The Bill Simmons Podcast
Denver Survives! Suddenly Dramatic Playoff Weekend Alert With Rob Mahoney
Fri, 16 May 2025
The Ringer’s Bill Simmons is joined by Rob Mahoney to react to Thunder-Nuggets Game 6 and preview a must-win Game 7 on Sunday (2:06). Then, they discuss whether or not the Celtics have a chance to take Game 6 against the Knicks (35:12). Finally, they talk about the Timberwolves and their chances in the WCF (51:39). Host: Bill Simmons Guest: Rob Mahoney Producers: Chia Hao Tat and Eduardo Ocampo This episode is brought to you by Degree Deodorant. Grab the original Cool Rush at Walmart or Target today. 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
Chapter 1: What happened in the Nuggets vs Thunder Game 6 and what can we expect for Game 7?
We do.
We get OKC versus Denver, which has been an absolutely awesome, awesome series. I felt myself getting sad in the first half when OKC started to pull away. And I was like, oh, man, what a journey this has been with Jokic with this weird team and his teammates that are either hurt or they don't show up. Then they're good again. Then they're not good. And he's the one constant.
And I guess this is how it's going to end. And then it flips. It's a borderline Strother game, but not really. There's some Murray in there. There's Jokic. There are some heroes. Russell Westbrook, not a hero.
No, no. I think we can give Julian Strother credit for this one as the Julian Strother game.
You're going Strothergate? Because yesterday was clearly the Luke Cornette game.
Yeah, maybe not quite that extreme. But the desperation for Denver... And we saw this in Game 5. They just needed somebody who could hit a couple of shots. And they would have probably pulled out that game or at least made it even more competitive. Him coming up with basically a solo run in the most competitive, tensest part of this game just cannot be overstated, the importance of that.
And as you're saying, Russell Westbrook did have the kind of performance where... He almost lost this game. He played poorly enough for extended stretches that it legitimately swung the momentum of it. And if Denver had to stretch his minutes or his importance even more because Julian Strother wasn't playing well enough, because Michael Porter Jr.
didn't hit a couple shots, we could be having a very different mood right now for this pod.
Well, it's funny. Strother was basically the bizarro Westbrook. Westbrook in the first half felt like he swung the game. At one point I looked, he'd played, this is in the second half, he'd played seven minutes, he was minus 14 and it felt worse. Strother came in and it felt like he played seven minutes and he was like plus 84. But, so it all balanced out. But, this is the problem with Denver.
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Chapter 2: What are the key player performances and challenges for the Nuggets?
I watch a lot of Nuggets. And Westbrook, there can be like he's chest out, maniac, screaming to the crowd, Westbrook. Or he can be, I'm in my own head, Westbrook, which we've seen at a lot of different end of the seasons. I don't think he's looked the same the last two games. I'm not even talking about how he's playing. And I really wonder if that Ramona Shelburne story in ESPN...
Was a bad thing for him.
Interesting.
Because I just, he's looked the last two games. As you know, I'm the body language doctor. I graduated 1998. Do you have to like recertify your boards or something? No, I just got the diploma. I just put it up. It's over there. You're done. Yeah, it's over there.
I just think you should keep up with the most recent research on these subjects. You should have to go to a conference or something.
Yeah, maybe I should go take a psychology seminar every once in a while. His body language the last two games felt a little last year on the LeBron Lakers-ish to me. Uh-oh. Or Clippers playoff-ish, just a little off the rails and not... I thought one of the cool things about, especially in the Clippers series...
Was he really, he really brought energy and charisma and personality and passion and seemed like was the teammates were in. You have these stories where you have unnamed teammates taking shots at you. And I don't know, like he's a human being. Like if you read that or hear about that, all of a sudden you have eyeballs in the back of your head.
But I thought it was, I just think there's a strange vibe to him. I don't know if the playing in OKC, I think that part's also weird where he's, you know, the most popular OKC player ever. He leaves, they immediately replace him with a more popular player and a better team.
And, you know, it seems like he's got, even in the first couple of games of the series, I felt like he was really taking that personally. Now he feels more like Clippers series last year, train wreck Russ. than additive Russ.
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