Do It For Love

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You gotta do it because you love it. You gotta do it for the people who love and support you. Because the truth of the matter is people will believe what they wanna believe about you, but the numbers don't lie. I don't care what any Spurs, Cavs, Philly, or Atlanta fan has to say about the next. You know why? Because y'all lost. It doesn't matter what you think. It doesn't matter what you think about Jalen. It doesn't matter what you think about Kat. It doesn't matter what you think about Ananov. It doesn't matter they spanked you. Try again next year.

Knicks Win And City Erupts

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What's up, everybody? It's your girl Lish Speaks, and welcome back to another episode of my podcast. I'll just let myself in. It's the podcast where we don't wait for an imaginary permission slip or some seat at an imaginary table. We let ourselves into our God-given doors. And today I am so excited because something monumental has happened. Something that I have literally waited my whole life for. Something that brought my city alive. And let me know perhaps the reason that God brought me back to the Northeast. The New York Knicks secured the championship for 2026 in the NBA. And baby, let me tell you something. I took my tail right on to 34th Street, my husband and I. We went to the garden. We went to Harold Square. We were with the Riff Raff, Riff Raffin until about 2 a.m. on Saturday night. And we still made it to the house of the Lord. Amen. Amen. Don't ask me how we were there. But I was so moved and excited, as the rest of the city obviously has been, about the Knicks securing the chip after 53

Why Five Lessons Matter

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years. So much so that today's entire episode is going to be about the five things I learned from watching the Knicks win in five. Now, listen, I could go on and on. I learned a lot. There were many lessons to be learned, many things to be inspired by, many things to see. But, you know, because it was Knicks and Five, I decided to choose five. So I'm really happy because, you know, coming back to the city was, as you guys know, I shared not an easy thing for me to leave Georgia, to leave the life I had built there. Although many great things have happened since I've been back that let me know that this is where God has me for such a time as this. I gotta tell you, the Knicks winning, it just felt serendipitous. It felt right. It felt like the beginning of a great summer. Because I already told y'all I plan on being outside, very much outside. Um, and so, you know, when the Knicks won, you know, in the fourth quarter, my husband had been saying, like, if the Knicks win, we're going into the city because we live in Jersey. And I was like, all right, bet. You know, but my husband is a homebody. So I'm like, he capping, but we're gonna see. So fourth quarter, you know, the Knicks is kind of coming back. I'm like, babe, like they're gonna do it. And he's like scared, like he's on pins and needles. I'm like, babe, they're gonna do it. The Knicks have never given us a reason to believe they're not gonna clench this lead and keep it. And we know that the Spurs cannot close a game. Okay, that's one thing they've proven. Wimby is not good at hitting the buzzer beater winning shot. So I was very confident. And uh, I was like, babe, I'm gonna start getting dressed. And he was like, just wait a minute, wait a minute. And then there was a play uh by Brunson, and he was like, get dressed, get dressed. And so as soon as the game ended, I think we watched the trophies be given out. Um, and then we watched the rest of the press conferences and stuff in the car because we were on our way to the city. It has been so beautiful walking around, being around people, even in Jersey, and just seeing the joy on our faces and in our hearts because our team finally, after much perseverance, many trials and tribulations, finally have won a championship. And so I've learned several lessons from the series, and I got five of them to share with you. The

Regular Season Still Wins

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first lesson I learned from watching the Knicks win in five is that you can have a very regular season and still become a champion. In the regular season, the Knicks won 53 games. They lost 29 of those regular season games. And, you know, they had a good season, but it was a regular season. In your regular season, right? Like people can notice that you're getting better. I think people noticed that the Knicks were not the same old Knicks team that they used to be, right? People noticed that they were a better team, a different team, but not so much that they felt threatened by the Knicks. We know this because the first team they played in the playoffs, the Atlanta Hawks, which they spanked in the end, um they did a little trickery, uh, you know, if you if you believe, I believe, um, to make sure that they played the Knicks and not the Cavaliers, who they felt were more of a threat to ending their season. What happened was uh in their, I believe, final game, I could be wrong, but in their final game or close to final game in the regular season, they set their starters against Miami and pretty much ensured that they would lose that game so that they would not be the fifth seed. They would be the sixth seed and they could play the Knicks instead of playing the Cavs, I believe, right? And it just really goes to show you that people will underestimate you and they will want to go against you because in their minds they think they can win. They think that they can win, they think they have a better chance of beating you than somebody else. And so they will be be ready to go against you instead of someone else because they don't see how strong you are. Because to them, you're just regular. You had a regular season. They felt more secure in playing the Knicks than they would have felt with the Cavs. Truth be told, the way the Cavs played us, they might have had a better chance at actually beating the Cavs than us. It is so funny when you think about how sometime in your regular season, right? Your season where you are not the flashiest. You don't have the most money, you don't have the most opportunities, you don't have the most followers, you're not the biggest person. People can really underestimate how you are about to come. Everybody, not just the Land Hawks. I think the entire NBA underestimated how the New York Knicks were about to come. And baby, they had an answer. They were not playing at all. You know, that final game where the Knicks and the Hawks played in Atlanta, the Knicks blew them out in their own arena and ended their season. Doesn't really matter what they thought about the Knicks. Doesn't really matter what happened in the regular season. In this playoffs, they sent you home all because you underestimated how the Knicks were gonna come. And I love that because this happens in our lives. People underestimate us all the time. In your regular season, people are gonna see you. They're gonna see what you do. They're gonna be, oh, that's cute. Oh, she got her little thing going. She got she, you know, people like the Knicks have gotten better. The Knicks, you know, the Knicks is decent. People will see you and think, oh, you're decent. You've gotten better. All the while, you are about to come with something that they can't even fathom. I thought it was beautiful that Atlanta went out of their way to play the Knicks and got spanked. Which leads me to my second lesson.

Losing Twice Still Works

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You can lose back to back and still be on track. So, in that same series with Atlanta, the Knicks lost two games. They lost the first two games. They were down to one by game four. And people were like, oh, here we go. See, this is the Knicks. They made it to the playoffs, but they people were sad. New Yorkers included, we were like, what is happening? Why are we losing? And we lost the games to such close margins. It was just very, very frustrating. And after the Knicks won game three of that series, they went on a 13-game, including that game, 13-game winning streak, longest in playoff history. Those two games barely even matter. Those two games, they're only one of two teams to win against the Knicks in the playoffs at all. The Knicks only lost three games in the entire playoff series by a total of six points, all three games. So they never got blown out. They never got spanked. They won, I believe, every road game that they played. Hello, somebody. Hello. Those two losses meant nothing. What they did do, I believe, was serve as a lesson to the Knicks that this is not how we want to feel. This is not how we want to feel. This is not how we want our fans to feel, and we are gonna do something about it. And I believe that this is such a great lesson for us because in life, you might you might lose a time or two. You might go down a time or two. Things might not work out the way you want a time or two. But it does not have to dictate how the rest of your season playoffs go. You can decide, okay, we lost, but I'm not staying down. I'm going to get back up. I'm going to give my fans, my family, my friends what they deserve. And that's exactly what the Knicks did. After those two losses, baby, they got up, they turned the heat up, and they spanked everybody. And I really believe that they did this for themselves, but also to give their fans and supporters what they deserved. Which leads me to my next point. The

Supporters Cannot Be Blocked

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third thing I learned from the Knicks winning in five is that no one can stop the people that God has placed in your life to cheer you on. After the Knicks beat the pants off the Atlanta Hawks, they went on to play the Philadelphia 76ers. In a press conference, Joe M from the 76ers pretty much begged the citizens of the great state of Philadelphia not to sell their tickets to Knicks fans. He said, I don't want the arena to feel like MSG East. So please don't sell your tickets. I know some of y'all need money. I got you. He offered the General Pop his own money just so that they wouldn't sell their tickets to Knicks fans because it is clear in the league that the Knicks fans travel, that the Knicks celebrity role travels, and that if you're that close to New York, Philly, if you're that close to New York, oh, the New York fans are coming. So not only did he offer to help them, they went on to block New York fans from purchasing tickets on Ticketmaster saying that you had to have a Philadelphia zip code to purchase tickets. And as God as my witness, my best friend Jasmine can tell you, the day he said that in the press conference, I called, I said, they're gonna lose. I said, Philly's gonna lose. Now I didn't know they was gonna get swept. But I knew they would lose because that is a loser mentality. I have news for you. If someone needs to block other people from helping you, from cheering you on, from saying good things about you, from giving you recommendations, from bigging you up in any kind of way, they are already lost. They're already beneath you, they're already behind you. You don't ever have to worry about anyone who is actively trying to stop the people who cheer for you from cheering for you. You don't have to ever worry about someone who is actively trying to stop the people who support you from supporting you. They're going to lose. I knew it. God is my witness. You can ask my husband, you can ask James. I said, Oh, they're gonna lose. They have a defeated mindset. For you to get on national television and beg your fans to come and to be louder than Knicks fans, you've already lost. You already believe that the Knicks have better fans than you and that those fans, if they're allowed in the building, are going to affect how you play. You lost here first. And let me tell you something. If you have anybody in your life who is trying to block any supporters of you, who is who is not only not cheering for you, who is opposed to you and trying to make other people oppose you, they've already lost. Philly went on to be swept in that series. And we did indeed turn their stadium into Madison Square Garden East. So much so that the celebrity row of Madison Square Garden had all New York celebrities in it. I think the only Philadelphia celebrity that they showed was Alan Iverson, right? That's the only person rep in Philly that they showed. And me and my friends would be like, well, where are the celebrities in these other states? Because every time they showed celebrities at a game, no matter if it was home or away, it was New York supporters. As time went on for the Philly series, for the Cav series, you would be watching these away games, and the home team would miss a free throw and the whole stadium would cheer. And me and my husband would just go, is that many Knicks fans in Cleveland? Is that many Knicks fans in San Antonio right now? Like you really could hear the Knicks fans in every arena. There's a host of angels around you. Real talk. I know, I know. I y'all like that's too deep. No, it's very real. There's a host of angels supporting you, surrounding you, cheering you on. And if you can't hear them, it's because you're not listening. It's because you're not listening. You know, of course, there were some fans in the stands cheering for the home team. Of course. But I bet you those Nick players were listening to their fans to get them out of the deficits that they had found themselves in. You gotta allow yourself to hear the cheers and play for the people who are there to see you, not focus on the people who aren't. I had so much pride watching these games and seeing how no matter what state the Knicks went to, the fans went. And my husband and I would look up tickets. I'm actually really mad we didn't go to Philly because I had seen this is before they swept two teams in a row. So there was still some reasonable tickets out there, especially if you traveled. And there were some like floor seats for like 300 bucks in Philly, and we didn't go. I really wish we did, but we didn't. And um, I felt so much pride just seeing all those Knicks jerseys in the stands, seeing the Knicks fans out in the streets. I know that it brought a sense of purpose to those Knicks players because they had to know man, our fans have traveled all the way here. Let's not let them down. I think that the Knicks winning away so much had a lot to do with the fans, with the fans traveling, with the fans showing up. You know, and you would think this is an unlikely scenario, but it's not. There are some places that you're gonna be. Nobody in those places should be chairing for you, but you're gonna look up and you're gonna see somebody helping you. You're gonna see somebody recommending you, you're gonna see an ally, you're gonna see a friend, you're gonna see somebody help giving you giving you games, saying, Don't do that, do that, in a place where nobody should be cheering for you, because that's how God works. And when I look at the Knicks fans sitting in the stands in every away game, when I looked at A-list celebrities sitting in the fourth and fifth and sixth row, because those stadiums would not sell them floor seats, I thought to myself, nobody can stop who God has placed in your life to cheer you on, to inspire you, and to help you get over difficult hurdles. Those comebacks when the Knicks were down, I'm quite sure them looking over and seeing a Spike Lee, seeing a Timothy Chalamet, seeing a Fat Joe, seeing a Tracy Morgan, seeing their alumni, the Knicks who have played in the past, I'm sure it inspired them in a way that nothing else could have. It's so important that you remember that wherever you go, you have an army behind you that is supporting you, that is cheering for you, and that 100% believes you can win. So much so that they put their money where their mouth is and have traveled to see you do so. It inspires me because in my life I have so many people who believe in me and who have sacrificed and who have, you know, put put their money where their mouth was to support me. And I tell you, when I am feeling low and I'm feeling like I don't know what I'm doing, my career is not doing, I think about those people. Not so much because I don't want to let them down, that's in there, but more so because I want to give them a reason to celebrate. And I believe that the New York Knicks wanted to give this city and their fans a reason to celebrate. The fourth

Numbers Beat Opinions

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thing I learned is that what people believe about you does not matter because the numbers don't lie. Okay. The Knicks, people still are making excuses for why these other teams didn't win. Oh, James Harden talking about, oh well, analytically, we were the better team. How does that work? You got swept. There's no analytic around that. Analytically, you got swept. Analytically, you're you went home after four games. Analytically, you went home with your tail between your legs. Analytically, Jalen Brunson gave you the business. That's what happened analytically, right? The Spurs went on to talk about we were the better team, you know, we played better than them. Yeah, but you got beat in five games. And the Knicks, again, the games that they lost total in three games, they lost by six points total. So if you were so much of a better team, why didn't you blow them out at least once? Why didn't you ever beat them at home? Three of the five games in that series were in your house. And you lost all three of them, including the one that ended your season. But you're a better team than the Knicks. This lets me know that no matter what you do, people that don't want to admit to your greatness will not do it. But that's okay because the numbers don't lie. You gotta do, uh, you know, it also makes me just realize and further believe that you gotta do what you're doing. One, because you love it, and two, for the people who love you. Because if your desire is to prove people wrong and for people to see, you know, Jalen talks a lot about Jalen Brunson, talks a lot about being, you know, counted out and people not seeing his potential and whatever, whatever. But the bottom line is people still are counting him out. People are still talking crazy. You may get a couple of apologies, might be a Draymond Green, Stephen A, somewhere saying, Man, I was wrong about you, but there are still people. His own father said he wasn't the greatest Nick. Whatever, right? We all we all can have our opinions. But at the end of the day, you're not gonna change everybody's mind. Even if you do accomplish the thing, even if you do get the degree, even if you do get the contract, even if you do make the money, get the car, get the house, get the wife, get the husband. Even if you do do those things, people will say, Oh, that only happened because of this. That wouldn't happen if that. I still deserve a more, I'm still more talented than him. You gotta do it because you love it. You gotta do it for the people who love and support you. Because the truth of the matter is people will believe what they wanna believe about you, but the numbers don't lie. I don't care what any Spurs, Cavs, Philly, or Atlanta fan has to say about the next. You know why? Because y'all lost. It doesn't matter what you think. It doesn't matter what you think about Jalen. It doesn't matter what you think about Kat. It doesn't matter what you think about An and O. It doesn't matter they spanked you. Try again next year. Try again next year. And listen, the way the NBA is now, a different team is winning every year. So who's to say another team won't win next year? But this year, you lost. So it doesn't matter what you have to say. It really takes a strong mind to understand that no matter what you prove, people will still doubt you if they don't want to believe. It takes a strong mind to understand that there is no proving your way out of someone who doesn't believe in your greatness. It doesn't matter. It does not matter. They will give you a little, yeah, I see you, but yeah, well. They did it this time. Let's see next year. You know, at the end of the day, I pray and hope that the Knicks did it for their fans and for their family and for themselves. Because there's still people, after all they've proven, all the records that they have broken, there are still people who don't think they deserve the respect of even a handshake at the end of the game. You know, I had people arguing in my comments on threads about, you know, players shaking hands and players not needing to shake hands. And I just thought to myself, where are we that we think it is okay for professional athletes who make millions of dollars to be unprofessional? But this is what will happen. If people don't feel like you deserve what you have, they think it's okay to disrespect you. But that doesn't matter because the numbers don't lie. Did the Knicks prove people wrong? Yes. Did Jalen Brunson specifically prove people wrong? Absolutely. Are all those people gonna say that they were wrong and change how they feel about Brunson? Even if they say they're wrong. Is he gonna now become their favorite player? No. And this is why you can't live your life trying to prove to your mama who said you wasn't nothing, and your daddy who said you wasn't gonna make it, and that teacher who said, you can't live your life that way. Yes, that can be some fuel. That can be some fuel, some motivation, but you can't live your life to prove them wrong. Because at the end of the day, whatever they think about you, one is more a reflection of themselves than it is of you. But two, probably won't change at all or by very much, no matter what you do. Do it for yourself, do it for the people who love you, do it for the Lord, and enjoy the fruits of your labor because you know you did something from your heart and you gave something your all.

Doubt Then Do Something

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And last but not least, a quote from our MVP, Jalen Brunson. He was asked, I think by Shaquille O'Neill, Charles Barkley, you know, they said, Listen, we know you're a fighter, you we we know you guys come back, but when you were down, was there ever a time you doubted? And Jalen Brunson said something that I think is so just good for life. He said, Yeah, yeah, there's a moment I doubt it. You're allowed to think of the worst possible scenario, but you gotta go out there and do something about it. And this is my fifth and final lesson from watching the Knicks win in five. You're allowed to think of the worst possible scenario. You're allowed to say, man, this is not going well. But then you gotta get up and do something about it. And the reason that this resonates so much with me is because I don't know if it's because I'm a woman. I don't know if it's because of the season of life I'm in, but I can struggle with ruminating on what can go wrong. I've shared about this in previous episodes. I can struggle with thinking about the worst possible scenario and why something won't work out. And sometimes I can get really down on myself and guilt myself out about that and make myself feel like you're just not faithful enough and you don't trust God enough. And I think there's some of that in there. There's things I need to work on spiritually, and I am working on them. But you are allowed, especially when something is actually not going well. We don't live in a fairy land. Sometimes things ain't going the way you want them to go. And you are allowed to think of the worst possible scenario, but then you have to get up and do something about it. You know, this really resonates with me right now because there are parts of my career that I'm really fighting to change, fighting to help grow, fighting to be different. And I'm asking myself, honestly, and I gotta be honest, since the next one, like, okay, but today, what are you getting up and doing about that? What are you gonna get up and do about that today? That's what I'm asking myself to make myself step into the comeback, the proverbial comeback that I feel like I want to have in this stage in my career. You know, the Knicks were down to to start the that's how they started the playoffs. Down to that's not how you want to start the playoffs. But then they did what they had to do about it. Went on a 13-game winning streak, lost one game, won the other, won the next, and closed out their season as champions. That 29-point deficit that they were in in game, I believe, what four of the uh finals, where OG hit the tipping that just the the shot her around the world, right? Down by 29, largest comeback in finals history. They went and they did something about it. They could have easily, especially in that game, Josh Hart missed the open layup. They could have easily hung their heads and said, you know what, we we'll just go down two. It'll be two and two. We'll go back to San Antonio and regroup there. But no, they decided to do something about that deficit. And my husband and I watched that game. We screamed, we ran around the house, the building was shaking. You could see the camera shaking. MSG was going crazy because they decided to do something about it. That game, I believe, won them the series. I really do believe that. I told my husband, whoever wins game four is probably gonna win this series because it would have given the Spurs two and two. So it pretty much starts y'all back at zero. And I think it would have deflated the Knicks because it would have been two losses in the garden at home. And I really do believe that it would have made the Knicks possibly doubt their streak that they had before. Sometimes you are fighting for your life and you don't even know it. You're fighting for the win that will help you believe you can still win. And I really believe in that game when OG tipped that ball in, it made the city and the team believe and know that we're about to close this series out. Everyone was talking to the city like, we can't lose. We're three and one, three to one right now. We can't lose. We're gonna win this series, even if it does go to a game seven, they're not about to beat us three times in a row. Like that they're gonna lose. We knew it. We believed it with everything in us. Why? Because although the Knicks are being faced with the worst possible scenario, they did something about it. In this series, the Spurs led in every game. There was not one game that the Spurs did not have a significant lead. I think the smallest lead they had was 14, if I'm not mistaken. Spurs had significant leads in every game. Knicks fought back every game except for one and beat that team and won the finals in five after sweeping two teams in a row. Amazing history-making playoff run. But it was not given to them. Let's not, we can't even get into the refs. That was another lesson I wrote down. The refs, man, uh, uh, but it just goes to show you no weapon formed against you shall prosper. I'm telling y'all, it's like it's basketball, it's not that deep. It is. There are lessons you can learn from these things. But I really enjoyed this series, and my biggest takeaway is that no matter how bad a scenario can get, no matter how bad I'm down, I'm gonna do something about it. There are plenty of times that the Knicks could have hung their head in fear and worry. They could have let doubt creep in. They could have said, Well, we've done the best we can. This is the best the Knicks team has done in a long time. They could have settled for this is the best that someone's done in a while. It's better than last year. It's better than the teams before. They could have settled, but they said, No, we're gonna do something about this. And I gotta be honest with you, this has given me a new outlook. It's

Faith Memories And A Challenge

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certainly the way that I want to live my life. As I said before, there were several other lessons that I could have talked about. Many things I learned from this series. Watching my New York Knicks. Uh, these are memories that will go down in history for me. Uh, my husband and I, this is our first NBA series that we were this into together since we've been married. Um, watching every game, I made game night super special. I'd make special treats and desserts and good dinners, and we just hung out. We didn't even go to like any bars or any, you know, places to watch games. We watched the games at home. Uh, we did have my brother-in-law, his girlfriend, and his beautiful daughter over to watch one of the games. But for the most part, we watched the games at home and just had a good time um making memories with each other. And it was so much fun because when the Knicks would win a game, which was most of the games, we would just the the feeling of the house was just so beautiful. And uh these are times I will cherish. Obviously, us getting up in the middle of the night and going all the way to 34th Street and walking the streets for two hours will always be a core memory of mine. I took video, maybe I'll insert some video uh here, but I am so elated by this next win. I pray that it's a start to an amazing summer in the city. Let me know in the comments some of the lessons that you learned from this series, some of the things that you took away, some of the things that made you laugh, made you smile, or even made you think deeply. On this podcast, my encouragement is always that we walk through our God-given doors, that we don't wait for an imaginary permission slip or some seat at an imaginary table. The Knicks certainly walked through their doors. Their chance, their belief this season was that it is written. They believed that they were chosen to win this series and they went on and did just that. Imagine what you could do if you believed it was written. If you believed that you were supposed to win, if you decided that no matter what the worst-case scenario looks like, you were gonna do something about it. I think you'd walk through some doors. I think you'd live some blessings, and I think you'd see some dreams come true. I hope this episode inspired you. And if you loved it, please go ahead and share it with a friend. Let somebody that you love know how much you love this podcast. If you're listening on Holy Culture Serious XM channel 140, 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on a Monday night, we thank you for listening there. If you're watching on their YouTube, we thank you for watching there. And if you're watching on my YouTube, I thank you so much for watching here. Please make sure to subscribe. Make sure you hit the notification bell so that you don't miss any of our upcoming content because I would love for you to see everything we're doing here on the list speaks channel. Listen, I'm grateful for your time, grateful for your participation, and I'm grateful for the New York Knicks winning the 2026 championship. I love you. Hope to see you back next time. Same time, same place. Peace.