Amazing Thunder, Roaring Knicks, Freakish Wemby, Cavs Give The Ick

New Faces And Quick Housekeeping

David Clarke 0:06

It's Missing the Point. We're talking about the NBA playoffs 'cause that's what's fucking going on right now. Quick programming note to start off the show. We've had a little shuffle, a little change, a little bizarre in the milieu, if you will. There's new people on the show, there's old people that are not on the show anymore. I'm not gonna get into the details, you sordid fucks, on why that is. Mind your business. The most important thing is the quality of the show is gonna remain the same. I am still here. Mike Marcangelo's still here, although he's not on the show tonight. You heard last week we have a new contributor from, uh, from, from Mike's side of things. I'm bringing in my guy now. My dude's here. You heard him on Check My Oil, on the Missing the Point, uh, feed, on the UFC shows. Guess what? He's also a fucking ringer on all the other sports too. So I've been waiting for this moment. The best speech at my wedding, my, my childhood best friend Matt Wilcox is here

Matthew Wilcox 1:08

Thanks for having me, Dave. Excited to be part of the program

David Clarke 1:11

Wow. He's gonna get better than that as we go on. All right?

Matthew Wilcox 1:14

Long

David Clarke 1:14

kidding. I told him I t- I totally set him up for failure there. I told him, I told him to just say hello before we started recording. What a dick. Okay, Matt, welcome back to the show. Welcome t- officially to the, to the main sports side of the show.

The Playoffs Feel Completely Unhinged

David Clarke 1:27

We have officially reached the point in the NBA calendar where every fan base left believes their team is a dynasty, every eliminated fan base thinks the lottery is actually loaded this year, and every national media member is pretending they always believed the Knicks could do it despite spending eight straight months calling them a tough second-round out. The Cleveland Cavaliers just got swept so violently, I'm pretty sure the series is being investigated by the Human Rights Watch. Donovan Mitchell had a thousand-yard stare by game four, like he was already mentally on the Miami waterfront looking at condo listings with Pat Riley and three women named Valentina. Meanwhile, the Knicks are in the finals playing basketball that feels spiritually illegal in 2026. Josh Hart's grabbing rebounds like he's trying to save his family farm from foreclosure. Brunson has officially crossed into that terrifying zone where every 17-footer feels like a layup. Landry Shamet sudden- he shoots like 2016 Klay Thompson every other Tuesday. Mitchell Robinson looks like he was built in a government lab specifically to ruin Jared Allen's evening. And OG Anunoby has become the first man in recording history to score 17 of the quietest points you've ever seen while simultaneously ruining the self-esteem of whoever he guards. And then there was the West. Spurs-Thunder has become basketball for sickos. The series has everything. Seven-foot-four aliens, five-out spacing, possessions where 19 things happen. Mark Donal calling ATOs that look like Beautiful Mind chalkboards. Gregg Popovich staring at refs like he's deciding whether humanity deserves another century. Watching Wemby right now feels like when Gandalf arrives at Helm's Deep, except if Gandalf could Eurostep and hit a trailing transition three. The man blocks a shot, grabs a rebound at ankle height, dribbles coast to coast like Shaun Livingston, then throws a one-handed cross-court laser to the weak side corner. Every Spurs possession feels like someone modded NBA 2K. And OKC, they play basketball like a swarm of bees, like a swarm of bees learned how to top lock floppy action. You look up and suddenly there are four dudes with eight-foot wingspans forcing a turnover while Shai is gliding into another elbow jumper that somehow looks slow motion and unstoppable at the same time. Also, can we finally admit Chet Holmgren looks exactly like the bassist from an indie band that opens for Phoebe Bridgers? Like if you told me he drinks sparkling water out of mason jars and owns three cameras that use film, I'd believe you instantly. And honestly, this Final Four, pretty good. Pretty good. I, I, I didn't even really hate the Cleveland Cavaliers appearing in the Final Four of the, of the Eastern Conference Finals, especially after, Matt, the first thing I'm gonna ask you to speak on.

Celtics Collapse And Mazzulla Critique

David Clarke 3:49

The Boston Celtics were unceremoniously dumped by a team that we should have been able to beat that went on to get their absolute asses kicked by the New York Knicks. This is the first time you're allowed, you're able, you're willing, you're ready, you're here to lay your official takes down on Missing the Point on all sports other than MMA. And I gotta tell you, Joe Mazzulla just won Coach of the Year, and he's been at home for the better part of a month. What do you think of that? What did you think of the Celtics going out? And then we're gonna break down these two Western Conference, Eastern Conference Finals

Matthew Wilcox 4:20

I think I have never been more accurate in predicting the fate of a Boston Celtics team. I didn't buy it. I didn't buy it all year with Jaylen Brown being the best player in the history of, uh, NBA.

David Clarke 4:30

I like Jaylen Brown

Matthew Wilcox 4:32

I don't like Jaylen Brown. I like Jaylen Brown just fine. He's not a team leader, and he doesn't deserve the money he gets. Uh, he's killing our roster with his paycheck. and that was evident here because we lost to

David Clarke 4:41

Coming in hot

Matthew Wilcox 4:42

a handicapped player in, in Joel Embiid, and we lost to a team that didn't deserve to be in the playoffs, and we were supposed to be the big dogs there. we looked past them. Our fans cheered. We cheered, "We want Boston," 'cause they mocked us and then beat us. Um, I saw it coming the whole way. I bet that ga- I bet every game correct in that whole series. I'm more upset about the fact that I'm rooting, I was rooting for the Cavs over the Knicks. I shouldn't have to ever choose this bullet. This, this bullet should have to be in a gun forever. I've got LeBron's old trail dust still in my face, still breathing in that hot air, and then I've got the Knicks, who I, I hate New York. Like, it might as well be, like, the, like hell. I hate them so much. And

David Clarke 5:24

Do you really hate the Knicks? Can we actually dig into that a little bit? Do you honestly hate the Knicks? Of all the-- I was just-- I was trying to talk to Mike about this a couple weeks ago. Like, the degrees of hatred for New York teams from a Boston sports fan base is so interesting to me because, as you know, and as lis- longtime listeners of this show know, I have a, a little bit of a smorgasbord of, of fan hood. Not that I've ever switched, but, you know, started watching football when we first moved to America, liked the Bears. Started watching basketball when my brother brought the Celtics home from Emerson College, like, so I like the Celtics. Like, I, you know, I don't have the same sort of affiliation, affection for what it's like to hate the New York N- Yankees as you do, what it's like to hate the, the Giants as you do because, uh, 'cause of what they did to the Patriots, what it's like to hate the Jets because they're in your division. Of all the teams, don't you think New- the New York Knicks are sort of the most harmless, like the, the Spike Lee of it all? Like, I, I, I would think that they're not that hateable. They're about to go in and be a major underdog in these finals, and I'm trying to find a way to figure out how they're gonna beat either of these two teams

Matthew Wilcox 6:21

Well, I don't think they could beat either of these two teams. I think it's like watching, uh, uh, the WNBA versus the regular NBA. I think they would struggle in the WNBA finals. But I can explain it perfectly. The issue that we have is 85% of Knicks fans are Yankees fans. So it's like you go to high school in your freshman year, there's this senior that keeps bullying you, and that's the Yankees. Just always stuffing you in your locker, taking your lunch money, uh, stealing your girlfriend in front of you, making videos and sending them to you as she's going down on him. Um, and then he graduates. And now you're, you know, a sophomore, and his little brother, the Knicks, is a freshman. And now you just get to tool on him all the time, because we're gonna beat them every single time. That's how I hate the Knicks. They're the little brother of the Yankees, and I hate the Yankees so much

David Clarke 7:01

Beautiful metaphor, honestly. You're like John Steinbeck. Um, I, uh, I guess I get it. I just, to me, as, like, a basketball purist, there is something kind of Spike Lee, New York, sexy about the New York Knicks. There's, there's something Patrick Ewing about them. There's something sorta cool about the idea of basketball being a cool thing, a good thing, a good product in New York, no? Like, if you take it from the neutral perspective, I think there's something to be said for that. And also, I have to tell you, if you take off those green glasses for five seconds, this is a, this is exactly the kind of sports team that you and I enjoy watching. This is a hard-nosed, hard-running, got rid of their coach that ran 'em a little too hard and now has a tactician at the helm, really able to g- throw a lot of looks, getting the mo- best poten- the highest potential out of all the players that are on the roster. The, the underdog story of Jalen Brunson and how he was a cast-off and, and the start of this Island of Misfit Toys, the, the, the contract situation there, the chip on his shoulder, the hard-nosed rebounding, the really good defense. The Knicks are who Joe Mazzulla, and I haven't s- uh, this is not the first time I've said this, the Knicks are who Joe Mazzulla pretends the Celtics are. So, I honestly think that it's a pretty watchable team. Now, they're not my favorite team in the NBA. I mean, I'm fascinated by Victor Wembanyama. I can't take my eyes off him just like everybody else on planet Earth right now, uh, having gotten this visit. I- it literally inspired me to watch the movie Men in Black, and I gotta tell you, it holds up on every rewatch. I fucking enjoyed the shit out of it. I had a great time. I, I enjoy it every time I watch it. It's a movie of a generation. But at the end of the day, like, I love, if it's not the Celtics, I love the Minnesota Timberwolves because I am just absolutely enamored by Anthony Edwards' game when he's healthy. All right, you know, a little bit of an asterisk on this season. So, they're not my absolute favorite, but I, i- if the Celtics were gonna lose, surely the best representative to come out of the East has come out of the East. Like, the, the, the way that they played, the way that they proved themselves, we're sending our best representative this year to go get probably beat.

Matthew Wilcox 9:07

Yep

David Clarke 9:07

but a lot of beat-up players on the other side, I have to tell you. We'll get into that later.

Matthew Wilcox 9:13

You're definitely right. in a vacuum, this Knicks team is, is awesome. They, they are nobody counted them in. Everyone said, like you said, they're a second round exit, like an easy second round exit, they've just played out of their mind. Th- they're, they've turned into a one through 15 team this postseason. Nobody saw that really coming. Uh, certainly not from their, from the regular season, even though they were kind of back and forth chasing us. Taking down, having the Pistons get eliminated by the Cavs was the greatest thing that ever happened to them 'cause

David Clarke 9:39

That was crazy.

Matthew Wilcox 9:40

they

David Clarke 9:40

That's-- I, I

Matthew Wilcox 9:40

that

David Clarke 9:41

I did not see that coming at all, especially with,

Matthew Wilcox 9:42

God

David Clarke 9:43

I mean, is-- can you do NBA math at this point? Like, the Eastern Conference was such a strange s- like, uh, a series of events, you know? Like, I know the Pistons were better than the Cavs on paper, but they lost because the Cavs just, like, put it, put it together, right? Like, they, they had their best possible iteration of them. James Harden decided not to take a shit just yet, right? The, the, uh, best iteration of the Philadelphia 76ers beats the Celtics. The-- it's almost a completely mirrored situation. Like, the, the Celtics lose to a generational performance and comeback from the 76ers, which, I mean, what percentage of blame-- It's such a, it's such an ESPN question, but I'm actually genuinely asking it. It, it-- the reason they s- they ask this kind of question so much is because of the first time somebody asked it when it actually made sense. What percentage of the blame do the Celtics have compared to the 76ers really just fucking strapped it on and, and, and gave it to us because Joel Embiid came out there and, like, played like Joel Embiid?

Matthew Wilcox 10:41

No, I, I, I think the Celtics have a lot of blame there. I just think that they better in, in of the positions and we just didn't see it that way. We made Tyrese Maxey look like, like an

David Clarke 10:52

He's really good

Matthew Wilcox 10:53

He's okay. He's not, he's not a, the best po- he's not the best point guard, he's not the best ball carrier. He's, he's very fast, I get it. He's, he's a good player. We made him look like Allen Iverson. It was

David Clarke 11:03

Yeah, he looked really good. I, I'll also just tell you, like, you remember obviously the, the Knicks strategy when we still had Horford on the team and I think, I, I think the Heat actually sort of were the first ones to really start to do this against us and, and realize that Joe Mazzulla had absolutely no answer for it. You can switch our very awkward on-floor spacing big onto your point guard. If you're Jalen Brunson, he would have eaten against us. It would've been fucking ugly, dude. And Joe Mazzulla wouldn't have had any answers across all four games. You

Matthew Wilcox 11:35

يا حدا

David Clarke 11:37

glad we didn't go get that beaten because the Celtics are-- I mean, it's, I've seen the same thing with Liverpool this season. The Celtics are easy to play against and you never wanna be easy to play against. That's, the, it, it has to be the first thing I think you think about as a, as a team when you're building your culture and you're bu- you're building your, your... Well, like the Patriots made it to the Super Bowl by being hard to play against all year, you know? Even though that they kind of slapped up like, uh, mismatches,

Matthew Wilcox 12:04

Right

David Clarke 12:05

they never let teams worse than them roll them. Never ever. They lost to a team better than them, whatever, you

Matthew Wilcox 12:11

Yep

David Clarke 12:12

I think we're just so fucking easy to play against as a Celtics team and I understand why that leads to the discourse of, again, leads to the discourse which has been proven wrong before but like things can change. I'm, I'm just trying to be level-headed about it. Leads to the discourse of breaking up these two, these two superstars, you know? I beg to differ personally. I think you need to change the coach. I think you need to change the coach, um, and that's the most important thing that you need to do because I honestly think stupid face equals stupid person. Just go, just go look in your life. If he's got a dumb face, even if he does a little tricky trick on you once or twice, he's dumb. He's dumb. If you could cast him as a village torch wielder in a, in a period piece that like his mob ruling-- And I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I-- he's got a dumb guy face. Front row Joe. I've just, I've never been in on him. Winning coach of the year is an embarrassment to the NBA, quite frankly. The man has, is, is as devoid of ideas as I am of hopefully cancer. And I just think like, uh, you know, at like I just think, I don't wish Lou Gehrig's disease on him but like I, if he s- if he stubbed his toe every day for the rest of his life I wouldn't be that upset. And like if-- I, I just don't think he's a good basketball coach. I've never thought he was a good basketball coach and

Matthew Wilcox 13:31

I

David Clarke 13:31

I really think that is not a real sentence

Matthew Wilcox 13:36

I, I understand. But you know, it, you're so right.

David Clarke 13:38

You should pr- you should come motivated. That's what the money's for, to quote John Draper

Matthew Wilcox 13:43

at, look at this Cavs team. You wanna come motivated? Those, they were talking about how they were tired after two seven-game series. Where's your, where's your, where's your balls? Are you kidding me? How did you get paid, James Harden? They don't, they're not motivated. That's the problem. They're not hungry dogs. Hungry dogs run fast. Fat dogs sit down. That's

David Clarke 13:58

I understand, but also tactically he's so inept that

Matthew Wilcox 14:01

Oh God

David Clarke 14:02

you, if you saw Mike Brown coach against him in a, in one more series in this playoffs, it would've been-- He w- like he found the matchups against the Cavs. That's all he did. He exploited matchups for four games and like at an expert level, an absolute expert level. I, I don't think, I don't think there's anything easier than finding a way for James Harden to lose his team a, a basketball game in the playoffs. Like I think that's just established. But I still think he's really like honestly tactically very sound as a coach and I think he would've fucked Missoula up

Matthew Wilcox 14:31

All Joe has is shoot the three.

David Clarke 14:34

That it's so bad. I

Matthew Wilcox 14:35

That's

David Clarke 14:35

we come on to talk about the Spurs, I'm gonna point out some, some worrying trends over there too, but that, that, that's his whole offensive game plan. It's terrible

Matthew Wilcox 14:42

Right. And there was a Twitter rumor going that teams were actually trying to increase the humidity in stadiums because the ball doesn't fly as fast when you're, in, in humid environments. And that's, that's how simple it is to beat the Celtics. can have environmental changes and the game alters because we're not gonna make the rush, we're not gonna make the third pass, we're gonna shoot the three. And if it falls, it falls. If it doesn't, it doesn't. Live or die by it.

David Clarke 15:04

I agree. I, I think the really, the really major issue with it is that I'm just fundamentally not that kind of basketball fan. I, I'm just never gonna be... I remember loving playing the Stan Van Gundy Orlando Magic

Matthew Wilcox 15:16

Oh

David Clarke 15:16

when we were the really, really the Celtics because the live by the three, die the, by the three lesson was sort of taught to me. Like, you would get, you would play games against them where you would be panicking as a, as a 17, 18-year-old Celtics fan. You'd be like, "Holy shit, the volume those guys just put up." But the old heads knew. They were like, "That's gonna dry up, son. Like, Paul Pierce runs the best iso in the fucking league right now. Like, it's, it, it's fine." Like, Paul Pierce has two unbelievable shooting options to his left and his right at all times, and he runs a, a crazy iso at the end of games, and he might go to the cup or he might pass it to Ray Allen for an almost guaranteed three-point play. Because that's running a play in basketball to me, and that's something I don't know if I've ever seen Joe Mazzulla do.

Matthew Wilcox 16:01

No,

David Clarke 16:01

I, I'm, I... Like, I, the, if... I, I think if I quizzed him on what a pistol screen was, he, I don't know if he would get the answer correct. That's what I worry about with Joe Mazzulla

Matthew Wilcox 16:10

I think if you did, he'd just double leg you and try and go for a kimura.

David Clarke 16:13

Yeah. He'd be like, "The most important thing is toughness and bleeding for reasons." And I just don't, I don't know, that's not anything. You got, you...

Matthew Wilcox 16:22

I... Me,

David Clarke 16:23

I'll give you s- I'll give you something here. I'll give you something here. You, you know these people is the thing. Matt, for everybody listening right now, Matt's a, a criminal defense attorney. Matt operates at a high level at his job. When you operate at a high level at your job, you know what you see? People who speak strictly in metaphor, and you come to realize quickly that they're saying nothing at all. Because you're trying to get them to actually do something when you're at work, right? Like, you're trying to get them to actually accomplish a task. And when you s- you're seeing someone not even inch towards that, you're like, "Okay, so you said a lot of things that sounded really good." Right? You've experienced this in your life. Listeners at home, you've experienced this in your life if you've ever, if you've ever operated in any sort of managerial or, or high-stakes position, or even in your, in your personal life. You know? If you've, if you've been able to do it like that. You've seen this perspective. People that just yap and they say nothing at all, and I just think that's what Joe Mazzulla is. Coach of the Year Joe Mazzulla

Matthew Wilcox 17:20

I think that's a perfect way to put it. He's just, it's, he's got a, it, uh, we all get enamored by it at first when they're winning. When they, when they're on like a s- like a seven-game winning streak and he's in there making the sports media, uh, stand during interviews because they're too lazy and they sit down too much, that's kinda cool. When you're

David Clarke 17:37

does sound good. That's, uh, that's my point

Matthew Wilcox 17:40

it sounds good. When, when it rai- when... It's like a rainmaker. When it rains, you look like a genius. When it doesn't rain, well, you gotta find a reason why not, and he can't. He's too stupid to find a reason.

David Clarke 17:50

Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's enough talking about Joe Mazzulla, but I'm glad you agree.

Cavs Sweep And Gambling Regrets

David Clarke 17:55

Um, all right, quick breakdown of what happened in the East and then we'll never have to talk about the Cleveland Cavaliers again. Uh,

Matthew Wilcox 18:00

Thank

David Clarke 18:01

the Cavs were 22 up in the fourth in game one, and then that was the end of the series.

Matthew Wilcox 18:05

Yeah

David Clarke 18:05

I mean, that, uh, that flip, defensive pressure, how quickly it happened. There's no world in which the Cavs are ever coming back in that series ever again. It was never-- It wasn't even gonna be a gentleman's sweep after that. It was obvious

Matthew Wilcox 18:18

Yeah. Yeah. Well, Dave, as you know, and maybe the audience will remember, I, uh, I enjoy placing s- some small wagers on games every once in a

David Clarke 18:26

Oh, we wager

Matthew Wilcox 18:28

well, I like to, uh, you know, I like to chase a win, and I like to think that, well, they, they, they happened once. The Knicks, the Knicks did it once. They're not gonna do it again. And then after game two, I did, you know, I did that second time. I was like, "That was dumb." But three times? do it three times? Come on, let's double down, get that money back, son. when game four came around, I decided, you know what? Let's clear the coffers here. Let's just go. We're gonna go for it. We're gonna make ourselves rich. I'm taking Dave to Vegas after this win. And Cleveland ended up costing me somewhere in the range of $1,000 over that series. I'm not proud. Um, I'm not gambling anymore for the rest of the week.

David Clarke 19:07

No, I completely said week. I thought you were gonna say year after fucking taking that many Ls in a row.

Matthew Wilcox 19:11

well, on basketball. I mean, we

David Clarke 19:13

Okay. Okay, a lot of stipulations.

Matthew Wilcox 19:15

and,

David Clarke 19:15

Um,

Matthew Wilcox 19:16

baccarat. But, but, uh, so to say I'm a little upset with the Cavs would be an understatement. But yeah, right around the thousand on the series, they got me good. I kept multiplying, and that's just what, you know, got away from

David Clarke 19:26

Wow. Yeah, I think you should retire. Um, you and I also just took a beating recently on the, uh, cage fights,

Matthew Wilcox 19:32

Ooh.

David Clarke 19:33

few times in a row, so

Matthew Wilcox 19:34

Yeah, I think we went winless

David Clarke 19:37

Uh, well, yeah. I mean, like, what I think what ends up happening with my gambling is, like, I start to do math bad on purpose in order to... 'Cause I'm like, "If you only do plus, I'm coming up great if I do this," right? And I just-- When the minus is in the equation, you know? Uh, or the risk of it at least. But, um, yeah, listen, I thought, uh, Bill Simmons said it, summed it up really

Thunder Spurs Speed Chess Breakdown

David Clarke 20:03

well. I'm not above shouting out other great podcasters on this podcast. I think he described, uh, yeah, he, uh, he described the Knicks-Cavs series as 1.0 speed when you're listening to a podcast, and the Thunder-Spurs series as 1.5. And I honestly think it's been some of the most entertaining basketball I've watched over the past maybe 10 years. I,

Matthew Wilcox 20:23

God

David Clarke 20:24

I really love the combination of players. I love the storyline. I love the narrative. I love the fact that Wemby openly reviles, uh, Chet. I, I like the fact that the world openly reviles the Oklahoma City Thunder despite their-- I mean, talk about the New York Yankees, you know? I, I, I mean, this is, uh, this is, this is-- If you don't like sports, you're missing a very fundamental observation into human nature, which is if someone, someone can get so good and be built so well and be constituted so perfectly that they're hated vehemently. Now, is it true that they flop?

Matthew Wilcox 21:07

God yes

David Clarke 21:08

Is it true that they bait the refs and they exploit the referee's bias? No, probably not. Incompetence? More likely

Matthew Wilcox 21:17

Yes, we saw that tonight with the

David Clarke 21:19

How they exploit the referee, and this is, I'm not a fan of the Oklahoma City Thunder's brand of basketball. I don't enjoy watching them play basketball. I cheer actively against them. I just want to stipulate that right now. But I have to tell you guys, we need to look in- inwards at, at, at ourselves. We need to figure out why we hate these people. They are executing at every level available to them, and one of the levels available to them, at the highest level available to them, and one of those levels is exploiting the referees because they're exploitable. There was a moment tonight where the head coach of the San Antonio Spurs called a challenge in front of the face of the sideline referee, and Brothers still had the ball in his hand. So it was a perfectly legitimate challenge, and it swung the last piece of momentum back to the Thunder. The last chance that the Spurs had at a run was winning this challenge, which upon replay they were gonna win.

Matthew Wilcox 22:12

Yep

David Clarke 22:12

gonna win. And Brothers looked like you were explaining that the pump at a gas station that he works at was not working, and that simple explanat- Like, he was over there just with his mouth agape. His mouth agape. Tony Brothers is so bad at his job that people think he's-- it's go- it's gone full circle around that think he, that people think he's so good at his job that he can manipulate games. He's just so bad at his job and so incompetent that people think he s- he can successfully manipulate a game of basketball in a direction. It's completely random. Your brain is just trained to see patterns. Um, do you, do you think that you'll be-- What happens in your brain when the Oklahoma City Thunder see the New York Knicks in the finals, other than you're forced to watch it 'cause you're doing this podcast now? You probably wouldn't otherwise. That sounds like a miserable outcome for you.

Matthew Wilcox 23:11

Yeah. Yeah, it's not, it's not ideal for me. Uh, I think Shays just gonna have a field day with them. I think he's gonna break their backs quick. I just don't, I don't think you can overcome in, in any regard the way that the Oklahoma City bench comes off and just dominates against starters. I mean, it's like they're playing the Spurs right now. They're playing Wemby and, and are, they're outscoring the bench of the other team by like 200 points. They're outscoring the whole team by like 91 points. It's crazy. It's just, I, I've never seen a, a team play one through 15, just like Shay said today. He, he said, "We're a one through 15 team. any guy can be on the court and they're gonna give you a hard, a hard time, and that's all I've said all year, and you're seeing it here now." And he's right.

David Clarke 23:52

I would alm- I would almost add to that a little bit. Like, yes, he is correct, but I think the reason why he's correct is because I think that they have a good enough system where you can watch a Hartenstein look unplayable in the series up until tonight, and then he's deployed in a completely different role with his, with his entire role to just be essentially set a line block on Wemby and just... The, the idea was whatever he wants to do outside the paint, whatever he wants to do outside the paint, we let him do. We live with all of it. And there was times where he could punish them, but the way he gets in his rhythm. And listen, you're not gonna be able to probably do this to him again. I'm not saying this is like they've unlocked Wemby. They've, they've figured out how to guard him or whatever. There's been a lot of wear and tear this series and in this playoffs in general. They, they know how to throw bodies at them and win a war of attrition. I genuinely think that deep down we all know this is going to a seventh game. That seventh game is gonna be fucking awesome, and I think that's gonna be the time where Wemby says, like, "You can't not let me in the paint," right? But to the, to your larger point, which was I really think astute, can we, can we play all 15 guys? Do certain guys become unplayable in a series? No. A, because, yeah, their roster is honestly really good. They've had a lot of great, really high draft picks, and they've used them well. But also you can p- you can take a guy like Hartenstein and not just bench him for the series because you see that it's not working,

Matthew Wilcox 25:21

Right

David Clarke 25:22

It, it's like that kind of thing, like I was screaming on this very show about Vu- Vucevic being in the fucking game for two games longer than he, than he should've been,

Matthew Wilcox 25:33

Yep

David Clarke 25:34

like, and just getting absolutely excoriated, like just getting fucking biblically butt-fucked. I, I couldn't understand why I was seeing what I was seeing and the very nicely paid head coach of the Boston Celtics wasn't. I mean, I don't- I couldn't fucking believe it. And then finally he gets benched, and then that game se- I know I'm still mad about this obviously. This is still killing me. But then in game seven he's like, "Oh yeah, oh sorry, now all the guys that got us here can come and ta- can jack up threes too." Ah, drove me fucking crazy, it really did.

Matthew Wilcox 26:04

Joe

David Clarke 26:04

A Wemby monster game is, is still on the horizon.

Matthew Wilcox 26:08

Oh, yeah

David Clarke 26:08

can't, you can't escape the boogeyman. Um, I think the prevailing narrative, tell me what you think about this, the prevailing narrative being like the Spurs entering this series, the Spurs are just, they're gonna be here, but they're just p- maybe one season too early. And then everyone's saying, "Okay, if they win this series, no, never mind actually. Now they've arrived and we all, it's, we all have to take notice." I would take it one further. Even if they lose this series, I think it's like, nah, they're here.

Matthew Wilcox 26:34

Yep

David Clarke 26:34

the Thunder better go win the championship. That's what I think. I think that they can go back-to-back and I think that might be about it. Like I really think

Matthew Wilcox 26:42

could

David Clarke 26:42

about it. These kid- that Spurs team is, uh, they're all babies. Th- th- these, these be babies doing this shit.

Matthew Wilcox 26:49

young. You know, the Spurs and the Thunder have that one thing in common. Their rebuilds took no time and they're both very young teams. But you're right, I think the Spurs are the second best team in the league. I, I think it's very clear. I also think that they have a real problem in that the boogeyman is real and it's standing right in front of them. And what happens when Chet Holmgren's afraid of Wemby? Well, you, like you said, we'll scheme out Wemby. What'd he have, six rebounds tonight? That's crazy. That's crazy. Let him go outside. Don't let him back in, and it worked the whole game. And I gotta say this 'cause I keep thinking about it. Mazzulla looks like the kid in high school who wore the same shirt too often and kind of smelled like stale Doritos. Do you know what I mean? Like, you

David Clarke 27:25

Fuck you

Matthew Wilcox 27:26

to him. He was in those weird classes that were at the end of the hall that you're not really sure what was happening in. Pretty sure special ed, but we don't really know. Man, what a dumb-looking face

David Clarke 27:35

Um, Matt always makes fun of me for wearing the same shirt every day in eighth grade.

Matthew Wilcox 27:39

about you.

David Clarke 27:40

He way exaggerates how often I wore that shirt. Like, just the, the, the... I- it was a cool fucking shirt, first of all, and it was always clean.

Matthew Wilcox 27:47

about him.

David Clarke 27:48

Um, and I also did like Doritos, so there's no way that wasn't about me the entire time. Uh, but you know what? I own it. I own it. You're, you're welcome to it. Um, uh, listen. The Spurs have a ceiling that wins them this series if they hit it. OKC has a ceiling that wins them this series, and the Spurs don't hit theirs. Whoa, is that true?

Matthew Wilcox 28:15

Oh,

David Clarke 28:15

If they go ceiling to ceiling against two games, I think it's the Spurs because the ce- the ceiling for the Spurs is Wemby

Matthew Wilcox 28:23

Dude, we didn't... You know, we- we're on the exact same page. Look, what do you think about this?

Who Wins The Ring Debate

Matthew Wilcox 28:27

Winner of this series wins the ring.

David Clarke 28:29

Yeah. See, okay, so we talked about this a little bit in the, in the, uh, podcast group chat, which I'll, uh, get you in on. I'm sorry I'm behind on my administrative duties. Um, but we did talk about this today. Uh, they were saying, you know, who gets the privilege of going and getting f- the belt across their ass against the Western Conference? I have to posit the idea just to zag for the purposes of content. Not that I-- But I can see it. I mean, as a bettor, like we were just discussing, I can see it, right? I can see the value in the idea that I know you just got done making the point, uh, about, about their 1 through 15 team. But a no J Dub or, on the other hand, a no fully healthy De'Aaron Fox, like there's, there's a lot of injuries throughout both these rosters, and if they go through a seven-game war, they're, i- I can already see it. I can hear in my own voice that I don't really believe this, but I have to posit it. If they go, if they go to a seven-game war, there's a chance with the way that the Knicks play basketball, they could win a war of attrition. They could wi- they could win a war of beating them up. They could take the game plan. Say it's the Spurs. Say the Spurs get through in an epic game seven win, 'cause we have talked about the idea of what Shai might do to them, because I do think the guard play is a little bit mismatched there, uh,

Matthew Wilcox 29:38

Yep

David Clarke 29:38

with the, Thunder. Like, that actually might be a bigger problem. I think they're hoping for the Spurs, even though Wemby's a monster. If you, if you look at the Spurs going there to New York and the Knicks trying to win a home game against them, there is a tape of that with how OKC ran them, and I think there's personnel in, in New York where they could possibly do that, don't you think?

Matthew Wilcox 30:02

I, I, for sure, for sure. And I also think there's that magical thing in game seven where anybody can win a game seven. It's, this is balls to the wall. This is nerves on

David Clarke 30:10

You think, so you think the, we're, we're talking now about the Knicks win all their home games

Matthew Wilcox 30:16

They'd have

David Clarke 30:16

the Spurs? Yeah, of course. So that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the path home because that's not something we've really seen in this playoffs. Like, there's been a really distinct lopsidedness j- not just with the Celtics, 'cause we're the worst home team in, uh, I've ever seen, uh, put out in Boston. We're the worst home team I've ever seen in a Boston Celtics uniform. But

Matthew Wilcox 30:37

team

David Clarke 30:38

you know what it is? The people, I'm just gonna say it, and I know it sounds like I'm in a recliner right now in a, in a house in, in Fitchburg, but, like, the fucking personalities on the team don't mesh with the personalities in the crowd

Matthew Wilcox 30:57

Oh God, no. They are not representative of this city. They are not. They just

David Clarke 31:01

Pierce and Kevin Garnett, and to a lesser extent Ray Allen and to a weirder extent Rajon Rondo, represented the sort of collective madness that is the greater Massachusetts metropolitan area. And I think that, I think that's always been a thing. But what's this fan base been trained to do? Love winning.

Matthew Wilcox 31:24

When

David Clarke 31:25

So we like being the best a little bit. But there is a subset of the fan base, and I don't know if I'm included in this 'cause I don't wanna sound silly by saying like, "Let's not have two of the best players in the league, like two All-NBA guys on our team," but there is a subset of the league that's like the most... I watched the Celtics win a championship and the most fun I've had watching the Celtics in the last 15 years was Isaiah Thomas leading them to not a championship. And I think that's weird. I think that's weird

Matthew Wilcox 31:51

God, I mean, even the, so even the championship team, we want to win, but we all knew what we were looking at. We were looking at seven of the best players in the league on one roster together.

David Clarke 32:01

It

Matthew Wilcox 32:02

looking

David Clarke 32:02

felt like when you get bored at the end of your franchise mode and you're like, "All right, I'm gonna get it.

Matthew Wilcox 32:07

it

David Clarke 32:08

Yeah, I'm gonna get it to the end," right? Like, "I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go win this title, but, like, fuck me, dude. I'm bored. I got too many good players on the team. It's done. I gotta start back over again."

Matthew Wilcox 32:17

Yep. Your one through eight are better than every other team. Like, you ruined It You didn't

David Clarke 32:22

it was honestly we were like, "If we don't win, I'm gonna have to, like, start really thinking about this." Like, Jesus Christ. Like, we went, we went to the finals against the fucking, against the Mavs, Kyrie and, and Luka. They were like, "What if those two guards..." I was like, "No, guys."

Matthew Wilcox 32:36

No, no, no, no, no

David Clarke 32:37

I was like, "We're walking them. It's, it's not even close." Now, I liked the, the, the iteration of them better this year when I could sort of see the narrative, and I talked about it on this show and, and other people I know saw it, of enjoying them in the regular season, really enjoying them in the regular season. Sounding, by the way, I did sound the alarm bells on, on what we were gonna look like in the playoffs because of Joe Mazzulla, and I was 100% correct. I didn't like it, but I, I said it, and then it came true, so that's kinda what we're doing here talking into microphones. But I have to, like, you must, you must kind of really believe in yourself and your takes, right? So when you get one right,

Matthew Wilcox 33:12

I'll

David Clarke 33:12

the fucking ego this takes, honestly.

Matthew Wilcox 33:15

Garbage points count the same

David Clarke 33:17

yeah, that's right. I absolutely agree with you. And, uh, big dogs come to play in the fourth quarter, and I don't see any big dogs on the fucking Boston Celtics roster. I just don't see it. I just don't see any.

Matthew Wilcox 33:26

Give me my Eddie House back

David Clarke 33:27

Yeah. It's, uh, they're ki- they kinda reminded me of, like, the, the preppy, um, frat in Animal House. Like, I... And I'm just like, look, I know that we're kind of, like, stacked over here, like this year's Boston Celtics, but, like, by the time the play- playoffs came, but I was like, I kinda feel like everyone hates us, and, and then I, and now I kinda have gone and listened to them, and I, I kinda see their point sometimes. Like, that part sucks. You know? I'm like, no, I agree. That guy is annoying when he does that. You know? Like, that's the part that's weird. I wonder how OKC fans feel in that, in that regard. Um, a lot of cognitive dissonance. Uh, anyway, sorry. We, we keep doing asides to talk shit about the Celtics, but honestly, I'm glad you're here to do that because everybody needs to get that off their chest after watching that fucking shit, and you haven't had a chance to-

Matthew Wilcox 34:12

over it. I'm never gonna be over it. I'll be talking about this five years from now. I'm not over it

David Clarke 34:16

Um, that's cool. I like that. Uh, and you know what? It's gonna be great because we have to spend the whole summer essentially talking about football because the, the, the summer sport is now foot- is now the football off-season. Uh, I'll tell you how you figure that out. You figure that out by starting a sports podcast and then, uh, needing content in the summer. So, uh, you have a, you have a choice to make. You have to pick either go optimistic, like we made it to the Super Bowl, this, da-da-da, or it's the holy shit, I hope they don't get the hangover take. We'll, we'll see how it goes. But, uh, save that for later. In the first game, the Spurs beat the Thunder. I think everybody was surprised when M- Wemby had a monster game. It was an absolute coming out party in a, in a Western Conference Finals. I think those who knew, knew. I think those who pay attention early knew. Uh, I think those who pay attention early were really disappointed he had to sit out last season because, like, I was incredibly impressed and it made me worried. You know Pose, our mutual friend. You know Pose's thing of, like, if they're that tall, they're gonna get hurt. And,

Matthew Wilcox 35:16

Oh

David Clarke 35:16

you get, you just get scared, you know? Like, he's always like, "If they're that tall, they're gonna get fucking hurt. Like, you're not gonna be able to watch them for a long period of time." And I'm like, "I'm scared of it because it's so fun to watch." Um, Shai answers in game two. Uh, OKC pressure the defense. They sped everybody up. It You could t- totally see it. I think that's what made probably most people that were watching think that the Spurs were gonna lose the series because you, they kinda looked every bit their average age. Um, and then in game three they kinda doubled down. They did that OKC bench game they sorta did tonight. They've done that to them twice now. I, I have a fear about game seven and that OKC bench game. Spurs started out hot. OKC shot like shit from three but, and OKC are, uh, the Spurs won, won the paint in the following game. Um, as much as I agree with my initial statement that the Spurs' ceiling versus the Thunder's ceiling means the Spurs win, I think there's also one way that the Spurs win, and it's when they look like the Spurs. You know? Like, they, they have to really look like the Spurs, and I think an average age of whatever it is, 23 and a half, is a really difficult average age to have an impose their will team, right? So that's the thing that's making me lean towards the Thunder, as disappointed as I am about it. Do you think that that's n- mumbo jumbo, or do you think that you've seen something that I'm talking about?

Matthew Wilcox 36:37

No, I don't... I think you're exactly right. They, they, the way that they win, especially against a team like OKC, is you have to make them play your game. They have to be

David Clarke 36:44

Yeah

Matthew Wilcox 36:44

And I think in the first quarter looked like that. It looked like Wemby was

David Clarke 36:48

But I, yeah

Matthew Wilcox 36:48

their game, and SGA probably had his worst start maybe ever game. He looked horrible in the first half, and what, he ended up with his, uh, I think his point high the series. That's what's dangerous about them. They're willing to make adjustments, and with a solid 15-player roster, they can make those adjustments. So Wemby cannot shrink like he did tonight. He can't buy into, like, a, a trap outside. He's gotta stay on the game entirely. So on top of them playing their game, Wemby has to be hot. It's not an

David Clarke 37:15

Yeah. It's true. And also, I mean, the f- the, the, and talk about imposing your will, I really think, feel like when you look at tonight, the Shai response game did happen. He had 32 points. Uh, I think, yeah, it was his most by two, I think. I think his next highest was 30. Yeah. Yeah. Good for you. Uh, we look at you with the stats. Look at you with the statistics. I'm a vibes podcaster, Matt. So, uh, it's c- it's cool that, like, you're here with the stats because I really just like to exist on, uh, you know, happy vibes and just sort of chatting.

Matthew Wilcox 37:48

your favorite book's Othello. I know you're a hopeless romantic, so I'll be here with some numbers for you

David Clarke 37:52

Wonderful. I love that.

Role Player Hype And Villains

David Clarke 37:53

Uh, you know what I really loved is the, um, Alex Caruso overreaction narrative across the first few games. As if you've never seen a role player, like, kinda go crazy for a couple of playoff games. Like, there was best role player of all time conversations happening after, after game two. I was like, "Guys, can everyone for the love of God shut the fuck up? Because if I have to rattle off 10 better role players right now, I will. But,

Matthew Wilcox 38:17

yeah

David Clarke 38:17

please don't do that to me." Like, Derek Fisher started for the Los Angeles Lakers with Kobe Bryant, and he was the definition of a role player, and my man hit every big shot Kobe Bryant ever asked him to hit. And, like, you're now talking about Kobe Bryant's career with Derek Fisher. So we're talking about Alex Caruso, two fucking games. Like, give me a goddamn break. Are you fucking kidding me?

Matthew Wilcox 38:38

rings. Three rings there.

David Clarke 38:40

Sam Cassell was a better role player than Alex Caruso from, from playing not any minutes. Like, Sam Cassell, the vibes he brought to the '08 Celtics, not even seeing the floor, I put ahead of fucking Alex Caruso. You know why? 'Cause that team won a fucking championship. Don't talk to me about fucking role players, Alex Caruso. Honestly, I should like him because as, like, a kinda regular-ass white guy with a podcast, we should all see ourselves in Alex Caruso, but you know me pretty well, Matt. I don't fucking see myself like that.

Matthew Wilcox 39:10

I,

David Clarke 39:10

I don't,

Matthew Wilcox 39:10

no

David Clarke 39:11

don't, I don't look at Alex Caruso and go like, "Yeah, one of us really did it." I'm like, "Nah, buddy, nah. You shoulda gone to Turkey and fixed that fucking head and getting your-- got your fucking ears pinned back. What are you doing out there? What are you doing out there?" And honestly, his whole, his whole demeanor is that of someone that knows full well that you had no expectations of him. And, and, and I don't respect that because that's someone who didn't come in with expectations of themselves.

Matthew Wilcox 39:40

I understand

David Clarke 39:41

I go places with expectations of myself, and I-- and the Alex Carusos of the world, they do not light my fire, I have to say

Matthew Wilcox 39:48

I, so I think we should all feel connected to him. I feel connected to him because me and him both look like giant babies. We have baby faces, which is nice. and him have the same size head, so we should all feel like brothers. But here's the

David Clarke 40:00

My head's way bigger than his

Matthew Wilcox 40:02

Yeah, you guys, you guys both have noggins, bro. You just have awesome hair.

David Clarke 40:06

Thanks.

Matthew Wilcox 40:06

Thanks. But why Alex Caruso gets so much shine is because even on a night when he doesn't pop, then McCann pops or then, uh, McCain pops, then J. Will pops. It's because he's supported by his bench. So he looks like the best role player of all time. And he's not, we both know he's not. But yeah, he's a, he's a man. a, what an interesting looking human.

David Clarke 40:29

You know how when we watch the Celtics together and they're making real runs and I always pick a role player to sort of like vehemently hate?

Matthew Wilcox 40:36

Eddie

David Clarke 40:37

back in the day, yeah, Eddie House, that's what I was gonna say. Eddie House, I vehemently hated. But, like, he made some huge shots for us. It's just like he drove me insane. I did it with Vučević this year, uh, and I was right. There was no Eddie House comps there. If I was a Spurs fan, I would feel that way about Champ Penny. I'd be like, "What, what is this fucking guy doing for us? Honest to God, what is this fucking guy doing for us?" I know what he does when he's good, and I've seen him do it, but in the playoffs, holy shit, this dude is not showing up. He really is not showing-- He just got himself in foul trouble tonight. Honestly, it felt to me like he got himself in foul trouble so we, we didn't have to ask any questions about his actual shooting. Like, that's genuinely what it looked like to me. I was like, "Oh my God, you fucking coward."

Matthew Wilcox 41:15

should

David Clarke 41:16

what

Matthew Wilcox 41:16

up that

David Clarke 41:16

are we looking at here?

Matthew Wilcox 41:18

Put him on the list of that betting scandal. He just, he checked out of the game 'cause he knew he wasn't hitting shots. Unbelievable,

David Clarke 41:23

Oh man, that was really bad

Matthew Wilcox 41:24

because you know all year he must have been that guy because the announcers, it doesn't matter who the announcers are, they're all about him. So they're looking like, "Oh, I'm gonna be the genius tonight 'cause I'm calling on Payton to go again." Nope. Nope. He looked horrible.

David Clarke 41:37

It was bad.

Matthew Wilcox 41:38

It was bad,

David Clarke 41:39

Your backdrop looks great

Matthew Wilcox 41:40

Thanks, man. Got my boys here. I got... You can't see it. I'll hang this one up later. I got a little, uh, my, my, the love of my life beaten up, uh, out of Sonya

David Clarke 41:51

Your, your, uh, Alex Pereira is the love of your life?

Matthew Wilcox 41:54

Yeah, yeah, I love him.

David Clarke 41:56

That's awesome.

Matthew Wilcox 41:57

him.

David Clarke 41:57

I really feel like,

Matthew Wilcox 41:58

we'd be

David Clarke 41:58

I feel like you could've been a, a production designer, you know? Like, there was a lot of real thought that went into this backdrop right here. Like, you really thought about the frame

Matthew Wilcox 42:06

You can't see, I'll bring it down lower, but it's, it's, uh, Brother Malcolm X talking to Muhammad Ali at a court hearing, I believe.

David Clarke 42:11

He can say brother, he's Muslim. He did all that homework. He did all the brother, he did all the brother homework and, and, and everything. He's got the certificate to prove it

Matthew Wilcox 42:18

Oh, he's got the certificate. He wore it on his chest when he got shot. Um

David Clarke 42:23

Uh, anyway, basketball. Um, I've liked this playoffs so far overall genuinely, and a- and again, yet again, it's because the West is competitive.

Fixing NBA Officiating And Rules

Matthew Wilcox 42:31

Dude, you know, I spent all year kind of bashing on the sport because they're getting further and further away from basketball that I loved, which I feel like it ended in '08 with Paul Pierce giving her a net where you could bump on another player and not get a technical foul,

David Clarke 42:42

I don't think I really even need hand checking, honestly. I don't even think hand checking improves the game. I think, like, Chris Paul would've been the best point guard of all time if hand checking was allowed in his era, for the entire era, and I think, like, he's not the best point guard of all time. So, like, to me, I'm fine with that. What I'm not fine with is I think this is gonna get into, to the weeds a little bit, this is a little granular, but bear with me here.

Matthew Wilcox 43:06

for it. I'm with you

David Clarke 43:06

The, the landing space rule needs to be that when you jump, your landing space is where you jumped from. If you kick your... It's such an easy fix. If you kick your legs forward and land there, you landed outside your own landing space, and whatever happened to you happened to you. That's it. You can't-- That's, that's how you fix drawing that foul. Two, if you see a non-foul, what, what is this with every sport and the inability to quickly review? I, at home, have reviewed and made a judgment call based on one replay. You, at home, have reviewed and, and made a judgment call based on one replay. There's a, should be a guy with two of his buddies in a fucking soundproof booth somewhere away from the stadium that the referees can go, "Oh, ask that guy that lives in the thing. He might be one of your friends. He might be one of your neighbors. I don't... You'll never know who he is." But he makes the calls, and you just make sure that that guy gets it right most of the time, and people will be happy. And he does it fast. He just does it fast

Matthew Wilcox 44:15

Exactly. Thumb up, thumb down. Go.

David Clarke 44:17

Those are my two biggest improvements on how to fix the NBA, especially come playoff time. Also, we used to, the body checking thing that you were talking about, we used to let them play more in the playoffs, and they kinda have, but they kinda haven't. And I think that's the thing that's annoying

Matthew Wilcox 44:29

same. You know what it feels like? It feels like players actually wanna win games now, and it's not just a friendly shoot around between billionaires. But, um, but I will say,

David Clarke 44:36

That's what the Spurs and the Thunder have done for us, to be fair. Like, they actually do hate each other finally. It's, it's like you really believe that the narrative that the WWE has fed you, or like Conor McGregor and Khabib, you know? Like, you're actually, no, they do hate each other. I believe it

Matthew Wilcox 44:49

Wemby does not fuck with Chet Holmgren. He does-

David Clarke 44:52

He does not at all. You know what? I get it.

Matthew Wilcox 44:56

Dude, I get it too. With that stupid face. Knock it off

David Clarke 44:59

Yeah, but also he's a bit of a fraud, right? Like, to me, like, people used to level accusations at Dirk Nowitzki because of his game, that he wasn't, like, a tough four-five swing and,

Matthew Wilcox 45:10

A, yeah

David Clarke 45:11

bec- because he had, like, a European style of play. Dirk Nowitzki was a physical basketball player. If you thought that about Dirk Nowitzki, you were wrong about Dirk Nowitzki. Like, Dirk Nowitzki used to go at KG. Like, it's, it's-- I would, I would take KG over Dirk, Tim over both. But, like, to be honest, that era of power forwards was what? You think Dirk over KG?

Matthew Wilcox 45:30

Uh, no, I think KG over Tim, and I'm not playing around. Don't say

David Clarke 45:34

That's nuts

Matthew Wilcox 45:35

Yo, KG would beat the fuck out of Tim.

David Clarke 45:38

I'm talking about basketball here.

Matthew Wilcox 45:40

I'm

David Clarke 45:40

Timmy used to--

Matthew Wilcox 45:41

2008 too.

David Clarke 45:42

Ti- Timmy used to give it to KG on a regular basis. On a regular basis.

Matthew Wilcox 45:46

fair.

David Clarke 45:47

You should look up the numbers. But the numbers support my, to support my stance. Uh, KG will tell you this. Timmy used to give it to him one-on-one. He used to fucking absolutely give him the business.

Matthew Wilcox 45:55

all right? I have to defend him

David Clarke 45:57

KG would've been, would've been very upset if we ever saw the Spurs in the finals. It would've been, it would've been bad. It would've been bad for us.

Matthew Wilcox 46:03

would've killed us

David Clarke 46:04

They were, they were set up perfectly to beat us, honestly. Um, I love that '08 Celtics team though, goddamn.

Matthew Wilcox 46:11

too. It's

David Clarke 46:11

there's so many-- There's so m- fewer teams that I love equally or more than that team

Matthew Wilcox 46:16

Remember we just like picked up two thugs off the street, Poe and Posey, just come in there and just scare everyone? That was amazing

David Clarke 46:21

We're not supposed to use that terminology anymore.

Matthew Wilcox 46:23

Oh no? How about

David Clarke 46:24

No, I f-

Matthew Wilcox 46:25

Is that

David Clarke 46:25

I, sort of feel like, I sort of feel like you're a Democratic candidate just, just lost his ability to, uh, win reelection.

Matthew Wilcox 46:32

j-- what if I say G'd up from the feet up? Does that work?

David Clarke 46:35

They were, though. They were fucking hardcore. I loved it. Um, yeah, that was awesome. Hey, let me ask you something, just as a quick last thing.

True Crime Detour And Movie Talk

David Clarke 46:42

Did you watch that show The Crash on Netflix?

Matthew Wilcox 46:44

Yes

David Clarke 46:45

Um, I, I have, I have several questions, and sorry listeners, this is now a non-sports podcast for like two minutes before I wrap up. But I have several questions. This is my buddy. Uh, I have several questions about it, uh, from a, a lawyer's point of view. One, so for those of you who've seen The Crash, it's a, it's... or haven't, it's a documentary about a teen that crashed a car, and there's a lot of questions about, and killed two, two people, and then she survived as the driver. And there's a lot of questions about what happened in the car. Now, I don't have any questions about what happened in the car. I don't have any questions about the, the narrative of who she was as a person. I don't have any questions about that because honestly, that, I would leave all that up to speculation. But as a criminal defense attorney, do you genuinely believe based on the evidence that you were presented in the documentary that they had enough to fucking convict her of murder?

Matthew Wilcox 47:27

for sure.

David Clarke 47:28

Really?

Matthew Wilcox 47:29

Yeah, I, I think they had enough. I don't think it was... I don't think it's, they win it often, but is, was it enough to pass muster against an idiot? Yeah, for sure.

David Clarke 47:37

Okay, can I ask you another question?

Matthew Wilcox 47:39

Yeah

David Clarke 47:39

If that's you, do you do jury trial? 'Cause she had a choice

Matthew Wilcox 47:45

here in, in where I am in Worcester County? No, probably not. Um,

David Clarke 47:50

So bench trial was the right choice,

Matthew Wilcox 47:52

yeah, probably

David Clarke 47:53

just have to hope that the judge doesn't take an instant dislike to you or your client

Matthew Wilcox 47:56

But you know who the judge is right away. That judge got assigned the second the case was

David Clarke 47:59

So there's more things to consider. Okay. So

Matthew Wilcox 48:02

here, here I would've known who the judge is day one. But yeah, there's a lot of things to consider. I think if you won your, uh, I... hard to say, but here I probably would've gone bench on that.

David Clarke 48:12

Okay

Matthew Wilcox 48:13

'Cause you're fighting for the manslaughter. That's, it's very simple. You're fighting for the negligent operation

David Clarke 48:17

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're not fighting for she didn't kill them because she was driving the fucking car. But there was evidence that came out that the mom said, spoiler alert everybody, there was evidence that came out that the mom said that was, uh, uh, oh, there was a text where the daughter texted the boyfriend's mom and said, "Hey, he's trying to crash the car. Come get him. I'm not driving him around anymore." Which I think was just as damning as some of the stuff that she had done and said. And honestly, as a very toxic person in my youth, I did see a lot of things where I'm like, well, I wouldn't have wanted my fucking conversations to get taken out of context or something like that. I haven't shit.

Matthew Wilcox 48:50

Saq,

David Clarke 48:50

I they'd be like, "He did it." And even if I didn't, you know? Like there's, it's sometimes you say stuff, you know?

Matthew Wilcox 48:55

I've, I've heard you say stuff. It's, it's remarkable. It's, it's

David Clarke 48:58

Yeah, thank God I never committed a fucking crime that murdered people afterwards

Matthew Wilcox 49:02

second avenue off of basketball, have you seen Obsession yet?

David Clarke 49:06

Uh, no, I heard it's really good though.

Matthew Wilcox 49:07

Dave, you're gonna love it. It's

David Clarke 49:09

I he- I've, I heard that she puts in the best performance of the year. That's what I... Of, or

Matthew Wilcox 49:15

Hands down

David Clarke 49:15

uh, of h- of horror I, I heard someone say. And I also know that I really liked that director's funny YouTubes.

Matthew Wilcox 49:23

Yep.

David Clarke 49:23

that guy's like genuinely funny on YouTube

Matthew Wilcox 49:26

was like geeking out telling my wife about it in the movie

David Clarke 49:28

Same

Matthew Wilcox 49:28

was like, "I'm watching the movie." I was like, "Yeah, but you have to... Oh, and I watched this one thing that he

David Clarke 49:31

I haven't seen it yet because we've been both working, which means we barely have our lives together because of the hours. But, uh, I'm looking forward to it.

Matthew Wilcox 49:39

You're gonna-- You're really gonna like it because you used to do this to women without wishes.

David Clarke 49:44

I don't even know. I've, I've completely know nothing about the plot of the movie, and I can tell that that was, that is for all the listeners who have seen this movie, they do not look kindly upon me, uh, whatsoever after hearing that. I have no idea the plot of the movie. I always ignore the plot of movies I wanna see that are getting really well-reviewed and like are, or are from directors I really like.

Matthew Wilcox 50:04

Amazing. It was amazing.

David Clarke 50:06

That's awesome. I can't wait to see it.

Matthew Wilcox 50:07

movie, it was a great movie

David Clarke 50:09

You know what movie I watched? The Drama

Matthew Wilcox 50:11

Oh my God. I, so I thought that was a horror movie going in. I had no idea it was just gonna be an awesome

David Clarke 50:16

It felt like a fucking horror movie by the time I was done with it. I was hungover and goddamn, that thing dragged. It was terrible

Matthew Wilcox 50:21

forever. So some of them kept getting... Uh, my wife kept getting really mad at me because every time she would... something more would come out, she was like, "Oh, she..." Um, alert. Uh, she, like, the thing that she did that made everyone crazy, I was like, "I'm not gonna lie, that's kinda hot."

David Clarke 50:36

I didn't think it was that big of a deal

Matthew Wilcox 50:37

It's not that big of a deal. If anything, like the fact that she went so far planning it, I was like, you're kinda nuts, huh?

David Clarke 50:43

I was a lit- well, okay, the so far planning it was like a little nuts, but as the person who was the perpetrator of our middle school bomb threat, I was like, "All right. Well, you know, like, I wasn't gonna do it."

Matthew Wilcox 50:56

do it. Now we're talking pre-crime? We're gonna start judging pre-crime?

David Clarke 51:01

Honestly, she got pre-crimed a little bit. She got pre-crimed just a little bit

Matthew Wilcox 51:06

Minority Report 2 is that we're calling the drama now

David Clarke 51:09

And honestly, if you're Pattinson, I don't handle it the way that he handled it. I just double down on the fact that Zendaya is about to marry me. You just, it, the casting is completely misrepresentative of the plot because they had to be two normal people. But if you're Pattinson and Zendaya, it's... I, I just look at Pattinson and I'm like, "Look, I know you could do really well. I know, I know that you could, like, probably clean up out there. Like, you're a great-looking cat. But, like, I honestly still think you should just pack it in, buddy. Just cut everyone from your life if they don't like it, and stick with her. That's what I think you should do." That would be my honest to God advice that, to that guy, and he doesn't take it for the whole movie

Matthew Wilcox 51:45

Boston's cool, but just move, dude. New city.

David Clarke 51:48

Yeah, man. That's honestly, that's how I felt. And that's what kind of how I felt like the movie ended, to be honest with you. It was, it was like they were like, "Should we just get out of here?" And I... That was the best part, to be honest. Um, wow, we just spoiled two movies for the listening audience.

Matthew Wilcox 52:02

Oh man,

David Clarke 52:02

I said spoiler alert

Matthew Wilcox 52:03

a sport, it's a sports podcast, you know?

David Clarke 52:05

Yeah, they don't give a shit. They're like, "What are these fucking idiots talking about right now?"

Matthew Wilcox 52:09

Get ready for Matt and Dave's new movie podcast. Have you seen it yet?

David Clarke 52:12

Yeah. Oh, that, wow, did you just think of the title on the plot?

Matthew Wilcox 52:15

I d- I just did that off the cuff, yeah

David Clarke 52:16

just right out, right off the dome? That's really cool. That's right,

Final Thoughts And Farewell

David Clarke 52:20

right in the exposition he thought of some, uh, thematic characterization. That's really g- uh, you gotta love that about a, about a storyteller. Honestly, I don't think I can do any better than that. I'm gonna end it there. Hey Matt, thank you so much for coming and doing this podcast. I thought it was a roaring success. We talked basketball. We had a little movie stipend at the end. It was a great chat. I'm really happy that, uh, you're here and that you're willing to come on and share your insights and your thoughts and your wonderful background for those of you watching. Or if not, hopefully I painted you a word picture. And, uh, I'd just like to say welcome, and to everybody, thank you so much for listening to Missing the Point