transcript

Speaker 1:
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Speaker 2:
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Speaker 3:
[01:00] This is The Dan Lebatard Show with Stugotz Podcast.

Speaker 4:
[01:21] Against the Spread is presented by DraftKings. DraftKings, the crown is yours. Roy, what do we got?

Speaker 2:
[01:29] Kings at Avalanche tonight.

Speaker 3:
[01:30] The Avalanche are one and a half gold favorites. Yeah, take them, against the Spread.

Speaker 4:
[01:37] Tony.

Speaker 3:
[01:39] Lot to choose from tonight. In the Association, we've got a lot of big lines. Sixers and Celtics is double digits. Portland Trailblazers and San Antonio Spurs is double digits. But I'm going to go to the smallest line of the night. I'm going to go with the Lakers plus four and a half at home. I don't know if they win, but I think they keep it close. Rockets can't shoot worth a lick. Can grab every offense of rebound available, but they cannot shoot. So I'm going to take the Lakers plus four and a half.

Speaker 5:
[02:05] So Lakers are going to be dogs every game of the series.

Speaker 3:
[02:07] Yeah. All right.

Speaker 4:
[02:08] But yet they'll probably win one.

Speaker 6:
[02:10] You're already wrong.

Speaker 5:
[02:11] I don't know, man.

Speaker 6:
[02:12] They won at game.

Speaker 5:
[02:14] I mean, I didn't expect Durant not to play.

Speaker 7:
[02:18] What are you saying? I don't know, man, for when you apologized for this yesterday. You said they weren't going to win a game and they won the first game.

Speaker 6:
[02:24] I didn't apologize. Durant not playing. You said this before you knew their opponent.

Speaker 3:
[02:28] Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[02:28] Okay. That's not true.

Speaker 3:
[02:30] Yes, it is. You said it yesterday.

Speaker 6:
[02:32] Yes, it is.

Speaker 5:
[02:32] How would I know? How would I know they're not going to win a game if I don't know who they're playing against?

Speaker 6:
[02:36] You proclaimed this.

Speaker 5:
[02:37] What if they were playing against Portland? What if they were playing Golden State?

Speaker 6:
[02:42] You proclaimed this weeks ago.

Speaker 3:
[02:43] They would have never done that.

Speaker 6:
[02:43] It was a decree.

Speaker 3:
[02:45] Not only that, we knew number one, number two seats were locked. We know the Lakers could only finish best as three. You knew that.

Speaker 5:
[02:50] You got to wait 82 games. You got to see how to stand and shake out.

Speaker 6:
[02:53] A big sign of emotional maturity is being able to admit when you had it wrong, you're an emotional baby.

Speaker 7:
[02:58] You didn't apologize for this yesterday. Why would I apologize? Because you got it wrong and I thought you were embarrassed. And I went home like, look, late at night, I was questioning everything about things because I allowed you to make a time travel movie, a sci-fi movie. Put it on the poll, by the way. I don't think I've answered this question. Is a time travel movie a sci-fi movie?

Speaker 5:
[03:18] Are you apologize for saying Boricu?

Speaker 6:
[03:20] I mean, of course.

Speaker 3:
[03:22] You do need to apologize for that.

Speaker 6:
[03:23] Of course it's a time.

Speaker 7:
[03:24] So the time travel genre cannot be its own genre.

Speaker 6:
[03:27] It's a sub-genre. Do you folks not know sub-genres? These are classified in the traditional action, comedy, drama, romance, sci-fi, no.

Speaker 7:
[03:39] Shark.

Speaker 6:
[03:41] It's not on the genre pyramid. Then when you get one of the blocks of sci-fi or horror, then you start peeling back the layers and you're like, all right, here's a shark. You know the Slasher film?

Speaker 3:
[03:50] Is it demonic possession?

Speaker 6:
[03:51] Do you know a slasher? You know Halloween?

Speaker 3:
[03:54] How about Hitchhiker?

Speaker 6:
[03:55] Halloween?

Speaker 5:
[03:55] You know about the Halloween?

Speaker 6:
[03:56] That's a slasher movie.

Speaker 3:
[03:57] How about Scream?

Speaker 6:
[03:58] But it's also a horror movie, larger genre.

Speaker 7:
[04:02] You mentioned the Lakers.

Speaker 8:
[04:06] Per Andrew Marshand of The Athletic, Mike Tomlin is headed to NBC and Football Night in America.

Speaker 7:
[04:13] Oh, let me find this here.

Speaker 9:
[04:15] I'm sorry. That's splash.

Speaker 7:
[04:17] It was a little slow there. Maybe he'll explain to us the first time there, why he left.

Speaker 6:
[04:22] You're like a dog with a bone on this one.

Speaker 7:
[04:24] I'm just curious. It really is just unending curiosity. I'd like to hear from somebody who's entertaining and has been a pillar in that sport for a long time. I'm not used to mysteries being involved with how it is that somebody who's never had a losing season leaves quietly and doesn't say anything to anybody.

Speaker 3:
[04:39] Don't blink. We blink first.

Speaker 5:
[04:40] That's an upgrade over Dungey, right?

Speaker 7:
[04:42] Yes. You mentioned blinking and don't blink first. Why did I see when I walked in today a leaf blower being blown in the face of people with terrible facial hair? And I will get to the basketball from last night in a second because that was a lot of fun. What happened to the New York Knicks last night, what the Atlanta Hawks did last night. But I don't want to get there until I show this competition. And Chris, you're going to have to explain to me what this is.

Speaker 3:
[05:10] Chris doesn't know anything. I know, Dan.

Speaker 4:
[05:12] I saw it too, but go ahead.

Speaker 3:
[05:13] This is part and parcel with the basketball from last night. The Cleveland Cavaliers in the middle of the quarter breaks, they'll do little games. And this one was don't blink, the don't blink contest. So what they do is they take a leaf blower and have you open your eyes and then they spray you with air for as much as possible. And then you have the timer in the bottom corner. And it's like, all right, it's like riding a bull. How long can I stay on this bull? How long can I get a leaf blower blown into my face?

Speaker 4:
[05:39] The thing that's interesting about it is the air is blowing so hard that the eyelids are moving.

Speaker 5:
[05:44] Yeah, that guy looked like he blinked 10 times.

Speaker 4:
[05:45] It's tough to tell when the actual blink happens and what's just your eyelids being pushed back. See, like right here.

Speaker 5:
[05:50] He blinked.

Speaker 4:
[05:51] But that's a bunch. It looks like a bunch of blinks.

Speaker 5:
[05:52] He blinked a lot.

Speaker 7:
[05:54] So, if you don't watch the show on YouTube and you just watch this on audio, one of the great delights of this video is that both of the people who are having leafblower blown in their face look like something out of Antiques Roadshow. Like, I can't explain to you, they're from the 70s, they've got a pilgrim quality to them, they're unusually looking people, unusual looking people with a lot of facial hair. Which I think they were purposely selected because they have hair like Nick Wright here gets his mouth blown open. The leafblower, you know, you've heard, you guys have heard me say this before, with all the technological advancements happening all around the globe, how is it possible that we have not figured out how to make a quiet leafblower yet? How is it that the leafblower is the most inefficient of all the utensils that you use to fix anything? How can we not get a quiet one? It's all, it sounds like, I don't know how my cruise ship goes past me quietly motored by something, but a leafblower is something that wakes everybody up in the morning.

Speaker 6:
[07:01] Well, I'm not surprised that you're not totally up to date on leafblower technology, but there are battery powered ones that have a pleasant hum.

Speaker 4:
[07:10] Also you're far away from that cruise ship, pretty loud up close.

Speaker 3:
[07:14] You're also probably listening to the industrial guy that has the backpack of the leafblower.

Speaker 7:
[07:19] Put it on the poll at Lebatard Show, what's louder, cruise ship or a leafblower? I think the leafblower. You say I'm far away from it, I feel like I'm far away from the leafblower because I don't live on the ground and it wakes me up every morning.

Speaker 6:
[07:32] Those are the gas powered ones. They have quiet ones for your home. They do. You never secure the perimeter.

Speaker 7:
[07:41] I understand that there are some leafblowers that are quiet. Why are they never the one outside of my house?

Speaker 6:
[07:49] Because those are industrial types.

Speaker 3:
[07:50] Industrial, exactly. Those are commercial style.

Speaker 6:
[07:52] When you have your team of 40 doing your landscaping, they need the gas powered ones to get through that job quickly.

Speaker 7:
[07:59] Those people are both blinking.

Speaker 6:
[08:00] Every time you walk home, I imagine there's someone with shears carving an animal into some foliage.

Speaker 4:
[08:06] Nudie Magazine Day.

Speaker 7:
[08:08] The thing that I had last night, Zaslow, that doesn't happen to me very often. I don't think, never mind sports, I don't think there's anything in the world that does this to me. I think this is my number one, I'm a hater, there's nothing else to be said, I'm just being a hater here. The way the Knicks lost last night, which hasn't happened since Reggie Miller did it to them in the playoffs, that kind of game where they're leading in the fourth quarter, and then everything falls apart, they're missing their free throws, they've got a bunch of turnovers now, everyone's questioning how it is, Mike Brown is using Carl Anthony Townes and Jaylen Brunson, and there is just so much noise around the first round of CJ McCollum took you out. CJ McCollum is playing the Trey Young role of being the villain in Madison Square Garden when he's one of the sweetest guys in the league, and just a great trade for that team in general because they don't have any playoff experience. Not that he has that much, but he's a steady hand, and he dusted the Knicks in that game, even though he missed a couple of free throws, it could have cost them the game. So the thing that I wanted to ask you guys is, what is your number one, I'm a hater thing? I'm just a hater because I don't think I even have a second one in enjoying the shutting up of that fan base. Now this is something that comes from the roots of South Florida where I'm just used to, it's not even the Heat Knicks rivalry from a million years ago. I'm just so used to New Yorkers living in our city while telling us that New York is better while living in our city, that those loud people, I enjoy suffering that particular loss, where have you seen some of these numbers? They had been, they are now 53 and one when leading by 10 entering the fourth quarter.

Speaker 5:
[10:05] Of a playoff game, I think in their history, right?

Speaker 7:
[10:07] Of a playoff game and the only one there is the Reggie Miller game.

Speaker 5:
[10:10] Yeah, that's right.

Speaker 7:
[10:11] Like that's the only one, I'm sorry. So now they're 53 and two. When they lead by double figures going into the fourth quarter, they win that game at home. And now this is something that's different about the Knicks now. This has changed about the Knicks. They're the ones with the playoff experience. That team has averaged 50 wins a season the last four seasons. That team gets out of the first round now. The noise around the Knicks right now. Do you have something that you hate that you would put at the top of your hater list because I really do believe this is the only thing on my hater list inside or outside of sports?

Speaker 5:
[10:43] Everything Boston for me. Boston's number one. I mean when I was a kid because the Knicks obviously, 98, 99, 2000, gave me a lot of pain and I hated the Knicks so much. But now it's anything Boston. I hate everything Celtics. I hate everything Bruins. I hate Patriots, the Red Sox. Anything Boston, I'm rooting for them to be miserable. I love when something goes wrong. And when something goes wrong with those teams, especially Celtics, I exacerbate it.

Speaker 7:
[11:13] What's happening here where I believe you guys would say the same thing, it doesn't happen to me with Boston and their fan base can be obnoxious too. And very often what happens to Miami is that people find their fan base obnoxious. So this is the thing that happens. But in my case, it's because of all of the New Yorkers in Miami. There aren't a bunch of Bostonians in Miami.

Speaker 2:
[11:33] Yeah, but Boston radio actually went after your dad.

Speaker 9:
[11:36] So you should have something personal at stake there.

Speaker 6:
[11:39] Yeah, it's personal when it comes to Boston. I put together a top five.

Speaker 9:
[11:42] Oh!

Speaker 6:
[11:43] Here we go, O-L-I. Notre Dame.

Speaker 10:
[11:47] Yeah, I put that one.

Speaker 6:
[11:48] Really enjoyed this past few months. That was fun. O-L-I, Tottenham Hotspur. They're always bad, so it's less fun. But they might get relegated, so that's great. And then the Boston Bruins round out our O-L-I.

Speaker 5:
[12:03] It's nice though, because we absolutely own them.

Speaker 6:
[12:05] That's right. Number five, and there is an epic bottle job coming. Oh, if Arsenal blows this. Manor from heaven. Number five is awesome. Number four, I told you, in the name of equality, Angel Reese. Don't look at me like that. Equality means we get to hate people unreasonably. Number three, Florida State. Number two, Florida Gators. Number one, the Boston Celtics.

Speaker 5:
[12:35] The Boston Celtics sucks.

Speaker 3:
[12:39] Sometimes I feel like we're all really good at handling everything around us and just ignoring what's going on in our own head. Like your phone breaks, you fix it immediately. Your car makes a weird noise. You're like, all right, let's figure this one out. But then your brain's off, stress, burnout, not sleeping right. We just kind of go, yeah, I'll deal with it later. And later just keeps moving and moving and moving. And that's why therapy matters, not because something's wrong, because it gives you a way to sort things out before it all stacks up. The problem is that actually getting started has always felt like a process. Finding someone figuring out insurance, waiting weeks just to talk to somebody, and that's usually where people tap out. And that's where Rula comes in. Rula is a healthcare provider group that makes therapy easier to actually access. They connect you with licensed therapists who take your insurance and sessions can be as low as 15 bucks. You answer a few questions, find someone who fits what you need, and you can be talking to someone as soon as the next day. Thousands of guys have already used Rula to finally get the care that they need. Don't keep putting it off. Go to rula.com/dan and get started today. That's Rula, rula.com/dan. Take the first step, get connected, and take control of your mental health.

Speaker 11:
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Speaker 4:
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Speaker 7:
[15:12] Dan LeBatard, where the mother f**ker Ruiz at?

Speaker 3:
[15:15] Bring his ass on here.

Speaker 7:
[15:16] Where's the mother f**ker Ruiz is a great question. Stugotz.

Speaker 9:
[15:20] Running, huh? He running today, huh? I'm ready.

Speaker 7:
[15:22] This is The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz.

Speaker 4:
[15:32] I would nominate when you show up at a restaurant and you park at the same time as someone and you're like walking in, but you want to try to speed up and walk faster. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I just, I get a disdain. If I see someone pulling in to a restaurant at the same time as me, I become a monster. I'm like, I gotta get out, drop me off at the thing. Like I'm always eyeing cars entering a parking lot.

Speaker 7:
[15:51] I don't think that's hating.

Speaker 4:
[15:52] No, but it is though. I'm telling you, it's so weird. I'll like, if I'm pulling in-

Speaker 5:
[15:56] But he hates them, he's saying.

Speaker 4:
[15:57] Before we even get out of the car, I'll tell my wife, don't go park, pull up to the front so I can beat that person. I just get this thing of like, if I see you entering the parking lot at the same time as me, I have to beat you inside.

Speaker 6:
[16:07] That feeling, that right there, that's me when I watch Angel Reese.

Speaker 7:
[16:11] That's not hating, that's hunger.

Speaker 4:
[16:13] No, that is just, hey, I'm gonna get my name on this list first.

Speaker 5:
[16:17] He hates someone sitting before him.

Speaker 7:
[16:19] You guys, I think the reason that-

Speaker 4:
[16:20] Sometimes I'll like, walk past them fast. If they happen to get out of the car and they're walking in casually, I'll just speed walk in.

Speaker 5:
[16:27] But you're also thinking in your head, oh man, like they know that I'm trying to beat them. That's in your mind.

Speaker 7:
[16:32] Okay, you guys are doing competition and you're also doing, I suppose, hatred, but you're not playing the same game that I'm playing. When you're hating, textbook definition hating, is you're enjoying that someone else is suffering. You're not trying to just beat someone.

Speaker 4:
[16:48] I get so happy, me and my wife high five if I beat them in there. She walks in, I'm like, fist me.

Speaker 7:
[16:52] You think that person is suffering? You think that person is suffering? Knicks fans couldn't sleep last night. Knicks fans that care about this team wake up in the morning and they feel today like a sickness. Like their team's in trouble now. They don't totally trust it. What the hell was that with Carl Anthony Towns late in the game? They're the best fourth quarter team in the league.

Speaker 4:
[17:10] I have a 20-minute wait, they have a 25-minute wait.

Speaker 5:
[17:12] Dan, these Knicks fans, they're imbeciles. All right? Like you see these videos that are outside Madison Square Garden. After game number one, it was like they won the NBA finals. And guess what? They did it again last night. They're out there just chanting Nixon 5 now. They just lost. And these imbeciles are out there celebrating and partying Nixon 5. Dan, they chant during the game F Trey Young. It was like eight years ago.

Speaker 6:
[17:42] He's a wizard.

Speaker 5:
[17:42] It was a first-round series. It was like Trey Young beat them in the finals. It was a first-round series. Like eight years ago, he plays for the Wizards, and they got better at him.

Speaker 6:
[17:56] Like not even a minute ago, you joined me in a Paul Pierce sucks chant.

Speaker 5:
[18:00] It's always F Paul Pierce.

Speaker 3:
[18:02] Dan, I think the real true thing of a hater is, can you hate even though the person is successful? It's easy to be hater when somebody loses. Can you be a hater when somebody wins? That's where I'm with Wemby. Anything he does, I'm done. I'm done with Wemby. What? I'm so good. I could dunk from here. I could do a spin move and a crossover here. Oh, I talk about societal issues.

Speaker 9:
[18:22] Oh, I'm so cautious.

Speaker 3:
[18:24] Oh, there it is. I'm done with this guy. This guy likes climate change. No, it's not about climate change. It's about I got an answer for everything. Oh, Portland. Good team. Yeah, but he talks like he's Bill Russell.

Speaker 4:
[18:33] Wemby thinks he's better than us.

Speaker 6:
[18:34] He absolutely does. He is better than us. He's French in every way.

Speaker 3:
[18:38] Exactly right. Hate them too. But he's what?

Speaker 6:
[18:41] Oh, they're OLI. Adding the French.

Speaker 3:
[18:43] Thank you.

Speaker 6:
[18:44] And the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Speaker 8:
[18:46] Thank you. For me, it's for sure the Miami Hurricanes.

Speaker 6:
[18:50] We don't think about you at all.

Speaker 3:
[18:52] Say you're done with Wemby, because I am.

Speaker 7:
[18:54] Why would I be done with Wemby?

Speaker 3:
[18:55] Because everything is so perfect. He's Mr. Perfect. There's nothing wrong with Wemby ever.

Speaker 6:
[19:00] Adding another OLI. The Ryan Howard Chase Utley Jimmy Rollins Phillies.

Speaker 8:
[19:06] There's nothing wrong with Victor Womanyama ever.

Speaker 7:
[19:10] How are the Knicks not on your list anywhere?

Speaker 6:
[19:14] They're funny.

Speaker 5:
[19:16] Yeah, they're funny.

Speaker 6:
[19:17] We are so far removed from that being a rivalry. And they haven't meant anything to the Miami Heat since before the 21st century, really.

Speaker 5:
[19:26] No threat.

Speaker 7:
[19:27] So the way you guys are doing that hating, though, is it's also soaked in some jealousy. That's not what I'm doing.

Speaker 5:
[19:34] Yes, how do they affect me?

Speaker 7:
[19:36] Mine is pure schadenfreude. Mine is simply enjoying the suffering of someone else, and I don't do it with anything else. Like, there's legitimately, I guess Alabama did some of this to me after Nick Saban started hogging all of the championships. Very faintly, though, it isn't anything compared to this, but it's not from the jealousy of they beat me or they've passed me. It's simply just loud New York arrogance, seeing it punctured in a way that is just textbook choking. Because that game last night, Zaslow, what were your takeaways because you did tablet time because you're snoring too much and you're watching too much wrestling, and Tamara says that you've got to watch everything under the covers hidden from her.

Speaker 5:
[20:20] I liked it. I was glad that the Hawks... Last night, I proclaimed Dan coming into the week, NBA playoffs have been a dud. Well, last night took a turn for the better.

Speaker 3:
[20:31] You happy now?

Speaker 5:
[20:32] I am very happy now. That's right. Give me some road teams. Can you win a game on the road? Minnesota did, Atlanta did. So now, now we're cooking. And of course, New York, the way that they blew that game, Jalen Brunson can't defend. Carl Anthony Towns refuses to shoot. Mikel Bridges, hey, missed another jump shot. And Mike Brown, boy, he stinks. I love the Mike Brown Tom Thibodeau thing, the comparison, okay? Mike Brown stinks. I understand it's easy to go after the coach. He's not a good coach. And just the idea that the Knicks can lose this series, they can't. Just the idea that they could lose this series, can you imagine what the fallout's gonna be if New York loses in the first round? That's exciting.

Speaker 3:
[21:13] To the Atlanta Hawks too.

Speaker 5:
[21:14] That's exciting.

Speaker 3:
[21:15] And the ghost of Trey Young somewhere in Washington DC. But the thing is, the most clutch player in the league year in and year out has been Jalen Brunson. He hit some big shots last night. But when it came to, all right, I need this bucket, Nikhil Alexander Walker took his cookies.

Speaker 5:
[21:29] Well, they were just attacking Jalen Brunson. Every chance they can get attacking him. Like he was, I mean, he's not a good defender, not for lack of effort, he's just small.

Speaker 7:
[21:38] Okay, he's not a good defender and neither is Carl Anthony Towns, but Carl Anthony Towns evaporated in that game and that's where the criticism will go because Grande por Guto, like it's, the size works for Brunson in this situation and works against Carl Anthony Towns. But you just said Mike Brown's not a good coach. Did he win Coach of the Year in Sacramento and was that?

Speaker 5:
[21:59] He's won it multiple times.

Speaker 7:
[22:01] But he, okay, so man, Zazz, Coach of the Year multiple times is not a good coach? Like you feel comfortable?

Speaker 6:
[22:10] It's all about expectations.

Speaker 5:
[22:11] Mike Brown, I'll never support bringing, you know, we lost in the conference finals last year. I'm talking about the Knicks. You know what's gonna get us over the hump? The guy that the Sacramento Kings don't think is good enough to coach their team. You know what's good enough to get us over the hump?

Speaker 7:
[22:25] But he also produced the best season Sacramento's had in two decades?

Speaker 6:
[22:31] Yeah, there's a couple of characters like this in soccer. They burn people out after a season, and that seems to be his forte.

Speaker 5:
[22:37] Like Mike Brown, Mike Brown's been fired four different times. I'm sorry, man, like, I'm not hiring a guy to get me to the next step. That's been fired four times.

Speaker 7:
[22:48] They were so happy that it wasn't Thibodeau. They were so done with Thibodeau. Thibodeau's a good coach. Well, hold on a second here. So I'm not disputing that Thibodeau's a good coach, but I also don't think that this Knicks team is going to go any further or any shorter than Thibodeau's teams, even though I believe this Knicks team, and it's not, it's empirical, is better than Atlanta. But you can't give up that game in the playoffs. Like giving up that game that way, that felt like the Halliburton game from last year. And they survived it. They survived the Halliburton game, but to lose when CJ. McCollum cuts your throat, when you're the best fourth quarter team in the league, because you have Jalen Brunson.

Speaker 6:
[23:29] You're not going to trust a guy who's been fired three to four times to get you over the hump? Well, I know you didn't start watching the NHL playoffs until the Panthers got good, but Paul Maurice got fired three times and effectively was fired in Winnipeg.

Speaker 7:
[23:44] Mm, they gotcha.

Speaker 5:
[23:46] I don't think it's the same thing in that sport.

Speaker 6:
[23:47] What do you mean?

Speaker 5:
[23:48] I don't think it's the same thing.

Speaker 7:
[23:50] In that sport, it's not the same thing, because they fire their coaches all the time.

Speaker 6:
[23:56] I mean, they do. You know who the oldest coach in the NBA playoffs is?

Speaker 5:
[23:58] Well, I want to guess.

Speaker 6:
[24:00] Guess.

Speaker 5:
[24:01] Okay, I don't know.

Speaker 6:
[24:02] It's a fun one. Quinn Snyder. No way. Yeah, the guy that for all the time we've been doing this show was always known as the young guy in the suits.

Speaker 5:
[24:12] That's awesome.

Speaker 6:
[24:13] Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[24:13] If you would have told me he's the youngest guy in the playoffs, I would have believed you.

Speaker 6:
[24:15] Yeah, he's 59 years old. He's the oldest coach in the NBA playoffs.

Speaker 7:
[24:18] Put it on the poll at Lebatard Show. Can you believe Quinn Snyder is 59 years old? Can you also put on the poll, can you believe that Quinn Snyder is the oldest coach in the NBA playoffs? The losing that way though, you're the best fourth quarter team in the league. Jalen Brunson, you've heard me say, I believe him to be the most beloved Nick there has ever been.

Speaker 5:
[24:40] Over Clyde Frazier, yeah.

Speaker 7:
[24:41] People disagree with me because they put Clyde Frazier up there. I think the advantage that Jalen Brunson has that Clyde Frazier didn't is he's got the novelty of being undersized. He's got the novelty of bringing them back to prominence after 20 years of awful. And he's a killer in the fourth quarter, like known killer throughout the league, where he's just got just an assortment of all of these memorable things, where they just trust him so implicitly. This guy's going to figure out how to bail us out at the end of the game. But we can quibble about that. This is the greatest season of expectations for the Knicks since the beginning of the century. This Knicks team is now expected to win. It's not what was expected of the others. They've made the playoffs and advanced past the third round three straight years. They've averaged 50 wins a season for the last four years. They traded bridges because they thought they needed a fi... Or they traded four bridges, five first round picks because they thought he was a final piece defensively. They love Ananobe because they will bother the Celtics. They will absolutely bother the Celtics with their wing defenders. They've got... That team is built to play against the Celtics. It's why they built it that way. It doesn't account for the other things in the league.

Speaker 5:
[25:57] It's why they beat them last year.

Speaker 7:
[25:58] It doesn't account for OKC, the things that the Knicks did. They traded for bridges to guard Brown and Tatum on the perimeter. They get smoked by McCollum. They get smoked at home in the fourth quarter. McCollum does to them what Halliburton did to them. And now you bring back the haunting echoes of all that because Atlanta is a team to be feared. They have no playoff experience but they have this wild athleticism. Like they're clearly a team that if they don't get injured, they're going to keep ascending. This isn't, this is not, this is not your Kyle Korver, Booth and Holzer wins Coach of the Year 61 win Hawks. This is not even your Trey Young Hawks. This is Young High Flyers.

Speaker 6:
[26:41] They did at the deadline though. They added Kaminga and Gabe Vincent, guys with finals experience.

Speaker 8:
[26:46] Yeah, they've both been there in the last few years.

Speaker 7:
[26:48] And McCollum, and McCollum in that game. Look, he mentioned Alexander Walker. Walker Alexander. I love this guy as a-

Speaker 6:
[26:55] Nikhil Alexander Walker.

Speaker 3:
[26:57] He had it.

Speaker 5:
[26:57] Nah for short.

Speaker 4:
[26:59] Play on.

Speaker 6:
[26:59] O'Requie. They added all three of those guys.

Speaker 4:
[27:02] Folks, listen up. Quick break in the action. Are you counting down the days until payday? Instacash from Moneylion can help you access up to $500 of your hard-earned pay early. There's no interest, no credit check, and no monthly fees. So you can manage those in-between expenses with less stress. Download the Moneylion app and link your qualifying bank account to see what you qualify for. Moneylion. Make money easy. Instacash is subject to terms and eligibility requirements. Expedited delivery requires a turbo fee. See moneylion.com.

Speaker 6:
[27:29] Sports fans, all the sports are coming together. It's a great time to just sit on your couch, text your friend, hey, come over, let's watch the games. And when I do that to my friends, guess what they text me back? I got the Miller Lights. That's right. They pick up Miller Light pretty much anywhere they sell beer, and they come over to my place. We take that first sip and we realize, man, we just made a regular old-fashioned night into a special night. Thank you, Miller Light. And shortly thereafter, we got multiple screens on. Everybody's dialed into something different, and the whole night just keeps building and building and building. That's why I reach for Miller Light. It can take an ordinary night and take it to an extraordinary place. It's clean, refreshing, easy to drink, proof of taste with simple ingredients. Just 96 calories and 3.2 carbs. The original Light beer since 1975 and still hitting different. Cheers to legendary moments with Miller Light. Great taste, 96 calories. Go to millerlight.com/dan to find delivery options near you or you can pick up some Miller Light pretty much anywhere they sell beer. It's Miller time. Celebrate responsibly Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. Hey Roy buddy.

Speaker 1:
[28:38] Yo.

Speaker 6:
[28:38] You know that energy shift when the game gets good and everybody all together in unison knows to stand up on their feet.

Speaker 1:
[28:46] Oh, absolutely Mike.

Speaker 6:
[28:47] Yeah, you've been at many big time sporting events. You know that moment quite well. That's what it's like when you take your first sip of Cuervo.

Speaker 1:
[28:54] Oh, delicious.

Speaker 6:
[28:55] It's the signal that says, we're not checking the time anymore, pal. It's when small talk turns into stories. Cuervo, man, it's that high five, a random stranger effect. That's right. The game is popping. You're hugging people you never met before. That's the kind of energy that Cuervo brings. It's so smooth, so delicious. That's the Cuervo effect. Keep it Cuervo.

Speaker 7:
[29:19] Dan LeBatard. You keep mentioning Lou Harris and Lou Williams and Montrell Harris. You keep mentioning...

Speaker 6:
[29:26] Harold.

Speaker 7:
[29:27] Harold, excuse me. Stugotz. Nick, thank you so much for being on with us. Really enjoy your work.

Speaker 6:
[29:33] Thanks for having me.

Speaker 8:
[29:33] Have a great day.

Speaker 7:
[29:36] This is The Dan Lebatard Show with Stugotz. Nikhil Alexander Walker, before the end of that game, hadn't done much of anything in that series, and now they go back to Atlanta tied 1-1. And I'd be scared if I were the Knicks of the specifics of what that team has. Am I wrong?

Speaker 3:
[30:02] I don't think so, right?

Speaker 6:
[30:04] I can't stop thinking about how much I hate Angel Reese. What was the question?

Speaker 5:
[30:07] You see last year's number one overall pick, Reese Asche, he doesn't even play.

Speaker 3:
[30:11] Guy's a scrub.

Speaker 5:
[30:12] Doesn't even play. Literal DMP CD in the playoffs.

Speaker 3:
[30:16] I think the important thing with McCullum is that it's the unlikely hero, especially when he's a guy.

Speaker 5:
[30:20] I can't believe he's still good.

Speaker 3:
[30:21] Got swept in the Western Conference by the Warriors. What was it? 2019? Was that 19?

Speaker 5:
[30:26] I'm looking like I'm some expert on blazers.

Speaker 3:
[30:28] I mean, I forgot you started watching basketball the other day. But he is the guy that you look around and say, all right, who's going to kill? It's Jalen Johnson. It's going to be Nikhil Alexander Walker. It's going to be anybody here. No, it's going to be that guy who's the oldest guy on the team.

Speaker 5:
[30:40] He was so close, though, to be in the scapegoat. He's an 80% free throw shooter. Boy, he missed that second one badly, like almost an air ball. And it was confusing, too, because we're watching the game, right? And they're rushing up the court because there's only seconds remaining. Why aren't they calling their final timeout? Because it's said that they had a timeout on the graphic. And then in the post game show on NBC, like Maria Taylor came on and clarified that they did not have a timeout. The graphic was incorrect, so it was confusing.

Speaker 3:
[31:13] That messed Nick right up, because he said, why didn't they call a timeout? And then he deleted the tweet and came out and said, hey, they had a timeout on the graphic on TV.

Speaker 5:
[31:20] Well, why did he delete the tweet? I don't know.

Speaker 6:
[31:23] Because it wasn't his mistake. It was a broadcast mistake.

Speaker 5:
[31:26] Right, that's why. So why does he have to delete the tweet, then?

Speaker 6:
[31:27] Because then he has to explain it constantly. We just didn't know.

Speaker 3:
[31:31] You wouldn't have deleted the tweet, right?

Speaker 5:
[31:34] I've never deleted a tweet. Never. I say what I mean, I mean what I say. Everyone knows that.

Speaker 6:
[31:40] Everyone knows that. You may want to say. Put it on the poll. Does everyone know that Zazzos has one of the men? That's right. You snore?

Speaker 5:
[31:53] Yeah, man. I'm a grown man. Of course I snore. Like, who does? You don't snore?

Speaker 4:
[31:57] Of course I snore.

Speaker 6:
[31:58] I don't snore.

Speaker 4:
[31:59] Roy.

Speaker 6:
[32:00] I don't. I don't snore.

Speaker 4:
[32:01] I got to call a need.

Speaker 6:
[32:02] You really got to push that tongue to the roof of your mouth.

Speaker 3:
[32:05] Dan, you snore for sure, right?

Speaker 6:
[32:07] Yeah, he's got a mask. He's got to have a mask.

Speaker 3:
[32:10] You got a mask?

Speaker 4:
[32:11] He's got the whole machine.

Speaker 3:
[32:12] I was thinking of the mask. How does it work?

Speaker 5:
[32:14] It's great.

Speaker 3:
[32:14] It's great, right?

Speaker 7:
[32:15] Is it loud?

Speaker 4:
[32:16] Louder than a cruise ship? It's louder than a leaf blower. That's why you don't hear the cruise ship.

Speaker 7:
[32:19] Louder than a leaf blower, yes.

Speaker 6:
[32:24] Poor Valerie.

Speaker 3:
[32:27] You hear that leaf blower.

Speaker 6:
[32:30] It just takes off his mask.

Speaker 5:
[32:31] You hear that annoying leaf blower? It starts Vader sleeping next door.

Speaker 7:
[32:36] Her face looks like those people who were in the blinking competition where I'm just, I'm snoring so loud that her mouth is blowing open and she can't blink.

Speaker 6:
[32:49] That's what he thinks is a leaf blower this whole time.

Speaker 7:
[32:54] The sleep machine is just extra oxygen that allows you to sleep deeper if you're a snorer. It is a magical device. The other game though tonight between the Rockets and the Lakers, one of the things I wanted to ask you guys because of, I want to call it rarefied air that LeBron occupies, but it's not even rarefied. He's the only one who occupies, I think the space I'm about to describe anywhere in sports. Maybe Messi does, but I don't think Wemba Nyama does, I don't think Otani does, I don't think anybody else in sports occupies the space I'm about to describe. He's not just the oldest player in the league, he's not just the oldest player in the league who was the centerpiece of the Lakers winning a playoff game. He wasn't the secondary player, he's not the third player, he's the oldest player in the league and the star of the team winning a playoff game, while playing with his son. Not only that though, that playoff game means that since 1995, LeBron James has won more playoff games than the Spurs. LeBron James has won more playoff games than the Lakers. Since 1995, LeBron James has won more playoff games than the Miami Heat, than the Boston Celtics. No person or team has done as much winning since 1995 of playoff games as the singular person, LeBron James, did it as the oldest player in the league. And the thing I think it makes him rarer than anyone else in this age of mastery throughout sports is that I think he's lost the ability to impress us with anything he does because we're losing sight of all the things that I just said, which are crazy. As the oldest player in the league, man, I remember what Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Michael Jordan looked like at the end of their careers. They could not win a playoff game as the primary player against anybody, whether Kevin Durant was on or not. And they were younger. They were younger than LeBron. Like, can you look up for me what Kareem was doing at the end when all he could do was the skyhook and he wasn't the principal player? And I don't think I have it wrong when I think his last season, whatever the age was, he wasn't very much of a scorer. He could just be taller than everyone else. I think Otani can still awe us. I think Wemba Nyama can still awe us. I think LeBron can't, we're too used to being awed by him.

Speaker 5:
[35:24] If the Lakers win this series, we are going to be in awe of LeBron. Like, okay, they won game one and maybe as an underdog again, they'll win game two tonight. But if they knock off Houston, like we're gonna have to be in awe of him at 41, leading that team.

Speaker 6:
[35:43] You most certainly will have to be.

Speaker 5:
[35:44] To a series victory.

Speaker 7:
[35:46] I said before that series was played, given that his top two guys are out, it would be the most impressive thing of his career if he won a first round playoff series against Houston as the oldest player in the league. And I think the oldest player in the league by miles.

Speaker 3:
[36:02] By far. Cap at the end was 41 years old, 10 points, four and a half rebounds a game on 47% shooting from the field in 22 minutes.

Speaker 5:
[36:11] Time to hang it up.

Speaker 6:
[36:12] Wow, great map, Dolce Bar.

Speaker 5:
[36:14] A little bit of a compiler, it turns out.

Speaker 6:
[36:16] Compiler?

Speaker 7:
[36:17] I mean, 10 points a game because all he could do, he was creaking.

Speaker 6:
[36:21] He had four boards in 22 minutes.

Speaker 3:
[36:22] Six MVPs though.

Speaker 6:
[36:24] I don't know.

Speaker 5:
[36:24] Not that season.

Speaker 3:
[36:25] A handful of championships.

Speaker 6:
[36:27] I never saw him. I think he's bad, no.

Speaker 4:
[36:28] I would argue that Otani is in this category though.

Speaker 8:
[36:31] That's right.

Speaker 4:
[36:32] Otani is just like, what more can he do at this point? He's dominating pitching, he's leading the league in home runs. People are calling him Babe Ruth.

Speaker 5:
[36:39] I don't agree.

Speaker 8:
[36:40] Coming through in the postseason.

Speaker 5:
[36:41] I don't agree.

Speaker 7:
[36:42] Last year in a game against the Marlins, I thought we were awed by whatever it was, 10 RBI and three home runs. I thought that was awe-inspiring just last year.

Speaker 5:
[36:52] Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4:
[36:53] I mean, I'm just trying to find, I'm going around all the other sports and all the best players can still impress me. For me, this is a LeBron. I'm with you, I'm not finding anyone better than LeBron. I'm just saying Otani is probably the closest.

Speaker 5:
[37:04] When Otani pitches eight shutout innings and also hits a home run in the game, you're not in awe?

Speaker 8:
[37:11] No, it does still get you.

Speaker 4:
[37:14] I could play that game where if LeBron has a triple-double tonight, that doesn't impress you.

Speaker 7:
[37:19] Well, I just think though that all of the things that I just said to you, like the factors, the skipping past, played a playoff game with his son is still better at basketball than his son who's an NBA basketball player.

Speaker 5:
[37:35] What is he?

Speaker 7:
[37:39] His son who's an NBA basketball player because his father's LeBron.

Speaker 6:
[37:43] Did you see that video? I don't know how de-contextualized it is of what appears to be and that there have been lip readers assessing what was said, but it appears like Eudoka is turning to JJ Reddick and pleading with him to put in Brawny. Yeah.

Speaker 7:
[37:58] Oh my God.

Speaker 5:
[37:59] I remember that. Eudoka really doesn't like LeBron. Like you've seen there have been other games the way that Eudoka speaks to LeBron.

Speaker 7:
[38:07] His players though appear to be in awe here. Can you show me Shangoon here? Can you show me what he was doing on the sidelines?

Speaker 4:
[38:17] Sitting at the bench and you see LeBron walks by. He clearly like perks up, stands up and then looks up at LeBron and LeBron walks back.

Speaker 7:
[38:24] Wanted eye contact. An All-Star simply wanted eye contact.

Speaker 4:
[38:28] We can run it again. He's sitting here, he's looking for something in his pocket and he just kind of stands at attention for LeBron. Everyone on the internet kind of had fun with this video of like, wow, look at him paying the ultimate respects to LeBron. Then he was asked about it and he's denying it. We're going to pull up the video where he can explain himself here.

Speaker 7:
[38:46] Oh, but the way that he, we can play that video, but the way that he looked at him at the corner of his eye, I mean, it feels like-

Speaker 5:
[38:54] And the way he perked up.

Speaker 7:
[38:55] Yeah, it feels like he just want, is desperate for eye contact. Let's hear the explanation here.

Speaker 9:
[39:01] Talk about the viral video that's going around with you, stood up when LeBron walked by.

Speaker 10:
[39:06] Yeah, I just saw that video today. I mean, everybody was sending to me too, but it's kind of funny. I mean, I was just trying to get something out of my pocket. That's why I got up. I mean, no disrespect to LeBron, of course, I backed him, but I stood up for him. It was just something I was getting out of my pocket.

Speaker 4:
[39:22] I don't believe him. And now I know in the video, he's clearly is reaching for something in his pocket, but that doesn't explain his body. Like he jerks, he looks up at LeBron and he stands up like, oh, oh, oh, oh, he's not even reaching for in the pocket. Once he stands up, he's not even reaching.

Speaker 6:
[39:37] Cool part of that bit is everybody in the background also standing up because they see LeBron walking over. But this is this is what tall guys do. You're not going to alpha me. When you walk past me, I'm taller.

Speaker 7:
[39:48] I just am going to keep saying oldest player in the league, because when I think in any sport of oldest player in the league, I think of people like Jamie Moyer. I think of like Morton Anderson.

Speaker 6:
[40:00] He was on that Ryan Howard team that I hated so much.

Speaker 7:
[40:03] But just I'm thinking like Charlie Huff.

Speaker 6:
[40:05] Oh, 46 years old, complete game.

Speaker 7:
[40:08] I'm just thinking of like old kickers.

Speaker 8:
[40:11] Just like a wrinkly guy with white chest hair.

Speaker 6:
[40:14] Gordie Howe.

Speaker 7:
[40:15] Yes, somebody.

Speaker 6:
[40:16] Tom Brady's filler.

Speaker 7:
[40:19] Somebody who's just wandering around out there, not able to beat the young Houston Rockets in a playoff game with efficiency.

Speaker 6:
[40:28] I think of Ovechkin, even though he's much younger than he looks.

Speaker 8:
[40:31] No, the part that got me with what you said, Dan, was there's an eight year head start for all of those franchises. He wasn't drafted until 2003. In 1995 was the year I was born. So in my lifetime, LeBron James has more playoff wins than any singular NBA franchise. That's insane.

Speaker 7:
[40:49] It is, but it's also a bit of a rhetorical trick because here's the number, okay? It's 185, then the Spurs are at 184, the Lakers are at 172, playoff games won since 1995. The Heat then are at 161 with Derek Fisher. Then the Celtics at 158, then Tim Duncan at 157. But those guys, it helps that Derek Fisher went from the Lakers to the Spurs. It allowed him to win with both of both of those teams. It's still a crazy thing to lay out in front of you though. Still an All-Star, oldest player in the league, playing a playoff game with his son, and as the centerpiece of the team, at an age when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was averaging 10 points a game and four rebounds in 22 minutes, he's playing the brunt of the minutes and everything is working through him because he's the only thing that they have offensively. You guys don't agree with the assessment that there is nothing that he can do at this point. I suppose if he wins another title as the oldest player in the league, that would be something that would astound.

Speaker 6:
[41:58] But once he... That would be because it would affect the start times, which is you're asking what else he can do. Maybe move to an East Coast team. It's hard to keep up with the achievements. These games are late.

Speaker 5:
[42:09] It doesn't bother me. I get to stay up as late as I want.

Speaker 6:
[42:12] Provided it's on a tablet. I am a big boy.

Speaker 3:
[42:14] Derrick Fisher never a spur, by the way.

Speaker 6:
[42:16] You confuse him with Robert O'Ri.

Speaker 7:
[42:18] Oh mother. But. Alexander Walker! Walker Alexander!

Speaker 5:
[42:23] Borica!

Speaker 7:
[42:24] Borique.

Speaker 5:
[42:25] Borique!

Speaker 7:
[42:26] Borique.

Speaker 6:
[42:32] Sports fans, all the sports are coming together. It's a great time to just sit on your couch, text your friend, hey, come over, let's watch the games. And when I do that to my friends, guess what they text me back? I got the Miller lights. That's right, they pick up Miller Light pretty much anywhere they sell beer and they come over to my place. We take that first sip and we realize, man, we just made a regular old-fashioned night into a special night. Thank you Miller Light. And shortly thereafter, we got multiple screens on, everybody's dialed into something different and the whole night just keeps building and building and building. That's why I reach for Miller Light. It can take an ordinary night and take it to an extraordinary place. It's clean, refreshing, easy to drink, fruit for taste with simple ingredients. Just 96 calories and 3.2 carbs. The original Light beer since 1975 and still hitting different. Cheers to legendary moments with Miller Light. Great taste, 96 calories. Go to millerlight.com/dan to find delivery options near you or you can pick up some Miller Light pretty much anywhere they sell beer. It's Miller time. Celebrate responsibly Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.