Speaker 1: Well, it looks like Boston has a two game lead
Speaker 1: over the Mavericks in the finals, and we're that's all
Speaker 1: we're getting with one.
Speaker 2: Well, we're getting Usually you get more wells. Well, guess what,
Speaker 2: NBA fans, just one well, just a well, just efficient today.
Speaker 1: But the action is heading back to Dallas for the
Speaker 1: next couple of games.
Speaker 3: And we're not for people from Wiston, We're not.
Speaker 1: We're not counting the MAVs out yet because the hopium
Speaker 1: is still there and we love embracing it. And we'll
Speaker 1: discuss the first couple of games, what we can expect
Speaker 1: moving forward and more with journalists and NBA handlyst Sarah
Speaker 1: Todd on today's episode.
Speaker 2: Sarah Todd, I'm Miles Gray and I'm Jack O'Brien and
Speaker 2: this is Miles and Jack dot three.
Speaker 3: Got it look at the hitch ta Okay.
Speaker 1: Indeed, driving Spinny le.
Speaker 3: Bron's got it with five? Is gonna try another three? Mister,
Speaker 3: Look Bron, James, be honest, you look at man the
Speaker 3: whole episode. We're gonna do it in this in honor
Speaker 3: of you.
Speaker 2: Boston was so impressed by a super team.
Speaker 4: Oh Man, get out, Get out, guys.
Speaker 1: It's it's happened anyway, Sarah, welcome back to the show.
Speaker 2: Probably didn't get the nuances of sorry, oh sarahta.
Speaker 5: Look, thank you guys for having me so much, got
Speaker 5: such an honor.
Speaker 2: Once again, we needed to have one of our favorite
Speaker 2: guests back on at this spiritual low point of my fandom,
Speaker 2: my NBA fandom. We just pure, pure transparency for the
Speaker 2: sake of transparency. We were recording this on Tuesday afternoon.
Speaker 2: The series is currently two.
Speaker 3: Oh. By the time you hear this, it may, uh.
Speaker 2: Why'd he be two to one or three to zero,
Speaker 2: But this is a bit of a time capsule.
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely absolutely.
Speaker 1: I mean before we get into the first two games, Sarah,
Speaker 1: what were you like expecting heading into the finals? So,
Speaker 1: were you like everybody's like, it's the Celtics, Celtics to loose,
Speaker 1: it's there still loose?
Speaker 4: Or were you maybe?
Speaker 5: I mean, I certainly wasn't expecting for Christaps to be
Speaker 5: a league Yeah, for his first game back, that that
Speaker 5: was wild. I didn't expect for Kyrie to crumble that
Speaker 5: hard in game one, and so I think it was
Speaker 5: about stuff that I wasn't expecting. I have been on
Speaker 5: an apology tour lately just apologizing to all of the
Speaker 5: teams in the league that I didn't believe in basically
Speaker 5: until they were in their last two games. Uh. It
Speaker 5: took me forever to actually believe in the timber Wolves,
Speaker 5: and then I was like, Wow, they're actually pretty good
Speaker 5: that I worked out for them.
Speaker 4: Look at you.
Speaker 5: Guys, and I have not believed in the Celtics all year.
Speaker 5: I was like, really, yeah, yeah, they're number one in
Speaker 5: the East. They've done that.
Speaker 3: Before, like the East.
Speaker 5: I expect for them to choke at some point, and
Speaker 5: so some of them are I should. I feel like
Speaker 5: I'm not ready yet though, to be on an apology
Speaker 5: tour for the Celtics, because we have like the most
Speaker 5: convoluted injury to kristapsperzingis in the history of injuries being
Speaker 5: reported that I've ever seen, And I wonder what that's
Speaker 5: going to do for them.
Speaker 2: If they're like magic, they're saying the same one that
Speaker 2: Chilling had in the year that they came back from
Speaker 2: three to zero down against.
Speaker 5: They are.
Speaker 3: Yet the bloody sock.
Speaker 2: They're like, this is actually the same injury, and in
Speaker 2: another sport it could be like addressed with sutures, but
Speaker 2: because basketball, you got them things flying all over in
Speaker 2: your legs to I don't mean to get too medical
Speaker 2: on you, Gault, but you got the things flying all
Speaker 2: over down there, and the them ankles and stuff.
Speaker 4: Could be bad.
Speaker 2: I have been of the opinion that this UH season
Speaker 2: is the Celtics to lose, that they are a super team.
Speaker 2: We called it last week. We predicted Boston and four.
Speaker 2: I think it was one of fifty two predictions we
Speaker 2: somehow made for Celtics.
Speaker 1: It could have been Maps in three. I think was
Speaker 1: mindset an out.
Speaker 2: But I really my main thoughts after the first two games,
Speaker 2: we really needed Denver to win that game seven against
Speaker 2: the Wolves. It turns out it was fun when it's started,
Speaker 2: but now, uh it it feels like garbage.
Speaker 4: It's cannot be our champion.
Speaker 2: So yeah, but it's all it's just so match up dependent,
Speaker 2: or everything was in the West so matchup dependent this year,
Speaker 2: and then it feels like we're just watching, you know,
Speaker 2: the team that happened to win the West run into
Speaker 2: a buzzsaw. I feel like the the thing I've been
Speaker 2: most impressed with so far from Boston is Brad Stevens
Speaker 2: and Drew Holliday. But like just the team that has
Speaker 2: been assembled, like the difference between this team and last
Speaker 2: year's Celtics team, Like the best players on this team
Speaker 2: so far were not on the Celtics, and like, I
Speaker 2: feel like it's taken us this long to be like,
Speaker 2: oh yeah, they added two absolutely incredible players that are
Speaker 2: completely perfect for their weak spots, and their weak spots
Speaker 2: are still there, and week, you know, like Tatum has
Speaker 2: not had a good series. That's always been the thing
Speaker 2: that we've pointed to, is like the one chance the
Speaker 2: rest of the league had against the Celtics is like,
Speaker 2: usually the team with the best player wins, and the
Speaker 2: Celtics best player is not as good as usual super
Speaker 2: teams as best player. But I think, you know, we
Speaker 2: got the two bad games from him, and I don't
Speaker 2: like he's eventually gonna wake up and have a good game.
Speaker 2: It's not just all gonna be uh, succumbing to Jason
Speaker 2: Kidd head games like like he did in Game two.
Speaker 5: Like I guess that I feel I feel the same way,
Speaker 5: but I also like not it would not surprise me
Speaker 5: for you know, for Luca to have like a forty
Speaker 5: point triple double and for Kyrie to have thirty points
Speaker 5: in for them to like absolutely like knock them out
Speaker 5: of the part, Like, none of that would surprise me.
Speaker 5: It would not surprise me for the Celtics to have
Speaker 5: a bad game and for it to even up in Dallas.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think. I think they had their bad shooting
Speaker 2: night in Game two. The Celtics did, and they still
Speaker 2: managed to win the one thing. Yeah, I think the
Speaker 2: fact that Porzenkas is probably out for a Game three
Speaker 2: and potentially the rest of the series does seem to
Speaker 2: give Dallas a bit of a chance because like Boston's
Speaker 2: defense has just been so suffocating, so good, and like
Speaker 2: even if you get past their perimeter defense, which has
Speaker 2: been incredible, like Porzingis is just gobbling everything up on
Speaker 2: the in the middle and that that seems that was
Speaker 2: the thing that was shutting off all hope for me
Speaker 2: as a rooting for anybody but the Celtics NBA fan,
Speaker 2: Like that was the one thing that I was like, well,
Speaker 2: you can't like all the supporting casts, they are like
Speaker 2: not good enough to deal with this. But maybe without Porzingis,
Speaker 2: like things loosen up a little bit for for Dallas.
Speaker 2: But yeah, that's a big that's a big if.
Speaker 1: It's a big if I mean, they just the way
Speaker 1: that even in game two when.
Speaker 4: They're just like, we just need to go at Luca. Man,
Speaker 4: just let's go with him. He's got litsornie.
Speaker 1: And that's where like Tatum, although he wasn't great on offense,
Speaker 1: he'd blow by Luca. Then everybody has to start rotating
Speaker 1: and then it's just like, well, let's just kick the
Speaker 1: ball around and the until someone finds that corner three
Speaker 1: or whatever. It was just it was just hard to
Speaker 1: like it was just really clinical and was like they're
Speaker 1: doing it again.
Speaker 4: They're going at Luca again, guys, don't you see this?
Speaker 1: And then even with the spacing right you have, prezingis
Speaker 1: like taking like Lively out of the paint and stuff,
Speaker 1: and you're just like, oh man, they they're they're just
Speaker 1: toying with them right now. And I just I hope
Speaker 1: for me on that hope you that perzingis being out
Speaker 1: it hopefully will be something that just levels it up
Speaker 1: a little bit, because yeah, like game two, I felt
Speaker 1: like if the Mavericks were gonna win one, it was
Speaker 1: that one. Celtics weren't shooting well they were in the
Speaker 1: Mavericks were having a better time rebounding offensively and it
Speaker 1: just still wasn't just.
Speaker 4: Wasn't quite there.
Speaker 1: And yeah, the Kyrie part is also very it's kind
Speaker 1: of difficult to watch.
Speaker 4: At the moment I thought it was.
Speaker 5: I think I was incredibly incredibly disappointed because at the
Speaker 5: end of that game too, like it started to get
Speaker 5: close again in those last couple of minutes. Yeah, and
Speaker 5: it felt like, Okay, this is your chance. And like
Speaker 5: in those two minutes, you see guys like Drew Holiday
Speaker 5: and like even throughout like these two games, Holiday and
Speaker 5: even some of their smaller role players Pritchard Howser, like
Speaker 5: anyone who's on the floor, it's like they are killing
Speaker 5: themselves to get into those rotations and at least have
Speaker 5: a hand up as they're flying out the guy, even
Speaker 5: if they're on a long close out, like even if
Speaker 5: they know they're not making it out. And like in
Speaker 5: those last couple of minutes, it's like Lucu was pulled
Speaker 5: back like near the nail or the elbow and just
Speaker 5: like wasn't even trying to get out to put a
Speaker 5: hand up in a guy's fit like he just like
Speaker 5: Derek White shooting a three, and just no one's even
Speaker 5: attempting to pretend like they're going to close out. It's like, yeah,
Speaker 5: this is the finals, man, Like, do you actually want
Speaker 5: to win a title? And if you do, you have
Speaker 5: to put effort in those like tiny little moments.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I thought like Luca was about to do the
Speaker 1: La Fitness clap when someone takes a jumper, like, oh, man,
Speaker 1: all right, he wasn't.
Speaker 5: Even putting in wasn't even putting in that effort.
Speaker 3: Okay, bro.
Speaker 1: There are times when Kyrie was like, bro, get up there, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: it was.
Speaker 4: Really it was really really difficult to watch, man. I
Speaker 4: a lot. I was flated for sure. For sure.
Speaker 2: I feel like this is a super team, Like when
Speaker 2: you look at how many, how good all the players
Speaker 2: are on both sides of the court, like this is
Speaker 2: you know, the metrics were not wrong during the regular
Speaker 2: season when people were like, oh, this Celtics team like
Speaker 2: has some of the best metrics we've ever seen, but
Speaker 2: who knows, it's you know, a different era. Defense is
Speaker 2: a little different, but like they are, they're so good
Speaker 2: on both sides of the ball. But man, the Tatum
Speaker 2: thing is I know it's getting a lot of coverage,
Speaker 2: but it does feel warranted because, like I mean, people
Speaker 2: are calling him the fifth best player in the league,
Speaker 2: like Celtics fans are saying he's the fifth best player
Speaker 2: in the league. He's been like the fifth best player
Speaker 2: on his team offensively so far in the finals, So
Speaker 2: I don't know, Like his defense is incredible, Boston's defense
Speaker 2: in general is incredible.
Speaker 3: Like all of the Dallas and cast.
Speaker 2: Has turned into pumpkins after looking unbeatable. It's just so
Speaker 2: frustrating because I was rooting against Dallas every in every
Speaker 2: series up to this point, and then I was like, yeah,
Speaker 2: but I get to finally I get to root for
Speaker 2: Luca and watch him like take his opponent's heart out
Speaker 2: and like feel good about that for once. And it's, uh,
Speaker 2: it's not been fun so far. It's it's been pretty rough.
Speaker 1: But I mean it's a testament to you know, the Celtics.
Speaker 1: It's like, oh, yeah, Tatum isn't shown up. Yeah, have
Speaker 1: you met Derek White Andrew Holliday and yeah, And then
Speaker 1: like it's crazy that we're talking about Jayleen Brown is
Speaker 1: like a tertiary character here.
Speaker 3: I mean, Jaylen Brown's been awesome.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, I mean, but like, yeah, but it feels
Speaker 2: like he fills that role that usually like people are like, well,
Speaker 2: you need that like player who's like alpha, who's gonna
Speaker 2: like get it done in the clutch, and it feels
Speaker 2: like you need a Jalen Brown who's able to step
Speaker 2: up when Tatum's not. But it's a bleak out there
Speaker 2: for people weren't Celtics fans say.
Speaker 5: It makes me think about Jason TAM's contract because I
Speaker 5: think that it's got a player option for next season
Speaker 5: and then like he's eligible for extension after that if
Speaker 5: he disappears during the finals, then like is upwards of
Speaker 5: forty million dollars what Celtics fans want the Celtics to
Speaker 5: be paying him, Like if it is about Jayalen Brown,
Speaker 5: who is already going to be paid, like he's getting
Speaker 5: like sixty five million dollars in twenty twenty eight or
Speaker 5: something crazy like that, Like yea, yeah, I just I
Speaker 5: can't imagine that. Like if you have the guy that's
Speaker 5: supposed to be the guy, but he's not the guy,
Speaker 5: do you want to pay him forty forty five million dollars?
Speaker 4: Right? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I mean it seems like right now with the way
Speaker 1: the fans are talking and persingis potentially being out the
Speaker 1: rest of the series, like everyone's like JT Man, you
Speaker 1: got you got to step up, yeah, because it really
Speaker 1: is like because Perzingis was doing a lot of the
Speaker 1: heavy lifting, and now I think this this will be
Speaker 1: a very interesting moment. But maybe we can talk about
Speaker 1: that after this break be right back.
Speaker 2: And we're back, And I'm just realizing that by the
Speaker 2: time this episode drops, like Tatum will have had a
Speaker 2: fifty point game.
Speaker 5: I'm to go on another apology tour.
Speaker 6: Ye.
Speaker 2: At the same time, though, if this was like anybody
Speaker 2: who he's mentioned next to, like anybody who's like the
Speaker 2: best player on a championship team like that, everybody would
Speaker 2: be doing the same thing. Like this is like what
Speaker 2: happens when you're in the finals. You're supposed to be
Speaker 2: the best player on your team, and for two games
Speaker 2: you've been like, you know, just completely just out of
Speaker 2: sorts on offense. Like it just it feels it does
Speaker 2: kind of remind me of the Igodala m Finals MVP
Speaker 2: where Steph just wasn't like just couldn't really put it
Speaker 2: together in the finals. Like I could see like right now,
Speaker 2: if you had to give the Finals MVP out after
Speaker 2: the first two games, it would probably be Porzingis and
Speaker 2: then maybe Drew Holliday, right, Like, wouldn't it have to
Speaker 2: be one of those two after the first two games?
Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe, Yeah, Drew and Dad Derek White at times too,
Speaker 1: like he was hitting those clutch threes like when they
Speaker 1: needed it to. It's yeah, I know, it's not Jason Tatum.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's not Jason is the point.
Speaker 1: It's not Jason Tatum for sure, but yeah, Prizingis. So
Speaker 1: there's like, okay, what's going He came back from that injury,
Speaker 1: the calf injury didn't seem to really mess him up,
Speaker 1: and then he the what okay, what exactly what? What
Speaker 1: are we calling this injury again?
Speaker 4: I know it's a mouthful. I saw that Sham's tweet.
Speaker 1: He suffered a torn medial retinaculum allowing dislocation of the
Speaker 1: posterior tibialis tendon, which sounds it's an ankle injury.
Speaker 2: Well, there's a tourm medial retinaculum allowing dislocation of the
Speaker 2: posterior to retaculum.
Speaker 4: Okay, okay, you know what, My bad. So it's nothing,
Speaker 4: it's everything.
Speaker 3: No, you should be fine. Should be fine, I.
Speaker 1: Mean because right now there's we saw like even before this,
Speaker 1: He's like.
Speaker 4: I'll die out there, like try to win this championship.
Speaker 1: And then the next thing we saw from Joe Mozilla
Speaker 1: is like we have taken the decision to play out
Speaker 1: of Chris Staps's hands.
Speaker 4: For Missoula to say that it sounds.
Speaker 1: Like it sounds like he's out, like out, I mean,
Speaker 1: it sounds like Christaps clearly has the will to play.
Speaker 1: But from their perspective, they're like, this could also render you,
Speaker 1: like to lead to a much worse injury.
Speaker 4: But I don't know.
Speaker 1: I'm not a kinesiology major or physiologist, so I'll just
Speaker 1: I'll just stop there.
Speaker 3: What is theology?
Speaker 5: Is that the study of the body's movement?
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, look at that?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I wonder because I think that the Bill Walton
Speaker 5: vibes in game one and on the warm ups and
Speaker 5: everything were so good that I didn't think that could
Speaker 5: be outmatched during the game, Like it was just like
Speaker 5: such a cool vibe that if Dallas it would have
Speaker 5: ruined everything, right, And then that also being pushed along
Speaker 5: by like the resurgence and return of Kristaps and now
Speaker 5: like on vibes only like what what do the Celtics
Speaker 5: go into Game three with right they're like, well, we're
Speaker 5: in Dallas and we lost Chris Stops, And honestly, I
Speaker 5: really think that it comes down to, like JT, you
Speaker 5: gotta step up.
Speaker 2: Playing JT Brott step up. I do think that's I mean,
Speaker 2: he's the one with everything to prove, and yeah, he's
Speaker 2: gonna be the focus of a lot of media accounts.
Speaker 2: I guess he doesn't pay attention to that stuff, but
Speaker 2: I mean he he seemed a little bit in his
Speaker 2: own head in Game two, like he would like miss
Speaker 2: a shot and like like look at his hands, or
Speaker 2: like once he like made a shot and like looked
Speaker 2: at the sky like thank God, Like he's like at
Speaker 2: it the basketball gods for having missed. I mean, he
Speaker 2: was missing some like layups that were like would like
Speaker 2: sit on the front rim for a couple seconds and
Speaker 2: then he'd like fall out.
Speaker 5: So you got to feel for him a little bit
Speaker 5: and not for nothing to like at least Luca has
Speaker 5: the benefit of not having finals experience, right Like that
Speaker 5: that's going to be a part of the narrative if
Speaker 5: this ends up with the Celtics winning, Like, no one's
Speaker 5: going to look at Luca and be like Oh you're
Speaker 5: a travesty. Hear failure and be like, oh, that was
Speaker 5: his first time to the finals. Now he'll know what
Speaker 5: it takes. On the other side of that, if the
Speaker 5: Celtics don't keep it going after this, the narrative is like,
Speaker 5: you've been here, you should know by now, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, They've built a super team around Tatum, so they
Speaker 2: they really do need to win this one.
Speaker 1: Like, it's okay if they don't, though it okay if
Speaker 1: they don't, you know, I'm fine.
Speaker 2: I don't think it is for their fans. I think
Speaker 2: they're there, that's fine.
Speaker 4: I'm thinking purely for me selfishly.
Speaker 3: You're going to be a right, Okay, they don't, that's fine.
Speaker 1: You don't need you don't need eighteen rings, man, you
Speaker 1: don't even have eighteen fingers, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4: So don't worry about it. Don't worry about it, huck.
Speaker 5: Yeah, for me, I'm fine. If if the Celtics lose
Speaker 5: the finals, that's I'm absolutely fine with that.
Speaker 4: But you think you think, like the if it if
Speaker 4: they end.
Speaker 1: Up losing, like the media is just going to absolutely
Speaker 1: just to eviscerate them.
Speaker 5: Probably, Yeah, I mean there's I mean, there's been questions
Speaker 5: about whether Joe Missoula is like a legitimate head coach, right,
Speaker 5: and like there's gonna be questions about him if they
Speaker 5: lose the finals. There's gonna be questions about the money
Speaker 5: that they have on the books for the next few
Speaker 5: years and if it's worth it. Like there's there's gonna
Speaker 5: be a ton of questions. It's really like hot seat
Speaker 5: for Celtics. And it's like without that pressure on the Mavericks,
Speaker 5: I mean, it might help them if they had a
Speaker 5: little bit more pressure, right, Like, yeah, if we played
Speaker 5: into the fact that like Kyrie maybe doesn't have as
Speaker 5: long the NBA as he would have in the past
Speaker 5: few years, right, Like if you if you played into
Speaker 5: those kind of things. But that's not enough because they've
Speaker 5: got a rookie playing center, and they have other young
Speaker 5: guys on the team and Luca is still so young
Speaker 5: and so like that it's just not the same pressure.
Speaker 5: I think is the team that you know, such a
Speaker 5: storied history, you know, the super team created around the JS.
Speaker 5: It's just a lot going in for them where it's like,
Speaker 5: no matter what happens at the end of this, Yeah.
Speaker 2: It does feel a little bit like it's not as
Speaker 2: dramatic as the Warriors after they got Durant, but it
Speaker 2: feels a little bit like that where it's like you
Speaker 2: already had a team that was like good enough to
Speaker 2: get to the finals and win it, like they have
Speaker 2: won that one series against ironically Golden State or you know,
Speaker 2: I think they had the better team on paper, and
Speaker 2: then they put two people who have been the best
Speaker 2: place on the team through games one and two around them.
Speaker 2: It's it does feel like, all right, guys, well now
Speaker 2: what if he can't, But.
Speaker 3: I don't know why.
Speaker 2: We're like they're gonna be The chances are they're gonna
Speaker 2: be up three to zero.
Speaker 3: Uh yeah, yeah by the time this conversation, because so much.
Speaker 1: More has to Yeah, the MAVs have to do so
Speaker 1: much more, you know what I mean, Like the Celtics
Speaker 1: they can like not even get out of second gear
Speaker 1: and win this thing where like you need all those
Speaker 1: role players on the.
Speaker 4: Mavericks to do what they need to do.
Speaker 1: Kyrie has to come back and play like the person
Speaker 1: we saw because I mean even in Game two, I
Speaker 1: was like, okay, like Luca's doing the thing where he's
Speaker 1: gonna he's gonna put in a lot of effort in
Speaker 1: that first half and then hopefully Kyrie can be like,
Speaker 1: look I got you in the second, but that just
Speaker 1: when when that's not happening, you you really are did
Speaker 1: you start looking around like I don't know where it's
Speaker 1: gonna come from.
Speaker 4: So it's just real tough out here. It's real tough
Speaker 4: out here. Watching them do it like this.
Speaker 2: I gotta say, it's like they've been stuck and second
Speaker 2: gear and it hasn't been their day, there, month, or
Speaker 2: even their year.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 4: That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: All right, let's uh, equal opportunity offenders. We should talk
Speaker 2: about the Lakers coaching hunt.
Speaker 4: Not going well.
Speaker 5: Incredible news for yukon recruiting.
Speaker 2: Yeah right, and was did he allow the courtship to
Speaker 2: go on a little bit longer? So there was this
Speaker 2: big mainstream news story. Then he was like, you know what,
Speaker 2: I'm coming.
Speaker 4: Back baby Huskies forever.
Speaker 5: Can you imagine being like a five star high school
Speaker 5: recruit and being like this guy just turned down seventy
Speaker 5: million dollars from the Lakers, right right?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was incredible recruiting Connecticut, Yeah, yeah, great recruiting. Personally,
Speaker 2: I think this was the best thing for both parties.
Speaker 3: I don't.
Speaker 2: We just haven't seen it work very often with college
Speaker 2: coaches going from like amazing top of the heaps success
Speaker 2: to the NBA. Stevens is the one example that kept
Speaker 2: coming up in my conversations about this, my extensive conversations
Speaker 2: about this, I was advising both sides. Now, I just
Speaker 2: you know, in talking to Miles and Jabari, like Stevens
Speaker 2: comes up. But I think when you're used to winning
Speaker 2: ninety percent of your games and they're only being like
Speaker 2: thirty something games, and then you go and you have
Speaker 2: to deal with all the you know, it's just a
Speaker 2: different level of player, different level of personality that you're
Speaker 2: dealing with, and then you're also like having to lose
Speaker 2: so much, and it's just like, I think college coaches
Speaker 2: tend to be a little too tightly wound. And if
Speaker 2: they're not like built too tightly wound, they're probably like
Speaker 2: it's just like too a guitar tuned to a different frequency.
Speaker 2: That's that's correct music speak, right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, let me tune my guitar to this scale frequency.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, yeah, Like you have to be so tightly
Speaker 2: wound that you can't let a single mistake go by,
Speaker 2: and then you go to the NBA and you're like, yeah,
Speaker 2: you just have to be good at dealing with losses
Speaker 2: a lot of the way.
Speaker 1: Yeah, with that Laker team, could you imagine the two
Speaker 1: and eighteen start the inevitable timid eighteen right.
Speaker 4: Right with them, and then he's like, what's going on
Speaker 4: with these guys?
Speaker 5: The Lakers need the other example, the Lakers need one
Speaker 5: of two guys, right, Like, the Lakers need either a
Speaker 5: guy who's gonna come in and be like the pat
Speaker 5: Riley Eric Spolster tandem where it's like, this is my team, Lebron,
Speaker 5: and you play the basketball the way that we say
Speaker 5: it's play the basketball. So you either need that guy
Speaker 5: with that amount of authority ps. Dan Hurley does not
Speaker 5: have that authority over Lebron, right, or you need yeah exactly,
Speaker 5: or you need the guy that's going to come in
Speaker 5: and be like, oh, I'm gonna let Lebron coach the
Speaker 5: team for most of the time.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, like I actually agree with a lot
Speaker 4: of stuff he says.
Speaker 6: JJ Redick, JJ Reddick, because like the second that podcast start,
Speaker 6: I think a lot of Lakers is like He's He's
Speaker 6: like soft launching his head coaching job right now, right
Speaker 6: because he's like, Wow, they agree on everything and it
Speaker 6: sounds like this could be great.
Speaker 3: But I think Sam Cassel would be a good pick.
Speaker 2: I think JJ would be a better pick than Dan
Speaker 2: Hurley personally, that's my instinct.
Speaker 1: I think it just yeah, I don't know if I
Speaker 1: can handle the memes that again, that would happen to
Speaker 1: a rocky start with JJ Reddick being the head coach,
Speaker 1: But again that's just emotions, not necessarily what the results
Speaker 1: could be. I think I like the way he looks
Speaker 1: at the game, like sure, but it's just like that
Speaker 1: lack of pedigree in terms of getting players to buy
Speaker 1: into what you need to do at least to be
Speaker 1: like a somewhat effective head coach.
Speaker 4: That's rom a little bit like I don't know where
Speaker 4: you're where you're.
Speaker 2: Part of my hesitation with JJ Reddick as an NBA
Speaker 2: coach is just that he there's never been an NBA
Speaker 2: coach that looked like that, Like they're usually like I
Speaker 2: don't know, they're all like pop or they look like dorks,
Speaker 2: like you know, like they just looks kind of they
Speaker 2: don't they.
Speaker 3: Don't look like they're in a boy band.
Speaker 2: It was just something about him looking like he's like
Speaker 2: in a boy band that messes with my head where
Speaker 2: I'm like, nah, I can't be him.
Speaker 3: Right, So I don't know.
Speaker 1: Who's got the full arm sleeve on that bench. I
Speaker 1: don't know, except for I.
Speaker 5: Don't want to. I don't want to feel bad for
Speaker 5: like James Brago, right, Like I don't want James Brago
Speaker 5: to get it and then him be fired in two
Speaker 5: years and you'd be like, oh, well, we didn't really
Speaker 5: even see James Brigo coach. That's not fair, because that's
Speaker 5: that's how I feeled a lot of the times with
Speaker 5: lebron coaches that I just feel bad for them at
Speaker 5: the end of their tenure. Yeah, and so I don't
Speaker 5: think I would feel bad for JJ Reddick.
Speaker 2: So so you're just like rooting for whoever.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you don't mind seeing Phil? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Well yeah, this follows the time honor tradition of following
Speaker 1: up a great Laker coach with a potential college coach,
Speaker 1: because yes, I am comparing Darvin Ham to Phil Jackson
Speaker 1: because after Phil left when after coach K and he wasn't.
Speaker 4: Into it either, So I get it.
Speaker 1: It's it's just a it feels like a it's a
Speaker 1: tough it's a tough one. The expectations are so high
Speaker 1: and you have like there's so much reactionary stuff happening around.
Speaker 1: They're like, yeah, I don't know if you'll ever get
Speaker 1: the fair shot to be like I just just you
Speaker 1: need time a little bit to get this thing to happen.
Speaker 1: But we're sort of in the era of like we
Speaker 1: need we need instant satisfaction and gratifications.
Speaker 4: It's it's a non starter.
Speaker 2: Well we got a little pickup basketball news and then
Speaker 2: well we'll take a break. Two pickup basketball stories. One
Speaker 2: Steph Curry just out here justtroying full.
Speaker 5: Lifetime.
Speaker 3: Yeah, like you know, playing at half speed. I don't know.
Speaker 2: I do wonder like is that beneficial in any way
Speaker 2: to his skills other than like just going through the
Speaker 2: motions at Like it reminds me of when in the
Speaker 2: off season, you know, when the Sixers still had Ben
Speaker 2: Simmons and we would see like these like half court
Speaker 2: workouts where he's like hooping in like three on three
Speaker 2: and like making shots, and people are like, Simmons been
Speaker 2: in the lab. And then it's like yeah, but different,
Speaker 2: not that like Steph needs any rehab or anything like that.
Speaker 2: But it does just like how I feel like that
Speaker 2: would mess you up, right, like playing with people who stink, Well.
Speaker 4: I think you're just such a hooper too.
Speaker 1: You're like, because apparently he was in the area for
Speaker 1: his daughter's volleyball tournament, Yeah, so that feels to me
Speaker 1: he's like, you know what, I got my tights, I
Speaker 1: got my shoes. You know, let me just let me
Speaker 1: see if there's some action over here really quick. Because
Speaker 1: he even hit one of these rec Center players with
Speaker 1: the night night.
Speaker 4: It was like, Steph, come on, man, they just leave
Speaker 4: them alone.
Speaker 1: That's where I'm like, you know what, maybe he really
Speaker 1: is just like just competitive animal like that. He's like, no, man,
Speaker 1: I hear a ball hitting park, Like my antenna goes
Speaker 1: up and I must be there, and you know what,
Speaker 1: anybody could get it equal.
Speaker 5: Some of those videos of like the people that were
Speaker 5: guarding Steph at Lifetime, it's like they were like getting
Speaker 5: down in the low stands. They were ready to go.
Speaker 5: They were like, this is my moment. And I really
Speaker 5: respect that because if that had been me on the
Speaker 5: other side and like Steph came in, I'd be like, well,
Speaker 5: I'm just not going to do anything. I'm not even
Speaker 5: gonna pretend like I'm guarding this. It's not real.
Speaker 1: Or you do it for like the thing the thrill,
Speaker 1: because you always when you watch these athletes, you're like, man, honestly,
Speaker 1: I would wonder what it would be like for me
Speaker 1: to try and guard Steph Curry, just so I know
Speaker 1: like how ill equipped my body is for that kind
Speaker 1: of task and just be like let me just see, like,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, he was right by me. Okay, all right,
Speaker 1: that's what I thought.
Speaker 3: I think I called the story before.
Speaker 2: When I was in high school, probably at the height
Speaker 2: of or near the height of like my basketball abilities.
Speaker 2: I was at the University of Kentucky basketball camp and
Speaker 2: Tony Delk eventually NBA fifty point scorer scored fifteen again,
Speaker 2: and is usually the example people point to is like
Speaker 2: do you believe that guy scored fifteen?
Speaker 4: Anyone can do it?
Speaker 2: But he was there, and you know, he was dribbling,
Speaker 2: and you know, just I was like messing around, and
Speaker 2: then I was like, all.
Speaker 3: Right, man, I'm going to try and like take the
Speaker 3: ball from him.
Speaker 2: And it was like watching a close up magic act,
Speaker 2: like it was he just what he was doing with
Speaker 2: the ball, just like putting it behind my ear, taking
Speaker 2: it like behind my back, like putting it behind his back,
Speaker 2: behind my back.
Speaker 4: A bouquet of flowers.
Speaker 2: He was like, all right, your turn, and I would
Speaker 2: dribble and he would take it away from me so easily,
Speaker 2: just literally.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4: Give me that, Like I think you should exactly give
Speaker 4: me that.
Speaker 2: So I can't Yeah, I can't imagine, because you there
Speaker 2: is also the genre of video where it's like, you know,
Speaker 2: I think one happened this summer with your boy from
Speaker 2: the Heat, Tyler Herro. His name should be Kyle, your
Speaker 2: boy from the Heat, your friend, your favorite player getting
Speaker 2: cooked at a basketball camp. And I'm sure like every
Speaker 2: one of those players on that court with him, I
Speaker 2: had seen that video and is probably extra annoying. So
Speaker 2: that's probably a piece of context that we're lacking, is
Speaker 2: like what There's definitely at least one player on the
Speaker 2: other team who was talking cash garbage to him, you know,
Speaker 2: the whole game, so you know, him doing a nice
Speaker 2: little betty by time is probably warranted.
Speaker 5: Can you imagine if Steph pulled up to your like
Speaker 5: local pickup game and then he got like he's on
Speaker 5: the other team.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're like, no, no, no, no, yeah, yeah, Like
Speaker 1: it's skins Verse shirts.
Speaker 4: I'll just tear my shirt off. I'm like, man, I
Speaker 4: don't know what you talk about.
Speaker 3: My shirt just broke on his team a.
Speaker 4: Pikachu chest tattoo.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I don't worry about it, man, Just don't
Speaker 1: let me get active in here.
Speaker 2: And then there was also just a great clip of
Speaker 2: uh coach Popovich cooking people out in La Fitness. Now
Speaker 2: some say it wasn't coach Popovich, but uh yeah it wasn't.
Speaker 2: But he looked a lot like him and just had
Speaker 2: the finest old man go yeah, uh fine bouquet on
Speaker 2: the on this uh finally aged wine of a game.
Speaker 5: I fully believe that kind of stuff happened. Like I
Speaker 5: think it was maybe like twenty thirteen, twenty four, twenty fourteen, fifteen,
Speaker 5: something like that. I watched Jerry West, who even at
Speaker 5: that point was old and he was there was like
Speaker 5: I think Steph Curry was having a camp. He was
Speaker 5: in Golden State. There's a bunch of kids around, and
Speaker 5: as he's talking and explaining how to shoot the perfect
Speaker 5: free throw, he's just standing at the free throw line
Speaker 5: and one handing free throws in just over and over again,
Speaker 5: like as he's explaining.
Speaker 3: It, not even looking at the rim.
Speaker 5: Yeah, not even looking making making twenty in a row,
Speaker 5: just looking at the kids, like this is how you
Speaker 5: do it? And I was watching it. I was like,
Speaker 5: these seven year olds do not understand the beauty.
Speaker 3: Of what is that you have magic powers?
Speaker 4: Yeah, They're like, how is camp?
Speaker 1: You're like this old guy kept shooting free throws and
Speaker 1: talking to us and it was it was boring.
Speaker 4: You're like, dude knows Jerry are right. Sure.
Speaker 2: There's a scene in Blue Chips where Bob Coozy and
Speaker 2: I think Nulty are having a conversation. I think Kozy
Speaker 2: plays the athletic director, and he's just banging free throw
Speaker 2: after free throw like as they're having the conversation, like
Speaker 2: casually and like barely moving, like it doesn't even look
Speaker 2: like he's trying or like moving his body. And Nalty's like,
Speaker 2: you ever gonna miss You're ever gonna miss one of these.
Speaker 3: Bob, And that was like real like he was during
Speaker 3: the course.
Speaker 1: It was like yeah, you know, because that wasn't They're
Speaker 1: like he just literally wouldn't miss.
Speaker 2: During Yeah, he was shot like he couldn't. We asked
Speaker 2: him to try to miss and he was like, I
Speaker 2: I don't know what you mean. Yeah, sorry, I know
Speaker 2: I missed one like back in the fifties once, but this,
Speaker 2: yeah I can't, I can't.
Speaker 3: Did you ever do you know?
Speaker 1: Do you do you remember they made like Skybox made
Speaker 1: blue Chips trading cards when the movie came out.
Speaker 4: Did you ever have a pack of those?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 4: His just called vic Roker because I remember having that
Speaker 4: and being like.
Speaker 1: What I got this like old dude with Yeah, yeah
Speaker 1: I want I want Boudreau, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: But no, yeah, yeah, they had like a whole thing,
Speaker 1: like there were all these cards.
Speaker 4: I don't think they're worth much anymore.
Speaker 5: Of the podcast is only for the olds.
Speaker 4: Yeah, man, Skybox trading cards. You remember Beckett Magazine.
Speaker 3: The blue Chip, like the blue Light special.
Speaker 1: It's only for the old blue plate, blue.
Speaker 3: Plate, blue light, blue hair. You know. It works for us.
Speaker 3: No March, no March. Should we take a quick break
Speaker 3: and come back and do the rapid fire round?
Speaker 2: Yeah, all right, we'll be right back and we're back
Speaker 2: stepped in at this time all my Todd, Yeah, bro.
Speaker 4: There we go. T you have you have wandered into the.
Speaker 1: Rapid fire round of questions the hast the question answered
Speaker 1: segment of all the sportsbackcasting history, Jack or I will
Speaker 1: ask you a question you will not think.
Speaker 4: You will just react.
Speaker 1: To give us your quickest, most concise answer, and if
Speaker 1: you slow the pace down of this segment, we will
Speaker 1: be rude.
Speaker 3: I usual even exactly, Yeah, the.
Speaker 5: Iron I'm so scared. I know that you can can't
Speaker 5: tell from a smile, but I'm really.
Speaker 4: I was just joking though. We won't be rude. Are
Speaker 4: you going to be scared?
Speaker 3: Are you mad at me? Do you think I'm going
Speaker 3: to be rude?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 1: My god, she hates us, Jack, she hates us, hates us.
Speaker 3: I knew we shouldn't have gone that hard mile.
Speaker 4: Yep, nope, you're right. Okay are you ready?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 4: Okay, good sir, Brian star Clock. This is gonna be
Speaker 4: really fast. Okay, so check do you want to go?
Speaker 3: Should I go first? Why don't you go first?
Speaker 2: You?
Speaker 1: Sure?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, that's cool.
Speaker 5: Because I.
Speaker 4: Guess I go first.
Speaker 5: Okay, is this the fast part?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 5: It is.
Speaker 4: Okay. You can't be rude to us now. I can't
Speaker 4: handle that. I cannot hand I condition it out, but
Speaker 4: I cannot take it. I'm a classic school yard bully.
Speaker 1: Look Sarah Cott, you can go back in time to
Speaker 1: personally win any NBA Finals matchup from history. However many
Speaker 1: games the series went, you got court side tickets.
Speaker 4: To every single one of them. Which NBA Finals matchup?
Speaker 1: Are you choosing and hopping in your doloreon to go
Speaker 1: see with your court side seats?
Speaker 5: I'm going to Larry Bird's first championship. That's crazy because
Speaker 5: I started this thing out being like, yeah, Boston doesn't
Speaker 5: need any more titles. I don't care if they lose.
Speaker 5: I love Larry Bird. I would love to watch him win,
Speaker 5: and uh, the idea of how much it pissed off
Speaker 5: the Lakers, I would love.
Speaker 2: Wow, Myles, that's your same answer too, I think right that.
Speaker 1: Was yeah, Yeah, that's I would say that too if
Speaker 1: I had If I if I had time travel capability,
Speaker 1: I would definitely use it to do that.
Speaker 4: That's what I would do with tears in my eyes
Speaker 4: because I'm so happy about.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, Myles is stone faced, but they're just
Speaker 2: tears pouring down his face.
Speaker 4: Told this courage water.
Speaker 1: This is courage water coming out my eyes because I
Speaker 1: have so much courage my body doesn't know what to do.
Speaker 2: Sarah, we all agree, we want the Celtics to lose.
Speaker 2: We don't want, we don't want another Celtics Finals. We've
Speaker 2: just given you the magical power to recast this finals
Speaker 2: with a different Western Conference Finals team. Which team are
Speaker 2: you picking to defeat the Boston Celtics.
Speaker 5: I'm giving it to the Denver Nuggets.
Speaker 3: Ye.
Speaker 5: God, why didn't they win their Game seven? I know
Speaker 5: either in today's age, I just love watching yoga to
Speaker 5: play basketball. It is so much fun. And if for
Speaker 5: no other reason than just to get his comments after
Speaker 5: like winning the finals again and being like, well job done.
Speaker 4: God, yeah, wait there's parade. Yeah that's my favorite.
Speaker 5: Oh no, his face, the amount of disappointment when he
Speaker 5: was like, whin's the parade and they're like it's Thursday
Speaker 5: and he's like no, no, no, no, it can't be true.
Speaker 3: Different.
Speaker 2: Is there another Western Conference team that you feel like
Speaker 2: would have actually given given the Celtics a better game
Speaker 2: than Dallas?
Speaker 3: Because I feel like I got another one.
Speaker 5: I mean, what's yours? Go ahead?
Speaker 3: Lakers?
Speaker 4: No, No, I'm not even feeling that. Broka. I don't
Speaker 4: think I could handle it.
Speaker 3: The Los Angeles Lakers, all right.
Speaker 5: I have a lot of fondness. I have a lot
Speaker 5: of fondness for Mike Conley, and so I was really
Speaker 5: hoping for good things for him because it's just not
Speaker 5: a more deserving person in the NBA. But you could
Speaker 5: put him on any team and I'd root for Mike Conley.
Speaker 1: So, Sarah, what is one moment or game from NBA
Speaker 1: history you wish Twitter had been around for.
Speaker 2: All?
Speaker 5: The Willis Reid moment would have been hilarious. Yeah, probably
Speaker 5: a lot of really good memes for that one, right,
Speaker 5: Jordan pushing off? Oh my god, Oh that would have
Speaker 5: been yeah, Twitter nuts.
Speaker 1: Oh the amount of like, yeah, I could already see
Speaker 1: just the whatever movie scenes people are going to intercut
Speaker 1: with that.
Speaker 4: That that last shot, it was gonna reach a tragedy.
Speaker 2: Now see, outside of Utah, that is known as the shot,
Speaker 2: but inside of Utah that's known as the push off.
Speaker 5: One of the things when I first moved to Utah
Speaker 5: and started covering the Jazz, I had told people like,
Speaker 5: I just don't think I can ever admit that Jordan
Speaker 5: didn't push off. I think I just have to keep
Speaker 5: that to my since then I've just become public and
Speaker 5: I mean number one and admitted that Jordan didn't push off.
Speaker 2: So it's fine now, But okay, Yeah, the Flu game
Speaker 2: is known as the Blue game? What's that known as
Speaker 2: in Utah? The perfectly fine Pepperoni Pizza game, The drama
Speaker 2: Queen game.
Speaker 5: That would have been so good on Twitter.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I could see, like, yeah, just making fun of
Speaker 1: Brian Wilson, like years later, he's getting that tatted on
Speaker 1: his body like memento.
Speaker 4: He's like, Michael Jordan pushed off of you that game.
Speaker 2: Like exactly exactly Brian Wilson for the Beach Boys, I
Speaker 2: mean Brian Russell like me too.
Speaker 5: I was like, why are the Beach Boys in this?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Oh you don't know you're also on Twitter.
Speaker 5: Yeah yeah, those are called good vibrations, by the way, those.
Speaker 3: Are yea, all good vibes.
Speaker 2: We've seen teams like Memphis, ok SE and Orlando each
Speaker 2: take that next step over the last few years. What
Speaker 2: is a team or two you think you expect to
Speaker 2: take a leap next season?
Speaker 5: It's probably like a cop out. But the Spurs, like
Speaker 5: just the Victor Wimben Yama ascendants into playoff basketball is
Speaker 5: what I expect and then for the rest of the
Speaker 5: West to absolutely lose their minds over that. Yeah, that
Speaker 5: would be very fun. I would I mean, I'd like
Speaker 5: to see Orlando take another leap right like, that's a
Speaker 5: that's a really fun team. I worry because I've never
Speaker 5: seen them do anything good since since white Heart and Reddick. Yeah,
Speaker 5: like I've never I've never seen it, So I worry
Speaker 5: that they just might not do it. But that would
Speaker 5: be a very fun team to do it.
Speaker 4: Well.
Speaker 2: The Spurs in Orlando are the correct answers you have
Speaker 2: once again one rapid the rapid fire question. The only
Speaker 2: person that went returning champion. Thank you so much for
Speaker 2: joining us. Where can we find you? Follow you all
Speaker 2: that good stuff.
Speaker 5: You can find me on all the socials at NBA Sarah.
Speaker 5: You can read my stuff at Deseret dot com. That's
Speaker 5: d E. S E R E T. Lots of Ease,
Speaker 5: And you can listen to my pod Unsalvageable so Utah
Speaker 5: Jazz Podcast, And we also take listener questions about advice,
Speaker 5: life book wrecks. It's the off season, you guys.
Speaker 4: So yeah, no, I get it.
Speaker 1: No, we're about to enter that too, and we're here
Speaker 1: you talking about our favorite shoelaces of all time?
Speaker 4: Oh? Man, yeah, do you remember those? Remember eighty eight
Speaker 4: or the Little Ladies First Game.
Speaker 5: Recently we had a conversation about how the playoff commercials
Speaker 5: timeout commercials are ruining our lives because now I am
Speaker 5: just like singing the Pepto Bismol theme song. Yeah, and
Speaker 5: I've got the old NBC theme basketball slash snl skit
Speaker 5: stuck in my head because Kevin Hard is dancing to it,
Speaker 5: so I just sang b B bu busball.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, got to man, give.
Speaker 2: Me the ball because I'm gonna don't get Yeah, I
Speaker 2: am amazing. Well, you can find me on Twitter at
Speaker 2: Jack Underscore Obrian, how about you, Miles oh Me?
Speaker 1: You can find me at Miles of Gray there on Twitter,
Speaker 1: and you can also follow us at the hashtag mad
Speaker 1: Boosty's BA sd I e s for show links and updates,
Speaker 1: and you can also find out about how to join
Speaker 1: the Discord, where you will occasionally pop in and say, hey,
Speaker 1: we got a last minute, very special guests.
Speaker 4: Any questions you think we should ask them?
Speaker 1: Uh? And you will soon find out if you saw
Speaker 1: the discord, we have a very special one coming up.
Speaker 4: But yeah, we encourage you to check that out as always.
Speaker 4: Thanks so much for listening. Uh And by the.
Speaker 3: Next time we talked to you, there, yeah, might be
Speaker 3: a new champ.
Speaker 4: I think there might be a champ.
Speaker 3: And we'll see, We'll think almost definitely there will be
Speaker 3: a new I think.
Speaker 4: So.
Speaker 5: Can I say again you guys have gotten mad boosties.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, thank you so much.
Speaker 2: And I have been just jumping like a pogo stick
Speaker 2: this entire time, in no way of begging for that compliment,
Speaker 2: but you've just.
Speaker 4: Been spamming the chat windows like mad Lucy. Just copy
Speaker 4: past over and over and over and over again. All right, y'all,
Speaker 4: we'll see you next week.
Speaker 1: Take care, Bye bye,