Transcript of Victor Wembanyama Has Officially ARRIVED | Local Hour (feat. Michelle Beadle) New

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Vollmundige Aromen dank innovativer Pressbrüh-Technologie und über 17 Sorten Kaffee für jeden Geschmack. Erlebe Premiumkaffee schon ab 29 €. Entdecke jetzt die Qubo Kapselmaschinen in deiner Qubo-Fiale und auf qubo.de. I'm surprised I'm saying this, Zaz, because I sort of rummaged around in this bin last week a little bit where I was saying, is previous information on —given basketball, given the way the sport has changed—obsolete, because basketball's now unpredictable. You can't have Game 7 at home losers regularly.

And 3 of them this postseason.

It's been happening since 2016, where it's changed so much that it doesn't matter whether you've got Game 7 at home and I could not and would not have predicted that because the numbers are a bit crazy, right? Before 2016, Game 7s at home were 101-24, and since 2016, it's 14-17. It's a coin flip. If you're at home, you're the better team, you played all season to be the better team, you've got Game 7 at home, it doesn't matter.

I like that though, because it really did used to be an impossibility to win Game 7 on the road.

And that sucks. Well, but the other thing that's changed too is Amin kept pounding, our expert. Not only did he think OGAY was gonna win, we'll talk to him today, he kept pounding. The Spurs don't have playoff experience. They don't have playoff experience. They just got to the Finals with less playoff experience than any team since 1977.

Which is amazing because they have Harrison Barnes, Kelly Olynyk, and Bismarck Biyombo.

Dan, for the 8th consecutive year, longest such streak in the history of the NBA, we're gonna have a unique champion. It's never happened before. 8 consecutive years, we're gonna have a new champion.

I mean, you guys keep saying how unpredictable this season is when it's a rematch of the in-season tournament final. I mean, you want to talk about predictive analysis, uh, go ahead and play a means analysis predictive analysis before the series.

I think the Thunder are going to destroy them. Why are you sadly shaking your head, Tony, and speechless? I was sick about it.

I'm there watching Game 7, one of like 11 people rooting for Oklahoma City, because again, I'm trying to stop galactic fascism, but you guys don't want it. So I'm sitting there like 2 inches from my TV, and I'm just looking at Wemby celebrating and crying, and I'm like, is he faking this? Can I say that he's faking this emotion? Then I'm seeing him take the trophy, which was actually kind of cool, but whatever, I'm not gonna say that. Taking the trophy and like running it up and down the tunnel and people touching.

That was cool.

It was cool, but I'm trying to think of an ulterior motive he has. But again, maybe data collection on people's fingerprints. I'm still working that one out. But I'm sitting there looking at him like, damn, I have a— just this feeling in the pit of my stomach and I'm sick to my stomach and I'm like, it's happening, it's happening. He's already in the NBA Finals. He— the journey was supposed to be, you're supposed to get beat by the better team and then go back and beat them the next year. And all those old-school rules are now completely out of He tore them out of the book.

How do you imagine Amin watched that game? Because Amin keeps getting these things wrong. Like, he knows a lot. There's no question he knows a lot. But knowing a lot does not allow you to be good at predictions.

But Tony, he did do his suffering in the in-season tournament final. And now you have a redemption arc.

This is the Dan Levatorre Show with the Stugatz Podcast.

I really love basketball and love having watched the last 45 years of how basketball went from tape delay to Magic and Bird to we're gonna make our players stars, stars, stars, and individuals and stories and stories and stories. And it felt like this weekend we got for the first time, first time We've been talking about that face of the league stuff for a long time. First time, oh, this is how it moves from LeBron and Steph and everything we've been talking about for 20 years. Here's how it moves. Somebody, uh, country falls in love with a guy on the road beating the defending champions. Tony, do you feel alone with this? Because I really do wonder how Amin watched that game when he's saying that OKC is going to win the series very easily. I think the Thunder are going to destroy them. I'm wondering if at the end he's looking to sneak out with an overtime victory so he can say he just wasn't spectacularly, spectacularly wrong. But instead, Wemby wins the trophy, and it felt like for one of the few times in my lifetime, America's rooting for the Giant. And I thought it was weird.

Did you feel alone with that, Tony, that you're pulling the other side of the rope where you're saying, no, I don't want to like Wemby, he's about to win for the next 10 years?

Yeah, and I know Mike was here at this, you know, side of the mountain as well, and I don't know if he's still there now or if he's gone into the Wemby side. So I do feel incredibly alone because I'm looking around and I'm in my group chats and I'm like, guys, this is— I'm like Chicken Little, I'm like, the sky is falling, don't you guys You don't understand what's happening here. And everybody's like, no, this is awesome. Look how this— look all that. I'm like, no, you don't see the twinge of evil in his eye that I see.

I'm trying to help you. I'm— I totally understand where Tony is coming from. But for me, the greater evil that needed to be slayed was the style of play from Oklahoma City. And yeah, this might have happened a year early. And yes, we may be facing galactic fascism from here on out. I understand that Wemby was the underdog in this series and there was support for him because of the SGA style of play and all that. But how is it gonna look in the Finals? And I understand it's New York and people have their feelings, but you literally have a player who is a giant going up against a really small, lovable point guard for the New York Knicks. The way that that's going to look— here are these faces of the franchises. It's legit David versus Goliath.

But face of the league's over, right? Like, we had that nonsense conversation for several years. Is it Anthony Edwards? Ja Morant? Me? No, it's when Banyama comes.

But I'm saying it happened this weekend. Yeah. When you take it from the champs in their building and you make me pity Chet Holmgren because he has been born at the wrong time. If he'd been born 10 years earlier, this never would have happened to him. Maybe Shaq would have done it if it had been 20 years earlier.

Shaq would have used him as a toothpick.

No, not as a toothpick. He would have gotten— That's a funny visual. He would have gotten stuck in Shaq's ass crack. He would have used them as one of those—

go ahead, barbecue ribs.

The floss thing that you use, the floss stick. No, I felt bad for Chet Holmgren.

Did you? No, no. And I'll tell you why, Dan. Here's what— here's why I did not feel bad for him. What a pro wants. He was so dirty early in the series. He was trying to hurt Wembenyama early in the series. You had him stepping on his foot on the free throw line. You had him on his hands and knees when he was on the ground and then lunged into Wemba Nyama's legs to try and take him out. If you're going to be dirty to the point you have intent to injure, I'm glad what happened to Wemba— to Holmgren in Game 7 happened to him. He was as meek as it gets in that Game 7. Not only was he clearly scared of going up against Wemba Nyama in that Game 7, but he didn't even compete, Dan. Like, do the dirty things. He literally did nothing. He did nothing.

Okay, just so just to understand, to recap what your point just was, you got mad at him for doing the dirty things, and by the end you wanted him to do the dirty things to show you that he was capable of something. But I'm— what I'm going to tell you is, as this is the reason that I felt bad for Chet Holmgren, okay? I don't know what your greatest insecurity is. Maybe it's that you're a cuck. But if everyone knows what your greatest insecurity is and you're watching it and it's playing out, and my theory on what you're saying about how he played early in the series He's known since high school he doesn't have a chance against this person, and so he tries to injure him early because he doesn't have a chance against this person. He's running up against somebody who is better than him with his body and his skill set, and he knows it. And so that insecurity to me was on display for all of us there. That's not the player he is. His extension kicks in next year, 5 years, $250 million. That is not the player that he is, but against that guy and only that guy.

Because OKC this year was 71-14 against everybody else and 4-8 against the Spurs. That's crazy. And it's only because Wemby's there and they've got Chet Holmgren. And what happened in that series, you saw this. I don't know what De'Aaron Fox is going to give them against the Knicks. As soon as they brought in De'Aaron Fox, the Spurs stopped turning the ball over, and it didn't matter if De'Aaron Fox was missing 50 shots as long as they didn't turn the ball over. Because OKC DC can only do what they do on offense and not frustrate you with their style of play if they're in the open court and they're stealing the ball. And so they just bring back the broken remains of De'Aaron Fox. He doesn't turn the ball over, and that's all he's doing because he's giving them next to nothing being out there. And he's just not turning the ball over when Castle was turning it over 21 times in 2 games. And so as soon as that happened, the Thunder had no answers, like none. They just The moment that happened, the Thunder just started losing and losing and knowing they were losing.

And so it wasn't just Chet Holmgren who's saying, oh, we're gonna lose. It became all of them. If we can't turn the ball over, we're not going to score against this guy.

Yeah, Dan, and the crazy thing is that what the Spurs were doing was what OKC does great, which is, you know, steal, transition, basket. The Spurs were doing that to OKC, turning them over, getting easy buckets in transition, and the, the OKC Thunder had no explanation or no advantage at that point. It was like, all right, you've nullified what we do. Great. Now we've got nothing for you because our two best ball handlers outside of SGA are not in the game. And you got Chet, who's a department store mannequin.

No answer is the word you were looking for. No explanation. It was not. No answer. They had no answer.

Ah, man, come on. It's— what are you doing? Come on. What are you nitpicking over here? What are you doing?

That—

I'm the one— we're not gonna do that to you. Is it too early to zag? We're gonna have Amin on and we're gonna chew on this series. It was a great series. I was trying to help you. But I have a take.

How were you helping me there? How were you helping me? What do you mean?

I had something for you on the turnover thing.

You were just saying the same thing that I had just said.

No, you did not say the same thing I said. I said a different thing.

Here comes a zag. That was great for the Milwaukee Bucks. Wow. We don't have a lot of data points when it comes to Giannis v. Wemby. But I'm seeing this dude and I'm thinking of body types and it ain't Chet Holmgren that can potentially stop him.

Giannis is literally— it's Bam— the perfect player to stop him. I, I, I would—

you would think. Now we don't have enough evidence. We don't really know what Giannis will look like coming off of this injury. He is getting older.

I saw him running around playing soccer over the weekend. He looked great.

I mean, he's got the strength, the length that— I mean, if you're OKC, You got to be thinking, what is it going to take? Because now your whole prism is this is the guy that's built to stop us. And the rest of the league, Miami Heat included, got to be thinking like, well, how do we stop that guy?

The answer may be Giannis. That was my first thought, Dan, over the weekend was, oh, did, did the Giannis market just become a little bit more clouded for the Miami Heat? Because if Sam Presti and the Thunder want Giannis. Yep, he's theirs. Like, they can get him. They have all the draft capital that you want. You could trade them Holmgren. Heck, I don't know, maybe keep Holmgren, you trade Jalen Williams. I don't know. But if they want Giannis, you can get him.

Yeah, that's one of the things that happened, uh, on Saturday that has reverberations, because that's absolutely so. And when you say if they want Giannis, no, that's not an if anymore. The Thunder, in front of all of us, just fell behind the Spurs. Like, we, we all watched it happen. I know they're, they're a little bit injured. They can make the argument that they're a little bit injured, but this sport injures. And Wemby's not going to get worse from here. Like, Wemby's going to keep improving. And the problem with that is he makes your $250 million second player totally useless, and he makes your MVP skittish and inconsistent. Because what I just gave you in those numbers, the Thunder were 71-14 against everybody else. But against the Spurs, they were 4-8. They're behind the Spurs now. They came into their building and took the title from them. And when you ask, how do you stop Wemby? Well, oddly enough, Anunoby's the one who defends him best in the entire league. That kind of physicality. There's not anybody better who frustrates Wemby more. And I believe the Knicks have a legitimate chance, and that was the perfect result for the Knicks, because I think they would have had more trouble against OKC than they will against the Spurs.

I'm not willing to say that the Thunder are now behind the Spurs, because it's not a small thing that they went to 7 games while they didn't have their second-best player for 4 of them. And their second-best player in Jalen Williams, when he was out, they then had an emerging second-best player in AJ Mitchell who was also out, and they still went to 7 games.

But the, the De'Aaron Fox being out early in that series is what happened early in that series. Like, De'Aaron Fox was also hurt. If the Spurs don't turn the ball over, they don't lose to OKC. That's how that's going to play out. If the Spurs have somebody who doesn't turn the ball over, OKC is going to keep losing. Like, though, when I say to you that Wemby before this series pointed out, hey, we beat them 3 times when they had their full squad during the regular season, and the games weren't close The games weren't close. OKC looks bad against them. Unrecognizable. And so when— I understand why you would say, "Well, they haven't fallen behind the Spurs." The Spurs are the only team they've fallen behind because it's the only team that can make them look like that. There's no second team that makes them look anything like that. I did not recognize the defending champions at home. Didn't recognize them. For 2 years they haven't lost back-to-back games in the playoffs. They just did at home. The most important one. Why? Because there were no turnovers and Wemby plays for the other guys.

And the matchups are really bad for Oklahoma City, right? Like, you have tough defensive wings and Stephon Castle, who's 21 years old, who's gonna be a problem.

Dylan Harper is so good, by the way.

They're all gonna get better! They're also younger than the Thunder!

And cheaper. I, I, I think it would be— look, if I'm Oklahoma City, if I'm Sam Presti, I'm absolutely acquiring Giannis. He seems the perfect player to go up against Wembenyama. And I know we like to talk about, oh, dynasty, it's the beginning. We never know how long these things are going to last. In 2023, when the Nuggets won the championship, they're going to win several. In 2024, when the Celtics won, they're going to win several. In 2025, when the Thunder won, they're going to win several. No one even returns to the Finals after they win it. Okay, so like, I'm not sitting here ready to crown the Spurs, but it does feel very anti what Sam Presti does. Where he would have this emotional reaction. No Jalen Williams, and like, let's get super emotional and go ahead and trade the guy who we just signed for $240 million, whose money doesn't even kick in until next year, and we're gonna get rid of him.

Not only that, you're trying to get Giannis, who maybe he doesn't even fit with the pieces that you have in Oklahoma City currently, right? Like, he's a guy that wants to play with the ball in his hand, where you have the 2-time MVP who's not going to give the ball up out of his hand. So how do you play Giannis off ball?

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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That's pretty good! That's better!

You think I haven't been practicing?

Stugatz! I didn't realize we had a substitute complicated legacy German kid! Powerline Road, huh? 441 Powerline Road.

Second down and 9. This is the Dan Levatar Show with the Stugatz.

I understand why Heat fans would immediately go there because OKC has more to offer. Uh, Presti is a very smart general manager. I don't think any of what I'm saying is emotional. He's got a problem. It's 7-foot- 3 and is going to dominate the league if it's healthy for the next 10 years. You saw Nike was ready right after the game because now it begins. Okay, this is how it has to happen when you're talking about face of the league stuff. He goes into Madison Square Garden now to conquer the happiest New York there's been about basketball in as much time as any of us can remember. And Nike, who are— Nike always meets these moments. Nike is ready as soon as that game I don't think this ad is running if they don't win Game 7. Here's an ad that Nike runs on behalf of Wemba Nyama. Just— yeah, he's a— he's like a spaceship extraterrestrial.

He has arrived at the end too. Wow. That's good. I hate it. That's good. I love him so much. I'm so excited about this. Good. It's so cool to have a star like Wemby who just cares, like the emotion that he's willing to show. And it's not that these other players don't care. All of these guys care to be at that level of craft, but to, to, to be there and, and be willing to show the emotion. He talked about earlier in the year he's not willing to wear the burden of hiding his emotions. And to have that happen at the end of that game as this extraterrestrial, it, it's a special time to watch the sport.

You saw the advantages of being really tall when you want to celebrate with your teammates.

That guy could see everyone on the court. Like, okay, here, like, I feel like, you know, if you're 5'3", there you're like, if you're Brunson, where are my teammates? And then Wemby was just like, I'd like to go to Castle now. I'd like to go to you now. He was just—

it was so cool to see him just be able to get to every teammate. The better story— and I know you guys are going to accuse me of being a Knicks fan again— the better story for the league, I believe, is New York winning and Wemby having to wait another year. I believe that's the better story.

It's the opposite. I think, I think going into every year, is this the year that New York finally wins? Is the story.

New York's not going to win for 10 straight years, as— and I know you just got done saying every year we think the team that wins is going to win again. There is a new, there's a new predictive model now in the NBA where the thing has changed. 7 or 8 straight different champions is crazy. The 3-pointer has— the 3-pointer and the injuries have sort of changed how easy it is to predict what it is that we're watching. But I, I keep vacillating between is he going to save the sport or is he going to ruin it? I really don't know the answer to that. I know we threw it out as a, as a poll question, but if, if Wemby is going to get better, and if— I'm going to say this again, That team is really young. They have no experience. It's all on the bench. It's all Harrison Barnes and Biyombo. There hasn't been a team this inexperienced in the Finals since 1977. Like, they don't— they're not supposed to be here, and they're here because they've got the 7'3" guy. And since when is the 7'3" guy the lovable underdog that everyone roots for?

Can you guys give me all the examples you have of that? Because Shaq had to wait a long time before winning, and I don't remember anyone rooting Shaq to win.

I mean, were we— Shaq was in the Finals in his third year also. Were we rooting for Shaq like this?

I don't remember people rooting for Shaquille O'Neal outside of the region, or the, you know, he was rooted for in Miami and Orlando and LA. But I, I don't remember the nation saying to itself, wow, I really hope Shaq wins the title. Uh, Shaq was viewed as an underachiever. Did Shaq— Shaq didn't win until he was like 30, right? Did Shaq— it took Shaq a long time. Yeah. He's the most dominant basketball player there's ever been in terms of dominance. And it took him— it didn't happen in his third year. And still people didn't really love Shaq because nobody loves Goliath. That's not how that works.

It was his eighth year. He was 28 years old. Shaq, eighth year, took him to win. I mean, look, Wilt was dominant. He only won twice.

You know, I view this more like how we watched LeBron ascend. Like when LeBron first came into the league, there was all of this promise. There was this hype that we saw as he entered with, who is this going to be? He's the chosen one, according to Sports Illustrated. We saw similar hype with Wemby of who is this freak from a foreign land coming over here to be the number one pick and save the Spurs franchise? And when you see talent and expectation met this early in a career, that's why you find people rooting for him. He's a likable guy. He's an excellent competitor. He shows emotion. It, it reminds me of the beginning of LeBron.

Yeah, but the beginning of LeBron was a runway that we saw the suffering, right? Like, he got drafted in 2003, didn't make the finals till 2007. That's 4 years he didn't win. He got smoked. And then it took them fighting the, the Detroit Pistons, fighting the Boston Celtics, him going to Miami, then finally doing— you're talking about almost 10 years of struggle, right? Where Wemby's just like, third year, I'm here, I'm better than everybody, and good luck with the league.

Yeah, it was LeBron's ninth year that they won the championship.

Yeah, but we haven't seen Wemby win it yet. This is the beginning. They're both 22 years old when they get there.

Jeremy, can you look up for me please some of what Wemby did against the Knicks this year? Because I think people are sleeping on the Knicks against the Spurs because of how well the Spurs match up with the Thunder, but less well with the Knicks because Wemby wasn't quite, uh, what you're used to seeing when they were playing the Knicks, at least in part because Anunoby was a, was a legitimate, a legitimate problem. I'm gonna say this again though, has it all changed now in basketball that you don't need to be experienced in the playoffs? Like, it, that it doesn't matter?

You've got, if you have a 7-foot-3 guy that's, you know, a demigod, perhaps because this can still be exposed.

Like, an absence of playoff experience would reveal itself in Madison Square Garden in a Finals game. Like, that's where something like that could be present if all your players are 21 and 22 years old.

I, I know that they are not directly matched up, but Brunson can cause a lot of problems by getting inside. And for me, it's the shots that he's not going to take in this series. Does he avoid Wemby's, you know, reach, his presence because we've seen that, we've seen that iconic photo now and it's only aging better of Steph Curry shooting over Wembenyama. Brunson's got range. Brunson's smaller than Steph Curry and he isn't exactly Steph Curry. No one is. You got it right though.

The way that they can beat the Spurs is the way that they beat the Sixers. They make 18 threes and a half and it's not Brunson that has to make them because he's just collapsing your defense again and again and again and your three-point shooters are open. They can beat anybody that way. That's But they can play that style against anybody, and if they hit 18 3-pointers in the first half, they're gonna blow anybody out.

In the regular season loss to New York, Wemba Nyama had 25 points and 13 rebounds. In the regular season win against New York, Wemba Nyama had 31 points and 13 rebounds. And I would tell you what happened in the play-in, uh, in the, in the in-season championship game, except the NBA treats it like the game didn't exist. It doesn't count. So there's no box score for him.

No, it's a different campaign. The dropdown bar, NBA Emirates Cup, try that. He had 18 and 6 off the bench because he was coming off injury. That's a big bit of context right there. Wasn't healthy, but to everybody's point, we did see these two teams play for a trophy.

Is everyone here except for Tony rooting for Wemby? Is that what's happening around here? Is what—

Yeah, you have to. It's the Knicks. I think we're already there. This is what I was fearing initially when he got drafted. It's like, well, this guy's gonna be really difficult to beat. He's gonna be balling. Boss in this league. Let— we're— he's in already in the NBA Finals. Let's, let's be there. Let's get started on that storyline so then we can all unite in how the hell do we topple this guy.

Want to read you guys a couple of quotes here. Jalen Williams says, quote, I think we could have won if I played. Um, yeah, yeah, why wouldn't he say that? And this is what Wemby said, uh, I want to win so bad it's like my life depends on it. Winning the Larry O'Brien, it's a childhood dream. It's almost like 'Like the meaning of my life.' Who says that?

Someone who has been sent here by aliens with that mission.

Do you think they could have won if Holmgren played?

He took 2 shots in Game 7. What do you have, 4 rebounds? Yep. 2 shots, 4 rebounds.

He attempted 4— 3 3-pointers in the final 4 games of the series, including none in Game 7. What are you doing? Like, he's not even competing, Dan.

Well, you say he's not competing, and what I would tell you is the reason that I, I so rarely feel this— I can be an empath about a million different things, but I so I rarely feel pity for someone just while they're playing, and I'm telling you that what I felt was, oh look, everyone can see that Chet is scared and he knows it. Everyone can see, not just on both teams, everyone watching on television can see that Chet Holmgren is scared of this game and this person, and we're all watching him be scared, and he knows that we know that he's scared because everything's going wrong for him.

Maybe he needs to go visit the monks or do whatever it is that Wemby did and try to channel his inner Wemby, but what he did is got punked the entire series.

Like, you— Punked! You can't be scared though. Exactly right. You can't be scared. We weren't watching San Antonio against Portland in the first round saying, "Oh, they're scared," or San Antonio against Minnesota, "Oh, they're scared." Chet Holmgren on the defending champs?

He's scared! Alright, so you're saying you can't be scared, but would all of you acknowledge— would all of— am I getting all yes votes to this question? Question: Chet Holmgren played a Game 7 of basketball at the highest professional level scared. Yes or no? Yes. Yes, 100%. That dates back to high school. That guy's been getting his eaten— his lunch eaten by Wemby since they started playing together for the first time. Do you know how— do you know what a big thing it is when greatness announces itself yourself by taking an ancillary character like Chet Holmgren at the start of this decade and just blowing him right off the page. You will never be a superstar. You will never be the person that is needed to be giant in these moments. You're not going to grow into this. The player we have seen up to now, this is the player you are. And when you run into Wemby, you're going to be scared for the rest of your life, because we saw at the very beginning of your career how scared you were.

Eddie George was a terrific NFL player, and when I think of Eddie George, I think of Ray Lewis.

There aren't a lot of examples like that. It's such a good one. It's— it— that is such a good one, because if you do word association with me on Eddie George, it's practically that right away. Ray Lewis. That we watched somebody on a field get hit so many times, somebody who looked like Eddie George, so many times, so violently, that we were like, oh, he stole his soul.

Yeah, it's not my favorite rejoin. Context needs to be applied. I was going for a joke and— I thought the context was applied. We, uh, we'd like to rip that out of context. I was going for a thing. And you're gonna—

I have a family. You're gonna pretend here that you don't love Matthew Tkachuk more than you love anybody you've ever loved?

I don't love Matthew Tkachuk more than my daughter. Stugatz! No, it's pretty damn close.

This is the Dan Levatar Show with the Stugatz!

Give me all the examples you have of that where you have felt— this is one, this is absolutely one, because it's what I felt watching it. Give me all the examples that you have of players that you just associate— I'm not talking about the James Harden stuff, I'm talking about players who you associate with— they look across at another player and they're scared of that player.

Matthew Kachuk and Evander Kane took his soul twice.

How'd you guys feel about Vegas and Carolina for the Cup?

Oh, this is terrible, Dan. I mean, who do I even root for here? I guess the answer is Vegas, but I wanted the vengeance against VGK, and I just hate that this all worked out for Carolina. I hate it. I hate it. Didn't do anything. Barkov did something. He stepped on the ice and tore his ACL. By the way, I don't know if you saw Sasha Barkov at the World Championship. Oh yeah, the champion. But borrowed time for whoever lifts this cup with a big-ass asterisk on top of it because counting down already. Yep. All right, I am counting it down already. This Carolina thing is just, it's such a bummer. I mean, every time they go up against the Panthers in the playoffs It is not close, despite Rob Brendemore saying that wasn't really a sweep. Like, this team gets dominated by the Florida Panthers, and they just had to go through the Senators, they had to go through the Flyers, and Montreal's alright. That's the best team that they face in the playoffs, but that's the 8, the 7, and the 4 seed. What a chump path this team took.

That's how the Knicks basically got to the Finals. Barkov, Barkov win the championship this year if he's healthy. If— is he saying the same thing that Jalen Williams is saying?

Doesn't have to. We all know. No, doesn't have to. When you're the best, you don't, you don't have to tell everybody you're the best.

So the Florida Panthers have to watch Vegas and Carolina in the finals, and I think obviously this is not something that's going to interest America a whole lot, this particular final. But also, I know it's going to sound like sour grapes or bias or homerism, but do I have it wrong when I say that the path that the Panthers took the last 2 years over great teams felt like it was a lot lot harder than what just ended up in the finals? Of course.

Yes, Dan, I have banners in my office, in my home office, that show like the path, and I was just marveling.

Tampa, Toronto, Carolina last year, right?

Yeah, the first one we had to go through Tampa, Boston, New York, and Edmonton. It's just insane. Any single one of those teams on that path is better than both this Carolina Hurricanes team and any team that they've played played or encountered along the way. We're the best.

It's a crazy thing to say though, is it not? So I have it, I have it right, Roy, when I say that on merit, if you're just simply someone who loves hockey, you're looking at this final and you're saying to yourself, meh, like how you got there, meh.

Man, I missed them Panthers.

I mean, it seems like they're gonna end up going 7 in this series. I got caught in between playoffs and Panthers. Yeah, I don't share that thought, whatever that was from Chris, but the hockey world is saying, man, I miss the Panthers. There, nailed it. Hey, we are absolute homers and this is total sour grapes and we sound to the rest of the hockey world probably ignorant, but no one took it from us. No one took it from us.

Do you sound ignorant though? Because I'm asking the question from ignorance. Okay. I, uh, I saw the playoff teams and the conferences that the Panthers were climbing over the last 2 years, and I'm like, good God, this is grueling. But also the series before, like the years before that, I was looking at the hockey playoffs and I'm saying, good God, this is grueling, what they— what every champion has to get over. But I don't feel that way with these 2 teams, like either one of them, even though I should probably feel that way at least in part for Vegas because because it's kind of stunning what Vegas is doing.

Yeah, exactly. They swept the Presidents Trophy-winning Colorado Avalanche. They swept them, embarrassed them.

Panthers won more games than Vegas. That's not the Stanley Cup champion, the team that's in the playoffs this year, Panthers.

It just feels different too because you haven't had these grueling series. I would say that this is one of the rare occasions the NBA playoffs have been more dramatic than the NHL playoffs.

Oh, but that's That's my point. And the NBA playoffs haven't been dramatic. Like, that is my exact point, is like, it feels like not just the last 2 years— don't make it the homerism of the Panthers— the last 10 years of hockey, I feel like the champion, I'm always watching, I'm like, good God, the hockey playoffs are hard and impossible. And look at all these good teams, and I think 7 teams can win. Last year I felt like 10 teams could win.

I just want to point out that Montreal did have 2 7-game series in this playoffs. So if they have gotten past Carolina, that would seem pretty grueling as well. And the Tampa series, the Tampa-Montréal series was alright, but in hockey, you know, you can get to double digits on the incredible series that you see, and Montréal seemed to be the only team playing interesting ones.

I don't necessarily agree with you on the, the NBA playoffs storylines, what have you, has been better than the NHL. Like, I feel like if there's a little bit of recency bias there because the first couple rounds of both playoffs, the NHL was, uh, far superior. The NHL Conference Finals were terrible, and at least one of the NBA Conference Finals, you had the good storylines. Like, overall, the Stanley Cup playoffs have been better.

Sure, I guess, if you tell me, because I haven't really noticed, right? Like, they haven't broken through. Like, Wemby has broken through for people that don't watch basketball. People are like, oh my God, what's happening there? Oh, New York is really excited, I see it on social media. Like, I had to be told who was in the Stanley Cup Final because I didn't really know.

Like, it hasn't broken Let's get back to what it is that I was asking you guys, though. What is the better story for the league and for America? New York winning or San— or Wembley winning? Because it's not even San Antonio. We— so what you have in Wembley is not only the Giants, you also have the franchise, though it hadn't won a playoff game since 2017 before this year. You have a franchise that has done a whole lot of winning over the last 25 years. So if you're rooting for Wembley, You're also looking for the Spurs to have a corner on the market that New York never gets one and the Spurs get all of them. It's not just that Brunson is the small player going against the giant. It's also that the New York market, while it's large against the smaller market San Antonio, that's the underdog franchise. That's the laughingstock for 25 years. Which do you think America is rooting for, Zazz? Not you, not this room. What do you think America is rooting for? Is it Wemby? Is Tony alone everywhere where all of America is saying, yes, Wemby, please, you've got to slay New York?

I think he's very likable. I think you're pretty much on your own there, Tony. I think almost everyone outside of New York is rooting for the Spurs. Yes. Oh, look who's here.

Michelle Beatle, our favorite Spurs correspondent. I'm sure that she will be just sunshine and easy to listen to. So happy. Hello, Michelle. What's up? It's nice to see you. Anything happen this weekend that you enjoyed?

Yes, for a split second, the entire world was at peace. It felt like joy was being felt by all. And you are right, everybody in the entire world has jumped on the Spurs bandwagon. I am in Los Angeles where Lakers fans are stopping me in the street and telling me, we're rooting for you guys. That's never happened for as long as I've been alive. So this is a glorious time to be. I'm happy that everyone's joining in on the dynasty that is about to be a very much 4 or 5 year run of these bad boys. So you're welcome, NBA and the world. Joy once upon is on us all. Are you guys stoked? Look at that. Look at that.

God, I love them. So you felt like democracy was secured by Wemby. Any, any, any divisions in America, there was balm for them on Saturday.

Fixed it. He fixed racism. He fixed hatred. The divisiveness is— look at this. This picture alone should win all the prizes.

Nobel, name it. David fixed racism 6 years ago. Also French. Shout out to his family.

Tony, uh, do you have anything for Michelle here?

Tony, it sounds like propaganda is what it sounds like. It sounds like the Galactic Federation is sending down one of their own to tell me how great everything's going to be over the next 10 years where the Spurs win everything. No, I'm going to be batting down the hatches and making sure that the rest of the NBA can, can, can go forward into the future. Non-galactic fascism.

I'm going to tell you this. I'll tell you this, the rest of the NBA is going to cower like Chet Holmgren did in this series. Absolute fear of another man. It was an embarrassment to basketball. Honestly, Chet Holmgren should have a job overseas next season as far as I'm concerned. And that is how the rest of the league is going to look because Wemby is only going to get better, people. We got dogs.

Don't threaten us. Don't threaten us. What was threatening?

Michelle, do you think that Dan is the only person who felt bad for Chet Holmgren?

How could you feel bad for Chet Holmgren? Like, how? I despise the idea of feeling bad for Chet Holmgren. You took 2 shots in a Game 7 in which the number 2 dude was in street clothes. Look, I mean, he— I don't know that I've ever been afraid of another person, but now I know what it looks like, and I don't want any part of that.

That was— You answered your own question, though.

That's why I felt bad for him, because he was scared, and he knew that we knew that he was scared, and Wemby knew. And the Spurs knew, and he's playing. He's like, Beetle knows, she, she can see I'm scared. I don't want to take this shot. Everyone can see I'm scared.

It's like, why would I even bother? You know what, go down in flames, man. Go take ugly shots. Take all the shots. Take 20 ugly shots and you wouldn't be hearing it as badly as you are this morning. And it ain't going anywhere. And the problem is, is like, we, you know, we see Wemby do what he does in the offseason. Chet can't even do that now. Like, Chet can't go work out with monks because we'll just make fun of that as well. Like, he is in a bad—

the monks are off limits.

The monks are not gonna work with Chet. Let's keep it real. The monks have chosen the right side. We know.

Put it on the poll at @LebatardShow. Will the monks allow Chet to work with them?

What if we go Catholic monks? We leave the other monks somewhere else.

We go with Catholic monks. You know about them Catholic monks?

We just hacked her. She's gonna be laughing. Listen to that laugh. You're gonna be hearing it for the next 10 years. Thank you, Michelle. Nice seeing you. Thanks, guys.