The Mismatch - 10 Thoughts After the Knicks Win Their First Title in 53 Years

Episode Date: June 16, 2026

Verno and Jacoby return to celebrate the New York Knicks' first championship in more than 50 years. Jacoby describes his day leading up to Game 5 as well as the aftermath in the city. The guys also share 10 thoughts from the Knicks' Finals victory. (00:00) Welcome to The Mismatch! (2:36) Jacoby describes his day leading up to Game 5 (7:28) Hitting the New York streets after the Knicks' win (14:46) Will Jalen Brunson remain underrated? (21:13) Brunson is a wartime consigliere (27:00) Comparing these Finals to the tortoise and the hare (31:34) Shout-out to the Spurs (33:38) Shout-out to Leon Rose and Worldwide Wes (43:49) Can the Knicks run it all the way back to the Finals? (47:04) How Brunson’s Finals performance impacts kids with overbearing fathers (50:13) Hating Victor Wembanyama has gone mainstream (55:48) The road map to a championship has solidified (1:01:48) Let’s enjoy the Knicks winning the titleVisit http://WeatherTech.com for your Father’s Day gift today. Leave us a message on our Mismatch Voicemail line! [phone] Hosts: Chris Vernon and David Jacoby Producers: Jessie Lopez, Stefan Anderson, and Jeff Shearin Social: Keith Fujimoto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

To the mismatch, I'm Chris Varnan and joining me to see us every week from the Ringer.com. He's the newly crowned champion. Dave Jacoby. Jacobi! I just, uh, dude, I mean, I just never thought this would happen. I never thought this would happen. I certainly didn't think this would happen this year with this team. Like, let's be honest.

Going into the finals, like, do you think the next were going to win? You're no James Dolan. No. I know because I encourage people to have sex as much sex as possible. Yeah. James, James Dylan also, I mean, in one of the most shocking turn of event, his speech in the locker room prior to the playoffs was posted by the roommate's,

Jaylon Brunson and Josh Hart. It was infinitely better than I ever expected it to me. How is James Dolan the hero now? I don't know. It was so good. I mean the headline. He was the butt of every joke. He was like one of the worst owners in the sport.

It was like one of the things holding the Knicks back as a franchise. And now I'm like, oh, yeah. I mean, we're basically just like riding the back of James Dolan to this championship. Forget Taylor Brunson. Oh, well, no, no, no. It's already going to get torn down. I already saw where the guy that used to report for ESPN, June Lee, has posted that there are many within the NIC's organization that credit James Dolan being distracted by the sphere for the last couple of years for Nick. basketball getting right.

This episode of the mismatch is presented to you by WeatherTech. Let's face it, buying for dad is always a bit of a guessing game. He's not dropping hints and quote unquote, I don't need anything is what he always says that it's not helpful. But there is something he'll actually use and that is WeatherTech. Get him a gift card or if you know what he needs, a cargo liner, floor liners, sea protectors, or the cup phone. It's premium protection built to last,

and it beats another tie or coffee mug. This Father's Day, take an easy win. Visit weathertech.com to secure your gift today. You got to tell me about Saturday night because we have not spoken on the air since then. So, you know, one of the things that I do on, like our text thread that we have with some of our colleagues, and I always talk to you about, It's just sort of like the pulse of the city.

Whereas like, you know, the Monday with game three was like just flying so high. And with the Trump and the loss and everything, Wednesday for game four was pretty low. Like it was, it was that intensity wasn't that high. Obviously what happened in game four with the tipping and everything. It's just Saturday morning, you know, I've got a, this is going to come up later. I've got a 13-year-old son, shout to Quince, just turned 13, two 10-year-old daughters. And I've got a new baby daughter who's like one. And, you know, the other kids are playing video games or whatever they're doing.

And in the morning, sometimes I was like, take my baby on a walk. And that Saturday morning, I took her out. And it was like 8.45? You know, it was getting coffee and stuff? And you could already feel it. There's Nick stuff everywhere. People were just out. It was like you could already feel the energy just being so heightened,

just that early in the day. You know, they're selling the bootleg gear on every corner. Like, it's just like everyone's talking about it. Everyone's wearing Knicks things. It was just like, it was, it was a, the intensity was higher than I'd ever, ever, ever felt it in this city for the Knicks. The game itself, my wife is like, I got us a sitter so we can go watch the game together. My friend Robert is hosting a party.

I love Robert to death. I do. But he's like a fashion influencer. You know what I mean? Like, that's not the crowd that I'm trying to go hang with. And they went to some like sports club. which is like a luxury. Like I went to the website.

It's like some luxury sports bar, like elevated experience. And I was just like, babe, I love you to death. I love Robert. I love all your friends. But like,

I mean, I can't. I just can't do it. So I also can't be out at bars watching the game because it's like, I just don't like being around people. I like listening to the audio. I like being able to have space.

You know what I mean? And every bar is packed. So I took Joey, my wife downtown. And I got off around my office. and went to a bar of them a regular ad around here. Shout to them. Was she understanding that you did not want to go to the fashion influencer party?

She doesn't care. She doesn't care. Yeah, she's just like, whatever. Okay. She doesn't have to mess with the kids. So now you've been together for 24 years, dude. She's spent plenty of time with me. She's not like, why aren't you coming with me?

No, no, no, no. This is a kid's thing, right? But you've got the sitter. So now do you use the sitter to be able to... That's what I'm saying. I'm getting there, ferno. Okay. So then I go to my local bar by my office here with my massage friends around here.

And there's a huge line outside. But I see my guy John and he lets me in and I have a couple beers before the game started. And it's just packed. There's a huge. Every bar is just packed. Everything is packed. And I'm like, I got to get out of here. Like this is, I'm already getting nervy.

You know what I mean? I just had like a beer. Said hi to my friends. Boom. Go back to my neighborhood. Go to my local where you've been. And the game starts. And I'm like, I can't be in here.

surrounded by people. It's packed. Like, I just can't. Every bar is packed. You can't hear the audio. Like, I like the collective energy, which I really enjoy, which is like one of the reasons to, like, live here. But like, I saw it.

So then around after the first quarter, I go to my house. And this is key. I was like, I'm sitting there. I'm like, well, I got to send the babysitter home. Right? Like, I'm not going to have the babysitter sit in the couch and watch the game with me while I'm like paying her. So shout to Tina.

I get her an Uber. She goes home. And me and my son, Quincy, I are watching the the game, right? We don't have to go through the game, you know, like play by play because that's been done already. It's our feels like it was four days ago. But the end of the game was just so crazy. Like, it was nuts. And Quincy at one point, I think it was after one of Jaylon's buckets, like that floater that tied the game I want to say. I've got my notes here, but whatever. And I put my head down and I pick up Quincy like a helicopter and spin him around

you know what I mean? Like you know. Yeah, yeah. Like, so I'm spitting him around and then I put him down and the end of the game happens, which is a real clunky end of the game, like a lot of miss free throws. Like should they foul, shouldn't they foul? It wasn't like the most like smooth sort of like cherry on top thing. But when the game finally ends, I go to pick them up again the same way.

I fall over, smash a chair into pieces. Quincy's got a cut on his. face from his like corner of his lip to his ear. He's not like bleeding, but it's more of scratch and a cut. And he's yelling at me cursing. And I'm just like, oh, my God, because I just like break my son when the Knicks won the championship. And it's not like I'm hammered either. I had like, like, three beers.

You know what I mean? So there's chairs and pieces on the floor. Quincy's mad. Bleeding. And then I'm like, and then the phone is just blowing up. And then Quincy goes to me. He's like, we got to hit the streets. I'm like, yeah, dog.

Like, that's right. So we go outside. Hit the street. Everybody does. Because you can just hear it outside. The horns, fire trucks are going by, fireworks. And I told you this on text. This is the energy in New York on that day.

It was about 5 o'clock. I was at a bar. And there's local people I know from the neighborhood or whatever, say hi to. And this one guy had a backpack. And he was like, I won't say his name, obviously. And he's like, yo, I got dynamite in there in case the Knicks win. And I'm like, who besides, like, Wiley Coyote has dynamite?

Where do you buy dynamite? What do you plan to do with the dynamite if the Nix win? Like, okay, the Nix win. What do you do with the dynamite? Like, that's the, like, the energy. I was like, I don't even know how dynamite works. You really just, like, light it and then run away. It's like, what do you do somebody?

Like, what are we doing? Like, literally the only exposure I had to dynamite is like Wiley Coyote. Was this guy the kind of guy that you would think? Yes, yes. You don't even have to finish. You were shocked that he had dynamite just because of the acquisition of the dynamite. But if you said who in your neighborhood would have dynamite, he'd be one of the suspects. So, like, we're outside.

Again, all the fire trucks are going by because, like, the fire guys, they're like Knicks fans. So, you know, the sirens are going. The city streets are packed. Just hugging strangers, high-fiving everybody. Just like huge celebration. Me and Quincy are going nuts. We're jumping around. like obviously we're not going to like bars or anything because they're all packed and he's 13 years old you know what I mean and then it dawns on me we've been outside for like 10 minutes we're like five blocks from the house do you know what dawned on me we have a baby we have a baby that we left with the house alone because the twins were having a sleepover and my wife is with Robert and the fashion influencers and I was just like I forgot about the baby

I was like, crazy, like, this is fun and everything. But we got to get the apartment because the baby's there. And then we came home and I did some things I'm not proud of. I started texting my wife, like, what time are you going to be home? And I'm like, I'm so glad that you get to stay out and celebrate this championship. That means so much to you. I started texting that. And then she calls me and she's like, I got a babysitter.

She's like, I got a babysitter. What are you complaining about? She did. And I was kind of like, ah. And I was like, what am I supposed to sit with her on the couch, watch the game with Tina the babysitter? And then Joey, Joey finally came home. That's another set of problems.

Yeah, Joey, stop. I've seen those videos too. Joey came home and we put Quincy to bed. And then me and Joey went out and partied and celebrated. And it's just, it's been like, part of living in you, it's so dumb to live in Manhattan and have four kids. No one does it. Like, it's so expensive.

There's rats all over my block. It stinks. There's crazy people all the time. Like, we have to cross the street to avoid people. It's just like, it's the dumbest thing to be here. It's so dumb. But nights like that and weekends like this, because if you don't live here, the Puerto Rican Day parade is on Sunday, which is like a huge thing.

It just like lights the city on fire. There's a Brazil game on Sunday. The Knicks won the championship. World Cup fans. There's World Cup people here from other countries that had no idea. the Knicks even exist. And then there's people like lighting school buses on fire and just like going nuts. And I do you know how many times I've heard that Alicia Keys song in the past 48 hours?

Like it's just the city was just absolutely on fire all weekend. And it's like the community of it, like the collection, the bonding together, the positivity. Only one shooting and four stabbings on Saturday night. Like that's a record for New York. And no one else could do this, right? There's two baseball teams. There's two football teams. Like the Rangers did it in like 94. Yeah.

But this is the collective. This is a basketball scene. You don't need me to tell you that basketball means a lot to this place. And the Knicks haven't done it in so long. And so many people care so deeply about the Knicks. And just like even people from out of town. Like I would love to sit down with somebody from like Scotland that like has a hotel in Times Square that was just like what is going on. It's an Armageddon out here.

It really was. It really was. And what has followed, I will say this. They win the award as like the best following up to a title with the Instagram lives, with the with the locker room, with the postgame stuff. And then these guys having to go on national TV this morning. Just fried. Oh, gee. I mean, they are.

Legendary. Not a man of many words, but he legitimately asked a question on a three-letter network on morning TV for the world to see and just stared at the lady. I think it was Savannah. He was just staring at her.

I'm not speaking. Well, I heard, I think it was Fred Katz was on with Lowe and he said he, like, had never drank and like... Never had tequila before, yeah. No, like tried tequila for the first time and then was like swigging it,

and it was like, oh, buddy. I mean, I can't imagine how terrible all of the... them feel. God. Like after winning the title for the Knicks, like they flew back that night. And then you see these, you know,

these videos from the clubs that they're at. They have been living it up. But then they got to go on frigging, good morning America or whatever the today show. But also, Macau's live was just like, the best. I don't,

there's no one else in it. It's 11 in the morning and he's got a bottle of tequila. Like, I love an adult beverage. You'll, I mean, I'm trying to think. I don't think I've ever had a shot at Cicula at 11 in the morning, dude.

Like maybe a bloody Mary to take the edge off from time to time or like I'm a lot of or something. But like, dude, and is just him seeing a lawn to cold play? It's just like. Wish he was there when they recorded Lost. Yes, he wished he was there. That's like that's like, he's an NBA champion. Almost brought him to tears and so. It's just been in the parade.

I don't understand how the parade works. Like it's, it's a small. going to go? Yeah, I'm taking my whole family. I don't know what it means, though. I think I'm going to get off the train and I'm not going to be able to go up the stairs because there's no, could be no room. Like, I don't know. It's just like logistically doesn't make sense. Honestly, like I should probably like buy a boat and try to like row down the Hudson River. That's the only thing that makes any sense. I don't know how this works. I don't know how this works. It sounds like you need Joey to call her fresh and influence her friends. I don't think Robert's got the hook up. Some people are hitting me up, they'd be like,

yo, what are you doing for the parade? I don't have like a hookup. I don't have a helicopter. You know what I mean? Like, I don't own a building down there with a rooftop that we could like go to. Like, I'm just a dude with a podcast. Just get it's burning. Just figure out somewhere.

All right. We have got the Dicks have won the NBA championship. It is all over. They closed them out in five games. And we have 10 thoughts on the Knicks winning the title. Do you want to start or you want me to? You always start. All right.

Jalen Brunson will still somehow remain underrated. That was my first thought. I love it. Small guards can win, so he proved that one. And then this idea that, well, maybe you don't have to have a superstar to win. That's the one that gets screwed up here. Because if the next. winning and Jalen Brunson winning this thing. And it is a speech that I gave years ago on the

mismatch. We had, and in fact, a guy went and dug up the clip and I reposted today on Twitter. And it was when he was having this, like that season where he averaged like 29 points a game and all this stuff. And I'm like, these are Steph Curry numbers, but nobody thinks of him like Steph Curry because we had a previously held opinion of this guy. And so the answer is not you don't need to have one of the top five or top 10 players in the league or you don't have to have a superstar to win. The answer is Jalen Brunson is a superstar and you have to accept it. Like at what point? Because what do we ask of superstars? We ask of superstars to put the team on their back to help them win more and then to be at their best when it matters.

most. He did all of these things in spades. You have in the last four seasons in the playoffs, he's second in wins behind only Hartinstein. He's second in points per game. He's first in 30 point games. He's first in 35 point games. He is first in 40 point games. The last two games of this series, he had 81 points. And more so than that, if you were going to build a team to make Jalen Brunson's life hell, it would be one with super athletic, big guards with a 10-foot guy standing behind them.

Multiple, though. Like I said at the beginning of this series, I was like, this is not a Jalen Brunson series. Right. They've got three guys that are just constructed in labs to stop Jalen Brunson. And so here's what I'd say.

There will be another round next year of ranking. and he still won't be in anyone's top five. He'll probably be somewhere, you know, at this point, they'll probably, you know, because he won the title, they'll put him somewhere between six and ten or whatever. But he checks literally every box and over just the last, the playoffs. Obviously, during the regular season, he's 26 points a game, seven assists and three rebounds.

And that's, that's during the regular season. During the postseason, those numbers get even better. I just listed off all of the things that he has done in the postseason. And so the trick is this. It is not that Jalen Brunton is better than what you've ever given him credit for being. This is not because he is not because of how he looks, because of how he was previously thought of, it's still, even to this day, and he just won the title,

it still won't be accepted, right? because it's not Janice and it's not Yonich and it's not, but like, Jason Tatum averaged 22 points on 37% from the field when they won the title. That's what he did. That's what happened when Jason Tatum won his title. He averaged 22 points a game, 37% from the field and 26% from three. That's what Jason Tatum did. So he did not get better when it came finals time.

And what I'm saying is you had a team uniquely built to make Jaila Brunson's life hell. And he was still the best guy. Like at what point is he going to, no one's ever going to consider him one of the five best players. But he, you know, it's, I don't know who gets credit for saying it. Say it. I know you're going to say. Everybody's better than Jalen Brunson until it's time to be better than Jalen Brunson. Whoever first said that, I just want to kiss them on the forehead.

Because I got my son saying it too. It's just like, yeah, man, Wemba, Wemba. Like, I'd rather start a franchise with him than Jalen Brunson. And like, I want to go back to like the origin story of Brunson to the Knicks because there's the Rick Brunson part and the World Wide West part. And when he was in that series with Dallas and Luca was hurt, and he really had some games. Like, I don't have him in front of him.

He had like a 30-point game. And he had some big games and they acquired him. And if you remember back then, like, I've been Nick fans so I'd like know all this stuff, it was like, well, Dame was always like a kind of someone who's rumored to maybe be a Nick. You can't have Jalen Brunson and Dame. Donovan Mitchell, apparently there was like an offer for Donovan Mitchell. You can't really have Jalen Brunson and Donovan Mitchell either.

So it's kind of like, I guess this is going to be our guy. Like, I guess he's the guy. And it wasn't like, I didn't see this. No one saw this. Like, did anyone see 45 in a finals close-out game from Shailin Brunson? Like, even, I mean, I guess Rick Brunson did, but like, it's just insane when he's on the team. And I'm going to go to my first thought, which is a Brunson thought. Yeah, I'll just.

Yeah, go ahead. The final point is, if he is not a superstar, then what is a superstar? What is it? I mean. He checks literally every box of a superstar. Yes, and he's a champion, and he's got all the trophies. Finals MVP, and I don't think he was top five MVP this year. Like he was last year, I think he was number five last year.

He wasn't first, he's never been first team all NBA. Jalen Brunson is a wartime consulari, and I know you know the Godfather. And Tom, sorry, buddy, like, it's wartime. When it gets hard, it's just like, I've always texted you. Whenever we text about Knicks games, I say the same thing. What do I say? We've got a guy. We've got a guy.

It just has to be close. It's just like every game they're down double digits. It's just just keep it close enough for Jalen Brunson to have an opportunity to close. And I think Tibbs saw the superstar that was Jalen Brunson, but just played, just tried to just beat it to death. You know what I mean? Like every possession. And I think that what Mike Brown has done. is diversified the offense.

But if it's at the end of the game, like it's going to number 11. And, you know, watching the game on Saturday night, like, no one's going to remember this, but that shot that went off the side of the backboard, like at the end of the shot clock, I was like, oh, this is one of those,

this is like one of those big Jaylen Brunson moments. And it just kind of like ended the possession off the side of the backboard. And obviously, you know, he did what he did from there. But like, he's just, he's a wartime consulari. If things can be going bad, the world can be crumbling around him,

miss free throws left and right, kind of the town's fouls out. The opposing crowd is going crazy. Harper can't be stopped, but you just have this confidence when he is on your team or the team that you root for, you just know you always have a shot. Got a puncher's chance.

And it's like having like a really good closer in baseball. It's like we just get to Mariano. Like it's just like if we, if it's within eight with five minutes left, Jalen Brunson can take you home. And like the best thing that happened that I saw earlier today was Malika didn't interview with him. And we can, we'll just, we'll just play the back and forth. It's just, I seriously might cry this out of this.

What's the one moment, the one play that you think embodies this entire title run? When Josh honestly missed the layup. No, I'm not trying to be funny. I know, usually I joke about that. So he missed the lay at the game four. and then I think OG or him fouled Wembe. And then Josh is on the floor kind of like holding his face and like V, Kat and Jose just ramp to him to get up.

Next play. Like, I think that play, I think really embodies this team. I think that would surprise a lot of people. I think most people would think it would be the OG putback or maybe the huge fadeaway that you hit in game one. Yeah. But you're choosing the play where you guys made it. a mistake and got back up.

I feel like when you, when you're able to look past of the mistakes, you're able to do things like make a shot or get the offensive rebound or like that. But like when you quickly doubt yourself and you have your teammates come and pick you up and say, you know, we're good, we're good.

I think that gives us confidence to be able to make another play. I love it. I love it so much. I just absolutely just love it. Just like what was the one moment? Obviously the OG tip is going to be like the moment. and Malika brings up that shot that he hit in game one, which I was in the building

for, but he's like, when your teammates are down and you pick them up. Right. God. Truly the next play. Next play. And it goes back to your point. Originally, when you were saying, like, he's the guy that, like, you trust when it's on the line, like, no matter what else has happened, even if you threw it off the side

of the backboard, do you believe in it? Like, it's one thing to keep saying that. next play, next play, just let it go, whatever. But like, he, like, lives that. Yeah. Like, he really lives that. It is so hard to not let it get you down and to not let it affect you going forward when something bad happens.

It's just great. And also, like, you know, I love playing basketball with friends and, like, you know, sports is so much fun. We have said we're so lucky to have these jobs. Like, the fact that they went to college together, you know what I mean? Unbelievable. And they've known each other since they were in teens. And they're like, they've grown up together.

They know each other's families. And it's like they're so close that they kind of hate each other. It's just like that relationship. It's just like, it's just so like perfect. You know what I mean? That these guys like, they've won championships in college together. And, you know,

two things about this team that I think we're very important that, you can't overlook. One isn't that, neither of them are very sexy to talk about a championship team. Is number one, they were healthy. Like, you've got to be healthy to win. You know what I mean? Like, it's not fun to talk about.

There's no deep analysis. It's like there's some luck to it. Like, guess what? No one got hurt. You know what I mean? They had their guys available to it. And who were we most scared about throughout this run? OG when he had the soft tissue thing, you know, obviously.

When you sweep, when you sweep, you get to sit. You got a lot of time off. Another thing is, is the continuity and the relationships. You know what I mean? Like, this starting five has been the starting five for a while. You know what I mean? Like they've been, they've been teammates for a long time. Carlton Towns is probably like the last piece that got added,

and that was a couple years ago. But like they've got a really strong relationships and bonds. And like Alvarado was obviously just added, but he's a New Yorker. And just like the idea that's like Josh Hart was down. He just killed Larry David, New York icon, almost murdered Larry David, smoked a layup in the finals at the garden

after they just lost a game. And it's like, oh my God, we're going to be down to nothing and it's my fault. He's just sitting on the ground. Like, and his teammates come over and pick up. him up. Yeah. I went with my next one is the Tortoise and the

hair series. So the reason I wrote this one, I saw this on the run down. I was like, huh? Okay. So this is why. I was so jealous.

Sean Fantasy brought this up to Zach. Because Fantasy, I loved listening to him talk about how much this meant to him as a, as a kid that grew up in New York and how he never thought this was going to happen. And he really feels like this has changed him as a human being, you know, and everything. but anyways, basketball strategy-wise, I found this so fascinating

that he said he had asked a lot of his friends and wondered what they had thought. And as soon as he said it, I was like, you know, that makes a lot of sense. So we just write off that like you got to the end of these games, the fourth quarter numbers for Wembe were bad. We know that he was much less significant, you know, and as were the Spurs when it came to fourth quarters.

Dean Oliver, who is the... I know him. He's the godfather of basketball analytics. He had a tweet over the weekend that absolutely blew my mind. He said, I think I've got this right. But if the games ended in 46 minutes, the Spurs would have won the series four to one. I was like,

Oh, wow. And we talk about like late game heroics. We talk about game one. They won by 10 in game one. So maybe that's the only outlier. The Knicks making these comebacks and all of this stuff, right? And most importantly, like you saw Brunton blow by Castle in the fourth quarter. You saw him blow by Wemby.

You saw Wemby not be able to come up big when it mattered most. And so the reason I say the tortoise and the hair is because fantasy. brought up, did it have an impact? And he's like, and Mitch Johnson hasn't talked about this. And I haven't really heard anybody talk about this. They came out every game, shot out like a cannon. You could not score on them. Wemby's flying around.

Wemby's going to the basket. Wemby's getting all. And it's like, was there a pacing to this where the Knicks are like, you know, they're getting, you know, a haymaker thrown at him? at the beginning of these games. And the reason I called it the tortoise and the hairs because that's the old fable, right? And it did feel that way, right?

Like, were the Knicks just the tortoise in this deal? And like the spurs, they're pressing full court right from the beginning. Like, these are guys that are playing at a infinitely higher intensity and more minutes than they've trained themselves for all year. And the idea that they did not have the stamina to be able, able to do that by the time they got to when it mattered most is super fascinating to me. And that's what it made me think of. It's like, this is like a tale as old as time.

Like you read this when you're a little kid. Yeah. And it's like maybe the next word is just the tortoise. Think about game two when it was just when be dunk, wimby dunk, wimby lob, when be dunk. And then think about the fourth core of that game. Wimby jump shot, wimby jump shot, wimp shot, right? Think about, or maybe that's game three.

Think about the beginning of this game five. Just think about the first four possessions. Wemby, block, Wemby, three, Wemby, block. I get two blocks in the first two possessions. Like, it's just like, they start so hot and they seem so focused. And they just, that's the way that they should play. And they know they've been coached up to play that way. They just can't maintain it, especially Wemby.

It can't be sustained, right? So it's cranked up to 100. There's some Black Elon Musk issues in there, some of the decisions, the rotation patterns. But I also think it's a bigger, bigger thing where it's like, you put the guy on a misrestriction for the entire season. So he's like, he's playing 21 minutes, 30 minutes, the entire season. And then when the games are the most physical and most intense and demand the most of you, he's playing 40, 44 minutes. That just doesn't add up. Like literally doesn't add up.

work. And you see it. You see it right there. And then like this team is so young and you talk about battle scars. And that transition is nice into my next one, which is like, I just want to shout out the spurs. You know what I mean? Like I'm a jerk or whatever, but like this was a very fun series to watch. These games were so intense. Ball bounces this way, that way. You know what I mean? like this is this could easily be a three two spurs or whatever it could be four one spurs like like you know like he said this is the best five game series ever oh not even close not even close but like they are they are so young and my god Dylan Harper like I don't understand what that might be another problem with black Elon Musk like I just don't understand why he doesn't

start I don't understand why he doesn't play more minutes I don't I don't I just don't I don't know I don't know what's going on there, but like Castle, Harper and Wembe, like, dude. Well, and I would say this, Castle got off the hook with his one for 10 because, you know, because Fox and Wemby and those guys, they caught all the brunt. Castle was one for 10. Harper was amazing. That one was the putback at the very, very end. Right.

You know, he had a great game too. One for 10, though, with your whole season on the line is at home is rough stuff. Well, no, do you know what that sounds like to me, Bernal? What's it? Battle scar. Battle scars. I mean, look,

these are not scar. This is like getting your legs and your arms blown off. I do. This is so far, this is so far beyond scars. I just want to say like, the people in San Antonio were so sweet.

The spurs were so good. This was so close that like, and I'm not just saying this as like a, because I should say it. Like I really. It sounds like you're doing the post game handshake. Yeah. Which they did not.

We'll get there. We'll get there. We'll get there. But honestly, like, the Spurs were so good that this was like, this, if you are a Spurs fan, you've got a young team that is really, really good with a ton of potential. And three guys on rookie deals that are like max players right now. Shouts to Leon Rose is by next one.

Still, Leon Rose. Throw World Wide West in there, too. I don't think he gets enough credit. And World Wide West. James Stolen even, you got to give him credit, right? for if it just telling people not to have sex and and maybe getting out of the way look some of this is great moves some of this and you all every champion will always tell you need a little luck in this right so here's a couple things here the first one you look at it out

that roster was built they go and get Brunson for 104 million dollars originally from the Dallas fabrics that's the that's the king move right obviously in retrospect Didn't feel like it at the time, though. No, it didn't feel like that's the core stone of the franchise. It's going to bring us a championship. But you've got to look back. I was like, that's a nice piece. It's better than Emmanuel Moodye.

And then they get OG for R.J. Barrett and Emmanuel Quickly, who they drafted and developed, who were young. And I do want to say, Bruno, sorry to interrupt. Like, you know, I'm on all the Knicks fans' threads and all we do is talk about NICS. I love the NBA. That was, people loved Emmanuel Quickly. Oh, yeah. R.J. Barrett. A lot of my

Nick band friends were like, like, what are we doing? This is terrible. Why did we do this? And I had to tell him, I was like, this guy can play defense. Like, he's a defender. All I'm saying, all of these moves, all of them. They're not all celebrated.

No, none of them. Good point. None of them were celebrated. Brunson signing, OG for R.J. Barrett and Emmanuel quickly. The riskiest by far, McCall Bridges for five first round picks. Towns for Randall and DeVincenzo,

which even a year ago, if I would have pulled and said, hey, you could have the trade back. There's a lot of fans that would have taken the trade back. You know what I mean? Yes, they would have. Randall was not very popular, dude. No, no.

They were watching him in the Western Conference finals, though. That's what you've got to go back to. And they love Dante. Yes. Right. And obviously Hartinstein was having his success. playing for Oklahoma City last year. But not,

I'll say it is none of those and then around the margins, right, the Alvarado deal and obviously McBride and different guys that played a role in that. Well, I always say this about the Dante thing

is, and we talked about this on the show and I bring it up all the time because it was an important part of this sort of like roster shaping history is that preseason game when Dante was in the garden yelling at the bench. Oh, yeah.

Remember? Yeah. That was weird. That was like, oh, oh, I was like, uh-oh, I don't, I don't like this. Like, there's some unhappy people here. And this is, this feels emotional and personal. And there's things going on that I don't know about. And that made me feel weird as a Nick Bambeckin.

Well, and here's the most important one. And again, sometimes it takes some luck. Maybe this was luck. Because you remember they went on this worldwide tour where they fired Tibbs and then they like, it was like, there's going to be Jason kid. Then there's going to be Billy Donovan. and there's going to be all these guys with jobs. And they all ended up getting new.

They're like, down on one knee. It's like, I'm married. And so then it comes down and it's like Taylor Jenkins and Mike Brown. And of all things, they end up with the absolute

perfect coach for this. And I said when they did it that there was probably an 80% chance you don't get his coach as good as Tibbs. That's what I thought. I could fine. You fire him.

But, bro, it's way easier to do worse than it is to do better. They did better for that group. They did better. And Leon Rose and that management group gets credit for that. Leon Rose is still, as far as I know, not talking. Like, have you already? He just never, he just doesn't talk at all. He doesn't even say anything.

And he built this thing and he walked away from sports agency. I told you the first time, I met Leon Rose several times over the years as when he was an agent, right? He was around when John Caliperi had Derek Rose and all those guys back in the day. And then because I'd hear Leon Rose, Leon Rose, Leon Rose, like you hear about him all the time.

And then I went over to like the Memphis Tigers practice facility and I showed up one day. And they're like, hey, Chris, you want to, hey, I want to introduce you to someone because World Wide West is over there all the time too because that was Cal's guy. And Leon was there. They're like, this is Leon Rose. I was like, he's white?

I had heard him. I know. In my mind, I'd heard Leon Rose. Like, oh, I'm God. And then I told you, I could honestly say this. The year that the Grizzly signed Jonas Valenchutus in free agency. No, no, no, they traded for him. Stephen Adams trade.

I think it was. I think that's right. How did they get him? Whatever. They had attained Jonas Valchutis. And then we're at Summer League and we get a hold of him

and he's going to come to my room in Vegas to do an interview. We're going to meet Jonas Valenchu's for the first time. Jonas walks in and Jonas's wife looks like like Drago's wife in, except prettier.

And They had like this long blonde hair, and it's like they walk in. And I mean, like, obviously Valenchunus is a monstrous guy, right? Yeah. And the three people, now imagine this. We are stuck in this little-ass hotel room. And it's me, Rosa, my producer, Jonas Valchunus, his wife, and Leon Rose, his agent, who is there in the room. And that was the, I obviously, I'd met him when he was at Memphis before.

But at that time, he was representing players, like, around the league. And then when he got that Nick's job, I was like, no way. The agent guy? Really? Yeah. Because, I mean, he had been an agent for a long, long time and was, like, mega powerful. Like him and West were like, you know, that's when things were going on in college basketball. College basketball was way different.

Now it was Wild Wild West and World Wide West was everywhere. Leon was everywhere. They were representing all kinds of players. You'd see them in high school gyms. You'd see him in college gyms. You'd see them everywhere. And all the way up to representing guys like Jonas, Valentinus, et cetera. And then they just announced one day he's going to run the Knicks.

And I'm like, that is crazy. They're going to hire an agent to run the Knicks. This guy just delivered the first championship in 53 years. And that crew of him, World Wide West, Rick Bronset, like that whole crew. like oh yeah it's unbelievable because that's not there's a special skill set that goes along

with it right there is also verno there's a personality type to be an agent they are at least west I don't know Leon Rose at all but I've met Wes a couple times but he's a smiley gregarious talky like chummy like

you know like a big personality talker guy but they sort of like made a pack. They're like, we're not doing press. Yes. Like we are silent behind the scenes. And that's just sort of like not, at least, I don't know, Leon, but not Wes's nature. No.

But it seemed like they just said like for us to be as effective as we have to be at this, we're just going to put our heads down and do the work and not try to be in front of the cameras and take the credit. He's done, they did an unbelievable job. And they just delivered it. Like, look, the Spurs are a good example. They had three top five picks in three straight years. And the picks were sort of like right there in front of them. But I think that what the Knicks have done is true roster construction to make sure that these players work well together and accentuate each other's strengths and cover up for each other's weaknesses.

Not impossible to duplicate what they've done. Yeah, this isn't like a copy paste. We know the blueprint. No. This isn't like a, oh, this isn't like the warriors. It was like, all right, we need some three point. shooting. Right. You know what I mean? Like it's like it's like, this isn't like the Celtics, like Missoula ball where it's like, oh, we're going to throw up a bunch of threes. That's our

philosophy and that's what we're going to ride to the championship. This is, this is a one of one team. Well, it's just fascinating because Bob Myers was a big agent back in the day. Polenko was a big agent back in the day. I mean, somebody should go hire Mark Bartle's team. You know what I mean? Like these, these agents have done pretty good for themselves. I happen to produce a podcast that features a very good. prominent agent. Oh my God. What if somebody hired Rich Paul's GM? It could happen. Well, I prefer him. I prefer him in Max doing the show that I produced. I'll tell you this, though, buyers won a title, Polinko won a title, Leon won a title. Like, there's a bunch of

these agents that have pulled it off. Maybe that's the copy paste. It's not the copy paste of our or the, or the strategy. It's copy paste the front office strategy. That is a good one. This episode is brought to you by WeatherTech. Buying something for dad for Father's Day usually goes the same way every year, guessing, second guessing, and ending up with something that collects dust on a shelf. Well, here's a better idea, WeatherTech. It's the kind of gift he'll actually use. WeatherTech offers unmatched vehicle protection from floor liners to seat protectors to the cup bone and cargo liner. And no, a gift card isn't a cop out.

practical like weather tech skip the guesswork this year visit weathertech dot com to get your father's day gift today now all right i'm gonna go just because to to to just sort of piggyback on top of yours i'm gonna jump one of mine and go to this one when the nuggets won with murray and yokitch and that team it or even before that when the celtics won It was like, this is the beginning of like a Celtics run of multiple championships. When the Nuggets won with Yokesh, I felt the same way. And when the Thunder won with all of their picks and all of their youth, it just felt like this was the beginning of another run of championships.

Or it felt like the Knicks, we need to put together a team that will beat the Celtics in a playoff series, which is why you have the OG trade, which is why you have the picks for bridges, because wings top, right? We need to match the Celtics in a playoff series. And, you know, with the Warriors back in the day with the Rockets, you have to build this team to beat the Warriors and even the Nuggets, the Timberwolves, and we need to build this team to beat the Nuggets.

This weirdly doesn't have that feel to it. Like, doesn't this feel sort of like a one-off? Doesn't this feels like all of these guys are peeking right now? They're all coming back. No, I think. But this doesn't feel like a run of consecutive titles for the New York Knickerbockers. Titles, I don't know.

They could run a thing. That's more than one. Titles? Oh, okay. Well, I'm not saying they can't. No, but like with the thunder and the spurs, we looked up and we said this could be the next decade. Right. That's what I was saying.

Of course, we're not saying the next decade when Brunton's, well, I mean, he's 29, 39. He might, I mean, the current is that age. Who knows? Guy doesn't jump or run fast. I certainly think they could run it back next year and do it again. Of course. Especially with the Easter conference. Yeah. Why could they not be the best team in the Easter conference?

But this, it didn't, this doesn't feel like dynastic. That's all I'm going to say. Well, there are none anymore. Yeah. I would say a team that's able to hold it together, though, if they're able to run it back with those five guys. Again, the continuity. They're just like, and they know each other. Right. Because, I mean, you're going to have like, you know, Detroit's going to try to augment what they've got going on. Who the hell knows what's going on with Cleveland? Who the hell knows what Boston's,

going to have to go along or if Jalen Brown will even be there anymore. I've seen photoshots of Jalen Brown in like four different uniforms today. I'm like, what is going on? I mean, this guy's went on a Twitch stream. Like, now all of a sudden he has to get traded. I mean, are they going to be able to get past the wizards? That may be their competition. Yeah, the Wizards are basically going out of the east.

I look at it and go like, I look at the Easter conference right now and like, who knows where Janus is going to end up and if he's going to be on a better team that he was, obviously is going to be on better team that it was on, but like a good enough team. right, surrounding him once they unload whatever they're going to have to unload to attain him. Like, the Knicks should be in a good spot next year too. They should be in, again, well, let's just talk about next year. And there's a reason that we have had eight different title winners.

I mean, parity has reign supreme. I want to say nine, right? Is it nine? Yeah. Wow. I don't know. Who knows? Eight, nine, whatever.

All right. I'll keep the next one short. not great for kids with overbearing dads. Like you're getting no breaks, kids. Now that Brunson won, you are smoked. I mean, there's some poor bastard probably in my neighborhood right now. Like running up a hill's like, Jayla Brunton did it? You don't get tired.

Keep your follow through. It's like we've all seen the clip of him like miserable on the court having to do the drills over and over again. and it's like, there's a, look, let me just tell you, there's, for every, for every Rick Brunson, there are a million overbearing dads whose kids are never going to be good. Yeah. And that's the issue here, right? You just gave a life to, even if these kids is five foot nothing, you've given the overbearing, like I, look, mine,

I told you, we went into a AAU turn. We went into the Nike Y, Y, B, Y, Y, B, L. William was, I think he was 11. No, maybe, maybe 12, 13, something like that. When we went to go see Cooper Flagg when he was in high school, Elliot Cadeau was there, Caleb Wilson was there, every, it was Nike EYVL. We walked in and there's a guy, he plays in college right now,

but he stinks. His name's John Bull, but he's a, Giant. Oh, now why is this guy catching strays? Jeez. Well, he did. Sorry. But he was, we walked in.

He was seven foot four. No, he's in college. And he's like, I mean, he's a giant, a giant. And we watch, these kids were like driving in,

and there's no, like, defensive three seconds or anything in high school, like in EYVL. I watched this kid swat five shots in one possession. Like kids just trying to get, and I turned to my son. I was like,

you would never get a shot off on this guy in life. And I think I ruined, I think I ruined this dream dead. You know what I mean? But I knew, like, I go to those gyms and I'm around these players all the time. I understand there's 450 of these jobs. Most of these guys ain't even,

like, you're lucky if you even get a cup of coffee. You can't fill up the lower bowl at Madison Square Garden with the amount of people that have ever, in the history of life put on an NBA jersey. Half of those didn't get to put it on two years. All right? That's how many people make the NBA. But now there's the video going around.

Brunson's five foot nothing and has become one of the greatest players in the world. And it's like, okay, like, please don't let them. Don't let the overbearing dad's fuel for the fire. Yeah, yeah. He ruined it. I know, Brunson ruined it for everybody by doing this. Yeah. Are you sure to.

Yeah. Okay. Do it again. This is a big one. I don't know how we got here. But if you listen to the mismatch, you know that I started looking sideways at Victor Wimbunyama at the end of the summer. Like, it was like, it was like August. dude. And I was just like, something about this guy is just so curated and groomed and he's just

so perfect and the way he reads and all the the Shaolin monk stuff, the documentary crew. Like, I don't, I've never been to a Shaolin temple, but like I'm sure that some of the teachings aren't make sure you bring a camera crew and put this on TikTok. You know what I mean? and somehow over the past month, hating Victor Wimmyth Yama has gone mainstream. Like, I'm not alone anymore in this. I remember when I first did my Wimby rant, you were just like, you're the only person in media

who feels this way. Literally. And now it's like everybody. The only one. It's everybody now. And the handshake thing and the flagrant fowls. And now, sweetheart, Sean Fennacy is saying, it's Victor Wemianyama.

Like, and my whole algorithm is just like, Wembe haters. And it made me think back to Skip Bayliss is calling him victim Wemeyama. Yeah. I mean, I coined Luzbenyama. I think last season. You did.

Yeah. Everybody's favorite second place player. Now everybody hates him. It's weird. And like, it makes me think about watching walk off. I don't care about the handshakes. I don't care. I really don't care.

You're good at Zach. Oh, no, this is it. No, no, no, I'm not going back. No, no, I'm not going back. No, I'm not going back. No, I hate him. Yes, you have to. No, I have to.

You have to. This is like, don't worry. I really feel it. This is not just me doing like a bit. I really do feel hatred for this to this guy. No, no, no, no. But I don't care about the handshakes. You've got a zag.

You have to. No, I don't. Yes, it is. This is like the guy that, like, bro, this band just came and played at my frat house. They're named Hootie and the Blowfish. And then they sell 50 million records. And you're like, you know what? I know you were in on hating Wemby when it was an indie band,

but now they're the biggest band in the world. But this isn't a bit. I really don't like you. Like, I really don't. You're a trailblazer. I know, but like, do you know what I was thinking about when I was watching Walk Off? And he said, and like the handshake thing is really whatever to me. It made me think about the gold medal game.

Do you remember when he's crying after the gold medal game in Paris? Yeah. And I'm starting to think. I was like, wow, this guy's like, had a couple tough ones. You know what I mean? Like, he's a big games, big stages, and he's taking L's. Like. Also the one with Chad.

The one with Chad. Yeah, but he put that to bed. He put that to bed. Yeah, I know. But when he says, I'm saying he was second place in that too. When he says, like, I had trouble sort of like recalibrating after winning against the thunder, I really felt like he felt like he felt. felt like they were favored in the finals,

and this was going to be the year he wins the championship. Look, they dominated most of the series, as he said. Oh, they did. Oh, I forgot he said that too. Oh, this guy just keeps giving us more ammunition. Dominated the series? You were. How could you lose 4-1 and say you dominated the series?

How? For large portions. Large portions. What are we talking about? Unfortunately, he's not when it mattered most, but there were large portions. Look, in fair, I'm going to defend him a little bit here. No, don't.

No, no. According to those. Dominated the series thing. How do you fix your lips and use the word dominate? And when you lost 4-1. Well, because like they had like a 90% chance to win like all of those games according to the. I understand. But they didn't.

I understand. And they lost to the Knicks. And here's what really, here's what the icing on the hating Winby Cape. Cake is I'm sure you've seen the video. Everyone's listening to this is probably seen the video by now is Jalen Brunson. at the post party with the team, raising a class in the air, and his toast was two words long. And the thing is, his back is to the camera that's filming.

So I don't think he thinks he's being filmed or the audio is being picked up. And his toast, after winning the championship, fuck Wembe. And to have Jaylen Brunson, who's so mature in measure, say that, you know he feels away. You toast to that.

I mean, I've been doing that for years. Yes, you toast. Yeah, I said that. It's like saying grace at the table with my family. We all sit down, put our heads down and say together, fuck Wembe and then we start eating. That's how it works at the Jacoby house. I got to tell you, way ahead of your time. I do way ahead of the trailblazer, influencer.

Way ahead of your time. Influencer is what we call it. Ben influencing. We just got to find somebody else to, you know what I mean? We got to move on. We got to move on to the next guy that we got to hate. Did you see? After you saw the thing.

that I reposted with that one guy who did like a think piece about me hating wimpy. Did you see that thing? He was like, he was being all philosophical about it. I was like, you put way more thought into me hating wendy than I put into hating wempe. It's just sports, bro. We're just talking about sports. We're just talking about sports. Oh, God.

We don't actually hate this thing. It's just like, sorry I don't like the guy. He's on the other team that my team is playing and he's very hateable. Last one. Things got back to normal for a year. I mean. I love this one. Look, I mean, I wrote, I wrote it to the wheels fell off last year.

Vet teams, upper 20 star, that's who wins titles. The history of the league has told us. You wrote it and the wheels fell off and you went flying through the windshield onto the concrete. Well, what happened is the driver tore his Achilles in game seven of no fault of mine. he was he was cooking too Halliburton was cooking he was cooking no man this can't happen yet

this team's got to get some scars well the spurs got like as I said earlier that's so far beyond scars it's unbelievable like I mean they're gonna like this is the this is

I can't imagine like if if one of those happen like to my team, I would have like nightmares about it. Just one of those losses.

Just one of them. I mean, the whole damn thing is just the same way that it is pure euphoria for Nix fans. Like I always think about this when we were kids they used to have these commercials that were on TV and it would say, order Sports Illustrated and get the DVD with it, right?

The NICS championship DVDs. I want one so bad. I want one so bad. I want one so bad. The Knicks Championship DVD, and it will be the greatest DVD ever. Like, relive the moment of anything. It's actually just McHale Bridges' live stream. That's all it is.

They don't have any basketball in it. It's just him singing cold play. The reverse of that is like maybe the most unbelievable nightmare DVD is the NBA finals from the Spurs perspective. It's like, bro, we were winning every game. So I watched all these games. and I'm watching them for the second time. I'm like, how did the Knicks win this?

How? How did the Knicks win this? I was rewatch the other one, the game five just now before we did the pod. I was like, I can't believe the Knicks win this. They're 13 points with nine minutes left in the second quarter, Bruno. 13 points. Sounds like you're agreeing with Wemby. They're being dominated most of the time.

Yeah, but then the Knicks just walked them down. But this is, the history of the NBA is it's guys that are battle tested, It's guys that are grown-ups. And typically the best player on your team is upper 20s. And obviously Brunson's at 29. Like that's his first one that he's gotten, he's 29 years old. It's also continuity. It's not usually that you can just like put stars together and it works year one.

Like look at the heat. You know what I mean? The heatals. Like it's a continuity in health. It's not sexy to talk about on an NBA podcast. But like, those are two of the main things that fueled this. championship, Ron. Absolutely. Just people that know each other,

know each other's games, have real relationships off the floor, and then at Jose Alvarado. There you go. I love Jose Alvarado so much. The fact that he's at the Puerto Rican Day parade after winning a championship, the fact that he said,

I didn't realize that bacon, egg and cheese is a very regional thing. You're like, can you get a bacon, naked cheese in Memphis? Yes. Yeah, right? They're everywhere, right? Like, I'm not alone. It's a normal breakfast sandwich. Thank you. Right.

It's the way he says it. Yeah. And Arizona. He goes to Arizona. And I might drink some head at sea too. And McCall Bridge is like, oh, we're drinking in the morning. Hold my 808 tequila. Unbelievable.

It's so fun. I can't imagine what's going to happen at the parade. I don't know. Oh, God. He is going to be the star. I can't get enough of these videos. I mean. I can't get enough of these videos.

Again, like, it's so dumb to live in Manhattan with my family. It makes no sense. But this community and crowd and just the joyous nature of everything, it's just funny and it's awesome. It's like the dumbest place to live, but this is why you do it. This is it. I do wonder the psychology of it,

because this changes everything forever. It really does. Literally, say that again. It does. Changes everything forever. It changes everything forever. No, it does. Like, because it's always like,

you spend 53 years trying to climb them out. But what happens when the, when you got to the top? You know what I mean? Like, I'm just talking about the psychology of the house, dude. You forget your baby at the house. I know. That's what happens.

And they were never, you know, I heard somebody say this. They never, like, became lovable losers. You know what I mean? Like, they were never like, no. This iteration was a pretty successful But everybody, you know, I mean like they, anybody that's a Knicks fan, you even said it when we started this podcast.

I heard Fennessee saying it earlier. It's like, like they still can't believe it. Can't believe it. They don't know what life is like when the Knicks can win the championship and never dreamed that it could. Like, that's just not, that's not what the Knicks do. No, it's shocking. They've never done it. And they're losing in every game.

And you think they're going to lose every game in the series. Right. You know, you have confidence that Jalen can help. You know what I mean? But still, you're just like, oh, God,

here we go again. It's 5 to 15. And Mike Brown calls a timeout. Like, every single game. And I'm sitting there with my son. I'm like, I can't believe I made my son stay up for this.

He's just going to get disappointed again. And next thing, you know, we forget about the baby. And we're out in the streets, hugging strangers. God. So here's one thing I want to say.

It's a little negative because you know I like to be negative. And I already violated this on this podcast. There's a thing happening around town and conversations I have about the Nix, which is what all anybody does. All anybody does is talk about the Nix. The World Cup, whatever. Stanley Cup, whatever. No one cares. People are already talking about next year.

And I'm like, guys, every. one, let's not talk about next year until next year. You know what I mean? Yeah, I got these people talking to me about like, oh, this person's unrestricted and restricted. I'm just like, God, like, God, oh, we're going to bring it back again, repeat. You know what I mean? You want to enjoy this. Yeah.

It's just like, it's been like three days. Like, can we just celebrate this and just enjoy this and have a parade and then put up a banner and get race? You know what? I'm with you. We're going to let that happen for this entire episode. I'm not going to talk about Darren Peterson and the draft coming up. I'm not going to talk about all these trades and rumors. That's what we're going to do.

No, we're not talking about Janus. We're not talking about anything. On our episode on Friday, we'll do all of that. I got to do. Tiago split her getting his job in Chicago. Who cares? Before we wrap, I got to tell you one brief story from the weekend. Let me hear.

My son had a birthday party on Sunday. So for all parents, this is our birthday party hack. It's not that expensive to rent a movie thing. theater, right? What? Yeah, it's like 400 bucks. No. Yeah.

So you get right in the middle of Times Square, we get the whole theater. What? Mandalorian and Grogue Group. Yeah. It's like 450 bucks. Yeah. I did not know. I've never even heard anybody do that.

So we do it all the time. Like almost every year, one of them is going to get, just rent out the movie theater. You got to buy it's expensive. You've got to buy all the popcorn and soda and whatever. You know what I mean? And then you've got to tip the people that clean the thing. Oh, so it probably costs a grand. Yeah.

So it gets you up there. It gets you up there. So we've got like 25, 13-year-olds, right? And my wife and her sister take the baby, and they go down town to go pick up the twins or do something. So it's me and 25-13-year-olds in the middle of Times Square. Nick's just won the championship the night before. The Puerto Rican Day parade is happening.

There's a Brazil soccer game. And this is the middle of Times Square. It's chaos outside. Here's one thing I didn't realize. I want to talk to you because you have older children, too. A little bit of a mismatched parent corner here. is when they came, when the movie was over, we're supposed to meet in the lobby.

So it's me in 25, 13-year-olds, right? Boys and girls. And they're like older kids now. They're 13. They're teens. 25 kids. Four parents come to pick up the kids. Okay.

So at this age, you can kind of move around the city by yourself. But as the dad, I'm like, I've got like, I don't know, 17, 13-year-olds. I'm like, am I just supposed to like let them loose in the middle of time? square amidst all this chaos. And then every kid is like, I'm going to go take the train. And I was like, call your mom or dad so I can talk to him on the phone and confirm that this is okay. So next thing you know, there's like, I'm in charge of all these kids and they're walking

all these different directions. I'm just like way over my skis. Is that common? No, I don't know. I'm saying this is my first time. But does your son just take the train someplace? Yes. But, but yeah, we track him and call him.

Yeah, he does. He's at the age. he's also gigantic. My son is like, he's bigger than you, like literally. I would, I mean,

I would never. But then so then, but I've got, I don't care about my own kids. Obviously, to leave them in the house, but like other people's kids are more like precious.

You know what I mean? I'm like, I'm responsible for my own or whatever. I agree with you. I would absolutely. But like, I was having a panic attack. Then one of his friends Tommy,

Tommy's mom comes and Tommy leaves. He goes on the train. Tommy's mom stayed with me because she saw that I had no handle of the situation. Her son isn't even involved anymore. I was like, which one is your kid? She's like, I'm Tommy's mom. I'm like, well, where's Tommy? She's like, he already left.

I'm like, so you're just here because you can tell that I have no control over these children. They all want to get into one Uber. There's like, 12 of them. I'm like, we need more than one Uber. Long story short, I'm a bad. No, that is a nightmare. Nightmare. And there's a nightmare too.

Oh, that's a nightmare. Yeah, no. Times Square. I'm like one of the most chaotic weekends in the history of New York City. I would rather be a spur rewatching game four. It all worked out. No one died. I assume everybody got home.

You don't know. You don't know. You don't know what happened to these kids. I was like, did people ask you how you got the scratch on your face? He's like, yeah. I was like, well, what did you tell him? I was wondering, you know what I mean? He's like, yeah, my dad beat me up and smashed me into a chair

because the Knicks won the championship. Like it was like a WWE move. And he's like, I told them that I threw a chair. He's like, it sounds cooler. I was like, okay. Yeah, that's smart. How many of the 25 kids would you say you knew personally? Four.

Literally. Really? Four. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. It all worked out of them. The Knicks are champions.

The Knits are champions. Oh, God. It's crazy. You're going to go to the parade. I can't believe this actually happen. You're doing it. All right. Taking my whole family.

Then we're going to read. Reconvene later this week and we'll get to hear about the parade. Yeah, we'll do Friday morning. We'll do the show. So come on Friday afternoon. All right. We'll do the show on Friday morning since the parade is on Thursday. And then we'll reconvene talk about all of that then as well as the draft will be coming up next week.

Jaylin Brown will be on the trailblazers. Yeah, Yonnas may be somewhere. I don't even know what's real anymore. It's like this, this, this, like, Derrick Fox unfollowed this. I'm like, what's going on? Is he this real? I have no idea what's real. And we have a week from tomorrow is going to be the NBA draft.

So we've got a lot to talk about later this week. Thanks to Jeff, Steph, and Jesse, as always. And Jacoby, I'll talk to you later this week. You go to Hawaii in your head all the time. But when you're actually ready to go, there's Expedia. Flights, hotels, vacation homes, cars, save more when you bundle so you can stop dreaming and start saving. Expedia. place you go to go places. Members only savings vary.