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And in the new podcast, Rain of Error, you're going to see his rise from aspiring musician
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Jason Tatum comes alive in the Celtics Force of Game 5 in the Eastern Conference Finals.
After throttling the stars, the Golden Knights are one-one away from a sweep and the Stanley
Cup Finals.
And Aaron Rodgers gushes about the New York Jets and the state of New Jersey.
Okay.
From Wondery, I'm Sarah Kazelle.
And I'm John Gonzalez.
It's Wednesday, May 24th, and this is Starting Five.
Five sports stories to start your day.
All right, we begin with the NBA playoffs where Boston was down three, nothing and facing
elimination on Tuesday evening in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
But the Celtics avoided the sweep and beat the heat in Miami, 116.99.
Yeah, they're not dead yet, Sarah.
Yeah.
Before the half, it looked like the Celtics might be looking at a classic one, two, three
can-coon vacation scenario.
But then they went on a huge 18-0 run in the third quarter to shift the momentum.
And even bigger, Jason Tatum.
Remember that guy?
He showed up for Game 4.
How about that?
Tatum had a game high 34 points and 11 rebounds.
He also had seven assists, a steal and two blocks.
He was everywhere.
And Sarah, after going three straight games without a field goal in the fourth quarter,
Tatum broke that streak with five field goals in the fourth.
He saved them all for Game 4.
There you go.
Save them all up.
Here's Tatum draining a 26-foot step back three to put the Celtics up 14 with just under
eight minutes left to go in the game.
Tatum, no put up a three.
Tatum finally has shown up here in the fourth quarter.
Man, he really needed that.
And obviously the Celtics needed that from him.
That's the kind of performance the big guys turn in when it matters.
But this was also a really good effort from the rest of the team for Boston.
They had six players score in double figures.
As for the heat, Jimmy Butler did Jimmy Butler things again.
He barely missed a double double with 29 points and nine rebounds.
But not enough for Miami to end the series in Miami.
So now we're headed back to Boston for Game 5 on Thursday.
But obviously Sarah, the Celtics have their work cut out for them here.
No team in NBA history has ever overcome a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series.
No pressure at all.
Boston fans here hoping they can be like the Sox.
The Red Sox when they did that.
Great accent.
Thank you.
Very authentic.
Back to the Yankees back in 2004 and eventually went on to win the World Series.
Also be sure to check out today's episode of our other show, The Lead, which looks at
the Western Conference champion Nuggets and how their foundation for winning has been
built on a number of past failures.
All right.
From the NBA playoffs to the Stanley Cup playoffs, Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals between
the stars and the Golden Knights went down in Dallas on Tuesday night.
And it was a 4-0 win for Vegas on the road and now they're up 3-0 in the series.
Yeah, John, going into this one, I think people were expecting Dallas to come out
fast and furious.
And we sure got fast and furious, but from Vegas, not from Dallas.
Three goals for the Golden Knights in the first seven minutes and 10 seconds of this
game.
Jonathan Marschusso scored on a Jack Eichl assist just over a minute in Ivan Barbershev
made it 2-0, about 5 minutes later and then not even 90 seconds after that.
Another Vegas goal this time by William Carrier.
Teddy Blugger put it on the stick of Carrier and he scores.
A back hander, top shelf.
Audinger clearly not very sharp here in the first seven minutes plus and it's 3-0 for
the Golden Knights.
Dallas pulled their star goalie, Jake Gottinger after that third goal, replacing him with
Scott Wedgwood.
And to make matters worse, John, the stars also lost their captain, Jamie Ben, after he
cross-checked Mark Stone earlier in the first period.
Tough night.
Absolutely.
Ben pinned Stone to the ice with his stick leading to a five-minute major and an ejection.
And so now you have to wonder if Ben will see a suspension that potentially puts an end
to his season with the Golden Knights up 3-0 in this series.
Vegas now has won five straight going back to their second round series against the
Oilers and they just need one more to reach the Stanley Cup final for the second time
in the franchise's six-year existence.
They don't do 1-2-3 Cancun and the NHL, but Dallas might start.
That's right.
And looking at the Eastern Conference Finals, Florida Panthers captain Alexander Barkov is
expected to play in game four tonight, Wednesday night against the Hurricanes.
He left game three in the first period with a lower body injury.
That's really good news for the Panthers as they look to end the series with a sweep
at home.
Moving to the NFL, OTAs continued on Tuesday, but a minor injury kept Jets quarterback Aaron
Rogers.
I'm still getting used to saying that from participating in practice, though it did not
prevent him, John, from speaking to the media and offering some interesting commentary about
his new home.
Yes, sir.
You're not going to believe this, but I think Rogers and the New York media, they're going
to enjoy each other.
I think you're right about that.
Yeah.
As you mentioned, Rogers sat out on Tuesday with what was described as a minor calf injury,
but turns out his mouth, plenty healthy.
So Rogers talked to reporters for the first time since he was introduced as the New Jets
quarterback about a month ago and said his time with the Jets has been, quote, like a
dream.
First time I think anybody has said that about the Jets in a long time, but I'm sure that
made the fans happy.
Here's some more from Rogers who's in full-on honeymoon mode.
I have an excitement about coming down Jets drive and it was surreal for sure and strange
to look at my locker and see a number eight, but every day there's been something that's
kind of been in a little special sign or synchronicity or just a cool moment that reminds
me I'm in the right place.
He knows he's in the right place, Sarah.
I'm trying really hard not to be too cynical about this.
I'm going to chalk a lot of that enthusiasm up to him being in a new place for the first
time in his 19-year career.
He even said he wakes up excited to go to the Jets facility every day.
Again, don't be cynical.
I'm just going to keep telling myself that.
But I do have to flag this one of the things he mentioned.
The 39-year-old said that before the trade, he associated the state of New Jersey where
the Jets practice facility is located and where they play their home games with the infamous
MTV show, The Jersey Shore.
Now I always love a super up-to-date pop culture reference right on time there, but Rogers
added that he's been assured that the show is not a true representation of New Jersey.
Now as somebody who grew up in Philly and knows a lot of people from across the way,
including friends of mine, I want to say it's not a true representation of New Jersey.
You know what I mean?
Anyway, I'm sure he and the Garden State are going to get along great and nothing could
go wrong.
Absolutely not.
I can't wait for Aaron Rodgers to start wearing leopard print to practice every single
day.
I like that for him.
NFL note at the league's annual spring meeting on Tuesday, Colton or Jim Ursay told reporters
that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's new multi-year contract extension is quote virtually
done and it is expected to run through March of 2027.
All right.
Now to the diamond where we saw the best team in Major League Baseball end up on the wrong
side of a serious beatdown on Tuesday night in, and I double check this Sarah, a 19 run
loss.
Yeah, you got the number correct, John.
We did the math.
It certainly was not the Tampa Bay Rays night.
They lost to the Blue Jays at the drop 20 to one.
Wow.
So thank goodness they got that one run in there.
So what we're going to do now, John is run through every run scored in this game in great
detail.
I only need about 20 minutes to get through it.
Okay, we're not going to do that, but we will take you right to the eighth inning.
The Rays were on to the position player as a pitcher portion of the evening.
We all know it well with right fielder Luke Rayleigh on the mound.
And it turns out that this guy has some seriously electric stuff, John, because with a 50 mile
per hour curve ball, Rayleigh struck out Vlad Guerrero Jr.
And he gets him.
Rayleigh takes care of Guerrero Jr.
I like watch Rayleigh after he delivers the pitch.
He goes to see him swing and he's getting out of the way, baby.
That's like the beer league softball pitcher.
Yeah.
I love that.
Absolutely.
Guerrero was laughing in disbelief as he walked away from the plate.
Rayleigh was laughing on the mound.
Everyone was just having fun at that point.
But Guerrero got Rayleigh back in the top of the ninth with a grand slam to make it 15
to one.
And that's going to bring up flatty.
Who struck out against Rayleigh back in the eighth.
Boy, you talk about pressure.
He wants to smile a different way and he launches this one to left field.
Grand Slam Flatty.
No gloves, Vlad.
He too, just like his dad with the grand slam there.
That was part of a nine run ninth inning for Toronto.
Not out to baseball, youtuber baseball doesn't exist for this nugget here.
The first two weeks of the season, the Ray's pitching staff allowed 19 earned runs.
First two weeks.
Then Tuesday night alone, 19 earned runs.
Tuesday night, not as good.
No.
As it turns out.
Nope.
And in other AL East news, Yankee starter Garrett Cole became the third fastest pitcher
in major league history to reach 2,000 career strikeouts and a 10 inning win over the Orioles
on Tuesday.
All right.
We wrap up today's episode with LeBron James.
After the Lakers were swept by the nuggets in the Western Conference Finals on Monday
night, James told the media that he had to do some thinking about his basketball future
and he would potentially consider retiring, which naturally had a lot of people talking
on Tuesday, including Lakers GM Rob Palenka.
Yeah, no surprise here that everybody wanted to know what Palenka made of LeBron's comments.
Here's his response when he was asked about it on Tuesday at the Lakers practice facility.
Following the team's exit interviews.
We all know that he speaks for himself, but you know, I will say this, LeBron has given
as much to the game of basketball as anyone who's ever played.
And when you do that, you earn a right to decide whether you're going to give more.
Yeah, Palenka's right.
LeBron has earned the right to decide what he wants to do here, Sarah.
He's 38 and he has absolutely nothing left to prove him.
But if, and it's a big if, he walks away, that would be pretty disastrous for the Lakers.
They just got swept with LeBron and they already have a difficult off season ahead.
At present, they only have seven players under contract for next season.
Subtract LeBron, I did.
And that number goes down to six.
Basically, just Anthony Davis and a bunch of spare parts.
And then they have to go and pay Austin Reeves, D'Angelo Russell as a free agent,
Rui Hatchimura.
And I can't believe I'm saying that.
He needs a new deal.
They have a lot to sort out.
But I really don't think LeBron will actually retire.
Because for starters, he's owed more than $46 million next season.
And yes, he's rich, but he could be so much richer.
Absolutely.
Yeah, you could always be richer.
Plus, when he actually does hang it up, I think he's going to get the full Kobe retirement tour
and make it a season long celebration.
I don't think that there's any way that he's going to just send an off-season text
and disappear into the ether like Tim Duncan.
I'm not buying.
You know, Donna, I was on defense about what LeBron James was going to do
before this conversation.
But that's a strong point by you.
He definitely would want that farewell tour.
So I think you're right.
I think we get at least one more year.
Yeah.
Maybe more.
All right.
Well, that's it for us today.
From Wondery, I'm Sarah Kazal.
And I'm John Gonzalez, not contemplating retirement.
Thanks 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.
Hey, look, 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.