New York Wins the Title, Brunson Wins Immortality, and Knicks Fans Have a Zihuatanejo Moment With Zach Lowe

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The Bill Simmons Podcasts live on Netflix.

It is late. It is almost midnight. East Coast time. I'm here with, I don't know, you groggies. That quote, not groggy.

Medium groggy. After that, not groggy at all. I'm a little too amped, so let's do it. Great. By the way, do rewatchables coming on Sunday night now.

It is from Hell month, and it's going to be in that rocks and cradles. So get ready for that. And then we're going to go back to a somewhat normal podcast scheduled, because the next have won the NBA title.

It's been 53 years.

This is-- we'll start with the next.

Then we got to go to Brutson, because I can't believe it. I just watched the night from him.

“I think with the next other than the fans”

and the dropping over in the way the city rallied around the team and people traveling to the games and just how much over and over again, they're fighting back to when these games-- these teams win the title, and then you look back years later,

and you're like, oh, yeah, yeah, the 2019 Raptors. What was their gimmick? What was their thing? This next team, we're just going to remember it instantly. It's going to be Brutson and come back and the next fans.

And it just was an indelible playoff run. Fifteen and one in the last 16. One of the best-- what was the last team that you remember, just grabbed? And to 2014 spurs, what was the last one

where you're just like, holy shit? I can't believe it came together like that for them. In terms of style and everything, just clicking into place and then finding a magical-- something magical happened to the next at the absolute perfect time.

They found the best version of themselves. A better version they had found at almost any point the regular season, locked it in and sustained it, sustained it through different kind of games, through foul trouble, through slums, through different opponents.

It's a magical thing that happened to them.

“And I think the 2014 spurs comp is the right one”

in terms of style. Like, you know that what you see it. And we were both at those spurs heat games. And it was like, it's a wrap. Like, this is Ravana.

Like, he don't even know where the freaking ball is. Different style, but stylistically coming together and having that magic and just like, don't mess with it. Just to stand it, just keep it. But in terms of like, indelible single-season champions,

like the ring feels a little extra special. For whatever reason, I think you go back to the 2011 Mavs for different reasons. A team that stands out is just a super memorable single-season champion.

I think this team, ironically, having taken a player from a different version of the Dallas Mavix, will stand out like that for a ton of different reasons that we'll get into. And one of the things, I thought the spurs

had a more talented team. And then it was a case of, "Are they going to figure out "the better than this next team?" And then by game five, it's like the mixer better than the spurs.

But like, it's like, I know how this game, I was sitting next to my wife watching and who was on her phone half the time. And they're up, spurs are up 12, they're up 15, they're up nine, and I'm like the mixer,

they're going to come back. Like watch what happens with Brunson here. She was like, wow, you have like ESP with this Brunson thing. And I'm like, it's not ESP. This is what he does.

You could just see him kind of lurking and waiting and then he took over the game at the perfect times.

“Nobody in the next, who has played well in their team?”

Like, sort of bridges for half the game, maybe?

Josh Hardett, a couple moments, like who?

“I mean, this is one of the coolest things about the team”

is that even in a game, like first of all,

it speaks to their strength as a team, that for the second game in a row, and almost the third one in the series, the nightmare scenario that we all were talking about before the series, whether you picked in X or not,

unfolded, which was cat-fowl trouble. Mitchell Robertson, not quite the same guy because of the broken finger, broken whatever. Huckiporty's got to play all of a sudden and they win these games anyway.

And they win. Shamic got hurt, looked like he was done. Brunson turns his ankle, but by the way, twice, ankle injuries, Nick's players down, spurs get baskets out of it on five on four, right?

But the nightmare scenario was getting a Nick's center rotation, hold up if towns gets into foul trouble. He's been in foul trouble three games in a row, they won two of them, including these last two. And look, like, Alvarado didn't have a game tonight,

but Jordan Clarkson comes in and makes a basket. Huckiporty actually had a couple moments in the game. Mitchell Robertson has been not quite the same guy in the series, has six offensive rebounds, including the free throw offensive rebounds.

Like people have moments and Alvarado had a moment in game four. And that's what makes the champion is like, even in this game where you're kind of correctly saying it was Brunson just dragging them over the finish line with one tough shot after another.

Guys had moments, role players who they needed, they just did little things that helped them just get it over the finish line. Just got to get one more game. And they found a way to get one more game against the team

that was again up 16 in the first second

quarter of the game. 2011 maps, a little bit somewhere, where they had the one great player who was like the major planet that everybody oriented around.

“But remember that team where like, carry hit the biggest shot”

of game five, there was some, who's it? The Sean Stevenson was in there. Tyson Chandler, Sean Marianne, you go on to Jason Kidd. Everybody had a great little part of it. Yeah, yeah, they had everybody had their little moments

where they chipped in 2014 spurs was the totality. This one was a little different because of Brunson, who were saving, because we're talking to him in a second. I think this was the greatest team building title that we've seen since the two Isaiah piston steams.

And now even with those, and that was, there's a great book written about those teams called the franchise, which I think is one of the best MBA books. But even that team had Isaiah who was,

I can't remember if he was second pick of the draft in 1981.

So they did have the blue chip guy. The next had the blue chip guy in towns, but they traded for him. It was all signs and trades. It was one of those things where the team that kind

of probably came to closest to this was the Suns in 21. Where they kind of patched it together. Booker was, I don't even think, a top 10 pick. And eight was their one version of town. So they drafted.

But the degree of difficulty of just putting the team together, making two ballsy moves, firing tips last year, the town's trade, both of them were real. I'm going to double down on a nine kind of moves. And then some luck with Toronto sowering on Bronson.

I mean, I'm sorry, Anna and Nobi, who they could have kept and they were just like, we've seen enough and they traded them. And I remember being 50, 50, Anna at the time being like, I don't know either. I don't know what to make Anna and Nobi.

And then Dallas, not lock and down Bronson. And those are the two big ones. But who do you remember in the last, this century, who did a better job of putting together a championship team than this?

I mean, look, it's all, like, you know, how much credit do you give the heat for clearing the cap space and getting the big three to come, right? There's so many different ways of team building. The Raptors sort of bit by bit by bit.

And then they make the big swing for Kawai Knowing. He's probably going to leave. You mentioned the pistons.

“I think the 2004 pistons probably deserve a mention”

in terms of, like, that's a great one. Just like getting Chauncey mid-career drafting Ben Wallace or getting him, sorry, getting Ben Wallace from Ben Wallace. Getting from Ben Wallace from Orlando. I think creating for Rip Hamilton.

And just like finding something that added up and getting sheed as the last piece in the door, I think that's another one that comes to mind. I mean, there's just so many different ways to do it. But yeah, this is a masterpiece.

And they bit by bit, just targeted guys that they knew we're going to play hard. We're going to play selflessly. They targeted size around Bronson, which is the one way you could do it

to really make it work, protect him from all sides. And then Kat was the upside moonshot at the end where it's like, we have this team that's pretty good. There's risk built into this trade contractually and defensively and whatever.

But his shooting is going to raise our ceiling potential to a point where we've got to actually try it and it all kind of clicked into place. And then the Bronson piece of this. So I thought it was interesting.

He ended on 45 points, 'cause I wrote down on my notes during the fourth quarter, like, I know it's different scenario.

But it was a similar kind of vibe to that last Jordan game where I think the Bulls scored 89. Jordan had 45 of those. Bronson scored 45.

“He actually got fouled with eight seconds left,”

they didn't call it.

It was incredible, no call.

The ball ends up with bridges, but that would have pushed him above the 45. But 29 in the second half, 15 straight at one point. When they really liked, towns was in foul trouble. I didn't know where the points were coming from

as he did it. And he's gotten at the point where he was like, he's going to lock in, watch this. And there were tough shots. He's getting the basket and traffic.

He's going by Harper and Castle, who were like, I think elite defenders. He's getting where it in his spots. And he was just able to weather the storm for them. And as soon as it was 83, 83, you knew they're

going to win the game. But this is this Bronson thing. We were talking about all-time nicks, talking about, you know, could be the greatest nickable time. I'm not ready to have that conversation yet.

But why does this want, well, I guess we could. This is one of the great final performances of all time. So maybe maybe we could. Maybe Clyde Frazier's like, a willingness step aside. Take the reins or Willis Reed.

It's Clyde or him. I mean, like, look, I grew up with youing. And it longevity wise youing is going to have numbers that I don't think Bronson can ever touch. But like, this is 45 points.

And a finals MVP is worth like 15,000 regular season points for the biggest city franchise that hasn't won a title in 53 years. I mean, I don't know what else to say. It was a Jordan-esque performance.

And one of the things I wrote in my notes was, I mean, this is a right up your wheelhouse. Is Jalen Bronson the greatest underdog story in the history of basketball?

Like, small guard, second round pick,

doubted every step of the way. Free agency signing loop warm to negative reception. And he is now scoring 45 points in a decisive finals game in winning finals MVP. I mean, I don't even know, I don't--

I'm trying to think like who else is even in the conversation. Yeah, well, probably nobody had more points where he was doubted as a great player

“over the course of his career, even leading up to the finals, right?”

Where you're like, I picked the spurs to win the series. And one of the reasons I picked them was because I thought that it was just a great matchup for them against Bronson. They had all these guys to throw them,

and they'd win the behind them. And in the first couple games, I was right. And he solved them as the series went along. And I'm not sure what he solved. Like, there was this great interview after the game

when he could barely speak. It was one of the most authentic athlete interviews we've had in a long time, because we're so used now to people milk and add, or not that it seems rehearsed, but people being very aware of how they're being perceived

in the moment after they won. And he couldn't speak. And then he was talking about the fourth quarter about, I just went back to all the hours I've spent in the gym. All those times, all the hard work I put in.

And I was out there, and I was just thinking, like, this is like, I'm by myself in the gym. I'm by myself in the gym, and it really did feel that way. He was just, there's been very few guys since I've known you and various, a few guys,

since I've followed the week that seemed to get better. We need them to get better. It's the rarest, rarest trait we have in basketball. And he has it. Was incredible.

I mean, there have been other great second round picks, like Janobli stands out.

But he was never the guy on a team like this.

And then another small-ish guard, like Steph Curry in some ways is an underdog story, like Ghost to David's. And he's a top 10 pick in the draft, and by the time he reaches the finals,

is like an MVP winner. I don't trim on. Yokeage, I guess, was a second round. Yokeage, he's a secret pin. Yokeage would be won.

But we were in on Yokeage, and by the 2018 range, we were like, this guy's got it, he's special. - Yeah, I mean, there is nothing like two years. I mean, there's two years before jail

and Brunson wins a title. There is a very loud debate about whether he can be the guy on a championship team. And there was a little bit of that with Yokeage 'cause it was defense, but not quite as much.

And I just think the small stature, it's just, there's nothing I can remember that's like it. And again, it's not just that he's the best player on a title team.

So he scored 45 points in a game where his team scored 94. And they're just should not have been away for the next two win in San Antonio. A game where Carl Anthony Towns has two points and five turnovers in 23 minutes

because of foul trouble. It's like unthinkable that they were able to win a game like that. - And no bench points for two hours. - It just, like, yeah, I checked this boxboard at the half

and I was like, oh my God, they don't have a bench point and then after that I mean, look, I'll let you go, I'm sorry.

“- No, the only thing I'd add with that 29 points”

of the second half, 15 straight at one point was a 15 or 16.

I don't know, I need a bit of a little trick.

- It was 15 at the most crucial part of the game

when it was like 12, it was nine and he just kept scoring. And I thought, I wouldn't believe this if I just, I was a bear so I didn't see it in person. But I do think sometimes a guy is good enough that you can kind of break the will of a team a little bit.

And I felt like that happened to the spurs and we'll talk about them after the break about, you know,

“all the things you have to take away for them”

and do you overreact, you underreact, this is just bad timing. But I think you hit a point where you know that that guy's scoring when he has the ball. Who is your guy who can match this?

And the issue with the spurs is the series went along is they couldn't figure out who that guy was. They didn't have that one, I've got this guy. And it's supposed to be Wemby, but we just saw him in the second half so he couldn't do it.

And it wasn't Fox, obviously. And the other guys were too young and it was really, they were turning Dillon Harper who's 20 years old. - I mean, that's the story about like,

there's a lot of stories of the series for San Antonio, good, bad, ugly. Dillon Harper is the good story of the series for them. This is, in terms of ball control and who has the ball and who starts a point card next year.

Dillon Harper is the answer to that question. This is Dillon Harper's team now to run or at least co-run offensively. 'Cause he was just up for all of it, except the two free throws at the end.

- And missed a tough layup at the end.

“So, Brunson, Isaiah won a title as a small guy.”

Korea, some people count as a small guy, I guess. He's so unusual out of him, no, to compare him to. But he had Bob Coozy couldn't do it until he found Bill Russell. Jerry West couldn't do it until Will Chamberlain showed up.

Chris Paul Nash never did it.

Oscar Robertson couldn't do it until he played with Korean. Kaden G.P. needed all guy titles. - By the way, most of these guys are like significantly taller than Jillon Brunson, like Jillon Harper is listed at 6-2.

I've stood next to Jillon Brunson, he's not 6-2. - It's like he's 5-11, I would give him. But never wore down and you know, this is such an anomaly to have a guy built like him who had the kind of pressure that he had

on him all during the playoffs. And then on top of it, the box score is not going to show that this was Castle and Harper and Champagne and Vicelle with Wemby behind them for a lot of these points. Just kind of solving them.

I thought this spurs half-port, especially in the first half of game four. It was like, oh, they've really figured this out. They're not giving up fast break points to the next anymore. They're starting to solve the next now.

“And then Brunson flipped it over the next three halves.”

- Well, I mean, look, the statistics will say, well, they only solved it to a little bit of degree because the final offensive rating for the series was next 110 spurs 107.5. And I'd pretty sure one 10 would have ranked last

or close to last in the regular season. But here's the thing. You are in game 100, whatever of your season. You are facing a top two defense in the NBA and the best defense player in the NBA.

The unanimous defense player of the year winner, who has nothing to do, but game plan for your team under the highest possible pressure. With an officiating regime that is going to let everyone play super physically except Carl Anthony Townsend, I guess.

They sure did. And all you got to do in that, in that, all that solving amounts to in that scenario is scoring enough to win. And they scored enough to win over and over

and over against the defense that was giving them different kinds of looks, Wendy's and different places, different styles. They solved it enough to just eat it over the finish line. And that's enough.

That's all that it took. Like one 10 offensive rating in those circumstances is like, I'll take it good enough. 2600 minutes for Bronson during the season. His day games playoffs over 700.

So he's at like 3,400 minutes for the season. And felt like he was gaining strength. There's something to be said. We've talked about a lot.

I always talk about it with the draft.

It's going to be really interesting in this draft that's coming up because one of these point cards is going to fall and he'll immediately have the chip on the shoulder guy. Just like the top four whoever goes fourth,

that guy's going to have the chip on the shoulder. Bronson to be doubted over and over again. I think now he's the 15th guy ever to win a high school championship of college championship in an NBA title.

And some of the guys that did it are like, Karim. I was going to say Karim is the standard bearer of that. It's people like that. And even when I kind of, he was one of the guys in that draft

when he went in the second round. It's like, what are we doing? We just watched him in college. Like he's clearly a rotation guy. But he just over and over again kept shoving it in the dad

or spaces. We're going to take a break. And there is so much more to discuss. We haven't even hit like 80% of my topics yet. I can't wait.

I hope you drank some coffee. I did. I drank, I drank 8 PM coffee, which is just

I'm ready.

All right, take it break.

This episode is brought to you by Mikyllob Ultra, the official beer partner of the NBA. My favorite NBA finals moment ever, wife two. One was when I was six years old. And I went to the famous triple over time game in 1976,

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two, two, Laker Celtics. And it is so hot in the Boston Garden that people are passing out in the stands. Everyone's sweating all over the place. The Lakers are taking oxygen on the bench and Larry Berg

unfaced.

“I think he had 35 points, 20 rebounds, was just awesome.”

And won the game. Game number three, two lead, they won in seven. And that is my favorite finals game ever. There's a lot of great moments. I was lucky to be there, by the way.

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open U.S. residence 21 plus, begins on October 1st, 2025 ends on June 30, 2026. Multiple entry periods, see official rules of Mikyllob Ultra.com/courtside for free entry, entry deadlines, and prizes, and details. Now it's time for our with the assist segment,

and it's presented by state farm on the court. No one does it alone, the biggest moments often come from teammates working together, which is my favorite. Kind of basketball, not a nice ol' ball guy. One poor setting up the other, just the right time.

This season, the NBA has given us plenty of duos who made that connection. Look, effortless, normally you would say,

“Murray and Yokeage for this, because I think they brought”

the best at each other, and won the 23 title together. This year, I think my favorite combo has probably been Castle and Wemby on those hard rolls that Wemby does when Castle's at a very one on the spurs. I think it's the best at putting it right near the basketball.

And it got to the point there in the finals where the nicks just started shoving Wemby as he was going for the alley-oop, and just taking the non-shootie foul for it, then probably enough to change your rules.

But I like the way Castle and Wemby work together. And I think that's my pick for up and coming combo. Maybe they could be like Yokeage and Murray someday. Just like on the court, it helps to know someone has your back on the most unexpected thing might happen.

That's where state farm comes in. They've got easy to use digital tools, like the state farm app, which is excellent. And neighborhoods, state farm agents, when you want to talk, to a real human being.

Like a good neighbor, state farm is there with the assist. Covered Japsions are selected by the customer availability and eligibility vary by state. I got a text from my friend Mark Simino

who just said, "Incredible, my life has changed." And I think, I went through this as a Red Sox fan, obviously in 2004, you're gonna grow through it when Croatia wins the World Cup in six weeks. - Yeah, that's a long shot.

- You really do feel like your life has changed. I mean, I wrote a whole book about it. You feel like there's a piece that comes over it that the fear when you get older that you're just gonna die

and never see it or that your parents are gonna die

and they're never to see it or your buddy, your older buddy, your uncle and when the moment happens, you start thinking about all of these moments you've had in life, all these people you know and there's just no experience like it.

“But the problem is you have to really suffer”

and suffer for your entire life. And that's what makes it special and fortunate. But this is where we are at the next fence. What was the best text you got? - I'm just, I'm just kidding.

- People at the game, and mostly just gibberish. Yeah, Sam Moral, great Santa could be in just text me, dude, dude, what a team, what someone else unreal. Just stop it. - Yeah.

- Just to stop beside themselves. - Just becoming coherent.

I'm sure New York City's gonna be incredible tonight.

I was thinking, what's the next, who replaces them now is our really sad pathetic drought team with generations of fans. It's probably Phoenix, right? I'll get to the candidates.

Phoenix, Utah, Clippers, Sacramento, Atlanta. - You have India and then that's one ABA title. So you have the Blazers that have a once in 77. You've washed in 78, Philly 83. And then you have Charlotte, New Orleans, and Memphis.

I don't have the giant fanbase to pull this off.

- Did you mention Minnesota? - Oh, and Minnesota is in there too, and Minnesota. I guess, Minnesota is great fans. - Yeah, and they also, they haven't won a title of any kind since the 91 twins, so I don't think.

And they got jobbed in the WMB finals two springs ago, which I still remember you, Minnesota. - Yeah, Minnesota is up there. I would say Phoenix though, who has just been in the mix decade after decade after decade,

and it had set some really tough beats,

and some really great players, and it just never happened.

They also don't have the amount of fans in the mix up. - Yeah, that's the thing, there's no team. I mean, really only the lakers could travel like this, and I don't even think lakers fans would travel to this quite this extent, particularly in the finals,

where they're traveling far. Of those teams you mentioned, they don't, again, no one has the fan base. This is a small market team.

“I think Utah deserves a little bit of a hearing,”

because like the nicks, they had these iconic players that were just stopped by Jordan over and over again, like, or not twice in the finals, but just couldn't get over the hump, and they were largely very good for a long time,

they've obviously had it down a few years as they've tanked. Now, I think I might pick them. - I wish the Cooper said more fans, 'cause that's a great one, 'cause that goes back as long they were an expansion team.

I think right around when Phoenix came in the league. - And then the kings, I didn't know. - Well, but they were Cincinnati. - They were at the center of the show. - That's from Bahá.

I don't think they won since they were Rochester in the early '50s, was the last one for them. Atlanta would be a fun one, but yeah,

we'll never see anything like this in the NBA again,

'cause like when the Red Sox won, we still had the Cubs in the Indians like on deck, in this case. No, all right. Do you have more next staff,

or do you wanna move to the spurs here?

“- All right, yeah, go go in more on the next.”

If you have anything else you wanna hit. - I'm just always big on, you just gotta let it sink in. Just let you gotta look during it in the team that just wanted to host his New York City, man.

This is like, this is New York Freaking City. Just got it, and this is a team that you nights the city while I lived for 20 years, and I wish I lived there still now. Like, there's no other, not even the Yankees.

I don't think you night the city like this, because there's too many meds fans. - The NYX or the city's team apologies to Brooklyn, it's just true. And it's been on fire.

I mean, I was there all this week for games three and four staying in Atlanta. The whole time, the city is like absolutely on fire. It could not be understated how crazy this is. And like, yes, there have been some misbehaving fans,

deplorable stuff like that happens in every city. Don't let them feed us. - Don't let that represent like what's going on in the West Village and Williamsburg, and all these places where there are watch parties.

It's an absolutely incredible moment in New York City.

My wife and I are sitting here lamenting that we no longer live there and that we can't go outside. Like, I just wanna go outside. I'm not even a next fit.

I actually grew up hating the next ironically. - I just wanna go outside and see something. And then the burbs you go outside and you see fucking squirrels and deer running around. And there's no one hawking their cars.

There's nothing. It's just incredible. And like, you can't say enough about Brunson. You can't say enough about how they built the team. The Josh Hart trade just sort of sneaks under the radar

all the time is like how they got Josh Hart. And then, you know, Brunson taking less money to facilitate everything just everything clicked into place. And even a guy like Shamit who couldn't miss for six weeks basically, but just scrap people guy.

“And I think like, again, this is a historical thing,”

but this is up your alley. I tried to find a comp for them in terms of like, you probably saw this on Instagram, like good regular, they were a very good regular season team. 53 wins.

That's like low for a champion. And then to go from that to, I'm looking at the finals number now. 16 and three with a net rating of plus 15.4. I mean, that's, I think the greatest net rating

in the history of the playoffs for a championship team. It's up there with like, it's above not win loss-wise, but like it's 17 warriors. It's 96 bulls, like it's all the greatest teams ever, are the only ones that are in that universe of so few losses

and such a big point differential. They just turned into an absolute bulldozer. And I don't want it what I don't want to hear and I've seen a little bit of this as well. They didn't have to play Boston, they didn't have to play Oklahoma City.

Stop, Boston got exposed by Philly. Why are we sitting here thinking Boston was this great juggernaut that was gonna really like push the next, I think they would have pushed the next harder than Philly because Philly was injured, but they got exposed.

San Antonio beat Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City was banged up and the next just beat them four out of five times. Like, just give them the credit. It's at all time dominant, postseason run,

and this is more in Europe will have to in mind, I don't really think there's a single season team quite like this ever in the NBA who was good and then turned into whatever the hell this is. - I can't think of one either.

I think what, the amazing thing to me, it was like that river stecks the meter in the fourth quarter and he was just like, this is a replay of all the other final scams. And I was like, you're right, 'cause this is,

the next are almost like playing karaoke of the other games that they've had, where it's just like, oh, they're gonna do the part where they're gonna fall behind by 13, it's like watching those CSI episodes where, you're like, "Oh, it's a 40 minute mark."

Now, I bet this guy now, we're gonna find out, maybe he actually knew the victim.

“And that's what they did over and over again.”

I'm with you, first of all, you know,

I hate you never played anybody thing.

You can only play who's in front of you. Second, San Antonio is minus 200 to when minus 190 to win the series. And we were all saying during the last round, okay, see San Antonio was gonna decide the finals.

I certainly felt that way. - And we were, so, we weren't all, don't we me on that, don't we me on that one. - I felt that way. A lot of people felt that way.

We were all like the finals gonna go through the west. I thought of the five best teams, the next were the only good East team. And I think Denver, Minnesota, were up there with San Antonio. I think those were the five best teams in the league.

They only played one, but I don't hold them against them. And I thought San Antonio was an awesome team. - And that was one of the scariest defensive teams we've had in the finals in the last 20 years. - They turned Philly and Cleveland into freaking mush.

Like, just get out of here. You don't even belong in the same league as us. And like those were teams that fought tooth and nail to beat other good teams in the Eastern Conference, including the top seed, including a popular finals pick.

And the nicks just washed them, humiliated them, embarrassed them out of the playoffs. And it was like, you don't even belong on the same floor with us. Go home, James Hardin.

By the way, James Hardin, just sneaking into the news today. Just sneaking right in. - Good loaded. - Well, I'll tell you this to credit the nicks. They are changing, I think they are lightened a little fire

on some of the East teams. 'Cause this is sustainable for the nicks. I think for at least the next two years, right?

“And if you're boss, then you have to change how you play,”

which is basically what Steven said at the press conference

right after the season ended. We can't play this way anymore. We have to be more inside out. The nicks have the ability to play inside out to hit threes. But, fronts in a lot of ways became their inside outside guy.

He was the guy getting all the points in the paint, a little bit of bridges, a little bit of town who was terrible, that was Minnesota towns today. Now, they didn't get the friendliest whistle ever, but it didn't matter.

- I will say three times in two games. A Wemba Niyama foul was reviewed and turned into a town's foul. I didn't like the first two of them, which one was in game four. And the first one tonight, I did not understand at all.

Like Wemba Niyama gets called for a foul, like kind of karate chops towns. And then town's hooks in, but the chop comes first, which makes the foul. - And it proceeds the hook and you go back and review it.

Can you not just review that and say, we're just, it's an old call. We're wiping it away, successful challenge. Now to foul on Wemba Niyama. I gotta make it a foul on towns.

I thought he got a raw whistle in these last two games. And we have not even gotten to the fact that we are, again, for the second straight game, the league is gonna be spared. The number one talking point between games five and six being

is Wemba Niyama gonna be suspended for games six because of a flaker and foul review on the landing spot thing. I mean, like, they're spared this whole officiating discussion because the nicks saved their ass on it. I had that in my notes.

He would have gotten suspended. - He would have all this conspiracy.

All they'll never suspend to him.

They'll find a way around that. - He would have gotten suspended.

“- I think he would 100% would have gotten suspended between them”

not upgrading the mush of Jill and Bronson to a flaker, which like, I don't understand what their reasoning was for that. And like, the outcry of that, I think I agree with you. I think he was gonna get suspended for games six. And now, thankfully, we don't have to live in a world

where the nicks win games six with no Wemba and everything's a little not tainted, but just feels a little like we didn't get the send off that we should have gotten. - There were a lot of calls that in, like,

against the next today. It should be mentioned. There was 28 to 19 nicks refroad vanage in that game. - Yeah. - I felt like they got hose on six or seven calls.

I thought the not calling the foul on Bronson. I mean, when Bronson's trying to dribble the clock out with 10 seconds left, waiting for them to foul him, gets hacked. There's three refs there.

All of them miss it in the ball goes to bridges. Like, that just could have been a steal the other way for the game time layup. And we would have been, oh, let's look at the replay. Danielson, karate chopping, Bronson, that was terrible.

They never missed that call ever.

They make that call 100 times out of 100 during this season. There's three refs none of them missed the call. He felt down. It was terrible. And I don't know how you don't review that later.

- Well, they could review it later, but it would just have been between games. It's funny, right? - When I first time out, you can't review it? - I don't know.

When I first watched it naked, I actually didn't. I saw Bronson kick his leg out a little bit.

“And I thought, okay, maybe that's what they saw.”

And then on the replay, it's much more clear that that should have been a foul and a foul and a foul. And it was just not called. And then there was like the OGN and Obi-Fantham looseball foul after a scramble rebound very late in the game.

We're like, I'm not even sure what Scott Foster was looking at, but look, the next, and you consider and do the foul replay. The foul count and the free throw count and whatever. It's like the fouls on towns are so pivotal and so he is such a bedrock in terms of how the next play

and becoming into this game, the next were plus 48 with towns on the floor and minus 40 with towns off the floor. That like, I don't really care if the rest of the calls are even or lean to the next favor because those calls by themselves are so pivotal in three times and two games.

Not only is a whenbanyama foul or race, it's then turned into a foul on towns. And I thought two of the three were bad calls or just like wipe it away, no call it.

The third one was a clear foul when he shoved.

Yes. We shoved whenbanyama into an employer.

“We were texting near the end of half time.”

And I was texting you that I thought the next were going to win, which I was texting you all day. And you texted back, hold on. I want to see what happens with these three towns fouls. And like instantaneously.

But you got the text. Yeah, I got the text that he was spelling somebody. Foster had that awful call on OG, the fifth foul. It was Brunsett and just made a lap. It was 83, 83.

OG had that weird loose ball call. And I wrote down on my notes at that point. And it was starting to give me flashbacks to time to bring a Celtic team into this. Game 5, 2008 finals.

Selt's up 3-1. It's in LA. It's 2-3-2. My dad and I are in the stands. We think the Selt's are going to win.

And in the second half, the Selt's just got host. It was the game where Ray Allen fouled out. Hit 5,000, the second half. Paul Pierce had 5,000, the second half. And I was like, I feel like we're reliving that.

Or they're just going to like take OG and towns out of this game. And as it turned out, it didn't matter. Because J. Limbrunsett and just could not be stopped for a long, long time. And then really insane Antonio said nothing happened. But I'm looking at guys.

I bolted down the stretch. OG had a dunk. Brunsett had a floater. Mitch had that offensive rebound. OG had a free throw.

Bridges had free throw. All the guys got a chip then. A lot of nerby free throws at the end for both teams. Oh, I don't like it. By the way, I get it.

I mean, maybe it wasn't heard sometimes to just miss, but boy, if you put me at the line right there, I might pee my pants and go over two on two airballs and run off the court and ever to be seen again. The one I was positive of was Harper missing the first one when he was, they were down three with like eight seconds left.

Because I feel like the guy misses that 90% of the time down the stretch. We had a couple of big, at least two big Josh Hark shots on the fourth quarter, wanted to shout out. He's the kind of their no-no, yes guy. But yes, so when you look at the other next, OG goes three of 11.

Yeah, but I'm just going big picture. You had it, Ms. Finals MVP after game four, which I thought was aggressive. Wait, what?

“I think it was like 60, 40 because Brunton is the engine, right?”

Brunton is the engine. He's not my stance. Yeah, well, the best guy to me unless he's awful has to get it. But after this game there were just no questions about it. But like, again, now that it's over, is the and it will be tip the greatest play in the

history of next basketball. I mean, greatest in history, next basketball. 20 degrees plays in the history of basketball, but it's great. I think it's the discussion or be of basketball for me, for the professional basketball

NBA, is it one of the 10 best, the most important plays in the history of the league.

And I think you could argue that it was. Now, you're saying like, non game seven versus game seven. No, we also have two categories. Well, no, we were, I sent you a text from one by buddy Doug who's a genius and he was, it is a math genius.

And he was asking me, like, do you think the antidote be tip is the single biggest non game seven swing play in terms of Finals odds? And then he showed me his math about how much it swung Finals odds. And he said, give me some other candidates. And the only way I gave him a bunch.

And the only one that he mathematically said was as close to that big of an odd swing was

them open.

Yeah, which turned it to two point, pistons lead into a one point spurs win.

But yeah, I mean, like it's, it's up there. And just, it's just, it's just made for cinema. He's flying through the air above everybody else, sprinting in with the kind of urgency that it is like, I will die to win this game and gets his hand on it perfectly softly. Nobody else touches it.

Only him. Only he's high enough to get it. And it's, you know what's going in as soon as he hits it. It's not, it's, he's got, he's got a preposterous level of touch and control on it. And that you, as soon as it, I mean, I was there.

I was watching it. I was standing up in awe. So like as soon as I saw him running, I was like, one by God, he's going to tip the singing. So I did the pod right afterwards. And then was kept watching that whole sequence over and over again the next morning.

I think it's one of the craziest flu, it might even be a crazier flu, but also great play than the Ray Allen shot.

“Because remember the Ray Allen shot, all the guys, what was it that led to the layout?”

Oh no, it was the LeBron III before the Ray Allen shot. When all five spurs had a chance for the rebound and it's like, you could do this a thousand times. This might be the one time where you don't get the rebound. That to mention that Ray Allen was the guy in the corner who had practiced the back

pedaling. All those things that happened.

It's like one in a million that, that team, that moment.

So the next, you have to have the spurs fucking up like the defensive coverage. Did you see that camera from behind the basket of them kind of not knowing who to cover? I did. And then it ends up, and I think that was legitimate where they kind of did, oh, I thought, oh, they're playing him.

And they're kind of scrambling right before and when he ends up on Brunson, which I don't, I can't imagine. Do you think that was the intention at all for him to be 30 feet from the basket? They're up one. I don't think so.

That said, I don't think there was enough scrutiny or just curious questioning of,

“did you need to double team jail in Brunson with Victor Brunson?”

No, I mean, I think that was a, in all the attention on the Fox blunder that proceeded that which was all very deserved. And I finally, I've seen some defenses of that decision by Fox, which, to me, are non-sensical. We can talk about that if you want. But I don't think that, and I don't know who called for the double, I assume the coaches

yelled from to go and do it. I'm like, it says, so unanimous defense, the player of the year, there's four seconds left in the game. He's just going to take a three. You know, I don't know what you're, also, you have great defenders.

You don't need a Wemby to come out. If anything, you have to be worried about some sort of tip. So anyway, Wemby comes out, that's lucky break number one. Lucky break number two, Brunson shoots it fast. And it has to hit the front of the rim and ricochet right toward where OG is going, right?

And OG is jumping, jumps seven feet full speed. But you still need the ball to ricochet. If it hits the back of the rim, he's by it. I don't, he might be able to get it with his left thing. But it almost has to bounce the way it is.

“And then for him to just kind of tap it back the way he did, I think that's like a one”

and a hundred thousand play. Those three things all together. Not to mention, Wemby could have blocked the Brunson shot. The other thing is, town's was right there for the tip end of the Brunson of the OG tip. And I wonder if he would have tipped it in.

See, if that, and then you also have the spurs having Harper inbound the pass at the end on a play that would have worked. And town's tips it. And like, why wasn't Wemby inbounding that? Because you're using them as a decoy for the play?

The lob, the lob, the lob, right? Right. How about a coordinate? Good coordinate, not throw. Why do you have somebody who's six inches shorter than the guy guarding him?

Not to mention, town's brings the guys over the fans to kind of crowd Harper, which I've

never seen in a modern NBA game in the last 30 years.

But I thought that was crazy too. You could do a documentary about the last 10 minutes of that, 10 seconds of that game. Oh, you sure could. You sure could. And then the Fox decision, like you could, it's like an hour of analysis.

The Fox decision, I saw a couple of analytics people being like, this is unfair criticism. It's a totally analytically sound decision. Here's the math of like, well, he could put him up three of this in that. The reason why it was a bad decision. And I don't know if he could have killed as much clock as people think, because OG was

coming to found real fast, but the reason why it's a bad decision, despite whatever analytics you can conjure about it is even if he just makes one out of two free throws, which is part of the analytical argument for why it's not a horrible decision. Well, he could misfeed or he could misboath free throws and blah, blah, blah, expected points for this.

And then you're up to, and the tip does not lose you the game. You saw the chance to win it at overtime. There's just such a normal, one point is such an enormous difference that if that's all

And he did pretty much the only thing that that put zero in a probable position to happen. And that was challenging. And it'll be at the rim and lose. I don't know why he did it.

I don't know why he wanted to challenge in and OB. I don't know how he couldn't have scored on the left side of the basket when he's left handed. But the OG block slash tip. So I was watching, I watched the end of Bucks Sun's Game Five to try to remember the

Drew play in the sequence of the, and the Bucks are up like 10 with three minutes up. Then kind of blow the game, leading to Booker who had been hot in that game with a chance to win and Drew does the strip comes back down and throws that crazy aloeuvre to Janis who's almost by the rim and dunks it anyway. And I was thinking like, if he hadn't, if he had fucked up that aloeuvre or Janis,

“whatever, like he would have gotten all the same D.R. and Fox criticism, but guess what?”

It worked. And a fox had scored to go up three. We would have been like, great play by Fox. I don't think I was a great play. I don't think we would have.

I think we would have been like, ooh, that was risky. He's lucky. risky. Great play by Fox. Yeah.

I was watching the 1990 Game Two Finals Pistons Blazers. Of course you were. I wouldn't you be watching that. Well, it got served to me on Twitter because apparently I was watching

the last second plays and this popped up, but this was the Danny Young game.

Remember this? No. I don't think so, but I'll remember when you described to me.

“Which finals was it a Blazers Blazers Blazers Blazers Blazers?”

This is the one where the Pistons were on the back of the Portland. Yeah. Pistons are up one. They inbound it, they break the press for some reason jailed Henderson decides to score a layup with like three seconds left instead of just dribbling out the clock.

There's no Blazers. Blazers are up trying to steal it. The Blazers him down to it and Danny Young just gets a wide open free, but it's like a split second after the buzzer. And it was kind of as dumb as the Fox play, but it did in my point is, you guys have

brain farted like this over and over again in the comments like these guys are tired. The amount of energy it takes to play these games is astonishing and unimaginable to regular people. It affects your brain a little bit and also you're built with such confidence and you're such an elite athlete that he justifiably thinks I'm put enough to get this shot onto

the backboard before he gets to it and he didn't. And like it's understandable, it's like, well, very explainable brain fart, but a disastrous brain fart. It's not explainable as the point card. The point card's the smartest guy in the team, allegedly.

He's the game manager. He's the guy who he's the quarterback. He's got to make some red decisions, right? The game Johnson, I saw on Tommy's pod was defending Deer and Fox. He was just like, you guys don't understand how fast everything goes when you're playing

basketball and it's like, they get a steal. The ball pumps out.

It's not like you have a lot of time to process with that first.

He's got to chase the ball. He's in real time measuring OG behind them, but, you know, I guess my thing is I don't take

“the spurs would of won this series anyway, regardless of that play because I think I really”

felt like they started to get exposed as the series goes along. Look at what happened today. How many guys on the spurs did you trust by, by midway through game five? We lost our confidence in Fox. Their entire bench was out.

Cornet was employable. They couldn't really play Carter Bryant. Kelden Johnson, six minutes of the year was just doing nothing. You go on down the line and it's like, I don't, I can't find six guys I trust on this team, not to mention the big fundamental issue with them was they got to give the

car keys to Harper and they just wouldn't do it. They were hesitant to do that. And I think that was one of the things that cost them the series. Well, it is interesting for a team that was ahead of schedule and has a ton to be proud of and is like two boneheaded plays away from this series probably still going on in

to game six. It does feel like there's a surprising amount of potential fallout in San Antonio just in terms of maybe not immediate, but just like the Fox question is arriving maybe faster than they thought it might. I would say it's arrived.

I think people are getting off the train. Well, I mean, I said after game four that I was having lunch with an agent in New York and we were talking about like because Harper has been so sensational and that's part of the Fox question too is Harper and he said, you know, how soon do you think like this

first start thinking about or taking calls or listening or whatever and I said, look, it feels

early because his extension doesn't even kick in yet and they just made the finals and they're going to have to lick their wounds if they lose the series. But that contract is so big and so long that like a routine called me this offseason and just gave me like a fairish offer for it. I we got to have a meeting about it because this was bad and I he's got a high ankle

sprain, but this series was really bad in every possible way pretty much and Harper was

out of Fox, which is like veteran mentorship, a long playoff run, they didn't quite get

“all the way and like I like now I just got like four more years on a huge extension coming”

up. I don't know if it's it's that's fallout. Keldon Johnson's a free agent that's fallout just completely fell apart in the finals and didn't have a great play offs overall. He'd a bad place.

Good be interesting. Well, the thing with Fox, so the for people listening who don't know the size of the contract, maybe take a seat even if you're sitting four years to 21 and I had a bunch of people over the last couple days texting me like just that people that aren't doing what we do for a living but just basketball fans like so they're going to trade Fox who where's

going to go go through the teams like it's it's hard to find four teams that need an expensive point guard who like you'd be like oh Orlando he'd be good there will cool or

Orlando's already like way over the tax they're going to be a second apron team and they're

not training Franz Wagner for damn Fox. I'm sorry. Right. Right. That one goes into the David Stern veto yeah that's like the league steps in what they're

looking at is something like Minnesota wondering if they'll take the last year Julius

“Randall's deal and D. Franchenza who has a torn Achilles I honestly think that's what”

they're looking after that contract I think you're looking at can we get expirings back and we're probably getting the one or two worst guys in the trade we might have to throw a pick in it at Lana is interesting because they're going to have cap space need a point guard and maybe have like the Kissberg contract and reseshade but I couldn't find a deal that I really liked.

Well that's what I think he's going to be on San Antonio next year. That's what I meant by fairish in terms of like if it's like neutral to us so we don't have to give up a pick like I gotta at least have a meeting about it but then you go through the teams and of course irony of all ironies a team that absolutely could use an expensive good point guard and does desperate things all the time is the Sacramento Kings and I

feel like that's probably not going to have to have it. Well here's the other problem with Fox like as a trade asset this draft is like legendary for how many point guards are in the Kings are in that range five guys who could potentially be starting his point guards not to mention like some of the guys that have come in the last two years so I think he's going to be on the team and I don't really know I don't know

“how they how they get out of that one so the only thing I threw out and I don't really”

see the exact scenario for it but you mentioned Atlanta my like there's like is there a team that gets you on us that has to trade so much for him that is like all right we just need another good player in the door and this is guys getable and he fits well like that's that but I even that is a hard deal to construct there was one there was one that caught my attention as I was flying through the spot track teams.

Now you get him and then you try to flip him and it's basically a three team deal you know and it was I don't

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that were spinos losses this century, in less than a week, including... Well, it was an embossed witch too. I mean, just take this off. Yeah, so today was like a walk in the park

compared to some of the other ones. I did a thing about after Game 2 about how they've had, and this is before Game 4, how they had had the their five worst playoff losses or worse than anyone else's five worst playoff losses.

And then they added a six one to that. I don't know where you start with them when you're thinking about the season because they're a little like the Patriots when the Super Bowl,

I almost wish they had it made the Super Bowl. So I can wish you would have been better off losing the FC title game. If the spurs just lose an OkC and Game 7, we have no questions. We're like, "Oh, they're too young."

OkC's really good. That's the way it worked out. But now it opens up a whole bunch of stuff. We've almost gotten to the hour mark without talking better than yet. But this was an incredibly disappointing Wemby series. It just was.

But for future of the league, face of the league,

“all that stuff, this was, I think a catastrophe for all those storylines.”

It was. I think that's a little strong. Yeah. We're passing the torch from Jordan and LeBron to Wemby. And I'm included.

I have my hand pushing in Jordan. And he just wasn't nearly good enough for impactful enough. He wasn't. So I disagree with you in two senses. I don't think he was catastrophically bad.

I think he was a little disappointing. Defensively, I think he was like tonight he was fantastic for two and a half quarters defensively. And I think faded a little bit at the end. He averaged 26 a game on 42% shooting, 27% on threes, 11 rebounds, three and a half blocks.

I agree in the aggregate. It's disappointing. We can talk about why and what parts of his game kind of faded in and out of some of these games.

“Tonight for instance, I thought in the first half, he was just not rolling to the rim enough.”

It was just settling for pops and pop twos and drives that we're never going to work in this series.

And for some reason, just doesn't yet have the confidence or the consistency and just like the simple pours English shot where all else fails. I just catch the ball 15 feet face up and shoot over you. Like that should just be a much bigger part of his diet than it is. Just passing him up. And especially the 18 footers.

But I had this argument with people throughout the finals. I think just story wise. Narrative wise. This is the best. This is a better outcome for the league.

The next win. They end the 53-year drought. Right. Total jubilation in New York City. History.

All the alums are there. Ewing's there. The ghosts are exercise all of that. And when he gets some battle scars and gets embarrassed a little bit in some big moments. He goes back and like it was it felt too soon for him to already conquer the league.

And now we get an offseason of like reckoning with the turnover in game two.

Reckoning was shooting 42 percent seven of 19.

I think tonight. And like like some scars some some stuff. Miss free throws in game in game four in New York. I just think it's like a cool that cooler. But just like certainly a more literary arc.

Then if he had just sort of walked into that walk to just like I'm already the best. Where already champions New York you lose again. To be fair, I wasn't saying his play was catastrophic. I was saying. The storyline arc of him being the next guy and here it is and he is now arrived.

I think it's really flipped over the last. I just know anecdotal with people in my life. He is now he's basically had an entire career of narratives in the spirit of two. Two months where now it's like. He can he play more than 30 minutes in a playoff game without wearing down.

Why is he why does why is the first half so different than the second half?

What about some of the dirty stuff like the next fans hate when be doubt. It's really interesting like they're just like that even the play with bronzer today. I got so many people in my life like hit there he is he did it again. This is a guy that went into the last two rounds of the playoffs. Kind of with the unanimous approval rating that now I think there's questions.

I think there's he's got people that don't like them.

“It's just that's what I mean like it's it went from like oh my god.”

This is definitely the next guy here we go to now people going huh. What do we actually have here and what is he going to get better and what is he going to add. And can he play more than 30 minutes a game without wearing down and I don't know. I just think he left with a lot of questions. I do think it's worth again noting is he made the finals and we just spent a lot of time talking about how the guards are

than Harper were like a little bit scatter shot and castle was very bad tonight too. And he was in the finals they beat okay see. The dirty stuff is interesting because I do like clearly when he feels like he's getting beat up. There is a risk of him losing his temper. I mean just to ask now's read.

Yeah. I do think some of the things like the landing spot thing and like a couple like a couple of like the elbows that end up getting jaw into somebody's jaws. I think like he's just very tall and his limbs are just going to get to places where. I know that like he doesn't really expect them to be or you don't expect them to be. I think there's a little bit of that but it is interesting.

The top three players in league and whatever order you want them all left us this season in slightly disappointing fashion. You'll get shoots 19% from three in the first round and it's just kind of not the same guy. She and the conference finals has an absolutely epic game seven.

It's hard man like they all they all ran into stuff that it was hard and they just they didn't quite live up to their usual production.

Here's where he should get dinged. The game for Mitch goes for the kill leaves him in right play plays a ton of minutes and he just dies down the stretch and he just couldn't handle that kind of middle load workload physicality he just he wilted. And part of it was because he probably didn't have the experience of playing minutes like that because they were really careful of them during the season. So it's like give us your 30 best minutes. And the play after you can't do that anymore you got to get into the 40s look at fronts and tonight.

Game five if you're digging him.

“I think it's got to start with all the towns found trouble towns is out of this game.”

At the beginning of the third quarter he's out now for the next.

Basically quarter and a third right. How did Wendy not destroy the next at that point didn't have a center they've Mitch Robinson who is terrible this whole series. They were they it bridges on him at one point they put a small ball lineup on him like if you're supposed to be now I sound like I'm like a like a fucking talking head like doing that. But if you're if you're supposed to be the guy you're our next guy. Here we come we're about to hand the leak to you.

And they have a team that has no center out there why why are you destroying them I don't understand it okay so in this particular game the next didn't play with no center for a couple of different stretches. They tried to time it to the coordinate minutes for just the reason that they know this is untenable against one banana and then I was a little surprised that they they would like bring hook 40 in when one banana came in there like fuck it we're just going to go smaller against one banana which surprised me.

And I thought there was at least one play where I think I can't remember which guard was I think it was castle had him might have been Harper had him on a lob and went for a two instead in the paint and miss like the lob was very clear there didn't throw it.

“Then there's another play where somebody just he had bridges on them and I think it was foxes just like throw throw the ball and he threw the ball and he like caught it and laid it up and in it that exact moment my brown pointed a miss a rock.”

That's a good idea back in here. Like they like they didn't last long and they did exploit it to the point that my brown was immediately like yeah one bat like they figured it out bring bring we need the big guy back in with the broken hand.

So he's talking a lot of shit in the first half a game for him in the rap right. Oh he was.

That's not helping him either. I just think it's going to be interesting how this goes for him for the next couple months because first of all he's American is not American he's French second of all. English is the second language and I think a couple times during the playoffs where he's just said things because he's saying things in the language that's not his. And the way it can just get caught and interpreted seems a lot more aggressive like what was that quote where is like we're going to come back and win or when they were down three one.

But everybody knows we're going to do it.

“Yeah, I don't I don't 100% even know that's what he meant but he's French like he's just trying to talk.”

I think I think he's just trying to be confident. But I thought if you're going to be the big boy and you're going to carry yourself like the big boy you've got to do better in a game or Carl Anthony towns only place have the game because he's a felt triple the whole time. When it's three one you've had two days rest you can't wait in the rest thing I just I was really disappointed but again. This is part of the process with the young guys we saw with Tatum in the 2022 finals we saw it with. What's a LeBron and the O seven final like this is this is it this is the Taster and hopefully he vaults from this and goes up a level but yeah I thought there was a little more there offensive I got to be honest.

I mean he's rolls to the rim continue to be their best offense right and they got a ton of great threes that they missed on just him rolling to the rim but yeah you just like he has these moves two or three times a game where he just decides. I'm scoring and I'm not going to settle for the show you want me to take I'm going to at least get to the dotted line and spin or fake a half spin and loft a little hook up or to a jumper and it goes in you're like. Why is there not more that I just keep going back to the poor zingas shot as like that should just be easy money for him as a as a fail say.

I will say you have a jump hook can we can we throw a jump hook in there you're seven six. He'll probably spend time with the module on the summer and and come back with stuff who knows. I'm about to just go to the gym and shoot some jump hooks do we need to keep a lot of you on the teach at the turnaround and shoot like everyone has a jump hook. It was a prepared basketball has won. I think this is all great that we're talking about this and he hasn't reached the mountain top yet and he's getting beat up a little bit by fancy say he's dirty and like we're talking about the lack of this go to move or whatever.

Yeah and he had not only that his shit talking to Mitchell Robinson early in game four we said I'm in your head I'm in your head and it backfire mistake reminds me a little bit of like.

Do you think OG is the greatest 3 in D guy we've had in the 3 in the era would be because it has to be somebody who's not in actual.

I could average 25 to 26 a game if I had to on a good team. I have to be like basically the third option. I know exactly what I am. I'm over here. I'm going to play base we're going to have some awesome concerts every once in a while I might get to sing a couple songs. But that's all I'm doing and and he knows it and that's just who he is I can't think of a better version of this like with almost like we should change string data OG I mean I don't even know what he is man because he just average 20 points a game for an entire playoffs and I know that you know scoring these up because of 3 is all that but like that's.

That's so maybe maybe he's like a 3 in D like plus like he's he's just OG's like the separate category for 3 in D guys says not they're running plays for no you know I used to talk about 3 in D and D guys with the second D being drive like you got to be able to make plays out of closed outs and he's good at that but he can like you can do a little bit a little bit everything like you can bully a mismatch. If if you got nothing else going on you can hit an off the dribble 3 now and then he's a 33 in double D guy I don't know like don't go into Barkley territory and but I just think he's a phenomenal player and and it was a trade I love for them right away.

“That you and I think talked about it at that 1.2 about you know the quickly and an OB debate and all that I just thought there was never any debate it was just such a smart identification of right if for instance our guy.”

What kind of guys do we need to get around him. And if for instance our guy quickly is never going to develop under us the way that he could somewhere else and Barrett is buried like we just need a different guy and that was absolutely like a plus identification of. Yeah, I was I remember I remember doing a pot about that trade and being like I've no idea how this is going to play out. But I understand it from both sides.

“But not but it's like at that point OG you know he'd he'd can miss some games at some point and it was like Toronto always seemed pretty anxious to get off them.”

They didn't want to pay this contract that the nicks are currently paying and then actually this is great will pay you yeah they were delighted to do it can we can we find a sponsor should deal for you under the table or something. But because we love you so much by the way raptors you know what I was thinking like very tangential winners and losers of the playoffs and of the NBA finals. And there's ananobi right like and see I come and I had forgotten. They traded see I come and the pacers pick that one of the pacers picks they got in that trade is now the number five pick in the draft and it had quite a journey it went Indiana Toronto Toronto New Orleans New Orleans back to Indiana and then Indiana to the clippers and now it's the number five pick in the general I forgot about it crazy.

Yeah it seems like in retrospect maybe ananobi and siakam could work together as two forwards on a really good team.

But watching it in real time and it was a team that never really made sense like there was something missing when you watch them and none of us could put our finger on it.

Well I like this guy I like this guy just a lot of it was Scotty Barnes developing I think faster than they thought and I think they maybe got a little ahead of Scotty Barnes development and making their team building decisions but they just concluded like this is not going to be a championship team that next championship team is going to be built around Scotty Barnes let's just pivot there now and yeah it looks. I also the. Oh God. No as you say also I felt for Brooklyn that's fans a little bit when Mike Green said during the game about Jose Alvarado or about Julian Champeni.

The Brooklyn kid torturing his hometown team was that that one's gonna sing just a little bit. Yeah that's a hard one. On the bright side for San Antonio.

“I think Carter Brian's going to be really good.”

Very bright right so I love Carter Bryant and next year maybe he's a little more involved the Harper things incredible I really felt like there was a couple moments tonight where I was like.

Wow if the San Antonio wins this it's going to be because Dylan Harper went to this crazy level that we've only seen a couple times from 20 year olds in the finals. And like it was like, is he going to score 38 points? Is this just going to be like he's single hand they changes this and then trump decides to go to game six and on a sudden momentum is completely. I think that already that game already feels like three weeks ago.

You know when it popped into my head when I was doing ringer 100 and I put this guy in to bring her 100 higher than I've ever had. I was like hey man Tobias Harris had himself a playoff didn't need that feels like seven seven months ago that Tobias Harris had a couple playoffs. I said my ringer 100 and that runs in fourth. I don't remember where I had him I'm not looking to the print. I was not fourth though you had so that means you had him above Luca.

Yeah put him above Luca why not why not why not why not the ceremonial ringer 100 he's first now.

So Harper eight like they'll have to figure out the fox thing little be fine. Maybe it doesn't materialize until February and then when be as you mentioned earlier because of everything that played out the last three weeks. This is is rocky three moment now now he's got a fake what do I need to add I've now tasted my own blood a little bit villainy now in America, especially with the next fan base and probably okay C2 and Minnesota I have some teams that franchise that don't like being like this is going to be how it goes.

So we did the most intriguing players of the playoffs before the playoffs we had a draft we did.

“I think the Wemby for apex superstar new picked SGA neither of us pick runs in.”

For crossroads guy you took Mitchell and I took Palo and Franz as a combo who ended up being the crossroads guy from the playoffs. I don't even know what the definition of crossroads guy just like we leave the playoffs going whoa there I guess it's fox. Crossroads crossroads crossing to the wrong side of the road no it's just like you're at the crossroads with this guy in your team. Or that or this guy in his career I probably fox defensive stud I had OG and I know be you a Derek wait. It's nice feel good star you had Lamello I had Tatum.

Well this was before the play in tournament we did this weekend or the play in teams. Hot seat coach you had Jamal Mosley. I'd he made Duke Doka hot seat wild card we really know. Legacy guy I had Brunson you had Yokeage I think I took Brunson before I'm not going to brag about that.

You had for second banana Carl Anthony towns that I had Jayland Durin so you hit that.

And you had you had Mcleo Bridges that I had Aaron Gordon for third banana. I guess Bridges is not the third banana now. The leap I had Maxi you had Steph Castle I think we both hit that fine right. Yeah trade machine guy you had Julius Randall I had JW so one for two there you win. Week Link you had Jayland Green I had to buy us.

And then we had a coat of guy for some reason you had KD and I'd carry neither of those hit but. Boy did the KD had a coat of the his career not hit in these playoffs but that's. Oh and for beloved bench guy I had Luke Kornette you had paint pressure anyway that was a snapshot of how we're feeling before the play on. And I don't know if bonus guy who has to be mentioned. I had Jill and Brown to do at Anthony Edwards.

Hmm. Sometimes I think who we didn't have. Do we have to don't Harper is the big one that's missing huh Wendy today we do we don't know what's took Wemby. No I had Wemby for a. You know we didn't have was Miss Johnson so what happens with him now.

He's the coach of the spurs I don't think there's anything. There's not. Nothing they're delighted with how he coached the team and the final.

“You there's no we universe I think they're probably a little.”

There are things to work on for sure. But there's no world in which they're making a coaching change. Didn't think that were them just ask you if they did the seek at a little hotter. No. Okay.

Did for me. Um. Top five NBA stories other than the finals. Now that the finals are over. Okay we're just going to we're okay.

All right let's do it. What else do you have? No let's give any more finals. No let's go top five stories. I just didn't make a list I didn't know we were doing this so let's go.

Number one obvious. What do you think number one is? Yes. I had the top 10 order of the draft that that become. This is not one or two expertise.

Yes number one or two. I'm really fascinated with what's happened to the draft because I'm. I think AJ I am now at.

I would bet anything AJ is going to be the first pick anything.

Anything. I'll take the bet. He's minus 500 on Fando. I would lay it down if if I could do it in California. And I think boozer is going to go to.

“And I think Peter so we'll go three to Memphis and we'll see how he handles that.”

And then we'll support nobody knows who's going five to the cookers.

People just had Wagner written in there. And now it feels like people are a little more Luke warm on him and. Maybe they trade back but that five to. Ten range is going to be fast day and then golden states and they're 11. Hope and somebody drops so I'm interested in that.

I'm going to I'm holding the on a straight to the ender. The Reeves contract.

“Does that provoke interest from you or you just feel like the Lakers take care of him?”

I prove it's just for me. I would guess the link. I would bet the Lakers take care of him. But. Would you feel good about paying him 50 million a year after the series you just watch.

Which series? The final. The next spurs series just thinking about like that level of basketball and. I don't feel great about paying a lot of players 50 million dollars a year in a salary cap. Second apron environment, but what's my alternative.

I feel okay. I feel okay. But then I then he's not on my team and I have to figure out. What's my team around Luke and don't judge. The problem for them is they have to pay him because Luke is like.

What do you mean you're not paying him? He's. My second best teammate. But I think that really. To to 50 plus million to our guys makes everything really hard.

So I that I have. What does Cleveland do? I think is a really good one. I'm prepared for basically anything with that. Although I haven't heard anything about them being involved with the honest of you.

I. I think.

I think they're always hovering on the periphery, but it would very clearly take.

But it would take Mobley and it would take Janice indicating that he would sign a long-term extension there and it just feels like a pretty unlikely series of events. He has not indicated that at all. And then before we get to Janice Lebron. Oh, sure. What happens with that is a good one.

Right. Oh, is this or is this. This one's a really fun one because the Warriors is really implied now. Like for real. I really feel like.

I'd to bet my life on a team. I think I would bet on. Stop betting your life and everything on this. I'm not actually betting it.

“But that's what I think that would be the move for me.”

Okay, and that's attached to the Cleveland topic too. At least that they have to be at least monitored for that. If it had is that would basically be him doing. Thirty million a year and then them trading Jared Allen to the Lakers. I don't know.

I don't know how it works. I've been in the finals bunker, but it already takes an enormous pay cut, which I don't see. But who knows. I don't know.

We've never seen a famous rich guy take a giant pay cut other than Carl Malone that one time.

The honest trade. Is that what you've heard lines already? Yeah, those are the five. Why do you have another one? Well, I mean, aspiration.

Oh, wrapping up. I mean, that I'm silver kind of cat. I'm silver for the first time kind of acknowledged it is, which I think it was before game ones. I guess taking a while got wrapped this one up guys. A lot of billable hours. Can we just get to the end of this?

“If you're the cookers, do you hope it wraps up after you had the fifth pick of the draft?”

Because that would be one of my hopes. Go wrap this up in July, guys. Yeah. Final loose by fifth pick. If you're probably worth it.

You think they were rooting for a seven game finals. It's just a shrieks ring the window between the finals and the draft. All right, that's a good one too. So Janis, what are you hearing? I think the bucks, I think, well, I mean, they're trading him. I would be shocked at this point if they didn't.

They obviously know what Miami's offer is. They have not traded him to Miami yet. So other things are a foot and I don't know how many teams are realistically in it. I, you, you if talked about it, I would definitely watch Boston potentially dipping their, the diving in. Not just dipping their toe in, but diving in.

I think they, I think they dove in. They made, from an I heard they made an offer in the past week a couple days before I mentioned on Thursday. I don't know what the offer was and I don't know who's in it. But they are in hat was in the ring, which I was really surprised by as I said on Thursday because I thought they were sitting it out. And I don't know, do you think something changed, do you think?

They looked at this from every angle or that they realized, oh, that that's it for the Miami offer. We can beat that, like, what, what would have changed their mindset? Because I do not think they were in on Janis at the beginning of the off season. I don't think they were out.

I just, the safest bet is always inertia, right?

Like the safest bet is we know that the nucleus we have works really well. And there's some degree of risk in shaking that up for a 31 year old who's been injury prone and we're going to have to sign up to the ginormous extension. It's a big, that's a big pivot for a team that has a pretty large window now of being one of the best teams in the NBA when everyone's healthy.

Some public comments that have been made after the season that ruffled some feathers, I'm sure.

“And again, like a death of, like, how many teams are we really competing against if we go, if we go for them?”

And I'm not saying they're gone gone for them, but maybe they have. There's my, I mean, like, I don't really know how real the Portland thing is is designing the extension in Portland. I don't think so. I don't think he's going to say that up front anyway. Orlando, I'm not sure how real that one is yet.

Toronto, I just don't think they have enough to get it done because obviously they're not putting Scotty Barnes in that deal. So I don't really know, even if they wanted to do it or make it all for what it would be.

I mean, it just aren't that many teams that are going to, you know, rock the boat to the green the bucks are going to need a rock.

On top of that, he wants to go to Miami or Boston. And I think Boston over Miami because he has a better chance to win a title in Boston. This Miami is going to trade all this stuff on the side and just have him and Bayham and then have to figure it out. And it's been made clear, I think, Oklahoma cities out, there's not going to be a panic chat trade other team. I can tell you for sure, other teams have checked on chat and been stiff arm San Antonio is obviously out.

“The team that has been curiously unmentioned and I think is unmentioned because they haven't been in is Houston in terms of teams that have assets, right?”

Like I just, yeah, and then what am I, I don't know if it's top five interesting stories, but just a team that has a lot of assets and I just, like, is Brooklyn really just going to, like, what are they going to do? Are they going to be like the Reeves offer sheet or the Reeves like count offer team?

Are they going to be, are they willing to just be bad again? Like what are they actually going to do?

Yeah, because you do the Reeves offer sheet. When did you do it like July 1st? Well, it's not easy. Well, it's not easy or it's unrestricted, so they don't have to worry about that. But you can't, I mean, you can't offer him the money until, yes, you can do wink wink before it. I don't know, is he really going to leave the lakeers to go to the Brooklyn Nets to play with 17 point cards, none of whom are in fact guys.

Here's the problem for the Nets and why I've been on this one for a few weeks, like just being interested in it. They don't, like, the best guys to take at number six are all point cards, and they just invested last year in a bunch of point cards, including the spent the eight that pick on a point card. See, based on be puning on last year's draft, that just think of be weird if they took a cuff. A cuff is the guy they should take if he's there, but how does that make sense with the rest of the team you have it? I don't get that. So I'm with you. I could see them trading him trading that pick for a star.

I'm just waiting for the Nets rumbling that makes sense to me because like even like they've, they keep like every couple weeks, you'll hear like, well, they're still a team to watch for Yannis and, and I'm like, well, okay, why? And why is Yannis going there and who else is going there? Like, I just, I don't know what the right move is. By the way, Nick's probably can be ruled out for Yannis at this point. Yeah, that's right. Well, I mean, I'm sure Milwaukee in the back of their heads was wondering could that be a potential suit or if something weird happens in the finals, it's not going to be the same way.

We did happen the next one of the finals in dominant fashion. Pretty weird. Yeah, I think Boston's going to get Yannis, okay? And I think it will happen in the next week would be my prediction.

“I would not bet my life on it, but I think, how do you feel about that?”

I'd pretty ambivalent. It's for all the reasons I did like a month ago when I was going through the stats of all these guys and their 14th season or later and 32 years later. I heard it later. I heard it later. These big guys that it's just history is against it.

Now, we're in a different era. It's 2006. There's different ways to take care of your body and advancements in medicine. We have a guy on the lake or a suit was 41 years old averaging 25 points a game last year. True. So who knows, but I think it's pretty risky.

I'm more interested like why they're in it now and I don't think they were in it before and is there. Is there stuff they're seeing with J.L. Brown that makes them realize like, Oh, this guy got a taste to be in the star and we can't go back to where we were in 2024 anymore. We have two guys who think they're the best guy in this team and this is not going to be resolved. Can I ask you a total devil's advocate question really has to this?

Again, it's a devil's advocate question. Okay, it's a rhetorical device. But if I conclude that I want to get Janus and if just mathematically, I have to trade one of the j's to get Janus. Why is it just assumed that it's jail and Brown and not Jason Tatum after the year jail and Brown just had in Jason Tatum is coming off in a killies injury?

I know the answer. I understand Jason Tatum is better than jail and Brown. First of all, NBA, I'd rather than higher ranked it all that. But isn't it interesting, it's just it's just completely assumed. It's a fair question. He's he's younger, but he is coming off the injury.

“I think he's considered to be a more popular ticket selling superstar than jail in this, right?”

Better as your face better. Better player, I get it. Yeah, and I think there's probably like a slightly higher ceiling and then with jail and maybe you're thinking it's time to sell high.

He's never going to have a better season than the last one.

Fair. I always wanted them to stay together, but the more I look at it, I just wonder. It's just a lot of weirdness during and after the season. Even little stuff like, like, jailing, saying Tatum is going to come on as twitch stream. I didn't see that one of those.

Well, that this was like a month ago when he did that. He said, "Oh, we're going to have Jason on." He hasn't been on. Like, are those guys getting along? I literally have no idea.

And I don't know if that's a piece of this or not. But you also have Janus who has Drew Handlin who's also Tatum's guy. And I just feel like we see where the two leaves are going with this one. Now, there was, there were trade Murphy room. I don't know how they would get Janus and trade Murphy.

I'm not going to believe that one that seems crazy.

“But do I think Janus makes more sense in a Boston deal than a Miami deal of jailings and the deal?”

Yeah, because that's a better player than anyone in Miami. Miami is like, "We'd love to get Janus. You can't have Batman a bio." At that point, are you making a real offer or not? And you could offer all these picks and all these other things.

But who's your centerpiece? You're trading a guy who won you the title in 2021. And it's been in your city since 2013. And you're going to trade him for a bunch of stuff. And you can't point to one thing.

I will say, "Okay, just for the sake of fairness. I do think new lottery rules, 31 year old injury pro and player going to Miami who guts the rest of its non-bam roster to get him." I think those picks, the further out you get to Miami picks, there's real upside in those picks.

On the flip side, what is jail and brown doing for me if I'm the Milwaukee bucks? I guess what he's doing for me is, again, there's upside if we become a 38-win team or a 42-win team. Mr. playoffs. And you just prove that he's actually better than people thought. Maybe we do get jail and brown, nail a couple for in signing.

Suddenly we're like a feel good, 47-win team. Is that better than he has trade value? Maybe we're flipping. I think these are all questions worth.

“But don't you think that it's a three-tamer if Boston isn't?”

I can't imagine they end up with J.L. Brown. I would assume he goes to Portland or Atlanta or Atlanta. I think that's all possible. Those are the more teams. I gotta say the Portland one makes a lot of sense. That's been on to my favorite.

My two favorite conjured up Janice trades or the three-tamer where J.L. Brown goes to Portland and some other stuff goes everywhere. And then the bucks get their draft assets back from Portland. And the draft assets back, you get Scoop back. You probably get something else from Boston.

Wow, Scoop's getting thrown in there. I think he has to. If I'm trading Janice, I need my picks back and I need to at least have Scoop. And then if I'm Portland and I end up with Denny and J.L. Brown together, with Clingon, with Dame, with Camaro, with Sharps there.

I still have Drew Holiday. I'm kind of excited about that team. It's a pretty interesting team. One of those guys may not be there, but... Which guy?

Well, I was like a Sharper holiday, maybe I wouldn't know. I mean, holiday would want to be there. But I would assume Jeremy Grant would be going to Milwaukee if that would be the guy that I would move if I'm hitting Janice. And I think Portland makes more sense than Atlanta or New Orleans.

And I always like to ban Caro one.

I mean, I've been talking about since the beginning of last season when I had to remind myself, he was not really, he was kind of poisoned, because of the capables. He's not anymore. I just like, that's an interesting one. I don't know if that one has any actual legs.

Do you think what Boston watched in these last two rounds would make them more prone to trade for Janice? Because I actually think it would for me. For what reason? Well, I gotta beat the...

Physicality. The nicks are kind of, we're kind of built to beat Boston and did. Right? And then I have no inside out game, and I'm jacking up threes, which Steven's been appointing us saying that press conference.

Like I'm tired of losing the way we're losing. We need to be more unpredictable offensively when we need inside outside. So all that ties to Janice. I just, I don't know if it's a great idea.

Like part of me hopes Miami just get some, and they try to figure out how to make the Tate and Brown thing work. These guys play together nine years, and that would be my preference. But we will see. Yeah, there's a chance at Boston does it that it ends up being just kind of a lateral move. Like, it's just like, if it's the deal we're thinking of,

or John Brown goes out, then like, yeah, it maybe it just doesn't...

“Do you play differently and maybe end up in the same place?”

Which has been largely a very good place. But all those you pointed out, they've had very, they've had crazy playoff success and some crushing playoff outcomes around it. There's no way they get, if they're in on Janice, I don't see how Jayla's not in it.

You're not getting him for Derek way. No, I like the rest of your picks, right? So it has to be. That's to be Jayla. One inch.

Just then you're, if it's, I mean, you can't have three guys making $70 million on your team. It's just not, it's not tentable. Is there a wild card? I'm prepared to put my seatbelt on for this team team for you over the next 10 days. Just crazy offseason overall.

Just like, I'm just ready for anything. Because I think for me, Denver would be that team. I don't know what I'm prepared for or maybe I'm not prepared for anything. But I also don't know how they just run it back. You know?

I guess I just am anticipating a more predictable offseason for Denver, but again, they've already said, and I didn't have it said, but it's been reported that everybody about yoga is on the table, which, you know, that there's some everybody there.

“I guess I think we're all expecting New Orleans to do some stuff, right?”

With Traim Murphy and other places.

I think like Minnesota always seems to be, always seems to be thinking outside the box.

Yeah. And they just watched Oklahoma City in San Antonio and those are the teams they've got to compete with. I've keep an eye on them. Atlanta, I don't really know what their appetite is for something big, but they certainly have a lot of different directions they could go.

On a small scale, I'm interested in OKC just because they have, think 12 and 17 plus all these picks. Like there's some sort of like non major move that could still be really fun for us. And then Charlotte with 14 and 18 and the draft could get frisky somewhere. And that's, I always thought that made sense as this abonus team.

I had one person who is very, very into the Charlotte team who's like, "Well, we have the Abate, why do we need subonus?" It's like, I don't know, I just like subonus. I feel like he's, I feel like subonus is undervalued now where he's just become like this sunk cost.

I don't think he is. Like I still feel like there are good teams for him. There are center away from being really interesting. And he would definitely have the Tim Robbins. I just escaped Shawshank valve right.

You're getting out of Sacramento.

“He's just, he's going to be 20 and 14 wherever he goes, right?”

The problem is if your team can't play defense, which I don't know,

maybe Charlotte's not the right team for him from that standpoint. But I still value him as like a kind of bi-low asset. Charlotte's also going to be in a position with 12, 14, whatever the end of doing is with the, to draft the center. And I think that needs to be factored in as well.

Yeah. And then Houston's the other one that I'm, Houston might just decide to run it back. Just, hey, we had bad luck last year. Let's, we'll bring it back.

We'll bring it back. We'll bring it back. We'll bring it back. We'll bring it back. We'll bring it back.

We'll bring it back. We'll bring it back. We'll bring it back. And everything will be fine. But I find that one, hard to believe.

It does feel like a long, long time to go.

And then I think that's the first two rounds.

And then I think that's the first two rounds. And then I think that's the first two rounds. And then I think that's the first two rounds. And then I think that's the first two rounds. And then I think that's the first two rounds.

And then I think that's the first two rounds. And then I think that's the first two rounds. And then I think that's the first two rounds. And then I think that's the first two rounds. And then I think that's the first two rounds.

And then I think that's the first two rounds. And then I think that's the first two rounds. And then I think that's the first one of the most entertaining five game finals we've ever had in our lives. I don't think you could even get a better five game finals. I think this is just the apex.

A plus five game finals. I mean, every game was a nail bite or the total score was next plus 12 over five games. Like I just every game would had you. They were similar. And yet everyone unfolded a little bit differently.

And just it was edgy or seat the whole time. And once ninety the ninety finals, which I mentioned earlier, was actually a great finals. Pistons Blazers just a good match up really good games. And that Blazers team had a little bit of spursitis where they just did dumb shit at the worst possible times. But yeah, it's pretty rare to have a really good five game series.

You're talking five or less. Five or less. Well, four is usually pretty hard to find a good four one, but yeah. Well, the leakers that argue and they got swept by Denver in 2023. The all-time games, sweeps.

Yeah, he had he thought that was, you know, that was another one.

We really couldn't do a really fun just 15.

“Hey, remember when that happened moments from the NBA playoffs every year?”

And like that would about that's already been pushed back to the back of my brain. Like we're analytically up to one. Gradulations. We had in the first couple of like we had that improbable filly Boston come back. And it the one week where it seemed like in bead was back as an asset.

And then he just wilted in the next series. But we had a Paul George resurgence. There isn't a lot of funky shit happening. All right, Zach. Well, thanks for staying up late.

One third the morning. Do you be lying in bed with your hard pounding for the next two hours? I won't. I'm going to go have a glass of wine because I can't go to sleep and that'll help me sleep.

And I never this is early for me on a team.

But if I'm at the championship clinching game, I'm usually up to four hanging out with people who are celebrating. And so what was your best memory of that for the hanging out until five in the morning? With the with team that won the title. One of the warriors parties.

I won't name which one. Um, was really, really fun. And I've finniggled my way in. And one day when I'm retiring and I don't care anymore. I'll tell a fun story from that party.

Oh, I can't wait. That is yeah. But for now goes in the bulk. And I still the main characters and I still laugh about it. Everyone's in a well.

In your next podcast and probably Monday, I'm guessing.

Yeah, I think Monday morning.

“I think we're just deviating from normal calendar Tuesday.”

Tuesday Thursday. Like I got, I got to think a little bit more about this and talk next. And I'm hoping to get a couple of guests. And we'll just, but I'm aiming to record tomorrow night. Like wrap up the finals, wrap up the playoffs, talk about some of these all season stuff.

And just I like to luxuriate in the championship. This is why we all do this is to have what the nicks just have. Let's let's luxuriate in a little bit before we pivot to. Yana. So although who knows?

Yana's kick it traded tomorrow. And then we have an emergency podcast right away. The big bad West. One for three in titles last three years. Yeah.

Yeah. They beat us back. They beat us three. They beat the hell out of each other.

“Two of the last three titles have come from the east.”

We're back, baby. Who went in 22? The Warriors. Warriors. Twenty one was the bucks.

Three of the last five. Coming from the east. Twenty later, baby. Yeah. Yeah.

And then we're all alternating for the last seven. Eight straight. Eight straight. What a slump for the west. Eighty straight new champions.

You know, there's as much trumpeted. Stand. Thanks to Gahau and Eduardo. As always. Don't forget.

I have a rewatch most coming tomorrow night. The hand that rocks the cradle. Scary. Next issue from Hell month. And then Zach.

We'll podcast probably in the next 36 hours. Zach, low. Thanks for staying up with me. Congrats to New York. Thanks.

Congrats to the next fans. Thank you. Must be 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas. And affiliation with Kansas star casino or 18 plus and present in DC. Kentucky or well.

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