May 30, 2025 • 40 mins
Jason, Mike and NBA Insider Ric Bucher recap Knicks/Pacers Game 5 and preview Game 6. Plus, we head out to Las Vegas to check in with our Odds Guru Todd Fuhrman!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
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 Foxsports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every night on the
iHeartRadio app by searching FSR ever give you're.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Greetings, Welcome in side hour three The Jason Smith Show
with my bass friend Mike Harmon.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Well dressed Cobo we are.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
You can stream the show all of our Fox Sports
Radio shows live twenty four to seven in the new
iHeartRadio app. Just search Fox Sports Radio in the app
stream us live. One of the newest features in the app,
you can select Fox Sports Radio is one of your presets,
just like the presets on a radio dive well, so
be sure to preset Fox Sports Radio in the iHeartRadio app.
It'll always pop up at the top of your screen
(01:06):
so you can lock it in and rip the knob off,
which is exactly what the Knicks did tonight to the Pacers.
They take Game five, so it will be a game
six Saturday in Indiana, a game the Knicks took control
of before halftime. The Pacers never really made a concerted run.
(01:27):
They got it to within six or eight a couple
of times, but the Knicks would always push that lead out.
They went at one eleven to ninety four. It was
a big night for the Knicks. From the guys you
expected to have big nights, You needed to have big nights.
It was thirty two from Jalen Brunson. It was a
big night for Karl Anthony Towns. And I gotta tell
you because this is kind of where I'm at tonight.
You went, How am I as a Knicks fan going
(01:47):
over this watching Brunson? You know, Brunson out a big
night again. He makes shots. You just make me just go.
I can't with the pressure on him. They need big possessions.
He makes it. But Karl Anthony Town's twenty four and
thirteen tonight right at a bruise. Uh. He was a
game time decision for the game tonight. But I absolutely went
out to play and played pretty well. Uh. Like when
(02:09):
I'm watching the game tonight, just to kind of pull
the curtain back, like I'm watching this and yes, I'm
I'm I'm wanting to see the series get pushed to Saturday, obviously,
but mainly there's a lot of me and I don't
think I'm the only person watching this game. I'm the
only one watching this game going okay. I'm deciding which
Knicks can come back for next year, at which they
(02:31):
have to put in a trade for Giannis or somebody
else or a big playmaking forward that can come in
and do things. Thanks because Karl Anthony Town's been a
really tough fit, and you know, and new Nobody's been
up and down, and and you know, Bridges has been
up and down. He's had his moments but not been great.
Like I'm watching, going okay, this is who I think
can come back next year and who we can put
(02:51):
in that trade, because the guys all make money, so
we can make an easy trade to make the money work,
whether it's Giannis to somebody else. But I'm watching that tonight,
going okay. I'm putting my gradon on the Knicks this season.
My great coming in.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Well, every one of the games I've been watching with you,
you got Jalen Brunson and every other member of the
Knicks has been blotted out by the.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Void yeah, at some point, yeah, sure, yeah, ah, he's
gone yeah yeah, like you've gotten rid of everybody. Yeah,
oh at some point, sure yeah, if you haven't been
fired repeatedly.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
Bridges has been traded for seven times. Karl Anthony, Josh Hart,
you got no use for he was twelve and ten tonight,
but you hate him. I was even I was even,
I was even bad on Josh Art tonight.
Speaker 5 (03:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Well, when he first came into it, when he comes
to the game, like, what are you doing, man, what
do you do? No, he's at a.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
He's at a very inconsistent game outside of rebounding like
going to the glass, he's gone Rodman in this series
offensively not quite sure what you're getting. But defensively and rebounding,
you've had your moments. But all that watching you live,
live and die with the squad because you started to
get a little juice again. Okay, And then on air,
(03:56):
as we're sitting here in the Fox Sports Radio studios,
every time I went at Halliburton and the team look
close out opportunity and I get it.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
You're on the road.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
You've still got two in the pocket that you can
go to. But general rule of thumb for me, and
it changed in the NBA. And I know we've talked
about this a lot. Is if I've got the opportunity
to squash you, I'm gonna at least give you a
full throttle. Let's get after it, which I didn't feel
like we got from Halliburton.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
And that's starting five today.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
Probably one of the starting five was even in double
three nine. Pascal Siakam finishes with fifteen. You get a
big game from Mathron off the bench with twenty three.
Last two games, he's.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Nine rebounds, nine for nine from the foul line.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
All of those things are are true, but it's one
of those don't give them any air and possibility to
extend this thing. So you kept going, I don't know,
pacers might have right where they want them like, And
I couldn't tell if it was smarty, smart assery or
if you really thought they're gonna blow this.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Can't wait him. I'm not gonna get too high. No,
the thing is you'll rip my heart out like.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
The guy in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom show.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
It to me. My big thing was getting to the
six minute mark of the fourth quarter, because the six
minute mark is when the Pacers will say, okay, we're
calling the dogs off and we're done. Yeah, if they
could keep that twelve to fifteen point lead with six
minutes left, the Pacers aren't going to expend all that
energy to try to come back like they did in
Game one. They're gonna pull it and put it away.
(05:29):
And clearly the Pacers before then, when he got to
the fourth quarter, it was a twenty two point lead,
Rick Carlisle had Tyre's Halliburton on the bench, so you know,
at that point the Pacer is basically giving up, and
it's hey, if the bench shoots us back into it,
and McConnell makes threes and Obi Toppin makes threes and
all these things that hey, okay, And they actually cut
it to ten or twelve, and Halliburton went back in
the game midway through the fourth quarter. But Brunton, it's
(05:51):
a couple of shots, Mitchell Robinson, it's a couple of shots,
and then the lead is back out to seventeen eighteen,
and Rick Carlisle pulled everybody out of the game.
Speaker 5 (05:58):
Right.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
I knew if they could just get to the midway
point of the fourth quarter, it was going to be
a different effort by the Pacers in the final few
minutes and they were gonna put it away and get
ready for game six.
Speaker 4 (06:09):
You know that three pointer that topp And hit, that
was kind of like a dagger moment.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Yeah, it's the only what he's hit of the eleven.
He's taking it, you.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Right, but you have that, so you know, the game
goes into the into.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
The books and and for the Knicks.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
You know, I tweeted it and I grabbed a tweet
and texted you in Frostburg early this afternoon because Begley
there s n Y was reporting that, according to Timms,
Karl Anthony Towns was now a game time decision being
because of the knee injury and what.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Could have been his last game as a Nick like
Karl Anthony Towns is questionable, but.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
A guy who decided, and I think this goes to
the larger point for the squad. We're not going down
without it going for We're not going to have anything
left in the tank, like we're going out swinging.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
So maybe that knee is problematic.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
I don't know when he went down in a heap
end of last game, but really came out and gave
you a big effort, including a couple of big three
point shots.
Speaker 6 (07:04):
No.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
So, I mean, look, it's it's a it's a situation
in which the Knicks took. Why did they Why did
they win this game? And I'll give you a big
silver lining for this. They won this game simply because
defensively they were more active Jalen Brunson, who even said
after the game game four, they went at me defensively,
I have to be better defense. It's hard to hear
Jalen Brunton said I have to be better, But when
(07:26):
you hear the best player on your team and your
leader say I have to be better. And he was
much more active tonight the Knicks and more aggressive in general.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
Well, dude, Bmicbride, that was his big quote from the
post game. He just said, look, I felt like we
came out with an edge. Yeah, that's what he was.
One of the guys said, I wish they would have
had more of an edge before it was three to one.
But hey, you know, sometimes just celebrate that you got
to the party and not the fact that boy, you're
really late.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Man, you missed a lot of good stuff. But okay,
we're here. So the defensive intensity was there for the Knicks, right,
was there for the next day they turned that. Here
for the Pacers, it's no due and gloom tonight, Right,
it's no doom and gloom because they're going back with
two chances to win, especially going back at home where
in theory your bench is gonna play better and Halliburn's
not gonna have another, you know, horrible game like this.
(08:11):
But here's your silver lining for the Knicks. Okay, here's
a silver lining is that when you examine the Pacers
and how they've played this series. Right, And we've got
a fund saying, hey, we're gonna preview the Pacers and
the Thunder NBA Finals at some point the Pacers are
gonna come back to earth. And I said, okay, in
(08:32):
the finals against the Thunder, they're not gonna They're they're
not gonna play at this level. They have been playing
at the highest level they could possibly play at for
the first four games of this series. Now tonight was
kind of a halfway effort, and they and they and
they packed it in. But can they continue to play?
Do they have another two games where Tyrese Halliburton has
(08:53):
the game of his life and again it was just
enough to beat the Knicks where Pascal Siakam has the
game of his life, and again just enough to beat
the Knicks, where Nee Smith has the game of his life,
and again just enough to beat the Knicks, where Matherin
has the game of his life. And again it was
just enough to beat the Knicks. Like are they they
got all of this in the first four games and
it's a three to two series, Like it's just gonna
(09:15):
go home. They're gonna rediscover that form or is this Hey,
we played as well as we could and now the
Knicks are adjusting a little bit. And again it took
a long time, but do we have enough? Can we
do that again? Because they don't just need to say, well,
Halliburton's gotta play better. It's they need Halliburton and Siakam
and then stuff from them hard and they need Niemith
(09:35):
like they need everything. They need everything from all of
their all of their starting five and the bench guys
to come through if they're gonna beat the Knicks. And
we saw it. And at some point they're gonna get
a bounce. And I thought the bounce for the Pacers
would come in the NBA Finals because you're playing a
team that is clearly made to beat anybody in the NBA.
And again, I don't see the Thunder losing more than
(09:56):
a game in the NBA Finals. We talked about that
last night. But maybe maybe the bounce comes now, and
maybe it was first four games were great and now
they're limping to the end of the series, because what
do we see last year the Knicks, The first few
games were great, then guys started getting hurt and they
limped towards the end of the series, and the Pacers
round up waiting to move on. Like that's the one
silver lining I see for the Knicks here is that
(10:18):
maybe this is where the Pacers get that bounce and
it's game six, Game seven and not the NBA Finals. Well,
you saw the way they came out tonight. And we're
always watching officials, but we're certainly watchingofficial dot NBA dot
com to see what those assignments are. Saturday morning game
of nine am Eastern time will be about the time
(10:40):
that those are announced officially, whether we get the bat
signal to Scott Foster or not. But he's lighting by
the phone. He's waiting for your call.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
But whoever is in charge and in running the crew,
it's the how tight a game are you gonna call?
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Right?
Speaker 4 (10:54):
Are you gonna let him get after it like they
did tonight? Like there were a lot of sequences. We
joked about it earlier, the radio call in terms of
arguing fiul not file based on shots falling, but the
incidental contact.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Do you let a guy fight through a screen.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
Where all right, it might be a little bit messy,
a little bit more physical, but do you let it go?
It is, in fact the Eastern Conference finals, So generally
the rule of thumb is yes. But we've seen some
soft whistles, so it's do you get a consistent whistle
like tonight? Because they let him beat the hell out
of each other tonight. So if you're gonna let him
play a game like this, I don't know. I like
(11:29):
my chances with guys like Brunson and Karl Anthony Towns
getting after it on anobi and even Josh Hart working
in the low post that they're gonna be able to
more than hold their own. McBride coming off the bench
for huge minutes. You want to talk about a guy
who decided, Hey, I'm gonna throw my body around and
see if they're gonna call stuff. That was a guy
that he was at the forefront of it, which is
(11:50):
why he had more guys around his locker.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Than anytbody else in the post. Well, it's funny. Afterwards
they asked Karl Anthony Towns on this, I think was
Barkley that said, Hey, how come you know you play
so great offense? How do you get called for all
these stupid files? And he said, God only knows.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
No, No, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Yeah, no, they are absolutely like that.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
Question is about his feel Like a lot of times
that would seem like a flippant but if you're actually
watching these games, some of the files that Karl Anthony
Towns commits are really silly.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
And I'll give you this hot take, right is that
you know we talk about Okay, it's really weird. In
the Eastern Conference finals, we're talking about a team, what
do you need to do for next year? Like no
team has been had more stuff wrong with it than
the Knicks. In the East. There's three teams left and
the Knicks are one of them, and we're talking about
next year. But Carl Anthony Towns honestly is playing for
his future as a Nick Like tonight and Game six
(12:44):
are then can the Knicks go forward and have the
defensive liabilities of both Brunson and Towns on the floor
at the same time, because news flash, Brunson ain't going anywhere.
But Carl, can you have both those guys out there?
Because clearly the Pacers are able to take advantage of that,
because these are two defenders that aren't great and they
need to have some other, a playmaking forward, somebody else
(13:06):
in there. Karl Anthony Towns is playing for his future
as a Nick and that was tonight with a big
night with twenty four and thirteen. That's gonna be game six,
making sure he stays on the floor. This is what
you think I'm saying, Oh no, because he's the guy
that's gonna go, because he is someone that has the
most trade value, that still is a phenomenal offensive player,
(13:26):
and you saw this year he's able to show that, Hey,
in a new system, I can still play offensively pretty well.
But the fit hasn't been what the Knicks thought it
was going to be, Like look great in the very
beginning of the year, and then as the year went on,
it was Man, things just aren't jelling. Like mcal Bridges
didn't gel he had his moments against the Celtics, stealing
the ball at the end of every game. But Carl
(13:48):
Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson have not been the one
two that it was expected to be. So okay, can
we go into next year thinking another year and whatever
minor tweaking of the bench roster we can do, We're
gonna bring the same guys back and hope for a
different result or is it gonna be Hey, one year,
we tried it, it didn't work, and so now we
move on like he's playing for his future as a
(14:09):
nick in last night, do it Tonight's game? And what's
gonna happen in Game six? Tremendous heart tonight. But yeah,
but we talk about the defensive liability of it. The
other three guys just have to work that much harder
if they're both on the court together. And that's the
hard part, which.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
Is why if you're a team like the Pacers, with
the depth that they have and the ability for all
those bigs to step out, whether it's Turner, Siakam whoever,
to hit a three point shot, you're gonna be able
to find an open man and an open.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Look exit out about a Fresco exit Swollen Dome, Jason Smith,
Mike Harmon live from the Fox Sports Radio studios. We
have a one and only Rick Buker coming up next,
Fox Sports One Insider. Is the NBA Finals really still over?
Can anybody beat the thunder? Is Luca really that skinny?
(14:55):
All that?
Speaker 6 (14:56):
More?
Speaker 1 (14:56):
From Rick? Coming up next, Jason to Mike Fox.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
You want 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
Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
The Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harmon. Yeah,
the Knicks keep the Eastern Conference Finals alive. The NBA
gets another game in this round one eleven ninety four
over the Pacers. Thirty two from Jalen Brunson, Karl Anthony
Towns in a game to game audition to say it
the next next year has a big night joining us
(15:33):
now on the hotline. Nobody better to talk everything in
the NBA than Fox Sports One Insider Extraordinaire. Check out
the On the Ball podcast as well. It is Rick
Buker who came on the show and this couple nights
ago and said Jace, I feel really good about you
getting game five. He has nostra damas he is with
us right now.
Speaker 6 (15:54):
What's happening, Rick, Oh, just live in the dream, Jason,
live in the spree. We're all going back to Indianapolis. Okay,
maybe that's not a good dream, but we are going
back to Indianapolis, and it's better than the alternative. So yeah. Now,
now the question is because I've always thought the series
(16:15):
is a lot closer than it's played out, and or
at least the indications like Indiana's just better. Not they're
not winning by a lot, but they're they're just better.
And I don't know. Maybe I'm motioning and hoping, but
I'm wishing and hoping that we see that we see
a seventh game now, and I don't think it's beyond
(16:36):
the realm of possibility. But because I felt like in
Game four the next really did it to themselves, and
and so they came out with the right pressure, the
right defense. They took care of business. Obviously, Jalen Brunson
came out like a house on fire. I'm sure that
(16:59):
Indiana's gonna try play fast, but this is this is
one of the things that when the teams never is
on the brink of going to the finals. You know,
it's kind of the last step. That's what's impressed me
about the Thunder is the Thunder played way above them
their their pay grade, as far as their experience and
their age, and they took care of business in a
very matter of way. But not that's that's the exception
(17:21):
rather than the rule for teams that have never been there.
So I'll be very interested to see where Game six goes.
So I'm not I'm not putting it out of the
realm of possibility that that the Knicks can force the
game seven.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Well, I know you've been texting with him. Do you
have confirmation that Scott Foster will be officiating Game six?
Speaker 6 (17:41):
I have, I do not confirmation, but that's I would
say that it's either it's either Scott Foster or it's
his protege Ben Taylor. One of the two will be fine.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Well or I mean Tony Brothers referees every other game.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Yes, yeah, you get one of the three.
Speaker 5 (17:58):
I have three.
Speaker 6 (18:00):
Maybe we'll get all three. We'll get the trifector.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
Yeah, I've booked markedofficial dot NBA dot com Rick and
I'm up and reloading it with great regularity as we
get to game time. But we saw the physical intensity
for the Knicks. McBride talking about a post game of
you know, really having to lay it out there. And
I'm glad we didn't get a no show effort like
we watched last night.
Speaker 5 (18:24):
Yeah, no, no question, And I was not.
Speaker 6 (18:28):
Look, the Minnesota effort didn't really surprised me because I
felt like they were a little so gayzy, like this
entire playoff run, that they weren't playing nearly as well
as maybe the results in the first two rounds would
have would have suggested. And and yeah, it was disappointing
that they didn't put up a bigger fight, but but
(18:51):
not really not really surprising. I just thought the Knicks,
you know, there's there. The Knicks have a grittiness and
a pride about them, you know, starting with Dalen Brunton.
I in no way expected them to lay down in
the same manner, and I just hope that they realized that, Like,
if they're forceful defensively, I still think there were times
(19:12):
in tonight's game where they could have been more aggressive defensively.
And what I really love is that Timson is rewarding
guys off of his bench. Landry Shammitt in particular, has
has transformed himself into a different guy. Like he used
to be a guy that like if he missed the shot,
(19:36):
he looked like he was afraid of his own shadow.
And he has played I mean, he's just been a
It sounds weird to say he's been a force off
the bench, not only making shots, but the way he's
gotten into guys physically defensively. I just it's been really impressive.
And it's I got to give Tibbs credit, Like I
(19:57):
don't know what prompted it, but he has. He has
gone to his bench, he's trusted his guys, and outside
of you know, some of the mishaps, he's stuck with it.
And so it's, uh, it's I guess it's never too
late for somebuch to change their way.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
So that means Karl Anthony Towns will play better defense
on Saturday. Got it? Okay, let's come.
Speaker 6 (20:22):
On now, let's not go too far with this.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
I really I feel like Rick that that cat tonight
and Saturday. I mean, I may just me watch the name,
but I feel like he's auditioning to stay a nick
after this year. Like I feel like that's what's going
on now at this point, Like, Hey, is he going
to be part of of of the big solution in
an NBA championship team and and he's got tonight and
(20:45):
Game six to show that, Yeah, I can still be
that and not be shipped out for Giannis or whatever
you know, move the next are going to make in
the off season.
Speaker 6 (20:53):
Well, I certainly feel like he's sometimes performing on Broadway.
I'll give you that much. There's something he's just fascinating.
There's just the body language, the facial expressions, like there's
a whole circus going on inside that melon over the
course of the game. I would love to be able
(21:14):
to kind of know what's going through his mind. But yeah, no,
I don't know that. I don't know that he's like
he's looking to go any place else.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
I mean that the Knicks might say, Okay, we tried
it for a year. It wasn't quite as smooth as
we thought, and we can't have you and Jalen on
the floor at the same time because defensively, wow, that's
really is not our thing. So hey, we tried it,
and we need we need a different kind of mix.
Speaker 6 (21:43):
Well, but I think there's one one I think there's
other ways to fix that.
Speaker 5 (21:46):
And two, look, they're.
Speaker 6 (21:49):
In the conference finals. Like when you have a recipe
that works well enough to get you to the conference
finals and on the brink of going to the finals,
continuity and uh and and depth and versatility are are
the hallmarks of teams getting there. And so you can
(22:11):
go and change it up and get a guy. So,
I mean the other problem is how are you going
to get a significant upgrade without giving without giving up
certain assets? And so I think it's easier said than done.
And uh and and like I'm not in love with
(22:34):
the combination. I wasn't in love with the combination from
the beginning. But since they've had Mitchell Robinson in the mix, uh,
it has it's given them options. My biggest issue is
and and Stan Dan Gundy has pointed it out Regi
Miller as well on the broadcast. It's just he just
(22:55):
does some really dumb stuff, Like there's the the fouls
and some of the decisions. He's really it's trick or try,
And that's what I'd like to see adjusted. I think
if he played it a little more efficiently and closer
to the vest, we would we would accept.
Speaker 4 (23:13):
Some of the other shortcomings to take you behind the
curtain here, Rick, as we were sitting watching the game,
they're up fourteen, and Jason's feverishly working trade generators. The
only guy that was not involved was Jalen Brunson.
Speaker 6 (23:29):
But that's kind of a New York Knicks fan, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
I mean, in the middle of the Eastern Conference Finals,
forget it, let's worry about next year. Let's get next
year and take care of But not what have.
Speaker 6 (23:40):
You done for me lately? But like, what have you
done me? What have you done for me tomorrow before
we even get there?
Speaker 5 (23:46):
That's what?
Speaker 6 (23:47):
Yeah, it's yeah, you know what. God bless you Jason. God.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Now now let's say that. Let let's let's speak in
about looking ahead. I mean, this has been a great series.
You talked about it being closer than we see. Forget
about four games. I don't know that either the Paces
or the Knicks can you get two games from the
Thunder in the NBA Finals.
Speaker 5 (24:07):
I'm with you. I'm with you there.
Speaker 6 (24:09):
I I just the matchups are not are not good
for either team. And whether it's say Gilts and it's
not even like the perimeter. The guy to me that
I think is the X factor for for the Thunder
that that would be a difficult matchup for either the Lake,
(24:32):
the Pacers or the Knicks. Is Chet hold Home believe
it or not. I just think his defense and his
ability to score inside and outside, and you know, a
fearlessness beyond his years in attacking their rent, attacking the
rint and the.
Speaker 5 (24:48):
Ability to do so.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
He is.
Speaker 6 (24:53):
He is a young, maybe more spry, little bit longer
Kristaps for zingis. That's what he's doing for the Oklahoma
City Thunder right now and obviously much healthier. And this
is what's really amazing when you look at the Thunder
is the trio of Jalen Williams and Shay Gilgess, Alexander
(25:14):
and Chet Holmgren as a young crew that has just
come together, and how well they fit together, and they
make room for each other and they play off of
each other, and generally young guys, you know, they all
want to prove that they belong and what they can do,
and those guys, while they're doing it, don't let it
(25:34):
get in a way of what is of maximum value
to the team. And to be able to do that
at such a young age is why they are where
they are because it starts with that core being as
connected as they are, and I think that that just
bleeds through the rest of the team.
Speaker 4 (25:52):
It's funny, Rick, since we're into the thunder talk a
little bit, and we've certainly talked about it with you
a bunch, but the SGA Hey, Jason and I were
looking at each other the other night.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
He's got that many points, you.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
Know, you know, can you have a quiet thirty eight
point night if they weren't, you know, continually at the
foul line to show you the graphic, like, how about
is he had I don't know, ten twelve now he's
got thirty.
Speaker 6 (26:15):
Yeah, well, but you know what, and a big, big
reason for that is because he scores. It's not just
that the free throw line, you know, if you look
at and this is where I take exception to the
whole foul merchant saying, first of all, he was shooting
more free throws three years ago when they were forty
and forty two and they weren't making the playoffs, and
(26:36):
nobody cared, nobody was saying anything. Now that they are
beating teams now, it's suddenly it's become an issue. I
think it's a skill. And two, if you look at
where he is as far as the scorers in the league,
Trey Young is I believe third, was finished the regular
(27:00):
season third or fourth. I want to say third in
scoring and was you know, I take that back, fourteenth
and scoring, but third in free throws made and free
throws attempted. So a far greater bulk of his scoring
came from the free throw line than a shay Gilgess, Alexander,
(27:21):
even Damian Lillard I think was tenth in scoring, he
was fifth and free throws made and free throws attempted.
James Harden, same thing down the scale as far as scorer,
but top five in free throws made and attempted. Jay
in looking at the top guys, is the only guy
(27:42):
that I could find who was lower on the scale
of free throws made and attempted than where he was
in scoring. And obviously he was the leading scorer.
Speaker 5 (27:51):
In the league.
Speaker 6 (27:51):
So this idea that his whole game is fueled by
free throws is a misnomer. And there are other guys
that deserve that tag far more than he does. Uh
And and one of the reasons why he's able to
get to the free throw line and score so quietly
is because he can score at all three levels. He
doesn't have to dunk on me. He can score in
(28:12):
the mid range, he can knock down a three, and
obviously he can finish at the rint. So I just
I don't. I'm not I do. People can say it's
not attractive, or he's gaming the system or whatever. All
of that may be true. He's not. He's not the
he's not the first to do it, and he's not
the biggest culprit as I see it. So I think
(28:33):
we're making way too much of this.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
He's on Twitter at Rick Buker, that is at Rick Buker.
Check him out on the On the Ball podcast as well,
where he breaks down every one of Karl Anthony Towns'
facial expressions from getting live.
Speaker 6 (28:48):
That would do something. I'm gonna have to get out
of that. That's a good idea.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
See you, buddy, enjoy the games. We'll talk to you
after the next win Game seven on Monday.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
LOCKDOWNE shitrec.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Always a great visit with Rick Buker. Next show tell
them how to find out what's trending in the wide
world of sports, and Martin Wiss.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
What he got for us tonight game Live, going down
to the bottom of the ninth inning.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
I'm sorry, bottom of the tenth inning and the bottom
of the ninth inning. It was two to two in
the seventh.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
In the top of the tenth, Washington hung a seventh
spot nine to two over Seattle going into Seattle's last
three outs. That game on FS one's the last game
Live today. Elsewhere in Major League Baseball, the Phillies and
the Braves had a double header.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Phillies had a.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
Five to four win in Game one, with Kyle Hober
hitting his nineteenth home run, the Braves with a nine
to three win in uh in Game two, Chris Hill
with his twenty fifth hundredth strikeout. The Blue Jays beat
the Ads twelve to nothing, and the Rays beat the
Astros thirteen to three. In the NHL, the Oilers go
ahead and advance to the Stanley Cup Final, beating the
(30:00):
Dallas Stars six to three. Corey Perry with the goal,
Conor McDavid had one, Evander Kaine had won as well.
Evanton scored on their first two shots of the game,
causing Dallas to bench it's starting goalie.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
The Knicks stave off.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
Elimination in Game five, We'll go back to Madison Square
Garden for a game six one eleven to ninety four.
The final score Jalen Brunson with thirty two points, Karl
Anthony Towns with twenty four. So those two guys combined
for fifty six. That's pretty good. Michael Bridges, oj and
Andobe combined for twenty three. Both of them had double figures.
Tyrese Halliburton only had eight points on two for seven
(30:33):
from the floor today. Tough day for Tyrese haliburt In.
The hot score for the Indiana was Bennett Mathern. In
the NFL, Michael Parson's not at OTA's as the Cowboys,
and he's hoping they can reach a long term extension
before the start of the twenty twenty five season. Ricky
Piersall likely won practice until training camp. Wide receiver has
(30:55):
a hamstring injury, says San Francisco coach Shot Kyle Shanahan.
And the Dolphins and the Steelers figuring out their framework
for a John hu Smith potential trade. Smith would like
to stay in Miami. The tight end is owed four
point eight million dollars next year. Miami wants to restructure him,
and I guess Pittsburgh didn't have enough tight ends.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Back to you guys, Oh you got a couple more,
then it's all good. Yeah, it's all good. Thank you
very much, Mart, appreciate it. What a horrible move by Miami.
This like who's running the Dolphins. It's insanely bad. Like
Dolphins and Steelers both being run horribly. But hey, okay,
why not. We're gonna trade away at tighten, a Pro
Bowl tight end called eighty eight passes. Do you have
another pass catch around the roster? Nope, don't have one.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Okay, but for the Steelers it could be fun.
Speaker 4 (31:37):
You get to add an eighty eight reception guy for
the cost of a third day draft choice.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
At this point, we didn't want That's where we're at
with the Dolphins. We didn't want George Pickens, but we're
gonna get john Hu Smith. Oh okay, great, all right, great,
So it's gonna be a two tight end, one wide
receiver offense. Yeah, but here's the thing, two running backs,
two tight ends, one wide receiver.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
Is a Johnny Smith guy that's just gonna go out
and work. Now.
Speaker 4 (32:02):
I still wonder how much of George Pickens being unhappy
was the fact that you didn't have a quarterback that
could actually throw him the ball down.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
Well, you were more put him in Harm's way repeatedly.
Speaker 4 (32:12):
You don't have one right versus him just being in
general malcontent. Now all the scuttle but behind the scenes
is auditioned by subtraction for the Steelers.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Jhonder Smith.
Speaker 4 (32:21):
I think he's a guy that'll come into I could
be a Steeler anyways.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
Maybe, Yeah, I'd want to get out of Miami. They'revo jump.
That's like a lateral move though, with the way they're
each running their team.
Speaker 4 (32:31):
Yeah, but if you do anything of substance as a
member of the Steelers, you're set for life.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
They will take care of you in the Burg. We'll
have more NFL on the way. But coming up next,
something really bizarre from the postgame press conference tonight between
the Pacers and the Knicks. We got it for your
next right here. You got to hear it. Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific, Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
The Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harmon.
Oh yeah, yeah, we got some big craziness coming up
post game between the Pacers and the Knicks with everybody's
favorite basketball reporter Greg Doyle. Oh good, you remember him
from the Hey, You're gonna have your credential pulled because
(33:22):
we don't like these questions to Caitlin Clark. He was
added again tonight with Pascal Siakam following the Pacers loss,
which we'll have that for you as we're a crossing
arts dot in our eyes on this coming up in
about ten minutes. You want to know what the next
trending topic is going to be in sports, There you go,
But first we head to Vegas to find out if
(33:45):
Vegas thinks the Eastern Conference Finals is over. He's a
former rods maker at Caesar's. Check out his Bet the
Board podcast on Twitter at Todd Furman. See him on
CBS Todd. What's happening, man? How are you?
Speaker 5 (34:00):
I'm doing well to night, gentlemen. Hopefully you boys are
as well.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
His Nicks one. So what do you think my night's been?
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Pal?
Speaker 5 (34:06):
I was going to say, I mean, he's got to
cling to every last victory for the New York Knickerbockers,
although they stave off elimination and in the eyes of
odds makers about a three to one underdog to punch
their ticket to the NBA Finals.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
Okay, that's not bad. I thought you were going to
say more than that. I'm okay at three to one,
I feel good about that.
Speaker 5 (34:24):
Yeah, it turns into a two game moneyline parlay essentially
what you're looking at here, and the Pacers a three
and a half four point favorite for pivotal Game six
on the road, and then the Knicks would open a
short favorite at home if they're able to push it
to game seven.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
Can I bet what Knicks fans make the trip to
Game six? Can I bet a Shalla may Stiller parlay
for game six?
Speaker 5 (34:44):
I mean you may have access to their busy social calendars,
So if you're looking to try and betting it, I
figured you've talked to their agents or publicist and it
should be an overwhelming favorite if you run into the
window to try and bet that.
Speaker 4 (34:55):
So we've been trying to do our crack research staff
of two, he and I in the studio here, Todd,
maybe you can help us with this Game five team
up three to one? Is there anything in the numbers
to suggest that we have a good lean in that
subsequent game? Of a team maybe not coming full throat
(35:15):
like the Pacers tonight.
Speaker 5 (35:17):
You know, history usually working against teams with that commanding
three to one series lead, although if you look at
a team facing a three to one deficit headed home,
they've actually been a great in that particular spot. The
Knicks continued that trend. Believe that record now moves to
thirty three and twelve straight up the last forty five
times we've been in this kind of scenario, and now
it begs the question is who has the burden of
(35:38):
proof and the pressure on them in Game six? Is
that the Pacers playing at home, knowing if they don't
close it out they'll have to go on the road
in a hostile territory. Or is it a Knix team
that feels they let a glorious opportunity in Game one
slip through their fingers, and if things were a little
bit different, they'd be headed on the road with a
chance to close out the Pacers having essentially a mulligan
in their back pocket.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
Is there any way todd that the thunder are in
an overwhelming favorite over either of these teams in the
NBA Finals.
Speaker 5 (36:03):
No, no scenario where they wouldn't be a massive favorite,
and if you're looking at the Thunder right now, to
put things in perspective, they'd be right around a seven
dollars favorite against the Knicks, an eight dollars favorite against
the Pacers, and you'd be looking at them as a
two and a half game favorite, needing to lay a
substantial price. So we're talking about relatively rarefied air, typically
(36:24):
reserved for teams like the Golden State Warriors when they
were in their heyday, the Chicago Bulls, and it just
speaks to the level of dominance we've seen from the Thunder,
combined with the fact that we have two de facto
Cinderella stories emerging in the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 4 (36:36):
Now we have the three and a half point lines
set up for Game six here back to Indiana obviously officiating,
what's an official worth, what's Scott Foster worth?
Speaker 5 (36:48):
To align It always depends on what the association can
try and do from a seven figure revenue standpoint to
get an extra game seven. So you don't have that
much downtime between tipoff at Saturday night at eight o'clock
Eastern Time with the start of the NBA Finals and
the subsequent Thursday, So you always want to know the
players that are in the game, but the odds market
(37:08):
speaking pretty strongly that this will be the biggest favorite
the Pacers have been in any of these games thus far.
What's interesting is you've seen the total adjust a little
bit as well, a closing number two twenty three for
today's game that came in well short of that, and
we're now down to two twenty albeit in a building
where Indiana should typically control pace and tempo, and we'll
see if they can get out and race, knowing that
the Knicks don't want to try and turn it into
(37:29):
a track meet.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
Hey, Todd, you know we see this big story today
that it looks like both the college basketball and college
football players so they can expand sometime in the next year.
Are you hearing the same thing, Like, is that going
to be a done deal? I mean, it feels like
it's moving that way.
Speaker 5 (37:44):
It definitely feels that we're on a crash course. More
games mean more revenue, and well, I'm not sure that
the college basketball tournament benefits by expanding the seventy six teams.
It's widely been out there. As the sport gets more
and more top heavy, it just becomes fodder to play
in the middle of the week. We may well turned
into two hundred and fifty sixteen tournament at this rate.
That way, Northwestern and Syracuse have absolutely no excuse if
(38:06):
they're not playing meaningful postseason basketball. But as the football side, guys,
we know that it was just a matter of time
before the powers that be in the SEC and Big
Ten we're going to somehow be unhappy that they couldn't
have half of their respective conferences into a college football playoff.
And the fact that we're trending towards fourteen and sixteen
teams already the timeline a little bit surprising, but not
(38:26):
so much that we're headed there, and you have to
wonder if we'll get anywhere closer to an FCS like
twenty fourteen playoff with a lot of teams getting buys
on top of that.
Speaker 4 (38:34):
Did beget a lot of action with Johnny Smith rumored
to be going to the Steelers, I mean waiting on
Aaron Rodgers to go to the Steelers.
Speaker 5 (38:41):
Yeah, JOHNU. Smith not exactly moving the needle as far
as odds to win the division or regular season wins.
When you're assessing the Pittsburgh Steelers the way they're being
priced in the market now it has a little bit
of that Aaron Rodgers factor built in. Mason Rudolph would
not be a full field goal favorite on the road
at the Jets Week one anymore than the pittsg or
Steelers win total sits at a robust eight and a
(39:02):
half if Rootolph is QB one going into that Week
one opener.
Speaker 1 (39:05):
He's on Twitter at Todd Ferman. That is at Todd
Ferman again the Bet the Board podcast. The link is
right there on his Twitter page c HM on CBS.
Todd has always been appreciate it. We'll talk to you
after the next win Game seven on Monday.
Speaker 5 (39:17):
Hey, miracles happened every day in sports, and we'll have
to see if they're able to pull it off because
fortunately for the next they're much more likely to do
that than one.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
So to win NLMVA three to one's not a miracle, man,
that's not now one So noo, I'm with you, but
three to one's not a miracle.
Speaker 5 (39:33):
Always a pleasure, boys, have a great weekend.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
Appreciated, Thanks, guys. I'll tell you I really thought it
would be reworse than that three to one. Okay, I'm
I'm feeling better now.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Feeling good.
Speaker 4 (39:42):
Yeah, a brief two game parlay a.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
Uh so great to visit with Todd. But coming up
next yeah, uh got to make sure the audio is
okay to play. You will hear it the big confrontation
that Pascal Siaka with the Pacers had with a now
notorious Yeah basketball reporter. That's next right here, Jason and
Mike Fox
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
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 Foxsports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every night on the
iHeartRadio app by searching FSR ever give you're.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Greetings, Welcome in side hour three The Jason Smith Show
with my bass friend Mike Harmon.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Well dressed Cobo we are.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
You can stream the show all of our Fox Sports
Radio shows live twenty four to seven in the new
iHeartRadio app. Just search Fox Sports Radio in the app
stream us live. One of the newest features in the app,
you can select Fox Sports Radio is one of your presets,
just like the presets on a radio dive well, so
be sure to preset Fox Sports Radio in the iHeartRadio app.
It'll always pop up at the top of your screen
(01:06):
so you can lock it in and rip the knob off,
which is exactly what the Knicks did tonight to the Pacers.
They take Game five, so it will be a game
six Saturday in Indiana, a game the Knicks took control
of before halftime. The Pacers never really made a concerted run.
(01:27):
They got it to within six or eight a couple
of times, but the Knicks would always push that lead out.
They went at one eleven to ninety four. It was
a big night for the Knicks. From the guys you
expected to have big nights, You needed to have big nights.
It was thirty two from Jalen Brunson. It was a
big night for Karl Anthony Towns. And I gotta tell
you because this is kind of where I'm at tonight.
You went, How am I as a Knicks fan going
(01:47):
over this watching Brunson? You know, Brunson out a big
night again. He makes shots. You just make me just go.
I can't with the pressure on him. They need big possessions.
He makes it. But Karl Anthony Town's twenty four and
thirteen tonight right at a bruise. Uh. He was a
game time decision for the game tonight. But I absolutely went
out to play and played pretty well. Uh. Like when
(02:09):
I'm watching the game tonight, just to kind of pull
the curtain back, like I'm watching this and yes, I'm
I'm I'm wanting to see the series get pushed to Saturday, obviously,
but mainly there's a lot of me and I don't
think I'm the only person watching this game. I'm the
only one watching this game going okay. I'm deciding which
Knicks can come back for next year, at which they
(02:31):
have to put in a trade for Giannis or somebody
else or a big playmaking forward that can come in
and do things. Thanks because Karl Anthony Town's been a
really tough fit, and you know, and new Nobody's been
up and down, and and you know, Bridges has been
up and down. He's had his moments but not been great.
Like I'm watching, going okay, this is who I think
can come back next year and who we can put
(02:51):
in that trade, because the guys all make money, so
we can make an easy trade to make the money work,
whether it's Giannis to somebody else. But I'm watching that tonight,
going okay. I'm putting my gradon on the Knicks this season.
My great coming in.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Well, every one of the games I've been watching with you,
you got Jalen Brunson and every other member of the
Knicks has been blotted out by the.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Void yeah, at some point, yeah, sure, yeah, ah, he's
gone yeah yeah, like you've gotten rid of everybody. Yeah,
oh at some point, sure yeah, if you haven't been
fired repeatedly.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
Bridges has been traded for seven times. Karl Anthony, Josh Hart,
you got no use for he was twelve and ten tonight,
but you hate him. I was even I was even,
I was even bad on Josh Art tonight.
Speaker 5 (03:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Well, when he first came into it, when he comes
to the game, like, what are you doing, man, what
do you do? No, he's at a.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
He's at a very inconsistent game outside of rebounding like
going to the glass, he's gone Rodman in this series
offensively not quite sure what you're getting. But defensively and rebounding,
you've had your moments. But all that watching you live,
live and die with the squad because you started to
get a little juice again. Okay, And then on air,
(03:56):
as we're sitting here in the Fox Sports Radio studios,
every time I went at Halliburton and the team look
close out opportunity and I get it.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
You're on the road.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
You've still got two in the pocket that you can
go to. But general rule of thumb for me, and
it changed in the NBA. And I know we've talked
about this a lot. Is if I've got the opportunity
to squash you, I'm gonna at least give you a
full throttle. Let's get after it, which I didn't feel
like we got from Halliburton.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
And that's starting five today.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
Probably one of the starting five was even in double
three nine. Pascal Siakam finishes with fifteen. You get a
big game from Mathron off the bench with twenty three.
Last two games, he's.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Nine rebounds, nine for nine from the foul line.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
All of those things are are true, but it's one
of those don't give them any air and possibility to
extend this thing. So you kept going, I don't know,
pacers might have right where they want them like, And
I couldn't tell if it was smarty, smart assery or
if you really thought they're gonna blow this.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Can't wait him. I'm not gonna get too high. No,
the thing is you'll rip my heart out like.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
The guy in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom show.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
It to me. My big thing was getting to the
six minute mark of the fourth quarter, because the six
minute mark is when the Pacers will say, okay, we're
calling the dogs off and we're done. Yeah, if they
could keep that twelve to fifteen point lead with six
minutes left, the Pacers aren't going to expend all that
energy to try to come back like they did in
Game one. They're gonna pull it and put it away.
(05:29):
And clearly the Pacers before then, when he got to
the fourth quarter, it was a twenty two point lead,
Rick Carlisle had Tyre's Halliburton on the bench, so you know,
at that point the Pacer is basically giving up, and
it's hey, if the bench shoots us back into it,
and McConnell makes threes and Obi Toppin makes threes and
all these things that hey, okay, And they actually cut
it to ten or twelve, and Halliburton went back in
the game midway through the fourth quarter. But Brunton, it's
(05:51):
a couple of shots, Mitchell Robinson, it's a couple of shots,
and then the lead is back out to seventeen eighteen,
and Rick Carlisle pulled everybody out of the game.
Speaker 5 (05:58):
Right.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
I knew if they could just get to the midway
point of the fourth quarter, it was going to be
a different effort by the Pacers in the final few
minutes and they were gonna put it away and get
ready for game six.
Speaker 4 (06:09):
You know that three pointer that topp And hit, that
was kind of like a dagger moment.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Yeah, it's the only what he's hit of the eleven.
He's taking it, you.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Right, but you have that, so you know, the game
goes into the into.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
The books and and for the Knicks.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
You know, I tweeted it and I grabbed a tweet
and texted you in Frostburg early this afternoon because Begley
there s n Y was reporting that, according to Timms,
Karl Anthony Towns was now a game time decision being
because of the knee injury and what.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Could have been his last game as a Nick like
Karl Anthony Towns is questionable, but.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
A guy who decided, and I think this goes to
the larger point for the squad. We're not going down
without it going for We're not going to have anything
left in the tank, like we're going out swinging.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
So maybe that knee is problematic.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
I don't know when he went down in a heap
end of last game, but really came out and gave
you a big effort, including a couple of big three
point shots.
Speaker 6 (07:04):
No.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
So, I mean, look, it's it's a it's a situation
in which the Knicks took. Why did they Why did
they win this game? And I'll give you a big
silver lining for this. They won this game simply because
defensively they were more active Jalen Brunson, who even said
after the game game four, they went at me defensively,
I have to be better defense. It's hard to hear
Jalen Brunton said I have to be better, But when
(07:26):
you hear the best player on your team and your
leader say I have to be better. And he was
much more active tonight the Knicks and more aggressive in general.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
Well, dude, Bmicbride, that was his big quote from the
post game. He just said, look, I felt like we
came out with an edge. Yeah, that's what he was.
One of the guys said, I wish they would have
had more of an edge before it was three to one.
But hey, you know, sometimes just celebrate that you got
to the party and not the fact that boy, you're
really late.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Man, you missed a lot of good stuff. But okay,
we're here. So the defensive intensity was there for the Knicks, right,
was there for the next day they turned that. Here
for the Pacers, it's no due and gloom tonight, Right,
it's no doom and gloom because they're going back with
two chances to win, especially going back at home where
in theory your bench is gonna play better and Halliburn's
not gonna have another, you know, horrible game like this.
(08:11):
But here's your silver lining for the Knicks. Okay, here's
a silver lining is that when you examine the Pacers
and how they've played this series. Right, And we've got
a fund saying, hey, we're gonna preview the Pacers and
the Thunder NBA Finals at some point the Pacers are
gonna come back to earth. And I said, okay, in
(08:32):
the finals against the Thunder, they're not gonna They're they're
not gonna play at this level. They have been playing
at the highest level they could possibly play at for
the first four games of this series. Now tonight was
kind of a halfway effort, and they and they and
they packed it in. But can they continue to play?
Do they have another two games where Tyrese Halliburton has
(08:53):
the game of his life and again it was just
enough to beat the Knicks where Pascal Siakam has the
game of his life, and again just enough to beat
the Knicks, where Nee Smith has the game of his life,
and again just enough to beat the Knicks, where Matherin
has the game of his life. And again it was
just enough to beat the Knicks. Like are they they
got all of this in the first four games and
it's a three to two series, Like it's just gonna
(09:15):
go home. They're gonna rediscover that form or is this Hey,
we played as well as we could and now the
Knicks are adjusting a little bit. And again it took
a long time, but do we have enough? Can we
do that again? Because they don't just need to say, well,
Halliburton's gotta play better. It's they need Halliburton and Siakam
and then stuff from them hard and they need Niemith
(09:35):
like they need everything. They need everything from all of
their all of their starting five and the bench guys
to come through if they're gonna beat the Knicks. And
we saw it. And at some point they're gonna get
a bounce. And I thought the bounce for the Pacers
would come in the NBA Finals because you're playing a
team that is clearly made to beat anybody in the NBA.
And again, I don't see the Thunder losing more than
(09:56):
a game in the NBA Finals. We talked about that
last night. But maybe maybe the bounce comes now, and
maybe it was first four games were great and now
they're limping to the end of the series, because what
do we see last year the Knicks, The first few
games were great, then guys started getting hurt and they
limped towards the end of the series, and the Pacers
round up waiting to move on. Like that's the one
silver lining I see for the Knicks here is that
(10:18):
maybe this is where the Pacers get that bounce and
it's game six, Game seven and not the NBA Finals. Well,
you saw the way they came out tonight. And we're
always watching officials, but we're certainly watchingofficial dot NBA dot
com to see what those assignments are. Saturday morning game
of nine am Eastern time will be about the time
(10:40):
that those are announced officially, whether we get the bat
signal to Scott Foster or not. But he's lighting by
the phone. He's waiting for your call.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
But whoever is in charge and in running the crew,
it's the how tight a game are you gonna call?
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Right?
Speaker 4 (10:54):
Are you gonna let him get after it like they
did tonight? Like there were a lot of sequences. We
joked about it earlier, the radio call in terms of
arguing fiul not file based on shots falling, but the
incidental contact.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Do you let a guy fight through a screen.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
Where all right, it might be a little bit messy,
a little bit more physical, but do you let it go?
It is, in fact the Eastern Conference finals, So generally
the rule of thumb is yes. But we've seen some
soft whistles, so it's do you get a consistent whistle
like tonight? Because they let him beat the hell out
of each other tonight. So if you're gonna let him
play a game like this, I don't know. I like
(11:29):
my chances with guys like Brunson and Karl Anthony Towns
getting after it on anobi and even Josh Hart working
in the low post that they're gonna be able to
more than hold their own. McBride coming off the bench
for huge minutes. You want to talk about a guy
who decided, Hey, I'm gonna throw my body around and
see if they're gonna call stuff. That was a guy
that he was at the forefront of it, which is
(11:50):
why he had more guys around his locker.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Than anytbody else in the post. Well, it's funny. Afterwards
they asked Karl Anthony Towns on this, I think was
Barkley that said, Hey, how come you know you play
so great offense? How do you get called for all
these stupid files? And he said, God only knows.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
No, No, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Yeah, no, they are absolutely like that.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
Question is about his feel Like a lot of times
that would seem like a flippant but if you're actually
watching these games, some of the files that Karl Anthony
Towns commits are really silly.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
And I'll give you this hot take, right is that
you know we talk about Okay, it's really weird. In
the Eastern Conference finals, we're talking about a team, what
do you need to do for next year? Like no
team has been had more stuff wrong with it than
the Knicks. In the East. There's three teams left and
the Knicks are one of them, and we're talking about
next year. But Carl Anthony Towns honestly is playing for
his future as a Nick Like tonight and Game six
(12:44):
are then can the Knicks go forward and have the
defensive liabilities of both Brunson and Towns on the floor
at the same time, because news flash, Brunson ain't going anywhere.
But Carl, can you have both those guys out there?
Because clearly the Pacers are able to take advantage of that,
because these are two defenders that aren't great and they
need to have some other, a playmaking forward, somebody else
(13:06):
in there. Karl Anthony Towns is playing for his future
as a Nick and that was tonight with a big
night with twenty four and thirteen. That's gonna be game six,
making sure he stays on the floor. This is what
you think I'm saying, Oh no, because he's the guy
that's gonna go, because he is someone that has the
most trade value, that still is a phenomenal offensive player,
(13:26):
and you saw this year he's able to show that, Hey,
in a new system, I can still play offensively pretty well.
But the fit hasn't been what the Knicks thought it
was going to be, Like look great in the very
beginning of the year, and then as the year went on,
it was Man, things just aren't jelling. Like mcal Bridges
didn't gel he had his moments against the Celtics, stealing
the ball at the end of every game. But Carl
(13:48):
Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson have not been the one
two that it was expected to be. So okay, can
we go into next year thinking another year and whatever
minor tweaking of the bench roster we can do, We're
gonna bring the same guys back and hope for a
different result or is it gonna be Hey, one year,
we tried it, it didn't work, and so now we
move on like he's playing for his future as a
(14:09):
nick in last night, do it Tonight's game? And what's
gonna happen in Game six? Tremendous heart tonight. But yeah,
but we talk about the defensive liability of it. The
other three guys just have to work that much harder
if they're both on the court together. And that's the
hard part, which.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
Is why if you're a team like the Pacers, with
the depth that they have and the ability for all
those bigs to step out, whether it's Turner, Siakam whoever,
to hit a three point shot, you're gonna be able
to find an open man and an open.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Look exit out about a Fresco exit Swollen Dome, Jason Smith,
Mike Harmon live from the Fox Sports Radio studios. We
have a one and only Rick Buker coming up next,
Fox Sports One Insider. Is the NBA Finals really still over?
Can anybody beat the thunder? Is Luca really that skinny?
(14:55):
All that?
Speaker 6 (14:56):
More?
Speaker 1 (14:56):
From Rick? Coming up next, Jason to Mike Fox.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
You want 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
Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
The Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harmon. Yeah,
the Knicks keep the Eastern Conference Finals alive. The NBA
gets another game in this round one eleven ninety four
over the Pacers. Thirty two from Jalen Brunson, Karl Anthony
Towns in a game to game audition to say it
the next next year has a big night joining us
(15:33):
now on the hotline. Nobody better to talk everything in
the NBA than Fox Sports One Insider Extraordinaire. Check out
the On the Ball podcast as well. It is Rick
Buker who came on the show and this couple nights
ago and said Jace, I feel really good about you
getting game five. He has nostra damas he is with
us right now.
Speaker 6 (15:54):
What's happening, Rick, Oh, just live in the dream, Jason,
live in the spree. We're all going back to Indianapolis. Okay,
maybe that's not a good dream, but we are going
back to Indianapolis, and it's better than the alternative. So yeah. Now,
now the question is because I've always thought the series
(16:15):
is a lot closer than it's played out, and or
at least the indications like Indiana's just better. Not they're
not winning by a lot, but they're they're just better.
And I don't know. Maybe I'm motioning and hoping, but
I'm wishing and hoping that we see that we see
a seventh game now, and I don't think it's beyond
(16:36):
the realm of possibility. But because I felt like in
Game four the next really did it to themselves, and
and so they came out with the right pressure, the
right defense. They took care of business. Obviously, Jalen Brunson
came out like a house on fire. I'm sure that
(16:59):
Indiana's gonna try play fast, but this is this is
one of the things that when the teams never is
on the brink of going to the finals. You know,
it's kind of the last step. That's what's impressed me
about the Thunder is the Thunder played way above them
their their pay grade, as far as their experience and
their age, and they took care of business in a
very matter of way. But not that's that's the exception
(17:21):
rather than the rule for teams that have never been there.
So I'll be very interested to see where Game six goes.
So I'm not I'm not putting it out of the
realm of possibility that that the Knicks can force the
game seven.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Well, I know you've been texting with him. Do you
have confirmation that Scott Foster will be officiating Game six?
Speaker 6 (17:41):
I have, I do not confirmation, but that's I would
say that it's either it's either Scott Foster or it's
his protege Ben Taylor. One of the two will be fine.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Well or I mean Tony Brothers referees every other game.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Yes, yeah, you get one of the three.
Speaker 5 (17:58):
I have three.
Speaker 6 (18:00):
Maybe we'll get all three. We'll get the trifector.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
Yeah, I've booked markedofficial dot NBA dot com Rick and
I'm up and reloading it with great regularity as we
get to game time. But we saw the physical intensity
for the Knicks. McBride talking about a post game of
you know, really having to lay it out there. And
I'm glad we didn't get a no show effort like
we watched last night.
Speaker 5 (18:24):
Yeah, no, no question, And I was not.
Speaker 6 (18:28):
Look, the Minnesota effort didn't really surprised me because I
felt like they were a little so gayzy, like this
entire playoff run, that they weren't playing nearly as well
as maybe the results in the first two rounds would
have would have suggested. And and yeah, it was disappointing
that they didn't put up a bigger fight, but but
(18:51):
not really not really surprising. I just thought the Knicks,
you know, there's there. The Knicks have a grittiness and
a pride about them, you know, starting with Dalen Brunton.
I in no way expected them to lay down in
the same manner, and I just hope that they realized that, Like,
if they're forceful defensively, I still think there were times
(19:12):
in tonight's game where they could have been more aggressive defensively.
And what I really love is that Timson is rewarding
guys off of his bench. Landry Shammitt in particular, has
has transformed himself into a different guy. Like he used
to be a guy that like if he missed the shot,
(19:36):
he looked like he was afraid of his own shadow.
And he has played I mean, he's just been a
It sounds weird to say he's been a force off
the bench, not only making shots, but the way he's
gotten into guys physically defensively. I just it's been really impressive.
And it's I got to give Tibbs credit, Like I
(19:57):
don't know what prompted it, but he has. He has
gone to his bench, he's trusted his guys, and outside
of you know, some of the mishaps, he's stuck with it.
And so it's, uh, it's I guess it's never too
late for somebuch to change their way.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
So that means Karl Anthony Towns will play better defense
on Saturday. Got it? Okay, let's come.
Speaker 6 (20:22):
On now, let's not go too far with this.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
I really I feel like Rick that that cat tonight
and Saturday. I mean, I may just me watch the name,
but I feel like he's auditioning to stay a nick
after this year. Like I feel like that's what's going
on now at this point, Like, Hey, is he going
to be part of of of the big solution in
an NBA championship team and and he's got tonight and
(20:45):
Game six to show that, Yeah, I can still be
that and not be shipped out for Giannis or whatever
you know, move the next are going to make in
the off season.
Speaker 6 (20:53):
Well, I certainly feel like he's sometimes performing on Broadway.
I'll give you that much. There's something he's just fascinating.
There's just the body language, the facial expressions, like there's
a whole circus going on inside that melon over the
course of the game. I would love to be able
(21:14):
to kind of know what's going through his mind. But yeah, no,
I don't know that. I don't know that he's like
he's looking to go any place else.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
I mean that the Knicks might say, Okay, we tried
it for a year. It wasn't quite as smooth as
we thought, and we can't have you and Jalen on
the floor at the same time because defensively, wow, that's
really is not our thing. So hey, we tried it,
and we need we need a different kind of mix.
Speaker 6 (21:43):
Well, but I think there's one one I think there's
other ways to fix that.
Speaker 5 (21:46):
And two, look, they're.
Speaker 6 (21:49):
In the conference finals. Like when you have a recipe
that works well enough to get you to the conference
finals and on the brink of going to the finals,
continuity and uh and and depth and versatility are are
the hallmarks of teams getting there. And so you can
(22:11):
go and change it up and get a guy. So,
I mean the other problem is how are you going
to get a significant upgrade without giving without giving up
certain assets? And so I think it's easier said than done.
And uh and and like I'm not in love with
(22:34):
the combination. I wasn't in love with the combination from
the beginning. But since they've had Mitchell Robinson in the mix, uh,
it has it's given them options. My biggest issue is
and and Stan Dan Gundy has pointed it out Regi
Miller as well on the broadcast. It's just he just
(22:55):
does some really dumb stuff, Like there's the the fouls
and some of the decisions. He's really it's trick or try,
And that's what I'd like to see adjusted. I think
if he played it a little more efficiently and closer
to the vest, we would we would accept.
Speaker 4 (23:13):
Some of the other shortcomings to take you behind the
curtain here, Rick, as we were sitting watching the game,
they're up fourteen, and Jason's feverishly working trade generators. The
only guy that was not involved was Jalen Brunson.
Speaker 6 (23:29):
But that's kind of a New York Knicks fan, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
I mean, in the middle of the Eastern Conference Finals,
forget it, let's worry about next year. Let's get next
year and take care of But not what have.
Speaker 6 (23:40):
You done for me lately? But like, what have you
done me? What have you done for me tomorrow before
we even get there?
Speaker 5 (23:46):
That's what?
Speaker 6 (23:47):
Yeah, it's yeah, you know what. God bless you Jason. God.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Now now let's say that. Let let's let's speak in
about looking ahead. I mean, this has been a great series.
You talked about it being closer than we see. Forget
about four games. I don't know that either the Paces
or the Knicks can you get two games from the
Thunder in the NBA Finals.
Speaker 5 (24:07):
I'm with you. I'm with you there.
Speaker 6 (24:09):
I I just the matchups are not are not good
for either team. And whether it's say Gilts and it's
not even like the perimeter. The guy to me that
I think is the X factor for for the Thunder
that that would be a difficult matchup for either the Lake,
(24:32):
the Pacers or the Knicks. Is Chet hold Home believe
it or not. I just think his defense and his
ability to score inside and outside, and you know, a
fearlessness beyond his years in attacking their rent, attacking the
rint and the.
Speaker 5 (24:48):
Ability to do so.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
He is.
Speaker 6 (24:53):
He is a young, maybe more spry, little bit longer
Kristaps for zingis. That's what he's doing for the Oklahoma
City Thunder right now and obviously much healthier. And this
is what's really amazing when you look at the Thunder
is the trio of Jalen Williams and Shay Gilgess, Alexander
(25:14):
and Chet Holmgren as a young crew that has just
come together, and how well they fit together, and they
make room for each other and they play off of
each other, and generally young guys, you know, they all
want to prove that they belong and what they can do,
and those guys, while they're doing it, don't let it
(25:34):
get in a way of what is of maximum value
to the team. And to be able to do that
at such a young age is why they are where
they are because it starts with that core being as
connected as they are, and I think that that just
bleeds through the rest of the team.
Speaker 4 (25:52):
It's funny, Rick, since we're into the thunder talk a
little bit, and we've certainly talked about it with you
a bunch, but the SGA Hey, Jason and I were
looking at each other the other night.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
He's got that many points, you.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
Know, you know, can you have a quiet thirty eight
point night if they weren't, you know, continually at the
foul line to show you the graphic, like, how about
is he had I don't know, ten twelve now he's
got thirty.
Speaker 6 (26:15):
Yeah, well, but you know what, and a big, big
reason for that is because he scores. It's not just
that the free throw line, you know, if you look
at and this is where I take exception to the
whole foul merchant saying, first of all, he was shooting
more free throws three years ago when they were forty
and forty two and they weren't making the playoffs, and
(26:36):
nobody cared, nobody was saying anything. Now that they are
beating teams now, it's suddenly it's become an issue. I
think it's a skill. And two, if you look at
where he is as far as the scorers in the league,
Trey Young is I believe third, was finished the regular
(27:00):
season third or fourth. I want to say third in
scoring and was you know, I take that back, fourteenth
and scoring, but third in free throws made and free
throws attempted. So a far greater bulk of his scoring
came from the free throw line than a shay Gilgess, Alexander,
(27:21):
even Damian Lillard I think was tenth in scoring, he
was fifth and free throws made and free throws attempted.
James Harden, same thing down the scale as far as scorer,
but top five in free throws made and attempted. Jay
in looking at the top guys, is the only guy
(27:42):
that I could find who was lower on the scale
of free throws made and attempted than where he was
in scoring. And obviously he was the leading scorer.
Speaker 5 (27:51):
In the league.
Speaker 6 (27:51):
So this idea that his whole game is fueled by
free throws is a misnomer. And there are other guys
that deserve that tag far more than he does. Uh
And and one of the reasons why he's able to
get to the free throw line and score so quietly
is because he can score at all three levels. He
doesn't have to dunk on me. He can score in
(28:12):
the mid range, he can knock down a three, and
obviously he can finish at the rint. So I just
I don't. I'm not I do. People can say it's
not attractive, or he's gaming the system or whatever. All
of that may be true. He's not. He's not the
he's not the first to do it, and he's not
the biggest culprit as I see it. So I think
(28:33):
we're making way too much of this.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
He's on Twitter at Rick Buker, that is at Rick Buker.
Check him out on the On the Ball podcast as well,
where he breaks down every one of Karl Anthony Towns'
facial expressions from getting live.
Speaker 6 (28:48):
That would do something. I'm gonna have to get out
of that. That's a good idea.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
See you, buddy, enjoy the games. We'll talk to you
after the next win Game seven on Monday.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
LOCKDOWNE shitrec.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Always a great visit with Rick Buker. Next show tell
them how to find out what's trending in the wide
world of sports, and Martin Wiss.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
What he got for us tonight game Live, going down
to the bottom of the ninth inning.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
I'm sorry, bottom of the tenth inning and the bottom
of the ninth inning. It was two to two in
the seventh.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
In the top of the tenth, Washington hung a seventh
spot nine to two over Seattle going into Seattle's last
three outs. That game on FS one's the last game
Live today. Elsewhere in Major League Baseball, the Phillies and
the Braves had a double header.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Phillies had a.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
Five to four win in Game one, with Kyle Hober
hitting his nineteenth home run, the Braves with a nine
to three win in uh in Game two, Chris Hill
with his twenty fifth hundredth strikeout. The Blue Jays beat
the Ads twelve to nothing, and the Rays beat the
Astros thirteen to three. In the NHL, the Oilers go
ahead and advance to the Stanley Cup Final, beating the
(30:00):
Dallas Stars six to three. Corey Perry with the goal,
Conor McDavid had one, Evander Kaine had won as well.
Evanton scored on their first two shots of the game,
causing Dallas to bench it's starting goalie.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
The Knicks stave off.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
Elimination in Game five, We'll go back to Madison Square
Garden for a game six one eleven to ninety four.
The final score Jalen Brunson with thirty two points, Karl
Anthony Towns with twenty four. So those two guys combined
for fifty six. That's pretty good. Michael Bridges, oj and
Andobe combined for twenty three. Both of them had double figures.
Tyrese Halliburton only had eight points on two for seven
(30:33):
from the floor today. Tough day for Tyrese haliburt In.
The hot score for the Indiana was Bennett Mathern. In
the NFL, Michael Parson's not at OTA's as the Cowboys,
and he's hoping they can reach a long term extension
before the start of the twenty twenty five season. Ricky
Piersall likely won practice until training camp. Wide receiver has
(30:55):
a hamstring injury, says San Francisco coach Shot Kyle Shanahan.
And the Dolphins and the Steelers figuring out their framework
for a John hu Smith potential trade. Smith would like
to stay in Miami. The tight end is owed four
point eight million dollars next year. Miami wants to restructure him,
and I guess Pittsburgh didn't have enough tight ends.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Back to you guys, Oh you got a couple more,
then it's all good. Yeah, it's all good. Thank you
very much, Mart, appreciate it. What a horrible move by Miami.
This like who's running the Dolphins. It's insanely bad. Like
Dolphins and Steelers both being run horribly. But hey, okay,
why not. We're gonna trade away at tighten, a Pro
Bowl tight end called eighty eight passes. Do you have
another pass catch around the roster? Nope, don't have one.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Okay, but for the Steelers it could be fun.
Speaker 4 (31:37):
You get to add an eighty eight reception guy for
the cost of a third day draft choice.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
At this point, we didn't want That's where we're at
with the Dolphins. We didn't want George Pickens, but we're
gonna get john Hu Smith. Oh okay, great, all right, great,
So it's gonna be a two tight end, one wide
receiver offense. Yeah, but here's the thing, two running backs,
two tight ends, one wide receiver.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
Is a Johnny Smith guy that's just gonna go out
and work. Now.
Speaker 4 (32:02):
I still wonder how much of George Pickens being unhappy
was the fact that you didn't have a quarterback that
could actually throw him the ball down.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
Well, you were more put him in Harm's way repeatedly.
Speaker 4 (32:12):
You don't have one right versus him just being in
general malcontent. Now all the scuttle but behind the scenes
is auditioned by subtraction for the Steelers.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Jhonder Smith.
Speaker 4 (32:21):
I think he's a guy that'll come into I could
be a Steeler anyways.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
Maybe, Yeah, I'd want to get out of Miami. They'revo jump.
That's like a lateral move though, with the way they're
each running their team.
Speaker 4 (32:31):
Yeah, but if you do anything of substance as a
member of the Steelers, you're set for life.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
They will take care of you in the Burg. We'll
have more NFL on the way. But coming up next,
something really bizarre from the postgame press conference tonight between
the Pacers and the Knicks. We got it for your
next right here. You got to hear it. Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific, Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
The Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harmon.
Oh yeah, yeah, we got some big craziness coming up
post game between the Pacers and the Knicks with everybody's
favorite basketball reporter Greg Doyle. Oh good, you remember him
from the Hey, You're gonna have your credential pulled because
(33:22):
we don't like these questions to Caitlin Clark. He was
added again tonight with Pascal Siakam following the Pacers loss,
which we'll have that for you as we're a crossing
arts dot in our eyes on this coming up in
about ten minutes. You want to know what the next
trending topic is going to be in sports, There you go,
But first we head to Vegas to find out if
(33:45):
Vegas thinks the Eastern Conference Finals is over. He's a
former rods maker at Caesar's. Check out his Bet the
Board podcast on Twitter at Todd Furman. See him on
CBS Todd. What's happening, man? How are you?
Speaker 5 (34:00):
I'm doing well to night, gentlemen. Hopefully you boys are
as well.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
His Nicks one. So what do you think my night's been?
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Pal?
Speaker 5 (34:06):
I was going to say, I mean, he's got to
cling to every last victory for the New York Knickerbockers,
although they stave off elimination and in the eyes of
odds makers about a three to one underdog to punch
their ticket to the NBA Finals.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
Okay, that's not bad. I thought you were going to
say more than that. I'm okay at three to one,
I feel good about that.
Speaker 5 (34:24):
Yeah, it turns into a two game moneyline parlay essentially
what you're looking at here, and the Pacers a three
and a half four point favorite for pivotal Game six
on the road, and then the Knicks would open a
short favorite at home if they're able to push it
to game seven.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
Can I bet what Knicks fans make the trip to
Game six? Can I bet a Shalla may Stiller parlay
for game six?
Speaker 5 (34:44):
I mean you may have access to their busy social calendars,
So if you're looking to try and betting it, I
figured you've talked to their agents or publicist and it
should be an overwhelming favorite if you run into the
window to try and bet that.
Speaker 4 (34:55):
So we've been trying to do our crack research staff
of two, he and I in the studio here, Todd,
maybe you can help us with this Game five team
up three to one? Is there anything in the numbers
to suggest that we have a good lean in that
subsequent game? Of a team maybe not coming full throat
(35:15):
like the Pacers tonight.
Speaker 5 (35:17):
You know, history usually working against teams with that commanding
three to one series lead, although if you look at
a team facing a three to one deficit headed home,
they've actually been a great in that particular spot. The
Knicks continued that trend. Believe that record now moves to
thirty three and twelve straight up the last forty five
times we've been in this kind of scenario, and now
it begs the question is who has the burden of
(35:38):
proof and the pressure on them in Game six? Is
that the Pacers playing at home, knowing if they don't
close it out they'll have to go on the road
in a hostile territory. Or is it a Knix team
that feels they let a glorious opportunity in Game one
slip through their fingers, and if things were a little
bit different, they'd be headed on the road with a
chance to close out the Pacers having essentially a mulligan
in their back pocket.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
Is there any way todd that the thunder are in
an overwhelming favorite over either of these teams in the
NBA Finals.
Speaker 5 (36:03):
No, no scenario where they wouldn't be a massive favorite,
and if you're looking at the Thunder right now, to
put things in perspective, they'd be right around a seven
dollars favorite against the Knicks, an eight dollars favorite against
the Pacers, and you'd be looking at them as a
two and a half game favorite, needing to lay a
substantial price. So we're talking about relatively rarefied air, typically
(36:24):
reserved for teams like the Golden State Warriors when they
were in their heyday, the Chicago Bulls, and it just
speaks to the level of dominance we've seen from the Thunder,
combined with the fact that we have two de facto
Cinderella stories emerging in the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 4 (36:36):
Now we have the three and a half point lines
set up for Game six here back to Indiana obviously officiating,
what's an official worth, what's Scott Foster worth?
Speaker 5 (36:48):
To align It always depends on what the association can
try and do from a seven figure revenue standpoint to
get an extra game seven. So you don't have that
much downtime between tipoff at Saturday night at eight o'clock
Eastern Time with the start of the NBA Finals and
the subsequent Thursday, So you always want to know the
players that are in the game, but the odds market
(37:08):
speaking pretty strongly that this will be the biggest favorite
the Pacers have been in any of these games thus far.
What's interesting is you've seen the total adjust a little
bit as well, a closing number two twenty three for
today's game that came in well short of that, and
we're now down to two twenty albeit in a building
where Indiana should typically control pace and tempo, and we'll
see if they can get out and race, knowing that
the Knicks don't want to try and turn it into
(37:29):
a track meet.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
Hey, Todd, you know we see this big story today
that it looks like both the college basketball and college
football players so they can expand sometime in the next year.
Are you hearing the same thing, Like, is that going
to be a done deal? I mean, it feels like
it's moving that way.
Speaker 5 (37:44):
It definitely feels that we're on a crash course. More
games mean more revenue, and well, I'm not sure that
the college basketball tournament benefits by expanding the seventy six teams.
It's widely been out there. As the sport gets more
and more top heavy, it just becomes fodder to play
in the middle of the week. We may well turned
into two hundred and fifty sixteen tournament at this rate.
That way, Northwestern and Syracuse have absolutely no excuse if
(38:06):
they're not playing meaningful postseason basketball. But as the football side, guys,
we know that it was just a matter of time
before the powers that be in the SEC and Big
Ten we're going to somehow be unhappy that they couldn't
have half of their respective conferences into a college football playoff.
And the fact that we're trending towards fourteen and sixteen
teams already the timeline a little bit surprising, but not
(38:26):
so much that we're headed there, and you have to
wonder if we'll get anywhere closer to an FCS like
twenty fourteen playoff with a lot of teams getting buys
on top of that.
Speaker 4 (38:34):
Did beget a lot of action with Johnny Smith rumored
to be going to the Steelers, I mean waiting on
Aaron Rodgers to go to the Steelers.
Speaker 5 (38:41):
Yeah, JOHNU. Smith not exactly moving the needle as far
as odds to win the division or regular season wins.
When you're assessing the Pittsburgh Steelers the way they're being
priced in the market now it has a little bit
of that Aaron Rodgers factor built in. Mason Rudolph would
not be a full field goal favorite on the road
at the Jets Week one anymore than the pittsg or
Steelers win total sits at a robust eight and a
(39:02):
half if Rootolph is QB one going into that Week
one opener.
Speaker 1 (39:05):
He's on Twitter at Todd Ferman. That is at Todd
Ferman again the Bet the Board podcast. The link is
right there on his Twitter page c HM on CBS.
Todd has always been appreciate it. We'll talk to you
after the next win Game seven on Monday.
Speaker 5 (39:17):
Hey, miracles happened every day in sports, and we'll have
to see if they're able to pull it off because
fortunately for the next they're much more likely to do
that than one.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
So to win NLMVA three to one's not a miracle, man,
that's not now one So noo, I'm with you, but
three to one's not a miracle.
Speaker 5 (39:33):
Always a pleasure, boys, have a great weekend.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
Appreciated, Thanks, guys. I'll tell you I really thought it
would be reworse than that three to one. Okay, I'm
I'm feeling better now.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Feeling good.
Speaker 4 (39:42):
Yeah, a brief two game parlay a.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
Uh so great to visit with Todd. But coming up
next yeah, uh got to make sure the audio is
okay to play. You will hear it the big confrontation
that Pascal Siaka with the Pacers had with a now
notorious Yeah basketball reporter. That's next right here, Jason and
Mike Fox
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
Popular Podcasts
Boysober
Have you ever wondered what life might be like if you stopped worrying about being wanted, and focused on understanding what you actually want? That was the question Hope Woodard asked herself after a string of situationships inspired her to take a break from sex and dating. She went "boysober," a personal concept that sparked a global movement among women looking to prioritize themselves over men. Now, Hope is looking to expand the ways we explore our relationship to relationships. Taking a bold, unfiltered look into modern love, romance, and self-discovery, Boysober will dive into messy stories about dating, sex, love, friendship, and breaking generational patterns—all with humor, vulnerability, and a fresh perspective.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com