Transcript of Did Stephon Marbury Put A Hit Out On Wemby? | Hour 2 New

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Stiftung Warentest, Computerbild, Focus Money, Chip, Finanztipp. Such dir was aus. Mega, aber das ist doch bestimmt kompliziert. Nö, einfach Foto von der Lohnsteuerbescheinigung machen und fertig. Klingt sehr gut. Ist sehr gut. Hol dir dein Geld zurück mit WISO Steuer. This is the Dan Labattore Show with the Stuckaz Podcast.

Something interesting has happened to, uh, the way that I watch sports over the last 40 years, where I go from being most interested in sociology of sports and the stories of sports and how it is that people become excellent and become champions—

you ever just want to watch a game?

Now I'm just watching the minutia of the game in a way now that makes for me the more interesting drill down on The most interesting thing about everything happening in this series is not will Wemby be a villain, etc., etc. The most boring, interesting drill-down for me is holy shit, Brunson's dribbling a lot. I think the Spurs want him to play that way. I think the Spurs don't want him allowing a bunch of 3-point shooters to all of a sudden allow the Knicks to get to 140 points, which they can do very quickly if Brunson is playing differently than he's playing in this series. Greg Cody is allergic to new information. I want to give you this stat and ask you if you care. Kirk Goldsberry says that Jalen Brunson has dribbled 1,590 times across 3 games. Do you care about that stat? Yes or no?

Uh, to a degree. I mean, I, I can't say yes or no. I would care more if I found out what's the significance of that. What are they doing defensively?

I'm about to tell you what the significance is though, because the next closest is Castle with 813 dribbles. And I'm telling you that while the Knicks are ahead in the series, they're playing the way the Spurs would prefer that they play. And I would say that's dangerous, but I'm assuming that most of the conversation today is just going to be about Wemby is hated, Wemby's a villain, New York hates Wemby. I mean, the entire conversation coming out of New York, Knicks fans and Knicks media, we're 48 hours gone from Game 3. Enough with the flagrant foul that was not called on Wemba Nyama, right? It's the only thing— there's an L missing there. Don't worry about that. Everybody understood That's exactly what I said. You're wasting everybody's time and your own breath. Flagrant foul. All right? Everybody understood what I was getting at there. It's a tough one. I didn't even make— I didn't even mean to make fun of you. It's just that everyone noticed. Everyone stopped with your point. You were in the middle of your good point. And no one missed the point. But you missed the L. You swallowed the L.

The L got swallowed like that kid by that whale earlier during the commercial break. And no one was confused. And now instead of me making a great point, about the flagrant foul and the Knick fan and the Knick media. All we're talking about is a letter L.

Yeah, I missed that. I'd like to hear it again. I think it'd be valuable to hear that misspeak again.

What a day! It's all coming up roses. I'm a shooting star leaping through the sky like a tiger, defying the laws of gravity. I'm a racing car passing by like Lady Godiva.

Sorry, I got lost in my own head there.

I'm gonna go, go, go. There's no stopping.

Hey, that's what I'm talking about.

Who knew the New York fan and media were so soft? They're pathetic. All they care about is this Wembenyama flagrant foul. And the reason— okay, so, Dan, the reason they care about it so much is Wembenyama already at— if you get 4 flagrant foul points, You're suspended in the playoffs. He already has 2. So if he got another flagrant foul here, now we're at 3.

All right.

Remember, he picked up flagrant 2. That's 2 points. You understand? I don't need to do the math for you. If he gets another flagrant foul here, that's 3 points. He's one away from being suspended. Are you telling me like the Knicks fan wants to win Finals games by Wemba Nyama getting suspended? That's really how you want it? Yeah, they do.

Because they're losers.

Like, so soft.

Their team might win, but I have never seen a fan base full of bigger losers than the Knicks fan base that is running around with a 2-1 lead and a home game tonight.

Scared. Win a home game.

They're scared. Up 2-1. I thought your team was invincible. I thought your team was great. I thought Jalen Brunson was the best player in the world. How about believe in your team? It's a really pathetic showing from them.

I'm telling you, that crowd is going to be super jacked up tonight, but, but the energy is going to be them trying to mask how nervous they are. That's good. If we get to the fourth quarter, Spurs are ahead, that's a tight crowd tonight. You'll see.

Was that our phone?

That was Greg Cody's phone.

Fine, it was. No, no, it wasn't. It can't be. My phone is turned off.

Yeah, it's off. Yeah, look at that, it's been off.

Was it his computer?

No, my computer's silent.

I heard a ding. I did too. I heard a ding too.

Check yourself, guys.

Oh, Zazz, I mean, come on, Zazz, was it you? My phone's always silent. I never have a Ringer on.

Okay, I've been falsely accused.

No, we're going to get to the bottom of this. Uh, it's one of our phones. Uh, maybe it's mine. I didn't think it was mine. Whoa, no, but let me— there's something happening here. Not to get stuck in the mud on this, but we should text that.

Nobody touch your devices. Say wait, Zazz, hands off the blank screen. I'm gonna text each and every single one of you.

Okay, here we go. This is dramatic. This is scary, and this is dramatic.

I think someone did something. All right. Someone send the text.

I'm scared. I'm scared it might be.

All right, let's lay out.

Here comes the text.

All right, I texted Dan.

There was no noise there.

All right, you're clear for now. I'm gonna go to the replay machine, gonna consult VAR to see if someone touched their device.

No, no, I didn't touch— are you accusing me of cheating? I did not touch anything.

I'm accusing someone in that room of cheating.

How do we know it wasn't someone in the shipping container? No, because it was a sound that we heard in here. What am I, okay?

You okay?

Uh, you almost said a slur.

Flag and foul.

Careful, I don't even want to replay that. Not this month.

I'm not proud of that.

Boy, that'll come back to haunt you.

Whoa. I am terrified of the phrase flag football.

Go on.

No, that's all I've got.

Okay. That's my gimmick.

I never want to say it. Uh, so David Jacoby is going after, uh, Wemby in harsher terms, and I don't know how long players are allowed allowed to be beloved. But David Jacoby, who works for The Ringer, had this to say.

I think he's emotional. He can't control himself, honestly. And I started drumming up a dislike for him this summer, and now it's just at a million. I cannot stand this guy. I hate his outfits. I hate his face.

Wow.

I hate his hair.

I hate everything about him. I just think he's such a tryhard. Curated. When he goes to the park and he's drawing in the park with his friend, he's sketching a bush with a graphite pencil. I just can't stand it. And the idea that Mike Brown won't be like, hey, Huck Porty, go in for 30 seconds and get kicked out of the game because he just basically mushed, pushed, punched, whatever, our best player. And then Castle comes And whether it's a flagrant or a foul, it is the exact same thing that Carter Bryant did to Shay. And then we have Victor Wembenyama whispering in Biyombo and Plumlee's ears as they go in. I just am really, really— I respect him as a basketball player and I respect the work ethic. I'm not saying he's a bad basketball player. You can't disagree with me when I say I can't fucking stand Victor Wembenyama.

I'm glad he gave the distinction between him not saying he's a bad basketball player because that would make sense. Yeah, just a terrible human being. Well, but you guys, you guys are being flippant about this. But when I think of everything we've been talking about over the last 6 weeks of New York Knicks basketball, which is a fan base that is loud and proud without reason for 3 decades, has been laughed at by America. You remember, you know, Pablo Prigioni, he'll steal your cookies. You know, Julius Randle, bully, like the loudest, most obnoxious, worst New York you've ever heard is feeling the best feeling it's felt about its most important thing in 25 or 30 years. The emotions of that will make it so you're not going to be reasonable, and you will get to hate on Wembenyama because he pushed your best guy down to the ground. Your beloved guy pushed him to the ground. And I believe that you can assemble an argument for this combination of feelings and ingredients that are near Wembenyama in New York that 3 games in, we're already at most hated person in the history of the city in sports not named Reggie Miller.

Yeah, I don't know, I really don't have a problem with it because I feel like I've been pretty consistent about this kind of stuff. I liked watching the NBA back when if you got a little guy who's messing around with the big guy, the big guy pushes you off him like you're a little gnat. Like, you don't— Brunson has no reason to be mixing it up with the 7-foot-5 guy, and the 7-foot-5 guy let him know about it.

Yeah, well, when you watch the replay on that, it could have been a little bit of a flop by Brunson as well. I don't think it was an entirely—

I don't know what you guys are doing here. Okay, so flop instead of a, uh, a little bit of a fake one. He's just thrown a little bit of a flop in my opinion. Come on, maybe.

But I want to say this, the, the New York tabloids, The Post and The Daily News, have a rich, consistent history of this, of saying, of villainizing an opponent as an excuse after their home team.

There was no flop in that. I can't believe that you're— Greg, Greg, let's keep playing that. Just put it in the corner and, and keep playing that. That is— you cannot say, Greg Cody, that this is a flop. He pushed him by the back of his head, forehead first, to the floor. Like, that's not— it, it was absolutely aggressive. Do you guys disagree with my assessment though that we're already 3 games in, given the stakes and the circumstances, most hated athlete at the center of New York ever. He's already in the conversation just because of the storylines that are meeting. In the conversation, yes. The storylines that are meeting. I don't know what you guys think are like— you guys made a big deal. We made a big deal out of Trae Young. That was in the second round. That's him going into the Garden and like bowing. That's him playing villain role. This is the biggest star in the league and he doesn't do villain. He hasn't gotten any villain. His— he's getting the biggest hate he's ever gotten right now. He doesn't seem bothered by it though. Like, okay, he doesn't do villain, but he was asked about it the other day and he said, I don't think I am as hated as Trae Young.

Like, he, he is not bothered by any of this stuff. And I think we're going to see that tonight because they're going to be nasty to him this evening in the arena. And I don't think he's going to be bothered.

But Wemby doesn't mind a little bit of a villain. He had it with that high elbow, right?

Uh, so It was actually a low elbow for him.

You're right, it would have been a high elbow for anybody else.

Everybody else is high for Wemby.

Right, it was a low elbow, but you know, he doesn't mind that. It's good for the NBA. Look, they reviewed the foul. They didn't think it was a flagrant. I'm fine with that. When you review that foul and you don't call it a flagrant, it means they, like me, see a little bit of a flaw.

No, that's not what it means. It means Wemby's a star and they would never do anything to harm him.

Oh, Brunson's not a star.

I'll tell you who flopped, Dave Hyde.

Summer always hits different once the big games start stacking up. Now you've got finals games on every other night, baseball's rolling all week, racing on the weekends, and suddenly everybody's looking for an excuse to get together. The other night, a buddy texted me, "We've got the game on, come through." I figured I'd stop by for maybe an hour. That was optimistic. Next thing you know, everybody's locked into the game and we're all part of the coaching staff. Somebody's yelling at the ref, somebody else is suddenly an expert on pitch strategy, And nobody's even pretending they're leaving early anymore. It's one of those nights where you take a sip of Miller Lite, look around, and realize, yeah, this is exactly what summer is supposed to be. That's why Miller Lite is always part of these nights for me. It's clean, refreshing, easy to drink when it's hot outside, and perfect for long nights hanging with friends, watching games. An all-American summer starts with an all-American beer. Miller Lite. Go to MillerLite.com/Dan. To find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. It's Miller time. Celebrate responsibly.

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Don Lebatard.

He, for some reason, uh, would do a Gary Stevens impersonation of the offensive coordinator of the Miami Dolphins in the University of Miami. Go ahead. Do you want to do that for the people? Your Gary Stevens impersonation. You want to give people some of that? 30 years in the making.

Stugatz. What? Who needs me?

Oh, that? What? You got my whole life.

You're going to go to Buffalo and win with Bernie Parmley. Who needs me?

This is the Don Levitar Show with the Stugatz.

You see Stephon Marbury put a hit out on Wemba Nyama for tonight. These things are escalating. What is the— do we have this video? Let's look at the video of Marbury. Guys, we're 3 games in on this and they're rioting in the street and Marbury is putting hit out.

Let me give you all some food for thought, okay? Tell you something about Wemby. Wemby is an international player, okay? They play dirty overseas, just so you know. We're not used to playing dirty in America the way how Wemby just now threw Jalen Brunson. Now if I'm watching film and I see Wemby throw somebody on my team, if he throws somebody like that, the next game I'm gonna pop him in his— I'm gonna pop him in his rib cage so hard with my elbow that he's gonna fall and drop to the ground. And he's gonna wish he never put his hands on me. Okay, so next game, I guarantee you, after y'all watch that film, what he did to Jalen Brunson, you better know that whoever— whenever he get on the basketball court, you better make sure you put— you better put— you better put that knife in his neck. All right, that's what it said. That's where it's at. You see what he did when he came in? He said he was gonna come in, he was gonna win Game 2. He did exactly what he was supposed to do. All right. So make sure y'all take note.

And next game, you make sure you bring that same energy.

All right.

Ridiculous teeth. Yeah, it's just insane.

The tattoo must have hurt, right?

Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, it looks like Matt Dillon in Something About Mary.

He's got that nice Uber, though, with the curtains covering the window.

He looks like The Mask.

I think Marbury is going to run on the court tonight and do it himself.

Yeah, he will. Knife in the neck seems a little extreme.

Well, let's— let's have it a little extreme. Yes, it is amusing on a couple of different fronts. One of them being how high Marbury would have to jump to put a knife in the neck of Wembenyama. And the other thing is the general absurdity of Marbury wasn't that team's tough guy. And when I say that team, any team he's been on, including the ones in China that they built statues, he's never been the tough guy. It's weird to hear these old Knicks. I imagine this is how the old Hurricanes sound when they talk about swagger. And nonsense. Whatever New York thinks it was at basketball 30 years ago, Zazz, uh, that's sitting courtside everywhere, uh, except for Oakley, where they're surrounded by a bunch of old dudes who want to get back to Larry Johnson basketball, John Starks basketball. Like, when we're talking about Knicks basketball, okay, I saw this happen here with Kevin O'Connor where he got a bunch of people in Miami mad because he's saying that Giannis wouldn't want to come to Miami because it's not a historic franchise. The Knicks are a historic franchise, the Celtics are a historic franchise, but, uh, the Miami Heat are not a historic franchise.

The only history that the Knicks have in this lifetime over— I'm looking at about 4 generations, 3 generations, like after the '70s— is we play tough guy basketball. We're the team that's tougher than everybody. Pat Riley finds people if they help opponents up on the court. You don't know if Larry Johnson and Alonzo Mourning are going to fight so much that Jeff Van Gundy is going to be hanging from somebody's calf. Anthony Mason is going to scare you. Charles Oakley is going to scare you. They've got— they're bad men. They fancy themselves as super physical and rugged and from another time. They're dinosaurs in some way. That's not how the Knicks play basketball. And here's Stephon Marbury, who's not the toughest of them, saying, hey, you've got to retaliate for that. And not in today's NBA, you better not. Not in the Finals. No, you can't do it in the Finals. You just can't.

Send out a bench guy.

Yeah, like Jordan Clarkson. He's expendable, right? Like, it'll feel real because it's— he'll play some minutes here and there. Or even Alvarado, right? Alvarado got more play last time. Let him go in there.

A goon? Alvarado can't be the goon. Don't do that to our people.

Thank you, at least for saying we have very few in the NBA.

You can't send out Alvarado as a goon. We got enough trouble in this country. Didn't he square up against— was it Thomas Bryant with the Heat? Didn't he square up against Thomas Bryant? I'll find out. Who is their tough guy? Like, you— who do you want tough guy from on the Knicks? Are we really doing this?

Mitchell Robinson, but with a broken hand. We're responding to Marbury.

I know, but what's Marbury doing? That's irresponsible, and we were irresponsible for airing it. Probably go with Tyler Kulik.

It's a good one.

Tell me the last time you guys think that somebody was walking into the storyline in New York that had this kind of stakes on it as the enemy. Because when you, when you do the narrative building that this sport is built on and you do face the league stuff and I want the league taken from Steph and LeBron, the way you do it is in Madison Square Garden during the Finals. There's no finer way to do it than to be the villain, go in there and win the game at the end, and it's silent there. How mad are those people gonna be tonight? They spent spent all that money and they don't win a home game.

Crazy.

The last time we saw something like this was Halliburton, and previous to that, Trae Young. And those two guys in particular relished it. I'm not sure Wemby is like that.

Reggie Miller is eternal and more highly regarded than he would otherwise be because he did it with stakes smaller than these. Yeah, in that building. Yeah, like, he, he could— he's not there yet. Depending on what happens tonight, he could catapult ahead of all of those guys. And the best stuff in sports, and this sport where LeBron goes from famous to infamous to famous, is keep building the currency of power because you're not popular and it's applause all the time. You have up and down, up and down, up and down. You have some controversies, you have stuff that doesn't stain your name too much, but stuff on the court— elbows. How much does Wemby want it? People talking for days about how much he cares because he's willing to throw Brunson to the ground. Uh, this story's not yet halfway over potentially, and already it's escalated with the Flames to just about the highest place. It's like it's where you want the heat on these things.

Yeah. And the contrast is optimum. 7-foot-4 against 6-foot-1. I mean, that alone, the physical contrast alone magnifies this whole thing, which is great.

Be good.

I found the guy, Jeremy Sohan. He wins a ring no matter what.

He doesn't win a ring no matter what.

He does.

He wins a ring no matter what. So if he goes in and he gets into a little fight, it doesn't make a difference.

He can be defending. He doesn't win a ring no matter what. You know when you win a ring? When your team wins a championship. He doesn't play for the Spurs. One more time, because I do want to keep putting this in front of you simply because I like the—

José Alvarado can fight, Dan. Look, he punched Mark Williams right in the face. That feels like the guy. It feels like the guy.

Don't do this. You can't. You think it's a good idea in New York today with everything happening in the world to send a brown guy out to create violence in the—

Who's Victor Wembanyama? He's a foreigner.

No, French. The French are not a threat. They never have been.

Do you remember the 21st night of September?

A leftist foreigner.

I'm going to put these numbers up.

Philip Bailey, former Greg Cody Show podcast guest.

Maurice White was the singer on that song, the lead.

Really?

Yeah.

Prove it.

That was his voice in the song.

Do you remember? I think it was Philip Bailey, with due respect.

Watch the documentary.

Let's look it up.

The 21st night of September.

Greg, when you say let's look it up, do you always mean someone else?

Yeah.

Because your phone is there and—

My phone is turned off. That's why it didn't buzz like yours a few minutes ago. You've never owned up to that, Lebba Dodge.

Mine? Well, I'm not guilty. You guys need to get to the bottom of who had that ding around here because I think it might be Zaslo. Lebba Dodge. I haven't had my ringer on in years. It might be Greg Cody's computer, I fear. I think—

come look at the volume on my computer.

They're both right. Maurice White and Philip Bailey are listed as lead and background vocals.

I don't think that's worth celebrating. I really don't.

I'm celebrating. Rory and I are locked in arms.

I've been celebrating for a good 24 hours. What I want, you got. My behind to handle.

H&O, baby.

Zaslow, I'm gonna try and do 45 seconds of serious basketball analysis with just you without some interruptions here, just going drilling down on this. Are you ready? Yep. Brunson is shooting 50% at the rim. That is obviously not good. He's shooting 21% mid-range. That's obviously not good. Uh, the team— he's shooting 31% from 3, which is 6 percentage points beyond, uh, below his, uh, per his averages this season. And 31%, if you were to do it for a career, would be among the of 3-point shooters there have ever been.

Okay.

During the Knicks winning streak, it was all ball movement. It's offense running through Cat. Now it's low assists and Brunson dribbling. And here's the quote from Mike Brown. We were about as stagnant as I've seen us all year. We just wanted to stand and watch one guy dribble a ton. We literally just stood and watched. There was no movement. You do what with all of that information? I think back to the Western Conference Finals and realize how good Shego is.

Alexander So this is what it's like when the Heat make a Finals for our audience.

I mean, like, Sheik Yotis Alexander wasn't at his best last round, and he was still much better than what Jalen Brunson is doing against this Spurs defense. I, I feel like Sheik Yotis is really good. But your takeaway as far as what the next 4 games are going to look like when I keep telling you the Knicks are up 2-1, but we know them to be the lesser team during the regular season, we know them to have a star player who's not as good as the other star player. We know that history shows the little guy doesn't win. Uh, what do you make of the fact that they're getting the Knicks to play exactly the basketball that the Spurs wish for them to play, with the idea that over 7 games we'll grind that down because they'll never get one of their 130 or 140 games that they were winning the whole second half of the season with? I think there's a— he better win tonight because there's a huge difference going back to San Antonio for Game 5 tied at 2 when it's San Antonio who won the previous 2 games going into Game 5.

Like, again, I've been wrong about everything this series, but I, I feel like going into tonight, San Antonio's got to be so confident. I really do. But you have to run it through KAT, do you not?

Like, that's the adjustment. It has to be. It has to be the adjustment of letting KAT facilitate that offense, getting bodies moving. That's what Mike Brown was talking about. When Jalen Brunson's just dribbling and everybody's standing around and you've got KAT standing in the corner, it allows Wemby to attack things in the paint in a different way, and you become a stagnant offense. So when you run it through Cat and you can at least drag Wembanyama out there to challenge, that's when you see things go well. He needs to have a big game, and Brunson does need to be efficient. This is a huge game for him individually.

Efficiency-wise, he had his best game, Game 3, right?

He needs to capitalize on it.

Wait a minute, fill my cup, put some liquor in it, take a sip, sign Julio, get the stretch! Ride to Harlem, Hollywood, Jackson, Mississippi. If we show up, we gonna show up. Smoother than a fresh crosscut, man. I'm too hot! Call the police and the firemen, I'm too hot! Come on, everybody, come on, you know the words. Make a dragon wanna retire, man. Girls, hey, hallelujah! I'm fine.

Woo!

Girls, hey, hallelujah!

It's happening.

Guess I'm down for a good game of Jenga. The last cell, no!

Da libertad.

Greg Cody of the Miami Herald, he's actively playing defense against my ability to do this show because what are you laughing at?

You're just laughing at—

Honey Boo Boo is embroiled in controversy. It's funny to me.

Sorry, Stugatz. He couldn't stop laughing just looking at the picture of Honey Boo Boo. That doesn't sound healthy. We can't make him laugh like that. It's how he's gonna die. Right here, just laughing and coughing.

I want to die like that.

This is the Don Levitar Show with the Stugatz.

Greg Cody just whimpered around his inner monolog through coughs, giggles, laughter, and a little bit of tears in his eyes. What is happening? Happening, which I imagine first-time viewers of this show are also, uh, thinking about. Uh, Zazz, what are you pointing to on the, on the screen here? Okay, I especially love First Take on ESPN on Wednesdays because Christopher Mad Dog Russo, the greatest of all time, is on Wednesdays. What a top 5! He's showing love. What a top 5 he just put together. Villains in Madison Square Garden history coming in at numbers 4 and 5. 5 all time. Tim Hardaway and P.J. Brown. That is incredible. I mean, the P.J. Brown didn't even happen at MSG. It happened at Miami Arena. P.J. was suspended for the next game. That was in MSG, which, you know, the Heat won. Alonzo Mourning 3-pointer. Jeremy, you don't even know what I'm talking about. You weren't even born. But Tim Hardaway number 4, P.J. Brown number 5. What a great job that is by Dog there. I wouldn't put anybody above Reggie Miller. I didn't feel like Michael Jordan— He's got Michael Jordan above. Yeah, but I didn't think that Michael Jordan was more of a villain.

Wasn't hated and he took more important things from the Knicks. Double nickel. But he was respect— he beat the respect out of them. Like, it wasn't— when we're talking about whatever sports hatred is, do you guys, do you guys think about what it is, the energy of, uh, tonight, what Wembenyama is walking into?

Do any of you consider, like, wherever it is the bravery of athletes are always risking embarrassment because they're in front of everybody competing Yeah, I think envy is the first building block of hatred, you know, and I think that's why Michael Jordan was number 1 on that list, and I think that's why Wemby is number 1 right now in Knicks fans' hatred, is because they envy him. They wish they had him.

But Reggie Miller did stuff to instigate. Michael Jordan was just great. That's not the same thing. It isn't. Like, Wemby's not just being great in this series, important or famous. He's also doing things that that, um, are physical, because this is going to escalate on wherever it is people compete physically.

Bad list from Doggy.

It's, it's like Trae Young not being on it.

They never said bleep PJ Brown. They still chant bleep Trae Young.

I'm shocked by PJ Brown being on the list. I like it.

During this Hawks-Knicks series, they were still chanting bleep Trae Young.

I would have expected Alonzo Mourning ahead of PJ Brown. Oh, but when, when you say PJ Brown though, just look Look, um, I don't think it's going to escalate to this, but we already did see video outside of Madison Square Garden that felt kind of rioty. Okay, P.J. Brown comes from another time when all of these dudes were fist fighting on the court in a way we haven't seen in a really long time. Like, just fist fighting on the court, throwing a player into the stands. P.J. Brown absolutely went into Madison Square Garden. He did the same thing. P.J. Brown doing that to Charlie Ward is Lesser players doing what Wembanyama and Brunson just did, uh, you know, you're, you're changing sort of the, the value and the currency, allowing for how much less physical the game is now. But that's the equivalent of what just happened. Seeing Brunson pushed down the face to the court like a child, their beloved player feels the same way as 6'11" PJ Brown throwing little Heisman Trophy winner Charlie Ward, tough and gritty, into the crowd. All right, Charlie Ward deserved it, alright? He was trying to take out PJ's knees on the free throw line, and that's why PJ threw him into the crowd, deservedly so.

But I guess I'm drawing the distinction that it happened at Miami Arena and PJ was suspended for the rest of the series, so they didn't even get to like boo him that year at Madison Square Garden. But nonetheless, I respect it. I like it that he's there. I just would have figured Alonzo Mourning would have been ahead of PJ Brown because he played in that next game and he hit the huge 3-pointer, and then he told the Madison Square Garden crowd to go fuck themselves.

He also fought Larry Johnson in the Garden.

Right, that's true.

Yep, yep. Plus he had a league-leading scowl. League-leading scowl by Zo.

You guys understand the difference in what it is that I'm talking about though between yesterday's NBA and today's NBA and where the flames on all of this can actually climb to when you've got, in the emotion of however loud New Yorkers feel bubbling up, is a bile that is not going to be contained to just sports hatred. Bill Simmons makes the distinction between sports hatred and real hatred. Where's this? Because we're at Game 3. Oh, I think it's real because Wemba Nyama is going to be the one, if it happens, to take away the, the happy that they felt was so close that most of them have never experienced in their life. So whether it's sports or whatever else is happening in our life, if there is a person that is taking away our happiness that we've never felt before, that's real hate.

I don't disagree, particularly because they feel like their joy is being stolen by Wemby, you know, with that flagrant foul that wasn't called. Wimby is cheating, okay? He's a wanted man. Dirty player number one. He's all that stuff. And so I think the hatred is real right now, you know, and it starts with the fandom and they're assaulting Spurs fans and ripping Spurs jerseys off.

It's very real.

What are we doing? It's very real.

I'm a cowboy on a steel horse.

I ride.

I won it one day. Dead or alive, Laszlo!

When you think, Zaslo, of—

Take a nice big swig.

—of being 22 years old.

You earned it, pal.

When we dissect all of this stuff in sports and forget that these are humans, not superhumans, even though some of them are built like superhumans. What Wemby is walking into this evening, how do you imagine that feels? I think he loves it. I think he's different. I think everything we hear from him, he's different from most of these NBA players. And by the way, it is kind of weird where if you're not a Knicks fan and you hate him to, to feel that way, because I feel like he's the kind of player that you would really respect and want to get behind because of the way that he treats the game. I don't think this bothers him at all. I really think— I think he's been groomed most of his life to be this guy. I think— I think he loves it. I think we're gonna see it tonight. So when you say groomed all his life to be something, this is something very small, okay? I know that Wemby spends a lot of time telling you how much he cares, showing you how much he cares. He has said flatly, this is my entire life.

This matters to me as the most important thing. He's so Spurs. That it is. But the thing I wanted to say to you and ask about how rare it is, because it struck me as rare that at the end of the last 2 games— I'm sorry, the first 2 games of that series where they are surprised at home and stunned at home— Wemby at the end of those games is still cheering and applauding and doing the rah-rah Little League stuff. Off the way that an old coach would do with a bunch of 8-year-olds. Keep your heads up, everybody, it's okay. Usually guys are hissing steam in those circumstances. And when he gets called a tryhard, because a lot of his things can feel a little extra syrupy, I don't think that's insincere. I think somehow in that moment he has some sort of perspective about how to lead that is not how I would be now, never mind at 22. What would you do? Like, I would not have the grace, the composure to not just simply be crushed and fall into the depths of my own narcissism. This hurts so much. I feel so bad.

I wouldn't know how to lead in that moment. Even now, 36 years older than him, I don't understand that level of composure. Do you think it's common? Do you think— No. But do you think that thing I'm talking about is something— Do you know a lot of other guys that you can name that would suffer a crushing loss and then would just sort of— and he's doing it in front of everybody, so if you want to say he's a tryhard or public relations guy or Alex Rodriguez, you can accuse him of that, but I just don't think someone has the focus to be so calculated about marketing that they would suffer that kind of shame. The Little League Theory. And then react by, hey, keep your head up, guys, it's gonna be okay.

I think there's a real maturity level to him for his age. I'm impressed by it. I think there's a moderation to his personality, but I also think there's a ferocity that's going to allow him to use the hatred he hears and feels in the arena as, as more fuel. I, I just think it's going to be a, a lovely, uh, situation for him walking into that cauldron tonight.

He must be built differently than than many of us are if you guys hear what I'm describing and think of it as a lovely situation. Like, I just don't think there are many human beings who think that way. They probably are usually athletes or fighters, people who, um, get more joy out of silencing an opposing crowd than making their own crowd cheer. But that is a mentality. Like, Chipper Jones had it, Reggie Miller had it. I don't think everybody has that. Like, I In fact, if you tell me what would— if I ask you guys, what do you think would feel better to you guys, everyone in this room? Shutting up a hissing crowd or just having 20,000 people applaud you and roar for you because you had done something so mighty that they can't help but stand up, yell, and cheer? Which do you imagine would feel better? I think shutting up the crowd feels better. That's awesome.

I think that's human nature, is to want to shut up to shut up a loud, violent crowd. I do. You know, I— and I think that— and that's also what we love about sports. I mean, this is an optimum situation tonight for him to come into that enemy arena and be able to, with a wonderful performance, be able to shut up that crowd, silence that crowd, take the crowd out of the game, if that's even possible. I think that's what drives him tonight. I could watch Watch.

Talked out on it. Just find it boring.

I think I'll play basketball instead.

Prime Dennis Rodman over here. Mix with Mitchell Robinson.

Yeah. Oh yeah, I forgot about that part.

I'll get around to it.

Wemby's the opposite of A-Rod, right?

Catch up on some Jeremy Corbell doing some good work. Oh, I thought you meant me.

Pitch Clock Thursdays. Uh, Mike, you should not react to this show talking about basketball the way our listeners who are not Miami Heat fans have reacted to the 20 years of this show.

Sorry, Dan. It's just been a lot. You know, the greatest sporting event in the world starts tomorrow, and I feel like maybe we can touch on it. You know, I appreciated the Denny Hamlin iso play before, but it's just, you know, it's all the time though. The hockey series is great too. There's a lot going on in sports and I'm familiar. But if the Flames climb any higher, I'm going to walk out because we've been going to that device way too often. I think the Flames cannot climb any higher.

It's only Game 3. Of course they can.

It's must-win tonight. For who? For both teams.

I'm telling you, it feels like it for both.

Winner takes all. I'm trying to tell you, I invented that take. Winner takes all.

You know, Whalefall was a novel.

Wins the series. What's that?

Whalefall was a novel.

What? What?

Yeah, they wrote it. It was a book first. Wow, who wrote it? So I thought he was gonna save his kid, and that'd be something to tatted up Josh Brolin, like trying to slay Moby Dick. But no, apparently— and so this is a spoiler, but it's a key plot point in the book— uh, the dad died. Brolin's dead. The kid goes into the water to retrieve the body, and then he gets swallowed by the whale.

Spoiler alert.