You're listening to Giraffe King's Network. This is the Dan Levatore Show with the Stugatz podcast. So Stugatz has been an easy all show because the Kelsies have elbowed their way into the Stugatz game, and all he's getting out of it is a book deal for a book that he won't to write, and he wants more. And he's been uneasy all show. But one of the things that Metal Art Media has chosen to do-Stugatzbook. Com, by the way, pre-order. Books and movies is also have the freedom of microphones to talk about whatever we wanted to talk about. For those of you who do not want politics with your sports, I understand you can fast forward. A lot of people accuse us of being an echo chamber. Maybe there aren't a lot of people here from the other side. How do I do it? You can go sit the penalty box if you want. Really? I'm just asking how to fast forward. That's all. Please no fart. Please no fart noises, though. This is what Stugatz was doing earlier in the show. He was giggling. Stugatz was giggling. Fifty years old, he's like, I just polluted the show with farts yesterday.

I made it ring fart. That's what Stugatz was doing yesterday. Sorry, I missed it.

What's a giggle? Let's consider it a giggle versus a chuckle. Okay, I'm back.

You understood the difference. Two minutes? I mean, you can stay here if you want, you're- Oh, thanks. What is tee-hee-he?

That's a giggle, right?

Yeah. Hee-ee-ee.

Flawless.

Things to ponder, I guess.

Yeah. Upload it to the file.

We'll get it next week. On it.

All right. Well, this is infuriating to me what Stugatz did with the last segment where he infiltrated the ponder file in a way that makes it seem corrupt because that dumb conversation from yesterday that he polluted the show with for 20 minutes about whether or not Russell Wilson should be traded or should sign with the Dolphins for a couple of million, and they should not get the $50 million quarterback to us.

It's an upload speed thing.

It's an upload thing.

Again, it's an analog system. I didn't know that that happened yesterday, so when it was uploading today, I had no idea.

I took it Napster, how long it took to download things? It's like that, but uploading it. Correct.

I took advantage of Tony. I don't remember that. You finally did. Oh, yeah. You finally took advantage of Tony. I wish I could every day, but today I did. Okay, congratulations.

Heavy-handed.

I mean, that's what I do. I mean, subtlety is allergic. What I have in front of me, Stugatz, I have in front of me simply a set of facts, okay? Because it seems like we're headed toward just a general dangerous year in America. I mean, that seems obvious no matter where it is that you stand. You've seen the gun violence, you've seen how divided everyone is, you've seen how everyone has a different set of facts, and it doesn't... It's just all scary. They're all bad facts. Well, I'm going to give you what is all bad facts here because I'm just going to tell you facts about Donald Trump. They're just facts, and it's not going to have anything else in it. I have so much of it here. I don't know whether to hit fanfare, whether to do it quickly. But so many of these things at one point in time, Stugats, in American politics, we have gone from I am not a crook of Richard Nixon to, No, I'm a crook, and I want immunity. We've gone to that with this A set of facts, okay? Mm-hmm. Accused of sexual misconduct by at least 26 women since the 1970s.

Called for the execution of five wrongly imprisoned teenagers. Ran a real estate business that turned away Black tenants. It seems like you have a lot of these. Founded a fake university. Oversaw the worst performing casino in Atlantic City. Oversaw a foundation that US used donations for self-dealing while failing to pay victims of 9/11. Spread a conspiracy theory that the first Black President of the United States was not born in the United States. That's one page. I have five. Holy God. You're going to read them all? I mean, next week.

I'm going to save the fanfare for maybe the end. Right.

Well, I don't know how to do this. We should change the imaging, to be honest with you. I don't know. Do you have different imaging? I mean. You got this fart sound maybe from yesterday.

No, that's not a good sound.

Okay, we don't have better. We don't have better.

It's too long.

Just read them. No, I have five pages, and I don't want to do this incorrectly, but they're just facts. Yes, sir.

Paul McCartney's sound?

Do you have the Paul McCartney sound?

I'm working on it.

He works hard.

I'm getting to it. We did just drop it on him out of nowhere. We did, but I would say to you that... God, In all honesty, okay, God, I feel so stupid. I feel so naive because I really thought once upon a time, because I'm an idiot, because I'm naive, that when Trump said or heard We all heard the audio of, Yeah, just grab them by the party. I'm like, No president can get away with that. That's where it ends. I was like, An idiot. So, so wrong because every presidential shame I'd ever seen before that is scandal. Everything I'm reading to you here would be a crisis or an ending of any other president when it comes to what this position is supposed to represent in our country. Dismissed Russian interference in the 2016 election, then obstructed the investigation into it. Banned travel from seven major majority Muslim nations. Appointed an attorney general who actively wanted to take away voting rights from minorities. Spent $15,000 a month in taxpayer dollars on golf cards. Had a porn star paid $130,000 in hush money to cover up an alleged affair, called Mexicans, drug dealers, rapists, and criminals while launching his own campaign for President of the United States.

Do we have a better sound? How many more pages? Three more pages. What? Jesus. What the fuck?

I like that one.

That's a good one. Yes. We found her. That's a good one?

He specifically asked you, Don't play the one that's not. I'm doing a lot of stuff. I got to go for comedy. Come on, guys. I don't know how to- There's an F. You got to mark that, Tony.

How do I do this as comedy? I'm asking you. It's imperative in 2024 that we be able to do this as comedy. It is our calling to be able to somehow laugh around what's coming this way.

The issue is, it's going to... Okay, there's a bleep version, and we're going to have to go back and bleep it regardless. Why don't you just play the one that's bleeped? Because if not, you're causing double work.

I'm not trying to caught.

Not you, Chris. For some reason, they're talking to me about the show.

They're not helping you.

We've got total division here. You've noticed that we've arrived at Billy is now just lobbying all grenades across all the floors. He's worried about workflow. He's worried about workflow. I mean, yeah. Tony, is it falsehood?

No, he's right on this one.

How was he right on this one?

Because at the end of the day, all the Fs get bleeped, no matter if we play them or if we don't play them. They're just causing more work for me back here because I'm doing Jeremy's job and my job at the same time.

Okay, so No, J-Bear.

That's the one. That one's good.

Okay, but- It's less funny.

It's not as funny. I'll do the... What the fuck? No, Billy. Let's steal.

Keep reading them to me. I think it's poignant what you're doing right now. Three pages to go.

Poignant?

Wow.

You think it's poignant?

I mean, you're proving a point.

I have pages of shit.

Most people have done two or three wrong things in their life. This man has done five pages where then it's front and back, too. Is it? It was. One shoot we gave you was.

No, revealed it to him.

Well, hey.

Continue with your point, Cee.

Yes.

You're right, though. We are in a crazy time on Earth's existence where this stuff is happening and we're trying to find some way to laugh about it when it's such serious BS that's going on. We Which would be a bro.

It's shocking. Okay, Juju, but here's where you've been right today, okay? Because the place that I should be spending all of our time- Snoop Dogg? No, not quite Snoop Dogg. Please stop that. Please stop. What the fuck? Paul McCartney is haunting me. That sound has been bothering... Oh, now I can't even stop it because Jessica can do it on command, too. Juju knows that the place we should be spending time is neither Trump or Whoopy Cushions or Paul McCartney sounds. It's on the Boston Celtics being called Soft.

Also, Zion Williamson said he will be in a dunk contest if you all make him an All-Star. You can't say that, right? You need to play away an All-Star game. How about be an All-Star first?

I'll be honest with you. I would take that deal from the NBA. I'd make him an All-Star because who cares? He's probably an All-Star. To get him in a dunk contest, that'd be great.

Yeah, him versus I'll take it.

Volume three.

What's he dunking? Donuts?

Too far. Low blow. Too soon.

Get it?

Because it's the whole thing. Do I get it? Is what you're asking me. He's just checking. No. Billy, let me tell you. You weren't laughing. No, but yeah. No, I'm not. I will tell you why I was- Begs the question. But this is why. This is why Billy is an anarchist of an uncommon kind to God. Because the whole room there, I don't know what Tony and Jessica were doing, but because Billy was playing on the razor wire of, Let me see if I can fat shame him and just make a joke about dunking donuts, just the worst joke, and then stare it in with a giant smile on my face because he knows it's not funny, and I know it's not funny. Why'd you laugh?

You seem so sad reading that list. I wanted to cheer you up.

He just left it there for you. By making a joke about whether Zion is dunking donuts and you're going to fat shame him when...

Well, I don't do a Charles Barkley impression. In my head, it would have worked better if Charles Barkley made that joke. You know what I mean?

Tell your point, if Zion do what Snoop Dogg did and was like, I'm going to stop smoking, and then he was like, whatever he starts smoking, if Zian say, I'm going to be in a dunk contest, Donuts. My new partnership with Dunkin' Donuts. It is.

He could do it as a marketing deal.

Big announcement involving dunks.

He can be a spokesman on behalf of people who've been heavy all their life and are tired of Steven A. Smith making fun of him for being heavy just because he's skinny and he boxes and he trains and look at him.

Two good hips, by the way. I did the math.

Billy, that was evil. What you just did there was evil because you want to fat shame Zion Williamson.

I don't want to.

A Duncan Donuts Billy. I mean, I lopbed it up for him.

We're very anti-fat shaming around here, so this is- Absolutely.

Tim Miller is going to join us now, Stugatsi. I'm going to force the politics down your throat, whether you want it or not, a recovering Republican. He was the communications director for the presidential campaign of Jeb Bush. He has become one of the most outspoken Republican critics of Donald Trump, and he left the party in 2020. He hosts the Bullwork podcast, a smart and funny show that you could catch every weekday. Did you get through all five pages of facts there? No, I've got three more pages of facts here, but I know you guys don't want it. So, Tim, walk me through some of this, please, because I've got more and more facts here of things that are appalling, and they are just facts, but evidently, the people on my show don't want to hear it. Even they don't want to hear it. Stugatz is like, No, thank you. I don't- That's enough. The facts about our former president, I don't want to do it. So walk me through it. How do I make this entertaining? And how do I make it nutrients for my audience that every last fact I can put in front of people is fundamentally appalling?

Well, Pablo asked me to point out that you skipped over the key fact of Donald Trump's frequent appearance on the Dan Levitard and Stugat show. I think that that's a historical fact that you missed. I did. Okay.

Yes, that's true. It's weird, and that's a fun.

I'm just saying, if I'm guilty being a former Republican, I got to spread the love on a little bit. Look, I think we can really just focus on one. There's only one fact, and I don't understand how everyone has not gotten over it. This man sat in the White House eating pizza and watching cable news while the Capitol was stormed by people waving his flag, attacking a police officer, and trying to end our democracy. That's what he did. He spent five, six hours eating pizza and watching TV while our Capitol was attacked. Capitol is not That has not happened in any of our lifetimes. I don't know if you got the news, but that is something that hasn't happened recently. We have not had a non-peaceful transfer of power since the Civil War. He incited one and then did nothing while these people tried to hang his vice president and attack police officers. Some of them died afterwards. It is bewildering to me that my former party has nominated this man for the third time after that happened. We can go down the rest of the fact list. We can talk about how he told black women from America they should go back where they came from.

We could go all the way down the list of things that he did. But I just don't understand why that one fact is not enough for us to just move on.

All right, I'm going to do some more. Falsely claimed he won an election that he lost. Called up an election official, telling him to, quote, find more votes. Anointed a Supreme Court justice after a Republican stalled out his predecessor's nominee for almost a year. Appointed a Supreme Court justice who served as a, quote, handmade for an anti-abortion Christian Community that expels gay people for having sex. Appointed to a Supreme Court Justice who was accused of sexual assault by three women. Pardoned five of his own advisors in addition to four Blackwater security guards who were convicted of shooting an eight-year-old to death. Commuted the sentence of the former governor turned celebrity apprentice contested Rod Bluevich. I don't know how to do this for people. I mean, they know it, right? So it's not changing any minds to tell them or remind them, correct? Do they Do they know it?

Do they know it? I mean, here's the fact that I like to, that I'm not sure people know that should be pretty straightforward to people. Every national security advisor that this person, that Donald Trump had around him for four years, has spoken out and said that he's a menace and said that he shouldn't be the President again, except for the little stooches that he put in in the last three months there. But the relatively normal people, John Kelly, who's a general, Jim Mattis, HR McMaster. I think I'm probably I've seen a lot of your listeners, a lot of regular folks don't really know who these people are. They might have heard the name. But these are serious leaving military advisors, General Mattis, that all of them to a person that were around him. Everybody that led his Secretary of Defense Department, everybody that led the State Department, none of them are for him. I don't understand why random people have decided that they think that they are a better judge of whether this person he should be the commander and chief and the leader of the free world than literally every military official that he appointed to be around him.

It's not like it was random lips that he had around him. They were leading military generals that he chose They all looked at him and said, This dude is insane. We cannot have him in charge of the military again. It seems to me like that's a pretty straightforward fact. We could use, I think, more effort to promote those folks and to get their stories out there because I think a lot of them aren't that good at PR. They're military guys. They do one interview at the New York Times or New York or whatever, and they feel like they've said their piece. I think that we need to do a better job of making sure people have heard their warnings.

Why does your former party continue to fall in line?

Well, because he hates the same people they hate. I mean, look, I think that there was some legitimate grievance among the people in my former party that the leaders of the party were not listening to them. I think I'm guilty about that. I think that They didn't like the wars, frankly, that a lot of them were serving in the Iraq war. They weren't happy with globalization. That is how hollowed out a lot of communities, weren't happy with immigration, and they got a bunch of moderate chamber of commerce leaders that cared more about tax cuts and stuff. I think that Donald Trump was the person that said, No, I'm going to listen to you. I'm going to be a big middle finger to all the people you hate, the elites, the media, gay and trans people, whoever it is that you hate. I hate them, too. I think that they feel heard by him because of that, or they feel like they are heard by him. Obviously, this isn't true. He's a narcissistic egomaniac. He doesn't hear them or care about them. But because he echoes their concerns and grievances, they feel a lot more loyal to him than they have past Republican leaders.

I think that part of that was a mistake of the of the Republican leaders of the past. But I mean, at this point, we need to educate as many people as we can about the dangers of this guy because he might play lip service to caring about what they care about. But we know what he actually cares about, number one, and whoever he's for. Okay. He doesn't care about them either, actually, probably.

Okay. Enough of that, please. You're making the editing of this impossible I'm sorry.

We're not cussing. Do we not cuss? Is this a family show? No, you're fine.

It was just jarring. It was all you were doing journalism, and then you went straight to the hard... I mean, you went aggressively. And yes, we can curse. I'm glad you're I agree to curse. I can't believe, Stugant, because I'm putting these two things side by side, and I can't believe I'm saying either of them, okay? Shared highly classified information with the foreign minister of Russia. I'm going to put that over there. I'm going to put this group over here when he talks about the divisions of running on a platform of, I will hate people on your behalf the way that you hate others, the way that you hate others because there is a poison, a viral strain moving through our country where you have the following, I'm going to say is facts, told a group of minority Congresswomen to, quote, go back to their countries. Pretty sure that's where we got gone at ESPN, right there. Called Haiti El Salvador and African Nations, quote, shithole countries, called white supremacists, neo-nazis, and members of the KAKK, all of whom have made a resurgence, very fine people, called the removal of Confederate monuments, quote, so foolish and sad.

That's not concealed. That's not by accident. That is how you run on a platform of I hate others. I already gave you Mexicans or rapist criminals.

Yeah. You know, Dan, this segment, though, I think is in seriousness. I appreciate what you're doing and that you're getting these facts out there. But there's a quote from Steve Banon. I've interviewed him a few times. And he explicitly said, back in 2015 or '16, that their strategy was to flood the zone, warning, cuss is coming, was to flood the zone with shit. I do think that a lot of this stuff just starts to wash over people. This metaphor is getting gross. But when there's so much, I think back to 2012 and Mitt Romney, who I supported back then, and he had this one gaffe, you might remember, where he said that 47% of people are helpless, basically, and so we can't expect them to vote for us because they just want Daddy government to take care of them. That was essentially the quote. This quote was news for months for the whole campaign. It ruined the campaign. It was all people talked about. Donald Trump says things. If Donald Trump said like that in a speech, people wouldn't even make the news because he says so much crazy stuff. He says so much racist and hateful stuff.

I do think in some ways that that has helped him because people just start to tune a lot of this stuff out.

Forgive me, Tim, because Billy fell out laughing because, and I'm assuming I was trying to connect with him while you were talking, because he can one up you. Howard Dean had a presidential campaign wrecked because the wrong sound of enthusiasm came out of his mouth. It wasn't even It wasn't even a word. It was. See, that's how Howard Dean did it right there. That correct? That was presidential scandal once upon a time.

Can't have a guy screaming, bro. Can't have a guy screaming in the White House.

That's not presidential enough right there. That's what ended that campaign, correct? People didn't trust a man who would be that out of control.

Unhinged.

No, we needed somebody sober like John Kerry. It was a smart move by the Democrats. We needed somebody very appealing like John Kerry instead.

Tim, get out of here. Nobody wants politics with their sports. You've ruined it all, but thank you for- We invited them all. Yes, but for conjuring the image with a jarring note there of Donald Trump.

Bye, you all. Thanks for having me. Go, tigers.

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Don Lebatard. I feel like we need to normalize saying these scientific terms for organs on the air.

A penis?

Yes.

You know what? If someone takes a foul ball to the penis, we should just say, he took a foul ball to the penis.

Stugatz. That free kick hit him right in the caca doodle-do.

This is the Dan Levatard Show with the Stugatz.

This is how I know Hollywood has gotten back to work. It was so nice to have him all the time, have all of his talents during the pandemic, just bored out of his mind, helping our show whenever he could. But now he's gotten back to writing giant television shows and doing important things. And writing my book. And helping you write your book. Yes, I'll get to that in a second with Mike Scher, but I'm happy to see his face. And before we go any further, though, the book or anything else, I want to talk about what happened to Boston last night. And I want to talk specifically about why it is that you and Mike Ryan and Jeremy are having these crazed arguments already when you need to pace yourself. We've got two months before any of this really makes you crazy. Will you slow down, please?

First of all, I'm made crazy in October by the NBA. That's the difference between me and everyone who works at your show. I actually watch the NBA before the playoffs. Second of all, what happened last night was a fluke. The Celtics had a 20-point lead in Cleveland. Some dude that no one's ever heard of hit 10 straight shots in the fourth quarter. There is one thing that bears watching. Tom Haberstro's whole column on his sub stack is about this today, and a lot of people are talking about it. Jason Tatum is one of the worst clutch shooters in the NBA, not He's the fourth best clutch shooter on the Celtics. He has this one vestige of his Kobe obsession left. It's been driven out of him except for this one thing, which is that he still thinks that the best shot that the team has with two minutes left in a three-point game is for him to slowly dribble the ball off the court, wait until there's four seconds left on the shot clock, and then take an absurd 20-foot fade away jumper. It's bizarre, and it is the reason they lost last night. They are unstoppable, those five, when they play the team basketball that they've been playing all year.

For some reason, in clutch time, he still has this... Now, it's not bad that he has the mentality of like, I'm the guy. I think that's what the team needed to take a next step, but it's really bad, and I don't like it, and it scares me a little bit. It's the only thing about the team that scares me.

It's so interesting, sure, because I can't believe that this is an actual conversation now, because we're going to really do this. I remember people hitting LeBron with mentally frail, and then he goes off for 46 in game 6 in Boston. But when the numbers bear some of this out, when he He was one for nine in the fourth quarter yesterday, and when you've come on this show and said, No, that team needed Marcus Smart to lead it because Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum need someone to lead them. Now, what's just obvious to everyone, wait a minute. If Porzengus is healthy and Drew holiday isn't a waterlogged corp like Amine said he is. That four is better than anybody else in the NBA has is totally overwhelming. But the one weakness you're scared of is that headed toward Jimmy Butler, your guy's not mentally He's not mentally strong enough. I can't believe you're articulating that.

No, I'm not saying he's not mentally strong enough. In fact, I'm saying the opposite. I'm saying he's overconfident in moments when he shouldn't be. And need I remind everyone in that studio, most specifically the the guy sitting to your left, that the reason Jordan won titles is because he drove and attracted double teams and then kicked it to John Paxon or kicked it to Steve Kerr.

The guys who could shoot, yes.

Yes, that's right. I think Tateam is at the level right now where he's like, I'm Jordan, I'm Kobe, but he hasn't reached the next level above that, which is when you're Jordan or Kobe, the thing that you do is draw all the attention and then kick it to somebody who's open. How much are we Go ahead. How much do we blame Missoula for that is what I'm saying. At some point, someone's got to save Tateam from himself. Well, this was the problem I deeply believe, and I talked about this with Charlotte and Amin and Dan in LA months ago. I believe that the problem with the old version of this team was that Marcus Smart was the big brother, and that until the big brother left, the little brothers weren't ever going to step up and take over the team. I think I've been proven mostly correct in that regard. But the next I love the next thing that the big brother has to do now that Tatum is that guy is understand that the offense functions best when he is a facilitator. And that guy, again, I watch the NBA, you guys don't, so you have no way of knowing this.

But that guy has become an incredible passer. He's very fair. It's very fair. Tatum has become an incredible passer. He's a really, really good facilitator of the offense. And so all it has to happen is for someone to tap him on the shoulder and say, Hey, man, late in the game, let's just run our offense. Let's do the thing that we do for the rest of the game, which is find the open shooter.

Right. Or either drive, at least do not settle for a 35-foot fade away with this little man guard you. At least, bare minimum, drive to the paint. So like you said, when the defense collapses, who? Oh, is that Derek White? I see over there? Or is that Chris Stapp? Either way, I'm passing.

Mike, if I may, real quick. I know this Celtics team does not I have depth, and I know we can make fun of the regular season. They have big Al. But do I have it wrong when I say, and you've watched a lifetime of Celtics basketball, that this team feels like it's as good or better in comparison to the league than the one you most recently had that won the Championship, which was pierce and Garnett and Ray Allen. This team, what you're saying is, I don't trust my team, but I'm guessing the next step on this is, and I also think it's the best team I've seen this century from the Celtics.

Listen, the difference between this year and last year is I do trust the team. I did not trust the team last year because Marcus Smart thought that the best shot that you could take late in a close game was him launching a three, and he was the worst three-point shooter on the floor. That is gone now. Now, Drew holiday shoots 65% from the corner. It's insane. Derek White and Porzingis are both incredible shooters in clutch time. Jalen Brown is a good shooter in clutch time for all the crap he gets. So it's not that I don't trust the team. I do trust the team. I get scared in this one very specific situation, and I think that's an easily correctable situation, and I believe that they will correct it before the playoffs.

Easily correctable?

Yeah. I do. I think because, look, if you can get Michael Jordan to pass the ball in late in the fourth quarter of a finals game, you can get Jason Tatum to do that. Just show him the tape of John Paxton hitting the three and everything will be fine.

But Mike, You've followed the last 10 years. We'll show him a tape of holiday from the corner. I mean. Okay. But you guys do this. But what's funny about Stugats is he roars with laughter right now. Stugats spent 10 years in the very comfortable lane of, Hey, LeBron James might be the second best player of all time. All I'm going to do is criticize him for passing at the end and saying he's a choke artist. Now you're telling me Jason Tatum has to prove something else, which is he's got to learn, no, I need to shoot less and be the man as we pressure him to be the MVP of the league and the leader and the guy who's the top dog on the Celtics as we argue every day about his joke, it's the best player in the League, and he says he's the face of the League. He's going to have a pressure to not pass it now that's going to come straight from your laughing voice, Dugas. But damn, when you're all those things, and this is what Mike is saying, when you're all those things, you get the attention, especially at the end of big playoff games.

Mike is saying, if you're getting that attention, give it to someone else who can shoot. I know, but you criticized LeBron James for seven years for not having a killer instinct because you would pass in those situations. That was then. This is now. That's why he wasn't as good as Jordan. Are you forgetting this? No, I remember. This is the seat I sit in. It's a great one.

Somebody should at least tell Jason Tatum that we would love a shot from you within the paint in those situations. Get to the rack. Right. Stop trying to be Kobe. Stop trying to have that moment, brother. We need a W only.

Finally, to be fair to Tatum, he was fouled three times yesterday on that final play. Look, I'm not- No, he kicked out.

Last year- No, he kicked out. He caused the contact with his leg. He fouled before that.

We can't talk about that though, be it, brother.

We lost a 22-point lead in the fourth quarter.

No, it was a disaster. Look, it was a disaster game. Would you rather be the Celtics right now or any other team in the league?

I would always rather be the Celtics. I already know who you're talking to.

Oh, no, but you say that, and yet you... Wait a minute, though. Wait a minute. You'd rather be the Celtic. I agree. I would agree with that. Everyone would agree with that. But He never wouldn't. You know he is well, but wait a minute. Mike sure is a tortured emotional fan. He has warned you for years. He's been more right than anyone in the media about what was going to happen in that sport and was yelling it from mountaintops for months. He was saying, My Celtics are going to break my heart. I'm terrified of the heat. Now this team is better. They do the controversial hard thing. Marcus Smart, we know you're a fan favorite. Get out of here. They get You guys, Porzenges and holiday, who make them appreciably better, and yet you still fear the heat. So you can't tell me that you want to be the Celtics more than everyone else, but you have a fear.

But headed into yesterday that Celtics were 364 and 0 when leading by 20 plus points in the fourth quarter dating back to '97, '98. Yesterday, it was just a blip on the radar.

That's correct. Also, headed into yesterday, we had a tangent to yesterday. We beat the brakes off of the Warriors, and they tried Jalen Brown for some reason, leaving him wide open. That was amazing. Right. I think Jalen Brown's confidence is finally at the moment. Well, give him a chance at the end of the game or two. Something has to change about the late game strategy from Joe Missoula.

Did you happen to see the text that I sent to Metta O'Lark employee, Matt Sullivan, about the next four heat games? Have you seen this yet?

Yes. You predicted, we're doing this, you're going to become Cornheiser and Will Bond, the I told you so. You've predicted all of these games correctly. He was right. The only one that was right. All right. Well, he- He told Sullivan. He privately texted Sullivan. Yes, only Sullivan. Almost the exact scores by which the heat would win the next four games and what would happen. He has been a truth teller. But when you mention the thing about Jalen Brown, I saw Draymond Green said this. He says, We're 3-0 on a road trip. We were going to let Jalen Brown shoot three pointers because he shoots them at 34%. But not if you don't guard him. If you don't guard him, he shoots them at 40%. But does anyone think that playoffs are going to have with people not being guarded out there? Like, What are we talking about on what it takes to beat the Celtics when you're sitting here saying to us, the only way they beat themselves is with themselves. That is if Tatum can't figure this part out.

Yeah, obviously, they're not going to let anyone be unguarded. No one's going to let anyone be unguarded at the three-point line. But what does that matter? Look, it's not that I don't have fears. Of course, I have fears. I live every day of my life with crippling anxiety about the sports teams that I root for. But this is not last year. The team is Their offense is different than it was before. They have more weapons than they had before. The Nuggets lost last night to Phoenix. The reason that there's so much highlighting of a game last night for the Celtics is because everyone's looking at the Celtics. Why isn't everyone talking about how Jokić didn't come up big last night in overtime? It's because the Nuggets aren't as good as the Celtics this year. That doesn't mean the Celtics... You can talk about it right now. It doesn't floor's yours. It doesn't mean the Celtics don't have problems. It just means that the whole spotlight is on the Celtics because they're the first team in NBA history to win 350-point games, so everyone's looking at them. That's just the deal. I think that the team has to own it and understand that they're the best team, that they should win the title, and let the chips fall where they may.

Right. With great power comes with great responsibility. So you are definitely right. I think that you are right as well with the Suns last night because they collapsed. They gave an epic comeback and in for the Nuggets. But then the overtime, Joker was nowhere to be found. So you're right. More support to Mike Sure. Everybody lays in.

He's right about everything. More support to Mike Sure. He doesn't have quite enough support. All right, Mike, sure. I have for you more questions, but I don't know whether you had something prepared or not. Do we have a stat of the day? Do we have February observations? Are you just joining us because you wanted to talk about last night's Celtics debacle?

I am a professional, and I show up prepared, and I always have a stat of the day. You never have to ask me if I have a stat of the day. I'm not Greg Cody. I come with the work that I was assigned to do.

Okay, thank you. No matter how busy he is, it is fairly amazing. Start of the day, start of the day. Oh, my God. All right. This is start of the day. Start of the day, start of the day. This is start of the day. Start of the day, start of the day. It is the start of the day. Start of the day, start of the day. It is the start of the day. Mike, sure. I want to tease this with anticipation because we don't have enough time here for you to have. I want this to have the artistic flourish it deserves. You work hard in a very busy schedule to create content for Metalark Media, and I don't want to give it 32 seconds. It's been a while since we had a stat of the day. How impressed are you by your stat of the day? Do you really like it this week?

You say you don't want me to give you the stat of the day after that long musical intro?

No. I want it as the postgame show because we're out of time. The rare imaging with no payoff. Chris Cody is in charge, and he's just been playing Paul McCartney sounds a bunch.

All right. I can come back for postgame. All right.

Stay there. He He has not managed the clock well because he's been very busy playing Paul McCartney sounds.