OverDrive - Harlan on the Pacers' electric comeback, the parity in the NBA and Gilgeous-Alexander's MVP award triumph

Episode Date: May 22, 2025

NBA on TNT Commentator Kevin Harlan joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines from the NBA Playoffs, the Pacers' incredible comeback against the Knicks, the journey for Indiana to win, the parity in the league, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander winning the NBA MVP and more.

This summer, it's not just a festival. It's a full-blown pop punk revival. All Your Friends Fest hits Burles Creek, June 28th and 29th. Presented by Play Ojo Casino and powered by iHeart Radio. Headliners Avril Lavigne and Rise Against. It's our fault! Plus Simple Plan, Boys Like Girls, Veronica's, Under Oath, and so many more.

Camping, parking, and all the emo nostalgia you can handle. Get your tickets now at allyourfriendsfestival.com. from the nbnt tt joins us now his cabin harland what uh... was that like last night kevin well are good to be out with you and uh... pretty stunning uh... about is stunning is the choir shot back in 2019. When the Raptors beat Philly in game seven, pretty dramatic. You know for that shot, for all the comeback ability that both of these teams have shown in the playoffs. By the way, New York has got a nice resume in these players what they've done

uh... coming back in winning against detroit they did it in round one in a game or two they did a couple times against boston uh... the reigning champion in the second round of the east semi-finals and um... so new york has that same ability but Indiana has kind of been the story in that regard. Halliburton has been the guy pulling the trigger. And this team, the one thing that you noticed up close, even when they were down by 17,

the Pacers stayed and played the same way. They jiggled their lineup a little bit and they took out their big man Turner. They got faster. They moved the pace up a little bit more. They had to play with more urgency. All of that played into their hand. And their style, their look, body language, whatever you want to call it, it did not change from the way they started the game where they hit like the first five, six, seven, eight shots till the very end. New York, I thought, once the comeback was being put together,

you could see body language, lack of Christmas in rotations and making the right switch and the right read, maybe even communication, which you never know until you find out after the game and talk to them. But those things seem to get sluggish. They got a little wonky in there and Indy just began to play the way they play. They're the best shooting team the Pacers are in the postseason. They're the second highest scoring team in these playoffs so you can't exhale. The three ball will make it that way and their style certainly lends even more to that because they'll race up and down and then press you after they make a basket and force

you to get out of your rhythm. And the Knicks did. Everything worked well for the Pacers. They had a timeout and a challenge late in the game, which they used and it worked and they earned that win. There was nothing given to them. People said it was a lucky bounce and straight through on the Halliburton shot. And there's always a sense of that,

but he's made so many and been so clutch that I think luck is out of it. Same with Brunson, they make big shots, they just do. And, and we saw that last night and that building was stunned. It was as quiet and as shocking as it was for that Kawhi shot in 2019. But on the other side with exuberance and just

like amazement at what people had just seen. Kevin, did you find yourself having to get some urgency into your call because sometimes, and you're one of the greats, even the greats at the score like that, you're like, ah, maybe it's story time Maybe we'll look around and then all the sudden the comeback is on How did you kind of get the feel for it of what was happening out there as the play-by-play man?

Well, my guys start kind of getting ready for King to what guys I was working with they started they start well in game two And and and you know, I think Stan even said on the air, he goes, boy I don't know how they're gonna come back, even like less than two minutes ago, and the Neesmith kid was hitting all these shots, and it did, it crept up on you, and that's the problem when you're broadcasting a game

with such a quick twitch to it, when there's such a turnaround in a small window. You can manage a quarter, you can manage a half, but to manage three minutes, two minutes and have it happen so fast and such a collapse appear before you, you're staying in the moment with trying to use the building blocks of what just happened to lead you to make some sense as to what you're watching now. So we saw the kid hitting the shots, but then you got to start putting things together. You know, a missed free throw here and there by the next down the stretch.

Missing shots they were normally hitting early on. They were going at Brunson because he had five fouls and so his defense was a little shaky and a little loose because they didn't want to foul out and get that sixth. So you know there's a lot going on as you compress it. It's not unlike a football team where their selection of plays and the variety and breadth which they can think of, when they get in that red zone, when they get inside the 10 yard line, inside the 7 yard line, and now that their catalog of plays will shrink so much, that's kind of the way it is in a game like that from broadcast because you don't have time to develop

with conversation and replays and graphics you know as smoothly and as maybe easily digestible as you would if it occurred over a quarter or over a half this happened in the final couple minutes of a game in a conference finals and it's a rat race to see, you know,

where your eyes should go on the floor, who could be that next guy to pull it off with keeping in mind how you got there and staying present in the moment. So yeah, there's a lot going on. And sometimes in a game like that, you take off your headset and say, man, I sure hope we conveyed it,

and at least explain why this was going on, because there was a mindset with about four minutes left, like this baby's all she wrote, how are the Knicks gonna come back, or how is Indiana gonna come back with this loss for game two tomorrow night? And sure enough, it switched like that in the blink of an eye. And we were left with one of the most thrilling finishes of these playoffs.

And, and I dare say in recent memory, and especially with the stakes so high, because the winner here, of course, goes to the NBA finals. Well, Kevin, you definitely conveyed it. You do a great job, but I wanted to get your sense of where the league is that right now is your court side every night and it feels like you know six years removed from the raptors

winning the title and on that koi shot as a big part of it on route uh... it feels like the league is really changing before our eyes we we we kind of have been accustomed to a leeward well there was no getting past the bra and there was no getting past the warriors a league where well there was no getting past LeBron or there was no getting past the Warriors with the rant or there was no getting past you know these dynastic teams that were Seemingly unbeatable and now we thought maybe we had a team like that in the Celtics suddenly They're not that team Jason Tatum is going to be out a year

What do you make of the wide openness of this league as we sit here watching it? Well you bring up an interesting point because I think, I think the league, um, with load management, with retiring giants like LeBron soon, Curry soon, Devin Durant very soon. These guys are in the last literal years of their career and there doesn't seem to be like that that guy to get the baton. We saw it when Magic and Bird gave it to Jordan and then Jordan passed it on and they got it from Dr. J and then Jordan passed it on to Kobe who passed it on to Lebron

and in between we had the Allen Iversons and the Charles Barclays and we had these other bit players but there was always like a flagship guy. There doesn't seem to be a flagship guy right now. The league back in the days of David Stern, the late great commissioner of the league, he thought we have got to build the stars but i would contend we've got a time now or maybe that can be adjusted sure the nfl has lamar jackson in the ravens and

it's got patrick mohomes the chiefs and and and we've we've got uh... you know you know great in all sports with an individual, significant player. But at the end of the day, it's the team. And I'm wondering if this is that opportunity with no great player on the horizon to maybe emphasize team like we see with the, we've got Brunson, but the Knicks are a good team. We got the Pacers and Halliburton, but they are a team.

And the star last night was this kid that no one really knows about, this Nie Smith kid. So maybe it's time to kind of shift that a little bit and push the team element so that when a star is gone, you still have the team. And when there's load management and a great player is going to be out for 10 to 15 games, doesn't matter, you've still got the team and when there's load management and and a great players going to be out for ten to fifteen games but matter you still got the team and the nfl has prospered that way

they've built matchups and rivalries with teams and and i and i know there are fewer players on the floor than an eleven man on each side nfl game and and and i i i i i understand that but but it with nobody dominant like ready to just jump out and grab this sport and they keep pushing people but that's the media. I don't know if that's the reality and the media would so desperately love there to be another Jordan, Kobe, LeBron, Kevin Durant. I don't

know that there's one right now but there are a lot of great players. There are a lot of a lot of players that the Gildes, Alexanders and Brunson and Halliburton but I don't know if you have a transcendent player right now so it might be a time for the NBA to push the team thing and the rivalry and build the strength of the league in that regard and we'll see where it goes. But by the way, Toronto is represented very well in this series. As you know, Basko Siakam on one team and Ananobe on the other and I... i know it was her after fans uh... and and and the fans in canada uh... to see to important players in their championship run a couple years

ago not even on the team anymore but still very much involved and playing well it with other teams in the nbh absolutely with kevin harland and you know on top of that we shake your disclex anders from here oh my gosh yes of course so we're're all tracking Shay so we're well I guess we're rooting against Minnesota yet they're a border state so maybe we should consider that. You know but Shay wins the MVP last night. We saw two nights ago they set the tone they beat up on Minnesota

in game one we'll see if the Timwolves respond i i think they likely will uh... but you know where do you stand on shane and and his ability to run off maybe multiple mvp's but what this might look and feel like if oklahoma city who's been the best team in the league all year actually gets through this gets to the nba final and wins it like what what is isn't that exactly what we're talking about here like

oklahoma city and wins it. Like isn't that exactly what we're talking about here? Like Oklahoma City, Shea Gilder, Sal Alexander, a Canadian kid, they could be winning everything, MVP and championship a month from now. And remember they had Westbrook and they had Durant and they had Harden. Right. And they made the finals many years ago. And Durant emerged out of that trisecta,

although Harden was an MVP at one time with another team houston and and westbrook uh you know one one two p Yeah, amazing right i mean like so you're talking about there were three mvps to come on that team But durant probably emerged as as that transcendent player the guy that He's not in the Jordan class clearly, but going to Golden State put him with the championships in a different feel and a final appearance with Oklahoma State, Oklahoma City. I would say that, yeah, there is an opportunity there for sure and

probably for Halliburton. The league is dying to find that next guy or the next couple guys. And maybe this is how it begins. When Gilder's Alexander was traded to Oklahoma City, he wasn't even a starter and he has grown with the team. And the thing that's great about Oklahoma City is not Gilder's Alexander, which stands alone, but they're such a great team. And that's how Indiana is. And I dare say that's how the Celtics were. And going back to the Raptors, they may have had Kauai, but they also had others, Siakam and Van Vliet. So you need

a team to win. And when we follow colleges here in the states, we, we, we, we, it's the brand, it's the logo, it's the university, not a lot. Duke does, Flag was, was the outlier this year at Duke, but Duke stands out because they're Duke. In Carolina and Kentucky and Indiana and Kansas, they all stand out because the team, the school, the logo, and the NFL, a lot of times it is just the arrowhead for the Chiefs and the Raven, for the Baltimore Ravens and the Patriots for Brady in New England. But Brady's the first to admit, clearly I was the quarterback, the most important position

in all of sports. But we had a great team. And that's the thing that I think is, and that's exactly what Oklahoma City has done. They took any name they had, completely rebuilt through the draft and some very clever acquisitions in free agency, and they built a team. And because of that, they are where they are with the 68 win season, historical high net rating. They did all these things and that's where they stand.

And actually the Pacers are the same way. They built like that. The payroll of the Knicks is huge, one of the highest in the NBA, but the Pacers have a lower payroll and aside from Halliburton, and I don't even know that he's a household name. He's a little bit more today because of what happened last night, but he didn't even play on the Olympic team.

He was on it, but he didn't play. And so that just goes to show you, you know, kind of where he is in the hierarchy. He was just named the most overrated player in a poll of NBA players in the league. They said he was the most overrated. And yet here he is with three big time shots in these playoffs. The team is three wins away from the finals for the first time in a quarter century. Yet I don't know if there's a lot of, there are a lot of people even before last night that could have said who who is he where do you play college where is he from we played at Iowa State and and and he was on the Olympic team by the way even though he didn't like so so like there's a lot going on with this

team and and the more they win the more recognition they're gonna get but but make no mistake it's not just one guy that is a team and we saw it with the shooting of Neesmith last night as an example absolutely it was it was one hell of a game one hell of a finish that is for sure and it's only game one we're just getting started in the conference final enjoy the rest of it Kevin really appreciate you doing this nice to be out with you guys thank you for calling again we We'll talk again soon, I hope. You got it. Kevin Harlan of the NBA and TNT.

The newest tracks. My mystical, magical. And the next big thing. Baby, what was that? And your first place to hear it all, iHeart New Music. Your digital station for brand new drops, fresh finds, and tomorrow's bangers. Powered by North by Northeast,

taking place June 11th to 15th across Toronto. iHeart New Music. Discover new music. Stream now online on your smart speaker and on the free iHeart Radio app.