You're listening to the Back Home Network presented by Home
Field Apparel. Welcome back to Crimson Cast.
Galen Clavio, Scott Caulfield joining you.
Here it is someday. We just recorded a podcast.
We're recording another podcast which won't come out till the
next day. But Scott and I've been talking
for like an hour straight now, but you're only hearing the
second-half of it. But you can go and check the
first half. We've already put that on the
feed. Hopefully you're listening
sequentially. If you're listening to this out
of order, I don't even know what to tell you at this point, but
we. We all do a lot of inside jokes
from the first hour. We'll keep it fresh, right?
Yeah, We we used all those up. Last time, yeah.
But anyway, we are here. It's great.
It's a beautiful, beautiful day outside.
Scott, how are you doing? It's good to see.
I love the. Yeah.
You were in Hawaii recently. I love the hoodie, Hawaii shirt.
Got the gear. It's a good look for you.
I like that a lot. Thank you.
No, no, I'm doing fantastic. The weather's the weather's
awesome. We have a busy day going out to
a graduation party. My son's doing a band thing at
the high school. And then we have a birthday
party and then another party. It's it's it's, it's May, man.
It's busy. Well, I'm, I'm digging it.
I, I'm excited about just in general, what, what we're, what
we're seeing in the state of Indiana right now is a lot of
fun stuff going on. It's been like five years, like
maybe 7 years. I every I get really close to
this, like we're about to hit the the best run of Indiana
sports we've had in a while. Like I was there with with the
IU football in 2020 and then it didn't, didn't hang on.
And then it was like, all right, Oladipo and the Pacers, like
we're going to be there. And then no, it's like, all
right, Woodson's going to turn around.
Like there's been these moments where it's like, all right now
we got trace Jackson Davis back. It's like we can't get, you
know, for me, it's the, you know, the the Colts, the Pacers
and then IU basketball football. Can we get that 4 headed
triumvirate go or quad umvirate going, but it's not there yet.
It's 4 headed. It's a.
Tetrarchy, yes, I think that's right.
Tetrarchy is fork. Let me let me look.
Tetrarchy. I'm this is this is great radio
Quad. Not I mean, quad is fork.
No, no, The the tetrarchy was established in ancient Rome.
This was Diocletian's effort to restructure the Roman Empire.
For those of you who are, for those of you who claim that
you're obsessed with the Roman Empire, if you don't know about
the Tetrarchy, I would submit you're a fraud.
That's fair. So but this was where you had
the 2 senior Caesars and you had the two junior Caesars and the
idea was we need a succession plan for each end of the empire.
And that worked until someone decided, you know what, I would
just like to retain power for myself, which is essentially how
the history of humanity has worked out across the board.
But that would be a four headed monster at the Tetrarchy.
OK. And that's kind of like what's
happening in College Football Playoff.
We're doing. We're doing that.
Kind of yes. I, I think that's, that's not
wrong. Certainly we're, we're actually,
you know what? It's funny you say that cause
the power 4 will likely turn into a power too.
It's very similar to what happened in the Roman Empire.
Hopefully that doesn't end with college football being invaded
by barbarian hordes, but you never know would.
That be like Arena. Football or something that would
be, I think that's like that's like the XFL would be the the
barbarian hordes at this. Point the last messages of Vince
McMahon coming in taking it over.
The enemy is the new commissioner of college.
The Attila the Hun of football, right?
Anyway, we're here to talk facers.
This is why we don't have never mind, this is the best.
I've had multiple people tell me like when you guys go off the
rails, that's the most fun and people probably also think it's
the worst. So exactly.
But anyway, Home Field Apparel is our presenting sponsor.
I'm sure they're thrilled to have that be a lead in, but I'm
going to show you all this. There until the hunset.
This is new Home field Apparel Dr. Yesterday this thing was
insane. If you can't see it, it says
it's May in Indy on on the shirt and it's got an IndyCar with
Boomer given the the the the high one in the cockpit.
Very kind of retro ish looking shirt.
This is awesome looking really celebrating not just the NBA
playoffs and the Pacers, but also, of course, the Indy 500.
This is only available in the Cambridge team store.
And I was there yesterday, Scott.
I was there for the Fever opening game and I I couldn't
find the shirt because I was on the wrong level.
I didn't realize they were only down on the lower level of the
team store. So when I go back to Gainbridge
soon, I'm going to have to pick this shirt up.
It's awesome. One of the many amazing things
on home field apparel.com that relate to both the Pacers and
they have a ton of Pacers and fever stuff, some great Fever
apparel. I did see that at the team
store, but there's. Other stuff like the 8585 All
Star game, stuff from Hope Field in the store.
It's awesome, yeah. As well as a ton of IndyCar
stuff. I don't know if you saw this,
this was a great thing yesterday, but apparently Potto
award. This is according to Jenna
Fryer. I'm going to call this tweet up
and and share it on the, on the, the, the the video here if
you're watching on YouTube, which you should be.
But the the tweet fans have been raving about the Indy 500 merch
from home field apparel and that includes Potto award who saw me
wearing one of the jackets as he came off the track.
So he had me take him to the merch tent while in his fire
suit, purchased the jacket, drew a crowd, signed merch in the
tent and posed for every fan who asked.
And you can see this incredible bomber jacket that they have
created for this new Indy 500 collection.
I mean, it's it's not Scott. I mean, I don't know that I
could pull it off Potto award can certainly pull it off.
But the thing he did, he did one thing wrong.
I'm pretty sure I'm not sure, but I'm I'm pretty sure he did
one thing wrong, which is he probably didn't use promo code
home 2320% off his first purchase.
I should have told Jenna like hold on baby, I got to use the
Crimson cast code home 23. Then that would have been the
ultimate home field purchase by Paddo award.
See he's close. We'll get him next time because
it's that's why he's close to the 500.
If he if he does that, he'll win one of these one.
Of these, we also know the home field is just going to drop
stuff constantly and it's going to be amazing.
This is another great example some great stuff wonderful
trucker hat in this mix, which I'm a big fan of a couple of
great T-shirts. There's a great checkered line
snapback hat, a couple of tanks. Some unfortunately some produce
stuff, but we'll we'll overlook that just because everyone has a
bad girlfriend in their past. Everybody looks fine, you know,
but that but my favorite I think is that heavyweight T the black
one, the Indian. I'm going to call this up.
I need to show the people this. This is a great shirt.
The hull field heavyweight Tees really are kind of the go to for
everything. They're so good.
But here we go that just that looks so classic like I'm not a
I've gotten to the point in my life as you can see me wearing
my Hoosiers connect. I'm insured.
I need simple patterns like you know, too many colors.
It I just I feel like I'm 16 and then sadly I'm just not anymore.
So I need something that says I am, I'm serious, yet I also am
fashionable. And that shirt, that black IMS
shirt with the with the wing wheel logo, absolutely perfect.
So anyway, home 23 is the code. Go to home field apparel, follow
them on socials and we appreciate their patronage and
their support always here on the back home network.
Also quick reminder, we're on YouTube.
Go to back home network on the YouTube channel, bang the
subscribe button, get notified every time we upload a new
podcast or when we go live. We've got YouTube Shorts that
we've been putting up little snippets of our of our our
videos and podcasts. We've got the entire roster of
big, big shows that come out every week or every month.
Assembly Call, Doing the Work, Dribble, Dr. X's and Joe's.
We're going to add more shows to the network coming up here over
the course of the next few months.
It's a great time to be a subscriber to the back home
network. You can also subscribe to
Crimson Cast specifically, just go to crimsoncast.substec.com
and it's free to subscribe. You also get a chance to support
the podcast financially, which we certainly appreciate.
Scott and you get VIP videos like Tony and I did a Pacers VIP
video this week. That's right right up Meridian
suddenly springs back to life literally right up Meridian as
Tony was driving to work. It was driving while we're doing
it. Yes.
So here's so I want to start this pod with this question to
you is kind of connecting racing and Pacers is 2 years ago you
and I were at a practice for IndyCar 500 and we we just
sitting there USB you and IBS in all kinds of different sports
and and you had AI don't remember all the the the talk,
but just kind of a 5 or 10 minute diatribe on the Pacers
like just things they've been wrong and things why you weren't
like super happy with where they're at or what they've done
over the past. And now we're at a point where I
know you're a little more exciting and it had two really
good seasons. We're doing a pod about it.
I'm very fired up everything you said.
I remember the time being like it.
It's all true, but it was just what?
What has changed in your mind over 2 years with this Pacers?
Do you think they're more on the right path or is it just some of
the moves they had made ended up working out?
Well, I no, I think so. I remember very well that that
conversation that we were having, I think that was May of
23 that that we were meeting and.
We could buy a new phone and you were 100% right about that.
I, I mean, I'm not always wrong, but keep in mind at that point,
like the Pacers had finished 35 and 47, They were tied for 11th
in the conference. They missed out on the play in
games somehow that year. And you know that team, go back
and think about how that team was constructed and, and who was
on the team and who their statistical leaders were.
Do you remember who the leading scorers on that team were?
That was the year they traded for Halliburton.
So I mean, like bonus still could have been up there.
It probably was so Turner or so Halliburton and Turner were
still the two leading scorers. But like the third and 4th
leading scorers on the team were Buddy Hield and Benedict
Mathrin. And, but this was like a very
embryonic looking team. You, you had a bunch of players
on that team who are still on the team now, but we're very
much in the embryonic stage of their careers.
And you know, my, my concern at that point with the Pacers and,
and how things were going with them was that they didn't, they,
they were kind of in that netherworld that we have seen a
lot of teams struggle to get out of.
And the Pacers really were in for most of the post Paul
George, Roy Hibbert era, which was not good enough to get
talent at a level that would be commensurate with competing on,
you know, at the at the top level of things, but also not
bad enough to get draft picks that you could use and you think
about at that point. Or not bad enough to not get the
draft pick in the lottery. Well, there you go.
Yeah. Get it.
But yeah, so again, at that point that we're having that
conversation at the end of the 2223 season, this was the
previous decade for that. OK, it's starting in 1415.
Missed the playoffs, lost in the first round, lost in the first
round, lost in the first round, lost in the first round, lost in
the first round, missed the the playoffs, missed the playoffs
that had been and and I'm sorry, missed the playoffs again.
So they had missed the playoffs 4 times, and they had lost in
the first round five times and the the.
There was also a lot of Lance Stephenson in those years as
well. Yeah, well, right.
And, and look, they had they, you had, you had Oladipo that
you, I mean that here's their leaders in wind shares during
that stretch, OK, George Hill, Paul George, Jeff Teague, Victor
Oladipo and then Demontis Sabonis 4 times.
And then that was the first year 2223 that Halliburton had led
them in wind shares, but it was one of their lower wind share
leader totals of that period. And so the reason I say all of
that is a lot of people have rightly been giving Kevin
Pritchard his flowers for how the Pacers have looked over the
course of the last two seasons. I would submit at this point
that the experiment has been successful and it took a long
time to get there. And it is certainly an argument
in favor of a long tailed developmental plan if you
believe in who you've got. And I think Sam Viceni on their
podcast, I think it was Sam Viceni on game theory was
talking about the Pacers and how impressed he was with, with
Pritchard and, and his assistant and, and how they had put this
team together. Because you know, what really
did solidify it was the Halliburton trade where, you
know, they get, they get Therese Halliburton and it's, you know,
it's one of those things as, as Viceni pointed out, that is
still a, an outgrowth of the Paul George trade, right?
And you know that the idea that they trade George, they get
Oladipo and Sabonis, and then Oladipo ends up getting traded.
And you know, all of these things lead to this situation
where they get Halliburton. And this is where, again, the
best GMs generally are able to continue to turn those trades
over and continue to get assets. And then you hit on one and they
clearly have hit on one with Therese Halliburton.
I don't know that it was necessarily really visible at
the time that they were going to be able to do that.
I'll I'll be the first to say, look, I should have, you know,
maybe I was wrong, but up to that point, I hadn't seen a ton
there that told me that that process was going to be
successful. I take my hat off to the Pacers
for making all these moves and doing so.
And again, this was something that was pointed out by by
Viceni despite not really hitting on their lottery picks.
You know, you look at what's going on in the series so far,
their top two highest drafted players are Ben Mathurin, who
has been a bit player in the Eastern Conference playoffs so
far, and Jairus Walker, who has barely even been a bit player.
Like, I mean, Thomas Bryant has had more of an effect on games
than Jairus Walker. So the fact they've done all
this with bits and pieces that have come from various other
parts of the NBA, whether it's, you know, whether it's me,
Smith, or whether it's TJ McConnell, who was picked up as
a free agent, it's really impressive.
They've cobbled together A-Team that's so interchangeable and
plays at such a consistently high level despite going 10
deep. But I don't know that it was
really readily apparent when you and I were standing in Gasoline
Alley in 2023. Agreed.
And I'm not, I'm not, I'm not picking on you.
I 'cause I, I was probably more positive in the fan perspective,
just like, yeah, but still like, yeah, but because I, I like
them. I was, I saw something and how
I'm not going to say I saw like, I just was like Halliburton's
interesting. Like I was excited for that.
But I, I was thinking about this question to me where things
changed even for me, where I'm like the Pacers are, because
everything you said at that time was, and it was, you know, your,
your point that I remember was just about, you know, we can't
get free agents. Like it's always going to be a
problem. Like your David West is probably
the best free agent. And they don't make trade.
You don't make big trades. The thing that changed was the
next season the Pacers went out and got Pascal Siakam, which is
really just an UN very UN Pacers like trade to go out and get one
of the top free agents. And that wasn't at the trade
deadline, but it was, you know, mid season trade, you know,
close to the deadline. That's something the Pacers just
haven't done in the past and they don't normally do.
And I will give Kevin Pritchard credit.
You go back and look at that trade and you start talking
about all of these trades where, you know, people are giving up
five 6-7 first round picks. You know, look at what the
Knicks gave up for Mikhail Bridges and he's playing well,
but they gave up a ton for Mikhail Bridges.
The Pacers gave up Bruce Brown, who's on an expiring contract.
He had one year left. It was a team option, so it was
expiring contract. You know, Kyron Lewis, Jordan
Noira, just two kind of not nothing, not nothing, but just
not impactful players. 2 first round picks from 2024.
So they're already got like that was that season.
They're already gone in a conditional 2026 first round
pick. That's it.
And they get Pascal Siakam, a guy who who wants to be here and
plays perfectly with with Halliburton.
So to me that was a that was a future piece that hadn't
happened yet. And that was just something the
Pacers hadn't normally done. And they did it in a very Pacers
way where they went out and got somebody that was really a
second All Star, didn't pay an All Star price and they still
have all their powder dry if they they happened to want to go
and do it again. So to me, that was a piece that
kind of changed it and it did solidify all the pieces around
it and everybody, you know, kind of grew up, grew up to what the
team is now. Yeah, no, I'm look, it's, it's
one of those things it was hard to say last like what was last
year for the Pacers because on the and it's kind of how I feel
about talking about IU football to some degree.
You can look at IU football season this year or just this
past season and say, wow, 11 and one in the regular season, best
regular season, you know, in in team history.
They make the College Football Playoff and then people come in
and say, yeah, but they played a really weak schedule.
And you know, the two best teams they played against, they ended
up losing by a pretty significant margin.
And you can't really debate those facts.
Last year's Pacers team, they they get some injury luck in the
play offs. You know, they face the Bucks
who are facing injuries. The Knicks are really injured.
And then they run into the Celtics and they get blown up in
the Eastern Conference final. Although those games were all
pretty close. This year they start off really
poor and you're like, well, maybe last year was a mirage.
And yet nothing about what's happened really since what,
mid-december or the end of December has been a mirage like
this has been consistently one of the most impressive teams.
Bill Simmons talks about them all the time, is like one of his
favorite teams in the league 'cause they have an identity,
they they know what they want to do and what is looked upon in
many cases is a weakness in the NBA.
Not having like a do it all superstar like a Jaylen Brunson
or a Jayson Tatum is actually a strength for this Pacers team
because of the way that their superstar and Tyrese Halliburton
fits within the larger perspective of things.
And you know, I'm I'm fascinated because it two things fascinate
me about this AI was trying to explain this to I was well, I
was talking to to Grace Ybarra, who's over in Saint Louis right
now, grew up in Indianapolis, Pacers fan.
But I was like, this is kind of how the 90s Pacers felt where,
you know, this was, you know, if you think about the way that all
of the the teams in the NBA at that time, they were all built
around like a bona fide superstar.
The Rockets were built around Hakeem Olajuwon.
The Magic were built around 2 superstars in Shaq and Penny.
The Knicks were like the one kind of exception, but they had
Patrick Ewing who was clearly a bona fide superstar.
The Bulls obviously had Jordan and Pippen.
The Pacers like their biggest superstar, was the most unusual
player at that caliber in the league.
And Reggie Miller. Like a shoot first, you know,
guard who had to run off screens and couldn't create his own
shot. Their second best player was
Rick Smits, who again, was like, you know, not be a Lajuan or
Ewing types. He was almost like almost
gazelle like in the way he wasn't a banger in the
traditional way, but he could score from a variety of
different ways. And then they had a bunch of
interchangeable parts. You know, whether it was Dale
Davis or Antonio Davis or Jalen Rose or, you know, Derek McKee,
any of those guys that made-up the core of that roster.
But they were a hard team for the NBA braintrust to get their
heads wrapped around because they just didn't work the same
way that the other teams that were at the top level in the NBA
during that time period worked. And that's really how this
Pacers team feels. You know, you've got
Halliburton, who's an unusual star.
You've got Miles Turner, who's been around forever, and you
know, he's kind of the one that fits the least within the team,
but he provides so much spacing that it makes the whole team
work. You've got Siakam, who really
only works if he doesn't have another big clogging the lane.
And then you've got all of these other pieces that can plug in.
And some of them have great nights and some of them don't.
But it adds up because they go so fast and they have this pace
that's really hard to keep up with.
So that's the first thing I'm really fascinated by.
It's like 25 years later, there's this duality to the way
the Pacers have created a contender that is very unusual
and feels very uniquely Indiana. It's a great comp I I completely
agree with you The the the one difference and we'll see what
happens with the the Thunder if the Pacers ever get that far.
The one difference is in that mid 90s to 2000 stretch.
The problem the Pacers always had is they were running into
generationally great teams. Like when they would have their,
it's like, oh, we're good. It's like, oh, no, we're going
to play a Knicks team that is like this is that their absolute
apex? And they're going to keep
beating us down. And then, you know, once all the
Knicks are fading off, oh, well, here's the second generation of
the Bulls with Jordan. So we're going to bump into
that. And then, hey, we finally, you
know, it was like, you know, the East used to be this thing where
it's like the, you know, the Celtics had to get through the
76ers and the Pistons had to get through the Celtics and then the
Bulls had to get the Pistons. And there was like, once you got
through the East, like, oh, we we get to the finals, we win a
title. It's like what happens to the
Pacers? Oh, we meet maybe the apex of
the Kobe Shaq Lakers and and take them to a pretty good
series. That's the thing that does feel
a little bit different here is I don't see that big boss team out
there. Maybe the Thunder will turn into
that. Maybe it is the the Nuggets, but
none of those have the feel of, you know, Jokic is really good
and he's maybe one of the best players.
He's not Jordan like he's just not running into a Michael
Jordan team. So we'll see.
And especially in the East, as you mentioned, it does feel like
we're we got to, you know, especially with Tatum down for a
year, the Bucks, who knows what's going to happen there.
It does feel like we might have a year or two where there's a
nice little soft window in the East that the Pacers can go
through. I think that's what is different
is it feels like the even when the Pacers were good in the mid
2000s, like, oh, there's LeBron, like there's LeBron and the
Cavs, we got to bump into them. It feels like we might be
cycling correctly where we're hitting a spot where there isn't
a generationally good team. Yeah, it's, it's really going to
be fascinating because you don't want to get ahead of yourself,
you know, because the Knicks are going to be a very, very hard
opponent for this Indiana team. And I think the people that are
saying, oh, you know, Pacers beat them last year like it,
this is a really fascinating series.
There's so many things that kind of that combine within it where
you don't know exactly like what's going to prevail.
We're going to talk about this more in depth here in a second,
but to get to your larger point first, I think it's fascinating
and really cool that right now we don't know what's going to
happen yet with game seven. We're recording this earlier in
the day, but Nuggets versus Thunder is coming up later.
If the Thunder beat the Nuggets, and I think that they probably
will tonight or this afternoon, I guess it is, you will have a
situation where of the four remaining teams, three of them
would have a chance to win their first ever NBA title and the
fourth would have a chance to win their first title in 52
years like that. It is it is fascinating to think
about your new. City right the Thunder like.
Well, right. I mean, I, I don't, I don't, I
don't think we can count the Sonic stuff.
I guess you could technically, but I do not consider that the
same franchise, even though they may.
They I don't, I don't even know if.
You're saying the Knicks? I'm sorry.
Yeah. Yeah.
The Knicks in 52 years. Right.
OK, I'm with you. I'm with you.
You know, so but but for the Thunder, obviously they've been
to the NBA Finals before. They didn't win the the
Timberwolves have never been the Pacers have been once and lost.
That was that Lakers series that you talked about.
And then the Knicks won the last time in 1973.
Now they've been they they went in 99.
They went, you know, in what, 94 or 95?
There's 94. That's right.
But but it's been like it. This is what you want.
This is what I've like. I I was talking the other day to
somebody and I was I legitimately was surprised to
say this, but the, you know, normally the NHL play offs, I
think far outpace the NBA play offs in drama and
competitiveness. I'd actually argue the NBA play
offs have been better this year like this.
This is felt a lot. And this is I, I, this is
something that I heard on, on the one of Simmons podcast,
minus the, the top echelon, like generational teams.
It's felt a lot like the 80s in terms of how close these playoff
series have been and how flawed all of these teams actually are.
And I include the Pacers in that.
Like the Pacers are not a perfect team.
They have these long stretches in almost every game where it's
like they forget how to play basketball, but they also have
these stretches where they are one of the most dynamic
offensive teams that you'll see in this era.
And I think all of these teams have both a significant number
of strengths. Obviously, the, you know, the
Timberwolves have Anthony Edwards, who looks like he's at
the beginning of the huge upswing and will be one of the
dominant superstars. You got the Thunder, who are
this fascinating amalgamation of top draft picks and, you know,
guys who, again, are at the beginning of the apex of their
careers. The Knicks are like, they look
like a classic NBA team. And they're coached by a coach
who clearly has not realized that it's not like 1996 yet, but
it's working for them. And and then, you know, so I'm
just the, the level of competition and the surprise
that we've seen the Celtics going out, the Lakers going out,
the, you know, all of these different things that have
happened so far. The Clippers losing in the first
round, the Nuggets firing their coach, what, 3 weeks before the
end of the season and somehow getting to the doorstep of the
Western Conference finals. This has been a legitimately fun
NBA playoffs. And that really is not always
the case with the NBA playoffs. No, I, I completely agree.
And then, you know, for as what I think is the Knicks just are
consuming all of the media in the NBA landscape that all the
talk of Knicks, Celtic said. Like I'm starting to hear people
pop up and like, oh, you know, hey, the Knicks and Pacers like
they've they've played a couple times.
Like, yes, the the Knicks number one playoff opponent in history
is the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers number one playoff
opponent in history is the Knicks.
This idea of like, oh, it's, it's it's like, remember this,
it's like, yes, this is the Knicks rival.
Like all the talk of Knicks Celtics, like they don't play in
the playoffs. It's happened two or three
times. Like the the rival is the Pacers
and they've had epic battles. They've had moments.
You know, I know the Knicks probably don't want to admit
their rivals, the Pacers because they're New York.
And so we got to be against Boston and Philly.
It's like, no, this is a great rivalry and it's happening
back-to-back years. Like this is something the only
thing that's frustrating to me as a, as a Pacers fan is
sometimes the and I get it, like it's the slight of Indiana, but
you have these, you know that the Pacers and Bucks is turning
into a great little rivalry. The Pacers Knicks is now going
to be the second salvo of this rivalry could be happening
again. It's like this is to me, what
the NBA should really be focusing on is some of these
burgeoning rivalries. And of course it's, you know,
Pacers centric. But I agree with you.
I I think there's some great storylines coming in here and I
think it's going to be a fascinating series against the
Knicks because, you know, the the thing with the Pacers is,
you know, some of the injuries are real injuries.
And so like Damian Lillard tearing his Achilles, that is
just it's not a freak injury for somebody who's coming back from,
you know, playing hard playoff minutes at 36, like things like
that hat 34. It happened.
But I, I've said this a couple different times, talked about it
on Tony with our, you know, VIP pod.
Part of what the Pacers do is they try to wear you down.
I'm not saying they're trying to get you injured, but you saw
what happened to Donovan Mitchell at the end of that Cav
series. They kind of funnel everything
to, all right, Donovan, you know, you're taking the ball,
you're taking the ball. We're going to pick you up 94
feet. We're going to pick you up here.
We're going to throw Ben Shepard.
We're going to keep throwing dudes at you and we're going to
wear you down. And you saw it happen with
Donovan Mitchell, where by the end of game five, he was just
tired. And I mean, he did tweak his
ankle. And I think part of that is just
being overused. And you saw it last year against
the Knicks. You know, some of them were
like, you know, Brunson broke his hand.
That's just a a different injury.
But a lot of the injuries that were happening with the Knicks
were based on over usage. That's partially because
Thibodeau plays 5 or 6 guys. But I think it's also the fact
that the Pacers go deep and they they wear you out and they make
certain guys do a massive amount of work and they're going to put
a ton on Brunson. And I'm not rooting for
injuries, but I'm just saying I think that is a strategy of the
Pacers is like, all right, we're going to wear Brunson down so we
get to games 5-6 and seven. He's not going to be at peak,
peak performance. And you know, you can say, oh,
every team does like the Celtics didn't.
The Celtics let Brunson walk the ball up.
They don't pick him up for defense until half court or a
little bit past. Pacers don't do that.
The Pacers are singularly unique in the way they pick everybody
up full court for the entire game in the playoffs.
And it's going to be fascinating with the Knicks.
I mean, the Knicks are going to have, if you want to, a lot of
it depends on how you want to define the best player in the
series. And if you wanted to find the
best player in the series as the player who can score the most
points and generate their own offense the most, they're going
to have it. I mean, they're going to.
They've got Jalen Brunson. But what is interesting is
they've got players who don't necessarily run up, want to run
up and down the floor all the time.
Like is Karl Anthony Towns really going to want to hustle
down the floor defensively on a regular basis?
That seems unlikely right now. You know, the other thing that's
really fascinating I think about the Pacers and Knicks is that
this is a this is a team with the Pacers now that has had to
play in a bunch of hostile environments.
And this is where last year becomes really helpful for them
in terms of the, the experiences that they had and how they are
going to be able to process those coming into this year.
So like last year, if you think about what happened in in those
playoffs, Pacers start off, they're the sixth seed.
They beat Milwaukee 4/2. And, you know, in that series,
they, you know, they, they had to win a couple of games
obviously at the Pfizer forum up in Milwaukee.
They win Game 2 up there. You know, they, they come back
and they, they, they finish finishing up in game bridge in
game six and then in the next round again.
Playing that real quick, just stop there and just just to hit
that point, you know, they didn't just lose their first
game. You know their first game at
Milwaukee, they lost one O 9 to 94.
They they kind of got their doors blown off.
They came back and won. They came back and won, you
know, won three in a row and they went back to Milwaukee UP31
and got their doors blown off again, 115 to 92 and then turned
right back around and one at home in Game 6.
So like I, I, I'll fit, I'll let you go.
But like that's they, they do a great job of shaking off some of
these games where they seem to not play great or play well.
But you know, it's they've had these losses or moments where
they could be broken. And I'll just sorry, quickly go
into the Knicks series. That first game was the game
where they lose 121 to 117. That's the game where they're
they're leading most of the way. They're playing them really
tough. They have a chance to win.
Miles Turner gets called for like a kind of a bogus moving
screen at the top. I think they had another player
like Nesmith had an open break, but they call it a a ticky tack
foul in the back. It's one of those where you
could be like, damn it, like we let a game slip away in Madison
Square Garden, Like there's no way we can win four or five
against the Knicks. And it it didn't sink their
series, sorry. Was that the game that Carlyle
got thrown out of? Yes.
And and I mean, look, and it didn't matter in the next game,
but they lost by 9, like you said.
But but no, it's it, it's also informative.
That series, Indiana, it was at 33.
Indiana won three at home. The Knicks won three at home and
they go into game seven in Madison Square Garden, which if
you listen to Knicks fans or NBA fans like that should be an
unwinnable thing. That should be like the Crucible
of hell. And, and yet, and yet they blew
them out. They shoot 67% from the field in
that game. And, and you can say, well,
Ananobi leaves early and Jalen Brunson breaks his hand.
But the reality is that's what we're talking about with the
conditioning and the pace. And it's like over seven games,
it's very hard to sustain, especially when you're the
Knicks and you go 5 1/2 deep basically, right.
And, and, and I would argue that this Pacers team is both better
defense. I don't know.
I argue it's it's statistically demonstrable.
They're better defensively and they have a better sense of who
they are as a team. And I think even though
Halliburton's shooting slightly worse this year from three than
he did in in the previous season, he's making I think a
better overall. He's doing better overall in
terms of being a floor leader. You know, he's like, it's
interesting, 'cause last year he ends up as an All Star, he ends
up averaging 20 points and and 10.9 assists a game.
His statistics are actually slightly worse than that.
He's averaging 18.6 points and 9.2 assists a game this year.
But where, where it's gotten better is that he doesn't have
to play quite as many minutes, even though he's he's playing
slightly more, but he doesn't have to.
He's doing a better job of facilitating it's and I think
Carlisle, as we saw, especially in that Cavs series, has really
been able to figure out how to essentially put the right guys
on the floor at the right times to take advantage of mismatches
and take advantage of situations where they feel like there's a
weakness they can exploit. Again, this is something that
they talked about on the Game Theory podcast.
But the Pacers like are like, they relish the opportunity to
go at you in mismatches that they're able to create.
And the nice thing is because most of the time they've got
four guys that can score at any one time on the floor, you're
almost always going to have a mismatch that you can go to
because not everybody's got that.
And you figure that Knicks team last year, you know, they had
Dante D Vincenzo, they they had the the guy who I'm forgetting
now, the the Hartenstein. You know, the I mean, it was a
different team. This Knicks team is very good.
But I do like the Pacers chances in this because of how deep they
go and the fact that for whatever reason, the Knicks just
decided to keep their starters in for a really long time in
that Celtics game six. You know that they get some rest
here, but the fact they had to play that extra game certainly
helps as well. No.
And that, and this is something the Pacers have done all year.
And what what's funny is, I mean, Halberton, there's so many
things that don't show up on the stat sheet, which I think is
where you get, you know, some of the overrated stuff.
It's just like, if you look at the numbers, it's like, man,
this guy's 12 points in a game. It's like, well, he did a lot of
things, a lot of hockey assists. He moves the ball.
What I've found so interesting with this Pacers team over the
last couple years is it's just so unique that you have a backup
point guard in TJ McConnell who I would argue pushes the ball
faster. Like you, you normally it's
like, all right, well, Halliburton's out now we're
going to get a reprieve either team.
It's like, Oh no, you're getting TJ McConnell, who's actually
going to get to his spots quicker and get into the paint
even faster and drive, you know, play at a completely different
pace. I think you have that.
The other thing that was just totally, you know, apparent in
that Cav series was in game three.
I was at both Game 3 and 4. In game 3, the Cavs come out and
they go to a three two zone with I think Mobley in front and and
Jared Allen in back of the three two.
And it's like, Oh my God, the Pacers weren't quite sure what
to do. They looked a little flummoxed
and it's like you got 27 footers who are both super agile, great
defensively, like how are you going to score against the zone?
And they didn't. They lost 126 to one O 4.
It's like, Oh my God, the Cavs figured something out and the
Cavs just came back. It's like aren't running the
same 32 zone. And the next game the Pacers
just destroyed the Cavs. And obviously Carlisle was like,
OK, we're going to go figure this out.
And we're going to have, you know, they had six different
options of Siakam, the middle Nesmith, the middle Nesmith, the
side like. And it's like almost like the
Pacers like, oh, we figured it out like and you guys don't have
another move. This is great.
We're just going to carve you up.
And I think it goes to show, you know, very underrated Rick
Carlisle as a coach. He's been around forever.
If the Nuggets. Well, actually, no, right now,
even if no matter who wins the Nuggets Thunder game, he'll be
the only coach with a title under his belt.
Not saying that is an end all be all, but this is somebody who's
been there who's done that. And he has shown over and over
again. It's like, all right, when moves
need to be made, he can make moves in in adjustments in the
series. And that's something looking to
this next series. You know, Thibodeau kind of
coaches his way. You know, Carlisle, you look
back, he was a defensive guy. Now he's an offensive.
I mean, he's he changes to the style of the team.
He changes game to game how they attack things.
You know, Thibodeau plays five guys and really doesn't change
the way he does stuff in a series.
So I like the adjustments the Pacers could make throughout the
series against the Knicks as well.
But I just think this series again is showing what a great
coach Carlisle is. Yeah, it's, it's one of those
situations where you're I don't have any idea what happens in
this series. I don't think anybody really
does. Because I could make an argument
for either of these teams to win in five, correct?
And I could also make an argument for the series to go 7.
And I understand Pacers fans feeling confident because of how
well they played. And you know, you can say, oh,
well, people were injured in the in the Cavs series.
But I mean, they they beat the Cavs in five, right?
They saw all of the players at various times.
And then, I mean, game one, Garland wasn't out there, but
everybody else was. And I still have questions about
how injured Donovan Mitchell actually was in that last game
That that that felt a little Chris Duhan Ish from back in the
in the mid 2000s with Duke. But the flip side is I
understand why Knicks fans would feel confident because you know,
you're going to have the best player in the series.
You're going to have the OR at least the the player who's able
to manufacture their points the best.
You got 220 almost 25 point per game scores in him and and
Towns, you know, OJ Ananobi has played great all season,
although hasn't really played that great in the play offs.
I think you could make an argument and I think if you were
just looking at the one through fives, you would be like, well,
clearly the Knicks are the better team and if they don't
get injured, I like I wouldn't be shocked if the Knicks came
out and won sizably in game one. But as you saw last year, this
Pacers team isn't likely to be too tremendously bothered by
something like that happening. It's, it's a really, I'm, I'm
excited for this like I, I am too.
The, the thing that I think is also in the Pacers favor is,
and, and this might end up being nothing, but I, I felt it in the
Cavs series. You know, when, when they got to
Game 5, the Cavs got up by 19. I'm just sitting there with my
son being like, all the Pacers have to do is get it close and
then all the pressure is going to go on to Cleveland.
Because then suddenly it's like if the Pacers can get it close,
if they can get a lead, and then suddenly the the Cavs fans and
you saw it. They were just like, Oh my God,
we're going to be in the one seed.
We're going to lose in five games like this cannot happen.
And they they get tight. And then you got Struce, you
know, missing shots like that. You saw the team just tighten
up. And I was like, you know, but if
you if you leave, let them stay up by 18, like obviously they're
just going to play free and free and easy.
I think you could have something similar here with the Knicks
where New York is is going bananas.
You think they've already won three titles with this, like
they are going wild. MSG is going to be crazy.
But I think it could be the same thing kind of like you had with
you Boston and the Red Sox in the early to late 90s in the
early 2000s, where if you just, if you can win a game in MSG,
you know, you, let's just, you know, Dreamcast this, you win a
game one and then you just keep game two close.
You know, that that fan base is it all that excitement is going
to turn to to pent up nervousness real quick.
And, you know, could, could that team get a little bit nervous?
Because don't forget, you know, none of these Knicks players
have been to an Eastern Conference finals.
The Pacers have they didn't win a game, but they played better.
You know, they, this team is as seasoned with playoff experience
as any other team in the playoffs outside of the Nuggets
on the other side. So I, I do I think that all of
that excitement in New York. Could almost go against them if
you're able to put them in a spot where they can see it
slipping out of their fingers. Whereas obviously Indiana would
be bummed if we lost 2, but I don't.
I don't feel the same. Sort of like, Oh my God, we have
to win this series out of the Pacers that I do out of New York
and the Knicks. And it's ironic because I, you
know, it was funny. First of all, if you look at the
ESPN projections, like all of their experts projecting Pacers,
Cavs, everybody picked the Cavs and projecting Knicks, Celtics,
everybody picked the Knicks. I don't think we've seen the
projections on this one yet. It is interesting.
Like we've heard a couple people say, oh, the Pacers are going
to, you know, to smash the Knicks.
Of course, those have generally been Boston people who are just
saying you could piss off Knicks fans.
But I am, I am legitimately curious.
I mean, we know MESPN has been so transparently pro Knicks in
their coverage to the players. Like then we'll sort of walk
into Stephen A Smith. It's like, oh, is Stephen A
Smith on the roster? I forgot such absolute
ridiculousness by ESPN across the board on this.
But I am curious. You know what I don't not that
it matters, but I am curious like what the pundit class ends
up looking at with this series and how they try to filter it.
I, I'm, I'm guessing 75% will pick the Knicks to win this
series and they'll default back to, well, the Knicks have no
homecourt advantage Despite that not really mattering last year.
So again, I just think this is fun.
This. Is great.
This is I agree. The, the other thing that I've
caught myself saying, so I, I like, let me finish my sentence
because I've caught myself many times and I've been like, the,
the thing that I'm nervous about is, you know, the NBA that just,
you had a great tweet about how I even when they're not like
rigging things, it's like they, they look like they're always
rigging stuff with the lottery. I, I inherently keep saying
like, man, it's just the NBA is going to want the Knicks to win
this series like a game seven in MSG.
Like I just don't know how you win that.
But then I'm like the two thoughts like, Hey, we did it
last year so it can be done. But B, it's like if if the NBA
really wanted the Knicks to win the title, like they maybe would
have won more than one title in the last 50 years.
Like I think about that often because I go back and I think
about the I used to be a big adherent to that idea in the
90s. And you know, that was, I mean,
because it was at the same time the Yankees had re ascended and
you know, and it just kind of felt like we were just being
bombarded with New York teams constantly.
But look, realistically speaking, if you look at what's
gone on with the NBA over the course of the last several
years, I, I don't know how you could make a legitimate argument
that all of this stuff is getting fixed and that that
hurts because I really enjoy the idea that, you know, this is all
being written like wrestling. But, but realistically it's not.
And you, you like the, the Toronto Raptors are not winning
a title in an era where we're scripting this stuff out, right.
And, and again, last year, you have Nick's Game 7, even with
the injuries, like, you know, you, you're not screwing all of
those. You're not, you're not screwing
everybody to the degree where you're letting them go through.
They're losing that game at home.
And so I, I'm with you 100%. I think it's fascinating that
what we've seen over the course of time is a bunch of
questionable calls that you go back and you're still looking at
20-30 years later. And so I was like, how the hell
did that happen? And yet it happens so often that
it's just kind of part of the landscape.
And it's not a we're just going to move this team forward and
head ahead of another team because again, I don't think
you're seeing the the, the Bucks or the Raptors or, you know,
some of these other teams that have won titles like get to
where they've gotten to, if that's actually the case.
I, I want to go back to something you said about the the
90s Pacers similarities to this team.
The other similarity there and this is, you know, Reggie Miller
was a singularly unique player in the NBA and he loved to go
into. I saw go go find it on Twitter
somewhere. It's like someone's on he's on T
and someone's asking like, are you a little nervous going back
to MSG and he's like, no man, why I own this house like I own
this town like I own the Knicks like this is my house.
I don't know what like they should be worried about coming
into my house like he's still talking smack.
But so I'm, I'm but, but there is some similarities here where
and again, Halliburton, we need to continue seeing it.
But you you can't take a away the fact that he was injured
last season, he got injured, I'm not sure he ever fully got
right. You know, he went to the
Olympics. He he never, I don't think he
fully got healthy until the middle of this year, which is
when the Pacers took off, which is also when Nee Smith and
Nemhardt came back. They were not playing the 1st 20
games, which really affected the defense.
I'm still not sure Halliburton's 100.
I mean, no one's 100% healthy at this point, but I still think
there's another level when he has a full offseason.
All of that said, you're seeing it in this playoffs.
He he's taking that, you know, overrated thing.
And that is definitely fueling him.
But he, as best you can tell, enjoys playing in opposing
arenas. I mean, that that game against
Cleveland, they're up, you know, they're down 19 in Cleveland.
The place is going nuts. And the commentators can't stop
talking about, oh, this is so loud.
It's such a great environment. And then Halliburton's like,
hold my beer. Like I'm just going to hit a
couple threes. You know, game two, he he does
the I got the rebound, I'm going to go back and I'm cutting your
throat out. Like I'm taking the kill shot.
And then, you know, I'm going to monkey knuckles down on the
core. Like I'm going to do all that.
Like he likes to as Reggie Miller's book.
I love being the enemy. There's a part of Halliburton
where he likes this. And so I think he likes playing
on the road. I think he likes the booze he
likes getting, you know, he likes that.
I think this team isn't scared of you.
Look at guys like Aaron Nesmith. I don't think he's going to be
thrown off by MSG. He seems like just a mania.
Even as kind of mild mannered as Miles Turner is, he never seems
to be shook. And so that that is one thing I
think is going in the Pacers favor.
On the flip side, I don't think the Knicks are going to be shook
here. So I think it is going to be a
really good series. But I think that is something
that we have in our advantage is I really think this team rallies
being in those hostile environments.
And I think it's important to keep in mind that these two
teams were essentially dead even in the regular season, like a.
Two game difference. One game, it was 50.
The Knicks finished 51 and 31. The Pacers finished 50 and 32.
Brunson was out for a while towards the end of the season.
The Pacers made-up a bunch of ground, you know, but that was
it's the difference. It's it probably worked out for
the best for everybody because I think I, I think the Pacers were
uniquely suited to beat the Cavs this year.
And I think that the the Knicks kind of got a bit lucky with the
Tatum injury, but they were playing the Celtics a lot closer
than people thought that they would.
But both of these teams, you know, the Pacers have been, you
know, the Knicks have been slightly better in both
offensive and defensive efficiency.
What's been interesting, if you look at like the last five
games, the Pacers have been slightly better defensively than
the Knicks have against each or against their competition.
Does that carry over into the series?
I think a lot of it is going to depend on, you know, can the
Pacers play good enough defense and play at a fast enough pace
offensively that it starts to wear the Knicks out?
It really does seem to come down to that.
And then are there any other major injuries?
Do we see anything happen? You know, and, and can you
actually get, I mean, if you look at what the Knicks have
done over the course of the of the season, their top five
players all averaged 35 minutes or more per game and in the
playoffs. And Anobi's averaging 40 minutes
a game. Bridges is averaging 40 minutes
a game, Brunson 39 minutes a game, Hart 37 minutes a game and
Karl Anthony Town's 36 minutes a game.
You, you know, you drop down to Miles McBride and Mitchell
Robinson, they're both averaging about 19 minutes a game.
That is, I don't know how sustainable that is.
And I I think you would be looking at that as a problem
with anybody that the Knicks would be playing this playoffs
in the Eastern Conference finals, but especially against
the Pacers team. Where in the playoffs there, you
know, would you like to get? So Tyrese Halliburton is leading
them in minutes. Do you know how many minutes
he's averaging per game? Under.
Under all of the ones for the Knicks.
I mean probably like 32. He's averaging 34.
Nemhard's averaging 33, Siakam 32, Turner 31, Kneesmith 29,
close to 30. But then they've got four guys,
basically five guys. If you throw in really six guys,
if you throw in Thomas Bryant and Jairus Walker who round up
to 10 minutes a game, you know, they have really gotten the very
balanced load despite having the same guys starting each game.
So it's just, again, it's going to be really fascinating to see
which prevails. And it's, I think last thing,
going back to that 90s example that we started with, back then,
if you had the best player in the series, you were going to
win the series as long as you had at least somewhat requisite
talent in the other spots. I don't know if we're in that
NBA right now, Scott, because so much of it is about efficiency
and so much of it is about if you're going 6-7 games in a
series, you know, what can you do over the full extent of that?
So I don't know if it locks up right now within the confines of
what we would have expected in the 90s or whether this Pacers
team is just built for this particular era where you can
stretch the roster down two or three additional spots and that
gives you the advantage over a six or seven game period of
time. Yeah, I I mean, and that's the
thing with the Knicks is if one of those guys gets tired or just
can't play those minutes, the Knicks really drop off in my
mind. And when you get down to six,
7-8 in minutes for the playoffs, you're talking about Miles
McBride, Mitchell Robinson, who like can't play offense.
And then you're into Cameron Payne and Precious a Chua
territory and you get down with the Pacers.
You know, when you you're talking Benedict Mathur and TJ
McConnell, Obi Toppin. I mean, Obi Toppin's a guy who's
averaged 20 and can score 20 and 10 in a playoff game.
We've seen him do it and he's very effective.
He's also, I mean, he's not a starter for a reason.
I just think that the Pacers are better in that spot.
Here's the question I have for you that's been rattling around
my brain is, are are you concerned?
The Pacers were on a roll and they were playing well, getting
some time off helps, but the Pacers really weren't injured.
Are are you worried about that, this lengthy amount of time off?
I mean, almost over a week. They they finished their last
game on Tuesday. They won't play again until
Wednesday and then it's every other game.
Are you concerned? And it's it's almost a little
bit unfair. It's like, 'cause the Knicks
also get some time off to get rested, but not enough to lose
any momentum. Are are you just nervous about
the Pacers losing some of that mojo they've had basically since
the All Star? Break No, I'm not in as much as
I do think that whether or not we know about any top level
like, you know, really bad injuries, people get dinged up
in these. We saw a couple of those.
I, I like the break for two reasons.
For the Pacers 1, I don't know that any amount of rest for the
Knicks is going to be enough to compensate for the way that
Thibodeau plays them if he's going to be an issue, right?
And so I do think that in terms of the the way it impacts
things, it's a wash. Like, it it like, would it have
been better? It certainly would have been
better if the Knicks had been forced to a seventh game and had
even less rest. But I think that that dissipates
after a while. But I think the pace that the
Pacers play at and the confidence they get from saying,
hey, we just we everybody picked us to lose to the Cavs and we
just beat the Cavs in five. I don't know that that's ever
going to be a bad thing from a mentality perspective,
particularly if, as I would expect, the Knicks are a betting
favorite in this series. But the other thing I'll say is
that you mentioned Rick Carlisle and you mentioned the way that
the the teams are, you know, the the the way that he's managed to
overcome issues with matchups and whatnot.
I love the fact that he gets extra time to scout and evaluate
this Knicks team. They go back and look at the
games that they played against him in the regular season and
look at the way they're playing so far in the playoffs.
Like the fact that he gets all this additional time to figure
out the best way to attack the Knicks, I think is probably
about as good of a thing as you could have.
Because you know, any, any adjustments that you make early
on that the Knicks have to adjust to, I think it's going to
be harder for them because they have fewer pieces to adjust
with. And that's so I, you know, look,
I you're right in that the Pacers had kind of a built in
advantage there. But I don't think they lose that
much of it by the situation of, you know, not going in right
away and, and, you know, playing the Knicks right after they
finished the previous series. I will also say I was looking it
up, you know, Carlisle, what I also think is interesting, you
know, you're talking the the connection to the 90s.
I look at Carlisle's championship year with the 2011
was yeah, 11 Mavericks. That was a team that wasn't, you
know, that was a team that was done like Berk Socks, like he,
he's not a real, you know, Realplayer.
They have a tough first round series.
They beat the Lakers in four and they played their last game May
8th. They start the Western
Conference final May 17th. So they that season they also
had like 9 games off and they went into Oklahoma.
They played home that series. They beat Oklahoma City in that
first game, won that game. And then, you know, then they
played the Heat where they were just like, wow, this is Lebron's
title. Like this is the LeBron team and
then he coaches that team to a win.
It's it's not a perfect parallel, but it is interesting.
They had a long break between second round in the Western
Conference finals. So again, Carlisle has been here
and Carlisle has had you know, that I I like that that the team
that he won a title with is similar to the Pacers in that
that that Mavs team was basically written off.
And I don't remember the betting lines for the Mavs versus the
Thunder that year, but I definitely remember Mavs Heat.
It was like, all right, well, this is Lebron's title run.
Like cannot wait to see this. And again, if an NBA team, NBA
ever wanted A-Team to win, it would have been that heat team.
So I mean, Carlisle's been in this position where he has the
team that basically is the forgotten team in the landscape
and the one that is the underdog throughout the playoffs last.
Thing on a podcast. So we do have the Eastern
Conference futures like you know, the betting lines.
Have you seen this yet? So what would you guess in in
terms of betting who the favorite is and what their line
is? For for this season or for next?
Like for for right now, for like going into the Eastern
Conference playoffs. So what's the money line for the
Knicks to win the series versus the Pacers to win the series is
what I'm asking you. Oh.
OK, I mean, the the Pacers are probably, I mean they're an
underdog. They're probably like a + 220
and the Knicks are like a -140. OK, so the Knicks are -160 OK,
the Pacers are plus 135. OK.
So this is a pretty even series. I mean, I think going into the
last series, I think the Cavs were like -500 you know, so
basically, you know, they were a 5 to one favorite to win or what
a one to five favorite. So it's interesting because if
you look at the Western Conference, the Thunder are -150
and we, we'll see what happens. If it's the Timberwolves, I
think the Timberwolves climb a little bit and probably are
somewhat in a similar territory. But Vegas is looking at this.
As a really even series that slightly favors the Knicks, but
not overwhelmingly, which I am a little bit surprised by.
Well, and I would even say that's even more of a pick them
because you know, most of the time Vegas line is it is pretty
good, but you also have to remember Vegas is trying to get
money on both sides and Knicks are a public team.
So you're going to like for it to be that close.
Really tells me that it's probably more of a pick em
because they have to inflate the Knicks line because they're
going to get way more money on the Knicks side of the Ledger.
It's a great point. Also interesting Eastern
Conference Finals MVP futures. Would you like to guess the top
three? All right, it's Brunson is 1 and
2. They give them both spots.
They give them 1/2. No, Brunson won.
What? What would you guess the money
line on Brunson to win the Eastern Conference Final MVP is
like? Plus 110.
I mean it's probably as close to even as maybe.
Is it even negative? That'd be insane.
It's -140 that's nice, but again, it's AI think it's the
public team thing, right? It's.
The the second one is either going to be towns or bridges and
it's going to be a nick. I would, I would probably say
bridges just 'cause I'm not sure there's a lot of confidence in
towns. It's probably maybe towns one of
those two. It's actually Halliburton, OK
Burton is plus 150 for Easter Conference Finals MVP.
So who's your guest for #3 Towns.
Towns is 4th at Bridges plus 950.
Bridges is not in the top five, so who is third?
Sorry, Pascal Siakam is plus 850 and 5th in the betting order
right now. Is is I want to guess it's the
way you're saying it might be a pacer.
Is it like Nesmith or Nemhard? Nemhard.
All right, now, Now, to be fair, Nemhard and the Nobi Nemhard's
at +6000. And then it goes Ananobi Turner
and Bridges at plus 6500. And then Josh Hart is at +9 or,
excuse me, 65. Yeah, 6500.
And then Josh Hart is at +9000. So again, I, I find all of these
fascinating. Like this really does equate to
a very even series in the eyes of of Vegas and the, and the
books, which they're the ones that are looking at this
analytically and saying, well, we, we got to be careful how we
set this because we don't because it's funny.
There was a great article in Sports Business Journal.
Most of the sports books have taken an absolute bath on sports
betting this year because of the NCAA tournament, because
everybody bet on the favorites and the favorites won.
Like, you know, Florida was the number two betted on team in
that playoffs and they of course won the title.
That hurts the books significantly.
I think they're down like 4 or 5%.
Overall, and so they're being very careful about how they do
most of these series moving forward.
I just thought that was interesting.
So I have a couple final questions for you.
Are you we talked about this. We we are we'll do our race
preview later this week. I'm I'm still on the fence.
I have tickets to game three. Do I do the double?
Are you going to do the double? I'm doing the double.
I I I'm leaning toward doing it just because I I've not done it
before. I didn't have tickets.
And was it 2013 the last time it happened?
I, I think I'm actually going to go to the race.
We're going to come back here. Well, because I, I don't know
about navigating from the 500 to to game bridge, but I also like
we have, we have kids. I'm going to grab my son, get
rid of the babysitter and like not get rid like let our
babysitter to. Do their job.
By the way, we should do a live podcast that night because I you
talk about loopy Scott, I will be saying stuff that doesn't
even make sense and that I'm like, I want to try and do it.
I mean, because the only thing that makes me nervous is
normally after the 500 I come home, like I'll rewatch the race
and by lap 7, I'm asleep on the couch.
I'm just going to probably just Chuck Red Bull.
I was going to. Say we need to get Scott like a,
you know, a A4 Loko sponsorship or something.
We got to have a, is there like an oxygen chamber that we could
go to in downtown Indy? Is there some kind of
revitalization things? They're like, I I'm going to try
like 6:00, you know, just like something to, to get it, get
yourself. I'm going to try.
The double, I'm going to come back and get my son and I think
we're going to go to the game. That's amazing.
Well, I'm for you. That's the plan.
I'm still working out the details, but that's the plan at
this point. And I here's the thing.
It it is such a cool and it as you mentioned, it's happened
before, but it's just such a cool thing and it's so uniquely
Indianapolis, right? And I especially this year
because it just feels like a special year for the Pacers and
and the way that the playoffs have fallen and everything.
And I'm not, that's not me predicting A Pacers win
necessarily, but it just there's a vibe.
And I'll say this like I, I was only reinforced with this when
when I went to Gainbridge yesterday for the Fever, opening
day sold out. There are a couple of empty
seats sprinkled about. But you know, I bought tickets
kind of at the last second. These are upper level, like
section 228, row 14. Paid $42.00 a ticket for the
Fever and and it was a it was a great atmosphere.
It really was like the IT was, it was exciting throughout the
team. The.
Pacers were there. I love the Pacers fever.
Like they're they're like supporting each other.
But the vibe, yeah, I went to game six in the Bucks series and
that was exciting. And the, the vibe around the
Cavs games, you were there for both of those was really
awesome. I, I didn't get a chance to go
to, to those, but between that and just the, the vibe that's
always there for the five hundreds, it looks like it's
going to be just a tremendous weather day on on Sunday.
I think that the projected high right now is 71° with partly
cloudy skies, which if you were to write in stone like this will
be the weather for the 500. That would be it.
It's just like just warming off, just warm enough that you're not
like, freezing in the stands, but the track's cool enough that
there's grip on the tires. And, you know, like, that's
that's the dream. So it just feels like it's
coming together. Yeah, you know, in in a certain
way. And I'm excited to be a part of
that, even if it's going to be just an endurance race.
This is like the ultra marathon of Indiana sports.
Yeah, yeah, coming home might be the wrong move, but it's like I
can pop in a quick shower. I can normally get home by like
530 after the race, so if I get home by 6, take a shower, it's
like if I leave here by 7:00 I'm going to get to game bridge by
8. See in the Super secret parking
that I do that I don't tell anybody about and will not tell
on this podcast. Well same.
I have my own separate super secret parking on my way out.
I have an exit strategy that always drops me near downtown
Indy within 30 minutes of leaving the track with no real
problems at all, which is inconceivable when you think
about how hard it is to get like the you're not driving out on
30th St. you're not driving out on 16th St.
Like you, you, there's real problems most places.
But if you know how to get out of there, if you know what
you're doing, I think it's not only doable, but you know, if
the race, when's the race start? Noon.
Yeah, 1245, I think his first. 12:45 I've lost last year,
completely screwed up my interpretation of when the race
starts. But but you know, if the race
runs a normal length, if there's no weather issues, I think you
could get downtown a solid 2 hours before the game starts and
and have time to eat and have time to revitalize.
And that's what I'm aiming at. So awesome.
Let's do it. Let's do the double.
All right, we'll, we'll be back later on this week.
Give me. Your prediction, yeah, like I
know it's it's the dumbest, always the most cliche question,
but I I see it. I'm just going to be very
positive. I I could see it going both
ways, but I'll I'll just for fun pick Pacers and six.
I know we talked about it. I have a hard time seeing them
winning Game 7 again. That would be an epic place to
to look at. But I think Pacers in six would
be awesome. I'll take Pacers in six as well.
And, and you know, if you're a Knicks fan and you're like, no
way your Pacers are going to get swept, fine, whatever.
I, I, I again, as we said in the podcast, you could justify
almost any result in this particular series.
And that's what I find that these are the things that I
love. And it's I, I, I said this, I
didn't say it on the podcast, I don't think a couple of weeks
ago. But coming out of that game six
against Milwaukee, what made that such a remarkable thing was
it was something I'd never seen before in person in sports.
And you know, to me, the what I love about series like this is
that they are the they act as a generation point for stuff that
you've never seen before in sports or experiences where
you're like, this is unique. This is cool.
And I wouldn't be shocked if it went one way or the other way.
Like I wouldn't be shocked if the Knicks won in five.
I wouldn't be shocked if the Pacers won in in four.
Like I could see that happening. It's it's not unheard of one way
or the other. It just seems like this is going
to be a very close series against two very good teams.
And I think fans of either team who are writing off their
opposition are missing out on just really enjoying the process
and seeing how things go. I've always felt like the best
way to enjoy sports is not by underrating your opponent, but
by properly rating your opponent.
And that often times is hard for fans to do of either team.
Yeah. So, so those.
There you go. Shockingly, Scott and I both
picked the Pacers in the series. Who?
Who would have guessed that? But.
I'm sure all the Knicks fans are listening.
You're bummed the the. Yeah, that's just there's a ton
of them. You know, Matt Blask is
listening. We know.
And Matt Velask, a big Knicks fan.
But we'll see what happens. It's gonna be and the other the
other last reason to do the double is especially for me as a
season ticket holder is the get in price for MSG.
It's going to be cheaper for them to fly here and go to go to
game Bros and go to an MSG game. And last year against the
Knicks, there was a lot of Knicks fans in the house.
And so you can't put your tickets on StubHub because they
will be bought up by New York fans.
So that's another reason to go is to defend the house.
Yep, you got it. That's it's important and.
Don't don't give in to the cheap buck.
If you're a Pacers fan like you got to, you got to stand on
principle. Keep that in mind, folks.
Anyway, we'll we'll be back with more.
We got Indy 5. 100 covers later on in this week.
IU football recruiting news coming up later this week.
Got a special guest on that we got IU portal recap with Taylor
Layman hopefully this week. A bunch of fun stuff coming up.
We really appreciate you folks listening in for Scott.
I'm Galen. This is Crimson cast on the back
home network. We will be here throughout the
course of May and June. Some fun stuff coming up that
we're planning with. You folks are along for the ride
thanks to our presenting sponsor, Home Field Apparel.
Catch you folks. On the flip side, stay never
daunted. Bring back the Bison.
So long, everybody.