The Bill Simmons Podcast
The Buddy Hield Game, Indy’s Dangerous, a Clips Collapse, and “Whaddya Do” Teams With Ryen Russillo
Mon, 05 May 2025
The Ringer’s Bill Simmons is joined by Ryen Russillo to react to all the NBA playoff games over the weekend and more (2:03)! Host: Bill Simmons Guest: Ryen Russillo Producers: Chia Hao Tat and Eduardo Ocampo #ULTRACourtside could get you closer to the game! michelobultra.com/courtside 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
Chapter 1: What happened during the Buddy Hield game?
Everybody shifted to the right side, and then Buddy's fine. And then there's a Draymond drive on the left side where they run Steph through everything. Everybody, it's like a wave of people just going to his side. So by him just being active, because I think there's a lot of stars in those spots, especially a little bit older, are just so frustrated. They're not going to cut.
You know, they're, they're probably going to put up a few more shots just to say, at least I took a few. And he, he really wouldn't even take the bad shots if he felt like it wasn't a good look.
So you're coming around. I thought that was, you're on my side now. I feel like I won you over. I thought that was a good Steph game. I was ready to zag the whole time, even in halftime when he had three points. I was like, you know what? I'm going to figure out how to do this.
I guess I don't feel like you should have to defend the guy anymore at 37 years old, and I'm not picking them in the next round. So this has been kind of nice. Oh, you're getting off? Oh, yeah. Yeah.
I don't think they're going to be. Want me to help you with your bags as you get off the bandwagon? It's like 1923. You're just getting off the train. When I asked you, did you pick or did you just give me the odds? I'll give you a thought in a second. Can we talk about Steve Kerr for a second? Because I thought he coached an awesome game today. What did you like? I rarely do this.
because this is the old Hubie Brown thing about Hubie Brown loved every time out. I thought Kerr called like three or four of the best timeouts of the playoffs. He felt, and I only, we've talked about this in the past. There's only a couple coaches that really understand how to protect the lead where it's like, all right, we are up between eight and 15 points for an hour here.
I can't let them get a run. I can't let the crowd get into it. I feel something bad happening timeout right now. And he did it like every time I felt like, oh man, I think the wheels are about to come off. He was just like, I've had enough. He had that one play when they went zone in the fourth quarter and Van Gundy called it out.
And he was like, he needs to get Jimmy Butler back in the game to break this zone. And there was like 10 seconds up in the shot clock. And Kurt's like, timeout. I don't like the position we're about to have. Let me preempt this. To not know what you're getting from any of your bench guys. Think about the bench. It was, other than Looney, just a complete no-show from everybody.
He knows he has to play Butler and Curry big minutes. He obviously talked about that, but I think they went 44 and 45 for minutes. And it's like, how can I... Takes Curry out like a minute before the end of the quarter just to kind of buy him that little break. I just thought he did a really good job.
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Chapter 2: How did Steph Curry perform in the playoffs?
I think he could have attacked even more if he wanted to today. Um,
And I'm by the way, he had 22 and 13 and I think he leads the league for me. And when I watch a Pacers game, I'm always like, just go buy him. Just go buy him. You find yourself saying that with him constantly. Just go buy him.
You know, a lot of open looks, um, Because you could tell when Cleveland cranked up its intensity and Atkinson did the in-game interview, he was almost sitting there like a fan going, this is awesome, isn't it? But he also felt better because Mitchell was just driving at will, which I think there's going to be a lot of that in there. Like Miles Turner being pulled away is a problem.
They don't have any depth behind that against the two bigs for Cleveland, although Atkinson did separate those guys the way he normally would. But I was really, really impressed with the Pacers. And I don't know if it's just the three-point shooting. I don't know if it's that even though the Pacers are better than Milwaukee, this might have been a wake-up call for the Cavs.
That Heat series was about as garbage a series as you're ever going to see in the playoffs. Do you know that was the highest point differential ever in a four-game sweep? Really? That was the biggest point differential four-game sweep in NBA history. That's how disgusting that first-round series was against Miami. So you've got to wonder if Cleveland had a moment where like, holy shit.
Yeah, but you know what, though? We both watched the whole game. I thought Cleveland played hard. The Pacers came out I've seen them do that where they, it, it, they just put you on your heels. They turn to attract me and you get excited because it's the first game of the series. Like, all right, let's run, let's go. And it's like, that's what exactly what they want you to do.
Cavs tried to start slowing it down. Mitchell took over. And if you're the Cavs, I think you would take solace watching the tape. The Pacers made some dumb shots. Like, what was that one, Nembhard? He made like a 29-footer at one point. To the right side, yeah. Then he made another one. Then Toppin made a couple. And it was just like, every time they needed a dumb shot to go, and it did.
But I thought Halliburton was the... I thought he controlled the game offensively. Especially some of the transition stuff, which I think if you're Cleveland, when you have guys out there like, you know, Wade... And what's it? Strews. Like I thought athletically they were kind of trying to make the Cavs pay for, are you going to put those shooters out? We're going to go, go, go on you.
And the other thing that was interesting to me was Halliburton attacking Allen. You know, I think it's a really good defensive center, but he was like, come on out here. Let me do my yo-yo thing with you. And he got him a few times.
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Chapter 6: What are the key takeaways from the game seven weekend?
you know even if you're not even shooting it that well that many more attempts it's just it's just hard to beat a team that has that many more opportunities and that wasn't even the case even though it felt like they were beating them up i also felt like golden state really battled around the paint on those balls where it's like oh man they're deep again they've got a seal they've got all these bodies they're just taller and bigger than them everywhere but they were fighting like crazy it was like the clippers yesterday same thing like just so much fight on a
Bad analogy. Oh, no, it was the opposite of the Clippers. My bad. I got my wire screwed up. It was the complete opposite of the Clippers. My bad. Not a lot of fight there. Not a lot of fighting over screens, protecting the rim, grabbing rebounds. This is best of nine, right? Game eight. We got to save Harden. Let's rest these dudes. So Buddy healed.
How many career playoff games do you think he's had? Counting the seven in the series.
11.
All right.
He's played 11 games in his career. This was easily the best one. So wait, so that's just the series last year with the Sixers where he didn't want to shoot?
Yeah. Yeah, that's it. And I was like, wow, he really replicated the Klay Thompson game. And then I was like, I got to make sure I can't remember the Klay stats from that game. 41 points, 11 for 18 from three. Clay Thompson in 2016. So yeah, Clay, you're safe. You're way over here, buddy. But I mean, to get that out of him. And I've always kind of liked Buddy Heald.
It's always been one of those, you're always, you know, certain guys in the NBA you're glass half full with. We're like, ah, it's the right situation. I can really see him thriving. And it's just never really... happened in a sustained way for a good team. Then it's, you think, is he just a good stats, bad team guy? And then he just became a bad stats, mediocre team guy.
And they sign him in the offseason, and he has a really good first four weeks with them. It's like, oh, man, he might be able to be quiet. And then halfway through the year, he's not playing anymore. And then they get this out of him, and they save him. And now they live to fight another day. The Minnesota matchup seems pretty intimidating after what we just watched.
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