1 00:00:09,360 --> 00:00:12,560 You're listening to the Back Home Network presented by Home 2 00:00:12,560 --> 00:00:24,480 Field Apparel. Welcome back to Crimson Cast. 3 00:00:24,480 --> 00:00:27,400 Galen Clavio, Scott Caulfield joining you. 4 00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:32,000 Here it is someday. We just recorded a podcast. 5 00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:34,760 We're recording another podcast which won't come out till the 6 00:00:34,760 --> 00:00:37,800 next day. But Scott and I've been talking 7 00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:40,640 for like an hour straight now, but you're only hearing the 8 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:42,560 second-half of it. But you can go and check the 9 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:44,200 first half. We've already put that on the 10 00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:45,320 feed. Hopefully you're listening 11 00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:46,680 sequentially. If you're listening to this out 12 00:00:46,680 --> 00:00:48,800 of order, I don't even know what to tell you at this point, but 13 00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:50,440 we. We all do a lot of inside jokes 14 00:00:50,440 --> 00:00:52,800 from the first hour. We'll keep it fresh, right? 15 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:56,200 Yeah, We we used all those up. Last time, yeah. 16 00:00:56,200 --> 00:00:58,840 But anyway, we are here. It's great. 17 00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:00,640 It's a beautiful, beautiful day outside. 18 00:01:00,680 --> 00:01:02,440 Scott, how are you doing? It's good to see. 19 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:02,960 I love the. Yeah. 20 00:01:03,160 --> 00:01:06,400 You were in Hawaii recently. I love the hoodie, Hawaii shirt. 21 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:08,280 Got the gear. It's a good look for you. 22 00:01:08,280 --> 00:01:09,600 I like that a lot. Thank you. 23 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:12,840 No, no, I'm doing fantastic. The weather's the weather's 24 00:01:12,840 --> 00:01:14,320 awesome. We have a busy day going out to 25 00:01:14,520 --> 00:01:17,480 a graduation party. My son's doing a band thing at 26 00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:19,240 the high school. And then we have a birthday 27 00:01:19,240 --> 00:01:22,520 party and then another party. It's it's it's, it's May, man. 28 00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:25,120 It's busy. Well, I'm, I'm digging it. 29 00:01:25,120 --> 00:01:30,440 I, I'm excited about just in general, what, what we're, what 30 00:01:30,440 --> 00:01:33,000 we're seeing in the state of Indiana right now is a lot of 31 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:36,240 fun stuff going on. It's been like five years, like 32 00:01:36,320 --> 00:01:38,320 maybe 7 years. I every I get really close to 33 00:01:38,320 --> 00:01:41,040 this, like we're about to hit the the best run of Indiana 34 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:43,720 sports we've had in a while. Like I was there with with the 35 00:01:43,720 --> 00:01:46,120 IU football in 2020 and then it didn't, didn't hang on. 36 00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:48,080 And then it was like, all right, Oladipo and the Pacers, like 37 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:49,800 we're going to be there. And then no, it's like, all 38 00:01:49,800 --> 00:01:50,960 right, Woodson's going to turn around. 39 00:01:50,960 --> 00:01:52,760 Like there's been these moments where it's like, all right now 40 00:01:52,760 --> 00:01:55,760 we got trace Jackson Davis back. It's like we can't get, you 41 00:01:55,760 --> 00:01:58,560 know, for me, it's the, you know, the the Colts, the Pacers 42 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:00,800 and then IU basketball football. Can we get that 4 headed 43 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:05,840 triumvirate go or quad umvirate going, but it's not there yet. 44 00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:07,240 It's 4 headed. It's a. 45 00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:10,560 Tetrarchy, yes, I think that's right. 46 00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:14,000 Tetrarchy is fork. Let me let me look. 47 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:17,400 Tetrarchy. I'm this is this is great radio 48 00:02:18,360 --> 00:02:19,680 Quad. Not I mean, quad is fork. 49 00:02:19,680 --> 00:02:22,600 No, no, The the tetrarchy was established in ancient Rome. 50 00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:26,160 This was Diocletian's effort to restructure the Roman Empire. 51 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:28,640 For those of you who are, for those of you who claim that 52 00:02:28,640 --> 00:02:31,600 you're obsessed with the Roman Empire, if you don't know about 53 00:02:31,600 --> 00:02:34,000 the Tetrarchy, I would submit you're a fraud. 54 00:02:34,280 --> 00:02:36,920 That's fair. So but this was where you had 55 00:02:36,920 --> 00:02:41,360 the 2 senior Caesars and you had the two junior Caesars and the 56 00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:44,600 idea was we need a succession plan for each end of the empire. 57 00:02:44,600 --> 00:02:47,240 And that worked until someone decided, you know what, I would 58 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:49,960 just like to retain power for myself, which is essentially how 59 00:02:50,200 --> 00:02:52,480 the history of humanity has worked out across the board. 60 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:55,040 But that would be a four headed monster at the Tetrarchy. 61 00:02:55,320 --> 00:02:56,400 OK. And that's kind of like what's 62 00:02:56,400 --> 00:02:57,640 happening in College Football Playoff. 63 00:02:57,640 --> 00:02:58,520 We're doing. We're doing that. 64 00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:01,080 Kind of yes. I, I think that's, that's not 65 00:03:01,080 --> 00:03:03,640 wrong. Certainly we're, we're actually, 66 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:05,600 you know what? It's funny you say that cause 67 00:03:05,600 --> 00:03:07,640 the power 4 will likely turn into a power too. 68 00:03:07,640 --> 00:03:10,000 It's very similar to what happened in the Roman Empire. 69 00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:13,160 Hopefully that doesn't end with college football being invaded 70 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:16,120 by barbarian hordes, but you never know would. 71 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:22,480 That be like Arena. Football or something that would 72 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:25,760 be, I think that's like that's like the XFL would be the the 73 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:29,440 barbarian hordes at this. Point the last messages of Vince 74 00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:31,640 McMahon coming in taking it over. 75 00:03:32,040 --> 00:03:33,800 The enemy is the new commissioner of college. 76 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:37,200 The Attila the Hun of football, right? 77 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:41,760 Anyway, we're here to talk facers. 78 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:45,120 This is why we don't have never mind, this is the best. 79 00:03:45,160 --> 00:03:47,040 I've had multiple people tell me like when you guys go off the 80 00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:49,200 rails, that's the most fun and people probably also think it's 81 00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:50,640 the worst. So exactly. 82 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:53,800 But anyway, Home Field Apparel is our presenting sponsor. 83 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:56,680 I'm sure they're thrilled to have that be a lead in, but I'm 84 00:03:56,680 --> 00:03:59,280 going to show you all this. There until the hunset. 85 00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:04,800 This is new Home field Apparel Dr. Yesterday this thing was 86 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:06,960 insane. If you can't see it, it says 87 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:11,400 it's May in Indy on on the shirt and it's got an IndyCar with 88 00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:16,480 Boomer given the the the the high one in the cockpit. 89 00:04:17,040 --> 00:04:19,200 Very kind of retro ish looking shirt. 90 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:22,720 This is awesome looking really celebrating not just the NBA 91 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:25,560 playoffs and the Pacers, but also, of course, the Indy 500. 92 00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:27,960 This is only available in the Cambridge team store. 93 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:30,640 And I was there yesterday, Scott. 94 00:04:30,640 --> 00:04:33,640 I was there for the Fever opening game and I I couldn't 95 00:04:33,640 --> 00:04:35,440 find the shirt because I was on the wrong level. 96 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:38,320 I didn't realize they were only down on the lower level of the 97 00:04:38,320 --> 00:04:40,560 team store. So when I go back to Gainbridge 98 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:42,240 soon, I'm going to have to pick this shirt up. 99 00:04:42,240 --> 00:04:44,680 It's awesome. One of the many amazing things 100 00:04:45,200 --> 00:04:48,880 on home field apparel.com that relate to both the Pacers and 101 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:51,480 they have a ton of Pacers and fever stuff, some great Fever 102 00:04:51,480 --> 00:04:54,280 apparel. I did see that at the team 103 00:04:54,280 --> 00:04:57,560 store, but there's. Other stuff like the 8585 All 104 00:04:57,560 --> 00:04:59,360 Star game, stuff from Hope Field in the store. 105 00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:02,120 It's awesome, yeah. As well as a ton of IndyCar 106 00:05:02,120 --> 00:05:03,200 stuff. I don't know if you saw this, 107 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:07,280 this was a great thing yesterday, but apparently Potto 108 00:05:07,280 --> 00:05:09,520 award. This is according to Jenna 109 00:05:09,520 --> 00:05:11,000 Fryer. I'm going to call this tweet up 110 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:15,040 and and share it on the, on the, the, the the video here if 111 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:16,640 you're watching on YouTube, which you should be. 112 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:21,880 But the the tweet fans have been raving about the Indy 500 merch 113 00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:25,280 from home field apparel and that includes Potto award who saw me 114 00:05:25,280 --> 00:05:27,960 wearing one of the jackets as he came off the track. 115 00:05:27,960 --> 00:05:31,520 So he had me take him to the merch tent while in his fire 116 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:35,160 suit, purchased the jacket, drew a crowd, signed merch in the 117 00:05:35,160 --> 00:05:36,440 tent and posed for every fan who asked. 118 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:40,240 And you can see this incredible bomber jacket that they have 119 00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:43,160 created for this new Indy 500 collection. 120 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:46,080 I mean, it's it's not Scott. I mean, I don't know that I 121 00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:48,760 could pull it off Potto award can certainly pull it off. 122 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:51,120 But the thing he did, he did one thing wrong. 123 00:05:51,600 --> 00:05:53,960 I'm pretty sure I'm not sure, but I'm I'm pretty sure he did 124 00:05:53,960 --> 00:05:56,280 one thing wrong, which is he probably didn't use promo code 125 00:05:56,280 --> 00:05:59,360 home 2320% off his first purchase. 126 00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:02,280 I should have told Jenna like hold on baby, I got to use the 127 00:06:02,280 --> 00:06:05,880 Crimson cast code home 23. Then that would have been the 128 00:06:05,920 --> 00:06:07,920 ultimate home field purchase by Paddo award. 129 00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:10,640 See he's close. We'll get him next time because 130 00:06:10,760 --> 00:06:12,440 it's that's why he's close to the 500. 131 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:14,400 If he if he does that, he'll win one of these one. 132 00:06:14,400 --> 00:06:17,320 Of these, we also know the home field is just going to drop 133 00:06:17,320 --> 00:06:20,000 stuff constantly and it's going to be amazing. 134 00:06:21,440 --> 00:06:24,320 This is another great example some great stuff wonderful 135 00:06:24,320 --> 00:06:27,960 trucker hat in this mix, which I'm a big fan of a couple of 136 00:06:27,960 --> 00:06:30,360 great T-shirts. There's a great checkered line 137 00:06:30,920 --> 00:06:35,200 snapback hat, a couple of tanks. Some unfortunately some produce 138 00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:38,560 stuff, but we'll we'll overlook that just because everyone has a 139 00:06:38,640 --> 00:06:40,760 bad girlfriend in their past. Everybody looks fine, you know, 140 00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:43,800 but that but my favorite I think is that heavyweight T the black 141 00:06:43,800 --> 00:06:45,640 one, the Indian. I'm going to call this up. 142 00:06:45,640 --> 00:06:48,280 I need to show the people this. This is a great shirt. 143 00:06:49,320 --> 00:06:52,240 The hull field heavyweight Tees really are kind of the go to for 144 00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:53,080 everything. They're so good. 145 00:06:53,080 --> 00:06:56,200 But here we go that just that looks so classic like I'm not a 146 00:06:56,760 --> 00:06:59,280 I've gotten to the point in my life as you can see me wearing 147 00:06:59,280 --> 00:07:01,000 my Hoosiers connect. I'm insured. 148 00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:04,640 I need simple patterns like you know, too many colors. 149 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:09,600 It I just I feel like I'm 16 and then sadly I'm just not anymore. 150 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:13,800 So I need something that says I am, I'm serious, yet I also am 151 00:07:13,800 --> 00:07:17,160 fashionable. And that shirt, that black IMS 152 00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:20,560 shirt with the with the wing wheel logo, absolutely perfect. 153 00:07:20,560 --> 00:07:23,560 So anyway, home 23 is the code. Go to home field apparel, follow 154 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:26,720 them on socials and we appreciate their patronage and 155 00:07:26,720 --> 00:07:29,520 their support always here on the back home network. 156 00:07:29,880 --> 00:07:31,480 Also quick reminder, we're on YouTube. 157 00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:34,320 Go to back home network on the YouTube channel, bang the 158 00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:37,200 subscribe button, get notified every time we upload a new 159 00:07:37,200 --> 00:07:40,280 podcast or when we go live. We've got YouTube Shorts that 160 00:07:40,280 --> 00:07:42,920 we've been putting up little snippets of our of our our 161 00:07:42,920 --> 00:07:46,360 videos and podcasts. We've got the entire roster of 162 00:07:46,360 --> 00:07:50,160 big, big shows that come out every week or every month. 163 00:07:50,160 --> 00:07:53,760 Assembly Call, Doing the Work, Dribble, Dr. X's and Joe's. 164 00:07:54,520 --> 00:07:56,920 We're going to add more shows to the network coming up here over 165 00:07:56,920 --> 00:07:57,960 the course of the next few months. 166 00:07:57,960 --> 00:08:00,560 It's a great time to be a subscriber to the back home 167 00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:02,160 network. You can also subscribe to 168 00:08:02,160 --> 00:08:05,920 Crimson Cast specifically, just go to crimsoncast.substec.com 169 00:08:06,440 --> 00:08:09,280 and it's free to subscribe. You also get a chance to support 170 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:12,120 the podcast financially, which we certainly appreciate. 171 00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:16,760 Scott and you get VIP videos like Tony and I did a Pacers VIP 172 00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:19,440 video this week. That's right right up Meridian 173 00:08:19,440 --> 00:08:22,640 suddenly springs back to life literally right up Meridian as 174 00:08:22,640 --> 00:08:25,840 Tony was driving to work. It was driving while we're doing 175 00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:26,280 it. Yes. 176 00:08:26,600 --> 00:08:30,080 So here's so I want to start this pod with this question to 177 00:08:30,080 --> 00:08:33,720 you is kind of connecting racing and Pacers is 2 years ago you 178 00:08:33,720 --> 00:08:39,200 and I were at a practice for IndyCar 500 and we we just 179 00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:42,360 sitting there USB you and IBS in all kinds of different sports 180 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:46,320 and and you had AI don't remember all the the the talk, 181 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:50,840 but just kind of a 5 or 10 minute diatribe on the Pacers 182 00:08:50,840 --> 00:08:53,600 like just things they've been wrong and things why you weren't 183 00:08:53,600 --> 00:08:55,720 like super happy with where they're at or what they've done 184 00:08:55,720 --> 00:08:58,440 over the past. And now we're at a point where I 185 00:08:58,440 --> 00:09:00,600 know you're a little more exciting and it had two really 186 00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:03,000 good seasons. We're doing a pod about it. 187 00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:05,400 I'm very fired up everything you said. 188 00:09:05,560 --> 00:09:06,640 I remember the time being like it. 189 00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:08,720 It's all true, but it was just what? 190 00:09:08,720 --> 00:09:13,120 What has changed in your mind over 2 years with this Pacers? 191 00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:16,080 Do you think they're more on the right path or is it just some of 192 00:09:16,080 --> 00:09:18,440 the moves they had made ended up working out? 193 00:09:19,080 --> 00:09:22,400 Well, I no, I think so. I remember very well that that 194 00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:25,120 conversation that we were having, I think that was May of 195 00:09:25,120 --> 00:09:28,400 23 that that we were meeting and. 196 00:09:28,520 --> 00:09:30,720 We could buy a new phone and you were 100% right about that. 197 00:09:30,800 --> 00:09:35,160 I, I mean, I'm not always wrong, but keep in mind at that point, 198 00:09:35,160 --> 00:09:39,360 like the Pacers had finished 35 and 47, They were tied for 11th 199 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:42,040 in the conference. They missed out on the play in 200 00:09:42,040 --> 00:09:47,040 games somehow that year. And you know that team, go back 201 00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:50,000 and think about how that team was constructed and, and who was 202 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:52,320 on the team and who their statistical leaders were. 203 00:09:52,320 --> 00:09:55,000 Do you remember who the leading scorers on that team were? 204 00:09:55,200 --> 00:09:57,880 That was the year they traded for Halliburton. 205 00:09:57,920 --> 00:10:00,560 So I mean, like bonus still could have been up there. 206 00:10:00,560 --> 00:10:05,600 It probably was so Turner or so Halliburton and Turner were 207 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:07,960 still the two leading scorers. But like the third and 4th 208 00:10:07,960 --> 00:10:09,960 leading scorers on the team were Buddy Hield and Benedict 209 00:10:09,960 --> 00:10:12,440 Mathrin. And, but this was like a very 210 00:10:12,440 --> 00:10:15,720 embryonic looking team. You, you had a bunch of players 211 00:10:15,720 --> 00:10:18,840 on that team who are still on the team now, but we're very 212 00:10:18,840 --> 00:10:21,960 much in the embryonic stage of their careers. 213 00:10:22,360 --> 00:10:27,320 And you know, my, my concern at that point with the Pacers and, 214 00:10:27,320 --> 00:10:30,440 and how things were going with them was that they didn't, they, 215 00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:34,160 they were kind of in that netherworld that we have seen a 216 00:10:34,160 --> 00:10:35,960 lot of teams struggle to get out of. 217 00:10:35,960 --> 00:10:39,240 And the Pacers really were in for most of the post Paul 218 00:10:39,240 --> 00:10:42,840 George, Roy Hibbert era, which was not good enough to get 219 00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:49,000 talent at a level that would be commensurate with competing on, 220 00:10:49,040 --> 00:10:53,000 you know, at the at the top level of things, but also not 221 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:56,480 bad enough to get draft picks that you could use and you think 222 00:10:56,480 --> 00:10:59,200 about at that point. Or not bad enough to not get the 223 00:10:59,200 --> 00:11:00,800 draft pick in the lottery. Well, there you go. 224 00:11:00,840 --> 00:11:01,360 Yeah. Get it. 225 00:11:01,360 --> 00:11:03,760 But yeah, so again, at that point that we're having that 226 00:11:03,760 --> 00:11:06,400 conversation at the end of the 2223 season, this was the 227 00:11:06,400 --> 00:11:10,680 previous decade for that. OK, it's starting in 1415. 228 00:11:10,680 --> 00:11:13,960 Missed the playoffs, lost in the first round, lost in the first 229 00:11:13,960 --> 00:11:16,800 round, lost in the first round, lost in the first round, lost in 230 00:11:16,800 --> 00:11:20,440 the first round, missed the the playoffs, missed the playoffs 231 00:11:20,720 --> 00:11:24,000 that had been and and I'm sorry, missed the playoffs again. 232 00:11:24,520 --> 00:11:28,040 So they had missed the playoffs 4 times, and they had lost in 233 00:11:28,040 --> 00:11:30,000 the first round five times and the the. 234 00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:32,400 There was also a lot of Lance Stephenson in those years as 235 00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:33,720 well. Yeah, well, right. 236 00:11:33,720 --> 00:11:38,760 And, and look, they had they, you had, you had Oladipo that 237 00:11:38,800 --> 00:11:41,560 you, I mean that here's their leaders in wind shares during 238 00:11:41,560 --> 00:11:45,640 that stretch, OK, George Hill, Paul George, Jeff Teague, Victor 239 00:11:45,640 --> 00:11:49,280 Oladipo and then Demontis Sabonis 4 times. 240 00:11:49,280 --> 00:11:53,960 And then that was the first year 2223 that Halliburton had led 241 00:11:53,960 --> 00:11:56,560 them in wind shares, but it was one of their lower wind share 242 00:11:56,560 --> 00:12:00,440 leader totals of that period. And so the reason I say all of 243 00:12:00,440 --> 00:12:03,640 that is a lot of people have rightly been giving Kevin 244 00:12:03,640 --> 00:12:07,520 Pritchard his flowers for how the Pacers have looked over the 245 00:12:07,520 --> 00:12:12,120 course of the last two seasons. I would submit at this point 246 00:12:12,120 --> 00:12:15,840 that the experiment has been successful and it took a long 247 00:12:15,840 --> 00:12:18,000 time to get there. And it is certainly an argument 248 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:22,320 in favor of a long tailed developmental plan if you 249 00:12:22,320 --> 00:12:26,960 believe in who you've got. And I think Sam Viceni on their 250 00:12:26,960 --> 00:12:30,520 podcast, I think it was Sam Viceni on game theory was 251 00:12:30,520 --> 00:12:33,280 talking about the Pacers and how impressed he was with, with 252 00:12:33,280 --> 00:12:36,160 Pritchard and, and his assistant and, and how they had put this 253 00:12:36,160 --> 00:12:38,320 team together. Because you know, what really 254 00:12:38,320 --> 00:12:41,880 did solidify it was the Halliburton trade where, you 255 00:12:41,880 --> 00:12:46,440 know, they get, they get Therese Halliburton and it's, you know, 256 00:12:46,440 --> 00:12:49,400 it's one of those things as, as Viceni pointed out, that is 257 00:12:49,400 --> 00:12:55,040 still a, an outgrowth of the Paul George trade, right? 258 00:12:55,360 --> 00:12:58,200 And you know that the idea that they trade George, they get 259 00:12:58,240 --> 00:13:04,080 Oladipo and Sabonis, and then Oladipo ends up getting traded. 260 00:13:04,800 --> 00:13:07,600 And you know, all of these things lead to this situation 261 00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:11,080 where they get Halliburton. And this is where, again, the 262 00:13:11,080 --> 00:13:14,480 best GMs generally are able to continue to turn those trades 263 00:13:14,480 --> 00:13:18,280 over and continue to get assets. And then you hit on one and they 264 00:13:18,280 --> 00:13:21,200 clearly have hit on one with Therese Halliburton. 265 00:13:21,600 --> 00:13:24,400 I don't know that it was necessarily really visible at 266 00:13:24,400 --> 00:13:25,840 the time that they were going to be able to do that. 267 00:13:25,840 --> 00:13:28,520 I'll I'll be the first to say, look, I should have, you know, 268 00:13:28,600 --> 00:13:31,920 maybe I was wrong, but up to that point, I hadn't seen a ton 269 00:13:31,920 --> 00:13:33,760 there that told me that that process was going to be 270 00:13:33,760 --> 00:13:35,800 successful. I take my hat off to the Pacers 271 00:13:35,800 --> 00:13:38,320 for making all these moves and doing so. 272 00:13:38,320 --> 00:13:40,400 And again, this was something that was pointed out by by 273 00:13:40,400 --> 00:13:43,760 Viceni despite not really hitting on their lottery picks. 274 00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:47,280 You know, you look at what's going on in the series so far, 275 00:13:48,080 --> 00:13:51,880 their top two highest drafted players are Ben Mathurin, who 276 00:13:51,880 --> 00:13:55,640 has been a bit player in the Eastern Conference playoffs so 277 00:13:55,640 --> 00:13:59,560 far, and Jairus Walker, who has barely even been a bit player. 278 00:13:59,560 --> 00:14:02,520 Like, I mean, Thomas Bryant has had more of an effect on games 279 00:14:02,520 --> 00:14:04,720 than Jairus Walker. So the fact they've done all 280 00:14:04,720 --> 00:14:08,080 this with bits and pieces that have come from various other 281 00:14:08,080 --> 00:14:11,480 parts of the NBA, whether it's, you know, whether it's me, 282 00:14:11,480 --> 00:14:14,400 Smith, or whether it's TJ McConnell, who was picked up as 283 00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:16,440 a free agent, it's really impressive. 284 00:14:16,440 --> 00:14:19,000 They've cobbled together A-Team that's so interchangeable and 285 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:22,280 plays at such a consistently high level despite going 10 286 00:14:22,280 --> 00:14:24,000 deep. But I don't know that it was 287 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:26,680 really readily apparent when you and I were standing in Gasoline 288 00:14:26,680 --> 00:14:28,960 Alley in 2023. Agreed. 289 00:14:28,960 --> 00:14:30,640 And I'm not, I'm not, I'm not picking on you. 290 00:14:30,640 --> 00:14:34,240 I 'cause I, I was probably more positive in the fan perspective, 291 00:14:34,240 --> 00:14:36,360 just like, yeah, but still like, yeah, but because I, I like 292 00:14:36,360 --> 00:14:39,480 them. I was, I saw something and how 293 00:14:39,480 --> 00:14:41,760 I'm not going to say I saw like, I just was like Halliburton's 294 00:14:41,760 --> 00:14:43,880 interesting. Like I was excited for that. 295 00:14:43,880 --> 00:14:48,200 But I, I was thinking about this question to me where things 296 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:50,600 changed even for me, where I'm like the Pacers are, because 297 00:14:50,600 --> 00:14:54,120 everything you said at that time was, and it was, you know, your, 298 00:14:54,120 --> 00:14:56,960 your point that I remember was just about, you know, we can't 299 00:14:56,960 --> 00:14:58,520 get free agents. Like it's always going to be a 300 00:14:58,520 --> 00:15:00,160 problem. Like your David West is probably 301 00:15:00,160 --> 00:15:01,680 the best free agent. And they don't make trade. 302 00:15:01,680 --> 00:15:05,200 You don't make big trades. The thing that changed was the 303 00:15:05,200 --> 00:15:08,920 next season the Pacers went out and got Pascal Siakam, which is 304 00:15:09,560 --> 00:15:13,400 really just an UN very UN Pacers like trade to go out and get one 305 00:15:13,400 --> 00:15:16,120 of the top free agents. And that wasn't at the trade 306 00:15:16,120 --> 00:15:19,040 deadline, but it was, you know, mid season trade, you know, 307 00:15:19,040 --> 00:15:21,720 close to the deadline. That's something the Pacers just 308 00:15:21,720 --> 00:15:24,080 haven't done in the past and they don't normally do. 309 00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:26,480 And I will give Kevin Pritchard credit. 310 00:15:26,480 --> 00:15:29,160 You go back and look at that trade and you start talking 311 00:15:29,160 --> 00:15:32,160 about all of these trades where, you know, people are giving up 312 00:15:32,160 --> 00:15:34,200 five 6-7 first round picks. You know, look at what the 313 00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:37,000 Knicks gave up for Mikhail Bridges and he's playing well, 314 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:39,840 but they gave up a ton for Mikhail Bridges. 315 00:15:40,360 --> 00:15:43,240 The Pacers gave up Bruce Brown, who's on an expiring contract. 316 00:15:43,240 --> 00:15:45,120 He had one year left. It was a team option, so it was 317 00:15:45,120 --> 00:15:48,160 expiring contract. You know, Kyron Lewis, Jordan 318 00:15:48,160 --> 00:15:50,920 Noira, just two kind of not nothing, not nothing, but just 319 00:15:51,120 --> 00:15:55,120 not impactful players. 2 first round picks from 2024. 320 00:15:55,120 --> 00:15:56,960 So they're already got like that was that season. 321 00:15:56,960 --> 00:16:00,160 They're already gone in a conditional 2026 first round 322 00:16:00,160 --> 00:16:01,520 pick. That's it. 323 00:16:02,160 --> 00:16:06,160 And they get Pascal Siakam, a guy who who wants to be here and 324 00:16:06,160 --> 00:16:08,480 plays perfectly with with Halliburton. 325 00:16:08,480 --> 00:16:12,320 So to me that was a that was a future piece that hadn't 326 00:16:12,320 --> 00:16:13,760 happened yet. And that was just something the 327 00:16:13,760 --> 00:16:18,120 Pacers hadn't normally done. And they did it in a very Pacers 328 00:16:18,120 --> 00:16:20,120 way where they went out and got somebody that was really a 329 00:16:20,120 --> 00:16:23,440 second All Star, didn't pay an All Star price and they still 330 00:16:23,440 --> 00:16:26,800 have all their powder dry if they they happened to want to go 331 00:16:26,800 --> 00:16:29,080 and do it again. So to me, that was a piece that 332 00:16:29,080 --> 00:16:31,760 kind of changed it and it did solidify all the pieces around 333 00:16:31,760 --> 00:16:34,680 it and everybody, you know, kind of grew up, grew up to what the 334 00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:37,080 team is now. Yeah, no, I'm look, it's, it's 335 00:16:37,080 --> 00:16:42,240 one of those things it was hard to say last like what was last 336 00:16:42,240 --> 00:16:46,600 year for the Pacers because on the and it's kind of how I feel 337 00:16:46,600 --> 00:16:48,720 about talking about IU football to some degree. 338 00:16:49,040 --> 00:16:51,920 You can look at IU football season this year or just this 339 00:16:51,920 --> 00:16:56,480 past season and say, wow, 11 and one in the regular season, best 340 00:16:56,480 --> 00:16:59,360 regular season, you know, in in team history. 341 00:16:59,360 --> 00:17:02,440 They make the College Football Playoff and then people come in 342 00:17:02,440 --> 00:17:05,800 and say, yeah, but they played a really weak schedule. 343 00:17:05,800 --> 00:17:08,920 And you know, the two best teams they played against, they ended 344 00:17:08,920 --> 00:17:10,599 up losing by a pretty significant margin. 345 00:17:10,599 --> 00:17:12,359 And you can't really debate those facts. 346 00:17:13,040 --> 00:17:16,839 Last year's Pacers team, they they get some injury luck in the 347 00:17:16,839 --> 00:17:18,760 play offs. You know, they face the Bucks 348 00:17:18,760 --> 00:17:21,160 who are facing injuries. The Knicks are really injured. 349 00:17:21,160 --> 00:17:23,359 And then they run into the Celtics and they get blown up in 350 00:17:23,359 --> 00:17:25,680 the Eastern Conference final. Although those games were all 351 00:17:25,680 --> 00:17:30,520 pretty close. This year they start off really 352 00:17:30,520 --> 00:17:33,160 poor and you're like, well, maybe last year was a mirage. 353 00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:36,440 And yet nothing about what's happened really since what, 354 00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:39,680 mid-december or the end of December has been a mirage like 355 00:17:39,680 --> 00:17:42,480 this has been consistently one of the most impressive teams. 356 00:17:42,840 --> 00:17:45,160 Bill Simmons talks about them all the time, is like one of his 357 00:17:45,160 --> 00:17:47,200 favorite teams in the league 'cause they have an identity, 358 00:17:47,600 --> 00:17:52,040 they they know what they want to do and what is looked upon in 359 00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:54,440 many cases is a weakness in the NBA. 360 00:17:54,440 --> 00:17:59,920 Not having like a do it all superstar like a Jaylen Brunson 361 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:03,600 or a Jayson Tatum is actually a strength for this Pacers team 362 00:18:03,800 --> 00:18:07,280 because of the way that their superstar and Tyrese Halliburton 363 00:18:08,160 --> 00:18:10,880 fits within the larger perspective of things. 364 00:18:10,880 --> 00:18:16,600 And you know, I'm I'm fascinated because it two things fascinate 365 00:18:16,600 --> 00:18:22,680 me about this AI was trying to explain this to I was well, I 366 00:18:22,680 --> 00:18:25,680 was talking to to Grace Ybarra, who's over in Saint Louis right 367 00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:27,680 now, grew up in Indianapolis, Pacers fan. 368 00:18:27,680 --> 00:18:31,480 But I was like, this is kind of how the 90s Pacers felt where, 369 00:18:31,640 --> 00:18:33,760 you know, this was, you know, if you think about the way that all 370 00:18:33,760 --> 00:18:37,000 of the the teams in the NBA at that time, they were all built 371 00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:39,320 around like a bona fide superstar. 372 00:18:39,400 --> 00:18:41,600 The Rockets were built around Hakeem Olajuwon. 373 00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:45,360 The Magic were built around 2 superstars in Shaq and Penny. 374 00:18:45,760 --> 00:18:47,880 The Knicks were like the one kind of exception, but they had 375 00:18:47,880 --> 00:18:50,360 Patrick Ewing who was clearly a bona fide superstar. 376 00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:53,120 The Bulls obviously had Jordan and Pippen. 377 00:18:53,120 --> 00:18:57,760 The Pacers like their biggest superstar, was the most unusual 378 00:18:57,760 --> 00:19:00,160 player at that caliber in the league. 379 00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:03,160 And Reggie Miller. Like a shoot first, you know, 380 00:19:03,160 --> 00:19:06,960 guard who had to run off screens and couldn't create his own 381 00:19:06,960 --> 00:19:09,360 shot. Their second best player was 382 00:19:09,920 --> 00:19:14,520 Rick Smits, who again, was like, you know, not be a Lajuan or 383 00:19:14,560 --> 00:19:17,400 Ewing types. He was almost like almost 384 00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:19,760 gazelle like in the way he wasn't a banger in the 385 00:19:19,760 --> 00:19:22,440 traditional way, but he could score from a variety of 386 00:19:22,440 --> 00:19:23,600 different ways. And then they had a bunch of 387 00:19:23,600 --> 00:19:26,320 interchangeable parts. You know, whether it was Dale 388 00:19:26,320 --> 00:19:30,640 Davis or Antonio Davis or Jalen Rose or, you know, Derek McKee, 389 00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:34,040 any of those guys that made-up the core of that roster. 390 00:19:34,360 --> 00:19:37,720 But they were a hard team for the NBA braintrust to get their 391 00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:41,720 heads wrapped around because they just didn't work the same 392 00:19:41,720 --> 00:19:45,080 way that the other teams that were at the top level in the NBA 393 00:19:45,080 --> 00:19:47,320 during that time period worked. And that's really how this 394 00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:49,440 Pacers team feels. You know, you've got 395 00:19:49,440 --> 00:19:52,200 Halliburton, who's an unusual star. 396 00:19:52,360 --> 00:19:55,840 You've got Miles Turner, who's been around forever, and you 397 00:19:55,840 --> 00:19:58,000 know, he's kind of the one that fits the least within the team, 398 00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:01,080 but he provides so much spacing that it makes the whole team 399 00:20:01,080 --> 00:20:04,440 work. You've got Siakam, who really 400 00:20:04,440 --> 00:20:07,520 only works if he doesn't have another big clogging the lane. 401 00:20:07,520 --> 00:20:10,080 And then you've got all of these other pieces that can plug in. 402 00:20:10,080 --> 00:20:12,520 And some of them have great nights and some of them don't. 403 00:20:12,680 --> 00:20:15,920 But it adds up because they go so fast and they have this pace 404 00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:17,120 that's really hard to keep up with. 405 00:20:17,960 --> 00:20:19,800 So that's the first thing I'm really fascinated by. 406 00:20:19,800 --> 00:20:23,200 It's like 25 years later, there's this duality to the way 407 00:20:23,200 --> 00:20:27,160 the Pacers have created a contender that is very unusual 408 00:20:27,160 --> 00:20:32,080 and feels very uniquely Indiana. It's a great comp I I completely 409 00:20:32,080 --> 00:20:35,680 agree with you The the the one difference and we'll see what 410 00:20:35,680 --> 00:20:38,960 happens with the the Thunder if the Pacers ever get that far. 411 00:20:39,200 --> 00:20:42,560 The one difference is in that mid 90s to 2000 stretch. 412 00:20:42,560 --> 00:20:45,720 The problem the Pacers always had is they were running into 413 00:20:45,720 --> 00:20:48,320 generationally great teams. Like when they would have their, 414 00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:50,560 it's like, oh, we're good. It's like, oh, no, we're going 415 00:20:50,560 --> 00:20:53,280 to play a Knicks team that is like this is that their absolute 416 00:20:53,280 --> 00:20:55,200 apex? And they're going to keep 417 00:20:55,200 --> 00:20:57,800 beating us down. And then, you know, once all the 418 00:20:57,800 --> 00:21:00,760 Knicks are fading off, oh, well, here's the second generation of 419 00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:02,480 the Bulls with Jordan. So we're going to bump into 420 00:21:02,480 --> 00:21:04,360 that. And then, hey, we finally, you 421 00:21:04,360 --> 00:21:07,160 know, it was like, you know, the East used to be this thing where 422 00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:09,200 it's like the, you know, the Celtics had to get through the 423 00:21:09,200 --> 00:21:11,880 76ers and the Pistons had to get through the Celtics and then the 424 00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:14,080 Bulls had to get the Pistons. And there was like, once you got 425 00:21:14,080 --> 00:21:16,120 through the East, like, oh, we we get to the finals, we win a 426 00:21:16,120 --> 00:21:17,520 title. It's like what happens to the 427 00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:20,080 Pacers? Oh, we meet maybe the apex of 428 00:21:20,080 --> 00:21:23,480 the Kobe Shaq Lakers and and take them to a pretty good 429 00:21:23,480 --> 00:21:25,640 series. That's the thing that does feel 430 00:21:25,640 --> 00:21:29,600 a little bit different here is I don't see that big boss team out 431 00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:31,520 there. Maybe the Thunder will turn into 432 00:21:31,520 --> 00:21:33,600 that. Maybe it is the the Nuggets, but 433 00:21:33,600 --> 00:21:37,200 none of those have the feel of, you know, Jokic is really good 434 00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:38,600 and he's maybe one of the best players. 435 00:21:38,760 --> 00:21:41,560 He's not Jordan like he's just not running into a Michael 436 00:21:41,560 --> 00:21:44,520 Jordan team. So we'll see. 437 00:21:44,520 --> 00:21:46,800 And especially in the East, as you mentioned, it does feel like 438 00:21:46,800 --> 00:21:49,280 we're we got to, you know, especially with Tatum down for a 439 00:21:49,280 --> 00:21:51,040 year, the Bucks, who knows what's going to happen there. 440 00:21:51,360 --> 00:21:53,560 It does feel like we might have a year or two where there's a 441 00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:56,920 nice little soft window in the East that the Pacers can go 442 00:21:56,920 --> 00:21:58,400 through. I think that's what is different 443 00:21:58,400 --> 00:22:02,440 is it feels like the even when the Pacers were good in the mid 444 00:22:02,440 --> 00:22:06,120 2000s, like, oh, there's LeBron, like there's LeBron and the 445 00:22:06,120 --> 00:22:08,520 Cavs, we got to bump into them. It feels like we might be 446 00:22:08,520 --> 00:22:11,560 cycling correctly where we're hitting a spot where there isn't 447 00:22:11,560 --> 00:22:14,760 a generationally good team. Yeah, it's, it's really going to 448 00:22:14,760 --> 00:22:18,800 be fascinating because you don't want to get ahead of yourself, 449 00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:21,000 you know, because the Knicks are going to be a very, very hard 450 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:24,840 opponent for this Indiana team. And I think the people that are 451 00:22:25,520 --> 00:22:28,000 saying, oh, you know, Pacers beat them last year like it, 452 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:29,880 this is a really fascinating series. 453 00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:33,640 There's so many things that kind of that combine within it where 454 00:22:33,640 --> 00:22:37,400 you don't know exactly like what's going to prevail. 455 00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:39,360 We're going to talk about this more in depth here in a second, 456 00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:43,040 but to get to your larger point first, I think it's fascinating 457 00:22:43,040 --> 00:22:45,600 and really cool that right now we don't know what's going to 458 00:22:45,600 --> 00:22:49,160 happen yet with game seven. We're recording this earlier in 459 00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:53,280 the day, but Nuggets versus Thunder is coming up later. 460 00:22:53,520 --> 00:22:56,480 If the Thunder beat the Nuggets, and I think that they probably 461 00:22:56,480 --> 00:23:01,320 will tonight or this afternoon, I guess it is, you will have a 462 00:23:01,320 --> 00:23:05,200 situation where of the four remaining teams, three of them 463 00:23:05,280 --> 00:23:09,320 would have a chance to win their first ever NBA title and the 464 00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:12,840 fourth would have a chance to win their first title in 52 465 00:23:12,840 --> 00:23:16,200 years like that. It is it is fascinating to think 466 00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:18,160 about your new. City right the Thunder like. 467 00:23:18,920 --> 00:23:21,280 Well, right. I mean, I, I don't, I don't, I 468 00:23:21,280 --> 00:23:23,680 don't think we can count the Sonic stuff. 469 00:23:24,600 --> 00:23:27,240 I guess you could technically, but I do not consider that the 470 00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:29,080 same franchise, even though they may. 471 00:23:29,080 --> 00:23:30,160 They I don't, I don't even know if. 472 00:23:30,400 --> 00:23:31,400 You're saying the Knicks? I'm sorry. 473 00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:31,680 Yeah. Yeah. 474 00:23:31,680 --> 00:23:33,400 The Knicks in 52 years. Right. 475 00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:34,280 OK, I'm with you. I'm with you. 476 00:23:35,240 --> 00:23:37,160 You know, so but but for the Thunder, obviously they've been 477 00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:39,000 to the NBA Finals before. They didn't win the the 478 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:42,880 Timberwolves have never been the Pacers have been once and lost. 479 00:23:42,880 --> 00:23:44,800 That was that Lakers series that you talked about. 480 00:23:44,800 --> 00:23:47,200 And then the Knicks won the last time in 1973. 481 00:23:47,200 --> 00:23:49,960 Now they've been they they went in 99. 482 00:23:49,960 --> 00:23:54,880 They went, you know, in what, 94 or 95? 483 00:23:54,880 --> 00:23:55,960 There's 94. That's right. 484 00:23:56,480 --> 00:23:59,400 But but it's been like it. This is what you want. 485 00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:02,040 This is what I've like. I I was talking the other day to 486 00:24:02,040 --> 00:24:07,600 somebody and I was I legitimately was surprised to 487 00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:11,400 say this, but the, you know, normally the NHL play offs, I 488 00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:14,720 think far outpace the NBA play offs in drama and 489 00:24:14,720 --> 00:24:17,620 competitiveness. I'd actually argue the NBA play 490 00:24:17,620 --> 00:24:19,680 offs have been better this year like this. 491 00:24:19,680 --> 00:24:22,680 This is felt a lot. And this is I, I, this is 492 00:24:22,680 --> 00:24:25,320 something that I heard on, on the one of Simmons podcast, 493 00:24:25,600 --> 00:24:28,520 minus the, the top echelon, like generational teams. 494 00:24:28,520 --> 00:24:31,880 It's felt a lot like the 80s in terms of how close these playoff 495 00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:35,400 series have been and how flawed all of these teams actually are. 496 00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:37,240 And I include the Pacers in that. 497 00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:38,720 Like the Pacers are not a perfect team. 498 00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:40,920 They have these long stretches in almost every game where it's 499 00:24:40,920 --> 00:24:44,280 like they forget how to play basketball, but they also have 500 00:24:44,280 --> 00:24:46,280 these stretches where they are one of the most dynamic 501 00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:48,840 offensive teams that you'll see in this era. 502 00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:51,520 And I think all of these teams have both a significant number 503 00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:54,120 of strengths. Obviously, the, you know, the 504 00:24:54,120 --> 00:24:57,240 Timberwolves have Anthony Edwards, who looks like he's at 505 00:24:57,240 --> 00:24:59,520 the beginning of the huge upswing and will be one of the 506 00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:02,120 dominant superstars. You got the Thunder, who are 507 00:25:02,120 --> 00:25:05,560 this fascinating amalgamation of top draft picks and, you know, 508 00:25:05,560 --> 00:25:08,280 guys who, again, are at the beginning of the apex of their 509 00:25:08,280 --> 00:25:11,240 careers. The Knicks are like, they look 510 00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:14,000 like a classic NBA team. And they're coached by a coach 511 00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:18,080 who clearly has not realized that it's not like 1996 yet, but 512 00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:22,160 it's working for them. And and then, you know, so I'm 513 00:25:22,160 --> 00:25:25,720 just the, the level of competition and the surprise 514 00:25:26,160 --> 00:25:29,840 that we've seen the Celtics going out, the Lakers going out, 515 00:25:30,120 --> 00:25:31,760 the, you know, all of these different things that have 516 00:25:31,760 --> 00:25:33,680 happened so far. The Clippers losing in the first 517 00:25:33,680 --> 00:25:36,560 round, the Nuggets firing their coach, what, 3 weeks before the 518 00:25:36,560 --> 00:25:39,680 end of the season and somehow getting to the doorstep of the 519 00:25:39,680 --> 00:25:42,320 Western Conference finals. This has been a legitimately fun 520 00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:45,200 NBA playoffs. And that really is not always 521 00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:48,320 the case with the NBA playoffs. No, I, I completely agree. 522 00:25:48,320 --> 00:25:54,000 And then, you know, for as what I think is the Knicks just are 523 00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:58,760 consuming all of the media in the NBA landscape that all the 524 00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:01,120 talk of Knicks, Celtic said. Like I'm starting to hear people 525 00:26:01,120 --> 00:26:03,360 pop up and like, oh, you know, hey, the Knicks and Pacers like 526 00:26:03,360 --> 00:26:04,560 they've they've played a couple times. 527 00:26:04,560 --> 00:26:08,440 Like, yes, the the Knicks number one playoff opponent in history 528 00:26:08,480 --> 00:26:11,400 is the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers number one playoff 529 00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:13,040 opponent in history is the Knicks. 530 00:26:13,200 --> 00:26:15,280 This idea of like, oh, it's, it's it's like, remember this, 531 00:26:15,280 --> 00:26:17,200 it's like, yes, this is the Knicks rival. 532 00:26:17,560 --> 00:26:20,040 Like all the talk of Knicks Celtics, like they don't play in 533 00:26:20,040 --> 00:26:21,680 the playoffs. It's happened two or three 534 00:26:21,680 --> 00:26:24,280 times. Like the the rival is the Pacers 535 00:26:24,280 --> 00:26:27,280 and they've had epic battles. They've had moments. 536 00:26:28,080 --> 00:26:30,240 You know, I know the Knicks probably don't want to admit 537 00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:32,600 their rivals, the Pacers because they're New York. 538 00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:34,520 And so we got to be against Boston and Philly. 539 00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:38,080 It's like, no, this is a great rivalry and it's happening 540 00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:41,320 back-to-back years. Like this is something the only 541 00:26:41,320 --> 00:26:44,120 thing that's frustrating to me as a, as a Pacers fan is 542 00:26:44,120 --> 00:26:47,520 sometimes the and I get it, like it's the slight of Indiana, but 543 00:26:47,520 --> 00:26:50,400 you have these, you know that the Pacers and Bucks is turning 544 00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:53,560 into a great little rivalry. The Pacers Knicks is now going 545 00:26:53,560 --> 00:26:56,640 to be the second salvo of this rivalry could be happening 546 00:26:56,640 --> 00:26:57,960 again. It's like this is to me, what 547 00:26:57,960 --> 00:27:01,080 the NBA should really be focusing on is some of these 548 00:27:01,080 --> 00:27:02,800 burgeoning rivalries. And of course it's, you know, 549 00:27:02,960 --> 00:27:05,120 Pacers centric. But I agree with you. 550 00:27:05,120 --> 00:27:09,360 I I think there's some great storylines coming in here and I 551 00:27:09,360 --> 00:27:11,440 think it's going to be a fascinating series against the 552 00:27:11,440 --> 00:27:16,360 Knicks because, you know, the the thing with the Pacers is, 553 00:27:16,720 --> 00:27:19,280 you know, some of the injuries are real injuries. 554 00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:21,600 And so like Damian Lillard tearing his Achilles, that is 555 00:27:21,600 --> 00:27:24,800 just it's not a freak injury for somebody who's coming back from, 556 00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:28,160 you know, playing hard playoff minutes at 36, like things like 557 00:27:28,160 --> 00:27:29,640 that hat 34. It happened. 558 00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:33,000 But I, I've said this a couple different times, talked about it 559 00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:35,280 on Tony with our, you know, VIP pod. 560 00:27:35,920 --> 00:27:39,480 Part of what the Pacers do is they try to wear you down. 561 00:27:39,480 --> 00:27:41,160 I'm not saying they're trying to get you injured, but you saw 562 00:27:41,160 --> 00:27:43,280 what happened to Donovan Mitchell at the end of that Cav 563 00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:45,520 series. They kind of funnel everything 564 00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:47,560 to, all right, Donovan, you know, you're taking the ball, 565 00:27:47,560 --> 00:27:49,280 you're taking the ball. We're going to pick you up 94 566 00:27:49,280 --> 00:27:50,160 feet. We're going to pick you up here. 567 00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:51,200 We're going to throw Ben Shepard. 568 00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:53,960 We're going to keep throwing dudes at you and we're going to 569 00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:56,400 wear you down. And you saw it happen with 570 00:27:56,400 --> 00:27:59,160 Donovan Mitchell, where by the end of game five, he was just 571 00:27:59,160 --> 00:28:01,080 tired. And I mean, he did tweak his 572 00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:02,880 ankle. And I think part of that is just 573 00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:05,320 being overused. And you saw it last year against 574 00:28:05,320 --> 00:28:07,160 the Knicks. You know, some of them were 575 00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:08,600 like, you know, Brunson broke his hand. 576 00:28:08,600 --> 00:28:09,960 That's just a a different injury. 577 00:28:09,960 --> 00:28:12,520 But a lot of the injuries that were happening with the Knicks 578 00:28:13,040 --> 00:28:15,360 were based on over usage. That's partially because 579 00:28:15,360 --> 00:28:19,240 Thibodeau plays 5 or 6 guys. But I think it's also the fact 580 00:28:19,240 --> 00:28:22,480 that the Pacers go deep and they they wear you out and they make 581 00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:25,960 certain guys do a massive amount of work and they're going to put 582 00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:28,600 a ton on Brunson. And I'm not rooting for 583 00:28:28,600 --> 00:28:31,680 injuries, but I'm just saying I think that is a strategy of the 584 00:28:31,680 --> 00:28:34,360 Pacers is like, all right, we're going to wear Brunson down so we 585 00:28:34,360 --> 00:28:37,920 get to games 5-6 and seven. He's not going to be at peak, 586 00:28:38,280 --> 00:28:40,960 peak performance. And you know, you can say, oh, 587 00:28:40,960 --> 00:28:42,440 every team does like the Celtics didn't. 588 00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:44,360 The Celtics let Brunson walk the ball up. 589 00:28:44,360 --> 00:28:46,520 They don't pick him up for defense until half court or a 590 00:28:46,520 --> 00:28:48,400 little bit past. Pacers don't do that. 591 00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:52,480 The Pacers are singularly unique in the way they pick everybody 592 00:28:52,480 --> 00:28:54,960 up full court for the entire game in the playoffs. 593 00:28:55,720 --> 00:28:57,400 And it's going to be fascinating with the Knicks. 594 00:28:57,400 --> 00:29:00,760 I mean, the Knicks are going to have, if you want to, a lot of 595 00:29:00,760 --> 00:29:03,040 it depends on how you want to define the best player in the 596 00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:04,880 series. And if you wanted to find the 597 00:29:04,880 --> 00:29:07,120 best player in the series as the player who can score the most 598 00:29:07,120 --> 00:29:10,720 points and generate their own offense the most, they're going 599 00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:11,600 to have it. I mean, they're going to. 600 00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:14,240 They've got Jalen Brunson. But what is interesting is 601 00:29:14,240 --> 00:29:17,320 they've got players who don't necessarily run up, want to run 602 00:29:17,320 --> 00:29:19,040 up and down the floor all the time. 603 00:29:19,040 --> 00:29:21,920 Like is Karl Anthony Towns really going to want to hustle 604 00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:24,080 down the floor defensively on a regular basis? 605 00:29:24,080 --> 00:29:28,160 That seems unlikely right now. You know, the other thing that's 606 00:29:28,160 --> 00:29:32,800 really fascinating I think about the Pacers and Knicks is that 607 00:29:33,120 --> 00:29:38,080 this is a this is a team with the Pacers now that has had to 608 00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:40,240 play in a bunch of hostile environments. 609 00:29:40,560 --> 00:29:43,360 And this is where last year becomes really helpful for them 610 00:29:43,880 --> 00:29:51,520 in terms of the, the experiences that they had and how they are 611 00:29:51,520 --> 00:29:54,400 going to be able to process those coming into this year. 612 00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:56,840 So like last year, if you think about what happened in in those 613 00:29:56,840 --> 00:30:00,080 playoffs, Pacers start off, they're the sixth seed. 614 00:30:00,320 --> 00:30:04,800 They beat Milwaukee 4/2. And, you know, in that series, 615 00:30:04,840 --> 00:30:07,920 they, you know, they, they had to win a couple of games 616 00:30:07,920 --> 00:30:10,800 obviously at the Pfizer forum up in Milwaukee. 617 00:30:10,800 --> 00:30:14,640 They win Game 2 up there. You know, they, they come back 618 00:30:14,640 --> 00:30:17,920 and they, they, they finish finishing up in game bridge in 619 00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:20,280 game six and then in the next round again. 620 00:30:20,280 --> 00:30:23,920 Playing that real quick, just stop there and just just to hit 621 00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:27,000 that point, you know, they didn't just lose their first 622 00:30:27,000 --> 00:30:29,920 game. You know their first game at 623 00:30:30,240 --> 00:30:32,240 Milwaukee, they lost one O 9 to 94. 624 00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:34,280 They they kind of got their doors blown off. 625 00:30:34,640 --> 00:30:38,120 They came back and won. They came back and won, you 626 00:30:38,120 --> 00:30:40,760 know, won three in a row and they went back to Milwaukee UP31 627 00:30:41,160 --> 00:30:45,120 and got their doors blown off again, 115 to 92 and then turned 628 00:30:45,120 --> 00:30:47,120 right back around and one at home in Game 6. 629 00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:49,000 So like I, I, I'll fit, I'll let you go. 630 00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:52,960 But like that's they, they do a great job of shaking off some of 631 00:30:52,960 --> 00:30:55,600 these games where they seem to not play great or play well. 632 00:30:55,600 --> 00:30:58,760 But you know, it's they've had these losses or moments where 633 00:30:58,760 --> 00:31:02,160 they could be broken. And I'll just sorry, quickly go 634 00:31:02,160 --> 00:31:04,600 into the Knicks series. That first game was the game 635 00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:07,680 where they lose 121 to 117. That's the game where they're 636 00:31:07,680 --> 00:31:09,840 they're leading most of the way. They're playing them really 637 00:31:09,840 --> 00:31:11,560 tough. They have a chance to win. 638 00:31:11,560 --> 00:31:14,480 Miles Turner gets called for like a kind of a bogus moving 639 00:31:14,480 --> 00:31:16,480 screen at the top. I think they had another player 640 00:31:16,480 --> 00:31:19,360 like Nesmith had an open break, but they call it a a ticky tack 641 00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:21,360 foul in the back. It's one of those where you 642 00:31:21,360 --> 00:31:25,600 could be like, damn it, like we let a game slip away in Madison 643 00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:28,440 Square Garden, Like there's no way we can win four or five 644 00:31:28,440 --> 00:31:31,840 against the Knicks. And it it didn't sink their 645 00:31:31,840 --> 00:31:34,040 series, sorry. Was that the game that Carlyle 646 00:31:34,040 --> 00:31:35,360 got thrown out of? Yes. 647 00:31:36,160 --> 00:31:38,360 And and I mean, look, and it didn't matter in the next game, 648 00:31:38,360 --> 00:31:39,760 but they lost by 9, like you said. 649 00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:42,680 But but no, it's it, it's also informative. 650 00:31:42,880 --> 00:31:46,120 That series, Indiana, it was at 33. 651 00:31:46,120 --> 00:31:48,560 Indiana won three at home. The Knicks won three at home and 652 00:31:48,560 --> 00:31:51,960 they go into game seven in Madison Square Garden, which if 653 00:31:51,960 --> 00:31:54,880 you listen to Knicks fans or NBA fans like that should be an 654 00:31:54,880 --> 00:31:57,200 unwinnable thing. That should be like the Crucible 655 00:31:57,200 --> 00:32:00,800 of hell. And, and yet, and yet they blew 656 00:32:00,800 --> 00:32:03,160 them out. They shoot 67% from the field in 657 00:32:03,160 --> 00:32:04,960 that game. And, and you can say, well, 658 00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:08,080 Ananobi leaves early and Jalen Brunson breaks his hand. 659 00:32:08,080 --> 00:32:10,960 But the reality is that's what we're talking about with the 660 00:32:10,960 --> 00:32:14,240 conditioning and the pace. And it's like over seven games, 661 00:32:14,240 --> 00:32:17,760 it's very hard to sustain, especially when you're the 662 00:32:17,760 --> 00:32:20,840 Knicks and you go 5 1/2 deep basically, right. 663 00:32:21,720 --> 00:32:24,560 And, and, and I would argue that this Pacers team is both better 664 00:32:24,560 --> 00:32:25,360 defense. I don't know. 665 00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:28,240 I argue it's it's statistically demonstrable. 666 00:32:28,520 --> 00:32:31,640 They're better defensively and they have a better sense of who 667 00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:34,680 they are as a team. And I think even though 668 00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:37,520 Halliburton's shooting slightly worse this year from three than 669 00:32:37,520 --> 00:32:41,840 he did in in the previous season, he's making I think a 670 00:32:41,840 --> 00:32:45,320 better overall. He's doing better overall in 671 00:32:45,320 --> 00:32:48,320 terms of being a floor leader. You know, he's like, it's 672 00:32:48,320 --> 00:32:51,840 interesting, 'cause last year he ends up as an All Star, he ends 673 00:32:51,840 --> 00:32:55,240 up averaging 20 points and and 10.9 assists a game. 674 00:32:55,240 --> 00:32:58,040 His statistics are actually slightly worse than that. 675 00:32:58,040 --> 00:33:02,000 He's averaging 18.6 points and 9.2 assists a game this year. 676 00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:05,840 But where, where it's gotten better is that he doesn't have 677 00:33:05,840 --> 00:33:09,080 to play quite as many minutes, even though he's he's playing 678 00:33:09,080 --> 00:33:10,640 slightly more, but he doesn't have to. 679 00:33:10,840 --> 00:33:14,680 He's doing a better job of facilitating it's and I think 680 00:33:14,680 --> 00:33:19,920 Carlisle, as we saw, especially in that Cavs series, has really 681 00:33:19,920 --> 00:33:23,920 been able to figure out how to essentially put the right guys 682 00:33:23,920 --> 00:33:29,000 on the floor at the right times to take advantage of mismatches 683 00:33:29,200 --> 00:33:31,480 and take advantage of situations where they feel like there's a 684 00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:33,520 weakness they can exploit. Again, this is something that 685 00:33:33,520 --> 00:33:35,400 they talked about on the Game Theory podcast. 686 00:33:35,400 --> 00:33:40,800 But the Pacers like are like, they relish the opportunity to 687 00:33:40,800 --> 00:33:43,360 go at you in mismatches that they're able to create. 688 00:33:43,640 --> 00:33:46,040 And the nice thing is because most of the time they've got 689 00:33:46,040 --> 00:33:49,840 four guys that can score at any one time on the floor, you're 690 00:33:49,840 --> 00:33:52,320 almost always going to have a mismatch that you can go to 691 00:33:52,480 --> 00:33:54,000 because not everybody's got that. 692 00:33:54,320 --> 00:33:56,600 And you figure that Knicks team last year, you know, they had 693 00:33:56,600 --> 00:34:01,120 Dante D Vincenzo, they they had the the guy who I'm forgetting 694 00:34:01,120 --> 00:34:04,360 now, the the Hartenstein. You know, the I mean, it was a 695 00:34:04,360 --> 00:34:06,840 different team. This Knicks team is very good. 696 00:34:07,200 --> 00:34:10,880 But I do like the Pacers chances in this because of how deep they 697 00:34:10,880 --> 00:34:14,199 go and the fact that for whatever reason, the Knicks just 698 00:34:14,199 --> 00:34:16,800 decided to keep their starters in for a really long time in 699 00:34:17,040 --> 00:34:20,560 that Celtics game six. You know that they get some rest 700 00:34:20,560 --> 00:34:22,800 here, but the fact they had to play that extra game certainly 701 00:34:22,800 --> 00:34:24,400 helps as well. No. 702 00:34:24,400 --> 00:34:26,840 And that, and this is something the Pacers have done all year. 703 00:34:26,840 --> 00:34:29,679 And what what's funny is, I mean, Halberton, there's so many 704 00:34:29,679 --> 00:34:32,600 things that don't show up on the stat sheet, which I think is 705 00:34:32,600 --> 00:34:35,000 where you get, you know, some of the overrated stuff. 706 00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:36,679 It's just like, if you look at the numbers, it's like, man, 707 00:34:36,679 --> 00:34:39,159 this guy's 12 points in a game. It's like, well, he did a lot of 708 00:34:39,159 --> 00:34:41,560 things, a lot of hockey assists. He moves the ball. 709 00:34:42,159 --> 00:34:45,000 What I've found so interesting with this Pacers team over the 710 00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:49,760 last couple years is it's just so unique that you have a backup 711 00:34:49,760 --> 00:34:52,560 point guard in TJ McConnell who I would argue pushes the ball 712 00:34:52,560 --> 00:34:55,080 faster. Like you, you normally it's 713 00:34:55,080 --> 00:34:56,600 like, all right, well, Halliburton's out now we're 714 00:34:56,600 --> 00:34:58,000 going to get a reprieve either team. 715 00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:00,120 It's like, Oh no, you're getting TJ McConnell, who's actually 716 00:35:00,120 --> 00:35:03,040 going to get to his spots quicker and get into the paint 717 00:35:03,040 --> 00:35:06,160 even faster and drive, you know, play at a completely different 718 00:35:06,160 --> 00:35:07,880 pace. I think you have that. 719 00:35:07,880 --> 00:35:12,040 The other thing that was just totally, you know, apparent in 720 00:35:12,040 --> 00:35:14,720 that Cav series was in game three. 721 00:35:14,920 --> 00:35:18,240 I was at both Game 3 and 4. In game 3, the Cavs come out and 722 00:35:18,240 --> 00:35:22,720 they go to a three two zone with I think Mobley in front and and 723 00:35:22,840 --> 00:35:24,600 Jared Allen in back of the three two. 724 00:35:24,600 --> 00:35:27,680 And it's like, Oh my God, the Pacers weren't quite sure what 725 00:35:27,680 --> 00:35:29,080 to do. They looked a little flummoxed 726 00:35:29,080 --> 00:35:33,040 and it's like you got 27 footers who are both super agile, great 727 00:35:33,040 --> 00:35:35,720 defensively, like how are you going to score against the zone? 728 00:35:36,120 --> 00:35:38,360 And they didn't. They lost 126 to one O 4. 729 00:35:38,360 --> 00:35:41,880 It's like, Oh my God, the Cavs figured something out and the 730 00:35:41,880 --> 00:35:43,440 Cavs just came back. It's like aren't running the 731 00:35:43,440 --> 00:35:46,680 same 32 zone. And the next game the Pacers 732 00:35:46,680 --> 00:35:49,600 just destroyed the Cavs. And obviously Carlisle was like, 733 00:35:49,600 --> 00:35:51,840 OK, we're going to go figure this out. 734 00:35:51,840 --> 00:35:54,120 And we're going to have, you know, they had six different 735 00:35:54,120 --> 00:35:56,440 options of Siakam, the middle Nesmith, the middle Nesmith, the 736 00:35:56,440 --> 00:35:58,160 side like. And it's like almost like the 737 00:35:58,160 --> 00:36:00,960 Pacers like, oh, we figured it out like and you guys don't have 738 00:36:00,960 --> 00:36:02,080 another move. This is great. 739 00:36:02,080 --> 00:36:03,200 We're just going to carve you up. 740 00:36:03,600 --> 00:36:08,320 And I think it goes to show, you know, very underrated Rick 741 00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:10,640 Carlisle as a coach. He's been around forever. 742 00:36:10,880 --> 00:36:13,840 If the Nuggets. Well, actually, no, right now, 743 00:36:13,840 --> 00:36:16,360 even if no matter who wins the Nuggets Thunder game, he'll be 744 00:36:16,360 --> 00:36:18,320 the only coach with a title under his belt. 745 00:36:18,320 --> 00:36:21,120 Not saying that is an end all be all, but this is somebody who's 746 00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:24,200 been there who's done that. And he has shown over and over 747 00:36:24,200 --> 00:36:25,360 again. It's like, all right, when moves 748 00:36:25,360 --> 00:36:29,360 need to be made, he can make moves in in adjustments in the 749 00:36:29,360 --> 00:36:31,360 series. And that's something looking to 750 00:36:31,360 --> 00:36:33,800 this next series. You know, Thibodeau kind of 751 00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:37,680 coaches his way. You know, Carlisle, you look 752 00:36:37,680 --> 00:36:39,600 back, he was a defensive guy. Now he's an offensive. 753 00:36:39,600 --> 00:36:42,480 I mean, he's he changes to the style of the team. 754 00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:45,280 He changes game to game how they attack things. 755 00:36:45,520 --> 00:36:48,200 You know, Thibodeau plays five guys and really doesn't change 756 00:36:48,560 --> 00:36:49,920 the way he does stuff in a series. 757 00:36:49,920 --> 00:36:52,920 So I like the adjustments the Pacers could make throughout the 758 00:36:52,920 --> 00:36:54,200 series against the Knicks as well. 759 00:36:54,200 --> 00:36:58,160 But I just think this series again is showing what a great 760 00:36:58,160 --> 00:37:01,920 coach Carlisle is. Yeah, it's, it's one of those 761 00:37:01,920 --> 00:37:07,080 situations where you're I don't have any idea what happens in 762 00:37:07,080 --> 00:37:08,880 this series. I don't think anybody really 763 00:37:08,880 --> 00:37:10,480 does. Because I could make an argument 764 00:37:10,480 --> 00:37:13,200 for either of these teams to win in five, correct? 765 00:37:13,240 --> 00:37:15,720 And I could also make an argument for the series to go 7. 766 00:37:16,240 --> 00:37:19,600 And I understand Pacers fans feeling confident because of how 767 00:37:19,600 --> 00:37:22,880 well they played. And you know, you can say, oh, 768 00:37:22,880 --> 00:37:25,280 well, people were injured in the in the Cavs series. 769 00:37:25,280 --> 00:37:28,680 But I mean, they they beat the Cavs in five, right? 770 00:37:28,960 --> 00:37:32,520 They saw all of the players at various times. 771 00:37:32,520 --> 00:37:34,960 And then, I mean, game one, Garland wasn't out there, but 772 00:37:35,000 --> 00:37:38,400 everybody else was. And I still have questions about 773 00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:40,880 how injured Donovan Mitchell actually was in that last game 774 00:37:40,880 --> 00:37:45,560 That that that felt a little Chris Duhan Ish from back in the 775 00:37:45,920 --> 00:37:49,520 in the mid 2000s with Duke. But the flip side is I 776 00:37:49,520 --> 00:37:51,920 understand why Knicks fans would feel confident because you know, 777 00:37:51,920 --> 00:37:55,000 you're going to have the best player in the series. 778 00:37:55,000 --> 00:37:58,080 You're going to have the OR at least the the player who's able 779 00:37:58,080 --> 00:37:59,680 to manufacture their points the best. 780 00:37:59,680 --> 00:38:03,560 You got 220 almost 25 point per game scores in him and and 781 00:38:03,640 --> 00:38:08,400 Towns, you know, OJ Ananobi has played great all season, 782 00:38:08,400 --> 00:38:10,720 although hasn't really played that great in the play offs. 783 00:38:10,720 --> 00:38:13,360 I think you could make an argument and I think if you were 784 00:38:13,360 --> 00:38:16,440 just looking at the one through fives, you would be like, well, 785 00:38:16,440 --> 00:38:19,480 clearly the Knicks are the better team and if they don't 786 00:38:19,480 --> 00:38:22,640 get injured, I like I wouldn't be shocked if the Knicks came 787 00:38:22,640 --> 00:38:27,080 out and won sizably in game one. But as you saw last year, this 788 00:38:27,080 --> 00:38:31,360 Pacers team isn't likely to be too tremendously bothered by 789 00:38:31,360 --> 00:38:35,440 something like that happening. It's, it's a really, I'm, I'm 790 00:38:35,440 --> 00:38:37,680 excited for this like I, I am too. 791 00:38:37,720 --> 00:38:41,960 The, the thing that I think is also in the Pacers favor is, 792 00:38:42,440 --> 00:38:44,600 and, and this might end up being nothing, but I, I felt it in the 793 00:38:44,600 --> 00:38:46,960 Cavs series. You know, when, when they got to 794 00:38:46,960 --> 00:38:49,720 Game 5, the Cavs got up by 19. I'm just sitting there with my 795 00:38:49,720 --> 00:38:53,840 son being like, all the Pacers have to do is get it close and 796 00:38:53,840 --> 00:38:56,280 then all the pressure is going to go on to Cleveland. 797 00:38:56,280 --> 00:38:58,680 Because then suddenly it's like if the Pacers can get it close, 798 00:38:58,920 --> 00:39:02,360 if they can get a lead, and then suddenly the the Cavs fans and 799 00:39:02,360 --> 00:39:03,760 you saw it. They were just like, Oh my God, 800 00:39:03,960 --> 00:39:05,360 we're going to be in the one seed. 801 00:39:05,360 --> 00:39:07,960 We're going to lose in five games like this cannot happen. 802 00:39:07,960 --> 00:39:10,680 And they they get tight. And then you got Struce, you 803 00:39:10,680 --> 00:39:13,440 know, missing shots like that. You saw the team just tighten 804 00:39:13,440 --> 00:39:14,960 up. And I was like, you know, but if 805 00:39:14,960 --> 00:39:17,120 you if you leave, let them stay up by 18, like obviously they're 806 00:39:17,120 --> 00:39:18,800 just going to play free and free and easy. 807 00:39:19,400 --> 00:39:21,720 I think you could have something similar here with the Knicks 808 00:39:21,720 --> 00:39:24,880 where New York is is going bananas. 809 00:39:25,040 --> 00:39:27,000 You think they've already won three titles with this, like 810 00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:32,000 they are going wild. MSG is going to be crazy. 811 00:39:32,760 --> 00:39:35,560 But I think it could be the same thing kind of like you had with 812 00:39:35,560 --> 00:39:38,960 you Boston and the Red Sox in the early to late 90s in the 813 00:39:38,960 --> 00:39:43,720 early 2000s, where if you just, if you can win a game in MSG, 814 00:39:43,800 --> 00:39:46,240 you know, you, let's just, you know, Dreamcast this, you win a 815 00:39:46,240 --> 00:39:49,200 game one and then you just keep game two close. 816 00:39:49,680 --> 00:39:52,520 You know, that that fan base is it all that excitement is going 817 00:39:52,520 --> 00:39:55,240 to turn to to pent up nervousness real quick. 818 00:39:55,920 --> 00:39:58,880 And, you know, could, could that team get a little bit nervous? 819 00:39:58,880 --> 00:40:01,480 Because don't forget, you know, none of these Knicks players 820 00:40:01,480 --> 00:40:03,080 have been to an Eastern Conference finals. 821 00:40:03,080 --> 00:40:05,880 The Pacers have they didn't win a game, but they played better. 822 00:40:05,880 --> 00:40:09,440 You know, they, this team is as seasoned with playoff experience 823 00:40:09,440 --> 00:40:12,200 as any other team in the playoffs outside of the Nuggets 824 00:40:12,200 --> 00:40:16,200 on the other side. So I, I do I think that all of 825 00:40:16,200 --> 00:40:19,920 that excitement in New York. Could almost go against them if 826 00:40:19,920 --> 00:40:23,000 you're able to put them in a spot where they can see it 827 00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:26,360 slipping out of their fingers. Whereas obviously Indiana would 828 00:40:26,360 --> 00:40:28,080 be bummed if we lost 2, but I don't. 829 00:40:28,400 --> 00:40:31,280 I don't feel the same. Sort of like, Oh my God, we have 830 00:40:31,280 --> 00:40:35,480 to win this series out of the Pacers that I do out of New York 831 00:40:35,480 --> 00:40:38,880 and the Knicks. And it's ironic because I, you 832 00:40:38,880 --> 00:40:40,880 know, it was funny. First of all, if you look at the 833 00:40:40,880 --> 00:40:44,880 ESPN projections, like all of their experts projecting Pacers, 834 00:40:44,880 --> 00:40:49,040 Cavs, everybody picked the Cavs and projecting Knicks, Celtics, 835 00:40:49,280 --> 00:40:52,760 everybody picked the Knicks. I don't think we've seen the 836 00:40:52,760 --> 00:40:54,760 projections on this one yet. It is interesting. 837 00:40:54,760 --> 00:40:57,160 Like we've heard a couple people say, oh, the Pacers are going 838 00:40:57,160 --> 00:40:58,760 to, you know, to smash the Knicks. 839 00:40:58,760 --> 00:41:01,480 Of course, those have generally been Boston people who are just 840 00:41:01,520 --> 00:41:03,080 saying you could piss off Knicks fans. 841 00:41:04,280 --> 00:41:06,640 But I am, I am legitimately curious. 842 00:41:06,720 --> 00:41:11,920 I mean, we know MESPN has been so transparently pro Knicks in 843 00:41:11,920 --> 00:41:15,920 their coverage to the players. Like then we'll sort of walk 844 00:41:15,920 --> 00:41:17,720 into Stephen A Smith. It's like, oh, is Stephen A 845 00:41:17,760 --> 00:41:20,680 Smith on the roster? I forgot such absolute 846 00:41:20,680 --> 00:41:23,960 ridiculousness by ESPN across the board on this. 847 00:41:23,960 --> 00:41:26,400 But I am curious. You know what I don't not that 848 00:41:26,400 --> 00:41:29,080 it matters, but I am curious like what the pundit class ends 849 00:41:29,080 --> 00:41:32,280 up looking at with this series and how they try to filter it. 850 00:41:32,560 --> 00:41:35,960 I, I'm, I'm guessing 75% will pick the Knicks to win this 851 00:41:35,960 --> 00:41:39,040 series and they'll default back to, well, the Knicks have no 852 00:41:39,040 --> 00:41:42,000 homecourt advantage Despite that not really mattering last year. 853 00:41:42,640 --> 00:41:46,000 So again, I just think this is fun. 854 00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:46,600 This. Is great. 855 00:41:46,600 --> 00:41:48,680 This is I agree. The, the other thing that I've 856 00:41:48,680 --> 00:41:52,120 caught myself saying, so I, I like, let me finish my sentence 857 00:41:52,120 --> 00:41:54,080 because I've caught myself many times and I've been like, the, 858 00:41:54,160 --> 00:41:57,480 the thing that I'm nervous about is, you know, the NBA that just, 859 00:41:57,480 --> 00:41:59,720 you had a great tweet about how I even when they're not like 860 00:42:00,200 --> 00:42:02,360 rigging things, it's like they, they look like they're always 861 00:42:02,360 --> 00:42:06,080 rigging stuff with the lottery. I, I inherently keep saying 862 00:42:06,080 --> 00:42:08,920 like, man, it's just the NBA is going to want the Knicks to win 863 00:42:08,920 --> 00:42:10,960 this series like a game seven in MSG. 864 00:42:10,960 --> 00:42:12,280 Like I just don't know how you win that. 865 00:42:12,280 --> 00:42:14,440 But then I'm like the two thoughts like, Hey, we did it 866 00:42:14,440 --> 00:42:18,240 last year so it can be done. But B, it's like if if the NBA 867 00:42:18,240 --> 00:42:21,080 really wanted the Knicks to win the title, like they maybe would 868 00:42:21,080 --> 00:42:23,720 have won more than one title in the last 50 years. 869 00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:27,480 Like I think about that often because I go back and I think 870 00:42:27,480 --> 00:42:31,560 about the I used to be a big adherent to that idea in the 871 00:42:31,560 --> 00:42:34,040 90s. And you know, that was, I mean, 872 00:42:34,040 --> 00:42:36,960 because it was at the same time the Yankees had re ascended and 873 00:42:36,960 --> 00:42:39,000 you know, and it just kind of felt like we were just being 874 00:42:39,000 --> 00:42:41,120 bombarded with New York teams constantly. 875 00:42:41,440 --> 00:42:45,880 But look, realistically speaking, if you look at what's 876 00:42:45,880 --> 00:42:49,360 gone on with the NBA over the course of the last several 877 00:42:49,360 --> 00:42:53,240 years, I, I don't know how you could make a legitimate argument 878 00:42:53,240 --> 00:42:55,640 that all of this stuff is getting fixed and that that 879 00:42:55,640 --> 00:42:59,360 hurts because I really enjoy the idea that, you know, this is all 880 00:42:59,360 --> 00:43:02,640 being written like wrestling. But, but realistically it's not. 881 00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:06,720 And you, you like the, the Toronto Raptors are not winning 882 00:43:06,760 --> 00:43:10,520 a title in an era where we're scripting this stuff out, right. 883 00:43:10,680 --> 00:43:14,160 And, and again, last year, you have Nick's Game 7, even with 884 00:43:14,160 --> 00:43:17,480 the injuries, like, you know, you, you're not screwing all of 885 00:43:17,480 --> 00:43:19,440 those. You're not, you're not screwing 886 00:43:19,440 --> 00:43:21,720 everybody to the degree where you're letting them go through. 887 00:43:21,720 --> 00:43:23,240 They're losing that game at home. 888 00:43:23,240 --> 00:43:27,600 And so I, I'm with you 100%. I think it's fascinating that 889 00:43:27,600 --> 00:43:31,480 what we've seen over the course of time is a bunch of 890 00:43:31,480 --> 00:43:34,720 questionable calls that you go back and you're still looking at 891 00:43:34,720 --> 00:43:36,920 20-30 years later. And so I was like, how the hell 892 00:43:36,920 --> 00:43:40,320 did that happen? And yet it happens so often that 893 00:43:40,320 --> 00:43:41,920 it's just kind of part of the landscape. 894 00:43:41,920 --> 00:43:44,280 And it's not a we're just going to move this team forward and 895 00:43:44,280 --> 00:43:46,920 head ahead of another team because again, I don't think 896 00:43:46,920 --> 00:43:51,560 you're seeing the the, the Bucks or the Raptors or, you know, 897 00:43:51,560 --> 00:43:53,760 some of these other teams that have won titles like get to 898 00:43:53,760 --> 00:43:56,360 where they've gotten to, if that's actually the case. 899 00:43:56,520 --> 00:43:59,840 I, I want to go back to something you said about the the 900 00:43:59,840 --> 00:44:01,960 90s Pacers similarities to this team. 901 00:44:01,960 --> 00:44:05,400 The other similarity there and this is, you know, Reggie Miller 902 00:44:05,400 --> 00:44:10,160 was a singularly unique player in the NBA and he loved to go 903 00:44:10,160 --> 00:44:15,640 into. I saw go go find it on Twitter 904 00:44:15,640 --> 00:44:17,480 somewhere. It's like someone's on he's on T 905 00:44:17,480 --> 00:44:19,320 and someone's asking like, are you a little nervous going back 906 00:44:19,320 --> 00:44:22,200 to MSG and he's like, no man, why I own this house like I own 907 00:44:22,200 --> 00:44:24,720 this town like I own the Knicks like this is my house. 908 00:44:24,720 --> 00:44:26,240 I don't know what like they should be worried about coming 909 00:44:26,240 --> 00:44:28,560 into my house like he's still talking smack. 910 00:44:28,560 --> 00:44:32,520 But so I'm, I'm but, but there is some similarities here where 911 00:44:33,560 --> 00:44:37,200 and again, Halliburton, we need to continue seeing it. 912 00:44:37,200 --> 00:44:40,640 But you you can't take a away the fact that he was injured 913 00:44:40,640 --> 00:44:43,600 last season, he got injured, I'm not sure he ever fully got 914 00:44:43,600 --> 00:44:45,080 right. You know, he went to the 915 00:44:45,080 --> 00:44:47,440 Olympics. He he never, I don't think he 916 00:44:47,440 --> 00:44:50,040 fully got healthy until the middle of this year, which is 917 00:44:50,040 --> 00:44:52,240 when the Pacers took off, which is also when Nee Smith and 918 00:44:52,240 --> 00:44:54,880 Nemhardt came back. They were not playing the 1st 20 919 00:44:54,880 --> 00:44:56,680 games, which really affected the defense. 920 00:44:57,000 --> 00:44:58,680 I'm still not sure Halliburton's 100. 921 00:44:58,680 --> 00:45:01,560 I mean, no one's 100% healthy at this point, but I still think 922 00:45:01,560 --> 00:45:03,840 there's another level when he has a full offseason. 923 00:45:04,240 --> 00:45:07,200 All of that said, you're seeing it in this playoffs. 924 00:45:07,840 --> 00:45:09,800 He he's taking that, you know, overrated thing. 925 00:45:09,800 --> 00:45:11,560 And that is definitely fueling him. 926 00:45:12,000 --> 00:45:15,760 But he, as best you can tell, enjoys playing in opposing 927 00:45:15,760 --> 00:45:17,760 arenas. I mean, that that game against 928 00:45:17,760 --> 00:45:20,080 Cleveland, they're up, you know, they're down 19 in Cleveland. 929 00:45:20,080 --> 00:45:23,120 The place is going nuts. And the commentators can't stop 930 00:45:23,120 --> 00:45:24,560 talking about, oh, this is so loud. 931 00:45:24,560 --> 00:45:26,760 It's such a great environment. And then Halliburton's like, 932 00:45:27,000 --> 00:45:28,200 hold my beer. Like I'm just going to hit a 933 00:45:28,200 --> 00:45:30,920 couple threes. You know, game two, he he does 934 00:45:30,920 --> 00:45:33,000 the I got the rebound, I'm going to go back and I'm cutting your 935 00:45:33,000 --> 00:45:34,760 throat out. Like I'm taking the kill shot. 936 00:45:35,000 --> 00:45:37,160 And then, you know, I'm going to monkey knuckles down on the 937 00:45:37,160 --> 00:45:38,160 core. Like I'm going to do all that. 938 00:45:38,160 --> 00:45:41,360 Like he likes to as Reggie Miller's book. 939 00:45:41,360 --> 00:45:43,720 I love being the enemy. There's a part of Halliburton 940 00:45:43,720 --> 00:45:46,600 where he likes this. And so I think he likes playing 941 00:45:46,600 --> 00:45:48,560 on the road. I think he likes the booze he 942 00:45:48,560 --> 00:45:51,520 likes getting, you know, he likes that. 943 00:45:51,720 --> 00:45:53,640 I think this team isn't scared of you. 944 00:45:53,640 --> 00:45:55,920 Look at guys like Aaron Nesmith. I don't think he's going to be 945 00:45:55,920 --> 00:45:59,360 thrown off by MSG. He seems like just a mania. 946 00:45:59,920 --> 00:46:04,080 Even as kind of mild mannered as Miles Turner is, he never seems 947 00:46:04,080 --> 00:46:06,800 to be shook. And so that that is one thing I 948 00:46:06,800 --> 00:46:08,360 think is going in the Pacers favor. 949 00:46:08,360 --> 00:46:10,400 On the flip side, I don't think the Knicks are going to be shook 950 00:46:10,400 --> 00:46:11,520 here. So I think it is going to be a 951 00:46:11,520 --> 00:46:13,920 really good series. But I think that is something 952 00:46:13,920 --> 00:46:17,840 that we have in our advantage is I really think this team rallies 953 00:46:18,160 --> 00:46:19,720 being in those hostile environments. 954 00:46:20,280 --> 00:46:22,720 And I think it's important to keep in mind that these two 955 00:46:22,720 --> 00:46:26,760 teams were essentially dead even in the regular season, like a. 956 00:46:26,920 --> 00:46:28,880 Two game difference. One game, it was 50. 957 00:46:29,240 --> 00:46:32,680 The Knicks finished 51 and 31. The Pacers finished 50 and 32. 958 00:46:32,680 --> 00:46:35,080 Brunson was out for a while towards the end of the season. 959 00:46:35,080 --> 00:46:38,480 The Pacers made-up a bunch of ground, you know, but that was 960 00:46:38,800 --> 00:46:41,560 it's the difference. It's it probably worked out for 961 00:46:41,560 --> 00:46:45,800 the best for everybody because I think I, I think the Pacers were 962 00:46:45,800 --> 00:46:48,360 uniquely suited to beat the Cavs this year. 963 00:46:48,360 --> 00:46:52,440 And I think that the the Knicks kind of got a bit lucky with the 964 00:46:52,440 --> 00:46:54,880 Tatum injury, but they were playing the Celtics a lot closer 965 00:46:54,880 --> 00:46:56,040 than people thought that they would. 966 00:46:56,040 --> 00:47:00,200 But both of these teams, you know, the Pacers have been, you 967 00:47:00,280 --> 00:47:01,880 know, the Knicks have been slightly better in both 968 00:47:01,880 --> 00:47:03,400 offensive and defensive efficiency. 969 00:47:03,400 --> 00:47:05,560 What's been interesting, if you look at like the last five 970 00:47:05,560 --> 00:47:09,920 games, the Pacers have been slightly better defensively than 971 00:47:09,920 --> 00:47:14,200 the Knicks have against each or against their competition. 972 00:47:14,520 --> 00:47:16,160 Does that carry over into the series? 973 00:47:16,160 --> 00:47:19,480 I think a lot of it is going to depend on, you know, can the 974 00:47:19,480 --> 00:47:23,240 Pacers play good enough defense and play at a fast enough pace 975 00:47:23,240 --> 00:47:25,400 offensively that it starts to wear the Knicks out? 976 00:47:25,640 --> 00:47:27,200 It really does seem to come down to that. 977 00:47:27,360 --> 00:47:29,320 And then are there any other major injuries? 978 00:47:29,320 --> 00:47:32,280 Do we see anything happen? You know, and, and can you 979 00:47:32,320 --> 00:47:34,360 actually get, I mean, if you look at what the Knicks have 980 00:47:34,360 --> 00:47:37,960 done over the course of the of the season, their top five 981 00:47:37,960 --> 00:47:42,800 players all averaged 35 minutes or more per game and in the 982 00:47:42,800 --> 00:47:45,520 playoffs. And Anobi's averaging 40 minutes 983 00:47:45,520 --> 00:47:47,560 a game. Bridges is averaging 40 minutes 984 00:47:47,560 --> 00:47:52,040 a game, Brunson 39 minutes a game, Hart 37 minutes a game and 985 00:47:52,040 --> 00:47:54,200 Karl Anthony Town's 36 minutes a game. 986 00:47:54,520 --> 00:47:57,120 You, you know, you drop down to Miles McBride and Mitchell 987 00:47:57,120 --> 00:47:59,720 Robinson, they're both averaging about 19 minutes a game. 988 00:48:00,040 --> 00:48:02,960 That is, I don't know how sustainable that is. 989 00:48:02,960 --> 00:48:05,760 And I I think you would be looking at that as a problem 990 00:48:06,480 --> 00:48:11,360 with anybody that the Knicks would be playing this playoffs 991 00:48:11,360 --> 00:48:13,720 in the Eastern Conference finals, but especially against 992 00:48:13,720 --> 00:48:17,360 the Pacers team. Where in the playoffs there, you 993 00:48:17,360 --> 00:48:19,920 know, would you like to get? So Tyrese Halliburton is leading 994 00:48:19,920 --> 00:48:22,000 them in minutes. Do you know how many minutes 995 00:48:22,000 --> 00:48:26,520 he's averaging per game? Under. 996 00:48:26,520 --> 00:48:28,000 Under all of the ones for the Knicks. 997 00:48:28,000 --> 00:48:31,200 I mean probably like 32. He's averaging 34. 998 00:48:31,720 --> 00:48:37,080 Nemhard's averaging 33, Siakam 32, Turner 31, Kneesmith 29, 999 00:48:37,160 --> 00:48:39,920 close to 30. But then they've got four guys, 1000 00:48:40,000 --> 00:48:43,440 basically five guys. If you throw in really six guys, 1001 00:48:43,440 --> 00:48:46,360 if you throw in Thomas Bryant and Jairus Walker who round up 1002 00:48:46,360 --> 00:48:49,720 to 10 minutes a game, you know, they have really gotten the very 1003 00:48:49,720 --> 00:48:54,840 balanced load despite having the same guys starting each game. 1004 00:48:55,360 --> 00:48:58,320 So it's just, again, it's going to be really fascinating to see 1005 00:48:58,800 --> 00:49:03,800 which prevails. And it's, I think last thing, 1006 00:49:03,800 --> 00:49:07,840 going back to that 90s example that we started with, back then, 1007 00:49:07,960 --> 00:49:11,440 if you had the best player in the series, you were going to 1008 00:49:11,440 --> 00:49:14,440 win the series as long as you had at least somewhat requisite 1009 00:49:14,440 --> 00:49:18,040 talent in the other spots. I don't know if we're in that 1010 00:49:18,040 --> 00:49:21,680 NBA right now, Scott, because so much of it is about efficiency 1011 00:49:21,680 --> 00:49:24,640 and so much of it is about if you're going 6-7 games in a 1012 00:49:24,640 --> 00:49:28,000 series, you know, what can you do over the full extent of that? 1013 00:49:28,240 --> 00:49:34,280 So I don't know if it locks up right now within the confines of 1014 00:49:34,320 --> 00:49:37,440 what we would have expected in the 90s or whether this Pacers 1015 00:49:37,440 --> 00:49:41,080 team is just built for this particular era where you can 1016 00:49:41,200 --> 00:49:44,600 stretch the roster down two or three additional spots and that 1017 00:49:44,600 --> 00:49:47,000 gives you the advantage over a six or seven game period of 1018 00:49:47,000 --> 00:49:49,280 time. Yeah, I I mean, and that's the 1019 00:49:49,280 --> 00:49:52,440 thing with the Knicks is if one of those guys gets tired or just 1020 00:49:52,440 --> 00:49:57,000 can't play those minutes, the Knicks really drop off in my 1021 00:49:57,000 --> 00:49:58,360 mind. And when you get down to six, 1022 00:49:58,360 --> 00:50:00,760 7-8 in minutes for the playoffs, you're talking about Miles 1023 00:50:00,760 --> 00:50:03,400 McBride, Mitchell Robinson, who like can't play offense. 1024 00:50:03,720 --> 00:50:05,800 And then you're into Cameron Payne and Precious a Chua 1025 00:50:05,800 --> 00:50:08,160 territory and you get down with the Pacers. 1026 00:50:08,440 --> 00:50:10,520 You know, when you you're talking Benedict Mathur and TJ 1027 00:50:10,520 --> 00:50:13,160 McConnell, Obi Toppin. I mean, Obi Toppin's a guy who's 1028 00:50:13,160 --> 00:50:17,040 averaged 20 and can score 20 and 10 in a playoff game. 1029 00:50:17,040 --> 00:50:18,640 We've seen him do it and he's very effective. 1030 00:50:18,640 --> 00:50:20,840 He's also, I mean, he's not a starter for a reason. 1031 00:50:21,280 --> 00:50:23,160 I just think that the Pacers are better in that spot. 1032 00:50:23,160 --> 00:50:25,440 Here's the question I have for you that's been rattling around 1033 00:50:25,440 --> 00:50:29,440 my brain is, are are you concerned? 1034 00:50:29,720 --> 00:50:32,440 The Pacers were on a roll and they were playing well, getting 1035 00:50:32,440 --> 00:50:35,360 some time off helps, but the Pacers really weren't injured. 1036 00:50:36,640 --> 00:50:40,200 Are are you worried about that, this lengthy amount of time off? 1037 00:50:40,200 --> 00:50:43,000 I mean, almost over a week. They they finished their last 1038 00:50:43,000 --> 00:50:45,480 game on Tuesday. They won't play again until 1039 00:50:45,480 --> 00:50:47,920 Wednesday and then it's every other game. 1040 00:50:48,560 --> 00:50:50,720 Are you concerned? And it's it's almost a little 1041 00:50:50,720 --> 00:50:51,720 bit unfair. It's like, 'cause the Knicks 1042 00:50:51,720 --> 00:50:54,400 also get some time off to get rested, but not enough to lose 1043 00:50:54,400 --> 00:50:56,520 any momentum. Are are you just nervous about 1044 00:50:56,520 --> 00:51:00,080 the Pacers losing some of that mojo they've had basically since 1045 00:51:00,080 --> 00:51:03,880 the All Star? Break No, I'm not in as much as 1046 00:51:03,880 --> 00:51:08,120 I do think that whether or not we know about any top level 1047 00:51:08,120 --> 00:51:11,520 like, you know, really bad injuries, people get dinged up 1048 00:51:11,520 --> 00:51:13,320 in these. We saw a couple of those. 1049 00:51:14,600 --> 00:51:16,600 I, I like the break for two reasons. 1050 00:51:16,600 --> 00:51:19,720 For the Pacers 1, I don't know that any amount of rest for the 1051 00:51:19,720 --> 00:51:23,280 Knicks is going to be enough to compensate for the way that 1052 00:51:23,280 --> 00:51:26,840 Thibodeau plays them if he's going to be an issue, right? 1053 00:51:27,040 --> 00:51:33,080 And so I do think that in terms of the the way it impacts 1054 00:51:33,080 --> 00:51:36,640 things, it's a wash. Like, it it like, would it have 1055 00:51:36,640 --> 00:51:38,280 been better? It certainly would have been 1056 00:51:38,280 --> 00:51:41,120 better if the Knicks had been forced to a seventh game and had 1057 00:51:41,120 --> 00:51:43,280 even less rest. But I think that that dissipates 1058 00:51:43,280 --> 00:51:45,920 after a while. But I think the pace that the 1059 00:51:45,920 --> 00:51:48,960 Pacers play at and the confidence they get from saying, 1060 00:51:48,960 --> 00:51:52,120 hey, we just we everybody picked us to lose to the Cavs and we 1061 00:51:52,120 --> 00:51:55,800 just beat the Cavs in five. I don't know that that's ever 1062 00:51:55,800 --> 00:51:58,240 going to be a bad thing from a mentality perspective, 1063 00:51:58,240 --> 00:52:01,480 particularly if, as I would expect, the Knicks are a betting 1064 00:52:01,480 --> 00:52:05,120 favorite in this series. But the other thing I'll say is 1065 00:52:05,120 --> 00:52:10,120 that you mentioned Rick Carlisle and you mentioned the way that 1066 00:52:10,200 --> 00:52:14,520 the the teams are, you know, the the the way that he's managed to 1067 00:52:14,520 --> 00:52:17,440 overcome issues with matchups and whatnot. 1068 00:52:17,880 --> 00:52:22,920 I love the fact that he gets extra time to scout and evaluate 1069 00:52:22,920 --> 00:52:24,680 this Knicks team. They go back and look at the 1070 00:52:24,680 --> 00:52:26,760 games that they played against him in the regular season and 1071 00:52:26,760 --> 00:52:28,480 look at the way they're playing so far in the playoffs. 1072 00:52:28,480 --> 00:52:32,440 Like the fact that he gets all this additional time to figure 1073 00:52:32,440 --> 00:52:35,880 out the best way to attack the Knicks, I think is probably 1074 00:52:36,200 --> 00:52:38,320 about as good of a thing as you could have. 1075 00:52:38,680 --> 00:52:42,600 Because you know, any, any adjustments that you make early 1076 00:52:42,600 --> 00:52:45,960 on that the Knicks have to adjust to, I think it's going to 1077 00:52:45,960 --> 00:52:48,240 be harder for them because they have fewer pieces to adjust 1078 00:52:48,240 --> 00:52:51,080 with. And that's so I, you know, look, 1079 00:52:51,160 --> 00:52:54,760 I you're right in that the Pacers had kind of a built in 1080 00:52:54,760 --> 00:52:56,440 advantage there. But I don't think they lose that 1081 00:52:56,440 --> 00:52:59,880 much of it by the situation of, you know, not going in right 1082 00:52:59,880 --> 00:53:02,160 away and, and, you know, playing the Knicks right after they 1083 00:53:02,160 --> 00:53:04,960 finished the previous series. I will also say I was looking it 1084 00:53:04,960 --> 00:53:08,800 up, you know, Carlisle, what I also think is interesting, you 1085 00:53:08,800 --> 00:53:10,880 know, you're talking the the connection to the 90s. 1086 00:53:11,200 --> 00:53:14,760 I look at Carlisle's championship year with the 2011 1087 00:53:14,800 --> 00:53:18,760 was yeah, 11 Mavericks. That was a team that wasn't, you 1088 00:53:18,760 --> 00:53:21,200 know, that was a team that was done like Berk Socks, like he, 1089 00:53:21,360 --> 00:53:23,040 he's not a real, you know, Realplayer. 1090 00:53:23,760 --> 00:53:25,280 They have a tough first round series. 1091 00:53:25,440 --> 00:53:28,720 They beat the Lakers in four and they played their last game May 1092 00:53:28,720 --> 00:53:30,440 8th. They start the Western 1093 00:53:30,440 --> 00:53:33,320 Conference final May 17th. So they that season they also 1094 00:53:33,320 --> 00:53:37,200 had like 9 games off and they went into Oklahoma. 1095 00:53:37,200 --> 00:53:40,280 They played home that series. They beat Oklahoma City in that 1096 00:53:40,280 --> 00:53:43,440 first game, won that game. And then, you know, then they 1097 00:53:43,440 --> 00:53:45,640 played the Heat where they were just like, wow, this is Lebron's 1098 00:53:45,640 --> 00:53:47,680 title. Like this is the LeBron team and 1099 00:53:47,680 --> 00:53:49,200 then he coaches that team to a win. 1100 00:53:49,200 --> 00:53:51,680 It's it's not a perfect parallel, but it is interesting. 1101 00:53:51,680 --> 00:53:55,200 They had a long break between second round in the Western 1102 00:53:55,200 --> 00:53:58,440 Conference finals. So again, Carlisle has been here 1103 00:53:58,440 --> 00:54:02,800 and Carlisle has had you know, that I I like that that the team 1104 00:54:02,800 --> 00:54:05,760 that he won a title with is similar to the Pacers in that 1105 00:54:05,760 --> 00:54:08,160 that that Mavs team was basically written off. 1106 00:54:08,200 --> 00:54:11,480 And I don't remember the betting lines for the Mavs versus the 1107 00:54:11,480 --> 00:54:14,480 Thunder that year, but I definitely remember Mavs Heat. 1108 00:54:14,480 --> 00:54:16,680 It was like, all right, well, this is Lebron's title run. 1109 00:54:16,680 --> 00:54:20,000 Like cannot wait to see this. And again, if an NBA team, NBA 1110 00:54:20,000 --> 00:54:22,160 ever wanted A-Team to win, it would have been that heat team. 1111 00:54:22,160 --> 00:54:24,680 So I mean, Carlisle's been in this position where he has the 1112 00:54:24,680 --> 00:54:27,960 team that basically is the forgotten team in the landscape 1113 00:54:27,960 --> 00:54:31,520 and the one that is the underdog throughout the playoffs last. 1114 00:54:31,520 --> 00:54:36,000 Thing on a podcast. So we do have the Eastern 1115 00:54:36,000 --> 00:54:39,200 Conference futures like you know, the betting lines. 1116 00:54:39,200 --> 00:54:42,760 Have you seen this yet? So what would you guess in in 1117 00:54:42,760 --> 00:54:46,960 terms of betting who the favorite is and what their line 1118 00:54:46,960 --> 00:54:49,000 is? For for this season or for next? 1119 00:54:49,080 --> 00:54:51,360 Like for for right now, for like going into the Eastern 1120 00:54:51,360 --> 00:54:55,200 Conference playoffs. So what's the money line for the 1121 00:54:55,200 --> 00:54:58,040 Knicks to win the series versus the Pacers to win the series is 1122 00:54:58,040 --> 00:54:58,880 what I'm asking you. Oh. 1123 00:54:58,880 --> 00:55:01,760 OK, I mean, the the Pacers are probably, I mean they're an 1124 00:55:01,760 --> 00:55:04,280 underdog. They're probably like a + 220 1125 00:55:04,280 --> 00:55:09,120 and the Knicks are like a -140. OK, so the Knicks are -160 OK, 1126 00:55:09,480 --> 00:55:12,080 the Pacers are plus 135. OK. 1127 00:55:12,280 --> 00:55:16,000 So this is a pretty even series. I mean, I think going into the 1128 00:55:16,000 --> 00:55:20,560 last series, I think the Cavs were like -500 you know, so 1129 00:55:20,560 --> 00:55:25,280 basically, you know, they were a 5 to one favorite to win or what 1130 00:55:25,280 --> 00:55:28,840 a one to five favorite. So it's interesting because if 1131 00:55:28,840 --> 00:55:32,160 you look at the Western Conference, the Thunder are -150 1132 00:55:32,600 --> 00:55:35,400 and we, we'll see what happens. If it's the Timberwolves, I 1133 00:55:35,400 --> 00:55:37,480 think the Timberwolves climb a little bit and probably are 1134 00:55:37,480 --> 00:55:40,200 somewhat in a similar territory. But Vegas is looking at this. 1135 00:55:40,600 --> 00:55:44,040 As a really even series that slightly favors the Knicks, but 1136 00:55:44,040 --> 00:55:46,640 not overwhelmingly, which I am a little bit surprised by. 1137 00:55:46,760 --> 00:55:48,640 Well, and I would even say that's even more of a pick them 1138 00:55:48,640 --> 00:55:51,880 because you know, most of the time Vegas line is it is pretty 1139 00:55:51,880 --> 00:55:54,560 good, but you also have to remember Vegas is trying to get 1140 00:55:54,560 --> 00:55:57,680 money on both sides and Knicks are a public team. 1141 00:55:57,880 --> 00:56:00,400 So you're going to like for it to be that close. 1142 00:56:00,400 --> 00:56:03,360 Really tells me that it's probably more of a pick em 1143 00:56:03,520 --> 00:56:06,000 because they have to inflate the Knicks line because they're 1144 00:56:06,000 --> 00:56:08,720 going to get way more money on the Knicks side of the Ledger. 1145 00:56:08,840 --> 00:56:11,440 It's a great point. Also interesting Eastern 1146 00:56:11,440 --> 00:56:15,120 Conference Finals MVP futures. Would you like to guess the top 1147 00:56:15,120 --> 00:56:20,720 three? All right, it's Brunson is 1 and 1148 00:56:20,720 --> 00:56:22,800 2. They give them both spots. 1149 00:56:22,800 --> 00:56:25,080 They give them 1/2. No, Brunson won. 1150 00:56:26,120 --> 00:56:27,880 What? What would you guess the money 1151 00:56:27,880 --> 00:56:31,000 line on Brunson to win the Eastern Conference Final MVP is 1152 00:56:31,320 --> 00:56:33,040 like? Plus 110. 1153 00:56:33,040 --> 00:56:34,920 I mean it's probably as close to even as maybe. 1154 00:56:34,920 --> 00:56:36,600 Is it even negative? That'd be insane. 1155 00:56:36,600 --> 00:56:40,200 It's -140 that's nice, but again, it's AI think it's the 1156 00:56:40,200 --> 00:56:41,480 public team thing, right? It's. 1157 00:56:42,480 --> 00:56:45,200 The the second one is either going to be towns or bridges and 1158 00:56:45,200 --> 00:56:49,600 it's going to be a nick. I would, I would probably say 1159 00:56:49,600 --> 00:56:51,960 bridges just 'cause I'm not sure there's a lot of confidence in 1160 00:56:51,960 --> 00:56:54,680 towns. It's probably maybe towns one of 1161 00:56:54,680 --> 00:56:57,640 those two. It's actually Halliburton, OK 1162 00:56:57,640 --> 00:57:00,720 Burton is plus 150 for Easter Conference Finals MVP. 1163 00:57:00,720 --> 00:57:04,160 So who's your guest for #3 Towns. 1164 00:57:05,160 --> 00:57:08,840 Towns is 4th at Bridges plus 950. 1165 00:57:08,840 --> 00:57:11,040 Bridges is not in the top five, so who is third? 1166 00:57:11,040 --> 00:57:17,440 Sorry, Pascal Siakam is plus 850 and 5th in the betting order 1167 00:57:17,440 --> 00:57:19,880 right now. Is is I want to guess it's the 1168 00:57:19,880 --> 00:57:21,080 way you're saying it might be a pacer. 1169 00:57:21,080 --> 00:57:23,520 Is it like Nesmith or Nemhard? Nemhard. 1170 00:57:23,760 --> 00:57:28,640 All right, now, Now, to be fair, Nemhard and the Nobi Nemhard's 1171 00:57:28,640 --> 00:57:32,080 at +6000. And then it goes Ananobi Turner 1172 00:57:32,080 --> 00:57:36,880 and Bridges at plus 6500. And then Josh Hart is at +9 or, 1173 00:57:36,880 --> 00:57:38,840 excuse me, 65. Yeah, 6500. 1174 00:57:38,880 --> 00:57:43,120 And then Josh Hart is at +9000. So again, I, I find all of these 1175 00:57:43,120 --> 00:57:46,360 fascinating. Like this really does equate to 1176 00:57:46,360 --> 00:57:49,920 a very even series in the eyes of of Vegas and the, and the 1177 00:57:49,920 --> 00:57:52,320 books, which they're the ones that are looking at this 1178 00:57:52,320 --> 00:57:55,320 analytically and saying, well, we, we got to be careful how we 1179 00:57:55,320 --> 00:57:57,320 set this because we don't because it's funny. 1180 00:57:57,320 --> 00:58:00,280 There was a great article in Sports Business Journal. 1181 00:58:00,600 --> 00:58:04,280 Most of the sports books have taken an absolute bath on sports 1182 00:58:04,280 --> 00:58:09,120 betting this year because of the NCAA tournament, because 1183 00:58:09,200 --> 00:58:12,240 everybody bet on the favorites and the favorites won. 1184 00:58:12,240 --> 00:58:15,280 Like, you know, Florida was the number two betted on team in 1185 00:58:15,280 --> 00:58:17,680 that playoffs and they of course won the title. 1186 00:58:17,680 --> 00:58:19,120 That hurts the books significantly. 1187 00:58:19,120 --> 00:58:21,640 I think they're down like 4 or 5%. 1188 00:58:22,920 --> 00:58:25,840 Overall, and so they're being very careful about how they do 1189 00:58:25,840 --> 00:58:27,320 most of these series moving forward. 1190 00:58:27,320 --> 00:58:28,320 I just thought that was interesting. 1191 00:58:28,560 --> 00:58:30,160 So I have a couple final questions for you. 1192 00:58:30,160 --> 00:58:32,760 Are you we talked about this. We we are we'll do our race 1193 00:58:32,760 --> 00:58:36,680 preview later this week. I'm I'm still on the fence. 1194 00:58:36,680 --> 00:58:40,000 I have tickets to game three. Do I do the double? 1195 00:58:41,600 --> 00:58:43,920 Are you going to do the double? I'm doing the double. 1196 00:58:44,120 --> 00:58:47,320 I I I'm leaning toward doing it just because I I've not done it 1197 00:58:47,320 --> 00:58:49,000 before. I didn't have tickets. 1198 00:58:49,000 --> 00:58:50,960 And was it 2013 the last time it happened? 1199 00:58:51,880 --> 00:58:53,600 I, I think I'm actually going to go to the race. 1200 00:58:53,600 --> 00:58:58,000 We're going to come back here. Well, because I, I don't know 1201 00:58:58,000 --> 00:59:01,800 about navigating from the 500 to to game bridge, but I also like 1202 00:59:01,800 --> 00:59:04,520 we have, we have kids. I'm going to grab my son, get 1203 00:59:04,520 --> 00:59:09,480 rid of the babysitter and like not get rid like let our 1204 00:59:09,480 --> 00:59:10,800 babysitter to. Do their job. 1205 00:59:18,600 --> 00:59:21,280 By the way, we should do a live podcast that night because I you 1206 00:59:21,280 --> 00:59:23,560 talk about loopy Scott, I will be saying stuff that doesn't 1207 00:59:23,600 --> 00:59:26,720 even make sense and that I'm like, I want to try and do it. 1208 00:59:26,720 --> 00:59:28,280 I mean, because the only thing that makes me nervous is 1209 00:59:28,280 --> 00:59:31,920 normally after the 500 I come home, like I'll rewatch the race 1210 00:59:31,920 --> 00:59:34,240 and by lap 7, I'm asleep on the couch. 1211 00:59:35,080 --> 00:59:37,480 I'm just going to probably just Chuck Red Bull. 1212 00:59:37,600 --> 00:59:39,560 I was going to. Say we need to get Scott like a, 1213 00:59:40,120 --> 00:59:42,920 you know, a A4 Loko sponsorship or something. 1214 00:59:44,880 --> 00:59:48,320 We got to have a, is there like an oxygen chamber that we could 1215 00:59:48,320 --> 00:59:50,440 go to in downtown Indy? Is there some kind of 1216 00:59:50,440 --> 00:59:53,120 revitalization things? They're like, I I'm going to try 1217 00:59:53,760 --> 00:59:56,360 like 6:00, you know, just like something to, to get it, get 1218 00:59:56,360 --> 00:59:57,520 yourself. I'm going to try. 1219 00:59:58,240 --> 01:00:00,240 The double, I'm going to come back and get my son and I think 1220 01:00:00,240 --> 01:00:01,920 we're going to go to the game. That's amazing. 1221 01:00:01,920 --> 01:00:03,960 Well, I'm for you. That's the plan. 1222 01:00:04,040 --> 01:00:07,000 I'm still working out the details, but that's the plan at 1223 01:00:07,000 --> 01:00:09,440 this point. And I here's the thing. 1224 01:00:10,360 --> 01:00:13,320 It it is such a cool and it as you mentioned, it's happened 1225 01:00:13,320 --> 01:00:16,200 before, but it's just such a cool thing and it's so uniquely 1226 01:00:16,200 --> 01:00:21,360 Indianapolis, right? And I especially this year 1227 01:00:21,360 --> 01:00:25,360 because it just feels like a special year for the Pacers and 1228 01:00:25,360 --> 01:00:27,520 and the way that the playoffs have fallen and everything. 1229 01:00:27,520 --> 01:00:29,640 And I'm not, that's not me predicting A Pacers win 1230 01:00:29,640 --> 01:00:32,080 necessarily, but it just there's a vibe. 1231 01:00:32,080 --> 01:00:35,880 And I'll say this like I, I was only reinforced with this when 1232 01:00:35,880 --> 01:00:39,560 when I went to Gainbridge yesterday for the Fever, opening 1233 01:00:39,560 --> 01:00:41,560 day sold out. There are a couple of empty 1234 01:00:41,560 --> 01:00:44,800 seats sprinkled about. But you know, I bought tickets 1235 01:00:44,960 --> 01:00:48,280 kind of at the last second. These are upper level, like 1236 01:00:48,280 --> 01:00:53,040 section 228, row 14. Paid $42.00 a ticket for the 1237 01:00:53,040 --> 01:00:56,360 Fever and and it was a it was a great atmosphere. 1238 01:00:56,360 --> 01:00:58,920 It really was like the IT was, it was exciting throughout the 1239 01:00:58,920 --> 01:00:59,240 team. The. 1240 01:00:59,240 --> 01:01:01,040 Pacers were there. I love the Pacers fever. 1241 01:01:01,040 --> 01:01:02,680 Like they're they're like supporting each other. 1242 01:01:03,000 --> 01:01:09,000 But the vibe, yeah, I went to game six in the Bucks series and 1243 01:01:09,000 --> 01:01:11,800 that was exciting. And the, the vibe around the 1244 01:01:11,800 --> 01:01:14,160 Cavs games, you were there for both of those was really 1245 01:01:14,160 --> 01:01:15,760 awesome. I, I didn't get a chance to go 1246 01:01:15,760 --> 01:01:20,440 to, to those, but between that and just the, the vibe that's 1247 01:01:20,440 --> 01:01:22,480 always there for the five hundreds, it looks like it's 1248 01:01:22,480 --> 01:01:26,000 going to be just a tremendous weather day on on Sunday. 1249 01:01:26,000 --> 01:01:29,680 I think that the projected high right now is 71° with partly 1250 01:01:29,680 --> 01:01:33,960 cloudy skies, which if you were to write in stone like this will 1251 01:01:33,960 --> 01:01:36,720 be the weather for the 500. That would be it. 1252 01:01:36,720 --> 01:01:40,840 It's just like just warming off, just warm enough that you're not 1253 01:01:40,840 --> 01:01:44,160 like, freezing in the stands, but the track's cool enough that 1254 01:01:44,160 --> 01:01:46,640 there's grip on the tires. And, you know, like, that's 1255 01:01:46,680 --> 01:01:51,080 that's the dream. So it just feels like it's 1256 01:01:51,080 --> 01:01:53,760 coming together. Yeah, you know, in in a certain 1257 01:01:53,760 --> 01:01:55,760 way. And I'm excited to be a part of 1258 01:01:55,760 --> 01:01:58,200 that, even if it's going to be just an endurance race. 1259 01:01:58,200 --> 01:02:00,680 This is like the ultra marathon of Indiana sports. 1260 01:02:01,080 --> 01:02:04,080 Yeah, yeah, coming home might be the wrong move, but it's like I 1261 01:02:04,080 --> 01:02:06,480 can pop in a quick shower. I can normally get home by like 1262 01:02:06,480 --> 01:02:10,920 530 after the race, so if I get home by 6, take a shower, it's 1263 01:02:10,920 --> 01:02:13,560 like if I leave here by 7:00 I'm going to get to game bridge by 1264 01:02:13,600 --> 01:02:15,640 8. See in the Super secret parking 1265 01:02:15,640 --> 01:02:18,680 that I do that I don't tell anybody about and will not tell 1266 01:02:18,680 --> 01:02:20,480 on this podcast. Well same. 1267 01:02:20,480 --> 01:02:23,120 I have my own separate super secret parking on my way out. 1268 01:02:23,120 --> 01:02:27,240 I have an exit strategy that always drops me near downtown 1269 01:02:27,240 --> 01:02:31,640 Indy within 30 minutes of leaving the track with no real 1270 01:02:31,640 --> 01:02:34,800 problems at all, which is inconceivable when you think 1271 01:02:34,800 --> 01:02:39,480 about how hard it is to get like the you're not driving out on 1272 01:02:39,480 --> 01:02:42,200 30th St. you're not driving out on 16th St. 1273 01:02:42,200 --> 01:02:44,480 Like you, you, there's real problems most places. 1274 01:02:44,480 --> 01:02:47,160 But if you know how to get out of there, if you know what 1275 01:02:47,160 --> 01:02:50,040 you're doing, I think it's not only doable, but you know, if 1276 01:02:50,040 --> 01:02:53,040 the race, when's the race start? Noon. 1277 01:02:53,600 --> 01:02:58,000 Yeah, 1245, I think his first. 12:45 I've lost last year, 1278 01:02:58,000 --> 01:03:00,360 completely screwed up my interpretation of when the race 1279 01:03:00,360 --> 01:03:02,720 starts. But but you know, if the race 1280 01:03:02,720 --> 01:03:06,080 runs a normal length, if there's no weather issues, I think you 1281 01:03:06,080 --> 01:03:09,920 could get downtown a solid 2 hours before the game starts and 1282 01:03:09,960 --> 01:03:12,160 and have time to eat and have time to revitalize. 1283 01:03:12,160 --> 01:03:13,720 And that's what I'm aiming at. So awesome. 1284 01:03:13,720 --> 01:03:15,080 Let's do it. Let's do the double. 1285 01:03:15,400 --> 01:03:17,320 All right, we'll, we'll be back later on this week. 1286 01:03:17,320 --> 01:03:18,880 Give me. Your prediction, yeah, like I 1287 01:03:18,880 --> 01:03:22,080 know it's it's the dumbest, always the most cliche question, 1288 01:03:22,080 --> 01:03:25,520 but I I see it. I'm just going to be very 1289 01:03:25,520 --> 01:03:28,720 positive. I I could see it going both 1290 01:03:28,720 --> 01:03:31,400 ways, but I'll I'll just for fun pick Pacers and six. 1291 01:03:31,400 --> 01:03:34,400 I know we talked about it. I have a hard time seeing them 1292 01:03:34,400 --> 01:03:38,000 winning Game 7 again. That would be an epic place to 1293 01:03:38,000 --> 01:03:40,280 to look at. But I think Pacers in six would 1294 01:03:40,280 --> 01:03:43,240 be awesome. I'll take Pacers in six as well. 1295 01:03:43,560 --> 01:03:45,920 And, and you know, if you're a Knicks fan and you're like, no 1296 01:03:45,920 --> 01:03:48,880 way your Pacers are going to get swept, fine, whatever. 1297 01:03:48,920 --> 01:03:53,360 I, I, I again, as we said in the podcast, you could justify 1298 01:03:53,360 --> 01:03:56,800 almost any result in this particular series. 1299 01:03:56,800 --> 01:04:00,000 And that's what I find that these are the things that I 1300 01:04:00,000 --> 01:04:02,600 love. And it's I, I, I said this, I 1301 01:04:02,600 --> 01:04:06,000 didn't say it on the podcast, I don't think a couple of weeks 1302 01:04:06,000 --> 01:04:08,080 ago. But coming out of that game six 1303 01:04:08,080 --> 01:04:13,800 against Milwaukee, what made that such a remarkable thing was 1304 01:04:13,800 --> 01:04:17,920 it was something I'd never seen before in person in sports. 1305 01:04:18,400 --> 01:04:25,280 And you know, to me, the what I love about series like this is 1306 01:04:25,280 --> 01:04:29,400 that they are the they act as a generation point for stuff that 1307 01:04:29,400 --> 01:04:31,920 you've never seen before in sports or experiences where 1308 01:04:31,920 --> 01:04:33,640 you're like, this is unique. This is cool. 1309 01:04:34,240 --> 01:04:38,320 And I wouldn't be shocked if it went one way or the other way. 1310 01:04:38,320 --> 01:04:40,240 Like I wouldn't be shocked if the Knicks won in five. 1311 01:04:40,240 --> 01:04:42,520 I wouldn't be shocked if the Pacers won in in four. 1312 01:04:42,520 --> 01:04:46,760 Like I could see that happening. It's it's not unheard of one way 1313 01:04:46,760 --> 01:04:48,840 or the other. It just seems like this is going 1314 01:04:48,840 --> 01:04:51,240 to be a very close series against two very good teams. 1315 01:04:51,240 --> 01:04:54,800 And I think fans of either team who are writing off their 1316 01:04:54,800 --> 01:04:59,480 opposition are missing out on just really enjoying the process 1317 01:04:59,480 --> 01:05:02,200 and seeing how things go. I've always felt like the best 1318 01:05:02,200 --> 01:05:06,560 way to enjoy sports is not by underrating your opponent, but 1319 01:05:06,560 --> 01:05:08,280 by properly rating your opponent. 1320 01:05:08,280 --> 01:05:10,960 And that often times is hard for fans to do of either team. 1321 01:05:11,240 --> 01:05:13,400 Yeah. So, so those. 1322 01:05:13,400 --> 01:05:15,760 There you go. Shockingly, Scott and I both 1323 01:05:15,760 --> 01:05:17,120 picked the Pacers in the series. Who? 1324 01:05:17,120 --> 01:05:18,280 Who would have guessed that? But. 1325 01:05:19,640 --> 01:05:21,040 I'm sure all the Knicks fans are listening. 1326 01:05:21,040 --> 01:05:23,320 You're bummed the the. Yeah, that's just there's a ton 1327 01:05:23,320 --> 01:05:24,520 of them. You know, Matt Blask is 1328 01:05:24,520 --> 01:05:25,240 listening. We know. 1329 01:05:25,240 --> 01:05:26,640 And Matt Velask, a big Knicks fan. 1330 01:05:27,600 --> 01:05:29,880 But we'll see what happens. It's gonna be and the other the 1331 01:05:29,880 --> 01:05:33,360 other last reason to do the double is especially for me as a 1332 01:05:33,360 --> 01:05:36,080 season ticket holder is the get in price for MSG. 1333 01:05:36,080 --> 01:05:38,760 It's going to be cheaper for them to fly here and go to go to 1334 01:05:38,760 --> 01:05:41,760 game Bros and go to an MSG game. And last year against the 1335 01:05:41,760 --> 01:05:44,040 Knicks, there was a lot of Knicks fans in the house. 1336 01:05:44,960 --> 01:05:47,960 And so you can't put your tickets on StubHub because they 1337 01:05:47,960 --> 01:05:49,800 will be bought up by New York fans. 1338 01:05:49,800 --> 01:05:52,360 So that's another reason to go is to defend the house. 1339 01:05:52,560 --> 01:05:55,240 Yep, you got it. That's it's important and. 1340 01:05:55,400 --> 01:05:58,080 Don't don't give in to the cheap buck. 1341 01:05:58,080 --> 01:06:00,840 If you're a Pacers fan like you got to, you got to stand on 1342 01:06:00,840 --> 01:06:04,160 principle. Keep that in mind, folks. 1343 01:06:04,160 --> 01:06:06,440 Anyway, we'll we'll be back with more. 1344 01:06:06,440 --> 01:06:08,360 We got Indy 5. 100 covers later on in this week. 1345 01:06:09,360 --> 01:06:12,000 IU football recruiting news coming up later this week. 1346 01:06:12,000 --> 01:06:15,360 Got a special guest on that we got IU portal recap with Taylor 1347 01:06:15,360 --> 01:06:18,520 Layman hopefully this week. A bunch of fun stuff coming up. 1348 01:06:18,520 --> 01:06:21,200 We really appreciate you folks listening in for Scott. 1349 01:06:21,200 --> 01:06:23,960 I'm Galen. This is Crimson cast on the back 1350 01:06:23,960 --> 01:06:27,520 home network. We will be here throughout the 1351 01:06:27,520 --> 01:06:29,960 course of May and June. Some fun stuff coming up that 1352 01:06:29,960 --> 01:06:33,000 we're planning with. You folks are along for the ride 1353 01:06:33,000 --> 01:06:34,920 thanks to our presenting sponsor, Home Field Apparel. 1354 01:06:35,320 --> 01:06:37,040 Catch you folks. On the flip side, stay never 1355 01:06:37,040 --> 01:06:39,080 daunted. Bring back the Bison. 1356 01:06:39,160 --> 01:06:39,800 So long, everybody.