Transcript of Hour 2: The Undeniably Impressive LeBron James New

This is the Dan Levator Show with the Stugatz Podcast.

Against the Spread.

Against the Spread is presented by DraftKings. DraftKings, the crown is yours. Roy, what do we got?

Kings at Avalanche tonight. The Avalanche are 1.5 favorites. Uh, yeah, take them against the spread.

Tony, uh, a lot to choose from tonight in the Association. We've got a lot of big lines. Sixers and Celtics is double digits. Portland Trail Blazers and San Antonio Spurs is double digits. But I'm gonna go to the smallest line of the night. I'm gonna go with the Lakers +4.5 at home. I don't know if they win, but I think they keep it close. Rockets can't shoot worth a lick, can grab every offensive rebound available, but they cannot shoot. So I'm going to take the Lakers +4.5.

So Lakers are going to be dogs every game in the series.

Yeah.

All right.

But yet they'll probably win one.

You're already wrong.

I don't know, man.

They look—

they won a game.

A game.

I mean, you didn't expect Durant not to play.

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

Durant not playing. You said this before you knew their opponent.

Yeah.

Okay, that's not true.

Yes, it is. You said it yesterday.

Yes, it is.

How would I know? How would I know they're not going to win a game if I don't know who they're playing against?

You, you proclaim this.

What if they were playing against, uh, Portland?

You would have claimed it.

What are they playing? Golden State.

You proclaim this. They would have never done that. It was a decree.

Not only that, we knew number 1, number 2 seeds were locked.

No, I don't know.

Lakers could only finish best of 3.

You knew that. You got to wait 82 games. You got to see outstanding shakeup of emotional maturity.

Is being able to admit when you had it wrong. You're an emotional baby.

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

But you apologize for saying "Bodikwe"?

I mean, of course.

You do need to apologize for that.

Of course it's a time—

So the time travel genre cannot be its own genre?

It's a subgenre. Yeah, yeah, do it. Do folks not know subgenres? These are classified in the traditional action, comedy, drama, romance.

Shark movie.

Sci-fi, no.

Shark.

It's not on the genre pyramid. Then when you get one of the blocks of sci-fi or horror, then you start peeling back the layers and you're like, all right, here's a shark. Just, you know, the possession. Do you know what's a slasher? You know, you know, uh, Halloween.

How about Hitchhiker?

Halloween. You know what a Halloween— that's a slasher.

How about Scream?

But it's also a horror movie, larger genre.

You mentioned the Lakers.

Per Andrew Marchand of The Athletic, Mike Tomlin is headed to NBC and Football Night in America.

Oh, let me find this here. I'm sorry, that's Splash. It was a little slow there. Uh, maybe he'll explain to us the first time there, uh, why he left.

You're like a dog with a bone on this one.

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

Don't blink. We blinked first.

That's an upgrade over Dungy, right?

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

Chris doesn't know anything. I know.

I saw it too. But go ahead.

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

The thing that's interesting about it is the air is blowing so hard that the eyelids are moving.

Yeah, that guy looked like he blinked 10 times.

It's tough to tell when the actual blink happens and what's just your eyelids being pushed back. See, like right here, he's blinking, but that's a bunch— it looks like a bunch of blinks.

He's blinking a lot.

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

Well, I'm not surprised that you're not totally up to date on leaf blower technology, but there are battery-powered ones that have a pleasant hum.

Also, you're far away from that cruise ship. Pretty loud up close.

Yeah, you're also probably listening to the industrial guy that has the backpack of the leaf blower.

Put it on the— put it on the Polat-Levitar Show. What's louder, cruise ship or a leaf blower?

I think the leaf blower.

You say I'm far away from it. I feel like I'm far away from the leaf blower. Because I don't live on the ground and it wakes me up every morning.

Those are the gas-powered ones. They have quiet ones for your home. They do.

I don't—

you never secure the perimeter.

I'm— I understand that there are some leaf blowers that are quiet. Why are they never the one outside of my house?

Because those are industrial types. True.

Exactly. Those are commercial style.

When you have your, your team of 40 doing your landscaping, they need the gas-powered ones to get through that job quickly.

Those people are both blinking.

Every time you walk home, I imagine there's someone with shears carving an animal into some kind of foliage.

Nudie magazine day!

The thing that I had last night, Zaslo, that doesn't happen to me very often, okay? I don't think— never mind sports— I don't think there's anything in the world that does this to me. I think this is my number one I'm a hater. There's nothing else to be said. I'm just being a hater here. The way the Knicks lost last night, which hasn't happened since Reggie Miller did it to them in the playoffs, that kind of game where they're leading in the fourth quarter and then everything falls apart. They're missing their free throws. They've got a bunch of turnovers. Now everyone's questioning how it is Mike Brown is using Karl-Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson. And there is just so much noise around the first round of CJ McCollum took you out. CJ McCollum is playing the Trae Young role of being the villain in Madison Square Garden when he's one of the sweetest guys in the league. And just a great trade for that team in general because they don't have any playoff experience. Not that he has that much, but he's a steady hand and he dusted— he dusted the Knicks in that game even though he missed a couple of free throws that could have cost them.

The game. So the thing that I wanted to ask you guys is, what is your number one 'I'm a hater' thing? I'm just a hater because I don't think I even have a second one in enjoying the shutting up of that fan base. Now this is something that comes from the roots of South Florida where I'm just used to— it's not even the Heat-Nicks rivalry from a million years ago. I'm just so used to New Yorkers living in our city while telling us that New York is better while living in our city that those loud people. I enjoy suffering that particular loss.

Where—

have you seen some of this, these numbers? They had been— they are now 53-1 when leading by 10 entering, uh, the fourth quarter of a playoff game. I think in their history, right, of a playoff game. And the only one there is the Reggie Miller game.

Yeah, that's right.

Like, that, that's the only one. I'm sorry, so now they're 53-2 when they lead by double figures going into the fourth quarter. They win that game at home. And now this is something that's different about the Knicks now. This has changed about the Knicks. They're the ones with the playoff experience. That team has averaged 50 wins a season the last 4 seasons. That team gets out of the first round now. The noise around the Knicks right now. Do you have something that you hate that you would put at the top of your hater list? Because I really do believe this is the only thing on my hater list, inside or outside of sports.

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

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

Yeah, but Boston Radio actually went after your dad. Yeah, so you should have something personal at stake there. Yeah, it's personal when it comes to Boston. I put together a top 5. Oh, here we go. O-L-I, Notre Dame.

Yeah, I'm with that one.

Really enjoyed this past few months. That was fun. OLI, Tottenham Hotspur. They're always bad, so it's less fun, but they might get relegated, so that's great. And then the Boston Bruins round out our OLI.

It's nice though, because we absolutely own them.

That's right. Number 5, and there is an epic bottle job coming. Oh, if Arsenal blows this, mana from heaven. Number 5 is Arsenal. Number 4, I told you, in the name of equality, Angel Reese. Don't look at me like that. Equality means we get to hate people unreasonably. Number 3, Florida State. Number 2, Florida Gators. Number 1, the Boston Celtics.

The Boston Celtics sucks.

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Bow.

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Don Lebatard.

Where the motherfucking Roiz at? Bring his ass on here. Where's the motherfucker Roiz is a great question.

Stugatz.

Running, huh? He running today, huh? I'm ready.

This is the Don Lebatard Show with the Stugatz.

I would nominate when you show up at a restaurant at a— and you park at the same time as someone and you're like walking in but you want to try to speed up and walk faster than— oh yeah, amen. Yeah, I just— I get a disdain if I see someone pulling into a restaurant at the same time as me. I become a monster and I'm like, I got to get out, drop me off at the thing. Like, I'm always eyeing cars entering a parking lot.

I don't think that's hating.

No, but it is though. I'm telling you, it's so weird. I'll like, if I'm pulling in—

he hates them.

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

That feeling, that right there, that's me when I watch Angel Reese.

That's not hating, that's hunger.

No, that is just, hey, I'm going to get my name on this list first.

He hates someone sitting before him.

But that—

you guys, I think the reason that sometimes I'll like walk past them fast if they happen to get out of the car and they're walking in casually, I'll just speed walk in.

But you're also thinking in your head, "Aw man, like, like they know that I'm trying to beat them." That's in your mind.

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

I get so happy. Me and my wife high five if I beat them in there. She walks in, I'm like, "Fist me." You think that person is suffering?

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

Dude, I have a 20-minute wait, they have a 25-minute wait.

Dan, these Knicks fans, they're imbeciles, alright? Like, you see these videos that are outside Madison Square Garden. After game number 1, it was like they won the NBA Finals. And guess what? They did it again last night. They're out there just chanting "Nixon Five" now. They just lost, and these imbeciles are out there celebrating and partying "Nixon Five." Dan, they chanted during the game "F Trey Young." It was like 8 years ago!

He's a Wizard!

It was a first-round series! It was like Trey Young beat them in the Finals! It was a first-round series like 8 years ago. He plays for the Wizards and they, they got better without him!

Hmm. Like, not even a minute ago you joined me in a Paul Pierce sucks chant.

It's always F Paul Pierce.

Dan, I think the real true thing of a hater is can you hate even though the person is successful? It's easy to be hater when somebody loses. Can you be a hater when somebody wins? And that's where I'm with Wemby. Anything he does, I'm done. I'm done with Wemby.

What?

Like, oh, I'm so good, I could dunk from here, I can do a spin move and a crossover here. Oh, I talk about societal issues.

Oh, I'm a monk, so cultured. Oh, there it is.

I'm done with this guy.

This guy likes climate change.

No, it's not about climate change. It's about I got an answer for everything. I hate Portland. Good team, yeah, but he talks like he's Bill Russell.

Wemby thinks he's better than us.

He is better than us.

He's French in every way.

Exactly right. Hate them too. But he's—

what?

Ooh, they're OLI. Adding the French.

Thank you.

And the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Thank you.

For me, it's for sure the Miami Hurricanes. We don't think about you at all.

Say you're done with Wembley, because I am.

Why would I be done with Wembley? Because it's just—

everything is so perfect. He's Mr. Perfect.

Everything—

there's nothing wrong with Wembley ever.

Adding another OLI, the Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins Phillies.

There's nothing wrong. Victor Wanyama ever. How are the Knicks not on your list anywhere?

They're funny.

Yeah, they're funny.

We are so far removed from that being a rivalry.

They're nothing.

And they, they haven't meant anything to the Miami Heat since before the 21st century.

No threat.

Okay, but yeah, so you guys, the way you guys are doing that hating though is it's also soaked in some jealousy. That's not what I'm doing.

Yes, how do they affect me?

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

I, I liked it. I, I was glad that the Hawks, you know, last night I proclaimed, Dan, coming into the week, NBA playoffs have been a dud. Well, last night took a turn for the better.

You happy now?

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

To the Atlanta Hawks too.

That's exciting.

And the ghost of Trae Young somewhere in Washington, D.C. But the thing is, the most clutch player in the league year in and year out has been Jalen Brunson. He hit some big shots last night, but when it came to, all right, I need this bucket, Nakil Alexander-Walker took his cookies.

Well, they were just attacking Jalen Brunson every chance they can get, attacking him like he's— he was all— I mean, he's not a good defender, not for lack of effort, he's just small.

Okay, he's not a good defender and neither is Karl-Anthony Towns, but Karl-Anthony Towns evaporated in that game and that's where the criticism will go because grande por gusto, like it's the size works for Brunson in this situation and works against Karl-Anthony Towns. But you just said Mike Brown's not a good coach. Did he win Coach of the Year in Sacramento?

He's won it multiple times!

So, so, but he— okay, so man, Zazz. Coach of the Year multiple times is not a good coach? Like, you feel comfortable?

It's all about expectations.

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

But he also produced the best season Sacramento's had in 2 decades?

Mm-hmm. Yeah, there's a couple of characters like this in soccer. They burn people out after a season, and that seems to be his forte.

Like Mike Brown. Mike Brown's been fired 4 different times. I'm sorry, man, like, I'm not hiring a guy to get me to the next step that's been fired 4 times.

They were so happy that it wasn't Thibodeau. They were so done with—

Thibodeau's a good coach.

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

You're not going to trust a guy who's been fired 3 to 4 times to get you over the hump? Well, I know you didn't start watching the NHL playoffs till the Panthers got good, but Paul Maurice got fired 3 times and effectively was fired in Winnipeg.

Mm. They gotcha.

I don't think it's the same thing in that sport.

What do you mean, gotcha?

I don't think it's the same thing.

In that sport, it's not the same thing too, because they do— they fire their coaches all the time. They do. They put—

I mean, they do. You know who the oldest coach in the NBA playoffs is?

Well, I want to guess.

Guess.

Okay, I don't know.

It's fun. It's a fun one. Quinn Snyder.

No, no way. No.

Yeah, the guy that for, you know, all the time we've been doing this show was always known as like the young guy in the suit.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

If you would tell me he's the youngest guy in the playoffs, I don't believe you.

Yeah, he's 59 years old. He's the oldest coach in the NBA.

Put it on the poll at Le Batard Show. Can you believe Quinn Snyder Quinn Snyder is 59 years old and also put on the ball poll. Can you believe that Quinn Snyder is the oldest coach in the NBA playoffs? The losing that way, though, you're the best fourth quarter team in the league. Jalen Brunson, you've heard me say, I believe him to be the most beloved Knick there has ever been.

Over Clyde Frazier?

Yeah.

People disagree with me because they put Clyde Frazier up there. I think the advantage that Jalen Brunson has that Clyde Frazier did is he's got the novelty of being undersized, he's got the novelty of bringing them back to prominence after 20 years of awful, and he's a killer in the fourth quarter. Like, known killer throughout the league where he's just got just an assortment of all of these memorable things where they just trust him so implicitly. This guy's gonna figure out how to bail us out at the end of the game. But we can quibble about that. This is the greatest season of expectations for the Knicks since the beginning of the century.

Yeah.

This Knicks team is now expected to win. It's not what was expected of the others. They've made the playoffs and advanced past the third round 3 straight years. They've averaged 50 wins a season for the last 4 years. They traded Bridges because they thought they needed a— or they traded for Bridges, 5 draft, 5 first-round picks because they thought he was a final piece defensively. They love Anunoby because They will bother the Celtics. They will absolutely bother the Celtics with their wing defenders. They, they've got— that team is built to play against the Celtics. It's why they built it that way. It, it doesn't account for the other things in the league.

It's why they beat them last.

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

They did at the deadline though, they added Kaminga and Gabe Vincent, guys with Finals experience.

Yeah, they've both been there in the last years.

And McCollum, and McCollum in that game. Look, he mentioned Alexander Walker. Walker Alexander. I love this guy.

As Nikhil Alexander Walker. You had it.

Nah, for short.

Play on.

Oriquay.

They added all three of those guys.

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Don Lebatard!

You keep mentioning Lou Harris and— Lou Williams and Montrell Harris. You keep mentioning—

Harrell.

Harrell, excuse me.

Next to Guts.

Nick, thank you so much for being on with us. Really enjoy your work.

Oh, thanks for having me.

Have a great day.

Yeah, yeah, this is the Dan Levatar Show with the Stugatz.

Nikhil Alexander-Walker, before the end of that game, hadn't done much of anything in that series, and now they go back to Atlanta tied 1-1, and I'd be scared if I were the Knicks of the specifics of what that team has. Am I wrong?

I don't think so.

Right?

Like, I can't stop thinking about how much I hate Angel Reese. What was the question?

You see last year's number one overall pick, Reece Ache, he doesn't even play.

Guy's a scrub.

Doesn't even play. Literal DNP CD in the playoffs.

I think the important thing with McCollum is that it's the unlikely hero, especially when he's a guy—

I can't believe he's still good.

Got swept in the Western Conference by the Warriors. What was it, 2019? Was that '19?

Don't look at me like I'm some expert on the Blazers.

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

He was so close, though, to being like— to being the scapegoat. He's—

he's like a couple of free throws.

He's an 80% free throw shooter. Boy, he missed that second one badly, like almost an airball. And it was confusing, too, because we're watching the game, right? And they're rushing up the court because there's only seconds remaining. Why aren't they calling their final timeout? Because it said that they had a timeout on the graphic. And, and then in the post-game show on NBC, like, Maria Taylor came on and clarified they did not have a timeout. Like, the graphic was incorrect. So it was confusing.

That messed Nick Wright up because he said, like, why didn't they call a timeout? And then he deleted the tweet and came out and said, hey, they had a tight— the— they had a timeout on the graphic.

Why did he delete the tweet?

I don't know.

Because it wasn't his mistake, it was a broadcast, right?

That's why. So why does he have to delete the tweet?

Because then he has to explain it constantly, like, we just didn't know, you know, stamp.

You wouldn't have deleted the tweet, right?

I've never deleted a tweet, never. I say what I mean, I mean what I say. Everybody knows that.

Everyone knows. So you just have— I mean, what do you mean what I say? Put it on the poll. Does everyone know that Zazzos has what he meant? That's right.

Yo, you snore?

Yeah, man, I'm a grown man. Of course I snore. Like, who does— you don't snore?

Of course I snore. I don't snore, Roy. I don't, I don't snore.

I gotta call a neat.

You really gotta push that tongue to the roof of your mouth.

Dan, you snore for sure, right?

Yeah, he's got a mask. He's gotta have a mask.

You got a mask?

He's got the whole machine.

Of course, I was thinking of the mask. How does it work?

It's great.

It's tough to clean.

Great, right?

It's great.

Is it loud? Louder than a cruise ship? It's loud. That's why you don't hear the cruise ship.

Leaf blower. Yes, uh, it just, it just—

poor Valerie.

You hear the fighter jet?

Just takes off his mask.

You hear that annoying leaf blower?

It's Darth Vader sleeping next to her.

Her, her face looks like, looks like those people who were in that, uh, the blinking competition where I'm just, I'm snoring so loud that her mouth is blowing open and she can't blink. That's what he thinks is a leaf blower this whole time. Uh, the sleep machine is just extra oxygen that allows you to sleep deeper if you're a snorer. It is, uh, it is a magical device. Uh, the other game though tonight, uh, between the Rockets and the Lakers, uh, one of the things I wanted to ask you guys because of, uh, I want to call it rarefied air that LeBron, uh, occupies, but it's not even rarefied. He's the only one one who occupies, I think, the space I'm about to describe anywhere in sports. Maybe Messi does, but I don't think Wembenyama does. I don't think Ohtani does. I don't think anybody else in sports occupies the space I'm about to describe. He's not just the oldest player in the league. He's not just the oldest player in the league who, uh, was the centerpiece of the Lakers winning a playoff game. He wasn't the secondary player. He's not the third player.

He's the oldest player in the league and the star of the team winning a playoff game while playing with his son. Not only that though, that playoff game means that since 1995, LeBron James has won more playoff games than the Spurs. LeBron James has won more playoff games than the Lakers. Since 1995, LeBron James has won more playoff games than the Miami Heat, than the Boston Celtics. No, no person or team has done as much winning since 1995 of playoff games as the singular person, LeBron James, who did it as the oldest player in the league. And the thing I think it makes him rarer than anyone else in this age of mastery throughout sports is that I think he's lost the ability to impress us with anything he does because we're losing sight of all the things that I just said, which are crazy. As the oldest player in the league, man, I remember what Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Michael Jordan looked like at the end of their careers. They could not win a playoff game as the primary player against anybody, whether whether Kevin Durant was on or not. And they were younger, they were younger than LeBron.

Like, can you look up for me what Kareem was doing at the end when all he could do was the skyhook and he wasn't the principal player? And I, I don't think I have it wrong when I think his last season, whatever the age was, he was— he wasn't very much of a scorer. He could just be taller than everyone else. I think Ohtani can still awe us. I think Wembenyama can still awe us. I think LeBron can't. We're too used to being awed by him.

If the Lakers win this series, we are going to be in awe of LeBron. Like, okay, they won Game 1, and maybe as an underdog again they'll win Game 2 tonight. But if, if they knock off Houston, like, we're gonna have to be in awe of him at 41 leading that team.

You most certainly will have to be.

To a series victory.

I said before that series was played, given that his, uh, his top 2 guys are out, it would be the most impressive thing of his career if he won a first-round playoff series against Houston as the oldest player in the league. And I think the oldest player in the league by miles.

By far. Cap at the end was 41 years old, 10 points, 4.5 rebounds a game on 47% shooting from the field in 22 minutes.

Time to hang it up.

Wow.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

A little bit of a compiler, it turns out.

Compiler. Yeah.

I mean, 10 points a game because all he could do, he was creaking like it He had 4 boards in 22 minutes.

6 MVPs, though.

I don't know.

Not that season.

A handful of championships. I never saw him. I think he's bad now.

I would argue that Ohtani is in this category, though.

That's right.

Like, Ohtani is just like, what more can he do at this point? He's dominating pitching. He's leading the league in home runs. People are calling him Babe Ruth.

I don't agree.

Coming through in the postseason.

I don't agree.

Last year in a game against the Marlins, I thought we were awed by whatever it was, 10 RBI and 3 home runs. I thought that was awe-inspiring just last year. Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, I'm just trying to find— I'm going around all the other sports and all the best players can still impress me. For me, this is a LeBron.

I'm with you.

I'm not finding anyone better than LeBron. I'm saying Ohtani is probably the closest.

When Ohtani pitches, you know, 8 shutout innings and also hits a home run in the game, you're not in awe?

It does still get you.

Yeah, I could play that game where if LeBron has a triple-double tonight, like, that doesn't impress you?

Uh, well, I just think though that all of the things that I just said to you, like the factors, right? The skipping past— played a playoff game with his son! Is still better at basketball than his son, who's an NBA basketball player!

But is he?

His son who's an NBA basketball player because his father's LeBron!

Did you see that video? I don't know how decontextualized it is of what appears to be, and that there have been lip readers like assessing what was said, but it appears like Udoka is turning to JJ Redick and pleading with him to put in Bronny. Yeah.

Oh my God, I remember that. Udoka really doesn't like LeBron. Like, you've seen there, there have been other games, the way that Udoka speaks to LeBron.

Uh, his players though appear to be in awe here. Uh, can you show me Shengun here? Can you show me, uh, what he was doing on Uh, the sideline, sitting at the bench, and you see LeBron walks by.

He clearly like perks up, stands up, and then looks up at LeBron, and LeBron walks back.

Wanted eye contact. An All-Star simply wanted eye contact.

We can run it again. He's sitting here, he's looking for something in his pocket, and then he just kind of— yeah, like, and stands at attention for LeBron. And everyone on the internet kind of had fun with this video of like, wow, look at him paying the ultimate respects to LeBron. And then he was asked about about it, and he's denying it. We're going to pull up the video where he can explain himself here.

Oh, but the way that he— we can play that video, but the way that he looked at him at the corner of his eye, uh, it— I mean, it feels like—

and the way he perked up.

Yeah, just— it feels like he just want— is desperate for eye contact. Let's hear the explanation here.

Talk about the, the viral video that's going around with you stood up when LeBron walked by.

Yeah, I just saw that video today. I mean, everybody was sending to me too, but it's kind of funny. I mean, I was just trying to get something, uh, out of my pocket.

That's why I got—

I got up. I mean, you know, no disrespect to LeBron, of course, respect to him, but you know, I stood up for him. You know, it was just something I was getting out of my pocket.

I don't believe him. And now I know in the video he clearly is reaching for something in his pocket, but that doesn't explain his body. Like, he jerks, he looks up at LeBron, and he stands up like, oh, oh, whoa, oh. He's not even reaching for in the pocket anymore.

Once he stands up, he's not even reaching Cool part of that vid is everybody in the background also standing up because they see LeBron walking over. But this is, this is what tall guys do. You're not gonna alpha me. You're not gonna— when you walk past me, I'm taller.

I just am going to keep saying oldest player in the league because when I think in any sport of oldest player in the league, I think of people like Jamie Moyer. I think of like Morton.

Oh, he was on that Ryan Howard team that I hated so much.

I'm thinking like Charlie Huff.

I'm, you know, 46 years old, complete game.

I'm just thinking of like old kickers, like a wrinkly guy with white chest hair.

Just Gordie Howe.

Somebody. Yes, somebody.

Tom Brady's filler.

Somebody who's just wandering around out there, not able to beat the young Houston Rockets in a playoff game with efficiency.

I think, I think of Ovechkin. Skin, even though he's much younger than he looks.

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

It is, but it's also a bit of a rhetorical trick because, uh, here's the number, okay? It's 185. 5. Then the Spurs are at 184. The Lakers are at 172, playoff games won since 1995. The Heat then are at 161 with Derek Fisher. Then the Celtics at 158. Then Tim Duncan at 157. Uh, but those guys, uh, it helps that Derek Fisher went from the Lakers to the Spurs. It allowed him to win with both of, uh, both of those teams. It's still a crazy thing to lay out in front of you though. Still an All-Star, oldest player in the league, playing a playoff game with his son, and as the centerpiece of the team at an age when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was averaging 10 points a game and 4 rebounds in 22 minutes. He's playing the brunt of the minutes and everything is working through him because he's the only thing that they have offensively. I, I— you guys don't agree with the assessment that there is nothing that he can do at this point? I suppose if he wins another title as the oldest player in the league, that would be something that would astound.

Yeah, that would be because it's a— it would affect the start times, which is— you're asking what else he can do? Maybe move to an East Coast team. It's hard to keep up with the achievements. These games are late.

Doesn't bother me, I get to stay up as late as I want.

You're a big boy. Provided it's on a tablet.

I am a big boy.

Derek Fisher never a Spur, by the way.

You confused him with Robert Horry.

Oh mother—

but it's fine.

Alexander Walker! Walker Alexander! Bonica!

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