The Dan Patrick ShowNBA legend Charles Barkley joins the show. He says the Heat should be embarrassed for quitting against the Cavaliers and that he probably would have punched Tyrese Haliburton’s dad in the face if he were in Giannis Antetokounmpo’s shoes. Dan apologizes to Rudy Gobert who dominated Game 5 as the Timberwolves dismissed the Lakers and he wonders what the plan is for Lebron and the Lakers moving forward. Dan starts the show by warning both benches after Marvin inadvertently broke his beloved Bill Walton Bobblehead. And Dan reacts to the NBA Playoffs including the Knicks advancing and Lakers HC JJ Redick calling out his team (hint: he means Luka Dončić) for not being in “championship shape.”
You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox Sports Radio.
He is the star of Inside the NBA Hall of Famer. Charles Barkley back on the program, Chuck, good to see you finish this sentence. If the Lakers lose tonight, dot dot dot.
The Lakers.
I told you two months ago, six weeks. The Lakers are on a good team. They got two really really good players, but not a good team. ESPN just swings on them like they choked, like everything chased like chicken. But the Lakers are not a good team. They're gonna lose either this round or next round, but more likely this round. But they just they're not very good.
What do you think the future?
And like, if you're let's say you're Luca and you look around, JJ didn't play anybody off the bench. Lebron's got maybe two more years left.
If you're the Lakers are not going to be a contender with the team they now, your best player can't be forty or I just don't think that's the that's that makes no sense whatsoever. Yeah, your best player can't be forty. I mean, and JJ was wrong the other night to play those guys entire second half because number one. It's probably gonna affect them tonight. It definitely affected them down the stress the other night. You know, both of those guys missed layups and they made some mental mistakes with the ball. So now it's this is not the Lakers year. And people think I hated the Lakers. I told you that's the Lakers on a good team. But ESPN was just swinging on them like they were damn King Kong and so.
But if but if you're Luca, do you want to stay? Do you want to re sign? If you're looking around at what you have with the Austin Reeves a nice player, But what are you going to build on when Lebron's gone?
Well, I don't know the answer to that question, first and foremost, but I don't think he can go anywhere. I mean, he's gonna be a Laker, probably for life from this point going forward. Okay, you know then and then you know, the clowns of the ESPN they always make me laugh because.
You aren't you going to be working there?
And yeah, but there you know, I'm gonna be a straight shooter. It's interesting how they were discussing Janni's this week, like shit, Jannis want to leave.
I'm like, I clearly don't remember when I played.
I don't remember saying we need to get Chalk Barker some help in Philadelphia or Phoenix, or Carmelan some help in Utah, Patrick Ewn some help in New York. I don't remember guys at the media kissing my ass and calls ass and Patrick asked like, well, Yanna should want to leave Milwaukee now because he can't win the championship. I wonder what all the guys were when I played, asking me to get some help.
I mean, they were kissing.
They were like loving the Lakers, loving, loving it Selfish, loving Michael, loving the Pistons. But I don't remember all these kiss asses back in the day saying, you know, we need to get Charles Barkerson help because he can't win a championship in Philly or Phoenix. But it makes me laugh. They're like, no, Johanni's got to leave Milwaukee. You know that already started. Uh Like, wow, y'all, we was concerned about us other great players back in our day. But y'all, all of a sudden, now y'all like, oh, Jannis has got to leave Milwaukee. Now's his championship wasn't no clothes. I'm like, man, thanks for helping me out when when I went out there with nobody.
You had a great team in Phoenix.
We had a really good teams.
You guys should have won the title that year.
No, Michael was better.
Mike was better, but you guys had a better team than the Bulls.
Uh.
It was a Pickham series. But Michael was the greatest ever. And then the next two years a team was better than me when it counted. So hey, listen, all I wanted one of the reason I got out of Philadelphia.
I just wanted a chance.
I had three chances at it, and we lost to the champs three years in a row. That's all you want. But I don't want to stack my team ever that I I'm going to always be against super team period.
All Right, I'm watching last night you guys after the Pacers game, and Shack is blaming Yanni's for the altercation, the incident with Tyre's Halliburton's dad.
Yeah, that was Shaq was one hundred percent wrong and stupid on that subject. I've never did I've never seen that. Number One, I want to thank Tyreech for coming out apologizing, and then I want to thank his dad for coming out and apologizing, Like, I ain't never seen that before. In my over forty years in the NBA, I've never seen a parent.
You know.
It was like AAU crap. Yeah, you know how much I hate AAU. It's like these parents they think they can scream their kid to the NBA. It drives me flat crazy, but they apologize.
Let me tell you something, Joannest is one of my favorite players.
He became more one of my favorite players last night because ain't no way in the hell I wouldn't have clocked his ass. There ain't no way I wouldn't have clocked him. And I ain't trying to be no fake tough guy on television. There's no way I wouldn't have punched him in the face when he did what he did. There's no way. And I say, I ain't trying to be no fake tough guy. But in the heat of the moment, and you honest said it, I didn't know it was his dad. If a regular fan came on the court and did that, to me, a one percent would have punched him in the face.
Should he get the same punishment as if that was just a fan in not Tyrese Haliburton's death.
I don't even know what the appropriate punishment is. Like I say, glad they both apologize. I'm not sure what the punishment is. What's fair?
How about you keep him away from the first playoff game, the next playoff game at home?
That's fair, that's fair.
I don't think he should be executed, but I think, hey, you can't come to the next to the next two games at home.
I think that would be fair.
Or if he wants to be on the court so badly, he must play five minutes for the Pacers, that would.
Be a great He has to start the game and play the first quarter for his son, that'll be a great punishment.
Yeah.
Yeah, he's got to guard Donovan Mitchell. I think that's right for five five minutes.
Hey, he has to play. No, you can break it up how you want to. He has to play twenty minutes.
He's Charles Barkley, the Hall of Famer Turner Sports Inside the NBA analyst. I know athletes hate it when you know people in my position say somebody quit. So I'm just trying to come up with a better description for what the Miami Heat did the other night against Cleveland. If they didn't quit, what exactly did they do?
Well?
You know, it's interesting. It's three things I don't like doing. One thing I would never do say somebody should get fired. I've made that clear for twenty five years. I'll never like, I can say they're not doing a good job, but I will never say somebody should get fired.
That's just like my number one rule.
Secondly, I don't like using the word choke or quit because that's that's damning. But the Miami Heat quit in Game four because if you were not embarrassed after Game three, you and to come out and play like you did in Game four. The Miami Heat they quit, they were ready for can Coon And it was really unfortunate because I have so much respect for pat Riley, Alonso Marnig and Eric Sposter, and like I say, the Cavs were gonna win the series. But to come out there and quit like that. But you know, Eric Sposed said that was embarrassing. That was embarrassing for the Heat organization. And but I have faith in pat Riley, Alonzo Marning and Eric Sposed. They're gonna fix They're gonna fix it. I mean, they would once Jimmy Butler forced his way out of there. They needed to get the season over with. I hated an it ended as badly as did and it was unfortunate, but they quit.
Steve Kirk came out and said, Draymond Green is the best defender he's ever seen.
Well, he can say that, but he's supposed to. That's his player.
But he's not a bet off defender than Michael Kobe, Dennis Rodman. He's a terrific defender, but he's not. But I he gonna just say. He gonna say that.
Yeah, but you gotta be also honest when you do it. From the standpoint of he did. He played with Michael, so he he did see the best defensive player.
Listen, I think in the moment he got he got to say the reason Draymond wasn't in the game because sing Goon was cooking him. We got it from like, you know, Draymond was in foul trouble. Why was he in foul trouble? Goon was cooking him. So but listen, Draymond is a heck of a player. He's a really good player. He's a really good defender. But I expect coaches to defend their players. I really do.
He not a better defender than Rodman was when Dennis was with the Pistons.
No he was not.
No, Uh, he was not a better defender than Rodman. I can one hundred percent say that Dennis was amazing.
But Pippin, to me, was a better defender than Mike. Scotty could guard everybody.
Well, he couldn't guard me. Hey, they doubled me with Harvest Grant. Now let's get that out there.
Okay, all right, that's fair.
But you know what, I I will agree Scott Scott is a better defender than Draymond. I'll give him its flowers.
Who did you love seeing on you? Like?
I never I never even worried about it day and nobody remember back in the day when they had the Jordan stopper, we used to laugh about.
That, like Gerald, Gerald Wilkins.
Like, are you serious right now?
There's no great player, there's no great player who can be stopped. You can make him work hard, Like you can't stop Jannis, you can't stop Bird, you can't stop Dominique Wilkins. Uh, you're not gonna stop me. You're not gonna stop now. You can make us work hard but this notion that you're gonna stop a great player, that's insane.
You're not gonna stop a great player, period.
But there wasn't a guy where you go. Because George Gervin I asked him that question. I said, ice, who was the guy that you couldn't wait to see on the court? And he goes Kevin Greevy. He played for the Baltimore Bullets. He said, I loved playing against Kevin Greevy because I knew I was going to score.
You didn't have that guy where you go. I'm putting up forty.
Well, you know, I felt like I was going to get double team ninety five percent of the time. I don't think I never thought that one guy could guard me. It's interesting when people put up stell photos of me. A couple of people have noticed this. They're like, why aren't you looking at the defender? I said, first of all, I'm not even worried about the guy guard me because I'm always looking past the defender.
Yeah, if you.
Get a steal photo of me with the ball, I'm never even worried about the guy guard me. I'm looking like where's the double team coming from? Or where I'm going I'm I and I didn't even know this one of my friends. He said, Man, I'm looking at these old photos of you when you got the ball. You're not even looking at the guy. I said, Dude, I'm not even worried about one guy stopping me. I don't care who it is. I don't care if it's rotten. I don't care if it's Kevin McHale, who's a great defender, Key mckeal, the best player I've ever played against. I'm not I'm looking like, is there a double team or what angle am I going. I'm never worried about one guy stopping me, period.
What if Jordan guarded you.
He's too little, he's too little, He's he listen, Michael, he can't guard me in the post.
He's too little.
Did you say that to him.
I've said it to him a thousand times, little man.
Late, Hey, little man, you're at the wrong place. Hey, I say, little man, you're at the wrong place, at the wrong Wait.
He's taller than you.
He too little though, he's too little.
He can jump.
Yeah, he gonna fly because I'm gonna hit his ad.
I'm gonna hit him.
I'm hit him with in hand.
What was it like when you guarded him?
I can't guard him? It was really funny.
He actually talked about this one time we switched out and I get down on my defensive stands and he just started.
He did I switched out and he looked at me.
He just started laughing and just said, are you serious right now?
And he actually passed the ball, but because he was laughing so hard.
Golden State didn't double when you scored fifty six.
And you know what's really funny about that? I had I think twenty four twenty six the first quarter. So I'm running by the bench and I said, Nelly, you better double me.
He says, nope.
After I get like the first ten the first quarter, I said, Nellie, are you gonna double me? He said, not all night, I'm not gonna w So I got like twenty four the first quarter.
Basically I think I had twenty eight the.
First half, and I'm screaming at Nelly, you better double me, and he's screaming at me, not a chance. W A Byron Houston's too little, Chris galling too little. It's so funny because that it was amazing, and I'm screaming at him, are you gonna double me. He's like, I'm not gonna do w all night. And that's absolutely a true story.
That was your high fifty six yes.
In uh in a in uh.
And I think that was the game we because I was already man because Nike made a commercial with me. Well, Chris Webber dunket on me.
And so.
We uh did he bring the ball around his back and then dunk.
Yeah. My mind said to me, I said, Chris is not a great free throw shooter. I'm gonna file him. So I reached for the ball to file him and he took it. I was gonna take a file and he took it behind his back and dunked on me. And it was a three point play. So Niken calls me and say, hey, can we use this in a commercial?
I said, of course, I'm not upset about it. I get everybody's been dunked.
Ump.
So then when they when the commercial come out and Chris is, well, I don't care what anybody said, you're my role model. He's laughing in the barbershop. I said, oh, I got to make him pay for that. I got to make him pay for that.
A side topic, what is Bill Belichick doing.
Well?
This is a very slippery subject for me because Bill is one of my really good friends. I don't I'm not sure what's going on. Uh, you know, he's been a great friend for me for a long time. I'm we've been For instance, he coached for the Browns. I think he got to be very careful right now. This is starting to be on a very slippery slope. He's the greatest football coach ever for him and Nick Saban for college, Nick Saban for Bill the NFL. Yeah, I from what I'm hearing, it's starting to be a very slippery slope. And I never talk about people's personal relationship. That's another rule I got. But I will admit I'm a little concerned with some of the stuff that's going on, and I might actually reach out to him and make sure everything's good. But I am concerned from what I'm hearing, because yeah, it's not a good look right now, I'll admit that.
And he's such a control freak, but he's relinquished control. It feels like that's what's surprising to me.
Yeah, listen, man, I have very strict rules on things about don't ask me no personal questions. Nobody in my family can speak. No, I'm the one who's famous. I'm the one who have to deal with all the crap. No, don't say anything, because if you say something, it's just going muddy the water.
That's what I call it.
If any family members speak out, it's just going muddy the water.
And yeah, I'm a little concerned.
I'll admit that because you know, he's my friend through good, bad and whatever.
And I just hope he I hope everything's all right.
Whenever I see you doing those Capital one commercials you got Spike Lee, it dawned on me the last time could Spike ever play basketball?
No? Okay no, And let me tell you something.
There's two people who I work with are the best at what they do. There's a guy named Joe Picka who's one of the greatest directors of all time. The second one is Sam Jackson. They are the two best I've ever worked with when it comes to making commercials because they know what works. Like sometimes both of those guys, we're shooting a commercial, they're like, now that sucks, We're not gonna do it like that. Joe Picker and Sam Jackson they're like no. And Sam was like, who wrote this craft? Who wrote this crack and he says, that doesn't work, It doesn't make any sense.
Let's do it like this.
But those are the two best I've ever worked with as far as knowing what works on camera. Joe Pick and Sam Samuel L. Jackson, they are the best. But Spike, Spike, Spike has zero athletic ability.
Zero.
All right, I just wanted to know.
No, zero athletic ability.
Are you golfing today?
No?
We got.
It's kind of hard because you know, we worked at two in the morning, and I have to get up early to play because you know, we got to be back in the studio about six o'clock tonight. So I'll start playing next week, be honest with you, because once we get teams eliminated.
We have a lot.
We work every night, but we have some nights we have like one game, but right now we still have two games going to two in the morning.
So I'm not golfing right now.
Shock had to go to the bathroom the other night.
Oh man, that was hilarious, wasn't it. But you know what's so funny, Dan, he not even my age yet. You know, like back probably five to seven years ago. If I had to go to the bathroom. Like if I was watching something on television, I could hold it, and like, once I got like fifty five, you can't. And he's getting that age now, like yeah, if you try to hold it, it's gonna come out on his own.
Yeah.
So I told him, I said, welcome to old time age, brother. You can't.
When you gotta go, you gotta go. Is that simple?
We gotta go. Great to talk to you again. Thank you, Chuck.
All right, brother, thanks for having me. You take care of you, of brother.
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Timberwolf said goodbye to the Lakers, the Rockets, roll the Warriors. I walked in today. First person I see is Marvin, and Marvin says the following, you're going to apologize I said about what you know what I said? No, you know what you said? I go, wait, is this about Rudy Gobert. Yes, you're called ing the most overrated player in the NBA. I'd like to take this moment. I'm going to stare into the camera to Rudy Gobert, I apologize for saying you're the most overrated player in the NBA for one night.
It's a temporary apology, very very temporary.
Rudy Gobert looks like a chem Elijahwan, It looked like Shack, looked like Tim Duncan. Rudy Gobert had twenty seven points and twenty four rebounds. Excuse yes, I said the same thing. He dominated twelve to fifteen from the floor. He's the third player in the last fifty years to have a twenty twenty in a playoff game while shooting at least eighty percent from the floor. He was great. The rest of the timber Wolves not so good, and they still won. The Lakers shot better from two point three point free throw line, and they ended up losing, and you say goodbye to the Lakers what could have been? But to Rudy Gobert once again, congratulations on a wonderful performance against a front line that I think I probably could have gotten ten rebounds. But once again, I mean, come on, Lakers had no big guy. Rudy Gobert should have been dominating, just rebound wise, rebounding, that's all. He should have twenty rebounds every game against the Lakers, he should have. But once again to Rudy Gobert, congratulations on a wonderful, wonderful performance. Did that seem sincere.
Not feeling the sincerity? You're not because he went out you want to say it, well, for one night anywhere, you did that, and you're expected to do that anyway.
Other than that, and you know fake sincerity. Okay, yes, Marvin.
But Rudy's still one of the most overrated, not just not the most overrating.
Yeah, okay, yeah, absolutely, absolutely. Congratulations the Timberwolves. They advance as they dust off the Lakers, for one, and as we always do, we don't look at the team that's advancing. We look at the team that's going off into the sunset. The question is is Lebron going off into the sunset as well? He was asked about his future after the loss. Do you have that, Marvin?
I have?
It's about JJ Redicks season.
Oh okay, I thought that he was asked about his future there.
I think JJ are going to continue to grow. I thought he had a hell of a rookie campaign for a rookie coach that's already hard being a rookie coach in NBA, and that's a hell of a lot harder being a rookie head coach coaching the Lakers. It's a whole another ball game. And I thought he handled it extremely well. I thought he I just learned every single day, he held us accountable, he pushed us.
I thought JJ and his coach Stab were great. Yeah.
I thought that he had a really good regular season. I don't think he did well in this series. I think he was all in on the previous game and he didn't sub out in the second half. I think he thought, if we win this game, we can win the series. If we don't win this game, we're not going to win this series. That was just my feeling. If you're watching it in real time and you're thinking, Okay, they might in this game, and then they didn't, and then I wonder what the aftershocks would be, and we saw that Minnesota didn't play well at all. It's just the Lakers have no bench. Now you're really reliant on Luca, who was banged up under the weather, and you're relying on Lebron James. And it's not fair to Lebron to say, hey, you still have to be one of the ten best players in the game. I think if he comes back, I think you're going to have to look at how do you monitor his minutes here? And it might be one of those situations like the San Antonio Spurs used to do. They didn't care about the regular season. This is about the postseason. How many minutes you play and how fresh are you going to be in the postseason. I think Lebron his ego gets in the way. He wants to prove that he can play every single night, and he's going to play as many minutes as possible.
Now I admire that.
I want to see the stars play, but I also have to factor in what is the ultimate goal? Not to prove that you can play more games than guys who were twenty years younger than you. It's to prove how great you are when you get to the postseason. Because that's how he's measured. The regular season doesn't matter. Okay, you get another All Star appearance, all right, you score a couple thousand points, you add to your forty thousand points or assist or whatever it might be. This is about winning a championship, and I wonder how close he thinks they really are. The West is young okayse he's not going anywhere. You're seeing a Houston Rockets team that's young, might get Kevin Durant, might be the missing piece for them in the off season, but they might beat the Golden State Warriors. You saw last night. They weren't afraid and they shut down Steph Curry. So you start to look around and you go, Okay, where do we fit here? And if I'm a Laker fan, I think we're kind of a middle of the pack. I loved what they were doing when they had an eight game winning streak. They had a stretch there where they were playing great d and it felt like there was a collaboration going on. It wasn't just two players. There was a true collaboration. But then as you get to the postseason, coaches really start to limit the number of players who contribute. You might go seven deep, maybe eight, But the Lakers, I think JJ Reddick looked at that bench and he went, I don't want to put those guys in. You know, you don't have confidence in them, But if you put him in, then they can gain confidence. So that's what I didn't understand. But JJ Reddick he was testing so pregame, this is a pregame press conference, and he was asked about what happened with the lack of substitutions previous game.
What do you recall about your thought process in the moment sticking with the five you stuck with in the fourth quarter the other day? And is there an assistant or someone maybe that you'll lean on tonight maybe to try to get you some other guys involved, if that opportunity present.
Where you're saying that because I'm inexperienced and that was an inexperienced decision that I made. Do you think I don't talk to my assistance about substitutions every single time out?
No, I just think there's a lot of coaches lean on their assistance in those situations.
As every single time. That's a weird assumption.
And then he walked out, So that's pregame tension running a little high there. I think it's a fair question to ask. I think you can ask it in a better way. But I do think the topic is fair because of what we just saw. Yeah, if it.
Didn't strike me as that unfair of a of a question. Plus, I don't know why the reporter should assume the other way. Either the reporter should assume that he just does everything that we think he does. I mean, it doesn't seem like that crazy of a question.
Yeah, PAULI, I disagree just a hair. The phrasing of the question is. But it feels like they're doing a preview of the next game in this press conference, not even the last night see him, but the following. That's what it's meant for for quotes for after. And this is a three day old story, two day old story. And Reddick is probably like, we're still talking about this now. That said, he could have blown it off with a pad answer easily.
Yeah, But you know that's just if you watch JJ when he was doing his TV work at the Mothership, he if he if he got bored with you or he was going to dismiss you, he could get combative, like he didn't suffer fools. He's like, oh God, this guy's going to tell me about substituting. Okay, I got it. Now that makes you a great media guy, not necessarily a great head coach. But the topic I thought was fair. And we saw the bench scored four points. There weren't substitutions, and I think you had a tired team. Now I look at this a couple of different ways because you have Lebron. How many more years? And Lebron said after he's not sure, he's not sure what's going to happen here. It feels like there's one more year there. I think I think you owe it to the possibility of you and Luca having an entire offseason, training camp, an entire regular season together. JJ Reddick's second year Austin Reeves is a you know, a really good player, but you start to look at the other players on the roster and you're going, are you going to develop them?
Can you get somebody in there? I think it's difficult.
You know, Lebron's going to make sixty million dollars and probably sixty million dollars attached to that because he's still playing basketball with endorsements. If you're Luca, do you want to be the centerpiece? Are you going to be the guy when Lebron leaves in a year? Are you ready for that? Here's Luca after the game last night.
I mean, it has been great, honestly, you know, the way the fans accept to me. I know, he's been amazing, the way the community takes up to him. He has been amazing. So I'm really glad that I'm here, had a great a couple of months, you know, trying to learn about everything about the city, about the team, so just trying to process everything.
All right, So he's got one more year on his deal, then does he want to be there? He's going to get paid, He'll be the centerpiece there. And then you start to look at that trade. Who won in that trade? I mean Dallas God, Anthony Davis, Lakers got Luca. Both are out moving forward and this I think I would have a better answer in a year if if you said after next year, I think then I'm going to grade the trade. Now that's not fair because we want to grade a trade right away. But if I said to you, you could have had Luca or you could have Yanis if you're the Lakers. So if you knew that the Mavericks were going to move on from Luca right because defense wins championships, they weren't going to pay him this money. Let's say he was going to be available in the off season. Let's say you had Yannis available in the off season. What would you do if you're the Lakers, Because it's not a real scenario, it's hypothetical, but if you look at how this was going to play out, then maybe that would have been the scenario where Luca would have been available, and he's four years younger than Yannis. But this is one of those did they make the right deal for the right player at the right time, And I think they did that because now all of a sudden, you got Lebron, who's on the clock. How many more years does he have? We can get Luca. We might be able to steal a championship here, because if you don't have Lebron, are the Lakers making that move? And the answer is probably yes, because he's one of the top five, top ten players in the game. But you're making that move with Lebron to win a championship, whereas if you didn't have Lebron, you would make that move just for the future. So this would be an experimental year, but this was about winning a championship and you failed miserably. Now you're a three seed, so you can't say, well, the expectations are too high. You're a three seed and you have maybe the best duo in basketball, and yes.
You do have a rookie coach.
But I think JJ Reddick did a really good job during the regular season the postseason. I think he'll look back on that and you get together with your staff and you say, what could we have done better? Who could we have played a little bit more? You're seeing this with the Knicks. I mean, I'm Thibodeau. He does this all the time that he plays his players. He doesn't have a deep rotation there. But you can only do that for so long and then these players get worn down. That's why the Spurs were always fresh in the postseason because Greg Popovich he prioritized that. He was like, I don't care if we're the first or second or third seed.
I don't care.
I want my guys ready to go in the postseason. And they were, Uh, Seaton, what's poll question we're going to have? By the way, Lebron said, I don't have an answer to the question about what comes next. I'll sit down with my wife and family support group, have a conversation with myself on how long I want to continue to play. We'll see in the moment I get the answer, I think he's going to be back and play again.
He's also got his son there.
There's a lot of money there you're playing with the Lakers and you get a chance to spend more time with Luca and develop that.
Yes, seton it.
Is crazy that that theoretically could have been the last time we saw him play, and it doesn't feel like that at all.
You're right, it could be. But I think he's gonna play one more year. I think he knows he's done, gonna win another championship. This might just be patting your stats. Uh, you know, get to play with Luca, get to play with your son, but you know, currently constructed, they're not better than you know, these other younger teams.
Yeah, Paul, it's.
Interesting when Seaton brought up before the show. No one's discussing even the possibility that Lebron can retire. I think everyone thinks he would do the tour, but there's any chance. He says to himself, I got my son in the league, I got him on the roster, I played basketball games with him.
That was the icing on the cake. It's hard to pick her.
He's measured differently than anybody else in the history of the game. So it's not He goes, hey, I got my son in and hey, you know we.
Made the play.
I am playing with Luke. It's it's all about you know. Now you've got Steph Curry, who's kind of on his level. You know, people now want to bring who's better, who's had a better career, Stephan Lebron, like Lebron by far, Like what are we doing here? Steph's a wonderful player, but you know now he's encroaching on Lebron because his team's still alive and Lebron's isn't.
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan Patrick Show weekdays at nine am Eastern six am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Awkward Moment Yesterday after the show, thought it was a decent show and talking to the Dan Nets, and all of a sudden, I hear a crash and I look over. Marvin is over by my desk, and then I realize Marvin has knocked something off my desk, not just anything. I have a lot of chotchkes here. If you're watching on Peacock, you can see a lot of stuff on my desk. But you know how I feel about Bill Walton, one of my favorite people, one of my favorite players. And I looked over and the bobble head is off and one of his arms is off and his legs are broken. Emotional, Yes, but I'm here. I'm here today. This is one of the great comebacks of all time. But it was a catastrophe yesterday. Marvin felt bad ish, I think.
Oh no, no, I legit felt bad. If I didn't feel bad, Oh, you would know. I didn't feel bad. I felt bad about it.
Okay, but I ask Weeks, our cameraman, our mister do it all. He's the glue guy for the show. He's literally the glue guy. And if you're watching on Peacock, I brought Bill back to life.
Well, Weeks did.
So we got the arm back together, the legs are secure ish, and the Bill Walton bobblehead doll is back in business. I sent Marvin a picture last night because I came in. I said, I got to get this thing glued. It's it's it's gonna be coming back to life. I sent Marvin just a picture of the Bill Walton bobblehead doll.
I had no response to it.
There was nothing other than the picture there, and I sent it message sent loud and clear, Marvin.
Hey, I'm really I'm legit sorry about it. I really felt bad about.
It, Okay, I think they's sincerity there. Yes, Todd, wouldn't it be.
More realistic not to fix it because he always had bad feet, so maybe we should.
Man, it was way too soon, way too soon.
And I'm gonna run you today because I got tired of you, Like twenty minutes in, I go warning. I'm gonna give you a warning, all right next time, I'm I'm going to tee you up two days in a row.
I'm gonna warn.
Both benches here, okay, because you were Friday Fritzy way too early for me.
Bud uh.
We've recovered, we rebounded. That's what we do well. We come back. We rally, Yes we do, Yes, we do. The Knicks close out the Pistons. Pistons rallied, kept it close, and then Jalen Brunson did this at the end of the game.
Backing down a star top without the logo twenty oft time left. We're tied at one thirteen. Here in game six, Brunston between the legs, philbl guts with a Thompson walk.
Up report up, we got it.
The Klutch Player of the Year will not be to night.
Jalen Brunson was four point three puts the list in front plunk sixteen O one thirteen.
He ended up with forty. Now I'll praise Jalen Brunson. He's a wonderful player. We know what he does in the playoffs. He's averaged thirty points per game in thirty playoffs games with the Knicks, the only player in the history of the franchise who's averaged more as Bernard King. And it was just a tick more. The Pistons did a really good job with Brunson. But how many times do I have to say this, The best player is not going to beat me. He's labeled the most clutch player in the NBA. They gave him an award that says that's the most clutched guy in the NBA. There was an award I get. This might be the first year, but he certainly earned it. The problem I have is you must make somebody else beat you. And Thompson did a wonderful job. He did for the most of the night, for most of the series, he did a wonderful job.
The game is on the line, he was forcing.
Him to go left and maybe he was going to get a double team there, but he went back. I got to send two people at him and Brunson gives up the ball.
That's it.
Can somebody try this, please? That's all. That guy can beat me. I don't want him to beat me. How about I send two guys. If og and Nnobe beats me, okay, if Kat beats me, okay. Jalen Brunson, the most clutch player in the NBA, is not going to beat me, that's all. And Kat had just found out found out, So what are we doing. Send two players at him, make sure he gives up the ball, and have somebody who may not be used to being in.
That situation take the shot.
That's all.
I'll go back to when Michael Jordan pushed off against Brian Russell. I gotta have another guy coming at Mike. If Steve Kerr John Paxson's situation happens again. In a situation like that, I can live with that. I'm not letting the greatest player in the history of the game go one on one.
I don't get it.
The best player will not beat me. I can guarantee you that that's what we should have said in the huddle. Brunson will not beat us. Make sure that we're going to send a double team that way. Now, maybe out smarts you, maybe he breaks the double team, maybe he makes his move before you get there. But I'm watching and I go they got single coverage on him. I don't care how good you are. If the guy has labeled the most clutch player in the NBA and they give you a damn award, don't let him be clutch.
That's all.
Congratulations to the Pistons, though they had a late run there and made it interesting. But the Knicks, they were able to hit the shot when they needed to. Rockets at the Warriors Game six coming up, that'll be tonight. The Rockets are a slight underdog. I think they're around a four or five point underdog and Clippers and the Nuggets. The Clippers are a slight favor it.
In that game. That'll be on Saturday eight seven, seven to three.
DP Show email address Dpadanpatrick dot com, Twitter handle at DP show. JJ Reddick had his exit interview with the media, and boy, he uh gave them a gift yesterday. I don't know if he intended to give them a gift, but when he said this, I certainly had a reaction.
I'll start with the off season and the work that's required in an offseason to be in championship shape. And you know, we have a ways to go as a roster, and certainly there are individuals that were in phenomenal shape. There's certainly other ones that could have been in better shape. That's where my mind goes immediately, is you know we have to get in championship shape.
Okay, we use the word work and shape, and then we used shape championship shape again, that's your opener. And I went, Okay, who's not in shape? Who wasn't in championship shape? Not Lebron he's in shape. I'm guessing Austin Reeves in shape, Ruey Hanchamura in shape?
Who's not in shape?
Here?
Oh that's right, Luca wasn't in shape? Is this calculated? Was this a good thing to do? If you're Luca, how are you taking this? You've you know, spent the first whatever five years of your career listening to somebody or people say you're out of shape, even though you go to an NBA finals, you play in the Olympics, you go to a Western Conference finals, but then you get traded because you had a GM who didn't want to invest in you. That kind of money because he thought defense wins championships and you weren't going to be in shape.
Here we are.
Now, this is where I think if Lebron wants to win a championship, he can help win a championship in the off season by being a big brother, mentoring Luca and say I want you working out with me a couple of days a week. Now he might go kicking, screaming and say I don't want to off season is just that it's the off season. But if you want Lebron, and Lebron wants to win another championship, the only way it's going to happen is if Luca truly wants to get in shape and wants to play defense. Because they went after him in that series. They targeted him, they went by him for layups, and I thought that JJ Reddick. Now the first thing I thought of, does JJ say that to Luca what he said yesterday? I want you to be in championship shape. I don't like when a coach goes to a press conference to say something about his team unless he's told his team. Then now if he says to Luca, I'm going to say something, I'm not going to mention your name, but I want you to be in championship shape. I've seen that. I know what championship shape is. I need you to be ready to go, start to finish. I can't have you out of shape or not in greade shape and have these nagging injuries. I can't have that because that's how they come up, that's how they surface when you're not in shape. And Luca has nagging injuries. But Luca's been spoiled. Luca doesn't want to hear negative things. I mean, look how he reacts to officials when they make a call, fans get into it with him. I guess JJ knows what he's doing, but I don't know if message is sent, how it's received by Luca, because he might be If I'm Luca, I'd be like, everybody knows you're talking about me, Like do you have to say that, because it's implied. He didn't have to say Luca, everybody knew what he was doing talking about. But that's the message that he sends his team into the off season at least having in the back of their minds, or at least Luca is certainly. But if I'm Lebron, I'd say, hey, work out with me, work out with me and Bronnie and give me a couple of days a week.
Yes, ton I think passive aggressive is the way to go. I have the confrontation enough to talk to.
One on one, man to man where you could just kind of throw it out there in the media let them figure out what he was talking about.
Thank you, Tony. All right, what's full question today? Seat no connor, I'm glad you asked.
We might as well start with the overwhelmingly you know, biggest story of the night, the New York Knicks winning their third NBA championship.
Gratulations.
Yeah, last night.
There's going to be a parade, right, So, the New York Knicks winning their third NBA championship last night is a remarkable achievement, crazy since they just advanced out of the first round, or just another symptom of Knicks fans being insane.
Well, there's this celebration outside the garden, I guess, and I mean, you did beat the Pistons. Pistons had a good year, they did, but the Knicks were celebrating like it's nineteen sixty nine. Now they are celebrating, So congratulations on another championship there. That would be their third championship. They've won nineteen seventeen champions Yeah, in nineteen seventy, nineteen seventy three. Congratulations, Yes, Tom.
Didn't they learn their lesson?
They had that big celebration when they Beatray Young and the Hawks.
Who is dressed in Knicks gear today?
I am Knicks are my favorite team, not as much as Rob is in the back, but I like the Knicks. But I will say that the Knick fans got a little crazy to knoxious when they knocked out the Hawks in the first round and they're having like a ticket tape parade with their shirts up in the middle of Manhattan.
You don't do that.
And at Jinx's things.
I don't.
Okay, you have your Jalen Bruns and T shirt on.
I i'ndressed as if I'm going to the parade, and they won the whole thing. But they they're gonna have a tough time with Boston. I think we all can agree with Oh, thank you too. That's my NBA And nobody knows who.
Rob in the back is, okays one of I know, but if you have to explain it to the audience, I mean this is about you, not somebody else.
To Fritzy is dressed like one of the guys who does the T shirt guns like you know, like all right, time out, all right, come on guys, you guys, come on, come on. KNX fans get up and top comes out there.
All right.
He goes on a trampoline, dunks the ball, or at least not somebody else.
Yeah, uh, all ready for this, Yes, so this is we not they weave.
Then York Knickerbockers, we got to settle down a little bit.
We got to wear and tear away Knicks pants and but they're crazy.
Do not tear those away.
At least I may not have an undergarment on.
Yeah, pantaloons. But congratulations to the New York Knick fans.
You did it in a long battle there, but you did.
Age seven to seven three DP show email address Dpadanpatrick dot com, Twitter handle a DP show and once again, good morning. If you're watching on peacock, thank you for downloading the app. David Khane, Yankee broadcaster, will recap what Aaron Judge did in the first month of the season historical and it's one of those where you go, wait a minute, he's batting for twenty seven.
He's not even using.
A torpedo bat. By the way, where did the torpedo bat controversy go? That didn't last long, did it. They didn't outlaw this, didn't they remember? Oh my god, it's ruining the sport. And I'm like, not everybody's using the torpedo bat.
