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the interruption, but I'm Mike Wilbon. Tony I was up the road in New York last night for the Knicks incredible comeback.
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I'm Tony Kornheiser and what was the name of that road? Say it with me everyone. I 95.
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I thought it was like Four Pin Plaza, the Garden.
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That wasn't the road you were on. I95 is the road. I95 is the road. It is the road of dreams in the United States of America.
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I thought it was a road of potholes.
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No, no. The highway dreams. I grew up on it. Welcome to P Boys and girls. In today's episode Victor Wembanyama keeps the faith. The Stanley cup final returns to Carolina and Shohei has a regret. But we begin today with the greatest comeback ever in the NBA final series. The Knicks were down by 29 points to the spurs in the third quarter at 8152 and the final score after an OG Anunoby tip in was 107106 Knicks. The series is now 31 in favor of the Knicks after they shot 51% in the second half. Then the spurs shot hello two 21%. Will Bon, you were there. Did the Knicks win it or did the spurs lose it?
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Tony it's only fair and right to credit an anobi and Jaylen Brunson specifically them and Alvarado came in and did some nice work for Mike Brown who did some nice work in figuring out and creating and all that's fine. But the spurs authored the greatest choke job at a championship level of play that I have ever seen in any sport. They had the dumbest stretch, the most sustained stretch of dumb basketball I've ever seen with a secure lead. You know what they could have done if there was a basketball equivalent of taking a knee like a football. That's what they should have done. Just let the clock run out the shot clock run out 23 seconds every time. 24 buzzer hand the ball to the ref and then it done better than they did jacking up three point shot at the three point shot. Not just ill advisedly but stupidly. And this is the franchise of, I mean brilliance. Gregg Popovich and Tim Duncan and David Robinson. And the hallmark of their franchise is intelligence, intellect, and what the hell were they doing? And it went on and on and on and on. And nobody could stop it. Nobody could rally the guys. Nobody could say, let's stop, let's not do this. We've got control of the game. And so the spurs choked their way, as far as I'm concerned, out of the championship round. Because as far as I'm concerned, it's now over.
C
So my feeling about this is if I have to assign numeric responsibility for the game last night, it's going to be very close. It's going to be like 52, 48.
A
Yeah, I'm with that.
C
I probably would say that the spurs had a larger hand in this in terms of giving the game away than the Knicks did in taking it. But only because of the insane non variety of shots that they had. Three after three after three after three. But let me just say this. The Knicks have been doing this entire playoffs. They came back against Atlanta, they came back against Cleveland. Now they have come back against San Antonio. They have established a pattern here. As I check my notes, there have been in the last two years, through all the rounds of the playoffs, the Knicks have come back and won games where they were 20 points down five times. Five times. The entire rest of the NBA has done it for four times. So this is what the Knicks have done. I don't want anybody to say the Knicks got lucky. I don't want anybody to say the Knicks didn't deserve this. This is who they are and I don't want them to be cheated of their moment. Yeah, I watched this last night. I watched what happened. San Antonio froze. They had 76 points in the first half. They had 30 in the second half. Their coach froze. Last night you were very critical of Kenny Atkinson when he seemed to do nothing with when Cleveland was playing the Knicks, just as critical as Mitch Johnson in this particular case. The only thing he did differently was he didn't say that analytically San Antonio had won the game, but he didn't cover himself. He did not cover himself with glory. Nobody did on this thing. You know, the other point I want to make is the Knicks, they never gave up. And the reason you don't give up and you still play is because they've won this kind of game before recently.
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Fourth quarter, seven and a half minutes left, down 22.
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They knew they could do it.
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But Tony, there is a Connectivity and a chemistry about these Knicks with Brunson and Pretty Cat at the head of it. And they, they are so together. They believe in what their coach, Mike Brown is doing. Mike Brown went to a backcourt last night that had never played together during the season. Alvarado and Jalen Brunson never been together. But he saw the need to have an additional ball handler out there.
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And how this and what the spurs didn't do. And he went to it. They didn't call a timeout. And the coach gets in the middle and said, no more threes. No more threes.
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Tony, last thing about this, they were. They missed 12 threes that were taken with 10 seconds or more on the shot clock. You need to limit the possession of the Knicks. Cause you're ahead. And they were too dumb to do this in the moment. I can't get over it. I'm still trying to process it. And I was there. The spurs lost the game, of course, but say who claim they have not lost their confidence. Wemby said, quote, I think it's going to go one of two ways. A bad one and a good one. The bad one would be giving up. The good one would be getting stronger through this, getting more together. I know this is what we're going to do. Close quote. You convinced?
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So this sounds good. It is exactly what someone is supposed to say. I believe they will get stronger. I believe they're a young team and their trajectory is up. I believe they will win championships.
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Me too.
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But I don't believe they're going to win this one. They may win game five. I don't believe they're going to win three in a row. I want to go to what they've done because the San Antonio spurs have been ahead in every single game in this series. Okay? They are plus 47 in the first quarter. They get big leads. They have won one game. They could have won four. Analytically, they have won one of these games. In the games that they lost. Game one, they're up by 14. Game two, they're up by 12. Last night, hello, 29. And again, they've won one game here. They've been thrilling games, but the Knicks have won three. The story to me is the Knicks, Tony.
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There's no way you can have confidence after last night. Last night was shell shock.
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It was.
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I don't care what they say. I mean, being in that building now, I know they're going to go home. There's some solace in that. But no, I don't believe this. And you Know, the hill I will die on philosophically is teams have to have their hearts broken, have to be crushed first. I know. Welcome to the club, San Antonio. Now they can win some other year, next year. The Knicks had their hearts broken last year and the year before. So the Knicks know what this feels like. They've been through this. Their coach had this happen in other places. Sacramento. He had it happen in Cleveland. Mike Brown knows all of the whole Knicks squad. Castoffs, all of them. They all know it now. The spurs know it. So, no, I don't believe that. I believe that Wimby is saying and trying to dredge up a feeling that he wants to. He wants to. Maybe. Maybe he even feels this way, but it ain't going to work. I don't see them winning game five. I'll see to you they could. Tony. I think this is a crushing loss. I think that. I think the spurs will go on to win championships.
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Plural. Yeah, but.
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And those guys will be great. My God, Harper. Dylan Harper, who got no shots in the last 10 minutes last night after being the best player on the floor, they don't know how to.
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Can I go to Wembanyama for a second? Because the Aaron Fox taken a lot of heat in the last 24 hours.
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He is deserved.
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Victor Wembanyama jacked up threes that didn't.
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He didn't go in. He did.
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He also lay on the ground and insulted Mitchell. Robinson made fun of him. Yeah. With 140 to go, I believe. And they're up one. And he missed both free throws and he got another flagrant. So I would just say. And I know you love him.
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I do.
C
I would just say hold off on the carnation.
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Hold off.
C
Hold off a little bit.
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Agree, right, Tony? There's no question about that. We're seeing this process go on and maybe we're seeing more of it because the spurs really are a year early. You know, I mean, it didn't make any sense to go from lottery to finals, but they did it. And that's quite an accomplishment.
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I thought they were the best team in the NBA three months ago, and I told you that. And I thought they'd win.
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But when you get to this position,
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let's get to hockey. Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals Series will be played tonight in Raleigh. The Hurricanes and Golden Knights are tied at 2:2. Each team has won once at home and once on the road in the playoffs. So far, Vegas is 7:3 on the road and Carolina's 7 and 2 at home. Wilbon, do you see home ice mattering tonight?
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No, Tony, I don't. Because there are too many games. I mean, it's anecdotal and it's in both sports, by the way, it's in the NBA. What is like five recent games, seven road teams winning. And you're like, wait a minute, that never used to happen in the NHL too. Coaches and players are being asked about the olden days, about, you know, back in the day, you know, we used to have disadvantage. And there are all sorts of theories and I don't get. You don't have this sort of newfangled thing like a barrage of three pointers. You don't have that in the NHL. That could change the tenor, right?
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No, I have. I have some.
A
Okay, I want to. I'm a stop. I want to hear this.
C
John Tortorella is saying that home ice doesn't matter at all. Yeah. And he's saying, as you're saying, it used to. If I understand him correctly, what he is saying is that in the olden days, which could be three years ago or 25 years ago, I think we're like, all right. Whenever it was, he said there was a physical advantage that the home team had.
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Yes.
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Because the referees pretty much allowed the home team to police the ice.
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And now they were intimidated.
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Right. And now what he is saying is with the instantaneous replay and standards on better behavior, that physicality is gone. I find this very interesting. I also find Tortorello saying it, cuz he's the visiting team tonight, you know, so it's an easy thing to say by the numbers. It hasn't mattered at all yet. But Mike, I do believe that as a series goes on and the games shrink, I think Carolina's in an advantageous position having two of the next three games at home. I do.
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You're having a five and seven. Okay. Nobody's going to give away five and seven unless there is actual evidence. It's not just anecdotal that people are dropping like flies at home in games five and seven. You're going to take that over a game six every single time? Here's what I care about. Would you start Bussy tonight? What are you going to do? Anderson or Bussy?
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Bussy.
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You sure?
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I would.
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I mean, if.
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If it's me, I'm going to do it. He had a real good game and he had a real good third period. Stopped everything in the third period. Can I give you the historic number? Historic numbers. By the way, Carolina won 29 home games this year, which tied for the most in the league with Boston, 29 home games. Historically, when the Stanley cup final is tied two to two, the team that wins game five wins the cup 75% of the time. And if it's the home team that wins the cup, that goes up to 83%. So to me, that is the home ice advantage.
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That one thing 75 though, that allows for.
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But there's so much scoring in this
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series that it's an exciting series.
C
Yeah, it is. Let's take a break. Coming up, Shohei has a regret about how he handled a sticky situation last night.
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And Tony's gnats appeared to have a game all locked up. And then they went. They went straight San Antonio.
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Oh, my God. I watched that and said, this is the worst loss I've ever seen.
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And
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C
Hurdy Gurdy. Let's get wordy. That's a Donovan reference. What's first?
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Shohei's struggles in the seventh last night were blank.
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Okay, My word, because I need to read it, is second guessed by him. By Shohei. The Dodgers are up six to one. Okay. At that point, the Dodgers are up. Pittsburgh, who's the team they're playing, has two men on base by virtue of a walk and. And a swinging bunt. All right, at that point, the next guy who comes up, Brandon Lau. Okay, Shohei strikes out two. So two on, two out. Brendan Lau comes up, it goes to three zero. And a couple of the pitches look really close. They look really close. And nobody challenges. Catcher does it and Chohei doesn't. And then Lau hits A two run double that ends Shohei's pitching for the night. Afterwards he says, look, I normally let the catcher make the challenge, but I should have done it. I should have done it. And then just for grins, he hits a two run home run in the ninth.
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And so it was fluky. That's my word. It's a fluke. Flukey. In this case, that's. That's all it is. It doesn't. He would have gotten through the seventh inning, which these days is like the equivalent of a complete. Yeah, it's a great accomplishment, you know, by pitching both ends of a double header. In this day and age. So with analytics dictating who stays on the mound for how long, it's just fluky. Cause Shohei was mowing him down. He had gone right through. And you look at those two pitches. If he had. If somebody had gone tap, tap, those pitchers are going to be strikes.
C
You have a reserve catcher at that point.
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Yes. You have a reserve catcher.
C
Okay. And you only have one challenge left at that point. So the catcher is probably trying to save it.
A
So Shohei, it's early and you're way up in the game at that point.
C
What is your sense of this? My sense is the catcher usually has a better sense of the pitcher.
A
I think so. But again, you talked about reserve catcher. He is. He might not even. He might be intimidated by Shohei standing out there. So I. That is. It's all a fluke. It doesn't. Do we think that this is going to send Shohei into a tailspin on the rubber?
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No.
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No, we don't.
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Of course not. I mean, how far did his earned run average go?
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Up to 100.8 or something like the 6. I think that's what's next. It's blank that the nats blew a 91 lead in the eighth to the Giants.
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My word is stomach turning. You think that San Antonio should have won their game? I watched the Nats relievers, the entire Nats bullpen that went out there dissolve in front of my face. Look, Mike, it's nine to one in the bottom of the eighth inning, nine to one. Then the relief pitchers get out there. They give up a couple of home runs. They're two guys. Schultz goes out there, Ribaltica's out there. Now it's 96 in the top of the ninth, the Nats get a home run. It's 10 6.
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And then did my man James Wood hit a home run last night, maybe
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early in the game? 106 at that point. And the two relievers who come in, they don't get a single out. The Giants are hitting Rockets. It's double, double, walk, single, grand slam, walk off, home run. Here is a number that you have to hear. Teams that are up drive home safely, by the way, after the home run, teams that are up by eight or more going into the eighth inning, I saw the number have won almost 2,698 straight games. 2,698. Not my team.
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No, but the home run itself is what I'm gonna focus on. By the way, right now, if you had to lay your money down, if you had to go to DraftKings, who's got a better record, the Nationals or the Cubs?
C
I would think the Cubs. The nats are probably 1 over. 2 over 1 over would put them
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better than the Cubs, who are down
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to.500 after that winning streak.
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19 of 22.
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That's terrible.
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They're down to.
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I know the Nats aren't as good as the White Sox.
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No, the White Sox are like four over. But any. My word is nostalgia producing because you got to go back to Roberto Clemente to find a younger player or player as young previously the youngest to hit a walk off slam. A walk off. Granny Clemente did it 70 years ago, almost July 25, 1956. He did it against the Cubs. It had to be at Forbes. It couldn't have been at Wrigley. But he had a inside the park. Walk off Granny. How crazy is that?
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They didn't even call them walk offs then. That's more recent. This kid. This kid grew up in Natsvan. He grew up in Virginia. He's local.
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The Nationals have existed his entire life. We're at that point now, probably 20 years.
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That's final word. Let's take one last break. Still to come, good news for Tarik
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Scubal and bad news for Serena. Kind of bad. Oh, doubles. Doubles player can't play.
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Is that what happened?
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They're going to see more Serena. We are.
C
You think she's gonna enter singles?
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I call this a bump.
C
Will she enter Wimbledon?
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No.
C
Will she enter the US Open? Well, what is she gonna wait for?
A
Doubles in the US Open? For real?
C
Do you think she's gonna play singles somewhere? Yes. What is she gonna wait?
A
You wait until the US opens. Open?
C
She's 44.
B
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C
Happy time, people. Happy 70th birthday, Joe Montana. Montana was a third round draft pick in 1970 out of Notre Dame. When he and Bill Walsh got together, it was a match made in football heaven. Montana was perfect for Walsh's conception of offense. Together they won four Super Bowls with the San Francisco 49ers. And in those Super Bowls, Montana threw 11 touchdown passes and no interceptions. You can make a list of the greatest NFL quarterbacks ever. You can put anybody you want on it. But no list is complete or legitimate without Joe Montana, Tom Brady and Johnny Unitis. A third round draft pick, a sixth round draft pick, and a ninth round draft pick.
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If I had to play a game tonight and my family's life was on the line, their lives, and I had to pick a quarterback, it's Joe Montana. Now, the rest of you people can take Aaron Ayahuasca drinking Rodgers if you want Joe Montana. And I'm speaking for you because I know you would take Joe Montana or
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Johnny Unitis or because I'm a little older than you, I'm a little older than you.
A
You going to take him over? Over Joe? You like Joe? I do.
C
I think he's. I think he's great.
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Greatest.
C
Do you want to tell the people about what happened your first day in college?
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September 25, 1976. Notre Dame 48, Northwestern, nothing.
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And you thought.
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I thought Joe threw all the touchdown passes.
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It wasn't play.
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Some dude I never heard of, he didn't play.
C
That's okay. Happy anniversary, Rafael Nadal. On this day nine years ago, Rafa beat Stanwar Winka in straight sets to become the first player ever to win the French Open 10 times. Ultimately, Nadal would win 14 French Open championships. The most championships of any of the four majors by one person. Novak Djokovic has the most Aussie Opens of any male player with 10. Margaret Court had 11. Roger Federer has the most Wimbledon Championships among men.
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8.
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Martina Navratilova has won nine. The most US Open titles in the Open Era by men are five by Federer, Pete Sampras and Jimmy Connors.
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Wow.
C
Chris Everett and Serena Williams have six. And Everett has the most French Opens among female players. 7.
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Billie Jean King's name is not among that group.
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Steffi Groff's name is not among that group.
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But Billie Jean King did something very important. American women did not go to Australia to play in the Australian Open. I've gone through all the results and all of a sudden Billie Jean King's name starts to pop up. And I asked somebody why. Might have been Bud Collins. He said, here's why. Billie Jean pioneer.
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Yeah. Oh, yeah.
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In that way.
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And Margaret Kornchow, her big rival in the way that Chris Everett's big rival was Martina Napperton. Happy trails to the wait for the World Cup. The competition open to much pomp and ceremony in Mexico City today. And El Tree delivered on the field beating South Africa two nothing or two nil, as they say. Mexico scored just nine minutes into the game and again in the second half off the head of 35 year old Raul Jimenez. Three red cards meant Mexico finished the contest with 10 players and South Africa with just nine. The other host countries, Canada and the United States Open tomorrow with the United States facing Paraguay at 9pm Eastern. That's a nice game to have with both the NBA Finals and the Stanley cup having Friday night off.
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Wilbur, I wish the NBA would go to the yellow card red card system instead of flagrant one and two. You just come out with a red card and send somebody off.
C
Does that not seem. Does that not seem almost earth shaking that so many people went off in the first game?
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First game. Is that something we're going to see? Something?
C
Yeah. Are we going to see that kind of refereeing?
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In the meantime, I'm going to harass you all week, starting this week.
C
Yeah.
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Until you watch more World cup than you have planned.
C
I plan to watch the world.
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You only want to watch the U.S. not good enough. Not good enough. The best players in the world.
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Do me a favor. Just make a list of all the countries I have to watch and I'll try my best. Let's go to the big finish. Serena Williams, who we just talked about, withdrew from the Queens club after her playing partner suffered a knee injury. You disappointed?
A
Yes, but she's going to play next week in the Berlin Open. Gradually don't go too fast. The Chiefs extended Patrick Mahomes deal to a potential $522 million over 88 years. What do you believe about that?
C
I believe that Patrick Mahomes is the best football player on the planet. Whatever he gets, he is worth. He may not be the best quarterback at any given moment. He's the best football player. Auburn's Jacoby Tharp set a world record in the 110 meter hurdles in the NCAA preliminaries. Your thoughts? Is he better than skeets?
A
That number 1275 is better than skeets. Is 1293.
C
I think it was 50 years. 40 years.
A
40 years ago. Love, Skeets. The Broncos and Sean Payton agreed on a five year extension. Is that deserved?
C
He's in his third year. He made the playoffs the last two years and got to the AFC championship.
A
Kenya.
C
Yes. Absolutely deserved. Last one. Taran. Scuba will return to the mound for the Tigers on Saturday. You excited?
A
Aren't you? I am. He's facing the Guardians in Cleveland. Just like five weeks after that. Floating stuff. Floating bodies on his elbow. We are out of time.
C
We'll try to do better the next time.
A
I'm Mike Thornhouse. Oh, I jumped the gun. Same time tomorrow? Greg Foster. That was Skeets nemesis, Greg Foster.
B
You can't reason with the sun.
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Trust us, we've tried.
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This summer, it's time to put that angry ball of fire on mute.
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Columbia's Omnishade technology is engineered to protect
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Engineered for whatever.
Episode: Did the Knicks Have the GREATEST Come Back in NBA Finals History?
Hosts: Tony Kornheiser & Michael Wilbon
Date: June 11, 2026
This episode centers on the New York Knicks’ historic comeback against the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals—a 29-point turnaround that has ignited debate over whether this was the greatest comeback in Finals history, and whether the story is more about the Knicks’ resilience or the Spurs’ collapse. The hosts also discuss pivotal moments and patterns in NBA comebacks, examine the shifting importance of home-ice advantage in the Stanley Cup Finals, and touch on significant moments elsewhere in sports, such as Shohei Ohtani’s game regrets, an unprecedented Nationals loss in MLB, and major tennis and soccer news.
Recap & Reactions (00:31–08:55)
Wilbon’s Take: Heavy blame on the Spurs’ collapse.
Spurs’ offense devolved into reckless three-point attempts instead of running out the clock.
Tony’s Allocation of Blame: Spurs’ collapse perhaps slightly more important, but he wants Knicks’ consistent resilience recognized.
Knicks’ pattern: They’ve come back from 20+ point deficits five times in two years in the playoffs; the rest of the NBA combined has done this four times.
Wilbon: Spurs' inexperience showed, especially with shot selection under pressure.
Victor Wembanyama’s Response:
Kornheiser: Spurs’ future is bright, but not this year.
Wilbon: Losing builds character; the Spurs are early in their journey.
Kornheiser:
Knicks chemistry credited; Mike Brown's unorthodox but effective backcourt adjustments praised, particularly pairing Alvarado and Brunson for the first time.
| Section | Timestamp | |-----------------------------------------------|------------| | Knicks-Spurs Greatest Comeback Debate | 00:31–08:55| | Home Ice in Stanley Cup Finals | 09:01–11:42| | Shohei Ohtani’s Regret, Dodgers’ Game | 13:11–14:47| | Nationals’ Historic MLB Collapse | 15:11–16:42| | Joe Montana’s 70th Birthday/Legacy | 18:56–20:20| | Nadal’s 10th French Open & Tennis Records | 20:20–21:07| | World Cup Opener: Mexico vs South Africa | 21:27–22:25| | Quick Hits/Final Thoughts | 22:42–23:52|
Listeners who missed the episode get a full, spirited sense of the historic Knicks comeback and how PTI’s hosts view the drama, legacy, and broader sports context of the moment.