Mike Breen: Pacers Have Incredible Amount Of Confidence

This is the Rich Eisen show. Come on, man. We're waiting. I love this guy. But let's go, bro.

Live from the Rich Eisen show studio in Los Angeles. We know we got a good team. We're not perfect. And we know we gotta be better.

I've been making excuses for Tatum for the last five years. Put your stamp on it because Anthony Edwards is taking all your shine. Earlier on the show, Lions general manager Brad Holmes coming up voice of the NBA on ESPN. Mike Breen from CBS's CSI Vegas.

Actor, Paula Newsome. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Our number two, the Rich Eisen show is on the air. Mike Breen's gonna be joining us in 20 minutes time to talk about calling games three and four of Pacers, Knicks and what's going on with that series. I'm curious to know if he might know anything about OGN and Obie's hamstring and see when he might return if it's for game five. I don't even think we're gonna see in the rest of this series. Hamstrings are that type of injury. Exactly indeed.

844-204, Rich is the number to dial. Obviously, the Nuggets coming back to even the series with the Timberwolves. The home team has yet to win a game in that series. You got the Celtics trying for the only 3-1 lead. Both of these teams tonight that are up 2-1 trying to make the only 3-1 lead we've seen so far in these second round of the playoffs.

As did the Pacers. We're seeing tonight if the Mavericks and the Celtics can take 3-1 leads over the Thunder and the Cavaliers respectively. And so, there's all of that going on. The schedule release is on Wednesday.

It is time. I will be hosting it at 8 Eastern Time on NFL Network. And in order to host that program, I have in front of me a two-page non-disclosure agreement that I'm about to sign on the air. It's the NFL schedule release policy for the league office. There's an internal distribution list.

I am not on that. It is topped, in case you're wondering, by somebody named Commissioner Goodell. There's about 12-15 people that are able to just get it. Right? Who's the biggest name on that list? Commissioner Goodell.

He's on it. And then there are beyond the above personnel. I love this. The schedule may be distributed only to them on this list. I love being called this.

No, no, no. Mission Critical Employees. I am an MCE of the schedule release. RE is an MCE. I'm a mission critical employee. I don't even know what that means. A mission critical employee is someone whose responsibilities require they have access to the schedule prior to the release and then they tell you what you can't do. Mission critical employees on that list?

Who has that G14 classification that Shaq would say like you? It gets released. Here we go. By the way, I don't know how it leaks.

I don't know how it would leak because this is as ironclad as it sounds. For the sake of clarity, the following are examples of prohibitive actions. Can't email the schedule to anybody's, to your own personal email account and send it out to somebody else. Can't forward it to anyone who's not authorized. Can't take pictures or screenshots and send it to people. How are they going to know? Well, I mean, you're signing something you're supposed to do. You can't write it down or transcribe it and send it. I like that. Can't text or share the schedule or a portion of it on social media.

Wow. The fact that you got to put that down, that seems, that seems obvious. Reading the schedule, a portion or two, anyone who's not authorized to receive it. Are we authorized by chance? You're definitely not. You're not mission critical.

How dare you? I am mission critical. I want that classification. I am mission critical. I think we're mission optional. I can feel it.

I'm mission impossible. And it says for the sake of clarity, no one in the New York market can leak it to Mike Francesco. That's good to see here because he seems to get it all the damn time and he doesn't even, he's not even on WFAN anymore. He's trying to make the schedule already. He's probably not even finished. He might make it up. He makes the schedule. He makes the schedule.

So I don't know how it leaks with all of this stuff. It's crazy. So here I am. I'm going to sign it right here.

Move your cup, Rick, so we can make sure. Signing it. Here it comes. Sign it. That's too back to back, Mike. There it is. I've signed it.

I'm glad Mike is on fire, finally. Alright, guys. Alright, so tell us.

Tell us everything. Yeah, I got to scan it and send it in to somebody at the league office. By the way, and thankfully it does not say, and Prohibitive Actions is reading part of this document live on your on your own radio TV simulcast on the Roku channel. I don't think so. It doesn't say that.

I can't read the contents of what I can't do on the air. He actually did it before he signed it. So that would be legal, I would assume. Now I am going to voice a piece for the scheduled release show after today. I might have to clear the studio. So part of the schedule is done, right? The whole schedule is done. You think it's done right now? Of course it is.

Am I making tweaks right up until? You know who also must get it? You know what's happening right now are all the social media teams. Those are dynamite videos. Remember the one that the Titans had last year where they interviewed people on the street just to say, here's the logo of the team, what's the name of the team? That was amazing.

That was fun. But you could also do all of those. You know who's on your schedule and then you just order it once you know the actual schedule. So you don't need the schedule to make videos like that.

Or they could just have people reading all the logos and then piece them. Well, I mean, you know, and that's the thing, too. And I'm already seeing the slander.

I already see the slander of, oh, they're making such a big deal of this thing. The schedules make it such a big deal. Everybody knows who's playing who. And you know who plays who where. You just don't know the when and on what channel.

And at what time. And by the way, that information in this day and age where the NFL knocking on wood keeps on growing. You don't think when the Ravens were announced to start the season against the Chiefs that there aren't any Baltimore fans out there who have always wanted to go to Arrowhead, maybe, or they want to be there for Derrick Henry's first game in the uniform or just want to be at a big time game.

You don't think that schedules of their own personal, their own personal schedules potentially got changed today? I know for a fact there are people who book hotel rooms in Green Bay, Wisconsin, for all 18 weeks of the season. And when they get the Packers schedule, they just cancel their hotel reservations on the weeks when the Packers are away. Oh, there are bar mitzvahs, bat mitzvahs and weddings and confirmations that are all being planned the minute the schedule gets released.

So and there's also, you know, you play them when you play them and all that sort of thing. But when you see like two games on the road to start two games on the road to finish a three game road trip here, you don't think like it. We know Carolina's playing in Munich. Whoever's playing Carolina in Munich, do you know how many people once the minute that that thing gets announced on Wednesday, they're going to make plans?

They're going to get tickets to go to Germany or London? So, you know, everyone make fun of it all you want. But this is big time stuff. And the Ravens taking on the Chiefs. I mean, we were guessing it taking a stab at it at the end of last week because I knew that this sort of stuff would come out, that the NFL would let its partners start releasing important games on the schedule. I'm sure at the Fox upfront later on today, they will announce one or two of their big games, you know, and Mike knows it already. He signed an NDA when he was working the faders for the U.F.L.

match. Did you know he didn't? I actually did sign. He's actually pissed he wasn't invited to the Fox. I did him years ago. I know you want to be on the stage.

You've been there. I don't know. Not at all. Or at least Mike and up Tom Brady today and Gronk and Gus Johnson's there today. You know, I don't.

So I have nothing to say. Big event, Mike. At any rate, Fox will make that announcement. I'm sure CBS This Morning will make an announcement. We'll find out the Thanksgiving games before the schedule gets released.

But I love it, man. I thought they'd send the Bengals there to start. I didn't think they would. They'd start the season with a monster piece of filet mignon that I'm sure CBS wouldn't have minded having for later in the season when the Ravens take on the Chiefs in Kansas City. The fact that it's the reigning MVP that got bounced by the reigning Super Bowl champs next year, starting it off against one another. And Derek Henry's first game there for the Ravens and Henry's got a history there. Just ask a Chiefs fan about the Titans.

Right. I mean, man, this is fun stuff coming right out of the gate. I did not think that they would do that. I thought they would give another schedule. Crack at having this game later on in the season, I thought it would be the Bengals. I knew it wouldn't be a division game. You just don't want to start a season with a division game.

But in terms of other games, I want to see straight out of the gate. I got a top five. One, two, three, four and five.

All right. Hit it, Mike Del Tufo. My top five games I want to see in week one. OK, so I got to remove the Ravens and the Chiefs out of the mix. We already know they're playing each other. So these are actual games on the actual schedule for each team. We just don't know when it's going to be. And I'd love to see it in week one.

And number five on this list. There is precedence to do this. Because the last time he switched teams, they went ahead and threw him in the other team's building that he had just left in week one on Monday Night Football. I want to see the Steelers at the Broncos week one.

Black and gold. Here we go. How about Russell Wilson going into Denver in his first start as a Pittsburgh Steeler, maybe against Bonyx. All right.

Let's ride. Maybe Sean Payton's like, this is the way we're going to do things here in Denver. And he's got to take his first crack post. Russell Wilson against Russell Wilson is a Pittsburgh Steeler. And is it going to work for Mike Tomlin? Because I think he's going to get the gig over Justin Fields. But be that as it may, even if it is Justin Fields at the Denver Broncos, let's see. Let's roll those dice, which is what the schedule makers would have to do to put this in week one, thinking it's going to be Russ. They put their marker on Russ winning the quarterback competition, or do they just stay away and put it later in the season? I'd love to see that in week number one.

Number four on this list. Talk about a quarterback going back to where he once belonged. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's put this in week one. Let's put Kirk Cousins back in Minnesota in week one. Let's do it right off the bat. Let's see how his Achilles is.

I want to see all I want to see it on national television. Twenty two cameras or they'll at least be three on Michael Pennix Jr. after every time Cousins throws an incomplete pass. What happens when Pennix is starting the game? Or if he starts the game. Or if he starts the game.

Look at you raising the stakes here. Well, Cousins has got an earbud in because his Achilles isn't ready yet. You know, Achilles are tough to come back. And maybe just maybe it's J.J. McCarthy or Sam Darnold. We'll see. I bet you it's going to be Sam. But let's just see. Let's see the Vikings first post Kirk Cousins game happen against Kirk Cousins in his first game as a member of the Atlanta Falcons. I like it.

Number three on this list. We tried it before last year and it didn't work. It didn't work because the football gods told me and everybody else five snaps into the season.

No, you may not have nice things. And when that happened, the folks at Amazon goes, well, that gives us a big pile of poop to sell to everybody on Amazon Prime on Black Friday. And we saw the fail.

Mary, it was a hot mess. So with Aaron Rodgers back, let's give this one another whirl. Certainly, if Odell Beckham is going to come back to MetLife now at the Miami Dolphins, let's see Dolphins jets. So because we saw Aaron Rodgers first game as a jet go on Monday Night Football in division against the Bills.

Let's just swap out the Bills for the Dolphins and see how this one goes. Where is A.A. Ron right now? Week one against the Dolphins is where A.A. Ron should be. Where are you?

Number two on this list. If I can't get the Bengals in Kansas City to start the season, I want to see the Bengals be the first opponent for Jim Harbaugh as the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers. Sunday night? No, I don't know about Sunday night. Give me this late window on CBS. Let's put Nansen so far with Romo to start the season.

Let's let's just put the let's put Joe Burrow versus Justin Herbert. And let's get Jim Harbaugh's first game as a charger on national television for the most part. Or put it on Sunday night or Monday night or what have you. And let's make sure, Mike, let's lower the music right here and let's make sure that when that day arrives, it will be not just any day. It's to day. It's the day, as my coach said over the weekend about rookie frickin minicamp. Just just overall, it hit me this morning about three thirty four in the morning, woke up straight at the ceiling and said to myself, it's not just another day, it's to day. And maybe that's just another way of saying attack this day with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind. But yeah, it was a it was a great day.

He's back in the NFL, which put him in so far week one. Show us the lightning bolts. Is it wrong for me to say, coach, it seems like he may enjoy some TJ plus? Let's go, man. No, no, no. That is no, no.

You are way off on that. This guy is just this guy. Dude, he's out of his mind. He felt that way when Cage Brockman ran his six forty yard dash.

It was forty five a.m. looking at the ceiling. He's ready to go. Bengals, Chargers. Let's go today.

All right. And the number one game I want to see. I don't think it's going to happen because they already put a major piece of filet mignon and Thursday night football. But we might as well just do it. Let's get the Cowboys at the forty niners. Let's get it going. Wow.

Damn act. Let's see what all it looks like. Let's see what it looks like. And all in is all about making sure last season's troubles are over. And the first sign of a blinker light for the Dallas Cowboys last year is they're all. Time blinker light is marvelous.

It's their all time blinker light, which is going to San Francisco. OK. And so let's just see. Everybody's got to play for their contracts. It's an all in season. Let's see if that makes a difference right off the bat against the defending NFC champs. Cowboys at forty niners.

Let's go. OK. So Cowboys will be sixteen and one. I think we need one more.

OK. All right. We'll get one more because I don't think the league would do that. And I do want to see a big time Cowboys game in week one. I think this would be a dynamite, man.

I think this would put the pressure on everybody in this game. How about the Texans at the Cowboys in one hour? Stefan Diggs is now with the Texans after that season last year and CJ Stroud doing what CJ Stroud is doing. And this this is the team that goes into Dallas and in their week one all in season Texans at Cowboys Texans. Everybody's all in on them.

And for good reason, I think at the Cowboys. Let's go. Let's go. That would be an outstanding week one game, I believe. Here we go.

Sunday night. And that's my top five games I want to see in week one. I like that list. There were so many other choices, you know, like obviously Stefan Diggs back in Buffalo. There's, you know, Saquon versus the Giants. I just don't think the Giants are week one worthy of a big time.

Let's go see him. You know, Eagles Cowboys would be a neat one. But I think that that's for later on in the season, really. That's but I kind of dig that list. A couple of revenge games and return games and and Harbaugh Bengals and Chargers. Let's go.

Right. That's my top five list. Eight four four two oh four rich number two.

Oh, you can call me and let's have a conversation. What you would also like to see week one. But when we come back, let's talk Knicks Pacers with a voice of the Knicks for so many years. And of course, the voice of the NBA finals on ESPN and ABC.

Mike Breen. Let me come back. It's that time of year, people. Spring has sprung and that means spring cleaning or at least the partner in your life is demanding that you do it.

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Why not? And so, you know, in the in the what is it, the mentions column of the all column, you know, where somebody likes a post that you've been mentioned in or something like that. I get a lot of those. So I saw one that said somebody liked this tweet and it said, good lord at NFL Network. I had to turn at Rich Eisen off.

I will turn to ESPN to watch the rest of the draft. So I open it up and I see that it's a tweet from like April weeks ago. Yeah. Right. And I don't know why it was like now or whatever. So then I started I'm like, think to myself, like, what did I say to just turn somebody off?

Right. Because I kind of take pride that you not only can watch me, but for multiple hours at a time, I try to not be that guy. And then I saw the person's handle is a Buckeye for life.

That explains it. And then I smiled. Then I smiled because I now have lost track of the things that I said that wouldn't have offended this man. So it was so often that I, you know, might have mentioned every now and then.

Certainly the production riled me up to when they shot it. They showed a sign that they banked. You know what that phrase is? When they bank a shot is when they see it in the crowd and they'll shoot it and record it and then play it back later as if it is live because they didn't have time to show it live. Right.

So they banked a shot of going to break that they showed of somebody holding up a sign. It's been six hundred and four days since Ohio State beat Michigan. And I think I might have said on on the air, 1604 was also the year that the pilgrims arrived in America. I landed on Plymouth Rock. I feel accomplished, actually.

No, I went from like, oh, my gosh, somebody turned me off to this is this is great. Just. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show. Well, congratulations sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk furnished by Grainger and supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you.

Call click Grainger dot com or just stop by. Throw to have here on the Rich Eisen Show, the two time Emmy Award winning voice of the NBA on ESPN and ABC, the voice of the NBA Finals and also the Knicks locally on MSG. Mike Breen fresh off of calling games three and four between the Knicks and the Pacers here in the Rich Eisen Show. How are you doing, Mike? Which is an honor to talk to the best dad ever. You know what, Mike?

And I just needed to remind everybody yesterday that my day of being left alone is coming. You know what I mean, Mike? Yes. By the way, I hope I hope my kids would dispute your title, but I'm not positive. It's in dispute.

The the somewhat disputed best dad ever talking to another right here on the the Rich Eisen Show. What's your sense, Mike, of what you witnessed yesterday based on this four game series so far? Mike, number one, India has an incredible amount of confidence all of a sudden. It's amazing how quickly a series can turn. And number two, the Knicks had absolutely nothing yesterday. They've responded to double digit deficits over and over again.

They had they were guests. You could tell the question going forward is for the Knicks. Was it a one game thing where all the minutes just piled up and it was just a bad day? Or are they really depleted in terms of energy because of all the kind of medicine and energy that they put in throughout these playoffs and even towards the end of the regular season. So it's going to be fascinating to see. One thing for sure is the Pacers really feel that they can win the series now and they can win in New York because they play great basketball in those two games.

But it's just it just goes to show you, Rich, how how unbelievably series can be. If Andrew Nimhar doesn't hit that shot at the end of game three, it's three all probably. And the Knicks have a commanding lead, but he hits that shot all of a sudden. They come out and play their best game of the playoffs in game four.

And now you've got yourself a real slugfest. Well, if anybody's had a front row seat, you have literally had one to the conversation involving Tom Thibodeau's rotation and how he pushes the pedal to the metal and whether that is a fair assessment of it. I mean, Charles Barkley was very critical on TNT prior to the Nuggets and the Timberwolves game last night saying it's just going to catch up to the Knicks and whether it has right now. I'll give you the floor on that. It's taken years. I mean, obviously goes back to Thibodeau's Bulls days as well.

I'll give you the floor on that, Mike. Well, in this particular Nick team, you can say he needs to play his bench more. Well, his bench is playing right now.

His bench is starting. When you think of the overall lineup that they had, Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson and now Oji Ananobi, that's three starters right there. So you've got guys, for example, Josh Harden and Dante Di Vincenzo, they were coming off the bench when the season began. Obviously, roles have changed, but it's not just the minutes because guys can play minutes, but it's the responsibility that they have on those minutes. Doing more than they were expected to, doing more than they've done in the past.

And you can get away with that over certain stretches, but sometimes it does catch up to. I mean, Dante Di Vincenzo has been magnificent. He's had a career year, but he's not used to having the pressure of coming up and scoring 25 a night. And especially against any team that is now in playoff mode defensively. Pacers have not been a great defensive team all season, but they are playing as hard defensively now in the playoffs like most teams do. And the best defense I've seen them play all year.

So it does catch up. Now, there are a lot of players. Look at Luka Doncic. She's playing about 42, 43 minutes and he's banged up as well. For the Knicks to win, for them to have a chance to win, these players have to play these kind of minutes right now. And it's just not to turn you into Woj.

Everyone has a lane here, but what's your sense of Oji Ananobi's ability to play in this series? I mean, hamstrings are fickle beasts. Mike, what do you think?

Rich, I don't think it's close right now. He hasn't done any on-court workout. You know, he's been doing pool work.

He's getting treatment three, four times a day. So they're doing their best to get him in. But I don't think he's going to play tomorrow. I'd be surprised even if he played Friday, maybe towards the weekend, there's a chance.

But right now, from what I've heard in the last previous couple of days, he's not close. And that's huge, not only because he's the best defensive player, but he has now started to become an integral part of the offense. And they've needed that. You know, when Julius Randle went down, that's a lot of points. That's 25 points a night. And Di Vincenzo and Hart and McBride have done a magnificent job of filling in and each being a part of trying to get those points.

But again, every single night, it's hard. And Ananobi was a part of that as well. So this is not to take anything away from the Pacers. They have been great.

But this team, what they've accomplished being this short-handed, again, the end of the regular season to get that two seed and now is pretty incredible. Mike Breen, Emmy Award winning voice of the NBA on ESPN and ABC here on the Rich Eisen Show. Do you remember Jalen as a kid, Jalen Brunson, seeing him around the Knicks, Mike? You know, I typically remember, I know, you know, I remember Rick being on the team and I remember his son. But I can't say to remember, oh, I remember Jalen running around most of the time.

But it really is one of the one of the great stories when you think about it, how they've all wound up together. I mean, Leon Rose is Jalen's godfather. And the interesting thing was when when Jalen was born, Rick was playing basketball in Australia. He had gotten cut and went to Australia to play to try and get some pro experience to get back to the NBA. And when Jalen was born, Rick was in Australia. Back in the day, you didn't you didn't fly back for the birth of your child.

Otherwise, you didn't get paid in those leagues. He had to stay there. He didn't see Jalen until after I think it's like two or three months when he was born, after he was born. And he found out. Rick found out.

He's over in Australia. He gets a call to tell him, oh, you had a son. Well, the call was from Leon Rose. So now you have Leon Rose and Rick Brunson and Jalen Brunson all together in New York after all these years.

I think it's it's an incredible story. And especially when when Jalen has played magnificent basketball. He has become already a legend in New York and he is as humble as he is hungry out on the court.

And it's been it's been a great story. Yeah, he just comes across like that. I mean, we haven't had him on this show yet.

I look forward to that day. I mean, and then that was my fault was who is he? I mean, for him to do this. I mean, you you are you're a Fordham guy, you're a New Yorker.

So, you know, when when somebody gets paid a lot of money to become a new free agent signee in New York, there's a ton of expectations, certainly when there's not much of a track record for the guy. And he's become the guy. Period. End of story.

I'm wondering what what's inside ticking there, Mike? Well, we watched him in Dallas and he's basically Luca Doncic's backup and Doncic is a generational player. So he's not going to get time over him. But when Doncic went down with those injuries a couple of years ago in the playoffs and Jalen had to play, he had a 41 point game in the playoffs. Here's the backup getting a starting role. And he performs like that in a postseason game. So you knew the potential was there.

But I don't think anybody realized that it was going to be this special. I don't even think his dad thought that he was going to be one of the top scores in the NBA, an MVP candidate. But he has he's got this work ethic that you hear all the time. But, you know, all the footwork, all of the off balance floaters in the lane.

That's not just by luck. He practices those all the time. He's also a player that takes great care of his body, gets proper amount of rest, does the sleep.

He does the whole thing. He's so driven to be a great player. And one of the things he says is to his credit is he never lets a bad game get in the way. He puts the bad game aside right away. But he also puts the good game aside. He could have 45 and that games in the rearview mirror as well.

And that's that's the key to a lot of great players. You don't let past performances affect you. You don't let past quarters. You have a bad first quarter or a great first quarter. It's over with.

It's done. It's always moving forward. The mindset is his mental toughness is as important as his physical toughness. I mean, I could go on and on. You know, you watch him every day and you see it's a product of all the work. Mike Breen here on the Rich Eisen Show. Let's talk about the defending champs who have come back, to say the least, and looked terrific in blowing out the Timberwolves in back to back games with Timberwolves fans ready for a coronation, if you will. What do you see in the nuggets that makes you think, OK, maybe we do have a defense, a title defense that can be successful here, Mike? You know, I think the experience, Rich, we hear it all the time and there's so many who we have far too many cliches in sports. But the cliche of the past champions, they know what it takes to win.

We hear that all the time. Denver knows what it takes to win. They know that when you go through a playoff run, you're going to hit some bumps. You're going to hit some rough times. It's not going to be easy. There's going to be nights where you get you get crushed.

There's going to be nights where you lose heartbreakers. But they've been through that. So they understand being down 0-2, even losing two home games, they can still come back and win it.

And I think that's important for for that team. Now, let's see, Minnesota, a team that hasn't been through that. Let's see how they handle the adversity now as they go back to Denver, because they haven't won a title yet. They're so talented.

There's so much fun to watch. But I think right now, Denver's experience got them through that. Like I just said about Jalen Brunson, the Nuggets know you've got to put that behind you.

Whatever happened, it's passed. Now let's go on to the next game. And the other thing, in addition to their great talent, Michael Malone, is he is one heck of a coach and not just because he won the title this year or last year. So you knew he had adjustments and will make it and and you put it all together.

And now we've got what could be a classic series. You've been at this a long time, Mike. You ever have a moment like Kevin Harlan had last night where somebody sticks a buzzer beater from midcourt, half court right in front of the table and kind of stands over you to celebrate like Jamal.

No, I haven't had it. But if anyone was going to get one of those moments, it's Kevin. Kevin's a dear friend. I love him. He's so talented. He has such passion for the game. So if anyone deserves that, it's my guy, Kevin Harlan. It looked like Kevin was matching his energy, right? I mean, it looked like he was standing right there. Like, I see you, Jamal.

I got this thing, too. Right. But that's I mean, that's what I admire the most about Kevin. He loses it because he cares so much. He loves the game so much. He loves his job so much.

And to see for to see another play by play, man, especially such a wonderful friend, have a moment like that was very cool. And Jamal Murray is he's very cognizant of announcers. He's done that before. Like he's he's aware of Marv and Marv's history and calling the games last year after he hit a three in the finals. He was running back court. He looked over to the to the to broadcast table and yelled out bang.

And then to do that with Kevin, I hated what happened when he threw out the heating pad. That was so unlike him because he's such a terrific young man. And hopefully we get it learned from doing something like that because he has such joy for the game. And he's another player. He's made himself into a great player by the workers put on since he was a little kid. Sorry, I'm mandated to ask who's the most announcer aware player that you've ever seen, Mike?

I'm not sure. But Murray's good. Chris Paul is another one that he's very aware of. And, you know, again, it's the guys who who love the game rich. It's the guys who won when they're not playing their home and they're sitting watching all the games. I know Chris Paul's one like that. And, you know, the watch, they have league pass and they're watching on off nights and can't get enough of it.

And you can tell by the way they play the game when they're out on the floor, they play with such joy. All right. A couple of minutes left with Mike Breen here on the Rich Eisen Show. Are the Celtics the best team you've personally eyeballed this season?

Would you say, Mike? Yeah, I think so. Certainly with consistency, because even all the top teams, even Minnesota and OKC in Denver, over in the West, they've had their ups and downs. They've had stretches.

You scratch your head a little bit. Overall, they've been great. But Boston has been magnificent. And the overreaction to one loss, you know, I know it's surprising Cleveland came in and beat them. They've lost some home games, but that's the playoffs. And that's the key is you can never overreact to one great win or one great loss in the postseason.

We talked about this yesterday when the Knicks cut down huge. Just two years ago, in 2022, the Golden State Warriors, when they were playing the Grizzlies earlier, they lost by 39 points. And then they went on to win the title.

The Milwaukee Bucks, when they won the title in 2021, in the second round against Brooklyn, they lost by 39 points. So it happens. Even the great teams, even the champions have bad nights. And part of it is because the other team is so damn good as well.

And that's why it's important. And that's what you learn as a player and as a coach in the playoffs, that you can't get caught up in one great win or one horrific loss because that's why they call it a series. Well, I guess if there's any seed out there that's turning people into coaches, it might be the one next to Doris on your on your on your floor there, Mike. We've been teasing him quite a bit. Listen, he's a brilliant basketball mind, getting to know him and hearing his thoughts on the game.

He's just he's just so damn smart. And if I was a team, I'd want to talk to him as well. So he might he might leave someday coaching. I'm hoping it's not too soon.

But if he does, I'd be thrilled for him. But if that's another coach that leaves, then I'm starting to think that maybe it's me. I don't know, man. Maybe it's just, you know, it's the seeds. It could be you as well.

It could be Doris. You know, Doc goes to Minnesota. But I mean, Milwaukee. I was going to ask, you know, if you saw something in J.J. Redick that's like, OK, he's he's got the cut of that coaching jib. Mike, you know, you know, you notice, Richard and all the analysts that I've worked with over the years that you see that when players and coaches come in, we do those sit downs before games, the respect factor that they have. And J.J. has that as well. Like players come in there, they they enjoy talking to them.

They ask him questions. Sometimes coaches enjoy the back and forth. So he's had that. He's had that mind of, you know, just brilliant basketball mind that that's somebody eventually is going to take advantage of. Like I said, oh, it's not too soon.

Yeah, I hear you. Last one for you, Mike. I don't know if I've asked you this in your appearances here before, but you being a New Yorker, I'm a New Yorker. I could not imagine getting a gig where I get to work with Walt Clyde Frazier. I couldn't imagine that in a million years. And I'm wondering, what is it like to sit next to him while he's styling and rhyming and doing his thing?

And he's he's he's top five New York athlete, like all time, any team, period. End of story. Rip the knob off, Mike. You know, I've told this before, Rich, growing up in Yonkers, I was one of six boys. And when I was around 10, my brothers and I, we put up a poster in the house of Clyde.

And that's what. And so that's over 50 years ago. My mother, who's still alive and still living in the house, still has that poster up.

It's it's still up there after all these years. And, you know, sometimes reality surpasses the dreams. I loved and idolized Clive as a kid. Then to just work with him initially was a dream come true. Then to become his partner for for several decades and then to be this lifetime friend with him. It's been one of the blessings of my life. He's he's not just a, you know, Hall of Fame basketball player and Hall of Fame broadcaster. He's just this wonderful human being who's taught me so much about basketball and also about life is his big picture perspective on everything.

And all the experiences he's been through have been such a great educational experience for me. I just treasure it. I really do.

I love that. And I'm putting the Nick fan hat on here, saying how many minutes do you think he can give us? Game five, game six. What do you think? We have to go down deep in that rotation, Mike.

You know what I mean? Yeah, it's going to be fascinating to see if that was just the one game thing or they back again. Do not sell this team short, as you know, full of fight. When's your next game? What do you have next?

What do you got? The next games will be TNT as Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. We could have a Thursday or Friday game sixes, depending on what happens in the next night or two. OK, well, Mike, really appreciate our conversation. You taking the time after a very busy weekend.

Happy belated Mother's Day to your wife and your mom. Love hearing that, Mike. My pleasure, Rich. And I'll do my best to try and steal that title away from you. You got it, Mike. But if you come at the king, you best not miss.

Not to be aggressive on the way out, but that's the New Yorker to me. All right, Rich. Be well, bud. Right back at you. That's Mike Breen, the one and only right here on The Rich Eisen Show.

What a delight talking with him. If Oji Anunobu is not coming back for the rest of this series, it's a big problem. Big, big problem. Because it's every other day and, you know, you could throw game four out the window. I wish Thibodeau had thrown it out the window sooner and just played the entire bench.

But we shall see. Crazy things have been happening. 844-204, Rich.

Number to dial on the program. Overreaction Monday still to come. And the actress Paula Newsome of CBS's CSI Vegas. And, of course, Barry on HBO going to join us in Studio R3. Let's talk game time. Boy, do we love using game time tickets at The Rich Eisen Show. And every single time I've been watching the basketball playoffs on TV, I've been wondering what it would be like to be at these games. And when you choose your tickets on game time, you can see the view from your seat where the court is, where you are in relation to it. And then the all-in prices.

That's my favorite feature. The all-in prices make sure that you see the lowest price guarantee and also know exactly how much everything costs all in before you purchase. So all the guesswork is removed when you buy playoff tickets with game time. Download the game time app. Create an account and use my code Rich for $20 off your first purchase.

Terms apply. Visit GameTime.co for restrictions. Again, create an account. Redeem my code R-I-C-H for $20 off your first purchase.

Download game time today. Last minute tickets. Lowest price guaranteed. Let's talk O'Reilly Auto Parts, people. Or as you might know from their jingle, O-O-O, O'Reilly Auto Parts. They're in the business of keeping your car on the road. O'Reilly Auto Parts offers friendly, helpful service and the parts knowledge you need for all your maintenance and repairs. Because you know when you need your car fixed, you need somebody who knows what they're talking about.

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That's OReillyAuto.com slash Eisen. It's kind of difficult to describe to people who were unfamiliar with it as you might have been. Have you met Patrick Mahomes? I have. Have you? Yes, I have met Patrick Mahomes. He's one of my heroes. Oh, is that right? That's true.

I root for that team even though I've never lived there. Yes. I think he is just phenomenal to watch. Apropos of?

Nothing. I was going to talk about the season finale of Barry and you were talking about the season finale of two Super Bowls ago. I was hoping Patrick was in it. Next time you come on, we'll make sure Mahomes is on the phone.

We'll do that. Truly? You like him that much, huh? I think that his ability is such a cut above. He is so passionate in the way he plays.

Yes. He is so improvisorial in the way he plays. He is so sure.

I just think it is instinctually great actually. Okay. Well, he now knows that and we will make sure that we'll make this happen. Yeah.

It would be my honor. Does he listen? Yes. Patrick, hi.

He does. How are you? Can I just say? No, if Patrick is listening, I'd like to, you know, we make a great chicken stuffed with ricotta and spinach. Yes.

With an unbelievable reduction. It can be yours if you're here in LA. Well, the Chiefs come play the Chargers, right?

The Chiefs play the Chargers. They do. They do actually.

We'll make this happen. Those guys are good too. Yeah, they are. I mean, they're good quarterbacks. Yeah, they are. They are not Mahomes.

That is correct. The amount of material we got out of that one interview, not just social media, but getting him to actually meet Mahomes and everything else out of that is just- I can't believe it. It's a gift that keeps on giving. No doubt. It's like the miracle of Hanukkah of the Rich Eisen Show.

It just keeps on giving back on the Rich Eisen Show radio network. Which, who was that running back you had that you had a starter that got hurt and then- Oh, it was Mike Davis, wasn't it? Mike Davis. You were like, he was your Hanukkah miracle. Yeah, you were right. I picked him up, right? And he kept on playing. And he kept scoring.

He kept playing and kept scoring. Every time you think like, who- I forget the running back he was replacing on Carolina, right? Yeah.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, he was like the Judah Maccabee of fantasy football because his oil burned bright for eight weeks. You couldn't quit him. Just couldn't quit him. He couldn't quit my team.

He couldn't quit the end zone, quite frankly. So listen, we talked about the draft with Brad Holmes, general manager of the Lions in hour number one, talking about six quarterbacks, man. Crazy. Six quarterbacks going in the first dozen picks.

Six of 12. That's so wild. It's kind of crazy, right? And so now the question starts to turn as many camps are opening and rookies are reporting and sweating and throwing and practicing and getting in the playbook and going to meetings and it's happening. It's going down.

Oh, yeah. And the question is, who's going to play? JJ McCarthy apparently made a bet of some sort that he would have fewer incompletions than...

He's not making bets, people. And I think the defense took that to heart and he realized very quickly the NFL defenses are one of the most adaptable organisms. Was it they can always get there? Oh, they can always get there.

Always get there. Is Bo Nix going to be starting for the Denver Broncos week one and talking about being pro-ready? That might happen, right?

Yeah. And don't worry, Falcons fans. We've been pounding the drum about what you did with the eighth overall pick with panics enough.

We're going to leave that aside. I want to talk about the top three quarterbacks because the question is, who's going to... When you're a top five quarterback, it's time to start, right?

That's the idea. And Jayden Daniels is the Heisman Trophy winning quarterback drafted second overall. And the commanders are saying there's a competition of sorts with him and Marcus Mariota. I don't get it.

Don't understand it. Dan Quinn may be old school, not just because he wants to say everybody's got to compete, but he's clearly old school for his current team, putting Indian feathers, hanging it from a W, which I found quite interesting. The commander said that that was a... Not team issued. Not team issued.

Not officially licensed. But at any rate, Dan Quinn had this to say. There's a competition, I guess, that's going on, but this doesn't sound like a coach who's leaving this thing open for too long. What I saw on the field was pretty much exactly what we saw from his time, but what you don't see on the tape is how much this guy loves football. He worked so hard at it, Mickey, that it's one of the things that makes my heart smile about him, just the type of competitor he is and the way he goes about his business. And so he's here early. He just goes for it. And not everybody has that trait to say, I'm not gonna be stopped.

And so it's a really cool thing. Yeah, he's not gonna be stopped, and Marcus Mariota is a perfect guy to be the quarterback to teach him some ropes if he needs it and sit in the quarterback room and get him ready for week one. That's probably not what Marcus wants to hear, but that's the fact.

What are you gonna do, just sit him and let Mariota start the season? Did you see some of the clips of this kid throwing over the weekend? It just makes no sense, but hey, listen, then in New England, Drake May is showing up and you know. Well, everyone made a big deal about all the stuff he had in his pockets.

Did you see that? Yeah, I know, he had a lot of stuff. That's what pockets are for. But he had a big phone and a big wallet, and he's just like, what are we doing? He's getting scrutinized already. Welcome to the Boston media, Drake. Well, guess what? One day he's gonna have heavy pockets. Yeah.

Okay. Sha-ching. That's the way it's supposed to go.

Unless... In three and a half years, he's gonna have heavy pockets. How about they issued him Matt Jones' number?

What do you think? Well, he issued him his own number. Okay. It's a number he wore throughout high school and college. I'm just saying, I'm just saying, I'm just saying.

I'm just glad I can recycle my Matt Jones jersey that I bought from my son last year. Just put May. Okay. Well, normally Bill's thing was during the rookie camps, they would all wear numbers in the fifties and sixties. Oh, I remember that. Yeah.

He wouldn't assign anything. Yeah. Yeah.

Now that, you know, Jerrod Mayo knew world order. Yeah. Didn't Gronk issue himself a nice number once? All right.

Anyway. Gronk had a number once. This is what Jerrod Mayo had to say about his rookie quarterback and his readiness. The pressure to Drake, look, I mean, he has a lot to work on. He has a lot to work on, but I have no doubt that he'll put the time in. So, you know, I know you guys saw him out, well, you didn't see him out here yesterday, but you know, he was here all night trying to get, you know, on the same page as everyone else. Look, it's all about, I mean, hard work works. We talk about it all the time and he's, he's working hard.

So day one is kind of hard. It's kind of hard to really say, you know, this guy did X, Y, and Z. Well, maybe it's what he had in his pockets was the playbook, right? It's very possible. Right? Okay.

If you could find a still of that. So here's the, here's the narrative. The commanders are just, you know, telling you it's raining when it's not and Drake may needs help tying his shoes right now, professionally seems like, okay. And the Patriots don't have to play this kid at all right away. The commander is 100% are going to play this kid and we all know it. And that's why I say, God bless Matt Eberflus and his pomade and his tightly trimmed beard, it's not even beaten around the bush, just not even putting on the airs of, well, we're going to show everyone, everyone's got to compete here, but it's like, Hey, we are going to start this kid just to repeat what we heard at the end of last week.

This is great. You can really tell that he's comfortable with himself in his own skin and he is who he is and his personality starts, you know, in his light comes out from the inside. You can certainly feel that energy. He's a one plus one equals three guy. You know, see, he's an enhancer.

He's the guy that brings out the best in people and you can certainly feel that within five minutes of beat. Has he been told that he's the starter going to try and get you to have to have that conversation? No conversation. He's the starter. It's great. It's a reflection.

We traded Justin Fields away just to do this. My only concern, the only red flag is, and Eberflus just admitted it, he's terrible at math. Yeah. Can I get someone to explain that to me? And a one plus one means he's operating at a high level or something? No, no, no.

That's a bad level. Like you don't want that. One plus one equals three. Excuse me, what? No, I think it's just, what he's saying is he just, he's reinventing, you know, math. I don't know what that means. Matt, don't get it. Got to have you on the show to tell me what one plus one equals three or just like, Hey, he's doesn't view things this conventionally. I don't even know what that means. I know it's just terrible.

He's terrible at math and good luck. Also Eberflus, a little hair dye? What down?

What down is it? A little hair dye and Eberflus? This is back off my friend, Matt, who's just, he's reinventing, you know what he's, he's a one plus one equals three guy for the hair color has to do with, has to do with synergy. You guys don't understand.

I don't, I don't get it at all, actually. I love it. Love it. Hey, listen. And, and, and are you going to pick the bears to win the north? Bless the simplicity. Bless that.

I already told you earlier in the show, it's the lions. That's where I'm leaning. Well, it's a lean. No, man. I can't wait to see it.

And, and, and I love how refreshing it is. It's like we have cleared the decks. We didn't make any secret that we were going to draft the kid. And now that he's here, we're not going to make him say, no, he and Tyson Bajans are going to have to go into training camp. They're even, they're neck and neck, and we're going to, we're going to, we're going to see who, you know, may the best man win. Because I'll tell you what, if, if, if the kid Bajan out beats, you know, outperforms Caleb Williams in training camp, you've got a problem.

One plus one does equal then three. You know what I mean? Yeah.

Yeah. So, and he won't, he won't, this is why he's here. He's here to be the guy and we're just going to back his play and sure it's a rookie and he'll make some mistakes, but my goodness gracious.

It's just refreshing how it is not, we're going to compete. You know, he got some things to work on, all that stuff. Bottom line is he's starting and the commanders play the bears this year. Speaking of Mariota, his first game is against Winston.

Don't forget that. And he had a perfect passer rating. He had four touchdowns. They took him out of the game. It was, it was a washout. The Titans whipped the Buccaneers in that game. Maybe, maybe week one could be Caleb Williams versus Jayden Daniels.

The only problem is, is you got a coach sitting here saying, I don't know, we're going to have a competition, but I really like his Moxie. Look at that. Who's the guy on the left compared to the guy on the right. Reinvention baby. Welcome to Talkville, the ultimate smallville rewatch podcast guest star Sarah Carter as Alicia Baker. Although I didn't really work with her a lot, but Tom did and they had some real big smoochie scenes. Yeah. Should we talk about that? Would there be any more sex? What was a three page make-out scene that just kept going? Good Lord. We get it. They have chemistry. Jump in now or catch up on any of the past seasons of Talkville on YouTube or wherever you listen.