The Bill Simmons Podcast
Rory’s Special Win, Beware of the Clips, NBA Playoff Gut Reactions, and the Luka Trade Part 93 With Ryen Russillo
Mon, 14 Apr 2025
The Ringer’s Bill Simmons is joined by Ryen Russillo right after Rory McIlroy’s wild win at the Masters to discuss Rory finally getting the monkey off his back and the ridiculous pressure that comes with the sport of golf (2:22). Next, they break down the final day of the NBA regular season, discussing whether they believe in the Clippers, the Warriors' path, a full look at the playoff matchups in the East and West, and maybe a surprising lean on the MVP race (31:35). Host: Bill Simmons Guest: Ryen Russillo Producers: Steve Ceruti, Ronak Nair, Jonathan Frias, and Jessie Lopez The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. #ULTRACourtside could get you closer to the game! michelobultra.com/courtside ENJOY RESPONSIBLY ©2025 ANHEUSER-BUSCH, MICHELOB ULTRA® LIGHT BEER, ST. LOUIS, MO. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What made Rory McIlroy's Masters win so emotional?
If you could come speak, Bill, at our Zubach thing.
Is there a Zubach festival?
We have a medal for you.
There was a Ben Simmons stretch where the Warriors were like, you know what? Fuck this. We're going zone. Ben Simmons, knock yourself out at the foul line. Try to make some plays. And it was brutal. Like, legit brutal. And then he finally made one pass and got an assist. But I don't know if that's sustainable for them in the playoffs, any Ben Simmons minutes. Now, they didn't have Batum today.
And I think Batum is really important for them. And actually, they can... as crazy as it sounds, against the right team, even go super small with him and maybe not play Ben Simmons at all. But I just think the way Kawhi's playing, you mentioned that, was he 24-7 since the All-Star break and getting shots, getting to his spots. Defensively, he's starting to look
Not 100% like San Antonio Kawhi, but he's like, you know, it's reminiscent.
He can turn it on. I don't know that it's ever going to be that again, so I think you're being totally fair about that because you're just talking about a level of intensity. Maybe they don't even want him to play that intensely, but you're right on the Simmons thing. I'm glad you brought up Batum not being available because I was thinking the exact same thing. They go zone.
It was kind of working, except they weren't corralling the basketball, so they're giving up offensive rebounds, which is one of the problems of the zone anyway, especially if you're small. And Simmons just... Doesn't really... I mean, this isn't breaking news, but... He's not playable. When he has to think about what he's doing, it's over. So he was good enough on tapping a couple balls out.
He did have that one assist, but he had two other passes on the right side. where he tried to throw like a no look at one point. Right. And you're just going like, what are you doing right now?
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Chapter 2: How do we assess the Clippers' chances in the playoffs?
It's the worst ever.
No, I did it again this year. I hate myself for it. It's a nightmare. Because even this game with the Clippers and Golden State, it's the first time everybody was ready to go. Kawhi and some of the other matchups hasn't even played against any of these teams. Um, because he came back so much later and sometimes the schedule works out.
It's like, all right, they've already played each other four times, but the fourth game was in December. So then you go, okay, what does that even mean as you get ready for the playoffs here? But that Houston game, I'm glad you brought up because I was thinking, all right, is there a good part of this? Like I, I would think the Warriors would rather play the Lakers, uh,
Just because there's not a size thing that's looming like Zubach. Granted, he wasn't going to be in the matchup in the first round.
Well, in this case, it would be Shingun. Like, what do we do? Do we keep Looney out? Because did you notice in that Cooper game, the Warriors were playing really well with about four minutes left and Draymond wasn't out there. And it was Looney because they needed him for Zubats. And Draymond was on the bench. And the Warriors, the ball was moving. They looked good.
And it got to the point where I was like, I wonder if they're going to bring Draymond in. And then obviously they went to commercial, came back, they brought him in. But, you know, when he's not out there sometimes, I'm not saying they're better without him, but there's lineups without him that I kind of like. especially when Podzemski and Butler are flying around.
I think Moody, Moody's turned into a guy that I really feel like is a guy now. Like defensively, he's really, really high level. Don't you think?
Absolutely. And he deserves a ton of credit for turning himself into this. But, I mean, he had plays where he stripped Norm just one-on-one at the top of it as they were trying to get another offense. He had the block on the left side.
And it's just Moody's definitely, you're right, like he's turned himself into somebody that Kirk can probably trust depending on what the perimeter matchups are there. But I think that Houston win in Golden State going back not that long ago, just a few days ago, it was definitely a week ago. Yeah, he's one of 10.
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