- 6/23/2025
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00:00Our buddy Mitch Lawrence from NBA radio on Sirius XM joins us now from Dallas.
00:05And I got to start with this.
00:07Like, I don't really listen to like Mike and Doris and Richard.
00:14I don't like I focus on the game.
00:18I'm like watching basketball.
00:20I'm not like really invested in what they're saying.
00:24So like when I'm watching the game and my son's a huge Thunder fan and he loves them since he was born, obsessed with them back when they had KD and the beard and Brody.
00:36Right. So that was when he started loving them.
00:38And they've had different versions of that team through the years.
00:42They've had, you know, PG and they've always been close, but no cigar.
00:46They finally get it done. We're watching a game.
00:48I'm not listening to the announcers.
00:51I'm not listening to, I guess, the fact I said to my son, did they mention that he tore his Achilles?
00:58Because I don't think they ever did.
00:59Because when I saw it happen as a basketball player myself that plays every day in a week, I knew right away that wasn't his calf.
01:09When I saw that thing snap, his foot snapped.
01:13And I knew he had tore it completely.
01:15And my question is, when it happened, I wasn't listening.
01:21I was just reacting to it.
01:23I said to my son, I said, that's a tear.
01:24He's done.
01:25And he was pounding the floor.
01:27And I was just like you, I think.
01:29At that point, I thought, you know, literally at that point, I said, this game's over.
01:34Done.
01:35Yes.
01:36Yeah.
01:37That was terrible.
01:38It was terrible because you saw the way he started the game.
01:42Yeah.
01:42Right?
01:42You saw the way he was hitting three-pointers.
01:46You thought, and I thought going into this game, if it's a close game, and it could be a close game because they've already won game one there.
01:53He stole that game for him with that shot at point three.
01:56So they can win Oklahoma City.
01:57They've got the confidence.
01:58One thing Richard Jefferson did say that was pretty interesting, and I agree.
02:02You don't have carryovers in games except for they had, you could have carryover in terms of your team's confidence from game six to game seven.
02:10And that's absolutely true.
02:12I think teams, I think they win, and they're totally confident.
02:16Okay?
02:17But the problem is, well, then you say, okay, if it's close late, who do you trust more?
02:24I trust him more than SGA.
02:27Why?
02:27Because what he has done in this playoff season has been outwardly.
02:33He's been the best player in the playoffs.
02:36And so here's what happens.
02:38Have you ever seen in the game seven of an NBA finals, and I've been watching these games since the 60s, you've ever seen in game seven where a finals MVP gets knocked out in the first quarter and is done?
02:51I don't think it's ever happened before.
02:52I think that was a historic injury that obviously took its toll after halftime because they were up one, and you just knew the inevitable was coming.
03:01They were never going to win without him.
03:03And what happened in the second half to their offense?
03:06They scored 13 baskets, and they turned the ball over 14 times.
03:13And the starters had 15 points combined.
03:16Their offense was done in by losing him.
03:22He could have been the finals MVP.
03:25And the Oklahoma City defense, which people have been raving about all year, is this great historical defense.
03:31I do not put them on the level of the 96 Bulls.
03:33We've talked about that.
03:35I think there have been other teams that play greater defense, but they have the numbers to back them up, find them to have that.
03:39They raised their level to the point where T.J. McConnell and all these guys could hardly even dribble.
03:46It looked like Jeremy Lin and Miami Heat, if you remember that game, where they couldn't even dribble the ball up the court.
03:55Okay?
03:56So you're right.
03:57When he got hurt, and they didn't say a lot about the injury, but Lisa Salter of ABC, the sideline reporter, confirmed it with John.
04:07John Halliburton, the guy who used to get in Giannis' face, the father, confirmed he had the torn Achilles.
04:12Where ABC missed the boat was, at halftime, you got Bob Myers sitting there, who had Kevin Durant back in the day, similarly injured.
04:21It was a game five, not a game seven, if I'm correct, and so he could have talked about the whole deal with Durant, with blowing out the kills, and I don't even think they talked to him about that.
04:32That was a bad job, if I remember correctly.
04:34So, yeah, it was just one of the biggest letdowns to a game seven you'll ever see, because when he went out, that killed off the Pacers, and now they're left with the big what if.
04:46What if he had played, because he could have brought him home, and it would have been a historic championship.
04:53What do you think the reason is, because they didn't mention it at all, because they didn't know, I think, you know, specifically that it was the torn Achilles, or that they, you know, they wouldn't mention an injury like that unless they knew.
05:08But I don't know anyone that really knows basketball that didn't see that thing pop, you saw it, it was almost like his foot broke.
05:16You saw the weird angle of it snapping.
05:20You knew it was not his calf.
05:23I knew it was his reaction.
05:25Yeah, why do you think that they never mentioned it, because they were afraid to give the wrong injury?
05:30Because I think everyone knew it was an Achilles, and it was.
05:35Yeah, you'd have to ask, you know, who's ever in charge there in terms of getting the information.
05:41They never felt comfortable.
05:42Although, like I said, I think Lisa Salters did confirm with the father that it was an Achilles.
05:48But, you know, what's that?
05:52Wasn't that like in the third quarter when she started talking about it?
05:55It should be with all the people they have there, and they run this event, right?
06:02They should get that information almost instantaneously.
06:06I know it can't happen that quick, but come on.
06:08You're in charge of getting the information.
06:10You're sitting next to their benches.
06:11You've got to have contacts within the Pacers PR-wise or the trainer to say, hey, just what's going on?
06:18We're going to tell the fans.
06:20So we knew, you and I knew, and other people knew that he was done.
06:23He wasn't coming back, and now the double whammy for the Pacers, besides the great what-if, if you're playing,
06:31is now he's probably done for the whole entire year next season through the playoffs because he injures it.
06:38What was the date?
06:39June 22nd.
06:41He'll be back next June 27th.
06:43The Pacers might be on vacation for two months already by the time he comes back.
06:48So it kills – it really is such a blow to the franchise, which was on this magic carpet ride throughout the playoffs
06:56with these miracle last-second wins because he's nailing these shots that nobody's ever seen before
07:02since, like, Michael Jordan or whatever, and now you're in a situation where – what do we have in Indiana?
07:09We have no idea.
07:09We'll come right back with Mitch Lawrence.
07:12Welcome to Mitch Lawrence from NBA Radio on SiriusXM on Coast to Coast.
07:16Mitch, you and I talked about this calf last week and that you said it could rear its ugly head again,
07:22and it sure enough did.
07:24So I guess my question is, do you believe – because I had said to you even then, I'm like,
07:30I know guys that pull up lame with a calf with a strain or a pull or a tear, and they're done immediately.
07:36They walk off the court, they grab their stuff, they go to the car, they go home, you don't see them for two weeks,
07:41and then they come back to the gym and tell you how tender it is.
07:44He came back two days later.
07:46Five days later, he tears his Achilles.
07:49Best laid plans.
07:51You know, I don't suggest that he shouldn't have been playing because he obviously played in Game 6 and in Game 7,
07:58but boy, did that thing snap.
08:00Do you think that caused the Achilles tear, the calf?
08:04Because it's all – they all – they all lead together.
08:09It happened to Kevin Durant, right?
08:10It's happened to a lot of guys.
08:11How about the injuries this year in the playoffs with Lillard and Tatum and now Halliburton,
08:16all number zero and all with the Achilles thing?
08:20It's crazy.
08:21You've got to figure it out in terms of how you deal with these calf strains now.
08:25You're going to have to sit, guys, for several weeks because that just could let – it could lead to this just devastating type of injury.
08:33Now, of course, he's going to play because this is his chance to win a title.
08:40And you're playing for the Indiana Pacers.
08:42They've never won, and you might not get back there with this team despite how the East is shaking out.
08:47And it looks like if he's healthy, the Pacers could make a little mini run here.
08:50Who knows?
08:51But he's going to play.
08:53And, you know, we always criticize players for not playing, right?
08:57A lot of us do.
08:57Yeah, he's not playing.
08:58Hey, these guys know.
09:01They've been told by the medical people.
09:03They probably have been told about this is what you can risk going forward.
09:07And you know what?
09:07If you're him, you're going to roll the dice because you may never be back in a Game 7 of the Finals before with a chance to win not just the trophy, the Larry, but a Finals MVP.
09:19And your legacy is set.
09:21So I don't have – I'm sure they're probably for him no second – there's no second guessing.
09:27He wanted to play.
09:28He felt he had to get out there to give his team a chance.
09:30And he probably figured it would never happen to him, right?
09:33Yeah.
09:33That's not going to happen to me.
09:35Yep.
09:36And it did.
09:37So I was watching – yesterday I was waiting for the game to start.
09:42And I was watching the 30 for 30 on the bad boys in Detroit.
09:49When you think of those back-to-backs that they won and how they suffered getting to that first, you know, ring for Isaiah.
09:59Yes.
10:00And then they backed it up by sweeping the Lakers.
10:02When they finally – or Blazers, they beat the Lakers, and then they beat the Blazers.
10:08And they won – it was back when it was 2-3-2.
10:11But that was the most violent team ever, right?
10:16Would you say in terms of intimidation, physicality, violence?
10:21Because back in – I thought the Celtics and Pistons rivalry was unequal.
10:25It was great back then.
10:27I covered a lot of those games.
10:29But that was the NBA back then.
10:31It was based on intimidation, physical play.
10:34We're going to take your head off.
10:35Mark Price has often talked about every time when he was with Cleveland, the great guard, you remember him,
10:41and playing in the division against the bad boys, he said, every game I played against them,
10:46I always thought about, do I want to get – do I want to drive the lane the first time
10:51and get knocked on my ass with a possibility of injury, or am I going to basically just shoot jumpers?
10:57He said, because you knew you were going down.
11:00You knew that Lambeer, Mahorn, whoever, Rodman, Sally, these guys were out for blood.
11:08But the league played like that.
11:09You had teams with enforcers, Charles Oakley, right, back in the day.
11:14You had fights.
11:15It was – for fans today who don't – all they know about is the stats from back then,
11:21if they witnessed games, if you took them back in time to the 70s, 80s, especially the 80s, 90s,
11:28where before the rules changed, people would – they wouldn't believe the level of physicality
11:35and violence and fighting, and it was just – it was just a regular part of the league.
11:42That's the way the league has changed.
11:43The league is now all about –
11:45Did you like it better then, Mitch, covering the league?
11:48Did you like it better then, or the candy-ass calls that you get now,
11:53and the type of plays that you get now?
11:55In a way, I did, because the hostility and the hate was unrivaled.
12:02Remember, back then, players weren't buddy-buddy.
12:04They weren't teaming up.
12:06That's the other thing.
12:07There was genuine hate among guys between the – that's why the rivalries were so great.
12:13Like Larry Bird once told me, I didn't shake anybody's hand walking off the court.
12:16I hated these guys.
12:18I'm not going to shake their hands.
12:19Mitch, there's no one better than you.
12:21Long live Larry Bird.
12:22We enjoyed talking during the playoffs, the drafts, the – thanks for everything.
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