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- [00:00]
Intuit QuickBooks
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- [00:42]
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- [01:12]
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- [01:46]
Tas Melas
I painted myself gold for the interview because I am the gold standard. Welcome to no Dou Dunks here on the Athletic Podcast Network. It's Monday, June 23rd. We just had an incredible seven game series. Can't wait to get into it. I'm Tas Melas. With me, it's the man in the middle, Trey Kirby.
- [02:11]
Intuit QuickBooks
Hey, hey, yo.
- [02:13]
Tas Melas
And the man making the magic happen, as always, it's jd. Hello. What's up, jd? No Skeets today. He received some unfortunate, tragic news yesterday that his father passed away. So send your love to Skeets. We are also sending our love. Obviously, we will see him very, very soon. Love you, man.
- [02:34]
Trey Kirby
Yeah.
- [02:35]
Tas Melas
Moving on to something far, far, far less important. The Thunder fans may have their own championship shirts, but we Got our own that nobody else has. You know, the back to the pawn shop. No coins for you. Saying that Nora Skeets wife came up with. Well, it's on a shirt. Yeah, I know. What a sick. It's on sale for now, but for only 48 hours after the championship. Go to no dunks.com and it's in that and one type of flavor.
- [03:06]
Trey Kirby
Yep. Plain face guy. You know, of course, everybody remembers that Brad Miller has a tattoo of the and one faceless basketball player on his arm. So, yeah, you got today, you got tomorrow to hit up no dunks.com and pick up what I guess we'll call the Nora Trash Talk T shirt. I don't know what the name is officially on breaking T, but this would be amazing to have and this would also be amazing to be flipping through racks at a thrift store and come across this thinking it's a real and one shirt.
- [03:33]
Tas Melas
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [03:34]
Trey Kirby
You're like, back to the pawn shop. No coins for you. What could that possibly mean? But if you've seen the show, you know what it means. And if you've seen some of the pregame intros, I guess you know what it means. So people were asking in the stream team, are we doing a Thunder inspired championship shirt? This is it. No points for you.
- [03:53]
Tas Melas
But you. You made it seem like you know what it means. I' I don't. No, no.
- [03:57]
Trey Kirby
Definitely not. Definitely not. Didn't Skeet say something like in. It must have been the game six intro. They just. It just looked like there was coins floating down.
- [04:08]
Tas Melas
It did kind of.
- [04:10]
Trey Kirby
I don't know how the pawn shop necessarily factors it.
- [04:12]
Tas Melas
Yeah, kind of had a streamer look anyways. Also, if you didn't hear our show for it, we did one yesterday on Kevin Durant being Delta, the Houston Rockets. It was an incredible, incredible text that I got. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Kevin Durant got dealt. Now, I was out in the rural areas here of Georgia enjoying some waterfalls. So you guys did it. Breaking down. Kevin Durant being dealt to the Rockets. So go check that out. I'm sure we will talk about it on tomorrow's show as well, because it's Gavin Durant. But onto the series. Let's get to the Thunder taking care of business in seven games. Trey, I don't know where you want to start with game seven and if you want to go to the injury or not, if you don't want to talk about Tyrese, because I see some media services putting that up as their first headline. Well, you know, the Thunder did Win a championship. They did.
- [05:07]
Trey Kirby
Yeah.
- [05:08]
Tas Melas
But I don't know where you want to start.
- [05:09]
Trey Kirby
Look, the Halliburton injury is huge. Obviously we're going to talk a lot about it, but this was still a memorable game seven. Unfortunately, one of the first memories you'll have is Tyrese Halliburton going down in the first quarter. But let's talk about the whole game because I was really impressed with Indiana's resolve after Halliburton went down. They ended up outscoring the Thunder for the rest of the first half after Halliburton went down with an injury about halfway through the first quarter. But the championship to me for the Thunder was really one. In that third quarter, OKC outscored Indiana 34 to 20. And there was a key minute in the game. Tie game with about 8 minutes and 15 seconds left when Shea Gilgis Alexander hits his first three pointer on the other end. Indiana turns it over. A steal by J Dub, then off a Jill Just Alexander pass. Chat Holmgren hits a three pointer. Another steal by the Thunder, this one by Lou Dort. J Dub now is the guy hitting the three off an SGA assist. Nine points off three three pointers in a minute it was a tied game. And then suddenly it was a nine point game. And the Thunder fans were going insane though. They were going insane the entire night. You know, they are the one of those teams, fan bases who won't sit until they score in the first quarter. This game. They just stood up the whole game. I thought that was awesome. But that little run there by the Thunder was really a microcosm of the quarter. OKC shot 50% into third. They hit five threes. They forced seven turnovers off Indiana. Meanwhile, OKC didn't turn the ball over in the third quarter. That was a massive run. But still the Pacers never quit. They got it back down to four. Unfortunately, Indiana then hit a six minute scoring drought. It was like TJ McConnell was the only guy who could score in the third quarter and then nobody could score at the end of the third quarter, into the fourth for the Pacers. So OKC extends their lead. Benedict Matheran just decides I'm driving to the basket every single time. Scored 16 points in the fourth quarter. Maybe some tense moments for OKC. I think the Pacers got it down to 10, but they played enough defense, got enough scoring down the stretch to win their first title. Definitely going to be a memorable game seven. Obviously the Halliburton injury factors into this massively. A big time. What game in NBA history But the Thunder saw their opportunity in the third quarter and they seized it. And now they're the champions.
- [07:19]
Tas Melas
Yes, that third quarter, obviously super, super key. You could tell in the first half that this was the first Game 7 of an NBA Finals for OKC. They didn't look extremely comfortable. We weren't getting a great Jalen Williams game to start this game. We weren't getting a good Chet Holm game. Obviously Shea missed a ton of shots when we look go back and look at it. But they stayed with it. As you said, so did the Pacers. And you've got a 68 win team versus a 50 win team to get seven games that basically went to the fourth quarter here in game number seven. I think we all got to be happy as basketball fans. It was super duper fun. And the way the Thunder came out in that third quarter, listen, they were down one because the Pacers responded so well to Tyrese going down. And I thought OKC again not scoring well. They missed their first three shots on their first three possessions, but they grabbed three offensive rebounds to start that thing. They were going after it. And you got a home run layup. You got a dort bomb at the end of a shot clock again, even after an offensive rebound didn't go super well. And you got the Caruso layup to start it with three straight buckets to start that thing. And then that Jalen Williams steel that they all. We all went back on after he did the Euro step and his foot kind of touched the ground as he let it go a little bit. My good. That is so hard to tell whether or not you should have been called for a travel. That, that was tough. I've watched it 10 times. I, I still don't know. And I don't think the referee can make that call.
- [08:48]
Trey Kirby
The bang bang calls like that, that doesn't ever get brought up as a bang bang call. Like the foot touching versus the release. I think it happened to Caruso as well earlier in the series on a out of bounds save. Right. Like his foot barely touched, but it was. Yeah, okay.
- [09:00]
Tas Melas
Yeah, yeah. McConnell did one of the McConnell saves and everybody's like, well, McConnell made a save but then he.
- [09:06]
Trey Kirby
His foot touched. Yeah, I thought so how can you watch the hand and the foot at the same time? Yeah, Unless you can get one eyed. I don't think that's possible though. But yeah, it was, I mean it was technically a travel on Jalen Williams, but it goes down in the box score as an incredible finish.
- [09:17]
Tas Melas
Yeah, I'm fine with doing that and then as you said, those three shots, I mean, they didn't shoot well in the first half. They shot 4 of 18 from three. But then in that third quarter, Shea hit his first three, then there was a steal, then Chet hit his first three that hadn't been shooting well. Then Jalen hit his first three. So you had three guys hit their first threes to go up nine as you said there. And they shot four of eight from three to start. They hit five threes in that third quarter. They started four of eight in that quarter after going four of 18. So they responded extremely well. But as you said, just delicious to have the Pacers. This freaking Pacers team does not stop fighting. Obviously. We just mentioned that guy T.J. mcConnell for something he did earlier in the series. The McConnell third quarter came back again.
- [10:01]
Trey Kirby
Yeah.
- [10:02]
Tas Melas
Classic. Classic McConnell. What a series.
- [10:04]
Trey Kirby
It was good and it was bad. You know, he scored 12 points, went 6 of 7 from the field. He was taking it to Case and Wallace once again. They basically let TJ play one on one when they're. The Thunder were like they were staying back on everybody else, seeing if he could do it. But also he had three of seven turnovers in that quarter for the Pacers. So it was like he's scoring but he's also given it back on the other end. Like I think he hit his shots really early and then it was kind of becoming a turnover festival. Both of those two of his turnovers were during that nine point run for the Thunder. And that's when you were really feeling the absence of Halliburton. I thought in the quarter was right. Once the bleeding started, they were never able to stop the bleeding. Like he does such a good job of controlling pace, getting the Pacers organized. Look, the dude is an awesome point guard. He sets everybody up and gets them into the right positions. So that was a big time absence I thought in the third quarter. And you know, McConnell did what he could. Nem hard did what he could. But they were missing an all NBA guy out there, basically.
- [11:04]
Tas Melas
Yeah. And I want to add at that point, I know it's easy to go back and scrutinize, but Siakam sat for a long stretch in that third quarter.
- [11:12]
Trey Kirby
Yes, he did.
- [11:13]
Tas Melas
And that's. I'm kind of curious if that was a regret at some point because Halliburton is out and siakam played under 40 minutes this game in the final game of the series season, obviously. So from 7:13 to 1:56 of that third quarter, he sat nearly five and a half minutes. Now the TJ McConnell was picking it up for them offensively, but that's a five and a half minute stretch where they lost by six minutes. And it wasn't foul trouble. The guy didn't have his first foul until midway through the fourth. So I just, I know this team is all about the depth and that's why they're so damn good. But at the same time, why isn't your guy that you're going to rely on playing a little bit more, you know, more at least I.
- [11:56]
Trey Kirby
Okay, so they subbed out Siakam after the Thunder hit their three state threes, I guess, you know, something like five minutes into the third quarter. So I thought he could have extended there whatever. He didn't. Surely Rick Carlisle's trying to save him for the fourth quarter. But then Indiana cuts the lead to four with three minutes left. So Siakam's on the bench for a couple of minutes at that point. Good time for him to come back in. Cause you're getting the quarter break right there. You know, they're extended. This is the finals. We got a lot of advertisements. He can rest a little bit.
- [12:21]
Tas Melas
Yeah.
- [12:21]
Trey Kirby
Instead Ben Shepard checks in. So that was a four point game. I feel like Siakob could have had a big time impact. He finally does come back in like a minute and a half later and suddenly the lead is 11 points for OKC and TJ McConnell is the only guy who can do anything. It would have been nice to have Siakam out there, draw some fouls, throw some shots up at the rim. Maybe he actually gets loose in transition. Though there wasn't much fast breaking in the second half for the Pacers. That's another loss of Halliburton factor, I think their inability to get out and run. Then they just hit that massive cold snap. A lot of that Siakam was on the court.
- [12:54]
Tas Melas
Yes, he was.
- [12:55]
Trey Kirby
So I'm with you. I thought, I thought Siakam honestly probably should have gone the full 24 in the second half of this game. Even if he only gets three minutes of rest, that's fine. But I would like to see him over 40 minutes for sure. Especially after Halbert went down in the first quarter.
- [13:10]
Tas Melas
Yeah, he is a guy that is super, super duper athletic. The guy can keep running. So yeah, you kind of think just put him out there. But at the same time, like you said, the Thunder went on their run with him out there as well. So maybe we're just, maybe I'm just over scrutinizing. But the 24 minutes. Just play it once. I mean, he is so durable. It was a fun third quarter to see T. McConnell hit four straight buckets.
- [13:34]
Trey Kirby
Crazy.
- [13:34]
Tas Melas
And Richard Jefferson on the broadcast made a good note. Or maybe it was Breen who said, dagnot, as soon as he saw TJ McConnell hit a bucket, he said, oh man, we need Caruso out there. So he called Caruso to the score table. But because there was no play stop, McConnell scored again and scored again and scored again with Caruso just watching. So that was super duper fun and that's why this series was. Was so good, so emotional. Obviously they lose Halberton and TJ McConnell goes in there to cry. Was crying in, in the hallway there and I don't know who he was with. If it was mom who had to tell the cameras, get out of here. Get out. It was just so emotional.
- [14:12]
Trey Kirby
TJ McConnell has nice parents, it seems.
- [14:14]
Tas Melas
It does.
- [14:15]
Trey Kirby
Got good parents.
- [14:15]
Tas Melas
It does. Although the broadcaster did. Did note at some point, like earlier in this series that, you know, he got into it with his dad a little bit.
- [14:22]
Trey Kirby
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
- [14:23]
Tas Melas
Which is happens.
- [14:24]
Trey Kirby
He's like, I just had a great game. You're gonna bring up my two missed free throws? Dare you? Let's talk about Halliburton though. An all time what if game. Nine points in seven minutes. Three for four from the three point line, looking aggressive, like he missed one three pointer. He got the ball back on an offensive rebound and drained the next three pointer. Did you think the Pacers were going to pull it off when Halliburton came out like that in the first quarter looking to score, shooting the ball?
- [14:47]
Tas Melas
Well, I didn't. Well, I didn't.
- [14:50]
Trey Kirby
It was only seven minutes.
- [14:52]
Tas Melas
It was only seven minutes in and he was doing the. The proper thing of letting everybody touch it. And it just happened to get to him. Right. It wasn't like he was coming up and letting her rip and saying, game seven, this is my time. It was in the Pacers offense, so I thought he was doing it well. It was incredible to see him splash three threes when he hasn't been shooting all that well. So that was the unfortunate part, that we didn't get to see the full Halliburton experience, that's for sure.
- [15:16]
Trey Kirby
Yeah, but I felt, I just felt like him playing that way. Him giving the outside shooting and the thunder. We're not shooting the ball well the first half. It's like the way Siakam was playing in the first half to 10 points, two rebounds and assist a block. I Felt like he was everywhere. For the Pacers in the first half, it seemed like Halliburton had it going. It seemed like Nemhard was going to be able to play well off him bringing the ball up. I think he scored the very first basket of the game. Had a couple of nice looks.
- [15:41]
Tas Melas
So you were thinking it. You were thinking it?
- [15:43]
Trey Kirby
Well, I mean, I think that we were.
- [15:45]
Tas Melas
Yeah.
- [15:45]
Trey Kirby
I think if Halliburton plays, we're probably putting this series into the S tier. Who knows if that means the Pacers are able to pull it out. But obviously they were shorthanded in the second half. So it just goes down as a big time. What if. And you got to feel bad for the Pacers to have such an awesome 2025 being so good since January 1st, all these comebacks, all these game winners during the playoffs, like, that's an unforgettable run by the Pacers to finish second in the NBA.
- [16:10]
Tas Melas
Yes. And to see how Halliburton was torn up on that floor when it sure seems like the equipment manager asked him. Not the equipment manager, the trainer asked him, did you feel it pop? Because you can see him say, I did, I did, I did, I did. And just go to smacking the floor over and over and over again. And you can see it sort of ripple through that white sleeve. That's so hard. Yeah, I. I think we got to get rid of the white leg sleeves. Just get rid of them. Because quite often you can see the ripple happening through the actual sleeve. Like, we've seen it with Durant. We've seen it now with Halberton. We saw it a little bit with Damen Lillard earlier this year. We didn't see it with Tatum, but we just got to get rid of those things. And it obviously it didn't help that, that he only played 23 minutes in Game 6. We all wondered, maybe that'll help. Didn't help, obviously, for him to go down like that. Whenever you see an Achilles torn that way, the guy just kind of lets go of the ball. You know that they're super injured. They don't really do anything with the ball. They don't hold it. They just know in their head it's done. Like it's happened with him. It's happened with Kevin Durant, it's happened with. With Tatum, even. It's just over. It's. You get a run going back the other way. And okc's fans are cheering for okc's fan, for okc's play rather than Halliburton's. Injury. I flashback to the Raptors fans getting. They were getting ripped apart because they were cheering when Durant went down, but they were cheering, I think, for the score. And you could see Lowry and a Baka saying, just shut up. The guy got hurt, unfortunately, here for Halburn, he also got hurt.
- [17:51]
Trey Kirby
Three guys, three all Stars in the playoffs with torn Achilles in Tatum, Lillard, and now Halliburton, obviously third Pacer this season to Terror's Achilles. Wiseman did it early in the season, as did Isaiah Jackson. I don't know why it keeps happening, but that's like the number one injury you don't want to see. And also, I feel like outside of maybe an ankle sprain where you can see a foot turning, it's the one where everybody's like, oh, yeah, you know what happened? Especially the way he reacted, slapping the floor.
- [18:18]
Tas Melas
Yeah.
- [18:18]
Trey Kirby
Sad to see him, like, post game, greeting all the guys on crutches with his hood up, his towel on. You know, that's just. Just sad stuff for the season to end like that for the Pacers. What a bummer.
- [18:30]
Tas Melas
Yeah. Super bummer. And yes, I. I watched it because, unfortunately, you have to do it as a media member or somebody who watches the game so much. I mean, I watched it multiple times on my tv, and you could see the great came work and again the ripple of that leg sleeve happening. And Danielle put her eyes up because, you know, she's not watching every minute of a basketball game, and she put her eyes up and she saw the ripple happening, and we all just felt it, obviously for the. For the entire arena there.
- [18:59]
Trey Kirby
Did you feel like the broadcast showed the replay too many times? I saw that complaint quite a bit on the Internet last night.
- [19:05]
Tas Melas
Yeah, it came back especially the complaint was happening especially in the third quarter when they showed it again. Right. Like, okay, we're done with it. It's in the past. I don't know. It is what it is.
- [19:17]
Trey Kirby
I mean, it was the most important play of the game. Yeah. For the most part, that's a good.
- [19:20]
Tas Melas
Way to put it.
- [19:20]
Trey Kirby
The craziest part to me was that Bob Myers didn't speak on it at halftime. Like, there's one guy who's really ever been in the situation that happened last night, a Game seven and a guy coming back from a calf strain and having his Achilles blowout with Durant. Yeah, it didn't come up at all.
- [19:36]
Tas Melas
That's a very good question.
- [19:37]
Trey Kirby
That was surprising to me.
- [19:38]
Tas Melas
Yep. Yep. This simply should have been asked.
- [19:42]
Trey Kirby
You're the one guy who knows about this and we have you on the desk.
- [19:44]
Tas Melas
Yeah, but he had fun.
- [19:45]
Trey Kirby
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- [21:15]
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- [22:18]
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- [22:52]
Tas Melas
I do want to note the thunder in the first half. I was watching Shay and how composed that guy is, and I almost thought maybe he's trying to slow down and be calm a little too much because he is so chill out, you know, he wasn't trying to put it on his shoulders. He wasn't trying to say, this is my time. Like he. He was making all the right passes and that's why he got 12 assists. Now he was settling, I guess for threes. I guess you want to call it settling because he shot a lot of threes.
- [23:16]
Trey Kirby
He took a lot of threes for.
- [23:17]
Tas Melas
Sure, but he was just so chilled out and. And that's what this team is. They're just so good at that and just coming through like they're. They're obviously led by Shea, they're obviously led by Dagnot. Dagnot will never get upset. Like Isaiah Hartenstein had a. A shot which was called a foul, but it wasn't a shot. So he didn't go to the line, was basically called the side out and everybody's complaining about it, but dang note's already gone. He's. He could be complaining, he could be saying, hey, what's going on here? Present him to the line, but he's like 55. We're going to our next one. He's calling the next play. So everybody is composed. And even though Jalen Williams, I thought, you know, didn't start well, a lot of it, you know, he slowed down first possession to allow Neesmith to come block him. He didn't shoot a three with that. Was pretty open with just a few minutes into this game, didn't shoot that fade on Pascal Siakam, they stayed with it Like Chad Holmgren, also not shooting well, stayed with it, stayed calm for everything to go right on the defensive end, right the five block shots. And even late in the second, like he could go for a huge block. When Pascal Siakam had him going, but he stayed down and was able to sort of knock it off. Miles Turner and out of bounds. So they stayed with it. This team, it's spurs esque. It's Tim Duncan esque. Where they, they are so chill. I mean, we will get into post game celebrations, but how chill was that post game celebration?
- [24:39]
Trey Kirby
Man, people are calling out for not being as excited as the Florida Panthers. Just how they react. Okay, they just played a tough game seven game series. It was competitive for, I don't know, three quarters basically and there were some tense moments in the fourth, but that's just how the Thunder are very low key. I think Shai Gilgeous Alexander worthy Finals MVP. He ended up being the unanimous choice for the 11 voters. Averaged 30 points a game, five rebounds, almost six assists, almost two steals and a block and a half. Incredible performance by Shay and I did think he was the best player on the court in game seven. I think pretty fitting that he's a Kobe Bryant acolyte. He went 29 points last night. Shai did on 8 of 27 field goal shooting and 11 for 12 at the free throw line. You look at KOBE Bryant, game seven, 2010, he wins finals MVP, goes 23 points on 24 shots. Obviously the 6 for 24 that everybody remembers also went 11 of 15 at the free throw line. But the difference was that the other contributions Kobe made in 2010 were rebounding. He had 15 rebounds in that game. But for Shea, it was the playmaking 12 assists, only one turnover, which is pretty awesome. Came in off an eight turnover game in game six and just knew how to attack the Pacers. This time they weren't pressing him up as they did in games one through five. So he said, if you're going to pick me up a little bit further, I'm going to be more patient with the ball. He was really eager to give it up when somebody was open. I thought he did a great job of keeping his dribble alive and drawing one more defender so he could either dump it off or kick it out for a three pointer. Seven of his 12 assists were for threes. Three of them were for layups or dunks. So these were like high value assists from Shay Gilgeous Alexander. He just played it perfectly. This was like one of his better playmaking point guard games. You know, Shay's out there to score for the most part. He led the league in scoring, became one of four guys to win Finals MVP and MVP and a scoring title in the same season. But he Was just setting the table for everybody last night, which is why I think you saw J Dub get going in the second half while Chet Holmgren had a good game scoring as well, being aggressive, looking for his shot. So that was a perfectly played game from Shea. The shooting percentages, not great, but that's game seven shooting percentages going eight for 27. It happens. You find other ways to contribute. Get to the line, make plays for your teammates, play defense. And that's why he got 11 of 11 votes.
- [27:01]
Tas Melas
Right. And those defensive blocks are key that he does it so well just along the baseline to be that guy to help out and do that thing that is Kobe like numbers. There's no doubt. 8 of 27 versus Kobe, 6 of 24. But Shay does so much to set his guys up in this one. Yeah, I did think that this was the the optimal Shay game in terms of setting guys up. Obviously he did an incredible job for that. He set up Alex Crusoe immediately as soon as Caruso came in to his first quarter run while everybody else is not shooting that well. And Caruso came off two games where he had a combined two points. Dagnaut, said Crusoe, you're in. This play is run for you, my man. And you saw Obi Toppin kind of go down and tag was Isaiah Hartenstein who's running down the lane. And while he's tagging, Caruso is there one pass away. So he lined up a three and the next possession down, Caruso lined up another three. I thought Toppin were pointing to little things. Did another tagging down in the post area and left Caruso up way too open. So we got two Caruso threes just to kind of balance out again because that's the one guy on this young team who's done it before. And he sure looked like it coming in and helping him out.
- [28:17]
Trey Kirby
Yeah, he said he was happy to get his first real ring since it wasn't a a bubble one and can celebrate with people there. But you could tell that the game plan for the Pacers was similar to the one they had in Game six. They were collapsing on Shay's drives. They were happy to give Caruso outside shots. He knocked down the first two of them. That was massive. And you could tell that Shea knew how the help was going to be in this game and where his passes were going to be. That was big time second star status in this game to me was Chet Holmgren. 18 points, 8 rebounds, a steal, 5 blocks, the most in the game 7 finals history. Pretty cool. I Thought he was aggressive, looking to score. He shot the ball confidently. Only took two threes, but knocked one of them down. Alex Crusoe did get the start in the second half. That's the dagnalt go to. We start double big. We go to single big at halftime. Chet played 18 of the 24 second half minutes as the only big man on the court. And I thought every stint was pretty effective. Blocking shots at the rim is his specialty. But he was doing a great job when he was getting switched onto a guard and being able to keep his feet moving, keep them in front or take bumps from Siakam, get his hands up and make it tough for Pascal to even really get a look. He was an incredible defensive player in this game. And then brought it on the offensive end as well. Shooting a couple of threes, rolling to the hoop, and just timing things perfectly around Shea.
- [29:35]
Tas Melas
Yeah, that dude. Another one of those guys that is just so chill. I mean he kind of. He could evoke too much emotion, but he was just locked in. And those blocks were monstrous. The way he shut down within the restricted area. You couldn't go anywhere around Chad Holmgren yesterday. I want to just point out a couple quick things I thought casen Wallace out. TJ McCall. McConnell. TJ McConnell. Like he kind of that beautiful TJ McConnell steel on a. On a TJ inbound. Yep. That was awesome to see Case and Wallace come in and do that. His first three steals were more than 40ft from the hoop. That's. That's T.J. mcConnell stuff. That's. That's hard to do, man. And so he had four steals. Awesome for him. Like these guys came through. I thought Degnaut actually going no big for two minutes in the second quarter was a little surprising to go to Jane Jalen Williams as the five because they did the no big only once in this series. It was the last 3 minutes and 24 seconds of game one when Tyrese Halburn hit that game winning shot. So I thought they'd never go back to it because it didn't work all that well. I mean, there was some good things. Cause Lou Dort was being huge. But at the same time, this guy said in Game 7, we're still going to do it. So just. Just fun stuff. I thought from coach, from the team to really step up in this game.
- [31:00]
Trey Kirby
Yeah, he tried it in the second quarter. I didn't think it worked or didn't.
- [31:03]
Tas Melas
Work for the Thunder.
- [31:04]
Trey Kirby
It was just kind of. It was kind of like it didn't kill, which it did in Game one, like we were saying.
- [31:08]
Tas Melas
Exactly.
- [31:09]
Trey Kirby
Hartenstein was pretty solid, I thought, even though he got the second half bench job, I thought he made some play. Seven points, nine rebounds. He had three offensive rebounds. He obviously is a good ball mover. Four assists last night, had a steal. He was just doing his part as the backup big man. Only six minutes in the second half, but I thought they were all six pretty good minutes. And then you look on the flip side like, Obi Toppin did not have a good game in this one. Miles Turner did not have a good finals that continued into game seven. I think Toppin said that he was really affected by Halliburton going out. Didn't make a shot last night. Those are the kind of things that to steal a game 7 when your best player goes out, like you got to get performances from some random guys. They got one from McConnell, but outside of that, not much else. Juice, I didn't think from the Pacers, except for Matheran was. Matheran was awesome in the fourth quarter. He's like, we're losing. I'm going to the rim. Every single time. And they fouled him every single time. Went 10 for 10 from the line. Finished with 24 points, 13 rebounds. This was his best game since the 27 points in 22 minutes. But unfortunately, too little, too late.
- [32:12]
Tas Melas
Yes. Yeah, I can't wait to see what he becomes next year with the Indiana Pacers if they use him more or how that goes. But yes, the supporting guys maybe just didn't do enough. Even though Miles Turner got back and broke up a three on one. How do you break up?
- [32:26]
Trey Kirby
That was nice.
- [32:26]
Tas Melas
Three on one. That was pretty cool. Any other basketbally stuff? Because there's lots of off court random stuff. I mean, there is actually more basketbally stuff we got here. Do you want to get into our random stuff?
- [32:39]
Trey Kirby
Well, I did think it was impending doom when Lou Dort hit the 50 foot three from the logo. I mean, crazy when I do the math that doesn't make sense. It seemed like a 30 footer though. Like the shot clock was dying out. Yeah, he shoots his moon ball and drains it.
- [32:54]
Tas Melas
It was like, yeah.
- [32:55]
Trey Kirby
Oh, if they're going to get going in the second half, it's going to be a problem. And you know, the Thunder scored a lot better in the second half. But the main thing was only eight turnovers for OKC last night, 23 for the Pacers. So 87 to 70 was the shot difference in favor of OKC. They only shot 40% from the field, 28% from three. And they still won this thing pretty handily because they were able to dominate the possession game. Now, obviously, a lot of that is missing out on Halliburton. 13 turnovers in the second half for the Pacers probably gets cut down. A little bit of Halliburton's out there controlling the ball, controlling pace. But that's the way the Thunder play. They play awesome defense, and then they turn that defense into offense. And that was the recipe for them the entire season. That was the recipe in the third quarter and the fourth.
- [33:42]
Tas Melas
Yeah, they started that third quarter again, missing on their first three possessions and turning one in one of them into a Dort bomb. I mean, did that. Did they turn it into. I should say just Dort turned it into it because Shay actually had the ball on the high post, mid post, and he passed out and it ended up being in Dort's hands. And Dort with just that incredible shot. I mean, I. You could. I could have seen Shea and the ridicule going towards Shea for that. Like, why are you passing out of that? And then it ends up being Dor, just saving them. So awesome. I mean, I can't help. I don't know if I'm just in the mode of just over watching everything, but even, you know, I watched Shea pass out of that. I watched the Tyrese Halliburton injury over and over and over again and wondering if Nemhard gives that first pass to Obi Toppin in the corner in the pocket. Maybe Toppin just shoots it and we see Halberton go down the other way instead of. It goes back to Halliburton, who injured his calf right when he got the ball again.
- [34:46]
Trey Kirby
So it felt like the exact same move he made when he strained his calf the first time. Even on the same spot, like that left wing going from left to right, it was almost identical. And just. Yeah, it sucked.
- [34:58]
Tas Melas
It did suck. Obviously not much more you can say. Hopefully, hopefully he makes a short turnaround, I mean, short recovery for next season. Because this Indiana Pacers team gotta assume is gonna be good again. All right, let's move on to random notes. Random. Oh, it's fun, baby.
- [35:22]
Trey Kirby
Oh, it's fun. We got a lot of random notes.
- [35:23]
Tas Melas
We do.
- [35:24]
Trey Kirby
The boys were locked in last night. Great game for Shea. Gildrus Alexander, 29 points, 12 assists. Finals MVP. He earned it. The only thing he's bad at is shooting half court shots. Went 2 for 12 from 3 last night. And his half court shot at the end of the second quarter missed by probably 15ft way short. So his half court shot at the end of the third quarter, he overcompensates and hits the glass above the square. I just feel like maybe the way he shoots the ball isn't conducive to deep, deep range.
- [35:53]
Tas Melas
That's a good point.
- [35:54]
Trey Kirby
There's no way he can get into his bag and shoot a step back from half court. So he's got to like just chuck it. And they were way off. Yeah, it's like his one weakness. He can't make a half court.
- [36:04]
Tas Melas
Maybe that's what he has to work on in the summer. Just more.
- [36:07]
Trey Kirby
That's what he's getting better at.
- [36:08]
Tas Melas
Yeah, just more of a Jokic baseball toss. Like just chuck it. Yeah.
- [36:14]
Trey Kirby
People say he's at his peak. No, he's got one more level to go.
- [36:16]
Tas Melas
He does, man.
- [36:17]
Trey Kirby
Reliable half court shots.
- [36:18]
Tas Melas
That's a good point, though. I like how you pointed out that he missed two of those. So he didn't care about his stats, you know? No, no, not at all. So really, he was 2 of 10?
- [36:26]
Trey Kirby
Yeah, 2 of 10. Two Chucks, 20%. That's good.
- [36:30]
Tas Melas
All right, moving on to Alex Caruso missing this throwback dunk, which would have been enormous if he was able to put it down. He grabbed it like three feet away from the hoop and tried to have a. Like a. A thrunk. I mean a Dwight Howard thrunk. I guess he was sort of pushed a little bit, so maybe he would have been closer if he wasn't touched. But I thought, watching it again, I thought, did he make a mistake? Should have. He just tried to lay it in like we used to do. Highlight that wasn't back in our starters days for plays that didn't end up being a highlight. I know if maybe I'm just an Internet kid now. Internet 40 year old man that says, come on, come on, man. You should have laid that in. But like I was wondering, would that be a highlight? That wasn't. Is it or is it or should be? Should Alex Caruso be criticized because he didn't lay it in?
- [37:25]
Trey Kirby
This was overly ambitious. It was definitely a highlight. That wasn't because it was an exciting play.
- [37:30]
Tas Melas
It is.
- [37:31]
Trey Kirby
I don't think I rank it as highly as LeBron's missed dunk in the fourth quarter of Game 7 in 2016 when he got fouled and Draymond Green files. I mean, it would have been one of the greatest dunks in NBA history. I don't think it's quite at that level. I also don't think Caruso was close at all to being able to make. I don't think he had the ball above the rim at any point, so he shouldn't have even tried to lay it up. He should have brought it down and then got into offense or put it back up. The one thing that wasn't going to work was a Dwight Howard thrunk.
- [37:58]
Tas Melas
Yeah, he got ambitious, that's for sure. When you compare it to the LeBron dunk that wasn't a dunk. We could do top five moments of highlights that weren't things that were super close.
- [38:10]
Trey Kirby
Best missed dunks in NBA history or NBA Finals history. That's a decent short.
- [38:14]
Tas Melas
Yeah, there we go. Moving on to Chet Holmgren. Winning a jump ball late in the fourth quarter, I thought was important because he did it with his left hand. Now guys are getting in to the circle further and further and further. I wouldn't be able to officiate how close guys get. It's such a difficult thing to officiate. But it was also just a bad toss there from the referee. Chet Holmgren's got his right hand. He's ready to go with his right hand. Yeah. But he gets tossed up over. And I don't know if Benedict Matheran was really going to compete with Chad Holmgren anyway. He kind of just stayed on the ground, but Chet literally taps it with his left hand. It's like both his hands are working. Yeah.
- [38:54]
Trey Kirby
I've never seen a guy go for a reverse on a jump ball before.
- [38:57]
Tas Melas
Exactly. Like, look at the dexterity on a spectacular move.
- [39:02]
Trey Kirby
Give me the Michael Jordan call from Marv Albert over the top of that jump. That's a weird one.
- [39:07]
Tas Melas
That was a weird one.
- [39:08]
Trey Kirby
Yeah.
- [39:08]
Tas Melas
Yeah. And guys are getting more and more physical, so there's going to be probably more and more of that random stuff happening. I don't know how you officiate it.
- [39:15]
Trey Kirby
But yeah, that's one of the craziest things to watch in NBA games is the jockeying for position during jump balls. I like how in a. Like in the NHL, when they're doing a face off, right, if the guys get a little too aggressive, they're like, you get out of here.
- [39:28]
Tas Melas
Yeah, yeah.
- [39:28]
Trey Kirby
We got to get these two new guys in here who are clean. I don't understand the point of that rule, but it'd be funny if the NBA instituted that. They're like, no, no, no, no, no. You guys have to go stand over there. You can't stand next to each other right now. You ruined it for everyone.
- [39:40]
Tas Melas
Yeah. And there wasn't Another scenario where they said, oh, we're not doing this jump while we're doing. Or we're going again.
- [39:45]
Trey Kirby
They did. There was a bad jump or something, right? A bad toss.
- [39:48]
Tas Melas
Yeah. So, yeah, that's why Zach Zarbo was.
- [39:51]
Trey Kirby
Practicing before game six. Getting his throws right.
- [39:54]
Tas Melas
Exactly. Any other random notes?
- [39:55]
Trey Kirby
A lot more random notes. An egregious flop by Lou Dort at the end of the second quarter. This one felt like a heat seeking missile of a flop. He saw Benedict Matheran, knew he wasn't going to be able to get set, and just ran right at him and then fell over. Despite being the guy running forward who is bigger than Matheran, somehow Dort got the on this one. But that was a brutal, brutal flop.
- [40:20]
Tas Melas
That was just running into him so he could flop, so he could draw a call.
- [40:25]
Trey Kirby
Yes.
- [40:26]
Tas Melas
Well done.
- [40:27]
Trey Kirby
It worked.
- [40:27]
Tas Melas
And what a lud Dort move. He's good at that. He's great at that.
- [40:31]
Trey Kirby
Crazy one. What else do we got? I like that. The NBA or the. That espn. ABC showed the national anthem. Kristin Chenoweth singing it. Like I mentioned earlier, OKC fans stood the whole game. I thought that was pretty cool to see. Like, Reggie Miller was in the stands. They don't give him as good a tickets in okc.
- [40:47]
Tas Melas
Yeah, he's.
- [40:47]
Trey Kirby
But he was rocking the Chris Mullen jersey.
- [40:49]
Tas Melas
Yeah, he was up there. He's up like five or six rows. Anything on the. The hats.
- [40:55]
Trey Kirby
Yeah, the post game. The post game festivities. What did you think of these tall championship hats? I call them a pepaw hat, like memaw and peaw.
- [41:04]
Tas Melas
Because they're so tall.
- [41:05]
Trey Kirby
They're very tall. They got the little point at the front. They got the rope around the bill. I feel like you could maybe get this at a golf course in 1987. Yeah, it's funny to watch the NBA like, mimic the trends. It's like when Kevin Durant won his first championship with the warriors, they gave him a dad hat because dad hats were popular. And then eventually they're like, what are we doing dad hats for? I think they'll probably look back on these thunder trucker hats the same way. But they're a team that has a gas station as their jersey sponsor, so maybe it fits.
- [41:38]
Tas Melas
Yeah, but the rope. Everyone's doing the rope.
- [41:40]
Trey Kirby
Everyone's doing the rope.
- [41:41]
Tas Melas
So I think that was smart.
- [41:43]
Trey Kirby
That trendy for sure.
- [41:44]
Tas Melas
I didn't think they were that high when I looked at it, but maybe I'm wrong.
- [41:48]
Trey Kirby
They could be taller. I mean, they could certainly be taller. My man Larry Luke has made the tallest peepaw hat of all time. Mark Dagnault wearing his was hilarious. Also, the guys put like four or five hats on him at one point. But this reminded me of playing Little league baseball in the early 1990s, where for whatever reason, you would wear your hat as far back on your head as you could just so you could show off your bangs in the front. But I like the gear in general for the Thunder. Like the NBA championship shirts were cool. On the back, it says win it for or won it for the city. If I was a Thunder fan, I'd probably go hat and shirt, to be quite honest. Wear it all summer long. I dream of getting a chance to wear my own championship gear.
- [42:30]
Tas Melas
Right, yeah, for sure. I would be happy to wear that. Are they trucker hats? Are they meshy at the back?
- [42:36]
Trey Kirby
They weren't meshy at the back.
- [42:37]
Tas Melas
Okay.
- [42:37]
Trey Kirby
Yeah. So that's why it's a little more grandpa to me.
- [42:40]
Tas Melas
Yeah, yeah, yeah. People, it's always, always fun to say.
- [42:44]
Trey Kirby
Isaiah Hartenstein's son stole the show at the post game celebrations. Elijah sleeping through all the festivities. Lisa Salters asking, like, why is he asleep? Wake him up. I love Shay, like helping Isaiah hold his head up. That was awesome. But this is like one of the best times to take your kids places when they are, you know, under a year and a half. I think he's 13 months old. I saw. According to the Internet, that's when you can just take them to events and they'll fall asleep and you can still have fun with your friends.
- [43:11]
Tas Melas
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You just gotta hold your kid or.
- [43:14]
Trey Kirby
Once in a while though, they get excitable.
- [43:16]
Tas Melas
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm pretty impressive how Hartenstein is written on the back of a one year old's jersey.
- [43:23]
Trey Kirby
That's gotta be tough to get all those letters on there.
- [43:26]
Tas Melas
That is impressive. One other thing I saw post game, I didn't grab this because, I mean, I screen grabbed it and you know, the NBA.com or the NBA player says we don't like that and just gives you the screen grab from a different time. But anyway, Shea had those gold shoes around.
- [43:43]
Trey Kirby
Yeah.
- [43:44]
Tas Melas
Around his neck. You could see the stuffing was still in it. I thought that was in his shoe. In his shoe? Yeah.
- [43:51]
Trey Kirby
To keep the form of it.
- [43:52]
Tas Melas
Yeah. Because they're brand new, wearing all those shoes. It was you mentioned earlier that people wanted OKC getting crazy. Like the Florida Panthers who are playing Big Pony Club. Okay. In their dressing room.
- [44:07]
Trey Kirby
Pony Club.
- [44:08]
Tas Melas
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Pink Pony Club. I write Big Pony Clubs. Sometimes I hear it, I'm like, is it the same Big Pony, Big Pony Club? I don't know if it's big or pink. That would have been fun. It was so low key.
- [44:19]
Trey Kirby
It was pretty low key. I mean, they said post game, Hartenstein said nobody knew how to pop bottles of champagne. I think Sam Pressy said they're too young to drink anyways. I mean, their guys are actually over 21, so legally it's allowed. But it was pretty hilarious for them to be like, yeah, we don't really know what we're doing. So they got Caruso in there. He's like, we tried to time it and we couldn't get it till our third one. Everybody do it at the same time. So look, this is the seventh different NBA champion in seven years. Who knows if the Thunder are back next season, but odds are they make it back at some point. Easy to say right now. They would probably celebrate a little bit better the second time around.
- [44:57]
Tas Melas
Oh, for sure. It could have been their first one. And you're right, this could be a dynasty. And on those championship hats, I think it is fitting for it to say 2024, 2025, because there will be more years to add to that hat collection. It's only the beginning. Any other random notes? Because I got one that ain't really related to this.
- [45:15]
Trey Kirby
I think my only last one is. I thought it was pretty funny that Shay Gilgeous Alexander said Jalen Williams is a once in a lifetime player. Funniest possible name you could say that about. When there's another Jalen Williams standing right there, we're like, yeah, it is spelled different, but kind of twice in a way. That was great.
- [45:32]
Tas Melas
It's funny you mentioned Jalen Williams, the J Dub, because he was very emotional as. As time ticked down. And I wondered about when I. I saw him in 2023 and we were all together. We were at summer league and we were at the Cosmopolitan food court and he was there. He had. He had his hoodie on. He looked incognito. You couldn't really tell. And this was just after his first season when, you know, he wasn't a huge name as much as he is right now. And I guess he was. He was just. He was just real sleek. People weren't bugging him there. People didn't know his face as well as they do now. And now he's Jalen Williams. I mean, that is just a huge change in. In two years. So I wondered, was he crying there as well when he. When his order wasn't coming up because those orders were never coming up. That's just a stupid idea. Stupid. Thought of Jalen Williams. Yeah. Again. Gaining recognition.
- [46:29]
Trey Kirby
He'll never go to a food court unnoticed again.
- [46:31]
Tas Melas
No. He'll never have to go to one again.
- [46:33]
Trey Kirby
We'll ever eat in a food court again.
- [46:34]
Tas Melas
Nope.
- [46:35]
Trey Kirby
Interesting. Follow up with them. That's a tough one. Check in in 60 years. Hey, by the way, we've been wondering this. What did you think about the Thunder buses before the game got called out by Rick Carlisle? I just saw a video of painted open top buses and that's all I can think about.
- [46:50]
Tas Melas
Yeah, that said 2025 champions on them. Oh man, I thought that's wrong. They shouldn't be doing that.
- [46:56]
Trey Kirby
They shouldn't paint bunches buses that early.
- [46:58]
Tas Melas
No, they could. They could have started last night and they would have been painted a couple days for the parade. I mean, I don't know. I honestly. Maybe I'm dumb, but I thought, whoa, are these AI? Are these real? At first, but yeah, obviously they were real and they're cool with it. It's not, it's not quite, you know, bring out the yellow ropes for the spurs, but. How did you feel about it?
- [47:20]
Trey Kirby
Look, man, people are doing their jobs. They gotta get these things ready. Guess what? There were Pacers championship shirts in the arena as well. I like that. The OKC comeback was. Yeah, but they're putting out porta potties for the parade in Indianapolis. You gotta prepare ahead of time.
- [47:35]
Tas Melas
That's a good point. If you gotta be right.
- [47:37]
Trey Kirby
If you live in Oklahoma City, you're basically a Thunder fan. That's one thing I learned being there for a few days. Yep, nobody's going to want to be painting a bus the day after winning a championship.
- [47:46]
Tas Melas
Done beforehand. Very, very good point. What happens to those buses if they lose?
- [47:52]
Trey Kirby
That's a. That would suck. That would be the worst job is turpentining the paint off the bus the day after losing a game seven. That'd be brutal.
- [48:03]
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- [50:10]
Tas Melas
I did mention being at a Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas. Segway. We've got details on our live show coming up in Las Vegas. We'll be there for summer league. We will be in the Mandalay Sportsbook room on Friday, July 11th at 4pm it's free, it's fun and baby, it's Vegas. So come on by and hang out with us again. Mandalay bay Sportsbook Room 4pm Skeets made this photoshop of meet here in the Mandalay Sportsbook room. Is that where we're, I don't know. Is that where we're meeting? Is that people are meeting?
- [50:48]
Trey Kirby
We'll be right behind the fourth chair next to the wheel made of chains on the ground.
- [50:54]
Tas Melas
Specifically, we've done or we've done shows in Las Vegas, but never in a sportsbook room. So it's a first for us.
- [51:01]
Trey Kirby
We had that one meet and greet that was adjacent to A sports book room.
- [51:04]
Tas Melas
That's 110.
- [51:06]
Trey Kirby
Keep these savages in. We can't let them talk to the people.
- [51:10]
Tas Melas
That should be fine.
- [51:11]
Trey Kirby
That'll be a good time. July 11th. That's right.
- [51:13]
Tas Melas
July 11th. For local see you there. See you there.
- [51:17]
Trey Kirby
Williams. Will they see him?
- [51:18]
Tas Melas
Yeah, I'll be looking for be camped.
- [51:20]
Trey Kirby
Out at the Cosmo food court.
- [51:21]
Tas Melas
I'm just waiting to see if it shows up. All right. Let's just kind of circle back to the NBA finals just in general zoom out. Seven games. Were there any big takeaways from the finals? Trey?
- [51:36]
Trey Kirby
This is the worst the Thunder are going to be for a while. That's pretty wild to think about. As they mentioned on the broadcast and post game last night, this is the youngest championship team since 1977. They didn't even know how to pop their champagne bottles. You also saw the stat that SGA and J Dub were the second most points scored in a finals by a duo behind Kyrie Irving and LeBron James in 2016, just ahead of Jordan and Pippen. I think in 1993, only six games. Guess what? Chad has more offense in his bag. He is going to get better. So this Thunder team, the last time the Thunder were in the finals were like, I'll be back for sure. Next thing you know, James Harden traded to Houston. They didn't make it back until 2025. I don't think it's going that way. They've got 15 guys signed for next season. They're adding a lottery pick in Nikola topic. Eventually they're going to have to make some decisions about, you know, guys around the periphery. Once they're starting to pay Jada once they're starting to pay Chet as well. So things will change in the future for the Thunder. But they're the favorites for the title next season already. That makes sense. It would be surprising if we don't see him back in a finals in the next three seasons. I think a lot of things can happen. You know, players get injured all the time. Maybe somebody gets mad and wants a trade or wants a bigger spotlight or something like that. Maybe Sam Presti is so crazy. He says, you know what? I finally got us to the championship. I'm trading everybody and starting again. Watch how I can do this. Look how easy it was the first time. We won 24 games in the 2122 season. Then they won 40 wins, lost in the second play in game in 23, followed with 57 wins and a second round loss. Last season culminates in a 68 win NBA championship season and it's just easy for anybody to replicate. All you have to do is find a diamond in the rough who turns into an MVP and swing a trade for him. Then you got to sign an undrafted guy who becomes an all NBA defensive player. You got hit every one of your draft picks except for Usman Jang, who still made a three pointer in this series. You got hit on every single trade. Adding Isaiah Hartenstein to bang with Nikola Jokic in the second round. Adding Alex Caruso to be a top five steals guy in NBA Finals history. All you have to do is do all of those moves perfectly and you could be the Oklahoma City Thunder. See how simple it is? If they can do it, anyone can, right?
- [53:51]
Tas Melas
Totally. You got me looking at the point when they're going to have to say, hey J Dub, we're paying you and there's going to be max guys. And they will have some difficulty with the way the NBA salary is constructed at keeping these guys around and paying others to support them. So there will be a point of that. Last year I remember saying after the Boston Celtics win one that they're going to be here. I mean it sure felt that way. I wasn't saying it. Everybody was saying it. They were the finals favorite for the next season and it wasn't just because Jason Tatum was injured that they lost against the New York Knicks. Sure felt like the Knicks were going to win that series anyway. So anything can happen. You're totally right. You're totally right about guys improving though. I mean, Chad Holmgren, as you were saying, that he's going to get better offensively. You know, I flashback to some of the spin moves he had in this series that were awesome. And I just checked the box score for me last night. It was surprising that he was six of eight. I know he was. He was sort of cold shooting the three going into last night. So he didn't have a great offensive series in a lot of ways. But he'll definitely get better. As you said, I think Casen Wallace can definitely get better. He's such a good defensive player. Let's see what he can evolve to on the offensive end. So they have a lot of support players. So you're right. I mean, this is probably going to be the worst that they're going to be, you know, unless, you know, random stuff does happen and maybe Sam Presti says he wants to move on. Move to his music recording career or something.
- [55:14]
Trey Kirby
Going back to rap.
- [55:15]
Tas Melas
Yeah. Like Pablo Torre dropped that. Yeah. And Pablo Torre actually he noted after uncovering that song. He said they should, they should blast this in the locker room or blast it on the bus or something. You know that would.
- [55:27]
Trey Kirby
It should make an appearance at the parade.
- [55:29]
Tas Melas
Yeah, exactly. I would have to think that's a great idea. Yeah. Yes. Can't wait to see OKC grow. And all those things you mentioned about the second round picks and all that. I mean the Pacers were so, so close from the other side after having a bunch of guys kind of overachieve, you know, random guys like Nemhard as a second rounder or N. Smith who's like go by the Celtics or I'll be top and growing and. And TJ McConnell having the series and playoffs of his career. So yeah, you could be on the other side and be super duper close.
- [56:03]
Trey Kirby
Yeah.
- [56:04]
Tas Melas
Yeah.
- [56:04]
Trey Kirby
I do feel bad for the Pacers. I think this was trending towards an S tier finals. If Halliburton doesn't get hurt in the first quarter, at least it's, I am assuming a more competitive second half. Who knows how it goes. But nonetheless unforgettable Pacers run. They had five 15 point comebacks in the NBA playoffs. They had three comebacks from down seven or more in the last minute. Obviously Halliburton hit all of these game winners. People are going to remember the OKC championship SGA winning finals mvp, their first title for sure. But people are also going to remember the way the Pacers surprised everybody and had the funder down at half in game seven at the very least. But yeah, now the Pacers are going to have question marks. I feel like that's a major wrinkle to the Halliburton injury is that an Achilles can keep you out for the next season as well. This team hasn't paid the tax since 2005. They've got miles Turner coming up as a free agent. He's like the biggest center name out there. Obviously the longest tenured guy in Indiana as well. Seems like he would want to come back, but they don't pay the tax very much and Tyrese Halliburton is going to be hurt next year. So they're not going to be a championship contender most likely. I mean I don't think we ever had him as championship contenders when we did our tiers this year. So they can can surprise people for sure. But it's going to be interesting to see the way they approach the summer considering they probably take at least a minor step back. I think a team that has the depth they do, they have good guards in Nemhard and McConnell as well. Siakam's a great player. They got a lot of depth, like we've been saying for the entire playoffs, but without Halliburton, just not quite the same team for sure. So I think you, when you look at that trade they just did with the pelicans getting their 2026 pick back, pretty nice. Because what if Pascal misses 40 games or something next season? The Pacers have an unexpectedly bad season. They're getting a decent draft pick, and the Eastern Conference, you have to say, feels pretty wide open. You've got injuries to the Pacers, the Celtics and the Bucks. You got a new coach in New York. There are a lot of moves to be made. So I wonder if anybody's really going to go for it, seeing the opportunity of a down Eastern Conference. You know, Kevin Durant is staying in the West. We don't know what the Bucks are going to end up doing. We don't know what the Knicks necessarily will look like. The Cavs have to be feeling pretty good after a disappointing playoff run. They can be like, let's just run it back. We're going to be the healthiest, most stable team and we won 64 games this season. So I think things are looking up in Cleveland at least. And you know, the Magic trade, they're probably feeling pretty good bringing in Desmond Bain as well. So that Halliburton injury, definitely a bummer for Game seven and the Pacers, but I think it has a lot of effects for the next season as well.
- [58:43]
Tas Melas
That's a good point. Yeah. We are here in June and it does take long to recover and, and so it will be a, at least a good chunk of the season, you would think. And you mentioned TJ McConnell and Nemhard filling in Benedict Matheran and his growth is pretty important for this team. And I think you'll see him in training camp basically be pushed and taught every strategy as a lead point guard and to see if he can do that, because he is definitely a put it on my back, I'm going to score type of guy. And we saw it as Rick Carlisle gave him the start in the second half of Game seven and things didn't start extremely well as he had to turn over to start the the quarter. But it'll be very different if he gets a training camp to be that guy. And this was his first postseason period. So he's just a. He's just a young Canadian kid looking to get his. He's only 23. I wonder frankly who they start beside Nemhardt As. As another guard. But the east is open. That's a good point about all that. All right, we are done here. Just a reminder, some shirts for sale. It's happening. Just a mere hours remaining, I guess. How many hours we got?
- [59:59]
Trey Kirby
I don't know exactly how many hours.
- [60:01]
Intuit QuickBooks
30 seconds.
- [60:02]
Tas Melas
Six. I would say I'm a loser who likes numbers.
- [60:06]
Trey Kirby
You're probably right. It probably ends at Tuesday night at midnight, you know.
- [60:09]
Tas Melas
Yeah.
- [60:09]
Trey Kirby
About 36, 37 hours, I guess.
- [60:11]
Tas Melas
Yeah. Back to the pawn shop.
- [60:14]
Trey Kirby
No coins for you.
- [60:15]
Tas Melas
Yeah, it is.
- [60:16]
Trey Kirby
It is fun to do it as like a two man. Back to the pawn shop.
- [60:18]
Tas Melas
No coins for you.
- [60:20]
Trey Kirby
Beautiful. Go to no dunks.com and pick that one up. We new show tomorrow.
- [60:24]
Tas Melas
Back tomorrow. The day before the draft. Lots happening the day before the draft is tomorrow. Yes.
- [60:31]
Trey Kirby
That's. That's extreme. Yeah, we're drafted on Wednesday. So we'll talk. Katie, we'll talk. Shirley. Ace Bailey. I assume we'll get some slop in the next 20 hours here. Yeah, right now we only got coaching slop. I mean, I know the people are dying to hear about Sean Sweeney and our thoughts. The San Antonio spurs support staff.
- [60:51]
Tas Melas
I don't know. That's. That's strange. The Dallas side is strange. I, I'm. I know you're being sarcastic there, but that, that part's weird. Yeah. They put Jay Triano in there, I guess a couple weeks ago and now they just let go of Sean Sweeney and Jared Dudley and frankly, I think all of Jason Kid's staff.
- [61:13]
Trey Kirby
So let's change up. That's.
- [61:14]
Tas Melas
That's weird. I don't know what's going on with the New York Nico Harrison. I don't know what's going on there. So that, that part's interesting. I mean, selfishly, it is nice that we got a long series and then the draft is right here. That doesn't happen very often.
- [61:29]
Trey Kirby
Non stop NBA action.
- [61:30]
Tas Melas
Non stop NBA action.
- [61:31]
Trey Kirby
We had two trades with players, like notable players during the Finals.
- [61:35]
Tas Melas
Yes, totally. Yeah, you can go back. Make sure you go watch that Durant show from yesterday. But we will definitely be talking it, talking about it tomorrow in the show. But for now, Clipper Bros. You heard it here first.
- [61:48]
Trey Kirby
Have a great time. Turn up. Love you guys. Awesome. Thanks for joining us. And remember, thoughts and prayers to Skeets and his family. He always told us SGA was pretty special and he was right.
- [61:59]
Tas Melas
He called it. Yeah, send some messages to Skeets. We'll see you tomorrow.
- [62:06]
G
Hey, it's Paige from Giggly Squad. Let's talk about an elite green flag Being a cat dad. Temptations, America's number one cat treat brand, is making 2025 the year of the Cat dad. And honestly, about time. Whether he's coordinating snack time with the meow schedule or just vibing with his tabby, Temptation treats make cat dads even more irresistible to their cats and to us. For more information about Temptations Brand Cat Dads, or to learn more about the brand, visit temptationtreats.com and don't forget to share your own CatDad sightings on social we'll be scrolling.
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Trey Kirby
What is Daddication?
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Trey Kirby
That's dedication. Find out more@fatherhood.gov brought to you by the US Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council when we.
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