All right, everybody, welcome in season two, episode 23 NBA finals edition of the switchless podcast. Let's get right into it. We've got two games to talk about. We just finished game two. Uh, what, what was that? What was that? A terrible shooting from both teams. That's what I saw tonight. That's what I said. It was bad. It was extremely bad. Neither team had any rhythm, uh, which especially hurts the Celtics because They thrive on their three point shooting. I don't think it does. They were fine. Obviously not tonight. Obviously not tonight. I, I mean, if they shoot well from the three point line, it's the exact same result as game one. But I think that's the difference. And it's showing up. The, this team is the best team in the NBA. And now they're showing it against competition. And it also doesn't help that Kyrie Irving decided not really to show up today. Yeah, he just, the Boston Celtics are literally his kryptonite ever since he played there. Um, I don't know man, it just, this is what it feels like to me. Drew Holiday cancelled out Luka. Like, And then what's crazy is the Celtics don't have to play well and they will still win. Jason Tatum did not play well. Jalen Brown did not play well. He reverted back to, I can't dribble with my left hand Jalen Brown. Uh, Porzingis, he was not as electric as he was in game one. Derek White was off and on. He, he had moments where he made just the most clutch plays, but it's not like he was a 30 point a game guy. I, I don't know, dude. It, there's just this inevitability to the Boston Celtics in this series. And to me, it feels like, like, like Dallas is a team that they don't play with. They play at Lucas pace, but they don't accelerate who they're playing against. And if you let Boston get set, like. They're too good defensively. They rotate too well. They shut down Kyrie today. Oh my gosh. Even Luka, it didn't feel like he had a good triple double. Like he usually has. It was another slow start for, for Kyrie. I mean, he ended the first quarter fine, but they shut down Kyrie. He didn't have Like a clean look at the basket. Iron name. I didn't feel like maybe a couple of times, but it, we didn't get the usual takeover from these two guys that we see at the end of the game. And this is exactly what the Boston Celtics are built to do. Well, they were going to, right? So the, the, the, I Dallas is down by like seven, five or seven points and Kyrie gets the ball with Tatum on him and Tatum picked him and that was, and that was like, that was the game. Like when he picked him, I was like, Oh, that's it. It's over. It's over. Uh huh. And it seemed like that's what they were doing to Kairi the whole time. Uh, Jalen Brown did it early in the game too. He picked Luka too. It seemed like they, they were taking the two matchups very personal. And I, I say this a lot. There's a, there's a good 30 point game and there's a bad 30 point game. And Luca had a bad 30 point game. I don't know if you can say bad because it really felt like every shot he was shooting was going in in the first half. He was ridiculous again. Oh yeah. First half. He was incredible. I'm that's where he had the majority of his points, but yeah, yeah, it wasn't terrible from him. It wasn't the usual takeover that I was just not, I'm not laying this at the feet of, of Luca for me, I. I don't know, cause PJ Washington played pretty good. It feels like the centers have disappeared. They, I mean He had a few moments, but like He didn't have He didn't exist in tonight. No, and then, and then, I texted you. I texted you. Cause I was, I was asking myself, Why is Maxi Cleaver in the game? Defending Jalen Brown. Of course, they're going to exploit that matchup. I like their matchups don't make any sense. I don't know. I don't know what they're doing. No, I don't know either. It feels like Boston is like, you know what? Like when Luca shoots, it feels automatic. It feels like every time he shoots the ball, it's going to go in. And I think Boston's like, we're okay. If you score all these points, we know we can't stop you, but we can stop Kyrie and we can shut down the pick and roll. And that's what we're going to do. If there's two things that they've done in these first two games, it's. They have defended the pick and roll incredibly well, and they've stopped Kyrie Irving. Agreed. It's Kyrie is supposed to be there. One of their level headed guys. You don't depend as much on your, on your stars. Luke and Kyrie are supposed to give you those, those 30. 9s, especially in the finals. It's can our role players do what they're supposed to do? Luca did what he needed to do. Kyrie didn't do what he needed to do. And it ends up in a close game loss for them. Well, and we're also in this like weird spot. Like I am shocked how many people picked Dallas to win the series. I don't underst like, I It's just Boston haters. There's so many people who don't want to see them shine. That they just are like, okay, we're gonna have to take Dallas. I I've never seen We've seen dominance. I I think of of Golden State, where there was It was inevitable. They were going to be in the finals. Like there were years, the Kevin Durant years, you just knew they were going to win. Like it was not a question, but in those finals, there weren't games where they collectively didn't play well and won games. Like they just were better and their best players just played at a, at a level that just nobody could stop them. Boston. I'm watching the game and I'm like, man, Boston kind of sucks tonight. And they're up by six points. It, like, it's like, it's like Luka is balling out, he's going crazy, he's having a Luka game, and they're losing by four points. This is what the Celtics are built to do. It doesn't matter who has a good night. If you don't win this game, how do you win any game? Well, I mean, it's the playoffs. Tatum missed six threes in a row before he made one. If you can't win this, what can you win? But now they get to go back home. But they're down two. But I mean, if you think about it, that's what Boston is supposed to do. Defend home court. His team is incredible on their home floor. Yeah. Boston also incredible. No, no, no. Boston is not incredible on their home floor. They've been better on the road. Well, that doesn't mean they're not good on their home court. They, yes, they are better on the road, but they've been like 500. Really? Oh my gosh, dude. Oh my gosh. Boston Celtics won 60 plus games play in the playoffs. Oh, yeah. Playoffs. Yeah. I mean, they've only lost. Two games in the playoffs. They are, they're on a nine game win streak. But yeah, they, I think both of their two losses, it was, it was game two versus Miami. And then it was game two versus the Cavs. Brother, I, if you can't win this game, I just don't know how you can string together four wins. You can't, the biggest thing that Dallas can do at this point is they can try to, to earn some respect. Like they can, they can like, I don't know. They have to win game three. If they want any sort of chance at anything, they have to win game three. You can't lose, lose three, win four, like. If you lose game three, I don't even think anybody watches game four, dude. I don't even think people are going to turn on the television. I would hate it as an NBA fan. It'd be awful. It's just over. It'll feel just like last year. Just a short finals. We knew who was going to win, but yeah, it's, I really wanted Kyrie to show up in the second half, and he didn't. He just didn't. I I told Dago, I was like, this is gonna be a short pod, because there's just not much to say. Like, like, what's the there's no controversy here. Like, what are we supposed to discuss? I mean, the progression of the game, uh, the the Mavericks started out really good. Mm hmm. It seemed like their pace was gonna be really good. Kyrie They started out better, for sure. Kyrie hit a little step back. He's saying stuff to the crowd. Lucas hitting all these mid range shots talking to the crowd and then it was just kind of back and forth until the end of the first half. And then, I mean, you blink and it's the middle of third quarter and the Celtics are up by 12. And you're like. What just happened there? Yeah. How did this, how did this happen? And then it's, it's just like game one where it's this battle back. They cut it to a certain deficit. They cut it to eight in the, in game one. Uh, they cut it to seven in this game, but the experience shows up. Derek White making clutch shots. Clutch blocks. There's Mavericks fans saying that, uh, the, the fast break where Kyrie gave it up to PJ, he got fouled by both of them. But again, that only cuts it to five. That's, that's a lot of you're not, you're not winning the game. You're not, you're still not winning the game. Yeah. And this is the Celtics. I mean, it's not a team that's inefficient on the offensive end. Most likely they're going to get a good looking shot. Well, let's, okay, let's, let's say they get those points. All that all the Celtics did was exactly what we talked about earlier. They gave the ball to Jalen Brown. They got him the matchup they wanted with Cleaver guarding him. He took them right to the hole and scored it. And then it goes back up to seven instead of nine. So like, congratulations, you're up by five. You still would have been exploited. Now, I, I would've understood if they wanted to go defense for offense, and you're playing lively there for calibra, and then you sub him in on the offensive possession. But to have him in there, I, I, I, I didn't understand it. Mm-Hmm. I did not understand it. Yeah. To rush him. I not rush him, but I mean this, they've made this playoff run most of it without him, and. Josh Hart mentioned it too. He just, I mean, I don't know if he looked nervous, but that's what Josh Hart said in the post game that Maxie probably shouldn't have been out there in certain moments. He shouldn't have been out there. He was, he was. So he shouldn't have been out there. Okay. But so here's the other thing too. Boston is getting away with the craziest lineups in the series. At one point, this was a, this was a, this was when, when Tatum, Tatum took that really bad turnaround jump shot at, uh, at the right elbow. He missed it badly. It was Derek White, Drew Holliday. Peyton, it was Peyton Pritchard, Jason Tatum, and Al Horford. And I literally was sitting there and I was going, Boston is running 3 point guards right now. And they're continuing to win this game. Like the, the lineups that they're getting away with, are blow, they blow my mind. I can't understand. I, I literally was sitting there and I was like, they're going three point guards, Jason Tatum and Al Horford, and they're not getting exploited. I, I can't believe this. Like it's over. I don't know. Like Sam Hauser is like, uh, looks like an elite defender. What, what are we, what's going on? He was locking up PJ for a minute there. He was locked in. He's not hitting his shots. But no, there's one thing he's proved this year is that he can actually play some defense. So yeah, not up to him. But the, I mean, the guard lineup, that's what they really do. I mean, they're bringing Porzingis off the bench now. Hopefully he's okay. It looked like he hurt his calf. Yeah. He looked like he wasn't healthy. I wouldn't even play him in game three. You don't need to. He's he's just been so elite. He's been so good. The Mavericks are switching these pick and rolls with him. And all he has to do is just look at the hoop. Nobody's tall enough to even put a hand in his face. So it's a block party, dude. He's getting blocks. Derek White's getting blocks. Jalen Brown's getting blocks. Al Horford. It's a block party in the paint, dude. When, when, when Derek White swatted Kyrie, when he volleyball spiked Kyrie, I was like, holy crap, Kyrie signature, hold it. Yes. Wait, let me adjust. I'm gonna let you go by me. And then, yeah, it's the perfect matchup. That's what these guys do. That's what they do. And Drew Holliday was unbelievable today. I think he was 11 for 1426 points. Second most he's ever, he scored in that Celtics jersey. Like if he catches the ball in the paint, it looks like it's going in no matter what. I don't care what hand he's going up with, what angle it's going up from. He is incredibly efficient with his, his moves, His timing. He's the guy that everybody wants on their team. They were talking about this during the game, like, oh dude, he has the highest win percentage in the last four years. Like since Covid. Yeah. He's the guy that anybody wants on their team. He's the well, and he's, he's just, he, he always lets the game come to him. He's the perfect, so patient. So patient. Yeah. He's the perfect third option. Mm-Hmm. He may be, he may be one of the greatest third options. in basketball because he just, he never had an option, a two option, a now a three option. And it's, I'll give you 26 points. He never, he doesn't overvalue himself. He takes the challenge on defense. He makes the right play consistently and he takes timely shots and makes them like he is. There's no question why that man's going to be on team USA. No question. Because he is just, there may never have been a better glue guy in the history of the league. Like you could call him glue holiday. That should be his nickname. I'm serious. His nickname should be glue holiday because he is the greatest glue guy I've seen in the past decade. I swear. He'll take any matchup, any matchup. It's, it's, he plays beautiful basketball. We're two games in, um, talk to me finals MVP halfway through the series. Cause that's what it feels like. Uh, who would you, who are you giving the award to right now? Who's trending there to, to win it? It's Jalen Brown. It's Jalen Brown. Especially media picks it. This isn't based off stats. He's taking the Luka matchup. He's the one who's dominating on the offensive end. He's making big plays, electric plays. He's doing it all. I mean, Drew Holiday had a great game. Uh, probably been the most impactful player. Uh, Jason Tatum, it's not like he's taking a backup role, but this dude is almost averaging a triple double. He had 10 assists halfway through the third quarter. Yeah, he had eight at halftime. He's doing what his team needs him to do. Getting and ones, moving the ball. On driving kicks. He's, he's winning. It's winning play. And he's, and he's being aggressive. He, he, he went for three dunks. He didn't make a single one of them, but he was, he was going for the highlight play. Yeah. Like he was, he was going for it. Tatum would win it if half of the shots he's missed. Go in. Yes, I completely agree. Um, I think, yeah, he was one. He's one rebound away from a triple doubles tonight. Uh, if he puts together a few 30 point games for three and four or two out of the three games, probably that we see for the finals, then maybe you can make a case for it. But if Jalen Brown keeps defending the way he has, uh, if he gets up a left handed lay up a game, I think this guy's gonna win MVP at this point, if we called it now, I'm giving it to Jalen Brown. I think he's been the best player. Why do people, like, what is it that people have against Tatum? It's the narrative. It's, it's the, what he does to the media. It's the, the, the Kobe texts. It's the, the not winning. I think that's, that's a big part of it. The expectation was so high for this guy coming into a Celtics team who was already successful before he got there. Um, the narrative was there a reason this team shouldn't be a champion in a couple of years back in 2017. So the fact that we're in 2024, this is his second finals appearance. Um, I think it's just a lot of anger of this guy should have won before. Yeah. Yeah. And, and, and like the, the, the Kobe nods, I think are not helping him even wearing the, the Kobe draft shirt for game one, it's like, I got you today. That's the worst thing he could have done. I just don't get it because like he doesn't back it up. Never has. He never has backed it up. Even if he wins this ring, he didn't back it up. I think that with Tatum, it's like we wanted Tatum to be the guy. He's just not the guy. It's like when you watch, was it spy kids three? And all of a sudden you see the dude walk in. He goes, I'm the guy and he gets one shot and he has like 99 lives to zero and all of a sudden I think like juni ends up having to be the guy like that's literally what it is tatum like I'm the guy and then he hits three dunks off the front of the rim and we're looking at Jalen Brown like I guess it's him. I guess you're the guy. I guess you're the guy. I don't know. I think what's tough is, is Tatum is a, he's a good dude. Like, at heart, he's a, he's a really good dude. Um, I don't think you can knock the guy for, you can't knock the guy in terms of his character, in terms of, um, his willingness to show up and, and, and play his best. And he owns, he owns his mistakes. He, but he just, there's this it quality, That he just doesn't quite have. He's got all the pieces of a 1 A player, but he's a, he's a 1 C player. He's not even really a go to guy at the end of the games, like. No, no, no, no, no, no. It's Derek White holding the ball up to him. What would you say, what would you, what would you say Tatum's like signature move is? His, uh, step back three. Yeah, but that's not even a good shot for him. He hasn't been hitting it. But when I think, I think of a sidestep, the sidestep three, yeah, the site, that's what I meant. The sidestep three or, uh, a mid range shots. It's not like he's doing crazy stuff around the room. He's a good finisher. The most signature thing that I can think of is his sidestep body roll three. Yeah, man, dude, I don't know. It feels and I'm biased, right? Like I'm biased. I got the Ant Man shirt right now. Okay, I'm biased. But it feels like guys like Ant, they just have this it factor. Luca has it factor. He's got this aura. When you look at those guys, because it's not like Anthony Edwards is a winner. I mean, he's taken, uh, Minnesota as far as they've ever been in the history of the franchise. So to Minnesota, he's a winner, but it, you know, in NBA terms, he hasn't won anything. What's, what's the difference between guys like Ant who haven't won anything, but seem to be getting that, like the snowballs rolling for him. Whereas Tatum has won at a high level. He's been in the finals. He's about to win his first finals, but just doesn't have it. Like what's the difference? What's the difference? The difference? It's age here. If, if we go back to 2018, 2019, Jason Tatum was getting these comparisons. It's, it's that, that it's time. He's 26 now. And it's the continuous joke of Jason Tatum's only 19. Like people still make jokes about it because it's like, this guy's, he's been young for so long, forgetting how old he is. Him and Devin Booker have never aged. Yeah. Yeah. Like they're, they've been young stars their entire career, no matter if they're supposed to be in their prime or not. But Ant is, he's, he's. He's so young. He's 22. Uh, I'm sure we were saying the same thing about Jason Tatum four or five years ago. Like, yeah, there's the, the people saying Ants never won. It was the same thing for him. Went to the Eastern Conference Finals, but lost. Um, Luca, super, super consistent guy, but, uh, He's never won anything, and he's a little bit younger, a little bit different case, because he's, you know, the European prodigy. But, I think every case is different, but for Jason Tatum, he's kind of dug himself a bit of a hole. Yeah, shifting gears to Luca and Dallas, this to me feels like Luca's character development. Like, like this is his canon event. He has to lose this finals to, and don't, it wouldn't surprise me if losing this finals is actually what gets him to, to like lock in and take nutrition more seriously in the off season to get in better shape. I don't, I'm never going to say Lucas should reinvent his game. I, that is like blasphemous. But in terms of work ethic through the offseason, how he takes care of his body and things of that nature, I do believe there's a, there's a genuine belief that he could go another level. And if, if, if there's one thing that this series proves, um, or shows, is that if Luca wants to win at this level, he might need to take a few things a little bit more seriously. And it may not be for him. It may not be for him, but it's the type of thing that everybody else sees and it raises the standard, right? I agree. I agree. We're probably going to look back on this and, uh, Luca, the champion 2027, whatever year it is, uh, and it's going to be, you know, Uh, that, that loss made me realize what kind of work it takes to be a champion. Yeah. That type of thing. I could definitely see that happening. That I, this is, I, I, this is what it feels like to me. And it, it's, it's the Dirk Nowitzki track reincarnated. Where Dirk lost that finals in six. Yeah, he loses it in oh six. He loses to Wade and Shaq and he met him. He said, like, if I don't lose that finals, I don't win in 2011. I think it's going to be the same, except that Luca has this aptitude for greatness. That's, that's. higher than Dirk. He I don't think anybody would be surprised if I said when Luke retires, he's gonna have three championships. You go there. I could see it because I just think he has that that ceiling. But I do believe that this is a series that that opens that door for him. If you're the Dallas Mavericks, you're looking at kind of what's going on. You're Jason kid. You go into that locker room. What message are you trying to give your team? But like I said earlier, They covered home court. That's what they were supposed to do. Now it's our chance to go and do the same thing. That's, I mean, that's really all you can say. I mean, you got to move on from it, but the message should be now we get to go back home. I think for me, I would just, I'd probably go in there and I would say, look, guys, it's time for us to focus on going home. And we got to take this series one game at a time. Let's stop looking at the finals as the finals. Let's stop looking at it as a seven game series. Let's focus on this one game and let's figure out what we need to do to win this one game. with two games worth of data to help us make the best decisions possible. Like, let's not look at it like we gotta win the next two, we gotta win this, that, and the other. Let's just focus on this one game. It's not game three, it's the next game. Look at this as the next game, figure out what you want to do to play better in the next game, and let's go win the next game. And I think that's probably my message because when they turn on the TV, that's all they're going to hear, right? It's your turn. It's your time to defend the home, defend home court, defend home court. And I want my message to cut different than what they're hearing. Everybody else say the hope is that it does kind of create this us against everybody else. There's this common theme in the locker room. I don't know. Am I crazy? That's, that's kind of the direction I'm going. No, I mean, it's valid, but I just coming from a player coach standpoint, I assume Jason Kidd keeps it real with them and he tells them they defended their home court. And now it's our chance to do that. But if he takes that route that you're talking about, I think it could be successful for them too, because you're down to, oh, you can't look at it as you're down to, oh, you have to look at it as. We're just, we just need to win the next one. So whatever Jason kid decides to say, it'll probably work because it seemed like they'd been in similar type situations. I mean, they started off the series to the Clippers with a huge L and they, so it's. It's just another bounce back moment for the team. And if any team can do it, it's a team who has faced some adversity and made it to the finals. So I mean, only time will tell, but we're here now. And in a few days, we'll get to see what they come out with the home. I don't know about you. I feel like that really wraps up any, any coverage that we've got for the finals. I mean, I've got Boston winning it. I had Boston winning it going in. I thought it was going to be a six game series. I thought Dallas was going to come in and win this game. They didn't. Uh, but there is other news that's happening in the basketball space and believe it or not, it's the WNBA, the latest, the late, I mean, there has been so much that's come out with the, with the Caitlin Clark stuff, the players shoving her down, uh, Angel Reese. cheering on the sideline when it happens. Angel Reese wanting to claim that, you know, she's also the reason why women's basketball is as big as it is and that, uh, she deserves a bunch of praise, which I think is a crazy statement to make. Whether it's true or not, it's a wild statement to make publicly. Not privately, not that it gets leaked, not that it's like your friend saying this is how she feels, but to say it publicly is crazy. But beyond that, it was Caitlin Clarke not making Team USA, and one of the reasoning being they, that they were afraid of what the fans would do if she didn't play a lot of minutes. So now we're, we're, we're keeping players off of teams because of hypothetical circumstances. That's like saying LeBron James can't be on Team USA because the bronze sexuals out there would lose it if he doesn't play enough. This is, this is, this is ridiculous. It's a very sorry excuse. What the heck is going on? There, I have learned there is so much pettiness in that league. Yes. An unmeasurable amount of drama that just comes from hate, just pure hate. And at first I didn't want to believe it, but it all started when national championship game ends and Diana Taurasi decides to be like, reality is coming. And you get all the, it's, it's, it's like when LeBron came into the league and they're interviewing the Cavs and they're like, I don't think a player can come in and affect us like that. But this is like an entire league. This isn't just a team. It's everybody, dude. And I saw this, it was a comment and it said they are quite literally biting the hand that feeds them. Yeah. The hate is from the one person who is making any sort of coverage possible for your league. You got players still complaining about having to fly commercial. And this is, this is still a nonprofit league besides Caitlin Clark. Yeah. There there's so much hate and it's. It's quite sad. I, I don't know why Team USA wouldn't put Kaitlyn Clark on the team besides being petty. Okay, and why is Diana Taurasi still on the freaking team, dude? She's played like 140 games for Team USA. Why don't you just hang it up and let somebody else play for the love? Oh my gosh. Wait, I need to see. Oh my gosh. I'm looking up. Right now she's played. I think she's played 138 games for team USA, dude. It is, it is ridiculous. Uh, how long is the WNBA season, bro? The WNBA season is 40 games. Okay, she's played three and a half seasons just for the Team USA in comparison to the WNBA. It's ridiculous. She's averaging 16 5 and just under two assists. You don't think Kaitlyn Clark can give you 16? Kaitlyn is putting up better, all better numbers, but on a worse team. Okay, and like dude, yeah, but you can't, you can't double, you can't double Kaitlyn Clark for Team USA. She's getting the open looks. And she's, she's making them. It's bro. One of the things that made the dream team, the dream team was that they were must see TV for anybody that never would have the chance to see all of these guys play the game of basketball. I'm not saying Caitlin Clark is going to create a women's version of the dream team. But this was the greatest opportunity in the history of women's basketball to have all eyes on your sport. And you absolutely just threw it away. Threw it away. Completely. I I just can't wrap my mind around it. I don't believe that people should make it easy. Like, like you bring up a great point. And I think that more people on national television should should bring up this point. There's two players that they should talk about when they're saying, Hey, when have we seen this Kate and Clark stuff happened before Lonzo ball was a huge one, but that was because of his father. And there were a ton of players that were like, I'm going to, I'm going to make tonight hell for you. Yeah. Because of your dad and the other is LeBron James where people were like, Oh, we're going to talk like LeBron James is the, he's the second coming. I don't believe it. I don't believe this guy's going to be that great. And then they saw him play. They saw him play and they were like, no, this guy's actually amazing. That's exactly what it is. And the great example is 2004 Olympics team and 2012 Olympics team. We have a first year LeBron James on the team. 2012, we have Anthony Davis who has never played an NBA game on Team USA. So it's not like it's never been done before. Uh, dude, Christian Laettner was on, Christian Laettner was on a team. He was from the Dream Team. He was on the Dream Team. Like, we kept, we kept Isaiah Thomas off the Dream Team. We had Christian Laettner. You're telling me we can't sit Diana Taurasi and bring Caitlin Clark? No, for, in terms of USA viewership, I don't know how much it's gonna affect Worldwide viewership for the, for the, for women's women's Olympic basketball. But yes, for team USA, if you want your people watching your games, why wouldn't you bring the most popular woman? In the sport with you and it gets worse, dude. Now, now that I, I saw, I saw, um, I can't remember who it was. Somebody in the WNBA, they said that, uh, people want to talk about how this, this rookie draft class is one of the best rookie draft classes. They're like, this isn't even the best one in the last 10 years. We've had multiple draft classes better than this one. It's like, what is wrong with you people? Cameron Brink is just catching strays for no reason. She's been legit. Like, what are we doing? It's an elite level of pettiness. These people is real. The, uh, there's, there's that weird statistic. Nearly one third of all lottery winners go broke. It's this, it's, it's a ridiculous stat that you win hundreds of millions of dollars and you go broke. And the reason why is because these people are not ready to have that much money. They don't know what to do with it. And so they just blow it. And to me, it feels like the WNBA won the lottery. They hit on three picks. Caitlin Clark is massive. She's the, she is the hero. Angel Reese is the villain. She is the counterpart to Caitlin Clarke. She is willing to be the villain. I think she's widely considered the villain. I don't believe there's a race thing with Caitlin Clarke. I think the race stuff is ridiculous. I think the fact that she's a straight woman is ridiculous. Sabrina Ionescu is straight and a baller and awesome, and I don't think it has anything to do with it. So, I don't think it's a race thing, I think those arguments are ridiculous, they're narrative driven, it's people trying to get clicks on ESPN. And Cameron Brink is just solid. She's got ties to Steph Curry, and has been great, and is playing in LA. Like, the WNBA hit the lottery, put it into a parlay, and then won. The parlay and then decided that they were going to light the money on fire. Like the Joker. I, I, I just, I, I've never seen anything like this. It's just like these people, they don't want to actually be successful. They don't want to be famous or they want all the things they want, what they can't have. Now it's, it's our fault because we didn't cover the league three years ago or five years ago. Um, One person on their phone is saying, have you talked to Caitlin Clark? And all of a sudden they're calling it harassment. Uh, we deserve private jets, even though our league doesn't make any revenue. The first person to sell out arenas, we're just going to ostracize and literally try to like put her on the sideline. We're going to try and injure her. Um, I have no problem with, with, with, uh, Hard fouls. I have no problem with teams wanting to be aggressive and wanting her to prove herself. It's all the off the floor stuff that just, I can't wrap my head around. It's too much. It's, it's so forced and maybe it's a plan to just keep drawing media in. Bad publicity is still some sort of publicity. So any publicity is good publicity. They get something out of it. So it's maybe it's a media thing, but I mean, it can't be, if you're kicking her off, not kicking her off, but not including her on team USA, not even giving her a chance, not even giving her a chance is crazy. And it's, it's what's being talked about right now. So it's, it wasn't just going to be like this, uh, let's move on. It's going to be talked about through the entire thing. Yeah. I mean, I don't plan on watching any of the games now. I don't, I'm going to be honest. I like watching Caitlin Clark. I don't like watching really anybody else. I'll watch it. Caitlin has been playing for the, for years. She's never drawn anybody to a television set. Never. Maybe we're a little bias, but I think it's pretty obvious. That there is a level of hate going on around Kaitlyn Clark and I, that's how it is with any star, but it, it really hurts to seek because she's such a humble person. She never has ill intent at all. And it's all just crashing down. Yeah. And this is, uh, this is the price of fame for the WNBA as a whole, like the. I mean, just go look at what people say about LeBron James, Jason Tatum, Jalen Brunson, Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving. Name the great player. Let's not forget, people hated Kobe Bryant. People hated Kobe Bryant. There were commercials about how much people hated Kobe Bryant when he played. People hated that man. That's it. It comes with the territory. People hate Tom Brady. People hate Patrick Mahomes. People hate these teams because they're great. And when you get a taste of greatness, you gotta be, you gotta be ready. Okay. It's, if you're not, it's like, it's like if you're, you're playing video games in a, in, in a dark room and your mom comes and turns the lights on, you gotta be ready for the moment. Okay. You can't just, you can't be close in your eyes trying to wave around and figure out what's going on. You gotta be ready when the lights come on because the lights are here. Now people are, they're interested. And if you, and if you don't figure it out, You're going to go right back to where you were before. Yeah. She's peaked people's interest and they're shutting her down. It's, it doesn't make any sense from any standpoint. This is what they'd been searching for for years. Oh yeah. Any sort of league, you look back at the NBA and the lady who was on first take talking about how you weren't talking about us three or four years ago. There was times that the NBA was on tape delay. It's okay. Well, yeah, yes. And yes. And there have been multiple times that there have been legitimate female college basketball players on their way into the WBA that people weren't interested in Brittany Griner was a dominant player. People were interested in Brittany Griner when she played in college. And when she went to the WNBA, she disappeared. There were players like Deladon, Skylar Diggins. There were, there were names of these players that we watched. Brianna Stewart. We watched, Kelsey Plumb, we watched these players. And when they got to that league, it was like Aang. He, they vanished. The avatar vanished. Okay. That is when they needed when, when we needed the most, they vanished. Caitlin Clark is the first player to translate. She's the first one to translate where people are still willing to follow and watch and pay attention because I genuinely believe that the coverage has been there for the stars as they've gone in, but the league just hasn't been able to put them in a position to actually be successful for anybody to care or for anybody to watch. And now as soon as they've got somebody, now they've got somebody and it's, and that, and what we have a problem, like, I don't like what, what did they want? What was the archetype of a player that they wanted? Uh, that, that, that's the part I don't get. Like, would it be better if it was Cameron Brink? I don't know. Her first, they do want it to be. Horrible. The fever barely win. She puts up great numbers, but all these incredible athletes were giving her the hardest time, her first few years in the league, and then she They want her to be a bust. They want her to be a bust. Yeah, the hate is real. I've never said anything more toxic in professional sports maybe in my life. Me neither than the WNBA. Um, well, if you're still listening, I do just want to let you know, we've, we've got, I think one episode left in us this season before we close things out on season two of the Swiss list podcast. I want to give you guys a preview of really what you're going to see from us. If you're new and you haven't followed the podcast, I want to let you guys know kind of how things go following the finals. Um, normally Roman and I, we take a break, we kind of let things settle down a little bit, and then we, we pop in. A couple of times during the, uh, when free agency really starts to talk through, uh, what players got traded, who got moved, what's going on. Um, there's a really good chance. You're going to get a couple episodes around the team USA games. We're going to talk through kind of what we're seeing on the floor. Um, Can this Avenger squad really do it, given how old everybody is? Uh, and then and then things really start to spool up again as we get closer to the next season. But, um, it's it's crazy that we're getting close to the end of season two. This this one has been. It's been so much fun, mainly because I feel like we've kind of found our lane a little bit more in terms of what we like to talk about and and how it flows. I think we've both grown a lot, um, this season and, uh, it's it's been, it's been a ton of fun. Roman, is there anything you want to talk about before we close this thing out? We covered, we covered it. It's just the finals. It's what's going on with the WNBA. That's basketball right now. That's it man. I mean, listen, the next time we talk, maybe, you know, We'll have another potential Lakers head coach. I'm not sure, but I think it's safe for us to just wait a week before we talk about the Lakers coaching situation because we might be talking about the wrong candidate. The Dan Hurley stuff, we're going to wait and see. Rumor is a hundred million dollar contract is floating out there, five, seven million, maybe something in that range. Um, and JJ Redick very well may still be on the table. So there is some interest. There are some conversations happening in Laker land. Uh, there's a few coaching decisions that do need to be made, but all of those will hopefully be answered by the time we deliver the next episode. Uh, if you're not already giving us a follow, please go ahead and subscribe to this, uh, subscribe to our YouTube channel at Swishless pod. Follow us on social media. We're on all your favorite platforms and make sure to send this episode. If you enjoyed it to someone that needs to learn the game. Did somebody put money on Dallas and they need to hedge? Uh, send them this episode. Maybe we can help them out. Um, but once again, we appreciate anybody that's listening and Roman send us off. Episode 23, We Are Winding Down, is coming towards the end. Looks like we might have a champion. We'll keep you updated. We're hoping for a good week for the Mavericks to continue this, this finals. Maybe you are. But I don't want the Mavericks. But I guess we'll just have to see. Uh, we're here for you. We want to talk, uh, let us know your thoughts. If you disagree with any of the points that were made, we're on all your favorite platforms, but, uh, leave us a like, leave us a subscribe. That's what we're here for. If you're not, it's getting ridiculous. It's, it's really getting ridiculous. Swishly's podcast, episode 23, we are out.