This is on leash Are you listening?
Can you hear me? Hear me?
This is on leash. Are you listening?
Can you hear me? Hear me?
This is on leash Are you listening?
Can you hear me? Hear me?
This is on leash Are you listening?
Can you hear me? What's up everybody?
What's going on? Hopefully you are doing well
today. Today is a day, maybe even at
the end of the Hawks series, quite frankly.
But today is a day I'm going to give everybody a license to
begin thinking that the Knicks can do what they haven't done
since 1973. And I, and I hadn't said that.
I haven't felt that all year. You guys know that.
Some of you have been annoyed at me because I've kept it very
honest. And I, I do think to be fair, I
do think that as the Knicks season evolved, I think that I
was fair to the Knicks. I thought they look great when
they won the Cup. I like what I was saying.
I like the new offense for Mike Brown.
I like that he was using a lot more guys off the bench.
And then all of a sudden they went in the wrong direction.
Things went awry. And then they, they found, you
know, really going back the last month or so, the Knicks look
like a team. They've got that look in their
eyes. They have a look to them right
now. They're body language, their
connectivity, their production. You know, you are, you are now
officially allowed to think that the Knicks could get to and win
a championship. The Knicks have just won three
straight playoff games by 25 points or more.
It's never happened before. I mean, the Knicks are now
coming out and just stomping on people from the get go.
And all right, so last night, I thought last I was very
interesting in the sense that Cat picked up a very early foul.
That was, yeah, I was only a couple of minutes in 9 minutes
and 38 seconds in the first quarter.
He got foul #1 and then shortly after that, he actually took a
big spill, I think, going up for a shot or a rebound, that he was
down for a while. I'm like, it's the last thing we
want to see. And he was very slow to get up,
but then he got back up and then he played.
Then he picked up another foul, right?
So to me, you know, you talk about adjustments, you talk
about a willingness to do things that, you know, maybe Tom
wouldn't have been willing to do or some other coaches like we,
we, we could talk and code and in very nebulous terms, all this
guy made adjustments. What?
Well, here's an adjustment that Mike Brown made that was that
was really important. Now, the way the game went,
maybe it really wouldn't have mattered, but the so the first
substitution was Mitch, then you had Deuce, then you had
Clarkson. But when they started to go to
the hack a Mitch early 256 to go in the first quarter, they just
grab them. OK, first one Clank, second one
clank worked out well, credit to Nick Nurse.
I don't blame them. I'm not mad at them.
I mean, that is 38% in the playoffs.
That's what he's shooting from the free throw line.
If you're going to be that substandard at your job, well,
I'm going to try to exploit it. So because it worked out
favorably the next trip down the court, 25 feet away from the
ball, what do they do? They wrap above Mitchell
Robinson yet again, Clank clank oh for 2O for 2O for four sit
down hot 40 in now you know this this again.
This is not a referendum here on on Tom Thibodeau.
I've got great respect for Tom Thibodeau, but I don't think
that Tom Thibodeau was doing that last night.
I I really, really don't. And then you got Brunson taking
over and see, this is the problem for the Sixers and I
don't really know how they work around this.
We know that they've got a couple of really good players.
We know what and beat is what he's healthy.
We know what Maxi is, even though he was a bit off last
night. He's a blur.
He's tough to contain. He's phenomenal.
You've got to have great respect for Paul George and BJ
Edgecombe. The rookie from Baylor, who
almost went to Saint John's, by the way, is going to be a
massive problem in this league. But pertaining to this series,
if the Sixers keep doing this, drop coverage of the pick and
roll with with Joel Embiid, then Jalen Brunson is going to do
whatever he wants. Every time MB took a step back,
bang, a little lefty floater and then Brunson went bonkers.
I mean, remember, he was really hot early, then it went cold,
then he scored the last 11 points at the second quarter and
the Knicks were absolutely demolishing them 7451 at the
half. And you look at you look at the
first half last night, right, Knicks shot 66% overall.
They shot 55% from downtown. They had a 28 to 16 rebound
advantage and the balance. This is what I love about this
particular look of the Knicks, which we didn't get for a lot of
the season. All right?
So Brunson was the man and Brunson usually is the man, but
he had 27. They had OG with 13.
Cat was in foul trouble had ten, Bridges had nine.
And even Bridges has been more assertive.
But they talked about this on the broadcast.
It is so obvious, obvious that the ball's not stopping in
Brunson's hand. It's spinning around and there's
guys loose everywhere. And like, if I'm a Sixers fan
right now #1 you know, you got your own problems trying to
defend your own homecourt. Because we saw the ticket
prices, or at least like I think it was 5556% of the, of the
tickets that were sold for game three are either in the New York
or New Jersey area. Now, to be fair, to be fair, I
mean, everybody in South Jersey is a Sixers fan.
Everybody in North Jersey is basically a Knicks fan.
So, you know, I, I thought that was a little bit overstated.
I think, I think people trying to get some clicks on that, but
there is no doubt, especially if the Knicks win fairly
convincingly in Game 2, when I saw nothing from the Sixers in
game one, to think that they're going to come and stop the
Knicks. It will be 60% Knicks fans in
game three. Listen guys, I know it's a long
series. I understand that.
I know you got to get, you know, you got to get 2 before you get
3. You got to get 3 before you get
4, and you had to get one before you get 2.
You're an ankle sprain away. God forbid something worse than
that. Like, we have seen enough
basketball to know that you don't take anything for granted.
And this is not about like, you know, being supremely confident
or being overly bombastic. All the Knicks of the Bassett.
I'm talking about basketball stuff.
What did you see last night and obviously during the Hawks
series, which last I was a even though it's a different
defensive match up from a you know, the Hawks had a couple of
defenders that that could make the Knicks uncomfortable.
The the Sixers really don't. I mean, and beat is a fire
hydrant. He can't move.
Paul George is not stopping anybody.
Edgecomb just and again, he's going to be a really good player
and he's going to have a game or two where he goes off in the
series. I have no doubt about that.
But he doesn't have that grown man strength yet.
The Knick team, this version of the Knicks right now is the
absolute best version of the Knicks.
I don't know that they could play better.
If they do run it back and say if they fall short of the
championship and they run it back next year, I'm not sure
that they could even look the way they look now.
I'm starting to this is the window.
This is the opportunity. All the things going on all
right, and beads jacked up. You got a homecourt advantage.
You mopped them in game one. Unlike the previous series, it's
game off day, game off day, game off day.
Get all the way up until Game 7 and there's two days off, which
means Embiid is not going to have a whole lot of time to
regenerate. Now, Joel Embiid, he's doing a
great job. He's so good at this, getting to
the foul line, pump fakes and just he's just so good.
You know, even though he's big and and, you know, slowed at
this point and then heavy and and little gangly with certain
things, his ability to manipulate either small space
when my cat's up on them and still get into him and draw foul
or when he's got a little bit of room, you know, almost like a
guard jab step and createspace. But he wasn't hitting shots
early. He was making his money at the
free for a line. That's fine.
You can live there all you want. Last night the Knicks came out
and they told you. The Knicks told you and the
Knicks told the Sixers and the Knicks told the entire NBA that
what we did the first series is not going to stop.
And what the way we feel about ourselves and the way we're
playing right now and the way we're coaching right now, who's
better than us in the NBA? The Knicks continue to make
statement after statement after statement like usually even in
wins, like even going back to whether it's Van Gundy, we even
Tom Thibodeau, of course, Pat Riley as well.
There would be so many, like elongated stretches, even in
Nick playoff wins where things just look, you know, off.
Certainly Riley's teams wouldn't always put the ball in the
basket. They'd have these scoring
droughts a little bit with Tom Thibodeau as well.
Rotation, whatever. Like the Knicks come down and
they literally go to whatever spot on the court they want to
get to. And the response to Philly's
response is better than Philly's response to their response to
the initial response. Knicks are rolling, like, the
Knicks look phenomenal right now.
And the Knicks have the look of a team that is getting ready to
play basketball for a couple of more months.
And this team is beginning to look like a team that can
absolutely forget about getting to the championship.
This is a team that's starting to look like they can win a
championship. All right, So it's obviously a
fun morning on the show. Good morning, everybody.
BT UNLEASHED in the HOUSE. Today's show brought to you by
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Guys, this all started with an acknowledgement and a
recognition and a recalibration and I I've got to give Jalen
Brunson a lot of credit I've got to give Mike Brown a lot of
credit Mike Brown started to do some things differently.
Jalen Brunson understood you know the the the previous
iterations of these Knicks. It was always all right, Jalen,
go get his 35, go get his 40, go get his 42 and see if you can
will this to a championship. All right.
It provided some all time Nick highlights in terms of the
playoffs. I mean even Bernard King, I mean
Brunson did a couple of things that Bernard King didn't do.
And you know, BK was my guy. He certainly did things that
doing didn't always do. But there was a ceiling to that.
It was so obvious that there was a ceiling to that because
Bridges was marginalized and to an extent OG was marginalized.
Then during the regular season, too often Karl Anthony Towns was
marginalized. This team is humming.
This team looks really, really good, man.
I mean, think about this guys in the last three games.
This is not against like the Nets or, you know, a
disinterested Grizzlies team or a bad Utah Jazz team or, you
know, a Pacers team without Halliburton during the regular
season. This is the playoffs.
And it started when they were in the hole, which gave you a sense
of their, you know, their inner, you know, their inner confidence
and their ability to plow through some adversity.
Like when you lose a whole, even in round one, I think it's
almost more amplified because when you lose a home game in
round one to a team that you're supposed to be fairly handily, a
young team, not a lot of playoff experience.
I think the pressure gets even more ratcheted up that if you
were to lose a, an early game in the Eastern Conference finals,
because at least you're playing a team that's kind of on par
with you. And, and, and like the, the,
the, the reaction to such a loss is not going to be so over the
top. You had people say the Knicks
were going to lose to the Hawks when they lost those two games.
I never thought that I told you the Knicks would win in five.
And then I very quickly amended that before the series started
and I said Nixon 6. This series I said Nixon 6.
It might be time for another amendment.
I might be saying Nixon 5. Matter of fact, I'm going to say
Nixon 5. The Knicks are absolutely going
to win this series, and this series is not going to have a
lot of length. This is not a mirage.
This is not the Knicks on a hot streak.
This is not the Knicks just playing over their heads.
This is a roster that has come together the right time, the
right way, with incredible depth and shooting and spacing and
diverse, eclectic talents. This team is real.
And I don't want to hear about the flip flops.
Like, I don't want to hear about that.
Oh, well, what you say about the Knicks during the regular
season? Yeah, I said what I said about
the Knicks during the regular season because during the
regular season, too often the Knicks did not look anything
remotely like this. Like, that's the one thing at
least. I get it, guys.
I get it. You know, I've been wrong with a
million things. The Zach Wilson stuff, I mean,
comparing Louise Heal to early on to Dwight Gooden in 84, I get
it. Like we've all had these
ridiculously erroneous takes. I understood, but let's at least
get a little separation between flip flopping and re evaluating.
Like if you can't understand the difference, that's on you,
that's not on me. Like I've watched this team prep
the knit probably of the 82 regular season games I watched,
I would say probably 40 or so tip to buzzer and probably 75,
at least little more than 1/2 that wasn't there.
Certain nights, you know, my, my kids have a game or I've got a,
I've got a, you know, I've got something to do with, with my
wife, whatever. I mean, obviously life's going
to get in the way a little bit. And then you follow on the
phone, you catch the highlights. I'm locked in like this is not
somebody who just parachutes into the Knicks now.
Oh wow, the Knicks look really good.
I have given you, I really believe this, the most honest
evaluation and the most on point evaluation of the Knicks of
anybody in the business because what I've done is I've admitted
where guys have changed. I've got no problem admitting if
I'm wrong, but being wrong is very different than somebody
giving me new information that's going to inspire me to change my
mind and change my opinion on what this team can do.
So that's what it's all about. And you got to love this and you
have to feel great about this. And it was just another straight
up, flat out demolition ass kicking belt to ass.
That's it. Like you tell me or, or do you
really think, and I know he's going to have a good game
because he's a great player. Do you think that physically
Joel Embiid is prepared for the next 10 days to put this team on
his back and go for, you know, 33 and 1336 and 15?
I don't think it's happening because I and you know, and last
night, last night should have been the night that it happened
because Karl Anthony Towns, you know, that was a little bit of I
don't want to go nuts because he's been playing so well, but
there was a little regression on his recognition.
You got to know Cat, when you have one foul, just give up the
bucket. Hands got to go up.
Hands can't go forward. They must go up.
You got to know that and beads going to try to sucker you into
off the up fake going into you. And if your hands are here,
you're getting called for a foul.
If your hands are year contact good, we're good to go.
The rule of verticality. He's got to figure that out
quick. But last night was the
opportunity for the Sixers to exploit the really only the only
true weakness of this Knicks team.
And the only time that they're really, really vulnerable all
right, when fully healthy is when cats on the bench with a
couple of early fouls and Mitch and and you've got you've got
enough guys that aren't in foul trouble on your team where you
can now deploy the hack a Mitch and what you do number one,
first of all, it's a lot of empty trips clearly because
Mitch Mitchell. I mean, it's just it's just
ridiculous how you can't hit free throws.
My buddies were they were texted me last night, right, And they
like they were and they're all big Knick fans.
If they're just clowning Mitch and I'm like, they're like, does
this guy not put any time in? Like the crazy thing is he
actually does work on this. I don't know how you can be so
bad at one aspect of your job as a professional.
I I get it. Like I understand that there's
certain physical limitations, like Jalen Brunson's never going
to just rise up and crank it over somebody, you know, like,
like Russell Westbrook would where Alexander would for the
Thunder. He's just not that guy.
He's vertically challenged. He's not an explosive athlete.
He can't control that. Like that's the gifts that God
gave him. So what he did was he maximized
the mind. He, he, he mastered, you know,
the manipulation of space and spatial awareness.
His angle play is as good as anybody.
I believe in the history of the NBA because if it wasn't, he
wouldn't be doing what he's doing because he's not he's not
shooting, he's not rising up over anybody and he's not so
fast where he's just going by you A to B.
He doesn't have that speed. It's all about hesitation,
reading the angle. Somebody's dropping, here's the
floater, somebody drops, here's the pull up, somebody's up.
You know, we're going to reroute the ball.
I'm open, I'm sticking 3 after three and and and that's
somebody like Jalen where, you know, even though there's just
certain things that he can't do defensively deficient, whatever,
even though it's frustrating and sometimes and and it's it could
be a real issue for the Knicks, say if they get to the finals
and play Alexander, whatever. I don't want to go 2 nuts here.
But the thing about Mitch, like you can control free throw
shooting. You can, you know, some people
are built like their DNA, their genetics, they're just muscular
when they come out of the womb. And then there's some people who
can live in the weight room and they just never really have a
good body, you know what I mean? But I don't know how an NBA
player with the requisite time. And I know that Mitch puts time
in and I've seen him, you know, shooting around on his Instagram
account. You know, he usually does this
over the summer, flicking threes.
It looks pure. It's clean.
Like the elbows in the hands flicking mechanics look good.
So I was trying to explain to my guys last night because they
were just clouded them. And I really do think part of it
is that his hands are too big and it's just, it kind of spins
off the wrong way, OK. I mean, you would still think
that you can resolve that because it's been, I mean,
Patrick Ewing was at least, you know, 7374% a lajuan was money
from the strike. Yokich is terrific.
He's big. I mean, just because you have
big hands doesn't mean that you can't shoot.
But I, I was telling him last night, and these were guys that
I met in high school and some of my college buddies, right?
So I didn't grow up playing ball with them.
And I'm like, yeah, my dad made me shoot free throws underhanded
in the 3rd and the 4th grade because I was like shooting from
the hip. And I was like, Jack and you how
like a young player, you just don't have the, the strength to
just flick it right. And I hated doing it.
Like I really hate, I was embarrassed and you know what, I
was the best, I was the best foul shooter on the team and I
would shoot underhand every single game.
And then finally 5th grade, I got a little bit bigger, not
much, a little bit stronger, not much, but just enough where it's
it resembled the pure shot. I don't know why, if you're that
bad, outside of the optics and you being embarrassed and not
wanting to get clowned on social media, I don't know why he's not
shooting underhand. I don't know why Shaq didn't
shoot him. I don't get it.
If Rick Barry could shoot underhand, Mitchell Robinson
could shoot underhand. So you know that that's just the
one thing that that that is, is obviously an issue that the
Sixers will try to exploit. But think about this.
They had a window where they could exert themselves and
really flex on the Knicks Cats nailed to the bench.
And I know that they brought him in with about 3 or 4 seconds
left in the second quarter for that last offensive possession,
but he was he didn't get to play a lot because of the two fouls.
And then, hey, Nick Nurse, if I'm playing the Knicks, I'm
doing that every single time. Mitch, I'm not letting Brunson
dance. I'm not letting Brunson yo-yo.
I'm not letting him put anybody on skates or I'm not letting OG
get to the rim for a baseline dunk or I'm not giving Deuce a
quarter three or Bridges a quarter three or letting the
heart get downhill. Rebound foul, Mitch 50 feet away
from the bucket. Go hit one, because I know
you're not. Hit and two.
So like, go hit 1. And over the course of the game,
that will obviously be favorable to Philly, but it will also keep
Jalen Brunson and the others from getting in a rhythm, which
will be to their detriment because if you don't have the
ball and the game becomes like constantly stagnated and
interrupted with these free throws, you know?
So Nick Nurse tried it and it still didn't work.
Like last night was a recipe for the Sixers to steal game one.
It just was. And they got their doors blown
off. So all things are incredibly
favorable and optimistic, and I'm going to say it again, the
Knicks are beginning to look like a team that can mess around
and get to and win a championship.
They really do. They've got depth, they've got a
star, they've got a second star, they've got wings.
The role allocation was finally figured out and embraced by the
players, and they got a great homecourt advantage.
I mean, things are clicking, so you got to feel really good now.
There's going to be probably a checkpoint in this series where,
you know, it flips a little bit. I've got supreme confidence.
That is as long as there's no injuries, that the Knicks figure
this out and win fairly easily. I'm going Knicks in five.
I mean it. Nixon played two series.
This is my Second Amendment favorably.
Well, actually, no, I'm sorry. The first one was Nixon 5.
Then I said Nixon six. I'm going to go the other way
here. I said Nixon, 6 Philly and 5 SJ
Rod. Let's get my man J Rod up there.
What's? Up.
What's up? You good buddy all.
Right, I'm great. I couldn't be better after last
night. So you're enjoying it as a
Celtics fan, huh? I need it anytime I can see the
Sixers lose, I just inject it into my veins.
I love that little. Macau Bridges gut check on
indeed. Give him that little.
Check dude now and Bead was asked about that.
He's like, I don't know if that that was.
I didn't think so in real time and I didn't really know what
happened. But then they showed the replay.
I have no doubt in my mind that Bridges stuck into him on
purpose. No doubt in my mind, Not good.
Like, to me, to me, that's not the thing where it's like, OK,
this guy's not viciously trying to injure a player, correct?
He's making him uncomfortable. He's making him uncomfortable
where he needs to be. I love.
That Yes, well, it's good for the goose, good for the game
there. Hey, Mitch's ankle was jacked up
a couple of years ago, Joel, and B grabs his ankle.
You just had the abdominal surgery.
Hey, if you're out there too bad, you know I'm I'm not coming
for your teeth or your nose or your temple.
I'm not giving you a nut shot. Hey, I'm going to give you a
little something where I can at least disguise it as a
basketball play. And if it hurts, well, it's too
bad. That's your problem.
Exactly. That's why next game I got to
see Cat, hit him with some more, post up some more, you know,
really throw your back into him. But yeah, great game, fun game.
Just just awesome. Do you agree with me that that
the Knicks are beginning to resemble the team that looks
like a team that can? Yeah, I mean, because roster
wise, they really remind me of the 24 Celtics teams.
Long, lanky wings, you know, a big who can stretch the floor
and also now kind of play defense, a point guard who's
getting buckets, who's scoring, getting assist.
Like it is just such a well-rounded roster.
Not only, you know, pretty much play defense on all fronts, but
someones giving you buckets at pretty much every level.
I love it like OG. He's not just a, you know.
I love that guy. He's more of like a, he's more
of a dunker. He's more of a driver.
Like, I think that's what's so important is the Knicks, yes,
they have the shooting, but they have the scoring at every single
level. I've always loved OG.
Now Bridges has been a different story.
We've been through the gambit of emotions with Bridges.
Now if he was brought here and it wasn't 5 verse first round
picks to get him, I think the analysis and the criticism would
be a little less vitriolic if you will.
I mean, the only thing about OG is that he's been a little
susceptible to some soft tissue injuries.
Remember against the Pacers he basically shredded his
hamstring. OG on an OB is just he is a
perfect nick. He doesn't say it, he never
complaints, he never hunt shots, he always plays hard.
He gets to the rim if he's open from the corner.
He's one of the three best, you know, winged in corner shooters,
3 balls in the NBA. He could be up really one
through 5. And it's funny, like every time
they interview Ogi, think they had him on last night at the
half. Yeah, when they were going to
halftime. And he's just never high, never
low. He's just emotionally steady,
physically reliable. There's very rarely, unlike
Bridges sometimes, to be fair. And Cat before this this recent
reincarnation, there's very rarely any fluctuations in his
performance like you might see Bridges go two or three games,
you know, before things have been resolved a little bit here,
you know, 18 points, 17 points at 20 points, hit a couple
threes and then he'll have a four.
And this is documentable. He's had a three or four-game
span, no free throw attempts. You know, all these things that
we've talked about, which has been, you know, which has led to
a very interesting Nick conversation this year.
Guys, when you get to a point where it's pretty obvious that
if this group or any group, but I'm talking about the Knick.
But really, if this pertains to to anybody in sports where, you
know, you get a couple of years to get to the top of the
mountain and there comes a point where the end of the road
becomes the end of the road. Like if it's not done, the coach
is gone, the managers gone, maybe one of the store players
shipped out. And obviously that impacts Mike
Brown. I think it impacts him less than
it did middle of the season. But Cat with Giannis like that
was an unnecessary noise. That was all with justification
and massive credit to the Knick players and the Knick
organization and the Knick coaching staff for what was an
incredibly impressive recalibration under great
scrutiny and great duress. It's like, it's like the Knicks
can do this in anonymity, like they got to figure stuff out
with the entire world weighing in on them.
Reggie Miller popping up, you know, Halliburton with the
tweets, all the old players talking about, wow, the Knicks
never win. Is that the other thing I love?
I at this I I have not felt this good about a Knicks team since I
see. I was going to say 99 and I know
we got our doors blown off by the Spurs bad match up.
But and and I didn't really think that they would win that
series. But I love their toughness and
starting with the series against Miami when they were the eight
seed Houston off the front rim and in, you know, Larry Johnson
4 point plays and then that Nick team, unlike the 94 team,
obviously a Houston Spreewell, you know, different components.
Child's they were tough, they were gritty.
They can score a little bit easier than that 94 team.
I really really, really I really like that.
I love the 94 group for different reasons, but I really
thought the 99 team was more skilled.
This team is exponentially more skilled now.
So too is the rest of the NBA, to be fair.
Like it's not like just the Knicks of elevated and everybody
else has remained stagnant were married to an antiquated
philosophy. There's a lot of bowlers out
there. How about the T Wolves last
night? Oh man, that.
Game was sick. Shout out.
I mean are you a big Julius Randle fan still?
I really like you, still have some some love for him.
I'll always have love for Julius Randall.
I thought it was time to move on because if he's your best player
or if he's your second best player, when Brunson came,
that's not a championship team. But with Edwards, who is the
best player? Gobert, Gobert, Randall and
Edwards. That's a squad.
Yep, even though Edwards came off the bench and he's got that
knee bruise, whatever. Anthony Edwards, one of the best
young play, one of the best players as you know in the NBAI
will always have love and respect for Julius Randall.
I will always have love and respect for anybody that goes to
a moribund situation and and elevates it, even if it's, you
know, far short of a championship To me in a lot of
ways, that is I I tell me if you agree with this.
I've said this for a long time, but I don't think I've ever said
it to you. So here's a couple of paths in
sports when you talk about the evolution of a franchise going
from her. I'm just writing this down so
that I can represent horrendous to competitive.
That's a big step. That's a very hard step.
OK, ask all these teams who are who are awful.
Then you want to go from competitive to good.
Then you want to go from good to championship viable.
That's my, you know, maybe I can mix and match a little bit of
tweak, but that's generally the three constants that I look at
and he brought them from horrendous and non competitive
to competitive. I think that that step myself is
harder than going from good to championship viable.
You agree with that? Yeah, no, I mean, certainly the
Knicks were. People don't agree with that.
No, I mean the Knicks were dead, you know, dead in the water.
And I think even further than competitive, I think Julius
Randall might have brought the Knicks to good, you know, a good
team like they they were. They certainly were that step
below championship still. But him, Jaylen Brunson, D
Vincenzo and Mitch Robb, like that was a good squad.
Who did they make it? They didn't make a conference
finals. Now, they lost to the Heat,
Remember, they lost to Miami a couple of years ago.
I think that was in six. Yeah.
And then listen, when? And then obviously, you know,
Julius, you know, when, when, when, when OG got hurt against
the Pacers with his hamstring. Like, they've been knocking for
a while. And I never really thought even
though Brunson pumps such life into the organization, you
couldn't help but think, hey, maybe this is the guy because I
remember having conversations. I think it started with tiki and
then obviously Sam and I would do this where all right, you
know, can you win a championship with Jalen Brunson is the best
player on the team? We never had that conversation
with Julius Randall, but you and you know, with all due respect
to Julius, but you are right. He actually brought them two
levels. He brought them from non
competitive to competitive and then he brought them from
competitive to good. But that competitive to good did
not happen without Jalen Brunson.
It just did. Like they won what, 3830
something by, I don't know, 40 games, whatever was maybe more
than that when they were the four seed they lost to Trey
Young the COVID year. Like that was, you know, Nerlens
Noel and and all these other, you know, sea listers where that
to me was that was one of the more impressive elevations
because they played so hard and Julius Randle was an absolute
monster. So no, I've always got love for
Julius. And quite frankly, like if the
Knicks couldn't win the championship, and I'm stunned
that Minnesota won last night, if the Knicks couldn't win the
championship, I would love to see Julius Randle win the
championship. And I would have loved to have
seen Dante Divincenzo be around for that as well if it didn't
rupture his Achilles. Those are two guys that are
always good. Those are Knicks, man.
Those are guys who bought in, who dug in, who respected the
brand, who represented the city, who who played the way Knick
fans. You know, it's it's one
everybody wants to win. But there's something about the
Knicks like, even though stylistically they're very
different than they than they have been like the other good
Knick teams. It's almost like you want like,
yeah, well, I mean, think about when the Yankees really good.
The Yankees generally just bludgeon you to death
offensively, right? Like the Bronx Bombers, that
goes back to, you know, back of the day, Angel and Marisol,
those guys. Yankees are known for their
offense when they're really now, when they're winning all those
championships, they had MO and they had petted and they had
Wells and Clemens and all those dudes, right?
So they had to pitch you as well.
But when the Knicks historically have been really good, they've
been great defensively and they've been very gritty.
This team. One of the more impressive
things about the Knicks evolution is that they've gone
up a level and a half offensively without really
sacrificing much of their defensive prowess.
No, I mean, they're still locked down.
They're still locked down. You know, is this, this next
team is pretty gritty? They're pretty, you know,
certainly now. I mean, they've certainly picked
it up too with, you know, just Mitch, Robin, Jose.
Alvarado Yeah, like. They're offensively, they're
very clean team like it just the buckets look like they're coming
easy. Sometimes it doesn't look like
you got to grind for him like Jalen Brunson.
Boom, cut to the bucket, do the Chris Paul thing, get the dude
on your back. Boom, quick jumper.
Yep, cat. You know sometimes he goes for
the grinding and the post up but usually it's that pump fake 3
point drive like it's just it's clicking.
Yeah, it is. It is rolling.
It is clicking. Nick fans, let let's get those
calls going. I got some other stuff for you
today as well. All right, J Rod, first call of
the day. Who do we have here, bud?
Let's go. Our friend Dan from Port
Jefferson. All right, Danny is in the
house. BT unleashed Danny out east.
What's up, Dan? Hey BT, what's up man?
Big fan. What's going on?
Thank you, man. I appreciate it.
Thanks. Man, what a amazing game.
I've, I've suffered for so long as a Knicks fan, as we all have,
you know, for so many years. And to finally see them play
like this, especially the last four games, I don't think I get
I've ever seen them play like this at this level.
No, we, the NBA never. It's a man.
Hold on, Dan. Forget about us.
Ever seen the Knicks? The NBA never seen this.
This has not happened. We're we're teams won three
straight playoff games by 25 points or more, and one of those
50 plus never happened. Yeah, that game, that Hawks
game, my God, I was like, it's crazy because I so I have 3
kids. I don't watch.
I don't have to watch the games late.
So I turn my phone off and it's so hard.
I can't talk to anybody while these games are going on.
It's it's. Very good.
It's crazy. How old are the kids?
Where? How old are the kids?
They're 54 and 3, three boys. Oh wow, are you Irish?
You got the Irish triple you. Got 2 Irish twins, yeah.
I love it. Yeah, we're very similar with
us. Not not big difference with the
kids age do are they into the Knicks a little bit?
I mean, I know they're really young, but.
When I put my oldest son to sleep, but he had a little like,
dare we call him RJ? This is like when RJ was on the
Knicks and I'd sing. He always wanted me to sing
Happy birthday and he'd always say certain names and I'd always
say like all the players that were on the Knicks.
This is like obviously when Barrett and Randall were on the
team and I always talk about Jaylen Bronson, but I always say
Mr. Bronson. I'm like, OK, let me, let me
make sure you know his name is Jalen.
Like his name is Jalen Brunson, but he always calls it Mr.
Brunson. Hey, he's a respectful young
man. There you go.
I know, I know. Exactly.
That's great.
You know what I would do, Dan, listen, because my son's 11 and,
and he watched, you know, pretty much all of it with me last
night. I'll, I'll, you know, I always
say, you know, listen, you know, sorry teachers, but you know, I
think you're going to get more out of watching these games with
Daddy than whatever you're going to learn in the 5th grade.
I know that's, that's I, I, I always hear you talk about that.
And I mean it. I've been saying it forever.
I mean it. I do it like Jets.
I. Was always like that as a kid.
Yeah, Jets are playing Monday night.
He's staying up. Well, I remember.
Are you on Facebook, Dan? Yes.
OK, So you know when you get a Facebook memory and it just kind
of pops up? So.
So the other day, I don't know if it was the Heat series from a
couple of years ago. So he must have been like 8 or 9
and he just, he did fall asleep and I remember carrying him up
and I come down, I watch the rest of the game and they they
happen to win that night. And I put out his Jalen Brunson
jersey on the floor. So as soon as his feet hit the
floor, he would see it with a, with a little yellow note.
And it just said we won. So do do stuff like that with
the kids. They'll love it, man.
Oh yeah, definitely. I want, I want to mention, I
don't know if you guys talked about, I know you talked about
Mckell Bridges a little bit, but I have to say his defense on
Maxi last. Night.
Like, that's my that was my biggest concern going to the
series. I know Embiid's going to do his
thing, flopping around like a clown.
I can't stand him. I'm tired of him, man.
I can't stand it like the first, the first quarter, it's like all
they were doing was shooting free throws like.
I know the. Only reason the game was
slightly close. I know, yes, because Embiid was
one for six to start, but at one point he was 6 for six for the
stripe. Yep.
Yeah, and, and Paul George Hat was the only one I think that
had any offense, but I'm not scared of him.
No, no. You got to respect him though.
But I'm not scared of him. You got to respect him.
Yeah, if he's going to be their main, their any source of
offense, OK, I'll live with that.
I agree. I agree with.
Miguel Bridges, like he just came to life finally.
Like thank God it was such an inconsistent season for him this
year and like to see him come back from like that.
Was it 6 quarters where he didn't score in the Hawk series?
I know, I know it. Was just such a low.
Did you think that that that shot within bead was
intentional? I did when I.
Saw the replay. I didn't.
I actually didn't see it while it was happening.
I'm like, I saw him bend over. Me too on the.
Replay, I was like, yeah, I think he was sending a message
there, yeah. You go good send.
You need that, yeah, you need, you need that grit.
You need that toughness, especially if you want to like
if, if let's God forbid they don't keep us going.
But if they have to play the Pistons, you know, you need you
need that toughness. You need to play, you know, you
need to play gritty because that those four games or three games
they played against the Pistons this year were.
They got their asses kicked. No, that that will be a very
different tone. We'll we'll worry about the
Pistons when we get there. Knicks will win the series, but
let's still keep it at this series.
Dan, I appreciate the call, buddy.
Let's go make sure you get back to me, OK?
Oh. Yeah, no doubt.
Thanks. BJ, there he is.
Danny out East. All right, who's up next here?
Jay, what do we got? Not our friend.
First time caller Shvoy. Goodell, Frank in New Haven.
Frankie Boy checking in from Connecticut on Unleash What's Up
Frank? Frank.
Yeah, I don't know.
I don't know if you can hear me. I got.
You. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I can't hear you, but I see you.
Well anyways, I don't know why it must be my end.
But anyways, BTI just want to call say man, I I love you,
followed you from the fan man and you you got balls for what
what you did and I and I appreciate that.
Thank you. Yeah, good looking out.
Keep it up. You know, I was just calling to
say I'm, I'm so excited about the Knicks.
Like I, I can't believe it, but I'm just such a superstitious
freak. Like I can't get excited.
Like I'm so nervous still. I'm like I'm, I'm always, it's
probably from playing baseball for years.
Just so superstitious, Like I get so nervous.
Even last night my, my wife was like, you're you're a freak.
I can't watch it with you going nuts.
They're up by like 50, you know, 50.
But anyways, that's just me. I'm superstitious, love what you
do. I'm gonna I'm gonna hop off and
then. Listen to I I got you.
No, thank you, Frank. Yeah.
Hey, by the way, usually when that happens, Jay, can you let
everybody know why that happens? Usually it's on their end,
right? Just so, everybody.
You just like Try restarting the page real quick.
Just refresh it, you'll usually be able to hear us again.
There you go. It's not our issue.
I mean, not, no, not that we won't have an issue here or
there. We will, you know, it's
technology, but that's happened a few times and it's always on,
on your end just to just to be here.
Yeah, just hit clean that up. So yeah, just hit the, if that
ever happened, just hit the refresh and maybe just like an
audio thing on like whatever device you're using.
But yeah, just hit the refresh and you're good.
Thank you for the call man. Yep, absolutely appreciate it,
Frank. No, I'm I'm not incredibly
superstitious. I was when I played, but I'm not
like when I'm and I wasn't even that superstitious, although I
have a funny story. I'm still pissed at them.
Like I would I would not step on the lines when I was playing,
you know, running out to the field, even coaching.
Now I, I jump over the lines. Now, of course, the jump is not
as high. It's not as not as you know,
bouncy, but I, you know, I could still jump over a line.
I remember one time my buddy, he just transferred in from
Lemoyne. I just this came up the other
day but not this aspect. Good ball player.
Lemoyne used to be really good in baseball.
They'd have kids drafted. I think they went to the World
Series back in the late 70s, early 80s.
Couple of pros like Tom Browning was on that team pitcher for the
Reds. Anyway, they were they were NE
powerhouse, right? So my buddy Mickey comes in and
Jay, do you? No, it's different because you,
you know, I'm so much older than you, but do you remember chain
letters? Like, did you get get into that
stupid shit? Chain letters.
Oh yo of. Course.
I mean, when I was a not as an adult, but when I was like a
kid, it was still a, it was still like a thing where like it
would be like keep this letter going for 200 people or
whatever. Yeah, stuff like that, right.
I can't stand that stuff. It I don't believe in it, I
guess I tempted the the baseball gods and the superstitious gods
because the guy who transferred them for Lemoyne, we became
pretty good buddies right away. You know, somebody transfers in,
you know, you want to make him feel at home.
So he's like a weightlifting buddy.
We would hit a lot together in the old great dude and really
good player. Mick.
Mick, if you're watching shout out Mick could play power.
And he gives me one of those letters and I remember putting
it at my lived off campus at this point.
Remember putting it in my top drawer.
I'm like, I'm not doing this shit.
It was like it was so long and like, send it to like, I don't
know, 20 players. You know, I'm like what?
There's no way I'm doing this right.
And I didn't do it. And I started the year as the
three hitter and let's just say that I didn't end the year as
the three hitter. And then I was so desperate
during the middle of the season, he's like, dude, I told you that
you should have. I'm like, I was actually, I'm
like, why would you give me that letter?
Got enough problems here, right? Try to, you know, it curves and
do all this other stuff. And, and I remember he's like,
listen, the only way you can, this is how desperate I was.
The only way you can get rid of it is you got to take a penny
and you got to put it in your jock strap.
I'm like, dude, I'll put a silver dollar in there.
I'll put, I'll put a bag of nickels in there.
I'll put anything in there just to bust me out of the slump.
So I I found the penny and I put it in like the cloth part of the
jock strap in between where the actual protective cup was.
So there was the penny in between the fabric and the
actual plastic. Didn't do anything.
Like I actually may have done worse.
I'm like, dude, you basically ruined my season and ruined my
career. I mean, I say that kind of
kidding around, but that did happen.
And I was a little superstitious with baseball.
I'm not superstitious with watching my teams at all.
I've never been that guy. Like, all right, I'm sitting in
this spot. The Yankees have, you know,
just, they just got 3 runners on base and I can't move.
No, I, I don't. I just don't believe in that.
I don't because I got enough things to consider, got enough
things to think about, got enough things to worry about.
If I'm going to let that control where I sit, what I eat, what I
say, who I watch games with, I'll just go nuts.
Yeah, like my I, I think I have more like like hindsight,
hindsight superstition where it's like, oh man, if I was
wearing this or if if I watched it in a different place, would
the game have had a different outcome?
And then I just go back to Nah, probably.
Now I this is not a superstition, this is just more
of a rule. Like there were just certain
games that I will not watch with certain people.
Like, you know, I can't, I can't Now we, we, you know, I mean,
obviously my wife knows this and she likes football.
My kids, you know, my daughter doesn't like it that much.
She likes watching the Cowboys, but you know, obviously my son's
into The Jets. Like it's not like outside of
maybe the incredibly rare occurrence, will we have people
over on a Sunday? Like everybody knows, like, you
know, we played games all weekend Sunday cheer soccer for
my daughter, full baseball Sundays.
It's roast beef, roasted red Peppers, Mozzedale, thyme and
you know, and, and jets and, and obviously giants the rest.
But like if The Jets were ever in a, or when The Jets are the
big game again. I mean, I'm, I'm either watching
the game, just him and I, I mean, my wife could watch if she
wants, but definitely him and I and you know, like maybe if a
couple of my buddies from high school who have moved away, who
I used to go to jet games with if they were ever in or they're
like, Hey, I got tickets. Let's go to if it's a home game,
that's different. But to sit around and watch like
a Yankee World Series game or a Knicks playoff game or a Jets
big game with people who aren't, aren't fans of those teams, I
would, I just would never do it. I will not subject myself to
that. I can't do it.
I never Why would why would anybody do that?
Like it to me, it's no fun watching like true, you know,
playoff and true like meaningful sports games with people who
aren't like all in like that's what I like.
I I need to, you know, I need to be going back and forth with
you. Like I watch, you know, this
Saturday, the Celtics game with a, you know, a few Sixers fans
and it was just it was chaos. Where?
At your? At your apartment.
At a bar down the street. Oh my.
Oh my gosh, dude. I I will say the bar vibes a
little different. It it definitely.
In in a good way, like I'm not going to bars to watch games
unless I'm doing an appearance. Just, you know, just based on,
you know, where I am as as dad and stuff.
Those days are over. No interest in doing that,
although I love the appearances, like those are fun, right?
But if I'm in a bar and I'm watching a Knick playoff game
that happens to be a couple of Sixers that that's fine.
We've all got a common rooting in because you just happen to be
rooting for the other team, you know?
No, big time, big time. And honestly, it was surprising.
Like even for New York, here's a very split Boston Sixers crowd.
Was it really? I thought it was going to be
overwhelmingly Sixers, but man, times are changing.
Like my buddy, my buddy was walking around with a Red Sox
hat month ago and he was like, dude, like, it's so like, it's
so horrible that I can just do this and no one will attack me.
And then some dude was like, you piece of shit.
And he was like, all right, there we go.
Thank you. Well, then you got to worry
about some knuckleheads having one too many pops and saying the
wrong thing. And when you're young, you're
generally a little bit, I don't mean you, you seem like a, a
pretty easy guy to get along with.
I know you're a pretty easy guy to get along with, but you know,
the meathead who's still jacked up who's living in the wave room
has got 5 drinks in them, You know?
Like that's the clown you want to avoid because that's when
things go off the rails. You know, it's funny as I think
about this, forget about watching a game with people that
don't have a common rooting interest.
I don't even really know if I have any friends who aren't
sports fans. I really don't know.
I mean, I would. Check out that checks out.
Like I don't need them to be maybe as invested as I am.
It's obviously been my profession for 25 years, but
every one of my good friends either played at a pretty high
level or or is a devout or coaches or is a devout fan of a
certain team. I don't, I don't.
I'm thinking about I really don't have a single friend in
the world who doesn't like sports.
No, I think I'm honestly in a, which is funny enough.
Like I think I'm in a similar boat, even though like I think
my interests have skewed more towards like whatever music
stuff like that movie. But I think still all those
people who I'm still friends with within those kind of
categories, at the end of the day, there's still a sports fan.
They're still deeply passionate about one team or another.
Pretty much any every single one.
Let me get into this a little bit here, so and we'll get back
to the calls. Obviously, J Rod's got that in
the chat, so it's pretty easy. Many of you have learned how to
do it. This is I think Week 2, possibly
week 3, but certainly at least Week 2 where we've been taking
calls. I told you we would take calls
on the show. Oh, also forgot to tell you, Joe
Beningo tomorrow, right around 11:30.
Let's hope the Mets lose today. Not, no disrespect to the Mets,
but let's hope the Mets lose 9 to 1 today.
Because if the Mets get on a little winning streak here, they
won yesterday for two, you know, not that Joe's going to be over
the moon happy, but we want vintage Joe.
And even if the Mets do win 11 to 4 today and they look great,
but we'll still find a way to wind up Joe.
Well, have a good time. And Joe's going to be on the
show for a while. Obviously talk Knicks and Jets
and get his thoughts on, you know, boy wonder, boy genius
Stearns and everything that's going on with these Mets so far.
A little golf story, some other some music.
I mean, big Led Zepp guy, big concert guy back in the day.
So we'll have fun with Joe tomorrow.
Now I've told you that I've been trying to get Aaron Aaron on the
show and actually Boone called me yesterday and I was trying to
get it done today. And it's funny, you think about
the, you know, the, you're the manager of the Yankee right, of
the Yankees and you think like, like that's, that's your whole
world. And, and I mean, it's a massive
part of it, obviously. But he's, I'm like, hey, what do
you think about tomorrow? Meaning when when he called me
yesterday that that's what I asked him.
He's like, ah, man, he's like tomorrow's pretty tough.
He's like, I got to go and take my car in.
I've got to exchange it. My lease is up, I got to pick up
my other one. I'm saying to myself, dude,
don't they just dump it at your house?
You're the manager of the Yankees, right?
Then he's like, it's my wife's birthday.
I got to run and get her a gift. I'm like, say no more.
I totally get it. He said it's actually easier
when I'm on the road. So once the Yankees wrap up this
series, they'll be on the road early.
I think they're home maybe one more series after.
After this series. Yeah, I believe so.
Wait, hold on. four-game series with, I mean, how about a
four-game sweep? That's not easy to do.
Yankees just laid it on heavy man.
Oh God. And Schlidler didn't even have
his great stuff. But he said it's easier on the
road. And I I get that because I don't
travel nearly as much as he does.
But when I go on the road with St.
John's, obviously I'm away from the family.
So there's no kids, you know, sports practices, games, you
know, other stuff and other responsibilities.
So he's like, let's do it when I when we hit the road.
So absolutely next week, I don't know the exact day, the time
will be probably right around now, but we'll get Boone up next
week. Joe Beningo definitely tomorrow.
Just wanted to get that out there now.
Speaking of the Yankees some more John Sterling tributes.
I did not see well, probably because he's on the air after
after me. I did not see Michael Kay's
tribute to John not talking about during the broadcast.
I'm talking about during Michael's show on on ESPN Radio
until until I was off the air. And I know the J Rod saw this as
well. It's funny.
Michael, in a lot of ways is, is pretty emotional.
And I don't, I don't want to mischaracterize Michael, but,
you know, if you've heard Michael over the years, he's
always like, yeah, you know, when I die, I die.
That's it. Like, I I wouldn't have thought
that it was actually beautiful to see.
I was surprised that he got as choked up as as he did.
And it was an amazing tribute. It really was.
And you know what? What really got him?
J Rod, I know you saw this when he was talking about talking
about John's daughters, one of one of whom his oldest daughter
is getting married this summer. And it was John's mission to
hang on as as long as possible to be able to walk her down the
aisle. And and any dad with a daughter
who's young or a dad with a daughter who you have already
walked down the aisle or a stepdaughter, that's that, you
know, that's where it really came out.
It was tough to watch, man. It was it was beautiful.
It was pure, it was unfiltered, but Michael was, he was, he was
hurt yesterday. We all were hurting for
different, different reasons and to different degrees.
I heard Susan, I saw some of the snippets.
I know she was on the fan. I texted Susan, She did get back
to me during, during during the game last night.
Can only imagine what her what her inbox was like.
But it was it was a rough day. It was a rough day on so many
levels. And I thought the tributes that
poured in were absolutely amazing.
Now, they didn't go for the patch.
We didn't know what they would do.
They put JS on the back of the Yankees hat, which I, which I
kind of like better, actually, I, I do like that embroidered on
the back of the hat. And then how about Michael's
call? I mean, Judge, it is high.
It is far, it is gone. A judgey and blast.
I mean, you know, paying homage to his, to his friend, then to
his former broadcast partner, John Sterling.
I saw something with the White Sox, with one of their, I forget
who was that hit a home run. The White Sox broadcaster did
the same thing. It is high.
It is far. You want to talk about an
outpouring of emotion and appreciation for not only a
great baseball broadcaster, but a really good guy and something
that Susan said yesterday, and I didn't really know this.
I, I thought this, but I didn't know this because I didn't know
John on that level and I never pretended to know him on that
level. I've met him six or seven times.
Absolute gentleman, absolutely nuts, amazing and and just a, a
humble, happy person. But you know, when you get hit
with that much criticism, as John did, certainly in his older
years, you know, maybe sacrificing some of the nuts and
bolts of the broadcast to launch into a call.
And it's not out those things, right, When your eyesight goes.
I mean, it is what it is when you're in your mid 70s and John
was 87. So he was still doing games in
his early 80s. Been away a couple years now.
I never, I'm never going to criticize somebody for that
because I'd rather have that kind of voice still with us,
even with a few mistakes. But the nostalgia and the
connection and, and the thing that Susan said was it's such a,
a beautiful testament to the person that John was.
All the criticism that he got, like he never like it really.
It really didn't bother him. And the way she framed it was
interesting. She's like, he didn't know how
to like fight back because he didn't have a bad bone in his
body. And you know, the way she told
it, she said, you know, I would ask John, I'd say, hey, John,
you know, does this, does this ever bother you?
Everybody getting on you, you know, making fun of some of the
misses or some of the calls, whatever it might be?
And he's like, no, he's like, it doesn't bother me.
And and even if it did, I I'm so non confrontational that I
wouldn't know how to hit back. And, and that just speaks to his
in inner peace in terms of what he did, knowing who he was.
So I thought Michael was outstanding in the tribute on
his show, although Susan was outstanding in her tribute on
the fan. I thought the the White Sox and
by the way, massive shout out to the Mets broadcast team.
I wish I could play this, but I just can't.
There's trademarks and there's copyrights.
Like I can't do it. I would love to play this
because the the class that was exuded by the Mets broadcast
team yesterday was off the charts.
So the Mets win a game and the Mets have their own issues as we
know. And maybe this will get them
going. Hopefully so.
And they win the game And and I believe it was Keith Rad with
the final. Well, I definitely definitely
wasn't Howie. So I think it was Keith and
Howie goes, you know that that's the ball game.
Whatever Keith says, that's the ball game, the Mets win, the
Mets win and then he kind of slipped in.
That's that's my tribute to John Case, any Mets fan.
And I don't I didn't see a single Met fan that had an issue
with that. And you know, you just never
know anymore. Like we've become so petty as
society and so territorial and so confrontational, especially
on social media where there's no repercussions, where you don't
say something to somebody's face.
You just kind of type away with no again, no repercussions.
I don't always die. I very rarely dive into
comments, but I did dive into some Mets 880 Twitter handle
posted that and they actually had the audio and I dove into
some of the comments and you know, Tony Yankee fans jumped in
and they were really appreciative and really
thankful. And as was I and every met fan
that was within the messages there within that Mets post from
their radio booth said that, you know, like, hey, this is great,
proud of my team, great job, Keith, awesome.
And there's some there should be some things that that do
transcend, you know, battle lines or, you know, nonsense or,
you know, debates or hot takes or the territoriality of the
baseball city, the lines of the city.
I thought it was so awesome. I really, I just really, really
well done by the Mets and really well done by my buddy Michael
Caine, Susan and everybody across baseball.
It was awesome. Now, here's one thing that
really bothers me. And I know the criteria is a
little different. We we have got to now, even if
this changes, it's not going to impact John.
We have got to get to a point where when you have accomplished
X amount in a specific sport, we have got to stop waiting until
people die before we put them in the Hall of Fame.
John Sterling is not in the Hall of Fame.
John Sterling called the 9698992000 and 2009 World Series
championships. The final outs are John's voice,
right? John was on the Mike for seven
American League pennants. John Sterling called the home
runs. Called every one of Derek
Jeter's games. Massive moments by Bernie and
Tino and a rod and everybody else.
Jeter's last hit as a Yankee at the Stadium.
Mariano's final save. You know, Joel Torrey's final
win, I mean, Don Mattingly's final game, and this man is not
in Cooperstown. And again, like, it's called the
Ford Freak Award for media broadcasting.
I don't, I don't pretend to know all the criteria.
And by the way, there really is no criteria.
Like, it's not like there's specific benchmarks because, you
know, now there's some loose benchmarks as a hitter.
It used to be 3000 hits, you know, 300 wins, maybe 3000 plus
strikeouts, 500 home runs. That's changed because the
steroids. But now John Sterling will
inevitably be elected into the Hall of Fame.
And John Sterling will not be around to go to the podium and
look out in front of a massive of Yankee humanity that will
take over Cooperstown. Or that would and they still
will, but would have taken over Cooperstown like all the teams
do when their when their players get voted in.
And it's just a shame. It's an it's a senseless
omission. It's unnecessary and it's really
embarrassing. You know, it's not like trying
to talk about the merits of a player who was great.
Like, think Mattingly. All right, You can even take
David Wright if you want. A little bit of a lesser extent,
but very similar trajectory to Mattingly.
It's not like we're having the conversation about even
Hernandez. But is Mattingly a Hall of Famer
is keyed, Should David Wright get in?
You know, well, you know, certain play, even Albert Bell,
certain players had really, really high end primes.
And then due to attrition injury, they were zapped to
their powers and the back end, the second-half of their career
nowhere near reflected the kind of player that they truly were
at the at the apex of their powers.
Like Don Mattingly was the best player in baseball, you know,
Keith Hernandez Co won the MVP in 79 and was what it and was
the greatest defensive first baseman of all time.
And for me to say that you know better than Mattingly, you know,
he truly was the best David Wright to me was the Mets
version of of Don Mattingly and I and I will remember when me
and Sal will talk about this. I always thought that David
Wright still do. I think the David Wright's the
best position player in the history of the Mets, you know,
and when Pete broke the home run record that Daryl Strawberry
once had, and I understood why people, you know, brought this
up and, you know, and, and not everybody, you know, saw David
Wright. I mean, most people did.
But there's some younger fans where Pete was.
They didn't, they just, they saw, you know, maybe the
diminished version of Wright or they heard their dads talk about
David Wright or whatever it might be.
So for a lot of Met fans, young Met fans, Pete was the guy
understood. But on no planet was beat Alonzo
a better baseball player than David Wright.
David Wright would hit for average hit for power, could
run, could feel, could do everything.
Literally, I think David Wright was one of the best players in
baseball. And to me, you know, that is not
reflected and he shouldn't be in the Hall of Fame because he
wasn't quite quite peaked. Donnie didn't win the MVP,
didn't finish second in in another year like like Don
Mattingly did. But I just think that there's so
many cases and so many situations and it's such sadness
when we wait and we wait and we, what are we waiting for?
The guy's first game was 1989 when he called the Yankee game
outside of his his sister passing away.
I believe in his first year where he missed two games.
He didn't miss a game for 30 seasons, 30 years in a row, 162
and every playoff game, John Sterling called every pitch and
every inning of every game. And he's not in Cooperstown.
He's not in the Hall of Fame. And the way like to me, I mean,
we could sit here and crunch numbers and and try to get into
the weeds of how do you really get it as a broadcaster like the
Ford Frick Award. All right, I mean, I, I don't
really know. It's not the same criteria where
it's a little bit more tangible like if you're a former player,
but just look at the response throughout baseball, the entire
sport stopped to genuflect and rightly honor this sporting
icon, not just the New York icon, a a broadcast icon and not
just a New York sporting legend, a New York legend because he was
part of the lexicon he was part of.
He was there for so many moments that the fine New York and he's
not in the Hall of Fame. They have to check this and
they've got to figure this out. You see it all the time.
Watch. I don't know when I don't, but I
promise you at some point Pete Rose will be in the Hall of
Fame. And once Pete Rose gets in the
Hall of Fame, you'll have Shoeless Joe Jack.
Now, that was obviously a long time ago.
So, you know, Shoeless Joe was never going to be around to see
it. But like, it's it's just another
example of let's just do right by people.
We've got a finite window on this planet.
If somebody does something extraordinary, extraordinary for
decades, ignore the rules or whatever the rules are and lift
up the velvet rope and let that person have that moment.
And by the way, not only for that person I would have loved,
I would have loved to have. I mean, Can you imagine a John
Sterling enshrinement speech? I remember Phil Rizzuto's where
he's swatting away the fly. It's one of the funniest things
I've ever seen. Now, Phil was very different
than John, but they were both zany and they were both wacky,
and they were both amazing and they were both quirky, right?
Phil was a player as well as we. John was not.
But that Hall of Fame speech by Phil was incredible.
I mean, people were crying. They were laughing so hard.
I don't know what John would have done.
I don't know what John would have said, but it would have
been amazing. And you do, you know how much it
would have meant to him and by extension, how much it would
have meant to his family. And now they're deprived of
that. John was deprived of it.
And they will be deprived of it. They will.
Somebody from John's family will eventually be able to get up
there. You know what?
Maybe it, maybe it's Michael Kay.
Maybe the family asks Michael to do it.
Maybe it's Susan. And that would be amazing if
it's not a family member. But it won't be the same.
Sitting in a crowd in the stifling heat in Cooper, the
oppressive heat in Cooperstown, NY, in the middle of the summer,
dripping in humidity, watching John Sterling up there, you
know, talk to the baseball world about what his journey meant to
him. And they missed the boat.
And I just don't get it. Yeah, Jay, I don't know.
I don't understand that, Jared. I really don't.
No, it's cruel. It's cruel.
I mean, you know, when Michael Kay was speaking about it, that
was one of the things that really kind of hit me was just
like, what are we playing with the Hall of Fame for?
Like just just let these people get their flowers while they're
still here, while they still can, because that's what's
important. You know, after they're gone,
it's nice for the family. But really like that's the
moment a lot of these people are working towards.
Is that Hall of not, not that people are that glory searching
or anything like that. But you know, I think that Hall
of Fame induction while you're still alive, it is a very kind
of gratifying experience. It is something that really
validates what you've done inside.
Yes, yes. I mean, he, he's, he was 87.
It's not like he passed away suddenly at the age of 66 due to
a heart attack. How much time did you need to
figure this out? Baseball honestly, it really
isn't bad and it really angers me because you can't get this
back. You can't suddenly say, oh man,
we may have missed the boat on this.
Let's let's let's make this right and let's Johnson he was a
finalist last year. Whatever idiots didn't vote for
it. I don't need again the the the
journalism that wing to me is it's not really defined by the
way, neither is the playing point at this point.
I mean, because everything's now you've got a lot of younger
people and this is not shaded them.
It's just the way the world goes.
But like a lot of younger journalists that are now kind of
carrying the mail four players that they didn't see.
So it's largely dependent upon stats and and listen, I get it.
You know, if I'm 33 years old or I'm 35 and I'm covering the game
and I'm credentialed to in terms of a Hall of Fame vote, right?
And I didn't see Don Mattingly play, you know, and I just go to
baseball reference and I look at the numbers.
I'm underwhelmed. I get it.
You know, I, I see a, a three O 7 lifetime average, but I also
see about 5 or 6 years in a row where 288 soft in terms of home
runs, 288 again, 256 the year he hurt his back where he had
surgery missed some time. I'm like, yeah, I, I, I
understand it, right? That's that's a little
different. But the the older players at
least get in like with or could get in with the veteran
committee, you know, people who saw them.
So that's not even justifiable. I don't I don't know what they
were. I'm not going to I'm not going
to belabor this much more. But when John passed away, I
honestly, I honestly did not know.
I didn't think he was in the hall because I remember never
seeing him do a speech by let me just double.
Did I miss this? You know, did I, you know, in
the early throws of fatherhood that I did, I miss John
Sterling's induction. I I can't imagine that I did.
But let me just Nope, not in the whole fame 87 years of age, you
know, didn't just step away from the microphone this year.
Dave Sims was here last year. You know, Yeah, they missed the
mark. And and you can't, you can't
rectify that. You just can't.
And it sucks. Absolutely does.
What else do I have here? OK, it's 1111, 1111 you used to.
You people say 1111, make a wish.
Yep. You don't do that, do you?
No, dude, I'm a man. I mean, I'm a man.
I think my my wife does that where it's either 1010 or 11
where she not only does she make a wish, I think she makes a wish
but she stares at the clock until it turns.
Hey, you know what that's like? There's there's one of your
superstitions right there. Not big my generation.
We're not 1111, we're 444. Oh yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I don't know why, but that's like, I get it.
That's a generation's number. They love that one each
generation. 'S a little different, yeah.
By the way, you know, Speaking of of the Mets with Beningo
tomorrow, Soto in the lead off spot, which I kind of like.
I mean, you got to mix stuff up. And I know it's not ideal to
have Juan Soto batten first every game, but nobody on base,
I get it. But you know, in terms of the
bigger picture where you would think, you know, the more he
does this, the more the pitch will have to exert from the get
go, you know, navigate the strike zone and be very careful.
And he's not going to swing at slop.
So he's out there going to get on base with a walk or, or
barrel one up. So the pitcher is going to be a
little tired when he gets to the second and third hitters.
And because he's on base all the time, he's an on base machine.
Historically, you would think that in theory that number 2 #3
#4 downstream, residually going to get some fastballs because
guys were on base. So I like it.
I don't know if it's going to solve all their issues.
Didn't do a whole lot yesterday, but I like it.
I thought it was interesting. You got to try stuff.
He can't just keep, you know, taking it on the chin.
You know, the Mets won the series before.
All right, two out of three. The Rockies clowned them when
they were in Queens. Maybe this is the start of, of
the Mets regenerating just a little bit and starting to
string together a couple of wins.
You know, Lindor was at the Met Game at the at the Knick game
last night, didn't have a boot on, but he's not coming back for
months. I would I would think.
So you won't have him, You know, we'll see.
But I I like, I like the change there and just to try something
different, give the team a different look, maybe different
jolt and a little bit of a different, you know, schematical
approach here. So I know that people, it is
what it is. I couldn't care less.
But I will acknowledge it at the top.
So I've seen it. So when I talk about Juan Soto,
it's never about. It's it's never about Juan Soto
didn't want to be a Yankee. I am so far past that.
I mean, right now, by the way, the Yankees, the what the
Yankees are doing. Where is that stat?
I had something written down this morning.
Give me one SEC here. Yeah, and then I'll, I'll get
back to the solo stop. So last night Yankees obviously
won their 24 and 11. All right, Seven times in the
Yankees history, the Yankees started 24 and 11:00 and had at
least a + 76 run differential. Yanks been around since the
early 1900s. It's happened. 7 * 1920 three
1932193619391951 And those are a lot of early years.
And then somewhat recently 2003 when they got to the World
Series and lost to that young Marlins pitching staff Giambi's
first year, right? So I, I love the way the Yankees
look and I myself and able I'm I'm able to separate Soto talk
with and and not have it just kind of seep into the Yankees
because Soto moved on and the Yankees have moved on in a very
big and a very good way. And I love the way the Yankees
look this year, all right. And, and I also realized that
Soda was a free agent. He didn't willingly sign with
the Yankees. He, you know, he didn't come
here on his own volition. He was traded here and he
produced at an incredibly high level.
And, you know, you play, I mean, first you play to make the
majors and, you know, to change the get get, you know, just to
change the dynamics of your family and also to satisfy a
dream and touch a dream that you've worked on forever.
But once you hit a certain point when you're a player like Juan
Soto, you are talking multiple generations of of affluence, All
right. And I never begrudged him.
I wanted him to stay. He didn't want to stay.
Mets made some concessions because they had to.
He went to the Mets. Year 1, he played pretty well.
Mets did not. Year 2, he's played pretty well.
He's been hurt. Year 2 is a disaster so far.
We'll see what happens, but I couldn't think.
But when I when I was looking at Ben Rice and some of these
numbers, right? Because one of the things that I
loved, I mean, the thing that I loved about the 2024 Yankees,
aside from getting to the World Series, was that, I mean,
watching Judge and Soto every single night, it was out to me,
it was Ruth and Garrick, you know?
You know, Munson and Reggie weren't quite that.
Mattingly and Winfield weren't quite that a rod and Toshera or
Canoe weren't quite that as great as a rod was.
Canoe was, you know, I mean, it just wasn't that.
There was no other duo in my lifetime that did what those two
guys did a couple of years ago in pinstripes.
So I was just kind of looking at some of the numbers.
I'm like, it's a massive projection.
I want to have a little fun with this.
Do I think it'll happen? I'll give you the answer in a
moment. So in 2024, we know Juan Soto
hit 288. He had a 396 on base percentage,
he had a 989 OPS. His WAR was 8 all right, he
scored 128 runs, he hit 41 home runs, a career high, and he had
109 RB is which I also think was a career high, may have tied it,
but it was up there. It was either one or two judges
we know had a WAR of almost 1110.9.
Wow, 58 home runs, 144 RB is hit 322.
Then the next year he won the batting title but hit 322458-ON
base percentage. We're talking Bonds territory on
steroids and an OPS of over 1150.
Now come, I know I hit you with a lot of numbers, so I'll kind
of condense it here. In total, in 2024, Judge and
Soto accounted for 99 home runs. All right, 250 runs scored and
253 RBIs, and I'll give you those numbers again in a minute.
But 99 homers, 250 runs, 253 ribbies, those two now it's
incredibly early. Ben Rice does not have the track
record at all. Like, I mean, doesn't really
have much of A track record at all, even though he hit the ball
very hard last year. And I pointed that out with some
advanced analytics. But he's 27, you know, was not
thought to be a massive prospect.
You know, didn't distinguish himself immediately.
So he's not Soto. I'm not saying that, but at
least now in early May he is projected and he didn't play
last night. Hopefully he plays today.
I'm going to think he gets another day off because he
wasn't even available to pinch hit.
And I know he told Meredith that he couldn't even that he didn't
think he can get his a swing off yesterday.
I think the Yankees are cautious and I don't think they run him
out today, but we'll see. 57 home runs.
He's projected to hit 57. He's projected to have 129 RBIs,
score 140, three runs, hit 343. He's not going to do that.
And an OPS of over 1200, which I don't think you'll do that
either. And right now was wars almost 2
which is top 15 in baseball. Judge is on pace to hit 60.
I mean this freaking guy is unreal is on pace to hit 65 home
runs 120 and he won't hit 65. I don't think 125 ribbies, 148
runs and an OPS of over 1050. Now now let me give you the
easier and and his war is already 2.3 which leads baseball
a more digestible snapshot. Let me just boil this down for
you again. 2024 Judge and Soto, 99 home runs.
Right now, Judge and Rice are on pace for 1/22.
I mean, I'm just, I'm just giving you the projections.
In 2024, Soto and Judge had 253 RBIs.
Right now, the current Yankee tandem on pace for three more,
254. Back in 2024, they scored two.
I mean, this really is mind boggling stuff. 250 runs this
year, They're on pace for 291 runs now.
Do I think you know that? That's a lot of stuff I threw at
you, so let me just cherry pick and I'll give you some opinions.
Do I think that Ben Rice will hit more than 288 what Soto had
in 20? Yes, I do.
I do. I think he's probably going to
be in that three O 2, three O 5:00-ish area, something like
that, because he does walk a lot, right?
I think he'll have a higher average than 280.
I feel pretty confident about that.
Do I think he's going to hit more than 41 home runs if he's
healthy? Absolutely.
So I believe he'll blow by that. Do I believe he's going to have
more than 109 RBI's? Absolutely I do.
Now, the Judge stuff is different.
Like I don't think Judge is going for 65 bombs and I don't
think he's going to score almost 150 runs.
I just don't. But it is amazing and I'm end.
And to push it one step further, when you look at war, Soda was
8, he had a war of 8. Rice is almost 2 and it's very
early. You know, I think that Ben Rice
is going to be in the neighborhood of a very similar
war, could slightly surpass it, slightly below it, because
neither one's doing a whole hell of a lot defensively.
So it's not like you have some great defensive player and, you
know, similar offensive stats and the defense or even the base
running is going to push that significantly higher in One
Direction. It's crazy.
And there's so much baseball to go.
That's baseball, Susan. I get it.
And I'm not trying to be nuts. I'm not trying to be
irresponsible. But to even throw it out there
as even if it's a remote possibility that Ben Rice and
Aaron Judge can perform at a higher statistical level than
Juan Soto and Aaron Judge in 2024 is mind blowing stuff.
Because I've never seen what I've seen before from 2 dudes
like I did in 2024 with Soto and Judge.
And here I am saying I think Rice is going to have a higher
average. I think he's going to have more
home runs. I think he's going to have more
RB is, you know, and I got, I got to be honest with you, I
look at the OPS here, 98. I don't think I have the on base
percentage that that Soto had. Do I think that Ben Rice has a
really good chance to have an O an OPS that's higher than Soto's
989 from 2024? I do.
I absolutely do. And I think he's got a real
chance to exceed the amount of runs that Juan Soto scored,
which was 128. He's on pace for 1:43.
It's crazy, it's crazy to think and it's obviously going to be
fun to monitor now looks like the Yankees avoided some
disaster with the with the Rice injury.
You know, a little contusion. All right, X-rays clean, That's
good. It takes 1 fast bolt to shatter
3 bones in the wrist for any player.
I'm not just talking to generalities now, so I'm not
putting money on this, but it is not, it is not irresponsible to
at least have the conversation now.
I don't want to throw it out there to you See what you guys
think? All right, who's up next here?
What do we got there? Jay, hit me up.
We've got our friend, first time caller, long time listener Matt
Cardoza from Peekskill, NY. Oh, Maddie, up in Peekskill, Did
you go to Stefanak? Nah, did you go to Peekskill?
Where'd you go? To high school, I did Peekskill,
Peekskill, Peekskill High School.
We were good enough in basketball.
We didn't have to go to Stefanak.
Understood, although I don't know man my my buddy from Marist
who played a Stefanak Trev that that step in act team in the
early 90s, I don't know how old you are, was one of the best.
I mean they had 3-4 guys Conlin played at Providence.
I I don't know if you were beating that step in act team,
but maybe the. Maybe maybe the Elton brand one,
the one that you know, first overall pick in 1999 pretty good
I. Understood.
Nah. So I just want to call in Ben
Rice real quick. Yep, he's incredible.
I never thought we would get a first baseman with this kind of
pop, with this kind of batting average.
He's not Jordan Alvarez, because he does.
He still strikes out more than him, but he's incredible.
But what I really wanted to come in and talk about, there's no
reason to think that the Knicks aren't winning at all this year.
You can start thinking that man, I said that it's it's not a hot
take. It is a, it is a readjustment
based on well over a month of play.
I mean, they are just beating the shit out of everybody here,
Matt. It's not even competitive right
now. They look, they look amazing.
And watching the rest of the NBA, it's really only the
Thunder looking, looking at how the Spurs kind of capitulated
last night. I'm not worried about Victor
Wimbunyama against Mitch Robinson and Karl Anthony Towns
the way he's playing right now. And they don't have the rest of
the roster that the Knicks have right now.
When we got Alvarado and Karl Anthony Towns bought into the
defensive philosophy, something about his game clicked.
It was like the final. Everything started to click into
place. We started passing the ball, the
high post, being able to to isolate, allowing Jaylen Brunson
to get his shot off and not have to dominate the ball to the head
coach. Because I don't think Thibodeau
would have allowed the team to rest as much, play as much of
the bench to keep everybody fresh.
Agreed. The team now looks.
Complete. They've experimented with
lineup, so now you get players 7 through 11 coming in looking
comfortable, running the offense and defense the way they should,
even if they don't hit the shots they should.
They're rotating the ball quick enough where they're getting the
open shots, maintaining the level of intensity on defense
and offense. The offense is flowing.
Mitch, I'm sorry, Mikkel Bridges has never looked more
comfortable in a Knicks uniform. OG and an Obi is as efficient as
anybody and he's unguardable when he puts his shoulders down.
He's a dog man, He is a grown man.
OG is playing out of his mind. And with Karl Anthony talents
kind of using all of the different talents that he has,
being able to pass, being able to dribble, being able to
defend, not getting out over his skis and screaming at a referee
for five seconds while somebody's running down the
court and getting an open layup. He's actually getting back while
still looking over her shoulder. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Give him a little whatever. But the the energy and the the
togetherness of this team. I haven't seen a New York team
like this since the 2009 Yankees where it they got the comebacks
time after time. And it just felt like everything
that was happening was happening in the right time at the right
place. It was it was almost
serendipitous. How everything just came
together and seeing the Karl Anthony Towns transformation
into a legit NBA superstar. I don't want to hear anything
about Giannis ever again because Giannis can't shoot the way Karl
Anthony Towns. Can.
No. Not even close.
Karl Anthony Towns can rebound the way he does.
He now is showing he can defend the way he does, he can pass the
way he does. He is a complete superstar
player and that's when we talked about Jalen Brunson can't be the
best player on the team. I think this is what we're
talking about with Karl Anthony Towns, a complete player that
can give you 20 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks, a
steal, low turnovers, hit three and then you've got the bench
and you've got the togetherness and you've got a coach who now
knows how his rotations working. The rest of the NBA doesn't have
the intensity across 48 minutes to keep up with us over A7 game
series. So even if we slip up and like
get on the road or something, we're taking it to game seven no
matter who it is. So I would love to see the
Thunder. I don't care who it is.
There's no reason to think that this New York Knick team cannot
win a championship. And I think every Knicks fan in
the tri-state area needs to get behind them.
It's time to really believe they do, because it's time to go,
Maddie. It's good time.
It's good, Tom, baby. Let's go, Matt.
Matt, great call, outstanding. Energy, it's awesome it.
It's obvious you really know the game well.
Well done. Great point.
Salient point, some might say. Good job there, dude.
Wow. It's a good call here.
All right, so a couple of things.
Now. See, there's two things in place
here, and it's about the evolution of the Knicks.
For them to get to this point, there had to be a plan from the
coach, OK? And you could have different
degrees of trust in the coach. You could take shots at the
code. Whatever it is, it is undeniable
that the Knicks offense has gotten much better under Mike
Brown and their defense has not taken a step back #1 #2 this is
not where you have to really load the players because the
coach has to present something different.
And that's the plan that I just referenced.
And then certain players need to make certain concessions to make
the plan work. And part of that is Jalen
Brunson. You can't just keep hammering
the ball, dude. You got to spin it around.
We we need motion, we need movement.
We're too predictable. When you just hammer the ball
and you doing it for 8-9 seconds, we're stagnant.
Defense easier on the defense. There's no subsets because if
you do that too often, which he would, and I love Jalen, that's
my really my only criticism. I mean, that is defense, but he
can't really help his defense because he's just smaller and
slower than a lot of these point guards.
But you could control the monopolization of the ball and
he has. So you need a plan, then you
need guys to buy into it. Like pragmatically, like, all
right, maybe this could work. And then you need egos to be
checked at the door. And that's where concessions
come in. And when you have enough of that
stuff and you have the requisite talent, that should add up to a
team that could really win a championship.
And that's all there is to it. I mean, they have changed and
they have evolved and they have gotten better, and it is
undeniable. And the NBA is on the NBA.
Pardon me, the NBA is on notice. They're on notice.
You know the other thing too, and I said this to start the
show. I really was a good call.
Think about this right. So cat picks up his first foul
and all right, it was a foul. The second one I no, the third
one I didn't I didn't think was necessarily a foul.
Second one was definitely a foul.
That was when he was ISO D on like on the in the block kind of
semi block right side and then beat had the ball.
That was a foul. The third one.
I don't know if that was really a foul, but anyway, Cat gets a
found 9 minutes and 38 seconds. I mean, a couple of minutes you
5 you 5 minutes into the game, right?
You're like, that's not that's not great.
Then he picks up another one with 655 to go in the first
quarter. Now you get the first Test here
because now it's a totally different complexion from the
previous series. You're like, OK, let's see how
they adjust. Well, and we talked about this
and I give Nick Nurse a lot of credit because I would do this
all the time. You go to Mitch, obviously he's
your backup 5, even though they play a little bit more together
and they were on the court again a little bit together last
night, something that they weren't doing at points in the
year that they're a little bit more open to doing now.
But you know, hey, I mean, the Knicks are cooking on offense.
We got to try to stifle these guys because they do whatever
the hell they want. Wrap them up, put them on the
strike, Clank, clank, do it again.
Clank, clank. Now, at that point, you got two.
You really have two options if you are Mike Brown, you say, all
right, there's no way I'm putting Cat in, you know, with
with two minutes ago in the first quarter and letting him
run out there with two fouls. So that's not an option.
So the only two options are you just hope that Mitt starts
hitting a few, which is going against the numbers and hoping
against hope because he's the worst free throw shooter I've
ever seen in my life. He's worse than Chris Dudley.
He's terrible. He's horrendous.
He's 38%. I mean, honestly, I we could
have we could have shot 38% when we were 1038%.
It's just wretchedly bad. So that wasn't a viable option.
The other option was, all right, well, maybe there were three
options. Maybe you throw OG who has
guarded and beat in the past, or you just look down the bench and
you call somebody's number who hasn't played much and you throw
hot Porty in there. You know, and I'm, I'm not
saying he looked like Patrick Ewing out there, but it worked
because the Knicks stumped them. I mean, the Knicks after the
first quarter with all the foul issues and with Mitch missing
all four free throws, Knicks were up 3325.
Bronson had 14 points, they were +5 and rebounding and Embiid was
one for six from the field despite making six out of six
from the free throw line. So, you know, and then I like
the fact that he put Cat right back out there to start the
second quarter. I like that.
And then Mitch picked up foul #3 with 752 to go in the second
quarter. So like, don't let the lopsided
score fool you. There were some early
impediments and some early challenges in that game that if
Mike Brown didn't navigate those properly.
I mean, I'm not saying the Knicks don't win because Bronson
was cooking, OG was great, Bridges was really good.
You know, things were happening, but and it be just the is a
disaster in the drop coverage. I mean, he is a detriment
defensively. He's a statue.
You got to do whatever you want against him all series.
And you know, one of the big reasons why I think the Knicks
have such a big advantage here is, I mean, we know the Nick
reasons. But all right, I'm going to, I'm
not going to ride off and beat. He'll have a game or two where
he's great, at least offensively.
And I've got great respect for Paul George and he was pretty
good last night. And Max, he's a blur and he's
going to be a problem, though the Knicks do have multiple
capable defenders who you can at least rotate to try to slow him
down. I think one of the real keys
here because he is a tremendous young player.
Talk about BJ Edgecomb. He is a 20 year old pup.
He's a 20 year old kid, all right.
Look at OG Anobie's body. Look at him.
Look at when he drive, Look at when he sets a screen.
Look at when he moves past somebody.
He goes right through him. Edgecomb's not doing that yet.
Now, three, 4-5 years down the road, I mean, whatever Knick
version we have, Edgecomb's going to be destroying the
Knicks because he's going to be that kind of player and Maxi
will be in his prime and then B will be gone.
It'll be their show, right? And it's going to be tough.
But right now, a 20 year old, not that he won't have a good
night because he can't score. He's got a good motor and I love
him. I remember watching him when St.
John's played Baylor. I think that was in the Bahamas
a couple of years ago. I remember following his
recruiting because St. John's was trying to get him and
I'm like, this kids definitely going top five in the draft and
he deserved that. I think he went third.
He deserved that. But he's 20.
He doesn't have that strength. Even Bridges, who's not nearly
as stout as OG Anobi. When you've been in the league
6-7 years, nutrition, weight room, just being accustomed to
banging bodies with grown men, Edgecomb is not going to be a
consistent night to night, game to game factor.
There will be ups and there will be downs because he's 20 and the
Knicks are trotting out grown man after grown man Big
advantage Knicks. What did I miss there, Jade?
Did I miss anything? The only thing we've still got
the what's the realignment? Oh yeah, yeah, I want to get to
that in a minute, but go ahead. What?
Was that it? No, I mean, that's all I can
think of in terms of terms of the Knicks.
I think. I think you've hit everything.
I I just love that call. I mean, dude, if that doesn't
get you fired up, I don't know what will.
It's so great that the series is split one day apart.
What is better for basketball? Oh, I love it.
I love it. What I love it, I mean because I
last series there were multiple games and I think pretty much
every series where there was a 2 day three day break, something
like. Can't stand it, can't stand it.
You lose old flow like the storylines get interrupted.
I was just checking on my photo because I hadn't checked.
I didn't check this morning. The Knicks, I don't know what it
opened up at, but I remember saying on yesterday's show the
Knicks were 6 1/2 point favorites game one.
What do you think they are going into Game 2?
At least 13 point. No, you.
Think that's too high? No, way too high.
So I can tell you don't gamble a ton.
It's not going to jump. Seven, I don't gamble a ton.
No, let's that's OK, that's good.
Tyrese Maxi didn't come through for me last night.
Oh, you had a little prop action?
Oh dude. Because I do like the weird
parlays. Like like I'm a parlay guy
where? Fucker bet dude.
I know so. Give me what?
What did you have, by the way, last night?
Or hold on, the Knicks are the same.
They were 6 1/2 point favorites game too.
Now, what was the parlay? All right.
Right. And it it went decently well.
Nick's money line, OK Cat 15 points.
That good. Jalen Brunson, 25 points.
I love it. Joel Embiid, 6 rebounds.
Oh, that terrible pick. Terrible pick.
Didn't work. Out.
And what did he, what did he finish with?
Four, he's he. That's something that I I now
have begun to realize. He's not the best in this
current state of Joel Embiid. He's not the best rebound.
But true. But I got to be honest with you,
you're not asking him to get 12 like Moses Malone.
Exactly. So was it a four team or A5
team? Was that it?
And then one more Tyrese Maxey, 25 points didn't come close.
OK, I got to tell you, would you put down 10 spot?
5. Five to win what?
A19080. Oh, it was Week 38.
That's it. Yeah, Well, Nick's money line
obviously dilutes the odds. So all right, let me go through
this checkpoint by checkpoint. Nick's money line.
And I like to do that with the NFL or even college football.
And I'm not a big parlay guy because to me it's a sucker bet
based on experience. Trust me.
And I'm and I would never do like a $5 parlay.
Like when I would do it, I would, you know, 150, you know,
2-3 teamers, you know, come on now, come on now.
Sometimes more, you know if I was up and and.
Losing it all. Well, yeah, I'd, I'd rather,
yeah. The more you bet, the more you
lose. So the more teams you
incorporate into a parlay, the better the odds of you losing.
Now, I get it. Like people don't want to gamble
a lot of money, which I respect. I, I don't gamble like that
anymore. And it's fun and a little juice
on the game, a little extra action.
You throw down A5 spot, you might win 38.
If you win it, then maybe you go a little heavier game too.
I understand the thought process.
So to me, I would, if I did do a parlay, I would always like to
incorporate a money line for a team like say the Chiefs were
-12 1/2. And I'm like, I don't know if
they're gonna really cover this, but I know they're gonna win the
game. Let me get a hanger on the board
even though there's no guarantees, but guaranteed when
Chiefs just went doesn't matter. They win, you know, three to
two. If they give up a safety and
they hit a field goal, they win like one for one on the poor
leg. Then you start getting a little
more aggressive, right? So Nick's money line smart,
especially in A5 Teamer cat 15 smart, Brunson plus 25 smart and
B6 rebounds smart. The maxi.
If you ask me this of all the five I would have said not that
maxi can't drop 35. I don't think I would have run
with that last night. Been locking up.
That's the only mistake. That was what every single
person was telling me before was just like, it looks good
otherwise, but like I just. Don't they they?
You know, my friends are going. I just don't think Maxie's
coming through with that performance tonight.
And they were. Right, they were right.
They were right. What I'm surprised the return
was only. 38 bucks, I mean, every single one of those was
pretty like the odds were pretty low, like JB 25 was super low
and you know, it was everything was still old before the game,
but it happens. And yeah, as as could my friend
M Cardoza says 25 points is tough every time.
I always feel I always feel iffy about throwing that bet down.
I think the only locks for that Shay and like Jokic kind of.
Yeah, yeah. And Brunson.
Kind, Yeah, yeah, yeah, those three, those 3 did.
You help the Tatum, you know, but no, there's, there's not
many. I mean, I don't mean Tatum
necessarily right now, but. No, he's a he's a good 25 lock,
but he's also a good like for him now.
I think the the big bet going forward will be like Tatum, 10
rebounds, like taking him over 10 boards because it'll be like
it'll give you a good. I don't know.
A little. A little return.
Unfortunately for you, you're gonna have to wait till next
year to get in there. When you can't hit enter yet, it
can. Nobody's going to take the bet
because the game's playing. I'll take, I'll take Jason Tatum
10 rebounds in game one. October 15th.
October 27th. Preseason there you go the
opener game one all right, so I don't think we missed anything.
I'm trying to think if I want to do that realignment tomorrow.
I think I might want to say that I think I might want to say that
for tomorrow. I think that although wait, we
got well, we got we got Joe B tomorrow yeah, but I think Joe
will be separate. I don't think we'll do Joe
during the live stream. I think we'll do the lot.
I mean, I know we'll do the live show tomorrow from 10 to
probably 11:30. And then do Joe B after.
As a separate like we did with Michael Kay.
Yeah, no, no need to to throw in some some difficult elements
again like with the K like I thought the live was going to be
super clean, but you never know. Yeah, I think the K videos got
about 20,000 views, so it's. Both of them.
Yeah, yeah, true. That's true.
And hopefully, if you can listen, if you guys are new to
the show, the of course you want to like, and you want to
subscribe and you want to do all that stuff that helps me and,
and gives me, you know, more of a platform to build things out.
But it's, it's pretty easy, you know, in terms of like, if, if
certain things happen on YouTube, then more things can
happen. It's a pretty basic equation.
So you guys got to carry that mail.
I mean, I have been here literally every single day
except the day after Easter since December 22nd, you know,
and, and, and, and Christmas morning.
But I had something recorded for you everyday, you know, we're
going live. 10:00 We're doing a show.
I would take, I'll take a little time off during the summer.
Certainly not until the Knicks are done and all that stuff.
But I mean, I'm still going to be a human being.
But you know, I mean, I'm, I'm doing what I got to do.
You guys have supported the show great.
I know the, you know, the number of live streams is, is, is good
in terms of live views. I want more.
It's, it's good. It's grown, it's good.
The numbers have grown. We'll get to 25,000 Subs by the
end of the month. I think that's a guarantee.
And that's been growing fast and, and I'm proud of that.
And the good thing too, we introduced this last week and
it's been very good for the channel.
You know, I get it. Those of you watching right now,
you're a big fan of the show. You like the calls, you know,
you probably listen to me on WFAM, but I also understand that
not everybody can just sit there for two hour or an hour and 45
minute show. I get that.
So what we started doing, and it's more work for J Rod, but
he's been doing a great job with this and the numbers have shown
that it's certainly worth it. We've taken two or three
segments from each of the lives here and we've put it up as
separate content. And it gives you a chance to
really, it's like a menu. Like if you don't care about
Bolby, if you're a Mets fan and you don't care about or if
you're a Dodgers fan or if you're a Red Sox fan or a
Phillies fan, you really don't care what the Yanks are going to
do with Volpee. Well, you don't need to sit
through the Volpee video. Just go and find something else
that you like here. So that is fairly new and it's
worked out really well. And shout out to J Rod for for
doing that. He had the idea and he texted me
and I sweat hand to Bible. I was thinking the same thing
and was about to text him and he hit me with the idea.
I'm like, that's awesome. That's how you know it was meant
to be. We're doing this and it's been
really good for the show. So I'm going to wrap it up.
I appreciate everybody. I appreciate the calls,
appreciate the comments, appreciate the chat.
Make sure you like this. I mean, that's a given.
You come and you like the show, bounce around the channel.
Previous shows, if you missed the K conversation, that's their
hell. If you're really new to the show
and you missed the Stephen A conversation about a month or so
ago or the La Greca conversation about two months ago or the
first Michael Kay conversation, which was less about the Yankees
and more about, you know, the industry and his life and
growing up and all that stuff. Just couple of friends shooting
the breeze. That's up there as well.
So Pitino interviews, you know, more and more and more, and
we'll have Joe B on the show tomorrow.
So yeah, we can only hope the Mets lose 9 to 1 and Joe B is
extra riled up. Get him going after the boy
genius. So have a great Tuesday.
Oh, wait, is today Tuesday? Yeah, Yeah.
Yeah, it is. Jeez.
I mean, we don't leave the house every morning.
You kind of forget what day it is.
It's absolutely ridiculous. I told you, I just go on these
drives once in a while just to get some air.
Gotta get out of the house. These long commutes, these nine
second commutes are absolutely crushing me, man.
So have a great rest of your Tuesday.
I will see you tomorrow with 10, Beningo.
Tomorrow right around 11:30 or 12:00.
It's going to be a big day. Great job by the Knicks, great
job by the Yankees. At one point the Knicks were up
by 30 and the Yankees were up by 11.
I mean that that that is that is a good, good day and a great job
with all the tributes that went out to to the late great John
Sterling yesterday, whether it was Susan on the fan or Michael
and Susan putting the blue and white roses at home plate where
Michael taking one of his signature calls.
It is high. It is forward is gone judgy and
blast other broadcasters doing that around baseball, the Mets
broadcast team doing that. You know, it's it's a sign that
is as twisted as this world seems to be some days, there's
still a lot of good. I believe that and and I thought
we saw a lot of that yesterday. So have a great Tuesday, catch
you tomorrow. Peace we out.