SCOTT SIMON, HOST: I come to work each week merely to say it is time for sports activities. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) SIMON: The Boston Celtics play LeBron’s L.A. Lakers tonight. But who cares? Neither group had a stellar 12 months, and the U.S. Women’s football group filed a lawsuit against U.S. Soccer before the FIFA Women’s World Cup. ESPN’s Howard Bryant joins us. Howard, thank you a lot for being with us. HOWARD BRYANT, BYLINE: Good morning, Scott. How are you? SIMON: I am great, thank you. BRYANT: And, via the manner, of course, you care. It’s, nevertheless, Celtics-Lakers. It doesn’t distinguish between the years in which it is miles.
SIMON: I agree. BRYANT: It’s Celtics-Lakers. SIMON: And you know I care about LeBron. I’d care about LeBron if he was playing for an excessive school team, especially if he becomes playing… BRYANT: He has been gambling for a high faculty team these past 12 months. SIMON: Oh, oh wow, wow, wow. BRYANT: That’s a Boston color for you. SIMON: 538 offers the Lakers a much less than one percentage threat of creating the playoffs. If LeBron had stayed with Cleveland, he could have been – they might have made it to the playoffs. And
I’m beginning to be surprised, Howard. Is everybody going to want to peer “Space Jam 2?” BRYANT: Well, it has been an exciting year for the Lakers, particularly while LeBron James comes and joins the – one of the iconic one of the two iconic franchises in the NBA that this was purported to be a magical year, and it has been a big disappointment. The Lakers are 30 and 35. They’re out of the playoff race right now. Let’s now not overlook what LeBron James has finished. He’s no longer best made the playoffs each year for the final eight years; he’s made the
finals for the ultimate eight years. There’s only an additional man celebrity stage who has accomplished that, and it’s Bill Russell returned in the 1960s after they won eight immediately championships. And so, looking at what the Lakers have achieved – it is charming, too, because LeBron has been a part of the hassle. His defense has been terrible. He’s certainly been unprofessional in a pair of various examples. SIMON: Kicking the ball. BRYANT: …Rolling the ball down the court and achieving success out of – he is
not centered. And it’s been, in reality, peculiar to look. It’s no longer impossible that they might go on a touch streak and make the playoffs, maybe as an eighth seed. But, you realize, they had played the Warriors within the first spherical, and quite a great deal gets hammered, so this has been a misplaced season for the Lakers. SIMON: And what approximately are the Celtics? They haven’t gelled. BRYANT: Well – and the Celtics had been presupposed to be the crew that changed into going to – they would
play the Warriors inside the finals. And they are ten games behind Milwaukee. They’ve been inconsistent all season lengthy. And I, without a doubt, think that one of the massive problems they’ve had, and the Lakers have had the precise equal hassle, is that they had this public love fest seeking to gather Anthony Davis. And I suppose inside the Celtics’ case, they have long passed out of their manner to form of alienating their own crew. I
suggest, what – how do you genuinely ge crew to rise and play for you while you’ve pretty much signaled to the arena that you’re willing to exchange anyone on the roster for a man you don’t have? Calloused a callous gelling system for them. Kyrie Irving can leave on the give-up of the season. People ask whether he will sign up for the Knicks or signal with any other group. So they have got all forms of distractions. And it has no longer come together. I assume any other thing that came about with them is
that while you are told that you are a wonderful crew before you play your first sport of the season, it is a form hard to modify to the truth that maybe you’re not that exact and also you, in reality, need to grind every single day. And we’ll see what they do. However, they beat the Warriors in Oakland in the closing week with 33 factors, showing you what they can SIMON: Twenty-8 U.S. Ladies’ soccer team
participants are suing the federation for gender discrimination and traumatic identical pay. They experienced that nearly nothing was completed of their previous complaint again in 2017. They’re choosing a particularly auspicious time to make the case, too, aren’t they? BRYANT: Well, as they need to. This is what we name leverage. You’ve got the World Cup coming. They’re a three-time World Cup champion. This is ongoing, an issue we’ve had over the past numerous years in phrases of the same pay. They need equal pay compared to the guys. They need – they’re the higher group of the two. SIMON: Yeah, and they’re the group pleasers, too. BRYANT: They’re the gang pleasers, yet they get fewer and demonstrably fewer bonuses. They get demonstrably worse playing conditions. They feel like 2nd-class residents. And let’s no longer forget we were in the same situation two years ago. At the same time, the girls’ hockey team needed to boycott or threaten to boycott now not playing in the international championships to strike USA Hockey. So when that is going on right now – Scott, I watched “Captain Marvel” the remaining night. And it became so first-rate to see that – and it is a notable film. Marvel makes more films than D.C. But the actual trouble is all of that is a pander in case you’re going to speak approximately women being prematurely and being out the front if you’re not going to pay them. They were given the same pay.
