The Bill Simmons Podcast
Curry Survives, Trae Melts Down, and Ant’s Crazy Shooting with Kirk Goldsberry. Plus, WWE President Nick Khan Stops by
Wed, 16 Apr 2025
The Ringer’s Bill Simmons is joined by Kirk Goldsberry to react to the Grizzlies-Warriors/Hawks-Magic play-in games before discussing shooting stats and NBA awards (2:10). Then, Bill chats with WWE president Nick Khan about the future of wrestling and more (56:59). Host: Bill Simmons Guests: Kirk Goldsberry and Nick Khan Producers: Chia Hao Tat, Jessie Lopez, and Steve Ceruti Get anything delivered on Uber Eats. www.ubereats.com 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 in the Grizzlies vs. Warriors play-in game?
Plus, it seems like the Celts are happy. Kirk, Celtics sweep, plus 126 on FanDuel. 4-1 is plus 168. And Cerruti's two-game prediction, that would net you plus 610. Celtics 4-2.
Wow. That's a pretty good price. A lot can happen in these games. People forget how few sweeps there are sometimes. I think that the case for the Magic winning one is like what they did to the Hawks three-point shooters tonight. They had four made threes, Bill. That's like only out of the 1,200 NBA games we watched all year long, only...
I think 13 times that a team, either team make four or fewer threes. So Orlando has been the best three-point defense in the NBA all year. They've suppressed attempts and makes at a very high level. That said, I think, you know, the Hawks are not the Celtics. The Celtics and Missoula have a way of going from good to great against every defense. And it's terrifying.
But the case is they will sort of force Boston into, you know, and you watched them all year. if Boston has a below average three-point shooting night, if they hit 26% of their threes, they're beatable. And I think if Orlando can get some better scoring, if they have Cole Anthony playing like this or Wendell Carter Jr. playing like he played tonight, they could steal one game.
I think this is a five-game series, but I wouldn't surprise if it were four or six. I would say it's a five-game series in my head.
It's also an interesting big brother, little brother dynamic with the Jason Tatum, Paulo thing. Both Duke guys, they're friendly. I think Paulo was asked about it after the game, and he said the ultimate compliment or whatever would be just playing well against him. It's a guy who I think a lot of Magic fans hope Paulo... that his career steers towards the Jason Tatum.
Like he's never going to be that defensively, but at least just kind of like the, you know, the, the caliber of player, the, you know, MVP first team on MBA is like that thing. Uh, it's interesting storyline to watch. I, I just, I just watched Apollo too many times.
I just go, God, like I, I understand the criticism about the, the, um, like the shooting and the shot selection at times, but they just leave them hanging out to dry. So he's asked to do so freaking much all the time. And, uh, That's why when Cole comes in and gives him a secondary ball handler creator, and Cole was pretty inconsistent. He was awesome tonight.
If they just had a guy that can, I don't know who that is necessarily. I want it to be Malik Monk in the offseason. Who can just ease the load. Here we go. Keep asking me. Ask me. I don't know. Who knows? Let's see how this series goes and how depressing it is.
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Chapter 2: How did Steph Curry perform in the playoffs?
And I think whoever wins that game in Chicago has a really good chance, Bill, of winning taking the eighth seat in the East from Atlanta. And I think Tyler Harrow and the Heat.
I forgot we're not done with Atlanta yet. We have them again. We have them again no matter what. We're saying goodbye to them for the year, but no, we're going to have them again.
And both Chicago and Miami are playing above that 9-10 level right now. And so I think whoever wins that game is going to have a lot of momentum going into Atlanta. And I could see that being Miami. And I could see Miami going into Cleveland and stealing a game.
By the way, I noticed the same thing with Miami because that line, I think it's like Chicago by one. I loved... I loved Orlando tonight. And I also like Golden State. But they were favored by like 6-7. It's not amazing. I think the two favorites are going to win. Tomorrow's a harder match of games. And I really like the Chicago thing. I think they're fun to watch.
But the same thing, you made the key point with Miami. The numbers are pretty good for them. just his last 15 and bam, I think finally looked like bam and had a couple of real kick-ass games, but in jet, you know, a couple of times they played teams that are trying to tank stuff like that. But, um, I, I just would be surprised if they lost tomorrow. I'll say that.
Yeah, me too. I think I'll go a step further. You have Spoh. You have these guys that have gone very far in the playoffs still on that roster versus the Chicago group that you can't say that about. So I feel like I am picking Miami. I like Chicago. Again, I think they're playing better than the nine spot right now.
Giddy's hurt and playing, which that part makes me nervous, where he's questionable, but he's going to play it. I don't like that.
Yeah. And then, yeah. So I love that. But I was here. What else in the piece is interesting?
By the way, the other one, I refuse to make a pick. But if you actually forced me to make a pick, I'd probably take Sacramento. Yeah. I don't feel great about it, though.
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Chapter 3: What are the concerns for Golden State heading into the series against Houston?
They kind of lost the narrative fast. Yeah, no, it seems like this is the best run, but you still needed the main guy. And it felt like the big thing this decade was just getting Cody Rhodes and first of all, stealing him from your competition, but then also seeing that you could build him as the face of the company, which I got to be honest, I didn't see. I thought he could be one of the guys.
I didn't realize he could be... the center of everything, which I think he is.
I think what's really amazing about Cody's story to me is he saw it before anyone else saw it.
Yeah.
And to ask to be let out of his WWE agreement, I guess it would be, you know, eight or nine years ago.
It's a classic bet on yourself moment.
Classic bet on yourself. And by the way, to your credit, you leave ESPN. You don't have to bring me into it.
I'm just saying, it's a bet on yourself moment.
These things, when people bet on themselves and it works out, and as you know, it doesn't work out for a lot of people. There's a lot of people who asked out at WWE and you sort of never heard from them again. A lot of people who left ESPN, you may never have heard from them again. You went, you built something, you monetized it, and now we're doing the podcast from your home.
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