WWE announcer Michael Cole makes good on Pat McAfee Pacers bet in raucous scene
WWE announcer Michael Cole made good on his bet with Pat McAfee and donned a Pacers jersey during 'Monday Night Raw' that was broadcasting live from Tulsa, Okla.
The pair made a bet two weeks earlier that Cole would wear a Pacers jersey during a broadcast if Indiana defeated the Knicks in the Eastern Conference finals.
The Pacers did indeed knock out the Knicks from the postseason in six games, completing the series over the weekend in a 125-108 win to advance to the NBA Finals to face the Oklahoma City Thunder.
3 Michael Cole flexes in a Pacers jersey.
@WWE/X
Cole was forced to reveal the jersey underneath his dress shirt near the start of Monday's broadcast, which did not sit well with the Oklahoma crowd and delighted McAfee, who then began taunting the fans.
'The Pacers are actually going to be taking on the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals,' McAfee said. 'And these people would like to see you pay your debt, sir. He's been working out. He's been running miles and miles and miles. Michael Cole, yeah buddy!'
McAfee then started to point out the buff arms of the longtime WWE broadcaster before noting that Cole was sporting a jersey of 'Pacers legend' T.J. McConnell.
'Who's going to come into Oklahoma and do what he did to the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals,' McAfee exclaimed to the crowd, who quickly stared booing.
3 Michael Cole made good on his bet.
@WWE/X
McAfee is an unabashed Pacers fan and has been a fixture at games at Gainbridge Fieldhouse to support Indiana.
He made waves when he called out the 'bigwigs from the big city' during an in-game stoppage in reference to the celebrity contingent of Timothée Chalamet, Ben Stiller and Spike Lee who made the trip to Indiana for the Pacers' Game 4 win over the Knicks.
3 Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers knocked out the Knicks.
AP
The NBA Finals begin Thursday in Oklahoma City.
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USA Today
38 minutes ago
- USA Today
Don't worry about NBA Finals TV ratings. Appreciate Pacers-Thunder for what it is.
OKLAHOMA CITY — The email hit my inbox with the subject line 'Will viewers watch Pacers-Thunder?' The headline in the newsletter from Front Office Sports: 'History shows Pacers vs. Thunder may draw record-low ratings.' It's not the first time and won't be the last time that TV ratings accompany a discussion of this season's NBA Finals between Indiana and Oklahoma City. The small-market matchup has generated this idea that there isn't or won't be interest. The NBA biosphere seems to thrive on debate and criticism with an emphasis on how some aspect of the game isn't good enough and can be better. The reflexive contempt for teams not from the coasts or bigger markets is odd. It's not my job to sell this series. That's on the NBA and its TV partner, Disney's ABC, which is televising the Finals, with Game 1 on Thursday, June 5, at 8:30 p.m. ET. There are factors outside of the NBA and ABC's control. A short, lopsided and uncompetitive series can have an impact regardless of the teams playing. But this is a series that features this season's MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Thunder, three All-Stars in Gilgeous-Alexander, teammate Jalen Williams and Indiana's Pascal Siakam. Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton was an All-Star in 2023 and 2024 and is playing like an All-Star in the playoffs. Both teams are deep, play hard offensively and defensively and have tremendous coaches. Neither spent outlandishly, incurring millions in luxury taxes. In fact, neither will pay a luxury tax this season. They emerged as the two best teams in the league ‒ rosters assembled with a savvy eye on making the parts fit. The matchup should be celebrated and appreciated. The Pacers and Thunder are on the cutting edge of today's NBA. They play pressure defense, try to dictate a fast pace and have the versatility to go 10-deep. It's exactly what fans of basketball should want. The NBA is in an era that fans should embrace. It's not the same teams and same players season after season. It's not the teams with the deepest pockets getting to the Finals all the time. Young, talented players are exposed to a wider audience. The Thunder have been the best team in the NBA all season and combining regular-season and playoff victories, they have won 80 games in 2024-25. Since Jan. 1, the Pacers have been one of the best teams in the league. The two fan bases are unique given the teams' locations and relationships to the communities. The Thunder are the only major pro sports team in the city, and basketball's hallowed place in the heart of Indiana culture is well known. "I understand that there would be concern for how many people would watch because they're smaller markets," Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. "But if we're celebrating the game and we're putting the game above all, which is one of the things that Adam Silver said when he became commissioner, then it really shouldn't matter. … "So I know that we're going to do our very best to represent our city, our state at the best possible level. Thunder will do the same. This really hopefully is about the quality of the games. We got our work cut out for us there." If that's not compelling enough to get your interest, that's a you problem as much as anything. The Venn diagram of people who complain about the same teams and players getting to the Finals and complain about small-market teams in the Finals is probably close to a single circle. For the seventh consecutive season, the NBA will have a different champion, and this is the sixth consecutive Finals without a team that was in the Finals the previous season. This parity is not the result of one thing, but the NBA's collective-bargaining agreement with the players was designed to foster competitive balance. The CBA has teeth to it – mechanisms that make it more difficult for deep-pocketed teams to stack rosters. Those mechanisms are financially punitive and limit roster additions because of salary cap restrictions. In today's NBA, the Golden State Warriors would not have been able to add Kevin Durant to a roster with Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green – without parting ways with Thompson or Green. Ahead of the 2023 CBA, the Boston Celtics built a roster featuring Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Jrue Holiday, Derrick White and Kristaps Porzingis, and they are projected to pay nearly $240 million in luxury taxes and $230 million in salary – that's approaching nearly half a billion dollars, and that's why there is much discussion about the Celtics shedding salary and reducing their financial burden ahead of next season. In theory and practice, it leads to a greater distribution among more teams. This is what NBA owners – as a collective – wanted when they agreed to the CBA. It will be interesting to hear what Silver says about this Finals matchup when he meets with the media before Game 1. Regardless of ratings, the NBA has capitalized on multi-year TV deals. The NBA is wrapping up a nine-year, $24 billion deal, and the NBA embarks on a new TV deal next season that includes Amazon and NBC in addition to ESPN/ABC that is worth nearly $76 billion over 11 years. Silver has been agnostic on the topic of big-market teams vs. small-market teams winning titles. "As long as we can create something close to a level playing field in terms of the tools available to teams to compete, I'm absolutely fine with dynasties and I'm fine with new teams emerging every year," Silver said nearly a year ago. 'What the fans want to see is great competition. And for fans of whatever team they're rooting for, they want to believe that their team, regardless of the size of the market or the depth of the pockets of ownership, are in a position to compete in the same way the 29 other teams are." You can't force anyone to watch. Maybe it's a great Finals, maybe it's not. But dismissing the series before it begins means missing out on watching teams who envisioned how to win in today's NBA and made it happen. Follow NBA columnist Jeff Zillgitt on social media @JeffZillgitt .
Indianapolis Star
40 minutes ago
- Indianapolis Star
25 years later, Pacers back in NBA Finals: 'It's almost a replay of the way it felt in 2000'
INDIANAPOLIS – Waiting in the wings of the Staples Center 25 years ago was a 7-1, 345-pound behemoth who could dribble, drain a jump shot and shut down any opponent who came his way underneath the basket. Shaquille O'Neal was dubbed by sportswriters as "a wrecking ball in the paint." Alongside this Los Angeles Lakers giant who wore size 22 shoes, ready to battle the Indiana Pacers in the 2000 NBA Finals, was a 6-7, 215-pound, svelte, smooth-shooting guard who could slice and dice two and three players at a time. Kobe Bryant, media said, was "an artist in high tops." This Lakers team was indisputably one of the most lethal, powerful and successful in the franchise's rich history. That didn't faze the Pacers. They were in the NBA Finals for the first time in their franchise's history. The team was floating on what seemed to be an eternal high after beating their nemesis the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals. The trash-talking Pacers superstar Reggie Miller was telling anyone who would listen the Lakers would choke just like the Knicks. Coach Larry Bird was ready to re-live his Boston Celtics era and trounce the franchise that had been his nemesis in his playing days. Looking back, Pacers center Rik Smits says it was beautiful oblivion as Game 1 of the Finals was set to begin. "We believed in ourselves," he told IndyStar this week. "That was the mindset back then." Even Pacers president Donnie Walsh, known for his no-nonsense, tell it like it is, realist persona, wasn't counting his team out. "I knew it was going to be difficult, let's put it that way," Walsh said. "Because Shaq, nobody had seen anything like him, unless you were around to see Wilt (Chamberlain). Not only gigantic, well-built, strong men, they were also great athletes. "Still, I thought we had a chance (to beat them)." Jalen Rose didn't think there was a chance. He knew the Pacers could beat the Lakers. His Game 1 attitude was confidence on steroids. He had no doubt his team was ready to take the leap into the glorious hall of NBA champions. "I felt like when we made it to the NBA Finals, not only were we going to win it, but our team and the franchise would continue to make it back," Rose told IndyStar. "I had no idea 25 years would pass." After the Pacers lost to the Lakers 4-2, squashing a basketball state's dreams to finally have an NBA title, a quarter of a century unfolded. And as the years passed, the city the Pacers called home transformed into an NFL city. The Indianapolis Colts, up to then a virtual non-player in the NFL, started winning. Then they won a Super Bowl. The Pacers became background noise in Indy's sports scene. "The Colts started really winning consistently and people really embraced the Colts," said Bart Peterson, who was Indianapolis mayor from 2000 to 2008. "And it's not like they weren't basketball fans anymore. Of course they were. But I think that the love got transferred a bit to the Colts." In those 25 years, the Pacers made it to the Eastern Conference Finals just four times (2004, 2013, 2014, 2024), but they could never get past the opponents. The Pistons in 2004, the LeBron James-led Heat in 2013 and 2014 and then being swept by the Celtics in 2024. Now, as the team heads to its first NBA Finals appearance since 2000 to face the Oklahoma City Thunder, they are considered by most, including the oddsmakers in Vegas, as heavy underdogs. Just like that roster in 2000 who had no idea they were underdogs — until O'Neal and Bryant emerged from the wings of the Staples Center surrounded by a solid cast of teammates and took the court in Game 1. "Well, you know, look, the joy of making it to the Finals is a big thing," said Walsh. "But you quickly come to the realization, now you've got to go play in the Finals." GOLD RUSH! How the Indiana Pacers claimed their first Eastern Conference title in 25 years As the bright lights shined inside the Staples Center June 7, 2000, in front of nearly 19,000 fans with throes of celebrities sitting courtside, Miller came out and gave an unbelievably unremarkable performance, going 1-of-16 and scoring seven points in Game 1. Miller didn't score a single point until a pair of free throws, four minutes into the third quarter. He hit his first field goal three minutes later and it would be his last. "He offered no excuses, regrets or apologies," IndyStar reported after talking to Miller about his dismal, career playoff low. "I couldn't put the ball in the basket," he said. "But I'll tell you what, if they continue to give me those looks, they're going to be in trouble." The Lakers didn't dispute that one bit. "You would think aliens would come down from outer space before Reggie Miller shoots 1-16 again," said Lakers forward Rick Fox. O'Neal, on the other hand, had no problem draining shots. His Game 1 attack included 43 points, 19 rebounds and three blocked shots, much to the delight of the likes of Jack Nicholson and Chris Rock and every other Lakers fan who roared and reveled in the 104-87 victory. The Pacers leading scorer was Mark Jackson with 18, followed by Austin Croshere with 16. Rose, who scored just 12, was called out by Bird, who simply said, "Jalen didn't play tonight." "We're a funny team. We can be a hard-nosed, good, steady, tough team like we were in Games 5 and 6 against New York, or we can be a soft team," Pacers assistant coach Dick Harter said. "Somehow, we have to find our toughness." Part of that toughness for Game 2 included a series of adjustments by the Pacers to try to contain O'Neal inside and take their chances dealing with Bryant's full court game. "If we need to pick our poison, we'd rather it be Kobe," Pacers' backup point guard Travis Best told IndyStar at the time. "You can always get help on Kobe." The strategy failed miserably. The Pacers lost Game 2, 111-104, with O'Neal scoring 40 points and shooting 39 free throws after Bryant left the game early with an ankle injury. The Pacers committed 38 fouls. O'Neal made 18-of-39 free throws. While Miller scored 21 points, he had zero in the fourth quarter. Rose, seemingly ready to prove himself to Bird, scored 30 points. It wasn't enough. As the team prepared for a trip home, 0-2 in the series, to see if the magic inside Conseco Fieldhouse and an absent Bryant in Game 3 would be the answer, Bird was calm but adamant. "We have to find a way to win one," Bird said. "It's up to us to make adjustments and get some scoring inside." Being down 0-2 didn't hamper the electricity permeating Indianapolis. Smits remembers arriving home to an indescribable "excitement in the air," which is still one of his favorite memories of being a Pacer. The love his team felt from the city. It was almost as if the basketball gods had planned this whole NBA Finals just for the Pacers, who were getting to host the next three games in a flashy, glitzy, brand new $183 million arena. Conseco Fieldhouse had just opened the winter before and was getting rave reviews from fans and opposing teams. "And Reggie was, you know, the hero of the city. And everybody in Indianapolis loved him," said Peterson. "And the rest of the team was full of a bunch of really likable players. And so the city was in love with the team exactly like it is today." Fans were on the edge of their seats with this NBA Finals, a culmination of years of playoff runs with the Knicks throughout the 1990s. This time, the Pacers had overcome their big-city nemesis, beating the Knicks in six games in front of a rowdy, New York-heavy crowd of nearly 20,000 people. Rose says it was his No. 1 moment of being a Pacer, sweet revenge for the season before when the the teams were in the exact same arena playing Game 6 and the Knicks beat the Pacers 90-82 taking the series 4-2. "As I look back at the journey and there's an image of us winning against the Knicks, who obviously at that time it was Hicks versus Knicks, there's an image of Reggie Miller and I hugging at half court at the Garden," Rose said. "We did it on the logo. This was our turn for redemption and it was only right that we did it against them." To win the Finals would simply be icing on the cake. And the Pacers had a sixth man on their side for Game 3 — the city of Indianapolis. "We got a lot of guys that feed off this crowd," Rose said, "and we get a lot more energy from that." With Bryant out for Game 3 with a sprained left ankle and O'Neal scoring just one basket in the first 11 minutes (dropping him from his previous two 40+ games to 33 points), Miller racked up his own 33 points, combined with Rose's 21 for a Pacers' 100-91 victory. There was a collective sigh of relief across the city. "If we were down 3-0," Miller said after the game, "you could have pretty much written us off." Instead, the Pacers returned to their home court three days later and proved they could compete with the Lakers in a thrilling overtime ... loss. But still, they were right there. Down two points with 5.9 seconds left in overtime, the Pacers walked back out on the court confident Miller would do what he usually does — be clutch. "The first thought is you just want to run him off the 3-point line," said Bryant, who returned from his ankle sprain for Game 4. "But then I saw Robert Horry with those long arms running toward him. If there was anyone who could get a piece of the ball, it was Robert." Coming out of the Pacers' timeout, Miller came off two double screens, cut the pass and turned to launch the 3-pointer. "It was an image burned into the mind of anyone who has ever watched the slender Pacers guard move to stage center at the end of close games with everything to win and everything to lose," IndyStar wrote. "As he turned, the fieldhouse crowd, already on its feet, seemed frozen in breath and thought as he let it fly." The ball arced toward the hoop, hit the rim and bounced high into the air. But as the final buzzer sounded, that ball didn't fall through the basket as it bounced onto the court. "It felt good," Miller said after the game. "What distracted me was when Robert Horry was running at me. I had to shoot it higher over his hand and when you do that, you've probably got to shoot it a little bit longer, which I didn't, but it was right on target. It was just short." The Pacers lost 120-118, but it didn't feel exactly like a loss. It felt like they had really competed and, if they continued to play the way they did in Game 4, they might be able to call themselves NBA champions. Inside Conseco Fieldhouse for Game 5, trailing 3-1, the Pacers went on a rampage to finish a contest that can best be described as an outright blowout, 120-87. The Pacers seemed virtually unstoppable from tipoff to the final buzzer, hitting six straight 3-pointers early, and giving the Lakers their worst Finals loss since 1985. O'Neal led his team again with 35 points and 11 rebounds but got little help from his supporting cast. Bryant shot 4-of-20 and the Pacers dominated the boards 46-34. Miller and Rose combined for 57 points — 32 of those belonging to Rose. "He was sensational against the Lakers," Walsh said this week. Those two players were exactly who his team had planned to tame going into the game, Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. Instead, they went wild. After the game, Jackson was asked if Indiana's performance may have pumped new life into the Pacers going into Game 6. "I guess that's an obvious," Jackson said. "Yes." As they headed back to L.A. for Game 6, the Pacers were smiling, now down a respectable and doable 3-2 in the series. "We have nothing to lose and everything to gain," Miller said at the time. "Everybody had written us off, so let's go out there and have some fun." There was just one thing that might put a glitch in that fun for the Pacers — they would have to win two games playing in the Lakers' kingdom. "I felt really good about our team," Walsh said. "Now, I also understood we were playing a powerhouse. I knew we were in for a tough thing and they had the homecourt advantage. So right there, that was the difference." The Pacers led much of Game 6, 26-24 after the first quarter, 56-53 at the half and 84-79 after three periods. They controlled the pace of the game, coming out aggressively from the outset and pushing back at the Lakers each time it seemed they were inching closer. The Pacers had three players with at least 20 points, led by Rose with 29, Miller with 25 and Dale Davis with 20 points and 14 rebounds. But a victory wasn't meant to be. "Monday night, reality dawned upon the Indiana Pacers that it would not be their championship, that their journey had gone as far as it would go, that they were one game short," the IndyStar wrote after the 116-111 loss. "A game in which they won the first three quarters only to have it all slip away in the last 12 minutes." O'Neal sealed the series with 41 points and 12 rebounds, but the Lakers' surge in the fourth quarter came with the help of Derek Fisher and Horry. As Walsh walked out of the Staples Center that night, he said he wasn't thinking about how long it would be until the Pacers made it back to the NBA Finals again. But then 25 long years passed and, when they clinched the spot last week, Walsh went back and watched some of those 2000 games. "We were competitive. I mean, we weren't just, you know, getting swept. But they were really good. They really had a powerful team," he said. "They just had one player after another so, you know, we got beat by a better team. That's the way I look at it now." The way he looks at it now is that his 2000 Pacers should have felt joy in just making it to the Finals, win or lose. "But once you get to the Finals and you lose, you don't feel good, you know, wanting to win," he said. "But when you really look back on it, yes we made the Finals. We're pretty damn good." Fast forward 25 years and there is only one person, one human common denominator, who was on both the Pacers teams that made it to the NBA Finals — coach Rick Carlisle, who was an assistant for the team in 2000. "He was just a good guy that everybody respected at the time. Everybody valued his opinion," Smits said. "And yeah, I'm assuming he's still that same way. The guys seem to like him and I know we did back then, too." Carlisle is a man of few words, getting right to the point, said Walsh. "The thing he does is he tells the players exactly what to do and continues that communication in every area in their game the whole time he's with them," he said. "So they understand everything he's saying. And he doesn't give long speeches and all that, he just gets out there and tells you." If there is anyone who can lead the Pacers to their first NBA title in history, its Carlisle, Walsh said, along with his players who seem to have that same chemistry the 2000 Pacers had. "These guys, you can tell they don't care who scores how many points," Smits said. "It's all about the win." Peterson said it feels like "a throwback," to 25 years ago, in many aspects. "Today, it's Tyrese Halliburton playing the part of Reggie Miller. If Halliburton played a game where he gave out 22 assists and scored no points, he might come away saying that was the greatest game of his life," Peterson said. "The team being unified and a bunch of good guys and likable, it's almost a replay of the way it felt in 2000." Except one thing. There is no wrecking ball in the paint or artist in high tops the Pacers have to overcome. The mountain to climb this time around isn't insurmountable, and this Pacers team of so-called underdogs aren't really underdogs at all, Walsh said. "I think they've got all the qualities of a champion," he said. "So, no matter what happens, they have that." Get IndyStar's Pacers coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Pacers Update newsletter
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Should Boston Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla worry about Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau's firing?
Should Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla be worried about the firing of New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau? The Knicks front office recently came to the decision that it was time to move on from Thibs despite the former Boston assistant coach having gotten New York farther than they have been in the playoffs for the last quarter-century. Mazzulla, for his part, saw his Celtics fall to the Knicks on their way to the 2025 NBA Eastern Conference Finals series many assumed Boston was a shoo-in to make at the start of the postseason. If the now-former Knicks coach is not safe, does that mean Mazzulla could also be at risk of losing his job? Or is this move by New York more indicative of their internal culture and lack of patience, and less of the league more generally? Advertisement The folks behind the "NESN" YouTube channel put together a clip from their "Boston has Entered the Chat" show to talk it over. Take a look at the clip embedded below to hear what they had to say. This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Should Joe Mazzulla worry about Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau's firing?
