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The
Nuggets win a Game 4 thriller to sweep LeBron and the Lakers.
The Panthers are one win away from the Stanley Cup final thanks in part to a Red Hot goalie.
And after 19 seasons, Carmelo Anthony calls it a career.
From Wondery, I am Matt Straub.
And I'm John Gonzalez.
It's Tuesday, May 23rd, and this is starting five.
Five sports stories to start your day.
We begin today's episode with the NBA playoffs where the Denver Nuggets are the Western Conference
Champs after completing the sweep and beating the Lakers in a dramatic Game 4 in Los Angeles
on Monday evening 113 to 111.
What a game Matt.
This was the Lakers best performance of the series and it still wasn't enough to stop
the Nuggets and Nick Leyokich.
The Joker had yet another triple double this time going for 30 points, 14 rebounds and
13 assists.
And Matt, he just threw in three blocks while he was at it.
It was his eighth triple double for him during these playoffs, which moves him past Will Chamberlain
for the most ever in a single postseason.
And by the way, he hit the game winner because of course he did.
Here's the Joker, barreling his way to the hoop like a runaway bowling ball with under
a minute left to put the game away.
Seven on the shot clock on the inbound Yokich drives and puts it up and in.
Nuggets up by two.
30 for Yokich.
Neither team scored after that.
Just an incredible effort by Yokich and the Nuggets and they needed every bit of it to
get past the Lakers who were up by as much as 15 at one point, which was their biggest
lead of the entire series.
LA got another superhuman effort from LeBron James who almost had a triple double of his
own with 40 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists.
Matt Lebron scored 31 of those in the first half.
That was a career playoff high for him in a single half and he played all 48 minutes.
The man is 38 years old.
I know they got swept, but LeBron and the Lakers did not quit here.
They just ran out of gas and time, but the Nuggets are in this mat after 47 seasons in
the league.
The long wait is over Denver has reached the NBA finals for the first time in franchise
history.
What a story.
And now we wait to see who the Nuggets will face as the NBA playoffs continue tonight Tuesday
evening when the Heat try to complete their sweep of the Boston Celtics with game four
of the Eastern Conference Finals in Miami.
All right.
Now we turn to the Stanley Cup playoffs on Monday night.
It was game three of the Eastern Conference final and the Panthers beat the Hurricanes one
nothing to take a three elite.
Yeah.
And with that, we have our first non over time game of the conference finals in either series.
This was also the first time the Panthers had hosted a conference finals game since 1996.
And after a scoreless first period, the Panthers scored the lone goal of the game on the power
play in the second period with Sam Reinhardt putting it away.
That goal of course is the only one that Florida needed and that is because their goalie Sergei
Babrowski is on a heater heater heater.
He saved all 32 shots he faced on Monday night, including this one in the second period.
Can I am a shot?
The boss he makes you look easy.
That's a great way to describe it.
Kenny just throws the glove up and casually makes that stop.
That was a shot through a screen, not necessarily an easy say, but Babrowski's on it.
Babrowski was on almost everything in this game.
It is worth noting that the hurricanes hit the post or crossbar at least three times,
but no doubt he has been stifling in this series.
The two time Vessna Trophy winner recorded his first career playoff shutout on Monday
and has now stopped 67 consecutive shots overall.
Unbelievable.
Yeah.
But Brofski and the Panthers have held the Hurricanes to just three goals in three games
and they are now one win away from their first trip to the Stanley Cup final since that year
we mentioned earlier, 1996.
In one significant injury note to keep an eye on for Florida, their captain, Alexander
Barkov, left the game in the first period due to what's being called because it's hockey,
a lower body injury.
Game four of this series will be on Wednesday.
There are two quadrants upper and lower.
All right, moving to the NFL, OTAs got underway on Monday and in Pittsburgh.
The big story was about the starting quarterback and some choice words from the guy who preceded
him at the position.
The quarterback drama is the best mat.
All right.
So over the weekend, Kenny Pickett, the Steelers current starting quarterback, went on Ben
Rothlessberger's podcast, the Steelers long time former quarterback.
All right.
So that makes sense.
They're keeping it in the family except just like some families, it turns out that there
was some sibling rivalry and jealousy going on, at least where Rothlessberger was concerned.
Here's Big Ben on how he felt about the Steelers drafting Pickett.
I'm going to get blasted, I probably shouldn't say this, but who cares at this point?
I wouldn't say that I wanted Kenny to necessarily fail, but like, you know, when someone comes
to a place and you're like, you know, I still feel like I had it.
I hope he doesn't come like ball out.
And then it's like Ben who, right?
All right.
So to be clear, it's not so much that Pickett bawled out because they never actually overlapped
where Rothlessberger's career was already over.
And Ben went on to say that his attitude changed toward Pickett and he started rooting for
him.
And now he's a big fan.
But not surprisingly, Rothlessberger was right that some people on social media blasted him
for initially wanting Pickett to fail.
And Matt, that was kind of my initial inclination to that he sounded petty.
But the more I thought about this, the more I reluctantly have to give Rothlessberger
some points here because as sports fans, we always say we want athletes to be open and
honest and not just regurgitate the same old talking points.
But then when they give us something a little spicy like this, then all of a sudden they
get knocked for it.
So just like Ben coming around on Pickett, I've come around on Rothlessberger sharing
his story about being a jerk.
Good story.
Well, what a journey you've been on, John already today.
Meanwhile, there was a whole bunch of other news out of the NFL on Monday, including Thursday
night football will now have flex options for some late season games.
The league approved a rule that will allow teams to designate an emergency third quarterback
on game days.
The Brock party rule.
Yes, indeed, the 2025 NFL draft will be in Green Bay and pending league approval.
Tom Brady reached an agreement to purchase a minority stake in Las Vegas Raiders.
He's coming back.
Next up, Major League Baseball on Monday night, the top two teams in the National League, the
Dodgers and the Braves, started a three game series in Atlanta and the Dodgers won eight
to six and a homecoming game for one of their stars.
John, this series marked the second time that former Braves for a space been Freddie Freeman
has come back to Atlanta after he left for the Dodgers as a free agent prior to last
season.
And on Monday night, Freeman got a nice ovation from the crowd before his first at bat.
And then in the fifth inning with the Dodgers trailing four to three, Freeman teed off.
Down one, two here.
Eddie Gulfswan down the line of its ferrets got a chance.
It is a fair ball.
It's a three run home run Freddie Freeman and his return to Atlanta has put the Dodgers
in front with a three run skyscraping home run.
And it's not John.
The Braves have been just fine since they lost Freddie Freeman, but as a lifelong Atlanta
fan, I can't tell you it's still a little bit surreal.
And by that, I mean, still crushing to see Freeman tee off against his former team still
hurts.
I feel for you.
Freeman had three hits on the night while JD Martinez added four hits and two homers
for LA as the Dodgers become the first team in the National League to reach 30 wins.
Has a little advice for you about the soul crushing part.
The Philly sports fan would just forgo the soul.
Oh, yeah, just kind of it.
It's way easier that way.
You can know to that that could be useful elsewhere in Major League Baseball, the World
Series champion, Astro's got a 12 to win over the Brewers.
And now Houston has won eight in a row.
We wrap up today's episode by saying goodbye to one of the best NBA players of his era
on Monday, Carmelo Anthony officially called it a career and retired, John.
Yeah, Matt, I'm not going to lie.
I kind of forgot about mellow.
In my defense, though, he did not play at all this season.
The last time we saw him on an NBA court was the season before this one when he was
with the Los Angeles Lakers.
So after taking a year off, mellow called the quits on Monday, ending his 19 year career.
Here's part of his farewell on social media.
I am forever grateful for those people in places because they made me Carmelo Anthony.
But now the time has come for me to say goodbye to the court where I made my name to the
game that gave me purpose and pride.
But this bittersweet goodbye to the NBA.
I'm excited about what the future holds for me.
I know this might sound hyperbolic, Matt, but that might be the best retirement video
ever.
It was so good.
I was floored.
Very well produced, had a track underneath, awesome highlights.
I highly recommend the listeners go and seek that out.
All right.
As for mellow's career, he retires as the number nine scorer in NBA history after being taken
third overall in the 2003 draft, a draft many consider to be the best of all time and included
LeBron James, who was taken first overall, as well as Chris Bosch and Dwayne Wade, who
were taken right after mellow.
Anthony was a scoring champion, a 10 time all star, a six time all NBA selection and he
was named one of the 75 greatest players in NBA history.
He's a lock to be a first ballot Hall of Famer, but I still got to ask Matt, where are you
on his legacy?
Because mellow had an excellent individual career with the nuggets and nicks among other
teams, but he never reached the NBA finals or won a championship, which is something
critics always mention when knocking guys like Charles Barkley and Carl Malone.
Yeah, no NBA title, but I also think of his legacy as an Olympian.
mellow was a four time Olympian who won three gold medals, of course, and he is second
all time in Olympic scoring among US men, second only to Kevin Durant and in having watched
him at the Olympics over the years, including a time or two in person, I was always impressed
by how well he transitioned from his normal role in the NBA as a super high usage guy
to at the Olympics, often taking on a lesser role off the ball and playing really well
as a catch and shoot guy in those Olympic performances.
And to that end, more than half of his shots, he attempted in his Olympic career with three
pointers and he made 41% of them.
USA USA.
And don't forget he won a national championship.
It's air truth.
What a career.
He was so good.
Godspeed mellow.
All right, that's it for us today from Wondery.
I'm John Gonzalez and I am Matt Straub.
Thank you for listening.
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Hey, there.
It's me, Jesse Tyler Ferguson.
Yeah, yes, that redheaded actor from modern family from Broadway.
I'm here to share a little secret with you.
I have a podcast.
I know a celebrity interview podcast.
Who's doing that?
No one, which is why I needed to.
That's why for my first podcast, I thought I would take us out of the studio and into
restaurants across Los Angeles and New York City.
So please join me as I dine with the biggest names in entertainment, the culinary world
and even politics.
People like Julie Bowen, Kristen Bell, Fred Armisen, Jesse Williams, and so many more.
Like, I don't know about you, but there's just something about breaking bread that makes
me feel more connected to someone.
Am I saying a chocolate souffle is going to get me to reveal all of my secrets?
Yeah, yeah, I am.
So join me.
Dinner's on me.
Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts.
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