The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Can the Mavs Fix the Game 1 Problems? Dan Hurley’s Fit With the Lakers. Plus Raja Bell Talks Guarding Luka, Kyrie, and Tatum.

Episode Date: June 7, 2024

Russillo starts the pod with his thoughts on Game 1 and reacts to the Dan Hurley rumors (0:40). Then, he’s joined by Raja Bell to discuss why Dallas’s offense looked so difficult, hear which star Raja would rather guard, and talk about the public overreacting to Game 1s. (23:18). Plus, Life Advice with Ceruti and Kyle (61:18)! My daughter sold items at school and now the other parent wants a refund. Check us out on YouTube for exclusive clips, live streams, and more at https://www.youtube.com/@RyenRussilloPodcast The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please check out rg-help.com to find out more or listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: Raja Bell Producers: Steve Ceruti, Kyle Crichton, and Mike Wargon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Let's break down game one. Celtics take it at home against Dallas, get up huge. Dallas a bit of a scare there at the end. And then Boston runs away. So what happened in this game? Is there anything to fix for Dallas? And the two things we didn't see that have to be alarming. We've got Roger Bell, more on game one, looking ahead to the rest of the series. Who would he rather defend between the two teams? Duos, and we've got a little life advice for you as well. That's the sound of unaged whiskey transforming into Jack Daniels Tennesseekey in Lynchburg, Tennessee.

Around 1860, nearest green taught Jack Daniel how to filter whiskey through charcoal for a smoother taste, one drop at a time. This is one of many sounds in Tennessee with a story to tell. To hear them in person, plan your trip at tnvacation.com. Tennessee sounds perfect. Celtics take game one of the NBA finals. Let's run through a few different things and also a couple of thoughts on Danny Hurley potentially becoming the Lakers head coach before we get to Raja. So this game gets at 58-29.

Celtics doubling up the Mavs. And I always expect every team to make a run if you're remotely decent, that you're going to cut the lead. And Dallas closed really well at the end of the first half with the three point shooting wasn't there, Boston was dominating on the boards. And then you went into the third quarter wondering, well, the Celtics put this thing away in the first four minutes. They've been terrific.

Some of the defensive stuff that I want to get to here. And that was not the case. Luka continues to go off on one-on-one offensive plays. They did not have the same flow that they had against Minnesota. There's a lot of defensive stuff that I love from Boston last night, but the offensive part of it and Tatum struggles throughout much of the game, despite the final numbers, you were like, wait, this thing's gone from 29 points to eight points.

Again, I expect teams to make a run. It's not sustainable to stay up 30 points the entire game just isn't, especially with the shooting variants that you're gonna have from Boston throughout multiple moments. But for anyone that's watched Boston this year, you're going, uh-oh, is this going to be the stale part?

Because it is stale right now on offense. How long is the stale part going to last? Well, it lasted until about 427 of that third quarter where it was cut to eight. And Jaylen Brown, you've probably seen the quote everywhere, but I thought it was perfect for him and the game and the game he played last night where he said, quote, when they cut the lead to eight, that's when the game started. This was the Jay and the game he played last night where he said quote when they cut the lead to eight That's when the game started. This was the Jalen Brown game. He was Fantastic. It's not just 22 points. It's him understanding one of my favorite things

I saw from him last night Like this is one of my favorite Jalen Brown games ever considering mistakes and everything going on Where it was attack attack attack whether it was attacking on defense, but specifically some of the stuff that he did on offense where, it's not like he went for 40 here, he didn't even go for 30. But when we look at some 30 point games, the players are like, oh, that guy had 30,

like that was kind of a quiet 30. I thought it was an incredibly loud 22. And then you have the defense. There was a stretch there where it felt like he was doing everything and being the aggressor on offense. But then a little later in the quarter, there's a lob attempt that he blocks. And then the Mavs player regains control of the basketball. He blocks that again. And then he gets Kyrie with another block on the baseline. And you're like, this guy is taking over on top of the stuff that

he was tasked with by being the primary defender on Luca, where you know Luca is going to end up going up against a bunch of different people considering all the pick and roll stuff that they're going to do. But Jaylen was doing some early work here defensively just to make it harder on Luca. And if that continues to be the game plan, we'll see how Luca holds up against it because Luca is still going to get his points. But it's the difference. It's kind of like the Lou Dora versus Minnesota thing. Is the 30 really tough? It was against Lou Dora, I think there were times where it was really tough for Luca to

get his numbers and against Minnesota, I thought there were times it was just way too easy. So Jalen Brown ends up with 22, six and two. But again, like I said, it was a loud stat line for him. Just understanding some of those moments during that staleness of I need to, I need to step up my aggression here because Tatum didn't have it. Tatum ended up with 16 points. He was six of 16. The six turnovers were brutal.

He just was uncomfortable. He had 11 boards. He had some assists. He is pretty good on the drive and kick stuff of keeping some of the plays alive. And with the three point shooting with him collapsing the paint. There's still a benefit to him driving, but I'll look forward in game two because it was definitely part of the game plan for Dallas. It seems like on Tatum drives, he is facing all sorts of traffic.

Once he gets into the rim, so there's times Tatum could probably just say, hey, I need to go up and at least make the shot attempt. And I know there's a couple of times. Look, anybody who has the ball as much as Tatum is gonna have a few drives where they feel like they should have been at the free throw line. But I'm not gonna use the officials here

for an excuse to Tatum. He just had a bad game and the turnovers were part of it. I wouldn't expect him to play like this for an entire series. Perzingis was the story early on. Lit it up in the first half, checks in, hadn't played in 38 days. You kind of wondered, can you just go out there

and play game one of the finals, play that kind of intensity and be a real impact? And he was all of that. It was almost like the Celtics from that first half added a top five player in the NBA. Like, oh yeah, that's how well he played because it wasn't just the offense. He had 11 points, two blocks, three rebounds

in the last 524 of the first quarter hit five of four of his shots. But he also was getting into some of those switches where some of the stuff that he can do, it looks like everybody's just kind of waiting around to figure out if he's going to take a shot over the smaller defender. But at 7-3, it just is a great look for him, especially with his shooting touch. And he was hitting all of that stuff. He had a couple threes, but I think the defensive stuff that he was doing was just as impressive. I'll get to some of the lack of lobs here in second, but for Prezingis, when you watch him, when he retreats against a drive, he's retreating, playing the

contest, he doesn't want to come up and stop your drive. He's almost inviting you to drive in. Jayden Hardy had a drive against him because Hardy just is not as athletic as he is as athletic as he is, as impressive as he's been in some of these big moments in the playoffs and he's Mr. Garbage time. I can't even believe he passed the basketball when he came in and the Mavs wave the white flag

at like 5'17", which Boston was pretty much in control of this game other than when Luca kind of went off there in the third quarter and cut it to eight. But Hardy comes in, you know shots are just going up. They're going up. But Hardy didn't understand Przingis' capabilities defensively. So Hardy's thinking with his athleticism, like, I'm just going to go right at this guy and kind of turn. And Przingis is backpedaling, arms up, sizing it up the whole time, like welcoming you into that attempt. And somebody like Kyrie, that's more refined and understands the opponent,

probably a lot better than Jayden Hardy ever does. And of course, Luca, who I still think oddly, because you're just so used to him playing almost perfect basketball. Luca, I thought was those late finds legs and I were talking about a couple weeks ago and how impressive they are. These deep drives, you're like, is he going to go up? It's like, wait, he just turned his body like 270 degrees and then threw it out to somebody and granted when you're stationed, you're like, is he going to go up? It's like, wait, he just turned his body like 270 degrees and then threw it out

to somebody and granted when you're stationed outside on the perimeter, some of the passes, I don't want to say like they're not as impressive, but it's not as if Luca doesn't understand where everybody's supposed to be around him, but that he can find them so late on the drive and you think there's no way he's actually going to pass out of this movement. He has to get the shot up. There are a few more times I think that I've seen in an entire game where Luca looked like he was, he was held up.

So I don't know if that's part of the prisingus thing as well, but his defense, the way you think you have him and you don't adds a completely different layer to this Boston defense. So let's look at some of the stats. The Mavs had zero assists in the third quarter. So they're making this run and I don't care who you are. And maybe it feels like it's a little different with Boston because they're so three point heavy that when they're stale offensively, which every team has stretches in any game for the most part, where you're like, oh, what's going on with their offense? There's not as much movement.

I mean, this is just basketball. It's what happens. I know it's frustrating at home on the couch when it's happening to your team, but I've heard people complain about it as if it's a decision that is made. Hey, let's just be real stale. But also I think when you get up 28 or excuse me, 29, 58, 29, you're not going to be playing with the same kind of passion and that's why basketball coaches are the most insane human beings ever because they're seeing it as well going, why did we stop playing? It's like, man, it's human nature.

You're just, you're never going to defeat human nature inside of a basketball game. So the Mavs are putting together this run, but they're putting together with absurd, like this stretch of one-on-one play, where they're like, okay, so there's a couple of different factors here, and then the Jalen Brown stuff happens on offense

and on defense, and they run away with this one. The Mavs had nine total assists in this game. That's the lowest total for a team in an NBA Finals game since Cleveland had nine in game one of the 2007 NBA finals. Kyrie had two, Luka had one. The doubles are not happening the way Dallas lived off of them against other opponents.

So even the times when Luka's gonna beat whoever the primary defender is, he's gonna bring Derek White down, he's gonna get Drew defender is, he's going to bring Derek White down. He's going to get true holiday deep. He's going to get Jaylen on a misstep. He's just going to get to his spots, but that there wasn't this reckless scrambling by Boston defensively. Like they liked how they played it straight up. Uh, that part is alarming because it took away from Dallas.

The assist plays, it took away the corner, three attempts. Dallas had three attempts from the corners for the entire game. Josh Green's the only one that made one. And that was the late one off of a Hardy pass, which again, I still can't believe Hardy made that pass because when he gets in shots are going up. Lobs. We know that part of Dallas has been unstoppable. It wasn't even noticeable last night.

It was only noticeable that it wasn't happening. Was there one good one and then maybe one other kind of weird one that happened? Was there one good one and then maybe one other kind of weird one that happened? I don't know what the final official lob count is, but it was not a part of Dallas's offense. So you have Kyrie who doesn't have a great game, goes six and 19. And I went back through it. I don't know if we touched on this with Bill, but I was wondering, Hey, could I find something in here where if the crowd really gets on Kyrie, will Kyrie start talking back to them? Can that take him off of his game a little bit? here where if the crowd really gets on Kyrie, will Kyrie start talking back to them? Can that take him off of his game a little bit?

I do think Kyrie in past playoff games has had moments where he feels like I'm just going to do something here and it can be a little bit on his own. It can be outside of what they're trying to do. And he's so capable of doing pretty much anything with a basketball that you would almost allow it. But I know that I've seen moments with him where I go, I think he's just doing this now because he wants to do it. So I wondered, is there any history here with his games at Boston that shows that it's below the normal Kyrie standards? It isn't.

He's had some monster games in that place after he's left Boston. He said two 39 point games. I think both were in the playoffs. So maybe one was in the regular season. The point is there was nothing there. There's no evidence there. So you can't go in, oh, first game in Boston. And he had even said, and I think Boston was just so amped up in general that. They weren't going to that crowd was unbelievable. The start of that game, my God. But I don't think it was just because of the Kyrie.

It was almost like the Celtics fans were like, oh wait, Kyrie now has the ball. Like, let's make sure we boo him again. And it didn't seem as targeted as maybe one would expect. So I think Kyrie just had a bad shooting night, which is going to happen to literally everybody here. So when you think about the lack of the lobs, the corner threes, like, okay. So what else is happening here? Boston attacked Luca more in switches, I think earlier in the game when they

were trying to establish some of the stuff that they wanted to do. Maybe they got away from it just because it didn't seem to be as much of a priority in the second half. I'd have to go back and look at some of that stuff, but the game wasn't logged this morning for the way that I can watch it again in the morning. So I didn't have that for you. I apologize, but I couldn't help but thinking about Minnesota a few different times in last night's game because Minnesota didn't attack Luca nearly enough and you could talk about the defensive assignments in the alignment loco being Luca being the low man and

Maybe them not wanting to go through that but it just didn't feel like that was a priority And one of the things you always thought with Dallas is like they're putting together this incredible defensive run as they, as they close the regular season and the stuff that they're doing in the playoffs. But if it's Kyrie and Luca out there, we can talk about the effort and the, the, the improvement from Kyrie of just being locked in off the ball more now than he has been in the past. But can't you still win some of these one-on-one matchups against these players that we know are average at best on defense. And I think Boston did a better job of that. So I don't know if that combined with Jaylen Brown picking him up around half court and trying to slow him down and getting into whatever he wants to

get into leads to a more tired Luca at the end of the game, it's kind of like running the football. We may not get five yards and every one of these carries in the first quarter, but we need to throw these body blows. So I feel like that's the body blow of this matchup by trying to get Luca more involved defensively. The other part where I thought about Minnesota is here you have Gobert in towns who was really good against Jokic because it's more in front of him.

It's more stationary. He doesn't have to react athletically as much against Jokic, but Jokic is still going to get his stuff going. Right. But I thought he at least fought in that matchup better, despite the stupid fouls, than he wouldn't say a different kind of matchup. But then you have Gobert off of Gordon and yet it felt like Minnesota was helpless against the lobs, whereas Boston with Prezengiz was just a lot better.

Or because they didn't double as much, the lob just wasn't as available. Which again, seems crazy that wait, Boston doesn't have to double as much, but yet Minnesota with all these pruder defensive options, it's not that I don't think they were doubling Luca a lot. It just Luca worked them on the first move. And then he just kind of dictated everything once he had Jaden McDaniels on his hip, Sam Hauser attacks Oh for three. And I thought the fourth one was a tough foul call on him. Sam Hauser gets into the game. Let's go at Sam Hauser and guess what happens? Hauser holds up, stays

in position. Doesn't mean no one can hit a shot against him, but it's just always funny to watch and you think, okay, we're in the NBA finals. You've done all of this prep, whatever. But Hauser still is probably the best option, depending on who else he's out there with. You can see Prichard where it looked like, okay, Prichard's out there. Let's try to target him. You saw Luke, he gets some of those matchups a few different times. So I wonder how many minutes Prichard will play moving forward. If there's a close game, I don't know if Voss is going to want to attempt to see him

out there defensively and exposing him a little bit because it looked like Dallas noticed it immediately. There's one play here that I absolutely love because you know Horford's going to be targeted a lot, but Horford was doing an incredible job on contesting Luca on these threes once he got stuck with them on the switch. There was a time out in the second quarter, they decided to come in aligning it where the ball's on the right side, but they want Luca on the left side and they want him off the ball. And they're going to run him through the paint from the left side for

a catch on the right side. Hope and I, they're going to switch on a smaller player so we can get a really deep catch and at that point it doesn't matter if it's Drew and certainly not Derek White, Luca is deep and positioned with the basketball, those guys are going to be in trouble despite Drew's stoutness, it's just not enough. with the basketball, those guys are going to be in trouble despite Drew's stoutness. It's just not enough. Horford sees it, switches it. And then you're thinking maybe if Luca on this play gets Horford in a switch,

you're like, cool, now we have Luca on the weak side because I think they had stationed the other three on the other side and now he can go to work on Horford. And it's not straight, the middle of the paint, some of that side to side stuff you'll hear coaches talk about all the time, like we need to get side to side. We need to get this ball. We can't just go straight into it every single time. And so there's the two options they're hoping where Luca gets a deep catch against a smaller defender

or he's got Al weak side and it's one on one away from the rest of the traffic. And Horford reads it perfectly and still almost steals the pass to Luca. Like that's one of those plays you're like, man, these guys are absolutely locked in. It's game one. I doubt Dallas is going to have that bad a night from the corner, but the doubles are not there. And the random times they did send a second defender at Luca, it was kind of late and it was like more disruptive or it was something

that was happening at the rim or Luca had the ridiculous shot we made against four guys. There's always different things you can pick from say, well, Dallas is going to shoot that poorly from three. Yep. You can also say Tatum's probably not going to have that bad of a game moving forward. Prezengis isn't going to be Will Chamberlain for the entire first half, but Dallas has got to figure out, uh, I'm not going to overreact

to the first game and say, okay, there's just no chance. There's just no chance. Cause I just have too much respect for Luke on that one. A couple of minutes here on Danny Hurley, potentially the Lakers. So this story has taken quite the turn based on the way. I just like talking to guys and Hey, what do you think about JJ? What do you think about and JJ and I are friendly, but it's not like we're talking about the Lakers part of it all. And it felt like people were kind of landing on that. And then you could go back and go, wait, Woj seemed to be kind of quiet throughout this entire time.

Is that because Woj was looking at it as, hey, I'm a coworker of JJ, so maybe I'd stay out of it a little bit. Or what is more likely here as Woj just continues to prove that he's the best in the world. was looking at it as, hey, I'm a coworker of JJ, so maybe I'd stay out of it a little bit. Or what is more likely here as Woj just continues to prove that he's the biggest deal in any team sport when it comes to breaking this stuff. And I would debate that with anyone that he knew the entire time. And that's why he wasn't saying that much about the constant JJ Reddick updates. You gotta imagine that he and the Hurley family, considering George's background, where he's from, who he's written about, that he's incredibly close.

So Hurley's out here in LA Friday. By the time you listen to this, maybe we have a different announcement, but we'll see what happens here, right? Now let's ask the bigger question is like, what do you actually think of it? I think anybody that loves basketball loves her. Hurley's done at Yukon. I was at that Stetson game where they won by what? 39.

And I couldn't believe how hard Castle was playing defense off the ball when they were destroying that team. This Yukon team. It's not the back-to-back titles, it's just watching them play going, they are so aligned with their coach and they feel like they owe it to him to continue to play this hard, right? That's like big time stuff.

Now, does that work in the NBA? There'll be things that he does, there's no. Now does that work in the NBA? There'll be things that he does. There's no way he's going to work in the NBA. It's just not. And the LeBron part of it makes it even weirder because LeBron can love what he does on offense as we saw in that clip that he had ironically with JJ Reddit. But LeBron still kind of runs the show. So is it about anyone that grows up in basketball being like,

I could be the Lakers head coach. You say yes to that. If the money, as we've seen Post-Montee Williams has changed the market where we're starting to talk eight figures to start a year and you go, okay, I do this the one time and now I've really set up my family for generational wealth and I get to live in Manhattan beach, which has turned into a coaching fest out here.

I saw Harbaugh the other night, met up with Mus, see how we do with USC, excited for him to be in town. I don't, anybody that's ever moved out here doesn't go, man, I regret moving out here, so I don't know if Hurley is going out here doesn't go, man, I regret moving out here. So I don't know if Hurley is going to move down the street or not, but you get the point. Like there is something to whatever you think or assumptions you have about LA. There are always pockets where you're like, okay, I could probably do this. And if you're a lifer in basketball, it's, it's the Lakers, but I'd have to think

his day-to-day intensity would have to be handled in a different way for a group of Lakers that are pretty established guys and specifically LeBron. Because I argue, and I don't think this is wrong, I argue that LeBron's history is that would you say he takes to coaching? that LeBron's history is that would you say he takes to coaching? I would offer up numerous examples and say, eventually there is a divorce there and he'll think that the coach just wasn't good enough. Maybe Hurley's resume is somebody he'd be more willing to defer to, but it's also the NBA. And Hurley could come in and be one of the best basketball minds in the world immediately, but in the NBA, that could come in and be one of the best basketball minds in the world immediately. But in the NBA, that position usually doesn't lead to championships unless you have that kind of talent.

So the Lakers part of it, the lifestyle part of it, maybe a whole new level of money and the fact that he's that good of a coach, but I'm always going to have questions about like, what do you think this does? Like what tier do you think you are as a team with still the draft and free agency and all of this stuff has to happen. But like what tier do you think you're at? And like how much higher do you think you go up just because of a head coach in the NBA?

And usually those tiers remain in the same slot. The NBA finals are here and FanDuel's giving you a chance to win alongside the champions because right now new customers get $200 in bonus bets with a winning $5 bet. That's $200 to use on same game parlays, live bets and so much more. Let's actually look at some of the stuff that's going on here. So now the series is Boston minus 420, which is to be expected. Boston is favored by seven.

It was six and a half for game one, so game two, they're laying seven. Luka, who was a plus 200 for series MVP, where Dallas was like plus 200 for the series, now is a plus 330. Luka, so if you still like Dallas for the series, a plus 330, the payout's even better on Luka plus 350. So look, if you still like Dallas for the series at plus 330, the payouts even better on Luka plus 350. So look, if you still like Dallas,

there's way more value in here for you, but that's how alarming game one was for this. Boston minus one and a half is now minus 164. So you could go over under as well. If you think this is still get to six games over five and a half is minus one 32. So clearly after game one, you knew those numbers are going to move there a little bit. But if you've liked it before the series, you probably still like it now and the payouts are even better. There's no better place to bet all of the finals action than America's number one sportsbook.

Just download the app and take a shot at an extra 200 bucks. Just go to fan dual dot com slash slash Ryan, R-O-I-E-N. To get started FanDuel, official sports betting partner of the NBA, must be 21 and older, 18 plus in D.C. and present in select states. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-DAMBLER or visit rg-help.com. First online real money wager only,

five dollar first deposit required. Bonus issued is not withdrawalable. Bonus bets which expire seven days after a seat. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fandual.com. Roger Bell joins us. He co-hosts the Real Ones podcast with Logan Murdoch. They have an awesome Howard Beck finals preview that I still think you should check out and they're taping a new episode today in the Real Ones. All right, let's start with the defense. What did you see with what Boston did better defensively, and certainly what we saw against Minnesota, Boston did better defensively, and certainly what

we saw against Minnesota, taking away the Lobs, taking away the corner threes, and primarily the way they kind of attacked Luca to begin? What did you see? Well, first of all, I think they're more, I think they match up better as a defensive unit against Boston. They've got more length and perimeter flexibility. They've got guards that at times, big rangey guys that can play on Kyria times. And even Al Horford, when they switched him, they switched him a lot. He's able to kind of stay in front in a way that a Rudy just couldn't. Chris

Staps has that length and ability to move his feet like Rudy doesn't as well. I thought they did a very good job. And I always talk about Boston, about what are you going to do? Are you going to let Luca and Kyrie come down in that drop coverage, or are you going to really try to take that away, and then you're springing everything else for its ability to score the ball, and now you're trying to put out fires all over the place? I thought they did a good job of not letting Luca and Kyrie when they played pick and roll

get downhill in a way that puts you in jeopardy at the rim, if that makes sense. They did a really good job of corralling it earlier. That drop coverage really puts you in a tough spot because you're in no man's land as that secondary defender. You're trying to figure out whether you crack back on the big because you don't think your big is in position to get back to the lob. I thought at times Boston did a very good job. This is just strategically of not letting him get all the way downhill in that drop coverage, which pulls your secondary defender from the corner. So Luca would have to give it up a little earlier. Um, and now he hasn't exactly made a play for a secondary player.

He's just got them the ball and they have to make a play. And then they scrambled once they got out of that. I mean, they scrambled. You saw Jaylen Brown keep getting back into plays, blocking shots. It's different when they're not being spoonfed. And I don't mean that in a, in a negative way. Like I was a player that typically was spoonfed, meaning like Steve Nash or, you know, Allen Iverson or Darren Williams, they create the play. I just finish it.

The math changes when they've got to get off of it, give it to me and I've got to finish it and create a little bit. And I thought Boston did a good job last night of making a lot of those guys have to create a little bit for themselves. Yeah, against Minnesota, it felt like there was things that they didn't want to give up, but they had to make a decision on what they were. In almost every matchup, you're like,

okay, what are we going to give up? Last night, oddly felt like Boston was like, we're not actually giving up any of the other stuff. We're playing so straight up with you. Whatever you've had in the past matchups, it was like, okay, well, this will at least be there or PJ will be able to go here or Derek's going to have his moment or lively or daffodil. All these things. Like you look over the course of how that game played out. I couldn't get past just the week. Like there, there isn't the option of presenting itself right now.

I expect at some point in the series is going to be this thing that boss just can't stop that Dallas is doing because Luca is that good, but that was alarming. That part of it was alarming where I'm like, okay, if they go back and look at the film, what are they going to point to to say, okay, this was available because Boston plays it so straight for such a long portion of the game. Yeah. So that's a very frustrating and concerning place to be if you're the Mavericks because you'd like to be able to go to that film and say, hey, fellas, look at this.

Look at all of these reasons why we could very easily win game two. We just didn't execute well. And that's why I ultimately thought Boston was going to be really, really difficult for them. And I thought a lot of the series was going to hang on what Boston decided to look like offensively.

Because defensively, I feel very comfortable with them doing that. They just have pieces that put you in the space of, hey man, if you beat my best guy, Luca and Kyrie, to the tune of, let's say, like Ryan, let's say 85. Let's say between them, they have 40 and 45. But I'm suffocating all of this other stuff that really can't eat unless you spoon feed it. I feel pretty good. And so they have, they have the type of lineup because they can control the penetration a

little bit better. And on the flip side, what you saw, like, I'm sure we'll get to it is like Dallas has been really good defensively. They could not stop the point of attack. And when you can't stay in front of the point of attack, it creates all kinds of problems. Yeah. I felt like they attacked Luca earlier, establishing things and getting him

involved in the action than Minnesota and that part of the Minnesota part of it. And I've mentioned a few times at the beginning, some people are probably like, Hey, so the timber was are done. That was a week ago, move on. But there were, I just had a lot of moments last night where I'm watching this going, well, I didn't Minnesota do more, more of this. I know personnel is different and all that kind of stuff, but I feel like they let Luca live as the low man and he just got to take a lot of plays off defensively. And I felt like in the first half of establishing

flow and getting up, uh, it felt like Luca was involved a lot more. And it was like a real priority for Boston on the ball handling side. But like Luca was involved a lot more and it was like a real priority for Boston on the ball handling side. I think you can do that, Ryan, when you have basically five guys on the court that can get you a bucket in one way, shape or another. Right? And so that's starting lineup with Boston. I mean, Drew can go at him, Derek can go at him.

Either one of the wings can like they're certified, they can go at him. And even Al Horford possesses a skill set around the block like where he can. So I think again, Boston's in a situation where first of all, they're better, they're, they're better well rounded offensively as a unit to be able to find him, right? Like, cause they're going to hide him. Like that's what Boston's going to do. That's what every good team does. They're going to try to, you know, we used to do it with, with Steve and people did it with Alan. Like they're going to try to, that's too much of a load for that guy to play on ball defense for every possession and then create for you offensively. But you've got to have the right personnel on the offensive side of the ball to,

to hunt him out, no matter what they do. And then trust the guy that he's on to be able to make him pay. When you're trying to hide somebody, be able to make him pay. When you're trying to hide somebody, um, like you can just simply go, I don't care. You can hide them all you want. I'm going to bring his man up. There was even a play last night where I felt like early on with Dallas, it's like, Hey, look, they're not going to put Horford on Gafford.

So if that's the screen you're looking for, there was actually a lively play a little bit later on is they brought lively up to set the screen and it was almost as if they weren't paying it. They were so used to lively setting the screen and then playing that lob thing as Luca drives one side of the paint. And then it's like, okay, the lively part of it there. And then they're like, oh wait,

like we brought up the wrong guy because Forford isn't on lively. And then they had to get out of that and then do the next thing. And now, you know, the shot clock's like ticking off. It was just one of those moments where I'm like, did you not see the defensive matchup part of that?

But back to your hiding part of it, what happens in those pregame meetings with an AI or with a Nash when you know what the priority is and you're saying, hey, we're gonna hide you, you're gonna hide you. How do you actually successfully hide somebody knowing that they could just bring him up unless you're going to pre-switch it or try to switch it on the fly, which leads to all sorts of other

problems. I think it's a little more complicated than pulling it off. Yeah. I mean, there's a lot that goes into it. So schematically speaking, there could be a million ways that you try to do that. Like, I mean, getting in the weeds of that would be difficult, like without a game plan. But what I would say would be that the pregame is a lot of communication in the locker room

about how we're trying to execute this, like over communicating it. We've drilled it in practice. We've drilled it in shoot around. We've put you in these actions. Clearly we know what you want to run, like ideally what your bread and butter is. So like we're going to walk that for a few days so we get the rhyme and the rhythm of

it. This becomes like a dance. And the most critical part of all of it, Ryan, and you just kind of alluded to that play where you think they saw it and they didn't get it right, it's in game communication. Like if we're not vocal, if we don't have like someone out there commanding the forces defensively like a la Rashided Wallace with the Pistons, even though they didn't have to hide anybody. But like that has to be in place or you're going to have that possession or two or three where you screwed it up just enough and now

you're on the shot clock and they got him where they want him. So you really got to be five people understanding the game plan and the assignment and then on a string and communicating when you're trying to execute it. For somebody like you, where defense was the reason you were out there, how did you manage your energy defensively versus offensively? That's a good question.

I felt I was probably 60, 40 in terms of, I know, I didn't have a hellified job on offense, you know, especially with those Suns teams. Like I was basically sprint, which requires, you know, a certain amount of energy. But once that happens, I'm waiting, like I'm kind of in the corner and I become a finisher. So I, my job was to hold your best player or hold is a bad word, but, but make him a less efficient version of himself. If he was going to score his points, they had to be volume, keep him off the free throw line.

So I was probably 60 40 because I understood that that was my job. Like I had to make my hay for us to win on the other side. Okay. The reason I bring that up is I thought Jaylen Brown, that's one of the most impressive games considering the stakes and the fact that he's defensively tasked with, he was, he was there to not stop Luca, but stop Luca from starting in a really advantageous position. Okay. Like I'm going to make from the time you touch the ball to the time you cross half court, it's going to be more difficult for you. And your starting point is going to be in a position that's just less

comfortable than maybe you've had in the past. And then for him to also realize Tatum struggling and I need to make these bucks. I spent a few minutes just raving about him. What did you think of his game last night? Well, I thought it was fantastic. And you know, it was a great point. And I talked about, I talk about this a lot. Excuse me when people ask me about like guarding the Kobe Bryant's of the world or, you know,

that even the LeBrons and the Carmellos and what the game plan is. And it always starts with like, wherever they feel comfortable and want to be, when things start happening, I need them to be five, six, three. I need them to be feet off of that spot. People probably don't put a lot of stock in that. They're like, well, what's the difference between the elbow and that three feet away from the elbow that is that spot in between the elbow and the three point line? Three feet. It's a big difference.

It becomes like they're creatures of habit. When you see him picking Luca up in the back court, I think he had, you know, he had at least one steal on Luca back there in the back court. It's just taking away how comfortable a player like Luca feels in that moment. And at the end of the day,

when you're in a game of that magnitude, it's who can get comfortable the quickest. Like who is going to find their spots more often and get to feeling good about what's happening. And if I can affect that, if I'm your primary defender, that's where I have to start. You know, there's a lot more that goes into stopping you. But man, if I can get you to like not have to, you don't have to worry about me usually in a regular season game until you cross half court.

Because it's the NBA, no one's picking up 94 feet. You get to bring it up and now you can, well, guess what? You got to see me at 75 tonight. So we're at the hash in the back court and here I am. I'm making you turn two or three times. That takes its toll, especially on a body type, kind of like Lucas, who might not be the most fit. And so I thought he did a fantastic job of that.

I thought he did a fantastic job of that. I thought he did a fantastic job of just second and third efforts in place. I referenced a couple earlier where, that's an easy, we're up 20, Derek Jones has got this dunk, I'm low man. And this is a 70, 30, I get dunked on. Like a lot of guys just chalk that up, especially up the way they were,

but he's in there digging out block shots and coming across and getting Kyrie floaters. I thought he was great all over the place. And then offensively, not just picking up the slack, but the way he picked it up. Like he wasn't settling. This was timely possessions when that thing got cut to eight or nine, whatever that was in the third quarter. And we're, we're looking at Boston like, Oh, I'm putting my head down.

I'm gonna get to cup, make a call, make call official. Like I'm put you on the spot. And that's what great ones do. Like not gonna settle for this jump. This jump, this would be easy. And I know I can get it off cause I'm that good, but I'm put the onus on somebody like I'm attacking the cup. And I thought he was very, very, very intent and timely with, with the

way he contributed offensively. Also, Luca was not a real vocal last night. You know, the way that we've watched him in different parts of the playoffs where, you know, we know how much he complains and all that kind of stuff. And I thought, you know, maybe when you're down 29, you're just like, okay, what am I going to do? It's like start complaining about stuff.

But when he hit the three, cut it to eight, like you could see he was starting to feel himself and he's putting the cape on and you're down 29, you're just like, okay, what am I gonna do? It's like start complaining about stuff, but when he hit the three, cut it to eight, you could see he was starting to feel himself. He's putting the cape on, and you're like, is he gonna pull this one off too? I mean, that's the kind of respect that I have for him. But with his frustrations with some of the javelin stuff, I didn't see him talking to him where maybe I would see him talking to somebody else.

And then I don't know if that was a respect thing or what. But when a player that you were, like like a star that you were tasked with defending when they said something to you did that did that make you feel better did that make you feel like okay now I actually am in his head a little bit more here oh yeah if you if you can get as a primary defender someone to start chirping with you you you've definitely gotten in. Now what you do once you're in there is, some of those guys can let you in. Can you give me a good example?

Can you give me a good example of like some of- Kobe's the best example. Like people have seen some of the viral clips of Kobe and I. Sure. And- We've covered it. So I wasn't necessarily trying to tee that one up all over again for the seventh time. It's all good, But like most nights, Kobe didn't say a word to me.

Like didn't say a word. Did that bother you that he wasn't saying anything? No, no, it didn't bother me because I knew like this is going to be a tough nut to crack. Like this is my job and I got to be here all night long. And it's a lonely island to be on guarding Kobe. But when he doesn't give you anything, even when you're succeeding, you're starting to wonder like, hey man, is this going to take its toll or is he going to hit me in the fourth quarter for these 15 that are going to win the game? Do you know what I mean?

And then there are other clips where I have gotten into his head and he does chirp. There was an instance when I was with Utah and he hit me with an elbow and you know, he started yelling at the official and I was barking at the official and you know, that was a really good night for me that night because like we, I got him and I don't know what was going on in his world, but that night he let me be a part of it. And so yeah, as a defender, you certainly want to get that guy to start barking with you. There were other nights like, you know, there's one in Utah where he had me all the way on tilt, like I'm yelling and screaming at him. And it was one of those nights where he was like, yo, I'm not saying a word.

I'm just going to give you 45. And I was out of my mind. And so, you know, that is the, that's the game, right? Like if I can get you off of your spot physically and emotionally, you know, for my team, I feel like I've done my job. Yeah. And Luca did not have even like, even based on the expectations. Cause he's actually had a couple of games.

It was like, I guess he's not, there was one game where they were like, he just seems to be incredibly happy and maybe it's cause they were winning and they weren't really challenged by Minnesota in the series, even though I think the games were really pretty much down to the wire, uh, except for the closeout. though I think the games were really pretty much down to the wire, uh, except for the closeout, but I didn't see that from him and I thought it was, it was just hard, it was hard to work for him. It was, it was more like the okay. C series where it's like, okay, it's going to just going to be harder.

You're still going to get your 30, but it's just going to be harder. I don't know if I should ask it this way because there's a competitive part of you or who would you rather guard Luca or Kyrie? Cause you might just say, well, I want to guard Luca because it's the head of the part of you or who would you rather guard? Luca or Kyrie. Cause you might just say, well, I want to guard Luca because it's the head of the snake thing, but just based on your ability to survive, who would you rather defend? Wow. Um, wait, did that feel insulting?

No, no, not, not insulting, but I mean, I have that much respect for both of them as like, as offensive weapons. And weirdly for me, I would be what you probably would call a tweener defender for them. I'm just a little bit, probably not low enough center of gravity or quick enough to guard Kyrie effectively, but I'm too light in my ass to guard Luca and I'm giving up three inches and 40 pounds so like It's damned if you do damned if you don't I think I would probably and this is no disrespect. I'd probably Pick if you made me Luca and that's because I'm pretty sure I can stay in front of him

You know, I am gonna get bullied a little bit but I live in the space of like drawing that charge if you bump me one too many times. And then, you know, if I can make you shoot tough contested step backs with my hand up and I'm not fouling you, that was what I was trying to achieve anyway. So I think Kyrie might just be too quick and too herky jerky for me.

It sounds like the Kyrie possessions that would go bad would be far more embarrassing than just having you on his hip. Viral moments. All right. So let's do it on the other side. Would you rather guard Jalen Brown or Tatum? Yeah. Maybe Jalen, I would have said Jalen for sure last year because he was pretty predictable with that right hand. But like if you saw last night where he went, he went left, he went anchor between or some people call it a step between. And then he went down the lane and just like unfolded at the rim.

I'm still, I think I, you know what, I'll take Jason Tatum. I'll take Tatum because I think he, I think still he might settle in a way at times that I don't think Jalen settles. I think Jalen sometimes gets a little nastier and wants to put his head down and get to the rim. And I don't think I'd have success stopping either one of them getting to the rim. So it would just be a matter of if they, and honestly, like a lot of guys I guarded Ryan, it was this simple, like, did you ever figure out that you could just go by me?

Well, if you didn't, then I'm good. But if you did, like some of those guys were like, you know, I'm not messing around. I'm just going by you. And there's not a lot you could do about that. So for that reason, probably Jayden Tatum. The Jaylen Handel stuff is, is always interesting because it's, it's real, first of all. And I think Miami, because they're smart and they're tough and suppose the best and it would seem pretty simple if you're playing against the same guy over and over again and you see weakness but it felt like as soon as they saw. Jalen try to just create a little bit more i was talking about like og and obi to me. Inoby to me had these awesome playoff games. We know what the shooting is.

We know the size and all that stuff. But if it's a reset off of a screen that gets blown up and he's with the ball in a one-on-one situation allowed to freestyle, I just don't know that he has that in him that way. Jaylen has more in him than in somebody like OG, but it felt like once Miami, it was just the dogs were let loose.

Like, oh, he put it down and he doesn't know where he's. He's not dribbling with intention he's dribbling to figure out, which makes it kind of dangerous. And now it's improved maybe to a place where I think he's going to lose it and then he doesn't. Like he had this big kind of like sweeping dribble into the paint and you're like, that ball feels like it's about as far away from the ball handler as it could possibly be.

But the improvement maybe that he's, he's hanging onto, or maybe we're just feels like it's about as far away from the ball handler as it could possibly be, but the improvement may be that he's, he's hanging onto it, or maybe we're just picking a couple of the plays because I still think it's somewhat of a concern. So I would always think like Jaylen would be the guy that you'd pick if you could pick between the two, but the Tatum settling part of it is real

and he's just going to get a little three point happy at times. And he's going to get that triple threat and take that 17 footer extended from the elbow and he's just going to get a little three point happy at times. And he's going to get that triple threat and take that 17 footer extended from the elbow. And he hits enough of it where it's super frustrating to go up against it, but at least you know he's not going to get you in a foul trouble of the way, the way Jalen is. I, you know, I'm not sure I'm like, again, I'm not the guy that has a defendant, so I'm not sure I agree quite yet, but go ahead.

Yeah, but that's so, so, you know, there's a lot that goes into like picking who you want to guard or like, let's say we are facing the Celtics and Mike D'Antoni or someone comes to me and says, hey, who do you want tonight? Right? Like it's, it's, it is, it is about skillset for sure. Right? Like if I can predict what you're going to do and take one hand away, but like, I feel

like I'm, I got to, I have an advantage there, but it's also about what, what can I bait you? What's your mindset and what can I bait you into doing? Right. And so if, and Jason Tatum is like much more well-rounded with the ball in his hand and has a plan and has, has, you know, mid post work, like he's, he's more, I think of a true three level guy like right now, but if I space him, I know what he wants to do, right? Ultimately, he'd rather shoot it. So if I bait you with this little bit of space, I feel like over the

course of time, you're going to settle for a lot of those. And, you know, at some point, we just got to play the averages of me contesting these shots and you shooting long jumpers and how much more beneficial that is for our team than if you would just say I'm putting my head down and try to attack your hit. And the foul trouble that comes with that, not just for me, but for the big that's at the rim, for what it does to our defense in terms of collapsing it, if someone thinks I'm beat and then what he can do in terms of spraying the ball out for other shooters. So you know, I said, Tate, I'm not out of a lack of respect or true respect necessarily for Jaylen's full bag, but just I think he gets in a mode sometimes,

Jaylen that is of like, I'm not fucking around with you. I'm just coming at your hip. I'm going right at your hip and I'm athletically gifted. So figure this out. Where Jason Tatum sometimes is like, I am just a supreme scorer that I'm gonna make this shot eventually. Yeah. And Jaylen just abused lively there at the end, getting him in foul trouble.

Okay. Did you see anything specifically that Dallas was doing for Tatum where he ended up hitting some shots there later? You had a couple threes, uh, but it wasn't a good game. Like it's not, it's not the game you'd expect. He only went to the free throw line one time. He was three, seven threes. The rebounding was good.

I would agree with you. I think his playmaking part of it adds another layer to what he can be offensively versus Jaylen. I think once Jaylen has the ball, it's kind of like that's what the possession is going to be. Anything you saw that they were doing against Tatum in particular? I thought they did a good job of really good job of zoning up behind whoever was guarding him.

Yeah. They were flooding it. I mean, they were in a true, it looked like they were man and then if he'd get it on the wing, it looked like a true two, three zone. Like they weren't even disguising that. And so, you know, that kind of ties into what I was saying, right? That's the space that Dallas is operating in.

OK, what would deter him from saying, I'm getting at the rim? And whatever that looks like, building the wall behind it, flooding with the opposite big, so it's a two, three zone now, it deterred him in a way. And you talked about the lively situation lately in the game where Jaylen was like, look, I don't care if he's in there. I'm just going to, I'm throwing my body into him and I'm going to make the ref make a call on that. That's what I thought they did a good job of. And it affected

Jason Tatum a bit. So I'd like to see him as the series continues, like, look, you're going to have to take some, you're going to have to take some hits. They were letting them play last night. It was physical. It's going to be punitive to be in there in that way at times. But we need it as a Celtics team. And I thought, I thought he figured it out. Ryan, I thought he was attacking, but his attack was in a lot of instances, very telling from the outside watching. It wasn't an attack to score as much as it was an attack to spray the ball.

And that's cool until those dudes aren't making shots and then we got to get you to attack to score the ball. Yeah, it felt like as I was previewing everything, I'm going, okay, this is a lot like the ant stuff that he was seeing. And then it's like, well, we don't care about any of the other stuff. I mean, if Kat is just average from three, that series is totally different because his first three games, going back, looking at his attempts, I'm like, man, these are so

many good looks. And he was just awful. Okay. And if that's going to happen, then they don't have any chance. But as far as Conley on the other side, McDaniel's on the other side, Alexander Walker on the other side, they're just like, whatever. Kyle Anderson doesn't matter. We're helping off of him.

We're helping off of Rudy. And Tatum has to be better shooting. Tatum has to be better on the turnovers. But you, you're right. Like thinking about some of those possessions, like where did those guys come from? Once Tatum thought he was beating the primary defender, and now if you're going to load up that

way against him and it goes to somebody else, it's a whole different class of offensive player in comparison to what, you know, Chet in theory was a stretch five, but what was he gonna do? Take 11 of them? Dallas just wasn't gonna care about it enough. Yeah, look, I mean, that's why Boston is something completely different for Dallas

and what they've tried to do for this entire playoff run is they have, that's why they're the deepest team, that's why pretty much universally, people say they're the deepest team in basketball. And you usually hear that about someone offensively or defensively. Like we say, you know, Minnesota is this great defensive team, but like this is the team where you could point to them and they're all individually really good defenders. They all individually are buckets. And so, you know, it'll be interesting to see what

Dallas decides to do, right? I always say that. Yeah, let's go there. Let's go there. Because I hate watching just one game and then thinking, hey, this is how it's going to look when we've been all doing this long enough to know that's just not the way sports work. So let's talk about like the Dallas improvement part of it. So I interrupted, but I want you to just kind of hammer this part of it. No, it's okay. I think if I were Dallas, I don't think I would abandon the strategy completely right now. I think I'd tweak it though. Like what they were doing Dallas was like predetermining that this was going to be a 2-3.

Soon as he caught it, we're shifting into 2-3 formation. And it's like, you It's an early indicator. Defensively, you want to give a guy a pre-snap look as a quarterback, right? You want to roll that coverage as he's in his drop. He's making these decisions while he's moving. If you show the rotation before he snaps the ball, anybody worth their salt is going to pick you apart. If I'm Dallas, it's more about that. Like, look guys, we were doing this early and we were exposing it too early. He's going to pick us apart with that. They're too good. So I'm going to play this cat and mouse game if I can. It's easier said than done of, hey man, we're not going to show it to you. We know that in like spirit, we're going to come over and like catch you around

the rim, but we don't want to just be there sitting and waiting so that he's watching the secondary defender making a third level read as he's driving the ball and maybe start the game like that, Ryan. And then have in my back pocket, the complete pivot, which is like, all right, if those guys are hot, because if they're not making shots, you're in a good space there. Like that's what you want. Primary offensive player, you know, not able to get downhill. These guys aren't making shots, but if they are cashing out again, then listen, guys, we're just going to kind of make it look like we've loaded up. But as he gets in that drive, instead of coming and collapsing on it, we're going to stay home. And let's see if he's

good enough to make this read here, which is like, yeah, I see them. I'm picking this ball up thinking pack. It's so hard to pick a ball up thinking pass and then try to score. So like, let's try to confuse them like that. Like we're going to be in help. We're going to be in help. We're going to be in help. As soon as he goes to pick it up, we're we're getting getting home and then make him a finisher. But you know, that's going to be the chess match. I don't, I don't have the right answer.

The reason I point out game one is just how often in a series where I was like, remember what we all thought after game one, and then it went the entirely different way, how did you feel with the Sixers when you beat the Lakers in the finals and game one? We were good, man. We felt like we had that one in the bag and it does it, it, uh, it flipped. It flips really quickly, especially if you have great players and, and bag and it does it, it, it, uh, it flipped, it flips really quickly, especially if you have great players and, and, and, and, and great coaching,

they have both. And I mean, I can't imagine that a Kyrie looks the way Kyrie did last night. And you know, Luca, Luca's just too good. So, you know, it could very, it could very easily shift if they get the right recipe to stopping Boston. And here was the other thing, Ryan, and I know you didn't ask me, but this is what makes it really difficult when you're trying to guard Boston when they play like they did last night, which is decisive, quick, and not standing. When they do that, the weapons can all be at their best.

When they stand and get stagnant and then start dancing on the ball, it's not that they shoot all those threes, right? The people say, oh, they live and they die by the three. So if they get cold, for me, it's not about that. It's about the type of three they get. Is it a three off of a downhill, I collapse your defense, the ball sprays,

and now it starts rotating. That's a great three versus the stagnant. We're gonna sit there and dribble it nine times and then shoot a like step back. Yeah, I write down different things where I put like a stale warning because I've watched it enough this year. And I also think it's just unfair

because who plays locked in crisp off ball cutting? Like even with the finals, it just. Why is that true? Because I know it's true and anybody is like, oh, they decided to just not do any of these things. I'm like, that's kind of what happens in every game with every single team. I'd argue they take too many bad threes for a

team that has as many options as they do. If you want to be a bad offensive team where it's like this might be the best look we even get, so I'm just going to throw this one up here from a contested corner three with like 16 seconds up in the shot clock. Bad teams, I get it. They're too good to still take the five to seven threes

a game. I'm like, why did you take that one? But again, you have to kind of sign up for all of that. But when it comes to staleness, no team decides to be stale, yet it happens. What is that? still, yet it happens. What is that? It's a byproduct of just great individual basketball play. In my generation of player, I really believe this, you couldn't give it to three of us on the court at any given time

and say, we're going to stand and watch you. So you create. Like anybody on that five that you give the ball to can create an opportunity for themselves or someone else. So you run these light actions. And to your point, like no one's running these convoluted sets that are going to take up 16 seconds of a shot clock anymore. This is happening within the first, I don't know, 10 seconds. And then you are in that situation where, all right, we got

pick and roll, we got to switch. Now you got to dance, my boy. And so because these guys are so good with it, that's what winds up happening. And I don't have a problem. Stale for me isn't necessarily the standing and the watching because to your point, that's happening. That's across the NBA. It's at some point in a team shot clock. Well, for some teams, that's their offense. That's across the NBA. At some point in a team shot clock. Well, for some teams, that's their offense. That's their offense, right. Right, right.

Yeah, so like, but it's not that for me. It's the staleness becomes about the actual touch. When you get it, is it stale by the time you decide to do what you want to do? Like, and I think sometimes Boston can fall into like one 1,000, two 1,000, and I think sometimes Boston can fall into like one, 1000, two 1000, three 1000. Okay.

Now, now that guy who's had the ball for a three count is now going to try to ice. Like that's a stale possession for me. That's a stale touch of the ball. I like the ones where you get it. And within, I don't know, that one beat, you're either into your stuff or you're getting downhill. And I think that's what I talk about, like an offense moving a little bit. Back to game one against the Lakers. Did you think though, were you with AI AI goes off, Kobe had a tough game.

Uh, Shaq had 44. So after a 44 and 20 against the platoon of Dukimbe and the Geiger counter, uh, did you really think- A little Todd McCullough, a little big dipper in there too. Two minutes of Todd. Did you actually leave the arena that night going, we've got this? No, we left that arena feeling like we had stolen a game,

like kind of euphoric about that. It was a magical run. So like, I think where most of us were, we're like, this is possible. You know what I mean? Like, was it, did it seem more? I mean, look, I mean, I'm simply, you beat them. So of course you're going to feel better about the whole thing. I just, I love misleading game ones. I just love them. I need to write a, well I'm not going to write a book on it. It'd take too much time.

But look at, look at our effort in, in game two, like in game two, I mean people forget that like we were, we came. Like in game two, I mean, people forget that. Like we were, we came to play. Like we were, we were, we were like going at it with them in game two. So there was a real spirit that after getting game one, if anyone didn't believe, like we believed. I don't think any of us ever thought that like that,

that was going to be in the bag because we game one, we won game one. It was more like, oh shit, like, yeah, this is, this is doable. Like it's been a magical ride and it doesn't have to stop. Like we won game one. It was more like, oh shit, like, yeah, this is doable. Like it's been a magical ride and it doesn't have to stop. Like we got game one. Yeah, and then Kobe balanced out the scoring, which did you look at that series saying, let Shaq go and we'll worry about the rest.

Like let's not help. I don't remember, you know, I haven't watched it in a really long time. And the funny thing is for you, AI goes off in game one. I think your second leading scorer had 13 points in game one. But I imagine once the Lakers became balanced, OK, now we're now we're an entirely different set of challenges here. Yeah, honestly, you know, I was so young and didn't even know if I was going to be playing.

Like I don't even think they articulated those decisions to me. It was more like going there and chasing for 10 minutes. I was like, okay. But if I'm remembering it, like if I go back, a lot of our focus was Shaq. A lot of it revolved around Shaq and trying to stop him. I remember the game plans about going down there and trying to wrap him up and try to give, you know, put a good grab on him so he couldn't get it up to the rim with you. Allen Iverson's told stories about that where he's like, he took me up to the rim with him. But that's what people fall into. And like,

But that's what people fall into. And like that's the, I've always subscribed to like a guy like, look, Shaq is going to get Shaq's. Luca is going to get Luca's. Like there's, you know, Coby, when it was Coby's team like solely, he was going to get his. We're going to pencil those in. I can't react to it in a way that puts me in jeopardy for all these, you know, complimentary pieces

to have mid double figures or low 20 balls because that explodes to a number that we can't beat. I always look at easy and hard. It's a default like, okay, what's easy? What's hard? Like forget the score. Like one team can be up five, but I go, their stuff is way easier

and the other team is way easier. And the other team is way harder. And so Kyrie is going to have a better game. I don't expect Tatum's going to play like this throughout. There'll be probably a dud Celtics three point game in there and everything. Um, but if you're just going on based on an easy, hard observation, post game one, you're like, man, like it was, it was hard for Luca. It was, this was, it just felt like it's the first time we've seen Dallas look

like this is, this is hard. Um, other than some moments against, you know, Oklahoma city where that series, you know, was, was actually pretty close despite the disappointment of the scores around SGA. So I don't know, I don't know if you agree with that, disagree with it, but at least for 48 minutes, it looked like it was far more challenging for Dallas to get another offense. I would agree wholeheartedly. Luca is a tough shot maker as good as there is in the league, but even within that, some nights it looks easier than others and he was working.

Like he, there were multiple times and this is telling for me as an offensive player, I was watching with my wife, you know, he'd get into his bag and he'd get deep, like deep into that paint probe and he'd hit that little, like step back and it'd be there and he wouldn't shoot it. And like he'd even, he'd come back like to the defender. So what that tells me is like, you know, he's working so hard that he's missing like real valid shot attempts that these are ones that he creates every night.

Like good creators know when they're open and they squeeze those off. Like make or miss, like I've created the space, like I've got you deep into the post. I gave you a bump. I faded there. You're about five feet away from me. I don't see Luca turn those down, but there were multiple times last night where he got to that and he hedged at it. And then he stepped back through and rifled it to the corner. So not just the physical toll, Ryan, but he was working mentally out there. They had him guessing a couple of times that you haven't really seen in a consistent way throughout the playoffs. That is Rajapel. He has his podcast that is up right now with Logan Murdock.

It's The Real Ones. They do an awesome NBA finals preview, which still holds up with Howard Beck. So if you want to hear he and Logan get to work, check out The Real Ones podcast, and please subscribe to that one as well. Always great catching up, Raj, I appreciate it. Thanks for having me, brother.

Please subscribe to that one as well. Always great catching up, Raj. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me, brother. You want details? Buy. I drive a Ferrari. 355 Cabriolet. What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you can possibly imagine. Best of all, kids, I am liquid. So now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required. The email address, lifeadvicerr at gmail.com. Okay, this one's a little different. It involves parenting, sort of.

Five, 10, dad of five bod. Did you have the kids? That's great. Dad of five, but not what a big qualifier snacking. You snacking a lot, Saruti. Huge arms. Actually, my biggest problem is snacking.

Once you had a kid, right? I hear about the kid snacks. It's true. I'm not well, I shouldn't say that. It's like, it's like everything kind of gets like thrown out of whack. So I eat like at weirder times, like, you know, she kind of eats and she could be picky on certain days and that dictates whether I eat before we put her down or after we put her down for sleep. And then like, if I eat too early, then I'm hungry at night. I'm not a big, like if she's got some leftover chicken nuggets on the tray, like I'm not picking those

up and popping them, but it just throws off like the timing of my eating schedule. And I've been, I got to cut down the snacking for sure. I remember staying with the longs up in Montana and, uh, Chris is brewed and we were going to have dinner a little bit later and I was looking at what his wife was cooking up for the boys and. Wayland didn't finish some of his chicken nuggets and I was looking at him being like, I will eat those right now. But I didn't want to say, do I have the authority to eat? Yeah. I know Chris does, but I'm not sure where the line is.

Right. I don't. I don't. Right. Just hanging around the table. What's going on here? I, yeah, I don't think I had, despite the friendship, I don't think I had that. Approval rating yet.

And then you never know. Like what if the kid's pattern is he picks at it. I go back to the last three later. Yeah, right. And then they're gone. This fucking old guy. It's been truly, took my fucking nuggets. Eating my nuggets.

So I was kind of like looking at him thinking like, do you ask, hey, what's the deal with those nuggets? Cause they were good. They were like organic. That would have made the green light, by the way. I've never seen a dino nugget that I didn't want to eat. I'll tell you that. Dino, I think it actually was a dino nugget.

And they look incredible. The breading, the whole deal, there was some leftover sauce. And maybe it had just been ketchup, but I'm totally in on that. And so I just kind of sat there and it made me hungrier as I kept taking myself through the mental gymnastics of like, what's the move here?

What's the move? But then back to the point of our guy who we're actually not making fun of. I guess I kind of did a little bit, but I have heard about this. And when I was in that moment, I'm like, okay, this is where the extra LBs start adding up because you're like, those nuggets look good. That one meatball looks good. What's going on with the French fries? He's not going to eat all of those.

Let me test these out for you, buddy, before like how her did with somebody's like adult child. Well, I'll never forget to be like, hey, what's up with Howard? And I go, what do you mean? I mean, that's about as open a question as you could possibly go. He's my guy, but what are you asking?

And they're like, what's up with him? Like, well, why don't you give me your example, which would lead to that question and I'll try to give you some sort of conclusion. He's like, we were at dinner and he just started eating my son's French fries. I was like, well, how old is your son? It's like 16 or 17. He's like, Oh yeah, I just went over. I was like, you know what? I actually think that's one of his endearing qualities. So, uh, there you go.

There's the infamous, like he would just take a, we've told this before, but for those that haven't heard, he would just take one bite out of a donut, like a tray of donuts. You just take one bite, put it back. Insane. Which is, that's insane. One, a French fries, whatever, but man, we can't be, there were like knives there.

You can cut a piece of the donut if you want it. Let's ask that question though. Seriously, what is more insane sitting at a dinner table where you don't even really know the guy's son and you reach over without an invitation or request and just go, I'm going to grab a couple of these fries off of someone else's plate or the donuts that are general pop donuts. Community donuts.

How far is the reach? How far is the reach? And does this kid know who you are? Does this kid know you're Colin Coward? Sure he knew he was. Yeah. Yeah. Then I think, you know what? What are you going to do? It's Colin Coward. It's charged to the game. But if it's a two seat reach, if you're standing up to get those fries, I think that's probably insane. But to take a bite when you've got options to slice pieces off of a donut, unless it's a jelly donut. We've been over that. I think the donut's more insane. Well, yeah, he's ruining a donut. Like if you pick a couple fries, you know, whatever, you can still eat the fries

and it's only one person you're really impacting. When you take a bite out of community donuts, you're kind of screwing that donut for everybody else. And in fact, it impacts like, you know, dozens of people. So it's definitely the doughnut. Dozens. Yeah, I listen. No, there's no way around that, you're right.

People get really serious about like the community food. So I don't know, I think it's kind of messed up. What was this guy's problem again? We haven't even gotten there yet. We're off to a good start. You've got five kids, that's all we know. But I just have more on this. Like if Keith Oberman reached over

to grab some French fries from me, there's a problem. Why? Why Keith Oberman? Oh, make it anybody. You make it anyone. I don't know, you might be like, wow, that's Craig. Damn Patrick. Craig, I would have been thrilled to tell him that story. I'd be getting drinks off of that story in my 20s.

See the guy on TV, be like, you know, he stole French fries from me at one point. I don't like, look, Bob Costas, tons of respect. But Bob Costas reaches over and starts taking some of my French fries. There's probably gonna be a discussion about it. The donut thing, I can understand the arguments because now that donut is ruined

and you didn't even enjoy the full donut. Like you saw them, donuts look awesome, but some people are more strict about their diet. I think Calhurt actually was. I remember one time I was smashing a chicken parm sub because it was a lunch special deal and I got some potato chips because that day I just decided I'm doing this and he looks at me, he's like white bread, cheese, chips, Priscilla, walked away. I didn't really even know him. I was kind of like, you can fuck off. You know, well, sorry, what are you over there? 12 grain in it every day. So I, the donut thing was always like, what?

There's a bite and people would be enraged because then nobody was going to eat it. Although I think one time when cowherd did do it, go look actually. Bid it. And then was like, Oh, there's a bite out of this. And then he just shrugged in classic style. It was like, whatever. He's a shit. guy to get mad at. It's an incredible, whatever.

I don't even think it's a skill he's developed. There's just people in your friend group where this person gets blamed for more shit than they should have, which is me for a good chunk of my younger life. And then there's other guys that can do way worse stuff. And it's just, ah, whatever. And then there's other guys that can do way worse stuff and it's just, ah, whatever. So I think the radio thing, we were such, you can't even call it second-class citizens because it's probably a tier below that. But whenever we had- Right ahead of step child.

Yeah. Whenever we had stuff, anything that made us feel a little bit more special and they were out there for everybody. And Christine Leesie would just make these absolutely absurd concoctions of like a full Snickers bar inside a brownie with also like graham cracker dusting on it. I mean, just works of art and guys would be like, what's going on? And then TV people would hear about it and then come down and we'd be like, you can get the fuck out of here. Like what do you, the word is out in editing that radio has treats. We have this one thing,

you're not gonna take this from us. Yeah, our entry level guys are there 10 years later in the same seat. You work in television and you think you have the right to come over, right, yeah. Hey, what's going on? Oh, we got a tight one in San Diego, man. I'll probably get out of here at three.

Thanks for stopping by, Rosillo. And I'd just be like, oh my God. I felt so bad for those dudes late at night. I'd go to like the vending thing and just load up on $20 worth of snacks and just leave them in there if I was doing late NBA stuff. Cause I'd be like, hey man, probably gonna be sitting there a while.

TV, at least there's opportunity for promotion. Okay, All right. So that's how it works with treats back to our guy. Pick up game. Can't shoot or dribble. I think we did 10 minutes on that. Um, but I wrestled in high school. Here we go.

And I know how to use my hips to box out and I hustle on D maybe current Ben Simmons, MBA comp. Well, it must be, you must be incredible in your off season workouts. I did bench 275 five times the other day, so that's got me feeling great. That's really great. That's really great. My 11-year-old daughter just finished fifth grade.

At her school, kids will trade, buy, and sell items all the time. Real bizarre going on there at the elementary school. She had some items for sale, and a girl, let's call her Jane, wanted to buy the items for my daughter. My daughter and Jane didn't really get along, or don't really get along.

I've heard my daughter complain about her often. Jane told my daughter she had $50 and wanted to buy an assortment of bracelets, notebooks, colored pens, and fidget spinners that my daughter had for sale or trade. This is unbelievable. Your daughter's just showing up. I can't believe that. Galactic book fair just in her backpack. It's like styles in Teen Wolf.

The store value of all items considered was probably $15. Jane tells my daughter she will pay $50 for all of it, quite the markup. Of course, she accepts the offer because it's way more than it ever cost her. I had no idea any of this happened. The day after this transaction occurred, my daughter had planned to go to a local theme park with her friends and blow all $50. Again, I had no idea she had this extra money at this point.

All right, so fifth grade, we had this extra money at this point. All right, so fifth grade, we're talking 10, 11 years old. A week later, my wife gets an email from Jane's mom saying Jane stole the money from her purse and finally confessed to taking it. Jane told her, I love that this girl stole money from her mom, it was like, I'm blowing it on all the essentials, bracelets and fidget spinners.

Jane told her initially that she paid my daughter so they could be friends, that's sad. But now they know it was a transaction. They're asking to return the items for the $50. The money is gone. And other than blowing the money on dumb things, I don't think my daughter did anything wrong. Jane's mother said the $50 is needed to pay medical bills

for their special needs child. and they really need it back. This can't be true. That's a tough one to argue against. Can this be real? Yeah, I know. Well, no, that's what this isn't necessarily what the email is saying to us. It's what Jane's mom is saying. Yes, I understand.

Right. Yeah. Okay. Can you verify that? understand. Right, yeah, okay. Can you verify that? Like, you know, they obviously live in a spare app. What's the billing code on those bills? That's, yeah, this is, okay, so I can't help but feel like this request has me paying for her child's theft.

Yeah, part of me thinks 50 bucks isn't so much, so maybe I just pay and make it go away. I've asked about eight close friends what to do when attitudes are split down the middle. I've yet to respond to this mom's email. What should I do? I think I'd be more willing to give the 50 bucks back if I wasn't getting this level of drama thrown on the top of it. Um, I'm not being insensitive, but my instincts here tell me that she's really

laying it on, um, about this medical bill thing to somehow make you feel worse when the motivating factor was really gonna be how people are with money. I think a $50 loss because of some 11 year olds did something weird, even though your daughter didn't do anything wrong. I think it's enough to just make it go away. That's usually what I would default to on a lot of these different things

where you're like 50 bucks and it's no longer thing. It's a lesson learned, uh, for all the parties involved, kids make mistakes. 50 bucks isn't going to ruin your week. But yeah, part of me feels like the request and being so specific about why she needs the 50 bucks back is kind of like, oh, so you've given me this massive sob story as if I'm not a decent human being. I wasn't thinking about it. I just have a hard time thinking of the person in the friend group that's like,

Hey, that was the markup. Your daughter's smart. She made out. She spent the money. That's not your fault. And it isn't your fault that she stole the 50 bucks. I kind of just in me feel like the nicer thing to do would be to give the 50 bucks back and just now it's done. Now it's just done and you talk to your daughter about it. But again, you can't really get into a daughter's case all that much other than. I remember we're trading baseball cards all the time and there was one guy who

used to just work, I used to just work and I don't know what was going on. I just wouldn't give in, just worked them. And then some new guys showed up on the scene with the Beckett pricing guide. And then that was the new standard for all future transactions that we had to have it all match up in the Beckett. And I'm like, who's this fucking Beckett guy kid? You know, he's taking away all my power. Like we actually have information on value. Like we don't need this.

Like this isn't a salary. The market is actually, yeah, right. I was gonna say it's worth what somebody wants to pay for it. Come on, physical hand guy. You're taking away all my negotiating power that I've developed over years and shaved it, shaved away the rough edges. So, uh, that's where I am. You guys.

I think this is a charger to the game situation as well, because being nine years older than my brother, I never even thought about this until I was older. But parental beef sucks, even if it's not like, because now your kid is, you know, 10, 11, 12, they're not like, they don't do the shit you tell them to do anymore. They're like, hey, can I go to John's house? Hey, can I go see what's up with Greg? They got,

you know, they got a pool. You know what I mean? They're asking you, you're not really in charge as much as you used to be about who they hang out with. And if this is like, you know, if you're going to have to be in the, you know, at birthday parties with this person, or you're on the same softball team or whatever, That stuff is, it just sucks. I watched it with my brother and like the dads in his like baseball group. It's like, oh, this is, this is crap. This is, this sucks. No one's happy about this. And we're too far down this road for it to go, you know, to backtrack this. So it's just going to be shitty forever. 50 bucks sucks. But I think, I think that's okay. I think to keep this on an even keel,

especially if you don't really know how this plays out yet. Like if they are actually friends, and this is going to be like, you know, you're going to be going to the bowling alley for a 13th birthday party, and you're going to be stuck there for 12 hours or two hours or whatever. I think it's worth it to just to just pay it and you can't say anything to your kid like, nice job. Way to hustle. But I think you just think you just pay this and you can't say anything to your kid. Like nice job, way to hustle. But I think you just pay this and move on. Yeah, like it could be way worse. I mean, I've heard stories of like, you know,

parents, kids spending five grand on Fortnite skins on their credit card they didn't know about. And like, you know, that's a problem. My brother did that to me. It's not great. My youngest brother when I was just starting at ESPN, it wasn't nine grand, but it was a few hundred bucks because I had set up his account

with a credit card and then he just started buying a ton of stuff. And I was like, what the hell is going on? And then he was really young. My youngest brother is a lot younger than me. So I was 30 and he was now maybe I'm 27. I forget now. Whatever it was. Didn'm whatever it was. Yeah, right. He wasn't, he wasn't even 15.

So maybe it was just cause I was on TV during the Celtics thing. And the reason I bring it up is that he, he went to my mother and he was really young and he just was like, I thought he was rich. He's on TV and he wouldn't notice that was his default. So,

not great. Well, uh, that's yeah, I mean, that's on TV and he wouldn't notice. That was his default. So. Not great. Well, that's, yeah, I mean, that's a huge problem. I mean, the one thing that's in the back of my mind in all this is like, what if you guys are talking about, oh, this is like this incredible story and like, is it true or not?

And, you know, they're trying to maybe fleece you and maybe we're all being suckers here. Maybe they're just making up the story. But if it is true, you're gonna feel like such an asshole like maybe they do need the money and if it's 50 bucks and it's not anything to you I just kind of think yeah what Kyle said like you don't want parent drama and then look like if somebody if it comes out that like that this they do have a kid that has some medical stuff and they need the money and then that gets around other parent groups like you're gonna be everyone's

gonna hear a huge tool and not like you. So yeah, this is a, this is a classic chalk it up with the game situation. I think you just pay it and even if you're getting fleeced, you know, you can sleep better at night. It does feel like another prime example of everyone else telling you what to do when they have no attachment to it whatsoever. Like it's super easy for the other person to be like, Hey, those are rules of money.

Like, yeah, 50 bucks. Fucking hide your shit better. And then you go, yeah, well, you, you don't have to deal with any of these things. And who knows? Maybe Jane becomes cool later on and then she becomes friends with your daughter and they room together at Bowdoin. You know, who knows? All things are on the table here.

I think the coolest part is that kids are paying 50 bucks markup just to be friends with your daughter because your daughter's so cool. Right. I used to sell my mom sandwiches pretty much every day at lunch and I would buy hot lunch with the money every day. Pretty awesome. Wait, you didn't just tell your mom, hey, can I get $2 instead? No, I don't think I was making a few bucks there.

If you've got food at home parents, that's never going to fly. If you've got food at home parents, no fucking way gonna fly. If you've got food at home parents, no fucking way are you getting near $2 for $1.85 for lunch. Yeah, I just like wasn't a big cold-cut guy growing up and you know, some dudes around liked like good sandwiches and I like, you know, the grilled cheese Thursdays. So, you know, my mom, I'd sell probably for two bucks and I think hot lunch was like $1.50 back then. So, you know, you're turning a profit every week. It wasn't terrible. Did they know?

No, no, definitely not broken. She would be heartbroken his mom if she yeah Well, you weren't doing it five days a week, right? It was pretty close Yeah My shit was weird cuz I was I'm a child divorced and they were straight up 50 50 So like half the week, my mom was like, I'm not making you a lunch. And then my, my dad's, my stepmom was like, here's your stupid lunch bag. And it was really more the lunch bag, not the lunch that I didn't like. I just didn't. It wasn't a cool lunch bag. It was just like, you know, it was like purple and there wasn't anything that stood out about it.

It wasn't an option for me, man. We got these, we got these awesome lunch boxes. So here you go. It was like a sort of like a cooler thing, but it was, I don't know. I just didn't, I didn't, I saw other kids' lunch boxes. I was like, this sucked. But then half the week I was like, you know, I'm hot lunch guy. So I don't know. I was confused. We had a salad bar that I used to hit up, which was perfect for me considering I was all skin and bones. It's like, what do you want to diet? In high school?

Yeah, we had a salad bar. That used to be my move, but I mean, I didn't, we didn't, we weren't a great like have food at home house. So I don't really know what that's about. It wasn't like we were like, you know, to a level of worrying about food being on the table or something like that. But like when there's a million kids, there's just a lot going on there.

But yeah, every now and then if I had like a lunch that was made up and good to go, like I'd have some peak lunches every now and then. But I just can't remember why. I don't know, I didn't have any, I didn't put any weight on forever and I wasn't helping myself. And I also would see most of the hot lunches going like, I'm not eating that. All right. Let's go.

They didn't look, some of them, they didn't look great. I'll give you that, but some of them were pretty good. The grilled cheese, the garlic bread one that was pretty good. Pizza was always kind of, uh, we had a bagel place that used to cater stuff. So when it was like they would do bagel days and one that was pretty good. Pizza was always kinda, we had a bagel place that used to cater stuff. So when it was like, they would do bagel days and those were always really good. Yeah, where'd you go? Salad show.

Academy over here? Connecticut, what are you gonna do? All right. It was in Fairfield County, come on. Yeah, that's fair. Fairfield County is like, do you want sushi again today? So here we go.

Why does becoming a teacher feel like giving up for a screenwriter? All right, we got a writer on our hands. I'll get straight to the point. My dilemma, 26, live in LA, a screenwriter, and have a college degree. The degree I got basically was worthless, liberal arts, yikes, yeesh.

Now for some though, remember, unless the degree is very specialized and tailored, like when you show up to school or at some point in school, you know exactly what you wanna do. And it's specific and you go,, all right, I want to be an engineer. And then you end up in those brutal classes. I just always think for younger people, like you can get kind of caught up in what your degree doesn't mean, but there's just too many examples. I have a friends of mine where there were guys that got through the business school and the guys that had liberal arts degrees and they ended up on the exact same path.

And some of the guys that didn't have business degrees did way better in business. It was just a matter of, you know, you a decent school and how are you in the interview? All right. So this guy says liberal arts. I didn't know what real career I wanted going in or the couple of years after graduation. So I did as much traveling as I could Europe, Central America, making money as an English teacher, freelance writer when I could. That's awesome.

Good stuff there. I wanted going in or the couple years after graduation. So I did as much traveling as I could Europe, Central America, making money as an English teacher, freelance writer when I could. That's awesome. Good stuff there. Being a screenwriter has been a dream I've pursuing since 16. That's why I moved to LA three years ago. As it stands today, I have some finished scripts, made a couple of short films, made inroads with the writers, people in the industry at my level, and even made a connection with a staff writer who said she'd be willing to help me out

if I showed her an irrefutable script. and even made a connection with a staff writer who said she'd be willing to help me out if I showed her an irrefutable script. Okay. This summer, I signed up for another screenwriting class to get better and meet more people. I think that's great. I know chances are slim about being a screenwriter,

but it takes years and years of trying to break in, but it's a dream and everything that comes with that process I'm okay with and have accepted. My problem is what stable job should I get until then? Last year I worked as a substitute, made good money for what it was, 45K, and even coached the school's basketball team. My background is in education.

I like kids and the schedule's great for writers, but I know I can't be a sub forever, but at the same time the commitment to being a real teacher and getting a credential, even if I'd be making more money and have little more respect to the school, feels like a mental block I can't get over. I got a job as a content writer to cover myself over the summer, but only pays 30K, which is nothing in LA,

and not something I could live year round on. I also have a girlfriend who needs a job I have actually matters a bit. She's an actor, hello, and a nanny for a family, makes good money. So why does becoming a teacher feel like giving up? Do I need to bite the bullet and commit to getting the credential

or should I continue to just make do as a substitute? By the way, six foot, 195, true point guard. Love to get teammates involved and play some defense and get to the bucket, three point shooting a streaky. See what he did? He changed up the timeline of the story on us. Well, Christopher Nolan situation. Well, time jump.

There's a piece of advice that was, that I was given. And I didn't know there's a lot of eye rolls, uh, from some of you. Whenever I talk about the writing part of it, that's fine. Understand. Um, so I'm not the most equipped. Look at Kyle warming his hands up. I'm certainly, and I admit I'm not the most equipped to try to tell you this stuff. I admit I'm not the most equipped to try to tell you this stuff. Um, but, uh, the advice that I was given was for wherever I was at in pursuing,

um, something I'm really passionate about. It was, you might not be desperate enough. You got here, you already had a pretty successful career and, and things have gone really good. So are you actually desperate as you need to be to break in to this thing that you want to break into? And that advice has stuck with me for a long time. And I wonder, right? Because I don't really know who can just move out here and go, And you have something else that you seem like you let you. You've only talked about the teaching angle as a positive. So think of it that way.

You're not doing the one thing to pay the bills every couple of weeks here that you despise and is taking away from, from your spare time. So, you know, I think that's the way to think about it. And I think that's the way to think about it. And I think that's the way to your spare time. So I don't know if the same thing, like I wouldn't look at it with me when I was told this, it stung, okay? It hurt a bit because I was like, that might be right. Like that might be my biggest problem is that every day is not about the one thing that I'm determined to achieve

because I have something else. But your something else is not enough at 26 years old to completely shut down the screenwriting goals that you have for yourself. People without kids, I've had a few weeks where I've had more responsibility than I've ever had in my life. And I'm thinking, wow, I actually in my normal day to day, you have a ton of freedom to continue to work on all these other things that you want to work on outside of a job that for what are you going to say about sports, like there's a time demand of it, of staying on top of all the things that you're going to be talking about all the time. So this feels way more like some kind of mental block that you're creating because the reality of it is,

is that you still will find the time if it's important enough to you. You don't have kids, you have a girlfriend who's in the industry so she'll understand. It's not that you're shutting down your dreams by potentially becoming more real as a teacher. It's that you're going to just have to be far more rigid in finding yourself those windows. Maybe it means watching one less show a night. Maybe if you're playing video games, unplug the fucking thing. Okay? Whatever those hours are in your day, when something's a priority, you can find the time

to do it when you don't have kids. People that have kids, completely different category, I don't know how you do it, but you do it and you just find a way. You're tired all the time, you think there's no way you're gonna get through the week with all the stuff you have to do and all the trips and all the dropping kids off and picking people up

and being in charge of other human beings that can't deal with it. Like you just, as one person explained it to me, it seems impossible and remains impossible, but you get through the week and you just find a way. You don't have any of those things. There may be a time with your girlfriend where you actually end up getting married and you have a couple of kids and you think, oh my God, I look back at it. Like I look

back at some of the years in my twenties going, how are you not doing this then? What the hell were you doing with all of your time? And it's just whatever that clock is inside of you. But this thing has been going on since you were 16. I think the taking classes thing to continue to get better, to meet more people, like you've said a lot of really great things, but you've created, I think,

kind of this imaginary roadblock that is just the label. You're changing the label of what your day to day is and pretending that that's going to now cut off all the other stuff that you're buying. I just don't think that's true. It's up to you to decide how important it remains and you will find that time because you still have it.

Can I just butt in real quick, Kyle? Because I just have a question. Because the one thing, it did sound like, so he brought up the fact that his girlfriend is an actress time because you still have it. I just butted in real quick, Kyle, because I just have a question. The one thing it did sound like, so he brought up the fact that his girlfriend is an actress and she's a nanny. And then he's like, well, we have to figure out the money situation. And it almost felt like the burden was maybe on him to like, hey, do I have to maybe figure out my shit and give up on the dream or find something?

So I'm just like, yeah, all things equal. Yeah, obviously go boss the wall and work your ass off and network and all that stuff. But I wonder if he's, it seems like he might be feeling a little bit of pressure, like long-term, maybe this is the girl that he wants to marry. And it's like, one of us needs to have like a stable career. And we can't both have our head in the clouds.

Yeah, you know, that, I don't know, that's kind of- Yeah, but you're 26. If you're 36 sending this email in saying, we wanna start a family, we feel like we're behind, you're not, you're not. I really don't think most people figure it out in kind of their mid thirties anyway, whatever figuring it is out,

figuring it out is I should say, for all of us that are out there. But you are, I just think you're adding a layer of this that's not really necessary. Yeah, I was gonna say in the beginning of this email, this is why people bartend in big cities like this. You can do three, four nights a week, and if you're at the right place,

supplement a week of income. Pretty good, actually. But what Ryan said was, it doesn't sound like you've said anything bad about this. And I think we all know from our times in school, like you're basically rolling the dice as a substitute teacher. Like you might actually enjoy it more if you got this certification now. I don't know. I know New York, it's pretty tough. Like it's not just, you know, the jump from sub to teacher is like, I think you need like a master's degree after a couple years

in New York. Like you can, I think you can like a master's degree after a couple of years in New York. Like you can, I think you can be a teacher for like three, four years. And if you don't get that master's, you're not certified or whatever. So I don't know how hard it is, but it sounds like, you know, you can find some passion in this.

And it's not the craziest hours, you know, depending on what you're teaching, I think. And you know, we've got summers off, depending on the kind of job you have. So I think you could improve where you're at. And not to say this, but if it doesn't work out and you work for the state, like shout out to like the small sliver of this country that is even eligible for a pension, bro. So I mean, at first I was going to say bartender, but now I think maybe, you know, what is it

going to really cost you time and money wise to have a little better day job while you're, you know, while like Ryan said, you could find the time if you really need to. Only fans fired up. Whoa, dude. Six foot 195? Maybe. I don't know. Yeah. Dad bought a five. How do you carry it, dude? How do you carry it? I wouldn't worry about this as much as he's worrying about it. about this as much as he's worrying about it. Um, because I think this is a very common thing. That all the cool stuff that we want to do when we're younger.

And then for many, that reality kicks in of like, Oh man, like I might not be able to do this and Hey, I'm making pretty good money here and now my responsibilities are a little bit better. I don't think you're there yet. I don't think you're there yet. I don't think you're there yet at all. Yeah, can I change my advice? Be a bartender. Your girlfriend is... It's a lot of creative types, it really is.

Like you might even want to do some... You know, the great papers? Dudes that meet on Thursday nights and compare notes or something. Like there's a lot of creatives in LA service scene. I do have fears about well I would just say this that yeah I met this person they said if I did this or whatever like when somebody tells you hey send me an irrefutable script well that's good luck. Yeah you see baby

reindeer careful. Yeah like uh here it is here it is. It's called inception. You know what? This isn't bad. So keep grinding, man. Keep grinding. Uh, because you know, this has gone on too long, but I, I do think for the people that have that creative drive and then have the freedom and certainly I'm also referencing myself here a little bit. I like having something that I'm just kind of kicking around, working on, looking at, and some days it doesn't happen.

And then the days where you're like, oh, this might work or this is interesting or whatever, it's just, it's a lot of fun if you like it. It's also brutal. Um, and then if you hate it, hate it, you're like, cool, I actually don't have to do this because it doesn't really matter, but you're just, you're too young. And I don't, I don't know that the stresses on your life are to a point where you have to give up on your dream. So good luck.

All right. That'll do it for us today. Thanks to everybody for checking us out on Friday, which we thought was a better idea after game one. You can see our first full episode that's up on the YouTube page. So please subscribe to that. Thanks to Oregon, Saruti and Kyle, Ryan Russo podcast, we're in Spotify. and Must be 21 and older 18 plus in DC and present select states fan dual is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under agreement with Kansas Star Casino LLC gambling problem call 1-800 gambler or visit Fandual.com forward slash RG in Colorado DC Iowa Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois

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