May 26, 2025 • 39 mins
Jason Fitz & Buck Reising fill in for the guys and talk about the Pacers blowing a 20-pt lead against the Knicks as NY takes Game 3 in Indiana, Buck being a Pacers fan gives insight into how the fanbase is feeling, who the next face of the league is, and much more!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
So you're telling me there's a chance, I mean, grease
up the light poles. Everybody can celebrate the Knicks with
the improbable comeback, just when we thought the Eastern Conference
Finals were done, just when you thought the Knicks were
left for dead, just when you thought the entire thing
(00:26):
was over. Now, like an eighties wrestling match with Hulk Hogan,
the arms in the air, it falls the first time
it falls, the second time it's about to hit the match,
the match is about to end, and instead the arms
starts shaking.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Hulk Hogan gets up.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
That's what the Knicks did last night, breaking the hearts
of Pacers fans everywhere, both of them. And I'm sitting
with one of them. He's Buck Rising. I'm Jason Fitz.
It's Bucking Fits. We're taking over to Bros and a
cup of Joe this morning. Buck Rising from Indiana. By
the way, it should be noted a noted Pacers fan.
The one time you're gonna listen to any radio show
anywhere in the country today that has a Pacers fan.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
And I'm just I'm just curious, book, what's the pulse like, Buddy,
how are we feeling?
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Because it sure looked with a twenty point lead in
the first half, a double digit lead in the fourth quarter,
and then a complete meltdown, which is part of you know,
the way next win games.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
How we feeling buck Yes, turns out we do exist.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
Pacers fans were not feeling great after the Knicks went
down twenty at this point. Turns out all you need
to do to motivate the New York basketball team is
to get them down by twenty points and the rest
will take care of itself. Things are, you know, I'd
say tenuous at this point in time, fitsy I'm not
I'm not like, I'm not super upset. I mean I
(01:44):
am upset a one oh six, one hundred loss in
Indiana after going up to oh in New York and
giving the Knicks fans the choking sign and pointing at
Reggie Miller and evoking all the good vibes that you
could possibly have about this series from the Indiana fan perspective,
to be able to close out game one or I
guess game three. Technically the first game in Indiana would
(02:06):
have been lovely. But I'm still pretty confident about my
basketball team versus this next basketball team, because I just
don't think they can do this too many more times.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
I mean, okay, so let's think about it.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
There's a couple of ways this can be taken to
this time, because we do know you mentioned and we
were obviously looking at this series saying, okay, how does
Indiana handle the Garden? You and I have talked extensively
about handling the Garden not really.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Being that big of a deal. Right, So Indiana goes in.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
There, fine, But there were moments in both of those
games where Knicks fans were convinced.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
They won it. So if you talk to a Knicks
fan this morning.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
All they're going to say is, man, we got unlucky
the first couple of games, and we did what we
do in the third game. Everything's god to be fine.
If you talk to Basers fans as well. I mean,
we won two at the Garden, and then minus a meltdown,
we would have this game.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
I think what is wild about all of this is just.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
To oversimplify for a second, if you'll allow me, Karl
Anthony Towns is just an enigma.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
I don't know what to do with the.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Fact that Karl Anthony Towns just played and flat out
sucked for three quarters in this game and then all
of a sudden.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
In the fourth quarter, Karl Anthony Towns is like, no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
This is this is why I I this is why
everybody covets me at some point, like Karl Anthony Towns
is maddening because when he plays the way he played in.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
The fourth quarter, all of a sudden, the next look unstoppable.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
But you just can't bank on that game in and
came out, which is in and of it self frustrating.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
If I have to lose, I don't want it to
be because of Karl Anthony Towns. And that's how I
felt in Game one, to be honest with you, when
he started hitting threes, more threes than he'd hit in
the entire Celtics series combined, coming out the way that
they didn't. Then obviously they had the epic collapse the
way that Knicks fans feared, of course, But with Kat
it's such a it's such an interesting conversation, right because
(03:50):
I don't know. I mean, Fitzy, do you do you
genuinely believe that Karl Anthony Towns can be relied upon
on a consistent basis to bail the New York out
when they need bailing out because to me, I understand
that he's an incredibly talented player. There's you know, some
differing in opinion as to whether this is somebody who
is consistent enough at the NBA level.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Obviously, he's got all the.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
Physical tools and gifts that you want to be able
to put himself in these positions. But like, I don't
know that I trust Kat, if I'm a Knicks fan,
to continually do this, or to be able to continually
do this down the stretch when there is so much
on the line. I just don't know that he's that
kind of a player, even though he was the player
that they needed last night. Is that unfair? Am I oversimplifying?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Now?
Speaker 1 (04:36):
No, you're a thousand percent right, And I will just
go back to the team that no longer has Cat
right now that could really use a second player that's
capable of doing what Kat does. And so the best
of Kat would really help Minnesota right now, right Like
if Minnesota had the best of what Karl Anthony Towns is,
they would be in a much different situation in their
sit To them, they're.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
They're in hell right now. Don't do that to them.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
You're looking at two teams and the Conference Finals built
off the backs of a Paul George trade, which delights me.
But the idea that you're you're gonna you're gonna tantalize
Wolves fans. But that wouldn't it be nice to have
Karl Anthony Towns at this.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Point in your season? Shame on you? Really fitsing that well?
Speaker 1 (05:16):
I mean, first and foremost, Like, look, when you're as
damaged a fan as I am, like you have no
no worry in your heart about saying something that hurts
fans hearts like I'm used to living in the world
to hurt.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
We need a big old support group with each other.
Speaker 5 (05:27):
I think, the hell, what is that to start a
Monday morning? Oh my god, I'm just you know, I'm
a beacon of light in the dark to her world. Brother,
I'm a beacon of light my friend thinking trauma.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
I'm just well, that's that's I mean, my god, I'm
sitting here talking to you on a Monday morning with
my Raiders shirt on, Like I just I live in
trauma constantly. I My point is that Minnesota did the
right thing and saying no, he's not he's not the him.
We needed that position right, Like, he's not what we
need to be able to bank on for our franchise.
(06:00):
They were so comfortable letting him go. And obviously Touleius
Randalls is, you know, sort of their number two.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
He's supposed to be their robin now.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
But they were so comfortable letting Karl Anthony Towns walk
because they understood the limitations of Karl Anthony Towns.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
I think that speaks to.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Something like when you are an NBA team that has
a superstar and then you've got the guy that should
be able to be your robin and you're comfortable just
letting him walk away.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
That makes a statement.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
And that's part of what we see for the Knicks
because I just believe that the Knicks inherited somebody that. Again,
it's it's all like if we were playing two K,
you feel great about it, but we're not playing two
K right like when you when you actually watch the
result on the on the court, what we had last
night was laying basketball for three quarters until all of
a sudden it woke up, which is which is again,
if you're a Knicks fan today, that's what you're smoking
(06:46):
your cigar and climbing up to the top of the
street lights with.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
Like you're smoking a cigar at this point in time,
let me just say New York and let's let's let's
keep the cigars unlet at this point in time, just
keep your powder.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
So now they can't sell, now, you hypocrite. Now they
can't celebrate.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Because like one of us on this show team damn
it no, okay, okay, well, I mean one of us
working on this show right now may have may have
questioned the amount of celebrating for the New York Knickerbockers
after their win over the Boston Celtics the morning.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
They well, you know, I'm swinging. I'm you don't.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
You don't win swinging for singles, brother, when swinging for
home runs. At this point, that's a that's a terrible
baseball analogy because it's really not true.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
But we're gonna go with it this early.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
I'm just just allowing me this moment, I'm just in
celebrating that level after a second round win. I may
have been the one of the two of us that
said you don't raise banners for second round wins.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Maybe relax a little bit. You said I was a
thief for joy.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Now when you're losing, like if you're a Knicks fan,
and you're losing in the Eastern Conference Finals, you feel
kind of stupid if you celebrated that much and all
of a sudden you're like, yeah, we ran in the streets,
but then we lost to Indiana in the next round.
I'm just saying like that that was the reality until
about ten minutes was left in that basketball game last night,
Knicks fans were we're definitely tucking their tails.
Speaker 4 (08:01):
I was in on Knicks fans until they started throwing
bags of garbage at that poor Pacers fan. And since then,
I've changed my tune. I don't think we've done a
show since then. But the other figure that needs to
be mentioned in the middle all of this is Tom Tibodeau.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Because they went with a different starting lineup last night.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
They had backup center Mitchell Robinson in place of Josh Hart.
When Miles McBride got in the foul trouble, when Brunson
got in a foul trouble early, that completely changed the
look of their rotation. They started going to role players
that really has not been a part of the Knicks bag,
at least to this point. So I think Tips deserves
credit in the middle of all of this too, for
(08:39):
being able to manage the moment and manage his lineup
in ways that we haven't really talked about him doing
to this point.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
You disagree, No, I agree, But I also I'm tell
you I'm full eighties wrestling today.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
I'm like Jimmy Mount to the South.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Heart with my little megaphone in my hand, and I'm
the troll in the corner. Because I will remind everybody
that part of the reason that they needed to put
Mitchell Robinson into the lineup was because they needed the
size where Karl Anthony Towns was a liability on the
defensive side of the court for how.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Much for the first couple of games.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
I'm just saying that part of the reason they had
to make a change was because kat was so poor
at certain things.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
So it just supports my point.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
That you can't rely on cat over your troll. In
the morning after, I should be very pro New York.
I feel bad about it now, Buck.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
I'm still trying to figure out the wrestling reference. Who've
just married? How the hell old are you?
Speaker 2 (09:25):
I'm old enough? I mean, yeah, like I'm I'm about
to turn forty.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Eight, man, Like this is just what happens like I
grew up on eighties wrestling. Like I grew out of
eighties wrestling, but I grew up on eighties wrestling. So
like I got a bunch of eighties wrestling toys in
front of me. I got macho man facing me right now,
Like it's inevitable these things are gonna happen for me.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
This is what happens when you're.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Old, dude, Like, I'm old enough that, like there were
genuinely people that thought wrestling was real when I was
a kid, Like the Internet didn't even.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Exist, dude, Like, you know how old I am?
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Buck I typed my papers in high school on a
typewriter because we couldn't afford a computer, dude, Like that's
how old I am.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Again, we are working through it.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
Why does it always seem that when you and I
do one of these radio show togethers that we're just
working through what what to me sounds like trauma, but
you know, at least for the next hour.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
So being old is trauma now, book after you want
to say being old is traumatic?
Speaker 3 (10:15):
It sounds terrible.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
It just genuinely it sounds terrible at this point in time,
But it's okay.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
These are emotional times. For you.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
I understand it would have been emotional times for Knicks
fans have they not been able to get this done?
And that's kind of that's kind of the sense that
you got for the post game press conference comments. I
don't know how much of that you paid attention to,
or may have watched on SportsCenter after the fact, what
have you, but you know, basically talking about how it's emotional,
they're playing the long game. Things can happen, things can
go not your way in these moments. But I think
(10:43):
Brunson said last night, you can easily crash out or
you can respond the right way. So what are we
gonna do this morning, FITZI, We're gonna crash out or
we're gonna respond the correct way, because I feel like
we need to get our act together.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
No, we're gonna respond the right way.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
This is about to be a stacked several hours. We
got a lot of NBA we're going to get into.
I got to get your thoughts on where you are
on Timothy Chalamagne now because that can get a little
contentious with you. And of course flag football. Trust me,
there's some brilliance coming on flag football. But we've looked
at one side of this, we'll continue to look at
the Knicks. Let's take a look at what we're gonna
see today because we have another matchup in the other
(11:17):
finals matchup we have not seen a good game yet
in the West.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Is one coming today? We'll break it down. It's Two
Pros and a Cup of Joe. He's Buck Rising, I'm
Jason Fitz. We're in for the guys. Stick with us.
Speaker 6 (11:26):
Be sure to catch live editions of Two Pros and
a Cup of Joe with Brady Quinn, LeVar Errington and
Jonas Knox weekdays at six am Eastern three am Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
It's two Pros and a Cup of Joe. I'm Fox
Sports Radio. He's Buck Rising. I'm Jason Fitz. We're in
for the guys this morning. It is Memorial Day. We'd
be remiss if we didn't stop before we get too
far into the show and say thank you to everybody.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
That served, everybody that sacrificed.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Obviously, today is about more than sports and Buck and
I wouldn't get to do what we do if it
weren't for amazing people that sacrificed everything and families that
sacrificed everything for our country.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
So we thank everybody.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
And hope you take the opportunity today to acknowledge people
in your life that served, and have family that served,
and take a moment to just acknowledge what today is about.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
For well said FITZI, and I think that you know,
there's a variety of different things that we're going to
talk about today, but to keep that the main thing
throughout the course of the show and throughout the course
of the day, of course, is the most important thing.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
The Knicks are the main thing this morning. Obviously after
a huge comeback win. This seems to be sort of
part of the course for Knicks fans with a huge
comeback win over the Pacers last night. Of course, we've
been talking about Karl Anthony Towns. Let's go ahead and
get this the tiract play of the day. A little
bit of cat love here for you, coming at you
(12:58):
right now.
Speaker 7 (12:59):
Talents dribble up top, snatched back three puarters straight on,
nailed it talk from Karl Anthony Towns. An unbelievable to
or dive forth porter from Towns. He has twenty points
in the last seven minutes.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
At the next lead ninety four to ninety that's right,
that's a from Nick's Radio network.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
For over forty years, ti rack has been helping customers
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Shipped fast and free, backed by road hazard protection. We
convenient install installation options like mobile tire installation tirack dot
com the way tire buying should be. You and I
had a contentious conversation about a week ago about one
(13:40):
Timothy's Chalomey as it was yeah, I know, I know
it was discovered on this very show. As everybody was
just going on and on about Timothy Schallomey that I,
you know, am not fully familiar with much of his work.
I'm the first to admit that SO didn't love the
Willy Walker.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
It was fine, So I don't.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
I don't really necessarily understand all of the hype over
Timothy Shallowby.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
But now something nice about him?
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Right now, he is a superstar. There is no doubt
he is a superstar. People enjoy his work. How's that
for something nice? People enjoy Timothy Shallomey's work.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
He was all over the broadcast that he's an incredible actor.
Not me, but many people are saying this.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Many people, many people. He was all over the broadcast
last night. It's funny because I don't know, I just
I felt like Twitter wasn't telling me to stop looking
at him the way they do every time Taylor Swift.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Comes up in the Chiefs game.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
So it's just interesting that, like, we're getting so much
Timmy tim now and everybody seems to love this.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
I'm officially declaring myself out on Timmy Shall at this
point in time. No, it's because he's he's playing against
my basketball team. I don't care anymore. I'm no longer
I'm no longer supportive of him running through the streets
with New York Knicks fans to celebrate. I am out
on the way that he spells Timothy with two ease
and an accent at the end of Timothy.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
I'm out on that.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
I'm out on the entire situation, even though he's traveling
across the country to watch his basketball team play like
a true fan. He is a legitimate die hard Knicks fan.
He is of the same ilk as Ben Stiller and
Spike Lee and Tracy Morgan. I'm out. I'm out on
him entirely the entire experience, especially because the pace.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Was lost last night.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Do you think he spends today just hanging out in
Indiana or does he PJ his way back to New
York and then PJ Because my PJ life is expensive,
private jets are not cheap, right, so I'm frugal. I
can't imagine the concept of just private jetting out here
for no good reason. I cannot imagine that. But Maytan
shows he spending the day hanging out in Indiana.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
To leave, as somebody who is from the state of
Indiana no longer lives in the state of Indiana.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
I would not.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
Begrudge him whatsoever if he immediately took the opportunity. There
is no price on getting the hell out of Indiana
after spending an extended period of time in the state
of Indiana. No matter how good Saint Elmo's cocktail sauce is,
you canna lead it so much?
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Okay, when the the thing that your state just absolutely
claims all the time is a combination of ketchup and
horse radish, Like that's it.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Like it's cocktail sauce, it's spicy cocktail sauce. What do
we do it?
Speaker 4 (16:09):
I will every time I'm in Indiana not not sit
here and allow you to detegrate the only thing that
the state of Indiana does well besides basketball, which is
the Indy five hundred and Saint Elmo's Cocktail sauce. That
is absolutely that's a no fly zone. Because, honestly, Fitzy
and I wonder how you feel about this, just generally
before we get into more nonsense, the idea of what
(16:32):
this means to both franchises, how much important, how much
more important for the league? Frankly, it is to see
the Knicks survive going down a potential three hole to
a team like the Indiana Pacers, to a market like Indiana,
given what they're probably going to face on the other side,
though we will get to, okay, seeing the Timberwolves here
in just a second, getting ready to play the next
(16:53):
game of their series, like Indiana's kind of the center
of the basketball world right now with the Pacers and
what's of course coming with the WNBA being back in
full swing and Caitlin Clark obviously in the Indiana the
Indiana Fever.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
It's it's an interesting thing.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
It's particularly frustrating given that I went to the University
of Indiana, which is now the worst basketball team in
the entire state.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
But you can't have it both ways. If you're the NBA,
I agree with you that we all agree. Everybody's talked
about this. We've talked about this.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
The Knicks need to go to the finals for ratings purposes.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Like if you're the NBA, if you're ESPN, where I
spent years working, there is no doubt that everybody is
sitting in those meetings saying, good God, somehow, some way, please,
for the love of all things holy, you need series
to go six or seven games because it adds to
your TV revenue, And my God, do you want the
Knicks to be in the final? I will acknowledge that.
But if you are the NBA and you're also part
(17:47):
of this conversation that continually happens right now about who's
going to replace Stephen Lebron, at some point I'm looking
squarely at Halliburton saying like, hey, how do you take
somebody that feels for at times in the like I was.
I was standing last night in a sports bar watching
the game with a bunch of buddies, and you know,
(18:07):
a couple of them are casual NBA fans at best, right,
And one of them looked at the group and said, okay,
like Indiana needs a bucket. Who's their guy, Like, who's
the guy on this team that actually you got to
get the ball in their hands and they got to
do it, and I mean resoundingly. The group looked over
and said, well, that's Halliburton, and it got a response
from the room like I think that there is a
(18:28):
reality to the way that the NBA markets and creates everything.
Everything's based on how many chips you have, So in
order to become the next step versus Lebron, you have
to go through the short term pains that come with
I don't know, winning a championship.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
I would argue that for the league.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Halliburton, Anthony Edwards, SGA, winning a chip for any of
those three guys, while it's not the market that New
York is, obviously is part of the process of what
it would take to turn somebody into the next marketable.
Oh my god, this guy truly is the face of
the league.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (19:02):
I just don't think they're ever gonna let the face
of the league conversation run through the Indiana Pacers, Like,
I just can't imagine there's a scenario.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Oh, they let it ran through run through Milwaukee, like
Milwaukee got the face of the league.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
For a second.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
It was it was because he he was moaning and
groaning about the idea of being the face of the league,
and it turned into a whole conversation about, no, you
have no choice, We're going to make it the face
of league where you want to be or not, which
was just completely ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Uh, what the bait shows they're doing right now with
Anthony Edwards, it doesn't matter if he wants to be
the face of the league. He doesn't get to pick that.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
That's what we do, like when it's a market, we
don't look if any of these guys, if Halliburton, if SGA,
if Anthony Edwards, if any of the three of those
guys played for the Knicks of the Lakers, they would
already have been annointed, whether they wanted to be or not.
They'd already have statues being built for them out of
mashed potatoes. Like everybody would be sitting there saying, this
guy is the future of the NBA. But it's because
it's in Indiana, Minnesota, and Oklahoma City respectively. They were like, well,
(19:57):
you know, maybe if they if they win a few chips, maybe.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
They can become that guy. But that's the inevitability.
Speaker 4 (20:02):
I mean, it's always it's always going to be that,
especially when you're talking about the way that larger markets
and you know, to be completely honest with you, I
don't give a damn about the size of the market.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Conversation around who it is.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
That's performing on a night in a night out Basis,
Haliburton had twenty points six assists last night. Miles Turner
played a decent game. He wasn't overwhelmingly impressive. But to
your point about it's just who performs. That's that's when
you talk about the way that guys operate in professional
sports and professional athletes at a higher level than you
or I could speak to this, uh with with more,
(20:34):
with more, I don't know, just with more credibility, I suppose.
But anytime you talk to athletes about how it is
that they go about determining, all right, who is who
is our guiding for us here? If we need a bucket,
who are we going to? It's the guys that perform.
That's where leadership is first and foremost derived and then
all the other stuff that can you know, sometimes be hokey,
sometimes be real, kind of follows in suit. But you
(20:56):
first and foremost must go out there and perform. And
Tyrese Haliburton credit. I understand that they gave up the
game last night against New York. I understand that they
gave up the first game at home after going up
two to zero in the Garden, which is as impressive
as honestly anything that I've seen this playoffs for them
to overcome all the hype, all the noise, all the
rest of it, to go into New York and steal
(21:18):
their souls a little bit in the first two games.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
Like, that's just who Tyrese Haliburton is.
Speaker 4 (21:23):
And I think that you know, the conversation about I
always the most overrated player in the NBA and how
he's kind of leaned into that, we just kind of
we go out of I think a lot of times
fits we go out of our way to find different
kinds of dialogue around players that we really don't know
how to talk about because we don't watch them as
(21:44):
much throughout the course of the regular season as we
do the kind of star power that we might talk
about with the Lakers.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
And the Knicks.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
That's why a Halliburton run is so significant, because I
agree with you what people know right now, because most
people did not sit up on a Thursday night in
the middle of fall or winter and watch a Pacers game,
Like I'm just being honest, right, and that includes a
lot of people that cover the sport weren't sitting there
on a Thursday night saying, oh, gotta watch this Pacers
(22:13):
game tonight, right, Like, So what happens is narratives become bigger.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
So now all of a sudden we get to the
playoffs and it's like, well, you know what.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
The one thing people have heard repeatedly about Halliburton is that,
you know, some people think he's overrated. So that becomes
the whole conversation, the entire talking point. I do I
have to ask you, though, do you did you have
a problem last night? Late in the game, there were
a couple of times that Halliburton was driving the lane.
A couple of times it looked like he had an opportunity,
and instead he flipped the ball back to Myles Turner,
(22:41):
who took some of the ugly like he had three
of the ugliest three attempts. I can remember one where
the clockers running down and it felt like he just
didn't even realize it, but like three straight times where
I saw Halliburton give the ball to Myles Turner. That's
the very thing, if we're being honest, that we crush
any other superstar forward.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
It's like, well, the ball was in your hand minute and.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
A half left, you're supposed to walk that shot like
it's weird.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
I didn't know how to feel about it watching it
last night.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
No, I mean context matters in these things, because if
you were if you were going to have that conversation,
then you also have to consider the fact that they
had Aaron Naismith eight of nine or something like that
outrageous in the first game against the Knicks, and that
was the guy who was in the moment, and to
Rick Carlisle's credit, he just kind of went with the
hot hand, as opposed to what any media person would
(23:28):
have killed a coach for afterwards if they had not
been able to win that game. Why aren't you going
to your star in that moment. Why aren't you finding
ways to get the most important player on the court
the ball out of the gates, as opposed to going
with your guy who may have kept you in the game,
may have helped you force overtime. All these different things,
but isn't the kind of star. Isn't even remotely the
(23:51):
kind of star that we talk about in these specific moments.
So you know, I can't, I can't be okay with
the naysmith thing a couple of nights ago and then
kill them for going to Miles Turner in that spot
if they felt like Miles Turner was going to give
them better opportunities, because that is the thing that was
least expected. We're all looking at Tyrese Aliburton to take over,
to be one of these players that takes over in
(24:12):
this situation, but in reality, that's not how Indiana got here, right, Like,
they play a team game, so for them to completely
diverge from who they are in a moment when they
are in a close game. It was an ugly game
for the first three quarters to your point, and Kat
had to take over for New York to even have
a prayer in this one. But it just you have
(24:37):
to have an identity as a team, no matter what
sport you're talking about, and if you completely go away
from what that is just for one specific thing, and
maybe that's a coaching talking point that we can get into.
If that level of adjustment is something that they're capable of,
because clearly they're going to have to make some adjustments here.
But that, again, FITZI, is not what got them to
(24:57):
this point.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Well, that's very well, he's Buck Rise, I'm Jason Fitz
were in for two pros and a cuple of Joe
on Fox Sports Radio. And as fair point, Miles Turner
was one for six from three last night. But I
do think that's a little bit jaded stat because three
of those misses came late. Right, So the three shots
I'm talking about, I think in fairness and I said
this on the Fellows over the weekend. To me, part
of what makes Indiana kind of beautiful but also kind
(25:19):
of tough to talk about sometimes is that again, I'm
gonna use.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
A dated reference here from the eighties. Buck, You're gonna
have to follow me. Okay, eighties cartoons.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
You're ready for this, because cartoons were different in the eighties.
You know what Voltron was. Did you ever see Vultron?
Have you ever heard of Voltron?
Speaker 3 (25:33):
I've heard the reference.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Okay, So Voltron was a bunch of little robots that
came together and they created one big robot, right, and
so like Vultron. Though, like when you were a kid,
if you got Voltron, it just meant your parents, much
like mine, couldn't afford Transformers.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Nobody really wanted Vultron. You got stuck with Vultron if
for being honest.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
So like to me, what makes Indiana interesting is that
most of their team is Voltron, a bunch of robots
that by themselves may not be ass kickers, but you
put them all one big robot and now suddenly they are.
But the difference is Halliburton is expected to be Optimist Prime.
It's a perfect crossover. You have like one major transformer
that's supposed to come into this Voltron thing.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
It's tough.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
It's tougher to analyze for a lot of people, I think,
because it's not as simple as what did Lebron and
Luca do tonight, which is just the way we love it. Right,
So you're right that Indiana was able to get to
where they are in the first couple of games because
different role players were huge in addition to Halliburton, and
they were headed that way.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
In game three, it just fell apart at the end
of the at the end of the game, so I.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
Have to give Indiana credit a little bit because they
do understand I think better Indiana and Oklahoma City understand
who they are and how they got here, and that
is such a massive part.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Of the identity.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
And I talked about the depth, right, Both of those
teams have utilized their depth and it's a big part
of how they win games. So it's just hard for
my mindset sometimes when I see Halliburton driving late in
the game with the opportunity to just pick up what
looks like an easy bucket and instead he does a
weird pass to get the ball back to somebody else
to take the shot. It's I want these I want
(27:09):
these explosive moments that just absolutely cement this man is
a superstar and we should talk about him differently.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
And that's what the NBA Playoffs, like it or not present.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Like legacy will be carved out one way or the
other for Haliburton, depending on how this series goes well.
Speaker 4 (27:26):
And then to turn the page forward to tonight with
the Timberwolves in the thunder like think about Shae Yell
just Alexander in this particular Game four that's coming up
fourteen points. In Game three, he was four of thirteen
from the field. He had a box or excuse me,
a plus minus of negative thirty two. In this game,
you talk about legacy and the opportunity to find moments.
(27:48):
Nobody has more pressure riding on them right now in
these playoffs to do exactly that, especially given the fact
that they had the Wolves on the ropes and then
just completely put up a no show performance in Game
three to the.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Tune of one forty three to one oh one.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
Especially when you talk about the thing that got you
mentioned things that got Indiana and OKC to this point
in the NBA playoffs, that their defense has been suffocating
and then all of a sudden, they just completely, they
completely don't show up in Game three.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
SGA has a lot riding on.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
This game upcoming tonight, and I'm fascinated to see how
he responds.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
That's that's the fun part of this, right to talk.
Speaker 4 (28:26):
About, you know, legacy, defining opportunities, whether or not somebody
met the moment. The beautiful part of this is you
have more basketball coming up. You have more opportunities to
continue to define this, to continue to etch your legacy
out as you work towards the ultimate goal of a championship.
And I think that Halliburton and SGA are in very
very similar spots. SGA more so though, because he's the MVP,
(28:48):
even though for some reason it takes us, you know,
a month and a half to name the MVP.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
I don't know why.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
We're all the way through or halfway through the Eastern
Conference in Western Conference finals before they tell us who
the most Valuable player of the regular season was.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
If you're going to wait this law, then you need
to just change the entire system and make the MVP
an award for the regular season and the postseason. To me,
because it's maddening. What you just said is fair and
right about SGA, but it's also maddening in the middle
of a playoff run for this team, he wins the
(29:19):
MVP and suddenly everybody looking at it and says, okay, well,
go be the MVP. The risk, the calculated risk that
comes in the way this award, Like if SGA had
a terrible Game seven and Jokic had a great one
and Denver hit advanced, how would we look at the
MVP moving forward? And now to your point, you got
an SGA that every time he has a subpar game
(29:40):
for the rest of the playoffs. The first thing we're
all gonna say the next day is man, he's the MVP.
And absolutely once you get that MVP, now there's such
a different level of you can't, you can't do anything.
You have to be that person that when you are
the MVP in perception, you can strap the entire team
(30:01):
to your back and you can single handedly will your
team to a win over Anthony Edwards. That is the
expectation out through no fault to SGA. That's where the
world is well.
Speaker 4 (30:10):
And I think that's Isn't that a fair place to
exist though, because it's the I mean, Fitzy, it's the
largest margin of defeat in NBA history for a team
that had as many regular season wins as this Oklahoma
City Thunder team does and to lose that way to
I mean, you could probably have some level of debate,
and perhaps we'll have this conversation throughout the course of
the morning here on Fox Sports Radio, Jason Fitzenbuck rising here.
Speaker 3 (30:34):
With you for the guys.
Speaker 4 (30:36):
I think that as you kind of talk about the
best player, the best individual player left in these NBA playoffs,
there's there's some margin for interpretation and there shouldn't be
because of exactly what you've just said, he is the MVP.
We hold those guys understandably, so rightfully so to a
higher level of expectation, And I don't think that there's
(30:58):
anything wrong with the dialog around that, even though it
creates these pressurized you know, these pressure cookers for them.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
Who is like if you had to, if you had
to pick one guy right now, that you would start
your team with the in the final?
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Yeah, Like I think we all think it's Anthony Edwards.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
And which is funny because the legend of Jalen Brunson
is becoming absolutely out of control, right And then.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
You've got SGA winning the MVP.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
You got Halliburton over here being overrated apparently, but the
Pacers looking like you know, if they continue, if they can.
Speaker 4 (31:30):
Things get more complicated, I'll get to be overrated once
you get to the Eastern Conference finals, Like I go,
not with this overrated thing.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
And then you've got Anthony Edwards that is just you know,
is he the face of the league conversation? Like it
is funny that if you were, if you were talking
about the way we talk about.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
These players, you're absolutely right, Like I think.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Anthony Edwards is overwhelmingly the guy that I would I mean,
I say overwhelmingly, but.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
I mean, Jalen Brunson certainly has been clutched, But I
would take Anthony Edwards's ability to do superhuman things against
absolute anybody all the time if I needed one.
Speaker 4 (32:03):
And it was interesting because and of course you can
tweet us as we hang out with you this morning
at Jason Fitz at buck Rising if you want to
get involved speaking of the conversation, because I mean, can
these guys do it alone?
Speaker 3 (32:14):
Right?
Speaker 4 (32:15):
Is Brunston able to survive when he's in foul trouble?
Last night he stuck on a bench in Karl Anthony
Towns has to come and bail them out that way,
and was able to successfully do so. And you put
yourself in a situation when you trade for a guy
like Kat to do just that. But like Brunson is
a very very specific kind of player. And while he
has created this lore for himself, I think it's earned
(32:37):
right fast. I mean, he's had such great individual moments
and doing it in a market like New York is
always going to give you that added juice. But I
mean I think about this last night, like what is
the conversation around Brunson. If Kat doesn't lose his mind
in the fourth quarter the way that he does, and
Perry tweets us, I promise you that Minnesota fans are
not missing Cat in these playoffs. We have seen him
(32:58):
disappear a nothing big games, and it's laughable that you
think the Western Conference Finals would be different right now
with him in it.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
I don't know that that's the case.
Speaker 4 (33:06):
I just know that Minnesota is lacking what New York
seems to have, which is a backup option.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
Look, my point earlier was not that Minnesota should keep
should have kept Karl Anthony Towns. It's that Minnesota needs
something right now like the best of what Karl Anthony
Towns offers, and they understood they couldn't rely on it.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
They made the smart decision and getting rid of him.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
I think that's a statement to Minnesota understanding, like, hey,
the volatility and results is not worth having this.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
Guy on the floor.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
So I like, again, I'm not saying Minnesota needed Karl
Anthony Towns. I'm saying that Minnesota needed the skill set
of the best of Karl Anthony Towns and realized that
Cat can't be relied on to give it to him,
and now Knicks fans are relying on Cat to do
the very thing that Minnesota fans realize he cannot do.
You guys can keep tweeting us. That's a great idea.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Also, I'll put up a poll.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
We'll figure out what you guys think that one player
remaining in the NBA playoffs that you would build a
team around will.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
Do all that. Plus, we got to get into this.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
There's there's some truth behind flag football that NFL fans
need to hear.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
We'll break all that down. He's Buck Rising. I'm Jason Fitz.
We're in on Two Pros and a Cup of Joe
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 6 (34:12):
Be sure to catch live editions of Two Pros and
a Cup of Joe with Brady Quinn, LeVar Errington, and
Jonas Knox weekdays at six a m.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Eastern three am Pacific.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
I'm gonna admit I had such a Gwen Stefani cross
during the No Doubt era. Oh, two Pros and a
Cup of Joe?
Speaker 2 (34:30):
I need a second. He's Buck Rising. I'm Jason Fitz.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
Where did that? Where did that come from?
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Sorry, I mean, I'm sorry, this era Gwen Stefani was
I was just I'm just gonna let the song play.
Speaker 4 (34:48):
For I don't I don't know what to do. I
feel like I'm getting in the middle of you and
Gwen Stefani at this particular point, the three of you.
I feel I feel like I'm uncomfortab.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
I mean, are you on?
Speaker 1 (35:02):
So you're saying that if I offered you a throutle
with me and when Stefani, you're out on that.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (35:07):
I don't know, Buck, I am out on that. Yes,
I can confidently say that I'm out on that. We
were just Yeah, I think I think it's pretty easy
on that one.
Speaker 7 (35:17):
Me.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
I also have half to this day.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
Avril call me Averril's another one like Avril's on my mount,
my Mount Rushmore.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
I've got a tap, Avril call me you.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
Got I'll uh yeah, that's a that's the end of
the stories I'll tell on air.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
Okay, he's Buck Rising on Jason Fitz.
Speaker 1 (35:35):
We're in for two pros and a cup of Joe
on Fox Sports Radio much longer. Making things weird early
on a Monday morning, Speaking of weird, six.
Speaker 4 (35:46):
Fifty Eastern is the time to make things weird. If
we're gonna do it like it's it's it's okay at
this point.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
It's also I mean, it is Memorial Day, so I
feel like if you're up at six fifty on Memorial
Day hanging out with us like you're ready for weird,
I feel like you're just you're not. You're Most people
are not driving into work this morning. So you know,
if you're up at six fifty, you're up by choice.
By choice, Buck, you usually get up really early to
go lift heavy things and make sure that you look sensual.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
So like, you know, you're the audience.
Speaker 1 (36:14):
People headed the gym right now they feel me on
avrol I feel like that's that's I'm trying to pump
people up that are getting ready to go get their pumping.
Speaker 4 (36:21):
Oh yeah, most people are doing that awful. It's it's
obviously for a good cause. The that you heard of
the Murph Are you familiar with the Murph workout the
Murf workout?
Speaker 2 (36:33):
No, I am not familiar with the Miurf workout.
Speaker 4 (36:35):
The Murph workout is something that is done every Memorial
Day to honor the service of Lieutenant Michael Murphy.
Speaker 3 (36:44):
He was an Avy seal.
Speaker 4 (36:45):
It is the worst thing imaginable, though it's a one
mile run, it's one hundred pull ups, it's two hundred
push ups, three hundred air squads.
Speaker 3 (36:51):
And then another one mile run.
Speaker 4 (36:53):
So people that are working out today are are a
specific kind of crazy that probably would enjoy the nonsense
that we're doing at six fifty in the morning.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
I will be honestly, we'll talk about flag football in
a second. I'm derailed now. One hundred pull ups, she said, yes,
how okay, Buck, Like, can you know I'm on this?
I'm on a fatish journey and so like I'm a
year into May seventeenth, was a year into having you know,
trainer that I'm really tried to get my life in order.
(37:25):
And as I've talked a lot about on air, I lost,
you know, forty pounds and I've put roughly thirteen of
that back on in muscle, and like I'm going through
a whole process on an app with with my buddy
and Nashville guy Jeff Black. That's kicking my butt right,
Jeff is amazing. I was in the gym for the
final four, and the gym didn't have any of my
(37:46):
usual equipment, and so because I had to sort of
veer things in the app. I was like, all right,
I'm just gonna try and do some pull ups, and
I was quite happy with myself. I made it through
twenty pull ups and then took a break and made
it through twenty more so, I made it through forty
pull ups, which you know, over the course of like
my workout, which I was quite proud of. But I
was a level of sore and exhausted for days. I
(38:08):
can't imagine a hundred pull ups. I don't how many people.
Maybe I'm dumb here, how many people can do one
hundred pullups?
Speaker 2 (38:15):
Do you think most? Most? Like that just feels like
a lot.
Speaker 4 (38:19):
The kind of people that are waking up at you know,
pre dawn to go work out on Memorial Day. Those
kind of people. I'm pretty confident to do one hundred
pull ups without question. No I get I get to
about I get to about four, and then I need
the band around my knee to make sure that I
can continue to pull. I'm significantly larger than you, I
would say if.
Speaker 1 (38:40):
In every possible way, like if the two of us
were standing side by side and you saw us like,
I'm five.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
To nine and a five nine and a half, thank you,
But I'm five to nine and people a fresh No.
Speaker 4 (38:53):
Once you start using fractions, you're actually five seven.
Speaker 3 (38:55):
Like that's that's how I wait?
Speaker 2 (38:56):
People like that when you're a grown ass man, that's
five nine.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
You you fractions, buck, You're you're like sixty three, right,
Like you need a different pull up bar your six
three and heels. Okay, I'm gonna make you six three.
In my mind, six three, two fifty.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
I just made an NFL player. We don't have no muscle,
muscle almost.
Speaker 3 (39:15):
Zero percent chance. I'm not. Derrick Henry is somebody who
covered Derek for eight years.
Speaker 4 (39:21):
I can tell you that there is a definitive difference
in the way that that human being looks in the way.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
That I look That that is fair. Uh okay, fine,
I'll give you six three and two hundred two hundred.
Speaker 4 (39:34):
Or better flag football player. But that's neither that's neither
here nor there.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
Oh, that is a beautiful transition.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
We will continue to break down the Knicks, obviously, and
Timothy Shallow may because I know the world can't get
enough of both of those teams. But there was huge
news from flag football that impacts the future of the NFL.
We'll tell you how and what it all means he's
buck rising up. Jason Fitzwaring for the Guys on two
pros and a Cup of Joe.
So you're telling me there's a chance, I mean, grease
up the light poles. Everybody can celebrate the Knicks with
the improbable comeback, just when we thought the Eastern Conference
Finals were done, just when you thought the Knicks were
left for dead, just when you thought the entire thing
(00:26):
was over. Now, like an eighties wrestling match with Hulk Hogan,
the arms in the air, it falls the first time
it falls, the second time it's about to hit the match,
the match is about to end, and instead the arms
starts shaking.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Hulk Hogan gets up.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
That's what the Knicks did last night, breaking the hearts
of Pacers fans everywhere, both of them. And I'm sitting
with one of them. He's Buck Rising. I'm Jason Fitz.
It's Bucking Fits. We're taking over to Bros and a
cup of Joe this morning. Buck Rising from Indiana. By
the way, it should be noted a noted Pacers fan.
The one time you're gonna listen to any radio show
anywhere in the country today that has a Pacers fan.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
And I'm just I'm just curious, book, what's the pulse like, Buddy,
how are we feeling?
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Because it sure looked with a twenty point lead in
the first half, a double digit lead in the fourth quarter,
and then a complete meltdown, which is part of you know,
the way next win games.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
How we feeling buck Yes, turns out we do exist.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
Pacers fans were not feeling great after the Knicks went
down twenty at this point. Turns out all you need
to do to motivate the New York basketball team is
to get them down by twenty points and the rest
will take care of itself. Things are, you know, I'd
say tenuous at this point in time, fitsy I'm not
I'm not like, I'm not super upset. I mean I
(01:44):
am upset a one oh six, one hundred loss in
Indiana after going up to oh in New York and
giving the Knicks fans the choking sign and pointing at
Reggie Miller and evoking all the good vibes that you
could possibly have about this series from the Indiana fan perspective,
to be able to close out game one or I
guess game three. Technically the first game in Indiana would
(02:06):
have been lovely. But I'm still pretty confident about my
basketball team versus this next basketball team, because I just
don't think they can do this too many more times.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
I mean, okay, so let's think about it.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
There's a couple of ways this can be taken to
this time, because we do know you mentioned and we
were obviously looking at this series saying, okay, how does
Indiana handle the Garden? You and I have talked extensively
about handling the Garden not really.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Being that big of a deal. Right, So Indiana goes in.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
There, fine, But there were moments in both of those
games where Knicks fans were convinced.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
They won it. So if you talk to a Knicks
fan this morning.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
All they're going to say is, man, we got unlucky
the first couple of games, and we did what we
do in the third game. Everything's god to be fine.
If you talk to Basers fans as well. I mean,
we won two at the Garden, and then minus a meltdown,
we would have this game.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
I think what is wild about all of this is just.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
To oversimplify for a second, if you'll allow me, Karl
Anthony Towns is just an enigma.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
I don't know what to do with the.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Fact that Karl Anthony Towns just played and flat out
sucked for three quarters in this game and then all
of a sudden.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
In the fourth quarter, Karl Anthony Towns is like, no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
This is this is why I I this is why
everybody covets me at some point, like Karl Anthony Towns
is maddening because when he plays the way he played in.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
The fourth quarter, all of a sudden, the next look unstoppable.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
But you just can't bank on that game in and
came out, which is in and of it self frustrating.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
If I have to lose, I don't want it to
be because of Karl Anthony Towns. And that's how I
felt in Game one, to be honest with you, when
he started hitting threes, more threes than he'd hit in
the entire Celtics series combined, coming out the way that
they didn't. Then obviously they had the epic collapse the
way that Knicks fans feared, of course, But with Kat
it's such a it's such an interesting conversation, right because
(03:50):
I don't know. I mean, Fitzy, do you do you
genuinely believe that Karl Anthony Towns can be relied upon
on a consistent basis to bail the New York out
when they need bailing out because to me, I understand
that he's an incredibly talented player. There's you know, some
differing in opinion as to whether this is somebody who
is consistent enough at the NBA level.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Obviously, he's got all the.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
Physical tools and gifts that you want to be able
to put himself in these positions. But like, I don't
know that I trust Kat, if I'm a Knicks fan,
to continually do this, or to be able to continually
do this down the stretch when there is so much
on the line. I just don't know that he's that
kind of a player, even though he was the player
that they needed last night. Is that unfair? Am I oversimplifying?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Now?
Speaker 1 (04:36):
No, you're a thousand percent right, And I will just
go back to the team that no longer has Cat
right now that could really use a second player that's
capable of doing what Kat does. And so the best
of Kat would really help Minnesota right now, right Like
if Minnesota had the best of what Karl Anthony Towns is,
they would be in a much different situation in their
sit To them, they're.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
They're in hell right now. Don't do that to them.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
You're looking at two teams and the Conference Finals built
off the backs of a Paul George trade, which delights me.
But the idea that you're you're gonna you're gonna tantalize
Wolves fans. But that wouldn't it be nice to have
Karl Anthony Towns at this.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Point in your season? Shame on you? Really fitsing that well?
Speaker 1 (05:16):
I mean, first and foremost, Like, look, when you're as
damaged a fan as I am, like you have no
no worry in your heart about saying something that hurts
fans hearts like I'm used to living in the world
to hurt.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
We need a big old support group with each other.
Speaker 5 (05:27):
I think, the hell, what is that to start a
Monday morning? Oh my god, I'm just you know, I'm
a beacon of light in the dark to her world. Brother,
I'm a beacon of light my friend thinking trauma.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
I'm just well, that's that's I mean, my god, I'm
sitting here talking to you on a Monday morning with
my Raiders shirt on, Like I just I live in
trauma constantly. I My point is that Minnesota did the
right thing and saying no, he's not he's not the him.
We needed that position right, Like, he's not what we
need to be able to bank on for our franchise.
(06:00):
They were so comfortable letting him go. And obviously Touleius
Randalls is, you know, sort of their number two.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
He's supposed to be their robin now.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
But they were so comfortable letting Karl Anthony Towns walk
because they understood the limitations of Karl Anthony Towns.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
I think that speaks to.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Something like when you are an NBA team that has
a superstar and then you've got the guy that should
be able to be your robin and you're comfortable just
letting him walk away.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
That makes a statement.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
And that's part of what we see for the Knicks
because I just believe that the Knicks inherited somebody that. Again,
it's it's all like if we were playing two K,
you feel great about it, but we're not playing two
K right like when you when you actually watch the
result on the on the court, what we had last
night was laying basketball for three quarters until all of
a sudden it woke up, which is which is again,
if you're a Knicks fan today, that's what you're smoking
(06:46):
your cigar and climbing up to the top of the
street lights with.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
Like you're smoking a cigar at this point in time,
let me just say New York and let's let's let's
keep the cigars unlet at this point in time, just
keep your powder.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
So now they can't sell, now, you hypocrite. Now they
can't celebrate.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Because like one of us on this show team damn
it no, okay, okay, well, I mean one of us
working on this show right now may have may have
questioned the amount of celebrating for the New York Knickerbockers
after their win over the Boston Celtics the morning.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
They well, you know, I'm swinging. I'm you don't.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
You don't win swinging for singles, brother, when swinging for
home runs. At this point, that's a that's a terrible
baseball analogy because it's really not true.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
But we're gonna go with it this early.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
I'm just just allowing me this moment, I'm just in
celebrating that level after a second round win. I may
have been the one of the two of us that
said you don't raise banners for second round wins.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Maybe relax a little bit. You said I was a
thief for joy.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Now when you're losing, like if you're a Knicks fan,
and you're losing in the Eastern Conference Finals, you feel
kind of stupid if you celebrated that much and all
of a sudden you're like, yeah, we ran in the streets,
but then we lost to Indiana in the next round.
I'm just saying like that that was the reality until
about ten minutes was left in that basketball game last night,
Knicks fans were we're definitely tucking their tails.
Speaker 4 (08:01):
I was in on Knicks fans until they started throwing
bags of garbage at that poor Pacers fan. And since then,
I've changed my tune. I don't think we've done a
show since then. But the other figure that needs to
be mentioned in the middle all of this is Tom Tibodeau.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Because they went with a different starting lineup last night.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
They had backup center Mitchell Robinson in place of Josh Hart.
When Miles McBride got in the foul trouble, when Brunson
got in a foul trouble early, that completely changed the
look of their rotation. They started going to role players
that really has not been a part of the Knicks bag,
at least to this point. So I think Tips deserves
credit in the middle of all of this too, for
(08:39):
being able to manage the moment and manage his lineup
in ways that we haven't really talked about him doing
to this point.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
You disagree, No, I agree, But I also I'm tell
you I'm full eighties wrestling today.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
I'm like Jimmy Mount to the South.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Heart with my little megaphone in my hand, and I'm
the troll in the corner. Because I will remind everybody
that part of the reason that they needed to put
Mitchell Robinson into the lineup was because they needed the
size where Karl Anthony Towns was a liability on the
defensive side of the court for how.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Much for the first couple of games.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
I'm just saying that part of the reason they had
to make a change was because kat was so poor
at certain things.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
So it just supports my point.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
That you can't rely on cat over your troll. In
the morning after, I should be very pro New York.
I feel bad about it now, Buck.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
I'm still trying to figure out the wrestling reference. Who've
just married? How the hell old are you?
Speaker 2 (09:25):
I'm old enough? I mean, yeah, like I'm I'm about
to turn forty.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Eight, man, Like this is just what happens like I
grew up on eighties wrestling. Like I grew out of
eighties wrestling, but I grew up on eighties wrestling. So
like I got a bunch of eighties wrestling toys in
front of me. I got macho man facing me right now,
Like it's inevitable these things are gonna happen for me.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
This is what happens when you're.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Old, dude, Like, I'm old enough that, like there were
genuinely people that thought wrestling was real when I was
a kid, Like the Internet didn't even.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Exist, dude, Like, you know how old I am?
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Buck I typed my papers in high school on a
typewriter because we couldn't afford a computer, dude, Like that's
how old I am.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Again, we are working through it.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
Why does it always seem that when you and I
do one of these radio show togethers that we're just
working through what what to me sounds like trauma, but
you know, at least for the next hour.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
So being old is trauma now, book after you want
to say being old is traumatic?
Speaker 3 (10:15):
It sounds terrible.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
It just genuinely it sounds terrible at this point in time,
But it's okay.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
These are emotional times. For you.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
I understand it would have been emotional times for Knicks
fans have they not been able to get this done?
And that's kind of that's kind of the sense that
you got for the post game press conference comments. I
don't know how much of that you paid attention to,
or may have watched on SportsCenter after the fact, what
have you, but you know, basically talking about how it's emotional,
they're playing the long game. Things can happen, things can
go not your way in these moments. But I think
(10:43):
Brunson said last night, you can easily crash out or
you can respond the right way. So what are we
gonna do this morning, FITZI, We're gonna crash out or
we're gonna respond the correct way, because I feel like
we need to get our act together.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
No, we're gonna respond the right way.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
This is about to be a stacked several hours. We
got a lot of NBA we're going to get into.
I got to get your thoughts on where you are
on Timothy Chalamagne now because that can get a little
contentious with you. And of course flag football. Trust me,
there's some brilliance coming on flag football. But we've looked
at one side of this, we'll continue to look at
the Knicks. Let's take a look at what we're gonna
see today because we have another matchup in the other
(11:17):
finals matchup we have not seen a good game yet
in the West.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Is one coming today? We'll break it down. It's Two
Pros and a Cup of Joe. He's Buck Rising, I'm
Jason Fitz. We're in for the guys. Stick with us.
Speaker 6 (11:26):
Be sure to catch live editions of Two Pros and
a Cup of Joe with Brady Quinn, LeVar Errington and
Jonas Knox weekdays at six am Eastern three am Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
It's two Pros and a Cup of Joe. I'm Fox
Sports Radio. He's Buck Rising. I'm Jason Fitz. We're in
for the guys this morning. It is Memorial Day. We'd
be remiss if we didn't stop before we get too
far into the show and say thank you to everybody.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
That served, everybody that sacrificed.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Obviously, today is about more than sports and Buck and
I wouldn't get to do what we do if it
weren't for amazing people that sacrificed everything and families that
sacrificed everything for our country.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
So we thank everybody.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
And hope you take the opportunity today to acknowledge people
in your life that served, and have family that served,
and take a moment to just acknowledge what today is about.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
For well said FITZI, and I think that you know,
there's a variety of different things that we're going to
talk about today, but to keep that the main thing
throughout the course of the show and throughout the course
of the day, of course, is the most important thing.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
The Knicks are the main thing this morning. Obviously after
a huge comeback win. This seems to be sort of
part of the course for Knicks fans with a huge
comeback win over the Pacers last night. Of course, we've
been talking about Karl Anthony Towns. Let's go ahead and
get this the tiract play of the day. A little
bit of cat love here for you, coming at you
(12:58):
right now.
Speaker 7 (12:59):
Talents dribble up top, snatched back three puarters straight on,
nailed it talk from Karl Anthony Towns. An unbelievable to
or dive forth porter from Towns. He has twenty points
in the last seven minutes.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
At the next lead ninety four to ninety that's right,
that's a from Nick's Radio network.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
For over forty years, ti rack has been helping customers
find the right tires for how, what and where they drive.
Shipped fast and free, backed by road hazard protection. We
convenient install installation options like mobile tire installation tirack dot
com the way tire buying should be. You and I
had a contentious conversation about a week ago about one
(13:40):
Timothy's Chalomey as it was yeah, I know, I know
it was discovered on this very show. As everybody was
just going on and on about Timothy Schallomey that I,
you know, am not fully familiar with much of his work.
I'm the first to admit that SO didn't love the
Willy Walker.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
It was fine, So I don't.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
I don't really necessarily understand all of the hype over
Timothy Shallowby.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
But now something nice about him?
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Right now, he is a superstar. There is no doubt
he is a superstar. People enjoy his work. How's that
for something nice? People enjoy Timothy Shallomey's work.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
He was all over the broadcast that he's an incredible actor.
Not me, but many people are saying this.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Many people, many people. He was all over the broadcast
last night. It's funny because I don't know, I just
I felt like Twitter wasn't telling me to stop looking
at him the way they do every time Taylor Swift.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Comes up in the Chiefs game.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
So it's just interesting that, like, we're getting so much
Timmy tim now and everybody seems to love this.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
I'm officially declaring myself out on Timmy Shall at this
point in time. No, it's because he's he's playing against
my basketball team. I don't care anymore. I'm no longer
I'm no longer supportive of him running through the streets
with New York Knicks fans to celebrate. I am out
on the way that he spells Timothy with two ease
and an accent at the end of Timothy.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
I'm out on that.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
I'm out on the entire situation, even though he's traveling
across the country to watch his basketball team play like
a true fan. He is a legitimate die hard Knicks fan.
He is of the same ilk as Ben Stiller and
Spike Lee and Tracy Morgan. I'm out. I'm out on
him entirely the entire experience, especially because the pace.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Was lost last night.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Do you think he spends today just hanging out in
Indiana or does he PJ his way back to New
York and then PJ Because my PJ life is expensive,
private jets are not cheap, right, so I'm frugal. I
can't imagine the concept of just private jetting out here
for no good reason. I cannot imagine that. But Maytan
shows he spending the day hanging out in Indiana.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
To leave, as somebody who is from the state of
Indiana no longer lives in the state of Indiana.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
I would not.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
Begrudge him whatsoever if he immediately took the opportunity. There
is no price on getting the hell out of Indiana
after spending an extended period of time in the state
of Indiana. No matter how good Saint Elmo's cocktail sauce is,
you canna lead it so much?
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Okay, when the the thing that your state just absolutely
claims all the time is a combination of ketchup and
horse radish, Like that's it.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Like it's cocktail sauce, it's spicy cocktail sauce. What do
we do it?
Speaker 4 (16:09):
I will every time I'm in Indiana not not sit
here and allow you to detegrate the only thing that
the state of Indiana does well besides basketball, which is
the Indy five hundred and Saint Elmo's Cocktail sauce. That
is absolutely that's a no fly zone. Because, honestly, Fitzy
and I wonder how you feel about this, just generally
before we get into more nonsense, the idea of what
(16:32):
this means to both franchises, how much important, how much
more important for the league? Frankly, it is to see
the Knicks survive going down a potential three hole to
a team like the Indiana Pacers, to a market like Indiana,
given what they're probably going to face on the other side,
though we will get to, okay, seeing the Timberwolves here
in just a second, getting ready to play the next
(16:53):
game of their series, like Indiana's kind of the center
of the basketball world right now with the Pacers and
what's of course coming with the WNBA being back in
full swing and Caitlin Clark obviously in the Indiana the
Indiana Fever.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
It's it's an interesting thing.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
It's particularly frustrating given that I went to the University
of Indiana, which is now the worst basketball team in
the entire state.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
But you can't have it both ways. If you're the NBA,
I agree with you that we all agree. Everybody's talked
about this. We've talked about this.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
The Knicks need to go to the finals for ratings purposes.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Like if you're the NBA, if you're ESPN, where I
spent years working, there is no doubt that everybody is
sitting in those meetings saying, good God, somehow, some way, please,
for the love of all things holy, you need series
to go six or seven games because it adds to
your TV revenue, And my God, do you want the
Knicks to be in the final? I will acknowledge that.
But if you are the NBA and you're also part
(17:47):
of this conversation that continually happens right now about who's
going to replace Stephen Lebron, at some point I'm looking
squarely at Halliburton saying like, hey, how do you take
somebody that feels for at times in the like I was.
I was standing last night in a sports bar watching
the game with a bunch of buddies, and you know,
(18:07):
a couple of them are casual NBA fans at best, right,
And one of them looked at the group and said, okay,
like Indiana needs a bucket. Who's their guy, Like, who's
the guy on this team that actually you got to
get the ball in their hands and they got to
do it, and I mean resoundingly. The group looked over
and said, well, that's Halliburton, and it got a response
from the room like I think that there is a
(18:28):
reality to the way that the NBA markets and creates everything.
Everything's based on how many chips you have, So in
order to become the next step versus Lebron, you have
to go through the short term pains that come with
I don't know, winning a championship.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
I would argue that for the league.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Halliburton, Anthony Edwards, SGA, winning a chip for any of
those three guys, while it's not the market that New
York is, obviously is part of the process of what
it would take to turn somebody into the next marketable.
Oh my god, this guy truly is the face of
the league.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (19:02):
I just don't think they're ever gonna let the face
of the league conversation run through the Indiana Pacers, Like,
I just can't imagine there's a scenario.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Oh, they let it ran through run through Milwaukee, like
Milwaukee got the face of the league.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
For a second.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
It was it was because he he was moaning and
groaning about the idea of being the face of the league,
and it turned into a whole conversation about, no, you
have no choice, We're going to make it the face
of league where you want to be or not, which
was just completely ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Uh, what the bait shows they're doing right now with
Anthony Edwards, it doesn't matter if he wants to be
the face of the league. He doesn't get to pick that.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
That's what we do, like when it's a market, we
don't look if any of these guys, if Halliburton, if SGA,
if Anthony Edwards, if any of the three of those
guys played for the Knicks of the Lakers, they would
already have been annointed, whether they wanted to be or not.
They'd already have statues being built for them out of
mashed potatoes. Like everybody would be sitting there saying, this
guy is the future of the NBA. But it's because
it's in Indiana, Minnesota, and Oklahoma City respectively. They were like, well,
(19:57):
you know, maybe if they if they win a few chips, maybe.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
They can become that guy. But that's the inevitability.
Speaker 4 (20:02):
I mean, it's always it's always going to be that,
especially when you're talking about the way that larger markets
and you know, to be completely honest with you, I
don't give a damn about the size of the market.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Conversation around who it is.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
That's performing on a night in a night out Basis,
Haliburton had twenty points six assists last night. Miles Turner
played a decent game. He wasn't overwhelmingly impressive. But to
your point about it's just who performs. That's that's when
you talk about the way that guys operate in professional
sports and professional athletes at a higher level than you
or I could speak to this, uh with with more,
(20:34):
with more, I don't know, just with more credibility, I suppose.
But anytime you talk to athletes about how it is
that they go about determining, all right, who is who
is our guiding for us here? If we need a bucket,
who are we going to? It's the guys that perform.
That's where leadership is first and foremost derived and then
all the other stuff that can you know, sometimes be hokey,
sometimes be real, kind of follows in suit. But you
(20:56):
first and foremost must go out there and perform. And
Tyrese Haliburton credit. I understand that they gave up the
game last night against New York. I understand that they
gave up the first game at home after going up
two to zero in the Garden, which is as impressive
as honestly anything that I've seen this playoffs for them
to overcome all the hype, all the noise, all the
rest of it, to go into New York and steal
(21:18):
their souls a little bit in the first two games.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
Like, that's just who Tyrese Haliburton is.
Speaker 4 (21:23):
And I think that you know, the conversation about I
always the most overrated player in the NBA and how
he's kind of leaned into that, we just kind of
we go out of I think a lot of times
fits we go out of our way to find different
kinds of dialogue around players that we really don't know
how to talk about because we don't watch them as
(21:44):
much throughout the course of the regular season as we
do the kind of star power that we might talk
about with the Lakers.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
And the Knicks.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
That's why a Halliburton run is so significant, because I
agree with you what people know right now, because most
people did not sit up on a Thursday night in
the middle of fall or winter and watch a Pacers game,
Like I'm just being honest, right, and that includes a
lot of people that cover the sport weren't sitting there
on a Thursday night saying, oh, gotta watch this Pacers
(22:13):
game tonight, right, Like, So what happens is narratives become bigger.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
So now all of a sudden we get to the
playoffs and it's like, well, you know what.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
The one thing people have heard repeatedly about Halliburton is that,
you know, some people think he's overrated. So that becomes
the whole conversation, the entire talking point. I do I
have to ask you, though, do you did you have
a problem last night? Late in the game, there were
a couple of times that Halliburton was driving the lane.
A couple of times it looked like he had an opportunity,
and instead he flipped the ball back to Myles Turner,
(22:41):
who took some of the ugly like he had three
of the ugliest three attempts. I can remember one where
the clockers running down and it felt like he just
didn't even realize it, but like three straight times where
I saw Halliburton give the ball to Myles Turner. That's
the very thing, if we're being honest, that we crush
any other superstar forward.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
It's like, well, the ball was in your hand minute and.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
A half left, you're supposed to walk that shot like
it's weird.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
I didn't know how to feel about it watching it
last night.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
No, I mean context matters in these things, because if
you were if you were going to have that conversation,
then you also have to consider the fact that they
had Aaron Naismith eight of nine or something like that
outrageous in the first game against the Knicks, and that
was the guy who was in the moment, and to
Rick Carlisle's credit, he just kind of went with the
hot hand, as opposed to what any media person would
(23:28):
have killed a coach for afterwards if they had not
been able to win that game. Why aren't you going
to your star in that moment. Why aren't you finding
ways to get the most important player on the court
the ball out of the gates, as opposed to going
with your guy who may have kept you in the game,
may have helped you force overtime. All these different things,
but isn't the kind of star. Isn't even remotely the
(23:51):
kind of star that we talk about in these specific moments.
So you know, I can't, I can't be okay with
the naysmith thing a couple of nights ago and then
kill them for going to Miles Turner in that spot
if they felt like Miles Turner was going to give
them better opportunities, because that is the thing that was
least expected. We're all looking at Tyrese Aliburton to take over,
to be one of these players that takes over in
(24:12):
this situation, but in reality, that's not how Indiana got here, right, Like,
they play a team game, so for them to completely
diverge from who they are in a moment when they
are in a close game. It was an ugly game
for the first three quarters to your point, and Kat
had to take over for New York to even have
a prayer in this one. But it just you have
(24:37):
to have an identity as a team, no matter what
sport you're talking about, and if you completely go away
from what that is just for one specific thing, and
maybe that's a coaching talking point that we can get into.
If that level of adjustment is something that they're capable of,
because clearly they're going to have to make some adjustments here.
But that, again, FITZI, is not what got them to
(24:57):
this point.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Well, that's very well, he's Buck Rise, I'm Jason Fitz
were in for two pros and a cuple of Joe
on Fox Sports Radio. And as fair point, Miles Turner
was one for six from three last night. But I
do think that's a little bit jaded stat because three
of those misses came late. Right, So the three shots
I'm talking about, I think in fairness and I said
this on the Fellows over the weekend. To me, part
of what makes Indiana kind of beautiful but also kind
(25:19):
of tough to talk about sometimes is that again, I'm
gonna use.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
A dated reference here from the eighties. Buck, You're gonna
have to follow me. Okay, eighties cartoons.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
You're ready for this, because cartoons were different in the eighties.
You know what Voltron was. Did you ever see Vultron?
Have you ever heard of Voltron?
Speaker 3 (25:33):
I've heard the reference.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Okay, So Voltron was a bunch of little robots that
came together and they created one big robot, right, and
so like Vultron. Though, like when you were a kid,
if you got Voltron, it just meant your parents, much
like mine, couldn't afford Transformers.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Nobody really wanted Vultron. You got stuck with Vultron if
for being honest.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
So like to me, what makes Indiana interesting is that
most of their team is Voltron, a bunch of robots
that by themselves may not be ass kickers, but you
put them all one big robot and now suddenly they are.
But the difference is Halliburton is expected to be Optimist Prime.
It's a perfect crossover. You have like one major transformer
that's supposed to come into this Voltron thing.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
It's tough.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
It's tougher to analyze for a lot of people, I think,
because it's not as simple as what did Lebron and
Luca do tonight, which is just the way we love it. Right,
So you're right that Indiana was able to get to
where they are in the first couple of games because
different role players were huge in addition to Halliburton, and
they were headed that way.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
In game three, it just fell apart at the end
of the at the end of the game, so I.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
Have to give Indiana credit a little bit because they
do understand I think better Indiana and Oklahoma City understand
who they are and how they got here, and that
is such a massive part.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Of the identity.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
And I talked about the depth, right, Both of those
teams have utilized their depth and it's a big part
of how they win games. So it's just hard for
my mindset sometimes when I see Halliburton driving late in
the game with the opportunity to just pick up what
looks like an easy bucket and instead he does a
weird pass to get the ball back to somebody else
to take the shot. It's I want these I want
(27:09):
these explosive moments that just absolutely cement this man is
a superstar and we should talk about him differently.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
And that's what the NBA Playoffs, like it or not present.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Like legacy will be carved out one way or the
other for Haliburton, depending on how this series goes well.
Speaker 4 (27:26):
And then to turn the page forward to tonight with
the Timberwolves in the thunder like think about Shae Yell
just Alexander in this particular Game four that's coming up
fourteen points. In Game three, he was four of thirteen
from the field. He had a box or excuse me,
a plus minus of negative thirty two. In this game,
you talk about legacy and the opportunity to find moments.
(27:48):
Nobody has more pressure riding on them right now in
these playoffs to do exactly that, especially given the fact
that they had the Wolves on the ropes and then
just completely put up a no show performance in Game
three to the.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Tune of one forty three to one oh one.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
Especially when you talk about the thing that got you
mentioned things that got Indiana and OKC to this point
in the NBA playoffs, that their defense has been suffocating
and then all of a sudden, they just completely, they
completely don't show up in Game three.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
SGA has a lot riding on.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
This game upcoming tonight, and I'm fascinated to see how
he responds.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
That's that's the fun part of this, right to talk.
Speaker 4 (28:26):
About, you know, legacy, defining opportunities, whether or not somebody
met the moment. The beautiful part of this is you
have more basketball coming up. You have more opportunities to
continue to define this, to continue to etch your legacy
out as you work towards the ultimate goal of a championship.
And I think that Halliburton and SGA are in very
very similar spots. SGA more so though, because he's the MVP,
(28:48):
even though for some reason it takes us, you know,
a month and a half to name the MVP.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
I don't know why.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
We're all the way through or halfway through the Eastern
Conference in Western Conference finals before they tell us who
the most Valuable player of the regular season was.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
If you're going to wait this law, then you need
to just change the entire system and make the MVP
an award for the regular season and the postseason. To me,
because it's maddening. What you just said is fair and
right about SGA, but it's also maddening in the middle
of a playoff run for this team, he wins the
(29:19):
MVP and suddenly everybody looking at it and says, okay, well,
go be the MVP. The risk, the calculated risk that
comes in the way this award, Like if SGA had
a terrible Game seven and Jokic had a great one
and Denver hit advanced, how would we look at the
MVP moving forward? And now to your point, you got
an SGA that every time he has a subpar game
(29:40):
for the rest of the playoffs. The first thing we're
all gonna say the next day is man, he's the MVP.
And absolutely once you get that MVP, now there's such
a different level of you can't, you can't do anything.
You have to be that person that when you are
the MVP in perception, you can strap the entire team
(30:01):
to your back and you can single handedly will your
team to a win over Anthony Edwards. That is the
expectation out through no fault to SGA. That's where the
world is well.
Speaker 4 (30:10):
And I think that's Isn't that a fair place to
exist though, because it's the I mean, Fitzy, it's the
largest margin of defeat in NBA history for a team
that had as many regular season wins as this Oklahoma
City Thunder team does and to lose that way to
I mean, you could probably have some level of debate,
and perhaps we'll have this conversation throughout the course of
the morning here on Fox Sports Radio, Jason Fitzenbuck rising here.
Speaker 3 (30:34):
With you for the guys.
Speaker 4 (30:36):
I think that as you kind of talk about the
best player, the best individual player left in these NBA playoffs,
there's there's some margin for interpretation and there shouldn't be
because of exactly what you've just said, he is the MVP.
We hold those guys understandably, so rightfully so to a
higher level of expectation, And I don't think that there's
(30:58):
anything wrong with the dialog around that, even though it
creates these pressurized you know, these pressure cookers for them.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
Who is like if you had to, if you had
to pick one guy right now, that you would start
your team with the in the final?
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Yeah, Like I think we all think it's Anthony Edwards.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
And which is funny because the legend of Jalen Brunson
is becoming absolutely out of control, right And then.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
You've got SGA winning the MVP.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
You got Halliburton over here being overrated apparently, but the
Pacers looking like you know, if they continue, if they can.
Speaker 4 (31:30):
Things get more complicated, I'll get to be overrated once
you get to the Eastern Conference finals, Like I go,
not with this overrated thing.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
And then you've got Anthony Edwards that is just you know,
is he the face of the league conversation? Like it
is funny that if you were, if you were talking
about the way we talk about.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
These players, you're absolutely right, Like I think.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Anthony Edwards is overwhelmingly the guy that I would I mean,
I say overwhelmingly, but.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
I mean, Jalen Brunson certainly has been clutched, But I
would take Anthony Edwards's ability to do superhuman things against
absolute anybody all the time if I needed one.
Speaker 4 (32:03):
And it was interesting because and of course you can
tweet us as we hang out with you this morning
at Jason Fitz at buck Rising if you want to
get involved speaking of the conversation, because I mean, can
these guys do it alone?
Speaker 3 (32:14):
Right?
Speaker 4 (32:15):
Is Brunston able to survive when he's in foul trouble?
Last night he stuck on a bench in Karl Anthony
Towns has to come and bail them out that way,
and was able to successfully do so. And you put
yourself in a situation when you trade for a guy
like Kat to do just that. But like Brunson is
a very very specific kind of player. And while he
has created this lore for himself, I think it's earned
(32:37):
right fast. I mean, he's had such great individual moments
and doing it in a market like New York is
always going to give you that added juice. But I
mean I think about this last night, like what is
the conversation around Brunson. If Kat doesn't lose his mind
in the fourth quarter the way that he does, and
Perry tweets us, I promise you that Minnesota fans are
not missing Cat in these playoffs. We have seen him
(32:58):
disappear a nothing big games, and it's laughable that you
think the Western Conference Finals would be different right now
with him in it.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
I don't know that that's the case.
Speaker 4 (33:06):
I just know that Minnesota is lacking what New York
seems to have, which is a backup option.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
Look, my point earlier was not that Minnesota should keep
should have kept Karl Anthony Towns. It's that Minnesota needs
something right now like the best of what Karl Anthony
Towns offers, and they understood they couldn't rely on it.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
They made the smart decision and getting rid of him.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
I think that's a statement to Minnesota understanding, like, hey,
the volatility and results is not worth having this.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
Guy on the floor.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
So I like, again, I'm not saying Minnesota needed Karl
Anthony Towns. I'm saying that Minnesota needed the skill set
of the best of Karl Anthony Towns and realized that
Cat can't be relied on to give it to him,
and now Knicks fans are relying on Cat to do
the very thing that Minnesota fans realize he cannot do.
You guys can keep tweeting us. That's a great idea.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Also, I'll put up a poll.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
We'll figure out what you guys think that one player
remaining in the NBA playoffs that you would build a
team around will.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
Do all that. Plus, we got to get into this.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
There's there's some truth behind flag football that NFL fans
need to hear.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
We'll break all that down. He's Buck Rising. I'm Jason Fitz.
We're in on Two Pros and a Cup of Joe
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 6 (34:12):
Be sure to catch live editions of Two Pros and
a Cup of Joe with Brady Quinn, LeVar Errington, and
Jonas Knox weekdays at six a m.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Eastern three am Pacific.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
I'm gonna admit I had such a Gwen Stefani cross
during the No Doubt era. Oh, two Pros and a
Cup of Joe?
Speaker 2 (34:30):
I need a second. He's Buck Rising. I'm Jason Fitz.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
Where did that? Where did that come from?
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Sorry, I mean, I'm sorry, this era Gwen Stefani was
I was just I'm just gonna let the song play.
Speaker 4 (34:48):
For I don't I don't know what to do. I
feel like I'm getting in the middle of you and
Gwen Stefani at this particular point, the three of you.
I feel I feel like I'm uncomfortab.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
I mean, are you on?
Speaker 1 (35:02):
So you're saying that if I offered you a throutle
with me and when Stefani, you're out on that.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (35:07):
I don't know, Buck, I am out on that. Yes,
I can confidently say that I'm out on that. We
were just Yeah, I think I think it's pretty easy
on that one.
Speaker 7 (35:17):
Me.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
I also have half to this day.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
Avril call me Averril's another one like Avril's on my mount,
my Mount Rushmore.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
I've got a tap, Avril call me you.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
Got I'll uh yeah, that's a that's the end of
the stories I'll tell on air.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
Okay, he's Buck Rising on Jason Fitz.
Speaker 1 (35:35):
We're in for two pros and a cup of Joe
on Fox Sports Radio much longer. Making things weird early
on a Monday morning, Speaking of weird, six.
Speaker 4 (35:46):
Fifty Eastern is the time to make things weird. If
we're gonna do it like it's it's it's okay at
this point.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
It's also I mean, it is Memorial Day, so I
feel like if you're up at six fifty on Memorial
Day hanging out with us like you're ready for weird,
I feel like you're just you're not. You're Most people
are not driving into work this morning. So you know,
if you're up at six fifty, you're up by choice.
By choice, Buck, you usually get up really early to
go lift heavy things and make sure that you look sensual.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
So like, you know, you're the audience.
Speaker 1 (36:14):
People headed the gym right now they feel me on
avrol I feel like that's that's I'm trying to pump
people up that are getting ready to go get their pumping.
Speaker 4 (36:21):
Oh yeah, most people are doing that awful. It's it's
obviously for a good cause. The that you heard of
the Murph Are you familiar with the Murph workout the
Murf workout?
Speaker 2 (36:33):
No, I am not familiar with the Miurf workout.
Speaker 4 (36:35):
The Murph workout is something that is done every Memorial
Day to honor the service of Lieutenant Michael Murphy.
Speaker 3 (36:44):
He was an Avy seal.
Speaker 4 (36:45):
It is the worst thing imaginable, though it's a one
mile run, it's one hundred pull ups, it's two hundred
push ups, three hundred air squads.
Speaker 3 (36:51):
And then another one mile run.
Speaker 4 (36:53):
So people that are working out today are are a
specific kind of crazy that probably would enjoy the nonsense
that we're doing at six fifty in the morning.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
I will be honestly, we'll talk about flag football in
a second. I'm derailed now. One hundred pull ups, she said, yes,
how okay, Buck, Like, can you know I'm on this?
I'm on a fatish journey and so like I'm a
year into May seventeenth, was a year into having you know,
trainer that I'm really tried to get my life in order.
(37:25):
And as I've talked a lot about on air, I lost,
you know, forty pounds and I've put roughly thirteen of
that back on in muscle, and like I'm going through
a whole process on an app with with my buddy
and Nashville guy Jeff Black. That's kicking my butt right,
Jeff is amazing. I was in the gym for the
final four, and the gym didn't have any of my
(37:46):
usual equipment, and so because I had to sort of
veer things in the app. I was like, all right,
I'm just gonna try and do some pull ups, and
I was quite happy with myself. I made it through
twenty pull ups and then took a break and made
it through twenty more so, I made it through forty
pull ups, which you know, over the course of like
my workout, which I was quite proud of. But I
was a level of sore and exhausted for days. I
(38:08):
can't imagine a hundred pull ups. I don't how many people.
Maybe I'm dumb here, how many people can do one
hundred pullups?
Speaker 2 (38:15):
Do you think most? Most? Like that just feels like
a lot.
Speaker 4 (38:19):
The kind of people that are waking up at you know,
pre dawn to go work out on Memorial Day. Those
kind of people. I'm pretty confident to do one hundred
pull ups without question. No I get I get to
about I get to about four, and then I need
the band around my knee to make sure that I
can continue to pull. I'm significantly larger than you, I
would say if.
Speaker 1 (38:40):
In every possible way, like if the two of us
were standing side by side and you saw us like,
I'm five.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
To nine and a five nine and a half, thank you,
But I'm five to nine and people a fresh No.
Speaker 4 (38:53):
Once you start using fractions, you're actually five seven.
Speaker 3 (38:55):
Like that's that's how I wait?
Speaker 2 (38:56):
People like that when you're a grown ass man, that's
five nine.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
You you fractions, buck, You're you're like sixty three, right,
Like you need a different pull up bar your six
three and heels. Okay, I'm gonna make you six three.
In my mind, six three, two fifty.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
I just made an NFL player. We don't have no muscle,
muscle almost.
Speaker 3 (39:15):
Zero percent chance. I'm not. Derrick Henry is somebody who
covered Derek for eight years.
Speaker 4 (39:21):
I can tell you that there is a definitive difference
in the way that that human being looks in the way.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
That I look That that is fair. Uh okay, fine,
I'll give you six three and two hundred two hundred.
Speaker 4 (39:34):
Or better flag football player. But that's neither that's neither
here nor there.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
Oh, that is a beautiful transition.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
We will continue to break down the Knicks, obviously, and
Timothy Shallow may because I know the world can't get
enough of both of those teams. But there was huge
news from flag football that impacts the future of the NFL.
We'll tell you how and what it all means he's
buck rising up. Jason Fitzwaring for the Guys on two
pros and a Cup of Joe.
Hosts And Creators
Brady Quinn
LaVar Arrington
Jonas Knox
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