Hoops from Casual Diehard

Ace, James, and Jesse are back after an NBA Finals that lived up to everyone's expectations except for the so-called experts who picked the Mavericks to take down the Celtics... were the experts simply wrong, or is there something more sinister? Speaking of sinister, the Chicago Bulls decided to make a strange trade as offseason movement gets underway. What do the Celtics need to do to repeat? What do the Knicks need to get the shot at Boston that they weren't healthy enough for this year? Whose time as a contender is running out? And is it possible that every free agent on the market makes sense for the Spurs? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Casual Diehard 66 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ace, James, and Jesse are back amid the second round of the NBA playoffs, where the Finals matchup they've envisioned for months is falling apart rapidly -- largely because the Nuggets dropped the first two games of their series against the Timberwolves at home, and looked completely overmatched in the process, not to mention physically fading. Meanwhile, the Celtics are still in a safe enough position to believe that they'll survive the Cavaliers, but that's only because we're now all so used to Boston mixing an outright stinker into every series. With the way the rest of the East looks, including the red-hot but also Icy Hot-slathered Knicks, it still feels like the Celtics are the team to beat. Problem is, they keep showing why they're beatable. That's got James thinking about a team that isn't even in the playoffs, but figures to be a spring fixture again soon enough, the San Antonio Spurs. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ace and Jesse could taste the second round on Tuesday night as the Knicks led late, but it's James who got to see his team advance to the second round on Wednesday when the Celtics took care of business against the Heat with a gentleman's sweep. Is advancing out of the first round with a 34-point blowout enough for a Boston fan to be happy about? Can the Knicks bounce back and continue their playoff dream? We're also pondering the Nuggets-Timberwolves series, and whether Minnesota's sweep of Phoenix is more meaningful that dismantling a flawed team might appear. The championship picture is starting to take shape. Get more notes on our newsletter! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ace, James, and Jesse all expect that Boston still will advance past Miami, even after the Heat's stunning Game 2 win over the Celtics. But did that game expose the Celtics, and prove that James has been right about them all along? Even if they sweep their way from here to the Finals? Maybe. For the resident Knicks fans, it's just fun to ride the wave of New York's own success, with hating on Boston just a benefit. For the record, the Celtics have lost by double figures on their home court seven times in the last three-plus postseasons. The Celtics have bounced back from losing by 10-plus at home in the playoffs before, but those title runs with significant speed bumps were in 1960 and 1968. We're all over the rest of the playoffs, too, but the person writing the show notes really wants to shine a light on the Celtics here because it's really funny to see this happening again. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ana, Janice, and Jesse share their reactions to the WNBA draft, from Caitlin Clark officially becoming the face of the Indiana Fever to the Las Vegas Aces putting together a sparkling draft class without a first-round pick. Did the Liberty outsmart everyone, including their own fans? What are reasonable expectations for Clark, not just adapting to the WNBA level, but playing the most basketball of her life -- especially if she's on Team USA for the Olympics? Finally, something good happened for long-suffering Chicago Sky fans. And is the balance of power in the league shifting westward? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ace, James, and Jesse are back together to transition from the NBA regular season to the playoffs, tackling all the big questions. Could the bracket have worked out any better in the East for the Celtics? Is Dame Time already up in Milwaukee? Can the Knicks really make a run without Julius Randle? Is Oklahoma City for real as a top seed? Is Denver inevitable as a repeat winner of the West, if not the whole thing? Can the Clippers avoid going full Clippers? We've got a lot of thoughts and a lot more basketball to watch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ace, Jesse, and debuting guest Martin Rickman ready for the playoffs by examining potential intriguing matchups and what might come to pass as the regular season winds down toward its conclusion. We now know all 20 teams that will be involved in the play-in and playoffs, but not their seeding order. Is it as simple as being a two-month march to an inevitable Denver-Boston collision in the Finals? Maybe, but that’s why they play the games, and Nuggets-Celtics would be a heck of a matchup if that’s how it does wind up. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ana and Jesse are joined by one of women's basketball's best writers, Jackie Powell, to celebrate a momentous NCAA Tournament won by South Carolina, and to look ahead to the 2024 WNBA draft, which of course will be headlined by Caitlin Clark after she led Iowa to the national title game against the Gamecocks. If "reality is coming," as Diana Taurasi said, what does that mean? The challenges that WNBA rookies face are enormous, starting with making it to a roster in a league where, every year, incredibly talented players don't make it out of training camp. While one player was driving the headlines and one team was driving to a championship, who drove their draft stock in the right direction? One thing is for certain: we all love Dawn Staley. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ana, Janice, and Jesse assemble after the opening weekend of the NCAA women's tournament and continue waiting for what must be the biggest Washington Post story since Watergate for all the hype it's gotten from its subject. The basketball has been excellent, and the regionals bring potential matchups of Kim Mulkey's LSU against Caitlin Clark and Iowa, the rejuvenated Paige Bueckers and UConn against the new hotness JuJu Watkins and USC, and star-studded Stanford against top-seeded Texas. Oh, yeah, and South Carolina is still mowing down absolutely everybody in sight, with an average margin of 49.5 points so far in the tournament. Now, who's going to tell Kim about her jacket? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jared and Riann from Dunks and Donuts join Ace, James, and Jesse for a Celtics-themed episode that is specifically about love for Derrick White, and nostalgia for Marcus Smart, because the regular season might still have about 10% of the way to go, but business is settled, and business for Boston has been great -- they've already got that "x" next to their name in the standings. So, when it does get to playoff time, who might actually be an interesting matchup for what looks more and more like a juggernaut in the East? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The field of 68 is set and it looks like a lot of chalk at first glance. Certainly, Barack Obama felt that way with only five lower-seeded teams winning in his women's bracket for the entire tournament. Ana, Janice, Jesse, and Lyndsey scan the regionals and see where upsets might be waiting to happen, because you know they will -- that's tournament basketball. After our last women's college episode two weeks ago, our projected Final Four is viable, with each of our picks sent to different regions. Do we still think it'll be South Carolina, Stanford, LSU, and Ohio State? Is there room for Texas, Iowa, and USC now that they're top seeds? Test your prediction powers against us in the Casual Diehard pool, and you could win a hoodie! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Shaun joins Ace and Jesse to talk Knicks basketball. It’s great. We are loving the Knicks. Jalen Brunson is a superhero. Isaiah Hartenstein put up a historic night in Sacramento. OG Anunoby is back and transformative. In a fandom defined by failure, how do we stay positive? And who are we most negative about, because Knicks fans are, after all, world class haters? Is it the Hawks, the Heat, or even Indiana? One thing’s for sure: the Knicks sweep em with a broom, cause our season don’t end til the middle of June.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ace and James join Jesse for the worst game of the year -- meaning both Knicks-Sixers from Sunday night and a virtually impossible trivia game based on boxscore connections through the years. The point is that Josh Hart is doing some extremely cool and entertaining stuff out there for New York, and you can only worry about the results of the games so much at this time of year. Even the Celtics dropped a couple of games. It happens. Sometimes Dean Wade is D. Wade for a night. And... about that time Collin Sexton and Alabama played 3-on-5... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ace, Ana, Janice, and Jesse welcome Lyndsey on board for women's basketball talk, as it's time to get ready for the NCAA Tournament. Turns out, there's more to the sport than one player, and Iowa isn't among the top four teams in what some outlets might have you believe is the Caitlin Clark Invitational (defending champion: LSU). How many of our top 16 teams will make it to the second weekend of March Madness? Will any of our early Cinderella picks turn out to indeed wear the tournament's glass slipper for a deep run? It's going to be a fun month ahead. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ace, James, and Jesse convene in the immediate aftermath of Jalen Brunson’s injury and a Knicks win in Cleveland, and the slightly less immediate aftermath of the Celtics obliterating Golden State. So, what are we looking forward to between now and the playoffs? It’s time to get a little existential about the NBA, at least for those of us not bleeding green. Could the Lakers improve this summer by trading Anthony Davis? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ace, James, and Jesse are back together for the first time since the NBA All-Star break, playing a game that digs back into history to find that February has always been a time for basketball complaints. Then it’s time to dive into the second half, starting with what we learned from the Knicks-Celtics and continuing to tick the “we’re back to podcasting about the NBA” boxes by diving into Anthony Davis’ big numbers in Lakers losses and Steve Kerr’s extension with Golden State.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ace, Ana, and Jesse react to WNBA free agency, dabble a little in baseball, and come back to the love that unites us all, Ellie the Elephant. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's an NBA episode with Ace, James, and Jesse, and the Knicks are rolling, which has the cans popping as...Scary Terry arrives in MiamiThe fifth Bodegacat?Utah and Cleveland too good for their own goodKyrie's exes are thrivingJoker & Maple JimmyMr. Steal Your JobFat-free Jaylen BrownMaximum KAT Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

James makes his Casual Diehard debut with Ace and Jesse, ready to launch James Dolan into the sun and hoping that the assault allegations are finally the last straw to get him all the way out of the paint at Madison Square Garden. But outside of the owner, the Knicks’ vibes are strong and it’s time to start thinking about the next step for these surprise contenders with the trade deadline approaching. Plus we're talking about the Celtics, Dave Chappelle, and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.