June 6, 2026 • 44 mins
Jason Smith and Mike Harmon celebrate the greatness of the New York Knicks as they elevate their lead to 2-0 against the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals! Plus, Ric Bucher joins the guys to let us know we are all currently living within Jason's world and so much more!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us
live every weeknight from ten pm to two am Eastern
seven to eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find
your local station for The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every night on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
This is the best of the Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Go New York, Go, Go New York, Go Fox Sports Radio.
Jason Smith and my best friend Mike Harmon live from
the Fox Sports Radio studios. The Nicks one game on
(00:50):
Dot's become my favorite drop. Now that's from a Nick
fan page put up all these reactions outside of Madison
Square Guard and following watch parties, and Tyser finds this
one guy Yelle win the finals in the city to
the well, what's crazy?
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Was?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
I mean?
Speaker 1 (01:12):
That was the end of a mon dodge. You got
a lot of screaming, a lot of little scenarios that
are playing out. You're like, did I see what I think?
I's all there? Yeah, this guy's burning, got a little
burning thing, like he's got a little altar or whatever
people are smoking, and yeah, one guy's just rinking an
entire bottle of Scotch and it's it's And then there
was a second one where a guy's doing a stand
up kind of thing where he's looking into the microphone going, Jalen,
(01:35):
you're my dad, and he goes thank you, thank you.
Guy next to him, thank you. And it's like pretty
soon like coltish, and then a guy dresses the teletub
he walks in the street. I'm like, what the hell's
going on here? You are See that's the thing is
that we are getting to meet Nick fans now, like
the real Nick fans, right, And that's the thing about that,
You're everybody's gonna learn. This is a big lesson that
(01:57):
everybody's gonna learn. Is that up until now it's been
yeah Nick fans. Look at Nick fans, They're all, look,
how cute, how how much they're channing outside. They want
MBD or we want the Celtics or we want the Calves,
like it's kind of fun. Donovan Mitchell hate was really
next level in that video. Look, Knicks fans, it's been
a long time since they have to celebrate, but what
(02:18):
covers that up, well, Ben Stiller, Marishka Hargatea Chalomey. The
NBA communications put out the official list of celebrities for today.
They needed to show more of than at the Jerry
O'Connell than not. Yeah, Jerry O'Connell was there, John Deturo
was there. The throwback youing. But that's the best looked
all right, But that's the But that's the thing is
(02:38):
that is that you know, Okay, so we see all
these fans that the Knicks have, all these superstar fans, right, yeah,
we always see the celebrities, and then certainly plenty of
you guys, medium folks, many have pointed out, you know,
and they have fun on social media and all of this. No, no,
but now now you're going to get to meet the
real Nick fans, the one to walk around in jerseys backwards,
(03:02):
you know, mote from the nineties and the spree Weell
jerseys that you just you can't even read the number
anymore because it's worn off. Sure games and every day
where the Knick fans that that just went, they're they're
kind of like aggressive basketball vampire fans something. When that
sun goes down, all of a sudden, their aggressiveness just
(03:26):
kind of like twenty eight days later where it's something
you get bit by the zombie and you're okay, little bit,
and all of a sudden you turn like, that's Knicks fans.
Those are the Knicks fans you are now going to
meet over the next few days. Videos like this that
are gonna now become the norm. The guy yelling burn
the city to the ground, like these are the you're
gonna go, Oh, man, I've seen I've seen fans, and
(03:48):
I I The Knicks fans make Raider fans look like
a boy scout jamboree, Like, hey, we're here making s'mores
and telling fun stories and ghost stories by the fire.
Nick fans. No, we're the wild boys on the way
back from the And in the background they're saying it,
don't stop being I have such a good time. You
(04:08):
think Raider fans, the Raider fans are, they're gonna look
like just a but this looks like Sunday school. Everybody's
so quiet and they're just so well behaved, and it's oh,
it's that they're all well dressed. No, no, no, Nick fans, no, no, no, man,
Raider fans got nothing on it. So as they spilled
out Madison Square Garden all these other watch parties, can
we get some economic numbers based on the sales of
(04:31):
alcohol and and late night food and pub stuff tonight
in the greater New York City area. This is great
for the local economy. Now it's offset by the extra
security and police hours. So I don't know, but I
don't know what if it's a net positive, but it's
but the city wins from a general spill. I'll only
just tell you this. This is how politics works. It
(04:53):
only needs to be a deficit if you find the money.
If the money comes from a fund that people don't
really know about, the security gets out there. You gotta
be careful. You live in California. There's a lot of
questions about where moneys have gone work. But I'm just
I'm explaining to you that it doesn't need to be
spaking of money. Did you did you pay tribute to
your guy? Dan Houses twelve? And oh? I think delkay
(05:16):
Dan Housen speaking of two, Now about hang on a second.
Dan Housen may have overplayed his hand here a little bit, Okay,
because Dan Housen w W wrestler who was very famously
tried to uncurse the Mets didn't work. Uh, tried to
Calves worked. U talks today about how he wants his
own TV show or monies because you said human money
(05:39):
and he wants moneies. He wants something if he wants
this uncursing of the Knicks to continue. Now, this has
been a great run for Dan House in the last
couple of weeks, right, but I'm like, h guy might
be overplaying his head. He's really putting all his chips
in the middle because if he doesn't get a TV show,
Like he was talking to stephen A Smith, I want
you know, stephen A, I can curse you. And steven
A's like I wasn't even listening to what the guy
(06:01):
was saying. My producer was in our ear. I don't know. Uh,
but Dan Housen overplayed his hand because apparently I don't
think he's got a new TV show. I don't think
anybody's giving him money. And the Knicks beat this Perst tonight.
Right now, you got to think, do we still need
to worry about Dan Housen or has he overplayed his
hand and now we don't need him anymore? Now? See,
I think he's he's played this brilliantly because he's getting
(06:21):
a lot of airtime. Yeah, but he's but he wants moneies.
But he wants moneies. Well he's the number two men
he wants. You're wearing it. You are uncursed Dan Housen shirt.
But obviously he's not enough because he needs money. No, no,
this is this is the big he continues, and they
can't bringing him back to dormant Stephen a Smith because
(06:41):
if it does go against and the Nicks end up losing, yeah,
it becomes Steven a Smith's fault. See. But here's the thing,
so he can just pass that off on him and
it becomes a bit on the next level. Yeah. But
the thing is he doesn't give a crap because he
doesn't want anybody to compete with him. He doesn't want
to have any sort of equal billings. I know that
I stopped being a guest on Thursday mornings. So that's
(07:04):
the thing here. When you overplay your hand, right, you
overplay your hand? You know what you say? I get Okay,
The money's line is fun like him saying money, Like
I'm gonna start saying moneies now because of Dan. How's them?
But we've been at the house forever. So you were
you were doing okay, and now you decided to go
all in with it. And it's like, dude, I don't
know you need to go all in because right honestly,
(07:25):
I'm saying, okay, I don't know that we need you, man.
I mean, you decided you were going to potentially say, hey,
I'm gonna hold out and I'm gonna hold you hostage
or I'm gonna not uncurse the Knicks. No, dude, I
think you you I don't think we need you anymore.
I may have overplayed your hand. You got to wait
and hope something happens and the Knicks lose it. Hey
I can come back. I can come back for some
(07:45):
monies in a TV show. I can come back, like
I mean, really, sometimes you get a little bit too happy,
just kind of like look like kind of like Rick
Beker told us with the Spurs, sometimes the end of
games they want to make an incredibly great, fun basketball
play instead of let's just set things up and make
the right basketball play. You get a little too happy.
Dan Housen got a little too feeling full of himself.
(08:05):
And now I don't know, man, I mean, maybe what
do you need to do for Dan Housen. We won
tonight and he had and he was basically saying, I'll
not uncurse the name. But he hadn't officially uncurved, like
he hadn't cursed them again, doesn't matter. He threatened to
do it, but he didn't do it. He threatened him.
Maybe he got what he needs. But now, why do
I need to pay him? If I threaten to do it,
he didn't do it. Why do I need to pay
him if he didn't do it. You don't mess with
(08:26):
things you don't understand. I don't think he understands. I
think it's a great bit and a character he's cultivated
over eight to ten years on the indie circuit. Listen
and he is enjoying his moment to where he is
taken over ESPN television. I see Dan Housen is his
great usage of the word Money's right, that's really what
he's got. I've been telling you for a long time
(08:48):
and didn't need the human monies. Before WrestleMania, he's sitting
in a cart with ce him Punk and they're like,
what do we do now? And he goes, I think
I want some coffee, Hey, coffee man, Punky see him
punk if they drive. Yeah, that's that's really got it.
It's the Moneies. It's that's it's all about the Moneies.
But like these are like now you're seeing like Dan
House like is Dan Housen Like I guess he would
(09:10):
be a great guy to stand for all the Knicks fans.
I said, you're going to meet like if I like,
if I said, okay, if I said you after tonight,
after you hear all the videos that go out, you
see what Nick fans are doing and how insane we
all are, and uh and all of a sudden, what
do you think the average Nick fan looks like? I like,
you think the first thing that comes everybody fine would
be a picture of Dan Housen done up with with
(09:31):
the makeup. It's looking really menacing. That's your average Knicks fan. Yeah,
it's Dan Housen. Best is he's a little guy. Yeah
oh yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
No.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
For me, it's it's now that guy's streaming in the
video I was describing to you and the guy dancing
in at the Tellton Yes, yes, one of those uh
guys that harasses you for five bucks to take a
picture with him. Dan Housen kind of looks like a
villain from Supernatural. And I don't mean like the first
couple of seasons. I mean like near the end. We're
(10:00):
not spending a lot of money on the on the show. Hey,
who's our baddie of the week that we can maybe
get to some you know, a three or four week storyline.
Oh no, Dan house It, Dan Housen completely looks like
a villain from Supernatural. We're gonna say you are an
agent of Lucifer. Oh so I could do season No, No,
we can't get that actor. He's doing something else. You're
just gonna be an agent of Lucifer and you're gonna
(10:20):
come in and you're gonna have curses and all kinds
of stuff, and you're gonna curse Padaluski to look like
Jensen Ackles and Jensen Ackles to look like Padluski and
all this. That's what we're gonna go. And I'm really
going really deep when I say Padiluski because that's from
the French mistake season six. Uh, Like that's that's kind
of where I look at you host a Supernatural triviaan heighter.
I think I could. I think I could. Because they're
starting to really get more specific themes seasons. I've seen
(10:43):
the Seinfeld one, I've seen the Breaking Bad one. Maybe
you can get on board there. Sixteen seasons of that man.
That was a long That was a long binge. When
Zoe said I want to watch Supernatural, I was like,
that's like a throwback when when network networks had like
twenty episodes, well twenty episodes a year, and then that
was what was the marathon when it wasn't Charmed. Yeah,
(11:04):
if you fell on yeah yeah remember TNT had Charmed
run for a long time. No, but you fell asleep
to Jenny and Charles and the and the Fellas, then
you would wake up to Charmed. Now it's really supernatural
and friends are the two? Are the two? The offices
all over the place? Yeah, yeah, yeah, but no, But
like Dan Housen is like, that's people said, that's what
that's an average Nick fan looks like, I'm sure people
(11:26):
think that's what I look like. Yeah, painted face black
and white, painted face with a really red tongue and
red eyes, and and and and you have your fingernails
filed into points. Yoh yeah, yeah, yeah. Slightly bastardized version
of the gene Simmy's Kiss character. He filed into points
like Taron Edgerton from that movie with Charlie Starren. Yeah,
like they Oh, yeah, that's what that's all Nick fans
(11:46):
right there, That's what they are right there. Yeah, that's
the entire city. I like that. Everybody's gonna meet these
Nicks fans in the next few days and they're gonna
be stunned, They're gonna be full of wonder, they're gonna
be scared, all of these emotion. If I had the time,
I'd go back and do it like we when we
first got together, right, I had already booked everything to
go go. Super Bowl Week was in New York, New Jersey,
(12:08):
and I was kind of doing man on the Street
stuff as we were trying to start the show and
and integrate things properly. But I'd already had all that
travel book so I did a few segments on the
street and then out in front of Broadway facilities. Rocky
was going to open on Broadway, all that stuff, and
I would love to do that with Knicks fans. Obviously,
time down distance, my kids graduating there's no travel has
(12:31):
been a pain in the neck. But I think that
would be an interesting subculture to examine. What do you
do for a living? Fans is interesting Nix and Jets fans,
but like the Jets have been terrible work on Wall Street.
I'm I'm the I'm the Bronx mayor. All of a sudden,
you got all these civic leaders painted faces screaming we're
(12:54):
burning it down. It's like when it's like when you
see a movie and uh, it's it's one of those
movies that has like it's it's a thriller slash horror
movie and you find out, you know, all the political
leaders are are are all you know, they're all supernatural carrot.
I don't mean from the TV show. I mean like
they're they're not real, they're not humans. Well, I mean,
aren't we finding that out? Bit by bit that may
(13:14):
or made up the higher city council are all vampires, right,
like the entire city councilors. That's why kids principle made
up of Nick fans. Like that's what it is. Like
they walk out of the suit and they just tear
like their business suit suit and tie and everything, and
they just have tear away business suit and ties and
under it is like a Patrick Ewing jersey and you
know the sneakers, and they're ready, ready to go, ready
to watch the game. Let's go. All that crazy uh
(13:36):
craptastic business stuff is done. Let's go next, let's go.
Hey man, when the clock strikes five, I'm on me time? Yeah,
hey are you? Are you done in the bathroom yet?
They come out? It's like, weren't you just in a
really expensive suit? Yeah? Now five o'clock. Now, speaking of
Knicks fans, ty, should you have another great Knicks fans drop?
Is it as good as if we win? We're gonna
(13:57):
burn this city down?
Speaker 3 (13:58):
So that one is epic. It shows you the fear
you should have if you guys win. This one just
shows the Knick's ability to even be theatrical as fans.
Do you want to hear this one?
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Uh? It's okay to play, we'll find out. Okay, sure,
all right? I like, let's live dangerous. What's your message
for Cleveland? What are you sorry about?
Speaker 3 (14:20):
What? You guys are insane? What did they even say, Cleveland?
I'm sorry, like I said for what he said, for
absolutely nothing. You guys are insane.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
That was the old Connor McGregor, right, m oh yeah,
you're absolutely nothing. Okay, Okay, yeah, now I have the right,
viv It took me a while, right, It took me
a while to go from the from the I am
let the New York will look like I am Legend
meets Escape from New York. How about the gangs in
New York? But that not Butcher, it's a great day
(14:58):
for America. Not in the throwback uh throwback? Hear the
giant mustaches and everything. You know, you know what it's
gonna look like, what the city is gonna look like?
Is this? Do you remember in uh World War Z? Right?
I forget whereas did they go to? Did they go
to Israel? And they were trying to figure out why
the city was they were able to keep everybody out
because they had the walls were really high, and so
(15:20):
Brad Pitt goes there and they and they and they
were figuring out like like why they were able to
stay safe for so long because they're trying to figure
out answers. And they kept playing the music really loud,
and he kept saying, stop playing the music. It's gonna
draw it. And then they just started. The zombies just
started crawling over each other to get to the top
and get everybody in like they were sacrificing themselves like
(15:40):
just to get to the top. And then Israel just
it fell to the zombies obviously. Like that's what New
York is gonna look like. It's gonna be the Nick
fans pouring out of Madison Square Garden like that, and
stop playing the music. Stop playing the music. I want
to say, I saw that first feature that kind of
effect in a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Oh okay, yeah, well,
(16:01):
all the guys are rolling up over the top of
each other somewhere. You haven't see what I'm talking about.
I know exactly. They're Yeah, they can get up there,
but then because the music was so they had to
get there, they had to get They just start using
each other as ladders to crawl up and get up.
Go New York, Go New York.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Nickson for Nickson for Nickson four Jason's You're the final yet, No,
we have the final call. Wembanama screen on the left
with three wemby four elbow catch and shoot missed it off.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
The back rib and the Knicks survive.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
An instant classic in San Antonio, New York takes two
in Texas, and they've got a two o lead in
the NB eight finals.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Knicks Radio Network. I have nothing left. I can't believe
we have two more hours of the show. I have
nothing left after that game tonight. It is one of
those things where there's been a couple of moments over
the last two hours where I saw the clock and
I'm like, that's all it is. Yeah, that's all. It is.
Kind of like I'm in one of those Marvel movies.
(17:14):
What is it when Quicksilver can just stop everything? Yeah,
and your time in a Bottle by Jim Croching can
just role everything out of the air, folks to safety
around and pushing stuff up. I snarky and being a
bit of a smart ass yees say same thing here.
I've felt that a couple of times there. It's like, wow,
all right, we got two more hours to talk nixt
if you said to me, and I wouldn't even hesitate
(17:37):
if you said to me, Okay, you can only attend
one more sporting event the rest of your life, the
rest of you rest of your life. A fifty five. Right,
you only attend one sporting event the rest of your life,
hopefully it's a long time. Everything else all one sporting
event the rest of your life. That's it. I'm not
gonna hold out for the Mets making the World Series
not happening, not holding out for the Jets in the
(17:58):
Super Bowl. If you said to me, I can go
to one sporting event the rest of my life, it's
Game three or Game four a MSG next week, and
I wouldn't even again, I wouldn't even hesitate to tell you.
That's my answer. All I can tell you right now, though,
is you should have bought those Game three tickets when
I told you to at five thousand dollars last year,
(18:19):
last week. Yeah, because currently the get in there's a pair.
Oh no, it's one ticket, one ticket for twelve eight
oh that's it dollars, and then the next one ticket
fourteen five eighty three. These have to be the most
expensive tickets in sports history for Game three in Game four,
(18:39):
which is its history because his historically right, we can
talk about for a Super Bowl for some you know
final like this is Game three. Yeah, oh yeah, yeah.
I think that's the thing that stands out to me
this is game three. Yeah it is not. Hey, they
can clinch and I'm gonna be there to see it. No,
it's just game three. It's just good. I mean, so,
by by way of contrast, what do you think of
(19:01):
one ticket for Game four?
Speaker 4 (19:03):
Is?
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Oh wow? Okay, so one ticket game three you gave
me there was one a little less than thirteen thousand. Yeah,
I'm gonna say Game four is over fifteen thousand. Fifteen
to seven ninety eight is the single ticket. I mean,
let me show you where these are at. By the way,
(19:25):
that's one, and then we got one here, and then
if you want to sit behind the basket for about
eighteen grand I mean the thing is I've sad in
those seats and those bad seats before. Yeah, for twenty dollars. Yeah,
exactly Like I said, I'm sitting there watching Charles Oakley
getting a fight one game.
Speaker 4 (19:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
See there you go. I mean, this is starting to
become and I'm not throwing hyperbole out here, like you
see the monies, the money. Yeah, there's a lot of
moneies like attending Nick Spurs NBA Finals Game three in
Game four Madison Square Garden. It's become the sporting event
ticket wise of my lifetime, like nothing is. And yeah, okay,
(20:01):
you want to think that in the future, there's gonna
be other prices that are more. Uh, you get a
great Super Bowl matchup, we get Steelers and the Cowboys. Yeah, yeah, sure,
But up until now, like this, this has gotta be
the biggest ticket of my life. And it's the NBA
Finals and again not even a clinching game. And this
is the NBA Finals ticket experience of my lifetime. And
(20:26):
it's the Knicks in the finals, potentially winning next week. Now,
I've seen some economic factors thrown in in terms of
you what the Knicks run has generated, and I've seen
that from a couple of the the economic councils, And
now I'm down. He took to the podium to say,
it's to this point they've generated well over two hundred
(20:48):
million dollars off of the Knicks run just to the finals,
and that the finals run itself may be worth at
least that Wow, So nearly a half a billion dollars
of economic activity related to your New York Kicks. It's
gonna save the city. Well, okay, all that money, all
(21:10):
that money is, all those money, all those moneys are
going to be needed to save to rebuild the city
after after the after Game four, after the Knicks win
and they have to rebuild the city fell. That guy
follows through on his threat. I mean that has been
playing this week, and I mean that they're gonna need
all the money they're making. Oh this is great for
(21:30):
the city, great for the economy. Yeah, the thing is
all that money is ear marked to go for uh,
to go to rebuilding the city, building it back better.
After Like, the city's gonna look like what happened to
New York after Thanos attacked. Like that's what it's gonna
look like. Man, you're gonna you got big aliens from
outer space, like just taking out the tops of buildings
and and and all of a sudden, you know, the
(21:51):
light posts falling and here comes ebony maw like that
that's taking off your call ups. That's that's what New
York is gonna look like. Man, I mean think about
next there you go. You can get some bootleg merch
now for your guy, I hear I New York. Nick Housen,
Nick Housen, Yeah, the Always Nicks is what's starting to
(22:14):
uh really take off, Like the the always Nicks gear
is well. I showed you when I was getting in
line for security to take my daughter back to boise Ido.
I had multiple people in Nick's sweatshirts and T shirts
in front of me, and I was just like, I
can't escape it. I'm trying to escape down and there
it is staring me in the face. Uh So you
just heard the play by play Wemby's miss that give
(22:37):
the Knicks the one oh five to one oh four win,
the play that everybody's gonna be talking about, and we
broke it down last hour. Going to talk about it
with Rick Buker coming up in a few minutes. The
Wemby turnover on the spurs next to last possession where
Jalen Brunson misses a shot. Wenby gets the rebound and
is dribbling the basketball and tries to pass to Steph Castle,
(22:58):
who has not even turned around for the basketball. The
ball hits him off the back, Brunson picks it up,
they foul him, goes the free throw line, hits the
shot that gives them the winning margin. Here's how the
play sounded right now or the rebounds seconds remaining stolen
by Gunson and knocked down by Webby, Countson will two
(23:19):
free throws with nine point five remaining. Oh what a
turner out of left sick ones. Well, Wemby trying to
have that cass Castle never saw it coming, hits him
right in the back. Ah Knicks radio on the call again.
I you know, seeing this play now as many times
as we have, and none of it makes sense. And
(23:40):
the fact that Castle really never at any pot. It's
not like there was any Hey, I missed you on it,
right like I saw you, you saw me. This is
Wenby just I'm getting rid of the basketball. Yeah, Castle
looks like he panicked, but that was a panic move
by seeing that Wemby's got the ball, so he turns
back up court right like that's it, Like there's that flash.
But I yes, in that moment, you can say, well,
(24:01):
when Binamo thought he was gonna slow down enough to
take the outlet pass, but instead it hits him squarely
in the back, and Jalen Brunson, who was trying to recover,
ends up being the beneficiary of this inane situation as
he picks the ball up. I mean, you can't say
anything more than there was a panic move by Wemby,
(24:22):
who wasn't ready for that moment as great as he
was down the stretch, right, like to give him all
kinds of credit when the Knicks are up by twelve
and there's six minutes left to go and he's screaming
at his teammates on the sideline and he's the guy
that led them back, right, He's the guy. And this
is where we talked about this earlier in the game,
where he only had four shots in the first half,
and I'm sure this was the Spurs. They wanted to
(24:43):
come out aggressive with their guards and be able to
put pressure on Brunson and it worked, right the Aaron
Fox was terrific out of the gate at eleven points
in the first quarter. Castle harassed him the whole game.
Dylan Harper was fantastic. So okay, right, okay, this worked.
And now the flip side was Wemby's probably fresher, you know,
not taking as many shots, not having the offensive responsibility
(25:04):
because they know they he did him fresh at the
end of the game, and it worked because Wenby brings
them all the way back, right, brings them all the
way back and he plays great. But wow, that turnover.
I still can't believe that he did that. As great
a player as he is, Like, that's a that's something
that I did not have that on my Bengo card.
Anything else they could have done. They could have called
time out, he could have dribbled the ball up up
(25:26):
the floor. He could have done anything, and they didn't
do any They didn't do any of those things. They
just gave the ball back to the Knicks. Yeah, you
had your chance right there, opportunity twelve point four left
on the clock as the garrals the rebound, and you
think you're gonna get at least one good look, maybe
a fast break opportunity with Castle if he throws it
up over the top, let's go get it. But Brunson
(25:48):
breaking back underneath. But yeah, just for what he did
in the second half. And look, I'm not a fan
of the pacing. I can't bank on us coming back
from a fourteen point deficit in the second half. Call
me crazy, you're crazy, But they were able to chase
down the Knicks down the stretch, and then in a
(26:10):
couple of key moments, comes up Small takes the jump
shot as it has that last ditch opportunity that we
chronicled a little bit early as well. Uh and misses
that jump shot to close it out. It was great
to see the second half fire, whether you know the
little thing that was on the bench that got shown
at least three times in the second half, or just
(26:32):
you know, being more aggressive and going to the basket. Right.
He had that big three point play where he got
the feed and came swooping in before Brunson hit that
jumper on the ensuing possession to make it a one
o four, one oh four game. But the aggressiveness was
there down the stretch. But even the best have that
brain freeze in the moment and you know, as they
(26:54):
always say on NFL broadcast, Jason, Yeah, boy, he'd really
like to have that. Thea always any interception, I'd like
to have that. But I had asked you a question.
I gotta ask you one question. Yeah, I got I
ask you a question. Do you think now after Game
two Wemby's a little bit more concerned about the series
(27:14):
because I think after they lost Game one, all he
said was I played bad. It's that simple. We have
plenty of time to fix things. All the experts said,
this is going to be a long series, dude, Game
two is the entire series? Do you think Wemby now
understands it. Oh, maybe a greater sense of urgency might
have been the way to go instead of really getting
that at the six minute mark of the fourth quar No,
(27:35):
that's really where he triggered there. I mean he realized
it that. Do you think he understands out losing the
first two games at home going on the road to
try to win four for the next five, Like, do
you think he gets that? Oh? You know, maybe maybe
now is a little bit Uh, I just have a
little bit more of a sense of urgency. Well, to
be fair, I mean, as we talked about it after
after game one, he's a guy who's very measured in
(27:57):
his words, his verbiage. Right, spent the time with the monks,
all of that stuff. He finds his piece except when
he's throwing bows in the low post. But you know,
you're you're looking at the all of their comments. I mean,
you're not gonna throw flowers at your opponent after one
game right at the end of the series. Yeah, but
you're gonna you need to understand that. I I you
(28:19):
can say, we gotta do it. We've been doing it
this way all year. When the finals come and you're
playing the best team you've played. Oh, by the way,
you're not just I mean really, because so many people
that the Knicks have not played a team like the
Spurs play. I think you got that question backwards. I
think you have that statement backwards.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
Now.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
Spurs haven't played a team like the Knicks. And you
can't just sit here after Game one of the finals
go yeah, we've been through it, We're good. This is
the NBA Finals, this is the best team you have
played all year. You can't continue to give games away.
I think we can win this and we win a series.
And there were I mean, I wanted just a little
bit of hey man, we gave this game away, and
not just hey we should have won. Everything is fine,
(28:58):
but we gave this way, and we got to make
sure forty eight minutes we are solid. They were solid
the first They might have been behind the back game,
behind the curtain, They might have been behind the Now
you do that publicly, You do that publicly so everybody
can see it. They were. They were on fire the
first eight minutes of the game, and they were on
fire the last eight and the last eight minutes of
the game in between, the Knicks had enough to win,
(29:20):
like where where was that all game? I thought the
Spurs would be up by twelve or fifteen and a
half time, like that should be tonight's game, and maybe
the Knicks will come back in the second half like
they've done so much. Did the Knicks are up in
half instead with the late run chasing you down. I mean,
then they couldn't close. I mean, really, I I don't know.
Maybe now the Spurs sirs have that that believe or
that they understand that, oh wow, we really you know,
(29:42):
had to really get that the end of our season
is right in front of us, and in these we
should have admitted that. I just can't believe that I
didn't know that after Game one, we had so much time,
we got so much. You got two extra days. Now
you're off Saturday and Sunday, so you'd be good for Monday.
You'll be good. You'd be good for the rest of
the way. Now you're good. Now you're good. Just some
time you just went. I mean, I think it was
in this moment that you tipped from radio host to
(30:06):
Knicks guy. Outside of New York, bar Wenby was defiant.
After Game one, we gave it away. I played bad,
no worries well, but but saying I played bad, I don't.
I wouldn't disagree with him. I saw folks try to
give him his flowers because of his stat line. I'm like,
did you watch the game? But what I want to say,
you know, the thing is the Knicks didn't play well either.
It's not like if the Knicks no, no, these two games
(30:28):
are not You're not hanging either of these games. But
if the Knicks had played Game one where they shot
fifty percent from the floor and they were you know,
twelve of twenty three from three point range and Brunson
scored forty and Cat went twenty seven and twelve, I
would say, okay, but the Knicks were bad. Like, outside
of Cat, the Knicks were bad. Brunson was bad. He
(30:48):
had a great fourth, but he was bad. So say,
oh I was bad. Guess what the Knicks were going
to play better? So Wemby played better in game two,
but I guess it else played better. The Knicks play better. Yeah,
but you know what he could say this time though,
It's like, well, I mean Brunson was seven of twenty five. Yeah, yeah, okay,
there you go.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Be sure to catch live editions of the Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific, Fox.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with my best friend
Mike Harmon, And I know our next guest's just shaking
his head, going, I can't believe what I'm gonna have
to talk about. I can't believe this is where we're at.
The Knicks lead the NBA Finals now two games, Nicks
in fall, going back to Madison Square Garden with us
(31:33):
now Fox Sports one insider Extraordinary Rick Buker, who said
after Game one, incredible start for the Knicks, but I
need to see Game two before I really get a
sense of what to expect the rest of the series.
Rick Buker, you just saw game two. What do you
expect now the rest of the series.
Speaker 4 (31:53):
Jason, it's your world. We're just all living in it.
My friend, I.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Get one series every fifty years, Rick, That's how it goes.
Speaker 4 (32:05):
Just start practicing, New York Nick NBA Champion. How did
that sound?
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Oh man, I don't even know how to act right now.
I really don't. After too Zip going home like, I
have no idea how to act. I'm as stunned right
now that this is where I'm at mentally as I
was Wemby trying to pass the ball to Steph Castle,
who had his back turned on that turnover at the
end of the game. That's how stunned I am right now.
Speaker 4 (32:30):
Yep, it's I mean, we saw more of what we
saw in Game one in terms of the Knicks. We
talked about it, the Knicks just not beating themselves and
san Antonio doing exactly that. Just not a lot of mistakes,
but just enough to keep the door open for the
(32:52):
Knicks to get this one. And I think actually the
Spurs making the comeback that they did and still losing
the game the way they did the momentum. Look, I
think san Antonio can go into New York. I think
they're capable of winning one. But the idea that they
would go in there and win two, for what the
way the Knicks have performed and what they have and
(33:15):
Madison Square Gardens just being absolutely bonkers, I just don't
see a path at this point where the Spurs are
able to win this series. That just that may not
sound all that shocking considering that the Knicks are up
too oh after taking two on the road, but as
you just said, it still feels shocking to be able
(33:36):
to say that. You keep turning, I keep turning the page,
going wait a minute, we can't be where we are
right now, but indeed we are, and they just they
have to look at champions. They've They've done it two
different ways on the road. They've made the plays necessary.
Can't say enough about Karl Anthony Towns and the role
(33:57):
that he's played, Michale Bridges, but honestly, just everybody with
the Knicks has delivered. They have the look of guys
individually who have been up the mountain and for one
reason or another fallen short, and they see this as
their opportunity and clearly they are not going to let
(34:19):
this go to waste. It has been genuinely impressive. And
the Spurs have been impressive too. You know the gutty
comeback that they made. Honestly, I thought that with about
eight minutes left, I think it was the I don't know,
they had so many corner threes that they knocked down
(34:41):
with one second left on the shot clock that whether
it was mackl Bridges or it was Landry Shammitt, Yo,
they delivered. They delivered, and I'm actually genuinely happy for
I can't believe these words are coming out of my mouth.
I'm genuinely happy for you, and I'm and I'm happy
(35:03):
for the New York Knicks. They deserve to be There's
no question they deserve to be where they are right now.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
You know the thing is, I know we'll get into
Wemby in a second, but I expected this to be
a little bit of a different experience for Wemby because
Karl Anthony Towns and the Knicks are a worse matchup
for the Spurs than that than if the Knicks had
to play the Thunder right and Wemby's match up with
the Thunder. But I didn't expect Carl Anthony Towns to
be this good, this aggressive, this much of a leader
(35:33):
both ends of the floor through the first two games.
He's the finals MVP right now.
Speaker 4 (35:38):
It's you know, it's funny you bring that up, because
I was just thinking, you know, a lot of people
are thinking, I mean, Jalen Brunson will probably get it
just from the momentum, but I agree with you. There's
there's been no one more valuable to what the Knicks
have done than Karl Anthony Towns, and it's and it's weird.
I mean, honestly, he sounds like a leader. All the
(35:58):
goofiness is gone. He's the transformation and the way we
will look at Carl Anthony Towns going forward is going
to be completely different as a result of the way
that he has played in this series. We talked about
it at one point about you know, one of the
elements and the underlying elements is just that the size
(36:22):
that the Knicks have, aside from Karl Anthony Towns being
able to matt On someone to say, keep in check
with Wemby, but play him close enough that there's not
this huge separation. Wemby's not creating this huge separation because
of what Carl Anthony Towns has been able to do
at both ends of the floor. But you saw in
really crucial situations offensive rebound after offensive rebound. I think
(36:46):
they beat him in that category.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
Like ten to five.
Speaker 4 (36:50):
And a big part of it is you just have longer,
bigger wings. I've said that the San Antonio Spurs Achilles
heel is the fact that after you get past Wemby,
you're talking about six five, six seven guys and ot
An Nubi Ananobi and McHale bridges and the length that
they provide, and the rebounding, the offensive rebounding that they've provided,
(37:14):
and their ability to get shots off has been the
difference maker.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
Rick. The stat that just stands out. And we've watched
these two games, you know, and we go through them
with the fine two come the fact that Jalen Brunson
shooting thirty four percent from the field, He's nineteen to
fifty six and you're up to two. Oh. Like that,
that's just the amazing testament to what we saw. I mean,
Bridges just hitting shot after shot. You mentioned Shammitt because
(37:41):
he's become a show favorite, particularly when we're talking with you,
but just seeing the secondary guys and even though you know,
Brunson has the glory moments, had the fourth quarter in
Game one and then he hits the game winning free
throw here, but like they won for large chunks in
spite of some of his deficiencies.
Speaker 4 (38:00):
Yeah, no, I mean they've they've made the game really
hard on Brunson. But the thing that the Knicks have
is they know where Brunson is going to take his shots,
and they know that he's going to take the shot,
and that gives you just a little a bit of
an edge in terms of anticipating when he misses, Like,
(38:21):
you know, they've played with him all year long, so
when he misses, they know generally where those missed shots
are going to go, and they're able to get to
them and get second chances. And this often happens with
in the finals and with championship teams is the stars
sort of cancel each other out and then it becomes
(38:41):
how does your fifth, sixth, and seventh players play. And
for the Knicks, those guys have come through and hit
big shot after big shot, and to me, that's that,
along with the fact that this really becomes when you
get to this point, it becomes can you score it? Levels?
And the Knicks from mid range, Mikail Bridges is comfortable there.
(39:05):
Brunson obviously is comfortable there. When you look at the spurs,
Wemby's not quite there, you know, dearon Fox, you would
hope would give you that, and he did down the stretch,
which is what made a difference. But he was missing
easy shots early and they just haven't been able to
To me, that's really offensively has been the difference between
(39:28):
these two teams is that the Knicks are matching them
going toe to toe with them from three point range,
they're able to get to the rim. The number of
guys that have been unafraid of to attack Wemby at
the rim and have been able to score has really
been the eye opener here. The Knicks have been fearless
(39:50):
in going at the rim and getting the job done
and have beaten them as far as the mid range
is concerned. So if we're looking for a difference offensively
and the reason why they've been able to compensate for
Brunson not shooting, well, it's that they've got other guys
that can score at three levels.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
Fox Sports One NBA insider Rick Bucker is our guest
Jason Smith Mike Harmon live from the Fox Sports Radio studios.
All right, we got to get to the turnover, Rick
and watching that play, like, you know, breaking it down,
thinking back to our conversations that the Spurs are a
young team who's gonna close for them. They have the
ball with ten seconds left and Wenby tries to throw
(40:31):
it to Steph Castle, who hadn't even turned around, Like
that was a panic move by Wemby, and I wonder,
like I see that and I go, that's not a
team ready for the moment as good as Wenby is,
like he's brought the ball up before. Like, there's so
many things they could have done. They could have called
time out. Wenby could have dribbled, he could have stopped.
He could have called Castle to get the ball. But instead,
I'm so panicked that I'm chucking the ball up court
(40:53):
to a guy that hasn't even turned around, and that
that just blew me away. Rick when I saw that.
Speaker 4 (40:59):
Yeah, but you know what, there was a number of
situations where they played too fast. I mean, I'm I'm
watching the game and I'm like, slow down this minute left.
It's true, it's like a one possession game. You don't
need to go that fast. And they they actually survived it,
Dylan Harper a couple of times survived it or they
got a foul call. But I thought that they they
(41:22):
played they and this has been their issue. I throughout
the playoffs, it was it was an issue against Okay. See,
there's just times where they get sped up and they
try to play too fast. And you saw that with
the Knicks, like they they they do not speed them up,
and and that really has been the difference maker in
(41:44):
this series. You're you're You're absolutely right. They're just and
it's understandable. I mean, I said it to the people
that I was watching the game with. I said, you know,
this is the first time they're in the playoffs and
they're now in the finals, and it's a point where
it's not you're not going to win the game on
any one in one possession, but you can certainly lose it.
(42:07):
And the Spurs that's exactly what happened to them tonight.
They just they didn't play it close enough to the vest,
to the vest when it really mattered, and ultimately it
came back and bit them.
Speaker 1 (42:19):
Rick Jason's trying to decide does he paid the thirteen
thousand for Game four at the Garden or should he
go with the budget option of game five. No, Rick's
going to get me passes. Rick's getting me passes because
we've known each other for so long. Oh yeah, Rick,
let me know wherever the passes are for Game four?
Speaker 2 (42:37):
Why is that?
Speaker 4 (42:38):
Why is that even a question? What?
Speaker 1 (42:43):
Well, I'm just trying to say, will they actually steal
a game to where there is a Game five?
Speaker 4 (42:50):
Well, but we got Game five is back in San Antonio.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
That's what I mean. You can get it get in
frounder two grand there.
Speaker 4 (42:59):
So I don't know if I should share this, but
I will so. Matt friend of the program, my son
right he's in New York on an internship right now,
and I got to give him credit.
Speaker 1 (43:12):
He because he.
Speaker 4 (43:13):
Started out his college career down in San Antonio. He
knows people from the Spurs and he he texted one
of them and said, Hey, I don't know if you know,
but I'm in New York and I just you know,
if you have time, I'd love to get lunch or
dinner with you, knowing knowing that they would say no,
but hoping that they would say, you know what, we
(43:34):
can't do lunch or dinner with you, but here's a
ticket you can get the game three or four. It
didn't work, but I had to give him kudos because
he came. Absolutely it was a very smart move by
one Matt Buker.
Speaker 1 (43:46):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, he's I think if you're
Matt Buker, you have to watch Roofman with Channing Tam
and understand, Oh, if I like live above the store
and if I find a way to get into Madison
Square Garden and live in the rafters, and then about
the for free. What was that the Phoebe Bridges contract, right,
that was like a dollar fundraiser kind of thing. And
folks are like, well, if I go to that and
(44:06):
then I could just live in the rafters for three days,
I can go for a dollar.
Speaker 4 (44:10):
Oh hey, by any means necessary. That's the mantra.
Speaker 1 (44:17):
He's on Twitter at Rick Buker. That is at Rick Buker.
Check out the On the Ball podcast. He's got three
hours and forty five minutes on Karl Anthony Towns and
the excellence of execution that he has had so far
in the NBA Final Station.
Speaker 4 (44:31):
That might not be enough, that might that.
Speaker 1 (44:33):
Might not be enough, might be a two parter, don't know,
take it easy money. We'll talk to you Monday after game.
Here goes.
Speaker 3 (44:44):
You know.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
It's what I'm living with, Rick, And that's that's the thing.
Speaker 4 (44:47):
Like Ray brother, we all are.
Speaker 1 (44:49):
A big gre eight. Have a good weekend.
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us
live every weeknight from ten pm to two am Eastern
seven to eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find
your local station for The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every night on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
This is the best of the Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Go New York, Go, Go New York, Go Fox Sports Radio.
Jason Smith and my best friend Mike Harmon live from
the Fox Sports Radio studios. The Nicks one game on
(00:50):
Dot's become my favorite drop. Now that's from a Nick
fan page put up all these reactions outside of Madison
Square Guard and following watch parties, and Tyser finds this
one guy Yelle win the finals in the city to
the well, what's crazy?
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Was?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
I mean?
Speaker 1 (01:12):
That was the end of a mon dodge. You got
a lot of screaming, a lot of little scenarios that
are playing out. You're like, did I see what I think?
I's all there? Yeah, this guy's burning, got a little
burning thing, like he's got a little altar or whatever
people are smoking, and yeah, one guy's just rinking an
entire bottle of Scotch and it's it's And then there
was a second one where a guy's doing a stand
up kind of thing where he's looking into the microphone going, Jalen,
(01:35):
you're my dad, and he goes thank you, thank you.
Guy next to him, thank you. And it's like pretty
soon like coltish, and then a guy dresses the teletub
he walks in the street. I'm like, what the hell's
going on here? You are See that's the thing is
that we are getting to meet Nick fans now, like
the real Nick fans, right, And that's the thing about that,
You're everybody's gonna learn. This is a big lesson that
(01:57):
everybody's gonna learn. Is that up until now it's been
yeah Nick fans. Look at Nick fans, They're all, look,
how cute, how how much they're channing outside. They want
MBD or we want the Celtics or we want the Calves,
like it's kind of fun. Donovan Mitchell hate was really
next level in that video. Look, Knicks fans, it's been
a long time since they have to celebrate, but what
(02:18):
covers that up, well, Ben Stiller, Marishka Hargatea Chalomey. The
NBA communications put out the official list of celebrities for today.
They needed to show more of than at the Jerry
O'Connell than not. Yeah, Jerry O'Connell was there, John Deturo
was there. The throwback youing. But that's the best looked
all right, But that's the But that's the thing is
(02:38):
that is that you know, Okay, so we see all
these fans that the Knicks have, all these superstar fans, right, yeah,
we always see the celebrities, and then certainly plenty of
you guys, medium folks, many have pointed out, you know,
and they have fun on social media and all of this. No, no,
but now now you're going to get to meet the
real Nick fans, the one to walk around in jerseys backwards,
(03:02):
you know, mote from the nineties and the spree Weell
jerseys that you just you can't even read the number
anymore because it's worn off. Sure games and every day
where the Knick fans that that just went, they're they're
kind of like aggressive basketball vampire fans something. When that
sun goes down, all of a sudden, their aggressiveness just
(03:26):
kind of like twenty eight days later where it's something
you get bit by the zombie and you're okay, little bit,
and all of a sudden you turn like, that's Knicks fans.
Those are the Knicks fans you are now going to
meet over the next few days. Videos like this that
are gonna now become the norm. The guy yelling burn
the city to the ground, like these are the you're
gonna go, Oh, man, I've seen I've seen fans, and
(03:48):
I I The Knicks fans make Raider fans look like
a boy scout jamboree, Like, hey, we're here making s'mores
and telling fun stories and ghost stories by the fire.
Nick fans. No, we're the wild boys on the way
back from the And in the background they're saying it,
don't stop being I have such a good time. You
(04:08):
think Raider fans, the Raider fans are, they're gonna look
like just a but this looks like Sunday school. Everybody's
so quiet and they're just so well behaved, and it's oh,
it's that they're all well dressed. No, no, no, Nick fans, no, no, no, man,
Raider fans got nothing on it. So as they spilled
out Madison Square Garden all these other watch parties, can
we get some economic numbers based on the sales of
(04:31):
alcohol and and late night food and pub stuff tonight
in the greater New York City area. This is great
for the local economy. Now it's offset by the extra
security and police hours. So I don't know, but I
don't know what if it's a net positive, but it's
but the city wins from a general spill. I'll only
just tell you this. This is how politics works. It
(04:53):
only needs to be a deficit if you find the money.
If the money comes from a fund that people don't
really know about, the security gets out there. You gotta
be careful. You live in California. There's a lot of
questions about where moneys have gone work. But I'm just
I'm explaining to you that it doesn't need to be
spaking of money. Did you did you pay tribute to
your guy? Dan Houses twelve? And oh? I think delkay
(05:16):
Dan Housen speaking of two, Now about hang on a second.
Dan Housen may have overplayed his hand here a little bit, Okay,
because Dan Housen w W wrestler who was very famously
tried to uncurse the Mets didn't work. Uh, tried to
Calves worked. U talks today about how he wants his
own TV show or monies because you said human money
(05:39):
and he wants moneies. He wants something if he wants
this uncursing of the Knicks to continue. Now, this has
been a great run for Dan House in the last
couple of weeks, right, but I'm like, h guy might
be overplaying his head. He's really putting all his chips
in the middle because if he doesn't get a TV show,
Like he was talking to stephen A Smith, I want
you know, stephen A, I can curse you. And steven
A's like I wasn't even listening to what the guy
(06:01):
was saying. My producer was in our ear. I don't know. Uh,
but Dan Housen overplayed his hand because apparently I don't
think he's got a new TV show. I don't think
anybody's giving him money. And the Knicks beat this Perst tonight.
Right now, you got to think, do we still need
to worry about Dan Housen or has he overplayed his
hand and now we don't need him anymore? Now? See,
I think he's he's played this brilliantly because he's getting
(06:21):
a lot of airtime. Yeah, but he's but he wants moneies.
But he wants moneies. Well he's the number two men
he wants. You're wearing it. You are uncursed Dan Housen shirt.
But obviously he's not enough because he needs money. No, no,
this is this is the big he continues, and they
can't bringing him back to dormant Stephen a Smith because
(06:41):
if it does go against and the Nicks end up losing, yeah,
it becomes Steven a Smith's fault. See. But here's the thing,
so he can just pass that off on him and
it becomes a bit on the next level. Yeah. But
the thing is he doesn't give a crap because he
doesn't want anybody to compete with him. He doesn't want
to have any sort of equal billings. I know that
I stopped being a guest on Thursday mornings. So that's
(07:04):
the thing here. When you overplay your hand, right, you
overplay your hand? You know what you say? I get Okay,
The money's line is fun like him saying money, Like
I'm gonna start saying moneies now because of Dan. How's them?
But we've been at the house forever. So you were
you were doing okay, and now you decided to go
all in with it. And it's like, dude, I don't
know you need to go all in because right honestly,
(07:25):
I'm saying, okay, I don't know that we need you, man.
I mean, you decided you were going to potentially say, hey,
I'm gonna hold out and I'm gonna hold you hostage
or I'm gonna not uncurse the Knicks. No, dude, I
think you you I don't think we need you anymore.
I may have overplayed your hand. You got to wait
and hope something happens and the Knicks lose it. Hey
I can come back. I can come back for some
(07:45):
monies in a TV show. I can come back, like
I mean, really, sometimes you get a little bit too happy,
just kind of like look like kind of like Rick
Beker told us with the Spurs, sometimes the end of
games they want to make an incredibly great, fun basketball
play instead of let's just set things up and make
the right basketball play. You get a little too happy.
Dan Housen got a little too feeling full of himself.
(08:05):
And now I don't know, man, I mean, maybe what
do you need to do for Dan Housen. We won
tonight and he had and he was basically saying, I'll
not uncurse the name. But he hadn't officially uncurved, like
he hadn't cursed them again, doesn't matter. He threatened to
do it, but he didn't do it. He threatened him.
Maybe he got what he needs. But now, why do
I need to pay him? If I threaten to do it,
he didn't do it. Why do I need to pay
him if he didn't do it. You don't mess with
(08:26):
things you don't understand. I don't think he understands. I
think it's a great bit and a character he's cultivated
over eight to ten years on the indie circuit. Listen
and he is enjoying his moment to where he is
taken over ESPN television. I see Dan Housen is his
great usage of the word Money's right, that's really what
he's got. I've been telling you for a long time
(08:48):
and didn't need the human monies. Before WrestleMania, he's sitting
in a cart with ce him Punk and they're like,
what do we do now? And he goes, I think
I want some coffee, Hey, coffee man, Punky see him
punk if they drive. Yeah, that's that's really got it.
It's the Moneies. It's that's it's all about the Moneies.
But like these are like now you're seeing like Dan
House like is Dan Housen Like I guess he would
(09:10):
be a great guy to stand for all the Knicks fans.
I said, you're going to meet like if I like,
if I said, okay, if I said you after tonight,
after you hear all the videos that go out, you
see what Nick fans are doing and how insane we
all are, and uh and all of a sudden, what
do you think the average Nick fan looks like? I like,
you think the first thing that comes everybody fine would
be a picture of Dan Housen done up with with
(09:31):
the makeup. It's looking really menacing. That's your average Knicks fan. Yeah,
it's Dan Housen. Best is he's a little guy. Yeah
oh yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
No.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
For me, it's it's now that guy's streaming in the
video I was describing to you and the guy dancing
in at the Tellton Yes, yes, one of those uh
guys that harasses you for five bucks to take a
picture with him. Dan Housen kind of looks like a
villain from Supernatural. And I don't mean like the first
couple of seasons. I mean like near the end. We're
(10:00):
not spending a lot of money on the on the show. Hey,
who's our baddie of the week that we can maybe
get to some you know, a three or four week storyline.
Oh no, Dan house It, Dan Housen completely looks like
a villain from Supernatural. We're gonna say you are an
agent of Lucifer. Oh so I could do season No, No,
we can't get that actor. He's doing something else. You're
just gonna be an agent of Lucifer and you're gonna
(10:20):
come in and you're gonna have curses and all kinds
of stuff, and you're gonna curse Padaluski to look like
Jensen Ackles and Jensen Ackles to look like Padluski and
all this. That's what we're gonna go. And I'm really
going really deep when I say Padiluski because that's from
the French mistake season six. Uh, Like that's that's kind
of where I look at you host a Supernatural triviaan heighter.
I think I could. I think I could. Because they're
starting to really get more specific themes seasons. I've seen
(10:43):
the Seinfeld one, I've seen the Breaking Bad one. Maybe
you can get on board there. Sixteen seasons of that man.
That was a long That was a long binge. When
Zoe said I want to watch Supernatural, I was like,
that's like a throwback when when network networks had like
twenty episodes, well twenty episodes a year, and then that
was what was the marathon when it wasn't Charmed. Yeah,
(11:04):
if you fell on yeah yeah remember TNT had Charmed
run for a long time. No, but you fell asleep
to Jenny and Charles and the and the Fellas, then
you would wake up to Charmed. Now it's really supernatural
and friends are the two? Are the two? The offices
all over the place? Yeah, yeah, yeah, but no, But
like Dan Housen is like, that's people said, that's what
that's an average Nick fan looks like, I'm sure people
(11:26):
think that's what I look like. Yeah, painted face black
and white, painted face with a really red tongue and
red eyes, and and and and you have your fingernails
filed into points. Yoh yeah, yeah, yeah. Slightly bastardized version
of the gene Simmy's Kiss character. He filed into points
like Taron Edgerton from that movie with Charlie Starren. Yeah,
like they Oh, yeah, that's what that's all Nick fans
(11:46):
right there, That's what they are right there. Yeah, that's
the entire city. I like that. Everybody's gonna meet these
Nicks fans in the next few days and they're gonna
be stunned, They're gonna be full of wonder, they're gonna
be scared, all of these emotion. If I had the time,
I'd go back and do it like we when we
first got together, right, I had already booked everything to
go go. Super Bowl Week was in New York, New Jersey,
(12:08):
and I was kind of doing man on the Street
stuff as we were trying to start the show and
and integrate things properly. But I'd already had all that
travel book so I did a few segments on the
street and then out in front of Broadway facilities. Rocky
was going to open on Broadway, all that stuff, and
I would love to do that with Knicks fans. Obviously,
time down distance, my kids graduating there's no travel has
(12:31):
been a pain in the neck. But I think that
would be an interesting subculture to examine. What do you
do for a living? Fans is interesting Nix and Jets fans,
but like the Jets have been terrible work on Wall Street.
I'm I'm the I'm the Bronx mayor. All of a sudden,
you got all these civic leaders painted faces screaming we're
(12:54):
burning it down. It's like when it's like when you
see a movie and uh, it's it's one of those
movies that has like it's it's a thriller slash horror
movie and you find out, you know, all the political
leaders are are are all you know, they're all supernatural carrot.
I don't mean from the TV show. I mean like
they're they're not real, they're not humans. Well, I mean,
aren't we finding that out? Bit by bit that may
(13:14):
or made up the higher city council are all vampires, right,
like the entire city councilors. That's why kids principle made
up of Nick fans. Like that's what it is. Like
they walk out of the suit and they just tear
like their business suit suit and tie and everything, and
they just have tear away business suit and ties and
under it is like a Patrick Ewing jersey and you
know the sneakers, and they're ready, ready to go, ready
to watch the game. Let's go. All that crazy uh
(13:36):
craptastic business stuff is done. Let's go next, let's go.
Hey man, when the clock strikes five, I'm on me time? Yeah,
hey are you? Are you done in the bathroom yet?
They come out? It's like, weren't you just in a
really expensive suit? Yeah? Now five o'clock. Now, speaking of
Knicks fans, ty, should you have another great Knicks fans drop?
Is it as good as if we win? We're gonna
(13:57):
burn this city down?
Speaker 3 (13:58):
So that one is epic. It shows you the fear
you should have if you guys win. This one just
shows the Knick's ability to even be theatrical as fans.
Do you want to hear this one?
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Uh? It's okay to play, we'll find out. Okay, sure,
all right? I like, let's live dangerous. What's your message
for Cleveland? What are you sorry about?
Speaker 3 (14:20):
What? You guys are insane? What did they even say, Cleveland?
I'm sorry, like I said for what he said, for
absolutely nothing. You guys are insane.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
That was the old Connor McGregor, right, m oh yeah,
you're absolutely nothing. Okay, Okay, yeah, now I have the right,
viv It took me a while, right, It took me
a while to go from the from the I am
let the New York will look like I am Legend
meets Escape from New York. How about the gangs in
New York? But that not Butcher, it's a great day
(14:58):
for America. Not in the throwback uh throwback? Hear the
giant mustaches and everything. You know, you know what it's
gonna look like, what the city is gonna look like?
Is this? Do you remember in uh World War Z? Right?
I forget whereas did they go to? Did they go
to Israel? And they were trying to figure out why
the city was they were able to keep everybody out
because they had the walls were really high, and so
(15:20):
Brad Pitt goes there and they and they and they
were figuring out like like why they were able to
stay safe for so long because they're trying to figure
out answers. And they kept playing the music really loud,
and he kept saying, stop playing the music. It's gonna
draw it. And then they just started. The zombies just
started crawling over each other to get to the top
and get everybody in like they were sacrificing themselves like
(15:40):
just to get to the top. And then Israel just
it fell to the zombies obviously. Like that's what New
York is gonna look like. It's gonna be the Nick
fans pouring out of Madison Square Garden like that, and
stop playing the music. Stop playing the music. I want
to say, I saw that first feature that kind of
effect in a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Oh okay, yeah, well,
(16:01):
all the guys are rolling up over the top of
each other somewhere. You haven't see what I'm talking about.
I know exactly. They're Yeah, they can get up there,
but then because the music was so they had to
get there, they had to get They just start using
each other as ladders to crawl up and get up.
Go New York, Go New York.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Nickson for Nickson for Nickson four Jason's You're the final yet, No,
we have the final call. Wembanama screen on the left
with three wemby four elbow catch and shoot missed it off.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
The back rib and the Knicks survive.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
An instant classic in San Antonio, New York takes two
in Texas, and they've got a two o lead in
the NB eight finals.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Knicks Radio Network. I have nothing left. I can't believe
we have two more hours of the show. I have
nothing left after that game tonight. It is one of
those things where there's been a couple of moments over
the last two hours where I saw the clock and
I'm like, that's all it is. Yeah, that's all. It is.
Kind of like I'm in one of those Marvel movies.
(17:14):
What is it when Quicksilver can just stop everything? Yeah,
and your time in a Bottle by Jim Croching can
just role everything out of the air, folks to safety
around and pushing stuff up. I snarky and being a
bit of a smart ass yees say same thing here.
I've felt that a couple of times there. It's like, wow,
all right, we got two more hours to talk nixt
if you said to me, and I wouldn't even hesitate
(17:37):
if you said to me, Okay, you can only attend
one more sporting event the rest of your life, the
rest of you rest of your life. A fifty five. Right,
you only attend one sporting event the rest of your life,
hopefully it's a long time. Everything else all one sporting
event the rest of your life. That's it. I'm not
gonna hold out for the Mets making the World Series
not happening, not holding out for the Jets in the
(17:58):
Super Bowl. If you said to me, I can go
to one sporting event the rest of my life, it's
Game three or Game four a MSG next week, and
I wouldn't even again, I wouldn't even hesitate to tell you.
That's my answer. All I can tell you right now, though,
is you should have bought those Game three tickets when
I told you to at five thousand dollars last year,
(18:19):
last week. Yeah, because currently the get in there's a pair.
Oh no, it's one ticket, one ticket for twelve eight
oh that's it dollars, and then the next one ticket
fourteen five eighty three. These have to be the most
expensive tickets in sports history for Game three in Game four,
(18:39):
which is its history because his historically right, we can
talk about for a Super Bowl for some you know
final like this is Game three. Yeah, oh yeah, yeah.
I think that's the thing that stands out to me
this is game three. Yeah it is not. Hey, they
can clinch and I'm gonna be there to see it. No,
it's just game three. It's just good. I mean, so,
by by way of contrast, what do you think of
(19:01):
one ticket for Game four?
Speaker 4 (19:03):
Is?
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Oh wow? Okay, so one ticket game three you gave
me there was one a little less than thirteen thousand. Yeah,
I'm gonna say Game four is over fifteen thousand. Fifteen
to seven ninety eight is the single ticket. I mean,
let me show you where these are at. By the way,
(19:25):
that's one, and then we got one here, and then
if you want to sit behind the basket for about
eighteen grand I mean the thing is I've sad in
those seats and those bad seats before. Yeah, for twenty dollars. Yeah,
exactly Like I said, I'm sitting there watching Charles Oakley
getting a fight one game.
Speaker 4 (19:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
See there you go. I mean, this is starting to
become and I'm not throwing hyperbole out here, like you
see the monies, the money. Yeah, there's a lot of
moneies like attending Nick Spurs NBA Finals Game three in
Game four Madison Square Garden. It's become the sporting event
ticket wise of my lifetime, like nothing is. And yeah, okay,
(20:01):
you want to think that in the future, there's gonna
be other prices that are more. Uh, you get a
great Super Bowl matchup, we get Steelers and the Cowboys. Yeah, yeah, sure,
But up until now, like this, this has gotta be
the biggest ticket of my life. And it's the NBA
Finals and again not even a clinching game. And this
is the NBA Finals ticket experience of my lifetime. And
(20:26):
it's the Knicks in the finals, potentially winning next week. Now,
I've seen some economic factors thrown in in terms of
you what the Knicks run has generated, and I've seen
that from a couple of the the economic councils, And
now I'm down. He took to the podium to say,
it's to this point they've generated well over two hundred
(20:48):
million dollars off of the Knicks run just to the finals,
and that the finals run itself may be worth at
least that Wow, So nearly a half a billion dollars
of economic activity related to your New York Kicks. It's
gonna save the city. Well, okay, all that money, all
(21:10):
that money is, all those money, all those moneys are
going to be needed to save to rebuild the city
after after the after Game four, after the Knicks win
and they have to rebuild the city fell. That guy
follows through on his threat. I mean that has been
playing this week, and I mean that they're gonna need
all the money they're making. Oh this is great for
(21:30):
the city, great for the economy. Yeah, the thing is
all that money is ear marked to go for uh,
to go to rebuilding the city, building it back better.
After Like, the city's gonna look like what happened to
New York after Thanos attacked. Like that's what it's gonna
look like. Man, you're gonna you got big aliens from
outer space, like just taking out the tops of buildings
and and and all of a sudden, you know, the
(21:51):
light posts falling and here comes ebony maw like that
that's taking off your call ups. That's that's what New
York is gonna look like. Man, I mean think about
next there you go. You can get some bootleg merch
now for your guy, I hear I New York. Nick Housen,
Nick Housen, Yeah, the Always Nicks is what's starting to
(22:14):
uh really take off, Like the the always Nicks gear
is well. I showed you when I was getting in
line for security to take my daughter back to boise Ido.
I had multiple people in Nick's sweatshirts and T shirts
in front of me, and I was just like, I
can't escape it. I'm trying to escape down and there
it is staring me in the face. Uh So you
just heard the play by play Wemby's miss that give
(22:37):
the Knicks the one oh five to one oh four win,
the play that everybody's gonna be talking about, and we
broke it down last hour. Going to talk about it
with Rick Buker coming up in a few minutes. The
Wemby turnover on the spurs next to last possession where
Jalen Brunson misses a shot. Wenby gets the rebound and
is dribbling the basketball and tries to pass to Steph Castle,
(22:58):
who has not even turned around for the basketball. The
ball hits him off the back, Brunson picks it up,
they foul him, goes the free throw line, hits the
shot that gives them the winning margin. Here's how the
play sounded right now or the rebounds seconds remaining stolen
by Gunson and knocked down by Webby, Countson will two
(23:19):
free throws with nine point five remaining. Oh what a
turner out of left sick ones. Well, Wemby trying to
have that cass Castle never saw it coming, hits him
right in the back. Ah Knicks radio on the call again.
I you know, seeing this play now as many times
as we have, and none of it makes sense. And
(23:40):
the fact that Castle really never at any pot. It's
not like there was any Hey, I missed you on it,
right like I saw you, you saw me. This is
Wenby just I'm getting rid of the basketball. Yeah, Castle
looks like he panicked, but that was a panic move
by seeing that Wemby's got the ball, so he turns
back up court right like that's it, Like there's that flash.
But I yes, in that moment, you can say, well,
(24:01):
when Binamo thought he was gonna slow down enough to
take the outlet pass, but instead it hits him squarely
in the back, and Jalen Brunson, who was trying to recover,
ends up being the beneficiary of this inane situation as
he picks the ball up. I mean, you can't say
anything more than there was a panic move by Wemby,
(24:22):
who wasn't ready for that moment as great as he
was down the stretch, right, like to give him all
kinds of credit when the Knicks are up by twelve
and there's six minutes left to go and he's screaming
at his teammates on the sideline and he's the guy
that led them back, right, He's the guy. And this
is where we talked about this earlier in the game,
where he only had four shots in the first half,
and I'm sure this was the Spurs. They wanted to
(24:43):
come out aggressive with their guards and be able to
put pressure on Brunson and it worked, right the Aaron
Fox was terrific out of the gate at eleven points
in the first quarter. Castle harassed him the whole game.
Dylan Harper was fantastic. So okay, right, okay, this worked.
And now the flip side was Wemby's probably fresher, you know,
not taking as many shots, not having the offensive responsibility
(25:04):
because they know they he did him fresh at the
end of the game, and it worked because Wenby brings
them all the way back, right, brings them all the
way back and he plays great. But wow, that turnover.
I still can't believe that he did that. As great
a player as he is, Like, that's a that's something
that I did not have that on my Bengo card.
Anything else they could have done. They could have called
time out, he could have dribbled the ball up up
(25:26):
the floor. He could have done anything, and they didn't
do any They didn't do any of those things. They
just gave the ball back to the Knicks. Yeah, you
had your chance right there, opportunity twelve point four left
on the clock as the garrals the rebound, and you
think you're gonna get at least one good look, maybe
a fast break opportunity with Castle if he throws it
up over the top, let's go get it. But Brunson
(25:48):
breaking back underneath. But yeah, just for what he did
in the second half. And look, I'm not a fan
of the pacing. I can't bank on us coming back
from a fourteen point deficit in the second half. Call
me crazy, you're crazy, But they were able to chase
down the Knicks down the stretch, and then in a
(26:10):
couple of key moments, comes up Small takes the jump
shot as it has that last ditch opportunity that we
chronicled a little bit early as well. Uh and misses
that jump shot to close it out. It was great
to see the second half fire, whether you know the
little thing that was on the bench that got shown
at least three times in the second half, or just
(26:32):
you know, being more aggressive and going to the basket. Right.
He had that big three point play where he got
the feed and came swooping in before Brunson hit that
jumper on the ensuing possession to make it a one
o four, one oh four game. But the aggressiveness was
there down the stretch. But even the best have that
brain freeze in the moment and you know, as they
(26:54):
always say on NFL broadcast, Jason, Yeah, boy, he'd really
like to have that. Thea always any interception, I'd like
to have that. But I had asked you a question.
I gotta ask you one question. Yeah, I got I
ask you a question. Do you think now after Game
two Wemby's a little bit more concerned about the series
(27:14):
because I think after they lost Game one, all he
said was I played bad. It's that simple. We have
plenty of time to fix things. All the experts said,
this is going to be a long series, dude, Game
two is the entire series? Do you think Wemby now
understands it. Oh, maybe a greater sense of urgency might
have been the way to go instead of really getting
that at the six minute mark of the fourth quar No,
(27:35):
that's really where he triggered there. I mean he realized
it that. Do you think he understands out losing the
first two games at home going on the road to
try to win four for the next five, Like, do
you think he gets that? Oh? You know, maybe maybe
now is a little bit Uh, I just have a
little bit more of a sense of urgency. Well, to
be fair, I mean, as we talked about it after
after game one, he's a guy who's very measured in
(27:57):
his words, his verbiage. Right, spent the time with the monks,
all of that stuff. He finds his piece except when
he's throwing bows in the low post. But you know,
you're you're looking at the all of their comments. I mean,
you're not gonna throw flowers at your opponent after one
game right at the end of the series. Yeah, but
you're gonna you need to understand that. I I you
(28:19):
can say, we gotta do it. We've been doing it
this way all year. When the finals come and you're
playing the best team you've played. Oh, by the way,
you're not just I mean really, because so many people
that the Knicks have not played a team like the
Spurs play. I think you got that question backwards. I
think you have that statement backwards.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
Now.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
Spurs haven't played a team like the Knicks. And you
can't just sit here after Game one of the finals
go yeah, we've been through it, We're good. This is
the NBA Finals, this is the best team you have
played all year. You can't continue to give games away.
I think we can win this and we win a series.
And there were I mean, I wanted just a little
bit of hey man, we gave this game away, and
not just hey we should have won. Everything is fine,
(28:58):
but we gave this way, and we got to make
sure forty eight minutes we are solid. They were solid
the first They might have been behind the back game,
behind the curtain, They might have been behind the Now
you do that publicly, You do that publicly so everybody
can see it. They were. They were on fire the
first eight minutes of the game, and they were on
fire the last eight and the last eight minutes of
the game in between, the Knicks had enough to win,
(29:20):
like where where was that all game? I thought the
Spurs would be up by twelve or fifteen and a
half time, like that should be tonight's game, and maybe
the Knicks will come back in the second half like
they've done so much. Did the Knicks are up in
half instead with the late run chasing you down. I mean,
then they couldn't close. I mean, really, I I don't know.
Maybe now the Spurs sirs have that that believe or
that they understand that, oh wow, we really you know,
(29:42):
had to really get that the end of our season
is right in front of us, and in these we
should have admitted that. I just can't believe that I
didn't know that after Game one, we had so much time,
we got so much. You got two extra days. Now
you're off Saturday and Sunday, so you'd be good for Monday.
You'll be good. You'd be good for the rest of
the way. Now you're good. Now you're good. Just some
time you just went. I mean, I think it was
in this moment that you tipped from radio host to
(30:06):
Knicks guy. Outside of New York, bar Wenby was defiant.
After Game one, we gave it away. I played bad,
no worries well, but but saying I played bad, I don't.
I wouldn't disagree with him. I saw folks try to
give him his flowers because of his stat line. I'm like,
did you watch the game? But what I want to say,
you know, the thing is the Knicks didn't play well either.
It's not like if the Knicks no, no, these two games
(30:28):
are not You're not hanging either of these games. But
if the Knicks had played Game one where they shot
fifty percent from the floor and they were you know,
twelve of twenty three from three point range and Brunson
scored forty and Cat went twenty seven and twelve, I
would say, okay, but the Knicks were bad. Like, outside
of Cat, the Knicks were bad. Brunson was bad. He
(30:48):
had a great fourth, but he was bad. So say,
oh I was bad. Guess what the Knicks were going
to play better? So Wemby played better in game two,
but I guess it else played better. The Knicks play better. Yeah,
but you know what he could say this time though,
It's like, well, I mean Brunson was seven of twenty five. Yeah, yeah, okay,
there you go.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Be sure to catch live editions of the Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific, Fox.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with my best friend
Mike Harmon, And I know our next guest's just shaking
his head, going, I can't believe what I'm gonna have
to talk about. I can't believe this is where we're at.
The Knicks lead the NBA Finals now two games, Nicks
in fall, going back to Madison Square Garden with us
(31:33):
now Fox Sports one insider Extraordinary Rick Buker, who said
after Game one, incredible start for the Knicks, but I
need to see Game two before I really get a
sense of what to expect the rest of the series.
Rick Buker, you just saw game two. What do you
expect now the rest of the series.
Speaker 4 (31:53):
Jason, it's your world. We're just all living in it.
My friend, I.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Get one series every fifty years, Rick, That's how it goes.
Speaker 4 (32:05):
Just start practicing, New York Nick NBA Champion. How did
that sound?
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Oh man, I don't even know how to act right now.
I really don't. After too Zip going home like, I
have no idea how to act. I'm as stunned right
now that this is where I'm at mentally as I
was Wemby trying to pass the ball to Steph Castle,
who had his back turned on that turnover at the
end of the game. That's how stunned I am right now.
Speaker 4 (32:30):
Yep, it's I mean, we saw more of what we
saw in Game one in terms of the Knicks. We
talked about it, the Knicks just not beating themselves and
san Antonio doing exactly that. Just not a lot of mistakes,
but just enough to keep the door open for the
(32:52):
Knicks to get this one. And I think actually the
Spurs making the comeback that they did and still losing
the game the way they did the momentum. Look, I
think san Antonio can go into New York. I think
they're capable of winning one. But the idea that they
would go in there and win two, for what the
way the Knicks have performed and what they have and
(33:15):
Madison Square Gardens just being absolutely bonkers, I just don't
see a path at this point where the Spurs are
able to win this series. That just that may not
sound all that shocking considering that the Knicks are up
too oh after taking two on the road, but as
you just said, it still feels shocking to be able
(33:36):
to say that. You keep turning, I keep turning the page,
going wait a minute, we can't be where we are
right now, but indeed we are, and they just they
have to look at champions. They've They've done it two
different ways on the road. They've made the plays necessary.
Can't say enough about Karl Anthony Towns and the role
(33:57):
that he's played, Michale Bridges, but honestly, just everybody with
the Knicks has delivered. They have the look of guys
individually who have been up the mountain and for one
reason or another fallen short, and they see this as
their opportunity and clearly they are not going to let
(34:19):
this go to waste. It has been genuinely impressive. And
the Spurs have been impressive too. You know the gutty
comeback that they made. Honestly, I thought that with about
eight minutes left, I think it was the I don't know,
they had so many corner threes that they knocked down
(34:41):
with one second left on the shot clock that whether
it was mackl Bridges or it was Landry Shammitt, Yo,
they delivered. They delivered, and I'm actually genuinely happy for
I can't believe these words are coming out of my mouth.
I'm genuinely happy for you, and I'm and I'm happy
(35:03):
for the New York Knicks. They deserve to be There's
no question they deserve to be where they are right now.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
You know the thing is, I know we'll get into
Wemby in a second, but I expected this to be
a little bit of a different experience for Wemby because
Karl Anthony Towns and the Knicks are a worse matchup
for the Spurs than that than if the Knicks had
to play the Thunder right and Wemby's match up with
the Thunder. But I didn't expect Carl Anthony Towns to
be this good, this aggressive, this much of a leader
(35:33):
both ends of the floor through the first two games.
He's the finals MVP right now.
Speaker 4 (35:38):
It's you know, it's funny you bring that up, because
I was just thinking, you know, a lot of people
are thinking, I mean, Jalen Brunson will probably get it
just from the momentum, but I agree with you. There's
there's been no one more valuable to what the Knicks
have done than Karl Anthony Towns, and it's and it's weird.
I mean, honestly, he sounds like a leader. All the
(35:58):
goofiness is gone. He's the transformation and the way we
will look at Carl Anthony Towns going forward is going
to be completely different as a result of the way
that he has played in this series. We talked about
it at one point about you know, one of the
elements and the underlying elements is just that the size
(36:22):
that the Knicks have, aside from Karl Anthony Towns being
able to matt On someone to say, keep in check
with Wemby, but play him close enough that there's not
this huge separation. Wemby's not creating this huge separation because
of what Carl Anthony Towns has been able to do
at both ends of the floor. But you saw in
really crucial situations offensive rebound after offensive rebound. I think
(36:46):
they beat him in that category.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
Like ten to five.
Speaker 4 (36:50):
And a big part of it is you just have longer,
bigger wings. I've said that the San Antonio Spurs Achilles
heel is the fact that after you get past Wemby,
you're talking about six five, six seven guys and ot
An Nubi Ananobi and McHale bridges and the length that
they provide, and the rebounding, the offensive rebounding that they've provided,
(37:14):
and their ability to get shots off has been the
difference maker.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
Rick. The stat that just stands out. And we've watched
these two games, you know, and we go through them
with the fine two come the fact that Jalen Brunson
shooting thirty four percent from the field, He's nineteen to
fifty six and you're up to two. Oh. Like that,
that's just the amazing testament to what we saw. I mean,
Bridges just hitting shot after shot. You mentioned Shammitt because
(37:41):
he's become a show favorite, particularly when we're talking with you,
but just seeing the secondary guys and even though you know,
Brunson has the glory moments, had the fourth quarter in
Game one and then he hits the game winning free
throw here, but like they won for large chunks in
spite of some of his deficiencies.
Speaker 4 (38:00):
Yeah, no, I mean they've they've made the game really
hard on Brunson. But the thing that the Knicks have
is they know where Brunson is going to take his shots,
and they know that he's going to take the shot,
and that gives you just a little a bit of
an edge in terms of anticipating when he misses, Like,
(38:21):
you know, they've played with him all year long, so
when he misses, they know generally where those missed shots
are going to go, and they're able to get to
them and get second chances. And this often happens with
in the finals and with championship teams is the stars
sort of cancel each other out and then it becomes
(38:41):
how does your fifth, sixth, and seventh players play. And
for the Knicks, those guys have come through and hit
big shot after big shot, and to me, that's that,
along with the fact that this really becomes when you
get to this point, it becomes can you score it? Levels?
And the Knicks from mid range, Mikail Bridges is comfortable there.
(39:05):
Brunson obviously is comfortable there. When you look at the spurs,
Wemby's not quite there, you know, dearon Fox, you would
hope would give you that, and he did down the stretch,
which is what made a difference. But he was missing
easy shots early and they just haven't been able to
To me, that's really offensively has been the difference between
(39:28):
these two teams is that the Knicks are matching them
going toe to toe with them from three point range,
they're able to get to the rim. The number of
guys that have been unafraid of to attack Wemby at
the rim and have been able to score has really
been the eye opener here. The Knicks have been fearless
(39:50):
in going at the rim and getting the job done
and have beaten them as far as the mid range
is concerned. So if we're looking for a difference offensively
and the reason why they've been able to compensate for
Brunson not shooting, well, it's that they've got other guys
that can score at three levels.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
Fox Sports One NBA insider Rick Bucker is our guest
Jason Smith Mike Harmon live from the Fox Sports Radio studios.
All right, we got to get to the turnover, Rick
and watching that play, like, you know, breaking it down,
thinking back to our conversations that the Spurs are a
young team who's gonna close for them. They have the
ball with ten seconds left and Wenby tries to throw
(40:31):
it to Steph Castle, who hadn't even turned around, Like
that was a panic move by Wemby, and I wonder,
like I see that and I go, that's not a
team ready for the moment as good as Wenby is,
like he's brought the ball up before. Like, there's so
many things they could have done. They could have called
time out. Wenby could have dribbled, he could have stopped.
He could have called Castle to get the ball. But instead,
I'm so panicked that I'm chucking the ball up court
(40:53):
to a guy that hasn't even turned around, and that
that just blew me away. Rick when I saw that.
Speaker 4 (40:59):
Yeah, but you know what, there was a number of
situations where they played too fast. I mean, I'm I'm
watching the game and I'm like, slow down this minute left.
It's true, it's like a one possession game. You don't
need to go that fast. And they they actually survived it,
Dylan Harper a couple of times survived it or they
got a foul call. But I thought that they they
(41:22):
played they and this has been their issue. I throughout
the playoffs, it was it was an issue against Okay. See,
there's just times where they get sped up and they
try to play too fast. And you saw that with
the Knicks, like they they they do not speed them up,
and and that really has been the difference maker in
(41:44):
this series. You're you're You're absolutely right. They're just and
it's understandable. I mean, I said it to the people
that I was watching the game with. I said, you know,
this is the first time they're in the playoffs and
they're now in the finals, and it's a point where
it's not you're not going to win the game on
any one in one possession, but you can certainly lose it.
(42:07):
And the Spurs that's exactly what happened to them tonight.
They just they didn't play it close enough to the vest,
to the vest when it really mattered, and ultimately it
came back and bit them.
Speaker 1 (42:19):
Rick Jason's trying to decide does he paid the thirteen
thousand for Game four at the Garden or should he
go with the budget option of game five. No, Rick's
going to get me passes. Rick's getting me passes because
we've known each other for so long. Oh yeah, Rick,
let me know wherever the passes are for Game four?
Speaker 2 (42:37):
Why is that?
Speaker 4 (42:38):
Why is that even a question? What?
Speaker 1 (42:43):
Well, I'm just trying to say, will they actually steal
a game to where there is a Game five?
Speaker 4 (42:50):
Well, but we got Game five is back in San Antonio.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
That's what I mean. You can get it get in
frounder two grand there.
Speaker 4 (42:59):
So I don't know if I should share this, but
I will so. Matt friend of the program, my son
right he's in New York on an internship right now,
and I got to give him credit.
Speaker 1 (43:12):
He because he.
Speaker 4 (43:13):
Started out his college career down in San Antonio. He
knows people from the Spurs and he he texted one
of them and said, Hey, I don't know if you know,
but I'm in New York and I just you know,
if you have time, I'd love to get lunch or
dinner with you, knowing knowing that they would say no,
but hoping that they would say, you know what, we
(43:34):
can't do lunch or dinner with you, but here's a
ticket you can get the game three or four. It
didn't work, but I had to give him kudos because
he came. Absolutely it was a very smart move by
one Matt Buker.
Speaker 1 (43:46):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, he's I think if you're
Matt Buker, you have to watch Roofman with Channing Tam
and understand, Oh, if I like live above the store
and if I find a way to get into Madison
Square Garden and live in the rafters, and then about
the for free. What was that the Phoebe Bridges contract, right,
that was like a dollar fundraiser kind of thing. And
folks are like, well, if I go to that and
(44:06):
then I could just live in the rafters for three days,
I can go for a dollar.
Speaker 4 (44:10):
Oh hey, by any means necessary. That's the mantra.
Speaker 1 (44:17):
He's on Twitter at Rick Buker. That is at Rick Buker.
Check out the On the Ball podcast. He's got three
hours and forty five minutes on Karl Anthony Towns and
the excellence of execution that he has had so far
in the NBA Final Station.
Speaker 4 (44:31):
That might not be enough, that might that.
Speaker 1 (44:33):
Might not be enough, might be a two parter, don't know,
take it easy money. We'll talk to you Monday after game.
Here goes.
Speaker 3 (44:44):
You know.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
It's what I'm living with, Rick, And that's that's the thing.
Speaker 4 (44:47):
Like Ray brother, we all are.
Speaker 1 (44:49):
A big gre eight. Have a good weekend.
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Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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