Welcome in What's Drive to the Great episode three point thirty one, in what could be something of a frenetic episode, because we have the NBA Playoffs from last night, the Monsee Celtics stay alive. The Timberwolves, after making one conference finals in their franchise history, have now made consecutive conference finals. An unbelievably important Game six on deck between Thunder and Nuggets.
And despite all that, one could argue the biggest story in the sports world right now is the NFL schedule release, which is why actually we are going to lead the show with none of those topics. I'll explain that in a second. But the other reason DEMANDE today's show is frenetic is because there is a chance, and I hope you're ready, that at some point during the show I have to get up for a few minutes and you
just have to take over. So I have we have we are in the process of I don't need to get into all the details, but someone is coming by the house today and the window of time they gave us is nine am to three pm, and we just
need someone here at all times. And if they if they show up and we don't answer the door, then they won't come for another few weeks, so I don't think it's going to happen, but it's on the board, so just be ready for that, all right, and just just just letting you know you look good, just sound good. Here's what miss missed the cut in what looks like It's going to be awesome. Nick Cage is gonna play John Madden and Al Davis is gonna play Christian Bale
in a new movie. And that one still image those guys looked unbelievable. The WNBA season tips off tomorrow and the Portland Trailblazers are for sale. The producers have asked me if the Trailblazers moved to Kansas City, which they won't, but if they did, would I become a Trailblazers fan? And the answers, Yes, absolutely. If Kansas City got a
basketball team, that would be my team. The reason I've been able to be NBA free agent my whole life is because the Kansas City Kings moved to Sacramento before I was born and I never had a team. But yes,
I absolutely would become a Casey Trailblazers fan. Reminder for everyone out there, like rate subscribe review and today is a great day where we reward those that have rated, subscribed, and review, that are watching us live on YouTube, that are spending their time with us, because we are going to start the show talking about math. Demonsay, go ahead, Oh all right?
So the draft, the draft lottery is on Monday. We opened the show up on Tuesday talking about it, and here we are again today.
You want to discuss it again? Is it more conspiracy stuff? What?
No? I so this is so listen. I won't spare a ton of time on this. I will get to the basketball, I promise, But I feel, I honestly feel a responsibility in this moment because this is everything that is going on surrounding the Draft Lottery is just either a microcosm or an a metaphor for so much of the conspiracy bullshit that has pervaded every aspect of our lives, where it is folks asserting things that are just simply untrue,
combined with folks total inability to do simple math. So I won't spend ten minutes on it like I did Monday or Tuesday, but I am going to address because I made the mistake of reading some of the comments on our video when I said everyone who believes the draft is rigged as an idiot. And there are two or three kind of overwhelming comments. One of them is this, listen. I don't want to believe it's rigged, but it's awful fishy that they won't let us see the lottery balls
get picked and the process. And the reason that is so upsetting is because they do let you see it. It's on the NBA's YouTube page. You can watch it right now. In fact, if we tweet out this clip, let's then also tweet a link in the replies to where everyone can watch it. And so the reason that is irritating is that is you see this in life and in politics and on the internet all the time, which is why have they been hiding this from us?
And it's like it was on page three of the budget that was released and has been on the US government whatever, oh excuse me website all year. The idea that because you are unaware that something exists for you to see it doesn't exist. The idea that something is being hidden when simply because it hasn't been posted to your idiot Telegram group chat or any of your Facebook groups, it's not hidden. You just haven't looked for it. That's
the first thing. The second thing is, and this is really in my sweet spot, people's inability to understand how math works. And one of the reasons, and sorry, guys, we're gonna nerd for a moment, one of the reasons math is great is because it is unambiguous. It is there is no other side to the r argument. It's
just the numbers. And one of the most common comments we got after it went MAVs Spurs six ers one two three, is the odds of those three teams getting those three picks were, you know, point zero zero one percent.
How do you explain that? And now set aside that the fact that when people were crunching those numbers, they were actually not doing that math correctly, because what they were doing was taking the odds pre draft of those teams going one, two, three and then doing the math there when, of course, the odds reset slightly once the first pick has been off the board, and that the MAVs chances of getting the second pick are now zero. Their odds of getting the second pick are distributed amongst
the rest of the teams. But don't worry about that, because that's at least an understandable and a marginal error. But here's what people don't understand, and this is what I'm going to explain quickly, and then we will move on. If the lottery stayed perfect, if no one jumped anyone, it would have gone Jazz, Wizards, hornets. That would have been the chalk outcome. And this is where people don't understand math or probabilities. Do you guys know, the most
likely one two three Jazz, Wizards, hornets. What the odds of that being the exact one two three that we got were it's the most likely? What are the odds? And the answer to that is zero point two percent, one in five hundred the most likely. Because again, what you need is a fourteen percent chance to come in for the jazz, and then after that a thirteen percent chance to come in for the wizards, and then after that a twelve percent chance to come in for the hornets.
And again we're gonna we're doing the rough calculations here, but fourteen percent of thirteen percent of twelve percent gives you point zero two percent, which is to say this, every single outcome was incredibly unlikely, but we were guaranteed one of them. And I am only focused on this because I actually think this is I can't call it a Canarian the coal mine because the whole world already has black lung on this. We are so far down
the road. The Canarian the coal mine on all of this was actually when it liked sports conspiracies and was it a warning signal for the rest of us of other conspiracies? Was the Kyrie irving flat earth stuff? That was the uh oh. If you're willing to say that's debatable, then what you mean is there is no objective truth
in anything. But when you have a monitored, video, authenticated process, who no matter what, because no team has better than a fourteen percent chance of getting the number one pick and because of the way the NBA has rejiggered the odds. When you have that, those are the facts that we all can see, and it is still an overwhelmingly held
opinion that the shit is rigged. It is further evidence that as a collective, our ability to have a agreed upon set of facts that we all then understand our reality and then operate or debate or move, you know, according to how we feel that we should in that reality. It's fraying, and it's dangerous, so we can be done with it here. But I am I'm not overreacting and I'm not wrong, and I'm not trying to just like
be like, look at me, I can do math. I am saying that there is a real cost to be paid for all of us if we, as a collective just start to feel like anything that happens that isn't what I expected to happen. There must be an invisible hand guiding why it happened. And it is doubly dangerous when it is very very easy to see. Watch the process yourself and see how unriggable it is. Crunch the numbers yourself and see how even though this was very unlikely,
every single possible outcome was very unlikely. And even under those circumstances, You're like, eh, feels fishy to me. It's dangerous, all right, lecture.
Over, Adam Silver, thanks you for your service.
Well, you know, can I tell you one other thing on that and then will be done. Speaking of Adam Silver, this was tweeted and this is what really set me off. I am going to read you and describe to you the tweet, and then I'm gonna tell you who tweeted it. After making big trades just months before the NBA Draft lottery.
These teams ended up winning it, and it was like the exploding head emoji, like wow, you know, you know the mind is blown emoji, and it talks about uh Lebron signing with the Heat Chris Paul traded to the Clippers. A D traded Lakers, and Luke had traded the Lakers, which is just stoking the conspiracy nonsense flames. The account that tweeted that was the NBA on ESPN, the official account Adam Silver should have been Bamani text this, text me this and the and I don't want to, I
don't want to read. Just Bamani won't care. He didn't Bamani text it. I'd hit the roof about this if I was Adam Silver. You're damn straight. It's so well, it's it is. It is so much worse than the conspiracy stuff about the chiefs and the officials, because that at least people could convince themselves, well, maybe you know it's one person's bias, one referee or an individual decision, rather than a multi decade, multi dozen human being conspiracy
to what end? And so and again, I keep saying I'll leave it like the MAVs winning the lottery was only slightly slightly more unlikely or less likely than the Hawks winning it last year to get Alex Saar and and nobody cared that that team jumped from ten to one because it was Alex Saar. But again, like it's so stupid, It's just so stupid. All right, we'll get to the actual playoffs and the schedule release now, but first let me tell you guys, NBA's eighty two game
grind is done and the real fun has begun. The NBA Playoffs are here. Time for all the high stakes drama, clutch moments, jaw dropping plays. I know you can't wait. You're looking to make the playoffs even more exciting. DraftKings Sportsbook has you covered as an official sports betting partner of the NBA from the play in games all the way through to the finals. Now's the time to back your favorite players and teams as they chase glory All season long. DraftKings been the go to spot for NBA
player props that doesn't stop. Now. Want to make your play playoff experience even more intent, try placing a bet on your favorite players performance. Will they drop thirty forty maybe more your call. Ready to place your first bet, Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app. Now, lock in your bets and let's make this playoff run unforgettable, something special for first timers. New Draft Kings customers. Bet five dollars to
get two hundred dollars in bonus bets instantly. Again, make it a playoff run to remember With DraftKings, download the DraftKings Sportsbook app. Use code right. That's code right for new customers to get two hundred dollars in bonus bets when you bet just five bucks only on DraftKings. The Crown is yours. Gambling problem call one eight hundred gambler in New York call eight seven seven eight hope in why, or text hope in why, which is four six seven
three six nine. In Connecticut. Help is available for problem gambling Call eight eight eight seven eight nine seven seven seven seven or visit CCPG dot org. Please play responsibly on behalf of Boothill Casino and resort in Kansas twenty one plus. Age in eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. Bonus bets expire one hundred and sixty eight hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources see DKNG dot co slash b ball. Also my mistake that the Hawks
got Resa sche not Alex Sar. It was such a relevant draft, I forgot who went first. You guys understood the point. All right, demons, Now we can get to your Celtics and my dogs.
They won last night, got that twenty five point dub over there in Boston without Tatum.
To let that be noted.
So who do you think is the biggest winner here? Boston staying alive, New York having a chance to win it in.
Their building, or the Pacers.
It was just like sitting outside while these guys are dueling it out.
All right, before I say what I think, a little birdie told me. You now think the Celtics are going to complete the comeback?
Is that court They got a one hundred percent They gotta win the next game. They got to win game six. If well, obviously they have to win game six to win the series. But I'm just saying, if if the Knicks lose this next game, the Celtics are not gonna lose Game seven. We're obviously built to lose a player. It's our best player. But I think we're we can definitely deal with the Knicks without Tatum, as we showed last night.
Okay, that's gonna be a very common opinion today. Sometimes Demonse and I do this show and Demanse, who has no didn't go to school for sports broadcasting. Really, it was never like it's not people maybe don't know this, but like and maybe they'll be surprised by it. It's not like Demonse growing up with me was like, oh man, I want to follow my dad's footsteps and do sports media.
Like that's That's not what this was ever. So it was just kind of a happy accident thanks to our friends at Blue Duck that you and I ended up trying this together and now we've done it for at what for years.
We're supposed to just be said of.
The exactly right. But sometimes Demands has a take despite that last that lack of what we would call classical training, that is then almost the exact same take I hear on TV, or sometimes I hear from Brew or Wild's later in the day, and it always makes me happy. It makes me happier when I think it's a good take, unlike this one, which I think is where are we
going here a very commonly held, misbegotten take. So I think there is going to be a considerable overreaction to last night, a game where the Knicks understandably, we're going to be a little less feel, a little bit of a less sense of urgency, a game where Boston was going to have the energy of the crowd, and a game where it was tied at halftime and then Brunson gets five fouls in eight minutes and the game's over like there. And so here is why I listen, good
for Boston. Here is why I think you are overstating how well Boston is built to handle the loss of Tatum. Now, it is good they got Sam Hauser back yesterday, and you know, hit his injury in Game one of this series was significant, and you know, not having him available to come off the bench hurt them in the middle part of this series. It's nice they got him back. But the Celtics obviously don't have Jason Tatum. They also,
for all intents and purposes, don't have Chris STAPs. Porzingis happy for Luke Cornett that he had that game last night. That is not duplicable on any level at any time. Again, Derek White's awesome. I don't think he's got another thirty four point game in his future.
That's more duplicable though.
Well certainly certainly more than Luke Cornett Damn Near Avenue seventy double. And so I look at Game six, and the other thing was a Towns was kind of got himself out of it with foul trouble. OG was horrifying. In this game was one for twelve Mikhale Bridges, who I thought was gonna play really well. He did, and he was four for fourteen. So all of those things conspired to where the Knicks, and then the Knicks also, you know, let go of the rope a bit. So
I think the Knicks will win Friday. But here is maybe the more controversial opinion, or not controversial but unconventional opinion. Even if they lose Friday, I think they absolutely can
win a Game seven in Boston. I think that the Boston Celtics, the idea of the Boston Celtics is very different than the current reality of the Boston Celtics, which is the Boston Celtics right now are a team whose best player is Jalen Brown, whose second best player is Derek White, whose third and fourth best players are guys in their mid to late thirties in Holiday and Horford, who have not yet shown at any point in this series they can in back to back games give you
high level, impactful minutes. And then we're down to the Pritchard Cornett tier of guys because Chris STAPs is out. He's not out, but he might as well be. Chris STAPs is not giving you anything. Tatum is out, and I just don't think Holliday and Horford are going to be as effective in Game six with a day rest as they were in Game five. And so for all those reasons, I think that the and throwing the rundown. What are the DraftKings? Okay, they already did good job, guys.
Boston is down to plus two twenty five to win the series, so the Knicks are probably like minus two sixty. I I think that the Knicks take care of business in six, and even if they don't, I minus two seventy five for New York. I think that Jalen Brunton in a Game seven is not going to be intimidated by a place where he won games one and to now. I will say this for the nixt chances of making
the finals. Game seven is avoiding a Game seven is super valuable to them and having a little more time off, especially because the Pacers play at such an insane pace and because the Pacers are so deep. Now I want to ask you, this is one of those things that just don't clip this. If someone else clips it, it's fine. Let's say you're right, Demanse. This is just a theoretical question and it's and by the way, there is no
value judgment here. Okay, we all agree last night Jason Tatum was rooting for the Celtics, and we all agree that in Game six he will be rooting for the Celtics if they pull this off. Will there is there any point in these playoffs where what you would call, I guess those intrusive thoughts in his head is like, okay, now we can all right. It's like I'm just I
maybe this is an indictment on me. But like if if I all of a sudden, if I got if I had to have some type of like medical procedure and I was and they're like, man, Nick's gonna be out for first things first for the next three months. In the beginning, I would be like all right, fellas, keep it rolling, you know what I mean? Keep it rolling. I'd be really happy if like three weeks in I got like a I saw a PR alert and it was like first things first record setting ratings, and then
like a week later it was like Emmy nominated. At some point I might be like, all right, we can you know, we can have some rough shows here, like and so there.
I could see that would be in the thought process. But yeah, man, I think it's.
Not an indictment, and that's not Tatum specific.
That is human characteristic, right, And I.
Would be saying that same thing if you know, let's say Steph's injury instead of being one step obviously really wanted the Warriors to somehow pull it out because he was coming back. He's like, if you could just stay alive, I can come or maybe he was coming back. But if Steph's injury was like where he's out three months, maybe, like I feel like there'd be a point where even where Steph would be like, Okay, you can beat the Timberwolves,
but let's not get a ring here. I don't know the all right, so let's do a Celtics follow U before we get to the other stuff.
Yeah, So now that Tatum's injury is officially official and he's likely to miss all of next year, you've had more time to think about it. Which dominoes have been affected the most?
Well? Did we talk about? Like I think one of the first non Celtics related dominoes is what does this mean for Giannis?
Yeah?
Does Giannis decide, i'd I'll give it one more year? Does Yiannis decide I still want to be traded, but staying East if I can sure, seems attractive to me? Like where you know, what does what does Giannis does? How does Yiannis look at this as far as what his decision should be, because and this was the thing I might have said on Tuesday, if we are if Yiannis goes West and Tatum is out for the year next year, the all NBA teams, I would imagine the East has three guys that have like would be all
NBA is the wrong way to do it. Just of the fifteen best players in the sport, the East has three of them, Jalen Brunson, Donovan, Mitchell, Tyrese Haliburton and everyone else is out West. And so the other major domino that this impacts obviously is Celtics related, which is they were already going to trim salary somewhat. Now I think they probably have to trim it massively, and I
would if I'm a Celtic fan. I am just kind of at peace with the fact that the next time Tatum plays, the team is going to look very very different, and I listen, I trust Missoula and I really trust Brad Stevens. What I am hoping for is the next time Tatum plays, Jalen Brown is still his wingman, because we have proof of concept that that works. And I would be a little nervous if I were Boston At. I would be a little nervous if I were Boston At eme Udoka and the Rockets pope around my team
this offseason. And I guess nervous is the wrong word because it's all via trade, but I do if Celtics are going to come available, I would think Emai Oudoka in the Houston Rockets if they don't get Yannis, would be the team that is potentially most interested there. And
what that you know what that means now? Again, you trust Brad Stevens to make good trades, and he's been very, very good So those are my biggest kind of takeaways now that we know, we talked a lot about this on Tuesday because we didn't know, but we kind of knew that it was going.
To be what it was.
All Right, let's talk about the other game last night, and.
The Timberwolves are headed to the Western Conference Finals for the second year in a row. Mentioned that earlier Tuesday show, you said that you were on amused.
With what Minnesota has been doing.
Have you seen anything, You've seen anything in that last game maybe convince you that they're gonna turn it around next round.
All right, so here is here's the optimists view on Minnesota playing I don't know a total of forty five good minutes in that entire series, like the third quarter of Game four, moments last night, and you know a few other various spots. Is after running out of gas by his own proclamation in round by the end of round two last year, Anthony Edwards learned from it and was like, you know what we I can I can save some of the nitrous tank for this next round
because I don't need to. I don't need to deal with this. I don't need to go all out in this round. What I will tell you is Minnesota has to play drastically better in the next round to have a chance to have a chance against Oklahoma City or even to beat Denver. And I think Denver, we'll talk Denver, Okay, see in a minute. So I think that there was an understandable intensity let down once it was clear Steph was out, and once it was clear that the Warriors
simply did not have any offensive punch. But they do. They absolutely need to be much much better. But what I will also say is this already has been a successful season. I know that Timberwls don't want to hear. They're like, no, we've never been to the finals. We
want to make the finals. And of course, and you could make the finals, but you it was pretty shocking that they made the conference finals last year because nobody thought they were gonna beat Denver, certainly after they won the first two against Denver and then lost three in a row, and certainly not during Game seven they were down twenty points in Denver. And then this year it looked like that trade was a mistake and that they were going to take a major step back, and now
they're in the exact same spot. And so I think that they you are you you have to be incredibly optimistic about the next half decade right now if you're in Minnesota. But you also have to feel like, man, I know Ant's young, but the bracket might not break better than this for us again, particularly about who you potentially could be seeing in the NBA Finals. So there's a huge, huge moment obviously for the Timberwolves, and they just need to be better than they were really in
this entire series. I don't think the Timberwolves have played an A plus game or even an A game starting to finish since Game four against the Lakers, and it is like really surprising and impressive. I guess that they were able to close out the Lakers and then win five of six against Golden State despite not playing their best. All Right, Demonse, what I know, we have a bunch of follow ups.
Here, Indiana.
Do you think they're in the same boat as Minnesota. You know, they made it to their to the Eastern Conference Finals last year and they're both kind of showing it's not a fluke.
Yeah, I mean, yes, I think that both for both of those teams. We looked at their conference finals appearances and put them in the same bucket that we put the Blazers like six years ago and the Hawks a few years ago. Like, ah, I mean, that's cool, but it's probably not, you know, really indicative of who they are and the fact that they both responded by not only getting to the conference back to the conference finals,
but getting back there in dominant fashion. I mean, neither of those teams have played a game six in these playoffs, Is that right?
Yeah?
Neither have played a game six in these playoffs. That's really impressive. All right, let's keep going.
Who do you think Minnesota is rooting for in the series? Denver, Oklahoma City.
Well, they're definitely rooting for Denver tonight, right, that's unequivocal because they want that thing to go seven. And then if I were them, I would be rooting for Denver because Denver would be back to back seven game series with a five and a half man team, and so I would I would just feel like, we're gonna have the rest and the youth and the legs. They wouldn't
have home court over either one of them. But they are definitively rooting for Denver tonight, and then I would think, probably as terrifying as Joker is, you guys beat him in the playoffs last year, and I think you feel better about that matchup. All right, let's keep going.
Are you are you surprised by Julius Randall popping off in the postseason.
I'm shocked, and it's really impressive and he deserves a ton of credit. He was a historically bad postseason performer in it granted a limited sample, but it also him being a bad playoff guy to me meshed with how I viewed him as a player, which was kind of empty calories at times, kind of a played a selfish style of basketball, and he was unbelievable last night. He then had I thought, a really good postgame interview where he was like, that was number eight. We just need
number nine. You know, I'm not worried about myself. And it seemed he seemed like just much more adult and mature, which maybe is what you like. That's what happens as you age. And he's been excellent, like really excellent. He has been better these playoffs than Kats has been. What it oh. On that note, one thing the Timberwolves really need in this next round is Dante to get rolling again. Like a lot of us thought Dante was a sneaky,
huge part of that trade. And Dante has not been in this postseason what we saw him like for the nixt But I am listen. Ton of credit to Julius Randall, a ton of credit and he did like I didn't see that coming, and he's been excellent and that's really impressive.
All right.
Next after the game, kurr insaid, if Curry hadn't got injured, that he saw them, the Warriors going the distance, how do you feel about that?
Okay, people are gonna get mad again. But now this is where I again sadly.
Have to.
Again. I'm just here to create balance in the sports media ecosystem, and if at times that means I have to, as I said, play the ras al Ghoul role, I'll do it. I was wrong when I laid out the different ways Steph Curry, one of the twelve gradest players ever, a face of the league for the better part of a decade, one of the most likable, unique impactful players
of any era. I was wrong when I laid out how the narratives go with him, which is when he has a great game and they look awesome, He's better than magic, and it's do we need to put him in the goat conversation, and when they missed the playoffs or get bounced early, it's we just move on to the next thing. I didn't realize there was a third branch of that tree, and that branch Demon's is if they lose without him, it actually helps his goat case.
Look at like, look at what that team looked like without Steph Curry.
Wait, why are you sounding like this is bs? Like this is like that's like it it it it does it? I mean, does it not make him look better that he's winning? Like that they they did what they did against Minnesota without him, like, look a lot different if they had Curry.
Yeah. Again, I I guess I'm just, you know, a cave man. I of course they would have looked better without with Curry, obviously. I just don't think that getting clocked in round two helps your historical hierarchy case. I'm weird like that.
I heard that.
I understand. I'm not saying it should hurt his case. I'm not saying you dingy, but I am not going to do what folks are doing already this morning, which is well now, Actually, what Steph was able to do was even more impressive Steph carrying this team. This team was below five hundred before they traded for Jimmy Butler. Like Steph was, Steph was carrying them to the play in again, which is where they did end up. And
and like that again, I like Steph Curry. There's no way not to like Steph Curry.
But the the Calvin Ball of his historical greatness discussions being heads you win, tails his opponent loses is just a sight to be seen because.
At the end of the day, for the and here's the other piece of it that nobody, I think everybody knows, but nobody wants to bring up injuries like Jason Tatum's. Forget the severity of it, just the way he suffered it are just horrible, awful luck. Like there's nothing you know what I mean that there's nothing could have been done right. It was like Paul George in the Olympics,
or you know, like one off Flukes, like damn. Steph Curry's injury was one of the catalysts that was that the Golden State Warriors when Steph Curry was playing, needed seven brutal games to beat Houston. And because of that, at age thirty seven, at that workload at that responsibility. Game one of this series, he suffered a soft tissue injury. If the team had played better in Round one, I
don't think he suffers that hamstring injury. So it all is connected and so like, that's that's not some like hot take. That's just obvious. And it's why you don't want to need to go seven in round one. It's why you don't want and this is on the Warriors to have such a heavy offensive burden on Steph all of that. But I what I'm not going to do is be a party to the conversations of man oh man.
If Steph didn't get hurt, the Warriors could have won the championship when we saw that at thirty seven years old, given the way the Warriors are built and what is asked of Steph that he was he had a hard time getting through two and a half weeks of playoff basketball, much less two months. That's not that's not mean, that's
not unfair. That's just aging basketball players, just like it's not mean or unfair to say playoff Jimmy is what I worried it was going to be, which is, you know, he makes surprise cameo appearances and then oddly goes back to being a guy who looks totally disinterested in shooting the basketball, and the idea that playoff Jimmy next year, next year, when Steph is thirty eight, when Draymond is thirty six, when Jimmy is thirty six, that this Warriors team is all of a sudden going to be in
a drastically different spot than it was this year, which is were what spot were the Warriors in this year? The only path they had to competing at the highest levels was a Steph Curry save us path, which is a testament to his greatness. And at thirty seven, that is a path he can only walk for a couple weeks at a time, and at thirty eight, we'll see how long. So that's that is the fair reading of it. The fantastical, make believe reading of it is man oh man.
If Steph stayed healthy, they could have won the championship. They weren't a good enough team.
Like.
They needed to be a better team, so they didn't need to ask Steph to do so much, so they wouldn't likely run into some type of Steph Curry either fatigue. Two years ago we saw this. It wasn't in the form of an injury. It was in the form of the team's not good enough. Therefore Steph has to do everything. Therefore, once we get to round two, he's not fully functional Steph Curry. Two years ago, they needed seven to beat Sacramento.
Steph in that game seven scored fifty t when he's thirty five, not when he's thirty seven, and it was like, oh my god, look at what Steph Curry did. But the fact that he had to do all of that just to get to round two put him in a
position where in round two he was fine. He was twenty seven a game on forty four percent from the field and thirty four percent from three, which is fine, but not going to be good enough because he fired all his bullets, going thirty for a game on forty nine percent from the field in thirty eight percent from three to get out of round one. So is Steph Curry still good enough to be the best player on a championship team? Yeah, similar to his old guy brethren Lebron.
Does that team need to be incredibly well constructed and incredibly deep because it otherwise he's going to run out of gas? Yeah? Should any of this what happened this season? Change in a positive or a negative way. How you've used Steph Curry historically? Obviously not. Are there going to be a lot of dopey folks that use getting beaten in his team being beaten in round two in a wide open postseason as evidence of he's better than Magic Jon? Yes,
and those people are out of their minds. Again, what agenda? I have an agenda? Go ahead, no tell me.
Man, I honestly, I don't think they can be Like, I really don't even think those two players can be the best player on your team. I think probably the best off for Steph Curry to be the second best player on his team and they probably a better chance to getting a championship.
Well, same with Lebron.
Honestly, well, I mean it's here's the thing. In a way, what you're saying is being has been proven out in these playoffs, right. The point I'm making is I think that if you what's the right example of the team, Like, if you put Steph or Brown on the fully healthy, fully functional Celtics in place of Tatum, I think either one of the I think they with Steph or with Braun they could win the championship, and they would be
the best gun. You see what I'm saying, Like, you're right that the easiest way would be to just like add Yannis or in the Lakers case, they did add Luca, but Luca didn't play like Lucas supposed to in the playoffs, and the Lakers roster was screwed up. But you like, that's the point I'm making. I do think those Stephen Broun, you didn't used to have perfect ross around him, and he just knew they were you know what I mean. Going to two months of high intensity playoff basketball, no problem.
See you at the finish line. It's just a different spot now. And that's that's the reality of it.
Blending Vice's signature dynamic storytelling with the high octane world of sports, Vice Sports brings an exciting and diverse range of programming that goes beyond the game, catch action pack, live events, and exclusive sports documentaries and profiles only on Vice TV.
All right, let's do one more NBA before we do schedule stuff.
Yes, after choking in that fourth quarter the Nuggets, he went seven minutes without a without a basket.
They're now down three to two. Playoffs are wide open.
And okay, see can capitalize tonight. Do you think they'll do that?
No, listen, I think that. I think I think Denver is gonna win tonight. And then we have a Game seven and I'm super excited to see I'm really excited to see what Joker has in store for us over these next couple games. And I this is, this is. I don't want to say it's unfair, but it is. It's a high standard. Let me put it like that. Which is and Daniel, this is another massive compliment. I'm about to play pay to Nikola Jokic, but I want to.
I want to. I will for the second time when talking about Joker, Evoe, evoke, invoke Lebron James and what Lebron. Lebron's last year in Cleveland, So that means it's twenty eight. He's thirty at the time, he's thirty three years old, so a little bit older than Joker, but you know, peak Lebron. They are playing the Celtics in the conference finals. And that Calves team, When I say that Calves team would make this Nuggets supporting cast look like all stars.
That Calves team was starting Kevin Love more on him in a second, very good player, Jr. Tristan and George Hill. They were playing a Pacers team that you know young, but the Pacers were Jalen Brown, Jason Tatum, Al Horford, who the youth for Al is a good thing because you know he was peak out or close to peak Al Horford, Terry Rogier, Marcus Smart Uh and then you know they didn't get Marcus Morris, Aaron Bains. The Calves
found themselves down three to two in that series. In Game six of that series, Kevin Love got hurt five minutes in and Lebron goes forty six eleven nine, three and one, playing forty six minutes as the Cavs win by seven. And then in Game seven of that series, with Kevin Love out with a concussion, Lebron goes thirty five fifteen nine and two and they win. He scored thirty five, the team scored eighty seven and they win.
Now they ended up then getting The very next game Lebron played was probably the best game any basketball players ever ever played in the history of the league, the fifty one to eight to eight Game one of the Finals, the j R.
Smith Game.
I tell that story for these for this reason, I think and This is why it's about Joker, and this is why it's a compliment. I think it's on the board Joker does something similar. I think it's on the board that jokers next two games are just I'm just fucking better than everybody and role players, you'll play better in game six and then I will will us to the finish line in game seven. Now, it doesn't guarantee you a championship. The Calves then got clocked by the
Katie Steph Warriors in the finals. But I am I'm open to that being a possibility, and that is the highest of compliments that I can pay. Nikoi Jokic. All right, demonte, let's go to the schedule release.
If we could NFL released a twenty twenty five schedule last night. I'm starting off with your chiefs. We have a league high seven primetime games.
What sticks out to you with the schedule?
So there's so many schedule related things, and I was I told the producers I was going to do a lot on the schedule, but it's almost like there's so much on the schedule that it's going to be that it's going to be overwhelming to do. I So I
want to do it like this. I want to go through the nationally televised games and then I will dive deep into individual teams who I feel like have either got lucky or unlucky, and maybe we'll do more of it next week, because I do want to do more NFL stuff, So our Sunday Night football slate, we can just go through it. You guys don't have to worry about this chief schedule right now. And if it helps you guys, I should have given you guys a heads up on this. If you go to the Twitter account
my sports update, which is Ari Meirov. He has the image of the three like the night schedules, because that's what I'm looking at and people can watch along. I don't even know if we have the capability to pull this up. I still don't really know how production works. But the first Sunday night football game of the year to monse is Ravens at Bills, and I'm here to tell everyone that I think for the second straight year to monse.
Real dirty.
Yeah you agree.
I see it as an opportunity again, same way I saw it last year.
But it is it is an opportunity that the.
Bill like it could have been another good team against the Ravens other than the Bills.
I want to make sure the audience knows what we're talking about. For the second straight year, the NFL is sending the Baltimore Ravens to the location of their gutting postseason defeat, obviously against the team that beat them, and because it's not a divisional matchup, no chance for a get back. So last year two years ago the Chiefs host or no, I guess it's not to the location
two years ago because the Ravens hosted that game. But two years ago the Ravens beat the chief The Chiefs beat the Ravens in the AFC Championship game, and then Week ones against the Chiefs, the Chiefs beat them. And I don't care. What the Ravens said in the back of their head all year had to be can we beat this team? They've beaten us twice and now the Bills beat them to end the year, and Week one they play the Bills. Now it is a great opportunity. That is a kick ass game, like a really a
kick ass game. But I don't, I don't, I don't get it to like be totally honest with you, all right, Week two Sunday Night football is uh. It's almost as if the schedule makers, Oh, good job producers, they got the graphic, forgot that Kirk Cousins lost the starting job because the only reason I care about Falcons at Vikings is if Kirk Cousins is starting for the Falcons. Otherwise, like, I guess Pennick's McCarthy, But I'm not that into it.
Week three Chiefs at Giants, I gotta tell you, I'm into it, and I might go to that game Sunday night met Life see the Chiefs. Maybe the world is not. I can't imagine the world is super into that game. Week four, this again, there's the Sunday Night slate. Week four Packers at Cowboys. Good early season kind of measuring stick game for both teams. In this regard, I think both of these teams kind of best case scenario is they are fighting for one of those wild card spots.
So this could have real postseason implications if the Cowboys are better than people think, and if the Packers are about what people think. Week five Patriots Bills. I think the Patriots are gonna stink Vegas thinks the Patriots are gonna be fighting for a playoff spot, so that becomes a huge game. Uh. Week six Lions at Chiefs one of the games of the year, like just objectively one of the games of the year. And here is a
years of little known fact. Jared Goff, I do believe, is the only quarterback in the league that Mahomes has played more than once and never beaten. So he lost to him in the fifty four fifty one Monday Night Football epic Chiefs Rams seven years ago, and lost to him the season opener two years ago. Lions Chiefs. Week seven, Falcons Niners Again. I feel like we're being a little overserved the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday Night Football. I gotta be honest with you. Week eight one of the most
exciting games of the year. Theoretically Aaron Rodgers taking on the Green Bay Packers, assuming Aaron Rodgers signs up to play. So I'm into that one. Are you into that one? I'm in. I wish it were in Lambeau, but I'm into that one.
I'd love to see Jordan Love put it on him.
Yeah, I think it'd be great. Week nine Seahawks Commanders. I think the Seahawks might be really bad. Commanders should be fun, but I think the Seahawks might be really bad. We'll see about Sam Darnold week ten. Week ten, if these seasons go the way I think they're gonna go, might be a Sunday Night Football is a second screen. I don't know what HBO has on at that point of the year, But Steelers Chargers. I'm not as himing the Chargers as everyone else is, and I think the
Steelers it's not gonna work. We're getting wow two out of three weeks. We're getting Aaron Rodgers theoretically in the Steelers on Sunday Night Football. Week eleven. Awesome game Lions Eagles, massive implications for tie breakers and playoff seating everything. Week twelve. I think that's an awesome game too. Bucks Rams, two of my favorite quarterbacks. Who my favorite teams to watch? Week thirteen, bo Knicks against Jaden Yeah. Yeah, see about
the Broncos. Week fourteen, Texans Chiefs awesome. Texans tried to get some get back for the playoff game last year. Week fifteen, Vikings, Cowboys Okay. Week sixteen, Bengals Dolphins Week seventeen, I like it a lot. Bears Niners, I will say Sunday Night football. I feel like this is probably good for my employer Fox. I think I think America's Game of the week, the Giant Fox for thirty game on Sundays, stole some of the best matchups from Sunday Night Football
Monday Night Football. We can go through much quicker if I'm ESPN, I am irritated is the wrong word. But there's only a few jump off the page on you. Week one Vikings Bears. Listen. I'm excited to see Caleb. I am not as into the Vikings as maybe the schedule makers are. Week two doubleheader pretty good. Actually, Bucks Texans, I like it. Chargers Raiders. I'm high on the Raiders. And Week three is unbelievable. Lions Ravens. That's another game of the year. Then it gets a little lean. Jets
dolphinsh Bengals Broncos and Chiefs Jags. I love that matchup. I don't know if America does. But Travis Hunter, even if you don't care about the Prince Travis Hunt. Week thirteen, Bill's Falcons Bears, Oh Bears, Commanders. That's an awesome game, Jaden and Caleb. That's awesome. Maybe this is a better schedule than I thought. Actually, now that I'm actually diving into it. Uh Bucks line, this is again Monday night football,
Bucks Lion's great with a doubleheader of Texan Seahawks. And then the very next week, Jaden takes on Mahomes for the first time ever. That's sick Cardinals Cowboys. The storyline there'll be or just make this prop bet now, there is going to be a highlight package of Kyler Murray as a high schooler winning state championships in Cowboys Stadium that we're gonna get that. We're like, this guy's unbelievable in this stadium. Week ten potentially really good one Eagles Packers,
Week eleven Cowboys Raiders again. I think the Raiders are gonna be good. Week twelve Niners are Niners hosting the Panthers. November twenty fourth. That's a date night, I'll tell you right now. That's a Monday night date night. The next week Giants Patriots, we might have back to back date nights. Yeah, back to back Monday night date nights. Put it on your calendar, honey. Week fourteen Eagles Chargers good, and then Week fifteen Dolphins, Steelers, and then Niners, Colts and then
Rams Falcons. So Monday Night Football kind of ends with a bit of a whimper, but it has really I think the first half the schedule better than I thought. And now we go to Thursday Night, Thursday Night. Week one, Packers, Commanders, love it. Week two, Dolphins, Bills. Oh, so this is what we're when we do this more schedule stuff next week.
This is the things that are because we are obviously already know who's playing who, so it's more about when they're playing for the schedule release, not more about exclusively. The Dolphins getting their game in Buffalo in September is a huge win for them. Them not having to go to Buffalo in November December is very helpful for the Dolphins.
Then we get Seahawks, Cardinals, whatever, Niners, Rams, potentially really good Eagles, Giants as Steelers, Bengals always good, Vikings, Chargers again, a lot of Vikings. Maybe JJ McCarthy's gonna be awesome, but I can't figure that one. Ravens Dolphins, see if two is healthy, but that could be good. Bears, bronor I'm sorry, Raiders, Broncos, Jets, Patriots, No thank you November thirteen,
No thank you. Bill's Texans awesome game, and then the Black Friday Game Bears Eagles awesome, then Cowboys Lions, really good, Falcons, Bucks Fine, Rams, Seahawks, and then the Christmas Day game Broncos cheeks. So so that's your exclusive Sunday, Monday, and Thursday night schedule. I'm just glad it's here, and I really I'm gonna lean on Warren Sharp to do a lot of the tough work for Rest Edge and stuff like that, and I'll dive into more fully like did
you you know did you fade? Are you a warm weather team that got your cold weather opponent in September like the Dolphins did with their annual game to Buffalo, Because that's important. If you ask me sneak no, and.
I know the schedule's coming out, I think you can get the Jags to win the division at nearly three to one right now.
I just want to put that out there.
I like it. Travis Hunter, Liam Cohen, fading, Your fading, your guy.
C J.
Stroud. All right, let's get some of the listener questions that we had uh from Tuesday, and then we'll get to today's reminder. Everybody like rate, subscribe review please it really helps us out YouTube Spotify, iTunes, all of it.
Trent asks Nick, is there a trade package that the Bucks would actually entertain it would also work in the second apron to get you honest to Boston.
Okay, Uh, the answer to that question is no, there isn't. The Celtics are trying to trim salary. The I don't think the like if you called them up and you offered them, the answer is no, They're They're going to.
Boston, Porzingis and Brown see you later.
No. Well, that's the thing is because salary. No, because of Boston salary stuff, they can't combine. They can't combine guys, So would have to be basically Jaalen Brown for Giannis straight up. And I just even if you had picks, that's not gonna be enough for Milwaukee.
Al right, Next, Grayson Justin for Tibbs, Justice just justin?
Yeah, actually justice for Tibbs.
He played his starters big minutes all year and was criticized. But now in the fourth quarter, they're clearly better conditioned than their opponents because they're used to it.
Hey, right now, it's looking good. That part's true. Now Demons's banking on this being wrong and that they're just gonna fall apart at the end of this series, but right now it's true. All right.
Next, Joel says, loves first things first, what's the process for selecting topics on the show? And as well, it's really the leader of the show, all.
Right, So for selecting topics, like we have a group Google doc our producers put in what they think the topic should be. Then we have a call where we make sure we all agree. I mean, it's usually pretty straightforward, you know, But so that is, selecting topics is easy. Finding the right question to ask about the topic takes a little bit of time, but not much. And while Wiles is really the leader of the show, Like, yes, of course Wiles is the leader of the show. There's
no question about it. And it's just like, what's the right example of this. Have you ever been playing a video game and there's like a toddler around and they want to play too, so you give them a controller that's not plugged in and they sit next to you. It's kind of the same thing.
Below the belt, Afex says, I love that you guys have a father son show. Oh thanks, Apex, Yeah, I like that like the show too. Go ahead, Noah asks if Giannis goes west and the East gets even worse, would you support a one it's one through sixteen playoff seating ignoring conference.
I don't know. I I don't know what you would do. I like the traditional conference setup. Here is a sneaky thing. I was actually so Nick who owns his family demonte knows this one telling the audience. Next to my wife's boutique is an ice cream shop called sugar Hill Creamery, which is just the best ice cream in New York City. And it's a husband wife business. And uh, it's also a very the coincidence of this very unique, like they it's a husband wife business. The husband's name is Nick.
He's a white guy from the Midwest. The wife is a black woman who is has a lot of the same kind of what I would call almost like charisma. Yeah, she reminds me a lot of your mom. And she's like a very similar kind of ethos also both maybe a little like supernatural powers. Like it's very you know, it's a very they they have. They have an eleven year old daughter, like like they just a lot of odd coincidences there.
It's rigged like two blocks.
Of them, right, Well, we one block apart. Yeah, but regardless. So Nick is a huge Timberwolves fan, and they were actually over at the house last night to watch the game, and one of the things he and I were talking about is if the NBA ads, which they will demanse a Seattle and a Vegas team, both of those teams will have to be in the Western Conference, which means one team currently in the West will be moved to the East, and that the teams that make the most sense.
Houston right there.
No, So, I mean, I'm sure they would love it, but the furthest East teams that are in the West are New Orleans, Memphis and Minnesota. Minnesota makes the most sense because they're close. Minnesota is so close to Milwaukee, Chicago, and and those teams are in the East. But that is going to be if you own New Orleans, Memphis or Minnesota, you desperately want to be moved to the
Eastern Conference. And if you're the NBA, I know this is a long term decision, but in the short term you kinda want moving New Orleans to the East is not helping anybody. You want it to be an awesome team, so like it should, you would think it would help everyone for its being Minnesota. All right, go ahead.
Next, Isaiah says, would you guys ever open? Would you guys ever be open to calls from fans with questions? Huge fan of the first things first and nick style of debating the Lebron of debate shows.
Well, that's very nice. Uh. I don't know the tech on having callers. I know some shows do. Yeah, I mean I'd be opened to almost anything.
We could see some stuff happening there.
Man, Yeah, no, I mean we could try it at some point. I don't know. All right, And do the last one, Demonsey.
Yeah, so you know Lebron had mentioned that the draft was rigged and you haven't said anything about that. And also but on, Weelitz says that because I was thinking of that in my head.
But Weelitt was the guy I asked it.
So I so here's the deal. When I did the rant on the TV show, we led with Lebron's tweet and the laughing emojis. I and so I I'm not like ignoring it. Yeah, I think it is.
So we led the show.
If you called Lebron a bonehead basically, I mean indirectly. Sure, Yeah, on this topic, yeah, I think this is I think it's beneath him and I it's I think that I think that if he actually spent time looking at it, he'd come to the conclusion of, oh, it's not but yeah, I don't like I'm I don't like that he has fanned of flames on that. I don't I mean, that's just is what it is, all right. Reminder everybody like rate subscribe review. Oh next week, next week our show
will be on my not Tuesday. Just so everybody knows. Next week, the whole schedule is gonna be weird, and I'm not even sure exactly what it is. What I do know is we are doing a show Monday, not Tuesday. And maybe we'll do maybe we'll do a bonus show over the weekend. I'm not sure. All right, Like rate Subscribe Review, Thank you, DraftKings, Blue Duck Volume, everybody talk to you guys soon we'll trade