Speaker 1: On this episode of This League, we talk about my
Speaker 1: new self defense toy, so one part Flashlight, one part's
Speaker 1: done Gun, the All Star quote unquote weekend in Atlanta,
Speaker 1: including the drama between Troel Embiid and mister balloon Hands
Speaker 1: aka Ben Simmons, and I, of course, as per usual,
Speaker 1: take a victory lap regarding my very very early scoop
Speaker 1: about Blake Griffin. They said we wouldn't do it. They
Speaker 1: said we couldn't do it. The haters are devastated. They
Speaker 1: dared us. They said, I defy you to do an
Speaker 1: episode about just the All Star weekend and only the
Speaker 1: All Star weekend. You can't do it. There's not enough information.
Speaker 1: I challenge you. And they were wrong. That was the
Speaker 1: haters in my comments. They were like, you're not watching
Speaker 1: Megan Markle and Oprah. There are more important things going
Speaker 1: on than the All Star Game.
Speaker 2: No there's not.
Speaker 1: When you have an NBA podcast, No there's not. This
Speaker 1: was the deal. This is the first annual all NBA
Speaker 1: All Star episode of this league, and I feel like
Speaker 1: Rocky going up the steps. Marty. The Philly fans will
Speaker 1: love me as Rocky. You know I'm up the Stepski.
Speaker 1: This is not smarty, take it over, Philly.
Speaker 2: Don't be a like, clear it up.
Speaker 1: And like all good all Star weekends. We had Adrian
Speaker 1: Borganowski hit us with the fucking nuclear WOJE bomb dropping.
Speaker 1: Can you tell I was delirious last night?
Speaker 2: What was the news?
Speaker 1: Uh?
Speaker 2: Blake Griffin to the Brooklyn nets, Say it.
Speaker 1: Again, Say it with some verves, Say it with some dramatic,
Speaker 1: slow and deep like I like it, Marty, it was
Speaker 1: Blake Griffins. That's right, Scoop City, Trista Creek, NBA insider,
Speaker 1: coming for the others, coming for the sham Sharonya is
Speaker 1: coming for the ward Zanowskis. Yes, I am my sources.
Speaker 1: They told me my sources were wrong, and now all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, it's like there were no other places
Speaker 1: to go but Brooklyn lies lies. The haters just want
Speaker 1: to discredit me. My sources are solid as a rock.
Speaker 1: I don't have many. I don't have many sources. I'm
Speaker 1: not plugged in like they are. But when I have them,
Speaker 1: God damn Tillman for Titda Harden was gonna be a
Speaker 1: sixer Scoop City, population one t Crick. I tell you
Speaker 1: what I was right. I love to be right, and
Speaker 1: yet for some reason, it doesn't matter how right I am.
Speaker 1: Everybody has to discredit it. So anyway, here we go.
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about the All Star game. Marty. Did
Speaker 1: you enjoy All Star Weekend?
Speaker 2: I actually did, as unquote weekend as much as I thought,
Speaker 2: as much as I like wasn't thinking about it all day,
Speaker 2: I actually really enjoyed watching it.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I thought it was better than I was expecting
Speaker 1: it to be. Why because it was all on one day.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yes, yeah.
Speaker 1: I don't think we should ever go back to the
Speaker 1: quote unquote weekend. Players don't want it. I don't know
Speaker 1: that fans want it.
Speaker 2: I'm actually okay with that, yeah, because I usually just
Speaker 2: watch All Star Saturday and then kind of like snooze
Speaker 2: through the game, not really caring that much. But it
Speaker 2: actually was kind of fun.
Speaker 1: Imagine like two PM, Rising Stars, a little quick break,
Speaker 1: maybe some documentary action, some some fluff piece. By the way,
Speaker 1: by the way, ESPN did a Rudy go Bear. We'll
Speaker 1: call it like, we'll call it like a PR stunt
Speaker 1: called inside the Big Man or Inside the Center, all
Speaker 1: about like how Rudy Gobert didn't mean to make fun
Speaker 1: of COVID.
Speaker 2: Oh, it was like a SOB story on him.
Speaker 1: It was like, you know, everyone thought Rudy was just
Speaker 1: joking around and being Rudy, and it's like his brothers
Speaker 1: on it and some random Utah Jazz reporters on it.
Speaker 1: This is what they played before All Star weekend, was like,
Speaker 1: let's find a way to make Rudy Gobert more likable.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: First thing I want to talk about, of course, is
Speaker 1: the news that came down pre All Star Ben Simmons,
Speaker 1: mister balloon Hands, and Joel Embiid, who turned his Twitter
Speaker 1: into troll.
Speaker 2: Well.
Speaker 1: Embiid, which is amazing, could not make the All Star
Speaker 1: Game could not play in the All Star Game because
Speaker 1: they had a close contact with a barber YEP who
Speaker 1: tested positive for COVID. Right, everyone is saying, we don't
Speaker 1: want to play in this All Star game. This is dumb.
Speaker 1: We're in a pandemic, We're not trying to get COVID.
Speaker 1: And you got mister blue hands out here being like
Speaker 1: I'm about to be on national TV in front of
Speaker 1: a hundred million people, Yo, Joel, what up? Yo? Let's
Speaker 1: go get a lineup.
Speaker 2: Let's get a lineup.
Speaker 1: And you know tk's coming through guillotining fools for that.
Speaker 1: Come on, everybody's like, oh, I mean that's not such
Speaker 1: a bad stick. Stick stick, that's me accountability partner time.
Speaker 1: You cannot go with Joel Mbat if you're gonna go
Speaker 1: get your haircut. First of all, let me say this,
Speaker 1: these guys make millions of dollars. They don't have a
Speaker 1: personal barber that can come over to them. I would
Speaker 1: you don't have someone who tests negative regularly? Can't you
Speaker 1: get the little swap swapswap PICR quick rapid test then
Speaker 1: get lined up? No, you have to go to like
Speaker 1: a random corner barber. I don't know the d details,
Speaker 1: but I know it's not on the up and up.
Speaker 1: So irresponsible. The Chiefs almost missed twenty guys out of
Speaker 1: the super Bowl because of this exact same thing.
Speaker 2: Oh it wait, same guy or just.
Speaker 1: The same situation that would have been Yeah, this is
Speaker 1: just like the COVID. This is the COVID barber. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, what are we doing? Ben Simmons, Like, you
Speaker 1: had to know this was a bad idea. You had
Speaker 1: to know. You guys couldn't have gone to separate barbers, Like,
Speaker 1: couldn't Damian Lillard said it best when he's like, I
Speaker 1: haven't had a haircut in a while, I haven't gotten
Speaker 1: a barber gone to a barber shop in forever. And
Speaker 1: in fact, I'm gonna leave home right after this All
Speaker 1: Star game. I'm not sticking around. I don't want to
Speaker 1: mess around with getting COVID. I've got a couple of
Speaker 1: babies at home, and instead what you have is Joel
Speaker 1: Embi who apparently also has a baby at home. I
Speaker 1: tweeted about this because remember Joel and b we talked
Speaker 1: about this last episode. He was like feeling good headed
Speaker 1: into All Star break and underneath the tweet was his
Speaker 1: video of him getting Donovan Mitchell ejected, getting him teed up,
Speaker 1: trolling him. Troel MBIID, right right, how you feeling now,
Speaker 1: Joel EMBIID? How are you feeling now? You and Ben
Speaker 1: Simmons missing the next three games because you guys are
Speaker 1: fucking idiots? And instead of what happened right, instead of
Speaker 1: me being the voice of reason and accountability, telling the
Speaker 1: truth on Twitter and also poking a little fun, everybody's
Speaker 1: like these you're joking about an infectious disease. How dare you?
Speaker 1: This man has a baby at home? How dare if
Speaker 1: you have a baby at home? I didn't tell you
Speaker 1: to go get a haircut? Did I? Did? I? I mean, yet,
Speaker 1: did I tell them to go and risk their their lives,
Speaker 1: to risk their health, to risk the health and safety
Speaker 1: of the entire league because all of the superstars are
Speaker 1: gonna be in one place and they decided that that
Speaker 1: was when they needed to get a haircut. Did me,
Speaker 1: Tristan Craik, tell them to do that?
Speaker 2: Marty? You did not. You did not tell them.
Speaker 1: I did not. But what I did was how you're
Speaker 1: feeling now? Headed out All Star break? You're gonna miss
Speaker 1: the next three games. You'll probably drop all three because
Speaker 1: your two stars had to get a fresh lineup. Wow.
Speaker 1: Lebron James said it best. He said, I'm not a
Speaker 1: COVID ghostbuster. I just am really careful. Yeah, were these
Speaker 1: I don't understand. I don't understand. And of course, another
Speaker 1: little news story, the NBA had to send out roughly
Speaker 1: two hundred cease and desist letters to promoters in Atlanta
Speaker 1: for using the NBA logo to promote in person parties
Speaker 1: during All Star are a weekend.
Speaker 2: That sounds so right.
Speaker 1: You knew that was gonna happen. But if you're gonna
Speaker 1: do it, if you're gonna be in a club promoter
Speaker 1: in Atlanta promoting exactly what the NBA has told you
Speaker 1: not to do, maybe don't use their logo, Maybe just say.
Speaker 2: But at the same time, if you don't not really
Speaker 2: doing your job, you don't think so. I mean, I
Speaker 2: just know how these people operate. It doesn't surprise me,
Speaker 2: I guess.
Speaker 1: Is my point all of this to say, Philly fans,
Speaker 1: don't come at me. Don't come at me for your
Speaker 1: two stars being idiots. Why is me? Why is it
Speaker 1: my fault that your two marquee players can't get their
Speaker 1: shit together before an All Star game? It's not here
Speaker 1: we are though. An All Star game that nobody wanted
Speaker 1: now probably gonna cost teams games. I mean, the Sixers
Speaker 1: might even lose out on the number one spot in
Speaker 1: the East because of this little Shenanigan. And you know
Speaker 1: what I would have to say, is you hate to
Speaker 1: see that. You hate to see that. It would be
Speaker 1: such a shame if the Brooklyn Nets had the number
Speaker 1: one seed and the Sixers had the number two seed
Speaker 1: because of a haircut. That would be a very expensive haircut.
Speaker 2: If it was like two games or so different and they.
Speaker 1: Had to catch someone like the Miami Heat coming back
Speaker 1: from a finals appearance, Jimmy Butler finally healthy, it would
Speaker 1: be a shame if that's what got them bounced out
Speaker 1: of the first round. A haircut, and you know, I
Speaker 1: will be coming all along the way laughing my ass
Speaker 1: off about that fade that cost you potentially a title.
Speaker 1: But that's okay, one costly haircut. By the way, that
Speaker 1: tweet that I put out over two hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: quote tweets, over two hundred and seventy five comments and
Speaker 1: fifty likes, so esh, God, how do you get I
Speaker 1: call them? Oh, so I have a name for them,
Speaker 1: these new Ben Simmons fans, the crazy ones. I call
Speaker 1: them the Balloonatics. Okay, the Balloonatics. The Ballunatics came from
Speaker 1: my head. So yeah, I'm not making fun of people
Speaker 1: with COVID. I am making fun of the people who
Speaker 1: do not seem to understand how serious COVID is. And yeah,
Speaker 1: it's ballooney tunes. It's just the whole thing is just
Speaker 1: ballooney tunes. Anyway, let's move on to the actual festivities. Marty,
Speaker 1: what were your takeaways?
Speaker 2: Uh love the game. It was actually the first time
Speaker 2: I watched the actual game, I think in a while,
Speaker 2: and it was actually really fine. I mean, Steph put
Speaker 2: on a show, Jannis you know, didn't miss Dane put
Speaker 2: on a show. Skills competition was a snooze fest. None
Speaker 2: of them cared.
Speaker 1: I mean, if you're gonna if I want to see
Speaker 1: Demona Sibonis walk the ball up, I mean I would
Speaker 1: watch the twenty nineteen Nate McMillan coach fucking.
Speaker 2: I feel like the used to be more shit involved
Speaker 2: in that other than this was like you dribble through
Speaker 2: like four things. You're just going through a pass, make
Speaker 2: a layup, and then make it three.
Speaker 1: I thought there was like a bounce pass.
Speaker 2: There definitely used to be a bounce pass.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is getting sad. This is what kind
Speaker 1: of skills are these?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I already thought it was kind of stupid,
Speaker 2: and now it's just like full on.
Speaker 1: And at one point it used to have to be
Speaker 1: a dunk and now you can just hit a layup.
Speaker 1: Chris Paul missing the layup was really sad, Like that
Speaker 1: was like, ooh washed you wash? Yeah, And I like Demanasabonis.
Speaker 1: Here's a little side road. People were talking about Demonis
Speaker 1: and I like him, but he cannot hold a candle
Speaker 1: to our Vetas Sibonis, his father in terms of just
Speaker 1: how good ar Vetas was. Every aspect of our Vita
Speaker 1: Sibonas is better than Demonta Sibonis.
Speaker 2: I would have liked to see a young, young Arvetas
Speaker 2: in the league.
Speaker 1: By the time Portland brought ar Vita Sibonis to the team,
Speaker 1: So people forget like we drafted him and we didn't
Speaker 1: get him for another decade, right, Yeah, so he had
Speaker 1: been playing for fourteen years in Lithuania behind the iron curtain. Yeah,
Speaker 1: before he could even sniff an NBA game. His knees
Speaker 1: were like disintegrated by that time.
Speaker 2: And his neck was just getting thicker and thicker, thicker.
Speaker 1: He was drinking more and more. Sorry, Harve, he was
Speaker 1: really I mean, he had big time alcohol issues by
Speaker 1: that time. I don't know what was going on. We
Speaker 1: won't even pain probably probably like just replacing opioids instead. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he also had some anger issues. We won't get into that.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think with Demantsis' mom, not gonna get
Speaker 1: into it, not gonna get into it. Athleticism was just
Speaker 1: out the window. But shoot still shooting fifty five percent
Speaker 1: from the field. They had I forget if it was
Speaker 1: Clyde Drexler, they asked. They asked Clyde Drexler, like, how
Speaker 1: good would the Blazers have been if our Vetus a
Speaker 1: bonus would have came in when he was drafted or
Speaker 1: early on. And he said, we would have taken like
Speaker 1: four or five titles from Jordan.
Speaker 2: Ooh, you would have been.
Speaker 1: The top three center, top five center in history. So
Speaker 1: we all are getting all excited about Deus Simonis. But oh,
Speaker 1: my god, our Vetus, even when our Vetus was old,
Speaker 1: we were really really good with him. No answer, They
Speaker 1: would have had no answer in Chicago.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it would have taken up all of Rodman's energy.
Speaker 2: And yeah, that would have been That would have been crazy.
Speaker 1: But it would have been like Luke Longley versus Sibonis.
Speaker 1: Sabonis was a truck, oh cherruck seven to three, two
Speaker 1: hundred a million pounds, like not ready, he's not really
Speaker 1: was like a little Lithuanian shack out there with moves
Speaker 1: like like the body of shack, a young shack with
Speaker 1: the moves of Mark Gasol.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and a bigger head somehow and in.
Speaker 1: A bigger neck and hen and ego probably three point contest.
Speaker 1: How has Steph Curry only won twice out of seven
Speaker 1: appearances in the three point contest?
Speaker 2: See this is why I didn't bet on him, because
Speaker 2: it's usually a young man's game, these competitions. Because I
Speaker 2: like picking people that you think want to put on
Speaker 2: a show. That's why I threw Zach Lavine in there. Yeah. Uh,
Speaker 2: that's really kind of it. And he's in it a lot.
Speaker 2: It's not like he doesn't participate.
Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, seven times greatest shooter of all time.
Speaker 1: I would have thought he would have won every single one.
Speaker 1: I thought. She said seven four seven, and she said
Speaker 1: the second of seven, and I was like, pull up
Speaker 1: the Google machine and I was like.
Speaker 2: Wow, if it was like a five million dollar prize,
Speaker 2: I feel like he'd have won more.
Speaker 1: Absolutely. Also, Devin Booker won that, and I think it
Speaker 1: shows that this is this is a set shooters game too.
Speaker 1: Like Steph cur is very very good off the balance
Speaker 1: and he said he gets nervous with the rack because
Speaker 1: he's like the balls right there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I could see that.
Speaker 1: I mean, Steph is a cyborg. Though it showed it
Speaker 1: almost looked like, uh, he missed some on purpose to
Speaker 1: create drama in the final round. Yeah, so that he
Speaker 1: would be down by one and could hit that three
Speaker 1: and win the whole thing on the last fucking ball.
Speaker 2: I mean when he gets like three in a row,
Speaker 2: like going in a rhythm, you just it just doesn't
Speaker 2: feel like he's ever gonna miss effortless.
Speaker 1: Ever, that first round, it was just like, oh, well
Speaker 1: he missed any I don't know. Uh, let's talk about
Speaker 1: the actual game itself. Oh wait, dunk contest. Let's talk
Speaker 1: about dunk contests. Three people, Jokeville.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that was lamb, although I guess they
Speaker 2: needed three, probably for time because it still went a
Speaker 2: little long. I still can't believe Simons won on a
Speaker 2: failed attempt?
Speaker 1: Can we? Okay, is it a failed attempt? Why? Why
Speaker 1: do you say it's failed?
Speaker 2: He made the dunk, Yeah, but the whole gimmick behind
Speaker 2: what he was trying to do, he didn't pull.
Speaker 1: Off the ball went into the hoop, did it not.
Speaker 2: I'm not saying it shouldn't have counted and shouldn't have been.
Speaker 1: So you what you're saying is what you wanted to
Speaker 1: not have.
Speaker 2: Been scored higher than the guy who did what he
Speaker 2: was trying to do.
Speaker 1: So what I'm asking you is this, if Simons completed
Speaker 1: the dunk and and basically destroyed his entire her mouth,
Speaker 1: all of his teeth fell out, and the ball did
Speaker 1: not go in the hoop, but he kissed the rim,
Speaker 1: that's a that's not a failed attempt.
Speaker 2: No, I mean, you still need to make the dunk.
Speaker 2: And like, look, if I understand, I understand if you
Speaker 2: go like teeth first into the rim, that's probably not
Speaker 2: going to end well for you. Then maybe come up
Speaker 2: with a different gimmick one that you can.
Speaker 1: Obie top and missed her his first dunk in the
Speaker 1: second round.
Speaker 2: I know.
Speaker 1: So they both had failed attempts.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but Obi that didn't his failed attempt didn't count.
Speaker 1: But it still goes against you when you missed the
Speaker 1: first one. Yeah, he's he basically wanted to show that
Speaker 1: he could if he wanted to go up and his
Speaker 1: he was eye level or lip level with the rim.
Speaker 2: He didn't even really get that close though, be.
Speaker 1: Was pretty close. You can't be a hater about this.
Speaker 2: It fell flat. Live admit that, I like you saw
Speaker 2: I mean, when we saw the replay, was like, wow,
Speaker 2: that was that's insane how high that got can jump?
Speaker 2: But live it kind of fell a little flat.
Speaker 1: A little bit. I think some dunks look better live
Speaker 1: than they look when you do, like, for example, Casha
Speaker 1: Stanley's dunk.
Speaker 2: Oh, the first one looked good.
Speaker 1: Live, and then you see it same thing actually with
Speaker 1: Anfonty Simon's when Anfrety Simons put on the Tracy McGrady jersey, right,
Speaker 1: so he does the famous iconic Tracy McGrady dunk, and
Speaker 1: then they show the McGrady dunk next to the Simon's dunk,
Speaker 1: and you're like, don't that was a little clunky for
Speaker 1: my taste, looks better live. Some dunks, like Zach Lavine's
Speaker 1: dunks when he has gone in prior dunk contest, When
Speaker 1: you show that in slow mo, you're like, how did he?
Speaker 1: How did he do all of those things in one second?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Stanley's first dunk getting scored forty four. That was
Speaker 2: the most ridiculous thing of the whole contest. That was
Speaker 2: a hard dunk. He went between the leg that he
Speaker 2: like took off on.
Speaker 1: But yeah, but that's like a very dot I think
Speaker 1: you miss with creativity being lacking there, Like that's a
Speaker 1: very common dunk, Like you can't do that and expect
Speaker 1: like I would prefer the Kobe. Lebron replicated, like try
Speaker 1: to do that dunk. If you're gonna do a dunk,
Speaker 1: it's quote unquote iconic.
Speaker 2: Yeah. No, I just think when you when you go
Speaker 2: through the leg that you like elevated off of that's yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean that's sick. But whatever, whatever actual game highlights.
Speaker 1: So let's just recap and say Lebron's team won. This
Speaker 1: is a four straight year Lebron's team has won, which means,
Speaker 1: dude is gonna be a sick talent of value and
Speaker 1: like GM when he leaves the league, like that man
Speaker 1: can pull together a squad.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm not really and I'm not really quick to
Speaker 2: give him those ones where he was drafting against Giannis
Speaker 2: because Jannis had to take Chris Middleton as early as.
Speaker 1: That's true, same thing obviously, but with Durant, but Durant
Speaker 1: had hardened and Kyrie to chie like they're fine, they're okay.
Speaker 1: But I like Lebron's his technique. He just wants bucket.
Speaker 1: I just want guys that can shoot from everywhere. Yeah, uh,
Speaker 1: Yannis winning the MVP. Let's talk about it. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think that was robbery. I I this is not an
Speaker 1: efficiency contest. Sixteen for sixteen, I don't care.
Speaker 2: I mean it should have been Steph. I mean Steph
Speaker 2: owned the game absolutely.
Speaker 1: I think for the I think for the MVP of
Speaker 1: the All Star Game, it has to be people who
Speaker 1: show out that control the storyline of the game, that
Speaker 1: they're doing incredible things where you're tweeting about it, you're
Speaker 1: talking to your friends about it. Like, there was nothing
Speaker 1: that Yannis did that was remarkable except for Wow, his
Speaker 1: three point shot is so off that it went in. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was so far away from the rim that he
Speaker 1: has to go Bank City.
Speaker 2: It had like a bad spin too, It was like
Speaker 2: spinning like toward the basket.
Speaker 1: He just was on one that night, like it's when
Speaker 1: the basketball got in your favor and you just can't miss.
Speaker 1: That was Giannis, but Steph was Steph was like stealing
Speaker 1: the ball. He was doing the threes and then turning
Speaker 1: three hundred and sixty degrees. Look it over, doing the
Speaker 1: shimmy hitting from half court. It should have been Steph's especially.
Speaker 1: I think also, if you win another contest three point
Speaker 1: dunk and you're in the All Star Game. I think
Speaker 1: you got a little extra verve. Like if you win
Speaker 1: the three point contest and then you show out in
Speaker 1: the actual game, I think it's like my brain says Steph, Steph,
Speaker 1: Steph dominant, dominant. No, I mean I just thought it
Speaker 1: was jokevil I thought Dame taking the last shot and
Speaker 1: hitting the game winner from half court, that's that's Dame time.
Speaker 2: That was awesome. Started waving like before he even shot it.
Speaker 1: Oh no, I didn't see that.
Speaker 2: He's like, bye bye.
Speaker 1: The best part to me was Lebron tweeting after the
Speaker 1: game and he was like, I kept telling Steph and
Speaker 1: Damed to go back further and further and further. He's
Speaker 1: just egging him on, like he chose him just so
Speaker 1: he could be like, can you shoot it from half
Speaker 1: court and make it? How about behind the half court?
Speaker 2: Make it?
Speaker 1: Like these dudes, I mean, how easy they make that
Speaker 1: is just nuts, especially given that they're two small guys.
Speaker 1: They don't have a ton of power. Also, Dame hitting
Speaker 1: from half court got our man PG. Thirteen to apologize.
Speaker 1: He said, in hindsight, Damian Lillard's shot in my eyeball
Speaker 1: to win that series. I said it was a bad shot.
Speaker 1: I think it wasn't a bad shot anymore. I won't
Speaker 1: say that anymore.
Speaker 2: It's amazing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, dude, he hits those regularly. He practices those. Paul George,
Speaker 1: Like that was not just a fluke where he's like
Speaker 1: dribbling methodically for six seven seconds so he can do
Speaker 1: a quick jab step in your eyeball. That wasn't a
Speaker 1: bad shot. That was actually so I'm glad that he.
Speaker 1: I give Paul George a little respect for repenting.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I do too. Yeah, what else?
Speaker 1: What else? Dame hits thirty has thirty two off the bench. Yeah,
Speaker 1: could have said he might have been an MVP as well.
Speaker 1: Hits the game winner.
Speaker 2: He came on second half, which I mean, you start
Speaker 2: forming opinions after the first half, and they it never
Speaker 2: felt like Dame was actually gonna get it.
Speaker 1: You know, here's how yeah exactly. Yeah, but I thought
Speaker 1: that with Giannis, like it didn't feel like Giannis was
Speaker 1: really doing anything, and then they handed him the trophy.
Speaker 2: You just look at numbers. I kind of said it.
Speaker 2: I was like, I guess this is kind of a
Speaker 2: toss up between Steph and Giannis, but Eileen Steph clearly,
Speaker 2: and you.
Speaker 1: Were like, it's like when the boxer when you watch
Speaker 1: a boxing match and one boxer is is like, yeah,
Speaker 1: he's competing, but they're like little tiny jabs and like
Speaker 1: he's getting a lot of jazz. But then the other
Speaker 1: boxer's hitting some real heavy like hooks and undercuts and
Speaker 1: blah blah blah and almost making them fall. And then
Speaker 1: they give it to the little guy, like the little
Speaker 1: jab guy, and you're like, really, yeah, I get that.
Speaker 1: Really we're going off of points here, like this is it.
Speaker 1: I think when you give the MVP to someone who
Speaker 1: was efficient, it de incentivizes or disincentivizes players to do
Speaker 1: the things that you want to see in an All
Speaker 1: Star game. Would you show out because you're not gonna
Speaker 1: go sixteen for sixteen if you're shooting from half court?
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, you just won't. Definitely, I'm sorry.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Oh and side note, I didn't see any tweets
Speaker 2: like oh, they don't play defense in the All Star Game.
Speaker 2: This sucks. That's the dumbest take ever.
Speaker 1: I love the elam ending. It's my favorite.
Speaker 2: Oh me too, me too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I just want one tweak. I want the first
Speaker 1: three quarters to be like what they are exactly the same,
Speaker 1: start fresh, right, But I want the fourth quarter to
Speaker 1: start fresh too, Like I want the fourth quarter first
Speaker 1: to thirty five. I don't want it's like add twenty
Speaker 1: six to the highest score and then that's the score.
Speaker 1: The a have to have the win. Like I guess
Speaker 1: that maybe defeats the quote unquote elam ending element of it,
Speaker 1: but I just think it puts you at a severe
Speaker 1: advantage to compete. Like at that point, Kevin Durant's team
Speaker 1: is not gonna win, and so they're really not gonna
Speaker 1: defend nearly as much like they're not gonna really do
Speaker 1: anything nearly. Isn't the games over at that point? Gambler's
Speaker 1: dream though for the over you know it's gonna hit
Speaker 1: by the third quarter because he has to right right.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: Jokic was funny, Nikola Jokic said on Jannis getting handing
Speaker 1: him the MVP trophy. They snubbed me for the second
Speaker 1: year in a row. I don't know what's happening. We
Speaker 1: won the game because of me, Nikola Jokic, by the way,
Speaker 1: six points in that game. Oh that's what I was
Speaker 1: gonna say, Is you know how you know that Damian
Speaker 1: Lillard should have been a starter. He was playing the fourth,
Speaker 1: like the final minutes of the fourth.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know who.
Speaker 1: Wasn't playing in the final moments of the fourth Luka Doncic.
Speaker 1: That was a that was just a robbery.
Speaker 2: And I didn't even notice him in the game, really, Luca.
Speaker 1: I took So here's a little tidbit of info about
Speaker 1: me being a bad All Star Game gambler. I took
Speaker 1: Beale and Luca MVPDs plus thirty three hundred.
Speaker 2: I had Beel and Zion.
Speaker 1: Beal led Kevin Durant's team in points, Team Durant in points,
Speaker 1: and it just was never gonna be enough. He just
Speaker 1: didn't look good.
Speaker 2: I just liked the value to it, and I was like,
Speaker 2: he's someone that can come out and hit a bunch
Speaker 2: of threes and win the game. And then you look
Speaker 2: at it and he has forty five points, and it's like, oh,
Speaker 2: I guess we'll give it to Bill. That was my rationale.
Speaker 1: That's how I felt about it too. It was like,
Speaker 1: maybe he'ld just go out and score forty because he's
Speaker 1: a wizard and he has fresh legs and ye something.
Speaker 2: Right, People that want to put on a show. This
Speaker 2: is his super Bowl.
Speaker 1: That was my ra That's what my rationale was too,
Speaker 1: And also a lot of Lucaslander. Luca hasn't been playing well,
Speaker 1: blah blah blah. Maybe he'll go out and show out
Speaker 1: and do some step backs. And I was just hoping
Speaker 1: for moments. You're kind of banking on moments. Steph would
Speaker 1: have been a great bet. In hindsight, I should have
Speaker 1: bet Steph. Yeah, I mean not in hindsight because I
Speaker 1: wouldn't have won, but it was a better bet. It
Speaker 1: was better.
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know what the value. It was
Speaker 2: probably like five or six to one, so that.
Speaker 1: I think it was plus six hundred for Steph, and
Speaker 1: I think it was I think it was plus six
Speaker 1: hundred per Dame too. I don't know what it was
Speaker 1: for honest. Do you remember I'm a young Stunnah. What
Speaker 1: a great song for this New York City, Marty. I
Speaker 1: don't know if I told you. Did I tell you
Speaker 1: about the time that I was walking my dog to
Speaker 1: get coffee on a Sunday morning. Someone came up to me,
Speaker 1: I'm walking Emma, little Emma.
Speaker 2: Uh huh.
Speaker 1: It's like ten am on a Sunday, and I got
Speaker 1: my coffee in hand, I got my earphones in. This
Speaker 1: is not long ago, this is maybe two months ago.
Speaker 1: Someone comes out of the woodworks. Listen here, bitch, I
Speaker 1: will beat the shit out of you. I could knock
Speaker 1: you the fuck out right now. Blah blah blah blah blah,
Speaker 1: you and your little black dog, I'll knock you the
Speaker 1: fuck out. And I just stood there like I had
Speaker 1: no recourse. What do you do at that point?
Speaker 2: Right? Yeah?
Speaker 1: New York City is scary. It's scary at night, it's
Speaker 1: scary during the day. You just never know when some
Speaker 1: random guy is gonna tell you that they've would knock
Speaker 1: you out if they wanted to. So after that happened,
Speaker 1: I immediately looked into a bunch of options. I was like,
Speaker 1: what am I gonna do? Am I gonna get a knife?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 1: Probably not, like you gotta get real close to someone,
Speaker 1: who's it costing you if you have a knife? Am
Speaker 1: I gonna get pepper spray? I don't know if you
Speaker 1: know this about me, Marty, but I am clumsy. I
Speaker 1: would probably end up spraying the shit out of myself,
Speaker 1: or like getting a little bit of the remnants on
Speaker 1: my fingers and then grabbing my eye and then on
Speaker 1: my eye is watering during the podcast and blah blah blah,
Speaker 1: Am I gonna get a gun? I mean, no way
Speaker 1: would I ever be what am? I'm not gonna carry
Speaker 1: a gun. I don't want that, especially in New York City.
Speaker 1: Somebody could pull it, like take it from me and
Speaker 1: just dead dead on the street on twenty fifth just
Speaker 1: because of my Quartato. I really just want the Quartado
Speaker 1: on a Sunday morning. So what I ended up doing
Speaker 1: is I found this thing. I stumbled on it. It's
Speaker 1: the best of both worlds. One part flashlight, one part
Speaker 1: stun gun. It's called the Taser Strike Light. It's rechargeable,
Speaker 1: it's high powered. It's a flashlight that not only can
Speaker 1: thwart random attackers near Penn Station, and then I also
Speaker 1: have this flashlight when I'm at night walking my dog.
Speaker 1: So it's great. It's like very small. I can put
Speaker 1: a little strap around my wrist and go. It's super affordable.
Speaker 1: The Taser Strike Light is available without a permit in
Speaker 1: most US states. If you want to walk your dog
Speaker 1: with peace of mind, get the Taser Strike Light at
Speaker 1: Taser dot com with promo League you can also say
Speaker 1: fifteen percent now at Taser dot com Promo code League
Speaker 1: spelled TA s e R dot com. Sort of old news,
Speaker 1: but it's relevant to the last episode. Remember last week
Speaker 1: we talked about how everybody hates Utah everyone uh huh.
Speaker 1: Fans don't like Utah and the NBA doesn't want to
Speaker 1: see the Jazz win. Even Rudy Gobert talked about it, like,
Speaker 1: no one likes us, they're trying to steal games from us.
Speaker 1: We're a small market, YadA YadA, YadA. Spider knows it.
Speaker 1: They even got fine for saying it. Now it appears
Speaker 1: that Lebron James has put an exclamation point on that
Speaker 1: fact that, yes, Rudy Gobert, you are right, no one
Speaker 1: likes you and no one likes the Utah Jazz. That's
Speaker 1: just true. Let's just hear what Lebron James had to
Speaker 1: say when he was voting with Kevin Durant and he
Speaker 1: kept the Utah Jazz. They kept them last they were
Speaker 1: voting on All Star picks. Two last ones taken, even
Speaker 1: though they're the first in the West.
Speaker 3: Rudy Gobert goes to Team Lebron. What we get, I
Speaker 3: just I just want to say something because there's no slander, James.
Speaker 3: But you guys got to understand. You guys gotta understand.
Speaker 3: Just like in video games growing up, we never played
Speaker 3: with Utah even alone.
Speaker 1: Let's translate this. Anytime someone says something like no disrespect
Speaker 1: or you know, this isn't slander, slander's coming, that's every time.
Speaker 1: Every time Lebron James, they take Donovan Mitchell and Rudy
Speaker 1: Gobert absolutely last, and he's like, this is no slander,
Speaker 1: No it is. It is no one growing up ever
Speaker 1: like Utah never slander is literally the next thing coming
Speaker 1: out of your mouth, and just so happened to be
Speaker 1: Utah's ladder. The funniest thing, though, was Katie. You can
Speaker 1: see him in the video. KD is rolling laughing because
Speaker 1: Katie wants to say the exact same thing, but Lebron's
Speaker 1: the only one that can say it in a way
Speaker 1: that seems like sort of playful and funny get away
Speaker 1: with it. Like if said that, it'd be like, can
Speaker 1: you believe KD? What a dickhead?
Speaker 2: This is my favorite thing Lebron's ever done, by the way,
Speaker 2: is it?
Speaker 1: I think Lebron James will say some very funny things
Speaker 1: here and there. If you like really watch for him,
Speaker 1: he can be hilarious. I met him, so I had
Speaker 1: a couple of videos that I did that were not
Speaker 1: super kind to Lebron James right, like I think I
Speaker 1: did when like Kobe was better than Lebron, and like
Speaker 1: you know, ones that were like opinions. So I met Lebron.
Speaker 1: A friend of mine introduced us because he's friendly with Lebron.
Speaker 1: This was at the NBA Summer League and Lebron like, hey,
Speaker 1: I'm like, hey, I'm Trista. I work for USA today.
Speaker 1: Blah blah blah. He shakes my hand and he's like
Speaker 1: I know who you are. And then he sits there
Speaker 1: and he and he like and on my hands out
Speaker 1: and he hasn't like dapped me up yet, and there's
Speaker 1: like a there's like a freeze, like the blood is
Speaker 1: draining from my face, and I'm thinking, like, what have
Speaker 1: I said? What have I said? He's he's seen everything,
Speaker 1: he knows everything, and I know exactly who you are.
Speaker 1: And then he just starts to laugh and he like
Speaker 1: finally DAPs me up, and I'm like, what a clown, dude.
Speaker 1: He's a very funny dude, I like that move. It
Speaker 1: was just like a maybe you should think before you say.
Speaker 2: Anything, but I'm gonna make you feel a little uncomfortable exactly.
Speaker 1: You've said things that I don't like. Has anyone ever
Speaker 1: chosen the Utah Jazz when they've played two K I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't think so right when they're twelve years old? No,
Speaker 1: I love I love this Lebron James slander. It confirmed
Speaker 1: exactly what Nate Robinson told me when I interviewed him
Speaker 1: this summer. Play the club. We're arena to be a
Speaker 1: road team in Utah. I knew its.
Speaker 3: Small in there, like you can't move in there, Like
Speaker 3: it's really really small.
Speaker 1: Trash trash Utah. Anytime anybody slanders Utah, Nate rab Vinson's
Speaker 1: voice is in my head trash trash Utaha. He hates
Speaker 1: the people that are in that arena, hates the arena itself.
Speaker 1: And the fact that both Utah Jazz players were the
Speaker 1: last players picked didn't surprise me. But the funniest thing is,
Speaker 1: like you choose a guy Domontes Sabonis. It was like
Speaker 1: Lebron James is like, yeah, I need a big man.
Speaker 1: I need a big man. It's like Rudy Gobert sitting there,
Speaker 1: Demantes Sabonis from the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers are a
Speaker 1: better team than the fucking Utah Jazz. That's where we're at.
Speaker 1: Let's do something though different. I want to do something different.
Speaker 1: Let's draft our own all star teams.
Speaker 2: Okay, all right, do you want to do that?
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm gonna be Lebron. I think this is fun.
Speaker 1: I'll be Lebron. I'm gonna get the first pick, and
Speaker 1: you'll be KD and you get two picks at the
Speaker 1: end because you're not playing because you're broken. Okay, let's
Speaker 1: see if the Utah disrespect continues, especially since Conley replace
Speaker 1: your boy book.
Speaker 2: All right, Oh, we're doing Okay, we're.
Speaker 1: Taking We're gonna I guess we'll take it, knowing what
Speaker 1: we know, right, knowing what we know and we don't know.
Speaker 1: What we don't know is the close contact with the haircut. Okay,
Speaker 1: we have to do it, assuming they're gonna play, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's yeah, that's fair.
Speaker 1: With the first round team, Lebron chooses Joel embiid.
Speaker 2: Oof, I'm gonna go Curry. I got stuff.
Speaker 1: Damn Ah, what a great pick. Shit you took my.
Speaker 2: Guy, I mean after last night.
Speaker 1: Yeah. See, the thing is we should have done this before.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna choose Kyrie Irving.
Speaker 2: Okay, I'm gonna take the MVP and go Giannis Nice.
Speaker 1: I like that, all right. And then I'm gonna take
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum, give me Luca all right, and I'm gonna
Speaker 1: take Shoot, I'm gonna take Beal, and so you get
Speaker 1: and Kawhi. So the team is as follows for the
Speaker 1: first round. The starters, I have embiid Kyrie.
Speaker 2: I am loving my squad.
Speaker 1: I mean it's okay. I have m B Kyrie, Jason Tatum, Beal,
Speaker 1: and me Lebron James first. The first time I could
Speaker 1: say that was the straight pace. And you have Yannis.
Speaker 2: I have Yannis Steph Luka. And that's a squad.
Speaker 1: That's a squad. All right. We got second round, second round,
Speaker 1: you go first, lead off, Okay, do it to him,
Speaker 1: don't do it to her, don't do it to her.
Speaker 2: I'll let you have it.
Speaker 1: I'll go James, thank you, thank you. With the second
Speaker 1: first pick in the second round, I take Damian Lillard.
Speaker 2: Okay, and now we're thinking just all Star game here,
Speaker 2: I'll go I'll go PG. He's won an MVP.
Speaker 1: Before one PG. You got PG. I'm gonna choose Zach Levine.
Speaker 2: Okay, I like that. I think I'm gonna go Zion here.
Speaker 2: I think I got a lot of people that can
Speaker 2: throw them lobs. I like that.
Speaker 1: I like that. I'm gonna choose. This is where it
Speaker 1: gets hard. I'm gonna choose Chris Paul.
Speaker 2: Oh damn, I'm so big.
Speaker 1: Now, yeah you are.
Speaker 2: Let's keep it, Let's keep it going. Give me Simmons.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 1: All right, just a bunch of guys who can't score
Speaker 1: except for Curry.
Speaker 2: I mean, James Harden and James.
Speaker 1: Curry and Harden are gonna be the only ones. All right,
Speaker 1: we got I'm gonna go Jalen Brown. I mean, this
Speaker 1: just shows kind of what we're into.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, So who's on the board. I've got Sabonis.
Speaker 1: Vouch, Rudy Spider, Julius Randall.
Speaker 2: I can't believe I'm the one that's about to do this,
Speaker 2: but I guess you gotta give me Donovan Mitchell here,
Speaker 2: only because I need guards.
Speaker 1: You do need guards. I am gonna choose Vucevic Voch.
Speaker 2: Okay, So now I'm Sabonis, Randall or Conley.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you have Rudy Sabonis and Randall left and Booker Conley. Uh,
Speaker 1: he takes Sabonis, all right, I am going to take
Speaker 1: Mike Conley, the lefty.
Speaker 2: So now it's Randall or Rudy.
Speaker 1: Now it's Randall or Rudy. Okay, give me Randall, and
Speaker 1: I have this fucking dude. I have to have. So
Speaker 1: basically it happens again. Right, We've got for me. I've
Speaker 1: got Mbed Kyrie, Jason Tatum, Bradley Beal, Lebron James, Damian Lillard,
Speaker 1: Zach Lavine, Chris Paul, Jalen Brown, Vusovich, Mike Conley, and
Speaker 1: Rudy Gobert. What a squad, bunch of bucket getters. And
Speaker 1: you have Jannis Jokic, Steph Kawhi Curry, Harden, PG, Zion Simmons,
Speaker 1: Spider Sabonis and Randallah. I mean, you have to say
Speaker 1: my squad's much better.
Speaker 2: I disagree.
Speaker 1: Actually, I just don't think you're gonna be able to
Speaker 1: keep up with all their shooting.
Speaker 2: I mean, I've got Harden, Luca, Steph, Luca is a.
Speaker 1: Is broke city right now. He's gonna score like four points.
Speaker 1: You're gonna have to just rely on Steph to do everything.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be Steph and Stephan. Yeah, I mean, Giannis
Speaker 1: will go sixteen for sixteen. We know that Jannis is
Speaker 1: gonna get high off the backboard, but I'm gonna have
Speaker 1: mb'd give Yanni's fits. I'm gonna have it.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's howay it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Yannis give him Janna's fits. But also we see it,
Speaker 1: we see that it's true. No one, not me and you,
Speaker 1: not the world, not Lebron James, nobody wants Rudy Gobert
Speaker 1: on their team.
Speaker 2: I mean, I defend Rudy Gobert being the last pick.
Speaker 2: I mean, he's by far the least fit to play
Speaker 2: in an All Star Game.
Speaker 1: I think this. I think what we need to do
Speaker 1: is evaluate whether centers have any value in the All
Speaker 1: Star Game. No one wants big men, who especially are
Speaker 1: rim protectors, can't score and do anything besides grab lobs.
Speaker 1: And he's not a big dunker like Zion. Zion at
Speaker 1: least could go up and do some things. By the way,
Speaker 1: Zion a couple of big time flub dunks.
Speaker 2: It was killed kill.
Speaker 1: Everybody was thinking he might win the m VP, So
Speaker 1: he had a tough go in the first round and
Speaker 1: the first time in his All Star appearance, which I
Speaker 1: think he will end up being able to redeem himself
Speaker 1: in future years, but it was a rough, rough go.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I think no more centers in the All
Speaker 1: Star Game. I think it's positionless. I think it's just
Speaker 1: we go out and we just choose all stars based
Speaker 1: around how fucking good they are in an All Star game,
Speaker 1: not how good they are. And like, as an All
Speaker 1: NBA player, you know what I'm.
Speaker 2: Saying, I do, and like I mean, I so who
Speaker 2: would that eliminate from here? That elm Randall and Randall's
Speaker 2: doing so much other stuff though I think it would.
Speaker 1: Still probably he would still be in it, but it
Speaker 1: would be Sabonis vouch Like, for example, a d would
Speaker 1: still make an All Star game, like AD's good enough
Speaker 1: even without if you're basically saying, you have what are
Speaker 1: they called wild cards, so like it could be anything.
Speaker 1: You could basically choose all wild cards for your All
Speaker 1: Star then you know who the real ballers are, the
Speaker 1: real bucket getters are, and Vucevic is not one of them. No, no,
Speaker 1: no chance, No sabonus as much.
Speaker 2: As I like watching him, it's the Yeah, he's just
Speaker 2: he's not an All Star needle mover.
Speaker 1: So Spider did address Lebron's comments during All Star weekend
Speaker 1: and he said, I really don't want to be rude,
Speaker 1: but I don't care. People have been shit talking me
Speaker 1: for a while. We're not doing this meaning playing basketball
Speaker 1: to seek the approval of him, meaning Lebron James. Spider's
Speaker 1: odds for the MVP were threety three hundred eight thousand
Speaker 1: for Gobert Conley. This is where the district respect was
Speaker 1: the biggest. Conley didn't even have odds, there was no odds.
Speaker 1: Vegas was like, there is no scenario possible where this
Speaker 1: guy who snuck in last second for Devin Booker will
Speaker 1: ever win the MVP. So we're not even going to
Speaker 1: create these odds for him. So thank you Lebron James
Speaker 1: for saying what we all know, saying the truth, speaking
Speaker 1: truth to power, like his name was Megan Markle. That
Speaker 1: the truth is for a variety of reasons that no
Speaker 1: one is rooting for Utah, not hardcore fans, not NBA players,
Speaker 1: not hardcore NBA fans, and actually just most people root
Speaker 1: against them just to root against them. So, like James
Speaker 1: Harden said, this All Star Game is kind of just
Speaker 1: a forced and thrown thing upon us, and we sort
Speaker 1: of forced and threw our podcast upon you as well
Speaker 1: in the middle of your All Star break. So I
Speaker 1: hope you enjoy it. That's all the time that we
Speaker 1: have for this League All Star Podcast. Please subscribe, Please
Speaker 1: rate and review you on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. I'm
Speaker 1: getting DMS people being like hey, multiple times a week.
Speaker 1: I subscribe and unsubscribe for you. So be one of
Speaker 1: those people that can DM meet or Marty. Give us
Speaker 1: a little shout out, give us a little love, makes
Speaker 1: a huge difference. We also have this League hoodies on
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Speaker 1: and Trista Crik on all those same platforms. Follow Playboy Marty.
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Speaker 1: you for listening.