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- [00:02]
Mike Wilbon
In case you didn't know, these young men are driven, quite remarkable, magnificent and unmistakable. These are the prodigies, the savants, the ones we've been waiting for. And they are not asking for you to pass the baton. They are methodically planning the perfect moment to take it. A new generation of Toyota drivers are here, and they want you to know one thing. You can't stop my drive. Pardon the interruption, but I'm Mike Wilbon. Tony. Scientists have dramatically lowered the risk of Earth getting hit by an asteroid in seven years.
- [00:40]
Tony Kornheiser
You concerned, Tony Kornheiser. Do you know how old I am? In seven years, I'll be begging to get hit by an asteroid.
- [00:48]
Mike Wilbon
No, you are begging. Not begging to get hit by anything. Not begging to get hit by a foul ball.
- [00:55]
Tony Kornheiser
Aren't asteroids the way that the mastodons went out? Weren't they prevalent and asteroid came? What do we got to bring in?
- [01:03]
Mike Wilbon
7Th grade science teacher? Do we have to do that now?
- [01:06]
Tony Kornheiser
Well, I. You know, it's been a long time for me since seventh grade, but I thought the Mastodons went out that way. Welcome to pti, boys and girls. In today's episode, a big win for Duke, two losses for the Knicks, and a hat trip for Alex Ovechkin. But we begin today with a couple of NBA teams that had grown old and saggy in recent years and are now red hot. The Lakers and Warriors. The Lakers added Luka Doncic, the Warriors added Jimmy Butler. And the Cars are going faster now. Over the weekend, the Lakers beat the Nuggets by 23 points in Denver. The warriors jumped on the Kings by 24 on Friday, and then the Mavericks by 24 yesterday. So, Wilbon, which team are you taking more seriously after this weekend?
- [01:46]
Mike Wilbon
Well, Tony, certainly both of them. I mean, I think if I had to go with the most impressive single victory, it would be the Lakers on Saturday night in Denver. Yeah, Denver won nine straight games, so. So there's no way to sort of diminish that. But if you. We're doing this by feel and just by watching as you and I have a lot of basketball over the last, oh, wait, 50 to 60 years, I'm looking at Golden State. And I'm mindful of what Draymond Green said. And Draymond is not all that predictive. He might say some things you can object to. But the last time he did something like this and said, we're going to win A championship was 2022. And the warriors did that. But that's not even why it's. Jimmy Butler and the difference that he makes in that lineup, the difference he makes in Steph Curry. I'm not a big body language guy, but Steph Curry seems to play now with so much energy. And he has said that. And it's just the way he's going about it and the things that he can do now, the space that he has to operate because Jimmy Butler's out there. Jimmy Butler going to the foul line in a way nobody has in years and years and years on that jump shooting team. There's just so many things defensively, you know, Jimmy Butler has been one of my favorite players for a long time. And part of it was the way he was not timid. He had the nerve to take on LeBron when both are in their primes defensively, saying, I got him. And when you have that, you have something to deal with in April, May and maybe June. So I look at the warriors and I'm sort of in love with them.
- [03:18]
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, I'm not going to argue with the points you're making about basketball, but I'm going to go in a different direction. As you know, I don't think the Lakers can win the championship. I don't. But I want to watch them. I want to watch LeBron and Luka, who are megastars, not like Anthony Edwards, not like all your friends in Phoenix, you know, who are stars. But they're not mega. They're not on this level. And as I've told you for a while now, I believe that Turner and ESPN should televise nationally every single game the Lakers have for the rest of the season. And I believe those ratings would eclipse anything else in sports in that period of time. I happen to agree with you that the warriors have a better chance to win than. Than the Lakers do. I mean, the Warriors, Jimmy Butler is getting in a foul line eight, nine times a game, which they didn't have before. They're 5 and 1 since he was there. How do I feel about that? Well, you know, he forced his way off a team, and I don't really want to sit and condone that, but he's been a great addition for that team. Whereas the Lakers. The Lakers are a small team at this point. And I would like. And you and I have talked about this, I would like to see more reporting on why that trade with Mark Williams did not go through. I'd like to know. I'd like to know what the Lakers know. Yeah, but I'll just end by saying this, Mike. It's easy to root for the warriors and for the Lakers. And I know you're on the record of saying that Memphis and Oklahoma City are going to meet in the Western Conference final. I would much rather watch the Lakers and the warriors after all this time because they have people on their team who are historically significant.
- [05:02]
Mike Wilbon
Tony, here, here. And keep in mind, Golden State is going to get Kaminga back. They get Jonathan Kaminga back who may be, I don't know, their third best two way player. But now he drops the slot, he doesn't have to do as much because Jimmy Butler and Draymond do that primarily. They're going to get, they stand the chance getting better. And I might be backing off that Memphis part of that prediction anyway. We had two high profile men's college basketball games in Madison Square Garden, the world's most famous arena this weekend. On Saturday night, Cooper flag and Duke blew out Illinois by 43. And on Sunday, St. John's beat Yukon for the second time this season, sweeping the Huskies for the first time in. In 25 years. Tone. The bigger result was which.
- [05:51]
Tony Kornheiser
Okay, so it's a really nice win for Duke. It's really nice. I was happy to see Illinois had been ranked for most of the season. I was happy to see an interconference game at a neutral arena this late in the season. I honestly think it took courage to schedule that because that's a departure from, from what you are looking at for the next two or three weeks. But Mike, I have personal experience in New York City. When St. John's is really good, when St. John's is really good,. People care about St. John's just the same as they care about the Knicks. When the Knicks are really good, when they're playing in the Garden. The noise for St. John's when they're really good is just the same as the noise for the Knicks. St. John's is the college basketball team in New York City for 3,000 years. UConn's in a neighboring state and Seton Hall, Rutgers are in a neighboring state. They don't hold a candle to St. John's and the Brooklyn Nets may as well not even exist. This is when you put those two teams together with Rick Pitino and Danny Hurley, you have four national championships. That's a big deal for St. John's as you say, to do for the first time in 25 years, beating UConn home. In a way, that is a big deal.
- [07:06]
Mike Wilbon
Yeah, there's no question. And I got a horse in the other race. Cause even though everybody who's been the head coach of Duke in The last hundred years is from Chicago. I tend to root for Illinois who I've seen play twice in person this season. They were ranked when Northwestern beat him and I was courtside. So I didn't get this. But then I was told later, illness, virus, something had been going through the team and they. But Tony, I have to now allow that Duke is better than I thought and I didn't think Duke was. Eh, I thought Duke is okay. Really, really good. But I'm not willing to accept great until we get to March. Maybe I have to accept it. But St. John's Yukon, I mean I covered the Big east for a lot of years. You and I sat shoulder to shoulder in Madison Square Garden and watched those two schools watch those teams. My God, Pitino wasn't the coach then. Louis Carneseco was and Hurley wasn't the coach then. But, but that matchup. Calhoun was so great and powerful and Tony, I can't wait to see St. John's now. Let's go straight to March. I want to see what Pitino's got for March.
- [08:15]
Tony Kornheiser
Mike, I don't know how good St. John's is. They're not. They had good three point shooting the other night but they're not a good three point shooting team. Something they're under 30% and that's got to kill Pitino because he basically invented the three point shot at Providence and then he had Kentucky do it all the time. But he walked in. This is second year he walked in last year he took the team they gave him. He didn't like it and he said so. And he changed it. He changed it. We have talked about this a lot. There are things that Rick Pitino does off the court that raises our eyebrows. But on the court it's a masterclass.
- [08:48]
Mike Wilbon
Genius, genius.
- [08:48]
Tony Kornheiser
And he's a Long island boy and it means something in New York if they're good. We move now to hockey and Alex Ovechkin, who you can see over my shoulder scoring a hat trick last night as the Washington Capitals pounded the Edmonton Oilers 7 3. Ovechkin now has 882 goals and needs 13 to beat Wayne Gretzky's all time goal scoring record. Wilbon, what is the word for Ovechkin's hat trick?
- [09:10]
Mike Wilbon
I'm going to go cross sport. I'm going to go straight age here and say lebron ish. I mean that's what it is. Those guys are essentially the same age and you just marvel at the way they're able to play at this stage. Of their careers. And so I was watching that game in the beginning yesterday, and the first Ovechkin goal was not a classic Ovechkin goal on the left side in the circle between the hatches, you know, a slap shot. It wasn't that, but he got one of those. And I, I turned off and I was stunned that Edmonton would pull the goaltender down six, three. And Oveskin winds up getting the cheap beat. But that's fine because he's earned whatever he gets at this point by being in another decade and forcing the play like this. Tony, it seems like even though he's missed a lot of games this year due to that tibular fracture or whatever it was, broken leg, he's got a real solid shot because March is his most productive month historically. Anyway, he's got a real shot at breaking Gretzky right now this year.
- [10:16]
Tony Kornheiser
Oh, he's going to. He's going to get it. I've been saying this all year. He's going to get this year. Look, my word is momentum, the big mo which the Great Eight has right now. He is now seventh in the league in goal scoring with 29, even though he missed 16 games. 16 games with a broken leg. Mike, if you look at Gretzky, who's the greatest player of all time, if you look at Gretzky from age 32 to when he retired, and I want to get the number right, in that period of time, scored 145 goals.
- [10:42]
Mike Wilbon
Well, Gretzky was spinning.
- [10:43]
Tony Kornheiser
Alex Ovechkin in the same period of time, has 324 goals. Mike. 324 goals. I mean, come on. I think he will break the record this year. And I hope that the owner of the Capitals brings in Gretzky in the last two or three or four games. Whatever it takes to be there for every single game. There was a feeling this year that the Capitals would go out of their way to facilitate Ovechkin breaking this record. And so there was a fear that it wouldn't be good for the team. There was a fear they wouldn't pay attention to the season. That's nonsense. They are. They have more points than any team in the league. He's scoring goals and they're winning games. So it's just worked out fabulously for Ovechkin. And as you say, I don't care how many empty net goals he gets. He's scored for 895. And by the way, he had the game winner yesterday, which tied him for the most all time game winning goals. With Jaramir Jagr at 145. Let's take a break. Coming up, should their last two losses undercut our ability to take the Knicks seriously?
- [11:43]
Mike Wilbon
And we'll compare and contrast some improbable moments including a lucky bounce in a golf tournament, an A Rod's fake shot.
- [11:54]
Tony Kornheiser
The Capitals have come out of the break. They beat Pittsburgh and Edmonton by a total of 15.
- [12:00]
Mike Wilbon
6.
- [12:00]
Tony Kornheiser
15 to 6, I feel.
- [12:02]
Mike Wilbon
But the other teams had people in the Big four or whatever that was and the Capitals didn't, you know.
- [12:09]
C
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- [13:47]
Tony Kornheiser
Time for some babble from the rap rabble in mail time. I like that. Let me get the here. How far deep are these things buried? Here we go. Is it time to stop taking the Knicks seriously?
- [13:59]
Mike Wilbon
Well, you can't start taking them seriously. Not after the last two losses. Tone, they got beat by seemingly 50. I know it wasn't quite that many in Cleveland and then, you know, at the other Garden in Boston. And those are the teams and they're 07 now against Cleveland, Boston and OKC. And those are the teams. And look, a lot of teams lose to those three. But the Knicks, we thought, you know, the trade for Karl Anthony Towns was supposed to help them. Dalen Brunson coming off an amazing playoffs last year. And then the problem, sadly to say, is those two are Each in the bottom five at their position defensively in the league. And that, that, that just doesn't cut it. So it's hard to take the Knicks seriously with all that negativity going on.
- [14:46]
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah. Let's just look at them realistically for a second. They are 26 and 6 against teams with losing records, 11 and 14 against teams with winning records. Even with Tibbs, who you love as a defensive guy.
- [15:00]
Mike Wilbon
I do.
- [15:00]
Tony Kornheiser
They are ranked 29th out of 30 teams against the top 10 teams. And as you say, what is the path to a title? The path to a title has to include Boston, Cleveland, Oklahoma City. If you're the Knicks, 07, as you say, 03 against Boston with the margin of defeat, 63, 63 points. 02 against Cleveland. The margin, defeat, 43. 02 against Oklahoma City. The margin, defeat, 35. So how are they supposed to win so that, you know, let's stop this. They cannot win this way. Those teams they have to beat, they're not close too much.
- [15:37]
Mike Wilbon
It's not like somebody else is going to take out all three of those. I mean, you know, it's just, it's Tony. It's kind of surprising, though, because they had a certain grit last year in the playoffs. They did. Even with everybody hurt and now with more people healthy, not everybody. Mitchell Robinson, and not as good. They don't have that grit. I don't. I don't. I don't get it. I understand it.
- [15:59]
Tony Kornheiser
Most improbable moment from the weekend. Juan Soto and Alex Bregman both homering in their first spring training games with their new teams. Brian Campbell getting a bounce out of the trees and winning the Mexico Open. Or a Rod hitting a half court shot to win a Bucknell student $10,000.
- [16:16]
Mike Wilbon
Okay. Two dudes going to the hall of Fame hitting a home run is nothing. Not even worth a headline. It's a caption. A bounce out of the trees. You and I get bounces out of the trees every week. We do. We don't then go on to layup and then hit it within three feet. But that's beside the point. The shot out of the trees. Stop. Anybody gets that? A Rod. Alex Rodriguez hitting this shot and he didn't heave it. Tony. It wasn't some wind up crazy thing. It wasn't like some mascot over the back shoulder. He shot. It shows you how great an athlete a Rod is. And it might say to the NBA owners who have to vote on his candidacy to own the Minnesota Timberwolves, we might want to let him in. CUZ none of the rest of us can do that.
- [17:04]
Tony Kornheiser
I'm glad that you brought that up, because it was a great shot. And if I was the Bucknell kid, I would turn down the $10,000, and I would ask for two points with the Timberwolves after he buys the team. Just give me two points worth of that.
- [17:18]
Mike Wilbon
Even one point.
- [17:20]
Tony Kornheiser
I'm going to go with the golf. I agree with you on the baseball. I'm going to go with the golf. Because I watched the golf. I'm going to tell you exactly what happened. It's the second hole in a playoff. You know, they par. They each par the hole the first time, second hole. And this kid gets up and he hits it so far, right? It's just in the trees. It's OB Mike. He's going to lose the tournament. And it gets thrown back onto the course, which is simply unbelievable. He hits a net shot to about 100 yards. It's a par 5, and with 100 to go, he sticks a wedge to 3ft, 8 inches. Okay? And then he. And I'm watching this, I cannot believe it. Because he's supposed to lose. He's supposed to be OB he hits the putt, and his life changes. Mike.186 starts on the PGA Tour and the Korn Ferry Tour, and he had never won. And now he's in the Masters, and now he's in the Players, and now he's in the tree. And now he's in the Las. Yes.
- [18:16]
Mike Wilbon
How's it going when you hit a tree? How's it going? I hit a tree. I'm happy to be back in the fairway, but, you know, I'm not being so bogey. The hole. No.
- [18:23]
Tony Kornheiser
Goes out. Goes out. Not female. Let's take one last break. Still to come, the LA Galaxy celebrate big and then come up small.
- [18:32]
Mike Wilbon
And what does it mean when the Sixers say they're exploring options for Joel Embiid?
- [18:41]
D
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- [19:11]
Tony Kornheiser
Get in the zone.
- [19:12]
Mike Wilbon
Autozone.
- [19:14]
C
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- [19:38]
Tony Kornheiser
Get in the zone.
- [19:39]
C
AutoZone restrictions apply.
- [19:47]
Tony Kornheiser
Happy time people. Happy 69th birthday Eddie Murray as the Baltimore Orioles become pennant contenders with their young talent, it's prudent to remember the Orioles of the late 70s and early 80s. With young talent like Murray and Cal Ripken, Murray was a switch hitting first baseman with 504 home runs, second as a switch hitter only to Mickey Mantle's.536. Murray was American League Rookie of the Year in 1977. An eight time All Star, three time Gold Glove three time Silver Slugger. Murray led the American League in home runs in RBI in 1981 and was on the Orioles World Series Champions of 1983. Murray is in the hall of Fame and the O's retired his number 33.
- [20:28]
Mike Wilbon
Tony when I covered that team, which I did for the Washington Post quite a bit, I could never crack Eddie Murray. He never, never just spilled his guts to me. It was always Richard justice of the competing Baltimore sun, our dear friend. And then recently, not too long ago, I go, I'm at the golf course, I'm on the first tee and they say, your fourth is coming up. You'll probably like playing with him. It's Eddie Murray and he couldn't have been nicer and he couldn't have been chatty really. And he couldn't have been more engaging. Five hours.
- [20:54]
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, well, he spent, he spent 20 years not talking, so he's got a lot of time to make up.
- [20:59]
Mike Wilbon
Smart guy.
- [21:00]
Tony Kornheiser
Happy Anniversary Jim Kelly on this day 40 years ago, while playing for the Houston gamblers of the USFL, Kelly outdoed Steve Young, who was playing on the LA Express, throwing for five touchdowns and a record 574 yards to lead the gamblers back from a 3313 deficit to a 3433 victory. Fewer than 10,000 people were in attendance and the game wasn't televised even in Houston and la. Sports Illustrated called it the greatest game nobody saw. Kelly and Young would go on to the NFL and have hall of Fame careers with the bills and 49ers. Kelly's passing total not only was more than he would ever throw throw for in the NFL, was also the Most ever in American football game.
- [21:41]
Mike Wilbon
I know Aaron Rodgers won a Super bowl and he won several MVPs, but if you asked me today, I had to win a game for my life, who would I take, Jim Kelly or Aaron Rodgers? I'm taking Jim Kelly. Okay. Because Jim Kelly, the toughness and the talent he demonstrated and the. The love of teammates that he received over those years, not just the four, but beyond that, Tony, it might have been unparalleled. It was up there with anybody. I take Jim Kelly. That's just me.
- [22:11]
Tony Kornheiser
Happy trails to Sunday's season opener for the MLS champs. The LA Galaxy unveiled their title banner in the pre game of their season opener. Then they went out and got blanked by an expansion team in the first official game in the franchise's existence. San Diego FC won 2 0, getting two goals from Anders Dreier in his MLS debut. Said Dreier, quote, they had a little party before the game and we spoke about, let's kill that party. And I think we did that quite well. Unquote. The Galaxy's out four players from the team that won the MLS cup in December. But captain Mai Yoshida said, quote, there's no excuse. We have the base of that team since last season. We should have done better.
- [22:48]
Mike Wilbon
Tony, those ring ceremony games often backfire on the champ. So here's what you get.
- [22:55]
Tony Kornheiser
Let's go to the big finish, if we could. An unnamed NFL team has put forth a proposal to ban the tush push. Are you in favor of that ban?
- [23:02]
Mike Wilbon
I'm not really. And Diana Rossini reports the packers could be that team. If The packers are four, you know I'm against it. The Pistons have won six straight. Is that significant?
- [23:13]
Tony Kornheiser
They won 14 all last year. They got 31 now. Pretty good coaching this year. Sixers are reportedly exploring options for Joel Embiid's left knee. What does that say to you?
- [23:22]
Mike Wilbon
There's no more options. He's got to sit. He's out tonight. This knee management. No, no, no more, more, no more. Mikayla Shiffrin won the slalom in Italy for her 100th World cup win. Are you impressed?
- [23:35]
Tony Kornheiser
Very much so. I think last week she was saying she was scared to, you know, to run anymore. And now she won a whole event. Good for her last one. Timberwolves and Thunder tonight. Who you got?
- [23:46]
Mike Wilbon
It's a run back, running back of a tremendous game last night, but Divincenzo, Gobert, Randle, all still out from Minnesota. And now it's an okc. Yeah, I'm going with the top scene I am.
- [23:57]
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, of course we're out of time. Try and do better the next time. I'm Tony Kornhacher.
- [24:01]
Mike Wilbon
I'm Mike Wilbon. Same time tomorrow, knuckleheads. You can get the PTI podcast on the ESPN app or Apple podcast. Go watch that game, run it back. Maybe it'll be good again.
- [24:12]
Tony Kornheiser
Kayla Shifrin is in the history books.
- [24:14]
C
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