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00:00the show live from new york city the site of game three of the nba finals is friend of the
00:04show the
00:04well-coiffed well-groomed beard looks great hair looks great our friend zach harper the yeah it's
00:11i'd say it's very good the athletic and serious xm nba radio on twitter at talk hoops my friend
00:16welcome to the show how's new york treating you new york's new york's treating me very very well
00:21i'm curious um let's say we're in an alternate universe where it's the celtics in this nba
00:30finals against wendy and the spurs and the celtics are up to oh in you know after two games in
00:35san
00:35antonio and wendy's saying all this stuff would you feel differently then or is this hey shut up i want
00:40the knicks to win this thing i i have to be honest with you and like i think the audience
00:45knows and
00:46like our crew i'm always even if it's negative towards me i'll always tell the truth i'd say
00:51the same thing because like it it's with this because it's kind of like it's the human condition
00:56a little bit right he's when i was 22 all i was doing was getting stoned so like i'm not
01:00trying
01:00to say like when i was 22 i'm smarter than him he's clearly wise beyond his years he's got a
01:05great
01:05head on his shoulders he's seeing things properly just like at what point is it just i'm going to
01:11stop trying to be play-doh after every game because you're losing right now and just go out and play
01:16and
01:16win the game like who wants to hear this at this point after every game well i do because i
01:21i'm interested in how he views these losses because i do think he's different right we're
01:26not getting this you know we just got to give 110 percent we gotta you know we we have to
01:31lock
01:31in for an exit shut up like all the all the pr driven nothings that we get game after game
01:38after
01:38game and he's like yeah like i think if i play normal we win that game which is true if
01:44he was
01:44just normal in game one his normal self they would have won if he doesn't make these dumb mistakes i
01:50would one dumb mistake right and part of it was on steph castle because it's like yo you want to
01:56be
01:56a lead guard your big man has the ball in the last 10 seconds you should be looking for that
02:01outlet pass
02:01right i he i think he started to throw it as castle's looking castle turns around disaster for the spurs
02:07then he took a good he took two good shots in the final minute he missed them both but like
02:12those
02:12aren't mistakes he's eight feet tall like why is he settling for an elbow jumper like he's kobe bryant
02:19because he's really good at it and you can't block the shot he settled for a shot that you can't
02:23block
02:23and he barely missed it he's eight he's look i so you know more about he's supposed to dribble
02:30into the paint now you have three great help defenders reaching at the ball and what you hope
02:37that he flails and gets free throws and then we're mad at that he's the one but like he's he's
02:44if it's
02:45true that he's the guy and i'm not saying he won't i think he will be like yeah go dunk
02:50do your michael
02:51jordan routine in space jam dunk the ball from the foul line it's not that easy it's actually really
02:57really difficult for him so for him he makes the impossible look possible i wouldn't say this if
03:03it were another player it's victor wembinyama we're talking about but he took about as good a shot as
03:09you can get in that moment and it just was a little long like that was exactly the shot they
03:15wanted him
03:16to take in that moment did you think it was going in pop absolutely i thought it was going in
03:20i was
03:20like i'd be honest with you me yeah meet me too yeah i had i was i was like kind
03:26of so he from
03:27where he shot on the floor i was basically there but just up like way up in the stands right
03:33so
03:33that's where we were as it looked i was like oh my god that's going nope just a little long
03:37and then
03:37you're like and there's is there an offensive rebound there couldn't have been because the
03:41knicks were running on the court at that point the knicks were celebrating the stands don't say that
03:46too loud don't say that too loud i don't need like like like 1997 knicks heat players suspended
03:52after the fact like we got there yeah no it was no i thought i thought it was going in
03:56but i i think
03:57it's good to hear from someone who has something to say and if they come back and and do something
04:05spectacular in this series then he's right and if they don't then he is out for vengeance next season
04:11which is also great for the nba oh which which which he'll get like a knicks first next year in
04:22the finals like if that happened i'd pick the spurs yeah knicks have to take advantage here now
04:26it's it's either coming this week or it's coming a year from now but it's coming yeah and i and
04:31i
04:31totally i totally acknowledge and i agree with you now perhaps this take of mine is a little colored by
04:39orange and blue by the fact that i love the knicks it it does feel a little bit to me
04:43like
04:45san antonio after the games and like and stef castle was talking about how greg popovich addressed the
04:49team after game two basically like those were winnable games play your game it why why can no one
04:56give the knicks credit like the calves think that they won the nba finals they actually ran
05:00likely better than the knicks at each of these games the spurs are like actually it's not anything
05:04that they're doing it's what we're doing what like am i crazy here but that's that i don't think
05:10you no offense you you have you don't remember basketball this late into the year this is what
05:16everyone does this is what everyone does they're just like oh we play our game we win and and there
05:21is you know maybe a truth to like if you believe in your game plan and you execute your game
05:27plan then
05:27you win most of the time the calves no that team stinks in terms of contention they ended up in
05:36the
05:36nba or in the eastern conference finals by default and that's like james hard to be like hey i think
05:43it
05:43could have gone differently had it gone differently kenny atkinson analytically we're up to one of the
05:48series analytically no you're not no you're not i looked at the analytics no maybe your shot quality
05:56was good but no like i do think people are giving the knicks credit i think they could give them
06:00more
06:00credit i think the knicks are the best team right like they've proven that i don't think they were
06:06two months ago um but they have found the gear that they were searching for that people believe
06:12they could have and that gear is better than what the spurs have now the spurs can still win games
06:18it
06:19doesn't mean they will get swept although they they might want to get to win some games tonight to avoid
06:24that but yeah like i think the knicks are the best team they're playing the best basketball
06:28got a little lucky but guess what you get a little lucky when you win a championship that's how that
06:34works yeah it wasn't just and i said this right um did you think the sam merrill shot was going
06:39in
06:39at the end of game one of the eastern conference final no i don't i don't believe anything this calves
06:45team fair enough i thought it was i thought it was capable of doing if it's successful like no
06:50there's not there was as soon as as soon as the knicks came back and and made it a game
06:56i knew i
06:57would have bet everything the calves were blowing that it's pretty i was there it was it was pretty
07:03awesome all right uh i will not i will not be in it yo let's let's talk because you'll you'll
07:07be in
07:07attendance yeah correct for game three yes um what is the what is going to be different while trying
07:13to avoid any political statements if we can how will this be a different experience tonight
07:19not just for members of the media but for fans as well with president trump said to attend the game
07:24i'm curious because of just the crowd in general because the ticket prices are so ridiculous right
07:33um i'm curious what the crowd is like i would can i offer some context for you can offer some
07:40context
07:41for you here and this is not going to directly feed into it because you're talking about the crowd
07:45in the arena so i was in manhattan on friday night watching with a bunch of my friends at a
07:49sports
07:49bar in midtown and after the game we walked to the garden to experience what it was like and the
07:55game
07:55was in san antonio obviously the streets like 15 blocks away from what it was insane so i i don't
08:02know
08:02if we're going to get that same type of madhouse level tonight just because of the fact that the
08:06president's going to be there right well and and just the crowd in general it's a but you like you've
08:12got
08:12to be pretty pretty well off to afford 13 000 tickets right and it and it reminds me of what
08:18happened with the warriors you know 10-ish years ago maybe a little bit longer than that uh maybe
08:23that first run in 2015 but it was like golden state always had this amazing rabid fan base that was
08:30selling out games even when that team sucked remember we believe against the mavericks and how crazy
08:35that was absolutely like that that like i grew up you know 80 miles away from from that family like
08:40that fan base was ridiculous and then all that tech money came in and started pushing those fans out
08:46and it was still loud in there but it wasn't the same that it had been i think nix fans
08:51are a little
08:52different so i i do think it's going to be raucous but i think it's going to be a weird
08:56vibe not only
08:57from who's in attendance but also who paid the money to to be in there like i don't think it's
09:03a
09:03guarantee that this is going to be the environment outside of the madison square garden outside of
09:08madison square garden i'm expecting absolute chaos inside i do wonder what that's going to be like
09:13it can't just be 20 000 fat joes that's not how that works that would be everywhere by the way
09:20i
09:21can't avoid fat joe i go i think he's there i went to dinner last night he was there like
09:26i see him
09:27everywhere have you had enough of fat joe i'm all good
09:33i like him i think he i think i like his music i think he's a fun sports fan i
09:39don't need him
09:40at press conferences i don't need him asking questions at press conferences is he the most
09:45annoying celebrity nicks fan and if not who is
09:50i'm not buying that clip of timothy chalamet
09:54step back jumper like the chalamet thing is kind of bothering me like i how many takes was that
10:00how many more than the fight scene in dune i don't know like shit like i don't know why the
10:06chalamet part of it you know what it bothers me about the chalamet part of it if you're like well
10:09he was a fan when he was a kid okay he's still a child like he's 20 something like he's
10:14still a
10:15child i don't care that he was a fan when he was a kid yeah i like the ben stiller
10:19of it all
10:20i like who else was a fan like i like these guys me the guy i was a fan when
10:24i was a kid
10:24where's my front where are we putting you yeah where are we putting you courtside where's my
10:27kylie jenner i'm happily married i'm just kidding i'm happily married i'm just kidding where where
10:34were you at what hot spot were you at last night that fat joe's was at dinner with you guys
10:38i i ended i ended up at nobu last night and he was just there he was just there like
10:42holding court
10:43good for you man can i make can i give a nobu hot take here sure overrated overpriced for sure
10:51it's fine certainly overpriced it's good it's good it's good it's like a seven out of ten
10:56are we uh are we coming across like the type of people that would pay to go to game game
11:00three of
11:01the nba finals or no because just to be clear i can't afford it i will not be in attendance
11:05tonight
11:05no this was this was a different this was a different world but but still a good world
11:09all right you better you bet on this monday zach harper is our guest uh game three tonight
11:14nicks two two and a half point home favorite what are you expecting from tonight's game
11:19who wins tonight's game and how um that's interesting like i like it's just so hard for
11:26me to imagine the spurs team getting swept but also i do think like that the end of game two
11:34had to have been deflating they can say whatever they want i believe in wimby's philosophical
11:39approach to everything but if you were going to like make this a series it's you knock down that
11:45shot you don't turn it over you like you you pull out that victory like oh my god down 14
11:51this next
11:51team's rolling they play they lock in the way defensively they were supposed to wimby was a
11:55monster at the end of that game until he missed those shots and had that turnover but that's exactly
12:01like oh this is the comeback the fact that they couldn't pull that off i do think we have to
12:05remember and we've we've it's been tossed out you know from reality throughout this whole process
12:11this is still a very young team that has not been through it this next team has been through it
12:16and
12:16so i expect the nicks to take that better and approach not get too high or too low follow the
12:21jalen brunson of it all and and win the game i think it's probably like an eight or nine point
12:27win
12:28um you know maybe free throws make it a little a little less close with the final margin
12:32but i do think the nicks are just in a spot 13 in a row is something only one other
12:38team has done
12:39in playoff history i think you have to respect that so let's try and put that in perspective
12:45now obviously zach knows i know you know that the series is not over the spurs can obviously come
12:54back and win it would be horrible as a nicks fan if that happened but i have to acknowledge that
12:58it
12:58could happen right now though in the same way we can acknowledge that reality we can also acknowledge
13:04the reality staring at us the nicks are up to nothing and won the first two games on the road
13:08they're a huge favorite at bet mgm to win the championship so let's say they do it whether
13:15it's a sweep whether it's in five whatever right especially if it's a sweep and they will have
13:19completed zach like not figuratively literally one of the greatest postseason runs in the history of not
13:24just the nba in the history of sports if they finish the deal how will zach harper put that in
13:31perspective if and when it happens um i mean it is it's one of the it would be one of
13:37the greatest
13:37runs i mean arguably like the 2017 warriors won their fit their first 15 games right of the postseason
13:46and then with the chance to sweep out they dropped the ball against a kind of got dropped a little
13:51bit
13:51by the officiating in that game that's fine in game four a little bit but what but also like you
13:56got kevin durant stepped around the tv should probably go and smash everybody so um you know
14:01that they they had a chance to sweep out they didn't the fact that the nicks have lost two games
14:08by a
14:08total of two points and funny enough like if that wemby shot goes down and they don't get a shot
14:13on the
14:14other end they lose by one you lose by one again right like that's the only way that they get
14:18they can
14:19lose in the series um or lose in this postseason like yeah like you have to respect that i'd never
14:23bought any of that bs it's why i picked the nicks to win the finals like i never bought any
14:28of it well
14:29the road's so easy of course they're winning the no we have had easier roads than this for teams in
14:36the east or just teams in general in the postseason no one's ever had this level of dominance where
14:41this was their second win in this streak by single digits like this is one of the most dominant
14:47runs we've ever seen and if they complete this by winning 15 a row sweeping the a great spurs team
14:53i don't know how you put any other run definitively above it final couple questions lightning around
15:00just as far as the game and finals mvp is concerned so you like the nicks to win the game
15:04tonight
15:04who do you think is the because i think like we could say brunson's the best player in game one
15:08cat's the best player in game two who will be the best player tonight for the nicks and do you
15:15agree with bet mgm's pricing for finals mvp jalen brunson is the favorite at plus 110 followed by
15:21cat at plus 165 so who's the best nicks player tonight and if they win who do you expect to
15:27win
15:27finals mvp uh i would say it's probably someone like og tonight i think og has a big game he
15:32broke
15:32out you know we had that third that fourth quarter in game one he had a great game game two
15:37i think he's
15:38probably the best player i think cat was the best player in the first two games bar none but i
15:41know
15:41brunson had the finish cat is the reason they won those games he has been phenomenal he should be
15:46the finals mvp leader right now i think because of the clutch shots but oh brunson has not played that
15:52well by his standards he's shooting horrifically 34 percent yeah the the spurs have done a great job
15:59on him but to me towns has been the guy
16:02you
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