Go New York Go New York Go

I’m conflicted about where to start this morning. On the one hand, I really want to shout out those unhinged maniacs in blue and orange. Those lunatics who basically tilted the tightest series in the first round by turning both arenas into their home arena. Whose house? KNICKS HOUSE. Which house are we talking about? Pick one.

It would have been awesome if Knick fan did that to any team but the fact that Knick fan did that to Philly is incredible. So I really wanna throw them a GO NEW YORK GO NEW YORK GO. I wanna give props to the Villano-Knicks for talking over Philly and finishing the deal.

But then again, you all know I love me some Indiana Pacers. And you know I warned you all about this team. And I also warned you about Doc Rivers, Wisco fam. It was never gonna end well. And surprise, surprise, it didn't end well.

So who gets top billing today? Knicks/Sixers or Pacers/Bucks? When faced with a choice like this, my answer, as always, is YES. Let’s do both. But New York, you’re first.

Because those scrappy villanoknicks definitely deserve credit for bouncing back from a crazy gag job on their home floor to win a gritty elimination game on their other home floor. But Knick fan you deserve the most credit. 

Knick fan, you’re the real MVP. You’re the reason the Knicks had two home floors in this series. In fact, I don't even think it's crazy to say that Knick fan was the x factor in this series. Knick fan was the difference in this series. 

That might sound crazy, but think about it this way. Over the six games of the Knicks/Sixers series, the two teams were separated in the end by one point. NY scored 650 points in this series and Philly put up 649 points. The margin was literally that slim.

So ya think having two home courts helped the Knicks out at all? You think having those nut jobs, and I say that with the most affection possible, you think having those nut jobs following the team to Philly helped at all? 

You think that helped at all? I do. And you know who else did, Josh Harris and the rest of the Sixers ownership group. AKA the people who decided to try to stem the DELUGE of Knick fans to Philly by buying up 2000 tickets to make sure they went to Philadelphians.

The owner of the Sixers had to buy 2000 tickets to a playoff game in his own building because Philly fan couldn't be trusted to buy the tickets and not flip them for a quick buck. Pretty embarrassing. I'll quote Troel here... I thought you were a sports town Philly. According to you, you're the best sports town. And yet your owner had to buy 2000 tickets, not 20 tickets, not 200 tickets, 2000 tickets to your own home playoff game with the season on the line.

And it still didn't work. Which is why you get the first shout out this Friday morning. By the way, Yo KD, quick question for you... DON'T YOU REGRET NOT COMING TO THE KNICCCKKKKSSSS????

Look Philly fan I don't want to hear any more excuses for why you abandoned your team and I especially don't want to hear anyone blaming the owners. They bought up 2000 tickets to try to solve the problem and distributed them to local first responders, healthcare professionals and other Philly-based organizations. So I don't want to hear that any of this is somehow their fault, and if your owners were just better and more connected to the team and the city, you would show up for the Sixers.

That take is so bad and so dumb I'm gonna drop an LT Hammer on it. 

Blaming the owners? Really? Ask Knick fan about that. Talk to Knick fan about whether the quality of ownership impacts their desire to show up to playoff games and support their team. Talk about an ownership juxtaposition, Harris and company buy up tickets to try to preserve the home atmosphere and give them to first responders. Meanwhile James Dolan throws legends out of his arena and makes us all suffer through his absolutely horrendous music.

You hearing this Philly fan? And you want to blame your owners? I mean you’re welcome to call and complain about this team and complain about the owners and complain about a million things, if you really want to. You're just not gonna get any sympathy from me. Especially with the way you're doing your superstar and my dude, Joel. 

I know, I know, it’s a minority opinion right now that the reigning NBA MVP is a good basketball player. Somehow, that's like a liquid magma take on social media right now. But I hate to break to everyone… Joel is still really really good. Even in this series where he wasn’t good enough for anyone, he still averaged 33 a night and had a fitty burger and put up 39 points in 40 minutes with the game on the line last night.

And oh by the way, Joel had meniscus surgery on February the 6th. He battled with the Knicks to the bitter end even though he’s less than three months removed from knee surgery and half his face is drooping.

And also, let’s face it, aside from Tyrese Maxey, that team is not very good. They were a #7 seed for a reason. And after being incredible in game 5, Maxey wasn’t even very good last night. 

But there was the arch villain of the world, Lex Luthor himself, Hans Gruber Embiid, Joel Vader, putting up 39 and 13 and playing another 40 minutes. But yes, I know, I get it, eff Embiid. 

If y'all want a villain so badly, you should just check in with the other series. Because while Joel was doing absolutely everything in his power to be the Sixers hero, Pat Bev was busy doing everything in his power last night to be an actual villain. To be a bag. To be a sore loser and a baby.

I know that sounds harsh, but it isn’t. And this has also long been a pat bev house. But this dude pulled off a baggy trifecta. Here’s what you don’t do when you get your asses kicked right out of the playoffs. What you don’t do is chuck a ball at a fan sitting behind the bench and wind up nailing a woman in the head. And then what you really don’t do is get the ball back and wing it even harder at the group of fans.

And if you thought there would be an apology, you thought very wrong. We got the opposite. We got a post-game delta bravo display that even LeBag couldn’t pull off.

Dude... That was painful. No disrespect Pat Bev, but even Cringe A Russ Wilson can't believe the cringe level of that exchange. No disrespect BBev, but even LeBag thinks you're bagging it up. 

No disrespect... You know what's always coming after that... Remember when Chuck himself laid it out? 

No disrespect but here's a basketball at your head random lady in the stands. And no disrespect ESPN producer with a microphone, but get out of my face if you don't subscribe to my pod. 

That random ESPN producer holding a mic didn't kick your ass and blow you out of the playoffs bro, the Pacers did. And if you wanted to fight so bad, maybe you should have fought them instead of fighting random fans behind the bench and people in the locker room just trying to do their job.

Maybe I'm looking at it wrong, maybe I should be adopting this strategy. Seems like a great idea to grow my show and my audience.

Like hey, do you follow me on X @jimrome? No? Then you can't listen to my show, too bad. How about Instagram, you following me there? No? Really? Well then get away from me.

Imagine if that was my reinvention strategy... Do you subscribe to my The Reinvention Project with Jim Rome? No? Then don't look at me. No eye contact for you. And definitely don't even think about firing it up and giving it a listen.

Do you subscribe to my youtube channel, Jim Rome? No? Then my advice to you is SHUT UP.

Seriously though you should subscribe to all of the above because we have huge things in the works and our socials are soon going to look very different. And I think you all want to be a part of it. In fact I know you do. 

Which is why I'm gonna check with every caller from now on... NEW JUNGLE RULE... You have to pass the test to talk to me. The test is easy... Do you subscribe to my podcast? Do you follow me on all my socials? No? See ya.