A Knicks Miracle (and an All-Time Spurs Collapse), a Mini-Mailbag, and a World Cup Preview | With Joe House, Kirk Goldsberry, Anthony Dabbundo, and Cousin Sal

[MUSIC PLAYING]

“This episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast is presented by PayPal.”

You know, a clutch move when you see one. A no look pass, a buzzer beater, a big steel. Well, imagine if you're wallet could pull off moves like that. That, my friends, is PayPal. Right now, you can find offers from hundreds of brands,

like Sony, all birds, and vieter, and save offers before you check out, earn unlimited rewards. Plus, you can add those rewards on top of credit card points. Now, that is clutch. Download the PayPal app today.

Save those offers. Start scoring rewards. Terms and exclusions apply. See PayPal.com/rewardsterms, credit card points, subject to issuers, terms, and conditions.

[MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] The Bill Simmons Podcast, we are live on Netflix. Following game four of Spurs Nix. Kirk Goldsbury is here.

Joe Houses here. That is the single biggest choke job I've ever witnessed at an NBA important NBA game. Combined with one of the best comebacks I've ever seen in an NBA game.

And House, I don't know where to start, except I kept thinking Falcons, 28 Patriots, 3. As I was watching that collapse, not to bring a Boston team into this. But not to bring a Boston team into this. When we missed those two free throws, it was like, wow,

we're really doing this.

They score 30 points in the second half.

They blow a 29 point lead, and they still have a chance to end the game with less than six seconds left. They get a terrible Brunson 30 footer that over Wemby, but OG comes in gets the tip. House, biggest basketball choke you've ever seen.

Is that it? It has to be it because of the circumstances, because the raw data tells us the biggest comeback in NBA finals history. And I felt like it was a perfect, a perfect expression

of exactly this first team, which is first half. The youthful exuberance, they're playing loose. They're playing free. They have absolutely nothing to lose. They can't miss.

And the second half, they score 30 total points.

“I think KG before we went live said they had eight”

field goals total in the second half, exactly what a young team under these circumstances, who hasn't been through the gauntlet comes out and just a little bit tight, then it's contagious. The whole team is tight.

And Wemby, some of the observation coming into this game was when there's the turnaround is this short, he tends to, you can see some of the fatigue still on that man, and the shooting percentage reflected and he ended up-- $9 for $25, Mr. Free throws.

With the show.

Here's the thing, though, House.

$43 minutes for Wemby. Kirk, I thought Mitch Shonson, he was keeping Wemby in there. Remember he rested on for like 50 seconds, brought him back in. And I think the thinking was, let's go for the kill. Let's get this, let's get this now.

And if we, for winning double figures, he's not going to play the last four or five minutes anyway. He wilted it.

“At one point, I think he missed 10 of 11 shots down the stretch.”

She missed two monster free throws. And then combined with everything else, that was coming back in this comeback and stages, which will cover Fox gets the steel with 10 seconds left up one, because Brunson throws away gets tapped out.

And Fox is with OG behind them. And you just have to fake like you're laying up and dribble it out and try to kill some time and shoot some free throws. He goes for the layup, OG blocks it.

And basically, the hero on both ends.

This is one of the most heroic end of the game things that we've ever seen in a finals game. But when the spurs look back at this, who are they going to blame? - themselves.

I think they, they, remember, this is the same team

They were red hot. That's why the story is so crazy, Bill. It's like they went from the hottest shooting team we'd ever seen in a finals game, two months, maybe the coldest, I haven't had time to look it up.

“I think 14 for 26 and then three for 17 in the second half.”

- Yeah, there were four of 20 in the third quarter as a team.

And I think four of 20 in the fourth quarter after shooting the lights out. But you brought up Fox, let's blame him a little bit. I can't believe that guy won clutch player of the year watching him down the stretch in this game.

He, the spurs were doing an immaculate job taking care of the basketball two and the first half again. That all fell apart in the third quarter. Fox had a bunch of dumb turnovers in the third quarter. But that play, yeah, that's going to haunt their dreams too.

They had the basketball, they were up one. He's going to the rim, right? That's the moment with Anne of Nobi. - Yep, not with, yeah, like 78 seconds later. - Yeah, yeah, and he goes up.

Maybe he got fouled, maybe he didn't. But I don't think he should have gone up. I think Dearen Fox, and obviously Victor Wemmey, I'm missing those free throws was huge. But just an absolute collapse on the offensive end

of the court for the spurs. I think Mike Breen did a great job calling it out.

“It didn't look like they knew what they wanted to do.”

It didn't look like what actions they, they weren't confident. Who's the grown-ups supposed to be supposed to be the point or the veteran, the clutch player of the year? I don't think he was big enough in that late game trip.

- Well, you know, the grown-ups were there. J.L. and Brunsett and O.G. 100%.

- Brunsett never comes out.

I don't think in the second half, played 44 minutes, 36 points, and O.G. finishes with 33. He played 41 minutes and had the two biggest plays at the game plus just a bunch of three, what was he seven for nine from three, a bunch of dagger threes, too.

But, you know, when you're coming back from this and the greatest finals come back, I remember before this was the Celtics and it's the Lakers and game four in 2008. And that was, they were down 24 and it was basically two runs

and it was some three pointers and the Lakers got a little tight and then you kind of felt with two minutes left the Celtics were gonna take the game. This was different. This was 79 to 46 at halftime with the spurs with 14

for 26 from three and two turnovers house. - Yeah. - Playing perfect basketball. I'm on text threads with all these nicks fans where I'll go and nuts about the reps.

And I'm like, you guys, it's a 23 to six free third advantage at halftime. You guys are getting your asses kicked. Like you're not defending threes, your defense has been horrible and the spurs are playing great.

They ramped the defense up in the second half. So it goes from, all of a sudden it's Castle gets the fourth foul and I thought all three announces missed it. 'Cause I thought Brunson was a different guy when Castle was out there versus when he was out.

So Castle goes out pretty early, 1009 and the third quarter of Castle's out. But then these things with these comebacks that these little stages, right? So they get it to 81.59.

They get it to 81.65 with five minutes left. It's 97.55 with the end of three. So it's like, all right, you gotta make your second run here. And then they make it all sudden it's 99.95 with 432 left.

And we've all seen this next team house where it's like, if they're in sniffing distance, you feel like they're going to take it. But Alvarado's out there. We have no McCail bridges. Towns is really done nothing.

It's basically two guys' parents.

“So what did you think was going to happen in five minutes left?”

I thought there was going to win. A great chance for the next to win. I mean, the one thing that had me feeling a tiny bit cautious is the poise that the spurs show down the stretching game three.

Where they weren't completely phase. I mean, the next tried to make a run in game three. And the spurs were pretty calm. I thought they ran decent action.

But this is always the case.

And I don't have the fourth quarter numbers in front of me in terms of how well the next shot the three ball in the fourth quarter. But that was, they were two for 14 from three in game three. They were vastly improved.

And that's the thing that starts to feel like the avalanche. But really, it was just Bronson and OG is the only reliable scores for the next. But you could feel the poise just falling away from the-- You could feel the young team experience that.

That's right. So the next or four for 20 for three in the first half, upside four for 12. And second half, they were 11 for 20. And that was with, like, what did their bench,

like, really the bench was something-- - Got nothing. - 8 points for Alvarado, two and two. They had 12 points from their bench. Harper, like almost doubled their bench.

I thought the castle thing screwed up that dynamic for the spurs curve because he's kind of there. I'm not afraid of anything guy. And the fact that he was in and out of the game with foul trouble, he ends up playing 25 minutes.

And then, ultimately, it just became,

hey, Deanna Fox, you're going to have to figure this out for us because Wendy seems like he's luggage. - And there was a moment where Castle was the only one playing offense that seemed to is he got to the line a couple of times in the middle of that ice-cold slump.

He was the only one really attacking the two-point area. He was good. The foul trouble, like, just with towns, towns had the two dumb fouls to open the game. And I had some next friends texting me.

I'm like, I'm sorry. I thought both of those were fouls. - And the third foul was even dumber. He just touched somebody in the back of the rebound. - Yeah, and I didn't like the first foul, just for the record.

- Yeah, Fox, going out, I'm that fair.

“I think, look, Jalen Bronson, I want to give some love”

to OGN and OB. This dude has been great for the New York mix all playoffs. That tip in Bill Simmons, that is going to be something we're talking about for a very long time on your show and every other platform.

That was NBA history. That was not an easy tip in. - That's one of those, though, have the camera angles from 15 different places on the OG tip in. - Yeah, the big thing was, Wendy was 25 feet from the basket.

And Harper came and they get it, but OG just came flying in. It was almost like a set play, but it wasn't obvious. - Yeah, the quibble, I want to quibble with you. You called that Bronson shot a dumb shot. I don't think that was a dumb shot.

I thought that was, you know, I want him taking it and I want them to have a chance to rebound. And with Wendy all the way out, then they have a chance to rebound. And OG had a free run. He had a free run at the basket.

It's a 30 foot shot with trying to arc it over Wendy. I didn't think it was going in. - I understand. - It was a classic cobe assist. They had changed the shape of the defense and then OG,

but dude, that was not an easy tip in. That was like five feet away. - He was flying.

“- Every time he got the ball in the corner,”

it's feeling like Clay Thompson too. He just making both plays on defense. And by the way, he was the defender on that fox play. We talked about this guy is he deserves so much credit right now for that win, OG and Adobe.

- That's another thing I didn't like about

them basically riding fox down the stretch.

Was the next had an anobionum. I just don't like the matchup. I guess what matchup I don't like anyone against OG and Adobe. I just, I'm out. Like let's come up with another game,

but that's part of the problem with when you have a young team trying to figure out what to do. And every time this happened in game three, two, and it felt like there's a couple moments when they started whitenuckling the steering wheel

with the weed this verse. All of a sudden, it feels like it takes 10 seconds for them to get into their offense. They're 30 feet from the basket. They're running this Wimbie Fox high screen

that seems like it's too far away. And I just don't feel like anything good's gonna happen. But we should mention, I mean, there's so many things to cover from this game. That Josh Hart mislay up.

- Ooh. - Wow. - Wow. - Wow. - Would have been Charles Smith level.

That would have been, if the next of us the series that would have hit Charles Smith would have been like, come on here, sit next to me in the park bench for the rest of eternity. It was, the story would have been two parts.

It would have been that blown layup plus his failure to box out on the rebound when Castle came in, you know, on, they did, the next defended perfectly. - Yeah. - On one of those 30 sessions.

- Yeah, yeah. - And he was the one who committed the foul on Wimbie, that sent him to the line. And then Wimbie missed his both. But yeah, not a great sequence for Josh Hart,

but we're not sitting here talking about that

“'cause his teammate, and that's what I would say.”

- He's talking to everybody. - These these these dudes are special, right? That's a special team. As a spurs guy, 28, three great call bill, I was rooting for the Patriots that night.

It felt like, I'm not, I was never comfortable.

It is crazy that come back, back was. I've seen this team do this in these playoffs to Cleveland game one. It wasn't 29 points. But this felt like grown men against young boys

and it just, they just got there. And I was like, okay, once and how said this, you could feel it on in the game, like that confidence of the spurs just melting away. - You know who is comfortable?

Joe House, 'cause I checked with him in half time and said, what do I do about my spurs over to to Wimbie? I should just hedge with the next phrase. - No, this is done. - I didn't find points.

- I didn't find points. - All I wrote was you wrote. - You wrote NSW. - NSW. - NSW. - Fucking way. - That's right. - Tell me not to hedge it.

- That's the correct play, up to 27. Now, I will say to Kirk's great point. This is the DNA of the next. Like we will get to see over the body of this season. All the journalism that comes out tomorrow morning

and over these next two days will be all of the comebacks that the nicks have mounted over the course of the season. All of these double digit second half comebacks. All of these fourth quarter comebacks that make them exactly prime for this moment

against this team of spurs that are God damn bad ass boys.

They are bad, bad.

They were so good in that first thing.

“- Oh, I can call 'em in 'cause they're boys.”

And that's the difference. That's all a team with a DNA where they're playing all the 48. They're gonna get to the 48 and this spurs team. - They're really good. It's a dead-even series except for the nicks are up three to one.

- Some of my notes from the third quarter. Castle 4 fouls, Broughts and Loves with Castle is an out there. Wemby, flagrant, dumb essay shots. Five minutes left in the third quarter. essay has five points way better defense from New York.

So one thing they did was they just clogged the paint. And they were like, we know you went 14 for 26 in the first half but we don't think that's gonna keep going. And it didn't. Spurs started going way too slow by the end of the third quarter.

They were two for 12 from three, five turnovers, 20% and then the other thing was Broughts and just wasn't coming out. And I thought Harper staves some of it off for them. The third quarter 'cause he was great. But at some point somebody else has to step up.

Nobody did and then the fact that Broughts and could do all that

would never coming out was pretty nuts.

44 hard minutes, they're taking them full court. He ended up taking, looking at the shots. 25 shots, 11 free throws, doing all the setting up everybody, I thought his court game was really nice. He found a lot of guys who kept missing three.

He was great in OG and those are the two heroes. And then towns came in a little late with the 13 and 10 but it was really those two guys, record. - Yeah, towns had a couple of nice moments and so I'd written in mind how it's Carl Anthony Ghost towns

because of how he was disappeared after the fouls.

“I think that was the karma that cost the spurs the game.”

So sorry about that. - You're not scared. - There was my nose. The other iconic moment, the Broughts and deserves credits for was the incredible three over Wemby on the right wing

that's another one of those like you're gonna make that social media like cinematic video of that. It was just an amazing shot. But Broughts and deserves credit bill, I think he came into this game with 13 assists

and 13 turnovers, you don't have to be Dean Oliver to know that's not a great assist to turnover ratio. But he was making plays all night

and he's never gonna give up to House's point.

These are, this is the DNA. - It was awesome. - And that's why he's gonna be a legend if they can win one more game. One more.

- He goes down in all time history and he gets to take his place next to Geter and he light manning and all of these credit guys they've had over the years. - Freaks it. - It's an easy mannal.

- Yeah, that'll be what happens. So 99, 95, 432 left. Fox comes out of the time out, hits a huge three. So now they're up seven. However out of gets a layup, Wemby gets hits a jumper

and then all of a row out of hits a three. - Yep. - With like three minutes left. So all of a sudden now it's 104, 100. Then you mentioned Brunson hit the three.

Heart misses the layup. Wemby misses both free throws. Brunson hits that floater and castle steps out of bounds. And it's like this game's done. What happens?

Nick's get the 24 second violation. Fox misses Castle S that offensive rebound you mentioned. It makes two more clutch free throws. - Huge. - And now we, that leads to the Brunson turn over.

Fox with a break away, OG blocksome. And if you're the spurs, you look back at this and you say we didn't have a field goal in the last four minutes of the game. And our best guy missed two free throws

and we really mattered and our point guard instead of dribbling out the clock trying to kill time, get fouled. You're at least going up to decide it to try to challenge OG and Adobe on a layup.

- And then on top of it, it felt like that play at the end of the game was open. And I think towns tip the pass. - Yeah, you got something to open on that. - He was.

- Did you see that? Like castle would add a layup on that, but towns tiped it. So I don't know Kirk. I feel like after some of these,

like just as done, it's over, they can't recover. And then a lot of times you just see the team recover. But I don't think they can win three games in a row, as well as stay played in game three and as well as they looked in the first game.

- I certainly wouldn't bet on that, Bill. But I wouldn't rule it out in this day and age and these playoffs. This first team has responded every time. Now, they seem to make it hard to reach round,

going down three, two, okay, see was not a great position to be in, they came back and won. So I wouldn't take the next, don't get me wrong, but I wouldn't rule it out. Game five and San Antonio, we'll talk about,

“but like something you mentioned that I think we bear,”

like drilling down on Mike Brown, going with Alvarado down the stretch. - City bridges, who's stuck? - Yeah, and Alvarado would do a massive bucket though. He hits the three and then he had the two points shot too.

Mike Brown, ladies and gentlemen,

the last year of Nick coach would not have been playing that guy in that moment. And I think the next or at this level, because they made Mike Brown the head coach,

“and I think that deserves a little respect here right now too.”

- And on top of that point house, they steal Alvarado at the deadline for nothing. He falls out of the rotation pretty quickly 'cause his shooting goes sideways, but he's a New York City kid, grew up dreaming

and playing for the next Sunday, right? And he just felt like this is smart, because whether he plays or doesn't play, he's gonna be delighted to be there. He's a great teammate, agitator,

like he might have a moment in these playoffs was the feeling, right? And then he has a moment in the biggest game that they played the whole season. - Yeah, go dig out the clips.

Get pack yourself on the back a little bit. At the trade deadline, you were abusive with your praise to the mix for that act when you wanted to do the Steven A and start taking credit. (laughs)

Do I get a championship ring?

But the thing is, we always talk at the trade deadline

when we do these pods. Oh, he's a playoff guy. Oh, you can play him in a playoff game. Oh, that's somebody in the right series. He'll have a moment.

And he's one of those guys. You could see it in New Orleans, and you know, first is Nicola Vusovich, maybe not one of those guys. OGN and Obi, also a master piece of a trade.

Now, like, look at that deal too. I mean, the next front office deserves a little bit of credit for putting this group together with that trading tool, not just right. - So we get them a lot of credit.

- It's amazing for an office. - Yeah, it was the same thing for now. - Well, no one's done.

“- Yeah, so I think, yeah, the guys behind the scenes,”

the front office and the coaching staff, are a big reason why they won this game. I think that's huge. - Yeah, you know, it's another reason. The spurs completely choked,

that it was the biggest choke of the history of the game. - You said you were gonna call it a choke bill, please. - I don't love the word choke, but when it's a collective team, and you blow a lead like that,

and what happens happens down the stretch, and then you have major brainfarts and misfree throws, and you're not boxing out on the biggest rebound of the game, and all that stuff, like that unfortunately is gonna count as a choke.

- One small stuff, man, that might be on fire. - I'm looking at my mouth, oh my god. - There's a lot of loud noises, and a lot of people being in a loud hole. - Just be celebration, everybody stay safe.

- Talk about that, 'cause we've spent 20 minutes here, and didn't talk about this next team that hasn't won in 53 years. The fans are at it. They're so, I'm hearing from people at the game,

and they're like the refs have just

“between Trump and Game 3 and the refs in game 4.”

The fans are just in this nervous, angry frenzy, and it's like affecting the team. It was the message I was getting from the stance. The energy is the way the team energy was affecting the team. - Fan energy was just, nothing was right,

it was almost like they had to hit rock bottom to come out of it, and then it turns into one of the most joyous events. Not only in the history of the next, but in the history of the league to win that game. When the Celtics won their game, it was on the road,

and LA, we don't see a lot of home comebacks like that, but that ends up being, they're probably gonna win the title. That becomes one of the most iconic comebacks in any sport, not just basketball. - Well, we've all been to New York City a hundred times, Bill,

and I've never seen it like this.

It is so electric, everybody walked by on the street, has a neck shirt on, everybody's talking about the neck, the cavies, we've heard other people talking about it, but it is electric in there, but there is a lot of pressure on this team,

and I thought at some point in this game, they lost some of their composure, mid-Robinson throws that elbow, it won't be motioningly, I'm in your head, and it was like, "Oh, wow." And then Alvarado picked up Wendy's leg.

- Yeah, how was it done? - That's a flagrant, by the way, I don't know, when the flag were fouling, the crowd at that time. - I don't really agree with that, right? - I think KG's on the money.

They're like, we don't like the energy in this crowd, the ref didn't like it. - They were terrified about those 72-year-old billionaires sitting in the first round. - Larry Davis was coming back to our house at the...

- No, they definitely...

And then I thought in the second half,

I thought the next guy, way more physical, which they should have done. And the spurs, every time they were getting trouble in this series, we'd just stop going to the basket. And that's why Castle was so important

to them throughout the finals, and then it just hit me not playing enough. They kind of missed their guys, like, "Fuck it, I'm going to the basket." - And I was watching, I watched game seven

with Chris Bosch, name drop, and I was watching and with him, they'll call him a series. And he said to me, he's like, "When me needs his move, what's his move?" And then those moments, like, Timmy had,

we knew what, if the spurs would go through this 25 years ago, it would be Tim on the left block over the right shoulder off the glass. You know, he needs to develop that.

it just feels like they don't know what play they want to get to. That's where your superstar needs to have some bread and butter action into your earlier point, Bill. You know, who has that? Jalen Bronson, he can get to the elbow,

he can do the step back three, he can get into the lane and draw a foul. And it just feels like that was a real learning moment for these young guys. Like, that's the difference between a mature NBA player

and an immature NBA player. And then that was on full display

in the most important positions of this game.

- That's such a good point. And I want to ask you a question about Wendy,

“but to me, honestly, the guy that I want”

having the ball under those circumstances that I trust going to the hole and Bill's already shaking his head is Harper. Harper's the guy that the playmaker that I want, I want to get those touches.

Those fox touches at the end. Now, fox did nail that three. And that was a few longest three. But I think, you know, the only reason that it's not Harper in those possessions

at the end is just 'cause, you know, he's what is he 20, whatever year's old. And this is his first time in the league. But here's my question. And there was settling for three

is over just gone to the basket, which we'll see. - What a segue. What a setup. KG, it can't be the case. It can't be the case that the spurs

want Victor shooting a third, taking a third of his attempts from three. It just can't be the case that they prefer that. It doesn't make any sense. - He wants it, they want it.

- 20 attempts, eight or a point of time. - I don't know why he's so afraid of foul on jumpers.

It feels like I always think they're going in,

like that little spot like between the foul line and the top of the key. And when you talk about, he doesn't have a shot yet. The shot should be like a running jump hook or some sort of, yeah.

I'm sticking my arm up in the air and kind of just flicking it down. But that's the thing, he's 22 and five years. Think of all the great players over the years who ever year they added something to their game.

So he's going to add something.

“I think how stands to your question about what's this move?”

Like, I actually think it's that hard role to the basket with his hand up and the alley-oop. And what the nicks were started to do during the series is they're shoving them. - You they are.

- They're basically committing the foul before the touches it. So it's not a shooting foul. And they must have done that five times today. - Totally. - We're the shoving them off balance

and she's about to get the dunk versus fouling them as he's getting the dunk. And it was smart, they've done, I think the nicks have won every challenge. They've had in the series that's another one.

They're just like really well coached. Now it didn't seem like that in the first quarter when they weren't playing defense and get in their asses kick. But yeah, it's just a smart cerebral team. And it comes down to plays like that Fox play.

Fox, not dribbling out the clock. OG realizing he might actually go for the layup and somehow blocking it, not fouling them. And then you're in the play and they're in. - From a wed team point.

- Kirk, I hate to frame it this way and then I'm gonna do anyway. - No, maybe this is the one I need to be kicked into the nuts. It's hard as possible and this will make me stronger for the long-term loss that seemingly all grade athletes have.

- Yeah, I mean, that's the law, right? That's the conventional wisdom. I'm still not ready to give up on this series, but if they lose, there's no question that the 90% free throw shooter go into the line

for the most important free throws of a season

and go in over to in that situation. That's in between the ears bill. And yeah, I think he has-- - He's a great free throw shooter. That's 90% of the problem.

- He said 90% and it's just like that made it worse 'cause I thought I know he's tired, but he's great at this. He's gonna make these and didn't make you there. - Yeah, and then Castle goes up and makes them.

And I feel like there is, you can say those just random numbers. I don't believe that.

“I think there was a poise and a fatigue thing.”

And that's the other thing, as Victor is not the most, he doesn't have the endurance of somebody like Steph and Curry or these great players we've seen, who've worked on their physiques and their conditioning for years

and gotten to the point where at the end of the fourth quarter, a game's exactly like this. Steph and Curry's gonna be the one who's in the best shape running around, making his jumpers, hitting those exact kinds of free throws.

And it does look like it to me that Victor has a conditioning challenge ahead of him too and these like games were kind of prove it. - Well, think about Steph. When did he had all the ankle stuff

and wasn't really until like year four or year five when he started around into who he is house? What do you think the gambling line and the series is right now, yet to guess? - Oh, whatever it opened that, but flipped.

The spurs were two to one favorites, is it more than that now? - Yes, oh, oh, okay. - They're factoring in the Chocola that happened tonight. (laughing)

- No, not as 400, all right. - Yeah. - Wow. - That sounds right. I mean, two days off, so. - All right, so if you're the spurs, let's watch.

- Let's go through this if you're the spurs. Get two days off, you don't put to Saturday or you're going home. You led all four games in the final two minutes.

“And I think you let three of them in the final minute.”

You had two of the most memorable last minute collapses in the recent history of the finals with Wemby throwing the pass-off castles back in game two

and then basically everything that happened

in the last couple minutes of this. And, you know, you could talk yourself into. All right, come on, one game in a time, we can play with these guys. This team's not better than us.

They haven't really beaten us yet. We've led double figures in every game. We've had leads of like 17 and 29. And, you know, let's just, let's just play our game. Don't get carried away.

But what does Mitch Johnson do differently other than maybe not playing Wemby that many minutes? - I think they got to just do what they, they were playing so much better than the next for, but that's for now.

- That's for now. - Yeah, for an hour. - What does he do differently?

I don't know, I think one of the things

“that I wanted to see, you sort of brought it up earlier”

and it doesn't have to be Harper, but like, pick on Jalen Brunson on defense. Like, yeah. You have these three ferocious attack guards. Deer and Fox, maybe not as ferocious as normal.

He's still dinged up. But could we, could we pick on Brunson on defense? Where him out? - So you wouldn't pick on OG and Enobi. That's one of your, one of your change.

- I wouldn't pick on OG and Enobi. - Right, right, right, right back down. Her Josh Hart or Bridges is good, like, but yeah, I would try to get cat and fowl trouble on purpose and I would attack with my fleet of attack guards.

I would isolate and attack Jalen Brunson and drive situations.

- Well, and very, very quietly,

that was the impact of castle getting into foul trouble. - Yeah, it was Champenny, who was out there. Champenny got the majority. It got 33 minutes to count. - He's 26. - And he killed them tonight.

- Yeah. - At least offensively. And that's somebody that was huge for them in the okay season. - And one more point. - And I carried over. - One more point. - When the spurs won their only game in the series,

guess who was in foul trouble? Jalen Brunson, 'cause they were attacking him. He got those four fouls and he had to sit out. And that was a huge factor. And the next without Brunson on the floor are completely guardable.

And it's almost like the only time I've seen somebody really expose one defender this playoffs. Like I would try to do if I were Miss Champen was the next going after Hardenover and over and over and over again in that series. - Yeah.

- I would like to see a really sort of aggressive targeting of Jalen Brunson on defense by these guards. - I'm trying to remember our other famous last minute collapses like this and another one that has come up a few times over the last two X was that 95 magic

with the four Miss Free Thrust. Now that was like Nick Anderson foreigner. That was more abrupt. The game was over, it goes in over time. And then I actually went back and watched it

after we talked about it in the last pot.

“And I think Hakine gets a tip in with under a second left”

and OT to win it and that young team cratered. There was a feeling maybe that would happen this spurs after game two didn't happen. And Wendy is one of the most confident young stars we've ever had and he could just say,

"Look, man, I got worn out. I was trying to do everything. I was going nuts." But I still feel like I'm the best player in the series. So no castle found trouble.

Wendy responds, what else do you need house? More Dylan Harper? - Well, I will say this. To KG's observation earlier. The short turnaround time going from a Monday game

to a Wednesday game, we don't have any more of those. Over the balance of this series, we go Saturday, Tuesday, Friday, I think is game sets. - Yes. - So with that cadence, for sure that's a step

in the right direction for Wendy. But I mean, honestly, the way these games have played out, I don't think that there are big moves to be made. I mean, the spurs were right there. The difference is knocking down two more shots

in the fourth quarter and they will be driven out the clock. - Yes. - Any last notes, Kirk? - Yeah, I would tell people all week, like, well, I have a question for you.

But it's like these teams are very close. And it's almost like if we flip the coin together seven times and heads one, five of them will be like,

But here's my question for you, Bill Simmons, 'cause you're the greatest sports writer of our time, but you're retired. - I have to write, I have to write the game five,

“look ahead, so I think Joe has a lot of these indulge.”

If the sports guy had the assignment that I have at your website, TheRinner.com for tomorrow, what are we thinking for game five? - Your Bronson defense when Castle can stay in the court is working.

I don't know what we haven't seen, like this is the, I love coming on after these games, but not knowing what some of the advanced stats are. I'd love to know the on-off when Castle's out there when he's not against Bronson,

'cause it feels like when Castle's out there gets Bronson, he has a hard time looking like Bronson. - Right.

- So that would be the first thing is like,

hey, Castle, just try to stay in the game for us because you're our best chance for this. Harper, the more he has the ball, Adlibbing, doing Harper stuff, I just feel like they're in a better position.

I'm not giving OG that corner three anymore. I'm just not, if I have to give up other stuff, that's fine, but it's just going in every time now, and if it doesn't go in, he's beating somebody down the baseline

and creating something else. Like you have to start treating him,

“I think, like take him a little more seriously.”

I'm not afraid to anyone on that next bench. Nick Bride and Shamet have gone sideways. Alvarado came up big, but he was really like the last guy that could put out there. And this hasn't felt like it's the series for Mitch.

And then just hope, keep trying to challenge talents and hope he does dumb stuff.

That third valley had was really stupid.

Like, you know, that was a classic Minnesota town's foul. So I don't know, what else would you add house? - Nothing, I mean, in terms of the narrative, the interesting thing to me is what we got in that second half is the version of the Nick's each time they had

a closeout game in front of them. They go on teams, you know, that was 58 to 30. Well, guess what? We watched that against Atlanta. We watched that against every time this Nick's team

had a chance to close somebody up. And so that's the fascinating thing to me. This is a closeout game against a team that is entirely different character than the Eastern conference teams of the Nick's went up against.

And just ran them off the floor. I honestly love the spurs. Now, I don't know that the line's gonna open up at what it's been spurs at home. Four and a half, five and a half, something like that.

I'm not gonna lay the points out of respect to the Nick's,

“but I don't think that's the best way to win.”

- It's the smell of a Tony Brothers game. - No! (laughs) You win, you got the whiff. - I smell fouls. (laughs) Oh, I just smell another foul. (laughs) - Yeah, it feels like this would be a Tony special.

We also haven't seen Foster, do I? - That's what I thought. - I guess what's that we're gonna say. But maybe we save him for game six at the garden, a chance for him to be under the bright lights a Broadway and do his thing. - Wow.

- Excendor. - Off the hook. Trump, who I think if the Nick's a boss this game too, I think the New York City fan base H and of Trump would have gone to this level

that is would have never been seen before.

And then Josh Hart would have been the other one if they lose that game, like we mentioned. That's, he's immediately taken a seat. Next to Charles Smith, with one of the worst moments in Nick's history.

And the other irony of it is Nick's fans love Josh Hart. So of all people, and it looked like he was gonna dunk, but then realized his steps are too far away and couldn't do it. So, all right, so how's things to spurs

are still alive and gave five? I think I agree, but I don't think they can beat the next three times in a row. I don't think about some sort of injury or something weird happening.

If these are the teams that everyone's healthy, I don't see the next losing three times in a row. - If obviously they win game five, game six will be fascinating. I mean a chance to win the NBA championship

in Madison Square Garden and Manhattan with this fan base. That's a lot of pressure. It's gonna be one of the most electric NBA games in the history of the league if that happens. But yeah, I could see a path

for the spurs but certainly like I said earlier. You're down three won. You had chances to win at least three of these games yourself. It's just we've seen too many of these series built to really have faith in the spurs at this point.

All right, guys, I think we covered everything. I'm amazed we were all coherent. And especially like knowing that the spurs were a young team prone to do this and knowing that the Dix love coming back.

- Yeah. - If the win the game was 29,

but I felt like they missed there.

It was like it became a Salatza the third game

where it was like the Dix missed their chance a couple times when they were getting it to 15, 14. And then somebody who had three and it was like, oh, this could have been a great comeback. And then all of a sudden the fourth quarter

when Wendy got tired of flipped and that was that. All right, I'm sure we missed 17 things, but her gold's very Joe House appreciates you guys. We're going to take a break. Come back, I have a little mini mail bag

for the audience right after this. - The Bill Simmons podcast is brought to you by Fandel USA fans. We got one for you. Fandel dropping a massive USA super boost for the matchup on Friday against Paraguay.

Right now, all customers can win up to $25. If the USA has won plus shot, one plus shot on goal, that's it. Whether it comes early or late from outside the box, right in front of the goal, every attack

will feel a little bit bigger. You're just gonna be rooting for one shot, to get on the net, back to USA, get in on this huge super boost for kickoff. Visit phandel.com/bs to get started right now.

- 20 on plus select states are 18 plus DC, contact your Wyoming Restrictions PiC terms at sportsbook.fandler.com, game problem call 1-800-Gamebar call 888-789. 777-777 or visit ccpg.org/chat, Connecticut. This episode is brought to you by a holiday in by IHG

from Ever Traveling for Work, which I try not to travel too often, but I do travel for work.

“And where I stay is super, super important.”

I like an easy check-in process. I like to be able to hang up all my stuff really quickly. I like a TV with a remote control that can do some stuff. I'm pretty easy for the most part,

but I like to feel like it's just a nice place. This sounds like you check out how it is. Has a whole new energy, especially for business travelers. You'll see it everywhere from refresh rooms to reimagine social spaces

and dining done right with new drinks, and dishes, and for business, there are flexible spaces that work for the way you work. It's a new day, it's a new stay. Look now at holiday and.com.

All right, we're new a little mini mailbag here because I'm not gonna have another podcast until Saturday night. So I want to give some content for the next couple days. This mini mailbag, the segment sponsored by new era.

And you guys sent me some great questions

as always, you can send them to BS [email protected].

Thanks for all the nice notes and nice things people say. It gives me faith in society that we're still nice people. Couple thoughts here on home court advantage. So we'll start there, Harrison from Cincinnati. When I was talking about with Mahoney

“about why does an home court advantage matter like it used to?”

Harrison from Cincinnati said, what about dating apps? Players no longer need to go to a bar, or club to pick up girls in the road anymore. Now they can just hop on a top dating app like Ry

or check their Instagram DMs and invite someone to their hotel room without needed a drink or stay out late. Maybe this is the single biggest reason of the downfall of home court advantage.

I wanted to laugh at this and then I was thinking about how players probably met people in the '90s and the '2000s versus how they'd be now. And it's probably a way easier to be more discreet and meet people without having to actually go out

in the general public and stay up late and do all that stuff. So keep me rolled out.

Jalen Rose and I always used to have a joke

when athletes would get into a town and they would say on Twitter, they would be landing in Miami and they'd be like, what's good by Ami? And then you would just get all these DMs

from whoever that knew you were in Miami. Yeah, maybe that is part of it. Maybe people are out until five in the morning or clubs anywhere. Oliver from Chicago once and it was a possible athletes

are just better at handling the pressure. They're bigger stronger faster over the time as a possible they've also improved that handling their pressure and emotions too. This is follow from Jake from Minneapolis.

What about the impact sports psychologists have on modern players? Top prospects for crutes college players all work with professional psychologists, went to health experts, whoever,

preparing to play in these type of environments big games handle the backlash. The impact of mental health to me is the most coherent difference from 30, 50 years from now.

“It's tough 'cause I remember doing an interview”

with Adam Subarth's song conference when he said actually he was the most worried he'd ever been about the mental health of players 'cause his social media and people being online all the time and the tribalism of social and how fast people

can mobilize against somebody or try to make them look bad. Not to mention AI and all the other things. So to me, that's an even out. I wouldn't say that as a factor.

But I do wonder maybe some of the psychology of sports were getting a little better about handling adversity. Maybe that's a little better. This is a theory from Nick from Cleveland with all the AE teams these guys have played

They're constantly waking up, driving three hours, playing for six hours coming home. Eat McDonald's breakfast, get back in the car, drive it somewhere else. In eight, thirty finals game after day off

is a walk in the park compared to what they probably dealt with for 10 years along with proper sleep nutrition makes sense to me that they're better. Not against that, there's definitely your bouncing around more and a gym is a gym after a while.

This is the big one, a couple of people brought this up with the refs because I mentioned with Mahoney like you really felt like you could sway the refs, especially there was two for a long time in the 70s and 80s.

“I can't remember when they went to three.”

There was blood in the air. There were just outright. You can watch some of the stuff on YouTube. There were just some sub-games that you just can't believe how one side of the officiating ones,

which is so much harder to do now in the air of social media. I really feel like in the 2000s this shifted

with from what was going on basically from 1999

through the Miami Dallas series in '06, then Donnie happens in '07. And all of a sudden we got way better at kind of monitoring what was going on with refs. So there is it before after with that.

And then Mitchell Eppner says, "What about video review?" Not just in game requests for replays, but the constantly in the NBA refs get from legal offices and calls it got right, wrong. They have the performance report after the games

and they're hammering down on them left and right. Maybe the refs are just better at calling stuff. Well, don't tell the next fans this after a game three, even though we're taking this before a game four. But it's possible.

“I think it's way harder to have a completely terrible”

one-sided ref room performance than it was and there's probably more accountability for a variety of reasons. And Byron, a pacer fan. And this is a tough playoff to watch.

You put in a pretzay said, "You can't affect refs nearly as much now 'cause bad calls will be reviewed and made right. You can't be terrible home or refs 'cause it'll be graded and scrutinized by everybody."

So the refs are a piece of it. I think the travel, the more I thought about it, I think the travel is the number one thing that it's just easier than it was in the 70s and 80s. The refs are more consistent.

I mentioned the shooting motions with Rob, but it's a weird one, but there's just less variance everybody shoots the same. And then the three pointers is the other one, where the three pointers can swing any game possible.

So interesting topic. Patrick Frank and Rode in about, he's a Milwaukee fan and him and his fellow buck fans who now obsessed with that 82-in-oh game, which I'm sure people have that's taken over

the Internet the last seven, eight days, where you make these teams and you try to go 82-in-oh and you spin it and there's the science to it. The best I've ever done is 80 and 2. I really get, now I do the harder one

where you don't get to look at the stats and get two spins,

but I've just never pulled off the 82-in-oh and it's,

when now that the finals is about to go into a break for a couple days, I'm gonna make a more concerned effort. But Patrick says, over the last two weeks, two guys have dominated our group chat. Truck for Avacid and World Beef Free.

Truck 'cause of his awesome name and insane stat lines from the late '70s, we're now down at YouTube rabbit hole of watching truck highlights, including a 1978 game against the spurs, we're scored 39.

And then he said World Beef Free, awesome name for the purpose of 82-in-oh, average 29 and 30 in the '78, '79 seasons we get to share the cookers. None of us knew these guys existed prior to the game.

My question is, can you spend two minutes breaking down

“one of their careers where they good stats bad team guys?”

Could they have better career and right team? He came to the right place. I can't think of anyone in the planet who's more excited to answer this question. So, Truck for Avacid and he used to be Lloyd Free,

he changed his name to World Beef Free. Lloyd Free was on the sixers. Truck for Avacid was on the bullets. Both of them played in the finals. Truck for Avacid and 75 finals.

And Lloyd Free, 77 finals, they were bench guys with better players ahead of them. And then they got traded and their stats went way up. And Truck had one of the craziest stats seasons. I think of anyone in the history of the league

compared to when you look at the rest of their career. Where he averaged, he went to Washington. He signed a free agent contract. I want to say with like Atlanta, but somehow ended up at New Orleans at one point.

And put up 23 and 15 for an entire year

in the 70th season was first team on B.A.

And this was a big stretch for power forwards where this was when we had the fight with Kermit Washington. They were yet Morris Lucas, George McGinnis, Kermit Washington, you had Truck for Avacid.

Just a lot of big physical power forwards

Buck Williams eventually came in the league. And Truck was probably the best rebounder of all of them. Now, as a kid, I don't think I ever saw him play who's barely ever in the playoffs would pat, he was in the wrong conference,

but he ended up getting traded again to Phoenix.

“And I think 79 playoffs made the Western finals with them”

and they lost to Seattle. So he was in the mix in real games. And then in '81, they lost to the Kings, but now is a team that Sunsteen maybe could have made the finals too. He was good though, he was a banger, super physical,

really good rebounder, and an up with the Nike poster. The road before he, I was way more focused on as a little kid, going from being just the ultimate damn waiters type guy on Philly, goes to the Clippers and just 29 a game,

the first year, 30 a game, the second year,

and was really fun to watch in person. You think like, now he would probably bomb, I don't know, 10th or he's a game, nobody that three-point line didn't show up till 1980. But with him, he first thought he was bald,

but it was one of those bald that had hair in the back, so he looked for these things. He had this weird body, he had like kind of known neck and strong arms, and this really cool jump shot, and was just this really physical scoring guard

that could score in anybody. And was a classic, like if you played at the Clippers, world-be-freak could just put up 47 and beat you by himself, no matter what team you were. The Celtics, the last great run he had,

the Celtics had a four-game series in '85 against him. And it was a great Larry Bird series, but he went toe-to-toe with World B, and World B finally kind of had a playoff moment.

He never really from the moment went to,

when he left Philly, was just never in the mix for the playoffs. So has this whole career, it's pretty league pass, it's pretty Twitter, but he was cool.

“And his Nike post, I think, is one of the hardest ones to get.”

So these guys, like I'm not surprised, they're finally having an 82-in-o moment when there was a micro league basketball. These were two of the seasons that were always great seasons, 'cause how many guards have averaged 30 a game?

So anyway, I'm glad, congratulations to truck and to world. That also the insanity of somebody changing their name from Lloyd-free to World B free, like it gives you a sense of what kind of character he was. Cody from Bloomington, Indiana, said how being Adam Friedland

discussed the nets having no identity had a break into the city. And wondered if it could be like the Italian rivalry between Inter and AC Milan, where he thinks the net strategy should be to go in only on international players. He said, Inter and AC Milan have a deep rivalry

initially based on AC Milan wanting to have primarily Italian players and Inter, hope I'm saying that right. Why to bring in international players? Cause more of a class divide between fans,

Inter fans being part of the bourgeois, Milan fans would be a little more working class, the sense great, I didn't know any of this stuff. But he said how lifelong New Yorkers will as being nick fans.

So maybe the nets should cater to the multi-cultural aspects of the city and go with an all-in-all international team.

“Honestly, best I'd have heard for the nets all decade.”

You're not gonna beat the nicks conventionally,

you're never gonna get the city to care about them.

If this whole last two months did it tell you once and for all that you're a second class citizen, you might be like a fifth class citizen. I like the international player. I'm gonna pass that on for the size so I don't know.

James was saying how, when I, we were talking about how Chet had to go to the Australian Outback, I forget who was on that podcast, like Dirk The Witzke, to get his game back. And he was saying, here are my three options for him.

A month in the Amazon rainforest, climb Mount Everest. He could be the tallest person ever to climb Mount Everest. And then he said in bed himself in a Ukrainian drone factory, learn from the experts about protecting home court,

learn in underdog mentality and just garner some incredible goodwill. I thought about this Chet thing. I'm not sure he's at that Dirk Point yet, the more I think about it. Guess what, Wemby's destroying everybody.

He needs to figure out this summer, I would advise him not to go on vacation, but he needs to figure out how to get his three point shot off faster so that when he plays Wemby, he can go in the corner and release a shot

faster than Wemby can come out and challenge a shot. Now it would be my advice. I'm not ready for him to go to a Ukrainian drone factory yet, but maybe where you're away. Eric Moore wants to know is Brunson's dad,

the most embarrassing parent in ProSports right now. So, I mean, this was Levar, Levar Ball's title for ever. This would be a really fun championship belt

most embarrassing parent championship belt holder year by year. There's been some classics. Brunson's dad, so I go back and forth on this 'cause I thought it was really lame when he crossed mid court.

Nobody else said, first of all,

“you're not allowed to cross mid court in your coach, right?”

It's mid court line only, but when Fox and Brunson got into it earlier in the series and Rick Brunson walks all the way over and just kind of became a dad. It was like watching somebody in a 10-year-old AYSO game,

getting upset at the rest of just to make her walk in the field. And then started to talk and shit to Fox and the announcer's kind of let it go. I thought it was pretty embarrassing actually. I thought it was weird.

Counter though, I think Brunson might be the enforcer of this next team. He might, you know, they don't really count. He ain't an OB, Macau Bridges, Brunson, Josh Hart,

it gets a little feisty sometimes. Mitchell Robinson can throw some elbows, but if there was ever like a bra,

I feel like Rick Brunson would be the first guy in it.

So in some ways, it's a little embarrassing that he still behaves like he's coaching in a 11-year-old AYSO team with a son. On the other hand, he might be the toughest guy in the bench. So I think Lavar Ball still has his title.

Adam from Waterloo, Ontario, says, I talked about the prolonged misery title belt about how the next or probably the most miserable team with the most fans, Toronto's and their two. And Adam points out, there's really a ton of parallels

for the next and the Leafs. A title draw out of 50 plus years, center of the universe for their respective sport, having to do what they're fact that their biggest rival is actually the more decorated franchise.

The Celtics and the Habs. So the Celtics for the next and in the Canadians, one of my least favorite franchises, I'm so excited that you'll win this year. For the Maple Leafs, how the Leafs have even endured

their own Dolan-esque batshit owner situation, go ahead and Google Harold Ballard. Pretty good Google. The Leafs are at least 20% of the reason that will our net still smoke cigarettes.

Can't speak to that. And then he said, my favorite part of this email

“is that you have to acknowledge the Celtics”

or the Habs of the NBA. I think this is a great parallel. And even though Toronto doesn't have as many fans and they have the generations of fans like the next do, the city's not as big as New York,

but it's one of the biggest Canadians cities. And if they ever really got into the finals, the way the next did with a good team that had a chance to win, I think we'd be running all of the same check marks that we're running

with the next right now. So I like that. I didn't really like your joke about the Celtics being the Habs of the NBA, something like knowing that. This is a good one from Jeffrey Thompson.

Oh, no, I'm sorry. This is from Michael and Los Angeles than the next one from Jeffrey Thompson. I feel like anytime a role player is a good game in the playoffs, everyone's too quick

to anointed as the blank game.

Well, it's crucial goes off against the spurs.

It's already the crucial game. Luke Cornett makes a game altar block. It's the Luke Cornett game. Not really. We said in the moment, but he said,

which the blank games do you think stand the test of time? What's in the running for the best? The blank game, along with Jordan's flu game. I put some thought into this. I'm gonna give us some thought starters

and I'm not ready to have a final list yet, but just off the top of my head, these were the 10 that came to mind for games. The Robert Horry game. Now, he's the king of this.

I wrote a whole column about this free SPN that I then kind of turned into the Robert Horry chapter

“in my book about the best thing about Robert Horry is,”

if you said, oh, yeah, the Robert Horry game. You wouldn't know which game you were talking about. It could have been the shot he made against Sacramento. It could have been that unbelievable barrage of points that he scored in game five against Detroit

when we were sheet fouled them at the end, which was one of the dumbest plays of the century. But he had multiple Robert Horry games, but he's a good one. The Steve Kyrr game, 2003 Dallas Game Six,

Steve Kyrr, it's like a sports movie. Steve Kyrr, barely playing anymore comes in, hits four, three, and it's great. And it's the Steve Kyrr game. You know that one immediately.

The Bennett Salvatore game, game five, 2006 finals. Yeah, the OJ game, not OJ Mayo, OJ Simpson, game five out of the 1994 finals. That's a really good one, because that was the car chase split screen.

The Jair Smith game, game one, 2018. Derek Fisher game. There might be some people pushing for a game four of the finals against Orlando. I think it was game four when I think it was Rave for Austin.

Maybe Jamir Nelson, one of those guys

with nine seconds left and the makers are down three.

“Some of the worst defense of that decade.”

But the Derek Fisher game is a zero point four seconds shot against the spurs. The heat game, this is for Boston fans only. This was game five of the 1984 finals when it was 100 plus degrees in Larry Bird somehow.

Wasn't, wasn't faced by the elements. The Jason Terry game underrated. Game five, 2011 Dallas, when he hits, I think, the number one he checks shot I've ever seen in person.

They have the lead, there's like 30 seconds left. Either way, or LeBron, I haven't seen it a while. Way to LeBron gets switched on him. And the shot clock's running down a little bit, but he's maybe four feet behind the line.

And just says fuck it and takes this three and makes it and the crowd absolutely lost their shit. The map's fans know what I'm talking about. This was, as great as that, Derek was that whole time and it was the dirt and that's it.

He's the story from that. Jason Terry making that three, you could argue it was the greatest moment in map history.

It was so incredible to be there for that.

And I still can't believe he took it. Because we love Jason Terry, but it wasn't like he was the best guy in the team. It was like, I'm not even sure Kobe would have taken this and he was just like, fuck it, I'm taking it.

But I love that one. So that's the Jason Terry game for me. And then you have the flu game and then you have the R test melee, which is in the R test game.

But those were the 10 that jumped to mind for me. The flu game is still the number one. Biggest impact, most famous blank the game are the blank game and really important to the Jordan legacy. Jeffrey Thompson sent us before a game three.

He said if the spurs win game three and whatever happens after is bad for the next, will we call it the Trump game? Yes. If the next lose this series, which, you know,

we're doing this midway through the series,

“but I think the Trump game will rise into that group”

that I just mentioned. Well, you'll know immediately what the Trump game was. Elias Posi from Milwaukee says, you mentioned comparisons between cat and various players and how they turned their careers around

improbable and became impactful playoff guys. I did that on Sunday's pun. I think you missed an obvious parallel. Paul Gassal to towns. Very town to big man questions about their ability

to be top level championship guys. You pair them up with all time leaders, clutch guys, Jaylin, we've thrown them in there. And through proximity, that guy levels up in a true number two option.

Maybe not as many questions with Paul, but I think that's the closest comp. I think that's great. I'm mad at myself that I didn't think of that. You forget after the 2008 finals,

even after the trade and they made the finals with them, there were still questions about are you? Is Pau tough enough to be the guy, the number two guy in a title team? Is this a good enough wingman for Kobe?

So, and he's shed that. And I still, I'm gonna duck the Laker fans are gonna get so mad. There was a real case for Pau to be the 2010 finals MVP. I'm already in the record.

I always think the best player in a team

should win unless they're an absolute disaster, but I thought Pau is awesome in that series. And if we're gonna do the Iguadala Curry thing or we're gonna do the Jaylin Brown overtake them thing. And that's just our mentality with pickin' finals MVPs

that we're not bringing in.

“Who's the best player who has the biggest responsibility?”

I thought Pau's one game seven. Like that series came down on one game and Pau going against KG, who admittedly wasn't the same KG after the surgery and no Kendrick Perkins, Rashid Wallace playing 35 minutes,

basically passing out on the court. Pau bullied us that game. And I sat behind the basket second half, he bullied us. And he's the reason I thought they won game seven, so. Yeah, that town's versus Pau, good one.

Corey wants to know from Kelona, Kelona. If you could put Wembin Yamma on any team from the past, who would you pick? Just for fun. And he said, as a British Columbia guy

I'm biased towards Steve Nash, put Wembin on those sunsteams. And I think it would have been unbelievable, he said. You could also just put them on the Jordan Bull's Courage Drive. Well, that's not fun. I was thinking 80s, Lakers, if you put him,

if you just time machine Tim in for a career for the 87 and 88 teams, what that would look like. This is a very strange question. Yeah, but Steve Nash, maybe maybe the answer Steve Nash, trying to think of centers that it just would have,

And tough question, you broke my brain with that one. A much more ready to talk about world-be-free and truck Robinson. A net, H and Oakland wants to know, I listen to your podcast with Mahoney, you detailed all the finals at BPs with funky results.

Igudala, Tony Parker, Jalen Brown. Why don't replace, why don't we replace finals at BP with playoffs at BP? playoffs at BP with clear above this. I pushed for this hard in my book.

And I even laid out who all the playoffs at BPs would be. And I have a document that has all of it out and it's very helpful. Like the ultimate example of this is Tim Duncan in 2007. If you handed out a playoffs at BP, he wins.

He was the most important player in that team.

He should have won. And there's no record because the finals at BP with Parker and that's all we had of him being the most important in that team. I would say that same for Tatum in 2024, by the way.

In general, I like having it. And I think there's some good arguments. Like 2015, the question would be could a losing player win this. 2015, you could make a case LeBron could have been the playoffs

MVP with everything he did that throughout the entire playoffs.

“But I'd like, here's the thing, who's not interested in this?”

I didn't really like the Eastern Western Conference finals at BPs because I think, I think giving out awards before the end of the championship, I think can screw a team up a little bit. I don't know if it was awesome for the 24 Celtics.

I don't like finals at BP because it's a small sample size, but I'm not against having it if we had playoffs at BP, too. And not only that, I would do what they do with the NSA,

where I would have my first team all playoff team at the end of the year,

because full point of this is you want to be able to look back at this 30 years from now and remember, like, oh, who was the best guy in the playoffs? Who was the best guy in the finals? Who were the best five guys in the playoffs?

And if you did it for these playoffs, you would have won Benjama and you would have J-Lim Brunson, you probably have towns, right? So there's three.

“I think you would have Stefan Castle as the fourth, and then who's the fifth if I was just picking”

like these are, because it doesn't just have to be guys who could be from the finals, right? Like maybe SGA is your fifth guy in that, or maybe it's, no, it's nobody from Cleveland. But anyway, I like that. I like when the more we can do to capture snapshots of a season, the more happen. And then the last question I got, just a lot of where's Janis going, where do you think he's going, is the trade going to happen before then?

I thought Boston was out of this. I know Boston was out of this, and I was wondering if they were playing possum or not. I think they were playing low possum. I think they're in on Janis. So I'm not rekindling what I said before. I don't really know the reasons for it. Maybe they felt like my aim is offered as an offer they could be.

Maybe they wanted to drive, maybe they want to drive the price of my aim is offered up, and then we don't actually have interest in him. But as I said over and over again, Janis is pushing for my aim or Boston, those are the two locations, and really wants to end up in Boston, because it would have the best chance to win a title.

“And I think Boston is not ruling out the idea. It is my intel.”

And in general, I'm prepared for anything of Boston now. I think you could basically say, I'm prepared. It goes back to the Brad Stevens speech right after the Filly series. When he was really mad about the result and really questioning whether this was the right style and whether they needed to be in the paint more. And I wonder if they're going to use this opportunity

with the assets they have, with the $27 million trade exception, to completely change what this

team looks like. So who knows, they might not do anything, but I thought they were sitting out this year on a thing, and I no longer think that. That's all I'm going to say. We're going to take a break. We're going to come back with cousin Sal in anything in the Bunda, and we're going to talk Roka. - You're completely wrong. - No. A few photos of the low-stoe,

look at the market and look at it. - It's very good.

fresh, and delicious food from Aldi. - Always good. - Always good. - Always good.

“- Cut, say, fresh for all. - To Aldi Price. This week, Rotte Tafel is from Germany.”

It's 2 Kilo for just €1.79 or mini-roma-rispentomaten 300 grams for just €1.11. In a decade, there are many other shops in the Aldi North, for Yale and Wyttergeet, one-fuck Louchen, and Genießen. Aldi. - Good, good for all. - All right. The world cup is here. Anthony DeBundo is in Los Angeles, cousin Sal was also in Los Angeles. Some other not together, but they are.

They're in a gambling show, and we have the world cup. - Wait a minute. - You are not there either. - I'm not there either. - You're gonna be with DeBundo. - I thought it was the first and only. - I thought it was the first and only. - I was going to be everybody else's. - So upset, he's like, "Why did they put me on a bus to stay in a hotel and vlog three blocks from Skid Row? What am I doing? No one comes to see him."

He's a game now lay, I'm staying downtown, and I'm like, "Okay, they're going to go to Hollywood,

“do you go to the Second World Studio?" I'm like, "Great, can't wait to see it."”

- Sal, what time you coming in? - He said, "Come and then." - I'm not doing that. - Then I have to get lunch with you. - No way. We have them in Skid Row working on ballots sending in for ramen to try to lock down the second place.

Guys, the world cup is here. It's six weeks. Sal, you always get really sad after the MBA

finals, and then you make some MBA draft bets, and then you talk yourself into Wimbledon, and then you lose some bets on that, and then July is just a wasteland for you. But now you have woke up every day, basically, and then my favorite thing about you is you pretend you know what's going on in the world cup. The button actually knows who has the bigger advantage. You are a Dabundo. You bandwagon soccer fan coming in, or Dabundo, who's thought about this way too much.

- Oh, I would hope that he has the advantage. I mean, I'm actually excited for him. He has never, he's gone on record saying he's never been this excited for an event. He told me in private, he hasn't been this excited since the first time a woman touches P. Should deal with these like six weeks ago, so it's a fifth and eight. - April 27th. He said he had a date. - No, it's good for you,

Dabundo. - Dabundo, what's your favorite thing about this? Is it America,

rooting for the host country, or the bets? - It's just everything surrounding the world. It's the fact that once the games kick off, we don't have to talk about FIFA, we don't have to talk about ticket prices, we don't have to talk about all the kind of disastrous stuff that's happened in the lead up to this world cup. We get to talk about the games, the culture. I mean, all the videos that are coming out. You got this German guy who's like doing a tour of the American South, and he's

he's got a huge following, just going to fast food places and sporting events. And people are like, this is so cool. You've got people in Kansas who are like, we're so happy to root for Algeria, because they they chose to come stay with us in Lawrence, Kansas, right? So that is the beauty of this tournament. Is that at the end of the day, we're all coming together to watch sports. And like, yes, of course, be rooting for my bets. I'll be adopting other countries, hoping the U.S. doesn't

let us down, but there's just so much to get excited about for this. - So who do you root for now that it at least not involved? - I know. I know. - We lost our own country. - Yeah, if we did lose our home country, and I'll rope for the U.S. But let's get it off the table. It's not a good bet to U.S. futures. I'm sorry, because every book, it's like the biggest liability if U.S. wins. Like this is this is betting counter McGregor against Floyd, right? Like this is

that the every line should be different. The bundle might wrong about that. They adjusted? - No. - We're not going to win the World Cup. We're not going to win the World Cup. - And if we did win the World Cup, I said this in Sweden last week to a few of our other soccer fans at the

“ringer. I think I might be dumb with sports. If we win the World Cup, dumb with soccer. There's no reason.”

There's nothing that will ever top that in soccer. So I might even hang it around. I'm done. - Well, we don't have to worry about it. - We don't have to worry about it. It's not happening. - We don't. - It's not really rooting for it. I want the bundle to be dumb with soccer. It's great. - We'll start with that. All of these bets are on Fando or all these odds. USA to make the final 16 is minus 130, which seems high to me. Like really that's better than even odds that the USA is

we win the 16 teams left. Do you buy that one at all? That seems like a bad price. - If we just talked about this on the ringer gambling show, actually. I do think that we're at the point now with the US men's national team, where maybe everybody's a little too down on them. - Oh, exactly. - I'm going to use that game. This is exciting. - I'm making the case. I'm making the case. - They have not really lived up to the hype

of this golden generation. And people have had a whole hundred-think pieces and theories on why it is that the US hasn't been what we all hoped they would be. But the number one reason is that this group of players, this core group, you can talk about the heart, all these other things. They have not been healthy. Tyler Adams, Christian Policic, Western McKenney, Serginio Dests, all these key players for the Americans have missed a ton of soccer over the last four years

with a full-strength team in the last four years. And it's still fragile, but the team that they're rolling up with on Friday night against Paraguay is about as healthy as they're going to be. Chris Richard is still in doubt, but looks like he's going to start. So why not the United States? This is still the most talented group. They have a system that I think works in this back

three that Pachchino adopted. They have a ton of pressing energy and right now, for at least the first

game, they're healthy. In a group that's pretty winnable, I'm buying, I'm buying the US. That's awesome. Well, I think that number that you just read minus 130, it probably should be plus 140. I think people are betting out of their minds here. And let's look at Friday night, like USA is minus 110. Are they going to give free money out Friday night? Like everybody looks at

“that. Oh, what a convenient number, minus 110. That's what we all deal with. It's a coin flip game.”

That's got draw written all over the bundle. You know what does. Yeah, we've got to go through. I still don't understand the soccer betting. The three ads are minus 110 plus 240 and plus 330. Yeah. So plus, so one of those is the drop plus 240. We're betting like after 90 minutes. It's a tie game plus 240. Even south. I just want to bet that. And south of south is nothing more than betting on the things nobody else wants to bet on. Right. You can't even talk yourself in

a draw. You're the same person who bets on no buzzer beaters and march madness, which is the least fun bet in American human being can make. I don't even think you would bet on the draw. I wouldn't. What I like to do is with soccer because, you know, I love waking up and having money on something. So I'm a PL all year and everything. But I like the double chance and the bundle laughs at me. But I like to find a dance partner with the double chance, which means the US

either draws or wins. That's plus half a goal at minus 475. And then I parlay it with six other

“things that lose. So that's what I would do. It's not necessarily taking the draw, but it's covering”

yourself a little bit. One of my favorite parts of working with south the last year. So is that it'll be like a random Tuesday afternoon. And I'll be just at my desk or something. And I'll get a text from south. Real Madrid plus a half with like a money bag sign next to it. And like they scored like a

last second goal to tie, like three-third in the afternoon. And he's just locked in on Real Madrid.

Can you celebrate it? Oh, sister. Four more likes to. I've like three more. You have so you guys to win before I cash that parlay. But yeah. Yeah. It's a tough course. Well, the bigger gambling story with you guys is the French Open. I think bankrupt it both of you. Oh, terror. What happened to Claire from Bankruptcy to Bundo? Is it like the thing that you have to go through Spotify? Is it like an individual thing? How does it work? You tell me, Bill. I don't know. I

have to, uh, I got to text some Danny HiFFITs like three minutes after center lost. It goes, are you still liquid? I hadn't heard from HiFFITs in like a month and a half. He's been ducking my

“calls. Yeah. He's been busy. You know, I think he got married. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.”

Yeah. He's on his honeymoon now. It's the summer of HiFFITs. But he still managed to get an text to me that said, hey, uh, you still liquid after center just died in the heat. Barely, we are still liquid. Well, so you know more about tennis than literally any human being. I know, right? How did we not factor in the French Open gets super hot in this means anybody could die in the heat and who were the top five people most likely to die in the heat? Where was that conversation?

Because I know I didn't have it with the Bundo. Did he have it with anyone? No, we just chose to ignore it. Uh, this is what he does. He has all this knowledge. He knows the players and he waits for you to talk about a matchup and then he loves to correct you on the pronunciations of, oh, it's sweet on tack. It's not sweet. It's tack. It's doesn't end in there somewhere. It's like, screw you. You told me center at minus 275 was undervalued and I don't know if

it's freaking cramped up like my wife, uh, the third week of, you know, whatever. I don't want to get into it. But for God's sake, you're betting against cramps in these French Open. Yeah. Hot warm weather, uh, tournament. Well, really sounds like global warming is now changing the French Open that we once knew and that anybody could just, it could be 98 degrees and

somebody could just die. I've never seen the highlights of that center match were unbelievable.

And I don't know why you don't just retire when it gets to that point. You're basically just like a box or wobbling around falling into the ropes and all this stuff. All right, we digress. I mean, he's not the only one, too. There was a bunch of players. I mean, one player mentioned collapsed on the court. He had to be wheelchaired off and then he won his next match and then one another match into that. So, you know, Casper Roode had a, had a heat stroke went into the

locker room, came back and then won the match. So, I don't know. It's crazy. But global warming is the biggest threat to Yannick Center's tennis dynasty. No question. Um, all right, USA Paraguay Friday night. So, five stadium, Los Angeles, California. And basically they're saying USA is

What, what is the case for not making this bet to bundle, other than it's a sucker bed?

Paraguay is really good defensively. Uh, that's their calling card. They only give up 10 goals in South America during qualifying. Uh, they're a very defensively organized team with a ton of like pressing defensive energy. So, traditionally, the US has kind of struggled against these kind of teams, especially the South American ones, because what the US lacks is that deploying passer, that player who can make that special pass that unlocks a defense that's very tightly congested. But I will

say, and this is why I like the back three, they are freeing up Anthony Robinson and Sergio Dast who are traditionally fullbacks at the club level. They're playing more like as wingers

“almost essentially in this system. And I think Dast could be one of the keys to unlocking”

some of these, you know, more defensive teams, because he's so effective at getting in space on the right and then playing crosses in. He has a really good connection with Pulasik. They connected it to the last World Cup. They connected for the opening goal against Senegal and the friendly there. So, I think Dast is kind of one of the underrated X factors for them trying to break down a team that's going to make it as difficult as possible to score. So, I'm going to just end up

betting us, because I'm going to the game and I'm going for it. Um, I have to. So, your son, Jack, Hall of Fame, Zagger loves swimming against the stream more than anybody. It feels like him not rooting for USA has to be in play right now, right? What country has he picked? That's not America. He likes Cameroon. Of course. Yeah. I feel that's old news. I feel like that's a 90s world cup team that you act, but he's in. Cameron, did he get the jersey? He likes Cameroon. Yes,

there's something that there's the Amazon guys banging on our door right now. I'm sure there's some kind of Cameroonish item coming here. Is he aware that they're not in the world cup? No, I don't think he's done talent. Don't tell him. I'm the searching for the games. But it's only the first game. It's a game for four years. I'm on Pizzanitos waiting to see who he picks on the fly on Friday when he realizes they're not actually in. I'm going Sean O'Malley, a Sean O'Malley, you have say, parlaid with USA plus a half ago.

Oh, that gets it to like minus one seven years something stupid. Sean O'Malley with USA plus half a goal. Yeah. So USA has to score a goal. We could add something to it. No, they just have to they just need to not lose. No, we got you. So they're basically minus or plus zero point plus a

“house. Yeah, that's it. Yeah. So I know you've studied this probably way longer than you should have”

there's two different ways to look at who's going to win the world cup. One is who do you

think's going to win? And the second is what's the best value to bet on? You and I always tend to

gravitate toward value over the actual logical. Here's who we think's going to win. So what is your value pick for the world cup? My value pick believe it or not is Europe to win at minus 350. Europe, the whole continent. Yes, but they're laugh at these winters. This is a winner. You don't don't date right? I mean, we might get a lot of final four. You think when we could get an all European final four, right? Like a Portugal England Franc Spain, it should be one through four there.

And the bundle is taken Spain. After all this, after all the money Spotify's have to sent him out here, he's just taken the favorite after all this. But you could expand on it. It does feel like the cowards way out. I know I hate it. Also, their best player is not playing the tournament and has a hamstring injury grade two that he's coming back from.

So what we'll see what it looks like with the yamol when he gets into the tournament. But ultimately,

my process of elimination, I crossed off everybody else and was like, I guess I'm picking Spain. So who do I get with Europe at minus 350? Because the favorites right now, the top eight are Spain, France, England, Portugal, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Netherlands, and then Belgium and Norway after that. And we all know England's not winning the world cup. So you have Europe, but also knowing that they're, well, it is England. This is, this is, although maybe if the

next one, the finals, maybe, maybe now England is not in the table. Maybe anything's possible. But do you like that minus 350 to Bundo or no? You seem like you're scoffing at it.

“No, no, I do agree. I think the three best teams, and I think they're a small tier above the rest,”

our Spain, France, and England, England, I think is the best defense in the field. France is the most talented team in terms of just naming guys, but, you know, they're a squad that have kind of underperform their talent in terms of the eye test, the last few tournaments, especially at the euros, two years ago when France looked pretty undercooked. They struggled to create chances at that, and they had a lot of the same players they do now. And then last year at the nation's league,

and this is why I picked Spain over France. Spain and France have played each of the last two summers in the semi finals. At the euros, they beat them two to one, and France really couldn't

second half of that game. And then last year in the nation's league, Spain won five four, but it was five one. It was a total demolition until France scored a bunch of consolation goals in the last five minutes, ten minutes. So, Spain has kind of been dominating France the last couple of summers. I don't think that much has changed. Same managers, same midfields, similar attacks, you know, Lemini Mall is kind of the one big X-factor. If, if they play again in the semi finals,

I don't know how you wouldn't favor Spain over France. So, the biggest threat to minus 350 Europe is what? Argentina repeating. But you also aren't shorting them in the group. The stages, Brazil, and Argentina are just Brazil. I'm shorting Brazil, yeah. I think Morocco is somewhat live there. Yeah, Europe's good. Let's, let's get on that. Let's get some nice NFL money bundle together there. Simmons, we can get it. Can we parlay that with the Chiefs to win the F.C. West? Oh, no, that bet's dead.

What is our, what is our easy NFL bet that we could just throw in every year and feel great about it? We had the paths to win the F.C. East for the first 15 years. I knew you basically. Yeah. And then it became the Chiefs for the F.C. West is, do we have that team now?

“That's what we did or it's kind of sad. Cardinals to come in fourth place. I don't know what”

we would do. I don't know what something you're working with. I heard on gambling show. You talked about the Browns under five and a half wins. Yeah. And you lock that down now. Post my, I think I should. I thought that right. Like they're going to play Sanders all year. Like I, it's not that there's schedule super easy. Right. Five and twelve are worse. It feels like the best over under I've heard for wins. So we don't even have to hit. It's like there's more NFL

tanking teams than usual, heading into the season. Yeah. Jets, Cardinals, Dolphins, Browns, more than physics. It's all the quarterbacks. This was the thing. And we all did bad with basketball over under. It's the totality of them for the win toters. And the thing we didn't realize was with as many teams tanking as we're tanking, it actually weirdly shoved the records upwards. Cause over and over again, you had two shitty teams that didn't want to win playing each other.

So you had all these teams in the 20s and high 20s to bundle a team that's never won the

world cup will win the world cup as plus 200. Wow. Terrible. That seems terrible. Because these are the kinds you're looking. Yeah. Well, it's Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium, Croatia, Hungary, basically, USA and USA. But USA is not winning. Come on. So so first time winner know as minus 260. I was about to say that if you're looking for like a bridge jumper that a huge, like we're just going to lay a huge number, that is my favorite one. That's better than you

“run the world cup. I think so. Yes. Could we parlay Europe when the world cup with”

with that won't be a first time winner? I don't know if that's that league on fandom for me that. Probably a little too correlated. Yeah. Yeah. I like to know first time winner at minus 260. I like the odds more than the minus 350 for the European. The seven teams that I think are in the quote unquote favorites tier. And you could break them up. You could say contender, pretender with

with all those seven. But 607 have won it. And the one team that has never won it is Portugal.

And we're going to get in the future. I guess a little bit later. But the the Ronaldo problem is kind of the defining situation for Portugal right now. And how they solve that is not very obvious to me. The problem is that they probably shouldn't be playing them as much as everyone expects them to play him. And I feel like we were there four years ago with this. Yeah. Right. We weren't. And two years ago and last year. And we're still doing it. Yes. So this is like a run if LeBron's

on the dream team at age 45. It's like, wow, it is LeBron. And you just kind of have to throw them out there.

“But I think LeBron would be more willing to take like a third or fourth chair roll and be like a”

really good passer IQ player. But Ronaldo that like they have built this entire attack around him. Portugal most crosses of any international team the last two years. Their midfield is elite. They have probably the second best midfield at the tournament. For Nandez, Vittinha, Nevesh, like it's an amazing trio that can do a lot of different things. For Nandez just broke the record for assists. In the Premier League. And yet they end up just playing all the crosses into Ronaldo. They have

nobody who runs in behind. It's like this is not optimal. And as a result of Ronaldo and Raphael Leow, their left winger, not really doing a lot of defensive work. Their defenses in that good. Like they struggle defensively relative to the top elite teams. They're not as good defensively. So they have a manager who likes to attack. They have a manager who's relying on Ronaldo. And like they just need to tell Grandpa like they got to take the keys from him and say,

you know, hey, you're a lot to go to the grocery store. But no more. No more highway driving.

No more starting matches for the problem is it's Ronaldo. So how do you say it? Like what do you say?

People are saying you got to face it back. He's at a different point of his career.

“Simon's a group of one you coach the celebrity basketball game. And then you try to take”

Snoop out. And he's like, no, I'm not coming out. What was it? Snoop put himself back in. He just looked in the eye and said, I'm going to go back in. There's like five minutes. That was like, okay, Snoop. He just we kind of had a moment. No Kevin Hart was the one I had to get. I just couldn't take him out because he was the biggest star in the game. Right. And Michael B. Jordan, who was the best part in the game. And it's just like, oh, we could win if we just give

Michael B. Jordan the ball, but Kevin Hart's doing ISO. I'm still mad about it. You go back four years ago, right? And this was the crazy thing that happened at the World Cup. Portugal started Vernaldo in the group stage. They played Switzerland in the round of 16. And they played this young up-and-coming striker named Gonzalo Ramos, who's now at PSG. And Gonzalo Ramos scored a hat trick. And they beat Switzerland six to one. And everybody was like, that's it. They're moving on.

Like, he's been, he's been, you served. The next match, they play Maraco. They lose one no. And everybody's like, well, you know, they wouldn't happen if they had started Vernaldo. And then they went through the next qualifying cycle. And Vernaldo scored a bunch of goals against a lot of bad teams. He's still very capable if he just stands in the penalty area and creates space. He's got great instincts, the vet, the vet classic move. But they get back to

the international tournament Euro 2024. And it almost got comical at the end. Like, it was kind of sad because he kept taking all the free kicks. He was trying to get his goal. Then they want a penalty kick against Slovenia. He missed the penalty. And he's crying on the field. And you're like, this is actually getting to the point where it's like a little uncomfortable. If you're trying to do a hate watch, it's like, man, this is, I don't like Portugal. I bet against them. But like, this is,

this is kind of awkward now. And here we are again. He shows up to the World Cup. I hope he gets

“a goal early on. They've got a, they've got a couple easy games to start the group. I think they'll be fine”

in the group stage. But you get to the knockouts. And I think they're vulnerable. What isn't it, only eight teams ever have won the World Cup or eight countries? Yes, eight countries. Right. Italy, Uruguay, and then the big six favorites. Right. In Italy is no longer out. Okay, before we get to Dabundo's favorite futures that's Alan Aragon and critique. So are you a straight-up or a parlay strategy guy for the World Cup? Because I think both you and I fall in a trouble when we start

grabbing things from different games. And we talk ourselves into it. Yeah. But it would seem like almost with World Cup straight-up would be the smarter way to play it. And yet neither of us are going to do that. Of course not. In fact, I got a wopper to throw at you guys. Let's hear it before we get to the Bunda. The Bunda? I need to legal pad. Which ones of the draw? I need to legal pad. Because I don't know if this is going to work. But which ones of the draw? Which one screws me? Germany

to beat Kurosau on Sunday? Spain to beat Kere Verde on Monday. Norway to beat Iraq on the 16th,

“Brazil to beat Haiti on the 19th, France to beat Iraq on the 22nd, pays 150. A five teamer?”

Five teamer? These are monster numbers, as you can imagine. It adds up to minus 150. Who screws us? I mean, I think Iraq is one of the three worst teams. I think Kurosau was one of the three worst teams. Kere Verde is decent. And they're not good, but they could compete with Spain, especially without you mall. And like Spain is liable to have one of those. They beat Spain on the whole thing. And they can't get by Cape Verde on Monday. Are you kidding me? Yes. I mean, I think it's going to be a winner.

I think the one of the storylines, if you're being critical of the expanded format, is to say that

traditionally the world cup is not had a lot of blowouts in the group stage. There's just not that many bad bad teams. The gap here is pretty big. I mean, Spain, three goal favorite in their first game, Germany, three and a half goal. Like there could be some real five six mil pastings. Whereas at the last world cup, we only had like one or two in the whole tournament that we're like that. This tournament with Haiti, Kurosau. Expand the car. Yeah. You know, it's like there's some teams here

that that really aren't on the level. So you could see some crazy blowouts. Two more than you're used to seeing with those multi multi game parlays. Do we worry about the heated all with that French open style? Because there's going to be some games that are super hot. And yes, in temperatures that aren't are pretty unusual for world class soccer. And I'm wondering, could that swing one of these? One of the funniest photos slash videos from the club world cut last year.

Because right, a lot of these players played in their club teams played in the US last summer, including Bayern. The players would actually sit in the locker room in the dressing room during the

first half of the subs just so they wouldn't sit on the bench and overheat. It's like,

Bayern was like, we're going to keep our subs in the dressing room in the air conditioning, watching on a TV screen for the first half. And then we'll bring them out for the second half of the fresh won't be exhausted. I do wonder if we see that because the studies have shown that any soccer game that kicks off above 85 degrees, there is a noticeable decline in just output,

like that. It still favors the better teams, though, because they just have more good players that

“can bring on. You get five subs that's a big advantage. So I think ultimately, like, you know,”

the small minnow nations that don't have the subs are going to be the ones that hurt the most from the heat. Who has the most dangers? I guess is what we're looking at. Yeah, true. Yeah. Okay. Yes, son, very little. I mean, we didn't have those Scottish, Scottish, maybe? Right, Scottish, all right, short, Scottish, Norwegians. We didn't have those studies when my daughter is playing youth soccer in Norco at 103 degrees and we're doing two games in three hours and kids are

collapsing in the field. We're like, pull them off, get a sub in. Wait, before we go to your future, it's the bundle. Serena Williams and Wilburton, there's no way to, there's no, it's not on Fandel. She playing singles. I don't know. Are you following this? Is it, could it be doubles? Could it be singles? Like, it feels like we're drifting towards something and I feel like this story should be 100 times bigger than it is. I mean, she played doubles yesterday, Tuesday with

Victorian Boco, who's one of the top young up and coming players. She's Canadian, and they won

comfortably in the first round. They played two players I never heard of. The crowd though, the Queen's

club in London was amazing. Just every seat filled, it has a chance to be a huge story. But they haven't come out with wild cards yet. I can't imagine that she's playing singles already. Can I give it my cherry doubles? Should get on center court? Why not doubles for Wimbledon, paving the way for US open in all the singles run singles. Yeah, like this is, I've always thought this. I've been predicting this for years. She's two, she's two great and she's two competitive

and now that her kids are a little bit older, I always thought maybe, if she's at the US open, that would be the fucking greatest thing that could happen for tennis. So it would be like Tiger in 2019 at the masters. Like, can you imagine the crowds for that? Can you imagine playing Serena at the US open being the other person? Like, what a fucking nightmare. Well, I mean, did this Venus is not Serena, but Venus did this last summer, where she got a wild card in DC,

“and she beat Peyton Sterns, and I think it wasn't the first round, like a top 30 player,”

and DC was mobs for Venus Williams. Then she went to the US open. They put her on the center court,

the first night against Carolina Mojoba, who is a top 15 player. She want to, she want to set off her,

and I was sitting on the other court on Armstrong, and like, you could just feel it. Everybody kept looking over their shoulders because the roar is coming from Arthur Ash. We're so loud, and it was almost like distracting the players on Armstrong, and we're all sitting there like, damn, why are we at that match? Why are we at this match? So I'd tell you some of our predictions. Serena, you were not even Serena. Serena, you were so open, LeBron, and the Warriors. I want to

parlay that. Really? I'm convinced both of those things are happening. Can we add something that Fandle just through on the menu there that Bill's voice doesn't last six and a half NBA games? You've adopted Doc Rivers' voice. What happened now? I just need to retire. It's just too much talking this year. Do two-houry watchables do live episodes of just dying. I love it. Bill really needed, he needed Nixon four because his voice was going to make Nixon six. Hi, Simon.

All right, Debundo, it's time. You want to do your three favorites, your four favorites, or your five favorites? You want to set the over-under on a number of futures I have so far.

“Oh, it's easily, easily 50, right? I was under that. It's about 73 or 17. Are you going to do some work there?”

Yeah, all right. So give us your best five, and then Sal and I will critique them as we go. And you can go into sending order from five to one if you want. Okay, we're going to start with number one, which is my dark horse, a team that I have been a fan of. I'm an honorary member. I'm going to have to take a trip to Keto to get excited for this world cup. Maybe if they make a deep run, I'll go do some tourism with the winnings. But

we're going to be on Ecuador. This is going to be an Ecuador group. Oh, they are a popular underdog picked, but I like to think I was at least somewhat early to the show because we bet them at the Copa two years ago. I think this is a top five or six defense in the whole world. They are captain and led by a trio of defenders in in copya from Arsenal, patcho from PSG. And then Moisezka say to their defensive central midfielder, who is probably the best ball winner,

just pure ball winner in in the world at Chelsea right now. So we know that they have an elite defensive spine. The big question is can they score enough goals? They're led by 36 year old and a Valencia. They have a young kid, country, Paias, who Chelsea bought and then loaned out bats South America. Like this Ecuadorian team is the textbook definition of the quote unquote,

like they're in a top group. Like a Germany. Like a ivory coast. Like it's going to be a tough

group for them. But when they get in the knockouts and they're playing a team who's maybe comparable to them or even better than them, they're very capable of making that match a total stalemate nightmare. And you can go back even two years ago. They played Argentina at the Copa America and the quarter finals. And they went toe to toe with them, lost in the penalties. But we're right there and had chances to win that match. Like this Ecuadorian side is not afraid of

anybody. They're physical. They're ready for the heat. They have enough depth to withstand some of the potential, you know, gruelingness of this tournament. So here are the three bats that I think are worth placing a little money on. Ecuador, to win their group, plus 380,

“Ecuador to make the round of 16, plus 150. If you want to get really crazy, plus 550 to make the”

corners. I have them in the quarter finals in my bracket. I think they can make a run. Will you also have South for the semis, 12 to 1? Yeah. Finals 3 to 1 and to win it all 100 to 1. Yeah. That was fun. This is going to be the team that knocks out one of my European teams, right? That I need to advance to the finals. So I don't have a heart attack. Yeah. There's no action on the corners. It's down to plus 460 to bundle. Wow.

I see people are obviously people are tuning into the starting 11 on YouTube, seeing my video where I'm hyping a Ecuador every possible bit. There could be some movement. So 12 to 1 for final 4 is to rich for your blood. I mean, if you want to get really crazy, it wouldn't surprise me. Maraco did this. And it's not that dissimilar from what Maraco did. We have a very defined way of playing. We're

a very good defensive team. We have two or three guys who can go on a run and create some chances

“on the break. That's what this Ecuador team wants to be. They only gave up five goals in 18 qualifying”

matches and they're playing Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay. They played all the good teams.

And they really shut them down. They came in second behind Argentina. So I think it's a fun team.

Again, they might have to grind their way through the group stage because they're not going to score a ton of goals. But once they get in that knockout, which I think they will, they're going to be a tough out. So for the group, Ecuador is in the group of Germany. So you could do an exact order. Where you do Ecuador 1, Germany 2, and then you could go either way with the other two and do both bets and try to put some major action on that. I like the group at South. I know, but how many

third place teams make it the bundle? 8 out of 12. That's a lot. What a lot. And the thing is with with with Kira-Sau being in that group is kind of like the the kind of cannon fodder. If you just get three points, you're almost certainly advancing unless your girlfriend is truly terrible. Ecuador, Germany, every coast, that being the top three would be plus 500. And people like the Ivorians too. They have Yandia Mandai who's one of the most exciting

Koreans. I see this. This is why he's elite. We wouldn't have known to call them the Ivorians. We would have called them the Ivorians. The Ivorian. The Ivorian coastors. Yeah. They're nickname is L.E. font. And the city of Philadelphia is getting behind them. They're in Philly. We're very excited to be on the Ivorians too. One more thing with Ecuador. Like

“used to hot weather. Yes. Okay. All right. What's your next play? Right on the equator?”

Used to elevation. If they ended up in Mexico, which actually means equator, doesn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Ecuador equator. Wow. Unbelievable. What's your next one to buddy? Next one. We're going to go with the most reliable thing in my life, which is Switzerland to do well. Make the knockouts of an international tournament and then lose very quickly. Once they get there. Switzerland to win group B over the Canadians. Minus 120. It was the last

I checked it at Fandel. So you're not scared at all. Canadians any home-filled advantage with that. Canada, the chaos maxers of international soccer. Their manager, Jesse Marsh, who is an American who has certainly made his feelings known. He's a little bit hurt that he didn't get offered the American job when he came open once they fired Burhalter. He is known for the

intense press, the chaotic energy. But the problem is, Alfonso Davies is their best player by a wide

margin. He's the best player in North America and he is not healthy. He's coming back from an injury. He might be back at the end of the group stage, but I don't know that he will and he won't be healthy if he does come back. So that's a problem. Bombito, they're starting center back. Just got hurt in their last friendly. One of their other midfielder goes down. So all of a sudden, it's not a very deep team. It's a lot of like a couple of stars and some okay MLS guys.

Now they're literally really short handed. If they try to press and run Switzerland off the pitch, Switzerland is very, very capable and experienced in their midfield. They have so many good

I can't know what's going on. Sounds like this. Sounds like it's going on. Yeah, Canada is exciting. Never mind it. Never

mind it. Yeah, sounds like it. I like John Candy, Michael J. Fox, otherwise they can go to hell. And they'll still probably come in second. Again, this group is not tough. Cutter is for my money, the worst team in the field. But like, yeah, I don't see the upside them beating Switzerland. Switzerland's a class above them. All right. You're third pick. My third pick, we're going to go back to our, our old friend Ronaldo in Portugal.

“I think Colombia is another team that I'm, I'm loving to back in these international settings.”

They have their own Luis Suarez. They have Luis Diaz, Hamas Rodriguez, who is kind of like bookending his career. 2014, he was the golden boot winner at the World Cup. He put his name on the map. People, casual soccer fans still know Hamas Rodriguez, just because of what he did at that

World Cup. His club career never quite worked out to the, to the heights that maybe people thought

it would with all of his injuries. But then he comes back and, and when he puts on the Colombia shirt, 2024, he was the best player at the Copa America. He's so good on set pieces, free kicks. That kind of player. Love of the US had one is, is, is the difference maker at these kind of events. Colombia is plus 200 to win that group. The most exciting game of the group stage. Bar none, Portugal against Colombia in Miami to end the group stage. That is going to be an

incredible scene. It'll be two thirds Colombians, one thirds Ronaldo heads. It's going to be an amazing matchup. But I think Colombia is very live against Portugal to potentially upset them. And then if Portugal comes in second, all of a sudden the bracket gets very embalanced. Portugal goes up into the section with France and Germany and everybody is like, oh, okay. What's going to happen here? So it's a pretty good one. South is it, Bob? Do you know that America

is in better at set pieces? It's like the one thing we could really control, right? Why? We could remove the guy to just have the best corner kicks of anyone in the world. This is like, just a,

I always feel like it was set. I know he has to take it because he's like the guy in the team.

I've never really enjoyed his corner kicks or his free kicks. I mean, the corner kicks, I mean, don't we just need a giant in the middle? Like that's, I don't want to interrupt, but I have Holland for golden boot. Like that guy's seven and a half feet. He's everyone's favorite

“game of throne standing and told us what it looked like, but that's what I would do. That's,”

I have a 14 to one. Also, I didn't realize we were doing golden boot odds. I don't even know where to find those. You've seen it before, Simon. By the way, Simon, he is in the top 100 most influential people in sports along with you. Congratulations on that. Congratulations. Yeah. Is there a dinner? Is there a full in, uh, touch around those house? What? I don't know. Maybe a group photo of Ted's house. We'll see. The one those top 100 least influential people in sports. I don't know if you saw that list,

but he's getting rapidly falling, rapidly falling down the rankings once Ecuador loses every game of the world. Yeah. He's, he's ripping off winners for us right now. Okay. All right. Give us, do, speed. I don't say this though. So the U.S. does have a set piece specialist. The problem is he's bad at everything else. He's eight years old. Yeah. It's Sebastian Burhalter, the son of former manager, Greg Burhalter is on the roster. He's incredible. I mean,

“the manager does like him. Pat Chino has spoken highly of him. He said that he's the one guy on the”

team. He doesn't have to rotate because he just has endless energy and all this stuff. And look, Burhalter is a very controversial figure. Both Burhalters are very controversial figures, but Sebastian's free kicks and corners are amazing. I mean, if you go watch the Gold Cup last summer, you had two assists on free kicks to Chris Richards. So are they going to let him do it in the world cup? But they have to play. It's not like you can't just sub him in for the free kicks and then

take him out. Right. He's like a very mediocre midfield or otherwise. So we might see him late. Like if they're down late, you know, and then they, you know, they are rotating through their guys. He's going to play. He's one of their main midfields off the bench. But their set piece will get notice will be better when Burhalter takes them as opposed to Pulisec, who has been always kind of eh, with the chance. It always seems like he should be good at it. And he's just not. All right,

you gave us three. Give us three speed round quick with no extra explanation and sound. I will decide what we want to hear out of the three, which one. Three. Okay. Um, so we're going to Morocco. Yeah. Morocco to win their group. So they're about plus 450. They're in the group with Brazil, Scotland. No, you're too much info. What's that? Too much info. Yeah. Too much info. Okay. Morocco plus 450 in the group. Yeah. Jordan Pickford to win golden gloves at plus 750. Wow.

What, how do you win golden gloves? What happens? It's the best. The best goalkeeper. So it's just like best goalie and hockey. Yes. Like so what is it, the Vesna? The Vesna. Yeah. Basically. Now, now, England is a boring watch. No, code next are not. We're, we're.

Golden ball. So it's the player of the turn. It's 25 to 1. All right. We've got to finish a bit. So golden ball is not. I'm curious. No golden boot is most goals. Most goals. Yes. Yeah, there are neither golden. So it's just golden boot. Golden ball. Three golden. Three golden goals for the cutaway to the chick who's bounced that. I don't know. I don't know what they

did. So you can do a golden parlay if you cut away. Is there always special? Yeah.

Golden parlay would be nice. Yeah. That'd be good. I give us one more and then South is going to decide what he wants more and more. Yeah. Let's see. Let's go further. I don't want to get too crazy with

“like Scotland and stuff like that. How about Christian Policic to lead the US and goals plus 320?”

Now you have my attention. He's the favorite, all right. Yeah. He's the co-favorite with Baligan. Yeah. Yeah. So who screws that up if you bet on Policic? Probably Baligan. Okay. All right. Starting striker. I'm excited to watch. I do think his connection with Policic was a little bit off in the in the friendly against Germany. Like, you know, one of the most encouraging things I think for the United States was that friendly, the first hour against Germany. How much they

were able to break through the press and get transition opportunities and Policic and Baligan just

didn't quite have the link, but they were close. And like, I think that's maybe a one other ex-factor for the US. If they're able to do a better job linking up creating chances, this team could be actually really dynamic going forward. All right. So you're a favorite to those four. Well, I'm I'm torn between two. I like Morocco because like Morocco and and Snuka and Morocco and Pedro Morales were some of my favorite foods. And you know, Morocco would take that strap. He would

get to spit on the belt, but he loved it. I like picked for though for Golden Glove at plus 750. It might not even be his doing, right? The bundle like their defenses. So solid. They're going to be in one nothing battles all the way through. And also just an English guy with the glove. They drink tea. They put the white gloves and they slap each other just makes them most sense plus 750. Okay. And the other thing is like, if they somehow do win a penalty shoot out,

like the England narrative is all they never in the shootouts. What if they did win one or two

“and all of a sudden pick up is the hero, right? So that's the guy. What are you like, Simons?”

Oh, I got one more. Japan, Japan New England stuff. It was awesome. It was supposed to be a half hour. You can buy it. My favorite is Browns under four and a half wins plus one fifty five on Fando right now. Four and a half. They're they're winning five games to Browns. Of course. To discuss that plus four and a half plus I'm ready for where's the plus three and a half. I love that under three and a half. I love it. They don't have it yet. They only in the lowest they are right now

is four and a half. But I'm I'm three and a half. I'd be ready to activate. All right. So to Sean Watson's minus 196 to be the starting quarterback. Is that worse than Shidorah or doing Gabriel? Like they're a mess. And we know they don't want to win. Yeah. They want to have the number of pick in the draft so they can take the quarterback. Okay. You know what? I love Simons real quick. The Jared verse, you know, they get straighted for a guarantee comes on. He's on the Browns roster.

And they're like, Oh, well, Dylan Gabriel has not the number eight. The Jared verse. Yeah, right. And Dylan Gabriel's like they're like, Oh, did he pay? He's like, I don't know, man. I was expecting to get money for it. But he kind of just took it. I saw that in the bread. Like, Oh, yeah, I'm going to be taking number eight. I mean, just grab it. That's it. This is why now. We got numbers. It's tough for me. A short quarterback. You even might get your jersey

taken away. Yeah. Okay. Um, well, this was good. I think this was good prep for us. Do you have it? Do you have a favorite NFL bet, so yet? Is it the Browns under? Really like, you know, Jacobi for set showing up to cards training camp really throws a monkey wrench. And I see

“what I'm just excited. The Browns under for now. That's the only thing I gave out on the podcast.”

But we're 93 days away, Simmons, fight, fight for any John Randall, your boy Richardson. The later this year, the September 9th. I know, a whiff late for us. And it just feels a little later. You're one of the top 100 most influential. Can't the minute I'll talk to some of the other guys in the comm. Yeah, please. Um, yeah. Oh, it's a Wednesday this year, right? Yeah, we're starting. It's it's starting later. And then it's just football games all the time.

From that point on, we go Wednesday, Thursday, no Friday, then Sunday, and then Monday, right, just for that. And so there's like fantasy football implications. Oh, yeah, everybody does their draft the night before this season. Can't even do it this year. No, we got 12. That's for procrastinators. The NFL is hurting procrastinators. What would you put for AJ Brown over and under touchdowns this season? The bunda, who? Would you go double figures?

That would be high. But I think eight and a half. Yeah, I think that's every other

Um, AJ Brown. Go ahead, what a one hour. I just think we go under on everybody. It's the one year.

“We just do 50 under's because you think like the quarterbacks, just like the top 50. I just think”

nobody likes to bet under's for future. Yeah, for everything, for yeah, for quarterback yards, for touchdowns, like over and over again, this hits. And we just stare at it. I did this for years for 20 years. They adjusted a little bit with the vague like it's the

other number will be like minus 130. But and you don't like to brag about it because it does

rely on guys getting hurt. But if you do it with all 30, let's say 30 running backs are listed.

“Eight of them are going to be gone by like Halloween. And then we all spend 50 bucks on running”

back, right? And yep, how many of us are happy in November? Like two of them stay healthy, ten of them get hurt or whatever they have some sort of small injury or yeah, I just felt it's it's we're let. One of these years. You just hope and hope and it's dodge the bullets all all season. Yeah, but I would say this is here here in 19 of guest lines, right? No, this is going to be our 28th year. This is one. So this is that's for the anniversary. You guys should just do. We're

going full hater this year. Only like just the full day in the podcast. I like that. Yeah, what we learn. We're just fitter and beaten down after after Wimbledon in the U.S. Open, when we find that broken by that. It would or screws us. Thanks to the bundle. All right. So that I tell you about center. I don't know. I should be it should be it should be a bigger favorite for Wimbledon. Son of a bitch. Plenty my flags. Try to get it back. I like it. All right,

you can hear these two on the ringer gambling show all the time, basically, and we have a lot of

it woke up stuff coming and then malware within three months will be doing our our annual double overunders pod sometime in the end of August. But yeah, great to see you guys. Thanks, fellas. Good to see you. Good job by you. Good job by you. All right. That's it for the podcast. Thanks to Goldsbury and House. Thanks to the bundle and South as well. Thanks to Gahau and Eduardo. I'm going to be back Saturday night after Game 5 of Nick Spurs. In the meantime, don't forget we put up a new

rewatchable. So we did single way female super fun. Me and Van and Mallory and the next one's going

“to be hand that rocks a cradle if you want to watch that on Netflix. Check out our podcast. And I'll”

see you on Saturday night. Must be 21 plus in present in select states for Kansas and affiliation with Kansas star casino or 18 plus in present in DC, Kentucky or Wyoming, opt in required, must wage and designated offer market max wage or 25 dollars restrictions apply. See full terms at sportsbook.fandle.com. Game problem call 1 in under gambling or 1 800 my reset call 888797777 or visit ccpg.org/chat and Connecticut or mdgamblinghelp.org and Maryland. Hope is here visit

gamblinghopline.ma.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24/7 support mess chisits or call 877-8 hope and why or text hope and why in New York for Louisiana call 877-770-787-867.