“What Happens If …” NBA Playoffs Edition | The Bill Simmons Podcast 

Bill has aged into Jack Frost from those claymation holiday movies.

Rob Mahoney stares into the camera like he's watching for when the roofie kicks in.

mahoney has lego hair

Rob Mahoney is easily the best guy on the ringer

Every time Bill Simmons ask a question the other dude respond with a question.. And Bill end up the one answering.. 😂😂😂

when will bill get a 1080p camera

Knicks upset the Celtics to reach the Finals and the Mavericks upset the Nuggets to reach the Finals. Luka vs Brunson. Kyrie vs the New York team he didn't pick. That's some quality popcorn storytelling.

Uploading video at the same time as the pod? Love to see it

The Carmelo Knicks beat the Celtics in the 2013 playoffs. Last year of KG and Paul Pierce on the Celtics

Yes man rob back at it

“Russilo, the Kyrie piece…”

The Advanced Stats MVP is also the regular MVP, as it turns out.

Bill, you should do a team USA prediction/draft for the 2028 Olympic team.

Even with randle hurt the knicks have a great window of opportunity that shouldn't be downplayed so easily.The 2 best players in the conference are hurt,their teams are weak this year,orlando,indiana n cleveland still aren't ready yet,the celtics won't happen til possibly the conference finals and the team itself is hitting on all cylinders. Everybody is synced together in a way where idk if it'll repeat itself like this next year so now's the best time to strike when 90% of the playoff teams on both sides are questionable

They didn’t lose 2022 because of home court. They lost because of the Middleton injury.

Everytime Bill talks about the 2022 Bucks/Celtics playoffs, he conveniently forgets that Middleton missed the whole series with an MCL sprain, Jrue’s offense was awful, and it STILL took Boston a Tatum miracle and unlimited 3s in 7 games to win

Remember when the Spurs were criticized for their handling of Kawhi’s health situation? Injury, secrecy, and broken promises are the only thing you can count on him to deliver. It’s too bad because he is so talented.

If the Bucks don’t have Giannis for round 1, I’m being generous and saying that Indy wins in 5. Indy was 4-1 against them this season with Giannis averaging like 40. And now Indy has added Siakam and is a better team than earlier in the year. I could so easily see this being a sweep with no Giannis

0:34 - If that happens, Paul George probably leaves because Dallas knocked them out. Or he re-ups and the 'he doesn't care about winning' narrative begins. 3:43 - They probably use the Zion injury angle to justify staying put. Especially in a market where it's hard for them to get talented guys. 5:40 - They pick from their bag of mostly valid excuses (No Giannis, coaching change mid season, Lillard's personal life this year) and run it back. 9:49 - Mitchell leaves and everyone gets fired. Orlando and Philly kick the tires on him, but he scoffs at all of those ideas and goes to Miami for not as much money as he thought he'd get. 11:31 - The 'Luka for MVP' stuff becomes unbearable and will only be topped by the eventual 'how did we ever think Jokic wasn't the best player in the world?' stuff around the midpoint of next season. It won't get as toxic as Embid vs Jokic last year, but it'll come pretty close. 13:20 - (assuming nobody gets hurt) Knicks fans justifiably think they're winning the whole thing. Celtics fans call for Mazulla to be fired again, and the Celtics double down, blame bad luck, the 'stars don't win until they're 27' stat gets thrown around to defend Tatum again, they fail to look at their chocking culture (thank you Brad Stevens) and double down again by resigning everyone (hello peyton pritchard overpay). 18:18 - If Pheonix loses, coach gets fired and Durant has a whole summer of burner account tweets saying cryptic things and tries to get himself traded to whoever wins the title this year; unless it's Boston. If Minnesota loses, they publicly say 'we're young and growing together' while they subtly shopping KAT. 20:24 - Harden 100% gets paid by somebody.

"Knicks beat the Celtics in the ECF"... to quote Chernobyl, "Why worry about something that isn't going to happen?"

As a Wolves fan, I have zero faith in the Clippers. (Yes I know the Wolves can be first round exits as well 😂)

The greatest ability is availability.

Kawhi was healthy in 2020 when he choked a 3-1 lead

Since Paul George hasn’t been extended, could him on the Knicks work? (Genuine question not a Knicks stan)

Bill Simmons no longer in 240p

Better than Chauncey? Get Rusello back!! Would Brunsen go into the hall of fame if his career was over today...

I don’t understand why Giannis & Dame can’t do what Jokic & Murray do: the hand-offs, the picks, etc. It seems so obvious. What am I missing?

I disagree Bill with Pelicans played better without Ingram, they played better with CJ on the bench, they were scoring on almost every posession. Once Zion got hurt and Willie Green put CJ back in the Lakers scored each and every time. I'm trading CJ way before I ever think about trading Ingram. Ludacris thoughts on that

1979 was probably the weirdest year for best player alive at least since the early 50's after the playoffs cause gus williams was the best player on a title team but he never was a mvp or a finals mvp or seen as a top 4 player ever...erving malone hayes kareem were still seen as the best guys...strange year in nba history to look at...its up there with 1951 for sure as a weird year...a top scorer didn't win the title....hamilton won the pistons the title in 2004 but he wasn't seen as a top 5 player and he could score ala thomas in the late 80's early 90's doing the same thing...

I’ve been on this all end of season. Kawhi healthy, they beat mavs and okc.

NOLA wins the play in on Ingram’s back. Way to go Simmons

2013 playoffs the Carmelo Knicks beat KG-Pierce Celtics in the 1st round right before the trade to Brooklyn

🥂🥂

Kwahi made the Clippers trade away the Bank and Shai . It will go down as one of the worst trade in this era of Basketball if he doesn't win a chip.

Are we talking about Joel already? I thought we were talking about Kawai on the Clippers… 1:30

Love how they don’t talk about the Celtics hardly. They should have the most pressure but nobody talks about it lmao instead it’s all bucks for some reason

Sorry, I'm a bucs fan who has no stake in the Luka/Joker conversation they were having, but that is BS if in their minds they are going to wipe the slate clean on everything that Jokic did and suddenly crown Luka the better player if he hypothetically beats Jokic once in the playoffs. That's like how kids think on the playground. And I freaking love, and I mean looove, Luka...But if we are just going to wipe away people's accomplishments that easily then what's the point. That's wild

Knicks took Boston in '72 and '13 as well.

What happens if people stop over-estimating the Lakers (and every other team built around aging superstars) and closing-in-on-40 LeBron every preseason and postseason or being oblivious to the aging process?

What happens if bill gets a camera from this century?

Hey, you guys need to chill out disrespecting the 04 pistons like that. Jalen Brunson is a great offensive player, but the 04 Pistons still had Chauncey Billups, rip Hamilton and Rasheed Wallace. all three of those guys would cook in today’s NBA.

As a sixer fan I'm really surprised how fast it seems you guys have written off the sixers against the Knicks...we will see. Also I can't wait to see James Harden flop

Rob Mahoney should be on tv with the way he answers questions. Little too much yappin for me

How will the playoffs be called? Well we're through the first weekend and they appear to be going back to the first half of calling every little bs tic tac call. Not sure why tbh

Kawhi was healthy and cooking everyone earlier in the season, when he was scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent in 2024 off season, BUT as soon as he landed the big contract, his "injuries" resurfaced. Edit: No hate for Kawhi but something definitely fishy about whole thing.

What if kawhi brings a title to the clippers. Where would he rank all time

Since Doc came there, Giannis, Khris and Dame played 8 (!) games together. And the scedule of the second hafl of the saison was way more difficutl for the Bucks. So, to blame Doc for not bulding a decent team meanwhile, is a bit unfair..

Remember when ya'll shit endlessly on Siakam and said there was no comparison between him and BI? Good times. On the plus side you were right. There is no comparison. Siakam 14/17 Game 1. The dagger, blowing by Draymond Game 6. Scoring more points than Pippen and he and Kawhi matching MJ and Pippens highest playoff points. Ya. BI just like that. Oh, Ben Simmons too.

Those what if's about Knicks or Mavericks in conference finals... When either or both could easily lose in the first round (roughly a coin toss in my estimation)... But we shall see. Also, that part about Luka stealing the best player belt from Jokic... When Luka's resume is basically some exciting regular season moments and that one second round win over the Suns...

Knicks beat the Celtics in 2013 playoffs. Pierce and Garnett sent to Brooklyn that offseason, this trade gave the Celtics Tatum and Brown

Bill doubling down on the “Celtics lost a lot of stupid games and should’ve had a better record” take

So disrespectful to Chauncey... if he was a shot chucker, got away with carrying on EVERY possession, was a top 5 flopping foulgrifter in the league, and hijacked an offense the way little Brunson does, Billups would easily be a better scorer than JB. Chauncey ran an ACTUAL offense in an era of insane defense, was efficient in it, and was an ELITE defensive guard which you could NEVER say about little Jalen. He whipped Kobe so hard, Shaq was traded away.

The Knicks also beat Boston in 2013.

Kawhi, Zion and Butler. All injured. Imagine that. Bad front offices for not trading them last offseason. To keep them this offseason should be automatic firings.

I swear bill just doesn’t like Luka lol. How, and I mean seriously how, is Luka not considered the best player in the world if he is the best player on the floor in a series where the Mavs beat the nuggets? If out playing the best player in the world in a 7 game series, with what people consider a lesser team, doesn’t constitute the title of best player in the world, then idk what will

the Knicks have 1 player that can create his own shot in a playoff setting, them beating the Celtics is extremely farfetched.

Ingram + some pickS for Mikal Bridges ??????? MIKAL BRIDGES ?????????

Knicks in 5

All yall so weird commenting about appearances. How are those the top comments lmao

I want to see my Knicks beat Celtics in the East Finals, but probably not.

Best end of playoffs player championship belt rankings since 1967: Wilt Chamberlain 1968: Bill Russell 1969: Bill Russell/Jerry West 1970: Willis Reed/Walt Frazier 1971: Lew Alcindor 1972: Wilt Chamberlain/Jerry West 1973: Walt Frazier 1974: John Havlicek 1975: Rick Barry 1976: Dave Cowens 1977: Bill Walton/Julius Erving 1978: Elvin Hayes 1979: Gus Williams 1980: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 1981: Larry Bird/Moses Malone 1982: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 1983: Moses Malone 1984: Larry Bird 1985: Earvin Johnson/Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 1986: Larry Bird 1987: Earvin Johnson 1988: Earvin Johnson 1989: Isiah Thomas 1990: Isiah Thomas 1991: Michale Jordan 1992: Michael Jordan 1993: Michael Jordan 1994: Hakeem Olajuwon 1995: Hakeem Olajuwon 1996: Michael Jordan 1997: Michael Jordan 1998: Michael Jordan 1999: Tim Duncan 2000: Shaquille O'Neal 2001: Shaquille O'Neal 2002: Shaquille O'Neal 2003: Tim Duncan 2004: Shaquille O'Neal 2005: Tim Duncan 2006: Dwyane Wade 2007: Tim Duncan 2008: Kobe Bryant 2009: Kobe Bryant 2010: Kobe Bryant 2011: Dirk Nowitzki/Dwyane Wade 2012: Lebron James 2013: Lebron James 2014: Lebron James 2015: Lebron James 2016: Lebron James 2017: Steph Curry/Kevin Durant 2018: Kevin Durant/Lebron James 2019: Kevin Durant 2020: Lebron James 2021: Giannis Antetokounmpo 2022: Steph Curry 2023: Nikola Jokic

What happens if the Clippers stay healthy?

I ll bet with whoever that Bill watched -10 dallas games

Rob is the sean fennesy of basketball

celtics vs knicks/? the 6ers are beating the knicks round 1 and going to the ECF

Melo beat the Celtics in 2013 KG AND PIERCE RONDO WTF YALL TALKING ABOUT

What if Luka didn't make it out of the first round again?

Khris got hurt? whaaaat?

Holy shit why does everyone think the nuggets supporting cast is better than the mavericks (and a bunch of teams for the record) The nuggets without Jokic are awful, Murray is very good, and Gordon is solid, everyone else are just guys, they aren’t talented without Jokic, it’s all Jokic, on paper without him they’re a 17 win team, I don’t understand everyone saying this it’s nonsense

Clippers gave their future up and shai a top player for this lol

Bucks are Cooked

There's something really stiff about Rob Mahoney. Bill has a lot of younger guys in the Ringer to keep the site hip, and Rob is my least favorite of all of them. Really humorless.

I hope cavs fall apart since jazz own them picks

Ingram and picks for bridges🤣🤣

Giannis out embiid playing don’t compare the situations

Luka would have to win the chip

So this guy thinks that if Luka, who has no real accomplishments, beats the 2 time MVP/finals mvp/champion/ has a better regular season record, would now be the best in the world. What kind of logic is that?

I keep hearing ppl saying “Ingram and picks for Mikal” “Randle and picks for Mikal” In both of those scenarios the nets are getting an upgrade AND picks. Doesn’t make sense to me.

Ingram was benched cause he's coming off an injury and is not himself

Why did this need hall of fame hating segment

More Rob and way less Bill.

Paul George leaving Kawhi because he's always injured to join Embiid who's always injured seems quite funny to be honest. But the best scenario would be: what if the Lakers get title 18 before your beloved Celtics after all the crap you gave them the whole season. How much delusion are you going to provide us with? 😂

NBA media is so negative

I could legit see the Celtics losing in the first two rounds by getting outcoached, Tatum getting locked down and shitting the bed for the nth time, and opposing role players going supernova (like every superstar seems to do) against the Celtics.

Bucks gonna get swept😬

Mahoney is the only young guy at the Ringer who doesn't kiss Bill's ass well maybe KOC sometimes

Suns lose in round one Vogel has to go. If T Wovles lose they got trade KAT.

Dame lillard to the heat😊

Lol! Every dang year nba talking faces talking about the Clippers! Can you just effin stop?!?!??

My biggest if is if Jamal Murray gets hurt in the playoffs again. What happens is Dallas probably raises a second banner.

Let Paul walk and go for Derozan .

What you guys talking about? Without KL the Spurs don’t defeat Miami. And he went beat Philly solo. What are we talking about? There are thousands of great players that never or never accomplish what KL has done. How many championships do you guys want these players to get? But it’s news right. Extra Extra read all about!!!

Luka is not going to beat Denver

Crazy! I know Bill is a Laker-Hater, but in almost 25 minutes I do not recall hearing EVEN ONE mention of that team in this discussion LOL

Disappointing Dame.

Luka is not better than Giannis

What happens if bill actually knew ball and didn’t just make up weird click bait narratives ?

Clips in 5, mavs are overated and trash. easiest schedual to close the season BY FAR. Gafford is always owned by the clippers and kawhi owns luka

Luka is not better than jokic or giannis or anthony davis or kawhi or embiid because he doesnt play defence

and now Embiid is already hobbled after game 1 the world is right back to where it’s always been