Speaker 1: All right, welcome in What's Driving the Great Episode three
Speaker 1: point thirty nine. If you're watching on YouTube, you got
Speaker 1: a quick preview of what the show was going to
Speaker 1: be a moment ago. If you're just listening on iTunes
Speaker 1: or Spotify, we greatly appreciate that, or watching on YouTube
Speaker 1: later in the day. We had slight technical difficulties in
Speaker 1: Los Angeles, but it's to maybe be expected this earlier
Speaker 1: than we've ever done the show in Los Angeles, but
Speaker 1: I don't actually think that had anything to do with it,
Speaker 1: because first things first, Early Today Live for you guys.
Speaker 1: Then we head to Miami for one year out from
Speaker 1: the World Cup celebration, and we could not be on
Speaker 1: the air for this episode of What's Right with Nick Right,
Speaker 1: presented to you by our good friends at boost Mobile
Speaker 1: because last night was an utterly stunning result. We will
Speaker 1: get to that in a second, but first straight to voicemail,
Speaker 1: brought to you by boost Mobile. Bobby Witt Junior the player.
Speaker 1: According to anonymous IMA player poll, that is second most
Speaker 1: beloved by his fellow player as far as watching him play,
Speaker 1: only show Aotani has more people are interested in watching
Speaker 1: him play. Aaron Rodgers can't stand his new helmet. We
Speaker 1: knew that already and the state of American soccer, which
Speaker 1: we could spend a lot of time on. However, we're
Speaker 1: not going to, just because last night's basketball game was
Speaker 1: to me as stunning of a game as we've had
Speaker 1: in the finals. Gosh, for my purposes in fifteen years,
Speaker 1: that to me was as stunning of a singular and
Speaker 1: I know it was only a five and a half
Speaker 1: point spread, but as stunning of a singular finals game
Speaker 1: as we've had since Game five of MAVs Heat in
Speaker 1: twenty eleven. And so we will get to all of that.
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Speaker 1: demands is bravely repping his old school Shay Gilgess Alexander
Speaker 1: Jersey that was purchased I mean six five years ago,
Speaker 1: like right after the thunder got Shay, before he was
Speaker 1: anything close to an All star, much less a superstar.
Speaker 1: He's repping it right after they have their first, in
Speaker 1: my opinion, truly devastating loss of the year. So let's
Speaker 1: get into First of all, proud of you, good job
Speaker 1: in that regard. Second of all, let's get into the game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so you said you said the Pacers had to
Speaker 2: win this game, and they went out there and win it.
Speaker 3: Their role players showed up.
Speaker 2: Okay, ces role players did little for them, shave and
Speaker 2: kind of underwhelmed a little bit. Do you think that
Speaker 2: that performance is replicable for the Pacers?
Speaker 1: Well, what I think is this. I think we have
Speaker 1: something now that I never thought we were gonna have,
Speaker 1: which is a real series that could go either way.
Speaker 1: And I'm shocked Indy won that game. And I know
Speaker 1: I shouldn't be, because again, five and a half point
Speaker 1: underdogs win all the time. It's not like and they
Speaker 1: were at home. And I understand all of that, I
Speaker 1: really do, And if I the only solace I have,
Speaker 1: I suppose from a personal perspective, in all, you know
Speaker 1: my terrible poker results from last week in Vegas's. Had
Speaker 1: I not had terrible poker results last week in Vegas,
Speaker 1: I almost assuredly would have fired considerably on the thunder
Speaker 1: to win this basketball game. Because I have bought in.
Speaker 1: I have bought in the the twenty twenty five Oklahoma
Speaker 1: City thunder as far as singular seasons are an all
Speaker 1: time team that Indiana did not have an answer for
Speaker 1: Shay And as we talked about I think pretty intelligently
Speaker 1: on Tuesday, it is just so hard, unless you have
Speaker 1: the best defense in basketball to win a championship if
Speaker 1: your best player is a pass first guy, if he's
Speaker 1: not a just go get you a bucket guy. And
Speaker 1: we talked about it on Tuesday that the greatest point
Speaker 1: guards we've seen in the history of this league, aside
Speaker 1: from Magic Johnson, were not able to crack that code
Speaker 1: if they were listen. Steph did it. Obviously he's not
Speaker 1: a pass first guy. Zeke did it. He could have
Speaker 1: scored more, but also had the best defense in basketball.
Speaker 1: But Jason Kidd or Chris Paul or hell Oscar Robertson
Speaker 1: before he had a Keeam or Bob Coosey before he
Speaker 1: had Russell, Steve Nash, those guys, It's just so hard
Speaker 1: because you are going to come again across a team
Speaker 1: who's best guy can go get a bucket whenever he
Speaker 1: wants And how do you answer that? And again, I'm
Speaker 1: not acting as if the Pacers have won the series.
Speaker 1: I am acting as if however, we now have a series,
Speaker 1: and now all of a sudden, the Pacers have a
Speaker 1: game to play with The Pacers demonse go into Game four,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure they won't view it this way, but
Speaker 1: it's a house money game. They go into Game four saying,
Speaker 1: all right, if we win, we have a vice scrip
Speaker 1: on this series. And if we lose, we already know
Speaker 1: we can win in Oklahoma City. And unlike Game one,
Speaker 1: which you give the Pacers credit for their heart and
Speaker 1: their grit and all of that, Game one, however, let's
Speaker 1: be honest, felt fluky. It felt like, Okay, Oklahoma City
Speaker 1: took their eye off the ball for just a minute,
Speaker 1: and the Pacers stormed through that door.
Speaker 2: Say if this is what they do when they get
Speaker 2: they get in those late game situations and they can
Speaker 2: overcome it.
Speaker 3: I think they did it again.
Speaker 1: So but that's not what they did here.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, this not in this game. I'm talking about
Speaker 3: Game one.
Speaker 1: Ok yeah, So here, here's why I'm saying. It didn't
Speaker 1: feel fluky that they hit. You know, that Halliburton hit
Speaker 1: the game winner. That didn't feel fluky. What felt fluky
Speaker 1: was the fact that Oklahoma City led seconds into the
Speaker 1: game the Pacers never closed the gap. That it was
Speaker 1: a fourteen point game in the fourth quarter and it
Speaker 1: was I and all of a sudden, the Pacers have
Speaker 1: a chance to steal it. And you're right, that was
Speaker 1: the fourth time they've done that in these playoffs. I
Speaker 1: get that. So maybe fluky's the wrong word, Jeeves, but
Speaker 1: not they weren't gonna win four games that way. They
Speaker 1: were not gonna win four games where Oklahoma City dominates
Speaker 1: the game and then they come roaring back like they've
Speaker 1: won one game a series that way. And then Game two,
Speaker 1: when Oklahoma City dominated from start to finish, that felt
Speaker 1: to me much more indicative of the game we were
Speaker 1: going to get, where the Pacers are good but Oklahoma
Speaker 1: City's great, and instead everything you wanted to see from
Speaker 1: Indiana they did. They did bother shay More Halliburton was
Speaker 1: more aggressive, Siakam was more efficient, and the star of
Speaker 1: the game Benedict Mathern, who has had such an interesting playoffs.
Speaker 1: So Matherine who the Pacers beat Demond because they never tank,
Speaker 1: don't have a lot of super high draft picks on
Speaker 1: their team, and in fact, I think, like I don't
Speaker 1: know if it's franchise history like the last thirty years
Speaker 1: or something, but there's only two guys that they have
Speaker 1: drafted in the top nine or something. I'm gonna get
Speaker 1: that those details a little wrong, but it's about that
Speaker 1: Mathern and a kid who's hurt, and Matherin was kind
Speaker 1: of it looked like, oh wait, is he gonna be
Speaker 1: odd man out win? In the Cleveland series, Game four,
Speaker 1: he basically gets a DMP coaches decision. Game five, he
Speaker 1: only plays eleven minutes. Then against the Knicks Game two,
Speaker 1: eleven minutes, zero points, Game three, eight minutes, two points,
Speaker 1: and it looked like Carlisle was souring on it. And
Speaker 1: then Mathern has had in the last six games three
Speaker 1: just unbelievable stat lines off the bench. Game four against
Speaker 1: the Knicks twelve minutes, twenty points, Game five against the
Speaker 1: Knicks twenty five minutes, twenty three points, and then last
Speaker 1: night Game three against the Thunder twenty two minutes, twenty
Speaker 1: seven points. And I'm gonna pull it up so we
Speaker 1: have it exactly. But since he was basically looked like,
Speaker 1: oh man, is Carlisle done with him? In the six
Speaker 1: games since then, Benedict Mathern has played one hundred and
Speaker 1: six minutes and scored ninety three points. The guy is
Speaker 1: basically a point a minute over his last six games.
Speaker 1: None more important or noteworthy than last night when nobody
Speaker 1: had an answer for him, when he just he was
Speaker 1: the X factor off the bench for them, and all
Speaker 1: I'm just so yes, listen, TJ McConnell did TJ McConnell things.
Speaker 1: And he loves getting those steals in the back court.
Speaker 1: You know, he's just us up a white man's Jose Alvarado,
Speaker 1: like I'm gonna play this scrappy style, I'm gonna annoy you.
Speaker 1: He doesn't. He doesn't go out of bounds and and
Speaker 1: trick people like that. But he's a past And one
Speaker 1: of his steals, the one where he just caught the
Speaker 1: inbound pass and laid it up, was one of the
Speaker 1: dopest things. That was one of the coolest mini highlights
Speaker 1: of the season. Yeah, he just jumped up and grabbed
Speaker 1: and laid it up right there again.
Speaker 3: Couple.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And so he had he made three baskets, I
Speaker 1: feel like they were and he had five steals. So
Speaker 1: TJ McConnell off the bench, five steals, Obi Toppin off
Speaker 1: the bench four of five from two and some big rebounds.
Speaker 1: And Ben Matherin man nine of twelve, got to the
Speaker 1: free throw line eight times, which is another thing he
Speaker 1: did against the Nick. He drew foulsand got to the line.
Speaker 1: He's plus sixteen and twenty two minutes.
Speaker 3: Give is okay? See another thing to have to worry
Speaker 3: about one.
Speaker 1: Hundred percent and credit where it's due to Halliburton, because
Speaker 1: Halliburton the point that I made. Now, let me just
Speaker 1: be clear here, my playoff bracket and my playoff predictions
Speaker 1: are in shambles. I have been wrong about three series
Speaker 1: picks more this playoffs than any playoffs I can remember.
Speaker 1: And bet of the Year, which we'll get to later,
Speaker 1: is on life supports. It's truly on life support. My
Speaker 1: in series analysis has been far better.
Speaker 4: And one of the points that I'm excuse me, I apologize.
Speaker 4: One of the points I made after game two was
Speaker 4: the Pacers need to recognize you are not playing.
Speaker 1: A good shot, good shot, great shot team. You are
Speaker 1: playing a bad shot, decent shot. Take the shot. And
Speaker 1: it felt like Halliburton understood that. That Haliburton, when his
Speaker 1: teammates go five of twenty one from three, when aside
Speaker 1: from Mathern nobody hits more than one three when aside
Speaker 1: from Siakam, none of the other starters really seem like
Speaker 1: they have it offensively, he understood, I've got to be
Speaker 1: a little more aggressive looking for my own shot, and
Speaker 1: he did. Now he's still the ball was still popping
Speaker 1: and moving, and he's still had his eleven assists, and
Speaker 1: he's a rebound shy of a triple double. But he
Speaker 1: was a little more aggressive offensively. And here's the other
Speaker 1: thing the Pacers do, man, They wear your ass out
Speaker 1: where they are. And the part of this is because
Speaker 1: Carlisle trusts the bench like it is remarkable demons that
Speaker 1: in a basketball game. That keep in mind, I thought
Speaker 1: the thunder kind of stole the game a sneaky what
Speaker 1: could have been a sneaky huge moment was the very
Speaker 1: end of the third quarter when the Pacers are up
Speaker 1: one with thirty five seconds left and Check gets a
Speaker 1: dunk and one. Now they're up to McConnell misses a
Speaker 1: you know, like a five footer, and then j Dubb
Speaker 1: hits a three basically at the core buzzer, and it
Speaker 1: went from oh, the Pacers are gonna have the lead
Speaker 1: going into the fourth to the Pacers are down five
Speaker 1: going into the fourth and then it didn't you know,
Speaker 1: they crushed him in the fourth thirty two to eighteen.
Speaker 1: But the fact that Halliburton, in what I felt was
Speaker 1: a gotta have it, must win game that was nip
Speaker 1: and tuck really throughout. He only played thirty six minutes.
Speaker 1: Like Halliburton has not played forty minutes in a regulation
Speaker 1: playoff game this year, which is maybe one of the
Speaker 1: reasons he's so good at the end. But it de
Speaker 1: testament to the Pacers that they're able to do that
Speaker 1: have their best player on the bench and not get
Speaker 1: blown out. And the Thunder at the end of this
Speaker 1: game were the tired team.
Speaker 2: Like Indiana seemed like they switched identities with okay See, Yes,
Speaker 2: as far as defense, Indiana is a.
Speaker 3: Lot more suffocating. They're flying around.
Speaker 2: Okay See was obviously still playing decent defense, but it
Speaker 2: just seemed like the Pacers had a lot more energy
Speaker 2: on defense.
Speaker 3: Well, it looked like he hadn't played in the fourth
Speaker 3: quarter at all.
Speaker 1: The listen Pacers thirteen steals, Thunder six Pacers, fourteen turnovers,
Speaker 1: Thunder just nineteen All Right'm sorry, Thunder nineteen, not just
Speaker 1: nineteen they Pacers won the points off turnovers battle twenty
Speaker 1: one to fourteen. They won the fast break points battle
Speaker 1: seventeen to ten. Like a lot of these metrics that
Speaker 1: the Thunder have been eating off of, and those aren't
Speaker 1: really metrics. Those are just kind of old school stats
Speaker 1: eating off of all year, the Pacers won. And for
Speaker 1: the Pacers to win that game, when Jadub plays that well,
Speaker 1: man oh Man, like, because I thought Jalen Williams was excellent.
Speaker 3: He played well.
Speaker 1: I also thought no, no, no. I also thought, for
Speaker 1: the first time this series, and one of the only
Speaker 1: times all playoffs, it felt like Daggonall was struggling to
Speaker 1: find who on my bench do I trust. He threw
Speaker 1: Isaiah Joe in there. Isaiah Joe hit a couple of
Speaker 1: threes in a couple minutes. He didn't go back. Aaron
Speaker 1: Wiggins didn't have it, Caruso didn't have the impact he'd
Speaker 1: been having. It was probably Hartenstein's worst game of the playoffs.
Speaker 1: And so even though Cason Wallace played well, Dort played well,
Speaker 1: Jada played excellent, and we'll get to Shay and Chet
Speaker 1: in a second, but you can't say either one of
Speaker 1: those guys was herrrific, like neither one of those guys
Speaker 1: like had just awful awful games. Indy stormed back and
Speaker 1: then was in firm control for the second half of
Speaker 1: that fourth quarter. They take the lead with eight minutes
Speaker 1: left after being down five going into the quarter and
Speaker 1: never relinquish it and stretch it at one point all
Speaker 1: the way up to eight points. And credit to the officials,
Speaker 1: by the way, for not going flagrant.
Speaker 2: Fact yes, yeah, because it would have that all on
Speaker 2: the broadcast to a.
Speaker 1: Sea which was weird. Like I but again I don't
Speaker 1: know the broadcast. It doesn't matter point that like, because
Speaker 1: that was it was a terrible Haliburton turnover, probably his
Speaker 1: worst moment of the game. And you're up eight with
Speaker 1: three minutes left with the ball, you get a bucket.
Speaker 1: The game's basically over. What you can't allow is the
Speaker 1: live ball turnover transition layup all of a sudden at
Speaker 1: six still, what you really can't allow is a four
Speaker 1: or five point possession, which is what could have happened
Speaker 1: if they would have called a flagrant. They didn't call
Speaker 1: a flagrant, and I listen, I thought, Indiana, if I'm
Speaker 1: being totally honest, and then we'll get to the okayc
Speaker 1: side of things was as funny as odd as this
Speaker 1: is Demond's because they've they've been so good when they've
Speaker 1: been trailing. I thought Indiana was a little shaky on
Speaker 1: their their late game execution. So with three minutes left,
Speaker 1: you have or a two and a half minutes left,
Speaker 1: I guess was the Halliburton turnover, and then almost the
Speaker 1: flagrant the next possession, Miles Turner turnover the next possession,
Speaker 1: kind of an early in the shot clock Nie Smith three.
Speaker 1: Siakam then makes a bucket, calms things down. But then
Speaker 1: you're up eight with a minute left and you commit
Speaker 1: a dumb foul that you can't do that. The next
Speaker 1: possession you commit a foul. Haliburton upset he doesn't get
Speaker 1: the call and they commit a foul. You're up seven
Speaker 1: with thirty five seconds left, like and the balls eighty
Speaker 1: feet from the basket just don't foul. So there were
Speaker 1: a few moments late where it looked like Indiana nem
Speaker 1: Harden committed a foul with seventeen seconds left. Again, those
Speaker 1: things didn't end up mattering, but they could have. But overall, man,
Speaker 1: what a what a performance, And it is not lost
Speaker 1: on me that I said, this was to me the
Speaker 1: most shocking singular Finals game for me since Game five
Speaker 1: twenty eleven MAVs heat. And the coach of the team
Speaker 1: that pulled off that upset and the coach of the
Speaker 1: team that pulled off this upset are the same guy,
Speaker 1: Rick Carlisle, who I imagine once the Finals are over,
Speaker 1: the Knicks are gonna say, hey, can we interview him?
Speaker 3: So?
Speaker 1: Uh DEMONDI. One of the questions from.
Speaker 2: The chat, oh yeah, so, anonymous three to five four
Speaker 2: says Nick, what do you think has been the issue
Speaker 2: with a lot of pundits getting behind the Pacers is
Speaker 2: a good team?
Speaker 3: A and I's three five four. I've been there with you,
Speaker 3: but go ahead.
Speaker 1: So listen. I don't think people have denied that the
Speaker 1: Pacers are a good team. I do think people have.
Speaker 1: I think it's fair to say people have not acted
Speaker 1: as if the fact that they have the second best
Speaker 1: record in basketball since and I don't think I've lost
Speaker 1: consecutive games since January one. I think that people have
Speaker 1: dismissed that, maybe a little more than they should have.
Speaker 1: But I think this was less about a dismissal of
Speaker 1: Indiana and more about a reverence for Okac, who, if
Speaker 1: we're being honest, through two games, controlled ninety six percent
Speaker 1: of this series ninety six minutes played. OKC led for
Speaker 1: ninety one, was tied for two and a half, and
Speaker 1: trailed for two Like that's but yesterday was not that.
Speaker 1: We'll get to the Okac side in a second. But first,
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Speaker 1: All right, demons, let's get to the OKC side of things.
Speaker 3: You're better of the year, okay, seys one and a half.
Speaker 2: Well, the series is struggling, so okay, see, he just
Speaker 2: needs to win every single game in a row to
Speaker 2: close out the series. How do you think that bet
Speaker 2: to cash one hundred percent? How do you think that
Speaker 2: Okayc's gonna respond now that the pressures on them?
Speaker 3: They are going back to Indiana?
Speaker 1: All right? I know this is cliche. I understand that
Speaker 1: this might be too simplistic for some of the more
Speaker 1: erudite members of NBA Twitter, but I don't care. Game
Speaker 1: four is about one guy and one kind of one
Speaker 1: other guy, and that one guy is shit. Shay was
Speaker 1: mediocre yesterday. He was nine of twenty. He didn't get
Speaker 1: all the Shay calls that he's used to. He turned
Speaker 1: the ball over a half dozen times times, he was
Speaker 1: targeted a fair amount defensively, and he never even had
Speaker 1: like that stretch of the game where it's like, oh
Speaker 1: a Shay Gilgess Alexander individual seven to zero run. He
Speaker 1: is the league in MVP. He had scored seventy two
Speaker 1: points in the first two finals games. He came into
Speaker 1: this game with I think the seventh highest finals average
Speaker 1: for a single series in league history. He had, you know,
Speaker 1: he came into this game averaging thirty six a game
Speaker 1: and really being not just the best player on the court,
Speaker 1: but head and shoulders markedly better than whomever the second
Speaker 1: best player was. And then yesterday he had an off night.
Speaker 1: You don't kill him for it, You absolutely, unequivocal, do
Speaker 1: not kill him for it. But the pressure is on him.
Speaker 1: In game four, we the best player in the league.
Speaker 1: Conversation was starting. We were already. I tried to Demanse
Speaker 1: thought that I was too premature, and he might have
Speaker 1: ended up being right. Some of Demand's playoff takes might
Speaker 1: end up aging a lot better than mine.
Speaker 3: Go back and watch.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because after what was it? It was Game four
Speaker 1: against Minnesota when I just basically did the thunder have
Speaker 1: won the championship but they're not a dynasty yet? The
Speaker 1: show Yeah, and you were like, can we slow down
Speaker 1: a bit? And I was like, no, we can't. I
Speaker 1: think Thunder have won the title now. Demand wanted to
Speaker 1: pump the brakes on me. A couple of weeks ago
Speaker 1: doing that. I can't imagine how he felt watching Sports TV,
Speaker 1: you know, Monday and Tuesday when forget the thunder of
Speaker 1: won this title, the thunder have won the next few
Speaker 1: like we were a full fledged dynasty discussion in a
Speaker 1: lot of places. And by the way, I still think
Speaker 1: the thunder are gonna win the series.
Speaker 3: Crazy.
Speaker 1: You think that's crazy right now? You would pick Indiana.
Speaker 3: I'm picking Indiana.
Speaker 2: That's I think they're gonna Honestly, this is probably just emotion.
Speaker 2: I just don't want okay See to win. I want
Speaker 2: the Pacers to win it. I like the Pacers a
Speaker 2: lot more. But and I do truly think the Pacers.
Speaker 3: Can win it.
Speaker 2: I don't think that in the next game exactly what
Speaker 2: happened this last game will happen, but the other players
Speaker 2: that didn't play to their best standard can make up
Speaker 2: for the math room or the TJ McConnell. I think
Speaker 2: TJ McConnell's game is pretty replicable. But yeah, I feel
Speaker 2: pretty strongly about it.
Speaker 1: Okay, if you're listening on iTunes or Spotify, that commentary
Speaker 1: from Demonte made total sense. If you're watching on YouTube,
Speaker 1: it might be a little confusing, as he is saying,
Speaker 1: I just want Indiana to win while proudly wearing his
Speaker 1: SGA jersey. So it might be somewhat there might be
Speaker 1: a little a little es right, so the that so
Speaker 1: I credit to you for that take. I still think
Speaker 1: okay See is better and I still think that they are.
Speaker 1: While my minus two and a half or minus a
Speaker 1: game and a half take is in trouble. Okay Se
Speaker 1: still should should have in their back pocket a game
Speaker 1: seven in their building, where they have lost two playoff
Speaker 1: games all year, both on buzzer beaters. However, in order
Speaker 1: to get to a game seven, they have to win
Speaker 1: a game in Indiana and that and Shae is the
Speaker 1: guy that in that context has to be better than
Speaker 1: he was not in this series or in this postseason.
Speaker 1: But then he has then he was last night. The
Speaker 1: other guy who I'm going to, you know, shine a
Speaker 1: light on.
Speaker 3: A bit.
Speaker 1: Is the highest drafted player on this team and the
Speaker 1: guy a lot of people thought Shae obviously has superseded
Speaker 1: this but had the highest upside of any of these guys,
Speaker 1: at least as prospects. And that's Chet. Now, listen, Chet
Speaker 1: last night was six of nine inside the arc eight
Speaker 1: of nine from the free throw line gave you twenty
Speaker 1: and ten. You can't kill Chet for his performance last
Speaker 1: night at all. What's odd for him this series is
Speaker 1: he just can't hit his three. He's now one for
Speaker 1: ten in the series. From three last night took six
Speaker 1: of them. And Jalen Williams had been consistent but inefficient
Speaker 1: in this series prior to last night. Last night he
Speaker 1: was good. He was fifty percent from the field, and
Speaker 1: from three last night was Jalen Williams was the best
Speaker 1: player on the Thunder. Game four, Shay's got to be
Speaker 1: exceptional and Chet's just got to make a few rain shots.
Speaker 1: I think they can. I think they will. What do
Speaker 1: you think, Demande.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 1: If I'm guessing you haven't looked. What do you think
Speaker 1: the line for Game four is in Indiana?
Speaker 2: I'd say Indiana. Uh, it's okay, okay, see minus three.
Speaker 1: Okay, see minus six? Jesus Vegas? Is they okay? See
Speaker 1: is minus two twenty for the series? Still they're minus
Speaker 1: six in this game. I'm telling you the like DraftKings
Speaker 1: and Vegas do not believe. And now minus two twenty
Speaker 1: isn't minus seven hundred, which is where okay s was
Speaker 1: to start the series. But they still think okay See
Speaker 1: is in very good shape. Mine it Like, let me
Speaker 1: put it like this, minus two twenty would still be
Speaker 1: one of the seven biggest finals upsets ever, Like what
Speaker 1: okay See is favorite by right now? Down to one
Speaker 1: losing that would be the seventh biggest finals upset of
Speaker 1: all time. I and here's the other thing. I'm really
Speaker 1: excited to see what Shay has for us here because
Speaker 1: Jokic is not the right example in this because Jokic
Speaker 1: in his one NBA Finals, they lost game one, but
Speaker 1: then first of all, that Heat team was wildly overmatched,
Speaker 1: and second of all, they you know, they then won
Speaker 1: four straight. Yannis's one NBA Finals, however, is an interesting
Speaker 1: one where they're down two to Phoenix and he responds
Speaker 1: with a forty one thirteen to six, then a twenty
Speaker 1: six fourteen to eight, then a thirty two nine and
Speaker 1: six including I think that was the game with the
Speaker 1: alley the steal by Drew in the alley oop, and
Speaker 1: then of course game six he had the fifty and fourteen,
Speaker 1: Like how does the MVP scoring champ leader of the team, uh? How?
Speaker 1: And the Daniels reminded me Denver lost game two, not
Speaker 1: game one. But the point kind of remains, even after
Speaker 1: losing game two, they were never really in jeopardy. They
Speaker 1: were never they never even more to the point, they
Speaker 1: never trailed in the series. Thank you, Daniel, I forgot that.
Speaker 1: I just knew they lost one of the first two.
Speaker 1: But how does Shay respond? Now you can say, well,
Speaker 1: how did he respond when they were trailing in the
Speaker 1: series against Denver? And the answer to that question is
Speaker 1: responded decently. He wasn't great in that game four that
Speaker 1: they won. He had twenty five on eight of nineteen,
Speaker 1: but then he was exceptional the final three games of
Speaker 1: that series, after it was two to two, and then
Speaker 1: after falling down a one to Denver, they beat Denver
Speaker 1: by forty points. But there's a different type of pressure.
Speaker 1: This is a different situation.
Speaker 3: And they need to win convincingly.
Speaker 2: Huh, Like I feel like if this is a close game,
Speaker 2: and like Indiana just has that, you know, the mindset
Speaker 2: of all these games are gonna be close that I
Speaker 2: think that they can they can bite okay see and
Speaker 2: catch them slacken again.
Speaker 1: Oh so you okay? I thought you meant they need
Speaker 1: to win convincingly rather than just win a close one
Speaker 1: for like morale purposes. You're saying that they need if
Speaker 1: it's if they're not up big there, they risk blowing
Speaker 1: it at the end.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they is blowing it again, I think it. No,
Speaker 2: I honestly think they should. They have to try to
Speaker 2: take some of the PACER's confidence away. If it's a
Speaker 2: close game, then the Pacers are gonna feel like they're
Speaker 2: in it the entire time, which they are.
Speaker 1: But well, I'm I'm really impressed by the pacers stamina. Now,
Speaker 1: part of this is that the bench that they're playing
Speaker 1: all of it.
Speaker 3: But Shay.
Speaker 1: One of the brilliant things about Shay is the dude
Speaker 1: never looks tired, never.
Speaker 3: Like seconds after he falls down by himself.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that part's true, but he never He's never like
Speaker 1: dripping in sweat, you know what I mean. He always
Speaker 1: seems very in control. Yesterday, at the end of the game,
Speaker 1: we saw some hands on your knees type of stuff,
Speaker 1: and that is what the Pacers do to you. And
Speaker 1: so I am listen, I can't front on this. I
Speaker 1: just have to be totally candid. I am shocked we're
Speaker 1: able to actually analyze this series you guys know what
Speaker 1: I thought that I thought it could be four to oh,
Speaker 1: that I thought it would be for to one. That
Speaker 1: I thought the worst case scenario for OKAC was four
Speaker 1: to two. And listen, that's still on the board. Four
Speaker 1: to two is still is. I wouldn't be shocked if
Speaker 1: OKAC wins the next three. But man, last night's game,
Speaker 1: I did not see coming from a mile away. And
Speaker 1: people can say it's bad analysis by me, whatever it is,
Speaker 1: I don't care, like I just have to be honest
Speaker 1: with the audience. I did not see that coming from
Speaker 1: a mile away. All right, let's we'll get into the
Speaker 1: Knicks head coach stuff in a second. But first, you
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Speaker 1: remain active on the Boost Unlimited plan. All right, demons,
Speaker 1: let's go to the Knicks head coaching search and a
Speaker 1: few other things before I have to get out of here,
Speaker 1: because we're doing first things first early today.
Speaker 2: So the Knicks were asking a bunch of coaches who
Speaker 2: already had jobs to be their next coach after firing Tivs.
Speaker 2: Seems like that has not worked out so far. You
Speaker 2: said that you haven't closed the door on kid being
Speaker 2: the coach. How do you see it playing out now
Speaker 2: that all these teams have said no to them?
Speaker 1: All right? Can I listen? This might sound Devil's advocaty,
Speaker 1: but can I make the case for the Knicks here?
Speaker 3: All right?
Speaker 1: If you're not worried about that it looks like embarrassing?
Speaker 1: What's the harm in asking? So they have now asked
Speaker 1: and been rejected as far as not necessarily by the
Speaker 1: coach but by the team for the Rockets with Udoka,
Speaker 1: the MAVs with Kid, the Timberwolves with Finch, the Hawks
Speaker 1: with Quinn Snyder. And there's one other one that I'm forgetting.
Speaker 1: I know there's been it's been five teams, the producers maybe, oh,
Speaker 1: Billy Donovan with the Bulls. So they have asked about
Speaker 1: five head coaches. Now. That seems haphazard and it seems amateurish.
Speaker 1: I understand that. But this is the argument that I
Speaker 1: would make on the Knick's behalf if they've known all along, Hey,
Speaker 1: assistant coach X is someone we are comfortable with. Brew
Speaker 1: has talked a lot about Johnny Bryant. Let's just use
Speaker 1: him as a placeholder. He used to be here. Are
Speaker 1: players liked him? He didn't get the Sun's job right.
Speaker 1: They feel that way. They also feel confident that no
Speaker 1: other coaches getting fired, like the There's only two teams
Speaker 1: left playing, so it'd be kind of and obviously Daggon,
Speaker 1: Alton Carlisle aren't getting fired, so they don't have to
Speaker 1: worry about anybody potentially jumping them in the line for
Speaker 1: one of those assistant coaches. If they have that in
Speaker 1: their back pocket, what's the problem being like Hey, awesome coach,
Speaker 1: why we'd love to talk to you. Are you interested
Speaker 1: in talking to us? And the team saying no, you can't.
Speaker 1: They're like, okay, no harm in asking. There is a
Speaker 1: there is an element of this that I gotta say,
Speaker 1: I almost respect the humility. Well, I mean, I don't
Speaker 1: know if it's humility, but like the the lack of
Speaker 1: shame in that. Hey, Like, I really there's a If
Speaker 1: I'm an NBA coach at this point and the Knicks
Speaker 1: haven't asked to talk to me, I'm a little offended.
Speaker 1: And like, if you're Eric Spolstra or Joe Missoula, are
Speaker 1: you not like, hey, what you don't want to talk
Speaker 1: to me?
Speaker 3: Well?
Speaker 1: That is insane? Well, I spols was a funny one
Speaker 1: because obviously pat Riley, you know, was that go to
Speaker 1: the Knicks. He now runs the heat there. But they're no,
Speaker 1: Suppo's not going anywhere, Missoula is not going anywhere. curR
Speaker 1: is not going anywhere. I understand all that. I but
Speaker 1: I'll tell you who and again he they would get rejected.
Speaker 1: But my buddy who I just saw uh for the
Speaker 1: first time in a few months, Uh Tylo when I
Speaker 1: was out in Vegas, if yeah, the tylu Yeah, Kansas
Speaker 1: City's own you know, US US US native Kansas Citians
Speaker 1: we got. I mean he's from Mexico City, Missouri. But still, uh,
Speaker 1: Tyleru's gotta feel like, where's my ask? Why haven't you
Speaker 1: asked Balmer to interview me? Now? I don't Again, I
Speaker 1: think Balmer would say no, here's the thing, and this
Speaker 1: is where I am serious. What is the harm? What
Speaker 1: is it? And for everyone making fun of then and
Speaker 1: I'm not a Knicks fan, but for everyone making fun
Speaker 1: of the Knicks on Twitter, someone finished the thought, this
Speaker 1: is awful because dot dot dot they look disorganized.
Speaker 2: I mean you go ahead, oh yeah, you fired your
Speaker 2: coach and you like had kind of basically no plan
Speaker 2: and you can't find one. But you're saying that they
Speaker 2: had an assistant coach over there that they trusted in
Speaker 2: that scenario, I guess it does make sense.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and not necessarily one of their own assistants, but
Speaker 1: an assistant somewhere else in the league. Here's the thing.
Speaker 1: Most teams fire when they fire their coach. It's not
Speaker 1: because they knew who the next coach is going to be.
Speaker 1: It's because they don't want that guy to be their
Speaker 1: coach anymore.
Speaker 2: But I guarantee you most of the candidates that they're
Speaker 2: asking for aren't currently employed.
Speaker 1: Well right, they're they're not setting their sites high enough,
Speaker 1: I guess. Like but when that when the Nuggets fired
Speaker 1: Michael Malone, they did not know who that Dave Adelman
Speaker 1: was going to get that job. They knew he was
Speaker 1: gonna be interim and then they were gonna do a
Speaker 1: coaching search. Now, because they played well in the postseason,
Speaker 1: they felt they didn't need to do a coaching search.
Speaker 1: And so if people want to argue they shouldn't have
Speaker 1: fired TIBs, so be it. I think they might be
Speaker 1: right about that. I also understand, and this was the
Speaker 1: analogy I used on uh the show Yes Yesterday. The
Speaker 1: Kansaity Chiefs won double digit games and won the division
Speaker 1: basically every year with Alex Smith, but they felt like
Speaker 1: there was a hard ceiling, so they were going to
Speaker 1: take a risk trade up for you know, a rookie quarterback,
Speaker 1: and then after he had basically no experience whatsoever, trade
Speaker 1: away Alex Smith, knowing our floor might get way lower,
Speaker 1: but we want a chance to win a championship. Now.
Speaker 1: That guy ended up being the greatest quarterback to ever
Speaker 1: live in Patrick Mahomes. So it worked out beautifully. But
Speaker 1: or the on a much briefer scale, the Minnesota Vikings
Speaker 1: with Sam Darnold, like, yeah, we won fourteen games, we
Speaker 1: made the playoffs. We want a chance, though, to be great,
Speaker 1: so we're going to move on from you to me.
Speaker 1: He is the logic with what they did with TIBs.
Speaker 1: They felt like, you're a good coach, but we are
Speaker 1: not going to win four straight rounds if we don't
Speaker 1: with this roster, if we don't get an upgraded coach.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna roll the dice, and the first dice.
Speaker 1: You know, the first half dozen dice rolls are.
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 1: They they went after the best and the brightest. I
Speaker 1: don't I think it is a weird look. I don't
Speaker 1: think it actually as a tangibly negative impact on them.
Speaker 1: All right, let's talk Katie and Giannis.
Speaker 2: Yanna's shut down any trade rumors that there were a
Speaker 2: circulating sin that he would like to be in Milwaukee
Speaker 2: next year and win a championship. So that makes the
Speaker 2: Katie sweepstakes much more interesting. And Sham's reported that Houston's
Speaker 2: San Antotio Miami Minnesota and the Knicks are all interested.
Speaker 2: Which team would you see Katie suiting up for? All right,
Speaker 2: Jianna is just waiting for Katie. But pick a team
Speaker 2: so see where he should go.
Speaker 1: So I'm not ready to say the y honest thing's done.
Speaker 1: I don't think the honest thing is guaranteed that he's
Speaker 1: asking for a trade. But I certainly don't think it's
Speaker 1: guaranteed that he's staying in Milwaukee. But the y honest
Speaker 1: trade is going to be more complicated and in two
Speaker 1: thirds of the league are going to be interested. There
Speaker 1: seems to be a lot of smoke surrounding Durant and
Speaker 1: the Spurs. That's a fun one that I'm interested in,
Speaker 1: But I do not think that team can win a championship.
Speaker 1: I just don't think Wimby is ready yet to.
Speaker 3: Be Kevin Durant's goal.
Speaker 1: What a question do you not think it is?
Speaker 2: I mean, he wants to go play in San Antonio,
Speaker 2: it doesn't necessarily seem like it is. I don't think
Speaker 2: that he thinks that he's the missing piece from Santi
Speaker 2: Tonio getting to a championship.
Speaker 1: Well, and to be fair, we don't know where he
Speaker 1: wants to go.
Speaker 3: Play but this San Antonio, but it seems like go ahead.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, no, I mean, listen, the Spurs. It's not
Speaker 1: like if he were to go to Miami and pick Miami,
Speaker 1: then I would say he's not that worried about winning
Speaker 1: a title because they can't win. You know, with respect
Speaker 1: to him, you'd have to give up something for him,
Speaker 1: even if you've got a hero and bam, that team's
Speaker 1: not good enough. The Spurs, Castle's good, Dearn Fox is
Speaker 1: really good, Wimby has unlimited upside. And if Durant still
Speaker 1: feels like and I'm the you know, fifth best player
Speaker 1: in the NBA, even if he's closer to the fifteenth
Speaker 1: best player in the NBA, Like, it's not like he'd
Speaker 1: be going somewhere where they have no shot whatsoever. The
Speaker 1: So the Spurs to me are interesting, but it wouldn't
Speaker 1: put them over the top. I am those other three teams.
Speaker 1: You could maybe convince me on any of them that, man,
Speaker 1: that team could win the title if you took away
Speaker 1: Jalen Green's minutes and gave them to Kevin Durant. They
Speaker 1: beat the Warriors, like, that's that's not even to me
Speaker 1: a question. They beat the Warriors, and then they have
Speaker 1: a real you know what I mean, a real shot
Speaker 1: next year, Shongoon a little better. You know, you're gonna
Speaker 1: have a great defense with Udoka Like that, to me,
Speaker 1: that team is really interesting. Now that's the perfect, y
Speaker 1: honest team. But Houston is really interesting. Anthony Edwards plus Durant,
Speaker 1: if Ant can level up just a touch, that one's interesting.
Speaker 1: And the n I don't think the Knicks necessarily would
Speaker 1: be better than the Knicks with Durant, wouldn't necessarily better
Speaker 1: be better than Houston or Minnesota with Durant, but because
Speaker 1: one's in the East and ones in the West, like
Speaker 1: the Knicks, would be a really fascinating one and one
Speaker 1: that I would be really interested in seeing how it
Speaker 1: plays out. I do think KD has at least one
Speaker 1: more elite year left in the tank. And I also
Speaker 1: think people need to understand because of his contract, he's
Speaker 1: not easy to trade. So like the idea, I know
Speaker 1: that Shams has said, or Shams has said, there are
Speaker 1: wild card suitors. You gotta find wild card suitors that
Speaker 1: aren't second apron and can get the salaries together and
Speaker 1: all of that, And so I would imagine just my
Speaker 1: guess that one of the wild card shuters is the Clippers.
Speaker 1: That'd be a very hard trade to pull off. And
Speaker 1: that's when I wouldn't like, Yeah, i've seen Durant with Harden,
Speaker 1: I'm not and like Kawhi's an injury risk, Durant's an
Speaker 1: injury risk. I'd like to see Durant be the old
Speaker 1: VET on a young team, like you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: I think that would be I think that would be fun.
Speaker 1: But Durant is one hundred percent getting traded. Yannis might
Speaker 1: get traded, and then we'll see what the other moves are.
Speaker 3: All right?
Speaker 1: Do we have a couple listener questions, Demonse, we can
Speaker 1: get too quickly before I got to get out of here.
Speaker 2: Uh yeah, we'll catch ass which is more likely Thunder
Speaker 2: coming back or Demonte's rec lead team turning it around.
Speaker 2: What's the answer, I'd honestly say Demands's league team turning
Speaker 2: it around. Wow, I think that the Pacers. I just
Speaker 2: think the Pacers are gonna win this series.
Speaker 1: Man, that would be great. Can I just say something else?
Speaker 1: And I'm gonna bring I'm gonna bring my art pods
Speaker 1: set up with us to Miami and if the Pacers
Speaker 1: win game four Friday night all do sometimes Saturday morning,
Speaker 1: some emergency pod type of thing. It would be awesome
Speaker 1: if the Pacers win. I'm like, I don't think they're
Speaker 1: going to, but it would be awesome. Joseph says, what's
Speaker 1: up with the gun show today? Demonse looking all jacked.
Speaker 1: You know what's so funny? And this is a compliment, demonsey,
Speaker 1: don't take this the wrong way. I actually was thinking
Speaker 1: the opposite. I was like, you need to hit those
Speaker 1: push ups. You're not as this no for real, like again,
Speaker 1: like I mean, you're in great shape and a great athlete,
Speaker 1: but just for like when I saw you in your jersey,
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh demons than he was a few months like, appreciate.
Speaker 3: Than Joseph.
Speaker 1: Sorry, but all right, Nick, right, muse what did he say?
Speaker 1: Tomase quick grammar.
Speaker 2: Check for Nick. I know Nick will appreciate this. He
Speaker 2: said change tech a couple of times now on First
Speaker 2: Things First and the Herd, and it's changed tech.
Speaker 1: Really it's so that, thank you. I do appreciate that.
Speaker 1: I have said they need to change their tacked tact
Speaker 1: and he's saying that the phrases it needs to change
Speaker 1: tack which is T A c K. I didn't know that.
Speaker 1: I'll look up why that is. I had no idea,
Speaker 1: all right. Appreciate the Blue Dock and Volume folks for
Speaker 1: fixing our technical difficulties. Appreciate Boost Mobile for sponsoring the show,
Speaker 1: for DraftKings for being great. Uh, and everybody out west
Speaker 1: for getting up early.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 1: Stay safe. I'm heading the first things first, then to Miami.
Speaker 1: We will talk to you guys, maybe Saturday morning, maybe
Speaker 1: Monday morning, definitely Tuesday morning, see you guys. Then we'll
Speaker 1: try