← The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
OKC’s Suffocating Defense, Rick Carlisle’s Adjustments, and Reactions to Thibodeau's Firing With P.J. Carlesimo
01:11:07
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- [00:00]
Ryan Rosillo
This episode is brought to you by McDonald's. All new McCrispy strips new McCrispy strips are here. It's chicken made for dippin' Tender, juicy white meat chicken with a golden brown peppery breading. It's chicken so good it deserves its own sauce. The Creamy Chili McCrispy Strip Dip. It's creamy, savory and sweet with a little heat, but strips work with any of their sauces. I've always been a massive fan of ketchup, Numa Crispy Strips and diploma only at McDonald's. Today on the podcast we go deep dive NBA finals PJ Carissimo who is on the call of the NBA Finals for ESPN Radio. So 1 and 2 in Oklahoma City, now in Indiana and we'll talk about this Thunder defense. We'll talk at length about this Thunder defense and how much he loves what they are capable of, including the various ways that they can attack you and what they do once you get into the paint and conversely, what that means for Halliburton and what he needs to get going. And if Siakam can get going. And if there's anything that Rick Carlisle can do is he gives us an advanced scattering report on going up against a guy like Rick Carlisle. So there's a lot of finals talk in there and all the pieces around the two headlining stars in SGA and Halliburton for both teams. And I'm also going to ask him about Tom Thibodeau being out as the head coach of the New York Knicks and ultimately the only name that's been suggested as a possible replacement. And we've got life advice. So enjoy the pod. Today you're listening to the Ryan Rasulo podcast, presented by FanDuel. America's number one sportsbook has made it easier than ever to get in on the action during the NBA Finals. And with live betting, the tip off is just the beginning. Look for the live SGP tab on the FanDuel Sportsbook app and build your bet slip. Then sit back and enjoy. Enjoy the game as you track the outcome of your parlay right in the app. If you don't already have it, download the FanDuel app today to make every moment more the ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and help lines available and listen to the end of this episode for additional details. Must be 21 and older and present in select states or 18 plus in present in DC, Kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem call 100 GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com Two games in the books of the NBA Finals and one of the men on the call for ESPN Radio Guy. We love having on the show, legend P.J. carlissimo. How's it going, man? Good to see you.
- [02:32]
P.J. Carlesimo
Excellent. I was looking forward to the series. You don't know. I got faked out in the Western Conference finals. I really thought Minnesota was going to give OKC a run and they just didn't let it happen. I mean, they had a really good win in Game 3, and then Thunder stepped up in Game 4. That was it. It's not going to be a series and I didn't know what to expect in this one. Obviously, Indiana Steel in Game one got everybody excited, like, oh, we got, we got a series, but I'm not. I'm not so sure we do yet.
- [03:03]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, I'm with you on that one. Just because it's hard for me, even after just the two games completely change the way I feel about these teams. And it starts with defense with okc and I said it with Bill on Sunday, I said it before the series started. I just think it's a hard defense to kind of solve there for four wins. For a Pacers team that although they have great balance, they have good depth. We saw that scoring balance in Game one. It's. It's asking a lot of that offense, I think, to get to 1:10 or something like that against this defense. So let's start with their defense. What do you see from the Thunder defense that gets you so excited as a former coach?
- [03:36]
P.J. Carlesimo
It's combination of. First of all, the, the. Basically the entire team is good defensively. You know, obviously some guys are better than others, but I mean, they have six, seven, eight guys ride that are really elite defenders. They guard on the perimeter better than any team in the league because they have multiple guys they can throw at you, they move their feet. They're. You know, everybody talks about Dort and Jalen Williams that you're talking to first and a, you know, second team, all defense players. But I mean, they got guys like Casen Wallace, they bring Wiggins, they bring these guys off the bench. I was joking in the beginning when we first started having them, I didn't know half of their names. It like it didn't matter. Whoever came on could have had a mask on. They all had long arms. They all move their feet incredibly quickly. It's almost impossible for a dribbler to get by these people. They do a great job staying in front of the ball. They have the long arms and when you get near them, whether it's one on one or especially if you dribble in the gap or if you get the ball into the paint, the. They converge on it so well, and they attack the ball better than anybody. So that combination, I think you and I talked about it the last time we were on, it's really a unique combination. They're the number one turnover team in the league. They don't turn it over themselves. They're the best in the entire NBA, and they're number one enforcing turnovers. So they have this ridiculous possession advantage almost every game. And then on top of that, their turnovers, there's, you know, I must say, there's a lot of teams, but there are, you know, teams that get turnovers and really don't do anything with them. This team is exceptional, how they convert turnovers. There's such a good open floor team. So again, it builds into how Sam Presti built this team. There are a lot of guys with length, with quick feet. They have good hands. And it sounds kind of simplistic, but anybody can throw the ball ahead to any of their players. It can be Holmgren or Hartenstein or any of the wings or guards, whatever you want to call them. They can all catch the ball. They can all put it on the floor, and they can all pass it. So when they come down the floor, when they do convert these turnovers, it's an open floor. They have good hands. It's amazing. And this hands and the quickness and the quick feet are so big in the defense. I've never seen a team converge on the ball. Like I keep saying it every game. Casti just tired of me saying it. If you throw a lob pass into the paint against this team, they're like piranhas. They just go. And it's not one guy. A lot of times, they're boxes and elbows, like somebody's playing the ball. Like, Dort is all over Tyrese Halliburton, and he's doing a great job staying in front of him and not letting him penetrate. And the other four guys each have one foot in the paint. So you throw a lot, pass, they front. Sometimes they got a mismatch. Caruso fronts home. You know, down there, they try and throw over the top to Miles Turner. The defense gets their hand on the ball first. They're so quick to it. When you beat somebody occasionally on dribble penetration, they all converge on. You know, most teams, like, only. Only help with one guy. They'll come with two or three guys. And just rip the ball right out of your hands. They have great hands. They attack the ball. And when you're smart with it, all right, you get finally, you know, everybody's offense penetrate now pitch to a three point shooter. They close on three point shooters better than any team in the league. So like, you make the pass and you go, okay, we got an open three. You don't. It becomes a contested three or it becomes a guy closing on the. The guy who caught the ball thinking he had a three. And it either ends up being like an off balance or trying to fake the guy out or they run him off the line. So it's like just time after time after time. They put so much pressure on the ball handler or the guy trying to catch the ball. It's really. There is good a defensive team I've ever seen in the NBA. They're different. You know, there's been other great teams, but I've never seen anybody play the way they play and just distort every game with. With this defensive quickness and aggressiveness.
- [07:59]
Ryan Rosillo
So you look at game one, even with all the turnovers and everything, the thing that kept Indiana in this is the lack of points off of turnovers for OKC and then plus 17 in the rebounding edge. The Pacers had 56 rebounds to 35 rebounds in game two. And then the Thunder win that edge. Hartenstein plays 22 minutes. It felt like they were trending in a less Hartenstein minute thing, whether it was Minnesota, whether it was this series, and maybe that was their comfort with chat with him having a couple huge moments in the playoffs. Like I was wondering if that was where the balance was. There was also some stuff where I wondered if the Pacers just started hunting Hartenstein too much. All I would say is I've liked the big lineups. I've liked the Hartenstein minutes arguably more than I'd like the Chet minutes. And it's just, I mean, obviously it's an amazing luxury to have. And we'd see what the minutes were if this were a more competitive game too. Maybe he's at 25 or 26. How would you characterize how you feel about the big rotation, the double big and something that clearly Degnalt didn't want to start this series with by going with Wallace in game one and two.
- [09:08]
P.J. Carlesimo
I was shocked, shocked this draw. I was surprised when he changed the lineup in game one. Like we, you know, we had. They were going to change it. And Kessie said, what do you think? And I said, well, let me Say, a. Every button that Mark Dagno has pushed for the last two years basically has been the right button. So I said, like, you know, I'm a little reluctant to second guess him because he knows his team and the way they change the lineup is amazing. And a lot of us, myself included, just assumed because they had started that double big for the first 16 games of the playoffs, they said, well, that's the way they were playing. Then when you go back and we looked at, I'm trying to scramble. We're getting ready to start the game. Only half of the games in April, only half of the games in March, only half of the games in February did they start those two bigs. Casen Wallace started 43 games in the regular season. Everybody said, well, yeah, that's because Chet and Isaiah were hurt at different times. That's not why. He had them healthy for a while, too, and he just didn't do it all the time. It was interesting. They get to the playoffs and they keep that same double big lineup for 16 games, and I'm going, man, they're winning, they're dominating. They've absolutely been the best team in the league. Why would they make the first move and, you know, go smaller? Now, obviously, he did it because of the matchups. He liked the deep case. And Wallace is beyond an exceptional defender. He's probably the best defender. As good as Dort is and Caruso is. Casen Wallace might be the best defender on the team, but to me, it didn't. I don't think it was a factor in the game, but it backfired. To me, Chad had a terrible game. Chad had his poorest game in the playoffs. The whole time, Isaiah played much better off the bench than Chet did. And you talked about the, you know, the rebounding difference in the two games. It was like night and day. It's. It's 56, 39 in game one, Indiana. And then in game two, it goes 43, 35 in favor of the Thunder. I thought Hartenstein played much better, and I thought the matchups were still okay. They can put Isaiah, you know, on a big. They can. They can move Chad over. Chad can play Pascal Siakam, but I just didn't. I really didn't care for it. And it seemed in game one that maybe playing as much five as he was playing didn't suit Chad that particular game. Now, it may have been he just didn't have a really good game because he bounced back with a really strong game in Game 2. But I was very surprised that Mark did it. I was surprised he finished, finished the game one with that lineup. He came back to it. The two bigs a little bit more in game two. I still like them better with the two bigs because Chet moves his feet so well. He can guard almost anybody out on the floor and they both pass the ball so well. Isaiah in particular, he's such a good high post passer. I think I remember you and I talking last year when he played against these Pacers. He was so good for, for the Knicks. I mean, he was killing them on the offensive glass. He was picking him apart with his passing. I just, the team is so deep and it's really funny that, like, I don't know what goes into Mark's head. It's hard, you know, like to me, one of the biggest challenges when you were coaching was to find a rotation because the players were always, I want to know, you know, when I'm going to go in the game, like, you know, kind of game, the game, they love it when they can anticipate, oh, I'm going to go in at the nine minute mark or the second quarter, he just turns and you don't know who he's winging in there. I mean, Wiggins was the best player on the floor in the second game. You never know who he's bringing in because of a matchup, because of a particular thing he thinks they need. And it works. The team is so deep, so versatile. And again, the thing that jumps out at me, they also shoot threes. They're not shooting threes well in the playoffs, which is interesting because they were a pretty good three point shooter shooting team regular season. They've actually struggled in the playoffs with the three point shooting and they've been so good it hasn't mattered. And they picked up, they were, I would have called them a lousy offensive rebounding team and a good three point shooting team. And in the playoffs they've been a fair at best three point shooting team and they're doing a much better job on the offensive glass. So, you know, go figure it. The team is so versatile. I just love the way they, it's put together and I love the way it truly doesn't matter. I mean, they come out of a timeout and I'll be like, you know, Elbow and Kesti saying, they just brought in, who knows, Caruso and Wiggins, you know, and how does that change them? It doesn't matter. Whoever comes in can guard. And you see Tyrese Halliburton, it's like he's The Energizer buddy outside the three point line, he's dribbling everywhere, but he can't get by these guys. That's how good they are. Like, a guy like Halliburton has trouble getting by them. So do to me, I said it the other night, which is the way we would always try and teach defense. I said, it's like looking in a mirror if the guy's a good defender. When you look in a mirror, you know he's right dead in front of you. Dort and Caruso are always in front of their man, whoever they're guarding. And they're usually guarding the best player. But it's the same with the other guys. Pascal is having trouble. He had one little spurt in game two where he put his head down and got by twice. But so many of these other guys, like, you can see, like they paw at the ground and they think they're going to beat the guy. And they go one step hard and the guy is right in front of them. And they're physical. You and I talked about this. They're a very physical team. They're a very handsy team, but they're so good at it. And because they maintain position, you know, because they're between the ball and the basket, I think they get away with being a lot more physical. Like, you start to get by me and I grab you and it looks like, you know, you've. You have an advantage. And I'm now like reacting and trying. When you stay in front of the ball, you got more leeway. Like, if I keep staying between you and the basket and I reach in, the refs aren't have to call it as much. They can bump more, they can grab more. Because they maintain defensive position better than any team in the league.
- [15:29]
Ryan Rosillo
There's a play and it's totally irrelevant, but it just made me laugh because Nemart had Dort in the paint and was trying to post him, and it was so pointless and that he actually jumped into him like a kid would jump into a mattress. That was like leaning up against a wall just to see what would happen.
- [15:44]
P.J. Carlesimo
Exactly.
- [15:45]
Ryan Rosillo
He jumps in a door and, like bounces back and Dort's door's not moving.
- [15:48]
P.J. Carlesimo
Yeah, Dort's not gonna move.
- [15:50]
Ryan Rosillo
Not moving. Okay, so let's look. The pacers are still 1:1 here. Clearly, we both like the Thunder, so, you know, I think the Halliburton stuff, his final stat line, looks a lot better than his game.
- [16:05]
P.J. Carlesimo
He had a poor game, too. Okay, so what did you see he came alive in game four, and I'm sure that's a little, little better in the fourth quarter mindset going in, but, I mean, he had a poor, poor game. What he did in the fourth quarter was irrelevant.
- [16:20]
Ryan Rosillo
Okay, so what did you see as far as, like, his approach to it? Because granted, it is part of the Thunder. And here I was complimenting Carlisle and Halliburton and the Pacers for game one of something that I've seen with Halliburton that where he's a willing off the ball guy. Because if you're just bringing him across half court, having him initiating everything, then there's maybe there's a trap and, you know, maybe you're getting into your possession a little too much, too late into the shot clock. And if you're consistently doing that now, you're kind of like, all right, this is one less pass we can probably make if something gets cut off here against this defense. So what are you seeing in game two that you think got in the way of him having what we think is, you know, a guy who's been on a run here?
- [16:59]
P.J. Carlesimo
Well, OKC did what they did in a lot of games this year. They got it going on both ends. They were so efficient offensively that Indiana was repeatedly taking the ball out of bounds. Again, it's a team that doesn't turn the ball over like everybody, you know. It's a great word actually, because I never remember hearing it the first 40 years I coached downhill, playing downhill. You very seldom get to play downhill against Indiana. They're efficient offensively. They put the ball in the basketball. And Indiana was constantly taking the ball out of bounds, more so than they did in game one because they just cut him up. So, A, they're taking the ball out of bounds. B, I think okc, as they normally do, had like three turnovers in the first half. So there's no breakaways. There's, there's, there's none of that going on. On top of that, okc, when they missed, was doing a really effective job getting second shots. So it was like it just felt that the whole first half, in particular first half of game two, Indiana is playing again. They're back, the defense is set up, they got no shot. I mean, they're like trying to run half court offense. Everything is happening outside the three point line. Halle had a great quote. I don't think we had him until game two, but he said I was too antsy in the first half of game one. And the entire game I was getting off the ball too soon. And he almost looks like, you know, like you're. You're a bench player and you're in the game and they throw you the ball and you maybe take a dribble and then you give it to somebody else. It's like, you know, you don't really want to do anything with it. If you watch him, he's gotten off the ball way too much in this series because he gets it. There's kind of nowhere to go. Or he takes a quick look and it's not there, and those guys are in front of him. The other thing, if you picture Halliburton in this series, and it's really true of everybody that plays against okc, but picture how many times he's caught the ball out near half court, like he's not getting the ball, three point line or closer or on the wing, like an ISO. It seems he's always catching the ball going away, going toward half court or going laterally across the top of the defense. He's like 35ft away from the basket all the time. And when he does try and probe, particularly, you know, and they switch a lot, but especially when it's Dort and Caruso or Case and Wallace Gard him, he's got nowhere to go. As good as he is. It's really hard for him to penetrate, particularly from 38ft. I mean, he's. They're so far outside, so I think they've got him so far away from the basket. I think their offense was so efficient in the first half. They were efficient in the second half also. I didn't think they defended well. I'm dying to talk to Mark Dagnal this afternoon. We do our interviews in about an hour about whether he felt. Because I thought the first half, their offense was very, very good. Their defense was exceptional. Indiana couldn't get anything. I thought in the second half, Indiana again. Indiana scored 66 points in both second half, second half of game one and second half of game two. The difference was second half of game one. They stopped in the fourth quarter, they stopped OKC. Game two was like 66, 64. It didn't matter. I didn't think OKC defended nearly as well. I'm curious whether Mark felt they just slipped a little bit. And I thought they won their game with their offense in the second half. You know, again, it's, you know, they won game one, but I mean, like, they trailed. I think it was 12 at halftime of the first game, 18 or 19, halftime in a second game. Like they have These ridiculous deficits and you say, okay, well, they're never out of it. They can get back in it. Man, it's hard to get behind 15, 20 points against a good team. And they were down nine after three in game one, which was okay. Single digits, not bad. They were down 19 in game two after three. So they're just OKC to me, didn't defend well in the second half, but they scored virtually every time they had the ball so it didn't matter. All they did was trade baskets with them.
- [21:12]
Ryan Rosillo
The NBA Finals are here and it's all come down to this. And fanduel is turning the excitement up even more with an all customer profit boost for every game of the series. As if you needed another reason to root for a game 7. Use your profit boost to bet which team will win, who's going to drop 30. Or you can build a parlay for a shot at an even bigger payday. If your bet wins, you'll win even bigger and then you can do it all again the next game. I'm going to be pretty straightforward with this one. Right now the line on FanDuel is Oklahoma City -5. The total is 228 and a half. If you're looking at this series, it was 221 your total for the first game. And then we get to 230 with what was probably just like a little bit more of a wide open pace as this game is just getting away from everybody. Well, I guess you got away from the Pacers, but you understand the point. So the total there were on 230, I think a lot of people, I think the number instead of being in the low 220s for this one, the expectation the Pacers are going to be home, they're going to be able to run it more. I'm going to go the other way on that. So I'm going to go under 228 and a half. So you package those together, that is plus two 32. Again, thunder minus five. Just looks so much nicer having a minus five next to Oklahoma City's name in an NBA playoff game than the other monstrous numbers that are usually out there. If you don't already have FanDuel, it's not too late to get in on the action. Just visit FanDuel.com Ryan Rye and to join today, that's FanDuel.com Ryan R. Yen to claim your profit boost for each and every game this NBA Finals. Make every moment more with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA must be 21 and older and present in select states or 18 plus and present in D.C. kentucky or Wyoming. Opt in required bonus issued as non withdrawable Profit boost tokens Restrictions apply including any token expiration and max wager amount. See terms@sportsbook.fanduel.com Gambling problem. Call 1-800-gambler or visit rg-help.com this message is a paid partnership with Apple Card if there's one thing I love about my Apple Card right now, it's how good it is for my wallet. No joke, I can earn up to 3% daily cash cash back on every purchase in any category when I use my Apple Card with Apple Pay, Food, Sports, travel, the list goes on. And this card is designed to help you pay off your balance faster with smart payment suggestions. When's the last time your credit card did that for you? Take control of your finances? Apply for the Apple Card in the Wallet app on your iPhone subject to credit approval. Apple card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City Branch terms and more at applecard.com the third quarter was a free throw fest too. So I think that ends and it kind of went both ways. Like early on Pacers are getting into the bonus. They were going big. It felt like they were fouling because they there was like a size thing that it felt like the Pacers are going to go to here. And you know they fouled Turner a few times. They ran the offense through Turner in the beginning and even though the quarter ends up being 33, 34, like that was actually impressive that OKC had won that quarter because the way it started.
- [24:14]
P.J. Carlesimo
4. Oh it was both. You had the 2/4 flip. It was 40 files against okc in the 1/4. 40 files against Indiana in the in in the 4th. I mean it was unbelievable. But and, and that's I don't think.
- [24:27]
Ryan Rosillo
It took so long pj So I don't know. I think sometimes it's hard to stay in that defensive intensity.
- [24:32]
P.J. Carlesimo
Yes.
- [24:32]
Ryan Rosillo
When the when that quarter is just a whistle every possession in it and I think time wise that quarter must easily taken longer than every other quarter.
- [24:41]
P.J. Carlesimo
Yeah. And you know it's funny too right. I thought officiating and it still may be I don't think it's been a big factor yet. Rick was really upset in game two. But it's I keep going back to Indiana 16th in files. They they're the last in files. Most files committed in the playoffs. OKC's 13 so there's files all over the place with these two teams, they don't just, you know, kind of guard you like this. They're not soft. They're both coming at you. They both would prefer to pick up full court anytime they can. The other thing, I want to finish my thought, but I got to mention before what was really strange in Game one. There was an inordinate amount of dead ball turnovers. Indiana turned the ball over so many times with violations or passes out of bounds that OKC wasn't flying down the floor the way they normally were because it just. As luck would have it, there weren't as many live ball turnovers in that Game one. I kept saying we should chart it, actually. I kept saying to Kesti, there's another dead ball turnover, so at least they can get back and, and play defense. And I think that hurt OKC in Game 1. But I'm waiting to see if. I mean, obviously there's only 12 guys, you know, every one of them that are working the finals. They're the best officials in the league. Probably not going to be a factor, but I thought going in, this is a hard series to referee. You got both teams really trying to play physically. Both teams are working on it defensively. Both teams like to pick up full court a lot. Like that's potentially a nightmare, nightmare game. And both teams like to go up and down, too. But it's. I haven't seen it yet, like, where I felt the officials really impacted the game. I don't know how you feel about it.
- [26:28]
Ryan Rosillo
Officiating was great in game one. Sure. There's probably a couple things maybe you could find in game two if you wanted to, but there wasn't going to be a call that was going to change the course of that game because they were up 23. Pacers come back, it's 18 and a half. It's 19. It's kind of in this 19 to 14, 20.
- [26:47]
P.J. Carlesimo
Yeah. I said to Jesse, I think it's like 16 to 19. It does. I know they did get it down, 15, 40. Every time I looked up at the clock, it felt like it was 16, 17, 18, 19 points the entire second half, which is hard to play.
- [27:03]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, I. So I don't. I have no complaints about deficiating at all. And I thought officiating was great in game one. So let's talk about Carlisle, because, you know, he's somebody you've known a long time. He gets through the East. You know, there was kind of this outside thought that, I mean, could he be the one guy that can figure this out? So after Two games, like, what's the scouting report on Carlisle and what he ends up figuring out, which again, may not be enough here to come back.
- [27:35]
P.J. Carlesimo
I tell you, he made no bones about it. He had two quotes that I thought were really very revealing. He said, we have to play our game better than they play theirs. And he literally said, we just got to hang around. He said it's a daunting task. I know how good these guys are defensively. He said, we need to hang around. We need to be in the game. And then he said, we got to give the ball to Halle at the end of the game. And I'll be damned. That's exactly what happened, man. They hung around. You just felt they were hanging around in that, you know, in the first game until the fourth. And then, like you could see it, they started making their threes. OKC could not make threes in the fourth quarter. And truth be told, because we kept coming up with the stats earlier in the playoffs, we'd go, Shay and J Dub and Chad Holmgren combined for 90% of the points and all the assists, blah, blah, blah. Well, both of them had subpar games. Jalen Williams, by his standards, and Chad Holmgren in game one had subpar games. So more Pacers played well. Obi Toppin after beginning of the game, could not play any worse than he was. It looked like me or you out there. He was turning the ball over every time he had it. Then he settled down and he makes five threes that like that. And they. They get back in the game with their threes and they hung around. They got two stops. OKC goes 1 for 5 down the stretch. Two good stops on Shea. They were good shots that Shay makes all the time, but he missed them both. They missed two wide open threes. I think Dortmiss1 and JJ Dub missed the other one and they lose the game. I think his game plan is good. I think he's very cognizant of the fact how good they are, how tough their defense is. They got to take care of the ball for sure. The one thing I'm anxious to hear Rick say today, I think he's going to say they did not do a good job. As good a job keeping him off the free throw line in game two. Shea's ridiculous. I mean, he kind of gets wherever he wants almost every possession. So he lives on the free. I mean, he's shooting nine or 10 free throws a game. I thought he was so much more efficient in game two. He didn't shoot it as Much. He distributed it better. Now, again, he had help. Was hard for him to distribute the ball in game one when other guys weren't stepping up and scoring, but I thought he was really, really good. I. I think both Pascal and Tyrese struggled. And I think the defense, again, because what we were talking about earlier, scoring, they were back. They were set up. They had great pressure on the ball. It was. Nimhard's. The one guy that doesn't look phased to me by the. He plays like a point guard. He seems to know what he's doing. He penetrates, you know, he'll take good shots. Pascal and Tyrese were really struggling to create shots for themselves or to get shots out of the offense in game two, and I think that's going to be Rick's biggest challenge. You probably saw the stat. You know, we go crazy. Everybody does with all these stats. He's the oldest guy to ever coach in the Finals. He beat Pop by 83 days. Pop in 2014, the oldest coach to ever coach in the NBA Finals, Rick Carlisle. And he's got a chance to be only the fourth guy to win championships with two different teams. It's incredible.
- [30:58]
Ryan Rosillo
I missed that one.
- [30:59]
P.J. Carlesimo
Yeah. Oldest ever by 80 days. And like, LB was 64 with Detroit in 05, and Phil was 64 with the Lakers. I think in 10 or 11, Pop was 65, but fewer days than. Than Rick when Rick coached this year in the Finals. How's that for a stat? Not amazing. He does. He's done such a good, you know. You know, as almost as long as I do. But thinking back to how different his teams are, I think he's all. It's funny because Nelly got the award the other day. Nelly was always that way, but Nelly's style kind of stayed the same. Rick has had different teams that played so differently. Different focuses, you know, more defense, more offense pounded inside, do that. He's adapted to his personnel as well as anybody that's coached in our league now. He's coached for a long time, so you get a chance to see that over the years. But, I mean, he's such a versatile coach, and he's such a creative thinker in terms of. This is what is good for this particular team. Right now, he's up against it. I'm really anxious to see what he's going to say about time and know they're going to play better at home. But, like, what how he's going to get Pascal and Tyrese a little more loose on offense than they've been.
- [32:23]
Ryan Rosillo
Maybe you can ask him how he ended up going from Maine to uva because that was always one I'd forgotten.
- [32:30]
P.J. Carlesimo
We were talking about Corey Alexander. Corey's working with us on the series and we had. We were all good with the UVA stuff.
- [32:39]
Ryan Rosillo
You're so right about Halliburton on the initiating and I was giving him so much credit for game one because I feel like if you're just running your best player on the ball over half court right into the teeth of the defense. And I think that's actually where OKC can get a little stagnant. And it's why Denver got that series to seven is they wanted to just close off the top to SGA with that zone.
- [33:00]
P.J. Carlesimo
Yep.
- [33:00]
Ryan Rosillo
And then the gamble with okc. And the only thing you can hope for is the gambler that we've already seen enough here. And it was the Pacers gamble in game one. Although I feel like SGA maybe he shut down on his guys enough because they weren't making any shots. They were 05 from three in the fourth quarter. We know the stat lines for everybody else around him. So now he's taken a million shots. But that's the one way you hope is kind of the Carlisle idea of stay in it. Then SGA gets clogged into just multiple defender traffic. And the times he's swinging it, those other guys, you know, dort. It doesn't feel like it's always going in with door. It doesn't always feel like, I don't know if there's one guy we're like, oh shit. Like we can't leave Clay open.
- [33:43]
P.J. Carlesimo
No, exactly.
- [33:44]
Ryan Rosillo
There isn't. There isn't. There's other guys.
- [33:47]
P.J. Carlesimo
It was J Dub, but it hasn't been in the playoffs. I mean that was a guy that like when he got an open shot was like, oh, we're in trouble. He's got. He's going to knock it down. It hasn't been. It's Aaron Wiggins in game two. It was Obi Toppett in game one for Indiana. Five threes those guys made up. That's the other thing. Right. That I didn't mention. Bench play was really significant. Big plus Indiana game one. Big plus okc, Game two. I mean they really carried, you know, carried it for Caruso and Wiggins were so good in game two and Obi in particular was so good in game one. But I mean the respective bench outplayed their opponent significantly in both games. And the other thing that hurts, OKC gets paint points. They don't get it posting up, but they beat the Pacers on the dribble. They attack the rim better than Indiana has been able to attack it. So there's a paint point discrepancy in both games. It's like, I swear, you go into the paint against okc, it's like a negative. You lose the ball or you end up taking like an off balance shot because Holman's got these long arms and he's all over the place and their little guys are like tearing at the ball. I mean, it's funny. I've never seen teams struggle as much to score in the paint as people do. Against the OKC that you're in. You think, oh, good, we got something. And they end up with an off balance shot that has no chance of going in. And it just goes as a miss. Now here they come down the floor again. It's. Their defense is so second level. I mean, it truly is. It's. They're a great, great defensive team.
- [35:32]
Ryan Rosillo
I have one last thing for you, but you're right again. Thinking about just the images in my head of like these Halliburton plays where it's a curl coming from in front of his bench and it's like across the top of the three point line and he's like coming back into the play and then he's looking. He's like that running back that's like, okay, that I've got to go further. I got to go further. I got to go further. He's working.
- [35:54]
P.J. Carlesimo
Exactly. And then it's of a sudden the sideline gets you. He. He's got nowhere to go. It's. It's amazing what you know.
- [36:01]
Ryan Rosillo
And he's not. And he's not going to take 28 bad shots.
- [36:05]
P.J. Carlesimo
No, exactly.
- [36:07]
Ryan Rosillo
Right. It's just not how he's wired to play this game. Which, you know, again, sometimes I think we lose sight of like, cool. Your favorite player took a million shots and missed them all.
- [36:16]
P.J. Carlesimo
Yeah.
- [36:16]
Ryan Rosillo
So now we're supposed to be thrilled about it. Like if.
- [36:19]
P.J. Carlesimo
And it's. I mean, I'm still. It's possible for sure. But if they can either force turnovers or just play better defense. Which I didn't think they did in the first half, but if they. Or second, I thought other than the fourth quarter, I kept saying, even in the first, first game, second half, I said, testy, they're playing good offense. Now Indiana is starting to score, but it doesn't matter because they can't stop okc. And I thought that was the case in the second Half of game two, all they did was trade. Neither team could stop the other. If Indiana would get more stops and they could play more open floor. Now Halliburton is going to look like Halliburton and Pascal is going to be, you know, winging in there and stuff. It just seems to me it looks like they're playing in sand because they're attacking the OKC half court defense way more than you want to and it's easy, right? Well, what are we going to do? They're trying to run, they're trying to force turnovers, they're trying to get stops, but they're not really doing the latter two very well at all.
- [37:24]
Ryan Rosillo
No, the idea of how I envision going back, like the things I remember seeing against the Knicks and then in this series and Bill and I talked about it on Sunday, it's just that whole up and down, okay, they're flying around, they're passing it ahead. TV the director shouldn't have gone to a replay. He shouldn't have gone to a. Just a reaction shot. Now it's too late. And now it's, now it's like, oh, that's right. That's what they've been doing to everybody throughout the east and now it's not happening here in the NBA Finals. Okay, speaking. Speaking of the east, your reaction to Tibbs being out in New York?
- [37:56]
P.J. Carlesimo
Well, you know, you know, I'm biased. I'm always going to come down on a coach. First of all, the Knicks just, that's the Knicks, they don't know what they're doing. They're their own worst enemy. They've been their own worst enemy the last two years. Been the best excitement. I don't know the numbers. I should. I think he went to the playoffs four straight times after. They don't go for like seven years or eight years. They make big changes. I didn't necessarily love him. Bobby Mark said there was no way they could have, could have kept Hartenstein. I thought that really hurt them. I thought letting Dante go was a mistake also. I thought those two guys were so good for them last year. I just think that he did a great job. You can criticize, all right, he doesn't use the bench, blah, blah, blah. All those guys, they got beaten seven last year in the second round. This year they go to Eastern Conference finals. Come on. Everybody said the roster is really good. It's a good roster. It's not a great roster roster. And he's got a couple of non defenders that he has playing adequate defense. They Weren't nearly as good defensively as they used to be. And I thought that was be, you know, partially because of the trade. I just think it's unfair. I thought he did a great job. The excitement and everything in New York was great. And I'm saying, where are they going? I don't understand. I don't know who made the decision. Leon's made a lot of good decisions. Was his decision okay? I don't buy that. It was players to be. They didn't do without the players. I mean, it's not like there's a mutiny that. Because it happened. But I don't think the players were that unhappy, to be honest with you. I just. I didn't care for the decision. Thibodeau is still one of the best coaches in the NBA and he gets an awful lot out of a roster. You don't win a game because you out coached him or anything like that. I really don't feel that. So I'm. I'm really disappointed. Plus, I still come back to where the hell are they going? If you're going to do a thing like that, you would have thought they had a deal in the drawer or something. Something happened and I, you know, it seems. It seems they're really aggressive at trying to get J Kid. I don't even know if Dallas going to give him permission to talk to him, but I. J Kid's the only name I see that seems to have any traction.
- [40:18]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, that's kind of interesting too, because I. I don't know. I mean, I guess it feels like philosophically they want somebody that's, you know. Look, I'm not saying Kid doesn't ever get on anybody, but he's going to be catering a bit more to the players.
- [40:38]
P.J. Carlesimo
More players. The other guy was more. Yeah, coach, you play. They're saying that about Michael Malone. Michael Malone is one of the best coaches in the NBA. And all I'm hearing is always too much like Tibbs. I'm going, that's bad. Like, that's not. That's not a good thing. Those two guys aren't great coaches. I don't understand. I just know I'm being a little bit of a smug, cynical old curmudgeon. I've sat on benches across from Tom Thibodeau. He's not a good coach. He's an excellent coach. And it's been in multiple places. And going back even to how much he helped Doc when, when they won in 08, he was a fat. He was a factor in that series Also as an assistant coach. So I don't get it. I really don't get it. Knicks are always. Knicks always think they're smarter than everybody else. That's the Knick philosophy, you know, they think they're different and we're smarter than all these other teams. We know what we're doing. And I, I would say they're normally the opposite. They're oftentimes their own worst enemy.
- [41:44]
Ryan Rosillo
Thank you so much for having the time for us today. I know you're probably in Indy now, it looks like, and getting ready for game three, which will be Wednesday on ABC and of course PJ on the call with Mark Keshester on ESPN radio starting at 8:30 Eastern time.
- [42:00]
P.J. Carlesimo
Thank you, bro. I hope we're wrong. I hope it's a heck of a series. I hope you and I are wrong on this. But I don't know.
- [42:07]
Ryan Rosillo
I've said it too many times but I mean the difference between the way we remember a five or a six game series feels a little misguided. Like, oh, that was a great series. It's five. That was terrible. Yeah. Look, I just think that defense, for all the reasons, I mean, we spent more of this pod talking about their defense and I'm glad that you came on to reinforce all of that stuff. I just think it's a much different challenge.
- [42:34]
P.J. Carlesimo
Agree.
- [42:35]
Ryan Rosillo
And we'll see, we'll see if Carlisle has some tweaks here or something. But I mean it's, it's not, it's a hard team offensively for the Pacers to be like, okay, we're actually going to run it through like this guy a little bit more because nice. Smith is generally off of somebody else's thing. Nemhardt's got a little bit more ISO in him, but then he's going up against bigger defenders. You know, nobody runs a post offense anymore so it doesn't matter. And Turner's probably more comfortable on the perimeter. Everything else like. So unless it's just a hard team to go now we're going to let Mather and high pick and roll off of Halliburton's side. You know, just to have Halliburton be the decoy. But least Matheran is strong and athletic enough to.
- [43:17]
P.J. Carlesimo
It's.
- [43:17]
Ryan Rosillo
It's a hard task.
- [43:19]
P.J. Carlesimo
Exactly. And, and exactly we. Mather's the perfect example of that because so many times he's like, they throw him in and he's able to create some. It's hard to create anything against this team. It really is for any individual. It's hard to run stuff for people. It's hard for people to create for themselves.
- [43:38]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah. Siakam is just going to have to find a way to get deep and be quicker.
- [43:41]
P.J. Carlesimo
I think he will. I tell you what, I'm hoping he can. I really think he's, you know, he's been a special player so far in the playoffs. He was not in game two.
- [43:53]
Ryan Rosillo
We shall see. All right. We'll. We'll be checking in, man. Thanks so much, Ryan. All right. Bye.
- [44:00]
P.J. Carlesimo
Bye, bye.
- [44:04]
Ad
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- [44:27]
Ryan Rosillo
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- [45:08]
P.J. Carlesimo
Fine.
- [45:09]
Ad
I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet.
- [45:12]
Ryan Rosillo
What's up?
- [45:14]
Worgon
I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork.
- [45:17]
P.J. Carlesimo
I have every toy you can possibly.
- [45:18]
Ad
Imagine, and best of all, kids, I am liquid. So now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required.
- [45:26]
Ryan Rosillo
Lifeadvice.rrmail.com that is the email address. We've got Kyle, we've got Wargon. Wargon's got his Yankee shirt on. Is that in response to Roman Anthony being called up or what's going on?
- [45:40]
Worgon
No, it's not in response. Just pull it out of the old closet today. Won't be. Yeah, I think he's having a great year. I think he's 10th, 10th in the league in doubles. I mean, overall, has he been a disappointment? Maybe, but, you know, I think people thought he was going to be the next Jeter. And that's not super realistic, I don't think.
- [46:01]
Ryan Rosillo
Nope, probably not. But. Yeah, I was doing a quick perusal here. It's kind of break Season. No, I just. I feel like there's such a big deal when he was coming up. Yeah, and he's from New York too, right?
- [46:19]
Worgon
He's from Jersey.
- [46:22]
Ryan Rosillo
All right. The running thing continues to be, man, something people will not let go. And I kind of like it, to be honest with you. I don't. I don't know what that says about me. Maybe just because I think there's so many times in life where everybody is arguing strictly from their perspective, which again, like, holy Ryan, what is what a right. But there's. There's just. There's too much of it. There is too much of it where it's like this. I always talk about like the polling of one and then it becomes like this polling of just me. Like, well, that's not how I do it. I was like, well, I guess that means everybody does it that way because you only do it this way. And I knew this was going to happen. I knew this was going to happen because everybody. Nobody trains for a mile. Nobody trains for a mile. So the few people that have have hit us up with real stuff, real stories, real reaction. And yet it was going to turn into this thing that people who run for distance were only going to think about their mile splits. So I did the mile challenge in 2020. 33 at the time, picks included. Hi. You can call me Mr. Pretzel. Hmm. Okay. 5:12 Now I'm starting to think this guy's just fucking with us the whole time. Player comp rookie year Michael Carter Williams Garda can put up stats, but you don't want me and your my and your broken jumper fueling your team. I'm the science experience you were looking for back in 2020. Covid less left us all with some free time. Some people binge Netflix. Some people took up woodworking. I love the guy from the Bear being like, dude, I was making bread before COVID I was like good. I decided if I could see if I could break a 6 minute mile. My main group chat consists of 11 guys all washed up athletes between 33 and 44 at the time. And they were impressed once I hit low six handles. April 7 minutes 11 seconds. Was running 10 miles a week at this point. June 6:08, September 5:37. My training was just running more distance 20 miles a week. But the funny thing about running is that a sub 6 minute mile is no man's land. Great runners are sub 5 minutes well into their 40s. Good runners don't ever run a mile for time. That's my point. That's it. I don't even have anything else. He has a couple other lines. That would be my point on that. It seems like no one's excited about this.
- [49:05]
Ad
I'm just glad you're getting this off. I'm just glad you're getting this. Getting it out.
- [49:10]
Worgon
Yeah. I feel like we've covered this from, like, every possible angle.
- [49:13]
Ad
All right, all right.
- [49:13]
Ryan Rosillo
I love. I love your efficiency. Okay, let's. Let's forward an email here, Tom, to one of our guys here in real time. I don't know if Oregon's gonna feel a little left out. That's okay. But we have somebody questioning whether they should travel for a first date. Travel for first date. 5859 in the apps. 36 years old, full shave, bald, former college squash player, current kite surfer. I live in Paris. Holy shit, guys. I live in Paris. And recently I matched on hinge with a 28 year old with a chemistry PhD who lives in London, who has a particularly attractive profile photos below, as well as some of my photos for comparison. She's agreed to a theater date in London this weekend. Theater date in London. He lives in Paris. My question is traveling to a neighboring country for a first date. Too much of a reach. Eurostar plus two nights Airbnb theater tickets is a thousand bucks. And I don't have the certainty of having seen her in person to know she's what her profile suggests she could be. Still, a shot at what she might be is probably worth that to me. All in all, a weekend in London and catching a show is something I'd enjoy, even if the person beside me doesn't turn out to be someone I see a second time. What do you guys think? All right, I will tell you that the first picture, I totally get it.
- [50:42]
Ad
You squint a little bit, it's like Ana de Armas vibes. Shout out to ballerina.
- [50:47]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, there you go. That third picture's a bit concerning, Kyle.
- [50:51]
Ad
You think?
- [50:53]
Ryan Rosillo
I just don't like where the first picture. The journey ends up on the third picture.
- [50:58]
Ad
Oh, well, you know what? Side profile, head on. You know, you just. You got to know your angles. She might not be in the biz. I don't know.
- [51:06]
Ryan Rosillo
Hey, some have said I don't know my angles when it comes to a photograph.
- [51:09]
Ad
So a thousand dollars in LA for a first date is not uncommon. I don't think just considering all the money that's floating around, for me, it'd be no brainer. But I don't know, it's not insane. And I've been listening to D Day podcasts. UK to Normandy wasn't crazy far. I mean, those guys did it in a boat, so he's probably not taking a boat. That's what I mean. Think about how efficient this is.
- [51:37]
Ryan Rosillo
He just. He just goes the other way.
- [51:41]
Ad
Just lands.
- [51:43]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, well, yeah, I don't know. So I looked at it because this is the part of being American, and it doesn't make a stupid American. It's be like, how many guys are you gonna walk around Belgium and be like, hey, how long does it take from Boston? New York City?
- [51:55]
Ad
Yeah, right.
- [51:56]
Ryan Rosillo
Two days. Oh, you fucking moron.
- [51:59]
P.J. Carlesimo
Dumb European. You don't even know.
- [52:03]
Ryan Rosillo
You don't know the distance of places you've never gonna have to travel. All right, so it seems like on the train, we're talking two plus hours, so a little quicker than you would think. Drive is six hours, so I imagine Eurostar is the train. So two hours there. So.
- [52:22]
Ad
Hasn't seen her in person though, has he? FaceTimed? It's not in this email. That's. That's not great.
- [52:28]
Ryan Rosillo
Right. And this guy's a kite surfer. So, like, the kite surfing picks are really good. His picks are really good.
- [52:34]
Ad
Yeah. Who knows his angles?
- [52:35]
Ryan Rosillo
They're strong picks.
- [52:37]
Ad
Yeah.
- [52:37]
Ryan Rosillo
As if he knows he's taking these pictures to be like, this is the stuff that I enjoy. And sure, I might be standing on a street in Paris and making this seem like it's casual, but I'm actually just standing on a street in Paris. So I wouldn't say the third picture is bad. I just think the first is a lot better than the third. I mean, I don't know. I mean, look, I would be a little worried that, like, why is she this good looking in London and hasn't met anybody? And is it that you guys just completely hit it off on the way you talk to each other? Some similar interests that you're going from Paris to London and by the way, like, you're in Paris and you haven't found any. So there's some concerning elements to all this where I know personally I would not put myself into this situation where you would show up and go, now I'm in London and oh my God, this is bad. I'm also old, so I probably just wouldn't want to go for a date to anywhere in the world.
- [53:47]
Ad
Not leaving the Strand, dude. Yeah.
- [53:53]
Ryan Rosillo
Look, go for it. I love your adventurous spirit. I think your pictures are good. I think the first two of her are really good. The third one's a little weird. Maybe it's just.
- [54:03]
Ad
Nah, man, it's not weird. It's just not the best.
- [54:05]
Ryan Rosillo
No, I'm being too harsh.
- [54:06]
Ad
Not the best. I'd ask two questions. One, are you in the absolute middle of what most people would call a drought? Are you getting a little desperate?
- [54:16]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah. Here we go.
- [54:17]
Ad
Completely relaxed guy. Do this. Or is this like month four and no end in sight guy? Is this a mirage? Ask yourself that. Two, if this is a. I don't want to say catfish, but if this is a disaster, and it was like, she's like, oh, great, she hugs you, and then you go back to your hotel and you don't see her for the next. Like, if something terrible happens, would this really screw you up financially? Like, how. What does this money mean to you in terms of your. Your expenses? You know? Is this. Is this, like, it's not nothing? Thousand dollars isn't nothing to anybody. But.
- [54:51]
Ryan Rosillo
Like, I think, how much of.
- [54:53]
Ad
A something is it? Yeah, but how much of a something is it? You know?
- [54:55]
Ryan Rosillo
That's all.
- [54:56]
Ad
That's all I'm saying. So ask yourself those two questions. How important is this money to you that you're spending and are you in a drought or not?
- [55:03]
Ryan Rosillo
You'll.
- [55:03]
Ad
You'll know the answer to that. You don't even need to think about it.
- [55:07]
Worgon
And then also, like, if it goes well, are you willing to be back and forth, you know, parish to London, you know, however often you're going to see this girl, who knows? And then Also, if you're 5 8, you can. You can get away with more than putting 59 on the apps. I was putting 59 on the apps.
- [55:24]
Ad
Oh, nice.
- [55:24]
Worgon
You can go a little higher.
- [55:25]
Ad
Nice, dude. Yeah, you go a little higher.
- [55:28]
Ryan Rosillo
Even you can go a little higher. All right.
- [55:31]
Worgon
You can flirt with six foot. Yeah.
- [55:33]
Ryan Rosillo
What?
- [55:33]
Ad
Six foot.
- [55:34]
Worgon
You can flirt with it.
- [55:35]
Ad
You're crazy.
- [55:36]
Ryan Rosillo
You're crazy. Maybe when you're as sturdy as Worgon is, you can get away with it.
- [55:42]
Ad
That's when you got to know your angles.
- [55:44]
Ryan Rosillo
I love how positive Worgon is, though, because immediately all I'm thinking about is how this could go wrong about the finances. And then Worgon's like, what if it works out and you fall in love? And now all of a sudden you have to worry about a commute. You gotta get a whole other email.
- [56:01]
Worgon
I'll tell you. You take that Eurostar early, though. Only a hundred bucks. 7:42am.
- [56:07]
Ad
Does it got a. Does it have a drinks cart, bar cart?
- [56:10]
Worgon
I'm sure, I'm sure In Europe? Yeah.
- [56:13]
Ad
Nice.
- [56:14]
Ryan Rosillo
Are you looking at pricing right now? What the hell's going on?
- [56:16]
Worgon
Yeah, I got it up. I got it up.
- [56:17]
Ad
Oh, I thought this was like, you know, when I go, when I summer over there, that's what it was going to be. Pro tip, summer's over. Straight from the lounge to the Eurostar.
- [56:33]
Ryan Rosillo
So that's it?
- [56:36]
Ad
Yeah.
- [56:36]
Ryan Rosillo
We're all saying go for it, but.
- [56:39]
Ad
Ask yourself a hard question or two before you do.
- [56:44]
Worgon
Even if it goes bad, it's such a great story if you can afford it, I don't see a huge downside.
- [56:50]
Ad
We'll read that one. I can make an executive. I think we'll read that one. No matter how this goes, this guy's.
- [56:55]
Ryan Rosillo
Kite surfing gear looks pretty sweet, so he could probably handle the thousand.
- [56:59]
Ad
Yeah, it's.
- [56:59]
Ryan Rosillo
I think those are $500 dress sneakers too.
- [57:02]
Ad
So you don't find that at Dicks?
- [57:04]
Ryan Rosillo
No, they don't have kite surfing at Dicks. Okay. Am I an unreasonable son? No NBA comp here, but my 10k pace hovers just above 8 minutes. Not elite, but I'll take it. War gone. I just graduated from grad school. My wife is throwing me a party. I'm 30 plus, so it feels a little much, but I know it's as much as her celebration is mine since we've spent the last few years living apart during my program. Here's the issue. I live four hours from my hometown and a lot of family, including my parents, are coming for the weekend. My wife got them a great hotel deal, but now last minute, they're insisting on bringing their dog. Not asking. I love dogs, but I have allergies. Especially with long and short haired breeds. My wife and I have our own dog. I've developed a mild allergy to him too, but we manage it with strict rules. No problem furniture, constant vacuuming, et cetera. My parents know this. That sounds awesome. Yeah. Sleep outside. Yeah, we do a great job. I have a tent. My parents know this. They've seen firsthand that their dog causes causes issues when staying over. Last time was a bit chaotic. The dog was everywhere and there was no stopping her. Not even my parents. This weekend we're hosting 50, 60 people. It's already a bit stressful for my wife who's planning the entire thing. Adding another dog to the mix that we have to keep an eye on is too much, we think. I asked them not to bring the dog. They didn't take it well. My mom launched into how much they've sacrificed for us over the years. I've offered alternatives, including paying to board the dog. Not an option. They say, yeah, man, I gotta be honest with you. Your mom lost me on that whole rationale of everything where she's basically like, I've sacrificed so much. You now have to get dog sick. Basically what she's saying, right? Yeah, like, I like my dog so much, I know he's going to make you sick.
- [58:56]
Ad
You stole my 30s for me. I'm bringing my dog.
- [58:59]
Ryan Rosillo
But we've been so inconvenienced over the years. So now you have to get sick. Because that's love. All right, so I'm out there. No offense. They often watch our dog when we visit. So I get how this might seem hypocritical, but we're talking about my allergies, a prior bad experience in a major event we're hosting. Not to mention we often and offer to board our dog during the holidays to give them a break. But my mom insists on seeing my dog whenever and making sure we have them over to the point where she'd be offended if I showed up without him. She doesn't have grandkids, so this is the next best thing. I suppose your mom really likes dogs. She's one of those. Am I being unreasonable or a hypocrite? Any advice on how to handle this? Appreciate your time and enjoy the rest of the finals. She's just. She seems like an unreasonable dog person. You know, I had a flight back not that long ago. What was it? The Bally Neil run? Denver gotten new. I was in comfort, you know, so three. Three guys. Three guys. And middle seat guy had a huge dog. Huge, huge dog. And, like, you know, there was some stuff going on. Did I already tell the story?
- [60:13]
P.J. Carlesimo
Not.
- [60:13]
Ad
That's not jumping into my head. I don't know. You've been doing this a long time, though, so I could be wrong.
- [60:18]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, no, this just happened. So the dog was big. It was like a lab. But guess what? It's not worried about my foot room. It doesn't care. So its limbs were at my feet. And then for him to kind of have the dog in a spot where he could, like, sit, because the dog is taking up all of his foot room. So now his legs are outside, and so now he's into mine, including the horizontal limbs, depending which side the dog was on. And it was just another one of those moments. And, like, look, I didn't get, like, pissed about it. I tried to keep my feet away from the dog. I didn't want to step on the dog. I Gave up my space because of this guy. And this dog. I would admit checking the guy out a little bit, looked like, you know, this dog was going to be really important to him. The guy in the other seat, he said, hey, I hope my dog isn't going to bother you. And the guy was like, I'm very dog friendly and wanted to, like, let him know. And then he was like, is it okay if I pet your dog? And he was like, don't pet the dog. So then there was restrictions, even though the dog was just up in our. The whole flight. And yeah, I'll admit, like, it was another one of those moments where I'm like, if everybody did this, if everyone.
- [61:30]
Ad
Did this, there'd be no hot sauce bottles. Yeah, right.
- [61:32]
Ryan Rosillo
It would. It would suck. So, you know, it sounds like your mom is one of those people that's just irrationally stupid when it comes to. Sorry I said that about your mom, but, like, you know, you saying she'd be offended if you didn't bring the dog to her? She's prioritizing dogs over people, and there's a lot of people out there that do this. And I don't think you're being unreasonable at all. And I also have never owned a dog, so some people would say I'm wrong. But, Oregon, you are.
- [62:02]
Worgon
There's no. There's no winning this situation from you because your mom is completely unreasonable. And also, I love dogs. I'm a huge dog person. The service dog thing has gotten completely out of hand.
- [62:14]
Ryan Rosillo
Thank you.
- [62:14]
Worgon
Completely out of hand. If you don't have, like, an actual disability where the dog is, like, essential, you shouldn't be able to bring it on an airplane. You shouldn't be able to bring it into, like, a grocery store. I was just. I was just ranting about this to someone the other day. It's absolutely ridiculous.
- [62:29]
Ryan Rosillo
It's totally ridiculous. I mean, I know there's, you know, everyone that deserves to have the dog. We're not talking about you. We're talking about everybody else that knows a doctor that wrote a note. I thought they had cracked down on this stuff again recently, but it's. I don't know, it's. Whatever.
- [62:47]
Worgon
It's big in New York because if you have a service dog, they. The building can't charge you a fee for having the dog in the building.
- [62:52]
Ad
Yeah.
- [62:53]
Worgon
Is it the same in la?
- [62:55]
Ad
No, it just. It totally. I mean, I'm sure it is. Considering rent. Rent protection stuff here.
- [63:00]
Ryan Rosillo
This feels like cigarette breaks. Like, now maybe I will just get a dog If I get an apartment.
- [63:05]
Worgon
Can't afford not to, right?
- [63:07]
Ryan Rosillo
Yes. Like, you really like animals? Not really, but I love fucking with hoas.
- [63:12]
Ad
Yeah, my Mike's right. Like when you're. I just had an argument yesterday actually with a. With like sort of a rational dog person. They operate in the argument from a place of moral high ground because immediately it's like a dog is a person to them. And you try to exclude this person from whatever this thing is. It's like a civil rights issue for them. That's how it feels. I was just with my wife yesterday. Two year anniversary, shout out six nine ine Forever. And we were talking about our. That was the date. And we're talking about our trip to New York coming up. We're gonna do it this summer and we've got a lot of stuff going on. There's a wedding, we got a bunch of. Bunch of things happening. And she's like, you know, can we visit my sister in Philly? And I'm like, yeah, you know, we do that every year. I'm wondering, maybe they come up to us, we go to Philly, we go to a bunch of bars, I spend a bunch of money, and then I go sleep on their couch. It's a nice place, but, you know, we've got guest beds here at my parents. We got a pool. It's really nice. Let's have them down to the crown jewel. She's like, well, your parents have a dog and they have their little dog. And I don't know if they'd bring the dog. I'm like, all right, maybe they wouldn't bring the dog. And she's like, but I need to see the dog. And I just realize I entered into these waters where, like, I'm sinking, my ship is full of holes. There's nothing I can say because she's just like, we should go to Philly instead of having them come here so that I could see their dog. I'm just like, all right, okay, so.
- [64:32]
Ryan Rosillo
The bunny's just not cutting it for her.
- [64:34]
Ad
Well, table this discussion for another time because I don't want to argue with you on our anniversary dinner. But I know, I know there's nothing I can say to this because she's operating from the moral high ground. She can't believe that I'd be like, all right, well, then you just won't see the dog this trip. She's just. It's just the total disconnect. And so that's what you're dealing with here. And I. And if we're supposed to give you advice. I don't know. I'd say you're not being unreasonable, but now that you have the mom thing with the, you know, childhood guilt that she's throwing your way, I don't know, man.
- [65:04]
Ryan Rosillo
As an aside, I'm so happy I'm not married right now, this summer after hearing that.
- [65:11]
Ad
Now what can you do?
- [65:16]
Ryan Rosillo
I just don't understand how she couldn't be like, hey, this guy's wife, right, is setting all of this up. It's going to be chaotic. That's the other thing I don't understand in the email where it's like, it's not. There's nothing anyone can do about this dog. So what do you do? You just show up. He's like, sorry, trash.
- [65:37]
Worgon
I was confused. He said, I'm allergic to short hair and long hair. Dogs.
- [65:41]
Ryan Rosillo
Dogs, yeah.
- [65:42]
Worgon
What dogs are you not allergic to?
- [65:44]
Ad
Hairless.
- [65:45]
Worgon
Yeah, I don't. They have a dog. Medium hair, maybe?
- [65:49]
Ad
Medium hair.
- [65:49]
Ryan Rosillo
Last time was a bit chaotic. The dog was everywhere, and there was no stopping her. Not even my parents. I mean, I guess, look, if the dog is just out of control. The dog's out of control. But we have enough evidence here to prove Worgon's point. It's just there are a lot of really irrational dog people out there, and unfortunately, your mom is one of them. And she doesn't care if the dog fucks up your allergies or the party that your wife has been planning here after you getting out of a graduate program. That seems to be a pretty big deal.
- [66:17]
Ad
You know, the thing that I would say is it sounds like that setup for that party is going to be so chaotic. You know, it's probably not. It's not going to be like you're having a relaxing weekend and your mom's there with the dog. Like, you're probably going to have a bunch of shit to do. It might get lost in the sauce of inconveniences that you already have. And it'll just, you know, it'll be.
- [66:34]
Ryan Rosillo
Like, wow, that was working so far.
- [66:36]
Ad
That was. No, it's just like. That was crazy. It's a drop in the bucket, considering all the things. I got to go get 50 pounds of ice and I got to go do this and whatever. Like, there's probably shit for your party that's supposed to be like your day that you're going to end up doing because that's life. And this might just get lost in the sauce of all the inconveniences. And then you know, you'll look up, it'll be Monday after that weekend, and you'll be like, shit, everyone's gone.
- [66:55]
Ryan Rosillo
Okay?
- [66:56]
Ad
And then you and your wife could joke about that dog for a while. I don't. I don't know. I think it's just. It's one of life's inconveniences.
- [67:02]
Ryan Rosillo
And.
- [67:03]
Ad
And because it's your mom and she's taking this hard line on it, I think, you know, it would be shitty to argue with her about this. So I think you have to lose.
- [67:09]
Ryan Rosillo
I don't know. The original question, though, is that, no, you're not about.
- [67:13]
Ad
No, you're totally not bad, dude.
- [67:16]
Ryan Rosillo
But I still can't fathom, like, bringing a dog to the party. The dog is unhinged, like, completely misbehaving, and the mom's like, nothing we can do. Glad we brought it, though.
- [67:28]
Ad
Was he saying that the dog was unhinged or that they didn't follow the strict rules of this allergic man's dog house, where it's like, you can't get on this stuff. You can't be on the couch.
- [67:38]
Ryan Rosillo
Like, was it like, the dog was everywhere? There was no stopping her. Not even my parents.
- [67:42]
Ad
Yeah. So everywhere. Right? That means, like, on his fucking couch and the bench and all that stuff.
- [67:48]
Ryan Rosillo
Maybe he makes, like, a dog maze with no opening in his backyard.
- [67:53]
Ad
Dogs in the garage for the party.
- [67:55]
Ryan Rosillo
I don't know. Yeah, like, oh, that's great. I just built a dog maze. It's outback.
- [68:00]
Worgon
What are the odds? This is. This is amazing.
- [68:02]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah. And there's no opening on the other side of it. You can't figure it out. That would be smart. That might be a good business. Unsolvable dog mazes. I like it temporary. Yeah, Set them. We'll be set up in an hour here. All right, that'll do it for the show. Thanks to Kyle, thanks to Oregon, thanks to Jonathan Frius. You can watch the podcast, of course, on the Spotify app and on YouTube where I think we said this week we would do something.
- [68:30]
Ad
I think so. Maybe we will.
- [68:32]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah.
- [68:32]
P.J. Carlesimo
Maybe we won't.
- [68:34]
Ryan Rosillo
So subscribe to that Just Geyser a content. The Ryan Rosillo podcast Ringer Spotify.
- [68:40]
Worgon
They were gonna name me Michael Jordan. My dad was like, I don't think he can live up to it. So they named me Michael. Jared.
- [69:04]
Ryan Rosillo
Must be 21 and older and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 + and present in D.C. kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem. Call 100 Gambler or visit rg-help.com call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org chat in Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is there. Visit gamblinghelplinema.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24. 7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8-HOPE NY or text HOPE.