Danny Ainge In Studio, Celtics In The Finals, Mavs Up 3-0, Remembering Bill Walton And 35 Minutes From Our 2017 Interview With Him
2024-05-28 03:07:00
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Hey, Pardon My Take listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music on today's Pardon My Take. We are back from the long weekend, we got a lot of basketball to talk about and we have an awesome in-person interview with Danny Ainge. We also are going to talk about the passing of the legend Bill Walton. And we have some unreleased footage from our interview with him, which we never actually put out on video. So that will be at the end of the episode, we have 35 minutes.
It was back in 2017 in Las Vegas, before the Pac-12 Championship, the Conference of Champions, and it was an unforgettable experience. So we've condensed it down into about 30 minutes, but I think it was much longer than that. I think it was like two and a half hours.
Yeah, because there was a lot of people who probably didn't hear it. I know there's a lot of people who didn't see it because it was before. We released every podcast on video, so that will be in video as well. At the end, we're going to talk. Half of the N.B.A. finals is set. Cocky Hank gets paid off. Also, the Mavs are up 3-0. Some hockey, some hot seat, cool throne, and we're happy to be back. We're excited to be back. Extra long show because we're not going to have a show on Wednesday. Our next show will be Friday, so we have an extra long show for the people.
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Okay, let's go.
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Only on draftkings, the crown is yours. Today is Tuesday, May 28th, and we have lost a legend, Bill Walton passed away on Monday. Kind of shocking.
Yeah, I didn't know he was battling cancer. And it was also shocking in the fact that, you know, we don't. We'll talk about celebrity deaths. I think this might be the first one that's ever led the show, and I think it's appropriate. Because this one, I don't know about you PFT. But like, when I saw it hit the news hit, I was really, really like, affected and bummed out because I loved Bill Walton.
And we, I'm like, so happy that we were actually able to interview him. And he just was. He was just walking. Joy, yeah, and it was like, really sad to see that news, yeah.
I don't really get emotional about celebrity deaths. I did cry when I found out about Bill because he was such a positive person. And when we had the opportunity to meet him, we met him for one day in 2017, one day we spent about two hours with him. Just a blip on his radar.
And I've missed Bill ever since then. Yeah, like I've missed, I actually miss hanging out with Bill Walton. And he was so fun to be around and such a unique person and just larger than life in every single aspect.
The joy that he brought countless people, the joy that he was able to exude, he was without a doubt a one of a kind human being. They've never made anybody like Bill Walton. they're never going to make anybody like Bill Walton again.
And so, for that reason, I'm sad that the world no longer has that unique person in it. But Bill Walton would probably get very mad at us if he heard us being sad about him. Yeah, that's not his vibe. I am going to be sad because that's just how it makes me feel.
The only good part of today was we got to hear hours and hours of Bill Walton stories. Yes, which was very nice to hear, because everyone that met Bill is like, he changed their lives.
He was authentically Bill, like, he was the same person. When we were lucky enough to interview him, he was just exactly what we expected. You know, I said at the beginning of the show, if you skip through it, we interviewed him in 2017..
This was early, early days, first year of pardon, my take, so it was just the three of us.
I think that was right after the Evander Holyfield interview.
Right after, we got duped by Evander Holyfield, but it was just the three of us. So we didn't release the podcast on video, so we were able to find the hard drive. And we'll have the video of the 35 minutes we're going to put at the end of this show. If you're a new awl, listen to it.
It was a joy, it also. I mean, I've told this story before, but the two things that were so great. When we interviewed him one. He asked me beforehand if it's okay if he brings his own chair, and then he said, It's the greatest chair ever.
And if you watch the video, it's, I think for his back because he obviously had so many surgeries on his back. He's just towering over us. And the second was we interviewed him. We both were very not anxious but nervous going into this interview because we wanted to nail it.
I wrote down all these questions, I think I might have asked two of them. Because Bill just talked and about two hours in, he's like, how long does this go? and we're like, it's kind of up to you, Bill.
We're having a great time and so he just was the best. I was just smiling the entire interview and you're right.
All these stories that have come out, I also, as great as he was as a broadcaster, I loved just his little corner of the world. Where it's like, it's a late night game on the West Coast. And Bill Walton's going to get weird and he's just going to be fun. It's crazy how good he was at basketball and how injuries took away so much of it. People should watch.
There's a four part documentary, Luckiest Man in the World, that came out a couple years ago. I remember when it came out, I was like, this is kind of weird. It might have been because he was battling cancer, but he was one of the greatest college basketball players of all time. If he hadn't had to deal with injuries his entire career in the N.B.A. he very well could have been a top five seven player of all time.
Because he won a title with Portland, who never wins anything, won an MVP then, was part of the 86 Celtics.
All the Portland fans at home right now are just catching the biggest ricochet.
I mean, it's true, but he was that good of a basketball player and then his life touched everyone. After being in broadcasting and all his grateful dead stories, it's just like he saw a thousand shows, all one song.
It's all one song, that's what I'll always remember, and it makes sense when he says, it's all one song. I tapped into his worldview. You can't stay there because it's only Bill's brain, and he only truly understands what he's saying.
But what he's talking about, yeah, it is all one song, in a very spiritual sense. I know we're getting sappy, but I am sad.
No, I'm sad.
I'm deeply sad about Bill Walton. Not only did he won, I think, three Naismith Player of the Years in College, which is crazy. And then he won NBA MVP and he also won NBA Sixth Man of the Year for the Celtics. That's got to be a very small list, I would imagine, of players that have done both.
Yeah.
And in a serendipitous moment, there's a minor serendipitous moment. The fact that we interviewed Danny Inge in person two weeks ago and we had been holding it. Because we're like, Oh, this is such a great interview. Let's wait till we come back for Memorial Day. He has some great Bill Walton stories in there that obviously now they feel even more important. And then, of course, the fact that Bill Walton passed away. A day after the Pac-12 played their last sporting event ever.
I was legitimately like, he loves that conference so much. What's going to happen? And now he's just, I don't believe in heaven, but I do with Bill Walton, he's probably hanging out with Jerry Garcia right now.
And the Pac-12 is on 24-7.
Yeah, he's loving it. Yeah, the Pac-12 ends, Bill's like, Well, my work here is done.
Yeah.
I'll share one last thing. So we tried to get him on a couple other times in the last few years and every time he would text back. He was so Bill Walton and so nice. But the one time that I laugh about when we tried to get him back on a few years ago. And he just wrote back, Thanks big cat for your kindness in my life. You guys are amazing and you have an incredible audience.
I still get more positive and interesting comments, slash feedback from your show than from almost anything any other thing I've ever done in my life. Please. I am sadly ricocheting through the universe on the business road through Memorial Day. Sorry. Hopefully next time you're back through the promised land, shine on.
Dream on, build on, carry on, B-dub.
Love that.
Bill with two L's.
Yeah, Bill, with two L's, and he always spelled his wife's name L-o-r-i Lori.
I'm the luckiest man in the world, he used to always say. Did he give us nicknames?
I don't think so.
I thought he did something to remember our names by.
Yeah, I don't remember, I also had.
I also have to imagine that he texts everybody that way. Yeah, like he's authentically Bill, very positive to say, to close out every conversation with everyone.
Yeah, and he just meant so much to us as sports fans. You mentioned all the stories, I did see one that I wanted to share that was very funny from Vince Mancini.
He said My favorite Bill Walton story was Luke Walton telling how, for Christmas, his dad would just wrap up some free swag he collected. And one year, Luke Walton's stocking was just huge and overstuffed. And he was all excited to open it. And then when he did, it was all power bars inside.
That's awesome. Vince Mancini is very funny, too. I like that guy. Film drunk, yeah.
So legend, absolute legend. Like I said, we don't usually start the show or even talk about death, but Bill Walton felt like it was someone we had to so tune in for Danny Ainge.
Danny Ainge tells a great, great Bill Walton story that I had never heard about chess.
Yeah, just also bear in mind that during the interview, we did pre-tape it. So when he's talking about Bill, he had no idea that he passed away.
Right? And then, at the end of the show, after Lottery Ball, we will have the 35 minutes of our interview with Bill Walton. So please listen to it. if you've never listened to it, if you have, listen to it again.
Because it will make you happy and smile. And he was the best, okay, hank.
Yes.
Congratulations on being in the N.B.A. finals. thank you.
Some might say Eastern Conference merchant, but that's fine, you play who you play.
Cash the under. Remember when we said the line would be four and a half? That was way too high, way too high. They lost two games in their path to the finals.
Also, people were like, Oh man, the Pacers, they were right there because game one they threw away, game three. Rick Carlisle just was like, I have the youngest team and I'm not going to use a timeout, but guess what?
I actually look at it the other way. The Celtics are a seasoned team that knows how to make big plays and that's what they did time and time again in this series. Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, there was a lot of adversity for a sweep. Okay, was this the hardest sweep ever? No, but it was a well-earned, hard-fought sweep. The Pacers showed up.
They didn't give up, but the Celtics, like Big Cat said, overcame it in the past. When it feels like they turtle up in close games and kind of turn into more ISO ball selfish stuff. They didn't do that at all, they found a way to win.
They made plays when they had to, and they won three games where they were down late in the fourth quarter in a sweep against an inferior team. That's all you can ask for.
They stopped the Pacers from scoring for the last three and a half minutes in this game tonight on Monday night.
Jalen Brown, Eastern Conference Finals. You could tell when he got the trophy, he wasn't expecting it and that meant a lot to him. I think he deserved it.
Wait, Jason Tatum didn't win it.
No, I think Jalen Brown deserved this one big time.
Jason Tatum had a great game three.
So did Jalen Brown. Jalen Brown had a great game, two, he had the big shot, Jalen Brown also is so good.
You know who could have won it? It's Drew Holliday because his defense, that's why you make that trade. That type of player who can make the big moment plays on defense. He was awesome.
Was that at the end of game three, game three, the little poke away that he had there, the steal, yeah.
And the rebound tonight.
Yep, shout out to Rick Carlisle, by the way, for that end of game play that he drew up in game three. He just basically turned into a football coach. And they almost had that one that was like, you know, just inches away from going in.
Four Verts. Yeah, I love that play, so keep running that Rick, but yeah, Hank, you guys were the much better team.
Cocky Hank deserves this.
I'm ready. I mean, that's the Drew Holliday and Porzingis. Those are two huge, huge difference makers that we didn't have last time we were in the finals. Drew Holliday has won an N.B.A. championship. Porzingis is amazing.
I feel great, I'm ready now. Would it affect you at all because Porzingis isn't back yet? Would it affect how ready you are? If, maybe hypothetically? The Mavericks sweep and then the timetable for the N.B.A. finals gets moved up.
You guys are playing later on this week. Oh wait, that's not how it works, because the N.B.A. is a bunch of fucking idiots. And they're going to make us wait until June 6th to tip off, no matter what, no matter what.
So what are we?
June 6th, No matter what.
What are we supposed to do with these two weeks here?
Yeah, it's crazy. I said on Sunday night. I was like, I'm rooting for a double sweep just so we can make fun of the N.B.A. scheduling.
Yeah, it's.
And then someone pointed out that fans have to book their hotels, they booked their hotels and tickets months ago. It's like, for all permutations of this.
Celtics fans did knowing that they would be.
But imagine if they did that last year?
Yeah.
There's no way anyone, any fan books their hotels and plane tickets for the N.BA finals months in advance.
Yeah, it doesn't make any sense at all, it doesn't make any sense. Now. If I know the N.BA, I would expect the other series to go a little bit longer, burn up some of that time.
Irie, though, has never lost a closeout.
Never lost a closeout game.
Never lost a closeout, so hank you feel confident.
Very confident.
And now you're obviously rooting for the Wolves.
Yeah, I think it's going to be Mavs, no matter what, so I don't really care. And you know, they're going to have enough rest. Even if it goes 7, I mean, if it goes 7, that would maybe affect things, but it doesn't really matter. Yeah, I'm ready for the Mavs.
So Lucky wants his revenge. How much? It will be a talking point, it will be a storyline, if it is Mavs-Celtics.
¿How much?
How big of a factor is the stomping on Lucky in your head? It's a huge factor. I mean, we talk about it with Danny Ainge, but that was, you know, as disrespectful as it gets.
Yeah, also revenge game for Chris Topps, yeah, former Dallas Maverick, yeah.
Yeah.
We got some messages from a friend of the program.
Yeah.
Jerry O'Connell.
Mm-hmm.
He wanted to send you a few statements, Hank, should we read them to him? Big guy? You can read them, yeah.
He really wants you to read Tiffany Gomez. I think it's supposed to be Hank reading them in a Boston accent. Oh yeah.
Okay, okay, would you like to read them? Yeah, tell Hank to read these to Tiffany Gomez.
But the Mavs are not set yet, so we should save it, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, we'll save these, there's a lot of them.
He kept adding Throughout the day, Yeah, I got an email out of nowhere. Everyone, all the swifties that came after me for the Travis Kelsey Taylor swift video idea that I threw out there. What they thought I was doing. That is literally what Jerry O'Connell's doing with Hank and Tiffany Gomez, Yes.
He wants that.
He does, and he wants to see it.
To a weird level.
He wants to see it, he wants to ride on a helicopter.
Hunting.
And watch Hank shoot his nut out of the helicopter and hit Tiffany with it.
Are you a little worried that you're going to have to go against TIFf?
House divided, I mean, it is what it is. Celtics Celtics are more important. Split jersey.
But congratulations, Hank.
Thank you.
Don't apologize, I mean, we'll see what happens in the finals. But the Celtics were just better than everyone in the East, you can't apologize for that, they just were the better team by far.
They have been all year. This is exactly how you drew it up, too. Yeah, two losses, you, no ball.
That's it.
Yeah, and now they're going to go and hopefully we have a good N.B.A. finals.
Yeah, I'm fine with another Celtics sweep, but....
That would be crazy because then everyone would have to just switch. If the Celtics swept the finals and be like, are they an all-time great team? Yeah.
We'd have to have the conversation.
We'd have to have the conversation that's on the table for you.
Especially if they beat maybe the best offensive backcourt of all time in the finals. Mmm, was that Kenny, the jet that first said that? Yeah, one of the guys on TNT said that about the Mavericks.
Kyrie and Luka, the best offensive backcourt of all time. And people laughed at him and then they played three games and they're like, maybe he's not that far off.
Are we permissioned to glaze the Mavericks hank without thinking that we're saying anything bad about the Celtics?
Yeah, of course, I mean, the glazing was coming, that was never a question.
Right, but can we separate? Do you have any other thoughts on the Celtics before we move to the Mavs Wolves? Because I don't want this to get....
I don't want.
I don't want, you know things, thoughts to get twisted here. No, let the glazing commence. When we compliment the Mavs, it's separate than the Celtics.
Max What are you shaking your head about?
I have hated everything that Hank has said in the past ten minutes, but that's fine.
What would you have said if you were him?
I mean, he just talked about how it was a hard-fought battle against a great Pacers team, without mentioning that their best player didn't fucking play.
So yes, wait, who smoked 15 cigs today? us or you? I haven't smoked in a while.
Oh yeah, we should say that we did the John Daly challenge earlier today. So I think me, Big Cat and Hank are averaging somewhere between 13 and 15 cigarettes each.
Yeah, I feel a little weird.
I feel great.
Yeah, I feel a little weird, I have a headache. That video's coming out, tweet it Max, he'll get the video out as fast as possible.
It's already edited. He's just waiting for somebody to tell him to press the button, Yep.
If no one says, press the button, he will not put that out. But if you say it enough, say it a thousand times, it will happen.
Max just interrupted the glazing, Yeah, alright, I'm ready for the Mavs glazing.
Okay.
And I want it to be personal towards Hank. Okay, well, they call Hank Nicky Glazer.
Alright, so Max, if you want to take notes at the end and you can add a personal slant towards Hank, you're more than welcome to the Mavericks. So we obviously have been off since Friday. We saw Luka on Friday night completely emasculate.
Rudy Gobert hit the game-winning shot in his face, with Rudy doing the. I thought the saddest part was Rudy like doing the double jump to try to get there and his body just couldn't get there. Yeah, and then Luka saying, You can't fucking guard me.
You can't guard me. And then on Sunday night, in a similar fashion, Luka and Kyrie completely took over the game. The Wolves look like the moment is too big for them. Anthony Edwards looks gassed and weirdly like, in the fourth quarters has been kind of just....
There was a couple possessions, especially Sunday night, where he just had no urgency and just passed the ball at the last second. That, like Kyle Anderson, made that crazy shot that he like cross-court, like here, you take it. Carl Anthony Towns cannot possibly be playing worse. He was 0 for 8 from 3. He's 3 for 22 in this series.
I love that he kept shooting, though. Yeah, he was just like, next one's going in.
And some of them.
That's Kat, some of them. It's not like he was like, Yeah, there's just kind of some bounces aren't going my way.
It's like, No dude, some of them look really, really bad, very bad. One of them looked like he was throwing a medicine ball.
But he's got so much confidence, I yearn to have confidence in anything, the way that Carl Anthony Towns has confidence in his three-point shot. Yes, like watching him just next one's going in, next one's going in.
And yeah, Anthony Edwards seemed like he was panicking a little bit in the fourth quarter. Yeah, he would get. I think he had like two or three turnovers in the last five minutes of the game. He would just throw the ball away because he was trying to make an ill-advised pass at the last second.
Because their offense looks completely disjointed and nothing like what we've seen from them. They don't know what to do offensively. At the end of games. If you just take away those last five minutes of the game, they're playing really good against the Mavericks.
So yeah.
Except for Carl Anthony Towns shot making.
Yeah, Carl Anthony Towns shot making and Rudy Gobert also, just I don't think I feel bad for Rudy Gobert. But it's getting very close. Because every year he wins the defensive play of the year and then every year he gets in the playoffs. And he gets completely like roasted cooked. He had, I actually....
So this is the craziest thing. On Friday night, he had the one-on-one with Luka, who hits the game-winning shot. Incredible play. Luka is so good, he'll cook anyone. So like that one, I'm like, Alright, you know what?
Luka is that good, That's not Rudy. Rudy Gobert in space against Luka Doncic is just a huge mismatch. that's not fully on Rudy.
Like, they have to figure out a way to not have that, be a switch or at least double-team. Get the ball out of his hands. I thought, the worst thing for Rudy Gobert. I don't know if you guys noticed this on Sunday night, like maybe two and a half minutes left. In the third quarter. Jaden Hardy had the ball and tried to pass it back to Luka at the top of the key and Luka waved him off. Because Jaden Hardy had a one-on-one in space with Rudy and then got him on like a bad foul, jumping up. But Luka was literally like, No, you take it.
It's fine, whatever's gonna happen here is gonna work. Because it's Rudy Gobert against a shiftier guy in space. And that was like, Man, this sucks for him.
I've noticed this, though. A lot of players really like to go after Rudy Gobert. Yeah, being the defensive player of the year. There's a line out the door of guys that are just like, I want to embarrass him, I want to emasculate Rudy Gobert on national television.
Then I want to celebrate in his face. I can't name another defensive player of the year that's ever had that giant target on you. Normally, if it's a defensive player of the year. You're like, Well, let's try to figure out a way to avoid him, if at all possible.
Well, he's so good at rim protecting, but when you get him away from the basket. And this happened time and time again with him in the playoffs, getting him in pick and rolls and then just exposing him. And it just keeps happening. And here we are, and it's like the big three. Shout out, Kat of the Timberwolves have completely let them down. If you could build the whole plan out of Nas Reed, the Wolves would be in the finals.
Every starting player should be your sixth man. Yeah, and then yes, I agree. Nas Reed plays so fucking hard, I love watching him.
It does feel like one of those stories where, hey, the Wolves, the moment was too big for them. In this. They had a franchise-altering win in Game 7 against the Nuggets, and that series, like, propels them to being a serious title contender going forward. But this series and Anthony Edwards and everything that's come along with these playoffs, it kind of got ahead of them.
Ant and Kat I don't think they can play worse and I think that with Lively out, he's probably going to be out. I would imagine when he got hit and they said, that's a neck sprain, that's like some N.F.L. math going on right there.
That's the best player plus minus in this series, in the playoffs, I believe.
Yeah, I'm going to do the announcer thing where they say we don't want to speculate on injuries, and then they go ahead and they speculate on injuries. Yeah, I don't think that was a neck sprain. Yeah, I feel like he might be out for this next game, and if he is again, I don't think that Anthony Edwards and Carl Anthony Towns can play worse.
They can't shoot worse than they've been shooting and this goes back. It was like Game 7, I think, or Game 6 against the Nuggets. Neither one of them have been like on their AA game for a while. But I feel like I feel like something's going to give and the Timberwolves have been leading. I think in every fourth quarter, right of this game or of this series, I feel like it's not going to be a sweep.
Okay, but here's the thing. It's been every game, it's been a close series. But the Mavericks have better players in Luka and Kyrie, who are absolute killers, the Luka stare-down. That's when a series is over, he's done it, and whenever he wins these series, he just goes right up next to the guy and just kind of looks at him. He did that to Anthony Edwards on Sunday night.
But here's here are the stats. So Dallas is the Mavs are plus 13 in the series. So they're like, that's to be up 3-0 and have the difference be 13 points is pretty crazy. That means it's tight in the fourth quarter. Semi-contested This is from seth Partno semi-contested shots, which means a defender's within four and six feet of space. The league average is 33 on those shots.
Luka and Kyrie are seven for nine, the rest all of Minnesota, six guys are three for 13. That's the difference. They have killers who? In the fourth quarter, like the fourth quarter on Sunday night, the Mavs scored 29 points. 21 of them were Luka and Kyrie.
Six of them were Luka and Kyrie assists, and then there was two points. I think it was Daniel Gafford tip-in. So like, that's it. The fourth quarter comes around and they just take over the game. And whether it's them shooting, they're going my turn, your turn, or them like that Luka Lob to finish the game. It's just they're so much better and they know what these big moments are and they are coming through, whereas the Timberwolves are not.
And the pick-and-roll is a big problem for the T-Wolves. So yeah, big, big problem. Yeah, they are not. I don't know what their switching scheme is, but it's not working and I don't think that they've changed it.
Yeah, they can't, they just can't. Luka's just out of this world, he just he sees the game so well. If you if you double-team him, he'll get the ball, he'll make the correct pass. If you, you know, try to show a fake double-team, he'll make like, he'll make the right move. His footwork, everything.
Sorry, hank, this is glazing you want. Oh, he's shaking his.
Oh, he's making notes.
He's making notes, this one, this tweet. Are you making notes? No, I'm just listening. Okay, this one comes from Andrew Bailey.
That was a crazy stat. Luka's played his 43rd career playoff game on Sunday. He has 1,336 points, 400 rebounds and 355 assists in his first 43 career playoff games. No one else has those three totals in their first 43 playoff games.
And if you took away 236 points, so made it 1,100 points, you take away 100 rebounds to make it 300 rebounds and 300 assists. The list is just Luka, LeBron, Oscar Robinson, so you have to basically take away so much like 200 points, 100 rebounds and 50 assists. And then, finally, there are two other guys, LeBron James ever heard of him? And Oscar Robinson, who joined his category of their first 43 playoff games. And how good he's been.
I feel like we also need to go back and watch some tape of Oscar Robinson because triple-double, he's Mr. Triple-double.
There you go and he's in all these stats, yeah, he's always the guy in these stats.
It's like, okay, there's two guys from like one guy from the 90s, two guys from the 2000s, two guys from the 2010s, and then there's Oscar. Yeah, I feel like we need to go watch some Oscar shit.
Yeah, we should watch some Oscar. But it's crazy what Luca has done. And he's just ascending to be one of, if not the best players in the NBA.
Yeah, and when he screams at you, he really wants you to die.
And he's annoying. I'll back anyone up who says that he's annoying with how much he complains to the refs, I will not disagree. I just like watching him play basketball like that fadeaway he had, where his footwork was just so perfect. And even that Rudy Gobert, that step back where it's like he knew he had him, and there was just nothing Rudy could do.
And he had the perfect like, got him off balance and then that two-step back. It's just it's fun to watch. Sorry, Hank, No, it is. He's a great player.
Tell you what Kevin Love would've put the clamps on him? Kevin Love. That was like pretty much the exact same scenario he had against Steph Curry. Yeah, true, Kevin Love. Better defender than Rudy Gobert. Write it down.
So are you worried, Hank?
No, I'm excited, he's good. I think the Celtics are a better team, great defense, just as much star power.
Just as much wait. But we got Kyrie and we got Luka. Yeah, we have Jalen Brown, Jason Dayton. You think they're equals?
Yeah, I think, yeah, I think the supporting cast in Boston, you could talk me into saying that they have an advantage with the supporting cast. Although Dallas is, Yeah, I know what you're about to say.
I mean, they're.
I know what you're about to say. They don't have the experience.
P.
J Washington has hit 100 big shot corner threes in the fourth quarter in these playoffs. It's every single time it's like, Oh, P..J.
Washington's there and he's gonna just fucking be so wet from the corner.
You're forgetting about K.
P Though, Chris stops.
I know I think it's gonna be incredible finals, it's got everything you want, star power like storylines, The Kyrie versus Boston, it's gonna be every....
Like, whoever comes out of this tatum or.
Immortality's on the line.
Yeah.
Immortality.
Immortality.
Immortality hank never gonna die. No, you win a finals that banners hank forever.
No, that is true. Yeah, that's a fact, that's a fact. Max, did you think that the glazing was fair?
Yeah, I mean, the Mavs have the best player on.
Are you okay? Yeah, I don't know what's wrong with me.
I swear to God, he smoked a six.
I smoked No six, he's got like. But the Mavs have the best player on the court, and they probably have the second best player on the court, and you say that the Mavs don't have experience.
Well, the Mavs have someone who has actually won a finals.
Yeah, they've won players, but in the finals, well, who's won the finals? okay? finals experience? okay.
I just wanted to make sure that that was stated. Mmm, stated, noted.
Also, Uh, didn't.
Was Markeith Morris not on one of those Cleveland teams? No.
Drew Holiday may have won.
Drew Holiday definitely has.
Drew Holiday definitely has...
He was a very big part of that finals.
Championship He 100%.
Yeah, but Kyrie?
Markeith Morris was on the Lakers bubble team, which you guys have always said is a real title.
No.
Nope.
Okay, so.
Thank you.
Yeah.
They.
So, yeah, Drew Holiday definitely counts big time as a guy who's won something big.
Good point, though, Max, good point.
Max, you were supposed to get in this and like, give us something good, and then you just owned yourself.
But Kyrie's better. Okay, alright, that's fair, yeah.
He's better.
Who's he better than Tatum?
Than drew holiday.
Oh, Than Drew Holiday Yeah, okay, because I don't think he's better than Tatum, but he has been playing out of his mind.
Their championship experience supersedes the Celtics because their championship guy is better. Correct. Okay, got it correct.
I want to make sure the numbers are right here. So their number two guy on a championship team is better than the box number two guy, yes.
Got it, yeah, the box number three guy on that Championship team, Chris Middleton, is pretty good.
And Pat Connaughton.
And Pat Connaughton Don't forget Pat Connaughton.
Kevin Love Dele No, Dele wasn't on that team, but Dele would have been the number two.
It's gonna be pretty awesome.
Was Dele not on that team? I don't think he was on the Bucs team, but he was on the Cleveland team to win a championship. He was the number two on that team, he was the number two on that team.
He was the number two on that team.
It was like two batmans, you had Australian batman and then kid from Cleveland batman.
Oh, all right, I'm excited. So you think that you think the Wolves are gonna win a game?
I may put a little future on the Wolves to be the first team to come back.
And well, Anthony Edwards did say, which I don't know if I agree with. I love his confidence, he is a breath of fresh air and confidence and very vocal about it. But him saying after the game, I still don't feel like they can beat us, bro. We haven't all been clicking at one time, one game, one game.
I mean, the Mavs have proven they can beat them.
I like the confidence, though.
I still don't think they can beat us, bro.
Well, it's just how many games.
Do we have now?
First to four.
What are we going to do?
All right timberwolves, plus a thousand.
Carl Anthony Towns probably just giggled.
They just can't be any worse. And the thing is like, they're not playing that. Don't get me wrong, they're not playing good, but they're still building leads into the fourth quarter.
And I feel like with Lively Out, that's a big factor, that is a big.
Factor. And until the last like three minutes of the game, they played pretty good.
But that's when you have Luka and.
Kyrie and you don't.
Have Luka and Kyrie on the other team?
Now you got to build a little bit of a lead, yeah, and let Luka and Kyrie do their thing. And hopefully it won't affect. I'm just going to sprinkle it.
Okay, all right, well, hank, I'm excited. Was that an okay amount of glazing? That was nothing to do with the Celtics?
Jason Tatum's a very good player, Jalen Brown's a very good player, Drew Holiday's a very good player. Derek White, friend of the program.
Amazing player.
Amazing player.
Clutch.
Clutch.
Yeah, that was.
Fine you? Okay, yeah, so I don't want you to get your feelings hurt. Nope.
Okay.
I'm excited to see you in two weeks.
Yeah, forever from now should we talk a?
Rangers New York should be showing the same enthusiasm to the Rangers that they were showing to the Knicks, like the Rangers are the real deal.
And they got their overtime goal, nice, dirty overtime goal to win game three. You gotta be worried, although the stars look awesome.
Well, the Rangers didn't even play that well when they won that game.
Yeah, the stars do look awesome.
Yep.
I mean, the Stars were down two-nothing in the blink of an eye tonight, and it's like, nope, now it's three-two. And they did that in game two as well, where they were down early, and it doesn't matter.
Yeah, McDavid's gonna have some answering to do.
Wow.
We need Rangers oilers, though, for the vibes.
Rangers Oilers would be great. Also, are you a little worried that if the Mavs and the Stars were in, that, people would say Titletown?
They'd have to win. I would love that, I would actually love that.
Well, you don't have to win to claim TitleTown. Max taught us that.
That's a good point. I would love it, I would love nothing more. My wet dream is if we get the Stars, win the Stanley Cup and we have the Rangers as the M.L.B. champions, and we have the Mavericks as the N.B.A. champions. And then the Cowboys go out there and they lose in the first round of the playoffs.
And it's all anyone cares about. I know that, obviously Dallas fans, you're passionate about all your sports teams, but you'd give it all up for a Cowboys Super Bowl.
Yeah, and for all those in America besides Cowboys fans, we're gonna come. oh yeah, we're gonna come if that happens.
Oh, we're coming, we're coming. When that happens big time, we might go to the dual parade.
Yeah, yeah.
That would be sick.
We might, when that happens, we might have to raise banners of all the Dallas championships in here and then just have one empty spot.
Titletown Minus the Cowboys. Yeah, Jerry Jones worst nightmare.
It was at Arlington. They'll just disassociate from the cowboys, they should be the Arlington cowboys.
Do you think he's definitely rooting against them, right?
I think in his heart of hearts, he has to be.
Like, deep down, he's gotta be like, this cannot happen.
I just said he has a heart. That was a mistake. No, that's not good. In the back, the brainstem, the part that makes you mad or horny. That's the part where Jerry Jones is like, I hope they lose.
In the shoe with cum in it.
In the shoe, Yes, oh my God.
His cum shoe.
I really, really.
He's a real cum shoe, that Jerry Jones. Also the Dallas Wings, they went to the WNBA finals, they lost the Vegas Aces, so a lot of championship experience in terms of making runs. Oh, the WNBA's in trouble.
Are they in trouble? Why?
Because I think that they're Kaelin. Clark is adding so many new fans and there's a lot of fans that are just taking the fun out of sports. Yeah, because everything that happens in WN.BA now has to be a fucking bigger cultural talking point, that's worse, it's like, Hey, it's fucking sports.
Shut the fuck up.
That's what we were saying on Friday. Yeah, there's seven think pieces after every game. She plays correct.
And I actually feel bad for Kaelin Clark. I really do, because what's happening is there's no way that she can tune out all this stuff. She's all that's being talked about. In terms of WNBA. She's probably uncomfortable with that because she's like, I'm a rookie, I haven't done anything in the NBA yet.
I want to have a successful career in the WNBA and it's going to be a big, big distraction. If every time I go out there and I lose a game, then I've got seven people on. Slate.com writing about why Kaelin Clark is problematic for the league and how the league has a marketing problem. I feel bad for her. I miss the days when Greg Doyle was just being a sexual harassment creep on her.
Those were the good old days, I wish we knew it was the good old days when it was the good old days. But it's spread to everywhere in the WNBA because with new fans come new opinions, and the new opinions are not about sports anymore. Because they came with Kaelin Clark. Did you see the Alyssa Thomas foul on Angel Reese? And I don't know if it was a sky game.
This person had 5,000 retweets. I was just like, what is going on? she said. Unpopular opinion Alyssa Thomas throwing Angel Reese down on the court. Is exactly how older Black women treat younger Black women in many industries, both professional and personal. It's not tough love, it's envy.
Stay out of sports.
It was a hard foul.
You shouldn't watch sports, relax, please stop watching sports.
This is not fun anymore.
We love sports, we know it's stupid as shit, but we love it. Please don't ruin this for us.
I saw my brain just started to just be paralyzed. I rubbed my head and I don't get migraines when I got a migraine in that moment. Self-correction. Dallas Wings lost in the semis last year. Oh, I don't know if you could tell I didn't care.
You could have told me they won it and I would have been like, Okay, yeah.
So Angel Reese did have a tweet alluding to Caitlyn Clark the other night. Did you see this?
Yes, of course I saw it, she said. She deleted it.
Yeah, it was after they won and that's on. Getting a win in a packed arena, not just because of one player on our charter flight. Yeah, kiss emoji, hashtag Skytown Don't delete that. Why'd she delete it?
It's just not becoming fun anymore.
But if she leaves that up, then she's talking shit, and she's like, Yeah, I'm talking shit about Caitlyn Clark. It's a good rivalry, it's a continuation of the rivalry they had in college. That's good for the league. If you're gonna talk shit, that's fine.
You guys are gonna play each other again, and then you're gonna have, you know, somebody else is gonna win. They're gonna talk shit back to you. That's what sports should be about. But instead, now she deleted it because she's afraid of all the other outrage going on around the Caitlyn Clark narrative. Correct, correct.
Yeah, if I was Caitlyn Clark, I'd retire. Yeah, I'd be like, Listen, this-.
I'd go to the big Three.
I don't mind getting, you know, hard-fouled, I don't mind getting hit in the face, I don't mind getting knocked down. I don't mind, you know, not making that much money to play in a professional sports league. But I'm just sick of all you losers writing columns about me.
Right, right, just let me play basketball.
Yeah.
She should actually reverse it and be like, Hey, can you guys just shut up and let me dribble?
Yeah, you know what she should say? she should say shut up and scribble yeah to the fucking, you know, those that are taking all the fun out of it.
Shut up and scribble.
A little scribble-scrabble.
Yeah.
My daughter always like, Hey, can I do some scribble-scrabble? I'm like, sure, hand her a pen. literally, that's all it is, she just scribbles.
Nothing, just scribbling.
Sounds like you're disappointed?
For like, a half hour. Well, yeah, it'd be nice if she could, just like, draw me or something. Just scribble-scrabble, she says, like, I'm scribble-scrabbling. I go okay.
That's what Greg Doyle's doing right now.
Scribbling.
Sitting by himself.
Imagine it takes-.
Scribble-scrabbling.
It takes that man is cooking up in his brain with all this time to just think, yeah, yeah.
What are you going to say, Max?
So the Rangers, the Rangers game, what the fuck?
I mean-.
It's all one song.
Yeah, so the Rangers-.
So the Rangers game.
The Rangers are, they're a very good hockey team.
I wasn't, that was quite a tangent. Memes you are in hell, I thought you guys were going to blow right by it. Also memes, memes. New thing is he, he just does all caps.
So he'll just tweet it and be all caps to be like, Look, I'm excited for the Rangers, but it's all caps in the most monotone, like Rangers winning overtime, but it's all caps.
Oh, Memes has been on that shit for a while.
Oh, yeah, but-.
Every post-season.
All caps is a new part that he's doing, where he's like trying to get people off the scent. Like, hey, I'm not editorializing it, yeah, but it's just, it's just the same, nothing but just all caps.
So it's by far Memes least favorite part of his job, and that that includes cleaning up turtle shit is having to post a-.
He loves his little Mr. Pear.
He does love that, but he hates more than anything having to post Rangers highlights.
Memes speaking of which? How mad were you at me on Sunday when I tweeted at you? Hey? Are we covering the Rangers game? When they went up, like, would they go up 4-2?
Yeah, I was pretty fired up about it. Yeah, and you had. He hadn't tweeted anything, and I just tweeted him. I was like, Hey, are we covering the Rangers game right now? I think when they went up 2-1, you tweeted it, Yeah, you just, you just weren't going to cover them.
No, I was covering them. Not until that point, I think I only tweeted out Rangers goals. Oh, wow, reverse it on them.
You're trying to jinx or something? No, they they were playing really good, their goalie's really good. The Panthers just can't make a fucking shot. They had 108 shots and they couldn't get five in.
Just Darken.
That's pretty crazy. If they win the Stanley Cup, how many on goal?
43 to 48, one of those numbers.
If the Rangers win the Stanley Cup, not only should we send memes to the parade to cover it, we should also hang a banner just over his head in that last room.
That'd be nice.
We should also put Hank's banner in there, right above Max, if the Celtics win.
Yeah, that'd be a nice touch. Just, yeah, that will be our trophy case. In there, the booth is, yeah, the canyon of heroes in the booth. I like that.
Yeah, you like that, you like that. Max, by the way, is out for blood in the N.B.A. finals.
Yeah, which is honestly a good thing.
Like, hop on board the Mavericks train.
I just want to know how you're going to hurt Luca in the second game of the series. Why do you say that? Max? Oh, because that's how every series has gone for the Celtics.
That's why.
And Hank just doesn't talk about it. Yeah, you don't talk about that. I mean, we talk about it every time we play. I see Jimmy Butler.
Who's on the floor in front of you?
I mean, you were talking about how it was a hard-fought game against the Pacers and how they're a really good team. And then you didn't say that. Tyra Salaberton didn't play the last two games, that's a good point. I have a question for you.
Both of those things can be true.
If you're a detective and a woman's been married five times and all four of her ex-husbands have been murdered mysteriously.
Is this a Tiger King lady?
Yeah, it's like, Carole Baskin, Okay, yeah. So now we're looking at the Celtics and we've got Jimmy Butler, we've got the entire New York Knicks. Excuse me, the Celtics not played him, I'm sorry the Sixers.
We have Donovan Mitchell didn't make it. I'm thinking about Donovan Mitchell, who got very hurt.
And Jared Allen?
Jared Allen got hurt and now I'm thinking of Tyra Salaberton on the Pacers. There's one common thread there.
And Rick Carlisle's brain?
Yeah, his brain.
His brain was very hurt.
Again, I hope I don't want Luca to get hurt. I'm not rooting for injuries, I want to beat the Mavs. You tried to injure T..J. McConnell tonight too.
It is funny because we started this whole playoffs when you were clearly rooting for the Nuggets to get hurt.
I was.
So it is full circle.
I have never, I have never once said anything about rooting for injuries.
I'm going to side with Hank that you can't apologize for other teams getting injured.
Yeah, but it's fun to ask him, yeah.
Yeah, you can't apologize for that.
No, fuck, no.
But if you were, would you? No, if you could apologize, would you?
Absolutely not. Well, Hank, you've said numerous times that Luca is a much better player than Kyrie Irving. right? You have Luca ranked well ahead of him. Which player would you rather see get injured on the Mavericks?
Neither Luca or Kyrie because of the lucky factor, neither what if it was his lucky stomping foot that got him. I want to beat them full strength.
Okay.
Do we have anything else before we get to hot seat, cool throw, and there's a lot of sports stuff. Oh, shout out, the Indy 500. It happened. I wouldn't it be crazy pft if you were someone who, let's say, quote unquote has shit for brains?
Watched last year's Indy 500 for a solid like 20 minutes, not realizing it was a rain delay. Wouldn't that be crazy?
We did that one time with the Royal Rumble.
I fucking. I watched it for 20 minutes, kind of zoning out, and then I saw that like an hour and a half later. Like the rain has cleared, we're about to start the race. What the fuck? I was rooting for it, too, I bet it, and I was like, Oh man, my guy's in seventh. This is pretty good.
There's no way to know that's last year's race, it's the same car, it's going around the same circle, it's not even a circle.
I felt really dumb on that one.
The Indy fans will get mad at me for saying it's a circle going around the same track, same cars.
Only 200 laps, though.
Make it bounce.
Asterix, Big time Asterix. Okay, let's do hot seat, cool throw. Because I think we have a lot of other sports topics to talk about. And then we'll get to our great interview with Danny Ainge.
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Hot seat, cool throne hank. my hot seat is Rafa.
Yeah, uh uh, uh, uh uh. End of an era, The King of Clay. Yeah, not anymore.
Went down, Uh, people are saying it's probably his last one first round, right?
First round he got screwed on the draw. Yeah, he played Zverev.
Oh, now we're talking, that's loser talking. He lost in the first round.
Yeah, it's Zverev, four seed. If Djokovic lost in the first round, you would have been like, kick him out of the country, he's not vaxxed. Well, that's what happened at the Aussie Open. Yeah, I know.
Point me.
Djokovic was watching I'm up 15-Love right now. Jake Okay, Djokovic was watching Rafa because he appreciates greatness. Is he playing in the French Open? Yes.
So who cares, he fucking had a day off? 30-.Love me. What are you talking about? Everyone when they play tournament games, team goes and watches after the game, or before the game, they watch who they're playing.
Depends, yeah.
He's probably scouting, he's there.
It would be cool if he flew in just to see it. No, he was just hanging out. I was like, I'll go watch Rafa.
He was probably scouting Zverev.
Yeah, of course, he was 30-.love me.
Any other shots you want me to hit back at you? Forehand, backhand, one, 12 and four. Is his French Open record? Okay, and what is he lately? What's his last one?
Oh, and one oh, 40-love me.
This tennis shit is easy. I do feel like if he doesn't have clay anymore.
Yeah.
He can't be long for this.
No, that is a crazy record. What is it? One, 12 and four, that's nuts.
How can he be that good on that surface?
Who did he lose to in? So how many French Opens has he won? I think around a dozen, and who has he lost to in the finals before? Was it joker? No, I'm asking.
No, I honestly don't know, I know this was a first-round loss. 14 French Opens. And who did he lose to? Because he obviously is the king of the clay.
That's not up for discussion. But did he ever lose in the finals, or was it always upsets in the first round?
Standby Okay, you're looking up, Joker in 2015 quarterfinals. Joker, Joker 2015 quarterfinals.
Oh, game me, that was easy, game point. In 2016, he had to withdraw for his third-round match. Okay?
Joker Semi-finals 2021.
Whoops.
And Zverev today straight sets.
Jake, there's no way that you did not know what big cat was setting up for that.
No, I mean, obviously, of course I knew. Game me, you didn't even score a point, you got loved.
Okay, but the game is a very small portion of the set. Oh, you want to do a set, you want to do a set. How much time we got?
Do an entire podcast.
Just me scoring points. No, it actually is insane. 112 and four is crazy. Is that all you had hank? Just that he lost?
Yeah, kind of a hater move.
I never know hot seat.
Yeah, true, I am on the cool throne. Is he done for losing? No, not officially.
Okay.
Yeah, but he's done if he loses in the first round of the French Open.
But a bad draw.
Bad draw.
A bad draw might be the biggest loser talk ever.
I would never lose in the first round.
Never.
Too much pride. My other hot seat is Max. He's performing this weekend with Pop punk, he's nervous about it, he's been pacing around the office.
Yeah.
Jerry's on Weed one of my favorite places in all of Chicago.
Very excited about that, I'm excited for a home crowd concert, pop punk. Yes, there's a bunch of people from Barstool going out there and it's going to be a blast. These are always like one of the most fun times that we have as a company.
And Max is singing a song. I'm not going to say what song he's singing. Yeah, I'm nervous memorizing stuff. It's scary. He's got a good voice.
What's the song I don't want to?
No, but it'll be good for publicity.
Some people have said that Max looks like fat Dave Grohl, Some people have said that.
So what are we going to do?
Dave roll, Dave roll.
So what are we going to do?
So he might be doing. Max would sing for the Food Fighters. The food Fighters got it, yeah.
I'm very excited it is. I mean, not to glaze PFt, I'm going to glaze him because I love him. He's really fucking good at guitar and their band is really good. So it's like a very fun night out. So if you want live music and it's not that expensive.
It's not that expensive, right? Buy tickets now.
And Joe's on Weed is awesome.
Joe's On Weed is a great place. Roan is an awesome front man. Roan kicks ass at everything that he does. He's a very good front man. For a band. We got Robbie on bass, Frankie on drums.
He's also going to be singing, Frankie's got some pipes on him.
He does.
He's a good singer, and then we got Nick Hamilton on keyboards, guitars, and then Caroline's also singing, Love it. It's going to be a good time. Come out to Joe's on Weed.
Hell, yes, Friday night.
Good, cool throne hank. thank you my no, that was my hot seat.
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