Sehr gut, sehr gut, sehr gut. Sehr gut? WISO Steuer ist sehr gut. Das sagen ganz viele. Cool, wer sagt das?
Stiftung Warentest, Computerbild, Fokus 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. Here's one of the things that is just really great about where it is we've been the last couple of weeks with this Knicks team and where it is that we're headed. Okay, as Tracy Morgan is crying in his car, long time after the game, still, still crying because of how emotional he is, I can assemble the argument that last night is as good as New York has ever felt about a sports result, and yet they can still lose the series, giving us the joy of making that a totally forgotten thing, because they lose the series after having the greatest feeling New York has almost ever had about basketball. Because that felt like the winning of a championship last night because of what it is that happened in that game and because of how improbable it is, and because you've now got a historic run by a historic team punctuated, or close to punctuated, in a historic way.
No matter what happens the rest of the series, like, the New York fan, they got the moment. You know, like, even if the— even if they win Game 5 on the road and so you can't celebrate in front of your home crowd, you still got the moment last night. Like, it was like winning a championship, it felt like. But it's very similar to the Ray Allen shot in 2013. If the Heat don't win Game 7, no one gives a shit about the Ray Allen shot. And if the Knicks don't win this series, no one is ever gonna care about the OJ and O-Tip.
Derek White, right? Derek White scoring at the end of a Heat game to bring them back down from—
That was Game 6, yeah.
Yeah, from down 3-0 to 3-3. But who cares? Nobody remembers because the Heat won the series. Uh, let's put up the video.
You did just remember it.
To just remind you that everyone forgot it. I did just remember it, but only because I was reminding everyone. I wasn't thinking of it. I never forgot it. You all forgot about it and then I reminded you about it.
No, chill went down my spine. Never forgot about it.
When I reminded you about it, because you had forgotten.
Tip went in, I shit all over the floor.
You had finally put that smell away though. Like the lingering scent of that shit on the floor had been put away and I just brought it back. That was tough. Uh, Iman Shumpert was at the arena last night, and he's at the arena last night wearing his own Knicks jersey. So the first question I want to put up, @LeBittardShow, uh, when you think of Iman Shumpert, Knicks jersey or Cavs jersey? Cavs. Uh, what do you make of him being at a game in, uh, replica wear? I don't know, I don't know if he went to the NBA Store, if he just went to a game worn.
Yeah, game worn. He confirmed game worn jersey for the Knicks.
Would he have done the same exact thing if Cleveland had won the East.
You think they're selling the Schumper jersey in the NBA store?
Uh, Chris, to answer your question, he wouldn't have done this same thing because why would he wear a Knicks jersey if the Cavs had won the game?
I meant in a Cavs jersey.
Oh, okay, well, but it wouldn't be the same exact thing if it was in a Cavs jersey. It would be a thing that was different in a Cavs jersey.
Now you want to get in the mud.
Well, go ahead and do that idea that you had of going and covering yourself in mud.
Bad idea!
Around the nipples. Just around the nipples. Nobody's gonna say he's— he can't do that, he's got black nipples. Nobody's gonna say that there's gonna be a problem that cancels him because he's got black nipples. We'll see.
Don't put that on the poll, actually.
Um, I want— is that okay? How are you guys feeling? How are you guys feeling about Schumpert wearing his own jersey? Would you guys do that if you had played for the Knicks and if you had a jersey that was game worn?
I know Roy would.
Oh, this is the situation that I definitely Probably would. Would you walk around—
wears Bellamy jerseys and he's never played.
In the event that no one there knew who Schumpert was, they would know if he's wearing the jersey. There were some people saying, I'm sure, even though he's 6'5" or 6'6" or whatever he is, uh, is that indeed Schumpert, or is that someone who looks like Schumpert who's just wearing a game-worn Schumpert jersey that he bought at the NBA store, which shouldn't still be selling those things?
He was sitting like second or third row courtside. I like the idea of the former Knicks, like the nickel, um, like Patrick Ewing should have to be sitting courtside in his Ewing jersey.
I agree. In the whole uniform. I put it on the poll at Le Batard Show. Should the former Knicks be all going to the game?
He should also have ice packs on his knees.
In full Knicks uniform.
The old Knicks have been on fire lately. I could not stop watching.
Tony loves John Starks.
I could not stop watching John Starks, who was basically in on every play. There was a massive situation where Stephon Castle steps out of bounds and then John Starks is in the middle between the ref and Stephon Castle saying, "Out of bounds!
Out of bounds!" How could you get that close? It's crazy. It feels like AAU basketball. It's like my dad, "Hey, come over here!" The Knicks fans are all your— the Knicks, former Knicks players are unks. All of them are unks and they're all just in there.
No, it's like Rucker when a cool play happens and everyone just descends.
Mobs the court.
On the court.
Uh, let's get to De'Aaron Fox sound because again, I'm going to say that outside of Harrison Barnes, they don't have a player who's supposed to give off veteran stability more than De'Aaron Fox, and he just collapsed. There are a number of things from the end of that game that are crazy. I'm going to give the stat again because what I'm— this is nuts what I'm saying in an NBA Finals game as the whole thing swings from instead of 2-2, it's 3-1. You have a situation, Jazz, and this is just sheer stupidity, that Alvarado is making more shots the last 9 minutes of the game than all the Spurs. Like, that's crazy.
I couldn't believe— like, I'm watching Alvarado and Jordan Clarkson running around on the court, and I'm like, these can't be guys you play in the Finals. And, and Mike Brown did eventually take Jordan Clarkson out, but Alvarado, he, he essentially won them a Finals game.
Not only that, like I think the reasoning behind using him and Brunson at the same time is they really don't have a ball handler like Alvarado who can establish the offense. Once Brunson was stuck in the double team up top, like, you're not going to put Bridges there, you're not going to put OG there, you have nobody else to bring the ball up. You got Alvarado who can make some nifty plays.
Let's get to the sound though of the rest of us are wildly confused by what De'Aaron Fox was doing the last 12 seconds of the game. Like, I think this is all-time meltdown stuff. He's not going to go down in the J.R. Smith category of just forgetting the score of finals game, but there were 3 mistakes at the end of this that are the opposite— 3 in a row— in 12 seconds. It's the opposite of whatever it is you think veteran poise is. And after the game, De'Aaron Fox still seems confused about— I don't know that I did anything wrong there.
You have an outrun 'em.
That's it.
How do you guys catch them? Have them score. Um, try to get a layup, get up 3, you know, make them force them to need a 3. And OG made a good block.
Yeah. How about you don't allow OG to be in a situation to make a good block?
Hank Azaria is going to join us here in a little bit as we continue to saturate you in New York celebrity that annoys you so that you get sick of this team, so that when it loses the next 3 games, you rejoice in a way that's uncommon for you. But before we do that, I want to make sure to get to Mike Brown here taking credit for Anunoby's tip there at the end of the game. And I'm going to remind you guys again, I'm just going to say it again. When the shot left Brunson's hand, Outside of Brunson, there was no one physically, geographically on the court further from the rim and the basketball than Anunoby, the man who tipped it in to win the game. And here's Mike Brown taking credit for that.
I challenged a lot of our guys today, you know, and OG was one of the guys I challenged. I told OG As big, as strong, as athletic as he is, he's got to be a monster on the offensive glass tonight. I don't know if there was a play— I don't know if there's a play bigger than any other play in the history of Knicks basketball. That was a huge offensive rebound, huge offensive rebound. He took on— he took on the challenge and he went and won the game for us. Doing exactly what I called him out for, doing shootaround today.
If Mike Brown told him before the game he needs to be huge on the offensive glass, why did he wait till 1 second left to grab his first offensive rebound?
It was a great job by him doing exactly what I told him he should do before the game. I think it would be great coaching if Mike Brown just goes to all his players and say, you win the game tonight, okay? You— I need you to win the game tonight. Win the game. And they'll listen to him and then just win the game. And that's good coaching. I think we can all agree on that. Here's Wemby talking about what is going to be remembered as one of the all-time collapses if the Spurs don't end up rallying in this series.
Third row on the left.
I can't really explain it right now.
I don't know.
I think it's just, I mean, execution, greediness of some sort. We clearly weren't the most hungry in the second half.
No, they weren't greedy. They should have been greedy. They were the opposite of greedy.
Did you find yourself getting mad at Wemby because he continued to settle for long jumpers when you kind of— and they got some fouls.
Tony, did you find yourself getting mad at Wemby?
You know what I found myself getting mad at? The jumper that he hit from the top of the key. I was like, you're tired, miss that shot. What are you doing there?
Well, he missed 9 of his 11 before he finally made it.
He was bad.
The fourth quarter was bad.
I just got angry at how bad both teams were at times. It was just— it was compelling. It was fun. It was as exciting a basketball game.
The Knicks had bad moments, but like very few of them in that fourth quarter. There were so many massive shots from Anthony.
I wouldn't say very few of them.
24-second violation and then the— and the pop-out.
Near half-court.
You're stuck on it not being great basketball. I really don't care. Okay. The drama is so much more interesting to me. I'd rather there be the drama.
We saw the dumbest basketball team in the history of civilization.
Oh, wow. I've never heard from a major network anchor on a major sports platform have the analysis that's both accurate and crude of stupid ass.
We saw the dumbest basketball team in the history of civilization.
Oh, wow. Stupid ass.
Zach, wow. If you had to take a guess, Charles had the Spurs on the money line, yes or no? Because they covered. They covered. He wouldn't be mad about that. The Spurs covered because they were getting a point and a half or 2.5.
But he's been saying since Game 2 that this series is over. So I'd be surprised if he bet against what he's saying publicly.
But the Knicks must have been favored last night. So there's, there's money to be made on the Spurs winning that game last night.
It was a point and a half, like, like Dan said. So the spread wasn't huge, but I'm sure that there's an arbitrage bet where he can have Knicks going the entire series, but then also have a one-game where he's got—
maybe he bets series exact score.
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Summer always hits different once the big game starts 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. You know how these late season games are. We don't know. It's a big game for the Knicks. We have absolutely no idea how Boston will play it. I don't know who they'll play, who they won't play. Stugatz. Okay. So no, I don't know.
All right.
That's fine. That's an excellent promotion. You know, I love I love that. That's great. Sold. That's it. That's perfect advertising for the game, the national game. I'm not gonna watch. Shit, that was a shitty sales job. This is the Don Levitar Show with the Stugatz. Hank Azaria is there. He's the voice actor of Our Generation. He is a Knicks fan, even though sometimes he watches watches Knicks games 2 days after they've been played so that he can do it while exercising on his treadmill and then avoids his phone for several days so he doesn't know any of the results. One of the stranger Knicks fans you will meet, and that's covering some ground. Always nice to see you, Hank. Did you eventually get in? This is the first time you've gotten into one of these Finals games. Were you able to get into Madison Square Garden last night? Congratulations, sir.
Oh, I was in there, all right. That was— well, you know, it's a cliché at this point to describe the pandemonium in there, but it was nuts. It was a morgue in the first half, as you might imagine. And then I tell you, I've been going to the Garden since 1970. The loudest moment— and I've been there for a lot— the loudest moment ever in the Garden was actually the volume when Wemby was taking those two free throws. It was insane in there. I think it actually rattled him.
Are you someone who has a bad voice, a voice that's very valuable because you were screaming too much last night?
I made sure not to scream too. I was in total— there was nothing to scream about in the first half. And then when they were making this strange, you know, gradual sort of limpy comeback all through the second half of the game, I was too nervous to even commit to the reality that it might be happening to yell out loud about it. I just kind of stood there with my hands on my head, just my mouth agape, not wanting to breathe too much.
Where does this rank in terms of best sports feelings you've ever gotten as a sports fan?
Poof. You know, top, top 5. As Jets, Mets, Knicks fan, there's not so much that you have to choose from. You know, probably Mets, you know, Mookie, Mookie Wilson in '86 is all of that was the top. And this would probably go— it's definitely top 5.
Were you confused seeing Larry David happy?
It was crazy in there celebrity-wise. I'll tell you a nutty story. Okay. So a couple of days ago, you don't know from the Garden whether you're going to get in till that day. Like if you're Ben Stiller or you're Tracy Morgan, you know, or I think Spike actually pays for his tickets, but, um, so they don't let you know till day of because there's such high demand. And for Game 3, I didn't, I didn't, uh, make the cut. So I decided I'm gonna buy tickets for Game 4, which will be outrageously expensive, and then if the Garden, you know, if the Knicks get me in, then I'll sell those tickets on StubHub because they weren't hard to sell, right? So I find out that I'm in and I try to sell the tickets on StubHub, but for some reason they're a lot— they're not going for the same price anymore. Maybe because the Knicks lost Game 3. I don't know what it is. And they're very good seats. So I'm holding them and holding them and holding them. And I'm like, you know, the Garden tickets they got us are free. I got 2 friends that are such big Knicks fans that we watch all the games together.
Let me just have them come and watch the game. And they'll sit in the other seats. It's a very extravagant gift, but what the heck, right? So I'm thinking the Garden is— I know I'm not courtside, but I think they've got me good seats. But we're way up in the— what they call the Cisco Suites, which are like the ceiling. Okay. But in this suite is me, Questlove, Rainn Wilson, Ed Burns, and Christy Turlington. Jeremy Strong, Aaron Judge is right there. Like, there's so many folks want in that they've, like, stuck us all up in the rafters. And my friends now are sitting in great seats that I bought and I can't switch with them. I'm in the ceiling and my friends are in the seats.
Wait a minute. Who was in this? So this is star-studded and you're telling me there's some of the worst seats in the house?
Horrible. No, every publicist in town, like celebrities are scattered throughout the entire garden. You only see the A+, the A+ list down at the bottom. Everybody else is like stuck wherever.
Hank, you've had an enormous amount of success over a number of years. Do any of your neuroses get sort of ravaged with the idea of, wait a minute, I thought I was a bigger celebrity than this person as a Knicks fan, as a New York sports fan.
Sometimes. But that ship has sailed so long ago for me. I, you know, I'm just happy to be in there and whatever. Right. But then— oh, so then I asked the Garden person who I'm in touch with, can we switch at halftime? Like, can they come up to this suite? And they said no. They said no, we can't do that. Not on a finals night. It's too crazy.
I imagine that those people would have been happier being in a box with those celebrities than having those seats. Like, if I tell somebody, What, what would you guys choose in that spot? A box with Jeremy Strong and Hank Azaria and Aaron Judge?
The one with Jeremy Strong. That's all I need, guys.
It was way up. That was hard to see from people watching. The baskets were made. I was like, did that go in? Did that go in?
I can't really tell from a people-watching perspective. That had to just be fascinating. But mainly it was cool up in there. Jeremy Strong.
Yeah, but what are you going to talk to him like? Hey, Jeremy, what do you think of that?
No, I just watch him. I want to see how he reacts. He— is he into it? Just a cuck? Does he— does he— yeah, I, I would cuck the fandom. Absolutely.
He was— he seemed to be. I was there. Rainn Wilson and I went to college together, and Rainn's a huge Knick fan, a very knowledgeable fan, so we had a good time. I was there with my son. It's just after his 17th birthday. But then at the half, we, we had to switch it up because it was so bad. We're like, we're changing seats.
Hold on. Your son has grown up with that Simpsons money. Did he look at his dad disappointed and being like, Dad, why are we way up here? Like, why? Why? How is this happening?
Little bit, you know? Yeah. And it was our— it was both our birthday, you know, split. Partly why I went nuts is our birthdays are close together. So it's supposed to be our birthday celebration at the halftime. Like, I was like, this doesn't count as the birthday. We got to do something else because this is brutal.
How?
And then we switched the seats and it all turned around. It was crazy.
What? Who did you look at in that suite and privately say to yourself, huh, slumming? I thought you'd get better seats than these.
Everybody, including myself. I felt we all felt better about ourselves that we're all up in the roof with each other.
Aaron Judge was in that. Aaron Judge can't get better seats than that.
I don't know what that story was. I really felt like Aaron Judge could have done better. You know, if anybody asked, look at who was down there. I mean, it was like, you know, I tell you, the one that bothered me was Taylor Swift.
Why?
Come on. She just got here.
She's the hugest thing in the world. But we had to sit with her all through the NFL, and now she's at the Garden.
Come on.
Wow.
She gets 4 seats, her 3 friends.
It's total bandwagon. Like, Hank has been there since the '70s. He's the voice actor for a generation. Like, this is— the man continues to be someone who stars in movies for the better part of 35, 40 years.
Not that I question why she'd get the seat, I'm just tired of the whole Taylor Swift.
She did have 3 seats. I got the guest list in front of me right now. Ridiculous. She had 3 seats.
She's also paying millions of dollars to have MSG closed to have her wedding there, right?
So is that right?
Is that true?
She is having her wedding.
Really?
Yeah. That, uh, that guest list is substantive. So Hank, take me, did you sleep well last night? Like, or, or were you so, so you were just wired, huh?
Well then coming home through the city was like, I, I, that I've never seen anything like every block, every subway, every everything, people chanting different insane things. And you know, New York is not a warm fuzzy place, but everybody just, So excited. I mean, the city, every city that wins needs it. But this was really— I don't know, I really felt like— sorry, my phone's ringing. I really felt like this is big for the city.
Will you go to Game 6 if the Knicks don't win Game 5?
I will.
Even if you're in the same— they're going to put you back up there because that's— that ticket's even going to be—
might not make the cut.
Yeah, that ticket.
I might just go ahead and purchase my tickets and stick with them this time.
Uh, Ben Stiller, a very good friend of yours. Ben Stiller, I think, is at the top of whatever Knicks fan celebrity Mount Rushmore is. Uh, he's doing a documentary. That's why he's filming that much, uh, from the sidelines. Uh, what— have you spoken to him? Are you connecting with him around the Knicks? Because he's a total insane person.
Yeah, we are Knicks buddies. Um, and, uh, yeah, we're just, uh Nobody can say much except I can't believe it. We're going to have to figure out something else to say eventually. But that said, we especially, you know, given the history of the New York sports disappointments, you know, listen, right. You know, the Knicks ones, you know, going back to Reggie Miller and Charles Smith not being able to make a layup and Ewing getting hurt before the '99 Finals. So you knew we had no shot and can't ever get through Jordan and, and Halliburton. And it's all been so— and missing the draft picks by one year after year after year. You know, Ja Morant is 2 and we had the 3rd pick and on and on and on. And don't get me started on the Jets and Mets. And it feels like it's all, you know, this is all the karma is totally turned around. I mean, I think, look, LeBron came back from 3-1 down. It's not over yet.
Were you tempted? Were you tempted at halftime to leave? Was anybody in that box tempted at halftime to leave?
I joked, texted to my friends like, guys, keep the seats, I'm out of here. And they were like, what? I'm like, I'm kidding. But I think Mike Francesa actually said last night, I bet the only reason a lot of people stayed is because they paid so much money. There's no way they're going to leave, you know? But I felt like leaving. It was brutal.
Oh, but you don't want to be the person that is Stugatz when Ray Allen makes the shot and you're trying to get back into the arena because you've walked out out on what is the single greatest comeback that anyone can remember in the NBA championship finals.
No, you don't. And so, and I'm good with— I watched so much that I was like, I'm really good with— I said to my son, we're down 27 at the half. I said, they have to— first of all, the first 3, 4 minutes has to go well, have to cut into it a bit. And then if they can get it to 15 at the start of the fourth, it enters the realm of human possibility. 12, it's around— is exactly what happened. And then, like you guys, I think we're saying, it's not like they played particularly great in that second. Their defense tightened up a great deal, and it was dumb. I couldn't even believe— I couldn't believe that, um, San Antonio kept shooting threes when they got cold from there. And the level at which they were hitting those threes in the first half, that was That was shocking. That was the most shocking part of that first half. It was like, these guys can't miss.
We saw the dumbest basketball team in the history of civilization.
Oh, wow. Don Lebatard. Mike Ryan's in there and he's the one with a baby. He's the one who's got to, like, worry about what the future is. And Mike Ryan bet on DraftKings because Mike Ryan bet on us. This is the bet you're afraid of doubling down on. Putting up a billboard in Edmonton?
Stugatz! I care more about Matthew Tkachuk than I do my daughter.
This is the Dan Levatar Show with the Stugatz! I'm gonna say this part again, okay? In that first half, the Knicks made 15 shots and the Spurs made 14 threes. Just 3. Yes. Oh, wow.
I was also at the end of— it was Fox. The shot that Obi— that OG blocked. I couldn't believe he went up with that.
That's correct. None of us could. Nobody in the history of watching basketball could believe he was doing that except De'Aaron Fox, who was still defending it after the game.
And the broadcast team for some reason.
Oh, I get the idea that you just— he felt like he was about to get an easy bucket, so he just was going to take it. But there was so much about the last few minutes of that game that you were mid-reacting to what you couldn't believe, and then something else insane happened on top. Do you just like—
you got it right. And then you spill into the street and everyone is chanting.
And was it a backcourt? Was it out of backcourt? Where was he?
Yes, that was another one because I was about to— I was about to say, I can't— why is Fox shooting? And then Obi blocked it. And then, then what? Right after that, was it— I don't even know where— was that the almost backcourt violation?
Yes. What's funny about what Hank— what Hank is saying, what's funny about that is we expect the players to show poise in that situation while none of us watching are showing poise because we're still reacting to the same situation. I'm convinced that what happened to De'Aaron Fox is He spent the last 12 seconds of the game being like, just hitting himself in the forehead figuratively because of what had happened and just sort of lost his way on how to play basketball in every way because things were happening too fast. And if Hank can't keep it together, uh, it would make sense that the players themselves would get confused and disoriented by things that had happened seconds earlier.
Hank, experiencing the whole thing, the end of that game with your son, must have been like the best thing ever, right?
I, you know, teenagers don't like you to touch them too much. Okay. So I haven't really hugged my son in like a year. I think I hugged him 27 times in 4 minutes last night. And it was organic. It was allowed. It was like, it was incredible. I'll never forget being there with my son. What about the one, I think the thing that's blowing my mind, even the OG tip, in real time was absolute lunacy. He flew in from nowhere, literally. And that tip was not a tip. It was— you'd expect when someone gets up that high, they either stuff it back down or they bank it. How he managed to get at the apex of his jump and sort of just flutter it and it arced into the basket, I still don't understand it. But Josh Hart missing layup/stuff was— that's when my brain broke. That's when, like, nothing made sense to me anymore. It was just too much.
Hank, thank you for the time. We have to get rid of you here because Method Man has showed up. I'm sorry to treat you the way you were treated in that celebrity box last night.
What?
Hank Azaria? No freaking way. Salute.
Salute. Salute.
Legend.
How you doing? Were you there last night?
I was. I was. But unfortunately, unfortunately, I have anxiety around crowds. So after we performed, I left and listened to it. And by the time I got home, I saw the shot.
So, yeah. Oh, that's— forgive me. Of course, I was so depressed at halftime that I couldn't even focus on— I was like, I was also changing seats., and I was in a daze and I was, I was thinking about you guys down there. Like, was it kind of hard to perform after that first half?
I, well, backstage I felt that way, but once we went out there, I was like, you know what, let's just go all out. And if they, and if they get this comeback, it's gonna look great for all of us. So, you know, I made a, I made a quick prediction too at the end of the, uh, whole thing. I said Nixon 5. And I honestly, I was not blowing smoke. I believed it. I actually believed it.
You have a legit case for you turned it around.
I think so. I think so. But honestly, that falls on the players, the coaching, and the adjustments they made to win that game, man.
I listen, I think if I can claim that because I changed seats, I changed the energy, you certainly can claim it.
It all helped. The sage burning, everything.
It all helped.
Hank, good seeing you. Thank you. Take care. We will talk to you soon. Miss you. Method Man, it's an unusual thing to say, buddy, and I've heard you say it before. Anxiety around crowds for a performer. That one seems to be a bit contradictory there.
Yeah, it does.
It does. It does. It does. But you have to understand, after that game is over and you're trying to leave that area, it gets tricky. It gets really tricky. And, you know, if you're a public figure, you'll get swamped by that crowd.
How was it for you last night performing there? Like, you have had some majestic New York sports moments here. And where does this one rank?
It was cool. I mean, I was in the same space everybody was at that point because we were losing by so much. But I had just performed there a couple of weeks ago. So it was— I was pretty comfortable. It was routine for me, you know. What was really disheartening is that we performed in front of a New York crowd and they didn't know the words to the song.
Oh, but you did. Did I hear you?
Hargitay didn't know them.
No. Did I hear you right, though? You didn't. So you don't have any regret about not being there for the ending and having that sweep over you emotionally as a New York sports fan who cares so much about sports? You had to get away from all of that?
I'm definitely kicking myself in the butt for missing that moment. But missing that crowd? No, won't apologize for that. Don't regret that at all.
What were the parts of the game that you found most interesting? As Michael Wilbon, who's seen plenty of basketball, says he's never seen anything like that before. When you analyze the game here with your friends and relive it a little bit today, what are the parts of it that are— that make you the most excited?
Um, pregame. Um, I had, um, because we were sitting on the side where the Spurs were warming up, and, um, I got Fox's attention, and I did the whole, you know, Jalen Brunson thing. He came over, showed love, touched my hand, and had those turnovers after that.
So let's just chalk it up to that.
What is the—
love him though as a player.
What is the ranking, uh, that you have for him as an all-time Knick, all-time beloved Knick? Oh, Brunson.
Box. Oh, Brunson. Oh man. Um, he has put himself in the upper echelon of, um, of, uh, Knick lore, I believe. Um, but, um, I think he's in the top 5. I, I'll say top 5. I won't, um, you know, uh, put more names on it, but yeah, I'll say he's top 5 right now. Cat's in there somewhere too, but now OG has propelled himself to a level where he will be top 5.
I don't think KAT's in there, Meth. I think you've got a very— New York's got a very complicated relationship with Karl-Anthony Towns.
I like KAT. I like KAT a lot. And his dad is dope. His father's truly an OG.
Of the former Knicks who sit courtside and even some who sit within the first couple rows, like, which of them do you especially love running into on a night like last night?
Definitely Starks and definitely my boy Pat Ewing. You know, it's good to see Kurt Thomas. Kurt Thomas, I love that guy as well. Um, but Starks and Ewing— one, I met Starks outside of the Garden, very cool brother. Um, and Ewing, what can I say? He gave us a lot of blood, sweat, and tears over the years, you know. So yeah, he's a staple of New York now.
Meth, uh, always good catching up with you. I know you got to get out of here, you got a hard out. Uh, thank you, sir. Hope you're well. Uh, always nice seeing you.
Enjoy the rest of your day, gentlemen. Knicks in 5. Peace.
Uh, yes sir. Uh, the numbers from last night, Zazz, uh, are any of them— in all of the numbers that I've run through, are any of them something that you look at and say that's more interesting than all of the others? Because, uh, for the Spurs to have that first half— this has happened to them now twice in this series, and it doesn't actually make much sense how you go from scoring 76 in the first half to then scoring 30 the rest of the game.
Well, that's why I object to Wemba Nyama saying how they got greedy. No, no, no, you were the opposite of greedy. Getting greedy would have been attacking. We, we're going to be greedy pigs here and continue to build the lead and build the lead. They were the opposite.
But in, in today's NBA, okay, I understand that 3 of these games have been played at about that scoring level, and to me the big surprise was, oh, We just saw 76.5 when these are two top 5 defenses. Uh, the idea that in today's NBA the Spurs are this close to a championship, and no matter the defense played against you, you're scoring 30 second half points when that's a quarter for you— like, 30 second half points is not all New York defense. That's you miss and you miss and you miss and you keep shooting threes and you miss and you miss and you miss and you take a few free throws to try and stem what's happening around you, but you're not being aggressive enough and you're missing 8 threes because you continue to settle for stuff that's far away from the rim.
It's getting high on your own supply from the first half of hitting all these threes, shooting 60% from 3 in the first quarter, and it's like, all right, just run it back in the second half. Not really much to talk about at halftime, like, let's keep going. And then as those threes, as Samson start, you know, talked about last segment, those threes start, stop hitting. All of a sudden it's like, oh, wait a second, everybody's a little bit tighter.
Egregious laziness because they have 3 players in particular that can get to the basket. They have the ultimate cheat code in an 8-foot dude that you can just lob it in that direction and he can get fouled. Even if he's tired, he can be flat-footed, get it inside. Castle's good at getting the ball inside. Dylan Harper can get the ball inside. He's just camped out in the corner He's been your most dependable, energetic spark plug guy, and you have him in the corner of the court for an entire half. They have the guys that can go in and say, all right, we're going to stop taking threes, we're going to force the issue at the cup. And they just stopped because it's hard to do and they felt like they could coast.
I think that's the dumbest basketball team in the history of civilization.
Wow. I'm going to ask a stupid question. And I was thinking this throughout the second half last night. Why can't Wemba Nyama post up? I know we don't do the back-to-the-basket posting up anymore, but this guy is 7'5".
Why? Why can't he post up? Why couldn't LeBron post up the first 5 years of his career? He had to suffer before he learned that, oh, I need to be able to do that too.
I think it's just hard. It's hard to post up. Look, from banging down low constantly in my pickup game, I know that there are certain dudes that They don't want that. They get tired. That takes up a lot of energy. Just someone leaning on you, putting a hip in you. You don't like it. It's hard to do. And he's flailing. And as for a guy whose cardio is coming into question, banging down low, that makes you more tired than running up and down the floor.
I'm telling you, the issue is also that he has no go-to move. Like, if you think of Wemby's bag, what is it? Being tall and getting an alley-oop thrown at him, hitting a 3. He doesn't have a Tim Duncan back to the basket bank shot.
But what he did, though, the the absurdity physically, okay, of what he did to get Mitchell Robinson that mad before he pointed to his head and before Mitchell Robinson hit him in the neck. There's never been a player long enough to sort of around Mitchell Robinson, flip the ball with his arm into the basket because there's no way to block his length.
Create space. Ass in. Ass in. Turn around. You're 8 feet tall.
Exactly right.
Acid.
Thank you.
Oh, wow. Wu-Tang. First ever concert I went to. That's a stunner. 16 years old. First ever concert.
If your offensive bag is let me be better and bigger and taller than everybody else, that's not an offensive bag. He looks— he's playing with, with 13-year-olds. He's just, let me put the ball up and then try to get my own rebound and then put it back up like playing with little kids. Dan, like, come on. What is that? Get an offensive bag. Go out, meet Hakeem. Go talk to Kareem. Go do something else.
He did.
Oh, well, he didn't learn the Dream Shake and the monks. The monks.
Less monks, more.
By the way, no offensive bag for the Monks. They don't have an offensive bag.
Go get one. Put it on the poll: do the Monks have an offensive bag, yes or no? And also, pitch clock is going to be quite the tone change next hour.
We saw the dumbest basketball team in the history of civilization.
Oh wow.
"Nobody can say much except 'I can't believe it.' We're gonna have to figure out something else to say eventually."
How did Hank Azaria end up in the ceiling at Madison Square Garden with Aaron Judge, while his friends ended up in the great seats that he bought for them? He joins us and tells the story before Method Man tags along and reveals whether it was hard to perform at halftime with the Knicks down 27. Plus, do the monks have an offensive bag?
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