Ep. 85: EPIC Choke Job at The Garden! - 05/22/25

Sean Brace, Sean Barnard, and Sam Oshtry talk the EPIC choke job by the New York #Knicks in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the #Pacers. We witnessed history.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Number one on your car radio preset hand the new
and improved Diehard radiop W and W D two seven
three D Philadelphia. I is Fox Sports Radio, The Gambler,
the Fox Sports Radio, The Gambler. Fox Sports Radio in
Philly is The Gambler. The Gambler, Philly's home for all

(00:23):
things sports. Gambler, Picks and Roll, Handicapping the Hardwood with
Sixers insider Sean Bernard and Sean brak Oh bring.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
It on in for a special three wide edition of
Picks and Roll Slash. The Daily Ticket still at a
studio all week, but we are running three wide. And
of course we got two of the best brains covering
all things hoops in the business. Sam a Stream made
it home from MSG last night late. Good to see
if Sam. Of course he represents the squad over at

(00:52):
the Score. We got Sean Bernard from DraftKings Sports Books,
of course, covers sixers and the Association. For us here
on the Gambler. A lot to get to and I
will open up by saying this. I'll make it about myself,
as I often do. I cannot believe what happened last night.
I just I pride myself on staying up and making

(01:13):
these late night games. Now, I will full, you know,
fully admit that in the last year or so, it's
been a little bit more time and time I've been
falling asleep and just been like, ah, you know, if
I miss it, I miss it. But these are the moments,
these are the games, these are this is what we do. Like,
I love this stuff and I just didn't see it happening,

(01:34):
and shame on me for At ten fifteen PM, I
texted both Sam and Sean game.

Speaker 3 (01:41):
They were it's eight minutes left in the game.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
All right, come on, man, the Knicks were We're bawling.
They were up by fourteen. They're up by fourteen.

Speaker 4 (01:51):
I think, I responded and said, you did. Games far
from moving.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
Far from over. I don't know. I guess maybe the
drooprey eyes were talking a little bit too as well. Look,
I like it just starts it ends with this stat
and I hate to put it out there and make
it so simple, because it really wasn't. There was so
much that went into what took place. But boys, what
we witnessed last night was the biggest choke job in

(02:16):
NBA playoff history. They've been playing this game for a
long damn time, and it's the first time that that
over fourteen hundred times a team was down nine plus
in the final minute of fourth quarter slash overtime and
the Pacers came back to win. It's never happened before

(02:37):
an NBA playoff history. And then there it was last
night at MSG. Haliburton gets the ball, flies up, decides
to take it back out, shoots it, clank and happens
to fall through the rim. Like that's when you know
it's just not going to happen. From a Knicks fans perspective, Shooter,
what a game, Yeah, shooter's touched.

Speaker 4 (02:59):
What a game?

Speaker 2 (02:59):
What a back? And that didn't even win it because
then it went to overtime and had every chance to
do it. There We'll save you, Sean, Sam, I want
to get your thoughts on this, because as far as
I'm concerned, I don't I'm not sure you could come
back from something like that.

Speaker 4 (03:15):
Look, the Knicks have shown resiliency throughout this playoffs, and
this group has the identity like of a resilient basketball team.
They just Josh Hart and that's the problem. Yeah, so
to the Pacers. So to the Pacers. But the series
is far from over after one game I had to
go in seven. It does feel like that's a hard
one to flush. I mean, you flush it, you watch

(03:37):
a film, you move on. That's a hard one to
flush because you can call it a comeback and go
a collapse. I lean more towards the collapse, even though
it's such a great like a shooting stretch from aaron
Ne Smith, who really won won the Pacers that game
in regulation, it's still like everything it was an avalanche
of what could go wrong went wrong for the Knicks
in the final couple minutes from the Aaron Nismith threes,

(03:59):
where some really poor defensive coverages on those where they
weren't getting out on those switches, and you know he
was spread hot, but they were somewhat open. And he
doesn't shoot a lot off the dribble either, but he
was making them off the dribble. Between the bobble, the
Jaylen Brunton throws it to Ognobi underneath the rim, and
Ognobe bobbles the ball. It would have been if he
just catches it regularly, it would have been an easy

(04:20):
layup games probably over there he bobbles it. It becomes
That's when the Pascal Siakam touched his hand. It becomes
a review and Pacers challenge and Pacers get the ball.
Corinthony Towns is an eighty two percent free throw shooter
on the season. He misses a free throw, games different
if that doesn't happen. Og Nanobi is an eighty one
percent free throw shooter on the season. He misses a

(04:40):
free throw. Game's very different if that doesn't happen, because
actually OG's miss came right before halliburn shot, So imagine
if how if the Pacers were down three, Halliburton shoots
that shot to force overtime, but his foots on the
line and they end up losing by one. So there's
a lot of what ifs. But it was just an
avalanche of everything that could go wrong went wrong for

(05:01):
the Knicks, and they got a lot to clean up.
But they're they're five and a half point favorites for
Game two and I expect them even the series up.

Speaker 2 (05:08):
Wow. Yeah, into say one thing on Nie Smith, he
is a forty plus point percent shooter. Yea from from downtown,
and and they pointed it out and again it's not
something that I was watching clearly live, but on the
replay and especially this morning, just catching everybody breaking it down.
You have to question, like what was going on as

(05:29):
far as some of those defensive pursuits and going under
screens and just allowing him to get open and having
a little bit of a two to three feet uh
you know, a buffet.

Speaker 4 (05:38):
Shooting fifty four percent from three in the playoffs's very ridiculous,
ridiculous number. And once he hits a couple in the
fourth quarter, it's like, all right, this guy is red hot.
And there was a bunch of times and I tweeted
some of these clips where og and Obi is just
it's just he's not switching the when when Bronton's on action,
they're switching those screens. He was just late on the

(05:59):
switch and he's way too much and drop and then
he just comes off these screens for threes, and it's like,
how are you not selling out on this guy to
take away his three pointers? And again, he's not a
good dribble shooter, a shooter off the dribble, like that's
not especially he's more of a catching shoot guts of
the season, but he just was drilling shots off the
dribble and it was an incredible shooting display. He deserves

(06:20):
all the credit in the world.

Speaker 2 (06:22):
It really was his night. And of course Haliburton is
the guy that stares to drink. He's the straw thirty
one points and you know, just I still go back
to think about what the players said about him overrated,
and what he's continuing to do back to back seasons.
And oh, by the way, Sean Benard, it's great to
see that tweet pop up from back in the day

(06:43):
a few years ago when there was a package on
the table from the Pacers to the Sixers.

Speaker 3 (06:48):
He wanted no part of it.

Speaker 2 (06:49):
Again, that is a heck of a revisionist history looking
back on that, no doubt about it. But still fun
to look at that tweet in that man anyways, shopping
out your thoughts on last night.

Speaker 3 (07:00):
Forget the Sixers, Forget the Sixers.

Speaker 5 (07:02):
I'll put that away, but yeah, to speak about what
happened last night. Is the most clutch player in the
NBA played basketball last night and his name is Tyrese Haliburton.
That a guy that is for eleven for twelve in
go ahead or game tying shots with less than thirty
seconds left to play this year. That's ninety two percent
for those U Mathers out there, shout out to the
tush push there. Everyone calling him the most overrated. Everyone

(07:24):
says they're better than Tyrese Haliburton, until it's time to
be better than Tyrese Halburton. He went into Madison Square
Garden absolutely picked apart that Knicks defense last night. From
a scoring perspective, from a playmaking perspective, he was the
heart of the everything the Pacers did and for this
Pacers team as a whole, for all these characteristics that
we want to throw on this next team, that they grind,
They're gonna compete, They're never gonna quit. The Pacers have

(07:47):
all these same exact qualities and they've shown this throughout
this playoff run. They have more impressive comeback performances, with
last night being right at the.

Speaker 3 (07:54):
Top of that list there.

Speaker 5 (07:55):
That was a statement win by that Pacers team, and
that is something that is going to be difficult for
this team to pick themselves off the map. So give
Tyrese Haliburt and his flowers and take this Pacers team seriously.

Speaker 2 (08:05):
No, And I said it when I was breaking down
the series. You know, a couple on Monday or whatever
it was, and I'm like, man, everything, I'm saying about
the Knicks. You could say about you could say about
the Pacers, and I'll just push back on you. Come on, man,
twenty points to the Celtics multiple times, multiple times minutes
last night, No no doubt about it. I Like, if

(08:26):
you're asking me to rank them, I'd put the Pacers
above all. But what the Knicks did against the Celtics
in both of those games where they came back twenty
plus points down, I mean, come on, that was incredible.
But again, last night was last night. It's onto the
new series. Both of these teams deserve to be in
this spot. It was just again, the big question for

(08:46):
me right now is like I just put it in
my in my wheelhouse, in my backyard, and bringing the
Sixers up back again if they ever did that in
a game one, like, I don't know how you bounce back.
I just don't. And it is a lot series, Sam,
You're right, so like these guys are professionals. Would it
shock us if they go out there and the next
win by five six points? I just this Pacers team

(09:09):
is so gritty, so tough, it's gonna be tough to
put them away.

Speaker 4 (09:12):
And this isn't their first comeback like this is their
most improbable sure, but they did this last series against
the Cavs when they were down seven with thirty four
seconds to go, and then they did it again against
the in the first series against the Bucks when they
were down seven with like forty something seconds to go.
Like this, I don't know what it is, like some
voodoo magic. Like there's something about this Pacers team where

(09:34):
they just they forced teams to completely collapse and act
like they've never played basketball for and the other team's
late game execution just becomes all jumbled. And I don't
know what it is, but there's something. It's resiliency for
sure on the Pacers end. Like even there was a
moment I was rewatching the game this morning, there was
a moment where Tyre's Halliburn hit a shot and it

(09:54):
cut the lead to like fourteen, and the Knicks still
let by fourteen with over over two minutes to go,
maybe around three minutes to go, and Haliburton is celebrating
like he's doing some like celebration on his way back
on the end, Like nobody does that. Like that is
insane arrogance, insane cockiness. A lot a big reason why
a lot of people don't like him, but at this
point you have to respect it. Like who celebrates down

(10:16):
fourteen with two minutes left? They didn't think for a
second they were out of that game. And it's just
it's just all the reps of them, of them coming
back late in these games and forcing other teams to collapse.
I don't get it what it is, but there's like
I don't I really don't have an explanation for it,
but it's it's really impressive. And and look, if they
make the team might just be a team of destiny

(10:37):
that that's gonna make the finals, ye because because of
all all these incredible comebacks late. But it's it's shocking
to watch a lot.

Speaker 5 (10:44):
And by the way, during during that comeback, there like
the Knicks were still scoring, Like this was not a
situation where like you completely cut them off defensively where
the Knicks couldn't figure things out. They were still getting
buckets in scoring and the Pacers just would not roll
over hitting more threes. Aaron Nasmith can continuing to pop
off one of like arguably the hottest any basketball player
has ever been. When you think about how many of

(11:05):
those shots were in touch, like a short period of
time there. And I also don't wanted to fly under
the radar here that mister captain Clutch himself, JALB. Bronson
had a chance to tie this game here open three point.

Speaker 3 (11:18):
Look that air ball that would have I.

Speaker 4 (11:20):
Mean, I mean open open as a stretch, he created
a little bit of space. He was definitely contested.

Speaker 2 (11:24):
Three point cat was open cat cat.

Speaker 3 (11:28):
That was barely kissing the ri in there. So I
for the tired.

Speaker 2 (11:32):
Legs, they're playing fifty plus minutes, some tired legs.

Speaker 5 (11:35):
Maybe if they're head coach, maybe their head coach gave
them ten minutes off once in a while that their
legs wouldn't be so heavy.

Speaker 4 (11:41):
Right now, Well, here's the thing. Here's the thing about
that Brunson got an extended rest because he got his
fifth foul with ten minutes to go in the fourth quarter.
And that's when it was like, all right, this is
the time the Pacers can come back because the Links
have a little bit of a leap. The opposite happened.
The Knicks exploded for fourteen zero run after Brunson went
out with his fifth foul, and I was like, okay,
we're gaining this lead. We can let Brunson sit a

(12:01):
little bit, let him get a little more rest before
we have to put him in, risking a sixth foul,
and then he comes back in and then things kind
of start to fall apart for the Knicks. And look, Brunson,
he was forty three points he finished with He was
phenomenal for like forty six forty seven minutes. He wasn't
good in overtime. He only had one field goal in overtime.
He had two turnovers in overtime. He also that the

(12:24):
next gut kind of got lucky where there was a
play where Brunson was doubled on the inbound and he
was caught in this trap and he tried to throw
it off their leg and its just completely missed and
the ball went soaring up in the air, and the
next are lucky they got that loose ball. And then
even Brunson's fifth foul was just a dumb vouch like
give up the easy bucket. So it wasn't Brunson's best
fourth quarter in overtime period. It's not a question about

(12:45):
who's more clutch. I would say like Brunton has to
do more for his team to win. Halliburton and the Pacers.
Caliburn was awesome. I'm not taking anway him. Caliburn Pacers
won that game because Aaron Eatmith. He made six threes
in not final five minutes. He made three threes in
the final minute. If he doesn't make one of those threes,
the Knicks are winning this game. So this was an
Aaron Ni Smith game. Yeah, Haliburn had the shot which

(13:06):
was just a wasn't quite Qui level, but it was
second to Kawhi in terms of just bouncing up the rim.
And some of the reaction videos are hilarious when all
these Knicks fans they're watching, they're watching that shot and
it bounces in the back iron and it goes up
in the top of the air to the shot clock
and everyone just thinks it's the Knicks one, it's a miss,
and then it just swishes right in somehow, and these

(13:26):
Knicks fans are heartbroken. But look, Halliburn deserves credit for
all that, But this was an Aaron Neismith. He was
the reason why they won this game.

Speaker 2 (13:34):
No doubt about. I scored twenty points in less than
five minutes. I think he tied the NBA playoff record
for most three pointers in a quarter at six. You know, Sean,
I'm gonna come to you on this because I always
find it interesting, Like what were we saying leading into
this game, and I know it kind of all goes
out the window with how it transpired to Sam's point,

(13:55):
and Sean and I were talking about this before, Sam
little all over the place. I apologize, but like I agree,
if one of those shots don't fall, they don't win.
If if what we were talking about with the foul
underneath the ball gets popped up, if if Carlisle doesn't
have that challenge, the Knicks wine if a free throw
is made, if if Og makes both of them. Maybe
I don't know anyways, But putting that to the side,

(14:16):
set of the question I had for you was going
into this series what we were saying about the strengths
and weaknesses for both teams, Because like, I hear what
Sam is saying, and I agree wholeheartedly one hundred percent,
But this team is so deep, like Nimhard went and
had a great overtime, Siakam played his ass off, Like
this Pacer squad is deep, and I think they're the

(14:39):
better team.

Speaker 5 (14:40):
Yeah, I would agree with that, Like that's kind of
been my takeaway for this series is the top end
of this next team is better. Like we're not arguing that, Yes,
the Jalen Brons and the Karl Anthony Towns even og
if you want to throw bridges in that conversation, those
guys are the best players here. But when you look
beyond that, like the I believe the Pacers went ten
or eleven deep last night when looking at their up
pattern and uh tend yeah, that they went and that's

(15:02):
gonna be a regular occurrence for.

Speaker 2 (15:04):
This is the tenth player. Who's the tenth man and
Ben Sheppard.

Speaker 6 (15:07):
Got on on Brunson Wow play and he was like
an impact player in last year's playoffs in this series
against the Knicks, like he played well in this So
like the I think there's gonna be a little bit
of a war of attrition in this series, and like
that's been the concern with this next team.

Speaker 5 (15:24):
If one of these top end guys go down, I
do think it completely unravels here and we'll see what happens. Obviously,
like we still got plenty of time to get to that.
But when watching last night, like I have a whole
tweet saved in my drafts of like this was a
huge missed opportunity by this Pacers team, Like this is
how this was game was there for the taking. Brunton
was in foul trouble, the Knicks gave you chances and

(15:45):
lo and behold they found a way to get the
job done. So I was glad I waited till about
the two minute mark before hitting sound on that one.

Speaker 4 (15:53):
The optimist approach, the optimistic outlook for the Knicks is
that they outplayed the Pacers for forty seven minutes. I mean,
it was obvious who the better team was on the floor,
and it was the Knicks, and so that's the that's
the optimistic outlook. The pessimistic that look is they outplayed
the Pacers and they still lost the game and are
now trailing oh one in the series.

Speaker 5 (16:13):
I also would push back at that because I think
the Pacers they played at their pace the entire game,
and even the broadcast was pretty heavily talking about that throughout,
like if the Knicks are gonna win this, you gotta
slow it down. You can't run with these guys. It's
gonna have to be half court style of matchups. They
kind of ran all night last night. I mean, the
final score it was one thirty eight, one thirty five.
That's a Pacers game.

Speaker 4 (16:32):
Yes, yeah, theoretically, but I actually think the Knicks can
keep up offensively like what the Pacers pick up full court,
and their advantage is their depth for sure. And what
we talked about before this series was that I didn't like,
I didn't want to see Brunson bring the ball up
the court because it's just it's just wasted pressure and
needed some relief. I thought, Michael Bridge, we was gonna
get some reps at point guard bringing up the court,

(16:53):
and it ended up being Josh Harty was doing a
ton and I thought that was a smart play. It
was like, put brunching off the ball, don't let them
waste all this energy bring the ball up the court.
And they did that with heart a lot. But look,
here's the thing that we saw. You put Bendick Mathrin
on Brunson. You put Andrew Nemhart on Brunson. You put
Aaron Naysmith on Brunson. They tried TJ. McConnell on Brunson,
they tried Ben Sheppard on Brunson. He destroyed all of them.

(17:16):
None of them had a chance against him. He was
so dominant for really the first three and a three quarters,
you could say, and yeah, fatigue probably wore in most games,
aren't gonna got overtime. But those guys had no answer
for Brunton, So I think the Knicks actually can keep
up with their piece. For me, this year is gonna
come down to who can actually get defensive steps, And
to me, the adjustment is playing Mitchell Robinson, Moore and

(17:37):
Miles mcbridemore, because those lineups for the Knicks are way
better defensively when those two guys are in. But it's
gonna come down to who can get more defensive steps.

Speaker 2 (17:45):
Yeah, you know, you're right, and that's generally how it
plays out, you know, especially when you get two teams
in the Eastern Conference Finals that are pretty much even
across the board looking at the box scorer, is there
anything glaring to you? Because I would believe that the
one thing that maybe people that have been paid attention
all that much is like we discussed with Karl Anthony
Towns going for thirty five, Brunson goes for forty three

(18:06):
and you still came up with the loss. You know,
I just again, it's on to the next one. It's
really easy for us to say that players fans like,
I get it, but man, the guy or not players,
excuse me, but the fans one thing. But the players
to be out there on that floor after losing Game
one the way that they did in front of celebrity
row gotta love it. I've got to give a shout

(18:28):
out to Matt.

Speaker 4 (18:29):
You know, he's a diehard.

Speaker 2 (18:30):
He came in and said, Bernard has been waiting two
weeks to get this hate off. I'll let him enjoy
it while it lasts.

Speaker 4 (18:36):
We put the coming up where he said shout out Matt,
where he said Sean actually thought Detroit was the better
basketball team too.

Speaker 2 (18:42):
He did say that, yes, yeah, yes, Sean did. And
you know what, I kind of was there for a
second with my just bias, my hate, but the Knicks
proved that they're they're the real deal, and what they
did against the Celtics was no fluke. And here we
are right now. I just like it was a great game,
just a crazy result, a choke job by the Knicks,
and we'll see what happens for as far as Game two,

(19:04):
we'll get into those numbers. But again, just staying with
Game one and how great it was and it's just
what you pointed out. Sam. We don't know exactly how
it plays out for the Pacers, but this is something
that they've now done three times. We're talking over a
ninety nine point seven percent chance to win game one
the Knicks had the Pacers end up winning at Celtics

(19:26):
ninety eight point three percent chance in Game one. They
won that game, and then the Pacers Game one and
last year's Eastern Conference Finals against the Celtics. I forgot
about that one ninety nine point eight percent chance and
they came back to win that game. So it's just
something about that team, the mental makeup Carlisle. Of course,
the players making shots that they're putting it together.

Speaker 5 (19:46):
Sean, Yeah, they one hundred percent are And I kind
of want to stick on the Jalen Bronson point for
a second here. For starters, I thought Aaron Naismith was
very good on him defensively that I did think he
made an impact there. We got seven turnovers from Jalen
Bronson last night, which is a lot and should have
been more for two specific very uncharacteristic decision making process
with him that should have been costly turnovers. The one

(20:07):
that you mentioned where he was kind of falling out
of bounds where he tried to spike it off the pacers.
It was there for the take and it managed to
fall into safe New York arms and they kept it.

Speaker 3 (20:14):
That could have very well cost him the game there.

Speaker 5 (20:16):
There was another one with about twenty seconds left in
that game where it was an out of bounds inbounds.
It ended up going to jos Or Josh Hart ended
up getting there, but Hart kind of slipped on the
inbounds there. I thought that was gonna be a straight
up pick six that would have tied the.

Speaker 3 (20:28):
Game at that point.

Speaker 5 (20:29):
And then again, all that the messaging is from a
Knicks perspective is just get it to a close game
and give Jalen Brunton the keys at the end. That's
how things went down last night, man, and he was
unable to outplay Halliburton in the stretch there that when
we're talking about the crunch time of that game. Yes,
Nasmith hit shots, but Jalen Brunson had every opportunity to
be mister Captain Clunch to win this game, to put

(20:51):
the team on his shoulders, and he just didn't do
it last night. I thought he was bothered by this
Pacers defense in a way that I really didn't see
from him in the opening two rounds.

Speaker 4 (20:59):
I didn't think he was bothered by defense. I'll definitely
give you that he struggled late in that game, like
this wasn't Captain Clutch that everyone calls him that, that
wasn't him yesterday. He just didn't show up, especially in
the overtime period, and he had a couple turnovers there
that I thought were bad, and that's when the fatigue
set in for me, but I did. It was interesting
because he actually got an extended rest in the fourth
quarter because of those five thousand because the Knicks went

(21:19):
on a run without him, So it was kind of
surprised why he was fatigued. I don't know what was
going on. I'm not gonna look at one game. The
guy who's leading the playoffs and fourth quarter points by
a mile, leading the playoffs and clutch points by a mile,
the guy who's hit big shot after big shot after
big shot throughout his career, I'm not gonna question that
for a second. He didn't have it. Yes, Suhay Haliburn
out played him down the stretch, But again, it was

(21:40):
really Aaron Nesmith that I played every single player on
the floor in those final five minutes of the fourth quarter.
So yeah, I'm not really concerned about Brunson, assuming he's
healthy and he's good to go. But I agree that
he definitely struggled late in the game. But I didn't
think it was the defense at all, because Ben Shepherd
was honestly mostly guarding him late in that game. I
thought that he was he was really just getting any

(22:01):
looks he won. What I did think he was bothered
by was doubles. They weren't throwing doubles his way until
the very end, and they were blitzing a lot of
those screens. I did not think he did a good
job navigating that at all. But straight up, when they
were scuarding him straight up with any one of those
guys throughout the game, I didn't think he had trouble
at all.

Speaker 2 (22:16):
Well, I do know this much. We made a huge deal.
Everybody made a huge deal about the defense from Oklahoma
City when they forced seventeen turnovers against in that game one,
you know, against Minnesota, and rightfully so, Nicks had fifteen
last night, and if they're going to turn the ball
over like that to the pacer seven that's tough sled
him man, Especially with a gritty team like that, you

(22:37):
know it's probably gonna come back and bite you. Well,
see Sam, is there anything there?

Speaker 3 (22:42):
Like?

Speaker 2 (22:42):
Like I said, I love when we talk about when
we break this game down, this series down, you know,
every which way leading up and then we get a
game and it's tough because of how the game ended
for anything to really play out like we thought and
you know, or we'd thrown everything out the window how
we thought this series would go. But what is something
that you thought would take place in this matchup? I'll

(23:03):
be at one game that you saw last night actually
taking place on the floor.

Speaker 4 (23:08):
It's really the depth thing to me, where it's like
you have to take advantage of opportunities where you don't
get a lot of bench production. You did from Oz
McBride and Metro Robinson, you didn from campaign at all,
Like you have to take it if you're still going
to have a big lead late in the game when
you don't have a lot of bench production, you're only
going seven maybe eight deep when the pacer're going ten deep.

(23:30):
You have to take advantage of that. And I was
surprised the Knicks didn't and That's why I'm a little
concerned because they had this game where their bench, maybe
not the numbers necessarily, but their bench, the Knicks's bench
was better that than the Pacers bench because of the
impact of Mitchell, Robinson and and Duce McBride, and they
still couldn't take advantage of it. And you're not gonna
get that every game. So that's why this is a

(23:52):
little concerning for me. From the next perspective, Look, I
think it's I think the series is going to go seven.
That's what I said in the beginning. I'm not changing
that from my prediction of nix and seven. But the
Pacers definitely showed in a game where they were outplayed
if you get this game late and that, like Sean
said earlier, the whole formula for the Knicks was get
a game into crunch time and the Knicks will take
care of it. That was against the Celtics. The Celtics

(24:15):
are a really bad crunch time offense. Against the Pacers,
a resilient group like the Pacers, it's complete complete toss
up who's going to be the better team in the clubs.

Speaker 2 (24:24):
It's funny too, Sean, because I was watching Alan Hahn
who does all things New York is mister New York
Radio and on Get Up, and he kind of snapped
a Jay will which I'm fine with. Nobody likes Jay Williams.
But like this was before the series even started, and
it was like, oh, if it's a close game, that's
playing right into the Knicks hands. And it's just like,
wait a minute, I understand it. But everything you're saying

(24:46):
about the Knicks, you could absolutely say about what we've
seen so far from the Pacers. So it's like I
kind of thought it was a wash at the end,
but I gave the advantage to the Knicks with the
home court. I didn't like giving four to four and
a half yesterday. I can't believe that. Guys, just stat
how about this one? Thirty one points in the final
thirteen possessions? How do you how does the how does

(25:09):
the math math on that? How do you get thirty
one points to thirteen possessions?

Speaker 4 (25:13):
Aaron Sfith going bananas?

Speaker 5 (25:15):
Yeah, some tough shots too, Like these were not just
wide open three point looks. These were off motion, off movement,
off the dribble. He did it in every which way here,
pulling up from deep here and like with all this,
like Nate Smith deserves an incredible amount of credit for this.
The Knicks didn't defend it well either, like Josh Hart
was slipping og was going underscreens. There were self inflicted
issues by this next team. And by the way, shout

(25:38):
out Campaign for no matter how poor he is shooting
or how poor he is playing, he has one shot
and that man is celebrating like he just won the
NBA Championship right there. So I will always appreciate that
from Campaign, but do agree with Matt sentiment that it
probably is in the next best interest for him not
to be a part of this series whatsoever moving forward.
But as far as like the crunch time point, like

(25:58):
there's no doubt the Knicks have been in the clutch
and in the crunch time during this playoff run here,
but they're not the boogeyman here. You still have to
actually win the basketball game, and like that's what I think,
like the mindset has almost shifted to it's great that
you have confidence when you're going down the stretch, but
it almost feels like it comes off as we just
got to get it close and then it's a win.

Speaker 3 (26:18):
And that's not how basketball works.

Speaker 2 (26:19):
There.

Speaker 3 (26:19):
Do you have to go out of there and take it?
And I think we sort of saw a little bit
of that last night.

Speaker 2 (26:23):
Well let me just follow up with that, Sean and Sam,
I'll give you an opportunity, Like I know that we're
me personally, I'm highlighting the positives and the comeback and
it's just it's unbelievable. But there's got to be someone
to blame, right, Like, who's that fault for this collapse?
As far as the Knicks is concerned, is this a
Thibbs deal? As far as defensive mindset? Is this the

(26:46):
players collectively? Is there a singular player that we could
focus on? And I think it's fair to ask if
this is the most epic collapse in NBA playoff history.
I've never seen anything like it. I'm reading these numbers
right now. I can't believe. I watched the replay this morning, Sam,
I I went and worked out this morning thinking that
the Knicks one game won. I come home.

Speaker 4 (27:08):
You even checked the score when you woke up?

Speaker 3 (27:10):
Checked the score?

Speaker 2 (27:11):
No, No, it was dude. There was thirteen point Victor
lead with seven minutes state minutes to go. Like the
way they're losing that game and they did and then
some So who's the blame.

Speaker 4 (27:25):
So, I mean there's a few people blame, Like like,
I'm not putting most of the blame on Brunson. He
like he had forty three points. He wasn't as good
as Haliburn down the stretch and especially in overtime. I'm
not putting the blame on Brunson. If you want to
look at that last minute or two of the collapse,
the blame to me goes to Ognoby. It just does
like he had two defensive collapses where you should have

(27:48):
switched and gotten out and he was so deep on
these Aaron Smith screens and he didn't switch and get
out on those on those threes and Aaron Smith drilled them.
And this was it wasn't like Aaron Smith hadn't hit
a shot all game. We're talking about this guy shooting
fifty four percent from three this playoffs and a guy
who's already read a hot up until that point. So
that's on Ognoby. It's on Oganoby not to make that

(28:09):
to make the free throw to give the Knicks a
three point lead with seven seconds to go. It's on
Ognnobi not to bobble a pass from Jalen Brunston on
two on one situation that would have resulted in an
easy layup and probably when the would have been the ballgame.
This loss, to me is on Ognoby, who had He
didn't have a great game by any stretch, but he
was really he had he was playing well defensively in

(28:30):
the first half, but he was really just nonexistent offensively,
and look he looked discombobulated, loss just interested at times.
And then there was a period where Brunson went out
when he picked up his fifth thout with ten minutes
to go and Ognobi had five straight points. He started
playing much better, was more engaged, and then in the
final coup minutes on both ends he wasn't engaged at all.
So from a player standpoint, I'm looking at Ognoby why

(28:52):
the collapse took place. From the macro standpoint, Bibbs deserves
some blame because let me read you some numbers about
this Nick starting This Knicks starting group has played more
minutes together as a five man group than any other
team by ten miles. I mean, how much minutes this
group has played together as ridiculous. They're minus thirty seven
with their starters on the floor. This postseason and they

(29:13):
were minus sixteen last night.

Speaker 3 (29:15):
You got their defensive rating in there, it's it's.

Speaker 4 (29:17):
Really really bad. I don't have it off the top
of my head, but it's.

Speaker 3 (29:20):
But sixty seven sixty seven, Sam Ostrick.

Speaker 2 (29:23):
And what does that mean as far as what like
what's the scale on that? Seohn?

Speaker 4 (29:27):
You want to be low? You want to be low,
and like a really good defensive rating would be like
when Mitchell Robinson's on the floor this playoffs, the Knicks
had a defensive rating of one hundred and one. I
believe the number was when I was doing the research.

Speaker 3 (29:37):
That is, so I believe overall team the founder leading
the NBA with one oh four.

Speaker 4 (29:41):
Right now, Yeah, so you want to be you obviously
want to be low. The Knicks are awful defensively. So
from my perspective of you're gonna blame the coach, blame Thibbs,
it's because he's not playing much of Robinson and Miles
broad enough. Like we know, Mitter Robinson had such a
great impact on the game when he was on the
floor defensively, offensive reb in creating extra possessions. He's just

(30:01):
a menace like him grabbing an offensive rebound and kicking
out to a shooter is one of the most efficient
play types in basketball. It seems like so so I
want to see Mitch Robinson the foremo I want to
see Duce mcbrod on the floor more. You have to
take more of a defensive approach because your offense will come,
but you have to get stops against this Spacers team.
And I don't think Fibbs has done a good job
adjusting and going away from that starting group. And that

(30:22):
might mean putting Josh Hart on the bench for stretches,
even mchail Bridges on the Heart on the bench for stretches,
Coronthy Towns. But you need to focus on defense the
rest of the series, Sean.

Speaker 2 (30:33):
Are we not like focusing on the obvious here? As
you're going to point out who you blame as far
as the Knicks collapses. Concerned that it might have been
just the higher power of Jim Hersay blowing that ball
into there. I still can't believe Haliburton made that shot.
Why not go? Why not take that ball in for two?
What was the thought process there? I missed everything from

(30:53):
the standpoint of after the game. Did he talk about that?
Was he not able to get to the rim because
there was a defender in the lane.

Speaker 5 (31:00):
I think part of it was probably Mitchell Robinson on
him is one of the better rim protectors in the sport.
But I think the thought practice was let's go for
the win here that we've we've hung around. I'm taking
the three and I'm ending this game. Curry stuff, bro, Yeah,
now that was give him his flowers. Man, he's done this.
He keeps doing this. He did this against the Cavaliers.
Like everyone wants to talk most overrated, he's not. This

(31:21):
guy go be better than them, and you can't. And
Tyres Haliburton just continues to do it. Man, when you
give him a chance, like eleven for twelve on game
tying or game winning opportunities this season, that's absurd.

Speaker 4 (31:32):
That that's like an absurd pread. Honest, Like a good
a good field goal percentage on game winning shots is
like twenty five or thirty. Yeah, I was gonna say that, like,
consider this incredible clutch player. Yeah, Obie, he's not that
great in terms of his field goal percentage on clutch shots.
That is absurd, stet Yeah.

Speaker 5 (31:53):
Very much so. So I do want to give him
problems for that. I think they're being a little bit
soft on Josh Hart overall. For as far as the
blame here, I didn't think Heart was good last night.
I thought defensively, he made a lot of the same
mistakes you're kind of pointing out with OG. He left
Andrew nemhar on a wide open cut right under the
basket on a very crucial part of this comeback here.
I also think he let Nasmith get free a ton.
He shot the ball just six times last night. It

(32:16):
to me did not feel like a good Josh Hart
game whatsoever. His overall stat line he did pull in
thirteen rebounds, seven assists, a steal, one turnover, four point
or eight points there.

Speaker 3 (32:25):
I thought he was underwhelming.

Speaker 5 (32:27):
Is your adjustment you're trying to play Miles McBride and
Jalen Brunson together is sort of the pitch that you.

Speaker 4 (32:32):
Have, Yeah, But honestly it's more about much Robinson th
the Miles McBride like I'd put Mitchell Robinson in for
And I thought Heart was like, that's just that's what
Heart is. And I thought when he got backdoor cut,
obviously you want to see ball man, that's basketball one
O one. But I think he had he didn't trust
Jalen Brunson so much defensively, and he was just zeroed

(32:53):
in on that play because he was gonna have to
come over to help and just got caught looking back door.
But to answer your question, it's really more about much
Robinson play instead of Josh Hart probably or instead of
mckil bridges for certain stretches if mckel is struggling offensively,
because that's what that's when your defense can go to
a whole nother level. And moleswick Bride his defensive rating
is really good too, but a lot of that's because

(33:14):
he's playing on the floor with with Mitchell Robinson. Those
guys are both playing reserve minutes together. So it's really
more to me Mitchell Robinson should be playing more, and
if that's sacrificing Josh Hart minutes, then so be it.

Speaker 5 (33:25):
Yeah, I don't know one three point attempt for mister
six first round picks last night, Michael Bridge. Is there
the Mitchell Robinson conversation where where I think Tom Thibodeaux
and oh, for one on that attempt time, I might add,
but uh, the Mitchell Robinson where I think Tom Thibodeaux
sits on like he I mean, he's been pretty unwilling
to play Robinson major minutes all year, really since he

(33:47):
came back from injury. But I think for this specific matchup,
like Miles Turner is probably one of the top three
floor spacing big men in the NBA, and I think
his fear is like, you're essentially playing the Pacers are
gonna run five out offense.

Speaker 3 (34:00):
Mitchell as a guy who, to his.

Speaker 5 (34:01):
Credit, I thought he held up fairly well on the
perimeter last night, but I think that's probably the weakness
they're attempting not to make available.

Speaker 4 (34:07):
You think that's fair, Yeah, But to start that game,
their pick and pop coverage was to show and get back,
and Miles Turner started like what do you have, like
three or four straight shots that he made to start
the game. So it wasn't very good with Cat on
the floor either. And I really trust Mitchell Robinson as
a perimeter defender more than I would Cat, and he
put those two guys together, that's a really big front court.
But even if you want to put Cat Mitchell Robinson

(34:28):
over Cat for longer stretches to sacrifice small offense for
defense and leave Josh Harden there, I'm fine with that. Too,
but Mitchell Robinson just he needs to be playing more
than then and hopefully he can conditioningwise, but he needs
to be playing more than twenty minutes a game.

Speaker 2 (34:41):
Absolutely insane, boys, and there's so much to discuss. We
just went thirty five minutes on one Game one, and
that's understanding.

Speaker 4 (34:48):
We just say that was one of the most incredible
basketball games I've ever sing.

Speaker 3 (34:51):
I would love to say it. I didn't watch it.

Speaker 4 (34:52):
Did it did this morning? It counts, it counts.

Speaker 3 (34:55):
I know I.

Speaker 2 (34:56):
Watched three court. They were up by three heading into
the fourth quarter to extended only the double digits. I'm like,
all right, Game one goes to the Knicks. Oh well
had the Pacers. I like, I can't even count it
as a victor because I didn't watch it, but I
woke up to it. Whatever it is, what it is,
we're rolling on. I'm now one and one as far
as uh Conference finals are concerned. We are going to
get over to Game two is the west side of things.

(35:18):
But just still staying with the Pacers and Knicks because
we got to focus on this. This is just incredible
last night from the total perspective, boys, I think two
twenty and a half was the number. Of course, it
goes way over. How about a halftime live line two
forty It was so if you were one of these

(35:39):
folks that were on the over pregame tip goes up halftime,
continuing to fire two for it goes to overtime again,
I get a otz ot. A lot of points were
scored in overtime as well too. Uh And with two
seventy three, I think the number was what is the
number you're comfortable at for two? And now we get

(36:02):
into this space where as the series goes on, I'll
be at game two. You start to see a little
bit more tired legs, You start see adjustments, You start
to see teams figuring each other out, You start to
see coaches come up with different game plans. So, now
is it enough of a swing one way at to
twenty seven that maybe we take the under or do

(36:22):
we take the lesson from game one? And essentially, I
don't think you can make this number high enough, Sean,
I'll start with you on that.

Speaker 5 (36:29):
Yeah, soon the number exactly comes in at but I
do think we see a little bit of swing back
in the second game that I think the Knicks specifically
will be very focused on playing at their tempo, slowing
down the pace, and not trying to run to twenty
seven seven. Yeah, I would prefer the under of that number.
That I still think like they're gonna comfortable. This isn't
gonna be like the Timberwolves thunder that I think we
legitimately will get games that end like ninety to eighty

(36:51):
seven in the series. But I do think that, like
with the Knicks and Pacers, the Knicks are not I
think they should learn their lesson that we can't run
with these guys. They got too many bodies, too many legs,
and let's do what we do best, which is playing
in the half court, running pick and pop with Karl,
Anthony Towns, Jalen Bronson, allowing Bronson to isolate, and all
those kind of things. So I think the tempo changed
a little bit in Game two, and I do like
the under there.

Speaker 2 (37:11):
Sam, your thoughts on the total anything for you?

Speaker 4 (37:14):
Yeah, I agree, just because I think the Knicks are
gonna play more defensive oriented lineups, which is what we've
been talking about, where it's like you gotta get stops.
Like Bibbs has been really reluctant to go away from
that starting group for long stretches, but you have to
get stops against this Pacers team and you still will
have the offensive firepower to score enough. He's gonna play
more I hope. I hope he finally makes that adjustment

(37:35):
that he's gonna play more defensive oriented lineups, and I
think you're gonna see a lower scoring game because of that.

Speaker 5 (37:41):
He's very open minded in creative coach, so a good
track record he's but.

Speaker 4 (37:45):
He's definitely not. But I will say in the last
series he completely shifted his defensive coverage and they switched
everything against the Celtics, which is so anti Fibbs like
because they were never switching anything all year. So he
has been willing to adjust at times, just not with
his starting lineup.

Speaker 2 (38:00):
Two quick ones from the television you know, I got
the monitors up. Charles Barkley said they looked exhausted in
Game one from the Knicks perspective. Do we agree to
that because I didn't see it through three quarters.

Speaker 3 (38:12):
I thought that was fair.

Speaker 5 (38:13):
I mean, I exhausted is probably strong, but I would
say the Pacers had notably more energy, particularly down the
stretch there, Like I mean, we'll see how much gas
there is in the tank for this next team. This
is always kind of the concern for the Tom Thibodeaux
led teams that they had three guys in the top
ten in the NBA in total minutes this year. That's
a lot of miles on guy's legs. So they did

(38:34):
look a bit tired. For me, I did not think
they looked fresh. What'soever down the stretch and against a
Pacers team that is going to continually rotate guys, it's
gonna stand out a little bit.

Speaker 2 (38:42):
So I do think ambustion to you, because I was
gonna say that's that's gotta be factored in when we
talk about it. You're right, I said they look good
through three quarters. Yeah, that's that's right. But it's the
fourth quarter, it's clutch time and that stretch where the
money is made, and they I guess they looked tired.

Speaker 4 (39:00):
I think they looked tired and overtime like exhaustion definitely
kicked in overtime, which is which is fair to say,
especially for Brunston. I thought and Oganoby those guys look
more tired than anybody. But I will say I think
part of that is mental exhaustion more than it might
be physical exhaustion because they're probably thinking that overtime, how
in the world are we in overtime right now? Like

(39:22):
how did that shot going? How do we just blow
a lead where we're at fourteen with a little over
two minutes to go. So I think part of that
is the mental fatigue where they just kind of looked
out of it in the overtime period and they couldn't
overcome that. So I'm not really that worried about the
physical exhaustion, but it definitely showed.

Speaker 2 (39:37):
Up forty straight minutes on this game alone, unbelievable and
I'm not done. Sam back to you. Tyrese Halliburton not
a superstar, that's fair, right, But at the end of
the day, he was on the USA Olympic team. I
know he didn't play, Like how should we view Tyrese haliburt?

(39:57):
And then how much has it changed in the last
two to three weeks.

Speaker 4 (40:01):
It's my views of him has definitely changed in last
two no doubt. I've I was on the he's overrated
train and I still don't think he's a top twelve
to fifteen player in the NBA, Like he wasn't even
all NBA guy this year. And he played better the
last two or three months of the season. But actually
those haven't come out yet. He could end up being
might I think he probably is. He could end up

(40:23):
being on thirteen, but we'll see when those come out.
To me, he wasn't on my ballot.

Speaker 3 (40:26):
If Hember Harden is really the debate there.

Speaker 4 (40:28):
Yeah, it's true and I had hardened so to me,
he's not an All NBA guy this season, and and
it was kind of like he came and he's really
struggled last season. Like this playoffs, he's playing so much
better than he did last playoffs. I know the Pacers
had a great run to the conference finals last year too,
but Tyri Sallen has been on a whole nother level
this playoffs, so as a score, as a shooter, just
everything does, as a creator to get that offense in rhythm,

(40:50):
it's it's been so impressive when you talk about a superstar,
like you're really talking about a ten to fifteen best player,
and it's like, yeah, can this guy be the best
player on a champion And to me, the answer has
always been no. And I'm not necessarily gonna change it
after the season. But if they somehow and the Thunder
and winning. We'll get to that in a second. It's
not this is a race for second for this year
conference finals. But if the Pacers somehow win the NBA Finals,

(41:15):
Tyre's Halliburn will be the worst player on a championship
team since probably the Pistons in two thousand and three.
It's been that long. And that's not even disrespect. That
just means, like, to win an NBA championship, you have
to have a top five to seven guy in the
entire NBA. You just do. That's the only way you
can win a championship almost under all circumstances. And if
Pacers somehow get that done, they would have done it

(41:38):
with not even a top twelve guy.

Speaker 2 (41:40):
That's fair. That's fair shot. Anything you want to add
on that again, superstar, I would just say superstar is like,
like at your point to me that that's rare air.
And I'm not gonna sit here and say Haliburn is
a superstar, But like this dude's balling out right now,
and I think everything we say about Brunson, I think
we need to be saying about Haliburn as well.

Speaker 3 (42:00):
Yeah, and I'm game with that take there.

Speaker 5 (42:02):
I will as much as am riding for Halliburton here,
I'm not gonna throw him the superstar category. And even
like as well as he's played, which you can't ask
for much more than him, I mean, thirty one and
eleven last night, and just like at the epicenter of everything.
By the way, I think he's hung defensively a lot
better than he's gotten credit or I expected from him
throughout this playoff run here, So got to give him
a little bit of props there. So I still think

(42:22):
he probably never quite cracks that upper echelon of like, like,
think about how much slack Jason Tatum has gotten, oh god,
like him not being the clear cup best player on
a team that won the championship, Like Jason Datum is
a far far better all around basketball player than Tyrese Haliburton,
and I think he catches a little bit of slack
for that. So I don't think he's quite a superstar,

(42:42):
but he is a damn good basketball player.

Speaker 3 (42:44):
Man.

Speaker 2 (42:44):
Yeah, there's a lot of hot air around all those conversations.
It's just like, you know, you're damned if you do
damned if you don't. Look at what Jalen Brown had
to deal with and you know, I get it came
up small, but whatever. It's just people continue to say
what they want. But I think we're all on the
same page with that one. See where we're at right now?
Is this too much of an overreaction? Again? I know
where I'm going with these questions and answers. I know

(43:07):
what I'm going to get, but I'm gonna ask it anyway.
Sam Austrey, I'll start with you, too much of an overreaction.
Before Game one, the Knicks were minus one fifty five
to win the series, Pacers were plus one thirty. Now
after the Game one result, I get it, Indiana wins.
The Knicks are plus one forty five and the Pacers
are minus one seventy five and that continues to move

(43:29):
in their favor. Is that too much of an overreaction
in your mind?

Speaker 4 (43:34):
I think so, But I'm not surprised by it because
you're gonna see those swings, those odd swings after every
game pretty much, because that's just how it's going to
go in a series that was pretty much a toss up.
I mean it's close, not quite to pick them, but
it's close to a toss up as you can get.

Speaker 2 (43:49):
Yeah, I didn't get that from you at all leading into.

Speaker 4 (43:52):
That, all right, I'm not saying for me lots.

Speaker 3 (43:55):
I think negative chance was the worst.

Speaker 4 (43:59):
Some things up, some things up.

Speaker 2 (44:00):
First, look at my text.

Speaker 4 (44:02):
I'm not I'm not the me. It was a toss up.
I'm saying from from the odds perspective, it was a
toss up number two. Yeah, I put negative chance in
the group chat. When I actually did my full breakdown
of it, I had this Knicks and seven, So I'm
not It's not like I was calling for a Knickson
sweep or a gentleman's sweep here, Like I thought, there's
gonna be a really tough competitive series and this was

(44:23):
a different style than Knicks. Haven't really seen this playoffs
just yet. So I still the next are winning them
in the series. Don't get me wrong, but this is like, sure,
it's a successful season for the Knicks if they win,
but you can't lose to the Pacers again. You just can't.
Like you really after how last season went when you
had injuries and you probably should have won that series
if you didn't have those injuries hit, and then this

(44:45):
whole season where it's like you have a blessing where
you you Calves are out of it, a really bad
Eastern Conference. Sixers aren't a factor. You beat Boston, Tatum
goes down in Game five, you have an opportunity or
Game four, I guess it was. You have an opportunity
to really make a finalist run with an open path
in the East. And now you see the Pacers again,

(45:06):
a team to beat you. Last year. Halliburton got that
Final Team USA spot over Brunson last summer on the Olympics,
which was ridiculous about the whole Another conversation, it's just
you Knicks can't lose this like it's gonna be a
successful season because it's first COMMERCE finals in twenty five years.
But you have a prime opportunity. You can't lose this series.
And I don't think the Knicks will. I think they

(45:26):
still have that mental resolve to pull it out in step.

Speaker 2 (45:29):
I gotta come back at that. We'll save that one.
Let's put that a pen in that one, because I
don't know if you could look at the season as
a successful season if they don't get like they're here.
This is the golden opportunity. I get it. You finally
you got that next step? Great, you know, like and
I'm speaking from the Sixers perspective, like, okay, Like even
if the Sixers eventually got to an Eastern Conference finals,

(45:52):
I don't know if I'm looking at that like that's
a successful season. And I'm not trying to argue with
you right now, because who the hell knows what's gonna
happen over these next few games. But man, you went
out there and you traded all those picks, and you
got Karl Anthony Townsen. You got this team rolling, and
you are one of four left. And if you come
up short and don't advance with home court advantage to
the NBA Finals, man, that's that's gonna be a tough

(46:15):
one to sell.

Speaker 4 (46:15):
I just say I agree only because it's the Pacers again,
and you just lost the Pacers last year, and that's inexcusable.
But under normal circumstances like this NIXT team is staying
together for the foreseeable future, and you can add some
more depth, new coach around the margins, you new coach. No,
this isn't going really think now, I didn't think he

(46:37):
was gonna get fired if they lost Round one. He's
definitely not getting fired.

Speaker 2 (46:40):
Now they're claiming that this is the reason why they're
tired legs, they're exhausted. This is Debs, this is his monsters.

Speaker 4 (46:46):
You can argue, I don't have the bench players to
even play right now.

Speaker 2 (46:49):
I'm with you.

Speaker 3 (46:51):
I'm not firing him at all.

Speaker 2 (46:52):
I'm with you. But we've seen coaches that.

Speaker 4 (46:56):
It's a different organization, it's a different relationships, different organizations.
Brunt and his father is on statis. Thibbs and Leon
Rose have a great relationship.

Speaker 2 (47:05):
That's all right. I don't think it should happen, But
you know how the NBA is, you're hired to be fired.

Speaker 4 (47:11):
How about Mike Malone doing ESPN now and jb BIS.

Speaker 3 (47:13):
And calling SGA the MVP. Yeah?

Speaker 2 (47:18):
Yeah, if people made a big deal about that, I
I was like, all right, should he he's no longer
his guy? Did Joker get him fired?

Speaker 3 (47:26):
Was he fou?

Speaker 5 (47:26):
That's how I took that. I took that as there's
some hard feelings there. At least you don't have to
say that. You definitely don't have to say that. If
you're Michael, there's definitely hard feelings there.

Speaker 2 (47:35):
And I would imagine you know you're not You're not
moving the head coach unless Joker signs off on it,
and I'm sure he was pretty much well aware of
the conversations that were being had over the past few weeks, months,
whatever it was, and he got canned. But yeah, he's
out there. He's really short. He was really short on television.

Speaker 5 (47:53):
Like, so, I I've got to do with Michael mallone
press conference when the Nuggets were in Philadelphia here, it
blew my mind how like buttoned up and clean he
looked for like TV. Like my impression of him as
like head coach Michael Won it was a gangster man.
Like he was coming in sweatpants, rolled up to his knees,
cursing off the cuff and doing all this. I'm just like,
like last night watching that, Like, I'm just like, that

(48:14):
is a different guy than the dude that I had
a chance to interview right there.

Speaker 4 (48:17):
If he changes people, yeah, no doubt about that.

Speaker 2 (48:20):
Sean, to you your thoughts on the series, too much
of a swing or again, is this the Pacers they're
gonna win?

Speaker 3 (48:28):
Yeah? I mean the math has to math.

Speaker 5 (48:30):
Sean Brace that they're now down to three more wins
than they are advancing here said, they rightfully are the
favorites that they walked into Madison Square Garden and took
game one. And as far as kind of the conversation
of whether the season should be viewed as a success,
I mean, the bottom line is the Knicks are in
the Conference finals, and that's far above myself for I
think a lot of people had pegged they're expected to
get to here. But context certainly matters, and how the

(48:50):
rest of the series unfolds, I think does decide how
you can view this. If the Knicks do show effort
to fight back, and even if they do lose in
a seven game series, I think you can rest on
that a little bit depending on how things play out.
If the Pacers walking and win Game two, I think
the series is over right then tomorrow night if that's
how things go down. So how these next handful of
games are the remainder of the series kind of dictates

(49:11):
in my head whether or not this is a success
or not from the next perspective. But they are in
the conference finals and they do deserve their flowers for that.

Speaker 2 (49:18):
Totally agree with you on that one, all right, anything
else we want to get into, First of all, Game
two five and a half points spread to twenty seven.
Of course, that's up a point from the spread perspective
for the Knicks that I think it went off at
three and a half if I'm not mistaken. So I
think we could say two point and a half whatever
it may be there and then to twenty seven. That's
up seven points from two twenty and a half. Again,

(49:42):
you know, it's it's tough to sit here, like the
Knicks have to have that game. It's a must win
for the Knicks.

Speaker 3 (49:47):
Absolutely serious is over if they lose that game.

Speaker 4 (49:49):
I do really, I actually I don't. I don't agree
with that Gock. I just think it's too It's it's
you see it more than ever if teams come back
from two to oh and look the Pacers into the
next last year, and yes, obviously Og got hurt and
that contributed to it, but the Pacers were were down
two oh and they came back. And you know, I've
talked about this forever now of how home court advantage

(50:09):
means nothing to me, like hopefully should be playing on
the road means nothing. Yeah, obviously the Pacers should be
still Stancil favorites. And I'm not gonna it'll be a shock.
It'll be a shocker if the Knicks win. But I
don't think it's over if it's two oh. Like you
saw it even with the Raptors a few years ago
when the Raptors were down two oh to the Bucks
in the Eastern Conference Finals, and they come back. Teams
come back from down two oh, especially teams that are

(50:32):
like even if you want to say one team is
better than the other, these two teams are evenly matched.
And like this this series, any game could swing any
which way based on a few plays, so they could
come back from two oh.

Speaker 2 (50:42):
All right, let's get on over to the west side
of things. Let's talk about the Oklahoma City Thunder. Their
seven and a half point favorites two sixteen and a
half is our total in this one. I'm looking for
a winner. I need a winner tonight. Boys, give me
a winner. Where am I going with this game? Shant,
I'll start with you.

Speaker 5 (50:56):
So I like the Under If we're just talking about
a direct play there that I did like, The Thunder
kind of exploded in a way defensively that I like.
That's probably the biggest selling point of this series is
that the Thunder defense is the best unit out of
the four between these four teams, and Minnesota has a
very good defense as well. So I do think this
turns into a bit of a rock fight tonight, that
they were able to get going the way that I
don't expect. That full number is sitting at two sixteen

(51:18):
and a half. I do love that to stay under there.
I do think Minnesota puts up a better battle than
was the case in Game one. Seven and a half
is the number. It's plus two thirty five on the
money line. I'm tempted by that, to be perfectly honest,
Andony Edwards look kind of disinterested in that game, and
he gets a pass a lot more than he probably
should as a guy who's thrown into the conversations that
he is. I do think he was bothered by that
ankle injury that he seems to be fighting through and rolled.

(51:40):
He's kind of rolled it for like several weeks now
it's just kind of re injuring it. They're not making
a big deal about it, but I need to see more.
Thirteen shots is not good enough from him. I kind
of think Minnesota rolled over in a way that they
just like I didn't expect from them, and I think
they show more tonight. So I like the plus seven
and a half I'm tempted by the money line. I
do think the game goes under.

Speaker 2 (52:00):
Yes, Sam, I guess the key would be, you just
gotta It's a lot like the Warriors from from previous
seasons where you knew that the Warriors were gonna have
a monster third quarter, and that seems to be what
Oklahoma City is able to do right out halftime. But
I do want to shine the light on that defensive
play man. They they played Paul on that side and

(52:20):
they run deep. Of course they got some linked. I
thought that game one was there, it was on a
platter for Minnesota, and I was disappointing, Like if there
was a moment a game to get, it's that one
with everything that okay, so he had to do going
up against you know, in that previous series, so on
and so forth, and then you get that game and

(52:41):
then that result. And I'm like, and I didn't know why.

Speaker 3 (52:44):
I started strong too, Like they came out of the
gates high.

Speaker 2 (52:47):
Minnesota looked smooth in that first quarter. They were popping.
I think they had they were up ten to five. Again,
it's the first quarter. No one's gonna, you know, cash
a ticket at that point in time. But I'm like,
all right, Minnesota is here, and then all of a sudden,
third quarter came, defense showed and of course, okay, see
the avalanche that they just did on the opfense side
of the ball in Minnesota couldn't stop them tonight. I

(53:07):
would love to see here and say that I like Minnesota.
I don't. I'm comfortable giving the seven and a half.
Give me okay, see, am I wrong on this one? Sam?

Speaker 4 (53:16):
I'm on Okac as well. I don't think Minnesota is
much of a chance in this series, and I think
the Thunder go up two to oh pretty easily. And
you talk about the Warriors, that third quarter avalanche that
you see from them, but that was offensively what you
used to see from those Warriors.

Speaker 2 (53:33):
Curs.

Speaker 4 (53:33):
This third quarter avalanche is defensively for the Thunder, and
they were like that against the Nuggets too. He saw
in that game seven how they forced turnovers. They were
number on the league all season at forcing turnovers, and
they never turned the ball over themselves. So when you
value possessions at that high of a rate, you're gonna
have success. The Thunder held the Wolves to twenty nine
percent three point shooting and thirty four percent shooting from

(53:56):
the field and forced them into seventeen turnovers. That's just
a remarkable display defensively. So even Shay who struggled with
efficiency them and he got his points up, but he
really struggled with his efficiency throughout that throughout that game.
And I thought the Wolves had a good defensive plan.
This this Wolves team just can't score, like they simply
just can't score. And they couldn't score in the half
court even against the Lakers, going back to that first

(54:18):
series they won in five games, they struggled with their
half court offense. They struggled with their half court offense
against the Warriors. And now you're playing not just the
best defense this season, Like when it's all said and done,
this is gonna be assuming the Thunder win, this is
gonna be one of the best defense in NBA history.
That's how great this defense is. Where they have so
many guys. Every guy that plays just comes in and

(54:38):
contributes and can and can guard so many different positions
and they really just move on a string. So I've
been so impressed with this defense. And when you have
a wolve's offense that struggling to score in the half
court anyway, I don't see a way that they're gonna
score enough and and the thunder have a good enough
offense where they're they're gonna win pretty handily tonight.

Speaker 5 (54:56):
Ye from seventy to forty in the second half of that.

Speaker 2 (55:02):
Yeah, crazy Yeah. Mark Henry Junior pointed out something when
I recorded with him on Monday about about historical as
far as how good okay See is. I think it
was point differential if I'm not mistaken forgetting off the
top my head, but there are some stats that are
in favor of okay See this season that they were
able to put together that would separate them from some

(55:22):
of the teams of you know, yesteryear. But you gotta
win it all. We know that starts it ends there.
Don't care what you do in the regular season. It's
a whole different season at this point in time. But
okay See, man, I just can't bet against him at
this in this game tonight. So give me. I'll give
the seven, seven and a half whatever it is, Sam,
You're one winner tonight, though, is what?

Speaker 4 (55:43):
Yeah, it's it's seven and a half, but that's the winner,
and I do I lean the under. I don't know
if I'm gonna bet necessarily, but I'm definitely gonna be
on the seven and a half. I think okay See
is just too good, like we talked about there, too
good defensively and the Wolves won't have a chance to
score well.

Speaker 2 (55:58):
Insane NBA playoffs from starting to where we're at right now,
a great NBA season. We've been covering it all with
the great minds here, Sam Austria and Sean Bernard. This
has been a fun daily ticket. Keep it locked right
here to the Gambler. We're gonna get back tomorrow, I
would imagine in some capacity. These guys have been rolling
live on Mondays as well, picks and rolls. To make
sure you're checking out everything podcasted at Foxpho Gambler dot com.

(56:21):
That's at FOXPHL Gambler dot com. Couplehouse keeping items real
fast if I may. First of all, coming up next
Beef at Night myself, Ryan Beef Cooile. We talked about
college football last night. Boys. It's a Memorial Day weekend.

Speaker 4 (56:34):
I don't know if you guys know this this we'll
start a summer.

Speaker 2 (56:37):
I know it's the official start of summer, which I
thought started next weekend, but regardless, and college football is
right around the corner. I know people don't want to
hear that, but it's the truth in the NFL, right
around the corner. And of course we had some pretty
big topics in the NFL world on our timeline yesterday.
So yeah, push on, Baby, push on. So Beef and

(57:01):
I are coming up next with Beef at night, and
then at five o'clock you are going to get swinging
and ding it where they check in with Moose live.
I don't even know where the hell he is. He's
at put the.

Speaker 5 (57:12):
Comedican Republican Republic, Gota. We got a live putt from
the Green down there, but from.

Speaker 2 (57:18):
The Green on the podcast, we're gonna find out if
he makes it or misses it. We have to put
money on that right now, Moose, how far of a
putt was it? Sean?

Speaker 5 (57:28):
It was right like off the edge of the green,
So it was not like a layup putt by any means.

Speaker 2 (57:34):
I was still even if it was a five footer,
I was gonna say, you missed it. But that's all right.
It's Moose. He's down there at AKA enjoying himself. So
that's coming up at five o'clock. And again we've had
some great coverage on all Philadelpia sports, including the fieldep Union
X is int you. That's a brand new episode that
we rolled out yesterday. Episode thirty seven from the Boys
and the philadelph Union are on top of the Eastern

(57:56):
Conference standings right now, so check that out for all
your Union fans. Last, but not least, I do want
to point this out with our friends over at gear
Hearts and unbelievable Memorial Day sale. But let's just start
off and don't snip this. I'm not trying to go
full Keith Pompey here. Memorial Day is about remembering and
pausing and honoring the brave men and women who made

(58:16):
the ultimate sacrifice. It starts and ends there right, no
offense butts about it. However, this weekend, of course Memorial Day. Yeah,
they got some great sales going on, so if you
do choose to shop, please check out our friends over
at Gearheart's Appliances, proud supporters of our community, always front
and center when it matters the most. We're talking over

(58:39):
eighty plus years serving the fine folks of the Philadelphia area.
Gearhart's Appliances for everything home from kitchens to outdoor grilling
and proudly serving Philadelphia community for over eighty five years.
Once again, a great weekend to do exactly that about
Memorial Day, remembering pause and reflecting all that you do,

(59:00):
want to get out and about and you need something
from your home. I just planted a bunch of flowers
in my backyard starting to really hopefully we get some sunshine.
I can actually enjoy it. But you know where to
shop shop at Gerharts check them out at Gearharts Clients
dot com. Sam Oustri from The Score, great job as always, Sam.
What do you got cooking up over there at the Score?

Speaker 4 (59:19):
A lot of basketball stuff, a lot of reactings all
these series, the previews have been out, but reacting this
series going about I have a story going about the
collapse last night going up pretty soon here, So keep
it locked all right.

Speaker 2 (59:32):
And Sean Barnard, I know you were working on a
Jalen Hurtz column over at DraftKings and whether or not
the touch push coming back, he should be one of
our top fantasy football options at the quarterback position. Tongue
in cheek, I know.

Speaker 5 (59:44):
Yes, and absolutely should still be the case with or
without the touch push there that QB sneaks are not
being outlawed, but nonetheless we don't kint to worry about
that whatsoever. So have that we'll have some player props
in a couple other directions for tomorrow, Tomorrow night's game
that'll be popping out over on DK network. So got
a ton of stuff brewing on both Sixers and Phillies
Digest on the YouTube channels there, So make sure to

(01:00:04):
tap in for that.

Speaker 2 (01:00:05):
Damn right, subscribe and tell a friend what we're all
doing here. Gambler Gang represent everybody. Enjoy the rest of
your day. I'll be back tomorrow. Good luck on those plays.
Go Oklahoma City Painters.

Speaker 1 (01:00:18):
The Picks and Roll podcast can be found on FOXPHL
Gambler dot com