The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Knicks or Nuggets — More Concerning Comeback? Plus, Game 1 Breakdowns, Steph’s Run, and Stopping Jokic with Richard Jefferson

Episode Date: May 6, 2025

Russillo starts the show by breaking down Monday night’s wins by the Knicks and Nuggets (1:25). Then, he’s joined by Richard Jefferson to talk about his time playing with the Warriors, strategies for slowing down Jokic, and his Mount Rushmore of former teammates (29:11). Plus, it's Life Advice with Kyle (1:15:30)! Did my friend and I split our chicken tenders equitably? Check us out on YouTube for exclusive clips, livestreams, and more: youtube.com/@RyenRussilloPodcast The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. For resources and helplines, visit www.rg-help.com. Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: Richard Jefferson Producers: Steve Ceruti, Kyle Crichton, Mike Wargon, and Jonathan Frias Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Ryan Russo podcast presented by Fandul. America's number one sportsbook has made it easier than ever to get in on the action during an NBA playoff game. Even after tip-off, just look for the live SGP tab on the Fandul Sportsbook app and build your bet slip. Then sit back, relax, and track the outcome of your parlay right in the app. And if you don't already have it, download the Fandul app today to make every moment more. The ringer is committed to responsible gaming. And if you don't already have it, download the FanDuel app today to make every moment more. The ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available.

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. com on today's episode of the pockets we go deep that is the personal three-point tension the celtics but a great comeback from the next on the road and the nuggets on the road what did we learn from those matchups will talk

a little bit more on those games and the game one wins by the road team with Richard Jefferson the voice of the NBA finals on ABC and ESPN We're just gonna go through a bunch of stuff with Jefferson just some basketball stuff all of these series and his mount rush more Team mates because this dude has an all-time teammate list and life advice because this dude has an all-time teammate list and life advice. We have two more game ones in the book, second round of the NBA playoffs, and all the road teams keep winning.

New York and Boston, and obviously Denver, and that thrilling win at Oklahoma City. I'd start by saying there are two games that through the course of the first two hours of the games, I'm sitting there thinking, okay, this is probably going to go the way I thought it would go, Boston's up huge and it felt like, okay, see, it was in control. And that's not what happened to close out both of those. So let's go through some of the stuff I thought was interesting

and what ultimately happened. So a Knicks defense that finished 13th in the NBA that felt like where the conversation would end or whether or not the Knicks could win an NBA title and whether or not they could beat any of the special teams, which they struggled against so much during the regular season. A team that has Brunson going up against Drew Holliday, Derek White, Jalen Brown, Jason Tatum on the perimeter when he can't get Porzingis or more importantly last night, Horford and Switches which is going to look to do every time the Bigs are out there, especially with Jaylen Brown, Jason Tatum on the perimeter when he can't get, Porzingis, or more importantly last night, Horford and switches,

which he's gonna look to do every time the bigs are out there, especially with Horford. Although Horford, I still think at this age holds up a lot better than you could ever imagine he was gonna be doing. That was gonna be a much more daunting task than switching into Beasley, Hardaway Jr.,

Schroeder who fights but doesn't necessarily have the size and Cade who's just not exactly even with his size, somebody that you're afraid of defensively. So that was like one part of the matchup. You're like, this is entirely a different level of a challenge here for Brunson. And also the cat part of this, where cat can't play off of Porzingis. He can't play off of Horford the same way he could play

off of Dern against the Pistons. And knowing that because the Celtics are very hunt happy in their approach to offensive basketball, that Cat was going to be brought up into all of these actions over the course of him being out there for two hours. So there were some real basketball things that we've already seen out play this way. But this defense that finished 13th defensively in the regular season was 11th defensively after the all-star break and only one point worse per 100 possessions than Boston's defense and where Boston finished after the all-star break, even though Boston just kind of offensively smoked everyone and finished, I think it was like

an absurd 20 plus wins because one team played 28 games. The other team played 27 games. But I think there's another part of the Knicks conversation that goes all the way back to June when the Knicks had made the trade for Mikael Bridges. And when that happened, Bill and I, I don't know if it was a scheduled podcast, or we did an emergency pod for the Bridges trade because it was right around the draft where you're like, okay, the

concept of Bridges with, okay, the concept of bridges with this team, the hope would be that at least he provides them another really nice perimeter defender to go with OG, to go with the heart sprinkles and just his tenacious hearts effort, man. I mean, he finds a way with this team. It's like, I'm always going to be the fifth option offensively. I'm not a great shooter. Teams are gonna be playing off of me all the time. How else can I impact this game? And it's just sheer aggression, especially when you're talking about a heart

is just relentless. Like you cannot lose him when you're trying to get defensive rebounds. You can't lose him cause he's gonna make you pay every single time you forget about him. So at least on paper with the weak link of Brunson and Hart defensively, you're like, maybe Bridges just gives you just more depth or more options here

against all of these perimeter guys for Boston. It was one of the first things you would think about. So those are just some of the initial thoughts of the series. And then you're like, what if with all that, it's irrelevant, what if Boston were to miss an NBA playoff record, 45 three-point attempts?

Because that's exactly what happened last night. They took 60, they missed 45. You already know that. At 72-52, Boston's up 20. At that point, I was like, Boston should be up 35 points in this because, and I'm gonna go over it because I went through the misses again this morning.

There's just a lot of really good looks. At 619 in the third quarter when it's 7252, Cat, who'd had a rough night, picks up his fourth personal foul. They bring in Mitchell Robinson, who was three attendant free throws last night because the Celtics were hacking him and it worked out that way.

But the Knicks close the quarter on a 23-12 run. As it was happening, I'll admit I was wondering, is this because Cat isn't out there or the bad version of Kat that is gonna happen in a lot of playoff games for some of the best players in the league, right? But he just couldn't get it going and he's being worked defensively here a little bit

and they're getting good looks even when they're missing against some of the Kat's which is on the perimeter. I think it'd be a little unfair to say that it was, the run was totally motivated by Cat not being out there. Because I just didn't really feel like that even though the thought crossed my mind because it's a really simple thing to look at because Cat comes back in at the start of the fourth quarter and they're down 84-75 and four and a half minutes later it's tied back up at 86. So I don't think it's a straight Cat wasn't in there. The argument could be made defensively

having Mitchell in there just was better for the comeback if Boston was going to keep selling for threes. So I watched all the misses again this morning. This is just one man's opinion of the 45. I wrote down that 38 were good looks, maybe seven bad ones and even bad. It was just so absurd as I was writing through all of the attempts. Like, okay, I guess that one's kind of bad because even some of the ones that I think are good, maybe a little deeper, a little quicker in the shot clock. I've said that for a couple of years now with Boston with this three-point output that they've had that there's always a couple, maybe seven or so a game, seven to ten a game. I'm like, that just felt like really, really quick. But that's what you're

asking these guys to do. So you can't get mad at the ones that are a little bit quicker, a little bit deeper when the entire philosophy is that's exactly what we want to do. We want to take as many as we possibly can. We want to be quicker with it. We want to have more possessions. So we have to all kind of accept all of that stuff. And even on the bad ones, like Tatum going for a two for one at the end of the first quarter. I don't like the two for one first one. I just, I always feel like there's too many teams

that just settle for awful shots, but they're like, cool, we get the extra possession. Even if there are times where I'm like, yeah, you took it at like 29 in the clock. So you're going to get it back, what? Maybe with four or five seconds, and then kind of shatter you're getting that. So now you have like two bad shots

instead of getting one good one. But again, sometimes it's just the possession map. Jalen Brown at the end of the first half, like, is that a bad one where he's catching it deep and he and Brunson are kind of fighting? Like, that's not really even that bad. So the other thing of the 45 misses, I'm telling you like, probably 40 of them were open.

So I even counted a couple that were open being like, ah, that was a little quick. That's in that gray area of the ones I don't like. So it's what they do. We know this, this is not new. They were three of 28 on threes from when it was 75, 55. So that's your other 20 point lead, 72, 52, 75, 55. They close three of 28 from three after that 20 point margin.

It's the second lowest field goal percentage in a game for the Celtics. In the Missoula era, which is a short one, but still, uh, Boston, the regular season, 1.21 points per possession. They were 0.85 last night. That is a massive, massive swing. Now, was it all about miss threes? No. Um, I don't want to take anything away from Brunson who once again is proving he might be the best closer in the NBA, which seems impossible for anybody to be able to do it at that size.

But he hit for 11 straight points over a five minute stretch where he just seemed unguardable. He had a great look on the inbounds on the game winner, what it would have been fitting if he had put that one in considering what he has meant to this team for the last two years and these moments that he's had in the playoffs and reminded of it again against Detroit. I think it would be taking away, it just said it's only about three points away from what he has meant to this team for the last two years and these moments that he's had in the playoffs and reminded of it again against Detroit. I think it would be taking away, it just said it's only about three point shooting variants,

it'd be taking away from OG, who I've never felt better than I do right now about Ananovi, I love this guy. Not that I hated him, but I just felt like there was limitations with him offensively, where if it ended up with his hands on the ball a little late in the shot clock, I didn't know that I always loved the way it was gonna look,

but it's not only his shooting where he's averaging more points per game in playoffs than he ever has in his career through this run in 25. It's the shooting, it's the defensive intensity where you know no one really wants to drive at him of all the options you have to attack. If you're Boston and X, OG's last guy that you actually want to go against. And even when Cade was working to get him switched off of him throughout that

series, the number of possessions where you would see OG fighting back into the possession to try to get some kind of contest and bring help to it. Like the effort level from him has been incredible. And especially when you're going up against Boston, you're like, look, when they start chucking them, get out and leak, get out and run because your momentum is going to get going against theirs. You're going to be able to get out and transition. And he's just a nightmare dealing with it.

How many times he finishes at the rim where it feels like, is that going to be a good contest? Is there too much traffic for him to even go up? And then it seems like he finishes that stuff more often than other guys do. So if you were talking about just the 45 missed threes today, I think you'd be missing some of the stuff with the Knicks that I absolutely loved and the fight to stay in it against a Boston team that they've lost to four times in the regular season. But the settling part of the three points shooting from Boston is the part that's inexcusable and Jaylen Brown talked about it after the games, like, Hey, when it's not going in, like you need to start figuring out.

I'm paraphrasing drives, get to the free throw line. And Brown was the only guy was doing that at times. And look, he had missed threes as well that you don't love, but go back to game three against Orlando and Jaylen Brown, when they were having that disastrous third quarter, where I think they shot what, three of 17? And even into the fourth quarter, Brown felt like the only guy on the team. He was like, enough of this shit.

Like, let's attack. Like, we may not make the layup, but we have to show the defense something else because now we're just getting into the settling mode. And then you start realizing like this lead is slipping away and those three start feeling a lot tighter than the looseness of the first half of just like, ah, who cares? We're boss.

We're just going to do all these things. I think the Tatum part of the game last night is, it's pretty bad. You know, and I love the guy, but he was not good. Five 32 to go in the fourth quarter. We can run through the possessions here. Tatum looking for those switches, hunting the better defensive matchups, goes a cat misses a three switches into cat again then switches into Brunson settles for a three misses it offensive rebound ends up Tatum against Brunson he has og

to his right so maybe he's worried but again Boston spacing is is supposed to prevent the help from the corner he's just missed a couple he's got Brunson again and he misses another three he gets a switch against Mitchell. Granted Mitchell's a different guy than Kat in that spot, but he decides not to attack him, misses another three. He finally takes the mid-range, congrats, in a switch against Brunson, turn around, air ball. The only time he had to make from that point on was he got Bridges deep in a switch right at the hoop

and he made the layup, but at that point, it kind of feltges deep in a switch right at the hoop and he made the layup. But at that point it kind of felt like everything was a little too late. Before the inbound where Bridges just attacked the basketball of Jaylen Brown. Granted they were up three so they were probably going to foul there. So it made it a little bit more complicated for Brown

to try to figure out a way to make the catch and then still get free for a three point shot. But prior to that Tatum probably had, we're asking him now to take a bad three, but an opportunity to get one off knowing that the Knicks one fell up three, which again, we'll talk about a little later in the second game. So there are all of these possessions where you're watching with Tatum and be like, you're going to keep doing this over and over again. And I think last night was, and I remember I did this big rant after an Atlanta Hawks stretch

where the Celtics, I think we lost to them twice in the regular season last year, where it was just settle, settle, settle. You know, like is this approach going to come back to bite Boston at all? And then guess what happens? They win an NBA championship. So you feel like I can't actually criticize this approach with everything. But last night was just the embodiment of anybody that's watched the Celtics regularly the last two years going, is this potentially a flaw? And it's hard to say that it is when this team wins a title 11 months ago, but that was it. That was the, it's not really the blueprint, but that was the two and a half hours of, oh, this sucks.

But they're gonna argue shooting variants and the shot quality is like, I know Missoula mentioned it. Hey, shot quality was terrific process, all of the different stuff. They're not wrong about any of it. I think it's just in those closing moments with Tatum. You're like, hey, do you want to try anything else? And it was like, no, I don't.

Okay. More dramatic, perhaps even Denver's win against OKC happening on the last second shot from Aaron Gordon. So it played out early the way I kind of expected it to the defense from OKC happening on the last second shot from Aaron Gordon. So it played out early the way I kind of expected it to. The defense from OKC, all these incredible moments, the plays that these guys are making, how smart they are, all the variables that they have to throw at this Denver team, which can feel like a one-man band at times. But it was not the case last night. But I just have a bunch of plays here that I love. There was a play where Jokic is on the left block.

He's got Chad on him. Caruso comes down to double him. Westbrook goes to cut off of the double thinking like, you know, there's probably some kind of pass from Jokic here. Jokic is thinking the exact same thing, yet Caruso is already a step ahead of both. And realizing I'm going to show the double, I'm going to come and then Westbrook's going to cut and then I'm going to jump backwards and intercept this pass. It was nuts. It was so beautifully played by Caruso. I was like, okay. And that's the moment where Yoko is going to be thinking, I didn't think he was going to do

that. There was another play where Murray was just way too casual at times against this team. And that is the one thing I've said all year about, okay, well, it's not the only thing I've said about OKC, but when you're going up against them defensively you cannot screw around Murray loses it with just a casual control the ball and Caruso knocks it away Murray a pass to the left side in the first half just really slow regular season speed Caruso steals it first play of the second half, all right? Denver's in it.

The score is not certainly insurmountable as we learned later on. First thing, set the tone here, a bit like the Van Vliet four point play at the start of game six, Golden State, where Golden State's like hanging on by a thread. They're obviously behind in that game. And then as you come out, you're like,

all right, fourth quarter, it's go time. In this case, it's the third quarter. Murray's first pass, he's not even doing anything other than, I call it an entry pass, but it was like past the three point line. It's so slow and just casual and Caruso jumps that. She's like, all right, guys, you're gonna have to be aware that Caruso is a step ahead of all the stuff

that you're doing. There was a transition pass in the first half from Jokic where, you know how quarterbacks will throw different passes against routes where the linebackers and coverage, and you're like, the linebacker is never going to make a play on this football. Maybe not apples to apples here, but Jokic, of all people throwing a transition pass and Dort just jumps up and steals it midair. It happens so quick. You're basically thinking like, did that actually just happen? Uh, Chet had a block on Yocic. Uh, Chet had another block on a Yocic lob to Michael Porter Jr. Where he just comes in and wrecks the entire thing. So there was another player, Michael Porter Jr.

is underneath the rim and he wasn't very good last night. Um, but they still got the win, obviously player, Michael Porter Jr. is underneath the rim and he wasn't very good last night, but they still got the win obviously. But Michael Porter Jr. is just hanging down. And it's like, hey man, you don't have this much time against this team. And he just gets smashed at the rim. So a lot of the defensive stuff that you expect from OKC on display last night, 67-54, 102-90,

OKC's up both those moments. I'm like, this feels right. A lot of different looks for Jokic, the versatility that we've talked about. They did a bunch of different stuff, both teams defensively and trying to figure out how to slow down things that they didn't like. They had Jokic on Caruso at times

to help with Christian Brown on SGA. They had Hart on, on Hartenstein, Don't know why I described it that way, um, on Yokech, but if they had Caruso on Murray and they go to the two man game with Denver, then they would get Caruso on Yokech. And that was something that they didn't want because in one switch, Yokech just absolutely malls Caruso down. So immediately after that, they put Jalen Williams on Murray, knowing that they were at the two man switch again.

And at least Jalen Williams on Murray, knowing that they worked the two man switch again, and at least Jalen Williams physically able to hold up a little bit more against Jokic. So at 113-102, SGA has just hit a three, and now it's starting to feel like, okay, they're going to put these guys away despite the fact that Jokic is on pace for a night where he would end up with 42, 22, and six. I mean, the nightly stat lines from this guy, again, this isn't new. Jokic is on pace for a night where he would end up with 42, 22 and six. I mean, the nightly stat lunch from this guy again,

this isn't new. But the fact that it was a 42 and 22 where he had to fight for everything until the very last second to keep his team in this game. Again, incredible stuff from this dude who's not gonna win the MVP. And I don't wanna make last night, it's one playoff game about the MVP debate and all that kind of stuff. I mean, even as a Jokic voter, I think it's a little unfair to be

like, see, I try to tell you guys the entire time. But if you did it, I wouldn't be mad at somebody else for doing it. I just think after one playoff game, it feels a little ridiculous because like SGA wasn't really the problem offensively. It was the others and the others that I think led to their demise in the second round of the playoffs last year. And I'm not saying this is going to happen again because it's the seasoning, even though it's, it's newer for Chet. Uh, we know what Jaylen Williams numbers were last year and just feeling like, even if you look at the overall numbers, like, Oh, it wasn't really that bad.

Well, in the moment, it didn't look all that great. Um, but I'm going to run through a couple of different plays here because Denver really started to send more help to SGA and I think that's some of the stuff that people have talked about with this approach offensively for the Thunder is what happens when Teams just completely sell out to try to bottle up SGA and then the other guys are going to have to make plays You would think based on the way this rosters built there's enough options Outside of these SGA doubles. Well, those options didn't work late in the game last night. That's what led to this massive comeback.

At 443, Caruso is left totally wide open at three point line on the right side because of a double SGA. SGA at that point, they did a few different things. They had Aaron Gordon on them to try to keep other people out of the switches. Caruso misses that three. They double SGA again, Jaylen Williams.

He's so open. He was almost hesitant about it at three 33. He misses the three SGA has comes off the ball because they're trying to avoid him bringing it over half core and just going right into a double team. So they try something a little different, have a pin down screen for him. Um, the second defender still kind of hanging around Brown, Chet's in the corner for a three at two oh five. It was a good look. He misses that one. SGA had another play where there were three guys on, not like a full blown triple team, but it was two were shading. Somebody

rotates over, Westbrook comes up again, so now there's like a second defender that's in the space, so SGA doesn't really have room to take the shot that we all want that guy to take. So 48 seconds, kicks it to the left side, Jalen Williams drives, tries and hit the layup. It was a really tough layup, like it didn't look good from the start, you're like, you're going in there,

but it's something that he kinda had to do to get aggressive, and he misses that one. So those are four misses, with the last one being tough, the first three being really good looks where no one knocked down a shot. And if that were to happen over the course of a series of the Thunder, as much as I love this team, it feels ridiculous to say, hey, that could happen a bunch of times and they're going to lose in the second round. Like I don't think that but it happened last night and then of course up one, shed at the free throw line in a huge moment, did not look comfortable at all, misses the free throw, Aaron Gordon comes down, hits the game winning three. So

I think option wise OKC felt like they were almost experimenting in game one of the playoff game. There was a moment with Dagnall where I thought it's funny cause he's trying to figure out maybe what he likes or what he doesn't like. Both guys were doing, both coaches were doing a lot of different stuff with the defensive assignments and how they were changing the defensive strategy.

So it made it a lot of fun to watch, but I'll admit at one point, and this may feel a little unfair, I was kind of like, it's almost like Dagnall's coaching is if he's losing the game and searching for something where this experimental approach that they've been so adamant about during the regular say, hey, which groups work, which pairing works? Are we a double big team? Are we going to

stay single with Chad or Hartenstein? What are we like here? What's our best perimeter defensive stuff? What's the best stuff off of SGA? And they still almost won 70 games tweaking things along the way. So I don't know if there was an element of that with the staffs like let's look at game one. And it felt like they were gonna win the whole thing or at least just the game. I'm not talking about a title here.

The size part of this is supposed to make a difference for OKC because you know, last year, what the biggest knock on them was the rebounding. Their biggest flaw last season was the rebounding rate. They were 28th in the NBA this year. They were 19th, but they're going to give against Denver, who was the best rebounding percentage team of any team in the NBA and have been the best rebounding team in the playoffs through eight games so far. And it showed up Denver won this game game with rebounds, 63 to 43.

So plus 20 edge on the rebounding numbers there. And then 21 to 13 on offensive rebounds. So I think there's a lot of side to side stuff that I liked with OKC, even though SGA's, they're gonna run it straight at you. He's gonna start from the top. He's gonna get to his spot. He's gonna get free throws.

He's gonna score a million points. Even if you could look at the overall playoff numbers. I just don't know what to do with any of the Memphis numbers because it didn't really even matter against them. I don't think SGA was the problem, even if he had a few misses there late. But every time I would watch OKC and if Denver were loading up on the SGA side and be like, that's your option on the other side? That's a great option.

Look how open that guy is. And it just didn't work. It didn't work for him last night. So also looking at the bench, well, I guess I could stay here with the starter last couple of points. Jalen Williams, five of 20, two of nine from three, 0.5 points per shot.

Abysmal numbers from him. Probably scares a few youth under fans out there being like, is he still not going to be ready for this moment? Let's not go there after only one game. Caruso is seven to 12, but the rest of the bench made three shots for a Thunder team that we always liked their depth a lot. And I'm going to give it to Westbrook. I keep waiting on the Westbrook game where it's a liability and it hasn't happened. It'd be wrong to say, hey, there's so much more good than bad because there just hasn't been, I mean, look, there's some defensive stuff with him.

There was a two turnover stretch where it ended up not being a second turnover because it was a kickball force to pass a little bit. I always worry about his emotions and the energy of the moment and him feeling like he's getting revenge on these teams. I don't know why he'd feel like he has to get revenge against OKC the way he would feel after the Clippers, the Lakers. I don't even know if Houston's part of that equation anymore. Knowing some stuff from the regular season where it felt like if Westbrook missed a couple threes early in a game, he'd be hesitant to take the open looks again. Knowing at times where he's in such a hurry to get it back to Jokic to show that he's deferring to the star, that some of the passes are just like, you don't have to get it back to him in that spot.

The concerns I would have about teams playing off him and then it's screwing up Denver's spacing, whatever those are and whatever those minor details are about the negative side of the Westbrook thing, my expectation was that they would show themselves and be more damaging in bigger moments than they have. Credit to him for, I think the best thing you could say about him and why he's such or has been such a huge bonus for Denver right now is that he is never in these playoff games thinking

that he doesn't belong out there. And sometimes that gets the best of him, but so far it's been a huge, huge part and it just rewarding factor of him being out there for these minutes because remember the whole reason he's on this team is he was cheap. They didn't have a lot of room to sign anybody and he was available and now he's playing major, major playoff minutes as Denver goes up one on the series. The Ryan Rosillo podcast is brought to you by FanDuel.

The NBA playoffs are finally here and there's no better way to be a part of the action than with FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook. After another competitive season, the top teams are ready to battle their way through the playoff bracket in hopes of taking home the championship. And if you think you know how it's all going to go down, then make those predictions. Pay off with FanDuel and NBA profit boost. Simply make your bet, activate your boost, and go for even bigger winnings. Okay, let's find you something here. Looking back at what the game one numbers were,

there are big lines. Cavs were minus nine and a half. It's now seven and a half in game two. Maybe feeling a bit like, hey, the Pacers are a little closer with this Cavs team than you'd think. Boston, I think was nine and a half minus the Knicks. Game two's minus 10 and a half, so no adjustment on that one. OKC was close to minus nine and a half minus the Knicks. Game two is minus 10 and a half. So no adjustment on that one.

OKC was close to minus nine and a half, 10 minus 11 now in game two. The one thing I was looking at here, Golden State just gonna be a little more worn out after that Houston series, considering Minnesota has been sitting around. You can also theorize the other way and say Golden State's just still like,

they're at peak sweat right now and Minnesota is going to be lagging a bit. There's also I think a lot of times too like that game one is the one to get for what is perceived to be the lesser team. So a lot of times game ones can be the most misleading game in the entire series. So having been through all that stuff and throwing it at you, I don't have any of those things. What I am looking at is Andrew Nemhart over 20 and a half

combined points, rebounds, and assist. That's minus 108 right now. Now, why are you going with that? Well, it could be a little bit of the tendency of Halliburton to defer. So you're not playing against another, like next to a point guard who's gonna wanna shoot 30 times.

You also could be looking at something defensively here where Nemhart's the guy that they're going to be leaving a little bit. Now he shot seven to 10 and lit it up, but let's just combine the points, rebounds, and assists and where Nemhart has been and compare it to that 20 and a half number that Fandl is giving you right now. Going through the Milwaukee series, combined 26.

All right, so I'm giving you the combined series, combined 26. All right, so I'm giving you the combined points, rebounds and assists number here. Game two against Milwaukee combined 26. Game three total dud, 12. But every other game, 25 combined in game four. Game five, that's 26 combined. And then in game, he didn't even have a rebound

in game one against Cleveland, but he had 23.6 assists, so that's 29. So he's been over that number easily, except for just that one bad game against Milwaukee. So the bet there is Nemhardt over 20 and a half combined points, rebounds, and assists. Don't just be a spectator this postseason. Head to fanbill.com slash Ryan, R-Y-E-N to download America's number one sportsbook and assists. Don't just be a spectator this postseason,

head to fanbill.com slash Ryan RYE and to download America's number one sports book and make every moment more. Must be 21 and older in present and select states or 18 plus in present DC. Opt-in required bonus issued as non-retributable profit boost tokens and restrictions apply including any token expiration and max wager amount.

See terms at sportsbook.fanbill.com. Gambling problem call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com. Fired up to introduce my, I guess, neighbor, sort of, Richard Jefferson, former NBA player. Six-man teammate. Six-man teammate. Six-man teammate for the best weekend of the beach out here. And also, kind of cool to say that the best weekend of the beach out here. And also, you know, kind of cool to say that one of the voices of the NBA now for ESPN with the finals coming up here. So I'm happy for you.

Congrats on all the success and moving up this year. Good to see you. Thank you, man. I've been very, very blessed. Been very, very fortunate. When you say it, that does feel weird. Like as a little kid watching basketball and all of a sudden to be like

bro you're you're one of the voices of the game of basketball. Like that's trippy. That thank you for bringing that to my top of my brain at 9 a.m this morning. It's funny because you're making you're making the rounds because the video has been out of Draymond's first make, first bucket of his career. And you were on the Warriors with him and you got a technical after the first make. And you're immediately like, hey, man, let's before we dig into all the playoff stuff,

I knew I was going to bring it up, but I just couldn't help myself. What was that like? And obviously it was a sign of things to come. You know what? I had gotten to know Draymond. I knew a little bit about from college, but I know Tom is a guy. So he gets there and I'm year,

I think I'm year 12 or 13. My back is fucked up. So I'm in full, like I'm in full, I'm just gonna be a veteran role. I got young Clay, I got Steph who was, hadn't quite grown and established himself to be that guy yet. He was still dealing with the ankle surgeries and stuff. But it's Harrison Barnes, Kent Basemore. I had this young group of talented guys that I was like, fuck it. If this is how I go out mentoring

these guys for a year, cool. So I get to know Trey Mon a little bit and first shot he hits, he's screaming and yelling, gets a technical and I, he gets technical, whatever. But he was like, no, I got to, I'm like, no Dre, this is who you have to be, bro. I like, I know enough about this game. You got to be a mean, like not dirty, but a mean motherfucker. That's who you have to be. If you do that and play with that intensity, now you gotta control it, then you're going to be, you're going to be in this league. Because he's a second round pick just trying to make it.

If you out here not like instilling fear or people being like, oh, here comes this guy. Think Pat Bev. Pat Bev is like, I'm trying to prove that I belong here. Even though I know I belong. So Draymond, now he's gotten a little outside of the realm at times. And that's where I feel like every once in a while, I'll text him or I can put a message out via social like Dray.

You know, I'm the person that's saying this is who you have to be. But with that power, you also have to regulate it. I would say better than he has at some times, but most of the time they've won four championships with them, you know? What do you feel when you watch Steph continue this run at 37? Cause you're right. You were there for his third year and it was like, okay, this guy might be pretty good. And then that third year to fourth year jump was like, uh, oh, okay.

This is, this is going to be serious. So let's start with what you see now and what you feel knowing that you were there at the beginning. I, I obviously, I didn't know. No one knows. Like I had Jokic at the end of my career. Also, I did not see three out of four MVPs and possible five straight MVPs. I didn't see that, but I saw something special.

You're different than the other group. Now, how they build around you, how they maximize you, if they decide that you're the guy that they're going to maximize. Because Steph, that third to fourth year, they were still trying to figure out. He took the same type of deal that Ty Lawson got. Let's put it in perspective,

Ty Lawson and Steph signed about the same number when you look at salary around that space, I think it was four years, whatever. That year, Steph breaks the three-point record. Now that year, Steph is healthy, and now they start to build and being like, okay, we can build around this guy. And then they started to add the pieces to maximize them.

And then he just kept blossoming and growing to like what on earth. I think with Steph, there's a joy that he plays with. And I'm not I'm not around Steph very often, but we did interview him. I just did the game six Houston Rockets, Golds Day Wars just did that game. And Steph gracious enough, cause not a lot of superstars do or ever have. He greets us with me, Mike Doris, our producer, Tim Corrigan.

He comes and sits down, like I'm talking about we're sitting in the hallway in chairs to be respectful. He walks in, sits and talks with us for five minutes, walks out. To break up a superstar is kind of routine in those moments. So for us, it's always, how can we be as accommodating as possible

to be gracious and say thank you? Whatever it works around your schedule, we're cool with that. Whether it's three minutes or eight minutes, we'll take it. Steph walks in and asks a bunch of questions. He is still a funny, funny little shit. Like he is still, like the joy in which he just has always had makes it special.

I'll tell you a story. So they're giving, I believe he was up for the community, like the teammate of the year award. Are you familiar with this? Did he win it? I'm not sure, but he was up for it. My brain starts telling the story about it, about do you know the story about the guy? Bah, bah.

And I'm sitting over here next to Steph. I'm sitting next to Steph and he's like, yeah, do you know more story? And I have no idea what the story about the teammate of the year award. And I have no idea. Steph is such a, we'll keep it, such a little smart ass. Brains here, Steph's here, we're both looking at him and he goes, Richard has no idea about story and everyone just starts lying because I had no idea. He's like, Richard's going to need some follow up questions.

Just we're sitting here before big game and he can just laugh and joke and mess with people. That's where he's a special, special person and definitely a next level superstar. Cause not every superstar has that type of charisma and just gravity. Yeah, he did win teammate of the year this year. It's one of the lesser known awards. Do you know the story?

Do you know the story? I don't believe that I do. There you go. And you are a basketball savant and you don't know the story that who is it named after? Well, I have it in front of me now. So it's Twyman Stokes. OK, do you know the Twyman Stokes story? I've lost track of all these awards.

Well, it is a really good story. I'll let you I'll let your readers, I'll let you read it up. But when you read the story, the award actually carries more weight. And I think they should do a better job of describing what that story is and the origin of it. I think that would actually make the story a little bit bigger because I don't think I don't think it's so I didn't know it in my day. I didn't know it. I have it in my story.

And now Steph is like, he know he could feel the energy for me, right? He can feel the energy come from me. I'm like, I'm leaning in. like, is he going to tell the story or is it basically the same thing I'm doing to your audience at home? It's, uh, it's an incredible story. I just read the synopsis here as you were going through it. So, um, Murray Stokes, Jack Twyman, and then Marie Stokes suffered an injury, permanent paralysis, and then Twyman became his legal guardian. So spending the rest of his life with him. So yeah, I lost track of that one. I am going to have to pivot out of this though, to ask about watching Minnesota and the Lakers and realizing the physical advantage that Minnesota had and watching Golden State kind of hang on, right?

Hang on in game seven against Houston, where it was like, you're gonna have to have that bad Houston offensive night, which led to Golden State getting through. Draymond legitimately playing center here, like not just sort of matching up, just going, hey man, you're gonna be out there for all of these minutes,

except for some of the loony minutes or when they were playing post a little bit more. As I watch Golden State get through that Houston series, I'll admit, I kept thinking ahead to Minnesota going, I don't like, I love watching Steph get to continue the playoff run at this age. Cause I feel like all of this stuff is extra kind of the same thing with LeBron, like you get in those extra moments, like just try to appreciate it more as opposed to being nastier in the way we can about it at the NBA.

But I just can't see it over the grueling disadvantage that you're at. I think those minutes and those box outs and all of that stuff, it adds up. It adds up leading to the fourth quarter and it adds up over the course of a series. I just have a hard time seeing Golden State get through this one. Yeah. And I think that was one of the things that happened. And social media is always so funny, right? Everyone's like LeBron's legacy, the Lakers suck, Lucas trash. And it's like, or Minnesota is really good. Or Minnesota is really good. And I think it's always a combination of things. You talk about those box outs that Draymond had to do against Shangoon and against Steven Adams. That two big lineup was affecting Golden State because it's just like, well, guess who else has a two big lineup?

Who guess who else has a very large lineup? Guess who else has big debt? Rudy Gobert, uh, Naz Reed. Uh, when you look at Julius Randall, when you look at the size and the physicality that all three of them play with, when you look at that, you're like, damn, but then you have those defenders. So you have the Jayden McDaniels that's very similar to Thompson. You have Nikhil Alexander Walker. You have a guy like it, everything they hope and wish Jaylen Green can possibly be. And we'll get to that conversation. Everything they hope and wish he can be. That's Anthony Edwards,

just dominant, confident, understand the game IQ level. They have a much better version of the Houston Rockets. That's what they're about to go face. A more mature version, a deeper version with Dante DiVincenzo and Conley. They have, but that's a very good roster. It is understandable why the Lakers lost. We just believe in Luca's greatness and Bron's greatness that, oh, they'll figure it out. And this year that wasn't the case. But looking forward to that series, you never count out Jimmy, you never count out Steph the same way you don't count out Luca the same way you don't count out Bron until you just see it. But yeah, Minnesota is a different

opponent and they're playing their best basketball of the season. What's the Jaylen Green conversation that you want to have? Well, you were just talking about, I just saw, yeah, I watch his stuff. I come on here and I have myself to may ready to kind of bullshit Ryan been saying, I think that Jalen Green, when you talk about Thompson and kind of the like is would he be in Thompson's way? Right. Oh, okay. Yeah. Oh, okay. I think basketball is such a unique sport where we can evaluate a guy from 19 to 22 and be like, well, there he is. That that's who he is. And it's like, well, let's also look at he does have growth to be had. Jalen Green, he does have experience. He was he was a deer in headlights in this

series. He was a deer in headlights. And it happens the same way a guy like Chet Holmgren, who is a confident, arrogant dude, can miss two free throws in a playoff game and a clutch moment. Right. These young players. And I've been a part of it. I missed two free throws in a game five against Indiana. And I thought my life was going to be over. You can be 21 and 22 and being deer in headlights and have a 38 point game, 36 point game and show and show glimpses, but then be six, eight and nine, not comparing Kobe Bryant, but Kobe Bryant also famously air ball three, last year I'm saying.

So there can be a growth that happens. I watched Thompson, and I think of him as a Jack of all trades. He's got a long way to go before he can prove that he is an offensive threat. Not like he's shooting the percentages, the the the technical look on his shot that needs to be improved. There's a there's a big gap there. So he's got the intangibles of all the basketball greatness. Jalen Green's got the skill.

So I think as long as Jalen Green continues to progress, which he's made big jumps year over year, as long as he continues to progress, I think they actually work together because Jalen Green could do things that Thompson can and Thompson can do things that Jalen Green can. So I don't quite think that they're in each other's way because both of them got this experience

to be against this team and having the number two seed because over the course of the season, they could compliment each other and build off of that and be kind of like quote unquote a combo good player. Is there any of the game one results, are there any of the game one results where the home team losing these? Because we're talking about what we consider

clearly the three best teams in the NBA this year, OKC, Cleveland, Boston, all losing at home. Are you concerned about any of them based on what you saw? No, I think the series, I think Cleveland coming off a series in which they blew out their opponent. There was no competition, zero resistance,

elevation of intensity, but no resistance. So for them to get, excuse me, the Pacers, which are coming off a physical series where they ran, they did similar things, long athletic opponents, Giannis and Brook. So for them to come in the series with a punch and a force, not surprised. Boston, I would say Orlando had some physicality to them, but ultimately the Knicks were in a grind out series. They were even, what's his name? Detroit. No, no, no. From Knicks. Josh Hart.

Yeah, Josh Hart. Josh Hart said we've been hit and been hit with bats for six games and we brought our bats to this game. They had to, that was the only way for them truly to be, to beat the Knicks is to come with the physical and then the persevere for 48 minutes. That's the only way for them to do it. And they did.

Right. Then you get, you get Brunson and you give me Brunson with 90 seconds in a tie game. I'm feeling confident. I'm feeling very, very confident. You give me Brunson with 90 seconds in a tie game. I'm feeling confident. I'm feeling very, very confident. You give me Brunson so when you look at these series for Boston to You know have an easier series but now to really be tested versus a Nick team and then on the other side Okay, see younger team crews through their series Denver's coming off a game seven where they're fighting for their lives for 48 minutes and they continue to do that here in this in this situation.

So when you look at the series and where each team came from, that's where it's like, OK, I can see how this would go down this way. Still shocking, but I'm still not changing kind of the idea that the Boston Celtics, if healthy, are the best team in the league. I'm not changing that, but yes, I can see where they've all kind of gotten to these one game situations. Or the course of your career. Do you have examples? And I'm on the spot a bit here, but like the Celtics are very hunt happy and it's hard to argue with any of the stuff that

they've done offensively. As I said, in the open, it's like, you can sit there and be like, oh, they're two relying on the three and like, yeah, sure. You had the game last night, but they also have the title from last year. But chasing down and hunting the mismatches, constantly switching into those stuff. Have you ever played with a team where you felt like you did it too much? You know, is it, does it become this default setting where you're not really running anything and then everything is in front of the ball and you and everyone knows

what the decision is and then everybody else is just kind of watching it because you can become a little too predictable and you're also running a lot of shot clock down hoping to get into the matchup that you want. Do you have anything from like a team where you were like, man, we did that now, not with J kid, that's for sure. No, no, but that's what I'm saying. Not with Jake, not with pop, not with when I had staff, not with, you know, when I played with Vance.

When you look at this team, that's what makes them unique. They have two more threes, all the things like they are a unique team in NBA history, the Celtics, the way they play at the rate that played the amount of two way players that they have, there's there's a very unique team. That's why we always say, kind of like the Warriors are the ultimate like fuck around and find out team where she's like one game. They're just going to throw the ball everywhere and it's going to be you're going to be they're going to have that one game.

Well, I think the Celtics oftentimes have a game where they just lay it down. They shoot too many threes. They do all this stuff. And you're like, wait, that shouldn't be. But over a course of time, it starts to work because they have too many weapons. They, no one's going to be off for six out of seven games. No one's going to be off there collectively because they have eight two way players that can hit threes that can play defense, that can play one-on-one that create shots, and then it's just believing in the system.

So I haven't seen a team like that, but it feels like there's always, we always get one or two of these games where now we're questioning the entire system that's worked for them for the last two years. They won 61 games. They have a very, very bad shooting night blow, but ultimately they are a team very similar to the old Golden State Warriors where in 90 seconds again, you can feel like it's over. Yeah. Yeah. And it still felt like it was over last night when they're up 20 and I was going through the shots again this morning and it's,

it's hard to argue with Missoula's point on the shot quality. It's just when you set a record for the most threes ever missed. She's not, many people are gonna wanna defend that the next morning. On the SGA side of things, it was pretty clear that Denver cranked up what they were gonna do to try to slow him down. I've heard it before where it's like, hey, they're just gonna double him. I think there was a Minnesota regular season game

where it felt like they were just really aggressive with it like, we're just gonna try to get the ball out of this guy's hands. And then the players around him felt like every one of the guys that I expect to be making shots or enough to keep you honest missed all of those shots. Is there anything to the sellout defense of just trying to get SGA to get the ball out of his hands?

No, but I think as the series goes on, you start to, if I'm a player and my teammate is getting doubled, right? Game one, I'm looking and kind of reading, okay, well, where are the gaps? Where are the lanes? Where's my shot? Where's the help coming from? Right? By game two, game three, I'm no longer thinking. It's like, boom, coming. I know he's not going to leave chat. So now I'm going to go downhill. Now my outlets are floater, kick out to the corner or the big diving. So then it beaten by game three, four, you're really just moving your

cruise. And so it is and that's where Denver, they have to do it. I think in spots, but if you give any team a steady diet of anything, boy, those boys will figure it out and they will carve you apart. That's what same thing, you can't just get the ball out of Donovan Mitchell's hands because if it's in there, then they start to see it and they get good at it very quickly. That's the level of a great team. How quickly can we adjust, but also hurt you with it. And so same with Celtics. You can't just double team. You can't double team Jason Tatum and get the ball out of his hands. I got too many shooters. You got presented. You got this. So that's great. I think that's

a great system and it is a good idea to get it out of the MVP, out of the guy that's averaging 30 points a game in every game, get it out of his hands. But you can't do it for every single game. I'm going to say you can't. It's hard to do it every single game because teams start to pick up on it. Same with like just base guarding Steph. It works. It worked for, you know, three quarters, two and a half quarters in that game, five without Jimmy. But once they break free, now it's like you're playing four on four. That's a lot of space. If you're playing a whole half court game, four on four, if you can get past your opponent, the options are easier to hit because there's less crowded. The finishes are easier to get to because it's less crowded.

So that doing that defense works, but you're gonna have to continue to mix it up because if you give them a steady diet, they'll start to, they'll break you apart quickly. Say you're in a game, playoffs games, two, two, game five, 14 seconds left, Shot clock is off. And Brunson, you're going up against either Brunson or SGA on the other side.

Who are you more afraid of right now? Oh, Brunson, Brunson. Brunson, I think that, and I'm not, I'm saying I feel very confident in SGA. I'm not excited. I'm not excited of SGA. I'm not excited of Kobe, Luca, Braun. I'm not excited if any of them have the SGA. I'm not excited. Kobe, Luca, bra. I'm not excited.

Any of them have the game, but there has been somebody over the past two and a half seasons that have been in so many clutch crunch games have performed like have been explosive. You look at Detroit, how he played, you look at the lake, you look at some of the big shots against bot, like this is what he does. Little guy, you know, just figures it out. Team is built around him. He's got the space. He knows his shots and it's not just big three. It's drive to the basket. I couldn't believe he missed that little left hand floater from Carl Anthony Townsley. Like even he was laughing. He's like, of all the shots I'd missed,

that's the easiest shot I had all night. And that's to win the game. So I'm just saying currently right now Brunson is playing. I think he is the guy that I would look at from an NBA standpoint, still like not expected it, but you're just not like this dude really did it again. Like it's, it's been fun to watch. I think with OG, you know, there's things I liked and there's things that I didn't necessarily like. If you're a wing, I think one of the knocks, which I think was a fair knock, I always talk

about two dribble guys and then there's guys that can dribble. There's a lot of guys that can dribble twice. I'm a two dribble guy. I was a two dribble guy. It's fine. I know my range. I think I remember when we first met too, I was like, you know,

I really couldn't believe you went as late as you did. I was like, I really liked you in the draft that year. That was before I was even working in the business and I would be so obsessed with the draft and I would just be like enthused going, how can an entire league, it's like, do they not get it? And then it was like, well, there's also with Jason

kid running around out there, but this is actually, I like this though, cause it, I was talking with somebody about this the other day. When you don't get to dribble in NBA games, you're never going to be good at dribbling. So you may have been able to dribble in high school, maybe in college, but then when you become the fourth or fifth option and you don't ever dribble in NBA

games for a couple of seasons, I don't ever dribble in NBA games for a couple of seasons, I don't know that you can ever fix where that's going. Tim Duncan said it to me, Tim, like he said, you know what? People, we were just having a bullshit conversation. He was like, people get better at shooting, at defense, at so many things. The one thing that people don't significantly get better at is

like dribbling or ball handling. They don't like a point guard who knows how to handle the ball can get better in pick and roll. His handle can get sharper because that's kind of the area of, of, of specifications are, are like specifically what he does. But you don't see a wing player be having an okay handle turn into Paul George. No, no, no, no, that doesn't happen. Paul George has a handle as a wing player. He didn't develop that over time. But I will say this, playing with Jason Kidd and then playing with Vince Carter, so Jay

Kidd was first, where it's like he would handle both ball most of the time and pick and roll. And I would just see it. He got the rebound, I got the rebound, and it was as fast as I can run. Even though my game improved and my ball handling improved, I became a better one on one player than Vince Carter came. So now you got to choose between Jay kid, Vince Carter and Richard. It's like I'm further down on the depth chart. Shoot Jay kid went down on the depth chart. We would put the ball in Vince's hands in the last minute or two. Then some like sometimes we would have Jay kid with both of us scoring options on the wing, whatever.

So it is one of those things where I did not develop that part of my game the way I should. So then it's like when it was like, Hey Richard, there's a new thing in the NBA called three and D you stand here and you play defense and say, sounds very similar to what I've been doing my whole fucking life, right? I just got to be accurate from three and play defense. Yeah. I did that with Jay kid in the nets back in the day. Right. So you're right. Ball handling is not something that you improve over like very rarely do like wing players learn how to handle that. That's, that's not the way it goes.

It's really rare to go, Hey, this guy's handle is way better than it was three or four years ago. I know people will probably push back and go, what about this guy? But I'm telling them, when you're that third or fourth dude, and you don't get to dribble, it also speaks to, and I know I had an OG question in here, but there are moments in the playoffs where I can't believe anyone scores ever. And I'm going to use Tatum as an example, just because he's bigger, even though he's not coming off as sort of the best example game.

But there are times, because he's not like Luca, where Luca goes slow at his advantage and he drives to contact. Like sometimes when I think about Ant, part of his problem, he's so good at avoiding contact, he's so ridiculous in the air

and his body control and everything that he actually doesn't get calls because he's not playing to Contact because he's always like look I'm trying to avoid the defender so I can finish at the rim Luca wants you to be connected to him. He wants to feel your body and he's gonna use all that stuff against you. I'll see Dribble like it's not so much a back down with Tatum, but he he gets it He's trying to figure out what he wants to do and he the physicality of those moments where you're like, how does it forget

scoring, how does anyone even keep the dribble live with the playoff intensity and everyone's swiping at a guy that's in a perimeter size? I think if you took like, I know this is stupid, but the average, like pretty good high school player. And said, if we give you the ball and try to like you would go, how does anyone? How do you guys get to 80? Nevermind? It's hard to do that's and that's where I like I I tell people I'm like this is why the game becomes even more beautiful in these moments because you're like you have

The best biggest most athletic in shape men trying to stop you from putting a ball in a hoop that that could be anywhere from 25 to 30 feet away. That's where you're starting. And there it becomes like the skill level is so minute, right? Of like, how does Brunson do it? He doesn't even have the size and he just figures out how to use his body to get space, to pick the gaps. He's crafty. He's left handed. I, I think when you look at, especially now, the game has changed where skill level players like Luca, Luca can go slow and kind of get, but even Luca struggles against Jalen Brown's,

Luca struggles against McDaniel's when there's a bunch of defenders, when there's three or four, a wall up top. And I can get used to one defender, right? Like there's a, like Dillon Brooks, you look at Thompson, okay, you get one of those guys out the game. It's fine. Where Minnesota is different, where Boston's different. They've got so, they got five of those guys at some point in time. They, you got Drew Holliday, you got Derek White, you know, you got Jason Taylor, Jaylen Brown. You got so many guys that even for a guy like Luke or it's hard to kind of get your rhythm defensively. And it's like, pick your spots.

You know, you got the bounce pass against, or you got, you know, you got the bounce pass against Jaylen Brown's arms. Aren't as long as Jayden McDaniels. You know, you got the over the top pass over Drew Holliday. You know, you might have that over Derek White, but you can't do long as Jaden McDaniels. You know, you got the over the top pass over Drew Holliday. You know, you might have that over Derek White, but you can't do it over Jaden McDaniels. But when you're constantly throwing multiple defenders at a person, it's hard to be like, OK, this is where I can make this this read and this look.

So it gets very, very hard. And it also shows how special and gifted these dudes are that over a five, six, seven game period, they start to figure it out. And it's not the easiest thing in the world. So back to, I love that we just did all that, but there was, there was a switch last night with Tatum where he gets Bridges and as good as Bridges is and makes the game ceiling defensive play. And you know, these are all the reasons you would talk about bringing them in and giving up

the resources that they do. If Tatum gets a switch on Bridges, he's going. If he ends up with OG, he doesn't want it. OG is the last guy that you want and it's something you certainly can avoid, but sometimes it's just not going to happen. We don't talk about OG defensively the way we talk about maybe a Dort or McDaniels, I would say even a Men Thompson. But what do you see from him? Because I think it's one that's the physicality, and I'm not going to answer here for you, but there's a want to out of him defensively that I think has really shown itself in the

playoffs so far. Well, I think there's a want to from all of those guys that you mentioned. There's a want to, but they all have different physical traits that dictate what the defender is looking for and going for. Like I said, I mentioned Jayden McDaniel's length. It's very hard to pass around him. Not only is he quick, he's not the strongest, but it's very hard to pass. Your angles are different with him

because his length and he's six foot 10 and he's got like a seven foot four wingspan. So the angles are different with him because his length and he's six foot 10 and he's got like a seven foot four wingspan. So the angles are different. With OG, he's so physically strong that you can't get him off his defensive path to create space. You hit his wall and he can veer you off of your past with his strength. You can't turn the corner. You can't turn the corner, right? You can't turn the corner or bump him off. Jay McDaniels, you can. Mikhail Bridges, you can, right? For them, it's less about how they, they're not as good as the physical content. They're great at lengths, at passes, at deflections. So you saw the steal, the throw out, like,

those are things that like a Mikhail Bridges can do a Jayden McDanis could do. What makes OG special? The want to the six nine, the strength. So for a player like Tatum, he can't get through his body. Ron can. Ron can get through those bodies, bigger, stronger players and at Edwards can get through his body. But even then people forget and Edwards is significantly shorter than those guys. He's six, four and a half, six, five. He doesn't have the six, nine brawn. He doesn't have that, that big athleticism, but he does have the strength. He does have the strength. So when we look at OG, the thing that makes him unique is as you're trying to drive by him, he can veer you off his off your path into a lesser percentage shot. Right. That's what makes it that what's what make you can still shoot up over them. But the crossover

in front, he stays there. Think Ron our tests, Ron our tests, big, strong perimeter. And when he starts to move his body, if you're here, you're not going you're not going through him and pushing him. You can go through McDamn, you can go through McBridges. You can't go through Ron Artest the same way you couldn't go through OG. Are the Pacers being overlooked as potentially getting out of the East? I don't think overlooked. I think they're looked at properly. They're a very good team.

They're locking down defensively. They have depth. They have shooting. They're another team that depends on their shots and their pace. They depend on that. They're not a team that you would say if this game goes in the 90s, they have the Knicks. They got the game if it goes in the 90s. I would think the Boston Celtics, they are a team that needs to play with more pace and

more shots. They need to wear you down over time. But I think the Pacers have been a very good team. They've been building success. They have a superstar. They have depth. They're well coached. They've got a great home court advantage, but you're still looking at where they're

slotted. No one is going to say, I won't say no one, it's hard to say they're better than Cleveland, that they're better than Boston, that with the Knicks. I don't care about what your record in the regular season, because it's different when there's no back to backs, there's no travel, there's no four games in five nights, we have the same amount of rest, the same amount of prep, it's talent versus talent. And so do I think they could? Yes. Would it be surprising? A little shocking, but it wouldn't be like this,

oh my God, who is this team? We know who they are. If they do it, damn well they played well. If they do it, they played very, very well. They played to the maximum of their capability where we think Boston and Cleveland can play good and still make it. Yoko Shikoen crazy last night. Um, again, as expected,

as expected. And part of me watching last night, it's like, man, this is going to feel good. Just not having zoo out there. It was Zubats. We know that the numbers show that he had the best chance of getting, but again, it doesn't, it doesn't mean it's like, well, he's eliminated cause Zubats is out there, but just the physicality, this dude you were never going to move. I'm sure there was some relief last night from Jokic

and the possessions against Chet, even though Chet got him another time in Hardstein. They're just not, it's not the brick wall that Zubats is. Is there anything that you think is even like possible of going, hey, if I had to dial up something to try to slow Jokic down, this is the best approach. Because we saw doubles,

we saw them change a lot of different things. I think some of the shooting splits of like, he shot it well against this guy, not as, sometimes that one game sorting the shots, like there are times I'll look at, hey, he was one through seven, or one for seven against this guy, not as I sometimes that one game sorting the shots like there are times I'll look at, hey, who's one through seven or one for seven against this guy. He did, it's like, dude, he actually just missed more shots

that were open against him than he did some of the other guys. I think they threw a lot of different stuff at him and they'll continue to throw a lot of different stuff at him again, to stay to your earlier point of not being predictable, not showing like you have to treat it like a quarterback, like, hey, we got to throw all sorts of different defenses

at this guy. Is there anything over the years where they're going back to, again, he was a different player when you had started with him, where you're like, this is something I'd at least say, this has to be one of like the core principles we have in this series against this guy. This might, because, because making him a passer doesn't work, making him a score doesn't really work because even And he's so great late at passes that even doing that's great. What I would say with Jokic and this sounds, I would,

I would, and he's an amazing condition. I would say that he's a great player. He's a great player. He's a great player. He's a great player. He's a great player. He's a great player. He's a great player.

He's a great player. He's a great player. He's a great player. He's a great player. He's a great player. He's a great player. He's a great player. He's a great player. great late at passes that even doing this great. What I would say with Yoke Hitch, and this sounds, I would, I would, and he's an amazing condition. I would always have pressure on him at all times. If he in bounds, the ball, I would have kind of remember how they would guard Shaq where it's like, you gotta, you're not meeting Shaq at the free throw

line. You're not waiting for Shaq. You have to start touching his body around half court to slow up his momentum. Or else he's going to get too deep. You don't get to meet Shaq. I'm not saying that meet him at half court, but if you're running with Shaq, you have to meet him with force earlier. So he doesn't get deep in the paint. I think with Jokic, if you are constantly picking at him, I don't want to say full court press, but if he's bringing the ball up, make him work. Check, get up there. Right. This is, this is a lot for you. We know, but Chad, if he's inbounding the ball, we want you to be up at full court pressure that takes a second and a half off of Yokeage moving the ball. Now you're still going to have to switch up the defenses. You're gonna have to still switch up the defenses, but still, let me give you an example with J kid, J kid legend.

We played them Dallas versus Spurs. I think it was two versus seven. And I told pop, I'm like, Hey, normally Jason kid takes offense. If a guard tries to full court press him, he's like, excuse me. And then he will embarrass the guy. Like, don't do this. If you want to do this, we can do this. The Jason quick kid will full court press you and you won't take the ball. So if you're going to disrespect me in full court pressure, I'll do it on the other side. Well, when we played against him, Jason Kid was a little bit older and I'm like, Hey, Jason Kid, because guards have always been afraid to like press up on him. Understandably, I'm not, I'm not disrespecting Jay Jay. This is a compliment. But when he got a little

bit older, I'm like, when you make him turn his back and throw passes, like, like if you're in the half court, if you pressure him and make him throw passes like this, he can still do it. But it's very different than when he's looking at you like this, making passes in this. So we got up in a maybe just made him turn his back. We made him turn his back and have to handle it. You know, Maddie Johnson from the Mark Jackson, make him handle it like that. And so Tony would get up into his body and J.K. and Manu would get up into his body. So we cut off half the court of his passing, right?

We cut off a portion. So he's still effective. He's still effective downhill, but we cut off a portion of the court instead of letting him do that. With Jokic, it's similar. You just have to get up and pressure him a little bit more before that before he even gets to half court.

Make him make passes. You know how he said that three point line he's got the pump fake and he's got all of these whips make him instead of doing that at the three point make him do it a foot and a half. Now that shots harder now that passes longer that's harder to do. But if you make Yoke Hitch extend out a little bit more maybe now his downhill dribble takes more effort, takes one more dribble. But if he's catching

it at the three point line and then picking you apart shots, pump fakes drives, make him extend a foot and a half behind the three point line. The same way you have to make you deny the ball out and make them have to start their offense further out, make Jokic have to start his offense and his system a little bit further out. And a foot and a half is a big, big, big difference. That's my long-winded answer. No, that's good. I mean, you got to think of something. I mean, that sounds like Lou Dore, right? That sounds like trying to maybe, it's my biggest thing with Jokic. And I think the Clippers let him off the hook

a little bit with it, is you've got to try to find a way to get him away from the back, defensively. You've got to figure out a way, and I would think with Oklahoma City, if you're having Chet set a screen, there's still an option for Chet on a roll or a catch. For Hardenstein, there's obviously the roll and that push shot, but there's also a lot of stuff

that they would allow him to do, although you're asking him to set up the offense kind of late, 30 feet away from the hoop, if there's some other part of it. There's also a lot of stuff that they would allow him to do. Although you're asking him to set up the offense kind of late, 30 feet away from the hoop, if there's some other part of it. You know, there's just a bunch of different people that I still like the ball in their hands with Oklahoma city. If he's caught in some kind of switching where other teams, if you're, you're trying to attack him, then it means they're probably just going to help the

Jokic and then you're leaving somebody that you don't even care about. Uh, I just, you know, that was always the biggest concern about him defensively early on and then you win a title and no one really ever worries about it. And I think in ways he's a little underrated in the paint defensively because of his positioning and his effort and just the simple stuff you'd have from any player. I have two quick things and I'm going to let you go because I know we're a little long here. Is there a potential like philosophy when you're on a television broadcast that when there's a physical altercation,

you defer to hoping that it wasn't intentional? Because I think all the shit's intentional. I think Jokic elbowed the shit out of Dort last night, knew he did it. I think that Draymond knows what he's doing all the time. He definitely hit Van Vliet in the face on purpose because he can't help himself. And then I even think the Tara Easton thing was weirder

than maybe it played out. It feels like when there's the national broadcast, it is like, ah, I can't really say he probably did that on purpose because it's just gonna feel nice. Or you're trying to give everyone the benefit of the doubt while I'm at home going, he 100% did that on purpose because it's just going to feel nice. Or you're trying to give everyone the benefit of the doubt while I'm at home going, he 100% did that on purpose. It takes, okay, what we believe to be 100% on purpose, it has to be 120% obvious for us to say that. We can't tell someone's intent. This is not me. Like when you're on a broadcast and there's a different cadence,

there's a different skill when you're doing a broadcast and it's very difficult. Like people don't understand how hard it is to call a game, to like, to articulate your thoughts and opinions in real time and be, um, graded on that. I say that to say is that in that space, you do give the benefit for the doubt. Now, sometimes our boys like, I might believe that he's doing this on purpose, but we have almost say on purpose, but you have to say something along the lines of he has a history of this to give context. It's like, I'm not saying he should be thrown out

of the game. That's terrible. You can't do that, right? Right. That's just not how you should call a game. You can say that's not a part of basketball, that he has a history. There's like, there's things that you can say that can give context. And that's, and I'm being respectful to all parties involved, right? It's not just Draymond. It's not just, you know, Jokic. It's not just, it's all the people that have had something go on. Like I remember the Jason Tatum, flagrant foul where he hurt his wrist, right? I thought there was nothing there. I thought there was nothing like there was absolutely nothing there to a point of.

I know that there was a foul, but I look at some of the other flagrants that have been called and I'm like, that seems like more of a basketball play. Nothing intentional. I think Jason Tatum just fell. God hurt flagrant one. But there's other things. If that's a flagrant one, there's a lot more flagrant twos going on. Right.

I don't. And so when I look at it, you have to communicate it in a space with grace, probably more so than I would as like a fan, more so than I would if I was in studio in studio. I would be more, hey, we can slow it down. We can give this like we can listen to different perspectives. I can be a little bit more aggressive in studio with my breakdown of the play in the game, in the real time, you have to more just be like, hey, I saw what all of you saw.

I'm discussing what my thoughts are, but I'm not giving my full aggressive opinion on it. what my thoughts are, but I'm not giving my full aggressive opinion on it. Okay. Last question. Your teammate list is insane. The dudes that you've played with very well. You know, Yokech it's early. It's early with Steph.

What's the Richard Jefferson Mount Rushmore teammates? Cause like it'd be simple to say, Hey, Yoko just got, I got you. I got you. Jason kid number one, right? When I say Mount Rushmore is no particular order. I just put Jason kid number one. He meant too much to me from watching his work, seeing his impact on the game of basketball without scoring.

Like to have that be your veteran, like I'm going to help you score. But also when you're not scoring, I'm showing you all the other shit you can be doing. Go rebound, go make a right play, go play some defense, right? J. Kid, number one, I put LeBron number two, I put Tim Duncan number three. Um, and then, oh, it's tough because now we're talking, we get into the dirt, we get into the, the staff, we get into the yolkage. You know, for me, I would probably, it's tough. I would, I'm going to say, I'm going to say Steph because Steph broke the three point

record that's I'm looking at the years in which I played you. I think Dirk obviously is legendary, but at the years in which I played you. I think Dirk obviously is legendary, but at the year in which I played with Steph, he broke the three point record and started to establish that that was the first year that the league took notice. And he just kept growing and building and putting in work. So I would put Steph up there.

So yeah, it would be Jay Kidd, LeBron, Tim, and then Steph. And a close one with Yokich. We didn't make the postseason with Yoke. We lost in that 82nd game against Jimmy and the Timberwolves. That's when Denver, whoever won that game, was going to move on to the playoffs. Like has only happened like three times, but we lost that game with Steph. That one year, year and a half I played with them. He led the team to the second round.

So that's the context I'll give. Yeah, because you can't just say, well, hey, Yolkich is awesome. He needs to be on there. It has to be at the time you were their teammates. Did you not put Kenyon Martin because you were afraid of him when you were a young player? I only know I was not afraid of Kenyon. There is a big brother respect I had for Kenyon, which in why we got into fights and stuff. But no, no, no, I've been blessed, man. And again, when you're in the middle of your career, you don't realize it. You're like, oh, I'm I'm I play with Rudy Gobert when he was on a two way contract and he had just got drafted.

I played with Kawhi Leonard when I was with San Antonio and they drafted him. So, you know, even Clay, like I've played with a lot of these guys and you don't look back on it to you're like, hey, I'm going to talk about basketball. Then you're like, holy fuck, I've played with a lot of these guys and you don't look back on it till you're like, hey, I'm going to talk about basketball. Then you're like, holy fuck, I've played with a lot of great players. I've been very, very blessed in my career. So, yeah, when you because again, I played with Clay, I played with the Kauai, but Kauai wasn't Kauai yet. You could see the work ethic.

You could see the ability that probably more people didn't. So you're not as surprised of the Ascension. Same with Clay. but it's still, they weren't quite the best versions of themselves yet. And we didn't even get to Joe Alexander. So honestly, they, again, that was Joe shot out my guy, Joe, uh, West Virginia, Lezen, um, tournament legend, tournament legend term spoke fluent Chinese. Good for who wouldn't who would have thought who would have thought what's up. He'd probably be great at volleyball. He would.

And Joe and I still like we'll DM each other every now and then he played basketball for a very, I don't know. I'm not sure if he's still playing, but he went up Europe and China and played for a very, very long time. Shout out my guy, Joe. You're the man. Uh, I'm so happy for you and the success. I can't look throughout the playoffs.

It's fun, but just the fact you're going to be on the call ESPN, ABC, the NBA finals, man, it is well deserved. So thanks. I appreciate that. I would love to have you. I'm building a studio downstairs in my house. Would love to have you sometime during the postseason. Sit down and have a beer and talk with Channing,

Perk and Allie on road trippin. Done. Absolutely done. Whenever you want it. I appreciate you, big guy. You want details? Buy. 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. The email address, lifeadvicerr at gmail.com, Kyle and Worgon on the scene. Good to see everybody. Got the chain dangling today, Kyle. I like seeing that.

Is that an everyday chain? Everyday chain. Everyday chain and possibly one of two going in the future. I think I could be a two-chain guy. Is that an everyday chain? I assume. Everyday chain. Everyday chain and possibly one of two going in the future. I think I could be a two chain guy. Yeah. Would you go shorter on the second chain or would you go longer on the second chain?

Ooh, I don't know. It's a pretty good length right now. Not saying it's long, but I do like the idea. I don't know which one to go with. Yeah, I like the idea of the thought of just the differential on that. Cause you want, if you're going to be a two chain guy, I think people have to see the two chains. Yeah. Otherwise, why are you even doing it?

I assume you're a two chains guy musically as well. Absolutely. I think he's maybe the funniest rapper we've ever had. He's hilarious. He's hilarious. Lil Wayne has had some funny stuff too, but, um, I think, uh, just more often than not T-Pain makes me laugh. Or T-Pain, two chains. Yeah, well, T-Pain too, though. Wargon, favorite rapper? I don't know.

I'm an M&M guy. All right. I thought he was going to say like Andre 3000 or something. Yeah, unless we took T-Pain from him. All right. So we have some information, further information on the pontoon boat. Then we had somebody else email us saying, I think I saw that actual bachelor party, but I don't believe that that's the case. So we're not going to read through that one.

So 5'12", 195, when I refer to myself as six feet tall, people act like I'm a 6'6 team claiming about a national championship, a 6'6 team claiming about a national championship. But I'm literally 72 inches tall, so now I say 5'12". Before switching to machine work for my joints a couple summers ago, I got up to benching 3'15 for three sets of three

and squatting 4'05 for three sets of five. That's incredibly impressive to do 315 three times, especially at 195. So good for you. We'll make it. We'll give you the six feet. Anyway, following up in the email from the last pod about the bachelor party, pontoon boats,

I'm the groom. Dubbed in the original email as PJ, my buddy who wrote in, we'll call him Leaf. Left out a few details. One, he's not five 10. Oh no. Can we trust anything anymore? I don't want to trash my guy to the world here

and call him five, seven, five, eight. So let's call him five nine ish. I do think this is interesting. Um, the one guy that emailed in, I don't even know. Did I read it where he was just like, this podcast sucks. Basically like I can't, no, I don't know. I don't remember you reading that one.

Yeah. Now we usually leave those for Friday feedback, but he's like this obsession. I think he was foreign. He was like this obsession with height. Like I've never heard anybody ever talk about, you know, again, I think it just sort of happened. I'm 28 and all relevant parties are between 27 and 33.

That's number two. Number three, the setup for the trip is thus, I invited everyone, booked a house in the lake with driving distance for everybody within driving distance at $256 per person and handed off the planning to my co best man. Number four, Rastillo's instincts. Right, it's not just two groups.

There are two singles and a duo on this trip. That leaves two big groups of my college buddies, eight minus me and my law school buddies, six minus me. My co-best men are from my college group and Leaf is one of my law school buddies. That means the guys griping about the boats are ostensibly doing better than the guys suggesting the boats.

Here we go. Also the the boats. Here we go. Also the least point about wanting to be consulted, every bachelor trip I've attended, and my fiance said the same, has had one or two people plan the trip and send everyone else the itinerary. So if not being consulted is leafing the other's lawyers' issues, Ryan's quote,

trouble with authority, unquote, hypothesis might be accurate. That said, the boats are a bit of a dilemma. One co-best man, we'll call him James, found a deal for two boats for three days at 186 per person. So that means you have access to boats all three days, two boats and under 200 bucks a guy. So, you know, I know it's, I mean, if that's 186 for the entire trip, like, Hey, here's your boat fee. I mean, dude, you know what storage dry stuff, right? You still got to top them up. What are you bringing back? Yeah, I would think.

Yeah. But I mean, you know, if you're just pontooning around the lake, you know, I don't know that you're blowing up to Alibaba with 20 knots. Three days of boat races could totally up the, everyone's passionate about it, just can't wait to get back out there and go for round 12. We won't all fit on one boat,

and there are some waterfront bars restaurants, so James wants two boats to make sure we don't split up getting to and from each place. The boat rental has a three day minimum because it's a holiday weekend. All right. So they had to do the three days. They also agreed to cut the price to $40 per

person if we get two, meaning one boat isn't exactly half the price. Okay. So that's where the 186 is. Again, it's 186 for the entire weekend to have boats. Again, I like boats, but I kind of know where this is going on the one hand, $440

to the house and boats is still cheaper than Vegas flights for our buddies bachelor, our other buddies bachelor party. On the other hand, we're almost doubling the cost of the trip before food and drink for the boats. We may not want to use as we've already mapped out a lot of other activities for the weekend. Other guys are also worried about the danger liability of the three guys, including me, with boating licenses, staying sober enough to drive or just generally avoiding damage to or accidents in the boats all weekend. Boating these bars and restaurants is also slower than driving, Ubering would be, so it's not adding convenience, only experience. My biggest concern with the boats is one, the cost will make us feel obligated to use

them when we'd rather not, or two, we won't use them as much and guys are resentful and they waste $186. People keep saying it's my weekend, I should decide, but honestly, I don't see any world in which I don't have fun this weekend, so I can't bring myself to care. So I'm requesting the best wedding gift possible, best wedding gift, God, why am I? He's suggesting the best wedding gift possible is for the Rosilopod to decide for me.

Again, the options are no boat, $0, one boat, 120 a person, two boats, 186 a person. Thanks guys. Okay. All right. Look, a lot of good points. A lot of good points. I don't think the cost is crazy, especially for this group, 27.33. Others may say, hey, why are we going to do this? Why are we paying 186 a person? Again, if it's only one boat, it's 120. So I think it's important that he pointed out it's not just half price if we stayed to the one boat. The fact that they have to do the three days because it's a holiday weekend, you're right. You're going to be looking at those boats sometimes being like, we're not even using them today because you have other activities planned. I'd say number three. I don't even know if I numbered the first two, but.

The boating license anxiety is a real thing because clearly somebody's going to have to stay sober enough at a bachelor party while you're bar hopping on the waterfront, which sounds awesome. And look, pulling up with your crew that first time, and then having the boats, hitting a couple of spots, getting onto the boats, hitting a couple spots, getting onto the boat, hitting up a different one. I'm picturing places that I've hung out that are like this and then just cruising back, sun is setting, you're thinking about the night, tunes are a little widespread out on the pontoon. That's pretty epic. And it might be worth the one awesome night that you do that to feel like you're wasting

money the other nights. But is there going to be somebody in this age group, this is a dangerous age group for a bachelor party. If it were post 40s, I assume there's one guy that would be thrilled to drive the boat so he'd have an excuse because he just doesn't want to be hung over anymore in his life and he cannot possibly stand it. But 27 to 33, there's probably very few people in that group that have dealt with the, is this pointless stage of being hung over as you start to question that when you're older.

So, you know, there's also like, just to be the reality of it, like you can have a boaters license, but when you're driving a different boat, that's not your boat, it's just like, yeah, like I gotta kind of figure out how to dock this stuff. Now granted pontoons, you're going fairly slow. You're gonna be able to figure out how to dock the whole thing, but that's just asking it. I don't know, I don't know. Maybe there are people who are better than me,

but there certainly are, but when you have to be in charge of the boat, it is a big responsibility and you have to just accept that I'm not going to have as much fun as everybody else. And then, you know, I'm going to, you don't know who knows docking in front of people in the pontoon and you have a license, you know, like you don't want to look like a total asshole when you're doing that. I still think the peak moment of this for at least the one night is probably worth it. And I think once you're out on the water, everybody's gonna be like, I'm really pumped that we have this. So not shocking, I'm pro boat in this scenario.

Yeah, I think you can't, a good rule of bachelor parties I would imagine is we're not doing the split up thing. So I don't think one boat is an option. And I think you over prepare, which means that you bought the boat for three days and you probably use it one day. I'm just thinking back to Ocean City, Maryland,

where if we didn't have any structure, probably could have been at Secrets a little less. We had a great time, but it was just sort of like, everyone was up for like two hours and we're like, maybe we'll throw something on the grill, but I guess Sec secrets opens pretty soon. Should we just go back? And we just basically spent three days at secrets

in Ocean City, Maryland, rather than anything else. So I think that's cool to have a little structure there. And I would vote for the boats, two boats, can't go one. You don't wanna leave anybody on land for that. Is there not an option where they just rent these boats for, for one day? No, holiday weekend. They have to do it. Like, I just wonder, I'm sorry to jump you word out, but I almost wonder, does

it feel like it's a wasted cost because you're not going to be using them a bunch of time? Cause I would argue a night out on the lake, bar hopping, pontoon boats, two boats, 186 a guy for just that experience. Like you'd be dying to pay that for just one night. This is all in how you sell it. You tell these guys it's 186, we have it for tonight. And then we also get it for the next two days.

Oh, nice. Well, Jordan Belfour there. Yeah. That was great. But you're gonna to have a good time on that one night. Wolf of Lake George. That's right. Is this legal? Amazing opportunity just came across my desk. Who buys this? Oh, mostly postman. Who buys this? Mostly postmen. I don't know that there was like if the cost were extravagant and I don't mean to do this at times in the pod.

We're talking about money where I know that I can kind of default to like 186 bucks. Like, come on. It really does feel like it's the marketing of it, Oregon, because staring at them when they're not being used and then having other activities, it's like, oh, well, this was a waste of money, but. You're gonna waste money at a bachelor party. But there's no, like, unless you had some guy with just a beat to hell pontoon boat

that could put 20 dudes on it, it's like, hey, throw me 50 bucks and he's taxing you around for the entire night. You know how expensive boats are to charter them? I just don't think that's a massive cost. I think that first night, the one big night where it really works, and then if you have just a lazy day where you don't feel like doing anything, because it's like, I don't know if you're going out two nights or you're going out three nights, you just say, hey, do you guys just want to take a crew? Who wants to take a cruise around? And then half the guys do. And who knows? There's probably going to be one guy who's like, well, I didn't even use the boat the third day. I stayed in. It's like, all right, man, you stayed

in. 186. It's honestly the price of a nice dinner where no one really spares any expense and you all split the checks It's like six ways. It's like 186 is sort of what you can be expecting So so it's like basically the cost of a nice dinner for three days of access to boats So I say yes, I vote boats also this guy's right like he's not doing the flights like Vegas or somewhere So like you're saving money like who cares if this is slightly more than you'd want to pay because overall you're saving money. I Think you just go, hey man, there's gonna be some people that really appreciate it. I think the night where it goes like the choice night

that you do it, you're gonna go, this was awesome. Because you're not six deep in an Uber, ordering an Uber comfort. You're like, dude, do you have the extended hatchback Prius? Like, is this really comfort, dude? Because I'm not comfortable. All right, real quick one, single guy going into a wedding alone.

Hey fellas, just got a short one here. I'm a single guy going to a female's wedding alone. Any tips? No impressive gym stats, player comp, Sasha Khan. I have no tips and I'll never be this guy, but I kind of envy you. Never done it? No, I mean, my first wedding, you know,

wasn't that long ago, it was like a year before mine. And like, you know, I was certainly not a single guy at a wedding, I just wonder what that's like. You're dressed up, do you know I like to wear suits out for no reason sometimes. So just to be looking my best at a wedding and you know, everyone's like friendly and people are asking questions, who's this guy?

I just feel like it'd be a great time. I don't have tips, but I have a little bit of envy. Does he have like a group of guys he's going with? Did he say that? Sounds like he's friends with a bride, yeah, I don't know. Yeah, that's tough. Cause I went, my first friend that got married, it was like a group of like eight of us.

He got married when he was like 25, 26. So like a bunch of us were single at the time. It was a good time, but this sounds like a different situation. Two very distinct ways this can go. You're gonna have an awful time if it's an older wedding. You might drink way too much. Pfft.

And everybody will be looking, and you're gonna stand out because there's gonna be no one on your arm going like, hey, do you really need a double whiskey just because it's open bar? Like, is there any way you could dial it back? Uh, I've done this. I've also watched games at the reception bar. There was one I went to where it was like, there was some big games on.

So I was like, whatever is posted up here. I don't dance. So I think the dancing part is huge. If you're a dancer, if you're, uh, if you're a confident dancer, although I've said this before, guys that are really, really good dancers, I don't know that I trust them. And so if you're just good enough, like you like to dance and you're in the, you don't have to be good at it.

You just wanna be out there. There's gonna be a lot of options for you. So I think that's where it pivots to the really positive version of this. This is a younger wedding. There's likely going to be some women that are there solo. And I mean, you wanna talk about like bartending on Valentine's night, that was the best shift ever

when you were single. Cause it was just like, you know, you wanna feel alone, you've never felt more alone than when you're out on Valentine's and just add PEDs to that scenario when you're in a wedding dress. Obviously not. Table for one at Christmas Eve. Right?

Yeah. I mean, this is, this is like unbelievable opportunities here. So I think the dancing part of it's great. You know, mixing in the water isn't bad. Again, we don't know what the age group deal here is. That's great advice. Wow.

I mean, it's, it's always great advice until you don't want to actually do it. So, uh, I, I just, it's about your confidence. Go in there with the mindset that you're going to dominate, you know, don't go in there apprehensive because it's all over in a few hours. And if you go in there like like second guessing yourself, being insecure about it, and it's a little bit older, you start checking out Minnesota Golden State. You're like, oh, ants going off. And you're over by your side and people are like, you know, it's a wedding. Guy doesn't, what is he, not even like anybody? Like, why did he get invited? Yeah. I'm kind of

talking about myself a little bit right now. Yeah. So yeah, I think there's a ton of versions where this can go both great or bad. Maybe you pull a little wedding crashers where you dance with a kid, sober, hopefully. Yeah, get that out of the way early if that's on your list. Right, right.

It's like, oh my God, he's so great with kids. Winkle Cotton and Joe comes out at like 8 30 and do that one. I'm not a dancer, but at this last wedding, I mean, something came over me. I don't know what the hell. It was probably, probably your wedding. No, no, the wedding I just went to when I was back in Poughkeepsie. This, this wedding was actually in Brooklyn, but I don't know what the hell happened to me. I was just like towards the end there. And then I started giving the guy a couple requests. I've noticed nobody was doing that.

So I didn't know if it was okay or just people didn't have the stones to ask him. He played all my stuff. I mean, really when you see the opportunity to ask for ride with me by Nelly and you know it's gonna hit and the DJ's on board. I mean, I felt like the king of that Brooklyn warehouse, wherever we were, just for a little time,

little short time. That's great. Yeah. That's great to hear. Okay. Chicken tender turmoil. 5-9-150, PlayerCom. Julie Connor from Deering High.

Anybody? Okay. Apologies for the outrageously lengthy email. All right, we're on to you. But wanted your advice on how to handle this lunch event as it would surely be repeated. I went with some friends to a local fast casual place that specializes in chicken tenders.

Could it be Raising Cane's? Two of us were ordering the same thing. Three tenders and french fries. Sounds like Cane's. Sounds like Cane's. Three tenders and French fries, sounds like canes. Sounds like canes. The tenders were priced something like three for 10, six for 15, again, sounds like canes. Shout out to Todd Graves.

The fries in regular or large size were similarly mispriced in favor of the larger size, so it only made sense for Lucas and I to exploit this pricing loophole and get the six piece with the large fries and then split them. However, here's where the dilemma came. Having been in this establishment many times,

we knew the tenders are not uniform like nuggets. Right. Yeah, so you're right about that. But that's part of the adventure. Always fresh, never frozen. But come in varying sizes, we had to decide how to split them up. So before they were served, we set a chicken tender draft order.

After some debate, we settled on Lucas choosing one, four and five and me choosing two, three and six. If one of the tenders were significantly tinier than the rest, this would have been bad for me, but that wasn't the case as the five versus six was a tough choice. That's great to know that your tender depth was still, you know, pretty strong at five versus six was a tough choice. That's great to know that your tender depth was still pretty strong at five and six. The fries were easy to split as there were too many and neither of us really cared how even it was. But wondering, since we may do this again, how would be the fairest way to split the six chicken tenders?

How fair would it be? It goes without saying that I love the pod and spending time on a Sunday night writing this message. I kind of think you nailed it. I mean, I don't dude. Yeah, I have friends. Only one circle. Could I even have them get them on board

to do something like this? Like this silly, but also actually pretty efficient. Like the two other groups would just be like, what are you an idiot or something like that? And there's only really one. It's probably the LA guys that I could have this sort of fun when we're splitting something at Raven Kane So really awesome three groups are friends a ton good for you Well, you got you know, it's like the regular Poughkeepsie guys college guys and dudes from out here

I'm just I'm just thinking like if we were in this situation and I tried to broach this they'd be like the hell's wrong with They'd be making fun of me for it. But this is really cool when everyone buys it. I mean, there's only two of you guys, but still, I think that's really neat. Did you have crossover in your group? Is there one guy from one group that the other group actually really likes and is accepted and almost gets excited about his energy?

Yeah, I'd say the best looking guys in each group, all linked up. Nice. And it was just like, so this is our superhero and that's yours. And yeah, and they like, you know, they got a little side text going on. Do you think they actually addressed it?

Be like, hey, you're the hottest out of the Poughkeepsie group and I'm the hottest out of the LA group. I mean, you only gotta be out together for like 10 minutes. And it's like, you know, we're talking like, you know, we're talking about nines here. So, you know, the chemical reactions chemical I think I got two nines yeah Wow I don't think any of those guys have showed up to any of the live shows correct one of them to the Philly one but I don't know how much you saw of them. I think I did.

Was busy during that show. Wargon, how about you? No, none of my friends are nines. What's the question? I'm pretty sure that wasn't it, but that's a better answer than whatever I was asking. No, when you were describing this, I was like, the only fair way to do this is snake draft. And then he said it, I think you nailed it. Nothing else left to say.

Well, there could be a six tender combo that you feel like the depth is in the first three. Yeah. Unless you're like taking a knife and like cutting them, which you don't want to be doing. This is the way to do it. You could also order an extra tender. If you've like 199 or whatever. Yeah, 290. You can also just order two, three pieces though,

for spending extra money. He felt like the fry loophole was just, you know, I don't know how that is. This is money by the model. Yeah, this is money by the model. Well, who's the Hattieberg of chicken tenders for raising canes? So I don't like, when Van Pelt and I would constantly do drafts on the shows,

people were just so obsessed with snake drafts because of fantasy football and fantasy baseball. It's like, well, when it's two guys, I don't think it has to be a snake draft all the time. It used to always like, everybody would be like, how come you guys don't do snake drafts? Like, well, when it's two people, especially for the dumb shit that we were doing, it didn't really matter. Like say you were doing an NBA playoff draft of who could win the entire thing. Right. Actually meant to do that with Saruti didn't do it. Well, there's always 26. Uh,

you know, if there are three, like, for example, this year, if the three best chicken tenders were OKC, Boston and Cleveland, who knows after these game one openers, but you get the point is that the snake draft does not solve the problem of the fourth team that's picked. And in this case, the snake draft may not solve the problem of the fourth tender pick. We've got to see the six tenders and there's not going to be the same six tenders every time you do this. So it sounds like for this case it worked.

And yeah, the number one pick for the tender more often than not, especially when we're raising canes, like there's going to be a special one in there. There's going to be just a meaty tender where you're like, this has the volume of, of the tenders, five and six combined right now. Like this is like getting Shaq and fantasy basketball during his prime. So this almost feels unfair. Draft a Yadis after the growth spurt.

I think the lesson in all of this is of all the emails that we've received about different concerns, whether it's a pontoon boat, utilities, can I talk to my best friend's ex? You have a friend where you are able to efficiently come to some sort of agreement where both sides feel satisfied. And that my friend, that sir is the ultimate compliment. You don't need our help. We actually need your help. We're going to start forwarding emails to you and your friend about how to resolve conflict because you have figured it out. And I and I imagine great things are in your future. Okay. That was awesome. I liked that.

Yeah. Yeah. Thanks for working on. Thanks to Kyle. Thanks to Jonathan Frias. We are a video podcast on Spotify. We are also on YouTube. So please subscribe.

And as always check out the Ryan Ristolo Podcast right here on Spotify. They were gonna name me Michael Jordan. My dad was like, I don't think a kid lives on Spotify. I'm like, I don't think a kid lives on Spotify. I as always, check out the Ryan Ristolo Podcast right here on Spotify. They were gonna name me Michael Jordan. My dad was like, I don't think you 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, or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gamblinghelplinema.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts, or call 1-877-8-HOPE-NY, or text HOPENY in New York.