"Reverse 9/11": Celebrating These Knicks Title Vibes, with Desus Nice

Transcendence on the court. Dancing in the streets. And a drunk Instagram Live for the ages. Why wait 'til the parade? Pablo raises a glass (while devouring an egg-and-cheese) with Desus — his fellow New Yorker and bard of Knicks nation — to the commute of a champion and the beauty of a bandwagon; to the drip of Landry Shamet and the sweat of Patrick Ewing; to KAT and OG and Wu-Tang and, yes, even Coldplay. Just not that traitor from Sesame Street. • Subscribe to "Desus Pieces" https://www.youtube.com/@DesusPieces • Subscribe to Pablo's newsletter https://www.pablo.show/ • Subscribe to The Athletic https://theathletic.onelink.me/eNRy/ptfo Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Pablo Torre?

  Welcome to Pablo Torre Finds Out. I am Pablo Torre, and today, we're gonna find out what this sound is.

• 0:06Speaker 01

  Sundress, no underwear. Just cheeks moving from side to side respectfully, you know?

• 0:12Pablo Torre?

  Respectfully.

• 0:13Speaker 01

  Respectfully with consent.

• 0:15Pablo Torre?

  Right after this ad.

• 0:18Speaker 02

  I've got big news. I switched to Verizon and got the new iPhone 18 Pro. Shh. I can keep my old phone, and I also get the latest iPhone every year. Shh, anything else? Verizon let me choose Apple Watch Series 12 or iPad on them. Everybody, listen up. Shh. Switch to Verizon and get the new iPhone 18 Pro now. No trade-in needed, and the latest iPhone every year with Simplicity Plan. Plus, choose Apple Watch Series 12 or iPad on us. Simplicity Plan with Simplicity Pro required. Plan and device payment purchase are separate agreements with separate terms. Service plan for Watch or iPad required. Additional terms apply for all offers.

• 0:49Speaker 03

  Welcome to 215 Maple Drive. We just put this property on the market.

• 0:55Speaker 04

  Love the crown molding.

• 0:56Speaker 03

  Oh, wait until you see the walk-in closets and the bathroom tile.

• 1:00Speaker 04

  Does it have Verizon FiOS? You know, 100% fiber internet.

• 1:04Speaker 03

  No FiOS, but it looks like it's got cable. Let's check out the kitchen.

• 1:08Speaker 04

  No FiOS? Yeah, no thank you.

• 1:11Speaker 03

  Don't you want to see the rest? Okay, bye-bye.

• 1:14Speaker 05

  Get Verizon FiOS, because when you're moving, it's 100% or nothing.

• 1:20Pablo Torre?

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• 2:04Pablo Torre?

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• 2:29Pablo Torre?

  Yo. This is, uh...

• 2:33Speaker 01

  Is that Jalen's Chipotle order?

• 2:36Pablo Torre?

  That, that, that is...

• 2:37Speaker 01

  Purple Doritos.

• 2:40Pablo Torre?

  There's a lot, there's a lot going on on this table. Are we, we are rolling? Okay, great. Have you opened a bottle of champagne recently, Desus?

• 2:48Speaker 01

  Um... Not to my knowledge. Not to my knowledge, so... I don't want to be in classy situations like that that often.

• 2:57Pablo Torre?

  I think me opening this bottle of champagne would be a dangerous idea.

• 3:01Speaker 01

  It's a lot goes into it. You gotta take the foil off, you gotta take off the little, the little mesh cage, the muzzle.

• 3:06Pablo Torre?

  That's right.

• 3:06Speaker 01

  I don't know the proper, uh, wine terminology.

• 3:10Pablo Torre?

  Uh, the dental dam.

• 3:11Speaker 01

  The dental dam, there you go. Shout out to dental dams, we're bringing those back this year. Next dental dams for everybody.

• 3:17Pablo Torre?

  So, Desus, thank you for being here, by the way.

• 3:19Speaker 01

  Thank you for having me.

• 3:20Pablo Torre?

  Um, we thought of you immediately. We have, can you describe the things on the table?

• 3:24Speaker 01

  We have what makes America great again, no, what makes New York, because New York is no longer part of America. We are our own sovereign nation, and these are some of the great things that you see in New York. We got, we got bagels, we got Snapple, which is from New York, we got Chipotle, which is as close to New York as Mexico can get. You know, we were out here.

• 3:41Pablo Torre?

  This is, this is all according to now, like, the legend of this Knicks team.

• 3:47Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 3:48Pablo Torre?

  This is, uh, Jalen Brunson's, uh, bodega orders, he described it. I already had it before you got here.

• 3:53Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 3:53Pablo Torre?

  And it's delicious.

• 3:54Speaker 01

  It's a ba- what is, his bagel order is...

• 3:56Pablo Torre?

  Everything bagel with egg and cheese, hash browns and spicy mayo.

• 3:59Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 4:00Pablo Torre?

  Uh, purple Doritos.

• 4:01Speaker 01

  Purple Doritos.

• 4:02Pablo Torre?

  And peach Snapple.

• 4:03Speaker 01

  The purple Doritos is surprising, and I think one thing I've seen on Twitter and social media is, a lot of people are saying, "Hey, I eat that same breakfast. Why aren't I doing as much in life as Jalen Brunson?" Yeah, you know the answers. You know the answer.

• 4:16Pablo Torre?

  Uh, also, that same logic applies to the Chipotle order, which is Mikel Bridges's. Yeah.

• 4:22Speaker 01

  Yes, uh, you, the same way Wemby did a full 180 on his reputation, Mikel Bridges did a 180 on his reputation yesterday with that IG live. He is literally the coolest person in New York right now. I got one word: savages. Oh, man.

• 4:37Pablo Torre?

  I'm gonna try and call Mikail Bridges, and we'll see if he, uh, if he has time for us.

• 4:42Speaker 01

  Or if he's still hungover, cuz...

• 4:43Pablo Torre?

  I imagine he's still hungover.

• 4:44Speaker 01

  Well, I respect he was drinking high-level tequila. So I don't even, I'm not even sure if he's getting, like, a hangover on it.

• 4:50Pablo Torre?

  I was gonna say, combining the tequila he was having with a burrito bowl with white rice and double chicken, tomatillo green chili salsa, roasted chili corn salsa, lettuce, this is a very high-protein order that he's apparently ordered every day for more than a decade, allegedly.

• 5:04Speaker 01

  Yes, that's what I've heard too. And this is like, the idea that Chipotle, you know, people look down on Chipotle, but these are what these athletes are doing on their way to a championship. So that means you could...

• 5:14Pablo Torre?

  That is my favorite part.

• 5:15Speaker 01

  You can order Chipotle now and be like, this is, this helped them win a championship is gonna help me.

• 5:37Pablo Torre?

  Once you win a title, everything you did before winning that title is now justified as a strategy for championship contention.

• 5:43Speaker 01

  Not just for the athletes, but also for the viewers. Like, whatever bar you went to, you gotta keep going there. Whatever drink. If you got the nachos from the most disgusting dive bar in New York, you better keep eating those nachos. We're running it back.

• 5:55Pablo Torre?

  I, I also like that this table, uh, the food on this table looks like what you'd imagine, like, OG Ananobe is eating? Because whenever he shows up in public, it does look like he himself is... And again, what, Nurkic can't relate to this. Um, it looks like he is absolutely just [BLEEP] stoned out of his mind.

• 6:15Speaker 06

  Talk about the difference Coach Brown made and how he brought you all together.

• 6:30Speaker 07

  He's been great, he's been great. Mike's been great. And what he's been awesome at doing is too is listening to us and just hearing us out.

• 6:37Speaker 01

  Listen, that was me when I moved to LA and I found that you can get 10 grams of weed at the dispensary without any limit. Just sit in there, just stoic. So people were just like, I think he's introverted. No, he's smacked.

• 6:49Pablo Torre?

  He smacked in front of George Stephanopoulos.

• 6:51Speaker 01

  That's a high level of smack. Like, that is the kind, that's the kind of smack you'd get in, like, O2 awful weed. I don't even think that's legally allowed anymore.

• 6:59Pablo Torre?

  Yeah, that is the, uh, if I don't move, the T-Rex can't see me.

• 7:03Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 7:04Pablo Torre?

  Level of stone.

• 7:05Speaker 01

  That's the kind of high where you can see your heartbeat. Y'all listening don't know what I'm talking about, but those of you who've been there, like, yeah, yeah, those are the good days.

• 7:12Pablo Torre?

  By the way, just to explain what's happening here. Um, our staff is full of Nick fans that never felt an ounce of conflict about being a Nick fan. Which is to say, I, I can't celebrate this the way that everybody on our staff has been celebrating it, the way that you have been celebrating it, which I want to get to. We have exclusive footage, I think. Allegedly.

• 7:35Speaker 01

  Allegedly.

• 7:35Pablo Torre?

  Allegedly, obduses. Um, and so, we're a local show.

• 7:41Speaker 01

  You are.

• 7:41Pablo Torre?

  And like, one of the things that you said, and I, I, I, I say this because I didn't have the balls to say it, but this is exactly what I told, in real life, friends of mine. But you put it on Twitter because, of course, you are the bard of the city of New York. And after the last, now, six days of celebrating, uh, this is what you posted.

• 8:06Speaker 01

  This is like, reverse 9/11. It was.

• 8:09Pablo Torre?

  It was, it's, it's true.

• 8:11Speaker 01

  It's, it's.

• 8:12Pablo Torre?

  It's just true.

• 8:12Speaker 01

  People were just like, that's a terrible, it's like, no, it's a beautiful idea.

• 8:15Pablo Torre?

  Yes!

• 8:16Speaker 01

  It kind of reminds you, do you remember that, uh, Michael Jackson song, Earth Song? And in the end, like, all the animals started coming back to life. I really expected the World Trade Center to just pop out of the ground again. Like, I, anything could have happened on Saturday.

• 8:27Pablo Torre?

  I mean, I can be very, sort of like, uh, emotional about this, I realize. When thinking about, like, I grew up, born and raised in Murray Hill, before it was a place where consultants went to go vomit. When it was a place for families.

• 8:40Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 8:40Pablo Torre?

  This is walking distance of Madison Square Garden. And the way that this city feels, I lived here for 40 fucking years.

• 8:49Pablo Torre?

  It's never felt like this.

• 8:50Speaker 01

  Never. Literally just walking here, people pointing at my shirt and going, "We did it." Or people on the train, they see your Knicks stuff and like, "Good morning, champ." We really feel like we're in like, the most New York-centric Hallmark movie ever. I feel like I'm gonna find my Midwestern love and he's gonna rescue me from this wretched existence.

• 9:09Pablo Torre?

  It does, it does feel like this is, everybody's living like Beauty and the Beast. It's like that scene when Belle is like, walking through the little town.

• 9:16Speaker 01

  Saying, "Good morning," has a baguette under her arm, but it's New York, so it's bacon, egg, and cheese.

• 9:20Pablo Torre?

  Everybody, everybody feels like that.

• 9:22Speaker 01

  It's, the funniest part is just like, we always kind of, you know, as Knicks fans, we're always like, "One day, we're gonna win it." We weren't ready for this. We were not ready for the fallout. Like, just the vibes, the niceness.

• 9:36Pablo Torre?

  The thing that every Knicks fan always said, which is that winning a title would be different here than it is anywhere else. It was underestimated.

• 9:44Speaker 01

  It really was. Also, every Knicks fan, and I'm guilty of this, every time, people's like, "What's gonna happen when the Knicks win?" We're like, "We're gonna burn down the city." And it's literally the opposite. Everyone has become so nice.

• 9:55Pablo Torre?

  So, I wanna, I wanna establish this. Yes, were there a couple of school buses that were set on fire?

• 10:00Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 10:01Pablo Torre?

  Yeah, I mean, it happens. Was there, was there a cab that people got on top of and I felt bad for the driver? Yes.

• 10:07Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 10:08Pablo Torre?

  But as a matter of like, what was the betting line on how much damage there would be? Versus just the utter, delirious, uh, sharing and feeling of community with your fellow man?

• 10:22Speaker 01

  I mean, it got to a point where you, you had to stop yourself and if you had destructive impulses, you couldn't go through it. Cause me, myself personally, I wanted to steal the Intrepid from the West Side Highway. I wanted to drive it through Times Square. I don't care that it's landlocked. And I said, "You know what? We're not gonna do that. We're not gonna steal a warship."

• 10:37Pablo Torre?

  But if there was any day where the security guard might have been like?

• 10:40Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 10:40Pablo Torre?

  Yeah.

• 10:41Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 10:41Pablo Torre?

  Let's take it for a spin.

• 10:42Speaker 01

  Even NYPD was standing down. They were just like, NYPD was like, "Hey, I don't see anything."

• 10:47Pablo Torre?

  And I was trying to think of like, why it is that all of this feels specifically like this. And I think it's not just the Knicks, although it's very clear that no team would make New York City feel this way.

• 10:56Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 10:57Pablo Torre?

  And as Yankee fans, both of us, we've experienced so many.

• 11:01Speaker 01

  We have, but it's nothing like this.

• 11:02Pablo Torre?

  Parades. Never felt like this.

• 11:03Speaker 01

  Nothing like this.

• 11:04Pablo Torre?

  The thing that I think about is that there is nothing like feeling like you are David, but also Goliath?

• 11:10Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 11:11Pablo Torre?

  Like, it's the, I was thinking about all of the cliches that we tell ourselves that we believe and how this is now manifesting in real time. The whole thing of if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.

• 11:20Speaker 01

  Frank Sinatra said it.

• 11:21Pablo Torre?

  That is some real, I am the underdog, but also the favorite energy.

• 11:26Speaker 01

  If you're not a New Yorker, this should be terrifying. It's like, New Yorkers already had a battery in their back, and now it's a lithium battery. Now, it's just, we're like, oh, I'm in one of the most amazing cities on earth. Therefore, I'm amazing. And now, it's just like, every, everything you do now is magical. Like, even just getting on the subway, like, you, you scan your card, and there's like a rainbow behind your hand. It's just like, everything is just feels just 10 times better than it did before the Knicks won.

• 11:52Pablo Torre?

  And I think it's also like, it's the thawing, it's the thawing of like, the pandemic [BLEEP].

• 11:59Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 11:59Pablo Torre?

  Of people realizing, oh my god, it feels so good to be around humans.

• 12:05Speaker 01

  I think even more recent, if you remember the winter we had.

• 12:09Pablo Torre?

  Yes.

• 12:09Speaker 01

  The ice, the freezing.

• 12:10Pablo Torre?

  A historic blizzard.

• 12:11Speaker 01

  Historic, like, people were looking on social media, like, how could you survive? Do we have to survive the great Trader Joe's debate? Are you allowed to stockpile Trader Joe's food in your house? Are you a terrible person for doing that? People wanted to kill dogs for their owners, leaving dog feces on ice. And New York just, we felt like we were down bad. I remember there was a couple of days, people were just like, I'm not going outside, it's too cold. And I also remember people were saying, as cold as this winter is, that's how hot the summer is gonna be. And the Knicks have just taken that to the next level. So now, it's not, it's, you can't even have fear of missing out, you have to be outside.

• 12:42Pablo Torre?

  Correct, correct. It is the sort of thing where like, the entire city feels like, you know that day? And I will be the most, uh, the, the, the most unapologetically heteronormative I will ever be on this show.

• 12:57Speaker 01

  Let's go.

• 12:58Pablo Torre?

  The first day when like, you see a sundress.

• 13:01Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 13:01Pablo Torre?

  The whole city is wearing a sundress.

• 13:04Speaker 01

  Sundress, no underwear.

• 13:07Speaker 01

  Just cheeks moving from side to side respectfully, you know?

• 13:10Pablo Torre?

  Respectfully.

• 13:11Speaker 01

  Respectfully with consent.

• 13:13Pablo Torre?

  God damn it.

• 13:14Speaker 01

  Just, the kind, the kind where, again, heteronormative, you make eye contact with someone else as this person walks by in a sundress, and you say, salute my shorts. It's just, it's just incredible.

• 13:26Pablo Torre?

  It's the sort of day when you're walking around, and suddenly you see... Elmo's head on a spike.

• 13:33Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 13:33Pablo Torre?

  Jesus, can you describe what this video shows?

• 13:35Speaker 01

  The video shows New York City taking its revenge on a traitor. Also, a fraud who has been lying about his age for years. You know what? We've exposed him. We exposed him like a Dominican pitcher with a bad birth certificate. Elmo, you were in our hearts, and then you said, "I want both teams to have fun." Bro, you gotta pick a side. You can't, you can't, you can't be halfway in, halfway out. And that's why you're on the pike. You're no longer on Sesame Street. You are, you have, Elmo, you gotta do something big for the city to get back in our good graces.

• 14:06Pablo Torre?

  How does Elmo come back from this? Because Sesame Street, for those who are not familiar, that's New York City.

• 14:12Speaker 01

  That is.

• 14:13Pablo Torre?

  San Antonio, the Alamo is not a character.

• 14:16Speaker 01

  It's not.

• 14:17Pablo Torre?

  On Sesame Street.

• 14:19Speaker 01

  In, uh, what was it? P. B. Herman's Big Adventure, the Alamo was a thing, because that's where his bike was. But other than that, no cultural references there.

• 14:26Pablo Torre?

  And now Elmo needs to do something. How would you advise, what, what is, what can Elmo do to reclaim his New York credibility?

• 14:33Speaker 01

  Well, I saw Wemby at a children's hospital a couple of days ago. So, listen, Elmo, go see them sick kids. Do something. We need to see a PR blitz from Elmo. I want to see him helping old ladies onto the bus. I want him to be delivering hot meals to shut-in seniors. Elmo, you better be doing everything for New York this summer. I want to see you picking up litter at Bryant Park after concerts. Elmo, you, you owe us so much.

• 14:57Pablo Torre?

  Yes, we need Elmo to go, uh, Japanese World Cup fan.

• 15:01Speaker 01

  There we go, Elmo. You gotta start from the bottom and work your way back in our hearts.

• 15:04Pablo Torre?

  But as a sports fan, the game that I will always consider like a core memory was game four.

• 15:13Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 15:14Pablo Torre?

  I, I have not talked about this on this show, uh, since it happened. I watched with my friends from high school at the community room of my parents' building in Murray Hill. And we watched on a projector that my dad had brought. And my entire family, they're all Knicks fans. It's rare to feel like you are responsible.

• 15:38Pablo Torre?

  For what happened in a sporting event like that? But that was, that's the unmistakable feeling.

• 15:43Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 15:43Pablo Torre?

  Is that everybody did this together.

• 15:45Speaker 01

  It's every little thing, what shirt you wore, what you drank, where you watched it, what were you doing with your hands when certain plays were going on? Did you hope enough? And it's little things like that, that doesn't sound real enough, but did you have enough faith in your Knicks? Because as Knicks fans, we've had our hearts broken so many times that that tends to be the default. And this team is like, no, we're no longer like that. And game four was like the biggest litmus test as a Knicks fan. It was like, do you believe in this team? Because their team was literally like, whether you believe in us or not, we are winning. And get aboard. And again, game four, it still hasn't really hit me. Like every now and then, I was, because I'm, listen, I'm still watching every piece of Knicks content I can see.

• 16:25Pablo Torre?

  Even as somebody who can't, who doesn't have the ability to feel it the way that people who never gave up on the team have felt it. Watching people watch game four is like 75% of the last week for me.

• 16:39Speaker 01

  Love it. I love every blurry Instagram video. I love just, just any kind of photo, just watching the reaction. But then also remembering the actual moment.

• 16:50Pablo Torre?

  The largest comeback in the history of the NBA Finals.

• 16:52Speaker 01

  In the history of the NBA Finals, why would you allow the Knicks to have that statistic? Why would you allow Knickerbocker fans to now walk around with that knowledge? That not only did we win, we had the biggest comeback in the history of the Finals.

• 17:10Pablo Torre?

  I don't think it's possible to have more fun watching a sporting event. And I've watched a lot, we've all watched a lot of sports.

• 17:17Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 17:18Pablo Torre?

  And this is the thing that I think radicalized people. Like, I will say, like, of course, during the playoffs, the Knicks had, you know, the greatest point differential in the history of, you know, the playoffs and all that stuff. But it was, it was that moment in particular when I just sort of thought to myself, there are a lot of people here. Who don't otherwise care at all about sports. And now they've gotten addicted.

• 17:40Speaker 01

  Listen, after that, everyone ran out, bought their Knicks hats, their Knicks t-shirts. People were saying, you know, if you are not a real Knicks fan, you can't enjoy this. You are here for this. We can't talk like that because you have people, game four will be the start.

• 17:55Pablo Torre?

  Yes.

• 17:55Speaker 01

  Of their lifelong love for the Knicks. Who are we to gatekeep this?

• 17:59Pablo Torre?

  So much of being a New Yorker is a think piece about what qualifies. And again, both of us born and raised here, not a question for us.

• 18:06Speaker 01

  Not a question.

• 18:07Pablo Torre?

  But the joy, the best part of both the city and the Knicks bandwagon is watching it fill with people who make it better because they weren't here before.

• 18:20Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 18:20Pablo Torre?

  And now they are, and the party is greater because of their enthusiasm.

• 18:24Speaker 01

  It is, and you know, not to, you know, not to denigrate us, actual born and raised native New Yorkers. Just kind of a dust on us. We've been through so much that, you know, as a New Yorker, you know, you don't want to be cringe. You don't want to be too enthusiastic about stuff. But these, like some of these people, I was watching game four and this girl, she was like, this is the first Knicks game I've ever watched.

• 18:47Pablo Torre?

  Right.

• 18:47Speaker 01

  And she was there because of her friends and she was like, no, I'm all in. I am all in, I'm watching, this is my team now. And this is like, I, like, imagine that's your first Knicks game you ever watched and the tipping happens. And now you run out the bar and you high five in strangers, different ethnic groups, different social, you're like, you're high fiving social, uh, senior citizens. It was such a moment. And I mean, like, low key, I'm glad I got to take part of it, but then also, like you're saying, watching other people, like how much it meant for other people and like older people, younger people, everyone. It was just such a great, pure moment.

• 19:20Pablo Torre?

  And I think there is, like, there's this tendency in, in sports, and I get it, to, to, to apply purity tests. Can you identify Ronaldo Bachmann in the lineup?

• 19:29Speaker 01

  Yes. I mean, Joe, but that's the thing, it's like, if everyone's having fun, do you want to be, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What was Ronnie Turiaf's stats on Tuesday? Like, you don't, you don't want to do that.

• 19:40Pablo Torre?

  Yeah, what were you doing when Chris Dudley tried to throw a basketball at Shaq?

• 19:45Speaker 01

  Well, tell which basketball player on the Knicks is nicknamed the, uh, shot maker and the heartbreaker? Ron Baker.

• 19:52Pablo Torre?

  Ron Baker.

• 19:52Speaker 01

  Ron Baker.

• 19:53Pablo Torre?

  The Bangs.

• 19:54Speaker 01

  The Bangs.

• 19:55Pablo Torre?

  Tyler Kolek. I like to think there's a little Ron Baker in Tyler Kolek.

• 19:58Speaker 01

  You see it. You see it. That's why, that's, that's why those is my guys. That's also what I love about the Knicks wedding, because people are just like, oh, uh, it literally felt like the end of an Avengers movie, because people are just throwing out any random person that ever played for the Knicks. And like, you're, there's somebody there with either the jersey or simple tear coming out, or it might be them.

• 20:15Pablo Torre?

  Yo, Mache Lompe might be on a parade float on Thursday.

• 20:20Pablo Torre?

  And he will be applauded like a conquering hero.

• 20:23Speaker 01

  It's always funny, like, which Knick fans, which Knicks, the Knick fans have a special place in their heart for. Gallinari?

• 20:30Pablo Torre?

  Oh, Danilo Gallinari. There was, there is an Italian restaurant in the Yeez Village, Via della Pach, which I don't even know if it's still open, but I remember walking in and, you know, getting a charcuterie, you know, just like whatever, what did he say? And then looking up and seeing a framed photo of Danilo Gallinari.

• 20:46Speaker 01

  You love to see that. You just love to see like a random person, and you're like, wow, how did this happen? How, like, uh, there was a, I'm not even sure if it's still open, there's a pizzeria on like, I want to say in the 80s, and they have the, um, Renato Baumann.

• 21:01Pablo Torre?

  Oh, God.

• 21:02Speaker 01

  Like, and I was like, does he work here, or does his father own this place? But listen, we love some, love some Renato Baumann.

• 21:09Pablo Torre?

  Absolutely. And by the way, Via della Pach is still open, I am being told, which is great. Also, I, I should include this as a journalistic effort to be very thorough in all of this. I should point out, and this is belated, so excuse me, uh, we here at Pablo Torre Finds Out did request an interview through Sesame Workshop, offering Elmo a chance to comment about all of this, and Sesame claimed that Elmo would be too busy, quote, "in studio all day and unable to do any interviews," end quote.

• 21:35Speaker 01

  That's a lie. When I'm on my way here, I saw Elmo. He is live on Instagram Live. He's drunk like Michael. He's like, he's a slur. He's a mess. Call the number, Elmo.

• 21:53Pablo Torre?

  This message is brought to you by Apple Card. With Apple Card, you earn unlimited daily cash back on everyday purchases, like groceries, or merch, or tickets to the game. Plus, it can be used anywhere MasterCard is accepted. No matter your team, no matter where you shop, Apple Card is here to help you tackle game day. Apply in the Wallet app on your iPhone today. Subject to credit approval. Apple Card is issued by Goldman Sachs Bank, USA, Salt Lake City Branch. Terms and more at applecard.com.

• 22:25Speaker 02

  I've got big news. I switched to Verizon and got the new iPhone 18 Pro. Shh. I can keep my old phone. And I also get the latest iPhone every year. Shh. Anything else? Verizon let me choose Apple Watch Series 12 or iPad on them. Everybody, listen up. Shh. Switch to Verizon and get the new iPhone 18 Pro now. No trade-in needed. And the latest iPhone every year with Simplicity Plan. Plus, choose Apple Watch Series 12 or iPad on us. Simplicity Plan with Simplicity Pro required. Plan and device payment purchase are separate agreements with separate terms. Service plan for watch or iPad required. Additional terms apply for all offers.

• 22:57Speaker 03

  Welcome to 215 Maple Drive. We just put this property on the market.

• 23:02Speaker 04

  Love the crown molding.

• 23:04Speaker 03

  Oh, wait until you see the walk-in closets and the bathroom tile.

• 23:08Speaker 04

  Does it have Verizon FiOS? You know, 100% fiber internet.

• 23:11Speaker 03

  No FiOS, but it looks like it's got cable. Let's check out the kitchen.

• 23:15Speaker 04

  No FiOS? Yeah, no, thank you.

• 23:18Speaker 03

  Don't you want to see the rest? Okay, bye-bye.

• 23:21Speaker 05

  Get Verizon FiOS, because when you're moving, it's 100% or nothing.

• 23:34Pablo Torre?

  Yo, I, uh... I think it's really important to point out that game four... Was something that you decided to throw a watch party for?

• 23:42Speaker 01

  Yes, I did. And, uh, do don't kill me, Knicks fans, because it worked out. In my heart of hearts, I was like, what are you doing? I was like, you are gonna break every superstition, every tradition. Like, you are gonna, you're gonna ruin everything. So I was psyched, I was kinda nervous about that. But what I really liked about the, uh, shout out to Jesus piece of my show.

• 24:01Pablo Torre?

  Yeah.

• 24:01Speaker 01

  The fans came out. So people were just like, I got a chance to watch the game with you. The amount of people who were just like, I didn't have anywhere else to watch the game. And I wanted to watch the game with other people. And that, like, I'm just watching people, looking around, and it didn't become about them being there with me. Like, everyone's like, got their fists to their mouths and just watching. I could do like a couple of jokes here, but even I'm going through it. And I was like, I gotta be happy at this watch party while my team is just being utterly gutted at halftime. And there was like positivity, and I was like, yeah, I'm gonna be positive. But that comeback.

• 24:33Pablo Torre?

  You know, so my, again, I'm Filipino. My dad, my brother, my family, they're all Knicks fans. And do you know how hard it is for a Filipino person to curse a Filipino basketball player?

• 24:46Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 24:47Pablo Torre?

  It's like Dylan Harper.

• 24:48Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 24:49Pablo Torre?

  The amount of curse. I, I never thought I'd see that. I mean, luckily, we have Jordan Clarkson.

• 24:53Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 24:54Pablo Torre?

  Representing on the Knicks. But who's now asking Twitter, apparently, uh, what should he name, uh, what borough should he name his child after?

• 25:00Speaker 01

  Didn't spell borough correctly, but you know what? You're a Knick, you don't have to spell it. That's how we're spelling it now.

• 25:04Pablo Torre?

  He really didn't spell anything correctly. Uh, but nonetheless, I hope he chooses Staten Island.

• 25:08Speaker 01

  Yeah. Wow.

• 25:10Pablo Torre?

  Well, I mean.

• 25:11Speaker 01

  Is that the best?

• 25:12Pablo Torre?

  I, I think there's some poetry.

• 25:14Speaker 01

  Little Staten Island Clarkson?

• 25:15Pablo Torre?

  An, an island that used to have a garbage dump on it.

• 25:18Speaker 01

  Shout out to Fresh Kills.

• 25:19Pablo Torre?

  Now being, uh, sort of renovated into the image of, of course, the real saviors of the Knicks season, which is the Wu-Tang Clan.

• 25:26Speaker 01

  Wow. That is like full, full circle. Like Staten Island, denigrated, looked down upon. Now it's back on top, like a certain team.

• 25:37Pablo Torre?

  Methan Man said it. By the way, shout out to, shout out to Methan Man. And shout out to the Wu-Tang Clan for playing halftime of game four.

• 25:46Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 25:47Pablo Torre?

  Can you, I mean, just the, we're talking about like the emotional spectrum of just like vibes.

• 25:53Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 25:53Pablo Torre?

  The commitment to perform the [BLEEP]. Out of your songs in front of a crowd that needed desperately to feel something that was not a total depression.

• 26:05Speaker 01

  Especially after game three. Also, shout out to the Knicks organization for doing it right because they announced Wu-Tang was coming and as New Yorkers and rap fans, we was like, whom in the Wu-Tang is showing up? Who else gonna be there? Yes, cuz if, listen, I love the Wu. We all love the Wu. Unpredictable, talented, natural gang. However, if it was just like Rebel I N S and You God and maybe three people from Killer Army, I don't know. Wu Gambino's, uh, Shorty, Shorty Shit Saint, like. Frederick VICE. Oh, man. Papa Wu just ends it with a monologue. Does it go over the same way? No, but we had, no, they brought the A-game. They brought the A-game and Wu-Tang is one of those things, it like transcends your race

• 26:46Speaker 01

  in New York City because everyone, white, black, everyone knows, everyone has a Wu-Tang memory. Everyone grew up on Wu-Tang. You got cops with Wu-Tang tattoos on their arm, like. Yes. Everyone, M E T H O G, man, come on. That's, that's quintessential New York music and that was what was needed for game four. I can't even think if, if there was any other rapper other than, I guess like Jay-Z or somebody, but who else could you possibly?

• 27:11Pablo Torre?

  But there's something to the superhero, uh, savior sequence of events in which it felt like the portals opened up.

• 27:20Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 27:21Pablo Torre?

  And out came the, the starting lineup of the Wu-Tang Clan.

• 27:25Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 27:26Pablo Torre?

  And when Method Man says, friend of the show, when Method Man says.

• 27:31Speaker 07

  Nixon Five, what y'all talking about?

• 27:34Pablo Torre?

  Nixon Five at the end of that. It's like, that's it.

• 27:37Speaker 01

  You know what's funny? Nixon Five, it's not just something from that night. Now it's still a thing. Like you pass people and they're like Nixon Five. It's not, before it was like.

• 27:47Pablo Torre?

  It's now, it's now God bless you.

• 27:48Speaker 01

  Yes, it is. It's, it's, it's our new Roll Tide. I cannot wait to just be annoying and be like Nixon Five.

• 27:55Pablo Torre?

  The way that New York feels, um, it, it takes us to Saturday.

• 28:00Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 28:01Pablo Torre?

  You may have heard that the Knicks are NBA champions.

• 28:05Speaker 01

  That's the rumors.

• 28:06Pablo Torre?

  But we have video of Desus reacting, uh, to that particular event in his life.

• 28:17Speaker 01

  What y'all doing? What y'all doing in here? What y'all doing in here? Yes, I saw some, I saw some school buses that were unoccupied and no cops were around them on Times Square. And I was like, let me get to the bo, I was like, let me get my Pablo on and investigate this.

• 28:30Pablo Torre?

  Let me find out what a pre-incinerated school bus looks like on the inside.

• 28:35Speaker 01

  Very quickly, my PR training was like, boy, you're about to catch such a felony charge if you don't get off this bus right now. So, you know, I, I got off, but I, I had to see what was going on. I had to be around the people. There's something about, there was, it was like a rolling chaos in Times Square.

• 28:50Pablo Torre?

  That was, that was, for those, again, who are not watching, uh, you have missed just the spirit of Times Square made manifest in an empty, abandoned school bus.

• 28:58Speaker 01

  There was like five school buses in a row, right there on 42nd Street, like right in front of, uh, you know, former iconic Señor Frogs. You couldn't leave Times Square because all the subways were shut down. They weren't letting anyone in or out the subway. So everyone's just kind of milling about. And I even said a tweet that it felt like a street fair, like a very rowdy street fair with no, uh, no prune juices or any kind of natural beverages. And just looking at people, everyone wanted to climb on top of the buses and jumping on top of the buses. And after that, it got a little darker, but just people just wanted to just celebrate and just do stuff. And jumping on top of buses was fun. And then they started ripping the hoods off and breaking the glass, but you know, it went a little too far.

• 29:39Pablo Torre?

  But, but the, the, the theory of like, what do we learn about, what do we find out about human behavior? It's that there is, I think there is a certain type of person that, that has encountered New York City and realized there is no improving on the concept of a city full of people.

• 29:58Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 29:59Pablo Torre?

  Because I want to be around people.

• 30:02Speaker 01

  That was the sickness after the game. Like everyone was like, I gotta get to Masque Garden. Everyone said, I have to get it. And the thing is like NYPD was like, do not, it was like that Kamala thing. It was like, do not come. Do not come. And we was like, no, we're going to Masque Garden, even with the barricades.

• 30:15Pablo Torre?

  And you were like, no polling, polling is still open?

• 30:17Speaker 01

  Listen, if, if you are online for the Knicks championship, stay online. But we just, everyone was just trying to get closer to Masque Garden because Previously, for every other playoff game, we were allowed to celebrate outside. You know, all the gambling places were out there. You had the little Kao Shi robot. But that was the place you went. That was like, you know, not to be sacrilegious. That was our, the Mecca. That's where you went. You made your pilgrimage there. So everyone was like, I want to be with the other Knicks fans after the Knicks win. And they were like, no. We were like, all right, if we can't bring the party to MSG, we're bringing the party around MSG. And that's what we did.

• 30:51Pablo Torre?

  Yes, and so you continue your commute to the institution, I guess, that is still technically known, although it's changed radically on the inside. Penn Station.

• 31:15Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah. Also, I didn't realize that, you know, you could do those little jokes. And NYPD is like, I know who you are, Jesus. And I was like, all right, I'm gonna lower my voice now. All right, and I'll try to get tased. But no, that was, we were trying to get out the station, and they weren't letting anyone out the station. And so we're all there like, what do we do? Because everyone came through the gates already. And even though, you know, we're having this time of our life, as a New Yorker, I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm not paying two fares. Enough is enough, buddy. I didn't win the championship. But we were just trapped there. And so what people had to do, because there was too many cops for everyone to hop the turnstile to get back out. So I think someone came, someone, a train came in, and once the door opened, the emergency exit, everyone just ran in and we just dispersed and went to other entrances around the city to get back out.

• 32:00Speaker 01

  Because we were getting to that streets any way we could.

• 32:02Pablo Torre?

  I do want to clarify for people, and this is a bit of Jesus's lore, is that your dad, your late father,

• 32:08Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 32:09Pablo Torre?

  actually did look like Patrick Ewing.

• 32:11Speaker 01

  He did, and also, as a child, I thought Patrick Ewing was my father. Ah, rest in peace, Dad. There he goes, look at him. This is, this is back. When as Jamaican immigrants, you could only afford smiles for your children. And that's why he's not smiling. We had to save up money for that after like he got a good job at the bank. But no, like my father loved Patrick Ewing. I remember in my neighborhood, I grew up in Wakefield, the Wakefield section of the Bronx, East 233rd, Northeast Bronx. Very Jamaican neighborhood. Every store had up like a little Patrick Ewing poster, especially Golden Crust. Golden Crust had the biggest Patrick Ewing picture. It was like a framed picture. And as a child, I remember-

• 32:49Pablo Torre?

  That's a Jamaican Patty company, Golden Crust.

• 32:51Speaker 01

  And I just remember like one day, my father was just, he was probably yelling at me for like not investing in stocks and bonds at seven or something like that. And I just remember looking at the Patrick Ewing poster and I was like, that's my real dad. And I was like, and one day he's gonna rescue me and I'm gonna live in the Nick Mansion, I guess? And it turned out my dad was my real dad, but he always was a huge fan of Patrick Ewing. And it was just like, if you look at Patrick Ewing, he embodies everything, being Jamaican is hard worker, you know, left everything out there, never got the ring, still showing up, still there. And now we especially appreciate Patrick Ewing, because now he dresses like an old Jamaican.

• 33:27Pablo Torre?

  Oh, by the way-

• 33:28Speaker 01

  I love it.

• 33:28Pablo Torre?

  So famously, the hardest working NBA player as measured in sweat-

• 33:34Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 33:34Pablo Torre?

  -that we'd ever seen had leg, had braces on every joint.

• 33:38Speaker 01

  On everything. He had, the man, I don't have, I have no idea if he has any fibers left in his knees, because he left it all out there.

• 33:45Pablo Torre?

  And yet, Patrick Ewing during this finals run has sounded in a way that speaks directly to your childhood vision-

• 33:54Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 33:54Pablo Torre?

  -that I had never heard before.

• 33:55Speaker 01

  Neither have I.

• 33:56Pablo Torre?

  This is AJ DeBansa, the would be number one pick of the draft uh, this month, talking to, of course, Jesus's dad.

• 34:15Speaker 01

  The future. Listen, listen, that-

• 34:18Pablo Torre?

  I had never heard that.

• 34:19Speaker 01

  We don't heard that. Everyone, like, people were just like, was Patrick, is that Patrick Ewing, the basketball player, or Patrick Ewing, my landlord, who clearly just painted over the light switch when I moved to this apartment?

• 34:31Pablo Torre?

  It takes us to another case perhaps of allegedly mistaken identity, because Jesus's commute continued into the night.

• 34:45Pablo Torre?

  This is Brian Park now.

• 34:47Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 34:58Speaker 01

  That's right, that is future mayor of New York City, Timothy Chalamet. Now, some people are saying that it's impossible for him to been there because he was in San Antonio in the locker room.

• 35:07Pablo Torre?

  I don't know. I'm looking at, we're sort of pushing in on this video and it looks like it's pretty clearly Timothy.

• 35:12Speaker 01

  Look at the dance moves, that's straight LaGuardia right there.

• 35:14Pablo Torre?

  Exactly, it sounds like he wants us to call him by his name and it is in fact Timothy Chalamet.

• 35:18Speaker 01

  That's the king of Dune, yo. And look at, also, people was like, oh, they closed out.

• 35:23Pablo Torre?

  He's doing the thing where he's like jumping one foot through his other leg by holding his other foot.

• 35:28Speaker 01

  People was, half of the New Yorkers like, he's doing the 90s, he's doing like the Kid in Play and everyone else like, he's doing an emote. So, pick, pick what you're doing, what your age, what does it look like to you? Also shout out too, people was like, oh, they shut down traffic, no, they didn't shut down traffic, those cars could go anywhere because traffic was just blocked, so everyone just started having a dance party, which made things worse.

• 35:46Pablo Torre?

  I, I would say that one lesson we also learned about New York City is that they can't run over all of us.

• 35:51Speaker 01

  They can't, they can't get, they can try, but then it just gets embarrassing, like a car trying to run you over at 2 miles per hour, you're like, hey, what are you doing? Come on, that doesn't even hurt. And also, you have to remember, the World Cup was also happening.

• 36:03Pablo Torre?

  Right.

• 36:03Speaker 01

  So you had Brazilians out there celebrating, and then in a couple hours we had the Puerto Rican Day Parade. So this crowd is made up of Brazilians, Puerto Ricans, Nick Fett. It did not feel real. It felt like-

• 36:16Pablo Torre?

  It felt like an actual Manhattan Project.

• 36:18Speaker 01

  It did.

• 36:18Pablo Torre?

  Like creating a nuclear weapon out of a multi-ethnic melting pot.

• 36:23Speaker 01

  It felt like on the Avengers movies, like after they reversed when Thanos did the snap, even though if you do the logistics of that, that's not a happy situation. Like you moved on, you have a new family and now your wife pops back up like, wow, I thought you got snapped away. But no, this was just, just ecstatic and just dancing and just, just pure jubilation.

• 36:40Pablo Torre?

  And I think the thing that the Brazilians, I saw Brazilian, again in their yellow jerseys, Brazilian World Cup fans testifying to how impressive it is, like Nick's fandom, how impressive that is. And I think it's worth explaining to everybody who's just like new to the bandwagon and to the New York sports scene. Knicks fandom was never like this.

• 37:02Speaker 01

  Never.

• 37:02Pablo Torre?

  Like that's, and when we say like, we welcome, again, speaking as a New Yorker, but you, as again, like the mayor of all of this, welcoming the casuals aboard? Again, you went to LA, you came back welcoming people into this coalition?

• 37:16Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 37:17Pablo Torre?

  That's, this is new.

• 37:20Speaker 01

  This is really new. And also shout out to the Left Coast Knicks, the fan club in LA where they watch, like, they're at the point now, the original members can't go to 33 Taps at Silver Lake because so many new people, they're there and it's like, it's the place to be. You have new people in LA, like I am a Knicks fan now, I got my jersey, I have to go watch the Knicks. To the point where some of the original members had to watch the Knicks game at home because they're getting pushed out of the Knicks fan club we made in Silver Lake.

• 37:47Pablo Torre?

  Genderfication is a fundamental part of this whole story.

• 37:51Speaker 01

  But like you said, like the beauty of the bandwagon, like you can't even call them, they're baby Knicks fans.

• 37:55Pablo Torre?

  Yes.

• 37:56Speaker 01

  They're baby Knicks fans and they're, they, you know, they're gonna for years talk about OG, they're gonna talk about Michael, they're gonna talk, Landry Shamet.

• 38:03Pablo Torre?

  All they know is a version of Karl-Anthony Towns.

• 38:05Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 38:06Pablo Torre?

  That is one of the toughest motherfuckers.

• 38:09Speaker 01

  Just tough.

• 38:09Pablo Torre?

  In the NBA.

• 38:10Speaker 01

  To the point now, also my new thing now, if I hear any Knicks slander, I get so defensive. Don't talk about my babies. Do not talk about my babies. I breath fed them myself.

• 38:19Pablo Torre?

  But speaking of parental relations, I do think we should point out that one noted celebrity Knicks fan does seem like he found a child of his own.

• 38:30Speaker 01

  I mean, this is what it's about. It's about reuniting. It's about the children you abandoned and coming back once they've achieved greatness.

• 38:37Pablo Torre?

  John Turturro, who is at, he's at Liberty Games, he's at Knicks Games, he is a true-

• 38:43Speaker 01

  New York icon. He's everywhere.

• 38:45Pablo Torre?

  A genuine icon, reuniting with what is obviously his own son in Landry Shamet.

• 38:51Speaker 01

  See, the beauty of the championship. Listen, I get it. Sometimes if your kid doesn't accomplish enough, you can't come back until they achieve something great. And now that his son has achieved a championship, he can reclaim him. Also shout out to Landry Shamet, the drip god. I did not know he can dress.

• 39:05Pablo Torre?

  He is, he's out here quietly, looking like not only every race that you mentioned.

• 39:12Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 39:13Pablo Torre?

  Combined into one, that melting pot is Landry Shamet.

• 39:16Speaker 01

  Landry Shamet looks like a bodega worker and the person that owns the building the bodega is in. It's incredible. The Praxis.

• 39:24Pablo Torre?

  And then I, I just gotta spare a thought.

• 39:28Pablo Torre?

  Because all of the now, again, the Shalames and all of it, and Ben Stiller has been out here for a long time.

• 39:33Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 39:34Pablo Torre?

  And credit to him. But I just, you know, it's Spike.

• 39:38Speaker 01

  Spike.

• 39:39Pablo Torre?

  Spike rolling through Fort Greene in his own like Pope mobile.

• 39:44Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 39:45Pablo Torre?

  Like standing in the sunroof.

• 39:47Speaker 01

  He's, he's the black pope of New York, because you know, the, the white pope is still a Francis, not going anywhere. But no.

• 39:51Pablo Torre?

  Absolutely.

• 39:52Speaker 01

  But Spike is like, Spike is every one of us. We've watched Spike. It's, it's kind of heartbreaking. It, it makes you realize how old you are. Cause they show baby Spike at early Nick games.

• 40:02Pablo Torre?

  When his, when his, without the grays.

• 40:05Speaker 01

  Without the grays.

• 40:06Pablo Torre?

  Skinny Mars Blackman era.

• 40:08Speaker 01

  That's just like, just looking like the average young guy on the train. And then they show, because they have that ad now, they're like, day one, day one. And everyone's like, oh, this is a great photo. It's not. It's sad. Cause then you realize how many years you lost just waiting for this day. Like, just days you were just like, like, I remember there were times that I was like, all right, the next, they finished a strong 16 wins this year. All right. We learned from this, but Spike was always there. Spike, you can never say Spike was a fair weather fan. Spike was there at Nick games. He was there traveling for Nick games. He is every one of us. If we had the money to go to every Nick game.

• 40:44Pablo Torre?

  He, Spike, by the way, also speaking of the Pope, also had an autographed Nick jersey signed by the Pope.

• 40:54Speaker 01

  By the Pope.

• 40:55Pablo Torre?

  And the Pope then recently was seen holding a Nick jersey because of course, I, I don't know if this is the reason, but I will say that like, no Catholic university has gotten greater publicity than Villanova.

• 41:05Speaker 01

  It's so true.

• 41:06Pablo Torre?

  As a result of Mikael Bridges and Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson. And by the way, R I P Dante DiVincenzo.

• 41:16Speaker 01

  We miss you, brother.

• 41:17Pablo Torre?

  I miss him during this time also because he did post the greatest tweet, I think of all time. When he said on August 17th, 2011 at 8:20 PM, quote, "To my dad, I'm a [BLEEP] now."

• 41:35Speaker 01

  Soccer.

• 41:36Pablo Torre?

  Question mark, because I don't want to play [BLEEP] soccer? Question mark.

• 41:40Speaker 01

  I had on a Dante jersey, game three, and the amount of people who just got sad when they saw it. Because the thing is, you have so many fond memories of Dante. You have that sequence, Isaiah's heart is on the tip back to Dante. And then also, you know, like, you feel like Dante should have been here. Dante was part of this group. You know, ideally, in a world where there's no salary caps and people don't have money and stuff, and it's just all friendship and you can feed your family with friendship, Dante doesn't leave. But, you know, Dante, he got the bigger bad. And also, we had to watch Dante get injured.

• 42:12Pablo Torre?

  Yes, he was limping around. He showed up in the city and we were like, are they gonna show him on screen?

• 42:17Speaker 01

  And Dante, we all love Dante because Dante reminds us of, if you're a native New Yorker, your white friend who went on to become an NYPD cop, he's not the best cop, but you know what? He's gonna get his benefits and retire in Florida. And we love him for that.

• 42:28Pablo Torre?

  That's right. And he still will be the all-time Knicks single-season record holder for three pointers made.

• 42:33Speaker 01

  Dante, even though he's not, he doesn't get a ring for this, he still has a ring in our heart. And Dante is still beloved. And like even when Michael was showing his jerseys off and he put his hand on Dante. For a second, I was like, did Dante die?

• 42:47Pablo Torre?

  Did he actually die? Yeah, no, I, the previous High Watermarks, I remember going to, it was the David Lee double overtime tipping. Speaking of Tippens, I was there.

• 43:00Speaker 01

  I was there.

• 43:01Pablo Torre?

  Oh, you were there too?

• 43:02Speaker 01

  We were both, we didn't know each other. I was there with my sister. That was one of my favorite Knicks games ever.

• 43:07Pablo Torre?

  Speaking of just...

• 43:08Speaker 01

  The little white chocolate?

• 43:09Pablo Torre?

  TV shows, David Lee with fractional seconds left. That was, and that felt like it was as good as it was gonna be.

• 43:18Speaker 01

  It was, it was.

• 43:19Pablo Torre?

  It was the, we played the [BLEEP] Bobcats.

• 43:21Speaker 01

  You know what's sad? I remember walking out of the Garden so elated and just so happy. And the way it would work, you'd leave the Garden and you'd go back to the reality of New York. And you just pass people and they look at you like, what are you so happy about? And they'd be like, oh, I guess the Knicks play tonight. Like, oh, the train is gonna be crowded, the Knicks played. Like, it wasn't, now, people's like, "Our Knicks." And it's like, it wasn't "our Knicks." It was like, "Oh, you're one of those weird Knicks fans, huh?"

• 43:49Pablo Torre?

  And now, we have Mikail Bridges on Instagram Live, talking about, "Hey, maybe we should build a practice facility in Manhattan."

• 43:55Speaker 01

  I mean, he's not wrong. But the one thing I asked the Knicks to never get rid of, we need that hill. You can never get rid of the hill with South Basketball Garden, because that video of every opposing player-

• 44:07Pablo Torre?

  Oh, going up the tunnel?

• 44:08Speaker 01

  Struggling to walk up that Mount Everest. It warms me, because I look at it, I'm like-

• 44:12Pablo Torre?

  How many high heels struggled to climb that?

• 44:16Speaker 01

  I'm also like, "You guys are in really good shape. Why are you so..." Everyone's like, "Yo, this hill is no joke."

• 44:22Pablo Torre?

  I'm looking through, we took notes on Mikail's IG Live, incidentally.

• 44:28Speaker 01

  Listen, one of the greatest IG Lives ever.

• 44:30Pablo Torre?

  I walked home yesterday, listening to "Lost" by Coldplay on repeat, because he reminded me of how good a song this is.

• 44:39Speaker 01

  He reminded all of us how good Coldplay used to be. Oh, Coldplay used to be fake deep.

• 44:44Pablo Torre?

  I was gonna say, before Coldplay got gentrified-

• 44:46Speaker 01

  Yes. You used to listen to Clocks, and you were like, "Yeah, bro." Thinking about my life now.

• 44:51Pablo Torre?

  I do wanna try and call Mikail Bridges.

• 44:54Speaker 01

  Let's go.

• 44:54Pablo Torre?

  So, we have mutual friends with Mikail. Tommy Alter-

• 45:00Speaker 01

  Tommy.

• 45:00Pablo Torre?

  -being one of them. I am in this fantasy football league with Mikail Bridges. And I do wanna point out that his team name, this past season, was "Everyone's Playing For Second." And it turns out that that was true of the Knicks' season, although it wasn't true of his own fantasy league season, because he did not come close to the medal stand. But, I've never called Mikail, unannounced. We're gonna put him on speaker and see what happens.

• 45:31Speaker 01

  The drama.

• 45:36Pablo Torre?

  He can't possibly pick up.

• 45:40Pablo Torre?

  He don't know where his phone's at.

• 45:43Pablo Torre?

  His phone's in the bottom of the East River right now.

• 45:49Pablo Torre?

  Your call has been forwarded to the phone now. I'm gonna leave the message, though. Yes.

• 45:58Pablo Torre?

  Hey, Mikhail, it's Pablo. I'm here with Desus, recording an episode of my show. And Desus, as

• 46:04Pablo Torre?

  an unrepentant and enduring Knicks fan, wanted to tell you something.

• 46:07Speaker 01

  Love you, big dog. Thank you for bringing a championship to our city. Thank you for being an amazing, legend, IG live. F them picks. See you at the parade.

• 46:26Speaker 03

  Welcome to 215 Maple Drive. We just put this property on the market.

• 46:31Speaker 04

  Love the crown molding.

• 46:33Speaker 03

  Oh, wait until you see the walk-in closets and the bathroom tile.

• 46:37Speaker 04

  Does it have Verizon FiOS? You know, 100% fiber internet.

• 46:41Speaker 03

  No FiOS, but it looks like it's got cable. Let's check out the kitchen.

• 46:44Speaker 04

  No FiOS? Yeah, no thank you.

• 46:48Speaker 03

  Don't you want to see the rest? Okay, bye-bye.

• 46:50Speaker 05

  Dip Verizon FiOS, because when you're moving, it's 100% or nothing.

• 46:55Speaker 02

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• 47:39Speaker 07

  Everybody, listen up.

• 47:40Speaker 02

  Shh. Switch to Verizon and get the new iPhone 18 Pro now. No trade-in needed. And the latest iPhone every year with Simplicity Plan. Plus, choose Apple Watch Series 12 or iPad on us. Simplicity Plan with Simplicity Pro required. Plan and device payment purchase are separate agreements with separate terms. Service plan for Watch or iPad required. Additional terms apply for all offers.

• 48:04Pablo Torre?

  Watching Jalen Brunson basically win a title on Slappers Only against Victor Wembanyama, just repeatedly driving into him.

• 48:14Speaker 01

  It's incredible.

• 48:15Pablo Torre?

  The ultimate compliment to Brunson is that he makes you feel safe.

• 48:22Speaker 01

  He does. He does. It's, it's-

• 48:25Pablo Torre?

  Doesn't have the weapons, doesn't have the superpowers, but makes you feel safe.

• 48:29Speaker 01

  You know, rest in peace to my father, and I said this when he died. Growing up in New York, I remember, my father worked at a bank. He wouldn't come home until like 3, 4 in the morning. We lived in the South Bronx. Every night, the building we lived in had a wooden staircase. So every night I would just hear people coming up the wooden staircase. And our front door was right at the staircase, so it was like- Well, I knew the Bronx was bad. And it was just like, you would just hear these footsteps. You never knew who was gonna come, if they're gonna like kick in the door or something bad was gonna happen. But then I'd hear this familiar sound of my father's keys jingling as he comes up the key. And that's when I knew I could calm down, I could go to sleep, my father's home, nothing bad's gonna happen. That's what it's like having Jalen Brunson. Because in the past, we used to have Knicks.

• 49:12Speaker 01

  We've had many Knicks who, the fourth quarter would come and you'd be like, "What are we gonna do now? Well, how are we gonna-" Because remember, I do that tweet. I do that tweet and it's like, "Knick game is about to start." I always tweeted at the beginning of the fourth quarter. And people was like, "Yeah, because the Knicks are gonna do their thing." That's not what that tweet means. For too many years, we've watched the Knicks have a lead in the third quarter and just completely squander it. And then it goes down to, shout to Mike Woodson, it goes down to, you know, tit for tat, last two minutes, foul, shot, foul, and then end on a mellow shot. But now, as long as you got Jalen Brunson, you got that chance. And it's not even like, and it's not even a thing like, "Maybe Jalen will hit a lucky shot." It's like, yo, Jalen's about to take this game over. We're not losing.

• 49:56Pablo Torre?

  That is, uh, comparing your dad to the live-in super that every New Yorker deserves is a beautiful, beautiful thing to also feel about your sports team.

• 50:08Speaker 01

  It's, it's the truth.

• 50:10Pablo Torre?

  It really is. As the owner, as a guy who still somehow has, I remember I did a profile of, uh, the Mike Woodson era Knicks for ESPN The Magazine, um, and never returned, apologies to the MSG PR department, we've never been the same since, admittedly, uh, you and me, as our dynamic is concerned, but I never returned the seven DVDs that I got from them, which are individual episodes of The Mike Woodson Show on MSG.

• 50:38Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 50:39Pablo Torre?

  If you remember that.

• 50:40Speaker 01

  I do. I used to, listen, I'm, I'm, I'm, I consume anything on MSG. They used to have a, what was this guy, uh, JB Smooth?

• 50:47Pablo Torre?

  Oh, yeah, of course, the dinner.

• 50:50Speaker 01

  Classic cinema. I couldn't watch enough Steve Sharipah eating a rose.

• 50:53Pablo Torre?

  I was gonna say, I think every episode was Steve Sharipah.

• 50:57Speaker 01

  Well, you know, every now and then a little Eddie Falco, you know, throw it out there.

• 51:00Pablo Torre?

  That's right. Four courses, shout out, shout out to you and MSG's, uh, in-house programming.

• 51:06Speaker 01

  All jokes aside, one thing I really love about the Knicks winning in championship, you can see how much they internalize winning, and now they're talking about their actual struggles. Like, Michael on the Instagram yesterday talking about, listen to that Kendrick Lamar album after his last loss, because he said he was depressed.

• 51:24Pablo Torre?

  Right.

• 51:24Speaker 01

  And this helped him just rebuild himself and get in the gym. And, you know, like, that's something, especially black men, but especially athletes, they know, you rarely hear them talking about their mental struggles. We know they had to go through some, Karl Anthony Towns winning this after losing so many family members to COVID. Like, I recently lost my mother. I can't even imagine having to play a game after losing, and the way he was close with his mother, like, even him just talking about that made me tear up. Because that is just like, he had, he's so strong, and the idea that you have to be strong like that after you lose family, but that's also when you're at your weakest. That's when your support system isn't there. So, and like, he had a tweet, and he basically was just like, we wanna just win something. I said to God, just give me at least one win. And people was like, you have a hot girlfriend, you have all this money. But it's just like, he doesn't have a family.

• 52:09Speaker 01

  He doesn't have the people closest to him. So while this championship, it's everything he worked for at the same time is kind of tarnished because he can't celebrate it with the people that are there for him. But like he said, every time he looked up, he saw his mother was there and she was riding with him. And that's why the championship means so much to him. And that's why it means so much to all of us.

• 52:25Pablo Torre?

  So at the end here, the thing that I'm curious about, because I have been tearing up watching, again, other people tear up.

• 52:32Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 52:33Pablo Torre?

  Talking about family that never got to see this for 53 years.

• 52:37Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 52:37Pablo Torre?

  Talking about how this is as much about the things that they miss about their loved ones as it is anything else. If your parents were around these, and they got to see all of this, and they got to see you in an empty school bus in Times Square, but like-

• 52:57Speaker 01

  I'm tearing up right now, like, my mother loved the Knicks. My father loved the Knicks. Uh, when they came to New York, the Knicks had just won the championship. So they were bandwagon Knicks fans, and they made us become Knicks fans, me and my sister. Shout out to Pilar, my oldest sister. I remember it's one of the, she hates this photo. It's a picture of my father and my sister, they're at Madison Square Garden, and my father's in a three-piece suit, and my sister is in like a church dress. Because my father was like, anytime you go to MSG, you have to dress up. Which is not, not the case whatsoever. But that's what he used to do. He would always, he instilled on us, going to MSG. We'd go, I remember his, uh, damn, I'm really amped up. Like, because he, his boss would give him tickets from working at the bank.

• 53:41Pablo Torre?

  Yeah.

• 53:41Speaker 01

  And that's how we'd go. So we had all these memories, and I remember like, uh, you know, towards that, like my father and I, you know, two guys, and one time we had a little, you know, contentious relationship. And I remember he would call me and be like, my flight gets in at 4:20. So I had to drive to JFK, pick up my father, and we sit in the car in silence. And I remember I would turn to like 8:80, or turn to 10:10 winds. And they'd be talking about like local news, whatever, and he'd just listen. And then once they said anything about the teams, they say about the Yankees, or they say something about the Knicks, and he'd be like-

• 54:15Speaker 01

  Your Knicks might do it this year. Or, your Knicks are terrible. He always said your Knicks after 99 because he was just so done with them. Because they got so close, but he's like, I can't keep doing that. He would be ecstatic. And my mother, she would have watched every game. Well, she would have watched the first quarter for every game because these games start a little late. Like, she's not staying up after 9. But they would be at the parade. They would definitely would come through. So, this is for them as well. This is for them. I think a little Dan, me and my little, my little Patrick Uwain shirt with my parents watching this. Me, my family just devastated in 99. Everyone crying and just like, I wish they were here to see this, but this is for them, y'all. This is for them.

• 54:54Pablo Torre?

  Uh, Desus, AKA Daniel.

• 54:58Speaker 01

  Yeah, the government name.

• 54:59Pablo Torre?

  Thank you for celebrating reverse 9/11 with me.

• 55:02Speaker 01

  Thank you for having me, Pablo. It's always a pleasure being here, but it means even more to be with a native New Yorker. And we did this. At the end of the day, the Knicks did this, but we did as much as they did.

• 55:12Pablo Torre?

  I like to think that when Victor Wembanyama, whose name I haven't even said till the end of this podcast, missed those two free throws. It's because the city of New York climbed inside of him and said, boo.

• 55:24Speaker 01

  It was. It was also, also one of probably the greatest performances by Fat Joe, just behind, you know?

• 55:30Pablo Torre?

  As I say, Shaolin Muggs cannot prepare you for Fat Joe.

• 55:35Speaker 01

  Oh, nothing can. All right? Even Wembanyama was forced to lean back.

• 55:49Pablo Torre?

  This has been Pablo Torre Finds Out, a Meadowlark Media production.

• 55:55Pablo Torre?

  And I'll talk to you next time.

• 56:16Speaker 02

  I've got big news. I switched to Verizon and got the new iPhone 18 Pro. Shh. I can keep my old phone. And I also get the latest iPhone every year. Shh. Anything else? Verizon let me choose Apple Watch Series 12 or iPad on them. Everybody, listen up. Shh. Switch to Verizon and get the new iPhone 18 Pro now. No trade-in needed. And the latest iPhone every year with Simplicity Plan. Plus, choose Apple Watch Series 12 or iPad on us. Simplicity Plan with Simplicity Pro required. Plan and device payment purchase are separate agreements with separate terms. Service plan for watch or iPad required. Additional terms apply for all offers.

• 56:47Speaker 03

  Welcome to 215 Maple Drive. We just put this property on the market.

• 56:53Speaker 04

  Love the crown molding.

• 56:55Speaker 03

  Oh, wait until you see the walk-in closets and the bathroom tile.

• 56:58Speaker 04

  Does it have Verizon FiOS? You know, 100% fiber internet.

• 57:02Speaker 03

  No FiOS, but it looks like it's got cable. Let's check out the kitchen.

• 57:06Speaker 04

  No FiOS? Yeah, no, thank you.

• 57:09Speaker 03

  Don't you want to see the rest? Okay, bye-bye.

• 57:12Speaker 05

  Get Verizon FiOS, because when you're moving, it's 100% or nothing.