The Restricted Area with Spencer Galloway

The NBA season is fast approaching and with it comes some new faces on new teams. With Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis in, and Marcus Smart and others out, the Celtics are as all-in as they’ve ever been. (2:45) Damian Lillard takes over the point in Milwaukee. How did the Heat manage to lose out? (28:39) Are Dame and Giannis the league’s top duo? (33:24)

This league moves fast, and if you blink, you can miss a lot. Prior to the start of NBA free agency, we saw the Celtics move on from Marcus Smart (3:00), sending me into a coma for the last two weeks. Now that free agency is upon us, we find ourselves in the midst of yet another superstar trade demand. Dame and the Blazers are finally breaking up! (37:31) Dame is Vice City dreaming, but does Portland have something else in mind? Oh, and KD has assembled yet another superteam! (52:33) More shockingly, the Wizards blew it up.

On an evening where history was made by the Denver Nuggets and Nikola Jokic, the Denver superstar only had one thing on his mind after winning it all— getting back home. That’s a good way to sum up the NBA’s most unlikely superstar. Since Nikola won’t spend a second of his time praising himself, or boasting about his team winning it all, I’m here to do it for him. 

I can’t breathe. My body is numb. The Celtics, only as they can, continue their monumental comeback against the Miami Heat. How did we get here? It all just feels like a blur. Let’s try and talk through this. Cancel your Memorial Day plans. We have a game seven in Boston on Monday. 

“Don’t let us win one” was the motto for the Celtics headed into game four in Miami, and the Heat didn’t get the memo! (01:45) Jayson Tatum’s huge second half sends this series back to Boston for a game five! After sending the Lakers on vacation early, Nikola Jokic is the single headliner for the NBA finals so far. What would a ring mean for the Joker’s career and his legacy? (23:00) After losing in four games to Denver, LeBron James teased his retirement postgame. Is there any chance he would actually consider it this summer? (35:11)

In a game that saw the demise AND reprise of the Celtics’ star Jayson Tatum, the Celts earn a game seven on their home floor! (08:45) The weight of the world has seemingly been lifted off of the C’s, but is that enough to give them the edge against the Sixers? After an early exit for the Golden State Warriors, they have some tough decisions involving their core of Steph, Draymond, and Klay (33:20). What lies ahead of them in this long offseason?

After letting one get away in overtime of game four, the Celtics look awful at home in a game five loss to the 76ers (2:42). What is there to make of the Tatum-Brown tandem at this stage? After Phoenix won two stunners at home without CP3, Jokic did Jokic stuff as the Nuggets take a 3-2 lead (36:02). Can Durant and Booker keep up the heavy workload? Stephen Curry goes superhuman in LA, but Lonnie Walker put a stop to the Warrior's hopes of tying this series (45:55). Yes, you read that right.

After a shocking loss to the James Harden-led Sixers in Boston, the Celtics returned to their marksman-like ways with a dominant shooting performance that sent a statement in newly-crowned MVP Joel Embiid's return (00:48). We even got Payton Pritchard minutes! Let’s go! Fresh off a game seven date with the Kings, Steph Curry and the Warriors had to face the two-way demolition man Anthony Davis who was seen carrying the entire Laker team on his back all the way from LA to San Fran (17:56). In heroic fashion, AD and the Lakers took care of business in game one. Is there any chance they make this series a short one?

The first round of the NBA playoffs has come and gone, and we have landed upon some epic second-round matchups. After discussing the massive success that was the King's season (3:14), we must ask what on earth went wrong for Milwaukee and what’s next for the team that was once title-favorites. Boston and Philadelphia started things off without Joel Embiid, and James Harden rose to the occasion (22:39). Do they have what it takes to take down the Celts? LeBron and Steph matchup for what may be the last time in a greatly-anticipated West Semifinals (46:02). Who launches themselves back into the conference final? 

The dog days of the NBA season have come to a close, and all that remains is the seeding race for the play-in tournament out West. Who will be the lucky team that gets to face Kevin Durant and the Suns in the first round? We largely know who will all be in the playoffs now, so who has the most to play for? Be it for legacy or otherwise, which teams and players will be under the most pressure to come through in these playoffs? Jokic? Embiid? LeBron and the Lakers? All this and more.