It's the Mike Francesa podcast on the Bet Rivers Network.

Hello, good everybody and welcome to the Mike Francesa podcast, part of the Bet Rivers Network.

We come to you on a Monday morning as we usher in the month of June.

And yeah, there's a little, I guess, somber feeling now that the Knicks are gone, no trip to the finals, no expectations

coming later this week of, you know, a finals trip against the big opponent.

I understand it would have probably been a, you know, a feudal run anyway against the team as good as OKC.

But the bottom line is just getting to the finals as a destination.

It would have been special to get there and take your shot.

And now Indiana gets to do that.

And this is going to be, as the finals open on Thursday, I think number one, the days off hurt the NBA at this time of year dramatically because people this time of year, they not only have baseball to deal with, they also have good weather.

There's a lot of things going on as kids come home from school and

summer vacation and planning. You got the Belmont Stakes later this week. But the thing is,

it's in this series. Yes, it's small markets. I don't think that matters. I really don't think

it matters at all. You can have compelling series in small markets.

The question is, can this series in any way capture the imagination of the fan?

Do they care?

Do they understand how good O KC is?

And I don't think they do.

I don't think even a little, the average public,

only the die-hard NBA fan understands what this team is about.

You're talking about a team that goes into the finals as an overwhelming favorite,

ranking with the great Bulls teams, ranking with the Khrim Abdul-Jabbar,

...