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Jay E. Skeets
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Jay E. Skeets
Good morning sweet world and welcome to the no Dunks podcast presented by Fandue. It's Sunday, June 14, 2026. Congratulations to the NBA Champion New York Knicks. I'm Jay E. Skeets here in the classic factory and alongside me as always, Tas Melas, Becky Hammond.
Trey Kirby
This one's for you.
Jay E. Skeets
Next to him, it's my top shot hot boy, Trey Kirby.
Tas Melas
Bing bong.
Jay E. Skeets
Bing bing bong. And over yonder, making the magic happen here on a Sunday, super producer jd Hello. There he is. Here we are. Shouts to everybody joining us on YouTube or listening on Apple, Spotify, wherever, play your part. Hit all those buttons. Hit the like button. Subscribe and leave your boys five star ratings and reviews. Especially if you enjoyed this NBA season and the Finals. Let's get into it. The New York Knicks Completed one of the most dominant playoff runs in NBA history with the title clinching 94 to 90 win over the spurs in game five of the Finals on Saturday night. And Jalen Brunson carried the Knicks with a historic performance. He becomes one of four players joining Michael Jordan, Giannis and Bob Pettit. Bob Pettit back in our lives to score at least 45 points in a closeout game in the NBA Finals. He was the unanimous choice among the 11 voters for Finals MVP. And that graphic right there, if you're on YouTube with us from ABC, sort of sums up game five perfectly. Jalen Brunson, 45 points, rest of the team 49. Cause this guy was special. On a night when everyone was sort of struggling to score, Brunson carried the offense tasks. I mean, what a performance, what a show.
Trey Kirby
Glad it finished this way for Brunson because through the first four games of the series, the most memorable moment was going to be OG's tip. Brunson to finish it off this way was spectacular. Obviously. I love that one where he went by Wemmy in the fourth quarter and he just gave him that little, that little shake enough to get space at the rim was spectacular. To finish it with 45. We will remember the OG tip. We will remember this play or this game as well. I kind of blame Luke Cornett if I'm the San Antonio Spurs. I know it sounds weird, but. But Brunson was not cooking in the second quarter quite yet. He had only eight points at that point midway.
Jay E. Skeets
That was a lot of Knicks points though.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, eight. Eight.
Jay E. Skeets
Really?
Tas Melas
In the first quarter.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, the were just struggling big time. And then midway through the second quarter when Brunson was, you know, doing fine, Luke Cornett literally just dropped the ball out of bounds and then they had to yank his ass. He had a bad game. He just couldn't handle. Couldn't handle the ball at all. Brunson, after another offensive rebound by the Knicks, had his easiest set shot of the game from three point land. And that's when he got hot hitting that three. And then he took it to Dear and Fox the next play. Then he got double teamed when Kelvin Johnson didn't really get his hand up. Hit another one. Then he took Dear and Fox on another one on one. And that's when they had to say, all right, Stefan Castle, get on back in. So he got Cook in there in the second quarter. Either way, it wasn't about Brunt. It wasn't about Luke Cornett. It was about this dude who is this team I'm just glad that the storyline isn't just about og. When we remember, remember the series, it'll be both that and Jalen Brunson obviously carrying this team.
Jay E. Skeets
That's where it was similar to game four. I know will Game four will be remembered because of the OG tip in and that incredible play in the comeback. But they only came back because Brunson carried them. We talked about it in the first half. He just would never let go of the rope. Similar here, similar in game five. And then he just got better in the second half with 29 points. 15 in the fourth quarter. And he had that one stretch where he just like he scored 15 or 16 straight points.
Tas Melas
He outscored the Spurs 15 to 7 down the stretch. He had 29 in the second half. That's the most of anybody in the entire game. Nobody else even got over 20. He dominated this game. Just a legendary performance. Pretty awesome response to any finals MVP chatter because through the first two games it was is it Brunson or Towns? Then it was is it Brunson or og? And turns out it was Brunson the entire time. That's why he was the unanimous mvp. And just to be able to do it, he did. Only Michael Jordan has scored 45 or more in a closeout game on the road. Now look, that's a lot of qualifiers, but still there's been a lot of NBA Finals, finals games. And it's kind of weird because like when we go think back on this finals, the things we'll think of are game four comeback. Absolutely. The OG tip for sure. I think you'll think of the Wemby turnover, the Fox layup decision before you think of anything specific for Jalen Brunson. Like yeah, you can show me a fade away over a guy. It could be from any game. Yeah, I'm sure he's shooting it from the right side of the court. He did it so many times. There weren't any like specific Brunson did this plays. But you will think of 45 in a close out game to win him the championship for the first time in over 50 years.
Jay E. Skeets
Yeah, specific. Like that play on Wemby was awesome. I will think of him like driving nonstop like as this game got close again as it has been all series. You know he hit threes. Yes. And obviously got a lot of free throws. But there are so many buckets from Brunson in the second half where he just drove to the rim on anybody that was on him. Be it Wemby, be it Castle and He was always getting like, especially a Spurs big that was like caught between am I staying with the guy in the corner or not? And he would get him with the, the pass fake every time. He just has incredible footwork and timing. So yeah, he just kept attacking. And the play like the big one here in game five was that probably that little 12 foot floater, right. That Brunson hit to put them up 90 to 88. And then we got into obviously the free throw game of it all where the Knicks kept leaving the door open as they kept splitting a pair. But then spurs unfortunately not capitalizing. I guess Harper at the end missing too. But I mean, with all due respect to Patrick Ewing and I even think Willis Reed, I think it's pretty obvious that Jalen Brunson is at least the second best Nick of all time now. I think it's Clyde Frazier, then I think it's him. And if you want to debate that fair. But he's also, there's no debating. He's one of the best free agent signings in NBA history with what he's meant to this franchise. They were garbage for 20 plus years. He comes, they start winning because he's a winner. That's all he does. High school, college, and now the pros.
Trey Kirby
Yeah. In this series, he was the most important player. Every time they won. I know, or every game they won, I should say, I know OG gets the tip, but Jalen's got very much what Kobe was, that he will continue to shoot. And that's what he did in game one. Yeah. 30 shots, sure, 31 to get him to that 30 points. But OG only got it going in the fourth quarter. In that game, they needed every single one of those shots. And then in game two, where the spurs decide, okay, we're going to double this guy, you know, the other guys benefited, so it was all on him, really. And then game four, as you said, just kept pushing, making those shots. And then game five, the true exclamation point of the guy who is the most important, a 45 or you know, those are, those are just huge numbers. As you threw out the Jordan in there, you know, the, the Giannis did it with the 50. Like those are the ones that you remember to finish off series. So this was great that he did it this way.
Jay E. Skeets
Oh my God.
Tas Melas
He had his best game in game five and like every other game was kind of like middling efficiency. He went to another level and was actually scoring every time the Knicks needed him to outside of the first quarter and he still led the team in scoring in the first quarter in a brutal one. It's just crazy that every single game in this series followed the exact same script. Like the spurs were up big again. The game doesn't start until the Knicks get down by 10. They got up to 16 point lead for San Antonio in the first half. And as they started walking it down, did anybody have any doubt that it was going to be Brunson and the Knicks that takes the win here? So I don't know. I can't, I can't judge. Walt Clyde Frazier and Willis Reed. Like Willis reads a two time finals mvp. They played long before I was born. But Brunson is the best Nick of our lifetime. Of course, for sure. I mean, Ewing has the longevity. Absolutely. But he went over, I think he passed Ewing last night. Lean the Knicks to this championship and
Trey Kirby
you ain't got to cry post game in that celebration. He was crying. He was feeling it.
Jay E. Skeets
I mean, all those Knicks legends, it's like, I don't know, it's oddly like a weird weight off their shoulder for some reason. It's not like they're on the team, of course, and they came up short, but it means something to them. And they, they do as an organization. You know, outside of Charles Oakley, he was there.
Tas Melas
It's best for him that they got to win on the road.
Jay E. Skeets
Yeah, but they do, they do celebrate their, their Knicks legends probably more than most franchises do. So.
Tas Melas
Yeah, once a nick, always a nick. It's on their jerseys. Except for Charles Oakley.
Jay E. Skeets
Yeah, right, right. But unless you're on the road, did
Tas Melas
he, did he get to be a part of the celebrations? My guess is no.
Jay E. Skeets
I'm not sure.
Tas Melas
I haven't seen videos or anything. It was just like he was on the broadcast.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, because Dolan was there, you know,
Tas Melas
part of the celebration.
Trey Kirby
So I guess Charles was not allowed.
Jay E. Skeets
Yeah, I mean, the joke flying around the, you know, the basketball group chats last night was when the Knicks were down at the end of the first quarter and then down 16 as that lead grew, it was like, well, the Knicks got him right where they want them. Because we've seen this story before and the script writers just keep running it back. They're like, he, hey, people enjoy this story. Just keep doing it.
Tas Melas
James Bond.
Jay E. Skeets
Exactly, exactly. And as they walked it back and it was, it really was just Brunson. I mean, Bridges played okay.
Trey Kirby
He had the second most points. What a shot.
Jay E. Skeets
Josh Hart played okay. I'm talking offensively, defensively, the Knicks were amazing. And we can get into that especially down the stretch. Their interior defense was elite, but it was just those two guys. Of course it's the Villanova guys. Like, man, what did we learn here? Family and friends. That's what matters. Family. He went to the Knicks only because of his goddamn dad. With Rick Brunson there. Awesome. And then the friends part. Yeah, The Villanova boys get them all together. Poor Dante. Not there any longer, but yeah, it worked. Friendship in the end.
Tas Melas
Yeah, well. And I mean even sorry to Dante DiVincenzo, but Karl Anthony Towns and Leon Rose are very close. Well, so he brought him in there. And just amazing. They literally built on the power of friendship and family to win the NBA championship. Because I think none of us would think that the Knicks were the best team in the NBA this year, but they peaked at the absolute perfect time twice, if you want to throw in the NBA cup as well, because they played great basketball during all of those games. But we all picked New York to get to the finals during the preseason. But we all also, I think, agreed that the Celtics were the favorites heading into the Eastern Conference playoffs. They obviously botched it. But then the knicks get down 2:1 to Atlanta. They completely reformulate the way they play offense, destroy the rest of the Eastern Conference playoffs, get to the finals, and their offense went back to stinking. This was a bad offensive series for the Knicks, all things considered. The thing that happened, though, is that they started to believe. They went on this crazy winning streak. And in reality, what the winning streak was was playing defense because their defense in the series was awesome. They. They're like a bottom five offensive team during the NBA Finals here with their offensive rating was like 108 to 110, depending on what site you look at. But they held the spurs to even worse. And that was really the difference maker. It was awesome. When Towns was out on the wing orchestrating things, they were destroying everybody in the Eastern Conference. It didn't work in this Finals against the spurs, but they had Brunson. He was willing to go, I'll take 30 shots, I'll shoot 30% from the field. Somebody's got to do it. And that was the difference for New York.
Trey Kirby
That's why the NBA is great. It doesn't matter if we believe or if anybody believes. It's always a new team, right? It's. It's obviously the last eight years it's been a new team, but it. In that locker room, they believed in the NBA cup, they believed that they would get there, and they got there. While we all doubted it now we, we gave the Spurs. A lot of people did give their spurs their flowers after they were able to knock off OKC and anoint them. Okay, here they are. They're the champs now. But that's what makes basketball great. Some predicted it obviously, that the Dicks would do it.
Jay E. Skeets
Well, they did. Just started to. They did become a team of destiny. There's no way around it. The victories and like, when you say team of destiny, it feels like, oh, they got lucky. Now there are some crazy plays, no doubt, but also kudos to them. They just would always go and close a series down. Toughest thing to do, put a team to bed. What did they do? Every one of those, like, closeout games, they went always into the other team's barn and generally crushed them. This one, obviously a much closer game, but that's impressive. Like, they. No team, it felt like, was built more for the intensity, the physicality of the playoffs. And this game, man, was off the charts in terms of like letting the boys play besides you, Carl Anthony Towns, but everybody else, like, holy crap was. I mean, it was a goddamn rock fight. Like, obviously a low scoring affair throughout all four quarters. But they're just, they're built for it. And, you know, I think a huge part of it is obviously following their leader in Jalen Brunson. He's like, I'll play this way, no problem. Let's go.
Trey Kirby
He is the rock.
Jay E. Skeets
What else from game five or this finals?
Tas Melas
Well, I think this Finals really shows me you can't skip steps. Yeah, I thought Wemby would be the first player to like, get to his first playoffs, get into the finals and actually be able to overcome the lack of experience. That's the way he played through the Western Conference finals. And clearly that wasn't the case in the NBA Finals. You still got to take your lumps. You still gotta see what works and what doesn't. And what's going to have to happen for Wemby is like, he needs a go to move. He needs an in between game. Rather than shooting threes, which he can get a 3 off anytime he wants just because of his height and his skill set where his releases. He could take a three anytime he wants. It's not always the best shot. He can't always get inside. He's got to figure out something in between alley oop dunks and shooting threes because putting the ball on the floor, trying to get around defenders that are allowed to play more physically in a finals that was as physical as this one is. He looked out of sorts at times. Like, he still put up incredible numbers. Like, we're going to look back at Wemby's first finals and be like, well, 27 per game. He was going crazy out there. He didn't even know how to play offense. But he's going to have to figure out how to play offense. And they're going to have to figure out the spurs what they want to do going forward. Because Dylan Harper outplayed de' Aaron Fox ridiculously in this game and throughout the entirety of the NBA Finals. This was yet another poor Fox game. And he was like, every shot he was taken in the fourth quarter felt like a turnover. And it felt like they were killing the Knicks. Like Harper missed in the fourth quarter as well. He somehow missed his easiest layup. He had that one on OG that would have tied the game. That was probably the easiest finish he could have had, all things considered. But you know, he still outplayed Fox last night and definitely throughout the final. So they're gonna have to figure out what to do with those guys going forward. Cause you look at Harper and you're like, that guy could be Jalen Brunson going forward, the way he plays.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, yeah. Another guy that needs to find a go to, I think, is Stefan Castle. He needs to find a go to move a go to bucket, a go to shot. Whether it's a stop and pop or it's a step back of some sort of. There's something that needs to be found there because, yeah, they relied on Darren fox. The last 5:20, he had four shots. They all missed. One extremely short one three that was wide open. The other two kind of contested, but there's just four jumpers that all the attention goes to Wemby. I got a shot to take and he missed every single one of those. So Mitch Johnson can also be ridiculed for not going to Dylan Harper earlier in the fourth quarter. I mean, he. He got him on at 8:51 and then he scored right away. And then he didn't shoot for another four minutes. His next shot was 4:30. Like where he had his own possession there and he missed. And then the fast break that was blocked. And then, you know, 120 left, he hits that bucket. But yeah, the free throws, he missed. And. And that other shot that you mentioned, Trey, I mean, there's things to slice about Mitch Johnson. Another weird thing I thought was Victor Wembanyama going to the bench with 234 left in the second quarter. I think that was weird.
Jay E. Skeets
But weren't they trying to like project to the fourth quarter like they were? To me it was pretty apparent. They were like, try and get as much rest as possible here in the first half to obviously close this out, try and get it back to Master Garden. I think that's the thinking at least.
Trey Kirby
He only plays 17 minutes in that first half. So if you want to add numbers, he would have gotten up to 19 minutes if he played that last 2:30. Instead, Luke Cornett comes out, they lose that 230 by three points. And the three points essentially being when Luke Cornett couldn't catch a pass from Stefan Castle and Josh Hart turns it around and scores at the other end and the spurs are hit with a flagrant foul. I think that's a fair question asked. Why isn't he playing out there the last 2:30? Now he got subbed in from 5:46 to 2:34 and he kind of was going head to head with Jalen Brunson a little bit like Jalen Brunson started to respond to that wide open shot I mentioned earlier when Luke Cornett gave him that wide open shot. And you could see Wemby's mid range shot that he missed and the three point shot that he missed, you know, maybe didn't have the flow and that's why Mitch Johnson said get off the floor. But I think even if it's a guy who's not rested out there, instead of Lou Cornett literally just being a big body and and I mentioned that one where Luke Cornett couldn't catch the ball and that turned into Josh Hart going the other way. Wemby catches it. Those hands are not tired. He would have caught the ball even if he's just running out there again, he Got up to 37 minutes and 52 seconds played in this game. He didn't play a ton, obviously. Yeah, he's tired and he's never played this much before and all that, but still, those are the things I think you could say to Ms. Johnson. What up with that? And that's obviously something Wemby will go into the summer and deal with, is trying to get as fresh as possible for the NBA Finals for that, that war of attrition.
Jay E. Skeets
Yeah, it's funny. And we talked about it sort of all season long and we looked at it as a positive, this idea. And I think it is in general, like, wow, they don't have to play him a lot of minutes like that. That's huge. Like, I mean by the time you get to the championship, like you're getting at what, 100 games? Like 90 to 100 games. So it's starting to add up. But if you don't have to play them all these heavy minutes, that should be good, right? Yes. But the counter to that is if you don't have to play those heavy minutes and you don't play those games where it's like a 40 minute game that you're playing or 43 minute that you don't get the reps in your body and your lungs and all that for when the time calls, that you need it. Like, I, you know, there's a reason why marathon runners in their training go out and run 20, 21 miles, 22 miles. It's literally just to be like, what's my body gonna do when I get to that point of the race? Like, it's, it's, you know, it's. You don't do it all. You don't do it every day. You don't go run 20 miles every day when you're training for a marathon, but you do do it. So I'm not, I'm not saying, like, the part of the strategy next season will be like, all right, Wemby, you're playing 45 tonight just to maybe get you ready. But I just, I wonder if it had some sort of impact because, you know, he hasn't had to do it. Didn't have to do it. And then you get in the playoffs where it's 100 times more physical. So that alone. Yeah. I don't know. Something to watch next year for. Sure.
Tas Melas
Yeah.
Jay E. Skeets
In terms of how they manage his minutes.
Trey Kirby
That's a good way to put it. And thanks for the personal reminder because I'm running the Peachtree Road Race and.
Jay E. Skeets
Good for you.
Trey Kirby
In a few weeks, and it's too hot to be running out there. I gotta get. I gotta. The plan was to get up over, you know, the 6.21 miles that it is. 6.22. And I haven't done it too.
Jay E. Skeets
It's a 10K, right?
Trey Kirby
It's a 10K. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's a good heartbreak.
Jay E. Skeets
Heartbreak kill, though. Power through test.
Trey Kirby
I'll be a Josh heartbreak through that. I'll just power through. But, yeah, I think that is true. And honestly, yeah, the Luke Cornet minutes were tough, but just Wembley just has to be there.
Jay E. Skeets
If I told you, you at home in a do or die game. Okay. Cat has two points and the Knicks bench did basically nothing for like, I don't know, 36 minutes. Yeah, right, right. No, right. At the end of the third quarter, Clarkson and Mitchell Robinson, I think score, but you're basically right. And then, and then Shannon hit a couple of buckets and you lost. Like, holy crap. Like, you would be like, I think we're feeling pretty good. We'll probably go back to Madison Square Garden.
Trey Kirby
Yeah.
Jay E. Skeets
But no, no, Brunson. Brunson crushed you. He literally, he's like, we're going to end this right now. Just give me the ball. Get the hell out of the way.
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Jay E. Skeets
Hey, guys. Have you ever found yourself craving a cold snack?
Tas Melas
Yep.
Jay E. Skeets
Do you even know what a cold snack is?
Trey Kirby
I do.
Jay E. Skeets
Well, some of you may have noticed I've been wearing a Montucky shirt on the video version of the podcast. And that's because Montucky makes my favorite cold snack. That's right. It's a cold snackable beer and summer is the best time to enjoy it. You're right, Terz.
Tas Melas
Montucky is a light American lager from Bozeman, Montana. It's snackable, shareable, and perfect for all occasions. Hey, that sounds like the dream beer to me. Go to montuckycoldsnacks.com snack-finder to find Montucky cold snacks and a retailer near you. And if you're looking for some Montucky merch, use important snacks all one word for 20 off their merch store.
Jay E. Skeets
They got some cold horses on those cans.
Tas Melas
Cold snacks.
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Express it now.
Jay E. Skeets
Just pop yourself.
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Tas Melas
who could go score every single time.
Jay E. Skeets
No.
Tas Melas
Or at least get a shot every single time. And that was. What was the difference in this entire series? Like, Cornet, like, whatever. Yeah, he stunk. He was terrible in this entire series. He's the slowest guy out there.
Trey Kirby
Yeah.
Tas Melas
By far the slowest guy out there. But like, who else are. Literally, who else are the spurs gonna play? They had seven guys on their bench that you wouldn't even consider no.
Jay E. Skeets
Putting it.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, yeah. For me, you're. Now that you say that Lou Cornette was sick, I mean, looking at his face, he did look pale.
Jay E. Skeets
Yeah.
Trey Kirby
That being said, I don't care about the spurs bench play wemby more. I know it's simple for me to say here, but literally, even if he doesn't shoot, that body out there would have not dropped the ball. Luke Cornett dropped multiple balls in this game. He even had one that won't be in the box score as a turnover. But he dropped another defensive rebound that happened to go to another teammate. I guess he was sick, but Mitchell Robinson absolutely destroyed him out there.
Jay E. Skeets
And Mitch Robinson, you know, again, you're gonna look at the box score and not be wowed. But he played 20 minutes because of the foul trouble to cat. And he had two massive offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter. That one for sure. But I thought he had that other one too where he got it and then he got rid of it before. And then Mike Brown called a timeout before they could even do the hack image. That was obviously on the spot. Great coaching call from Mike Brown there to like, not even like, have a worry of him going to the line. But yeah, a couple huge rebounds. And the one off the Josh Hart missed free throw was. Was like a sort of a ice or. What's the word I'm looking for?
Tas Melas
Dagger. Yeah, a dagger offensive rebound just like the clock for him. And it was right over Wemby as well. Like, I didn't think Mitchell Robinson played a great series, but he was probably had his best game in Game 5 and they needed quite a bit from him with Towns getting into foul trouble once again. So, yeah, I mean, San Antonio is going to look back on this and be like, we kind of blew it. Oh, all things throw away the game twice in game two and game four. But even this, it's like Towns barely scored. Nobody else on the Knicks had anything going. New York scored 94 points. Yeah, yeah, the spurs did a great job defensively in this series, but they just didn't have the offense to keep up with a Knicks team that was struggling as well, but just had one guy who could do enough.
Trey Kirby
Yeah. And one moment that will be forgotten, but I do think was important was after the OG tip, Cat tipping the inbound to Stephon Castle. That or the design play for Stefan Castle. That looked to be perfect. That looked to be an alley oop that was going down because Stefan Castle beat everybody to the hoop. But the Dylan Harper inbound was tipped by Cat. So that's something that we'll always forget.
Jay E. Skeets
And. And the Knicks for doing their part, encroaching. You notice Scott Foster last night? I noticed he was telling a lot more people in the front row to stand back. He did it a couple times on a couple inbounds. He was really, you know, operating over there.
Trey Kirby
I'm. I'm glad that it's all over and we're not talking about officiating because Scotty and that whole efficient crew. There were some bad ones in this one.
Tas Melas
Oh, baby.
Trey Kirby
Yeah.
Jay E. Skeets
Well, the one. Oh, my God. The one where Brunson got hacked like eight times at the end of the game that nearly resulted in an over and back or a turnover. It went to Bridges in the end, but like he got. He was getting mauled and like, you know, he's going to get fouled. So it's like, come on, what. I mean, you're trying just, I guess, to see what happens here, but yeah, that was rough. And then I want to get your opinion on the. The Wemby sliding under Brunson of it all. You imagine what we would be talking about here this morning if the spurs win this game. We would be sitting here going Is when we going to be allowed to play in Game 6 of the NBA Finals? Because about halfway through the third quarter, Brunson shoots the three. Wemby gets up under him. Now we can debate whether Brunson kicked his foot out and wasn't really a natural landing position. All that. But he's underneath them. Nothing's called. The league was going to look at it, Trey. I mean, it doesn't matter now, but what do you think your gut says? Do you think the league would have said no? Brunson was on, you know, kicking his leg out. We're gonna let him play.
Tas Melas
Okay, great way to frame the question, because clearly that was a flag. That was.
Jay E. Skeets
Damn.
Tas Melas
That was an easy one. What would the league do? They would not give it to Wemby. There's no way they're gonna suspend this guy for a closeout game.
Jay E. Skeets
Jesus.
Tas Melas
Thank God they protected him the entire time. But that was clearly a flagrant foul. But you can also see Tyler Ford is the guy who let it go. He's doing, like, weird kick motions. He was saying that Brunson extended his leg, and I disagree with that one. But if Scott Foster is the extender. When you put Scott Foster and Tyler Ford together, that's the Extender 2.0. They were doing their best to try and help the Nick the Spurs out in this one, I thought.
Trey Kirby
I think the NBA needs to change the flagrant foul points rule this summer.
Jay E. Skeets
Because you want to up it. I would change it.
Tas Melas
No, no, no.
Trey Kirby
I would change how long those points are counted for. Because if you look at the playoffs, Wemby got two points on May 10 for hitting Nasrid in the throat. He would have got a suspension for something that happened on May 10th. And then hitting cat on June 10th hit him in the chin. And then this one on June 13, with which absolutely should have been one.
Jay E. Skeets
So do you think the league would have had the guts, though, like Trey is saying, no way to suspend wemby for Game 6 of the NBA Finals?
Trey Kirby
I think it's highly unlikely, but he definitely should have been called. Now, I wonder in the moment. I don't know. I'm trying to give the refs some. Some slack here because it's Dylan Harper who falls to the floor as Wemby steps under him. Maybe they're also looking at that and didn't see it in the moment, but either way, it should have been called and. And they missed that. They also missed the push to Bronson as a foul. And so, yeah, maybe they're just protecting wemby But I do think four points over the course of. Because of this game, this playoffs is so long. Over the course of. Literally it was over a month. Maybe it's three points per series.
Tas Melas
Per series.
Tab Ramos
Yeah.
Jay E. Skeets
That's interesting.
Trey Kirby
Yeah. Because literally he could have three points like a month ago, and then. So you have one flagrant foul in this series and you get suspended for that. There's a better way. I think there's a better way.
Tas Melas
I think that the 2016 warriors would feel a type of way about that. Part of the reason Draymond was suspended was points. Points as well.
Trey Kirby
Right from round one that he got exactly that. It was two months worth of points for him. Like, it was long. And then it was added to the play into the fourth. So I think.
Tas Melas
Yeah, I don't know what getaway number is, though, because then you're telling me you can just elbow a guy in the head once per series without getting suspended.
Trey Kirby
Well, flagrant, too.
Jay E. Skeets
Well, I guess you could still say you could be suspended.
Trey Kirby
Yeah. Suspension is different. And that you can be suspended for elbowing a guy if you. If you go, you know, throw some fists.
Tas Melas
I mean, three points is a lot of flagrant foul points to be allowed for an entire playoff run. That's a lot.
Jay E. Skeets
That's what some people are going to definitely say.
Trey Kirby
Oh, so you're thinking lower it from four?
Tas Melas
No, I'm. That's. I'm saying Wemby hit a lot of guys in the head during the playoffs.
Trey Kirby
Yeah.
Tas Melas
He would have been due for a suspension and a well earned one. He hit a lot of guys in the face.
Jay E. Skeets
This one. This one. This one, amazingly, had nothing to do with the face. Yeah. This is more the foot.
Tas Melas
I. I don't know. I don't know if the number needs to be changed, I guess, is what I'm saying.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, I hear what you're saying.
Jay E. Skeets
I am. I was so happy the Knicks won. So we don't have to. I mean, we're already talking about it, but that would have been the discourse for 48 hours or whatever, when Game 6 would have been Tuesday night. Oh, my God. That's all it would have been. And then no matter what the league decided, it would have been an uproar.
Tas Melas
Yeah.
Jay E. Skeets
Whether they let him play. Uproar from Knicks fans, and probably rightfully so, whether they don't let him play. Oh, my God. What are they doing? Is the league stupid? They're taking out, you know, the generational talent. Like, so they would have been in a no win situation. But the Knicks won, so it doesn't matter.
Trey Kirby
Yeah.
Jay E. Skeets
Knicks are 16 and 3 in the playoffs and they won 15 of their final 16 postseason games.
Tas Melas
Did anything happen in that one game?
Jay E. Skeets
No, not much. Not much.
Trey Kirby
Not much.
Jay E. Skeets
Anything else from game five or X's and O's or all that stuff? We got funny, silly, random notes.
Tas Melas
But yeah, this was a little bit. The push in the back game. It was two flagrants for a guy pushing somebody as they go up for a layup. It was Deer and Fox on Josh Hart and then Mitchell Robinson on Wemby. Which brings about the craziest rule that exists in the NBA because both guys made their shot that they got fouled on. The 2 for 1 made free throw on a flagrant on an and 1. It always catches me by surprise.
Jay E. Skeets
Same.
Trey Kirby
Same. Yeah.
Tas Melas
Because Wemby misses. Nope, he gets another chance. That's such a weird one to me.
Jay E. Skeets
It is two for one and then the ball back. Of course.
Trey Kirby
Yeah.
Jay E. Skeets
Yep. Got it twice.
Trey Kirby
Yeah.
Jay E. Skeets
But it's a. We talk about this all the time. It's a super dangerous play when a guy is in the air or is about to take off in the air in the tiniest of push. It doesn't take a lot. It's dangerous as hell. So that should be penalized as such. And they got those. And they've usually been all over the sliding under guys too. So that's why that Brunswell was weird. He went down. He rolled his ankle or hurt his ankle on Wemby's giant ass foot. I don't know. Maybe part of it, I was thinking too, is he hit the three and they were like, well, he hit it, you know, let's go. I wonder if he misses and this
Trey Kirby
guy battles through every injury.
Jay E. Skeets
Why is he even in a finals game? He's like. Was like, I'm sorry. He was like on the list as one of the refs. That needs improvement. So why is he in the final tier three? I think so.
Tas Melas
I believe you.
Jay E. Skeets
So.
Tas Melas
I mean, he's bad.
Trey Kirby
I agree.
Tas Melas
He's a tier three or for me.
Trey Kirby
Yeah. That list was the player's perspective. Right. They were the ones that was from the pa. Yeah. Right. So, ah, the referees. The referee association probably looks at it differently.
Jay E. Skeets
Okay, fair.
Trey Kirby
But anyway. Anyway, they missed that. They messed that up. There's no doubt. They probably said, that guy's gonna keep playing, just let him go. Because he battles through every injury.
Jay E. Skeets
They're like, he actually stronger when he rolls his ankle.
Tas Melas
Kind of true.
Jay E. Skeets
Yeah.
Tas Melas
I remember the thing I was like remember when he hurt his knee, Harrison Barnes fell into his knee and the first quarter of game one.
Trey Kirby
Yeah.
Tas Melas
I was like, the Knicks finally make it back to the finals and they're going to lose Jalen Brunson for the entirety of the series and instead he ends up finals mvp. So pretty sweet for him. There was some championships I'm like trying to think of what does this finals run remind me of. First thing, of course, 2011 MAVs, where a team just like clicks at the absolute perfect time, plays their best basketball in the playoffs. And I guess you can consider, I guess you could consider Dirk, a little bit of Brunson and that he was making all these clutch shots, but also a little bit of Karl Anthony Towns where it's like we've had questions about can you get to the absolute highest level. And they finally come through late in
Jay E. Skeets
their career, but the peaking at the right time for sure. And the idea to me of like an older team too.
Tas Melas
Absolutely.
Jay E. Skeets
Like that's. And like I know when you compare them to the spurs for sure, like they're, they're immaturity, they're inexperienced, definitely reared its ugly head. But the Knicks, not that. Yeah, of course. So yeah, I think that is a fair comparison.
Tas Melas
That was the first one I think of. I also think Celtics 2024 is kind of a similar championship to the Knicks and that they dominated the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Celtics didn't have Porzingis for that entire championship. They got him back in the finals. They didn't have him in the Eastern Conference at all. They're also a great team that beat a young phenom. It was Luka Doncic on the Mavs back then Wemby on the Spurs. I guess I got a Texas connection as well. And then finally the Cavs in 2016 and that this is such a massive title from a historical importance scenario. Like the Cavs hadn't ever won a championship. Obviously the knicks have been 50 plus years since theirs ending that drought. And you know, like LeBron is the entire tee of the Knicks in this scenario where it's like it matters so much to the legacy of one guy. It matters so much to the legacy. So those are the teams I thought of. Dallas 2011, Celtics 24, and then the Cavs in 2016.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, those are good ones for sure.
Jay E. Skeets
Anything else?
Trey Kirby
Well, I did think that we were going to catch Wemby double digit block game. I mean we're on the street.
Jay E. Skeets
There was a point, it was 16 minutes into the game. Wemby had as many Blocks as the Knicks had field goals made. It was five. Yeah, he had five blocks 16 minutes in and he hadn't played all 16 minutes. Let's make that very clear. He played like whatever it was. Percentage of that, probably a three quarters of that.
Trey Kirby
But that's wild. Block number five was 1034 left in the second quarter. So like 13 and a half minutes.
Jay E. Skeets
Oh, even. Okay.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, yeah. So I thought we were getting. Getting, you know, 10.
Jay E. Skeets
Well, they brought it up on the broadcast. Dwight Howard. Right. With the finals record.
Trey Kirby
Yeah.
Jay E. Skeets
Of nine.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, yeah. And it looks.
Jay E. Skeets
Just kept going at him.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, Going at him. Yeah. And he looked like he could have had a six. He could kind of call the one he hit on OG it was kind of like a. It was like a steel block. He would have shot it, though, but won't be sort of stole it before he got up there. It was cool to see Wemby block OG on another attempt of a quick dunk that he had twice in this series where he was able to go buy Wemby and dunk on him. And then Wemby in this case, jumped right at the right point, which was really late and just able to get it. So that was. That was cool. The other thing Wemby, OG Related, where OG Went by him like he was, like he was Steph Curry doing the. Steph Curry. It looked like the Steph move where he got to the three point line. He kind of looked like he picked it up for a second, you know, Steph. Yeah, it looks like he picks it up, but he doesn't put both hands on it. And then he continues to dribble. Oh, you put both hands on it.
Jay E. Skeets
Oh, yeah, they missed that one.
Trey Kirby
They missed that one by far. And then he dribbled it.
Jay E. Skeets
He was like, what the hell?
Trey Kirby
Yeah, they missed that, dude. They missed some stuff.
Jay E. Skeets
They missed some stuff.
Trey Kirby
No doubt.
Jay E. Skeets
They're not perfect. The extender was trying to extend. But I also saw a stat like the Knicks may have not lost a game when Scott Foster was one of the officials. I think I saw that going around. So I'm sort of crazy if that's true. All right, let's get into some random notes from Game 5 of the NBA Finals.
Trey Kirby
Random? My first round note. Did a Spurs player fart during the national anthem?
Jay E. Skeets
Whoa.
Trey Kirby
Yes. Because you can watch the camera go across all the spurs players. You see Stefan Cassidy's getting into the zone type of thing. And then it's panning. And then he gets to Victor Wembanyama, who's got his eyes closed, he's locked in. And then he opens up. What is that?
Jay E. Skeets
What is. You know, he's.
Tas Melas
Is.
Trey Kirby
Is it something he heard that was odd in the national anthem?
Jay E. Skeets
That's what I thought he was reacting to. I thought you did a great job.
Trey Kirby
Your question to Mickey Guy.
Jay E. Skeets
Well, I thought there was like a weird. I don't know, it was a little. It was a little out of pitch on that part. I thought that's what he was reacting to.
Trey Kirby
Yeah. I thought more so that. Not a fart, but I, I don't know. That's a question for someone to ask. Now, Mickey Guyton also was questioning things. She took out her earpiece. You know when it happens to a singer.
Jay E. Skeets
Really early. Really early.
Trey Kirby
It was super early because. Because things were going poorly. But that was way later.
Jay E. Skeets
But then she, she crushed it.
Trey Kirby
Oh, she did crush it. Yeah. So that's why I think it's more fart than sound, because he, he was puzzled. He was locked in.
Jay E. Skeets
Think of any or a few things more disrespectful during the national anthem than literally dropping.
Trey Kirby
Well, I'm sorry.
Jay E. Skeets
I mean, I'm not the most patriotic guy, but even I have a line that you can cross. And I love to fart, but I wouldn't hold it.
Tas Melas
I mean, that's a Lee Ellis move, man. That guy, he hated the anthem. Hated the anthem. B, loved farts. He would do it.
Trey Kirby
Yeah. So I don't know if it's.
Jay E. Skeets
I thought he was reacting to her,
Trey Kirby
but I don't know if it's Carter Bryant who's standing next to Wemby. Carter Bryant is, is the, the closest potential farter.
Tas Melas
Hold on.
Jay E. Skeets
If it was Carter Bryant, wouldn't you immediately. Eyes open. Yes. But wouldn't you look in his direction?
Trey Kirby
Yeah, you're probably straightforward. You're probably right. But we have had a Spurs fart history. That was a pregame last year with Chris Paul was in on the team. So it must have been last year. That was a pre game scenario. CD Sissoko.
Jay E. Skeets
Oh, yeah.
Trey Kirby
Jeremy Sohan, Victor Wembanyama.
Jay E. Skeets
Yeah.
Trey Kirby
Where they're going through the. The line. I think it was so Hand who was probably the farter.
Jay E. Skeets
Yeah, he was partying last night. I'm sure he's had some crazy farts in the last, I don't know, 12 hours or so.
Trey Kirby
Yeah.
Jay E. Skeets
Holy crap. He was having fun. Every clip I saw. Oh yeah, he was having a blast.
Trey Kirby
Bump Wemby too.
Jay E. Skeets
Yeah.
Trey Kirby
During. During the game. He comes on the floor to bump him. He wasn't even playing well.
Jay E. Skeets
Yeah, he came on right at the end of the game too, as like, like, I guess they. They were thinking, well, he's the speedster out there. At least of all our big guys. Just like, stay attached to him because he got out there.
Trey Kirby
How was the. Where did they party? What did it? I mean.
Jay E. Skeets
Well, I just mean I. I love guys that are like end of the bench guys that when they win a title and they're locker room guys for a reason, generally, like, they're. That's why they're there. Like, obviously they try and contribute when they can, but they're there for good vibes too. And like, so the Clarksons and the huck. Porty's huck party had a big, I don't know, player two in this game too. Yeah. And then Sohan, like all these guys, I don't know, they just like, they're having the most fun. Like, holy crap, this is amazing. All right. Other random notes. Thought of you, Trey Kirby. Early in the game, we had what appeared to be like a great row of cowboy hats. Decent amount of them there. But as you noted, one's like a tricorn hat.
Tas Melas
Yeah. So we got from right to left, black cowboy hat, pink cowboy hat, white cowboy hat, and then tricorn cap.
Jay E. Skeets
Yeah.
Tas Melas
They're like, todd, can you.
Jay E. Skeets
You got a cowboy hat?
Tas Melas
I think I got something closet.
Trey Kirby
I'll wear it.
Jay E. Skeets
Yeah, yeah.
Tas Melas
Showed up in a tricorn cap like he was a pirate ship captain. But yeah, I was noticing this too. I was like, you're seeing them every time. Every time. You're like, okay, baseline, cowboy hat, sideline, cowboy hat. Other baseline, cowboy hat, cowboy hat behind the Knicks bench, cowboy hat in the tunnel. They're everywhere.
Jay E. Skeets
But. But why? It was the weekend Saturday night. Saturday night.
Tas Melas
Maybe like we saw. We talked about the cowboy hats on Friday night. There's maybe even twice as many. I felt like people were going crazy.
Jay E. Skeets
If you are a cowboy out there or you live in Texas, is this true? Do you wear your cowboy hats on the weekends more than you do during the week? I got to know is it feels like it.
Trey Kirby
That makes sense.
Jay E. Skeets
It sort of does.
Trey Kirby
Yeah.
Jay E. Skeets
Yeah, yeah.
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Jay E. Skeets
Hey guys, have you ever found yourself craving a cold snack?
Tas Melas
Yep.
Jay E. Skeets
Do you even know what a cold snack is?
Trey Kirby
I do.
Jay E. Skeets
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Tas Melas
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Jay E. Skeets
They got some cold horses on those cans.
Tas Melas
Cold snacks.
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Jay E. Skeets
we had some spurs fans trying to distract Mitchell Robinson, of all people. You don't need to distract Mitchell Robinson. But they gave it a go. We just have a. We don't have the clip here, but we have a screen grab. I think we have a screen grab. We have black screen here right now.
Trey Kirby
Okay.
Jay E. Skeets
So don't worry. Yeah, there they are.
Trey Kirby
There it is.
Jay E. Skeets
These two are just making me laugh. Like they were making, obviously, the director laugh. Enough in the truck, like, go to the shop behind Mitchell Robinson. Let's see work. Yeah, yeah. And you won't believe it. He missed.
Tas Melas
What did Mitchell Robinson shoot from the free throw line in this series?
Trey Kirby
Oh, good, right? He hit 3.8of9 or something. No, no, that's way too much.
Tas Melas
Mitchell Robinson, I'm talking about.
Trey Kirby
Oh, okay.
Jay E. Skeets
He. I remember hitting him three. I thought he hit.
Trey Kirby
I thought maybe four.
Jay E. Skeets
Yeah, four for 15. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, yeah. He brought his percentage down there in the playoffs.
Trey Kirby
I said eight of nine. Like.
Jay E. Skeets
Yeah. What's.
Trey Kirby
Well, I don't know. That's why it was overwhelmingly good. 415 is not overwhelmingly good.
Tas Melas
Yeah, but he makes it.
Trey Kirby
Those are the ones that have been implanted in my brain.
Jay E. Skeets
I thought he had one game where he went 50%.
Tas Melas
He probably did.
Jay E. Skeets
I think he went 50 sixer. I thought so. And then we were like, wow, good job.
Trey Kirby
So one.
Tas Melas
So he was one for nine.
Trey Kirby
One for nine. The rest of it.
Jay E. Skeets
Yeah.
Tas Melas
Maybe that's what you're thinking. He missed eight of nine outside of that.
Ad Read Male Voice 2
Yeah.
Jay E. Skeets
Yeah, that sounds right.
Trey Kirby
Wow.
Tas Melas
Six, hot night.
Jay E. Skeets
June 13th. That's a big date for OG Anunoby, because that is the day he won two NBA championships, once with the Raptors in 2019. He unfortunately didn't play in the Finals because of surgery, but June 13, yesterday, he wins it with the Knicks. And, man, this guy was happy. It was great to see a smiling OG man, he was cheesing when he was up on stage. Look at this photo of Ernie Johnson looking right at the camera, too.
Tas Melas
But, yeah.
Jay E. Skeets
So I'm just curious, like, you happy for og of course, to get another title as a former Raptor? I was.
Trey Kirby
I was.
Jay E. Skeets
I mean, played, obviously. Incredible Finals MVP running for a while.
Trey Kirby
And he played. He didn't play in 2019. So that's. That's a big difference. You know, the fact that he got to be a monstrous part of it, obviously, the tip was. Was huge, but. Yeah. And I thought post game, everybody rocking it pretty, pretty well. I don't want to give James Dolan credit for anything But a lot of the times when you see an owner grab the mic, it is boring. At least James Dolan said the. The only thing he said was, hey, New York, I'm sorry it took so long. Hopefully this time won't take as long. That's it. Just quick. It's all about New York. Get off the mic. Jalen brings in Rick quick. Good. Solid. The Josh Hart basically saying along with Mikel Bridges saying, you know, f. The. The picks. Who cares about the picks?
Jay E. Skeets
Forget the picks instead of after picks.
Trey Kirby
Ernie killed it. Joe, just one question for everybody in college, Tom's cat. It was all solid. OG I don't even know was that pre interview or post interview where he was smiling because you could hear the Knicks players behind. They're like, smile, smile. They're just telling him to smile. And he got one. Yeah, this is. This was all about him.
Jay E. Skeets
The Jalen Brunson interview with Lisa Salters right after the game.
Trey Kirby
That was nice.
Jay E. Skeets
Pretty cool. That was like extremely authentic. I mean, he was obviously tearing up. He was lost for words. He was like trying to compose himself. I thought that was a cool moment.
Tas Melas
Yeah.
Jay E. Skeets
Nothing rehearsed about it, of course, or canned lines or nothing. Like, he's like, just like, holy crap. It's weird. And it's not weird, but like, Jalen Brunson is a. He's a rock. He does not show his emotions all that much, whether riding high or low with throw out a game or a playoff series or whatever. So for him to finally let that out and that. That cool moment where he's hugging Rick Brunson on the sideline, too. And Breen nailed it on the call. He said, life is not perfect, but there are perfect moments. And there's one right there now. What a line from Breen. I don't know if that's canned or not, but holy hell, legendary call for that moment.
Tas Melas
I thought, yeah, I mean, who knows? Who knows? Mike Brown has had, or Mike Breen has had 50 years to come up with ideas for what he would ever say if the Knicks won a championship. So he probably was just running through a million things. Like, I actually get to do this. That must have felt so cool for him. Like, I'm a Knicks hater and even I can't hate this championship team. These are awesome dudes. Like, everybody is cool. I do love the way that Brunson reacted immediately. He was like, towel over his head. Let me get my cries in here. He gave the emotional interview to Lisa Salters and then he still got to talk trash about his dad always on the stadium or on the podium. I thought that was so funny. She asked him, who. How many knicks have scored 40 in a finals game? She's like, one. He's like, oh, I was going to guess Rick Bros. That was pretty funny. And then, like, we got a full minute of Mike Brown and the rest of the team singing who Let the Dogs.
Trey Kirby
Oh, God, yeah.
Tas Melas
He took the mic. Ernie was doing Baja Men. Who Let the Dogs Out? And everybody was going nuts.
Tab Ramos
Yeah.
Trey Kirby
Except for Ernie Johnson, who said afterwards, that was the most awkward moment I've had or something.
Jay E. Skeets
So good. So good. We saw some of the merch there when we showed you the OG photo. But, you know, here's the. The email that the NBA sends out. You can go buy the Knicks championship shirts. Trey Kirby, your thoughts on their championship merch that they were rocking last night?
Tas Melas
Half hats. Okay. I thought the hats were just fine. Like, nothing special about them. But I do like the shirts.
Jay E. Skeets
Very different. Bedazzling.
Trey Kirby
Yeah.
Ad Read Male Voice 2
Very cool.
Jay E. Skeets
No doubt. Yeah. The champions part, right. I think has had all the little stones.
Trey Kirby
Yes.
Tas Melas
It was surprising.
Jay E. Skeets
Very.
Trey Kirby
I thought, too, with a different font.
Jay E. Skeets
Yeah. Just the pure black, too. I mean, it almost looks like maybe they thought the spurs were going to win with the rhinestone Cowboys and the black and sort of white, I guess, gray. But. But what do you think? T. You like a fan of these?
Trey Kirby
Yeah.
Jay E. Skeets
If you're a Knicks fan, you'd be buying that.
Trey Kirby
I mean, I do. Like, like you said, they're. They're black and simple. Everything beyond the Larry o' Brien trophy. So that stands out because of everything else. So I like that part.
Tas Melas
Yeah.
Trey Kirby
The font. I don't know if I can ever go that way. I don't love that font.
Tas Melas
It's surprising that that's, like, the official shirt.
Jay E. Skeets
I agree.
Tas Melas
That looks like a. A secondary shirt.
Jay E. Skeets
You're. Absolutely.
Tas Melas
I'm buying the locker room one, and I'm gonna get a crazy one. I'm gonna get the one with the rhinestones on it.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, it's got a little Ed Hardy. Whatever.
Jay E. Skeets
Yeah. Josh Hardy. And then this was obviously a graphic they showed on the broadcast, and you alluded to it pretty early here on the. On the podcast. Eight different champions over the last eight different seasons. And it. You know, it looks pretty crazy when you see the graphic like this with the Raps and Lakers, Bucks, Warriors, Nuggets, Celtics, Thunder, and now Knicks. You know, like, I think. I think hardcore basketball fans probably enjoy this and like this. I don't want to answer for Everybody where maybe, I don't know, do casuals prefer the dynasties of it all? And then we can root or hate for dynasties maybe. But unbelievable parody here. Silver loves this TK at the very least.
Tas Melas
Oh yeah. And I mean, I'm like trying to think of teams that even made repeat trips. I guess the warriors would have been there twice during that span because there were 19 and 22. The Celtics made it twice. They lost to the warriors and then won it. And the Heat went twice and didn't win either time.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, good point.
Tas Melas
But I mean, this specific finals has to be the perfect finals for Silver, right? In it being the Knicks and Wemby. Like there's. When you're looking at all those ones, I guess the other one would probably be Celtics versus Warriors for like a perfect ideal finals that you would want with. With Curry being the draw and the Celtics being the historic team as well. But yeah, it's been a crazy run.
Trey Kirby
And just in terms of the actual lineup, the New York Knicks ran out there. Elias said that the Knicks and Raptors are also the league's only two teams to open a finals clinching game with five players that didn't draft.
Jay E. Skeets
The.
Trey Kirby
Right about the Knicks. The Raptors started Siakam when they won the championship. So that's weird that they mentioned that. But the Knicks, just to correct Elias, the only team now to open a finals clinching game with five players it didn't draft. I thought that's just kind of interesting, you know, Heart.
Jay E. Skeets
Absolutely.
Trey Kirby
An Obi Towns, Mikhail Bridges and Jalen Brunson, they didn't draft. I don't know why they included the Raptors who ran out. Kyle Lowry didn't draft. Kohi Leonard didn't draft. Marcus Soul, Danny Green didn't draft. But Pascal Siakam also out there dropping 26 in the clinching game.
Jay E. Skeets
Come on, Elias.
Trey Kirby
What up, Elias? That was his. That was their draft pick and it wasn't a. Oh, another team drafted that guy and traded him immediately to the Rappers. I wasn't one of those either.
Jay E. Skeets
The Knicks first team to win both the NBA cup and NBA Championship either in the same season or overall. Now, we haven't had it long, but they are the first and my favorite part of them getting the double or whatever we're calling this. We came up with those. Some of those silly names. I can't even remember them but. But New York trailed the spurs by double digits in the NBA cup and came back to it.
Tas Melas
What a surprise.
Jay E. Skeets
Jesus, man. They were telling us, you remember this. We remember this. Here in Vegas because we're going to do this when we play in the Finals. And they did it. Well, four out of five times. They did it every time, but four out of five times.
Tas Melas
Yeah. They could have maybe won game three as well if there was another minute tacked on there. But I guess. I guess Jimmy was cooking. He said, we're going to make it to the Finals and we should win. He said, I'm not hanging up the NBA cup banner because it's not the banner that we want.
Trey Kirby
Yeah. And he was asked about that by Ernie Johnson post game. And he didn't refer to that answer like that. That was good.
Jay E. Skeets
Yeah, you're right.
Trey Kirby
He didn't start saying, oh, yeah, this is who we were the last 10 years, and blah, blah. Yeah, he just gave it to New York and got the heck off.
Jay E. Skeets
That's true.
Tas Melas
Yeah.
Trey Kirby
Started yelling and that was good.
Jay E. Skeets
Any other notes?
Tas Melas
Sydney Sweeney is a Knicks fan now, apparently. Can't believe her dad Sean would allow that and showed up. If we're being honest, if you look at Sean Sweeney, he could be Sydney Sweeney's dad.
Trey Kirby
Yeah,
Tas Melas
I'd love to see her try a chipmunk face like he has done. And then I saw Tim Chalamet was celebrating in the locker room with the Knicks and he was getting champagne in his eyes and he said, usually I have a stunt double do this for me.
Jay E. Skeets
He's like, I'm not an athlete.
Tas Melas
I'm not an athlete. I don't have an athlete's eye.
Jay E. Skeets
Well, did you see what Ben Stiller was walking around with? He. I guess he must have asked. Yeah. For Mike Brown's whiteboard. Can I have that? He was just walking around with the whiteboard the entire time. But pretty funny to see. Like, at least I don't know if. I don't know if Charlemagne did. I assume so, but I saw Ben Stiller. You know how they always do, like the room where like, come on in, take photos with the Larry o'. Brien. They get everybody in there, all the players, all the family members and all that. But I saw Ben Stiller taking a photo, holding it. There's got to be one with Spike, I'm sure.
Trey Kirby
Yeah.
Jay E. Skeets
And Chalaway and all these die hard Knicks fans, John Turturro and all that. So, yeah.
Tas Melas
Yeah, I saw a photo of Turturro and Spike Lee and Giancarlo Esposito all together doing a Do the Right Thing reunion. Like, that was cool. That was just cool to see everybody celebrating.
Jay E. Skeets
I do love it. It just Turns like these multimillionaire. These celebrities like, like they're just. They are kids. They just turn right back into kids. Like, you know, this is. If this is a team you actually cheered for your entire life, which is true for these guys. Maybe not Sweeney as much. I don't know. But, you know, just living in dying. It's amazing. It's amazing. It's very, very cool.
Trey Kirby
I don't know if Charlamagne liked the who let the dogs out? Because he was there and he was kind of like, what is up? Like, usually he is a kid, he's like, oh, that's funny.
Jay E. Skeets
This is funny.
Trey Kirby
That one. He was like, okay, man. That felt like. I'm reading it. I'm reading into it.
Jay E. Skeets
We did get a good. Another Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike.
Trey Kirby
When he was the Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike Mike's picking it up too. Is like super loud.
Jay E. Skeets
It was very loud.
Trey Kirby
This is a really random. But Sean Sweeney along with all the other spurs coaches, they all wear the Jordan ones Spurs colors. They. They come in as a team. Every single one of the coaches wears them. Will he change his shoes when he goes to become the Magic's head coach and does he install the same plan for his coaches? We're all wearing the same shoes. Really curious.
Jay E. Skeets
Yeah.
Tas Melas
We'll have to wait and see.
Jay E. Skeets
And I think we can wait to talk about the Spurs. Like, where do they go from here? What do they need to like, I don't know. Obviously start Harper. Yeah, but what does that mean for Fox and all? Like, we can just. We'll save all that for this coming week. We got shows to do and the basketball is done.
Tas Melas
Yes, it's true. Unfortunately. Zero games left.
Jay E. Skeets
That part. That part is sad. I don't like that part.
Tab Ramos
Part.
Jay E. Skeets
But man, these games were awesome.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Adam.
Tas Melas
That's big.
Jay E. Skeets
That was awesome.
Trey Kirby
Adam is sad about that. That we don't have a game on Friday night. Was it Friday night?
Jay E. Skeets
Tuesday and Friday. Yeah.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, that. Which would lead right into the draft on Tuesday. That would be ideal for the NBA front office. But yeah, we'll make it happen here on no Dunks with some shows.
Tas Melas
We're talking about Giannis a lot this coming.
Jay E. Skeets
Oh, boy.
Tas Melas
A whole lot.
Trey Kirby
Draft stuff.
Jay E. Skeets
Stuff.
Trey Kirby
Yeah. And a stuff. No doubt that three team deal potentially.
Jay E. Skeets
Save it. Save it.
Ad Read Female Voice
Yeah.
Jay E. Skeets
Any other random notes? We'll take a break. We do have. Whoa, boy. Oh, okay. If you've got a random note, share it after the break.
Trey Kirby
I'm good.
Jay E. Skeets
The biggest stage in world soccer Is here. World Cup's underway, baby. And every goal changes everything because Fanduel is giving you a reason to root for every single one. And we've had some beauties already. That USA midfielder Gio Reyna. The Travella.
Tas Melas
That was a beautiful.
Jay E. Skeets
Oh, that was a nice goal. Spectacular goal to cap off the dominant American win. That's the outside of the boot type of shot. Those always look badass.
Tas Melas
That was nice.
Jay E. Skeets
That was nice. The Canadian goal was pretty fantastic too. I keep thinking the guy's name's Kyle Lowry. It sounds. It sounds like Kyle. I forget his name.
Trey Kirby
The only thing thing I think of is like his nickname. It's Brampton. Oh yeah, yeah, he's from Brampton. Brampton.
Jay E. Skeets
He's a big boy. That guy's huge for a soccer player. Anyway, that was an awesome goal too. Anyway, every goal pays at Fanduel. You can bet on a match and get bonus points for every goal scored in said match. That's right. More goals means more bonus bets. And all you have to do is turn on your token. Just turn on your token. Everybody visit fantool.com to get started now. Let there be goals on fanduel. And there were a lot of goals there for your American squad there on Friday night.
Tas Melas
They look good.
Jay E. Skeets
Probably they're saying like the best they've ever looked in the world.
Tas Melas
Yeah, Flo was dominating and I guess Pulisic. I feel like they pronounce it differently every time they say his name. He had an awesome first half as well. He got kicked in the leg. I said get out of here. Can't get kicked in the leg. During the world cup.
Jay E. Skeets
Of the night, our final woah Boy of the season. And sponsored by Savannah. Savannah wants to send a happy birthday message to her boyfriend Matt for his birthday on July 1st.
Trey Kirby
Okay.
Jay E. Skeets
She said we don't have many games left. We gotta get it in now. That's smart right there. That's good planning. So happy birthday to Matt, July 1st. It's a great, great day to have a birthday. It's my wife's birthday, Nora. And it's Canada's birthday. It's also Matt's. So thank you, Savannah, for sponsoring the final woahboy of the season. And it goes to Jalen Brunson, who scored a game high of 45 points, shot 14 of 27 from the field, 47 from deep, 13 of 15 from the free throw line, three boards, three assists, two steals in 41 minutes. Jalen Brunson is him. He is a goddamn dog. Everybody's better than Jalen Brunson. Until it's time to be better than Jalen Brunson. What a game and what a finals. What did he average in the finals? Like 33 or something?
Tas Melas
He definitely finished over.
Jay E. Skeets
He got, you know, he got basically better every game. Yes. In the finals. Like, I know he took a ton of shots in game one. And yeah, there was maybe a quiet, quiet game in there, but he got better and better. Even Game 4 was the best of the bunch until Game 5.
Tas Melas
33, 4 and 4, basically. That's not too bad. But you got, you got to be Brunson early on a series because he gets better.
Jay E. Skeets
He figures it out. Yeah, absolutely. All right, well, that's it. Little Sunday podcast here for everybody. Really appreciate you joining us. Hit the like button. Subscribe. We're back here at least for most of the week. Send in your questions if you've got questions. No dunks Inc. That's Inc. Gmail.com. get your cues in. I'm sure we'll hit the beach at some point as we, we do have Giannis rumors we've got a draft look ahead. We'll do maybe a Spurs deep dive. A lot of things. I'm sure we'll get there.
Tas Melas
Slot season opens tomorrow.
Jay E. Skeets
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Imagine, imagine Sean's last night dropped the Honest trade right after the Knicks on a championship.
Trey Kirby
That would be crazy.
Tas Melas
Crazy.
Jay E. Skeets
People would be upset. That'd be my favorite part.
Tas Melas
Adam Silver would send him to jail.
Jay E. Skeets
You directly.
Tas Melas
Sorry.
Jay E. Skeets
So, yeah, we'll be back here Tomorrow morning at 10am Eastern, back to normal time. So, yeah, join us then. And make sure you subscribe to no Dunks on YouTube or Apple or Spotify, wherever you download, watch or listen to the show. Best way to stay up to date with us.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, I was gonna say I didn't want to cut you off because as you're saying, the Shams should have dropped the Yanis tray. We'll be dropping a video with every wedgie from this past season. It's already ready to go. We could have dropped it as soon as Brunson got the MVP trophy, but we waited, man.
Jay E. Skeets
Yeah.
Trey Kirby
So, yeah, share that with your friends.
Jay E. Skeets
A record breaking wedgie season at that. 74 in the end. Got the one in the finals. Our only wedgie of the postseason, but 73 in the regular season. Pretty incredible. So we got that dropping soon, eh? Yeah, whenever we want.
Trey Kirby
Okay, whenever.
Jay E. Skeets
Well, make sure you subscribe on YouTube. Okay. Until tomorrow. Clover Bros. You heard it here first. Have a great time. Turn up. Love you guys, awesome.
Trey Kirby
Thanks for joining us. And remember the guy who scored that great goal for Canada? He goes by. It's Kyle Larin, right? Am I pronouncing that right? Kyle C Y L E. Kyle.
Jay E. Skeets
I guess. I know.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, yeah, it sounds L A R I N. But I call him the Brampton Bagsman. That's a good nickname.
Tas Melas
A bagsman of a different variety.
Trey Kirby
Yeah. So many bag men out there. Kyle Aaron being that one from Brampton.
Jay E. Skeets
Yeah. Get ready. This is about to turn into a World cup podcast for the next week here. Oh yeah, I've been watching a whole lot.
Tas Melas
I was flipping to World cup games at commercials.
Jay E. Skeets
Half time I was checking out the Haiti Scotland score.
Tas Melas
Haiti versus Scotland. I gotta see this one.
Jay E. Skeets
I'm committed, man. Scotland has taken over Boston. All the Scotland Scotland fans. It's hilarious.
Tas Melas
No redheads, huh?
Jay E. Skeets
No.
Tas Melas
I'm surprised by that.
Jay E. Skeets
Weird. Weird. See, this is the type of stuff you're gonna get here for the next week or so.
Trey Kirby
Carolina Vegas tonight, game six.
Jay E. Skeets
Oh, the. The hockey. Sweet. You think it's over?
Trey Kirby
I don't know.
Jay E. Skeets
I think so.
Tas Melas
I think Vegas at home.
Jay E. Skeets
I think so. I think the Canes are winning it. So we can hear task talk about Tom Dundon non stop here for the next little bit. Biggest Tom Dundon fan on the planet.
Trey Kirby
Nah, just. You gotta feel it out. Carolina's turned it around. Or is it Rod Brendemore? Is it all about Rod Brendamore?
Jay E. Skeets
You know, I told you before, my mom was a secretary at a high school where Rod Brindamore went. Oh yeah, he was in Stratford for a little bit.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, I believe it. When he played a little Ontario hockey league.
Jay E. Skeets
Yeah, I think he went to Northwestern for I don't know, maybe a year or something. My mom wasn't secretary. Cool story.
Tas Melas
Let's see a yearbook. I want to see what he does.
Trey Kirby
Yeah, I want to see yearbook too. Was his nose that big in high school or is it all the broken noses that he's had?
Jay E. Skeets
Probably. I probably got bigger. He probably had a mullet though. I bet when he was in high school in Southern Ontario, the 80s or whatever it was. Yeah, probably. All right, brace the day, people. Embrace the weekend. We'll see you tomorrow.
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Popped caramel do sound different.
Trey Kirby
Oh no.
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Trey Kirby
What do you mean? People hate the sound of chewing.
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Maybe they won't like the crunch.
Trey Kirby
Maybe we're saved.
Jay E. Skeets
Wait a minute. Yellow.
Tas Melas
Have you been eating them this whole time?
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Trey Kirby
So tasty. Hands off us MM's popped caramel.
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It's more fun together.
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This landmark episode celebrates the New York Knicks’ first NBA championship in over half a century, breaking down a dramatic Finals Game 5 win over the San Antonio Spurs. The hosts dive deep into Jalen Brunson’s historic performance, discuss the series’ major turning points, reflect on the Knicks’ improbable postseason run, analyze key moments and decisions, and wrap up the 2025-26 NBA season with both insight and their signature banter.
The Knicks Are NBA Champions (First time since 1973):
The show focuses heavily on the Knicks' remarkable playoff journey, culminating in a gritty, defense-first 94-90 victory in San Antonio. Jalen Brunson’s legendary 45-point Finals MVP performance is the centerpiece, with the panel examining how the Knicks rose from decades of irrelevance to the NBA mountaintop.
| Time | Segment/Topic | |--------------|------------------------------------------------------------------| | 01:56-03:39 | Episode/Finals intro, context, Brunson’s Game 5 performance | | 03:39-06:55 | Key Brunson moments, legacy debate, OG tip-in, series context | | 08:15-10:28 | Knicks history, emotional resonance, player rankings | | 11:06-12:00 | Villanova/family/friends factor, team chemistry | | 12:00-14:54 | Knicks' defense, ‘team of destiny’ narrative | | 14:54-17:40 | Inexperience for Spurs, Wemby’s learning curve | | 17:50-19:37 | Spurs’ rotations, Cornett, impacts of minute allocation | | 21:30-22:03 | Knicks’ bench struggles, Brunson’s solo heroics | | 25:01-26:29 | Spurs rotation/bench woes, Robinson’s key rebounds | | 28:02-32:33 | Officiating, flagrant fouls, Wemby & league decisions | | 33:03-34:09 | Flagrant fouls, and-1s, officiating oddities | | 35:31-36:44 | Finals run comparisons (2011 Mavs, 2016 Cavs, 2024 Celtics) | | 38:54-41:30 | Random: Spurs fart, national anthem, locker room fun | | 42:13-43:25 | Cowboy hats in arena culture | | 46:23-47:43 | Spurs fans distracting free throw shooters | | 49:46-51:48 | Postgame emotions, celebration moments, merch | | 52:44-54:09 | NBA parody, 8 champs in 8 years | | 55:09-56:12 | Knicks’ NBA Cup + NBA Championship double | | 56:12-57:37 | Celebrity Knicks fans, celebration vignettes | | 62:26-62:45 | Jalen Brunson’s Finals statline, “woahboy” segment wrap |
This podcast captures the enormous weight and celebration around the Knicks’ long-awaited title, highlighting Jalen Brunson’s emergence as a New York legend, the team’s chemistry, and championship resilience. The hosts blend insightful analysis with humor, from breaking down the decider’s X’s and O’s to riffing on arena culture, officiating, and emotional fan reactions. Knicks fans and basketball lovers alike will appreciate this rich, engaging Finals wrap-up.
For more basketball analysis and offbeat banter, subscribe to No Dunks on your favorite platform!