NBA Finals Panic? Knicks Up 2-0 + World Cup Predictions & Team USA Expectations

The dog days of summer are here, but the sports world isn't slowing down.

This week on Big Game Energy, Spencer and James break down the opening of the World Cup, debate Team USA's chances on home soil, and make their picks to win it all. Can Christian Pulisic cement himself as an American sports legend? Is Spain really the team to beat? And why is James riding with Brazil?

Then it's on to the NBA Finals, where the Knicks have jumped out to a shocking 2-0 lead over Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs. Is New York on the verge of a championship, or can San Antonio fight its way back into the series?

Plus, the guys discuss:
 🏆 World Cup predictions and dark horses
 🏀 Knicks vs Spurs Finals reaction
 🇺🇸 Expectations for Team USA
 🎯 Wembanyama's struggles through two games
 📈 Why the NBA isn't "dying" anytime soon
 ⛳ What score actually makes you a good golfer?
 🔥 No Huddle: wild NBA Finals stats and sports trivia

00:00 World Cup Predictions for USA
08:20 Knicks Up 2-0 Over Spurs
14:34 No Huddle

Whether you're counting down the days until football returns or looking for your sports fix during the summer, we've got you covered.

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#NBAFinals #WorldCup #Knicks #Spurs #NBAPodcast #SportsPodcast #BigGameEnergy #TeamUSA #Soccer #Basketball

Transcript

0:00

Big game energy We are recording this on June 7th, James. It is six-seven We're too old to make that joke, sorry. But you are listening to this on Monday, June 8th. Me and James hanging out with you here. We are gonna be talking a little NBA finals. The Knicks up 2-0 at the time of this recording. Let's go. But we'll look ahead to game three and see if we can find a way for the Spurs to get back in it. But first, James, this week, big event in sports is b- happening, and it is the opening matches of the World Cup. Oh. Now James, you were talking mad smack about the World Cup before we started recording. So I just wanna know, just genuinely, I just wanna talk to you about this. Why do you hate soccer so much? Yo, why do I hate soccer? Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let, let's, let's pedal, let's pedal this back. I treat soccer like the Olympics. Okay. I, I don't... Yeah, like you know how it goes. Nobody hate, nobody... I'm sorry. You care about it every four years? Yeah, I care about it every four years. This is the year to do it is what I'm saying. So I didn't, I- Why are you talking smack about soccer, man? I don't think I was talking smack. I think I was talking, I think I was trying to do one of those back off challenges with you, just like, "This guy over here wears a soccer shirt, but he don't even know any moves besides the bicycle kick." I think I was just joking off of that. In all honesty, look, one, number one, Spence, yes, I don't really care about soccer. Why? 'Cause it takes forever to, for teams to score. I l- I love the cardio. You run up and down for 90 plus minutes. But two, like I said, for me, I think this is a me thing. I would want all soccer games, if they're tied, no extra time. I want the shootouts. I like it in- hockey. I love it in soccer. We remember the the final gosh, it was Argentina versus, I can't think of the other teams. And they he, they were in the final last time we were there. It was Argentina versus Mbappé's team. Ah, France. Was it- Yeah, there you go. Thank you. And I, dude, to have a freaking shootout to end it, dude, was phenom. It was- Pure electricity pure, pure electricity. 'Cause you know it's nuts tight on either the kicker or the goalie and bro, somebody's gonna screw up. But no. No, in all honesty I like the World Cup. Now, do I wish the USA would step the F up and actually win this? Now that we agree on. That we agree on. That we totally agree on. But it's a big year for the World cup for the United States, obviously being a host country. Woo-hoo. And they have more talent on this US squad than arguably they've ever had, arguably since the squad that beat Mexico in the round of 16 to go to the only quarterfinals in the history of this country. That is the mark that they need to hit this year for them to not be a major disappointment. So we'll see if they can get it done. They have a group that is very winnable. The hardest game they're gonna have is against Turkey. But I agree with you. I just, I am someone... I know you're saying I only know a bicycle kick, which is- I don't even know where you're getting that from, 'cause as long as you have recorded content with me, James, that Manchester City banner has hung above me. I am very much a soccer fan. Now, it's different though when it's the United States though. Okay? Oh, yeah. That's like your country. Even if you don't know anything about soccer, you gotta get on board with Team USA. Oh, yeah. US Men's National team. 100%. 100%. So Christian Pulisic, we are looking at you. We need you to step the F up. All the expectations you've ever had, this is where it all culminates. Mm. Set your legacy as one of the greatest American- Yeah sports icons ever. Yeah. Because if the US national team were to actually go as far or further than any US team has ever gone before, Christian Pulisic would be the reason why, and he would be regarded as one of the most all-time legendary figures in, like, Olympic sports or in- Oh, yeah USA Sports in general. Oh, yeah, of course. Yeah. 'Cause you mentioned it that we don't have a great history in making it far, but we have some history with guys like Landon Donovan and some other guys. But at the end of the day, oh man, this would be amazing. Where are they playing at in the States for this first game on Friday? Let me see. I just actually had it up 'Cause I was about to say, I know everyone lately, for me Spence, I've been seeing a lot of gripe lately with the finals being in New Jersey at MetLife, where they probably could have done it either... A lot of people wish it was either in LA or in Las Vegas just 'cause of the conditions. They know they don't have to worry about New Jersey and just that whole crap stadium and MetLife. But glad it's not in Dallas. That's what I'm happy about. So the opening matches are gonna be in Mexico City and Guadalajara this coming Thursday. Okay. Okay. The US national team will then open play in Los Angeles against Paraguay, and Canada will play in Toronto against- Okay Bosnia Herzegovina. That makes sense for the city that the US starts in is gonna be LA, and the city that everything ends will be New York. Just as a country, that makes the most sense for us. But James- Yeah, I know you're not the biggest soccer fan, but I wanna know, do you have a pick- Oh, yeah of who is going to win the World Cup? I'll throw some odds at you. Yeah. The favorite is Spain at plus 450. Oh. France is plus 475, England plus 700, Portugal 850, Brazil 900, and Argentina 900. Love. And then several others behind those are long shots. So- look, th- this is the only one I'm gonna say. I, one, I love their colorways. Two, I like their One famous star on that team, and three, the women. The women you see there. So give me Brazil plus 900. I like them to win the World Cup. That's who I like. I like Neymar, I like the colorways, and I like the women there. Get me Brazil to win the World Cup. I would've picked England, but, a friend of mine, was married to an England woman, but they're divorced now, so forget England, man. Forget them. See, I won't lie, after the US, I always do cheer for England. Me. And so I am hoping... I am gonna pull for England. I hope it's coming home after all these years. A- of course, not at the expense of the United States, again, but I don't think the United States has any chance to win the whole thing. My pick though, James, I'm not gonna lie, I really do think that this year it's gonna be Spain. I know that's the chalk pick. You could really. It's really a toss-up between Spain and France, but Spain has so much young talent as well as some established veterans on the defensive side of things that they are just top to bottom really gonna be tough to beat. France is always gonna be in that conversation- Yeah 'cause they are also, they have a one-two punch with Dembele and Mbappe that is just, they're gonna score goals, goals on goals on goals on goals. Goals. But I think Spain at, top to bottom's a better team. They just don't have that star power. That's why I have them f- they are, again, they're slight favorites over France, but- I am going to hope that England is a team that actually- has success this year when they are historically basically the World Cup version of the Dallas Cowboys. They always have a good team on paper, they go far in the postseason-ish, but they always- Yeah just come up just a couple steps short. Hmm. Okay, yeah, no, if I had to go with my- In embarrassing fashion, they go out. If I had to go with my chalk pick, it was gonna be France just 'cause of Mbappé. But other than that, yes, I will be rooting for Brazil, USA, and France. 'Cause guess what, man? We always gotta pick the winners. In big game energy, that's all I know. That's right. That's right. And, and- And of course, we're talking World Cup mainly because we are really starting to get towards that time of the year where it's like, "I miss football, I need it back now." We're officially done with the draft, we're done with free agency. Guys are... I- it- we're at the time of the summer in football where we're just getting random contract updates and off the field stuff. So I think- Dude this is the time of year where there's not really much news- Not just that at all to talk about. Not just that. Like you said, the random injuries, the trade rumors, this, contract extensions. The worst part about the dog days of the summer, Spence, are, "Oh my gosh, did you see this guy make the most miraculous catch in shorts and T-shirt in seve- Oh, man. Yep. Everyone looked good in shorts and T-shirts, James. Gosh, man, that's the part I hate about the And you know your boy Dov Kleiman is gonna be on them. Ugh. He's gonna be on that one. Yeah, Dov Kleiman, as we know, worst account on all of sports social media. But James- What's up? it's a-goin' down in New York right now The Knicks are up 2-0. Wimping Yama has been put on a milk carton. Or actually, some people say they might know where he is and it's Cat put him in hell. And he has just been absolutely absent. Two very convincing Knicks victories in San Antonio. They go back to Madison Square Garden up 2-0. So James, you had Knicks in six. Oh, man. Do you still feel good about Knicks in six or is it gonna be Knicks in four now? Yeah, man. Man, gosh, who would've thought, man? My pick sucks. Knicks in four. Spence, I will say this, I do not believe the Knicks sweep the Spurs. As much as we all see the young stars coming out, in San Antonio, we see the more veteran team, the more established team in New York. The Spurs had double digit leads on the Knicks in the third quarter both games. So in all honesty, I do believe the Spurs find a way to get it back to five at least. And now if that's gonna be to, tonight beating the Knicks in game three or in game four, we'll find out. We already know security up a notch. Spence, we got the homie Trump showing up. We got DJT. DJT in the building. Bro, man, I... Hey, I've been seeing so many, great tweets like Cat, Cat like... Yeah, Cat when he's playing on Pride Month, looking like the GOAT. I've seen so much. But I will say at the end of the day, man, Jalen Brunson, Cat, and OG Anunoby are just finding a way to... They're just being fearless, bro, and they're just getting buckets left and right. And heck, when you have guys, hey, Spurs fans, remember when you had guys like Larry Neal just making all the threes? Guess what? The Knicks have that and La- Sha- Shamet over there is just hitting every three possible. Man, who would've thought? That guy. But- Who would've thought at the beginning of the year Landry Shamet was gonna be making an impact in the NBA finals? Just- Yeah. Yeah. But no, in all honesty, it's just this team, this Knicks team, and I know people are gonna criticize them saying like, "They're not... Oh, they didn't play the Celtics. Oh, they didn't play the Thunder." At the end of the day, the cards unfold how they unfold. But man, this Knicks team is just so in sync unity wise. And I get it, Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, and Jalen Brunson, all Villanova Knicks, all BFFs. And, but man, how they move the ball, you... I remember, that you s- I know you watched that game in game two, man, where they made like 16 passes in like five seconds, and Mikal Bridges has a open three. And they're just playing experienced ball versus, versus the Spurs. And guess who's coaching them? Mitch Johnson, our boy. Yoo-hoo. God, I can't get over that. I'll say this, James- But, nah, he needs to step up though. I think that I think you're right. I think the Knicks have been impressive. I don't think they get a sweep on the Spurs though. And I actually think, I'ma-- This is what I'll say. If the Spurs win game three, I think they're gonna get right back in it and it's gonna be 2-2 I think if they win game three, they're winning game four, and we're going back to San Antonio tied two-two, brand new series. Knicks I'm gonna say this, game three's a must-win for the Knicks. If you win, you secure the series. You're up three-oh. It's a death sentence. But if you lose- Yeah I really don't think they come back and win game four, and then you're going back to San Antonio tied two games a piece, and it's gonna be the first to get two victories, and you don't have home court anymore. Yikes. Right. Yeah. I think you gotta put the nail in the coffin if you're the Knicks. No, I'm with you, Spence. They gotta win game three, the Knicks do, because one thing for sure 'Cause I, this is how I believe the series is gonna go. Knicks win game three, and then the Spurs find a way to win game four. Go back game five, they'll win that, and then it goes back to game six. Now, the good thing about being- Knicks in six. Yeah, Knicks in six. Yeah, let's get this correct. But no, the good thing about what the Spurs are, and I get it, everyone's gonna dog the team, dog Alien. Guess what? 'Cause everyone thinks you a GOAT now, hey, you get to get judged like LeBron, hopefully. Like, he got swept in '07. But at least the Spurs are playing with house money. That's the only thing good right now with them is, like, "Hey, look, we already screwed home court. They already counted us out, and now we just get the ball. We get to hoop now. There ain't no pressure. We get to hoop. That's all we get to do." Now, Spence, really, man, the over under, how many celebrities do you think you're gonna see front row game three tonight, bro? And there might be over 10 celebrities being shown front row. What blew my mind is that these tickets at Madison Square Garden for game three, more expensive than this past year's Super Bowl. Ooh-wee. That is crazy. That is cra- That's crazy. And people try to tell you the NBA's dying. Look at what's going on in New York and tell me the NBA is dying. Yeah, man. Yeah, the Who? Who was it? Some people told us, man, that baseball was gonna outpower basketball. Oh, I'll do you one even worse. Some peoples looked at us dead in the face and said hockey. Hockey. And I love hockey, but- I like hockey hockey was gonna pass the NBA. Uh-huh. Ridiculous and laughable. Ridiculous. People that say that are just haters and they're the type that cry about, "Oh, everyone flops nowadays. Ugh." Like, bro, Jordan flopped, too. I'm sorry. You just wanna act like he didn't flop. Jordan flopped, too. He really did. I think, I think that's all- He really did And we're taking a little turn, and I won't go, I won't take long on this one We're not, yeah, we can't go too far into this. We can't go, yeah, we're not gonna do ESPN style where they just always, like, they'll talk about s- they'll talk about the NBA finals then be like, "What about the GOAT conversation?" That's always the one thing I think I've always never liked about Jordan fans and Glazers is they make it seem like Jordan never missed a shot, never made a foul, never made a turnover, never passed the ball to Steve Kerr to win a game. Always took all the shots. That's the only thing I think I've never liked about those fans, those fans over there. Because they gripe on LeBron. But hey man, Jordan did nothing wrong in his luxurious career. He didn't retire, man, he didn't get swept, didn't do none of that. Never. But let's keep it moving. Yep. Yeah, James, so we'll see what, when/if the Knicks get it done, if the Spurs can climb their way back into the series, but dog days of summer, James. I can't think of too much to go. We're gonna talk about UFC this week on Wednesday's show. We'll talk about the UFC- Mm-hmm fight card coming up on Sunday. But let's end with No Huddle, James. Yeah. What you got for us this week? Let's do it. Let's do it, man. We'll c- hey, today everyone was complaining about why the NBA finals was not on a Sunday, blah, blah, blah, blee, blee, blee, but we had great golf. But Spence, this year's finals will not host a game on a Sunday. The last time an NBA final series did not play on a Sunday, 27 years, and guess who was playing in the, in that NBA finals? Spurs versus Knicks, baby. Look at that, man. Repeating history. But so far the Knicks are not making sure that repeats. Yeah. So- Knicks right now are looking to flip the script right there. Flip the script, that's for sure. All right, Spence, hey, we're going back though. Hey we joked Knicks in four. We talked about Spurs making a comeback. I will tell you, man, crazy stat right now. In 2006 the Mavericks had a 2-0 lead versus the Miami Heat. And what happened? They blew that 2-0 lead. In 2016, the Golden State Warriors had a 2-0 lead in the NBA finals, and what happened? They blew that and lost that finals. Knicks 2026 are up 2-0 in the finals. Will they blow this 2-0 lead and lose like the other 2016 and 2006 teams? It's been convincing through two games, James, but if anyone is capable of it in today's NBA, it's the alien turning the script around, figuring out how to beat Karl-Anthony Towns on defense. That is something that Karl-Anthony Towns has never held the plaque of his, in his entire career, being someone that has been a defensive force. But what if we see the KAT that we have seen the rest of his career? We see him show up in game three. And Wembanyama drops a 25, 30, maybe even a 40 piece. Man. Knicks get back into the L column. Spurs climb their way back into the series. Look, man, don't let it get back to San Antonio- tied two, is all I'm gonna say. That's all I'm gonna say. I'm with you, Spence. When are the Knicks gonna lose? It's been 43 plus days, man. They just haven't lost. I don't know what the deal is. Yeah. All right. Since before the draft, the NFL draft was the last time- the Knicks lost. God. That's bad. And what's crazy about it is that their two losses to the Hawks were b- by a combined total of two points. Like- Two points so this team has been shooting on all, all cylinders, defense and offense. Now, Spence, we're still keeping it basketball related. The last three teams that have won game one of the NBA finals on the road have all went to lose the series. Last year, Indiana won game one, lost the finals. 2022, Boston beat the Warriors, lost the finals. And in 2013, beat the Heat in game one, but lost the finals. Spence, there's been... Can you guess the last team that won game one on the road and won the NBA finals? It's 2000s, and I'll give you that. They won game one. So the three teams I told you won game one on the road but end up losing the series. This team won game one on the road in the finals- On the road and actually won the series. Can you guess that team? Ooh, that's tough. They won game one on the road and then won the series. Was it one of the... How about let's go with the Lakers No, but this team did play the Lakers in the finals. Okay. So this should slim the list. That's, that should be Boston then. No. We're almost there. Oh, is it the Pistons? The 2004 Pistons, yeah. Beat the Lakers game one on the road and ended up winning that series, and ended up breaking up Shaq and the, Kobe and the Lakers, man. What a crime. All right, Spence, last one. Now DraftKings... My fault, not DraftKings. Bleacher Report betting sports w- content website, whatever, s- X page, post, po- made a post out there and it said, Are you good at golf?" Now Spence, they list the over under 80 and a half. What do you need to shoot to say you are good at golf, over under 80 and a half? Oh Amateur, amateur style. Now obviously not pros, but- Amateurs? I would say- Over, under. What would you say? I would say over. I think if you are hitting true scores only, not my mental health rules that I like to play- I'm terrible 'cause I'm definitely not a good golfer. Not a scramble. But if you r- no. If you routinely break 90, routinely, and true scoring 90, and you routinely are better than 90, I think you are a good golfer. I think any team that picked you up in a scramble would be very happy with what you'd contribute. Okay. There you go. Man, hey, that means I'm a good golfer. Yes. I've... Yes, James. I definitely think that. Yes. There we go, man. There we go. All right. Well- 80 is, that's, that is very strict. Yeah, that's very strict. That is very... that's eight strokes o- That's a plus eight handicap. That's tough- Yeah to, to accomplish. Yeah. It's very tough. Yeah, I don't... Yeah I'm with you. I would say anything, you shoot anything 85 or lower for me, I think you're good. Like- Yeah like you mentioned, you're on the scramble team because you're gonna contribute either the drive, the approach, the chip, or the putt, all right, Spence, man. Hey, man, that's all I got, man, for Quick Takes, man. Hey, this, like I said, this is, the summer episodes are going to be a little bit more chill, but rest assured, w- during these dog days of summer, as we like to call them we are preparing for an onslaught of football content. Football is right around the corner. I can't wait, James. We're gonna be doing a lot of stuff. Yeah. I'm excited about it by then. We also got some golf content on the way soon. That is still in the works. Lot of editing. We, me and James are getting humbled by the amount of editing that it takes to- Yeah. Yeah put golf videos together, but it is coming soon. Our time in the DR was fun, so we'll have that for y'all. Yeah. All you YouTube golfers, man. Heck, why didn't you tell us this? Why- Yeah, I'm with it. Good, good. Grant Horvak, why didn't y'all let us know, like, "Hey, the number one thing to starting a golf channel, find someone who wants to edit all the crap." Goddamn. Yeah. God, for real. I know. Well, well, we're gonna have to reach out on Fiver or something soon. But fun episode this week. We'll see you again later this week. James, Spencer, Big Game Energy. We'll see y'all next time. Y'all take it easy. Jalen Brunson, King of New York.