The Bill Simmons Podcast
The Luke Kornet Game and Tatum’s Road Back With David Jacoby. Plus, WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert
Thu, 15 May 2025
The Ringer’s Bill Simmons is joined by David Jacoby to react to the Celtics taking Game 5 against the Knicks and Jayson Tatum’s injury (3:42). Then, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert joins to discuss where the league is, Caitlin Clark, and much more (01:09:16). Host: Bill Simmons Guests: David Jacoby and Cathy Engelbert Producers: Chia Hao Tat and Eduardo Ocampo Try Loom today, visit loom.com to get started 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: Who are the guests on this episode and what will be discussed?
ex Nick, by the way, Westchester, Nick legend, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yes. There's, I remember hearing from Nick face be like, there's this guy in Westchester. He's like seven feet tall. He hits threes and he's got ball skills.
I was like, it used to be his gimmick was the three point shooting. Yeah.
He doesn't even shoot threes now. Yeah. But no, um, I do think the Knicks will eventually win the series, but I had a feeling they would lose this one. And now it just... I don't feel good about anything right now. Because now it's just like, you have to win Game 7. My Knicks group chat... Game 6, you're right.
My Knicks group chat has gone from we need to trade for Giannis right around Game 3 to who do you think would be a better matchup in the finals, the Thunder or the Wolves, to... Must win game six in the garden.
There was no, no, like four hours there of, are you guys worried about the Pacers at all? And then people reassuring each other. No, no, we're not worried about them at all.
No, none of that.
Okay. Cause the Pacers are really good.
Oh, the Pacers. Yes. The Pacers are really good. And also the, you know, I revisited the Pacers Knicks series from last season and And I had to like sort of freshen up on it because I remember game seven was such a big deal and everyone was hurt and OG tried to play. It's just like Brunson's hurt and no one was there.
But like game one and game two, kind of like this series that came down to the end. And remember Carlisle got kicked out of a game. I forgot about that. And he's like small market teams deserve fouls too. There's some chippiness. There was some real like, stuff there. It was a good series.
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Chapter 2: What happened in Celtics-Knicks Game 5 and how did the Luke Kornet game impact the series?
They did. It was a good Celtics game. I mean, we'll talk about the basketball stuff in a second, but I... I do want to say, I heard that Chalamet listens to the podcast, and I'm very excited about that. I'm excited that he's supporting the Knicks. Bringing the Kardashian element wasn't my favorite thing to happen in Game 4. Right. Like, I'm just going to say, like,
I love that you're here, Timothy Chalamet. I love your support of the Knicks. When he went to road games and sat next to Stiller behind the Pistons bench in Detroit, I was like, all right, I love this. You know, and the game day thing that he did.
Yeah, real fan acting like a real fan.
Yes, I was like, I love this. But it was when you bring a girlfriend that's fine, but your girlfriend's sister, and then it becomes about them and their outfits, and you know it's going to sort of like make the press. I didn't love the Kardashian element that we saw there.
You remember once upon a time, our guy Ben Affleck, 03 range, Red Sox had him win a World Series in over a decade. And he brought J-Lo, Yankee fan, grew up in the Bronx, literally called Jenny from the Bronx and brought her into the good Red Sox seats for Red Sox Yankees. And it was like... I'm glad you're here, Tim.
It's your buddy that has a girlfriend who golfs. You know what I mean? It's like, I'm so excited that your girlfriend golfs. I'm excited that she's going to be joining us, but it's going to change the vibe. That's sort of how I felt about the Kardashians being at the Knicks game.
We're not going to have our buddy to have nine beers and he's throwing up behind the tent pole and asking the caddy master for darts. Afterwards, we're going straight home. Yeah.
It's just like, all right. Yeah. I didn't love the Kardashian of it, but I will say this is... The Celtics made appropriate adjustments and played good basketball tonight. And I love the way that they attacked the paint and just sort of like put the pressure on the Knicks. They did.
Well, I kept, you know, from the moment Tatum's tragic injury happened when we found out the results. And then I got some people in my life who are like, is there a Ewing theory possibilities here? And just for the record... First of all, I love Jason Tatum. Second of all, I'm not eligible because they won the title with him last year.
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Chapter 3: How did Jason Tatum's injury affect the Celtics and what does it mean for their future?
Taking Giannis out of that.
Well, Giannis had one where he fell and broke a bone in his back. But for the most part... Playoff availability.
Yeah, I know what you mean.
Yeah, yeah. And in a minute, that's all gone. But I just thought that first eight years he had was really crazy. I never thought about it until that injury.
I will also say, to be nice about Tatum...
different running mates throughout the runs right there's like the isaiah thomas season you know there's a scary terry season it's just like a lot of different elements that he's always been the the constant variable in the equation where everything else sort of changed and he still had this consistent output another thing i'll say but nice about tatum not a lot of duds You know what I mean?
You look at a lot of these star players and there's a couple of duds out there. You're like, oh yeah, like remember game two of the second round series where he was like, went four for 25. Like he doesn't have those games. He has ups and downs, but he doesn't have like dud, dud games.
And he'll always bring defense and rebounding and he'll help the game in other ways, even if a shot isn't going.
And the thing as a non, former Celtics fan, I will say, I loved Larry Bird growing up. And here's a question I have for you is why can't I like connect to him as a person? Like, why do I think he's corny? Why do I think that he's inauthentic?
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