Mike Harmon & Ryan Hollins talk NBA Finals, Bears stadium situation, and more!

Mike Harmon & Ryan Hollins talk about the NBA Finals through the first 2 games, Wemby's performance, the MVP odds, the Bears possible move to Indiana, a tragic loss for the NBA fraternity as Stacey King passes away, and more!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio. Greetings and welcome
in another beautiful Fox Sports Sunday underway. We've got action
at Roland Garris, We've got some motor racing. We've got
the College World Series, including a rally raccoon, we got baseball,
we got football news. As a Chicago resident here on

(00:22):
the Fox Sports Radio Network, yeah, the first half of
my life. There some thoughts on this whole political boondoggle
going on in the state of Indiana. But of course
front and center the NBA Finals two to oh Nicks
right now and again. If you know my work seven
to eleven Pacific, each and every night here on Fox

(00:43):
Sports Radio, I'm in my own fourth ring of hell,
dealing with my guy, Jason Smith on a night tonight basis.
I appreciate the fandom. I love the fandom until I don't.
Welcome in to another beautiful Fox Sports Sunday. Alongside me
for the next two hours, my guy ten years in
the league, UCLA Bruins master thespian working with the Houston Rockets,

(01:06):
the big Man. It's Ryan Hollins at the Ryan Hollins. Ryan,
We're back together for another big run and well the Knicks.
Now take things back to Madison Square Garden up to
oh and the basketball world is a flame.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yeah. I don't think anybody I know, I didn't. I
don't think anybody other than New York Hurts possibly saw
this one coming. And I mean they are locked in.
And I want to say that what I just what
I think I missed in this whole equation. Okay, Mike,

(01:45):
when I missing this whole equation is how much in
an advantage at this point, like the New York Knicks community,
their fandom, how strong it is. Because what I see
is like the Spurs can the Spurs can fill it.
They're shook, like they can fell it, like it is pandemonium.

(02:09):
And I mean this is universal and these young kids
see we're different. We would turn the TV off, put
the phone down because you didn't want any distractions. They
still check their phone, They still probably watch a little
bit of the tube. Like it has gotten to the Spurs.
They are filling the moment.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
Yeah, it goes back to the end of the Western
Conference Finals, all the emotion you know that you normally
have reserved for a job done, and in that moment,
a lot of eyebrows raised rock style from the attitude era. Right,
What am I seeing here? What's going on? Meanwhile? Business

(02:48):
like it was like the New York Knicks all just
did a quick handshake and went to the back room. Right,
So we come in expectations and opportunities, and the for
me Ryan a lot of the ahead of schedule. That's fine,
you're here right that that talk is all finding good.

(03:09):
That's loser talk as far as I'm concerned, because there's
no guarantee you're getting back to any of these spaces.
And that's the thing that concerns me to a degree.
You know, just as the overall talking points of this series,
the presumption of dynastic runs by anybody, I don't know.
Things had to fall into place quite quite frequently last

(03:31):
year for the Thunder to win their title. Well, I
didn't get back right, a couple of injuries, a couple
of issues and low them Hold, they're sitting at home
watching just like the rest of us. Wenby's had health
issues already that have knocked him out of games and
really left us wondering diagnoses and what his availability would be.

(03:52):
So you know, to hear some of that, oh, well,
you know, they're just ahead of schedule, talk like I
want to throw things up my television.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
You know what, You're right, and that's a great point.
And I've been in that situation before. You know what.
I played for the Clippers. We didn't win a championship,
but we looked at us having a group and when
I was in Boston went to the Eastern Conference finals,
but we looked at that window to say that we
had a group that we felt like we could win

(04:21):
a championship with. We didn't end up winning, but it
is rare when you have that equation, and if you
don't handle business, you know you're you're spot on. You
want to take advantage of those of those windows. And
now everything points to say it's going to be Oklahoma
City or San Antonio moving forward. As those groups are

(04:43):
so young, as they mature, you know there's no surprise there.
But you know you're you're you're spot on. And if
you asked all of us before the season, we'd say
Oklahoma City is just heading shoulders better than everyone. And
you just talked about injuries. JDW. Jaylen Williams had been
out and in a sense, it finally bit them like

(05:05):
San Antonio finally made Shay work so much that you
looked over and you said, well, if Chet doesn't have it,
they need help, and that help was not there. Look,
it's spout on my man.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
Yeah, we talk about the physicality of things, and there's
plenty of time over the next two hours to get
into the matchups. We'll get into the turnover that that
rocked the world next segment. Some of this stuff from
Mike Brown. There there's a lot to it, but let's
just go to the matchups straight straight away. You mentioned
ched Holmgren. This is not this is not Cheded Holmgren.

(05:35):
On the other side, I'm gonna say it because it
is a churchy Sunday and because I want to, you know,
you know, not have my mouth washed out by with
soap by my mom. Listening back in Florida, there's a
lot of mass down low for this New York Knicks team.
When you talk about Karl Anthony Towns, who has been superb,

(05:56):
I've lost every bit. I'm going back to thesaurus for
more adjectives to divine what he's done these first couple
of games. But then you can add Mitchell Robinson. Even
if we still don't know what happened with his finger
getting fourteen to twenty minutes a night from him banging
bodies and keeping Wenby floating on the perimeter. It's just

(06:17):
win after win. Josh Hart doesn't have to shoot and
actually make a field goal, but he's got fifteen rebounds, right,
so you got just the matchup game is coming at him.
Spurs were sixty six to one by the way before
the season to win the title. Just got to throw
that out there.

Speaker 2 (06:33):
Yeah, and you know, hats off to the Knicks. And
I don't think this was their year. I think it
was their year to come out the Eastern Conference, no doubt,
But as far as the championship, I didn't look at
it like this, seeing Oklahoma City, how good they were,
how young they were, that this was the next year.

(06:53):
Now in our reality, like you said, seizing the moment
and knowing how good the West is, how tough everybody is,
they have given themselves the best opportunity to win. And
sometimes even if you don't have the best team, there's
more talent elsewhere. There's a number of factors going on,
Like what you can control is give yourself the best

(07:15):
chance to win. And it is very comfortable for a
team in an elimination game or an away game to
not show up or not be prepared. And they have
in a sense outside of Atlanta, they swept the playoffs.
That is a feat. Now we can look at injuries,
we can look at the strength of the Eastern Conference.
All those things are accurate. But you do things right

(07:38):
and you give yourself a chance. And the Knicks have
given themselves a chance, and you look up and they
take two on the road. Wow.

Speaker 1 (07:47):
But that's the thing Ryan, right as we got into
this series, and I had to argue a little bit
with my guy Jason Smith on the show on Friday,
just saying, going through the East, look, you can only
beat who's there, and they bludgeoned everybody. Right, We're on
an historic run with the number of winds in a row,
and they'll top all the best if they can finish

(08:09):
off a sweep, which I think is getting ahead of
ourselves given the way the first few games have gone.
But the reality is that you're looking at, you know,
a squad that has the depth and it's a next
man up.

Speaker 2 (08:23):
Right.

Speaker 1 (08:23):
We can go back to just that college bond and
all those games played before these guys ever got to
the pros and the fact that the no moment seems
too big. You have the closer, even if he's shooting
for the series right now, Jalen Brunts shooting thirty four percent.
But going through the East, you can only beat who's
in front of you. Right, as flawed as it is,

(08:45):
you can only give yourself an opportunity anything. Right, you're
applying for a job, You're gonna go and be bowled
at the bar or you know, the the hot lunch aisle.
As you're going into one of these superstores and you
see a man or a woman that catches your eye. Man,
you gotta take your shot. You don't know until you ask, right,
your kid, Hey, can I have an extra cookie? The

(09:07):
ANSWER's been no, one hundred and twelve times. Guess what
one hundred and thirteenth bomb or dad might crack? Yeah, kid,
you had a good day. Go go ahead, eat, eat
some more chocolate, stamp another hour. That's great. But you
don't know until you're in that moment. And for the
Knicks right now, what Mike Brown has done, what this
squad has been able to put together, you know, I

(09:27):
celebrate and we talked about it a bunch last last week.
The only guy that really had anything coming into these
these series or into the nixdom that anybody had issue
with was some of the tale of Karl Anthony Towns. Well,
that's been erased. All of these other guys are the underdog,
next guy up kind of mentality. Landry Shammitt has become

(09:49):
a household name when he was a former Clipper, right,
one of those guys who found his right spot.

Speaker 2 (09:59):
Yeah, I'm excited. I'm really amazed that people forgot how
good Landry Shammitt is. And I always felt like I
know he'd been injured. I think Landry was in Philly
if I'm not mistaken before this or the spot before last.
But he's a dead eye shooter. He showed up big
in the playoffs as a rookie. I covered him with
the Clippers. He played extremely well, and I think it

(10:22):
was just injuries. But it's not that he could play like.
Landry's a hooper in New York, searched for some sembilance
of life off of their bench. He's a guy that's
made himself a lot of money in the offseason, some
may say the highest earning earner. Because everybody's gonna be
looking for Landry Shammitt's services after this series because of

(10:45):
what he's brought to the table. New York may have
some questions and I don't even know if if they
can keep them to say, hey we need Landry Shammitt,
and you could look at him and say, man, this
guy is definitely a starter in the NBA or hey
if you can bringing that type of productivity or what
he's done just playing defense and shooting and like like

(11:05):
when they say shooting lights like he is shooting the
lights out. Like every time the ball leaves his hands,
you feel like it's in. And it's tough when you
play against a guy like that because you're going like,
I can't help, We cannot help, because if we help,
it's gonna be a jumper.

Speaker 1 (11:21):
Yeah, that's the thing. Right. The ball movement has been,
you know, just hanging in the louver, right, the extra pass,
the extra swing to the corner where he happens to
be standing. You ready to have a little bit of fun.
I had a whole T shirt concept, but I figured
Richard O'Brien and the producers of the Rocky Horror Picture
Show would sue me. But here's his path starts with

(11:42):
the Sixers two years with the Clippers. In those years
forty point four from three to forty five percent from
three thirty seven point five percent. Now limited in terms
of his games twice over fifty, but that first year
with the Clippers just twenty five games a year with
the new that's two years with the Suns, exiled to

(12:03):
Washington for a year with the Wizards before becoming a
nick That is one hell of a journey to this moment.

Speaker 2 (12:12):
Yeah wow, all right, you know, I.

Speaker 1 (12:16):
Had had had to just put it in, as I mean,
that's a lot of stops and you know, many a
guy we've seen get shrunk away and not find a place.
So the fact in New York that you've got a rotation,
and I think that's been the impressive thing as well.
Ryan is coming into the year like, all right, we
love the starting five. What are we getting from the bench,

(12:39):
And that's exactly you know, Mike Brown. Over the course
of this year, you're looking now at a rotation. And
when they send that second wave in hockey line style,
they more than hold their own. With Robinson as the
rebounder and enforcer. Sure you don't want him at the
free throw line, but that's fine. That's a decision you
want to put on the other coach because that means
he's eating up on your bigs. But Landry Shamont, you know,

(13:03):
giving him his love here on a beautiful Sunday morning.

Speaker 2 (13:06):
Well yeah, you know, I wonder and we talked about this.
Why haven't we seen Hacker Robinson yet?

Speaker 1 (13:13):
No, And that's just it. Just gonna see it a
little bit on on Friday, and then he hit two
in a row and it was almost like, you know,
Mitch Johnson called off the dogs on it.

Speaker 2 (13:25):
Yeah, yeah, but I tried that out again or a
little more of like, hey, this this hand has broke,
Like we don't care what's gonna win by any means.

Speaker 1 (13:33):
No, that's it, right, If it's really that hurt and historically,
what is he shooting about thirty eight percent from the
foul line, Let's run him out there, Let's see how
long they want that. Let's make Mike Brown decide how
long he can have him in a game. If we're
going to be able to stop possession after possession, it
just seems to make sense to me. But that's why

(13:56):
I'm sitting here in the Fox Sports radio studios and
not on the sidelines. Wearing branded sports apparel gifted to
me by companies x Y or Z. He's Ryan Hollinds
at the Ryan Hollins Is where you find him in
the Twitter Verse. You find me over at Swollen Dome.
We appreciate you hanging out with us. Take us with
you as always on the iHeartRadio app. You get us,
You get all of the podcasts, all of the news

(14:18):
and other networks, all the music that you need. But
keep it locked. You can take us hiking. The signal
will work intergalactically, no question about it. As we continue,
we got to go and hit the rewind button to
the end of Game two and the turnover that will
live in infamy. He's Ryan, I'm Mike. This is Fox
Sports Radio.

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Speaker 2 (15:13):
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Speaker 1 (15:15):
Subscribe, hit that thumbs up icon and comment away. Welcome
back in Fox Sports Radio. It's Fox Sports Sunday. Blessed
to be with you for another week. We appreciate you
being part of our extended family thanks to Sam and
Bow and our guy Isaac Lowenkron over at the news desk,
Mike trying to get the cobwebs off his head. He

(15:35):
had the overnight shift Ryan, so he's, uh, he's shaking
it off here here in the studios at the Ryan
Hollins where you find Ryan find me over at Swollen Dome.
Now we got to hit the rewind button. We take
the good, we take the bad. We started to, you know,
do the backslapping for the New York Knicks and the
team that has been assembled. But a guy who's been

(15:57):
built up to mythic proportions, the man known as the
Alien who in his spare time goes and buys Star
Wars trading cards. It's our guy Victor Webbin Yama, who's
front and center for all the great moments. But Heavy
is the head who wears the crown.

Speaker 4 (16:14):
The rebounds, what suckers remaining still by Gunson and knocked
down by Webby. Hudson will two free clubs with nine
point five remaining, Let a turner out of that six pence.

Speaker 1 (16:26):
Well, let me trying to help that pass.

Speaker 4 (16:28):
Castle never saw it coming, hits him right in the back.

Speaker 1 (16:33):
There you go. You got the TV broadcast on the call,
and you hear the incredulity from Mike Breen and company.
Ryan as a guy who played in the league a
decade still gets his run on and still getting yoked
in the gym, and and you know around the game,
let let's let's break this play down, right. I mean,

(16:54):
you get the big miss from Bronson, corralled by Wemby,
and Castle kind of looks back for an instant and
then turns his back and starts to run up court.
And then now we get the corral from from Brunson
goes to the line, hits one of two, and then
we get to our end of game sequence. But you know,

(17:17):
as that play developed and as you watched it, I'm sure,
one thousand and forty seven times. At this point Wemby
is taking all of the incoming. Should Castle have just
continued to look back at him, or like, how does
that play develop in it? And you know, as you
break it down.

Speaker 2 (17:38):
Once he turned his head to run and Wemby normally pushes,
And this is something I did challenge in my opinion,
San Antonio on and a Wimby is such a unique
player that you don't want to take these opportunities away
from him. But they take the ball out of de
Aaron Fox's hands a lot like he doesn't have the

(17:59):
ball in his hands. And Dylan Harper they push in transition,
but a lot a lot of times Wimby has the
green light to push, and because of that sometimes he's
an awkward situation.

Speaker 1 (18:14):
Well, because that's what I thought, Castle like read it
as all right, he's got it, he's corraled it, I'm
gonna turn, I can dust Brunson, maybe get a lob
over the top, but Wenby's gonna bring it up. So yeah,
that that was how I interpreted that as it went.
But he did he did the quick look back, so
you know, we at least make sure that there's a
little bit of a recognition there.

Speaker 2 (18:36):
Yeah. And the reason that I say that is because
now in these big moments, like you said, Castle looked
to turn and run. Hey, Wimby, you normally pushed this,
and I'll call it for what it is. Wimby wanted
no parts of that moment, big fella. Yeah, Wmby wanted

(18:56):
no parts of that moment. He wants to go back
and be a big throw it to a guard, go
set a screen, let him make a let him make
a play, you know. And then you know, I don't
know how you felt about this boneheaded play and smart
by Brunson should have been a no call, and I'm surprised.

(19:18):
I think it's more about Wimby's breakdown. But Brunson absolutely
sold that play because I think he just it was.
It was the one of the greatest acting jobs in
New York history. He grabbed that ball, see he got
once he got the ball, he hit Wimby. He just fell.
He just shot down. And I don't think Wemby made

(19:38):
real contact with him. But you put pressure on the
officials to say, you gotta call something.

Speaker 1 (19:43):
Right after you have a castration, Right, there's contact frustrated
file by the way. It's funny you say that best
acting job in New York because tonight's the Tony Awards
celebrating Broadway's best. There you go, Mike Garman, really showing
you what a true nerd he is here honest Sunday morning.
But but I think you're one hundred percent right, Like
I think it was a great As much as we've

(20:05):
maligned and mocked the idea of selling calls, I mean,
Brunson got the game winner with.

Speaker 2 (20:11):
It, Yeah, and it was absolutely was was was the
difference there. So, uh, Wimby just wasn't really you could
see it in his face. He was shook. You know,
he wasn't prepared for that moment. He was shook, and
you know he dropped the ball there, you know, so
it didn't you know, unfortunately they lose the game, But

(20:34):
there are multiple mistakes in that situation that you know, compounded. Yeah,
he's gonna he's gonna have to live with that and
we'll we'll see if he can bounce back.

Speaker 1 (20:45):
Yeah, because we saw the collapse right the video of
him walking back into the locker room, collapsing to his
knees as he as he went back in the emotion
and that, and that's one of the things, right, we've
seen the pendulum. There's sometimes the old calculated Zen speech
at the podium, and then there's some of the other

(21:05):
where the emotions run over twenty two year old young
man having his run and chronicled some of the health
issues that he's had to deal with in addition to
just the great heights that he soared to and the
expectations that run with it. But he also then gets
a really good look and I don't think he gets
any extra wins out of it, Ryan, because well, he

(21:29):
kind of fell through it like one of those toys
we used to have around here in the office. Maybe
you had one as a kid, where he'd press the
button and the legs would collapse and then you'd release
it and he'd spring back up. Yah, all right, collapse, Yeah,
there is. That's kind of what Wendy did, thinking he
was getting that file from Mitchell Robinson that he was
going to get the landing zone call on that final

(21:51):
jump shot, and when that failed and the flopping term
got ascribed to him, I think he lost all benefit
of the doubt for all of it.

Speaker 2 (22:02):
Yeah, yeah, No, you're you're right, And he didn't even
take that again, he's hesitating, he's not getting to the rim.
They've been physical with him, and that's what you got
to do when you when you play against him again,
he's stronger than Chat. He's got the advantage. Their hadn't
been you know, the weight room there, but Cat and

(22:22):
Robinson there's so much more physical. But nonetheless he's still
fading away and you wouldn't expect them to do that.
And the biggest difference with him Garden Kat is Kat
is attacking him on the offensive end. He's going straight
through him and you have to do that because you
cannot allow his ability to block shots to be a factor.
You got to attack right through his chest to be

(22:44):
physical with him, and Carl has been and by far
that's the difference in the series.

Speaker 1 (22:50):
Well, that's what we've talked about, the wacky waving inflatable
tube man from Chet Holmgren and right now that's what
Karl Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson are doing to Wemby.
Particularly Carl Anthony Towns. I think it's sixty two point
eight percent field goal percentage when matched up against wehm Minyama,
your unanimous defensive Player of the Year and He's just

(23:12):
bullied him from pillar to post. You know, we were
on air during the game and as we got to
halftime and wem Minyama had four field goal attempts, like
you just triple underscore it like it's the NBA Finals, right,
And some of what he had to say and some

(23:32):
of his teammates had to say after Game one, I
appreciate it. You don't want to give the Knicks a
ton of credit. You say, hey, I wear it. I
need to be better. We had opportunities we didn't finish.
But then there was, at least to my eyeballs, Ryan
not that sense of urgency of all right, I'm gonna
go try to take this game. And that that's what

(23:53):
I kept waiting for. So when he starts to have
the big second half, it's like, all right, we got it,
and they whittled that lead down and finally we've got
ourselves a game. In the final minute and a half,
that all right, Now the moment is there for the taking,
and it was gifted away just that fast.

Speaker 2 (24:10):
Yeah, And ultimately he's gonna have to and this is
the versatility you saw this against Oklahoma City. He's gonna
have to set the screen and roll. That's how you
get the physical bodies off of him, and that should
open up some wing threes, and you soften that up
by knocking down shots. He's gonna have to run and transition, dribble,

(24:32):
hand off actions, and you know when he has a chance,
he's got to attack and try to get to the rim.
Robinson is obviously a thorough defender, there's no question, but
Kat is not the best defender. So if he can
get him a foul trouble, he's got to attack that matchup.
And there's a clip where the ball kind of get

(24:53):
gets tipped up and he fades all the way like
he ends up from a post up literally to the
three point line. And that is a statement right there
in the series.

Speaker 1 (25:02):
Essentially, Yeah, looking for that strength, looking for that next push.
As we sit in right now, MVP odds. Since I
mentioned it before, Brunson your favorite at minus one oh five.
Karl Anthony Towns Now the second favorite goes from eleven
to one pregame game two to plus one eighty five.

(25:22):
So there you go. Bet one hundred win one hundred
and eighty five. Victor Wenbnyam at plus four hundred and
then it starts drifting from there. The next two guys
are Nicks by the way, as well O Gianninobi and
Mikal Bridges would have to be the time to acknowledge
him as well. We gave Landry Sham and his flowers before.
Ryan Bridge is a guy because of the terms of

(25:44):
the deal that brought him to the Knicks, always has
had a giant NYPD blue mega light over the top
of him, like when Sippowitz was sweating guys out and
threatening them and that whole thing. As I go to
my full arsenal of TV references, because they gave up
so many number one picks, it's always been a all right,

(26:06):
what did Bridges give you? And then he was just
huge possession after possession in Game two.

Speaker 2 (26:12):
Yeah, he was unbelievable. And again I mean like inspired effort,
like that's his game. You know, just made me think
of just hey, that's the inspired effort that that pops
out and you know, going to play winning basketball and
you know, hey, this is something different, because I mean
he Mikel Bridges was like red hot and normally you

(26:37):
get those. This is weird. You get those. The role
player performances at home in Mkel Bridges no direspect. When
I say role player, he's a heck of a role player.
He defends and runs of those corners, and he's tough
as nails and reliable like like, he's one of the
best that we have in the league. And for me
when he when he did that, I go, oh, man,

(27:01):
this is gonna be tough for the Spurs because you
wanted it had to have a hero, and obviously kat
has been really good, but Mikel Bridges offensively took the
load off and you knew this would be a tough
game for Brunson. You know they're gonna key in on him.
They got lymph, they got great defenders. Mikeil Bridgs is like, man,
I'm coming out to get busy like and he wasn't shy.
I mean, probably one of the more aggressive games I've

(27:23):
ever seen from him. And if you think about it,
he's only the second player in this series with finals
experience in real, real minutes, so he knew what it
looked like, he knew what it took. And you know,
you take a loss in the NBA Finals, you want
to go.

Speaker 1 (27:38):
In years in Phoenix, couple of years in Brooklyn to
go back and revisit that trade real quick, four unprotected
first round picks, one protected twenty twenty five first round
or one unprotected first round pick swap in twenty twenty
eight a second round pick and to make the salaries
match Bojon Bogdanovich lot giving up by the Knicks and

(27:59):
at that moment they found one of their key contributors here.
So a couple of years later, it's always the let
itjest date see where this goes. There's been plenty I mean,
you got fifty five three years to attack all of
the different moves than Nicks had made since Phil Jackson
was in the low post throwing bows as a member

(28:19):
of those seventy three Knicks, and plenty of issues even
when he was the team, he was running the team
and building the roster. All the fails to this point,
and Bridge's trade could have been another one of those. Instead,
he's been magnificent off the bench. As we continue, Yeah,
I'll do my run on the dirty little secrets of
the entire Chicago Indiana fight over the Chicago Bears and

(28:44):
their future Arlington Heights, ham In Indiana, Beautiful ham In Indiana.
But we'll do that as we continue. But first started
to take a look over at the news desk. I
see him sitting there ready with an arsenal of news.
It's our guy, Isaac Lohengrin.

Speaker 5 (28:58):
Arsenal team on the other side of the Atlantic. Top
story the other side of the Atlantic, the men's final
at the French Open. Well played. Speaking of well played,
that's what this match is because right now Germany's Alexander
Zverev and Italy's Flavio Caboli are tied at five games

(29:20):
a piece in the fourth set, with Zverev leading the
match two sets to one. Zverev dominated the first set
over Koboli six to one. Caboli won the second set
six to four. Zverev came back to win the third
set six to four, but again now they are tied
at five games a piece in the fourth set, with

(29:40):
Zverev leading the match two sets to one. In the
men's singles final in French Open Tennis, Ah, that reminds me, Hollins.
Do you know that I used to wreck Carrie Keating
and Donnie Daniels in racketball over at the Wooden Center. Anyway,
In game three the Stanley Cup Final on Saturday night,

(30:01):
the Vegas Golden Knights took a four to nothing lead
over the Carolina Hurricanes, including the fastest hat trick in
Stanley Cup Final history by Mitch Marner, only to have
Carolina rally for four goals to tide and eventually send
it to double overtime.

Speaker 1 (30:16):
Out into the point McNatt Rinkwise, Theodore shoots five rebounds, top.

Speaker 6 (30:24):
The contender head on to the.

Speaker 7 (30:26):
Scoreboard, hot double overtime.

Speaker 1 (30:29):
Win for the Golden Knights.

Speaker 5 (30:31):
Dan dub the call, Fox Sports Loss Vegas. Golden Knights
lead the series two games to one. Baseball Saturday night,
the Los Angeles Dodgers scored nine runs in the first inning,
including Shoheo Tani's eleventh home run, in a nine to
two win over the Angels, and the San Diego Padres
broke a six game losing streak with a three to
two win over the Mets. Freddie for Mean the go
ahead home run in the bottom half of the seventh inning.

Speaker 1 (30:53):
Mike and Ryan all yours three sich Ilo at Isaac Lowancrown.
Check out everything He's got Poppin' angel City FC highlights
from his play by play as he gets ready for
another Chargers season as well. Send him all thoughts and
tell him all about Aaron Donald going to you know,
and whether he comes back to the Rams or something
like that. At the Ryan Hollins where you find Ryan

(31:15):
find me over at Swollen Dome. As we continue sojourn
back home a little bit with a little bit of
Ryan Field. Welch Ryan Arena and what's that all got
to do with the Chicago Bears. We'll do it next
on Fox Welcome back in Fox Sports Radio, Fox Sports
Sunday Bike Garment alongside Ryan Hollins at the Ryan Hollins

(31:35):
where you find and find me over at Swollen Dome. Remember,
with the iHeartRadio app, stream us wherever you happen to be,
catch us all our Fox Sports Radio shows live twenty
four to seven. The new and improved iHeartRadio app search
Fox Sports Radio and the app stream us live all
day every day. And be sure, just like Fox Sports
Radio is one of your presets in the iHeart app,
so it'll always pop up at the top of your screen.

(31:58):
Ryan the big story non NBA Finals related. Yes, we
had the Stanley Cup Final, another thriller yesterday with the
Goldland Knights and a big win over the Carolina Hurricanes.
A crazy game, a four mill lead that gets exploded
and we ultimately get ourselves back into overtime again. Is

(32:20):
the Chicago Bears in the long jes dating potential move
to Arlington Heights or to the Great state of Indiana
where they've committed a bunch of money. Here's the facilities here,
how it's all gonna work. We've got the Arlington Heights
construct and where the Bears have bought a lot of land,

(32:42):
the old race track facility that was there all those
years ago, and trying to figure out the infrastructure and
the politicking. Now you had the Mayor of Chicago go
do some local radio and sound adope in talking about
how difficult it was to get in and out Soldier
Field when he left a Bears Packers game early. Let

(33:04):
that marinade for a second. You left a Bears Packers
game early. You're an elected official, and you're offering this
up to your constituents, probably not endearing yourself, much like
losing the team to Indiana. Now the lease is through
twenty thirty three. There's still plenty of time for comber
heads to prevail, or for the wins of change in

(33:27):
the political sphere to get things back on track to
keep the Bears in Illinois. But as it stands right now,
we start leaning and good old momentum, oh mo, as
it were, Ryan looking like Indiana. Now there's a lot
to this. I can do a four hour seminar. We'll
contain it here for a couple of minutes. You've got

(33:48):
Pat Ryan, who's a minority owner of the Chicago Bears.

Speaker 2 (33:53):
Right.

Speaker 1 (33:53):
The hallis McCaskey family owning about three quarters and Ryan
just under that. And he worked in insurance. His funded
tons of work at my alma mater at Northwestern. You've
got Welsh Ryan Arena, the basketball facility, Ryan Field formerly
Dyke Stadium named after him, and the renovations that have

(34:14):
been done there and liquid right, and that's where we
get into a lot of the battles. And we certainly
have seen it like the Bears have threatened to leave
quite frequently through the years. It's not unlike all the
teams that used to threaten to go to Los Angeles
back when it was there for leverage in the NFL.
Hey we're gonna move to Los Angeles. Give us money.
So you've got a lot of that going into play.

(34:36):
And I argued the other day that if we were
in the political climate of my youth, I think there
would have been a lot of deals done to make
this happen. Now, you can do the Stump speeches about
being fiscally responsible, just don't go blow five hundred million
dollars on another project to nowhere. But when it gets
down to it, for the Bears, a lot of this

(34:57):
gets back to looking around the NFL and looking at
the business at large. You know, they don't get a
dime from anything that happens at Soldier Field that isn't
a Bears game. It's the dirty little secret in all this.
It's owned by the Chicago Park District. So Taylor Swift
does a week, they get nothing. Rush comes with their
forty fifth or whatever anniversary tour they're on now that

(35:19):
starts tonight here in Los Angeles. They play a couple
of dates, no extra money. Dave Matthews band, Bruce Springsteen,
you name it, all the thing, all the high school games,
all the monster truck rallies, but that's it. They don't
get another dime. So at some point you're looking around going, wait,
I want some human monies to take from the great

(35:39):
Dan Housen. I would like some more of these dollars
to be flowing here, and that's where the facility becomes everything.
And in Indiana, what they have promised is, yeah, that
money's yours. Here's the deal and the setup that we'll
have in terms of the public financing, and you put
up a up a billion dollars and away we go.

(36:02):
It's your money. And that's the thing that I don't
think has been talked about enough. It's it's not just
the eight days of Chicago Bears football, and we can
get into the sentimentality. And as a as a kid
who grew up in Chicago, Ryan, the first time I
saw the renovation the Soldier Field, I cried. The first
time I saw it in person, literally had to pull
over on Lake Shore Drive. Wow, the Sundays that had

(36:24):
been there, the pillars, the columns, the historical landmark, and
then they put that toilet bowl over the top of it. Now,
once you're in it, it's a nice stadium. It's fine,
but there's no room for expansion. There's really no room
for more parking or any of the ancillary things that
you would want. So you're forced to create an opportunity

(36:46):
and to try to find your fortunes elsewhere, and so
that fight is long, jest dating and will continue. The
Bears have a lease at Soldier Field through twenty thirty three.
But just felt that I need to get on my
little soap and make sure that the little revenue thing
that most folks don't seem to recognize in this is
really the driving force.

Speaker 2 (37:08):
Well let me ask you this. Okay, So apparently this
could be a thing they could play in Indiana, but
they still could be called the Chicago Bears. Now since
that makes I don't know, would that be okay with
you or not? Or are you just stuck to Soldier Field?

Speaker 1 (37:26):
No? I mean, look, I there's the two parts. And
I tell the guys all the time it's kind of
like the the dealing with Smith and his fandom, Like
there's part to me that, you know, shake my fist
and get mad about it and tradition and damn it.
But I'm a realist, right, look at look at college sports,
a look at how we've changed every league that we follow,
the world changes, and we'll always have Soldier Field. A

(37:51):
lot of folks that are the maddest have never stepped
foot in Soldier Field, by the way, So That's a
whole other thing to talk about another time. But yeah,
I ultimately the name travels with and folks will make
that trip, and over time it'll be like so many
of these other teams that play somewhere other than the
name that's on the Marquee, right, San Francisco forty nine

(38:13):
ers or the New York Giants Jets, keep going on
down the line. Plenty of teams that don't necessarily play
in the same spot. But yeah, does it make you feel,
for lack of a better term, I'll go back to
when my kids were young a little bit icky. Yeah,
of course it does. It feels dirty, But I'm also
not six years old waiting on Santa Claus.

Speaker 2 (38:35):
How far is the stadium away from Soldier Field? How
much of a move is this?

Speaker 1 (38:40):
Well, in terms of mileage, you're only looking at like
forty to fifty miles down the road, right, it's not,
but it's like la traffic, right, Yeah, you say going
down the Causeway and everything. Yeah, it could be. It
could be a quick forty minute drive, could end up
being two hours. Then you have to look at rail lines, trains,

(39:01):
all those other things, and infrastructure to be built and
augmented to make it all work and be more seamless.
But in the end, you know, I can't fault the
the ownership for trying to look around and say, hey,
do we have any leverage here, and if the city
and constitution there in in Illinois says no, we're not

(39:26):
bending and we're not going to give you a bunch
of money, I can't necessarily fault them either. Right. As
much as I'd love everybody to play ball and find
the happy medium, like it seems they've done a little
bit with Indiana, we recognize that public funding is a
battle front in every city.

Speaker 2 (39:46):
How long do you think this has been in the
works for.

Speaker 1 (39:48):
Oh, it's been forever. May look, since I was a kid,
they've been They've been threatening to move all over the place. Wow, right,
which is why they got They played in Champagne Orbana
where the u of I is for a cup years
while they renovated and put that toilet bowl on the top.
But they didn't make it a dome, which is why
to some degree you get this next iteration, he's Ryan

(40:10):
Hollins on my carme We're back into the NBA Finals
next on Fox. Greetings, Welcome in hour two of the
program Blessed to be with You Here on a beautiful
Fox Sports Sunday for another hour, Mike Harmon alongside Ryan
Hollins ten years in the league, UCLA Bruins Master THESP.
You go watch on cut Jebs. He's in there. He's
got some other things in the hopper as well as

(40:30):
his work with the Houston Rockets. You can follow it
all at the Ryan Hollands anything else you want to plug, No,
that's it. Get it all in. You find me seven
to eleven here Fox Sports Radio Pacific Time alongside Jason Smith,
loudmouthed Knicks fan, maybe one of those guys that you've
you've come to hate the Knicks through him. That's cool.

(40:53):
That means you listen a lot, keep coming back for more.
We got Game three on Monday night. Hey Ryan, I
got to the movies yesterday. I went and saw He Man.

Speaker 2 (41:01):
How was it? Uh?

Speaker 1 (41:04):
Sneakily good? It was a good popcorn movie. And what
I think I loved most, and I tweeted this out
last night, was that the theaters were packed and I
was seeing that report from across the runa of the
United States, a lot of folks getting out You've got
a couple of these movies Obsession and back Rooms that
are doing really well. You got the new Paul Rudd

(41:24):
movie that came out a little smaller release. But when
you add he Man, you add scary movie. People are
back in the theaters lined up to pay their money
for popcorn, and they had a line at the bar
Little mcguffin's I had. Every seat was filled. So it's like,
all right, maybe it's a summer of movies again, which
is exciting because there's nothing better than being in a

(41:45):
crowded theater where people are shouting at the screen. Now,
would I like them to shut up? In terms of
the other talking, absolutely, but fun movie. A couple of
awkward one liners that if you got a little kid
with you may have some explaining to do. I'm just
gonna leave it at that. You've got one one of
the heroes as an oversized hand. He's got a curious name.

(42:06):
We'll leave it at that. And they run that joke
a couple of times. No, don't do that. But all
of that to say, and it's a good popcorn movie.
It's a it's nice and fun. Maybe Jared Leto finally
will get his love as he gets back into the
cartoon and and comic booked movies once again. So there
you go.

Speaker 2 (42:26):
Yeah, well I need to check it out that, you know,
and I didn't know it was out. It looks good.
I mean, we we have been deprived of our superhero movies.
It's been a while, like Marvel since Endgame, DC took
a break. I mean, what has it been a year?
Two years? And we were getting these hits like like
time after.

Speaker 1 (42:45):
Time, right, Yeah, Superman worked and now Supergirl comes out
later this month. I saw the trailer that they put
in and ahead of the he Man was actually probably
the most I've seen of the actual movie. I had
a lot of little teaser trailers before that. I'm like,
this looks kind of weird, dark and kind of crazy.
I'm in okay, And you got Jason Momoa back in

(43:07):
the superhero world as a lobo, I.

Speaker 2 (43:10):
Mean, which is always good for me all over the
Superhero movie. So you're right, I'm in it. It's been
far too long. I'm a big sci fi guy, So yeah,
we need a thriller.

Speaker 1 (43:19):
You know. There's just something to be to be said
for being able to unplug for two hours. So that's
kind of what we're doing, and we've been reveling in
it to a degree. Even if you don't like the Knicks,
even if you don't like Nicks fans, there's an appreciation
for this moment. Today, they put five hundred tickets on sale,
as they promised they would do. Get in twenty nine

(43:40):
hundred that was the face value of those tickets, and
they sold out instantly. Now as we approach game three,
it's a much discussed topic. I'm always the one if
you can get to one of these once in a
lifetime kind of moves, I encourage you to try to

(44:02):
figure out a way if you can. Now, can't everybody
afford what is currently a seventy eight hundred dollars ticket. No, no,
they cannot, So buy a better TV and hang out
at home. I know much consternation in New York tomorrow
based on political appearances, the expected arrival of of President Trump,

(44:24):
changing some of the rules in terms of baging inclusions
and watch parties and everything, which has been part of
the larger party. Where you're like, I kind of dig
that right. Even even again, if if you don't like
New York, many people that have strong opinions of New York,
have never traveled there. The loss, well just calling it

(44:45):
what it is, right, it's the If you've been around
New York, there's an energy. Right. Yes. Are there danger spots? Yeah,
there are in every city in suburbs in America. So
don't kid yourself. But to see the fandom out like
it is, Ryan Man, you've been around this league a
long time. Have you seen anything like this?

Speaker 2 (45:05):
No? No, I never in the mix of as a kid,
like I remember that those teams with Canby and Spreewell
and Alan Houston and Ewing like Chris Childs, like like
those were great memories. I'm not even a Knicks fan,
but those were great memories I remember, and I was
probably too young to know it, like like the circus

(45:27):
that probably surrounded it, but it was it was like
a fun like Larry Johnson remember the four point play
telling everybody I was a kid, I never forget tell
everybody hushdown, like those are classic basketball moments. Now, they
didn't win, but I think just the the the wildness,
the pandemonium around it, it's just it's it's multiflied, and

(45:49):
this is so good for the league. Remember everybody that
the NBA is too soft. The NBA is not good
like the NBA is. I didn't even want to say
it's back. It's just better than it ever has been.
You got a guy in Weinby, You're gonna be seeing
it for years. It's just good for New York to
be in it. And I think that this group is

(46:09):
playing like and we just talked about it earlier, just
an inspiral group, like they get it and they understand it.
And I think it's I know, you know, it's a
young group, but they are overwhelming. You know, at the
end of the day, they're definitely overwhelming San Antonio's young group.
And it is a young group, and that's why everybody's scared.

Speaker 1 (46:29):
Now, let's hear from Karl Anthony Towns. We've been celebrating
his effort, but a lot has been made about his
post games speeches on the court and in the locker room.
But this one stood out to me from all the
different clips of this week.

Speaker 8 (46:43):
Like I talked about after the Eastern Commerce Finals, it's
been an honor to be part of this team, be
part of this organization that's bringing the word hope back
to the city.

Speaker 2 (46:52):
To have the next be where we're at right now.
And to be so respected in the city.

Speaker 8 (46:57):
I've always I've talked about it on the Day to
Kiss the Fat Joe podcast. The greatest currency you can
earn in New York City is not money, but it's respect.
And to have the respect of the fans in the city.
You know, we're rich beyond belief here in the city.

Speaker 1 (47:13):
I think that says it all right. I mean, you're
gonna make if you're in the league long enough, you'll
you'll make a decent wage. Right That minimums have risen
life in the in the NBA pretty good, right, the
eleven year, seventy six billion dollar TV deals and all
the partners coming in. But just that idea of in
a city like New York and for Karl Anthony Towns

(47:35):
to speak of it in those terms, because remember I'm
old enough to remember Ryan when after they lost two
games to the Hawks, he was the guy and the
poster child of what needed to change.

Speaker 2 (47:46):
Yeah, if they were to get out.

Speaker 1 (47:48):
Right, it ain't that long ago, forty five days now
since that last loss. I remember it was he and
Mike Brown were getting ready to ride the rail.

Speaker 2 (47:58):
Oh man, and that's New York. But hats off the Cat,
He's experienced it, He's dealt with a lot. It definitely
helps being in New Yorker. I'm sure it's stung, but
there's probably no surprise. And these guys are like like
on a mission. Like they're like on a mission. And
you know, as we talk about Canada, it all begins

(48:19):
and ends with him. They like everything is locked in
around what he can or can't do. And you got
a group that they understand it, like he's playing some
of the best basketball that he's ever played. It it's
a As we talk about matchups right now, it's looking
like a great matchup because if they played Oklahoma City,

(48:40):
Hartenstein would have matched up much better with Cat, and
you know, Chat could kind of roam and obviously they
have the depth to pick up full court, but because
of Wimby, they didn't have anybody to attack Wimby. Cat
can attack Wimby. So this is a much better series
for a Cat. This is not a Jalen Brunson series.

(49:02):
It's a Cat series.

Speaker 1 (49:03):
No. And that's the thing, you know with Jalen Brunson,
who mentioned it at the outset of our one, he's
shooting thirty four percent from the field. Now he was
Johnny on the spot and did that sell job, as
you so brilliantly put it. Again, Tony's tonight for all
you theater people out there, that he hit that free
throw and he gets the W in Game one. Wasn't

(49:23):
particularly efficient, wasn't particularly good for three and what nearly
three and a half quarters, but when the money was
on needed to be printed. Thirteen points in that fourth quarter,
including a couple of big buckets down the stretch and
that little lean in and back out kind of move right,
that hard drive and being able to stop on a

(49:45):
dime like that's the one. If you're you're training your
kid on anything right now in the gym. Okay, they'll
get your three point stroke down all that as the
game evolves. But that little dribble drive that he's got
to create space east and gets you flying the other way.
It's the most devastating move in the NBA.

Speaker 2 (50:05):
Yeah, yeah, no, man. And you know he used to
be studied for a guy that's small, that can get
his shot off, and he's just tough. He's a winner.
And I think in the NBA, you know, it was
turning people off. You know, it's good and bad. I
love the Curry three pointers. But there's just a lot
of three point Oh they do a shoot threes. Well,
there's a lot of toughness, there's a lot of defense.
There's a lot of physicality here. There's a guy seven

(50:27):
foot six that can do everything with the basketball. And
the skill level is in the game. Man. But I'm
telling you, man, the hats off to these players now, man,
that the game is in a great place and and
everybody they're so soft. They's so soft. No, the size
is it there with the power forwards and the centers
that you had back in the day. But the skill
level is and you're seeing a level of physicality. Man,

(50:49):
the game is extremely physical. You watch Oklahoma City, you
watch New York, you watch those San Antonio guards pick up.
There's physicality back in the game of basketball. You can't deny. No.

Speaker 1 (51:01):
Certainly in Game two, a lot in the the social
spheres and in the post game talking about the physicality
of the San Antonio guards and the man handling, and
to the point where Rick Brunson even started getting all chesty,
going leave my boy alone, stop picking on my kid.

Speaker 2 (51:18):
Rick.

Speaker 1 (51:18):
Rick's got to sit down.

Speaker 2 (51:19):
Man, What would you tell your dad in that moment, I.

Speaker 1 (51:25):
Just give him the look come on now. But I mean,
I mean Rick Rick Brunson was also the guy that
got everybody to calm down when things were going wrong
in Game one, right, Mike Brown immediately got to the
podium and said he was the guy to say, stop
complaining to the referees. That's not gonna help us. I'll
leave all the expletives out because it's a beautiful Sunday

(51:47):
morning here on Fox Sports Radio. But about all of
that to say, you know, Rick Brunson deciding because his
kid gets into dust stuff that he wants in, Like,
all right, that's a bit much. I mean that's a
yso dad, or all the videos you see on social media?

Speaker 2 (52:03):
Can you blame them? I mean, what do you do
if that's your kid right there? Well, I mean.

Speaker 1 (52:08):
We've seen Jalen scrap with guys before. I mean, he's
not going to shrink away from anybody.

Speaker 2 (52:13):
I'll tell you one thing. Rick Brunson one of the
just tougher, no nonsense guys. Oh no question, work played
against them, No too, I did play against I never
never played with him. But like that look is serious,
Like it doesn't turn off like that that look is
always there.

Speaker 1 (52:30):
No, No, that's been there for thirty five years. Man,
that's that when he was playing back in the day.

Speaker 2 (52:35):
Are you kidding me? I remember I was a rookie
and I never forgot it, forgot it, and you know
you kind of was just so excited to be in
the NBA. Man. And I remember on the free throw line,
I would, you know, talk to the veterans. I didn't
know any different. I'm like, hey, man, what's up? I
remember you from this having these conversations. And I forget

(52:55):
what I said to Rick Brunson, but man, he looked
at me, take me aside eye and went right back
to like, man, young fella, if you don't stop talking
to me right now, like Rick Buttson, is me manday.

Speaker 1 (53:12):
So there's your welcome verbally physically. When you when you
come from from college and you played high level obviously
the U c l A Bruins and battling as you did.
Where where was the physical moment of okay, this is
a different league.

Speaker 2 (53:31):
When when would you say it was a different league.

Speaker 1 (53:37):
The first guy to either challenge you at the rim
or the first guy you challenged h and had him
kind of brush.

Speaker 2 (53:43):
You preseason we're playing Miami became fresh off the championship,
like the white hot Heat. Okay, fresh off the championship,
and Shaq used to do this deal where before the tip,
you know, were the starters. You're normally on your side,
shaking hands, doing pregame routine, high five in your teammates.

(54:04):
Shaq would break the rules or the the you know,
they're not real rules, but just underlying unwritten stuff, unwritten rules, right,
we need that should be a series. Hey, hey, Mike,
there wherever a podcast? Unwritten Rules.

Speaker 1 (54:19):
That's the name of the Write a quick synopsis and
we'll we'll script it and we'll see if we can
get the team together.

Speaker 2 (54:25):
Unwritten rules, right, that's what it'll be, o pod. He
would walk to the opposing side and he would like
stand by the bench and he would just look up
and down your bench, our bench. He's on the heat,
we're on the Bobcats. He's looking down our bench and
he would just like a like a like a pit

(54:45):
bull man. He would try to get eye contact and
like if you caught eyes with him, like it was over.
It was a wrap. He just wanted to see who
he can intimidate, who he had before the game even started,
and I remember looking.

Speaker 1 (55:01):
Like, God, this guys huge.

Speaker 2 (55:05):
I've never seen anything like this, like because Shaq's about
seven to one, seven to two, but he's wide, Okay,
he's he's a huge human being. So I just definitely
remember looking over and going oh, God, like like I
gotta I gotta play against this guy. It's gonna be

(55:25):
Thank god I didn't have to guard him. And this
was probably Miami Shack when we say was the last
time we saw real shack, right, like real like punish
you elbow in the face. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
so he that was the last one. But I would
say I didn't play against but I remember looking at
just going like this is a man's league, Like I'm

(55:48):
not ready for this, Like I don't I don't know
how this is gonna play out we match up, you know,
but I remember going this ain't this ain't college. Okay,
this is not what I'm what I'm used to.

Speaker 1 (56:03):
New World Order Ryan Hollins with the story time at
the Ryan Hollins where you find him in the Twitter verse.
Check out everything he's got popping there. I've already started
to script the email to the bosses. They're looking for
more content, so we'll get that popping Ryan in short order.
As we continue, we're gonna turn back to Mike Brown.

(56:23):
Something he said about the style that he's taken with
these Nicks and why it's been so success successful. You
got to hear this. Next, It's Fox Sports Sunday on
Fox Sports Radio. Hey, welcome back in Fox Sports Radio.
Fox Sports Sunday. Mike Harmon alongside my guy Ryan Hollins
as we traverse the sporting universe, talking a lot about

(56:44):
the NBA Finals Game three tomorrow night. Nicks with a
two to lead. But as we hit the commercial break,
some tragic news hitting the NBA world. We send it
over to Isaac Loewencron for the latest in the breaking news.

Speaker 3 (57:03):
Breaking news from Fox Sports.

Speaker 5 (57:06):
Longtime Chicago Bulls television analyst and three time NBA champion
big Man Stacy King has passed away at the age
of fifty nine. King played in the NBA for eight
seasons with the Bulls and four other teams. He then
worked as a popular television analyst for the Bulls for
the past two decades.

Speaker 1 (57:26):
Mike and Ryan, thanks so much ilo this one. He
hits Ryan Man, one of the big guys from that first,
you know the trilogy, you know, the first three peat
for the Bulls all those years ago, and even in
the lean years thereafter. Stacy King was always a guy
you'd tune into a Bulls broadcast just to hear how

(57:47):
you would describe it. Certainly the hies and big moments
that Derek rose and the p year in some of
those moments. But a guy who's an institution to the
city of Chicago and known for the the big personality,
but the number six overall pick coming out of Oklahoma

(58:10):
into the draft and becoming one of those role players
for the early part of the Bulls dynasty. Gone at
fifty nine. Just a jarring story this morning.

Speaker 2 (58:23):
Ah Man, trying to wrap my mind around it.

Speaker 1 (58:29):
No, that's it right. It takes a minute. And here
you know, to kind of lend lend a little to it, right.
He was known for the creativity, uh some of the
overtop styling. The fact that he was able to create
the white label hot Sauce with his name attached to it.
That was one of his signature calls. But here we
we grabbed a great one with a tribute going all

(58:52):
the way back to the seventies. The sets up a screen,
Kenny races to the basketball, fires it out for.

Speaker 9 (59:01):
Three ot many steps up again, the grizzled veteran steps
up and it's.

Speaker 1 (59:09):
The biggest sun of the season.

Speaker 9 (59:11):
Oh my goodness, Elizabeth, I'm coming again, Elizabeth foll on.
It's a big with Elizabeth, but Coondiac Bulls again.

Speaker 1 (59:22):
Anytime we can get a little bit of Red Fox
and Sanford's son in, we'd gotta do it. Played from
eighty nine to ninety four with the Bulls, then with
the t Wolves, the Heat, the Celtics, the Mavericks, and
a bunch of stops in other leagues, keeping it going.
Coached for a little bit. Three time champion All Rookie
Second Team, was a Player of the Year in college

(59:45):
Big Eight Player of the Year number thirty three been
honored by the University of Oklahoma, but for the last
couple of decades has been part of that broadcast team
bringing the highs and lows of the Chicago Bulls for Chunes.
Uh thereafter just uh one that I'm just communicating with
my brothers. You know, he was one of our guys.

Speaker 2 (01:00:09):
Yeah. Look, man, there's there's thirty of us across the league,
right and you know, some teams share the position. But
for myself, Stacey always been a mentor, someone that I
could go to, would take his time out to give
me advice. In my opinion, he's the best in the

(01:00:31):
business from from what we do in the in the
regional UH broadcast space a man.

Speaker 1 (01:00:39):
The little little boozy vert for boozellis red velvet for
her and the Windy City Assassin going back to Derrick Rose,
so I got into the nickname thing, but just over
the top with the calls, endeared himself to the city.
A mentor UH and a and a guy who was
part of that fraternity UH in the broadcast world. So

(01:01:02):
a huge loss for the NBA here in the midst
of some of the great highs. But paying tribute to
him a little bit this morning. You'll see more of
the clips right because there is an arsenal no use
that word again, no question about it. A lot of
highlight videos and clips will make the rounds later on today.

(01:01:23):
So fifty nine years old, Rest a peace, Stacy King,
best to his family, friends, those teammates, colleagues, Ryan, you
and the fraternity there in the NBA.

Speaker 2 (01:01:36):
Yeah, and you know it's funny me and Craig. Craig
would always joke and he wasn't shy about it. He'd say, yeah,
he always goes to a tea, right, I like working
with you, but give me stacy because he's that good
and fun and checking on Adam today. Man, he like

(01:02:01):
he just checked his Instagram. He still got stories up.
I don't know what happened and sudden who cares at
this point, Well, yeah, throw throws you off, but it's
just a fun personality as staple. But you know, for myself,
you speak about someone endured to the city, wind loser draw,
someone that's a piece and a fabric of the culture
that can have fun on the broadcast but delivers on

(01:02:22):
the head list. Man, we'd have talks and like he
was so selfless. You know, some guys see the lens
of their own team. He's like, man, he's so complimentary
of our guys, and it was go the work I
did and say, man, he'd listen to the broadcasts and
you guys need this, this or this. I thought the
game was one here, this or like. You know, you
just have a love for the sport and you always

(01:02:45):
appreciate the people that have that to optimistically look at
and and take the time to uh to give back man.
Uh that that that's that's what it's about. It's it's
bigger than the sport. Where we talked about the NBA.
Earl you represent a fraternity.

Speaker 1 (01:03:05):
Yeah, I mean, that's it right. It's a small group
of players, small group of people that have been through
those doors. And then you add that next next level,
that next ring of guys that are around the game
and commentating and being and furthering that next generation. Stacy
King thirty five years since he was drafted, such an

(01:03:26):
institution in the city of Chicago, part of the first
three peat with Michael Jordan. Go back and treat yourself, folks.
Go look for some of those early videos of Michael
Jordan giving him the business as he was a young
fella coming into the league as well. Some great video
to be had there as well. He's Ryan Hollins on
Mike Harmon. It's Fox Sports Radios, Fox Sports Sunday. We'll

(01:03:49):
turn our attention back to the NBA Finals in a moment.
A little bit from Mike Brown on navigating what's been
an interesting mix of veteran players. But first let's send
it back to Isaac Lohancrown get another look around the
news of.

Speaker 5 (01:04:01):
Today, Yes, indeed, and we start with the sad news
from the NBA. Longtime Chicago Bulls television analyst and three
time NBA Champion big man Stacy King has passed away
at the age of fifty nine. King played in the
NBA for eight seasons with the Bulls and four other teams.
He then worked as a popular television analyst for the

(01:04:24):
Bulls for the past two decades. Here was King in
action in Game six of the nineteen ninety two NBA Finals,
as he helped the Bulls rally from a fifteen point
fourth quarter deficit at Chicago Stadium against the Portland Trail
Blazers to.

Speaker 6 (01:04:44):
Come US three. Shutting up to King Dangelo's host textall
points US the makers Boston, jus the fool time you
don't want to fall.

Speaker 5 (01:05:04):
On the ESPN reported today that the Philadelphia seventy six
ers are promoting assistant general manager Jamir Nelson to become
their new executive vice president of basketball operations. And the
men's singles final at the French Open is in a
deciding fifth set right now between Germany's Alexander Zverev and

(01:05:28):
Italy's Flavio Koboli. Right now, Zverev leads the fifth set
three games to none, after Koboli had forced a deciding
fifth set by winning a fourth set tiebreaker seven to five. Again,
it's Zverev leading Koboli in the deciding fifth set right now,
three games to none. Mike and Ryan back to you.

Speaker 1 (01:05:48):
Thanks Hilo, Ad, Isaac Low and gron Where you find
him on Twitter? Check out everything he's got popping there.
Find Ryan over at the Ryan Hollins find me over
at Swollen Dome. Be sure to subscribe to Fox Sports
Radio you Tube channel. Search Fox Sports Radio on YouTube.
You'll see all the best videos from all our shows.
Don't stop there. Hit that thumbs up icon. Comment away.
Let us know whose takes you like, and even more so,

(01:06:11):
who's you don't hr mon search Fox Sports Radio on YouTube.
Subscribe today, Send it to friends and family. Hey, we've
got Father's Day coming up. That in a six pack.
I'll get you through. I like that, Ryan, see I
did the holiday shopping for folks as well. We turn
our attention back to the NBA Finals. Mike Brown getting

(01:06:31):
a lot of flowers. A guy that, as we said,
forty five days ago. Whether his job was long for
this New York City run, well, we weren't quite sure.
As the Atlanta Hawks took a second game from the Knicks,
he and Karl Anthony Towns were the two guys that
stood to the forefront. Earlier this week, we commemorated the

(01:06:53):
year passing since Tom Thibodeau had been relieved of his duties.
But one of the answers Mike Brown gave in post
game Ryan I thought was pretty solid talking about navigating
a veteran bunch, particularly Karl Anthony Towns.

Speaker 7 (01:07:07):
I come in with a plan. Maybe the plan doesn't work.
Who adjusts him or me?

Speaker 2 (01:07:12):
Me?

Speaker 7 (01:07:14):
I adjust the adjustments not enough. You know, every once
in a while we're not on the same page. We
talk about it, we talk about it. I adjust again
a little bit better. He's feeling good. We talk about it.

Speaker 1 (01:07:29):
We talked.

Speaker 7 (01:07:30):
You know, maybe we take a couple of steps backwards
because what I did he doesn't like, which is fine.
It's my job as a coach to fit whatever scheme
work we have on both sides of the floor to
all of our players. And if you're a great player,
I got to make a little bit more adjustments.

Speaker 1 (01:07:48):
Or I got to give a little bit more than
you do. The EBB and flow back and forth. All right,
the locker rooms you've been in, Ryan, I mean, that's
got to be the most difficult for coach to navigate, right,
the egos and pulling those strings to get the best
out of players, but also recognizing what change needs to happen,

(01:08:10):
and how do you meet in the middle.

Speaker 2 (01:08:13):
Yeah. Man, they're calling this one of the best coaches
pressers they've ever heard. And you know, you think about
kat as a player. Man, he's in a tough position
because when you plan at four, you lose the footspeed
on the perimeter. You plan at five, you lose a
shot blocking in the playoffs, he's not as effective in

(01:08:35):
the paint. He's a great shooter, but then why have
size on the floor if he's standing on the perimeter.
Mike Brown is realized you had to find a happy
meeting with Karl Anthony Towns. And it wasn't just saying
this is my vision for you, this is the way
that coaching should be done. I set a plan, we
both do it. If it doesn't work, we go to

(01:08:57):
Plan B and C and we talk and com unicate
and then you know. He goes on to further say,
you know, I talk with the rest of the guys
about it. Hey, how does this work? And you pretty
much can assume that we've talked about it. Mike Carl
Anthony Town's stepping back popping a three, facilitating ball in
his hands. It doesn't have to be a scoring play,

(01:09:18):
but the ball isn't in his hands and keep it moving.
And now you get Jalen Brunson off of the basketball,
because well, what happened when you played in New York.
You just get such a steady diet of Jalen Brunson
that later in series or in play, when things get tight,
everybody and then Mama knew exactly where he was going.
You know where the knicks would be going. So now

(01:09:38):
when you make those adjustments, you can't key end the
same way that you normally would on Jalen Brunson, he
gets some freedom. And guess what, Kat, your second best
player is involved, and in this series he's been the
first best player.

Speaker 1 (01:09:51):
What is curious, right, is that evolution and coaches and
learnings and everything else that we speak of. Right when
you get another bite at the app at what have
you learned through your travels. And we played the clip
last week with Mike Brown talking about all those experience
with Popovich, with Steve Kerr and stealing a little bit

(01:10:12):
from each of them as to their temperament, tone, tenor,
and obviously from a strategic standpoint in terms of what
they're working with Karl Anthony Towns because to this point
he's pulling all the strings masterfully.

Speaker 2 (01:10:25):
No he is, and again now he's infusing confidence and
I'm sure going into the season what he excuse me
going into the finals. We know what the message was.
You gotta play Wimby. You do that, we're gonna be
NBA champions. He doesn't have the size of the matchup
with you. He doesn't have the physicality and there's a

(01:10:46):
chance where you can get downhill. We need you to
be scoring Cott Net, not passing Cat, scoring Kat, and
that's been the difference so far. It's not Jenleen Brunson
and I fully agree with Charles Barkley. He has to
be the MVP for them to win, and right now
he's playing at at the league MVP caliber the playoffs

(01:11:08):
so far. So you know, you got to give Keak
all his flowers right now.

Speaker 1 (01:11:12):
No question about it as a continual t take a
look at what we think as ahead for Game three
and how does Taylor Swift factor into all of these events.
If you missed any of you today's show, check out
the podcast. Search Fox Sports Radio wherever you find your podcast.
Right after the show, bo will get that together and
get it posted. Be sure to follow rate it, give
it five stars, can even provide a review. Again. Search

(01:11:35):
Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcasts, you'll find
today's show full show posted right after we get off
the air again evangelize, send it to families. Friends. We're
trying to continue our global expansion, our intergalactic expansion here
at Fox Sports Radio. He's Ryan Hollins at the Ryan Allins.
I'm Mike Harmon at Swollen Home where you can find me.
We'll preview Game three next here on Fox Sports Radio.

(01:11:57):
Welcome back in Fox Sports. Fox Sports Sunday, Mike Harmon
alongside Ryan Hollins, having a blast with you this morning.
Thanks for giving us a few minutes of your time
as you're out and about two from brunch to from services,
walking the dog, hitting this news button, whatever you're doing.
Thank you for letting us into your homes. And having
a little bit of fun with us as we talk

(01:12:19):
about the NBA Finals and the larger NBA spear we
remember a legend. All of that will be in the podcast.
Thanks to Bo and Sam for making a sound so
pretty this morning. Ilo over at the news desk at
the Ryan Hollins where you find Ryan find me over
at Swollen Dome. Here's the sentiment coming into game three,
Josh Hart saying, what is on everybody's minds because they're

(01:12:41):
wondering what kind of environment you get back at the garden. Quote,
A lot of folks have been waiting for this moment
for a very long time, unfortunately, and aren't able to
get into the building. Cheapest ticket seven eight thousand dollars.
That's ridiculous. But I got to think even the ritzy
folks that ponied up their cash, Ryan, they'll be ready
to scream themselves horse tomorrow night at the Garden.

Speaker 2 (01:13:05):
I mean, you are looking at the price where it
is because it's at once in a lifetime opportunity like
these opportunities do not always come about, and that's why
the price is so high. Like this is one of
the I mean, this is a I mean, I mean

(01:13:26):
when's the last time the Knicks have been there? And
when and then they go up it was already high.
And then then when the first two games, you're going,
are you kidding me? And I'm telling you right now,
this is gonna be pandemonium. And you talk about a
team that is going to be in the pressure cooker.
We're going to see how these San Antonio Spurs reacted. Now,

(01:13:47):
you had I believe the better team or I don't
even know if I can say that now. But Oklahoma City,
it was the defending champs, and it was tough to
play on the road. But the environment, I don't think, Mike,
there's a tougher environment than the New York Knicks in
the See Staples Center's money and all of the real

(01:14:08):
Lakers fans are outside around Staples Centers. Right. Sure, the
Knicks they're Richie, they're rich who can afford the tickets.
They're also Nick fans. A lot of the Laker fans
they're not really Laker fans. It's just there because it's
an event. They got money. But the Nick fans are
really fans and they got the money. So it's gonna

(01:14:30):
be pannemonia.

Speaker 1 (01:14:31):
But that's it. Right, eighteen thousand plus in a city
and metropolitan area of what twenty five million ish right
to by way of contrast here to Los Angeles, about
the same in terms of numbers. But I think you're
absolutely right. You're talking about the rabid fan base. We
talk about the Lakers and many runs towards NBA Finals

(01:14:52):
in the past. For the Knicks, we got ninety four,
which is most remembered for the OJ Chase. Sorry did
the rocket, but that's true. And then you've got nineteen
ninety nine, talking about a generation plus that hasn't even
seen the finals. So the rabidity, just that crazy nature

(01:15:12):
of the fan base lining up for watch parties. I mean,
we saw them lining up outside of some of the
gentlemen's clubs for watch parties, just trying to get in
anywhere with the giant screen now yet obviously got other
things to watch while you're there as well, Ryan, and
maybe some pretty good Wings along the way. But the
point being that everybody's just trying to be part of this,

(01:15:35):
and it's one of the things I love most about sports,
even if folks don't necessarily want to get on board.
The go New York Go, New York Go chance, as
my friends have been texting me this morning, including our
colleague Arnie Spanier, who you'll hear crowing about his Knicks
later on tonight with Chris Plank. But just that idea
of unification, right we played the Karl Anthony Towns whip

(01:16:00):
from earlier. That respect, that that community, which you can't
buy it. Man, this is just an organic thing that's
taken over a city. And if you're an NBA fan
at all, you're just excited for what the rest of
this matchup brings.

Speaker 2 (01:16:16):
You're right, And that's in a sense what we've seen
and is funny even with the former players I've never
seen the Knicks are just a stop normally for guys
and that I played with or played against, and it's just,
you know, it's an experience. But now like they're wearing
their Knick jerseys, they're reminding everybody they played for the
Knicks like it's a thing now. Man, there's so much

(01:16:40):
Nick pride. You don't just sound like the wild New
York or you know, preaching from a distance about the
Knicks and how they're going to do this and do that,
you know. So it's a legitimate moment for the city.

Speaker 1 (01:16:53):
So for Game three, Knicks are a two and a
half point favorite. We've seen the Spurs in both games
won in Game two, particularly game too battling back with
the opportunity to seal a home win. What are you
expecting and how does it change for Mitch Johnson and
company as they travel to New York.

Speaker 2 (01:17:11):
If you attack Cat, you're gonna be all right? Like,
this is still a very winnable series. You know, you
got the bodies to throw at Brunson in the guard
him and he's great. You know, make no mistake there.
We're not taking anything away from him. But if you
can stop Carl Anthony Towns, that's good, and Victor Winbinyama
can be effective in the paint and put pressure in
the paint, then I'd go. Even if he makes the
first two free throws, mister Robinson has to make free

(01:17:32):
throws all my watch. I'm sorry, that's just that's just
the reality there. But I think it's a very winnable series.
But can they handle the pressure in the garden. This
maybe looks like it's going to be more about the
garden than it is that the players, because it is
spurring these guys on to play out of their mind.
I mean Michale Bridges turned into Ray Allen. I mean

(01:17:55):
he's catching bad pass three pointers and catch them off
his shoelace and throw him in, throwing them in. Karl
Anthony Towns through the craziest pass to him like it
was five defenders around and he found found him Uh
uh found mckel in the corner for three. So I
mean New York's playing out of their mind.

Speaker 1 (01:18:15):
My other favorite Cat pass led to a slow motion
uh poster dunk from og On and obi On Wembin Yama.
That might have been the slowest move to the baseline
and dunk as he came together. And Mike is Mike
my computer glitching as I'm watching this thing because it
just looked like, all right, how's he not getting a body?

(01:18:36):
How's he not getting a block? But og puts it down.
Cat got immortalized on a trading card for one of
his dunks the other day.

Speaker 2 (01:18:43):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:18:44):
The last question, I guess what do you do with
the Dylan Harper Darren Fox conundrum that seems to take
up so much oxygen when we talk about the efficiency
that Harper and Wemby have had on the flour together.

Speaker 2 (01:18:57):
Pus your five best players on the floor, don't matter
who it is. Obviously you look to Fox for the leadership.
It might be playing both of them together. But your
five best guys got a roll. And in a game
like this, it's whoever the hot hand is, and it
starts defensively, and if someone's Roland and maybe the Sale,
maybe Champagne, but you know you're gonna have to adjust

(01:19:19):
and play whoever the guy is.

Speaker 1 (01:19:21):
Yeah, those are the two guys I point two as well.
Champagne started well in game two, finished with eight points,
scored eight early, was neary scene again in his thirty minutes.
And then Keldon Johnson's been awful, borderline unplayable, six Man
of the Year. Last thing, what do you think would
cost more? Game three ticket or a ticket to the

(01:19:42):
Taylor Swift Travis Kelsey wedding at Madison Square Garden.

Speaker 2 (01:19:44):
Oh my goodness, Game three by far?

Speaker 1 (01:19:47):
There you go. Currently you can bet on the Chers.
He sat in from Game three of the Eastern Conference Finals.
It's twenty four hundred bucks with seven days remaining. He's
Ryan on Mike, Thanks for hanging out with us. Steven VJ.
Coming up next, it's Fox Sports Radio