Pardon the Interruption| Michael Wilbon slams Kevin Durant & Suns after ‘unacceptable’ loss to Spurs

Pardon the Interruption| Michael Wilbon slams Kevin Durant & Suns after ‘unacceptable’ loss to Spurs

Pardon the interruption but I’m Mike wilbon I’m sort of sad tone for the first time in more than a week we have no tournament games tonight Tony Kornheiser what do you mean high point in Arkansas State meeting the CBI what is the CBI stand for how could

I forget college basketball index is it something like that Invitational maybe college basketball Invitational Invitational maybe they didn’t invite Binghamton I mean if you’re going to have a true College Invitational then invite welcome to PTI boys and girls in today’s episode the NBA investigates gambling Paige Beckers leads Yukon into the sweet 16

And the NFL makes moves on kickoffs and Christmas but we begin today with Shi Otani categorically denying he has ever bet on sports or bet with a bookie Otani accused his former friend an interpretor epe mizuhara of stealing his money in the amount of $4.5 million to cover

Mizar’s own gambling debts with an illegal bookmaker wilbon what questions do you still have Tony I as I told you yesterday you know I’m really reticent on this story intentionally so because I don’t know shotani I mean there are a lot of athletes who’ve lost a lot of money in

Their lives and I don’t know whether it was necessarily betting but I I know some of them and I don’t know what the questions are in their lives and I followed all their lives some of them since high school I don’t know atani nothing about him really other than he’s

A great baseball player in a way that hardly anybody’s nobody’s ever been so I hear the categorical denials and I’m like okay like how am I supposed to question that what what what is it that I’m supposed to doubt what is it that I’m supposed to be cynical about I don’t

Have those because I don’t have any sense of Otani and what he is Tony something strike me here and a couple are people will say well wait a minute how do people close to athletes of this magnitude how do they get access to their money and you and I both know

People who have had the magnitude of Otani maybe not this much money but people had access and in real time years and decades ago you and I would go oh my God how did how did this happen how did they get they do get access because athletes have to trust people they

Figure are more sophisticated and savvy than they are and they’re off insecure and they are young and they are not sophisticated and they turn these things over to people whether it’s friend or advisor or whatever and so Tony knowing that as a backdrop in general I don’t know what to think about

Otani I still don’t and I don’t know that I will if he holds 10 more press conferences in 10 days yeah so I have this one question Isani telling the truth I want to believe that he’s telling the truth I want to believe that he is the victim

Of a sting here I want to believe that but I wanted to believe that Alex Rodriguez did not take peeds when he said to the whole country I never had these things and I wanted to believe that Ryan Brawn did not take peeds right and I wanted to believe that Nick Sabin

When he told me to my face categorically he was not leaving the Miami Dolphins for Alabama but in each one of those cases I found out that that was not to be the case maybe time it is the maybe Otani is telling the complete truth I

Agree with you that it hinges on access to bank accounts and you would automatically say well it’s crazy but I think it’s credible as you think it’s credible that Otani had this one trusted friend and interpreter who was basically with him 24 hours a day and so so he

Gave him this cuz he was the gatekeeper so I do find that credible and that’s why I sort of and this gave this gave eepe this gave him opportunity and motive because he owed $4.5 million so right you know I I I don’t I’m not certain at this point and I’ll go back

To something I’ve said on this show many times that all of these sports leagues and this network have gotten into Partnerships with gambling concerns we’re going there and graze the line between what’s right and what’s wrong to me it does we’re going to double down on

That with this next story but let me say real quickly if we’re going to talk about people who looked into the camera and lied and just became the biggest one of the biggest Liars in history let’s not forget Lance Armstrong let’s not have a list without him we have a

Separate betting story in basketball the NBA is reportedly investigating Raptor Center jonte Porter over betting irregularities on January 26 and March 20 prop bets involving the under on Porter’s own stats were the biggest money winners of the night on Draft Kings in both these games Porter left

Play after just minutes tone to Double Down how does this sound to you well it sounds like there is a lot of circumstantial evidence here as you say there are these two games he gets out of one by saying he has an illness he gets out of another by saying he’s

Injured he’s on the court so his statistics matter and they are under the bets that you can make and then we hear that it’s reported that a lot of people went out there and really stepped on these bets okay made a lot of money on

Mr Porter for those two nights and so to me it suggests the possibility that either Porter was working with gamblers or on his own or both because it feels suspicious to me look um I don’t know him the way you don’t know Otani here’s here’s he’s a two-way contract guy he’s making

$450,000 a year and he’s sitting in a locker room with a lot of people making 20 and 30 times as much maybe that influences him and unlike sh Otani he doesn’t have this sort of bright light of recognition and stardom so maybe what he says might be doubted a little bit I

Don’t know that’s what it sounds like I’m glad you went through the details of this I’m glad you did you did you covered very well cuz I’m going go in a different direction we’re going to have one of these stories every week every week because this is what the leagues

And the networks including this one have wrought they have gotten into bed with gambling interest they have partnered they have decided to make hundreds of millions of dollars and I’m sure total billions in the future with gamblers with sports gambling they decided this Tony and so I am not upset at any of

These guys I understand that all the players in in these sessions before season no if this player essentially through the game you’re not upset Tony Tony I’m more upset with the people above him who encourage it they don’t just encourage it they don’t just tolerate it they say hey what did what

Did Rudy Gober do what did he do let’s deal with the reality of this the people in charge of these leagues and networks have said bring it to us let’s just go to the side for a second on this the NBA has a problem I believe with the possibility of fixing games

They had a referee in recent years who was accused of fixing games the Rudy Gober incident that you mentioned he was saying that another referee was fixing calls in order to make money and now they have a play who may have tilted the game in a way

Away from the honesty and integrity of the game Mike yesterday I sat here and I said this could be Rob manford’s worst professional day because he was looking at maybe a Pete Rose thing with show hotani I’ll just change names to Adam Silver what if he finds out that he’s

Got players out there who are altering the game to fit their needs and not the game Tony I don’t disagree with the word you said I’m just saying the biggest problem ain’t the players don’t tell me the face of this problem which could be a very serious one you and I agree is

Some dude named jante who if in uniform you and I couldn’t identify if you walked in the studio don’t tell me he’s the biggest problem the leagues and the networks who’ve agreed to be in bed with gambling they’re the biggest problem and we’re going to have stories like this

All the time all the time I don’t think John de Porter is going to be playing for the rest of the year I don’t if they’re investigating this I don’t think he’ll be out there again let’s move to the the women’s tournament now Iowa USC UCLA and Yukon all advanced to the Sweet

16 last night after the Ukon game in which paig Beckers had 32 points 10 rebounds six assists and four steals her coach Gina warma said quote we have the best player in America unquote Wan how do you feel about that comment and are you giving Yukon a three seed a real

Shot to win this oh Yukon has to have a real shot to win this how many’s Gino won like 11 yes they have a real shot to witness every time they te it up yes yeah Tony he’s supposed to say that and you and I know Gino or for a long long

Long long time and you know he’s GNA say that and first of all he he can feel it he can mean it cuz Paige Beckers is that good okay before her injuries she’s that good but also Gino majors in getting under other people’s skin particularly

His opponent he liked to try to do it with Pat Summit who was very much his peer and equal he would do it with anybody and so yes he’s looking straight west to Iowa City as he says these words he knows what he’s doing am I paying

Gino any attention am I no would I rather have Paige Beckers at this point of the year in the tournament and Caitlyn Clark I don’t know it’s a toss up to me toss the coin they’re both great players and they’re not alone there other great players in this

Tournament so game on I love this game on yeah not going to disagree with any of that Paige Beckers was the player of the year when she was a freshman then she had catastrophic injuries she’s a great player is she better than Caitlyn Clark no I’m not going to say that is

She on that level yeah I mean you can see that can they win sure as you said they got 11 of them they can win what I think the whole thing hinges on Mike is unlike in the men’s regionals the women in some of these really good programs

Play at home for the first two games two round so we’re talking about Yukon Iowa USC UCLA South Carolina LSU they’re all played at home for two games Iowa almost lost a game at home last night LSU has been tested twice yeah so when you get

Out when you got to go to Albany you got to go to Portland and unfamiliar Arenas and unfamiliar baskets and unfamiliar courts that’s going to change things that’s going to change things so it BEC tournament doesn’t start till the the women’s tournament starts next week that to me Tony when everybody’s away from

Their home court that’s when it starts then we can say game on I’m not sure it’s fair I’m not sure it’s fair you should be in your home court for the first two rounds I’m not sure that’s fair let’s take a break but coming up

Would you take Yukon or the field to win the men’s side of the tournament and the Celtics they blew a 30-point lead unthinkably but is it possible the Suns took the worst loss of the night toss up is next I mean that you know why are they

Playing at home why you have to fill the Arenas cuz you you can’t fill neutral sights yet the women’s tournament is not with the men’s tournament isn’t time to snatch the W out of wilbon and toss up what’s first toss up with the sweet 16 set which school is more

Likely to win the men’s tournament Yukon or the field I’m a field guy always take the field Mike even when tiger was great I would take the field if it was offered I would take the field against Max ver stoen right now but this time I’m going

Yukon they won it last year they’re not nervous they’re better this year their first two games they won by 56 combined points and Mike they didn’t even shoot well they shot 12 for 46 from three so even though they stacked the regional to get Yukon out I’ll go

Yukon Tony I watched Yukon twice in person as you know Yukon looks great Yukon looks like the best team to me with apologies to Purdue which has looked really good Houston had to you know sort of eek out a game the one seeds of Advance the two seeds of

Advance so I and I think Yukon is the best of them I do but I’m taking the field as well look I picked Illinois to win this tournament and there’s nothing with the way Illinois has played and seeming to me to have the single best player in the tournament and I know

Purdue’s great player is 74 and all that he brings to the table I get that I’ll stay with my pick of Illinois and that means automatically Tony I’m going to stay with the field I’ll take the field as well even though we agree we I think

We both agree Yukon looks like the best team so far I think so I think so what’s next toss up which team had the worst loss last night the Celtics or the Suns it’s Boston they blew a 30p point lead they lost to Atlanta without Trey

Young in the past 25 years in the NBA Mike teams with 30 or more in the lead they’re 2,66 and5 it’s the worst loss it’s you know it doesn’t mean anything Phoenix’s loss is impactful because it it drops them into the into the playing game and it’s embarrassing because they lost to

The Spurs without wanyama and the Spurs stink with wanyama but I think Boston is the worst loss no cuz Boston doesn’t matter they weren’t paying attention neither team was paying attention Boston wasn’t paying attention but Boston had just won nine straight Boston doesn’t have to pay attention they have an

Impossibly large lead on the second place team and the rest of the field in their division and in the conference it doesn’t matter the sons loss matters the sons either two things Tony they weren’t paying attention which is what Bradley Beal essentially said afterward or they’re not very good either way they’re

Not a playoff team for real they’re a play in team and they’re going to struggle in that and it’s amazing cuz there were people including in Vegas that thought the Suns at the beginning of the Season can win the championship you can’t lose to San Antonio without

Wim banama as you said the Suns loss highlights all the flaws they have they’re in trouble the Celtics are not that’s it let’s take one last break still to come the NFL will schedule two games on a Christmas Even though it falls on a Wednesday and LeBron will miss tonight’s game in

Milwaukee concerned Terrence Shannon Jun is the best player in the tournament and why Illinois can win somebody in the NFL said why should the NBA have sole rights to Christmas we’re going to take Christmas happy 81st birthday Bob Woodward we realize Woodward has nothing to do with sports except for an

Occasional round of golf we played together but he is our friend and was our colleague at the Washington Post in light of Kim M’s attack on the Press we submit Woodward’s name he and Carl Bernstein did probably the most important investigative story ever and then they wrote All the President’s Men

Which became a landmark movie Woodward stuck to investigative journalism his entire career he wrote 15 different non-fiction books that were number one National bestsellers how many have you written and to this day he’s considered the best reporter in the world so happy birthday Bob here’s how Bob Woodward uh impacted

Something to do with sports he impacted us so he impacted this show cuz he is our Idol there we go Bob Woodward is our Idol yes we are proud proud to have known Bob Woodward and for those of you too young to to have any idea go to Google and figure it

Out look up Bob Woodward happy anniversary Brad Stevens on this day 13 years ago the then 34-year-old coach at Butler guided his team to an overtime win over Florida to Advan to the final four for the second consecutive year Butler played in two straight NCAA finals now as the chief

Executive of the Celtics Stevens is watching his team run away with the Eastern Conference the Celtics are 10 and 1 12 games clear of Second Place Milwaukee and they have the best record in the NBA by six games over Denver since February 1st the Celtics are 20

And4 as Celtics coach Stevens made the playoffs seven times in eight seasons now he’s a strong candidate for executive of the year after bringing in Drew holiday and christs porzingis Brad has been unarguably great at every level at everything he does it’s interesting now Tony cuz I would

Say there’s a little bit of pressure on the Celtics to get this done to finish it cuz they got a couple of $300 million guys right plus a glittering Rock and theyve done a great job scouting and putting together and now it’s time to win they’re going to need to win totally

Agree totally agree happy trails to the traditional NFL kickoff wilbon the exhilarating Play We love so much is gone NFL owners voted today to scrap it in favor of the XFL model the kicker will be alone on his half of the field at the 35 most everybody else will be 5

Yds apart at the receiving team’s 40 as many as two returners can be deployed deep the NFL wants the kick to be returned so if it goes into the end zone the receiving team will start at its 30 everyone says it will be a safer play because it eliminates violent collisions

In a best case scenario maybe a lateral or a reverse will make it exciting but I’m going to miss the old kickoff like I miss Sears and Blockbuster like old people miss things yeah Tony I think I enjoyed that play more than most people and Bears

Fans enjoyed it more than fans of most teams cuz we had a couple of guys if you’re old enough Gail sers Devon Hester I’ll take that list yeah yeah do you miss Blockbuster whatever happened to renting movies and sticking them in that box there’s no box anymore there people

Like you who cut the cord stream and you’re ruining for the rest of us let’s go to the finish your Bears and the Texans will face each other in the opening Hall of Fame game on August 1st you’re excited no I mean Caleb Williams will play maybe as much as a

Quarter probably more so like the series or two how am I excited am I supposed to get over that the NFL will schedule two Christmas Day games this year even though Christmas is on a Wednesday okay by you the NFL sat there and said why should the NBA be the so proprietor of

Christmas day why don’t we do it too they did it last year cuz it was a Sunday or Monday now they’re just going all out they’re just doing it Panthers play the Bruins at the Panthers tonight is that significant I wouldn’t call it significant but I’m curious cuz seven

Teams have like 97 or 98 points and they’re going forward we’re the stretch run it’s kind of cool Warriors Heat tonight you intrigued no but we’re going to talk about the Warriors tomorrow we’re going to talk about the Lakers tomorrow that’s what we do last one is out for tonight’s

Game in Milwaukee due the left ankle soreness are you disappointed not really Tony the Lakers are fine they’re going to finish in ninth the Warriors to go back to the last question the Warriors are in some trouble tone they need to win this game Houston is breathing down their necks

And the Warriors can be play in but if they win two games in a row we’ll be delusional say they can win the championship we’re out of time we’ll try to do better the next time I’m Tony Cor I’m Mike willbot same an ally has been defeated for how about something different

You have defeated an enemy an enemy has been defeated an enemy has been defeated is the last s you have been defeated an enemy has been defeated them your team has destroyed a tower an ally has been defeated enemy double kill Enemy Ultimate Enemy double kill tower has been destroyed our base is under attack an enemy has been defeated double kill here we go an enemy has been defeated victory for e take me to my prey First Blood tramatic assassin an enemy has been defeated double kill you have been Defeated get up to speed your tower has been destroyed you have been defeated over here ultimate the Cocoon firsts SW on comine double kill swarm I hear the voice our base is under attack let’s make this quick you have been defeated our base is under attack dominating

Pardon the Interruption | Michael Wilbon slams Kevin Durant & Suns after ‘unacceptable’ loss to Spurs