The Indiana Pacers Shock The World, Close Out Knicks To Reach NBA Finals | Pat McAfee Show

The Indiana Pacers Shock The World, Close Out Knicks To Reach NBA Finals | Pat McAfee Show

The Indiana Pacers have made it to the NBA finals for the first time since the year 2000. The city is alive and obviously in game six whenever the Pacers beat the hell out of the New York Knicks, they punch their ticket to the NBA finals to take on a very dominant Oklahoma City Thunder team that’ll begin on Thursday night at 8:30 Eastern on ABC. It’ll be ESPN broadcast throughout the entirety of the NBA finals as Tyrese Hallebertton and Larry Bird trophy winner, the MVP of the Eastern Conference Finals, Pascal Seakum take on Shay Jaylen in a squad of Oklahoma City Thunder boys that are obviously scrappy gritty and uh have a homecourt advantage. But don’t look now. Indiana is alive. The cities were a buzz after the New York Knicks get sent back to New York being Eastern Conference finals. Congrats to the Knicks. Congrats to the Knicks. Had a chance to be there. Was not sitting courtside. I think those tickets were like 50 60 grand a pop or something like that. And I do love the Pacers. Not that much, but I do love the Pacers up in a suite with the boys watching as it went down. And you know, as the fourth quarter kind of unfolded, it all got kind of obvious that the Pacers were going to be going to the finals. And it’s not just because Tyrese and Pascal. Obie Toppin is absolutely beloved in this city of Indianapolis. There was numerous OB Toppin chants as he hits his head off the rim every single time he seemingly goes to the rack. Thomas Bryant, former Indiana Hooser, was with the Lakers. Now he’s back with the Pacers. He dropped a couple threes to place one ape [ __ ] Tyresese Hallebertton turned it on in the fourth quarter. Pascal Seakam is damn near unguardable. He’s so fast. So long, long, long, huge. And his Pacers team is in better shape than you are. TB there bringing the juice. He’s been doing that for the entirety of the playoffs on the bench. Now he’s getting a chance to shine. Nemhard was playing some Nemhard defense on Jaylen Brunson. Actually, Jaylen Brunson headbutted Nemhard at one point. Obviously, there was no call because number 39, the ref wearing number 39, a little white guy about this big. He really wanted the Knicks to be in it. I was watching him. He seemed to be having an angle. Now, I don’t want to throw out any uh, you know, uh, conspiracy fodder. Sure. Number 39, a little whack. If he’s refing any of the games, the Pacers are taking on Oklahoma City. I don’t know if he’s anti-Pacers. I don’t know if he’s anti coach Carile. I don’t know if he was pro New York. Whatever the case was, that thing was going the opposite direction for like a four or five minute period for the Knicks. And it was just it got to the point where it’s too big to rig. The Indiana Pacers were just a damn good basketball team. And everybody all season was talking about how nobody was talking about Oklahoma City enough. This team’s dominant. I agree. Oklahoma City fans all year have been saying, “Hey, our team is the real deal.” The NBA people who are the super NBA people are like, “This team is the real deal.” And in the Eastern Conference, nobody’s talking about the Cleveland Cavaliers. They need to give the Cleveland Cavaliers more love. Need to give the Cleveland Cavaliers more love. Everybody’s talking about these small markets. The Oklahoma City team and the Cleveland team not getting enough love. You know who got no love throughout the entirety of the season? Who? You know who got no love through the beginning of the damn playoffs. They’re playing on an ion network somehow. That’s right. Whenever they had their first couple playoff series, the Indiana Pacers. Nobody talked about them. Last year they get to the Eastern Conference Finals. They get swept by the Boston Celtics. Now, the Boston Celtics would inevitably go win title, but they would get swept 40. Three of those four games. Pacers have good lead, then they just kind of choke it away. So, nobody even talked about the Pacers being the Eastern Conference finalist last year. Nobody talked about the Pacers having the best record since post All-Star break in the entire NBA alongside Oklahoma City. Nobody wanted to see the Pacers on TV. And the Pacers just became inevitable. The Pacers just became a team that was unflapable. They were in better shape than you in this city and this team learned from what happened last year. And now we’re ready to take on the NBA Finals atmosphere and environment and the NBA Finals spotlight. This Pacers team might not have been given a spotlight all year, but this Pacers team is ready for the spotlight. They got dogs all over the court. Miles Turner, who’s been here for 10 years, cuts a promo afterwards about the city, about the team, about everything he believes in. He’s seen a lot of transition with this squad. And coach Carile, who’ll be joining us in about 10 minutes or so, is a guy that’s basically just been shued out everywhere he’s gone. It’s an island of misfit toys basically here for the Indiana Pacers who have come together and they will run your ass out of the gym. Now, will they be able to do that to Oklahoma City? We shall see. The two best teams in the NBA are battling in the NBA finals and we’re lucky that our city is being represented and good luck to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Nine and a half point favorites on Thursday. The disrespect continues for the Indiana Pacer team. But first game, I think they’re going to be trying to feel each other out. Who knows how this first one goes. They could Thunder could win by 20 in this first one. That would not scare me. Pacers could win by 15 to 20. And that would not scare the Oklahoma City team. best of seven series. Going to have to feel each other out. Think this one is going to go to a full seven regardless. And uh I can’t wait to watch it. What an exciting and electrifying time here in the great state of Indiana. The talks of tables here at Boston Conor and at Tai Schmidt. Baseball happened this weekend as well, Ty. We will certainly dive into that in a little bit. One half of the Hammer Cowboys AP Tony’s here. Great shirt. See you representing for the Pacers. Yes, there is brother. I mean, I’ve been a Hooser now for what, eight, nine years. And I Pittsburgh doesn’t have a basketball team, so why wouldn’t I root for the Indiana Pacers? best team in the NBA since January 1. Well, second record-wise, but you get it. Um, I’m allowed to say that cuz I’m a Serves fan. Um, a little bit biased. Um, but yeah. Well, TJ McConnell is a Yinszer on the team. Yeah, Duke Kane. I uh Oh, wait till you see the TJ. Wait till you see what I got from TJ McConnell. Okay. Later this week. That’s tease. Yeah, I like to hear that. We We can be purchased. Without a doubt. You know, we can and Tone Tone certainly somebody that can be purchased. DJ McConnell starts filling, you know, Tone digs his locker with a bunch of merch. He’s certainly going to wear them. Look at the shirt he’s wearing right now. I mean, he is uh I bought this myself. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yeah, sure you did. Uh it’s a beautiful time and it’s a fun team to be a fan of. If you’re not an NBA fan, like from Pittsburgh, there’s no NBA team. There’s a lot of people that maybe don’t have NBA teams. I think a lot of people have potentially picked up the Pacers because of either our program or because Tyrese Burton joining us. But it’s also a good story because literally nobody has wanted them to win. like none of the people have wanted them to win. I mean, you go on Get Up when who’s going to win the series across the bottom. Knicks. Who’s going to win the series? Bucks. Who’s going to win a series? Cavs. They’ve been calling for the Pacers to lo Every person on TV has been calling for the Pacers to lose every single series. I don’t think there’s been one person that has gone out and been like, I think Pacers are going to do it this time. I I I think you potentially get kicked off television. We know how some of those people operate. Mhm. There’s a chance you get kicked off of TV if you were to say that. So, it’s a wonderful team to be a fan of. Consant underdog. Consant overlooked. Consant underrated. Yeah. Overrate that. Tyrese Hallebertton 20 plus points double double in game ceiling game six or series ceiling game six. Pasco Seakum goes. I mean, it’s just a fun team. Yeah. And they’re all dogs and none of them care. None of them care about who gets the credit. And uh the way they play is they play hard as hell. in this city is going to be electrifying. Come join us if you want to come to a game. Yeah, the Seakum story I think is incredible too. Like was in Toronto, wins the championship. He was the G-League MVP. Like really did kind of come up through the ranks. I think he went to New Mexico or New Mexico State like a small school kid. They talked about I think he talked about his press conference like, “Hey, yeah, I moved to from Cameroon and completely committed myself to basketball and that’s just kind of been my life.” and then he gets traded, you know, from Toronto after they fall off a cliff and finds a home in Indie. And last year when he got traded there, that was a huge uh deal for them that kind of got them back into uh kind of that top tier talent team. And then of course with the way the season ended with the Celtics sweeping them, there was no celebration. You’ve talked about it. When a team gets to the Eastern Conference Finals like the Pacers, who weren’t being talked about as one of those top teams, you expect to celebrate some sort of success like that, but because they got swept, there was nothing. And then this offseason, a bunch of clips have been coming out. Miles Turner posted something about him like, “Hey, we think we can surpass last year.” Seakum talked about, too, like you you think this is going to happen every year. I went to the finals and then I never sniffed the finals. So, the fact that, you know, we were able to get to the conference finals last year was incredible. Now, they’re going to the finals, there’s a stat of uh, you know, both these teams, Gumpy shared it with us. They both average, you know, OKC 100 possessions a game, the Pacers 99 possessions a game. And stuff like this is why the small markets are sweet. Like, they really do care more about basketball in Indiana. That’s a real thing. Oklahoma City, I I’ve never been there. I’m sure it’s a wonderful place. Oh, we’ve seen it on TV. That is special. It is incredible. It’s one of the best atmospheres in sports and the the the jersey the shirts they do of course is cool, but they’re on their feet and that’s what happened in the Pacers game six that I noticed like four, five minutes left. Nobody was sitting down. You could sense it. Connor obviously from Boston. How many titles did the Celtics have? 18. Most of the NBA history. Okay. Obviously, uh you’re welcome. I just gave you that one. I Hey, hey, by the way, current if if it’s got to go anywhere, at least it stays in here. Okay. All right. Thank God that. And you’ll be shipping that obviously whenever it gets to uh some team potentially getting to four wins. We’ll see. Well, hey, look, if SGA if SGA wants to reach out for it, maybe. Yeah. But on that note, Whoa. All right. Listen. Uh we don’t know if it’s going to I thought that’s what you were saying. No. Yeah. Uh but on that note, there’s like five minutes left in the fourth quarter. Connor looks over. He goes, “Oh, you can feel it.” Mhm. Pacers are going to the finals. And uh I like look around and you could because the game got kind of ugly. Pacers started making shots. Nicks subbed out the before the Knicks even did a full line change and basically just tapped out and put the white flag up. The entire arena was standing and it was just like a buzz. It was like everybody in their own little groups was like, “Holy [ __ ] we’re Pacers are going to the finals. The Pacers are going to the NBA finals right now.” And it was a cool moment where you were like, you could feel you could sense it right now cuz you know obviously Celtics fans are like you guys don’t get this a lot but this is what the feeling is. This is what we’re trying to bottle and experience. Nine-year NFL vet Darius J. Butler is here. Debb, great to see you. Look incredibly cool. Yeah, the atmosphere was electric in there. And that moment that he’s chitchatting about. That was when Tyrese goes from the logo. That was whenever, you know, Thomas Bryant started going crazy from the side. It was like that fourth quarter moment is why you pay the amount of money that you pay to be in that building. Yeah. Thank you for that. In this city. Yeah. No problem. No problem. Appreciate that. much much more fun this year for you, I think. Yeah. Last year was the worst viewing experience I’ve ever had in my life. Sorry, that’s on me. It was on him. Two of his Celtics friends were there. And I said, “Never in my life am I doing that again, especially at the price that I just paid for this week. I’m not going to watch people just dance in my face the entire time. I’m going to try to enjoy this.” We certainly did that. But it was a beautiful thing. And it’s amazing what sports can do. Yeah. like this city, you know, I’m not saying uh that last year after the Eastern Conference Finals, the city was bummed out about the Pacers, but they certainly were. They were bummed out about how the season ended because how proud they were of the Pacers team. Nobody thought they were going to be able to make it as far as they did. They do. Then you can’t even talk about it. Now it’s like we all kind of understand what the team is. The team represents city well and it’s uh you know, the vibes are immense. The vibes are so high. It’s a spectacular. And you guys were there in the building. You can feel that energy even watching it through the TV like watching through the TV, hearing the chance, hearing the crowd regardless of what the score was, the crowd was fully, you heard even the chance for Thomas and obviously he’s a he’s a hooer as well, but you talked about this state just being a basketball state in general. So for them to be in the finals for the first time and they have a real chance to win it. I forget who it was that was on here talking about, you know, the teams and the makeup of the Pacers and how they play and with their pace like they can run you to the ground and they almost generate another superstar with those extra 20 30 points that they just get in pace moving out. Saw some breakdown even against the Knicks with like some I think a lot of people going after Cat or going after the big just not getting back down the court cuz as soon as they give him a bucket boom they’re out they’re leaking. Tyrese is kicking it out and they’re that that is a [ __ ] for anybody that has ever played basketball any level. Like it doesn’t matter like okay you got SCAs or Hardens or whoever who can ISO and take it but when you can play as a team like that uh you know possession in possession out that is tough. I like what you said there. It’s like an added super their pace is an added superstar. It is the sixth man on the court is how conditioned they last year during the playoffs they kept saying well the Pacers are just playing against hurt teams. Hurt teams. It’s hurt teams. It’s like they might be the ones causing the other team, their sixth superstar, which is their pace and their conditioning and their cardio might be making people be hurt. And I saw the quotes about people getting upset about Cat allegedly and his effort on defense. It’s like that was my big takeaway from watching that game courtside was like Cat is too big to be running the amount that there cuz Pascal Siaka, he is tall, long, and he can run. He can just run. He’s run. He was running. I mean, he was going Obie, they all could they all got pace. Miles is the only guy now. He’s been here for 10 years. Doesn’t have the pace, but he still knows that he’s going to have to run up and down. It’s like when you get dropped in to play against this Pacers team, it’s like it’s a trackmate. Like, it is about to be a trackmate. After how long this season has been, after how long the playoffs are, do you have enough guys that are going to be able to keep up with the pace of play that the Pacers are going to have? And it’s like, nobody really has been able to do that yet. This Oklahoma City team though they’re saying can because the depth because the way they go about playing and they kind of do the same thing which is why it should be a very good should be a great series is kind of how everybody’s eyeing it. Yeah, it’s going to be incredible. And Miles Turner, too, he he’s one of those guys that could, you know, be a little upset, want more shots, but he knows his role. Like for for Carl Anthony Towns, they’re going to be pissed at him if he’s not taking 20 25 shots. So, he has to be in the game. Like Miles Turner, sure he he can hit threes, he can, you know, score in the post, he can do everything, but he’s not going to be upset if he only has 10 shots because Seakum in Obie in Tyrese and, you know, Mthuran coming off the bench. And I always get his name wrong. I’m sorry, Ben, but but Minan. Yeah, even he’s a dog. Yeah, he’s an absolute dog. So, it’s like they have all these different pieces and nobody has an ego. And I think it starts and ends with Rick Carlile because Rick Carl’s been around for so long. He knows how rare it is.

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