June 6, 2025 • 42 mins
Jason McIntyre steps in for Colin after a thrilling finish to game 1 of the NBA Finals with the Pacers pulling off another furious comeback
He reacts to Aaron Rodgers signing a 1-year contract with the Steelers
Guest: John Hollinger
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Hello and welcome to the Herd. It's a beautiful Friday.
The Choklahoma City Thunder they go down overrated SGA chans
it ou, oh ladies, and John be on a great
show today.
Speaker 4 (00:39):
I'm fired up.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
I am extremely excited. What the helly happened last night
in Okay? See it's me Jason McIntyre in for Colin Cowherdon.
He's back next week.
Speaker 5 (00:49):
I know you're yeeped.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
I know you're.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Excited at Coward's back.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
Joined as always by Alex Curry.
Speaker 6 (00:54):
Alex no, no, no, no, no good wake what a bang
your way?
Speaker 4 (00:58):
That end the week?
Speaker 6 (01:00):
Like Holy Halliburton game winner, your boy Aaron Rodgers finally
finding with this deeler, Like happy Friday.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
Let's go, Yeah, I Let's go. I thought I was
gonna take time.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
The theme for today squabble up and talk about a
billionaire and the president going, that's a no fly zone.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
Jamack.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Okay, fine, fine, we'll talk about Game one of the
NBA Finals, and guys, listen, I could probably do thirty
minutes right out the gate on that gate.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
It was bonkers.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
But the one obvious thing we have to start with
is death taxes and Tyrese Haliburton. Nobody has had a
clutch postseason like Halliburton has.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
Folks.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
He did this against the Bucks in the opening round,
the driving layup. He did this against the Calves to
basically squash them in Game two, and of course against
my New York Knicks.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Tyrese Haliburton is the man. The pull up.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Jumper with three tenths of a second left gives the
Pacers the win. They were ten point underdogs on the
road and Haliburton delivers.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
Now, there's so many layers to this.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
I will try to contain myself, but first let's get
this out of the way early. Here's the audio from
the Indiana Pacers radio call of Tyrese Haliburton vanquishing the
thunder eight.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Seconds to go. The Pacers are not gonna call the
time out.
Speaker 7 (02:21):
Halliburton has it with three driving with two pulling up a.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Sad heading with three tenths of a second to go.
Speaker 8 (02:29):
How many more times can this team do that?
Speaker 4 (02:35):
You gotta love it.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
You see all those OKC fans hit the surrender cobra
hands on their head.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
What did I just witness?
Speaker 3 (02:42):
But here's the best part about Halliburton beating OKAC last night.
So Tyrese was in the Dorcher chamber all night. Luke
Dort locked him up.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Luke Dort did a tremendous job on Halliburton and Haliburt
at a quiet game and you're like, oh, where's Haliburton?
Speaker 4 (02:58):
Am I guy?
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Richard Jefferson, you know, play with me in a men's league.
He's a great human being. He's talking about in the
fourth quarter. Hey, Tyrese, Haliburton, you can't shoot tour dates
okay in Game one of the NBA Finals and Haliburton
not a quakey, but he wasn't forcing anything. And that's
important because as soon as they got a chance to win,
just keep it close, keep it close, OKAC was gonna fold.
(03:21):
And there is an element to OKC and we'll get
to them later, trust me plenty to do on Okay,
see what we're gonna focus on the positive.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
You're at the outset.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
But there is a Mike Tyson element to the Thunder, Right.
They want to knock you out. That's what they do.
They had the most double digit wins I believe in
NBA history. Our guest Anthony Slater had that yesterday, something
like sixty one wins by double figures. That's more than
the KD. Curry Warriors.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
They want to knock you out, but they couldn't knock
the Pacers out. They attempt. They were up fifteen in
the fourth quarter. This game was.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Eerily reminiscent of that choke by the Thunder in Game
one against Denver. A lot of self inflicted wounds. And
we'll talk about the coach a little bit later. Dagnault
coached a terrible game. Only way to grate him on
that was an f from the starting lineup to the
closing lineup.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
He was awful.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
But I do want to focus on the positive in
the Pacers here. Folks, when you look at the box score,
you don't understand it kind of breaks your brain a
little bit. Okay, Indiana averaged twelve turnovers a game, they
had twenty four last night they had eighteen in the
first half.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
I mean they were on pace for thirty six turnovers.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
However, Rick Carlile, who I hyped up when I picked
the Pacers four too yesterday?
Speaker 4 (04:31):
I hyped up Rick Carlisle. I said, listen, this guy's good.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Look what he did to Lebron and the Heatles fourth quarter.
Pacers had one turnover early on. They could not handle
the pressure. They made adjustments. Carlisle's a master. So not
only did they turn them all over twenty four times,
but did you see the steals in this game? Fourteen
steals for OKC, one for the Pacers.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
How do you win a game like that?
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Well, it's a three point shooting and again this was
one of the keys to victory for the Pacers, number
one three point shooting team in the playoffs forty last night.
Seven more threes than the pace than the Thunder seven
times three twenty one in a one point game. You
win threes by that much, folks. I mean you looking
on the screen here that Andrew Nemhard banger. Now some
(05:16):
of it was luck, obviously, but look at Nemhard between
the legs bang right, in Wallace's face, and then he
did it to his fellow countryman, Shay Gilges Alexander by
the way they got into it, we'll also talk about that.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
But like, was there some flukiness. Yeah, Myles Turner ain't
gonna bank in threes, right right.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Obi Toppin turned into Steph Curry there in the fourth quarter.
But ultimately it came down to Tyrese Haliburton. Here's Tyrese
after the victory, and.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
We got to stop.
Speaker 8 (05:44):
Uh and coach trust us in those moments to not
call timeouts, trust me in those moments. Gods trust me
and just trying to make a play. So uh man,
that's the Basketball's fun.
Speaker 9 (05:54):
Man.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
Winning is fun. That's that's a great win for us.
Basketball is fun.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
I was watching my kids last night and when Sga
bricks an eight footer, yeah, the mid range is back
right and the Pacers get a shot. I'm watching my
kids were all standing up. I'm like, do I get
video of myself to I do one of those nerdy
reaction videos.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
Now, let me's just watch it.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
And you Halliburton got the ball and you're like, oh,
there's a problem. And it's interesting because against the Bucks,
he drove for the layup against the Calves, step back
against ty Jerome against the Knicks, mister Robinson, step back three.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
He didn't the thunder. It scattered him.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
They knew what was coming, they knew time and situation.
Just a pull up jumper, twenty one foot bag from Haliburton,
And as soon as it went up, I was like, oh,
that's cash, it's over and he hits it. And my
kids don't really know Tyrese Haliburton. You know, he's not
a well known superstar, but the legend is growing pretty quickly.
And I don't know if you guys have seen this
(06:50):
on the internet, but there's this funny mashup because Tyrese
Haliburton is he's kind of different, right, He's just like
kind of a little goofy at times.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
He's got a funky.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Looking shot, always smiling and happy. And there's a mashup
of Tyrese Haliburton and Steve Verkele on the internet. I
don't know if you guys have seen that, but Steve
Verkle of course, family Matter is Julia White iconic TGIF show.
I don't even know if Alex was born at the
time I watched TGIF you know, Nerdy Jason, sixth grader
(07:18):
watching Steve Rkele, and there should be a new nickname
for Tyrese Haliburton. Why not Halliburkele, Because once you see
the video of Steve Rkle, remember there was one game
where Steve Verkle's going off, Tyrese Haliburton kind of.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
Doing the same thing.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Halliburkele. Is that going to stick?
Speaker 4 (07:33):
Much more on this game later?
Speaker 3 (07:35):
I promise you we'll come back to it, because I
haven't taken my jabs at okay see, and they're coming, folks,
But I do need to pivot because it was some
big news in the NFL on Thursday. Our long national
nightmare mercifully is over. Aaron Rodgers is flying to Pittsburgh
today to sign a contract and play for the Pittsburgh
(07:58):
Steelers next year.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
It's over.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
I mean, we had to deal with what four months
of reporters saying this is the week Aaron Rodgers probably said, no, no,
not this, it's next week. I mean, you know, guys
just whiffing all over the place because nobody knows what
Aaron Rodgers is gonna do. But you gotta be honest, guys,
if you're a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, you have to be thrilled,
absolutely geeked that Aaron Rodgers waited until the very last
(08:26):
moment possible before mandatory appearances were required to sign in Pittsburgh.
You know, usually your quarterback, he's showing up in a
new city, showing up with a new offensive coordinator, new
wide receiver, new running You've got a lot of newness.
He wants to get in the building early. Got to
hit the ground running, gotta beat my guys. I'm here
(08:47):
first in last out.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
Uh huh.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
Aaron Rodgers is letting you know, right out of the gate,
I'm calling the shots you guys. Obviously remember that great
Tom Cruise movie with the Somali pirates and the guy goes,
I'm the captain now, Tom Hanks, Tom Hanks, I'm sorry,
Tom Hanks. This was Aaron Rodgers essentially saying, hey, this
is my show, Mike Tomlan You're a great coach.
Speaker 4 (09:12):
Arthur Smith.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
I don't know why I'm gonna deal with you, but
I'm running the show to Aaron Rodgers said, I'm signing
now here.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
I am, and folks, you know, I don't know how
this is gonna go. We got we got a lot.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
Of newness in Pittsburgh, and our our staff put together
a little chart. So Najie Harris, he gone their number
one running back, number one wide receiver, Pickens he just
got shipped tight end.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
Is the same. They're number two wide receiver. He's also new.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
They're left tackle Broderick Jones. He was not the full
time starter last year. Look at all this newness in Pittsburgh.
If you guys are looking for a team that's going
to be potentially rocky, I think the Pittsburgh Steelers are
the one. Now, we remember Brett Farv when he left
Green Bay. He had a pit stop in New York.
It went great for half of season, and then oh
(10:01):
he goad Zookes. It totally nuked. Then he left for
Minnesota found his groove again. I mean, I think he
was nearly the MVP of the league. And they lose
in the conference championship game. That faithful interception over the middle.
One wonders Aaron Rodgers leads green Bay pitstop in New
York not great? Will he find the fountain of youth
(10:24):
in Pittsburgh. I'm here to tell you that's not happening.
And all this Aaron Rodgers far of comparisons, I think
we're gonna have to put them in the rearview mirror. Yes,
Rogers incredible career. It was a time when he won
the two MVPs in Green Bay. I was like, oh,
it is a top five quarterback all time. He doesn't
have the Super Bowls, but man, the arm strength, the stats,
(10:45):
the lack of interception.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
I mean, Aaron Rodgers is.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Great, and then in New York you're like, hurt, not awesome.
Final You're in Green Bay and Mike Tomlin has this long, amazing.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
Track record of never have a losing record.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
I have it as eighteen seasons without a losing record
for Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
That's the most consecutive.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Non losing seasons, only behind Bill Belichick, as you can
see on the screen with nineteen and Tom Landry, the
great Cowboys coach of twenty one. Here's the thing with Tomlin,
I think this is going to be the year they
don't hit five hundred. And that's tough because it's gonna
reflect poorly.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
On Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
I mean, remember Tomlin has stayed five hundred or better
with a pooh pooh platter of quarterbacks since Ben Roethlisberger retired.
I'm talking, you know some jokers out there, okay, And
I'm not really feeling this Rogers vibe. We already have
seen reports. Hey man, you know Arthur Smith's personality, you
know Aaron Rodgers, They're gonna be button heads out of
(11:46):
the gate. Okay, Aaron, when he went to New York,
they just gave him everything he wanted. Oh you want
Randall Cobb, you want Alan Lazard, come on down, you
want Nathaniel Hick.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Oh yeah, let's do it. Steelers ain't doing that.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
So Rodgers is now not going into a comfortable setting,
newness all over the place. I'm very reluctant that the
Steelers are a five hundred team. This is signing by Rogers.
Win total didn't move.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
You know, it was probably baked in that he was
gonna sign there.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
But the opener against my Jets is interesting because it
pits Justin Fields against Aaron Rodgers. Justin Fields was in
Pittsburgh last year, Rogers was at the Jets. The line
did bump up to Steelers minus three in New York.
I'm gonna be headed to Vegas this weekend, and I
would love to bet the Jets not I'm not gonna
(12:34):
unload the bank account. But I'm just telling you right
now that Jets pass rush. You don't think those Jets
are gonna be motivated to go after Rogers the way
that tenure went in New York, Folks, it's not gonna
be pretty for Aaron Rodgers in Pittsburgh. I mean, I
asked the staff ranked the quarterbacks in the division. I mean,
he ain't better than Lamar Jackson or Joe Burrow, that's
(12:54):
for sure. So at best you've got the third best quarterback.
Pro Football Focus had Pittsburgh wenty first best roster in
the league.
Speaker 4 (13:03):
That's not great. I don't know.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
This smells to me like seven and ten Pittsburgh and
Aaron Rodgers feels like it's over all right. We have
a phenomenal show ahead and coming up next? How can
the Thunder bounce back? In Game two Sunday night? They
had a lot of mistakes. I'll tell you everything that
went wrong next here on the Herd.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and Noone Eastern not a em Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app. Back here on
the Herd.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
I will say, having a game last night, extra bounce
on my step this morning, couldn't sleep Whiston. I was
so geeked over Tyrese Haliburton heroics. We'll have some interesting
stories in herdline coming up at about eight minutes. Okay,
so I glazed as the young kids say, Haliburton the pacer.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
So now let me take some shots at OKC.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
So, growing up, one of my favorite coaches in all
of sports was this guy named pat Riley had the
slick back look on the sideline with the Lakers Armani suits.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
He was the man.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
He had a cool mantra. No rebounds, no rings. It's
pretty simple, right, rebound the BASKETBA, don't get the second chances. O.
Casey did something so stupid last time. I just I
don't know what they did here. So I even mentioned yesterday.
I don't see Hartenstein playing a lot.
Speaker 4 (14:25):
In the series.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
I don't anticipate a lot of double bigs. Pacers can
play five out, everybody can hit threes. So Dagnau pulls
his starting center Isaiah Hartenstein and starts Keseon Wallace. So
on the surface, okay, I guess that makes sense. Here's
the interesting part. They never started that five man unit
(14:46):
before as the starting group in the playoffs six I
think it will sixteen games.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
To get to the finals.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Never use that starting group once, okay, but they still
led about fifteen in the fourth right, and then down
the stretch for I haven't seen a logical explanation. Dag
Nault pulled chet home run for Kesan Wallace. So now
you have no Heart and Stein and no Chet. So
what happens in the final three minutes?
Speaker 4 (15:13):
The Pacers go on a thirteen to.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Four run score inside at Will grab two offensive boards,
put him back.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
It's like, what was he thinking? And you know, listen,
you never want to overreact after one game.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
I think I referenced the Allen Iverson Lakers game where
Iverson hit that shot in overtime steps over Tyron Lou and.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
The Sixers win. It was a shocker.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
I remember with my family we were on a family
vacation and cause school had just let out, and I
was watching it at like wherever we were. I was like,
oh my gosh, are the Lakers in trouble? And Lakers
steam rolled them the rest of the way. However, here's
SGA after the loss.
Speaker 9 (15:51):
How you lose doesn't really matter. Obviously it sucks last
second shot, but the energy and they are in and
stuff like that. But we lost. At the end of
the day, series is in first to one. It's first
of four, so we have four more games together, they
have three, and that's just where we are. We got
to understand that and we got to get to four
before they get the three. If we won to win
NBA Championship and then is that simple. It's not rocket science.
(16:13):
We lost game one. We have to be better.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
So the Pacers out rebounded the Thunder fifty six thirty
nine plus seventeen. The Pacers were on the glass. Shout him,
out shot him from three. Now, let me take a
quick moment. You talk about everybody's favorite basketball player. Shake
Gilgess Alexander. Okay, yesterday I compared him to James Harden.
I had former NBA players coming at me on social
(16:38):
media for this take. I'm like, oh, we guys, settle down, Hey, relax.
Last night during the game, Sga cooking from the mid range.
My buddies are texting me, boy, Sga better.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
Than James rten J mack. All right, what happened down
the stretch? Ladies? And gentlemen.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
SGA bricks in eight footer. Tyreese Haliburton comes down Clutch City. Okay,
I'm not a Tyrese Haliburton hater.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
I'm not. I'm just a realist.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
On on what planet is forty minutes and three assists
for your point guard?
Speaker 4 (17:13):
Like a good game? Is he making anybody better? Thirty
eight points on thirty shots. That's not efficient, guys.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
He had a good scoring game for three quarters and
in the fourth quarter folded.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
He was not great.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
And this is what's interesting. He was getting frustrated. Our
staff came up with some numbers.
Speaker 8 (17:34):
Here.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
SGA, aka the free throw Merchant, gets to the line
like nobody's business.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
He could not get to the line last night.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
He only got to the free throw line eight times,
and eight is the line of demarcation.
Speaker 4 (17:47):
The thunder are four and three. In the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
When SGA attempts eight or fewer free throws eight or more,
they're unstoppable.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
They're eight and two.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
One of the keys to this offense is SGA getting
in your head, getting your guys in foul trouble.
Speaker 4 (18:03):
And there was a small moment in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
I don't know if you saw this. The announcers didn't
make a big deal out of it. SGA's going against
his guy, Andrew Nemhard and you see this play by
Netmhart and.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
He was upset.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Look what SGA does, reacts with a shove. Referee didn't
step in or anything. SGA goes to the foul line.
Nemart goes and bumps him off his spot. You like that, boy.
Nemart is a dog. He is becoming one of my
favorite guys. But this SGA moment reshoves him. That's the
opposite of what happened in the Minnesota series. Remember Jaden
McDaniels were so pissed he just shoved SGA and then
(18:35):
his comment afterward was like, oh, yeah, you can't really
foul him. I wanted to see if you could really
out to shove him.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
Or whatever it was.
Speaker 9 (18:42):
And I just.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
I don't want to crush SGA. They may come back
and win the series. The Thunder may win the next four,
but I was talking with Shady McCoy show before US.
I said, I might take Haliburton over SGA if I'm
starting a team. Haliburt makes everyone better. And he's like,
I don't think I could talk to you anymore.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
J Mac and we're friends. But I'm being honest here.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
Tyrese Haliburton, there's something about this guy, and I don't
know it's SGA.
Speaker 4 (19:12):
I don't want to say.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
Has that clutch gene? But people love to say, like,
what is the guy's defining moment? Oh, Michael Jordan with
the shot against the Utah Jazz, Magic Johnson the hook
shot against the Celtics.
Speaker 4 (19:25):
A lot of guys have defining shots.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
I mean Tyress Halliburton has an entire postseason or something
right now, Okay.
Speaker 4 (19:33):
Has SGA had his moment?
Speaker 3 (19:34):
Maybe it's coming in the series as possible, But just
watching last night, he got a little frustrated. He missed
a potential shot to put him up three with eleven
seconds left, and all Tyrese Haliburton does his deliver. So
I have some real questions about Okay, See, I did pick.
Speaker 4 (19:50):
Indiana in six.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
And just watching Tyrese operate when it mattered most versus
watching SGA. Like, SGA is great in that Mike Tyson role. Hey,
we're gonna knock you the bleepout, We're gonna put you
down twenty.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
It's game over. It's laughing on the sidelines.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
If they don't get to that, they have had problems
in close games, SGA might be time to step up
in game two. Buddy, let's go to Alex Curry with
the news.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Got no turn on the news. This is the herd
Line News.
Speaker 6 (20:22):
Can I just say, I love that you gave two
final prediction outcomes yesterday and now you're running with your money.
Speaker 4 (20:28):
Peck of pacers.
Speaker 6 (20:29):
Then think guy said, you set yourself up really well.
You said, well, if I'm betting my money pacers and six,
but if I'm going.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Like my head and takes okay, see but like okay
see at four, not just okay see yeah, it was
either okay see sweep or pacers got yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:45):
Pacers got it like he's dragging out.
Speaker 6 (20:47):
And but as you said, holy Haliburton, like he's he's
becoming a star right in front of our eyes. And
everyone complained that we don't have like star power in
this finals. Everyone's gonna know Halliburton's name after after this series,
for this playoff.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
I think after this playoff rock Halla.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
Burkele, you mean no, no, it's not it's Commander that
hit hard now it's Halliburkell.
Speaker 6 (21:12):
No, because that's like dorky and he's not.
Speaker 4 (21:14):
He's like rast, he's a hit song right now? What
the helly? Yes?
Speaker 5 (21:20):
Thank you?
Speaker 6 (21:21):
Okay, all right, let's get to our first story in
the NFL. In the NFC North, Kevin O'Connell has been
set fast into support of JJ McCarthy, aimed all the
different rumors surrounding the Vikings quarterback position. Now, despite all
the various reports, O'Connell threw his support behind the second
year signal color.
Speaker 10 (21:38):
He's having a great spring. It's it goes back well
beyond you know, just the off season program. We're pretty
darn close to having a good feel for where he's at. Uh,
He's had a great offseason. He's healthy, strong, throwing the ball,
great fundamentals, everything, everything you hope for in the spring.
But the hardest part for NFL quarterbacks, especially the younger,
(21:59):
the younger ones, is there's no scoreboard in June.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
There's no way of truly knowing.
Speaker 9 (22:04):
So what do you do? You got to go back
to the work.
Speaker 6 (22:07):
I'm taking a beat here on JJ just because we
haven't seen anything yet. He has not played in an
NFL game. Like there's been a lot of talk right
what he has going for him is that he has
the quarterback whisperer as his coach and Kevin O'Connell. But
what he has kind of going against him is that
we heard a lot of names quarterbacks being floated around
(22:31):
the Vikings this offseason right then being connected to it,
and that doesn't just get like stories don't just get
kind of leaked for nothing.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
Right, there's a reason.
Speaker 6 (22:40):
But they ended up not picking up a big name quarterback.
They're going all in on JJ. So now all the
pressure is on you to perform really in your first season,
your rookie season as an NFL quarterback in a really
tough division in the NFC.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
North schedule not awesome for them, not as.
Speaker 6 (23:00):
Hard, not as hard as the Lions. And again, I
think the good thing for them is that, like obviously
the Lions have a lot of changes as well. But
then Packers Jordan Love hopefully like better season than last
year Bears.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
Now I'm trying to think not a lot of teams
have gone fourteen and three and then dumped their quarterbacks.
Speaker 6 (23:21):
You know, yeah, they's not react, especially like what Sam
Garnold did for the Vikings last year. Also with like
very low expectations and then just exceeding everybody's expectations. Now
you're gonna have to come up and compete against that, Like,
can you give us half of what he got? We
don't know and we've heard, you know, there's some like
(23:43):
off the field stuff that we don't know what's going on.
But you just you hope Patty can be great. But again,
there were conversations and there were reports if they were
linked to other big name quarterbacks this offseason, and that doesn't.
Speaker 4 (23:57):
Just happen for nothing.
Speaker 6 (23:58):
Okay, to the NBA. The next job remains available after
find TIBs, but one name is running a lot of attention.
Mark sin is reporting that New York will formally request
permission to speak to Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd. Now,
both of these teams kind of have messy situations right now.
(24:19):
Right Jason Kidd was not told about the Luca trade
before it happened. They do have the number one pick,
so you assume they're going to get Couber flagged. But
New York is in a clean situation either.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
The last coach they just.
Speaker 6 (24:30):
Fired, I mean more it's coming out now, but got
them to the conference finals for the first time in
twenty five years back to back fifty plus one seasons,
took down the defending champs.
Speaker 4 (24:38):
But like, still not enough, You're out of here.
Speaker 6 (24:41):
But there's a couple interesting things like connections here, right.
Jason Kidd he coached Jalen Brunson when he was in Dallas,
and his first big job was in Milwaukee with Yannis,
and he really helped kind of unlock Yannis. And after
he got let go from Milwaukee, Yannis actually reached out.
Speaker 4 (24:59):
To Jason Kid.
Speaker 6 (25:00):
I was like, hey, is there anything I can do
to help? Like, so Jannis really likes Jason Kidd, and
obviously Yanni's like the whole conversation is off season is
where does he end up? So there's just there's some
very interesting connections here. Oh my gosh, I know I'm
just throwing a lot in the pot here. Wait a minute,
damn it now, said Alex. So the Jason Kidd Yannis
thing is gold. You mentioned Jason Kidd two days ago.
Speaker 4 (25:24):
Uh huh the days all lightly lightly? How did we
not draw the honest connection and drop it there? Yeah?
Oh that's a brick audience, I let you down.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
I should have had that. Well that did if you
get Jason Kidd just an answer to get how did
I not have that?
Speaker 6 (25:41):
He is a fan of him like I wanted him.
He helped really unlock him.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
So let's see what we could give up Karl Anthony Towns.
I don't know what would you have a lot of
picks Karl Anton Towns and Bridges is a lot.
Speaker 4 (25:53):
But for you, honest, then you have.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Heart o g Yannie Runson, and then you got to
fortify the bench. I would do it, yeah, I mean
I don't know if I don't knows a Buckswoode.
Speaker 6 (26:05):
Yeah, that's good. But they're asking for me. They're formally
gonna ask permission to pursue him.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
That's good.
Speaker 6 (26:09):
Yeah, and it's a messy again MESSI situation both places.
But he has connections to bost franchises as well. Yeah,
playing for both. So something to keep your eye on, guys. Okay,
back to the NFL. Let's end in Vegas. Pete Carroll
will be seventy four years old when the season starts,
but Vegas is new head coach, has a youthful energy
(26:30):
around him, and the program is offseason. Raiders spends the
portator Patrick Graham said he's soaking everything in that he can,
he said, I mean, anytime you get a chance to
work with someone with that experience, that level of success,
I couldn't be happier with the experience going on right now,
just in terms of being able to bounce ideas off
of him. So the good thing about Pete is like
(26:51):
he brings a culture.
Speaker 8 (26:52):
Right.
Speaker 6 (26:53):
This is not like a long term situation. He's seventy
four years. He's going to be seventy four when the
season starts. But he's a good person to create a foundation,
right and to like really get this franchise in a
good place what over the next four or five four
years something like that of what you can get out
of them pushing eighty if you go past that. But
(27:15):
when you look at that division as well, you have
some of the best coaches in the NFL. You got
Andy Reid Harbaugh obviously if he can continue on what
he did at the college level, Sean Payton, and then
you have Pete Carroll. So there's a lot of really strong.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
So Pete Carroll, you said pushing eighty, So after coaching
the Raiders, you could just run for president, right?
Speaker 4 (27:38):
Is that what happens?
Speaker 6 (27:39):
I knew you were going to try to get that
in somehow today I got away.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Come on all right, Alex started with the news.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
The heard line news still shaken by the Jason Kidd
Jannis Think that's good? Alex Coming up next, talk to
a former NBA front office guy. Did the thunder choke
it away last night? Or was it all Halliburton? Why
the coaching moves?
Speaker 4 (28:05):
Talk about that next year on The Herd.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
at noon eastern nin am Pacific.
Speaker 7 (28:12):
Hey, Steve Covino and I'm Rich David and together we're
Covino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio. You could catch
us weekdays from five to seven pm Eastern two to
four Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and of course the
iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Why should you listen to Covino and Rich.
Speaker 7 (28:26):
We talk about everything life, sports, relationships, what's going on.
Speaker 8 (28:30):
In the world.
Speaker 7 (28:30):
We have a lot of fun talking about the stories
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Speaker 5 (28:44):
So check us out.
Speaker 4 (28:45):
We like to get you involved too.
Speaker 5 (28:47):
Take your phone calls, chop it up.
Speaker 7 (28:48):
As they say, I'd say, the most interactive show on
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Be sure to check out Covino and Rich live on
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that's Cavino and Rich.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
No, you've made it when not only did you work
for an NBA front office, but you created a stat
that everybody references all the time, peer player efficiency Rating.
Speaker 4 (29:18):
Let's bring on John Hollander of the Athletic whom a sharp.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
Reminds in the NBA. John, good to finally talk to you, man.
I was rattled after last night's game. I'm curious your
your thoughts in the moment, and now that you've had,
you know, twelve hours or whatever to sleep on it.
Speaker 11 (29:35):
Yeah, I thought it was the most Thank you for thinking.
I got twelve hours of sleep last night. This about
six times as much as I actually got. But the
most shocking Game one finals game since Nick Anderson thirty
years ago, right just the way it played out, with
Oklahoma City Semen in total control and then Indiana rallying
(29:56):
right at the end in Halliburton again at the finish.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
It seemed like the Denver game. I don't know if
you remember the Denver Game one comeback. Absolutely this was
like a carbon copy. Denver dominated the glass, Pacers dominated
the glass, and then a bit of a coaching meltdown.
Were you surprised John that he pulled chet homegron with
like three minutes left down the stretch and they went
no bigs.
Speaker 4 (30:19):
I was not at all.
Speaker 11 (30:20):
I rewatched the game this morning. Chet Holgrin was terrible,
so that was one of the reasons he couldn't.
Speaker 5 (30:25):
Stick with him.
Speaker 11 (30:26):
The other thing was he did the same thing at
the end of the first half and the Pacers couldn't
even run anything against their five smalls. They just turned
it over every single time. So I thought that was fine.
If you look at the shots they got and the
shots Indiana made those last few minutes, I think Oklahoma
City lives with that. The problem was they should have
been up by twenty five at the time, and they
were only up eight. The game was still close enough
(30:47):
for Indiana to get by making a couple of unlikely shots,
and the Thunder missed a couple of open threes and
had the lane violation on Siakam's free throw. But those mistakes,
it was poss for those to flip the game because
Oklahoma City in the first forty five minutes didn't stick
the knife all the way in.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
So that's a good point because this whole knockout punch,
this Mike Tyson element that okay se has. Usually they
go up twenty twenty five at slights out, but they
got stuck around the thirteen fifteen.
Speaker 4 (31:18):
They could not push it more than that.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
Is there anything the Pacers were doing to prevent themselves
from getting knocked out?
Speaker 4 (31:24):
Was it just hustling back on defense? No transition points?
What was it?
Speaker 11 (31:31):
Oklahoma City shot really poorly at the rim, and I
think Miles Turner was a big factor in that. When
I rewatched the game, he had several really good contests
at the rim.
Speaker 5 (31:39):
Jalen Williams shot six and nineteen.
Speaker 11 (31:43):
Some of them were a little rushed, but some of
them were shots that I think he would he would
be okay taken and he just didn't get to go down.
You're shown one of the worst ones there and again
they got They got nothing from home Gride. You're right,
the points off turnovers were very were very low. It
was just that they didn't quite get They weren't quite
(32:04):
the turnovers that lead to runouts just the way they happen.
Speaker 5 (32:07):
It's just lucky the draw sometimes with that.
Speaker 11 (32:11):
But I think if Oklahoma City looks back at this game,
they're going to be really disappointed with their offense and
especially in the first half, that they just left money
on the table.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
Yeah, I'm looking yet. Chet Holmgren two of nine, j
Dubbs six of nineteen. So essentially, John, they're number two
and three guys, whatever order you put those two in.
They were eight of twenty eight, but they combined to
take fewer shots than SGA. Now I know SGA is bulletproof.
You can't say anything negative about him. Everybody loves him.
He's like a media darling. I didn't think he was
(32:41):
particularly efficient. Thirty eight points on thirty shots, didn't get
to the line as many times as you'd expect, and
he looked rattled there when he shoved nemhard in the
fourth quarter almost looked frustrated.
Speaker 4 (32:52):
I don't know any.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
Takeaways watching the game a second time on SGA.
Speaker 11 (32:58):
Yeah, I thought again in that first half they were
going too quick on offense, too much one on one
and there, and there were some some forced polls in there.
They did a really good job of actually not letting
him get all the way.
Speaker 5 (33:10):
To the rim.
Speaker 11 (33:10):
He's a good two point jump shooter. Uh, this is
an outstanding finish. He had actually over sea Oakham that
was one exception to that. But yeah, uh, it was
relying a lot on his VIDI though, which you're gonna
you're gonna live with that, and then they were able
to single cover him too. So it was one of
the reasons it was so much one on one from
Oklahoma City was because ne Smith was able to just
(33:33):
stay with Jalen Williams, Nemhard was just able to stay
with Shay and they didn't have to bring over help
defenders that much.
Speaker 3 (33:39):
Yeah, I noticed that thirteen assists feels criminally low, only
three for SGA. So is again I'm just guessing, but
Rick Carlisle a master, might be saying, Hey, we're gonna
give SGA whatever he wants.
Speaker 4 (33:52):
We're not gonna let everybody else in a billion threes?
Speaker 2 (33:54):
Is that?
Speaker 4 (33:55):
Do you think that might be the strategy?
Speaker 5 (33:58):
I think that's definitely part of it.
Speaker 11 (33:59):
The other thing with Oklahoma City was with them matching
up small. Heartstein only played seventeen minutes. A lot of
them were with the second group. He's their best screener.
He's the guy who can get Nemhard off of SGA's body,
who can get Nie Smith off of j Dubb And
you know, were they too cute by half?
Speaker 5 (34:19):
Not going with Hart and Steign.
Speaker 11 (34:21):
I know they've been they've been going away from those
two big lineups, but I just wonder Casey Wallace ended
up playing I think thirty two minutes to Heart and
Sign seventeen. Wallace wasn't good at the offensive end either,
and so I think if when Mark Dingall rewatches this game,
I think he's gonna think I should have gotten Heart
Signed in there more, and that if I.
Speaker 5 (34:40):
Was gonna stay small.
Speaker 11 (34:41):
The other guy we didn't really see, just for ninety
seconds was Kenrich Williams, who played a ton when these
teams played in March, and Oklahoma City blew them out,
so I could see even if he doesn't go that
much more to heartsteign I could see a lot more
of Kenny Hustle and less of Wallace.
Speaker 5 (34:59):
I think.
Speaker 4 (35:01):
All right, so you were in an NBA front office.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
I'm just curious if you're having a great postseason run,
your coach is pushing all the right buttons and he
comes to you before Game one of the Finals and says, hey, guys,
I'm gonna go with the starting lineup that we haven't
started in this postseason. Is there gonna be pushback? Would
you have said, wait, what are we doing here? Because
I know it looked good for you know what they
led for forty six minutes or what have you. It
just felt like they were we're gonna adjust to the
(35:26):
pacers as opposed to make the pacers adjust us.
Speaker 11 (35:31):
You know, I would rather have a coach do it
too early than too late, though, where the coach doesn't
make the adjustment until the team is already down two
to oh and they have one foot in the grave,
which I've seen so many times that way, So I
would live with that. You know, should he have maybe
tried it for a half and then you know, gone
to it coming out a halftime, which he's already done
(35:51):
a couple times in this playoffs. He started this lineup
in third quarters before, so I didn't have a big
problem with that, and again they dominated the first TAFF.
I just think they needed to get back to Hartenstein
at some point, especially with Chet having such a bad game.
Speaker 3 (36:07):
Yeah, any idea why Chitt played so poorly? Is it
just like, hey, you know, is his game one of
the finals. He's a young guy, him and Ja Dove.
I don't want to say the moment looked too big,
but were they wide eyed or was it just the
Pacers harassment?
Speaker 11 (36:20):
On defense, I think we have to give Miles Turner
some credit for the defense he played on Shet. If
you look at some of the shed is really effective
off the dribble, usually attacking bigs, and he was. He
wasn't able to get anything on Turner that way. So
give Miles his flowers for that. The other thing, I
think again, because there was so much one on one.
(36:42):
You know, Chet's guy who's getting his baskets in the flow.
There's a pass, there's another pass, the ball kicks out
to him, or he's cutting to the rim, he flies
in for a dunk, and those players weren't there because
it was just one on one and okay, so he's
shooting a jump shot, so I think schematically it kind
of took him out of the game a little bit.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
Speaking of Flowers, John, let's give some to Halliburton, who
is having the most plus postseason run we've ever seen
in basketball. I mean, it's fair to say that he
just is unstoppable when it matters most. This is a
guy who was on the Olympic team but barely played,
kind of laughed about barely playing. Then he was voted
most overrated in some goofy pole I think by the
(37:21):
Athletic and now he is, I mean.
Speaker 4 (37:24):
He's a top ten player in the league. I don't
know what's going on here.
Speaker 11 (37:30):
Yeah, you know, he was dealing with that hamstring injury
the whole second half of last year. I think it
carried into his summer and then even into the beginning
of this year when the Pacers started nine to fourteen,
and somewhere around the middle of the year, he turned
into the old Halley that he was in the first
half of last season and their offense got to another gear.
(37:51):
And what I love about Haliburton is he's such a killer.
If you look like the Cleveland game, the New York game,
he tried to do it.
Speaker 5 (38:01):
They were down too. He went for the three to
get the win.
Speaker 11 (38:03):
They were down one last night, he drove, he drove
a little closer and got to the pull up two
pointer for the win. Like he's playing to the score
in these situations too, which I think is really impressive.
That drive against Milwaukee was another one. There there you
see the step back. You see he didn't go into
the pay because he knew they were down too. If
he got the three, he'd get the win. It's just
(38:24):
been so impressive to see him do this this whole offseason, offseason, postseason.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
Again his historic Yeah, now, obviously you're an analytics guy,
this is one of those things like, I mean, a
pull up twenty one footer. I know that's probably a
good shot for him, but not a great shot in
the NBA currently. Just is this sustainable at all? Or
I mean it's just just a historic run. And hey,
this is who was the guy in the bubble who
was averaging like fifty points a game. I'm spacing on
(38:56):
his name, TJ Warren. TJ Warren, thank you. He went
off for the Bubbles, Like, oh, they got to give
this guy a max deal.
Speaker 4 (39:04):
Is this one of those historic runs that halla Barton's on.
Speaker 11 (39:08):
Yeah, I mean, obviously he's gonna miss one of these
at some point, right, like nobody's say forever. But one
of the things is like, when you're down one, the
extra point of.
Speaker 5 (39:18):
The three doesn't matter anymore.
Speaker 11 (39:19):
So yeah, it's okay to dribble in and take that
twenty one footer then, And I think he's he's really
smart about playing to the score that way.
Speaker 4 (39:27):
All right, macro big picture.
Speaker 3 (39:29):
You know, Pacers and Thunder both built differently than most
of the loaded teams in the league, a lot of guys,
I mean, memo, it's making two million dollars a year
and he's playing phenomenal. Do you think we'll see that
transition over to the off season when it comes time
to make a play for Giannis, make a play for
Kevin Durant. Nobody's given five first round picks for KD
(39:50):
the way McHale Bridges got five.
Speaker 11 (39:52):
You know, I think Giannis could easily get something in
that range.
Speaker 5 (39:58):
Yeah, if he becomes.
Speaker 11 (39:59):
Available, you're you're gonna, yeah, you're gonna see some I mean,
Katie is his late thirties, he has one year left
on his deal. I p assume he'll get extended as
part of any trade, but yeah, the market for him
is isn't gonna be like that.
Speaker 4 (40:11):
What do you think that we could see Yannis? I
mean somebody floating.
Speaker 3 (40:14):
Henry Abbott floated to me like listen, Janis makes the
most sense in OKAC because they have the assets and
the young guys, and they can afford him.
Speaker 4 (40:22):
I don't.
Speaker 3 (40:23):
I mean, we think Oklahoma Said's probably gonna still win
the finals. But do they do something dramatic if this
falls apart.
Speaker 11 (40:30):
I don't think that's Sam Presi's DNA at all. I
think he'd run it back with these guys, make one
or two deals around the edges.
Speaker 5 (40:36):
But this is Shay's team. I think that's.
Speaker 11 (40:40):
Too almost too much like you're building a team around
Yannis instead of Shay at that point.
Speaker 5 (40:48):
So I don't see that happening.
Speaker 11 (40:50):
I think the end game for Yannis is to if
he's gonna leave Milwaukee is probably San Antonio or Houston.
I mean, they have the assets to to do the deal.
The teams are good enough now where he's joining, he'd
be joining.
Speaker 5 (41:04):
A really good team. Those are the two that make
the most sense to me.
Speaker 4 (41:08):
And what about Kevin Durant?
Speaker 3 (41:09):
Is there a team out there that you I mean,
it feels like Kevin Durant's agent is just trying to
get him out of there as soon as possible. He's
floating the Spurs, and then we were hearing, oh the
Knicks one of them at the deadline. Meanwhile, four months ago,
nobody had that. It just feels a little suspicious.
Speaker 4 (41:23):
This gave the stuff.
Speaker 11 (41:26):
I could see a fit there with Minnesota. It's a
little tough with the tax Aprons, but it can be done,
especially if it ends up being a three team deal,
and Minnesota did tribes it did at least make some
effort to get him at the trade deadline. I do
think they need one more elite offensive player to go
with Ant. It's one of the things they missed not
(41:47):
having towns this year. And they're definitely like a win
now team too, So yeah, I think Minnesota is a place.
Speaker 4 (41:54):
For him, all right.
Speaker 3 (41:55):
John Hollinger The Athletic Great Stuff Analytics, Maveny, you rewatched
game this morning. That's dedication, man, I probably should do
that after the show.
Speaker 4 (42:03):
We're I'll sleep one of those, dude. Thanks a lot, John,
thanks for having me on the show. All right, good stuff,
interesting takes from mister Hollinger.
Speaker 3 (42:12):
I'm trying to crystallize some of it in my head,
Alex and think, like, huh, why was chat Homeward so bad?
Lesson like I I mean, if he's your third best
player and you're kind of benching him, that's weird.
Speaker 8 (42:22):
All right?
Speaker 4 (42:23):
Coming up next, it's risky.
Speaker 10 (42:27):
You know.
Speaker 4 (42:27):
People look at me like I got two heads. Yeah,
Halliburton over SGA.
Speaker 2 (42:32):
Why not.
Speaker 4 (42:33):
We'll do that next year. Problem with me on the
hurt
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in
noon to three Eastern nine am to noon Pacific. Find
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dot com, or stream us live every day on the
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Hello and welcome to the Herd. It's a beautiful Friday.
The Choklahoma City Thunder they go down overrated SGA chans
it ou, oh ladies, and John be on a great
show today.
Speaker 4 (00:39):
I'm fired up.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
I am extremely excited. What the helly happened last night
in Okay? See it's me Jason McIntyre in for Colin Cowherdon.
He's back next week.
Speaker 5 (00:49):
I know you're yeeped.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
I know you're.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Excited at Coward's back.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
Joined as always by Alex Curry.
Speaker 6 (00:54):
Alex no, no, no, no, no good wake what a bang
your way?
Speaker 4 (00:58):
That end the week?
Speaker 6 (01:00):
Like Holy Halliburton game winner, your boy Aaron Rodgers finally
finding with this deeler, Like happy Friday.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
Let's go, Yeah, I Let's go. I thought I was
gonna take time.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
The theme for today squabble up and talk about a
billionaire and the president going, that's a no fly zone.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
Jamack.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Okay, fine, fine, we'll talk about Game one of the
NBA Finals, and guys, listen, I could probably do thirty
minutes right out the gate on that gate.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
It was bonkers.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
But the one obvious thing we have to start with
is death taxes and Tyrese Haliburton. Nobody has had a
clutch postseason like Halliburton has.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
Folks.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
He did this against the Bucks in the opening round,
the driving layup. He did this against the Calves to
basically squash them in Game two, and of course against
my New York Knicks.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Tyrese Haliburton is the man. The pull up.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Jumper with three tenths of a second left gives the
Pacers the win. They were ten point underdogs on the
road and Haliburton delivers.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
Now, there's so many layers to this.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
I will try to contain myself, but first let's get
this out of the way early. Here's the audio from
the Indiana Pacers radio call of Tyrese Haliburton vanquishing the
thunder eight.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Seconds to go. The Pacers are not gonna call the
time out.
Speaker 7 (02:21):
Halliburton has it with three driving with two pulling up a.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Sad heading with three tenths of a second to go.
Speaker 8 (02:29):
How many more times can this team do that?
Speaker 4 (02:35):
You gotta love it.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
You see all those OKC fans hit the surrender cobra
hands on their head.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
What did I just witness?
Speaker 3 (02:42):
But here's the best part about Halliburton beating OKAC last night.
So Tyrese was in the Dorcher chamber all night. Luke
Dort locked him up.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Luke Dort did a tremendous job on Halliburton and Haliburt
at a quiet game and you're like, oh, where's Haliburton?
Speaker 4 (02:58):
Am I guy?
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Richard Jefferson, you know, play with me in a men's league.
He's a great human being. He's talking about in the
fourth quarter. Hey, Tyrese, Haliburton, you can't shoot tour dates
okay in Game one of the NBA Finals and Haliburton
not a quakey, but he wasn't forcing anything. And that's
important because as soon as they got a chance to win,
just keep it close, keep it close, OKAC was gonna fold.
(03:21):
And there is an element to OKC and we'll get
to them later, trust me plenty to do on Okay,
see what we're gonna focus on the positive.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
You're at the outset.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
But there is a Mike Tyson element to the Thunder, Right.
They want to knock you out. That's what they do.
They had the most double digit wins I believe in
NBA history. Our guest Anthony Slater had that yesterday, something
like sixty one wins by double figures. That's more than
the KD. Curry Warriors.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
They want to knock you out, but they couldn't knock
the Pacers out. They attempt. They were up fifteen in
the fourth quarter. This game was.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Eerily reminiscent of that choke by the Thunder in Game
one against Denver. A lot of self inflicted wounds. And
we'll talk about the coach a little bit later. Dagnault
coached a terrible game. Only way to grate him on
that was an f from the starting lineup to the
closing lineup.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
He was awful.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
But I do want to focus on the positive in
the Pacers here. Folks, when you look at the box score,
you don't understand it kind of breaks your brain a
little bit. Okay, Indiana averaged twelve turnovers a game, they
had twenty four last night they had eighteen in the
first half.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
I mean they were on pace for thirty six turnovers.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
However, Rick Carlile, who I hyped up when I picked
the Pacers four too yesterday?
Speaker 4 (04:31):
I hyped up Rick Carlisle. I said, listen, this guy's good.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Look what he did to Lebron and the Heatles fourth quarter.
Pacers had one turnover early on. They could not handle
the pressure. They made adjustments. Carlisle's a master. So not
only did they turn them all over twenty four times,
but did you see the steals in this game? Fourteen
steals for OKC, one for the Pacers.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
How do you win a game like that?
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Well, it's a three point shooting and again this was
one of the keys to victory for the Pacers, number
one three point shooting team in the playoffs forty last night.
Seven more threes than the pace than the Thunder seven
times three twenty one in a one point game. You
win threes by that much, folks. I mean you looking
on the screen here that Andrew Nemhard banger. Now some
(05:16):
of it was luck, obviously, but look at Nemhard between
the legs bang right, in Wallace's face, and then he
did it to his fellow countryman, Shay Gilges Alexander by
the way they got into it, we'll also talk about that.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
But like, was there some flukiness. Yeah, Myles Turner ain't
gonna bank in threes, right right.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Obi Toppin turned into Steph Curry there in the fourth quarter.
But ultimately it came down to Tyrese Haliburton. Here's Tyrese
after the victory, and.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
We got to stop.
Speaker 8 (05:44):
Uh and coach trust us in those moments to not
call timeouts, trust me in those moments. Gods trust me
and just trying to make a play. So uh man,
that's the Basketball's fun.
Speaker 9 (05:54):
Man.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
Winning is fun. That's that's a great win for us.
Basketball is fun.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
I was watching my kids last night and when Sga
bricks an eight footer, yeah, the mid range is back
right and the Pacers get a shot. I'm watching my
kids were all standing up. I'm like, do I get
video of myself to I do one of those nerdy
reaction videos.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
Now, let me's just watch it.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
And you Halliburton got the ball and you're like, oh,
there's a problem. And it's interesting because against the Bucks,
he drove for the layup against the Calves, step back
against ty Jerome against the Knicks, mister Robinson, step back three.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
He didn't the thunder. It scattered him.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
They knew what was coming, they knew time and situation.
Just a pull up jumper, twenty one foot bag from Haliburton,
And as soon as it went up, I was like, oh,
that's cash, it's over and he hits it. And my
kids don't really know Tyrese Haliburton. You know, he's not
a well known superstar, but the legend is growing pretty quickly.
And I don't know if you guys have seen this
(06:50):
on the internet, but there's this funny mashup because Tyrese
Haliburton is he's kind of different, right, He's just like
kind of a little goofy at times.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
He's got a funky.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Looking shot, always smiling and happy. And there's a mashup
of Tyrese Haliburton and Steve Verkele on the internet. I
don't know if you guys have seen that, but Steve
Verkle of course, family Matter is Julia White iconic TGIF show.
I don't even know if Alex was born at the
time I watched TGIF you know, Nerdy Jason, sixth grader
(07:18):
watching Steve Rkele, and there should be a new nickname
for Tyrese Haliburton. Why not Halliburkele, Because once you see
the video of Steve Rkle, remember there was one game
where Steve Verkle's going off, Tyrese Haliburton kind of.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
Doing the same thing.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Halliburkele. Is that going to stick?
Speaker 4 (07:33):
Much more on this game later?
Speaker 3 (07:35):
I promise you we'll come back to it, because I
haven't taken my jabs at okay see, and they're coming, folks,
But I do need to pivot because it was some
big news in the NFL on Thursday. Our long national
nightmare mercifully is over. Aaron Rodgers is flying to Pittsburgh
today to sign a contract and play for the Pittsburgh
(07:58):
Steelers next year.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
It's over.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
I mean, we had to deal with what four months
of reporters saying this is the week Aaron Rodgers probably said, no, no,
not this, it's next week. I mean, you know, guys
just whiffing all over the place because nobody knows what
Aaron Rodgers is gonna do. But you gotta be honest, guys,
if you're a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, you have to be thrilled,
absolutely geeked that Aaron Rodgers waited until the very last
(08:26):
moment possible before mandatory appearances were required to sign in Pittsburgh.
You know, usually your quarterback, he's showing up in a
new city, showing up with a new offensive coordinator, new
wide receiver, new running You've got a lot of newness.
He wants to get in the building early. Got to
hit the ground running, gotta beat my guys. I'm here
(08:47):
first in last out.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
Uh huh.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
Aaron Rodgers is letting you know, right out of the gate,
I'm calling the shots you guys. Obviously remember that great
Tom Cruise movie with the Somali pirates and the guy goes,
I'm the captain now, Tom Hanks, Tom Hanks, I'm sorry,
Tom Hanks. This was Aaron Rodgers essentially saying, hey, this
is my show, Mike Tomlan You're a great coach.
Speaker 4 (09:12):
Arthur Smith.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
I don't know why I'm gonna deal with you, but
I'm running the show to Aaron Rodgers said, I'm signing
now here.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
I am, and folks, you know, I don't know how
this is gonna go. We got we got a lot.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
Of newness in Pittsburgh, and our our staff put together
a little chart. So Najie Harris, he gone their number
one running back, number one wide receiver, Pickens he just
got shipped tight end.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
Is the same. They're number two wide receiver. He's also new.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
They're left tackle Broderick Jones. He was not the full
time starter last year. Look at all this newness in Pittsburgh.
If you guys are looking for a team that's going
to be potentially rocky, I think the Pittsburgh Steelers are
the one. Now, we remember Brett Farv when he left
Green Bay. He had a pit stop in New York.
It went great for half of season, and then oh
(10:01):
he goad Zookes. It totally nuked. Then he left for
Minnesota found his groove again. I mean, I think he
was nearly the MVP of the league. And they lose
in the conference championship game. That faithful interception over the middle.
One wonders Aaron Rodgers leads green Bay pitstop in New
York not great? Will he find the fountain of youth
(10:24):
in Pittsburgh. I'm here to tell you that's not happening.
And all this Aaron Rodgers far of comparisons, I think
we're gonna have to put them in the rearview mirror. Yes,
Rogers incredible career. It was a time when he won
the two MVPs in Green Bay. I was like, oh,
it is a top five quarterback all time. He doesn't
have the Super Bowls, but man, the arm strength, the stats,
(10:45):
the lack of interception.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
I mean, Aaron Rodgers is.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Great, and then in New York you're like, hurt, not awesome.
Final You're in Green Bay and Mike Tomlin has this long, amazing.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
Track record of never have a losing record.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
I have it as eighteen seasons without a losing record
for Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
That's the most consecutive.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Non losing seasons, only behind Bill Belichick, as you can
see on the screen with nineteen and Tom Landry, the
great Cowboys coach of twenty one. Here's the thing with Tomlin,
I think this is going to be the year they
don't hit five hundred. And that's tough because it's gonna
reflect poorly.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
On Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
I mean, remember Tomlin has stayed five hundred or better
with a pooh pooh platter of quarterbacks since Ben Roethlisberger retired.
I'm talking, you know some jokers out there, okay, And
I'm not really feeling this Rogers vibe. We already have
seen reports. Hey man, you know Arthur Smith's personality, you
know Aaron Rodgers, They're gonna be button heads out of
(11:46):
the gate. Okay, Aaron, when he went to New York,
they just gave him everything he wanted. Oh you want
Randall Cobb, you want Alan Lazard, come on down, you
want Nathaniel Hick.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Oh yeah, let's do it. Steelers ain't doing that.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
So Rodgers is now not going into a comfortable setting,
newness all over the place. I'm very reluctant that the
Steelers are a five hundred team. This is signing by Rogers.
Win total didn't move.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
You know, it was probably baked in that he was
gonna sign there.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
But the opener against my Jets is interesting because it
pits Justin Fields against Aaron Rodgers. Justin Fields was in
Pittsburgh last year, Rogers was at the Jets. The line
did bump up to Steelers minus three in New York.
I'm gonna be headed to Vegas this weekend, and I
would love to bet the Jets not I'm not gonna
(12:34):
unload the bank account. But I'm just telling you right
now that Jets pass rush. You don't think those Jets
are gonna be motivated to go after Rogers the way
that tenure went in New York, Folks, it's not gonna
be pretty for Aaron Rodgers in Pittsburgh. I mean, I
asked the staff ranked the quarterbacks in the division. I mean,
he ain't better than Lamar Jackson or Joe Burrow, that's
(12:54):
for sure. So at best you've got the third best quarterback.
Pro Football Focus had Pittsburgh wenty first best roster in
the league.
Speaker 4 (13:03):
That's not great. I don't know.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
This smells to me like seven and ten Pittsburgh and
Aaron Rodgers feels like it's over all right. We have
a phenomenal show ahead and coming up next? How can
the Thunder bounce back? In Game two Sunday night? They
had a lot of mistakes. I'll tell you everything that
went wrong next here on the Herd.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and Noone Eastern not a em Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app. Back here on
the Herd.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
I will say, having a game last night, extra bounce
on my step this morning, couldn't sleep Whiston. I was
so geeked over Tyrese Haliburton heroics. We'll have some interesting
stories in herdline coming up at about eight minutes. Okay,
so I glazed as the young kids say, Haliburton the pacer.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
So now let me take some shots at OKC.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
So, growing up, one of my favorite coaches in all
of sports was this guy named pat Riley had the
slick back look on the sideline with the Lakers Armani suits.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
He was the man.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
He had a cool mantra. No rebounds, no rings. It's
pretty simple, right, rebound the BASKETBA, don't get the second chances. O.
Casey did something so stupid last time. I just I
don't know what they did here. So I even mentioned yesterday.
I don't see Hartenstein playing a lot.
Speaker 4 (14:25):
In the series.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
I don't anticipate a lot of double bigs. Pacers can
play five out, everybody can hit threes. So Dagnau pulls
his starting center Isaiah Hartenstein and starts Keseon Wallace. So
on the surface, okay, I guess that makes sense. Here's
the interesting part. They never started that five man unit
(14:46):
before as the starting group in the playoffs six I
think it will sixteen games.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
To get to the finals.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Never use that starting group once, okay, but they still
led about fifteen in the fourth right, and then down
the stretch for I haven't seen a logical explanation. Dag
Nault pulled chet home run for Kesan Wallace. So now
you have no Heart and Stein and no Chet. So
what happens in the final three minutes?
Speaker 4 (15:13):
The Pacers go on a thirteen to.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Four run score inside at Will grab two offensive boards,
put him back.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
It's like, what was he thinking? And you know, listen,
you never want to overreact after one game.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
I think I referenced the Allen Iverson Lakers game where
Iverson hit that shot in overtime steps over Tyron Lou and.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
The Sixers win. It was a shocker.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
I remember with my family we were on a family
vacation and cause school had just let out, and I
was watching it at like wherever we were. I was like,
oh my gosh, are the Lakers in trouble? And Lakers
steam rolled them the rest of the way. However, here's
SGA after the loss.
Speaker 9 (15:51):
How you lose doesn't really matter. Obviously it sucks last
second shot, but the energy and they are in and
stuff like that. But we lost. At the end of
the day, series is in first to one. It's first
of four, so we have four more games together, they
have three, and that's just where we are. We got
to understand that and we got to get to four
before they get the three. If we won to win
NBA Championship and then is that simple. It's not rocket science.
(16:13):
We lost game one. We have to be better.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
So the Pacers out rebounded the Thunder fifty six thirty
nine plus seventeen. The Pacers were on the glass. Shout him,
out shot him from three. Now, let me take a
quick moment. You talk about everybody's favorite basketball player. Shake
Gilgess Alexander. Okay, yesterday I compared him to James Harden.
I had former NBA players coming at me on social
(16:38):
media for this take. I'm like, oh, we guys, settle down, Hey, relax.
Last night during the game, Sga cooking from the mid range.
My buddies are texting me, boy, Sga better.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
Than James rten J mack. All right, what happened down
the stretch? Ladies? And gentlemen.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
SGA bricks in eight footer. Tyreese Haliburton comes down Clutch City. Okay,
I'm not a Tyrese Haliburton hater.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
I'm not. I'm just a realist.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
On on what planet is forty minutes and three assists
for your point guard?
Speaker 4 (17:13):
Like a good game? Is he making anybody better? Thirty
eight points on thirty shots. That's not efficient, guys.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
He had a good scoring game for three quarters and
in the fourth quarter folded.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
He was not great.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
And this is what's interesting. He was getting frustrated. Our
staff came up with some numbers.
Speaker 8 (17:34):
Here.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
SGA, aka the free throw Merchant, gets to the line
like nobody's business.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
He could not get to the line last night.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
He only got to the free throw line eight times,
and eight is the line of demarcation.
Speaker 4 (17:47):
The thunder are four and three. In the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
When SGA attempts eight or fewer free throws eight or more,
they're unstoppable.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
They're eight and two.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
One of the keys to this offense is SGA getting
in your head, getting your guys in foul trouble.
Speaker 4 (18:03):
And there was a small moment in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
I don't know if you saw this. The announcers didn't
make a big deal out of it. SGA's going against
his guy, Andrew Nemhard and you see this play by
Netmhart and.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
He was upset.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Look what SGA does, reacts with a shove. Referee didn't
step in or anything. SGA goes to the foul line.
Nemart goes and bumps him off his spot. You like that, boy.
Nemart is a dog. He is becoming one of my
favorite guys. But this SGA moment reshoves him. That's the
opposite of what happened in the Minnesota series. Remember Jaden
McDaniels were so pissed he just shoved SGA and then
(18:35):
his comment afterward was like, oh, yeah, you can't really
foul him. I wanted to see if you could really
out to shove him.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
Or whatever it was.
Speaker 9 (18:42):
And I just.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
I don't want to crush SGA. They may come back
and win the series. The Thunder may win the next four,
but I was talking with Shady McCoy show before US.
I said, I might take Haliburton over SGA if I'm
starting a team. Haliburt makes everyone better. And he's like,
I don't think I could talk to you anymore.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
J Mac and we're friends. But I'm being honest here.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
Tyrese Haliburton, there's something about this guy, and I don't
know it's SGA.
Speaker 4 (19:12):
I don't want to say.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
Has that clutch gene? But people love to say, like,
what is the guy's defining moment? Oh, Michael Jordan with
the shot against the Utah Jazz, Magic Johnson the hook
shot against the Celtics.
Speaker 4 (19:25):
A lot of guys have defining shots.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
I mean Tyress Halliburton has an entire postseason or something
right now, Okay.
Speaker 4 (19:33):
Has SGA had his moment?
Speaker 3 (19:34):
Maybe it's coming in the series as possible, But just
watching last night, he got a little frustrated. He missed
a potential shot to put him up three with eleven
seconds left, and all Tyrese Haliburton does his deliver. So
I have some real questions about Okay, See, I did pick.
Speaker 4 (19:50):
Indiana in six.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
And just watching Tyrese operate when it mattered most versus
watching SGA. Like, SGA is great in that Mike Tyson role. Hey,
we're gonna knock you the bleepout, We're gonna put you
down twenty.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
It's game over. It's laughing on the sidelines.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
If they don't get to that, they have had problems
in close games, SGA might be time to step up
in game two. Buddy, let's go to Alex Curry with
the news.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Got no turn on the news. This is the herd
Line News.
Speaker 6 (20:22):
Can I just say, I love that you gave two
final prediction outcomes yesterday and now you're running with your money.
Speaker 4 (20:28):
Peck of pacers.
Speaker 6 (20:29):
Then think guy said, you set yourself up really well.
You said, well, if I'm betting my money pacers and six,
but if I'm going.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Like my head and takes okay, see but like okay
see at four, not just okay see yeah, it was
either okay see sweep or pacers got yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:45):
Pacers got it like he's dragging out.
Speaker 6 (20:47):
And but as you said, holy Haliburton, like he's he's
becoming a star right in front of our eyes. And
everyone complained that we don't have like star power in
this finals. Everyone's gonna know Halliburton's name after after this series,
for this playoff.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
I think after this playoff rock Halla.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
Burkele, you mean no, no, it's not it's Commander that
hit hard now it's Halliburkell.
Speaker 6 (21:12):
No, because that's like dorky and he's not.
Speaker 4 (21:14):
He's like rast, he's a hit song right now? What
the helly? Yes?
Speaker 5 (21:20):
Thank you?
Speaker 6 (21:21):
Okay, all right, let's get to our first story in
the NFL. In the NFC North, Kevin O'Connell has been
set fast into support of JJ McCarthy, aimed all the
different rumors surrounding the Vikings quarterback position. Now, despite all
the various reports, O'Connell threw his support behind the second
year signal color.
Speaker 10 (21:38):
He's having a great spring. It's it goes back well
beyond you know, just the off season program. We're pretty
darn close to having a good feel for where he's at. Uh,
He's had a great offseason. He's healthy, strong, throwing the ball,
great fundamentals, everything, everything you hope for in the spring.
But the hardest part for NFL quarterbacks, especially the younger,
(21:59):
the younger ones, is there's no scoreboard in June.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
There's no way of truly knowing.
Speaker 9 (22:04):
So what do you do? You got to go back
to the work.
Speaker 6 (22:07):
I'm taking a beat here on JJ just because we
haven't seen anything yet. He has not played in an
NFL game. Like there's been a lot of talk right
what he has going for him is that he has
the quarterback whisperer as his coach and Kevin O'Connell. But
what he has kind of going against him is that
we heard a lot of names quarterbacks being floated around
(22:31):
the Vikings this offseason right then being connected to it,
and that doesn't just get like stories don't just get
kind of leaked for nothing.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
Right, there's a reason.
Speaker 6 (22:40):
But they ended up not picking up a big name quarterback.
They're going all in on JJ. So now all the
pressure is on you to perform really in your first season,
your rookie season as an NFL quarterback in a really
tough division in the NFC.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
North schedule not awesome for them, not as.
Speaker 6 (23:00):
Hard, not as hard as the Lions. And again, I
think the good thing for them is that, like obviously
the Lions have a lot of changes as well. But
then Packers Jordan Love hopefully like better season than last
year Bears.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
Now I'm trying to think not a lot of teams
have gone fourteen and three and then dumped their quarterbacks.
Speaker 6 (23:21):
You know, yeah, they's not react, especially like what Sam
Garnold did for the Vikings last year. Also with like
very low expectations and then just exceeding everybody's expectations. Now
you're gonna have to come up and compete against that, Like,
can you give us half of what he got? We
don't know and we've heard, you know, there's some like
(23:43):
off the field stuff that we don't know what's going on.
But you just you hope Patty can be great. But again,
there were conversations and there were reports if they were
linked to other big name quarterbacks this offseason, and that doesn't.
Speaker 4 (23:57):
Just happen for nothing.
Speaker 6 (23:58):
Okay, to the NBA. The next job remains available after
find TIBs, but one name is running a lot of attention.
Mark sin is reporting that New York will formally request
permission to speak to Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd. Now,
both of these teams kind of have messy situations right now.
(24:19):
Right Jason Kidd was not told about the Luca trade
before it happened. They do have the number one pick,
so you assume they're going to get Couber flagged. But
New York is in a clean situation either.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
The last coach they just.
Speaker 6 (24:30):
Fired, I mean more it's coming out now, but got
them to the conference finals for the first time in
twenty five years back to back fifty plus one seasons,
took down the defending champs.
Speaker 4 (24:38):
But like, still not enough, You're out of here.
Speaker 6 (24:41):
But there's a couple interesting things like connections here, right.
Jason Kidd he coached Jalen Brunson when he was in Dallas,
and his first big job was in Milwaukee with Yannis,
and he really helped kind of unlock Yannis. And after
he got let go from Milwaukee, Yannis actually reached out.
Speaker 4 (24:59):
To Jason Kid.
Speaker 6 (25:00):
I was like, hey, is there anything I can do
to help? Like, so Jannis really likes Jason Kidd, and
obviously Yanni's like the whole conversation is off season is
where does he end up? So there's just there's some
very interesting connections here. Oh my gosh, I know I'm
just throwing a lot in the pot here. Wait a minute,
damn it now, said Alex. So the Jason Kidd Yannis
thing is gold. You mentioned Jason Kidd two days ago.
Speaker 4 (25:24):
Uh huh the days all lightly lightly? How did we
not draw the honest connection and drop it there? Yeah?
Oh that's a brick audience, I let you down.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
I should have had that. Well that did if you
get Jason Kidd just an answer to get how did
I not have that?
Speaker 6 (25:41):
He is a fan of him like I wanted him.
He helped really unlock him.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
So let's see what we could give up Karl Anthony Towns.
I don't know what would you have a lot of
picks Karl Anton Towns and Bridges is a lot.
Speaker 4 (25:53):
But for you, honest, then you have.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Heart o g Yannie Runson, and then you got to
fortify the bench. I would do it, yeah, I mean
I don't know if I don't knows a Buckswoode.
Speaker 6 (26:05):
Yeah, that's good. But they're asking for me. They're formally
gonna ask permission to pursue him.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
That's good.
Speaker 6 (26:09):
Yeah, and it's a messy again MESSI situation both places.
But he has connections to bost franchises as well. Yeah,
playing for both. So something to keep your eye on, guys. Okay,
back to the NFL. Let's end in Vegas. Pete Carroll
will be seventy four years old when the season starts,
but Vegas is new head coach, has a youthful energy
(26:30):
around him, and the program is offseason. Raiders spends the
portator Patrick Graham said he's soaking everything in that he can,
he said, I mean, anytime you get a chance to
work with someone with that experience, that level of success,
I couldn't be happier with the experience going on right now,
just in terms of being able to bounce ideas off
of him. So the good thing about Pete is like
(26:51):
he brings a culture.
Speaker 8 (26:52):
Right.
Speaker 6 (26:53):
This is not like a long term situation. He's seventy
four years. He's going to be seventy four when the
season starts. But he's a good person to create a foundation,
right and to like really get this franchise in a
good place what over the next four or five four
years something like that of what you can get out
of them pushing eighty if you go past that. But
(27:15):
when you look at that division as well, you have
some of the best coaches in the NFL. You got
Andy Reid Harbaugh obviously if he can continue on what
he did at the college level, Sean Payton, and then
you have Pete Carroll. So there's a lot of really strong.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
So Pete Carroll, you said pushing eighty, So after coaching
the Raiders, you could just run for president, right?
Speaker 4 (27:38):
Is that what happens?
Speaker 6 (27:39):
I knew you were going to try to get that
in somehow today I got away.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Come on all right, Alex started with the news.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
The heard line news still shaken by the Jason Kidd
Jannis Think that's good? Alex Coming up next, talk to
a former NBA front office guy. Did the thunder choke
it away last night? Or was it all Halliburton? Why
the coaching moves?
Speaker 4 (28:05):
Talk about that next year on The Herd.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
at noon eastern nin am Pacific.
Speaker 7 (28:12):
Hey, Steve Covino and I'm Rich David and together we're
Covino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio. You could catch
us weekdays from five to seven pm Eastern two to
four Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and of course the
iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Why should you listen to Covino and Rich.
Speaker 7 (28:26):
We talk about everything life, sports, relationships, what's going on.
Speaker 8 (28:30):
In the world.
Speaker 7 (28:30):
We have a lot of fun talking about the stories
behind the stories in the world of sports and pop culture,
stories that well, other shows don't seem to have the
time to discuss. And the fact that we've been friends
for the last twenty years and still work together. I
mean that says something right.
Speaker 5 (28:44):
So check us out.
Speaker 4 (28:45):
We like to get you involved too.
Speaker 5 (28:47):
Take your phone calls, chop it up.
Speaker 7 (28:48):
As they say, I'd say, the most interactive show on
Fox Sports Radio, maybe the most interactive show on planetar.
Be sure to check out Covino and Rich live on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app from five to
seven pm Eastern, four Pacific, and if you miss any
of the live show, just search Kovin on Rich wherever
you get your podcasts, and of course on social media
that's Cavino and Rich.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
No, you've made it when not only did you work
for an NBA front office, but you created a stat
that everybody references all the time, peer player efficiency Rating.
Speaker 4 (29:18):
Let's bring on John Hollander of the Athletic whom a sharp.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
Reminds in the NBA. John, good to finally talk to you, man.
I was rattled after last night's game. I'm curious your
your thoughts in the moment, and now that you've had,
you know, twelve hours or whatever to sleep on it.
Speaker 11 (29:35):
Yeah, I thought it was the most Thank you for thinking.
I got twelve hours of sleep last night. This about
six times as much as I actually got. But the
most shocking Game one finals game since Nick Anderson thirty
years ago, right just the way it played out, with
Oklahoma City Semen in total control and then Indiana rallying
(29:56):
right at the end in Halliburton again at the finish.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
It seemed like the Denver game. I don't know if
you remember the Denver Game one comeback. Absolutely this was
like a carbon copy. Denver dominated the glass, Pacers dominated
the glass, and then a bit of a coaching meltdown.
Were you surprised John that he pulled chet homegron with
like three minutes left down the stretch and they went
no bigs.
Speaker 4 (30:19):
I was not at all.
Speaker 11 (30:20):
I rewatched the game this morning. Chet Holgrin was terrible,
so that was one of the reasons he couldn't.
Speaker 5 (30:25):
Stick with him.
Speaker 11 (30:26):
The other thing was he did the same thing at
the end of the first half and the Pacers couldn't
even run anything against their five smalls. They just turned
it over every single time. So I thought that was fine.
If you look at the shots they got and the
shots Indiana made those last few minutes, I think Oklahoma
City lives with that. The problem was they should have
been up by twenty five at the time, and they
were only up eight. The game was still close enough
(30:47):
for Indiana to get by making a couple of unlikely shots,
and the Thunder missed a couple of open threes and
had the lane violation on Siakam's free throw. But those mistakes,
it was poss for those to flip the game because
Oklahoma City in the first forty five minutes didn't stick
the knife all the way in.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
So that's a good point because this whole knockout punch,
this Mike Tyson element that okay se has. Usually they
go up twenty twenty five at slights out, but they
got stuck around the thirteen fifteen.
Speaker 4 (31:18):
They could not push it more than that.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
Is there anything the Pacers were doing to prevent themselves
from getting knocked out?
Speaker 4 (31:24):
Was it just hustling back on defense? No transition points?
What was it?
Speaker 11 (31:31):
Oklahoma City shot really poorly at the rim, and I
think Miles Turner was a big factor in that. When
I rewatched the game, he had several really good contests
at the rim.
Speaker 5 (31:39):
Jalen Williams shot six and nineteen.
Speaker 11 (31:43):
Some of them were a little rushed, but some of
them were shots that I think he would he would
be okay taken and he just didn't get to go down.
You're shown one of the worst ones there and again
they got They got nothing from home Gride. You're right,
the points off turnovers were very were very low. It
was just that they didn't quite get They weren't quite
(32:04):
the turnovers that lead to runouts just the way they happen.
Speaker 5 (32:07):
It's just lucky the draw sometimes with that.
Speaker 11 (32:11):
But I think if Oklahoma City looks back at this game,
they're going to be really disappointed with their offense and
especially in the first half, that they just left money
on the table.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
Yeah, I'm looking yet. Chet Holmgren two of nine, j
Dubbs six of nineteen. So essentially, John, they're number two
and three guys, whatever order you put those two in.
They were eight of twenty eight, but they combined to
take fewer shots than SGA. Now I know SGA is bulletproof.
You can't say anything negative about him. Everybody loves him.
He's like a media darling. I didn't think he was
(32:41):
particularly efficient. Thirty eight points on thirty shots, didn't get
to the line as many times as you'd expect, and
he looked rattled there when he shoved nemhard in the
fourth quarter almost looked frustrated.
Speaker 4 (32:52):
I don't know any.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
Takeaways watching the game a second time on SGA.
Speaker 11 (32:58):
Yeah, I thought again in that first half they were
going too quick on offense, too much one on one
and there, and there were some some forced polls in there.
They did a really good job of actually not letting
him get all the way.
Speaker 5 (33:10):
To the rim.
Speaker 11 (33:10):
He's a good two point jump shooter. Uh, this is
an outstanding finish. He had actually over sea Oakham that
was one exception to that. But yeah, uh, it was
relying a lot on his VIDI though, which you're gonna
you're gonna live with that, and then they were able
to single cover him too. So it was one of
the reasons it was so much one on one from
Oklahoma City was because ne Smith was able to just
(33:33):
stay with Jalen Williams, Nemhard was just able to stay
with Shay and they didn't have to bring over help
defenders that much.
Speaker 3 (33:39):
Yeah, I noticed that thirteen assists feels criminally low, only
three for SGA. So is again I'm just guessing, but
Rick Carlisle a master, might be saying, Hey, we're gonna
give SGA whatever he wants.
Speaker 4 (33:52):
We're not gonna let everybody else in a billion threes?
Speaker 2 (33:54):
Is that?
Speaker 4 (33:55):
Do you think that might be the strategy?
Speaker 5 (33:58):
I think that's definitely part of it.
Speaker 11 (33:59):
The other thing with Oklahoma City was with them matching
up small. Heartstein only played seventeen minutes. A lot of
them were with the second group. He's their best screener.
He's the guy who can get Nemhard off of SGA's body,
who can get Nie Smith off of j Dubb And
you know, were they too cute by half?
Speaker 5 (34:19):
Not going with Hart and Steign.
Speaker 11 (34:21):
I know they've been they've been going away from those
two big lineups, but I just wonder Casey Wallace ended
up playing I think thirty two minutes to Heart and
Sign seventeen. Wallace wasn't good at the offensive end either,
and so I think if when Mark Dingall rewatches this game,
I think he's gonna think I should have gotten Heart
Signed in there more, and that if I.
Speaker 5 (34:40):
Was gonna stay small.
Speaker 11 (34:41):
The other guy we didn't really see, just for ninety
seconds was Kenrich Williams, who played a ton when these
teams played in March, and Oklahoma City blew them out,
so I could see even if he doesn't go that
much more to heartsteign I could see a lot more
of Kenny Hustle and less of Wallace.
Speaker 5 (34:59):
I think.
Speaker 4 (35:01):
All right, so you were in an NBA front office.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
I'm just curious if you're having a great postseason run,
your coach is pushing all the right buttons and he
comes to you before Game one of the Finals and says, hey, guys,
I'm gonna go with the starting lineup that we haven't
started in this postseason. Is there gonna be pushback? Would
you have said, wait, what are we doing here? Because
I know it looked good for you know what they
led for forty six minutes or what have you. It
just felt like they were we're gonna adjust to the
(35:26):
pacers as opposed to make the pacers adjust us.
Speaker 11 (35:31):
You know, I would rather have a coach do it
too early than too late, though, where the coach doesn't
make the adjustment until the team is already down two
to oh and they have one foot in the grave,
which I've seen so many times that way, So I
would live with that. You know, should he have maybe
tried it for a half and then you know, gone
to it coming out a halftime, which he's already done
(35:51):
a couple times in this playoffs. He started this lineup
in third quarters before, so I didn't have a big
problem with that, and again they dominated the first TAFF.
I just think they needed to get back to Hartenstein
at some point, especially with Chet having such a bad game.
Speaker 3 (36:07):
Yeah, any idea why Chitt played so poorly? Is it
just like, hey, you know, is his game one of
the finals. He's a young guy, him and Ja Dove.
I don't want to say the moment looked too big,
but were they wide eyed or was it just the
Pacers harassment?
Speaker 11 (36:20):
On defense, I think we have to give Miles Turner
some credit for the defense he played on Shet. If
you look at some of the shed is really effective
off the dribble, usually attacking bigs, and he was. He
wasn't able to get anything on Turner that way. So
give Miles his flowers for that. The other thing, I
think again, because there was so much one on one.
(36:42):
You know, Chet's guy who's getting his baskets in the flow.
There's a pass, there's another pass, the ball kicks out
to him, or he's cutting to the rim, he flies
in for a dunk, and those players weren't there because
it was just one on one and okay, so he's
shooting a jump shot, so I think schematically it kind
of took him out of the game a little bit.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
Speaking of Flowers, John, let's give some to Halliburton, who
is having the most plus postseason run we've ever seen
in basketball. I mean, it's fair to say that he
just is unstoppable when it matters most. This is a
guy who was on the Olympic team but barely played,
kind of laughed about barely playing. Then he was voted
most overrated in some goofy pole I think by the
(37:21):
Athletic and now he is, I mean.
Speaker 4 (37:24):
He's a top ten player in the league. I don't
know what's going on here.
Speaker 11 (37:30):
Yeah, you know, he was dealing with that hamstring injury
the whole second half of last year. I think it
carried into his summer and then even into the beginning
of this year when the Pacers started nine to fourteen,
and somewhere around the middle of the year, he turned
into the old Halley that he was in the first
half of last season and their offense got to another gear.
(37:51):
And what I love about Haliburton is he's such a killer.
If you look like the Cleveland game, the New York game,
he tried to do it.
Speaker 5 (38:01):
They were down too. He went for the three to
get the win.
Speaker 11 (38:03):
They were down one last night, he drove, he drove
a little closer and got to the pull up two
pointer for the win. Like he's playing to the score
in these situations too, which I think is really impressive.
That drive against Milwaukee was another one. There there you
see the step back. You see he didn't go into
the pay because he knew they were down too. If
he got the three, he'd get the win. It's just
(38:24):
been so impressive to see him do this this whole offseason, offseason, postseason.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
Again his historic Yeah, now, obviously you're an analytics guy,
this is one of those things like, I mean, a
pull up twenty one footer. I know that's probably a
good shot for him, but not a great shot in
the NBA currently. Just is this sustainable at all? Or
I mean it's just just a historic run. And hey,
this is who was the guy in the bubble who
was averaging like fifty points a game. I'm spacing on
(38:56):
his name, TJ Warren. TJ Warren, thank you. He went
off for the Bubbles, Like, oh, they got to give
this guy a max deal.
Speaker 4 (39:04):
Is this one of those historic runs that halla Barton's on.
Speaker 11 (39:08):
Yeah, I mean, obviously he's gonna miss one of these
at some point, right, like nobody's say forever. But one
of the things is like, when you're down one, the
extra point of.
Speaker 5 (39:18):
The three doesn't matter anymore.
Speaker 11 (39:19):
So yeah, it's okay to dribble in and take that
twenty one footer then, And I think he's he's really
smart about playing to the score that way.
Speaker 4 (39:27):
All right, macro big picture.
Speaker 3 (39:29):
You know, Pacers and Thunder both built differently than most
of the loaded teams in the league, a lot of guys,
I mean, memo, it's making two million dollars a year
and he's playing phenomenal. Do you think we'll see that
transition over to the off season when it comes time
to make a play for Giannis, make a play for
Kevin Durant. Nobody's given five first round picks for KD
(39:50):
the way McHale Bridges got five.
Speaker 11 (39:52):
You know, I think Giannis could easily get something in
that range.
Speaker 5 (39:58):
Yeah, if he becomes.
Speaker 11 (39:59):
Available, you're you're gonna, yeah, you're gonna see some I mean,
Katie is his late thirties, he has one year left
on his deal. I p assume he'll get extended as
part of any trade, but yeah, the market for him
is isn't gonna be like that.
Speaker 4 (40:11):
What do you think that we could see Yannis? I
mean somebody floating.
Speaker 3 (40:14):
Henry Abbott floated to me like listen, Janis makes the
most sense in OKAC because they have the assets and
the young guys, and they can afford him.
Speaker 4 (40:22):
I don't.
Speaker 3 (40:23):
I mean, we think Oklahoma Said's probably gonna still win
the finals. But do they do something dramatic if this
falls apart.
Speaker 11 (40:30):
I don't think that's Sam Presi's DNA at all. I
think he'd run it back with these guys, make one
or two deals around the edges.
Speaker 5 (40:36):
But this is Shay's team. I think that's.
Speaker 11 (40:40):
Too almost too much like you're building a team around
Yannis instead of Shay at that point.
Speaker 5 (40:48):
So I don't see that happening.
Speaker 11 (40:50):
I think the end game for Yannis is to if
he's gonna leave Milwaukee is probably San Antonio or Houston.
I mean, they have the assets to to do the deal.
The teams are good enough now where he's joining, he'd
be joining.
Speaker 5 (41:04):
A really good team. Those are the two that make
the most sense to me.
Speaker 4 (41:08):
And what about Kevin Durant?
Speaker 3 (41:09):
Is there a team out there that you I mean,
it feels like Kevin Durant's agent is just trying to
get him out of there as soon as possible. He's
floating the Spurs, and then we were hearing, oh the
Knicks one of them at the deadline. Meanwhile, four months ago,
nobody had that. It just feels a little suspicious.
Speaker 4 (41:23):
This gave the stuff.
Speaker 11 (41:26):
I could see a fit there with Minnesota. It's a
little tough with the tax Aprons, but it can be done,
especially if it ends up being a three team deal,
and Minnesota did tribes it did at least make some
effort to get him at the trade deadline. I do
think they need one more elite offensive player to go
with Ant. It's one of the things they missed not
(41:47):
having towns this year. And they're definitely like a win
now team too, So yeah, I think Minnesota is a place.
Speaker 4 (41:54):
For him, all right.
Speaker 3 (41:55):
John Hollinger The Athletic Great Stuff Analytics, Maveny, you rewatched
game this morning. That's dedication, man, I probably should do
that after the show.
Speaker 4 (42:03):
We're I'll sleep one of those, dude. Thanks a lot, John,
thanks for having me on the show. All right, good stuff,
interesting takes from mister Hollinger.
Speaker 3 (42:12):
I'm trying to crystallize some of it in my head,
Alex and think, like, huh, why was chat Homeward so bad?
Lesson like I I mean, if he's your third best
player and you're kind of benching him, that's weird.
Speaker 8 (42:22):
All right?
Speaker 4 (42:23):
Coming up next, it's risky.
Speaker 10 (42:27):
You know.
Speaker 4 (42:27):
People look at me like I got two heads. Yeah,
Halliburton over SGA.
Speaker 2 (42:32):
Why not.
Speaker 4 (42:33):
We'll do that next year. Problem with me on the
hurt
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