WEBVTT 00:00.291 --> 00:11.334 [SPEAKER_02]: Now playing open for this is open floor Sports Illustrated's Chris Manics back at an NDA podcast with Sports Illustrated senior writer. 00:11.595 --> 00:19.277 [SPEAKER_00]: I think it's time that the world gets to know my guy Chris Manics I think your opinion shared by everyone and now it begins now it begins 00:25.192 --> 00:26.273 [SPEAKER_04]: I can't believe I'm doing this. 00:28.615 --> 00:30.596 [SPEAKER_04]: I really can't believe I'm doing this. 00:31.017 --> 00:32.838 [SPEAKER_03]: I thought this was Pablo Tory finds out. 00:32.858 --> 00:35.240 [SPEAKER_03]: Is that? 00:35.520 --> 00:36.601 [SPEAKER_03]: I would not have come here. 00:38.122 --> 00:40.544 [SPEAKER_03]: Otherwise, I thought that was the show I was going on. 00:40.624 --> 00:41.805 [SPEAKER_04]: Alright, let me set this up. 00:42.045 --> 00:50.992 [SPEAKER_04]: Last week, as I am walking the concourse of the Frostbank Center in San Antonio, I heard a familiar voice. 00:51.472 --> 00:52.293 [SPEAKER_04]: The loud. 00:53.073 --> 00:59.154 [SPEAKER_04]: nasally sound that I've gotten used to over the last 20 years from some 30 feet away. 00:59.315 --> 01:09.777 [SPEAKER_04]: I turn around and I see my good friend Alex, who was among the thousands of Nick's fans who made the trip to Texas for the opener of the Spurs Nick series. 01:09.817 --> 01:14.038 [SPEAKER_04]: Now I've been on record many times and I'll repeat it here. 01:14.418 --> 01:18.219 [SPEAKER_04]: Nick's fans are the best fans in sports. 01:18.299 --> 01:18.979 [SPEAKER_04]: They are loyal, 01:23.740 --> 01:26.861 [SPEAKER_04]: They're effing crazy, but they're all those things. 01:26.881 --> 01:29.822 [SPEAKER_04]: Now, the nicks closed out the spurs in the files this week. 01:30.382 --> 01:32.943 [SPEAKER_04]: And as I record this, they're up to zip on the series. 01:33.784 --> 01:35.344 [SPEAKER_04]: They will turn this city upside down. 01:36.084 --> 01:46.248 [SPEAKER_04]: So, after years of impleting with me for a platform to unleash his nicks takes on, I've invited Alex onto the show. 01:46.448 --> 01:50.409 [SPEAKER_04]: And, as I said, is a decision that I immediately regret. 01:51.620 --> 02:08.327 [SPEAKER_03]: we have to go back a bit further by the way this is not me pleading okay like like in this is your show this is not me ple that you lost a bat fair you lost a bat a year ago but it was longer mr. confident said 02:09.585 --> 02:15.067 [SPEAKER_03]: I am so sure the Celtics are going to dispatch the NICS in the second round of the NBA playoffs. 02:15.207 --> 02:22.389 [SPEAKER_03]: See, I'm likely that if the NICS win the series, you can have 10 minutes unfettered on the podcast. 02:22.949 --> 02:24.790 [SPEAKER_03]: You've made a massive mistake, by the way. 02:26.738 --> 02:38.549 [SPEAKER_03]: I know I know more reasons than you know because you're inviting me on with the nicks up to oh the vibes are too good You should have had me on a podcast any time from 2013 to 2019. 02:38.589 --> 02:42.172 [SPEAKER_04]: You know the vibes are Almost too good. 02:42.212 --> 02:52.981 [SPEAKER_04]: I was at the Prax today and of course a typical next practice you've got fat Joe and Jatekis in the back of the room You've got Ben Stiller shooting the practice 02:53.882 --> 02:56.303 [SPEAKER_04]: or shooting the interviews with his iPhone. 02:57.184 --> 03:07.369 [SPEAKER_04]: And you had Fat Joe ask a question to Mike Brown, late in his presser, and he was using phrase that I know make Mike Brown cringe. 03:07.389 --> 03:14.212 [SPEAKER_04]: Like, when we win, like, there's a lot of, of when, when we do this going on right now, Alex, two things. 03:14.793 --> 03:17.974 [SPEAKER_03]: One, Fat Joe's question was better than the one you asked Bronson. 03:18.034 --> 03:19.615 [SPEAKER_03]: Like, this is much better, much better. 03:19.635 --> 03:20.656 [SPEAKER_03]: My mind is viral. 03:25.048 --> 03:26.069 [SPEAKER_03]: I'm very excited. 03:26.169 --> 03:26.789 [SPEAKER_03]: This is the problem. 03:26.809 --> 03:28.671 [SPEAKER_03]: This is why you're having the honor at the wrong time. 03:29.472 --> 03:32.714 [SPEAKER_03]: Because I'm very much in a protect my heart stage right now. 03:33.014 --> 03:40.080 [SPEAKER_03]: You're not getting angry, rabid nix fan who just watched Langston Gallo-A pop off 13 threes or 03:42.482 --> 03:44.183 [SPEAKER_03]: attempts by the way, not makes attempts. 03:44.843 --> 03:51.046 [SPEAKER_03]: You're not getting Jared Jeffries in his second tenure in New York City after the first one went so well. 03:51.566 --> 04:06.553 [SPEAKER_03]: You are getting Nick's fan who has been to Atlanta, been to Cleveland, been to San Antonio, vibes are through the roof, but visions of 94 just running through my head. 04:07.314 --> 04:09.595 [SPEAKER_04]: Wait, so how long have you been in Nick's fan? 04:10.803 --> 04:13.364 [SPEAKER_03]: Okay, so this is we'll get the sentimental stuff out of the way. 04:13.384 --> 04:14.905 [SPEAKER_03]: We'll get the sentimental. 04:15.125 --> 04:17.707 [SPEAKER_03]: I'm trying to send it up like the context you're 40 years old. 04:17.787 --> 04:38.157 [SPEAKER_03]: I'm a how long have you been a next recently 40 or like I'm not well into my 40s like somebody who's conductive also had one job in your whole And but the nicks were like 91 I would say my dad sat me down and was like this is Patrick Ewing. 04:39.685 --> 04:42.573 [SPEAKER_03]: This is, these are the next, these are who we root for. 04:43.195 --> 04:47.847 [SPEAKER_03]: And from that moment on, it has been the greatest source of aging in my life. 04:50.079 --> 04:58.781 [SPEAKER_03]: Um, but I have been there through all of it for as long as, like, my time on earth will have allowed me to be along for the ride. 04:59.181 --> 05:00.582 [SPEAKER_03]: I've been there for all the heartache. 05:00.622 --> 05:01.982 [SPEAKER_03]: I was there in 94. 05:02.482 --> 05:06.923 [SPEAKER_03]: I so vividly remember the last two minutes of game six of 94. 05:06.983 --> 05:17.285 [SPEAKER_03]: You know, from Starks coming off a screen to hit a three to cut it to two to him turning the ball over to a large one, blocking a three that would have won the championship. 05:20.686 --> 05:21.707 [SPEAKER_03]: where I was. 05:21.727 --> 05:23.708 [SPEAKER_03]: I was in a you'll appreciate this. 05:24.348 --> 05:29.230 [SPEAKER_03]: I was in a parking lot of a bar mitzvah in Sharon, Massachusetts. 05:29.610 --> 05:30.771 [SPEAKER_03]: This is not a joke. 05:31.751 --> 05:35.753 [SPEAKER_03]: When Larry Johnson had the four-point play listening on the radio. 05:38.334 --> 05:42.656 [SPEAKER_03]: I skipped out on the bar mitzvah to listen to my father's car. 05:42.836 --> 05:46.478 [SPEAKER_03]: I've been along for the ride for 36 of my 40 years 05:50.464 --> 05:53.286 [SPEAKER_03]: I hope there is some other rabbit fans listening to this, who will remember this. 05:53.866 --> 05:59.589 [SPEAKER_03]: My first ever next game was Nick's Pistons, and back then, the Nick's were sponsored by Pizza Hut. 06:01.050 --> 06:05.954 [SPEAKER_03]: And if the nicks scored over a hundred and held their opponent, I think it was to under 80. 06:06.054 --> 06:07.596 [SPEAKER_03]: I can't remember exactly, but it was something like that. 06:08.737 --> 06:10.398 [SPEAKER_03]: Everyone in the crowd would get a free pizza. 06:11.059 --> 06:15.563 [SPEAKER_03]: So at the end of the game, everyone would chant, pizza, pizza, like this was a thing. 06:16.103 --> 06:21.088 [SPEAKER_03]: And the nicks were smoking the pisses, it had to be like 93 or 94, first ever game. 06:21.668 --> 06:27.553 [SPEAKER_03]: And Bill Lambeer literally got up with like 20 seconds left. 06:28.694 --> 06:35.402 [SPEAKER_03]: and shouted to whoever was still on the floor for the pistons, don't let them get their effen pizza. 06:36.063 --> 06:44.272 [SPEAKER_03]: And someone jacked up a shot as time expired to put the pistons over whatever the threshold was, so no one got their pizza. 06:44.632 --> 06:49.878 [SPEAKER_03]: These are the nicks, even when the nicks won, they were a source of heartbreak for me. 06:51.453 --> 06:54.636 [SPEAKER_03]: Like 94, heartbreak, right? 06:54.676 --> 06:58.159 [SPEAKER_04]: So, all right, 94 was the beginning of the heartbreak. 06:58.660 --> 07:03.104 [SPEAKER_04]: Of your, now, 30 some odd years of Nick's fandom. 07:03.164 --> 07:06.347 [SPEAKER_03]: 94 is the first time I can be like, I remember this so vividly. 07:06.407 --> 07:15.556 [SPEAKER_03]: I remember the Game 5 OJ Chase, like I said, I could give you just a rundown of the last five minutes of Game 6. 07:16.732 --> 07:19.855 [SPEAKER_03]: down, you know, we were down seven, we made this crazy comeback. 07:19.875 --> 07:21.297 [SPEAKER_03]: We had this shot for the win. 07:22.077 --> 07:27.783 [SPEAKER_03]: Stark's committed worse turn over, ever trying to know, look past to you, and like, 07:28.868 --> 07:53.175 [SPEAKER_03]: and then I've just been along for the right ever since because the thing about the nicks, the thing about the nicks which I think other rabid nicks fans will appreciate but perhaps people like you will not, is people like me, people like you, there's a consistency there like I have gotten to listen to Clyde Frazier called basically every game for my whole life. 07:54.055 --> 07:57.396 [SPEAKER_03]: I have had either Marvel, Albert, or Mike Priy. 07:57.456 --> 08:04.439 [SPEAKER_03]: I've had the NBA's A and Nouncer calling our local games basically every game for the last 40 years. 08:05.080 --> 08:09.601 [SPEAKER_03]: Like, there is a certain consistency about being a next fan. 08:09.641 --> 08:18.285 [SPEAKER_03]: It's not always happy times, but there is a certain consistency about being a next fan that I don't know how to explain it, but they are just a constant in my life. 08:18.325 --> 08:20.546 [SPEAKER_03]: I gave some version of this speech. 08:21.515 --> 08:35.926 [SPEAKER_03]: For my 40th birthday, but I'll try to give you a truncated version, which is like anyone who has ever loved me or been loved by me has experienced the nicks with me over the last 40 years and I feel like all those dudes you see 08:37.485 --> 08:42.588 [SPEAKER_03]: jumping rapidly outside of Madison Square Garden or like at the watch parties in Harlem. 08:43.268 --> 08:45.189 [SPEAKER_03]: Like, these dudes didn't come out and know her. 08:45.209 --> 08:52.093 [SPEAKER_03]: There's a few cloud chasers in there, but by and large, these do, we share a mutual, there's a few there. 08:52.494 --> 08:57.256 [SPEAKER_03]: There's a few in there, I mean, you're not a guy who's ever passed up in an opportunity to be in front of a camera. 08:57.536 --> 08:58.697 [SPEAKER_04]: Well, it's my job. 08:59.678 --> 09:03.340 [SPEAKER_03]: You've never had, there have been some times you would have been better served to say now. 09:04.368 --> 09:18.747 [SPEAKER_03]: That's half my job yeah, but there are a couple guys out there, but by and large like you got to remember it was a big deal and this was during the Isaiah era when the nicks didn't sell out a game for the first time in like 30 years because people still went to the games 09:19.376 --> 09:21.817 [SPEAKER_03]: That's not happening in Memphis right now. 09:21.857 --> 09:23.577 [SPEAKER_03]: That's not happening in Sacramento. 09:23.637 --> 09:25.838 [SPEAKER_03]: Like, Nick's fans always showed up. 09:26.238 --> 09:30.119 [SPEAKER_03]: Those dudes out there have lived the same experience that I've lived. 09:30.940 --> 09:33.380 [SPEAKER_03]: A lot of them will remember the heartache of 94, you know? 09:35.801 --> 09:41.043 [SPEAKER_03]: I wouldn't call 99 hardache because we were the eight-seed, but then we kind of got rolled over in that series. 09:41.144 --> 09:41.984 [SPEAKER_03]: But you wouldn't get, sir. 09:42.304 --> 09:44.605 [SPEAKER_03]: You know, but we'll remember that experience. 09:44.645 --> 09:55.570 [SPEAKER_03]: Then we'll just remember the torture that has followed, like get swept by the nets with Lenny Wilkins's our head coach and like penny hardaway out there jacking threes up. 09:55.710 --> 09:58.991 [SPEAKER_04]: You had some lean years over the last two decades, years. 09:59.372 --> 10:00.892 [SPEAKER_04]: Years that were so true. 10:00.992 --> 10:02.293 [SPEAKER_03]: Stints of Jared Jefferies. 10:03.673 --> 10:04.093 [SPEAKER_04]: My God. 10:04.133 --> 10:05.935 [SPEAKER_04]: Who stinks of Jared Jefferson. 10:05.955 --> 10:06.536 [SPEAKER_03]: My God. 10:07.597 --> 10:17.186 [SPEAKER_03]: Jared Jeffrey's had it made a lot of money by virtue of being a graduate of Indiana University, which just happened to be where Isaiah Thomas went to school. 10:18.067 --> 10:21.610 [SPEAKER_03]: Like that is how we were signing guys to massive deals. 10:22.731 --> 10:24.913 [SPEAKER_03]: Like even the Carmelo trade. 10:25.414 --> 10:28.937 [SPEAKER_03]: Like watching Mike Dantonie come in. 10:29.725 --> 10:31.566 [SPEAKER_03]: with this revolutionary offense. 10:32.106 --> 10:34.407 [SPEAKER_03]: Suddenly, like, teams are scared of us. 10:34.947 --> 10:37.308 [SPEAKER_03]: Galenari looks like the best rookie in the league. 10:37.348 --> 10:42.731 [SPEAKER_03]: Jamal Crawford and Zeebo are rejuvenated, and then we just trade the whole team. 10:44.446 --> 10:49.608 [SPEAKER_03]: to set up signing LeBron James, who doesn't come, right? 10:50.228 --> 10:58.992 [SPEAKER_03]: We strike out on all the free agents that year, and then we sell the whole team, what was it a year later to get Carmelo? 10:59.732 --> 11:00.032 [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, 11:03.895 --> 11:09.659 [SPEAKER_04]: Take your time, have a sip of water, and you've got to, you've got to warm up to this. 11:09.739 --> 11:13.321 [SPEAKER_04]: It's been a frustrating two decades of futility for days. 11:13.341 --> 11:17.984 [SPEAKER_03]: Well, because the other thing too, that every next to every next fan, will remember. 11:19.000 --> 11:22.723 [SPEAKER_03]: Like, there have been a lot of ebs, but we all remember the tiny flows. 11:22.743 --> 11:29.427 [SPEAKER_03]: Like, obviously there was linseanity, all die on the hill that when Mike Miller took over for David Fizzdale. 11:29.707 --> 11:32.289 [SPEAKER_03]: Like, that team was playing inspired basketball. 11:32.309 --> 11:34.350 [SPEAKER_03]: I don't care that we were still the worst team in the NBA. 11:34.390 --> 11:37.532 [SPEAKER_03]: Like, Mike Miller, not that Mike Miller, but... 11:37.613 --> 11:37.973 [SPEAKER_04]: Yes. 11:38.053 --> 11:38.933 [SPEAKER_03]: Different Mike Miller. 11:39.013 --> 11:48.100 [SPEAKER_03]: I don't know what horrible West Coast team you're an assistant on now, Mike Miller, but if you're listening to this, you had that team in playing inspired basketball 11:49.418 --> 11:52.279 [SPEAKER_03]: the 20's some odd games due coach before tips came in. 11:52.599 --> 11:58.000 [SPEAKER_03]: Like we all remember the little flows in those 20 years. 11:58.520 --> 12:12.643 [SPEAKER_03]: You know, and every time, inevitably, whether it was ownership or team leadership or a player, mellow, somebody would ruin it. 12:13.763 --> 12:14.743 [SPEAKER_03]: And pretty swiftly. 12:18.897 --> 12:32.553 [SPEAKER_04]: no one hated linseanity more than Carmella Anthony, I think you might admit that now, I don't think Carmella post post playing days has been pretty open about some of his past and by the way, let me add to this 12:33.805 --> 12:47.595 [SPEAKER_03]: One of the coolest things about linsanity that no one will remember except for Nick Sands is where it started or when it started was the Saturday before the Giants Patriot Super Bowl in Indianapolis. 12:48.296 --> 12:54.941 [SPEAKER_03]: And because New York fans are crazy, I remember finding out about Jeremy Lynn's line against the nets. 12:54.961 --> 12:56.822 [SPEAKER_03]: Because by the way, the Antonio was like about to get fired. 12:56.862 --> 12:57.683 [SPEAKER_03]: He was out the door. 12:58.503 --> 13:13.769 [SPEAKER_03]: I remember learning about Jeremy Lynn's game against the nets where we snapped our losing streak and Lynn's sanity began from my friend Keith, who was shouting it out to a crowded bar called the Wild Beaver in downtown Indianapolis that was packed with the Giants fans. 13:14.290 --> 13:24.134 [SPEAKER_03]: And the Giants fans, who obviously were also Knicks fans, started celebrating because we beat the nets and that is where Lynn's sanity began for me, amongst the traveling Knicks fans. 13:24.914 --> 13:25.555 [SPEAKER_03]: Indianapolis. 13:25.575 --> 13:27.436 [SPEAKER_04]: What is it about the nicks? 13:27.717 --> 13:34.783 [SPEAKER_04]: I mean, it's been explained to me about the nicks in New York that They're able to capture this fan base because there's no competition, right? 13:34.803 --> 13:44.692 [SPEAKER_04]: The nets were jerseys, they're Brooklyn, but nobody cares Baseball you got the Yankees you've got the meds football you got the giants you got the jets hockey the Rangers and do I guess to a certain degree? 13:44.712 --> 13:45.132 [SPEAKER_04]: The Islanders. 13:45.152 --> 13:49.216 [SPEAKER_04]: I'm not really a New York hockey connoisseur, but really like nope. 13:49.236 --> 13:50.337 [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, what do you want for me? 13:51.097 --> 13:58.260 [SPEAKER_04]: Um, what is it about the nicks that inspires this kind of insane passion? 13:58.360 --> 14:09.944 [SPEAKER_04]: And in insane passion, I would argue, I don't think, I mean, Yankees fans, I guess they travel, but I don't feel Yankees fans as much as I watched on game games, as much as you can feel nicks fans and games. 14:10.664 --> 14:11.284 [SPEAKER_03]: Well, let me say this. 14:11.384 --> 14:16.786 [SPEAKER_03]: So as a diehard Yankee fan as well as you know, the Yankees have had success. 14:17.106 --> 14:18.787 [SPEAKER_03]: We are not starved for success. 14:19.683 --> 14:43.668 [SPEAKER_03]: this current iteration of the Yankees is disappointing because they cannot and will not live up to you remember the 90s you remember the early past that the nicks your somebody of my age the nicks basically tease you for a decade in the 90s and have been horrible ever since like you can we could have 14:44.297 --> 14:50.537 [SPEAKER_03]: a detailed conversation about every good nix season since 2022 and not take up much time. 14:51.611 --> 14:55.112 [SPEAKER_03]: Like, there hasn't been a lot to go on, but New York is a basketball city. 14:55.412 --> 14:59.473 [SPEAKER_03]: It's the same reason why when St. John steps up, you know, I'm a Yukon guy as you know. 15:00.313 --> 15:01.434 [SPEAKER_03]: Well, I'm a Miami Ohio guy. 15:01.454 --> 15:02.314 [SPEAKER_03]: I don't want to argue. 15:02.334 --> 15:04.175 [SPEAKER_03]: I'm a Miami father went to Yukon. 15:04.215 --> 15:08.816 [SPEAKER_04]: You drag me to Miamiville, Ohio game, and where were we Western Michigan or Eastern Michigan? 15:08.836 --> 15:09.476 [SPEAKER_03]: Eastern Michigan? 15:09.616 --> 15:10.476 [SPEAKER_03]: So offensive. 15:12.737 --> 15:16.038 [SPEAKER_03]: How do you not know the difference between Ipsilanti and Kalamazoo? 15:16.397 --> 15:35.545 [SPEAKER_03]: I don't know, I know, sitting in like a high school gym, watching your college team the George Gervin game above center in Ipsilanti, whatever, it was an hour-long Uber ride out of Detroit and by the way, you missed getting some good traffic to the website by not writing about the undefeated Red Hawks, but 15:36.888 --> 15:40.691 [SPEAKER_03]: I learned about basketball by virtue of the nicks and by virtue of the big East. 15:40.731 --> 15:49.997 [SPEAKER_03]: And by the way, that's one of the cool things about that nobody's writing about these finals, which is like, the reason why game two is so physical, other than the fact that the referees were trying to hand the game to the spurs. 15:50.037 --> 16:01.385 [SPEAKER_04]: That's you had some very, see, my tech, I have to like mute you on game nights because my text messages get more and more explicit and vulgar as the game goes on. 16:01.765 --> 16:06.248 [SPEAKER_04]: Like I'm pretty sure you threaten Tony Brothers life at one point during the game. 16:06.508 --> 16:09.091 [SPEAKER_04]: You were, you were very adamant to Tony, probably. 16:09.111 --> 16:11.674 [SPEAKER_03]: But again, this is why you fake news media. 16:14.277 --> 16:22.125 [SPEAKER_03]: This is, I mean, you guys, I texted you when Mitchell Robinson picked up that T. And I was like, that is horrible. 16:22.165 --> 16:23.567 [SPEAKER_04]: That is so soft. 16:23.687 --> 16:24.648 [SPEAKER_04]: Use a boxing reference. 16:24.869 --> 16:27.872 [SPEAKER_03]: I said that is so soft, those aren't, not verbatim, but. 16:28.493 --> 16:32.015 [SPEAKER_03]: And you were like, oh, the refs are calling it both ways. 16:32.055 --> 16:34.035 [SPEAKER_03]: It's like, no one wants to take a stand. 16:34.055 --> 16:37.857 [SPEAKER_03]: Now the NBA comes out and they've rescinded the T. That depends on all the time. 16:37.917 --> 16:40.098 [SPEAKER_03]: No, no, no, take a stand in real time. 16:40.118 --> 16:41.059 [SPEAKER_03]: That is so fun. 16:41.139 --> 16:43.340 [SPEAKER_03]: It's one point in like the second quarter. 16:43.360 --> 16:44.320 [SPEAKER_03]: What are we talking about? 16:44.680 --> 16:47.742 [SPEAKER_03]: And did one point make a difference in a one point game? 16:48.622 --> 16:49.262 [SPEAKER_04]: Turns out it did. 16:49.542 --> 16:52.003 [SPEAKER_04]: But at the time, you're like, all right, let's move on. 16:52.264 --> 16:53.024 [SPEAKER_04]: I thought that was it. 16:53.264 --> 16:54.965 [SPEAKER_04]: It was a Tiki-Tak type of all the time. 16:54.985 --> 16:55.225 [SPEAKER_03]: But like, 16:56.236 --> 17:01.778 [SPEAKER_03]: I think the reason that game was so physical and can be so physical is that's Big East Hoops. 17:01.838 --> 17:06.940 [SPEAKER_03]: Like you got three Villanova dudes starting for the next. 17:07.281 --> 17:09.541 [SPEAKER_03]: You've got Steffin Castle from Yukon. 17:11.302 --> 17:13.443 [SPEAKER_03]: Well, Dylan Rutgers isn't the Big East any more. 17:13.783 --> 17:15.304 [SPEAKER_03]: Champennes is St. John's guy. 17:15.324 --> 17:24.868 [SPEAKER_03]: Like this is Big East Hoops, but my point being, I don't really know where we got to with this, but like New York is a basketball town. 17:25.669 --> 17:31.574 [SPEAKER_03]: New York is a, like, there is not a baseball field on random street corners in Manhattan. 17:31.995 --> 17:36.399 [SPEAKER_03]: There are historic basketball courts all over the city. 17:37.273 --> 17:46.119 [SPEAKER_03]: where I would venture to say most of the dudes playing in this finals have stepped on one of those courts at some time at some point, particularly given that a lot of them have northeast ties. 17:46.239 --> 17:48.641 [SPEAKER_04]: The cage down on Westforth, Russ Horan. 17:48.681 --> 17:54.825 [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I mean, you could go all over the city or maybe when you should take a trip to Westforth so we can get bodied. 17:55.706 --> 17:56.566 [SPEAKER_04]: Good time at the cage. 17:56.806 --> 17:57.567 [SPEAKER_04]: He might do that though. 17:57.587 --> 17:58.608 [SPEAKER_04]: He might take some joy in that. 17:59.668 --> 18:03.431 [SPEAKER_04]: Where does last year rank on the NYX heartbreak, oh, meter? 18:03.451 --> 18:06.253 [SPEAKER_04]: Because you had to believe you had a good shot to beat the Pacers in that round. 18:07.955 --> 18:12.939 [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I would say, it felt like the 90s. 18:13.179 --> 18:15.601 [SPEAKER_03]: It felt like, okay, this is, we've got a good team. 18:16.222 --> 18:17.563 [SPEAKER_03]: We've got a competitive team. 18:18.684 --> 18:20.305 [SPEAKER_03]: The vibes were very high as you know. 18:22.187 --> 18:28.072 [SPEAKER_04]: I think you said, what did you say about our fan base after we flooded seven to Avenue for beating the Celtics? 18:28.674 --> 18:34.940 [SPEAKER_03]: I just want it on the record, so if you're seeing on 7,000th anniversary finals, I just make your fans happy. 18:35.100 --> 18:38.443 [SPEAKER_04]: I just lavished Nick Spans with praise. 18:38.543 --> 18:39.044 [SPEAKER_04]: I have been. 18:39.304 --> 18:53.998 [SPEAKER_04]: You're crazy and you tend to over-selebrate early achievements, which often happened, which often contributes, but often contributes to the heartbreak, like you get so amped up for winning a first round series, the whole 18:55.730 --> 19:18.054 [SPEAKER_03]: riots my riots is a stronger but the whole celebration's outside MSG thing started I think it was 2021 on the opening game of the season we won game one forget a playoff game we won game one and that big-bong video went viral of people losing their minds outside MSG like celebrate early we celebrate game one of 82 19:21.543 --> 19:29.095 [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, last year, I don't, they all suck when you don't win, but I've 40 years, I haven't, we haven't won, so I don't know. 19:29.756 --> 19:31.118 [SPEAKER_04]: Where do you stand on Brunson? 19:36.015 --> 19:56.567 [SPEAKER_04]: other than being the greatest basketball player we go I've been like I've gotten some of these nicks fan videos in my algorithm so now every time I scroll I see something new and I've seen like these guys that somebody will ask these people like would you let Jalen Brunson basically have prima knocked on your girlfriend and some of them like my girlfriend is my mom 20:05.934 --> 20:09.697 [SPEAKER_03]: Okay, but again, gonna take you to task fake news media. 20:09.937 --> 20:18.763 [SPEAKER_03]: What's all MBA media this is what you guys do you guys And I'm gonna lump all of you guys into one great to one pot here. 20:18.803 --> 20:23.767 [SPEAKER_03]: I'm sure not being fair to some people all year all We hear from NBA media is 20:24.300 --> 20:28.061 [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, the nicks aren't that good, Jalen Brunson is a minus defender. 20:28.581 --> 20:32.603 [SPEAKER_03]: Every team is going to put you guys in the pick and roll and dominate you guys. 20:33.003 --> 20:34.303 [SPEAKER_03]: You guys can't guard it. 20:35.284 --> 20:38.645 [SPEAKER_03]: When you guys see playoff schemes, you're not going to know what to do with it. 20:38.705 --> 20:40.906 [SPEAKER_03]: It's like, do you watch the games? 20:42.046 --> 20:45.907 [SPEAKER_03]: Do you actually do watch the games before you open publicly? 20:46.007 --> 20:48.148 [SPEAKER_04]: Well, you did finish third in Eastern Conference. 20:49.245 --> 21:00.168 [SPEAKER_03]: Spurs finished second in the western part of it's a tad different and they were like right there on the funder's tail and if only there were Games during the regular season to compare the nicks in the spurs before we got to this point 21:01.281 --> 21:02.121 [SPEAKER_04]: Okay, that would be a cup. 21:02.522 --> 21:02.762 [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. 21:03.822 --> 21:06.424 [SPEAKER_04]: You saw how much did you celebrate the NBA Cup? 21:06.524 --> 21:07.965 [SPEAKER_04]: Like it was a championship at that point. 21:08.605 --> 21:10.426 [SPEAKER_04]: You did, you did, you did. 21:10.806 --> 21:12.587 [SPEAKER_04]: I could find the tax messages, you did. 21:13.087 --> 21:21.732 [SPEAKER_03]: First up, you can find tax messages from me if you so wanted to from like a Tuesday night at 10 PM on the road against the sun. 21:21.752 --> 21:22.913 [SPEAKER_03]: It's fair. 21:23.913 --> 21:27.455 [SPEAKER_03]: You have tax messages from me from Godalinos. 21:27.887 --> 21:32.854 [SPEAKER_03]: The NBA Cup was fun because it's an excuse to go to Vegas and watch the next play. 21:33.655 --> 21:38.803 [SPEAKER_03]: But I'm very happy that the franchise shows not to hang a banner or not celebrated too much. 21:43.364 --> 22:08.136 [SPEAKER_03]: I think it's pretty clear that you're not taking it that I'm sure the team was happy they want I'm sure the dudes in the roster were throw with the bonus but I think you've sent a message to the league writ large that this isn't exactly what you're playing for when it's part of your celebration one of your starters is sticking his thumb up another starters but on stage you're referring to Josh Hart in jail in Bronson yes so like 22:09.197 --> 22:10.659 [SPEAKER_03]: I think we made it pretty clear from the beginning. 22:10.819 --> 22:17.827 [SPEAKER_03]: Cool that we won, awesome that we won, fun, excuse to go to Vegas with friends, but not what we're playing for. 22:18.688 --> 22:23.793 [SPEAKER_03]: And by the way, Adam Silver, if you're listening and I'm sure you're not, because it's not of a pause. 22:23.813 --> 22:26.877 [SPEAKER_03]: Because this is not public, or if you can't stand on the pause, Adam Silver. 22:26.897 --> 22:29.600 [SPEAKER_03]: But stop trying to be European soccer. 22:29.983 --> 22:32.307 [SPEAKER_03]: Like, we don't need a cup in the middle of the season. 22:32.367 --> 22:35.272 [SPEAKER_03]: Thank you for trying to make the NBA. 22:35.292 --> 22:39.018 [SPEAKER_04]: The trying to make the NBA regular season more meaningful. 22:39.078 --> 22:40.360 [SPEAKER_04]: That's all they're trying to do. 22:42.002 --> 22:45.244 [SPEAKER_03]: bite by a game in the middle of December that doesn't count. 22:45.365 --> 23:01.617 [SPEAKER_04]: It doesn't, it doesn't, it doesn't, my view on that is like, it doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt anybody to have this tournament midseason and I actually might make some of these games a little bit more interesting because otherwise November December basketball for everyone outside of Manhattan Zip code doesn't really mean all that much. 23:02.635 --> 23:12.729 [SPEAKER_03]: Maybe, but at the same time, you've got these games that have become circus acts where dudes are trying to run up the score in the final minute of 20 point games because point differential matters or something like that. 23:13.009 --> 23:14.491 [SPEAKER_03]: That's not NBA basketball. 23:14.511 --> 23:15.572 [SPEAKER_04]: We're going down a rabbit hole here. 23:15.592 --> 23:16.774 [SPEAKER_04]: I don't want to talk about the NBA Cup. 23:16.794 --> 23:19.778 [SPEAKER_04]: We've got to wrap this up because I'm hungry and I want to go go out to 23:20.118 --> 23:22.660 [SPEAKER_03]: And I think you owe me dinner, by the way, I have to look up the table. 23:22.680 --> 23:27.683 [SPEAKER_04]: I have to feel, I've actually winning one of these, not a four Charles, I'm not taking the dinner. 23:27.723 --> 23:32.666 [SPEAKER_03]: I'm taking you to four Arby's, first of all, you once compared four Charles to Apple. 23:32.706 --> 23:36.848 [SPEAKER_04]: Well, that's only because I'd like to piss you off, and it's not that it's okay. 23:38.369 --> 23:41.791 [SPEAKER_04]: The Bronson Conversation, next when the championship, greatest nick of all time. 23:42.704 --> 23:45.205 [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I've had this conversation with friends of mine. 23:45.225 --> 23:47.245 [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, he's already cleared mellow for sure. 23:47.805 --> 23:49.966 [SPEAKER_03]: I think he's already cleared youing to be quite honest. 23:50.406 --> 23:51.426 [SPEAKER_04]: Youing to be the only cop. 23:51.686 --> 23:54.987 [SPEAKER_04]: Well, it's not the only cop condition because you got Clyde and you get all the guys from the 70's teams. 23:55.027 --> 23:58.848 [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I mean, look, youing, I think there's probably some reacency bias there with you. 23:58.868 --> 23:59.448 [SPEAKER_03]: How many percent? 23:59.488 --> 24:02.909 [SPEAKER_03]: But, and youing ran into like, I mean, for sure. 24:03.029 --> 24:05.029 [SPEAKER_03]: I think he's right there with youing right now, though. 24:05.049 --> 24:07.510 [SPEAKER_03]: I think that's, they're in the same conversation. 24:08.130 --> 24:12.913 [SPEAKER_03]: the guys you're talking about now are read, Fraser, the guys that won championships. 24:13.593 --> 24:16.975 [SPEAKER_03]: He wins this, he's at least right there in the conversation with those guys. 24:17.355 --> 24:18.175 [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. 24:18.636 --> 24:25.099 [SPEAKER_04]: If the next win, if the next win in four, what is the celebration going to be like for you on Wednesday night? 24:26.980 --> 24:27.901 [SPEAKER_03]: I'm going to get sentimental. 24:28.961 --> 24:32.303 [SPEAKER_03]: I am going to game four one way or another with my father. 24:34.291 --> 24:35.973 [SPEAKER_03]: I'm finding us away in that building. 24:36.373 --> 24:37.895 [SPEAKER_03]: James Dillon, if you're a fan of the pod. 24:39.176 --> 24:40.037 [SPEAKER_04]: Probably not a listener. 24:41.018 --> 24:48.726 [SPEAKER_03]: If you're a fan of the pod, if someone had massed in scoreguards, if a fan of the pod, I'm going to that game with my 78-year-old father, the man that taught me how to be a nix fan. 24:51.329 --> 24:53.792 [SPEAKER_03]: I got a little emotional after game one in San Antonio. 24:54.813 --> 24:55.313 [SPEAKER_03]: I was like, 24:56.620 --> 25:00.102 [SPEAKER_03]: Man, this is as close as we've been in my adult life. 25:00.622 --> 25:05.425 [SPEAKER_03]: Like, this is, I've got to protect my heart a little bit, but I'm beginning to feel it. 25:07.246 --> 25:10.869 [SPEAKER_03]: So, I don't know that the celebration's gonna be wild. 25:10.889 --> 25:13.050 [SPEAKER_03]: The celebration might get a little emotional though. 25:13.610 --> 25:19.994 [SPEAKER_03]: If we do it in the garden, if I've got my dad next to me, like that would be very, very meaningful for me on many levels. 25:20.334 --> 25:22.336 [SPEAKER_04]: And if you lose four of the next five, 25:31.980 --> 25:44.231 [SPEAKER_03]: But again, I remember, I can't, I can't, this would beat 94, this would beat 94, but that's why I got super excited after game one, super excited after game two. 25:46.533 --> 25:49.596 [SPEAKER_03]: As loud as the noxious is anyone yelling nicks in four. 25:49.656 --> 25:50.036 [SPEAKER_03]: Confirmed. 25:50.256 --> 25:50.517 [SPEAKER_03]: Bye. 25:53.060 --> 25:59.323 [SPEAKER_03]: Like, I'm just tempering it a little bit because there's still basketball to be played. 25:59.904 --> 26:07.748 [SPEAKER_03]: And by the way, I'd be remiss my one shot on the podcast if I didn't say this about why the Nixon mean this much in New York. 26:10.080 --> 26:22.545 [SPEAKER_03]: As much as Nick's like, I think the one thing about Nick's fans too, if you just did like a man on the street about Nick's fans, they will not just remember specific games, players, moments, successes, losses, whatever. 26:32.523 --> 26:48.393 [SPEAKER_03]: If you worked in then Brooklyn Burrell President Marty Markowitz's office, around the time the net's located to Brooklyn, and you got an anonymous, but very strongly worded letter after Marty Markowitz went on record and started referring to the Nixon Manhattan Nixon. 26:49.574 --> 26:53.176 [SPEAKER_03]: I think the statute of limitations for whatever I wrote has now passed. 26:55.616 --> 27:03.621 [SPEAKER_03]: And I can raise my hand, because I remember that comment and literally thought about finding where the burrow president of Brooklyn works out of. 27:04.741 --> 27:08.524 [SPEAKER_03]: Just so I could go lamb-fast him for trying to bring down the nicks. 27:11.866 --> 27:16.508 [SPEAKER_04]: Well, I think that fulfills my obligation to you and to nicks fans out there. 27:16.728 --> 27:17.949 [SPEAKER_03]: I sense a recurring segment. 27:18.730 --> 27:23.492 [SPEAKER_01]: Mayor Muslim, my bagus, you wish, my Christian New York, thank you!