00:00Let's hear the way that the Western Conference Finals ended on Saturday night.
00:04A magical season that has superseded every expectation will continue as the Spurs are headed to the NBA Finals 111
00:19-103.
00:21Yeah, the San Antonio Spurs, I think fair to say ahead of schedule, make it to the NBA Finals.
00:26They take down the Thunder on Saturday night in what was actually an enjoyable basketball game in the Western Conference
00:33Finals.
00:33Game 1 and Game 7, both very good. The wins in the middle, not quite as much.
00:36But we had, I think, a two-point game going into the fourth quarter, which is what we were asking
00:40for on Friday.
00:41And the Stars showed up. I mean, that's the thing.
00:44Wemby obviously played really well. SGA played great.
00:48To me, that was one of the most enjoyable games I've seen him play in this playoff run the last
00:54couple of years
00:55because he was just playing ball. He wasn't falling on the ground and trying to get to the free-throw
00:59line over and over again.
01:00Ultimately, it wasn't enough. And the Thunder are injured with some of their best players.
01:05There's other things going on with others of their best players, which we can get to.
01:08Yeah.
01:09Shout out to the Spurs, man. 22-year-old Victor Wemby-Yama taking San Antonio to the NBA Finals.
01:15And it's funny because we had talked on Friday about, hey, which superstar is going to show up?
01:19Do they both show up in the same night and to what impact?
01:23And SGA, statistically, probably had a better game than Wemby.
01:26The impact for Wemby always goes beyond the scoreboard.
01:30But it felt like a game that was won by the role players.
01:33For the first time in the six games before that, it was just superstar plays well, our team wins.
01:38I thought this was a role-player game.
01:40And the Spurs guys showed up in a little bit bigger way.
01:44It's less them showing up and more some of the guys on the Thunder completely disappearing.
01:49Yeah, they're going to have some big off-season questions at Oklahoma City, specifically about Chet Holmgren.
01:57I don't know how you can play 33 minutes in a closeout game as a max contract player and attempt
02:04two shots.
02:05And maybe we find out he's got some crazy injury.
02:08You want to trade him for Riesa Shake?
02:10We didn't know.
02:10Similar numbers?
02:11I would do that tomorrow.
02:13If they're interested, which obviously they're not.
02:17But there's already trade stuff starting.
02:19Giannis.
02:20Yeah, I've seen it.
02:21Evan Mobley, whatever.
02:22I saw that one too.
02:23Maybe.
02:24I don't know.
02:24I don't think the Thunder will do that.
02:25I think the Thunder are probably going to have cooler heads prevail after they sort of take a breath and
02:32remember what happened here.
02:34I mean, their second-best player was hurt for the majority of the playoff run.
02:39So I do think if J-Dub had been healthy, it's probably a different game.
02:43But he wasn't, and Chet was awful.
02:45And that's something he's going to have to figure out because obviously Chet has a Wemby problem.
02:49Now, everybody has a Wemby problem.
02:51Like, that's – I don't want to – like, no one knows what to do against him.
02:55He shuts everyone down.
02:56But Chet is kind of supposed to be the physical – I don't know about answer, but sort of answer
03:04to Wemby.
03:06And he completely went into a shell and looked as shook as you see a star player look in a
03:11playoff game like that.
03:14So, yeah.
03:15It also wasn't just game seven disappear.
03:17He disappeared earlier in the series too.
03:19It was gradually happening, right?
03:20Because he was strong through games two and four, and then in game six, pretty close to a no-show,
03:25and then game seven.
03:26Game seven was as bad as it could get for him.
03:29I think I agree with you that OKC with, like, cooler heads prevailing and, like, they'll take a – it's
03:35not what I want, though.
03:36I want complete panic and chaos and be like, what do we do?
03:39You know, I want the overreaction.
03:42Like, I want a trade.
03:43I want them to make a trade, like, Tuesday.
03:47Just complete overreaction.
03:48That would be great.
03:49I do think, unfortunately, history tells us Sam Presti is going to be –
03:52Yeah, yeah, yeah.
03:53You know, going to be calm and prudent and do the right thing.
03:55That's not fun.
03:56No, it's not.
03:56Chaos is fun.
03:57But, again, we're also like – we're like, how many days since this series shifted?
04:02Because they were up 3-2, right?
04:04We're maybe five days from people still feeling like you're in the midst of an OKC mini-dynasty, potentially?
04:10Two days.
04:11Two days?
04:11Like, before tip-off.
04:12Because they could have won game seven?
04:13Before tip-off, they're obviously favorites at home.
04:16I mean, at what point in that game is SGA – I mean, early – first quarter, SGA's got 12
04:21and Wendy's got four.
04:23And you're like, here we go.
04:24Like, it's – that's it.
04:25So, it would be crazy for Oklahoma City to panic and do anything ridiculous.
04:29Yeah, of course it would.
04:30But, yeah, who knows?
04:31And they also have approximately 38 first-round picks in the next five years.
04:35I know.
04:36I know.
04:36It did – what sucks for me about this series is, from a Hawks perspective, I had my eyes on
04:42a couple guys that maybe they could poach.
04:43Which, I don't think it was ever going to happen, but if somehow A.J. Mitchell had played in a
04:50certain way to where they felt like they could live without him,
04:53A.J. Mitchell not being there for them in this series at the end of it was such a big
04:56deal.
04:56Right.
04:56Because they had no more on-ball creators when Shea had to go out, which he played 44 minutes.
05:01But, like, they had nothing else that they could do without J-Dub and A.J. Mitchell.
05:06So, and then De'Aaron Fox, I was hoping that the Spurs would win the series.
05:10He looked great last night.
05:11I know.
05:12Not last night, but game seven.
05:13And they needed him.
05:14And they needed him.
05:15I was hoping –
05:15Because Castle went back to – remember we talked – Castle only had the one turnover.
05:19He was right back to nine assists, nine turnovers, or six to six, six turnovers.
05:22But Fox was right there, man.
05:24I was very hopeful that De'Aaron Fox would not be necessary for them to win this series.
05:29And then in the offseason, they'd be like, we can trade him and get something from somebody else.
05:32But, no, they're not going to do that either.
05:33They're probably going to hang on through the end of his contract.
05:36I forgot.
05:36It may have been the Nets.
05:38I don't remember who it was.
05:39But someone, like, got rid of both Fox and Champagny a couple years ago.
05:45I mean, the Kings.
05:46Maybe it was the Kings.
05:47This is now going to be, like, the fourth straight NBA Finals.
05:51The former?
05:51Where a former King has a big factor.
05:5620 points for Champagny?
05:57Fox will be playing, starting for the Spurs.
06:00Last year was Hal Burton, who had been a King.
06:02Oh, that's who it was.
06:03Yeah.
06:04Yeah, yeah, yeah.
06:04The year before that, oh, God.
06:06It was Halliburton and Champagny.
06:08I don't remember.
06:09But then Mike Brown was also the coach of the damn Kings.
06:12And now he's the coach of the Knicks.
06:13And they're in the NBA Finals.
06:15So, yeah, that's what we were talking about last week when, you know, there are, when the Hawks promoted Anse
06:22Soleil to president of basketball operations.
06:24It was like, well, hopefully now the Hawks are fully out of being one of those teams that gets preyed
06:28upon.
06:28And they can take advantage of teams like the Kings, who are perennially stocking other teams' rosters.
06:33New Orleans, whatever.
06:34New Orleans, exactly.
06:35Which the Hawks did take advantage of last offseason.
06:38The Bulls usually send some decent players to good teams.
06:41The Wizards had done it for a while, but maybe the Wizards, their luck is turning.
06:44I'm not sure.
06:45But anyway, the Knicks and the Spurs in the NBA Finals rematch of 1999.
06:54And also, somehow the Spurs' path is the same as 1999.
06:58They beat the Blazers in the first round, and then they beat the, I don't remember who it was.
07:04But it's the same teams pretty much.
07:06Except for, obviously, the Thunder.
07:07How did you say Thunder weren't?
07:08Because the Thunder didn't exist back then.
07:11They beat the Lakers in 1999.
07:13What else happened this weekend?
07:15Stanley Cup Finals are set.
07:17Vegas and Carolina.
07:18Yep.
07:19U.S. Men's National Team looked really good yesterday.
07:22Good.
07:22Yeah, they looked really good.
07:24PSG beat Arsenal in a shootout.
07:25I won't talk about it.
07:26Move on.
07:26How come?
07:27I'm an Arsenal fan.
07:28Oh, I didn't know that.
07:28Yeah.
07:29Well, that was a good game.
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