June 7, 2025 • 57 mins
This week on 2 Pros and a Cup of Joe, the Knicks relieve Tom Thibodeau after he got them to the Eastern Conference Finals. The Old P, Petros Papadakis praises the Dodgers, rips James Dolan for firing "Thibs," explains uphill battles for freshman in CFB and Kylie Jenner’s horse head vs Timothee Chalamet. And the Pacers comeback once again thanks to Tyrese Halliburton in the clutch.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is the best of two pros and a couple
Joe with Lamar Arings had rating win and Jonas Knox
on five four Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
We continue the conversation here in the waiting game for
the NBA Finals, because the NBA Finals tip off tomorrow night,
and apparently the NBA Finals and the NBA itself couldn't wait.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
They couldn't wait any longer.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
They had to get some news out there, and that
news was Tom Thibodeaux. He gone as the head coach
of the New York Knicks. That is a rap for
his time as a New York Knicks coach, even though
despite the fact the New York Knicks did something they
hadn't done in twenty five years and he was the
head coach in charge of the team as they did it,
(00:54):
Tom Thibodeaux finds himself on the outside looking in with
the Knicks now moving on and looking for a brand
new head coach there to take over the reins at
Madison Square Garden.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
You know, Uh Brunson was very very offended when he
was asked about if Tibodeaux, what's the right guy for
the job?
Speaker 3 (01:17):
You want to hear it?
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, let's hear there is a little
Jalen Brunson talking about coach Tibbs following their loss.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
You talked about the confidence.
Speaker 5 (01:26):
Obviously, I feel like nobody takes more criticism than Tom
and this team obviously has turned around during his tenure.
Do you kind of feel that going forward he's the
same guy if t you guys the rest of the
way that next level this is?
Speaker 6 (01:42):
Is that a real question right now? You just asked
me him. I believe that if he's the right guy. Yes,
thanks guys.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Fun probably should ask James Dolean that maybe he would
have been the better guy to ask about that question.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Look, I think it's a clown show.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
I think it's disguised as an Eastern Conference Finals team.
But I think if you just looked hard enough, Madison
Square Gardens not actually an arena. I think it's a
circus tent. I think you got people juggling bowling pins.
I think there's tigers flying through hula hoops with flames
coming off the sides of them. I think the entire
thing is a circus, and this whole idea that the
(02:29):
Knicks should be taken seriously as a legitimate franchise. When
you see the behavior of their fan base after just
getting past the second round. This is part for the course.
I mean, it would like we could do an entire
show on just the fan base and their behavior and
all that being said. But I feel like this was
(02:51):
already in the works, and Tom Thibodeau, barring an NBA
Finals appearance, was probably going to lose his job because
there's no other explanation for why exactly he would you
would move on from the guy other than you had
this in your mind and he needed to get to
an NBA Finals routes he was gonna get cleft.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
You know, there's already people throwing their hat into the
ring to become the new head coach of the New
York Knickerbockers.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Who's that?
Speaker 4 (03:19):
Let me read it for you. I want every bit
of the smoke in New York, NYC. I'm one hundred
percent ready to head.
Speaker 6 (03:27):
Coach the great New York Knicks.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
Queen's Brad dominated my high school era three championships at
the Rucker and never lost one at the Rucker three
championships at the real Gershwin when there was no security.
Speaker 6 (03:45):
Lots more on the NYC front.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
Had a Nick practice shirt and short on at nineteen
ninety nine draft NBA accolades speak for themselves. I basically
locked up tons of Hall of famers. Sorry, but light
work Meta is ready for the city.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Let's look.
Speaker 6 (04:10):
I mean, why not listen?
Speaker 4 (04:13):
And I'm not saying this to be you know kind
of yeah I am. I am saying it to be funny.
Thibodeaux is not. That was the firing was in my estimation.
That's a bad move. It's a bad move. Your you're
one series away from from playing in the NBA finals.
(04:36):
They have been, they have been competitive and seemingly very
close to taking that next step. So if you feel like, ah,
we've done pretty good with you.
Speaker 7 (04:49):
You have.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
You have done well for us, but we just don't
feel like you could get us over the hump. I
feel like that really only comes if the players have
lost faith and belief in you. You know what this
firing does, Jonas makes players lose faith and trust in
(05:12):
what's going on with the New York Knicks. So now
you run the potential of by firing Thibodeaux as the
head coach, knowing how those players feel about them, knowing
the success that they've been able to have, and it's
been sustainable success since he's been there. You now disrupt
(05:33):
the culture. It's the funniest thing. I look at our
So I look at the social media. I read social media.
People are so gullible. And I hate to do it.
I hate, I hate to say it, but people really
are very, very gullible. And I say that to say
when when when I posted about the Brian Schottenheimer and
(05:58):
how he handled things, and and that possibly him doing
what he did with the lockers could possibly create discord
and could create dissension, and and and maybe you know,
start start a bad culture. Start start off with bringing
your culture in, and it could create a toxic culture.
(06:20):
It's possible people were losing their ass, especially if they
were Dallas fans, right, So I'll say the same thing
could possibly exist here. I don't know for certain how
how New York Knicks fans will react to the firing,
but I would also I would urge, and I would
caution that when you're looking at a culture being built,
(06:45):
it takes time. When that culture, it takes time to
be built, and it takes hold to the point of
where you had one of the premiere you know, strong
point guards in Jalen Brunson. You have you bring a
guy that you feel is though can can really maybe
be the difference maker if he would just play a
(07:10):
little bit more physically, you know, physically driven versus just
being a set shooter. Well, Anthony Towns and hey, I
mean listen, a lot of people have been piling on him.
He's a he's a fine ball player. In fact, he
was fine enough for them to knock out the defending champions,
(07:33):
right they knocked out the Celtics. They they get to
the game the series prior to the finals, and and
a lot of it had to do with the way
Carl Anthony Towns played. So it's it's it's strange that
people lose their s to go after him when in
a series where they lost, when he's been actually a
(07:57):
catalyst with Jalen Brunson to be able to get as
far as they did. Now, that's what comes with success.
But I think when you're one game away from the
NBA Finals, you would have to say the coach has
you in the right direction. You're closer to success than
you are the failure. Yeah, I mean, I don't know,
I don't know why this would be the decision that
(08:19):
they would make is there a coaching candidate other than
metal World Peace album better, a better, better recipient, a
better prospect.
Speaker 6 (08:30):
Than than him? Like, what are they? What are they
doing from here?
Speaker 2 (08:34):
So Mike Malone, his name is out there. The guy
who uh coach the Denver Nuggets to a title was fired.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
And he probably I mean, but he It sounds as
though there was some mixed feelings on him in the
locker room he went, and by the way, they kind
of recovered, you know, after they he left. It seemed
as though they may have wanted him out. But that
was a fine coach. They were winning.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
And and so so Mike Malone's name's been thrown out there.
I've seen Jay Wright the Villanova coach because of the
Villanova connection out there. I don't know how believable that is.
But you know, Mike Malone, for that market would be
a good time. He does not hold back, especially if
he's drinking at a championship parade. If he's been in
the elbow a little bit, he will fire off. But
(09:20):
you won't have to worry about that because they're not
going to win a title. But I just I don't
know why anybody would want any part of a job
that is NBA head coach because we laid out during
the course of the season, even after Mike Malone was fired.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
And this goes you know, Adrian, whether it was Mike.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Budenholzer, Adrian Griffin and Milwaukee like just you see all
of these guys, Frank Vogel, like, all these guys get
clipped after just winning a title not that long ago.
If you're Joe Mizoula of the Celtics, you're probably looking
around going uh oh uh oh if that could happen
(10:01):
to him, I mean, like, what could happen to me?
Based on what's happened in the postseas I just I
don't know why anybody would want.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Any part of that job.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
You are, ultimately, as Chris Carter said it best, the
fall guy when something goes wrong and it's all about
the superstars. And if you have one issue with the
superstar or you get an owner who feels like, well,
we underperformed, even though some would say you probably overperformed
based on the fact you haven't done it in a
quarter century like they did. You're on your ass and
you're looking for a new gig because they decide, well,
(10:32):
you know, we'll go in a different direction and see.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
If somebody else can get us over the hump. Okay,
good luck with that. Good good luck.
Speaker 6 (10:41):
Why would you want any parts of it?
Speaker 4 (10:44):
I got on average annual eleven million reasons.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
So that's why Doc Rivers always comes back.
Speaker 6 (10:54):
You can fire me, Doc comes back.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
Let's see Doc Rivers eleven million finally annual average salary.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
You know, it's great about Thibodeaux getting fired.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
They just gave him an extension last last summer, so
he just got an extension. He then overachieves the following
year after just getting an extension, and they fire him.
Yeah all right, man, yeah, okay.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
You know, when I talked to everybody, I don't want
to put people out there, but you know, one of
my close friends was a head coach. I never thought
i'd have a super super close friend, like a best friend,
become a head coach, and he did. And when I
heard of the perks and all the things that are
connected to being a head coach, it's like you have
(11:48):
to deal with, Yeah, you have to deal with you
have to deal with something you don't like to deal
with as a competitor, which is you you didn't win
enough to your job, and you lost enough to lose
your job, but dang the compensation.
Speaker 6 (12:08):
When he told me.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
What he was getting compensated for as long as he
just you know, laid back and didn't do anything, It's crazy.
It's crazy. You could get a It's like a heist.
That's why you coach, and that's probably why it's so hard.
It's so hard to get it. And if you do
have longevity, then the perks that go along with that crazy.
(12:34):
The benefits that are connected to being a head coach,
a long tenured head.
Speaker 6 (12:38):
Coach, crazy, it's crazy.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
When he started breaking it down for me, I said,
I looked in the mirror later on that evening. I
didn't do it in front of him because I didn't
want to embarrass myself, Like I didn't want to sit
there and be like, are you being serious? I looked
at my mirror when I was brushing my teeth. Later on,
I was like, damn, I should have just kept going,
(13:02):
Like I should have just kept I broke off.
Speaker 6 (13:05):
You know. He got me into coaching shots out, Shots Out.
You know.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
I went to Long Beach Polly, we did well. It
led to him going to ASU. I went and coached
a private and here in La in Pasadena, we were successful.
Speaker 6 (13:26):
I should have just kept going.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
In my mind, I should have because because once he
became a head coach, radio stopped.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Radio is too much fun. You have you can play
grab ass so much more on the radio.
Speaker 6 (13:37):
Radio is fun, man, Radio is fun.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
But God dang, Like, can can radio give us a fraction?
Can they give us a fraction of what these coaches
are making? God dang, I mean listen, I mean, there's
less of us than it is to them. Can we
get a fraction? I like to talk about all them coaches.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
I'd like to think that you are.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
You've got a little bit of that radio scumbag in
you like the rest of us. And it was just
too enticing, just too enticing. You know, there's nothing wrong
with being a radio guy until you see the paychecks
as some of these coaches are get for just not
coaching anymore.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
Look at mine, I'm like, wait, I'm not even the
point part of it. Eight point nine point, I'm not
even the number after the decimal point.
Speaker 6 (14:33):
Hey man, that's all good man.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
You don't have to put in the type of time
that they do either. I mean, that's a lot of time.
It's a lot of things that you have to manage,
and that's why I got out of coaching, And that's
something to be said about all of this too. Imagine
you're paying someone to come in and have to deal
with being a coach in the New York market, especially
(14:58):
for one of the more popular teams.
Speaker 6 (15:01):
That's tough, man.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
You got to pay them to be able to be
just as good of a facilitator in the community and
with the businesses and with the people that are in
and around that sports community as much as you have
to be that person to the team and those that
sometimes is the biggest downfall for some of these guys.
You know, it's it's it's a very very rewarding job
(15:26):
when you can be a head coach because of the
impact that you can have on young men, older men,
and you know even I mean obviously with other sports
you could be that to women. But it's also a
very unforgiving job in terms of how you're treated, how
(15:47):
you're measured, how you're judged. There is no as you
mentioned earlier, there is no comfort zone, There is no
pocket of peace. It is a very very turbulent and
chaotic industry and job. You know, a job to have,
so I don't I think they earned their money because
(16:11):
it's it's it's not for long. You know, you are
destined to get fired, which what coach has never been fired?
Has has pat Phil? Did Phil Jackson walk away or
did he get fired? I think he might have walked
walk He might have walked away. Did pat Riley walk
away or did he get fired?
Speaker 2 (16:30):
I think they because what's interesting about it is pat Riley.
I was listening to an interview with Mark Kriegel. He
was on with Ariel hawanis my guy, and Mark Mark
Kriegel was making the point that he thinks the Knicks
franchise took a turn for the worst when they decided
to move on from pat Riley, because afterwards you see
what pat Riley did with Miami, and that's one of the.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
More stable organizations.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
And by stability, I mean man Eric Spolster hasn't won
a title in a long ass time. You don't hear
any conversations about that movie it off from him because
there's stability there, Like it feels like a high functioning
operation there as opposed to some of these other places
that are just turn and burn on these guys. I
mean if you're coach Tims, do you just whatever money
you're making from the Knicks, do you just reinvest it
(17:14):
in some season tickets. You imagine him court side next year.
Just take the year off and sit courtside and watch
the circus.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
I mean, or he could just go sit on the
couch or at a you know, cigar bar or whatever
with Big Oak, you.
Speaker 6 (17:31):
Know what I mean. Yeah, they still ay made things
right with Big Oak, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (17:36):
So maybe you go hang out with Charles Oakley and
you know, watch the Knicks be the Knicks.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
I mean, now we know why Tracy Morgan was blowing
chunks on the court. Now we know.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
Because he needs his old spice. Now we know why
because he needs spice, my old spice.
Speaker 6 (18:02):
Lee Lee.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
You said pat Riley retired via fax. Yeah, well from
he resigned from the Knicks via fax. Yeah, via fax. Yeah,
they stand up.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
You know, it seems like an honest way to do it,
the old Fax machine.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Be sure to catch live editions of Two Pros and
a Cup of Joe with Brady Quinn, LeVar Errington, and
Jonas Knox weekdays at six am Eastern three am Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
He is the great Petrospopaegas. He is the co host
of the Petros and Money Show, which you can hear
on the Blowtorch AM five to seven, the LA Sports
Fox College Football Analysts, and you can get him on
X at the Old p P.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Good morning, how are we feeling?
Speaker 8 (18:46):
Good morning, guys, Good morning. Great to hear from everybody.
Speaker 6 (18:49):
Hello, Hello, Hello.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
So Petro's another another walk off win for the LA
Dodgers last night.
Speaker 8 (18:56):
Well last night, you know, they didn't walk it off.
They were at home and they lost. It's hard to
walk it off on the road. What do you mean,
It's just really hard to walk it off on the road.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Well, I'm saying yeah, but they walked it off last
night last night.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (19:10):
It just reminds me of a question that a reporter
asked Dave Roberts. Oh, in a few years, what's the
question they asked Dave Roberts because it was after like
another Dodger walk off and they were having a real
exciting season. I think this year's Dodger team is really
a droit at coming back in games that they were down,
and they almost did it two nights ago against the
(19:33):
Mets who were in town with Juan Soto who's not
doing his special dance because he's bummed out and his family.
He's like Freddie Freeman when he left Atlanta. He's like
super bummed out. But anyway, yeah, it's uh, what were
we talking about?
Speaker 4 (19:51):
Right?
Speaker 8 (19:52):
This guy asked Dave Roberts, like, Hey, how come all
your walkoffs are at home? Is there something about this
home crap that really gets you going? That really gets
his team going? And Dave Roberts had a very nice answer.
He said, well, he's very difficult to walk it off
on the road.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
So who asked the question best?
Speaker 6 (20:15):
I don't remember.
Speaker 8 (20:16):
It was some no. It was like a younger reporter,
so everybody was trying to be cool about it. It
wasn't like a kid though, But yeah, you can't walk
it off on the road. Dodgers are at home and
they walked it off last night against the Mets and
show Heyo Tani spectacular. He's still not pitching. They have
a lot of bullpen problems. They paid Tanner Scott, this
(20:36):
guy who was supposed to be like a baseball assassin
as the number one closer, and I think he's already
blown six saves and it's early June, so that's a problem.
They have some bullpen issues, but the Dodger problems are
first world problems. They're doing quite well. And they won
last night against the Mets, and I did stay up
to watch it. Hell yea, which is why I forgot
(20:58):
my point short term memory lost.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
From blackout from a bull in the ring back in
the day.
Speaker 8 (21:04):
Well that yeah, that too. I've aggravated a lot of
old football injuries. Every time somebody just taps my forehead
with like a pencil, Dawn.
Speaker 4 (21:12):
Speaking of bull in the ring, Petros, how many like
when you played how many different locker rooms did you
play in? In terms of, like I guess, high level,
like whether it was did you have the same coach
the entire time when you were as he was, okay,
so you had a different coach.
Speaker 8 (21:32):
Now, when I arrived at SC, it was John Robinson,
and then Paul Hackett took over Paul Hackett, and then
it was Pete Carroll, who I did not play for.
A lot of the guys I played for played for
Pete Carroll. And the year two thousand and one was
Pete Carroll's first year, and that was my first year
in the media and I kind of got to know
(21:53):
Pete and USC took off and Pete Carroll took off,
and I kind of was hanging on for the ride,
starting out doing radio and TV here in town. So
that's kind of my story. But it is interesting, you know,
because back in my time and our time, I should
say that when there was a coaching change, which I
(22:13):
don't believe you experienced at the.
Speaker 9 (22:16):
College level, I know spring football was a bloodbath, like
spring football, where we really put on pads and really
got after each other and really had like thirty to.
Speaker 8 (22:27):
Forty play run drills every day. That was like you
have to show out for the new coaching staff. One
thing that was very interesting that a lot of people
didn't realize and maybe they don't realize it now, was
that Ed Ojeron was on the Paul Hackett staff. He
was not hired by Pete Carrell. Well, he was rehired
by Pete Carroll, but he was already at SC when
(22:50):
Pete Carroll took over and had that very important piece
already in his defensive room. But yeah, that was my experience.
I was in kind of two different locker rooms. John Robinson,
a much more player friendly coach. I guess you'd say
with a lot more lenient, especially with star players. Paul Hackett,
(23:14):
on the other hand, miss a class, get up at
five in the morning and roll like a log to you,
barf kind of coach. Well, you know, both of those
coaching styles have their benefits.
Speaker 4 (23:25):
Well, so that's why I was I was asking in
terms of culturally speaking, because again I don't feel like
in a lot of ways the regular workforce people tend
to look at how an employer versus an employee, what
that relationship looks like, and the dynamic of it, and
(23:47):
how the culture plays a part. And while I say
in regular society, culture in the business place is everything,
but it's different than the culture being everything. In sports,
especially at higher levels college pro, it's it's very the
culture has to have a very unique mix and the
(24:09):
blend of like what the respect factor is, the understanding
of what the coach wants versus what the collective feelings
of what the players want. And we just saw Tim Thibodeau,
you know, get get fired from Tom. Tom, Yeah, Tom
get fired from the mix.
Speaker 8 (24:27):
The Christian better looking version of Tom Thibodeau, Tim Tebodeau.
Speaker 4 (24:31):
Tim Tebadeau. Yeah, you like that. That's funny my bed. Anyway,
It's interesting because I'm curious. I feel like when you
have players that love the coach, which it seems like
all the players are really into Thibodeaux and they yet
they get rid of them. You know, how does that
play a part? Because when you have a coaching change,
(24:52):
just like you got to impress the coaches, like you said,
in those practices, those coaches have to impress the players
as well, because there has to be a belief in
like what's your kind of you know, your.
Speaker 6 (25:02):
Peractive off culture.
Speaker 8 (25:04):
When I played college football, as you know, there was
not the same kind of boundary today, right, Like we
couldn't go anywhere if I transferred in college football, and
that was a terrible stigma that I still carry today
that I signed a letter of intent and wasn't able
(25:26):
to complete it, wasn't able to honor the contract. And
that bothers me. It really does. But it's a very
different it's a very different time in college and pro athletics.
That being said, the dynamics of a pro basketball team
is hard for me to understand. I mean, we're talking
(25:46):
about guys that have really really proven it at the
highest level. I mean, it's one thing to make an
NFL team. It's one thing to make an MLB Baseball
team or have a cup of coffee in the Major League.
It's a whole other thing to make an NBA team consistently.
I mean, because there's so few guys. So that dynamic
(26:08):
has always been fascinating and it's very difficult, I think,
to be a head coach at any level of any
kind of sport. But the NBA has got to be
the toughest because and you know, football is like this
now too. It didn't really used to be when we
were younger, and everybody had the same football coach who
looked one hundred years old for like fifteen years.
Speaker 4 (26:32):
Thirty years ye yeah, Chuck Knock but Grant, Yeah, you know,
Chuck Nole, Marv Levy, you know, it goes on and on.
Speaker 8 (26:41):
All the coaches kind of look like that. And now
the coaches are the first guy on the chopping block,
unless you know, John Harbaugh or Jim Harbaugh or somebody
more celebrated like that. Generally your coach is the first
guy to get fired at the NFL or NBA level.
And it proved out with the Tim Tebadeaux situation, even
(27:02):
though he ran a sweet option. Tom Thibodeau known as
a great defensive coach and a lot of people love him.
I think the X factor with the Knick situation that
I'm not super familiar with other than the fact that
you know, I watched all the New Yorkers freak out
in the NBA freak out hoping that the Knicks were
going to make it into the final and they could
(27:23):
play the concrete Jungle where dreams were made of song
over and over and over again until your brain MUSHes
and bleeds out of your ears. But I think it's
a more delicate situation. Also, their owner is like a
legit crazy man JB in the Straight JD in the
(27:45):
Straight Shot.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
Jim Dolan.
Speaker 8 (27:47):
That's the name of his sweet ass band, his blues band,
where he hired like a bunch of really really famous
or reputable studio musicians and tours around with him like
he belongs on stage. So it's a whole it's a
whole wild situation. But look, I mean, but you look
at like Mi Alma Mater and these and these different
stories that are unfolding over the years in modern Sports
(28:11):
and at USC it's like they'd fire and Lincoln Riley
if he didn't have such a big buyout. And and
at a certain point the money does matter, and maybe
not for JD in the straight shop. But I don't know,
I don't know what direction you go in from there,
Like who do you hire from there to to ignite
(28:33):
the team? Was it Thibodeau that was really fueling their
success or was he holding them back and holding back
their star players? Obviously somebody thought that. But a sad
situation for the guy with not a lot of hair
who kind of looks like the penguin.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
Petros Pamadegus joined us.
Speaker 8 (28:54):
I've been compared to the penguin in the past too, Jonas.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
Look, I don't think so. I would. I would disagree
with that comparison.
Speaker 8 (29:01):
I mean, how many times do you say that Fox
Sports Radio? Jonas? I know I'm on the radio.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Right I am resetting it for the trying to be
a broadcast professional. But it is when you mentioned sort
of what direction you go in here, and was it
Tom Thibodeau's fault and all that, that's why whatever there.
Speaker 8 (29:20):
Was to call them TIBs like they're friends with him. Yeah, like, oh,
you know how TIBs is. It's like, you know what, Actually, no,
I don't.
Speaker 6 (29:27):
I don't not at all.
Speaker 8 (29:29):
I live on the other side of it a little bit. Well,
it's like we've never even been in Madison's.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
It's like golf blowhards who called the golfers by the
first name. Hey, Scotty, do you see what Scotty did
on the seventeenth? No, what a douche do on the seventeenth.
But when that's why, whenever the conversation was being had
about Dave Roberts when the Dodgers would come off short
in the postseason and it was like, well, Dave Roberts
(29:54):
should be fired. And my thought on it the whole
time was, yeah, but is he the one that's, you know,
going one for eighteen like Mookie Bets and Freddie Freeman
in the playoffs?
Speaker 3 (30:05):
Is that him? Like, at some point, don't get the
players up here accountable.
Speaker 8 (30:08):
But you can't get rid of those guys, right, you
can get rid of Dave Roberts and it's cheaper, and
it's even worse. I mean, I know I've seen this
over the years and you can track it. There's like
baseball or football franchises that aren't doing well and they
don't really know what to do to make a change,
so they like fire the play by play guy. That
(30:30):
happened to Steve PHISIOK, with the Angels, I mean that really, yeah,
I mean that you know that, well, let's change it up,
will fire the play by play guy. And it's like,
you know, obviously it has to be somebody that I
don't know, maybe they don't care as much about. That's
not fair to say about Steve because he's such a
wonderful guy.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
I thought you were going to say Roger Lodge.
Speaker 8 (30:47):
Well, you know, I mean sometimes they pull the trigger
on a guy's just just for a breath of fresh
air because the team's not doing well and that guy
has nothing to do with the lack of success of
the team, but the other people are getting paid too
much to touch them. Same situation with USC and the GM.
You know, they can't fire the head coach, but they
made him fire his good old boy BFF, who was
(31:10):
the GM at USC that wasn't really doing GM work,
and they went and hired a real GM and now
that's their big talking point for the offseason. And a
recruiting class that may or may not come in twenty
twenty six. I'm sorry to keep hearkening back to USC
but you did ask me about the culture changes when
I was there, so it's always a unique situation. It's
(31:32):
always interesting. The chemistry of a team is one of
the more complex things. I mean, just going back to
thinking about how you prepare for a bowl game at
the college level with young people. After you've been playing
weekly for months and months, suddenly you're not playing games
(31:52):
and you have to find a way to play your
best game after not playing for two or three weeks
or four weeks in some occasions. That's crazy too, Like
the chemistry of a football team is a mystery that
cannot be solved by the wisest scientists that ever lived. Basketball,
where there's fewer people, you know, maybe you do pull
(32:14):
one little string and things change. But I think anybody
trusting Jim Dolan and his Blues Band to make the
right decision with his basketball team, one of the most
recognized franchises in the history of sport, is I mean,
very in trouble.
Speaker 6 (32:31):
I would say.
Speaker 4 (32:34):
My last question for you, I know we're up against
the breakers.
Speaker 6 (32:38):
I mean, you know, it is what it is. You
just radio you you mentioned I have a clock in
my head. You know, he got it. I could dig it. Bro.
Speaker 4 (32:52):
You guys have a top five recruiting class for twenty
six right now.
Speaker 8 (32:55):
I can't wait to see them freshman in twenty twenty.
Speaker 4 (32:59):
I mean, yeah, you mentioned if you know, if the
coach is still there, do you think he will survive
to see the top five class come in?
Speaker 6 (33:11):
And do you think that maybe it is just he just.
Speaker 4 (33:14):
Needs a little bit more time, because I mean that
that's a very highly you know, that's a highly rated
I think five I saw was what they were rated?
Speaker 6 (33:24):
Four or five.
Speaker 4 (33:24):
I mean that's that's a pretty high high mark in
today's recruiting. Uh, you know, climate it's very difficult to
get in the top five.
Speaker 6 (33:33):
Where we are right now in the nil space.
Speaker 8 (33:36):
It's something, Yeah, it is something to consider, but I
would I would rebut by asking you this in today's
day and age, with NIL being what it is, and
the transfer portal being wide open and teams being generally
older because of that, and we see it in college
basketball too, how many freshmen do you think can contribute
(33:59):
even on a normal even on a team like you
and I would have played on back in the day,
like even if you have a great recruiting class, so
maybe question maybe two or three of those guys help
you that year, maybe.
Speaker 6 (34:11):
Seven or that's why. But when did you say that's why.
Speaker 4 (34:14):
Having such a highly recruited class is all that really matters.
Speaker 8 (34:20):
It Really it's a stalling technique for pr because you
don't really know if they're coming or not.
Speaker 6 (34:26):
I mean they're just verbally that's true. Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 8 (34:30):
I mean that's like saying this girl said she was
gonna go to the problem with me next year. I
can't wait. You know, women are fickle, and so are
college football players.
Speaker 4 (34:38):
I would say they look at the stars, which I
don't know how much people should put into how many
stars a guy has, but that is what these these
universities do as well, I would say, to the point
of older guys being taken into portal and transfers that way.
I still think that when you see a four star,
five star come into your program, they have the opportunity
(35:02):
to make an immediate impact.
Speaker 8 (35:05):
Yeah, you're right, you know, you know they're supposed to.
And if they don't make it, usually if they don't
make an immediate impact, if they're that big of a
recruit usually you find them in the transfer portal into
portal a little bit later, and we've seen a lot
of that too. I would say this LeVar to answer
all of it. I think us he's finally doing, recruiting wise,
what they should have been doing for years under Lincoln
(35:28):
Riley or Clay Helton or anybody, which is build a
very very serious and very very formidable fence around the area,
recruit it and live and die with it. And that's
what the new GM Chad Boden that they hired was
kind of tasked to do. I don't have faith in
Lincoln Riley's ability to develop those guys anyway. He hasn't
(35:53):
proven it to me and I've not seen it so
and I don't know if they're coming. It's just if
you as he's standing on the twenty twenty six recruiting
class for hey, don't worry about us, then they're standing
on jello in my opinion. But it's better than not
having a great twenty twenty six recruiting class, I suppose.
(36:13):
But it is something like people stop me in the
street and they're like, can you believe this class?
Speaker 6 (36:19):
Right? You know?
Speaker 8 (36:20):
In twenty twenty six that may or may not come
that could you know, half of them could verbally decommit
when one of them goes, sure, but you're standing on
you're standing on Jello. I did find some interesting fact
that I came across the other day in regards to
the Knicks that I think you guys might enjoy.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
Oh yeah, are you ready? Yeah?
Speaker 8 (36:39):
Do you know the etymology of the name Knickerbucker or Nicks?
Speaker 4 (36:44):
We did, no, No, well, yes we do. It was
they said it was something about like clothing or something
like that.
Speaker 8 (36:51):
Yeah, well, yes, you're right. It's because of the way that.
Speaker 6 (36:53):
Yeah, we talked about it the other week.
Speaker 8 (36:55):
Yeah, the pants style. But the reason that came out,
the reason that word became popular was Washington Irving, who's
a really famous writer and the guy that really kind
of wrote and put New York on the map as
a writer, same guy that wrote Sleepy Hollow, you know,
with Hickabod Crane and the Headless Horse book. Yeah, Washington
(37:18):
Irving wrote a very very significant book called the History
of New York, which he wrote under a pseudonym of
a guy named Dietrich Knickerbocker, which is what popularized the
name A Knickerbocker used to be the way that a
Dutch guy would dress, you know, with his pants way
up walking around New York and a lot of Dutch
(37:41):
immigrants there in that time, and that's how they would
wear their pants. So they got called knickerbocker's. And then
this guy wrote the History of New York with the
Dietrich Knickerbocker name, and that popularized the name Knickerbocker in
relation to New York and anybody from New York after
a while, no matter how you wore your pants, cross colors,
(38:03):
z cavaiici's those tight jeans, skinny jeans, you're you're a
Knickerbocker regardless. Now, Damn Washington.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
Irving and and all these years later Tracy Morgan throwing
up on the floor.
Speaker 8 (38:16):
There at Mats Right, Dad, all these years later, Kylie
Jenner swallowing Timothy Shaumette's little pebble head, by.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
The way, how big? How big is Timothy Champagne or
whatever that guy's name is. How big is he? Is
he smaller than her? Is he shorter than.
Speaker 8 (38:33):
Yeah, she's a big horse. I think she just mounts
him and just rides him into oblivion. Right.
Speaker 3 (38:40):
The Belmont Stakes are supposed to.
Speaker 8 (38:43):
Ride longer race too. You know she's been with a
lot of guys. There's an extra furlong in that race.
Could you imagine a horse riding Jacky and he's like
a little jockey. He's like, he's like, he's like shoemaker.
He jumps on that big.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Boy bobs got her, got her on the gas like
she's a was.
Speaker 8 (39:14):
The milkshad, Yes, Larry David, Yeah, that's right, Petros, we
appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
You can get him on the old p He's the
cost of the Petros Money Show, which you can hear
on the Blowtorch A M. Five seventy l a Sports
later on this afternoon, also a Fox College football analyst,
and a Wednesday tradition here on the show.
Speaker 8 (39:39):
We are.
Speaker 3 (39:42):
Listen.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
Yeah, you know you start, you start with the Dodgers,
end with Kylie Jenner as a as a horse. That's
how goes bar so we do here.
Speaker 3 (39:53):
Who damn all right? Coming up next here though, on
Two Crows and a Cup of Joe.
Speaker 1 (40:03):
Be sure to catch live editions of Two Pros and
a Cup of Joe with Brady Quinn, LeVar Errington and
Jonas Knox weekdays at six am Eastern three am Pacific.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
And you know it's appropriate. We're listening to the Narcos
theme song here as the show starts. Because there was
an old method back in the day where Pablo Escobar,
when he wanted to rid himself of his competitors, he
would throw them into a lagoon full of hippopotamuses.
Speaker 6 (40:32):
Oh it was he throw them in there.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
He's got these pet hippos and he would throw them
in there and just let him go at it. And
I don't even think the Pablo Escobar could throw the
Indiana Pacers in with a pond full of hippos and
get rid of them, because that team does not die.
They are a zombie. They did it again last night.
(40:56):
It's unbelievable. It's just it's unbelievable to watch that game.
And I'm watching long, thinking, man, okay, see better extend this.
If you don't push it to twenty and you keep
them within four five ish possessions, they're gonna figure this
thing out. And as the game went down to the wire, they.
Speaker 3 (41:17):
Made play after play after play.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
Even lou Dort makes a great block on Nie Smith
and you're like, oh, okay, well that was the real
crucial play that had to be had. Pascal Siakam goes
out of bounds, they challenge it, call stands.
Speaker 3 (41:33):
Okay, see gets the ball back.
Speaker 2 (41:34):
You're like, Okay, that's the one that's gonna be Ultimately
what pushes Okac over the top. And it's just not
because Indiana refused to die. Awesome Game one of the
NBA Finals last night.
Speaker 4 (41:48):
I mean, it was what the NBA if they could
have drawn it up man, And I hate to be
the I told you so type of guy, but it
is I told you so type a moment where if
Indiana wins that game, it's.
Speaker 6 (42:06):
It makes the series more watchable, more interesting.
Speaker 4 (42:13):
If Indiana wins the game the way it was drawn
up yesterday, it makes the series way more attractive to
watch and want to be a part of. I mean,
you think about it. In this game you're talking about
the Pacers set a record on turnovers. That's how or
(42:36):
excuse me, not a record, but it was the season high,
season high twenty five turnovers, and yet they were still
over able to overcome the deficit of the entire game,
never led the entire game, and the only time they
lead is when they win. You couldn't have drawn it
(42:59):
up any better for a viewer to want to watch,
because it took you to the entire game. Unless at
the point a time where they were down I want
to say it was by at least fifteen.
Speaker 6 (43:12):
I want to say they were down by.
Speaker 4 (43:16):
If you if you dowed out, if you dialed out
in the second half, like the third quarter, based upon
what the score was, then you missed.
Speaker 6 (43:25):
You missed the treat of a game.
Speaker 4 (43:28):
But to see the way Indiana fights back and claw
their way back and get into games the way that
they do, they held to form this is you can't
say that this was a luck game or you know
they some way, somehow, you know, the OKC thunder gave
(43:51):
the game away. They shot poorly, They shot poorly. And
while OKAC shot poorly, you know what Indiana did. They
just kept getting after it. They were slashing to the hole,
which I was loving to see as they were being
aggressive getting to the hole. They were kicking the ball out,
(44:14):
guys were finding their range.
Speaker 6 (44:17):
You started seeing.
Speaker 4 (44:18):
Contributions come from from different guys, you know, in the comeback.
Speaker 6 (44:23):
It just it's one of those.
Speaker 4 (44:26):
Games where you ask yourself, you know, did did okay?
See did Okay, see open up a door that they
shouldn't have opened up in this series? Or was it
one of those first game, first game jitters.
Speaker 6 (44:47):
You're at home.
Speaker 4 (44:48):
Sometimes being at home can actually play against you a
little bit. You know, you you might not for some reason,
you might not play as loose. And maybe it's because
of the excitement. Maybe it's because it's your home crowd.
There's just certain reasons why sometimes teams play a little
bit better, a little bit more relaxed when they're on
(45:08):
the road. But this one was a hit scratcher. I
think if you had to come up with a way
to kind of sum up what last night represented, it
was still a hit scratcher that this type of a
pendulum swing could take place in a game in the
(45:29):
NBA Finals.
Speaker 6 (45:31):
To this, to this degree, the.
Speaker 2 (45:34):
Guy who hit the game winner, Tyres Halliburton, spoke afterwards, there.
Speaker 10 (45:38):
Was never a disbelief as a group. Honestly, you know,
we never think the game is over ever. Honestly speaking, ever,
like the never that never creeps in. I think we
just keep talking as a group, is how can we
walk this team down? So it's at twelve going and
a half time, we talk about if we can win
one quarter by six, one quarter by seven, will be
in a great spot. We got to a six point
(45:59):
game at the end of the third quarter and shade
at three, but we liked where we were. And then
they went on a big run to start the fourth
and we just say, okay, that fifteen, let's get to ten. Well,
we got it to eight. They call a time out,
so we just stay with it. So this group never
gives up. We never believe that the game is over
until hit zero.
Speaker 3 (46:16):
And that's a real calculated zombie right there.
Speaker 2 (46:19):
That's one that's not just one of these Well I'm
just gonna get up and eat everybody. It's like, no, no, no,
I'm just gonna get up, and this is how I'm
gonna do it. It's gonna come in sections, it's gonna
go one body part by the next, and I'm going
to figure out a way to make.
Speaker 3 (46:32):
Halliburton wasn't even good. It's not like he had a
great game.
Speaker 2 (46:36):
He didn't have some some monster game that you look
at and go, man, he willed his team to victory.
But when he was coming down with that ball following
the miss by SGA, there wasn't a doubt in my
mind that he was going to hit that shot. You
just you felt it. I think the arena felt it.
And there's probably Okay, see thunderfans that are looking around.
Speaker 3 (46:56):
Going what the hell happened? Yeah, because and I'll tell
you what happened.
Speaker 2 (47:01):
What happened was the same thing that happened in every
single playoff series that Indiana has.
Speaker 3 (47:06):
Been involved in.
Speaker 2 (47:07):
Yeah, you leave him hanging around for long enough. You
don't step on the throat, you don't finish putting their
head and the vice like that guy in Goodfellas and
put it into the whole thing. You let him hang
around and they ultimately end up making plays to win.
That's a fun team, you know.
Speaker 6 (47:23):
I told you.
Speaker 4 (47:24):
Like the second hour they play the theme song one
of the parts of Thirteenth Warrior. Yeah, and what I
felt like took place in last games. Last night's game
was comparable to a scene in Thirteenth Warrior. So there
was a guy, he was one of the Norsemen that
came with Bouvi to help with the evil that they
(47:45):
had to fight against that the village was that sent
for them, you know what they were facing. Well, the
son of the king of the people that sent for
Boulvie and his crew to come. You know, he was
not as respectful and receptive to them coming to help.
And he felt like him and his crew could handle
(48:05):
the evil that was coming their way. And he had
one big dude that was there, and one of the
smaller dudes that bouv brought with him, you know, picked
a fight with him. You know, and this this reminds
me of that game last night, right, Okay, see the big, tall,
strong dude, and you got this little dude over here
(48:31):
and he's he's digging. Everybody's digging trenches and he's throwing
the mud on the guy right hits him with the
mud boom, hitting get him dirty. He's like, hey, little man,
what are you doing? And he picks a fight with him.
So they picked the fight. They get in the ring
and you know, they're hitting their shields and he's just
letting this big dude wail on him, just bang bang,
(48:55):
cracks his cracks his shield and I think they get
like four shields, five shields in the fight or whatever.
Little dude ain't messed up. Not one of the shields
that this big dude is has ain't really made him
do anything to make him feel as though he could
hurt him, and the confidence of the big dude is
(49:16):
growing by every single shield that he's crushing on this
little dude.
Speaker 6 (49:21):
He gets to the last, the last shield.
Speaker 4 (49:24):
They're fighting, boom boom boom, and the big dude does
it again bang, just like what the OKC Thunder was
doing in his game, seemingly looking like they were just
too much, they were going to overpower them.
Speaker 6 (49:37):
He breaks the shield.
Speaker 4 (49:38):
The little dude kneels down and like looking like he's
being defeated. It almost looks like it's just defeat. He's
too weak, he's too small, he's not he's not nearly
the warrior that the other guy is. And the other
guy looks at you know what I guess would be
the coach. He looks at the king's son, and the
(49:59):
king son's like, yeah, doing you know, finish it? Chop
that man's head off and show these norsemen they're not
as tough as they think they are and they need
to listen to what I need to, what I'm gonna say,
what I want to do. So the guy picks up
his he picks up his sword to go knock his
head off, and the little dude hitching with one of
them a little like little moves like put sword in
(50:22):
the big dude. Put sword in a big dude. And
when he hit him, he said he was a brave one, right,
And so all this time you're beating the hell out
of this dude.
Speaker 6 (50:33):
In the entire time, it.
Speaker 4 (50:35):
Was a strategy to get him to the proper place
of where he wanted to get him and took him out.
And then all of the village people are looking like
they were confused. You know, they live by what they
can see, but now you're giving them something that they
can't see they got to think about. Keeps them off guard,
and that maintains the fear the point of the story.
(50:57):
Sometimes you can't judge it by the way it looks. Okay,
see looks like they're the big, big, strong dude that
that can knock you down and take you out because
they're so deep with their their you know, with their bench.
They have so many strong starters. They got seven footers to.
Speaker 6 (51:14):
Go along with it.
Speaker 4 (51:16):
But you beat up on these dudes for for a
half of basketball, really, really, I.
Speaker 6 (51:22):
Mean you didn't. You didn't beat them up as well
as you should have.
Speaker 4 (51:26):
In the second half, but for the most part, you
still maintained your lead throughout the second half of the
of the game until the end. And then at the
end they make a move and chop your head off
and looked at the crowd, and now the crowd is
like all stunned, like, wait, did they just beat our champion?
Speaker 6 (51:45):
Like did they just take him down? They just took
out the champion.
Speaker 4 (51:50):
And now okay see has to figure out how they're
going to move forward in this series because what I
felt took place in this first game, even though they
didn't shoot their best. I bet you Okac was ready
to come out of that game and say, you know,
we didn't shoot our best, but we defended home court.
(52:11):
We had a good we had a good showing. Even
though guys didn't shoot well from the perimeter. Our shots
weren't they weren't going down. Maybe our shots selection could
have been better, but yet we were still good enough
to win this game and win the game handily. You
couldn't come out of the game saying that. Now now
you had to say, dang, like, we didn't play as
(52:32):
well as we could have, but we had the game
in hand on our way to a victory. In some way,
somehow Indiana found a way to beat us.
Speaker 3 (52:42):
That's right.
Speaker 4 (52:43):
That's a very very hard that's a hard riddle to solve.
If I'm OKC, maybe they don't think too much of it,
but maybe they are.
Speaker 6 (52:55):
You got one more game there, You got one more
game there.
Speaker 4 (52:59):
And and I think this is such a pivotal game
for OKC because they cannot allow, they cannot allow for
Indiana to gain any more confidence than what they've gained
being able to come out of that game the way
they did.
Speaker 2 (53:20):
You mentioned the thought process, the mentality of Oklahoma City
after that game last night, SGA, their superstar, the MVP,
spoke about it, following it.
Speaker 6 (53:28):
As much as we can.
Speaker 7 (53:30):
We just got to treat it like every other game,
every other situation we've been in. Yes, we haven't been
in a situation, but it doesn't mean our character has
a change or what we did last time. It's still basketball,
still the game of basketball that we grew up playing.
The rules don't change it just because we're in the finals.
So it's like we've been in a situation before and
the other situation we handled it. We handled it well.
We were better for Game two, and that's the goal.
Speaker 2 (53:53):
They are currently an eleven point favorite in game two,
so the overwhelming expectation should as well they respond and
they'll come back out. And it's like, look, you could
feel any kind of way you want to feel about it.
A lot of people said the same thing about the Knicks. Listen,
they should have won that game in game one. One
are the chances India and what happened? Indiana came out
(54:14):
and they were actually better in game two, Like, that's
that's the the if this would have been Indiana's best
shot and their best shot was able to overcome a
deficit by Okac who didn't make enough plays down the stretch.
I'd feel better about it if I was a Thunder fan,
because I would look at it and go, well, yeah,
the likelihood of them playing that good again is small,
(54:37):
especially on the road. The problem is Indiana didn't play
that great. Halliburton didn't have a great game as far
as his getting to the basket, you know, getting whatever
shot he won. He was actually passed, like giving the
ball up at times when he probably could have made
a play at the rim. So I look at it
and I go, this makes me that much more interested
(54:58):
in game two and would not surprise me whatsoever. If
Indiana was able to keep that close, and if it's
close as we've seen, I don't know that you trust
any other team in the playoffs to make a play
down the stretch.
Speaker 3 (55:10):
And you do Indiana more than you know what.
Speaker 4 (55:11):
It makes me think of a scene out of a movie,
Like it's like that moment where Rocky punches Ivan Drago
and he cutting, and he went back to he went
back to the corner.
Speaker 6 (55:27):
And Rocky's corners like you're cutting.
Speaker 4 (55:29):
You see, you see, he's a man, He's a man.
And then Ivan Drago's sitting there like looking at it
like this is blood. It's blood, it's my blood. It's
my blood, right, and then he realized that this little
man could beat him. And again comes back to the
David and Goliath type of storyline here, this is a
(55:52):
David Goliath type of series. Obviously, Goliath being OKAC, David
being the pacers. I just think that this was a
very debilitating loss. Like I understand what SGA is saying,
and he's right, that's the right way of looking at it,
that's the right approach. But Jonas, if I'm OKC, that
(56:14):
is the worst loss that you could have possibly taken.
Was the first one last night? Yeah at home?
Speaker 2 (56:20):
Not great, not great, but great for us because it
makes it that much more entertaining. It is two pros
and a cup of Joe. Here on Fox Sports Radio,
LeVar Arrington, Jonas Knox with you. By the way, we
do have some good news for you here on this show.
It's a football Friday. It's a damn Friday, Fox Sports Radio.
You bet your sweet assay, Come on, Bar, come on.
Speaker 6 (56:41):
Yeah, yeah, we got some basketball.
Speaker 4 (56:45):
It's football Friday, but we got some basketball. We talked
about the NBA. But it's a football Friday. It's a football.
It's Friday. It's a football Friday. Football Friday. Come on,
football fall football football, football, football, football, football football Friday,
Football Friday. What's wrong with your Jonas? Did you just
(57:09):
use the blow gun? What's wrong with Jonas?
Speaker 6 (57:13):
All right? Mark, Mark, come on now, Mark, let's do it.
Let's do it for Eddie.
Speaker 4 (57:16):
Friday night is a football Friday.
Speaker 6 (57:21):
Yeah, football Friday.
Speaker 4 (57:23):
Rock them, suck them, throw it, catch it is.
Speaker 3 (57:28):
It is a Friday.
Speaker 1 (57:29):
Here on
This is the best of two pros and a couple
Joe with Lamar Arings had rating win and Jonas Knox
on five four Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
We continue the conversation here in the waiting game for
the NBA Finals, because the NBA Finals tip off tomorrow night,
and apparently the NBA Finals and the NBA itself couldn't wait.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
They couldn't wait any longer.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
They had to get some news out there, and that
news was Tom Thibodeaux. He gone as the head coach
of the New York Knicks. That is a rap for
his time as a New York Knicks coach, even though
despite the fact the New York Knicks did something they
hadn't done in twenty five years and he was the
head coach in charge of the team as they did it,
(00:54):
Tom Thibodeaux finds himself on the outside looking in with
the Knicks now moving on and looking for a brand
new head coach there to take over the reins at
Madison Square Garden.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
You know, Uh Brunson was very very offended when he
was asked about if Tibodeaux, what's the right guy for
the job?
Speaker 3 (01:17):
You want to hear it?
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, let's hear there is a little
Jalen Brunson talking about coach Tibbs following their loss.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
You talked about the confidence.
Speaker 5 (01:26):
Obviously, I feel like nobody takes more criticism than Tom
and this team obviously has turned around during his tenure.
Do you kind of feel that going forward he's the
same guy if t you guys the rest of the
way that next level this is?
Speaker 6 (01:42):
Is that a real question right now? You just asked
me him. I believe that if he's the right guy. Yes,
thanks guys.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Fun probably should ask James Dolean that maybe he would
have been the better guy to ask about that question.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Look, I think it's a clown show.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
I think it's disguised as an Eastern Conference Finals team.
But I think if you just looked hard enough, Madison
Square Gardens not actually an arena. I think it's a
circus tent. I think you got people juggling bowling pins.
I think there's tigers flying through hula hoops with flames
coming off the sides of them. I think the entire
thing is a circus, and this whole idea that the
(02:29):
Knicks should be taken seriously as a legitimate franchise. When
you see the behavior of their fan base after just
getting past the second round. This is part for the course.
I mean, it would like we could do an entire
show on just the fan base and their behavior and
all that being said. But I feel like this was
(02:51):
already in the works, and Tom Thibodeau, barring an NBA
Finals appearance, was probably going to lose his job because
there's no other explanation for why exactly he would you
would move on from the guy other than you had
this in your mind and he needed to get to
an NBA Finals routes he was gonna get cleft.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
You know, there's already people throwing their hat into the
ring to become the new head coach of the New
York Knickerbockers.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Who's that?
Speaker 4 (03:19):
Let me read it for you. I want every bit
of the smoke in New York, NYC. I'm one hundred
percent ready to head.
Speaker 6 (03:27):
Coach the great New York Knicks.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
Queen's Brad dominated my high school era three championships at
the Rucker and never lost one at the Rucker three
championships at the real Gershwin when there was no security.
Speaker 6 (03:45):
Lots more on the NYC front.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
Had a Nick practice shirt and short on at nineteen
ninety nine draft NBA accolades speak for themselves. I basically
locked up tons of Hall of famers. Sorry, but light
work Meta is ready for the city.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Let's look.
Speaker 6 (04:10):
I mean, why not listen?
Speaker 4 (04:13):
And I'm not saying this to be you know kind
of yeah I am. I am saying it to be funny.
Thibodeaux is not. That was the firing was in my estimation.
That's a bad move. It's a bad move. Your you're
one series away from from playing in the NBA finals.
(04:36):
They have been, they have been competitive and seemingly very
close to taking that next step. So if you feel like, ah,
we've done pretty good with you.
Speaker 7 (04:49):
You have.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
You have done well for us, but we just don't
feel like you could get us over the hump. I
feel like that really only comes if the players have
lost faith and belief in you. You know what this
firing does, Jonas makes players lose faith and trust in
(05:12):
what's going on with the New York Knicks. So now
you run the potential of by firing Thibodeaux as the
head coach, knowing how those players feel about them, knowing
the success that they've been able to have, and it's
been sustainable success since he's been there. You now disrupt
(05:33):
the culture. It's the funniest thing. I look at our
So I look at the social media. I read social media.
People are so gullible. And I hate to do it.
I hate, I hate to say it, but people really
are very, very gullible. And I say that to say
when when when I posted about the Brian Schottenheimer and
(05:58):
how he handled things, and and that possibly him doing
what he did with the lockers could possibly create discord
and could create dissension, and and and maybe you know,
start start a bad culture. Start start off with bringing
your culture in, and it could create a toxic culture.
(06:20):
It's possible people were losing their ass, especially if they
were Dallas fans, right, So I'll say the same thing
could possibly exist here. I don't know for certain how
how New York Knicks fans will react to the firing,
but I would also I would urge, and I would
caution that when you're looking at a culture being built,
(06:45):
it takes time. When that culture, it takes time to
be built, and it takes hold to the point of
where you had one of the premiere you know, strong
point guards in Jalen Brunson. You have you bring a
guy that you feel is though can can really maybe
be the difference maker if he would just play a
(07:10):
little bit more physically, you know, physically driven versus just
being a set shooter. Well, Anthony Towns and hey, I
mean listen, a lot of people have been piling on him.
He's a he's a fine ball player. In fact, he
was fine enough for them to knock out the defending champions,
(07:33):
right they knocked out the Celtics. They they get to
the game the series prior to the finals, and and
a lot of it had to do with the way
Carl Anthony Towns played. So it's it's it's strange that
people lose their s to go after him when in
a series where they lost, when he's been actually a
(07:57):
catalyst with Jalen Brunson to be able to get as
far as they did. Now, that's what comes with success.
But I think when you're one game away from the
NBA Finals, you would have to say the coach has
you in the right direction. You're closer to success than
you are the failure. Yeah, I mean, I don't know,
I don't know why this would be the decision that
(08:19):
they would make is there a coaching candidate other than
metal World Peace album better, a better, better recipient, a
better prospect.
Speaker 6 (08:30):
Than than him? Like, what are they? What are they
doing from here?
Speaker 2 (08:34):
So Mike Malone, his name is out there. The guy
who uh coach the Denver Nuggets to a title was fired.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
And he probably I mean, but he It sounds as
though there was some mixed feelings on him in the
locker room he went, and by the way, they kind
of recovered, you know, after they he left. It seemed
as though they may have wanted him out. But that
was a fine coach. They were winning.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
And and so so Mike Malone's name's been thrown out there.
I've seen Jay Wright the Villanova coach because of the
Villanova connection out there. I don't know how believable that is.
But you know, Mike Malone, for that market would be
a good time. He does not hold back, especially if
he's drinking at a championship parade. If he's been in
the elbow a little bit, he will fire off. But
(09:20):
you won't have to worry about that because they're not
going to win a title. But I just I don't
know why anybody would want any part of a job
that is NBA head coach because we laid out during
the course of the season, even after Mike Malone was fired.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
And this goes you know, Adrian, whether it was Mike.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Budenholzer, Adrian Griffin and Milwaukee like just you see all
of these guys, Frank Vogel, like, all these guys get
clipped after just winning a title not that long ago.
If you're Joe Mizoula of the Celtics, you're probably looking
around going uh oh uh oh if that could happen
(10:01):
to him, I mean, like, what could happen to me?
Based on what's happened in the postseas I just I
don't know why anybody would want.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Any part of that job.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
You are, ultimately, as Chris Carter said it best, the
fall guy when something goes wrong and it's all about
the superstars. And if you have one issue with the
superstar or you get an owner who feels like, well,
we underperformed, even though some would say you probably overperformed
based on the fact you haven't done it in a
quarter century like they did. You're on your ass and
you're looking for a new gig because they decide, well,
(10:32):
you know, we'll go in a different direction and see.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
If somebody else can get us over the hump. Okay,
good luck with that. Good good luck.
Speaker 6 (10:41):
Why would you want any parts of it?
Speaker 4 (10:44):
I got on average annual eleven million reasons.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
So that's why Doc Rivers always comes back.
Speaker 6 (10:54):
You can fire me, Doc comes back.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
Let's see Doc Rivers eleven million finally annual average salary.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
You know, it's great about Thibodeaux getting fired.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
They just gave him an extension last last summer, so
he just got an extension. He then overachieves the following
year after just getting an extension, and they fire him.
Yeah all right, man, yeah, okay.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
You know, when I talked to everybody, I don't want
to put people out there, but you know, one of
my close friends was a head coach. I never thought
i'd have a super super close friend, like a best friend,
become a head coach, and he did. And when I
heard of the perks and all the things that are
connected to being a head coach, it's like you have
(11:48):
to deal with, Yeah, you have to deal with you
have to deal with something you don't like to deal
with as a competitor, which is you you didn't win
enough to your job, and you lost enough to lose
your job, but dang the compensation.
Speaker 6 (12:08):
When he told me.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
What he was getting compensated for as long as he
just you know, laid back and didn't do anything, It's crazy.
It's crazy. You could get a It's like a heist.
That's why you coach, and that's probably why it's so hard.
It's so hard to get it. And if you do
have longevity, then the perks that go along with that crazy.
(12:34):
The benefits that are connected to being a head coach,
a long tenured head.
Speaker 6 (12:38):
Coach, crazy, it's crazy.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
When he started breaking it down for me, I said,
I looked in the mirror later on that evening. I
didn't do it in front of him because I didn't
want to embarrass myself, Like I didn't want to sit
there and be like, are you being serious? I looked
at my mirror when I was brushing my teeth. Later on,
I was like, damn, I should have just kept going,
(13:02):
Like I should have just kept I broke off.
Speaker 6 (13:05):
You know. He got me into coaching shots out, Shots Out.
You know.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
I went to Long Beach Polly, we did well. It
led to him going to ASU. I went and coached
a private and here in La in Pasadena, we were successful.
Speaker 6 (13:26):
I should have just kept going.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
In my mind, I should have because because once he
became a head coach, radio stopped.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Radio is too much fun. You have you can play
grab ass so much more on the radio.
Speaker 6 (13:37):
Radio is fun, man, Radio is fun.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
But God dang, Like, can can radio give us a fraction?
Can they give us a fraction of what these coaches
are making? God dang, I mean listen, I mean, there's
less of us than it is to them. Can we
get a fraction? I like to talk about all them coaches.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
I'd like to think that you are.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
You've got a little bit of that radio scumbag in
you like the rest of us. And it was just
too enticing, just too enticing. You know, there's nothing wrong
with being a radio guy until you see the paychecks
as some of these coaches are get for just not
coaching anymore.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
Look at mine, I'm like, wait, I'm not even the
point part of it. Eight point nine point, I'm not
even the number after the decimal point.
Speaker 6 (14:33):
Hey man, that's all good man.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
You don't have to put in the type of time
that they do either. I mean, that's a lot of time.
It's a lot of things that you have to manage,
and that's why I got out of coaching, And that's
something to be said about all of this too. Imagine
you're paying someone to come in and have to deal
with being a coach in the New York market, especially
(14:58):
for one of the more popular teams.
Speaker 6 (15:01):
That's tough, man.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
You got to pay them to be able to be
just as good of a facilitator in the community and
with the businesses and with the people that are in
and around that sports community as much as you have
to be that person to the team and those that
sometimes is the biggest downfall for some of these guys.
You know, it's it's it's a very very rewarding job
(15:26):
when you can be a head coach because of the
impact that you can have on young men, older men,
and you know even I mean obviously with other sports
you could be that to women. But it's also a
very unforgiving job in terms of how you're treated, how
(15:47):
you're measured, how you're judged. There is no as you
mentioned earlier, there is no comfort zone, There is no
pocket of peace. It is a very very turbulent and
chaotic industry and job. You know, a job to have,
so I don't I think they earned their money because
(16:11):
it's it's it's not for long. You know, you are
destined to get fired, which what coach has never been fired?
Has has pat Phil? Did Phil Jackson walk away or
did he get fired? I think he might have walked
walk He might have walked away. Did pat Riley walk
away or did he get fired?
Speaker 2 (16:30):
I think they because what's interesting about it is pat Riley.
I was listening to an interview with Mark Kriegel. He
was on with Ariel hawanis my guy, and Mark Mark
Kriegel was making the point that he thinks the Knicks
franchise took a turn for the worst when they decided
to move on from pat Riley, because afterwards you see
what pat Riley did with Miami, and that's one of the.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
More stable organizations.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
And by stability, I mean man Eric Spolster hasn't won
a title in a long ass time. You don't hear
any conversations about that movie it off from him because
there's stability there, Like it feels like a high functioning
operation there as opposed to some of these other places
that are just turn and burn on these guys. I
mean if you're coach Tims, do you just whatever money
you're making from the Knicks, do you just reinvest it
(17:14):
in some season tickets. You imagine him court side next year.
Just take the year off and sit courtside and watch
the circus.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
I mean, or he could just go sit on the
couch or at a you know, cigar bar or whatever
with Big Oak, you.
Speaker 6 (17:31):
Know what I mean. Yeah, they still ay made things
right with Big Oak, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (17:36):
So maybe you go hang out with Charles Oakley and
you know, watch the Knicks be the Knicks.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
I mean, now we know why Tracy Morgan was blowing
chunks on the court. Now we know.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
Because he needs his old spice. Now we know why
because he needs spice, my old spice.
Speaker 6 (18:02):
Lee Lee.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
You said pat Riley retired via fax. Yeah, well from
he resigned from the Knicks via fax. Yeah, via fax. Yeah,
they stand up.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
You know, it seems like an honest way to do it,
the old Fax machine.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Be sure to catch live editions of Two Pros and
a Cup of Joe with Brady Quinn, LeVar Errington, and
Jonas Knox weekdays at six am Eastern three am Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
He is the great Petrospopaegas. He is the co host
of the Petros and Money Show, which you can hear
on the Blowtorch AM five to seven, the LA Sports
Fox College Football Analysts, and you can get him on
X at the Old p P.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Good morning, how are we feeling?
Speaker 8 (18:46):
Good morning, guys, Good morning. Great to hear from everybody.
Speaker 6 (18:49):
Hello, Hello, Hello.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
So Petro's another another walk off win for the LA
Dodgers last night.
Speaker 8 (18:56):
Well last night, you know, they didn't walk it off.
They were at home and they lost. It's hard to
walk it off on the road. What do you mean,
It's just really hard to walk it off on the road.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Well, I'm saying yeah, but they walked it off last
night last night.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (19:10):
It just reminds me of a question that a reporter
asked Dave Roberts. Oh, in a few years, what's the
question they asked Dave Roberts because it was after like
another Dodger walk off and they were having a real
exciting season. I think this year's Dodger team is really
a droit at coming back in games that they were down,
and they almost did it two nights ago against the
(19:33):
Mets who were in town with Juan Soto who's not
doing his special dance because he's bummed out and his family.
He's like Freddie Freeman when he left Atlanta. He's like
super bummed out. But anyway, yeah, it's uh, what were
we talking about?
Speaker 4 (19:51):
Right?
Speaker 8 (19:52):
This guy asked Dave Roberts, like, Hey, how come all
your walkoffs are at home? Is there something about this
home crap that really gets you going? That really gets
his team going? And Dave Roberts had a very nice answer.
He said, well, he's very difficult to walk it off
on the road.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
So who asked the question best?
Speaker 6 (20:15):
I don't remember.
Speaker 8 (20:16):
It was some no. It was like a younger reporter,
so everybody was trying to be cool about it. It
wasn't like a kid though, But yeah, you can't walk
it off on the road. Dodgers are at home and
they walked it off last night against the Mets and
show Heyo Tani spectacular. He's still not pitching. They have
a lot of bullpen problems. They paid Tanner Scott, this
(20:36):
guy who was supposed to be like a baseball assassin
as the number one closer, and I think he's already
blown six saves and it's early June, so that's a problem.
They have some bullpen issues, but the Dodger problems are
first world problems. They're doing quite well. And they won
last night against the Mets, and I did stay up
to watch it. Hell yea, which is why I forgot
(20:58):
my point short term memory lost.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
From blackout from a bull in the ring back in
the day.
Speaker 8 (21:04):
Well that yeah, that too. I've aggravated a lot of
old football injuries. Every time somebody just taps my forehead
with like a pencil, Dawn.
Speaker 4 (21:12):
Speaking of bull in the ring, Petros, how many like
when you played how many different locker rooms did you
play in? In terms of, like I guess, high level,
like whether it was did you have the same coach
the entire time when you were as he was, okay,
so you had a different coach.
Speaker 8 (21:32):
Now, when I arrived at SC, it was John Robinson,
and then Paul Hackett took over Paul Hackett, and then
it was Pete Carroll, who I did not play for.
A lot of the guys I played for played for
Pete Carroll. And the year two thousand and one was
Pete Carroll's first year, and that was my first year
in the media and I kind of got to know
(21:53):
Pete and USC took off and Pete Carroll took off,
and I kind of was hanging on for the ride,
starting out doing radio and TV here in town. So
that's kind of my story. But it is interesting, you know,
because back in my time and our time, I should
say that when there was a coaching change, which I
(22:13):
don't believe you experienced at the.
Speaker 9 (22:16):
College level, I know spring football was a bloodbath, like
spring football, where we really put on pads and really
got after each other and really had like thirty to.
Speaker 8 (22:27):
Forty play run drills every day. That was like you
have to show out for the new coaching staff. One
thing that was very interesting that a lot of people
didn't realize and maybe they don't realize it now, was
that Ed Ojeron was on the Paul Hackett staff. He
was not hired by Pete Carrell. Well, he was rehired
by Pete Carroll, but he was already at SC when
(22:50):
Pete Carroll took over and had that very important piece
already in his defensive room. But yeah, that was my experience.
I was in kind of two different locker rooms. John Robinson,
a much more player friendly coach. I guess you'd say
with a lot more lenient, especially with star players. Paul Hackett,
(23:14):
on the other hand, miss a class, get up at
five in the morning and roll like a log to you,
barf kind of coach. Well, you know, both of those
coaching styles have their benefits.
Speaker 4 (23:25):
Well, so that's why I was I was asking in
terms of culturally speaking, because again I don't feel like
in a lot of ways the regular workforce people tend
to look at how an employer versus an employee, what
that relationship looks like, and the dynamic of it, and
(23:47):
how the culture plays a part. And while I say
in regular society, culture in the business place is everything,
but it's different than the culture being everything. In sports,
especially at higher levels college pro, it's it's very the
culture has to have a very unique mix and the
(24:09):
blend of like what the respect factor is, the understanding
of what the coach wants versus what the collective feelings
of what the players want. And we just saw Tim Thibodeau,
you know, get get fired from Tom. Tom, Yeah, Tom
get fired from the mix.
Speaker 8 (24:27):
The Christian better looking version of Tom Thibodeau, Tim Tebodeau.
Speaker 4 (24:31):
Tim Tebadeau. Yeah, you like that. That's funny my bed. Anyway,
It's interesting because I'm curious. I feel like when you
have players that love the coach, which it seems like
all the players are really into Thibodeaux and they yet
they get rid of them. You know, how does that
play a part? Because when you have a coaching change,
(24:52):
just like you got to impress the coaches, like you said,
in those practices, those coaches have to impress the players
as well, because there has to be a belief in
like what's your kind of you know, your.
Speaker 6 (25:02):
Peractive off culture.
Speaker 8 (25:04):
When I played college football, as you know, there was
not the same kind of boundary today, right, Like we
couldn't go anywhere if I transferred in college football, and
that was a terrible stigma that I still carry today
that I signed a letter of intent and wasn't able
(25:26):
to complete it, wasn't able to honor the contract. And
that bothers me. It really does. But it's a very
different it's a very different time in college and pro athletics.
That being said, the dynamics of a pro basketball team
is hard for me to understand. I mean, we're talking
(25:46):
about guys that have really really proven it at the
highest level. I mean, it's one thing to make an
NFL team. It's one thing to make an MLB Baseball
team or have a cup of coffee in the Major League.
It's a whole other thing to make an NBA team consistently.
I mean, because there's so few guys. So that dynamic
(26:08):
has always been fascinating and it's very difficult, I think,
to be a head coach at any level of any
kind of sport. But the NBA has got to be
the toughest because and you know, football is like this
now too. It didn't really used to be when we
were younger, and everybody had the same football coach who
looked one hundred years old for like fifteen years.
Speaker 4 (26:32):
Thirty years ye yeah, Chuck Knock but Grant, Yeah, you know,
Chuck Nole, Marv Levy, you know, it goes on and on.
Speaker 8 (26:41):
All the coaches kind of look like that. And now
the coaches are the first guy on the chopping block,
unless you know, John Harbaugh or Jim Harbaugh or somebody
more celebrated like that. Generally your coach is the first
guy to get fired at the NFL or NBA level.
And it proved out with the Tim Tebadeaux situation, even
(27:02):
though he ran a sweet option. Tom Thibodeau known as
a great defensive coach and a lot of people love him.
I think the X factor with the Knick situation that
I'm not super familiar with other than the fact that
you know, I watched all the New Yorkers freak out
in the NBA freak out hoping that the Knicks were
going to make it into the final and they could
(27:23):
play the concrete Jungle where dreams were made of song
over and over and over again until your brain MUSHes
and bleeds out of your ears. But I think it's
a more delicate situation. Also, their owner is like a
legit crazy man JB in the Straight JD in the
(27:45):
Straight Shot.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
Jim Dolan.
Speaker 8 (27:47):
That's the name of his sweet ass band, his blues band,
where he hired like a bunch of really really famous
or reputable studio musicians and tours around with him like
he belongs on stage. So it's a whole it's a
whole wild situation. But look, I mean, but you look
at like Mi Alma Mater and these and these different
stories that are unfolding over the years in modern Sports
(28:11):
and at USC it's like they'd fire and Lincoln Riley
if he didn't have such a big buyout. And and
at a certain point the money does matter, and maybe
not for JD in the straight shop. But I don't know,
I don't know what direction you go in from there,
Like who do you hire from there to to ignite
(28:33):
the team? Was it Thibodeau that was really fueling their
success or was he holding them back and holding back
their star players? Obviously somebody thought that. But a sad
situation for the guy with not a lot of hair
who kind of looks like the penguin.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
Petros Pamadegus joined us.
Speaker 8 (28:54):
I've been compared to the penguin in the past too, Jonas.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
Look, I don't think so. I would. I would disagree
with that comparison.
Speaker 8 (29:01):
I mean, how many times do you say that Fox
Sports Radio? Jonas? I know I'm on the radio.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Right I am resetting it for the trying to be
a broadcast professional. But it is when you mentioned sort
of what direction you go in here, and was it
Tom Thibodeau's fault and all that, that's why whatever there.
Speaker 8 (29:20):
Was to call them TIBs like they're friends with him. Yeah, like, oh,
you know how TIBs is. It's like, you know what, Actually, no,
I don't.
Speaker 6 (29:27):
I don't not at all.
Speaker 8 (29:29):
I live on the other side of it a little bit. Well,
it's like we've never even been in Madison's.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
It's like golf blowhards who called the golfers by the
first name. Hey, Scotty, do you see what Scotty did
on the seventeenth? No, what a douche do on the seventeenth.
But when that's why, whenever the conversation was being had
about Dave Roberts when the Dodgers would come off short
in the postseason and it was like, well, Dave Roberts
(29:54):
should be fired. And my thought on it the whole
time was, yeah, but is he the one that's, you know,
going one for eighteen like Mookie Bets and Freddie Freeman
in the playoffs?
Speaker 3 (30:05):
Is that him? Like, at some point, don't get the
players up here accountable.
Speaker 8 (30:08):
But you can't get rid of those guys, right, you
can get rid of Dave Roberts and it's cheaper, and
it's even worse. I mean, I know I've seen this
over the years and you can track it. There's like
baseball or football franchises that aren't doing well and they
don't really know what to do to make a change,
so they like fire the play by play guy. That
(30:30):
happened to Steve PHISIOK, with the Angels, I mean that really, yeah,
I mean that you know that, well, let's change it up,
will fire the play by play guy. And it's like,
you know, obviously it has to be somebody that I
don't know, maybe they don't care as much about. That's
not fair to say about Steve because he's such a
wonderful guy.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
I thought you were going to say Roger Lodge.
Speaker 8 (30:47):
Well, you know, I mean sometimes they pull the trigger
on a guy's just just for a breath of fresh
air because the team's not doing well and that guy
has nothing to do with the lack of success of
the team, but the other people are getting paid too
much to touch them. Same situation with USC and the GM.
You know, they can't fire the head coach, but they
made him fire his good old boy BFF, who was
(31:10):
the GM at USC that wasn't really doing GM work,
and they went and hired a real GM and now
that's their big talking point for the offseason. And a
recruiting class that may or may not come in twenty
twenty six. I'm sorry to keep hearkening back to USC
but you did ask me about the culture changes when
I was there, so it's always a unique situation. It's
(31:32):
always interesting. The chemistry of a team is one of
the more complex things. I mean, just going back to
thinking about how you prepare for a bowl game at
the college level with young people. After you've been playing
weekly for months and months, suddenly you're not playing games
(31:52):
and you have to find a way to play your
best game after not playing for two or three weeks
or four weeks in some occasions. That's crazy too, Like
the chemistry of a football team is a mystery that
cannot be solved by the wisest scientists that ever lived. Basketball,
where there's fewer people, you know, maybe you do pull
(32:14):
one little string and things change. But I think anybody
trusting Jim Dolan and his Blues Band to make the
right decision with his basketball team, one of the most
recognized franchises in the history of sport, is I mean,
very in trouble.
Speaker 6 (32:31):
I would say.
Speaker 4 (32:34):
My last question for you, I know we're up against
the breakers.
Speaker 6 (32:38):
I mean, you know, it is what it is. You
just radio you you mentioned I have a clock in
my head. You know, he got it. I could dig it. Bro.
Speaker 4 (32:52):
You guys have a top five recruiting class for twenty
six right now.
Speaker 8 (32:55):
I can't wait to see them freshman in twenty twenty.
Speaker 4 (32:59):
I mean, yeah, you mentioned if you know, if the
coach is still there, do you think he will survive
to see the top five class come in?
Speaker 6 (33:11):
And do you think that maybe it is just he just.
Speaker 4 (33:14):
Needs a little bit more time, because I mean that
that's a very highly you know, that's a highly rated
I think five I saw was what they were rated?
Speaker 6 (33:24):
Four or five.
Speaker 4 (33:24):
I mean that's that's a pretty high high mark in
today's recruiting. Uh, you know, climate it's very difficult to
get in the top five.
Speaker 6 (33:33):
Where we are right now in the nil space.
Speaker 8 (33:36):
It's something, Yeah, it is something to consider, but I
would I would rebut by asking you this in today's
day and age, with NIL being what it is, and
the transfer portal being wide open and teams being generally
older because of that, and we see it in college
basketball too, how many freshmen do you think can contribute
(33:59):
even on a normal even on a team like you
and I would have played on back in the day,
like even if you have a great recruiting class, so
maybe question maybe two or three of those guys help
you that year, maybe.
Speaker 6 (34:11):
Seven or that's why. But when did you say that's why.
Speaker 4 (34:14):
Having such a highly recruited class is all that really matters.
Speaker 8 (34:20):
It Really it's a stalling technique for pr because you
don't really know if they're coming or not.
Speaker 6 (34:26):
I mean they're just verbally that's true. Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 8 (34:30):
I mean that's like saying this girl said she was
gonna go to the problem with me next year. I
can't wait. You know, women are fickle, and so are
college football players.
Speaker 4 (34:38):
I would say they look at the stars, which I
don't know how much people should put into how many
stars a guy has, but that is what these these
universities do as well, I would say, to the point
of older guys being taken into portal and transfers that way.
I still think that when you see a four star,
five star come into your program, they have the opportunity
(35:02):
to make an immediate impact.
Speaker 8 (35:05):
Yeah, you're right, you know, you know they're supposed to.
And if they don't make it, usually if they don't
make an immediate impact, if they're that big of a
recruit usually you find them in the transfer portal into
portal a little bit later, and we've seen a lot
of that too. I would say this LeVar to answer
all of it. I think us he's finally doing, recruiting wise,
what they should have been doing for years under Lincoln
(35:28):
Riley or Clay Helton or anybody, which is build a
very very serious and very very formidable fence around the area,
recruit it and live and die with it. And that's
what the new GM Chad Boden that they hired was
kind of tasked to do. I don't have faith in
Lincoln Riley's ability to develop those guys anyway. He hasn't
(35:53):
proven it to me and I've not seen it so
and I don't know if they're coming. It's just if
you as he's standing on the twenty twenty six recruiting
class for hey, don't worry about us, then they're standing
on jello in my opinion. But it's better than not
having a great twenty twenty six recruiting class, I suppose.
(36:13):
But it is something like people stop me in the
street and they're like, can you believe this class?
Speaker 6 (36:19):
Right? You know?
Speaker 8 (36:20):
In twenty twenty six that may or may not come
that could you know, half of them could verbally decommit
when one of them goes, sure, but you're standing on
you're standing on Jello. I did find some interesting fact
that I came across the other day in regards to
the Knicks that I think you guys might enjoy.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
Oh yeah, are you ready? Yeah?
Speaker 8 (36:39):
Do you know the etymology of the name Knickerbucker or Nicks?
Speaker 4 (36:44):
We did, no, No, well, yes we do. It was
they said it was something about like clothing or something
like that.
Speaker 8 (36:51):
Yeah, well, yes, you're right. It's because of the way that.
Speaker 6 (36:53):
Yeah, we talked about it the other week.
Speaker 8 (36:55):
Yeah, the pants style. But the reason that came out,
the reason that word became popular was Washington Irving, who's
a really famous writer and the guy that really kind
of wrote and put New York on the map as
a writer, same guy that wrote Sleepy Hollow, you know,
with Hickabod Crane and the Headless Horse book. Yeah, Washington
(37:18):
Irving wrote a very very significant book called the History
of New York, which he wrote under a pseudonym of
a guy named Dietrich Knickerbocker, which is what popularized the
name A Knickerbocker used to be the way that a
Dutch guy would dress, you know, with his pants way
up walking around New York and a lot of Dutch
(37:41):
immigrants there in that time, and that's how they would
wear their pants. So they got called knickerbocker's. And then
this guy wrote the History of New York with the
Dietrich Knickerbocker name, and that popularized the name Knickerbocker in
relation to New York and anybody from New York after
a while, no matter how you wore your pants, cross colors,
(38:03):
z cavaiici's those tight jeans, skinny jeans, you're you're a
Knickerbocker regardless. Now, Damn Washington.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
Irving and and all these years later Tracy Morgan throwing
up on the floor.
Speaker 8 (38:16):
There at Mats Right, Dad, all these years later, Kylie
Jenner swallowing Timothy Shaumette's little pebble head, by.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
The way, how big? How big is Timothy Champagne or
whatever that guy's name is. How big is he? Is
he smaller than her? Is he shorter than.
Speaker 8 (38:33):
Yeah, she's a big horse. I think she just mounts
him and just rides him into oblivion. Right.
Speaker 3 (38:40):
The Belmont Stakes are supposed to.
Speaker 8 (38:43):
Ride longer race too. You know she's been with a
lot of guys. There's an extra furlong in that race.
Could you imagine a horse riding Jacky and he's like
a little jockey. He's like, he's like, he's like shoemaker.
He jumps on that big.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Boy bobs got her, got her on the gas like
she's a was.
Speaker 8 (39:14):
The milkshad, Yes, Larry David, Yeah, that's right, Petros, we
appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
You can get him on the old p He's the
cost of the Petros Money Show, which you can hear
on the Blowtorch A M. Five seventy l a Sports
later on this afternoon, also a Fox College football analyst,
and a Wednesday tradition here on the show.
Speaker 8 (39:39):
We are.
Speaker 3 (39:42):
Listen.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
Yeah, you know you start, you start with the Dodgers,
end with Kylie Jenner as a as a horse. That's
how goes bar so we do here.
Speaker 3 (39:53):
Who damn all right? Coming up next here though, on
Two Crows and a Cup of Joe.
Speaker 1 (40:03):
Be sure to catch live editions of Two Pros and
a Cup of Joe with Brady Quinn, LeVar Errington and
Jonas Knox weekdays at six am Eastern three am Pacific.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
And you know it's appropriate. We're listening to the Narcos
theme song here as the show starts. Because there was
an old method back in the day where Pablo Escobar,
when he wanted to rid himself of his competitors, he
would throw them into a lagoon full of hippopotamuses.
Speaker 6 (40:32):
Oh it was he throw them in there.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
He's got these pet hippos and he would throw them
in there and just let him go at it. And
I don't even think the Pablo Escobar could throw the
Indiana Pacers in with a pond full of hippos and
get rid of them, because that team does not die.
They are a zombie. They did it again last night.
(40:56):
It's unbelievable. It's just it's unbelievable to watch that game.
And I'm watching long, thinking, man, okay, see better extend this.
If you don't push it to twenty and you keep
them within four five ish possessions, they're gonna figure this
thing out. And as the game went down to the wire, they.
Speaker 3 (41:17):
Made play after play after play.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
Even lou Dort makes a great block on Nie Smith
and you're like, oh, okay, well that was the real
crucial play that had to be had. Pascal Siakam goes
out of bounds, they challenge it, call stands.
Speaker 3 (41:33):
Okay, see gets the ball back.
Speaker 2 (41:34):
You're like, Okay, that's the one that's gonna be Ultimately
what pushes Okac over the top. And it's just not
because Indiana refused to die. Awesome Game one of the
NBA Finals last night.
Speaker 4 (41:48):
I mean, it was what the NBA if they could
have drawn it up man, And I hate to be
the I told you so type of guy, but it
is I told you so type a moment where if
Indiana wins that game, it's.
Speaker 6 (42:06):
It makes the series more watchable, more interesting.
Speaker 4 (42:13):
If Indiana wins the game the way it was drawn
up yesterday, it makes the series way more attractive to
watch and want to be a part of. I mean,
you think about it. In this game you're talking about
the Pacers set a record on turnovers. That's how or
(42:36):
excuse me, not a record, but it was the season high,
season high twenty five turnovers, and yet they were still
over able to overcome the deficit of the entire game,
never led the entire game, and the only time they
lead is when they win. You couldn't have drawn it
(42:59):
up any better for a viewer to want to watch,
because it took you to the entire game. Unless at
the point a time where they were down I want
to say it was by at least fifteen.
Speaker 6 (43:12):
I want to say they were down by.
Speaker 4 (43:16):
If you if you dowed out, if you dialed out
in the second half, like the third quarter, based upon
what the score was, then you missed.
Speaker 6 (43:25):
You missed the treat of a game.
Speaker 4 (43:28):
But to see the way Indiana fights back and claw
their way back and get into games the way that
they do, they held to form this is you can't
say that this was a luck game or you know
they some way, somehow, you know, the OKC thunder gave
(43:51):
the game away. They shot poorly, They shot poorly. And
while OKAC shot poorly, you know what Indiana did. They
just kept getting after it. They were slashing to the hole,
which I was loving to see as they were being
aggressive getting to the hole. They were kicking the ball out,
(44:14):
guys were finding their range.
Speaker 6 (44:17):
You started seeing.
Speaker 4 (44:18):
Contributions come from from different guys, you know, in the comeback.
Speaker 6 (44:23):
It just it's one of those.
Speaker 4 (44:26):
Games where you ask yourself, you know, did did okay?
See did Okay, see open up a door that they
shouldn't have opened up in this series? Or was it
one of those first game, first game jitters.
Speaker 6 (44:47):
You're at home.
Speaker 4 (44:48):
Sometimes being at home can actually play against you a
little bit. You know, you you might not for some reason,
you might not play as loose. And maybe it's because
of the excitement. Maybe it's because it's your home crowd.
There's just certain reasons why sometimes teams play a little
bit better, a little bit more relaxed when they're on
(45:08):
the road. But this one was a hit scratcher. I
think if you had to come up with a way
to kind of sum up what last night represented, it
was still a hit scratcher that this type of a
pendulum swing could take place in a game in the
(45:29):
NBA Finals.
Speaker 6 (45:31):
To this, to this degree, the.
Speaker 2 (45:34):
Guy who hit the game winner, Tyres Halliburton, spoke afterwards, there.
Speaker 10 (45:38):
Was never a disbelief as a group. Honestly, you know,
we never think the game is over ever. Honestly speaking, ever,
like the never that never creeps in. I think we
just keep talking as a group, is how can we
walk this team down? So it's at twelve going and
a half time, we talk about if we can win
one quarter by six, one quarter by seven, will be
in a great spot. We got to a six point
(45:59):
game at the end of the third quarter and shade
at three, but we liked where we were. And then
they went on a big run to start the fourth
and we just say, okay, that fifteen, let's get to ten. Well,
we got it to eight. They call a time out,
so we just stay with it. So this group never
gives up. We never believe that the game is over
until hit zero.
Speaker 3 (46:16):
And that's a real calculated zombie right there.
Speaker 2 (46:19):
That's one that's not just one of these Well I'm
just gonna get up and eat everybody. It's like, no, no, no,
I'm just gonna get up, and this is how I'm
gonna do it. It's gonna come in sections, it's gonna
go one body part by the next, and I'm going
to figure out a way to make.
Speaker 3 (46:32):
Halliburton wasn't even good. It's not like he had a
great game.
Speaker 2 (46:36):
He didn't have some some monster game that you look
at and go, man, he willed his team to victory.
But when he was coming down with that ball following
the miss by SGA, there wasn't a doubt in my
mind that he was going to hit that shot. You
just you felt it. I think the arena felt it.
And there's probably Okay, see thunderfans that are looking around.
Speaker 3 (46:56):
Going what the hell happened? Yeah, because and I'll tell
you what happened.
Speaker 2 (47:01):
What happened was the same thing that happened in every
single playoff series that Indiana has.
Speaker 3 (47:06):
Been involved in.
Speaker 2 (47:07):
Yeah, you leave him hanging around for long enough. You
don't step on the throat, you don't finish putting their
head and the vice like that guy in Goodfellas and
put it into the whole thing. You let him hang
around and they ultimately end up making plays to win.
That's a fun team, you know.
Speaker 6 (47:23):
I told you.
Speaker 4 (47:24):
Like the second hour they play the theme song one
of the parts of Thirteenth Warrior. Yeah, and what I
felt like took place in last games. Last night's game
was comparable to a scene in Thirteenth Warrior. So there
was a guy, he was one of the Norsemen that
came with Bouvi to help with the evil that they
(47:45):
had to fight against that the village was that sent
for them, you know what they were facing. Well, the
son of the king of the people that sent for
Boulvie and his crew to come. You know, he was
not as respectful and receptive to them coming to help.
And he felt like him and his crew could handle
(48:05):
the evil that was coming their way. And he had
one big dude that was there, and one of the
smaller dudes that bouv brought with him, you know, picked
a fight with him. You know, and this this reminds
me of that game last night, right, Okay, see the big, tall,
strong dude, and you got this little dude over here
(48:31):
and he's he's digging. Everybody's digging trenches and he's throwing
the mud on the guy right hits him with the
mud boom, hitting get him dirty. He's like, hey, little man,
what are you doing? And he picks a fight with him.
So they picked the fight. They get in the ring
and you know, they're hitting their shields and he's just
letting this big dude wail on him, just bang bang,
(48:55):
cracks his cracks his shield and I think they get
like four shields, five shields in the fight or whatever.
Little dude ain't messed up. Not one of the shields
that this big dude is has ain't really made him
do anything to make him feel as though he could
hurt him, and the confidence of the big dude is
(49:16):
growing by every single shield that he's crushing on this
little dude.
Speaker 6 (49:21):
He gets to the last, the last shield.
Speaker 4 (49:24):
They're fighting, boom boom boom, and the big dude does
it again bang, just like what the OKC Thunder was
doing in his game, seemingly looking like they were just
too much, they were going to overpower them.
Speaker 6 (49:37):
He breaks the shield.
Speaker 4 (49:38):
The little dude kneels down and like looking like he's
being defeated. It almost looks like it's just defeat. He's
too weak, he's too small, he's not he's not nearly
the warrior that the other guy is. And the other
guy looks at you know what I guess would be
the coach. He looks at the king's son, and the
(49:59):
king son's like, yeah, doing you know, finish it? Chop
that man's head off and show these norsemen they're not
as tough as they think they are and they need
to listen to what I need to, what I'm gonna say,
what I want to do. So the guy picks up
his he picks up his sword to go knock his
head off, and the little dude hitching with one of
them a little like little moves like put sword in
(50:22):
the big dude. Put sword in a big dude. And
when he hit him, he said he was a brave one, right,
And so all this time you're beating the hell out
of this dude.
Speaker 6 (50:33):
In the entire time, it.
Speaker 4 (50:35):
Was a strategy to get him to the proper place
of where he wanted to get him and took him out.
And then all of the village people are looking like
they were confused. You know, they live by what they
can see, but now you're giving them something that they
can't see they got to think about. Keeps them off guard,
and that maintains the fear the point of the story.
(50:57):
Sometimes you can't judge it by the way it looks. Okay,
see looks like they're the big, big, strong dude that
that can knock you down and take you out because
they're so deep with their their you know, with their bench.
They have so many strong starters. They got seven footers to.
Speaker 6 (51:14):
Go along with it.
Speaker 4 (51:16):
But you beat up on these dudes for for a
half of basketball, really, really, I.
Speaker 6 (51:22):
Mean you didn't. You didn't beat them up as well
as you should have.
Speaker 4 (51:26):
In the second half, but for the most part, you
still maintained your lead throughout the second half of the
of the game until the end. And then at the
end they make a move and chop your head off
and looked at the crowd, and now the crowd is
like all stunned, like, wait, did they just beat our champion?
Speaker 6 (51:45):
Like did they just take him down? They just took
out the champion.
Speaker 4 (51:50):
And now okay see has to figure out how they're
going to move forward in this series because what I
felt took place in this first game, even though they
didn't shoot their best. I bet you Okac was ready
to come out of that game and say, you know,
we didn't shoot our best, but we defended home court.
(52:11):
We had a good we had a good showing. Even
though guys didn't shoot well from the perimeter. Our shots
weren't they weren't going down. Maybe our shots selection could
have been better, but yet we were still good enough
to win this game and win the game handily. You
couldn't come out of the game saying that. Now now
you had to say, dang, like, we didn't play as
(52:32):
well as we could have, but we had the game
in hand on our way to a victory. In some way,
somehow Indiana found a way to beat us.
Speaker 3 (52:42):
That's right.
Speaker 4 (52:43):
That's a very very hard that's a hard riddle to solve.
If I'm OKC, maybe they don't think too much of it,
but maybe they are.
Speaker 6 (52:55):
You got one more game there, You got one more
game there.
Speaker 4 (52:59):
And and I think this is such a pivotal game
for OKC because they cannot allow, they cannot allow for
Indiana to gain any more confidence than what they've gained
being able to come out of that game the way
they did.
Speaker 2 (53:20):
You mentioned the thought process, the mentality of Oklahoma City
after that game last night, SGA, their superstar, the MVP,
spoke about it, following it.
Speaker 6 (53:28):
As much as we can.
Speaker 7 (53:30):
We just got to treat it like every other game,
every other situation we've been in. Yes, we haven't been
in a situation, but it doesn't mean our character has
a change or what we did last time. It's still basketball,
still the game of basketball that we grew up playing.
The rules don't change it just because we're in the finals.
So it's like we've been in a situation before and
the other situation we handled it. We handled it well.
We were better for Game two, and that's the goal.
Speaker 2 (53:53):
They are currently an eleven point favorite in game two,
so the overwhelming expectation should as well they respond and
they'll come back out. And it's like, look, you could
feel any kind of way you want to feel about it.
A lot of people said the same thing about the Knicks. Listen,
they should have won that game in game one. One
are the chances India and what happened? Indiana came out
(54:14):
and they were actually better in game two, Like, that's
that's the the if this would have been Indiana's best
shot and their best shot was able to overcome a
deficit by Okac who didn't make enough plays down the stretch.
I'd feel better about it if I was a Thunder fan,
because I would look at it and go, well, yeah,
the likelihood of them playing that good again is small,
(54:37):
especially on the road. The problem is Indiana didn't play
that great. Halliburton didn't have a great game as far
as his getting to the basket, you know, getting whatever
shot he won. He was actually passed, like giving the
ball up at times when he probably could have made
a play at the rim. So I look at it
and I go, this makes me that much more interested
(54:58):
in game two and would not surprise me whatsoever. If
Indiana was able to keep that close, and if it's
close as we've seen, I don't know that you trust
any other team in the playoffs to make a play
down the stretch.
Speaker 3 (55:10):
And you do Indiana more than you know what.
Speaker 4 (55:11):
It makes me think of a scene out of a movie,
Like it's like that moment where Rocky punches Ivan Drago
and he cutting, and he went back to he went
back to the corner.
Speaker 6 (55:27):
And Rocky's corners like you're cutting.
Speaker 4 (55:29):
You see, you see, he's a man, He's a man.
And then Ivan Drago's sitting there like looking at it
like this is blood. It's blood, it's my blood. It's
my blood, right, and then he realized that this little
man could beat him. And again comes back to the
David and Goliath type of storyline here, this is a
(55:52):
David Goliath type of series. Obviously, Goliath being OKAC, David
being the pacers. I just think that this was a
very debilitating loss. Like I understand what SGA is saying,
and he's right, that's the right way of looking at it,
that's the right approach. But Jonas, if I'm OKC, that
(56:14):
is the worst loss that you could have possibly taken.
Was the first one last night? Yeah at home?
Speaker 2 (56:20):
Not great, not great, but great for us because it
makes it that much more entertaining. It is two pros
and a cup of Joe. Here on Fox Sports Radio,
LeVar Arrington, Jonas Knox with you. By the way, we
do have some good news for you here on this show.
It's a football Friday. It's a damn Friday, Fox Sports Radio.
You bet your sweet assay, Come on, Bar, come on.
Speaker 6 (56:41):
Yeah, yeah, we got some basketball.
Speaker 4 (56:45):
It's football Friday, but we got some basketball. We talked
about the NBA. But it's a football Friday. It's a football.
It's Friday. It's a football Friday. Football Friday. Come on,
football fall football football, football, football, football, football football Friday,
Football Friday. What's wrong with your Jonas? Did you just
(57:09):
use the blow gun? What's wrong with Jonas?
Speaker 6 (57:13):
All right? Mark, Mark, come on now, Mark, let's do it.
Let's do it for Eddie.
Speaker 4 (57:16):
Friday night is a football Friday.
Speaker 6 (57:21):
Yeah, football Friday.
Speaker 4 (57:23):
Rock them, suck them, throw it, catch it is.
Speaker 3 (57:28):
It is a Friday.
Speaker 1 (57:29):
Here on
Hosts And Creators
Brady Quinn
LaVar Arrington
Jonas Knox
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