The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Are the Knicks Actually Better? Plus, Haliburton’s Likability, OKC’s Dominant Game 2, and the Warriors' Chances Without Steph With Jorge Sedano

Episode Date: May 8, 2025

Russillo starts the show with his thoughts on the Knicks stealing Games 1 and 2 (1:38). Then, he’s joined by Jorge Sedano to discuss what MSG will be like for Game 3, why Tyrese Haliburton may rub s...ome players the wrong way, and what OKC did Wednesday night to regain control (15:47). Plus, Life Advice and Pope Watch with Kyle (57:33)! Does my hole in one count? Check us out on YouTube for exclusive clips, livestreams, and more at https://www.youtube.com/@RyenRussilloPodcast. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: Jorge Sedano Producers: Steve Ceruti, Kyle Crichton, Mike Wargon, and Jonathan Frias Get anything delivered on Uber Eats. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:32 And listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Must be 21 and older and present in select states. Gambling problem? Call 100 Gambler or visit rg-help.com. The Knicks did it! They really did it! They're up 2-0 in this series and everybody is pissed off about Boston. We'll discuss what that means and where this team is at down 0-2 in the series. We'll do that with Sadano. We'll also talk about OKC's huge night against Denver. Not as long as we talk about the Knicks in Boston though.
Starting point is 00:01:12 But he's gonna talk Sadano on his experience with the Thunder over the last couple of years, building towards this moment, how they look now compared to everybody else and how the playoffs are shaking out. Breakdown on the Pacers and the Cavs and that ridiculous game too, and Halliburton's status in the game, and then we'll cover
Starting point is 00:01:27 Minnesota and Golden State. So we'll do all the playoffs with him. Obviously I'll spend a good chunk of the open on Knicks and the Celtics and we've got life advice. If you can't stand Boston, I get it. If you want to say that Goodwill Hunting is just a Schmaltzy therapy movie. I would push back on that a little bit, but I could see you come to that conclusion. If you want to question the early settlers, the first settlers that came over in the Mayflower
Starting point is 00:01:53 that survived that trip, if you want to question their decision making by deciding on Plymouth until time after that, some guys walked north, just up, I guess, and said, Hey, Boston has like a river. There's much more access. The harbor is deeper. This probably would be a much better settlement. And there's a lot of people in Plymouth who were like, yeah, we have eels though. And we're going to move our stuff, dude.
Starting point is 00:02:16 Like, I don't want to go up there. If you want to question their decision making, um, you know, I can't tell you that you're wrong if you hate watching the Celtics play, like you guys are just going to shoot threes and I can't tell you that you're wrong. If you hate watching the Celtics play, like you're just gonna shoot threes and you look scared at home and you're supposed to be the better basketball team. If you think that Tatum not playing for Team USA
Starting point is 00:02:34 and Kirk keeping on the bench helped a nation heal. If you want to audit the 24 title, like I understand all of those things because the Celtics did it again. They blew another 20 point lead at home in the playoffs. When the road team wins the first two games of a series, they win the series 86% of the time and we're gonna see if the Knicks can pull off something that I thought would be impossible. So we know that the Celtics missed 45 threes in game one and
Starting point is 00:02:56 NBA record missed threes and we knew that they blew a 20 point lead 48 hours before they did it last night. It makes you wonder like how is a team that has a title in their back pocket, another NBA finals in 22, five Eastern Conference finals with Brown and Tatum, like how are they playing like the team that doesn't have any confidence whatsoever? It was 75-55 in game one with 5.35 left in the third quarter.
Starting point is 00:03:23 The Knicks closed it out 53 to 30. Last night it was 73-53 with three minutes to go in the third quarter. I wrote it down. I said 20 points again and I was like, is this actually, it was an ugly game. It felt like an Anthony Richardson like passing camp session but as ugly as it was, it's like Celtics were actually doing some really good things until it wasn't good for them. They went what? Eight plus minutes without a field goal make and the Knicks close this one out 38-17. Boston, 25% from three in game one, 25% from three in game two.
Starting point is 00:03:57 Start of the game, the Knicks scored 13 points in the first quarter, lowest first quarter output in the playoffs of 22 years to the Knicks. I think it's one of the best jobs I've seen a team do defending Brunson. They redirected him, they contained him, they sent help without necessarily exposing themselves somewhere else. Jalen Brown looked like he was on the attack. If he got hard, he was going to go. If he got bridges, he was going to go because he has the physical advantage. If he had OG, he still tried to go, even though that's not really going to work.
Starting point is 00:04:25 And I think should be something that's avoided at all costs on the ball, unless it's late in the shot clock and you don't have any other choice, but I figured boss would win an ugly game. And this series would be tied up at one a piece because I felt going in like many. And for obvious reasons with the four Oh sweep in the regular season, boss is a better basketball team. But then Mikhail Bridges happened. And it was that first year Nets Mikhail Bridges.
Starting point is 00:04:46 The Bridges that I was like, damn, this guy's got everything. The entire bag was on display at the start of the fourth quarter. They start the fourth down 12. Kat is out. Jaylen Brunson's also on the bench. He scored 14 points in just over six minutes with the entire toolbox. He just set down the entire thing and was like, what do you need? I've got them all. Kat did come in at 827. Brunson came in at 639, but without Brunson for that most
Starting point is 00:05:10 part, then he hit another big shot on it. So like on a night where Brunson's contained, the free throw part of Brunson's game is not a factor. He's only been to the free throw line twice, right? The Celtics have done what they needed to do defensively. We'll get to their offensive side of this and they still end up losing this game. And it's funny too, because Brunson again, with those two free throw attempts, ends up hitting two that put them up because it was a little back and forth. Brunson makes one, puts them up three. Tatum goes to the free throw line. They get a stop. Tatum has the dunk. Celtics are actually up one. They're like, okay, they actually going to win this thing.
Starting point is 00:05:46 And then they foul Brunson somebody had, they had not fouled all night, but look, drew holiday, foul them twice on that. So there's no argument with the call whatsoever. So after the game, um, there was a few things that were asked of Missoula in this one. One was the no timeout with the 12 seconds to go when they didn't get a shot off, um, they wanted to keep Brunson in the game. were asked of Missoula in this one, one was the no timeout with the 12 seconds to go when they didn't get a shot off. Um, they wanted to keep Brunson in the game.
Starting point is 00:06:07 I had made a mistake on a tweet earlier before the Tatum dunk, because I'm always usually a little behind and I was like, you know, look, the first play of the game, they ran something to get Drew to go right at Brunson emptied out everything. And I was like, this is smart. They're going to go at Brunson more. Great. Smart. Um, and Drew just worked him right at the rim.
Starting point is 00:06:27 And then there wasn't a ton of that anymore. And I was thinking, maybe that's what you're looking for. But at that point, and it was my mistake, I was not back in the game. Brunson was on the bench because of defensive reasons. So that's why Missoula did not call the timeout, even though they had one, after Brunson made the second free throw down one.
Starting point is 00:06:42 And with 12 seconds, you have plenty of time. And they had just run this play, which they said they wanted to run the same thing. But on that play where Tatum had gotten the dunk the second time through, that was the first look. Horford setting a high screen there, but Mitchell and OG both were underneath Horford enough. And I don't think they even cared if Tatum was going to pull up for a three, which would have been a shot because he at least would have gotten it off. But I think there were moments where Tatum didn't even want to take that shot.
Starting point is 00:07:05 As I'll get to an example a little bit earlier, a lot earlier in this basketball game. So decision wise with that kind of stuff, I don't really necessarily have a problem. Missoula also talked about how he liked the shot attempts, thought they were good looks. I think I could push back on that a little bit. Game one, I would agree with it.
Starting point is 00:07:20 Game two, there's just something that keeps happening here with Brown and Tatum in particular where they're taking very, very hard shots. And that's kind of the Jaylen Brown scattering report where he makes more of them than he misses, but God are these hard. And Tatum can fall in love with these turnarounds and these fadeaways, but do you know how hard these shots are? I know these are like incredible basketball players. So our expectation is that it's going to go in and once who you've been for most of your career,
Starting point is 00:07:49 it's hard to say like, Hey, change the entire approach. But these are really, really tough shots. But the one thing that I wanted to mention that I thought was interesting is that Tatum at 1034 to go in the first quarter, there was a play where Jaylen Brown gets OG on the left side. He actually upfakes OG. And then he did this another time too. The upfake works, OG's in the air and then he doesn't go. So I don't know what's going on with Brown on that one where he lets OG
Starting point is 00:08:15 land and then he decided to go at it. He goes at him, it doesn't work. The ball's loose. Brown taps it out to Tatum. Tatum has a wide open three at the top of the three point line. 14 seconds left in the shot clock. And I don't know if it was Tatum didn't like it in his hands, like a golfer just stepping back from a swing. But then he just kind of like last minute swings out to Horford or Horford was wasn't even ready for the pass.
Starting point is 00:08:42 And I thought I wrote it down because I'm like, that's a really weird shot for Tatum to pass up. And is it that game one is still in his head a little bit or is he not feeling right? You know, maybe this is where you insert risk excuse but it was a very strange shot for Tatum to pass up and other players that I doubt in big spots because I think Tatum's had enough big spots
Starting point is 00:09:04 and look, he's had some absolute playoff duds too. You play enough that's going to happen. But it was one of those players was like, that's a bad sign. And maybe it was a sign of things to come. So there's just a bunch of shots in here from Tatum. I went through him this morning. There's a step back where he's like side fading.
Starting point is 00:09:22 It's not even a straight back fade away. He's fading to the side against bridges from 15 feet out, misses. Uh, he tried to hit a step back on Mitchell, which is really tough. Misses a step back against cat, which isn't terrible. And we know what Tatum's shot is. So these are shots that he's normally taking, but a lot of these are again, really tough against cat. It's not as hard as it is against Mitchell.
Starting point is 00:09:41 Um, he had a drive on cat where he got him in the switch. He was getting the switches that he wanted. On this one, he drives and misses the layup. He did have the dunk against Kat. Then he switches to bridges, he gets them deep, then he misses that one. He gets the Kat, another switch. Kat gets him at the rim.
Starting point is 00:10:06 And there's another one where he gets a finish against Bridges. So anyway, like I'm kind of rambling here a bit. This isn't the best part of the podcast. So I apologize in advance. The fourth quarter is what I really wanna lock in here because he has a drive against McBride where he's thinking, all right,
Starting point is 00:10:22 I have McBride against me and he gets past McBride. but when he turns around, there's three other people waiting for him. And because his back was turned as he made the move, it's like he didn't see anybody. So that was really ugly. Everyone's going to point to the wide open three pointer up 86, 79, 340 to go. And it's like a perfect example to point to and be like, how do you not knock down that?
Starting point is 00:10:44 Like that might've been the biggest shot in the game. But I actually And it's like a perfect example to point to and be like, how do you not knock down that like that might've been the biggest shot in the game. Um, but I actually think it's the next attempt is the one that kind of drives me more crazy is because at this point he has OG on him. OG did a masterful job of fighting through all the traffic to make sure that he got back to him, he had to go through like two different screens, but actually trailed it to go under all of the stuff, not worrying about hitting with a three point line. So OG fights, gets in great position,
Starting point is 00:11:09 gets right back to him. It's on the right side baseline, and he takes a fade away against OG, a turnaround with like 10 seconds left on the shot clock. He gets the dunk on the next attempt, but look, the last play, it's just a free for all. And you know, he's got OG on him. He's got Mitchell like helping.
Starting point is 00:11:33 He's got bridges behind him and they don't even get the shot off from seven feet away. So I would offer that even if you think the shot, the shot quality for Tatum is good. Maybe it's just an understanding of like, he's made so many of these before, but these are just really hard shots to live on on top of you missing all of your threes.
Starting point is 00:11:53 So the Mitchell stuff has been terrific. He's plus 19 in game two, plus 13 in game one. It's been a difference in this series. Every Knicks fan that was hoping for this, I was a little skeptical that this would actually happen. He has the best net rating on this Knicks team in the playoffs, plus 8.1, McBride's plus 5.9. OG actually has like a weird net rating. Um, OG has been so good defensively in this that I basically am apologetic
Starting point is 00:12:15 for every letting some of his offensive limitations leak into my overall thought of him as a player. Um, at no point did I think New York was actually the better basketball team. I thought Boston was going to put it on them after game one when they were up 20. I still was kind of like, let's see what happens. I don't know if this is going to end up being the series like the 76ers and the Hawks in 21 where Philly had an 18 point lead in game four and lost. They were up 26 in game five and lost.
Starting point is 00:12:41 That was like the really nasty one. But at least the sixers in that series had a two, one lead. Okay. It reminds me a bit of 23 when it was the one a matchup with Miami and Milwaukee where Milwaukee, you know, they had the Yannis back injury to point to, but you know, this is a Milwaukee team that two years prior had just won a title and they look scared, but Boston sitting here down 02 and they don't have a
Starting point is 00:13:06 Yannis injury to point to and they can't blame it on Ben Simmons. I did think about OKC with their win last night, they had 87 points in the first half, if you wanted the full breakdown, I'd just say everything they did worked. Murray needs to be better on the entry passes. Westbrook tried to put the Cape on down 30. That wasn't going to happen. Everything worked for OKC.
Starting point is 00:13:30 But the way the East is looking, right? And this feels a little dismissive maybe of Minnesota, maybe even Golden State that's up 1-0 in this series, the Knicks that are up 2-0, the Pacers doing what they did and coming back in game two, which still might be the most shocking finish to any of the games in the playoffs. And credit to Halliburton,
Starting point is 00:13:48 we're going to do more on him with Sadano. But it's at least worth asking with OK Seat getting right and even with Denver, did they win the title last night? Looking at the rest of the playoff landscape. The Ryan Roussilla podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA playoffs are underway, so don't miss your chance to bet on all the clutch shots and legendary performances with FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook. FanDuel is the best place to find all of your favorite player props, and now you can make
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Starting point is 00:15:20 but you can get a chicken parmesan delivered. A cabana? That's a no. But aana? That's a no. But a banana? That's a yes. A nice tan? Sorry, no. But a box fan? Happily, yes. A day of sunshine? No. A box of fine wines? Yes.
Starting point is 00:15:34 Uber Eats can definitely get you that. Get almost, almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Order now. Alcohol in select markets. Product availability may vary by region. See app for details. We'll keep the playoff conversation going here from ESPN on the coverage of the NBA playoffs.
Starting point is 00:15:52 And of course on 710 ESPN locally in Los Angeles from three to six in the afternoon is George Sidano. Okay, I spent the first, I don't know, 20 plus minutes of this podcast talking more about where New York is at, where Boston is at. So you've had so many of these teams during the regular season and now in the playoffs so we can get to some of the specific things in general. But we both realize there's a separation between regular season and postseason basketball.
Starting point is 00:16:15 I guess I'm sitting here this morning thinking, is it such a separation that now New York is just better than Boston? I don't know that I'm there yet, although the first two games will tell you one team's a hell of a lot more comfortable than the other one. So how do you see it when you spend months traveling around and having access to these teams and now in this different brand of basketball? So what I get, Ryan, and first of all, thanks for having me on. By the way, great to see you a couple of weeks ago at the Lakers game against the T-wolves.
Starting point is 00:16:46 But what I would say is, I think teams now are just like, for the most part, keep me out of the play-in. And once we get to the playoffs and we get that week's worth of rest and we can actually game plan for our first opponent in a real way and get some rest. That's all we want. We'll take our chances from there. And I'm not saying that the NBA has become the NHL or Major League Baseball in regards to home court advantage, not mattering
Starting point is 00:17:17 as much, but it's certainly starting to skew closer into that direction than it had in you know, previous iterations. So I think that's the first thing I think clearly the way the officials are calling the game is different. There were multiple calls in that fourth quarter of that Celtics Knicks game, one on Al Horford where he's in the paint, kind of a turnaround jumper gets mauled. No call by the way, on the flip side for the Knicks Brunson gets hit by Derek white on a three he's in his landing zone. That would have totally been called, um, in the regular season. So I think the officiating the way
Starting point is 00:17:54 it's called to, I think that certainly aids the way that these series go, but specifically to this one, okay, to this series, I don't think the Knicks are better than the Celtics. I think the Celtics, and this is going to sound like a cop out, the Celtics have just had some bad luck. Okay. And this whole, you know, the old adage, it's super cliche live by the three, die by the three.
Starting point is 00:18:18 Yeah. The Celtics expected shooting percentage from three through four through two games is 38%. They're shooting 25. Okay. If they shoot 38%, they win both games pretty much going away, but that's life, right? Like it's not always going to go according to the math equation. And I think this is where coaching really makes a difference, right? Where the guys who have been here for a long time and have gone deep a number of times will eventually just say, you know what, I get that this is the way we play, but every
Starting point is 00:18:51 once in a while I got to go by my gut and say they're not falling. We got to change the diet a little bit. And I think that's where Missoula has been a little too stubborn in regards to the Celtics. But give the Knicks a ton of credit. They are playing better defensively, Ryan Ryan than they've played all season. I think Mitchell Robinson is a huge key to that. Not only what he's done in the interior, but what he's done on the perimeter too. There were a couple of possessions on Tatum, particularly that I was just like, Whoa, I didn't know he would have that in his bag at this stage considering
Starting point is 00:19:21 everything he's dealt with injury wise, but clearly he's ready. And I'll tell you this, this was a long time ago, earlier in the season, I want to say late November around Thanksgiving, I had the Knicks and sons and I remember sitting there talking to Tibbs and you know, their defense was a mess. I mean, it was a mess most of the season, but certainly at the beginning of the season, it was really bad. And people were like, dude, what's going on? They got bridges. They got an Inobi like what's. And he was saying he was pushing back on that and saying like, hey, man, it's it's not as bad as people think. OK, we you know, guys, they're just they're hitting tough shots on us.
Starting point is 00:19:57 You know, we're going to get some guys back at that time. They were missing a Chua and they were missing Robinson. And he was kind of telling us he he said it that day in November, if we get Mitch back, we're a different team defensively. And it's showing right now. I've been really impressed with Mitchell on the perimeter switches and all of that stuff. And we saw some improvement after the all-star break,
Starting point is 00:20:18 but you know, you're right, as I had mentioned in the open, I mean, they're the third best defense in the playoffs right now. And when you can throw wings at these guys and, and you can just see that certain matchups where it's like when one of Tatum or Brown get heart or bridges on them instead of Ananobe, it's like a relief.
Starting point is 00:20:35 And I'm just sitting there being like, okay, good. Now I can actually kind of drive and feel like I have the advantage physically where against OG, neither of those guys are going to have that kind of advantage. I think the other part we're against OG. Neither of those guys are going to have that kind of advantage. I think the other part of this, which I also brought up in the open was when Miami beat Milwaukee in the one eight matchup, um, going back to three.
Starting point is 00:20:56 Yeah. Yeah. It, you can go to the Yannis excuse and the injury, but even when the guys came back, you could see this level of discomfort that Milwaukee had that felt like just a lack of confidence, which is surprising because you're watching Boston these last two games, you're going, this team won a title. Like how can you not have, you're the one that's supposed to be far more comfortable in these moments and at home. I mean, maybe it's part of the blown lead and just getting really tight about it,
Starting point is 00:21:27 but you're supposed to be the team that figures out a way to close these games. And it did remind me a bit of Milwaukee and just those moments you're like, Oh, wait, like every one of these guys is like freaked out right now. Um, so I don't, I don't know if it's just simple as, as toughness, but it's, it is very weird to see teams that have a title in their back pocket look as if they're the uncomfortable one. And that's the similarity that I've seen from Boston here
Starting point is 00:21:55 that reminds me of that Miami Milwaukee series. Well, and it's a great analogy because if you look at that series, right, you're talking about a team that had Eric Spolstra who, I mean, look, Tibbs is not Eric's Polstra as far as his accomplishments, but Tibbs has been through enough of these wars to know what it takes this time of year. Like think about it. The Knicks are playing defense in a way they had not played all season. They're switching more than they've ever switched. As a matter of fact, in the first two games, Monday's
Starting point is 00:22:22 game was the most a Tibbs team has ever switched in the regular two games, Monday's game was the most a tips team has ever switched in the regular season or the playoffs. Okay. And then game one was, I believe the fourth most in, in, in any, in any time in his Nick's tenure. So again, it's the type of stuff where you say, Hey, you know what? I know we've played a certain way and it's gotten us to this point, but I need to do something different against this particular beast. So Eric Spolstra was certainly capable of doing that. He's as good in a game adjuster and game to game adjusters there is and Tibbs is kind of learning that or has learned that over time too, right? That he's, he was the guy at times that was too stubborn in the way that he did things. And he's now kind of evolved. Can Missoula do that too?
Starting point is 00:23:07 And look, ultimately in the fourth quarters, you've kind of already started to allude to it. I mean, Tatum and Brown are being outplayed by Anunnobian Bridges. And you can't have, I mean, Brunson we know, but like you can't have them be outplayed by Anunnobian Bridges too. The Tatum part of this is rough.
Starting point is 00:23:28 You know, I would submit there's plenty of really nice playoff games from him, including the 51 and closing out the Sixers. So like, if you have that in you, why, you know, I think anybody, you go to any of your favorite players, you're going to find a couple of playoff duds in there. We were like, what is going on? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:23:45 But there's something, I don't know. I don't know what it is. I don't know if it's a Boston thing. I don't know if it's the Olympics thing because his personality is the last personality that you'd get upset with. It's not like he has all these quotes where it's like, okay, fine,
Starting point is 00:24:02 this guy's had a bad playoff game and so now I get to beat up on him. Maybe it's the separation in that, you know, whenever I've looked at Jokic or Janic at his best or Luka at his best or SGA these last couple of years, like I've never thought Tatum was those guys, even with the title last year. And so he's kind of in this tough spot
Starting point is 00:24:21 where when he has bad games, it's like, well, he was never really, it's like, I don't know that anybody was arguing that he was ever gonna surpass any of these guys. So like his problem is what? That he's the fifth best player in the league when it's right, but even fifth best player after these last couple of games,
Starting point is 00:24:34 that doesn't feel allowed. So I don't know if it's, which I would totally understand, it's just packaged into a resentment of Boston and the Celtics just not being a cool national team. But it is like the knives are out for this guy in a way that you're like, where's the interview? Like of all the other stars that have moments or interviews are like, I can't believe this guy said that.
Starting point is 00:24:56 Like I'm so, Tatum doesn't have any of that stuff. No, he's so easy going. Yeah, yeah, he's so easy going. It's like, it does suck for him in that sense because he's not controversial in any way, shape or form. I mean, the biggest controversy was the joke that we always used to say, you know, how young he was, right, like, what is he?
Starting point is 00:25:15 Is he still like 22, like whatever it is? But he's just so unassuming. And I think that for whatever reason, that becomes some sort of controversy, which is wild. But here's the thing. I think it all boils down to what we started talking about. You know, the team saw the Celtics and the way they've played the last couple of seasons,
Starting point is 00:25:34 right? Under Missoula. And these other teams have said, okay, we know how they want to play and we're going to do our best job to counter that. And in this case, the Knicks have done a lot of switching, which is probably thrown off the Celtics a tad bit, even though they're getting great looks, particularly in the fourth quarter, it just throws them off and the level of physicality there is going to be. And I'm guessing you've seen this a narrative out there that, Hey, you know, they weren't
Starting point is 00:26:02 really tested all that much last year. And maybe that is somewhat true, right? out there that, Hey, you know, they weren't really tested all that much last year. And maybe that is somewhat true, right? They weren't really tested, particularly even in the finals all that much. They were a team that when the games were leading up to the Eastern conference finals, they were a team that when the games were close, you were like, Oh, can they actually win those games? And then we saw the Eastern conference finals and I was there front and center for it. Cause I was on the radio call on those games where they, they, you know, snatched those games in Indianapolis. Um,
Starting point is 00:26:34 and they were able to kind of overcome some of that. But I do think it's, it's basically what we've already talked about is they have a style of play and teams are adjusting to it. And that's why it's so freaking hard to repeat in this sport. I want to ask you this that has nothing to do with the playoffs, but just because you have the production meetings with the coaches, you have the sideline stuff of the coaches, right?
Starting point is 00:27:00 Who's the most honest with you? Oh, you know, it's funny. I can give you like a, a podium here, like a gold, uh, silver and bronze. The gold was always Michael Malone. I listen, I'm sorry that he's gone because he made my job way easier. Um, probably so much. He was so honest that he probably got himself fired because of it. Um, so,
Starting point is 00:27:23 but he was definitely the gold medalist. There is no doubt, like he would rip his freaking guys, not even like think twice about it on national television anytime I did one of those interviews. So you can imagine what those things were like behind the scenes at times. I would say Steve Kerr is probably my silver medalist in that situation.
Starting point is 00:27:45 And then bronze medalist. See, that one can get tough. There's probably a lot of guys that I would go with there. You know, Chris Finch, I don't think people would go with that one, but you know, I guess you saw a little bit of that in his post game the other night, right? Where he talked about Ant and having to set the tone.
Starting point is 00:28:07 He said those things to us on and off the record a number of times. So I would say Finch is a surprise bronze medalist. I'm getting ahead of ourselves here a bit in trying to figure out if this is gonna be a Pacers-Nix Eastern Conference Finals. Oh, it's possible. Yeah. I mean, it's totally possible.
Starting point is 00:28:28 And the Pacers- Now, how is Bill right now? I don't really know Bill that well. You know, we've had some interactions over the years. How is he? Is he okay? I haven't listened to his pod yet. Okay. Me neither. So that's why I'm going to listen on the flight to Denver. So there's no texts. You just sort of, you know, let them, let them be, but we'll see.
Starting point is 00:28:50 I mean, I got to look ahead to the schedule if it's Thursday now to where we'll be at Sunday. I mean, Sunday could be an all-timer. Yeah. So I'll probably just lay out a little bit. I'm not the best on the therapy stuff. Cause like, if I think something's wrong, I'll just say, he might, he might replace me on Sunday. Who knows?
Starting point is 00:29:08 So let me ask you this. I'm going to pull a bill right now. Is this the biggest game at Madison Square Garden since game one of the 1999 finals? I mean, what would be bigger? We have to go back to the Pacers Knicks series. What is that? 12 years ago?
Starting point is 00:29:27 Yeah. I mean, I would have to pull this all up right now. I mean, it's not like it's impossible to do, but. Right, but I mean, off the top of my head, there has not been a bigger game at Madison Square Garden since then. And you got Mike Breen doing your game Knicks fans. You can't complain about who the announcer is gonna be.
Starting point is 00:29:47 Look, I think I could, I mean, the craziest thing about the Knicks in general is that you go through it all. Yeah, I guess it would be game five, 2013. I mean, I'm kind of doing that off the top of my head. So that's the Carmelo team. Is that against the Heat? No, it's against the Pacers. It was the Pacers, right? That was the Roy Hibbard verticality game.
Starting point is 00:30:10 Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. So. Or series. Yeah. If you're going through it, I mean, that was the first one that I could think of. The craziest thing about the Knicks, and this is the wrong time to do this,
Starting point is 00:30:20 is they're up 2-0 and they're on the cusp of like the best atmosphere at MSG in a really long time. You might be totally right with this, and this is the wrong time to do this, is they're up 2-0 and they're on the cusp of the best atmosphere at MSG in a really long time. You might be totally right with the date that you've gone to, because this feels like this will be a bigger game, because they're going up against Boston. But the rivalry with the Knicks, that doesn't really exist.
Starting point is 00:30:39 And then when you look at some of those Knicks postseason gaps, you go, my God, we talk about this team a lot. Yeah. I mean, it's been so God, we talk about this team a lot. Yeah. I mean, it's been so many years as the teams played in the playoffs, you know? So this rivalry is really for a bunch of... It's like when Ryan Rosillo and Jordan Sadano
Starting point is 00:30:54 were in elementary school at best, you know what I mean? Like, come on. Yeah, but you were in the martial arts and I was a pretty skinny guy, so I don't... I was skinny too though. That's the reason I was in martial arts because my dad said, you're too skinny, you need to learn to fight. I understand what pretty skinny guy. So I don't. I was skinny too though. That's the reason I was in martial arts. Cause my dad said, you're too skinny. You need to learn to fight.
Starting point is 00:31:08 I understand what you're saying. I took it to a hostile level there. I didn't mean to do that. But yeah, you just meant on a timeline part of this. So yeah, I mean, Eastern Conference. Yeah, I just, I think you might be right with that. I mean, you really have to go back because there'll be all these Nick stats that come up
Starting point is 00:31:24 and you'll go, how long? Like that has been forever. And yeah, look, it's New York. It's a New York basketball team at MSG. So guess what? They're gonna get talked about a lot more despite the fact that all these other franchises have done what they've done.
Starting point is 00:31:36 You had the Pacers last year, as you said, in that Eastern Conference Finals. And we can point to the Cleveland injury part which I do think is at least a fair aside to this entire thing. Imagine being Cleveland, putting together this kind of season and then not having guys available, whether it's Garland game one, but then it's Garland, Mobley and Hunter. And then you have this lead because the dock rivers theory is in full effect in game two. And then Halliburton finds a way because you can't inbound the basketball. So the Pacers put together two wins now in these playoffs
Starting point is 00:32:07 where you're not supposed to win those games and the Pacers get two in back-to-back series, closing out the Bucs in that overtime game and then in game two. So where are you with the Pacers? Are you comfortable yet of saying NBA Finals, NBA Championship, Indiana Pacers? I don't know if I'm that comfortable, but they look. It's funny because we just talked about this and I hate when fans do this.
Starting point is 00:32:33 So I'm not going to do this. I mean, they played even though they got swept by the Celtics. Like those games were competitive like last year. And I think that experience is invaluable for a team like that, because Siakam was just kind of thrown in there a few months earlier. Now they've had a full season, you know, Halliburton, you know, for all the talk about overrated. What's this? What's this?
Starting point is 00:32:58 Laugh. Yeah. He's just kind of sticking it to everybody right now. I'm sure that athletic article will look different next year. And I have a theory on that. I'd love to get your theory on if you would agree with this theory, that theory to me, the overrated thing with Halliburton is because he was on the Olympic team. And I think a bunch of guys feel like he didn't deserve that. Or other guys probably felt like they should have been in there instead of him. Uh, I think that's definitely a really good theory.
Starting point is 00:33:27 I also think it comes down to. Like who would you most accept as, as being the unlikeable one on the other teams and Halliburton carries himself in a way that is like really, I enjoy it. Cause I think he's that good. Oh yeah. Yeah. You know, I, I know at because I think he's that good. Oh yeah. Yeah. You know, I know at times I've struggled a bit with him. I mean, there's other times where I wish you would shoot the ball more, but you know, you watch him in these series and the way he is able in the playoffs with his handle and his size
Starting point is 00:33:58 to break the paint, kind of collapse your defense and now you're in rotation and you're scrambling. Like there's just a lot to him that's just beyond the points and assists where he's almost setting the tone for you. And one of the things I loved about him when he was in college is he'd get a defensive rebound or he'd get the outlet off the defensive rebound and he was looking for things to do that college players don't look for. He was looking to attack in ways and just getting the ball up or driving hard and knowing that he was bringing defenders away from something else that he was already planning on doing. He was seeing the game at such an advanced level as a young player that I think it's
Starting point is 00:34:32 just a great advantage for you every single offensive possession knowing like this guy just has a really good approach to this whole thing. And Nembharts, probably one of the most underrated guys. Siakam at times looks like a problem. Other times I'd say in some defensive matchups, I think he's gonna defer a little bit. I don't like their big depth, but Turner at least can give you the stretch five,
Starting point is 00:34:53 even if I'm not gonna love his rim protection. And then we add all the other depth. But I mean, one of the holdups I would have with the Pacers is going into it, I thought, are they ever gonna have the best player in a playoff series? And look, the answer's probably no, but I think that overrated part with Halliburton,
Starting point is 00:35:08 with Rudy it's obvious, everyone just doesn't like Rudy, okay? With Trey, it's probably a little bit of not liking Trey, not liking the calls and all that kind of stuff. But Halliburton- I think the calls plays a bigger factor there, just the hunting of fouls, I think. Kind of like Harden, obviously.
Starting point is 00:35:26 So there was that too with him. Yeah, and so Halliburton, but you do what he's been doing. Like you get to do all that shit. Like if he wants to go at it with Dame while Dame's in a sweater, Halliburton gets to do that. Cause he's the one that's out there doing all that stuff. And obviously that's before Dame had the Achilles injury. So there's clearly something that's unlikable
Starting point is 00:35:49 about Halliburton from other players, but at least he's like the Rudy one, I kinda get. Yeah, I get, yeah. I totally agree. Halliburton, I think it has everything to do with personality and somehow that bleeds into what I think is a too harsh critique of what his game is. Because when that dude is just flowing and getting everybody going and everybody's kind
Starting point is 00:36:10 of playing off of him, I think he puts the offense at a massive advantage with his approach. Well, it's also not aesthetically pleasing, right, to watch him. Like he's kind of awkward, his motions are kind of herky-jerky. But that sidestep, when he gets to that sidestep on the three, forget about it. Like, I mean, that, when he gets to that sidestep on the three, forget about it. I mean, that's how he got Ty Jerome and put him on skates. You know what I mean? He is, I think he's super fun to watch.
Starting point is 00:36:33 He knows when to push the pace. He knows when to kind of slow it down. To your point, incredible IQ. I like him personally too, like in my whatever small interactions I've had with him over the years. I like him a lot. I like the join.
Starting point is 00:36:49 You know, for all the old timers, it's funny that say like, oh, the NBA is too friendly. He's not, he's not like super friendly. By the way, I'll ask you this. I have- Unfriendly, Alivert. I didn't know this. I would say I have a lot of friends
Starting point is 00:37:04 who kind of were in that boat of the NBA. I'm not watching as much anymore. Blah, blah, blah. They're way more locked in in this play in these playoffs than they had in previous years. Like I'm getting a ton of texts of like, yo, these playoffs are awesome. The first time I'm really watching like intently in a couple of years. Have you had any of that with like some of your like more casual friends?
Starting point is 00:37:30 I think everything's becoming a moment on the sports schedule for everybody. So it may not be that, Oh, these like, cause these playoffs are awesome. And I think some of the stuff that you had said at the beginning about, Hey, just try to get into the top six and we'll figure it all out. Cause you're right. Like there's been an abrupt turn here historically on what home core advantage used to mean versus what it is right now. Um, but I don't know that it's, Hey, I don't have time for the
Starting point is 00:37:55 regular season. Uh, well, maybe it is that I guess I should phrase it this way. I don't know that it's this specific 2025 playoffs that has my, have, have more of my friends excited about it. I think it has more to do with like all of these leagues trying to figure out where they fit in, in the calendar. And people being more enticed to being like, let me know when it's important.
Starting point is 00:38:16 So I don't know if it's a basketball thing. I mean, football, it's impossible to compare anything to football. I still can't believe hockey isn't more popular in the playoffs, where if you just didn't have anything to do and you kinda like sports, just, especially without the disruptions, it's still one of those sports like soccer
Starting point is 00:38:34 and I'm not comparing it to F1 here, but as I've gotten older, considering all the stoppages we have and trying to make it through these NCAA tournament games, you're just like, cool. Like now all of the emotional zigzagging is gone because we're watching everything and it's taking forever. The fact that hockey is something that's still not disrupted by modern television and sports,
Starting point is 00:38:57 to me that's probably the best product of anything that we have really. So basketball, I think the league is deep. I think the parody is a big part of it. And, and to have the first six games in this round be just, you know, all won by the road team until we had, okay, see, get even at home last night against Denver. I don't know. You know, sometimes I'll argue, Hey, just because something's
Starting point is 00:39:19 happening, it doesn't now mean this is the new normal, but whatever this has been, it's, it's just completely unexpected. I mean, you go into these games something's happening, it doesn't now mean this is the new normal. But whatever this has been, it's just completely unexpected. I mean, you go into these series, go and look at the spreads. Cleveland, nine and a half point favorite, 10 and a half point. Well, actually that would have been 10 and a half point favorite until they had the injury report. Boston ended up being even a bigger favorite in game two because you're thinking, okay, they're going to come back and respond. Same thing with OKC. Minnesota was a massive favorite and all of this stuff, and it just hasn't mattered the first week of the second round.
Starting point is 00:39:49 Yeah, it is pretty wild. And I think that you kind of hit the right note there. It's parody. We are in the era of parody. We've been kind of talking about it for a while with the six different champions or whatever in the last six years. And I think that it's gonna be good.
Starting point is 00:40:05 I think it's gonna be a net positive for the NBA. I know that some fans are frustrated based on the second apron and this, that, and the other, but I think it's going to make it more like football in the sense of it's gonna even the playing field as long as you have a smart front office and a smart coach. And I think a lot of teams now have way better coaching than we've had across the board in a very, very long time, at least
Starting point is 00:40:31 as long as I can remember. And I think some of these front offices are really smart too. Like, I don't think we're going to see, but Yannis will be a different deal, but we mentioned Rudy and I feel like terrible crapping on Rudy again, but that Rudy go bear deal, I don't think is going to happen again. Right that Rudy go bear deal, I don't think is gonna happen again, right? Even the bridges deal, like five firsts for bridges. Like I don't think that stuff is gonna happen anymore. Just because of the way you have to have some flexibility with what your assets are.
Starting point is 00:40:57 Like you can't just unload them all. Granted, maybe if you have somebody else's assets, you can do that. But I just think teams are gonna be a little more shrewd in that regard. And I think all of that will make the sport better. And we're in this kind of transition phase of the young guys are really starting to assert themselves. Right.
Starting point is 00:41:18 We saw Ant last year a little bit. Now, you know, we saw him in the first round, you know, how will he respond in game two in this series? Right? Can he take Steph down Halliburton for whatever it's worth? Small market guy, really taking charge in a series. I think all those things, SGA, like Mr. Cool, his teammates adore him. These are all things if you're the NBA, you should be focusing on and kind of taking that next step beyond LeBron and Curry because clearly we're at the end of those guys. Let's talk a little OKC and then maybe we'll spend
Starting point is 00:41:56 a little bit more time on Golden State in Minnesota. Much like what Tatum is dealing with when you come off one of these bad games and you see the clips, you see everybody talk about it. When Jalen Williams won his sniffing Gatorade in the post game after the game one loss, you're thinking, okay, well, he had a disappointing playoffs, his first run through, not surprising. He shot the ball really poorly in game one. And I'll admit too, he looks like he's dressed like an extra from some Star Wars village.
Starting point is 00:42:25 And you're like, why is this guy sniffing hay raiding? We're like, this is the guy that you're banking on being like a really steady two. And it's sometimes the number one in the Western Conference or NBA finals. He's a different dude, that's for sure. And they embrace that. It's totally unfair.
Starting point is 00:42:37 It's totally unfair. Yeah. So yes, they go crazy last night. I think the best breakdown would be that everything OKC did last night worked. And as I looked at the East, I started thinking like, I wonder if this is it. I wonder if the game two moment
Starting point is 00:42:55 is like the first moment of going, okay, this team is going to win a title, Presti's going to get his ring and all these different things. What's been the most revealing thing when you've had access to this team? Because I've talked about them a lot, just everyone being on the same page,
Starting point is 00:43:11 it's really hard and everybody knowing the role and the adaptability and all the different things. And they blow that first game, which is fine. You're gonna lose a couple of these likely to Jokic, you're probably not gonna sweep Nikola Jokic. But maybe the most impressive thing that made you realize like it's not just the record, but this team needs to be taken seriously
Starting point is 00:43:29 to win this whole thing. So I'm gonna take you back to last season, okay? And this is where I knew like, oh, I think this team has got a level of swag to them and confidence that I didn't expect from a young team with a young coach. And it's gonna be a Dagnall meeting, right? So we're doing a game in Phoenix.
Starting point is 00:43:50 It's me, Mark Jones and Doris Burke. And Dagnall comes in and he's a young coach, whatever he was at this point, I guess, second year, whatever it was, because he had been there with the OKC blue and then was there and was promoted to the Thunder coach. He was, he'd been there with the OKC blue and then, and then was, was there and became and was promoted to the thunder coach. So he comes into the meeting and I'm telling you, dude, dude comes in like super chill,
Starting point is 00:44:13 you know, kind of puts his feet on the Ottoman and like crosses his arms and like talking to a super matter of fact about like how confident his team is and how confident they are about their process. And I'm going to tell you, right. That's just not the norm with young coaches. Like they come into those meetings and they're probably bugged out, but they're a little guarded is what I would say. And this dude was not, he was like super comfortable in that environment. And we all walked away from that going like, Oh, okay. Well, this is different and different than what we expected. And then we saw kind of what they did last season. You know, they
Starting point is 00:44:49 go through kind of the, the growing pains of losing to Dallas or whatever. But what I would say is overall is a, the confidence of diagonal, um, in the group and the willingness to understand that everything is a teachable moment. Right. And I'm guessing, and I was not there for game one. And I'm guessing that game one was an incredible teachable moment, by the way, for him and the players on the way you handle, um, a playoff game, because I don't know how you felt about game one and the ending of it, but I looked at it this way, several crucial errors. Number
Starting point is 00:45:26 one, playing the foul game way too early with whatever it was, 16, 15, 16 seconds to go, putting Jokic on the line. That's mistake number one. Mistake number two, Shay having that easy look at the cup and not dribbling the ball out a little bit and taking off a couple of seconds. That's what a veteran team there does gets fouled. Right. And then number three, the immediate foul afterwards with Yocic on the sideline, putting Gordon on the line and getting Yocic back in the game. Like I thought all those things were, were mistakes and they hadn't, they haven't played a lot of close games this year. They have the least amount of clutch games, 24. They were, I believe 16 and eight in those games. But again, we've just talked about the regular season versus the postseason. It's just going to be different.
Starting point is 00:46:15 All of it is going to be different. The intensity is different. The preparation is different. And the discipline is going to be different. So I feel like every time I've watched them regular season or postseason, I feel like every time I watch them, regular season or postseason, I feel like they come away from that. You know, our teams always say, Oh, we'll look at the film and we'll figure out what we did wrong. I feel like when I watch them, they, they do take that lesson and apply it immediately. Right. They don't lose a lot of games. They haven't lost a lot of back to back games. They haven't lost three in a row. I think at all this season, if I recall correctly, maybe it happened once, but that's what I've
Starting point is 00:46:48 taken away from them. The level of maturity that they have as a group and the fact that they allow their coach to coach them. And by the way, understanding that sometimes their coach needs to kind of go through the growing pains too. And I think everyone understanding that, um, because I think he's one of the best coaches in the sport already. And I, people are going to say, Oh yeah, sure. Dumb ass. He won coach of the year last year. Thanks captain obvious, but we've seen a lot of guys win coach of the year and get fired
Starting point is 00:47:13 the next year. So I don't know if that means necessarily anything, but the other part of it is this Ryan. And to me, from a player perspective, this is the most important part. And this is the storyline I consistently harp on about this team to everybody. And Dagnall was the first one to tell me this. Um, and then I saw it, right? They understand the pecking order. Okay. They understand. This is Shades team. Okay. And then it's JDub and you know, chat to some extent. And then everyone else fills in the gaps, right? Young teams don't do that. You've covered this league a long time.
Starting point is 00:47:53 That is not the mantra of most young teams. Most young teams and young players want to get theirs because they want to get their stats because they want to get paid. And I think this team has realized, Hey, we'll all get taken care of. If we just play the roles we're supposed to play and we have the success we think we can have. And they're living, breathing embodiment of that type of philosophy. They've only lost two games in a row twice all season. So you were right.
Starting point is 00:48:20 They'd never lost three in a row. Okay. Going into Minnesota Golden State, I was like, man, that was a lot of fun for Golden State, the first round. We got to see Steph have another moment and anybody that appreciates Steph, and I'm certainly, I would imagine, at the top of the list, near the top of the list,
Starting point is 00:48:37 it's just, okay, we get to see more of it, but I just didn't think they would have a chance against Minnesota. And then, you know, Doc Rivers theory kicks in again. I know I mentioned it with the Cavs Pacers game too. Um, I don't know, maybe Doc Rivers theory doesn't apply to this one because that goes out with a hamstring thing, which we know is going to be
Starting point is 00:48:54 significant enough where, you know, who knows what it's going to look like. And then somehow Golden State pulls this out on a night where Minnesota offensively was a disaster. Uh, they got a close kind of, and then, you know, buddy healed and Jimmy Butler close them out, so it's a nice game one. Um, but even hit Steph were playing. I still wouldn't pick them.
Starting point is 00:49:17 Um, I don't know who would pick them now at this point. There's probably a lot of different things that Finch can mess with. Go bear played 26 minutes in game one. And you might say, well, based on the Houston series, they're going to want to stay big and cause all the problems that Golden State survived through seven games. But I could also see Finch going, you know what, without Steph, we'll go small with you. Fine, we'll go small. So I think there's a lot of different stuff
Starting point is 00:49:45 Minnesota can look at here. I also think a bit like Anthony Edwards is a lot more fun than Tatum, but it'd be nice to see him shoot the ball a little bit better, although his defense and his rebounding were terrific in the game one loss. I think he needs to start figuring out a way
Starting point is 00:49:59 to not upon landing after every layup attempt, protest every single call, because I think it's starting. And I think he gets, as far as stars are concerned, he gets one of the worst whistles, which I understand is frustrating, but he can't do it every single time on these attacks. But here's why. You know why he gets the- I know why. Well, I have a theory. He avoids contact instead of going into the contact. We're on the same page. Same thing. He's so athletic that he's just always thinking
Starting point is 00:50:26 I can get around all these guys so he doesn't play to contact, which is actually kind of like a nice thing. And we should all want to have our players do. And aesthetically, it's far more pleasing than just trying to work it for free throws the whole time, but the rest don't give it to him. And he's going to have to figure that out at some point.
Starting point is 00:50:39 So look, I don't know who's arguing that Golden State without Steph can make this a long series or even win it, but I guess I'll just leave it to you. Yeah, it would be incredibly tough. Although, I mean, listen, we were just talking about, you know, to start this thing, right? Like the Milwaukee Miami series and like how the Boston series mirrors that some. I mean, we've seen Jimmy Butler pull a lot of rabbits out of his hat this time of year. Right. So I at least give
Starting point is 00:51:09 them a puncher's chance still. But I would go big because of what Adams did. I mean, Adams was only nullified in game seven because buddy heel turned into clay Thompson, you know, prime clay Thompson. Now he had that same moment again in game one, but I'm willing to take that bet. Okay. Cause I've witnessed buddy healed, even though he shot 37% for the season, I've witnessed buddy healed go through stretches during the regular season where he shot 30% from three for long periods of time, by the way. So I'm willing to make that bet because they can, their advantage is their, their, their strength.
Starting point is 00:51:49 They can muck it up in a way that I don't think golden state can keep up with because they don't have the, I mean, yes, they have loony and whatnot, but they want to keep Draymond on the, on, on the court. But Draymond was in foul trouble in that game. And I think that the bigger they play, the better the chances Draymond was in foul trouble in that game. And I think that the bigger they play, the better the chances Draymond's in foul trouble. And then I think you kind of wear down the Warriors over time. And I think that with Ant, again, similar to what we talked about with the Celtics, if the threes not falling, and I know he hit more threes than anybody this year, and it's
Starting point is 00:52:24 an incredibly important aspect to his game this season because it does help him on the drive. But I still feel like he's not driving enough. I've said that all season. He did that in the second half, which is why it became a little closer on the scoreboard, but too little too late, right? Like if your shot's not falling, he's doing all the other things. He's getting teammates involved. He's rebounding the ball. He's not even turning the ball over very much,
Starting point is 00:52:48 to be honest with you. Um, but it's that it's just knowing like, Hey man, you know what? First three or four is not falling. I got to get to the rim because I have an inherent advantage from an athleticism standpoint that I can get by pretty much anybody on this team. So I think it's that it's about managing the game. And that's a conversation I've had with Chris Finch over the season, which is, you know, him, we forget he's still only 23 years old, right? Like there is still a learning curve here for him as great as he's been already to this point in his career. And we love to anoint people really fast. And I think he will be a guy that we
Starting point is 00:53:25 will anoint. Don't get me wrong. But I think that we live in such a world though, where it's like immediate instant like gratification that, you know, it's always like the highest of high or the lowest of the low, right? You're the greatest thing since sliced bread or you're the worst thing ever. And he's kind of felt that now in, in the last couple of games between the Laker series and now game one of this series. So for me, like, I think it's about the way he reads the game and Finch is right. It's how he sets the tone and setting the tone means, Hey, if my shot's not falling, I got to figure out how to get the ball in the basket and how to make sure I can still impact this game offensively,
Starting point is 00:54:04 whether that's drawing two to me, right. And making sure that I get guys an open look or when that two is coming, you know, I got to make a quick decision to split and get to the rim. Right. So I think that it's going to be on and for them to figure this out. But I do think playing big is the smarter way to go. Cause I think you can just bludgeon Golden State to death, particularly without Steph out there. Right. And you've gone to throw Rudy on Draymond and he wants to take 10 threes in a game. Go ahead.
Starting point is 00:54:31 Sure. We got off to a really hot start. Uh, your next game, when is it? Uh, so I'm in game, I'm in Denver for games three and four game three, Friday night, um, game four, uh, that's on ESPN. That's the late game. And then game four is a day game on ABC. So 3 30 Eastern on ABC.
Starting point is 00:54:52 And it'll be me, Mark Jones, Jay Billis for both games. My man, George Shadano, ESPN. Thanks. Always a pleasure, brother. Thanks for having me. Okay, before we get to life advice, you got the same game parlay for you from the people, the good folks at FanDuel Sportsbook. All right. We gave you the straight ahead Nemhar total points,
Starting point is 00:55:12 rebounds, assists that went over in game two. I would look at that because I was surprised that that was only 20 and a half considering we already gave you all the details there, but that was pretty straightforward. This one less straightforward, three leg parlay, trying to build between plus 300 and plus 400 on this. So I have thoughts clearly here. All right, so Draymond Green's actually not getting a ton of rebounds in the playoffs. He averaged only five and a half against Houston.
Starting point is 00:55:39 He did have eight rebounds in game one against Minnesota. Rudy only played at 26 minutes in game one. And there's a bunch of different things that you could argue. Like Finch may go with Rudy and go, it doesn't matter if he's playing off of Draymond because Draymond's not gonna go four or 10 from three. I think it was four or five to even start the game. But I could also see Finch with Minnesota saying,
Starting point is 00:56:02 we're just so not scared by this offense. We gave up the things offensively that we're not worried about. So if Butler gets his and healed hits a few threes, the rest of it, we feel pretty good about. So the rebounding number for Draymond to get eight or more boards, that feels very doable, especially if Minnesota does go small. And again, I'm playing off the hint of Rudy playing 26 minutes in game one. Like he should probably be able to get eight rebounds in a playoff game, even though that number is so much lower against Houston,
Starting point is 00:56:29 but you got to remember what he was tasked with defending and the size that they were dealing with, especially in the Adams, Shen Goon lineups. So that's a pretty low rebounding number for him. So we're going a little above comfort level with eight or more from Draymond Anthony Edwards to score 25 or more points. He's due, he's due for a big breakout here. 42 and 32% splits in the playoffs shooting wise, but he's still at 27 a game.
Starting point is 00:56:53 I think after all of the stuff with game one, I would expect him to kind of go off tonight. And then I'm trying to find another warrior scoring option, lower point output here. Pajemski to score 10 or more points. Pod, one seven for game one. He is taking 10 shots a game in the playoffs. That was obviously with Steph,
Starting point is 00:57:11 except for the limitations in game one where Steph, I think only played 13 minutes, leading the game in the hamstring. I'm expecting because Steph will be out. Pajemski, especially if he's on the ball a little bit more, not afraid to shoot. They're going to want him to shoot even more. So I think 10 plus points is very doable.
Starting point is 00:57:24 So Draymond, eight or more boards Anthony Edwards 25 or more points pod 10 or more points that paying out right now on fan duel at plus 361 you want details fine I drive a Ferrari 355 cabriolet what's up I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you could possibly imagine. And best of all kids, I am liquid. So now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required. Life advice, rr at gmail.com, that's the email.
Starting point is 00:57:58 So fire off some emails, don't want anything. We're getting loose, headed towards the summer. I'm not previewing summer, we don't have our summer line out. Although in fashion, I think they released like the fall pretty soon. I don't know how that works. I also don't know how the Pope stuff works. Kyle is all over it. We have breaking news. Well, new Pope just dropped. The white smoke is coming out, but we don't know who it is yet. So I'll monitor over the next 20 or so minutes and maybe we'll have some news. Do you have a favorite? Do you hope it is one of like any? I mean, can you name? I can't name any. No, if I did, I would be going by like country of origin and I don't know, the Asian dude, I was hoping he got a couple looks.
Starting point is 00:58:37 You were hoping the Asian guy got it. Okay. Well, yeah, keep us up to date on that one. Yeah. You got Wargon in the mix as well. I think he starts these not knowing that he's now a part of it. I think you just have to, yeah, the three boxes. Yeah, I'll defer to you guys. Yeah. Honestly, this is better. My screen's smaller. I'll look at myself way less. So I like it. I like it when you're here, buddy. Thanks. All right. Good to see everyone. A couple emails here that we'll start with. couple emails here that will start with secrets in Ocean City isn't just a bar, it's a way of life. So, hey Ryan, long time listener, 31 years old, 6'4", 178 and one half pounds, lean gym rap with a basketball comp somewhere between a poor man, Sean Marion and a slightly taller Josh Hart. Well, if you play like Josh Hart, man, your effort can never be questioned.
Starting point is 00:59:26 Given the recent hubble-blu about bachelor parties lately and having had some experience myself, I thought I should point something out, specifically where Kyle mentioned his Ocean City bachelor party and their frequent trips to secrets. Oh, it's spelt S-E-A-C-R-E-T-L-K. Well, this place is obviously awesome.
Starting point is 00:59:46 It's the best. There's a live feed right now. I'm pulling it up. You can just check in. We talking about the Pope or secrets? Secrets. Oh, did you monitor both? Yeah, I actually have two tabs up right now.
Starting point is 00:59:57 I got Vatican News and I got the live secret scam feed. I'm going to offer right now. You're the only person in the world out of the billions of us. With these two tabs open. That have those two tabs open. Cool. Maybe not though. I don't know. Maybe there's some crossover there. Yo, I always feel like could this be, could I be the only person in the world doing this right now at this moment? That's a fun thought to have.
Starting point is 01:00:19 Yeah. Yeah. Just stand out, man. Be unique. Be you. Let me just say as someone who lived and worked in Ocean City as a lifeguard, I've spent more time at secrets than I care to admit or can remember. And I say this with full clarity, secrets is the greatest bar in America, period. It's not up for debate.
Starting point is 01:00:38 Sorry, frolic room, the live bands, the bayfront rafts, the reggae stage. Dude, what was the reggae stage like, Kyle? Reggae stage? I don't know. I see there's a beach stage. There's a tiki stage. Can you pan the camera over to the reggae stage?
Starting point is 01:00:51 Let us know what's going on. And then we can blend her. I don't see an option. I imagine it's the tiki stage or the beach stage. Maybe it's the beach stage. Maybe it doubles as the reggae stage. Yeah. When?
Starting point is 01:01:02 Broadcast starts at 2 p.m. Okay, so we have a little bit of time. Okay, all right. The frozen pain in the ass, both the drink and the aftermath, did you have any of those? I'm not really sure what I had. We were there a lot and I wasn't paid for a bunch of stuff, so I was, you know, it was similar to like turning 21 when people are just handing you stuff, so I'm sure I had that. There was, I know they have a serious push for frozen drinks.
Starting point is 01:01:28 Um, although we went in like March, so it wasn't super hot, but we were still putting down the frozen drinks because I guess we were supposed to. That a good line the other night. It's a place that we were at closes early. I know everybody that works there, but I was like in the back and staff was getting frustrated and wanted everybody to leave. And it was quiet. And it was just like perfect moment to slide it in. I was like, do you guys do frozen daiquiris?
Starting point is 01:01:52 And. Did anyone? The girl turned around, death stare, ready to, and then she saw that it was me and everyone, everyone rejoiced. Oh, nice. It was a good moment. It was a good moment.
Starting point is 01:02:04 It was a good moment. It was a good moment. It was a good moment. It was a good moment. Did anyone? The girl turned around, death stare, ready to, and then she saw that it was me and everyone rejoiced. Oh, nice. Love when you get a good delivery off like that. Yeah, I don't know why I'm sharing it. I guess maybe I just needed it today. Let's see. If your group is within 50 miles of secrets
Starting point is 01:02:20 and choose to do literally anything else for a bachelor party, you're trying too hard. Golfing and boating a reliable fallback bachelor party moves and I've done plenty. But if secrets is on the table, all other plans go out the window. Time well spent, Kyle. Appreciate the show.
Starting point is 01:02:36 Best bar. What's the best bar? Would you say it's, I mean, you've been to a few, Kyle. What's your favorite bar you've ever been to? My favorite bar is probably Darkroom, rest in peace. But I guess outside of my haunt and the Pickwick Pub in Poughkeepsie, but that's now a parking lot for Casa Latina supermarkets that no one even goes to. I'm not really sure why that needed to happen. But I'd say outside of my realm of my domains, secrets might be up there.
Starting point is 01:03:03 I really did like that Irish bar in Cleveland kind of right by Quicken Loans there. That was a good one. But yeah, Secrets, there was just so many opportunities at Secrets, so it's gotta be Secrets. Wow. How about you, Warga? So I was guessing before we talked about this,
Starting point is 01:03:21 cause Kyle was like, went there on my bachelor party. I thought Secrets was a strip club. Am I the only one? Well, when you spell it that way, I think it takes some of the sheen off of you. Right, right. It's a nautical theme. Right?
Starting point is 01:03:32 Yes. Right. I got a bar near me called Trinity, we used to go to a lot. Every time you closed out your tab, they'd give you a whiskey shot. So I really liked going there, but then they stopped giving out the free shots.
Starting point is 01:03:44 So. I went to McStorleys in New York. Oh, I love McStorleys, yeah, yeah. I really liked going there, but then they stopped giving out the free shots. So... I went to McSorley's in New York. Oh, I love McSorley's. Yeah, yeah. Before the New York show. And I just liked how like... It's more of like a novelty going there than like a place you're going to go as like a regular. Well, there's like an old man there and sawdust on the floor. And I think it was probably like 11 a.m. and I was like one of the only guys in there.
Starting point is 01:04:03 Just had, you know, nothing to do until the show. And I wanted to pop in and there's just, there's two beers, there's light and dark. And I was like, I don't know, what do you think? He goes, you're asking me that question? I'm like, Jesus Christ, I'll have a light and a dark. And then he gives me four mugs because for some reason they use small mugs.
Starting point is 01:04:17 Two, you get two mugs for each order. Yeah, and I, four mugs. And I'm just like, all right, I'll just sit down at this table. I'm asking him questions. I'm like, what's up with these paintings? He's like, I don't know. Do I look like I own the place? I'm like, ah, McSorley's. That's a good one. Yeah. Doesn't beat out secrets though. I love the Cantab in Cambridge, but it's definitely different now from when we used to
Starting point is 01:04:42 when we used to frequent it. It was a long time ago. I found the Garden Bar in Big Fork is incredible. I found some weird bar on my drive up to Mammoth when I was fly fishing a few summers ago. And the bar looked like it would have been one of the most dangerous bars that I've ever seen because it was just like a bar next to a general store. It was some side, it wasn't like a secret. It was some side road and there was some camping there,
Starting point is 01:05:07 but I was trying to find this fishing area. And I went in, cause I, stopping the general store wasn't like I was going to drink during the day as I was driving around trying to fish. That doesn't make a ton of sense. But when I went into the bar, it was unbelievable. Cause it was still kind of in the store. And then I looked at the staircase, it was unbelievable because it was still kind of in the store.
Starting point is 01:05:26 And then I looked at the staircase that went straight down, that was kind of like in the middle of the bar to the bathrooms. And all I could think of was like, how many people are falling down this flight of stairs. And it was so exciting. I think I even like kind of took some pictures and sent it to a couple different buddies.
Starting point is 01:05:46 There was also one outside of Denver heading out to the mountains. We stayed in this haunted. I don't know what the hell we were doing. I think we were looking at, it wasn't my investment, but somebody else is bringing me alongside. Maybe there was some sort of mine or something. And we went to this bar and it was, somebody was trying to tell me that it was haunted or something and it was, it was 20, 20 dudes to every female in there. And there might've been 18 dudes if you understand the math. So it,
Starting point is 01:06:17 it was awesome though, but it was also like when a woman did show up, like guys are just, yeah, it was like Martha's Vineyard in the winter. You know, they're just, you know, like, why is she dating that fucking sheet rocker? Well, as we get off this, I just want to shout out Bongo's Lounge in in in Salt Lake. And we'll just leave it there. Bongo. Yeah, there's there's plenty of great ones that I'm forgetting. But all right. Did I actually hit a hole in one? Does my hole in one count? Uh oh. We're not the toughest golf guys, but we'll see because the golf world can be real
Starting point is 01:06:51 strict sometimes. Nothing more fun than playing with the strictest golf rules guy ever. Not to say that you should be cheating, but I think everybody understands my point. 6-1, 195, Player Comp, Pat Spencer, money on the line, strict rules.-1, 195, Player Comp, Pat Spencer, money on the line, strict rules, I totally understand that. Player Comp, Pat Spencer, energy off the bench that lives and dies by the sky hook. How about Pat Spencer sky hook against Julius Randall in game one?
Starting point is 01:07:15 My God. Bringing it back, I used to be a crossfitter, clean and jerking 250 phrasing, snatching up 205, deadlifting 475, now I run having run my first half marathon in 157 last year, hoping for a sub 145 for my next. Wargon, you're our half marathon guy. Are those good times? Yeah, yeah, that's good.
Starting point is 01:07:37 Doesn't sound like you're blown away though. No, it's not like elite athlete time, but it's very, very good. Thank you. My dilemma started 22 years ago when I began playing golf. It was my first year playing as a 19-year-old fresh-faced golfer, barely knowing how to hold the club. Towards the end of the summer, a group of friends and I were out in the course playing one of our final rounds of the year.
Starting point is 01:07:59 There were three of us. We added a single. Let's call him Ted to our group. Towards the end of the round, we were playing on a par three, three 150 straight down a hill where everyone can clearly see the green from the tee box. Here's where the issue lies being new to the game we all decided we'd be able to play with one mulligan each nine. After teeing off and blasting my shot out of bounds I waited for the rest of the group to hit and then using my mulligan teed off again with solid contact the ball hit the fringe rolled towards the pin and boom right in in the hole. Naturally, we all go crazy. All except Ted. They added Ted, by the way.
Starting point is 01:08:30 You gotta try to fill the roster. You don't want the wild cards. You might hit a hole in one and now you're emailing the show. Yeah, 22 years ago. Once my friends and I calmed down, Ted slowly walks past me with a smirk and says, nice par.
Starting point is 01:08:45 Dude, did you not know Ted? And he said this, like Ted needs to shut the fuck up. See, I think that's also my issue with like strict golf rule guy. Again, not to say that you shouldn't follow the rules, but if you are, if three guys are clearly just having a good time and they're giving each other pots and it's like a warmup swing, somebody, and there's no money on the line again, no money on the line. Very, very important factor here.
Starting point is 01:09:12 And then the guy that's, it's a three to one, you know, delegate here. Um, no, that guy kind of has to know, but sometimes that guy doesn't, And it sounds like Ted, even though he's added to the group, says nice par. We finished the round and I of course told everyone I could about the hole in one, leaving out the mulligan part. As the years passed, I've stopped and started golf multiple times with a subtle jab from Ted has stuck with me to the point of shifting my perspective on the shot from hole in one to simply an impressive par. Am I overthinking this? Does my hole in one still count or should I stick with my gut and never bring it up
Starting point is 01:09:45 again whenever a hole in one conversation comes up or someone asks me, have you ever hit a hole in one? Uh, look, it's not a hole in one as much as I can be lax about certain things. It's not a hole in one. I mean, think of it this way. If you missed a free throw and then you made the second, you wouldn't say, Hey, I'm one for one because there's also a benefit to having the ball in your hands, missing the first free throw and then adjusting to how you missed the first free throw on the
Starting point is 01:10:11 second one. I understand basketball is different from golf because you don't get mulligans and you all agreed on mulligans, but hole-in-ones, you have an advantage from the first time that you teed off. It's unlikely it is that you're going to hit a hole-in-one after hitting it into the woods. Like I play the par three every now and then, I almost had a hole in one. I'm not counting it. It's a par three. On top of everything else, I'm almost 100% going to be by myself if I ever have a hole in one on one of these par three holes. It's a par three course. Sure, maybe, but I wouldn't start telling people I have a hole in one from playing golf. I think what you need to do is it's all about the presentation of the story. I think when people start talking about hole in ones, you should say,
Starting point is 01:10:51 22 years ago, the 16th hole at whatever 150 straight shot down the hill. I just started playing thing hits the fringe. I'm like, okay, if I can get a nice roll out of this, I just started playing. Thing hits the fringe. I'm like, okay, if I can get a nice roll out of this, you build it up, the whole thing. Everybody's excited, they're in on the group. They're just going, oh, we got another one, we got another one. And they were like, put me down for three,
Starting point is 01:11:15 because the first one went in the woods. So that way you're in, you're sharing, you're feeling, you're part of it. Again, I don't know if you're a good storyteller or not. So you're not claiming it as a hole in one, but you have something else to add because what you did is still really hard and it's kind of unique.
Starting point is 01:11:32 I don't love Ted in this story, but I don't think any self-respecting golfer would count that as a hole in one. Um, when the first one went in the woods, they just wouldn't and I know it sucks, but I think you have to accept that. Wow, silence. Fine, no, fine. You're right, you're right.
Starting point is 01:11:52 Wow, Kyle, sounds like you did wanna not. I'm just, I'm to the point where I'm still counting, like, you know, wow, only lost two balls through nine. Like, this is a great day for me. Just played the best I ever did last week. Screwed up a legit birdie. Would have been my first one ever. Was ready to call my dad and all that stuff.
Starting point is 01:12:09 Just missed it with the nice Scotty Cameron driver that I have shot at the second swing, but I don't know. I feel like I've counted pars when the first one just went sailing and my second drive was good, but I guess I shouldn't be doing that. But that's just from an area of ignorance, I guess, because I'm just out there with the dudes.
Starting point is 01:12:28 So I don't really know all the etiquette, because I'm hoping I don't get to that super serious part yet, because I think those guys are having less fun than me when they're off. So I don't know. But I guess you're right. We'll do it your way. Well, the only way to know you're getting better
Starting point is 01:12:41 is to be strict about how you're keeping the score. Yes. Now, am I telling you I'm going to turn down a breakfast ball? Somebody wants to offer one, you know, 7 a.m. T-time, you're visiting someone else, you know, hotel, all creaky. You know, somebody wants to turn down that breakfast, like if they want to offer it up, I'm not going to say no. But if somebody if they want to offer it up, I'm not going to say no. But if somebody doesn't want to offer it up, I'm not going to ask for it
Starting point is 01:13:08 and we're just going to keep score. So look, there's most anybody that's golfing regularly, hates who you've even spent this much time on it. So I don't know where you are, Wargon. You look like a kind of a stickler for everything. I don't think I would count this, but I'm also very pro talking shit on the golf course. So like if this happened to a friend of mine,
Starting point is 01:13:28 no way am I letting him get away with this. The smirking nice par from a friend hits way nicer than Ted. Yeah, exactly. Like a poor guy said it to me, I think I would just die laughing, but Ted, I don't know. Yeah. I think Ted's just still in your head about it. I mean, it's just, I don't know. Yeah. I think Ted's just still in your head about it.
Starting point is 01:13:46 I mean, it's just, I don't know what Ted's doing. Why don't you look them up? If you feel like you're doing better than him. Screw that guy. I'm actually going to be outnumbered for the first time. I'm golf with my father-in-law tomorrow at like three o'clock and I couldn't get anyone else on my friends. So it's going to be us and three others
Starting point is 01:14:05 because Roosevelt for some reason does five, does like walking parties of five. I don't know. This is just like a money grab by a LA city parks, I guess. Yeah. Nice. Yeah. It was a good show. Oh wait, I'm thinking of party down. I don't know.
Starting point is 01:14:21 But it's the first time that like, I'm not gonna be able to dictate the vibes. It's just gonna be me and my father-in-law who's a little more buttoned up than me. And I just don't know who these other three guys are going to be. Every time we golf, we'll maybe add one guy and he kind of has to bend to our vibe. So I don't know. I don't really know how this is going to go. It's a great thing to worry about.
Starting point is 01:14:38 You could be stuck with a Ted. Right. Or I'm like the opposite of Ted and they're all Teds. You know what I mean? Yeah. What's Ted doing now? VP or what? Okay, this one is for the cohabitants. Timeline for housing companionship. Ryan, Kyle, Sir, UD.
Starting point is 01:15:04 Never seen this built that way before. Wargon, long time listener, 6'3", 200, 215, depending on what I ate that day. This guy's like an MMA dude. It's quite a swing. Yeah, it's quite a swing. Player comp, Mehmet Okor, I can stretch the floor, get rebounds, but that's about it.
Starting point is 01:15:20 With all due respect. No life altering question here. Just curious what the game's thoughts on how long you should wait to tell a girl you'd like to live together. I'll spare the details, but let's just say we are in the early stages of our post-college lives and live in a city where affordability is not in the question.
Starting point is 01:15:37 Thanks, y'all. Congrats on the little one, Steve. Okay, let's hear it, boys. We're gonna start with you. How long until you're moving in? What was your timeline? I think we were dating for like a year and a half before we were like when both of our leases end,
Starting point is 01:15:53 we'll move in together. I like it a lot. Yeah. So it was a business decision. Oh for sure. This is about money for you two? Yeah, yeah, I'm in New York, so affordability, not in the question for me either.
Starting point is 01:16:03 However you phrase it. I don't even like her, dude. Right, can't afford not to. Yeah, too much. How early though, if you had been dating a year and a half before you moved in, how early was it before you said, hey, do you wanna live together? It's about the lease timing, right?
Starting point is 01:16:20 Because if I got a two year lease, I'm not gonna say it before like a year and a half. You know, maybe she'll move in with you beforehand. I think it's more practical than wanting to live with them. Yeah. I'm not breaking a lease to live with someone. I would never expect Free Drinks Mike to break a lease. I gotta say, I would never expect you to leave any money
Starting point is 01:16:42 on the table there. Does she know that it, I mean, you do, it feels a bit like lease timing more than love. Is that okay? It's like, it's more love than lease timing if she can hear me, which I think she might be able to. But it's both, you know, you gotta be practical about it. Right, but it sounds like,
Starting point is 01:17:06 and I'm gonna come back to your side of this, you would figure it out beyond the least part of it, like this is somebody that you wanted to marry. We had decided we wanted to live together, and then it was sort of like, when does it make sense to do that? And she was practical about it with you, she was totally fine about it.
Starting point is 01:17:21 Yeah, she went and lived downtown for a year, I stayed on the Upper East Side and then I think she moved into the Upper East Side apartment with me. Yeah, I sent her downtown. Yeah. Doing our time downtown till I was ready. It was also COVID,
Starting point is 01:17:35 so that was a weird little factor too. Ooh. Dating in the city though, is it, I can't believe like he's Upper West Side and she's lower, whatever, you know, it's financial district because that's considered so much that, but it's like, if you're in Manhattan and they're in Brooklyn, the boroughs travel. That's a problem.
Starting point is 01:17:56 The Bronx. Yeah. I think usually dudes doing most of the traveling in that case. For sure. In LA, it's like, if you're not in the same neighborhood. Yeah. What side of the 405 are you on, dude? Yeah.
Starting point is 01:18:09 That's where I'm staying. Right. And when somebody told me that in the beginning, I was like, that sounds great. What are you talking about? Burbank? Got off the hook for so much. Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:18:20 It's been a month since I've seen you. I'm like, yeah, I know, but it's Burbank. I miss you. Uh, how about you,bank. I miss you. How about you, Kyle? What do you got? I think I'm in like, ideally everything's slower in this journey towards marriage and whatever. I think like, I think a year minimum,
Starting point is 01:18:36 it's like a probationary period where we're circling each other. And then I think that's right. Like figuring out if you're moving or if your buddy's moving out or however, like whoever's doing the moving, if you're both moving, I think yeah, Mike's thing is perfect. He's like, I don't want to say this and then have to like fend her off for a year. So I like that you waited till you had like six months left to start talking about it ramp up. And then the last two months are fun, right? Instead of like dragging on. But yeah, I'm certainly a proponent for moving slow. Cause you have to just think like, you know, it's not like as crazy as, you know, committing to marriage where you're just like,
Starting point is 01:19:13 wow, we could just be slashing everything in half. But it's sort of like, this could be a tough out for me. How if this, if we run into this, I think every time I've seen somebody move in with, at least in my circle, move in with somebody, you know, move in with their girlfriend within the first year, it's usually like, there's the last couple months of whatever
Starting point is 01:19:29 this relationship is, it's pretty terrible, and it's usually pretty soon. It's just like, yeah, I mean, I'm just gonna leave the house because she's got people coming over. Like, it's like, it could be so bad. So I think that should be the deterrent. And really, once you look at it through that lens
Starting point is 01:19:41 and you're just like, I'm not worried about any of this shit happening, I think that's the right time. I'd say minimum a year, and then as soon as you feel And really, once you look at it through that lens and you're just like, I'm not worried about any of this shit happening, I think that's the right time. I'd say minimum a year, and then as soon as you feel like you've checked all the boxes and she stayed over a bunch or you stayed over a bunch and you realize how things go, you decide whether you're gonna need
Starting point is 01:19:56 a two bathroom apartment or not. Two bathroom, what are you, Rich? I'm a two bathroom right now. I'm a two bed, two bath over here. How the other half lives. I'm like this guy, Oregon. I know. Got a bid bed, two bath over here. How the other half lives. I'm like this guy Oregon. I know. Got a bidet in one of those bathrooms too.
Starting point is 01:20:07 I got 640 square feet. Yeah. Can't afford much more than that. Couldn't be me, dude. I think I'm like 640 square feet. I'm just kidding. Yeah, so I think minimum a year and then, you know, once you're ready after that, pull the trigger.
Starting point is 01:20:21 Everybody's different on this one, man. So, you know, I was with someone that was pretty serious and we were talking about like the next stuff and she had dropped the, well, I would never move in unless I had a ring. And I was like, uh-oh. I personally think that. Ring first?
Starting point is 01:20:36 Security deposit and a ring. I don't think I can. Not that liquid right now. She was from the Gilded Age, Oregon, so a little bit older than me at the time. But now look, I think when I brought that up before, where I think it should be important that you live together before you get married,
Starting point is 01:20:53 then people throw all these stats at me and there's studies done that it doesn't really matter. That this is actually a challenge. I don't know. I think you'd want to test drive, like being in the same house with somebody every single minute before you would start filling out paperwork. Yeah, that's not negotiable. I think that would be more my point is like make sure that's long enough. If you have a timeline on a ring, make
Starting point is 01:21:13 sure you've scoped out probably another year of living together. But whenever we've brought this up in the past, which I don't know that we've done this a ton, but it just, we immediately get emails from the, I met my wife and we never, and it's like, awesome, man, fucking congrats. Like, that's so good for you that you knew and you were that compatible and the living together thing didn't have to happen before. I would ask like-
Starting point is 01:21:37 Your college roommates loved it. If it's an affordability thing, then go for it. I would say if it's not an affordability thing, then go for it. I would say if it's not an affordability thing, if it's something that you want to hold off on, and she also agrees like it's cool. I think one of the coolest things you can do is if you're in the same city and you are social and you have a decent friend circle there and that kind of stuff is important, you're going gonna be, you know, cause some of these guys that all just move,
Starting point is 01:22:08 there's just, like, maybe I'm an example of this is that after college, I did not care about friends. I didn't care about, oh, I'm gonna go live cause there's a bunch of guys in Denver. There's a bunch of guys in New York city and there's a bunch of guys in Boston. Like I wanna go live and be around everybody and kind of keep this thing going.
Starting point is 01:22:21 And those like over time, five years of thinking you're an adult, but you're still going out all the time. I, not to say that I was mature. It was just, I cared more about where my career could potentially take me. I mean, shit, I moved to Trenton. So, or outside of Trenton, cause I luckily,
Starting point is 01:22:41 even though I was working there all the time, it wasn't that I was like also commuting. But I envy the people that after college, like, Hey, someone's so moving here and you know, all the different people, depending on where you went to college, there's certain cities, you know, Chicago is going to pull a bunch of big 10 people in Denver always kind of felt like a big 10 West
Starting point is 01:22:59 thing. But, um, to answer this in more detail, is there any part of it where you could be able to pull off kind of this best of both worlds thing where you're still with your buddies, but you know you're still dating somebody that's really serious or are you being kept to some kind of timeline here or is there an affordability part of this where it's like, look, it's just going to make this much more sense. I do think it's different if you're moving to like a suburb and none of your friends are gonna be around.
Starting point is 01:23:28 If you're moving, if you're doing it in a city, not much is gonna change. You know, you're still gonna see all your friends. But if you're going to, you know, the middle of Kansas, when your friends are all on a coast somewhere, things are different. I'm just thinking about being 22 in subs and football on Sunday morning and recapping
Starting point is 01:23:45 Saturday night. And I just think it's harder to pull that off if there's a woman living with you. But I think sometimes pressure can be put on the dude in the relationship when it is a roommate situation and those guys are close. And when you're going over to his house, Jake's around, you know, and Jake's not afraid to knock on the door and be like, dude, over time, let's go. You got to come in the living room. So I think that could also be if you're like having a great roommate life, I think, and it's not an evil.
Starting point is 01:24:13 It's just like, it's just, I think she might be like, damn, I'm really sharing this guy a lot, especially if like she comes over or, or it's stopping you from going over there because you have a built in friend in your domicile. So I think that could also be like, I'd ask what kind of situation you're in right now. Did he say he lived alone or he didn't mention? I think it's just after college, so he's probably not living alone.
Starting point is 01:24:35 Yeah, that's right. And if the roommate situation is sick, maybe it's like she might be dropping subtle incognito hints because she's sharing you more than she'd expect to maybe. If you're living alone as a senior in college, you're either the coolest motherfucker on campus or the least one. You're subsidized by your parents.
Starting point is 01:24:53 Yeah. Yeah. There was a few dudes that went solo and you're like, oh my God. Yeah, that guy's living. And then there was a couple other guys that went solo and nobody was asking why, because it was like nobody wanted to live with that guy's living. And then there was a couple other guys that went solo and nobody was asking why, cause it was like nobody wanted to live with that guy.
Starting point is 01:25:08 Or maybe you're in pre-med and you're just like, sorry. This is, these are the only, sorry you guys are, you know, I know you have another season going on Madden, but I'm over trying to figure out some ligaments. Look, friends, the TV show, they stayed friends for 10 years. So. It's a good example. It's a great example. That'll do it for us. Thanks to Oregon. Thanks to Kyle. Thanks to Jonathan Frias for all of their work on the podcast. You can subscribe to our podcast and our YouTube page. You can watch the podcast on our Spotify app.
Starting point is 01:25:41 So thanks as always for listening. Ryner Silla Podcast, Ringer Spotify. No new Pope. I was really hoping to drop that. on our Spotify app. So thanks as always for listening. Ryan Roussel podcast, Ringer Spotify. No new Pope. I was really hoping to drop that. They were gonna name me Michael Jordan. My dad was like, I don't think he can live up to it. So they named me Michael Jared. Must be 21 and older, present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and present in DC gambling problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org forward slash chat in Connecticut
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