The Right Time with Bomani Jones - Knicks come home for game 3, Victor Wembanyama Backlash, World Cup Fever heats up | 06.08

Episode Date: June 8, 2026

Bomani Jones breaks down why the New York Knicks suddenly look like a completely different team in the NBA Finals, why they feel inevitable with a 2-0 lead, and why this run is starting to feel a lot bigger than anyone expected. Bo also gives Karl-Anthony Towns his proper credit, arguing that KAT has been the best player on the floor, while pushing back on the easy Victor Wembanyama criticism by explaining how much of his rough night was really about the Knicks’ size, physicality, and defense. From there, Bo and Ryan get into the huge NBA Finals ratings bump, what Victor’s star power means for the league, why the World Cup’s dangerous heat is becoming one of the tournament’s biggest storylines, and why Anthropic’s warning about powerful AI sounds a lot less crazy than people want to admit. Apple: Stay closer to the game. Download the Apple Sports app for free in the app store. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/apple-sports/id6446788829 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Just style you love and quality you can trust. Visit wayfair.ca. Wayfair, every style, every home. Wave. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the right time. A Wave Original. My name is Beaumani Jones. Thanks for listening wherever you get your podcast. Thanks for watching us on YouTube. Subscribe, like, rate us, review us. Give us five stars.

You only give us four stars. I'm inclined to believe you are a hater. Obviously, we got a lot of NBA final stock. We got the World Cup. I got to say, my thought was if San Antonio went to Madison Square Garden down O2, it would be a sweep. I would just like to point out that, granted, it was a two, three, two, format, but the FedEx Sons in 1993 were in a very similar situation.

They actually managed to win two out of three at Chicago Stadium, and we're right there in it with a chance to win the championship that year. before the John Paxton shot to win the championship there, which is to say, on one hand, this series is not over. On the other hand, if I got out of here, what am I talking about? Right. It feels pretty over from here. Now, we did something that I don't necessarily know if it was great for business,

but oh, well, we just didn't feel like working on no Saturday, but we did not come in with the immediate reaction to the end of game two. and I don't really know how it would have gone over if I had jumped in on the immediate reaction because what I found fascinating about the immediate reaction to game two was simply everything that happened was like a response to some shit that somebody else has said before

that really might not have been particularly relevant to what is going on at this given moment in time. That appears because we have what the internet has given us is an uncommon like rolling tally on everything everybody has ever said before in their lives. You know what the internet is like? It's like a PC. Ryan, are you a PC user?

I am not a PC user. All right, I would be honest with you. I voluntarily laid my hands on no PC in 20 years. Yeah, I think I've had to use them for work occasionally. but not if I haven't had to. It's come up. They used to have a PC in here for me for work, and I was like, damn, I forgot how you did that.

Like, it's kind of like how it was one year at Christmas, when our microwave broke. It was, I forget when it was, but I am of that age where I looked at everybody like, so what we go do now? Right. Like, how do you reheat food? I only know how to do it through pressing buttons.

It has never come up in my life before, right? It would take me an embarrassing amount of time to figure out how to reheat food without a microwave. Ah, no, you get to it now. Like, I've learned. I've rarely used my microwave for that fashion. But anyway, I bring that up because of this. What used to be the story with the PC may not be the story with the PC right now. I have no idea.

But you remember how long it used to take for a PC to crank up every time you used it as it went longer and longer? The reason was that thing kept the running log of every keystroke and everything that you had ever done. you turned it on, it went back through all of those things, right? The internet basically does that when it comes to everything. We're just rolling through all these tallies of everything that anybody has ever said and you can't really take nothing on its face value right now. Everything has to be some answer, some shit to some hater said back in the past. Now, I want to be very clear that I am not expressing my distaste for this fact because

I may be one of those people that you're calling a hater from the past. The reason I have no problem with that is I've been done got out in front of my shit. I feel like you deal with evidence as you has it, have it, and then you go from there. Okay? And if things change, things change, don't be wedded to whatever it was that you said before. However, be real about whatever it was that was said before. Now, all of a sudden, it's the most amazing thing in the world. Everybody got something to say about what somebody else had to say about Carl Anthony Tass.

They were saying that he was soft. They, now, some of that stuff is a thing. Because, Ryan, I wouldn't say in that other stuff. You know, you know, you understand. Yes, there's a line you don't go to. No, no, no, no. What I said, that he was an alleged sucker. I wasn't talking about that.

I was talking about doing dumb shit and getting in file trouble, right? Like, did not go in that direction. Now, some of y'all, some of y'all do have to answer that. Though I do have to say, Carl has had one consistent voice from what I could tell this postseason. It has been one with some base in it, and he sounds like a grown man in these postgame interviews, and ride this one out, dog. This is the, this is always been the one that works, right?

Now, maybe it's not who you are, but try being this. Like, it's going, it's rolling. Look, he's been the best player on the team. I am actually a little blown away by how many Knicks fans, because you're so wedded to Jalen Brunson, just don't want to, like, be real about this fact. He's been that guy. Jalen Brunson may be the guy that gets the shots for you at the end of the game, right, and he may be the most important player

for a number of reasons. But yeah, we're looking at Carl Anthony Towns as finals MVP. I know I talked a lot about this in the last game, but I think it's more fun to talk about how well he's playing than try to say to somebody was wrong about what they said before. Correct. Right? I've seen the argument made the

it's going to be crazy if he wins the championship before Jimmy Butler did. That was eight years ago. Yeah, Buffalo has been on about three different teams since then. He's been on three different teams since then. He's been on two teams that went to the finals, another one that was basically a shot from getting to the finals.

Yes, not going to lie. Good for Carl if he happens to do that. It took eight years or more like seven and change. But you get my point. This doesn't have to be about the shit. Somebody else said, you remember when Cocoa Golf went to the U.S. Open and had the whole dedication to the haters?

Yes. And I did a year in review show with some young women that year. And they, I mean, I think they were like in their 20s at the time. And they all talked about how much they loved that. And it made me say it. I was like, damn, you just won the U.S. opening. You out here thinking about Johnny 35, 24, 64, 673 and one third on Twitter or whatever it was. Like, is this what we're doing?

No, so much analysis that I've seen about this. And great it, I'm looking at it on the Internet where people go to be miserable. But it's wild how much of, like, what we have going on right now, standing on its own is so dope. or you can put it in the terms that we usually put it in with guys like this, which is Carl Anthony Towns got better, right? Which is the things that he was doing as recently as two years ago into playoffs, he's not doing anymore. Last year, I will never forget Stan Van Gundy on some late game possession.

While Carl was still playing good, was like, hey, man, I think you might want to get this guy out of the game, so he doesn't commit a stupid foul. Because he did so much dumb stuff. None of that is happening anymore, right? And to be fair to him, I think this is a part that I probably didn't give him enough credit for because he's been in the league now for 11 years. I want to say he's just 30 or something like that.

That's wild. Yeah, like there's a process. Elijah Wahn did not really become Elijah Wahn in that way until he was early 30s. Right? Like maybe part of it's just because these guys get in so younger, whatever it is. But what I think is the cool thing right now about the Knicks, they are not the team that they were during the regular season. during the regular season, man, the things that people were saying but not out loud about what

they were going to have to do in the fingers pointing at everybody else. McHale Bridges looks like a completely different player. Right. Then he did two months ago. Jaylor Brunson is not playing well and it doesn't matter because everybody else has pulled up. And now they are up to O coming back home. What could mess this up for them? How in the world could this not roll?

Like this feels like it should be a switch. Right. But bad vibes are on the way. Bad juju is coming. Do we know where bad juju going to be sitting? Is he in a box or is he going to be on the floor? I feel like he has to be in a box. Like, I feel like, I think the best argument for him having to be on the box is that would be taking money out of somebody's pocket.

Right. You know what I'm saying? But is it on the board? Oh, no, he can't be there. So Zoran said he bought his own ticket for, for game three. He said he bought his own seat, which means Zoran on one level. Oh, cool, Zoran going to be all the way at the top. On the other level, he's not that tall.

He'll be, he'll be perfect. He'll be fine. Shut out. I don't even know if his feet go hit the ground, right? He'll be up there, right? But bad vibes are all in the way. They say you got to get to the arena, two hours. early. They're not going to have the watch party outside. And I really feel bad for those people

who can't go to the watch party outside. Because I've seen a lot of these right outside the arena watch parties. I look at them. And this is going to be tough because now these cats might have to go watch a game somewhere where it's some girls. They're nervous as hell right now. I've been waiting to get that one off. It really is just so many dudes. I mean, doing fair, they look like they're having a great job. They do. Especially in the post game, if you, they take the wide shot before they, like, go in on the one guy. Yes.

All dudes. All dudes. It's wall to wall dudes. I'm trying to think what it would take or what it would have to be to be more dudes. And to be fair to them, it's not their fault that it's all dudes. Right. It's the women who look at that, look at that crowd and are like, you want to go somewhere else? Literally anywhere.

else. Right. Like, I don't think these guys would run away. For so many reasons. Yeah, like, I don't think these guys would run away. Like, you, gross. Girls have cooties. I don't think that's what it is, but I do think a couple of ladies who might have thought about coming pulled up there. We're like, shit, is the 40-40 club still open? Where's the bathroom? Uh, nowhere? Okay, let's go literally anywhere else. Yeah, let's, let's, let's mix this. But nobody seems happy about the fact that Trump is pulling up to this just because it seems like it's going to make things really inconvenient about going to a venue that if nothing else is wildly convenient. It's crazy convenient even if you don't live in Manhattan,

even if you don't live in the city of New York because it's right there at Penn Station. It's really easy to get there. So now he's pulling up. Don't nobody wanted to be there and see, this is where Dolan messing up. Dolan is messing up because it's been real easy to forget about him. Yes.

Now you can't quite forget about him. because it's just going to be a big old giant hassle. I will also point out that like, times is kind of hard out here in these streets. Now, to be fair, I don't know how hard those times are for the people that are going to be at this expensive-ass game.

Fair. It's the salad days for them. I had a talk with someone with whom I do some work about my finances. I'm trying to make that sound a little bit less 1% but you understand what I mean. talking to him. He was like, yeah, I don't know about this economy, but you know, for people with money, it's

great times. I mean, like, I think what's the final count of what the nosebleeds are for Massachusetts were in 13K? I think so. To be fair, though, those people don't plan to sell those tickets. I think that's the part that people misunderstand about those sale

prices, right? Those are people who really want to go to this game. Right? Like, if some way you got access to these seats, you really want to go to this game. I don't think you're going to convince me that anybody's paying $13,000 to sit up there with Richie Guerin and Dick Barnett and Willis Reed, right? Like, like, I don't think anybody's doing that. I do think there are people with seats that high who are saying the only way I'm going to miss this game is if you give me $15,000.

Like, now we've got to think about it. This comes up every year with Carolina Duke, where people get offered these crazy amounts of money and they finally got a chance to go to the game and they say, no, we're going to go to the game, right? I think that. Those are sale prices that are individually being said. These are not the prices that are being set by Madison Square Garden. Right. So, no, I don't, I think that if somebody really wanted to move them seats, you get in about five minutes before the gang,

you might be able to get in for five Gs or something like that. Maybe. But people go try, right? They're going to give it a go. I understand this. That's like, that's what it's going to be. It's going to be crazy loud in there. I don't, I don't assume

it everybody gets in on time because they got to go through and check their bags. I mean, they're telling people get there two hours before. That is. It's like an international flight. Yes.

That's, that's what this game has become. I'd tell you this, though, it's going to take a lot more than that to get these people to not be as crunked up as one could imagine. Right? Like, it's going. That's the thing that's crazy.

It's like, if you got to get there two hours before, you know what people are going to, I hope they're, You know what people were going to do for two hours? Buy a bunch of outhaul. Yeah, they are. They are.

They are. And look, man, we don't, we don't have any precedent. I don't feel like in the NBA. No. For something like this. Like, this is the equivalent of, like, 2016 Cubs. Not the exact same, but it might as well be. The difference in application between 50 years and 100 years really isn't that much, right?

And this is not maybe the closest to this. This is the Cleveland baseball team having not won a championship since 1948. It had been so long they had the second black person on the tee. And it was the satchel page was on the tee. That's how long ago it was since they had won anything, right? New York, it feel the same for the Knicks. It might as well. And in fact, remember that when the Cubs won, they were playing against Cleveland.

Right. It was like more or less the same situation. It's going to be there and they got it. This has been a great team. Great. Like, I think that, that I'd ask the question, like, so what's it going to take for people to, like, jump off board with the Knicks for this run that they've been on?

And it hasn't come up. We don't have the answer for what it would take. And by the way, it's going to take a lot more than one. It, I mean, it's going to take so much more than that. And this is, look, even after they almost blew game to, and let's not get it twisted, they almost blew that game. like Jaylen Brunson still hit the shot late that they needed, but they nearly blew that. Carl went back to committing stupid fouls, right?

Like it was a lot that went on at the end of that game. And still, nobody's thinking about it like that. They're just like, yeah, man, we're the next, baby. We find a way to win. When did y'all find that? What, has it just been under the couch cushion the whole time? And you just couldn't find it for 50 years? Oh shit, there you go right there.

Man, my bad. I should have just asked somebody to help me look for it, right? Maybe that's what they needed. They needed all five dudes to get in there and find a way to figure it out. But no, this is, this to me is a story of something that you don't really see that much in the NBA. I would actually argue, and it seems maybe crazy to say it this way, but it is, that 2004 and 2014 become the best examples of this of just like, college has a bunch of really good teams. right, where you just have this, where it's like, who's the best guy that isn't really the answer to the question.

It's just a collection of dudes and how well they play together. You don't really see that in the NBA. That's not really how the NBA works. The 2014 spurs don't seem like that, but it's like Kauai before he gets there. Tony Parker, Middle Age, Mato Genobley, Middle Age. Tim Duncan certified old. If you watch that team, that had nothing to do with them having one superstar. Maybe it was a level of experience, but they was moving the ball, and it always got to where it needed to be, and everything was straight.

those are these nicks. It's actually the kind of team that New York would appreciate and the kind of team that New York likes. This is what they've got. They came out unscathed. If they win this game three, I don't know what Thursday night is going to be like in this city. Because if they win game three,

I don't think San Antonio got nearly enough to think about doing anything in game four. If they win this game three, don't let them blow them out in game three, which is on the board, right? Like, we'll get to the spurs, but they say it all the right things. Everything is on the table for them to get their asses kicked out here. Right.

And the thing that's shocking to me about the Knicks is they're starting to feel inevitable. Once that game two was closed in the second quarter, like they didn't get blown out from the jump, I was like, they're going to pull this off. Yeah, well, so I felt like they were. And then the Spurs came back and they, you know what, let's just go ahead to, and the Spurs had a chance, but dot, dot, dot. Okay.

The reason I decided to work. wait to talk about the Spurs. And Ryan, you tell me if I'm wrong here. I just felt like all the discussion was just a bunch of people who had been waiting for their chance to be haters. Definitely a little bit. We learned with the Chet situation, the streets respond to the hatred way more than they do to the love,

which is why this may become a YouTube breakout that gets released on Sunday afternoon. But it is, I just, I didn't feel right. And you know, with Chet, we didn't do, but we did break it out. Okay, so we are that, which we are, we despise. You understand. I'm torn, man. I'm torn, man.

Maybe I got to eat. You understand what I'm saying? That's what I'm saying. That's what it is. That ending in San Antonio was, shall we say, interesting. They'll get no credit for the comeback, right? Everything about game two has been through the lens of what Victor Wimbaenjama did not do. Did not play well in the first half. And looking back on it, man, it was great defense by the Knicks.

Right. right it wasn't like he was running away from the ball the ball wasn't getting to him i think the biggest misnomer of this and i'm big on this too is man why won't you go into the paint i don't think that victor's averse to going to the paint i don't think he's opposed to getting to the paint but it's big guys over there not letting it happen right right like there is such a strength advantage on the front line from the nix that for victor to get there requires him to do these kind of post moves that seem to take forever because he's so long, right? So I don't think it's a matter of him, like,

not being willing to go down there. And I think he winds up taking these threes in part because he feels like you got to get out there and take a shot. But I did not think of, I mean, and don't get me wrong, Tows and Ananobe were putting a hurt to him on defense, right? The thing that's got me with people, like, I think are getting revisionist about Carl Tiles. And they're like, man, you know, you guys said he spent too much time on the perimeter.

But that's why he's doing so well. I disagree with that. I think his ability to play on the perimeter is a big part of it. But the biggest reason that he's doing so well is he's so goddamn big, which is the part that the other people, including me, had been saying, you're too big to relegate yourself to standing out on the perimeter, which I want to be clear is the same point that people are making about Victor. The difference is what you're saying about Victor is not that he's too big.

to be standing on the perimeter. You're saying that he's too tall to be standing on the perimeter, and he is tall man. The reason that he's having trouble with Tows, and again, OG, who is six, seven, is because they are big. And so when Carl puts the ball on the dribble and gets a little bit past him, and he turns that shoulder, there's nothing Victor can do. Just about everybody else, the guys that aren't that big, he can play from behind and pitch their shit, right? He can't do that with Tows. town's 260 or 270 pounds. There's like, at least appears to be in that zone. He can't do nothing with him on that front.

That's where it's like, no, the issue with town, if towns in play what appears to be this level of toughness and this level of physical resolve, he wouldn't have been saying that stuff we said about him before. But it gets us back to Victor where he's not going to be able to get himself down to the places that people want him to get. The question is why Mitch Johnson is not figuring out of way to get him or get the ball there.

or whatever it is. Like, they don't seem to be doing anything, and you let me know if I'm wrong here. I think Mike Brown seems to be doing an excellent job. I don't see Mitch Johnson doing anything schematically to make things easier for his best player. Right. And he needs to, because as we talked about last show,

what is interesting about these teams is the guys that get out here and play for both teams are clustered around the same age. And I believe that median age for the Spurs is like 22 or 23. and that median age for the Knicks, it's like 28 or 29. Right. Right? Like, that's a big difference.

I made a bit of a mistake last show where I talked about the Knicks didn't have guys that had been this far. It's not true. McHill Bridges has, you can put OG out there, but OG was hurt for most of their run in 2019, as I recall it. But either way it goes, they got bigger dudes. You're going to have to figure out a way to help Carl Anthony Ta. I mean, Victor Wimpan, Yama, get to the shots that are easy. right? The expectation that he at this point in his career is just going to be able to do that. No. No one that young has consistent like go-to moves late, you know.

Yeah, but even forget about go-to moves. He's too spindly, sin we like it, right, to just think, okay, well, what he's going to do is he's going to muscle Mr. Robinson to make him give him space. Oh, that's not going to happen. So how are you going to figure this out? Like what got me on that last, playing a game where he missed that shot, there's no way that to me you should have been playing for a pick and pop under that circumstance because I don't think you want him taking that shot. I'd have much rather Fox take that shot than him. I would have thought that off that screen, a hard role and people have said, well, the Knicks had all those people in there.

That's fine. Let them have all those people in there. Let them all look at Victor and then we get the ball or one of these other guys who should be able to make a shot. Or, you know, or someone foul. You're sending them to the line. Yeah. How many of them can get high enough to do something?

Like, it's all those questions. I don't know. But I thought that the play there should have been a hard role rather than, well, let's play it for him to take an elbow jumper. But we've seen when it's come time for big shots, what they clearly think is his spot is like an elbow jumper. Right. Right.

And that, no, I agree. You don't want it to be that. But you're going to have to figure out with this guy a way to get him better shots. The other thing that's happening with them is interesting. Dylan Harper, who, he's going to be that guy. And he's still 20 years old and has moments where he looks like that. Right. And does those things, right?

What I love about his game is it's like, sometimes are rob slow, sometimes arrive fast, right? Like he can play in whatever speed is necessary and you can't quite tell which one it's going to be, right? See, Excel, D, D, C, is strong. And I think we see a lot of guys that have strong D. D.Sel, guys are strong Xcel, not that many that have both. in the way that he has the two of them.

That's been great, but he's still like crazy young. Stefan Castle, that's the guy that's doing the James Harden, in 2012 impression. Like, not all the way in there, but we saw that early in the last series, and we've seen it here, that he's 21 years old, man. And sometimes that moment's going to feel a little bit big to him. Those cats like the cell to Shamp Pipple,

they very clearly understand what they're here to do. Shoot went open. Yes. And they seem to do pretty well. when it comes to that. But no, we're not at a point in the victor game where he's just going to decide. He's at the point and when we saw that in game,

one of the last series where he can be that dude. Like everything can line up and he can make it happen. But hey, you're just going to jump on my back and we're going to make it happen? You can't count on it. What did you make of the late turnover as they're going up before? So somebody who was at the arena told me that what you needed to look for

was that Mitch Johnson told him to push it. Really? and then everybody kind of freaked out. I mean, Castle looked for the ball and then Victor tried. We're at a weird world where we're asking, why did the 7-5 guy try to give the ball to a guard? Yes. I don't really understand why you would do such a thing.

I would have tried to play for a transition basket. I've seen people say he should have called a timeout. Hell no, he shouldn't have called a timeout. Get it back. They're not set. And it was just a- Jaywin and Katter still on the floor. Yeah, yeah. It was an unfortunate point.

play and then it led to the foul. But they still had a chance afterward, right? Like, it was a moment that looked bad. It did not lose them to game. Maybe it lost them the chance to go to overtime. But I don't know, I mean, I don't know. I just thought, I thought what that was was people's opportunity to get their jokes off. Right?

Like, that's really what it came down to. It was their chance. built a dude up two weeks ago. All it was was two weeks. I saw somebody on the internet again. They're like, you know, this is the thing I was talking about before where everything is about what would have happened otherwise.

Man, what would we have said if LeBron had done that? Why are we talking about him? Number one, number two, I was here for it. Okay. Year four, LeBron and the NBA finals did not play well. Do you ever hear anybody talk about it? Pretty rarely.

It was a long time ago. No, but even then, it wasn't, when we were killing him for 2010 and 2011, nobody was taking it back to 2007, right? Like, no, he simply wasn't good in that series. It wasn't that big a deal. Now, year seven and year eight, oh yeah, we were on his neck, okay? I would also argue that year seven and year eight, when it went bad in the playoffs, he played worse than Victor played in game two by. far played worse.

2011 NBA Finals, LeBron James was awful. It's interesting because he didn't, I don't think he had a signature moment, like a signature gaff, but he just looked, had the deer in the headlights for two hours. Oh, no, no, he had the signature gaff.

It was being guarded in the post by J.J. Barrett. Fair. That was, that's the part that he could, you just knew it was over. It was all the way over. I mean, there's a lot to it.

I think there's an argument that he humanized the broad in a way because I just think the stress of that year had gotten to be too much. But ultimately, it was worse than anything we saw from game two, is what I'm saying. But when he was 22,

we weren't killing him. Right. For not playing well in that game. This is, Larry Bird did not win NBA Finals MVP in 1981. He did not have a great finals that year. Magic would not have won NBA finals. VP in 1980 if it weren't for the Kareem injury and you probably shouldn't have under those

circumstances. Like the only point that I'm making is now the Spurs are kind of going back to what we all have thought forever is what it should be for a team at this point. Right. That's how they played in those two games. Maybe they get up off the ground, right? Right. Maybe they're able to put it together. I thought that everything Victor said, hey man, I got to have more poise. He seems to be the most self-aware and most able to acknowledge his faults and let it go, which I think is very, very important. That's that mindfulness stuff that he seems to be all about doing, right? Like that to me is where that stuff comes up is in the way that he talks about and handles those things. But they don't need to get it. If they don't have any chance to win this,

they've got to get out here and get it done. And it's got to take place early. Like you guys get down 15 to 2 or something like this. Yeah, you were talking about how loud that building is going to be. If they get up to a big run, big lead, it's going to feel like a party in there real soon. But in fairness to the Spurs and something worth keeping in mind, it's going to be nerve-wracking for the Knicks, too. Like, no, everybody thinks they're going to win. Like, if they are capable of feeling pressure, this is the game that they'll feel it. I think they'd feel more pressure here than they would feel in a game seven.

Because game seven is like, oh, this could go either way. this is, I don't think, can you think of a team that's been expected to win a game in the way that this team is? Like those first two, those first two spreads were weird. Right. Right. Like those spreads were, like the spurs were like a six and a half point favorite

in game two. That was preposterous. Yeah, I mean, it seems that the Knicks have been consistently undervalued. Yo, do you know what the spread is in this one? As of this moment? I'm going to go three in it. Nick's favorite by three. three and a half. One and a half. What am I missing here? That's insane. What are we,

I am totally confused by this, right? Like, I can't, no, no, no, no, no. I don't see this. But this could go a lot of ways, man. This could, this could go a lot of ways. I obviously think that the Knicks are going to win. Um, but what if Victor comes out here puts up like 35? at MSG? It's possible. That's the thing. It's simply possible. It is not probable.

And this is the difference between a guy like this at this age and then where it gets later. At this age, it's possible. Later, it becomes probable, right? The skills catch up to where he's way ahead of the game mentally, and I don't mean in terms of processing basketball,

I mean in terms of mindset. He's way ahead of 22 at that point. but everything else, it's got to catch up, man. It's got to catch up. And maybe they catch lightning in a bottle here. Maybe he's super hot or whatever it is. But to me, I got less questions about how Victor's going to turn up than how Stefan Castle is going to turn up.

Because it's possible, man, he might completely tighten it up, right? Like, one thing that does seem to be contagious about Victor's that the other guys are like, yeah, man, well, we think we're good enough to win. Like, they have that mindset. But when that whistle blows, man, We've seen the tightness come up in a lot of these dudes. And we've seen it come up in Victor. They eventually pulled it back together.

But this is going to be a test of their mind and a test of will. And no matter how modern sports get, I forget who's the originator of this tweet. My buddy Miles Brown sent it to me, though, is that a lot of the playoffs just come down to who a bitch and who ain't. And we may not find out who is, but we're definitely going to find out who ain't. New York, the weight is over. The Knicks are back in the finals. And with Fanduil, you can cash in on a championship run that's years in the making. Because for a limited time, new Fandual customers in New York get 50 to one odds on the Knicks to win it all.

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Now, if you haven't heard. All right, Bo, if you haven't heard, big viewership for this NBA finals, up 90% over, last year's game one, game one of the, between the spurs and the Knicks, averaged nearly 17 million viewers. Most watched game one since 2018.

Bo, what do you make of this? One, let us not discount the possibility of some stat jukeying. Of course. You know, like I barely know what numbers mean anymore, right? But I want to be fair on this, that the quantitative methods do become important. But number two,

Wow, it's amazing what happens when you have actual factual star power combined with the biggest market in the country. Last year, what did we have? Oklahoma City in Indiana. Who the fuck was the number two for Indiana? You know what I mean? Like it just, it wasn't,

I don't think these ratings would have been this high if you would put the Knicks in last year. Right. But Victor, Victor's at a point where people who don't watch basketball know what you're talking about. Oh, I heard this big French guy over there

even if they don't know his name, right? Like, yeah, no, this is the thing. Like this idea that somehow basketball has slipped in cultural relevance. I mean, maybe I just live in a different world, but it ain't gone nowhere in the world that I traffic in. But in terms of television, yeah, man,

I think, first of all, I think it's helped, the NBC thing has helped a lot. Yes. I think being over the air, and them being there, I think, has been a big deal. I think, I also think, hey, man, this is the first NBA finals of inside the NBA. Like, I don't think that that's a small thing either.

Like, I think this feels like a big deal in a way where last year was the first time when they finally, when we bullied Adam into putting the trophy on the floor, it was like, hey, man, you weren't making this feel like a big deal. I think NBC has done a great job of making this feel like a big deal. I think the broadcast this year. I mean, obviously NBC had the playoffs and the, Western Conference Finals.

The finals are on ESPN. Yes. But it all builds. Yeah, correct. I completely agree that NBC's presentation of the playoffs. It all feels like a big deal. And look, I worked at ESPN for a long time. I worked with a lot of those people for a long time.

Having Charles Shack Kenny and Ernie makes this feel like a bigger deal than any incarnation of NBA countdown that there has ever been. and I think that that carries over into how much, like, what the ratings are. These, these playoffs have felt important. You know what feels silly? All the conversations we had about who's the next face of the league. I told people. You have to admit, I don't know if we did it on this show, but I've said it.

I was like, no, it's going to be. Yeah, it was like Jason Tatum and the Edwards. No, they got, we just got so caught up in the America part. Yeah, John Morant. No, we need you to be amazing. Right. Right. Like I don't, and it's, it's wild because all these guys that we've had come from other countries, a lot of them have been really impressive. Right. This one's amazing. He's amazing. He is, he jumps off the screen both physically and with his play. His interviews are incredible. And I mean, I mean, he also put up one of the biggest star performances we've seen in a long, long time last week. Yep. And he's becoming polarizing all because he keeps saying what he should. Yeah.

The haters, especially the little ones, the little guys, this, this is, they not, I can just imagine them. They just reach it up in the sky, trying to figure out what to do. All right. The World Cup kicks off this week, and there is one consistent narrative throughout the country. It's really, really hot. In England, they are using special high-tech palm cooling devices to try and keep them cool. over one third of the games next week will be in what will be termed dangerous levels of heat according to the NPR.

Bo, I want you to run through where some of these teams are training just to get kind of an idea of the heat. Norway training in Greensboro, North Carolina. Great, hold on, in Greenville? Greensboro, North Carolina. Oh, Greensboro. Greensboro. Big difference. Yes, big difference.

Yeah, big difference. Ooh. Sweden, Frisco, Texas. Dallas. Yep. Let's see. Let's go through. Portugal, Palm Beach.

Spain, Chattanooga, Tennessee. You can tell who did their location scouting early and who waited too late. Right. So, Turkey, A, Mesa, Arizona. Wow. Wow. Shout out to you to catching up. It is now Turkey aid, not Turkey.

Yep. I know that because they're playing the United States. Oh, okay. Got you. But yeah, what do you make of this, of the world just worrying about the U.S.'s heat issues? I'm just curious. It wasn't hotter than that in Qatar?

They had to play that in the fall. That's right. So is America at that point where we got to start having stuff like that in the Olympics, like when they haven't been like Australia? Like, are we at, is that the place that we have reached that you're going to have to wait in order to do that? The wild thing is now, I mean, all these games are in the south, they're going to be indoor stadiums. But do you imagine going out into MetLife?

Oh, yeah, they're going to be in for a rude awakening. Or Kansas City. Washington, D.C. That one's sneaky. They hoping they can get up there in Toronto and Vancouver and Mexico City, although they're going to be at altitude. Right. Ooh, yeah, oh my God. I had never considered this being the case.

Maybe the people from them hot-ass countries have a bit of an advantage. I think that's a real thing. You know, the problem is, all the countries I'm thinking about would then lead to be saying things that one might find to be a touch stereotypical. So I'm not.

They made all this, I mean, they had to add this mandatory water break, which of course they're obviously using to do as a TV commercial timeout and people were very cynical about it. but I don't know, man, it's going to be really hot. Yeah, yeah, it is going to be hot. By the way, speaking of water, shout out to Zoron

for bullying them into letting people bring. It's the World Cup where he had to bully people into letting them bring water, right? Yeah, you know where they weren't going to allow reusable water bottles? Miami. Yo, I haven't been to Miami in four years. You know why?

Because when I have time to go to Miami, I ain't going to fucking Miami. Right. Do I? Same thing about, like, Houston. I'm from there. I don't get there every year or two, because when I got time, it's too hot. Yeah, you are, yeah, times you have off, August.

Yeah, I'm going to Houston and August this year, boy, and man, that's, who, who, who, who, who, that because you are a very, very good friend. Yeah, I mean, I'm also a big fan. I think that's, it's a big fan and good friend all together. All right, and finally, our official intelligence company Anthropics suggested Thursday, a global pause on building the most powerful AI systems. As the latest models are beginning to show signs, they could have. human control.

Quote, we believe it would be good for the world to have the option to slow or temporary pause frontier AI development to enable societal structures and alignment research to keep up with the advance of the technology. Bo your thoughts. Ryan, what was the name of the book? If they build it, everyone dies. Ryan and I both read this book. Ryan recommended it to me.

And it is about basically that if we get to that point of superhuman AI, it's going to kill us. and there have been many simulations of people doing this where they go to nuclear war, they go like, they are in, this is a thing. And the thing about that book, I think we've talked about it on here before,

but I think it bears repeating. The thing that I thought was most interesting was, and I don't know if you remember this, Ryan, but in the intro, these guys are making it clear that we've done everything we can to not sound like raving lunatics. Yes. It's the first five pages.

Yes. Like, this is as calmly as we, can put it. And the name of the book is, if someone builds it, everybody's going to die or everyone will die. That's them trying to be cool about this. I don't know how people don't understand what we've got here. It is, it is fat. It's, you know, it's something, I think it's very interesting that we see a lot of this like, I mean, this is anecdotal, but a lot of this AI usage in people, like, 65 year old plus and people very young. And that to me is people who didn't grow up watching Terminator in the Matrix.

That is true. But I admit, I use it for such largely mundane reasons. Help me find places to go visit. Right. Give me a recipe that I can sneak spinach into my toddler. Yes. I have mapped out my travel pants, plans through like spring of 2028. That's what I use it for.

Okay. That's what I'm going for in this. these other people, because did you see the thing where the guy was talking about and I think it was Sam Altman but they're trying to

they're trying to see it. Sam Alba's like, I think that there should be a privilege with the chat bot because people are using the chatbots like they use therapists like they use lawyers

but there is no privilege legally. So if you get caught, they're just going to check your logs with your therapist and to check your logs with your lawyer. Like that is what they're going for. You know?

because, you know, I've asked about some questions that are misdemeanors, but questions nonetheless. Like what they've done? Travel-awated questions? Nah, no, not. But what they've managed to do is they get you set to where, if I have a question, it becomes your default. Yes.

Is to go there. I will make the point also that I think it's easy for Anthropic to say we need to stop development because Anthropic has gotten so far that when you say anthropic people know it's an AI company, which is to say they would of course like to stop development right now. They got a comfortable 3-1 leap. They're trying to stop the count.

Yeah, let's run four-court. Let's start whipping that ball around, baby. Yeah, we do not want you to implement a shot clock. Right, right. There, clear out, clear out. All right, cool, cool. There we go. All right, Bo.

A lot of good voicemails. Here's our first. Hey, Bumani. Ian, Shearer from Texas. Yeah, yeah. Most favorite town of that. Ellis, just kidding. I'm really originally from back east.

Anyway, question posed to you, man. You talk about no go-to for Wembeyanama. What about two words, sky-hook? I don't hear anybody talking about it. Wemba-Nama, sky-hook, seems unguarable to me and would solve the big man versus tall-man thing. Would love your thoughts at some point. Long-time listener, love what you do, brother.

Keep it up. Okay. I can only assume that the sky-hook is harder than it looks. To me, it's obviously harder than it looks. Because nobody's done it. No one. Kareem broke out the Skyhook 55 years ago. And nobody else is doing it.

I can only assume that it's just way harder than it looks. Now, Kareem has also said nobody has asked me to work with them on the Skyhook. Now, Kareem, you know what that's about. People don't like you. Don't nobody want to hang out with you. long enough to have to try to do this to try to do this guy. Like, hey, hey, hey, I didn't make it that way. Okay.

Did you read the Pro-Man book on the Showtime Lakers? Yeah, he did. It was a very interesting looking Karee. Very clear tough hang. Yes, that is the best. He didn't see like a bad guy. Just tough hang. Just a tough hang.

Although I was with Kareem on this. It's a part in this where they talk about where he had his last game, you know, the last game of the farewell tool. And look, everybody was ready for him to go. And he kept playing, honestly, because he didn't have any money because he got robbed. But he got real emotional, right? Kareen's not an emotional guy. He got real emotional about it.

Kareen come back to the locker room and people thought it would be funny to cut up his jeans. And they're like, Kareem left and didn't speak to nobody. Of course he didn't left and didn't speak to anybody. What are you talking about? Why is that funny? That's not nice. What's the joke? Yeah.

Right? Like, what's the punchline in this? What's the punchline and I have no pants? I don't know what you're talking about. Also, do you know how hard it is for Kareem Abdul de Barre to find jeans? Yes, that is correct. Those jeans cost $500. Right, just the fabric.

And also, like, I don't think he had two pairs whying around. No, no, right. I didn't bring a second pair crazy thing. I would also say this, right fast. Have you been playing 82 and O? Yes. And for people who don't know, it's this game that lets you pick a player, off a team from a decade and you put together a five-man lineup and it tells you whether your

team is 80 to and no. I've only gotten 81 and one. But the cheat code is Wilk. Yes. If you get either Wilk, either 60s, Will, that is your cheat code. Right. Have you ever seen these clips of Will Chamberlain tossing sky hooks? Yes. Like where Wilk is guarding Karib, it just tossing his sky hooks. Yeah, it looks like he's playing volleyball. We have really, really somehow under- I don't see how it's possible that we talk about Will like Wilts some kind of loser when Wilk retired the two NBA teams with the best records of all time had one thing in common

Wilt that is what they had in common Wilt All right here's our next one Yo Bumani Ryan how y'all doing for a frequent listener of the show I feel like Joel from Missouri City's

employees that's more apparent not just with the callers that feels like this is in the summer of hate A hater in the sense, but there are some people you despise. Number one, all the same. And the letter, I've been noticing, someone makes him up more and more. And that'd be, he's a duckey, so I know I asked to it, but he's also a mild human being. And that's Stephen Miller.

You know what I'm talking about that, that, he's whatever. So I got to ask, does he kept up on the list of you people that you hate? Or is a single bear, still number one? So the thing about where I got with Stringa Bell is I felt like I had so many opponents that it required me to rise up. Stephen Miller is just so easy. It's just, it's so crazy to me too that he's like so much younger than me. And I will say this, you know, me and Stephen Miller have something in common. And I think this is an underrated thing about him.

Wow, but look on your face when I said that. Both of us helped start our careers in part due to Duke lacrosse. like I was living in Durham at the time. And so like I wrote some articles about it. I get calls to go on TV about it, you know, so forth and so on. Stephen Miller was at Duke at the time. And I don't know how more people have not talked about this because this is really interesting. He made a big bet.

You can go back and find them having them on Fox News and stuff like that at the time. But he made a big bet that those boys were not guilty and got on TV and was willing to say it. I don't know what evidence he did or did not have. but he made a big bet on that and it cashed in. Like that's what helps get him to all of these places, is that he went out there and roving them boys. And at a time where I will say, that was a risky proposition to get out there and do it.

He did it and it cashed out and this is where it's gone. But like when that story, when that first broke out and people were like, well, you know, they got Tile Gowl situation in Durham. And they were running all these crazy headlines for the Duke, Duke Chronicle by Stephen Miller. Like one of them I remember was called,

Welcome to the Durham Petting Zoo. by Stephen Miller. Just in case you're curious, if ever you are looking for two or three assholes, the editorial page of your local Smarmy Private School is right there. All right, here's our last one. Hey, Bumani, love the show.

Love to work you and Ryan do. I just wanted to add to the continuing saga of white people with names you would not expect. I, as a fellow white person, this really threw me in for a war, but I'm working my summer job yesterday, my first day, and I walked into the warehouse, and I met Garrett. He was my supervisor.

He was really nice. And then I go to meet middle-aged white woman. I didn't have any expectations, obviously. But she introduced herself, and I thought I misheard her, but I got confirmation today. Her name is Lucretia. I know you said it's always the Luz that, you don't expect

but even with that in mind I still didn't expect La Cresia I just wanted to add to the Out to the lore Love the show Yeah man Nothing like where you gotta stop I'm sorry what did you say

The white on white ones are my favorite of these Yes yes yes yes yes I'll tell you man when my whole boy introduced me To his girl Keisha And I was like I'm sorry what was that And she said Keisha And I never saw them begin that night And I've been telling this story now for years

and my man who I know is listening right now, not once has brought it up to clarify. Don't. I deserve to heads up is all I'm saying. That's all I'm saying. But ladies and gentlemen, thanks so much for joining us here on the right time. We do this four days a week.

Ryan Brumley handles everything behind the scenes. Thank you, sir. Hit the voicemail line. 3,2, 3-3-5-9-6-7-67. Remember, follow the right time. Subscribe, like, rate us, review us, give us five stars. You only give us four stars.

I'm inclined to believe you are a hater. We'll talk you guys in a couple of days. Take it easy.