Coming up, a very special NBA Finals preview with a gambling bent with the Cuz and Joe house. Next, we're also brought to you by the Ringer podcast network, where you can find a new episode of the Rewatchables, which we put up on Monday night. We did slap shot, only one of the greatest sports movies of all time. Me, Chris Ryan, Sean Fantasy, who had been living in semi seclusion, northern Quebec ever since the unfortunate Denny Pratt tragedy. But he joined us. And you can watch this as well on the Ringer movies YouTube channel. So stay tuned for that. Stay tuned for Wednesday on Fanduel Sportsbook, where we got that little profit boost token 30% if you hit an NBA bet. And we're going to give you a whole bunch of bets throughout this podcast to bet on the finals. But this is, this is the day to do it. I have some ideas for you on that. Don't forget about my YouTube channel, the Bill Simmons channel, where you can find a bunch of videos from this podcast from the past, from the archives. Full podcast, whatever you want, we got it. Coming up, the cuz, cuz and Sal, Joe house.

We're back, baby. NBA Finals is coming up. We're gonna tackle it next for star friends from Pearl. Jim. All right, we're taping this Tuesday afternoon. Just seeing Joe House makes me hungry. Just seeing Sal on a zoom makes me feel like football season is starting. How many days away are we?

Yeah, 94 days. 95 days. 94 days. 94 sounds better.

I really. I miss it more than ever this year.

I know.

Got a new quarterback. You have the last year with your quarterback. Next year, your quarterbacks could be Gardner Minshew. House has a new quarterback.

We just had this. This test drive this past week of no basketball, hockey, finishing up of, like, what am I going to watch?

What are we doing? Well, I'll tell you what we're going to watch. I was watching Oklahoma with a walk off on the softball World Series today, and I was actually, like, genuinely enjoying it. I'm like, welcome to the summer. We're gonna have the Olympics, right, Sal? We're gonna have the Olympics.

Thank God for the Olympics. Thank God for the Olympics.

WNBA, Us open coming up next week. House, I should.

I'm aware, be. All right, B's, did you win money on that Oklahoma walk off?

No, I haven't crossed the line yet on betting on softball, but I think I'm emotionally and physically ready for it. Yeah, I. The big thing for me is there this summer for me in house, the Olympic basketball is going to be, I think out of control. I'm going to have all kinds of thoughts. There's. They're going to be that quarterfinals where there's four games in one day. We'll be doing all kinds of parlays. We're going to talk NBA Finals and the gambling aspects of the NBA Finals. I know you guys have poured over all the bets. Sal, I've deliberately not talked to you too much about this because I was kind of hoping to rope you into a podcast. I've talked to house a lot about it. I know some houses. Thoughts? What's your. What's your biggest angle heading into the finals?

Well, my biggest angle is, as much as I want to see, like, you and hench disappointed, I understand everybody on the ringer staff gets a 3.3% raise if the Celtics hang a banner. So this is house. You got that email from the. From the desk of Juliet Lippmann. We all get a 3% raise. Yeah, I think assigned camouflage hoodie from Rosillo or something. I don't know.

What about. What about my. My finals golf shirt?

How's you doing?

All right. See, the people. People listening can see that to me.

What do I get?

2022 final shirt Hershey gave me.

Oh, 2022. That's fine. You can have that one.

Even though we lost this finals, I'm wearing it anyway. All right, what's your biggest angle, Sal?

Um, well, I want to ask you, what are you most nervous about? Cause these are three factors, right? Like, the Celtics are favored maybe higher than they should be, but not enough to take the underdog. I don't think. In fact, I think the three of us have exactly the same pick in terms of a specific outcome. But what are you most worried about? That Porzingis comes back, screws up the flow, that you haven't faced a closer like Luca, or that home court isn't a great advantage?

Well, I don't think home court's going to be an advantage, so I'm not even worried about that.

I.

The poor Zingis. Like, he had the press conference today, and he was like, I'm good. And he wouldn't say it was 100%. He's like, I practiced two days in a row, and I think if there's a worst case scenario for the Celtics, it's Porzingis playing and then re injuring something and thinking that he's going to play and then that getting pulled away in game one or game two or on the road in game three or something like that, because I feel like, psychologically, that'll be a tough one. The thing I'm the most worried about is that the series, the more I stare at it, I just feel like the Celtics should win the finals. And all the history and all the math and eight months of the comparing the two teams, and I just feel like we're. We're doing this whole thing with Wall Luca, and it's the best player in the series, and. But all of the evidence says they should win this. And I'm thinking more like, if they don't win it, well, how am I going to feel afterwards? House. Cause I'm going to feel like this is this amazing opportunity squandered.

22 is a little different. They get to the finals, it felt like they could have won, but Curry went to a whole other level and the team didn't play well. Like, Tatum played bad, that the shooting kind of went sideways. Derek White had a really up and down series, and they just weren't ready. This time around, I don't know really what the excuse would be, other than poor Zingis or Luca just destroys them.

See, I don't like you using all this language. Opportunities squandered. What's the excuse? I don't think that that's the right prism through which to look at this. This Boston team in. In this matchup, in these playoffs, in the era that we're kind of living in, in this basketball era that we're living in? Because I think the true conundrum that this series presents is, do you use your historic referentials as the framework for this thing, which is a team like the Celtics that have gone 76 and 20, a 20 loss team with terrific ratings on both sides of the ball, with Porzingis healthy through the vast majority of that? That's a framework. Or do you use the framework of this Dallas team, which has charted its own course post deadline with, you know, an identity that is very different from the identity that that team possessed all the way up until the trade deadline and just in this last month has demonstrated an identity that I think rivals in terms of what Boston brings to the table.

It's.

It's a very close matchup, except for the hard thing of trying to figure out, are we using the Celtics that went 76 and 20, or are we using Dallas for this last month? Which one is the prevailing proper? Yeah, what's the measuring stick? So can I.

Can I just say, well, I hate it when house tries to sound smart and then does sound smart. Really?

He's like, no, don't ever take him as being smart.

He sounds smart. Prisms and frameworks and everything. It's like. It's better when you fall on your face, house.

Well, this is no good.

This all makes sense.

I'm definitely going to fall on my face, but this, to me, is the hashtag thread the needle series. Like, how can we make money on this thing? I said in one of our group chats. I bet on the Celtics to win in six. I bet a little less on Dallas to win in six because it's. It's a plus money odds.

But the real thing, both teams to win in six. Of course, he just proved that he's that smart.

I'm trying to win money. I want to win. I want to win. So. But I think the series going at least, you know, the series over five and a half games is my favorite bet. That, I think is the best bet. Except I thought that in that Minnesota Dallas series and then lost that right in. In the nutsack, so I'm not sure.

Well, there's one thing, Sal, with the. With the breaks between every game, let's figure out who that favors. Thursday, Sunday, Wednesday. So there's a lot of rest, which I think helps Porzingis and Horford more than anybody would help on the Dallas side. Cause Lucas seems like he's pretty good now. Like, he was looking pretty grim in round one, but I thought by. By game five, Minnesota, he was moving pretty well. So I would say that helps Boston better, right?

I think it definitely helps. And I think back to the Porzingis thing, I think you answered that correctly. That's the biggest thing. Because when you haven't played for, like, months now, like, or whatever it is, it's. You're now more likely to hurt the team in game one at least, than help. Right? I mean, what's the. What's. Unless they're just going to ease him in, he's going to get like twelve minutes. The flow is not going to be there.

Right.

So I don't know if you're planning on giving up game one or game two, but, yeah, it behooves you to have the longer rest. By the way, the fact that we had a week off, I mean, Ronnie's going to be 37 by the time this damn series is over. Just frickin ridiculous.

But pick 30.

Pick 37 or 37 years old, unfortunately. Yeah. So that's what I say. Yeah. The rest, I think, definitely helps your Celtics.

Well, I'll say this, if I was divesting myself, and I know I've been careful talking about the series, but I really don't want to feel like, oh, man, I feel like I jinxed us. But I'm just going to be honest. I think the Celtics are better. I think all the evidence says they're better. And if they don't win this series, I'm going to be about as disappointed in a Boston team as I've been in a long, long time. Because they should win this. They really should have a better team.

Why should they? Why? On what basis? This is the thing. I've heard you do this. Why are you setting yourself up for this? I think Dallas is awfully close. I think this is very.

I think Dallas is a really good team. But the Celtics, to go to do what they did for the last eight months and then to just lose in the finals when they have home court advantage, to lose to Kai now, I like all the stuff Kyrie said and I. I think, like, I hope the people in Boston have listened to him because I think there's genuine remorse and whatever. The guy was in a bad place when he played for the Celtics and now he. Now he feels like he's in a different point. Whatever. I'm way more excited to boot Luca and go against Luca and make Luca the villain in this whole thing. I just think the Celtics are really, really good and I hope that they tap into it. And the only way that they don't beat Dallas is if they miss a shitload of threes. They get in a foul trouble over and over again in these games with their wings and I don't know, I just think they have a better team. To me, Sal, the key with how to analyze Dallas is looking back at those three series, which I think we all won on the Quipper series.

Yeah.

And then OKC, I don't think any of us did well in that series. Right. Because Luca kind of rope a doped us with how healthy he was and then he got more healthy. That series is pretty close. And then Minnesota throw that one out. Cause Minnesota sucked and Dallas was great. But going backwards, like you look at the Oklahoma City series for me, is the series that I think is going to resemble this series. They. Even though the teams are a little different, the way. The way that OKC defensively, the fact that they do have good scores at the end of games. OKC had one. I think the Celtics have two. I don't think Brown gets enough credit and they're just athletic. The Celts are going to be able to switch on defense. They're going to be able to rebound better than OKC did. They're going to be able to protect the rim better than OKC did. But those OKC Dallas games were close and I just think Boston's a better version of OKC, which makes me think they should just beat Dallas. Does that sound crazy?

No, it doesn't sound crazy. But also just us analyzing this stuff, this sounds crazy because we're going to be wrong about like two or three of the games. You could really just like do matchups and you can do everything. But there is going to be a game where the Celtics go four for 27 from three. There might be a game where they. I don't really know what happened with Minnesota. Like you want to say, Celtics are a great defensive team. I think they were third defensive efficiency. Minnesota was one. And then we saw three players just decide to not play basketball again. Like you watch, the defense was, wasn't there at all. I had like a player prop on Gobert, six plus rebounds. So I was watching him the whole game. He travels, and I don't mean travel, I mean, I think he goes a distance of 75ft per game. He doesn't move at all. So what happens to some of these players in his game? You're going to be scratching your head for a couple of them, but that said, you probably have the better team. You know, you're, you came a long way for this and I feel like, I feel like karma is going to get Dallas a little for tanking and Garrett getting Derek lively.

Oh, the tanking.

I like this $750,000 fine. Not enough. Trade that in a second for what they got with Derek Lively.

Well, House, don't you think? Just on paper the Celtics have the best kind of team not to stop Dallas, but at least make them work for all the shots they're going to get. Missoula, I thought was really smart in his press conferences talking about like, we're not going to shut these guys down. These guys are great players. We want to slow them down, make it hard for them. I know he has to say that publicly. I think one of their goals in this series is take out Kyrie as much as they can. And that's what OKC did. Kyrie average 16 points a game in the OKC series? Well, why? Well, they had Jalen Williams on him a lot. They were throwing ks on Wallace at him. Right. They had some rim protection with Chet. And in general, they kind of moved the shots toward PJ Washington, who was unconscious the whole series. And then Luca made some big shots and Dallas was able to win it. But why can't Boston. I'm not going to say they're going to take out Kyrie, but they, they can put size on them. They have room protection and they have holiday and Derek White to throw on them.

What makes anyone think Kyrie is going to average 25 plus in this series? I don't see it.

It's a strategic choice and Oklahoma City made that choice. And then they lived with the, the outcome, which was PJ Washington shooting nearly 50% from three and Derek Jones junior shooting well from three and Josh Hardy shot reasonably well, like they left the corner three to Dallas as the option. And they said, we dare you second tier players to go knock these down. And then they did and that's why they lost the series. So it's a choice for sure for, for Boston. And I think Dallas is perfectly fine with the idea of Kyrie in a play making role as opposed to a scoring role. And, you know, the, the reintroduction of Maxie Kleber should, should be meaningful, right? That's a big guy who could. Yeah. And he, and he's very comfortable from that three point line. It's an additional three point threat that Dallas I think would be like, oh, so you're going to take away Kyrie by using this defensive effort in that direction? Well, here are all the guys on the perimeter that were pretty comfortable letting shoot and we're going to live with that, that three ball.

Is it possible Minnesota just sucked in the last series? I know Dallas is really good, but, man, you think like, one of the things you're going to have to do, your top two guys are going to have to match the top two guys on Dallas, which will be. They'll be in the 50 plus range combined, I would say minimum. Even if Kyrie is like 1618 a game, Lucas still going to be low mid thirties. So you have to somewhat match that. The Celtics all year, Tatum and Brown have been in the 50 to 60 range, right. Minnesota, Ant and Towns. Towns was just an abomination in that series. I mean, it's eight for 33 from three. And then ant stats were worse and they just couldn't match the points. And that became this eight point cushion for Dallas every game, which I just think Boston's going to be able to get close to matching those points and then you throw in the other guys and it gets a little easier. But is, is basketball that simple, Sal? Just like, hey, our two guys need to match the other two guys point total and, and we have a better team across the board.

Other than that, no, of course it's not that simple. None of the series resembled that. We saw sweeps. And when we saw the Minnesota one, went five. But, you know, you could have lost two games against Indiana. You could still be playing that. Yeah. And I think, like, if. All right, let's. Let's put it this way. If you're down two to one after three games, who are you? Mf on? The Celtics. Probably Missoula, right? It's probably like, why the hell we put in Hofford on, on luca? Like, what the hell? What are we doing here? Why is this? Why are we not figuring out the matchups? Why is he playing Porzynge so much? He's obviously not ready.

Why do we play houser this much? Yeah, I'm probably mad at Missoula if we're down to one.

Yeah. So I think the coaching mismatch, although slight, could, could make a difference in a overall matchup. That's pretty close.

Hold on. We're not giving Jason Kidd pronounced advantage in a coaching. Come on, little bit guy. The guy was almost getting fired for a year and a half.

Yeah, well, this Dallas team has not lost consecutive playoff games this entire run. They have adjusted and adjusted and adjusted. And he's been up against coaches that we are prepared to give. Flowers diagonal one coach of the year. I think he did a pretty good job against that dude, Chris. He out coached the number one defense in the UK.

He's in the second row limping around.

Brain crippled by the way.

Stuff they did was pretty, pretty mentally crippling. Like, hey, guys, Lucas hot. Maybe send a second guy at him in game five. Flames are shooting out of his ass. You're just staring at him. What are you guys doing? I don't know. Like, like, I felt like they could have gotten towns going a little bit more. The Kyle Anderson piece where they didn't really play him for a couple games. I'm just, I'm looking at this big picture. This has been a seven year odyssey with Brown and Tatum all leading to this finals in this moment. Right? And it's like, great. Luca's a. An awesome player, right? He's fucking incredible. But that they should still be able to beat a team that has one awesome player and then one really good offensive player and a bunch of role players. Like this team, over and over again, was beating everybody in the league. And now it's like, oh, it's the finals. Whoa, this is too much for us. Like, these guys have been in all of these huge games. The Celtics. You don't have the excuse of 22 of like, whoa. Happy to be here. Oh, Tatum so young.

Oh, my God. And Derek White just got here. They don't have any excuses anymore. Like never going to have a better chance.

I'm starting to get it, house. It's true. They really aren't. They had the easiest run in the playoffs. You got, you know, you had really had Butler didn't finish the series. You had Mitchell didn't finish the series. You had Halliburton didn't finish the series.

And be was hurt.

So then didn't have to go against Embiid.

No, we skip Jokic.

Yeah. Like this is, I don't know, this is Boston Bruins ask and that's like, oh, my God. What? What the hell can go wrong now?

There's two things going on here, though. First of all, remember last June? Remember how much content this very podcast got out of the idea of should the Boston Celtics bring Jalen Brown back? Should they pay him that giant amount of money? What have the Celtics done? What? That. What's that twosome done? This podcast got a ton of mileage out of that. At the end of.

What did I always say? Don't break them up.

Well, you got there. It took a little while.

No, I never wavered on that. I don't know if there might be some receipts.

We'll look for some wavering. I think there was some wavering.

I never wanted them to break those guys up.

The only two weeks away.

The only thing that made sense to me is if this season didn't go perfectly with the amount of money they're going to pay Brown. And this is another piece of why this season is so make or break. Tatum's going to get a $315 million contract extension in July, right? He's eligible for it. He's going to get it. So now you have two guys making 600 million plus on top of some of the other pieces with this, whatever, the second apron. I don't know what's going to what's going like post media deal, but they're probably not going to get a chance to stack a team with six really high quality guys like this after next season. So to me, it's a two year window.

Well, he deserves it and it's worth it because the Celtics, if everybody's healthy, are effing awesome. What happened after re signing Jalen Brown was drew holiday fell in your effing laps and Chris up to Zengas fell in your ear effing laps. And that made this incredible team that won 76 games even with the annual injury to Porzingis the problem in trying to figure out what the hell is going to happen here and why. I keep trying to urge you to be cautious with the, like, make a break already.

How can I make cautious?

You keep saying squandered opportunity. This is a make or break. I don't think that's proper because this team, this Celtics team has not played a really competitive basketball game since when? When was the last time they played the team with its full complement?

I know you're gonna laugh. I thought those two Indiana games in Indiana were super helpful. That team was playing really well. Like, however you feel about Indiana, that team was playing well. Nemhard was out of his mind. Like, he was making every kind of shot. They were playing really hard. They were on the road. They had to come back from behind in both games. And I. It's the kind of game like, they, they would blow those games during the year every once in a while so that you feel a little better.

I like it. He's putting all the pressure on himself and I think it's genuine, too. I've been around myself.

No, how do I have pressure? I'm not playing. You are sitting next to my dad, giving him, giving him coke.

No, you're playing all these games. You're flying to Dallas.

This is great. We got Boston.

Fly to Dallas.

We had to take a break. And I have more stuff to hit here with Fanduel. It's never too late to get into the action this NBA playoffs. Right now, new customers get a $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5 bet. That is $150 to use on same game parlays, live bets, championship futures, exclusive markets. So much more. That's all we're doing talking about on this podcast. I still like Celtics. And six with Jason Tatum for a nice little booster. Plus 650. Remember, there's no better place to bid all the playoff action than America's number one sports book. Just go to fanduel.com b's to get started. Fando, official sports betting partner in the NBA. You must be 21 plus, 18 plus in DC and president select states, excluding North Carolina. Gambling problem called 1800 Gamble or visit rg dash help.com first online real money wager only $10 deposit required. Bonus bets are non withdrawable. Expire seven days after receipt. Restriction supply seat terms at sportsbook dot fanduel.com. all right, so you guys impartial observers. House is a Washington fan. Sal, you don't even have a basketball team. You're just like, you're like a. You just travel around the earth betting on basketball games like kung fu.

I look at it through a different. What did you say? A lens, a prism? I don't know.

House. But yeah. What's house is smart guy turn for that.

I don't need these games to be close like you guys do. And that's why I love the bet. Both sides minus nine and a half, which is, by the way, up 16 units in the playoffs. Took a bit of a hit.

Amazing.

Well, it's thanks to your team by.

Can you explain that? Because we haven't talked about that on this podcast. So explain what you were doing.

Sure, it's easy. Just bet both teams in each game minus nine and a half points. So you're definitely going to lose one of them, right? Because no one's ever, there's never been a game where both teams have won by ten or more points. So you're going to lose one side, but eventually the payout and the odds in your favor is going to be so great. If Miami beats Boston in Boston by double digits as a double digit underdog, if Cleveland beats Boston in Boston by double digits.

Well, you're talking like this is like six to one. You're getting on a bet seven to one.

Like crazy that I mentioned it. Probably like eleven or twelve to one. So if you just stay with it, you're good. And I have something else. Once we go over game one, things that I like too. But yes, that's a, that's kind of how. And the Mavs close things out with a plus 440 double digit win against.

All right, so give me both of you guys who just follow basketball, give me your tatum takes. Cause he's obviously not one of the best four players in the league, but he's at the top of that next level. He's been a first team NBA guy. Is there a real cause? I think the best bet, I'll just spoil it now. And a couple of people have mentioned this. It's on Fanduel Celtics and six with Tatum to win the MVP is plus 650 on Fanduel. And if you use that profit boost token that they have on Wednesday, that you can get 30% bump on that. Um, to me this is a Tatum series. And even like you think that 42 club I always mentioned, like in the playoffs where he hasn't shot that great, he's still been 26, ten and six for the entire playoffs. Right. The list of guys heading into the finals who have been 25, ten and five guys. I think he's like the fifth guy ever and against this Dallas team, I think he has really good matchups against them. He's going to be able to rebound. I think he's going to shoot.

I think he's going to be able to hopefully hit some threes and get to the line and do all the stuff he's done all season. And he's in a position, I think, to vault up a level. But how do each of you feel about Tatum watching from afar? What do you think, Sal? Where do you have him? What quarterback is he? Is he not quite Joe Burrow? Is he like, is he better than Dak Prescott? Shit.

He could be my guy. He really could be my guy.

Come on.

Right? He could. I don't know why. I mean, I guess he's gotten.

Technically, I'm sorry, is that. Prescott made a Super Bowl.

Raheem calls them NBA Brock Purdy.

Yeah, like that.

But that's. Raheem just, you know, that's just him getting in it. I'm not buying that. What did he call Belichick? I don't get a similarly derisive thing for Belichick.

He should have done better. He should have done the Brady. Yeah.

All right. Go ahead, speaker zero.

Well, I'm a brown. I'm a Jalen Brown guy. And someone needs to explain to me why he is. I go the other way. Plus set is 700 now to win MVP. Now we won the MVP of the Eastern Conference finals. Maybe you could help me because I know they get like an athletic writer and they get somebody else from. From the local papers of the teams playing and then they have like the Doris Burks who's covering. And it was like nine. He won five to four. Do you get a vote in this?

No, I think it's the people that are there. Right.

But there's like a few others. So it's similarly, I think it's going to be a similar nine. Committee of nine.

So I have a theory on this. I haven't told you guys this. Why his odds? Cause I think his odds should be like, jalen's odds should be like three to one plus 325, something like that. I think that. I think Vegas is factoring in the foul trouble house.

Oh, okay.

Because I think Jaywin's going to have the biggest defensive burden in the series. Cause they need. If it's a choice between who do we have to keep on the court to keep the offense running? So much of it runs through Tatum. And that was one of the reasons he even got the four Eastern Conference vote for MVP, even though he didn't shoot that. Well, he was doing so many things, like he's basically becomes point forward for them. A lot of the offense runs through him. He's their best rebounder and they kind of need to have him out there. And Jalen has taken on the bigger defensive burden, which in this case means he could be guarding Kyrie and Luca at various times. And I wondered, is that. Would that make sense, why his odds are off? Because they feel like he's going to get in foul trouble.

Speaker two. Well, I was going to posit the theory that having just won the conference award, there's no chance that he's going to win MVP of the finals. That, that that was the one that he's going to get and that the, the voters having, you know, just, just rewarded him are not. Unless he has an absolutely dominant performance, which doesn't seem like it's in the cards. Like he doesn't have enough usage if Tatum. If Celtics use Tatum the way they want. So I think to me, there's only. It's a two horse race for. For MVP.

Wow.

I think Jalen has to be in there. I do think he could just have a really good series and, and his defense and people. Cause I think the people that watch the Celtics think he's better than the outside world just cause of his two way stuff. He really went up a level this year. I've been super impressed by him.

Let me just say this. One of the votes Tatum got was from the Indianapolis star writer. So that, I mean, they tell you who voted and there's nine of them, and Tim Bontemps and Doris Burke and Carlissimo, they all. So I think most of them will be back, but I don't know. Is it possible he's not as likable Tatum as you want him to be? Because he was like minus 1200 to win this award at halftime of game four. So I don't know what the hell happened.

I. He just didn't. I didn't think his shooting was good enough. Do you think Lucas plus 210? But if Pat McBee calls him a white bitch before game time, would that go up or down south? How does that final sides get affected by that?

I'm just kidding. He just apologized for that. He's apologized? Yes, proactively. For calling Luca a white bitch ahead.

Of time before he possess it?

Yeah, that's smart.

I happened to watch that apology this morning.

Yeah? Yeah. Teared up a little bit.

It was emotional stuff. Mullet guy number two was tearing up. It was. It was really great. Lucas plus 210. Which raises the old argument of, if you're going to bet the Mavericks, why not just bet Luca? The odds are slightly better, which we go through every year with the quarterback in the Super Bowl. I don't know, Sal. I know you keep track of this. It's pretty.

Yeah.

Like if you're going to, if you like the Chiefs bet Mahomes, if you like the Mavericks bet donchic. I think that's the way to go, pretty much.

But I don't think that football's ever seen an Andre Iguodala win before at 100 to one. Right?

Yeah. I mean, this, this year that would be drew holiday or Derek White. And there's a Derek. Brian Barrett loves the Derek White 35 to one odds because from, like, if you go back and you watch the two Maverick Celtic games, like, they really attack Kyrie in the January game, right. And they, you look at Minnesota, Mike Conley's, you know, in his mid to late thirties at this point, and was like, let's run our offense for Mike Conley and have him attack Kyrie. They didn't really have that. He didn't have to guard SGa in the other series. OKC had giddy, who nobody had to guard, you know, and then the Clippers, Kawhi was hurt. So they could kind of focus everything on Harden and George in this series. Derek White could slip through the cracks and they could run a lot of stuff with him. He could hit a bunch of threes, 35 to one. Seems a little crazy house. If that was the, if that's your iguodala of this series, like that, that would involve Tatum, that shooting great, Jalen getting in foul trouble and then having to look at a third Celtic.

I don't like it. I'm, I'm not going in that direction. We're, we're, I feel like.

Who would be your iguodala pick then?

Nobody. There are no iguodala picks. That's, I don't, I think we're past that now. I think we're at the point we have between you.

You're only star power. That's it.

Yes, exactly.

Right.

Yes.

So you don't like 500 to one.

He won't be able to fill up the stat sheet enough. I mean, if you're saying Derek Lively and Derek White have the same basic odds for the thing.

No, Derek White has better ads.

Well, he would have got it because he was defending LeBron for a lot of it. Right. Like that.

Right. So Derek White, like, took out Kyrie and then hit a bunch of threes. That would be the recipe, right? What about the theory that Dallas hasn't had to play a five out team yet? Because the Celtics have, that they can just spread the floor with the five three point shooters, which means the rim protectors. One of them has to come out and guard somebody and then the lane opens up and then, um. But that would involve Porzingis playing well and hitting threes and then Horford not looking like he's 38 years old. House is making faces.

Well, only because. Wasn't that supposed to be the Oklahoma City team?

No, because they couldn't. Because giddy, they. Well, they just didn't have to wait ever.

They. They weren't supposed. They were supposed to be, but they weren't because one guy sucked. He sucks up and he really shouldn't have been on the floor under any circumstances. Coach of the year Mark Daniel didn't figure it out, apparently. Well, I mean, they played like a team that was brand new to the playoffs and brand new to the adjustments that the playoffs require. But you know that the whole thing boils down to. And we'll know, like, I think, in the first four minutes. How's the zinger moving? Show me his lateral movement. How does he get from three point line to three point line? How will he go in and try and grab a rebound like that? We'll know, I think immediately how confident he is, what his mobility looks like, and that will chart the whole thing. I honestly feel like I want to live bet the series price within the first four minutes of the camp of game one. Cuz that's what I wanted. I think because it's all up to, like, if he's moving and he looks good and they've been rope a doping, oh, we're not sure. He might come back.

Oh, you know, we're being cautious. If he's out galloping up and down the floor and looking like the dude for the majority of that Celtics run the most efficient offense of the season in the end in the NBA, then it's like, oh, well, okay, the Celtics are ready, but I'm not. Let's see it. I need to see it.

Well, the case for the rope a dope would be he was going to play in game five of the Indiana series if that series was in the sweep, and that would have been over a week ago. So that's why I'm wondering if they're being a little coy with this and the injury he had, which is a three to four week injury. Now, granted, he's tall, he's got long legs. He's had some mystery with knees and below injuries, and you be careful anyway. But 37 days feels like if you're not recovering from that injury in a month and a half, basically, then that, that feels like that's maybe a little bit.

Yeah. Those are similarly, those are terrible odds for him to win MVP 33 to one. Like, he's a better bet than Derek White or drew holiday or some of those other guys we mentioned. Like, yeah, what would he have to do, Port Zingas, to win MVP?

I mean, he'd have to go 25 and eight every game, and I don't see it. Six three is a. Gonna play enough minutes. Yeah, they'll, they'll pull him anytime. Any games not close. That's another thing with the Celtics team, which sal, you know, from the minus nine and a halfs, like, yeah, they. They have killed teams. There was crazy stats from them during the season of, you know, like, 50 plus wins that were ten points or more. And just even in the playoffs, like, Brian Barrett talked about this on his podcast, like, that Miami series, which everyone's like, wow, how'd Miami get a game off the Celtics? If you actually look at the overall stats, that was one of the biggest destructions of a five game opponent that's been in the last, like, two decades of the league. Like, they killed them in every game except for the one they lost.

Take the 16 and a half night. Well, here, here's the other thing I'll say. If you don't love this minus nine and a half each way, fando offers, like, celtics, like, say, for game one, trail by ten or more and win the game at plus 430, and you could take the other side. Mavs trail by ten or more and win the game at plus 700.

And oftentimes, I just take that every game.

You take it every game. And sometimes both teams have been down by ten. So then you're just sitting there like, all right, you beat me to it.

I would bet both. I mean, you could make fun of me. I would just bet both.

Take them both.

That's a good one. House, were you satisfied with how Dallas's opponents attacked Luca and Kyrie on defense? And I know Kyrie's defense was better than usual, and I actually like some of the stuff Luca did defensively where, you know, his hands were on a lot of balls. I thought he, he was jumping passes and he was picking pockets. But in general, that's been a pretty good recipe in the past, and I'm not sure Minnesota was fully equipped to do it. Okay. See, he was a little better equipped. The Clippers against them really tried to do it. But do you feel like that's still sitting there for the south?

It should be. This is the thing. There was a quiet undercurrent of criticism of Minnesota for not trying to put Luca in more uncomfortable positions defensively.

Put some miles.

Minnesota had and has is who. Who is going to do it? It's only Anthony Edwards. You have all. Every minute with Rudy Gobert on the floor means you're playing four on five defense. And. And. And that just creates too much leeway for. For Luca to not be in the position where he's caught on an island. And so I. The Minnesota thing, this was the one vulnerability. It was kind of the thing we circled at the beginning of the year. Their half court offense was just not up to par to make it to the NBA Finals, it turns out, which is not that big of a criticism, really.

No. They had one other issue, too that I can't believe we didn't fully think about before that series, though. They just didn't have any way. They didn't have the right guy to guard Luca and I. For some reason, I thought it was going to be McDaniels. And then you watch a half of one game and you're like, man, he's too small. Luca feels like he's got. It was almost like watching a tight end with a cornerback on him, you know, where he just seemed. It just I. And that's one thing that I feel really good with the Celtics. I think they have real size to throw at him. And he's going to get his. He's going to get to 39 and eleven every game. I mean, that's when you're talking about bets, game by game bets, which I know we're going to go to after this break. The Luca points, rebounds and assists altogether, I think, is some of the safest action. Really, the only way you're going to probably not hit those is in a blowout.

Yeah.

Because usually they're like in the 47, 48 range. Right.

So, yeah, right in there. Yeah. Cause he's about 31, 32 points. So, yeah, nine and eight. Yeah. So that would be. Right. 40. Right up. High forties there. So, yeah, I don't. I'm just excited about the entertainment factor with Luca and him complaining and calling for. I just honestly, do you guys think it should be a statistical. You know, you got your rebounds, assist, steals. Okay, track of it, how many challenges you've called for that were confirmed? Like don't you want to see that?

Like, LeBron would be the career leader.

Lebron. No one would touch LeBron.

It'd be LeBron and Luca in the finals. Somebody random. There'd be some random, like, bench player who, like a Kelly Oubre or somebody.

It's a more. It's a more devastating stat than I think. Like, plus, minus. Like, look, when they go for a contract extension, like, hey, you cost us 14 challenges. You were -14 and challenge speaker zero.

We know people at Fanduel. Let's talk them in. This is the bitch bets. Let's get some bitch bets going.

Yeah.

How many? You know, the combination of bitches and calls for a replay over under per game, it's like, what is it, 14 and a half? The number of times Luca either bitches at a call or calls for a replay. I'm setting that number at 14 and a half a minute. I mean, I. It's definitely in the double digits, cuz, right.

It might be a little high, but he has someone to the floor and complain.

No, you guys have. I cuz I saw it in person at the Clipper games. It's twice as many. If you. If you're watching. He's doing it after every play.

He really.

And I remember talking about it after one of the pods. It's. It's part of, like, his Persona shtick thing with the refs. He's relentless. I've never seen a better player spend more time on this. It's after every break. Anytime somebody's shooting free throws, he's looking around. He goes after whatever ref is the closest. He's always, like, has his hands out. Like, somebody that just, like, had his car stolen and was trying to explain, like, you don't understand. My car was right there. It's gone.

Do a state farm, Ed. That sounds like a good state farm.

I swear it works, because you could tell these refs, like, I. Fine. Fuck it. All right, fine. That was a charge. Are you fine? I just. Please stop yelling at me and, you.

Know, you know, it's work is. Draymond's rolling his eyes in the studio.

Oh, my.

Even I wouldn't.

I honestly, House, I can't think of another player I've ever seen because some of the great players did a lot. Like, bird did a lot, magic did a lot. We.

We've done. Duncan, at the end of his career, did it.

Duncan was good at it, but not, like, you know, Dirk would work it every once in a while, but not like this. This is. This is constant. He's putting like real pressure. It's like he's blitzing the referees play after play, but it's really smart. All right, we're going to take a break, and then when we come back, House is going to apologize to everybody for using the phrase bitch bet. Today's brilliantly boring segment is brought to you by PNC bank some things in life should be boring, like banking. Because boring is pragmatic and responsible, level headed and wise. All things you want your bank to be. Once upon a time, I had one of the most boring coaches in all professional sports. Bill Belichick wouldn't give anyone anything at a press conference, would give maybe two fun quotes a year, like twice a season. Somebody would ask him a question about like how they covered a special teams thing or some play player on the other team that he liked, and he would give this eloquent four minute answer. But for the most part, his press conferences were super boring. They were intentionally boring. They just moved things along to the next game.

His whole goal was, I don't want to make any noise. I don't want to make any news. I don't want you to write stories about me. Let's just keep focusing on what's next. What next? What's next? It was boring as hell. And yet we won six Super Bowls with them and dominated the NFL for two decades. Boring works. That's why PNC bank strives to be boring with your money. Because when your money is doing what you need it to do, you can do all the unboring things you want with it. PNC bank brilliantly boring since 1865. Learn more@pnc.com brilliantly boring? Brilliantly boring is a service mark of the PNC Financial Services Group Inc. PNc Bank National association member, FDIC couple quick things for you just to talk about the pressure on the Celtics team that I wanted to mention. I think the Celtics have a real chance to be the king of the city, which has only happened a couple of times this century. Cause mostly this happens because the other teams are bad. The Red Sox started a lineup that had Bobby Dahlback, seven today, who I think sitting 150 career. They're just by.

People are, are so out on them it's unbelievable. The Bruins lost in round two again and it feels like they're at the end of some sort air. The Patriots are rebuilding. There were odds, my dad told me today about the Patriots have the best odds to get the number one pick in 2025. You can bet on it. And they're the favorite right now. And the Celtics are just sitting there, six out of the last eight conference finals. Tatum is by far the most famous athlete in the city. They have a chance to win a title. So the only. I went through the last 30 years, the only other times where you could say a team was unquestionably king of the city. The Patriots in 2015 after spot, after, uh, deflategate, when they came back when the Malcolm Butler game, and it was like New England against the world, and none of the other teams are doing that great that year, so that was a good one. The 99 Red Sox. Everyone was terrible in the 96 Patriots, but it's weird. The Boston teams have had so much success, but now we're at this. It's. It's been five plus years since the last title.

And the Celtics by far the. I know, I know. House is making faces, but the Celtics are by far the best chance.

No, we love this. This is great.

No, I knew you guys, I'm doing this just for House because he has what is.

Well, you won a hockey title in 2018 Stanley Cup. 2019 Stanley Cups and World Series still count.

House, one. Sal won a Super bowl in 95.

Shut up. Shut up. Barely.

Yeah, you won. You won the 86 World Series.

It's been so long. No, I think.

What about the Sal drought? Jesus Christ.

It's been a long time. You think the Celtics have, like they told the other teams, like a Red Sox, go start back, quadruple a short stop today. Cause we need to. We need to be the.

I think. I guarantee the Celtics are like, this is great. The Kraft Bell check thing blew up craftsman, a maniac the whole offseason. The Red Sox made the worst trade of the last 75 years of the city, and, you know, had this crap team, and the Bruins have kind of, you know, they're moving into whatever the next era for them is. I'm sure they're delighted by, let me just say, the win the title to cap it off.

Sure. The only thing they'd shared with would be the roast. Like, if the roast happened in July. That's the only competition.

I think as big as the roast was great.

Yeah.

All right, coming back, house just said something inappropriate. Guys, the other thing I have for you guys, that whole best player in the finals usually wins the finals, which is true for the most part. LeBron and 14 and eleven didn't win. Kobe in zero eight and zero four didn't win. Magic in 89, Moses in 81. And then you could go 2015 through 2019, and LeBron versus Curry, Kawhi versus Curry, LeBron versus Duran. It's pretty hard. It's probably. You could argue both ways on it, but it is. It is fairly rare, and I think Luca is the best player in this series. So the question to me is, could Tatum rise at least in the vicinity? He's not going to be as good as Luca, but could he be in the vicinity? House is making a face.

No, I like this because I didn't get the way in. I adore that bet that you offered up a little while ago. I absolutely love celtics in six with Tatum plus six. Love that bet. And that. That means it's square. So everybody be careful out there. That means it's a little square. But if I love it, then. Then that's it.

But don't you think that.

Don't you think the best player on the court wins the title? Thing is going to drift further and further from the norm as we see variants, and you guys are talking about variants all the time with three pointers. So it might not even be the best player on the court's fault that he lost. It's just that the threes are reigning up around him or her, as it may be, and they're either going in or missing at a horrific rate.

That's a great point because a, three point variance, b, the league's just deeper.

Yeah.

And to have the best guy in a series I don't think means as much as it did in the mid two thousands when you had guys playing major minutes in a rotation that probably weren't that good. Guys. Now, like you look at. At both teams, like the top, really, it's a seven man rotation in the finals and then if anyone else plays, so. But this seven man rotations on these teams are really good. All right, Sal, give us some bets. You're looking at. Let's hear it.

All right, let's go. First of all, maybe I've talked too much about Jalen Brown here, but if you don't like him for MVP, I like him for top scorer plus 750 for one game. He'll get it for one game. So give it to me. Right. So if you just keep betting him, this is for game one, you get him at plus seven.

So you take. You're saying take Jalen Brown every game, top score plus 750.

It's not going to go. It's not going to go eight games. Right. So I think, you know, maybe he doesn't have a 40 in him, but I think he will be the top scorer for one of them. But I got a bug you want.

Should we house what do you think of that one?

I'm fine with that. I like that one. And it feels like it should happen in the first two games, to be honest with you. It feels like it's a cash in game one or game two in the way that now detatom outscore him in game one of the Pacers game because of how well Tatum played in that overtime.

Yeah, he did.

So he ended up jumping over Jalen.

I mean, because I said this to Rosillo, if you just talk to any basketball fan, they would think Kyrie has better scoring stats than Jalen Brown. It's just not true. The last four years, like, Jalen's playoff stats are better. His stats are better this year, saveraging 25 a game in the playoffs, um, which is up from. He was like a 22, 23 a game guy, but he's just better this year. Like, he's. He has a power game that he didn't really totally have the last couple of years. He doesn't lose the ball in traffic like he used to. And, uh. And he's just.

I.

This is the best he's ever played. So I l. I like that one. So what else do you.

Thank you. How about this? Derek Lively. Most rebounds in the series. Now, I know he's not favored by any means. Tatum's probably going to with that, but he had 53 in his last five full games. Now people stop hitting him in the frickin head so much. Like dropping them, like swinging around like a six year old. Fewer headhunters, I think, on the Celtics, twelve to one seems too high for. For most rebounds.

I like that. Cause I think we're going to see more of him than Gafford in the series because of the Celtics being able to play the five out. I did that rebound bet a few times in these playoffs, and I would always text them and yoke edge was money. But then in the Oklahoma Dallas series, I had Chet Holmgren, who I think finished like 7th.

Yeah, right.

Was in the running for my worst bet of 2024.

We knew, right.

Against. Yeah. Betting against the Chiefs with Lamar Jackson was probably still my number one. Being convinced that they were going to win. What else you got?

So I got one more big one. Derek White, most threes. We talked about him earlier, plus 330. He's had two or more in eight of his last ten. He's taking a lot, too. He averages eight and a half attempts over the last five and not many close to that. When you look at attempts at seven and one game against the Cavs, he had four a few times in the playoffs. Overall, I think plus 330 is a nice number for him.

You have any house that you love?

Just so I, interestingly enough, had circled Derek White. He's available on the Fanduel sports book at. -113 it's both sides of this prop for him to average 14 and a half points per game. I think that's an awesome number in the series. For the series. 14 and a half. -113 the over and the under are the price the same as? -113 I love the over because I do think usage wise, he is going to get a ton of touches, a ton of looks, and I just. That guy is a guy that I trust. Like, I believe in him in the big moments, converting those touches. And, you know, this is the thing that when we're trying to slice and dice the outcome of this finals, very quietly, Derek White and Drew holiday are going to control the outcome of this. To me, to me, that's the way. That's why I thought your argument about Drew Holiday is the potential mvp for the pacers. I totally agree with that. That that pacer series Drew Holiday would. He did in the dirty work, in the behind the scenes work. That's really what changed the trajectory of that.

Now, they did sweep them, but still, I thought holiday was. Was awesome for that.

That was a hard one to figure out, that award. And we should remember that for the conference finals next year. Cause I left the series and I. I would have voted for Drew, but I thought it was gonna be Drew or Jalen. And then the Sal pointed out it was Jalen. Five votes Tatum for Drew, zero.

And I thought.

I thought Drew had, like, such a monster impact and he's such an amazing player for a series like this. Cause not only can he guard Kyrie, but he can guard Luca a little bit, too. And he's just jumping around and he just feel. I absolutely love having these two guys in the team. That's another thing that makes me think, are they really going to lose the finals with this cool team they have with, like, these two forwards and they're seven years old?

What are they?

Forwards close to their prime and these two awesome guards and these centers that can shoot? It's like, God, we're. They're gonna.

How about. Yeah, maybe.

I know.

And then they can try again next year.

They're pretty effing good. It's. The whole team will be setting myself up for real sadness. I have one that I really like, so. And it's. It's two, actually. And I like one more than the other, but I kind of like them both. Luca for the series is 30 and a half points a game. And I think that's too low because especially if you look at finals history of great players in the finals and guys that have the ball a lot, the stats always go up, not down, because the minutes go up. And they're going to be able to have, you know, especially in the first three games where it's Thursday, Sunday, Wednesday, they're just going to be able to play him like 43, 44 minutes and not have to worry about it. And then same thing. When you get to game five, game six, seven, you have the same bumper. So him just averaging 31 a game, you know, he's going to like. One of the reasons, I think Celtics in six, you know, he's going to have the one game where he just destroys them, right? Where he has like 49 points. Some crazy.

So let's. Let's give him like a 47 point game or 45. Let's give him 45. Let's be conservative. He is one awesome game, and it's a six game series. And you would have to score, according to this, 185 points in the six games. So if I'm taking 45 out and he's got to go 145 games for the rest of it, it's 28 a game, like, he's going to get that. So that's good.

I think the only thing to worry about there, as a proponent of the minus nine and a halfs is a blowout with ten minutes left in the fourth quarter. And they want to rest them. That's the only thing. Otherwise you're good.

And then the other one is Kyrie, which I like just as much. I think Kyrie under 23 and a half because his playoff history, we're talking a 39 game sample size the last four years, and he's 22 a game. He had a big series against Minnesota, but that was also a great matchup for him, especially with how they're guarding him. I think the Celtics are going to be way more determined not to have him score right. And they're going to be hunting him on defense, trying to put Miles on him. And that just I. That jumped at it to me is a tiny bit too high. I also like the Jalen Brown 23 and a half, I think is low. Cause they're going to need him. And he's just been a. He's a 25 point a game guy house. So I would take three and I thought you go two for three on those.

Yeah. Okay, great. I support that. I don't I like the way when we're all, uh, doing.

The dog just showed up in the fridge.

Wow.

He did well.

He's.

He's an underdog.

Is that. Is that underdog a bad sign that we just had a dog? Except dogs are laughed.

We had three overs and only one under. I want to go. I want to do some more unders. That's. That's the lesson that we've learned. Not enough unders. You had to be careful out there.

So sad. Did you like white 14.5 over. You like that? Yeah.

I mean, I've. Yeah, if I like them for three is all over the place. I, like, have to, like white 14 and a half. But I. Yeah, I do caution. Like, they do try to suck you into, like, a lot of these over. So if you think they're going to be some defensive games, we're going to be in a little bit of trouble, maybe.

And the top point score for the series, Luca at minus 180, Tatum at plus 260. I actually thought Luca was going to be like three to one because Tatum. Tatum has been so unselfish this year. Like, 30 points is a lot of work for him. That that means something else is going wrong with the team.

That price feels right to me and I'm not. I wouldn't mess with it.

There's no reason to stay away for you.

No, I think you should do it. On it. This is as good an emotional hedge, I think, as you could get because you could have Luca be the top scorer and the Celtics could still win the title. And then I told you so. It was all over the place, like threading the needle, like, like House said and when the hashtag and everything.

I can't do emotional hedges with this series I have. I'm going to be with my dad.

You really can't. You're so invested already. I just don't understand it.

This is my dad's. This is my dad's 10th finals. First one was 1974. He's 51 years later. He's back. We weren't sure after last year what the hell is going to happen with this team. And now this is that we've. We've won one title and with the Celtics since 86. I know House doesn't want to hear it because he's has one since 78, but.

Well, what's the record? What stocks record is? Are they five and four? What are they going into this 10th finals now?

He won in 7476-8184. We started out 40. Lost in 85 and 87, six and three. One in 2008. Lost in ten, lost in 22. Okay, so what's that? Six and three, I think.

Six and three.

No, six and four. Five and four.

Five and four. One or the other.

Yeah, I wish. I wish any of us could count. Anyway, it's his 10th one. You know, another thing about this series, the tickets are, like, impossible, because when they had the 22, there was, like, post Covid. Some of the seasoned ticket holders, like, sold their tickets back. And in general, some people are afraid to be in arenas. And so the prices, even though it's the warriors worth that I had this one is, like, fucking crazy. And.

Well, you know what? I'll make some calls for you, pal. You've done enough for me. I can get you.

I'll get you into one of these games. Can I do a fake bet? Can we go to the riverboat casino?

Yeah, let's do it. Where are we going?

Will mark cuban be court side for game one and game two of the finals? Would you put for odds on that? He's been on bench for all these games.

I think it's pretty even. No, I think he will be. I think I'll be courtside. Minus two, four.

What's. What are we saying? Courtside versus being in that sort of bench section where he is. Where he's very prominently featured. The camera finds him every time. What are we doing? He's like, going to be sitting, like, court side, like, on the court.

Is he going to be where. Be where he normally is or. Because he doesn't own the team anymore and because it's the finals, does he move to a different area where he's a little less prominent?

Negotiated? He gets to be in his spot. He's in the normal market.

So you're going same prominent kind of tv time for Cuban?

Yeah, along with the bench. He's like, you know, cheering with the bench guys.

Sal, you agree with that?

Yeah, I think so. I think he's so.

Would you. Would you put like minus 140?

I thought it was going to be.

A little higher, but, like, -180 I'm going the other way. I think. I think he's really. Yeah, I thought that Dallas celebration was really interesting. When the new guy took the trophy, Cuban was not on the podium. And I think when we get to the finals, I just. My spidey senses are telling me cubes is kind of getting pushed to the side. They're like, oh, yeah, you're still going to. And now it's like, now we own the team. We see this happen in football all the time. Right?

Yeah, that's true.

It's one of many things. Who do you think is the biggest Boston slab that's going to be at this game series?

Your dad.

Check.

Your dad will be one.

Belichick.

Which show up there?

Do we get Affleck or Damon?

100% yes.

I'm going to say yes.

Are the both. Are they both bigger than. They're the biggest?

Yeah. Fucking Damon are the biggest. That's.

They're bigger than Wahlberg.

They're the biggest. There are Nicholson's base.

You'll be arms distance from them. Right. You all be in the same section, don't you think?

I'm with my dad. I'm in the same. Same seats he's had this whole time.

My dad, about this. How about this?

Retired superintendent still cranking it along in row four.

Love it. Will Bill Walton be mentioned in the post series, you know, interview right there.

On the court, on the podium? No question. Well, that's the other thing is they got to do, like, a really cool thing for him before the game. He's an absolutely beloved, beloved Celtic.

Right.

And also considered himself a Celtic. Like, he would call the Celtics and say, it's Bill Walton, class of 1986. Like, that's. Like, that's how much he was drinking the Celtic Kool Aid. So, yeah, I think they're going to do something pretty great for them. What do you think? For a Star Spangled Banner? That's not going to be. We won't have any of those, right?

I don't know. I wish they did have. I wish it was a bigger deal. They had a new kid.

New kids. Could we get the new kids for one of these?

Oh, that would be good.

That'd be pretty good. Yeah, I would not. New kids over Aerosmith, though, right?

All right, so we're all taking Celtics and six.

We all have Celtics and six. I did have a question for you. I'm bummed that you don't have an MVP vote for this. Is this one of those things they'll, like, ask you five minutes before, like, hey, we need your vote. Like, didn't they do that with you once?

I shouldn't be allowed to have a. When the Celtics are involved, I should not have a vote.

I know, but this, it is supporters. I know. They do have. Anyway, the fact you, you have an MVP vote, is that your most cherished possession in the world?

My MVP vote?

Don't say your wife and kids, because that's bullshit.

It's your wife and kids. Now. That's a pretty good one. But there's a lot of responsibility with it. Now with the OMb, with, like, the price bumps, like Tyrese Hallbury. It's a $30 million difference if you vote for not vote for him. I don't know. There's more. It's less fun than it used to.

Be, but if they took that away and they took your, I'd be furious. You have a Jordan rookie card, which, whatever. You could just rather.

The Jordan rookie card.

You would.

Safe deposit box. Yeah.

You can't get this vote back.

All right, wait, before we go, um, over under Pat McAfee. Still on ESPN. I gave you, if I gave you February 2000.

Wow.

2025. Over under.

Oh, I'm gonna go under.

This.

This industry is insane. Yeah. I go under February 2025. It's what, 17 months, you going under.

So solid.

Yeah, of course. Of course.

What if I gave you October 2024?

That's different. And Justin line football season.

You need him for football season.

Yeah.

Justin adjusted line. Heavier action.

McAfee line. I love it.

No, quickly, let's talk NFL, and then we'll go, we'll do five minutes on it. House, who do you think is favorite to win the Super bowl right now?

San Francisco 49 ers.

Who do you think second?

The Kansas City Chiefs.

Yep. Plus 550 for the Niners. Plus 600 for the Chiefs. Then it jumps to the Ravens. Plus 950, the Bengals 13 to one. The Lions 13 to one. The Bills 13 to one. The Eagles 14 one. Sal's team. I don't know how the f. You're 15 to one and on down the line. Yes.

Could I just. I know you took a shot. You took a shot at me, but I went over this with Tate or the degenerate trifactor. I can't remember. I got excited. Cause I had to look at all the schedules for this. Your team is favored, which means they.

To be last remaining team to be.

The last remaining winless team at six to one.

Oh, my God.

I don't like that. I like the Giants.

And defense is going to be good. I don't know. I like, I don't know. Oh, you like the Vikings? I would have said Giants. Panthers would be where and Raiders would be the three I was looking at.

The Giants and Vikings play each other week one. They're both ten to one. I feel like whoever loses that is going on very, very big losing streak, especially the Vikings. You have to see their, their line the first six games.

House, do you feel like there's a sneaky value anymore or did they?

The lines all just, they all adjusted everything's. Moved. I don't think that there's really any value. Everybody's on the teams. The only teams like, you know, there's.

A little bit of Houston was where was Houston originally? But even before the digs trade, it was like in the 30 to one range right now. 16 to one.

Yeah. I'm only looking at like division bets now. I'm not, I'm not messing around with the Super bowl. Only like three or four teams are going to the Super bowl. One team that I'm not going to invest in in any way, shape or form is the Baltimore Ravens. I think that they are a great fade candidate this upcoming season because I don't think people are properly calibrating the impact on that defense, both the personnel loss, but most importantly the scheme and what that dude going to Seattle means. Seattle is quietly a team of interest for me in the NFC west and then Baltimore is a fade candidate this upcoming season is the way I'm going to play that.

Do you have a favorite song?

Well, I was looking at the same thing. I'm looking at like, so what do you have to do? You have to switch out three playoff teams from each conference for each year.

So it's six total. But the extra playoff team kind of messed this up. But yeah, it's, it stayed pretty, it's praised can stayed pretty consistent.

I was looking at. So the like house, you probably like Seattle and you like maybe the Rams and like I think they're asking a lot of the Bears who are now named to hard knocks to add to.

It to go over eight, not agree more.

And they're also basically even to make the playoffs. All right. Even if you think they're going to go nine and eight, even if you like them over eight and a half. God at Bettingham, how much not make.

How much juice do we have to lay for them to miss the playoffs?

I think it's even. I think it's dead.

Oh, great. Let's go. Let's borrow some money from Bill Simmons and big on that one.

Text me after the jets thing is funny to me.

Oh, yeah.

Where the just people just assuming the seven things that have to go right are just all going to go right. You know, the old quarterback coming up to start. You go on through it. Buffalo plus 160 I think might be my favorite.

To not make it.

No, to win the division.

Oh, I'm sorry. Okay. I see.

I just feel like that that's drops to minus one fit plus 120 by the time this season actually starts.

This is huge. Huge maturing process for you last two years at this time of year, you.

Were way I short, Buffalo. I know. Yeah, but Sal, what do I do? I follow the center of the money.

That's good, smart.

That's what I do. And Buffalo is now undervalued because they lost to fund Diggs who wasn't even good the last two months of the year or in the playoffs. And people are like, whoa, what are they going to do? They'll be fine.

They're a running team. They don't, they're going to run a team.

Fight ends. And they have a running quarterback and they have James Cook and they're probably.

Going to run back and they have Gable Stevenson on the defensive line.

I saw that. But the Miami, the having to pay waddle, they, Tyreek, you know, he's going to want a renegotiation extension now to wants money. They've already, they lost some defensive. They lost their nose tackle. Like, I, I don't like the scent of that team at all. I don't trust Salah and my team's not going to do anything. So I just think to me, Buffalo should be like, even.

I love this. I love this. When 94 days out. I frickin love this. Let's do it. Ravens Chiefs, let's do it. Let's guess the.

I don't think I've been more fired up for this this far away. Usually I'm getting mad at you cause you're texting me about the hall of fame game and I'm like, settle down. Let me get through basketball.

But did you get the line yet on Ravens Chiefs? Guess the line.

No, no, we can't look.

Oh, no, we're saying that's.

We gotta know. But you have. This is the first time in a few years you've had a quarterback. You gotta be excited until there's a reason not to be excited, right?

I will say good times in this new era, that there is this new era with the pats of Drake made minicamp highlights and poke catching one over the middle wearing no pads at all for a touchdown. I'm like, oh, that looked good. Or like they're throwing shows some fade, bro. I'm watching all the shit. I have different Google searches for it and I'm reading all the Drake made feet. You must be like this with Daniels, right? House, it's so much fun to have a new quarterback.

Unbelievable. My feed, my timeline are all these dimes from Daniel's down the sideline. Like these baggage with the guy and everybody, the whole. The feed the Xbox Twitter feed is like just filled replete, resplendent with all this.

Honestly, it's like having a new puppy where it's like, this is the grain. I love puppies. Oh, my God.

Just savor this pure zipper zone right now.

It's so good. There's nothing bad. Every quote is positive. Anything can be spun into a positive thing. I mean, you had this when Dak took over, right? When it's just like, it's just happy and it's Zen and there's no negatives at all.

And you know what's funny, though? It's the most hypocritical football fans can be, I think, for this time period, because you could be like, oh, my God, look at cd lamb. The tiptoeing into the ends. This is great. Look at the energy. And then they'll show Aaron Rodgers. I'm like, oh, gives a shit. He threw off his back foot. No one can touch the quarterback. And went twelve yards in the air. Who cares?

The best thing in Washington, they fired that white bitch, Brandon McDonald. McManus. As soon as there's a whiff of any misstep by that guy.

Right? It's a new regime now.

Yeah, white bitch is fired.

New regime in town. All right, you can listen to Sal and the against all odds podcast and also see month through the ringer. We could see how's he got a little fairway rolling this week.

I mean, the US opens right around the corner. Bill Sims. Yeah, we got the Memorial Jack Nicholas's tournament in Ohio, and then we're right to Pinehurst for the US Open. We are cranking on fairway.

And our guy, Mark Hubbard qualified.

Hopefully, he didn't qualify. Just qualify. Damn near set the course record at Cherry Hill up in Canada and was the medalist at that qualifier. Dudes coming in on a heater.

And so we're not going to have a Tyson fight to bet on. It doesn't.

No, I'm kind of glad. I am glad. I mean, it came at a good time during the summer where nothing else would have been going on. But I don't know why I'm so protective of it.

Him.

They don't need to rematch.

I think it's been a really good boxing year, though. Yeah, I think it's been a good boxing, UFC. It just feels a lot of think.

We get to in a row. By the way, you'd imagine cousin Sal's winning weekend. I have buck show Walter on. I got him to talk shit about the Yankees. So that was fun. Hey, now Friday for that. Yeah.

Awesome. All right, so house, great to see you. Thanks to Cobb Creighton and Steve Ceruti for producing. Don't forget you can watch clips from this on the Bill Simmons YouTube channel channel and I will see you after Thursday. Game one. Go south. I don't have must be 21 plus 18 plus DC and present in select states FanDuel offering online sports wagering Kansas under agreement with Kansas star Casino LLC Gamble problem call 1800 Gamble or visit fanduel.com RG in Colorado, DC, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and Vermont call 100 next step or text next step to 533 in Arizona, 8887-8977 or visit ccpg.org Chattincut 809 with it in Indiana, 805 224700 or visit ks gamblinghelp.com. in Kansas, 8770 stop in Louisiana, md gamblinghelp.org in Maryland, 800 gambler.net in West Virginia, 805 224700 in Wyoming, hope is here visit GamblingHelp line ma.org or call 803 2750 50 for 24/7 supported Massachusetts or call 18778 HOpe NY or text Hope NY in New York.