June 3, 2025 • 17 mins
Jerry Brewer of The Washington Post joins Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain to talk about the Pacers facing the Thunder in the NBA Finals including feelings from Seattle on what might be about to happen, the hunger for the sport here, and the NBA on TNT.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's time for our weekly conversation with award winning Washington
Post columnist Jerry Brewer, brought to you by Northwest Handling Systems.
From forklift to Pella jacks conveyors to loading dock equipment,
we sell, rent and service all your warehouse he needs.
Request a quote today at NWHS dot com or give
us a call at four two five two five five
(00:22):
zero five hundred. Now with Jerry Brewer. Here's Softy and Dick.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Hey, big thanks to our buddy Eric over at Northwest
Handling Systems for doing this. I don't know about you, Dick,
but I was a little bit concerned after the great
performance by Jerry Brewer a year ago that we would
not be able to meet his growing financial demands.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
But we pulled it off. Somehow, someway we pulled it off.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Eric came through and said, I don't care what a cost,
get the guy back on the air. He's back with
us now, courtesy of our friends at Northwest Handling Systems.
From the Washington Post, our buddy Jerry Brewer, Jerry, how
are you man?
Speaker 4 (00:58):
I'm doing great. You didn't even have to involve Montlake Futures,
so I'm happy.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Yeah, unbelievable. Well, you know what, Listen, We'll see what
happens next year.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
Man.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
We may have to go, you know, pull a Microsoft
and lay some people off to pay you next season.
But we're glad to have you back fired up, to
have you back on the air. And let me just
ask your flat out. And first of all, I apologize
for my voice. I've been in Greece for two weeks
and I have no idea where I lost it, but
I'll try and find it again at some point. Are
you going to be in Oklahoma City on Thursday covering
(01:27):
Game one? And if you are, what do you think
that experience will be like for you personally to sit
there in that arena and watch the NBA Finals.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
No, my boss has decided they didn't want to have
me and the NBA writer cover this small market finals.
They wanted to save a little money, and I was
okay with that, Like, I don't know how I would
be able to objectively break down the finals in that
way without thinking about Seattle and the Sonics the whole hime.
Speaker 5 (02:01):
How do you think the small market Finals will impact
the ratings nationally? And then how do you think Oklahoma
City being in it? Will impact the ratings locally.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
I'll ask the last question first. I mean, it's gonna
flat line. I mean, I just I don't think that
many people here are gonna watch games like that. I mean,
there'll be some gatherings and some hate watching, and some
of us who are really rabid basketball fans will continue
to pay attention. But yeah, I think it's gonna gonna
be like a zero point one or whatever, just like
(02:38):
barely anything nationally. Obviously, I think we need to figure
out a better way to decide whether something is interesting
or compelling or boring than just flat TV ratings. I'm
starting to think that's it catches the extremes, but it's
pretty an antiquated way I think to look at things.
(03:00):
It's not gonna do well. You've got you've got two
of the smallest you know, five or eight markets in
the NBA, right, so it's not going to do well.
I will say, just like looking at the two basketball teams,
I think that those teams are gonna they're interesting teams
to me. Good players, merging players, fun styles of play,
(03:26):
you know, especially with how fast the Pacers play, and
just this ball hawking defense that the thunder have so
I think it's going to be interesting, but we're We're
not at the point in the NBA where you can
have Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills in the AFC
title Game and break records. And I'm not sure we're
(03:47):
ever going to be that way. I think that's just
exclusive to football.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Yeah, there's only two markets in the NBA, believe Jerry's
smaller than OKC, and that's New Orleans and Memphis at
fifty and fifty one. So I love the decision that
your boss made because the less I have to read
about this thing, the better. I mean, no disrespect to you.
If I got to read it from anybody, I'd like
to read it from you. But the less coverage this
thing gets, the better. And look, I'm with a lot
of people. I don't plan on watching this thing at
(04:13):
all unless I know the Pacers are up twenty points
for five minutes to go in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
But I also know that.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Seeing the results and the impending celebration if they do win,
the thunder is inevitable. There's no way to avoid it
unless you stay off social media, turn off the NBA, TV,
turn off ESPN.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
And I just got back after two weeks of vacation.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
You think I'd be in a good mood, and I'm
all pissed off all of a sudden about this thing.
I just can't believe that we're about to watch this
as basketball fans in Seattle, and to me, this is
gonna be maybe the most painful thing I've seen since
the twenty fourteen Super Bowl if they pull it off.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
And I'm pissed.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
Yeah, And unfortunate part, Softy is that we may have
to watch it more than once. I mean, they've got
I don't think we're in the dynasty era of the
NBA anymore. But if there's a team that's well equipped
to win more than once, it's probably this team.
Speaker 5 (05:13):
Talk to us about the piece that you wrote a
couple of days ago about Seattle and how the thunder
success has reopened wounds.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
Well, it was a piece that I was hoping to
have a few more days on, and so I've gotten
a few callbacks about things that I was asking, you know,
since it's published, and I was like, well, they just
wanted to rush it and get it in the Sunday
Washington Toast. But I just wanted to write a piece
kind of setting the scene a little bit on Seattle
(05:43):
here and focus focused a lot on how we you know,
as people who live in the city in this area.
I want the opportunity for the Sonics to write their
own story again and want to get that history back
instead of this weird shared custody we have of the
(06:04):
history and it's more of a media thing. Like Clay Bennett,
you know. I mean, Clay Bennet would stare me down
if I ran into him, but I'll give him credit
on one thing, and that is in part part of that,
like is crediting former Sonics players for not wanting to
be honored in any way by the Thunder. But Clay
(06:28):
has not gone and emphasized that history. He's just kind
of let it sit. And the problem is the media
really hasn't. And so this Sonic Slash Thunder and like
nineteen seventy nine was the last time, It's like, it's
pretty easy to divide the two, very very easy to
(06:49):
provide the two, and I wish people would just do that.
And the only way we get to tell this story
again is by getting the NBA back. I wanted just
to kind of I wanted more of a hopeful tone too,
because one of the things I'm impressed with seventeen years
later is just how much we can talk about anger
(07:12):
and frustration and all that stuff. But it's amazing to
me how if you get a group of Sonics fans together,
how much love and hope and community there is still
around the team, and that's what's going to ultimately bring
the team back. Let's just hope that the cold business
(07:35):
can finish the jobs.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
No, it's been fascinating to watch an impressive right, to
be honest with you, I mean the way Sonic fans
of rally. I mentioned this to Dick in the opening segment.
The fact that we know a guy Jamie Munson of
simply Seattle Jerry, who founded a business on the backs
of a basketball team that no longer exists and has
had success is amazing. It's a testament to how much
(07:57):
passion there still is for this team in Seattle. But
you mentioned the shared history and we get all mad.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
You go online.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Second, you know, title since seventy nine if they win,
or third finals appearing since ninety six. Blah blah blah.
Why do people do that? Why does the NBA do that?
Why does the what you know, ESPN their partners. As
you said, it's easy. Just don't do it right. Just
look at the Thunder since two thousand and eight as
(08:25):
a separate entity.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Why why do these people do this?
Speaker 4 (08:29):
Because people could be stupid and simple. It's just it's
the easiest explanation that they're trying some way to explain
how this franchise used to be another franchise and in
their own way, I think they're paying respects to the Sonics,
but instead they're just reopening the wound. And it's easy,
(08:54):
just I mean, it's just, it's as simple as this.
To me, Oklahoma City has never so celebrated in the
NBA Championship just to say this is Oklahoma City's you know,
if they win it, this is Oklahoma City's first championship period, Like,
just leave Seattle out of that. And I was talking
to Donald Watts the other day and we were just
(09:16):
talking about, you know why they've had a pretty sweet run,
you know, because they tore down the team at the
end in Seattle. They've had a pretty sweet seventeen years.
They don't need off fifty eight years. They've had three
damn MVPs in seventeen years. That's a really special run.
(09:36):
That they've had, and they've exceeded my expectations for like
what a franchise could be in such a small market
like Oklahoma City. So that's fine, you know, like let them,
let them live their lives, but like, let us live
our lives too, But we won't get to fully, you know,
enjoy that experience until there's a team back here.
Speaker 5 (10:00):
The first of our weekly conversations this summer with Jerry Brewer,
brought to you by Northwest Handling Systems. Jerry, how do
you gauge the overall hunger for the NBA in the city.
I mean, there is a very vocal minority element that
doesn't want anything to do with the league. How much
of a minority do you think that element is?
Speaker 4 (10:22):
It's It's it's really hard to know, Dick. I think
there is ample passion to bring the team back here,
and I know that the city is so big, and
I think the Sonic fandom, you know, if you consider
even just people who are fans from outside of the city,
(10:42):
is so vast that it's hard to know exactly how
that pie is sliced. I do think it's the minority.
I don't think it's an insignificant minority. But there's a
there's a minority of Seattle sports fans who don't care
anything about the Sonic, about the Seahawks, or don't care
anything about the Mariners, and so like, I think we
(11:05):
try to bundle everything in there together sometimes instead of
focusing on like, well, what's the base and what's the
real passionate base and how big is it? And you
can't have the entire slice of pie in the sports scene.
But is the slice that you're asking for big enough?
Speaker 3 (11:24):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (11:24):
Absolutely, it's big enough. There's enough passion, and then there's
as much money as we had in the city in
eight it's substantially a bigger, more cosmopolitan, more resourced city
than it was seventeen years ago.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
Yeah. No, I agree with you on that.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Jerry, talk to us about how the Pacers can almost
do the impossible and pull this off. We're here at
the Emerald Queen, Oklahoma City is a heavy heavy favorite
to win the NBA Championship over Indiana.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
What is your gut tell you? How is it unlikely?
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Is it that Tyrese Talliburton and the Indiana Pacers can
shock the world and win this series?
Speaker 4 (12:09):
It's gonna be hard, man, I mean, the the the
basketball head and me thinks it's gonna be very similar
to the Denver Miami Heat series a couple of years
ago when the Nuggets won that fairly easily. But I'll
give you, I'll give you a possible route. Now, Oklahoma City.
(12:30):
Outside of Alex Caruso, there's not a lot of experience
on this team at all. And so the problem is
is that Indiana outside of Pascal Siakam, there's not a
lot of experience there either. I think they have Thomas
Bryant who want to ring and he's deep on the bench. Uh.
They do have a championship coach in Rick Carlisle, who
(12:51):
pulled off, you know, a mild surprise when when that
veteran Dallas Mavericks team beat Lebron James, Dwayne Wade and
Chris Bosh and the Heat in twenty eleven. And so
I think that Carlisle's creativity. I think he's gonna dial
up some stuff that's going to frustrate the Thunder and
(13:13):
we'll see how they respond. It is a shock. It's
very jarring playing the Pacers because no matter what you do,
they keep running and they keep attacking. You score a
basket they're running off of may basket that they are
one of the most brilliant offensive teams and systems that
(13:34):
I've seen in quite a while. Tyrese Halliburton, for all
this argument about is he a superstar or not, he's
a really really good floor in general, and his greatest
strength is that he doesn't turn the ball over almost
at all. Especially for a high assist guy. The Thunder
are going to harass the hell out of Tyrese Haliburton.
(13:54):
And if he's just missing shot, that's fine, or he's
not getting shot, that's fine. If he turns the ball over,
that's the problem. But if he doesn't turn the ball over,
I think it's going to give them a chance to
have more of these games where they score one hundred
and twenty five points or so and are able to
put some pressure on an Oklahoma City's Thunder team that
(14:17):
relies they rely so much on their defense to score.
And if you can get them in a game in
which they've got to make a bunch of three point shots,
they've got to, like do more than just give the
ball to Shay in the half court. That's going to
give you a chance to win. They got to get
Game one. You got to put some doubt in the
(14:38):
minds of this young athletics team that's going to be
heavily favored, and if they can get Game one, I
think we've got a chance to get a long series
and I think that's the route to them possibly pulling
off this upset.
Speaker 5 (14:53):
Well, Jerry, almost as big as story nationally as the
Pacers beat and the Knicks was was the final in
Inside the NBA Show, and that just shows you how
big that show has been over the last thirty five years.
Is this the death of the greatest sports studio show
this generation scene? Because ESPN's gonna espnify it or do
(15:14):
you think they'll actually let it be and let it
breathe and be its own entity like it has been.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
The structure of everything. You know. The fact that it's
still going to be produced out of Atlanta, same production team,
all that and just seems like they're just being outsourced
to ESPN. It makes you. It gives you hope that
it's going to be the same thing. You do worry though,
like the thing that ESPN has maybe that TNT doesn't,
is like all these advertisings and all this stuff and
(15:42):
Sports Center as a franchise and Scott Van Pelt making
so much money and being so important to that product,
and what they do at night postgame the thing with
as good as inside the NBA is at any time
inside the NBA is best on his postgame show. And
I'm really eager to see, like, are we going to
(16:03):
have a full, robust, hour long, forty minute long, however
long it is they do all these postgame shows. Are
you gonna let it run its course? Or is it
going to be one of these quick things? Are you
going to try to merge some of your ESPN talent
with them on occasion? I don't want to see any
guest spots from Steven A. Smith. I don't want to
(16:24):
see any moments unless Ernie is sick, in which you
know someone else's is hosting the three of them. I
don't want any of that stuff. I want to see
big Perk on there. Nothing right. I just wanted to
be inside the NBA. And they can guarantee you that
it's going to be inside the NBA, But until we
see it and fill it in that ESPN structure, we
(16:47):
can't depend on it. And here's one thing for sure,
Please please, please, whatever you do do not put it
on ABC. It ruins the show. If it's on ABC.
It needs to be on ESPN the whole time, whenever
they're on.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Yeah, it needs to be on cable TV, is what
you're talking about. That's what it needs to be on. Yeah,
no doubt. Jerry Brewer can't say how fired up we
are to have you back on the air.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
Great stuff.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
We'll do it every Tuesday at four o'clock for the
foreseeable future.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
All right, great stuff, and we're talking away man.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
All right, that sounds great.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
All right, Jerry Brewer with us on the radio show.
We've got to break the latest on the Seahawks. Is
there the latest on the Seahawks? Next on ninety three
to three KJRFM.
It's time for our weekly conversation with award winning Washington
Post columnist Jerry Brewer, brought to you by Northwest Handling Systems.
From forklift to Pella jacks conveyors to loading dock equipment,
we sell, rent and service all your warehouse he needs.
Request a quote today at NWHS dot com or give
us a call at four two five two five five
(00:22):
zero five hundred. Now with Jerry Brewer. Here's Softy and Dick.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Hey, big thanks to our buddy Eric over at Northwest
Handling Systems for doing this. I don't know about you, Dick,
but I was a little bit concerned after the great
performance by Jerry Brewer a year ago that we would
not be able to meet his growing financial demands.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
But we pulled it off. Somehow, someway we pulled it off.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Eric came through and said, I don't care what a cost,
get the guy back on the air. He's back with
us now, courtesy of our friends at Northwest Handling Systems.
From the Washington Post, our buddy Jerry Brewer, Jerry, how
are you man?
Speaker 4 (00:58):
I'm doing great. You didn't even have to involve Montlake Futures,
so I'm happy.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Yeah, unbelievable. Well, you know what, Listen, We'll see what
happens next year.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
Man.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
We may have to go, you know, pull a Microsoft
and lay some people off to pay you next season.
But we're glad to have you back fired up, to
have you back on the air. And let me just
ask your flat out. And first of all, I apologize
for my voice. I've been in Greece for two weeks
and I have no idea where I lost it, but
I'll try and find it again at some point. Are
you going to be in Oklahoma City on Thursday covering
(01:27):
Game one? And if you are, what do you think
that experience will be like for you personally to sit
there in that arena and watch the NBA Finals.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
No, my boss has decided they didn't want to have
me and the NBA writer cover this small market finals.
They wanted to save a little money, and I was
okay with that, Like, I don't know how I would
be able to objectively break down the finals in that
way without thinking about Seattle and the Sonics the whole hime.
Speaker 5 (02:01):
How do you think the small market Finals will impact
the ratings nationally? And then how do you think Oklahoma
City being in it? Will impact the ratings locally.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
I'll ask the last question first. I mean, it's gonna
flat line. I mean, I just I don't think that
many people here are gonna watch games like that. I mean,
there'll be some gatherings and some hate watching, and some
of us who are really rabid basketball fans will continue
to pay attention. But yeah, I think it's gonna gonna
be like a zero point one or whatever, just like
(02:38):
barely anything nationally. Obviously, I think we need to figure
out a better way to decide whether something is interesting
or compelling or boring than just flat TV ratings. I'm
starting to think that's it catches the extremes, but it's
pretty an antiquated way I think to look at things.
(03:00):
It's not gonna do well. You've got you've got two
of the smallest you know, five or eight markets in
the NBA, right, so it's not going to do well.
I will say, just like looking at the two basketball teams,
I think that those teams are gonna they're interesting teams
to me. Good players, merging players, fun styles of play,
(03:26):
you know, especially with how fast the Pacers play, and
just this ball hawking defense that the thunder have so
I think it's going to be interesting, but we're We're
not at the point in the NBA where you can
have Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills in the AFC
title Game and break records. And I'm not sure we're
(03:47):
ever going to be that way. I think that's just
exclusive to football.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Yeah, there's only two markets in the NBA, believe Jerry's
smaller than OKC, and that's New Orleans and Memphis at
fifty and fifty one. So I love the decision that
your boss made because the less I have to read
about this thing, the better. I mean, no disrespect to you.
If I got to read it from anybody, I'd like
to read it from you. But the less coverage this
thing gets, the better. And look, I'm with a lot
of people. I don't plan on watching this thing at
(04:13):
all unless I know the Pacers are up twenty points
for five minutes to go in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
But I also know that.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Seeing the results and the impending celebration if they do win,
the thunder is inevitable. There's no way to avoid it
unless you stay off social media, turn off the NBA, TV,
turn off ESPN.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
And I just got back after two weeks of vacation.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
You think I'd be in a good mood, and I'm
all pissed off all of a sudden about this thing.
I just can't believe that we're about to watch this
as basketball fans in Seattle, and to me, this is
gonna be maybe the most painful thing I've seen since
the twenty fourteen Super Bowl if they pull it off.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
And I'm pissed.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
Yeah, And unfortunate part, Softy is that we may have
to watch it more than once. I mean, they've got
I don't think we're in the dynasty era of the
NBA anymore. But if there's a team that's well equipped
to win more than once, it's probably this team.
Speaker 5 (05:13):
Talk to us about the piece that you wrote a
couple of days ago about Seattle and how the thunder
success has reopened wounds.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
Well, it was a piece that I was hoping to
have a few more days on, and so I've gotten
a few callbacks about things that I was asking, you know,
since it's published, and I was like, well, they just
wanted to rush it and get it in the Sunday
Washington Toast. But I just wanted to write a piece
kind of setting the scene a little bit on Seattle
(05:43):
here and focus focused a lot on how we you know,
as people who live in the city in this area.
I want the opportunity for the Sonics to write their
own story again and want to get that history back
instead of this weird shared custody we have of the
(06:04):
history and it's more of a media thing. Like Clay Bennett,
you know. I mean, Clay Bennet would stare me down
if I ran into him, but I'll give him credit
on one thing, and that is in part part of that,
like is crediting former Sonics players for not wanting to
be honored in any way by the Thunder. But Clay
(06:28):
has not gone and emphasized that history. He's just kind
of let it sit. And the problem is the media
really hasn't. And so this Sonic Slash Thunder and like
nineteen seventy nine was the last time, It's like, it's
pretty easy to divide the two, very very easy to
(06:49):
provide the two, and I wish people would just do that.
And the only way we get to tell this story
again is by getting the NBA back. I wanted just
to kind of I wanted more of a hopeful tone too,
because one of the things I'm impressed with seventeen years
later is just how much we can talk about anger
(07:12):
and frustration and all that stuff. But it's amazing to
me how if you get a group of Sonics fans together,
how much love and hope and community there is still
around the team, and that's what's going to ultimately bring
the team back. Let's just hope that the cold business
(07:35):
can finish the jobs.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
No, it's been fascinating to watch an impressive right, to
be honest with you, I mean the way Sonic fans
of rally. I mentioned this to Dick in the opening segment.
The fact that we know a guy Jamie Munson of
simply Seattle Jerry, who founded a business on the backs
of a basketball team that no longer exists and has
had success is amazing. It's a testament to how much
(07:57):
passion there still is for this team in Seattle. But
you mentioned the shared history and we get all mad.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
You go online.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Second, you know, title since seventy nine if they win,
or third finals appearing since ninety six. Blah blah blah.
Why do people do that? Why does the NBA do that?
Why does the what you know, ESPN their partners. As
you said, it's easy. Just don't do it right. Just
look at the Thunder since two thousand and eight as
(08:25):
a separate entity.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Why why do these people do this?
Speaker 4 (08:29):
Because people could be stupid and simple. It's just it's
the easiest explanation that they're trying some way to explain
how this franchise used to be another franchise and in
their own way, I think they're paying respects to the Sonics,
but instead they're just reopening the wound. And it's easy,
(08:54):
just I mean, it's just, it's as simple as this.
To me, Oklahoma City has never so celebrated in the
NBA Championship just to say this is Oklahoma City's you know,
if they win it, this is Oklahoma City's first championship period, Like,
just leave Seattle out of that. And I was talking
to Donald Watts the other day and we were just
(09:16):
talking about, you know why they've had a pretty sweet run,
you know, because they tore down the team at the
end in Seattle. They've had a pretty sweet seventeen years.
They don't need off fifty eight years. They've had three
damn MVPs in seventeen years. That's a really special run.
(09:36):
That they've had, and they've exceeded my expectations for like
what a franchise could be in such a small market
like Oklahoma City. So that's fine, you know, like let them,
let them live their lives, but like, let us live
our lives too, But we won't get to fully, you know,
enjoy that experience until there's a team back here.
Speaker 5 (10:00):
The first of our weekly conversations this summer with Jerry Brewer,
brought to you by Northwest Handling Systems. Jerry, how do
you gauge the overall hunger for the NBA in the city.
I mean, there is a very vocal minority element that
doesn't want anything to do with the league. How much
of a minority do you think that element is?
Speaker 4 (10:22):
It's It's it's really hard to know, Dick. I think
there is ample passion to bring the team back here,
and I know that the city is so big, and
I think the Sonic fandom, you know, if you consider
even just people who are fans from outside of the city,
(10:42):
is so vast that it's hard to know exactly how
that pie is sliced. I do think it's the minority.
I don't think it's an insignificant minority. But there's a
there's a minority of Seattle sports fans who don't care
anything about the Sonic, about the Seahawks, or don't care
anything about the Mariners, and so like, I think we
(11:05):
try to bundle everything in there together sometimes instead of
focusing on like, well, what's the base and what's the
real passionate base and how big is it? And you
can't have the entire slice of pie in the sports scene.
But is the slice that you're asking for big enough?
Speaker 3 (11:24):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (11:24):
Absolutely, it's big enough. There's enough passion, and then there's
as much money as we had in the city in
eight it's substantially a bigger, more cosmopolitan, more resourced city
than it was seventeen years ago.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
Yeah. No, I agree with you on that.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Jerry, talk to us about how the Pacers can almost
do the impossible and pull this off. We're here at
the Emerald Queen, Oklahoma City is a heavy heavy favorite
to win the NBA Championship over Indiana.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
What is your gut tell you? How is it unlikely?
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Is it that Tyrese Talliburton and the Indiana Pacers can
shock the world and win this series?
Speaker 4 (12:09):
It's gonna be hard, man, I mean, the the the
basketball head and me thinks it's gonna be very similar
to the Denver Miami Heat series a couple of years
ago when the Nuggets won that fairly easily. But I'll
give you, I'll give you a possible route. Now, Oklahoma City.
(12:30):
Outside of Alex Caruso, there's not a lot of experience
on this team at all. And so the problem is
is that Indiana outside of Pascal Siakam, there's not a
lot of experience there either. I think they have Thomas
Bryant who want to ring and he's deep on the bench. Uh.
They do have a championship coach in Rick Carlisle, who
(12:51):
pulled off, you know, a mild surprise when when that
veteran Dallas Mavericks team beat Lebron James, Dwayne Wade and
Chris Bosh and the Heat in twenty eleven. And so
I think that Carlisle's creativity. I think he's gonna dial
up some stuff that's going to frustrate the Thunder and
(13:13):
we'll see how they respond. It is a shock. It's
very jarring playing the Pacers because no matter what you do,
they keep running and they keep attacking. You score a
basket they're running off of may basket that they are
one of the most brilliant offensive teams and systems that
(13:34):
I've seen in quite a while. Tyrese Halliburton, for all
this argument about is he a superstar or not, he's
a really really good floor in general, and his greatest
strength is that he doesn't turn the ball over almost
at all. Especially for a high assist guy. The Thunder
are going to harass the hell out of Tyrese Haliburton.
(13:54):
And if he's just missing shot, that's fine, or he's
not getting shot, that's fine. If he turns the ball over,
that's the problem. But if he doesn't turn the ball over,
I think it's going to give them a chance to
have more of these games where they score one hundred
and twenty five points or so and are able to
put some pressure on an Oklahoma City's Thunder team that
(14:17):
relies they rely so much on their defense to score.
And if you can get them in a game in
which they've got to make a bunch of three point shots,
they've got to, like do more than just give the
ball to Shay in the half court. That's going to
give you a chance to win. They got to get
Game one. You got to put some doubt in the
(14:38):
minds of this young athletics team that's going to be
heavily favored, and if they can get Game one, I
think we've got a chance to get a long series
and I think that's the route to them possibly pulling
off this upset.
Speaker 5 (14:53):
Well, Jerry, almost as big as story nationally as the
Pacers beat and the Knicks was was the final in
Inside the NBA Show, and that just shows you how
big that show has been over the last thirty five years.
Is this the death of the greatest sports studio show
this generation scene? Because ESPN's gonna espnify it or do
(15:14):
you think they'll actually let it be and let it
breathe and be its own entity like it has been.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
The structure of everything. You know. The fact that it's
still going to be produced out of Atlanta, same production team,
all that and just seems like they're just being outsourced
to ESPN. It makes you. It gives you hope that
it's going to be the same thing. You do worry though,
like the thing that ESPN has maybe that TNT doesn't,
is like all these advertisings and all this stuff and
(15:42):
Sports Center as a franchise and Scott Van Pelt making
so much money and being so important to that product,
and what they do at night postgame the thing with
as good as inside the NBA is at any time
inside the NBA is best on his postgame show. And
I'm really eager to see, like, are we going to
(16:03):
have a full, robust, hour long, forty minute long, however
long it is they do all these postgame shows. Are
you gonna let it run its course? Or is it
going to be one of these quick things? Are you
going to try to merge some of your ESPN talent
with them on occasion? I don't want to see any
guest spots from Steven A. Smith. I don't want to
(16:24):
see any moments unless Ernie is sick, in which you
know someone else's is hosting the three of them. I
don't want any of that stuff. I want to see
big Perk on there. Nothing right. I just wanted to
be inside the NBA. And they can guarantee you that
it's going to be inside the NBA, But until we
see it and fill it in that ESPN structure, we
(16:47):
can't depend on it. And here's one thing for sure,
Please please, please, whatever you do do not put it
on ABC. It ruins the show. If it's on ABC.
It needs to be on ESPN the whole time, whenever
they're on.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Yeah, it needs to be on cable TV, is what
you're talking about. That's what it needs to be on. Yeah,
no doubt. Jerry Brewer can't say how fired up we
are to have you back on the air.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
Great stuff.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
We'll do it every Tuesday at four o'clock for the
foreseeable future.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
All right, great stuff, and we're talking away man.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
All right, that sounds great.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
All right, Jerry Brewer with us on the radio show.
We've got to break the latest on the Seahawks. Is
there the latest on the Seahawks? Next on ninety three
to three KJRFM.
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