Local Hour: The Best Knicks Feeling Since Y2K
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Shadow Show. Shadow Show. Shadow Show. Shadow Show. Shadow Show. Shadow Show. Shadow Show. Shadow in it. Shadow in it. Hello? Bobby? Yeah. Que dices? Oh, Danny, como esta? How are you? What happened? Did you not know it was your son? I didn't recognize you. I was expecting a phone call from an inspector, so I thought that that was the call. I was wrong. What are you getting inspected for?

A new roof. I put a new roof. I'm trying to get some money from the estate, so they got to inspect the work. Then I get some money back, but I had to put the money up front first. How are you doing today? You don't like putting the money up front? Well, what can I tell you? I got no choice. That's the way the estate operates. If you want to get a refund, you got to pay it first. Show proof of payment, proof of inspection, and then if you're lucky, you're going to get some money back.

So what's happening, buddy? What happened to...

To the Celtics. Oh, the butcher was on fire last night. He really was, Papi. Thibodeau got it done last night. Whoa. He got it done. I'm telling you, he's my man. He was on fire last night. I saw that movie before a couple of nights ago. Same shit. Papi, are you aware that sometimes you say, I'm telling you, and then what comes after that is you not telling me much of anything? Yeah.

Well, what do you mean? You know, I'm surprised. Didn't you enjoy the game last night? Well, I want both of the teams to lose and then to get in a small bus accident on the way after the game. But nobody gets hurt. Who do you want to see? Look at what is happening to the Joker. They choke again, you know. OKC is too much for the Joker. And the other sidekick, what's the other guy's name?

You tell me. I forgot the guy. The guy from Canada. I forgot that. I forgot his name. You can come up with it. That's okay. He's sidekick. Who's the Joker sidekick? Tell me. All right. The Canadian guy. Go ahead. What's his name? I know. I know. But what's his name? Let's see if we can find his name. I forgot. I forgot his name. Come on. Bennett. Jason Bennett.

That's a good guess. That's a good guess. If I were to give you, okay, I'll give you a hint. You ready? Yeah. Jamal.

Oh, Jamal. Jamal Brown? Yes, that's exactly right, Papi. It's the Joker and Jamal Brown. I got the Joker right. That's the most important part. It is right. You're absolutely right. All right. I want to do a little quiz. Can we do a little quiz? Yeah, sure. You can. You can go ahead. What is the name of Oklahoma City's best player?

Jose Gonzalez. He's the killing guy. Yeah, that's exactly right, Papi. I'll talk to you later. Okay, bye. This is the Dan Levitar Show with the Stugatz Podcast. ♪

So I thought that Stugatz today was taking a step back, but he's stepping up and will be here shortly because this is the best feeling that there has been around the Knicks this century. The last time it felt this good was 10 minutes before LeBron's decision when they thought he was going there. And what is happening with the Knicks has made Stugatz rush in. He's late.

But rush in and get stuck in traffic. And now he's got to be enraged. He will be here shortly. We are waiting him. And I'm genuinely excited about today's show because we've only been on the air 20 years.

I have never done a show when alleged Knicks fan Stu Gatz has felt good about his team. Today will be the first time I get to do that, so what you're going to be introduced to is someone I have never seen. I'm assuming Stu Gatz as his most obnoxious Knicks fan?

when he hasn't watched a game in eight years. And what happened to me last night, just like in game one, is again, one of the strangest sports experiences I have ever had as a fan. I go into game one and I'm like, I don't even want to watch this. I don't want anyone on either of these teams to feel good about anything. And more than that, I do not want their fans to have one ounce of pleasure the remainder of my life.

Because it's not the players I hate. In fact, I'm embarrassed to say it. I kind of love Jalen Brunson. I want to take, I mean, everyone's got to. In fact, put it on the poll. Are you fundamentally obligated to fall in love with Jalen Brunson right now? Because Jalen Brunson already has a moment in the last series to end it I've never seen Jason Tatum have. Give me a play Jason Tatum's made in his life more memorable than how it is that Brunson ended the Pistons. Somebody, anybody. Dunking on LeBron?

You think? I mean, that was a pretty good moment. Put it on the poll at Levitard Show.

Better moment, Jalen Brunson against the Pistons or Jason Tatum dunking on LeBron? We'll get to Tatum in a second. Because all of American sports fan expectations need to land today on the back of his neck. You are a champion, and I've almost never said this about a champion. Prove to me you deserve to be one. Because last season...

Do what Brunson does. Brunson's the smallest player on the court. I look at you and just physically, I know you're the best one. But what are you going to do? Oh, fade away again? Brunson got the foul shots. It's end of game time. It is end of game time. You give the ball to Brunson, Knicks fans know what's going to happen there. And when he misses a one-foot layup, they don't even blame him because they know what he is. He's the best clutch player in the NBA empirically. Does more in the fourth quarter than anybody. Tatum? Tatum?

The only thing left to have on Tatum's resume. It's incredibly bejeweled for his age. Where are the moments? It's end of game time. Knicks fans, I know they trust Brunson. Celtics fans, I don't know if they trust their best guy. And now it closes in. Now Boston's the best team ever.

Are they the best road team in the history of the league? History of the league. I know they are this year the best road team, but are they best road team in the history of the league? I think they've won a road game in 11 straight series and multiple wins in six. I

I was trying to think on my way in, and I never looked it up because life gets busy, but there was a series a few years ago where the eighth seed went on the road, won the first two games, and then the next four games were just won by the one seed. It was the Bulls against Celtics, actually. Thank you. So I just forgot it. So I don't actually expect the Knicks to win this series. I do not. But whatever pressure it is that could come to bear on Jason Tatum,

Game three is going to feel as pressurized as anything he's ever lived. New York has been bad at home, like legitimately bad at home. I mean, I don't trust them at all at home. I expect Boston to go in there and smoke them because they've been up by 20 in the last two games. And I do not expect the Knicks to win a third one. But I did not expect Boston to be in this kind of trouble.

like just did not see this coming at all. That Knicks team is okay, but it's got flaws and flaws that could and should be exposed by Boston. Boston is a good deal better than that Knicks team. And the Knicks team can't actually just do it in matchups either, where you say, I think the Knicks match up okay with the Celtics. Okay, you can think that, but the Celtics are a good deal better than the Knicks. Dan, Tony and I were having this conversation right before the show started.

Joe Mazzulla, who we talked about in the past, you know, does his little antics in the press conferences and trying to be quirky and kind of aloof and better than everyone else. And what we said at the time, if you remember, was you can do that now. But the moment this thing starts to slip away, watch out.

It's starting to slip away. And so I asked the question, I asked the question, Dan Levitard, the Celtics have lost the first two games at home in the playoff series. Only five teams have come back from that in NBA history to win that series. Joe Mazzulla has had this situation happen to him now twice in three years. Happened in 2023 against the Heat, and now it's happening to him against the Knicks in 2025.

And so I ask, at what point does he become Doc Jr.? Right? Because to blow a 2-0, to blow home court advantage completely in your first two games, I don't know of another coach where it's happened to him twice in his career, it's happened twice in this guy's three seasons. It is fairly amazing to think that Amin is asking that about coaches who won one title in Boston and...

We can now still remember, even though Doc Rivers is a champion, that he's not associated with champion. Doc Rivers is associated, even though he's won a title with Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen and Paul Pierce, who we'll get to in a second. He's got a debt to pay. Oh, boy. Doc Rivers is one of the few people on Earth who's a champion in sports. And his reputation is you don't know how to win.

You fumble away every situation. And Joe Mazzulla, I heard Zaslow two days ago ask the question that I didn't even think unfair. Is Joe Mazzulla a good coach? And I want to ask you guys the question. Does he have the best postseason winning percentage ever? Like how close, like what is Mazzulla's postseason winning percentage? I know when I say ever, I'm exaggerating or it sounds like I'm exaggerating, but I am actually curious what Mazzulla's postseason record is.

It's obviously a small sample, but I don't think in a small sample I've ever asked of a coach who's a champion, is he a good coach? It's a ridiculous question I'm asking. Is it not? I mean, you're an expert. Like, I am asking an absurd and ridiculous question.

Is Joe Mazzulla a good coach? In fact, Juju put it on the poll. It's got to hurt Juju to put this on the poll as a Celtics fan. I can't imagine how mad Juju is right now at this team. Is Joe Mazzulla a good coach? Just by the way, I want everyone to know this because I want to sink in. I want it to fall on Jason Tatum's head the following.

The New York Knicks and their fans, a fan base that has been frustrated for 25 years and hasn't felt this good in 25 years. They absolutely trust the smallest player on the court to break every team's heart. I will say this. Jay Williams said the other day that he said that Brunson is the best player the Knicks have had. He is not.

Okay. I still think Patrick Ewing is that player. However, I will say this. He has a chance to be, and he is already the most beloved New York Knick there has ever been. In that town, there has never been a more popular basketball player than Jalen Brunson is right now.

Walt Clyde Frazier would like a word. At Levitard Show, who is more popular with New York forever? Walt Frazier? And that's fair, I mean, it's fair what you're saying. Or Jalen Brunson? Because I would say in the internet age where sports are more shared than they used to be, I cannot believe how much my New York friends love Jalen Brunson. I am late to this party. Forgive me for this because I've never had a viewing experience like this. You're forgiven. Thank you. Game one.

I'm watching Nick Celtics and I go into the game and I'm like, I don't even want to watch this. And then I'm like, okay. And I'm saying to myself, I wonder who I'm going to root for at the end of this. I do not know. I don't know. So I watched the whole game and at the end of the game, and this is the history, it's just recent history versus long ago history. It's Brunson versus Clyde Frazier. Really? It's,

What New York Knicks team do you remember? The one that I remember is the one that made me love basketball more than I used to because the way the Knicks and Heat fought, I'd never seen anything like that ever watching basketball. And so I grew as a young reporter in this town to have my heart broken when the Knicks as an eight-seat beat Pat Riley, who would become my friend, with Allen Houston bouncing the ball on the rim. That broke my heart. I...

hate the New York Knicks. I hate their fans more. The Boston Celtics are more recent, as I've seen my friend Pat Riley age. Good God, does he hate the Celtics? The last five years, is Pat Riley still fighting the Boston Celtics? That man still won't speak to Larry Bird if they're in a room together. I've seen...

The last five years of whatever this heat thing is, fight and claw and try, and the architecture can't quite get up to where all the Celtics' first-round picks are. You can't. You're just so close and gets past it, but now the gap has spread, and now my friend ages and is 80 and limping around, and he finds himself mocked, and Stephen A. Smith says, fire him, and the Celtics are on top.

So I'm watching the end of the game, and what comes over me at the end of the game is like, I can't believe this. I don't want the Knicks to win. I'm surprised by this, but I don't want the Knicks to win because back when I was a young guy, that hate boiled in me as a sports fan, and it doesn't reach where I am today where I don't care like that anymore. The series is the last. But I'm sure today's sports fan had found Boston –

Miami to be fascinating and emotional, and it was, but I liked Nick's heat better just because those dudes were physically fighting. Jeff Van Gundy was on Alonzo Morning's cast.

Like, Alonzo Mourning and Larry Johnson, the entire series, everyone knew those guys are going to fight. Like, that's not going to stay down. And so whatever that was as a young man created a feeling that at the end of the game, I'm watching, and I find myself rooting for Bill Simmons. No. No, but that happened to me. I couldn't help it. That happened to me. Oh, no way. So with all the friends you have in all the different places, you chose Bill Simmons as the friend to go for? Well, because this...

The other thing, too, is to root against the Celtics would be to root against Mike Schur, to break Mike Schur's heart. Mike Schur has to be really scared right now because God almighty, Celtic fan got cocky the last two years. So instead of Mike Schur, you're like, you know, I'm going to pass Mike Schur and I'm going to go to Bill Simmons. Is he at the top of the Celtics pyramid? Well, I think for sports fans, they associate that media member with that team more than anybody. Mike Schur may or may not.

have called last night's performance utterly embarrassing. Yeah, well, so Celtics fans, so imagine this. I have seen generations of Knicks and Celtics fans grow loud and obnoxious. Like, I've watched it. It's been fascinating to watch.

Mike Schur used to run Fire Joe Morgan. Fire Joe Morgan at the beginning of the internet age, all these comedy writers on the side were just making fun of sports writing, how terrible it was, how awful the analysis was. All these people in comedy writing were miles smarter than anyone doing the sports writing.

Those people from Fire Joe Morgan are still the same kind of fan. Mike Schur is a crazy person. Every day I'll get something from an umpire who missed a strike in Seattle call, and I'll get a chart because he's watching everything and his brain doesn't work like anyone else's. Mike Ryan. Tatum had how many? Mike Schur.

Who cares? Bums. The Knicks suck. This is so much worse than losing to the Heat. All right, I'm just going to say this. Tatum is shooting 1 for 12 for 6 points in two fourth quarters so far. He's 12 for 42 in the series, but in two fourth quarters, Brunson time.

Six points as they cough up 20-point leads. Not only that, you can say that Mikkel Bridges has been outplaying Jason Tatum in this series, right? Is that a crazy thing to say? Like, you talk about the five first-round picks. You look across of what he's been doing defensively, too. It's like Mikkel Bridges has a couple legs to stand on. Look. He does that. He does have two legs to stand on. Put it on the Pollak Labrador show. Does Mikkel Bridges have a couple legs to stand on? I don't know if he'll ever earn five first-round pick status, but...

Two defensive game-winning plays in a row? I mean, what do you want? I mean, that's the way you make people forget about how many picks you went for for a very long time. They win this series, like he has his fingerprints all over it indelibly. But, Dan, I got to go back to this is a team, the Boston Celtics,

Who thought and you believed as of two days ago, hey man, that's just tears. Hey man, they broke the math on the sport. Hey man, they just know they're smarter than everybody else and Brad Stevens built a team that nobody else could compete with. Hey man, that's the best team over the last two years. And what you're seeing now is...

Yeah, you can't build an entire thing on feast or famine. You have to be able to adjust because they're not robots. You have to be able to just say, this isn't working. We need to attack the basket more. We need to make a bigger effort to get into the free throw line. We need to vary it up a little bit. And what's happened is these guys have failed to

have failed because they play for a coach who encourages them, who tells them, we're not playing wrong, we're just missing shots we usually make, or we're just making shots we usually miss.

The thing is, when you play that math game of like, we're going to try to put up as many threes as possible, and then you get a cold streak like this, I mean, this could last a whole series. KP's out. We don't know what's happening to KP. Wait a minute. So let's ask this question real quick. Can it last the whole series? Because it is a lot of small sample size theater. And I mean, I think we're headed toward...

I may have this wrong. I started down this path yesterday and we never got there. Basketball has been very predictable throughout my lifetime. And I'm wondering if the randomness of threes is going to make it so it's about to become vastly less predictable come this time of year because of things like this. The Celtics have missed more three-pointers in this series than any team has ever missed in two games consecutively. That's...

That's crazy. So in two games, they're shooting 25%. No team has ever shot and missed 75 threes in two games. But then the hot...

That highlights my point, which is the idea that no team has done that. Why? Because typically they say, guys, it's not going. Let's try to get something, go to the basket, get some easy ones, get to the free throw line, and then try to play out of that. But the Celtics say no. We're just going to keep barreling through it because the numbers will bear out. But again, it is not a numbers game. It is a human game. Humans are playing this. And yes,

I'm not saying, I'm not an ogre. I'm not saying three-pointers are bad or whatever. I'm saying two things. Number one is, hey, if it's not going in, maybe try something else. Just until you can get back to it. But the second thing, and this is important, the biggest, I made this joke yesterday. I didn't really explain it when I said you guys missed the Tyrone Hill 18-footer, right? But the reality is,

The importance of the three-point line rests with your role players. They're there to be a deterrent to help defense, helping on your stars, allowing your stars to have forays to the basket, to exist in the mid-range, to post up, to do all these things that the most talented among us get to and can do at a high level, right? That's what's happening or what should be happening.

When you look at a Warriors game and you marvel at, oh my God, Steph Curry hitting all these shots, the reality is everyone exists to give Steph Curry the space to do whatever he wants, right? And that's on the ball and off the ball. We're moving and we're passing and we're cutting and we're getting baskets and everything

If they're so concerned with stopping that guy, guess what, Draymond? You're going to have Jimmy Butler cutting backdoor. Guess what? You're going to have Kevon Looney ducking in. Guess what? You're going to have Jonathan Kamingo on the lot. All these things happen because they're worried about the three-point line, not because all we're going to do is shoot threes all day long. That's the big issue. It's this...

Dogma is zealot three, right? This belief that this is the only way and anything else is you're playing dumb basketball. There's no body movement for the Celtics offense. That's really frustrating to watch because even at the end of the game, that final possession where Jason Tatum is going one-on-one against Mitchell Robinson, there's nothing else happening. So as he's trying to get by one-on-one and using moves, there's no other options for him. And if you look at it,

There was a stretch where they went up 16 with like 830 to go. Seven of their next 10 possessions ended with a three-point attempt. When you're up 16 with that much time left, it's not just missing threes. It's the time you're deciding to take them. And that's the part of the Celtics offense that's a little bit confusing.

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You know, when you celebrate 50 years of Miller Lite, I had to bring in a Miller Lite aficionado, Greg Cody. I mean, no one says Miller Lite like Greg Cody. When I think of me and you, I think of us on a golf course. Where else are we at? I mean, on a cruise ship, in my backyard. At the beach. At the beach is a good one. And what do we always do? We hear that...

Oh, yeah, yeah. And then what do we do? We toast. We clink. Nice little clink. The clink, whether it's the can or the bottle, there's something about the clink of the Miller Lite. Yeah, and it's not just how much we love it. It's the whole ritual of it. You know, the popping the top, the sound of that. Tick, tick, tick.

Yeah, that's great. Love it. Love it. From game nights to parties with friends or a special anniversary, celebrating important occasions means more with the coolest people in your life. Cheers to 50 years of Miller Lite, the great tasting light beer for people who love beer since 1975. Now's a perfect time to celebrate legendary stories with friends, family, and a great tasting light beer. It's Miller time.

The simple ingredients, that malted barley for rich, balanced toffee note flavors and that iconic golden color. Yes, it's one. Everything about it is wonderful. I can't think of anything better. You're smiling. Ever since we started doing this ad read, you have just been smiling the entire time. I'm a Miller Lite guy. That kind of thing.

Miller Lite, great taste, 96 calories. Go to MillerLite.com slash Dan to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. It's Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. Don Libetard. Sub 500 seasons, it's been lonely. Now the best players on our side been losing and losing for much too long.

But now we're back with New York Pride. Stugatz. Jalen. You've got us on our feet. Jalen. We're going to win the East. Jalen. Without Randall, we're still doing fine. This is the Dan Levatard Show with the Stugatz.

I would say a couple of things to what it is that you guys are saying there, because they're not going to change what they do and they shouldn't. This team, hold on, Amin, hold on a second, OK? In the last six years, this is the second time, the second time in 564 games, regular season playoffs, that the Celtics have gone two straight shooting 25 percent from below three.

The second time in 564 games.

They won the championship last year and won it easily because they are better at this version of this ugly thing that Barkley always feared the warriors of Stephen Clay would become and basketball would become. Everybody more and more on the perimeter and it's no more beauty of the game. It's just awful when you miss 75% of your threes. Nobody even wants to watch it. The watch. When I'm watching the Celtics, they are a historically great team.

shooting team and I'm here to tell you those numbers will revert to the mean because they're great at that thing and also Jason Tatum is a slicer and they'll figure out how to get more points at the he will play more aggressively he will get foul calls the Knicks are not going to run away with this series because the Celtics going to shoot 25 percent from three the rest of the series on

uncontested looks from three like those are uncontested that's not great like bridges bridges was great last night his perimeter defense is great that team's perimeter defense is great bridges nearly outscored the celtics by himself in the fourth quarter he was great but the celtics won a championship last year easily because they do that better than anyone and the threes they've missed it ain't because the knicks are making them miss them they're just missing them

Dan, I think you're going process over results, but I'm going process over results more than you are. Process off. Process off. Let's have a process off. Let's do it right now. You know what? All right, let's do it. What does that look like? Somebody get me a calculator, get me some spreadsheets, get me some materials that I can process off. I mean, here, you know what? This is the future of sports debate right here. Process offs? Right here. Let's do a process off, you and me.

Last night's game. This is a better way to do this. You know what? Should I wait for Nick Wright to do this? Should Nick Wright... Do the process off? Look, let's set this up this way. Let's do this this way. Nick Wright is going to join us. And I believe that Nick Wright is legitimately the best sports media person doing it right now. Combining analytics and smart and...

funny and understanding that this is all pro wrestling and it needs to be entertaining. I think right now in our business, there's no one better doing

sports television and sports commentary than Nick Wright. And I want to challenge him right now. You know what? Let's build this up. Nick Wright wants to be rivals and nemesises with Mina and Pablo because Mina and Pablo are going to be furious when they hear that I say that Nick Wright is the best. Furious. He wants to compete and be better than everyone. Well...

Nick Wright, we're about to surprise you with a process off, and we're not going to give you any notice, and our whole crew is going to start the new game show process off, where we talk about the result of last night's game, and I bet you we can trap and bury Nick Wright when he tries to come for the king.

We're not doing the process off right now. I want to prepare for the process off. I want to have a process before. Amin was ready already. Well, but we're going to be even more ready with planning and coaching and Coach Amin, who I'm pretty sure, and I don't know where Stugatz is yet, probably still in traffic. He's going to come in hot because of traffic. But Amin, I think a show or two ago, you told me you were not a Knicks fan. That's right. Oh, this old thing that I'm wearing right now?

Oh, this is completely different. I actually asked Chris. I had this on the scale on the topic list for days now, which was old clothes, right? Like Zaz came in wearing stuff from like 2015 acting like we should be impressed. I present to you right now a...

1994 Anthony Mason replica jersey, which I discovered. I forgot about this. Take the back. It's autographed. Wow. By the late Anthony Mason. Heat legend Anthony Mason, I might add. Once a Nick, always a Nick. I might shock some people in this room right now who are not young enough or not old enough to know this. Do you guys know who the brother of Anthony Mason is? Do you guys know the name of his brother? Steve Mason. Stuck.

Jackie Mason. It's former Dolphins quarterback Jay Fiedler. Hold the phone. No. No. I don't know how. Is that a brother from another mother situation? Eskimo brother? No, they're brothers legally. They're legally brothers. This is a blindside situation. I want you guys to look it up. You guys didn't know that. Put it on the poll at Levitard Show. Anthony Payton and Jay Fiedler. Is it? No.

No, I didn't have that one, Dan. All right. You're too young to know. Put it on the poll at Levitard Show. Is it possible that Anthony Mason and Jay Fiedler are brothers? Do we have Sandra Bullock teaching Anthony Mason? This is how you set a screen. You get to lie wide and you don't move until your guard moves.

I will continue to prepare for the process off in a second. I mean, you are right, okay? Porzingis is an important player for them. He stretches everything. We talk a lot about Drew Holiday as the third best player on that team and also the best third player on a team because of how he plays defense. And it is impressive to see Brunson do it against Drew Holiday because...

he brings it every time and Brunson is going into the face of what the Celtics have been its champions and he's doing what Brunson does Tatum is now at a moment and I mean I want you to help me with this historically comparatively give me some perspective give me some analysis on what has ever existed like Jalen Brunson as a surprise as because we've seen the growth of Jimmy Butler here who I didn't think he was that good

Nobody knew Jalen Brunson was this. The Knicks seem to have known that he was something, but even they didn't know he was this. No one knew he was this, and it's the smallest player on the court. Dan, I'm going to answer your question, but first, an update from Jeremy.

So it seems Jay Fiedler's father was Anthony Mason's coach. But it doesn't seem like he's legally Anthony Mason's father, so I don't know that they're legally brothers either. All right, I'm going to look it up. Brothers, maybe. Not brother. He's like my third son. I don't think he is my third son. What do you mean? I get it.

Thank you for bringing him back. This was my father earlier in the show. It happens all the time when I rattle him. What do you mean? You know, I'm surprised. Didn't you enjoy the game last night? We've got to do something, Meech, with that. We have to ask Meech, what is my father trying to say here? What do you mean? I get it.

Do the whole thing. Let's see if somebody hearing it for the first time after the what do you mean and before surprise, if anyone would understand what's being said on that bridge. What do you mean? You know, I'm certain. Didn't you enjoy the game last night? I'm certain. Brunson's historical comp.

Okay, so we've got, as far as nobody saw it coming... That's a surprise. I know Jokic, yes. I know Jokic, no one saw that coming. But I'm talking about, go back in time throughout history and on Brunson, guy gets traded from Dallas to New York, and who expected this? I'm calling him the most beloved player in Knicks history right now. Right, so I can't speak to beloved. I don't know what metric there is for that, but...

If you want guys like that, Jokic obviously is a draft pick. Steph Curry, although being a top 10 pick, was a guy that a lot of people had question marks around. And the first few years in the league, he was a good player and a good shooter. No one saw him ascending to this level. Steve Nash is another guy who was drafted and traded and then given up by...

Surprise, surprise, Dallas Mavericks as well, right? Where it's like, eh, you're not quite good enough. I think the Brunson thing, what makes it interesting was, I remember going to Jalen Brunson's very first game in the NBA. They're playing the Suns, and I saw Rick Brunson for the game. And I said, hey, congratulations on your son being drafted and everything. This must be cool. And he's like, yeah, no, it's pretty cool.

And he was like, yeah, I don't think he's going to get any minutes, though. Like, he was already tempering his expectations on Jalen Brunson's playing time. And lo and behold, he actually played that night and played really well. And so I was like, oh, that's pretty cool. But...

There was no expectation from anyone that this guy would be a face of the NBA. There were people who thought he was going to be a good NBA player because he was a smart guard and he was a winner in college. But, I mean, I know there's a clip from Stephen A. Smith going around going viral where he said, there are no NBA players on this Villanova team. This was back then. And that was kind of the general consensus is that maybe there are no NBA players, but...

None of these guys are going to be stars. They're just going to be good, solid role players who will find a place here and there. And so, yes, in that sense, Brunson's ascension is a little unprecedented. But like I said, there are other guys who have gone through this where they were discarded and kind of not believed in. And then they found stardom, true stardom somewhere else. All those Villanova guys are now all on the Knicks.

Except for Dante. I have just been informed that Stugatz has arrived in the building, and I am here to tell you. He's glowing. He looks 10 years younger. He is radiant. He is beaming. This begins the rejuvenation of Stugatz, the Knicks matter. This is, I mean, is anyone going to dispute that this is about as good as the Knicks have felt since Larry Johnson hit that four-point play against Indiana? And I don't even know if that was this century.

It was not this century. It was 1999. That was pre-Y2K, Dan. Forget pre-9-11. Pre-Y2K, we were so worried about our computers are going to explode, guys. They don't know the dates. It's going to think it's 1900 all over again. Put it on the poll at Levitard Show. Do you know what Y2K was? Trust me, Amin and I are old enough to realize that in the year 2000, as it approached, everyone thought that at New Year's, all our computers, and just so that you know,

Shouldn't be worried about AI at all when I tell you how ignorant we were in 2000 about what the computers might do to us. We thought at the time when the clock struck midnight on Y2K that all of the computers would stop working and the world would no longer work.

you guys are tony uh no chris chris i'm telling you they told us it's the computer's gonna think it's 1900 and then all the planes were gonna fly from we're gonna fall from the sky like everything was gonna crash uh power was gonna go out and like they told us the end of the world is coming that's what and people were working around the clock to fix it it's not one of those things where we thought it was going to be bad

Fix what, Amikus? How do you go into everybody's computer and be like, oh, instead of 1999, it's got to be two in front of the 00s. No, it wasn't even because Tony wasn't 1999. The problem was when they started making computers, the dates were like, you know, 5-11-98. Yeah. Yeah.

They didn't have 1998. And so when 00 hits, the computers didn't know that that meant, oh, we're now into a new millennia. They thought, oh, no, we started back at 1900. So what ended up happening was they had to reprogram systems online.

all over the world to go from two digit dates to four digit. I cannot believe I am so happy to announce, ladies and gentlemen, all of you have seen Amin grow up from a young new media person into rising star, an elder.

Ladies and gentlemen, Amin El-Hassan, an elder telling the kids about what Y2K was and enjoying the holy hell out of it because he is an elder. Dan, we don't call him elders anymore. We call him Unc. Congratulations, Amin. Oh, Dan Levitard, an Unc. Yes, yes. One of those is in trouble right now. I'll try to stay away from those problems.

The little red baseball hat and Bruce Springsteen's back pocket on the Born in the USA cover, Hat Hall of Fame. That wasn't a bandana? Blues Brothers fedora. No, he wore a bandana a lot of times during that tour, but no, that's Mandela effect.

I have purposely not talked once about the Panthers. We'll get to that in a second. I don't know where Roy is. I think he's still in traffic. I would assume after not being afraid and we're the Panthers, not afraid of anything, you get beat by the backup goalie. Seems like it's kind of insane in Toronto. Wouldn't want to play a game seven there. I would love to ask the question to Zaslow today.

- Might one say that the Maple Leafs took that ass? - Wow. - Perhaps? - So far, so far long series, but yeah, it doesn't look good right now.

I am looking at Stugatz in the control room. Look at him. He has come in into the control room, and he is as happy as I've ever seen him. You thought he was stepping back. He's stepping in, he's stepping out, and he's stepping up. Knicks fan Stugatz, someone I've never seen in my life. I've worked with him 20 years, has never felt this good in 25. He's hidden from me for 20 years. Today, Stugatz wins! WF!

Stu Gatz will be in here shortly for a process off with Nick Wright. I would love Stu Gatz to join the process off as one of the kings of debate in this country. Dan, if I may serve up an appetizer for later while you think of your process. Yeah, because there's another process you need to think about. Two days ago, Dan Levitard was...

burying the Oklahoma City Thunder. It's over. They lost the game. He's the best player in the world. What are they going to do? They beat them by damn near 50, Dan. The highest plus minus in the history of NBA playoffs. Plus 51 for Shea Gillespie Alexander in three quarters. He didn't even play the fourth. I have never seen a playoff game where a team has 87 points at the half

No one has. It's never happened before. Yes, okay, yes. I've never seen it. 87 struck me as an unusual number. I also wasn't aware that the Oklahoma City Thunder, by the way, an extraordinary basketball team, truly capable of winning the championship, hadn't lost back-to-back games since 2023. That's right. They don't lose two in a row because they're great. You beat them once, it's a surprise. And they had...

Was it December? Was it November? They do not lose back-to-back games because they're great. Because they're better than everyone. Like, that's hard stop, right? I mean...

That's hard stop. The Oklahoma City Thunder are better than everyone. Yes. I mean, I said that to you months ago. I said, remember you mocked me about it two days ago. Amin says they have no flaws. But then here comes this guy from Serbia. And I said, Dan, Dan, it's the playoffs. What's that sound? Did you do a fake levitard? Let me hear some fake levitard. Argue with my father over here. Let's hear what this sounds like. What do you mean? I get it. I get it.

Well, Dad, didn't you see? Jason Tatum, he couldn't get anything done. Didn't you enjoy the game last night? I did. It was amazing. The math was just not mathing last night, but over time it'll work out. You don't agree? What was that? Our own version of AI.