June 17, 2022 • 39 mins
On today’s edition of Straight Outta Vegas with RJ Bell, RJ and AJ Hoffman recap what happened in the NBA Finals as the Warriors win their 4th title in 8 years. Where does Steph Curry rank amongst the best ever to play the game? Plus, the Vegas crew discusses the leaderboard from Round 2 of the US Open!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm a J. Hoffman with r J Bell for the
sports betting headlines for Friday. The Golden State Warriors dominate
the Celtics Game six in Boston. They win and cover
as four point underdogs. They win their fourth title in
the last eight years. Will break it down. Point guard
Steph Curry scores thirty four points in the close out game,
winning his first finals m v P. Where does this
(00:23):
put him in the all time great conversation? And Phil
Mickelson Mrs D cut at the US Open colin Morrikawa.
Leading as we approach the end of day two, here
comes a full hour of the Vegas Truth covering all
that and more. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio.
This is straight out of Vegas with the Voice of Vegas,
(00:47):
your host r J of the pregame show America has
always wanted from the Vegas Drift. Here's r J Bow.
(01:23):
I'm a J Hoppin with r J Bell, live in
Las Vegas, live on a Friday on FSR stations across
this great great nation. It is a close out Friday.
The NBA season has come to an end. Mr Vegas himself,
the Voice of Vegas, r J Bell, joining me on Friday,
r J, how are you today? Pretty good? Pretty good?
(01:45):
It sounds like you might be like already having a
few drinks before the weekend. I did not get started
early on that, but I did. I did have a
tongue twister. Yes, yes, says tongue twist. Respect what you do,
Respect what you do? I say, all right, well, listen
to me. This is an important day, because, let's be candid,
(02:07):
there's days that are less important than others. And hey,
the NBA is over. Hey football is their own vacation.
And there may be days that we get a chance
to talk about some stuff. We always say, that's a
good June conversation, right, something that isn't topical. I think
today's show is one of the most important of the
(02:29):
year when it comes to what are we going to
take away from it, which is about one thing to me,
what teams? What type of team can win the NBA title.
There's eighty two games in the regular season, thirty teams,
A lot of games get played, a lot of games
even before the playoffs start. That's all just to eliminate
(02:52):
I guess you could say playing there's ten teams in
each conference that are still viable after the regular season,
So that means there's twenty teams still fighting for these
last couple of playoffs spots and ten teams eliminated. It
only got ten teams eliminated in all those games. Then
there's the playoffs, right, which eliminates some play ins quick,
(03:14):
and then it's a seven game series. First round is
not five anymore, No, it's seven. And now we're here,
and you know what, a vast majority of teams could
never get here if everything falls right right. The Cleveland
Calves had a really impressive uptick this season. They were
(03:37):
significantly better than they were the year before. We could
name other teams, the Pelicans, the Bulls, teams that you
know weren't really competitive last year, but we're competitive this year.
How far away are either any of those teams to
a title? And usually that answer is depressing or it's
(04:00):
very let's say selective, because there's not many teams entering
a given year that have the ability, even if everything
falls right, to win it. And the best day to
kind of assess, well, what is those quality? What are
those qualities to win it? Is now we get the
best perspective on when it takes to win. And my
(04:22):
big tease for this show being so important will be
the following that what Boston didn't have tells a massive
part of this story, an important part of the story,
and it makes you wonder, can this team, the Boston
team as presently constituted, meaning with the majority of the
key contributions coming from existing players on the team, even
(04:45):
if they do get a little bit better or a
little bit worse as a age, can that that Boston
team win a title? I thought they could. I'm really
questioning that now. And I think the final thing that's
so amazing about today's conversation is how unlike most champions
Golden State has been and how shocking it is the
(05:06):
Golden State has won this title because I would say
most of the time, if not all the time, up
to this point, gold State doesn't have the qualities on
a team to win a title. And now what do
we learn from the fact that they have one. It's
a pretty good show, a jah, I think so, And
I think with whatever you think of Golden State's roster,
and I know you don't think too highly of it, beyondes,
(05:27):
make the case make the case that they that they
that I well, let's start there. Let's start there, all right,
My point will be, this is Steph Curry entering the playoffs.
And listen here here's the little hint. Go to the
back of the book, the teacher's edition, a gold State one.
(05:48):
So anything saying that Golden State can't win doesn't work anymore. Okay,
now we've got to figure out why how did they win?
Is there something about this Golden State team that we
didn't see and we were thinking, oh, they were one thing,
but they're actually something else? And I actually think that's
what this is. I think Steph Curry in short bursts
(06:10):
at his current age, can play as well as you
need the number one player on the team to play
to win a title. One of the most basic premises
of what does it take to win a championship is
you need a guy that can put you on his
back if need be. Now, what is putting on his back? Well,
just think of Tatum last night. But then the opposite, okay,
(06:33):
because that is literally the opposite a guy that maybe
put up some okay numbers, but he's sitting off by himself.
He's staring off into the distance. It's like the thousand
yards stare of Vietnam vets I mean, he did not
look like a guy that was putting anyone on his back.
And what we saw with Curry in Game four specifically
was and I think that is the place to start,
(06:55):
is how different is Curry than maybe we thought? And
is it just a matter of Curry can do it
for a month here or a month there, and you
know what, maybe that's enough if you have a deep team. Yeah,
and we've we broke down earlier before and earlier in
these playoffs what kind of player it takes. And you
want to have one of the top five ten guys
in the league, an elite player specific it's not a
(07:15):
top ten guy, it's a top five guy. It's a
top five guy. You're right, I mean, because we can
get into the Jimmy Butler. Can Jimmy Butler win it? Well,
we can all celebrate how how tough he seems to be,
but he's never come close, So I don't know, right,
And in this this season, Jason Tatum was voted as
one of the top five players in the NBA. Steph
(07:36):
Curry last season was but was not on that list
this year. But that's where I think it comes down
to a guy who's been there who's done it, who's
experiences before, He's not overwhelmed by the moment. If that's
the case, though, how because he's gonna be I think
the real stunner in this conversation that golingd State when
they won their first title the year after Mark Jackson
(07:58):
Steve Kurr's first year, that title was very unusual and
that the team didn't go knocking on the door, then
pounding on the door and then bursting through the door
or busting through the door bum Phillips. Bum Phillips from
the Houston Oilers was a nemesis of the Steeler. I
(08:19):
guess kind of vice versa, right termine, if you're a
little aunt, you're not the nemesis of the owner of
the house. It's vice versa. The Steelers owned the house
and bum Phillips had. He had Earl Campbell famously and
Dan Pastorini and for three straight uh or for multiple
straight conference championships. They played Pittsburgh one and bum Phillips said,
(08:42):
first year, we knocked on the door, Second year, we
pounded on the door. Third year, we're gonna knock that
door in. Well, they never did. But the fact of
the matter is that's how it works in the NBA.
Typically think about Jordan's right, all right, good enough to
put up sixty three against Boston, but then eiminated by Boston.
You know three oh in that case, okay, okay, Pistons
(09:06):
play competitive series with them, but they get knocked finally
vanquished the Pistons. It took multiple years to get past
the Pistons. Then it took the Pistons multiple years to
get past the Celtics. Right the idea, I'm sorry to
check that. The Lakers in the finals. It's just it's
usually you get introduced, you do something amazing, you get beat,
(09:27):
you go home, you put on the Rocky three music,
you're training your It's really like a movie. The NBA
has been like a movie where they get introduced. But
what happened with Golden State? They lost the first playoff
series uh the year before with Mark Jackson, they changed
coaches entering the year to one a long shot, and
they win a title, and quite frankly, no one could
(09:51):
believe it. So I would make the case that Golden
State is very unusual in their first title came out
of nowhere. And I would make the case their last
tied old, which is the most recent one last night.
It is very unusual too, because you don't usually get
that last wave goodbye in the NBA. Think about the
Lakers against the Pistons, right, it was like, Okay, we
(10:13):
got Karl Malone, we got Gary Payton, We're gonna have
one last kind of valid victory championship before we have
to split this team up. Right, they make the finals
and what they get run off the floor by the Pistons.
You think about the heat there last year with Lebron
in the Big Three. All right, they just beat the Spurs.
The year before, they get the finals again, there's rumors
(10:34):
Lebron might be leaving. They get run off the floor.
I mean, Lebron was in his prime and they got
run off the floor by the Spurs. So I want
to make the question to start is we know there's
very few times young kids crashed the party and win
the title. But Gold States started this dynasty run with
(10:55):
that accomplishment. And now we've got something equally unusual, which
is a team that's veteran, that has an older player
as the best player, whose core is very old relative
to the league, but somehow they win this last title
as a way of goodbye. Perhaps how I mean, look
at the list of the champions, when has that happened?
(11:18):
It doesn't happen, And you can maybe count the Spurs
last title, but they had a young Kauai who was
coming up when Tim Duncan was riding off into the sunset.
That's not necessarily the case with this team I watched that.
I would say the last time I watched the team
closely enough to know, like I can tell you how
the ninth player plays in a certain spot was that
(11:38):
Spurs team. And you could make the case that Tim
Duncan was the fourth best player on that team. That
that that that was Duncan was still a viable player.
He certainly contributed, but and no one's to say what
the locker room effect was, meaning he was the sheriff
of the locker room by all accounts. But it wasn't
(12:00):
just Kauai. It was Parker, it was Genobly, it was
that was it was Dial that was the That was
the a team in a way that you rarely see
NBA teams be a team. So I would say it's
a great team to identify that Spurs team that ran
Miami off the floor. But they were very unusual, and
(12:21):
I would say they're the exception approves the rule. Other
than that, you know, but that was a very young team. Well,
you know what's funny is Parker was young still physics
or age wise, but he was broken down. But let's
accept that's a great one a j to say, Hey,
that seems different. But let's set set them aside and
say who else, who else has had? And let's go
(12:42):
to Mackenzie on this who else has had kind of
a valid victory type? Hey, high school is over, I'm
gonna be homecoming king one last time. I'm gonna wait
at you guys, and I'm heading off into the sunset.
It doesn't happen very much as much as the last
dance feels like that's what that was with Jordan. It wasn't.
It wasn't it was. I mean, it might have been
(13:02):
a little bit for Jordan's though he still won the
m v P of the entire league. Usually, if you
win the m v P of the entire league, you're
not on your last legs, right, So Mackenzie, can you
think of an older team that gets this kind of
last championship? No, I can't think of one. I was
gonna say the repeat three peat Bulls, but like you said,
(13:23):
very different situation with the greatest player of all time,
but not only the greatest player of all time, but
one by all accounts. I mean, you listen for anyone
that wants to question Jordan's isn't like in a different
universe and Lebron's not even in that universe. If you
haven't seen it, because I'm assuming you haven't, or you
wouldn't be even saying it is, go watch the last
(13:44):
two minutes of George's last game with the Bulls, which
happened to be in the title round against this Jazz,
and it was a situation where literally at the end
of the game, the Bulls had a stop score stop
score champion, and in each of the cases, literally Jordan
(14:04):
was at the helm of it, stripping the ball. I
mean it's like he was. It was like a player.
It was like you're you're beaten your older brother in
a race to eleven and you got ten and now
you can't get a shot up. And literally that's what
Jordan was able to do at the end of that game.
Pippen was nothing that series or that whole year To
be candid. Jordan carried that team. So to say, now,
(14:25):
was that a bit much for him after a threep
and maybe the next year he would have had trouble,
who knows, But that is not an example of a
fading player, you know, getting one last title. And I
would make the case with Curry that that's what we're seeing.
We're seeing an all time great who, in my opinion,
has stepped up into another level. This championship puts him
(14:48):
in another level. And and and I'm not a big
Curry lover, so I'm gonna look square in the eye
of that fact and give him a ton of credit.
But this is a play that couldn't stay healthy for
extended period. I mean, he missed what the last four
weeks before the playoffs started, and he missed what about
six weeks in between, like de Center in January. Yeah, yeah,
(15:14):
So I mean this is a guy that that that
you could make the case and Spurts can be the
best player on a team. He did more than that.
He was the best player on this team the entire playoffs.
Didn't miss one game, And to me, it all comes
down to Game four. All comes they're down to one
playing in Boston. If they lose that game, how optimistic
(15:37):
can you be a j You can't be at all. Yeah,
Like even I said, if they lose that game, the
series was over. And if and I'm as big of
a Warriors fan as you'll call out uh regularly you've
called out in these playoffs as anyone, But I agree,
that's that's where guys who are in that all time
great conversation, that's where they make their hey because if
(15:58):
Steph Curry loses that game and they lose is that series.
It's another chink in the armor that people will poke
at and say, but he couldn't do this when when
things were against him. So I here, let's do this
because I think we've done a great job of setting
the scene of what is at stake here, which is
I believe the Golden State is going to be a
team we look back on and say they won a
(16:19):
first title before they were really ready, which meant at
a heck of an accomplishment, right. And number two, they
won a last title that they're not supposed to typically win,
and that's historic. And I think that now that we
got that framed, we can dig into the specifics of
this year. And to be candid, I think that the
(16:40):
conversation then has to go to Boston, and the opposite is,
does Tatum lack what you would need to be a champion?
I don't want to be hot takey, but I think
that's a real conversation, and I think maybe take our
first commercial and then we jump right back in. He's
r J. Bell, I'm a J. Hoffman. This is the
pregame show you've always wanted, right yere on Fox Sports Radio.
(17:04):
Be sure to catch live editions of Straight out of
Vegas weekdays at six pm Eastern three pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app with
even again A J. Hoffman and r J. Bell. We
(17:25):
are Straight out of Vegas on This is the fastest
growing show on Fox Sports Radio. That's because of you.
Spread in the word. You can listen on the I
Heart Radio app just for search for Straight out of Vegas.
Here on the strip one hundred and three degrees. The
neon is blinking, you know, Aj. It surprised me a
little bit once again when you said it's because of you.
(17:45):
I thought you were talking about me again, And I
don't know. It's It's funny. We all have instincts, right like,
like imagine that you know, you've known heavy set guys
growing up, right, like the like eat. Imagine with a
guy like that, you hand him a piece of pizza
when they're like asleep, they're gonna kind of stir up.
(18:05):
They're gonna open their eyes and see the pizza. And
then then there's certain people it's gonna set it aside,
and certain people are gonna shove in their mouth. Right,
I'm not sure where you're going with that, but listen,
don't try to guess where I'm going. Just just okays
are Honestly, you know, there's some I'm the type that
here you say, hey, it's because of you, and I'm
(18:25):
thinking he's talking about me, and you know, there you go.
That's a double entendre. It works both ways. All right. Now, listen,
let's do this because during the break we had a
really I think good conversation. We want to just let's
share it is everyone's been looking at the champions in
(18:46):
the list of them and it's like, man, you're right.
And my point being to repeat from the first segment
that this Gold State team is going to have two
very rare elements to it, which is they won their
first title before a team typically wins their tight they
were the young kids crashing the party and they somehow
(19:06):
won the title that would have been the first one obviously,
and then they had this middle time when they became
the enemy in some ways, became the team that had
too much. The rich kid whose parents are you know,
got the country club membership, and Molly Ringwald wants to
date one of them because she thinks she sees something
(19:27):
nice in him, but no, his name's James Spader and
he's not nice. It kind of had that feel to it,
And you know what, I didn't really appreciate those teams
too much, and I still don't. I'm of the belief
that if you have a championship team that you built
around you, that's awesome. You want to do it in
a modern way, which is free agency, where that's awesome.
(19:50):
But when you were the main competition of someone as
Oklahoma City was against Golden State at the time, and
then you say, I'm gonna go over and be with Russia.
Forget the United States, I'm gonna be with Russia. I
don't care if it's vice versa either. I don't care
if you're the number one person over in Russia and
you come over to the US to be one of ours. Again.
(20:13):
We're not talking about geopolitical stuff from the eighties here
for real. But in truth, I would like having that,
you know, Boris or whatever come over, you know, because
I want more champions on our side if we're fighting
a war. But I'm not gonna think he's our guy.
I'm gonna think yeah. But with cou coach there ones that,
(20:35):
you know, he was finally getting the NBA. It's kind
of hard. That's one of the beauties of having the
best stuff in America is typically they want to come
over here because listen, take a look at the Americans
versus overseas players in the NBA now, and you can
see this is a world league, right and and I
love that it is because we get the benefit from
it in America. But in general, I didn't like what
(20:58):
Durant did because he said, I don't want to fight
as hard. I want to go over here and win
and not have to fight as hard. Now, maybe that
wasn't what was in his mind, but it sure was
what was in my mind, and most a lot of
people's mind got most people's minds, I think, And I
was gonna ask you did this did last night's win
for the Warriors impact Durant's long term legacy as much
(21:20):
as anybody who wasn't on the floor. I think this
is what it fairly did. It made it even less
competitive between Steph and Durant because Durant was the best
player in the world at the time he was. I mean,
you're again, I don't think you're related to Steph Curry.
(21:41):
Are You're not actually related? Are you know? Blood? Okay? No,
just spiritually is. But you but you understood that Durant
was the better player even back then, right, yes, okay,
I think that was unequivocally true. And the fact that
the Warriors and Owen State fan base still looked at
(22:01):
Steff as the guy by all accounts, is one of
the things that that caused Durant to want to leave
and have his own team. You had your own team
by the way, in Oklahoma City. But okay, is to
me there was a sense of who's one A, who's
one or you know, who's one A, who's one B
(22:22):
with Durant and staff. But in hindsight, it was Durant
not being the top dog. And I think now you've
gotta start questioning if we made an all time list,
and we do that. That's what the NBA does NonStop
in our minds. Right, where's Jordan, where's you know? Uh? Kareem? Right,
(22:43):
where's Lebron? Well, to me, I got staff, I had
a Durant right now. I think you have to because well,
most people were. First of all, most people wouldn't. Well, now,
Steph has proven that he didn't need Kevin Durant to
win titles, and Kevin Durant as yet to prove that
he can win titles without Steph Curry. I agree. I
mean that's factually correct, and you could put that on
(23:07):
a fortune cookie and it would still be equally correct.
It doesn't mean people think that the step is better
than Durant. I think that he's never been better on
the floor. It's hard to think of one given year
that he was better on the floor. And I still
don't think he is. But I think he's had a
better career. You know, his heights haven't been at no point.
(23:29):
Could you say I know about no point? Well, that's
an interesting question. Mckennick. Step did win two MVP Awards,
so two times people thought he was the best player
in the league. Well, under that theory that means Karl
alone was better than Jordan's. I mean, I think we
all know with the m v P that that people
get tired of voting for the same guy. Uh. And
I'm not saying it's even the case where that would
(23:50):
have been applicable with Durant versus Well, I'm confused that
I said, excuse me, I'm still recovering. I said, Durant
clearly was better than Steph pretty much at every stage,
and you said, I agree, But if anything, Steph's m
VP was right around was the year before Durant came
so no better? Well you asked if if I thought
(24:13):
when they were on the same team that that Kevin
Durant was the better player at that time, And I
do think that Kevin Durant was a better player at
that time. And when did Curry win its two m
v ps? But wasn't the first year the last year
without Durant? And then let's McKennis take a gander at that. Yeah,
it was the year. It was the year they won
the title, and then the year they lost the title
(24:34):
to the Calves the next year. Those were two MVP years.
Katie came the third year after that, Okay, So what
you're saying is that there were two years agoing State
was competitive to win a title before Durant, and the
first one was they won the title. That was the
new kids knocking down the door early. Okay, great, and
that was Steve Kerr's first year. That was an m
VP regular season for Steff. Next year, same thing. They
(24:58):
won seventy three games and then they got beat when
they were up three one. There was the kick in
the groin and etcetera, etcetera, and then uh, the Calves
won their title. Okay, so we coming in Durant went
to a team with a two time defending m v
P Steph And you're saying at the time Durant was better.
(25:21):
So didn't you just invalidate the whole m v P
right there? Which I agree it should be invalidated because
it's not about who the very best player is. But boy,
that seems like a good example of invalidating it. Maybe so, yeah,
maybe so or not? You tell me it's your answer.
Who was better that when they the first time they
played on the same court together, Durant or Curry and Curry?
(25:42):
Who was better on that first that first month? I
would say Durant so and Durant won the MVP the
year before those Warriors won their first titles, so that
would have been three years before though. Yeah, that's what
I'm saying. So maybe the entire time Kevin Durant was
was the better player on the floor, I don't know.
You know, what I know is is if you had
a list, if you had like a timeline from that
(26:06):
time on every month, just a little spot to visually
put something, there's not many months that Staff was the
better player than Durant, I don't think, And but I
think it was close. It was. You know, Durant might
have been the second best player at the time behind
Lebron and uh, you know Steff was maybe third or fourth.
You know, it was like all of them were top
(26:26):
top players. But if you add up all this time,
and let's be honest, before this season, the Golden State
was kind of an embarrassment the last two years. I mean,
after they were the word they were worst team in
the league one of those two years. And you could
say that smart basketball, that's smart basket. You should lose
(26:47):
when you don't have a chance to win the title.
You know, trust the process, Okay, I don't know, right,
But what I know is they did it smart. But
what I know is Steph could have came back from it.
He had a hand injury that he kept him out
for fifteen months or something. I mean, I'm exaggerating a
little bit, but I still remember what the year after
(27:08):
they they lost to Toronto, so it would have been
three years ago. There was a sense of, yeah, lookout
for going state at Clay's good. But staffs this is
his chance to show they can do it like before
Durant was there. Yeah, that lasted what about three weeks?
Then he heard his hand and we never saw him again.
So the point I'm making is, let's not act like that.
(27:29):
This is all just like yep, Staff still as good
as he ever was. No. Staff looked like he was
on his way down and he was going straight to
the basement. And he started this year hot, hot, hot.
And remember last year when there was talking about the
Joker winning, uh the m v P. And when I
say last year, I don't mean the most recent regular season.
I mean the regular season before that. Now, right that
(27:52):
would have ended in twenty one, that would have ended
like yeah that year, Remember Steph got super hot because
he was going for the m v P or i'm sorry,
the three point record or whatever it was. And he
started shooting like no one's business and putting up like
thirty three shots a game, and he ended up putting
up a few forty point nights, and it was like, oh,
look he's gonna surgeon b m v P. What happened?
(28:15):
Oh STEP's hurt? Yeah, he got hurt again. I mean
we've had multiple times now where it was like, now
is the time for Steph to show what he can
do without Durant, without you know, player X y Z
on the team with them, And every time he started
out with intentions, it would seem to show us, look,
(28:38):
this is me by myself, Look what I can do.
And within usually six weeks he's hurt. So does that
diminish what's happened now? No, I think it's maybe the opposite.
I think it makes it more impressive that he could
keep focused, keep healthy and still it is like when
(29:00):
think the Wimbledon, right when you're older, back in the day,
you go there, you win, you're the best player, It
makes sense, Pe Sampras whatever. But when Sampers went and
when the US opened, his last time he won a major,
he was unseated, came in and said, I gotta play
good for six or seven matches, Boom boom, and he
did it and he won. And to me, we can
(29:21):
look at next year's title wards and all that, but
but I think that the fact that this had to
be almost perfectly timed for gold State makes the title
even more impressive. And it gets to the point we've
been saying all along, which is these are unusual titles
when the team isn't dominant, but they can still win it.
And I give Gold State a ton of credit. What's
(29:42):
your thoughts, J. Yeah, you know, Steph Curry did win
the scoring title last year, and like you said, started
off this year like maybe he was gonna do it again,
And then you mentioned the injuries. If we get a
full healthy season of Steph Curry, is it possible that
he still is one of the three or four best
players in the NBA today. We'll the last time we
had a full healthy season from him, it's been now
(30:04):
three years. So when you're gonna be thirty five at
this time next year and the last time you were
like thirty one, yeah, those are some tough years, you know,
I mean, those are important years and listen, you could
what you just said. Let's do this. I'm gonna explain
with the outthrow down like you relax a J. It
is usually I would say, ay, J, you know I'm
(30:27):
not feeling great you no, no, no, this tease is
so good. I just gotta do it this way. I'm
gonna explain to you what a J did right there
that was so wrong. So just pro staff first though.
Be sure to catch live editions of Straight Out of
Vegas weekdays at six pm Eastern, three pm Pacific, Fox
Sports Radio and ma J Houppin. He's the voice of
Vegas r J. Bell. I don't know if you know this, AJ,
(30:50):
but on Friday's were Mr Dan Buyer's last show that
he had stopped. Yeah, last time, so you know he's
got you know how like in high school you have
had your bag all ready to go when the last
class and then and I just thought, would it be
funny if he had to get away early one day
and he prerecorded it and then he you know, So,
(31:11):
there was a movie I think it was called l
a Story where Steve Martin was a a weather man,
but it was in Los Angeles, so the weather was
always the same supposedly, so he prerecorded it, you know, saying,
you know, partly cloudy, high seventies six or whatever. And
but then I'm guessing Dan Buyer would be because he's
a smart guy. That's obvious is he would think that
(31:32):
r J might ask me some questions and then he
would generically have responses ready on the board, like from
you know, like with Jonna, what we would say. Good point,
r J. But I just can't agree, and it doesn't Dad,
You're still here? Is this the real Dan? Or is
this the is this the Dan on tape? Here? Just
Dan tape? See something's funny going on here. But r
(31:56):
J J correct to agree with you. R J. Right again,
r J, that's wrong. You're right, r J. Have a
good weekend. That that was funny. See Dan, Dan's got
more talented, it seems. I think I've never doubted it.
(32:17):
I mean, what I'm saying is if you you don't
think of a news guy is funny, but he's funny.
I mean, let's be honest, he's funny with me. He's
not funny otherwise, but I mean with me, he's funny,
and I think it works all right, a j on
He's r J. Bell. I'm a J. Hoffman. This is
the pregame show you've always wanted right here on Fox
Sports Radio. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk
(32:41):
lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at
Fox sports Radio dot com and within the I Heart
Radio app search f s R to listen live. I'm
(33:01):
a J hoppin with r J. Bell. This is straight
out of Vegas, and we've talked a lot about the
new champion Warriors. We have not talked much about the
Boston Celtics. R J. Yeah, and it should be a
good time. A J. Get the list of next year's
title odds out, because I've got it. I give us
the favorites here because it was set the stage of like,
hey that here's the future. The Warriors are the favorites
(33:23):
at six to one, the Celtics and the Clippers at
seven to one, The Bucks plus seven fifty Nets eight
to one, Sons twelve Sixers, Grizzlies heat fourteen, Mavericks fifteen.
That rounds out your top ten Mavericks fifteen. That's interesting. Okay,
So just to put the bow on Going State, there
(33:46):
were different points during this season when Going States seem
to be like a contender for the title. That the
debate was should going State trade some some future value
a young player most likely um and Wiseman's name comes
(34:06):
up constantly. Should they trade Wiseman for ex player who
can help them today? Yeah, that would have been a
great example of someone that wasn't helping him now injury whatever,
two years in and but someone thinking, hey, there's a
chance that this Wiseman can be as good as you
know whatever. You could even say like a Wiggins or
what I mean not the Wiggins started this slow in
(34:27):
his career, but like a top top player, he just
hasn't found his right team. But Gold State would have
been a better team if they would have had, like say,
a seventh man they could have gotten from that trade.
But the thing about gold State is they got ambitions
of having a dynasty, not just an extended winning period
with the same core player. But that period had been
(34:49):
extended and handed off like a baton to the next
core player. And that's something quiet theory could have been
with san Antonio, but it wasn't. Ultimately, it's hard to
have an extended prime of two different cores. And you know,
you look at the Patriots other than Brady being consistent
through that. That's what they had three or four different
(35:11):
five year periods. But again they had the one guy
Brady throughout the whole thing. Gold States looking to have
a time where Steps retired. He's there at the party
after they win a title. But there's a new core.
And I give Gold States so much credit. They got
the type this last title or maybe last title with
the current core, but they haven't compromised their future. Now.
(35:34):
I don't believe that future happens all at once. I
think there'll be two years or so where there's no
one good enough at Stets very end of his career,
that no one on that team is good enough to
be the guy. But they're transitioning to the next core,
and hopefully someone in that next core for them at
least hopefully they can be someone good enough to be
the best player. They haven't pulled it off yet, but
(35:56):
it does deserve an amazing hat tip to say they
got one an extra title with the old corps and
they haven't compromised the next generation. And to me that's
also an amazing thing. What do you think, a JA
I agree, And and if Jonathan Cominga and Moody and
these guys are anything like what people seem to think
they are. Jordan Poole obviously looks like he's taking a step.
(36:18):
Then you're right. Once Steph Curry goes away, they're still
going to be a really good core of players the
Golden State has. They could continue to be good for
a long time. It will just be a much different
looking team than what we see right now. So the Celtics,
and by the way, it wasn't a perfect day yesterday
with the picks, but I tell you, finding that one spot,
(36:38):
the Celtics were good to bat. I mean they at
the most dominant run of the game. I mean it
looked like, let's be candid, exactly what I said was
they had their marching orders and they knew exactly what
to do for like ten minutes and then they could
then they couldn't after that. I mean, I tell you
a j you were ranting during the break about they
got to get a point guard that can score. They got.
(36:58):
I think it was one thing that the only one
thing that matters for Boston is what happened to Tatum
and at the end in the second half of last
night's game, that was not bad shooting. That was not
um fatigue. That looked like a mental a type of
mental I don't want to say breakdown. It felt like
something was off mentally. My The only question that matters
(37:21):
to me with Boston is what did you think was
happening with Tatum? I think that Jayson Tatum is not
that dude. He's he doesn't like the pressure of having
wins and losses on his shoulders. He wants to defer.
He It makes me feel like Jayson Tatum would be
a really good number two on a championship team. But
he was the question. They had an elimination game on
(37:42):
the road against Milwaukee and he put up forty some
so it's not as if he can't do well when
the pressure is on. And this this wasn't just oh
he didn't shoot again. He looked like he was. It
looked like he was under a type of medical care
or psychological care. He didn't seem like he was engaged
with the game. Did you at the end did you
(38:04):
I mean, in the game was still at stake? What
do you think did you see? I mean he was
staring off into the rafters. Yeah, like, especially once he
felt it looked like he knew the game was over
at one point with about five minutes left and was
just out of it completely. Fez believes that he's got
an injury that we're gonna hear more about as the
assee off season comes on, an injury to his eye
that makes him stay off into the distance. I mean,
(38:25):
to me, we all of this is excusable. The part
that you've got to ask yourself though, is what was
going on with him psychologically. If you can't answer that,
you can't count on him. And I guess what I'm
gonna dig in. I think we'll talk about next week.
If you've been seeing it, today's show, including what makes
these book entitles for Golden States so unique? You can
check out the podcast at Fox Sports Radio dot com.
(38:47):
Back Monday, six eastern, three o'clock Vegas time, the NBA
is over, so we'll dive into some football as well.
He's r J. Bell, I'm a J. Hoffman. We are
straight out of Vegas right here on Fox Sports Radio.
Went out a great game.
I'm a J. Hoffman with r J Bell for the
sports betting headlines for Friday. The Golden State Warriors dominate
the Celtics Game six in Boston. They win and cover
as four point underdogs. They win their fourth title in
the last eight years. Will break it down. Point guard
Steph Curry scores thirty four points in the close out game,
winning his first finals m v P. Where does this
(00:23):
put him in the all time great conversation? And Phil
Mickelson Mrs D cut at the US Open colin Morrikawa.
Leading as we approach the end of day two, here
comes a full hour of the Vegas Truth covering all
that and more. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio.
This is straight out of Vegas with the Voice of Vegas,
(00:47):
your host r J of the pregame show America has
always wanted from the Vegas Drift. Here's r J Bow.
(01:23):
I'm a J Hoppin with r J Bell, live in
Las Vegas, live on a Friday on FSR stations across
this great great nation. It is a close out Friday.
The NBA season has come to an end. Mr Vegas himself,
the Voice of Vegas, r J Bell, joining me on Friday,
r J, how are you today? Pretty good? Pretty good?
(01:45):
It sounds like you might be like already having a
few drinks before the weekend. I did not get started
early on that, but I did. I did have a
tongue twister. Yes, yes, says tongue twist. Respect what you do,
Respect what you do? I say, all right, well, listen
to me. This is an important day, because, let's be candid,
(02:07):
there's days that are less important than others. And hey,
the NBA is over. Hey football is their own vacation.
And there may be days that we get a chance
to talk about some stuff. We always say, that's a
good June conversation, right, something that isn't topical. I think
today's show is one of the most important of the
(02:29):
year when it comes to what are we going to
take away from it, which is about one thing to me,
what teams? What type of team can win the NBA title.
There's eighty two games in the regular season, thirty teams,
A lot of games get played, a lot of games
even before the playoffs start. That's all just to eliminate
(02:52):
I guess you could say playing there's ten teams in
each conference that are still viable after the regular season,
So that means there's twenty teams still fighting for these
last couple of playoffs spots and ten teams eliminated. It
only got ten teams eliminated in all those games. Then
there's the playoffs, right, which eliminates some play ins quick,
(03:14):
and then it's a seven game series. First round is
not five anymore, No, it's seven. And now we're here,
and you know what, a vast majority of teams could
never get here if everything falls right right. The Cleveland
Calves had a really impressive uptick this season. They were
(03:37):
significantly better than they were the year before. We could
name other teams, the Pelicans, the Bulls, teams that you
know weren't really competitive last year, but we're competitive this year.
How far away are either any of those teams to
a title? And usually that answer is depressing or it's
(04:00):
very let's say selective, because there's not many teams entering
a given year that have the ability, even if everything
falls right, to win it. And the best day to
kind of assess, well, what is those quality? What are
those qualities to win it? Is now we get the
best perspective on when it takes to win. And my
(04:22):
big tease for this show being so important will be
the following that what Boston didn't have tells a massive
part of this story, an important part of the story,
and it makes you wonder, can this team, the Boston
team as presently constituted, meaning with the majority of the
key contributions coming from existing players on the team, even
(04:45):
if they do get a little bit better or a
little bit worse as a age, can that that Boston
team win a title? I thought they could. I'm really
questioning that now. And I think the final thing that's
so amazing about today's conversation is how unlike most champions
Golden State has been and how shocking it is the
(05:06):
Golden State has won this title because I would say
most of the time, if not all the time, up
to this point, gold State doesn't have the qualities on
a team to win a title. And now what do
we learn from the fact that they have one. It's
a pretty good show, a jah, I think so, And
I think with whatever you think of Golden State's roster,
and I know you don't think too highly of it, beyondes,
(05:27):
make the case make the case that they that they
that I well, let's start there. Let's start there, all right,
My point will be, this is Steph Curry entering the playoffs.
And listen here here's the little hint. Go to the
back of the book, the teacher's edition, a gold State one.
(05:48):
So anything saying that Golden State can't win doesn't work anymore. Okay,
now we've got to figure out why how did they win?
Is there something about this Golden State team that we
didn't see and we were thinking, oh, they were one thing,
but they're actually something else? And I actually think that's
what this is. I think Steph Curry in short bursts
(06:10):
at his current age, can play as well as you
need the number one player on the team to play
to win a title. One of the most basic premises
of what does it take to win a championship is
you need a guy that can put you on his
back if need be. Now, what is putting on his back? Well,
just think of Tatum last night. But then the opposite, okay,
(06:33):
because that is literally the opposite a guy that maybe
put up some okay numbers, but he's sitting off by himself.
He's staring off into the distance. It's like the thousand
yards stare of Vietnam vets I mean, he did not
look like a guy that was putting anyone on his back.
And what we saw with Curry in Game four specifically
was and I think that is the place to start,
(06:55):
is how different is Curry than maybe we thought? And
is it just a matter of Curry can do it
for a month here or a month there, and you
know what, maybe that's enough if you have a deep team. Yeah,
and we've we broke down earlier before and earlier in
these playoffs what kind of player it takes. And you
want to have one of the top five ten guys
in the league, an elite player specific it's not a
(07:15):
top ten guy, it's a top five guy. It's a
top five guy. You're right, I mean, because we can
get into the Jimmy Butler. Can Jimmy Butler win it? Well,
we can all celebrate how how tough he seems to be,
but he's never come close, So I don't know, right,
And in this this season, Jason Tatum was voted as
one of the top five players in the NBA. Steph
(07:36):
Curry last season was but was not on that list
this year. But that's where I think it comes down
to a guy who's been there who's done it, who's
experiences before, He's not overwhelmed by the moment. If that's
the case, though, how because he's gonna be I think
the real stunner in this conversation that golingd State when
they won their first title the year after Mark Jackson
(07:58):
Steve Kurr's first year, that title was very unusual and
that the team didn't go knocking on the door, then
pounding on the door and then bursting through the door
or busting through the door bum Phillips. Bum Phillips from
the Houston Oilers was a nemesis of the Steeler. I
(08:19):
guess kind of vice versa, right termine, if you're a
little aunt, you're not the nemesis of the owner of
the house. It's vice versa. The Steelers owned the house
and bum Phillips had. He had Earl Campbell famously and
Dan Pastorini and for three straight uh or for multiple
straight conference championships. They played Pittsburgh one and bum Phillips said,
(08:42):
first year, we knocked on the door, Second year, we
pounded on the door. Third year, we're gonna knock that
door in. Well, they never did. But the fact of
the matter is that's how it works in the NBA.
Typically think about Jordan's right, all right, good enough to
put up sixty three against Boston, but then eiminated by Boston.
You know three oh in that case, okay, okay, Pistons
(09:06):
play competitive series with them, but they get knocked finally
vanquished the Pistons. It took multiple years to get past
the Pistons. Then it took the Pistons multiple years to
get past the Celtics. Right the idea, I'm sorry to
check that. The Lakers in the finals. It's just it's
usually you get introduced, you do something amazing, you get beat,
(09:27):
you go home, you put on the Rocky three music,
you're training your It's really like a movie. The NBA
has been like a movie where they get introduced. But
what happened with Golden State? They lost the first playoff
series uh the year before with Mark Jackson, they changed
coaches entering the year to one a long shot, and
they win a title, and quite frankly, no one could
(09:51):
believe it. So I would make the case that Golden
State is very unusual in their first title came out
of nowhere. And I would make the case their last
tied old, which is the most recent one last night.
It is very unusual too, because you don't usually get
that last wave goodbye in the NBA. Think about the
Lakers against the Pistons, right, it was like, Okay, we
(10:13):
got Karl Malone, we got Gary Payton, We're gonna have
one last kind of valid victory championship before we have
to split this team up. Right, they make the finals
and what they get run off the floor by the Pistons.
You think about the heat there last year with Lebron
in the Big Three. All right, they just beat the Spurs.
The year before, they get the finals again, there's rumors
(10:34):
Lebron might be leaving. They get run off the floor.
I mean, Lebron was in his prime and they got
run off the floor by the Spurs. So I want
to make the question to start is we know there's
very few times young kids crashed the party and win
the title. But Gold States started this dynasty run with
(10:55):
that accomplishment. And now we've got something equally unusual, which
is a team that's veteran, that has an older player
as the best player, whose core is very old relative
to the league, but somehow they win this last title
as a way of goodbye. Perhaps how I mean, look
at the list of the champions, when has that happened?
(11:18):
It doesn't happen, And you can maybe count the Spurs
last title, but they had a young Kauai who was
coming up when Tim Duncan was riding off into the sunset.
That's not necessarily the case with this team I watched that.
I would say the last time I watched the team
closely enough to know, like I can tell you how
the ninth player plays in a certain spot was that
(11:38):
Spurs team. And you could make the case that Tim
Duncan was the fourth best player on that team. That
that that that was Duncan was still a viable player.
He certainly contributed, but and no one's to say what
the locker room effect was, meaning he was the sheriff
of the locker room by all accounts. But it wasn't
(12:00):
just Kauai. It was Parker, it was Genobly, it was
that was it was Dial that was the That was
the a team in a way that you rarely see
NBA teams be a team. So I would say it's
a great team to identify that Spurs team that ran
Miami off the floor. But they were very unusual, and
(12:21):
I would say they're the exception approves the rule. Other
than that, you know, but that was a very young team. Well,
you know what's funny is Parker was young still physics
or age wise, but he was broken down. But let's
accept that's a great one a j to say, Hey,
that seems different. But let's set set them aside and
say who else, who else has had? And let's go
(12:42):
to Mackenzie on this who else has had kind of
a valid victory type? Hey, high school is over, I'm
gonna be homecoming king one last time. I'm gonna wait
at you guys, and I'm heading off into the sunset.
It doesn't happen very much as much as the last
dance feels like that's what that was with Jordan. It wasn't.
It wasn't it was. I mean, it might have been
(13:02):
a little bit for Jordan's though he still won the
m v P of the entire league. Usually, if you
win the m v P of the entire league, you're
not on your last legs, right, So Mackenzie, can you
think of an older team that gets this kind of
last championship? No, I can't think of one. I was
gonna say the repeat three peat Bulls, but like you said,
(13:23):
very different situation with the greatest player of all time,
but not only the greatest player of all time, but
one by all accounts. I mean, you listen for anyone
that wants to question Jordan's isn't like in a different
universe and Lebron's not even in that universe. If you
haven't seen it, because I'm assuming you haven't, or you
wouldn't be even saying it is, go watch the last
(13:44):
two minutes of George's last game with the Bulls, which
happened to be in the title round against this Jazz,
and it was a situation where literally at the end
of the game, the Bulls had a stop score stop
score champion, and in each of the cases, literally Jordan
(14:04):
was at the helm of it, stripping the ball. I
mean it's like he was. It was like a player.
It was like you're you're beaten your older brother in
a race to eleven and you got ten and now
you can't get a shot up. And literally that's what
Jordan was able to do at the end of that game.
Pippen was nothing that series or that whole year To
be candid. Jordan carried that team. So to say, now,
(14:25):
was that a bit much for him after a threep
and maybe the next year he would have had trouble,
who knows, But that is not an example of a
fading player, you know, getting one last title. And I
would make the case with Curry that that's what we're seeing.
We're seeing an all time great who, in my opinion,
has stepped up into another level. This championship puts him
(14:48):
in another level. And and and I'm not a big
Curry lover, so I'm gonna look square in the eye
of that fact and give him a ton of credit.
But this is a play that couldn't stay healthy for
extended period. I mean, he missed what the last four
weeks before the playoffs started, and he missed what about
six weeks in between, like de Center in January. Yeah, yeah,
(15:14):
So I mean this is a guy that that that
you could make the case and Spurts can be the
best player on a team. He did more than that.
He was the best player on this team the entire playoffs.
Didn't miss one game, And to me, it all comes
down to Game four. All comes they're down to one
playing in Boston. If they lose that game, how optimistic
(15:37):
can you be a j You can't be at all. Yeah,
Like even I said, if they lose that game, the
series was over. And if and I'm as big of
a Warriors fan as you'll call out uh regularly you've
called out in these playoffs as anyone, But I agree,
that's that's where guys who are in that all time
great conversation, that's where they make their hey because if
(15:58):
Steph Curry loses that game and they lose is that series.
It's another chink in the armor that people will poke
at and say, but he couldn't do this when when
things were against him. So I here, let's do this
because I think we've done a great job of setting
the scene of what is at stake here, which is
I believe the Golden State is going to be a
team we look back on and say they won a
(16:19):
first title before they were really ready, which meant at
a heck of an accomplishment, right. And number two, they
won a last title that they're not supposed to typically win,
and that's historic. And I think that now that we
got that framed, we can dig into the specifics of
this year. And to be candid, I think that the
(16:40):
conversation then has to go to Boston, and the opposite is,
does Tatum lack what you would need to be a champion?
I don't want to be hot takey, but I think
that's a real conversation, and I think maybe take our
first commercial and then we jump right back in. He's
r J. Bell, I'm a J. Hoffman. This is the
pregame show you've always wanted, right yere on Fox Sports Radio.
(17:04):
Be sure to catch live editions of Straight out of
Vegas weekdays at six pm Eastern three pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app with
even again A J. Hoffman and r J. Bell. We
(17:25):
are Straight out of Vegas on This is the fastest
growing show on Fox Sports Radio. That's because of you.
Spread in the word. You can listen on the I
Heart Radio app just for search for Straight out of Vegas.
Here on the strip one hundred and three degrees. The
neon is blinking, you know, Aj. It surprised me a
little bit once again when you said it's because of you.
(17:45):
I thought you were talking about me again, And I
don't know. It's It's funny. We all have instincts, right like,
like imagine that you know, you've known heavy set guys
growing up, right, like the like eat. Imagine with a
guy like that, you hand him a piece of pizza
when they're like asleep, they're gonna kind of stir up.
(18:05):
They're gonna open their eyes and see the pizza. And
then then there's certain people it's gonna set it aside,
and certain people are gonna shove in their mouth. Right,
I'm not sure where you're going with that, but listen,
don't try to guess where I'm going. Just just okays
are Honestly, you know, there's some I'm the type that
here you say, hey, it's because of you, and I'm
(18:25):
thinking he's talking about me, and you know, there you go.
That's a double entendre. It works both ways. All right. Now, listen,
let's do this because during the break we had a
really I think good conversation. We want to just let's
share it is everyone's been looking at the champions in
(18:46):
the list of them and it's like, man, you're right.
And my point being to repeat from the first segment
that this Gold State team is going to have two
very rare elements to it, which is they won their
first title before a team typically wins their tight they
were the young kids crashing the party and they somehow
(19:06):
won the title that would have been the first one obviously,
and then they had this middle time when they became
the enemy in some ways, became the team that had
too much. The rich kid whose parents are you know,
got the country club membership, and Molly Ringwald wants to
date one of them because she thinks she sees something
(19:27):
nice in him, but no, his name's James Spader and
he's not nice. It kind of had that feel to it,
And you know what, I didn't really appreciate those teams
too much, and I still don't. I'm of the belief
that if you have a championship team that you built
around you, that's awesome. You want to do it in
a modern way, which is free agency, where that's awesome.
(19:50):
But when you were the main competition of someone as
Oklahoma City was against Golden State at the time, and
then you say, I'm gonna go over and be with Russia.
Forget the United States, I'm gonna be with Russia. I
don't care if it's vice versa either. I don't care
if you're the number one person over in Russia and
you come over to the US to be one of ours. Again.
(20:13):
We're not talking about geopolitical stuff from the eighties here
for real. But in truth, I would like having that,
you know, Boris or whatever come over, you know, because
I want more champions on our side if we're fighting
a war. But I'm not gonna think he's our guy.
I'm gonna think yeah. But with cou coach there ones that,
(20:35):
you know, he was finally getting the NBA. It's kind
of hard. That's one of the beauties of having the
best stuff in America is typically they want to come
over here because listen, take a look at the Americans
versus overseas players in the NBA now, and you can
see this is a world league, right and and I
love that it is because we get the benefit from
it in America. But in general, I didn't like what
(20:58):
Durant did because he said, I don't want to fight
as hard. I want to go over here and win
and not have to fight as hard. Now, maybe that
wasn't what was in his mind, but it sure was
what was in my mind, and most a lot of
people's mind got most people's minds, I think, And I
was gonna ask you did this did last night's win
for the Warriors impact Durant's long term legacy as much
(21:20):
as anybody who wasn't on the floor. I think this
is what it fairly did. It made it even less
competitive between Steph and Durant because Durant was the best
player in the world at the time he was. I mean,
you're again, I don't think you're related to Steph Curry.
(21:41):
Are You're not actually related? Are you know? Blood? Okay? No,
just spiritually is. But you but you understood that Durant
was the better player even back then, right, yes, okay,
I think that was unequivocally true. And the fact that
the Warriors and Owen State fan base still looked at
(22:01):
Steff as the guy by all accounts, is one of
the things that that caused Durant to want to leave
and have his own team. You had your own team
by the way, in Oklahoma City. But okay, is to
me there was a sense of who's one A, who's
one or you know, who's one A, who's one B
(22:22):
with Durant and staff. But in hindsight, it was Durant
not being the top dog. And I think now you've
gotta start questioning if we made an all time list,
and we do that. That's what the NBA does NonStop
in our minds. Right, where's Jordan, where's you know? Uh? Kareem? Right,
(22:43):
where's Lebron? Well, to me, I got staff, I had
a Durant right now. I think you have to because well,
most people were. First of all, most people wouldn't. Well, now,
Steph has proven that he didn't need Kevin Durant to
win titles, and Kevin Durant as yet to prove that
he can win titles without Steph Curry. I agree. I
mean that's factually correct, and you could put that on
(23:07):
a fortune cookie and it would still be equally correct.
It doesn't mean people think that the step is better
than Durant. I think that he's never been better on
the floor. It's hard to think of one given year
that he was better on the floor. And I still
don't think he is. But I think he's had a
better career. You know, his heights haven't been at no point.
(23:29):
Could you say I know about no point? Well, that's
an interesting question. Mckennick. Step did win two MVP Awards,
so two times people thought he was the best player
in the league. Well, under that theory that means Karl
alone was better than Jordan's. I mean, I think we
all know with the m v P that that people
get tired of voting for the same guy. Uh. And
I'm not saying it's even the case where that would
(23:50):
have been applicable with Durant versus Well, I'm confused that
I said, excuse me, I'm still recovering. I said, Durant
clearly was better than Steph pretty much at every stage,
and you said, I agree, But if anything, Steph's m
VP was right around was the year before Durant came
so no better? Well you asked if if I thought
(24:13):
when they were on the same team that that Kevin
Durant was the better player at that time, And I
do think that Kevin Durant was a better player at
that time. And when did Curry win its two m
v ps? But wasn't the first year the last year
without Durant? And then let's McKennis take a gander at that. Yeah,
it was the year. It was the year they won
the title, and then the year they lost the title
(24:34):
to the Calves the next year. Those were two MVP years.
Katie came the third year after that, Okay, So what
you're saying is that there were two years agoing State
was competitive to win a title before Durant, and the
first one was they won the title. That was the
new kids knocking down the door early. Okay, great, and
that was Steve Kerr's first year. That was an m
VP regular season for Steff. Next year, same thing. They
(24:58):
won seventy three games and then they got beat when
they were up three one. There was the kick in
the groin and etcetera, etcetera, and then uh, the Calves
won their title. Okay, so we coming in Durant went
to a team with a two time defending m v
P Steph And you're saying at the time Durant was better.
(25:21):
So didn't you just invalidate the whole m v P
right there? Which I agree it should be invalidated because
it's not about who the very best player is. But boy,
that seems like a good example of invalidating it. Maybe so, yeah,
maybe so or not? You tell me it's your answer.
Who was better that when they the first time they
played on the same court together, Durant or Curry and Curry?
(25:42):
Who was better on that first that first month? I
would say Durant so and Durant won the MVP the
year before those Warriors won their first titles, so that
would have been three years before though. Yeah, that's what
I'm saying. So maybe the entire time Kevin Durant was
was the better player on the floor, I don't know.
You know, what I know is is if you had
a list, if you had like a timeline from that
(26:06):
time on every month, just a little spot to visually
put something, there's not many months that Staff was the
better player than Durant, I don't think, And but I
think it was close. It was. You know, Durant might
have been the second best player at the time behind
Lebron and uh, you know Steff was maybe third or fourth.
You know, it was like all of them were top
(26:26):
top players. But if you add up all this time,
and let's be honest, before this season, the Golden State
was kind of an embarrassment the last two years. I mean,
after they were the word they were worst team in
the league one of those two years. And you could
say that smart basketball, that's smart basket. You should lose
(26:47):
when you don't have a chance to win the title.
You know, trust the process, Okay, I don't know, right,
But what I know is they did it smart. But
what I know is Steph could have came back from it.
He had a hand injury that he kept him out
for fifteen months or something. I mean, I'm exaggerating a
little bit, but I still remember what the year after
(27:08):
they they lost to Toronto, so it would have been
three years ago. There was a sense of, yeah, lookout
for going state at Clay's good. But staffs this is
his chance to show they can do it like before
Durant was there. Yeah, that lasted what about three weeks?
Then he heard his hand and we never saw him again.
So the point I'm making is, let's not act like that.
(27:29):
This is all just like yep, Staff still as good
as he ever was. No. Staff looked like he was
on his way down and he was going straight to
the basement. And he started this year hot, hot, hot.
And remember last year when there was talking about the
Joker winning, uh the m v P. And when I
say last year, I don't mean the most recent regular season.
I mean the regular season before that. Now, right that
(27:52):
would have ended in twenty one, that would have ended
like yeah that year, Remember Steph got super hot because
he was going for the m v P or i'm sorry,
the three point record or whatever it was. And he
started shooting like no one's business and putting up like
thirty three shots a game, and he ended up putting
up a few forty point nights, and it was like, oh,
look he's gonna surgeon b m v P. What happened?
(28:15):
Oh STEP's hurt? Yeah, he got hurt again. I mean
we've had multiple times now where it was like, now
is the time for Steph to show what he can
do without Durant, without you know, player X y Z
on the team with them, And every time he started
out with intentions, it would seem to show us, look,
(28:38):
this is me by myself, Look what I can do.
And within usually six weeks he's hurt. So does that
diminish what's happened now? No, I think it's maybe the opposite.
I think it makes it more impressive that he could
keep focused, keep healthy and still it is like when
(29:00):
think the Wimbledon, right when you're older, back in the day,
you go there, you win, you're the best player, It
makes sense, Pe Sampras whatever. But when Sampers went and
when the US opened, his last time he won a major,
he was unseated, came in and said, I gotta play
good for six or seven matches, Boom boom, and he
did it and he won. And to me, we can
(29:21):
look at next year's title wards and all that, but
but I think that the fact that this had to
be almost perfectly timed for gold State makes the title
even more impressive. And it gets to the point we've
been saying all along, which is these are unusual titles
when the team isn't dominant, but they can still win it.
And I give Gold State a ton of credit. What's
(29:42):
your thoughts, J. Yeah, you know, Steph Curry did win
the scoring title last year, and like you said, started
off this year like maybe he was gonna do it again,
And then you mentioned the injuries. If we get a
full healthy season of Steph Curry, is it possible that
he still is one of the three or four best
players in the NBA today. We'll the last time we
had a full healthy season from him, it's been now
(30:04):
three years. So when you're gonna be thirty five at
this time next year and the last time you were
like thirty one, yeah, those are some tough years, you know,
I mean, those are important years and listen, you could
what you just said. Let's do this. I'm gonna explain
with the outthrow down like you relax a J. It
is usually I would say, ay, J, you know I'm
(30:27):
not feeling great you no, no, no, this tease is
so good. I just gotta do it this way. I'm
gonna explain to you what a J did right there
that was so wrong. So just pro staff first though.
Be sure to catch live editions of Straight Out of
Vegas weekdays at six pm Eastern, three pm Pacific, Fox
Sports Radio and ma J Houppin. He's the voice of
Vegas r J. Bell. I don't know if you know this, AJ,
(30:50):
but on Friday's were Mr Dan Buyer's last show that
he had stopped. Yeah, last time, so you know he's
got you know how like in high school you have
had your bag all ready to go when the last
class and then and I just thought, would it be
funny if he had to get away early one day
and he prerecorded it and then he you know, So,
(31:11):
there was a movie I think it was called l
a Story where Steve Martin was a a weather man,
but it was in Los Angeles, so the weather was
always the same supposedly, so he prerecorded it, you know, saying,
you know, partly cloudy, high seventies six or whatever. And
but then I'm guessing Dan Buyer would be because he's
a smart guy. That's obvious is he would think that
(31:32):
r J might ask me some questions and then he
would generically have responses ready on the board, like from
you know, like with Jonna, what we would say. Good point,
r J. But I just can't agree, and it doesn't Dad,
You're still here? Is this the real Dan? Or is
this the is this the Dan on tape? Here? Just
Dan tape? See something's funny going on here. But r
(31:56):
J J correct to agree with you. R J. Right again,
r J, that's wrong. You're right, r J. Have a
good weekend. That that was funny. See Dan, Dan's got
more talented, it seems. I think I've never doubted it.
(32:17):
I mean, what I'm saying is if you you don't
think of a news guy is funny, but he's funny.
I mean, let's be honest, he's funny with me. He's
not funny otherwise, but I mean with me, he's funny,
and I think it works all right, a j on
He's r J. Bell. I'm a J. Hoffman. This is
the pregame show you've always wanted right here on Fox
Sports Radio. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk
(32:41):
lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at
Fox sports Radio dot com and within the I Heart
Radio app search f s R to listen live. I'm
(33:01):
a J hoppin with r J. Bell. This is straight
out of Vegas, and we've talked a lot about the
new champion Warriors. We have not talked much about the
Boston Celtics. R J. Yeah, and it should be a
good time. A J. Get the list of next year's
title odds out, because I've got it. I give us
the favorites here because it was set the stage of like,
hey that here's the future. The Warriors are the favorites
(33:23):
at six to one, the Celtics and the Clippers at
seven to one, The Bucks plus seven fifty Nets eight
to one, Sons twelve Sixers, Grizzlies heat fourteen, Mavericks fifteen.
That rounds out your top ten Mavericks fifteen. That's interesting. Okay,
So just to put the bow on Going State, there
(33:46):
were different points during this season when Going States seem
to be like a contender for the title. That the
debate was should going State trade some some future value
a young player most likely um and Wiseman's name comes
(34:06):
up constantly. Should they trade Wiseman for ex player who
can help them today? Yeah, that would have been a
great example of someone that wasn't helping him now injury whatever,
two years in and but someone thinking, hey, there's a
chance that this Wiseman can be as good as you
know whatever. You could even say like a Wiggins or
what I mean not the Wiggins started this slow in
(34:27):
his career, but like a top top player, he just
hasn't found his right team. But Gold State would have
been a better team if they would have had, like say,
a seventh man they could have gotten from that trade.
But the thing about gold State is they got ambitions
of having a dynasty, not just an extended winning period
with the same core player. But that period had been
(34:49):
extended and handed off like a baton to the next
core player. And that's something quiet theory could have been
with san Antonio, but it wasn't. Ultimately, it's hard to
have an extended prime of two different cores. And you know,
you look at the Patriots other than Brady being consistent
through that. That's what they had three or four different
(35:11):
five year periods. But again they had the one guy
Brady throughout the whole thing. Gold States looking to have
a time where Steps retired. He's there at the party
after they win a title. But there's a new core.
And I give Gold States so much credit. They got
the type this last title or maybe last title with
the current core, but they haven't compromised their future. Now.
(35:34):
I don't believe that future happens all at once. I
think there'll be two years or so where there's no
one good enough at Stets very end of his career,
that no one on that team is good enough to
be the guy. But they're transitioning to the next core,
and hopefully someone in that next core for them at
least hopefully they can be someone good enough to be
the best player. They haven't pulled it off yet, but
(35:56):
it does deserve an amazing hat tip to say they
got one an extra title with the old corps and
they haven't compromised the next generation. And to me that's
also an amazing thing. What do you think, a JA
I agree, And and if Jonathan Cominga and Moody and
these guys are anything like what people seem to think
they are. Jordan Poole obviously looks like he's taking a step.
(36:18):
Then you're right. Once Steph Curry goes away, they're still
going to be a really good core of players the
Golden State has. They could continue to be good for
a long time. It will just be a much different
looking team than what we see right now. So the Celtics,
and by the way, it wasn't a perfect day yesterday
with the picks, but I tell you, finding that one spot,
(36:38):
the Celtics were good to bat. I mean they at
the most dominant run of the game. I mean it
looked like, let's be candid, exactly what I said was
they had their marching orders and they knew exactly what
to do for like ten minutes and then they could
then they couldn't after that. I mean, I tell you
a j you were ranting during the break about they
got to get a point guard that can score. They got.
(36:58):
I think it was one thing that the only one
thing that matters for Boston is what happened to Tatum
and at the end in the second half of last
night's game, that was not bad shooting. That was not
um fatigue. That looked like a mental a type of
mental I don't want to say breakdown. It felt like
something was off mentally. My The only question that matters
(37:21):
to me with Boston is what did you think was
happening with Tatum? I think that Jayson Tatum is not
that dude. He's he doesn't like the pressure of having
wins and losses on his shoulders. He wants to defer.
He It makes me feel like Jayson Tatum would be
a really good number two on a championship team. But
he was the question. They had an elimination game on
(37:42):
the road against Milwaukee and he put up forty some
so it's not as if he can't do well when
the pressure is on. And this this wasn't just oh
he didn't shoot again. He looked like he was. It
looked like he was under a type of medical care
or psychological care. He didn't seem like he was engaged
with the game. Did you at the end did you
(38:04):
I mean, in the game was still at stake? What
do you think did you see? I mean he was
staring off into the rafters. Yeah, like, especially once he
felt it looked like he knew the game was over
at one point with about five minutes left and was
just out of it completely. Fez believes that he's got
an injury that we're gonna hear more about as the
assee off season comes on, an injury to his eye
that makes him stay off into the distance. I mean,
(38:25):
to me, we all of this is excusable. The part
that you've got to ask yourself though, is what was
going on with him psychologically. If you can't answer that,
you can't count on him. And I guess what I'm
gonna dig in. I think we'll talk about next week.
If you've been seeing it, today's show, including what makes
these book entitles for Golden States so unique? You can
check out the podcast at Fox Sports Radio dot com.
(38:47):
Back Monday, six eastern, three o'clock Vegas time, the NBA
is over, so we'll dive into some football as well.
He's r J. Bell, I'm a J. Hoffman. We are
straight out of Vegas right here on Fox Sports Radio.
Went out a great game.
Hosts And Creators
Rich Davis
Steve Covino
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Ridiculous History
History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.