If we're speaking about postgame pressers, let's talk about this Giannis club that's gone viral. You've probably seen it, if you're not living under a rock, I have thoughts. A reporter asked if this season was a failure to Jannis, check out this bullshit. I just asked about the exact same question. But I'm curious for you. Do you view this season as a failure?
Oh my god? Okay, because I'm not that up. You asked me the same question last year. Eric, Okay, uh, do you get Do you get the promotion every year on your job?
No?
Right? So every year you work as a failure, yes or no? No, Every every year you work, you work towards something, towards a goal, right, which is to get a promotion, to be able, to take care of your family, to be able, I don't know, provide the house them, or take care of your parents. You work towards. It's not a failure. It steps to success, you know. And if you've never I don't know. I don't want to. I don't make it personal. So he was.
A hold up. I just realized he was about to say to.
The reporter, if you've never accomplished anything good, in your entire fucking life.
You won't know what that means.
He almost said that that's what he was about to say, and then he was like, hold on, let me not make that personal.
There's always steps to it, you know. Michael Jordan played fifteen years, one six championship. The other nine years was a failure. That's what you're telling me. I'm asking you a question, yes or no? Okay, exactly, So why are you ask me that question. It's the wrong question. There's no failure in sports. You know, there's good days, bad days days. Some days you are able to be successful, some days you're not. Some days it's your turn, some
days not your turn. And that's what sports about. You don't always mean some other other people's gonna win, and this year somebody else is gonna win. Similar as that we're gonna come back next year. Try to be better, try to build good habits, try to play better, not have a ten days stretch with playing bad basketball, you know, and hopefully we can win a championship. So fifty years from nineteen seventy one in twenty twenty one that we didn't win a championship, it was fifty years of failures.
No it was not. It was steps to it, you know, and we were able to win one. Hopefully we're given another one. You know. I sorry that I didn't want to make it personal because you asked me the same question last year, and last year I was in the in the right mind space to answer the question back.
So everybody was slobbing on your honest's noob over this. They thought it was like the most insightful philosophical comment that any athlete has made after losing the first round. That's this is insane. This is this is a team. Can we just back it up here. This is a team that was the number one overall set that lost to an eight seed that had to scrap and caw just to get into the playoffs, and you lost to them in five games, giving up double digit leads in
games four and five. That's not a failure of a season to you, folks.
This is exactly what if.
This isn't shoots in ladders, fam Like, this is pro sports. There are billions of dollars on the line. That is a failure. You got your ass waxed, your coach collapsed, you fucked up, you missed thirteen free throws the postseason the season as a whole, what you were trying to achieve. You failed, you as a human being, obviously not a failure. But your goal every year is to win a championship. That's actually the only point of this whole thing. That's
the only goal. It's not like, oh, Eric nem uh messed up on one article about Yannis and so it's a bad season for this this writer who asked Yannis about whether this season was a failure. No, it would be like if the entire goal for Eric Neme was to write a feature on.
Yannis and then he didn't do it, it would be like that this is a spin job.
We are people collectively all going crazy being like, oh my god, y honest, he's so grounded, everybody, and show this to your kids.
What kind of participation trophy? Shit is this?
Like, there's no failure in sports, there's only growth. No, No growth comes from admitting that you failed. That's where we're at right now. This is like, there's gonna be consequences. You're which is probably fired, You're not going to be able to extend or pay Brook Lopez. You're probably gonna let Chris Middleton go, Jew holidays on and expiring.
What's he gonna do?
All of that is a downstream effect of failure. Is it a failure for the Orlando Magic that they did not win a championship this year? No, because of Orlando Magic or a lottery team. The Orlando Magic have been a lottery team for the last decade. They've had the number one pick overall last year. The fact that Orlando Magic won like sixty five percent of their games at after the All Star breaks, that's a success.
That's something to build on.
No, No, Jannis, there's nothing to build on for you except for championships. This isn't steps to success. This is like, is Jannis trying to be Ted Lasso? Are we thinking like Giannis is a college football coach that decides to go to England and coach and EPL team and has no idea what he's doing, because that's how he sounds right now.
The mistakes have been egregious.
The Bucks should have been at home in five waiting for their next opponent, and instead they're home in five watching their opponent move on and play the Knicks. The path was there for you. You got to play the Knicks in the next round. How are they gonna defend Giannis. Nope, no, you failed. You fucking choked to me. This was the most telling quote that Yanna said. Hey, they were playing to beat us, and we were playing to win a championship.
We were a bit ahead of ourselves, to be honest. Okay, so they were playing to beat you.
Goal achieved.
You were planning to win a championship failed. Your goal was only.
To win a championship. That was only the thing in your mind.
I feel like I'm talking crazy. I think I've taken crazy pills. You got Emmanuel Aacho being like, show this to your kids. What kind of gold star nonsense is this? Like? This is shirking accountability, This is tr of spins on your way into continuing to have the same exact thing as you did before.
This is gonna be a storyline for the for the offseason.
I don't know what kind of decision they're gonna make, but they have some them to make and I would not be surprised if coach Budenholzer, with two years left on his deal, is out. So Knicks close out their series in what was a real shock to a lot of people, five games. If you wanted to bet Nixon five oh I'm sure it would have been huge value.
I'm sure the odds on that would have been crazy.
Everyone at ESPN picked the Calves or the Knicks and like six or seven, and you know what, they were all wrong. The Knicks out tough. The Calves, Brunson and Heart were incredible. They're probably the best backcourt right now in the league, consistently in the East.
At least.
They're not only dominated on the court. They were hilarious and postgame presser you had Josh Hart eating chicken wings and Brunson is.
Being like, yo, stop eating while I'm in the middle of the press conference.
Hey, and you got Josh Hart turning his back on bruntson and still eating his wings.
I love that.
Heart then calls Brunson undersized, overrated, overpaid. These guys are awesome. They did the best. The Calves had zero answer. They had no idea what to do. Cleveland Riders are calling calling out JB. Bickerstaff, but the Calves got bounced because they have roster issues. We knew that two bigs does it work well. The two teams that decided to go with two seven footers are both sitting at home right now. So you tell me Minnesota Timberwolves and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
So that big lineup thing isn't really working reality. You have no you have zero players who are both good shooters and good defenders. Isaac Acquarrel really good defender, terrible shooter. At one point he was shooting seven percent from three point I'll say it again, at one point he was shooting seven percent from the three point line. You got Alan and Mobley, who at some point, for whatever reason,
under the spotlight, could not score. Of offensive players like Mitchell and Garland, who are like tissue paper in the playoffs, can't defend a person. And also Donovan Mitchell just underperformed offensively. Twenty eight points in a closeout game not enough. You need fifty six, like Jimmy Butler and the Calves have we known all year has been this way. They've beaten teams under five hundred and teams over five hundred.
They just didn't. So it was kind of like something that we could see coming, right.
They on their dream list have mckel bridges, but let's be real, they're not getting mckel bridges.
They have no draft capital.
They traded it all for Donovan Mitchell and look where they are at home in April again. So yeah, they're in a bad spot.
They need to improve.
Isaac mccuoro and Seti Osman Chetty Osmon have both had their worst seasons as Cavaliers. They're probably gonna need to get moved. It's not gonna be easy to find a wing. Those are really really hard positions, as you guys know. I mean it's like the hardest one. It's the hardest one. The fine a good win as the Portland shoilb Blazers, So they're gonna probably have to trade Jared Allen as well. Alan said this about his play, even for me, the lights were brighter than expected.
Oh that is bad. That is telling.
Now the Knicks move on to play the Miami Heat in the battle of the underdogs, the scrappy team. It's gonna be incredible. The first thought probably is that the Knicks should be favorites. Hero is out for the year, but all of this depends on Julius Randall Is his ankle okay, because he re injured it in Game five? Why was he out there? I have no idea. Tim said that we're hopeful that it's not that bad. Uh yeah, I mean everybody is all Knicks fans around the country
are worried about that as well. Without him, I think the series is a toss up. I mean, there's a reason Jason Tatum said that he didn't see the Heat winning as an upset because the Knicks are gonna have their hands full. Jimmy Buckets and their world defenders could not you know, the Bucks could not stop Jimmy Butler, but a bunch of all defensive guys could not stop him.
So I have it on good authority that Jimmy Butler called a couple of Knicks executives as soon as he had that fifty six point performance in Game four and said, I'm coming for that ass.
I'm coming. You're next.
Nicks will fucking see you at Madison Square Garden and now we will Sunday at the Guard.
Gonna be a doozy