Transcript of Knicks Fan Dan Le Batard is FURIOUS with NBA Finals Officiating | Local Hour New

Sehr gut, sehr gut, sehr gut!

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WISO Steuer ist sehr gut.

Das sagen ganz viele.

Cool! Wer sagt das?

Stiftung Warentest, Computerbild, Focus Money, Chip, Finanztipp. Such dir was aus.

Mega! Aber das ist doch bestimmt kompliziert.

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I'm feeling well, thank you. Uh, are you really good?

Are you ready to go?

Yeah.

Okay, because you don't, you don't seem like you're ready.

Well, you know, I was born ready, you know that.

You don't sound so great either.

Come on now.

In defense of Greg, the Shadow Show is always supposed to be a, a construct of the mind where people are getting makeup, where things were happening and people could live and let live. And now you're just— what, you want him to be ready 8:55 on the dot, everything ready to go? Like, come on.

Thank you. Uh, that is what it's supposed to be, but we don't do it that way. Uh, that's not how we've done the Shadow Show. I would love for the Shadow Show to just be a milling about where you feel like you're eavesdropping on us getting ready for the show, but that we've not— we've been working on that for a while without it succeeding yet. Like, we've, we've had some struggles in that area.

Whose fault is that?

Ah, doesn't make it right. Should start at 9 sharp. You know, I don't wanna maraud in here and start telling you how to run your show, but Should start on 9 on the button. 8:55 is an artifice. I don't know who it's supposed to impress, but it's just, you know, it's early. Hurly burly early.

When you said your catchphrase doesn't make it right, it didn't apply there to anything that we were talking about.

I think it does.

No. Well, go ahead and say what you were saying it in reference to, because you're not going to remember because you didn't make any sense when you used it. Use a catchphrase just to use a catchphrase.

It doesn't make it right. It doesn't make it right. Yeah, the catchphrases, by the way, down to the top 15.

Woo!

Unless we extend.

You're going to extend. You're—

you've— I— that's the rumor.

You know, it's out of my control, but, um, how many is it going to end up being, Chris? If you had to— if you had to guess, the top 50 countdown of catchphrases is going to end up— by the time we get to the end, is going to be how many? 75.

That's the far outer reaches. I think the betting odds are 65 followed by 70, and 75 is a real long shot. You know, some people like to play a long shot. You know, I do. You know, give me a 15-to-1.

Like Calmly.

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. By the way, Isla Grande was given a green light and she's now running, trotting again, and she's going to be running soon. And hopefully by very late summer or more likely early fall, she's going to be running again, hopefully at Gulfstream.

So, Greg, what happened to Calmly?

Glue factory or— No, Calmly was, was sort of— we failed to sell her in auction, so we managed to have her impregnated. Okay. And she has delivered—

later killed.

She has— she has delivered a beautiful baby horse. Okay. And so now, you know, that, that's part of calmly, meaning right between the eyes. Hopefully the income—

quick and easy.

We don't kill horses. Spencer did it. No, the glue factory is a factor right in the head. Blood everywhere. He's done it before. I bet you with a gun. Okay, all right.

Clark Spencer. A Clark Spencer joke.

What a visual, shooting a horse.

Does Clark Spencer own this horse with you as well?

Yes. He and I are partners in crime, killing horses. This is the Don Levitar Show with the Stugatz Podcast.

I mean, Jalen Brunson has as many turnovers in this series as assists and 82 points on 81 shots. You sure he's playing well? Like, you're You're positive that Jalen Brunson is playing in a way that you feel— what do you, Tony, what do you—

what do you—

Yeah, absolutely. He is playing well. Like, it doesn't matter. Like, I mean, you could, you could, you know, help me out on this, but like, if my star player is doing the things in the big moments that I need him to do, I'm not really worried about his field goal percentage, right?

Yeah. And especially based on kind of the result of the first two games. Absolutely. Last night, regardless of whether he shot well or shot poorly, they didn't play well offensively. You could see they weren't doing the things they had done not only in the first 2 games of the series but over the 13-game winning streak that they've been on over the last 45, 46 days. They didn't play the same way. And so I would say they collectively didn't play well, but I don't think anyone is sitting here in New York thinking, oh my God, Brunson, he's got— he hasn't been holding up his end of the bargain.

They never will do that to him. Uh, he's pretty immune there. But I wasn't just talking about his shooting. I said as many turnovers in this series as assists. And, uh, That was his best shooting game of the series. And yes, there were other reasons, because Knicks not named Brunson and Anunoby— this is from Law Murray, VNU— missed 15 of the 16 shots in the fourth quarter, including 0 for 10 from 3. What did you guys think was the biggest play in the game? You have to choose only one. Do we have— do we all have the same play that we'd choose? Uh, Zazz, what would you choose?

Uh, the Castle 3. With like 2:30 left in the game. Bang! I think maybe it went from a 3-point game to a 6-point game.

No, it was a 4-point game to 7, and Wemby was at the back of the shot clock and sort of up in the air and just threw it. And from 30 feet away, Castle, who's not a great 3-point shooter, made an important shot. Do any of you— I have another nominee. I think we all will have the other nominee.

Castle free throws were massive.

Massive. Okay, I'd go De'Aaron Fox, and this is the reason I do it. Okay, these 3 games, there hasn't been a lot a lot of difference between the teams, and all 3 of the games have been decided in the last 3 minutes. The reason Amin was asking for an apology is because the Knicks were better in the last 3 minutes of the first 2 games, and the Spurs looked inexperienced. They were ready to give away that game last night. Castle doesn't make that 3, that, uh, that roof caves in.

By the way, it was under 2 minutes left to get the 3. I was, I was even off a little bit.

Yeah, if, if Castle doesn't hit that 3, you've got a momentum and noise problem where the Spurs might collapse again because they look disjointed at the end of games, even at the end of that one. But this is the reason though that I want to remind you guys that we're consistently overstating the importance of coaching, because in, in this particular case, the Knicks got exactly what they wanted, which is the Spurs are a little bit rattled and it's De'Aaron Fox against Anunoby. It's the Knicks' best defender against the worst Spurs offensive player so far through the first 3 games of this series. He's not right there, and Fox does not look anything like he looked during the regular season. They trust him in that moment, but it's the shot they least want from the people on the floor because that's the worst matchup on the entire floor. Daron Fox going against Anunoby and getting a mid-range jumper— there's not anything worse on the floor that the Spurs wouldn't want. They won the game anyway, and they got the result they wanted even though that's not the process that they wanted.

How can you say coaching is overrated?

Whoa! Because the coaches put in that situation Mitch Johnson with the bad result, or the bad process, got the good result, and Mike Brown with the good process got the bad result.

So because of one play, the coaching didn't matter?

No, I'm not saying— I'm just saying that we consistently overstate it. To me, the most important play in the game, okay, Mike Brown got what he wanted, and it didn't matter.

The most important facet of the game was that the Spurs came out with the intention of getting Wemby the ball early and often and by the rim. That's not them just playing pickup basketball, say, "Let's try it." That's a coaching adjustment, Dan.

Yes, and in the last 10 seconds, that was long forgotten because the game was being decided in the last 10 seconds.

It was long forgotten in Game 2. It was long forgotten in Game 1, and they lost those 2 games. Last night was the first time they really made it a concentrated effort. We're gonna get Wemby the ball by the rim. Everything is a paint touch. Everything's playing inside out. They did not play like that for the first 2 games. That's a coaching adjustment.

This is where I struggle though with the coaching stuff, all right? Because what you're saying certainly sounds legit, but we, we don't know that Like Mitch Johnson just realized after the first 2 games, you know, we should get Wemby the ball by the rim. I would, I would venture to guess he wanted to do that the first 2 games also. And, you know, maybe what the Knicks were doing to counter it didn't allow them to get those actions.

No, I drew up the play for you guys yesterday where he needs to roll right there. He doesn't because in his mind this is a good shot, right?

Wemby's choice, right?

Wemby's choice in Game 2. In Game 3, guess what his choices were? Mm. Sounds like they were adjusted in some sort of way.

What do you guys do with this? This is through 11 quarters of the NBA Finals is when Law Murray, the NU, gave this stat.

You can just call him Law Murray. He was a writer for The Athletic. You don't have to keep saying the NU.

I like the NU part.

Through 11 quarters of the NBA Finals, the Spurs are outscoring the Knicks by 14 points when Jalen Brunson is on the floor, and the Knicks have outscored the Spurs by 24 points with Brunson off the floor.

Sounds like Brunson's really struggling and he's under adjusted. Achieving, apparently.

I— well, did you not just hear what I said?

Yeah, the, the Spurs— you read it, go ahead and read it again.

He's making fun of us with that voice.

He's doing that again.

The Spurs are outscoring the Knicks by 14 points when Brunson has been on the floor. The Knicks are outscoring the Spurs by 24 points with Brunson off the floor. The Spurs— like, that's, that's not— those numbers are very small.

But what am I supposed to do with that information? Like, so Does that mean that the Knicks— like, if the Knicks don't play Jalen Brunson the rest of the series, they're going to win? They're going to win the series? Like, what do I even do with that?

When this series— this is an oversimplification, okay? But when Wemby statistically is the best player on the floor, they win. And when he's not, they lose. Brunson hasn't been the key. Karl-Anthony Towns has been the key to what is happening there because the Knicks aren't doing anything when Wemby is defending them. Like, they're 9 for 41 when Wemby is defending them. And, uh, Karl-Anthony Towns— the, the reason that the Knicks fan has been, uh, bothered by Karl-Anthony Towns and hasn't trust this Knicks team, hasn't trusted this Knicks team until the last 13 games, is because they've been up and down like this all season. Like, this is— this has been a team that has been inconsistent and frustrating to Knicks fans. How do you think— what do you think happens to the courtside fans who were recording history last night because they were so excited about the biggest game in New York sports history. Do they delete those videos this morning?

I couldn't believe how often I saw when the camera was showing Ben Stiller and he's just there with his phone out, always recording. Why are you gonna go home and watch your recording? You're at the game. He has had some tweets go— he's had some tweets of like game action go viral. He's always recording.

That's what we do now. We don't experience something We have to record it or it never happened.

Coming from the guy that will not let his 8-year-old daughter bat in softball without recording it. My dad does the thing where he's like, got just the camera open.

He's not recording, but he thinks he's recording.

And I let him know midway through the at-bat that you're not recording anything.

So I made a mistake. But, you know, my intention is good. The point is, fans who go to games can't just experience going to a game. You have to record it. You feel like if you don't record it, If somebody's not recording you at a game, it's as if you weren't even there.

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 Libertard, is there Back in My Day?

There is actually.

Are you not going to tell anyone? Wait a minute, you guys, guys, it's a Tuesday.

Stugatz, here's your guy Greg Cody with Back in My Day.

Okay, here it is. Sorry, adultery.

That one, yeah, we're waiting for this one.

This is the Don Levitar Show with the Stugatz.

Now Ben Stiller, I would actually say, yeah, he goes home and he watches those clips. He absolutely does. He's a, he's a maniac. DJ Khaled, on the other hand, who was texting the whole night His head looked like Carlos Boozer. It was just shoe polish up there, and he's texting the whole night. He didn't look up one time at the game. He was just there for the vibes. Yep. And that was Fat Joe's plus one. Can you believe that? All the people in the world, all the Knicks fans in the world that Fat Joe— Jadakiss is right there. Like, nope, I'm gonna go with DJ Khaled.

I'm so with you. He was on his phone the whole game, every time the camera panned around him. DJ Khaled and I thought DJ Khaled is this massive Heat fan and you're there in the front row at the Knicks in the NBA Finals?

Get out of here.

And then he would like cheer for the Knicks. He'd be in his phone, something good for the Knicks.

Yeah, I'm a Knicks fan.

What a phony DJ Khaled. I'm down on him.

Jimmy Johnson was there in a Knicks jersey. Mr. Miami.

Yeah, I like that though.

He's explained it on his social media. There's a worldwide West connection. Yeah, he's been a Knicks guy for a while.

Yeah, they supported him apparently when he won with the Cowboys, right? So he's supporting them now. Yeah, I like that.

Yeah, that's fine.

Who's they? Who's they supported him?

Leon Rosen and Wesley Williams.

Uh, Wes was selling sneakers when they won in the Cowboys as a Cowboy.

What are you talking about? Jimmy said—

yeah, that's what he said. That's his truth.

Honor it. You're mad at Jimmy, not mad at me.

I'm mad at you for believing Jimmy.

What happens to those videos of all those people that were recording that they quietly deleted on the way home, correct? On the sad walk home, you quietly delete some of those those videos? Why would you be watching those videos of that night? That's a— that, that is a total misery what ended up happening. You pay $10,000, $20,000 for a ticket, and that's how your night ends.

Dan, have you ever met a Knicks fan? Misery is their middle name. This is what they do. They wallow in it. I know because I was in a group chat. I had to hear this shit all night long, including, by the way, they're absolutely convinced that Adam Silver put the call in. My cousin accosted Adam Silver outside of Madison Square Garden. He just yelled at him, start Stop fixing the games. I said, what are you doing?

I love that.

What are you doing?

That totally went over my head watching the game. I didn't think that the officiating was any kind of controversial outside of the official calling him Wemby in the official review. Like, I didn't know that you guys were that tight. You're friends. You give him his nickname when you go over to the announcer.

Didn't like that either. He turned to go, he's allowed to call him Wemby.

I found that odd. It was just very casual for the moment. But then I went to social media and Knicks fans were properly pissed at the officiating and I was like, man, do I sound like that when I get jobbed?

The second half, the Spurs had a 24-8 free throw advantage for the game. They had 10 free throws more than the Knicks, 32-22. Can I get the Mike Brown sound after the game? Because this is a posturing that always happens early in the series to see if you can get some calls later in the series. But Mike Brown was whimpering afterward about the officiating. Let's hear that sound, please.

Opportunities for fouls to be called to at least try to even the free throws out.

Now, we didn't play good. San Antonio played great.

We could have played better. There was a lot of things that we didn't do that we've done— that we did in Game 1 and Game 2. But to go 24 free throw attempts in the second half, that's 48 for the game if you think about it the way that they called that second half, compared to 8. All the shots we took, we got fouled 4 times roughly. For 8 free throw attempts. Again, I don't complain much. I never thought I'd see that in an NBA Finals game.

That's so lame. That, that is so lame. He ought to be complaining that other than Brunson and Anunoby, his whole team disappeared. Towns disappeared. They, they started off the 4th quarter 0 for 10 on 3s. There's so many reasons that they lost at home that, that aren't the refereeing.

If you were waiting for Mike Brown's loser energy to make its debut in this series, you got it last night. You really did. You got it last night. First of all, try to even the free throws out. I'm sorry, did I miss the memo where each team is supposed to foul the same amount of times and each team is supposed to get the same amount of free throws? I, I missed that notice. And you don't have to actually say they got 24 free throws in the second half, so if you make it out to a full 48-minute game, that'd be 48. No, no, you played a 48-minute game. You did. And the total was 32 because you make sure you don't mention the disparity in the first half, which was 16-8 in your favor. So you don't have to actually say what it would be. We saw what it was. That's such loser energy from Mike Brown. And I'm gonna tell you what else, don't give me the whole Phil Jackson, Pat Riley, we're manipulating the officials. You think referees are tuned into the postgame and like, I gotta hear what Mike Brown thinks about how I did my job tonight, and then And then when Mike Brown is criticizing the officiating, the officials all of a sudden, they're like put into some type of trance.

We're now next game, we have to even things out. Get the hell out of here. It is such loser energy.

I thought that all that was was Brunson got 4 fouls and Brown doesn't want that to happen again and he's just going to defend his star guy. And they were in the bonus very early in the third and the fourth quarter. But while Brunson was out of the game, the Spurs didn't do anything while Brunson was out of the game. They, they They allowed the Knicks to stay right with them while Brunson sat for— what was it? He sat like from the middle of the third quarter, or like 4 or 5 minutes left in the, in the third quarter, till 9 minutes in the fourth quarter. That's a long— that, that's a long time for him to be sitting in that circumstance. And that's what I thought, uh, that's all I thought Mike Brown was doing. And by the way, uh, when it comes to coaches, like, it's one of the ways that they can control things that aren't controllable, or feel like they are, to just go to a microphone. It's almost his job to do that. Honestly, it's, it's practically his job to go to a microphone and see if he can do anything at all to get one call in the next game.

Yeah, it's tough though when your star players say things like this. Brunson, uh, we turned the ball over a lot. Also, we were fouling a lot and we put them on the line 30 times. This is Karl-Anthony Towns when asked about the Frita discrepancy. He said, that ain't why we lost. We lost because we turned it over. A bunch of times.

They hadn't lost a game in a month and a half. They had 13 consecutive wins, 12 of the 13, or 11 of the 13, by double figures. The first game they lose, we're out there talking about free throw disparity, loser energy.

Right, did you ever hear about the law of averages? I mean, they were due to lose. And San Antonio is a damn good team. It should be 2-1. This is such a close series, it should be 2-1. The best player in the series is Wemby, and it's not even close. Brunson's second, but there's no competition there. Wemby was the best player last night, and that's one of the many reasons they won.

It is interesting how that's flipped now, where just from Game 2 to Game 3, he's right. Wemba Nyama is the best player in the series now. And we were crushing Wemba Nyama after Game 2.

Well, he is the best player in the series that— and usually in these moments you expect the best player to look like the best player. And he didn't in the first 2 games. But when Karl-Anthony Towns is quoted saying turnovers, they didn't lose because of turnovers last night. They didn't have that many turnovers last night. Like, they're— the Spurs barely had any, but the Knicks didn't have that many turnovers.

They had 13 turnovers that led to 21 Spurs points. Really sloppy. The Spurs had 8 turnovers that led to 7 Knicks points, and that's the big discrepancy right there.

Wemby is their best player, but I thought Castle, especially early on, was immense. He's so good for San Antonio. And you know, when I mentioned Castle, tremendous game. Tough game, too. Hard points to come by. But if you want to complain about the officiating, I thought there were some egregious mis-travels even for the NBA early on in that game. That's the only thing that took away— and both teams traveled, but I thought this was like especially bad. They let them just, just take so many steps in that game. It jumped off the screen.

And Wemby's steps are so big. There was one play where he was driving in the paint and it looked like he took 5 steps. All right.

You're right. I'm actually coming around on the officiating slant from the New York perspective because— and this has been the thing all season long, and maybe it's because he's so huge— Wemby, every time he sets a screen, two arms pushing a guy.

That was a big one in the chat last night. Dude, he's blocking. That's NFL blocking.

I put this in the chat like during the Western Conference Finals. Like, this is— I had problems with SGA. I'm going to keep it real with you. I've had problems with the Wemby screen. A guy that big, and it's often against like a guy that's on the perimeter, so it's smaller. He fully extends both arms and pushes people on the screen. You're gigantic! Just set a screen!

He shouldn't be allowed to do this. That was every screen Kevin Garnett set his entire career.

I understand, but— Every screen. I'll leave the big ticket out of this. This guy is bigger than we've ever seen in this sport. He already has so many natural advantages, and KG, for the time that he started his career, that's kind of like a slender, undersized, uh, big man. In the NBA during that era. He needed to get the advantages. Wemby has already so many God-given advantages that he cannot fully extend his arms and be allowed to get away with that on guards.

Now, Mike, can I offer an alternate explanation? Wemby is so tall that if he were to set a regular screen, he's slapping meat against people left and right. Yeah, this is to create the buffer zone. It's almost like a divider in the urinal. Just say, hey, okay, I don't want my meat to hit you somewhere.

I'm glad that you mentioned that because I thought about that. They teach you to set the screens. I— look, Pistol Pete taught me how to play basketball. That's why I don't carry. You set the screen, you guard your junk. It's like forming a wall in soccer.

Yeah, but Pistol Pete's junk versus Wemby's junk— come on, Wemby's junk is—

it doesn't matter, he's got hands, he's still guarding the junk.

He's got huge junk, it just spills out everywhere.

He's got huge hands. Is that what happened on the Brunson thing?

Junk on the way? Yeah, Brunson tried to get a fistful of the junk. You guys see that?

I hate that we're gonna turn this into a conversation about the officiating just because Mike Brown is saying it, because you guys are saying you're coming around to the New York perspective. We just quoted two players as saying that that's not what happened last night, and they both put their name on it, and they're both New York stars. And Karl-Anthony Towns does a good amount of complaining about officiating almost at all times. It was one guy who put his name on complaints, and it was Mike Brown. That game, I don't think, uh, should be something that comes down to the officiating conversationally after the game like that. I don't feel like, uh, that's going to be a big source of conversation, uh, throughout the league or throughout, uh, fandom if Mike Brown doesn't do that. Every fan base is going to complain about the officiating when their team loses. That's an emotional bias that's always going to be present. But, uh, this is not a story today if Mike Brown does not make a story today by, by saying what it is that he said, saying, I, I'm really surprised to see this in the NBA Finals.

Dan, you're not tapped in. It was absolutely going to be a story. Everyone in that building was going nuts on every single call. I, again, I'm in a group chat with a bunch of Knicks fans that they wouldn't shut the hell up. At one point my cousin said, the only way we get a call is if we challenge. I said, you only have 2 challenges, so that's Clearly not true.

They used one of them great. Okay. Because Wemby's 4-pointer to make it an 11-point lead, like, I didn't even see that Mitchell Robinson had been pushed into Wemby on that play. But you're again, I mean, what you're doing there is, yes, of course, in the New York chat, that's what's going to happen. It's what happens every game. Any time any team is losing, the local fan base complains about the referees.

But there are a lot of them and many of them work in huge media positions, including the biggest name in sports media, Stephen A. Smith. He's a Knick fan. And guess what? This is how we were talking about the manipulation of news and stuff, right? When the people tasked with giving you information about what happened walk into it as an implicit bias, that they then allow that to craft the messaging. The rest of us who don't— who aren't in a Knicks fans group chat don't know any better. So, oh, it sounds like the refs were really bad last night. Let me look up the numbers. What? 24 free throws to 8? Oh my God, it's right. This is how media manipulation works, Dan. You're better than that. You should be more aware and more media literate. You're Dan Levitard. Shame on you.

Dan Levitard.

What do we got here? I got a Magnum condom. Um, we won't get that out.

That's shocking.

Stoogatz. Here's a picture of Christopher when he was like 3 years old.

Right next to the condo. Yeah.

As a little reminder.

Never forget.

This is the Dan Levatar Show with the Stoogatz.

Usually what happens when the better team is down 0-2, they're more aggressive. They get more fouls because they're more desperate. But you mentioned Stephen A. Smith, and he's the middle of it. He's in the middle of it going back and forth because Trump has now responded to him. Please say, uh, Trump was booed. Uh, Trump still using Sleepy Joe, uh, to refer to Biden while he is on camera falling asleep more than Joe Biden was ever on camera falling asleep. But let's go first to what it is that Stephen A. Smith— New York fans, what Stephen A. Smith said yesterday was, you know, voicing an opinion a lot of New York fans had because they were inconvenienced. I don't want to go to the Trump sound first. I want to go to the Stephen A. Smith sound first from yesterday when it is that he said basically on behalf of New York fans, this is an enormous inconvenience to have the president, who's not a Knicks fan, he's not, he doesn't care about any of this, inconvenience all of the other Knicks fans that were at the game on one of the largest nights we've seen.

Okay, we We don't have the sound on Stephen A. Smith, but among the things that he said is that, um, he didn't want him there. He just didn't want him there and went after him pretty hard, harder than he's gone after him on just about anything, which was kind of offensive to me that it would be traffic that would get Stephen A. Smith mad about Donald Trump's behavior. But let's go ahead. Donald Trump on a tarmac. He's awake here and he's also standing here, and he just goes after Stephen A. Smith because the word got to him that he wasn't wanted at this game.

ESPN commentator Stephen A.

Smith was talking about running for president. He said he would blame you if the Knicks lost the game.

How do you respond to that? I think he's a nice guy, but you need a certain aptitude to run for president.

You need a high IQ. I'm not sure that Stephen has that.

I don't think he does, actually.

Thought about it for a second. I don't think he does.

Nah. Trump is tone deaf in this case. Like somebody had to tell him that it might not be a good idea to go to this game in particular when your, your already low approval rating is, is lower than that in New York State and lower than that in Manhattan. Like you didn't know you were going to be booed. You didn't know that Knicks fans weren't going to be upset because you going to the game caused their watch parties to be canceled, caused them to show up 2 hours before a game and get TSA airport-type screening. It was going to be a massive inconvenience. And Trump, that, that's news to Trump? You should have known all that. You shouldn't have gone to the game.

Now, Greg, how did you describe the reception he received when he was shown on the screen during the national anthem?

Uh, roundly booed.

That's not how he interpreted it. He said, he was like, oh, it was a lot of cheers, there's a great energy. I was like, what game was he at? Was he asleep during that time?

He said it was amazing. He said it was loud. He said it was enthusiastic. Uh, let's get to the sound here of Donald Trump hearing all that, uh, happened last night much differently than everyone else heard it. What did you think of the reception you got from the Knicks fans tonight?

I thought it was great.

I mean, I thought it was amazing, actually.

You mean when they had the camera on me? I thought it was very good.

Yeah, it was certainly amazing. It was, it was, I think, mostly cheers.

It was, it was loud and it was very enthusiastic.

I'm going to be curious to see how Stephen A handles this. Because we've seen when Jaylen Brown goes after him, like, he, he takes— he calls for the iso play and it's the first 10 minutes. And Stephen A has, to many people's frustration, especially in that audience, it's largely avoided direct criticisms of Donald Trump when it's more than deserved. And it— I know he's personalizing it, but for it to be the fear of a Knicks jinx or him being personally inconvenienced, that's where he decides to meet the moment. I'm certainly disappointed. And look, I don't think Donald Trump is of the IQ either, but he ain't wrong there. Like, let's stop making TV personalities president.

Wait, wait, wait, you're asking all the wrong questions. My question is this: is Stephen A. going to use the loud voice, or is he going to use the quiet voice? That one.

That one. Which is how you know that he's super serious, and it's just a joke that this is going to be the time he chooses to be.

Donald Trump doesn't want to make an enemy out of me.

The quote from Stephen A. is, "This president has no business showing up in New York City. I'm dead serious. It is selfish. It is narcissistic. It is ridiculous that he is coming to this game." Also ridiculous is the idea that adult human beings think that there's a jinx involved with someone coming to a game.

I mean, it's a preposterous idea, Leprechaun. The Knicks hadn't lost in 45 days, and then 45 showed up. You think that's a coincidence?

What do you think is going to happen there? Because, uh, I, I've wondered, uh, what it's like for Stephen A. Smith to wander the earth at this stage in, uh, life, always fighting with everybody. It's just not an energy I would want in my life to— and, and not even if it came with all of the stuff that, uh, that he has. I don't want be fighting with everybody all the time.

He recently had a whole thing on his radio show, I think it was on Friday, either Thursday or Friday last week, where he talked about how this last year of his life has been very upsetting to him, and everything he's, you know, everything he's gone through, that he has had a very hard time.

This damn reaping what I sow. He's not fighting with everybody. He has certainly made it a point to avoid one big fight. And not a difficult one given the approval numbers. So he's avoided it, and now he's called out directly, been insulted directly. So, Tag, you're in.

There is some coded language. I mean, these are, these are fourth-grade insults that the President of the United States keeps going to with low IQ and what was the other word that he used there? Aptitude. Yeah, aptitude. It's just some coded language from the president of the United States that's wildly unbecoming. But it is interesting that the time that Stephen A decides to do this is saying things about the president where he's like, "Nobody wants you there." And if you talk to Knicks fans, they don't want Stephen A there either because they don't like him very much because he hasn't— he's been very bandwagon about this Knicks team and then shows up and celebrates them in full force and takes credit for the recent winning streak because of how he ripped them after they lost that game to Atlanta the last time they lost before this.

I mean, do I have to read out my resume? Hollis, Queens native, work covering high school basketball right here in the city. You could ask Cameron Giles and Mason Betha who I covered. Now y'all want to act like I can't come around.

You're despicable!

To his credit, he said that he'd totally be fine with not getting a championship ring.

I shouldn't get a champion— I could not because I don't feel like I contributed enough to be honest with you.

What? Why would he get a championship ring?

That was just a joke they were doing.

They were just— No, no, this is an actual thing.

This is yesterday on First Take.

It was a real thing.

He said he does not believe he deserves one.

You know what's worse though?

You're not wrong, Greg, but this is— it's pro wrestling.

That was real.

But Stephen A, for someone who engages in pro wrestling a lot himself, does seem to genuinely, you know, get upset when insults like that that are personal get thrown his way. I'm curious to see how this plays out.

He won't want to make an enemy out of me, Mike. I'm telling you right now, let's not talk about your approval rating. Let's compare your ratings with my ratings.

Where do you think this series is? Because the fear ratchets up when you lose the home game up 2-0. They thought the whole thing was going to be easy because they were making the last 6 weeks look awfully easy. And the Spurs were the better team all season. They were the more consistent team all season, and they have the best player. Where does the fear level rise after you lose that way? The advantage you've had in this series, the only advantage that you've had in this series if you're the Knicks, is the last 3 minutes of the games. You've been better in 2 of them than you were in the last one, and now the fear rises on you. And if they lose this next one, all of a sudden what had been belief turns into sort of a scared hope. It doesn't, it doesn't, uh, it doesn't usually go as easily as the Knicks have made it look for 5 and a half weeks where You're— you're— the last time they were down in a series was against Atlanta, 2-1. And the way that they came back against Atlanta, they've been feeding off of the fuel and the fumes of that for 6 weeks.

I think the winner of Game 4 wins the series, and I think it's probably going to be San Antonio. They're the better team with the best player. And I think that last night was so huge. And I don't think that— I think the Knicks right now are poised to be only the 6th 6th team in NBA history to blow a 2-0 lead in the Finals and lose.

It would be the first ever when losing— when winning the 2 on the road.

Correct. Yeah, first ever in that scenario, you're right. And if I were a Knicks fan, I'd be pretty worried right now.

It's only 1 game though.

Yeah.

Well, you've been pretty wrong here because—

About every game.

You thought that if the Spurs lost Game 2, the series was over, and you also thought that the Knicks were going to throttle the Spurs last night.

Yeah, I've been wrong about about every game this series, okay? But as it turns out, in the long run, I may end up being right because I thought it was going to be Spurs in 7 and a classic series. And right now it feels like we might have a classic series.

You can't be right if, if it goes 7 and the Spurs win in 7. Very right then. No, you said that if they lost Game 2 that the series was over. You said if the Spurs lost Game 2 the series was over. If it goes Game 7 and the Spurs win, that is not the series being over after the first 2.

But hold Wait a second. If I say before the series starts that we're gonna get a classic series and the Spurs are gonna win in 7, and the Spurs come back from an 0-2 deficit and they win in 7, simple question, Dan Levitard, was I right or wrong?

Doesn't make it right. Doesn't make it right, because 2 games in you said it was over in favor of the Bulls.

Oh, okay, so again, before the series starts, if I say Spurs in 7 in a classic series and Spurs come back 0-2 first time ever Spurs win in 7. You're telling me I was wrong?

Doesn't make it right.

No, I, I have to agree with Zazz. Yeah. And I don't all that often, but in this case he's right. I mean, it's a, it's the definition of a great series if the Spurs come back from 0-2 and win in 7. It's epic. It's history-making.

But he had the opposite prediction after Game 2.

Yeah, times change.

Nobody will remember that either. Very good. They'll remember Zazz saying Spurs in 7.

Classic series.

Yeah, that'll Very good.

3 really good games, by the way.

The Spurs fan definitely wakes up this morning saying we should be up 2 games to 1.

Oh, absolutely. We talked about this last night on the Alley Oop, the idea that if you're the Spurs, you say, wait a second, we were up double digits in the second half in Game 1. Game 2, we had the opportunity to win at the end of the game.

They think they should be on the verge of a sweep tomorrow.

Exactly.

Yep. Shout out to Kenny Atkinson.

I think it's the rare series where both teams think they should be up 2-1.

I don't disagree. One thing that we were saying yesterday before this game was there is one thing that can take this series up a notch. It's been all good vibes, no real adversity for New York. There's no animosity between these teams. And now Wemby's starting to become a villain and they feel jobbed by the refs and San Antonio gets a game. And look, there's now videos. All the joy that Sam Morel was telling us about New Yorkers are happier and being nicer to one another. I saw plenty of videos after that game. That would suggest that the honeymoon is over. This is Knicks—

Knicks on Knicks fan time.

Yeah, but there is plenty of video of Spurs fans out there again getting jumped. So this is what has happened to the city. Just a little bit of adversity and it's all going to hell. Now we got a special series potentially.

I mean, so for the audio audience, it is just a brawl in the middle seat. There's a bunch of cops watching a bunch of dudes beating people.

Why are they just watching?

Including one guy who's beating— What happens after that? There's a guy who's beating another guy with a bus stop sign! You know the blue ones that have the bus on it? He climbed it somehow, removed it, climbed down, and now smacking the hell out of somebody with it.

We told you this would happen.

I'm watching that and imagining Zaslo sauntering through that crowd with a Heat jersey on.

I have to admit, it's one of the first things that went through my mind last night, how stupid what an idea it was of me to actually challenge Greg Cody, who was challenging me to walk through 7th Avenue outside the Garden wearing a Heat shirt, and I had my chest puffed out here saying, "I will definitely do it, no problem, who cares." It was the first thing that came to my mind last night. What a stupid idea that was.

Yeah, it really was. Well, the good news is—

I already admitted it was stupid, you don't need to compound it.

No, I'm just saying the $100 I offered to pay you if you did that—

Wasn't worth it.

—is now going to charity, the Greg Cody Miller Light Foundation. So it's all going to be put to good I love that charity.

Uh, Zazz, uh, respectfully, and if you have children listening right now on live, earmuffs. They would fuck you up, man. Like, not even if, like, win or lose, just you wearing a t-shirt of another team.

They were tearing Spurs jerseys off the fans in the streets last night. They were doing that.

There is no part of these people that are fun-loving or civilized. Don't get fooled by Sam Morell dancing with an unhoused woman. Slow dancing with an unhoused woman. Homeless. There is no part of these people that is friendly or civilized. They are going to burn the city down one way or another. Either it's because they're celebrating a win or they are mourning a loss.

It was a remarkably stupid idea that I had that I'm glad I did not go through with.

I don't think that people are prepared for what it is that's going to happen in the streets of New York City. This is just, uh, this is just a primer. This is 3 games in, and it's the first home game of the Finals. Uh, there, there are going to be at least a couple of more in New York if New York loses some games here, right? They might win, uh, in San Antonio, I suppose, in 5 games, but the likelihood is that there are going to be 2 games left in New York City. That's the first one, and that's what was happening in the street. Also, Wemby should have gotten a flagrant one for what he did to Brunson, and I wouldn't be surprised If— yeah, I would be if the officials— they would never.

Yeah, they're not. Yeah, you don't even finish. Come on, you're crazy.

He's slapping meat against people left and right.