PTI - The NBA is Back! Recapping Night One of the 2026/27 Season

Episode Date: October 21, 2026

Michael Wilbon and Frank Isola discuss the first night of NBA being back! Should Knicks fans be on edge after their ring night loss, are we impressed by LeBron James' and the 76ers performance, also who had the worse opening loss: Spurs or Celtics? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Uh, hold music. Not what you want to hear when a pipe dispersed in your basement is flooding. That's why Intact Insurance answers 2 million claim calls per year within 20 seconds. So instead of hearing this lovely track, you'll hear this in seconds. Hello, Intact Insurance. Pardon the interruption, but I'm Mike Wilbon, and we're celebrating our 25th anniversary, 25. The special at 5 p.m. Eastern Time tomorrow. I'm Frank Isola.

Don't worry. Tony will be back. It's okay. I'm not feeling it tomorrow. It's his show. How do you know he's not being taken by people out on the beach? Who knows? Who knows what Tony is?

I'm ready. I'm ready to go. Just... Good. We can go to the bullpen and get you if we need to. Welcome to PTI. Tony has the day off. So I'm joined by our great friend from the starting lineup on Sirius XM,

Mr. Frank Isola. Kind of like the Celtics a little bit. a little bit. I'm like San Antonio. Kind of. Kind of like that. We're going to start with the Sixers beating the Knicks to spoil Ring Night in Madison Square Garden. LeBron put up 14, 9, and 7 and played some center, mostly defensively, in his Sixers' debut. Tyrese Maxie added 28. Jaylon Brown 19 and Joelle M. B had three blocks for Philly in a game that Nick coach Mike

Brown called Ugly. Frank, what did last night say to you about the revamped Sixers? You know, it's still a work in progress. I kind of like those numbers. I think Maxie, Jalen Brown, will lead them most nights in scoring. But I think you saw the impact of LeBron James, Mike, because if you go back to the last two years, the Knicks absolutely smoked Philadelphia in the playoffs,

especially last year when they swept them in four games, and there was really no competition. This time, Philly takes the lead in the third quarter. They don't lose the lead in the fourth. And there were two plays that LeBron made. One was O'Jan and Obie with the ball, Nicks are down four, just under two minutes to go. LeBron denies the pass to Carl Anthony Towns.

O.G. throws it across court. Maxie steals it, six-point game. Next possession down, LeBron blocks McKell Bridges. LeBron makes winning plays. He's constantly thinking out there. They have a player that they haven't had before. I understand he's 41. He's not going to play probably 70 games, much less 82.

But in the fourth quarter, he's still the one guy on that team, Mike, that I could count on. Frank, the sentence you said that I'm going to agree with, and uses the springboarders. LeBron makes winning plays. Of course, that's what he's done his whole life, whatever, 20 plus years. He does it all the time. But I'm much more interested

in looking at the big picture of the 76ers than winning last night. Ring nights, as you know, often go a ride for the championship team. Their emotions are all over the place. They're not locked into the game they're about to play. We saw this, including with Michael Jordan,

and we saw this with Kobe and Shaq. So I'm not, I just don't care about the specific. of last night. Now, I care about what the Sixers are going to look like. And it was interesting what they can look like. And Embed, as you know after the game, talked about defense and him being an all defensive player again. I just wonder if that's sustainable. Can you ask him with those knees to go out and guard? No. Like he did last night like he wants to do. And that requires LeBron to play down in the hole against senators. And then not that many guys are back to the

basket. So maybe LeBron can do it. that. They have all the elements. They have a great coach. I just, I want to, last night doesn't tell me anything about the revamped Sixers. We're going to learn that night after night, week after week, as we get past Christmas and into the new year. It's a promise. It's a wonderful promise to start the season with. Yeah. 11 for 40 on threes was driving me nuts. And you mentioned being flat. I thought the Knicks certainly were, you know, but I'm not worried about the Knicks. I have confidence in their starting five come playoff time, assuming everyone stays healthy. Something interesting, though, I thought Mike Brown waited way too long to get Jalen Brunson back in the game. He waited until

it was 522 to go. And when Jalen came in, he just didn't have it. But again, like you said, it's only one game. I think the next are going to be fine. Game one. That's right. All right, let's turn to the other two games from opening day in the NBA, the Celtics. They got 38 from Paul George, but they coughed up at 22.3 quarter lead and lost to the Pistons and the Spurs. getting tough for Chad Hongren, fell to the thunder as Victor Wenbinoa, Mike, won for 13 from the field. So which team do you think had the worst opening day loss? The Celtics or the Spurs? This ain't close. It's the Spurs. The game mattered to the Spurs. Did the Pistons and Celtics get into a fight with each other? No. This is about, this season is about, people can make it about LeBron if they want to and maybe it'll get to that.

It ain't about that to me first and foremost. It's about San Antonio and OKC. OKC wants something back they feel was stolen from them, taken from them. That's right. Last year by San Antonio. Did you see Shea Gildes-Alexander? Did you hear him post-game? We don't ever see that.

He goes to his coach at one point when he took him out of the game and said, what are you doing to Mark Dagnoll? Put me back in the game. He wanted that game. He wanted to punch San Antonio figuratively in the fact. and those two met, and this is the best rivalry in the NBA. Not the Nixon Celtics, not the Nixon Sixers. No, San Antonio OKC.

So I know who had the worst loss. When Banyama was talking to himself after this loss, that is a great way to start this season. I can't wait to see the next three games between those two, and I can only wish there were like seven more of them in the regular season. And if you remember, you go back to the Western Conference finals, Chad Holmgren, and rightfully so, got criticized for his performance. But it's as if everyone forgot, he played really well when they won the title.

And I thought him playing well, and I thought his teammates come in his defense with that little dust up that he had with Deeran Fox was pretty big. Then he had the three Williams on Oklahoma City. I think that's the first time in NBA history. Three Williams on the same team all got a technical foul at the same time. But one thing about the Celtics, Mike, this is now the Jason Tatum era. he goes six for 23, 0 for 7 on threes. He's going to be judged, failure or unfairly, how he performs without Jalen Brown, because

without Jason Tatum, Jaylen Brown put together an MVP type of year. One other thing about the Celtics, when they gave up that 230 run, you go back the last couple of years, Mike, when they lose and they need a basket, all they do is launch threes. When they fell behind by one, their next four possessions, two Paul George's threes that he misses, Tatum missed the three, and then Derek White missed the three. They rely way too much on that shot, and it's burned them in the past. It burned them again yesterday. Amen, Frank.

And just to put a point on this, you know the pistons are better, right? The pistons are better than the Celtics. That's why I have the pistons as my number two seed in the Eastern Conference. They could be won, but they're better. They start the season better than the Celtics, and they want this. I'm not sure that's important to the Celtics where they finish in the Eastern Conference as long as it's in the top four or five. And now to the World Series.

Brewer's ace, Jacob Mizorowski, is expected to take the ball for Milwaukee in Friday's game one. The Miz led all major league pitchers with a 1.8 ERA in the regular season. But that number's up to 3-2-4 and two postseason starts, neither of which lasted even five innings. Frank heading into the World Series, should the Brewers be very concerned, somewhat concerned, or, about the miss. You said it. I'm going to be somewhat concerned because one of the best pitchers in baseball

has not pitched like the best pitcher in baseball. I was at game one against San Diego. San Diego was the hottest team in baseball. They were getting deep into the count. His pitch count was up. But Mike, the velocity was there. He just isn't, you know, he's not locating his pitch is great. The same thing happened against the Dodgers.

Here's the thing. They won both of those starts. Now, against the Padres, he had five days. off. Against the Dodgers, seven days off, this time will be 11 days off. I don't know how that will impact him, but here's the thing about Mizorowski. He has a chance to do

what Yamamoto did last year in the World Series, become an even bigger start. Remember Madison Bungartner, the great World Series that he's had? So everyone's heard the name, people are really going to get a chance to see him. I hope he performs because he needs to perform better than he did his first two starts of the

postseason. He does, Frank. I mean, Milwaukee would like that. But the fact is, they won the two games. You need your starter in an old-fashioned definition of what a starter does, which nobody even understands anymore. You need his team to win the games. That's what the Miz did.

It was not his best by a long shot. You talked about the locating of pitches, even if the velocity is here, okay, fine. He's had days now to work on that. I think there will be rust at the beginning of the game, but he's rested. He ought to be able to get them through six plus in game one. I'm looking for him to win game one as his team, his team, won those other two games. So, I mean, the definition of what a successful start is to me is very different, okay,

from what all the analytics people may think. If the Miz goes out there and keeps his team in it and he walks off that mound, down one run tighter with the lead, he will have done his job. Yeah, and he'll probably get two starts. Coming up, we'll ask Steve Young whether Josh Allen's shovel pass was a risk he would have taken. And we'll also ask him about tomorrow night's matchup between Drake May and Caleb Williams. Hold music. Not what you want to hear when a pipe dispersed in your basement is flooding. That's why Intact Insurance answers 2 million claim calls per year within 20 seconds.

So instead of hearing this lovely track, you'll hear this in seconds. Hello, Intact Insurance. Unlock unlimited free grocery delivery with PC Express Pass. Shop online and get the same low No Frills prices delivered. Get your first year of PC Express Pass for just $2.50 a month. Learn more at no frills.ca. We've got NFL questions for the man who just went. Get this, 10 for 10 as a guest picker on college game day,

Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young. Steve, are you still glowing in this? I'm trying not to make any more predictions by kids the other day. What else do you predict, Dad? You know, because I don't want to run out. I'm signing off. I'm 10 for 10. I'm done.

That's right. You should retire. Retire, undefeated. All right, well, you were an incredibly creative quarterback in your time with the league. I know you were watching as Josh Allen did, whatever you want to call that shove, push, lob pass the other night for a touchdown. Would you have been comfortable trying something like that? Or would Bill Walsh have yanked you? When you saw that, how does that work in your head for a quarterback to even attempt that play, Steve?

I'd be classic, Bill. Anyone else, the coach was like, no, no, no, no, yes. You know, it's like that's how it usually goes. But that's the full measure, Michael, of the way called dual threat quarterback. Now, remember, dual threat is not, it's not a runner who can throw. Right? That's how people say, oh, he can run around. and he can throw. It's a sophisticated passer. Someone getting every measure of the in the pocket stuff

and then who has the calculus to understand when to go and use his superpower. That is true dual threat. There's not many. And so when Josh Allen does that for me, it makes me just smile because he takes every inch of the pocket. He can do it all. Yet he still figured out a way to use all this athletic ability and just force capitulations from defenses. And then the flip of the ball. I knew it was something special because like, dang, I wish I would have thought to do that. Dang, I was like, the game is a dual threat game, the dual threat game has come some distance, and Josh is taking it to new heights. I mean, it is fun to watch. Let me ask you about another quarterback who's been described as a dual threat.

A couple of weeks ago, Jalen Hertz, he plays with the doctor's approval with what was thought to be a superficial blood clot. It made me wonder, have you ever been a situation before where you thought, you know what, I really shouldn't be out here, but I feel like I owe it to my teammates and the team. Hundreds of times? No, I'm just kidding. I think there was one in particular. It was a championship game in Green Bay, and I'd broken my, I don't know, something that happened with my rib. And they told me all week, I couldn't sleep. I couldn't move. I couldn't do anything. I'm like, don't worry about it. We'll shoot it up before the game. It'll be fine. And so we get to the game, we go out to the Lambeau field, we're shooting it up, and I go out to work out, I'm like, bro, it's not fine. Do they give me more? And it's like, and at some point, like, well, we can't give you any more.

Like, if it's not numb, something's wrong. I end up going out and trying to play for a series. And I'm like, I literally can't play. And so then I, about three weeks later, I'm back at, I was back on campus at BYU for something. And I went down to the training room and I was like, man, I still can't. It's not getting any better. And then one of the chiropractors took me over and he's like, lay down here. Let me do something.

And boom. He hits my rib and it pops back into joint. My rib was out of joint. Like, just pop it back. I stood up. I'm like, oh, I feel great. It's like one of the best things ever. Like, you just, you can't imagine missing a championship game

because we didn't get the rib pop back in. And so playing hurt is definitely on the, is on the dance card a lot for a lot of guys. And it was for me as well. Yeah. You know, we've talked about, you've talked about Jane Dan, before. He had another big play, misplay, throwing the ball out of bounds on 4th down. I got to ask you, how much of that

decision-making is something the team needs to coach, and how much is it something that the quarterback should just know at this point? The quarterback has a no. I mean, it's just, that's the sophisticated job you're paid to do. And there is a training period.

There is a period where you leave college, and I think you should know it in college, personally. I think you should have the game, like, you should have the details of the game. And so it's, in a way it's it's it's I don't think it's inexcusable I don't make headlines but it's just not it's not you're not playing quarterback the way that you need to play you need to be and maybe it's an empowerment from the sidelines I've said many times if you want great quarterbacking empower the quarterback to make the decisions on the field timeouts what to you know what to do in tight situations clock management like

they're not going to handle it all you'll talk to them in their ear you'll give them advice but the the the the accountability sits with the guy with the ball in his hands And so when you don't have that system set up, then the quarterback ends up not living out that accountability and can miss things. So I think maybe that's part of it. But at the end of the day, I was at the game. And when he threw it away, I'm like, like, bro, no. Like that's not NFL quarterback.

You can't do that. We're going to talk about two quarterbacks who've played a little bit better, certainly recently. Thursday night opponent, Steve, Drake May and Caleb Williams, both in their third seasons now, both having so much promise, and I know you've watched them closely. What are your thoughts about the two of them as you go into this game where they play each other?

Well, we talk about dual threat, right? We talk about what is that truly? It's a sophisticated passer in the pocket, doing everything else that anyone else is doing in the league from the pocket, yet has this superpower. And they both have it in different measures. And what I would say to each of them, they're on their way to getting there.

I would say that Drake May is further along in the sophisticated passing department, but not as much of the Superman stuff. So I think that he's ahead right now because of that, because the sophisticated passing is the job. That's the job you have to do. And as Caleb works into that, because he has so much of the Superman stuff on the other side,

as he develops more and more sophisticated passing, he can pass Drake and pass everyone else. He can be that guy. He's the sophisticated pass that I thought Lamar Jackson, as he got more and more, like Patrick Mahomes, like Josh Allen's doing, And, like, they can be the best that ever played. And I think that Caleb has that ability.

But he's got to work on that sophisticated passing. Steve, thanks so much. You know we love having you. Okay. We're going to take one last break, but still to come. Steve's Warriors explore trade options for one of the veteran players. I forgot to ask them about that one second that Notre Dame is owed. And will the Giants start J.J. McCarthy or James Winston on Sunday?

We've got your answer. Hold music. Not what you want to hear when a pipe dispersed in your basement is flooding. That's why intact insurance answers 2 million claim calls per year within 20 seconds. So instead of hearing this lovely track, you'll hear this in seconds. Hello, intact insurance. Unlock unlimited free grocery delivery with PC Express Pass. Shop online and get the same low No Frills prices delivered. Get your first year of PC Express Pass for just $2.50 a month.

Learn more at no-frills.ca. Pardon the interruption, but I'm Mike Wilbon, and welcome to opening day in this bizarre television experiment. And I'm Tony Kornheiser, and if we can have a TV show, you can have a TV show. It's content in sports. We know we know it. You know it better than your show and your show and your show. Players know.

You believe that story? No, no. Winning is never enough. I've had enough. I'm done. I'm done. I'm out. Are there any? Any unwritten rules of PTI? Just one.

Don't touch the talent. I'm with that. And watch out! Yell at each other, love each other. That's the magic. I never have to worry about you guys having a hidden agenda. That's what make y'all show great. Don't touch the talent, Frank.

You heard on programming note. Our 25th anniversary special is going to air tomorrow at 5 Eastern with some special surprises we're told. And then we'll be back with a normal show at 5.30 Eastern. Now, let's get happy. Happy. Happy 36th birthday, Ricky Rubio. We've been talking about this kid on this show for nearly 20 years since he made his Euro League debut after just turning 16. Rubio was drafted fifth by the T. Wolves in 2009.

Two picks ahead of Steph Curry, but played the next two seasons at FC Barcelona before moving to Minnesota in 2011. Rubio was a good player for many years for the wolves, jazz, sons, and calves, but never an all-star. star. He retired from the NBA two years ago to focus on his mental health. Former Timberwolves teammate Kevin Love recently told the Desire News that he called Rubio to apologize, saying, and I'm quoting Love now, one of my biggest regrets is that I wish I was a better teammate for him because he really cared. He radiated goodness. He built guys up. I was selfish, angry, bitter, entitled, and arrogant. But more than anything, I was a bad teammate, Most quote, what a wonderfully unique endorsement, Frank.

You know, it really is. You mentioned that draft, so Rubio gets picked. Minnesota has the next pick. They take another point guard Johnny Flynn out of Syracuse. Then Step Curry gets taken. They passed over Step twice in that draft. Minnesota did. How history changes.

Happy anniversary to the Philadelphia Phillies. Get this. On this day, 46 years ago, the Phillies won their first World Series in the franchise is 97. year of existence, beating the Kansas City Royals in six. This was the last time before this season's matchup between the Rays and Brewers. The two teams entered the World Series, neither having won one prior. And the last time before this, 1920.

Mike Schmidt hit 381 in one series MVP. Steve Carlton went 2 and O. Tug McGraw had a win and two saves out of the pen. You know, growing up a Met fan, I knew this Phillies team very well. well and they were great. A couple of names on that team. Larry Bowie, the second baseman, was outstanding, and then they brought Pete Rosen, who knew how to win.

Winstonly enough, they won with Pete Rose. He did. He knew how to win. A sad happy trails to Julian San, Ohio State Star quarterback is out indefinitely after suffering an injury to his throwing arm in Saturday's win over

defending champion Indiana. Buckass coach Ryan Day City's doubtful that San Diego will play again in the regular season. Ouch. And it's putting together plans to play without the Heism and finalists in the regular season and playoffs. Tough blow. Ohio State still has to play Oregon, 24th ranked Northwestern, and of course, Michigan.

Good luck to Ohio State with that schedule. Well, good luck except for one of those games. We're running out of show. Let's get to the big finish. The Warriors are reportedly exploring trade options for Chris Stap's Porzingas. Frank, does that make sense? It does. I love Chris Defts. I've known him for a long time. He just can't stay healthy. That's the problem.

He's got that type of illness. They still haven't found the cause. Maryland Fire head coach, Mike Loxley, your thoughts. We've been waiting on this for weeks now. It was just a matter of days. The Giants plan to start J.J. McCarthy against the Texan Sunday. You okay with that? Yeah, you knew it was going to happen sooner already. He played well against the Saints. 11 more NBA openers tonight, most intriguing one. I got a saying.

other than watching Caleb Wilson, Lamello versus Janice in Miami. I'm into that one. Last one, Valkyrie's Dream Game 3 tonight, who you got. I got to figure out a way to stop Angel Reese, but Gabby Williams is a big bounceback game. And your friend Veronica Burton, and hit a big night out of her as well.

We're out of time. Thanks for watching. I'm Frank Isola. And I'm Mike Wilbonny. Remember anniversary show tomorrow, Knuckleheads. Hold music. Not what you want to hear when a pipe dispersed in your basement is flooding. That's why intact insurance answers 2 million claim calls per year within 20 seconds. So instead of hearing this lovely track, you'll hear this in seconds. Hello, intact insurance.