1. There was SO MUCH to digest in the Knicks’ incredible 22-point comeback against the Cavaliers on Tuesday night. One thing that stood out more than anything, though, was ESPN’s Mike Breen unleashing a premature “BANG” on Sam Merrill’s three-point attempt with 2.7 seconds left and the game tied at 101.— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) May 20, 2026You can’t blame Breen for starting the “BANG” call when you see that the ball was in the hoop for a split second.I can’t stop thinking about the Sam Merrill 3-point attempt at 101-101 with 2.6 seconds left that was in and out. pic.twitter.com/F3o1rnJy3A— Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) May 20, 2026I briefly spoke to Breen Wednesday morning about the premature call.SI: Was that your first premature “BANG”?MB: Oh, no, no, no. There’s been a few. Often you have the perfect sightline of the ball going in, and you wanna jump on the call. There’s been three or four of them that have happened. I’m a big Sam Merrill fan. And that’s a possible game winner. The “B” came out and maybe a little part of the “A” before the ball quickly bounced out.SI: Is it hard to adjust your call when that happens?MB: Often, a lot of stuff happens where you’re like, “Oh, wait a minute, no that happened.” It bounces one way. It bounces the other way.The thing about shots like that, so he hits that shot and they win the game most likely. All this definitive analysis that has gone on since the game ended, praising the Knicks for this amazing comeback, rightfully so, criticizing the Cavs for this colossal collapse, rightfully so, all the second guessing of what Cleveland did, all the patting on the back for what the Knicks did. If Merrill’s shot goes in, everything, EVERYTHING is different. Now, it’s the Cavs have a 1-0 lead, uh oh, the Knicks are in trouble again. It’s amazing to me, and we see it every year in every sports, how one play, in basketball one shot that goes in or one shot that doesn’t go in, makes all the difference in the narrative of players, coaches, franchises. That’s why I never go along when people say, “Eh, but he never won a championship.” It may have been one shot that’s really gonna make the difference in how a great a player was or how great a coach was. It was right there, smacked you in the face last night.SI: And Merrill’s shot was in.MB: That’s one of the closer ones that have gone in and out.SI: Can you believe your use of “BANG” has become such a big thing on social media?MB: The funny thing is, especially in the playoffs, and I love it because it shows how passionate fans are, but I now get criticized for saying “BANG” too many times and I get criticized for not saying it enough. I’ve always tried to go with less is more with that.To answer your question, no, it blows me away it’s become this thing. It’s flattering.SI: You would’ve unleashed a massive “BANG” on Monday night when Wemby hit that long 3-pointer to tie the game late.MB: I do think of stuff like that. And I’m not just saying this, but Mike Tirico was perfection the other night. I texted him right after the game. I’m so happy for him. I’m so glad he’s back doing the NBA. You wrote a really good piece on this that was right on the money.SI: I assumed that Wemby three woud’ve gotten a double “BANG".MB: Yes, yes.2. On Tuesday, I taped this week’s SI Media with Jimmy Traina podcast with Charles Barkley. I asked Barkley about criticism Inside the NBA has faced in its first season on ESPN. You can hear his answer when the podcast drops very early Thursday morning (subscribe here).You can’t deny, however, that the Cavaliers’ collapse on Tuesday led to some vintage Inside the NBA with Barkley calling out Cleveland for choking, while Ernie Johnson and Kenny Smith asked Chuck if he really wanted to use his word, which caused Barkley to double, triple and quadruple down.Charles Barkley on the Cavs: "Hell yeah that was a choke job." #NBA pic.twitter.com/alyhnQmYEp— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 20, 20263. I need to publicly thank Pablo Torre for his latest piece of work.I have ranted many times, on social media and SI.com, against sports networks, sports shows and sports teams constantly shoving Oz the Mentalist down our throats.Why does every single sports entity think it’s required that they put the Oz guy on all their shows? I’ll never understand it.— Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) March 21, 2026Two things I would love to see permanently banned: The Oz guy and the Savannah Bananas. https://t.co/IJwKSRZl5r— Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) June 10, 2025In addition to Oz’s schtick being a classic “seen once, seen a thousand times” thing, I just never found his guessing of numbers fascinating because I knew there had to be a trick behind it.On the latest episode of Pablo Torre Finds Out, the host exposed how Oz “guesses” things.Oz the Mentalist, exposed: @PabloTorre and Stevie Baskin break down how viral tricks get engineered with pre-show "meta-deception" and "a fake Google page" in disguise. https://t.co/Dj3lTEGg6E pic.twitter.com/Sk2cL1wEYd— Pablo Torre Finds Out (@pablofindsout) May 19, 20264. I did a Google search this morning to see how many inside-the-park grand slams have occurred in MLB history. I thought the answer would be around 10-15. I was stunned to see it’s happened more than 200 times. It happened again Tuesday courtesy of the Nationals’ James Wood. The call from Nationals’ Dan Kolko was tremendous (minus the awful, awful job by analyst Kevin Frandsen, who jumped Kolko’s call).Kolko’s delivery of “Two outfielders look at themselves and don’t FIND THE BASEBALL!” was electric.JAMES WOOD. LITTLE LEAGUE. GRAND SLAM. 🤯😭 pic.twitter.com/UDooLAdTfy— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) May 20, 20265. If you hit a walkoff home run, as Arizona’s Ketel Marte did Tuesday night, I say you can throw/toss/flip anything you want. Marte Madness 🤯 pic.twitter.com/wMvhoy7BMC— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) May 20, 2026Have you ever seen a helmet flip before? pic.twitter.com/pzRgubUK13— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) May 20, 20266. The latest SI Media With Jimmy Traina features an interview with NFL vice president of broadcast planning Mike North.North discusses all things 2026 NFL schedule. Topics include whether Sunday afternoons are getting hurt by adding so many standalone games, when the schedule actually gets finalized and when teams get the schedule, how flex scheduling will work for the 2026 season and why the NFL added a game on Thanksgiving Eve.In addition, North talks about going with the Chiefs in prime time for the first two weeks of the season despite the unknown status of Patrick Mahomes, why the league decided to have the Patriots play the Seahawks in the season opener, Prime Video getting such a strong schedule, the possibility of an 18-game season and much more.Following North, Sal Licata, from SNY TV andThe Sal Licata Show, joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week’s topics include Sal’s review of the Michael Jackson movie, Netflix’sRoast of Kevin Hart, the Knicks’ incredible playoff run, the devaluing of NFL Sunday Ticket, Bill Simmons’s interview with David Letterman, Stephen Colbert’s final days as host ofThe Late Show and much more.You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Today is Cher’s 80th birthday. Last weekend David Letterman did a few interviews. This is the perfect time to remember the time Cher called Dave an a-hole way back when. This would be a nothing today, but old people like me remember when this was a big deal.Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow