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- [00:00]
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Analyst 1
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Analyst 3
This is Frances from Fixable, a podcast from Ted. These days every finance leader is under pressure to save money. But you can't beat the competition just by cutting costs. To win, you need to spend smarter and move faster. You need Brex. Brex is the modern finance platform that breaks the trade off between control and speed with intelligent corporate cards, high Yield Banking and AI powered Expense Management. Join the 30,000 companies that spend smarter and move faster with Brex. Learn more@brex.com Grow Heather is a nurse practitioner from UnitedHealthcare.
- [01:28]
Analyst 2
We meet patients wherever they live.
- [01:31]
Analyst 3
During a house call, she found Jack had an issue.
- [01:33]
Analyst 2
Jack's blood pressure was dangerously high.
- [01:36]
Analyst 1
It was 217 over 110.
- [01:39]
Analyst 3
So they got Jack to the hospital and got him the help he needed.
- [01:43]
Analyst 2
He had had a stamp placed in his heart preventing a massive heart attack. If it wasn't for my guardian angel, I wouldn't be here.
- [01:49]
Analyst 3
Hear more stories like Jack's at unitedhealthcare.com benefits features and or devices vary by plan. Area limitation and exclusions apply.
- [01:56]
Advertiser
Foreign.
- [02:09]
Analyst 2
Good morning and welcome to the NBA Daily for June 23, 2025. Coming up, everything NBA Finals Game 7. The Thunder of the champs. We're here to talk about it. What's going on? S Big, big, big night for us. The end of our season. The end of the year. Congratulations to the Oklahoma City Thunder on finishing off one of the best team seasons in NBA history. They finished the season tied with the the third most wins of all time. 84 wins on the season, obviously. 68 wins in the regular season. 16 to win the ring. Yep, amazing run for them. They were the best team all year long. They were the favorites coming into the playoffs. They were the favorites coming into the finals. Nobody really expected it to go seven, but they finished the job.
- [03:05]
Analyst 1
It was genuinely, I mean like, you think back to every moment here for the Oklahoma City Thunder, and it. First of all, it's been a privilege to be able to cover this entire run for them because you look at like the start of the season and what the conversation was about okc. All right, well, they disappointed last year. We need to see how they show it in the playoffs now. And they went through adversity in this postseason. Game 7 against Denver. How are they going to respond? They did got to the conference finals. Okay. Can they take that step? Can they grow up? Their trio of sga, J Dub and Chet Holmgren had a massive game to basically seal the deal in that victory and get them to the NBA Finals. Yeah, Even here in the NBA Finals, so much adversity losing game one after being up by, what was it, 15 points at some point, you know, being down 21 in the series, clawing back to be up 32 and not sealing the deal in game six and now definitively becoming the NBA champions in a way that was befitting of. Of what they were all season, which was their defense. Their defense led the way in that second half.
- [04:14]
Analyst 2
Half.
- [04:15]
Analyst 1
@ some point it was like Indiana had scored 20 points, you know, to 42 for OKC in that.
- [04:21]
Analyst 2
It was a 34 to 23rd quarter, basically, if you weren't TJ McConnell, there was about 15 there where no one else scored except for TJ McConnell, which we, we just know at this point he's an unstoppable force of nature, especially playing in Oklahoma City. Yeah, it was. This was a master class, I thought, defensively in the second half for them, you know. Yeah. Credit to the Pacers for hanging in. And we'll get to the Pacer side of this because obviously so much there. Yes, there's so. Yeah, there's a ton. But, but the, the third quarter for, for the Thunder, just from a defensive standpoint, they actually started throwing traps at T.J. mcConnell. That's how hot he was.
- [05:01]
Analyst 1
Dude, I didn't think I would ever say that my life. TJ McConnell got trapped at half court in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. That's a real sentence. Incredible. Yeah.
- [05:13]
Analyst 2
And, you know, I, I even made a joke. You know, maybe we'll see the boxing one for the second time in the NBA Finals. And Steph Curry and TJ McConnell just get the special defenses, but the, the. Just the Thunder, their ability to just turn it up. Lou Dort's defense was excellent in this game. And then Shay Gil finishing up what was an amazing season. Obviously he was the MVP. He was a scoring champ wins finals MVP. But he has this quiet 29125 rebound game. Every single thing that the Thunder did well on offense went through him. Every single thing. Yeah, Mo, it felt like most of their points in the first half came either from him scoring or from him touching the ball.
- [06:03]
Analyst 1
What a response from him because he had eight turnovers in Game 6. And the conversation I had, I mean we, we had it on this podcast where it was like, man, that was a very disappointing game from sga. You have to hold the MVP to a higher standard, especially in a closeout game. And the way he responded tonight with the way that he was making plays, driving the basketball, seeing the attention, seeing the doubles, but then also kicking it out to Alex Crusoe or, or finding Casen Wallace in the dunker spot or getting it to Jdub to attack off of a closeout. And like that's the growth from SGA that you want as he progresses as this quote unquote dynasty starts for okc. Just because he is so, like he still has so much left to get better at, you know. Yes, of course he is an incredible scorer. He is becoming a better three point shooter. He is unstoppable in that mid range area. One of the most offbeat helter skelter guards that I've ever watched in my life.
- [07:02]
Analyst 2
But look at just what he did in this game that was different than what we've seen out of him. I thought, look, the greats ever to ever play, they control the pace of games. You know, I think about LeBron in the 2015 finals basically when he was by himself and the way he started backing down, you know, Andre Iguodala. Yeah, right from like three point line. I mean the thing, the ways in which they just, they bend the will of the game to what they want. That's what Shay did in this game. And, and again, it's not the prettiest stat line that you're going to see from him. He kept going for dagger threes.
- [07:39]
Analyst 1
You know, at the end he wanted his moment. He wanted his moment at the end.
- [07:43]
Analyst 2
He wound up 2 of 12 from 3. But I mean, the truth is it didn't really matter that, that, that he missed so many shots because he really just dictated the pace of everything that was happening in the half court. And by the way, also, you know, makes a couple plays on defense, has a great block. Yeah, that was a momentum changing block. You know, I felt for them. So again he, he follows up this, this incredible regular season with an excellent playoff Run. Finals mvp. This is one of the best individual seasons that we've ever seen.
- [08:17]
Analyst 1
Yeah, I mean, I remember we talked about this in early June when the finals were just about to start and Shea had won his mvp. And it felt a little bit premature to talk about this being one of the best seasons ever. But from a guard standpoint, it's kind of undisputable at this point. Scoring champ, Finals mvp, Western Conference, Finals mvp. MVP itself. And now finals MVP and champion. He led the team to 68 plus wins, 84 wins. And they were one of, I believe, one of only four teams to do the 84 wins. One of three teams. It was them.
- [08:50]
Analyst 2
Yeah.
- [08:50]
Analyst 1
96 bulls and 97 bulls to do so and win. Right. You're in rarefied air when it comes to just like the all time teams. And it's weird, I don't know, Dave, how you contextualize this. It's weird to like look at the way that they're celebrating and it kind of feels nonchalant to them.
- [09:10]
Analyst 2
Like they were very muted.
- [09:14]
Analyst 1
Yeah.
- [09:14]
Analyst 2
I want to talk about just, I mean, not to get into the broadcast because we will actually hang out and maybe talk about that a little bit. Yeah, the broadcast was weird, but especially because it felt like the post game. I was watching two minutes of Pacers players looking sad.
- [09:31]
Analyst 1
Yeah.
- [09:31]
Analyst 2
In the, in the, you know, walking in the back, seeing Tyrese Halberton instead of watching the Thunder celebrating on the court. But I think they just weren't giving them anything.
- [09:41]
Analyst 1
Yeah.
- [09:41]
Analyst 2
You know, they really were very low key and chill. It was, they were ready for this.
- [09:48]
Analyst 1
That surprised me. No, you know what, that surprised me. I thought it was sort of like, well, we're gonna hold it all in until we actually win the title. But this is just, this is them. They just are very cool, calm and collected.
- [10:01]
Analyst 2
Yeah.
- [10:02]
Analyst 1
You know, I saw Jalen Williams, you know, kind of shedding tears there on the baseline and, and Chet had a great moment with his family. But for the most part you're like, wow, this is a very, like they kind of expected themselves to be here.
- [10:15]
Analyst 2
Maybe they're too young. Maybe it's like they're not jaded enough by the NBA. I mean, even Alex Russo, this is second ring. This is old hat for him. You know, I mean it's. This guy's just a multi time champion now, so.
- [10:26]
Advertiser
Right.
- [10:27]
Analyst 2
I, I don't know, I don't know what it is, but obviously they're unflappable. I do want to hit some of the other guys because you mentioned the the, the other two of the big three, J Dub, I mean, had a bad first half, had a much better second half, but I, I think Chet is going to be the guy that stands out to me from Game 7. His defense was excellent and you know, it's easy to say, oh yeah, he had five blocks. Of course he had a great defensive game. He was actually altering shots around the rim. This is one of those games where his motor just stands out so much to me. And he, he is a high motor player. But in particular game seven, I mean this is the last game of the season. A lot of guys started looking tired, especially in that fourth quarter and he just didn't. Especially on the defensive end. You know, we're gonna, we're always going to be able to nitpick his offense because I don't think he's ever going to be a perfect player on that side. But man, the promise of what he could be defensively, I think we got a really big taste of that in Game 7.
- [11:27]
Analyst 1
He probably would have won defensive player of the year. It was either him or Victor Wembanyama if he didn't.
- [11:34]
Analyst 2
If he had been healthy all year.
- [11:36]
Analyst 1
If he had been healthy all year, he would have been an all defense level player. All of the conversations about who from OKC should we gift this defensive player of the year award would have gone to chat Holmgren, because yeah, that's how good of a defender he is. And that's that like, yes, he elevates the ceiling of this team defensively to a level where they honestly can kind of be better than they were this season. Which is ridiculous to think about. Right, because they missed him for such an extended amount of time. You talked about the five block shots, the deterred shots was massive. I also thought he just looked more comfortable offensively. He hit that three, which I thought was huge. You know, he's been struggling with that throughout the finals. The other aspect I think offensively that's cool with him is like you can see the, in parts of this series, the game slowed down for him where he was hitting that like short mid range shot. He would grab it in the post and not feel rushed. And, and I think those are the evolutionary steps he needs to take next season to eventually become an all star and then all NBA player. But yeah, Chet, Chet was awesome. And I think from, from Jdub's perspective, I'm curious what your thoughts are, but the way that Jdub handled game four and game five for this Thunder team, you kind of allow him. I think the game Plan changed for Indiana, too, where they're like, hey, we need to shut down the drives. And that's why Pascal Siakam switched out onto him. But Pascal did a great job on J. And I think that flipped the series where it's like, okay, now this is an SGA series where you have to handle business against nem Hard and whatnot. But, yeah, what a. What a run from this OKC trio. And it's kind of just. It's weird because it's just starting. That's what it feels like.
- [13:10]
Analyst 2
That's. The other thing is now I will say this is maybe the third straight champion that we've. We've said that. Oh, we've got a dynasty coming true. And I. And I guess that is a pretty good segue to go talk about the Pacer side of this, because one of the realities of the NBA, obviously, is the injury situation. And Tyrese Halliburton, I thought, you know, game six was heroic. You know, sports. Sports heroic. Let's be very clear here. This is sports, right? Playing on the injured calf, and then he comes out and he's electric to start the game. Nine points in the first seven minutes, and then what looks like a torn Achilles. You know, I think we've all kind of been around the block enough to know. Yeah, the. The Pacers, you know, I think someone has reported it as an Achilles injury at this point. Obviously, we're talking about this right after the game, so nothing official.
- [14:04]
Analyst 1
It seems as though his. His dad confirmed it on the broadcast.
- [14:07]
Analyst 2
To the broadcast. So, you know, and obviously, that's horrific. And I want, you know, again, and it would been easy, I think, for the Pacers to have rolled over after that. They did not. They had a lead at halftime. I mean, this team, again, this is one of the most resilient NBA teams in my memory. I. I just can't remember a team that. So many times I would count them out. And yet they still had some juice right down to. I mean, you know, they get it to 10 with 3 minutes left in the fourth quarter. I mean, this team just never quit. They not only played with a lot of heart, I. I thought Rick Carlisle's game plan was excellent. Again, the first half of this game, like, the Pacers still, like, even when after Hal Burton went down, still had a lot of hope and thought that they had a chance. Obviously, the third quarter for the Thunder just changed everything. But what a run for the Pacers.
- [15:06]
Analyst 1
Yeah, honestly, I. We were kind of texting back and forth about this, but it was so devastating and gut wrenching. And I still feel that way to watch the Halliburton highlight and God, the broadcast was showing up.
- [15:19]
Analyst 2
I, I just, you know what? I grew up in a different time, man. Because I, I remember growing up, you didn't see an athlete's injury over and over and over again.
- [15:29]
Analyst 1
It was like, it was like time out. Yeah.
- [15:32]
Analyst 2
And it just, it felt gratuitous for whatever reason. And whether it's a social media driven thing, I have no idea what it is, but it's kind of gross. I hope that goes away from sports, man. Like, you know, I, I've worked with a lot of athletes in my lifetime and like, I mean, like anyone who watches the sports, like, we have a connection to these guys. I don't want to watch them in agony. I, I think it's disgusting.
- [15:54]
Analyst 1
Yeah.
- [15:55]
Analyst 2
Yeah. So anyway. Yeah. And aside. But it was, that was. You know, we already had a mar. On. On this amazing game 7 and it just felt like a constant reminder throughout the night. Yeah. That I need to keep thinking about it.
- [16:09]
Analyst 1
I, I honestly. Yeah. I agree with you wholeheartedly on the broadcast side of things. To the, to the injury itself. It like it sucked the life out of the game for the rest of the quarter and rest of the half. Truthfully, I, I don't know how the Pacers had the wherewithal to stay in this and you know, but truthfully, it's because they're the Pacers and they've been doing this basically all year. They have this egalitarian offense where they know that if one guy goes down, we have seven different options. And you saw obviously.
- [16:42]
Analyst 2
First shot of the game.
- [16:43]
Analyst 1
Yeah.
- [16:44]
Analyst 2
First shot of the game is an Andrew Nemhard mid range pull up.
- [16:47]
Analyst 1
Right.
- [16:47]
Analyst 2
This is an unreal situation for, For NBA basketball in 2025. That, that dude just. I mean, that's the first shot of the game. So to, to your point, I, that's actually what it is. Right. It was Nemhard. It was Siakam. I think that if you're the, if you're the Pacers and you're looking back at this series, you're probably looking at a lot of the Siakam missed opportunities. Not that Siakam missed them, but.
- [17:14]
Analyst 1
But that they missed.
- [17:16]
Analyst 2
Yes. There was a lack of aggressiveness in making sure that.
- [17:20]
Advertiser
Yeah.
- [17:20]
Analyst 2
Whether it was played. And again, I know Rick Carlisle doesn't love to call plays, but there needed to be an emphasis, I thought, on making sure that Siakam got more touches. I mean, there were times where it Was, you know, three minutes of game time. He's out there and the ball didn't find him.
- [17:35]
Analyst 1
It felt like. So there was a stretch in the third quarter where there were about. It was a 90 run by the end of it by OKC. And in that 9, 0 run, Pascal Siakam did not touch the ball a couple of times. He had gotten the switch in the post. They were looking at a post entry, Ben Mather, and couldn't get it to him. T.J. mcConnell couldn't get into him. Pascal subbed out, and then it was the TJ McConnell show where he went off. And, you know, we were kind of texting back and forth and I'm like, man, I actually think this is the stretch of the game where they lost it. This is. This is the moment. And yeah, Sergey right here is talking to us about the exact same thing. There were seven minutes when, when they were getting pummeled and Siakam was on the bench. And that is unequivocally the time where the Pacers lost the game. That was absolutely what it was. I think you look back at next season or you look forward at next season for this Pacers team and you say, well, how do we look at a year where we're probably not going to have Tyrese Halliburton for the entire year? It's figuring out how you can implement Pascal Siaka more and run more of the offense through Pascal. See how much you can really push it with this team that has so much offensive firepower, even without Halurn.
- [18:45]
Analyst 2
Yeah, I like, we're gonna have a lot of time to. Not just through the season that the Pacers had, but to also think about the next season. But the truth is, like, we. This is the third major. This is the third Achilles injury of the playoffs in the Eastern Conference of an all NBA player. Yeah, right. So Damen, Willard, Jason Tatum and. And now presumably Tyres Halberton, all of.
- [19:08]
Analyst 1
Them on that negative step, by the way, every single one of them look the exact same way. That's always what it is.
- [19:14]
Analyst 2
Yeah, and. But the east is wide open. But if you're the Pacers, you're still probably going to be extremely competitive without Halberton. You still have your best player in Pascal Siakam, and it's not that Halberton's not important, but you do have guard depth. I mean, like, they're playing Ben Shepard in the NBA Finals, so clearly, like, they feel pretty comfortable with the team that they've got. And again, I don't want to just get into next season yet. But this is kind of like the natural thing that we do, especially if a guy gets hurt on the, I mean the last, the last night of the year, right? I mean, dude, it's out for all next season.
- [19:48]
Analyst 1
You, you contextualize this entire postseason run for Indiana and it was nothing short of magical. Like it really was magical. The the Buck series, the way that Halliburton stole that final game for them, the Cav series, Halliburton stealing the the game for them there, the way that they toppled the Cavs, a team that won 64 games and then the in the Knicks series defiantly winning that with clutch moments and clutch. I mean Game one against the Knicks is going to go down as one of the most heroic efforts we've ever seen with niece Smith shots and obviously the final shot from Halliburton to send it to overtime. They had moments. Every NBA fan who was a witness to this Pacers run will forever remember this Indiana Pacers team and that that's got to count for something because to your point earlier, they are absolutely going to be known as the most resilient playoff team we've ever watched because it's just how do they keep getting away with this is what I was saying in Game 6, and I still feel that way. This is just, it's, it really is a testament to to how great this team is even though they don't win a championship in the.
- [21:01]
Advertiser
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- [21:40]
Analyst 3
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- [22:16]
Analyst 2
We meet patients wherever they live during A house call.
- [22:20]
Analyst 3
She found Jack had an issue.
- [22:21]
Analyst 2
Jack's blood pressure was dangerously high.
- [22:24]
Analyst 1
It was 217 over 110.
- [22:27]
Analyst 3
So they got Jack to the hospital and got him the help he needed.
- [22:30]
Analyst 2
He had had a stent placed in his heart, preventing a massive heart attack. If it wasn't for my guardian angel, I wouldn't be here.
- [22:37]
Analyst 3
Hear more stories like Jack's at unitedhealthcare.com benefits, features and or devices vary by plan. Area limitation and exclusions apply.
- [22:47]
Analyst 2
The pod father is in the house. Andy Pods. Andrew Schlecht. Andrew, are you.
- [22:53]
Analyst 3
Hair is intact.
- [22:55]
Analyst 2
Wow, look at that.
- [22:57]
Analyst 1
I mean, it's perfect.
- [22:58]
Advertiser
Look at that. Oh, man. What's up, guys?
- [23:03]
Analyst 2
How is it? How is it out there? I. I heard that no one knew how to open champagne.
- [23:10]
Advertiser
We're. We're still. I feel like we're still kind of waiting for the party to start a little. I don't know. It's hard to know how, like, what to do or how to feel about this. This is never. I feel like. I mean, look at my camera. I don't even know what I'm doing.
- [23:25]
Analyst 2
I know. Your camera has. Your camera definitely has been in the champagne.
- [23:31]
Advertiser
There you go. This is not. This is not connecting at all. I'll keep it like this.
- [23:34]
Analyst 1
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [23:35]
Analyst 2
You're good.
- [23:37]
Advertiser
Yeah. I mean, the players and coaches and everybody, like, it just feels so surreal, you know, it just.
- [23:44]
Analyst 2
It.
- [23:45]
Advertiser
It's hard to believe that this actually happened in Oklahoma City is, like, something that people keep saying, you know, I've had, like, many off the record, like, a lot of off the record stuff with, like, people throughout the team, and there's just like, this, like, jubilation and this kind of. Everybody just feels like they can finally just breathe a little bit, you know?
- [24:06]
Analyst 1
Yeah.
- [24:07]
Advertiser
The players, they're having trouble, like, putting it into words, you know, the feelings that they have tonight. It's been. It's very surreal. It feels very surreal to be in this building with confetti everywhere and people not telling me I can't go places because I'm just going everywhere.
- [24:24]
Analyst 2
Yeah. Well, the rules are out. Summertime now. There are no more of these tears. No. No wristbands. You go where you want. Pods. Just tell them the pod father is in the building.
- [24:35]
Analyst 1
The pod father man.
- [24:37]
Analyst 2
So. Okay, so the. The. It's funny that you said that they. There was, like, a sense of relief because they did seem a little bit subdued after the win. And they've been like this all year, and, you know, you've talked to us a lot about them. Obviously you're like, you know, you're Mr. OKC. You've described them to us this way. We just all assumed that eventually. The top off.
- [25:01]
Analyst 1
Yeah, exactly.
- [25:02]
Analyst 2
And they. They're just hungry for more. Like, are we supposed to be scared of them?
- [25:08]
Advertiser
I think so. Honestly, I think so. Because, like, they're. This is just a laser focused group, man. You. I've seen a letdown from like, Mark and even from Presti a little bit. Like, they're. They're enjoying this. They're like really taking time to like, kind of breathe this in a little bit. And it's been really cool to watch and really cool to see and even have like, moments with them. Know myself has been very, very cool. This is special. This is something really special. Something that Oklahoma City has never had. Something that we thought was not even possible. And no one dreamed that something like this would ever be possible in this city. And to actually see it happening, it's surreal. I mean, there's just tons of people crying and cheering and it was very cool. Know, I got to spend mo for myself. Like, I got to go sit with my wife and kids up in the stands for like a few minutes during the fourth quarter and like, it. It's just one of those moments that I'll never forget personally. Then you think about, like, what this team has put into this year and what they, you know, they started this rebuild and hoped that something like this could eventually happen. And, you know, Presley's finally got the monkey off his back. He's won a championship and, you know, now this feels like the beginning of something for them.
- [26:30]
Analyst 1
Hey, Andrew, I know you kind of talked about it just now, like, how gratifying it is for you personally, but you've watched this team lose in high stakes moments. Not this specific version, but like different versions of this OKC team. For them to finally win a championship, man, and be historic in the sense that they are whatever. The 68 wins, the 84 wins, the second youngest team, all the different accolades. How does it feel for you personally to have watched this season of Thunder basketball?
- [27:05]
Advertiser
It doesn't feel real, honestly. Like I'm looking up right now And I'm seeing 20, 25 NBA champions there. I'm. I was walking through the locker room, Jada walks by me and he. He says, touch it. Touch the trophy. Like, I'm like, reach out. Touch the throat. I'm. It's just like, yeah, it just doesn't feel real. Honestly, I have. I. Honestly, when I. When I think about it, I just have so much gratitude for moments like this.
- [27:35]
Analyst 1
We gotta get you on the parade.
- [27:37]
Analyst 2
Wait, listen, Andrew, you tore an acl.
- [27:41]
Advertiser
I want to be doing during the parade is. I want to have a down to dunk the booth and have the guys come through.
- [27:47]
Analyst 2
Yes.
- [27:49]
Advertiser
That would be a lot. Yeah, Yeah. I just think back and I have so much gratitude. Like, this city shouldn't have an NBA team. Honestly, they shouldn't have one. We. But here we are, NBA champs with executive. Like, the best executive in the NBA. A great ownership group. The mvp, the finals MVP scoring champ. It's surreal. I was talking to J Will a little bit ago, and he said, you know, the fact that Shay. That I can joke around with Shay the same way that I joke around with the guys in the G League, like, means so much to me. He's like, he's just one of the guys, you know, he's. He said he's literally an NBA legend and the guy is just the same as everybody else. And so I thought that was a pretty cool quote.
- [28:39]
Analyst 1
There was this really cool moment on the podium where obviously SGA wins the finals mvp. And he's like, this is not only my finals mvp, this is also J Dubs. And he just fully gives the finals MVP trophy to J Dub and says, like, take it. Go give it to everybody else. He does not want the attention.
- [28:58]
Analyst 2
It was.
- [28:59]
Analyst 1
I'm. I'm a little bit surprised by that because I did think that would kind of. He would open up to the fact that he did have such a historic season, and this is undoubtedly one of the best accolade seasons we've seen ever. But it's. It's. It's a testament to the type of player that SGA is. And I know you've covered him through trade rumors and, you know, hey, are you happy in okc? And now the dude is an NBA champion there. You know, that's.
- [29:29]
Advertiser
That's how teams, like, just stay together is when you have, like, guys that are. That have humility. It's like Steph Curry.
- [29:35]
Analyst 2
Yep.
- [29:36]
Advertiser
Those guys will never leave stuff. Like, they want to stick around with Steph as long as they can. I think Shay has a lot of that same DNA, you know, that Steph has where he is humble and he does. He knows that he needs these other guys to win, and he wants to win so badly that he's willing to do stuff like that. You know, JDub could have his own team. You know, that's. That's something that if he wanted that he could have it. But when you have the best player on the team, you know, coming to you, saying, like, this is yours too. I mean, that. That's the kind of stuff that makes guys want to stay. You know, you're not fighting over it. You know, it's a whole team effort.
- [30:18]
Analyst 1
And it's not just guys want to stay, it's guys want to come.
- [30:21]
Advertiser
It's amazing kind of watching it all unfold. Like, I think they've done, like, everything from like a leadership standpoint. Every, like, they've done it just how you'd want people to handle all of this. It's really cool to see them being rewarded, you know, at the end of the day like this.
- [30:37]
Analyst 2
Now that they won the title. How nervous were you when bus gate came out today? And we. We got to see the decorated buses. I mean, that was.
- [30:48]
Advertiser
I would say that I don't know what's going on over here. That's not the players. I don't know who that is.
- [30:54]
Analyst 2
Hopefully that's fun noise.
- [30:56]
Advertiser
I think it's like the business department.
- [30:58]
Analyst 2
Okay. Anyways, yeah, they're definitely happy right now. All their season tickets.
- [31:04]
Advertiser
Yeah, baby.
- [31:06]
Analyst 1
Merch.
- [31:07]
Analyst 2
Apparently the parade is Tuesday, so. So before the.
- [31:12]
Analyst 1
Before the draft.
- [31:13]
Analyst 2
Really? Yeah. They had time. So it's going to be Tuesday. And. And there you go. I think we might have lost Andrew.
- [31:21]
Analyst 1
Yeah. I'm not sure enough.
- [31:23]
Analyst 2
I don't know. Maybe he's joined the business section.
- [31:25]
Analyst 1
He was trying to avoid the bus gate conversation.
- [31:27]
Analyst 2
Yeah, he was. I mean, again. So I. I'll let you guys in on a little secret here just for the stream. I don't know if this will make the actual audio pod, but the NBA Daily curse is something that we've been playing with all year because when we first started booking guests, it seemed that every time we would pre book a guest, the team that they covered or the team we wanted to talk about would lose.
- [31:50]
Analyst 1
Would lose.
- [31:51]
Analyst 2
Yeah. And so when we get to the playoffs, Andrew starts playing very coy about when he would let us know whether he was available post game and in the final.
- [32:02]
Analyst 1
This is gonna get cut.
- [32:04]
Analyst 2
It might. I don't. It won't be cut from YouTube. YouTube is forever. I understand. I think it's in the national archives. That's true. So Andrew's coming back just in time for me to let everyone know you're back. I'm telling. I'm explaining, by the way, what.
- [32:20]
Advertiser
It was a great. It was really, really great effort from. From Rick Carlisle.
- [32:24]
Analyst 2
Yeah.
- [32:25]
Advertiser
To try to like, try to rile up, people, because it's like, man, I was. I was about to raise my hand and be like, hey, Rick, by the way, did you know that there happened to be T shirts that say that you're the NBA championship? The NBA champion in this building right now? You know, it was a great move. I thought it was throwing your T shirt there. Yeah, a little. Little desperate there for Rick, but I thought, you know what? You might as well try it. You might as well try to get pissed off about something.
- [32:53]
Analyst 1
Yeah.
- [32:54]
Analyst 2
Nobody believes in him. I love that so much, Andrew. I was just. I was filling everybody in on. On the way that you would wait to confirm your appearances on the NBA daily especially. It got worse in the finals, dude.
- [33:09]
Advertiser
It's real today.
- [33:11]
Analyst 2
No confirmation.
- [33:12]
Analyst 1
He didn't even tell us.
- [33:13]
Analyst 2
Yeah.
- [33:15]
Advertiser
Nope, Nope. Not talking. Anybody? Game seven. Game seven.
- [33:21]
Analyst 3
No jinxes.
- [33:22]
Advertiser
Nope, not jinx. Hell, I love it. Listen, listen. I mean, I've got the right socks on. I'm, you know, I'm wearing the. The winning pants. You know, this is. This is the stuff you got to do. You're talking about sacrifice. It's not texting you guys about confirming to coming on the show and wearing the right socks. That's, you know, that's why. That's why we see championship. You know, just. That's it scrolling around here right now.
- [33:47]
Analyst 2
Okay. All right. So look, before we get out of here, Andrew, I'm gonna ask you what I just asked these guys. Obviously, this was an amazing year. I think just overall in the NBA, an amazing year. Obviously, you covered the Thunder and they just won the title. So incredible. What's like, one thing you're going to think about from the season that's not just the championship.
- [34:09]
Advertiser
Oh, man. Honestly, I think this is a year that if you love basketball, this was one of the best years to watch the NBA.
- [34:20]
Analyst 2
Yep.
- [34:20]
Advertiser
I think, like, night in, night out, there was always something. It's always something to watch. There was always a storyline to dig into. There was always a really good game on. I mean, think about, like, all the playoff games that we got to watch and cover. Like, it.
- [34:40]
Analyst 2
Oh, I agree. Lost him again. I agree, though. Yeah, no, he's right.
- [34:47]
Analyst 3
He's back.
- [34:48]
Analyst 2
Yeah.
- [34:48]
Advertiser
Can you hear me? Okay, I can't hear you guys anymore. I keep getting phone calls, and I can't hear you.
- [34:52]
Analyst 2
Okay.
- [34:53]
Advertiser
Anyway, great basketball. Very grateful for you three in particular. You guys crushed it this year. We feel the same. It's a joy to be on a team with you guys. I sincerely think that you three are the best And I'm grateful for you guys. I can't hear you at all, but we're grateful.
- [35:14]
Analyst 2
Love you, buddy.
- [35:15]
Advertiser
For you.
- [35:16]
Analyst 2
Enjoy the night.
- [35:17]
Advertiser
Team NBA Daily.
- [35:18]
Analyst 2
All right, go grab a bottle of champagne. I don't think anybody else is using it, so go and do that again. Guys, I'm gonna. I'm gonna wrap up the show, but for. Again, a lot of people behind the scenes. It's funny because it's a podcast. You might not think how many people are involved in actually making this thing successful this year. I. I can truly say it was a team effort. And there's like 40 people involved with making sure that this show happened in the way it did with the people it did. And at the time of day that it did, even. I mean, we've got. Our producer, Grayson Moody is based in the uk and that guy crushed for us all year long. I mean, even with some. I would send him some of the crazy notes. Craziest stuff you've ever seen typed into slack. Hey, you think you can do this? And the guy, he pulled it off every time. So shout out to Grayson. Happy birthday, Grayson. By the way, he's off this week. His birthday. So shout out to Grayson. And again, Andrew Schle, who's the executive producer. I mean, I know, like, he's on. He's a host on the show, but he. He runs a lot of stuff behind the scenes. He makes it so I don't have to sit on zoom calls, which is amazing for my life. Makes it so much better. That's my guy. We've been doing this together here for a long time. So, you know, thanks to him. Alex Spears, who I think is one of the best hosts. Yeah, he's in front of a microphone. Hilarious. Any level whatsoever. The guy's so good. We're very lucky to have him. Xena S. You guys have made it fun to show up to work every single night. It's so easy because we got a great season of basketball. And like Andrew said, something fun happened every single night, but if it didn't, we made it fun. So thank you guys for making my year so great. And again, shout out to our. Our team behind the scenes. You know, Cassius, Tim McMasters, Jesse Burton, all the people. Julie Scott, who.
- [37:04]
Analyst 1
Who.
- [37:04]
Analyst 2
You know, even the sales team, right? Like, everyone involved in making this show happen.
- [37:08]
Analyst 1
Joshua Kid.
- [37:09]
Analyst 2
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's right. Everybody shout out to. No, Doug. Anyway, all the folks that were on here all year, Sam Amic, Marcus Thompson, Fred Katz, Law Murray. I mean, I could go on and on and on.
- [37:20]
Analyst 1
Oh, list goes on and on.
- [37:21]
Analyst 2
My God, we have a stack deck. And stick with us guys because this was year one. We're only going to get better. We start draft coverage tomorrow. We're probably about to say we'll see you tomorrow for the draft. That's right, we got the draft coming up. We got big trades coming, we got free agency, we got summer league and we're all going to be out there. So stick with us. We really appreciate you guys. Thanks for everything. If you're watching this on YouTube, like and subscribe, go and do that to a bunch of other videos too. Why not? If you're, if you're listening on the podcast and this somehow makes it on there, leave us a five star review. Thank you so much. So for Esperahenny, Zena Keda and Andrew Select, I'm Dave Dufour and this is Ben the NBA Daily. Thanks for waking up with us.
- [38:27]
Analyst 3
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