Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Speaker A: Welcome back. This is sources from the sofa. This is Rome you got at in the house. Aaron Tolar. No Jason today. He's feeling under the weather just like the way Haliburn allegedly had a broken leg. And then all of a sudden it was running around like seabiscuit in Game 6 to help the Pacers tied up 33 in the NBA Finals. Not only that, the Stanley cup happened a couple days ago as, as we thought the series was over.
Another ass whooping in dominant fashion by the Florida Panthers. Congrats to them, Marshawn, and everybody else on that crew.
They definitely won it on their home ice and won it in convincing fashion.
I guess we could talk a little bit about the Dodgers. Dodgers, Padres beefing it out.
A couple suspensions handed out earlier today to, to both the managers.
And then I went to the first Devers game in a Giants uniform.
I think we were talking to the pod Monday nights and we were talking like what was going to happen there.
And then the next day, Tuesday, this guy in the press conference said he'll play any position the Giants want him to Play.
A quick 180 proposition from what he was saying with this time in Boston. I was talking to a couple baseball heads and they think they, he just hates Alex the, the manager over there. And I could see that actually that makes a lot of sense.
[00:01:40] Speaker B: And then Corey can be, he can be a little hard ass, let's put it that way.
[00:01:44] Speaker A: Well, he was suspended for a year or kicked out of baseball for a year. Came back for cheating.
[00:01:49] Speaker B: Allegedly. Allegedly. But yeah, depending on who you ask.
[00:01:53] Speaker A: Allegedly.
[00:01:57] Speaker B: And then we have a few cameras set up where they shouldn't have been, let's just put it that way.
[00:02:01] Speaker A: Yeah, a few cameras, to say the least.
And, but at the end of the day though, we're here to talk about game seven because we're gonna get our first one in almost a decade. And it's exciting, man. Every basketball head is excited. What's weird is like this like one of the lower rating NBA finals in a long time, which I heard since the bubble, which I kind of find hard to believe. Like, how was that bubble championship low? I. I didn't get a chance to look it up.
[00:02:25] Speaker B: Was a bubble championship low. I mean, it seems like it should have been Laker.
[00:02:30] Speaker A: I thought it was Miami.
[00:02:31] Speaker B: Yeah, well, not only that, you couldn't go anywhere.
[00:02:34] Speaker A: Yeah. So that makes no sense.
I didn't get a chance to like backtrack and look it up.
If you're a basketball guy. Like I've been Talking to a whole bunch of young kids too. They just don't know basketball yet. It's kind of funny, but this is.
[00:02:47] Speaker B: A great, like young kids, like how young we talk in here.
[00:02:49] Speaker A: I'm talking about 25, man, and they don't know basketball.
You know, just everyone has like these weird takes, you know, jumping off the cliff about Halliburton. Everybody else, it's like, dude, that's not his game. Dude, he's not a, he's not a 40 point guy.
But the talk of the town was of how quick he, he recovered from that Game 5 injury. Didn't blot the stats by any means on, on the, on the, on the point side. But he was, he was very integral in every facet of the game. And they blew OKC out of the water in game six. So let's just go back to that, man. Since they blew them out of the water, they were up by almost what, 30 points at one point in the third quarter.
So the final score, a little deceiving, but one I did not see. Maybe I didn't want to see it, but OKC coming out flat again, this a little disappointing from like a potential NBA champion.
Two Indiana fighting. Per usual, this is what their season has been made of. I believe they have like the second or third best record for like the last 50 games in the NBA.
[00:04:00] Speaker B: I, I want to say touching on that, I think since January 1st, them and okay, have the best records or like Indiana's the third best. Okay, he's the first, whatever it is. But they're up there.
[00:04:11] Speaker A: Yeah, something like that. Yeah.
But now it's like anything can go in a game seven and I'm kind of like a little nervous. I, I again we talk about the stats and the historical differentials and, and sga, you know, resembling like parts of Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant, all these greats that came before him. He's a skinny guy, but he had nine turnovers, most in his career. I believe in game six, everyone looked flat out, just disappointingly tired. Indiana came out and rocked out.
The whole team was vibing. I don't know if you saw Halliburton's. No, look past this, Yakum. It was an instant poster, instant classic.
[00:04:56] Speaker B: Once he threw that dunk down on Jalen there, there was no doubt in my nine. We're going to game seven.
[00:05:01] Speaker A: It was so good.
It was so good.
[00:05:07] Speaker B: Put that on a T shirt, as they would say on the DP show. Hit that on a T shirt, T shirt.
[00:05:13] Speaker A: He got basketball card, he got siaka and yeah, man, I don't know what were your initial thoughts, but for me, it was just a big old shocker all around that Indiana came out the play. Usually, like a lot of times we. We've seen this, teams don't show up for this game. They just like already defeated, even if it's on the home floor and they rocked out all the way.
[00:05:38] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, first of all, I want to give a shout out to Jason, wish him well, hope he gets better. I know he's been hanging out there at the Elbow Room there in Fort Lauderdale, partying with the Panthers winning that cup. So he's on recovery there. So we wish him well.
But Rome, I said it two weeks ago. I thought this series was going seven games. One of the very few that thought it was going to go seven games.
You touched on Indiana, Game five. OKC dominated that game for the most part. Halliburton got hurt. The calf strain was a big lead up the mri. What is he going to be?
I think it was a telling sign when they were showing them pregame, all smiles, laughs and giggles. That told me that he felt pretty confident in himself.
He was going around joking. That's usually a good sign.
[00:06:25] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:25] Speaker B: When a guy's doing that, it sounds like he's been playing since this, with this injury, since game two, I think game five, whenever he kind of slipped and tripped or whatever it was there, he kind of aggravated it, kind of, you know, made him feel probably a little scared and hesitant. Yeah, and I get it. I mean, they kind of talked about it, you know, pre game, like, what is the risk reward? Well, we talked about it on the last show. Like, the last guy that had a major calf strain in NBA Finals is Kevin Durant. He tore his Achilles the following game when he came back.
So always that worry.
His numbers weren't great, but if you look at his performance, he led the team, got him off to a good start. He finally hit a three pointer after being, what, over 12? I think he hit three or four three pointers.
He had that great assist. Like you said, no, look to Siakam, which he threw down that dunk on J Dub. And that, that really set the tone where it was like, okay, like, Indiana's not losing this game. I. I don't care what happens. They're not going to lose this game.
We've talked about it throughout the series.
Turnovers. If Indiana doesn't turn the ball over, they're as good, if not better than Oklahoma City. They're better team in the half court. Because their ball movement is better. I mean OKC say what you want. They are driven on. Williams and SGA obviously check and have a good game here and there.
Caruso's had 20 point games in these playoffs. But Indiana, we talk about it even in game six. Eight guys or six guys of eight plus points at halftime and there's just so many guys that can get you points in different ways.
McCollum is like you talked about. He's been great.
Even the bench toppin has been good and that's been really good game.
[00:08:12] Speaker A: He had a big game.
[00:08:13] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean topping from three point range, he can rebound, he can defend.
All their guys have been really, really good. I mean game six, I mean it was, it was an ass whooping on all levels.
[00:08:25] Speaker A: Yeah. McConnell once again, man, coming through. I think he's like the second oldest guy on that Pacers team, but he's just a straight up hustle guy getting crucial points, rebounds, nine rebounds, man, for a small guy like that.
[00:08:40] Speaker B: Almost triple double six.
[00:08:41] Speaker A: Almost a triple double. Yeah. Topic came up big time with 20 points.
All the big name guys didn't get all that much. It was just a well rounded game from the team up and down. And you know, I remember saying you're crazy about. I remember games, I'm like no way. You know, six, sure. But the way, the way it's gone on to game seven and you're saying it's a better team, it's definitely a better coach team. Look, that's for sure.
[00:09:14] Speaker B: I'll say this, I mean I think Indiana is a better team. I think the two best players in the series you can make case are SGA and Jalen Williams. I'm not going to argue with that. But from top to bottom, and you said the coach Indiana is a better top to bottom squad than okc. The numbers just show it in the series. I mean they've outscored him on the bench every game by significant numbers. If SGA doesn't go for 40 or Williams doesn't go for 40, this series is already over. It's. Indiana's already won it.
So that, that was kind of my case in point where OKC does have depth. Their bench is good, but their bench really hasn't traveled on the road like Wiggins and those guys have had good home games, but on the road they, they haven't done nothing.
[00:10:00] Speaker A: They haven't done much.
[00:10:01] Speaker B: He's been good on the road.
McConnell, he's been good on the road.
So yeah, in Carlisle, I mean like you talked about, I Mean, he's. The adjustments he's made from game to game in this series, it's been impressive. I mean, that game six game plan was really good.
[00:10:19] Speaker A: What kind of shocked me was the level of defense that the Pacers play. Like they were playing like OKC and then OKC just looked dumbfounded. 16 steals the four.
That's just crazy, man. 23 assists to 14.
They're just moving the ball, swinging it around, sharing it, knocking down big shots.
The three point differential, eight to 15, just the pace. Just kept on shooting and shooting and shooting.
Should OKC be worried or it's just like, you know, they just not being good on the road in the playoffs.
Game seven, they are at home. The bench plays well at home. They're gonna have the crowd.
There's gonna be a lot of hype.
I don't know, like, I really don't know which way to go. Like, it to me, it's either gonna be an upset or it's gonna be a blowout. OKC blowing the Pacers out or it's going to be a close ups at Hal Burn or like toppin or maybe McConnell coming in clutch with like some weird loopy, you know, floater with like a second and a half to go.
[00:11:23] Speaker B: Game seven is interesting because we've seen this episode before with the Nuggets and the Thunder. It's played out the same, right? They lost game one, won game two, lost Game three. One game's four and five, didn't play well in game six and then came out and dominated the Nuggets in Game 7. That was a game Aaron Gordon was playing on a grade two hamstring injury. They came out, they beat him by 20 points. They got that swarming defense, like you said Rome, that was not there the last game. They just.
They didn't look like a team ready to win a title and ready to close out a team. They didn't have the energy, they didn't have the defense. Intensity came out flat.
It looked like a team that hasn't won a championship before. Right. I mean, a team that's won a championship kind of has that killer instinct we're kind of looking for. I didn't see it in game six. So Game seven, they've been in the game seven. They know what it takes.
But let's not forget, I mean, Indiana has not played into Game 7 yet, but they were in a Game 7 in the Garden last year against the Knicks and beat them. Yeah, I think it's going to be a classic Game seven. I went back Remember when I was talking, I said, I think this is going to be one of the best NBA Finals that we've had in the decade. Plus it is the last game seven we had in the NBA Finals. Romy mentioned was Cleveland and the Warriors. Who won that game? Cleveland, where was it at? On the road. They were a big underdog, bouncing back in that series.
Sga. And those guys, the bench. We talked about it. They usually show up on the road.
But it's going to come down to who's looser, who doesn't turn the ball over, who's kind of just more in the flow of things.
Halliburton. I mean, Indiana doesn't have anything to lose. They're the underdogs. They should be feeling pretty good about themselves.
To me it comes down to real simple. Don't turn the ball over. They had 10 turnovers. They blew these guys out. They've been losing games where they give up 20 plus turnovers. They don't turn the ball over and it's 12 or less. It's going to be tough to beat Indiana on Sunday. That's. That's just the facts.
[00:13:23] Speaker A: So I guess these ratings, it was the Least watched Game 5 since 2003.
San Antonio, New Jersey Nets, they're barely under 10 million views versus last year. They're getting about 12.2.
The bubble year though. I totally forgot about this for some reason. Those are kind of low. I got to go back and look at it. But that was played in October, the finals. And I'm not sure why they would have low ratings in October.
[00:13:53] Speaker B: It doesn't make any sense for low ratings, period. Given the fact that what was going on at the time in the country where you couldn't do anything like literally you had people's faces on the TV screen while watching that NBA Finals, if I remember correctly.
[00:14:07] Speaker A: Yeah.
So game seven is going to be Sunday night. Where are you going to be watching it?
[00:14:15] Speaker B: I'll be home. I'll watch it at home.
[00:14:17] Speaker A: Nice. I don't know where I'll be.
I don't know. I think it's gonna be a game time decision. I might be at a bar somewhere in San Francisco.
[00:14:24] Speaker B: You going to a Pacer bar? No, KC bar. Do they have one of those?
[00:14:28] Speaker A: No, I, I don't even know where.
I. I don't even know.
I might go to like some of my old stomping grounds where I know the bartenders, but that might be dangerous.
Or some people are saying maybe we go to Chase center and check out the new sports bar. Over there, it looks like a sports book called Splash.
[00:14:48] Speaker B: Splash.
[00:14:49] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:50] Speaker B: So you haven't been there, though.
[00:14:52] Speaker A: No.
[00:14:52] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:14:53] Speaker A: I'm not. So I'm excited. Got any other bits for this? We didn't talk too much, but I figured, you know, kind of is what it is.
[00:15:02] Speaker B: I mean, it's game seven. We haven't had one. You mentioned what, going on, what, nine years? The last one was, what, 2016.
[00:15:09] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:15:10] Speaker B: And that was a great game seven.
[00:15:11] Speaker A: That's great.
[00:15:12] Speaker B: I mean, that's the highlight of, you know, one of the highlights of LeBron's career. Blocking Iguodala off the backboard there and Kyrie Irving balling out and having a great game.
[00:15:22] Speaker A: I think it's the only time I actually rooted for LeBron in the Finals.
[00:15:26] Speaker B: Yeah, you might. You might be right. You might be right. I mean, I've always, like.
I've always liked watching LeBron lose in the finals, but I was happy to see Kyrie win one.
[00:15:37] Speaker A: Yeah, me too.
[00:15:37] Speaker B: I'm not. I'm not a big J R Smith guy, but, you know, he finally got a ring. He's. He's had some mishaps in the finals over the past.
[00:15:44] Speaker A: Yeah.
Prediction.
[00:15:49] Speaker B: I said OKC and seven originally. I'm going to stick with it. I'm going to say OKC finds a way to win this game. But I am on the record, I am rooting for Indiana. I would like to see the Pacers win this title.
[00:16:02] Speaker A: Man, you know what?
I expect OKC to win History. Just. They can complete that historic arc and etch their name as one of the better teams allegedly in history. Although I don't think they'll be remembered like that. This is a young team. They're, like, maybe a little overachieving for how young they are. But if Pacers win, though, man, this got to be, like, one of the biggest underdog stories.
A really good team.
Like, it has Indiana Hoosiers vibe all over it.
You know, just like a small market. It's not like they don't have any players. They have ballers all over the team. It's just, you know, I'm so glad I got to see them live here in. When they played Golden State last year. Same thing with okc.
But it's got to be the, like, one of the craziest upsets if they. They pull this off.
[00:16:56] Speaker B: What would be the biggest upset in the finals dating back to 04, when the Pistons beat your Lakers?
As far as odds go, I would.
[00:17:06] Speaker A: Say yes, as far as maybe or when the Heat came back and finally broke through the Heatles and came back from behind and defeated the Spurs. Robbed the championship away from them.
[00:17:20] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, you got that Ray Allen corner three that just broke their heart in game six. In game seven, they had nothing left. And that was a home game for Miami, too.
[00:17:28] Speaker A: So. Pissed off. Also pissed.
[00:17:29] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. But give credit to San Antonio. They came back the next year and got revenge on that.
[00:17:34] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:17:35] Speaker B: I mean, Indiana, you talked about it. I mean, the history of that team, you know, we saw all the old players, you know, Rick Smith, Travis Best, Dell Davis, Jalen Rose, Reggie Miller, Derek McKee, all. All the old school guys from basically the 90s, where we grew up when they were knocking on the doorstep, but could never get by Jordan and the Bulls, you know, and finally when Jordan, the Bulls ended, they got to the finals and then they ran into a young Shaq and Kobe.
[00:18:03] Speaker A: They've had two good teams. Like, they had that team. And then they also had, yeah, the Shaq and Kobe years, but they also had the Lance Stevenson and. And Jerraine o' Neill years. And I can't. Paul George, Paul George, that was like another era.
[00:18:18] Speaker B: And they ran into Dwyane Wade, LeBron and Chris Bosh.
[00:18:22] Speaker A: Yeah, like, they were there, too. Like, that was a championship level team. Like, that was a really good team.
Hell, I would take that team over this team. But this, this team's like, they like each other, man. This is a. I haven't seen a team like this in a long time. I can't really recall. Tina actually liked each other like this a long time.
[00:18:38] Speaker B: I mean, you're talking about teams that like each other. It makes me think. Or similar to what, you know, they talked about when we're going to touch on the hockey Stanley Cup. But the Florida Panthers, right. Everybody talked about how close that team was. Like, when they weren't playing, they were hanging out. You know, they enjoyed road trips because they got to hang out with each other and do things. I think Indiana is kind of the same way. Like, nobody's really, like, jealous of anybody falling out, getting certain minutes. You know, McAthen got what, 27 points in game three? I don't even think he scored 20 points combined the next three games.
But he's still just going out there playing. They're having a good time.
And what about Rick Carlisle? I mean, the guy brought the first title to Dallas back in. What was that?
Was it 2011? I think it was whatever that was. Now he's got a chance to bring a title to Indiana. Their first In NBA history in Indiana, like basketball is, like you mentioned. It's. It's God, it's everybody's.
Everybody gets up for it. It's besides church and God, it's Indiana basketball. Right?
And if he can bring a title there, I mean, he's already a Hall of Famer in my book. I mean, he's now the oldest coach ever to be in an NBA Finals at 65 years of age.
[00:19:53] Speaker A: Is he?
[00:19:54] Speaker B: That's what I saw on the broadcast. If he can bring a title there as an underdog, you know, he doesn't get a lot of credit for what he did with the Pistons before he got canned and Larry Brown took that team to the next step and beat your Lakers.
This guy's been a really good coach for a long time.
I'm rooting for him to get a title, too, again. I would like to see him win it Definitely, definitely wouldn't have to pay for a mill again ever in the state of Indiana. If he can do that for sure.
[00:20:21] Speaker A: Fucking never, man. Never.
Let's transition over to Stanley cup real quick. So Panthers take out the Oilers in six games. It was a rematch from last year. So they're the first repeat Stanley cup champions back to back since the Tampa Bay Lightning did it in 2020, 2021. What's up with Florida, man, Winning all these Stanley Cups? Hockey, freezing, boiling over in the hottest state in the United States. Canada must be pissed.
[00:20:54] Speaker B: I mean, Canada hasn't won a Cup since 93.
[00:20:56] Speaker A: They haven't won it yet. Panthers is their third straight appearance in the final. They lost to Vegas in five games in 2023. And it's just been like a really nice tear here.
I don't know. I really had.
I really don't have much thoughts from Game 6, the way it played out. They just came out and played kind of flat again in the first quarter. They were down, what, two goals again?
And.
And then all of a sudden you see people in Florida thanking Boston.
The city of Boston is just trading all their great legends, all their great players to other cities to win championships elsewhere. We'll see if that happens for debbers with the Giants.
But yeah, man, what did you think about the game six?
[00:21:39] Speaker B: Game six kind of went like we said. I mean, you know, when we were on here Monday, going into game six Tuesday, we all had Florida winning. We thought they would be hoisting the cup. I'm really disappointed in Edmonton as a whole in the series.
I expected more Rome. You touched on it Monday. Like, Florida was just better throughout the series. I don't, I don't think there was one game maybe besides game one where I thought Edmonton played better.
I mean, game four, they won in overtime, you know, off the dry sidel you know, off the skate, in the net. Goal fortunate that happened. But Florida just out skating them from start to finish in every game. What? They were up 3 0.
What? In the final three games now they had at least a 30 lead. Edmonton again down 20 in the first period, gave up a light goal in game six with about like 30 seconds ago to go down 2 0. Skinner got brought back in the net. I thought he had a good, okay game, good game. I don't really put the loss on them. I mean, they did give up two empty net goals.
But Edmonton, I mean, I thought they were better this year than last year's team in Florida. I wasn't quite sure because they were a bit banged up with Matthew Tkachuk, you know, admitting later that his, you know, abductor was torn off the bone and he was going through hernia and all that stuff. He did not look good early in these playoffs, even in these finals. But he looked a lot better as the series went on.
And Edmonton, their lines three and four were just. They didn't give him anything, no juice outside of, you know, McDavid, Perry, dry, Seidle. I mean, there was nothing there for Edmonton. We talked about Hyman being hurt. That was going to really kind of affect him. It really did. Here, even with him being on the ice. I don't know if it had been enough or it was just better.
And like you said, Brad Marchon, he's a free agent.
[00:23:31] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:23:32] Speaker B: You know, there was rumors, you know, he was just a rental, he'd be interested in going back to Boston. If I'm Edmonton, I'm already on the phone to his agent right after that puck sounded and the game ended. He's the type of guy Edmonton needs on their team. That scrappiness, that tough dude. I, I just didn't see any tough guys on Edmonton's team on this, in this series, honestly. Rome.
[00:23:52] Speaker A: Yeah.
Yeah. So they were up three zero again. Two in the first period, another one in the second, two more in the third.
Five one. They won it convincingly. I don't know. Props to the Florida Panthers, man.
I saw somewhere that they were the third team in history to be the under dog or at least the lower seed in every round, including the Stanley cup final and win the Stanley cup championship.
So Edmonton obviously was up there, so was Florida, but nonetheless, Florida Etching their names in the history books.
[00:24:31] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I mean, give Edmonton credit for getting to the final. We touched on it that first round. They were down two against the Kings and then the Kings should have won that series. I'm not going to lie. They should have swept them. I'm not going to lie. That's why they ended up firing their GM and coach and whatever else they did in Florida. Round 2 down 20 against Toronto. Game 3 goes to overtime there in Florida.
[00:24:57] Speaker A: I thought Toronto gets a goal, they win.
[00:25:00] Speaker B: Toronto from there basically looked like OKC did the last night and just took a shit from there.
No show.
And Florida beats them, what, three games? Like six to one? Finals.
[00:25:15] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:25:16] Speaker B: So I mean, yeah, Florida was just dominant. Dominant. And I mean if you're Toronto, you're looking at that and you're like, wow. And then Carolina Hurricanes, they were pretty good in these playoffs and they got smoked. I don't know if Florida's just that much better than everybody. Three straight Stanley Cups, we're going to find out going into next year. But yeah, I mean, based off the odds I saw, they're one of the top four or five teams to get back and win the Cup. Based off early odds for next year.
[00:25:40] Speaker A: Yeah, there's not too many teams have gone to as many in a row. You got the Red Wings, you know, our team in the 90s, they've done it, but there's like a lot of attrition. It's very physical. It's one of the more physical sports out there.
But you're right, just like Indiana, they just got a good vibe about them. They all like each other. Hell, they just picked up Marshawn, you know, for.
For nothing. Right. And just kind of kept them at bay until the, the playoffs started. And no egos there, man, everyone was just happy to win another chip.
And they already dented and broke the Stanley cup minutes into the celebration. But I guess that happens pretty often.
[00:26:18] Speaker B: So.
Yeah, I think they got a guy on 247 repair for that thing. But yeah, they got a great, they got a great front office.
They got a great coach that's been around forever. He won the first, first cup ever last year for those guys.
And like you said, they just, they get along well. Like, you know, Brad Marshan was like, hey, like I didn't know what to expect, but they embraced me.
They love me. I don't think. I think when he went there, he did not expect to even consider resigning there. Yeah, obviously at 37 years age, his stock is still up. He dominated in these playoffs, in these finals. And I think a team that's on the cusp should look into signing him. Like I said, I mean, Edmonton, if you're not looking to sign a guy that just dominated you at a middle level price that he's going to cost, you'd be crazy. I mean, you got to look into signing this guy because he just. He knows how to play, he knows how to bend the rules, which we talked about in game five.
And he's just tough. He's got that attitude.
[00:27:17] Speaker A: He's tough in a way. Yeah.
[00:27:19] Speaker B: You know, he's.
He's like the emb. He's like the hockey's version of an NBA. Kind of like a Draymond Green. Like, you hate him if he's not on your team.
But the toughness and the smarts and everything, he brings in the intangibles. Like, you want that on your team to make a run.
[00:27:34] Speaker A: I would still hate Draymond. I feel as on my team. I did like Ron Artesta when he signed with the Lakers.
[00:27:39] Speaker B: I hated him as Rodman. I mean, he liked it.
[00:27:43] Speaker A: I do. Yeah. So we gotta get you that jersey.
[00:27:45] Speaker B: At Circuit, that Dennis Rodman, man, if it's still there. It had your name on it.
[00:27:49] Speaker A: Dude, I want. I want my Rodman jersey back. I would rock it.
Let's take a quick break. When we come back, we'll just kind of wrap up our quick little pot here.
All right.
We talked a little NBA game seven coming up.
Stanley cup just wrapped up.
Now it's baseball season, but there's also the wnba.
Let's just talk quickly. Talk about Caitlin Clark because there's like some drama. I've been keyboard warring it up on X and on and on Twitter or X rather on threads as well, and on Instagram.
I got a lot of messages and I had to shut off my notifications because I'm getting like, some pretty tough stuff there.
Could we have a fake name?
[00:28:40] Speaker B: So it's safe to say that there's more Caitlin Clark haters than lovers out there.
[00:28:45] Speaker A: There's a lot of haters. It's. It's. She's very divisive. Is that the right word?
If anyone knows Caitlin Clark got poked in the eye the other day when they're playing Mercury, I believe she responds back, gets in the other girl's face. Their couple, like, former, like Big Ten rivals, whatever it is, someone else from the other team runs up on Caitlin and knocks her down. It starts like a long scuffle. Later on in the game, Cunningham, who is very attractive and is a black belt, Taekwondo or jiu jitsu or something like that, she takes down one of the other players in a pretty brutal headlock. But, you know, everyone who's a fighter, though, was on X, they're saying, like, oh, if you're a fighter, you know exactly what she was doing. She was just like, kind of like just little sleeper move. It wasn't anything serious, but that kind of started a scuffle, basically, on X, on Twitter, all the socials, half the people are like, they don't like Caitlin Clark because she's a white girl dominating in a black women's sport. That's my position, and I've said as much on these platforms, and I'm getting a lot of messages because of it.
A lot of people think she's not that good. She's just white. And people are just jumping at the fact that she's like the great white hope. The other point is that people think that Caitlyn Clark is bringing out some, like, the. More the racist antics out of white America, which might be true, actually. I could see that. Actually, I'm not. I'm not debating that. But to say that she's not good and, like, holding her to these crazy standards that she's not winning a championship yet, she's barely in year two. She's balling it up. She just came back from.
From her first injury in a long time. I think even. Even in college, she never missed a game. And she dominated with, like, 25 points in the first half and kind of played the feeling card. I kind of liked it, like, when she's, like, talking shit, getting the crowd going. I liked it when people are pushing her. If she ends up embracing, like, this, like, me against the world thing, this. This Michael Jordan, this Kobe Bryant thing, like, once she figures that out, it is over. Because she's gonna, like, if you embrace that, you can feed all the energy in and, you know, take her game to another level. But a lot of people just don't like her. And so I was kind of defending her Valkyries. I didn't know she was in town for Golden State. Valkyries, by the way, for an expansion team playing really, really well.
Lots of Valkyrie gear in San Francisco, everywhere. I can't believe it. More than Golden State right now. It's like, it, it. It's wild how much gear that they're actually selling that this city's embracing women's basketball.
But Valkyries locked her up and. And played really well against Kaylin, but I don't know if you heard anything about the Kaylin Clark thing, but I just want to say that I am eager to see how this plays out because she's still now she's getting like a second wave of hate towards her and she's have to figure out how she wants to play around. I think she wasn't as aggressive against the Valkyries because it was like so much emotion from the previous game. Probably like reverting back a little bit, but trying to find that balance, you know, like what feeds your game, what you're not going to overthink about.
I think that's going to be like the storyline for Kaylin Clark this season could be wrong. What do you think?
[00:32:15] Speaker B: Well, yeah, I mean Valkyrie, she was what, over 73 pointers when I think only had like 12 total points. She struggled. And I mean that team, from what I've heard and from their coach, they like to play physical, they like to pay physical. Branded basketball. That's kind of what they go into game w plan wise. I mean, you know, she rome, she missed what, two, three weeks of. That was a quad injury I believe she had. And then she hits like what, three threes in 30 seconds from like 33ft. 30ft, 27ft. Looking like Steph Curry out there knocking down threes.
She's only 23 years old.
She's the biggest draw in the WNBA. I mean, every game she goes to is basically 18,000 people there.
You touched on in the last segment. The NBA finals ratings are down, but Caitlyn Clark's ratings are up tremendously. In fact, in the two weeks she was out, the WNBA ratings as a whole was down 50%.
I mean, so she's the biggest draw. She's the biggest name. People care about her. Not only that, you know, despite what color she is. White, black. She is white. She's a very good basketball player.
She performs at a high level.
Seems like a great gal. We were talking before we even went on that we like her commercials. I haven't really heard anybody. Her teammates love her. That's always a good thing. I don't really hear anything negative coming from her, from her teammates. You hear a lot of stars in the NBA where they're like, hey, you know this guy, you know, I could care less if he was on the team. Not a big, you know, believer fan of his, but her teammates love her. They got her back.
And getting poked in the eye can be serious, man. I mean, if you've ever been hit in the eye, you know, you can go blind. You can have some serious eye damage. There's like. And go on.
Her team obviously cares about her because like you said, one of the girls has her back. Gave her a little chokehold, little taekwondo, a little takedown and let her know, like, hey, that shit's not gonna fly here. You need that on your team.
And second year, they got to the playoffs last year.
[00:34:06] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:34:08] Speaker B: On the, on the worst team in the league. She took to the playoffs and Rome, I think, I don't know, we touched on it here. We were talking off the air. You were talking. Some people were saying like, oh, like, you know, we scrutinize NBA players like her the same. I'm like, no, no, we don't. I mean, is anybody complaining about Wimby? Has he ever been in the playoffs room after two years?
[00:34:27] Speaker A: Hasn't.
[00:34:28] Speaker B: Has he even been close to the playoffs?
[00:34:30] Speaker A: Not well this year, let's be honest.
[00:34:33] Speaker B: No.
[00:34:34] Speaker A: No.
[00:34:34] Speaker B: So, I mean, and he's considered the greatest player to come back in the league since LeBron James 20 years ago.
[00:34:42] Speaker A: He's really.
[00:34:43] Speaker B: So, you know, let's, let's slower roll on Caitlin Clark because she is going to win a WNBA title and like she was unable to win an NCAA women's title.
And when she hoists that trophy and she's going to hoist it many times, I believe, because that's just, you know, what's going to end up happening. She's going to win two or three WNBA titles. She may go down as the greatest WNBA player. You could say race. People are mad. But I mean, I think if you were to take the top 10. I don't watch WNBA players of all time.
Probably a good half of them are white. I mean, you have Sue Bird, Taurasi. There's some really good players that were white in the wnba. So I don't, I don't really get why all the hate.
I mean, you can love Angel Reese all you want. She can't even. She, she could pit on Cinderella's shoes. Caitlin Clark because she should be kissing her aunt every game she sees.
[00:35:34] Speaker A: No, you're right. I just saw. Yeah. Ratings were down 50.
Another thing, though, everybody's fouling and being pretty physical with Caitlyn when they play her. Out of all the foot freight flagrant fouls in the, in the WNBA, about 20% are against her. As one girl absorbing 20 of the fouls in the league. That is crazy.
That is crazy.
So that I, I like how physical it got in that game.
And little brawl. This is what people want to see and it's women's basketball. Right. Like, you know, people are still trying to come around to it.
It's just, you know, we have to put everything in perspective. Right.
Will it ever reach, like, a level of NBA? It's unrealistic to say that. It's just different. Same thing with, like, women's tennis. Like, we watch women's tennis. It's a different level of greatness, you know, Just got to respect it for what it is. But, yeah, I was keyboarding it, worrying it a lot, defending Kaylin. And yeah, one of the points was like, you know, everyone's saying she's trash because she hasn't done anything in the wnba. This is year two, and she took the worst team. You're right. To the NBA playoffs in year one. And she also took down the hottest team in the wnba, in the Liberty, and gave them their first loss of the season. When everyone's talking about them going undefeated. So that's some real shit right there. But I think we're good on that one. Yeah.
[00:37:03] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, just to touch back, I mean, you said, you know, where basically Caitlin Clark hasn't done anything, took the team playoffs, all that. When we look back, I mean, the ratings, like you said, were down. I mean, when we look back at Caitlin Clark, I mean, she's. What? She's. The WNBA probably should probably do a better job of protecting her because if she does seriously get hurt or something goes wrong, like, it's. It's going to be bad.
It's going to be bad for the sport.
Even what she did for women's college basketball. I mean, women now in other sports, college softball and stuff, the nil deals are getting now. And he made a good comparison. Like, don't compare it to the NBA. It's women's basketball. Men's basketball is two totally different things. The wnba, the women's players right now, and the level that they're playing at the competition.
Compare when the league first started. Night and day, so much better. I mean, 25 years ago, if you would have mentioned WNBA. I mean, I don't even know if the games were on TV back then 25 years ago, to be honest. They might have been.
[00:38:10] Speaker A: Yeah, they had a couple, but it.
[00:38:11] Speaker B: Was like they never even advertised the league. It was like, hey, the. The WNBA finals are coming on. You're like, wait, they already played 30 games. Like, I didn't even know. Now it's like, now it's preseason WNBA selling out games for Caitlin Clark.
[00:38:26] Speaker A: Crazy. San Francisco is going crazy over their team here they're actually getting decent ratings on tv. That's crazy. My daughter actually wants to go to a game now. She finally.
I don't know what talked her into it.
[00:38:38] Speaker B: But here's the crazy thing, Rome. If Caitlin Clark got to the WNBA finals this year, the WNBA finals ratings would be better than this year's NBA finals ratings.
[00:38:48] Speaker A: For sure. For sure.
[00:38:51] Speaker B: Right. And if she's not, they're not going to be that. I mean, that's.
That says a lot.
[00:38:58] Speaker A: Yeah, we'll keep up with that. We'll talk more. W. I'm trying to get some people to talk about wnba. I just don't watch a lot of it, but I watch more. More than you guys, so.
[00:39:08] Speaker B: Oh, definitely. You watch more than us.
[00:39:09] Speaker A: Yeah, Yeah.
[00:39:10] Speaker B: I mean, I kind of read the stories and see some highlights.
I don't actually sit and watch. Watch a game.
[00:39:17] Speaker A: It's just like a NBA game, man. Sometimes I turn it on like this is. I can't watch this.
[00:39:22] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean there's. I mean, look at it. It has, look it. It has good moments and then somebody throws on like an Angel Reese highlight where she misses like 10 layups and it's like.
Yeah, you know.
[00:39:34] Speaker A: All right. I would like to wrap up the pod though. I do got the Boston Giants game on right now. I'm trying to get tickets. I don't know if I'll make it to a game. You know, I'm also working this weekend, but they're up 75. I did go to the first game with Des wearing a Giants uniform. It was vibing.
Bunch of Cleveland fans.
A bunch of Giants fan happy that they finally got a slugger. The guys I went with, Todd, you.
[00:40:04] Speaker B: You, you know, Todd actually went in the stadium.
[00:40:06] Speaker A: The Saki Sommelier guy? Yeah. He had tickets.
[00:40:10] Speaker B: Wow. I mean, usually he's just out on his bike drinking on the side there, tailgating.
[00:40:14] Speaker A: But you can still get a good view of the game too. It's crazy.
But yeah, we went. We're now in the outfield. Decent seats, good view of everything.
These guys, these six year old guys brought their gloves, hoping they catch the ball. She's there chilling, drinking my beer.
Had an IPA which knocked me out. Dude. I haven't, I haven't drank three beers like that.
[00:40:35] Speaker B: Three IPAs.
[00:40:36] Speaker A: Three IPAs.
[00:40:40] Speaker B: Two is like the limit. IPAs, man. After once you go two plus you're in trouble.
[00:40:44] Speaker A: Yeah, it was, it was rough.
But the vibe is different here at Giants and oh my God, the fans. I forgot how many beautiful women root for the Giants. I Might have to marry one of these. We'd have to have a. A two team household because they were gorgeous. Anyways, lots of excitement. No one expected Devers to do anything because he's probably tired from like doing the press conference and actually taking grounders and first base during warm ups, which is hilarious.
Him making the rounds on. On media saying that he'll play whatever position that the Giants want him to play.
And. And Todd had a really good theory which I want to talk about. He says he thinks Deborah didn't want to play that because first they just signed a third baseman without even talking to him, just blindsided him with Bregman.
Second, they asked him to go play another position when they got hurt. And so now they're just kicking around. Literally one of the better hit hitters in third baseman in Major League baseball country. I'm like third.
He believes he does not like Alex Cora. Alex Cora is not a good guy. Todd, by the way, does not like Alex Cora. He's from the East Coast, Boston guy himself.
So once you cross like this weird ethical thing, Todd just writes you off right away. He was not a big Roethlisberger fan either, although I was. But.
Yeah, I want to hear your thoughts on that theory.
[00:42:10] Speaker B: I'm gonna grieve. Two out of three.
I, I agree. Was not happy about them not telling about, you know, Alec Bergman coming in.
I believe there's a lot of truth to the core thing because they kind of asked Cora about it and he dodged the question. Like, hey, like, you know, he's, he's there now, that's in the past, whatever.
[00:42:29] Speaker A: And they'll probably win more games now without him. That's what he said.
[00:42:33] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I mean, their first baseman that they had, I think tore his knee. I remember watching the play. The guy that they had at first base tore his knee early in the season, like week three or week four, running the base. He landed awkwardly on first base, blew out his leg and you know, then that was the question of, hey, is Devers gonna go there? Devers says communication was bad. I know he just struck out right now in 102 miles per hour.
You know, Chapman was. I think Corey gave him the sign to piss me on that one.
Yeah, I mean, I think Deborah says that there was bet poor communication between the organization on what they wanted to do.
He's gone. He's gone to the Giants now and like you said, he's open to other positions.
He's taking grounders at first, third, but you know, he was doing similar stuff There with Boston. I don't think he's going to play in the field anytime soon. I think Boston or the Giants got him there really to be the DH for a while. I don't know what Chapman's contract status is with the Giants.
[00:43:37] Speaker A: Like I mentioned, he's locked in.
[00:43:39] Speaker B: Yeah. And as I mentioned, they got a top minor league prospect in Bryce Eldridge. Six, seven. That's their first baseman in the future. So Denver's playing dh. Not a problem. We're seeing how that's working for the Dodgers. And Shohei Otani, not bad. Just focusing on hitting. The guy could hit.300 and get you 35 home runs and 100 RBIs. Well, that's what you're paying the guy for too, anyways, right? So let's leave him there.
They got Willie Adamus at short, so they're good. They're good there. They got the big bat they needed. They traded for him. They didn't really give up a lot like we talked about, really. Only Kyle Harrison. I don't know what he's going to be. He struggled so far this time in the majors. And then Josh Tibbs ranked high prospect, but he's still probably two years away from the majors.
We'll see.
[00:44:24] Speaker A: I think it's a good trade. Boston fans are not happy about this trade. There's a lot of people from Boston town right now, the game in there, and they are not happy with management right now.
I did see the Liverpool Connection. I, I did see all those Series. It's making sense to me now. So I, I don't know how much to buy into it, but I, I can see it. I. I can see it.
[00:44:47] Speaker B: I mean, I think if you're Boston Red Sox, don't look at the players you got in return, look at the $266 million you got in return.
Because that's kind of like the unspoken thing we talked about. That's not really being mentioned. Kyle Harrison. Okay. He might be a third or fourth starter in rotation, if that. Okay, cibs, let's see what happens with him. Like I said, he's, you know, he's a ranked top five prospect in the Giants organization.
Maybe he's in the majors late next year, 20, 27. Let's see. Let's hold out. Higgs, he's just an average reliever, throws hard, but he was a closer at one time for the Cardinals. He could give you some bullpen help.
I like Alex Cora.
I mean, he brought this team a World Series. He's competitive. He was a Good player.
He knows how to manage, he knows how to get the best out of his team.
I mean the Red Sox have kind of, let's just be honest, they've, they've overachieved this year. I think they're doing better than people thought.
And like I said, the 266 million is the big thing. Where are they going to spend that money? Are they going to spend in the Red Sox organization or as we talked about, are they going to spend it at Liverpool? I don't know. I mean what's a bigger draw right now, Liverpool or the Red Sox?
I think it's Liverpool to be honest.
[00:46:00] Speaker A: But I'm a Liverpool fan so I have no problem.
[00:46:05] Speaker B: Yeah, so there you go. And Liverpool's been good in soccer here for a while last few years. I think Boston will be okay.
But I mean if you're Boston, you're looking at. You gave, you gave away bets for what? Verdugo?
Now you're giving away Devers for Harrison. There's not, there's aren't big names in Boston. We've always been known for having stars and paying money and they've kind of gone away from that. And then they paid Devers and let other pieces walk.
Let's see, let's see what they do with this money and we'll see what happens. I mean unlike other sports where like you trade a player in the NBA, we talk about you get five first round picks. Baseball doesn't work like that. You usually get prospects, a player in cash considerations for later and then a guy shows up four years later like hey this guy's pretty good. And they're like oh yeah, he was part of the cash consideration throw in of a trade, you know, you just never know. Yeah, but it takes a while for these guys to pop up.
[00:46:59] Speaker A: That's true. Game's over 7 5.
It's gonna be a fun series.
[00:47:03] Speaker B: Yeah, it's gonna be a good series. What time's the game tomorrow in that series? 105. What time you work tomorrow?
[00:47:09] Speaker A: Rome daytime.
[00:47:10] Speaker B: What about Sunday? Well, you gotta watch the NBA. Probably one of five. Yeah, see that would be perfect. Go to that game as soon as it finishes you into the bar for the NBA finals. But I don't know if you'll know your name by then.
[00:47:22] Speaker A: Knowing my history, if it's Frank the Tank or Roaming the Tank. Yeah. Probably wouldn't make it myself.
I would be operating but I probably wouldn't remember thing.
I guess we'll. We'll see, man.
Game seven, Sunday.
[00:47:40] Speaker B: Emergency emergency pod following game seven, possibly emergency pod.
[00:47:44] Speaker A: Pacer, six and a half point underdogs there. We have 10 wins this postseason as underdogs the most in like 10, 20 years.
[00:47:53] Speaker B: So our stack guy here, Jason, isn't here, but I was going to ask. I don't have the answer. Has there ever been a Game seven NBA Finals that has gone to overtime?
[00:48:04] Speaker A: I don't think so.
[00:48:07] Speaker B: So maybe, maybe we get a little overtime action on game seven. Or do we get, you know, a Howard Burton, like you said, that moment where he makes a shot or he misses a shot.
[00:48:17] Speaker A: We've had a couple. I guess it's been a while.
Seven and the Boston Celtics, probably ABA.
[00:48:23] Speaker B: Right, the ABA.
[00:48:24] Speaker A: The St. Louis Hawks.
All right. And then 1962 Celtics against the Lakers with the Celtics winning.
So it's been a long time. We'll see.
[00:48:38] Speaker B: 63 years.
That's a long time.
[00:48:43] Speaker A: All right, man, I'll do it. Thank you for coming on. Thanks for talking all this game Sixes, Stanley, Little Kalyn, baseball. I hope we can jump on on Sunday for instant reaction to.
[00:48:54] Speaker B: I'll be ready. I'll be ready.
[00:48:56] Speaker A: First game seven in almost 10 years.
I'm excited, man. We'll see. I'm gonna be a little drunk. I think we should all be a little drunk for the game seven results. We should be drinking on the pod on Sunday night. We'll let Jason know.
[00:49:10] Speaker B: Well, Jason's already under the weather. I don't know if drink is going to be on the top of his list.
[00:49:14] Speaker A: A little Nyquan whiskey. It's a good time, trust me.
[00:49:18] Speaker B: Yeah. Why? The wife make him up a margarita or something?
[00:49:21] Speaker A: Exactly.
