The following podcast contains explicit language.

Hi, this is Josh Levine, and this is Slate Sports podcast Hang Up and Listen for the week of May 28th, 2018.

On this week's show, ESPN's Kevin Pelton will be here to chat with us about how the Cavs and the Warriors made the NBA finals for the fourth year in a row and how the Celtics and Rockets missed out.

I'm guessing it was because they missed 8,000 three-pointers.

Gene Demby of NPR's Code Switch will also join us to discuss the NFL's new national anthem policy,

which reads like it was dictated by Donald Trump. And Deadspins Laura Wagner will chat with us

about her decision to name Barstool Sports's PFT commenter given name Eric Salenberger.

Joining me here in our studio in Washington, D.C. is Stefan Fatsis, author of the book Word Freak,

which was featured on C-SPAN 2's Book TV on July 17, 2001. Welcome, Stefan.

Hi, Josh. That was filmed at a Barnes & Noble in New York City. There was a Q&A. I want to play one of the questions from the audience. Do you know what's your favorite word? Oh, excellent question. All right, two-part question. Did you in fact think was an excellent question, or did you only say that because it was a kid?

No, I hate that question.

That's a terrible question.

But it was a kid. So you were being polite. I was. Do you remember what you said? I probably said that it was Oquasa because it scored the most points or it was like a beautiful word that I had studied. Let's go to the tape. My favorite word that I've ever played in a Scrabble game is I played at the club not too long ago against someone who's here tonight. And the word is Oquasa. O-Q-U-U-A-S-S-A. O-Q-U-A-Q-U-A. It's a kind of fish. Did you know that, child? I don't think I did. I probably did. I don't know. It wasn't my daughter. I thought it might be my daughter. But then I realized that 2001 she wasn't alive. So that would have rolled her out. Oquassa. Yeah, it's a fish. I started all the Q-7s. Oquassa. Oh, the poor Houston Rockets, Stefan.

There's another word that starts with a... They had the Golden State Warriors in a very tight spot down 3-2 in the Western

Converse Conference finals, but Chris Paul heard his hamstring at the very end of Game 5 and

missed the rest of the series.

In Game 6, Houston blew a 17-point lead and got

outscored 64 to 25 in the second half. In game seven, Houston blew a 15-point lead and missed

27 straight three-pointers. It was all very sad and miserable. And I'm not sure it will be any

consolation to anyone in Houston to say that the Rockets at least demonstrated that the Warriors path to the finals and their third title in four years was not inevitable. But congratulations for that, I guess, Houston Rockets. Joining us now to discuss Houston and Golden State and Boston and Cleveland is ESPN's Kevin Peltin.

Welcome back to the podcast, Kevin.

Hey, thanks for having me back on.

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