The Bill Simmons Podcast
Celts-Knicks, the Sleeper Lakers, and 12 NBA Stories to Watch With Ryen Russillo
Mon, 24 Feb 2025
NBA Sundays are back! The Ringer's Bill Simmons is joined by Ryen Russillo to discuss the Celtics' 118-105 win over the Knicks (3:45), before hitting the biggest NBA subplots for the remaining regular season, including: the massively intriguing Lakers, the late-bloomer Warriors (27:49), the perplexing Timberwolves, the despondent Suns, and the outwardly miserable 76ers (0:00). Then, they close the show with some rapid-fire topics, including searching for Ja Morant, the wild-card Pistons, All-NBA battles, "Tank-a-Palooza" starting to heat up, and more (1:31:46)! Host: Bill Simmons Guest: Ryen Russillo Producers: Kyle Crichton and Chia Hao Tat This episode is sponsored by State Farm®. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.® The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
What are the key takeaways from the Celtics vs. Knicks game?
I don't know. I want to watch it for a couple weeks. Like Butler, he's averaging almost 10 free throws a game for Golden State. As we're taping this, they're beating Dallas by... 20, and he's already 6 for 6. He's plus 24 in the game, but watching the way he's playing with these guys, it's weird.
It reminded me of when Moss got to the 07 Pats and was just so delighted to be in a real offense with Brady, and he was just like... skipping around. Right. And just so happy and, uh, had so much space and knew that if he was going to do whatever the ball was going to be there and Butler watching the space that he has, but also the connection he has with Draymond, I wasn't prepared for.
I wish we were watching the game right now. Um, but the, the high IQ thing he has with Draymond, I think has been fun to watch where he's posting up and Draymond's at the top. They're playing this weird two man game, but everybody's so scared of the Curry shooting. Um, I'm not counting this team out.
It reminds me a bit of when Brian Heideck was cast as the pool guy in Melrose Place, and he was like, look, I'm just happy to be here.
Who is it? Brian who?
Heideck. Who's that? Brian Heideck? Yeah, he played the pool guy in Melrose Place. It just reminds me a lot of that.
Pool guy in Melrose Place? I feel like you're making this up.
Google it. Right. Hi, Nick.
So is there anybody else you would put on the late bloomer list?
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