It is the JR Sport Brief Show here on the Infinity Sports Network. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Shout out to everybody listening all over North America. Shout out to my people in Canada, people here in the South with me, people up in New York, people out in California, people in Northern California, where Jimmy Butler is now getting paid and is also criticized by Dwayne Wade. Thank you to people in Cincinnati waiting to see what happens with Trey Hendrickson's contract.
Thank you to people listening in Wisconsin, where their president and CEO, Mark Murphy, is trying to get rid of the tush push. Shout out to people in LA, home of the 2028 Olympics, including now flag football. The NFL owner said, yeah, we'll let the guys play flag football. NFL players playing flag football in the Olympics in 2028.
I had that on my bingo card, but it's it's going to happen. Hey, I'll be here with you for the next three hours. The show gets started every weekday, 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific. You can always listen on the free Odyssey app, A U D A C Y. You can tune in on your local Infinity Sports Network affiliate. If you got Sirius XM, you drop in a couple of dollars a month, you can tune in on Channel 375.
And if you got a smart speaker, ask the speaker to play the Infinity Sports Network. We got so much more to get into. We're about 90 minutes away from the start of the Western Conference finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Minnesota Timberwolves. The game is going to take place in number one seed OKC's home.
We'll be running around in those colorful T-shirts. And so we'll talk about that match up in a second. Next hour, we're going to be joined by Jonathan Van Tobel. Jonathan covers all things NBA. For Vison, so he'll be here with us next hour.
Man, we got. Jason Kidd, he has some words about Cooper Flagg, Conda Sorter, not really. Hey, the all NBA rookie team was announced earlier today. Brett Favre's documentary dropped today on Netflix. Can you call it a documentary when it's basically beaten you up for a couple of hours?
I don't know. Well, we'll talk about that later on in the show. Of course, we'll get into a few things that took place this day in sports history.
In recent history, on Saturday, we saw Kaitlyn Clark foul angel Reese and that has somehow devolved into Ryan Clark versus Robert Griffin, the third. So we got a lot to get into on NFL side, the NBA side. We even got some baseball to get into as Juan Soto is making seven hundred and sixty five million dollars over the next 15 years. And apparently he's just not happy right now.
I guess the honeymoon might be over in Queens, New York for Juan Soto. But we'll get into all of that. If you want to be a part of the show, you can. Here's the number. We paid our phone bill. Eight, eight, eight, seven, ten for ISN.
That's eight, eight, eight, seven, ten for ISN. Find me everywhere, all over the Internet at JR Sport Brief. We're waiting on what happens at the NFL owners meetings about the tush push, waiting to see what happens with the playoff seedings. We see Olympians or football players, NFL players can now win Olympic gold.
Good for them. Talked about Dwayne Wade going after Jimmy Butler for his lack of offensive aggression. We got into Joe Burrow sticking up for Trey Hendrickson, but actually on the field, not about contracts, but just about competition. In 90 minutes, we will have the Oklahoma City Thunder hosting the Minnesota Timberwolves. The great thing about the NBA as it's currently constructed is that it's it's really built for parity.
You think about this. We are out. We are currently out of the the dynasty era of the NBA. Maybe one day we'll get there.
I don't know. Maybe Victor Webinama, his body will work and maybe Cooper Flag will have a decent team around him at some point in time. Maybe maybe right now, the Oklahoma City Thunder, maybe they could run the show for a couple of years. But we saw how how much of a tightrope you have to walk. It was presumed that the Boston Celtics would be right back in the NBA finals. But one thing that we can never predict are injuries, whether it be the Tatum or Brown. We talked about the Golden State Warriors and what Jimmy Butler did not do, what he wasn't able to do. And Steph Curry went down. We saw, man, the Milwaukee Bucks.
Giannis Stedecumpo was out there without Damian Lillard. Like injuries happen. It's a part of the game. It's a part of sports. It's a part of all sports, really. And so right now, you think about these teams that are still playing.
Not only are they healthy, are they healthy. But these are teams that we've we haven't really seen points to Larry O'Brien Trophy. I mean, the New York Knicks out of the final four teams that exist, they're the only NBA team standing remaining that has a championship.
And that was in 1973. The Indiana Pacers, they won a championship. It just wasn't in the NBA.
It was in the ABA, Minnesota Timberwolves. They don't have an NBA Finals appearance. Man, you think about the Oklahoma City Thunder. This is a team looking for a title themselves. They couldn't get the job done when they had, well, when they went up against LeBron with a different version of the Oklahoma City Thunder. This is a new space right now in the NBA.
I like the parody. Minnesota, nothing. OKC, nothing. Pacers, nothing. New York Knicks, 1973. I like this.
And then you think about this. There are 10 NBA teams, 10. This is one third of the league. That has yet to win a title outside of the teams that I mentioned, the Brooklyn Nets. No, no championships. Yeah, they went twice to the finals with Jason Kidd and they lost both times.
Didn't work out for. Charlotte Hornets, too young of a franchise, no championships, no finals appearance. Pacers went to the finals and they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers. Clippers are a bunch of bums. Grizzlies young starting off in Vancouver, moving from Vancouver to Memphis. No finals appearances. New Orleans Pelicans.
Yeah, young franchise. I don't know, maybe if Zion could step away from the table and keep his self out of other things. Zion, maybe one day the Pelicans can go to the finals.
I doubt it. Hey, Ray, no, no finals with Zion ever, right? He'll be on another team by the time they ever get there.
Absolutely no finals. He's going to go on to another organization and win multiple championships, but it will not be in New Orleans. He's going to go somewhere and get in shape.
Absolutely. If you keep a close eye on him, he got in better shape throughout this season. I wouldn't call him felt, but he looked like Duke Zion as the season progressed. He has to go somewhere with no food and no women. Where's that? Well, I wouldn't say no women. Just that one specific woman that had him looking crazy for a cool six months.
Oh, there's a few of them that had him looking crazy. Oh my God. Oh, we should know that one. I know she, yeah, she spent some time in the the doctor's office, right? A lot of time. A lot of time. A lot of how much would have been a clerk? How much anesthesia is that one take? Huh?
Listen, I don't have an exact number for you, but it was quite a lot. She probably could teach a class on anesthesia. Yeah, she could probably knock herself out. Get it done, doc. Do what you got to do.
I know how to do this. Wow. Anyway, yeah, send Zion to Utah. Utah Jazz.
There you go. Orlando Magic. They've been to the NBA Finals twice. We saw them go out there and with Dwight Howard, that didn't work out.
But even before that, Shaquille O'Neal, that did not work out in 1995. Phoenix Suns have gone three times. They don't have a championship.
Sucks for them. And then the Utah Jazz. We saw what happened when they went to the finals.
Byron Russell doesn't want to remember that. But anyway, we're going to see some new blood out here. And in about 90 minutes, we're going to see which one of these teams is going to represent the Western Conference. Is it going to be the Oklahoma City Thunder? Is it going to be the Minnesota Timberwolves? This is good. Minnesota was here last year.
Okay. They went behind to the Dallas Mavericks and Luka Doncic. Still sounds crazy to think that Luka isn't on the Mavericks. And that was pretty much all she wrote for the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Here's the difference. Julius Randle wasn't on that team. Karl Anthony Towns was on that squad. Now Karl Anthony Towns is on the New York Knicks. And so for the Minnesota Timberwolves, you know, they have to think about the experience from last year, specifically Anthony Edwards.
He's the leader. This man is averaging 27 points, eight rebounds and six assists here in the postseason. They beat the Lakers four to one. They got rid of the Warriors four to one. And now they got some legitimate competition here.
They take on a team that won 68 games. You know what? Anthony Edwards, he talks about playing in the Western Conference finals last year. Does it make a difference?
Do you learn anything? His answer was short and sweet. There's no benefits of going through it last year. Just trying to be more prepared this year and not come out sluggish in Game 1 with all this time that we have. Yeah, they've had five days off by the time they play again. That's from the guy who actually has to go out there on the court and play. The head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Chris Finch, he's teaching. He's putting a strategy and a game plan together. Well, is there anything to learn from last year, Chris?
Let me know. We still got eight more wins to achieve our ultimate goal and we still have two more series and we're only halfway there. And I think there's a far better understanding of that than there was a year ago. Oh, well, of course, the player and the coach just think two completely different things.
What else is new, right? And when I look at Minnesota, like I'm looking at Julius Randle as as a difference. Karl-Anthony Towne, sometimes he could be up, he could be down.
He's going to score. Sometimes he also seems passive. Julius Randle is more active in the offense and not just, hey, I'm going to get the ball, I'm going to score like he's helping to facilitate.
I can't believe this. Julius Randle is actually even helping on the defense as well. Julius Randle, who looked like an ill fit with Anthony Edwards early in the season, he came back from injury just a couple of months ago after the winter time. And they just been rolling. Julius Randle is averaging 24 points, six rebounds and six assists in the postseason.
He is the reason he let's just say he's the X factor here. And whether or not the Minnesota Timberwolves can advance to the NBA Finals. This is crazy to think about. For all the years of Kevin Garnett, eight consecutive appearances in the playoffs, the most KG could do is go to the Western Conference Finals. And here you put in Julius Randle.
And if he continues playing the way he has, there's a strong possibility they could actually get to the NBA Finals. And Anthony Edwards, he's like, man, Julius Randle, it's not just the offense, it's the defense as well. The main thing that we talked about in our film, the first two series is being able to switch and switch up and attack the ball. And he did that tremendously and deterred the offensive player from trying to get anywhere. And it kept us out of rotation.
So it was big time for us. Yeah. Who thinks Julius Randle in defense? I don't think anybody is going that far. Not me.
It's working right now. How about it, right? Julius Randle, they got to play some defense. And this is where things could get tricky. The size. It's one thing for Minnesota to be big and go out there and beat an undersized Warriors team. It's another thing to take on the Oklahoma City Thunder, throwing out a seven foot one alien.
I don't know how long, tall this guy is. He looks like he's going to break in Chet Holmgren. Isaiah Hartenstein, who was a member of this point last year of the New York Knicks while Julius Randle was hurt. Isaiah Hartenstein is big as hell. You know, you want to talk about being able to switch. I mean, everybody on the Oklahoma City Thunder from from Dort, these guys are sticking and moving.
They can go out there and switch. And so I think Minnesota, yeah, you got big, strong Julius Randle and you got big, gigantic Frenchman. Sounds crazy to say maybe this is why people call him overrated. Rudy Gobert, four time NBA defensive player of the year. You all are going to take on a team that is just as big.
If not bigger than you, Minnesota has some work to do out there trying to defend them, especially Shea Gilgus Alexander, who so far in the postseason has averaged 30 points, six rebounds and six assists. He is going out there getting it. This is the best of the best now defending him. He's doing what he was doing in a regular season with absolutely no problem.
Cool story, by the way. His cousin is going to be opposing him. Nikhil Alexander Walker plays for the Minnesota Timberwolves, so that'll be a cool old family matchup going on there. This is what Shea Gilgus Alexander had to say about heading into the Western Finals. Just trying to be where our feet are in the moment and see what's in front of us and try to attack it.
Come out on the right end of it. I think that's why we've gotten this far in the season and we're going to continue to do so. Yeah, this is going to be a good one.
This is going to be a good one. I'm going to go ahead and take the Oklahoma City Thunder. I'm going to take him in six games. I just think, I don't know if consistently here in this series, I think Anthony Edwards is going to do his thing. I think this might be the series where Julius Randle runs up against the proverbial wall.
Or I think that's just it. I think that OKC has so much depth that they can just throw guys and things from Wallace to Caruso. They got so many bodies that they could just throw up against the wall and see if it sticks. I think they have so many guys that can just go on an individual run and stretches by themselves. I haven't talked about Jalen Williams, who, yeah, he hasn't necessarily had the best series. I think there were times where he looked like he was falling asleep against the Denver Nuggets. But I think this is an opportunity for him to step up. I haven't talked about Lou Dort, who knocked down some big threes against Denver as well. I just think they got too much firepower.
I think they have too much size. I wouldn't be surprised if Minnesota just maybe pushed it to seven. But I'm going to go ahead and give this to Oklahoma City. Ray, what do you think? I want to pick against Minnesota because I'm a Laker fan and they pissed me off, but I'm more upset with J.J. Reddick sabotaging us.
So I'll put all of that to the side. You play one of the smallest liners possible after gassing your players in the previous game, playing the entire second half. Straight up coach sabotage. When I look at Minnesota and I see last year's performance, they have experience on their side. I look at Anthony Edwards expanding his game, a consistent three-point shot. So you can't pack the pain against him. He's able to move around, get to his spot, et cetera. That being said, I look at the defense of Oklahoma City.
Very long, very active, able to switch. They have mobile big men who, when they get caught on islands, they're not food. So that being said, and there are multiple offensive options. And Shay just showing you that it doesn't matter what round it is. People are downplaying the experience that they had last year. They had the best record in the Western Conference. They ran into Luka. They learned a lesson that you saw them learn in the Denver series, winning the games that they need to win when they fall down in the series. Don't let the series or the moment get too big, get the dubs, move on to the next round. I think they're ready. The matchups this season were pretty close. They had a lot of up and down games, but I think the size, the athleticism, and the defense of Oklahoma City is going to be the reason why they win at six.
Yeah, I think so. The depth. I mean, you take a look at ESPN Analytics, it says the Thunder has an 82 percent chance of winning this series. I don't know if I want to go that damn far. I just think they have a little disrespectful. 82 percent? Well, we got to yell at some nerd punching numbers into a computer.
Have that conversation. No, OKC just the size, the athleticism. I think that's that's where that's what Minnesota doesn't have. I wouldn't be surprised if Rudy Gobert becomes a non factor and becomes neutralized here. I don't think we can expect some. I don't think we'll see one twenty, twenty, twenty, fifteen game from Rudy Gobert.
I highly doubt that happens. I just think that Anthony Edwards and Julius Rand will have to carry too much of the load. I mean, Dante DiVincenzo may go on a stretch for maybe two games.
It's just it's tough. Nas Reed is good. The sixth man of the year last year.
I'm not, you know, enthralled by him. This is going to be a learning experience for Anthony Edwards. If they advance, I'm giving them more of a round of applause because if Minnesota goes to the NBA finals, they really are going to deserve it because OKC is just they're deep, they're long, they're athletic. They have one of the best scores in the league, can control the game, can get to spots, can slow things down, get to the free throw line.
It's going to be tough. Their head coach, Mark Dagnalt, he talked about preparing for this Western Conference Finals. Dagnalt talked about them getting ready for the finals. As in every series, you know, you go into game one, you have kind of a baseline game plan, but your series really starts there in terms of understanding what's coming. You know, you can guess all you want, but you know, we need to get our stuff right tomorrow and try to play our best game and worry about ourselves with an awareness of the plan. And then tomorrow's game will reveal where the series starts for both teams and then we'll start to play it from there just like we have in every other series. Yeah, we are now about an hour away from the start of the Western Conference Finals.
OKC, I'm looking at them to go to the finals in advance. It's the JR Sport Breeze Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. 888-710-4ISN.
That's 888-710-4ISN. We're going to take a break. We come back on the other side. We're going to talk about the women's game. And of course, I mean, what's what's the largest story? What biggest story do we have in women's basketball than Kaitlyn Clark and Andrew Reese? This story is so big. People are so heated about it.
People are so angry about fouls and non fouls and the hatred and all of this. Now we got NFL players who are beating the hell out of each other in the court of public opinion about basketball players. I'm talking about Ryan Clark and RG3.
Why don't they just go ahead and do an Oklahoma drill out on the football field and figure this one out? Settle it. I'm going to tell you what each one of them had to say on the other side of the break. There's some beef and then Kaitlyn Clark and Andrew Reese. They are certainly prime time.
They're big time. The phone line's open if you want to give me a holler. 888-710-4ISN.
That's 888-710-4ISN. It's the JR Sport Breeze Show, the Infinity Sports Network. It is the JR Sport Breeze Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. We're about an hour away from the start of the Western Conference Finals. The Oklahoma City Thunder.
All of their fans in their colorful T-shirts. They're going to host the Minnesota Timberwolves. We're talking about a team that won 68 games.
It took the Minnesota Timberwolves some time to get acclimated with Julius Randle added to the roster. I believe that Oklahoma City is ultimately going to win this series. I believe in their scoring ability. I think they have more depth. I think they have size to match Minnesota. Matter of fact, their front court is bigger than what we have in Minnesota who just beat a smaller, small-ish Golden State team with no Steph Curry. And so I think things might be a little bit of a wake-up call.
Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle. I think they have to carry too much of the load here from Minnesota. And I think that OKC is ultimately going to win this series. I'm not saying that Minnesota can't win, but I think if they do, it'll be a much larger feat and bigger accomplishment, knocking off a number one seed that almost won 70 games. Producer hanging out with me, Ray Jarvis, he believes the same.
OKC will walk away victorious in this series. The phone lines are open if you have some thoughts. That's 888-710-4ISN.
That's 888-710-4ISN. Dominic is calling from Myrtle Beach. Hey Dominic, you're on the JR Sport Brief Show. What's up? Hey, how you doing JR? I'm great. How are you? I'm good.
I'm good. I'm calling first time caller actually, but I just want to touch up on this whole Timberwolves and OKC game. I just, I have a little bit more confidence in Timberwolves than you, and I'm not a fan of them at all, but I just think, I think you're not giving much credit for the size. Like I know they got Chet homegrown OKC, so he's like 7-1, but they're gonna have Julius Randle. Julius Randle is like 6'9, and he's stronger than him. He can box him out, I think, really well, and I think Tim Moores are way better defense than what the Nuggets did, and I think this is actually the hardest test defensively for OKC to go against, because they got multiple guys that could go against Alexander, and I think with Julius Randle stepping up with the 24 points a game now in the playoffs, which I didn't see coming, which I don't think a lot of people did, but with him playing well, you got Jordan Daniels playing out of his mind. Alexander Walker is another good defender. I just think they're a lot more tougher than people are giving them credit, and I'm still not sold on OKC when it comes to the secondary score with J-Dub. I think he's a good piece, but I wasn't that impressed with him in the second round, and if they clamp up Alexander Walker, which I think they will, I think it's just gonna be a lot more tougher than people are giving them credit for. It's possible, and I certainly understand your point about Julius Randle. I remember watching him.
I don't even know where it was. It might have been in Dallas, Texas, I don't know what year it was, back in Kentucky when he was in the Final Four, and I was watching Julius Randle. I was looking at him warm up, and I looked at his body type, and I'm like, yo, this dude is built like a football player. He was solid.
He was thick. He was able to just kind of bully his way around on the basketball court any which way that he wanted to, and obviously he's a skilled player, and as he's gotten into the NBA, he's really changed his body, especially really when he got to New York. He started to thin out, looked like he got longer, and he's so much more of a complete player, and so I understand your point about taking on Chet Holmgren, but I don't think it's so much a matter of, hey, he needs to out-muscle him or he's gonna put a shoulder in his chest and move him out the way.
That's one thing. You can do that easily with Chet Holmgren, but there's things that you can't teach. You cannot teach length, and I mean, you could put a shoulder in the guy, but if this man lifts his arms up in the air, he has one of the longest arm spans and reaches in the entire league. You couple that up with Isaiah Hartenstein, I've seen Julius Randle enough over the years, and he's evolved.
I just think it's gonna be difficult. I think both he and Anthony Edwards are gonna have to carry too much of the load. Where I understand Jalen Williams, I don't want to say he fell off the face of the earth in the last series, he didn't have the best series against Denver. He had two good games.
That was it. He only averaged about 17 points a game in the series. He shot like crap. I just think they spread out the scoring a little bit more.
I think they can spread it out a little bit more. Minnesota, yeah, Julius Randle's big, Rudy Gobert's big. Rudy Gobert sometimes can disappear. He could disappear off the face of the earth. Yeah, Nas Reed, but Nas Reed isn't somebody you just dump the ball to and say, hey, go out there and do it.
Nas Reed is also 6'9". That's why I think they're gonna be competitive. I don't think they're gonna roll over. I don't think they're gonna get swept. I would give them more credit. Would you not say, though, Minnesota is the underdog in this series?
Oh, I agree. And if they're gonna lose, I think it's gonna be on the turnovers. That's where I think their weakness is when it comes to this series. Because those turnovers are killer. They're saying they're averaging like 20 or 18 or whatever the last series. And OKC is gonna be all over the floor with them with that.
So that is the one thing I'm worried about with them. But I just think that defense is just it's just a lot better than it was in the regular season, even though, you know, they had the Lakers, you know, they didn't have the size against the Lakers and then, you know, they had to go against Golden State. You know, Steph Curry, of course.
So they had an easier road. But I just think when they match up with them, they do just have a lot of really good defenders, 1-8. I think all of them are good. To be clear here, you're also picking OKC. You're just saying Minnesota State.
No, no, no, no, no. I am picking Minnesota. I just saying if they're gonna lose, it's gonna be because of the turnovers. That's why I think the big X factor will be if they're gonna lose.
It's the turnovers all day. They're gonna just keep turning over and OKC is gonna be running up and down the floor. But if they don't, if they keep it like under 10, 9, then I think they have a really good shot at beat them. I think they'll slow down Alexander. I think they'll, you know, J-Dub, you know, I don't know how well they do. Some of the other guys.
It's a big moment for all of them. So I just think, you know, Edwards has been there, you know, if it all comes like you said, down Julius Randall. But if the others play as good as they've been playing, you know, with, you know, Jordan McDaniel's having playing phenomenal phenomenal, you know, even Chen, though, even Chen, though, you know, he's been up and down, but he's had some really good games. But he also plays a great defensive end. Alexander's Walker, the cousin, you know, he's another guy that'll go off and drop 20, but also plays good defense.
And he's six five. They'll put him at point guard. So they have the length and they have the youth. So we'll see.
I just think they're a little bit longer than I think you're giving them credit, maybe not as tall because they got to go against at home, but they got the length and the wingspan, I think, that can disrupt them. But we'll see. Well, we'll see. I'll go back after game two. We'll see.
We'll see what's going on by that. You can call me back anytime, Dom. Thank you for calling for murder. I appreciate the call. Yes, sir. Take care. You as well. Jay, I just like to say as well, I don't want to jump in in the midst of the call again.
This takes off. But what he's also discounting is that in the first two series, Minnesota was able to feast on second chance points because they were playing on a smaller team because they went into offensive lows and those second chance opportunities allowed them to take advantage of it against OKC. If they go into those offensive slums, they won't be those second chance points like they were in the previous two rounds. You're right.
They're cooked. They played against a Lakers team that knew that they had to acquire a center and really didn't have one. I mean, and at the same time you mentioned it. But Jackson Hayes is he was sitting on the bench. He's the biggest thing that they have, at least in regards to height.
It certainly doesn't carry around any weight. And we all know the story about the Golden State Warriors. I mean, what sides do they have? Draymond Green is their big man. I don't even know if I want to count Kavon Looney as a part of that conversation. This is going to be a very, very different situation.
And I don't and I'm just going by the eye test. When I look even Shea Gilgus Alexander, that guy, I'm not I'm not expecting that guy to go out there and play all world defense. That guy stretches out his arms and it's like how much how much room and space do you go out there and cover? Like, sometimes it's just a matter. And the Minnesota is not small. I get it.
That's not a small team. But sometimes you just you're in the gym or maybe you walk into a high school gym or maybe guys, you're in the gym and some dudes just walk in and then you just look and you go, oh, crap like this, this stuff. You could be more skilled. You could be stronger. Sometimes guys just walk in and it's just like, man, where these trees come from? Like that can be a problem.
And the trees on on the Oklahoma City Thunder, man, they're very skilled. We'll see what happens. It's the JR Sportbree Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. 888-710-4ISN.
That's 888-710-4ISN. We come back on the other side of the break and we'll talk about Kaitlyn Clark and Reese and Ryan Clark versus RG3. I want to talk to you about Juan Soto.
I guess the unhappy seven hundred and sixty five million dollar ballplayer. We got a lot more to get into. We'll talk about the Knicks and Pacers and their rivalry. There's so much to do here on the Infinity Sports Network. But right now it's time for a newsflash with Rich Ackerman.
It is the JR Sportbree Show on the Infinity Sports Network. Hour away from the start of the Western Conference Finals, Oklahoma City Thunder, Minnesota Timberwolves. We'll see what happens. Hey, both Ray and producer Ray and I, we both got OKC to advance to the NBA Finals.
We'll wait and see. Tonight will be game one and I'm sure there'll be a lot of overreactions one way or the other. But we got some time. You know, as we continue on with the show, I do want to get into the New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers. That rivalry are now reignited.
They'll get going again starting tomorrow. So we'll have game one of the Eastern Conference Finals on that side of things. And then we'll also be joined by Jonathan Von Tobel, who covers all things NBA for Vison.
So Jonathan will be here next hour as well. You know, there's we're going to talk about the Knicks and the Pacers. This is a rivalry that pretty much is almost 30 years old now. You think about the Knicks and the Pacers. They've been going at it with each other since the 90s. And you think about Reggie Miller and Spike Lee and Davis Brothers and Patrick Ewing.
It goes it goes on and on. But in the WNBA and damn it, just in women's college basketball, this rivalry has certainly ignited things to a whole nother level. And that happens to be Kaitlyn Clark and Angel Reese. Ray, we talked about this on Friday ahead of the game. I made the point that the WNBA, man, I would be marketing this game the hell. I forgot that they were going to play. You know, maybe that's just a new cycle that we're in right now.
It's like if it's not here right now in front of you, forget it. Right. It's a tricky time to drop Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese in the middle of the NBA playoffs. But it was the most watched, most viewed WNBA game in about twenty five years on a Saturday afternoon. We saw the blowout. We I mean, it was it. Well, Angel Reese, she's not I'm trying to clean it up and not call it a blowout, but it was it was a blowout. Come on.
They lost ninety three to fifty eight. All right. The most exciting thing about that game was the Kaitlyn Clark foul. And you had messaged me and I was like, this is what we needed to see this. And we I got what I wanted to see.
I got beef and then it exploded into something more. That's what you needed to see. Yeah. We were here. Weren't you here? We were here. I need to see a hard foul.
I need to see an L. I need to see something. I thought we would get it. And we did. I mean, they fed the streets, I got to say. Well, they did more than feed the streets.
They gave they gave everybody a pound of flesh for people to just really take a deep dive on and into. So we got two ex NFL players because a lot of the people in the media now, well, the ex athletes and they got strong opinions now to welcome to the new world. Ryan Clark, who's done a great job with ESPN as well as the pivot and an RG three who used to be on ESPN.
And Ray, what is he doing? I don't know. The podcast?
I don't know. He was podcasting, doing his independent media thing for a while. And then he was picked up by Fox Sports because, you know, Fox Sports loves problematic personalities. Oh, so he's on Fox now. Yes, sir. OK, I knew he was on ESPN.
I know they let him go, but now he's on Fox. OK, sure. Great.
All right. Well, anyway, RG three had a point about Angel Reese and, you know, she's being villainized and she's the villain. And Caitlin Clark, this and Ryan Clark took issue with it. And Ryan Clark decided to bring up this man's wife.
I mean, this is not something that I would do. RG three, a black man is married to a white woman. And so Ryan Clark then pretty much said, why is RG three having conversations about the plight of a black woman when, you know, he has a white wife? These are things he's discussing in his house.
And, you know, I don't need to paraphrase. Listen to what former NFL safety Ryan Clark had to say about another NFL player, former NFL player quarterback in RG three. The one thing we know about RG three is he's not having conversations at his home about what black women have to endure in this country, about what young black women and athletes like Angel Reese have had to deal with being on the opposite side of Caitlin Clark's rise and ascension into stardom.
Damn. That's not something I would say. I just leave it at RG three doesn't have the correct perspective. He opened up that man's mouth about that man's wife, Connie basically did. Well, let's just say a RG three didn't appreciate him bringing up his family or his household.
Listen to what he said on his podcast. There's a line in life that you just simply don't cross. Wives and children are always off limits. And Ryan Clark has sprinted past that line. Ryan Clark didn't like my sports take that Angel Reese hates Caitlin Clark. And that's fine.
It's okay. It's part of the game. Sports media. I'm going to have an opinion. This person might not agree with it. That person might not agree with it.
But what you don't do is turn around and personally attack me and my family just because you don't agree with a sports opinion that is purely based off the sport. Yeah. They squabbling out in that. Yeah. Yeah. They, they, they getting into it, man. Uh, yeah, they, they get it. They, they close to squab. They might as well just solve this. Uh, and we have to solve this with an Oklahoma drill. I don't know.
Now there's two things here. If I'm Ryan Clark, I'm not even insinuating what the hell is going on in that man's house. I do not care.
It's one of my business. He's married to who he's married to. Good for him. God bless him.
Good luck. All of that stuff. I'm not even making that thought. I don't know what that man's talking about in his house. Maybe he is. I don't know. Is he sitting around talking about the plight of black woman with his white wife?
I have no idea. None of my business do not care. So if I'm Ryan Clark, I'm not even touching that. If I'm just going to go at RG three and say, Hey, I think he lacks the proper perspective, then I'm going to go ahead and do that and say that. And I maybe I, if I am going to go that hard, I'm not even going to insinuate then just say it. He didn't say it.
He kind of beat around the bush on it, but we all knew and understood. So first of all, I ain't talking about what goes on in somebody else's house. But then from RG three's perspective to say that he attacked his wife and his kids, I'm not even going that damn far. Like I don't think he attacked his wife and his kids.
He attacked your perspective because what's going on in your house. So look, these are two guys that are now having a beef over Caitlin Clark and angel Reese, who clearly have their issues on the basketball court. I don't know if they got personal issues with one another, but they're certainly divisive enough. One is a white woman. The other one is a black woman and they're two basketball players. One taunted the other one and one is won a championship.
One is the best young player on earth, the most popular female athlete in the country. Yeah, this is a story that's going to go on. And so the fact that we got Ryan Clark and RG three beefing as a result to me is comical. Like these, they don't got nothing better to do. This is what basically Twitter is based off of right now. Let's figure out how everybody could just hate each other.
And some of the most just overt, blatant, and also veiled ways possible like this just sucks across the board. And these guys went at each other and then they, what is it? It's now, it's an overrated done.
They finished. It needs to be because quite frankly, it might be the corniest media beef ever. You don't bring up a man's wife. We know that Ryan Clark could have made that point without punching down on RG three, but because of what was said about RG three and quote, being a brother many, many, many moons ago, every personality feels the need to try to pull RG three's card and RG three in response, he kept repeating himself. It wasn't even a salacious response.
If you're going to respond to the guy, at least put a little extra hot sauce on it. You just kept repeating yourself. You didn't practice it in the mirror. You said it's out of bounds, right? Yeah. But he said that about five times.
It was, it sounded like a camera on verse back in 2002. Practice it, man. Who called him a cornball brother who said that now you're triggering my brain. Somebody called RG three, a cornball brother. Did I make that up? No, you're right. You're absolutely right.
He used to be our first take many moons ago before Steven to that spot. Oh, I know who, wait. Yeah. I know who called Rob Parker, Rob Parker. Yeah.
And ever since Rob Parker put that in the atmosphere, RG three has not been able to shake those allegations. Yeah. Yeah.
ESPN suspended Rob Parker for saying that in 2012. Hey, you say that in 2025, you might get a race. How about that? Huh?
Look how the game has changed. Yeah. It's kind of crazy that Twitter X is kind of, man, it's such a hate machine. It's, it's disgusting, man. Like sometimes I see some of the comments that, uh, I don't even know if I can call them vague and it's just blatantly and overtly racist in many ways. And, um, there are people who are making money and profiting off of this.
And then you got guys like RG three and Ryan Clark who unfortunately, yeah, they're making money too, but they're feeding into the machine. And that part I think is just, uh, I think that part is disgusting without a shadow of a doubt. That's that's beef. It's the JR sport pre-show here with you coast to coast on the infinity sports network, 8 8 8 7 10 for ISN.
That's 8 8 8 7 10 for ISN. When we come back, we're going to talk about a different type of beef. Juan Soto just signed with the Mets is the Mets already beefing with him. And then you talk about a beef. Come on now we got the New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers. Can we throw it back to the nineties? Maybe, but probably not. Well, we'll talk some beef on the other side. It's the JR sport reshow, the infinity sports network.
