June 10, 2025 • 33 mins
The Thunder respond with authority in Game 2, tying the series and making a statement against the Pacers. Trysta breaks down what changed from Game 1, how OKC adjusted, and why this team might just be built different.
Then, she dives into the latest on the New York Knicks' coaching search, what Jrue Holiday's trade market might look like, the Atlanta Hawks are cooking something up, and so much more!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
On this episode of the Heat Check. Game two is
in the books. And if you didn't have any confidence
in okay, see after game one? Which what are you smoking?
We have a full blown series on our hands, is
it though? Is it? Or it? Did Indiana get themselves
one win and one win only? And it's just about
(00:20):
to be a smacking from then on. The Pacers and
Thunder are throwing haymakers and I'm here to break it down.
We also have a ton of tea from around the
league we haven't had much time for, so put on
put in your Lipton Cup because we have lots to
talk about. Wyatt. You're listening to the Hottest, the Hottest.
(00:40):
It'd be a podcast out here. I said what I said,
it's the heat Check Check Check, which just up critter two.
Finals are two games, and let me say the narratives.
The narratives, baby, they are all over the place. Game
(01:01):
one we add people ready to build a statue outside
of Game Bridge for Tyrese Halliburton most clutch player of
all time, myself included myself included Pacers, Steel won game
on the road, and it's like, ooh, could Indy be
the twenty sixteen Cleveland Cavaliers. After Game two, OKAC put
(01:22):
them to night night, full on beat down. It was
a sixteen point win, but it felt like so much more,
so much more after two games. A lot of people
don't have a clue on how this series is gonna
shake out. I feel personally like, Okasey's just too much
for them boys, I really do. Let's talk it through
(01:44):
Kenny Carraway and I jumped on Casey from DLO and
Casey thirteen twenty. ESPN jumped on on the horn. Right
after Game one. We were riding high on the Pacers bandwagon.
I've been riding high pretty much all year. So I
texted my friend congratulations. Remember I told you I texted
them the congratulations when they made the finals, and they
(02:06):
said four more. I don't know if they were watching
a lot of okay see before when they said that,
because then after they got Game one, I say, congratulations,
this is the most magical run of basketball I've ever
seen in my goddamn life. And the response was gonna
be tough to beat these guys. Three more times. I say, Oh,
they know they're in trouble. They know. Then Game two happened.
(02:28):
The train hit the wall, the offense went to a stall.
Tyrese Halliburton went into the fourth quarter with just four
points on nine shots. We cannot have Halliburton taking less
than double digit shots in a beatdown. We need him
to force the issue. That's what the good fucking ISO
baller point guards do, right, Like, that's what even Steph
(02:52):
who comes off the ball, that's what he does. He
knows it's it's time. Okay, it's time. It's it's dame time.
We need more of Tyrese Haliburton say I'm gonna put
this team on my back. The Pacers were already in
a deep poll because only two teams have ever gone
up two oh starting on the road in the finals,
so this is never gonna probably be the game that
(03:12):
they won. And you could tell though that the Thunder
they made a lot of adjustments. They weren't just resting
on their laurels of what they did in Game one.
They had so much respect for Indy Dagno kept the
starters in until almost the buzzer. They were up nineteen
points to start the fourth quarter, twenty midway through eighteen
(03:34):
two minutes to go, and it was like, we don't
got this. We're not taking chances with these fuckers who
continuously come back down twenty. Meanwhile, Rick Carlisle shockingly pulled
the ripcord for four minutes left. I was like, wow,
you've been down twenty with this point at this point before.
What do you What do you see? I don't see. Well,
(03:56):
he was seeing an offense that looked very stagnant. He
was seeing that the Thunder had these boys on the ropes.
He would seeing that these the Thunder role players could
not be stopped. We got some Johnny Furfey minutes, not
Johnny Murphy. Johnny Furfey, Okay, a guy who is a
rookie and barely played and is now guarding the reigning MVP.
(04:18):
That's who we saw. Okay, So he was a little
shook it. Carlisle said after the game. Sometimes you have
to make tough decisions. That was an easy one, meaning
I knew these guys didn't have it. I knew these
guys didn't have it, And honestly, I think the Pacers
new listen, if we could steal game one, that's pretty
(04:39):
much the game we're stealing, because once they see what
we do, they're gonna make adjustments as well. They said,
let's just not punt game two. We'll compete and then
if we don't got it, we don't got it. Let's
put our guys on ice and wait for our time
in Indy and then put the pressure on. And also
(05:00):
Aliburton was visibly limping after game two, which is not
good considering that he got into a little bit of
injury issue last season going into the Eastern Conference Finals
against Boston Carlile always playing chesne. And then on the
other side, we got to talk about Mark Dagnoll. The
dude is just this is a great example of a
(05:22):
guy coming out of nowhere because we didn't know who
he was like at all. He came there the most
and they were in the middle of the rebuild, so
we kind of weren't like really paying attention to what
they were doing, right, But he was the most under
the radar coach, just slowly surely building this team up
(05:43):
into this monster that they are now. And he made
a very smart adjustment. He did the two big thing.
He did it. We didn't know if he would, We
didn't know if it was successful, We didn't know if
it was a good idea. Isaiah Hartenstein and Chet Holmgren
on the foot at the same time, what would it be.
Maybe they're better going No, they took away Indianapolis's game
(06:03):
plan of going down low and pretty much completely. And
I don't know if it just raddled them or what,
but I was yelling at my TV, dump it down inside,
come on, just get it, get it to them inside,
especially when it was just one big The Pacers got
just one post touch to Siakam. All night. They blitzed
(06:24):
Taliburton a lot. He didn't look comfortable, which we knew
was going to occur because it happened against Anthony Edwards
and it happened against John Moran. John Morant was injured
and taken out of the series. Derrennie Smith and Nemhard
to beat him for three They looked just absolutely befuddled.
They knew that they were taking horrible shots, and they
(06:47):
were like, these are the best shots we're gonna get
right now. This contested two guys draping around me, but
somehow no one's open. That's what we got. A lot
of can tested jumpers from deep from Miles Turner and
Aaron Nesmith and Andrew Nemhard just getting snuffed all the
(07:08):
way around. One time I saw a possession where they
missed five I think four or five consecutive nasty jumpers
got their own rebound, and I'm like, these guys know
they are cooked. They are cooked, and it worked. It worked.
Haliburton had five points on seven shots through three quarters,
(07:28):
drop twelve, and the fourth the game was over. The
game was over at that point. How about you, Halliburton,
see that these other guys are making shots and listen.
I like Halliburton, but the criticism is fair. When your
guys are passing it to are ice cold, don't just
wait for them to maybe magically get warm, for you
to start over, for you to just take over the game.
(07:50):
We need you to take over the game. We need
you to not get into like the last two minutes
before you start to be aggressive. I know that Halliburton
doesn't need thirty to win this game. I know I
know other guys they can go off. But when the
guys that you're passing the ball to are eighteen for
forty three, I'm thirty three percent from deep. I don't
(08:13):
don't know what you do with that. Obi Topphin was
one for eight. Fuck you, Obi Toppin. I had Obi
Toppin to have two threes after five threes the game
before that hurts. Credit to Okac's defense. They made things
just insanely miserable for Indiana. You could tell these guys
wanted no part of it. It looked like there was
(08:35):
an extra guy out there. Caruso Cruse is like a
little pest. By the way, Alex Caruso off the bench.
The we call them the Janitor aka the god who
was a key part of the Lakers and what they
did winning the title. The man was everywhere. How is
he moving so much? He's just always fouling, making your
(08:58):
life hell, and somehow there never call it because again
he's always fouling. And then offensively, Okayse, he just provided
huge changes. Mark Dagno again coming through with adjustments. So yeah,
you had lou Dorton, Case and Wallace who weren't doing much.
They combined for seven points. But guess what, Alex Caruso
(09:19):
got more minutes, came off the bench, gave him twenty
points with four threes. We got to see a little
Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins. Huh, yeah we did. I
had to explain this to my friend, like who are
those guys? Yeah, exactly who are those guys. That's Aaron
Wiggins eighteen points five for eight from Deep. He looked
like exactly the spark from Deep that Okase he needed,
(09:43):
which is like, let's be honest. You're gonna get some
threes from Shay, right, You're gonna get one or two
sometimes five from Dort. You're gonna get a couple threes
from Jalen Williams. But we can't count on that. We
can't count on that at all. You're gonna get a
couple from Chet. We can't count on that. We've seen
(10:03):
these guys go completely cold. Guess who you can count on?
Aaron Wiggins. Aaron Wiggins is a sniper. He is, That's
what his job is. Aaron Wiggins had forty this year.
Aaron Wiggins is no slouch. Whenever Aaron Wiggins gets out
of Okay, see, he's gonna have a real role. He's
gonna be a starter. Then you add in the thirty
(10:24):
four from Shay much more efficient thirty four, and you've
got a recipe for a disaster for Indy, just to
blow out Shay looked like he could not miss I
don't I don't know which how many shots he did
miss I didn't look it up, but it felt like
none defensively, Like I said, okaysee was just locked in
fifteen forced turnovers, fourteen combined blocks and steals. Shay had
(10:46):
four swipes alone. Then and then when you saw Chet
who had a horrible game, one have back to back
buckets to close the first quarter and they were contested.
One of one came off of like a scramble that
probably should have gone Indiana's way. Ball goes to chat
and tested three splash. I was like, oh, okay, it's curtains.
(11:08):
It's curtains. When Wiggins hits that step back in the
second quarter to push the lead to eleven, it's curtains.
It's curtains. There these books, pack them up, go back
to Indy. It felt like the air well then they
air didn't leave the building for okay see, because that's
where they were. It felt like it got very tense,
very loud, very hard to think. And we've seen Indie clawback.
(11:31):
That's what they do, right, that's what they do. We
know we'd make some sort of a run and they
cut of did. But every time they made a run, okay,
so he made a bigger run. It was it was
a wrap by halftime, they cut it to like eleven
or something, and then it was like back up to
nineteen and thirty seconds. So now we head to Indy
for Game three on Wednesday night. Who needs it more?
(11:55):
Who needs it? I mean Indy needs it more. Let's
be real. I'm not worried about okay See at all.
And I was feeling like Indiana was disrespected and they
are disrespected. But okay See is fucking so good. They
run guys out. You've not seen what are they doing
out there? Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe getting minutes and
(12:18):
giving you twenty points? Come on, if you do that, listen.
We know that Okay, He's not a great road team,
and maybe they'll get blown out in Game three and
maybe the narrative will shift again. But this is just
a team until they're dad. I'm gonna believe in, especially
considering that it feels like those on the Indiana staff
(12:39):
feel the same way. I fully expect Carlisle to have
the Pacers ready to punch back. The Game three is
a vast fascinating one. What is Dagna gonna do? Is
he going back to the two big lineup? Is he
gonna go ultra small and play Jalen with Williams at
the five. Is there a new wrinkle that we haven't
anticipated yet? Is Polkashevsky coming back from the dead? What
(13:01):
Poku is is my man? Is my man? Nicola tapicch
back from injury? Is he gonna make an appearance? Are
we gonna see what's his name? Kid that went to
Mesich come back from the euro League? What are we doing?
What are we doing? The chess match is fascinating. I
(13:21):
know that people say that this is the least watch
final since nineteen eighty eight. These are two elite teams
and two elite coaches. And if you're not watching, that's
on you. That is on you cannot wait for Game three?
All right, let's get into it. The t the news
around the league. Lots going on right now. Let's start
with the Nicks. So as we all know, the Knicks. Shockingly,
(13:45):
even though this has kind of been like simmering for
years now, truly years, is when is TIB's gonna get
fired if they don't do this, Tips is getting fired.
If they don't do that, Tips is getting fired. This
We've been talking about this for a long time. Back
to my WFA N days. But they did it. It happened.
The team came down on Tibbs's neck. We got James
Dolan out here like Joffrey with the steak showing us
(14:09):
Tibbs's head out there in the sand, and we don't
really know why. We don't really know what happened. There's
a lot of rumors flying. Some say that players were
throwing TIBs under the bus and I can't play with
this guy anymore aka Karl Anthony Towns. Let's be honest,
he's already been coached by TIBs once before. Some people
are putting the blame on Kittie Cat. Some people are
(14:30):
blaming Leon Rose. Other people are saying, now that the
sphere is done, James Dolan has his head back on
towards close to the you know, just centered and on
the knicks. He's got the laser being pointed at the knicks.
And then he never liked TIBs and he's just waiting
for an excuse to push him out, which is like
(14:51):
a hell of a time to push him out. Honestly,
there were other times where they probably had more of
a reason, like when they missed the playoffs or when
they lost to the heat. There were other times we
don't know the story. We probably aren't gonna know. I
guess I bet you what though, If I see World
Why West in Vegas, I'm asking, I'm asking him what
(15:12):
the fuck happened with Tips? If I see TIBs that
summer league, I'm asking, what happened? Baby? Don't you think
it's a little fucked up? How they did you? Which
thinks a little fucked up? How you guys did Tips? Anyway,
none of them talked to the press. That's the only
time you're gonna hear from Tips. Will probably join like
some staff. He's getting paid a lot of money though,
(15:34):
I think twenty something million dollars on his extension. What
we do know, though, is this, the Knicks have a target.
They have a target. Who is it? Whispers? Who is it?
He's already coaching another damn it's Jason Kidd And apparently
the interest is mutual, according to Mark Stein, So okay,
(15:58):
this is puzzling to me for a variety of reasons.
From Kid's side, I kind of get it. The MAVs
fucking terrible. They just did all these things behind your back.
They didn't include you. They left you out there to
the wolves to explain something you had nothing to do with,
and you keep saying I didn't know. I really didn't.
(16:20):
I didn't sign off on this. I love Luca. Don't
talk to me about this. Talk to those fools. Okay.
Imagine like the guy that's the one coaching the team,
or how about this if you're a chef. I always
make this comparison. You're a chef, right, And then the
owner of the restaurant decides, we're taking garlic and onions off.
(16:44):
We're just not wordering them anymore. They're gone. We're getting
rid of them as an ingredient. They're gone. So just
we're not gonna ask you, Hey, how impactful is this
for you? We're no more, no more steak, no more play.
They're done. It's done. Just come in the next day
and just act like everything's normal. And it's like, hey,
why is it steak on them any anymore? It's like this,
fuck f I know, like these fools, I don't know.
(17:05):
How do you not get looped in on the deal?
Your star sharp player getting moved traded away. We saw
a kid sitting next to Nico with Nico being like
defense with championships defense with championships. He's like, this guy's
an idiot. This guy is so dumb, and they're looking
at kid and kids kind of shaking his head. He's
got the backwards hat on. Remember he had the backwards
(17:27):
at I'm like, listen, I'm not about business right now,
because these guys aren't about business, so I kind of
see it. Also, though, on the other hand, Kid's probably
safe in Dallas. They've got Cooper Flag coming in. He's
a rookie. Kyrie's coming off of injury, AD's coming off
(17:49):
of injury. There's a little runway for him to be like, hey,
it's not really all peaches and cream yet, give me
a little time. Right They don't succeed right away. Plus
management and owners thought Luca was responsible for all of
the downfall of this team. So you're okay, you're safe,
no state tax, better weather. I you know, it's tough.
(18:11):
But on the other hand, what I really don't understand
is why did the Knicks want Jason kidd ties to
New York. I mean, he's a point guard coach, But listen,
if you want to look at success with a point guard,
nobody has more success with the point guard that people
discarded than Tips. Jalen Brus was the second round pick
(18:32):
and the Knicks swooped him from the MAVs that same team,
and the MAVs they wan't pay him. And then Tis
turned turned Leaks into like Filet Mignot, Okay, what are
we doing? He turned him into an All NBA player,
one of the best guards in the league, clutch player
of the year. What more can kid do with this
point guard? And you're not You just fired a coach
(18:55):
for not getting over the hump aka, not going to
the finals or winning a championship. So looking at a
guy who caught lightning in a bottle against what like
the OKC thunder who weren't really ready yet, and a
depleted a team that had just come off of a
seven game series they shouldn't have won against the Denver
Nuggets when they were down twenty in the fourth quarter,
(19:16):
and then you get cooked and by Boston when you
get there. Come on, sir, I don't murder, murder. I
don't believe you. I don't know that you're capable. Plus,
what did you do in Milwaukee? What did you do Milwaukee?
You got fired? It was a disaster. Nobody's looking at
the Knicks and being like, you know who they need
to beat Okace or Denver or Boston again when they're
(19:39):
fully healthy. Its Jason Kidd. They just beat the one
team that everyone thought they could not beat with Tom Thibodeaux.
I don't know, man, it feels stupid, it does. It
feels the more you think about it, the dumber it sounds.
Cause it's like the downsides and if you think, oh,
(20:02):
like this is the best Tips is ever gonna do,
and like they collapsed. They melted in the sun in
game one. They probably should have won. The other little
cute game they lost against the Pacers. I think it
was game three or four. What what are we doing?
And the only way you're getting kid is by trading
(20:23):
for him? And you don't have any picks because you
traded a million of them for Michel Bridges. Baby, baby,
what is you doing? And you might as well try
to go after email Udoka then if you're willing to
do that, and Dallas isn't letting kid walk. The last
time a coach got traded, it was Doc Rivers and
the Clippers gave up a first rounder to Boston. The
(20:44):
pick ended up being RJ. Hunter, but that's still like, regardless,
you're gonna give up assets for Jason Kid, don't do it.
Don't do it unless Jason Kidd had some sort of
like bat phone to Giannis, which I don't think will
work anyway. With Brunson, I don't see the vision. I
really just do not see the vision at all. Anyway,
(21:05):
let's talk about let's talk about Boston. Let's pivot moving on.
We got a big development here, and the development is
the Drew Holiday is apparently on the trade block. Yeah,
the guy who pushed two teams to titles, the guy
who's the final piece, is now on the trade block again.
First Milwaukee, now Boston. The Celtics are ready to move him.
(21:25):
So on one on one level, that's like baffling to me.
Because you need a guard who can defend on the perimeter.
It's very important. You need a guy who can score
seventeen on a random night in the playoffs. It's like
Drew's kind of getting older, he is, and next year,
(21:46):
next year is kind of a punted year. So then
you say, all right, so Drew's what thirty one? At
that point, Drew is see oh, no, thirty six. At
that time, he's thirty four now, so maybe thirty six
at that time. I don't know why I thought he
was thirty one. He's just aging like fine wine, thirty
six at that time. That you can then get back
(22:09):
to contention and Tatum, we don't know how the process
of healing is gonna go. The surgery that he had
was quite novel like. It's not the most normal surgery
in terms of the timing. So I get it. Mark
Stein says, they're asking for a first round pick and
matching salary. See, this is where you lost me. I
think you might have to give up bassets for Drew
(22:30):
Holliday given his age and the fact that everyone in
the league knows you're shedding salary. Everybody in the league
knows you are in a bund because you have a
new owner and you guys don't have a real contention
shot next year, and because of that, you're getting rid
of anyone that doesn't fit the timeline. And he's got
three years left on his deal on one hundred and
(22:50):
four million dollars left, so yikes, and a player option
at the end wherever he goes, he's locked in through
age thirty eight. So I don't know, baby, I don't know, baby,
people are giving your first round bit for that, you
might need to take on some bad salaries that expire
earlier than him and just eat it, Just fucking eat it.
(23:13):
Send him to Houston, that'd be sick. I want Houston
to be good so bad. Send them to Detroit, that
would be sick. There are only a few guys in
the league that can come into the locker room and
do what Drew does. But man, did it feel like
this last year he took a step down. MAVs wantam
Kings want um Kings are in the mix to flip
(23:34):
de Rose into Boston, a deal which I don't know
how I like about that. Maybe the little zach Lavine
get you some get you some points. We'll give you
zach Lavine. We like. I'm a part of the Sacramento team.
But you know what I'm trying to say, Drew, I think, though,
is always a guy who you should consider to be underrated.
Players love him, coaches love him. He's a defensive dog,
(23:56):
he's super smart, he's low ego off the court, one
of the best people in the league. Has philanthropy, community stuff.
Wherever he goes, he is gonna help somebody Is he
worth one hundred and five million dollars though, that's the question.
Moving on, sad news out of Cleveland. For everyone who
(24:16):
was talking shit about Darius Garland's injury and how he
was soft and he should be playing and not sitting
his ass on the bench with his little baby tow
injury that they called it or whatever they said, we
now have some news a way worse toe injury than
anyone thought. He heard it back in March against Utah.
He reinjured in the playoffs, missed a bunch of games,
tried to gut it out, didn't look good. Now he's
(24:38):
had surgery on that big toe and now we're looking
at five months of recovery time. Yikes. Yeah, he's probably
gonna miss the first month of next season. And what
makes this even messier is that Garland's name is floating
around in trade conversation, so much so that Hoops Hype
had to come out and say, uh, Cleveland gat leaders
(24:59):
are not going to trade Darius Garland to Orlando, not
anywhere but just Orlando. For sure. Teams are interested. He's
coming off of an All Star season. He had a
sixty to five win team. The hype'es there. But now,
how does the surgery change the math? I don't know.
We don't know how it affects his market. We don't
know how it affects how Cleveland sees him. I hope
(25:20):
he gets right though. Darius Garland's a very fun player.
I just don't know that he works with Donovan Mitchell.
That's really it. The Calves as a whole. I still
feel like they have something to prove, but it does
feel like they're ready and itching to make a change.
Moving on another injury, tough break in Memphis. Zach Edie,
last year's lottery pick, resprained his ankle in a workout
and now he is having surgery to stabilize it. Yikes,
(25:45):
that's really bad. When you're a big man and you're
in your twenties and you're already having ankle or any
lower extremity issues, that is a big red flag. That
is the foundation you're messing with that this early in
your career, that that can be bad. Ask Sam Buoy
how he feels smell his lower legs early on in
(26:05):
his career getting fucked up. Ask Greg Odin how his
lower extremities are doing. It can turn into a long
term thing. It can get you out the league. Baby,
ask y'allming how he's doing. Hopefully he recovers, but that
is just really a rough start. Moving on to the Hawks,
we got to talk about them. They are cooking something up.
Don't know what it is, don't know if it's good,
(26:27):
but it's stuff. It's things happening in motion. They just
brought in this guy, Bryson Graham from New Orleans, who
is now their senior VP of Basketball Ops. He's been
with the Pelicans since twenty ten. He took over GM
duties after Trajan Langdon bounced for Detroit. But then they
grabbed Peter Dinwittie from Philly who is senior VP of
(26:50):
Strategy and Analytics. He's spent over a decade with the
Pacers before joining the Sixers and twenty twenty. I should
probably ask some of my Pacers crew about him. Both
of these guys are reporting the GM Onzie Salah. So
there's a structure I guess in place. Wasn't the owner's
son like kind of running things. Wasn't like Landry Fields
(27:11):
running things? Yeah that I told y'all. I fucking told y'all.
This dude is a journalist, Okay, this guy is like
a Golden State. It's like me just to quick taking
over for the fucking Atlanta Hawks. You know this isn't
gonna work out. It's me, But it's a guy. It's
a guy that's like been around the lake a while.
(27:34):
You know, he's like has some has some connections. He's
not a basketball expert. He's a fucking journalist. Day he
wrote a book. He's not a basketball savon. I knew
when they hired him and he hired his little friends
to run the show. Shit was going left. And everybody's like, oh,
it's a two too quick to say no, it's not
(27:54):
too quick to say you can't hire a journalist to
run front of and little owner's son hiring his friends
some bullshit. Okay, Anyway, who knows how this is gonna go.
Same guy running things in terms of the owner's son,
probably probably going left. Keep an eye on him. They're
(28:16):
poking around Myles Turner in Indiana, but Indiana says they're
willing to go into the luxury tax to keep Miles
Turner and Myles Turner just wrote like a ten thousand
word article about how this team believes in him. So
I don't think he's going anywhere. Moving on, we got
some hilarious self shade. It'sika like just what I just
did about me running a team. This is what Shane
(28:38):
Battier did. He dropped one of the funniest quotes I
have heard about the Lebron versus MJ debate. He said,
I'm paraphrasing here. Lebron's the goat because he won two
titles with me as his starting power forward. I don't
think MJ could have done it once Lebron dragged me
(28:58):
across the finish line. Shane, that's a little disingenuous. Okay.
We had Ray Allen, right, did we have Yeah? We
had him, right. We had Dwayne Wade. We yeah, we
had him. We had Chris Bosh who cares that you
were there just being dragged along like hop along Charlie. Okay,
that's hilarious. And Jane Battier, by the way, it's not
(29:20):
a bum. He has two rings. Natty at Duke, he
was all defense, but he was washed. He was playing
out a position. He was in the corner watching Braun
cook for like forty seven minutes a night. And I
know that Lebron alway didn't always have a perfect squad
in Miami, But like, don't do that. Just a funny,
(29:41):
self aware way to make his case. But we move on.
Victor Wemberyama just always delights and presses surprises. He has
officially entered his monk era. Yeah you saw him. He
had a monk costume or a monk uniform whatever it is.
Monk robes, that's what it is, Monk robe. He had
(30:04):
his monk robes on, shaved his head, and he went
to China. He visited the Shaolin temple. He stayed there
for ten days and wore the robes. And he is
trying to figure out a way to unlock his final form,
which is fucking, let's be honest, terrifying, terrifying. If Victor
webbin Yama evolves anymore, he's taking over the earth. That's
(30:28):
what he's doing, is he is. Now there's a TikTok
expose going around that now the Internet is saying that
the Spurs are lying about Wemby's height. People are using
team photos, comparing them to combine measurements, doing digital overlays,
and apparently Wemby is not seven three like they've said,
He's not seven four like they said. He might be
(30:48):
They're saying he's seven seven okay, seven to seven glitch
and the matrix stuff like like, are we okay? You know, like,
is Webby gonna be a long lasting human at seven
to seven? I think at this point it's Guinness Book
of World Records level. You got a seven to seven
(31:10):
French bald monk with a three point jump shot who
can block and has hands the size of my Torso.
I don't know, man, The league might be cooked. The
league might be cooked. Moving on, we gotta check in
on the Greek League. This is incredible. We're gonna have
(31:32):
some butchering here. Panathanacos versus Olympiacos in the finals went
completely off the rails in game two. Panathanacos owner Dimitris
Yana Koppolis, Yeah, I got it, lost his damn mind,
ended up with a ten month ban and a twenty
(31:53):
thousand euro fine. EuroLeague also find both teams and so
that was that. And then this happens in game three,
Evan Fournier Fournier, yes, that one, gets tossed in the
game for obscene gestures. Kendrick Nunn gets ejected for a
hard foul. Then hours after the game, the VP of Olympiacos,
(32:15):
Giorgios Skindilius got arrested, got arrested. Okay, the owner's daughter
filed a lawsuit, he filed a countersuit, and there are
some dark accusations there that I don't think you want
to delve into. Okay, just chaos and wild. It's half
the rosters are NBA guys, former NBA guys. You have
Evan Fournier. You got Kendrick Nunn, you got Cheddy OsmAnd,
(32:39):
You got Wyny and Gabriel, We got Omar youor A seven.
You got Sabin Lee, you got Jerry and Grant, got
Alec Peters. He's your dudes. Okay, here's a your names.
We know Olympiakos won the title in Game four. The drama, though,
might have outshined the basketball. With the NBA launching a
EuroLeague competitor in two years, you already know what's about
(32:59):
to get weird. That's all the time that we have
for this episode of The Eat. Check come back Thursday
for an all new episode, and check out the feed
for past episodes and the occasional mini episodes which might
come at you expectedly, like your mom's kip me infection.
Sorry mom, I broke a hippolaw. Do not forget to
follow the eat check all playoff long that means download,
subscribe me. Tell your friends, all of them, even the
(33:19):
ones you haven't talked to you in years, and follow
us at this key check on TikTok, and I christ
to Cik on Twitter, Instagram and threads. Met his new
social media pot from where I post every day, and
I gotta go through my ring light. It's going out.
Thanks to Wyatt and thank y'all for listening. We'll see
you next time.
On this episode of the Heat Check. Game two is
in the books. And if you didn't have any confidence
in okay, see after game one? Which what are you smoking?
We have a full blown series on our hands, is
it though? Is it? Or it? Did Indiana get themselves
one win and one win only? And it's just about
(00:20):
to be a smacking from then on. The Pacers and
Thunder are throwing haymakers and I'm here to break it down.
We also have a ton of tea from around the
league we haven't had much time for, so put on
put in your Lipton Cup because we have lots to
talk about. Wyatt. You're listening to the Hottest, the Hottest.
(00:40):
It'd be a podcast out here. I said what I said,
it's the heat Check Check Check, which just up critter two.
Finals are two games, and let me say the narratives.
The narratives, baby, they are all over the place. Game
(01:01):
one we add people ready to build a statue outside
of Game Bridge for Tyrese Halliburton most clutch player of
all time, myself included myself included Pacers, Steel won game
on the road, and it's like, ooh, could Indy be
the twenty sixteen Cleveland Cavaliers. After Game two, OKAC put
(01:22):
them to night night, full on beat down. It was
a sixteen point win, but it felt like so much more,
so much more after two games. A lot of people
don't have a clue on how this series is gonna
shake out. I feel personally like, Okasey's just too much
for them boys, I really do. Let's talk it through
(01:44):
Kenny Carraway and I jumped on Casey from DLO and
Casey thirteen twenty. ESPN jumped on on the horn. Right
after Game one. We were riding high on the Pacers bandwagon.
I've been riding high pretty much all year. So I
texted my friend congratulations. Remember I told you I texted
them the congratulations when they made the finals, and they
(02:06):
said four more. I don't know if they were watching
a lot of okay see before when they said that,
because then after they got Game one, I say, congratulations,
this is the most magical run of basketball I've ever
seen in my goddamn life. And the response was gonna
be tough to beat these guys. Three more times. I say, Oh,
they know they're in trouble. They know. Then Game two happened.
(02:28):
The train hit the wall, the offense went to a stall.
Tyrese Halliburton went into the fourth quarter with just four
points on nine shots. We cannot have Halliburton taking less
than double digit shots in a beatdown. We need him
to force the issue. That's what the good fucking ISO
baller point guards do, right, Like, that's what even Steph
(02:52):
who comes off the ball, that's what he does. He
knows it's it's time. Okay, it's time. It's it's dame time.
We need more of Tyrese Haliburton say I'm gonna put
this team on my back. The Pacers were already in
a deep poll because only two teams have ever gone
up two oh starting on the road in the finals,
so this is never gonna probably be the game that
(03:12):
they won. And you could tell though that the Thunder
they made a lot of adjustments. They weren't just resting
on their laurels of what they did in Game one.
They had so much respect for Indy Dagno kept the
starters in until almost the buzzer. They were up nineteen
points to start the fourth quarter, twenty midway through eighteen
(03:34):
two minutes to go, and it was like, we don't
got this. We're not taking chances with these fuckers who
continuously come back down twenty. Meanwhile, Rick Carlisle shockingly pulled
the ripcord for four minutes left. I was like, wow,
you've been down twenty with this point at this point before.
What do you What do you see? I don't see. Well,
(03:56):
he was seeing an offense that looked very stagnant. He
was seeing that the Thunder had these boys on the ropes.
He would seeing that these the Thunder role players could
not be stopped. We got some Johnny Furfey minutes, not
Johnny Murphy. Johnny Furfey, Okay, a guy who is a
rookie and barely played and is now guarding the reigning MVP.
(04:18):
That's who we saw. Okay, So he was a little
shook it. Carlisle said after the game. Sometimes you have
to make tough decisions. That was an easy one, meaning
I knew these guys didn't have it. I knew these
guys didn't have it, And honestly, I think the Pacers
new listen, if we could steal game one, that's pretty
(04:39):
much the game we're stealing, because once they see what
we do, they're gonna make adjustments as well. They said,
let's just not punt game two. We'll compete and then
if we don't got it, we don't got it. Let's
put our guys on ice and wait for our time
in Indy and then put the pressure on. And also
(05:00):
Aliburton was visibly limping after game two, which is not
good considering that he got into a little bit of
injury issue last season going into the Eastern Conference Finals
against Boston Carlile always playing chesne. And then on the
other side, we got to talk about Mark Dagnoll. The
dude is just this is a great example of a
(05:22):
guy coming out of nowhere because we didn't know who
he was like at all. He came there the most
and they were in the middle of the rebuild, so
we kind of weren't like really paying attention to what
they were doing, right, But he was the most under
the radar coach, just slowly surely building this team up
(05:43):
into this monster that they are now. And he made
a very smart adjustment. He did the two big thing.
He did it. We didn't know if he would, We
didn't know if it was successful, We didn't know if
it was a good idea. Isaiah Hartenstein and Chet Holmgren
on the foot at the same time, what would it be.
Maybe they're better going No, they took away Indianapolis's game
(06:03):
plan of going down low and pretty much completely. And
I don't know if it just raddled them or what,
but I was yelling at my TV, dump it down inside,
come on, just get it, get it to them inside,
especially when it was just one big The Pacers got
just one post touch to Siakam. All night. They blitzed
(06:24):
Taliburton a lot. He didn't look comfortable, which we knew
was going to occur because it happened against Anthony Edwards
and it happened against John Moran. John Morant was injured
and taken out of the series. Derrennie Smith and Nemhard
to beat him for three They looked just absolutely befuddled.
They knew that they were taking horrible shots, and they
(06:47):
were like, these are the best shots we're gonna get
right now. This contested two guys draping around me, but
somehow no one's open. That's what we got. A lot
of can tested jumpers from deep from Miles Turner and
Aaron Nesmith and Andrew Nemhard just getting snuffed all the
(07:08):
way around. One time I saw a possession where they
missed five I think four or five consecutive nasty jumpers
got their own rebound, and I'm like, these guys know
they are cooked. They are cooked, and it worked. It worked.
Haliburton had five points on seven shots through three quarters,
(07:28):
drop twelve, and the fourth the game was over. The
game was over at that point. How about you, Halliburton,
see that these other guys are making shots and listen.
I like Halliburton, but the criticism is fair. When your
guys are passing it to are ice cold, don't just
wait for them to maybe magically get warm, for you
to start over, for you to just take over the game.
(07:50):
We need you to take over the game. We need
you to not get into like the last two minutes
before you start to be aggressive. I know that Halliburton
doesn't need thirty to win this game. I know I
know other guys they can go off. But when the
guys that you're passing the ball to are eighteen for
forty three, I'm thirty three percent from deep. I don't
(08:13):
don't know what you do with that. Obi Topphin was
one for eight. Fuck you, Obi Toppin. I had Obi
Toppin to have two threes after five threes the game
before that hurts. Credit to Okac's defense. They made things
just insanely miserable for Indiana. You could tell these guys
wanted no part of it. It looked like there was
(08:35):
an extra guy out there. Caruso Cruse is like a
little pest. By the way, Alex Caruso off the bench.
The we call them the Janitor aka the god who
was a key part of the Lakers and what they
did winning the title. The man was everywhere. How is
he moving so much? He's just always fouling, making your
(08:58):
life hell, and somehow there never call it because again
he's always fouling. And then offensively, Okayse, he just provided
huge changes. Mark Dagno again coming through with adjustments. So yeah,
you had lou Dorton, Case and Wallace who weren't doing much.
They combined for seven points. But guess what, Alex Caruso
(09:19):
got more minutes, came off the bench, gave him twenty
points with four threes. We got to see a little
Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins. Huh, yeah we did. I
had to explain this to my friend, like who are
those guys? Yeah, exactly who are those guys. That's Aaron
Wiggins eighteen points five for eight from Deep. He looked
like exactly the spark from Deep that Okase he needed,
(09:43):
which is like, let's be honest. You're gonna get some
threes from Shay, right, You're gonna get one or two
sometimes five from Dort. You're gonna get a couple threes
from Jalen Williams. But we can't count on that. We
can't count on that at all. You're gonna get a
couple from Chet. We can't count on that. We've seen
(10:03):
these guys go completely cold. Guess who you can count on?
Aaron Wiggins. Aaron Wiggins is a sniper. He is, That's
what his job is. Aaron Wiggins had forty this year.
Aaron Wiggins is no slouch. Whenever Aaron Wiggins gets out
of Okay, see, he's gonna have a real role. He's
gonna be a starter. Then you add in the thirty
(10:24):
four from Shay much more efficient thirty four, and you've
got a recipe for a disaster for Indy, just to
blow out Shay looked like he could not miss I
don't I don't know which how many shots he did
miss I didn't look it up, but it felt like
none defensively, Like I said, okaysee was just locked in
fifteen forced turnovers, fourteen combined blocks and steals. Shay had
(10:46):
four swipes alone. Then and then when you saw Chet
who had a horrible game, one have back to back
buckets to close the first quarter and they were contested.
One of one came off of like a scramble that
probably should have gone Indiana's way. Ball goes to chat
and tested three splash. I was like, oh, okay, it's curtains.
(11:08):
It's curtains. When Wiggins hits that step back in the
second quarter to push the lead to eleven, it's curtains.
It's curtains. There these books, pack them up, go back
to Indy. It felt like the air well then they
air didn't leave the building for okay see, because that's
where they were. It felt like it got very tense,
very loud, very hard to think. And we've seen Indie clawback.
(11:31):
That's what they do, right, that's what they do. We
know we'd make some sort of a run and they
cut of did. But every time they made a run, okay,
so he made a bigger run. It was it was
a wrap by halftime, they cut it to like eleven
or something, and then it was like back up to
nineteen and thirty seconds. So now we head to Indy
for Game three on Wednesday night. Who needs it more?
(11:55):
Who needs it? I mean Indy needs it more. Let's
be real. I'm not worried about okay See at all.
And I was feeling like Indiana was disrespected and they
are disrespected. But okay See is fucking so good. They
run guys out. You've not seen what are they doing
out there? Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe getting minutes and
(12:18):
giving you twenty points? Come on, if you do that, listen.
We know that Okay, He's not a great road team,
and maybe they'll get blown out in Game three and
maybe the narrative will shift again. But this is just
a team until they're dad. I'm gonna believe in, especially
considering that it feels like those on the Indiana staff
(12:39):
feel the same way. I fully expect Carlisle to have
the Pacers ready to punch back. The Game three is
a vast fascinating one. What is Dagna gonna do? Is
he going back to the two big lineup? Is he
gonna go ultra small and play Jalen with Williams at
the five. Is there a new wrinkle that we haven't
anticipated yet? Is Polkashevsky coming back from the dead? What
(13:01):
Poku is is my man? Is my man? Nicola tapicch
back from injury? Is he gonna make an appearance? Are
we gonna see what's his name? Kid that went to
Mesich come back from the euro League? What are we doing?
What are we doing? The chess match is fascinating. I
(13:21):
know that people say that this is the least watch
final since nineteen eighty eight. These are two elite teams
and two elite coaches. And if you're not watching, that's
on you. That is on you cannot wait for Game three?
All right, let's get into it. The t the news
around the league. Lots going on right now. Let's start
with the Nicks. So as we all know, the Knicks. Shockingly,
(13:45):
even though this has kind of been like simmering for
years now, truly years, is when is TIB's gonna get
fired if they don't do this, Tips is getting fired.
If they don't do that, Tips is getting fired. This
We've been talking about this for a long time. Back
to my WFA N days. But they did it. It happened.
The team came down on Tibbs's neck. We got James
Dolan out here like Joffrey with the steak showing us
(14:09):
Tibbs's head out there in the sand, and we don't
really know why. We don't really know what happened. There's
a lot of rumors flying. Some say that players were
throwing TIBs under the bus and I can't play with
this guy anymore aka Karl Anthony Towns. Let's be honest,
he's already been coached by TIBs once before. Some people
are putting the blame on Kittie Cat. Some people are
(14:30):
blaming Leon Rose. Other people are saying, now that the
sphere is done, James Dolan has his head back on
towards close to the you know, just centered and on
the knicks. He's got the laser being pointed at the knicks.
And then he never liked TIBs and he's just waiting
for an excuse to push him out, which is like
(14:51):
a hell of a time to push him out. Honestly,
there were other times where they probably had more of
a reason, like when they missed the playoffs or when
they lost to the heat. There were other times we
don't know the story. We probably aren't gonna know. I
guess I bet you what though, If I see World
Why West in Vegas, I'm asking, I'm asking him what
(15:12):
the fuck happened with Tips? If I see TIBs that
summer league, I'm asking, what happened? Baby? Don't you think
it's a little fucked up? How they did you? Which
thinks a little fucked up? How you guys did Tips? Anyway,
none of them talked to the press. That's the only
time you're gonna hear from Tips. Will probably join like
some staff. He's getting paid a lot of money though,
(15:34):
I think twenty something million dollars on his extension. What
we do know, though, is this, the Knicks have a target.
They have a target. Who is it? Whispers? Who is it?
He's already coaching another damn it's Jason Kidd And apparently
the interest is mutual, according to Mark Stein, So okay,
(15:58):
this is puzzling to me for a variety of reasons.
From Kid's side, I kind of get it. The MAVs
fucking terrible. They just did all these things behind your back.
They didn't include you. They left you out there to
the wolves to explain something you had nothing to do with,
and you keep saying I didn't know. I really didn't.
(16:20):
I didn't sign off on this. I love Luca. Don't
talk to me about this. Talk to those fools. Okay.
Imagine like the guy that's the one coaching the team,
or how about this if you're a chef. I always
make this comparison. You're a chef, right, And then the
owner of the restaurant decides, we're taking garlic and onions off.
(16:44):
We're just not wordering them anymore. They're gone. We're getting
rid of them as an ingredient. They're gone. So just
we're not gonna ask you, Hey, how impactful is this
for you? We're no more, no more steak, no more play.
They're done. It's done. Just come in the next day
and just act like everything's normal. And it's like, hey,
why is it steak on them any anymore? It's like this,
fuck f I know, like these fools, I don't know.
(17:05):
How do you not get looped in on the deal?
Your star sharp player getting moved traded away. We saw
a kid sitting next to Nico with Nico being like
defense with championships defense with championships. He's like, this guy's
an idiot. This guy is so dumb, and they're looking
at kid and kids kind of shaking his head. He's
got the backwards hat on. Remember he had the backwards
(17:27):
at I'm like, listen, I'm not about business right now,
because these guys aren't about business, so I kind of
see it. Also, though, on the other hand, Kid's probably
safe in Dallas. They've got Cooper Flag coming in. He's
a rookie. Kyrie's coming off of injury, AD's coming off
(17:49):
of injury. There's a little runway for him to be like, hey,
it's not really all peaches and cream yet, give me
a little time. Right They don't succeed right away. Plus
management and owners thought Luca was responsible for all of
the downfall of this team. So you're okay, you're safe,
no state tax, better weather. I you know, it's tough.
(18:11):
But on the other hand, what I really don't understand
is why did the Knicks want Jason kidd ties to
New York. I mean, he's a point guard coach, But listen,
if you want to look at success with a point guard,
nobody has more success with the point guard that people
discarded than Tips. Jalen Brus was the second round pick
(18:32):
and the Knicks swooped him from the MAVs that same team,
and the MAVs they wan't pay him. And then Tis
turned turned Leaks into like Filet Mignot, Okay, what are
we doing? He turned him into an All NBA player,
one of the best guards in the league, clutch player
of the year. What more can kid do with this
point guard? And you're not You just fired a coach
(18:55):
for not getting over the hump aka, not going to
the finals or winning a championship. So looking at a
guy who caught lightning in a bottle against what like
the OKC thunder who weren't really ready yet, and a
depleted a team that had just come off of a
seven game series they shouldn't have won against the Denver
Nuggets when they were down twenty in the fourth quarter,
(19:16):
and then you get cooked and by Boston when you
get there. Come on, sir, I don't murder, murder. I
don't believe you. I don't know that you're capable. Plus,
what did you do in Milwaukee? What did you do Milwaukee?
You got fired? It was a disaster. Nobody's looking at
the Knicks and being like, you know who they need
to beat Okace or Denver or Boston again when they're
(19:39):
fully healthy. Its Jason Kidd. They just beat the one
team that everyone thought they could not beat with Tom Thibodeaux.
I don't know, man, it feels stupid, it does. It
feels the more you think about it, the dumber it sounds.
Cause it's like the downsides and if you think, oh,
(20:02):
like this is the best Tips is ever gonna do,
and like they collapsed. They melted in the sun in
game one. They probably should have won. The other little
cute game they lost against the Pacers. I think it
was game three or four. What what are we doing?
And the only way you're getting kid is by trading
(20:23):
for him? And you don't have any picks because you
traded a million of them for Michel Bridges. Baby, baby,
what is you doing? And you might as well try
to go after email Udoka then if you're willing to
do that, and Dallas isn't letting kid walk. The last
time a coach got traded, it was Doc Rivers and
the Clippers gave up a first rounder to Boston. The
(20:44):
pick ended up being RJ. Hunter, but that's still like, regardless,
you're gonna give up assets for Jason Kid, don't do it.
Don't do it unless Jason Kidd had some sort of
like bat phone to Giannis, which I don't think will
work anyway. With Brunson, I don't see the vision. I
really just do not see the vision at all. Anyway,
(21:05):
let's talk about let's talk about Boston. Let's pivot moving on.
We got a big development here, and the development is
the Drew Holiday is apparently on the trade block. Yeah,
the guy who pushed two teams to titles, the guy
who's the final piece, is now on the trade block again.
First Milwaukee, now Boston. The Celtics are ready to move him.
(21:25):
So on one on one level, that's like baffling to me.
Because you need a guard who can defend on the perimeter.
It's very important. You need a guy who can score
seventeen on a random night in the playoffs. It's like
Drew's kind of getting older, he is, and next year,
(21:46):
next year is kind of a punted year. So then
you say, all right, so Drew's what thirty one? At
that point, Drew is see oh, no, thirty six. At
that time, he's thirty four now, so maybe thirty six
at that time. I don't know why I thought he
was thirty one. He's just aging like fine wine, thirty
six at that time. That you can then get back
(22:09):
to contention and Tatum, we don't know how the process
of healing is gonna go. The surgery that he had
was quite novel like. It's not the most normal surgery
in terms of the timing. So I get it. Mark
Stein says, they're asking for a first round pick and
matching salary. See, this is where you lost me. I
think you might have to give up bassets for Drew
(22:30):
Holliday given his age and the fact that everyone in
the league knows you're shedding salary. Everybody in the league
knows you are in a bund because you have a
new owner and you guys don't have a real contention
shot next year, and because of that, you're getting rid
of anyone that doesn't fit the timeline. And he's got
three years left on his deal on one hundred and
(22:50):
four million dollars left, so yikes, and a player option
at the end wherever he goes, he's locked in through
age thirty eight. So I don't know, baby, I don't know, baby,
people are giving your first round bit for that, you
might need to take on some bad salaries that expire
earlier than him and just eat it, Just fucking eat it.
(23:13):
Send him to Houston, that'd be sick. I want Houston
to be good so bad. Send them to Detroit, that
would be sick. There are only a few guys in
the league that can come into the locker room and
do what Drew does. But man, did it feel like
this last year he took a step down. MAVs wantam
Kings want um Kings are in the mix to flip
(23:34):
de Rose into Boston, a deal which I don't know
how I like about that. Maybe the little zach Lavine
get you some get you some points. We'll give you
zach Lavine. We like. I'm a part of the Sacramento team.
But you know what I'm trying to say, Drew, I think, though,
is always a guy who you should consider to be underrated.
Players love him, coaches love him. He's a defensive dog,
(23:56):
he's super smart, he's low ego off the court, one
of the best people in the league. Has philanthropy, community stuff.
Wherever he goes, he is gonna help somebody Is he
worth one hundred and five million dollars though, that's the question.
Moving on, sad news out of Cleveland. For everyone who
(24:16):
was talking shit about Darius Garland's injury and how he
was soft and he should be playing and not sitting
his ass on the bench with his little baby tow
injury that they called it or whatever they said, we
now have some news a way worse toe injury than
anyone thought. He heard it back in March against Utah.
He reinjured in the playoffs, missed a bunch of games,
tried to gut it out, didn't look good. Now he's
(24:38):
had surgery on that big toe and now we're looking
at five months of recovery time. Yikes. Yeah, he's probably
gonna miss the first month of next season. And what
makes this even messier is that Garland's name is floating
around in trade conversation, so much so that Hoops Hype
had to come out and say, uh, Cleveland gat leaders
(24:59):
are not going to trade Darius Garland to Orlando, not
anywhere but just Orlando. For sure. Teams are interested. He's
coming off of an All Star season. He had a
sixty to five win team. The hype'es there. But now,
how does the surgery change the math? I don't know.
We don't know how it affects his market. We don't
know how it affects how Cleveland sees him. I hope
(25:20):
he gets right though. Darius Garland's a very fun player.
I just don't know that he works with Donovan Mitchell.
That's really it. The Calves as a whole. I still
feel like they have something to prove, but it does
feel like they're ready and itching to make a change.
Moving on another injury, tough break in Memphis. Zach Edie,
last year's lottery pick, resprained his ankle in a workout
and now he is having surgery to stabilize it. Yikes,
(25:45):
that's really bad. When you're a big man and you're
in your twenties and you're already having ankle or any
lower extremity issues, that is a big red flag. That
is the foundation you're messing with that this early in
your career, that that can be bad. Ask Sam Buoy
how he feels smell his lower legs early on in
(26:05):
his career getting fucked up. Ask Greg Odin how his
lower extremities are doing. It can turn into a long
term thing. It can get you out the league. Baby,
ask y'allming how he's doing. Hopefully he recovers, but that
is just really a rough start. Moving on to the Hawks,
we got to talk about them. They are cooking something up.
Don't know what it is, don't know if it's good,
(26:27):
but it's stuff. It's things happening in motion. They just
brought in this guy, Bryson Graham from New Orleans, who
is now their senior VP of Basketball Ops. He's been
with the Pelicans since twenty ten. He took over GM
duties after Trajan Langdon bounced for Detroit. But then they
grabbed Peter Dinwittie from Philly who is senior VP of
(26:50):
Strategy and Analytics. He's spent over a decade with the
Pacers before joining the Sixers and twenty twenty. I should
probably ask some of my Pacers crew about him. Both
of these guys are reporting the GM Onzie Salah. So
there's a structure I guess in place. Wasn't the owner's
son like kind of running things. Wasn't like Landry Fields
(27:11):
running things? Yeah that I told y'all. I fucking told y'all.
This dude is a journalist, Okay, this guy is like
a Golden State. It's like me just to quick taking
over for the fucking Atlanta Hawks. You know this isn't
gonna work out. It's me, But it's a guy. It's
a guy that's like been around the lake a while.
(27:34):
You know, he's like has some has some connections. He's
not a basketball expert. He's a fucking journalist. Day he
wrote a book. He's not a basketball savon. I knew
when they hired him and he hired his little friends
to run the show. Shit was going left. And everybody's like, oh,
it's a two too quick to say no, it's not
(27:54):
too quick to say you can't hire a journalist to
run front of and little owner's son hiring his friends
some bullshit. Okay, Anyway, who knows how this is gonna go.
Same guy running things in terms of the owner's son,
probably probably going left. Keep an eye on him. They're
(28:16):
poking around Myles Turner in Indiana, but Indiana says they're
willing to go into the luxury tax to keep Miles
Turner and Myles Turner just wrote like a ten thousand
word article about how this team believes in him. So
I don't think he's going anywhere. Moving on, we got
some hilarious self shade. It'sika like just what I just
did about me running a team. This is what Shane
(28:38):
Battier did. He dropped one of the funniest quotes I
have heard about the Lebron versus MJ debate. He said,
I'm paraphrasing here. Lebron's the goat because he won two
titles with me as his starting power forward. I don't
think MJ could have done it once Lebron dragged me
(28:58):
across the finish line. Shane, that's a little disingenuous. Okay.
We had Ray Allen, right, did we have Yeah? We
had him, right. We had Dwayne Wade. We yeah, we
had him. We had Chris Bosh who cares that you
were there just being dragged along like hop along Charlie. Okay,
that's hilarious. And Jane Battier, by the way, it's not
(29:20):
a bum. He has two rings. Natty at Duke, he
was all defense, but he was washed. He was playing
out a position. He was in the corner watching Braun
cook for like forty seven minutes a night. And I
know that Lebron alway didn't always have a perfect squad
in Miami, But like, don't do that. Just a funny,
(29:41):
self aware way to make his case. But we move on.
Victor Wemberyama just always delights and presses surprises. He has
officially entered his monk era. Yeah you saw him. He
had a monk costume or a monk uniform whatever it is.
Monk robes, that's what it is, Monk robe. He had
(30:04):
his monk robes on, shaved his head, and he went
to China. He visited the Shaolin temple. He stayed there
for ten days and wore the robes. And he is
trying to figure out a way to unlock his final form,
which is fucking, let's be honest, terrifying, terrifying. If Victor
webbin Yama evolves anymore, he's taking over the earth. That's
(30:28):
what he's doing, is he is. Now there's a TikTok
expose going around that now the Internet is saying that
the Spurs are lying about Wemby's height. People are using
team photos, comparing them to combine measurements, doing digital overlays,
and apparently Wemby is not seven three like they've said,
He's not seven four like they said. He might be
(30:48):
They're saying he's seven seven okay, seven to seven glitch
and the matrix stuff like like, are we okay? You know, like,
is Webby gonna be a long lasting human at seven
to seven? I think at this point it's Guinness Book
of World Records level. You got a seven to seven
(31:10):
French bald monk with a three point jump shot who
can block and has hands the size of my Torso.
I don't know, man, The league might be cooked. The
league might be cooked. Moving on, we gotta check in
on the Greek League. This is incredible. We're gonna have
(31:32):
some butchering here. Panathanacos versus Olympiacos in the finals went
completely off the rails in game two. Panathanacos owner Dimitris
Yana Koppolis, Yeah, I got it, lost his damn mind,
ended up with a ten month ban and a twenty
(31:53):
thousand euro fine. EuroLeague also find both teams and so
that was that. And then this happens in game three,
Evan Fournier Fournier, yes, that one, gets tossed in the
game for obscene gestures. Kendrick Nunn gets ejected for a
hard foul. Then hours after the game, the VP of Olympiacos,
(32:15):
Giorgios Skindilius got arrested, got arrested. Okay, the owner's daughter
filed a lawsuit, he filed a countersuit, and there are
some dark accusations there that I don't think you want
to delve into. Okay, just chaos and wild. It's half
the rosters are NBA guys, former NBA guys. You have
Evan Fournier. You got Kendrick Nunn, you got Cheddy OsmAnd,
(32:39):
You got Wyny and Gabriel, We got Omar youor A seven.
You got Sabin Lee, you got Jerry and Grant, got
Alec Peters. He's your dudes. Okay, here's a your names.
We know Olympiakos won the title in Game four. The drama, though,
might have outshined the basketball. With the NBA launching a
EuroLeague competitor in two years, you already know what's about
(32:59):
to get weird. That's all the time that we have
for this episode of The Eat. Check come back Thursday
for an all new episode, and check out the feed
for past episodes and the occasional mini episodes which might
come at you expectedly, like your mom's kip me infection.
Sorry mom, I broke a hippolaw. Do not forget to
follow the eat check all playoff long that means download,
subscribe me. Tell your friends, all of them, even the
(33:19):
ones you haven't talked to you in years, and follow
us at this key check on TikTok, and I christ
to Cik on Twitter, Instagram and threads. Met his new
social media pot from where I post every day, and
I gotta go through my ring light. It's going out.
Thanks to Wyatt and thank y'all for listening. We'll see
you next time.
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