Knicks In Six

Buckets & Birdies is taking it to the course! Marcus, Carter, and Producer Pablo are live from Finley Golf Club in Chapel Hill, North Carolina fresh off a round of golf on a beautiful day. The boys recap how their round went, talk about a Knicks team that is absolutely playing out of their minds, and keep a close eye on the Carolina Hurricanes continuing to heat up in the Stanley Cup.

Fairways, fast breaks, and fresh takes — straight from the links. 🏀⛳

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Buckets and Birdies Podcast. Buckets and Birdies is a weekly glimpse into the worlds of basketball and golf. We'll also balance national sports trends with ACC Insights and provide a lens of notable happenings of sports in our home state of North Carolina.

SPEAKER_02 0:16

Two friends and industry professionals getting together to bring you 23 minutes of fun each week with shared experiences around buckets and birdies. He's Carter Bills, sports agent and seasoned consultant in the golf space.

SPEAKER_01 0:27

Joining me on the mic is national champion, Tar Hill Great, Marcus Guineard. Welcome to Buckets and Birdies.

SPEAKER_02 0:35

Welcome to another episode of the Buckets and Birdies Podcast. This is super special, obviously, as you see us outside the studio here at Finley Golf Club here in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where we just finished a round of golf. Carter Bills.

SPEAKER_00 0:47

Marcus Guineard, good to be with you. Likewise, brother, in the flesh. Tuesday, June the 8th. We're normally doing this from behind the screen. We're doing it on a couple Adirondo chairs outside the heel right here. A little putting green.

SPEAKER_02 0:57

I absolutely love this. Um, you want to talk about the round of golf that you just played to get us kicked off, or how you feeling?

SPEAKER_00 1:04

I mean, the back nine was was decent to me. We had a couple birdies for the Buckets and Birdies pod here today. Had to had to throw a couple circles on the card for the team.

SPEAKER_02 1:11

My guy, you crushed it. I actually thought for a second that we were gonna have to call this bricks and bogeys. But on the back nine, we kind of got it together a little bit, which was fun. I don't want to read off my score to you guys, by the way, but um I did shoot a hundred today. I was trying to go under a hundred, obviously. Um, but I hit 100 today, which I feel good about. 54 on the front, 46 on the back.

SPEAKER_00 1:33

Hey, 46 on the back. Let's take a 46 on the back.

SPEAKER_02 1:36

Thank you. Carter, uh I don't have your score on this card. I don't know which if you got any highlights you want to share about about your round, those those birdies, I think we should talk about those.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

Hopped right out of the car, end of the day, no warm-up. You're used to that. Pretty typical my MO. Uh, first couple holes, bogey, double bogey. Took a minute to get rolling. Somehow we scraped together 39 on that round of nine. So put two circles on the card. Those that know me well, like yourself, know that circles don't come every round. So when they do, we're uh we're happy to underscore those for the Buckets and Birdies podcast, as those are Birdies indeed, Mark.

SPEAKER_02 2:09

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. All right, so what are you thinking? Off the top, what's on your mind when we're thinking about sports tonight?

SPEAKER_00 2:16

I'm thinking do or do not, there is no try.

SPEAKER_02 2:20

Oh, that's the quote of the day. I know this, man. I feel like I can hear it. But who said that?

SPEAKER_00 2:31

Master Yoda.

SPEAKER_02 2:33

I love it.

SPEAKER_00 2:34

Do or do not, there is no try. So we talked the last time we were together about the Carolina Hurricanes. We talked about the NBA finals. I know we'll get into that. A lot of do or do not time for those teams. They're trying, Marcus. What are you seeing so far? Where do you want to start?

SPEAKER_02 2:48

Well, I want to start with the Hurricanes uh tonight, if I'm not mistaken, they're playing their second game now on the road in Las Vegas. Um, had some tough, tough games against Vegas, man. Uh I don't know how they end up uh coming on the short end of these games, man, but but they've been super exciting.

SPEAKER_00 3:05

Super exciting.

SPEAKER_02 3:06

But of course, they want to make sure that they get a W tonight. That's right. Um and not go down 3-1, if I'm not mistaken. Um But again, man, they've been battling. Those have been great games to watch. Man, I I don't know what to tell them. I'm not a hockey guy. I know they've been fighting, but I just got to see them come out come out with a dub, man.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

I'm with you. I'm not the biggest hockey aficionado, but Marcus, watching them, these games have been awesome. Like super competitive. The Vegas Knights and the Carolina Hurricanes both coming out to play. Like you said, Vegas Knights in a position where they could go up 3-1 tonight. Or conversely, the Hurricanes could come back and make the equalizer with the game and go 2-2. So um I was with my son, as you know, at a father-son sports camp over the weekend, worn out, doing every sport you could imagine all day. Some buckets, some birdies, played golf, played basketball, football, soccer, all the things in between. Everybody's watching the Hurricanes game at night. Everyone went to bed. We turned it off after the second period. We wake up, go to breakfast, sort of camp style in the cafeteria, and a guy says, Hey, you know the Canes scored four in the third and they went to double overtime. I'm thinking he's got to be messing with me.

SPEAKER_02 4:08

It was insane.

SPEAKER_00 4:08

It's Gray Littlewood, by the way, who you know. Great. Shout out to Grey. Gray said, You know they scored four in the third. I'm like, no way. No.

SPEAKER_02 4:14

Yes, we didn't.

SPEAKER_00 4:14

So they did. I still hadn't watched that back, but apparently they did.

SPEAKER_02 4:17

They scored like three goals in 39 seconds.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

Three goals in 39 seconds, play another 20 minutes, which is like a fourth period. Score tied, played another period, and then we somehow kind of have an own goal, weird situation.

SPEAKER_02 4:31

Two times in the game. We scored on ourselves.

SPEAKER_00 4:33

I hate I missed that, and then yet to see the result. I almost wanted to say save that energy for the next game, but it's do or do not. There is no try. You gotta leave it all out there, right, Marcus, when you're in these games.

SPEAKER_02 4:44

You got to. Now the good news is whatever happens, we do come back to Raleigh, but would love to come back to Raleigh tied up and not down 3-1. So shout out to the Hurricanes. Good luck tonight.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

We know the Lenovo Center will be rocking either way. Let's steal one on the road in Vegas, like you said, bring it back home to Carolina. Let's raise that Stanley Cup here in Carolina, baby. Let's go. We can do it.

SPEAKER_02 5:01

That'd be dope.

SPEAKER_00 5:18

So by the way, we gotta get finished with this, Marcus, so we can go watch the Stanley Cup games.

SPEAKER_02 5:22

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_00 5:23

And that brings us right into our first topic as always, buckets, man. What do you what are you feeling? NBA finals, of course.

SPEAKER_02 5:28

Man, I mean you're talking about uh teams being up 2-1. You got Vegas up 2-1 on the Hurricanes, and and and now you've got you know New York up 2-1 on the Spurs. They they claw back to steal one in New York. Everybody's getting a little nervous for the Spurs. They're coming into New York, down 0-2. New York is on fire right now. On fire. Everybody that I know that's in New York is talking about this like a place they've never seen before. All the buildings are lit up, orange and blue, people out in the street. I saw a video of somebody with a projector projecting the game out on the you know on the brick, on the brick building across the street from his neighborhood, uh his apartment, because he couldn't, you know, find a big thing.

SPEAKER_00 6:05

How many people watched that?

SPEAKER_02 6:07

Dude, I mean like apparently New York is absolutely wild. And I think you saw that in Madison Square Garden. You could hear it, the fans are just going crazy. But man, the Spurs were just steady eddy all night. I thought in the beginning of the game the Spurs were gonna take it easy. Take it easy, meaning win it easy. Then the Knicks came back clawing, fighting, scrapping, and next thing you know, you're like, oh man, the Knicks are gonna go up 3-0.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

Right.

SPEAKER_02 6:28

And the Spurs, like I said, just steady, kept it together. Second half, played great defense. You got some great scoring from everybody on the team. Castle, second year player, but looking like an absolute veteran in the finals here. Uh a stud. An absolute stud. And then swipe of the fox, looking like the the the old D'Aaron Fox that we remember.

SPEAKER_00 6:47

How's he a seasoned vet all of a sudden? It feels like he just came out of Kentucky. Here we can know the fastest thing you've ever seen. He's really come into his own as like this veteran leader of this team. It's been fun to see. I really love his game, and um he's had some some fights, some chip. De'Aaron's not gonna back down to anybody. Castle's a guy I want with me at all times. And we talked about the young Harper last on our last pod, Ron Harper's son. We decided he's been giving it to old Ron for years now. Like this kid can play Dylan Harper, right? So um I didn't catch as much of the game three as you did. You make a great point. 3-0, huge difference against 2-1. We've got ourselves the series. New York has turned up. You know the people in San Antonio are turned up. I think Manhattan's gonna be absolutely insane. I have to go up there for work this week, so pray for me. Perfect while the games are going on. I don't know anybody knows anybody with tickets, um, would love that.

SPEAKER_02 7:37

Probably should call our basketball people. Good luck.

SPEAKER_00 7:40

But um, yeah, apparently the resale market on these markets is the highest in the history of sports and entertainment.

SPEAKER_02 7:46

So insane. Carl, I just want to go through some stats just to look through how these players perform in their game. Um gosh, you got Champany with 12 points. Victor obviously had an incredible outing, 32 points, eight rebounds, six assists. Darren Fox, as I mentioned, 12 points, which doesn't look great, but he had big time buckets down the stretch, uh, which I think were absolutely essential for them to win. Controls the game, the tempo, everything. Castle, 23 points on eight of 14 shooting, also with five rebounds, five assists.

SPEAKER_00 8:20

Super efficient.

SPEAKER_02 8:21

Harper, as you mentioned, 13 points, nine rebounds, four assists. I mean, they really had a balanced attack. And then on the other side, man, the the Knicks, as I mentioned, also had a great outing. OG and Anobi, 28 points. Josh Hart 16. So we were talking about this a little earlier before we started rolling. The Spurs really played great defense and made Jalen Brunson get rid of the ball. But a lot of these Knicks players still stepped up. They stepped up and they made bats. 28. Wow. Had some big threes late. Clarkson, 10 points off the bench. I mean, these guys were really battling.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

And 16 for Hart's big because you know what he's gonna do for you. Besides, you'd put him on the court if he wasn't gonna score.

SPEAKER_02 9:05

So 16's huge for him.

SPEAKER_00 9:07

So the Knicks were right there. I missed the end. You said the Knicks were right there despite the Spurs came out on a mission, it sounded like in game three.

SPEAKER_02 9:13

Definitely. And I can't remember exactly what happened late in the game. Uh didn't have their best couple of possessions. Um, and again, the Spurs just made more plays down the stretch.

SPEAKER_00 9:21

Man, every game's been tight. What was it? A one possession game, I think, in each of the first two, maybe four or five points the first game, one point, two points the second game. I think we're in store markets for a special one again in game four.

SPEAKER_02 9:33

Definitely. What I just want to say overall, as we think about both of these final series that we're watching right now, is they're they're not disappointing. I mean, these are you got the Stanley Cup, you got the NBA Finals. I mean, these are high-level competitive athletic sporting events that everybody's getting a ton of enjoyment out of.

SPEAKER_00 9:48

That's it. All right, so we gotta ask each other before the NBA Finals started, we made our picks. Knicks and six. Knicks and six is looking pretty good. I picked Knicks in seven. Fair. At least the Spurs bounce back to give that a chance because I thought, no way this is going to seven after those first two games. Justin Barnes is on the Spurs now. I'm not rooting against the Spurs, Marcus. I just got a feeling like this Knicks team has a bit of destiny on its side. Uh, getting over the hump, I'm gonna take the Knicks in seven. I think they just stole home court advantage back in game one, and I'm gonna take the Knicks in seven.

SPEAKER_02 10:20

You know, Carter, I'm very similar to you. I like both of these teams. Um, but if I have to answer the question, who am I taking? I'm also gonna take the Knicks. And I'm gonna one up you here. And as much as I'd love to see a game seven, and and I do think it's going to get there, um, if I'm a betting man, I'm gonna say Knicks and six.

SPEAKER_00 10:41

Okay. Okay. We both have the advantage of seeing they they took game one, but Nixon six is Nixon six has got a ring to it. I feel like some t-shirts are gonna be passed out all over Manhattan. Nixon's gonna be a good one.

SPEAKER_02 10:52

I think they might not ready be on the truck, my friend.

SPEAKER_00 10:54

Uh in San Antonio, how about they take both of them? Like you said, the Spurs come back and steal one right back. Nixon six is looking good. Nixon seven still on the board. I'm liking Nixon six, but I gotta stick with my pick. Let's see what happens. I think San Antonio is gonna have something to say about it, so it's gonna be fun.

SPEAKER_02 11:10

I think San Antonio wins game four, honestly. I think they're gonna tie it up in New York. You got New York that stole two in San Antonio. I think San Antonio is gonna come in and steal another one in Madison Square Garden. And Madison Square Garden, we just talked about how crazy it is in there right now and in New York. I can't imagine if it's not even more bananas in Madison Square Garden for the next one.

SPEAKER_00 11:27

But it's gonna be, no doubt. And so Marcus Guineard says the Knicks are gonna get the spur put to them in Manhattan in game four. Saddle up, boys. It's gonna be a good one.

SPEAKER_02 11:38

It will. Alright. Where I will give you a year and you will tell me the NBA champion and the U.S. Open Champion. Okay. This year today is going to be 1990.

SPEAKER_00 12:12

1990. Alright, I'm gonna go 1990, Hail Irwin, U.S. Open Champion. And 1990 was the Detroit Pistons, the second of their back-to-back before Jordan and the Bulls went on their three-peats. So Hail Irwin and Detroit Pistons.

SPEAKER_02 12:30

Alright, we're not in the studio, so we gotta call out to our producer here to see where we are on this. Hail Irwin and Detroit Pistons.

SPEAKER_00 12:38

That's my guess.

SPEAKER_01 12:39

Alright, Detroit Pistons and Hail Irwin.

SPEAKER_00 12:42

Alright, let's crushing it. Let's go.

SPEAKER_02 12:45

Dude, I love that.

SPEAKER_00 12:46

Love Hale Irwin. I've spent a lot of time with him. He's he's uh he's he's getting seasoned in his years, but I've been at some appearances with him, for example, and you couldn't find a better salt of the earth guy that'll just make you laugh for days. Hail Irwin won the US Open three or four times, matter of fact. I think back to back in there somewhere, but 90 stuck out. I think I missed, you stumped me last episode because I guess Hale Irwin in 88, and that was wrong. So hail in 90. Um, I won't mess that up again, Mr. Irwin.

SPEAKER_02 13:13

So and then who's on the Detroit Pistons in 1990?

SPEAKER_00 13:16

So we got Isaiah Thomas, of course, the leader, one of the top 50 players of all time, and arguably one of the top 15 players of all time. Fair Joe Dumar's at the two, you had young Dennis Rodman at the three, you had kind of a uh John Sally I he normally came off the bench. What was Rick Mahorn at the four?

SPEAKER_02 13:35

Rick Mahorn, wow, hadn't heard that name in a while.

SPEAKER_00 13:37

And then you had Bill Lambier, the the big enforcer in the middle at the five.

SPEAKER_02 13:41

So I mean this was a totally different NBA.

SPEAKER_00 13:44

This was a total, I mean, you look, that is a big, bulky, beat-you up team. They earned the name Bad Boys. Oh yeah. And they embraced it. They they put your butt on the floor.

SPEAKER_02 13:52

I mean, this was WWE meets NBA.

SPEAKER_00 13:54

WWE meets NBA. What was it? They had the Jordan rules.

SPEAKER_02 13:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:57

Come in the paint on his butt.

SPEAKER_02 13:59

Yeah. Like they did it. So tell us what's going on in the world of golf right now.

SPEAKER_00 14:02

Big time going on in the world of golf as we're into June. We are one week away. Marcus speaking of U.S. Open from the 2026 US Open that'll go out in Long Island to Shinnecock, one of the true cathedrals in all of golf. Um, it's gonna be an exciting one. The last time that the U.S. Open was at Shinnecock, it was 2018. Brooks Kepka was in the middle of his meteoric rise, that he looked like the most confident guy to walk a fairway since one Tiger Woods in those Nike swoosh. So Brooks is back, Brooks will be there. Rory, Scotty, I imagine all the top 50 will be there. The US Open is truly special, Marcus, against all the majors. It's the one that you feel like you can really go out and qualify for. So there's certain stipulations that you gotta have certain handicaps and um be of a certain level to go, but you can go to local qualifying, you make it to regional qualifying, and then ultimately to the US Open. And that just happened. Golf's longest day, they call it, was this Monday, June the 9th, and people punch their ticket, just like we do to March Madness, punch their ticket to the US Open and tons of great amateurs, which is one of the beautiful things. The USGA and the US Open really preserving the legacy of Bobby Jones and amateur golf, I think is special. Um a Augusta, they do a great job with the amateurs as well. But um interesting to see, there's a lot of people fighting for their life. You know, again, like we talked about, the Scotties and the Roy's are gonna be there. But you've got guys, um, you know, the belly horses of the world that are that are fighting for their life. Um you've got Max Homes of the World. He just missed, he he lipped out in like an eight, eight-man for three spot playoffs and lips out and misses the U.S. Open, but Max will get his opportunities and bounce right back. And that makes this week's event, Marcus, all that more important. It's the last full-field event before the U.S. Open is the RBC Canadian Open. So Canada's national open, where some great history has happened there. Nick Taylor, the Canadian, a couple years ago, make a 70-foot putt to win. Uh you've had Tommy Fleetwood standing right there with big chances over the years. Um, you've had Roy McElroy run big time in Canada, and um they've got a strong field. It's one of the stronger fields they've had in the last few years. So I'm excited to see what happens, Marcus. Somebody's gonna punch their ticket into the U.S. Open. You're gonna have people start to punch their ticket actually into the Open Championship based on how well they finish here. And then the following week, as the U.S. Open is sandwiched by RBC Canadian Open and the Travelers Championship, a signature event on the PGA tour, the only signature event in the Northeast, which is an exciting time for that region. We're talking about the Knicks playing, the Travelers Championships coming in Connecticut. Guys will punch their ticket at the RBC Canadian Open too to fill those last spots in that 72-man field. So exciting times in golf, and um there's a lot of players playing well. And uh, I don't know, have what have you caught lately? Who have you been excited to see, or who are you excited to see as we step into the next major championship?

SPEAKER_02 16:45

So I have not been watching that much golf, and so I did want to ask you who do you feel like is playing well. However, I'll answer your question first: who do I want to see? Big fan of Victor Hovlin, want to see him playing well. Don't again, don't know where he's been you know the last couple weeks and and and what his uh momentum looks like right now, but but I've always enjoyed watching him play. Um little Shawley, a little Xander, like watching him play as well. Um and then the big basketball player, who or at least I feel like is the basketball player. We think about our our our Jordan guy, um Tony Finau. Um would love to see how how Finault plays. And I don't know if he's in the field or not for this, but um but would love to see how how he perform how he performs out there at the US Open.

SPEAKER_00 17:29

Man, three great names, three guys that need to play a little better, but we know all three of those guys are capable. At any given week, it wouldn't surprise anybody to see Victor Hovlin, Tony Finau, or Xander Shoffley at the top of the leaderboard, um, three of the best guys out there. I love that you like good guys. Those are three of the best guys you could possibly pick. Um, man, I think we are shaping up to have this seismic Scotty Scheffler, Roy McElroy type duel. And in the past, we've we've seen duels with you know Woods and Mickelson and and uh you know Faldo and Irwin and different people as as time has gone on. There's not a lot of contention with with Rory and Scotty got a couple really good guys, which is fun, a couple guys who have been really centric to the tour and the tour's growth over the past few years, and essential to the game in this Tiger Woodsless kind of era. Tiger's still there, Tiger's involved in TGL. We hope Tiger's back soon. I think anytime Tiger suits it up, if he's feeling good, he can win a golf tournament, which is special. And I don't think his last chapter is written. He is not there this week. Scotty and Roy are. Those are the obvious picks, Marcus, but I would not be surprised to see them. Shinnocock plays really difficult. Last time there was even some chatter, did they lose the greens? I was talking to a couple players recently who said they didn't lose the greens. Some guys just weren't playing that well and sort of leaned on the fact that the greens were super fast. And the the specific player I was talking to was a top 10 player at the time, said the greens are supposed to be fast, the rough's supposed to be thick, it's the US Open. Um and he was excited for Shinnecock, so that was kind of getting my juices flowing. I got chills hearing him say that, and he was ready to go back out and and play Shinnnecock again. And I think these guys will be ready. I think Marcus, besides Roy and Scotty, I think we are primed to see a run of amateur players. Amateur players finish their collegiate seasons, um, just like we saw what David Ford last year here birthed from this very course of his college growth at Finlay, really, really come onto the scene on the PGA tour. The US Open is when a lot of guys turn pro. Ben James from up the road at UVA is turning pro and uh is playing unbelievable. You've got Jackson Coivan, who was on Auburn that just swept every major collegiate award you can imagine. He's in the US Open. Watch out for Jackson Coyvon. His teammate, Logan Riley, freshman on that Auburn team, sinks the winning putt to win the national championship, just goes in medals at his region uh to go on to the U.S. Open, qualify as an amateur. Logan Riley's playing as well as any amateur in the in the country. So I'd say Ben James, Jackson Coyvon, Logan Riley, look out for those amateur names in addition to the Scotty Schefflers and Roy McElroy's of the ward. I'm excited to see how it unfolds and watch some people make a name for themselves.

SPEAKER_02 20:13

Man, that's awesome. And and not to take you off of golf right now, but man, Logan Riley, freshman, sinking a putt to win a national championship, Chapel Hill, Michael Jordan, freshman, knocking down a shot to win a national championship. Good vibes. Hey, great vibes. Good vibes. Great vibes.

SPEAKER_00 20:27

No pressure, Logan.

SPEAKER_02 20:30

Thank you everybody for joining us for a special episode of the Buckets and Birdies Podcast.

SPEAKER_00 20:34

That's 23 minutes of our thoughts for you. From Marcus Guineard, I'm Carter Bills.

SPEAKER_02 20:39

We'll catch you next time.

SPEAKER_00 20:40

Thanks, everyone.

SPEAKER_02 20:45

What's up, everybody? Marcus Ginyard from the Buckets and Birdies Podcast, coming to you with a special quick addition here to our most recent podcast. There's been a lot that's happening last night. An incredible comeback from the Knicks to go up 3-1 over the Spurs. Um, an incredible game. But just before we jump into that, I just want to say that I'm coming to you from Raleigh, North Carolina. Just behind those trees is the Lenovo Center. You may be able to see a helicopter floating around back there, doing a little tours, getting the aerial view. I tell you what, Raleigh is buzzing much like Madison Square Garden was last night. And I cannot wait to be inside the Lenovo Center for game five of the Stanley Cup Finals. I'm excited to go in there and watch some playoff hockey. We'll see you next time.

SPEAKER_00 21:34

Carter Bills here from the Buckets and Birdies podcast with a little bit of bonus time here this week in episode 16. Wow, we had to come at you with a little something extra following game four, the NBA Finals. The largest comeback in NBA Finals history. Down 29 points. The Knicks come back and defeat the Spurs. My compadre here, Marcus Guineard, predicted that the Spurs would win game four. And I'll be darned if it didn't look like the Spurs were gonna win Game 4 indeed. For gosh, 47 of those 48 minutes of that game. I was in New York. I tell you what, there was some big KE Marcus and Pablo. That's big Knick energy going down in Manhattan. I came out of a late afternoon, early evening event into a dinner, and everywhere I walked by in between the two events was getting ready, pumped, excited for the New York Knickerbockers, and that game delivered. The energy was high in Manhattan. The Knicks spirits were high last night after OG Ananobi puts the Knicks up 3-1. And the Knicks now surely look in the driver's seat to win the 2026 NBA Finals. It ain't over till it's over, but the Knicks are up 3-1.