The Knicks Win The NBA Title, The Hurricanes Lift The Cup, Zac And Memes Recap Their Game 5 From San Antonio, Mr Bing Bong Jerry O'Connell Surprises Hank In Studio + World Cup

Episode of Pardon My Take · June 15, 2026 · 2 h 26 min

The Pardon My Take crew celebrates the Knicks' NBA title, recaps a trip to San Antonio, covers the Hurricanes' Cup and USMNT, and hosts Jerry O'Connell.

Summary

The episode opened with the hosts celebrating the New York Knicks' NBA championship, won in five games over the San Antonio Spurs to end a 53-year title drought. Dan Katz praised Finals MVP Jalen Brunson as a proven winner and credited Leon Rose's roster construction, while PFT Commenter cited analytics showing the Knicks came back from huge deficits in every win. Zach and Memes, who attended Game 5 in San Antonio with Stephen Chea, recounted their travel day, meals at Margaritaville, crying and celebrating, and a tense exit in which they sneaked past crowds of Spurs fans and Memes was nicked by glass from a thrown bottle.

The group debated Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs' future. PFT Commenter called Wembanyama a bad loser who would still come back stronger, Katz argued that young teams must lose before they win and defended coach Mitch Johnson's capacity to improve, and Hank Lockwood, a Boston fan whose birthday fell on the clinching night, argued the Spurs had simply choked and that the loss would haunt them. Katz also argued the Brooklyn Nets should relocate.

The hosts then congratulated the Carolina Hurricanes on winning the Stanley Cup behind goalie Brandon Bussi, raved about the U.S. men's national team's 4-1 World Cup win over Paraguay under Mauricio Pochettino, mocked hydration breaks, and briefly discussed the UFC event at the White House. Who's Back of the Week segments covered the new Jackass film, James Harden's weapons arrest in Texas, and Jacob Misiorowski's dominant pitching.

Actor Jerry O'Connell then surprised Hank in studio as 'Mr. Bing Bong,' roasting him with jokes about the Celtics, Patriots and Tiffany Gomas before reflecting on the Knicks' 'magic,' his daughters becoming Knicks fans, and front offices run by former agents. He promoted his Stand By Me live tour and the hosts' audiobook. The show closed with lottery ball numbers, a new crank from the Philadelphia Union, plans for Mount Rushmore season, and birthdays.

Chapters

  1. 2:06

    Knicks win the NBA title

    The hosts celebrate the Knicks' five-game Finals win and Jalen Brunson's Finals MVP performance.

  2. 13:50

    Zach and Memes recap San Antonio

    Zach and Memes describe their trip to Game 5, the celebration and a tense escape from angry Spurs fans.

  3. 28:43

    Hank's reaction

    Hank Lockwood downplays the Knicks' title falling on his birthday and argues the Spurs gave the series away.

  4. 45:11

    Winners, losers and the Nets

    Stephen Chea's Finals winners and losers list prompts a discussion of whether the Brooklyn Nets should relocate.

  5. 48:45

    Wembanyama and the Spurs' future

    The hosts debate Wembanyama's conduct, De'Aaron Fox, Mitch Johnson and whether the young Spurs will recover.

  6. 1:02:03

    Hurricanes win the Stanley Cup

    The hosts congratulate Carolina on beating Vegas, crediting goalie Brandon Bussi and Rod Brind'Amour.

  7. 1:05:59

    World Cup and the USMNT

    PFT Commenter ranks the 4-1 win over Paraguay as the best U.S. performance he has seen and the group discusses World Cup culture.

  8. 1:17:05

    UFC at the White House

    Brief discussion of the White House UFC card, including Derrick Lewis's loss and Joe Rogan's tie.

  9. 1:20:10

    Who's Back of the Week

    Picks include Jackass, James Harden's arrest, Kentucky Sports Radio, Jacob Misiorowski, parades and Lake Michigan.

  10. 1:37:08

    Mr. Bing Bong surprises Hank

    Jerry O'Connell roasts Hank as Mr. Bing Bong and then reflects on the Knicks' magical run.

  11. 2:08:40

    Roback question and farewell

    Hank asks who will win the next title, O'Connell praises the hosts' book and tells a San Antonio fan story.

  12. 2:16:10

    Crank, lottery ball and birthdays

    The show wraps with a Philadelphia Union crank, lottery numbers, Mount Rushmore season plans and birthdays.

Key points

What was said, by whom, with the exact words. Timestamps jump to the moment.

  • PFT Commenter

    PFT Commenter cited ESPN analytics showing the Spurs had high win probabilities in games the Knicks came back to win.

    “So the Spurs had a 91% chance of winning Game 1 midway through the third quarter”

    Listen from 3:20 · 2026 NBA Finals

  • Memes

    Memes said he was nervous during Game 5 when the Knicks trailed by 16 and their offense looked broken.

    “I genuinely thought that just because the bench had zero points, everybody was playing so bad, the offense looked so broken”

    Listen from 20:00 · 2026 NBA Finals

  • Memes

    Memes recounted being cut by glass from a bottle thrown by Spurs fans after Game 5.

    “Then, second bottle comes in. Smashes on the ground. Goes into my leg. I'm fine”

    Listen from 24:40 · 2026 NBA Finals

  • PFT Commenter

    PFT Commenter characterized Wembanyama as a bad loser but predicted he will return stronger.

    “I think that Wimby is just a bad loser, which is fine”

    Listen from 50:42 · San Antonio Spurs

  • Hank Lockwood

    Lockwood argued the Spurs need to move on from De'Aaron Fox despite his contract.

    “Like they got to get rid of Fox, which is tough because of his contract”

    Listen from 55:37 · San Antonio Spurs

  • Hank Lockwood

    Lockwood predicted the Finals collapse will haunt Wembanyama and the Spurs more than people expect.

    “I think that performance in the finals is going to haunt him and them for more than people give it credit for”

    Listen from 56:16 · San Antonio Spurs

  • PFT Commenter

    PFT Commenter said the USMNT could beat any team in the world if it played as it did against Paraguay.

    “But the way that we played on Friday, we could beat any team in the world if we played like that”

    Listen from 1:07:20 · United States men's national soccer team

  • PFT Commenter

    PFT Commenter ranked the win over Paraguay as the best U.S. men's soccer performance of his lifetime.

    “And then number one was the game against Paraguay in the World Cup. I've never seen the U.S. look that good at soccer”

    Listen from 1:11:06 · 2026 FIFA World Cup

  • PFT Commenter

    PFT Commenter said his research showed Harden's gun was legal and he was arrested only for not holstering it in the car.

    “He had a gun that he's allowed to have. Basically, there's really no gun that you can't have in Texas. He just didn't have it in a holster in the car”

    Listen from 1:22:16 · James Harden 2026 weapons arrest

  • Jerry O'Connell

    O'Connell predicted more former sports agents will run NBA front offices following Leon Rose's success.

    “I think this is going to be the beginning of we're going to start to see sports agents start to run teams a little bit”

    Listen from 1:53:49 · New York Knicks

  • Jerry O'Connell

    O'Connell compared Brunson taking less money to build a contender with Tom Brady's pay cuts.

    “Tom Brady took a pay cut to make sure he was surrounded by talent. Obviously, Jalen Brunson did the same thing”

    Listen from 1:54:09 · New York Knicks

  • Linked moment · 1:58:44Skip to 1:58:44 using a listen link in the info box.

    Jerry O'Connell

    O'Connell defended Wembanyama's conduct as youthful passion.

    “I do want to say, in terms of Wemby, I'm not mad at how he acted. I get it. He's a young guy”

    Listen from 1:58:44 · San Antonio Spurs

  • Hank Lockwood

    Lockwood rejected the idea of Knicks 'magic,' attributing the title to a young Spurs team unable to close games.

    “You guys played a super young team that could not close a game”

    Listen from 1:59:36 · 2026 NBA Finals

People

In the conversation

  • Dan KatzBarstool Sports personality known as Big Cat, co-host of Pardon My Take
  • PFT CommenterBarstool Sports writer and co-host of Pardon My Take
  • Hank LockwoodPardon My Take contributor and Boston Celtics fan
  • ZachNewest Pardon My Take staff member, Knicks fan
  • MemesPardon My Take staffer and New York Knicks fan
  • Max DelentePardon My Take producer and Philadelphia 76ers fan whose bachelor party is referenced
  • Jerry O'ConnellAmerican actor and recurring Pardon My Take guest

Discussed

Topics

More from Pardon My Take

From the publisher

The New York Knicks are NBA Champions. We talk about Saturday night and the Knicks breaking the 53 year title drought. Zac, Memes, and Steven Cheah were in the building Saturday night in San Antonio and recap their trip and experience. Hater Hank weighs in on his final thoughts of the season. What do the Spurs learn from this and is Wemby a villain? (00:00:00-01:03:12) The Carolina Hurricanes win the Cup and the Knights got Bussi'd. We talk World Cup, USMNT dominant win and UFC 250 (01:03:12-01:21:25). Who's back of the week including Jackass and Jacob Misiorowski (01:21:25-01:38:21). Mr Bing Bong Jerry O'Connell joins us in studio to recap the Knicks win and Bing Bong Hank one last time (01:38:21-02:15:47). We then finish with lottery ball and our new crank You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Netflix. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/pardon-my-take

Summary, chapters and key points were generated from the episode transcript on September 29, 2026. Quotes are checked word for word against the transcript.

Categories: Basketball·Hockey·Soccer