June 9, 2025 • 40 mins
Ben Maller talks about what went wrong for Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers after they were blown out by the Thunder in Game 2 of the NBA Finals, Mike Breen claiming the Pacers/Thunder matchup is great for people who love "pure basketball", and much more!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Here we go. Welcome, it's our number what our number
one of the pod. Hope you had a great weekend.
We are back at it. Don't forget the Fifth Hour
podcast from over the weekend, including a conversation with their
old buddy Eddie Garcia on the Fifth Hour podcast. Also,
we caught up with our friend Nico, the man that
(00:20):
made the Canadian meet and greet possible, had a mail bag.
A lot going on on that weekend Fifth Hour podcast,
so check that out wherever you got this podcast. But
here in hour number one on the Monday, June ninth
edition of the pod, it's NBA Finals Game two. That's right,
Game two. What went wrong for Tyrese Haliburton and the
Pacers is they were blown out by the Thunder. Also
(00:45):
have Oklahoma City and SGA regained control of the NBA
Finals after that dominating win, and announcer Mike Breen kept
emphasizing that the Thunder Pacers matchup was great for people
who love pure basketball. What is your rebuttal? We'll talk
about all that and more right now as we say
(01:07):
hello to our number one. Well, it turns out the
sequel not quite the ego. Well, come in not.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Beginning of another night of the Beann Malord Show, another
week of the show, one week after another, chopping down
the late night hours.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
As we are in the air everywhere, constituents united because
we know where the hot sauce is. We know where
it is coast to coast, border, the border and beyond
on the vast and flashly powerful microphones of fsre emmundating
(01:55):
live from the side the ring side chatter that's right
from the Fox Sports Radio studios, as approved by Kyrie
in okase he had a cheshire cat smile. We'll get
to why he had a chesshire cat smile in a minute.
This portion of the Ben Maler Show made possible in
part by our friends at tire Ract. That's right. For
(02:18):
over forty years, that's a long time, that's two generations,
tire i Raq has been helping customers find the right
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The Way Tire Buying Show be so our lead this hour,
(02:43):
I say, play the hits. I don't know if this
is playing the hits, but we do do a sports
talk radio, so so plausitively we should talk about sports occasionally.
And I took one for the team. I watched the
game in the dust bowl. It's my public service to
you to get back to the community, get back to
you so you don't have to waste your time on this.
But there I was Game two NBA Finals, sitting on
(03:05):
Mike took us as Tyrese Halliburton and the Pacers looking
to steal another game and do the unthinkable against SGA
and the Thunder in a finals that has been the
lowest rated finals since they've kept track of this stuff.
My god, Game one, that's all we have until game two.
(03:27):
In Game one, nobody watched, so I don't know if
you checked it out based on the early results, probably not.
And so we did as we said, a PSA for you.
So Shay jogis Alexander another big performance by the former Clipper.
That's what former Clippers do. Thirty four points. Alice Caruso,
he's a former Laker. They got rid of him. He's
(03:50):
one of there. They don't need him. There good players.
So Caruso had twenty off the bench, and the Thunder
get it done. They win. Not from pillar to post,
but just about there. They beat the Indiana Pacers one
twenty three to one oh seven the final, and so
now we are squared up. It is a best of
(04:10):
five series, as the Pacers went to Indiana to get
the wins, so they get home court advantage. As long
as they don't stub their toe at home. As long
as they don't stub their toe at home, they'll be
all right. So Jayalen Williams said nineteen, Aaron Wiggins eighteen,
and Chet Holmer with fifteen for the Thunder and a
(04:32):
partridge to the pear tree as okaysee wins. It was
the first time they've won a finals game since many
many years ago, back in twenty twelve. That was back
when guys like Kevin Durant and others were playing for
the Thunder that was against Miami. Game three is not
until Wednesday. Why because load management. Baby, you can't expect
(04:53):
these NBA players to have to have one day off.
Oh my god, no, what do you? What kind of
draconian a hole are you? What is wrong with you?
The wing everything they can, so no one watches the finals.
Lets just take a couple of days off between games,
all right. So they're taking two games off Wednesday in Indianapolis.
I can check that out be the first finals game
(05:14):
since I was there twenty five years ago when they
played the Lakers in the NBA Finals. The better story, though,
is in the losing locker room. And so let us discuss.
We know on this show we love losers, and let's
start out there with the Indiana because they're the big losers.
They wear the scarlet letter the giant L there on
their chest. So what went wrong? What went wrong for
(05:36):
Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers in game number two? So
I've got that was a wrong went. I talked about YMCA,
hammer and dog whistle, and we will combine all of
these things together and we are going to make some delicious,
(05:57):
delicious apple fritters. The perfect donut is the apple fritter.
There's nothing that can quite match the apple fritter. Cinnamon
roll is also a fine donut, but the apple fritter
at the very top. So A, when you play the
let's point the fingers game, and I love playing the
let's point the fingers game, what went wrong with the Pacers?
You point a finger over here? Yeah, you point a
(06:19):
finger over there, and you point a finger everywhere is
what you do? Why not? Right now? This was an
epic failure by the Indiana basketball team. First stretches this
game now, mainly in the second quarter, but really the
first quarters, well, the first half. They were stuck in sand.
The first half of this game. Indiana looked like they
had forgotten how to play basketball. So what happens? You
(06:42):
spent a couple yestra days in Oklahoma. You just don't
know what you're doing? My god. First up, let's start
with the headliner, Tyrese Halliburton. Are you bleeping kidding me?
All right? Are you get this? Guy's the engine? Right? Drue?
He's the engine there? And ice water point yard captain
clutch nobody forget Jalen runsome right now, four big game
(07:05):
winning shots in the playoffs here for Halliburton. He's the guy,
and he's gotta be the guy. You can't be the
guy if you're not the guy, and he wasn't the
guy against SGA. If Andy's gonna keep this series going
humming along, hum hum hum hum. No, there were no
there was no humming. It was chop chop, chop chop chop.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
He was out there and the way he played in
the first half of this game, side by side comparison.
All right, the real talk. I know he didn't call
show anymore, this real talk. So the way Halliburton played
in the first half, especially the second quarter, he would
not have been picked at a YMCA pickup game the
way he was performing. Man, where was the aggression? They
(07:47):
take some sleeping pills prior to the game Halliburton. Hello,
uh and the elite playmaking, we've seen it, but it
wasn't there, not in the first half. And uh, you know, listen,
Thunder have a good defensive. But let's not get carried away.
This is more about what Halliburton didn't do than any
amazing adjustment that the Oklahoma City basketball team did do.
(08:10):
And Haliburton is supposed to be a one percenter. That
he's crossed the rubicon and he's a one percent talent
and you're gonna get it done against everybody anywhere anyhow, anyway,
and that was not happening in this game in the
first half. And the MALA report card on this tyree
Saliburton picking up an I rating, not an A, not
(08:32):
a B, not a C, not a D, not an
iraty that's for the ick factor, because there was a
lot of ick. Right. He's the spirit animal of the Pacers.
He is the spirit animal of the Pacers, and the
animal was taking a nap and when the game was
being decided, and in this game, the game was being
(08:53):
decided in the first half here, he was a real clunker.
I don't know how many other ways I can say it.
Gotta figure out. We got to figure out how to
break through game after game, right, no days off, all
that stuff, and break the pressure of Oklahoma City and
not wilt under the pressure, which is what appeared to
be happening here. The Pacers offense was stagnant in the
(09:17):
first half. That's not something we are used to seeing.
This is one of the top offensive teams, if not
the top offensive team in the NBA, and it starts
with Haliburt. It starts with him, and Oklahoma City boxed
him up. The Thunder built up an eighteen point lead
at halftime, and they didn't trail in the entire second
I have Indiana shot less than thirty five percent in
(09:38):
the first half of this game and had just forty
one points at halftime, which is not very good. That
played better than the second half, but it was all
extended garbage time Halliburton when the game was decided. In
the first half, he was one of five shooting. He
made one more basket than you and I made in
the first half, and three assists in twenty four minutes
of action. And the Pacers, listen, they played well in
(10:01):
the second half, but it was a lot of stat
stuffing in stat bandito and whatnot. And we often point
out how that is something we don't give credit to,
garbage time stat stuff. He doesn't really do it for us.
And then you got Rick Carlisle who was holding the
game console. He was he had the joystick and he
(10:22):
was moving around the vomit comet. The Indiana coach there,
he had the joystick, was moving around the vomit commet.
The Pacers played like they were content to win game one,
which they did win. They won a game. You won
a game. Congratulations, you got it done. On the road
way to go all right. And Carlisle championship coach, all
(10:44):
that stuff. You can kiss his ass because he's got
the championship pedigree. He's supposed to be one of the
top coaches. I mean, he is often, but this was
not his night here, he looked like he drew up
the game plan on a napkin at some dive bar
that they went to in the Greater Indianapolis area in
between games on the day off there as the thunder or.
(11:04):
They were playing with the kind of age that you
would expect expect a team to play with in this situation,
and the Pacers did not match it. They were not
able to match the running around like a headless chicken activity.
So you got Rick Carlile too many adjustments here. Not
a great night for the Pacers, and so they lose,
(11:27):
and they lose any game that wasn't all that close.
Here is Carlisle pointing out the first half was not
a masterpiece.
Speaker 4 (11:35):
Another bad first half. Obviously it was a big problem,
and we just played poorly. A little better than the
second half, but you can't be a team that's reactive
and expect to be successful or half consistency. So we're
gonna feel lot better on Wednesday.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Can we get him a throat, Lausnge. It sounds like
he's got a little throat issue there. Maybe some water
with salt, garlic. I recommend garlic. That's my go to.
It normally works for me. Now one of our favorites
and for us, the greatest name in the history of
the NBA, friend Marcel and Brooklyn. Pascal Siakam. Uh Siakam
had a quiet game. He was three of eleven shooting. Yeah,
(12:15):
he didn't really do much of anything when the game
was in the bounce, or even when it wasn't in
the bounce, and hey, Pascal, what the hell happened?
Speaker 5 (12:23):
It was pretty close in the beginning.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
I mean, I think.
Speaker 5 (12:27):
Just a lot of on answer buckets, maybe some key
turnovers that we can take away. But yeah, they did
a good job being being disruptive and they got out
in transition, and yeah, they made some tough shots. I mean,
they got guys that contributed, you know, across the board,
and you know, they got off the bench, guys made
some big shots, they got rebounds, you know.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Yeah, they just did a.
Speaker 5 (12:48):
Little bit of the little things, like more than we did.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
I would say, more than just the little things. But
we move on now on the other side. Page two.
Oklahoma City. So this is what was expect This was
the analysis when everyone was licking the toes of OKC.
It was this is where they're going to play every
single game. So have Oklahoma City and SGA now regained
(13:12):
complete and total control of the NBA Finals after this
body blow of a win, Have they regained control? So
that would be a premature take, right, That would be
a premature take. All the Thunder did was avoid getting
blown into the tornado, getting blown into the tour. If
(13:33):
they had lost again at home, that would have been
def Con one. If they lose at home back to back,
that's what the Knickerbockers did against the Pacers. They'd have
been on life support if that had happened there. And
so that did not happen, so you don't have to
worry about that. But the Oklahoma City they just again
they played at a different speed, which is a lot
to do with the Pacers more than it is against
(13:54):
the Oklahoma City. You expected them to play with that.
You did not expect the Indiana to come out there
in lollygag, which is what they did here. And the
Thunder guy, he got more rebounds, they had more steals,
more fast break points than the Pacers. The fifty to
fifty balls, I love my fifty to fifty balls. I
live for fifty to fifty balls. Remember Phil Jackson back
(14:15):
in the days the hands on balls. That was his
big mantra. Loved hands on balls. So all right, the
loose balls grabbing them, it seemed like it was like
eighty ninety five percent Oklahoma City on those particular situations.
And ogle Op City he plays regularly diving on the
floor to secure loose balls to extend possessions. Didn't see
too much of that, certainly not as much as were
(14:37):
used to from the Indiana basketball team in this game.
And then you have Chad Holmer, who brought the golden hammer.
The golden hammer he brought down there with the timely
offense in the first half, the early damage from skeletor
imagine that you're Indiana, you lost a skeletor. He was big.
He was big, he was calling any he's big. In
(14:59):
the first half. He had fifteen points and six rebounds,
but eleven points and four rebounds in the first half,
and that second quarter run when Oklahoma City took control
of the game and never gave up the momentum you
idiots like to talk about. All right, so timing does matter,
Timing doesn't matter right now. Last word, so we mentioned earlier.
Game one was a total dudr total dud. The lowest
(15:24):
ratings in the modern era, going back to the eighties,
calling back to Ronald Reagan as president. Oh my god,
it sucked and just a few things in life. This
is something we expected to happen at happen. So I noticed,
and ant of you noticed here. As you know, I
generally try to avoid Doris Burke because, like most people,
I like good broadcasting. She's not good. But for a
few minutes, in a moment of weakness, I had the
(15:46):
broadcast up. I made a mistake. But during that couple
of minutes I had the audio up. I heard Mike Breen,
the play by play announcer, who emphasized that the thunder
Pacers series was great for people who love pure basketball.
That was the line, right, pure basketball? Okay, So what
(16:07):
is your rebuttal to that particular line from the lead
voice of the NBA Finals. So that is a roll
your eyes response? Is what that is? You roll your
eyes when you hear somebody say pure basketball, because it's nonsense, right,
It's poppy cock, is what it is. Here, give me
a bleeping break. Pure basketball, my fat ass, pure basketball.
(16:30):
You know what else is pure? I'm not a big
drinker of this, but skim milk is pure. You want
to drink skim milk, knock yourself out, No thanks. And
by the way, last I checked, this is not the
nineteen eighties here where the basketball hardos are sitting there
with their pants down watching the back door cuts getting
(16:50):
all excited. That's not the way this works. It didn't
work then either. By the way it didn't work then either.
That's what's called narrow casting, not broadcasting. And there are
not enough. It is a proven fact there are not
enough basketball hardos to provide a big enough audience for
the NBA Finals. We prove that in Game one. That
(17:11):
will continue to be the place you need the case.
You need to attract the casual. You need to attract
the run of the mill Joe blow fan. That's you
need to track. They don't care about the purity of
the game. It doesn't matter, right, it doesn't matter. And
pure basketball is also at dog whistles what it is.
Let me call like it is right. When you say
pure basketball, it's code for there's no stars. Right, the
(17:35):
teams aren't popular. And let me just gaslight you the viewer,
and shame you. And to think abou if you watch
you're a pure basketball fan. You're like a better fan.
It's some kind of basketball utopia bowl crap, it's not.
I mean, god, this is the perfect trifecta. It's the
perfect trifecta. Now what is You got no stars, You've
(17:58):
got no compelling store and no ratings? Ding ding ding
ding ding. That's what you got, right? Do you think
the average fan cares about a dribble handoff and gets
all aroused because they see off the ball movement? Come on, like,
what are you doing right? No, they want the personality.
They want that. They want the good guys, the villains.
(18:20):
There's none of that. There's none of that. And it's
like a traveling All Star team the Thunder. I don't
mean that, Na Conway. I mean like an AAU team,
the way they react after games and whatnot. Here and
nobody is going to circle the Thunder and the Pacers
and say, man, I gotta watch it now. Maybe you're
(18:40):
in Oklahoma or Indiana and but maybe not. You know.
Even then, you're like, you know, I gotta got some
stuff I've saved up on the streaming. I might need
to watch that, you know, but I'll watch it for
it again. It's my public service I'm watching it for you.
I'm a basketball hurdle bit.
Speaker 6 (18:56):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
Okay, I don't don't call. I don't need to hear that.
You're you're You're on an island. So I'm a purest
of basketball. Yeah, yea, I'm sure you are. Congratulate. I'll
give you a cookie eight seven seven ninety nine on
Fox eight seven seven nine nine six six three sixty nine.
Also on the X Machine at Ben Mahlor. That's at
Ben Mahler. If you'd like to be part of the program,
(19:19):
you can join us here. We'll take your phone calls.
We are just beginning the red eye flight through the overnight,
taking into the early morning hours. So the power of
the people, the power of the people doesn't always work
out even when you try to appease the people. The
power of the people will explain what that is all about.
(19:41):
We'll get to it. We'll take your calls, the whole shebang,
and we will do it next.
Speaker 6 (19:49):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Miller
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app Bill.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Miller and You. It is the Ben Malor Show. Up
all night, every single night. We thank you for making
this show part of your graveyard shift experience. As we
roll through the nighttime hours, the Red Eye flight smooth
sailing all the way through. You can interact with the
(20:20):
live show Hot NBA Finals Talk. Say hello Fi Fee.
You can do that on the X machine that's at
Ben Mahlor, that's at Ben Mahlor. Lorena. You can say
let FSR Tech Queen and Coop Bronco Finger comments Cannon,
we'll be used against you in the court of sports radio.
(20:43):
And now back to it all right, back to it
we go, and we'll take your phone calls. At eight seven,
seven ninety nine on Fox, Ferg Dog rites in from Selkiss.
I really enjoyed your talk with the man who made
the Canadian Meet and greed hap be Nico on the
fifth hour. He's inspired me to save up my money
(21:04):
so I can afford to fly you all out to
Fullerton to make the Fulletin Meet and Greet happen. And
he made sure to mention that he Ferg Dog spelled
meat with m e at Well, there'll be a lot
of meat there in Fullerton. And and now Ferg Dog,
as you know, for us to go to Fullerton, You're
going to have to provide like winter clothing because that
(21:25):
is Siberia. It's always very cold there and rainy and
snowy and really bad weather there. And how long is
that flight? The flight, well, it depends which direction you go.
If you go around the world above the North Pole,
that'll be along or if you go the other way
over Asia and then back around Europe. So it depends
(21:47):
which direction you go. But it's it's a long flight.
And of course in rush hour, if you go in La,
it might take four hours to get there. It might
be especially right now coming in here, it must be
summer then hot weather. People burning craft, that's wonderful. I
love that coming in here and the road I normally
take close to people are burning craft. Wonderful here in
(22:09):
La Peter Wright Sin says Mallard. Hype to see your
favorite undersized baller Caruso, who the Lakers thought was trash
and couldn't play for them dominate off the bench. Another
mistake by Jeanie Boss and the Lakers. When will they learn?
I don't know, but I am glad the Lakers don't
know what they're doing, Peter, because it's kind of fun.
(22:31):
Mark the full name guy. Remember this guy quit the show.
He couldn't and I understand. Listen, it's not easy being
an overnight talk radio caller. It is not easy. It's
not for everyone. It wears on your health. And Mark
the full name Guy did it for a number of years.
He was in the battlefield, the battleground of overnight talk radio,
and he reached the point he could no longer be
(22:51):
part of the show because it was just too difficult
physically demanding. There's a lot of peer pressures, of a
lot of attacking that goes on when you're a star
caller on the show. It's not for everyone. And Mark
the full name guy who quit a couple years ago,
he says, you are advocating for rigged playoff matchups. He says,
ninety five percent of the time is not enough. So
(23:11):
even when all those stars on the Lakers suck, the
NBA needs to make sure they win. Ha ha ha ha.
There you go. You miss me, don't you? No, I've
not missed you at all. The show has been fine.
In fact, many would say the show's been better without
you calling the show. We do not miss you at all.
I'm not saying the NBA needs to rig anything, although
(23:32):
they have been accused of that for many years. It's
been proven with Tim Donnee that games were rigged. I
would argue, though, that this is a disaster for the NBA.
It is a television show, This is a bad product.
The owners a couple of years ago changed the rules.
They changed the rules to accommodate, to accommodate these smaller
(23:54):
market teams, and that helped pave the way into some
degree for what happened in this postseason. And if the
audience is not there, the advertisers will not be there,
and then you're going to have problems. You're going to
have problems, not supermarket, Steve he says, does anyone else
know why there was a three day gap between the
(24:16):
home playoff game for the Oklahoma City Thunder. To make
these players stay in Oklahoma City for three days is
just cruel and unusual. Well, that's what they usually do
in the NBA Finals. They normally have done Thursday and
Sunday because television doesn't get great numbers on Friday and
Saturday because people are actually out doing crap, and so
(24:37):
normally those days do not dry a massive television audience.
So They've always kind of done it that way. It
doesn't matter when you're in Boston or LA or San
Francisco if you have a couple days off, or Miami
you kind of like that, or even Dallas. When you're
in Oklahoma City, Eh, not so much. King Rory writes
in I says, I hope you and all the Bennets
(24:57):
are safe. With all the unrest going on, it looked
like Indiana had all the momentum after game one, and
we all know momentum doesn't exist in sports, That's right,
King Roy. Also, everyone knows black magic doesn't work on Sundays,
so Indiana was doomed before tip off. They've got to
go on on the internet and get one of those
new voodoo dolls. They've got to work on that, and
(25:19):
they gotta they gotta work on that for sure. Uh yeah, no.
So here's here's no the As far as the stuff
going on in La, it's it's it's pretty much contained
to one part of LA, so it's not but it's
so scary.
Speaker 6 (25:33):
Ben, I don't.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
When I was flying back in today, I was like, really,
I only cried three times. I'm just an emotional, very emotional.
I understand it's scary, it's not getting hurt, it's not
ide you would. There's a lot of instigators out there
causing problems that don't need to be out there. But uh,
(25:55):
you know, well we'll settle it. This happens if I've
lived here my entire life. It happen every five to
ten years. There's something like this, like, I don't think
we've gone as an adult. I don't think even when
I was in high school, the La riots happened. When
I was in high school, there was a Rodney King thing.
The riots happened there, and it pretty much every five
(26:16):
probably not even every five to ten years, probably sooner,
in less time than that. There's always something whack that
goes around.
Speaker 7 (26:23):
It's nuts, but you can be totally isolated from it
if you live in one of the suburbs and have
no reason to travel down there. Like the Rodney King
things a good example. That trial happened in my hometown.
That's where they you know, found them, you know, and
yet the riots happened thirty five miles away in oh La.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Yeah, yeah, no, but I was in high school. I
remember watching the parade of tanks coming up from Camp
Pendleton alive Orange County at the time, and I remember
seeing that. But like tonight, I usually to get to
the studio from the Malor mansion, I have to go
on the one oh one in downtown Los Angeles, which
is currently closed because they burned a cop car and
(27:05):
a bunch of other stuff and they were throwing crap
on the on the They actually closed that. That's like
the third time in the last couple of years they've
closed that part of the highway. Yeah, this is a
wild How do you you imagine me the first person
that walks on our freeway and says, all right, I'm
gonna stop the trust suicide mission? Wild? But it goes on.
I take one for the team. Yeah, I'm good. All right,
(27:26):
let's go to the phones. Though he didn't tune in
for that. You want to hear about sports. It's all
about sports. Let's say hello to Holiday. I've heard from
him in a while. He's in LA. What's going on, Holiday, Welcome.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
What's going on?
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Man, it's been a minute, Holiday, It's been a minute.
Welcome back.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Yeah, let me feel you in, Ben Man. This moment
means a lot to me to be able to talk
to you again because on January thirteenth of this year. Man,
I had a heart attack.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Oh my god, Oh Holiday, that's terrible.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
Man. I die twice in less than twenty four hours. Man,
they had to bring me back.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Really, you've gone, You've gone to that, You've gone to
the other side, and you've made it back.
Speaker 7 (28:08):
Stop it.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
Yes, I'm not lying. Check my files.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Wow. So well you I mean, you don't have to
tell the whole story if you don't want to. But
that's pretty wild. That's uh. I'm glad you're still with us. Holiday.
It's good to be able to talk to you. I
wondered what happened, man, but it's good to talk to you.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
You are absolutely right, man. I actually lost a lot
of money betting the theory of what you're talking about.
I was telling my wife that I was betting for
New York because I'm like, there's no way the NBA
can sustain after they're losing ratings already on finals with
Indiana and Okay, see like this they I mean, they
(28:46):
might not win, but at least they'll have the large market.
And I literally bet that. So you I'm right with
you on that, man.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
My condolence is on the money that you lost on
that and uh, yet it is it's very odd. And
you know you're I don't know how I think you're
around my age, but our entire lives. This has never happened.
This is this is unsharded territory for the NBA. And
and Adam Silver was trying to talk it off the
commission and you get I mean's the commission. He said, Oh,
people are gonna watch. It's good basketball. You know, people
gonna tune in because they love basketball. Well, so far
(29:16):
they haven't tuned in. We'll see what the ratings are
for a game too. I can't imagine they're very good.
I don't work for the NBA, so it's not my problem.
Is their problem. I'm just observing it. And it doesn't
appear that's gonna be much better.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
I understand.
Speaker 5 (29:28):
Man.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
I all right, well, you take care of you, so
take it easy. Holiday, okay, man, we love you. We'll
be good. Okay, and uh you know, come come see
us sometimes. Right, all right, we'll do all right, buddy,
the great hot Look at that talking to a man
who crossed over twice died. So I guess if you
(29:50):
died twice, then you're probably not work because you've already
done it a couple of times. So the third time,
you're not that is was worried, right because you've already
you know, you've done it twice and yeah, exactly interesting
all right? Anyway, well let's see here, page Dan, I
don't read that one on the air one more times.
He's a cat. Yeah, yeah, maybe he is a cat.
(30:13):
Who knows. Let's see here. Steve says, hearing that intro
song makes me think of Jonas singing Demoncia. Okay, I
don't know. I don't know what that's all about. Loss
and rights, since says man, I missed the game tonight's
I was busy watching the Dale Earnhardt documentary on Amazon Prime.
How is that? I haven't watched that. I have not
(30:36):
seen much lately, the documentary stuff not not that great.
Mark the underrated unsung Mark the full name name guy
falsely accused of making death threats to Ben Maller, who
lied and slandered Mark for the ratings. Yes, yes, all,
my career here is dedicated to you because you're such
(30:56):
a famous caller, Mark the full name Guy. Of course, clearly,
when I believe Mark, your term was justifiable homicide. That
was what you said something would happened to me. I
believe you said justifiable homicide, and I quoted you for
saying that, and you seem to get upset. I don't
know why you would get upset. That's not my term.
I didn't come up with that term. You came up
with that term. It wasn't my term. That was your term.
(31:19):
So the NBA very reactionary to social media, the power
of the people, the power of the people on social media.
So a bunch of people complained after Game one, the
basketball hard ohs are like, what the hell, it's the
NBA Finals. It felt like a regular season game in
December on a random Wednesday night where no, there was
no juice, no buzz. Right, made a big deal about it,
(31:44):
and so one of the things people but is that
the NBA Finals. There was no logo for the Finals.
This has been something that has been there it seems
like forever, where they either have the word finals on
the court or they have the trophy. And people were
complaining about this that there was no aura, right, there
was no wow factor. They had just felt bland like
(32:04):
the NBA did not go to the normal lengths that
they go to to promote the NBA Finals, so Abra
cadabra hocus pocused power to the people. The people complained
and ABC ESPN suddenly had a trophy on the court. However,
(32:24):
they even f that up. I don't know how you
excuse it, but they screwed it up. It turns out
they put the logo, but it wasn't a sticker like
they usually put on the court. The iconic Larry O'Brien
trophy logo returned for Game two after the backlash, However,
it was a digitally imposed graphic on the court the laro. Yeah,
(32:47):
they put a graphic on the court, and it was
a tremendous disappointment. It was just terrible. And is that
because they could not get their hands and those stickers.
I guess it takes a couple days to make the stickers.
But the game was on Thursday. They could have had
a made Friday. Put a rush order. They the NBA
and so people were ripping the fact that now they
(33:08):
had the trophy, but it was like a rinky dink
super imposed Larry O'Brien trophy on the broadcast, as opposed
to those iconic logos back when the Bulls were playing
in the nineties or even the Lakers and the two
thousands when they had those great finals logos and he's
just like, you need doing anyway. Yeah, I thought that
(33:29):
was that was amusing, and I'd love to know that
how that happened, Like did the league call ABC and say, hey,
numb nuts put the logo there, and then they said, well,
we can't get the sticker in time. We'll do something.
All right, we'll put the graphic up. Nobody'll notice, nobody
will complain. They put the graphic up, and how'd that go? Yeah?
Not not particularly good. It is the Ben Mahlor Show.
(33:51):
We were working away through the overnight hours. Let's say
hello to blind Emmett, the Seahawks fan. Hello, blind Emmett.
Speaker 8 (34:00):
Happy Monday, Big Ben Man.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
Happy Monday to you. Happy Monday to you. And a
million days to go till the weekend.
Speaker 8 (34:08):
Yeah, there we go. I just want to say, and
I'm really glad that one of the people tweeted into
the show brought uh the scheduling in the NBA Finals,
because the way they're doing it is so weird because
you have today obviously, and then you have a game
on Wednesday, which makes sense, I guess because they are
traveling from Oklahoma to Indiana, which isn't that far, but
I mean they've done that traditionally, right, So they play
(34:29):
another game on Friday, and then they pivot to where
there's not a game until Monday. What the hell are
you guys thinking not having a game on like a Sunday.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
Well, Emmy, you know, these players complain about everything. They
complain about having to play too often, and now they're
going to complain about having to play with too much
time between games. Whatever they do, they complain. The players
bitch about everything. So they were complaining. Who was it
from the Nuggets? I forget some guy in the Nuggets
was like, we did a monologue about it, but it's
oh man, we the NBA Finals and the playoffs would be better.
I think you said the playus the playoff would better
(34:58):
if we had more time off between games. Okay, so okay,
we'll have more time up. We had a bunch of
time off between game one and game two. The game
sucked game so weird, Yeah, it was.
Speaker 8 (35:08):
It was. It was just different because I think even
last year, and you know, I could be completely wrong,
but they did not feel like this long. But Haliburton
that man needs to do better, and I know that
he's like got it in him. We've seen it all playoffs.
But the real truth about this is that thunder defense
is incredible and he hasn't not played anything even remotely
close to being as good as that Thunder defense. I mean,
look at the Knicks. I mean they were a defensive liability.
(35:29):
They had to, you know, change that lineup to put
Mitchell Robinson and you know, get Mikuel Bridges more minutes
because nobody can start Jalen Brunson cat defensive liabilities and
now he's seeing like a real defense in the lou
door and you know Alex Cruzo, you know Jay Dubb.
All those guys can play the defense super well.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
So well, they can't play they can't play defense. But
let's not pretend like they're walking around handcuffing the pacer players. Okay,
there was a lot of this was self inflused, self
infused situation.
Speaker 8 (35:57):
Every two minutes they were they were doing something good.
It was wild. But I think Aliburton, like the fact
that he was was like twelve points in the fourth quarter.
If you were to scored like any more than that,
it could have been a little bit better. He was
playing absolutely terrible. It seemed like he was scared. And
I think he you know, Wednesday, I do think he
is going to have, you know, a little bit of
a bounce back game. You go to Indiana, it's going
(36:17):
to be very loud there. You know, as a blind guy,
I'm very you know.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
You're into the sound thing. And I know because I was.
I was there before, you were alive out of THINKMT
when they played in the finals before. And they will
pump in crowd noise in Indianapolis, so they will make
it even louder. They will make it extremely right out here.
Speaker 8 (36:32):
Thing you could hear, you know, communication of Tyres to
you know, Andrewnmore or Shade jw you that's crazy. And
they called okay see wild City. And I will not
be surprised if Indiana is louder just because they got
a chip.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
On the shoulder. Well, see, it'll be loud there. It
was loud when the you know, years ago. I'm sure
it's going to be loud now. I thank you, go away.
There's a great blind MT podcaster, renaissance Man, the great
blind em at their Friend of the Show. I remember
when he was just a caller, not not a big
podcast guy back in the day times out for the
who am I? Game? And this is where we pretend
to be somebody else as we call it the who
(37:03):
am I?
Speaker 6 (37:03):
Game?
Speaker 1 (37:03):
Shade jogis Alexander, who had his thirteenth game with thirty
or more points of this postseason. The record is shared
by Michael Jordan and me with sixteen games of thirty
plus points in a single playoff run. Who am I?
The answer? We'll tell you next.
Speaker 6 (37:18):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Meller
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific.
Speaker 1 (37:24):
Bill Miller and you it is the Ben Malors Show.
As we work the overnight the graveyard shift here to
the early morning hours. And be sure to check out
the Fox Sports Radio YouTube channel. It's radio, yeah, I know,
but search Fox Sports Radio on the YouTube. That's why
they put bright lights. There's four bright lights in here,
(37:45):
three or four or five cameras. There's a lot of cameras.
They spent a lot of money. That's someone's Christmas bonus.
So make sure to watch YouTube. You'll see a whole
bunch of video highlights from our gas bags, blowhards and
know it alls. If you watch exclusive doll. The monologues
are life will improve in amazing ways unless it doesn't.
But they're only available on the YouTube. Nobody else has them.
(38:06):
Be sure to subscribe so you never miss the very
best Malard monologues and some other Fox Sports Radio videos
on YouTube. Back to what we go? Time now for
the Who am I? Games? Is where we pretend to
be somebody else in a blatant attempt to get you
to listen a little bit longer. And here it is.
Shay Jogis Alexander had his thirteenth game with thirty or
(38:28):
more points in this postseason. The record all time is
shared by Michael Jordan I whatever happened to him and me?
With sixteen games of thirty plus points in a single
playoff run? Who am I? That is the question? What
is the answer? Spos Weed as he hangs out on
(38:50):
the Oregon trail. He says Wilt Chamberlain or Chuck E Cheese.
Big Rig Rob in Cans City says super Centics, Legend,
the X Man Xavier McDaniel. That is the way to go,
Chip and the Q's going with Lebron James is his answer?
Who Johnny Q says it's Larry Bird that that is
(39:13):
the way to go. Who else we have? Shanon Moyes
says Ned from Nebraska the legend interesting Bill is going
with the twenty six World Cup. He thinks, okay, that's
an interesting answer. Thank you for that page down. Jimmy
Crackcorn from I forty Ian Ken love that song. Can't
(39:35):
read that, Alud Dort, I think is what supermarket Steve meant?
Lawson's going with Bill Murray Quintin Jackson from Robin meany
so to alf the alien opine are going with Diddy
as he is an answer? If just to party back
in the in the day with Diddy? Who else to have?
Chris Mullen from Bay City, Tony Mark the full name
(39:55):
guy from malor prop Guy. That's about right, Ryan got
it right. He cheated. Bad job by him. Uh ferg
Dog's going with peaceful protesters, Yes, very very peaceful. Who
else we have? Del Curry or Eddie Curry from Jordan
says Rob Fukazaki was answered by somebody, I say, I
think I said that already. All right, do you have
an answer, Lorraine? I gotta go with Scrooge McDuck bett.
(40:17):
All right, fine answer, No, the correct answer is Jakima
laijo Wan. Back in nineteen ninety five, The Dream haakim
O lai jo Wan and Michael Jordan
Here we go. Welcome, it's our number what our number
one of the pod. Hope you had a great weekend.
We are back at it. Don't forget the Fifth Hour
podcast from over the weekend, including a conversation with their
old buddy Eddie Garcia on the Fifth Hour podcast. Also,
we caught up with our friend Nico, the man that
(00:20):
made the Canadian meet and greet possible, had a mail bag.
A lot going on on that weekend Fifth Hour podcast,
so check that out wherever you got this podcast. But
here in hour number one on the Monday, June ninth
edition of the pod, it's NBA Finals Game two. That's right,
Game two. What went wrong for Tyrese Haliburton and the
Pacers is they were blown out by the Thunder. Also
(00:45):
have Oklahoma City and SGA regained control of the NBA
Finals after that dominating win, and announcer Mike Breen kept
emphasizing that the Thunder Pacers matchup was great for people
who love pure basketball. What is your rebuttal? We'll talk
about all that and more right now as we say
(01:07):
hello to our number one. Well, it turns out the
sequel not quite the ego. Well, come in not.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Beginning of another night of the Beann Malord Show, another
week of the show, one week after another, chopping down
the late night hours.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
As we are in the air everywhere, constituents united because
we know where the hot sauce is. We know where
it is coast to coast, border, the border and beyond
on the vast and flashly powerful microphones of fsre emmundating
(01:55):
live from the side the ring side chatter that's right
from the Fox Sports Radio studios, as approved by Kyrie
in okase he had a cheshire cat smile. We'll get
to why he had a chesshire cat smile in a minute.
This portion of the Ben Maler Show made possible in
part by our friends at tire Ract. That's right. For
(02:18):
over forty years, that's a long time, that's two generations,
tire i Raq has been helping customers find the right
tires for how, what and where they drive, ship fast
and free back by free road hazard protection, with convenient
installation options like mobile tire installation, tire rack dot Com.
The Way Tire Buying Show be so our lead this hour,
(02:43):
I say, play the hits. I don't know if this
is playing the hits, but we do do a sports
talk radio, so so plausitively we should talk about sports occasionally.
And I took one for the team. I watched the
game in the dust bowl. It's my public service to
you to get back to the community, get back to
you so you don't have to waste your time on this.
But there I was Game two NBA Finals, sitting on
(03:05):
Mike took us as Tyrese Halliburton and the Pacers looking
to steal another game and do the unthinkable against SGA
and the Thunder in a finals that has been the
lowest rated finals since they've kept track of this stuff.
My god, Game one, that's all we have until game two.
(03:27):
In Game one, nobody watched, so I don't know if
you checked it out based on the early results, probably not.
And so we did as we said, a PSA for you.
So Shay jogis Alexander another big performance by the former Clipper.
That's what former Clippers do. Thirty four points. Alice Caruso,
he's a former Laker. They got rid of him. He's
(03:50):
one of there. They don't need him. There good players.
So Caruso had twenty off the bench, and the Thunder
get it done. They win. Not from pillar to post,
but just about there. They beat the Indiana Pacers one
twenty three to one oh seven the final, and so
now we are squared up. It is a best of
(04:10):
five series, as the Pacers went to Indiana to get
the wins, so they get home court advantage. As long
as they don't stub their toe at home. As long
as they don't stub their toe at home, they'll be
all right. So Jayalen Williams said nineteen, Aaron Wiggins eighteen,
and Chet Holmer with fifteen for the Thunder and a
(04:32):
partridge to the pear tree as okaysee wins. It was
the first time they've won a finals game since many
many years ago, back in twenty twelve. That was back
when guys like Kevin Durant and others were playing for
the Thunder that was against Miami. Game three is not
until Wednesday. Why because load management. Baby, you can't expect
(04:53):
these NBA players to have to have one day off.
Oh my god, no, what do you? What kind of
draconian a hole are you? What is wrong with you?
The wing everything they can, so no one watches the finals.
Lets just take a couple of days off between games,
all right. So they're taking two games off Wednesday in Indianapolis.
I can check that out be the first finals game
(05:14):
since I was there twenty five years ago when they
played the Lakers in the NBA Finals. The better story, though,
is in the losing locker room. And so let us discuss.
We know on this show we love losers, and let's
start out there with the Indiana because they're the big losers.
They wear the scarlet letter the giant L there on
their chest. So what went wrong? What went wrong for
(05:36):
Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers in game number two? So
I've got that was a wrong went. I talked about YMCA,
hammer and dog whistle, and we will combine all of
these things together and we are going to make some delicious,
(05:57):
delicious apple fritters. The perfect donut is the apple fritter.
There's nothing that can quite match the apple fritter. Cinnamon
roll is also a fine donut, but the apple fritter
at the very top. So A, when you play the
let's point the fingers game, and I love playing the
let's point the fingers game, what went wrong with the Pacers?
You point a finger over here? Yeah, you point a
(06:19):
finger over there, and you point a finger everywhere is
what you do? Why not? Right now? This was an
epic failure by the Indiana basketball team. First stretches this
game now, mainly in the second quarter, but really the
first quarters, well, the first half. They were stuck in sand.
The first half of this game. Indiana looked like they
had forgotten how to play basketball. So what happens? You
(06:42):
spent a couple yestra days in Oklahoma. You just don't
know what you're doing? My god. First up, let's start
with the headliner, Tyrese Halliburton. Are you bleeping kidding me?
All right? Are you get this? Guy's the engine? Right? Drue?
He's the engine there? And ice water point yard captain
clutch nobody forget Jalen runsome right now, four big game
(07:05):
winning shots in the playoffs here for Halliburton. He's the guy,
and he's gotta be the guy. You can't be the
guy if you're not the guy, and he wasn't the
guy against SGA. If Andy's gonna keep this series going
humming along, hum hum hum hum. No, there were no
there was no humming. It was chop chop, chop chop chop.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
He was out there and the way he played in
the first half of this game, side by side comparison.
All right, the real talk. I know he didn't call
show anymore, this real talk. So the way Halliburton played
in the first half, especially the second quarter, he would
not have been picked at a YMCA pickup game the
way he was performing. Man, where was the aggression? They
(07:47):
take some sleeping pills prior to the game Halliburton. Hello,
uh and the elite playmaking, we've seen it, but it
wasn't there, not in the first half. And uh, you know, listen,
Thunder have a good defensive. But let's not get carried away.
This is more about what Halliburton didn't do than any
amazing adjustment that the Oklahoma City basketball team did do.
(08:10):
And Haliburton is supposed to be a one percenter. That
he's crossed the rubicon and he's a one percent talent
and you're gonna get it done against everybody anywhere anyhow, anyway,
and that was not happening in this game in the
first half. And the MALA report card on this tyree
Saliburton picking up an I rating, not an A, not
(08:32):
a B, not a C, not a D, not an
iraty that's for the ick factor, because there was a
lot of ick. Right. He's the spirit animal of the Pacers.
He is the spirit animal of the Pacers, and the
animal was taking a nap and when the game was
being decided, and in this game, the game was being
(08:53):
decided in the first half here, he was a real clunker.
I don't know how many other ways I can say it.
Gotta figure out. We got to figure out how to
break through game after game, right, no days off, all
that stuff, and break the pressure of Oklahoma City and
not wilt under the pressure, which is what appeared to
be happening here. The Pacers offense was stagnant in the
(09:17):
first half. That's not something we are used to seeing.
This is one of the top offensive teams, if not
the top offensive team in the NBA, and it starts
with Haliburt. It starts with him, and Oklahoma City boxed
him up. The Thunder built up an eighteen point lead
at halftime, and they didn't trail in the entire second
I have Indiana shot less than thirty five percent in
(09:38):
the first half of this game and had just forty
one points at halftime, which is not very good. That
played better than the second half, but it was all
extended garbage time Halliburton when the game was decided. In
the first half, he was one of five shooting. He
made one more basket than you and I made in
the first half, and three assists in twenty four minutes
of action. And the Pacers, listen, they played well in
(10:01):
the second half, but it was a lot of stat
stuffing in stat bandito and whatnot. And we often point
out how that is something we don't give credit to,
garbage time stat stuff. He doesn't really do it for us.
And then you got Rick Carlisle who was holding the
game console. He was he had the joystick and he
(10:22):
was moving around the vomit comet. The Indiana coach there,
he had the joystick, was moving around the vomit commet.
The Pacers played like they were content to win game one,
which they did win. They won a game. You won
a game. Congratulations, you got it done. On the road
way to go all right. And Carlisle championship coach, all
(10:44):
that stuff. You can kiss his ass because he's got
the championship pedigree. He's supposed to be one of the
top coaches. I mean, he is often, but this was
not his night here, he looked like he drew up
the game plan on a napkin at some dive bar
that they went to in the Greater Indianapolis area in
between games on the day off there as the thunder or.
(11:04):
They were playing with the kind of age that you
would expect expect a team to play with in this situation,
and the Pacers did not match it. They were not
able to match the running around like a headless chicken activity.
So you got Rick Carlile too many adjustments here. Not
a great night for the Pacers, and so they lose,
(11:27):
and they lose any game that wasn't all that close.
Here is Carlisle pointing out the first half was not
a masterpiece.
Speaker 4 (11:35):
Another bad first half. Obviously it was a big problem,
and we just played poorly. A little better than the
second half, but you can't be a team that's reactive
and expect to be successful or half consistency. So we're
gonna feel lot better on Wednesday.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Can we get him a throat, Lausnge. It sounds like
he's got a little throat issue there. Maybe some water
with salt, garlic. I recommend garlic. That's my go to.
It normally works for me. Now one of our favorites
and for us, the greatest name in the history of
the NBA, friend Marcel and Brooklyn. Pascal Siakam. Uh Siakam
had a quiet game. He was three of eleven shooting. Yeah,
(12:15):
he didn't really do much of anything when the game
was in the bounce, or even when it wasn't in
the bounce, and hey, Pascal, what the hell happened?
Speaker 5 (12:23):
It was pretty close in the beginning.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
I mean, I think.
Speaker 5 (12:27):
Just a lot of on answer buckets, maybe some key
turnovers that we can take away. But yeah, they did
a good job being being disruptive and they got out
in transition, and yeah, they made some tough shots. I mean,
they got guys that contributed, you know, across the board,
and you know, they got off the bench, guys made
some big shots, they got rebounds, you know.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Yeah, they just did a.
Speaker 5 (12:48):
Little bit of the little things, like more than we did.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
I would say, more than just the little things. But
we move on now on the other side. Page two.
Oklahoma City. So this is what was expect This was
the analysis when everyone was licking the toes of OKC.
It was this is where they're going to play every
single game. So have Oklahoma City and SGA now regained
(13:12):
complete and total control of the NBA Finals after this
body blow of a win, Have they regained control? So
that would be a premature take, right, That would be
a premature take. All the Thunder did was avoid getting
blown into the tornado, getting blown into the tour. If
(13:33):
they had lost again at home, that would have been
def Con one. If they lose at home back to back,
that's what the Knickerbockers did against the Pacers. They'd have
been on life support if that had happened there. And
so that did not happen, so you don't have to
worry about that. But the Oklahoma City they just again
they played at a different speed, which is a lot
to do with the Pacers more than it is against
(13:54):
the Oklahoma City. You expected them to play with that.
You did not expect the Indiana to come out there
in lollygag, which is what they did here. And the
Thunder guy, he got more rebounds, they had more steals,
more fast break points than the Pacers. The fifty to
fifty balls, I love my fifty to fifty balls. I
live for fifty to fifty balls. Remember Phil Jackson back
(14:15):
in the days the hands on balls. That was his
big mantra. Loved hands on balls. So all right, the
loose balls grabbing them, it seemed like it was like
eighty ninety five percent Oklahoma City on those particular situations.
And ogle Op City he plays regularly diving on the
floor to secure loose balls to extend possessions. Didn't see
too much of that, certainly not as much as were
(14:37):
used to from the Indiana basketball team in this game.
And then you have Chad Holmer, who brought the golden hammer.
The golden hammer he brought down there with the timely
offense in the first half, the early damage from skeletor
imagine that you're Indiana, you lost a skeletor. He was big.
He was big, he was calling any he's big. In
(14:59):
the first half. He had fifteen points and six rebounds,
but eleven points and four rebounds in the first half,
and that second quarter run when Oklahoma City took control
of the game and never gave up the momentum you
idiots like to talk about. All right, so timing does matter,
Timing doesn't matter right now. Last word, so we mentioned earlier.
Game one was a total dudr total dud. The lowest
(15:24):
ratings in the modern era, going back to the eighties,
calling back to Ronald Reagan as president. Oh my god,
it sucked and just a few things in life. This
is something we expected to happen at happen. So I noticed,
and ant of you noticed here. As you know, I
generally try to avoid Doris Burke because, like most people,
I like good broadcasting. She's not good. But for a
few minutes, in a moment of weakness, I had the
(15:46):
broadcast up. I made a mistake. But during that couple
of minutes I had the audio up. I heard Mike Breen,
the play by play announcer, who emphasized that the thunder
Pacers series was great for people who love pure basketball.
That was the line, right, pure basketball? Okay, So what
(16:07):
is your rebuttal to that particular line from the lead
voice of the NBA Finals. So that is a roll
your eyes response? Is what that is? You roll your
eyes when you hear somebody say pure basketball, because it's nonsense, right,
It's poppy cock, is what it is. Here, give me
a bleeping break. Pure basketball, my fat ass, pure basketball.
(16:30):
You know what else is pure? I'm not a big
drinker of this, but skim milk is pure. You want
to drink skim milk, knock yourself out, No thanks. And
by the way, last I checked, this is not the
nineteen eighties here where the basketball hardos are sitting there
with their pants down watching the back door cuts getting
(16:50):
all excited. That's not the way this works. It didn't
work then either. By the way it didn't work then either.
That's what's called narrow casting, not broadcasting. And there are
not enough. It is a proven fact there are not
enough basketball hardos to provide a big enough audience for
the NBA Finals. We prove that in Game one. That
(17:11):
will continue to be the place you need the case.
You need to attract the casual. You need to attract
the run of the mill Joe blow fan. That's you
need to track. They don't care about the purity of
the game. It doesn't matter, right, it doesn't matter. And
pure basketball is also at dog whistles what it is.
Let me call like it is right. When you say
pure basketball, it's code for there's no stars. Right, the
(17:35):
teams aren't popular. And let me just gaslight you the viewer,
and shame you. And to think abou if you watch
you're a pure basketball fan. You're like a better fan.
It's some kind of basketball utopia bowl crap, it's not.
I mean, god, this is the perfect trifecta. It's the
perfect trifecta. Now what is You got no stars, You've
(17:58):
got no compelling store and no ratings? Ding ding ding
ding ding. That's what you got, right? Do you think
the average fan cares about a dribble handoff and gets
all aroused because they see off the ball movement? Come on, like,
what are you doing right? No, they want the personality.
They want that. They want the good guys, the villains.
(18:20):
There's none of that. There's none of that. And it's
like a traveling All Star team the Thunder. I don't
mean that, Na Conway. I mean like an AAU team,
the way they react after games and whatnot. Here and
nobody is going to circle the Thunder and the Pacers
and say, man, I gotta watch it now. Maybe you're
(18:40):
in Oklahoma or Indiana and but maybe not. You know.
Even then, you're like, you know, I gotta got some
stuff I've saved up on the streaming. I might need
to watch that, you know, but I'll watch it for
it again. It's my public service I'm watching it for you.
I'm a basketball hurdle bit.
Speaker 6 (18:56):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
Okay, I don't don't call. I don't need to hear that.
You're you're You're on an island. So I'm a purest
of basketball. Yeah, yea, I'm sure you are. Congratulate. I'll
give you a cookie eight seven seven ninety nine on
Fox eight seven seven nine nine six six three sixty nine.
Also on the X Machine at Ben Mahlor. That's at
Ben Mahler. If you'd like to be part of the program,
(19:19):
you can join us here. We'll take your phone calls.
We are just beginning the red eye flight through the overnight,
taking into the early morning hours. So the power of
the people, the power of the people doesn't always work
out even when you try to appease the people. The
power of the people will explain what that is all about.
(19:41):
We'll get to it. We'll take your calls, the whole shebang,
and we will do it next.
Speaker 6 (19:49):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Miller
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app Bill.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Miller and You. It is the Ben Malor Show. Up
all night, every single night. We thank you for making
this show part of your graveyard shift experience. As we
roll through the nighttime hours, the Red Eye flight smooth
sailing all the way through. You can interact with the
(20:20):
live show Hot NBA Finals Talk. Say hello Fi Fee.
You can do that on the X machine that's at
Ben Mahlor, that's at Ben Mahlor. Lorena. You can say
let FSR Tech Queen and Coop Bronco Finger comments Cannon,
we'll be used against you in the court of sports radio.
(20:43):
And now back to it all right, back to it
we go, and we'll take your phone calls. At eight seven,
seven ninety nine on Fox, Ferg Dog rites in from Selkiss.
I really enjoyed your talk with the man who made
the Canadian Meet and greed hap be Nico on the
fifth hour. He's inspired me to save up my money
(21:04):
so I can afford to fly you all out to
Fullerton to make the Fulletin Meet and Greet happen. And
he made sure to mention that he Ferg Dog spelled
meat with m e at Well, there'll be a lot
of meat there in Fullerton. And and now Ferg Dog,
as you know, for us to go to Fullerton, You're
going to have to provide like winter clothing because that
(21:25):
is Siberia. It's always very cold there and rainy and
snowy and really bad weather there. And how long is
that flight? The flight, well, it depends which direction you go.
If you go around the world above the North Pole,
that'll be along or if you go the other way
over Asia and then back around Europe. So it depends
(21:47):
which direction you go. But it's it's a long flight.
And of course in rush hour, if you go in La,
it might take four hours to get there. It might
be especially right now coming in here, it must be
summer then hot weather. People burning craft, that's wonderful. I
love that coming in here and the road I normally
take close to people are burning craft. Wonderful here in
(22:09):
La Peter Wright Sin says Mallard. Hype to see your
favorite undersized baller Caruso, who the Lakers thought was trash
and couldn't play for them dominate off the bench. Another
mistake by Jeanie Boss and the Lakers. When will they learn?
I don't know, but I am glad the Lakers don't
know what they're doing, Peter, because it's kind of fun.
(22:31):
Mark the full name guy. Remember this guy quit the show.
He couldn't and I understand. Listen, it's not easy being
an overnight talk radio caller. It is not easy. It's
not for everyone. It wears on your health. And Mark
the full name Guy did it for a number of years.
He was in the battlefield, the battleground of overnight talk radio,
and he reached the point he could no longer be
(22:51):
part of the show because it was just too difficult
physically demanding. There's a lot of peer pressures, of a
lot of attacking that goes on when you're a star
caller on the show. It's not for everyone. And Mark
the full name guy who quit a couple years ago,
he says, you are advocating for rigged playoff matchups. He says,
ninety five percent of the time is not enough. So
(23:11):
even when all those stars on the Lakers suck, the
NBA needs to make sure they win. Ha ha ha ha.
There you go. You miss me, don't you? No, I've
not missed you at all. The show has been fine.
In fact, many would say the show's been better without
you calling the show. We do not miss you at all.
I'm not saying the NBA needs to rig anything, although
(23:32):
they have been accused of that for many years. It's
been proven with Tim Donnee that games were rigged. I
would argue, though, that this is a disaster for the NBA.
It is a television show, This is a bad product.
The owners a couple of years ago changed the rules.
They changed the rules to accommodate, to accommodate these smaller
(23:54):
market teams, and that helped pave the way into some
degree for what happened in this postseason. And if the
audience is not there, the advertisers will not be there,
and then you're going to have problems. You're going to
have problems, not supermarket, Steve he says, does anyone else
know why there was a three day gap between the
(24:16):
home playoff game for the Oklahoma City Thunder. To make
these players stay in Oklahoma City for three days is
just cruel and unusual. Well, that's what they usually do
in the NBA Finals. They normally have done Thursday and
Sunday because television doesn't get great numbers on Friday and
Saturday because people are actually out doing crap, and so
(24:37):
normally those days do not dry a massive television audience.
So They've always kind of done it that way. It
doesn't matter when you're in Boston or LA or San
Francisco if you have a couple days off, or Miami
you kind of like that, or even Dallas. When you're
in Oklahoma City, Eh, not so much. King Rory writes
in I says, I hope you and all the Bennets
(24:57):
are safe. With all the unrest going on, it looked
like Indiana had all the momentum after game one, and
we all know momentum doesn't exist in sports, That's right,
King Roy. Also, everyone knows black magic doesn't work on Sundays,
so Indiana was doomed before tip off. They've got to
go on on the internet and get one of those
new voodoo dolls. They've got to work on that, and
(25:19):
they gotta they gotta work on that for sure. Uh yeah, no.
So here's here's no the As far as the stuff
going on in La, it's it's it's pretty much contained
to one part of LA, so it's not but it's
so scary.
Speaker 6 (25:33):
Ben, I don't.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
When I was flying back in today, I was like, really,
I only cried three times. I'm just an emotional, very emotional.
I understand it's scary, it's not getting hurt, it's not
ide you would. There's a lot of instigators out there
causing problems that don't need to be out there. But uh,
(25:55):
you know, well we'll settle it. This happens if I've
lived here my entire life. It happen every five to
ten years. There's something like this, like, I don't think
we've gone as an adult. I don't think even when
I was in high school, the La riots happened. When
I was in high school, there was a Rodney King thing.
The riots happened there, and it pretty much every five
(26:16):
probably not even every five to ten years, probably sooner,
in less time than that. There's always something whack that
goes around.
Speaker 7 (26:23):
It's nuts, but you can be totally isolated from it
if you live in one of the suburbs and have
no reason to travel down there. Like the Rodney King
things a good example. That trial happened in my hometown.
That's where they you know, found them, you know, and
yet the riots happened thirty five miles away in oh La.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Yeah, yeah, no, but I was in high school. I
remember watching the parade of tanks coming up from Camp
Pendleton alive Orange County at the time, and I remember
seeing that. But like tonight, I usually to get to
the studio from the Malor mansion, I have to go
on the one oh one in downtown Los Angeles, which
is currently closed because they burned a cop car and
(27:05):
a bunch of other stuff and they were throwing crap
on the on the They actually closed that. That's like
the third time in the last couple of years they've
closed that part of the highway. Yeah, this is a
wild How do you you imagine me the first person
that walks on our freeway and says, all right, I'm
gonna stop the trust suicide mission? Wild? But it goes on.
I take one for the team. Yeah, I'm good. All right,
(27:26):
let's go to the phones. Though he didn't tune in
for that. You want to hear about sports. It's all
about sports. Let's say hello to Holiday. I've heard from
him in a while. He's in LA. What's going on, Holiday, Welcome.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
What's going on?
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Man, it's been a minute, Holiday, It's been a minute.
Welcome back.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Yeah, let me feel you in, Ben Man. This moment
means a lot to me to be able to talk
to you again because on January thirteenth of this year. Man,
I had a heart attack.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Oh my god, Oh Holiday, that's terrible.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
Man. I die twice in less than twenty four hours. Man,
they had to bring me back.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Really, you've gone, You've gone to that, You've gone to
the other side, and you've made it back.
Speaker 7 (28:08):
Stop it.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
Yes, I'm not lying. Check my files.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Wow. So well you I mean, you don't have to
tell the whole story if you don't want to. But
that's pretty wild. That's uh. I'm glad you're still with us. Holiday.
It's good to be able to talk to you. I
wondered what happened, man, but it's good to talk to you.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
You are absolutely right, man. I actually lost a lot
of money betting the theory of what you're talking about.
I was telling my wife that I was betting for
New York because I'm like, there's no way the NBA
can sustain after they're losing ratings already on finals with
Indiana and Okay, see like this they I mean, they
(28:46):
might not win, but at least they'll have the large market.
And I literally bet that. So you I'm right with
you on that, man.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
My condolence is on the money that you lost on
that and uh, yet it is it's very odd. And
you know you're I don't know how I think you're
around my age, but our entire lives. This has never happened.
This is this is unsharded territory for the NBA. And
and Adam Silver was trying to talk it off the
commission and you get I mean's the commission. He said, Oh,
people are gonna watch. It's good basketball. You know, people
gonna tune in because they love basketball. Well, so far
(29:16):
they haven't tuned in. We'll see what the ratings are
for a game too. I can't imagine they're very good.
I don't work for the NBA, so it's not my problem.
Is their problem. I'm just observing it. And it doesn't
appear that's gonna be much better.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
I understand.
Speaker 5 (29:28):
Man.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
I all right, well, you take care of you, so
take it easy. Holiday, okay, man, we love you. We'll
be good. Okay, and uh you know, come come see
us sometimes. Right, all right, we'll do all right, buddy,
the great hot Look at that talking to a man
who crossed over twice died. So I guess if you
(29:50):
died twice, then you're probably not work because you've already
done it a couple of times. So the third time,
you're not that is was worried, right because you've already
you know, you've done it twice and yeah, exactly interesting
all right? Anyway, well let's see here, page Dan, I
don't read that one on the air one more times.
He's a cat. Yeah, yeah, maybe he is a cat.
(30:13):
Who knows. Let's see here. Steve says, hearing that intro
song makes me think of Jonas singing Demoncia. Okay, I
don't know. I don't know what that's all about. Loss
and rights, since says man, I missed the game tonight's
I was busy watching the Dale Earnhardt documentary on Amazon Prime.
How is that? I haven't watched that. I have not
(30:36):
seen much lately, the documentary stuff not not that great.
Mark the underrated unsung Mark the full name name guy
falsely accused of making death threats to Ben Maller, who
lied and slandered Mark for the ratings. Yes, yes, all,
my career here is dedicated to you because you're such
(30:56):
a famous caller, Mark the full name Guy. Of course, clearly,
when I believe Mark, your term was justifiable homicide. That
was what you said something would happened to me. I
believe you said justifiable homicide, and I quoted you for
saying that, and you seem to get upset. I don't
know why you would get upset. That's not my term.
I didn't come up with that term. You came up
with that term. It wasn't my term. That was your term.
(31:19):
So the NBA very reactionary to social media, the power
of the people, the power of the people on social media.
So a bunch of people complained after Game one, the
basketball hard ohs are like, what the hell, it's the
NBA Finals. It felt like a regular season game in
December on a random Wednesday night where no, there was
no juice, no buzz. Right, made a big deal about it,
(31:44):
and so one of the things people but is that
the NBA Finals. There was no logo for the Finals.
This has been something that has been there it seems
like forever, where they either have the word finals on
the court or they have the trophy. And people were
complaining about this that there was no aura, right, there
was no wow factor. They had just felt bland like
(32:04):
the NBA did not go to the normal lengths that
they go to to promote the NBA Finals, so Abra
cadabra hocus pocused power to the people. The people complained
and ABC ESPN suddenly had a trophy on the court. However,
(32:24):
they even f that up. I don't know how you
excuse it, but they screwed it up. It turns out
they put the logo, but it wasn't a sticker like
they usually put on the court. The iconic Larry O'Brien
trophy logo returned for Game two after the backlash, However,
it was a digitally imposed graphic on the court the laro. Yeah,
(32:47):
they put a graphic on the court, and it was
a tremendous disappointment. It was just terrible. And is that
because they could not get their hands and those stickers.
I guess it takes a couple days to make the stickers.
But the game was on Thursday. They could have had
a made Friday. Put a rush order. They the NBA
and so people were ripping the fact that now they
(33:08):
had the trophy, but it was like a rinky dink
super imposed Larry O'Brien trophy on the broadcast, as opposed
to those iconic logos back when the Bulls were playing
in the nineties or even the Lakers and the two
thousands when they had those great finals logos and he's
just like, you need doing anyway. Yeah, I thought that
(33:29):
was that was amusing, and I'd love to know that
how that happened, Like did the league call ABC and say, hey,
numb nuts put the logo there, and then they said, well,
we can't get the sticker in time. We'll do something.
All right, we'll put the graphic up. Nobody'll notice, nobody
will complain. They put the graphic up, and how'd that go? Yeah?
Not not particularly good. It is the Ben Mahlor Show.
(33:51):
We were working away through the overnight hours. Let's say
hello to blind Emmett, the Seahawks fan. Hello, blind Emmett.
Speaker 8 (34:00):
Happy Monday, Big Ben Man.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
Happy Monday to you. Happy Monday to you. And a
million days to go till the weekend.
Speaker 8 (34:08):
Yeah, there we go. I just want to say, and
I'm really glad that one of the people tweeted into
the show brought uh the scheduling in the NBA Finals,
because the way they're doing it is so weird because
you have today obviously, and then you have a game
on Wednesday, which makes sense, I guess because they are
traveling from Oklahoma to Indiana, which isn't that far, but
I mean they've done that traditionally, right, So they play
(34:29):
another game on Friday, and then they pivot to where
there's not a game until Monday. What the hell are
you guys thinking not having a game on like a Sunday.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
Well, Emmy, you know, these players complain about everything. They
complain about having to play too often, and now they're
going to complain about having to play with too much
time between games. Whatever they do, they complain. The players
bitch about everything. So they were complaining. Who was it
from the Nuggets? I forget some guy in the Nuggets
was like, we did a monologue about it, but it's
oh man, we the NBA Finals and the playoffs would be better.
I think you said the playus the playoff would better
(34:58):
if we had more time off between games. Okay, so okay,
we'll have more time up. We had a bunch of
time off between game one and game two. The game
sucked game so weird, Yeah, it was.
Speaker 8 (35:08):
It was. It was just different because I think even
last year, and you know, I could be completely wrong,
but they did not feel like this long. But Haliburton
that man needs to do better, and I know that
he's like got it in him. We've seen it all playoffs.
But the real truth about this is that thunder defense
is incredible and he hasn't not played anything even remotely
close to being as good as that Thunder defense. I mean,
look at the Knicks. I mean they were a defensive liability.
(35:29):
They had to, you know, change that lineup to put
Mitchell Robinson and you know, get Mikuel Bridges more minutes
because nobody can start Jalen Brunson cat defensive liabilities and
now he's seeing like a real defense in the lou
door and you know Alex Cruzo, you know Jay Dubb.
All those guys can play the defense super well.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
So well, they can't play they can't play defense. But
let's not pretend like they're walking around handcuffing the pacer players. Okay,
there was a lot of this was self inflused, self
infused situation.
Speaker 8 (35:57):
Every two minutes they were they were doing something good.
It was wild. But I think Aliburton, like the fact
that he was was like twelve points in the fourth quarter.
If you were to scored like any more than that,
it could have been a little bit better. He was
playing absolutely terrible. It seemed like he was scared. And
I think he you know, Wednesday, I do think he
is going to have, you know, a little bit of
a bounce back game. You go to Indiana, it's going
(36:17):
to be very loud there. You know, as a blind guy,
I'm very you know.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
You're into the sound thing. And I know because I was.
I was there before, you were alive out of THINKMT
when they played in the finals before. And they will
pump in crowd noise in Indianapolis, so they will make
it even louder. They will make it extremely right out here.
Speaker 8 (36:32):
Thing you could hear, you know, communication of Tyres to
you know, Andrewnmore or Shade jw you that's crazy. And
they called okay see wild City. And I will not
be surprised if Indiana is louder just because they got
a chip.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
On the shoulder. Well, see, it'll be loud there. It
was loud when the you know, years ago. I'm sure
it's going to be loud now. I thank you, go away.
There's a great blind MT podcaster, renaissance Man, the great
blind em at their Friend of the Show. I remember
when he was just a caller, not not a big
podcast guy back in the day times out for the
who am I? Game? And this is where we pretend
to be somebody else as we call it the who
(37:03):
am I?
Speaker 6 (37:03):
Game?
Speaker 1 (37:03):
Shade jogis Alexander, who had his thirteenth game with thirty
or more points of this postseason. The record is shared
by Michael Jordan and me with sixteen games of thirty
plus points in a single playoff run. Who am I?
The answer? We'll tell you next.
Speaker 6 (37:18):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Meller
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific.
Speaker 1 (37:24):
Bill Miller and you it is the Ben Malors Show.
As we work the overnight the graveyard shift here to
the early morning hours. And be sure to check out
the Fox Sports Radio YouTube channel. It's radio, yeah, I know,
but search Fox Sports Radio on the YouTube. That's why
they put bright lights. There's four bright lights in here,
(37:45):
three or four or five cameras. There's a lot of cameras.
They spent a lot of money. That's someone's Christmas bonus.
So make sure to watch YouTube. You'll see a whole
bunch of video highlights from our gas bags, blowhards and
know it alls. If you watch exclusive doll. The monologues
are life will improve in amazing ways unless it doesn't.
But they're only available on the YouTube. Nobody else has them.
(38:06):
Be sure to subscribe so you never miss the very
best Malard monologues and some other Fox Sports Radio videos
on YouTube. Back to what we go? Time now for
the Who am I? Games? Is where we pretend to
be somebody else in a blatant attempt to get you
to listen a little bit longer. And here it is.
Shay Jogis Alexander had his thirteenth game with thirty or
(38:28):
more points in this postseason. The record all time is
shared by Michael Jordan I whatever happened to him and me?
With sixteen games of thirty plus points in a single
playoff run? Who am I? That is the question? What
is the answer? Spos Weed as he hangs out on
(38:50):
the Oregon trail. He says Wilt Chamberlain or Chuck E Cheese.
Big Rig Rob in Cans City says super Centics, Legend,
the X Man Xavier McDaniel. That is the way to go,
Chip and the Q's going with Lebron James is his answer?
Who Johnny Q says it's Larry Bird that that is
(39:13):
the way to go. Who else we have? Shanon Moyes
says Ned from Nebraska the legend interesting Bill is going
with the twenty six World Cup. He thinks, okay, that's
an interesting answer. Thank you for that page down. Jimmy
Crackcorn from I forty Ian Ken love that song. Can't
(39:35):
read that, Alud Dort, I think is what supermarket Steve meant?
Lawson's going with Bill Murray Quintin Jackson from Robin meany
so to alf the alien opine are going with Diddy
as he is an answer? If just to party back
in the in the day with Diddy? Who else to have?
Chris Mullen from Bay City, Tony Mark the full name
(39:55):
guy from malor prop Guy. That's about right, Ryan got
it right. He cheated. Bad job by him. Uh ferg
Dog's going with peaceful protesters, Yes, very very peaceful. Who
else we have? Del Curry or Eddie Curry from Jordan
says Rob Fukazaki was answered by somebody, I say, I
think I said that already. All right, do you have
an answer, Lorraine? I gotta go with Scrooge McDuck bett.
(40:17):
All right, fine answer, No, the correct answer is Jakima
laijo Wan. Back in nineteen ninety five, The Dream haakim
O lai jo Wan and Michael Jordan
Host
Ben Maller
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