00:00Hi, everyone. Welcome to First Take. My name is Shea Cornett. We got Van Housen of Bonata here.
00:06Mike Wilbon's in the house with me today. Hello.
00:09Let's do it. We're holding it down for Chicago and then out in L.A. Stephen A. Smith and Cameron.
00:14Hi, guys.
00:15Hey, what's going on? How y'all doing?
00:16What's up? I mean, you know, Shea. Good morning, Shea. I mean, I'm trying to figure out why Mike Wilbon
00:23is there in New York.
00:24I don't know if I should generate a protest that blocks Mike Wilbon from being in New York City, let
00:33alone at a Knicks game.
00:35I'm here for 40 years. He's not going to games.
00:37You know, he is not here for good news for the New York Knicks. This is what Wilbon does.
00:43Let me tell you this real quick, Stephen A. Smith. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mike. I'm a big
00:48fan.
00:48I'm Ron. Thank you. This is the trailblazer.
00:51Of course. This is who makes this happen. This doesn't happen without Wilbon.
00:55We all know that. But that doesn't mean we can't come up with a scheme to keep him from Madison
01:02Square Garden.
01:03We got to figure out something because he is not on our side at all.
01:07Wait a minute. The leading man for the New York Knicks. Remind us where he's from, Stephen A.
01:14Jalen Brunson is from where? Produced by where?
01:18Chicago.
01:19Chicago. Thank you, Shea. Thanks.
01:21This is a fact.
01:22So, with that said, we're going to talk about the Knicks a little bit later on.
01:25For now, let's go to the West here in the Western Conference Finals.
01:28Spurs and Thunder in Game 1. And my goodness, did last night not disappoint at all.
01:33Before the game even tipped off, though, Shea Gilgis-Alexander was handed his second straight MVP trophy.
01:38However, it was hard for him to live up to that MVP caliber with the way the Spurs defended him.
01:43SGA only shot 7 of 23 from the floor.
01:45He committed four turnovers along the way as well.
01:48He did still finish with a double-double.
01:50However, Victor Wemenyama also had a double-double.
01:54His was a little more next level.
01:5541 points, 24 boards, and 49 minutes of work.
01:59Wemby did have help from all over to give them a Game 1 win in double OT.
02:04122-115 was the final.
02:06But here was Wemby being asked about Shea winning MVP.
02:09It's a pretty natural response for a competitor to see another competitor get something that
02:14he wants, you know, whether it's the MVP trophy or whatever it might be.
02:17I'm just curious if that was in your mind at all, knowing that Shea had got that award
02:20and you were in the top three for it.
02:22And, you know, did any part of tonight feel personal?
02:25Did some of your facial expressions kind of look like you were really, really going for it?
02:29Yeah, for sure.
02:31Everything you just said.
02:31I say I got a lot to learn.
02:37And I want to get that trophy, you know, many times in my career.
02:42Oh, boy.
02:43All right.
02:43So, we have a motivated Wemby, a Game 1 win on the road for the Spurs.
02:47Stephen A., are the Thunder in trouble after last night?
02:51I believe they are only from this standpoint.
02:53I'm with Will Bond and Wendy and what Wendy, what both of them said earlier on, get up.
02:58In terms of not overreacting to one game.
03:01But we do have two eyes.
03:03I've got 20-20 vision.
03:04I know I need my reading glasses from time to time.
03:06But for the most part, I see pretty damn well.
03:09And what I saw last night there is definitely caused to pause and to be very, very concerned.
03:14Cameron's going to get on me about this.
03:15Will Bond's going to get up on me because Will Bond can't help himself.
03:18But I'm just going to be honest, like, because the honest broker that I am.
03:22I didn't sleep well last night.
03:24I didn't sleep well last night because I'm a native New Yorker.
03:28obviously with huge aspirations for the Knicks.
03:31And we'll talk about them later.
03:32But I'm watching that brother win Benyama last night.
03:35And I said, oh, my God.
03:37What answer is there possibly for this brother?
03:41He's 22 years of age, over 40 points, 24 rebounds, several blocks.
03:48And I'm looking at it, and I said, listen, Oklahoma City, they need Jalen Williams to play in this series
03:57in order for them to win.
03:59Well, he was there last night.
04:00And Caruso had a career game last night.
04:03And the San Antonio Spurs didn't have De'Aaron Fox last night due to his sore ankle.
04:10And they still won the damn game.
04:12And when we talk about youth and all of this other stuff, it's not like they came out like gangbusters
04:16and ran away with it, even though they started the game on a 7-0 run.
04:19It went to double overtime, and their composure didn't dissipate at all.
04:27They didn't flinch.
04:28And I'm looking at this, and I'm saying, Oklahoma City has lost five of six games to this team this
04:35year.
04:36You can't come back from this team down 0-2.
04:39You're not beating the San Antonio Spurs in this series if you fall 0-2.
04:46Game two is a must-win situation.
04:50If not, the San Antonio Spurs are going to the finals.
04:55That's where I'm at with it.
04:57Yeah, Wilby, just so you know, the Spurs are my team.
05:00It's been my team since Sean Elliott's been there, Avery Johnson, so on and so forth.
05:04So me and Mitch Johnson coached them the victory last night.
05:07You know, I was at the TV yelling everything I said, Mitch did.
05:11The reason I'm bringing that up is because Stephen A. is taking credit for the Knicks coming out of 2
05:18-1 deficit to Atlanta.
05:19He said that's because of him.
05:21The motivational speech that I gave, Wilby, right in front of you.
05:25They were undefeated ever since.
05:27He's taking credit for that.
05:28Not only that, for turning the organization around when he said that the Dallas Cowboys were a better organization than
05:36the New York Knicks.
05:36So basically, I'm taking credit for the win as well last night.
05:39But everything you just said was correct, Stephen A.
05:41When I'm sitting there thinking about this, and I love Stephon Castle.
05:45I think he's going to be top five player in the next two, three years.
05:48And he has 11 turnovers.
05:51He had a unique triple-double.
05:53You know, he had a double-double on assists and points.
05:55But 11 turnovers.
05:57And they still come up with this win.
05:58And what I really loved about this was that I usually see Coach Mitch relax, cool.
06:06He was getting up in people last night.
06:08He was holding people responsible.
06:09Sixth man of the year at Johnson.
06:11Come sit on the bench with me.
06:12You miss out on assignments.
06:13Dylan Harper, let me talk to you.
06:15You're not closing out on three points, three-point shots.
06:18I thought that he did an exceptional job.
06:20Even though Mark Dagnor did a great job, I thought it was a great basketball mind game.
06:24But it's just certain things you can't coach.
06:26When you're going to transition in your first overtime, and when we pull from 27, 28 feet,
06:32to send it in the double overtime, that's not on your X in the nose board.
06:36So like you said, Caruso had a great game.
06:39SGA subpar so far during the playoffs this far.
06:42But when you have this much talent and this young, I was very impressed.
06:47Are they going to win?
06:48I'm not going to be a prisoner of the moment, but I will say this.
06:52Without De'Aaron Fox, 23 turnovers, and still end up winning this game, OKC better be on high alert.
07:00They better be on high alert.
07:01Yeah.
07:02Cameron, Stephen A., I agree with everything you guys have said about it looked like the kind of game.
07:08If you just didn't see the game and you looked at the box score and the stories, you would say,
07:12OK, wait a minute, there's enough that went wrong, enough that went wrong here for San Antonio,
07:20and enough that went right for OKC.
07:21OKC did not play badly.
07:23I mean, they did a lot of things that usually help the Thunder, you know, pull out a victory
07:28or steal one on if they were on the road.
07:30They needed to steal one at home last night.
07:32But there are so many elements that worked ultimately against OKC,
07:38and the number one one is Wimbanyama.
07:40I mean, he had a game last night.
07:42To me, numbers don't need to come into play here.
07:45Impressions come into play.
07:47And when you saw all of those San Antonio players staring at Wimbanyama admiringly late in the game,
07:56and he's looking back at them, and they're staring at him, they're in awe of their teammate.
08:01And they should be in awe of him.
08:03The whole league should be in awe, and the basketball world should be in awe of Wimbanyama.
08:08And I'm one of those people who has been thinking, and I have said a number of times,
08:14you know, you need heartbreak.
08:15You have to have it.
08:16Everybody except Bill Russell, Magic Johnson, and Tim Duncan have had despair in the playoffs before winning.
08:23No matter how great you are, whether you were Michael Jordan or Kobe and Shaq or LeBron or Allen Iverson.
08:29Going back.
08:30Jerry West, you can go back.
08:32Those three guys are the only exceptions.
08:34It looks like Victor Wimbanyama.
08:37If they win game two, and Stephen A., I'm with you on this, game two is now a must game
08:43for Oklahoma City.
08:45It is a must game because I don't see them recovering from 0-2 hole and then having to go
08:50on the road.
08:51It's amazing what happened last night and what appears to be control of the series, San Antonio.
08:59Listen, perhaps we'll get into this later, but damn it, I'm going to bring it up now because I got
09:03stuff on my mind.
09:04I'm looking at Wimbanyama.
09:06Yes, I know he's 7'5", and he's dominant.
09:09And listen, to make the shot is incredibly impressive.
09:13But to be 22 years of age, your first playoff series, okay, your first not playoff series, but really conference
09:19finals, right?
09:20And.
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