021: NBA 101, Playoff Drama, and How Sue Bird Changed Basketball

Welcome to the world of the NBA! Whether you’re new to basketball or gearing up for the NBA Playoffs, this episode breaks it all down. We cover the basics—how the NBA works, the 30 teams, the G-League, the shot clock, and a few trivia gems. Then we dive into what makes the season unique, from the 82-game grind to how the NBA Playoffs actually work. We wrap with a tribute to basketball legend Sue Bird—whose leadership off the court has shaped women’s sports in powerful ways. Whether you're all in on the playoff race or just here for the buzzer-beaters, there's something for you. 

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Chapters

• 11:01 - How the NBA Actually Works
• 21:08 - The Play-In Tournament, AKA the NBA’s Sudden-Death Pre-Party
• 23:48 - Play-In Chaos: Win or Go Home, Crying Optional
• 28:46 - NBA Playoffs for Humans: Seeds, Series, and Sanity
• 37:23 - Sue Bird: The GOAT, the Legend, the Leader

Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00.802)
There's been a vast growth in the league over the years from 11 to 30 teams. And of course, teams move from city to city over time. But of all of the 30 NBA teams, can you guess which two teams have never moved cities? Yes. Okay. You looked that up, didn't you? No. the

I'm a New York Knicks.

Boston Celtics? No! That is a- A front door? Are you sure?

I'm positive!

Speaker 1 (00:36.184)
Have you ever wondered why people get so hyped about their favorite sports teams? Well, it turns out it's not just about the game. It's about the community. My name is Teryn.

And I'm Ambre. Welcome to Almost Fans, the sports podcast that's fun, a little bit educational, and will give you plenty to say when you're trying to keep up with those diehard sports fans in your life.

Speaker 1 (01:01.87)
Welcome back to Almost Fans, the podcast where we make sports make sense. And today we're breaking out the NBA and the NBA playoffs, which at the time of recording are happening right about now, about to be wrapping up actually. And we're going to talk about what the play-in tournament actually means, why it was created. Plus if you still call it sports ball, we're going to give you some background on how professional basketball works. Basically NBA 101 today.

but with more laughs and less jargon, because that's what we're here for. But first, we're kicking things off with this week's hat trick, the three most unexpectedly permanent things that are living in our kitchens. Ambre, you go first.

I tried so hard. looked through all my cabinets to find things that were shocking. We just did a kitchen remodel. So most of the things in my kitchen like are actually kind of like supposed to be there. However, I think my three things are relatable. Starting off with at least 20 chip clips. did not use these. My family never used chip clips that I can remember. And I didn't use them in college or as a single lady. But now with a bunch of kids, I can't imagine how I survived life.

without them. They are used for every sort of material, every different food group. It is insane the number of chip clips that are in action at any given time in my house plus the number of chip clips that are waiting in the wings on bat. That's funny. The sheer volume of these suckers in my kitchen is insane.

It drives me nuts. feel like I have so many products in my house that are like a bag and it's supposed to have a resealable thing and they never work. So you just have to end up chip clipping them.

Speaker 2 (02:44.686)
Or it breaks.

Yeah, after two uses, the stick is not sticky.

Yes, or like ripped off on one side. So now it doesn't. Yeah, it's. I agree. I feel like I don't have 20 ever waiting in the wings. I always have mine in use. All right. My first thing is a lemon squeezer. Do you have one of these? You need one immediately.

Yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:01.23)
because I.

Speaker 2 (03:10.134)
No.

Okay, but what do you use lemons for?

Okay, well, but you can use it for lemons or limes, obviously. Anytime you have a margarita that you're making, a mascarpone you're making, or just generally like anything, I get a lot of the food deliveries and I swear they always have lemons or taco. Put a lime on your taco.

These Limes 4.

Speaker 2 (03:35.79)
That's true. You know, I am so anti-clutter. I can't handle more things around me and in my brain. So if it's not something that I use really often, okay, okay, listen to this. Erin has a strawberry thing. You're like, you put it in the top of the strawberry, like got to push on a button and then twist it. The whole situation and then you got to like dig the leaves and the things out of the thing. It's so irritating.

No idea what you're talking about.

This is like so. Like nobody should. Nobody should have this thing. So don't, please don't Google it. You don't need one in your life, but the whole process takes at least 400 % more time than just using a good old knife. Good old knife. Yeah. But things like that. just, so.

I don't like squeezing lemons. hate when the seeds, so they catch the seeds inside it. So that's amazing. hate having to like, I Switch your hand. I always have cuts on my hands. You know, I have the driest hands in history of the world. Always have cuts on my hands. I swear that, yeah, I love a lemon squeezer. It's so efficient and it is so wonderful. So-

us for.

Speaker 2 (04:33.208)
Yeah, that would be terrible.

Speaker 2 (04:42.958)
In conclusion, Margarita's at Teryn's house.

Margarita's in my house, come, I'll be here. I've always got a Costco mix. Okay, back to you.

The fridge. Yeah, okay. Fire extinguisher. We lost our apartment to a fire about two weeks after we got married. So I have a fire ladder because we have second story bedrooms. I have a fire extinguisher that has not expired. I always know where it is. It is always in my kitchen, a place I know to get it. We also have a fire safe. We've got all You need a fire blaster. Those are the new thing. We have one.

Blink it.

Okay, good. It's in a package and then if you are on fire, you can take it out. Like who would actually put it?

Speaker 1 (05:21.966)
Well can over your like food. let's say you have like your stove is on fire.

I didn't even think about it. Yeah. We have one and now I know how to use it. you. Yeah. genius.

You can put it on your grill.

Say to keep one like hooked onto your grill, one in your kitchen. I have one just like upstairs because I just have a kitchen and then my son is upstairs with me. So I mean Casey catches on fire or something up there catches on fire.

I'm so glad you said that. We got this from a neighbor and I looked at it like, why would I ever get on fire and think to myself, I should want to the other side of the house and grab that blanket right now.

Speaker 1 (05:58.966)
No, it's better, so they, like, the advertisement for it is that it's better than a fire extinguisher, because a fire extinguisher can, like, ruin your other stuff.

Yeah. Yeah. Just rock my world. Thanks for that.

You're welcome. Okay, my number two thing that is always in my kitchen, and this is going to be so specific to my Michigan friends. They know probably what I'm talking about and it is Zenders chicken salt. It's like a chicken seasoning, chicken flavoring that you can put on anything. I it's like a seasoning salt, right? It's from Frankenmuth, Michigan. If you know, you know, it's always in my kitchen and probably my parents.

have one waiting on deck to give to me when my other one is gone. Everyone in my family has it. The best thing to put it on weirdly is mac and cheese. Yes, so good. I'll give you some. I think I might have two.

I totally buy that.

Speaker 2 (06:53.144)
You know what? One of my other friends had us over and they made some chicken breast and they used some sort of seasoning on it. And I was like, I'm actually so good. I need to have it. And he said, you here's the name. So I went and I bought it and I didn't realize until I had already bought it. It was like $30. it was huge. So wait, I will totally take. basically the size of my torso. So wait. And I do want to try that, but I'm going to need at least a year to get through this half gallon I have. Okay. Perfect.

My third and final one is kids artwork is always we empty out the backpacks. What should I do with this? That's so cute. I don't want to throw it away, but I kind of do. But then as somebody's feelings going to get hurt, I have to get it out to the recycling bin in the big bin in the garage. It can't go in the one in the kitchen. Somebody might discover and then get their feelings hurt. It's a thing all the time. So it just sits on my countertop. And then when the kids are in bed, I might clear it out. However, the kids

at different phases they go through. So I have two bins of artwork upstairs and a closet.

saving it for when they become professional athletes or do something crazy that they.

That's exactly where I was going. We talked already. Okay. Both of the two older kids will make drawings about how they want to be professional soccer players when they grow up. And I, my heart just grows larger every time I see that each one of the kids goes through a phase where they make me notes like, I love you so much, mommy. You're the best mommy in the world. My third grader is far out of that. My first grader is in the thick of it. So I also can't throw those away. So anyway, they just end up on the kitchen counter until I know what to do with them.

Speaker 2 (08:32.206)
Amazing. So much artwork.

Okay, my last thing, it's on my counter in my kitchen and it is not clean. It is my air fryer. I use it every single day. So why would I spend the time to clean it out? Because I'm just gonna get it messy again tomorrow. seasoning. No, because I feel like those things, I also feel like they affect the crunchiness of the food. Like I need a direct line from the under carriage.

It's like ever.

Speaker 2 (08:54.51)
It's like fully full of chemicals.

Speaker 1 (09:04.352)
air fryer. To hit my food. Yes. It's like when you put like, no, I'm just thinking about the what's the thing that you put over tin foil. It's like when you put tin foil over your food in the oven, it doesn't get crunchy. That's how I feel. I don't know either. That's just my thing.

liner and a crackpot.

Speaker 2 (09:21.064)
Yeah, I don't know.

Maybe your new apartment will have an oven with an air fryer built in. Maybe, one can hope.

I doubt it.

Yeah, I don't think so. That feels fancy.

It turns like ya know.

Speaker 1 (09:38.178)
Yeah, I'll be keeping my little egg air fryer on the counter forever and always and I'll pretend like I'm gonna wash it.

like that. mean, like once a month, you know, every once in a while just to keep the scaries away. know what though? The heat is so high, probably every time you use it, it just kills whatever bacteria was in there.

Exactly. I just think of it as extra seasoning. I mean the last time I put my chicken in there and this time I'm putting my fries in there and then my breakfast burrito.

The clean freak in me is cringing. Yeah, it's hard to picture that.

I know you are.

Speaker 2 (10:10.328)
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All right, we're back and we're talking about the NBA today. Ambre, you know I love basketball. I grew up around a lot of basketball loving family, so this is always a fun one for me. And I wanna start with the basics of the NBA, then we'll get into the playoffs since that's where we are right now, currently as we're recording this and as this goes live. And just a heads up, the playoffs in the NBA aren't just March Madness, but taller.

There's a whole system behind who gets in and how it works and it actually has changed a significant amount not that long ago. So here's how it breaks down in terms of a little bit of history and general information about the NBA. So the NBA was established in New York in 1949. There was originally 11 teams in the league and it was called the Basketball Association of America, the BAA, the BAA.

Doesn't have quite the same ring to it. Now the National Basketball Association or NBA consists of 30 teams. These teams are divided into two conferences, the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference. Each conference is further divided into three divisions. I won't get into that because you're never going to remember them anyways.

Speaker 2 (12:00.778)
No, doesn't.

Speaker 2 (12:22.254)
Hey, wait, West and East conferences, are they geographically based or kind of?

Pretty much. Yeah, pretty much. mean, there's more teams in the East. So you've got teams like Memphis that are in the Western Conference. So it's a bit, you know, whatever, but fairly close. Yeah, pretty close. And I'm always interested in who can get drafted into the NBA and how that works. You may not know this Ambre, but all the different professional sports teams have different rules about who can be drafted and when.

So for the NBA, the rules are you have to be 19 years old if you're from the US and more than one year removed from high school. And you have to officially declare for the draft if you are in that boat. So that wasn't always that way. There are some people like LeBron, for example, went straight out of high school and then they changed the rule after him.

So he did high school, ended high school, did something for a year. No.

He went straight to the draft. So that rule wasn't in place back then. Got it.

Speaker 2 (13:28.908)
Yeah. So he snuck in at 18.

Yeah, well probably. I don't actually know. Don't quote us on that. Well, I just don't know how old he was exactly. then for international players, you have to be over the age of 22. So if you're playing internationally, all players who are 19 and have signed a contract with a international professional team can declare for the draft as well. And then all US born players who played all four of their college years are automatically eligible for the draft.

Yeah.

Speaker 2 (13:59.886)
They don't have to declare.

Nope. think all international players over the age of 22 are just automatically eligible. Actually, I think that's the same thing for 19 year olds who are playing professionally, international, automatically eligible. don't think they have to declare. Yeah. Each NBA team can have a max of 15 players on their roster. That seems really small to me.

That makes sense.

Speaker 2 (14:22.158)
That seems so small. feel like, okay, maybe because the dudes are so big, but it feels like when you're watching a game and five of the dudes are on the floor, they're all shoulder to shoulder, super up close and personal, but maybe it's just because they're so big or maybe there's coaches there too.

Yeah, I think like when you're looking at the bench, you're seeing probably five coaches on the bench as well. Only 12 can be active for each game. So you have like three players that are on the roster, but probably hurt or maybe just one of your backup backup players. There is a developmental or minor league league that feeds into the NBA. It's called the G league. Ambre, can you guess what the G in G league stands for?

ground level.

very close. No, it's Gatorade League. I know, I know. It's just nothing with you. So it used to be called the D League Developmental League, but then in 2017, Gatorade became a multi-year expanded partner for this league and therefore it's called the Gatorade League. It's actually kind of cool. I was watching some videos on this and they're not just a partner, right? They're not just there for like naming rights.

Not close enough.

Speaker 2 (15:13.902)
Thanks for making me feel good.

Speaker 1 (15:35.106)
They do a lot of testing and sports performance kind of stuff with the players. Obviously this is a great brand partnership for Gatorade, but they are helping to fuel athletes and they're helping to get them to a place where they can perform at the next level. That's the whole goal, right? Like get to the next level. That's Gatorade's whole thing, right? Okay, so let's get back to the basics. So in the NBA, they play quarters. They're 12 minutes long and they're

Overtime is five minutes apiece. So however many overtimes, they're gonna go for five minutes. There's a 24 second shot clock in the NBA, which means for people who aren't familiar, there's 24 seconds to shoot the ball and have it at least hit the rim. There's some other details about violations and resets of the shot clock, but I'm not gonna get into that because it's a of, it's a rabbit hole and I think it would confuse people, but just know.

Generally they have 24 seconds that speeds up the game quite a bit. So they have to get up the court and shoot the ball and have it at least hit the rim. If they don't hit the rim or if know something else happens and they just can't get a shot off, it's a turnover and it goes over to the other team. They play 82 games in the regular season.

That is so many games. think that's my biggest struggle with NBA. It's just so hard to commit to keeping up with the team.

It is. Yeah. Like for the WNBA, think they put like 44. So, mean, granted there's half as many teams, less than half the amount of teams. Okay. Before we get into the playoffs, I'm going to stop for a little bit of NBA trivia for you, Ambre. Ambre, as you can see, there's been a vast growth in the league over the years from 11 to 30 teams.

Speaker 2 (17:01.815)
long.

Speaker 1 (17:27.084)
And of course, teams move from city to city over time. But of all of the 30 NBA teams, can you guess which two teams have never moved cities? They are OG teams from the BAA when it was first established.

New York Knicks.

Yes! Good job! Okay, you looked that up, didn't you? That is exactly right!

No!

Shut the front door. Are you sure?

Speaker 1 (17:58.859)
I'm impressed.

Aside from Pacers, Magic and Bucks and Warriors, I probably can't even name any other teams. But maybe that's why, because those have just like, they've just been in movies and just been winning a lot over

Yeah. I think the New York Knicks makes sense, right? If that was where basketball was established, right? Maybe that was just one of the original. Yeah, that was very good. I'm so very impressed with you.

never happen again. So let's just end our trivia right here. Keep going though.

End it right now. No, no, I will. Okay. So there's just a couple of other random little trivia notes about that. So the Celtics and the Knicks are the NBA's original two that have never moved. The Los Angeles Lakers, do you know where they originally came from?

Speaker 2 (18:45.134)
can you give me a couple of choices? Cause I might be.

Well, let me give you a hint. It's known as the land of one 10,000 lakes. Yeah, Minneapolis.

Minnesota? Really? I would have not gotten that. Huh. Yep. That makes a lot of sense. When did they move? Was that like a really, really long time ago?

That's why they're the Lakers.

Speaker 1 (19:03.688)
great question. They were the Minneapolis Lakers from 1947 to 1960.

Okay, so like a really, really long time ago. Crazy. I can't imagine the Lakers being tied to anything other than LA.

I know. I know. Right. Also, another fun fact is that the Sacramento Kings have moved five times. They are the team that's moved the most times in NBA. were, yeah, they were in Rochester. They were in Cincinnati. They were in Kansas city, Omaha, and then they were in Kansas city and then they were Sacramento.

Gosh. They just kept wanting to go West, know, next frontier. Let's just keep going West.

trying to get out of the Midwest and get into somewhere that's a little nicer. So funny.

Speaker 1 (19:56.716)
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Okay, now I want to tell you more about the playoffs and how they work. Teams that get into the playoffs, there are 16 total. Eight from the East and eight from the West. The top six teams in each conference, so the top six in the East and the top six in the West, automatically qualify for the playoffs based on their record from the regular season. Easy peasy. Got the best record in the top six? You're an automatic bid into the playoffs.

Then this is where it gets fun. So the seventh through the 10th place team, based on their record on each side in each conference, they don't get a free ride. They have to battle it out in what they call the play-in tournament for the final two spots of the playoffs. So you may be saying, wait, what is this play-in tournament and why does it exist? Let me tell you. So how it works is the seventh and the eighth.

seed and actually I'm going to stop right here because I had a question from a friend of mine who said, I can't listen to this because I don't understand what a seed is. So I'm going to explain what a seed is. So seed just means first, second, third, you know, basically a ranking of how you fall in line in terms of best team to worst team. You get your seed, first seed, second seed, third seed, and that's how you are determined and who you play in the playoffs. Does that?

Speaker 1 (22:05.816)
Feel like a clear explanation? So we have the seventh and the eighth seed, they play each other. And then the winner automatically gets the seventh seed in the playoffs. So seventh and eighth team play one game. Winner gets the seventh spot. Yep. Sudden death. Then you have the ninth and the 10th seed. They play each other one game. Loser goes home. They're done forever.

Yeah. Okay.

Speaker 1 (22:33.302)
And then the winner of the ninth and 10th seed plays the loser of whoever in the seven eight. Yep. So they're playing for the eighth seed. So you could potentially have the seventh seed be the eighth best team and the eighth seed be the 10th best team, you know, whatever.

seven eight.

Speaker 2 (22:51.768)
What a circus. You're like, please, can I just be six or better? Correct. So. bypass these shenanigans?

Correct. That is such a great point. And I'm going to get into that in a second. So let me tell you when this happened first. So the plane was first introduced in the 2020 and 2021 season. What relevance does that have to this Ambre?

COVID, but how does that impact?

Yeah, so they had the bubble season where basically the NBA said, if you're going to play basketball, you have to live in a bubble and you're going to have you like basically people couldn't go like home and live with their families. were like in a bubble and then but it shortened like how many regular season games they had and it made for a little bit more of a chance for those teams that, you know,

basically the ninth and tenth seed a chance to potentially prove themselves as being better than those other seeds. it was a way for them to kind of spice it up and give it, you know, a little bit extra excitement and drama, of course. And then they just kept it because it expanded the playoffs a little bit, which, right, we need more. We obviously need more basketball.

Speaker 2 (23:48.396)
Drama.

Speaker 2 (23:59.766)
No, broadcasting TV stations need more, yeah, money.

Correct. Yup. So it gave a few more teams the opportunity to get into the postseason with a little more drama. It added some competition, know, the March Madness style win or go home. So yeah, it's just kind of like a little taster before the actual playoffs starts. They had it for COVID season and then they were like, actually we're going to keep it. And then the other reason why they did this was it was to discourage like tanking at the end of the season. If you're sitting in 10th place, like you have a chance to make it to the playoffs and you

teams might tank so they can get a higher draft pick. And now you have a chance. You have a chance to go to the playoffs. So you're less likely to bench all your good players and improve your draft picks. Okay. Question for you. We kind of work. I want to go with an Ambre hot take because you gave me some hot takes and I loved it. Okay. Do you like the idea of giving more teams a shot or do you feel like it makes the real playoffs feel less special?

I feel like 80 games is so long. So my version of being an NBA fan would be to like wake up towards the end when it really starts to matter. So if there's a higher likelihood that my team could matter and get into the playoffs, then there's a better chance I'm going to be more invested in the NBA in general. So I like the idea of more teams having a shot to keep going in postseason.

Yeah, for sure. No, agree.

Speaker 2 (25:26.444)
Like March Madness. I'm not really watching college basketball until it comes time for like seeds and which ones are supposed to be top contenders. Now I'm paying attention, but probably not before then.

Fair enough, yeah. Just so to conclude that whole play-in tournament, a couple of reasons why it matters. Like you said, that March Madness style one and done vibe is so fun and exciting for people to watch. It also makes that sixth seed extra valuable. So no one wants to necessarily risk one of those off shooting days to end their season potentially. And so people are trying harder to get into the top six seeds. So if you were a coach Ambre,

What do you think you would do if you're on the bubble between the sixth and the seventh seed and your stars are tired? Your Yanis is tired. Would you arrest him and risk moving to the seventh spot? Are you pushing through to make sure you get into the sixth seed?

I'm to push through because if I don't, he's going to have to play more games anyway to try to get us into playoffs. I'm going to pull him aside. I'm going to caffeinate him. I'm to give him a really solid pep talk, maybe bring some pictures of his kids to motivate him. Anything. There could be some blackmail or bribery. All of those things feel like they're

I don't think he needs it, but yeah.

Speaker 2 (26:53.304)
Probably not. But no, I would totally push the team to do that because I'm assuming that while all the shenanigans are happening with seven, eight, nine, 10, one, two, three, four, five, six are like hanging out on the ice bath, doing some chill workouts, taking care of themselves and resting up for playoffs, which is what that player or those top players really need. So I'd really try and push it to try to get to that one, two, three, four, five, six.

Yeah, the alternative to that though is you could hurt Giannis in those last couple of games and then you don't have him at all for any of your postseason games.

Yeah, I don't know. feel like pushing the players for one game as opposed to stretching them into potentially two more games. don't know. Yeah, I'd probably still push them.

your statement.

Speaker 1 (27:39.3)
Fair enough. Yeah, I think probably the same.

Yeah. You double-deb kit. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, you're just reading Devil's Advocate.

Speaker 2 (27:50.656)
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Now let's move on to what do the playoffs look like. So there are four rounds in the playoffs. You have your first round, easy to remember. You have your conference semi-finals. Then you have your third round, which is your conference finals. Obviously you're talking about the East and the West conference finals. And then you have your NBA finals. All rounds are best of seven. This means you play seven games or whoever is first to four wins. Ambre.

If I was to say the higher seeded team follows a two, two, one, one, one pattern, would you know what I mean? So what that means is the higher seed gets to host games one and two, five and seven. So it's two, as in you play your first two games at home, two, again, you play your next two games away, one at home, one away and one at home. So you kind of like flop back and forth every time there's a break, you know, every time there's a dash.

You're going to the other place.

Speaker 2 (29:46.114)
the home or the top seed gets to start and theoretically end it on home turf. If it goes to seven games.

Right. Why this matters because momentum wins basketball games. Winning one on the road can totally flip a series. so game like, well, game one, you want to win because it just, you want to start out strong. So having a home game is crucial to start with. And then game five is also incredibly important because this is often when you're at a two, two, like you've won two games and they've won two games. And if you're a really strong home,

team, then it's even more valuable.

Well, I'm thinking too about if I'm not the top seed. Okay, so we just gave up two games because we were playing away, right? The top seed was home. Woof. Even though we're back at my home now, we're down two games. That feels like a whole, I got a claw out of, yeah. That feels like coming back from deficit as opposed to just trying to win a game forward, if that makes sense.

yeah, for sure. And like the last game of the series when it's game seven and you're like, my goodness. Yeah. You want to sleep in your bed. You want to have your fans. You want to have all your things. Super important. Okay. We're back to Ambre's hot takes. Which would you rather have the best player on the floor of both teams or home court advantage?

Speaker 2 (30:58.453)
My bad.

Speaker 2 (31:15.256)
Best player on the floor, because Janus

We love Yanis. Okay, second question. Do you think the best of seven format makes the whole playoffs more exciting because you can find the true winner who can hold out through that many games or is it overkill and drags the season out incredibly long?

Overkill, I'm so tired. Seven games really just to know if we're advancing to the next round?

There's only three or four rounds before you, there's only three rounds before you get to the finals.

I'm tired. Let's make it like five. Could it just be five? Could it be five? Seven feels like a tired.

Speaker 1 (31:57.71)
Fair enough. All right. Okay. I am pretty close to being done here. I just wanted to hit some of the highlights. I know you are really interested in finding out more about how the players get paid and I looked into it and I just think it might be a whole episode on its own. Let's just save it and we'll talk about it another time. But I want to end today with some fun facts and historic tidbits for you.

Yeah, so.

Speaker 1 (32:24.928)
Who do you think, actually I'm not even gonna ask you this, because you'll never get it because you did. Of the teams you rattled off, this was not one of them. Okay, what do you think was the lowest seed to ever win a championship? Lowest seed and what was the team that?

We tried anyway.

Speaker 2 (32:40.494)
Minnesota Timberwolves

Good job, yeah, but it's not that one.

As you were asking the question, I only barely heard the question because I was trying to dig deep into my brain for other NBA. And that scanning the country.

Dames deep.

Hey, it's in Texas.

Speaker 2 (32:56.862)
Oilers? that an NBA team?

no, that is a former NFL team.

The Texans is the current NFL team.

But that's the right city. That's the right city. You know where the Texans are?

Can you describe the animal or? Shoot stars, shooters, pistols,

Speaker 1 (33:11.918)
Not an animal?

Speaker 1 (33:16.472)
You're so funny. Never in a million. know. And they were a sixth seed.

don't even remember the The question was the lowest seat to ever win a championship.

Wow, six. But really, mean, if you were going to go with a seed that was lower than that, it would have had to be a team that had won in the past three years because there weren't seven, eight, nine, 10 until 2020.

No, that was just when they started doing the play-in tournament.

Okay, okay, because you still have one through six seeds. Okay, got it.

Speaker 1 (33:52.716)
Yeah. we still, there was still eight seeds, I believe. Actually, I didn't look into like when, if that was ever different, but I'm, as far as I know, it was still just eight seeds, the top eight in both sides.

Yeah, so seven or an eight have never won before.

Yes, that's correct. Okay, which NBA team has won the most NBA titles or Ambre, I'll give you even a backup option. Can you name any of the top five that have won the most NBA titles? One of them is. Yes, that's the number one. have 18 championships.

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 (34:25.514)
Are Nix and Celtics up there at all? I'll go with Celtics.

Speaker 2 (34:34.51)
18 since 1940 whatever dang

49, I believe, Helps that they're consistent. They've been here for a long time.

Yeah. Well, yeah, that helps history. What about the warriors? Golden State Warriors.

They're in the top five. They're number three with seven. Easy one, you're missing. Yep, they're number four with.

Ummm... The Bulls?

Speaker 2 (34:57.934)
Okay. I'm missing two and five and six. The only other NBA teams I'm aware of are apparently there's a team in Memphis because you mentioned that and the twins. Okay. I'm sure it's not Orlando magic. It's not the bucks. I'm out. That's my Lakers. yeah. yeah.

It's not that one.

Speaker 1 (35:21.176)
The Lakers are number two, 17. And then number five you'll never get because it's another, Texas team, the San Antonio Spurs.

Sure. Okay. Tony, Longoria, Eva Mendez. What's his name? He played there.

Speaker 2 (35:40.939)
Eva Longoria's man.

That's so funny. Although is she still married?

I mean, probably not, probably not.

Isn't she married to Ryan?

That young dude. really? Ryan Gosling notebook? really?

Speaker 1 (35:56.812)
Yeah. No. I mean, we're so, we're not even real live right now. We don't know, we don't even know basketball nor do we know gossip.

Nor do we know desperate housewives trivia. Shoot. Yeah, no, no, no. Anyway, okay, Spurs, there's one more. Okay.

No, that was it. That was the top five. Yep. Got it. Okay. Last question I have for you is who is the only player in NBA history to win finals MVP with three different teams?

So it's not Michael. it? It's correct. Magic? He was at the Lakers for too long for that.

think more recent. LeBron James.

Speaker 2 (36:38.26)
duh, Miami and Lake Cleveland. Wow. Yeah.

And Lakers.

And that's it. have reached the end of my time. Hopefully you learned a little bit. I gave you lots of good trivia. And honestly, I'm still a little mind blown that you knew that answer to the first question.

would like for you to edit this podcast just down to that one trivia question. Can that just be all that we publish? Because I'm so proud of that. I'm so proud. I cannot wait to bust that on my dad and see if he knows.

them.

Speaker 2 (37:23.906)
All right, now we are on to our final segment of the day, which is She's Got Game. And for the first time ever, I told Teryn ahead of time of who this is going to be every other episode she has not known ahead of time. She's probably...

I have guessed many of them.

You've guessed at least two with very obvious act. mean, yes, Danica Patrick, that was obvious, and then Simone, yes, and probably a few others. This is the first time I told her outright who it was because it is her girl, Sue Bird. Teryn, start off with why you love Sue

I personally just love her because she's one insanely incredibly talented. She has like five gold medals in basketball, Olympic gold medals. Her... Miles and miles long. She's super big into advocacy for LGBTQ plus. yeah, mean, it's hard to pinpoint like why I love her so much. She's just amazing.

Resume is miles long.

Speaker 2 (38:31.874)
Yeah. I just, in all these different basketball episodes we've done, whether it's NCAA basketball, NBA, WNBA, she's everywhere. Like she's just a household name. She's mentioned in all sorts of different ways. So I was really excited to dive in and learn more about her. She did.

Did she go to Yukon? Yeah, okay. I couldn't remember for sure. Yeah, so she played for Gino, which is wild. Yeah, she also is already retired from the WNBA. For like ever and then. That's why it's wild.

And she played in WMB for like ever. I still had Gino back in the day. Correct. Yeah. Seeing, seeing images and videos of him back then and today, first off it's, yeah, he was a young buck back then, but also second off he's aged well. Like about a fine wine. Well done Gino, taking care of yourself. Okay. So Sue Bird, I've kind of organized this into a couple of different chunks. So the first one is called the kid who could,

She was always the only girl on the playground in sports and games. And to be quite frank, among all of the kids, regardless of gender, she was usually chosen first or second, no matter what sport it was. So just kind of like all around athletic. And she talks about how she learned from her mom to keep sports in perspective. Her mom would always say, it's just a game, you know, after maybe a tough loss or something. But she talks about how she learned brutal honesty from her dad. Well,

It looks like you're really struggling right now. That was a tough loss. And let me tell you all the things that you could have done better. So not cruel, but just brutal honesty. And she talks about how that she grew to love that and really appreciate that feedback. And so that's one of the things that she looked for in coaches and players as she went on. One of the reasons why she loved playing for Gino.

Speaker 2 (40:21.74)
So I thought that was a really interesting sort of setup to learning more about Sue. Okay, let's go into her mile long resume. Usually I'm not super interested in just rolling stats, you know, talking about a player, but I think that I'm gonna rapid fire this at you because I think it is a wow factor and really just sets the stage in terms of her credibility. So the goat is the title of this chapter.

Um, starting back with college, they won the national championship when she played for Yukon. That was the year 2000. In 2002, she was drafted number one overall when she was headed to the WNBA. In the WNBA, she won four championships and one of those championships she won in her rookie season, which is pretty cool. She holds a record for the highest number of WNBA all-stars, which is 13 of them.

mentioned gold medals. You're right. There were five of them. And I always pause here when I'm talking about a lot of gold medals because they're four years apart. Four years apart. That's 20 years worth of, mean, just the longevity of that is absolutely astonishing. One of the years, the 2020 Olympics, which was actually 2021, she was actually Team USA's flag bearer. How sweet is that? I know, right?

Okay. Now a couple other stats for when she was in the WNBA. She is the first all time in the WNBA in assists, in games played, in minutes played, and in all star appearances. So just in every way that you could be amazing at women's basketball, she did that for a lot of years, almost 20, for 19 years she was in the WNBA. Okay. So I mentioned she played for Yukon under Gino.

She talked about how preseason was usually harder than actual season. thought that was interesting. It makes a lot of sense, you know, until she said that, think also, you know, playing for UConn, there's just a different level, a different standard as well. She's a point guard. Teryn, you've answered my question several times about what this means. I now know it's sort of like the captain on the floor and person who brings the

Speaker 1 (42:38.54)
It brings the ball up the court. It the best ball handling skills.

Yeah. And can see all the things, all of the, can kind of make a good decision, can keep a cool head under pressure. Steph Curry says about Sue, he says, she's not the tallest, she's not the strongest, she's not the fastest, but her composure is unmatched. Other people said things like, she's the most prepared point guard ever. She sees something once. I read this to be like, she sees that a defender has this tendency. She sees it once and then it's in her brain.

so she can use that as a piece of a puzzle to build a better strategy next time. She makes everyone around her better. She knows how to make pieces fit. Everyone on the court looks to her. She always knows the play. And if the game is on the line, you give the ball to Sue. You mentioned she was also social justice. She did so much to advocate for, yes, social issues, but also for issues.

know, really inside the WNBA as well. She talks about some of the differences. Okay. So at UConn, right? March Madness, they're one of the best women's NCAA teams, most decorated. Gino has been there forever. She, you know, players, she and other players on her team would be on the cover of Sports Illustrated, Time, People. I mean, really the media

media's darlings, right? they, Yukon was just in the spotlight all the time, but she talks about the dichotomy of going from that to the WNBA. She was number one draft pick. Wow. And she got to the press conference. the team set up, flew her out for a game, set up a press conference. There were, count them, four reporters in the room. So going from that media environment, you know, at Yukon to then to the WNBA.

Speaker 2 (44:38.018)
Just says a lot about how far the WNBA has come. Now it is way more heavily viewed, ported, launched, et cetera. But back in the day, it was not that way. And she said it was a really interesting transition because she came from being a part of a program that was already successful and being a part of it to this new program, not just the team, but all of WNBA that was brand new and needed a lot of help and needed a lot of growth. She said she just didn't expect that, you know, just...

Going to WNBA, I'm drafted first. This should be a parade and all these things and it was very different. Her rookie contract was $40,000 a year. She played, yeah, $40,000 a year. Epic. Now, granted, this was 20 years ago, but still. But still. She played overseas for a number of years too.

Other things that Sue did that were really awesome, she helped negotiate the collective bargaining agreement for the WNBA back in 2020. So basically helped negotiate a raise in the players' salaries, better benefits, like a more positive maternity leave package, childcare stipends, family planning reimbursements. She talks about how those negotiations and the deal

that she helped the league arrive at were a big win for both WNBA players, but also just in general for the conversations that were happening then still happening around women's sports. So the CBA, by the way, the collective bargaining agreement that Sue helped craft is being renegotiated for 2026. So in blueprint status as of this moment, but the players are focused on a number of things, but mostly the salary and salary caps for individual players and for teams as a whole.

Anyway, when she was negotiating this collective bargaining agreement, she was basically on the verge of retirement. She was putting all this blood, sweat, and tears into this change that was not going to impact her, but actually was going to set up next generations for success. What a boss. Yeah. Let's talk a little bit about social issues. She is dating and engaged to Miss Megan Rapinoe. They're not married. No, they're not married. They're engaged.

Speaker 1 (46:54.318)
married?

Speaker 1 (46:58.168)
own.

Yeah, I thought they were married too. I looked it up. I corroborated three different places. They are currently engaged. They met at the Olympics in Rio in 2016 and they started dating in 2017 and they got engaged in 2020 and are taking their sweet old time. They want to plan a big old fat wedding. They just are busy being awesome and doing stuff. Sue had come out.

people who are really close to her. So family and friends and players and coaches a long time ago, but she hadn't really come out to the public and she didn't say this, but reading between the lines, I think that worked in her favor. She was the girl next door. She was, you know, iconically what 20 years ago, what everybody thought a female basketball player should look and act like. And it just

She just didn't come out publicly. And then she started dating Megan and Megan would say things like, you got to do that. You need to come out publicly. And Sue would say, I am. And Megan would say, no, you're not. Or some version of not enough, not publicly enough, basically. What I boiled down to for Megan, at least, is the idea that if there are LGBTQ plus people out there who are being murdered, who are being harmed, who are being discriminated against, then it is

their job, Sue's job, Megan's job, other people who are in the spotlight and have a way to use their platform positively. It is their job to speak up, to come out publicly so that they can support those populations. So Sue did, I think really awesome. The two of them are such a cute couple. They talk about how neither one of them wants to be in the spotlight. They're just both very down to earth, very chill personalities.

Speaker 2 (48:45.166)
I adore them. yeah, big fat wedding. How can we possibly get invited? I'm still working on that. If anybody has ideas, let me know. But Sue is retired. She retired a couple of years ago. In 2020, after her last game, the crowd chanted, one more year, one more year. Yeah. In 2020, that was their chant.

Um, she did an interview, you know, right after that game and she was really ambiguous. She was making no commitments. She was coming back. If she was not coming back, just left it open. But she said that the next morning she woke up and she could still hear that chant in her ears. So she decided it wasn't time yet that she needed to play a little bit longer. So fast forward a couple of years to 2022 and it's her final game. And this time the crowd is chanting.

Thank you, Sue. Thank you, Sue. It was bumps. I know, right? I think probably leading up to that, she had dropped some nuggets and given off like, is going to be my last season. She's I'm tired. I'm tired. She gets the microphone after her last game and she addresses the crowd and she says something along the lines of,

Like my knees hurt.

Speaker 2 (49:55.894)
look, I came here as a 21 year old kid and you the fans, because she played for Seattle her entire WNBA career. she grew up with these fans. She says, you the fans gave me a minute to figure out who I was. You supported me the whole way. And basically it was just a huge thanks to the crowd. Thank you Sue. know like total goosebumps at her retirement press conference in the locker room after giving these words to the fans and whatnot. She

talks about how meaningful it is to have the privilege of being able to spend her entire professional career in one space. And she talks too about how not a lot of people get to do something their entire lives the way that athletes do. She played basketball from five until what, 42 or something, early 40s. And that was her profession. That was her art, her sport, her whole life really. Yeah, what a goat. She is

fascinating, absolutely fascinating because of her mile long resume, but also because of her advocacy for social issues, but then also advocating for women's sports and higher pay. What an inspiring person for all these reasons and so, so many more. So many more. why so many more. The list could be more than a mile long. All these reasons are why we chose to spotlight Ms. Sue Bird today.

you

That's a wrap on this week's episode. Whether you're here for buzzer beaters, off-court drama, or just love the rhythm of the game, we're glad you joined us. If you learned something interesting or had a good laugh, do us a favor and share this episode on Instagram. It's the easiest way to help more Almost fans find us. Thanks for hanging out with us and we'll catch you next week.