Transcript of World Cup Reaction: Spain Takes Down France | Local Hour

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Ach ja. Tony is here, and that's, uh, exciting because we can, uh, talk to him about his domination of heat camp yesterday. Uh, Roy, did, uh, Zaslo sort of snorting—

Did someone tell me?

Did, did Zaslo snorting in snot end up on air as they were? I thought you say, did someone tell you? But I heard 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and then the sound of you snorting in.

Okay, I'm glad you mentioned that because I've had my— I've been sitting here with my had headphones on, and for some reason the volume was completely turned down. How am I supposed to know?

Well, you can ask, you can test your—

Can ask what? Roy says 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, I'm expecting to hear that, but I didn't hear anything because my volume was turned all the way down, and then I'm an asshole because I sniffed really aggressively right into the mic.

Unprofessional. Yeah.

Yeah.

So Tony is here fresh off his domination of heat camp, and I was expecting to see him. The one I wasn't expecting to see was Greg Cody. I thought you were doing penalty kicks today. Why are you here?

Uh, there was a snafu involved. Uh, I had to, uh, I had to insist that it be postponed or canceled. It just wasn't being presented in the way that I expected. Uh, it was not a regulation-sized goal they were planning to use. It was the kind of goal my great wonderful granddaughter would use in her 8-year-old league, and, uh, that's just unacceptable. And the other thing is Catch this, no goalkeeper. So I'm kicking penalty kicks against a cardboard cutout or against the Invisible Man. It's like going to a darts tournament and they get everything but the dartboards. So through no one's fault, I'm not blaming anybody, but we just couldn't go on with the show.

I'm proud of Greg because he's a sportsman and he doesn't want to be patronized out there. We promised he'd go up against a goalkeeper of a certain level of skill.

Yes. College, college keeper.

And you give him a little kiddie net and no goalkeeper. Are you kidding me? Yeah, that's a waste of the man's time.

Insulting, quite frankly.

All right. So it's been postponed. We've only had, I'm going to say, 15 years to prepare for a goalkeeping challenge between Stugatz, still owes one of those, and Greg.

And he's getting around to it.

And we have yet been able to execute a single one. I actually texted I texted him this morning asking him where he was, Stugatz, on the goalkeeping challenge that he owes us. That was this morning. I sent that text asking him, let's, let's try and get that done soon, shall we? Because there— what are the things that Stugatz owes in terms of payments? Because he owes the— he owes about 50 shows, the freestyle, the freestyle rap that he's supposed to do on the stage of the Clevelanders. And, and this goalkeeping challenge, it shouldn't be this hard to do a goalkeeping challenge. I don't think you're going to— I saw Greg. Show the audience today the one example that we have of you trying. And the reason we went no goalkeepers, because of the one attempt you took was so bad that a goalkeeper would not have been required. You would have been 0 for 1 if no one had been in the net at all. And if the net had been twice as long, you would have been 0 for 1.

Everybody makes a bad shot once in a while, even the greats. You think Lionel Messi makes every penalty kick. We've seen otherwise just in this World Cup. You do not— that I'm comparing myself.

You did just compare. You did just— that is exactly what you just did. You, you, you brought up the comparison to say, not that I'm comparing myself to him.

You know what? This is a lesson for me to never assume anything, because I might have assumed that a necessary, a prerequisite of a penalty kick challenge would have been a goalkeeper in the net. I assumed that. I was totally wrong.

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I will begin today's proceedings by reminding you that the President of the United States paid more than $5 million yesterday to another one of his rape Victims. Let's move on. France and Spain yesterday. Watching France not be able to get a shot on goal until the 82nd minute was totally crazy after seeing the tournament. And what we got from Zazz last week when he was legitimately surprised that Spain had not allowed a goal in the entire tournament and that their streak of smothering people goes back to the last World Cup. Reminds us yet again we do not talk nearly enough about defense in sports, period. We fall in love with offense, and last night's baseball All-Star Game reminds you yet again of the importance of just being able to prevent people who are very good at offense from doing anything. I don't think anybody watches an All-Star Game of any kind to watch their favorite players swing and miss all the time, but the pitchers have gotten too good and the evolution of the sport is such that I don't even understand what I'm watching when a dude's throwing 105 an hour as a starting pitcher.

Like, that's not, that's not something I've ever seen before. But let's talk for a second about what happened to France yesterday, because what happened to them was Spain. What— and, and it's just crazy to me that immediately after the game, Mbappé starts complaining about what their strategy was. But of course he is. Who do you think is going to get blamed for France not getting a shot until the 82nd minute? Like, and so When, when you talk about the idea of in sports, we don't point fingers, we are accountable. I don't think that's human nature. I think you're teaching something in sports that runs contrary to human nature, that it is the most normal thing in the world that if Mbappé is expected to be great on the world stage and they don't get a shot until the 82nd minute, he's going to find a reason for that. That's not him, right?

Yeah. This was the most free-flowing, exciting offense in the World Cup for me. France was. And they were constipated by Spain's defense emanating from, from the midfield.

Spain was Imodium? Is Imodium the constipator? Imodium constipates, right?

It stops you from having diarrhea, which is important now in this day and age.

I take Imodium.

Okay, alright, there you go. Yeah, I've used Imodium, that's good.

Put it on the poll.

Put it on the poll @LebatardShow. Do you use Imodium often? And also put it on the poll, was Spain Imodium to France?

Yeah, I use it recreationally. I just enjoy the flavor. The 5 seconds that expressed France's frustration was very late in the game, around the 87th minute, when Mbappé got a yellow card for mugging the other goalkeeper. And that told you all you needed to know about the frustration level of Mbappé. Spain was brilliant. You know, it's easy to say, oh, France just— France was a no-show. They disappeared. Spain did that.

How?

Okay, so I'm watching the whole game on mute yesterday because I was on ESPN yesterday afternoon. But I'm wondering, like, how, how much of a game changer was the penalty in the first half? Because with Spain only allowing one goal the entire World Cup, it's like, man, they're up 1-0 now in what, the 23rd minute or something like that? Seemed enormous. And again, I'm watching without sound on. And it seemed like a— it's like a questionable penalty to me. Like, Jamal is able to just get in the way of a player who's trying to make a play on the ball, and if you get kicked, it's a penalty.

That's not questionable, but it wouldn't have changed the game at all. I'm going to say it again, France didn't get a shot on goal until the 82nd minute. Like, there was— France did nothing in that game.

The only way it changed the game was Spain got their goal earlier. Yeah, but Spain was kicking their ass.

Yeah.

And Mbappé, obviously, from being you know, one of the greatest, if not the single greatest attacking threat ever in the history of the, the Men's World Cup. He's going to get all the attention, and because of his reputation, his quotes are going to be totally magnified because he's been, you know, perceived as a problem in places that he goes. He leaves PSG and all of a sudden PSG goes on their incredible run. It's not really going great for him at Real Madrid despite his international resume, but that midfield dominated France. Olisey had 5 assists in this tournament. Olisey is dynamite in the midfield. They choked that midfield out. So you didn't— you saw there was a couple of instances where there were passing lanes and the Spanish team defensively is so incredible. Guys, the best young player in this tournament belongs to Spain. He's 19 years old and it's not Lamine Yamal. Like, are you kidding me? Pau Cabaresi is arguably the best center back on the planet at 19 years old. They have been nemesis for a while now. Crazy that that was only Spain's second semifinal in history, but they beat them in the Nations League.

They went up 4-0 against France in the Nations League.

They're only— so the year they won the World Cup is the other time that it's happened.

That's it.

Yeah.

So these are the only two times they've ever advanced this far.

Correct.

Correct.

And they're this marquee brand, but their first ever World Cup was in the 2010s with Iniesta's winner against the Netherlands. That was a thorough ass kicking. I was shocked to the level that it, that it happened. I thought that would be a tighter game. I knew it would be difficult for France to pop off the way that they normally do. But France has shown you when they get into rock fights, they find a way. There's an individual moment of brilliance. They got choked out, dude. Cucurella was amazing, Pau was amazing, and Lamine Yamal absolutely destroyed Digne that entire match. And if you'd like to get into why that is a pen and why Digne probably should never appear for France ever again after what Lamine Yamal did to him— I felt bad for him.

Disrespect. I felt bad for him.

Demonstrating that this was no fluke, that Spain's the real deal, Spain is immediately a big favorite in the championship match, no matter against who. Last time I saw DraftKings, Spain was like -155.

Yeah, but they're -156 right now because they are slotted in the final, and we have pretty much a toss-up match between England and Argentina, which is why they are favored. It's going to be a lot tighter no matter who they play, but I agree, given what we've seen this entire tournament, they should be faves.

Spain will absolutely be favored. I have no question about that.

What are you guys rooting for? Do you guys want the Spanish versus the English, uh, or do you guys want Argentina because of Messi?

I think I want England because we saw Messi so recently, and England with a chance— they're these huge chokers all these years— England with the chance, just the chance to win the World Cup seems like a massive story.

I just don't love the slowest team in the tournament trying to score goals against Spain, even if they have Messi. If Argentina—

like, it doesn't seem like 3 o'clock in the afternoon that, that that could be a tougher watch. I think with you, Dan, I think England probably offers up the more compelling, fun-to-watch type of matchup between two sides. Argentina-Spain has potential to be really tough at 3 o'clock in the afternoon in New Jersey.

I think if I'm trying to look at it neutrally, and I am an admirer of Messi's, there's no question about that. If I'm looking at it neutrally, the best story versus Spain is the country that invented modern football and hasn't won in 60 years. That's the best story for me. That's what I'd like to write if I'm covering it.

I think that Spain was slept on at least a little bit in this tournament because of how they began the tournament.

Dude, Cabo Verde might be a top 10 team in the nation, in the world.

They're awesome, clearly.

Yeah, they're very clearly awesome. No one was able to beat them in regulation. Spain, Cabo Verde drew, and we thought that that was one of the greatest results in the history the World Cup.

1-0.

Yeah.

Yeah.

The only game Spain didn't win.

We thought it was fluky. And then Cabo Verde does what it does the rest of the tournament, goes toe to toe with the world champs. It's— Cabo Verde have an argument to be inside the top 10. That's crazy.

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Down, Levitar!

God, I would love to see that interaction. Lord, let there be a day.

Hey, Oprah!

Let there be a day. Oh, The Color Purple!

You like these glasses?

She would see these glasses, she'd be like, this is someone I'll take a picture with, he looks sophisticated.

I love big game, not a big game.

Jonathan Sasselow.

She would say that to me instead of me having to go up to her and say I'm a big fan. She'd be like, I love big deal, not a big deal.

Huge fan of your work.

You're a one-time or two-time championship broadcaster?

Two, Oprah, two.

You think Oprah would say like, "Hey, know about that book club?" Well, and I would say, "Yes, I do, Oprah.

Yes, I do." Have you seen Weapons?

But the kids!

This is the Dan Levatar Show.

Dan, it's Neil.

Neil.

My bad. Thank you for your expertise. The Cody family has been covering soccer for more than half a century in this town. And Chris Cody, has learned from his father how to correct novices. But let's, let's correct Zazz here when he's talking about the, the penalty kick early in the game. So you're basically right on the outs— you're right on the edge of the penalty box. And I was thinking about this as it happened, and I don't want to be, you know, Johnny Newcomer who comes over here and changes the sport, but soccer is our lowest-scoring sport by a lot. So the goal is worth more by a lot than any other kind of scoring, any anywhere else that they're playing games. So the penalty kick, you know how we complain all the time, you see all in American football, you see all the time everyone's dying, scratching, you know, bleeding about guard every blade of grass, and then a quarterback just lobs up a 50-yard pass and there's contact down the field and you're giving someone half a field, and we're like, that pass interference call, that's too punitive. The penalty kick, if we were doing it in American football terms, what's it worth?

What is a goal worth in soccer? Is it 2 touchdowns in there?

I think that's fair, 2 touchdowns.

So if a goal is worth 2 or 3 touchdowns, they miss half the penalty kicks in the World Cup. But let's say the goal is worth 2 touchdowns, then the penalty kick is worth what? Because it seems to me that while I understand the premise, obviously all the games would be nil-nil if you allowed all sorts of contact in the box. Many goals are scored because everyone knows how careful they have to be because of how punitive that is. But that placement of that particular penalty, Mike, even though to me and to the announcers and everybody, it was an obvious by-the-rules penalty. The place that it was, there has to be some sort of degrees there in the World Cup because it's right on— not on the line of the rules, but right on the line of the penalty box. And what you're awarding there is essentially 2 American football touchdowns.

But the officials in, in certainly World Cup soccer, high levels of, of club soccer, they are discerning. That's a foul any place on the pitch, right? But oftentimes, as we've seen numerous times in this World Cup, if it happens in the box, sometimes the whistle is harder to draw. There is no easier foul to call in that sport when a player leaves his leg exposed. And what happened there is akin to Dwyane Wade having a pump fake and getting an exposed defender in the air and leaning in because his talent was able to do that. Digne made that happen with his misplay. He absolutely messed that clearance up. He did not account, as was the story for the rest of the match by the way, for Lamine Yamal's pace, for his effort. Lamine Yamal sees Digne absolutely mess that ball up, charges in. He has his leg exposed. Lamine Yamal has every right to that ball. The exposed leg is blocking his path. Yes, is it a heady play by Lamine Yamal? Could he avoid him and go around him? That's not the quickest path to the ball. This guy made the mistake. That is a great job by Lamine Yamal.

It is an easy penalty to call.

Okay, so I'm not disputing it, I just needed it explained to me. But when I first saw it and I'm watching the replay and they're debating whether or not they're going to actually give a penalty here, to me it didn't look like Lamine Yamal was making a play on the ball. It looked like he was making a play on the leg.

That's a skill. But that's a skill.

Like, yeah, but he identifies that. He identifies that. Yes. Was he trying to get the ball? No. His job is to make the optics look like he's trying to get to the ball.

And that's worth a penalty?

He's trying to get to the leg.

Like, I understand it's worth a foul. Yes, but we're in the box.

It's equal parts Lamine Yamal's athleticism, awareness. Lamine Yamal is dynamite. 19 years old. And he's talked about as a future. We've already seen him in Euro. He's already the number 10 for Barcelona. A 19-year-old. As a top 5 player on the planet is crazy. But also, Digne, he messed that up. That happens. Digne, to me, is not a world-class back to be playing on the French national team. It was always one of their weak spots, and Lamine Yamal knew that. And I thought Spain and their manager absolutely ate up France.

So how is this going to be covered worldwide? Because I do believe that Spain happened to France. But this is fairly stunning to me. When you look at the, the metrics on this, France hasn't played that bad a game in terms of expected goal rate since 1966. Like, that's, that's half a century. What was clearly the best team in the tournament going into that game played its worst game in half a century in terms of— they had no chances to score. They Mbappé is the best there's ever been at scoring goals in this tournament. And there was no— there was nothing in that game for him. So when you do the first takeization of how this stuff is covered, is this going to be something where Spain gets the credit or because of how France lost, people are going to say that's a no-show performance by France?

Yeah, I think France is going to get too much criticism because of that. People are going to be unwilling to credit Spain with how they dominated that game defensively. And, and, you know, we should, we should be talking about France as a, as a, as a dynasty right now. They won the World Cup in '18. They barely lost in the final in '22. They were the favorite to win in '26. It's a monumental disappointment in France right now. I mean, there's just no excuse.

I just don't think that anybody other than the people who are in the weeds on soccer is talking about defensive midfield play. Like, when you can celebrate all stars in this tournament.

It takes a while. It took me a long time to kind of identify that because it's hard to pick up on television. It was only until Chelsea got N'Golo Kanté, who for my money, at least for my generation, is the single greatest defensive midfielder ever, that you see what a defensive mid that is stout does to a match. And it's hard to tell when passes are not being played. Sure, everyone can identify a tackle, everyone can identify a deflection,. But it's the passes they do not play. It's completely neutering and choking out that midfield that makes plenty of aggressive lead passes. The fact that they're not being played shows you what Rodri, who I thought got off to a bad start in this tournament, and Fabián Ruiz, who at one point got benched— Fabián Ruiz is undefeated in a Spanish national team shirt, and he is not one of the headline stars. He plays for PSG, but he— I believe he's 48-0. It wearing that national team shirt, there are players that aren't necessarily getting the headlines that are huge in terms of getting as big as getting that result as Lamine Yamal is.

I don't mean to nitpick, but I could argue that golf is the lowest-scoring game. Rory won the Masters at -12.

Put it on the poll at @LevittardShow. Lower-scoring game, soccer or golf? To Mike's point of—

that makes no sense what he just said.

Well, he just did -12.

Negative points.

No, that makes all the sense.

You know how negatives work to us?

No, but that's—

Less than zero.

That's— his score was 70-something.

He made a solid point.

No, it's a terrible point. What was his score for the round?

You're an idiot.

-4.

Did Mike make a terrible point when he said Rodri started the tournament slow, even though since 1966 no player has completed more passes in a World Cup?

Yeah, I thought he was bad to start this tournament. There were times I'm like, man, he's gotten old.

Midfield.

And part of that was I didn't realize how good Cabo Verde was. But Rodri over these last few matches has certainly found his form. That midfield is incredible. And it's not something that your eyes are drawn to. But that was— I was stunned to the extent because France has so many attacking weapons. It's as loaded a team on the international level as I can remember, probably since France at the, at the turn of the century and they just got choked out. And this is a, this is a trend. Spain has their number. And with two 19-year-olds, Spain's here for a while, dude.

To that point, Lamine Yamal, to the point he just made, and against Mbappé in elimination games, 6-0. He's 19.

I mean, it's going to be a great rivalry in La Liga.

There was one, there was one play and they're showing the replay and it's, and it's Jamal, Lamine Jamal and Mbappé are just running stride for stride chasing the ball.

Yeah, goosebumps.

And it's like, he's 19 and he's like being super physical.

He should have been carded.

With Mbappé.

That tackle from the back was pretty dirty.

Yeah, it should have been a yellow, easy.

The term nitpicking originates from the literal painstaking process of removing nits or head lice eggs from human hair.

That's disgusting. You ever have lice, Dan?

I have never had lice. Have any of you ever had lice?

Yeah, I've had lice.

You had lice?

He had hair before.

Let's get to some video here. I'm just going to show people who are disappointed right now, and this is rare. It's rare that Greg Cody is here and people are disappointed, but they must be disappointed today because we promised them a penalty kick challenge that has been 15 years in the making and we have not successfully been able to execute it. The goal was not regulation. Greg was out there with a tape measure. He did not like it. He did not like the conditions, and so he canceled the event. We will get him involved in the choosing of the next venue. We will get this done at some point. But just so that I don't exclude the audience the way that I did yesterday, there was a video that I sent the group inside of the show, and then you heard their uproarious laughter. So let's show the audience now the video of Greg Cody's practice round against his granddaughter so that the audience can see why it is that I immediately said I believe that Greg Cody will score zero goals in this challenge. I'm not getting that.

I'm not getting—

go get it. That's right, she listens.

She jogged away after I said I'm not getting that is what you're—

that's what I'm dealing with.

Granddaughter, well, but you sent the ball so far, so far wide of the net. Would that have made the goal if the net was twice as large?

No, but if you miss the, the net on a penalty kick, it doesn't matter whether you miss it by an inch or by that amount. It's just a miss. That's all it is. All right, we all— the greats miss penalty kicks.

Okay, put it— not usually like that though. That's not usually how any of the greats miss a penalty kick.

Towards the corner, like where the corner kick would be done. For the people not watching, he's, he's set up like a normal penalty kick and the ball goes to where you would kick a corner kick from.

Okay, how about, how about you show a video of me top-footing at about 100 miles an hour.

We don't have any of that. And to your point, though, that everyone misses them, Roberto Baggio did miss for Italy a penalty kick not unlike that in 1994. So it's not exactly off what he's saying.

It was quite unlike that. He didn't look anything like that.

Do you see the disappointment in Greg? He's got his hands on his hips.

Yeah.

And he's got his head down. Yes. He's very ashamed here.

Of course. I expect more of myself.

Look at that.

We didn't make enough of that video yesterday, and we didn't make enough of this video. And for the audio audience, at the risk of exclusion, I'm about to show what I am claiming would go in the Hall of Fame, Tony, for best crossover ever. When I ask you guys the most embarrassing crossover, I'm not asking you who, who dribbles the best. I'm not asking you, does Iverson or Kyrie Irving have the best crossover? I'm asking you to remember the crossover from your lifetime that has a guy splayed out on screen on defense because he is so juked that he actually falls down. Basketball is filled with these, but I believe that we didn't do enough yesterday with Brad Williams and his correspondent from the Little People Convention in New Orleans because I believe yesterday we unveiled to Earth what is the greatest crossover in the history of basketball. Tony, you have not seen this. You were not here. You were at Heat camp and you couldn't have and didn't do this to any of the kids in that camp, even though you too fancy yourself someone who has quite the crossover.

Yeah, the issue is, is, is it's a bit of a slower-paced game over at Heat camp. We're not really running full court like that where we can have the momentum to get somebody crossed over where they end up 16 feet the other way.

Dan Levitar.

I hate that Carolina is going to get this moment just because they waited us out.

Jonathan Sasselo.

But I love that Buffalo is going to replace the Panthers in this situation because those fans absolutely deserve it. Not going to the playoffs, what, 14 straight years?

They deserve it! We deserve it! I don't care.

We won twice already!

I deserve a third one before they deserve anything!

I just started paying attention to hockey. I live in a swamp. Give me 3 in a row.

Sabers. Buffalo deserves. Eat shit, Buffalo. Like, care about Buffalo?

This is the Dan Levitan Show.

So let me play for the audience the entire video, and then I want to slow it down so that people can enjoy. Tony will be seeing this for the first time, so just, uh, please, video crew, focus in on Tony as he sees what I'm alleging is the greatest crossover dismantling embarrassment there has ever been in the history of basketball. Tony, have you ever seen a defender— a defender have happen to him what happens here to Vern Troyer? I want you to tell me whether you've ever seen a basketball player have this happen to him on defense when someone crosses over.

Here we go.

Crossover. Oh, see?

Yeah.

Good jumper on him, too.

It's a great looking J. Yeah, that was lost in all the discourse yesterday. It's a great looking J.

If it could be fair, if we could run it back one more time.

What he does is not a crossover. Let's be very, very clear. What he does is a jump stop at the 3-point line. He doesn't cross him over. He's just stopping his dribble. And the problem is when you flip your hips down and you're trying to get down downhill, it's really hard for you to turn back, which is why you get semantics.

That's a crossover.

Come on. No, it's not.

He stops his momentum. Come on. Like, it's the—

what is a crossover?

It's when you cross it from your right hand to like from—

what does he do?

He does— I get like, you're getting technical here, getting a little too technical for me. I get you. I get what you're saying.

Stop dribbling.

Stop and go.

It never goes hand in hand.

He stops dribbling. That's all he does.

It's the same momentum fall that happens with a crossover.

Uh, thank you for that distinction, Chris. Uh, it neuters, uh, your previous criticism, which is that you didn't like the camera work or the camera angles from the Little People Convention basketball game, you didn't feel like it met your broadcast standards because they didn't show whether the jump shot was completed. That is a good point though, because Brad Williams on his phone, it's not a— we don't have a broadcast network out there. We don't have somebody out there covering those games as if it's on ESPN Unlimited.

Why not?

Trying to be difficult, uh, gentle with this, but this is Brad is not shooting this video. Yeah, Dan, this is just a classic little person.

Theater of the mind.

I kept trying to—

I'm like, man, Dan thinks that Brad took this and that it's not an old clip that's been seen before.

You have to make a choice. You can't have both in the picture. If you want the hoop, you're not gonna see the person. If you want the person, you can't see the hoop.

Yeah, make a choice.

And I think they made a good choice because we wouldn't be able to see that right there.

His hips up in the air.

You know what he's doing? It's that rule in the NFL where when you tackle the quarterback, you gotta do like that, like the swim move. That's what that is right there. That's how a D tackle is supposed to sack the quarterback. You gotta do that swim move.

Or like the worm. He's about to start doing the worm.

Yeah, midworm.

That is what that looks like, the front part of the worm, you know what I mean?

Can, uh, can we examine for a second? Can we dissect?

You imagine just showing someone that What is going on in this picture?

Breakdancing, the worm.

Can we dissect for a second what Tracy McGrady has said about Giannis Antetokounmpo? He says he is a 1A. Basically, Tracy McGrady— Roy, find me the sound of Chris Whittingham and what he said the year that Giannis won the championship about Giannis not being a closer, Giannis not being someone you can trust at the end of games. Tracy McGrady is basically saying flatly They say, uh, you— Giannis will get you through the first 3 quarters, but he's not giving you what you need in the 4th quarter. And, uh, the, the Milwaukee Bucks did need everything that Chris Middleton was doing for them late in games. And I would say further, uh, the Miami Heat at the— at present doesn't have, uh, that closer. Uh, but let's play the Winningham sound of what he says about Giannis, because it's not unlike what Tracy McGrady is now saying. Giannis is probably the NBA's best number 2. Because I think it's kind of been determined that he can't be your one. Like, in terms of his specific skill set and the areas of the game in which he struggles, you can't rely upon him to get baskets at the end.

And again, Giannis immediately won the championship, uh, right after that. Uh, but it is going to be a criticism that the Heat get. Uh, what Tyler Herro did in, in the DMs that I think got Bam Adebayo the angriest— you tell me if there was something worse than what I'm about to say, Zazz— is that he put in his exchange with that fan who betrayed him the percentages that both Giannis and Bam had in their mid-range games. And that's obviously Tyler Herro's specialty. And so what the Heat were losing in the mid-range game, even though it's the least efficient shot in the sport right now, is that Tyler Herro does that very well and the Heat's two best players do that very poorly. And he pointed it out statistically. Is that not the most offensive thing you saw in the DMs, or the things that of the things that Bam could get indignant about.

Well, first, correct me if I'm wrong, I don't think that graphic was in the DMs. I think he straight up posted that graphic.

That's correct. That was a public post on his Instagram account, not his main one, but, but the one we know to be.

Yeah. So that, that is quite offensive where it's like, I'm not even going to hide this. I want everyone to see Bam's not good.

I know a little bit more about what led to this altercation.

Happened to know.

Yeah.

And talking to some well-placed sources that are familiar with the basketball players here. It was— yes, that was the original sin, but Bam had reached out to Tyler directly prior to them meeting face to face in Las Vegas, and Tyler ghosted him. So while that was the original sin, the additional disrespect was Bam confronted Tyler about it and Tyler kind of ghosted him. And then I happen to know that Bam, when he approached Tyler and Tyler was there— yeah, I know their details, AAU— Tyler had a crew with him. I think Tyler's dad was with him from what I heard as well. Bam approached him about not just the DMs, but why he had disrespected him in not getting back to him.

He happens to know.

So the fan told the Miami Herald that the graphic about the mid-range percentage is what spurred him, the fan, to release everything. Uh, Jeremy is in hot pursuit of said fan. We will try and get him on the show either today or tomorrow to talk to him, uh, about that. But what about McGrady's criticism Says, I think it's, uh, it's a common one and I don't think it's an unfair one. Uh, Giannis, uh, at the end of games, uh, you're not going to have a whole lot of shot creation that he can do, uh, that much on his own when everything is geared around stopping someone from getting a good shot the last few seconds of the game.

I think it's completely fair. Now I don't think it's as simple as, all right, he just can't do it. Like, we've seen that he can do it. We— you had Game 6 in the Finals where he scored 50 points. But I would, I would mention there a major reason why Giannis was able to do that and close out that game. He was very uncharacteristically amazing from the free throw line that game. Like, he was hitting all of his free— he was like 15 of 16 or something like that. And that'll probably never happen again in his life because he's not a great free throw shooter. And we've seen plenty of times— we saw it in the '21 playoffs, We saw it in the '23 playoffs. Giannis was kind of a spaz at the end of the games. The game was tight and like he's trying to make the play. It's a little bit of a spaz. So not that he can't do it, but I think McGrady is making a very fair point there. I do.

And who was guarding him in those games?

Yeah, it was great.

Spoelstra is probably—

has probably been the one guy that can stop Giannis is on his own team now.

Yes, that is true. But based on what we've seen, what I said is not an unfair thing to point out.

I'll take 3/4 of greatness and get somebody else who can be your—

Nobody's not.

No one's not.

But who's that going to be? LeBron James. It's an issue. And Jeremy, you've gone back and forth on this. Where are you on LeBron James, Jeremy? Are they going to get him or are they not going to get him?

I'm feeling confident again.

I'm tired of your texts. No, but I'm tired of this. You go every 12 hours, you feel something different. I'm feeling confident. I'm not feeling confident. Now you're feeling confident. But why didn't you feel confident 12 hours ago? I'm getting tweets. Heat. I'm getting texts in the middle of the night about now I'm not confident anymore.

Well, I'm confident because LeBron posted some ESPN person— I don't even know who this guy is— to his Instagram story saying that he felt that the Heat would be irrelevant.

Oh, this was still in the play-in.

It was on Rich Eisen Show. I just don't know who this person is. Okay, it's one of the producers on the Rich Eisen Show. Um, and LeBron—

I believe they let producers talk.

It's crazy. And he posted this criticism with a bunch of laughing emojis on top of it, which I just found very interesting because he said the Heat would be in the play-in even if LeBron was there. And now LeBron is specifically pointing out the Miami Heat. How dare you say that I would be in the play-in with this team, with Giannis? Laughing emojis signaling the Heat.

Go to Miami, enjoy the play-in tournament. Dude, you don't believe they're going to be in the play-in tournament if LeBron James is on there with Giannis.

LeBron is going to be a non-factor this season.

I think everyone needs to like ready themselves.

How is 21 points a game a non-factor?

What kind of idiot lets the producers talk?

I'm not getting that.