do you want to watch that movie? me a documentary about LeBron's final year where he goes around and gets celebrated all the time. Like, where's the tension in that documentary? Like, where's the, where's the adversity that he has to overcome? I mean, I would not be going to the theater, but I might hate watch it. I would probably watch it just as it's LeBron, but I would probably hate watching too. I don't want to pile out the guy, but I mean, it's like, I mean, it's just, I think. The dirty secrets, he's not the most interesting personality.

He wants that. He wants the bow to the king, you know. I watched Kobe do this at the end. I mean, dude, I was there. I was sitting next to Ramona Shelburne at a game in Memphis, and there was a timeout on the court, and guys ran out with like boom mics and lights and everything. This is at a timeout in the game,

his last season when they were awful. And I'm like, what is going on? And she's like, they're filming, they're filming his last season. And he like went and put his arm around like Danny Crawford or somebody. And he's like talking. It's like they're filming a scene in a movie. Like this is so not real. It was at a timeout in the game.

Imagine this. Imagine you're at a time out in the NBA game. I'm sitting on the on the scores table. and guys run out with boom mics and lights and a camera. And he's like got his arm around Danny Crawford. And then like talking to him. Like this is just like randomly happening. I'm like,

he's filming a movie scene in the middle of the game. Like I've seen this happen before. So I know what this is going to look like. And it's going to be hilarious with his traveling film crew everywhere. And oh, it's going to be great. It's going to be, it's going to be great. Have you ever looked at your phone? You're looking for a podcast to listen to.

for a long drive or something and said, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to mind the game. I want to hear what LeBron James and Steve Nash are talking about on this long car ride. Have you done it? Have you done it? I've watched the videos of it and you. The clips.

And you with as close as you are to Rich Paul now, those black trucks are going to be outside your frozen house here in a minute. You better watch your mouth. I don't think Rich listens to the mismatch. You better watch your mouth. I think when Rich looks at his phone, he doesn't say, You know what? Let's see what Bruno and Jacoby are talking about.

Those black trucks are going to be outside your frozen house in a five minutes. You better watch your mouth. Between the mountains of trash and snow, there's nowhere for him to go. Yeah, our show is going to be our last episode. Thanks, Jacoby. No problem. Next one. Next one.

This one, you cannot talk me out. Okay. Well, we'll see. The 65 game rule is stupid and should not exist. Oh, I mean, this is. fish in a barrel, as they say. Okay. Everybody has short-term memory loss on this.

Okay? Mm-hmm. We all have short-term memory loss where it's like, oh, and this guy's not going to get this award, or this guy's not going to get this award because of the 65 game rule, I'm Dave Jacoby. This is stupid. These guys not playing 65 games shouldn't keep them from winning these awards. and the short-term memory loss is, as someone who goes to games on a regular basis, they made an absolute mockery of the league before you implemented this.

And it had to be done and it is good. And here's the reason. Number one, your availability should matter towards you being awarded something. number two and most importantly, and people can gripe about this, but if money was not attached to this, they would still be making a mockery of it. Not only was the cat let out of the bank, the cat ran six miles down the road

to where Adam Silver finally had to do something with exactly what he is doing with tanking. And the reason he is having to do it within tanking is because you are having to look and you are having to say, what are the incentives? and the incentives for losing are too great. So now we have to reposition the lead. And so what I would tell you is,

in between all the nerds and all these front offices and players that would willingly not play, the incentives of the regular season are not great enough for you to play the games. The thing that matters is playoffs and playoff success. And so players would be. just rest. Players would just sit. People that you've got, you were talking about the Knicks

game last week, right? Families of four that buy tickets months in advance for little Johnny's birthday go to the game and the favorite player isn't playing. The big guy isn't playing. You have people, you have fans that spend small fortunes now going to games. You have television executives that spend big fortunes broadcasting said games

and what was happening is everybody was just sitting I live in a small market I regularly saw guys come to town and they would just sit out why why are they sitting out rest because it doesn't matter I mean it's not on national TV

in fact it's just on regional TV it's against Memphis so what and so the kid that came to go watch his favorite player play regularly was being disappointed And it happened with the home team too. Where you just go and there were kids that would show up in their Morant jerseys.

John Moran ain't playing tonight. Why? Because what's the incentive for him to play? He's on a guaranteed contract. The only thing that you could do was build in where a guy would have to play 65 games because then it would affect his money. Then all of a sudden they were going to play. And I would tell you this, it is most.

important this year. Because right now we've got a third of the league not attempting to win games and coming up with every bit of, I have seen a finger surgery, I've seen a nose surgery. Yeah, nose is the new one. Nose is great. Every surgery in the world because what were they going to do? They were going to come down on people for not playing games. So now you have to come up with a real reason why guys aren't playing games.

So now that's for a third of the league that you've got this going on. Now you would take the other two thirds. And the other two thirds are saying, you know what? The only thing that really matters is the playoffs. And so to hell with our seed, the most important thing is that we get a healthy team going into April. That's what we need. And if there was not a 65 game rule, it would be an absolute debacle right now. Because you've already got a third that are playing.

meaningless games. Then you would have these teams with stars that are saying, you know what, man, we're just going to try to get to the playoffs and we're going to try to stay healthy because it doesn't affect anything. But these guys are saying, no way, man, I want to win that award. I want to be on that all NBA team. I want to be the MVP. I want to be like all of these incentives that are now built in.

And that it is literally hundreds of millions of dollars, it's the only thing keeping these guys on the court. I went back and looked just to see. And LeBron James made his 21st All-NBA, a record that'll never be broken, right? And I went to go check just to see, like, how many times over the course of that would he have not been eligible?

And there was only once during, like, the heyday of LeBron. And that was- groinjury? Miami in 2011. And he played 62. And I think you could argue he would have played 60. if he would have had to have played 65, right? That's where he went away for like a month or whatever.

And then he went 65 all of those years until he went to Los Angeles. And then he played 56, 67, 56, 45, 55. And then guess what happened? Two years ago, LeBron James played 71. And then last year he played 70. That's unbelievable. How did that happen? Well, how did that?

What, that's crazy. A guy magically had his healthiest seasons when he was 38 years old and are not blaming LeBron. This is what was going on everywhere. And so what was happening is like LeBron James playing 55 games or 56 games or 55 games or whatever else, right? And there was no incentive to play. and then all of a sudden he played 71 games and then he played 70 games and this was happening all over the league.

Like to hell with this. I don't care if guys don't get awards. I don't care if they're not eligible for all NBA. The only thing that is going to save this product over the course of the last two months is this rule. Because everybody would be sitting out coasting, trying to get to the playoffs. If that didn't convince you, nothing came. I think that we have to give. No. We have to give the voters more credit.

The people that make these decisions, you say, well, availability is a factor. You take availability into account when you make the votes or you make the all-MBA roster. If someone only plays 35 games, they're not going to be the MVP. But the idea that, like, Yokic is not going to make 65 games. So he's just, we can't have him as the MVP. Wembe is not going to play 65 games. Well, he can't be the MVP. What if Shay doesn't hit 65 games?

well, he can't be the MVP. And then we end up with this like second team MVP vote. I'm sorry that happened, but it is a necessary evil of what we have to get done, which is if we don't have this rule in place, you won't play. The only reason they're playing now. If you're Yokic and you don't,

so he misses two more games, then you're under 65. Then you're not incentivized to play anymore. So has that changed anything? If you're Yok, he's got 16 miss games, right? Let's say he misses two more games. Then he said 64 is the most that he could possibly play. So now he's out of the running for all the awards in the NBA stuff.

So wouldn't he, according to you, wouldn't he just sit and rest to be available for the playoffs? No, because then you're a dirtbag who doesn't care about your team. Okay. What are you talking about? Guys can't serve two masters. They can look out for themselves and look out for the team. And it is best for the team, honestly, when the best players are playing 65 plus games. That's not a high amount of games to play.

I don't want to see Kate as the MVP because four guys weren't eligible. I just don't want to see it. Well, SGA is a leader in the clubhouse. I know. He could. He's out right now. He's missed nine games. He's out right now.

It is possible that he will not hit the threshold. If the opposite is what they were doing, which is making an absolute mockery and just sitting out games, they weren't incentivized to play the regular season. It didn't matter. It didn't matter. By the way, I just told you all the games, the number of games LeBron James played and it wasn't hurting him.

He was making all NBA. All of a sudden it was going to hurt him and he played 70. So don't tell me that this is, unless it's just a most amazing coincidence in the history of history. I'll do that. No, give me a break. That'll be in the movie.

I'm not seeing this movie. Okay. I'm not. Yeah. I'm up. I think I convinced you. I do. No, not really.

I think there's a way, there's a way to split the baby. All right. So I've been watching a lot of these teams with the best records in the NBA right now. And this has become a factor in the next draft even, right? With the old Darren Peterson saga that's going on. Playing hard is the new market inefficiency.

finding, and I thought about this while I was watching the Celtics this weekend. I'm watching the Pistons. I'm watching the Spurs. I'm watching that Phoenix team that we have talked about. And then I watched some of these other teams. So I look at your roster and I go, geez, man, how are they winning so many games? And the truth is, watch the Celtics. Like, they go all out all the time.

They got just a bunch of guys that play hard. And so it's sad, but now we have moved to in 2026 that if you want to find, if you want to find guys that'll give you the edge, it used to be some kind of specific talent. Now the talent is playing hard, a guy that will actually give an honest effort every single night. And then if you can find a collection of those guys, you can now in the NBA have an awesome team. even if you lack in talent, if your talent is playing hard and you build a roster of guys that will play hard on a regular basis, you're going to win a lot of games. It's hard for me to talk you out of this for a couple of reasons. One, it doesn't make any sense.

What? It's just the market inefficiency part is the part that I get tripped up on. It's the new money ball. It's also impossible for me to be like, oh, no, playing hard doesn't matter. Like, you really want me to take that stance? You brought me to take that stance. The only thing I'm going to talk you out of is... It's the new money ball.

Explain the Celtics to me. I can't. I can't. Explain the sons to me. Explain the sons to me. I can't. I know. The Pistons are the same.

If you watch the Knicks Pistons games, one team plays a lot harder than the others. If you just watch Ron Holland for any stretch and any shift, and any shift, he's just going harder. I'm not going to argue against. playing hard, Verno. I'm not going to argue against it,

but if you watch the Lakers, just watch the Lakers on defense. I'm surprised J.J. Redick hasn't just, like, absolutely lost his mind. Well, look. Sometimes I watch them play defense on, because anyone even trying? And last year's champion and runner-up,

both the Thunder and the Pacers, if there's anything you want to say, it's like, those guys give an honest effort, they go all out every single night. And it's like, I know that sounds crazy. I know it sounds crazy.

crazy and you say it doesn't make sense. But that's the truth of the matter. Like, and you would think it's simple, but playing hard is a skill. And it is the under, it has become the undervalued skill. Yeah. I think T.J. McConnell had a quote last year, I want to say where he said basically the same thing. He's like, he's like playing really hard is a skill that you have to develop.

It's not just something that's ingrained inside you. I think tying it to the draft and the Darren Peterson thing is pretty interesting. But this is also, it's not just individual play. It's culture, its identity, and it's coaching. You know, like if you watch the Pistons, they're playing hard and they're working hard on defense, and that's why it pays off. I'm trying to find the market inefficiency.

That's what I'm trying to find. What's the new money ball? Playing hard. It's just kind of silly. It's calling Gillespie. It sounds like you've got like a ninth grade rec league team. You're just like, guys, we just got to play harder than the other team. I mean, here's my next.

The playing games are fun, but they're entirely unnecessary. Oh, my God. You're impossible. They're fun. They're fun. I'm not saying get rid of the playing games. I'm just saying they're unnecessary. They're silly.

They're 100% necessary. 100% necessary. Or else, we've already got 10 that don't give a shit. Now you're trying to make it 14 and you're trying to get away of the 60. You really want to go back to the worst regular season ever. No, three years ago, the worst regular season ever. Where nobody's playing, you can't tune into a game on Thursday night because both stars are sitting. You can't buy tickets to a game because nobody is playing.

And it's like now you want to add four more teams that aren't going to care because they're out of the mix and they're not going to get one. of the, so you want, like, I can't even believe this. In your NBA, your NBA is the worst. Your NBA is the one that Adam Silver is losing years off his life. Like, I wear that whoop strap and now the worst thing I ever did was. Why do you do that? I subscribe, because it does keep me in line and it does measure my sleep and it does keep me from drinking and all of this stuff.

But it now tells me like my age. It says you're actually this age based on your metrics. Oh, my. I mean, Adam Silver's has got to be like 98. His whoops got to tell him. He's like 98 years old with the amount of stress he has dealing with this. But we're going to lament these last two months of the season. and yet here you are trying to make get rid of the 65 game rule and the play in which are the only things that make this the least bit watchable counterpoint they're going to do something to de-incentivized tank right so that's going to happen we all know that it's going to happen this off season and in my world there would be no connection to your record in the draft we don't have to do the tanking thing again second point is do you really need to see the hawks and hornets in a in a in a play game i love watching the hornets to

too, but none of those teams are going to even push a number one seed at all, at all. Do you need to see the clippers? Do you need to see the Blazers in the quote-unquote playoffs? I mean, again, my God, you use maybe the worst example ever. I like the play in games. I'm just saying they're unnecessary. There's kind of silly. No, no, no, no.

Why do we have 20 teams in the playoffs? Now you're using the worst example ever. And you can go back to an old episode we have after the melee. There's nothing more I want in the world that Hornets Pistons first round. Nothing. That's fair. Especially after the old Diabate punches throat. Like, bro, if you could have me, if I could wish for any playoff,

matchup in either conference. It would be pissed in tornets. Because of the impact that could have, the hornets going through their lumps for the first time, seeing if they're going to back down beef stew getting to spend. I mean, the whole day, I just got to see it. I got to see that. Like, getting those two teams,

given the melee that happened earlier this year, would be the absolute best and our only chances to play in. So, yeah, you're just thinking about it through the prism of the Hornets and the Hawks. But when you went, if you're under 500, you should not be a playoff. You went too far when you said, do you under 500, you should not be a playoff. Your quote was really, do I really need to see the Hornets versus the Pistons? The answer to that is a million percent. Yes, you do.

What? Miles Bridges ducked a haymaker from beef stew. Musa Diabate looked like man on four. fire. Like they, they'd have six guys holding him because he was like shaking. He was losing his mind. And then like Lamello's trying to run people over in the streets. Like, Furno, oh, wait, your counterpoint is we might get a fight. That's your counterpoint. Oh, it'd be cool because they might fight. Bro. That's your counterpoint. No, it's that I, this is my chance to see the Hornets and playoff basketball and I need that desperately. They are the most fun average team.

in the entire league. It's not even close. It's not even close. And I need to see it. And by the way. I watch Hornets games over anything else when I'm open up my app. And also, the first round is still able to be broadcast by local broadcasters.

So I could get Hornets Pistons with Eric Collins on the call. Oh. Did you see Eric Collins in the Wizards game? Yes. Dude. Lamello's just on a keyer. He's like, shoot it. Lamello!

That was Chino Hills LaBello. Just one foot, five feet behind the line. It was unbelievable. The shots that he takes are just so weird. Like he doesn't even shoot it. He doesn't jump. I don't know what he's doing. It's odd.

There are two teams that we know are highly ranked teams within their conference. But if you put feet to the fire, we don't necessarily consider them NBA title. contenders. They might be conference title contenders, but we don't consider them to be NBA title contenders. But if Houston got Van Vleet back and the Celtics got Tatum back, they are title contenders when they otherwise would not be. I don't think you believe that. What do you mean? I don't think you believe that. Oh, I do think.

You know what? I was watching that Houston game this weekend. We were texting back and forth. This is the one where. The next game? where Javarry Smith took that crazy three. Yeah. And of course, I'm Mr.

You Need a Point Guard guy. Yeah. I was watching that game going, you know what, bro, they might have won the title if they had Van Fleet and Stephen Adams. Like the roster is, if you watch it, you're like,

damn, bro, like you never know the way this stuff is going to go. But I also watch it go, man, if they just had Fred Van Fleet to bring the ball up the court and start the offense, they still got enough. Like, they just need, him. They need Van Bleet. They need some, and I can't believe

they didn't go get a settle down guy to run the offense in the fourth quarters. But if they give Van Bleed and then obviously we don't think the Celtics, you know, maybe a little too high usage rate with the Jalen Brown thing.

And, you know, you're not necessarily going to count on all those others. Like if we're talking about NBA title, that those teams, we don't think of them as teams that could win the NBA title, but if Houston got Van Bleet and if the Celtics got Tatum, we could see them winning the NBA title.

So you're telling me, Van Bleet comes back from injury, right? He's working himself back. At the end of the regular season, you think that that could be a championship team. I disagree. Especially without Stephen Adams. I don't think you really even believe that,

especially after that Knicks game. God, that was, I mean, that you celebrate as a Knicks fan. They were up. They were up huge. They were up 21 and the fourth quarter just completely fell apart. Because they don't have a point guard. They don't have a point guard that he trusts. They don't have a point guard. If they did, that lead doesn't dwindle like that.

Isn't it supposed to be Reed Shepherd? He obviously can't stand watching him play. Yeah. He just gets disgusted. You know, there's certain guys that, like, just discussed coaches. And he actually, Caminga and Kerr, Sheppard, Shepard and Doka. You can just tell.

He's obviously like, I can't watch this. You know what I mean? Like, yes, he is your best option at this moment. He is. I think for whatever reason, he just can't watch. I also think I think that missing Adams is a bigger deal. And Adams didn't even play that much. No.

But the whatever, the 17, 20 minutes he played, he just changed everything. It did change everything. But it is also a bigger deal without a point guard. Because without a point guard, then it's like, all right, well, when we miss a shot, we get it back anyway. We get two and three cracks at every offensive possession because we lead the league at offensive rebounding. You don't have to shoot as higher percentage or get as good as shots if you get to do it twice.

And they always got to do it twice. How about on the Tatum front? Do you buy that? They trashed the Lakers as far. I know. That was awesome. It's how good was purchased. There's so much like Shireman and Walsh and Gonzalez and Vucevich where I'm just kind of like,

is that a championship team with those guys in the rotation? A championship team? with sort of a hobbled Tatum, I don't know. Bonus one. Hugo is the best first name in the NBA. I don't, isn't it like Hugo or something? Like, isn't the H silent? Right.

That was when they started calling a God, Yeager Joman. I was like, can't you just be Igor Demin? Like, I mean, serious. Oh, I forgot. You're right. Yeah, yeah. Igor is better.

Igor is good. And there's Jacobi Walter. I mean, come on. Chacot. That's the best person. Easy. I don't think there is a Chris. Chris done.

That's C. That's K. There's got to be Chris's in the National Basketball Services. There's like 500 players. There's got to be a Chris. I don't think there is. Are you Christopher?

Are you sure? Yeah, I'm Chris. I'm Christopher. I'm never calling you Chris again. You are now Christopher. That's what I mean, the only person that ever called. me, Christopher, was my mom.

And I lived in a neighborhood with a bunch of little kids. And, like, still to this day, if I see or, like, I communicate with guys that are, that I grew up with, they will bring it up. My mom used to open up the back door in our neighborhood. And she would go, Christopher! And that was what I knew I had to come home for dinner. Christopher. My mom, that's the only time she ever said it either.

The only time, it's weird. The only time anybody has ever called me Christopher is when my mom would yell out the back door to get me to come in for dinner. Otherwise, my mom's never called me Christopher. My college friends still call me Dave, which I just find kind of comforting. Because all of my work friends call me Jacobi.

My college friends still call me Dave. I found it very jarring when we went out to eat. Your wife calls you David. Sometimes. She did that night. She was like, David. Like when we got up to like go out to the concessions order, she's like, David. And I'm like, who the hell is?

Who is she talking to? David. Who is she talking to? Who is she talking to? David. All right. Last one. Last one.

According to you, I've already ruined the NBA 17 different ways. I mean, this is that honestly. all-time horrible performance by you. I think this is an MVP performance from me. I would have gotten the MVP, but I didn't play 65 games, so I'm not eligible. The sport that I,

the sport that I love is attempting to be ruined by my co-host. God forbid, God forbid, Adam Silver listens to this. He's like, you know what? Let's get the teams under 500 in the playoffs. Let's do that. Yeah. And the best player in the league,

let's not give him the MVP for technical. You know, Adam Silver's like, Oh my God, I love this show. There's a guy. It's the most valuable player that plays a certain amount of games that we just have to actually. Adam Silver's like, oh, there's a guy that understands.

Who cares if anybody plays? To hell with that working class family. To hell with that working class family. There are no working class families and NBA games because they cannot afford the tickets. None. None. Please.

Maybe in Memphis. There are. Maybe Memphis. Not New York. I can't even go to a Nets game. I told my game, we're going to a Westchester Knicks game. I swear to God,

we're going to a Westchester Nix game. He's waiting for the Globetrotters. Westchester Nix games, courtside seats. Do you know how much they cost? Yes. Westchester Nix. They play in like a conference room.

$100.50. And I'm buying four of those things. That's also $1,000 to go see the Westchester. Sure. Surely somebody from the Westchester Nix can reach out and hook you up with tickets. Well, we'll see. I'm not asking.

I'm not going to send a blind email. And pretend I'm my assistant. Hey, fly down here. I'll get you on the front row for the hustle. Is Roger, is Roger doing the play-by-play? Well, and my producer, Jenner, runs the whole operation. I'm subbing in.

If you want to, you might, I think you could play for the hustle right now. You for sure good. Basketball. I scored zero points. My last rec league game. So were they. You'd fit right in.

According to you, I've ruined the NBA, the NBA, the entire league. Yes. And I love the NBA. I love basketball. It's my favorite sport. It's my favorite league. But there is no sport that provides a better finish to a close game than hockey. And that gold medal game was an absolute exhilarating, transcendent watch.

in hockey because my kids come in the room. How much time is left? It's like five minutes. They go, well, that's going to take an hour. I'm like, actually, no, it's going to take five minutes because they don't stop the clock. Every once in a while, there'll be a face off. But that game was so good. And high level hockey is with tied or one team is down a goal, is some of the best that you could possibly watch.

The women's game, they're down one with two minutes left. They pull the goalie and they score and they score in overtime. The men's game was just perfect with the saves. I don't know who Connor Hellebuck is, but now he's my favorite person in the world. That game was a perfect viewing experience in close games. Hockey is better than football. It's better than baseball. It's better than basketball.

The finishes in hockey is the best sport in a close game. Okay. The two that I would put up there are like soccer, like World Cup when you get to like that last World Cup, like when you're getting to either extra time or what I'm saying like where it's like, It's sudden. Whatever happens is ending it or a shootout. The shootouts are just weird. But the tension in that is unbelievable.

The tension is, it is similar. Extra endings baseball. Like, and we had this during the World Series, like the mono-e-mono thing and the whole, like there is a tension. But the only argument I can make is that whenever this comes up, And I agree, let me just be clear. You don't have to, I'm not going to talk you out of this because I grew up playing hockey

and that's what I grew up with season tickets to. My father and I had season tickets to the St. Louis Blues. And I will only tell you that when anybody makes this argument, it's because we won. Okay? We would not be talking about this on the other end. In my senior year of high school, and now think about this, it still gets me to this day, the last time I ever cried during a sporting event was a sudden death hockey game. I literally, because it was more, is it's going to get sappy.

It's more about dad than it is the game because my whole child that we had season tickets. It's the thing that me and my dad did together. And we, like, he worked all the time and we, but we would go to blues games together. And we would sit in the, we would go. And like it was just from the time I was, I don't know, maybe junior high, all the way through high school. My senior year, we trade for Wayne Gretzky. And this is the year. We're going to go win the Stanley Cup.

And that year, they lost in game seven in overtime. Steve Eiserman hit a slap shot. Gretzky loses the puck at mid-ice. Like, I could see it like yesterday. and has a slap shot that goes over the shoulder of our goalie, John Casey, and it ended just like that. And when I tell you, I bawled my eyes out. And it was because I was going off to college in the fall.

My dad was giving up the season tickets. That was it. It had to happen. It had to happen then. That was going to be the time. It finally, it had to happen. And there was nothing more excruciating than that. Like I'm sure there is some Canadian hockey fan that fell that way when that took place.

And so I will tell you it is the best. There is no tension like that. But to be on the other side of that is so friggin devastating. It is awesome when you win. But when you lose and it's all so sudden and it just hits you like a way it did. That moment, it hit me like a wave. It's really all over. And I never even considered it being over.

And obviously, look, the Blues finally won the Stanley Cup after 100 years, like four years ago. And I was down, me and my dad watched every single game together in his house. But you never, like, that was the last year. Like our season tickets, it was done. And so that was the last time we were ever going to go to every game. and I was ever going to be invested like that again. And to have it end like that was so frigging. Still to this day, I'm old now.

And that still, like, haunts me. That's 30 years ago, bro. Almost. Almost 30 years ago that happened. And it's the last time I ever, like, truly cry. Well, you are making my point because, because of the emotional swings and the tension and because it's so sudden,

Like a lot of times in football, the team gets, you know, they complete some pass or whatever. They're down to the 15 yard line and they're down by one point. And you know it's just going to be, they're going to kneel and get the ball to where the kicker wants it. And it's sort of like inevitable that it's going to happen. And the same thing. In basketball, they call a time out, they drop a play. You kind of know it's going to happen or it's not going to happen. Baseball can be sudden like that.

Like the Aaron Boone home run is my version of your Geysman Slapshot. But like in hockey, it's just so. tense. It's just so tense. Everything feels so important. And the clock is running. You know, like it's like it's, it's just awesome. And that women, the women's gold medal game when they pulled the goalie, it just felt like there was absolutely no hope. And then they score and they go to overtime. They score again. It was just so exhilarated. And that's the, that's the, that's the series I'm not talking about you at is because the emotional, like, the emotional swing that is about to happen dependent upon the suddenness of it all.

So when Jack Hughes scores that goal, bro, I can't tell you how fast I jumped off. I mean, I was going crazy. I was already standing. But if that's it, but if it would have gone the other way, I mean, my head would have been absolutely bare. I know. And where do you have something like that? And that is something that it's not like you're invested in the same way. And yet you become invested in the same way.

you know, that you become invested in a way that like even if you haven't been invested for years and years and years, it feels like you have. And dude, that was so awesome. Did you see, have you seen the videos of them in Miami last night? Yeah. Oh, my God. What kings they are living like right now. I mean, can you imagine?

Oh, it's got to be the best. It has got to be the absolute best. Like, I have no, I don't follow hockey that. closely at all. But like, I don't know who Connor Hellibook is. Like, now he's just going to go back to like Winnipeg and be like the goalie for the Jets. There is no there is no going back for those guys.

As someone who is like a sports collector, I will tell you that every year when you go to like that convention or something, still to the, for 46 years, Mike Arruzioni and Jim Craig, there's a whole cottage industry of like just miracle on ice collectibles.

And like those guys, Jack Hughes and Halibach, like, it's forever. It said it's truly forever in a way that you don't think necessarily at the time, but it will be. It'll be forever. And watching the

boldie goal when they first scored, he flips the fuck up on a stick and then he hits in the air and then it hits it in the air again. Just right over the stick like the Canadian defenseman trying to swipe that. It was just, it was such a great game. So good. It was low scoring,

but it was so much fun like that one. The one shot, I forgot who took it, but it went off the right post and then the left post didn't go in. I was just so shocked. The hell of a book saved with the stick when you watch the replay, it was just like so wild. I wish you would,

I'll be honest with you as we wrap this up. I wish you would have just stayed in character and ruined hockey too and been like sudden death is stupid. Yeah, let's go back to shootouts. Why didn't you just stay in character and ruin everything? I do. I do. The hockey's kind of silly. Let's be honest. Why are we

on the ice? seriously why are we on ice why are we making this so hard can't skate can't ice skate oh yeah you can't you played hockey yeah I can't ice skate yeah nothing nothing all right well I ruin the NBA are we still gonna have a show on Friday it's the NBA ruined now I mean in between

in between you making Rich Paul mad and oh right yeah yeah and ruining the NBA this I mean that's gonna be tough yeah Yokin shouldn't be the MVP you're right Yeah, we shouldn't have the best player be the MVP. You're right.

You're right, Bruno. We should not have the best player win the MVP award. That's not the argument. No, no, no, that's exactly what we said. You know what? The best player should win the MVP award. You know what? As much as everybody, everybody has forgotten how much we bitched about this two years ago.

Got short-term memories. Your heads are all convoluted. You're watching too many Instagram reels and now your heads are convoluted. These guys didn't play. They just literally would show up to Thursday. night TNT and been like, I'm resting. Yep. Like, that's why we had to do this.

Well, they should just, it should, can we just make it a 60 game season? Like, can we just do that already? I'm fine with that. We just do that. 60 game season. That's it. It's 60 games. God forbid the NBA makes players play basketball. Yeah. This argument is soft generation. All right. Thank you to Jeff. Thank you to Jesse.

Thank you to Stefan. to everybody that makes the mismatch happen to Kobe. I'm hopefully going to talk to you later.