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- [00:01]
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- [00:30]
Dan LeBatard
This is the Dan Levator show with the Stu Guts podcast.
- [00:38]
Mike Ryan
What a night in the NBA last night. Huge upsets in game one. And there were some really hard tickets out there. In fact, an Academy Award winning filmmaker didn't get tickets to one of the games and he had to go to the Met Gala instead. And all he had to do was was download the game time.
- [00:56]
Chris Cody
Yeah.
- [00:56]
Greg Cody
So easy.
- [00:57]
Mike Ryan
Yeah. So most people don't have the Met Gala to fall back on. So what do you do when you want to go to an event that is sold out? When you want to go specifically to an NBA playoff game that is sold out, like this filmmaker, you should have downloaded the GameTime app, create an account and use the code DAN for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download game time today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Incredible ticket coverage. For me, game time is the best in the secondary market. I use it all the time, especially come playoff time.
- [01:28]
Chris Cody
Chris Cody in a previous segment, I don't know if you guys saw it on video, if you caught it or not, but Chris Cody was pantomiming what looked like a pretty happy roller coaster. Roller coaster descent into hell of the plane is crashing. I'm a fireball. I'm screaming. What have I done with. Yes. It seemed happier than I would have imagined.
- [01:48]
Greg Cody
Yes.
- [01:48]
Chris Cody
That was. You were Arnold Schwarzenegger falling from the side. Falling on. Yes.
- [01:52]
Mike Ryan
To quote Billy though, what's the big deal?
- [01:55]
Chris Cody
Well, that. That is. I enjoy.
- [01:58]
Dan LeBatard
If you're dead, what difference does it make if you saved $190?
- [02:01]
Stugotz
Two minutes, Billy.
- [02:02]
Mike Ryan
Yeah, that. Two minutes of falling. That like. Yeah, I understand. No, I don't want my last two minutes on earth begging for death.
- [02:08]
Dan LeBatard
Am I?
- [02:09]
Mike Ryan
Take me away.
- [02:09]
Dan LeBatard
Am I talking to a ghost right now? No, you're.
- [02:12]
Mike Ryan
You're alive. I'm not going to give you buy in on this one, pal. Like, I don't want to die in an airplane crash and I'm not going to pretend like it's no big deal.
- [02:20]
Dan LeBatard
Spirit has had.
- [02:21]
Mike Ryan
You don't want to bite into an onion anymore.
- [02:22]
Dan LeBatard
26 years. Zero. It's impossible. To than zero fatal crash.
- [02:27]
Mike Ryan
Daredevil, the man without fear. I didn't know you were this hard. This hard ass all of a sudden.
- [02:32]
Greg Cody
Billy, to be fair, you don't want the last two minutes of your life being like, damn, why did I buy a spirit ticket? That's. That's it. It's not.
- [02:39]
Mike Ryan
That's almost worse. Worse than death.
- [02:40]
Stugotz
I should have spent 220.
- [02:42]
Mike Ryan
I could have avoided all of this.
- [02:45]
Greg Cody
Also, I didn't bring any cartons with me.
- [02:47]
Mike Ryan
Oh, the cigarettes for barter would have been such a good idea. I'm dead.
- [02:50]
Dan LeBatard
We should get on spirit flight right.
- [02:51]
Greg Cody
Now, pack a parachute. They're gonna charge you.
- [02:55]
Chris Cody
But you know the thing that I saw happening very clearly again, I'm looking at our erstwhile executive producer and what's being talked about. What I'm hearing there is there are a lot of people who need that $200 and a $35 Spirit Flight. You can shame people about it. But he did get home successfully. And while we can be classist or elisist elitist about $200. Doesn't matter. I need to save my life. When Chris Cody is a fireball with the last couple minutes of his life, and he's enjoying it, and it's Schwarzenegger. It's, oh, I'm dying. It's also, I'm dying. And I've done some simple math. I knew that I made the price of my life $200 when I chose this particular flight. So it's not just that you're a fireball. You're a fireball that's made a terrible mistake on. I only valued my life at $200. That realization, while on fire, burns a little.
- [03:54]
Mike Ryan
No, it's even worse than that, Dan. Because as he's crashing to earth in his final moments, he can't even hold his son because his son is sitting in a different.
- [04:02]
Amin Elhassan
I would find a way to switch seats. All right, When I start to see that this thing is going awry.
- [04:08]
Mike Ryan
Excuse me. Is anyone next to you?
- [04:09]
Amin Elhassan
Yeah, I would manage to get next to my boy.
- [04:12]
Greg Cody
You got zaz. Go. Excuse me. Pardon me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Pardon me. Excuse me.
- [04:15]
Mike Ryan
Pardon me.
- [04:15]
Greg Cody
Pardon me. Excuse me.
- [04:16]
Mike Ryan
Pardon me. No, the g forces on this make this totally plausible.
- [04:20]
Chris Cody
A story I have not gotten yet to today. And I have. I've been remiss in not doing so. I've done a couple of things today that have been a little delayed. And this particular story yesterday when I saw the Ravens statement and sort of did some inventory on the last 10 years of American history through the Ravens organization. Okay. I mean, sports was the place where they kind of showed us what domestic abuse looks like. It's one of the greatest scandals in the history of sports that Ray Rice introduced us to. Oh, that. That's what it looks like when somebody beats the holy hell out of their significant other. And that's what it looks like when a Ravens organization rallies to protect its beloved Ray Rice. And that's what it looks like when a Ravens organization is pushed to the brink on. Hey, do you want to have a comment on Colin Kaepernick as a backup? And the owner says, pray for us. This is one of the best organizations in sports, not just football and sports. It's been great. And only because of the Patriots are we not even regarding them higher. The Ravens represent football very well. Football played well. Football with discipline. They've won a lot of games because their kicker is better than everyone else. They had Adam Vinatieri for the modern age. He was the best. We all knew that. When we're playing with math, right, 7 points or 3 points, the 3 points are hugely important. All the games are closed. Justin Tucker is hugely valuable and beloved because, holy shit, the guy never misses and makes me feel good all the time. And other teams fear him. He's a valuable kicker when you have.
- [05:49]
Mike Ryan
A two minute drill. And most teams need to get to, like, the 30 to give themselves a chance. They go to the 45. They have no idea. Well, they're about to find out. And they found out a little bit last year.
- [06:01]
Chris Cody
No, they found out a lot last year. And that's why he's waived. Be clear on that. Be clear on that. He's not waived because of the crimes. He's waived because he was bad last year.
- [06:16]
Mike Ryan
I mean, that's what they said, right? Football reasons.
- [06:18]
Greg Cody
So let me give you two scenarios. Scenario one, he has a more typical Dustin Tucker year last year, but he has all these issues.
- [06:27]
Chris Cody
Hold on, hold on. Before we get to the hypotheticals that we can have a field day with on isn't morally right, just let me get through the part of this that outraged me yesterday. Legitimately pissed me off as somebody who can be pretty numb to how cold sports can be. The Ravens falling all over themselves to release Justin Tucker with a hand to their head and faint on. This hurts so much to tell you all that. It hurts because it feels like Justin Tucker's the victim of. Oh, God, he was gross. On alleged predatory stuff that seems reliable enough to be true, no matter how shameless People are today about denying scandals. Lot of people coming forth.
- [07:08]
Mike Ryan
Ew.
- [07:09]
Chris Cody
Creepy, disgusting behavior that the Ravens can't bring themselves to castigate in public as they release the following statement. Sometimes football decisions are incredibly difficult, and this is one of those instances. Considering our current roster, we have made the tough decision to release Justin Tucker. Justin created many significant and unforgettable moments in Raven's history. His reliability, focus, drive, resilience and extraordinary talent made him one of the league's best kickers for over a decade. We are grateful for Justin's many contributions while playing for the Ravens. We sincerely wish him and his family the very best in this next chapter of their lives. That's executive vice president and general manager Eric DaCosta and what that is. And this should be overt to all, I think, right? This. I don't know if this bothers you at all, but this is a person whose punctuation on his career, with very credible information, no matter what it is that we have to say about alleged here was predatory in nature over women who were helpless in a way that's very similar to Deshaun Watson. Deshaun Watson wouldn't deserve a statement of release like that right now. And Justin Tucker doesn't deserve a statement of release. I'm hesitant to even use the word release given what he's accused of. But what the Ravens did there was not leadership. It was not hard. They're defending somebody as if he's a victim when he made others the victim. And they're doing it with a bad kicker. It's not even. They're not even doing it with the courtesy of a player who plays actual football respected by other football players because it's collisions. They're doing it to protect the precious kicker that no one respects just because he's worth three points at a time and just because that means more to the Ravens than real victims and women. And I just wish one time one of these football organizations would stand for something. Not virtue signaling, but just stand for something that says, hey, this shit's not okay, even if you have to cover your ass legally, which they do have to cover their ass legally. Like, I'm not pretending or moralizing here and saying there's not a lot of COVID your ass legally that you have to do here. Because he hasn't yet been convicted of things, and there's plausibly some stuff that he can do legally that makes it seem like he was fired before it was legally just to do so on things that are accusations and not yet crimes.
- [09:35]
Dan LeBatard
I Would say the counterpoint to that though is, is if he was a good kicker, they may not have released him.
- [09:40]
Chris Cody
They would not like him.
- [09:42]
Dan LeBatard
Like, they are releasing him because he was a bad kick. You're making it seem like they're using the accusations as an excuse for releasing, releasing him and they're taking this moral stand, which they probably wouldn't have taken had he been a good kicker.
- [09:53]
Mike Ryan
I think he's probably still around though, were not for the allegations. He's arguably the greatest kicker of all time. And I'd say what's pretty telling is where's the big tribute video? Baltimore. Like where, where is this? Seemed like you're, you're showering praise on, on Justin Tucker. Why haven't you put out the tribute video to so your social channels? Oh, that's right. Because there's something around this whole Justin Tucker story that certainly plays into what you allege is a football decision that was certainly made a lot easier because he all of a sudden, because I can only presume, had all this stuff going around his life, that it affected his on field performance. We got clued into that later this, later last season and we were like, well, I guess this makes sense because what we saw last year from Justin Tucker was confusing because quite. Yeah, and he was bad by most metrics, but he was really bad by his standard. It was shocking because every time that guy came out, you knew it was going in between the post. You knew that he would do things at a higher clip than almost anyone else in the history of the game.
- [11:00]
Greg Cody
That was my question. My question is, had he had a typical Justin Tucker year. Wait, let me say it all. Had he had a typical Justin Tucker year, but had these allegations, would he still be on the roster? And then the second question is, had he had the year he had last year with no allegations, would he still be on the roster?
- [11:17]
Chris Cody
So we can have this conversation at any point through the last 20 years of crimes in sports. Can you guys look up for me something, please? Because I think Mike is understating how bad Justin Tucker was last year. I think I have not read the kicker numbers recently, but I believe that Justin Tucker went from the surest thing in the sport, best there's ever been, to, if not the worst kicker in the league. I think it might have been worst, but if not the worst, one of the very worst. And so now I tell you, and I ask you, the audience, what's tough about this decision? Like, why can't you make the stand on, man, this is like again, they have to wait for legal and they have to wait for times that you can cut people. And there are corporate things that have to be adhered to so that you can make sure that, you know, in front of everybody. We have to make a corporate football decision that covers everybody's ass here. But would you not like to hear one team be able to talk about. To be brave enough to work around the. To work around the lawyer stuff and simply say, we released Justin Tucker, period? Not. Not. We have released Justin Tucker. That's not even a stand. That's asking a football team to say about a bad kicker. Get, you know, get out of here. Like, that's not what you've. What you're accused of. It's not. Never mind whether or not you're a good or bad kicker. What you're accused of will knock out any kicker because it's the kicker. And we should respect women more than that.
- [12:49]
Mike Ryan
His numbers were actually pretty comparable to Young Way. Oh, and Evan McPherson. Two guys that believe still have their jobs that we know to be good that had down years last year and we're not doing the whole football reasons there. I think for Justin Tucker, if none of this stuff is surrounding him, I think the greatest kicker in NFL history gets brought back for another opportunity to see they may still draft a kicker. Like, okay, well, I guess they did. Yeah, well, they did because I think this stuff was surrounding him. Justin Tucker, if anyone at that position is afforded one slightly down. Well, not slightly for him, but slightly in terms of NFL average slightly down season, it would be him.
- [13:28]
Amin Elhassan
Well, that's the point. That's the part that's so frustrating, is they absolutely release him. It's like, okay, they did the right thing. They released him because he's involved with these allegations. So they essentially, they did the right thing here, but they're not willing to admit that that's why that they did it. Like, why can't one time they just say, we don't want to be associated with anyone involved in these type of allegations. They've a player of his caliber who got that statement, by the way, which was a nice statement, a heartfelt statement for a guy who's been there forever and is one of the great kickers of all time. If that guy has the season he just had, he's getting afforded another season to make good on it. But he was clearly let go because of the allegations. So why can't they just one time say, we don't want to be associated with this?
- [14:16]
Stugotz
Because then if they do that and then the next year a much better player gets similar anything.
- [14:20]
Amin Elhassan
Well, they drafted a player in the second round this year who dealt with.
- [14:23]
Chris Cody
Sexual allegations, but it's just draft similar anything. God almighty, similar anything. There have been two of them and there's not a similar anything in, like, the history of us covering football similar anything to what he and Deshaun Watson did.
- [14:37]
Mike Ryan
No, he's had allegations, though, to the point like, they could avoid the issue entirely. They don't seem to be so it's almost as if, like, you do have reason to believe that football reasons played into this. It's not exclusively the football reason, though. I refuse to believe that. Justin Tucker. It's a reason why we've yet to see the tribute video because they don't want to put it out there. Because they don't want to deal with the comments section.
- [14:58]
Zaz
You'll never see that tribute video.
- [14:59]
Greg Cody
And I think that's to Zaz's point, I think you're right. They're cutting him because of the issues, but at the same time they're trying to do him a quote unquote solid by like, hey, we're not going to like bury you by saying, oh, whatever, okay, but so. So they're trying to be nice to him by saying, oh, it's totally a football reason. Just the fact that they had to say for total football reasons. Who says that in a press release? When you release someone, you say, yeah, today we parted ways with so and so we wish them the best. That's how you usually release someone. So the fact that they put all that in there is because they're trying to cover for him and for the allegations that have been made against him.
- [15:34]
Mike Ryan
And cover for themselves, too, for sure, because they've done some reporting how early in this process they were notified and they knew.
- [15:42]
Chris Cody
I don't know how the audience receives this. I don't know if the audience thinks this is moralizing or virtue signaling football reasons. I just, I want just like we just did the math on I'm a fireball. I'm burning. What's my life worth? $200. Football is telling you that if you are somebody who allegedly spends a lot of time revealing himself to masseuses doing sexually deviant things that in a massage parlor, that makes several credible women, many, many women covered by many journalists say this was something that he was repeatedly doing. Football has told you now, the Ravens, one of the great organizations in sports. You want us to be moral about these things? Here's the price. If we've got somebody that we think has a name in our uniform. Even if it's a kicker. We will respect women. If he goes from 90% of his kicks to 80% of his kicks. That's what women and victims are worth to us as a football organization. And also when that 10% goes down in the statement, we will praise him and not say anything about it if he goes down. That's what they're telling you. That league where the morals stand of what these things cost is if you're a deviant, an alleged deviant like Justin Tucker doing Deshaun Watson things. The way you will get waived is if your percentage goes from 90% to 80% and we will not say anything about your crimes publicly. We will take care of you at the end.
- [17:10]
Zaz
Justin Tucker's percent actually went from like 86 to 73, which is extreme. He's 35 years old. Those two things and the off field things saw his demise.
- [17:21]
Chris Cody
I'm just saying that that 13% like do the huge. But no, absorb it. You say it's huge. I think you're doing the math wrong. Absorb that. What the NFL is telling you here is that if you're an alleged criminal with shameful crimes and you're a kicker and you go down by 13%, that's about how much they value women. And they're not going to say so in the statement.
- [17:42]
Mike Ryan
Look how far it took for the NFL to decide this. Deshaun Watson for the Brown SPE specifically to decide. This is Sean Watson thing isn't for us. It's the ineffectiveness and he got a lot of opportunities when it was very clear it went over. The Ravens are just following the set standard like these allegations seemingly. Yeah, there's suspensions and punishment, but they're not being thrown in jail. We still talk about them as allegations and settlements. Deshaun Watson at the game's most important position survived it. Surely a kicker could.
- [18:14]
Zaz
There isn't a team in the NFL that would have released a Justin Tucker in his circumstances and made specific reference to the allegations. It's just not done. He hasn't been convicted of a crime. He hasn't been charged with a crime. To my knowledge. The civil suits haven't been settled. It is alleged right now. Now, do I think he's guilty Based on everything I've read and heard? Yes, I absolutely do. But for his club, not to mention that in a statement is not the least bit surprising.
- [18:44]
Greg Cody
But Greg, the counter muffled. The counterpoint is okay, you don't have to mention it. Why would they mention Football reasons specifically.
- [18:51]
Zaz
Well, they shouldn't have. And it was much too flowery, right?
- [18:53]
Mike Ryan
Well, if it was football reasons, we'd get the proper football goodbye for one of the game's greatest legends. I think what everyone's taking issue here and why Dan's crumpling up the paper is the way that the Ravens approached this last year was kind of bullshit. They never had to really address this head on. And now when he's on his way out and you conveniently hang your hat on football reasons, but skirt all the other football reason stuff that you would with honoring a proper legend. It seems like the Ravens are trying to get one over on us, fair.
- [19:23]
Chris Cody
Or unfair for me to say. It's not that they're trying to get one over on us. One of the great football organizations has gotten one over on us. Because I'm giving you the history of one of the best football teams there have been in the last 20 years when it comes to Ray Rice and Colin Kaepernick. Pray for us. Don't forget Ray Lewis and now this. Thank you. The organization that gave you and birthed all of this with Ray Lewis, but also gave you Ray Rice and Justin Tucker and pray for us on Colin Kaepernick. It's a fairly extraordinary thing for me to be able to look at a 15, 20 year body of work and say, look at that Baltimore Ravens, one of the great franchises, one of the great leadership football franchises. Cowards.
- [20:10]
Mike Ryan
Look at Kansas City.
- [20:11]
Chris Cody
Cowards, though, is what I'm saying. Look at what? Yes, you can look at Kansas City, but when I'm saying one of the great football organizations stand for something, you've got the confidence of. You guys have been really good for 20 years. You can stand for something. And what do you stand for? Protecting Justin Tucker, protecting your own, protecting the compound, protecting the huddle, and not standing for anything other than cowardice in when you can actually make a literal statement on something.
- [20:38]
Zaz
And what would that statement have said?
- [20:41]
Mike Ryan
It should have came during the season and they cowered to a bunch of pressure, but they would probably hold up what they did with Ray Rice as. Look, we did the hard thing at that point. It was a pretty obvious thing, but remember how good Ray Rice was when that video burst on the scene?
- [20:57]
Greg Cody
Hold on. They did the right thing when that video burst on the scene. Before that video burst on the scene. They didn't quite do the right thing.
- [21:03]
Chris Cody
Wait, but was Ray Rice that good? He was 3.4 yards a carry or something. I think they did the same thing with Ray Rice.
- [21:09]
Mike Ryan
It's another data point as to why I think Justin Tucker would be given another opportunity, because Ray Rice was actively being given another opportunity to recapture his form.
- [21:18]
Greg Cody
Dan, to your point about the Ravens being one of the great organizations and look at how they skated. Again, I would point to who would we call the greatest organization of the 21st century? They had murderers.
- [21:31]
Mike Ryan
I mean, like alleged serial killer.
- [21:34]
Chris Cody
A single murderer. Not murderers. A single murderer.
- [21:37]
Greg Cody
Murderers is what I meant to say. Murderers. Multiple. Multiple murders.
- [21:40]
Chris Cody
Single murder. It was one. It was one murder. One murderer. One murderer. Finish. There's an extra syllable from murdered. Murderer. One murderer.
- [21:51]
Mike Ryan
We're all trying to help him.
- [21:52]
Greg Cody
Murderers. Murderers, though. Multiple murderers. That's a weird word. Matures. Sounds like. Like a country person. Just heard my durs.
- [22:06]
Chris Cody
I hurt my dures.
- [22:07]
Mike Ryan
It's a hard thing to laugh around.
- [22:08]
Greg Cody
You know, you gotta find the funny.
- [22:10]
Stugotz
And everything, you know, when you celebrate 50 years of Miller Lite. I had to bring in a Miller Light aficionado, Greg Cody. I mean, no one says Miller Lite like Greg Cody. I think when I think of me and you, I think of us on a golf course. Where else are we at?
- [22:25]
Zaz
I mean, on a cruise ship in my backyard.
- [22:28]
Stugotz
At the beach.
- [22:29]
Chris Cody
At the.
- [22:29]
Zaz
At the beach is a good one.
- [22:31]
Stugotz
What do we always do? We hear that.
- [22:33]
Zaz
Oh, yeah, yeah.
- [22:34]
Stugotz
And then what do we do?
- [22:35]
Zaz
We toast.
- [22:37]
Stugotz
Nice little clink. The clink. Whether it's the can or the bottle, there's something about the clink of the Miller Light.
- [22:43]
Chris Cody
Yeah.
- [22:43]
Zaz
And it's not just how much we. We love it. It's. It's the. The whole ritual of it. You know, the. The popping the top, the sound of that.
- [22:51]
Greg Cody
Yeah.
- [22:51]
Zaz
Yeah, it's great. Love it. Love it.
- [22:53]
Stugotz
From game night to parties with friends or a special anniversary, celebrating important occasions means more with the coolest people in your life. Cheers to 50 years of Miller Light, the great tasting light beer. For people who Love beer. Since 1975, now's a perfect time to celebrate legendary stories with friends, family, and a great tasting light beer. It's Miller time. The simple ingredients that malted barley for rich, balanced toffee note flavors. And that iconic golden color.
- [23:18]
Zaz
Yes, it's. It's one. Everything about it is wonderful. I can't think of anything bad.
- [23:22]
Stugotz
You're smiling. Ever since we started doing this ad read, you have just been smiling. Smiling the entire time.
- [23:26]
Zaz
I'm a Miller Light guy.
- [23:27]
Stugotz
That kind of thing. Miller Light. Great taste. 96 calories. Go to millerlight.com dan to find delivery options near you or you can pick up some Miller Light pretty much anywhere they sell beer. It's Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Co. Milwaukee, Wisconsin 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. Folks, listen up. If you run anything online these days, a podcast, a merch store, whatever it is, you're basically forced to wear 12 hats. Marketing? Sure. Customer service? Why not? And now you're supposed to be your own IT department. Kinsta is managed WordPress hosting, which means you get blazing fast, site speeds, top tier security, and a dashboard that doesn't look like it was built in 2006. And if something goes sideways, real humans, not bots to help you 247 no scripts, no sorry, I don't understand replies. Kinsta takes the stress out of tech stuff so you can actually focus on your business. Or in our case, more time watching games, arguing nonsense and delivering the hottest take possible. No messing with settings, no panic troubleshooting, just smooth sailing. Tired of being your own website support team? Switch your hosting to Kinsta and get your first month free. And don't worry about the move, they'll handle the whole transition for you. No tech expertise required. Just visit kinsta.com dan to get started. That's K-I-N-S-T a.com Dan.
- [24:47]
Mike Ryan
It'S Mike Ryan here to share with you that GameTime is the official ticketing partner of the Dan LeBatard show with Stu Gotts. There's a little bit less of a chill in the air. It's starting to warm up. You want to go outside with your friends and family, maybe take in a ball game? Well, where's the best place to get last minute deals on tickets? I'll tell you where. Gametime Game Time makes getting tickets even faster and easier. Prices on the gametime app actually go down the closer that it gets at first pitch. With killer last minute deals, all in prices, views from your seat, and their low price guarantee. Gametime takes a guesswork out of buying MLB tickets. And don't forget your purchase is covered with the most flexible customer service policy in the ticketing industry. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account and use code DAN for $20 off your first purchase terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem code dan for $20 off. Download the game Time app today. Last Minute Tickets, Lowest price guaranteed.
- [25:45]
Dan LeBatard
Don.
- [25:45]
Zaz
LeBatard, a woman who was out swimming with her friends is believed to have been swallowed whole by a 13 foot shark without any of her friends noticing. That's the weirdest part about that story. You're swimming with friends, you're having a good time, and then all of a sudden, people are looking around going, where's Shelly? Like, nobody screamed.
- [26:06]
Dan LeBatard
Every friend group has a Shelly, though, that if they go missing because a shark ate them whole, you wouldn't notice.
- [26:10]
Stugotz
Classic Shelly.
- [26:11]
Dan LeBatard
Exactly right.
- [26:12]
Zaz
Yeah.
- [26:13]
Chris Cody
Stugats.
- [26:14]
Zaz
She went quietly, apparently. If I'm swallowed whole by a shark, you're gonna know it.
- [26:18]
Dan LeBatard
This is the Dan Levatar show with the stug.
- [26:30]
Chris Cody
The Celtics last night, segue, speaking of.
- [26:33]
Mike Ryan
New England.
- [26:36]
Chris Cody
Took 45 uncontested three pointers. Pointers. They missed 32 of them. That's not going to happen again. So we're clear that has nothing to do with anybody's defense. Incidentally, we can talk about OG's perimeter defense. That has nothing to do with anybody's perimeter defense. The Celtics missed 32 three pointers last night that were uncontested.
- [26:56]
Greg Cody
Can I talk about two particular or three particular attempts that I really like, didn't like, really hated? One was Jrue Holiday grabs an offensive rebound off of a missed three, grabs it in the corner, turns around and wildly pulls up another three. Like just casually.
- [27:13]
Chris Cody
Ah.
- [27:14]
Greg Cody
He just throws it up there. I'm like, what are you doing? And number two. And this one really bothered me. And I get it. This. We say this about him all the time, but I'm like, come on, guy. Jason Tatum, you got Jalen Brunson on you on an island. That's the matchup that every team that's playing against the Knicks is looking for. How can we get Jalen Brunson in single coverage against our best perimeter player? And this jamoke takes not one, but two. Step back threes. What are you doing, please.
- [27:42]
Amin Elhassan
What they're doing is being lazy is what it is. It's so much easier. Wait, did you do that?
- [27:47]
Chris Cody
Let's examine for a second what the Celtics have done to basketball and the poison that is them having it easy last year and Mike Ryan being frustrated all offseason because he's like, tatum didn't even have to show us anything. If all he's going to do is just take every step back jumper. And you're just better at threes than everybody. And you're just better than everybody. And they beat the respect out of you by making all their threes. Tatum, last night, look, it's not. Brunson missed a shot at the rim. An easy run, an easy one. And none of us are questioning how clutch he Is, but, man, Tatum doesn't even get tested on the clutch. And in last night's game, those shots were weak. That. That's a guy that's used to. I'm gonna get to take all of these 33 pointers, every spot, and I don't even have to break down Brunson. I'll step back because I can get this shot whenever I want for the rest of my life. And history will not respect me if that's what I am at the end of games, because I don't even have to try at the end of games. I'll make. I'll make 14% of these and none of them will be in tough games. And we'll beat everybody by five.
- [28:44]
Greg Cody
Zaz, you were surprised that I wasn't as thrown off by dagnaut saying we would foul up three again, maybe a little later in the clock, but as an overall philosophy, I one up you with Joe Missoula after the game being asked about, hey, you guys missed 40 some odd threes. 19 of your 20 attempts in the third quarter were three pointers.
- [29:07]
Amin Elhassan
Think about, say that. Can you say that part again? Because I feel like you say that maybe some people watching and listening, they don't really grasp what you just said. Tell everybody again in the third quarter what their field goal attempts were.
- [29:18]
Greg Cody
The Boston Celtics took 23 field goal attempts in the third quarter.
- [29:23]
Chris Cody
They were winning by 20. They were in the third quarter. The Boston Celtics, who have not been tested, they give up a 20 point lead because they just start taking jumpers from 40ft away.
- [29:33]
Greg Cody
They took 20 field goal attempts in the third quarter. 19 of them were from three.
- [29:39]
Amin Elhassan
That's garbage. It's garbage. Basketball. I'm so over the Celtics where they're winning basketball games with math. I like analytics. I like learning more about the game. I like the numbers and people to be able to help us figure things out. But the Celtics are just winning with math. Let's shoot as many three pointers as possible. It's one of the worst things that has ever happened to the league.
- [30:01]
Zaz
But they won. They won a championship.
- [30:04]
Amin Elhassan
Yeah, because they're really good at shooting.
- [30:06]
Zaz
So why are they going to change their game plan just because they've got a 20 point?
- [30:09]
Amin Elhassan
They're not.
- [30:09]
Chris Cody
That's what they do.
- [30:10]
Mike Ryan
I hope they do. Because it's not just math. It's also conveniently, we have this core where everyone questions their mental fortitude. And we had the pristine luck of every round. The opposing team's best player got injured until we made it to The Finals against a team nobody expected to be there in the NBA Finals. And they somehow got lucky and won an NBA championship. You need some luck there.
- [30:33]
Chris Cody
Not lucky. Not lucky.
- [30:35]
Mike Ryan
They got lucky in that every team's best player in the playoffs, in that Eastern Conference got hurt. And what happened last night was they were playing with their food because they expect it to come easy to them. And they're lazy because it did come easy to them last year.
- [30:48]
Amin Elhassan
I mean, Dan, dan, they attempted 60 threes and 37 twos.
- [30:54]
Greg Cody
Guys, it wasn't even. I'm sorry, Dan, but it wasn't even like, man, like we couldn't get any dribble penetration or whatever or couldn't get to. They didn't even try. It was strictly perimeter based. And I'm gonna stick up for analytics. Analytics doesn't say keep shooting like a dumb. The most valuable shot in basketball is a layup or a dunk that even with all the threes in the corner, it's still a layup or a dunk is number one on that list. Right? And so they didn't even. Tatum had one layup in that fourth quarter or slash overtime. And I was like, oh, I thought you were allergic. What happened? How did you. Do you get lost on the way to the three point line and find yourself under the rim?
- [31:35]
Amin Elhassan
Fans love talking about, you know, what adjustments you're gonna make from game to game. Halftime adjustments. As if we can never have the coach make an in game adjustment. And Joe Missoula after the game, who, by the way, I don't know that Joe Missoula is a good coach. Joe Missoula after the game has to go look. He says he has to go look at the tape and see what they did wrong. Joe, you shot a thousand threes, you missed them all, and you kept shooting them all game long. What are you talking about? You have to go back and look at the film, do something else with your offense and shoot threes.
- [32:06]
Chris Cody
Amin, this is what I'm telling you is confusing about the evolution of this sport, okay? Because James Harden will be a plague forevermore for not doing this aesthetically well. But winning the MVP and saying bleep off. It's all about efficiencies. I don't care whether you like how it looks. I don't care whether you think it's entertaining. When I'm sitting here doing a sports show with people I know who know sports, and Zaslow sitting here saying out loud, I don't know if Joe Missoula is a good coach. And Mike is sitting here disrespecting what has been one of the great teams of the last two years, over two full seasons that have trounced his heat with. They're lucky when what. When what they've actually done is Brad Stevens did what Theo Epstein did, which is like, yeah, I'll do accounting. I'll figure out how to get Drew Holiday and Porzingis, and we'll take all of the threes and we'll fix the math of the sport, but also make it less interesting. And I'm going to be confounded by whether Joe Missoula is a good coach because they've just. Just fix 50 threes in your face. And Pritchard is better than anyone out there shooting like ridiculous threes because they have the pieces in place that both ruins the sport and makes the analysis of it stink. When we give it so much math that Mike Ryan is like, the Celtics are lucky and Zaz is sitting here is Joe Missoula is a good coach. Oh, it's all because they're built better than everyone else. They're like in racing, they've got the better car.
- [33:27]
Mike Ryan
Well, no one on this show has given them more credit for doing the hard thing and actually making the aggressive move. It's couched every single one of my Miami Heat takes. But the fact remains, no Jimmy Butler, no Joel Embiid Halliburton gets hurt. Rick Carlisle. Look at that Pacers series and look at their win probabilities and look at the bullshit that the Pacers did down the stretch to blow those games. It is irrefutable that they got lucky on their path to their first NBA championship, a championship that eluded that core for years on end.
- [33:58]
Greg Cody
This is what I'll say. Tom Haberstrough said this a long time ago. Every single champion in NBA history has an asterisk. Every single one because someone got hurt, someone got suspended. Some. That's part and parcel of the journey. I'm not going to take anything away from their championship as a result, because every little champion before them has benefited in one way or another. Having said that, Dan, they don't have the best roster. They haven't broken the sport.
- [34:23]
Chris Cody
They.
- [34:24]
Greg Cody
They play well. They win a lot of games. Guess what? So do a lot of other teams in this league. The Nuggets win a lot of games. Have they broken the sport? They won as many titles as the Celtics have. Right? The Bucs have won as many titles as the Celtics have in the last five years. Literally since 2018, we've had a New champion every year. So I don't think there's any one team that says, yeah, we broke basketball and everyone has to fall in our way now. It's, yes, the three point line is more important now than it's ever been in basketball. We figured it out. We figured out taking contested two point jumpers is bad. Take that step back, take a three. But as I said, the road to the most efficient offense still begins with under the. Under the. In the rim, in the restricted area. Number two is a free throw. Number three is a corner three. Number four is a wing three. And the idea also is it's not baking right. It's not one part. This one part, this one brought this insane result. You have to be able to adjust. Put too much salt. Okay, let me add some more sauce over here. What the Celtics do is like, no, I gotta keep adding salt. They says there's salt in the recipe. Gotta keep adding salt. And that's not how basketball is played. It's not played by robots, Dan. It's played by human beings that have to. Dan. They have to make decisions.
- [35:37]
Chris Cody
Your tears are salty and all of it. My tears? No, because listen, you guys are.
- [35:42]
Greg Cody
They lost the game last night. My tears.
- [35:44]
Chris Cody
I'll tell you what tears sound like when you're a Heat basketball show. The Boston Celtics have been indisputably. Now we can talk about Cleveland and OKC for the last two years up until right now. Clearly the best team in basketball by point differential. You can whimper all you want about that. Give them their respect on what they've actually been the last two years. You can tell me you think Denver's better. You can tell me you think OKC or Cleveland is better. But to date, no one challenges them. They've made it look easy. And I would not be surprised if they win the series by five games.
- [36:18]
Mike Ryan
Who they play the Knicks.
- [36:20]
Chris Cody
If they beat them in the. What? That was you again?