We ain't saving the world.

In a basketball analogy, everybody has a role to play on a team.

My job as a point guard I facilitate and make things happen.

They always call it like they see it.

You cannot be an all-star and not score in the first game of the playoffs at home.

Did you know at that point that Michael Jordan could be or was going to be what he became?

No, because Michael is, if you look at him from his day one to his day last, he's the only player...

This is what, to me, makes him the greatest player in the world.

He's the only player who came into the league where his weaknesses, when he left the league, were his strengths.

Most guys come in with strengths and just get better at it.

So his ball handling was good, but then it became great.

His shot was inconsistent, and then it became indefensible.

Did you say you had them? Already?

So Jay, well, at this point, does it feel like title or bust for San Antonio?

Yes.

Title or bust.

That w- what a, what a great place to be.

What an opportunity, Kenny, SA, that you have the talent to sit up there in front of all the depth that you have, in front of maybe the greatest player that the game of basketball potentially has ever seen.

I'm not saying that's gonna translate to accolades and things that compete with Michael and LeBron and how we categorize that, but the game has never seen somebody 7'5" that moves the way Wemby does.

And the reason why it's title or bust for me, guys, is Dan Campbell said something a couple years ago when they faced the 49ers in the NFC championship game.

Preach.

Oh, yeah

... and, uh, I want to, to do something different.

Uh, and I t- teamed up with, uh, we did a couple of shows with Byron Chism, uh, down at his place.

He's got this huge, uh...

And this, if you don't know who Byron is, Bad Byron, uh, he, he has, he's a barbecue champion.

Uh, and, uh, he, he sells the world's, uh, best-selling, uh, barbecue rub.

And, uh, so we did a couple of shows down at, at his place.

Yeah?

What chance do you give the Sixers, Kenny, at home tonight against the Celtics?

Great chance, because there is a, there is a, a new thing, a new danger that you have to take care of now, and that's Joel Embiid.

You did not have to double-team anyone on the Philadelphia 76ers.

And, and no disrespect to Maxey, but you could let Maxey get 30 points.

You can, you can have a G- V.J. Edgecomb get 30 points or 28 points.

That's only 58 points.

Where the rest of the baskets come from? But the Joel, when Joel Embiid scores, he also can get your big men in foul trouble, because he's also playing from the post.

Right.

Kenny, could the Knicks' loss in game two actually be a blessing in disguise?

Uh, I don't know if any loss is a blessing.

I think what you, what you do is, uh, when you in a playoff situation, I think, you know, as Perk can attest, I don't know if you, you say, "Hey, I w- a loss is great for us." But you also know that series can be long.

And you, you can ...

You're not gonna beat most people 4-0.

And so you're just trying to figure out how to get better each game.

What is the adjustment we're going to make from each game? Sometimes those adjustments come into wins, but the one thing about when you win a game, you feel you don't have to make an adjustment.

Are you encouraged by the Lakers or discouraged by the Rockets, Kenny?

[laughs]

That's what he told me.

He said, "Soon as you start cooking, they're gonna start pulling the plug, brother." [laughs] So, all right.

So he is 100% right.

But no question about it, I do believe that, you know, Steph Curry is just great for basketball.

You know, when I was watching the game last night with my son and I look at him, I go, "This is the hardest cover in the last 10 seconds of a game." He's like, "Why?" I said, "Because the shot you're trying to make him take, that's the one he's looking for.

So you want him to take a one-legged pull up three, fading away, falling into the stands." He's like, "Oh, that's the shot I'm trying to get." And so his u- uncanny ability to make tough shots and take game-winning opportunities is the, what you wanna see in a playoff setting.

Kenny, what's your reaction to this?

Uh, does he make a point, Kenny? Do you agree with what MJ's saying?

Well, as a competitor and as a, one of the GOATs or the GOAT, I understand what he's saying, but, you know, from an outside looking in, there's a comparison that is natural.

And you have to ...

There is a debate.

And it's for us to say it, maybe not for him.

[laughs] It's for us to tell you who the GOAT is, the people who've admired, or, or both players or multiple players to tell you it is by the criteria that we set.

And the, the one thing that I would say that creates him and makes him the basketball GOAT, uh, of everything that we've saw, seen in our day, in our lifetime, is that everything that we talk about and we see on this part on the offensive end, he was just as good on the defensive end.

Is the NBA being petty, or do you think this is becoming a real problem with the way SGA defends?

... a guard has to possess.

Mm-hmm.

[gentle music] We got our brother Kenny Smith here today.

Your freshman year team, to, to, to name a few, Michael Jordan, Brad Daugherty, Sam Perkins, yourself.

I mean, what were those practices like?

You know what the crazy part was? The-

Nah, that wasn't the question.

Who was the best player out of the bunch?

When you end up choosing North Carolina, who else was in the mix, uh, for colleges?

For college, I, I was, uh, Duke and, and, um, that school from Durham, we don't say that name, and, uh, Virginia.

Those are schools I visited.

But I always wanted to play in the ACC at that time.

That was when the conference was, to me, the ACC had the best conference.

I wanted to play against the best.

But I chose North Carolina 'cause when I went to the practice and I saw Sam Perkins, Brad Daugherty, Michael Jordan, I looked at it and I said, "I don't know if I can play here." I was a little nervous.

Mm.