Halford & Brough in the Morning - This Podcast Has A Three Star Michelin Rating

Episode Date: June 4, 2026

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they look ahead to Manny Malhotra's introductory press conference later today, as well as what the Canucks are up to at the NHL Draft Combine (3:00), plus the boys discuss the results from game one of the NBA Finals (27:00). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to Halford and Brough. Underneath, puts it up, puts it in. Jalen Branson does it again. It's a six-point lead with 37 seconds left. Six and four. Sixth and four. We've been done in a series before, never in the finals, obviously. But I'm not kicking myself about anything, really.

I mean, I'm not worried the slightest. All right. What? Didn't you hear what he did? Good morning, Vancouver. 601 on a Thursday. Good poll. Happy Thursday, everybody. It is Halford and his Brough. It is Sportsnet, 650.

We are coming to you live from the Kintech Studios and beautiful Mount Pleasant in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adda, good morning to you. Good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Brough for the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates.

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online today. Okay, we got a big show ahead. We will begin with our morning guest list. It's the Duick Morning Drive brought to by the Duick Auto Group. It begins at 7 o'clock this morning. That's right. First hour, all uninterrupted Halbro. First guest goes at 7. It's Adnan Verk from MLB Network. So after winning 8 of 10, Laddie, the Js have now lost four in a row. We got some audio. Things are getting a little spicy in Toronto. Meanwhile, they're getting healthier. They're getting healthier. They sure are, but they're not winning. It's still good. It's still good.

Meanwhile, meanwhile, the Mariners had their eight game win streak snapped last night with loss to the Mets. So we got a lot to get into all that and more with Adnan at 7 o'clock this morning. 7.30 James Myrtle's going to join us. Senior writer from the athletic, he's going to join us live from Carolina,

the site of this year, Stanley Cup final. Game two goes tonight. Golden Knights hold a one game's 10-on series lead. We're also going to talk to James about his recent piece, profiling Cain's owner, Tom Dundon. Very interesting piece, not just because of, you know, the fact that Dundon's very much in the news right now with his ownership with the Portland Trailblazers,

but he's not doing a lot of media, if any media at all right now. As a matter of fact, James classified it as a rare recent instance of him granting an interview request. I think it's hard to get a hold of Dundon because of all the scrutiny he's under right now. So James got that access, wrote a very cool article for The Athletic. We're going to talk to him about it at 730. 8 o'clock Thomas Dran's going to join the program from Kudak's Talk and the Athletic. Today at 11 a.m. So five hours from now, Mani Malhotra will meet with the media where he will be formally,

officially introduced as the 23rd head coach in franchise history. Drans wrote about the Malhotra hire and a whole lot more at his latest Caducs notebook, which dropped last night on the athletic. So big Kinnock's talk with Drans coming up at 8 o'clock this morning. And then a reminder, three hours later, Mani meets with the media at 11 o'clock. Trance is in Buffalo right now, right? That's right. He is in Buffalo.

Now, did Drans get a dinner date with the Canucks? That's going to be something that we talk about and what happened. I'd highly doubt it, but we'll wait and see. Okay, so there's the guest list. We got a lot to get into in the program. So without further ado, Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No.

What happened? I missed all the action because I was. We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Missed it? You missed that? What happened? Why don't we begin with the Vancouver Canucks and the NHL scouting conference?

Combine in Buffalo. All the stars are there. Thomas Drance, others. The Canucks have apparently lined up a handful of dinner dates. Ooh, dinner dates in Buffalo. You know what I wonder about with all these dinners? What's that? Where are they going?

So, Jason and I have been to Buffalo a few times. Arby's. Possibly. I've been many times. You've been to Buffalo or Arby's? Both. Been to Arby's in Buffalo. We went to one.

nice restaurant. I mean, nice is doing a lot of heavy lifting there, but it was okay, right? Do you remember that one? My wife got food poisoning. Do you remember that one? Do you remember the Buffalo? The Italian restaurant Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, that's what it was called, the Italian restaurant. It was the one in town. Just said

Italian restaurant. It was called Buffalo's Italian restaurant. Yeah, and on the menu, it just had the words Italian food. You just pointed to it, and then they brought you stuff. No. So, like, don't worry, we still have wings. I'm, you know what, yeah, I'm going to, I'm going to not dive any deeper into the story, because there's no way I can tell the story without coming off as a conceited jerk

about like, oh, what a snob. He's got his nose in the air. But we did drive a long way to go to what was quite honestly, just like the most average neighborhood Italian restaurant. That's what it was. It was also had five Michelin stars for Buffalo. So,

anyway, the reason we're talking about dinners in Buffalo is because the Vancouver... But the stars were actually given out by Michelin Tires. Yeah. And here's your tire, sir. Have we come off with like jerks yet? Now we have.

The correlation was the toughness of the stakes. No, okay. So, Czech TV's very own Rick Dollywall confirming a number of things, despite the fact he's not boots on the ground in Buffalo. The Canucks have taken the following prospects out for a night on the town in Buffalo. Stenberg, Malhotra, Caleb, not Manny.

Gavin McKenna, and that's interesting because according to Shang-Peng from San Jose hockey, now. McKenna is only going out to meet in this capacity with one of the top three teams as it pertains to the NHL draft board. He's not doing it with Toronto. He's not doing it with San Jose

but he is doing it with Vancouver. Oh wait, Michelin Tires start gave out the stars? People are texting those in. That's where it's from. I mean, the tire... Now I feel like an idiot. Well, the tires don't actually give them out. Well, why does Michelin Tires give out the restaurant? It's a very diverse business.

That's bizarre. Yeah. Now, I feel like a complete idiot. Well, a complete moron, and you let me do that. You really led yourself to those waters. Look. Why is the tire company doing that? It seems like an odd connection. Like, I'm going to open a tire company and also be a foodie.

Was it like you can travel to these restaurants on our tires? Possibly. Yeah. Okay. All right. Are we good? We getting distracted. A dog, why don't you research that?

I have a little story for us. Well, we go through this after you. Don't look at me like, oh, you're making me do work. I'm actually doing work right now. No, you're not. Come on. Find out. Okay.

Go. So Rick Dollywall reported that those were the four. The one that I didn't mention, of course, Chase Reed. Of all the four, Reed probably becomes the most interesting, the 18-year-old defenseman who is rocketed up a number of draft boards. And some may consider him the top defensive prospect available. Of course, he applied his trade with Prince George this year. Now, we shouldn't read too much into who the Canucks are meeting with.

Let's just make that abundantly clear off the hop, having covered a number of draft combines and the draft processes and draft years in the past. But why is McKenna only meeting with the Canucks? Well, that's interesting. I don't know why, as a matter of fact. You have work to do. Yeah. Once you figure out, once you get to the bottom of Jason's Michelin. Go to work, tired boy. Yeah, you can then figure out why McKenna's only meeting with the Canucks.

Look, the Canucks have a profoundly important draft in front of them. Also, they have four picks in the first 41 at this draft. So of all the teams that are there, there are none that may want to or need to do more due diligence than the Vancouver Canucks when they're spending this week in Buffalo. Like the stakes are high for a lot of teams at this draft. Let's not get it twisted. Toronto has a pretty pivotal pick being first overall. San Jose can really add to a young, exciting group with the second overall pick. But given where the Canucks finished, what their offseason has in 10,

a complete overhaul, almost top to bottom in terms of executive management, general manager, now coach, this draft and this first round is extremely important. And, you know, when you talk about having your draft list and the guys that you like, and I've had so many people come up to me, I was playing basketball last night and had a couple people come up to me and they're all asking about Caleb Alhotra, right? And I say the same thing every time. I don't think that the Canucks have talked to themselves into the potential of taking him third overall.

I think they firmly believe, along with a lot of other draft pundits, that his rise up the draft rankings to where he could be a very viable third overall pick has to do with the fact that there's a lot of people that genuinely believe he's a high-end talent. The player himself said this yesterday in an interview with Mike Morrell from NHL.com, which we relayed where he talked about the potential of playing with his dad in Vancouver. At the very end, he talked about where his floor and ceiling was as a prospect, and Caleb said he

models his game in terms of the high end of it to being like an Alexander Barkoff. I mean, that's an amazing comp. Granted, it's coming from the player himself, but good on him for having the confidence. But there are some scouts of the thing that he's got real high end talent here. Anyway, back to the

list is, it's drawn up. So again, Stanford, Malhotra, Reed and McKenna, as the four guys at the conducts of taking, let's call it special interest in in Buffalo. I was told they didn't take Malhotra out for dinner. Okay. So, I mean, it doesn't really matter, but I'm pretty sure they know them. They do. And they've also met with them and had a one-on-one interview already. That was one of the first ones that they did in Buffalo. Like, I think, I think people need to understand that the teams have talked to these guys before.

Like, someone texted in a few days ago and said, you know, like, are they, you know, like, are they, allowed to, are they allowed to talk to these guys before the combine? Yeah, they can. And in that McKenna documentary, they were asking him about who he's spoken to. And he said, well, most of the bottom teams right now, right? Like, that's, that's who I was talking to. So these dinners really, I don't want to say they're, they're not a big deal because I think there is potential for the dinners to go badly. But the only, like, that's the only thing, that's the only thing, right? Like, there's a potential downside if the dinner doesn't go well.

And maybe you're left after that dinner going like, did he not like the food or did he not like us? We were going to draft Caleb, but he said his, uh, he said his thing on fire. What's it called? Keep going. I'm glad you interrupted for that. Why? His menu. His thing? Ah, that's the word.

Oh, by the way, I have the Michelin Star thing if you wanted. Thank you. That would have been better to start with. In 1900, French tire makers André and Edward Michelin published a guidebook to encourage road trips. More driving meant more tire wear and replacement. The guide included restaurant listings to give motorists a destination, which evolved over the decades into the highly prestigious Michelin Star ranking system we know today. That was much better. The amount of texts that are pouring in right now.

I learned something. I didn't know that either. Yeah. Okay. I keep going. Today at 11 a.m. Mani Malhotra is going to meet with the media. This is going to be the first time that he will be in front of the assembled reporters and whatnot after being named the 23rd head coach in franchise history. There's a handful of things that he's going to be asked today.

I've kind of parsed through what we can expect to hear from the head coach, even though my initial impression and prediction is that he's going to be very much in lockstep with Daniel and Hendricks Sadeen and Ryan Johnson, the messaging that they put forth. That being said, there are some things that are going to be extremely exclusive to Manning now that he is the head coach. These are in no particular order, but I think one of the first questions that's going to be asked is, what's the rest of your coaching staff going to look like? And I bring this up because yesterday, and we got word of this just as we were going off the air, on the 32 Thoughts podcast featuring Elliot Friedman, Elliot shared that he's heard one name that Canucks are interested in adding to their staff. and that's former Seattle Cracken assistant coach, Jessica Campbell.

There's obviously going to be a lot of jobs available in Abbotsford. There's also going to be coaching jobs available in Vancouver. So it remained unclear based on Friege's clip and what he said on the podcast, where any potential candidates might land. But there's one name that's already out there as a Jessica Campbell could be gathering interest from the Vancouver Canucks. In terms of adding other things to his staff, I would very much, and I've mentioned this a couple times on the show, already, but I would very much like to see

a former NHL head coach, someone that's been in that position before, maybe that someone that Mani's worked with over the course of his coaching career, to come in and have that veteran presence, that type of presence on the bench in Mani's first year on the job specifically.

Do any names come to mind? I was joking around that they should take a look at Guy Bouchet because I believe they coached together for one year in Toronto. They were assistant coaches. Why not Alex Burroughs? Alex Burroughs would be great, but he doesn't have the head coaching experience. And he's an assistant.

He's an assistant coach. Yes, very good. He, he's also moved into a player development role, almost kind of working in what the Cedines were doing in Abbotsford in Montreal. Now, there have been talks about getting more of the bandmates back together. Burroughs, Alex Edler's name has popped up a couple times. There was a Swedish news report from a couple days ago.

But I do wonder if those hires might be to replace what the Cedines were doing within the organization in terms of player development. I also think that as the days go along here, if the triumvirate of Johnson and the Siddines are going to hold true to what they say about, we're going to give everybody the resources they need to succeed. Those kinds of hires, maybe the Burroughs type and the Edler type, are going to be brought in as facilitators, development, guys that are going to work just around the players because there's going to be so many young players and so many guys honing their craft.

and they're going to be more interested in learning and teaching and growing that you maybe want more hands on deck for that. I know I said that these coaching staffs are going to be different than the usual ones, whereas typically you'll hire, you know, who's a good power play guy, who can run a PK, and then you've got this guy's in charge of the defense and this guy's in charge of the forwards. But they still do need to play these games, right? You know, they need teachers, but I agree with you that they need some semblance of experience on the bench because the rookie presidents, the rookie general manager, the rookie head coach. Remember our conversation maybe a month ago? And there was, it was probably maybe two months ago, actually. And there were lots of reports that ownership or certain elements of ownership wanted an experienced general manager for this position.

And we brought up a couple of names and people were like, no, not him. Right? And we had this big conversation about, you know, well, our guys on a second job actually a really good idea because maybe they've learned some things in the first job. Yeah, it was like the Bergevans, Burgeon, and everybody else, yeah. I still think there's something to be said for bringing in someone

who's had experience in a Canadian market, either in the coaching staff or in management or, frankly, both. Because these guys all know what it's like to be in the Vancouver market. The Seneen know what it's like to be in the Vancouver market. And,

Mani Mahalcher has been in the Vancouver market, but I still think there's something to be said for, hey, I went through this here. Could this happen here? Do you know what I mean? Yeah. Look, I think that having some... I just don't think you want all rookies.

I think having someone that's been through the battles and understands some of the challenges that you're inevitably going to face as a head coach, having someone to lean on like that is vitally important. But ultimately, it's going to come down first and foremost to who Manny's most comfortable with. And he's worked with a ton of coaches before. You can go back through his hockey DB page or lead prospects and look at the staffs that he's served on throughout his time, both in the American and national hockey leagues, and there's no shortage of candidates that they can bring in. The other question that I was very curious about Manny that he's going to have to answer today,

inevitably, how do you feel about potentially coaching your kid? because right now we've heard from everybody else, every other sort of person of significance in this dynamic we've heard from. The Siddines have addressed it. Ryan Johnson has addressed it. Caleb Malhotra has addressed it. And now all that's left is for Manny to share his thoughts on it.

And quite honestly and frankly, his thoughts may be the most important of the lot. It may be more important than everybody else put together because he's going to be put in that very unique role of having to balance two different roles when it comes to Caleb. You're his father and you're also his coach, right? The player just goes out in place, right?

And you might be put in some difficult situations, but at the end of the day, you're focused on one thing and that's being a player. I'll be very curious if Manny, and I highly doubt this will happen, but if Manny goes at all askew of what's been put forth because everybody right now, the Siddins, Johnson, and his son,

Seaman Lockstep, problem that there's no issues that they've addressed it. You know, Johnson had the quote from the other day that kind of made the round saying, I want to make sure that Manning had time to talk with his wife and his family understanding that drafting Caleb

would be a possible scenario. So they've already had the conversation with Mani and he seems to be on board with it. Johnson went on to say, I wanted to make sure there was no hesitation on him moving forward and taking this position. I felt that I owed him that to have that conversation about possibly drafting

Caleb. Can you imagine if they pass on Caleb after all this conversation? Let's say it goes McKenna Stenberg. So A-Dogg doesn't get to pipe up but they can pass on him and then they're like, ah, Chase Reed. Well, here's

the thing. Oh, Reed's really good, so I mean. Does the draft get most interesting at three if that's what happens? If one and two go according to the board. Well, yeah, but the draft gets interesting at one. Yeah, but let's say for argument's sake here. The Leafs do the sensible thing and take McKenna. And I'll call

it the sensible thing and the sharks like just take Stenberg. Right. The Canucks are now faced with this choice. I think they'll take Malhotra then. But I'd be surprised. Because the storylines if they pass. We haven't heard. We haven't heard very much talk at all

about the Canucks potentially taking a defenseman. Nope. I haven't talked at all. Chase Reed, that was the first time I've mentioned them on our show. And I think that's that's where people might be like, well, the Canucks clearly are prioritizing a position then. Or if there's not even a conversation about what would,

here's, here's a question, what would have to happen for the Canucks to take a defenseman? Is it even possible considering that McKenna, Stenberg and Malhotra, all forwards are all in this draft and like the connects would have to like get bounced back to fourth or fifth somehow? Well, struck by lightning and all of a sudden their draft position changes.

Okay, let's continue this conversation. Go back to my original thought. If they go, if it goes McKenna, Stenberg, as we're expecting it to go. Then I think they're taking a Malhotra. But that's what I'm saying. From what we've heard, from what we've heard, but we could be, we could be misinformed. I had heard at one point that Evan Gold was going to be their general manager. So who knows with this media, they don't even understand Michelin stars because they have no culture in their lives.

If they pass, if they pass, the storylines become, I mean, from a personal perspective, 10 times more intriguing if they pass on Malhotra. Because the big question then is why. If you had them this highly rated. What happened? Yeah. Or were you as comfortable as you said publicly? Right. And I mean, they might end up saying, well, you know, on our draft boards, we had player X, be it Chase Reed or somebody else higher. But that is not going to take away from the narrative. A follow question. Why are you such a liar? Yeah. Because right now,

why does this organization continue to lie? I thought things were going to be different. Right now, they have made it pretty abundantly clear. that they've discussed the possibility of taking him at three and that everyone, and we'll hear from Mani today to confirm this, but everyone's on board and comfortable with the dynamic. Finally, third question that, man, I want to hear Mani answer today. Have you talked to PD yet? If you haven't, when are you going to and what is that conversation going to be like?

Because that to me is the one where the messaging could go the most astray because they have left it pretty wide open. Here's the thing. When the Siddins have talked about Petey, I would say that there was an air of critique. in the reply, right? Talking about it's up to PD and he needs to come in and be prepared. When Ryan Johnson talked about him earlier this week, it was more of a, let's

throw an arm around the kid and tell him, you be whoever you want to be, we're going to be here to support you. I had a great encouraging conversation. Dran's framed it as maybe the most encouraging public remarks that any Kinex management has had in the last five years when it comes to PD. And you could throw talk it in there

as a coach slash management, right? Others have been critical. Johnson was pretty positive. But they also left the option open to, you know, we'll see what happens in the fall. I like that Johnson I know he was talking a bit in the conversation, but

I think the way he went about it was just like, what do you think, Alias? Because what I got from that was that Pedersen or Johnson felt that Pedersen had just been told what to be, as

opposed to asking his opinion, Now, I have also heard that sometimes when they asked Pedersen for his opinion in the past, he's kind of shrugged his shoulders and hasn't really been, you know, for example, on the style of play. You know, and he's been like, I don't know. Well, that could go to your, do you want to play hockey? That could go to your earlier theory yesterday about like shutting down. Yeah.

Just like you're kind of beaten down at work and you don't particularly enjoy being there. And then when someone asks you're like, yeah, sure, whatever. like I could see that kind of falling in lockstep with how things have gone for them right and you know the new regime breath of fresh air new ideas and you know if again according to Ryan Johnson Ryan Johnson got him to speak you know just talk about what's really on your mind like be completely honest because you know what he'd say to us and and you know I don't want to say I don't blame him but I get it he was like I don't want to create a headline yeah which to me means that you've got something to say

and you just don't want to say it. So say it. Yeah. I also think the conversation about Petey will inevitably lead to Manny talking about the leadership group, which was also something that Ryan Johnson spoke about the other day. I can't imagine that the Canucks will have a captain this year after hearing what Ryan Johnson said earlier this week. I'll be curious to what Manny has to say about who's going to wear letters this year,

the way that they're handed out. You know, I think Johnson made it pretty clear that he doesn't like the flippant nature of, you know, someone's got to wear it, so we're going to give it to somebody. man, he's going to have a major say in that. So I'll be curious to see what he has to say today. Okay, first half hour of the program's in the books. We've got a lot more to get into on the other side. NBA finals, game one goes to the Knicks.

They steal home court in San Antonio. We can get into that. Also, a lot of news and notes from around the National Hockey League as the offseason news starts to heat up as we get closer and closer to the draft, to free agency and everything else that happens after the Stanley Cup Cup is handed out. Lots more to get to in the second half hour of the first. hour you're listening to the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650.

Canucks talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. We'll dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks. Listen 12 to 2 p.m. on SportsNet 650 or wherever you get your podcast. 632 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. Halford Brough, SportsNet, 650. Halford and Brub in the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. Got debt.

If you do, reach out to Sands and Associates during regular business hours. And they'll get back to you within 20 minutes. visit them today at sands dash trustee.com so um i thought it would be really cool to be at madison square garden for game three of the NBA finals when when you know the nicks go to masson square garden they're in the finals for the first time in a long time the city is really fun i would be like oh that'd be cool cool to go so i went i went over to stub hub and i was like i wonder i wonder if i can get a cheapie to get in cheapest ticket to get in 10,000 dollars

Those are FIFA prices. $10,000. Cheapest ticket for San Antonio, $900. A little bit of a disparity there. It's probably smarter to fly to San Antonio and go watch the Knicks there. But I know there's still a game two to be played in this NBA finals. But the scene in New York on Sunday when the Knicks host of Spurs in game three is going to be one of the great sports scenes that, we have seen in a long, long time.

Could you imagine if they go back with the two-nothing series lead to? The Knicks. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know.

Yeah. I know. Yeah. I'm sure Knicks fans are right now. They're like, well, if I get tickets to game four, I could maybe see them win the title. Game five is on it. That's like, Kinex fans is like, I remember traveling to Boston in 2011 and being like, I might see the win in game four.

Yeah. I mean, look, by the way, the Knicks did win yesterday. 105.95. the Frost Bank Center, one of my favorite banks and centers, quite honestly, in San Antonio. It was, look, the game was very good. It was a very compelling contest. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that it was just the opening game of the series and there was all that energy. New York traveled really well to San Antonio. There were a lot of celebrity fans there. Timothy Chalame was there. Tracy Morgan was there. As for the game itself,

the biggest dud of the night was the biggest dude on the court, Victor Wembeyanama, who missed 15 field goal attempts, the most field goal misses that he's had in any game has a double double on and people are like have a dud for 25 points.

He went for 26 and 12 and all anyone could talk about after the game was how poorly played. Do we have the audio here? This includes Wembe himself. This is Victor Wembeen Yama from after yesterday's game in which the Spurs had a pretty comfortable lead in the third quarter, only to see the Knicks close on an 11-nothing-n-

run to win, 105-95 and steal home court in game one. Here's Wemby. It's obviously, I mean, we've been done in a series before, never in the finals, obviously, but I'm not kicking myself about anything really. I mean, I'm not worried the slightest. I threw it over to NBA TV yesterday after the game, so they play all of the post-game media availabilities. And while he was very short in his answers, although except with the French speaking reporter who he was quite loquacious with. Wemby was short, but he was like defiant

about this being an aberration. He's like, I'm not worried, I'm not the slightest bit concerned, I was terrible. And then he just kind of went about his business. So part of the reason they didn't play especially well yesterday and a couple of pundits in the post were talking about this.

The play of Carl Anthony Towns. Cat. They call him, yeah, who did a really nice job defensively on Wemby, especially in the second half where he got some key defensive stops. He was making things happen with second chances on the rebounds. The Knicks rebound of the ball. Awesome yesterday. He's got good reflexes.

Cat? Yeah, like a dog. So here is Carl Anthony Towns after the game talking about his teammate Jalen Brunson, who went for 30 in last night's win. Here's cat from the podium. I've seen it now for two years, but you see Jalen limped to the locker room, comes back out, fourth quarter heroics. Is there ever a doubt in your mind? One, he's coming back, or two you put the ball in his hands he's going to do what he did

and no with the balls in his hands i'm never i'm never surprised i'll tell you that last shot i think it was like a shoot floater that was nasty brenton really personifies that like hard scrabble you know heart of a champion type nick's team where they're like they're not they're not super high on raw physical tools and talent this team but they've got a great bench they play with a real energy they play with a real energy they with the toughness and determination. So he didn't shoot great or quite frankly,

play great last maybe 12 or 31, but he finished with 30 points. But in that game, he got rolled up on in the first quarter. Harrison Barnes fell into his knee. Brunson leaves. Everyone's like, oh my God,

like, can you imagine another NBA finals where this massive injury happens? Everyone take a deep breath. Brunson comes back. Finishes with 30 ton of huge shots in the fourth quarter. And the Knicks take it 101, 95.

I'm going to put you on the spot here. I apologize. What is the difference between Brunson in Dallas and Brunson in New York? He was always a really cerebral player. He's the son of a former NBAer, although Rick Brunson was hilarious. He was like the ultimate juryman point guard, played on a bunch of different teams. But he had obviously, he plays ball like the son of a pro.

Like he just, he can find spaces on the floor. Now, the difference between. Or Caleb Mahalcher will be. Anyway. See, now here's the thing. Well, Rick also coached his son. The differences obviously are that Dallas, I don't think Dallas ever really understood what they had in Brunson. I don't think they were ever prepared to give him a significant role.

I don't think they ever envisioned he'd be a guy that could be the star player on a championship caliber team. When he got to New York, he was very evident that he understood, he understands a lot of things like angles, body control. He's really good at dictating the tempo of a game. because he's obviously not, if you look at him, you're like, well, there's a guy that's not going to dominate

with his physical tools, right? And, I mean, you saw last night, he has an ability to get in spots. He does a really good job of rebounding for a guy his size. By the way, there was a crazy stat going on. The Knicks have a real sort of like lunch bucket approach when it comes to grabbing rebounds. Josh Hart yesterday had 15 rebounds.

He's the first player to grab 15 plus rebounds in a final game, standing six foot five or shorter since Sam Jones did it in 1963. And it was a lot of like tipping the ball to yourself, getting after second chance buckets or second chance rebounds that hit the floor. Like they do a nice job of those little gritty things

and they did a good job of it in game one. So when this NBA finals started a lot of the focus was on was on Wemby. And frankly it's been the focus for a lot of these these playoffs through their entirety and for good reason. But for me right now,

the Knicks are more compelling than Wembea and the Spurs because of what they're doing in these playoffs and considering their history as a franchise. And I'm telling you this as a guy that doesn't watch much NBA and parachutes into the playoffs once in a while. The fans outside Madison Square Garden, the way they have these parties on the street almost every night.

I think that's really cool. And the history of not only the Knicks, but I think this is a weird thing to say, but the Rangers as well, if you combine those two teams, so I'm going to put, I'm going to ask some trivia, okay? So Rangers and Knicks,

the Knicks have been around since, I think, just after World War II. Okay. The Rangers, were an original six franchise combined how many titles do you think they have four they have six that's it yeah the rangers original six franchise only four stanley cups so the oilers and the penguins have more stanley cups than them yep and they're an original six franchise like they're you know like That's crazy.

Yep. It's been a lot. And people remember the Canucks fans that remember the 1994 Stanley Cup, the chant that would go out in a derisive way about Rangers fans and Devils fans love to do this was 1940. They hadn't won the Cup since 1940. So when they beat the Canucks and barely beat the Canucks, they broke a 54-year drought. And now the Knicks are looking to do something similar.

and for me that is extremely compelling because the Knicks under James Dolan have been very dysfunctional and we cover a fan base that quite often says the Kinex will never win a Stanley Cup with this ownership group

right? Right how many times do you think Knicks fans have said something similar about their team? We'll never win a championship if James Dolan is the owner. Yeah, it's been the better part of three decades. This is their first finals appearance since 1999. I mean, it's for a team that has the amount of prestige. And let's also make this abundantly clear,

a place where the majority of NBA players want to go play at some point. Like, it is a, it's a mecca in a lot of different ways, but it's also like a free agency mecca. Like, I'm surprised that LeBron in his tour of the NBA hasn't had to stop with the Knicks because a lot of guys want to play there. They want to be there. and they want to experience that. They're kind of like the Leafs in that way.

Got a lot of similarities there, for sure. Like this, this, this big name franchise with all the resources in the world. And they do attract free agents. I'm sure there are some people that are like, I do not want to go to the Knicks. Yep. But there are some people that have that dream. If I win with them, it will, I will be like a god, a god like Mitch Barner. Yeah.

Because they look upon them like gods. in Toronto, according to Mitch Barner. But I think it's also so not only is the team good and they're on this incredible run in the playoffs. And if you're just kind of

tuning into the NBA finals, the Knicks started out with the series against Atlanta and they actually fell behind Atlanta two to one. They have not lost since then. Well, that was the other thing I wanted to mention was yesterday's victory pushed the Nick's postseason winning streak to 12

games. They've won 12 consecutive playoff games. There's only seven teams in NBA history that have done that. Just to put it in perspective. It is a very talented team. They're going up against a supremely talented individual in Wembe, but

you're looking at a team that's got the energy, the drought that they want to snap, and they just went and stole game one, which is huge. Have they got that thing that a lot of teams that go on runs have in that it's not just one story of one player

you could go around the roster right now and just be like yeah you know that guy's doing that well that guy's doing that now I know the blue jays lost the world series last year sorry laddie it was so painful too so painful yep I think one of the reasons it was so painful

was that you had all these great stories and they almost seemed like this is a team of destiny right now it's not just you know, Vladdy was their leader in terms of what he was doing at the plate. But it seemed like everyone was contributing. Okay. So you know how you liken to some teams like when they make their first four, they go on that first run and they're not quite ready to win yet?

Like they don't have the experience. It's happened too soon. Remember we were talking about the Seahawks this year when they won the Super Bowl? It's like it kind of came out of nowhere. They made this jump to being a Super Bowl winner, right? that kind of framework works for the spurs because this is their first journey this deep with wemby in the playoffs first finals appearance this is their first extended playoff run with a lot not just wemby but a lot of young guys conversely speaking the nix this is their third consecutive season of 50 plus win basketball during the regular season i've actually improved year over year i think they went 50 51 55 yeah they went to the easter conference finals last year and lost to the pacers right so this is the team that you would say is a little more battle-hardened and ready to make this jump, right? Like, this is the lineage that we understand with sports fandom.

It's like, you go through the wars, you lose, you learn, you come back hungrier. Now is maybe your time. So I think in that regard, the Knicks have the more appropriate storyline to win this year. They just, they were the underdogs going in because, I mean, let's be real. The Spurs have Wembe. They have the most uniquely powerful force, singular force in the entire NBA. They just beat Oklahoma City and they won game seven on the road. Exactly.

That wouldn't accomplishment that was. Hey, we did mention the Jays briefly. I want to take a brief sojourn here. I actually want to set this up. You're shaking your head. You don't even like this to you, Laddie. I want to play the audio from, it was yesterday's game, right?

This was another loss for the Jays. They're fourth in a row. And it felt like a fairly innocuous pop foul midgame in which Vlad, and can you please remind me of the catcher's name of the moment? because I've absolutely forgotten. Brandon Valenzuela. Valenzuela, thank you. Brandon Valenzuela and Vladdy

charged down a foul ball on the first base side, and it drops foul. Now, just to set the context here, this wasn't like an easy catch to make. There was no error recorded on the play. It was not a gaffe, but it was one of those plays

where, let's classify it as this, the ball was in the air and there was a chance to make a play, and neither guy did. If somebody took charge, somebody probably could have made it. to play. That's a good way of describing it, Laddy. So, Caleb Joseph's

on the call. And this lit a spark. You know, this was a match for, I think, something that was bubbling under the surface, the frustrations with how the Jays are playing baseball. This is a bit of an abridged version, too, by the way, because it kind of happened while the game was still going on. Which is great, because we needed an abridged version.

Because this rant lasted a long time. Here's Blue Jays, color analyst, Caleb Joseph, kind of going off, not just at that singular play, but at how the Jays have played baseball. ball all season. Here's what it sounded like from last night's broadcast. Breaking ball popped up.

Al-Anzuel and Guerrero coming together and that's going to get down. Both of them took somewhat banana peel type of routes and it looked like both were unsure with this twilight sky above. That ball has to be caught by somebody and these are the inches that the Blue Jays are given up from time to time and this is why they're not consistent. It's these little plays like this that will drive a manager absolutely bonkers. when you consistently give these inches up. Look, it's not an out, and it didn't cost them a run,

but it might cost you down the line. And these are the type of inches. If you want to be a good team, and if you want to get to where you're going, you have to make these type of plays. You can't let balls drop in front of you. You've got to catch every ball like Kevin Gosman was saying. You've got to get it together.

I'm sorry I'm going on a bit of a rant here, but this is accumulation of close to 60 games where these are the types of plays that did not happen a year ago. And I know you've got to turn the page. I know you've got to flush it, but at some point, somebody's got to get in that dug out and say, enough's enough. Enough is enough. And we got to pick it up and get it going.

Tighten it up. No more inches. No more free inches. Those are free inches out there that the Blue Jays have been given away from time to time. And it cannot happen. Base run and plays, giving away at-bats, these small things that if you want to be a World Series contender again, these cannot happen. And they're happening with regularity throughout this entire season.

Oh, God. Choking on my own radio. Having worked in radio for a while and having covered an extremely frustrating team on a regular basis, I know exactly what Caleb Joseph was going through yesterday. You get started on something and you're pointing out a small critique. And that just reminds me of another thing. And then it gets bigger. And you're like, and then there's this.

And what I want to mention this? And if you're going to do this, you got to do that. Ooh, he was frustrated. Here's an open question for you, for you two. Not A-Dog. He's gone. Yeah, he's gone. What is the most frustrating thing that a bad baseball team does? I think it's the base running errors.

The mental base running errors kill me. And the J's two years ago. Wasting, wasting outs on the base path is infuriate. I'll say bad bullpen. Bad bullpen is back this year. Two years ago, the J-Based. were such a bad base running team. They got, they had, it was a litany

of mistakes. And it was sloppy and it was bad reads. And it was giving away outs. And that's, and that's why a lot of people, including myself, were like, they don't know how to win. No. They're not, they're not winners because winners don't play ball like that. But I want to explore Laddie's answer because it feels like the bullpen issues this year.

Some of them, some of them have been self-inflicted. And by that, I mean, continuously going, going back to Jeff Hoffman when you don't necessarily need to. Remember little at the start of the year? Yeah. I do remember that. Now, that was a choice.

It's tough. It's, I think it's tough for Schneider because he's, to a certain degree, he's a player's manager when he's got the backs of the guys that he likes. And I think in the case of both those two guys that we just mentioned, especially Hoffman, there is a belief that maybe goes beyond what the actual product is giving you.

I think he genuinely believes in Hoffman because he wants to believe in Hoffman, but I'm not sure that the results justify that belief. I know the results don't justify that belief. And that's where as a manager, when things aren't going great, that trust that you have in the players actually works against you.

Because you need wins and you need to win ball games and you need to kind of say, hey, I have a standard for what guys need to do production-wise. And if you're not meeting it, I can't keep giving you bites at the apple. I think John Schneider, being a former catcher himself, can realize the importance that Alejandro Kirk probably has on that staff and the bullpen.

The fact that he's played five games this season, he's close to coming back. It sounds like, Omar had actually in single A yesterday, but that's a big deal. And that's probably factored into why the bullpen has had a few struggles. So was this at all predictable that the Jays would regress like this?

Considering that I don't want to say everything went right for them last year, but there were a lot of really encouraging stories. stories and I remember, and I'm asking you this as the expert because I remember, you know, we be like, can they do it again next year? Can they, can they get over the hump and actually win the World Series next year? And people would be like, I don't know, like, there was a lot of things that came together for them last season. And again, one of the reasons they were such an unlikable team is because you could look at so many different players and be like, I love that guy's

story, you know, or I like that guy's story. This guy's, this guy's clutching up at the right moment. Ultimately, they didn't get it done, but coming back this season, oh, they didn't. You, you, you, they didn't know, they didn't. You would have to ask all that stuff that went right to go right again. And then, you know, it almost starts with like Bichette leaves, right? And I know he's had his struggles with the Mets, but he was a very important player of the Blue Jays. And then that Kirk injury for me was like, oh, maybe it's going to be different this year. Now, having said all that, they're still very much in the wild card race. Like two games out of the third.

They didn't take off. Everyone points to July 1 last year when they took off, right? It's the same record last year this time, roughly. Yep. But to ask them to do that again, I just think is a big ass. What are you feeling right now, Laddie? I just feel like the injuries have been the major factor of why they've been kind of hovering around. on 500. That's the biggest thing.

I think, like you said, nobody expected them to be top of the league and a lot would still have to go right for them to get back to where they were last year, but the injuries have sewered them. Honestly, it's been a deluge of injuries since day one and I don't think any team could have weathered

the storm through what the Blue Jays have gone through. And that's why I was surprised at what Caleb said in the way that he said it yesterday. There's a built-in excuse basically for the team. I feel like he look, he's around the team. He's a former major leaguer. Either he's just venting

because he's frustrated. And it was frustrating to watch this. You know, after they, they rip off 8 to 10 they lose 4 straight and their frustrations. But I wonder if he's seeing things that maybe the sort of casual eye doesn't see that it's like beyond the injuries. I don't know. But he, I mean, that was Well, you can have injuries and play bad

ball. Yeah. But look for, I mean, let's consider. It was just funny because I wanted him to, I wanted the call to come back after he went on that rant, like still up at the plate, another foul ball. Like it was a foul ball. Like it was a foul ball. you know, like it was a tough play to make. To have that extrapolated rant, I was like, ooh, there's something bubbling under the surface here,

which is why I wanted to play it. Who is playing the best for the Jays right now? Who would you say, because it's not Vladdy. Savage. Relative to their- starting pitching's been. Ernie's batting 300. Ernie's doing great.

Yeah, there's a couple guys that have been fine. Okamoto's got 13 home runs. Oklahoma's also got the third highest strikeout rate. Yeah, he's big swings. That's how you got to hit home runs, big swings. They've got their warts for sure. but hey, it's a long season, you guys, and they're getting healthier.

And that's baseball. That's baseball. Okay, we got to go to break. Before we go to break, I need to remind you that the Duick Auto Group is the official automotive sponsor of Halford & Brough. Find out why nobody beats a Duick deal and when nobody has since 1926. Visit Duick, GM on Marine Drive. Visit them downtown.

Visit them in Richmond. Visit them online at the Duick Auto Group. com coming up at Nanverk for a little more MLB talk. Thomas Dranz is going to join us at 8 James Myrtle. It's going to join us at 730. Lots more to get into. You're listening to the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650.