The Bill Simmons Podcast
SGA vs. Jokic, Celts-Lakers, and the State of NBA Media With Ryen Russillo and Bryan Curtis
Mon, 10 Mar 2025
The Ringer's Bill Simmons is joined by Ryen Russillo to discuss the Thunder's 127-103 win over the Nuggets on Sunday, OKC's improvement from last season, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's incredible statistical season (2:06), Saturday's big Lakers-Celtics showdown, LeBron's late-game injury, Al Horford's impressive defensive performance, a solidified first-team All-NBA, and second- and third-team arguments (29:45). Then, Bryan Curtis joins Bill and Ryen to talk about 2025 NBA media discourse, Stephen A. Smith vs. LeBron, Charles Barkley's ESPN comments, cancelling 'Around the Horn', and the future of ESPN (53:54). Finally, they discuss Bob Cousy, who is featured prominently in Episode 1 of HBO's 'Celtics City' documentary, greatest NBA broadcasters, the skyrocketing NFL salary cap, and more (01:38:05). Host: Bill Simmons Guests: Ryen Russillo and Bryan Curtis Producers: Kyle Cricton and Chia Hao Tat Order Michelob ULTRA today, available on Doordash! ENJOY RESPONSIBLY © 2025 ANHEUSER-BUSCH, MICHELOB ULTRA® LIGHT BEER, ST. LOUIS, MO. 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
How did OKC beat the Denver Nuggets?
I went to, as we talked about last week, a bunch of Lakers games in a pretty quick amount of time.
I know, you're like the new Diane Cannon.
I know. It's you, Diane Cannon, and Lou Adler. Just go to the Laker games. One day. One day, Bill. But watching LeBron's shot making, this is not why you're listening to the pod. Like, here's a little say that LeBron's good at basketball. But the shot making in the angle stuff and these fadeaways that he's incorporated, where you expect it to go in every single time.
Like, I can't believe how often he's making these shots, the takeoff and the starting point of it. Like, that's going to go in? Yeah. So, you know, whether we're talking all NBA stuff and then you look at like the points per possession and what he's done and his life should be easier.
His life should be easier now with Luca, where I think, you know, there's a version of it going back to peak Miami LeBron. where you just never wanted the ball out of his hands, even though Wade is an incredible player and what he would offer in here. I think the Luka part of it makes his life a little bit easier.
So I don't put a ton of stock in last night's game because I think the way it was set up, you would expect Boston was going to win that one. Well, so they dialed up the minutes. I mean, they went for it.
Tatum didn't come out for the first 19 minutes of the game. He played 45 last night. He just played all the way through. Yeah, he went all the way through. They took him out for like a minute in the second quarter. I was like, Jesus. I think they really wanted it because the Lakers kicked their ass. It was interesting, though. My dad, after the game, because I FaceTimed him this morning.
We were breaking it down. And he was like, I thought they were scarier with Davis. Which I thought was a great zag by him. I don't know if he's eligible now to come on first take and just like zag hard against Perk and SAS. But he was just like, I thought that team was really hard for us to play because how big and how physical they were.
And now it's like, you know, and he's made the same point that I was thinking watching the game and the announcers talked about too. Like Jalen loves playing against Luka for some reason. I don't know what it is. But Luka brings out the best out of Jalen. And Jalen really feels like he goes into these Luka games.
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