Hour 2 l The Knicks Season Is On the Line

The JR Sport Brief Show on the Infinity Sports Network. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia.

Thank you to everybody tuned in all over North America. I don't, I don't know what you're doing because I'm minding my business in Atlanta. I don't know where you at because technology is not that far advanced. Or I don't have you on my, uh, find my, you're not in my family. I don't know where the hell you at. Okay.

And that's a good thing. Anyway, we got a lot to get into here over the next three hours. It is a four hour show.

It gets started every weekday at 6 PM Eastern, 3 Pacific. We've already talked about a lot. Patrick Mahomes is like, ah, flag football Olympics in Los Angeles, 2028. Uh, no thanks. I got better things to do. Like stay healthy. Will Leviss said, yeah, it sucks being in my situation. Kim Ward is going to take my job. Joe Flacco said, it's not my job to teach anybody.

It's my job to play football. Hopefully they learn something about being around me. We talked about the Minnesota Timberwolves. What does their future look like? Two consecutive trips to the Western conference finals. No finals appearance.

I guess on a bright side, Anthony Edwards is 23 years old on a dark side. The team is, well, I'm not a fan of the team around him. Hey, a team that is well put together, they're going to be competing for a championship. The Oklahoma city thunder, man, I think they're going to win it. The Nixon Pacers are getting after it in about an hour from now, the Pacers are trying to advance to the NBA finals to take on the thunder and the New York Knicks at home in front of all of the New York celebrities and crazy New Yorkers who like to throw garbage and spew profanities. Uh, the Knicks are going to try to stay alive. We're going to figure out whether or not Carl Anthony towns is going to play.

He is questionable with a knee injury. I'll give you my thoughts on the matchup in a second. Hey, we got the Panthers going to a third straight finals. We got another matchup and game tonight. We got the Oilers and the stars. Edmondson is trying to advance to take on those Panthers. We'll get into that.

And how about this? And about 20 minutes from now, talking about a team that already advanced, we're going to have a chat with Steve McGahee. He covers the thunder for news nine in Oklahoma city. How the hell did Sam Presti put this team together?

How the heck did he get a team that can go back to a finals with no Durand and no Westbrook and no harden? We'll chat with Steve in about 20 minutes. If you want to call up, you can do so 8 8 8 7 10 4 ISN that's 8 8 8 7 10 4 I S N this portion of the show is sponsored by Hyundai, the all new all electric Hyundai ionic nine space for up to seven range for miles. Yeah.

Shout outs to Hyundai 8 8 8 7 10 4 ISN that's 8 8 8 7 10 4 ISN. You can find me online. I am at JR sport brief. Well, this didn't take too much time, of course, but of course they got the pregame show the tonight's game between the Knicks and the Pacers it's taking place in Madison square garden. Spike Lee has on an orange pinstripe suit. It's blue. He has an orange suit.

The stripes are blue. I don't want to say he looks like an Oompa Loompa because it's primarily orange, but Spike Lee is, uh, and he's sitting here on the NBA pregame show right next to Reggie Miller. Like we are they going to play into these are they going to play into these guys?

Well, right. Well, Spike Lee gotta be, we gotta be in one of the sixties by now. Reggie Miller gotta be, you gotta be in his fifties, early fifties by now, mid fifties. Nico, how, how many more years do we have to see Reggie Miller and Spike Lee? Like it's been 30, it's been 35 years of this already.

Like what are we doing? Yeah. I just looked it up. Spike Lee is 68 years old now.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Spike Lee is almost 70 years old. That is correct.

March 20th, 1957 was when he was born. Wow. And Reggie Miller, let me off the top of my head. Reggie Miller is 55, 53.

Reggie is 59. Oh my God. Oh my, Nico, stop the show. Damn. Oh, Nico. Reggie Miller is almost 60 years old. That is correct.

August 24th, 1965. Oh my God. Oh, Nico, what a way to make me feel old. I feel old. Am I allowed to go back though to a point you brought up earlier, the suit that Spike is wearing? I actually kind of like it. Do you want, do you want this suit? You want to, would you wear this? Now I personally don't think that I could pull it off, but Spike Lee seems to be rocking it pretty well.

It looks like it might have a tail in the back. Oh my God. I'm still on the fact that Reggie Miller is almost 60 and Spike Lee is almost 70. We got these two dudes sitting at the beginning of the countdown show. They're taking precious airtime away from Charles Barkley, which should never happen, but I'm sure Charles is probably still the funniest guy out there. Like nothing in Spike Lee's head goes.

Tonight might be the night that we lose. I mean, but why not? His job is entertainment.

His job is to sell movies or just if he can sell himself, why the hell not? And good luck. This might be the very last time that we see Spike Lee this season, because if the New York Knicks lose tonight, they're done. They're finished. We saw this already take place in four games. The Pacers take a big lead. The Knicks come back and maybe they win, like once, like earlier in the week on Sunday when Carl Anthony Towns had to drop 20 points in a single quarter. But then in the last game, Carl Anthony Towns in Indianapolis, this man's knee is in shreds.

He's now questionable whether or not he's going to play tonight. When he does play, sometimes he's active, sometimes he's not, sometimes he's aggressive, sometimes he's watching. And meanwhile, while the Knicks are trying to figure all this out, the Indiana Pacers are just running up and down the court. I mean, Tyrese Halliburton had the game of his life, one of them. He had a triple double that we have never seen in NBA history since they have started to record turnovers.

32 points, 15 assists, 12 rebounds, zero turnovers. The Indiana Pacers are going to try to eliminate the Knicks at home tonight. If they do it, Tyrese Halliburton, you can bet he is going to look for Reggie Miller. He's going to pose with him. He's going to shake his hand. And then he's going to do the choke sign and people in New York are going to act like it's 35 years ago. Again, this is going to be a painful moment if the Pacers win an MSG.

Tyrese Halliburton, he talked about it. He says that we need to be ready because the Knicks are like caged animals with their backs up against the wall. They are desperate. You got to be ready to go for game five because, you know, their backs are against the wall.

They're going to play as desperate as they can, as they should. You know, they're going to come out and throw a punch and throw more punches and more punches. And we just got to be able to respond to those. Okay. Yeah.

Well, yeah. I mean, the Knicks have played them close. This is not like every game has been a blowout. It's not like the crap we saw last night between Oklahoma City and the Minnesota Timberwolves. This is going to be a close game.

I would imagine. There's no way in hell the Knicks are going to get blown out at home against the Pacers. We will hear boos raining down from the ceiling at Madison Square Garden. If it's a blowout early and the fans feel that the game is running away, you will hear and I think it'll be a smattering. I think even some fans might chant it down. You will hear fire tips.

Fire tips. Nico, am I lying? No, you're definitely spot on of what I could see happening. If this is a whooping early or late, they're going to be chanting for this man's job. I don't think he's going anywhere, though. He does always sound miserable. He could win a championship. He sounds miserable. He could lose in the first round. He sounds miserable. He could be on a 10 game winning streak.

Sounds miserable. Let's listen to Tom Thibodeau talk about what the Knicks need to do next. They need to reset the what? A lot of emotional highs and lows in the playoffs.

You've got to reset and get ready for the next game. And hopefully you've built that habit throughout the course of the year of understanding how important each game is, each quarter is, every play, how important that is as well. All right, Tom Thibodeau, we know every game is different. Let's listen to the guy who actually runs the team on the basketball court.

Let's listen to Jalen Brunson. Let's see if he has a better idea of what they need to do to win tonight. As a team, we just need to tighten the screws when it comes to that, you know, just being aggressive. If there are aggressive turnovers, that'd be different. But past the turnovers is not us.

OK, well, he's right about that one. Because he's not going to grow six inches taller and play defense. Karl-Anthony Towns isn't going to become, you know, all of a sudden faster laterally or improve his vertical leap and then improve his knee. The Knicks are who they are.

That's just what it is. And one thing that they can prevent are turnovers. Seventeen turnovers in the last game. Leading to 20 points for the Pacers. When you're the Pacers and you're just going up and down and up and down and up and down the court and Tyrese Halliburton isn't giving away the ball, you got a slim chance in the hell to actually move forward and win.

Good luck with that one. Somebody who had five of those turnovers was Josh Hart. He took a big portion of the blame for the loss. He says, you know what, we ain't afraid. We from New York. Obviously our backs against the wall, but you know, we're competitors and we're going to bring it until the series is over. So obviously we're disappointed with the position that we're in right now, but you know, we don't quit.

We don't quit. Nico, you think they're going to win tonight? They're going to win, right? I mean, I think that they are, but I'm just nervous about how they've played at Madison Square Garden this postseason. They have a losing record at home. This is supposed to be the mecca of basketball.

Oh, come on. But this is an elimination game in the Eastern Conference Finals. You got to trust that. You think they're going to win though, right, tonight? I do think that they're going to win. I don't think they're going to come back and win the series, but I like them to win tonight. I agree. Now, is that with or without Karl-Anthony Towns?

Does it matter? I think without Towns, my odds of them winning tonight goes way down. Oh yeah, yeah. Man, even if he plays tonight, I mean, granted, he's still a decoy. You have to account for him on offense so he doesn't stand there and just knock down a three. But then defensively, it's not like this guy is, not like he's moving around in any type of way, shape or form. We got to expect Mikel Bridges to wake up like he's playing ball. OGN and OBE has to be consistent with his free throws.

Josh Hart has to hold onto the ball because, I mean, it's real easy to just say, hey, let Jalen Brunson get his and then everybody else, you know, figure it out from there. But the New York Knicks, it's going to be real disappointing for a lot of their fans with this team just looking ahead. This is the closest they've been to a championship since 2000, when the Pacers eliminated them and the Pacers went to the Eastern Conference Finals, or excuse me, the NBA Finals, and they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers.

The last time the Knicks actually made the finals, 1999. There's a whole generation of people who do not. Nico, do you remember that? I wasn't even born yet.

Yes, come man. See, that's what I'm saying. I remember that vividly like it was yesterday. And here we are in 2025. And that's the closest the Knicks were to a championship.

And trust me, they weren't that close. It's like, who has an answer for Tim Duncan? The answer was nobody. Nobody. Nobody on the New York Knicks.

They were too short. Tim Duncan was whooping that ass. That was too easy for Tim Duncan. Let's see if the New York Knicks stay alive. I think they will win tonight in Madison Square Garden otherwise. And I don't I don't think so.

Tom Thibodeau. I agree. It'd be nice if he would develop and instill more confidence in his bench players earlier in the season. I think it's a little too late for that.

I really do. Well, you can throw everybody up against the wall. You can pull everybody off of the bench right now.

It's too late. You need to do that earlier on in the season. But look, Tom Thibodeau, he wants to ride his guys. He wants to play him. I got no problem with their minutes and how hard they play.

I think it's good. I think you ramp the minutes of your starters up as you get closer to the postseason. But I think you do want to develop some of your some of your players throughout the course of the regular season as well. And I think that part is is coming back to bite the New York Knicks, especially right now, when the Pacers are trying to run them out of the building. The New York Knicks were constructed to hopefully beat the Boston Celtics.

They did that. Did anybody expect the Pacers to be here? They started the regular season with a losing record. OK, now they might be on their way one win away from representing the East in the NBA finals in the Knicks and Pacers underway in an hour from now. We'll keep you up to date once that game gets underway.

I do want to get into the Panthers. They have an opportunity to beat the Edmonton Oilers again in the Stanley Cup finals. We'll talk about that.

But when we take a break, you know what? Let's talk about a team that has already stamped its position in the NBA finals. When we come back, we're going to have a conversation with Steve McGehee. He covers the Thunder for News 9 in Oklahoma City. We'll talk about Shea Gilgus Alexander, Sam Presti, how he constructed this team, what they have in store for the future. There's a lot to break down.

Let's talk about the Western Conference champs. You're listening to the J.R. Sport Reef Show on the Infinity Sports Network. I'm not. I'm I'm retired. OK, I'm retired. If you see me running, it's either, you know, on a track, on a treadmill. But if you see me running anywhere else, you should probably go on ahead and run as well. Run.

Yeah. Hey, we're going to look for Steve McGehee covers the Thunder for News 9 in Oklahoma City. You want to get his thoughts on what the Oklahoma City Thunder have been able to do, advancing to their first NBA championship, NBA finals, I should say, since the year 2012. Right before we went to break, we talked about the New York Knicks, the Indiana Pacers, the Pacers are trying to wipe them out. Well, the New York Knicks, they're just trying to stay alive. If the Knicks want to advance, if the Knicks want to move on to their first NBA final since 1999, they're going to have to go out there and beat the Indiana Pacers three consecutive times.

Good luck. Good luck to the New York Knicks. That game will tip off now in less than an hour from now. There's there's some more games and some more action tonight. Let's go from the hardwood and then go ahead and hit the ice, because we are about an hour away from the puck dropping down in Dallas.

And please believe if you're a fan of Dallas sports, you deserve this, even though it's not looking good for you right now. The Oilers are going to try to eliminate the Dallas Stars tonight in Dallas. Edmonton leads the series three to one we already had last night. The Florida Panthers, they've advanced again to the NHL Stanley Cup finals. Last year, they won the year before that they lost it, trying to go back to back. They eliminated the Hurricanes last night, five to three. The Panthers are trying to go back to back and the way that it's looking right now, we might have an exact rematch to what we had last year. And when you think about these Panthers and what they've been able to do, and we had a lot of callers last year calling from Florida. I'm like, when the hell did everybody just outside of Miami become a fan of hockey? I guess when you have a winner to root for, you just go out there and do it. Because we know the Marlins are not winners. We know the Miami Heat right now.

I don't know what the hell they are. Jimmy Butler lost his joy in Miami and then the Dolphins. Well, do you trust Tua Tonga Veloa?

The answer is probably no. If you're going to believe in anybody, go ahead and believe in root for the Panthers. It's very simple. That's what Paul Maurice had to say about going back to the Stanley Cup for the third straight year. I'll enjoy the game tonight. Just the specific game because it was clearly not easy and there were ups and downs and the emotions and the stage of it.

I'll enjoy that tonight. The bigger picture has changed maybe a little bit for our team. The first time and you fight to get to the final, it's just such a big deal. And then when you do it a couple of times, you understand that you're three quarters of the way through and there's lots more that has to happen.

Well, this is when things get real interesting for me. I'll pop in, I'll pop out on hockey all throughout the course of the year, all throughout the course of the season. But when we get to the Stanley Cup finals, you want to tell me that Edmonton is not going to be out here looking for some blood, looking for some get back. And then meanwhile, you got this Florida team that they're just out here looking to go back to back and raise the cup. We haven't seen that in a while. Matthew Kuchak, he credits all the new guys that they have on the team that they brought in after they won last year.

Listen to this. We needed that fresh blood and that fresh energy and the guys that are fresh and hungry. Now we're hungry coming back obviously, but you get those new guys that helped put you over the edge to get to this point right now. So got to give them a lot of credit.

We wouldn't be here without them. We'll see what the Florida Panthers do. Maybe by soon as tonight, we're going to find out who their opponent is going to be. Eventually it's going to be Edmonton. Let's see if the Oilers can end the Stars tonight out in Dallas. Meanwhile, back on the hardwood, we know one half of the championship equation for the NBA Finals, the Oklahoma City Thunder.

They advance, they knock off the Minnesota Timberwolves, and now they await the winner between the Pacers and the New York Knicks. To talk about what we've seen from the Oklahoma City Thunder, what they've done, where they've been, where they might go, joining us right now is Steve McGehee, who covers the Thunder for News 9 and OKC. Steve, how are you? I'm doing good. How you doing? It's been a busy day talking about OKC. Sorry, I'm running a little late because the other thing I was just on ran a little late. I apologize. I'm sure. Very, very busy man here today.

Well, I guess at the gate, I got to ask you this. Based on what we've seen over the past several months, what we've seen over the past year, when Shay Gilgus-Alexander was acquired about six years ago, it's crazy to think it's been that long. Is there any way that you saw this coming that he would evolve into who he is today and the team would be doing this? Well, I could see the potential because he would always be like the last guy at practice working on shots. And he became the face of the franchise after that, after the bubble year.

You know, Chris Paul and Steven Adams, Danilo Gallinari, they were traded off. And all of a sudden, it's him and Lou Dort, who has just finished up his rookie year, undrafted rookie out of Arizona State that is turned into a gym, especially on defense. He became the face of the franchise.

And so he had to accept that role. And we're talking about a guy that went to Kentucky, didn't even start for Kentucky right out of the bat. So, and he's just really blossomed as a, you know, coming out of Kentucky, but he had potential.

And there was doubt back then. I'm like, ah, this guy, he can't guide up to a championship. You know, I'm like, well, let's give him time, you know, see how he develops. And he's really worked hard at this game.

And the good thing about Shea is he's just a great person on and off the court. You don't hear him in the news with controversial tweets or text or, you know, comments that he makes in front of the media. He's married.

He has a son. He's doing everything the right way. And he's, he's a great leader. He's, he's not, you know, he's vocal when he has to be, but, you know, everybody loves him and he just worked on his game. You know, practice makes perfect as they said. And he just kept working at his game and he's got that baseline, you know, fade away working. He just, if he, if you watch his first ever points in the NBA, he drives to the basket.

I think he scores off the left hand. It shows you right there. I'm like, okay, that now I see it. I can see why this guy's so good, but it's interesting that watch his very first bucket in the NBA, like, wow, there he is right there in front of us.

We didn't even know it. So, and that's something that Sam Presti saw as the general manager. I'm like, I think this, this guy could be our guy. And he was right. Well, Steve, we're going to talk about Sam Presti and just what he's been able to do over the past decade. Plus you talk about how Shea Gilgus Alexander has been able to improve even till today. Even, I mean, even more so now I should say he's heavily criticized for how he plays the game. I don't agree with the whole foul nonsense, but what is your response to people who go, well, he's just stinking the game up with all these fouls. Well, he's getting fouled is he, or maybe he's not, but it was interesting.

I just, I always listen to the opposing team's radio at the game to see what they say about the Thunder. It's just, Oh, he's flopping everywhere and he's flailing his arms, you know, trying to make contact and, you know, overselling it, you know, it's like, I don't think he's doing that. Michael Jordan went to the free throw line too. Did anybody, you know, whine about Michael going to the line too much? Larry Bird, Magic Johnson.

I don't, I don't remember that too much. They're just looking for things and nitpick on them and they booed him in Minnesota every time he got the basketball in game three and game four, they booed him, you know, obviously the free throw merchant, you know, tear came up, but he has a great move to the bucket. You don't know what he's going to do. He's not the, he's not the quickest guy in the NBA, but he's, he's, I guess, what do I say? Silky smooth, maybe silky smooth this guy to the basket. And he has so many moves in the lane and he draws contact, you know, guys are trying to stop him, trying to block the shot or whatever. And he's just too quick for him sometimes. So sometimes he gets the calls, but MVPs get calls. They have, and they always will on down the line.

But yeah, I think it's, it's over kind of oversold. Like this guy's not legit. He's just drawn fouls and scoring at the line. That's, that's not fair.

Not fair at all. Steve McGee. He is joining us covers the thunder for news nine in Oklahoma city. You mentioned Sam Preston, the, any acquisition by, by, by trading for Shay Gillis Alexander, bringing him in and over from the Clippers. We see this young talent on the roster from Jalen Williams to Chet Holmgrom and Lou Dort.

This, this team is deep and the team is young. Is Sam Preston not the best executive in the NBA? Yeah, he should.

Yeah. He won the award this year. He needed to.

It's just amazing. And you know, his first run around with this franchise, they had Durant, they had Westbrook, they had Harden. Uh, but when they, they were good, but they didn't have, they never had that high lottery pick to like help them out to get better. You know, they always were picking in the twenties more times than not, you know, this time, you know, last year they picked 12th and they went to the playoffs this year. They're picking 15th and 24th.

You know, there's a lot of belief that he's going to take 15 and 24 and try to move into the lottery for me and him. They had so many options with his basketball team, but he's been, uh, him and his staff had done a great job evaluating case and Wallace was the 10th pick in the draft. And that guy's, he could be starting for a lot of NBA teams. And then in the off season, he knew what he needed and he got Crusoe and he got Isaiah Hartenstein. So he's, he's pulling all the right moves and that trade with the Clippers. That, that's the, what set them up to where they're at today. That's just because so far that's given their shade, Gildas Alexander and dub Jaylen Williams.

That's pretty good. Well, Steve, the Thunder, it doesn't matter who comes out of the East. It could be the Pacers. It could be the New York Knicks. I believe the Thunder ultimately going to win the championship. And I think about the youth and the age of the roster. This is not the Boston Celtics. This is not the golden state warriors, the Thunder.

Do they not have a long road in front of them? Is Shay Gilgas is in store for a contract extension this off season now? Yeah. Well, he's going to sign the one the next year that make him super, super rich. So, but he could sign it this year, but the one next summer is even better.

The super, super max, not only if they call it super super, but super max contract, he'd be the highest play paid player ever to play the game until the next guy comes along the next year. But yeah, they're set up and, but they can't assume it. You know, they, we assume this with the Thunder back in 2012, when they went to the NBA finals and lost to LeBron and the heat that they would be back the next year or the next year. And they haven't been back since because Russell Westbrook the next year in 2013 got hurt, bumped knees with Beverly.

He's out. I have a firm, real firm believer. Had he not been injured, David had gone to at least the NBA finals for the second year in a row suit. This team probably has a pretty good understanding. And I'm sure someone internally is saying, Hey, don't assume you're going to get there next year or the next year because you guys are young because we have so many picks ahead of us. And because our salary is based to where we, we don't have to lose a lot of you guys right away, eventually on down the road, you know, they can't keep everybody, but you know, Sam can trade with the best of them. They're not going to lose anybody like they did Duran.

They, you know, they learned a lesson on that one. That's kind of a tough deal for them to lose your best player, but you know, eventually they're going to have to trade somebody, but as long as they keep Chet and Dub and SGA, that big three together, they're going to be a quality opponent and they're going to be tough to beat. You know, they're, they're building something special down in San Antonio with Victor Wamby on it. I make sure they do with the second pick. So I'll be going to take that second pick and their other first round pick and some other things to try to get Giannis.

We'll see, but we'll see. But the West is just loaded, just loaded in Cooper flags going to Dallas. Dallas is a pretty good basketball team.

And then here they are getting Cooper flags. So, you know, it's not going to be easy for the thunder, but they're going to be definitely in the conversation over the next four or five years. And no doubt about it.

Well, final question for you, Steve, you talk about not taking any of this for granted. It was only a few seasons ago that these thunder couldn't win more than 20 games. I was there.

I saw them. You talk about the fan base. You turn on any game. I don't think there's any arena that has as much energy, as much enthusiasm from beginning until end as the thunder fans. Why is this fan base so invested in so many cases we hear about?

It's the only professional game in town. Is that the reason why these fans so hyped for the thunder? Well, when they moved here from Seattle, they had one bad year. And then their second year here, they took the Lakers to six games in the opening round of the playoffs. And that's when people started, these guys are pretty good.

Here they come, you know, with young Russ and young Katie and Harden. So people, I guess they were spoiled here. And so they had, they jumped on board and became passionate fans. And I think those passions even louder now than it was back in 2012.

You know, some people may have a different answer to that. But that place is pretty loud. Sometimes, as I said, I listen to the games on my earbuds. And most of the time, I struggle to hear what they're saying, because it's so loud in that place in the earplugs. You know, my wife went to the game last night, she goes, I feel like I just went to a concert.

You know, that's how loud it is. And they stay on their feet. And, you know, they're not they're not they're not tough fans either.

They're not scolding too many players, you know, some some fans are not booing this guy, because he has the basketball in his hand, you know, they're pretty, I think they're pretty even keel, you know, and not too rough on the opposing players. But it's just a, you know, it is the only professional team in the state of Oklahoma. But I think their early success, early success moving to Oklahoma City is what really helped generate a buzz early on. And it's only grown year after year after year after year. And there were some fans that were kind of upset that they put the re hit the reset button.

But now they understand why they had to do it. Well, that place is going to be very, very, very loud. If they win an NBA championship this year. Hey, Steve, thank you so much for the time. Where can people follow you and all of your work following at Steve McGee on x formerly known as Twitter and then news nine.com in the sports section thunder section, we have a lot of good material on there. We have a nice staff that, you know, accumulates a lot of video and interviews and stuff.

But so, you know, that's where you can get us news nine.com. And that's the McGee. Hey, Steve, thank you so much. Enjoy the rest of the ride.

We'll catch you maybe sooner than later. Okay. There you go. Thanks for having me on.

No doubt about it. That's Steve McGee. He covers all things Oklahoma City Thunder for news nine down in Oklahoma City.

It's the JR sport re show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. The New York Knicks and Pacers are about 25 minutes from tipping off. We're going to take a break. We come back, you know, talking about trades and moving pieces. That's how Oklahoma got to where they are.

It appears that the Cleveland Cavaliers, even though their season just ended, they might be willing to move some pieces so they can get to the Eastern Conference finals. We're going to get into that. Talk some football as well. It is the JR sport brief show on the Infinity Sports Network. 888-710-4ISN. That's 888-710-4ISN. Thank you so much to Steve McGee. He for joining us on the last break.

He covers the Oklahoma City Thunder for news nine down in Oklahoma City. Good for them. Like I thought, man, is it really that tough to look at this team after they lost Hardin and then they lost Durant and then they lost Westbrook? I thought that they were going to be one of these franchises that was just going to be doomed for the next forever. I thought that they were going to be a team like, I'm sorry to all my people in Northern California. I thought that they were going to be like the Sacramento Kings. I thought that they were just going to be a team like going to be floating around in the abyss.

But Sam Presti, he could turn a negative into a positive and it's all good. Now they're on their way back to another NBA finals. There ain't no LeBron James in this series to stop him. There's no Dwyane Wade. There ain't no Chris Bosh. None of that.

Nico, I'm kind of torn here and you help me out if I sound like a jerk here makes sense. I want to see the New York Knicks beat the Pacers. I don't believe the Knicks will beat the Pacers, but I also feel from an entertainment standpoint, strictly on competitiveness and basketball. I think that the Pacers in the Oklahoma City Thunder, I think that they would make for a better series.

Who do you think would make for a better series and why? Do you think it would be the Knicks or do you think it would be the Pacers? Yeah, I mean the way that these two teams have gone up against each other so far, talking about the Pacers and the Knicks, the Pacers just seem like the better team. So that would make me think that they have a better chance of competing with the Thunder. I mean the way I look at it is I don't think anyone's stopping OKC, but if we're trying to have a good fun series, I think the Pacers are the better chance.

They're deeper and that's going to allow them to try to make it a longer series. I think the Knicks are just so burnt out at this point. Obviously as a Knicks fan, I'd love to see them go all the way, but even if they were to miraculously win three games in a row against Indiana, that's only just going to make them even more tired going into the NBA Finals. Yeah man, and you think you talk about tired, the Pacers have basically run the New York Knicks out of the building. Even so, if it's been close or almost a comeback, the Knicks have been playing keep up. And just the style of play between the Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder getting up and down the court and going back and forth, it's something to behold. And the Knicks are just, they're trying to slow it down. I think we've seen, they ain't running with anybody, let alone the Pacers. So I think we'd have an entertaining series.

I don't know if the NBA, from a rating standpoint, would love a Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder NBA Finals, but that might be what we get. I mean, it's pulling into June. When is June 1st? Sunday? Monday? Sunday.

Sunday? Pulling up on June and that's not, I don't think people think about summertime and go Oklahoma City. Niko, do you go to vacation on Oklahoma City? No, I definitely don't. But don't you think it'd be cool to see two teams that have never won before go at it?

Yeah, I do. I think that's a cool storyline. Obviously the Knicks haven't won in a while either. The ratings ain't going to be good though. You think the ratings will even out with the fact that neither of these teams have won an NBA championship? Oh, of course not. The Knicks would definitely have higher ratings if they were there, but I don't know. I don't think it'd be as low as some people are saying. Maybe.

Maybe. Yeah, I mean, New Yorkers are everywhere. Largest media market in the country. One of the biggest cities on planet earth. Yeah, if the Knicks were in the finals, we'd have people all over the country watching.

Can't say the same for Indiana Pacers or the Oklahoma City Thunder. It's tough. Oh my goodness.

Wow. Hey, as I'm sitting here in the studio, I'm looking at the screen. I'm like, hey, these people look familiar and they're actually at Turner Sports and they're giving a big thank you to everybody who's worked on the NBA on TNT.

And a lot of these faces at one point in time, I'm like, why do all these people look look familiar? This very well might be the last playoff game on TNT if the New York Knicks end up losing tonight. And so we've had a lot of goodbyes. I feel like starting with the NBA all star game, everybody was acting like this is it for Turner as the NBA is moving to Amazon. It's moving back to NBC.

It'll be on ESPN. Am I missing somewhere? Did I nail all the new places are going to be? There's so many nowadays. It's hard to keep up. Let's see.

NBC, Amazon, ESPN. Is there another streamer? No, that's it. Right.

I think that's it. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Yeah.

Wow. It's kind of it was odd for me to think about the French Open being on TNT now that was in the job. I'm used to looking at the French Open and just popping open ESPN and boom, it's on it's on Turner property. There's so many damn channels.

I can't keep up. But this very well might be the final appearance of of this crew. It's kind of hard to think about on on TNT.

Well, all things change. We know this inside the NBA will be licensed out to ESPN. So Charles Barkley, Kenny, Ernie and Shaq, they're not going anywhere. They're just moving over to ESPN. But what this means for other programing, we have absolutely no idea.

None. Hey, we are minutes away from tip off between the New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers. One big storyline to pay attention to.

And I didn't think that there was a doubt about this. Karl-Anthony Towns was questionable for tonight. He is and has been warming up. This it would be a cold day in hell if this guy didn't play like even it. I'm not trying to put this man to be Willis Reed in Game 7 against the Los Angeles Lakers in 1970 with a busted up leg, busted up thigh.

But even if it's for the optics, you got to give it a go. And so unless Karl-Anthony Towns was being literally walked around or rolled around in a wheelchair. There was no doubt he was he was going to play tonight, even if he had to drag that leg and then sit down.

You couldn't have this man couldn't have this man not give it a go. He'd be he'd be eviscerated. And it's enough that people already call him soft.

Nico, I guess you got to look at your bank account. The way that Karl-Anthony Towns get made, he gets made fun of by his own fan base and other players and former players and people make fun of his voice. And how the heck does he live in New York being ridiculed like this?

Well, I've been a big defender of his for the entire season because he's done everything that I've asked him to do. But the one that was weird for me was when he had the whole fake New York accent thing. I mean, what was that about? Well, they're talking about his voice.

They're making fun of his his high pitched voice. You know what? We can we we can find that clip. Can we play that maybe in the next hour? You think?

Yeah, let me find it. Oh my good. Like, to be a professional athlete in New York is rough. They're basically for lack of a better term. His own fans are talking about Karl-Anthony Towns like he runs around like a like a I don't even know. They are emasculating Karl-Anthony Towns.

I think that's how you say it in a politically correct way. I think, hey, we're going to take a break when we come back. We'll talk more about the Knicks and Pacers as they get underway. We're going to be joined by Chris Hine, who covers the Minnesota Timberwolves, get his thoughts on how they can get past the Western Conference Finals. Hey, we got some news earlier today from Rob Manfred about Pete Rose. We got a lot to get into the JR Sport reshow. Don't move.