The Tyrese Haliburton Conversation Is SO Annoying (Hour 1)

Mine! From the PlayStation You're not overly ostentatious studios of the Infinity Sports Network here in beautiful New York City, sitting on top of the 10th floor of 345 Hudson Street. Welcome on in to what is a Tuesday edition of the Zach Gelb Show across all regard local Infinity Sports Network affiliates, SiriusXM, Channel 375, and the always free Odyssey app. 888710-4ISN is the number to jump on in. That is 888-710-4476.

You could always get at me on Instagram where I'm Straight Flexon or via the good old Cess Pool of Twitter at Zach Gelb. That is Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. Coming up. At 4:20 p.m. Eastern Time, Eddie Olcek is going to join us.

He will be on the call tonight. Obviously, for the Stanley Cup final, and we'll see as the cup is in the building if the cup will be handed out tonight and will be hoisted by the Florida Panthers for a second year in a row, or will Edmonton send this game back to their home ice? And will we get to see a game seven coming up later on in the week?

So, that is something definitely to watch. I'm very appreciative that Eddie Olcek is able to join us the day of the game hours before he does call the Stanley Cup final game number six, as that series is three to two in favor of the Florida Panthers. And coming up at 5:20 p.m. Eastern Time today, Herb Sendek, who is the basketball coach at Santa Clara University, also coached James Harden at Arizona State.

Well, he is the basketball coach of the college career of one Jalen Williams. And that's where we start the show right now. Because you take a glance and you saw what happened last night in the NBA Finals. It was a game where. I said yesterday on the air.

That I loved the Thunder and I loved the Thunder laying the points. I thought that the Thunder were gonna find a way to win by double digits. It looked like for the majority of that game, really the first three quarters. That the Thunder were gonna cruise to a double-digit victory, and they were easily going to obtain their 63rd win of the season that comes by double-digit points. They have 83 total wins on the season.

Well, they ended up getting there. But it wasn't as easy as what I thought it was going to be in the fourth quarter. Clearly, Halliburton is hurt. He's talked about it, right? Carlisle has talked about it.

He's not 100% still not to register a field goal in that game. That is something that is alarming. And that is something that just shows you maybe that this is the furthest that the Indiana Pacers can go. I know people may look back at this and people may say, oh, what about the injuries? What happens if Halliburton was healthy?

I think if you're doing that, I understand the conversation. I understand the discourse. And I do think, and we'll talk about this a little bit more coming up in about 15 minutes from now, the conversation game to game with Tyrese Halliburton gets extremely frustrating. And it just, it's very stupid in what we do. And I understand we are in an all-or-nothing society.

But last round, the guy is: okay, give him his flowers. He's a superstar. Heck, even in this round. After what he did in game one, where he did not play well for the majority of the game, but when push came to shove, he stepped up and he hit the game-winning shot. Then people are like, okay, I could finally call him a superstar.

And now, in an NBA Finals where he's hurt. And I get it last night. He was abysmal. 0-6 from the field. For him to only finish the game with four points, it's embarrassing.

It's a bad job. Obviously, you like to think the injury plays a role in that. But with that being said, If you called him a superstar three days ago, or four days ago, or a week ago, or two weeks ago, And then two weeks later, or four days later, or a week later, whatever it is, if you're gonna sit there and do the conversation today. Oh. You know what, Hall of Burden is no longer a superstar.

then your take was idiotic two weeks ago. Or it's just idiotic now. And I really do think the way that we love football. And we watch the NFL extensively, college football extensively, and we all make all or nothing opinions off one game because it does feel as if, compared to any sport, more is on the line game in and game out with the NFL and college football because there's fewer games. The NBA, they have 82 regular season games.

Hockey, they have 82 regular season games. Baseball, they have a buck 162. And that's what drives me nuts. That's what drives me bonkers. I'll tell you, and I've done local radio before.

But why I enjoy doing national radio so much is I don't have to sit here on the 17th day of June. Stu, the Yankees are a four-game losing streak. Is that right? It's four games in a row, longest losing streak of the year. And you would think that the sky is falling.

You would. You would think that this team is a AA affiliate that hasn't won a game in about two months. You would think they are what the Colorado Rockies are this year for crying out loud.

So I I understand depending on where you are, if it's local or if it's national. and you're doing a local show, there needs to be more time that's dedicated, obviously, to the local teams. And you have to talk if you're doing a show in New York, the Yankees, the Mets every day, and you have to go through the ups and downs of a one hundred and sixty two game season. But you don't need to have the biggest take every day. You don't.

And I know, right, there will probably be places that'll be like, oh, Zach Gelp doesn't know how to do radio. Oh, he doesn't get it. That's what you want to hear. If you're telling me that a player was a superstar, Five days ago, I don't care if you're doing local, I don't care if you're doing national, but if you're telling me that a player is a superstar five freaking days ago, And now you're telling me he's no longer a superstar. That's not enough time to change what you just said five days ago for crying out loud.

It's just not.

So I think you could have a conversation about Tyrese Halliburton. And you can acknowledge he's hurt. You can acknowledge that if he's playing, he has to be better. Or Rick Carlisle has to go up to him and say, Dude, TJ McConnell's cooking. You're going to the bench.

We're not playing you. We know that you got us here with all these crazy shots and these miraculous endings, but you're not good to go right now. You're hurting the team. You could have that opinion. You could have that take.

And you could also not just do a complete 180 on the take that was four or five days ago. That Tyrese Halliburton is a star, superstar, whatever people are calling him. It's mind-boggling to me. The opinions are maddening to me. When you take a glance at how so as And how confident, and how everyone was trying to slam dunk on people five days ago.

See, he's a superstar. How burned at the superstar? And then a week later, oh, he stinks. Overrated. The players were right.

Like, what are we doing? And I really think that goes back to football, how we all love football, and the NFL and college football, it feels as if every game, everything is on the line, and we make these huge opinions, game in and game out. You can't do that. I know it's a little bit different when you're in the NBA Finals. I acknowledge that, but you can't do that.

For the NBA throughout the entirety of the season, you can't do that for the NHL through the entirety of the season. He can't do that for the MLB through the entirety of the season. Heck, you know, living here in New York, you would have thought Francisco Lindor, through the first 50 games of last year, was a bum. He ended up being one of the best players in baseball. With what Francisco Lindor did at the end of the season, what Francisco Lindor did in the second half of the season.

If it wasn't for Otani, he probably would have won the MVP for crying out loud.

So let's just pump the brakes a little bit. You know, I said I wasn't going to lead the show with Halliburton, but now we will. You know what? Screw it. It is It's incredulous to me.

I got worked up out of this, and now I'm going on it.

So we're just going to continue it. But it's incredulous to me. How there are people there. That Every single game. We're going to say that this guy is a superstar, or he isn't.

If he hits the game-winning shot, he's a superstar. If you He ends up having a stinker. He's a bum, no longer a superstar. You know what that tells me? And it's gonna be weird saying it this way.

In a game where he's coming off of an 0 of 6 performance from the field. and he only had four points and he was a minus thirteen in the contest. If he's become that polarizing. Where each and every game we're debating if the guy's a superstar or not. Doesn't that mean he's a superstar?

Right? I kinda think so. And I know some Jabroni's going to call me up at 88710-4IS. I don't think I've ever used that word on the radio before. But I know someone's gonna call me up and be like, Well, you can't be a superstar.

If you own six from the field... In an NBA Finals, you can't be one.

Okay. If that's your opinion, that's your opinion. But what were you saying? When he snatched victory from the jaws of defeat up against the Bucs. Up against the Cavs, up against the Knicks, and also earlier in this series, up against the Thunder.

What were we saying then? You were calling him a superstar.

So the constant flip-flopping on that, you know what it kind of reminds me of? I'm not saying that Hall of Burton is to this level of being elite. Let me be abundantly clear. 'Cause this guy has won multiple MVPs. But it kinda reminds me of the discourse around Lamar Jackson.

Where Lamar Jackson has a good arm now. Lamar Jackson has significantly improved as a thrower of the football. Lamar Jackson has had 40 touchdown passing seasons, right? And Lamar Jackson is also arguably the greatest rushing quarterback I've ever seen. But each and every year And Lamar has had some stinkers in the postseason.

L let's call a spade a spade. But when he's going through the MVP. And he's going through the regular season. And I know Bill Pollion was a dope, and I said it at the time. And you know, when when he's saying he should move to running back.

And in the regular season, the conversation is always: oh, he's more than just a running back. You know, he's a great quarterback. He's one of the top three quarterbacks in the NFL. All right. And you're taking your victory laps in the regular season.

But then come postseason time where he can't get the job done up against Buffalo. I know that was on Mark Andrews this year, or the year prior to that. Where the offense stunk up against the Bills. Then you hear from people. And I think it's a minority of people, but it's a loud minority that start to say, see, he's not as great as what people think he is.

I'm not saying it's a that scale with Halliburton. Because I don't think Hall of Burden is as great as what Lamar Jackson is. And Halliburton has had postseason success. You could argue maybe this is the apex for the Pacers. Who was picking the Pacers to win the championship this year?

Last year, he got him to the conference finals, and this year he has him in the NBA finals. But the way that what I'm saying is the way that we live or die every game, where if he plays great, he's a superstar, if he thinks he's not a superstar. It kind of reminds me about the conversation come playoff time with Lamar Jackson. Where in the regular season, when he's winning MVPs, oh, he's the greatest thing in the world. Oh, he's unbelievable.

And then could post season time when he has a stinker. See, you know, people then take laughs and go, oh, well, he's overrated. He's not. What people are making him out to be in the regular season. All I know is when I do my rankings, I have Lamar Jackson.

As the third best quarterback in the NFL entering this season. The only two that are in front of him, in my opinion, are Mahomes one and Josh Allen, two. And next year, when you enter an NBA season, I think you're going to be very tough. to find 10 NBA players that are better than Tyrese Halliburton. And I don't know how you wouldn't put Tyrese Halliburt in the top ten.

So you could have A bad game. You could have a brutal game. And I'm not saying that Halliburton is LeBron for crying out loud, right? I'm not an idiot, a moron, and a dope. LeBron's the second greatest player of all time.

But I've seen, even though LeBron has gone on to have his moments, when LeBron was searching for his first championship, he had a horrible series. Up against the Dallas Mavericks.

So you could be a star. And not play well at the end. Times in the biggest moments.

So that's where we're at today with Tyrese Halliburton. Any show you tune into today. Whether it's CBS, whether it's ESPN, whether it's Fox, whether it's here at the Infinity Sports Network. You know, whatever network you know. Whether it's T V, whether it's radio, whether it's a podcast, whatever media it is.

You're gonna have people yelling. Is Hallow Burden a superstar? And there's going to be a lot of people today that are going to say, oh, based off the performance last night, he isn't.

Well, I disagree with that. But one performance Up against a team that could be an all-time great team. And I understand it was a hellacious performance by Halliburton. He's also hurt. Carlisle should have benched him.

Carlisle really should have handed the reins over. I can't believe I'm saying this to TJ McConnell. But a team last night just won their 83rd game of the season. A team last night. just won their 63rd game of the season.

By double digits. Think about that. Think about that. They just won their 63rd game of the season by double digits. Just talking about the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Outside of the Thunder in the regular season, who had 68 total wins. The team with the most amount of wins in the regular season after the Thunder were the Cavs were 64. The Thunder, just when you total regular season and post-season, have just 63 wins by double digits. Let's not forget about the 83 total wins.

So yes, Halliburton needed to be better. But I think the conversation last night shouldn't be, oh, is Halliburton a superstar? Because if you're going to call him one last week and then change your opinion this week, I think that's Jackassery.

Now, if you said last week he's not a superstar. Then you go take a victory lap today if you want. But I don't think the opinion can change within a week. I don't think the opinion could change based off one game in a series that they're not expected to win. The conversation really today should be about how great the Oklahoma City Thunder are.

If you think about it. And we'll do that on the other side because Man. Jalen Williams, his story. is sensational. And stories like that.

When you get a guy that drops 40 points on the national stage like that. And you get to hear more of his story. And where he was to where he is now, it's really remarkable. And let's not forget about the MVP of the league. Because Shay Gilgis Alexander, it's a nice world.

You have 31 points in the NBA Finals in Game 5 to give your team a 3-2 series lead. And that was the second best performance at the Thunderhead. Because the best performance was by Jalen Williams. But last night, what you saw. was The thunder had a moment flash in front of their eyes when it got down to about four points or two points, whatever it was.

And you saw the thunder for the majority of the game. Be the strong fighter. That just pounding away, pounding away, and they were waiting for that knockout punch. But the Pacers were beleaguered in the game last night, right? They were injured.

They were wounded. and you're just waiting for their legs to give out. And then the Pacers started punching back. And when the Pacers started punching back, not only did they punch back. But they gashed, they wounded the face of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

But just when the Thunder's legs started to get wobbly, just when you thought you were going to get another resilient comeback by the Indiana Pacers. The thunder Just delivered haymaker after haymaker after haymaker. At times, it felt like they weren't even coming close to missing towards the end of that game. And you then saw them distance the gap again, and it ended up resulting in an 11-point victory that notched them their 63rd. 63rd double-digit win of the season.

Which is just absolutely stupid good. All righty, this is Zach Gelb show right here on the Infinity Sports Network. We'll praise the Thunder more, and we'll get off this ludicrous conversation about Tyrese Halliburton. After these short messages, you can always give us a call 888710-4ISN, 888-710-4476. You could always give me a follow on Instagram and Twitter at Zach Gelb.

That's Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. You know, I wasn't expecting this on my bingo card today. But I'm actually going to defend. The Florida Panthers as a fan base.

So, I think that there's this notion that if a team's in Florida, oh, what really following do they have? Uh in Tampa? Tampa Bay Lightning fans are incredible. And yes, ten years ago. Did I think of the Florida Panthers as this great hockey organization that had a great fan base?

No. I think in most sports when your team is winning, obviously. That It'll that you do get a lot of people that are bandwagon fans, but that's everywhere. It it really is everywhere.

So I saw actually during the break I guess Albert Breer is doing a mailbag question on Twitter. And he said, We'll take all your questions now for the 617 mailbag. Anything you got, you ask, I answer, go.

So this guy Anthony tweets him and he said. Do you care if the Panthers go back to back and win the Stanley Cup final? And Albert Breer's tweet and his response back was: do people in South Florida care?

So I'm going to go around the room here. And I'm just going to do a little guess here. What do you think the cheapest ticket is? to get into the building tonight. Cup is in the building.

Chance to win the Stanley Cup for the second year in a row. Remember, they won it in their own building last year.

So, this is not as if, I understand it's so neat whenever you can see the Stanley Cup getting hoisted, but it's not as if the franchise has never won the Stanley Cup, and this is the first time that a fan can ever potentially see this. Many of the fans in the building tonight, or a good amount of fans in the building tonight, right, with season ticket holders and things like that. And loyal fans, they could have been in the building last year when the team won in game seven hoisted the cup.

So, what do you think the get-in price tonight would be? The cheapest ticket. To go and sit in the worst seat in the house. Fees included all that. On uh on the secondary market right now, still.

Let's go $300. $300 is the guess by Stu. Santa? What would your guess be here? I mean, I was going to guess something really low, but the way you're saying it, I'm going to say that it's very high.

I'm going to go 550. Neither of you are even close. The ch two cheapest tickets I see right now if you went on SeatGeek. 807 In the upper deck. An 864.

So I'm just gonna go on a limb here. Do people in South Florida care? about the Florida Panthers winning the Stanley Cup tonight. Uh here's a hot take. Yes, they do.

Microphone on fire, sizzling. You can hear it in the background right now. No, come on And I think that's just such a lame thing. And don't get me wrong, I understand the stereotype. I understand why people do that.

But to act As if that building hasn't been rocking, to act as if those fans haven't been throwing those rats on the ice and doing that crazy celebration for years and years and years. And to make it seem as if no one cares in South Florida, like, that's nonsense. And I understand, right, if the Dolphins were to win a Super Bowl or if the Miami Hurricanes were to win a national championship in Florida, that would be a bigger deal. But to act as if the the Panthers are the red-headed stepchild and They're begging fans to get into the building tonight. There's clearly a demand for this.

Because if it was Stu's number of $300 to get into the building for a game six of the Stanley Cup final, you can see your team win the Stanley Cup, then Albert Breer would have an argument to make. But when it's 8.07 to get into the building, 807 to get into the building. To potentially see the Stanley Cup hoisted. Uh I think the people do care.

Now. Here would be an interesting thing.

So you have game six later in the week. For the Indiana Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Now, I understand this is to try to stave off elimination. I am just curious what the cheapest ticket's gonna be for Thursday. For the Thunder and the Pacers. If you're a Thunder fan, Stu. What do you think the cheapest ticket in the building is on the secondary market right now to get in and to see the Pacers try to force a game seven coming up?

On Thursday night. Let's go 400. Sampter, what's your guess here? Uh By the way, I'm going to go 250. I looked at Samter.

You were counting on your fingers. You ever see that meme of the kid on social media that's using the calculator and trying to figure out how much money that he has? That's what Samter just reminded me of right there. What was your guess? 250.

The cheapest ticket. is 433. 433.

So I understand it's a chance to win the Stanley Cup tonight. And the Pacers, they have a chance to see their team get eliminated or extend to game seven.

So, I'm not expecting it to be as high as what the Panthers are. It's also the NBA compared to the NHL, though. And as I'm a huge hockey guy, but the NBA is more popular.

Now, here's what I'll be fascinated by. Let me check Oklahoma City Thunder. Game seven is Sunday night. If there's a Game 7 Thunder fan. What do you think the cheapest ticket in the building is?

And I would expect this to be through the roof, right? It's a game seven. What do you think the cheapest ticket would be? Uh let's go 950.

Okay. Yeah, I'm gonna say closer to 1,000,999. The cheapest ticket I'm just perusing right now. is 1,000. 300, nope, 1,000.

Two hundred and seven. One uh But yeah, 1,207. Behind the basket upper deck. And that is uh Supposedly a great deal on SeatGeek right now.

Now that's also... To be fair. Today's Tuesday. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, five days before the game.

So who knows if it's going to drop a little bit before that? But that's where we're at right now.

So the fact that the Panthers, who just won the Stanley Cup last year, The fact that the Panthers just won the Stanley Cup at home last year. For that ticket to be 800 something dollars tonight? to be the cheapest uh ticket in the building? It shows you that South Florida does care.

So That was just one commentary. Nothing against Albert Breer, but I just saw the comment. You know, I saw the Super Bowl this year. We had a nice little chat. And also, He uh was seated next to me.

Bow. Six or seven seats over at the national championship game this year. Ohio State of Notre Dame. Albert Breer, regular guy. Even though he's not a regular guy, but he's acting like a regular guy.

I was in the media section with Hickey. He was not in the media section. He was in the 300 or the upper deck. watching Ohio State and I veer to my left and I go to Hickey, pretty sure that's Albert Brere.

Now, I didn't wanna Annoy him. Rennie's watching his team. About to blow out Notre Dame and then about to choke the national championship game and then winning it. And I went up to Albert Bear at the Super Bowl and I said, Hey, just wondering, were you at the national championship game sitting in the upper deck? And he goes, Yeah.

I go, Oh, I thought that was you. And it was.

So, Albert Beer doesn't think South Florida people care, or is just asking if South Florida people care about hockey. The ticket prices and the get-in prices would suggest otherwise that they do care, and we give the answer of that. Um, real quickly, this Jalen Williams story. This guy had zero. Zero power five scholarship offers coming out of college.

Does anyone know I don't know if you saw this when I posted on Twitter earlier today? He ended up going to Santa Clara University. Does anyone know the other school that he almost attended in Jalen Williams? Sam Turstu, have you heard of this? I saw your tweet.

Oh, you did?

Okay. Sam, do you want to take a guess? The other school that he was considering That made a serious push. And I think it's Anscape is the website. I was reading it on one of their articles where they did a whole feature on Herb Sendek and the Santa Clara basketball program and Jalen Williams and his role in that program, obviously, and what has transpired over the last few years.

You want to take a guess where Jalen Williams almost went to college over Santa Clara. Where do you think? If you just have to throw a dart on the board on one of these random schools. Wyoming Not a bad guess. It was Hafshra.

Yes on Long Island. Yeah, right? And that's why I couldn't get it. No, I'm just kidding. I didn't apply to Hofstra.

But Jalen Williams, who had 40 points in the NBA Finals last night, He almost went to Hastra over Santa Clara University.

So this was the article. Sendek's visit to Phoenix, combined with the genuine connection and fun Williams had on his visit to Santa Clara, had a strong impact. Williams had no Power 5 scholarship offers, so he opted to Simon Santa Clara where he was comfortable and closer to home rather than mid-major hostra in Hempstead, New York. Costa recruited me. They did a good job, but Santa Clara was big for me, Williams said.

So think about that. You had a kid deciding between Santa Clara Or hastra. Three star recruit. Zero power five offers coming out of college. He ends up going to Santa Clara.

He gets drafted 12th overall in the 2022 NBA draft. And in short order, He has become A one-two punch in Oklahoma City. Right, you got Batman and Robin, Michelle Gilgis Alexander, and Jalen Williams. And he has gone on to now have the best part of his resume or the most notable part of his resume up until this point, which is an incredible story. From zero, zero power five.

Scholarship offers to being a three-star recruit to going to Santa Clara, right? If this guy didn't go on to have a good MBA career and he ended up being the 12th pick of the draft, it's already a success. Right? The guy's a 12th pick in the 2022 NBA draft when he had three stars to his name and he had zero Power Five offers. Just think about that success story.

But he goes to Oklahoma City. He becomes the second part of a great dynamic duo. And last night, In a 2-2 series. Right, trying to go up 3-2 and really get one win closer to win an NBA championship and get a win, you know, one win away from winning an NBA championship on an historical team, a team that has 63 wins this year by double digits, a team that has right now 83 total wins. Jalen Williams was the best player on the court, and he ends up cooking the pacers with a 40 burger and dropping 40 points.

Just unbelievable. And it's stories like that. I hate to be this guy. Oh, it's sports. But it's stories like that why we love sports.

Someone who wasn't even on anyone's radar. or very few people's radar. Zero Power Five offers. And this guy is now the talk of the sports world today because he had 40 points in the NBA Finals, and it's not just a one-off. This is not just, oh, some guy comes off the bench and he has the game of his life.

No, this guy has been great all year.

So it's an unbelievable and sensational story. And let's be real. I look at these NBA finals. I know it's tough to count out the Pacers, but when you factor in the health of Halliburton and how great the Thunder are, I picked the Thunder in six before this series did commence. Could they win game six?

The Pacers and Enforcers to a game seven? Sure. But I just don't see a way how the Thunder are going to drop Toonero. I just don't. I don't see how they're going to lose six and seven.

The Pacers are going to win the championship.

So that game last night to me. It really showed. Who, in my opinion, is going to win the NBA Finals. And it was very fitting that the Pacers almost crept back in, they did creep back into that game. And they almost found a way to just snatch a rabbit out of the hat once again and snatch victory for the jaws of defeat, but when they needed it to the most.

Jalen Williams continued his excellent night. And then Shea Gilgis, Alexander, and company were awesome as well. All right, this is Zach Gilbshow on the Infinity Sports Network. Eddie Olchek's going to join us at 4.20 p.m. Eastern Time today.

He'll be on the call for game six tonight between the Florida Panthers and the Edmonton Oilers. The Panthers will try to hoist the cup for the second year in a row in front of their home fans. And Herb Sendek, the coach at St. Clara University, and he did coach Jalen Williams in college. He'll join us at 5.20 p.m.

Eastern Time, 2.20 p.m. Pacific today, as we'll chat up about his former star in Jalen Williams, now a star in the NBA after his 40-point performance to put the Thunder one win away from hoisting the Larry O'Brien trophy. It is Zach Gilbshow right here on the Infinity Sports Network. Update time first. We'll get to a news brief on the other side.

Standing by with the latest sports flash is Rich Ackerman. Time for your daily news brief. We get you caught up on the rumors, reports, and reconnaissance from the day in sports. The defensive player of the week is brought to you by the Navy Federal Credit Union. Our members are the mission.

This week's player is Thunderguard Shea Gilgis Alexander, and last night's 120 to 109 win over the Pacers. SGA had four blocks and two steals. OKC as a team had 12 blocks and 15 steals. Let's keep it up with the Thunder. Let's go to Jalen Williams.

He had a 40-burger in the game last night. What kind of statement did he make tonight? It's something more that I'll like look back on later on. Then like Worry about what kind of statement it makes. I think the only statement we have right now is we're up 3-2 and we still have to go earn another win.

But it would be cool to look back on later on. I'll tell you, in terms of dynamic duos. Last night, it wasn't to this level. But it was pretty damn close if you think about it. You remember the Kyrie LeBron?

Performance in game six and that 3-1 comeback to make it to force a game seven. What you saw last night. Between Shea Gilgis Alexander and Jalen Williams was reminiscent of what LeBron and Kyrie did now. The only difference is that was on the quest of historical comeback. This is just in the quest of a historical season.

And you take a glance, Jalen Williams had 40 points in the game. Shea Gilgis Alexander had 31. And let's hear from SGA how Jalen Williams' game does impact him. Uh a lot easier. not only for myself, but for the rest of the guys, the uh can shoulder a load.

I've said this before. He does so many things. Forrest is a basketball team on both ends of the floor when he's the best vision of himself. But yeah, like you said, he was great tonight. Makes the world of a difference when he's that good for sure.

And let's go to Rick Carlisle. The other major story from last night. Once you get away from Jalen Williams and the Thunder getting the victory, is Tyrese Halliburton had zero field goals made from the, you know, on the court last night. And obviously, dealing with an injury here is Rick Carlisle on Tyrese Halliburton's health. He's not 100%.

It's pretty clear. But I don't think he's going to miss. The next game, and you know, we were concerned at halftime. And he insisted on playing. I thought he made a lot of really good things happen in the second half, but he's not.

He's not 100%, you know, and there's a lot of guys in this series that aren't. It's tough because that's a player that got you here. That's a player that had so many big moments. And when the game gets closer, right, isn't that the stage to put Halliburton back in? And he does what Halliburton does in some of these crazy performances that we saw in game one, up against the Thunder, what we saw up against the Knicks in game one of the Eastern Conference finals.

You go back. To what happened in game two up against the Cavs, what we saw up against the Bucks to eliminate them, where they went on that 7-0 run, I think it was in the final 34 seconds of overtime.

So I understand it's tough to not put him back in the game and have him try to overtake that moment. I thought that was a coaching mistake by Rick Carlisle. I get it, it's tough, it's not easy to do, and I appreciate Rick Carlisle's loyalty to Tyrese Halliburton. But last night, you knew Halliburton just didn't have it. And that's evident by the final stat line: 0-6 from the field, 0-4 from 3.

Yeah, sure. He gave you six assists last night and seven rebounds, but he had four points. You look at four points, seven rebounds, six assists. Those are bench numbers last night. That's what that is, and that's the star of the team.

And he just didn't have it because he was injured.

So I thought that Rick Carlisle needed to make a little adjustment there and not play Halliburton in 34 minutes of the game. Let's go to Tyrese Halliburton on battling through injuries in the NBA Finals. I miss the NBA Finals. It's the Finals, man. I've worked my whole life to be here, and I want to be out there to compete, you know, help my teammates.

Anyway I can. And obviously he's gonna keep on playing.

Now you got enough days. We'll rest up. See what happens, what Thursday brings. But if Tyrese Halliburton doesn't play better on Thursday, then we know how this is going to go. The Thunder are not only going to win the championship, the Thunder will probably get their 64th win of the season by double digits.

Let's go to Stephen A. Smith. This was on Sirius XM NBA Radio.

So there was that shot in game four. Yeah, it was game four. Where it was in Indiana. There's a fan, I guess, zooming in on Stephen A. Smith's phone, and he was playing Solitaire while the NBA Finals were going on.

Here is Stephen A. Smith on that incident. I was doing what the hell I always do. And for those out there who don't like it, kiss my ass. When I'm watching the game, I'm watching the game.

If there's a break in the action, it could be a deadball, it could be a timeout or something like that. I could play the damn thing for two seconds.

Somebody is standing over me, upper deck, zooming in on my phone, watching me and saying, oh, he's playing solitaire. He's not focusing on the game. I watch. over a hundred games a year. I'm on TV every morning for two hours, 10 hours live every day.

And that's just one job. That don't count countdown. That don't count sports center. That don't count all the obligations that I have. And I'm sitting there and getting a little break and I decide to play a little solitaire, which by the way, I always do.

And I mean always. If I sit up there, if there's halftime, I might go on my phone for two minutes and play solitaire. At the end of the game, before a game, I do the same thing. Damn it, if you had had a little break in between, I might have been praying in the air again. Because I like the game.

I work too damn hard, too long, too many hours to be wondering, to be worried about what people think I'm doing for 30 seconds. They can kiss off. I ain't worried about it. It's what I do. I do what I do.

I can't kiss off. I remember logging onto my grandfather's computer when I was growing up as a kid, and he had Solitaire on it. And I remember playing Solitaire when I was younger. I wasn't very good at it. I don't think that's a surprise to anyone listening in the listening audience right now.

I didn't know people still actively played Solitaire a lot. Yeah. I didn't know that was a thing. Still. Um with that being said though Can Stephen A.

Smith just say, hey, everyone, can you kiss my ass? And if you don't like it, too bad, and end the statement? To make these excuses, it's very Mike Francesa-like. When Mike fell asleep on the air, you know, I wasn't asleep, I was just resting my eyes or whatever he said. You were playing the game during the game.

To me, I don't give a rat's ass. I don't. Can you still do your job? Yeah, he can. Does Stephen A.

Smith still get paid an incredib amount of money, and that's why people are jealous about him? Absolutely. I like Stephen A. Smith. But you could just say, yeah, I was playing solitaire during the game.

'Cause we saw the video of you. with your hand on the phone playing while the game is going on. It wasn't as if it was just during the breaks of the game. It's not a big deal to me. It really isn't.

Bobby Portis run it back via FanDuel. Does he think Giannis Anto de Cumpo is going to get traded? When you've been on a team for a decade plus, and when you've done so much for a city, you know, when you put that much effort into a franchise, that much trust and belief and, you know, being loyal for so long, I just feel like he believes green, man. No matter where it's reported. Me personally, nah, man, I don't really see any movement, see anything happening, man.

I think he's staying put with the Bucs. I kind of agree with them for now. For now. I think when game one rolls around to the NBA regular season for the Bucks, that Yannisanta Dekump will be on the Bucs. After that, I don't know.

Um Let me just throw this out there.

Now, this is an audio. If there is one player complaining about ring culture in the NBA, active player, who do you think that player is? Samther Stu, any guesses? Dream on Green. Santa?

It's gotta be somebody without a ring. That would be inaccurate. Chasing Tatum. That would also be inaccurate. LeBron James.

Now I thought this was a fake tweet. LeBron calls out the negativity of ring culture in basketball. It is from Yahoo Sports on their official page. Alan Iverson and Charles Barkley and Steve Dash, like, oh, they can't be talked about or discussed with these guys is because this guy won one ring or won two rings. It's just, here's a LeBron keyword, weird to me.

LeBron thinks everything is weird, right? That was LeBron James on the uh on talking about ring culture and sports. That's via the Mind the Game podcast.

So here this is what LeBron does. Oh, I know he's on the podcast with Steve Nash.

So let me make a positive comment towards AI and Charles Barkley and Steve Nash, who we all acknowledge are all-time greats, right?

Now, no one's gonna call any of those players one of the top 10 players of all time because you also have to have rings. That's part of it as well.

So that's LeBron James trying to present the argument. Oh, this is him being the nice guy. It's just kind of weird the way people talk about AI who no one ever talks about negatively. Charles Barkley, sure, they say he doesn't have rings, but everyone says he's top 75 player of all time. He made that list for crying out loud, and everyone acknowledges Steve Nash from multiple MVPs.

So this is LeBron trying to Make it seem as if he cares about those guys. But in reality, this is the insecurity of LeBron James. This is LeBron James where he's saying it's weird to me. It's not about those guys. And what people say about AI or Charles Barkley or Steve Nash, which.

Outside of Charles Barkley, because he kind of brings it upon himself inside the NBA, no one really ever mentions that AI doesn't have a ring or Steve Dash doesn't have a ring. They talk about the great player that Alan Iverson was. They talk about the great player that Steve Nash was. But LeBron is insecure because he knows he's not going to get the six. And that's what everyone says and why.

LeBron James isn't the greatest basketball player of all time is because Michael Jordan has six rings. Right? So that's what's really weird to LeBron. It's not, oh, let me be a good friend to AI or Charles Barkley or Steve Dash. Stop it with that nonsense.

LeBron James, everything's weird to that guy. Let's go to Sam Kennedy, the president of the Boston Red Sox, on trading Mookie Betts and Raphael Devers. I'll put our record up against anybody else's in Major League Baseball over the last 24 years. We're incredibly proud of what we've built here. We've got more trophies and banners to show for it than any other organization in Major League Baseball, and we are so proud of that.

And this clubhouse believes in itself, and we believe in them. I understand this team's won a lot of championships. I think it's four since 2004 since they broke the curse, and I understand that. You're living off the past. That fan base Hates your guts right now.

That fan base right in Boston. Used to be a Red Sox town. They don't like the Red Sox anymore. And to your credit, you made a big move this offseason. You got Garrett Crochet, you got Alex Bregman, and the move bringing in Bregman.

Ended up cooking Raphael Devers because Rafael Devers is sensitive. And Raphael Devers is saying, Oh, I'm not happy. I'm not playing third base. Oh, you want me to DH?

Okay, fine. I'm not happy about it. Oh, now you want me to go play first base? Oh, I'm not doing that.

So that ruined the relationship right there. But ultimately you trade a Rafael Devers In an organization that traded Mookie Bets, and I'm not gonna go all the way back to Bee Bruce, but let's do Mookie Bets, and you didn't get anything really back for it. And now you trade Rafael Devers and you didn't even shop him and you barely got anything back for him.

So I don't think the fans in Boston want to hear about how many championships you won. It's the current state of the team, and the ironic part is fans actually went into the season optimistic about the Red Sox. They come off a three-game sweep of the New York Yankees, and then you trade the best player.

So now it's back to what people have been feeling the last few years with Boston. Quickly, here's Craig Breslow. Bold claim after the Raphael Devers trade. I understand why the initial reaction would be that it'd be tough to sit here and say when you. When you move a player of Rafi's caliber, when you take that bat out of the lineup, how could I sit here and say that we're a better team?

And I acknowledge that on paper, we're not going to have the same lineup that we did, but this isn't about the game that is played on paper. This is about the game that's played on the field and ultimately about winning the most games that we can. And I do think that there is a real chance that at the end of the season, we're looking back and we've won more games than we otherwise would have. Yeah, I think that's a tough argument to make. I know they're going to play a lot more youngsters now, and it's kind of a youth movement with the Red Sox, but this team right now, they are currently 38 and 36.

Do I think they're going to be better without Rafael Devers? I don't think so. I understand he could have been a pain in the ass in a locker room because of this ongoing issue, but I do think there's a lot of people that are looking around at this today and saying, hmm. Our front office made that move. Yeah, that doesn't make a lot of sense, and that creates a sense of distrust in the organization.

We'll take a timeout. We'll get to Diego Pavia's comments next. And also, Eddie Olczyk joins us coming up at 4:20 p.m. Eastern Time to talk some Stanley Cup playoff hockey. Yeah.