PTI - Pacers Force Game 7

Episode Date: June 20, 2025

Michael Wilbon and Frank Isola discuss the NBA Finals, Dodgers vs. Padres, and Sam Bennett. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, sports fans, the ESPN app has all of ESPN all in one place. The ESPN app is your home to thousands of live events, ESPN shows, and originals across every ESPN network and service. And now you can check if you already have ESPN Unlimited as part of your TV package for no additional calls. Visit activate.esPN.com to learn how to access your account or sign up, then start streaming in the ESPN app. It's all of ESPN all in one place. Sign up or activate now. Pardon the interruption, but I'm Mike Wilbon, and today is the longest day of the year. I'm Frank Isola, or as I'm known twice a year, Frank Isols. That's what Mike calls.

Yeah, we should be, you know, on a golf course. It's the beginning of summer. Those things always coincide. I thought it was the 21st, though. Mike, today's the 20th. Mike, where you are, it's always summer. It's not summer where I am all the time. It's summer where you are all the time.

Summer here, baby. 365. Cool 113 or so. Welcome to PTI. Tony apparently prefers golf to you, so we're here to do his work for him is our great friend from the starting lineup on SiriusXM Radio, Mr. Frank Isola.

Radio. Radio podcast. Three hours a day. That's a radio show. Let's start, Frank. With the result, neither of us saw coming. Don't know who did. The Pacers pulled away midway through the second and never looked back,

beating the Thunder by 17. Tyrese Halliburton played effectively in 23 minutes, and T.J. McConnell was much more than his backup. Meanwhile, OKC struggled from three early, never found a stroke. Frank, how did this game play out differently than you expected? Yeah, I'm glad we were both wrong. I thought Indiana wouldn't win, but the one thing, never underestimate this team. Look at the way they've performed all playoffs. long. There's a toughness to this team. I was surprised by Oklahoma City's performance. They were up

10-2 early in the first quarter. Next thing, you know, they were chasing the game for the final three periods. And you just showed the highlight. The one where Tyrese Hallibor had to steal the no-look pass to Siakum, he gets the dunk. 40 seconds to go. OKC was so rattled, Mike. They started walking the ball up. That's a two-for-one situation. SGA ends up shooting with 23 seconds ago. He misses OKC gets to rebound. But Seacom comes down, ends up hitting. a shot at the buzzer the first half. So Oklahoma City, to me, was never in this game at any point. And you mentioned T.J. McConnell.

He and Andrew Nemhardt combined for 29 points. That seemed bigger than the 30 points that Halliburton and Seacom combined for. The bench help that they got Obie Topping with 20 points, unbelievable. And then what happened to Jalen Williams? All we did for two days was talk about how great he is. Talking about Scotty Pippin. I mean, Mike, he went from 40 points in game five. to a minus 40 he recorded in game six.

I didn't see that coming. Oklahoma City with a chance to win their first ever title. That was an awful performance. Frank, I'm not even going to dwell on it. I'm not going to disagree with you necessarily, although I think there's far too much heaping criticism on OKC. OKC got knocked out. They got knocked the hell out in a place.

You've been there. You know what it's like in Indianapolis with that crowd going in that building. Look, I'm going to concentrate on something that has no numbers. This gives me a chance to get on my soapbox. Because numbers can't tell you what a room feels like

when Halliburton's in there before the game saying whatever he's saying privately to his teammates. And he might not have to say anything. His teammates can look at him. You know what that's like. We've been in locker rooms. So everybody wants to tell you about five, five and five, and he's the 14th player in club history.

Get that garbage out of here. Halliburton's the big story. Because they looked at him and he inspired them. He got out on the floor and he could move no matter how much pain he was in. I don't know if a shot taking one helps

or if he had one. I don't care. If he did, I said yesterday. I admire Halliburton. That's what sports is about. Not advanced metrics which can't tell you a damn thing about how a team feels about itself and the guy

next to them when they walk on the floor and line it up. That is where the pace got the best of OKC. We can go back in history. We'll do it with Willis Reed because that was the storyline then because there were no numbers.

People need to put the damn laptops down, their phones down, and look at what happened. Look at how the Pacers knocked OKC out of the ring. Knocked them clear out. Don't know what that means going forward,

but that's what it was last night. You know, Halliburn had five baskets and it felt like all five of them were big. He had the one, in the second half when OKC was starting to make a run the little give and go he had with Aaron Neesmith where he got the layup. And I'll tell you another guy, Andrew Nemhardt, who struggled in game five, especially that fourth quarter with the three turnovers, when they needed points, when it looked like Oklahoma City might have a chance. He drew a shooting foul. Next possession, he hit a three.

I thought for the second half, I get it, they ended up blowing him out. But in that moment, because remember, Oklahoma City didn't score for the first five minutes of the second half, and yet they were making a bit of a run. Everyone last night contributed for Indiana. I thought that's a great win for them. What a way for them to close out their home schedule to win their final playoff game of the year. Now they need, of course, one more. And Mike, as you know, game seven Sunday night in Oklahoma City, home teams 15 and for all time in a game seven of the NBA finals. And the Thunder listed as an eight and a half point favorite.

So, Mike, what do you expect to see on Sunday? I have no idea. And I'm not going to pretend. I'm not going to try to create some scenario that I believe in, because I don't know. That's the greatness of last night. Nothing was predictable about that. That's why we watch. Not so I know everybody wants to have a prediction.

That's what shows like this have to indulge in. And sometimes I tell people, stop predicting and watch the damn game. Just watch the game. I can't wait to see the game, Frank. I don't know. Like, what can Halliburton give them? Can he inspire them? Is there something that's going to inspire Oklahoma City?

What are they going to draw from in their building? Is it going to be nervous in there? Or is it going to be, you know, raucous and people still figuring, hey, we are going to win the first championship in this city's franchise history, although it's been the second one because of Sonics where they were previously won? I don't know. Can Siakum play like that again? What do the Pacers have left in them?

Or like Edmonton in the... in that series, when they came back from 3-0 down to win an impossible game, did Indiana leave it all at home? Or is this more like the movie Hoosiers? It kind of reminds me of that, but I'm not going to go there with OK, see, I loved SGA's demeanor after the game. He said, we stunk. Yeah.

And he claimed it. He owned it. He was the adult in that room last night. How does that translate? I don't want to predict the game. I want to watch the game. All right. Let me give you a couple of numbers.

OKC during the regular season, 35 and 6 at home. That's a dominant record. Playoffs 10 and 2. The two losses, Mike, they were up 15 against Denver in that game one in the fourth quarter, lost the game. Then they were up 11 late in the fourth quarter of game 1, Indiana, and lost. So even in the games that they lost, they had double-digit lead. So those are games that they shouldn't have lost.

The last road team to win a game 7 in the finals, that's the LeBron team back in 2016. LeBron that night had a triple double. So LeBron, an all-world player, has a performance like that. Can Siakum, could Tyrese Hallibor and have a breakout game? Absolutely. But the beauty of Indiana, they're a difficult team to match up against or to game plan against because anyone could do it. How about this? They're the only team in NBA history to have eight players score at least 200 points, total points in the playoff during the postseason.

So different guys do. We mentioned Obitop and with 20 with T.J. McConnell has done, Andrew Nemhard. But if I'm Oklahoma City, Mike, and this is the thing, you go back to 2016, that same year that Cleveland beat Golden State. That Oklahoma City team was up 3-1 on the Golden State Warriors and the conference final. They ended up losing.

That's the worst loss in franchise history when they lost that series. Guess what's going to replace it if they lose on Sunday? Because this isn't a 73-win Golden State Warrior team. It's a very good 50-win Indiana Pacer team, but Oklahoma City would have had two chance. Tons of pressure on them on Sunday at home. Yeah, but this is where the great, this is where the best player theory comes in. Yeah.

If you got the best player, and I think we're going to agree, the best player is, oh, wait, the MVP, Chey Gilders-Elexander. It's his time. Yeah. It's his stage. Let's see what's up.

You're right. In baseball, the Padres and Dodgers played each other with edge all week. Fernando Tatees, Jr. and Shohei got drilled by pitchers for the second time in three days last. night. The Tatis plunking led to the bench as

managers got tossed in the top of the ninth, as was Padre's closer Robert Suarez after he hit Otani in the bottom of the frame looked intentional to me. The Padres won last night, but the Dodgers took three or four in the series. Frank, this ongoing beef, is it good or bad for baseball? Well, that's like saying is Yankees Red Sox good for baseball, Cubs Cardinals, good for baseball, Dodgers Giants. happens in these rivalries. And last night, you know, Tatis said after the game, because Jack Little

was the pitcher that hit him. He was making his major league debut. And even Tatis said, well, I don't know if it was intentional, but how many times are they going to hit me? You want to how many times it's been? It's been three times in the last nine days, five times since, you know, 2024. So I know fans all like to hear this, but the players like to be in a position where they police themselves. So if you're going to hit Tatis, you know what the Padres are going to do? They're going to wait for Otani to come up and they're going to drill them with a hundred mile an hour fastball. Now, the fans are going to say, I don't, you know, people don't like baseball. Say, how can you have a sport like this? No one wants to see anybody get hurt. But baseball for the

longest time, the players like to police themselves in these situations. Everyone understands it. And, Mike, when O'Tani came up to the plate, you don't think that he knew that there was a chance that he was going to get drilled. That's why when the benches started to clear, he told everyone just stay. Don't worry about it. I'll go to first base. I love that when he waved them off. I love that, Frank, look, I'm watching that game live. One of the cool things is just about being out West now. I love seeing Dodgers Giants and Dodgers Padres. Dodgers Padres, sorry, it's better than Yankees Red Sox right now because of the fire. And because you're getting some consistency now with personalities, you're getting it for a second full season at Otani has now been a Dodger.

It's great for baseball. Not good. It's great. And by the way, the Dodgers at the center of everything. because they got this going on with San Francisco. We're going to see more. That all summer. It's too bad. There's a hiatus with the Padres until August.

They might even have it with the Diamondbacks. Who, you know, who have Diamondbacks have flexed lately and been in the World Series. So you got, you got this blue blood royalty, blue literally, at the center of all these things. And, man, the Padres don't back down from them. And, in fact, eliminated the Dodgers once in recent time. I had three chances in the postseason. But they hit on time. Still, even though you sort of knew it, Frank, I'm sitting there thinking,

are they going to hit Otani? Boom. And it was jarring to see. It was. And I don't like the fighting and the intentional beaning. Yeah. But I got to admit, if I'm going to make an exception, if I'm going to make one this summer, it's going to be for Dodgers project. And, Mike, you know how it works, too, with players.

It's one thing to get drilled in the hip, one thing to maybe get it in the back. When you get it on your hands, that's something, you know, you could be out for a long time. Do you think it was intentional to Tatis? Remember, that's a picture coming on in relief, make his Major League debut. You think he's doing that? I don't think so. No, I don't think so, but I'm like Tatis, somebody's tango hit me. You're in that uniform.

You've got to be accountable. Three times and nine days. Time for a break. Crazy. Coming up. Sammy Sosa, there's a name, boys and girls, returns to Rigley for the first time in more than 20 years. And the U.S. beats Saudi Arabia and Lino-Messi and Inter-Milan, inter-Maiami. I did it again.

Top FC Porto, which is the bigger deal. By the way, eight batters in that series hit by a pitch. Eight. Time to include the viewers in the proceedings. Frank, you've got the mailbox. What's first? Yeah. This is how we used to communicate.

Mail time? Before podcasts were invented. Yeah. Used to be just through the mail. That's how we did it. All right, Mike, bigger deal in soccer, the U.S. men's national team beating Saudi Arabia or Lino Messy and Inmate. Inter-Miamy topping FC Porto in the Club World Cup.

I'm going to admit the messy goal, just watching the video of it and hearing it, it was just spectacular. It is, it's messy scoring. I always think I'm not going to feel any kind of way about it. And then when he does it, it's like, oh, my goodness, you know, these goals are all historic. But you know what, Frank, I'm going to go off script a little bit. PSG and Chelsea playing in the Club World Cup, the first Club World Cup, they both lost

to Brazilian teams. The Rose Bowl was where PSG lost to a Brazilian team. The South American teams haven't lost. I'm going to leave the specifics of the United States and their evening up to you. But that's worldwide stuff. And you've got a game in the Rose Bowl. You've got teams like PSG and Chelsea involved.

That's bigger to me. Yeah, watching Flamingo from Brazil just within the last couple of hours beat Chelsea from Philadelphia. I mean, the crowd, the South American crowds between the Brazilian crowds, And the crowds from Argentina have been unbelievable. And for PSG to lose to Fodafogo, it's another Brazilian team.

PSG just won Champions League. You know, that's the best club team. They should be the best club team in the world. That's a massive upset. As for the U.S. men's national team, really good performance last night. And somebody that has stood out, Mike, and you'll get a chance to see him a lot. Because the way that he's going, he's going to be starting at centerback. And that's Chris Richards, who ended up scoring off a set piece,

Sebastian Burrhalter, whose dad was the manager at the last. World Cup. He had the assist, but Chris Richards, who plays for Crystal Palace over in England, was good at both ends. He's a really good player. So the U.S. advances like they always do in the Gold Cup. The competition will get a lot harder, but that's a really good one. Really good one. Quiet's down the crowd. Tams it down for now. What's next? All right. Mike, this is right up your rally. How did Sammy Sosa's return to Wrigley Field? Rigley Field today feel for you. he's back. I'm relieved it's over.

I mean, Sosa parted company, Sosa and the Cubs Party Company badly. Badly. And basically, the Cubs were waiting for what amounted to an apology. I don't know there was real apology. Yeah. For Sosa and all that went on, we know why Sosa, like, a generation of stars

is not in the Hall of Fame, and we don't know he's going to get there. But for Sosa to be seen to come back for you, look, the most beloved players in the 140-year history of the Cubs. Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Fergie Jenkins, Sammy Sosa, even more maybe than Rizzo

and Chris Bryant and Javi, who won a World Series after 108 years awaiting. And Sammy Sosa was that, it was warm and fuzzy. It reminds us of a great time in baseball before we were naively thinking, let these balls fly out of every ballpark,

including Wrigley Field. When he and Mark McGuire kind of saved, brought baseball back, They resuscitated it off that 94 work stoppers that seemed to kill the sport. So it's belated, but I'm just relieved. I'm glad it's done. I'm glad he's back and we hugged him. I'm sending hugs to Sammy right now.

I can't believe you didn't mention Ryan Sandberg and Mark Grace, but, oh, well. Ryan Sandberg, Rhino. Sorry, Rhino. Didn't mean he'll ever leave you out. All right. So that was his first time back at Wrigley Field since the final day of the 04 season when he just left Wrigley Field. So that was part of it in the first.

inning of the final game. But Greg counsel had the manager of the Cubs had a great quote. He said, the wind's blowing out today. Sammy wanted to be in the lineup. But Mike, as you know, with this whole thing with steroids, and I get it, it upsets people, a lot of baseball purists, but do you think the fans really care? They didn't.

Sammy Sosa brought them a lot of joy, a lot of home runs, time passes, and they're okay with him being back. 21 years, a long time. But, Frank, people did feel a certain way at the time. Yes. Now, some of those people have passed on. A lot of them ain't in the ballpark.

A lot of them said, okay, it's been long enough. Whatever the case is individually, hugs for Sammy. Welcome back. Thanks for your email. We're going to take one last break for still to come. Did Sam Bidded just reveal whether he's going to be returning to the Panthers? And will the Mets' sixth game losing street continue in their showdown with the Phillies? Just for the record, Mike did not mention beloved Cubs, Ryan Sandberg, Mark Grace.

I apologize. Sam Burke and he's not with he's not more popular than Ernie or Sosa. I'm all right but you meant. You need to get happy people. Happy 29th birthday, Sam Bennett. The Panthers surly star just won the Khan-Smith trophy to go along with the team Stanley Cup. But his future is still in question as he's due to become a free agent. But last night at a cup celebration in Miami, Bennett borrowed from the wolf of Wall Street and told Panthers fans,

I ain't bleeping leaving. Behind him, the screen read eight more years. Despite the optimism, SportsNet reports that no extension has been reached, not yet. I mean, he's in the prime of his career, Mike. He scored 15 goals in the playoffs, five in the Stanley Cup finals. I'm bringing him back. I think he'll be back with Florida. He's going to do whatever you need to bring him back.

Yep. Happy anniversary tomorrow to the 2018 NBA draft class. Around this day, seven years ago, a series of players interdelead. that shaped this season. Luca went third to the Hawks who traded him to the Mavs for the fifth pick, Tray Young. At number 11, the Hornets took

Shake Gildedus Alexander, number 11, Frank, who they later traded to the Clippers who eventually traded him to the Thunder where he just won the MVP, and early in the second round, the Maverick selected Jalen Brunson, who later left, of course, to the Knicks.

Other big names, Jared Jackson, Mikhail Bridges, Michael Porter Jr. If we redrafted today, Would first pick DeAndre Aiton and second pick Marvin Bagley Jr. even make the top 10? Maybe not. And based on this year, you'd probably go SGA, Luca, Jalen Brunson, one, two, three. You know, five of those top 14 picks have been to an NBA finals. Michael Porter Jr., of course, won it with the Denver Nuggets. Yeah, and Aiton, it wouldn't be in the top ten, but he did get to the NBA finals.

That's right. Happy trails to Jonathan Taze's absence. While it won't be official until July 1, a long-time Blackhawks captain is reportedly returning to the NHL with his hometown Winnipeg Jets. 37-year-old Tave set out the last two seasons as he battled the effects of long COVID. He and Patrick Kane led my Blackhawks to three Stanley Cups, and he won two Olympic gold medals with Canada.

Taze was also named one of the top 100 players in the first 100 years of the NHL. I'll miss him on my Blackhaw's. But we'll continue to rule for him as a general. It'd be a pretty cool story if he wins one with Winnipeg. The president's trophy winners this year, knocked out in the second round by Dallas. Would you be okay if they won it? Winnipeg?

I know you were for Edmonton. Winnipeg? I would be okay if they wanted it. It would be a good story. You're right about that. Absolutely. He and Kane, what a tag team. Man, I'm longing for those days now.

All right, let's move to the big finish. John Quell Jones of the Liberty. Re-injured her ankle last night in the loss of the Mercury. Is that significant? It is. You know, everyone talks about Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Onescu, Johnquell Jones, is a big-time player. The Stanley Cup ratings were below those of the Four Nations face-off.

Are you surprised? Florida, Edmonton, June, the month of June, maybe I'm not that surprised. The Four Cups was in February when you play hockey. Yahoo reports that the University of Wisconsin is suing the University of Miami for poaching a player under contract in college, Frank. Gentlemen, start your attorneys. Mike, this is the first, not going to be the last with all this NIL stuff and transfer portal. It's ridiculous. All right, the Red Sox and the Giants for the first time since Sir Raphael Devers was traded. What do you expect? Not much. Fans of the Bay Area don't care about that. It's too bad this isn't in Fenway. Last one, the Mets have lost six straight. How are they going to do in that battle for first place in the division with the Phil's over the next three? Philly's have won seven and eight. Both teams tied at 45 and 30. That's going to be a good series.

We're out of time. Thanks for watching. I'm Frank I saw it. And I'm Mike Will Bond. Have a great weekend knuckleheads. Frank, you know what we got coming up Sunday night. Game seven. Here's SportsCenter.