It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to everybody for being locked in all over North America, wherever you live. East Coast, down South, Midwest, Canada. Alaska is a part of America. Shout outs to Alaska. I've been out there. All my people in Anchorage, everybody in Willow, Alaska. Shout outs to Hawaii.
It's one place I haven't been. I've flown over Hawaii, but I ain't stopped. Somebody invite me, okay? We got a lot of listeners in Hawaii. I will come out and do the show live from your house, okay?
Invite me to Hawaii. Anyway, instead of looking for freebies, I got a job to do. I think so. I think that's why they pay me. We got to talk about sports.
That's what they paying me for. And we're going to find out officially who the NBA MVP is. We're minutes away from that. We got the New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers. Game one of the Eastern Conference Finals.
It starts in an hour. We talked about Shea Gilgus Alexander and the Thunder wiping out the Minnesota Timberwolves last night. The NFL has not, I repeat, they have not banned the tush push. The tush push is here to stay. And an hour from now, I'm going to share with you a top six list of crybabies and sports. We got hard knocks in the NFL. We found out who's going to be on that.
We got a lot to do. Here's the number. 888-710-4ISN. That's 888-710-4ISN.
710-4ISN. A busy, busy show. We just talked about the tush push. NFL owners actually showed some guts.
They voted to keep it in. We talked about the Thunder wiping out the Wolves last night. I figure in gathering minutes, it's not a secret, but Shea Gilgus Alexander will officially be named the NBA MVP over Nikola Jokic and Giannis Sotetokounmpo.
Those are the three finalists. I told you about the Knicks and Pacers coming up in an hour. So we got a lot to get into. You can find me on the internet. You use it.
I am at JR Sport Brief. You got a phone? You want to use that phone? You can call me up. 888-710-4ISN.
That's 888-710-4ISN. We're going to let you know when Shea Gilgus Alexander officially wins MVP. I'll give you my thoughts on who I think should win MVP.
But the phone lines are open. Before we went to break, both producer and I, Ron Botcher, he's holding it down in New York City. I broadcast from Atlanta. We both believe the New York Knicks will beat the Indiana Pacers. We believe the New York Knicks, due to Jalen Brunson, pretty much being the best player on the court. Like that's the deciding factor.
He is the X factor here in the series. The Pacers like to get up and down. The New York Knicks want to go a little slower. The New York Knicks ain't running with them.
There's a lot to pay attention to. I think the New York Knicks got this in seven in seven games. What do you think? 888-710-4ISN. That's 888-710-4ISN. All right, here we go. They got Reggie Miller walking in. Hey, Botcher, does Reggie Miller think he's going to play or are they just going to show him every five minutes? I think he's got the he's got some basketball shoes on.
It looks like he could he could like suit up. Oh, man. And you know, he's probably I told you I've seen him running here in Atlanta, right?
No, no. We actually it's like runs around your area. Yeah, there's a there's a park is a big park called Piedmont Park, and it has and it has a track.
It's actually gravel. And I saw him running out there. I guess. Well, I'm not I'm not guessing. I know he was calling an Atlanta Hawks game. I don't know who the hell they were playing.
I think it was Hawks and Celtics. It was a prime time game. And so this is earlier in the day around lunchtime. Reggie Miller is just he's running the track. You know, it's quiet. It's the middle of the day. It's not like a Saturday.
The park is bumping people at work and whatnot. Reggie Miller was just running the track. It took everything in me not to give him an elbow in his chest. Oh, you know, he was in the Uncle Drew, too. So, you know, he's still in shape.
He's still in game shape. He was in that movie. Yeah, I never watched them. Yeah, it was pretty bad. But it was a bunch of ex basketball players dressing up as old men, right? It was basically the TNT crew plus Kyrie. Yeah, it wasn't that it wasn't Kyrie. Wasn't it his movie? Yeah, it was Uncle Drew. It was it was Kyrie, Shaq, Reggie Miller, Chris Webber and then Lisa Leslie, I think it was. Oh, that's right.
Lisa Leslie was in there. Wow. Yeah. Oh, damn. What a world. Yeah, I'm never watching that movie. Sorry. That's that's the type of movie it sounds like.
If I turn it on, I'm automatically going to fall asleep. So no thank you to Uncle Drew. So we got Reggie Miller on the call who will be insufferable. I'm sure he'll be trending before the night is up just because the fans will either be, A, cursing him out or B, people just in a general sense will be complaining about Reggie Miller on the call. And then, of course, we got Draymond Green, who has a lot of free time on his hands right now after being eliminated by the Minnesota Timberwolves. Draymond Green is in Madison Square Garden on the TNT crew. And so I'm sure that Draymond will go viral for something crazy. He will say about, I don't know, maybe Rudy Gobert, who has nothing to do with this series, who actually played last night and didn't play much. Rudy Gobert, two point three rebounds. Yeah, there's your defensive player of the year. Anyway, 888-710-4ISN.
That's 888-710-4ISN. And they're shooting around in New York City right now. Last night, we discussed not the shoot around that we saw, but the beat down that the Thunder gave to the Minnesota Timberwolves, 114-88. And I could say that this has been the NBA's worst kept secret. Shay Gilgus-Alexander is going to win MVP. It will be announced before this game one between the Knicks and the Pacers. I'm sure Shay Gilgus-Alexander will give a fancy interview to the folks on TNT.
He'll say thank you and whatnot. Let's not forget that Nikola Jokic, who, well, was a finalist again this year, probably just had his best statistical season for the Denver Nuggets. Almost 30 points, almost 13 rebounds, and 10 assists a game. Nikola Jokic averaged a triple double again. I say again. And it just kind of, it's normal.
It's kind of the situation where somebody is so good at something that you overlook and don't even appreciate it while it's standing in front of you. Of course, just last year, Nikola Jokic won his third NBA MVP over Shay Gilgus-Alexander. Who, by the way, last year, this year, Shay Gilgus-Alexander's numbers are almost identical.
Here's the difference. The Thunder won 68 games. They now have Isaiah Hartenstein. Everybody on the team is a year older. Shay Gilgus-Alexander himself is still only 26 years old. He turns 27 in July.
And there's such a thing as voter fatigue. There was no way in hell that Nikola Jokic was not, well, A, was going to win this MVP given the talent that he had around him. And also knowing and understanding that the Denver Nuggets, they didn't win 68 games this year.
They only won 50. Nikola Jokic had a great season. He is a one-man basketball team, a maestro, an orchestrator. He's rebounded.
He's passing. He's setting up the offense. He was third in scoring, third in rebounds, second in assists. I've seen him every time over the past four or five years that he's come here to Atlanta, Georgia. I want to see him play. He's efficient. He can shoot. He does everything. And he does it without breaking a sweat. He is an anomaly.
In the year that he didn't win it, they handed it to Joel Embiid. Why? Because of fatigue in the same way. Jokic isn't appreciated right now because he's not gregarious, because he's not screaming. He's not yelling.
He wants to ride his horses. Shay Jokic-Alexander, he deserves it. Good for him. I'd give it to him, too, given the fact that his team, well, they were the best in the league.
And year after year, we know the meter moves. Jokic wasn't going to win it. Damn it, after winning three MVPs, I think he might be done. Jokic could average 30, 13, and 13 next year.
And I don't think they'd give it to the guy, basically because of the team around him not built to win almost 70 games. I mean, damn it, even when he won last year, was Jokic appreciated? Shaquille O'Neal was on TNT.
This is from last year. He was talking to the guy. He was talking to Jokic, and he's just like, hey, Jokic, yeah, you won MVP. And it was very disrespectful. He's like, I don't even think you should have won it.
I think Shay Jokic-Alexander should have. Jokic, as the president of the Big Man Alliance, you are the vice president of the Big Man Alliance. You know I love you. You're the best player in the league. I want to congratulate you.
But I want you to hear from me first. I thought the SGA should have been the MVP. That's no disrespect to you, but congratulations.
And what do you guys have to do to get back on track versus Minnesota? Thank you, Shaq. We don't judge people here, you know, so that's fine. It's your opinion. I'm joking. Hey, all good. I love you. I love your brothers.
One thing we're always going to do is keep it real with each other. Oh, man, his brothers, they look like, they look like villains from a movie, okay? They look like dudes that they stuff you in a room with and just beat the crap out of you. Jokic brothers, you don't want no smoke. They beat the hell out of Shaq. That's not a lie.
Them guys are some big dudes, okay? But why he said that last year? I found that to be rude.
Like, why you got to say that? The guy just won, and he had taken a crap on him. Jokic, no respect. Maybe he'll get more respect when it's all said and done.
And how about this? Last night, his own former head coach, Michael Malone. Michael Malone never held his tongue.
Oh, he says what's on his mind. Yesterday, last night, a Shay Gilgus Alexander was helping lead the Thunder over the Timberwolves. He pretty much said that Shay Gilgus Alexander is MVP.
Listen to this. And then Shay Gilgus Alexander, he's the MVP. He took over in the second half, did so in a very efficient manner and put the team on his back when they needed him to do so. Now, is that Michael Malone changing his thoughts and opinions? Or is that Michael Malone just pretty much saying what we all know? He's going to be the MVP. A matter of fact, they're seconds away from announcing it.
It's basically done here on TNT. It was only a couple of months ago, and this is his job. Like this man, Michael Malone, was with the Nuggets, and he was saying that Nikola Jokic should be MVP. Did he change his mind?
What happened? You know, as we wind down this season, this whole MVP thing is really going to pick up. And you understand that that's a part of it. Obviously, Shay Gilgus Alexander is a great player. And if he wins his first MVP, you know, he's deserving of that. My thing is this, you know, if you didn't know that Nikola won three MVPs, and I put player A and player B on paper, and you had no idea that the guy was averaging a triple-double, the guy who was top three in the three major statistical categories, things that no one's ever done, he wins the MVP 10 times out of 10.
And if you don't think so, I think you guys are all full of shit. He ain't lying, but it is official. Shay Gilgus Alexander is your 2024-2025 NBA MVP. He's currently being interviewed at the Oklahoma City Thunder practice facility.
They're sitting in the film room. He's surrounded and flanked by his teammates, who I must say, I get it, they're not winning the award. He is. He's dressed rather nicely. He has like a khaki outfit on. Vacha, what would you, a khaki outfit, am I accurate? It's like a, why does it look like a raincoat? It's like a denim, not denim, it's like a leather raincoat khaki. It is like khaki jacket.
Good for him. Everybody surrounding him is wearing just like t-shirts and chains and shorts. I don't know. They're matching though.
The entire room. Oh, they're wearing his t-shirt. How about that? I just noticed. Yeah. They're wearing his shirt with his face on it. Okay. So at least there's some uniformity. I'm like, why do they look like they just rolled out of bed? Anyway, that's like, I guess the majority of America. Who am I to judge?
I'm wearing shorts and a t-shirt right now, but I'm sitting in the studio minding my business. Shay Gilgus Alexander. He was going to win MVP without a shadow of a doubt. And Michael Malone is right. But the NBA year to year to year, it's a storyline. There's, there's a storyline involved in who is going to win MVP. Who didn't win the year before? Who are people sick of? Who are they tired of?
That's what it boils down to. And Jokic, he's not the cream of the crop. And Shay Gilgus Alexander, he very well might win MVP. And then also win an NBA championship. I think at that point, I think he'd be validated. I would give him MVP this year. I most certainly would, but I do think Jokic should have 40 suckers. I would not have given that award to Joel Embiid who basically whined and cried about it.
And so did a lot of bums in the media. Guys like Kendrick Perkins. Anyway, congratulations to Shay Gilgus Alexander, your 2024-2025 NBA MVP.
It is official. He's currently chatting it up with Draymond Green. He's being interviewed by the NBA on TNT crew. Charles is asking them some stuff now.
So we'll get you some sound when they go ahead and wrap things up. 888-710-4ISN. That's 888-710-4ISN. Todd is here from Maryland. Maryland. You're on the JR Sportbree show, Todd. What's up? Hey, JR. Because NBA winners and losers. But after that, I'd like one question for you if I could.
Yeah, go ahead quickly. NBA, I got Tim Wolves and the New York Knicks. I think the Knicks are going to battle Brunson.
I'd love an Ant-Man for the Tim Wolves. Now, my question for you would be, were you a New York Knicks fan when you were a kid? And growing up, were you a Knicks fan? Yeah, absolutely. I love the New York Knicks as a kid. I can't stand them as an adult because I've actually had to work with them and deal with them a little bit. But I love them as well.
Yeah. I hear you, Patrick Ewing. Yeah, I love Patrick. I like Charles Oakley. He used to, you know, thud people around.
Yeah, Oakley was good. Yeah, I hear you. All right, brother, take care of yourself.
Well, thank you, Todd, for calling from Maryland. Yeah, I love the Knicks. And I'm still rooting for them. It's just things feel different, man.
It's different. You know what they say, don't meet your heroes. And I never met a particular Nick that just, you know, turned me off from the team. I've met a lot of Knicks. I feel like I've met all the Knicks except for, damn it, except for Patrick Ewing. You know, I met John Starks. I had some great chats with him and guys like John Wallace and Marcus Canby. I've met a lot of Latrell Sprewell. I've met a lot of Knicks. Damn it, I did a whole shoot.
I did a video shoot, a whole video. I did a video package on NBC in New York with the Knicks City Dancers. Like, yeah, I love the Knicks.
I've interviewed Carmelo and stardom. I love the Knicks. Just feel different. I don't like the owner. I don't like how they do business. Turns me off a little bit. Does, really does. Hey, Batra, I know you're a Nets fan, so it don't matter to you, right?
Nope, not at all. Way too expensive to get in anyway. Oh, the Madison Square Garden?
Way too much money. Regular season games too. What are the Knicks tickets going for today? Today?
Oh, my gosh. I'd assume the tickets like 800. The cheapest ticket for tonight's game is 800 bucks.
I'd assume so. Let me check. How about this?
I'm going to go like SeatGeek or TicketMaster. A New York Knicks ticket near Timothy, what's this guy's name? Chamelet?
Chamelet. Is that his name? I don't know about that. I just know who he is. I couldn't even tell you. Did he play Spider-Man?
No, right? No, that's Tom Holland. Yeah, I don't know. He played his most popular role is from Dune, like the new sci-fi movie Dune. Wasn't he in some movie that just came out? Dune 2. He's in a lot of movies.
I don't know. I've never seen a movie with this guy in it. Interstellar. He's in that one. I barely know it. I thought that was Matt Damon. Well, Matt Damon's in that one for a little bit too.
Oh, OK. No, I don't know this guy. But it costs $62,000 to sit next to him. OK, that's in the front row. That doesn't sound too bad. I thought it'd be more than that. Cheapest ticket for one singular ticket, $600.
So it's cheaper than last year's. Two is $581. Wow. Wow. Wow.
Wow. Yeah, well, good luck to everybody watching on TV. That might be the easiest ticket. To sit at home watching on your couch outside of, you know, paying for Internet or cable or stealing Internet from your next door neighbor. That's free. Don't steal from your neighbors. Don't do that. 888-710-4ISN.
That's 888-710-4ISN. Don't steal from your neighbors. It's not good. Boncho, you never stole anything from your neighbors, right? Never. Good man. Good man. We're going to take a break when we come back.
I'm going to tell you about something else you could watch over the summer. Yeah, you got to pay for this. This is not free. I mean, people used to steal this all the time. It's HBO. I don't know if you could steal it today. We got Hard Knocks.
It's back. I'm going to tell you what teams will be featured on Hard Knocks this season and in the training camp portion. Congratulations again to Shay Gilgus-Alexander, your 2024-2025 MVP.
You know what? We'll talk about another MVP on the other side of the break. He'll be featured in Hard Knocks. You're locked into the JR Sport Reshow, the Infinity Sports Network. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief. It is the JR Sport Reshow here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. 888-710-4ISN.
That's 888-710-4ISN. And we just found out officially that Shay Gilgus-Alexander is the NBA's MVP for this season. And we see what he did last night, helping to lead the Thunder to a 114-88 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves and Shay Gilgus-Alexander. Not only is he MVP of the NBA, he might be on his way to an NBA championship.
We'll wait and see how that works. Anyway, speaking of MVPs, and by the way, we have Sam Quinn joining us from CBS Sports. He talks all things basketball. He'll be here with us in about 15 minutes. I want to tell you about another MVP. You're going to see a lot of him this summertime. His name is Josh Allen, because earlier today, we found out something pretty important.
This is one of my favorite shows all time. Listen to this breaking news from earlier today, courtesy of CBS Sports HQ. That's the breaking news on HQ. The Bills are going to be featured on this year's preseason edition of Hard Knocks, coming off a 13-4 season and another playoff loss to the Chiefs. This one in the AFC Championship game. They made one very big splash this offseason, bringing back Josh Allen on a six-year, $330 million extension, making him the second highest paid player in the league. Yeah, Josh Allen, I don't know. Is he must-see TV? I don't know.
What are they going to walk around and follow this man around at his house while he's relaxing? Relaxing. Batra, I know he's dating a movie star too. I don't know her name. Hailee Steinfeld. Who is she?
Hailee Steinfeld. What has she been in? She is in the new movie Sinners. That I heard about.
What else? She is in the animated Spider-Man movies. Animated Spider-Man?
She's a voiceover lady? She plays Gwen, Spider-Gwen. Spider-Gwen? Yeah, the female Spider-Man. Gwen Stacy? Yes, she plays Gwen Stacy. I didn't know Gwen Stacy. I thought she was just a woman in Spider-Man. Since when did she become Spider-Woman? And had different storylines.
There's a couple. Oh my God. She's also in Pitch Perfect. If you watch those. I've heard of that. Is that a movie or a show?
It's a movie series about acapella groups. Oh my God. So this is his woman, huh?
Yep. Very rich woman too. If she walked by me, I wouldn't know who she is.
Probably not. Yeah, I wouldn't know who she is. I know Josh Allen though.
The man just won MVP and now he's going to be on HBO. And like I said in the last break, I'm not going to say. I didn't steal HBO. I never stole.
But there's people I know in the neighborhood. They used to steal it with the scramblers and stuff. Batcha, you know about that? A little bit. I know like the antenna stuff, all that. I've never, there's no need to do that now because of, I think HBO is nice enough where you can share accounts. Oh my God. Oh my God.
You ruining things? How many accounts can you, one person share on an HBO max? I think you can have up to five accounts. Five? Five different accounts. Like five different people have their own profile. So one guy, one guy in one part of town could use your password to watch.
You can have five different people. I'm pretty sure yes. Netflix though, you can't do that. It sounds like a hustle. A little bit. You mean to tell me I could sell off my HBO account for maybe like 20 bucks a month to people? It's probably cost less than that though, right? Well, it's probably, I don't even know how much is it.
It's like 20 bucks for a month or is it 15? Whatever it is. If I sell it, if I sell it to four other people and I'm, I can make a profit. Yeah. How about that? I might be in the HBO max hustle game sooner than later.
Especially if people are, maybe in Buffalo, if you live in Buffalo, maybe that's a good idea. And forget Josh Allen, forget his girlfriend. Who knows she might make a cameo in hard knocks over the summertime. People really need to pay attention to Keyon Coleman. Yeah.
The wide receiver that they drafted last year. The man is just pure, absolute comedy. He's making jokes about cookies. He's telling people that, yeah, I'm from Florida and I, but I got winter coats.
I know where to get them from and Macy's get a good deal. Like he's pure comedy. And there's some big expectations that he's going to make a big leap moving into his second season.
I mean, how about this? Before he was even drafted by the Buffalo Bills, everybody knows about the player interviews and they run these guys through the wash and they want to get to know you and ask you stupid questions about your mother and where you ate breakfast. They sat down with Keyon Coleman and he had them in stitches.
This is before he was even drafted by the Bills. Listen to this. What do you do outside of football? I chill at the house, golf, bowl a little bit. You golf? I ain't no golf. I'm tired of what she could.
I'm not tired of woods. I wish I could put it through all that. Them boys out there shooting five under. I ain't doing all that. I'm like, hey, we fired it just to put it in. But I'm going to go have fun. Like, you know, it's controlled chaos. You know, you're frustrated, but you can't get mad. Pull a muscle in your back trying to hit the ball.
So it forces me to stay calm and just swing. Yeah, forget the Buffalo Bills. Forget Josh Allen, the MVP. Just follow Keyon Coleman around for all the training camp. He is he is going to be the star.
Both he and Deon Dawkins are probably going to be the stars of training camp. Buffalo Bills edition. Oh, yeah, by the way, we got the end season edition.
It's going to chronicle everything and everybody going on. With the NFC East. So we got the Eagles who just won the Super Bowl. We have Washington who almost went to the Super Bowl. We have the New York Giants who have a bunch of quarterbacks. Russell Wilson in the building.
Just got Jackson Dart. Still have Jamis Winston. The Giants are there.
You got the Dallas Cowboys. Can't forget them. That is going to be the end season edition. That should be fun. Now that I think about it, I don't I don't think I've ever watched the the end season edition.
Ever, ever. I got some catching up to do. Maybe this year I will. It's the J.R. Sportbreeze Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. Yeah, that's that's a lot of MVP talk. We talked about Josh Allen, Shay Gilgetts Alexander. When we take a break, when we come back, we're going to have a conversation with Sam Quinn. We're going to talk some more basketball. Sam Quinn covers all things NBA, writing for CBSSports.com.
Sam Quinn on the other side of the break at the top of the hour. It's a top six list of the biggest crybabies in sports. But right now, it's not a crybaby. It's a grown man.
He's a good man. It's Rich Ackman. You're listening to the J.R. Sportbreeze. It is the J.R. Sportbreeze Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. Shay Gilgetts Alexander has been named the NBA's MVP. We're minutes away from tip off between the New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers in game one of the Eastern Conference Finals. Joining us to talk about the final four teams that stand in front of us in the NBA is someone who covers all things NBA basketball. He writes, he contributes.
You can catch him on CBS Sports HQ. Joining us right now is Sam Quinn. Sam, how are you, man? I'm tired. That's what I am this time of year. Just a lot of basketball, a lot of rumors, a lot of awards getting handed out.
Hard to catch a break. No doubt about it. Well, we saw what Nicole Jokic did this year. He already has three MVP awards. He has to be the best player to not win an MVP, wouldn't you think? Well, it's funny you say this. I just wrote this for today that we published.
I did a deep dive on this. I think it's the second best non MVP season that we've ever seen. I think the winner and I don't think people are going to be surprised by this name was Michael Jordan in 1989.
He was pretty good. But it's a very, very short list that I think Jokic is on that you're talking about the best non MVP Jordan seasons and Wilt averaging 50 a game. And, you know, like some of those seasons like that, Kobe averaging 35, some of Harden's best years. Statistically, I mean, there are very, very few peers for the year that he just had among non MVPs. Frankly, there are very few peers for this season among players who actually won MVP.
I think this was the best season that Nicole Jokic ever had. And he's not going to get a trophy for it. Now, do I think he's shedding any tears over that?
Probably not. He's won several. And I think there's a chance that he wins a couple more.
So in the grand scheme of things, I don't think it bothers him much. But Jokic was my pick. I mean, I think this race turned out to be maybe not super close, but I think Jokic ended up with twenty nine first place votes. I don't say that to take away from Shagel's Alexander. I think he was a very valid MVP choice two years ago when Joel Embiid won. I did not feel that same way. I thought it was the third best candidate by a landslide winning SGA played an MVP caliber season.
Right. I think if you compare the year that he had to almost any other guard MVP year, whether it was Harden or Westbrook or Kobe or Rose or whoever, you'd feel pretty good about it lining it up. Like, I think this was an MVP caliber season. I just think the year that Jokic had was above MVP.
It was downright historic. So that was my pick. But, you know, my picks are not always correct. Sam Quinn is joining us from CBS Sports. Well, we know that Jokic, he might be riding his horses somewhere right now. And we just saw that Shagel's Alexander did pick up the MVP. And he certainly was at his best last night, taking the Thunder over the Wolves. What are your thoughts on his style of play? A lot of people are starting to really complain now that he's getting deeper into the playoffs about his style of play and attracting and looking for fouls. I mean, look, he's clearly a foul grifter, but I'm sorry. There are a lot of foul grifters in the NBA.
We're going to watch one of them tonight. His name is Jalen Brunson. This is just kind of a reality of the sport that a lot of the best players, especially the best guards, know these tricks and they know how to get to the line, especially when things are tough elsewhere against great defenses like this is just sort of what the NBA is. As far as I'm concerned, this is a don't hate the player, hate the game situation, right? Where the onus is on the league to not only create rules that prevent this, but to enforce the rules that are already on the books, where there were a lot of moments last night where I found myself thinking, didn't we change these rules a few years ago?
Wasn't it meant to combat? I think it was Trae Young and James Harden, guys like that. I thought we changed these rules, but I guess they're not getting enforced. Remember a year or so ago, year and a half ago, early in the twenty three, twenty four season when the flop technicals were getting called? What happened to those? That rule is still on the books, by the way.
It was adopted permanently. I know fans might not realize this because they're never called, but there was a vote in everything. This is a rule. You can call technical fouls for flops. They just never actually get called in games anymore. So I think this is up to the league now to create rules that prevent players from doing this and to actually enforce the rules that are on the books.
I mean, look, I almost think of it kind of like tanking, right, where I'm sorry, you can't create an incentive within the league to lose games and then act surprised when teams do it intentionally. As long as players have an incentive to seek out these, you know, easy free throws with some of these tricks like SGA has, they're going to do it. And as a league, it's up to you to say, no, if the offensive player is initiating the contact, we're not going to give you free throws for that. So I don't blame him for trying to get these free throws out of it. He's doing his job. He's trying to win games for his team. And it's clearly working. It's on the league to say, hey, you can't do it this way.
Yes, Sam Quinn is joining us on the J.R. sport ratio coast to coast. That was game one. It ended up with a victory. Do you ultimately think that the Thunder will advance past the Timberwolves? I think not only am I going to say they're going to make it back to the testing roles, I would be pretty stunned if they didn't win the championship. I felt like their real test was against Denver. I thought games four and five, those fourth quarters, especially, I'm not going to say that.
I felt like the championship was on the line in both directions because I think Denver could have been beaten, but I felt like Oklahoma City got its real test and they ended up passing. And now, like they're just so far ahead of these other three teams remaining. I mean, Minnesota scored, I think it was 20 points in the paint last night. They don't give you easy baskets against anybody, right?
Like they're going to turn you over 17, 18, 19 times a game. They're going to generate 30 points off of those turnovers. Like forget about SGA's whistle for a minute, they might have the best defense I've ever seen, right? Like they won last night by 26 points. If you take away SGA's free throws, they're still winning by double digits. Like the gap here is just pretty significant. Now, does that make them unbeatable?
No, we saw this in Minnesota last night. The Timberwolves got 51 threes up. They made 15 of them. If they had made 21 of them, the game looks a lot different, but you can't really rely on shooting 44, 45% from three, four times out of seven. And even if you do, like the Thunder are capable of doing that as well. So I think they're going to walk pretty comfortably to the championship at this point. I think like I picked Thunder and five in this series.
I feel pretty good about that now. I will pick Thunder and probably five against whoever they play out of the East next round. They are the best team and the two teams that were close for Boston and Cleveland and they're both out. So barring extreme shooting variance or somebody tweaking an ankle or something like that, I think we are headed for Oklahoma City's coronation.
And Sam Cornish joining us covers basketball for CBS. Well, you think the Thunder is going to walk away with a championship. Who do you think is going to have second place coming out of the East? That one's a little tougher. I think that series could truly go either way.
I ended up on Nixon seven. I think home court advantage is really going to matter in that matchup, and it really came down to the simple fact that Indiana has just never been able to figure out how to stop Jalen Brunson. Very few teams have.
Right. He's the clutch player of the year. He competes for first team all NBA every year.
I think him going from Assar Thompson in that Detroit series and then Derek White and Drew Holiday last round. Aaron Eastman is a good defender. Nembhard is a good defender. McConnell's fine.
Like that's a significant drop off. And I would not be surprised at all if we came out for game one tonight and Brunson looks a little bit freer playing against these like kind of standard defensive players instead of those monsters that he played in the first couple of rounds. There are matchup advantages on both sides here, right? I think Indiana's ball movement and its speed is going to cause a lot of problems for Carl Anthony town. I think the Knicks are going to bludgeon the Pacers on the glass.
There are a lot of interesting little components here, a little like micro advantages that both sides have. I just have a very hard time picking against the Knicks in a game seven at home and what I think will be a very close series. I know the Pacers won a game seven at Madison Square Garden last year. I think we can throw that series out given all the injuries that were involved. These teams are very, very close. I just give the slightest of edge to the higher seed. All right.
Final question for you. I'm thinking about the offseason just hitting the fast forward button just a little bit. What intrigues you the most? Is it Giannis Atteracupo and where he ends up? Is it Kevin Durant?
What's capturing your attention? Is it what the Celtics do? Well, I think it's interesting you bring up Giannis and Durant because they're interesting for different reasons, right? Giannis is the one that's going to net, you know, maybe a historic trade package, right? Where whoever's getting him is giving up, you know, ideally like a young star and then several draft picks and maybe a veteran or two where like you are going to potentially have to gut your team to get him. But he's an MVP in his prime and he's worth it. Durant's a much more interesting case because he turns 37 before opening night and he's on an expiring contract and he's still a great, great player. But he's lost a little bit of what made him special. He's not really getting to the rim anymore.
His durability is a concern. I think people are going to be surprised for what Durant goes for in a trade. I think it's going to be less than people think. It's certainly not going to be in the stratosphere of what it was when he went to Phoenix.
So I think that opens up some doors, right? Where like Denver has no chance whatsoever again. I get in on Giannis, right?
They don't have the stuff. But could Denver get in on Kevin Durant if he applied a little bit of pressure and said that's where I want to go? Maybe, and I think similar concepts apply to like Minnesota, like to teams like that that are probably just not asset rich enough to get in on Giannis. But you can still get like a top 10, top 15 player. He's older, he's an injury risk, but like Kevin Durant is really good. And if he ends up on the right team, he could absolutely still swing a championship. So Giannis is one that like you get him and you're going to be in the mix for five years. I think the Durant trade is a little bit more interesting to me because a much wider group of teams could be involved and we could see a team that we don't look at right now and say they're an inner circle contender.
Get Durant for a price that's pretty reasonable. And then all of a sudden we have another team that's a realistic threat. Well, we got to get there. I mean, we got to get through these final four teams. This off season is absolutely going to be bananas. Like every NBA off season. And I know, Sam, I know you're tired, man. You're going to be even busy. And so what, middle of July, maybe two more months, two more months.
We got to get through the finals and draft and free agency and things going to be busy. Hey, Sam, thank you so much for the time and the insight. Please fill everybody in on where we could follow you and watch you and read your work. CBSSports.com, CBS Sports HQ. I do all my work there. We do a lot of great work. Come check us out. I promise you, I'll be disappointed. Hey, Sam, we'll catch you on down the line.
Thank you for the time. It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. When we get to the top of the hour, of course, the New York Knicks and the Pacers are going to tip off for game one. And then I'm going to share with you a new top six list. We're going to take a look at some of the biggest crybabies in the world of sports.
I will explain. Before we do anything, unfortunately, we have some breaking news that has come on down the pipe. A few minutes ago, the Indianapolis Colts releasing a message about the passing of their owner, Jim Irsay, at the age of 65 years old. Let's take a listen to this clip. This is breaking news from the NFL Network.
Baldy, thank you very much. Steve, we will get to you shortly here, but first we need to bring you some breaking news. And it is very sad news out of Indianapolis. Colts owner Jim Irsay has died at the age of 65.
The team announcing this just a short time ago. Team releasing a statement saying, in part, we are devastated to announce our beloved owner and CEO Jim Irsay passed away peacefully in his sleep this afternoon. Jim's dedication and passion for the Indianapolis Colts, in addition to his generosity, commitment to the community, and most importantly, his love for his family were unsurpassed. Our deepest sympathies go to his daughters, Carly Irsay Gordon, Casey Foyt, Kaelin Jackson, and his entire family as we grieve with them. Jim Irsay passing away at the age of 65 years old.
That's young that passed away. All the best to him and his family, everybody affected by his death. We know that, unfortunately, Jim Irsay has been very open about struggles with addiction, whether it be drug and alcohol. There was that report a few years ago of him being found in his home near death, almost having an overdose.
Jim Irsay, the owner of the Indianapolis Colts, has passed away at the age of 65 years old. It's the JR Sportbree Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. We will take a break. When we come back, we have more show on the way.
