Indiana Pacers – Cavs backs to wall, but Pacers in perfect position! Colts rookie camp – fun watch!

Indiana Pacers – Cavs backs to wall, but Pacers in perfect position! Colts rookie camp – fun watch!

of a sudden it’s a it’s a little bit windy out here. What are we doing? I hope it’s not messing with the sound. Let’s talk about the Indianapolis Colts. We’re going to do that first and then we’re going to talk about the Pacers. We’re going to talk about the Colts because I just heard Chris Ballard talk about Anthony Richardson versus Daniel Jones saying, “Hey, we’re so impatient.” He said this a million times. So impatient with starting quarterbacks. Well, at some point seven 47.5% per completion percentage that’s going to make you impa impatient. What makes you impatient, I hope, is not making the playoffs since 2020. I hope that’s making the Colts impatient. What Ballard is doing is doubling down and then tripling down on Anthony Richardson as his starting quarterback, going out and getting Daniel Jones. That’s not a serious move by a general manager who’s trying to put heat on Anthony Richardson. Daniel Jones, the the Giants said, “We’re all done with you. The Giants need a quarterback worse than anybody in the NFL.” And they dealt him or or they let him walk one way. They were going to have him walk. He he was released and then signed by the Vikings to the practice squad. This is Daniel Jones. the Colts either are not impatient and they’re they’re responding poorly to their uh patience or they aren’t impatient and they’re responding poorly to that. I can’t figure out what the hell’s going on. We’re going to talk about rookie camp a little bit. All right, that’s out of my system. Uh we’re we’re going to talk about Pacers. Pacers Cavaliers tomorrow night, game three. Pacers are in perfect position. They can be no better than 2-0 after two games in this series. Are they going to be able to win game three? And if they don’t win game three, Iay, the Sphincter Titans, it could turn charcoal into a diamond after tomorrow night if they lose game three because you got to win game three and you’ve got to turn this into a non-event. You’ve got to make the Cavaliers say, “Okay, it’s not our year. Had some injuries. We got Kenny Atinson as a coach. What are we going to do?” Did anybody expect better than this? That he is the NBA’s coach of the year. My God almighty. Really? Kenny Atinson, good heavens. Joseph Orchard, thank you very much. So, we’re going to talk about things that you should look for tomorrow night and things that are absolutely true in this series as it stands right now. Going to talk about IU softball. 5-4 losers today against UCLA. They had the game. It was there for them and and they just got kind of tight. Uh, baseball is a game of momentum. When things start going bad, then they keep going bad and they just kind of went bad for Indiana toward the end. That’s the way it is. Brianna Copeland, I thought, pitched really, really well. She hit well. Indiana just couldn’t score enough runs to get over the top against UCLA. And George Pickkins, this bothers me, and this is more a media critique than a critique of George Pickins, but how the hell is George Pickkins for a third round draft pick a blockbuster trade? In whose brain I if that’s a blockbuster trade, what is not a blockbuster trade? George Pickins for a third round draft pick is not a blockbuster. Hershel Walker for like 12 guys and draft picks. That was a blockbuster. Eric Dickerson blockbuster. Jeff George blockbuster. There have been blockbuster trades in the NFL. not as many of them as in in the NBA or in Major League Baseball, but this is not a blockbuster trade. There’s nothing blockbuster-ish about this. We’ll talk about George Pickkins and why it’s the most obvious deal ever. They found a partner for a deal to offload George Pickins. They got the guy who’s willing to give up a third round draft pick. There you go. Patrick Hosfeld says, “What jersey number would you like Tyler Warren to wear uh with the Colts? Have you asked Zire about letting go of 44?” Nobody’s asking Zire to let go of 44. He ain’t got to let go of 44. I don’t know what number Tyler Warren’s going to wear. And And I’ll tell you what, not only do I not really care about that, Tyler Warren doesn’t really care about that. He’s worn 44 a lot. 44 is a good number at Penn State. I get it here. Yeah. Not a bad number. You got Dallas Clark, but you got a guy who’s already got it. So, he’s going to wear a number and it’ll be whatever it is. 41. I I don’t know. I don’t even know what numbers are retired. We were talking about that yesterday in the Colts media room, I have no idea. Good question. I appreciate the question. Thank you very much for the question. But what numbers people wear, I just can’t wrap my arms around how important that is. Unless you’re playing for a playoff team. If you’re playing for a playoff team, then I’ll indulge the number conversation. But if you’re not a playoff team all the way back to 2000, you got other stuff to think about. You got to have other priorities than that. This is Inside Indiana Sports Now with Kent Sterling for Thursday, May 8th, 2025. Brought to you by the great people at Today’s Dentistry. Dr. Mike O’Neal, the best dentist in the world. His team, the best team in the world. If you’re going to, and I’m not kidding, I’ve been a patient only of today’s dentistry for the last 30 years. I will not go to another dentist or another dental office. I won’t because that’s how well they take care of me. And that starts at the front desk with Asia and Gabby and Jennifer and Julie. And then in back I get my teeth cleaned by the great Cassie. And then Dr. Mike comes in and Mike O’Neal looks around, does the oral cancer screening, all of that, and says, “You’re beautiful. No cavities this time. When there is a cavity, it’s okay. It’s all right because I know it’s going to be done right. And and so I got no problem with that. 317-849-2933. Ask for Julie and then when you get her on the phone, say, “I can’t talk. Ken told me to call your boy.” And you do that like Jerry Lewis, she’s going to give you 10% off your first cleaning. How about that? And they haven’t approved that deal. But if you do that, I will pay that 10% out of my own pocket. How about that? Must be a subscriber to win the George Hill jersey. Tomorrow we will draw for the George Hill jersey. Beautiful. Sewn on. Oh, nice. Sweet. Back in the day, $110 jersey. Now it’ probably be two bills. All right. And you can win. You’ve got a a comment. Take the hill and you must be a subscriber. Hit the thumbs up button. That’s what polite people do. I’m just saying. I do it every video. I watch I hit the like button cuz it doesn’t cost me nothing. And speaking of cost you something, if you want to make a donation, make a donation. No big whoop. But please include a comment or a question that elevates the level of discourse on this channel. Can you? All right, let’s talk about the Indiana Pacers a little bit. Take the hill. There you go, Patrick. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. And and thanks for the two. Um let’s talk first about the Pacers. All right. they can still lose this series. Like, make no mistake about that. But there are things to know about this series that make it seem rather unlikely. And the first of those things is the road team, the underdog, has gone 2 in a series 35 times. In 30 of those series, the team that goes up 20 uh on the road, they win the series. 30 of 35 times, that’s 85.7%. How about that? So, we’ll see Pacers in that position, Knicks in that position as well. The Knicks just keep grinding, grinding and grinding and grinding, and they just wear the Celtics down. Same thing happens with the Pacers. The Pacers have learned to believe in themselves over the course of this season. A lot of come from behind wins for the Pacers this year. You develop an internal belief. Game’s not over. We’re down 14 going into the fourth. Let’s go. Possession by possession. We win this game on defense. We hold them down defensively and we use our defense to generate offense. Let’s go. Ready? Team on three. One, two, three, team. It’s just that easy. So, tomorrow night, they’re going to get after it. But here’s the thing to know, too, that if you lose, if you lose game three, game four becomes humongous. And if you lose game four, you’re right back where you started. like a seven game series is not over until zeros after you have won that fourth game. You cannot let your guard down at all during a series like this. And the Pacers, I think, are a mature enough team while being really, really young. Tyresese Hallebertton just turned 25, right? Pascal Seakum’s been there, done that. He’s kind of like the grizzled veteran at the age of 31, still in his prime. Miles Turner, I know he’s been here for 10 years, but he’s 28 or was 28 when the season started. This is a team that’s kind of on the come and going to the Eastern Conference Finals last year despite the injuries that occurred to uh both the Bucks with no Giannis and then the Knicks in the uh semis. You know what? This is a team that learned how to win last year. And when you learn how to win, it’s really not important how those circumstances arise. Bars Media says, “I know this series isn’t over, but who would be uh more a problem for Indiana, El Horford, Carl Anthony Towns?” Wow. Take your pick there, right? El Horford is a mess for uh um for Miles Turner, right? And so is Carl Anthony Towns. Carl Anthony Towns can shoot it, too. The thing I love about Al Horford is he’s a workerbe. He just works. like he doesn’t give a damn whether he scores 30 or whether he scores two. He goes to work and he makes it really not fun to play against him. Horge Herrerero Guerrero says Pac Pacers Eastern Conference champs that could easily happen. That could easily happen. Pacers could win the whole damn thing. Pacers could win this thing. They could beat the Thunder. They could beat the Nuggets. They could beat the Warriors. They could get that done. They could beat Minnesota. they could win this whole thing. They’ve got to understand that. They’ve got to understand that they’re 10 wins away from winning the NBA championship for the first time in almost 40 years. I think next year will be the 40th year, 50th year, I’m sorry, 50th year that they’ve been in the NBA. That would be extraordinary. And they could do it. And then what? I don’t know. I can’t think of a team anything like them unless you go all the way back to like the 04 Pistons, right? All right. Uh, officiating has been fair. Like Kenny Atkinson’s doing what coaches do and that’s and moan about the officiating. It’s just what coaches do. Uh, but and this isn’t the end all beall of like fairness statistics. This doesn’t mean everything when when you talk about officiating uh fouls. Game one fouls 20 for the Pacers called against them 16 for the Cavs. Game two, 26 for the Pacers, 21 for the Cavs. Pacers have just been more aggressive. They’ve been the aggressor and that’s why they’re 20. Aggression wins in the playoffs. And the Cavs are really nice guys. Nice guys. Go out, get a beer with the Cavs. You know, they’re all right to hang with. You don’t want to hang out with like Bobby Portoris. You think maybe at some point he just gonna because he’s bored he’s gonna take a punch at you and hit you in the jaw. Bill beer. You didn’t want to. Nobody wants to drink beer with Bill Amir period. Despite the fact that beer is right there in his name. No, you know what? Uh maybe vodka cranberry with uh with Rodman. I don’t know. He might be kind of docel when he’s out and about, but on the basketball court, nobody wanted anything to do with the guy because hey, crazy run our test. Crazy crazy plays in the playoffs. And the Cavaliers have got no crazy in them and that’s a problem. Uh Cavs have not been to the Eastern Conference Conference Finals since 2018. Kenny Atkinson has won one playoff series as a head coach in his career at the age of 57. It came against the 10 10th seated Heat last week. It’s the only one. Kenny Atinson, the NBA coach of the year. What they what do they do? Draw his name out of a hat. How do they pick these guys? Are you crazy? You think somebody thinks that Kenny Atinson has done a better job as a head coach than Rick Carile has? You are straight out of your mind. Uh Cavs are now two and a half point favorites for tomorrow night. What? How is that possible? What are they? Just give it away money. The Pacers are like the the Brinks truck that rolls over on the interstate and all the cash is just flying around. You just go out and grab it. That’s what you do. I’ve told you from the beginning of this thing. Game one, lock. Game two, lock. I got nervous in game two. Game three, two and a half points. All right. You know what? You want to give me your money? I’ll take it. Why wouldn’t I? Uh Garland, Mobly, Hutter, game time decision for all three. But you’re guessing that because it’s two and a half that somebody knows something and some of those guys are going to play. I would be really surprised if Evan Moley didn’t play tomorrow night. A rolled ankle and you’re going to sit for two playoff games. You’re going to sit for a game three where if you lose, you are definitely going home. You’re not coming back and winning four in a row. You’re going to sit if you you’ve got a thumb You know, you’re going to sit. Goodness sake. Hunter’s got a thumb. Garland’s gar they don’t they they like call it the great toe on the injury report. He’s got a great toe hyperextension. I’ve never heard it called the great toe. Do you call it the great toe? You call it the big toe. Why can’t we call it the big toe? I I like the big toe. Big toe is all right by me. Is that a bad thing to call something? Is that is that demeaning to the toe? It, you know, is that is it the B- word for the toe? Oh, don’t call me big. I’m not the big toe. All or maybe it’s demeaning to the rest of the toes. The little toe. It’s like, what about me? I’m a toe. Why can’t we just all be toes? Why’s he got to be the big one? Um, I don’t know. That might have come from a Seinfeld episode. I’m never really sure. Uh, Pacers can still lose this series, though. If they lose tomorrow night, they can lose this series. Let’s not get too fat and happy and start booking plane tickets to New York or Boston. All right. Um, Colts rookie camp tomorrow and Saturday. What will we see? You know, the only thing that’s of any interest really in in this any of this stuff, whether it’s OTAAS’s, mini camp, rook, rookie mini camp, training camp, it’s Richardson and Jones, that’s it. How that goes, so goes the season. And it better be Richardson who wins this thing. Richardson has better work have worked hard enough in the offseason to win the starting job or this team’s got trouble because Daniel Jones is not the guy. I’m telling you, he’s not the guy. He is not a guy with him as quarterback that you’re going to win 10 games. You’re not. He’s Gardenner men shoe with better feet. That’s it. Andrew Anthony Richardson has a chance to be really, really good. He’s got the physical attributes necessary. Does he have it up here to be really, really good? Does he have the work ethic necessary to get as good as the other 31 guys in that position that he’s playing against? And Chris Ballard saying, you know, I don’t under look, people are too impatient. No, people are way too patient. It’s not about impatience is the sin. Like if you want to preach patience, I’ll tell you what, you go 89 again and you preach patience to Jim Ers and you see what happens. I don’t know what physical condition Jim Ers is in right now. Rides around in the golf cart, right? I I think he would get up out of that golf cart and chase Chris Ballard around the practice field at Grand Park or or chase him around his bus. They’d do laps in the bus. Come here, you and then and then whack him with a walking stick, whack him with one of his guitars. He’d go get David Gilmore’s black and hit him over the head. Impatient. Ers has been patient to a tremendous fault. Patrick Housefeld says, “When Daniel Jones loses a QB job, do you think the Colts trade Janiel Jones?” I don’t think anybody would trade for him. What would they What would they trade? I maybe a fifth, sixth round pick and they’re going to eat that $14 million. They’re not going to trade for him as a starter. You know, I I think it’s an interesting question. I I don’t think that they would. And here’s the actual answer, and it’s not about money. They need a backup quarterback and it’s not Riley Leonard. So Daniel Jones is going to be that guy. We’ve seen what’s happened the last two years. Gardner Mchu became the starter after Anthony got hurt, right? Then Joe Flacco became the starter after number one, Anthony was benched, then he got hurt. You can suspect that in year three, Anthony Richardson will sustain an injury that will require a backup quarterback to come in and play good football. Daniel Jones is a good backup quarterback. He can’t get you home as a starter, but he is a good good backup quarterback. Maybe one of the five best in the NFL. So, the Colts are in good shape. Now, 14 million for a for a backup quarterback, that’s a little bit stiff. But no, I don’t believe that they’ll trade him because it would be stupid from a football management standpoint, roster management. It would be bad news. You’d have to come with a hell of a lot. Now, if you got through Well, if you got I don’t know. I don’t think there’s any scenario where Daniel Jones I’m thinking through like different records different times. I think Daniel Jones has value as a backup no matter what. That is is critical to the like if Anthony Richardson starts the season as quarterback and they go eight and three, that doesn’t mitigate the need for Daniel Jones moving forward. It may enhance the need to have Daniel Jones moving forward because if in week 12 or 13 Anthony Richardson gets hurt, Daniel Jones has got to land that plane, right? And at 8 and three, which is I know a little bit optimistic. You you got to take that thing from 8 and three maybe to 11 and six, just break even, go three and three. Daniel Jones can do that. Interesting question. Sorry for the bounce in the answer. What are we going to look at at Colts rookie camp? Tyler Warren, he’s going to look comparatively special. We talked about it this morning. He’s going up against like practice squad guys, right? They’re undrafted free agents and tryyout guys. He’s going to look incredible. How about um uh Wall-E, the quarterback? He’s going to look awesome defending wide receivers who are not going to make the roster either. And then you, you know, you just the drafted guys are going to look really good as they should. Those are going to be the eight best players on the field. There’s going to be no Richardson. There’s going to be no Jones. So, we’re we’re going to have to kind of screw our heads on, right, to be able to watch and and maintain interest in what’s going on. I think it’s going to be interesting watching Giddens at running back because you can tell some things about movement with running backs as they kind of run, you know, they kind of do those shifty movements around cones or whatever those things are. And, you know, you can kind of tell what kind of glide the guy’s got, right? How quick that burst is. And I think we’ll see that with Diddens. Uh, so that might be interesting. I IU softball lost 5-4. A walk-off ground ball to to uh the pitcher and they had the bases loaded. The runner came home, didn’t have to wait. This is why maybe you think about not walking a runner to load the bases when he had it first and third because bases loaded, runners going like anything on the ground, they’re going on contact because they got it. And so there was no hesitation. M you know what? Damned if you do, damned if you don’t, depending on the uh result, right? That’s the way it goes. You choose the hitter you’re more comfortable to face. I know it. George Pickins for a third rounder. People keep I see this in headlines. Blockbuster. NFL blockbuster. I want a big one, Mr. Gower. A blockbuster. How is that a blockbuster? George Pickkins. Here’s the thing. AR needs 180° turn. He’s at 90. Can he do it? You know what? I think he can get to 130. 140. At 140, I’m kind of happy with with Anthony being the guy. He has averaged George Pickins has 58 catches, 947 yards, four touchdowns. In whose world is a trade of that guy for a third rounder, a blockbuster? I’ll tell you who’s ESPN’s. Because the Steelers fans, they’re meaningful as a constituency of ESPN and so are Cowboys fans. Chief among all football fans, more Cowboys fans than anybody. So if if Jerry Jones farts funny, that leads, right? That’s an AB block. That’s ESPN. George P. If this was a trade between the Panthers and the Titans, they wouldn’t mention it. It it would go by Adam Sheper. He wouldn’t even tweet it. He’d be like, “Hey.” All right. Uh, also tomorrow, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway opens for the first time in the month of May. Ahead of the uh uh Grand Prix, which is coming on Saturday, there are going to be races out there tomorrow, autograph signings, qualifications for the Sunio Grand Prix is going to be awesome. I’ll be out there and then at rookie camp because I like going places. You show me a sports guide. This goes for radio, print, TV, whatever. And they don’t want to go to an event. They don’t want to do their job. You go to events cuz it’s fun. We work in the toy store. And some people work in the toy store and all they do is and moan because they have to play with toys all day. Man, tough life, fellas.

Pacers up two with three coming at home – that should pave way to Eastern Conference Finals – right!
Colts Rookie Camp tomorrow – no Richardson vs. Jones, so what are we looking at?
Pickens to Cowboys for a three is a blockbuster? Then what trade is not a blockbuster?
IU Softball loses to UCLA in Big 10 Tournament!

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