It is the JR Sport Brief show here on the Infinity Sports Network. Coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to everybody tuned in locked in all over North America, my folks in Edmonton, my people in South Florida, people in Oklahoma City. You could be in Indianapolis, you could be in California, you could be in New York, where the Knicks are trying to hold for everybody.
Of course, why not? You could be here in Atlanta with me. You could be in New York as well with our producer Ryan Botcher. We appreciate you for being here.
This show gets started every weekday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific. We've talked about a lot so far. Obviously, the Indiana Pacers in that big win last night. They didn't have a lead until.3 seconds of the game and that was enough. Pacers get a victory against OKC.
Tonight, Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals, we got the Panthers looking to bounce back against the Edmonton Oilers, looking to avoid an 0-2 hole and try not to give up another 3-1 lead. We talked about Aaron Rodgers. Now that he's going to Pittsburgh, what's next for Kirk Cousins? Matter of fact, next hour, we'll have a chat with Will Graves. He covers all things football for the Associated Press. He's based out of Pittsburgh. And how about this? In about 20 minutes, we'll have a chat with Zach Osterman. He covers all things Indiana Pacers. But we have so much more to get into as we continue on. Tyrese Halliburton, latest villain in the league.
NBA's looking towards expansion. It is Friday. We're going to get into the Friday.
Funny, oh yeah, it's back. At the end of the show, we'll talk about a few things that took place this day in sports history. And then, you know what? No matter of fact, in a few minutes, a few seconds, we'll talk about all this, all this noise surrounding the New York Knicks. Now that Tom Thibodeau is out, there's so many conversations, so many rumors about who might be making their way in.
Not just from a coaching perspective, but a superstar as well. Okay, alright. You can find me online. I'm on the internet. I exist. I am at JR Sportbrief.
Thank you for listening on the free Odyssey app, your local affiliate, Sirius XM Channel 375, and a smart speaker if you have one. What a day. I'm just thinking about everything. What a week.
Tom just flies. Batra, you know what's crazy? I couldn't tell you one thing about Monday. I couldn't tell you one thing I did on Monday. All the days run together. I don't remember what I did either.
Is that good or bad? I can't remember. Every day just melds together into one.
In a weird way, it's good because I guess you're in the flow of things, but it's bad that you can't remember specific things. I feel like I'm too young to be forgetting this. I don't remember what I did on Tuesday. I remember Wednesday because Wednesday was the Stanley Cup Finals. I remember yesterday because yesterday was yesterday.
Great explaining by me. I remember everything about today, but the beginning of the week? I don't remember. Tuesday was Thibodeau Day. That's how I remember it.
Thibodeau got fired on Tuesday. Okay. I don't remember anything else after that.
Sorry. That's all really mattered that day. That Thibodeau got fired? Yeah. Was that Wednesday?
No, no, no. It had to be Tuesday. No, it was Tuesday. It was Tuesday. Because coming off of the weekend, it was like, oh, he still has a job on Monday. And then by the time Tuesday came, he was jobless. And I mean, the New York Knicks head coaching search has already now moved on into multiple people.
And everybody's just jumping at the first thing. Oh, my God. Oh, Johnny Bryant. Guys never coached a game in the NBA in his life.
Okay. Never been a full time coach in his life. Got Nick fans screaming about him. Why do you want a guy who has no experience and the expectations are now set for you to now advance past the conference finals and go to the NBA finals? You want to bring in a rookie? You want to bring in a novice?
What sense does that make? You walk into a fancy restaurant and you they got a new chef back there and he ain't never cooked in a restaurant in his life. Do you want that or do you want the chef back there who has some experience? Why would it be any different in the world of basketball? And so we got all these rumors that are floating and running around right now that apparently the New York Knicks do want another coach with plenty of experience. This man has been coaching in the league.
Sounds crazy. Since 2013. That's when he got his start with the Brooklyn Nets. His name is Jason Kidd.
Yeah. Former champ used to run up and down the court for the Suns, the Mavs, the Nets went to the finals, got smacked around by the Lakers. Yeah, Jason Kidd, the current coach of the Dallas Mavericks. Of course, if the New York Knicks want Jason Kidd, they're going to have to consummate a trade for Jason Kidd, who has two years left on his current contract. And yeah, we know that Luka Doncic is no longer on the team. If you are Jason Kidd, do you trust Nico Harrison? I know they had that awkward press conference where Nico Harrison sat right there just like, oh, Jason didn't know anything. And Jason Kidd, he looked like he was a hostage to the entire situation.
And now they got Cooper Flagg coming in. But does Jason Kidd want to deal with this? Does he want to go back to New York? He played for the Knicks, ended his career with the Knicks, coached at Brooklyn, got his start and played in New Jersey. Does Jason Kidd from the Bay Area? Does he want to coach the Knicks? He interviewed with the team before Tom Thibodeau got the job. I don't know if it's so much about Jason Kidd coaching a team that that doesn't excite me.
That doesn't do anything for me. I said it when Tom Thibodeau got fired earlier this week. It's not so much about who coaches the Knicks, but what talent they get their hands on. If Jason Kidd is going to beget another talent, a superstar talent, a big name talent for the Knicks, then we might be talking. And apparently, Jason Kidd is already excited about what's in store. You know, Jason Kidd, he was on the DLLS podcast, All Things Dallas, and he was asked about Cooper Flagg and he kind of beat around the bush just a little bit. Listen to what Jason Kidd said. We love that kid from Duke. I've been studying him a little bit. And so that's the answer.
That's the real answer. I mean, this draft is is really talented. You have some young men at the University of Rutgers.
And so it's exciting. But right now I'm studying the young man that used to play at Duke. Man, it kills me that he called it the University of Rutgers. Man, you used to play in New Jersey. I know you were busy. A wife had a wife. Had a kid. This kid got to be old as hell. Damn, TJ Kidd.
I got to be like, bacha. How old is he? Got to be 30 right now. I look it up because isn't Jason Kidd like close to 50? Jason Kidd got to be.
Yeah, you got to be maybe just about. Trey Jason Kidd is 26. His son who? TJ. Yeah, Trey Jason.
Google gave me his full name. How old? 26? 26 going to be 27 in October. Oh, he's younger than what I thought he'd be.
Wow. Jason Kidd played and he was busy in New Jersey playing basketball. Maybe he never stepped foot on Rutgers University in his life.
University of Rutgers. Anyway, I thought that there was a good chance that Jason Kidd was going to move on from the Dallas Mavericks. When Luca when they moved on from Luca, I was like, this man is not going to be sticking around with this job for long.
Like what? To coach what? To babysit a sinking ship? But now with Cooper Flagg on his way to the Dallas Mavericks, I'm sure as you just heard, Jason Kidd feels a little bit more a little bit more lively about the situation. There's no guarantee that, A, the New York Knicks are going to approach the Dallas Mavericks. And then we also know the New York Knicks traded the whole world for Mikel Bridges five first round picks. And then Jason Kidd would have to really be the one to say, you know, I want to be here.
Like move me. Does he want to jump into the pressure cook of New York? Does he want that stress of, hey, I can help, you know, move Jalen Brunson to the next level? Even though Jalen Brunson left Jason Kidd and Luca and found that next level.
Jason Kidd seems like the type. I could see Jason Kidd saying I want to go back to New York. Could you see that botch? I could see it happen.
I could see it. I think he might think it's better for him long term. I know you're getting Cooper Flagg, but the pieces around Cooper Flagg doesn't look that great in Dallas. You know, Anthony Davis always injured Kyrie out with the torn ACL. Other than that, Klay Thompson hasn't really looked anything of himself the last three years. So moving to New York, Jalen Brunson, top two point guard, three top three point guard.
That's not bad. Yeah, I could see Jason Kidd moving on. And the only reason why I would entertain it if I were the Knicks or Knicks fan, it's not because of Jason Kidd. What's he going to coach you to? What does he want?
Nothing. I know what he won with Dallas. He won a championship. He's one of the greatest point guards of all time. I loved watching him for a guy who didn't develop a jump shot until late into his career. I really love watching Jason Kidd. He commanded the game without being a physical freak or an athlete. I say he's he's the short version.
He really is. He is the short version of Nikola Jokic. But Jokic could shoot if you stretched out Jason Kidd and made him seven feet tall and gave him a jump shot. I find his game to be similar to Jokic's. Now, if Jason Kidd can go to the Knicks and he can, I don't know, attract the talent there.
And so be it. And one of those talents reportedly that the New York Knicks are heavily interested in. Giannis Atteracumpo. But we know Giannis is now open to leaving early this week. There was a report that Giannis is open to going to Toronto, another beautiful international city, much cleaner than New York City, I might add. This is what Giannis had to say not too long ago about his future in Milwaukee.
He won about it. Do you think that you can still win that second championship here in Milwaukee after a third straight first round exit? Look, I'm not I'm not I'm not going to do this. I'm not I'm not going to do this. I know how this is going.
Whatever I say, I know how it's going to translate. I don't know, man. I wish I was still playing.
I wish I was still competing and going back to Milwaukee. I don't know. Let's keep in mind. Jason Kidd was was there at the beginning of Giannis's career. He's the one who basically said, let's go ahead and put the ball in this man's hands and have him run point. Which Giannis still appreciates to this day.
He wants to run the show. Now, look, Giannis in New York for the Knicks would be amazing. We know the Knicks would have to give up the world. Karl-Anthony Towns, both both of his salaries are actually pretty similar.
You think about making about 50 a year. And then on the other hand, somebody else would have to go because the New York Knicks don't have no damn first round picks. They gave him up for Mikel Bridges.
It's a possibility. But that's the only reason why that I would I would even entertain bringing in Jason Kidd. I feel like everything that the Knicks would do would be a lateral move from a coaching perspective. It'd be on the same plane or they go down, bringing in a coach who has no experience. The biggest issue wasn't the coach for the New York Knicks. He was the easiest thing to move. The biggest issue for the New York Knicks is the roster.
And if a new coach can bring you in a Giannis over Karl-Anthony Towns, I think 10 out of 10 know who they would take in that space. 888-710-4ISN. That's 888-710-4ISN. Buddy is calling from California.
You're on the JR Sportbreeze show. What's up, buddy? What's up? My second time calling in, hollering at you, man. How you doing?
I'm excellent. What's on your mind? Hit me.
Oh, man. You know, I had to chime in on this one. Me being originally from the Bay Area, true blood, you know, to the Bay.
I get a lot of grief from my family members. I called you a while back talking about Dallas Cowboys. You know, I, I get grief being a Dallas Cowboys fan and born and raised in the Bay, but that's neither here nor there. I want to talk about Jay Kidd. So, I mean, I definitely think Jay's on his way out. You said it yourself that the whole, you know, he had that puzzled look like he just didn't know what was going on.
And and maybe he didn't know what was going on and he just didn't agree with it. You know, I think that him going to New York, I don't really think. Well, at the end of the day, he's a coach.
He needs a job, especially if he's not going to be in Dallas. But I don't know if you know him. I don't know if New York is a good match.
What do you think? Well, he's thank you, buddy, for calling from Cali. He's been here in New York. He's played in New York. He's been in the league for a very, very long time. Let him stick around, like let him go to New York.
He's this is not unfamiliar territory. Jason Kidd has had his public life just splashed all over the back pages of the New York City papers. I don't think Jason Kidd would be afraid of being in New York. Does he want the stress of being the Knicks coach?
It's something that he has to figure out. I think he would go to the New York Knicks if he feels comfortable that they can have some roster adjustments. So this might be a good move for the New York Knicks if they can get somebody else into the building. And apparently, if it's not Giannis, it seems like the New York Knicks were pretty hot on another guy.
A little bit closer to the end of his career, but still an amazing scorer. And that's Kevin Durant. We'll talk about that later on in the show. 8 8 8 7 10 for ISN.
That's 8 8 8 7 10 for ISN. And we are going to take a break when we come back on the other side. Unfortunately, if you're a Knicks fan, we have to talk about the team that just eliminated the New York Knicks. We've got to talk about the team that just won Game 1 of the NBA Finals. We're going to have a chat with Zach Osterman, who covers the Indiana Pacers. Get his thoughts on what we've seen, what they've done.
Whether or not they got three more victories in them for the rest of this season. We'll have that chat with Zach on the other side. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief. It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. I need you to thank O'Reilly Auto Parts for all of your car care needs.
Get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. Last night, it looked like we were in store for a blowout, and the Pacers went out and did it again. They didn't have a lead until three-tenths of a second left in the game.
They walk away with a victory. Another big shot in the playoffs the postseason by Tyrese Halliburton. Joining us right now to talk about this team that will not die, that will not quit, that just keeps coming back and back and back is Zach Osterman, who covers all things Pacers, Indiana Sports for the Indy Star. Zach, how are you, man? Hey, Zach?
We have Zach? Sorry. I'm typing, and I didn't want the click-clack of the keys to jump in on, and then of course I forgot I was muted, so I am very sorry about that. Thank you for having me.
No problem. I didn't know if you got abducted by aliens or something, Zach. I'm glad you're here. Well, I'm staring out at the Oklahoma Comets baseball field, so you never know.
I mean, we might ride out into space at some point. Who knows? Listen, in Oklahoma City that very well might be the case. Man, when Halliburton hit that shot last night, what was your reaction? I think first, it had about 1,000 words of writing, but the next one was, you have to keep doing this, and what's funny to me is I think this is probably one of the more explainable, since that, A, of course we've seen the Pacers do this a few times in these playoffs, B, a lot of what happened not really came down to A real advantage of the Pacers was three-point shooting, and the fact that the Pacers hit six in the fourth quarter, the Thunder hit none, and so that's what kind of brings the Pacers back. But there is just an element of this that you just, you start to sort of say, as much as we can quantify, you know, this team's good at this, or these statistical trends tells this about this team, there just does have to be something inherent in a group that just starts to believe that they're capable of this no matter what situation they find themselves in, and that's invaluable in a playoff setting.
Zach Osterman is here with us from the IndyStar. When you think about all these big shots that Halliburton is out there knocking down, we found out earlier on in the playoffs as the season ended that he was voted, in a small sample size, the most overrated player in the entire league. For a dude who is as clutch as he is and knocking down these shots like this, why do you think some of his contemporaries across the league put him in that category?
Yeah, I think there's, I think there are a few things with Halliburton and, you know, listen, there's a lot of different ways to judge a player's value in the modern NBA. I think, you know, he's not always a volume scorer, he can be, but there are also nights when, I mean, last night's a decent example where you feel like he's not as involved in the game as, for example, Shay Gill, just out, and he's got 38 points at the end of it. But then you look down at the stat line, he's got 10 rebounds, he's got 6 assists, of course he hits the game winner. And so there's a little bit of maybe, you know, kind of the fact that for a lead guard for sort of, you know, the alpha on a finals ending team, he doesn't fit that archetype of a player that's going to take a lot of shots, that's going to score a lot of points most nights. He'll do that when it's available to him, he'll do that when he's shooting well, when he's playing well. But he's also a player by the nature of the way the team's built around him who recognizes sometimes when it's appropriate to step back and be more of a facilitator, bring others into play more. I think it also helps too for him that he's got Andrew Nembhard with him who can, you know, I mean, we saw this last night, isn't necessarily going to be as ball dominant as Halliburton, but can run the offense and even, you know, maybe take games over in stretches. And then there's probably, you know, some element of the small market piece of it.
And I think that stuff's a little bit kind of outdated in the way that we think about sports in America, but I think that will always probably push just a little bit. But what I say about Halliburton and, you know, I say this to somebody who covers a lot of college basketball, but obviously watches a lot of the NBA and a lot of the Pacers. When you have a player who a franchise makes a conscious decision to say, we're going to trade for you, we're going to give you the money and we're going to build the whole roster around what you need and your strengths and bring the best out of your game.
And this is what he delivers. I don't think you can call that player overrated anymore. Zach Osterman is here with us covers the Pacers and for the Indy Star. When you think about this team having a sub 500 record as we moved into 2025 and they've been one of the best teams in 2025. Is it small market? Is that why they've kind of floated under the radar? There was so much attention paid to the Boston Celtics and the record of the Cavaliers and the New York Knicks. Why haven't the Pacers got that attention?
It just can't be the market, right? No, I think this, I mean, I think this happens sometimes in large sample size sports too. You know, I'm, this is a weird comparison, but I'm a brace fan. I grew up in Atlanta and I remember when the brace made their world series run a few years ago. They spent a lot of the season fighting around 500 and it sort of felt like baseball forgot about them. And then nobody kind of realized that the last two months of the season, they were playing it like a 107 or a 108 win pace or whatever it was. So by the time they hit the playoffs, they weren't the team that couldn't get over 500. They were a team that was playing as well as anybody in baseball. And I think you see that sometimes in sports like baseball, basketball, hockey, where a team struggles early in the season.
Others kind of break out to the front. You mentioned the Cavs, obviously in the Western Conference, you had the Thunder and you sort of forget about a team like the Pacers and you don't. I mean, you know, I think they're 34 and 14 in the regular season from, from June, June, June 1st, January 1st to the end of the regular season. You sort of forget about them because they were when maybe the kind of the narratives of the season were being set early on, kind of struggling. And you don't realize until you get to the playoffs, actually, this is a team that's been playing just about as well as anybody in the NBA.
And, you know, I think it happens more in sports like this where there's just game after game after game. And I think that's what's, you know, I think that's what this team has kind of written is maybe and again, I don't know if they needed that, that sort of external doubt to motivate them or whatever. And obviously they had some injuries to listen to. They just had to get healthy. But, you know, I think this team kind of flew under the radar because others kind of grabbed the headlines and the narrative early in the season with justifiably the Cavaliers had a great year, obviously, for example. And nobody kind of realized just how well the Pacers were playing until they hit the playoffs and they started, you know, started putting some of these teams away, the Bucks and then the Cavs and then the Knicks that you talked about. And I think that's that's where this has come from a little bit that maybe we just haven't appreciated how well this team has been playing because of that close start.
Well, Zach, it's certainly taken a lot of big shots by Halliburton, some deficits that they've overcome, including last night down 15 points in the fourth quarter. How do you think they're going to look moving forward? I'm still looking at the Thunder as the favorites here.
How do you think they're going to react? What are your thoughts on what the rest of the series will look like? Well, I think the first thing, obviously, for Indiana is they at least tilt the series back toward the advantage of getting the Thunder to Indianapolis. I guess the first thing you had to do was, you know, just get to a place where you go to Indianapolis feeling like you've got opportunity rather than feeling like you've got to win both those games because you lost both of them in Oklahoma City. You can't go back to OKC down three one, whatever. I agree that the Thunder are probably still favorite. I think if you know, if I'm if I'm handicapping this series, the thing that I'd be concerned about if I'm a fan of the Thunder is I don't know how much could go much better for Oklahoma City than it did last night. Right. The crowd was I mean, you know, the atmosphere was genuinely electric and there was deafening at times.
I mean, I was putting my AirPods in just to like give my give my eardrums a break a couple of times a quarter. Obviously, you get 38 from Gilders Alexander. You know, you you you turn the patient over 20 times in the first half and you still lose the game. I'm not saying Thunder are going to get swept or anything, but I do think the patients can take heart from the idea that that game could not have gone too much better for Oklahoma City than it did.
And Indiana still won. I think what you get from that is when we had this series, we said, what are the things the Thunder, the clear favorite, if the patients are going to turn that around, what are the things that have got to manifest in these games? One is the three point shooting we talked about.
Another is the patient's experience. And that starts obviously with the head coach and works itself all the way down this group. The core of it was in a fairly deep playoff run last year. Obviously, you've got guys on this roster that already have rings, Siakam, Thomas Bryant.
And I think you saw some of that manifest last night too. Now, again, I would still stick with the Thunder as a narrow favorite. But I think if you are Indiana, while I don't think you would look at last night as Oklahoma City's best punch, you would probably say they can't throw many much better.
And we still won. So if we clean up the turnovers, if we get Halliburton going a little bit more offensively, if we can really capitalize on our home court advantage when we're back in Indiana, we're back in Indianapolis next week, then we can get control of this series in a way that creates a bit of an uphill climb for OKC. Now, the Thunder had to do this with the Nuggets. I know obviously that series is followed a little bit by injuries too. But the Thunder do have form for losing game one, going to a seven game series, coming back and winning, et cetera. But I think this if this Pacers team keeps playing the way that it's been playing, I think last night told us they are prepared to push Oklahoma City a lot further than maybe general consensus expected them to.
They signed me up. We run out of basketball. I want some good games, Zach. I'll tell you that much.
Last last question for you, Zach. Tyrese Halliburton has certainly raised his his awareness level across the country to a new level over the past month and a half. And he's doing WWE.
They got shirts of him and he has his new shoe and what have you. Is he the NBA's newest bad guy? Is he the newest villain? It seems like his own guys in the league don't like him. He's playing the bad guy role on WWE. Is he the next Reggie Miller?
Is he the next? I love to hate that guy. Maybe, you know, I think he I think he at least embraces, you know, kind of the idea that I mean, listen, if if you're going to if you're going to be the guy that becomes famous for, you know, sticking game winners in everybody's face, you're not going to be very well liked. It doesn't really matter, you know, what you do off the court or how you play or who you play for. You know, if you are consistently running around the league, leaving the endures, the enduring memory of being the guy that delivers the knockout punch against everybody else, you're going to become unpopular pretty fast.
I think he I don't think he necessarily embraces the villain role, but I don't think he really gets my impression of of Tyrese Alberton is he's he doesn't really apologize much for who he is. And he doesn't mind telling you who he is. You know, I mean, like, for example, people have asked him about living in Indianapolis. And again, that that sort of small market thing. Are you comfortable here? You know, some some guys want to be in bigger markets or on bigger teams. And he says, listen, I grew up in a small town in Wisconsin. I went to Iowa State like Indianapolis is more than enough for me. This organization is good to me.
It's good to my family. This is you know, this is the place I'm incredibly comfortable. I think he should be. I mean, he was wearing pink pumas on the court last night. You know, a buddy of mine texted me a picture of his shoes and said he took their souls wearing pink soles.
And yeah, I mean, I was like, I sort of wanted to steal that line. But I think there's there's rules against that in journalism. But, you know, he doesn't apologize for who he is. And I think when you get guys like that and this isn't any sport. When you get, you know, sort of leading stars that are willing and able to show that kind of, you know, intentional and and sort of individual confidence, but not at the expense of their team. You know, it's clear the way that the team rallies around them, it's clear the way that the organization is, you know, kind of really rallied around him and frankly, the way he rallies around being the face of the Pacers.
He's at Indiana Fever games all the time. You know, cheering on taken Clark, but he's embraced the idea of being a mainstay in Indianapolis beyond just what he's doing on the floor with the Pacers. You're not going to be well liked if you're a guy that is constantly putting it on teams elsewhere around the league. You know, he's not going to be popular in Cleveland no matter what he says or does, if he's making last second shots to complete 20 point comebacks in the playoffs.
But I don't think he's I don't think he's one of those people that needs to be a villain, so to speak, to succeed. I think he's just very comfortable with who he is. And I think you see that comfort really starting to manifest and express itself. And you also, you know, it's easy sometimes to forget. And this is true, I think, of Gilders Alexander, too young. These guys still are, you know, and that we're we're so used to, you know, stars being around.
Right, exactly. Started being around forever. And you sort of forget, like, well, those guys needed a little while to, you know, I mean, we we've all kind of forgotten LeBron. Needed some years. He was really good from his rookie year, but he needed some years to really become the dominant two way all over the floor kind of player that he was. Everybody does.
Nobody walks in fully formed. And I think what you're starting to see is Tyrese Halliburton becoming more fully formed. And if you're Indiana, the results are obviously very encouraging.
We'll see if they can get three more victories here to close out the season. Zach, I want to thank you for the time. Please tell everybody where they can keep up with you and your work. Yeah, well, any sort of slash sports at Zach Osterman on Twitter. And I should say, too, where I'm kind of subbing in here, I'm more normally in the background, heart pacer stuff for my good friend Dustin, the peer who's at Dustin the barrack on Twitter.
Dustin will pick the football back up for game three. But I'm here. You get you get me and my my unapologetically bad writing between between now and the end of game two. So, I mean, it's a lot of fun. Usually, you know, it's funny before before Caitlin Clark came. The summers were often pretty quiet in Indianapolis, but between Caitlin Clark and Tyrese Halliburton, they're keeping us busier in June and July than we used to be. So I see Caitlin on her way back, too. So that'll be fun.
Lots of it. Hey, Zach, thank you so much for the time. We'll catch you soon down the line, OK?
Sounds good. Thanks so much for having me. Good talking to you.
Appreciate you. That Zach Osterman covers all things Indiana sports for the Indy Star. It's the J.R. sport re-show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network, 888-710-4ISN. We'll get to your calls on the other side. We'll talk about some some villainous characters as well.
Right now, not a villain. Very much love. This is Rich Ackerman. You're listening to the J.R. sport brief. It is the J.R. sport re-show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Thank you so much to Zach Osterman for joining us in the last segment from the Indy Star.
He talked about Tyrese Halliburton. This guy's just he's taking his game to another level. You know, these are the type of moments in the postseason. The teams get whittled down. There's no more Washington Wizards, no Atlanta Hawks running around. Sorry, Atlanta Hawks. There's worse teams. None of the bum teams are here no more.
None of the mediocre teams. These are the best of the best of the best. And now we have an opportunity to see the best ply their trade and their craft at the biggest moments. And so most certainly Tyrese Halliburton has elevated his game to another level. And it was interesting how Zach, he pretty much said, if you're a star player and you're just handing out weapons left and right.
Market after market after market. Oh, it's tough. It's tough to be loved when you go around. But there's something there's something endearing. I don't know if it's endearing, but there's a respect factor when it comes down to certain athletes and certain players who you would typically view as villains.
You know what? So when we get to the top of the hour, I'm going to take a look at some of the villains that we've had in the sports world. Some of them I think people love their hate. I think some some of them people just can't stand.
And Tyrese Halliburton, has he entered into that space of just being a bad guy, a guy that people just love to go out there and hate? 888-710-4ISN. That's 888-710-4ISN. This portion of the show is brought to you by Ethos Life, the easy way to get life insurance in 10 minutes, up to two million dollars in coverage with no medical exam and just a few health questions. You can get your free quote at checkethos.com. Not available in all the states. 888-710-4ISN.
That's 888-710-4ISN. Nothing worse than being a bad guy. And that's that's a fun thing about sports, I think.
I mean, Botcher, if you had an option to forget sports for a second. Think about like a comic book. Don't you think the villain is pretty cool in a lot of cases? No, it depends what they do.
Oh, boy. So there's levels to this. So being a villain? Yeah. Like if you have a good story, you're going to be liked. Like everybody likes the Joker. He's not a great guy. Right. There's like other villains where people don't like him.
So who's this? I agree with you. I like the Joker. I appreciate him. I feel like society just treated this man like crap and he became a bad guy and I like them. I'm like, this is he is what he is, what society will do to you. He's a result of society.
That's what it is. But who's like, is there a villain out here just, I don't know, burning kids alive or something like that? I don't know. Yeah, Zizazz. Who? Zizazz from Batman. He's just a psychopath that likes stabbing people.
I have no what? What episode of Batman was this? It's more the video game and comics and whatnot. Oh, yeah. I was like, I see I see Zizazz going after Adam West.
What are we doing here? No, but he's yeah, he's not a bad guy you like to root for that guy. Okay. Is there a more wider ranging bad guy that I might know?
Ah, no. Oh, good guys. Well, no, but Magneto was a he was a bad good guy. Right? Yeah, but he would he he was a bad guy for different reasons.
He was afraid that they're gonna eliminate him because he was. Yeah, he was easy to root for. Yeah. Besides him.
It depends. All bad guys are good as I feel like we're getting into. Not really. Hans, Hans Gruber and his brother from Die Hard. Those are bad guys.
Hate it dumb, right? That's true. People who just movie. I feel like movie bad guys are just terrible people in general.
Comic books is where they try to split the line. So you have some sympathy because they got bad stories. Yeah. Okay.
All right. Yeah, we we got we got guys like that. Oh, they're neat. Well, Antonio Brown, I think he's a bad guy.
Yeah, but hats more medical, you know? Oh, yeah. Well, he went downhill quick. Yeah, he has mental health issues.
He had those before he ever got to the league. And we don't have that now. People are just weirdos online.
Is that that's where? Yeah, there's not many fights in game, you would say. Kevin Garnett, you could say, was a villain. Was he? Just because he was a trash talker. He was just intense.
Intense and he used to like make fun of the opponent. Yeah, but get was Gary. Gary Payton was no bad guy. I think people consider him a bad guy. I know Gary Payton. He's a nice guy. Off the court.
Nice guy. I don't I don't find it. I don't. I'm obviously I've never played against him on a basketball court. I don't find him to be too much different on the court and off the court at all. He will trash talk. He'll talk.
He'll talk some stuff to you, basically. Yeah, there's got to be someone that just is terrible and nobody likes a Deshaun Watson. Yeah, he's a bad guy. He's a pervert. That's a bad guy. Do we got to start looking at? Oh, this guy's really I can't stand this guy.
Here's a great example. You know, it's should I tell everybody now? Should I wait on the other side of the break?
Should we decide the other side of the break? Let me tell you about this bad guy. This bad guy.
You can legitimately watch. Get his ass kicked. This bad guy.
Played in the NFL, and there's a lot of them. Is that enough of a hint or should I give some more? My brain in the NFL went a different way. But yeah, OK, I got to think about this one. Should I give another hint? No, let's take it to the top.
I got to think about this one. Let it simmer. Yeah, what did I say? You can watch this. You can watch this guy get beat up. Yeah, and then he played in the NFL. Yeah, and he's a real bad guy. I can't stand this guy. I've never met him.
Don't want him. There's certain people that I'm just like, I don't need to meet you. I don't want to talk to you like Dana White. I've met Dana White. I've interviewed Dana White a bunch of times. I'd have zero interest in speaking with Dana White for personal reasons that have gone public in his own span.
I don't want to talk to this guy. But anyway, we're going to take a break and we come back on the other side. Well, we're going to talk some more football. We're going to talk some more basketball.
We're waiting on on the puck to drop for game two here in the Stanley Cup finals. We got Will Graves, who will join us next hour as well from the Associated Press. Will is based in Pittsburgh, P.A. We will get his thoughts on what the heck Aaron Rodgers is going to mean to the Pittsburgh Steelers. And then as well, a matter of fact, right on the other side of the break, I'm going to tell you about this one guy in the world of sports that I can not stand. You're locked in. It's the J.R. sport brief show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network.
