Kevin Harlan! - Bumper to Bumper 5/24/24 Hour Three

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
The Fan ALVII hits the road thisweek for the Charge Challenge Punishment. You
can keep up with him on oursocial channel. Says he makes his way
from Philly to la for a fulllist of stops and a list of all
the great products he's bringing with himover the cafe dot Com slash road trip.

(00:47):
I am back at the Target Centercage location Guardsy as we speak.
Hey, Marny Geller's here too,him Marney Guardie. As we speak,
I think is trying to deliver basketballannouncing immortality Kevin Harland to our booth.
So that's gonna be coming up,we hope in just a minute or two.

(01:10):
I think they found each other andnow it's just a matter of getting
them up here. We're looking forwardvery much to the visit with mister Harlan.
Meanwhile, before we're done, becauseGuards is gonna have to bail Max
Fuller, who will be doing thepregame to the pregame and we're done at
six point thirty, is gonna hangout with me. I think after Guards

(01:33):
he has to leave as well.That's the plan. I don't know when
exactly Max is gonna get here,but he's gonna be a part of the
festivities and the extravaganza. I willadd that the best way to reach us
with the commentary or questions or concernswould be via my Twitter handle Dan Barrero
k fa N. The cage location, of course, is right on the

(01:55):
Target Center Skyway, where it hasbeen very active throughout our show to day,
and we'll continue to be as weget, obviously ever closer to the
tip off tonight, which is scheduledfor right after seven thirty pm tonight.
And there it is. I thinkwe've got guards. The in fact,
is making his delivery as we aswe speak there. That's why I want

(02:21):
to see there. She is,Hi, sweetie. You don't even need
to be introduced. Everybody knows thevoice man Kevin Harlan on location with us
from the cage. I tell youyou don't need them use them at all.
So this is where you broadcast.This is every game, not every
game, but when you know,for many games, and obviously during the
playoffs, it's been pretty much everyIt's it's a great setup. It's a

(02:44):
great it's kind of fish bowlish,yeah, but it's a little strange.
It's wonderful, and it's wonderful tosee you. It's great to say how
many years? I just saw MikeMix, how many years have you been
in this market? Eighty six?I started, Yeah, well here's what
were you born in eighty six?I don't think so now, yeah,
you're so. She's in Minnesota.She's Minnesota baby. She can say she's

(03:04):
one of us. Yeah, yeah, I'm not good. She reminds me
sometimes. Man, it's great tosee you. And guard you reminded me
because I asked me, so,how many years was Harland here in the
show? And he said nine years? Is that all it was? Because
it works? I know, yeah, I think for the listeners that this
guy will never go. Yeah,so nine years, nine years, and

(03:25):
uh, you know you know whathappened. I don't. I won't bore
you with the story too long.But uh, I was doing the University
of Missouri on radio and they playedin the Sweet sixteen up here at the
Dome and they played Syracuse I thinkmaybe, and and Syracuse beat him.
They got more free throws and anduh, but Tim Laiwiki was here with

(03:49):
John Thomas. Okay, there yougo, and they said, hey,
you're coming up to the Twin Citiesto do this game. And UH could
go get lunch. So the gameof that sweet sixteen game, they took
me to lunch and place not justright around the corner over here, and
they said, we're looking for aradio play by playboys. They had listened
the week before driving up to ourgame, and we're in Dallas. That's

(04:11):
where we began the tournament in Dallas. And I remember going home that night
and goes, what do you thinkabout to my wife? I said,
what do you think about Minneapolis?He goes, what do you mean?
What do I think? And Iexplained it to her. And by the
the guy that really though, justcontinued to push ourt was Bob Stein.
Really, bob Stein would not letthis go. And I say, you
know what, I'm pretty happy.I'm doing the Chiefs on radio. I'm

(04:33):
doing ESPN Football on Saturdays, Chiefson Sunday and the University of Missouri.
That's a good gig. I was. I loved it. I thought that's
where we're going to be. Andbob Stein was relentless with Harvin Marv both,
Yeah, yeah, they were all. They were all great. I
love that group and I miss themall, and especially Harvin Marv. I
love those guys. They were sogood to our family. Anyway, here

(04:56):
I am back again. You know, I was reminded, So you you're
first NBA play by play job.You were twenty one. They graduated from
the University of Kansas. So giveus that story. But we'll talk about
the series and your thoughts and aboutgetting back here and your Wolves memories.
But I love some of this history. So twenty one years old, Yeah,
I was. I was. Therewas a radio station in Kansas City,

(05:17):
KCMO Radio. They broadcast The Chiefs. Wayne Lairview, the current voice
of the package was doing The Chiefson radio, doing play by play.
And I was a college student atthe University of Kansas my sophomore year.
And he says, our station's goingto news talk. We're gonna do a
three hour pregame show. We're lookingfor someone young and cheap to produce this

(05:39):
show. Would you be interested?And I said absolutely, And so I
began to produce that show. Theneventually I was on air and hosting the
show and everything else. I gota great story about John Facenda too.
And anyway, so I had donesome play by play in college, did
a lot in high school, dida lot in college, and the Kings

(06:02):
had heard this broadcast and they said, could you send us a tape?
And I didn't didn't think anything ofit, and I literally got my diploma,
went back to my room. Onthe on the machine was a message
from a guy named Joe Axelson andwho negotiated with Magic Johnson at Michigan State

(06:24):
and they would not pay him twohundred thousand dollars a year. They were
going to draft the number one pickand they went to Magic and I will
say, we'll pay one hundred andfifty a year, and he said I
want two hundred a year, andMagic that's why. That's why. Yeah,
I know, it's it's a horriblesuccession of events. But anyways,
Yeah, the day, the dayI graduated was in May of eighty two,

(06:45):
got this thing and I got thejob. And shockingly, that's the
remark. Yeah, yeah, startedfeeling I guess you at the diploma and
here it is, already got myjob. I know. Yeah, No,
it was weird. It was veryweird. If you go back to
those early years when you first starteddoing it, what do you think you
learned, I mean, what whatdid you feel prepared almost from the beginning.
Do you look back and go,my god, I can't even recognize

(07:06):
that voice. Or I mean,when you look back to the beginning,
what did you get out of that? And what the heart we wear out
with the Wolves Kings? The harlanthat we hear now or we even heard
with the Wolves? Was he thatguy right from the beginning? Or you
know everybody talks about you kind ofdevelop your style because it evolves what for

(07:28):
you Now, it's always been morefan than it has broadcaster, I think
because I enjoy the game so muchand I'm amazed what I see every night
in the afternoon and and I listenedto I had an internship at what was
the precursor to ESPN Radio, andthey hired two interns that year, going
into their senior year in college.Me I was at the University of Kansas,

(07:51):
and Sean McDonald Sean mcdonnaleugh so,and I was just texting with Sean
about five minutes ago anyway. Sowe were the two interns. And the
people that they used to produce anddo these different radio network shows were guys
from CBS, Mutual Voice of America, ABC, NBC Radio. And they
had all these great tapes of allthe great radio broadcasters of yesteryear, you

(08:16):
know, from Red Barber and allthese guys names it would mean nothing to
your audience, but just these greatand I would listen to them, and
the amount of detail they gave wasjust so compelling to me that I just
decided that, I said, thatis going to be my style. So,
like with anybody, your voice attwenty one is not your voice at
thirty one or fifty one or sixtyone. So over the years it has

(08:39):
changed. So when I listened backto the tapes, it was crazy,
you know, like I cannop highpitched. But now over the years it's
gotten a little grufford. And whenI came here, you know, I
worked with Tom Hanneman right from thebeginning, one of my most wonderful friends
I've ever made in this business.All miss him, uh. And then

(09:01):
later came you know, Trent Tuckerand Kevin McHale and all those people.
So you know, the team wasbad in the beginning. So we'd be
on the West Coast doing games andand you know, something would happen that
was kind of silly or funny,and we'd start joking around and sometimes you'd
make stuff up, you know,like I should have been fired like eighty
three times, and I don't knowwhy they kept me around. In fact,

(09:24):
Bob Stein one time said, hey, you got to settle down a
little bit on the radio, andthen like Wicky would come in and save
my job. But I mean absolutelyhe would say, no, no,
no, we we gotta we gottastart reeling some people in. And I
don't know if that was the case, But the point is is that the
nine years I had here in inthis city with this organization were probably the
happiest and most enjoyable, fulfilling yearsof my broadcasting career. I loved every

(09:50):
second of it. I assume someof some of for your and Hanny was
we gotta keep our sanity something,because it was. But Tom was to
get really, if you're gonna blamesomeone, he was the instigator, was
the guy he would you know him? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm
sure he did. Like it wasall his fault. And I would say,
Tom, I said, you're bringingme down a road here that I
do not want to go down andhave all those tapes been burned by the

(10:13):
way, because it's a cancel culture. I know it, and believe me,
there was stuff that we did onthere that that would just not be
good and I would I would beretired by now. But anyway, it
worked, and then that I beganwith my TNT stuff. In ninety six,
while I was doing the Wolves,I had done something with NBC replacing
Marv. And it was all becausewe were so enthusiastic and so into these

(10:37):
games. And we remember JR.Ryder and all these guys like we try
to make him larger than life,you know, like these rider you know,
like we'd all do these crazy,crazy things and and uh, it
just kind of build on each other. And then when they got KG in
ninety five, well that's when thegame turned, right that that's when the
organization turned the court. Do youremember the organic moment when uh you went

(11:03):
for the first time we through Googleliatta, Uh, you know announcement.
I guarantee you. We were probablylosing by about twenty in the third quarter
and uh and he had a youknow, I think I can remember the
game. It was in Portland.He had like seven steals, like he
went bananas, and it was justlike one steal after another. Then he'd
make a basket and then he wouldchase you know, he just did all

(11:26):
this stuff and you just got socaught up in it that that's where it
came out, you know, isuh Google, you know all that,
so that that's where that began.And then with Kevin and the big ticket,
that was you know, after yousigned the big contract early in his
career, you know, and youknow the story. But when Flip and
Kevin McHale drove to the the Combinein Chicago from O'Hare Airport and they saw

(11:50):
this kid working out at seventeen fromSouth Carolina who then went to Chicago and
because his mom wanted to get himout of some trouble in South Carolina,
Uh, just the friends. Shedidn't like what you begin anew And they
went and saw this kid play andthey were driving back out door here to
fly back to the Twin Cities,and Michaale looked at looked at at Flip

(12:11):
and said, can you believe we'regoing to stake our basketball reputations on a
seventeen year old high school kid outof Chicago. Now you do it,
and it's it's but back then ithad not been done since Bill Willoughby be
back in the suth So it waslike a whole new deal and they get
Kevin, and of course he becomeswhat he became, and they looked like
geniuses by by drafting him. Andthe story is, you know, a

(12:35):
handful of years later, they're inthe Western Conference final. So again I
want, I want to get tothe today. But you're a great resource
on this, and you mentioned thatwhole period. When you look back on
this, the fon Marbury part ofit, did you view that marriage at
the front end as really having achance to be as special as a lot
of us did. And when youlook back, do you think we kid

(12:56):
at ourselves on how good stuff reallywas or do you think he blew it
to a large extent, not wantingto embrace this situation with KG. I
wish he would have. I wishhe would have embraced it. But he,
as we famously said, he said, I can't justify in my own
mind bending over looking over down thebench, seeing Garnett and knowing he's making

(13:18):
more money than me, And Icannot believe those words came out of his
mouth. But actually I think theyare the words from the people around him,
because I think he really saw whatcould possibly happen here, and had
he stayed with KG and built thatthat tandem, it would have been I
think historically good. Uh. Andas with Kevin it was great as it

(13:39):
was anyway. But but with withMarbor he was a special player, and
then you know, he started movingaround the NBA and he just never he
really never got traction. Nope.Had he stayed here with Flip, with
Michale, he would have gotten thetraction, I think, and he would
have lived up to all the allthe clippings and all the projections the people

(14:00):
had for them. So let's bringit to today because I'm curious to again,
we've talked over the years about thisteam, but I don't know we've
talked a lot this year as thisteam is ascended to the place that it
now is. What do you seehere? What stands out to you about
this team? How impressed are youabout the position they're in and maybe even
the position an organization. Let's behonest, keV, you know this better

(14:22):
than most. Not always known forstability, now seems to have a lot
of that. What do you seewhat stands out to you? And given
your love for the team going back, how much of a kick is it
for you to see this team ascendto this place. It's terrific as it
was back, you know, forwhen Doug Collins and I did it for
TNT and they beat Sacramento and thentook on Kobe and Shaq and the Lakers.

(14:45):
To see them go from where theywere all the way up, you
know, to a chance to getto the finals, which they now have
again. The thing that the handfulof things stand out number one the GM
because you've got to have that guywith a hand on the rudder who's gonna
make these moves. And he makesthat better than David Cony. You think
that was Dan Burrero who said thatladies and gentlemen. So getting Tim Conley

(15:11):
was absolutely just gigantic. And hemakes the big move with Gobert. But
like the Dallas Mavericks, and it'svery similar how these organizations are. They
made the big move for Kyrie ayear ago, right, but it didn't
take, and it didn't take withGobert and Kat and what happened last year
with the forty two wins season,and it didn't take in Dallas when Kyrie
joined LUCA and they finished out atless than five hundred the rest of the
way when they played together, Butwere the subsequent subsequent deals that made those

(15:37):
bigger deals. You had to doone more and it was like, we're
pushing our chips right in the middleof the table here. And then they
get Conley, and they get Nikieland they re signed McDaniels and and they
find nas Red and like all thesethings now are beginning to fit. And
this year, of course it blossoms, right, you know, they get
and and Dallas. They make themid season this year with getting PJ Washington

(16:02):
and getting Gaffered from the Washington Wizards, and then now the Kyrie trade makes
sense and everybody is slotted in theirright position. And that's how I kind
of feel about this. I thinkFinch is the right voice. I think
they've got the right leadership with Conley, who I just think is indispensable with
this team and how he keeps him. He's the connective tissue with the team.
On the floor, I think Katand Gobert have learned to play with

(16:26):
each other and on the floor indifferent ways, and the ying and the
yang of them is fascinating to watch. I think they've got smart players.
I think they're very connected as ateam. I think the chemistry is terrific.
I mean, like everything you canwant in a team, and you
can look at it. What theydid in the regular season is right there.
So like this is it's not asgood as it gets because they haven't

(16:48):
made the finals, but this iswhat we're going to look at and say,
all these moves, all the guysgrowing this twenty two year old phenom
from Atlanta, I mean, likeall of them are are just like,
it's just amazing how it is allfit so well together. And by the
way, the guy that built thisteam also built Denver, so he knows
something about the construction of a championshipteam. How dangerous if you're a Wolves

(17:14):
fan listening to this and and andyou obviously, I think want your team
to win, think they obviously stillhave a very opportunity to win. How
frightened should they be of the LucaKyrie combination? Given it looks on the
case, in the case of Kyrie, that he is in a very different,
more serene place than he has beenin a long time. Well said,

(17:37):
and you're you're you've nailed it.And what our read is is that
he has been through the Cleveland Championshipand then he went to Boston and it
didn't work out there. Then hewent to the Nets and it didn't work
out there. And along the waywere these stories about vaccinations and not wanting
to practice and hurt this and hurtthat, and it was just he was
he was, he was an issue. Right. So now he goes to

(18:00):
Dallas and he's traded again, buthe found an organization that embraced him and
he didn't have to be the guy. And I think he was at his
best when he was with Lebron inCleveland and not the guy. And now
he's the best and the best versionof himself in Dallas because Doncic is the
guy. Doncic is a one ofone Doncic I saw stands out for you

(18:22):
well, number one. In sixyears, he's a five time in six
years, he's a five time firstteam All NBA guy. Dirk Novitsky played
twenty one years in the NBA.Four times he was first team. Steph
Curry fifteen years, greatest shoot ofthe league he has ever seen, fifteen
years, he's played only four timesfor This kid has been a first teamer

(18:45):
five times in his first six years. Like it's you can't even process it
right, so he is as goodas advertised. And again, the best
players in this league, we've gotthree of the top five players are all
European players right out of the Koomboand Jokic choose the MVP, and now
you've got and now you got thiskid Doncic who is terrific and so he

(19:07):
is. Everything that you read abouthim, everything that you hear about him
is spot on. He is phenomenal. Now it doesn't mean they can't be
beat and I expect an incredible opportunityto night for the Wolves to get in
there. I think mentally, youplay a seven game series, you're in
that game seven, you're on theroad against the defending champion. Like if
you would have said that at thebeginning of the year, you say,

(19:30):
how in the world are we goingto climb to the second round sweeping Kevin
Durant in the first round? Howhow and Devin Book or how in the
world are we possibly going to dothat? And sure enough they did.
Down by twenty in the third quarter, and they come back on the road
against the defending champs and win agame seven like it's never happened before.

(19:52):
I mean, that's interesting, It'snever happened you're broadcast. It's almost one
of the cool things about the broadcastI think was it's is almost listening to
you, watching you as it's dawningon you, exactly that of what is
taking place here, and really thehistoric nature of it, right, no
one had come from behind fifteen butdown fifteen or more in the history of
the league in game seven on theroad and games on the road game seven

(20:14):
and here is the here the MinnesotaTember is doing exactly that, down by
twenty, down by twenty, andso I think it I think it was
exhausting mentally. I think it wasexhausting physically, and I think I just
think the team that we saw theother night. People said, well,
they looked tired. The team admittedthey were a little bit tired. And
I think they got the nice uhpractice the next day with the coach in

(20:36):
their ear yep, just exactly whatthey needed. And I would be stunned
if they don't come out and playan outstanding game tonight and tie the set.
That's what my gut tells me.Yeah, as we wrap up here,
Kevin Harlan kind enough to join usat our Target Center Cage location has
been a this is this is anice this is a heck of a location
spot. Yeah, well you're drawinga crowd too. Yeah, and look
at your daughter. Your daughter isjust entranced by your voice and what we're

(20:56):
saying. Yeah, and she's justinto it, like all daughters are amazing.
They look at they my dad.Yeah, I've got I've got three
of you at all, barely.The only reaings she's tolerating me is we're
gonna we're gonna go. She's gonnaget to see the game tonight. Good
with me, And and that's theotherwise you wouldn't be here, right,
Gene and get it and get acheeseburger. That's it, Yeah for sure.

(21:17):
Yeah, really hit up dad,So after him, T n T.
You've been asked about this, andI know it's not necessarily a pleasant
subject. Guards and I are ofthe belief that the TN T NBA relationship
is religious. We think it's absolutelybeen NBA broadcasting at its best. That
includes you, That includes obviously theThe Barkley in Company show as well.

(21:40):
And that's something significant. I getit, you follow the money, but
something significant is gonna be lost hereif if, if, if this goes
down, and it's going down,I guess after next season. So what
are you thinking about emotionally? Isit tough for you? I mean,
people are gonna keep coming after you. I don't think there's any question about
that because of your yourasurable credibility.But is it hard to think about because

(22:03):
I know you have strong feelings aboutthe whole T and T experience. Yeah,
I mean I've loved the NBA andI have from that was my first
job, so it's in the fabricof our family. My wife has been
with me on that journey the wholetime. But I guess I kind of
feel like, and I'm going torepeat something that I told my daughters.
I said, if you're always lookingat what Sally has and you know,
her nice new shoes and her newperson, if you're always looking around and

(22:26):
not looking back at yourself and doingwhat you've got in front of you now,
if you're thinking too much ahead ortoo much behind, you're missing the
opportunity right there. So I guessI feel like, do the best job
I can right now. We dohave another year left on the contract.
Smarter people than me, clearly arethere doing this deal or trying to do
the deal still. But I toldmy wife and I have talked a lot

(22:48):
about this, but I said,if this is the end of the NBA
stuff, I said, how luckyhave we been to be in the league,
you know for almost forty years insome former fashion, with great organizations,
and with TNT for twenty nine years. And I just feel like I'll
walk out the door with incredibly gratefuland hopeful I'd love to stick, but

(23:11):
I know how the business is,as you do, and if it doesn't
work out, it doesn't work out. But I will not look back with
any regret or any kind of animositywhatsoever. I will be incredibly fulfilled and
grateful for what I've been lucky enough, blessed by the grace of God to
do for so long. Well,what do you think as an observer is

(23:32):
the key to the chemistry of thestudio show? What do you think is
made? Well, there's no otherlevel, there's no script, and they
have no production meeting, like,they have no preparation. They go in
there from three different parts of theworld, and the last thing they've thought
about is that show. I guaranteeyou until the red light comes on and
they sit there. So it's nodifferent probably than a bunch of guys just

(23:53):
getting together after a couple of weeksapart, and you know, shooting the
breeze and going after each other andhaving fun, which is very typical players.
And you've been around your whole life, so you know how players are.
They're loose, they're they're there,and they're all exist so they're they
feel their bulletproof. And these guysare now older guys, they're all in

(24:14):
their fifties, but at the sametime, they've they've accomplished everything on the
floor they've wanted to accomplish and andI think now they just feel like like
they're just kind of free wheeling itand that's the beauty of the show.
And then you've got creative people inthe background that kind of position things as
they go through the night that thatwill kind of that will kind of,
you know, enhance what they've beentalking about. They make fun of each

(24:37):
other. Uh, you know,they're they're all pretty humble in a lot
of ways, and I think theyjust say, let's let it rip,
and they do and it is alot of fun to watch and that.
But the chemistry is something that Ithink people have pretty much agreed on his
They've never we've never seen a showwith that kind of chemistry before, and
that's our lead in every night onTNT. And it is a blessing beyond

(25:00):
measure that those guys are bringing thataudience to our game. And it's a
lot. It's all it's been.I've been there as long as they have,
so we've all kind of been inthe same boat together for all these
years. Appreciate you coming to seeus and have a great call tonight.
This was thought they said you onthe walk. I felt like you were
like in a on a table andlike and like maybe walkers or something like

(25:21):
that, or pens or something likethat. Big, big time. Yes,
Yeah, I love it. Greatto see as always be great to
see respect and saying to you aswell, what a career you've had.
And I'm glad our friendship is islasting and I hope it lasts for many
more years. Many many men areyes, thank you, so great to
see it, dain, Kevin Harlan. How about a round of applause?
Can they hear us out there forKevin Harlan man, thank you, sir.

(25:41):
I got to get a photo beforewe go. Let's get a quick
break. We'll come back and MaxFuller's in the house too. He's gonna
help us the rest of the way. Maybe Tim Conley before we are done
as well. Don't go away beforewe go to the fan in big deck
dot com and give you shots.Put a grant in your hand with the
National Cash Contest at AKFN dot Commonkey word Fun were at his fun Cafe
dot com. Keyword guards the outMax Fuller in you're doing half hour pre

(26:18):
to the pre Yes, sir,but pregame party as we like. And
then postgame obviously win or lose.You're not gonna pout and leave these I
wanted to after game one. Wedid it. We did it. We'll
face the music. That's it.Being professional, that's the key to it.
We just had Kevin Harlan on andI was telling you off here and

(26:40):
I know it was a kick foryou to meet him and to get a
couple of photos as well. Socool. The interesting thing for me about
Harlan was, and I've talked him. I didn't talk to him about this
today. I have talked to himabout it in the past. When you
know, I first heard him whenhe's just starting as a as a Wolves
broadcaster. I didn't think I couldhandle it because I thought it was like,

(27:06):
it's one of eighty two, you'relosing your mind, but this is
not gonna last. What are youdoing? But he I don't know how
to explained it. He was sogood at it and he was so consistent
with it that it won me over. And there's a lot of other announcers
who try that. I don't thinkI would have trusted or I wouldn't.
I just wouldn't have accepted it.With him, I didn't feel like I

(27:26):
had a choice, And to behonest, in the early years he was
the show because the team was sohorrible, and early years you're supposed to
be right the first few, buteven after that, it just looked like
it's just hopeless. And so people, if they were listening, they weren't
listening for the product. They werelistening for how they might be entertained by

(27:48):
the approach that Harlan took. Yeah, and I can totally understand where you're
coming from, Dan, because it'slike when you don't know someone like that,
you don't know if it's real andhow high the energy is, how
high the output is, and howemotional is You're like, all right,
is this guy doing a bit orwhat? But then once you see it's
like, all right, we're ongame eighty one and he's still doing this
funny about it. It's so genuinethat you just can't help but get caught

(28:10):
up in it. Yeah, itabsolutely was. Was great, And like
I said, it's sad the newsabout TNT for me and for you and
a lot of others. He'll land, you know, because he's he's always
going to be willing to travel.The postgame show and the pregame show.
That's a different deal because that's notabout one person. That's about four people,

(28:33):
right, And I don't think Ithink, well, the newest rumor
I actually more than a rumor.I think Charles has talked about this that
people have gone to Berkley and said, look, why don't you You know
you got a production company, whydon't you Basically you you go, you
build the same product with the samepeople, find a way to see that
they get paid or that they're goingto get paid once the deal is done,

(28:56):
and then you, I think theway Dan Patrick put it was,
well, then you sell the showto Amazon or whoever else is out there
that might be looking for a showthat you take it over, and it
sounds like he's talking about that.Now, whether that's practical, Charles's whether
that's practical or not, I don't. I don't know, but it's a
lot harder for that unless you keepall four together and even the people who

(29:18):
work with the show together. It'sa lot harder, I think, to
maintain that same feel in Harlan's case, no matter what network is he's on,
I think Harlan's gonna be fun,right. Yeah, you can't replicate
inside the NBA, but it is. There are pathways to doing this.
I mean, look at the PatMcAfee show. He got to keep the
show exactly as is on ESPN,and it's I don't know, if you

(29:40):
ever listened to the Pat McAfee show. It's not always family friendly. It's
not always the thing you want toput the Disney stamp on. But he's
that good that he made it happen. And inside the NBA, we're all
we all love it so much.It's probably the best of all the Core
Force shows, not even close.It's the best sport on Plateau. Yeah,
exactly. So I hope that theycan find a way to keep it
together because it's so I would argue, I would argue, and I get

(30:02):
ripped for this, but I've saidit before, I'll stick with it.
I think it's not a sports show. I think it's a cultural show that
goes that is, it is ascendedto a place that is just so far
beyond all the others that it's alike a culture a pop cultural not you
know, in the hardest core sense, but a pop cultural sense. It's
a loss, I really do.I'm convinced of it, because what those

(30:25):
guys have figured out, again fearlessly, is that perhaps because of what they've
built, they can go places thatmost shows just won't. They're either afraid
to or they think they're about toget hammered or get bludgeoned or get suspended
or whatever the case may be.And and and those guys have built something

(30:47):
that almost to that extent, feelsbulletproof. Yeah, it's just so organic.
There's not going to be a lotof other places where Charles Barkley is
allowed to say them big old womendown in or the guys can one of
them says something that much like onthe Pouch Up, one of them says
a certain catcher phrase, and andall of a sudden, everybody's cracking up.
There's not a whole lot of mediaoutlsts that are going to give them
that leeway and give them that spaceto be organic. And they're all the

(31:10):
exact same people that we fell inlove with when they were players, So
it's it's super cool to see themcontinue that outside of their their playing careers
and together. And I just reallyhope they can find a way to keep
it together. Because what was thelatest when dirty water in was in to
us thetown in Texas? Gals,Yeah, the dirty water and then try
to apologize and then ripped and SanAntonio caught us. By the way,

(31:34):
so far we had said before Charlesgot here, we were asking people via
the text line, Okay, we'veseen Charles take some shots at a lot
of towns, so give us thetop five possibilities of what he might rip
here, just in case, becauseI wanted people to be almost inoculated from
when it would happen. But sofar, I think he's been nothing but

(31:56):
positive. I don't think he hassaid anything negative about the women here.
Yeah, I don't think he hassaid anything about the weather. I don't
think he said anything about any ofit. Right, so far it's been
uh, we've apparently dodged a bullet. Now that could still change, I
guess, But so far, sogood. Well, yeah, every time
I see a picture of Chuck,he's a man, he's or is that?
So we're teching care, we're makingso we're buttering in him up a

(32:16):
little bit, so we don't wedon't catch any slack. You might that
might be you've hit on it.It might be we were terrified. So
he said, Mike, God,we're just gonna We're gonna smother him with
every opportunity and kindness, and sohe doesn't have even time to think about
ripping any aspect of us. Right, We're just we're showing them the quote
unquote Minnesota nice. He's getting caughtup in the wraps of it. He

(32:36):
doesn't he's not gonna be here longenough to get the passive aggressive part of
it. So so far, it'sall good, smooth sailing. It's all
good h for sure. So we'llsee where that goes. As I said,
in Harlan's case, I think Harlanloves doing it too too much.
I think to stop if he's someif one of these other networks that's grabbing

(32:57):
the league. If they call him, I'd be shocked if he doesn't do
it. I think he's one ofthose guys who it's so much a part
of his identity. You know thathe's just going to keep doing it as
long as he can, and youcan feel it through his game calls that
it's part of who he is.It's part of his identity. He genuinely
cares about the product. And ifI'm a network and Kevin Harlin's a free
agent, here's a blank cochack myfriend. Whatever you want. Well,

(33:20):
as we said with him, hewas the show early and then there's again
they He and Tom Hanneman developed thissort of gallows humor that I think is
what kept him sane covering. Let'ssay a game, a West Coast game
on a Friday night in Portland,where the Wolves are down fifty, and
so they say, well, whatthe hell nobody's listening. Anyway, we

(33:44):
can say whatever the hell we want, and at least we will be entertaining
ourselves and maybe the few people whoare actually listening. I think he definitely
hopes that all those tapes either nolonger exists or have been burned because some
of the story that I've heard,I don't remember all of them, but
I do remember. Even the lategreat Tom Hanneman used to talk about that

(34:06):
that there's stuff that we just wishis buried and will never be heard again,
because we probably would be in someserious trouble. Might have been a
couple double on tondres, some powerfrom stuff that's crazy. Yeah, well,
as he said, I think rightlyto a certain extent, prodded by
Hannah. Hanny is one of theguys who, you know, he's got

(34:29):
this great he had always had thisgreat rep and he earned it. But
he had this puckish sense of humorwhere he kind of he did like to
nudge the guy, you know,to encourage that go ahead, man,
go ahead, nobody's listening, givehim a shot. You know, those
guys exist on every every generation,you know, where they those guys that's
it where some of them pretend thatI would never do that, But God,

(34:51):
if I could get the guy I'mwith to do it, this is
all the better. This is allmuch just more fun. All right,
let's do this. Let's get apause in here, and and hey,
by the way, Brett blakemore.Are you okay? Are you awake?
I'm here? Oh good, okay. I will tell you this. We're
gonna we're gonna break forty two.We're gonna change the break a little bit,
and then we'll be able to goto fifteen. If you have a

(35:14):
nugget or two for a mini sportsupdate or a couple things that we can
catch up on, feel free.It doesn't have to be a full fledged
production, but if there are twoor three things that have caught your ear
or your eye, we can dothat when we come back. And then,
as I said, I have alittle bit of hope, not a
great hope, that Tim Conley mightjoin. He said it was going to

(35:35):
be tight again. I hope wecan get them, but if not,
we'll definitely talk plenty of wolves therest of the way. Get Max's thoughts
on game two, and also getto some tweets that have come in to
me. Tweet me Dan Burrea,okfa in because I do not have access
to the branch On Brian text linefor the rest of this show. And
again, all bumper to bumper appearancesfrom Center the Cage location brought to you

(36:01):
got brought to you by our goodfriends at Crazy Fresh back in a minute
here in the fan. Well,because Max is technically savvy in a way

(36:24):
that I clearly am not. Hehas handed me the bratche and Brian Kaffe
in text line, which actually isvery very helpful, and a couple of
texts early already. Uh, notingthat Michale did games with Harlan those were
wild. Yeah, it's a it'sa sneaky good point that we associate Tom

(36:45):
Hanniman with him a lot, butMichale was doing U some of those games
as well. It's it's such asuch a different time. Uh, and
for sure, but but and youknow, we were talking to Max McHale.
Kevin McHale is a terrific basketball analyst, but he's kind of in terms
of this market because it ended sobadly, he's kind of gone underground where

(37:09):
I don't think he comes on anythinghere. I have heard him on Serious
XM NBA channel occasionally with Rick Kamla, who was from here originally, and
they have a relationship that goes wayback, but he just he doesn't We've
tried to reach out to him acouple of times. I'm not totally surprised.

(37:30):
He has said no, because Iwas the fan has learned pretty critical
of him as an executive from timeto time. But you hope that maybe
at sometime everybody can kind of movepast it, and it'd be great to
have him analyze in this market becausehe's a very savvy basketball guy I've known.
If you've ever heard him interviewed oranalyzed games, he's he's very very

(37:52):
good. But it's almost like he'sone of those and he's Minnesota icon,
right, Yeah, but he isnow. I think, in fact,
I don't even think he lives herein the winters. I think he I
think he just moved. He comesback here in the summers, but he
remains I think, very quiet locally. I have not heard him on anything
locally in a long long time.So was it it was him and and
Harlan before it was it was?It was? It was basically a lot

(38:16):
of mixing and matching. And thenwhat happened is then McHale and Flip as
sen McHale to run the team.He hires Flip his guy uh to be
so I I I don't remember theexact sequencing, but he definitely they had
some good moments together as well.That's that's for sure. Let me get

(38:36):
to a couple of other uh texts. Bob Costas thing an ank out checking
in. Bob Costas was on MadDog said the most important show culturally sports
related in history. And I agreewith that. I don't think there's any
question that that was. That's indeedthe the case. And by the way,
I think you'll agree with this.I don't always agree with Charles.

(38:58):
I don't agree with any these guyssay. That's not the point. The
point is they give you stuff tobounce off of. They are fearless,
and you know, there is aculture sports culture now, even I think
media culture a little bit where toomany guys do want to be friends with
the players, and so there's thatthat. I'm not going to criticize them

(39:22):
because I don't really think those guysget personal, but they get real and
that is even among the panel shows. I think that's that that that's that
doesn't always happen. Yeah, Andthat's that's why we love them so much,
is because they're human, because they'regenuine. Even when players that they
criticize come on the show, theynever come on fire and bullets, like
I told you, you know,they just come with jokes because they know

(39:45):
not everything Shaq says is going tobe right. Not everything, Charles Barker
is. They don't watch every game. They certainly don't watch Minnesota Timberwolves games
a lot, as we all knowfrom their analysis of the Timbers. Doesn't
matter, it doesn't matter. It'sfun, and that's what it's supposed to
be. It's supposed to be fun. So I just I love it so
much and I really hope that theycan find a way to keep it going
because it's so important to all usand it transcends sports. I know that's

(40:07):
kind of like a corny phrase thatpeople use a lot, but they do
truly transcend sports. People that don'twatch basketball know about inside the NBA,
and they're the type of people thatwill draw people to the game itself true,
and that's why I in the end, I know they're going to follow
the money, but I think I'mwith Charles was pretty candid with Dan Patrick

(40:29):
about how annoyed he was about justhow badly that they handled this sort of
thing, and even the comment theymade about we don't really need the NBA,
and I maybe that's a negotiating ploy, but it just sounds so silly
and and it it to me.It comes off as disrespectful of what you've
built, you know what I'm saying. And they built something very very significant.

(40:49):
All right, let's get to somegame stuff too. And by the
way, if you have texts,you can hit the bratch on Bryant.
I can't find text line. Whatis that? Six four six eight six,
Yes, sir, that's the number, and I should be able to
get those and we can react tothose as well. I at the start
of the show guaranteed victory for theWolves in this game. I will be

(41:13):
utterly shocked if they do not wingame two. And I know, you
know it's a dangerous game because nothingis guaranteed. But they the last game,
as much as we've all kind ofanalyzed and overanalyzed what went wrong,
was a one or two possession game, three point game. And so I

(41:35):
do believe that the head coach,that the player that the head coach got
their attention with what he said afterthe first game. He clearly yesterday was
trying to declare, we got torealize where we are here. And I
think they've tended to play well inthose situations, and I think they will
play better, and I think theykind of know. Even though you know,
you could argue Denver got away withlosing the first two games at home,

(42:00):
at least make that series be extendedto seven. I don't think the
Wolves want to find themselves in thesame position. So what does your gut
tell you tonight? Yeah, mygut's telling me a win too. This
team has been resilient all season.They've made more comebacks than Rocky Balboa himself.
I mean most of the season theyhadn't lost two games in a row,
and then until the last series,they hadn't lost three games in a
row. So this team knows howto make adjustments. And I mean,

(42:21):
Anthony Edwards had a pretty bad game, Karl Anthony Town's had just an okay
game, Mike Conley arguably his worstgame in a Timberwolves jersey, and you
still only lose by three points.You couldn't hit anything, couldn't hit the
wet part of the ocean from threeand you still only lose by three points.
Luca and Kyrie did their thing,But I thought the Wolves defensive strategy,
that's kind of what you have toaccept. Luca and Kyrie are going

(42:42):
to get theirs nobody else on theMavericks, Scott Theirs, and you can
live with that. If we get, you know, one shot from Nikil
Alexander Walker, say, who hasall of a sudden gone missing if anybody's
seen Nikile Alexander Walker, we gotwell, you know, lost posters up
for him. But so nothing reallywent the way. They missed a bunch
of free throws as well, whichis pretty frustrating. Nothing really went their
way and it was still such aclose game. So I fully expect them

(43:06):
to come out tonight prepared, comeout tonight with energy, especially Anthony Edwards,
who I mean said multiple times thathe was tired after the game.
The team just kind of came outflat, you know, Kyrie Irving things.
The earth is flat, The earthis not flat, but the Wolves
energy was kind of flat. Sohopefully they come out with that energy tonight.
And it sounds like Chris Pinch gotthem fired up. I don't think
in the in the in the Battleof the Big twos for each team,

(43:27):
I don't think the Wolves have toplay them even but I do think it
can't be sixty three to thirty fiveexactly. It has to be closer than
that. And and and that's whathas to change, And that obviously means
either Towns one of the two atleast has to get twenty five to thirty
points. That's the way it's goingto have to work, I think,
And obviously it's more likely that thatwould be Anthony, but I think it

(43:49):
always we learned game to game.It depends on flow, it depends on
opportunity. But you can't have virtuallya thirty point gap between their big two
scoring wise and the Wolves, becausethat that is a recipe for disaster.
That's got to be tightened up.Doesn't mean you have to match them or
even I think if you even getwithin ten, given what else you're supposed
to have, the advantage you havefrom your bench, then you're in business.

(44:12):
But it can't be the kind ofgap we saw in game one.
Yeah, our Batman and Robin havemore surrounding them than they're Batman and Robin,
but our bat signal went unanswered onWednesday night. We need a little
bit more from Anthony Edwards. Weneed a little bit more from Karl Anthony
Towns. And you mentioned it.Anthony Edwards is obviously the guy we're looking
to night in a night out butKarl Anthony Towns. There is no equivalent
to Karl Anthony Towns on the Mavericks, and there's no In series one,

(44:36):
he was tasked with guarding Kevin Durant, one of the all time great players.
Series two he's tasked with guarding NikolaJokich, one of the all time
great players. There isn't that inthis series. So he should have a
little bit more energy, be alittle bit more fresh offensively. So I'm
expecting a big series from Karl AnthonyTowns without the defensive assignment that he has
to worry about, and Anthony Edwardsjust has to find a way to get
downhill a little bit. The antthat we know in love is a three

(44:58):
level score we can't get, sowe can't settle for the three point.
I mean, they saw nearly fiftythrees, which I don't necessarily have a
problem with because they were hitting themin the first half, but they also
instead of forty nine, if itwas you know, forty and we had
a couple more drives, getting thepaint a little bit more, because the
points in the paint disparity was justunacceptable in my opinion, considering how big
the Wolves are so I think theyjust need to vary their attack a little

(45:19):
bit and that'll open up the threepoint shot for them later in the game.
I want to talk energy a commentyou made there. I want to
pick up on that point. Let'sbreak get back on our schedule. We're
here until six thirty tonight. Thepregame to the pregame with Max will start
at six thirty, regular pre gameat seven, and Game two on the
fan just past seven thirty. Don'tgo away, Prett. Blake Moore's back

(45:49):
at headquarters. We're downtown Minneapolis,the Target Center Skyway where the gates have
now been opened, fans filing infor game number two, all the action
tonight and the fan Blake Moore,is there are there any headlines worth getting
to have I missed anything today orthe last couple of hours that you think
would be worth a mention As faras headlines go, I mean Halliburton is

(46:12):
questionable for Game three with a soreHammy NHL playoffs are back, imagine that.
I want to talk about that atsome point. But as far as
like big breaking news that would fireoff the sounder for I don't think there's
a whole lot there. I don'twant to find out, like unless I'm
missing something later tonight when I getto my seats. Well, you got
you idiots didn't even mention such andsuch a if Blake Moore is asleep at

(46:35):
the wheel back at headquarters and youguys aren't paying attention on your phones to
what's happening in the world, butyou don't think we have to have to
worry about that, that's what you'resaying. I committed cruising. Okay,
well, I have the right tochange my mind. But I'm cruising right
now and I'm not seeing anything toooh too crazy? Okay, fair enough,
that's that's fair. Text from Gregand Apple Valley, Dan, does

(46:59):
anyone know if Mikhale and Garnett areon good terms these days? I don't
have any reasona believe they're not.I don't know if they're necessarily close,
but I don't think there's any historyof any sort of bad blood there as
well. The KG bad blood withGlenn Taylor is well established. There's still
rumors that he's like, if he'sgoing to come back, it would be

(47:21):
Game five or seven if there isone. In this series. There does
seem to be more and more indicationthat he might be on the way back.
But I and which surprised me becauseI had been told that as long
as Taylor was the majority owner henever would. But as some of the
a couple of people reminded me,will know he can. The beauty for

(47:43):
him of coming back will be hewill make sure to build his production around
the new guys, thereby, inhis mind, annoying Glenn Taylor all more
right, So, and he's KGis one of those I forget, but
I don't forget guys. Man.If he turns on you, I don't

(48:04):
think there's much turning back. Andit's a long, convoluted history in which
I think Taylor made some mistakes.I think KG has gotten a little bit
too stubborn. The truth in thiscase is like a lot of things somewhere
in the middle. But the otherrumor is that tonight Moss, Randy Moss
might be coming reality. No,I hadn't heard that yet. Yeah,
he might show. It wouldn't surpriseme. I'm pretty sure. You know

(48:28):
they're bringing back ex Timberwolves pretty muchevery game with when possible, and I
believe Doug West is supposed to beback tonight. Doug West, of course,
the original Timberwolf, a guy Ihad a really good relationship with when
I was covering the team back inthe Instane Wretch days, A nice defensive
guard who ended up being a Imean, he was caught in the middle

(48:50):
of the dysfunction. There's only somuch he could do. But I think
he's in the group that's coming backtonight as well. Energy. You brought
up the subject of energy. Ithink another thing I'm going to be watching
for this game is if there's ifthe Wolves have come up with the way
to, at least intermittently through thegame take Edwards off of Kyrie Irving.

(49:17):
Yes, I get how he's gotto be the main guy. There's not
that many options. He welcomes it, he wants it. I still think
you do him a favor. Idon't think he's like as Guardie said earlier,
you take away his man card asa two way player. If you
say no, no, no,we got the next seven minutes, here's

(49:37):
what we're gonna do. Because Ido think Edwards had an energy issue,
and I think it's because Kyrie runsanybody wild. The guy is tireless.
He never stops despite his age.He never stops and so if they can
find and to me, it's gotto be you can occasionally perhaps put Jayden
on Kyrie if you've got SloMo onthe court, who I think actually can

(50:02):
for a few minutes at a time, be an interesting defensive matchup for Luca.
I just think you gotta be smartabout it. And even Nikil if
he's hitting some shots. As yousaid earlier, I would like to see
them take some of the time awayfor the fact that Ant's got to be
on him one hundred percent of thetime because he's the one star player in

(50:22):
this series. It's being asked literallyto do everything. And you can say,
well, that's what he wants tobe, that's what Jordan would do,
That's what Kobe Bryant did. Yeah, but you know, Jordan had
Scottie Pippen next to him sometimes wouldtake the big defensive assignment so to get
his offense going, which we allagree that they need. I don't think
it'd be the worst thing if youdo not demand that he's constantly the guy

(50:42):
guarding Kyrie. No, I totallyagree, and I think that's part of
the reason why he was so gassed. I mean, and the Mavericks played
with a surprising quick pace that Iwas not expected. I mean Target Center
turned into Canterbury Park, the waythat horses were running wild on Wednesday night.
So I would love it if AnthonyEdwards, even if that means we
got to have less Mike Kindley outthere, more nikkiel whatever we got to
do. And honest, to becompletely honest, haven't Anthony Edwards on Kyrie

(51:05):
Irving. It didn't really work anyways, So why doubly if it's not,
If it's ineffective and it's tiring themout, why not. It can't get
much worse than what it was inthat first half. I believe Kyrie Irving
had twenty four points in the firsthalf and he was running Anthony Edwards all
over the place, so it didn'treally matter if he was on him or
not. Might as well try tohide Anthony Edwards a little bit defensively,
not that he's a bad defender oranything like that. Kyrie Irving's just that

(51:27):
elite. He looked like vintage.You couldn't have told me he was the
age that he was the other night, because he looked like he was twenty
four to twenty five. The waythat he was running out there. Let's
be honest. I mean, youknow, this is what the way Kyrie
I think is playing right now isthe worst case nightmare that a lot of
people have feared in the rest ofthe league, and that was the skill
is ridiculous. So if he everfigures it out from the head standpoint or

(51:52):
seems more comfortable in his skin andalso with who he's playing with, my
god, watch out. The restof us are going to have to pray.
And that's true. I mean,the guy's skill is maybe unprecedented.
It's just well, what is hegoing to play? Is he going to
be available? Is he going todisappear for a while, And that's what
that's He's I think the X factorthat literally can change the series. I

(52:17):
really believe. I think if henow again, second half, he was
not as effective. He was onefor nine floor, so he was nowhere
near as effective. But you knowthis league works, man. There are
individual players who no matter what youhave drawn up, no matter what you
think about your own team, thatcan transform things and change things. And

(52:37):
that's the one fear. I thinkThey've got two guys like that, who
you know, for a given gameor a given stretch, of games can
do exactly that. Shirts are alreadycoming off. It's unbelievable. It is
a little bit warm in here.By the way, what is the threshold?
Do you now feel like you haveMax no choice but to give people

(52:58):
what they want, which is firstof all, HOODI who And also I
take the shirt off and you feela little objectified that way, and you
not you say, hey, look, I'm not a trained animal here.
I'm not gonna give you what youwant just because you think I have to.
Yeah, I do. I feela little bit like like I'm a
stage dancer at Daja Boo at thispoint or something like people seeing me with

(53:19):
my shirt on and they're a littlebit disappointed, devastate. I gotta bring
the energy all the time. Maybeeven an appens office. I go over
there and just just like, Hey, what's up. He's like, what's
what's going on? Where's that?We need Max? We need the real
Max. Yeah, that's what I'mtalking about. Jimmy wants some energy too,
That's what I'm talking about, Jimmy. But it just comes out even
when I'm not feeling it. That'sthe same thing that we said with Kevin
Harlan not to compare myself to thegreat Kevin Harland. But it's genuine,
it's real for me. So evenwhen I'm kind of dragging and I'm like,

(53:44):
oh, I don't got it tonight, as soon as that mike turns
on, it all just rushes backinto So then it isn't hard for you.
No, No, it's hard onthe vocal cords. A lot of
hoody whos are hard on the vocalcords. I need some vocal maintenance day,
like my man pa. But it'sokay. I don't know where this
one comes from. I'll see whatyou think of this. This is five
oh seven guy thinking the Timberwolves needa guy like shabbazs mohammedans game. Where

(54:07):
do you that's hilarious? How doyou? Where do you come up with
that one? Shabaz mah my goodness, that's too good. That's absolutely yeah.
Bring back Gorgy Jang while we're atit. We all suggests kat on
Luca. I'm not sure that works. I don't you. I don't necessarily
love that because now all of asudden, you cant. I mean,
Luca is not the most athletic guy. Three falls in like eight minutes.

(54:29):
Yeah, I mean like I've saidit before, if drawing fouls is an
art than Luca's Picasso and karln Town'sjust we can't fully trust. I mean,
he's matured a lot, he's progresseda lot as a player, but
we still can't fully trust him withthat aside. I actually thought that we
call it, you know, theultimate whining in the NBA is the Luca
line. You know you're approaching theLuca line. I thought. I thought

(54:51):
Luca was not approaching the Luca linein Game one. I thought, by
his standards, he was a lotless obnoxious than he usually is. Yeah,
I thought he was relatively composed,and that's kind of a thing with
lucas you can take him mentally outof the game pretty early on, and
he would. I thought he wasfairly composed. I was really surprised by
him and Kyrie's composer, not thatKyrie's want to, you know, jaw
out the refs a lot, butjust in general, the speed that they're

(55:12):
processing the game and knowing what theteam needs when they need it. It's
just incredible to see in really lastbreak, do we have a grand in
your hand for this hour? Aswell bred or not? We do not.
We do not. Okay I shouldknow this by now, only been
doing it for a million years.But nevertheless, we'll get our final break
in, will remind you what youmissed today, some outstanding cage at Target

(55:32):
Center, cage guests brought to youby our good friends at Crazy Fresh,
and then we'll turn things over toLive and Local with a Maxim company.
At six point thirty, it's theBumper to Bumper show wrap. Hi,

(55:52):
Blake Moore, you got one assignmentand don't blow it. Okay, Okay,
I'm going about to tell people whatthey missed in the show so that
they can podcast it later. Sodon't do the oh it's Friday getaway day.
I'm oh, yeah, I forgotabout the podcast part. Okay,
So if I'm going to promote it, I got to know that the podcasts
are going to be available later tonight. Can you can you promise me that

(56:14):
or not? I can promise youthey'll be available within the hour. Oh
okay, come on, standing andnotes. You know Johnny Lavell Harlan,
I've got ready for it. Excellent. Well, you're you're very detailed about
that, which I appreciate. Infact, we did talk to Johnny at
three thirty. Now, some ofthe stuff with Johnny might be moldy by
the time you listen later today ortomorrow, because Game two will have been

(56:35):
played. But nothing about our conversationwith Kevin Harlan is moldy. Trust me
on that. Great remembrances from himon his history here as the play by
play original play by play voice ofthis Club, his thoughts on the TNT
story, he was great on anumber and even his own history, his
own broadcast history starts broadcasting at theage of twenty one years old, say,

(57:00):
covering the National Basketball Association. Sohe joined what about a little past
five o'clock. We had a goodsolid half hour with him. Lavelle was
Lavelle. You know, he wasall over the map on a number of
different subjects. So you could youcan podcast later enough said, tonight is
a nine thirty on Fox nine.I'm not a fool. That means it's

(57:22):
unlikely most of you will be watchingthat show live. But again, DV
are it and you can watch Guardsyand Me and Lorie Fisher as well.
The plan tonight is customary now it'ssort of become the new tradition pregame to
the pregame. Now is Holland withthe home Help me out on the vernacular
here, So Hollng with the Homies. Is that every time you're doing a

(57:45):
show, or is it specific tothe pregame, is it the post game
or how do we describe the wholeconcept? It's every time, every time.
It's basically the subplanted Wolves fan lineas everybody's kind of adopted Howlan with
the Homies, the pregame show,the pregame party, the postgame show is
Howling with the Homies. Okay,that works. So that'll be pregame right
after word done, and then postgame win or lose. Yep, we

(58:09):
might take your shirt off. Youmight not. Now when you last time
the viral video that was at thestation, Yeah, when you take your
shirt? Yeah? So have youtaken your shirt off here after a game?
No? I don't think. Idon't think we've taken the shirts off.
Yeah. So it's tonight tonight andyou so wait a minute, All
tonight is one to one. Imean, we haven't won anything. I've
got limits I'm gonna make I'm gonnabe disciplined, and how often I take

(58:34):
the shirt off is one to oneenough. Yeah see, I don't know.
I guess it depends on the waywe win. I'm thinking about that
too, because I'm like, bythe time if the Wolves make it to
the finals, I mean, I'mgonna be butt naked. I mean,
my grandma already saw the video ofme running around with my shirt off.
She texts me, no more stretching. So yeah, yeah, so I
gotta be I gotta be choosy withthat. But if they if they win
big tonight, I'd say at leasttie the shirt up, you know,

(58:55):
like a not you're gonna make acrop time. To me what the rules
should be if they win big tonight, I don't think the shirt should come
off if they win like Edward's lastsecond shot where they're gonna lose the game.
If this shot doesn't go in,that to me, even though it's
one to one, that's worthy ofthe shirt coming off because then it's like,
well, we saved because down ohtwo is gonna get pretty tough.

(59:17):
So to me, if they wincomfortably, which I think they're gonna win
comfortably tonight, then it's like,okay, yeah, maybe if you give
me some extra money. What ifwhat if the crowd in front of you
starts throwing money. Is there likea Is there like a minimum amount of
money that might also convince you totake the shirt off. Now, I

(59:37):
don't make enough of money money tohave a minimum amount, So if I
even see one single dollar bill,even if it's a fake three dollar bill,
the cert might have to come off. If money's being thrown, the
shirt's coming off. Do we havea score for tonight? You do?
Score scores? Not stupid. Ithink it's kind of dumb in basketball.
But I agree with you. Ithink they win comfortably. I don't think
this is coming down to I'm gonnago one ten to one hundred tonight.

(01:00:00):
They're gonna win one ten to onehundred. But I you know, I
hope finch I think Finchy got theirattention, like I said, but I
think he needed to. On theother hand, as we talked earlier,
don't you don't want coaches who overreactto what was essentially a one or two
possession ball game. Right if youhad certain principles going into the series that

(01:00:21):
you thought were gonna work, letthem work, give them time to work.
Don't overcompensate or overcorrect. It's thebiggest problem on the media side me
included where we got all this timeto analyze and you end up having a
list of where they got to dothis, better this, better this,
better this, And by the endof you go, did they lose by
thirty in the first game? Oh? Really, they really didn't. So

(01:00:42):
I don't expect to be like Gamesix against Denver. No, I don't
think it's going to be like byforty five. I think we're gonna have
a lot of close games in thisseries, which I think is good.
But I think that's what we're gonnasee. I think these two teams are
pretty much they're almost mirror images ofeach other in a lot of different ways.
So I think I think we're gonnasee a lot of close games as
well. And to your point aboutChris Finch, you don't want to hold
the stern like get it get outpeople's ass card after game one in a

(01:01:04):
backfires, because then what other cardsdo you have to pull? So hopefully
it works to works out tonight,tie this thing up, won one and
head into Dallas time. Larry mondeloguy with a question directly for you.
Given all the attention and acclaim Maxhas received, lately, has he considered
a side hustle where he is theentertainment for bachelorette parties. You know,

(01:01:25):
he gets like a police officer costumeor maybe a cowboy outfit. Now that
I think about it, though,I'm not sure there's a police or cowboy
hat in existence that would fit overMax's afron. I'm gonna need a thirty
gallon cowboy hat if I'm gonna getone over the fro. But that sounds
like a pretty good business endeavor tome. If anybody thinking of any you

(01:01:45):
know, bachelorette parties out there,hell, even bachelor parties out there,
want to hire you, boy,I'll pop out of a cake. I
don't care. I wouldn't be surprised. You probably are already getting offers that
you're not even telling us about.That'd be my guess. Yeah, get
some dms, but just be careful. You know, there's probably some roads
not worth going down, if youknow what I mean. You know what

(01:02:06):
I'm saying, there's there's there mightbe a trap or two in there,
I guess, is what I'm whatI'm looking for. Certain certain dms,
it's like, all right, nocameras or you know, it's like the
Dave Chappelle when you go see himand he makes the people zip up the
phones. I'm gonna have to I'mgonna have to do that for accepting some
Some of these are questions. Lastly, oh, this that's some music.
So I guess we're pretty much done. Crowds have been better almost every game.
I expect they're gonna it's gonna beremarkable in there tonight as well.

(01:02:30):
So I hope folks who are headeddown here enjoy Max. Thanks for the
help today, much appreciate, anduh we will wrap things up Max's Max
and Company is next. I'll talkto you on sermons at nine on Sunday