The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Local Hour: What Happened To The Mecca?

Episode Date: May 20, 2024

Today's cast: Dan, Stugotz, Chris, Jeremy, JuJu, Mike, and Roy. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. The Knicks. Lost. Game 7. At home. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. The Mecca choked. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Did you see all those sad celebrities? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. The Pacers had the best Game 7 offense in 60 years. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Plus, the Timberwolves stopped the unstoppable force, JuJu enjoys his victory laps, and Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic closed out the Choklahoma City Thunder. Also, we get back to WFAT. Because the Knicks. Lost. Game 7. At home. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to Giraffe King's Network. Chris, do you know the whereabouts of Stugatz? He was here a moment ago. He was rummaging around the bacon and then we're supposed to start. And he vanishes because I don't think he's going to enjoy everything that happens today He just mud he's coming in right now. He's just like, uh, Nick's he just gave you an a muttering ma under his breath Broken ma he knows what he's in for today He was fun while it lasted

It was it was a good time Everyone's afraid to play at the Mecca because it's so hard to play and you don't want the electricity of a game seven and unless you have an offense that's better than any in 60 years. 60 years. Games are supposed to be low scoring in game seven. They all look like Minnesota, Denver because everybody's sphincter gets real tight except the Pacers Yeah, and Minnesota No, they didn't I mean they scored under a hundred points to like it wasn't Anthony Edwards was not

Terrible offensively they were not good, but we don't know how to talk about defense or cover it So I'm seeing right now is Anthony Edwards the face of the NBA when he goes six for 24 and he didn't have much of anything to do with why they won last night. Is he the face of the Timberwolves? How about that? I mean, Carl Anthony Towns. Jesus. It is super interesting to me, our inability to celebrate defense.

Do you realize that the Denver offense in that series would have ranked 30th in the league if you just took points per possession over the course of the season like we all thought Gobert was a bad trade there was nobody who was arguing that Gobert was a good trade I didn't hear anybody making the argument anywhere in the media that Minnesota trading for Gobert was a good trade and yet I just saw Denver's champion offense dragged into the quicksand. They've got an unstoppable player and you've got after the game you've got Anthony Edwards yelling and screaming in the locker room and outside

the locker room that he put the handcuffs on Jamal Murray. He was 6 of 24. I know. I want to hear about it. Well but he advances and he did advance that was a big win for Minnesota The pressure is on the T Wolves now damn you got to finish it off like there are expectations now I think they're the best team in the West and no one believes in the Celtics. So they have expectations Yeah, and what though like well doesn't matter who cares they had they had Expectations in that series after winning the first two games They need to defending champs and yokich. They have a 20-point lead You beat them on their home court in a game seven and they're suddenly

Let's keep our eye on the ball I know you're gonna do a lot of this today talking about how everyone else has expectations Not your team that lost a game seven deflecting my next pain, Dan. Yeah, it's again a historically awful performance from the Knicks that's totally understandable because everyone for them got hurt. But you were saying when you left last week time for the Mecca to bring one home. Time for the Mecca to win one for me and the energy was drained out of that place immediately.

They wasted the Willis-Reed moment that they tried to get. They drugged up poor Ananobe in a way that made him seem to not know where he was. They drugged him up to get the Willis-Reed moment. They got the Willis-Reed moment, and then spent the rest of the game down by 20. You're going to miss the Knicks. I mean, you are. I don't care what anyone says.

You're going to miss them. You're going to miss the fans. You're going to miss the Mecca. Not really. I'm going to miss being able to do this show. I only get to do this show once. Only once a postseason do you get to do this show once. Only once a postseason do you get to do this show. The biggest game in Nick's history had more sad celebrities than I've ever seen in one place.

This is the Don LeBattor Show with the Stugats Podcast. Today's episode is sponsored by DraftKings. Stay tuned because you'll hear more about DraftKings and all it has to offer throughout the show. DraftKings, the crown is yours. Halliburton Stugat has now gotten deeper in the Eastern Conference finals than Joelle Embiid ever has. You have in Pascal Siakam, someone who is twice now, made it deeper into an Eastern Conference postseason than all of the process pieces. The Knicks, do you know how long their drought is

without making an Eastern Conference Finals in relation to the rest of the league, longest droughts without getting to a conference finals? It's got to be 90s I want to say I don't know 30 years? It was the year 2000 they've got the third longest drought in the sport it's only behind the Wizards and the Hornets like the real bottom of the barrel stuff and the loudest and biggest Knicks season or the last two seasons the loudest and biggest Knicks season, or the last two seasons, the loudest and biggest this century, eliminated by an eight,

eliminated by a six, barely squeaked past a seven. Those are the two loudest seasons in the Knicks history this century, and good God, did ESPN soak that shit in bias. I don't blame Pacacer's fans for being an unholy kind of upset at how that became a celebration of the next even while the pacer's to god are putting together through three quarters the best offensive performance

that there's been in a game seven since nineteen sixty three red they miss no shots that there's been in a game seven since 1963. They missed no shots. How is that possible that the Pacers, is it just because the Knicks were injured? Is it just because the Knicks were playing a bunch of substitute players that shouldn't have been on the court that the Pacers were able to go through

the entirety of that game missing like four or five shots when the game was being decided? I mean, the Knicks have been doing that the entire series. They've been short, their bench has been shortened, Randall's been hurt and they played fine. They made it to a game seven on their home court. The Pacers had a great night. I mean, that's it.

The Pacers had a great shooting night, a legendary shooting night, the greatest shooting night in the history of the NBA playoffs. There's not much you could do about it when you consider the fact that they had that night and the Knicks are depleted. They just are. I mean, everyone's hurt. Now, listen, it was a great season for the

Knicks and I'm tired of people making fun of the fans. Like, the fans got caught up in a great moment. There were great moments throughout this playoff run if you want to call it a playoff run into the Eastern Conference semifinals. But enough knocking Nick fans, okay? They were loud, they were boisterous. Why? We haven't been there in a while,

and because Jalen Brunson provided us with some of the greatest moments in NBA playoff history. He did. I mean, for us. For us. For us. I deserve it. What happened to the Mecca being hard to play in

and you don't wanna play in there in a game seven and the six seed to play in and you don't want to play in there in a game seven and the six seed should be scared. This is why you don't want game seven, Dan. Well, if you have confidence in your team and you're better than the other team, you should want game seven. Awful take, now again. We had no confidence in our team.

What we had confidence in was the Mecca, was the fans, was that building. There is food flying out of my mouth right now. There's fear, Dana. What happened to the Mecca being a hard place to play? It is a hard place to play. It wasn't yesterday, I mean. It's a pretty good time for it to be a hard place to play.

That would have been a good time to summon whatever that is. The Mecca choked, Dan. I mean, it was awfully quiet is all I'm saying. When I'm hearing Isaiah Jackson miss a free throw so that the Pacers can merely be up 19 and everyone's really happy that the Pacers have missed a free throw, they got to within five.

Oh, that run though. That building was rocking. That was the Mecca pulling the Knicks to within six, I think, at one point in the third quarter. But what happened then? But what happened after that? The Mecca got the Knicks to within six I think at one point. But what happened then? But what happened after that? Mecca got tired, Dan. Yeah, did they? Yeah. Well, I did feel bad for Brunson. They were picking him up full court and the intent throughout was just to bury him in fatigue.

I thought Stu got something interesting last night. Obviously, you can't go wrong if you're a coach and you play Jokic all the minutes. But he was exhausted. And the reason they got all those rebounds and all those offensive rebounds, I mean, they might have gotten him if he wasn't exhausted. He was exhausted because he was playing all the minutes and guys that size don't play all the minutes. And at the end of the game,

when that game was being decided, you saw the Timberwolves go up 12-2 because they kept getting second chances because Jokic couldn't keep all those giants. They look awfully small when Jokic is tired. When Jokic is fatigued, all of a sudden you're looking around, hey, where's their power forward? Like where's somebody-

Where's Aaron Gordon? Where's somebody who's gonna grab a, where's Michael Porter? Where's someone who's gonna grab a rebound? Given the nature of how he shoots the ball, I thought it would be very difficult to tell whether or not Jokic has his legs under him because he never gets lift anyways,

but by the end, they were pretty tired shots. And watching Jokic very closely last year, really for the first time, I noticed, man, five minutes into this game, Jokic looks tired, and then his secret to the game was he would just maintain that level of fatigue the entire time. He always looks tired. No, but he always looks like kind of tired,

but he never crosses the threshold. Last night, we crossed the threshold. Dude looked gassed in ways that I've never seen before. This is what I will tell you though, as people talk about, is Anthony Edwards the face of the league, and what happens to another one-time champion, Stugat? Not enough people are gonna talk about the decision to play

Jokic all of the minutes and in the fourth quarter, Minnesota rebounded 70% of its misses. Like when they come back from 20 and Denver can't score, because Denver being in that series, Stugats, because of the Minnesota defense? The 30th ranked offense, if we put what they did in this series in the regular season, they would have been one of the worst offenses in the league. They don't do well when they score fewer than 100 points. How is it that we don't get more expertise in the coverage that focuses on defense

while we obsess about offense all of the time, Stugatz. Who wants to focus on defense, then? Well, that's the reason Minnesota won, though. Like, you might not want to focus on it. You can focus on all the other reasons that you think they won, but the reason they won is because they wore the hell out of Jokic with their big people, just like Juju said.

I assume that's why Juju's dancing. Juju, don't throw your hands up as if you haven't been dancing for seven minutes. I mean, Dan, you make- I'm just a humble participant here, guys. I'm just happy to be alive. Sure you are. I mean, you're making a great point.

The Nuggets had 37 points in the second half. Hey, think about that. 37 points in the second half. Well, I wanna ask you something about how the sport is changing, because I will say to you, get used to ask you something about how the sport is changing, because I will say to you, get used to the idea that a team will come back from 15 down in a game seven. That's the first time that that's happened.

It's the first time it's happened on the road, but get used to that. Once the three pointer becomes that kind of important, you're going to get these wild shifts in scores because it didn't mean much that Denver was up 58-38 in the first half. It didn't mean much that Barkley and others were saying get Gobert off the court because he can't do anything to defend Jokic, but clearly them throwing Reed, Carl Anthony Towns, and Gobert at Jokic presents a set of problems that no one else in the league can present for Denver. Nobody makes Denver look like that. Miami with Bam Adebayo did some of that last year

and didn't have the offense to overcome it and lost in five games. That's not something that you see from a championship level offense and the thing that I wanted to ask you that's also changing now the era of the super team was great for the winning of championships but now in a sport that is traditionally super predictable you have a five a six a three and a one, and you're going to have your sixth champion in six years.

And each time they win the championship, they tend to break apart too. Toronto is in no way in any realm what they were with Kawhi Leonard and Siakam. And I always heard that dynasties were seen as bad for the sport but i don't think that this is better i like it i wouldn't have liked you'll get to win three or four straight titles i don't think that would have been fun for anybody i think it would have felt a little bit like san antonio winning the titles where people you know boring lou wang can't even explain is just i

don't like you'll get his game i just don't i don't like watching any of that. That's not for me. That unstoppable excellence, that's not how, that's not how I want basketball to look. Is six champions in six years good for the sport? Well the ratings would indicate no. I know that they're in a different place,

but sports across the board are up and the NBA is struggling. Some of that's due to the sport changing, but the poison that met the super teams, such as the Miami Heat and the Golden State Warriors, kind of scared players away from it. It scared Kevin Durant away from winning other titles because he wanted to do his own thing.

And not a lot of people are comfortable being the bad guy. I don't think this is great. In a vacuum when you had the Spurs having their run, the Lakers mixed in there, the Heat dating back to the Rockets and Bulls, you always long for a day where there was a little bit more parity in the sport and now that we have it, I'm not sure I love it. You guys sound like losers. I am one. I mean, Yocic had four rebounds in the second half, four in the second half, and they just came at him with wave after wave of just giant bodies. I understand what you're

saying. He was, listen, he was tired. They wore him down. They have three guys. They could throw at him. He did have 34 points and 19 rebounds in a nineteen rebelled under the games and all but still got their offense was bad i'd know and it doesn't matter if you're getting to ninety points against the number one defense in the sport you're going to give up the twenty point lead you allowed way too many second-chance shots and denver's championship was over

the moment that rudy gobert hit that turnaround job yeah i i i i i am going to tell my grandchildren children about that night really don't bear shadow ball into the heavens and it came down not touching an actress unbelievable it's the way it's the way i did not have Jokic being slain that way. Of all the, if you could have predicted for me all the ways, if you had come to me, I don't know, 24 months ago and said, look, this is what's going to happen.

This guy who keeps getting played off the court because he no longer fits, he's a dinosaur trying to fight against fighter jets. It doesn't fit on the court the way the sport is changing. But this is what's gonna happen in a couple of years. Jokic, who's a three-time MVP, is gonna put down his sword because Rudy Gobert's hitting a turnaround jumper that he's floating higher than the shot clock

because he's panicked and there's nowhere else to put the ball except throw it toward the basket because the shot clock because he's panicked and there's nowhere else to put the ball except throw it toward the basket because the shot clock is expiring. Enjoy your horses. You tell me, if you're Jokic in that game. The evil voice. Yeah, but think about this though. You're exhausted.

You're sitting here saying, oh really? Again with the sixth man of the year with a put back. Again with Carl. But I kept Gobert out of here and now it's Carl Anthony Towns who's gonna have the put back. You're exhausted. You wanna go see your horses. It's been two long years. And then that shot goes in. You're like, I'm gonna keep running up and down the court, but I'm thinking of vacation now. I'll keep going, I'll keep trying. Going through the motions.

I will physically go through the motions. You will see me motioning as if my season is not over. But once that falls from the sky, you've gotta be like, okay, this is meant for me, I am destined. It's not in the cards, you know. To just go rest somewhere for the remainder of the season since the dawn of mankind we've cooked our food over an open flame and debated the best way to grill one thing not up for debate grilling and beer always go together and not just any beer will do

whether you barbecue texas style to celebrate wednesday with burgers and dogs you need a beer that tastes great and is less filling so you have more more room for food. You need Mille-Lite. As you guys may or may not know, I'm a pretty decent cook, especially behind the barbecue. So when I start the fire for my smoker on a hot day, really, the only thing that I have to worry about is what wood I'm going to use. The easiest decision for me is what I'll be drinking. That's a nice ice cold can of Mille-Lite. Oh, and by the way, here's a pro tip.

It really goes well with brisket. Mille-Lite keeps it simple, undebatable quality and tastes as great as your barbecue. A perfect companion for grill masters across America. With the Miller Lite in hand, grilling doesn't just taste great, it tastes like Miller time. To get Miller Lite delivered right at your door visit MillerLite.com slash Dan or you can find it pretty much anywhere that sells beer. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories per 12 ounces. Don LeBattard. Sub 500 seasons it's been lonely. Now the best players on our side. Been losing

and losing for much too long. But now we're back with New York pride. Stugats! Jalen! You've got us on our feet, Jalen! We're gonna win the East, Jalen! Without Randall we're still doing fine. This is the Don LeBathard Show with the Stugats! This is the Don Lebatar Show with the Stugats. But getting back to Stugats' beloved New York Knicks, they wasted the Berks game. They did. I told you, 20 points any given night. Stugats was right. Holy s***, Stugats was right. Stugatz was also right to feel down even though he was up 3-2. Stugatz was

right. Holy s*** Stugatz was right. The thing that's crushing is to have the expectation of this is going to be the most electric building we've had this century and then nothing all game long. Pushed back again and again by Miles Turner. By shooting. Whoever that was on the front row, they did this. To whoever Tyrese Halliburton was talking to, I didn't know if it was Sam Morel, I don't know who is, but that person is responsible for the Nick's demise. I'm saying that on wax. I mean, all those funny people from New York

we brought through this show, and to all be undone by Andrew Nempard. Right, I hope we got Mero, Sam Morel, everybody on here today, right? Sam Morel is gonna on here today, right? Sam Morel is going to be on here in a little while. Yes, I'd like to circle back though on East Coast bias to God's and I've been talking about this for a while because one of the places that I saw this change was on Pardon

the Interruption where I see Michael Welbon tucking his Cubs jersey into his jeans and going out there and throwing a first pitch and I was like oh okay we're doing the sports journalists are allowed to have allegiances thing that's the day journalism died Dana it is put it on the pole juju at LeBattard show when Wilbon threw out the first pitch at a Cubs game is that the day journalism died but yesterday on the show and I'm not gonna go back into the well that I've gone into very often that gets people upset about how the power shift has changed at ESPN but at least in part because Stephen A. Smith is a very public Knicks fan. The coverage of that game beforehand, Stugats, was Spike Lee and motivational speech from Stephen

A. Smith as a Knicks fan and it was very celebrating all things New York the same way that the big networks celebrate the Cowboys and the things that get ratings. But to me, if I'm a Pacers fan, the part that pisses me off is the last four minutes of that game, a historic game for the Pacers, only Breen every once in a while would bring it back to the Pacers. It was the Knicks that they were talking about the whole time. And if I were a Pacer fan, I'd be mad at how slanted that coverage was. But Pacer fans won the series.

They're moving on to the Eastern Conference Finals. They have the last left. Who cares about that? The story yesterday, win or lose, was about the Knicks. It was about those fans. It was about that building. That was the story headed into the game. The story changed once the game got started.

But before the game, what do you want ESPN to cover? The Pacers? To God's, when you say, who cares? Sports fans care about perceived disrespect. And this was disrespectful. Like I'm not a fan of either of the teams I'm watching. I see one winning, the other losing, and the one that's being talked about is the losers

as if they're the winners when they shit the bed at home, although there were valid reasons. I saw it on awful announcing, Bob Myers was asked at halftime, what are you seeing from this Pacer team to come out so electrified in that first half, and he immediately talks about OGN and OB, and it becomes a soliloquy about the New York Knicks,

even though he was asked directly about what he's seeing from the Pacers. You tell me how I'm supposed to feel if I'm a Pacers fan, and this is the third different roster that's made it to the Eastern Conference Finals, and you're still talking to me about the Knicks, who have the longest drought

outside of the Wizards and Hornets. I get it though. Like we detailed the struggles and ratings from where they used to be. One thing that definitely rates for the NBA is the New York Knicks and ESPN now is a propaganda machine for the broadcast they own the rights to

and what is getting people and they see the metrics. I guarantee you they're gonna talk Dallas Cowboys today on first take. Because they have the metrics to support. They need to be talking Dallas Cowboys every day. Mike, fast forward to the Eastern Conference Finals. The story's going to be about the Celtics. Win or lose, it's gonna be about Boston.

Dan, no one cares what anyone in Evansville thinks about the coverage, okay? No one does, okay? Gary, Indiana, Fortville thinks about the coverage, okay? No one does, okay? Gary, Indiana, Fort Wayne, Indiana, please, okay? Nobody cares what those people think about the coverage. They are moving on to the Eastern Conference Finals. That's it, that's enough for them. ESPN did the right thing.

They covered the right team, the right city, because that was the story headed into the game. I would dispute that on a couple of different fronts on behalf of Indiana fans. One of them would be this. The Knicks had two turnovers, two turnovers, while getting slaughtered in that first half. The Pacers got one free throw, like midway through the second quarter, one free throw. Like midway through the second quarter, one free throw. Do you know how hard it is to win on the road under those circumstances by blowout?

It's not that the Knicks played poorly. It's just they endured a historic onslaught that was being ignored because we were talking about how injured the Knicks were and how bad you felt that now Jalen Brunson is out with a fractured hand. You mentioned the East Coast bias and I think we have a Sunday night bias in that what happened on Saturday in that sport

was also really rad. Kyrie Irving is now 14 and 0 in closeout games and that game looked over and they come all the way back and Luka Doncic appears to be the kind of Irresistible force with a triple double that maybe Jokic was last year and for me that is the story I mean look at Doncic getting emotional talking about Kyrie Irving who very quietly Has become a leader on that team has fit in nicely

Has not at all been a distraction has been that piece and is now fulfilling the promise. It's crazy. He's doing for the Mavs what he was supposed to do for the boss in Celtics. There are two bits of analysis that everybody whiffed on in the new NBA. It was the go-bare trade that everyone got wrong and the idea that Dallas wasn't a good fit for Kyrie Irving. You mentioned OKC, you know, Joklahoma City, Choklahoma City, and now your hearts are Broklahoma City. They- Bars, wow!

Wow, they coming soon. That was good. They had, at 1 a.m., a bunch of fans at the airport like it's a college town, and when you say who cares, Stu Gantz? Right. That's who cares. Okay, great.

Okay, but- I'm talking about Terry Haught, Indiana. But you don't care that way anymore, and you would care that way if you'd won. Listen, I've never cared enough to meet my team at the airport after they've lost. Actually, I've never cared enough to meet my team at the airport after they've won. You're not emblematic here. People who show up to the airport late at night to applaud their team coming off a plane because they had a good season, please, it's sad.

Don't do this, brothers. Y'all teams are losers. That's it. Don't lash out. Y'all are at home. That is all that's happening here. It's a fair criticism to bring up the lack of Pacers coverage, but this show doing it is like, we covered the Knicks more

than anyone Absolutely we are the guiltiest party and Hypocrisy is looking at me in the mirror, but I will say it was only to get to today Understand that Understand that I knew today was coming at some point this season. You knew you were getting there. I knew I was going to get there somehow. I was going to get this day. Damn you.

There was no chance. All the other teams could be as injured as the Knicks, and the Knicks were not going to have a day where I was going to eat it at the end. That's not what was going to happen. The whole of that was strategic. We turned into WFAT. We got bloated. Speaking of WFAT, WFAT t-shirts are right now available on lebatardaf.com. Go get your seven of them.

Fire Tom Thibodeau, Trade OG. Get rid of them. don't re-sign him, Hartenstein as well, just light up the full lights today boys and enjoy your 20 share. You will be able to talk, I'm a little scared at what's going to happen live with Sam Morell because he's not going to be happy, he's going to be running dark, but he's going to give, I'm imagining because he's positivity guy about this team, I'm assuming, but he's gonna give, I'm imagining, because he's positivity guy about this team, I'm assuming that what he's gonna do is just be proud of that team's heart and fight, which it was overmanned, outmanned, it was not healthy enough,

but I thought the home stadium was supposed to get you a game. I thought it was supposed to get you an important game. It got us game five. I mean, they have very valid injury concerns. And they probably would have been smoked by Boston, who I think we can now look at it. What a flat track they have to get back to the NBA Finals.

They have to win it, right? They've got to beat the Pacers without Porzingis. And without Porzingis, Mike, you laugh, but without Porzingis, they're a small team. They're a different team. They're a bit positionless. What I'm laughing is I'm remembering the YouTube cold open where Sugats was formulating this,

all the pressures on the Timberwolves take. What are you talking about? If Tatum doesn't do it now, like if he doesn't do it this time, we better crush him. I'm talking LeBron 2010, crush him. I want to Tate him Edwards final so I can crush somebody. I mean, that's what I'm looking for. I want to crush the Knicks doctors for doing that to Ananobe for that result. That guy's not going to be able to see straight for several months because he played those minutes trying to get that Willis Reed moment.

How do you waste the Willis Reed moment? It's that time again, the NBA playoffs are here and boy, wouldn't it be cool to watch an NBA Playoff game in person? Heck yeah it would! And what better way to do so than by getting tickets on Game Time? Game Time's an authorized ticket marketplace of the NBA, which makes getting Playoff tickets even faster and easier. Prices on the Game Time app actually go down the closer it gets to tip-off, which is perfect for people like you who don't plan things out, or you're just really busy and you don't know you're gonna have time to go to a

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sports concerts comedy theater and more plus game time has flash deals zone deals all in pricing. They've got it all plus the lowest price guarantee or Game Time will credit you 110% of the difference. And at Game Time you always get the Game Time ticket coverage. Your purchase is covered with the most flexible customer service policy in the ticketing industry. Take the guess out of buying NBA tickets with Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account I'm just here to say one thing, The Knicks are f***ing back. Stugats. Tavi Salabran, 6 points?

Fraud. Everybody was like, yo, he's better than J. LeBron. He's better than the Knicks should have drafted him. Fraud. This is the Don Lebatard Show with the Stugats. I don't believe in all honesty, StuGuyz, that you can have something happen to your team when you're going in with the expectation of the Mecca will win us one, it's a game seven, the Mecca will carry us one, it's a game seven, the Mecca will carry us even though we're undermanned.

I don't think there's something that can neutralize that more than me saying this sentence, the Pacers had more points through three quarters than any team since the 1963 Celtics. Amazing. The idea that you think your home crowd, that you would be motivated by the epic fart after game five and that you would literally run out of gas in game seven and get run over by the Pacers putting together a historic shooting performance. What happened between game one

and the rest of the games to Halliburton? Because I didn't want to object to the expertise of Steven Jackson and Matt Barnes when they said he's not a number one, but when he was healthy this year He looked to me like a number one He looked to me like someone who could shoot from anywhere on the court even though he's a distributor and I'm not sure going forward if i'm willing to say that haliburt is not going to keep getting better given that he tried to come back early for from injury just so that he can hit that

performance bonus that he has if he's all n b a if you're all n b a and you're the lead player on a team yet like the paces of team that's in the eastern conference finals you're all NBA and you're the lead player on a team, like the Pacers, a team that's in the Eastern Conference finals, you're a number one. You think he is a number one or can be a number one? I'm saying that I would like that. He is the number one right now. I would like that at the top of my team if they're going to play that way,

if the way they're going to play is be the most explosive offense. For a game, Dan. But it's not for a game. Stugats has been all season. Their offense has been extraordinary. I understand that. But even with that said, what they did in game seven

was historical. It was amazing. Stugats Halliburton's younger than the entire Knicks' core. He's a really fun player to watch catch fire because of the nature of his shooting form. When he starts feeling it and it just bombs away with such a high arch on it it's battling really fun to see it's it's one of the many evolutions in the sport that continues to confuse me how it's a good shot for a guy to roll to his left on the

three-point line and throw up some go-bare bullshit that just sky rains raindrop and then it's in the basket and you're like, what the hell is that? But you ask how could he be, or is he a number one and you think he's a number one? Dan, he had games where he had eight points, 13 points, 15 points. The only reason I don't think he's a number one

is just because the top 12 number ones are so good that they make it so that we're spoiled that that guy's range, because, God, the sport has changed. To have that kind of range is an uncommon value and so he might score differently than others and by the way he loves assists but yeah he is the centerpiece of why it is that offense does does what it does but they also traded for Siakam because they knew that he needed somebody next to him that Brunson doesn't have.

You mentioned Siakam, and I'm recalling what you did at the start of the show where you mentioned Tyrese Halliburton made it to a conference finals before Joel Embiid. I got this from a Pascal Siakam Stan account. It says Siakam Spin V2. Embiid was drafted in 2014. Pascal Siakam was studying to be a

priest in 2012, found basketball, got drafted in 2016, won a G League Finals MVP, was a role player, won most improved, made his first conference finals, won a championship, made an All-Star and all NBA teams, got traded, turned 30 and made another conference finals all before Embiid went to his very first conference final. It's a bit crazy to say and at no point with the expectations of being a number one, always being a number two for pressure purposes, unlike Embiid who is the only thing in the last two years to unravel at the feet of the Knicks that way. To see the the Sixers not advance into these Eastern Conference Finals when if I put that Sixers roster next to that Pacers roster and I'm giving you a coach in the Pacers to God's who hadn't won a playoff series since

2011 right that style of play I understand that you're making fun of Gary, Indiana, I'm not making fun of them. Don't object to the coverage From I would not be doing what Stu stood out to doing for a number of reasons but one of them is why wouldn't you want to have the style of play the pacer's play i would love to have the style of play of of my team in fact i'm willing to say that that style of play just aesthetically give me a six seed that

plays that way instead of a two seed, just for my team that plays like the Knicks, if I know that neither of them are gonna have a chance, but one of them's gonna have a chance if they make all of their threes on a given night. The Pacers during the regular season this year in the Eastern Conference had the highest frequency of open shots and the best effective field goal percentage on those open shots, and that's what you saw

in the first quarter last night when they ran the Knicks out of. And that's what you saw in the first quarter last night when they ran the Knicks out of the building. They have 39 points in the first quarter without taking a free throw. That's how open they were for all of these shots. I love watching them play basketball. It's confusing to me to watch them play playoff basketball, especially in that building,

because what I'm used to in that building is the score 78-75 and Anthony Carter has to make a shot that goes in from behind the backboard because everything has been dragged totally into the mud and they're just going up and down the court at turbo speed and doing a bunch of things near the rim. Wait, so you're excited for the next series. You wanted Pacers in South Texas. You did not want... If you give me a choice, excuse me Stugarts, I'm sorry,

but I would have liked just to see what Atlanta and Indiana could do against Boston because give me the games in the 120s and the 130s and the 140s. Don't drag it into the mud. We haven't mentioned the secret weapon, the most powerful weapon in Indiana, Timothy John McConnell.

When he starts pumping up the crowd when he makes his all of his points are loud as hell his rebounds is loud his charges he takes is loud salute to timothy for keeping them boys in line tj mcconnell uh if i was playing against it he did this to the heat in a game they needed uh late in the regular season he's exasperating to play against because arnold from accounting uh... taking office tie getting on the court how tall is t.j. mcconnell because he's taller than he looks but he's not very tall because everybody on that court is taller than you think they are the six one you're saying he's a tall

six one i'm saying the next to you he would look very tall on that court is taller than you think they are. He's 6'1". You're saying he's a tall 6'1"? I'm saying that next to you he would look very tall. On that court he does not look very tall. He'd be taller than most of the people who work on our show. The majority of people on our show are not as tall as tiny T.J. McConnell. T.J. McConnell's 32 years old.

Wow. His teeth are like 10 months? He's got a perfect haircut at all times. It looks like he just stepped out of the shower. And I don't understand how everybody isn't blocking his shot. How all of those mid-range jumpers are going in because that is a lifetime

of survival of the fittest. That guy has learned how to shoot over the outstretched fingers of someone taller than him since he was a toddler that guy's been working on that for the last 30 years the hands near him don't bother him and it is exasperating to try and play defense against him because what's he doing oh he's in the key again there's another eight footer from tj mcconnell i've got to have guarded every i've guarded all the other people who look like basketball players on the court but the guy who's an architect got me with

the mid-range jumper and i'm exasperated how did we feel about celebrity sadness yesterday of photos of spiked lee uh... they they got ben still at one time picking at his nose in an embarrassing moment. Chris Cody, who did you see out there that gave you a feeling as a Heat fan of the only good feeling left for Heat fans? It's rooting against other people to lose.

It was between sad Spike Lee with his hands under his chin, or it was Jon Stewart just looking like he was about to cry. Jon Stark's trying to be the official a few times in the game was also funny, trying to make calls that were clearly wrong. Their alumni row is really funny. Just because it's a bunch of guys that didn't do it either. Marcus Canby.

Correct, but they went to the finals. I saw Marcus Canby described as Nick's legend, and I was like, oof. I mean, it's all we got. Legend is doing a lot of work there. I think so. Put it on the poll, Juju. Put those losers on the screen.

Put it on the poll, Juju, at LeBataard Show. Is Marcus Canby a Nick's legend? Yes or no, because I really do feel like we're diluting what the word legend means. The most legendary thing, salute to Marcus Kambi. I'm a big Marcus Kambi fan, but this has just outgrown everything, the meme with him doing this. Yep.

Mm-hmm. The Kambi man. That became like a Heathwooder rallying cry, the Kambi thing. Speaking of the Heat, and Dan mentioned that Heat fans are rooting for other teams to lose, Indiana and the Celtics, Mike, because you have a history with both those teams. Who would you rather see advance here?

Oh, Indiana, yeah, Indiana. I think it would be really funny if Boston fails again, and I'm not gonna let Mike Schur do what he did in his last appearance, which was try to couch that, making it to the finals would be good enough. No, this franchise has only won one title while I've been alive, they gotta do it.

I gotta see it. Not only won one title, right? Dugats, this is not unlike what the Cowboys get in football, where they get all of the great broadcasting jobs because of the star on the helmet, even though it didn't produce very many titles after, any titles after Troy Aikman. The people who have eaten off of that one title,

whether it's Kendrick Perkins or Doc Rivers, when you can make the argument that the one title the Celtics have won this year represents, or this century represents an underachievement from what is supposed to be our most historic franchise. There are a lot of people who've gotten good jobs off of the one title that they've won and gotten media careers because they basically won as much as Kawhi Leonard won the one time as one as as much as Jokic has won the one time. It's pretty impressive

to see the amount of work that Doc Rivers gets despite all the other failure around the one title. Well he's gotten seven good jobs off of that title. Yeah, I gotta say, watching the Pacers, nothing really bothers me because all those players came and went. He don't have a rivalry with Halliburton, maybe a little bit with Miles Turner, but I will say when I see Carlisle on the sideline, that does kind of irk me. Do you realize, Dugats, that if the Mavs win, the highest seed the Celtics would have seen would have been the Cavs? If the Mavs win that series.

I don't know, because like I've said said it has been until the recent changes to the sport a very predictable sport but five sex three and a one as seeds i'd don't remember the last time i saw that and while i think the celtics have been overwhelmingly better than everyone all year

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