Big Mac and Bobby Debate Knicks Finals Pressure and $100K Tickets

**Craig Carton** (0:00)
Game three tonight, Madison Square Garden. And if you're not pumped up or you're letting a presidential visit bother you, then there's something wrong with you today.
All amped up for the game tonight. You made a point before I go back to these calls, Big Mac, that there is a flip side to the coin of no team in NBA history has won the first two games on the road and then not closed out and won the championship. So you think there's a different side to that?

**Robert Lichtenstein** (0:28)
Well I mean that's a fact, no team in the NBA finals has ever been down 0-2 after losing both games at home and come back to win the series, but the coronation, like you put it, that means well, the coronation is coming. And while I do agree because I trust this team like almost no other team I've ever rooted for, the idea is now the pressure does switch slightly to where the Knicks can't lose anymore. Like, it's no longer, like...

**Craig Carton** (0:53)
Can they lose a game?

**Robert Lichtenstein** (0:54)
No, they have to win the series.

**Craig Carton** (0:56)
100%?

**Robert Lichtenstein** (0:56)
Go on into it.

**Craig Carton** (0:57)
The biggest collapse of all time.

**Robert Lichtenstein** (0:59)
Bingo. And there is that added pressure. I know we feel like they're immune to the pressure. I get it. I think they are too. I'm not trying to tell you this is now a bad spot for the Knicks. I think they're in a great spot. And I don't think there's a way in hell any team in the history of basketball has beaten them four out of five times. Like, I feel that confidently about it. But you have to acknowledge that it does change a little bit now that they're the team who has to win. Wemby was better, the West was better, the Spurs were favored.
They're on the road, they don't have home court advantage. Like, there were reasons why, even if they lost but put up a good fight, you know, now there's none of that. Now they better be champions or it's the biggest collapse in the history of basketball. It's the biggest NBA finals dud, choke job in the history of the NBA. There is an element that that scares me slightly.

**Craig Carton** (1:45)
What is wrong with you? What are you doing? Why? You're worried about something that's never happened happening to the Knicks?
That's a concern of yours now?

**Robert Lichtenstein** (1:54)
Yeah, I think there's no doubt. There's a little bit of the idea that...

**Craig Carton** (1:56)
That's PTSD from the Yankees, you know, that's all you're suffering right now, kid. Yeah, because you lived it as a diehard fan of the Yankees and Soretto Sox. The pressure changes.

**Robert Lichtenstein** (2:04)
They lose tonight, that pressure builds.

**Craig Carton** (2:07)
Will you stop?

**Robert Lichtenstein** (2:08)
No, no, no, I won't stop. I won't stop. No, no, I'm not going to stop.

**Craig Carton** (2:11)
You think they're going to lose tonight?

**Robert Lichtenstein** (2:12)
I don't think they're going to lose tonight. Are you concerned they're going to lose? Shouldn't we talk about it?

**Craig Carton** (2:15)
Of course we're going to talk about it.

**Robert Lichtenstein** (2:17)
There's no chance in hell they lose tonight.

**Craig Carton** (2:19)
I don't think there is.

**Robert Lichtenstein** (2:20)
There's not a world where that happens.

**Craig Carton** (2:21)
They've won 13 straight games.

**Robert Lichtenstein** (2:23)
But we have to talk about what happens if they lose.

**Craig Carton** (2:25)
But they don't lose, they never lose.

**Robert Lichtenstein** (2:27)
I agree, they don't know how to lose. I agree.

**Craig Carton** (2:28)
I've never seen anything like it.

**Robert Lichtenstein** (2:30)
I've never seen anything like it either, but we have to just talk about the other side slightly.

**Craig Carton** (2:33)
Okay, they lose tonight. There is a pressure issue. Okay.

**Robert Lichtenstein** (2:35)
Now there's a lot of pressure on them. You can't lose this series.

**Craig Carton** (2:38)
They're not going to. I agree with you.

**Robert Lichtenstein** (2:39)
I agree they're not going to.

**Craig Carton** (2:41)
I don't think they will. The NBA has not had a bad loss since the home loss against Atlanta.

**Robert Lichtenstein** (2:46)
I know.
The road loss in game three wasn't great. They did have to lead with a couple of minutes left. But I'm just saying you have to be open to talking about all that.

**Craig Carton** (2:54)
Yes, it's possible that they could lose the game. They're humans. Yes, 100%.

**Robert Lichtenstein** (2:57)
Okay.

**Craig Carton** (2:58)
But this team, it's very unique.