A Gutty Spurs Win, Angry Knicks Fans, Game 4 Thoughts, and NBA Draft Movements With Rob Mahoney and J. Kyle Mann

**Bill Simmons** (0:00)
This episode is brought to you by HubSpot. You know why elite point guards make everyone better? It isn't just the no-look dimes. It's because they know everything. Who's hot? Who's tired? What the defense is doing? Which teammate needs a basket? Most businesses don't have that. Sales run one play, marketing runs another. Nobody told service.
The game plan has now changed. HubSpot gives you that point guard vision, one platform, full customer context, and that context is everything you need to win. Visit hubspot.com to learn more.
This episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast is presented by PayPal. You know a clutch move and you see one, a no-look pass, a buzzer beater, a big steal. Well, imagine if your wallet could pull off moves like that. That, my friends, is PayPal. Right now, you can find offers from hundreds of brands like Sony, Allbirds and Viator, and save offers before you check out. Earn unlimited rewards. Plus, you can add those rewards on top of credit card points. Now, that is Clutch. Download the PayPal app today.
Save those offers. Start scoring rewards. Terms and exclusions apply. See paypal.com/rewardsterms, credit card points subject to issuers, terms, and conditions.
Bill Simmons Podcast, live here on Netflix. Rob Mahoney is with me. We're coming off game three. Spurs, Knicks wanted to mention, you can hear Rob on the Prestige TV podcast. You can hear him on the Ringer NBA show as well, on group chat. I have new rewatchables that went up. Actually, tonight, it's from Hell Month, Rob, and we did Single White Female. Not sure where you stand on that one.

**Rob Mahoney** (2:14)
I'm anti Single White Female as a concept. The impersonation into potential murder, I can't say I'm for it.

**Bill Simmons** (2:20)
Well, we loved it and we went over two hours talking about it. Okay. Game three, which I think if the Knicks lost, we were going to dub the Trump game. And yet, after watching what the Spurs did today, I got to say, I have no dog in this race.
I'm so impressed by the Spurs. I actually thought that there was a real possibility they were going to do this today because there was so many good signs from the first two games. This is a team with a lot of pride, a lot of chutzpah. It's the second youngest finals team we've ever had. The first youngest finals team came back from 0-2 and won in the 77 finals.
They showed them in the huddle before the game, Rob. And they seem loose. They're doing their dancing stuff. And it was just unintimidated by the moment. Meanwhile, every single celebrity on the planet is there. Even though this turned into a rock fight, I was wildly impressed with them. So let's start there. What are some of your spurs thoughts coming out of the gate?

**Rob Mahoney** (3:17)
I also thought they could win this one. I mean, games one and two were so tight. It was a classic case of this is the NBA Finals. So there are huge takeaways from very, very slim margins.
The turnover at the end of game two was catastrophic. Like that could have been a career altering play, could still be a series altering play. We'll see how it all shakes out. But they were there that close to begin with. They were doing enough positively to be super competitive over the first two. And I thought in this one in particular came out with a lot of clarity in their offensive game plan in terms of like the Knicks have been playing incredible defense, but even the best defensive game plans come at a cost. Like you're giving up something somewhere. And you could see, I would say, with Castle and Fox specifically, they knew the weak side read before it even really sprang open. And so that gave me a lot of confidence like, okay, this team knows what they're doing. The moment I shook up a little bit is that end of second quarter Knicks resurgence, where I was like, oh, no, is it just going to be like this? Where New York scores at the end of every like late clock opportunity, where they have responses for every conceivable run. That's just who they've been in these playoffs. Fortunately for the Spurs, they got, I mean, absolutely saved by a late Stefan Castle III and De'Aaron Fox going one-on-one against OG and OBI, which is like playing tug-of-war with a Doberman. Like I would know part of that match up or anything related to it.

**Bill Simmons** (4:38)
Yeah, it turned into a rock fight near the end. And I couldn't tell if it was the tension of the crowd and the energy of the building and just how long the night was. And everybody taking so long to get in there and every piece of that, how hard everyone was playing. But it felt like neither team could get any shot. The Spurs were starting plays with six seconds left, 45 feet from the basket. You mentioned there were the, I wrote down the Castle Lucky Bailout III. It was in my notes. That was after two San Antonio Blacks, Brunson scores. And it feels like, oh my God, this is, we've been here before with the Knicks and Brunson, I mean, Castle bails them out there. And then Fox, so I texted you with eight minutes left.