The Ringer NBA Show - Steph Hits 4K! Plus, Are We Headed for an OKC-Boston Finals Matchup? | Real Ones

Episode Date: March 14, 2025

Warriors G Steph Curry hit 4,000 career 3s on Thursday night. Logan and Raja reflect on his career milestone (1:58). How dangerous are the Warriors? They’ve been hot since acquiring Jimmy Butler (6:49). Are the Thunder far and away better than the other teams in the West (22:20)? What would give you pause about the Boston Celtics (27:20)? The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Hit the mailbag! [e-mail] Hosts: Logan Murdock and Raja Bell Producer/Audio: Clifford Augustin Video Producer: Victoria Valencia Additional Production Support: Ben Cruz Social: Keith Fujimoto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's popping? Real ones. Logan Burdock here, Rosabelle there, Cliff on the boards. Victoria on the video. Raja, have you come down from the high of having been on Tuesday? How are you doing, buddy? Yeah, I'm good. I mean, I'm down from the high. What an incredible, like, just moment for me personally. If I can be selfish for a second. Incredible moment for the pot. I mean, the pot, like, come on. But, yeah, personally, but I am down. But feeling unusually kind of upbeat for a Friday morning.

I'm, you too. I feel pretty good today. You were on the call earlier than me and shit? Like, you told me to step my fucking game up. You were in a bag this morning. Like, I don't know what that means for this episode. But, like, I just know you're ready to rock and roll. We'll find out.

All right. It's one of those, you ever had a, I cautioned my kids about. about this shit when they're talking about, man, my warm-up was so good. I'm like, yeah, some of the best games I ever had were after shitty warm-ups where I couldn't make a shot. And conversely, some of the worst shooting nights I've ever had come off of the heels of, like, I couldn't miss a shot in warm-ups. So you've got to be real careful with that, hoping that's not today. Yeah. I mean, some of the shittiest reporting trips I've ever had have turned into the best written pieces I've ever done in my career. So, I mean, I guess,

you know. Let's see what happens. You know we pop in because we have a branded segment today, and we're going to start it off today. Rer one of the week, today's Rer 1 of the Week, is sponsored by State Farm. Basketball is all about teamwork, and so is insurance. That's why State Farm is there to assist you with choosing the right covers, whether it's your home car or even that broken hoop in the driveway. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. I want to talk about somebody that is kind of in my backyard who,

had who I wouldn't say broke a record, but had a big accomplishment last night at a Chase Center. Mr. Steph Curry, who made his 4,000 three-pointer, the first to ever do that. He's also, as some people pointed out last night, was also the first person to get 3,999 three-pointers, and then also 3,9893-pointers. But, no, at this stage of his career, he is in the space where he turned 37 today. And he's in the space where he is playing at the tail end of his prime. It has a bit of a chance right now.

And we'll talk about the chances of the types of teams that he is on and also how that compares Oklahoma Cities and the bosses of the world in the next segment. But this guy right now has a chance to win. I think another title this year. Where do you see him right now in his career? And when you see that he has gotten 4,000 three-pointers as one of the guys that was his vet once upon a time, what does that make you feel? Well, you made an impact, Roger.

I don't want to get too far into we talked about that prepop, but you made an impact. Yeah, well, I mean, to get to say that I was there for even a minute with somebody at a player like Steph Curry and a person like Steph, you know, something I get to brag about to my kids. So it was very cool for me. What do I think about when, when, you know, what are my thoughts? I, I'd like to say that it would, it was surprise. It would be a surprise. I can't say that, although I didn't get a huge sample size when I was there with him. You could see in practices. and in the few games that I got to see that it was there, right? And then it was going to be a matter of whether or not like those ankles were going to allow him to have the type of longevity that he's had. And so I guess my answer to that is I'm just excited and happy that he was able to figure those type of things out from a physical standpoint to allow, you know, his game to do what it could do. And then to watch his transformation as a player and as a physical body, you know, I don't think people really realize how much he was never going to be a huge framed individual. But the commitment that someone has to make to their body, a la LeBron James,

that have the type of like longevity and be able to do what they do at that level for that long. And if you look at Steph pre, you know, like if you look at his early stuff before and after, you can really see the work that he's done on his frame and his body. And so for all those reasons, all that's gone into being able to break these records and set these marks and just knowing how hard it was for him to get started, like the difficulty with some of the injuries up front, I'm excited for him. You know, excited for his family, excited for Golden State. I mean, they, you know, they made a commitment out front. And I think some people, at least in the NBA, where the jury was out for them on whether or not it would turn into what it's turned into. so like just excited all the way around.

Yeah, 13 and 1 over the last 14. A lot of that has to do with the addition of Jimmy Butler, which we'll get you in a second. But I just got to say last night, going to the game, it felt like a glimpse of what it used to be in terms of cameras, in terms of vibes. The Steph is doing a, he's recording a IMAX documentary, which is expected to come out in the fall, I believe.

So it's based around one game And this was the one game Similar to like Spike Lee's doing work right So there were a lot of like cameras It was a lot of buzz around him And it felt like The Simulets of the Beatles were back Together last night

You know what I mean? And I don't know what that means But this team is transformed in front of our eyes I don't know what they're going to be But I knew no that they're dangerous. And he's got his swagger back. The team has their swagger back.

And I'd be scared as hell to play them. And you were early on this. I thought you were pandering to the audience when we were in San Francisco. And maybe you probably were a little bit. You know, you probably try to gain favor. But you were right. And I just want to say you were right. But how dangerous is this team?

The hell's going on? Well, in fairness, I let I let Howard kind of take the Golden State when we had to pick those teams. I went with I went with the Lakers. Who went with the Spurs? Because the Spurs is a, that's looking terrible. That age of the worst. Was that you?

It wasn't me. It wasn't me. I was calling for the Spurs. I was like, no, that was after Wembe. I'm sorry. Yeah, the Wembe situation. I was calling for the Spurs to go ahead and shut it down, which is, I saw DeAaron Fox is he having finger surgery.

So like they're squarely. They're done. Yeah, they're done. Yeah, they're squarely. in the hunt now um what makes them so dangerous i guess you know they're they're sneakily good if that makes sense defensively you know they're always a really sound defensive team um and i think you know the addition of jimmy butler if if if if this isn't blasphemous to say kind of fills the void that was in their offense a little bit which was that piece that that i talk about all the time

where you can just give it the ball out of structure and it can produce enough offensively, whether that's them scoring and getting to the free throw line or it's them, you know, commanding some sort of rotation on the defense and therefore getting other people off offensively, it creates that in a way that is very complementary to what they already do offensively, which is, you know, the system that is Draymond and and Steph and, you know, how the other pieces around the floor are moving in an effort to get him open, right? And usually that's what they do, right? They run Steph all around the court and they make reads off of that.

So like if I'm, you know, the three in this scenario or I'm going to get Steph on some sort of screen action and the balls up top, you know, everything that happens off of that is predicated off of what the defense has to do to take Steph away. And then I eat off of that. So if my man helps, you know, boom, I'm slipping at the basket and I. should have a layup or if, you know, Steph tight curls it and two go with him because they made a mistake on the switch, then I pop back and now I've got an opportunity to either shoot it or catch someone in a close out and we're playing off of that. Well, that's cool and it works a lot. But when you're looking for the, for championship level teams, you're looking for teams that can kind of operate offensively in a multitude of ways so that if you get a good scout on it

or if you have the personnel to really give their a, you know, offense a problem, we can go right into B mode. And that would be, I've got an ISO guy that can get buckets and just work. And so I think they become scary because they have that ability now to play kind of in two different ways offensively. And they didn't have that earlier in the season. They are good defensively. And they have three people now that have been through anything you could imagine in terms of NBA ring chasing and what a playoff environment looks like. Home, away, hostile, friendly, you know, three of the toughest-minded individuals, I would say probably in the game and Jimmy B.

Drayman and Steph, and that's dangerous. Last night's leading a score for the Warriors was Draymond Green, 23 points. Jimmy Butler finished with six. Steph finished with 11 or nine shots. Camingo was the second leading score with 18. Yeah. 18. And they won by 16.

Yeah. That's not. And it had 130 points last night. And people were, and it had 130. And the minutes were relatively, I mean, no one played a ton of minutes. Nobody played over 30 minutes last night. Yeah, that's scary. And also, real quick, before last night, or the two nights ago, their leading score,

was Gary Payton the second, which 26 points. Yeah, yeah, no. And they again scored 130 points. Like what is this telling you about, does this make this team more dangerous? What is this telling you about where they are right now? Yeah, so I don't know exactly what that says other than, you know, other than it's good to be playing at this point in the year

and not and be, and not have. have to rely on huge games from your heavy hitters to win them, right? Like, because every time down the stretch, you get a chance to get Steph a nine shot night and Jimmy Butler, a six point night, and you can have a blowout win. I mean, that's rest that you just keep banking. Those are just miles that you just keep, keep, they stay off the odometer. And that really, really is important, especially for a team that's got a little bit of age amongst their trio of stars, right?

Like obviously having other people in your lineup that can complement in a scoring way in a point production way, that becomes valuable. In the playoffs, we always talk about, you know, stars being stars. Championship team stars are going to be stars, but then you need those others to step up in a way. You need those commingas to have those games, you know, the a la Iggy or Andrew Wiggins. You know, you need someone else in those series that are going to step up and give you 18 you know, 17, 18, 19, and 9, 16. Obviously, Gary Payton, Jr. is capable of that.

You know, the other thing I should have mentioned why they're so scary, and this is, this is common sense, but it might be the scariest thing of all time is it came across, it came across like one of my socials the other day of Steph in the last few minutes of that game against France and the Olympics. And what he can do when he just goes completely uncomfortable. conscious. Yeah. Like, I mean, I would be remiss if I didn't throw that in a mix of things that make them scary. Like, you get, you get him on any given night and you can't turn the water off.

They flooded you. You know what I mean? Like guys like him, guys like Steph, guys like LeBron, guys, I would say Luca, Durant is obviously, I think, of this argument. Michael Jordan is like the king of this. it doesn't matter what the game is like, what their individual game is like, all they need is to be within five or three. Just get them in the fourth quarter, right?

That's all they really need. They just need a shot at the win within the final few minutes. And that's why they are who they are. But like, I think I'm thinking about that France game, it seemed like Steph was inevitable in the way that, like, Durant can be inevitable, the way LeBron can be inevitable,

the way Jordan can be inevitable. Kobe, sorry, apologies. Kobe is obviously in that mix as well where you're just like, of course they're going to have the ball in their hands and they're going to put the fear of God in you no matter what stage they're in. And they're going to give you a team a chance

if they're within striking distance. Not even a question. And there's really, there's nothing you can do once they have the ball to really stop that other than make them get rid of the ball. And anything short of sending a double team at him where he's got to get off of it, there's virtually nothing anyone can do. They're just that good.

The other thing I should say, Logan, just to go back is, because I want to make sure I give it a full analysis of why they're dangerous and what Jimmy Butler, because he's like a, he's not in the ilk of the players you just kind of talked about. But he's in a little sub-level kind of like right below them when he gets it cooking of just being able to get a bucket and, And he, his is complimented. Buddy Hill called him a connector. No, I think it's a perfect, it's a perfect explanation of what he, he kind of does. But what he also does is like, so Steph, what Steph's, Steph's is so electrifying and so long range and the way they play. And it's been talked about before, but I'll just say it again. It's so, you know, perimeter oriented at times that if that's not working, you can't slow that game down.

and you know what that does is puts a lot of pressure on your defense right like when you're shooting when you're a team that shoots a lot of long shots um and you live by that and you're not making shots on that night while there's a ton of pressure on your defense and transition coming the other way and the opportunity for teams to get downhill on you maybe not like in fast break points but in terms of secondary fast break our team isn't set up defensively we don't have the matchups that we want and they've caught us in kind of a precarious situation as we trying to sort that out, and now they've scored on us.

Like, if you're in that mode all night because we're missing long shots and now they're running downhill at us, that's tough. Jimmy Butler gets you to that free throw line and can sustain, like, offense that way on nights where you might not have it popping from the three point line,

and that allows you to get back and get set. It allows you to build the walls that you need to build for some of these incredible scores. Yeah, it allows you to get your legs. some rest, any number of ways, you know, that's beneficial. And so I just want to make sure I add that in there. Yeah, I think, and the last part on that is the warriors have always been at their best when they have had guys that have a completely opposite game with Steph, right? When you talk about Durant, you talk about even last year with Chris Paul, I thought he was great in that role to settling down. Because another thing, when you're playing alongside Steph, he speeds you up.

He speeds the game up. He speeds everyone else around him up, right? And that's great when it's great. But also, like we've seen, when it's not great and shots aren't falling, you get, what, game seven of the 2016 finals, where the offense can get stagnant, and it's not as electric and popping. And other guys are missing shots as well, right?

And then you get a stagnated offense. You need a guy within that offense. to say settle down. We got the shot Livingston was also a great example of that as well. Audrey Gwadala, you need those guys for this offense to be full. You need those guys that will just settle things down. So I think the Warriors are in a great place. Definitely better than they were a month and a half ago.

God, it was a tough watch. But today's Rewater of the Week was sponsored by State Farm. Life can get easier with great assists in State Farm. Farm is here to dish one your way. Call a State Farm agent today to get a teammate you need. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. State Farm, Bloomington, Illinois, coverage options are selected by the customer, availability, and eligibility vary by state.

All right. Let's take a quick break, and I want to talk about the rest of the league, and the contenders, and the pretenders. You can cash in on bailing out with Fandual, America's number one sportsbook, because every night the ringer is teaming up with FanDuel to give all customers a 30% profit boost when you pick a player to score more than 30 points. So now a big game for them means an even bigger payout for you. Let's take a look at the slate of games on Friday night.

Let's see, Celtics Heat. I think I'm going to take the over on three pointers for the Celtics. They shoot a lot of threes. I'm going to, let's go Pacers, Sixers. We're just going to take the over on that game. Clippers Hawks think I'm going to take the under. Mavericks, Rockets. I'm just going to take the rocket straight up.

Lakers Nuggets, that'll be not as fun as you might think it is. LeBron is out. I'm going to take the nuggets of that one straight up. Just so you know, Fanduel is the home for all your favorite prop bets. So whether you want to ride with my picks or make your own, just look for 30 on 30 in the Fandual Sportsbook app. Or head to fanduel.com backslash ringer NBA for your chance to score a bigger payout this Friday night. Make every moment count with Fanduel.

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As we go down the stretch of the season, I think we have about, what, like four to six weeks left or something like that. We're getting down to the nitty-gritty. Less than that, about three weeks? I don't know. We're here. But we were talking about the Warriors in the first segment, and we talk about the Lakers a lot, obviously.

And I feel like they represent the older guard of teams that are trying to contend for a title, right? They have LeBron who's 40 years old. The Lakers do. He's injured. We'll see what happens. They're kind of sliding the standings right now. And you have the Warriors who are built on

their two best players are 35 and up. But they're competing against the Oklahoma City Thunder of the world, the Boston Celtics of the world. Which side of the coin do you trust as we go into the postseason to figure this out, right? And specifically, like, I think Oklahoma City is like the poster child of this. And this will probably end up being a, Oklahoma City Thunder discussion, but like, which, what's method do you trust in this particular season going into this particular post-season? Method, meaning the youth versus the age?

I mean, yeah, I would generally go with age and experience and star power to some degree. I mean, that's been my MO if people have listened to me talk. This year, I think OKC is in a class kind of by themselves in the Western country. conference. I mean, the records suggest that. They're 12 games clear of anybody. But I just think that they have, while they don't have the overall age, like, and true experience, I just think they're that good defensively.

They have the best score in the NBA. They have pieces all around him that are very complimentary. I think they check a lot of boxes. and so I'm going to go with I'm going to go with OKC as so whatever side of the ledger that falls on like I don't know that's probably youth but that's the team that I have the most trust in

I don't know if I'm answering this correctly Logan but I'm just going to fuck it I think after that I would put Memphis, Denver, the Lakers and Golden State in another category like right below them let's call it the right side of the bracket category

All right. Yeah. So like that's that's where I put, that's like my second little group of teams. And then after that, I think you're, you're filling in for me with like, you know,

Houston, Minnesota, the Clippers. And those would be the teams, I think, for me. What did, I know what I,

when I talked about, talked to you about this prepod, you were really getting about Oklahoma City in that Thunder, uh, Celtics game, where we have always talked about, how Boston is laying in the weeds

and they have that swagger of a champion and then the thunder just go in and just dogwalk them? Like, what did the Thunder show you in that particular game on national television in Boston in the way that they did? You know what they showed me? Like just a commitment to the game plan

in a very mature way. I mean, I think that's what stuck out to me. I've seen them play a bunch. Like, I know what SGA's capable of. Lou Dorts shooting it well. I mean, they were without Jalen Williams, which was even kind of more impressive. You know, people, the players kind of did what the players do.

So, you know, I want to be fair. Like, they're all incredible. But that wasn't what jumped out at me. What jumped out at me in that particular game was, I mean, they played downhill anyway. But it felt like in that game, their game plan was to attack the pain, like to just get after the rim, especially early in that game. Like, it was just a real juxtaposition of how, of two teams, right? Like Boston's coming down one pass long three. You know, dribble, dribble, dribble,

dribble, contested three. And Oklahoma City barely like settled for threes early in that game. They were on just full punishment mode at the rim in attack mode. And then defensively, you know, I think they did an excellent job of doing what you would have to do to Boston, which is really, you know, try to cut off. And some of this is personnel. their ability to cut off the drive that ignites the ball movement that leads to the wide open three.

Like they were able to do that. But at the same time, when they couldn't, they were able to really scramble and make that three a contested look. Yeah. And sometimes that's the difference. One of the things that we talked about specifically with the NICs, and I think this argument applies with the Thunder is just the over-reliance on Jalen Brunson. I think the Thunder have the potential to have that problem with Shea, right? It's spent particularly in the playoffs where he has the ball a lot. There's a lot of responsibility on him to manufacture offense.

Does that give you pause? More players that can get buckets. Huh? More players that can get buckets. I mean, a Knicks fan might not want to hear this. And I mean, I haven't done the stat work on it. But just my eyeball says watching them play, like, there are more options to, to produce buckets.

Now, yes, She's gonna be your guy. Like at this stage, do you trust, do you trust, like, Chet to just go get a game for you, right? Do you trust J-Dub to just go get a game for you? Like, if, when Shea is off? No, I would trust, I think I could trust J-Dub. I mean, I haven't seen him do that in a way that I've seen Kat do that.

So in fairness, like, New York has two guys that I've seen. But I don't, I mean, if you look at Katz track record against the better teams, like, he doesn't really do that. against the better team. So we're still operating in the space of J. Dub and Kat, I'm not sure about. Brunson and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, that, I do think, I trust, like,

all the others outside of those four in, in, in, in, in, okay, C more. I trust, I trust, I trust that group more than I trust the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the Knicks group to get buckets and to just, you know, compliment them, you know, in that way. And I think this is, you know, this is really interesting just to tie in. It's not answering your question, but back to that game against Boston because I get it. I mean, it was a three-point game. You tell me Boston hits a few of those shots. They win the game.

But what going to the basket does and taking it back to the Golden State conversation and Jimmy Butler, what that does is it allow. them to get to the free throw line. I think they shot like 15 or 18 more free throws than Boston did that night. And so it just allows you to like, it just gives you a cushion. Those are, those are free points. They are free throws if you're not, you know what I mean? So like, it just, it gives you a wider margin for error when you're able to do that in that way. And I think, you know, I'm rambling. I didn't have a cup of coffee, Logan, but if you also remember back to to that live show in in San Francisco.

When someone posed a question from the audience, like I think it was the, I think, or maybe you did, but it was like, what would give you pause about Boston? I don't know if you remember what I said. I said if they just get caught in a world where they're shooting too many threes.

And Howard and I had a little bit of a back and forth about that. And he was like, I think they had that figured out. I don't think that's going to be a problem. And he might ultimately be right. I don't know, though. I really don't know what Boston know. And I say this while trusting their institution, right?

Like, I do think that they are the class of the Eastern Conference, no matter what their record is. But it's just like the Anthony Edwards argument for me, right? Like, yeah, you can shoot all the threes, right? And that's cool. But I've, and we've also talked about this with Joe L.N. Bid, but you're bailing out a team when you can. consistently shoot threes at the beginning of a shot clock. You know? Like, it's such a novelty now to watch the Celtics go to the cup because they don't really do it, right?

Like, they don't really control the pace of the game. It's just like we're going to chuck, chuck, chuck, chuck, and chuck. And we talked about the warriors and how they can't control space and pace, excuse me, and how that's been so big for them. And Boston, with the swings that they have, they can shoot. themselves in and out of games. And one of the reasons why I believe that Miami was able to beat them two years ago is because they were able to control pace with that team.

And they were able to overwhelm Boston. And Boston never got out of their own way. Boston is the most talented team in the Eastern Conference. And you could make the argument they're the most talented team in the league. but they always shoot themselves in the foot trying. It's like, you know what it is like, Raja? And I know you've dealt with this. I've dealt with this as well.

You know what someone is just fucking super talented, like where it transcends hard work? Right. And that person just continues to just go on their talent. And when you try to make them make an adjustment, it always fucks them up because they've always been relying on their talent. In this case, Boston's talent is shooting a lot of fucking threes. And you can never get them to adjust.

And that's what's annoying to me when I watched them. It's like, yo, you go to the cup one time, get foul, slow the game down. You still got that three. Yeah. Yeah. They're a frustrating watch at times. I will give you that. Yeah, that's a good point.

I want to, I mean, I, let's go, let's go back to the Miami series first. The Miami series, you're right. It was a great point. They controlled the tempo. They did it by being a very physical team, getting to the free throw line, and then throwing that zone at them a bunch in that series, if you remember. It slowed Boston down. You didn't see that early, wide open three.

Boston really had to work the ball around. They didn't have great answers for that. At that time in their kind of evolution as a team, Chris Staps changes the math for Boston when he's in there. So that OKC game, I'm telling you, they're assaulting the rim early in the game. Al Horford's phenomenal. Like, it was one of my favorite performances of the NBA season what he had against the Lakers a few nights ago

and they just tried to keep getting him in the switch and trying to ice him and he was just dancing. He's just out there dancing defensively and giving people headaches. But Chris Staps is so long around that rim that when you have a team like OKC, like just putting their head down and trying to get to the rim, he's a real rim deterrent.

You know, Al's great, but like Chris Staps is just really long around that rim. that changes the math when a team's trying to get downhill. So inserting him back into that lineup could be the cure, at least for teams just being hell-bent on getting to the basket against them. So I want to give them a little bit of credit for that. The open threes that you're talking about and the style of play, I kind of agree with you, Logan, like that's your identity, right?

And that's what you want to do. But if it's not working, like we have to be flexible enough that on the fly, we can kind of make a call on this, right? Even within the world of analytics, we have to have a little feel, right? Like, we have to have a little feel for what's going on. You hear it a lot in football when they're talking about, are you going to go for it on like fourth and two?

The numbers say go for it, but you're not factoring in, you know, how many yards per carry your running back has been getting throughout the course of the game or, you know, what the last few drives have meant in terms of three and outs, and we've got to keep our defense. none of that's factored in. So there's got to be a human feel.

So as it relates to hoops, like, yeah, we want to shoot all of these threes, but like we got to have a feel for this. So if it's not the night, we have to have the ability to kind of change it on the fly. So like, you know, as it relates to a wide open three and Boston shoots a lot of them early in the game against OKC, where it's coming down one pass. We fire it to the wing, you know, and Derek White's got this, you know, wide open three from four feet behind the line. in these, I like those. I'm not a true, like, old school dude

where you have to work the shot clock all the time for 16 seconds to produce that shot. That's as wide open a look as we're going to get. Even if we worked it for 16 seconds. Now, I'm also telling you there's a world in which time and score dictates, let's work it for 16 seconds and then get the same shot rather than shooting it right away. But early in the game, shoot those, dude.

Like, they're wide open looks. We're making them, you know, we're going to blow this team out potentially. the ones I don't like are the ones where like Jalen gets a switch or Jason Tatum gets a switch and you have Chet Holmgren or Isaiah Hartenstein out there in space and you're going to dance, dance, tween and shoot a sidestep contested three. I hate those fucking shots. Everybody knows the fuck you're about to do. Like the whole arena does.

No. And like you're talented enough to make those. You guys are incredible. And there's, you will shoot some of those inevitably. But like sometimes, bro, let's, let's, and not sometimes, because they do do it sometimes. But you have to understand the, the actual style of the game, the way it's unfolding and make a decision in the moment, all right, dude, I'm not settling for this right now, more often than they do sometimes, especially on the nights when those shots aren't falling.

You get those switches, put your head down and get on top of that rim. And even if that means when we're getting to the foul line more, or, you know, you didn't create for yourself, but now we can pop that ball around the perimeter and find a more wide open three. I just think they have to, they have to find a balance on nights when the shots aren't going down. Yeah. That reminds me of the warriors in that sense of, you know, when they first started their run, you know, and I bring up the warriors because they're pretty much like the basis of how a lot of these teams play offense now, right?

Or at least the perception of how they play offense. And one of the things that, you know, big reason why they got Kevin Durant is because they were, they would get into habits of when they would get two trigger happy from the three point line and they needed the anecdote. The good thing about the Celtics is they already have dudes that could do both, right? Like they already have. You have two that are, I mean, you have more than two, but you have two that are of the highest level. Right, who can get to the cup. Like, bro, when I see Jalen Brown dunk it on six dudes and scowling, I'm like, well, why the fuck are you doing stepbacks with 22 seconds left on the shot clock on the switch?

Like, what are we doing here? Like, and, you know, and I know, you know, they could say, well, fuck you, Logan. Like, we don't more basketball than you do with the analytics say this. But it's just like, yo, man, there has been a better proof. of concept for this, right? And, like, that would be my argument. And I still don't believe this to be true. Like, I do think that the calves will lose to the Celtics.

But if the calves are looking around, that's what I'm just being like, just make them shoot as many threes as possible. Yeah, we're going to be good. We can, we're, they might go on a run. But I'd rather that happen because it doesn't put any pressure on our defense whatsoever. Yeah, I mean, look, that's the bind. the Celtics put you in that's on the flip side of that um you know the same thing that can make you laugh can make you cry which is that that that three point shot like you you you you're you're making those shots you can you're going to lose you're going to lose to them contested or uncontested

when they're making them you're going to lose to them because they're just going to they're going to shoot so many and if they're hot like they're just going to produce more points than you do, right? That's analytically speaking. That's what's going to happen, dude. Like, they're going to shoot 53s and make 40% of them is going to be really hard for you to beat them because they're sound defensively too. But it's the night where they're not making them Logan, where, you know, the team that has banked on that has a chance to win. And then obviously, you know, we're hoping we can do that and get you to miss, you know, four times, you know, before you make them in four games. You know, And then we've won the series.

And I do believe Boston to be the most talented team in the Eastern Conference, probably in the league. And they've got the pedigree. And I know that those dudes are better players and do no more basketball than you and I. And are better players than I would have ever been. And I'm still sitting here screaming to you, you've got to find balance on the nights when it's not going down. You have to find some balance.

Like, shit. Maybe this is a conversation between Tatea. and Brown. Like, yo, my boy, tonight, I'm a beat a mofo to keeps jacking the threes, but I need you to get to the rim. Yep. Like, maybe we take turns with that. Like, how do you get your rhythm back? You go to the cup and get fouled and you start to, and you get your rhythm from the free throw

line. That's literally how it goes, right? Yeah, I mean, look, I'm an old school, dude. I love the free throw line. Yeah. I love the free throw line is a, is a, and when you're a player of that, level, if you will just make a commitment, you know, people are bitching about SGA. That man makes a commitment to seek contact. He's finding it. Like James Hardin made a commitment

to finding contact. Now, you might say that they blurred the lines of what was legal in that regard or not, and we can have that conversation. But the reality is you put so much pressure on those referees as that level of player. And eventually the dam's got a break and they got to start giving you some calls. Yeah. And so I, I'm, I'm, I'm with you. Again, this is... I am interested, though, when seeing Shea, like,

without a... With a playoff whistle, though. You know? Like, you're about to be getting to the line 30 times in the postings. I mean, that was always hard in his demise, right? Like, it was that, one, like, he would disappear,

but also, like, he wasn't getting the same calls that he would in the regular season is in the both season. That would be his demise. So I am curious to see how Shea adjust to that level. I'd say he has before, but, like,

specifically in this season, where he's getting to the demise of, He relied so much. He's relied so much on that. Well, that's fair. I mean, I haven't, I don't, you know, I didn't look at the numbers to know exactly how much he's going to the line and stuff. But I would just say this, that man makes a lot of tough shots. So I know they, I know he earns free throws or, you know, in some people's mind, he's given some free throws and that's fair. And the whistle might change in the playoffs, but might be hurting some free throws. Make no mistake.

He is a bucket getter. Like the free throws, that, that, this conversation is, that happens for every star player, dude. That's not just him.

Kobe, Kobe, I know Kobe fans don't love to hear it. He got free throws. They gave him free throws. What are you talking? D. Wade, D. Wade was,

like, those dudes earned the right to get free throws. But what do you mean Kobe got to the free throw lot a lot? Why would you even say something like that? A, Why? Again, now, I'm not saying that there's some conspiracy or anything. I'm saying they've earned the right that over and over again, their ability to put refs in positions where you have to make a call

has earned them the right to get the benefit of that call. And so for all those reasons, that's why I'm saying Boston on nights when they're not making shots has to commit themselves to that a little bit more. And Dylan and Jason are both guys where, like, they're going to get to the free throw line if you, they have that bit of doubt. They're in that club. Yes, they're going to get to the free throw line. And SGA, I would just say, you know, all of those dudes figured out, all the ones you just talked about the greats that were free throw getters, like high volume free throw getters. They too had to deal with maybe a change of whistle in the playoffs to some degree, and they figured it out.

And so I don't, I think SGA will too. Are there any wild cards that you see in the Eastern Conference at all? I'm just looking at the standies right now. I see Indiana. I'm not scared at all of Indiana. Watch out for the bucks, dude. Yeah. No, I don't know.

I don't know. Did you see? I don't, why do you keep giving the benefit of the doubt of the bucks, buddy? No, I don't, I've, I've,

I mean, I've told you that my favorite team is the Boston Celtics. And, and I'm a believer in the Cleveland Cavs. I think that would be an incredible series. I am taking Boston fractionally in that. But right below them, watch out for the bucks. They haven't showed me enough, man.

The Indiana loss was tough, you know. That was also incredible fucking shot from our guy Halliburton. Jesus. Absolutely. That was wild. They're just not consistent enough, man. I think they are who they are at this point, bro. I'm going to see them on Tuesday.

I'm curious to see how they are in person. But like, I just, they just are who they are. It seems like they're, this is, and I'm not speculating, guys. I'm not, even if I was, I'm not about to be scary like Howard, but this seems like end of the road vibes right now for this team. It just does, right? Like, it just seems like they've hit this ceiling. And I don't want to like make it like a big thing. but they just have those type of vibes.

They're not a fun to watch. They lose games that they shouldn't lose based on the personnel they have. And I don't know. Well, you didn't ask me for my favorite in the East. You asked me for a sleeper in the East. I did. So anybody that's a sleeper in the East is, I mean, I don't think they would be a sleeper if we thought that they were, you know,

like just a phenomenal team. And they had displayed that so far. So I could agree with a lot of what you're saying. And I'm still sitting here with a rebuttal. that you get a team that has Janus and Brooke in the front court and and and and and and Dame gets hot. They put they present some interest in challenges to you defensively that that could be stylistic like the style that you play with them is going to dictate whether or not you, you win the series or they win the series. So it's a la the heat playing Boston that you, referenced earlier. Like if they get you in their game, like if they're able to stay in their

wheelhouse in terms of the way they want to play, like it could, it could be really interesting. Okay. It's Friday. Let's get to a little segment we like to call real one of the week, actual real one of the week. That was a sponsored one that we did earlier. This is the actual one where like the vibes one. Because what I don't want to also shout out State Farber, but thank you State Farm for everything that you do for the Real Ons pod and bring her a BAPE at all at large. But I don't want to corporatize

Ro one of the week in the way that like I want it to be ours too. You know, I still want to do the segment where it's just, it's us too. No doubt.

The real one of the week. So who's the real one of the week? I'm going to give my real one of the week. It's a few weeks late, but I'm going to do it. Larry June, who is a rapper out of San Francisco.

He has a song or has an album with two chains out produced by The Alchemist. It's some backpack shit, Roger. So I think he's, you'd like it. But Larry has really done him and the whole free-minded staff have done like a really great job. Just doing the right steps in the music business to an independent grind and also just putting out quality music over the last few years. And now they're finally getting their shine.

He did a breakfast club interview a few weeks ago. He's everywhere. LeBron, he has a song called Life Life is Beautiful. And LeBron did. his LeBron thing where he's like listening to it in the car on the Instagram story. Like they're really having their moment of the son. And I'm really happy for Larry and the whole staff. So Larry June is my ruin of the week. Good job, Larry. You're doing good.

No doubt. All right. Well, I don't remember when this happens. So this might be like one of yours. We're doing it a couple weeks late. But I did see it and I thought it was hilarious. And I thought I thought this cat was real for this. Rafael Devers, I think that's his name.

Like, forgive me, I'm not a huge baseball fan, but he just signed with the Red Sox. And he was asked in a media scrum what he thought about being a DH. And he had his interpreter sitting there. And he basically said, like, I'm a third baseman. Like, I'm not deaching. And you could see how uncomfortable kind of the reporters were and they knew they had something. So they just kept like peppering him through the interpreter. And buddy just kept telling him like, I am not deaching.

I'm a third baseman. Never mind the fact that they have Alex Bregman there and by all account he's a better, like, defensive third basement. But like, to who? To who? To him? Not to Raphael. But like, I loved it. Like, look, I always support like playing your role on a team.

So I didn't necessarily love it for all of those reasons. But if we're keeping it a buck and we're talking about people keeping it real, he stood in a face. of all of those reporters, interpreter be damn, and told them, nah, I'm good. They even said, well, the club says, and he was like, they asked you, would you say to the club when the club asked you?

And he was like, I told them the same thing. No. Bro, you know what I love? Like, that's such a breath of fresh air in this media environment because I feel like we've gotten so sanitized and so robotic with our quotes from people. You know what I mean? Like, I read an old, like, Sports Illustrated profile of somebody

and they're going in, they're talking shit. And I feel like in the age where everything is a rollout, I feel like people practice their quotes in the mirror now. They don't like want controversy and they're scared of it. So it's a breath of fresh air when somebody says, nah, fuck that. Let's get some controversy here. Cliffs on the screen right now.

Yeah, right. I just wanted to correct you. Devers has been in the Red Sox organization. That's the organization you came up in. Bregman is signed. But Bregman. Oh. Yeah.

Bregman is the guy. He got the bag. He's going over to Boston. He is the better feeling. Yeah. So that shows my baseball knowledge, right? So, okay. But that, I mean, so that would make me feel a little bit better about the, the, the first part of the, like, he's just holding his ground.

He's like, yo, I'm not tripping off of that. Either way, I thought it was fantastic. But he was like, no, I'm not, I'm not looking. Yeah. They're trying to move Bregman into, like, second base or just give him another position. But, yeah, no, Devers is, he's made it at him. that he is playing third base. Phenomenal.

I just thought that. Listen, for all the reasons you said, Logan, like, listen, they put the mic in that man's face. And we almost live in a world where you throw that mic up and you know he's got no option or she's got no option but to say the politically correct thing. You know what I mean? Like, it's almost rhetorical at this point. My man was like, nah.

Bro, I hate that shit, man. I like, bro, I like real quotes from real people. Be a fucking human being because here's another thing that I, it's Friday. It's Friday rant time. I hate. Thanks for the correction, Cliff. My bad. Go ahead. Friday rant time, what I hate about athletes and just people in general is like when you put a mic in front of their face and they do the politically correct answer, but then after the cameras and shit go down, the recorders go down, they want to fucking shit on their teammates and do all that bullshit. Scary ass mofos. You know what I'm saying? You feel me, right. I know you feel me on that. If you're going to say a sandwich chest. No, but listen, like in fairness.

Wait, hold on. Hold on. Cliff, go in fairness. What? Cliff had a great question in the Shab. Go ahead. What were you going to say? In fairness, that's how you feel,

because you've never sat on that other side of a microphone in a way that you know if you say something wrong, it could be your livelihood on the line. That's fair. Like, that's the world they live in sometimes. Like, hey, man, if I do this, I alienate myself to an organization, to a bunch of players, to star players that if they find themselves on another organization, or in one, I can't get a job there either. So, you know, it's a little more nuanced.

But I feel you in spirit. I got a job to do. Fuck them. I'm just playing. I'm just fucking around. Cliff put a question, though. But do you stuff? Cliff, why do you, Cliff always in the chat.

Why do you go in all caps all the time, bro? Oh, because that's how I rate the notes. That's how I write the notes. I put them in all caps because it just looks. like better when we write the notes and I give it off to Victoria and Keith and you know we kind of point stuff from there. Are you so you know what those? Logan are you one of those people that interprets that is he's yelling? Yeah. You are. You think I'm yelling like me? You think I'm yelling like meat. Yeah. That's funny. Because he said he said well for the Larry Jude that he says it's he and then when we're

talking about this what I was describing him like in terms of like fake ass quotes he goes but do some guys go overboard like aunt? And that's a good question. Do some people go overboard like aunt? I mean, I don't know, man. I just feel like we're, I think I said this a few pods ago. I think people,

the tide is turning on how the general public sees it and also covers and I think there's a backlash going on right now for whatever he does. Right? The Obama clip is getting the backlash. The, um, I mean,

everything that makes you laugh makes you cry in a sense in a different way. But like, I feel like we're just getting that with him. right now. I still personally fuck with it. He's still doing all the shit that I loved from him as a player, but I do feel like there is a backlash on him and what people

are starting to say are his antics. I mean, a lot of it is off-the-court stuff though, too, so just to kind of give that a little bit more context. I always like, I mean, and to each their own and I was brought up in a different, when you're at a microphone, like you're in a press conference and stuff like that, I always felt like

that wasn't always the time for the people to get to see like the unfiltered personality, if that makes sense. You know, like that's that you're up there and you're kind of representing the, the club and you're, you know, like, and so I always felt that was the time to be relatively buttoned up. Um, and kind of keep it to the, to the point a little bit, Logan, do you know what I mean? Like keep it to the point, not trying to give anybody too much now outside of that,

when you're doing more like lifestyle pieces and you're doing more long form stuff with journalist and they can figure out who you are. Like those I felt were the times and I felt like, you know, finding the balance as a pro and understanding the difference between the two was important because there is a time to show people who you are and be genuine and authentic and stuff like that. But like right after a game, you know, up at the podium being asked point blank questions and you getting into all off the topic shit that's making you, like I didn't feel like that was the time for any of that.

I think I understand that. And I do. I agree with you on that. I think that the thing that attracts you about it is like we said before in an age where everybody is so filtered up. He is unfiltered and he is someone that is going to say what is on his mind at every given time. But you're right. Like he's going to have to mature at some point. Like point blank.

Like or he's going to have to figure. Or he doesn't, right? Well, no, that might work for him. Like, and I'm not, I ain't mad at him. I just, that was the way I approached it. You know what I mean? Like I just... But I do love it.

I do, but I do think that there's a backlash. Not necessarily from me, but just from the greater basketball community at this point. Just based on, like, I feel like not just what aunt, but with every player there is, you know, we love you for this thing until we don't. And then we decide when you should change up for acting the same way you've always acted your entire career. I feel like that's what's happening with him. So we'll see. Must be 21 years and older in President's Select States for Kansas in affiliation with the Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and present in D.C. Gambling problem.

Call 1-800-Gambler or visit RGELP.com. Call 1-88-78-9-77777-7 or visit CCPpG.org chat in Connecticut or visit MDGamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit Gamblinghelpline, MA.org. or call 1-800-3-27-50-50 for 24-7 for support in Massachusetts or call 18778 Hope and Y or text Hope and Y in New York. That has been another edition of Real Ones. I have Logan Murdoch.

That is Rob Chappelle. The Bull. Cliff, real quick. Did I say that right? The Bull. How do you say it? Yeah, the Bull. Yeah.

The Bull. You'll be doing it like eight different ways, though. You'd be like the bowel, the bull. The bow, the bow. Yeah. Bill. This is the bull. The motherfucker from Philly, Cliff.

Victoria. We just slow motion with the post to try to get to the ocean. We'll see you guys on Tuesday. Realones, Melvin's Melbaug back at gmail back at gmail.com. Rules mailback at gmail.com. Realms bell back at gmail back at gmail.com. Talk to you, Sue. A, all the sheds.

Bye.