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00:00First, let's get to the domination for San Antonio back at home in Game 5.
00:04They're now up 3-2 in the series and can close it out this weekend.
00:07The Spurs beat the Timberwolves yesterday as a 10.5-point favorite by more than 30.
00:13How about that? 126-97. The Spurs win in cover.
00:18Wemby, 27 points, 17 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 blocks.
00:21Yeah, he's that good when he's on the court full-time.
00:24Good for him that he was. Game 6, as I mentioned, will be Friday in Minnesota.
00:27But certainly Mitch Johnson is happy with the end result and knows they are just one game away.
00:36I thought that we played with the appropriate, which is hard to do, as we've learned in the first 10
00:44games.
00:44We played with the appropriate feeder, discipline, execution, physicality, poise.
00:53And I thought we had it from an array of people tonight.
00:56It was really good to see.
00:58And we needed everybody because at different moments of the game, different guys stepped up.
01:01One of those guys, obviously, was Keldon, best game of the playoffs.
01:05What did you see from him?
01:09As simple as it sounds, it just felt like he was being himself.
01:12He wasn't trying to do something or trying to be anything.
01:14He just played with energy.
01:16And as he's shown in his career, and most specifically this year, when he plays for that type of energy,
01:21the basketball finds him.
01:22He's in the middle of plays.
01:23He's in, you know, gang rebound situations where there's multiple people.
01:31And he's a catalyst for that energy and that physicality and that dynamic of our team when we need it.
01:38A couple games now in a row with slow starts to the game.
01:42You guys have kind of been digging out of a hole at the start.
01:44What do you think has been going on just at the start?
01:48I mean, tonight, some of the stuff that Wimby was doing, you can't, you don't really have too much of
01:58an answer for it.
02:01Just kind of hope he misses.
02:03But he was making, he came out high, he made a bunch of shots.
02:06I feel like we adjusted, fought back in the game, tried to dig ourself out of the hole.
02:13But, I mean, eventually they created another league and running out in transition.
02:19We got to get back, get matched up.
02:23Just game plan mistakes that we keep making in this series to make these mistakes.
02:27And Anthony Edwards generally playing a lot better at home.
02:30We'll see what happens at home in Minnesota on Friday.
02:33Meanwhile, tonight, game five is a big one.
02:35We'll have a preview coming up between the Cavs and Pistons.
02:38That series is tied at two.
02:39And Daryl Morey has been let go as 76ers president of basketball operations after six seasons.
02:47Nick Nurse is going to stay.
02:49And certainly a new era for a new executive, again, by the way, of the Philadelphia 76ers.
02:55All right, yesterday in Major League Baseball, we were waiting for a big hit or any hit for Cal Raleigh.
03:01And he broke it, finally.
03:020 for 38 is over.
03:04He went two for four.
03:05And the Mariners ended up winning the game.
03:07They win 10-2 over the struggling Houston Astros.
03:11In fact, they said that Raleigh showered in his full uniform to help break his streak earlier this week.
03:17Rays just keep on winning.
03:19How about them?
03:19Seven to six, the final.
03:20This is the hottest team in the American League.
03:21They just keep on winning.
03:23Jose Aranda was two for four.
03:25Jonathan Aranda, two for four with an RBI as they win in extra innings in 10 innings.
03:30So if they're the hottest in the American League, how about the National League?
03:33That's the Atlanta Braves.
03:34They combined to one hit the Cubs in a 7-2 win.
03:37Mike Gastremski homeward.
03:38He drove in three runs as well.
03:41It's been a complete shift from where the Braves were a year ago, which was several games under 500.
03:45Right now, they're in complete control.
03:47Here's Walt Weiss on that.
03:49Do you have a new leader on the team?
03:51Is there some culture, is there some reason you can attribute that to?
03:54You know, winning always helps, you know, that stuff.
03:57But I was saying coming out of spring training that I kept talking about how good the vibe was, the
04:05mojo, whatever you want to call it.
04:06We got good guys, man.
04:08We got a really good group.
04:10They like to compete.
04:12They like getting to the park and being around each other.
04:17It's just a really good situation.
04:20Good start for the Braves.
04:22Not as much for the Los Angeles Dodgers, although if you watched yesterday's show, this should come as no surprise.
04:26Whenever they play the Giants, things tend to go sideways, and they did again yesterday.
04:31Giants win as huge road dogs.
04:32I believe plus 280 or something like that.
04:35Six to two the final.
04:36Go figure.
04:37Adrian Hauser, who has struggled this season.
04:39He wins.
04:39Yamamoto loses.
04:40Otani did homer for the first time since April.
04:43But, yeah, Dodgers going through it a little bit.
04:45Here's the skipper, Dave Roberts.
04:47Well, you know, in the first inning, I thought it was really promising.
04:51I thought Will had a great at bat.
04:53Lee makes a great play over his shoulder, which really could have been the difference in the game.
04:59And instead of giving up, you know, three runs and still one out, it's two outs and then, you know,
05:06giving up one run.
05:08So that was a really game-changing play.
05:10I think that, you know, I think in total, you know, when you don't get a whole lot of opportunities
05:16and you don't cash in on the couple that you do get, you don't score a lot of runs.
05:22And so, you know, today, I think, you know, in that first inning and then in the eighth inning, I
05:27think it was where, you know, Max strikes out on a borderline pitch.
05:34You know, then they get out of that inning.
05:36And so it's just you just we just don't give ourselves as we haven't given ourselves as many opportunities as
05:42we're used to.
05:44Dodgers certainly eventually will get back on track, may not be today.
05:48We'll see.
05:48Also, last night, speaking of on track, remember Paul Skeen's opening day?
05:52Folks were worried about him.
05:53Not anymore.
05:54Almost threw a no-hitter yesterday.
05:56He took one into the seventh inning.
05:57He ended up winning the game as the Pirates beat the Rockies 3-1.
06:01Skeen's threw eight innings of ten strikeout no-run ball.
06:04He's absolutely been fantastic at virtually every start this season.
06:09So certainly everything is going his way.
06:11And right now, Skeen says he's just rolling.
06:15Back to outings now in eight shutout innings.
06:18If there's a comparison, what was the difference?
06:19Is it better in this one?
06:21Can you look at the two and find similarities?
06:22Did you feel better in this one?
06:27I don't know.
06:28Probably similar in ways.
06:29But I think the execution in this one might have been a little sharper.
06:37Yeah, I don't know.
06:38I'd have to lose some time to think about that.
06:42All right.
06:42Not the best sound from Paul Skeen's, as we've learned through the years.
06:46Not a good talker.
06:47Kyle Schwarber, much better.
06:49He homered for the fifth straight game.
06:51And right now, he's on fire.
06:53Here is Schwarber after this 2-1 win, talking about this power surge.
07:00I mean, you tie a franchise record tonight for consecutive games with a home run.
07:04I mean, is that sort of a, you know, what does it mean to you to kind of be in
07:07that club, in that group?
07:09Yeah, I don't know.
07:09That's a good question.
07:10I haven't really thought about it.
07:13I didn't really know that was a thing.
07:15So, yeah, I mean, it's pretty cool, right?
07:18When, you know, our franchise history is pretty historic as well.
07:23And when you have a lot of some big boppers up and come through our organization, you know, throughout the
07:29history of it, it's really cool to see that.
07:31But like I always say, I think it'll be cooler when I get to all this sit back, have a
07:37beer whenever I'm retired,
07:38and look at all the cool things that you got to do throughout your career.
07:42But, you know, I want to focus on our guys and keep trying to find a way to win baseball
07:46games.
07:4817 home runs now for Kyle Schwarber on the season.
07:51That, of course, is the most in Major League Baseball.
07:53All right.
07:53In hockey last night, looks like the Sabres and Canadians could be headed toward a game 6 and 7.
07:59In fact, they have to have a game 6 at this point because Buffalo did even up the series with
08:03Montreal 3-2.
08:04How about the Golden Knights?
08:05They beat the Ducks in a very emotional finish, 3-2 in overtime.
08:09So they lead their best of seven out west, 3-2 as well.
08:13And the Colorado Avalanche can close out their series tonight back at home.
08:18They lead the series 3-1.
08:20If Colorado advances, they go to the Western Conference Finals in the Stanley Cup chase.
08:27And welcome back to Newswire here on Sports Grid.
08:30When we turn the calendar after Memorial Day to the month of June,
08:33the World Cup will be in focus, not just around the world, but even closer to home,
08:38of course, as the World Cup will be played here in the United States.
08:41Let's bring in Sam McQuillen from Legal Sports Report.
08:43Seems like there could be some sports betting ramifications from that.
08:47And, hey, I guess it's not enough to hike the prices and taking the train over to the games of
08:54the Meadowlands.
08:55Now sports betting getting involved here, maybe adding some tax on to, like, to people who are placing bets.
09:02It just feels like, like, why?
09:04Like, they just want to make some extra money here.
09:07I don't know.
09:08I don't know how this is going to be received, Sam.
09:10And I suppose if every book does it, it'll be one thing.
09:13But if not, I don't think people are going to be very agreeable to laying some extra juice
09:19or paying some extra vig to the sports betting handles just because the World Cup is in their state.
09:25Yeah, it's definitely a very unprecedented scenario, we could call it,
09:29with New Jersey hosting eight World Cup games this summer, including the World Cup final.
09:34Of course, the World Cup is being advertised as being hosted in New York.
09:38There's a joint bid venture that the city of New York and New Jersey have together to host it.
09:43But New York is paying for zero dollars of it, while New Jersey has already paid about $308 million
09:50just to get things together, infrastructure costs to pay for extra transportation.
09:54We've heard about, you know, they're going to have to ferry thousands of people
09:58who come into the city, into New Jersey, to go to MetLife.
10:01So it's going to be a crazy scenario.
10:03It's already costing New Jersey a lot of money.
10:05And now lawmakers are scrambling to figure out how the heck they're going to pay for this thing.
10:09And, of course, one of the proposals is to hike taxes on a number of things.
10:14And sports betting happens to be included.
10:17There's this new bill that proposes, you know, a temporary tax hike on hotels,
10:22tax hike on concessions at the stadium during the event,
10:25and then also proposes raising the sports betting tax rate from about 19.75%
10:31all the way to 29.75% just during the month that the World Cup games are hosted in the
10:38state.
10:39You know, lawmakers often, when they look to raise taxes,
10:42they look to so-called sin industries like sports betting, you know, industries that,
10:46you know, if they raise the taxes, nobody's really going to cry for the sports books.
10:50What could end up happening, as we've seen in other states, obviously,
10:53that cost trickles down to the customers.
10:55You know, if New Jersey wasn't bordering a state like New York that has a, you know,
10:59nation-high 51% tax rate, I would say maybe the tax hike would, you know,
11:03threaten more people to stay in New York, place their bets there before, you know,
11:07the actual games happen.
11:09But it's just number one of the things being considered right now in New Jersey.
11:12It looks like they're really kind of in a pinch, honestly,
11:14to figure out where this money's going to come from.
11:17And, you know, it's a lot easier to raise taxes on sports betting for a month
11:20than it is to, you know, raise taxes on something else that, you know,
11:24really hits more people at home.
11:25So it's an interesting proposal.
11:27I would imagine it goes through pretty quickly since the World Cup,
11:29like you mentioned, Greg, is coming up.
11:31Oh, yeah.
11:31Just in a few weeks now.
11:32So it'll be really interesting just to see how New Jersey handles that in general.
11:36Yeah.
11:37Read on more at legalsportsreport.com, including this next story,
11:40which, you know, is still about New Jersey, but no correlation.
11:44Responsible gaming has taken the forefront, again,
11:47for a lot of different states wanting to make sure that people
11:50are doing things the right way.
11:52There's some new legislation, potentially, Sam,
11:55that could ban promotional credits, incentives, and benefits to bettors
12:00who sign up, who use responsible gaming tools like deposit limits.
12:05So, I mean, look, this is natural with sports betting not being legalized
12:09in a lot of states.
12:10I mean, a lot of these, you know, apps and companies,
12:13they just want to flood you with as many things as possible
12:15just to get you to put more money in.
12:17And this would sort of put an end to some of that, at least in New Jersey.
12:21Yeah, and I think it's important we preface this, too, Craig,
12:23with talking about New Jersey was one of the first states
12:26to legalize sports betting.
12:27It's kind of considered by a lot of people in the industry
12:30as, like, the most with-it state that really gets sports betting,
12:34really gets the industry, understands, and passes, quite frankly,
12:38a lot of new rules and legislation over the years
12:41that have kind of helped shape the industry in other states as well.
12:44So kind of whatever New Jersey does is sort of a role model
12:48or an example for the rest of the country.
12:50And like you mentioned, the bill that would ban, you know,
12:54sports books from giving out bonuses, promotions, free bets,
12:58really any incentive to keep betting to those bettors
13:00who use responsible gaming tools,
13:02it just passed its first committee seven to nothing.
13:06There's a Senate companion awaiting its first committee hearing.
13:09But, you know, the thinking here is, of course,
13:11you want to prevent sports books from being predatory.
13:14And if someone has exhibited signs of a problem,
13:17they may have used responsible gaming tools.
13:19And let's prevent sports books from, you know,
13:22sending them notifications like, hey, do you want to bet?
13:24Hey, here's a free bet.
13:25Things that would entice them to bet.
13:26Now, kind of where you run into perhaps an issue would be,
13:30would this prevent people from using responsible gaming tools?
13:33You know, it's not just for people who have problem gambling
13:36or gambling addiction problems.
13:38You know, deposit limits can be a really good, helpful thing
13:41for people who want to just kind of keep track
13:43of how much they're spending every month,
13:45want to prevent themselves from going over
13:47if they haven't been keeping track.
13:48So under this bill, if you even use one of those tools once,
13:52the sports books would not be able to give you any promotions.
13:54And we'd all know how much people and bettors especially
13:58love free promotions, how much it's, you know,
14:00how much sports books talk about how that's such a part
14:03of their game plan to grow their business as well.
14:06So I would imagine this kind of gets some big opposition
14:09from the sports betting lobbying industry in the state,
14:12not just because they don't want this passed in New Jersey,
14:15but probably because they don't want similar bills passed
14:18elsewhere as well.
14:19They don't want to kind of, you know,
14:20set the tone for the rest of the country.
14:22Under the bill, operators would pay about $500
14:25for every violation.
14:26So that's kind of the incentive for them not to do it as well.
14:30But again, it's a part of a larger push in New Jersey
14:33to kind of restrict or change or safeguard gambling
14:36or sports betting rather as we kind of enter, you know,
14:39year six, year seven of this whole thing.
14:41They've got other bills that would ban micro betting,
14:43the play-by-play bets, which have, you know,
14:45we've heard other proposals in other states
14:47to do similar things.
14:48A bill that would actually alert bettors anytime
14:51that the sports book limits them.
14:53So we know that's been a big controversial topic as well.
14:56We'll see if any of these bills come to fruition.
14:59It's, you know, it's a number of proposals.
15:00Often not all of them are accepted,
15:02but maybe one or two changes gets in there.
15:04There's also a bill to restrict advertising and study it.
15:07And then, of course, you have that World Cup tax bill
15:09that I just mentioned.
15:10So a lot on the plate right now in New Jersey this summer
15:13as we head into a really big stretch of the year.
15:16All right, finally, let's get to the latest
15:17with FanDuel and DraftKings,
15:19putting some reporting out there
15:21as far as their strategy is concerned.
15:22It seems like, at least from what I read here
15:24over at Legal Sports Report, Sam,
15:27that DraftKings is making some solid strides
15:29in terms of financially,
15:30and FanDuel has really fallen behind a little bit.
15:33And FanDuel, of course, for years
15:35was, you know, arguably ahead of DraftKings.
15:37So what do you think this switch ended up happening?
15:39Does it have to do strictly with the strategy
15:41of DK's prediction markets?
15:44Yeah, I would say it's a number of different factors,
15:47which, like you mentioned, Craig,
15:49have led this scenario now
15:50where we have FanDuel suddenly
15:51kind of in scramble mode,
15:53trying to catch up,
15:54trying to maintain their number one position,
15:57while DraftKings, their long-term rival,
15:59seems to be making strides.
16:00You have this crazy environment right now
16:02with prediction markets
16:03where investors are spooked,
16:05where Handel has been slowing down
16:07over the last couple of months.
16:08And FanDuel really kind of exhibited that problem
16:11when they revealed their earnings.
16:13They showed that Handel,
16:14or Handel, rather,
16:15the total amount of dollars bet,
16:16fell for the first time ever in a quarter,
16:19which investors definitely don't want to see.
16:21They want to see growing the business.
16:23Meanwhile, you know,
16:24it has to spend a ton of money
16:25on its own prediction market business
16:27so it can compete with Kalshi,
16:29so it can compete with Polymarket,
16:31and now DraftKings,
16:32which has entered the business.
16:33That's one of the reasons
16:34that FanDuel moved on
16:35from its longtime CEO last week
16:37and has this new sportsbook recovery plan
16:40where it wants to really execute
16:41on a lot of new initiatives
16:42ahead of football season,
16:44which is pretty crazy to say.
16:45You know, I never thought
16:46I would be talking about FanDuel that way
16:47just a couple of months ago even.
16:49And then meanwhile,
16:50DraftKings says they're making a lot of money
16:52out of prediction markets already.
16:54It's really allowed them
16:55to enter states like California and Texas
16:57for a very cheap price,
17:00lower customer acquisition costs.
17:02And they're also doing
17:03something really interesting, Craig,
17:04is that they're participating
17:06on third-party market
17:07or third-party prediction markets
17:09like Kalshi and Polymarket
17:11and using their own sportsbook
17:13trading capabilities
17:14to offer contracts there
17:16and make money there
17:17and take advantage
17:18of that peer-to-peer process.
17:19So it's pretty interesting.
17:21It's not just DraftKings predictions
17:22where they're making a lot of money.
17:23It's also just their own business
17:26kind of as sports bettors
17:27on these other prediction markets.
17:28I know FanDuel has a similar plan.
17:30We'll see if it helps them
17:32make money the same way.
17:33But right now,
17:34DraftKings definitely operating
17:35from a place of advantage
17:36and growth in the prediction markets
17:38and FanDuel, not so much.
17:41Sam, as always, great material.
17:42We'll read more at Legal Sports Report
17:44and see you later in the week.
17:45Thanks for coming on.
17:46Thanks a lot, Craig.
17:47Have a good one.
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