Many of ESPN’s studio shows often have some fiery takes, but it’s rare for a take to provoke continual laughter from someone else on the show. That’s what happened on This Just In Monday, though. There, Max Kellerman made the case that without Joel Embiid, there was a chance that “James Harden shocks everybody and becomes an offensive juggernaut.” That provoked quite the looks from panelists Monica McNutt and Nick Friedell, with McNutt eventually offering limited support but saying even a big scoring game from Harden wouldn’t be enough for a win, saying Harden would get “dissected defensively” and laughing about that even if he scored a lot, and Friedell just cackling about the idea of Harden having a big game. Here’s how this started:
Here's Max Kellerman's initial take on the case that "James Harden shocks everybody and becomes an offensive juggernaut" on ESPN Monday, and the laughter it provoked from Nick Friedell and Monica McNutt. pic.twitter.com/7oWM4OoXt0
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 2, 2023
Here’s the further laughter on it from Friedell, where he’s laughing too hard to even get many of his points out, but does deliver lines like “We all saw the Brooklyn experience!”
Here's the further laughter after that from Friedell, including "We all saw the Brooklyn experience!" pic.twitter.com/29aiFNDrxL
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 2, 2023
This then came up again at the end of It’s Just In, with Kellerman citing a big game from Harden as one of his “Max Facts,” and Friedell and McNutt again laughing about it, with Friedell going “It could happen, but, I mean, really?”
And here's how "This Just In" wrapped up Monday, with Kellerman again making the case for Harden and Friedell and McNutt again laughing. pic.twitter.com/Z0FZf0eOaj
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 2, 2023
Well, Kellerman wound up looking pretty clever with this one, as it really did happen. Harden had 45 points (including a go-ahead three-pointer in the final seconds) in the Sixers’ win. And that got many looking back at Friedell’s laughter:
https://twitter.com/SportsRadioWIP/status/1653219123390717953?s=20
https://twitter.com/DidTheSixersWin/status/1653226653672251394
https://twitter.com/CForClarity/status/1653217591442173952
https://twitter.com/RBPhillyTake/status/1653217470361001984
For his part, Friedell tried to downplay this as just one game:
Good call on the Max fact @maxkellerman. Ha. Let’s see if they can get three more now.
— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) May 2, 2023
That tweet then got heavily ratioed. Here are some of the responses to it:
Clown take for a clown. “yOU GuYS EXPecT The Old HARdEN???” pic.twitter.com/RoMMUbcuf5
— Northeast Degenerates (@NeDegenerate) May 2, 2023
This is what I hate about these punks in sports media. They go so far on a take. Get proven to be 100% wrong and give a water down remark on how wrong they were. Pathetic no integrity https://t.co/qQkHELtF6R
— #DISUNOMICS (@_NOMICS) May 2, 2023
can’t save that one https://t.co/3rsvS6aZ3D
— and my eyes follow in her footsteps (@datsadmeme) May 2, 2023
https://twitter.com/largebobby24/status/1653375751759036417
https://twitter.com/killa_cam86/status/1653391020216778761
"Yeah. You Freedill? We got us job order to come over and help you move some goal posts." https://t.co/ZfdXHU8h17 pic.twitter.com/qm0edNT4gB
— Anthony Giffen (@AnthonyGiffen) May 2, 2023
The moving the goalposts discussion there is accurate, as anything further in this series doesn’t impact the original take from Kellerman and Friedell’s response. Kellerman wasn’t initially saying that Harden and the Sixers would win the series, or even that Harden would have multiple dominant games. He didn’t even state at first that Harden surely would have a massive game, he just made the case he might. And that provoked that uproarious and repeated laughter from Friedell. Kellerman then went stronger on it at the end of the show, claiming this would happen, and Friedell again broke down laughing.
As for McNutt, she at least conceded the possibility of Harden having a big offensive game, and said that that would be the way for an upset to happen, but was highly skeptical of the chances of that. She also had that line about Harden getting destroyed on defense, and she had some laughter about this throughout these clips as well, even if it wasn’t as prominent as Friedell’s. And so she also took some criticism from fans.
You were laughing with him… don’t switch up now
— wenyen gabriel stan 🟧 (@carefreelamp) May 2, 2023
Disappointing. Actually respected you before this
— LC (@MissLC81) May 2, 2023
You were laughing right along with him. Stop pointing fingers and own it.
— get away from my home (@oscarthegrowtch) May 2, 2023
You can do better too. Stay professional..
— Gjuicy (@gjuicy3) May 2, 2023
For her part, McNutt attributed Harden’s dominance to Friedell’s reaction to the idea, and called fans “so irrational”:
https://twitter.com/McNuttMonica/status/1653215484626567168
https://twitter.com/McNuttMonica/status/1653218261062828035
Meanwhile, Kellerman took a deserved victory lap Tuesday:
This Just In 2pm ET ESPN pic.twitter.com/7mAyOcqhEq
— Max Kellerman (@maxkellerman) May 2, 2023
This is far from the first case of predictions going wrong. And at least this wasn’t unanimous, with Kellerman making the case that exactly what did happen would happen, but Friedell cracking up over that and McNutt also pushing back.
But if Friedell had just calmly disputed Kellerman’s point instead of laughing about it, this would have gotten far less attention. There was definitely a case this wasn’t to be expected from Harden. But his over-the-top laughter in response to Kellerman’s take was highly unusual for sports TV, and got a lot of attention as a result. And then when that Kellerman take did come to pass, it led to a lot of people noting how very wrong Friedell and McNutt were.