Aaron Torres & Jason Martin talk Another Clippers First Round Exit, JJ Redick & the Lakers MELTDOWN, Gregg Popovich's retirement, & MORE!

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Welcome in everybody, Fox Sports Radio, Fox Sports Saturday Era.

Speaker 3 (00:09):
Towards Jason Martin.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
We are broadcasting live from the Fox Sports Radio Studios. Busy, busy,
first weekend in May to sagre. Just gave you all
the updates Kentucky Derby Game seven in the nf NHL.
We'll get to Game seven in Denver in a minute.
But first of all, Jason Martin and are Nashville Fox
Sports Radio Studios.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
What's going on, man? How you doing?

Speaker 4 (00:32):
I'm doing well, man, doing well. Watched what I hoped
was gonna be a really entertaining Game seven. It wasn't.
Then I flipped over to one that was entertaining in
the hockey, and I'm hopeful that tomorrow night's Game seven
is certainly a lot better than the unwatchable one that
we got after a half tonight.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yeah, by the way, shout out to the East Coast
Baseball first pitch at ten fifteen Eastern time.

Speaker 4 (00:53):
I can't even find it, man, it's my braves and
it's like I can't find it on television anywhere trying
to get to it, can't find it. Okay, we'll keep
not on Fox. Our local news is on in Fox Okay.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Well Braves Dodgers one to one in the second and
in two outs. Uh Sasaki on the mound. We won't
we won't do play by play. But it's one one
in the second A ten point fifteen Eastern start time,
first pitch in Atlanta. But we're not here to break
down regular season baseball. We're here to break down Game
seven in the NBA playoffs. Yeah, I was excited. I

(01:28):
was trying. I was trying to sell it. Uh, Dan
Byron Ryan Hollis just broke it down really well. But
we did have a game seven, Los Angeles Clippers against
the Denver Nuggets, a game which started out with potential.

Speaker 4 (01:40):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
Los Angeles Clippers were up by five after the first quarter.
Unfortunately that evaporated quick, down eleven after the at eleven
at the half, excuse me, down twenty seven going into
the fourth quarter. Made it's somewhat respectable late a one
twenty one oh one win.

Speaker 3 (01:58):
We'll talk about the.

Speaker 2 (01:59):
Den perspective in just a little bit, Jason, but we
got to start with the Los Angeles Clippers.

Speaker 3 (02:05):
I live here in LA and I was sold. This
year is gonna be different.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
This year is the year they finally playing great basketball late.
And all I said was, if the team's built around
James Harden and your team's built around Kawhi Leonard, James
Harden's gonna come up short in the playoffs. Kawhi Leonard
will probably get hurt. Thankfully, Kawhi didn't get hurt, but
James Harden did come up short, and the Clippers lose
a Game seven in Denver one twenty to one on one.

Speaker 4 (02:32):
All right, So what's interesting is at the half, I
was thinking to myself, you know what, James Harden's playing
pretty hard. He had ten assists in a half in
a Game seven, which is the first time since Rondo
with the Celtics many years ago that anybody has done that.
I felt like he was active. I felt like he
was trying pretty hard. And I was like, all right,
I'm trying to watch this subjectively. You know where I've

(02:55):
been on James Harden for a very long time. I've
never waivered on that opinion, but I'll watching it. It
was just like, you know, I feel like he's played
hard during the series. I've been more impressed with him
in a Clippers uniform than I expected to be when
he got out there. Then they start showing the highlights
during the half, and they're pointing out second chance opportunities
and second effort plays by the Nuggets, And so I'm

(03:18):
watching the second effort place and I noticed something about
those second effort plays. There's someone out there on defense
that is giving forth not even a first effort defensively,
and it's hard, like it is the straight up Mattador defense.
And like, I mean, he's not really trying to contest anything.
He would try to make an outlet pass or something,

(03:39):
it would be stolen and then he would just let
the guy drive right past him and score. And so
I started watching that, I was like, Okay, well, that
still reminds me of the old Harden, the defensive harden
that used to be unshocked in a fool every Thursday
for not even attempting to play any kind of defense whatsoever.
But I felt like he was more active. And then
you get to the end of the game. My man

(04:00):
was two for eight, seven points. He did have thirteen assists. Again,
I thought he was active and looking to get some
guys involved in the first half, But my goodness, this
is James Harden. This is what James Harden has always
been when you needed him the most in the playoffs.
I saw stat shortly before we went on air that

(04:22):
entering this game, seven twenty five percent of his playoff
performances he had fifteen or less points. This is one
of the most lethal scorers in the history of the NBA.
And a quarter of his games he hasn't even scored.
He scored fifteen or less in those moments he or
he didn't get half of that he got seven. Kawhi
at least got you twenty two. A lot of it

(04:43):
was early because once it was decided, Kawhi went head
and shut it down. It was time to go straight
up load management for twenty twenty six at that point
in time. And I can't have blame him. They weren't
coming back. But this Clippers team I never really bought
in because the centerpieces of the team were not trustworthy players.

(05:05):
They weren't players that you could rely upon. And I'm
not gonna do it yet, but I told you before
we went on that I have a question I want
to pose to you about one of the players. It's
actually a Clipper. One of the players in this game,
a hypothetical that isn't a real thing. It's something that
couldn't be true now, But what if it were true?

(05:25):
This right here is just this was a horrible effort
in that second half. I think, over a like fifteen
minute span dating to what happened midway through the second
quarter through the end of the third quarter somewhere like that,
the Nuggets outscored them fifty two to twenty one and
just blew them completely off the floor. And by the way,

(05:46):
this is a night folks. If you didn't get to
watch the game. Were neither Nikola Jokic or Jamal Murray
played particularly well. They didn't even score like that. Neither
one of them I think had twenty, but they had
six dudes with at least twelve points with like ten
minutes left in the game. Like, I mean, they absolutely dominated.
And this ain't just altitude. This is just one of

(06:06):
these teams understood what it was like to be in
a game seven and win, an the other one didn't
have any clue.

Speaker 3 (06:12):
So a couple thoughts on hard and one.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
You bring up the assist totals and it's like, okay,
you had tennisis first of all, you mentioned getting out
hustled for you know, on defense. There was also the
play where Russell Westbrook missed a free throw and just
jumped over James Harden to get the offensive rebound and
put it back in for a three point play. That
was in the midst like late first half of you know,
just the Clippers just laying down. But it's funny because

(06:36):
you know, first of all, like I get the notion
he had tennis. And I'm not saying that, I'm not
criticizing like the thought that you had. I'm just saying
is that you sit there and say, well, he had
thirteen assists. You know, I mean, what do you expect
from him? Blah blah blah. And you know what I
would say to that is, well, the team that everybody
sold to me that I have to be excited about
the Clippers. He was their leading scorer during the regular

(06:59):
season twenty two and a half are closer twenty three points,
excuse me in it over the course of the season,
and this was a game where he finished with He
finished with a grand total of seven points on two
of eight from the field, one of four from three,
And so don't sell me on the thirteen points per game.

Speaker 3 (07:18):
The thirteen assist.

Speaker 2 (07:19):
Excuse me, because the reason that everybody sold me on
the Clippers being different this year is because he was
averaging twenty three a game during the regular season, and oh,
by the way, during the regular season, averaged sixteen shot
attempts a game, forty one percent shooting from three to
thirty five percent shooting from behind the three point arc.

Speaker 3 (07:40):
So I just sit there and say.

Speaker 2 (07:42):
You know, one of four from three, two of eight
from the field, seven points, it's on him. I'm sorry,
by the way, for fun, I went back and looked
it up because I was thinking about the game seven
a few years ago when he was in Philly and
he choked and immediately blamed Doc Rivers. Last three game
sevens for James Harden tonight, I should say, deciding games.
So seven points on two of eight shooting tonight last

(08:05):
year Game six against Dallas with the Clippers five of
sixteen shooting from the field in a game six lost
to Dallas, three of eleven, one of five in that
last playoff game for Philly before he was traded. So
I just bring it up because it's a trend, and
he could sit there and say they needed better efforts
from everybody and whatever. But at the end of the day,
James Harden is a guy that is getting paid a

(08:27):
lot of money to be the star of your team.
By the way, Kawhi Leonard, for all of the you know,
disappointment he's had throughout his career, twenty two points, five
rebounds to assist two blocks in this game. So you know,
if you're looking for a reason the Clippers lost, it
is because James Harden came up short yet again in
a deciding game.

Speaker 3 (08:48):
It's just the facts.

Speaker 4 (08:48):
It's indisputable. Yeah, no, that's that's absolutely right. The ten
assists in the first half. The reason that I credited
him was because I felt like he was making the
right basketball play there. He should have had like thirteen
or fourteen in the half. Guys are missing underneath like
great looks that he gave them because he was attracting
a lot of attention. I felt like he was making
smart basketball plays at that point in time, as opposed

(09:11):
to playing hero ball in a way that wasn't going
to benefit his team. But nothing you just said. That
doesn't dispute anything, And you just said it doesn't change
anything that you just said at all. So I'm gonna
throw this hypothetical to you, now, do it excited? All right?
It's not about Harden because there's nothing hypothetical there. Like,
we know what James Harden is. We know what your

(09:31):
team is. If you have James Harden playing for it,
it's not going to be a champion. Okay. If let's
go back in time, if Kevin Durant had not gotten
injured and Klay Thompson had not gotten injured, the vast
majority of the world believes that the Warriors would have
won that championship and not the Raptors. Correct nineteen, Yes, yes, Okay,

(09:55):
So we know that Kawhi had won in San Antonio.
We understand this, and he had a nice in San Antonio. Obviously,
had he not cashed in that Raptors steal, had it
not gone his way, had those injuries not have happened,
how would we be looking at Kawhi Leonard today compared
to the fact that he does have that title that

(10:17):
we always still think about and we think about that
year in the big shot that he hit in Game
seven to beat Joel Embiid and the Sixers, the one
that seemed like it hung on the rim. Three or
four different times before it dropped in. But you know,
we talk about guys like a Harden, like a Paul George,
and guys like this Kawhi, I feel like we just
kind of he gets more of a pass because of

(10:41):
that title because we remember him being a champion and
we remember him leading that team to a title. But
if those injuries don't happen, that probably does not happen either.
And then I wonder how our narrative of Kawhi Leonard
is compared to some of these other guys that we
have all you know, you included me, included, have dogged

(11:02):
out over this last handful of years. Kawhi gets dinged
for the load management and just kind of being loof
and all that kind of stuff. We understand he's a
great player, but if he was a great player that
had only won in San Antonio eight eons ago, how
would we be viewing Kawhi Leonard today as as compared
to how we do right now.

Speaker 3 (11:21):
So two quick things.

Speaker 2 (11:23):
One, it's funny you say that only because I was
thinking about that with James Harden. Is like, I was
thinking about how hard we were going to go on
James Harden, and I was like, he's just he's not
that guy anymore. Like he's not one of probably the
probably somewhere in terms of impactful players in the NBA.
He's certainly not top ten, maybe not top fifteen. So
I'm like, maybe we just don't need to go hard

(11:43):
on James Harden because he's not that guy anymore. With Kawhi, okay,
So this is a challenging question, and I actually generally
take the opposite stance on Kawhi is that he was
so good during that run.

Speaker 3 (11:58):
Now to your point, Katie doesn't tear the.

Speaker 2 (12:00):
Achilles, if if Clay doesn't tear the acl he probably
doesn't have a championship. But he was so good in
that series that I actually look at it as the
opposite is like, I'm just bummed that we never really
got to see that guy pretty much ever again from
twenty nineteen on. And so I'm kind of ducking the question.

(12:24):
But I think he would be, you know, a guy
that basically, you know, I think he'd always pseudo be
grandfathered in because he did win a title in San Antono.
You know what, I think we would think of him
as honestly, probably like what we think of Giannis right now,
where it's like, you know, a lot of like incredible

(12:45):
individual player, everything broke right that one time, and a
lot of the problems with his team are self inflicted.
Right with Giannis, it's like, great dude, but he kind
of forced some trades that kind of have backfired on
the entire organization. Part of the reason the Bucks are
of the situation they are in is directly reflective of Giannis,
and I think we'd probably say the same with Kawhi

(13:07):
was an incredible player in his prime. Is certainly not
that we have to pseudo grandfather him into a certain
category of player because he did win a title. But oh,
by the way, since he left San Antonio, pretty much
every problem that he has had has you know, injuries
are out of his control, but they've been largely self
inflicted in terms of who.

Speaker 3 (13:25):
He is, how he operates things like that. Does that
make sense, Yeah, it does.

Speaker 4 (13:29):
I would say this though. The run that you're talking about, Yes,
that run was incredible watching him at that level. I
remember going on air on my Saturday night show and saying, look,
I don't care who you want to argue, Kawhi Leonard's
the best player in the world right now. Yep, he's
the best player to be holding a basketball at this
point in time. There's nobody you'd rather have. There's nobody
that's more lethal, that's more dangerous. This more of a

(13:51):
killer right now, that almost has no heart when he's
out there. He just goes for broke and all this
kind of stuff. And I at the time, I believe
that was one hundred percent true. I will say this,
if they don't cash in, if they don't win that championship,
are you still remembering it the same way? Because I
don't know if I am, because I think at that

(14:11):
point I start seeing him as Alan Iverson the year
that they got to the finals and did not win,
where Alan Iverson obviously had a great playoffs and was
an outstanding player all year long with the Sixers, didn't
finish it, and so it's just like, yeah, I remember
him being good, but I mean it gets overshadowed about
what happened. We would have thought about the Warriors and

(14:33):
what had happened there winning the multiple championships in a
row and what that was all going to look like.
Maybe that changes the history with Duran and everything that
would happen afterwards, and you never know, there's again, it's
a hypothetical that you can never answer. But it's almost
impossible to think about how we would view Kawhi because
we do kind of recall that run because it ended

(14:56):
in a title, I think, being a large part of it.
Because usually great performances, you forget about the greatness of
those performances if they don't end up winning a title.
If they don't win a championship, it's kind of hard
to separate away those things. So I think that we'd
be seeing Kawhi in the same way we would we
would have seen Alan Iverson or something like that. The

(15:18):
only difference again being the San Antonio run and the
fact that he was not just you know, he wasn't
just riding on the bus. He was driving it like
he was very important at that point in time. But
I still think that I feel like it's a good
thing for his legacy that all of that stuff played
out properly for him that year, because it has I

(15:40):
think given him a lot more grace than a lot
of other guys who have done similar things in the
last six or seven years.

Speaker 2 (15:48):
Yeah, all I would really say is the only this
is such a fun hypothetical because again there's no way
to answer it. The only thing I will say about it, though,
is I don't think it would have been held against
him because that team and that era was so good,
you know, like that that Warriors team, right, Like, you know,
we can criticize Lebron for a lot, and we're certainly
gonna do that as the show goes on tonight, but

(16:10):
it's like, nobody holds it against him that oh when
the Warriors got Durant, like it was game over and
he couldn't beat them with the calves.

Speaker 3 (16:18):
And so I just wonder if we would feel the
same way with Kawhi.

Speaker 2 (16:20):
Like incredible individual performance and hey, the Warriors were healthy,
nobody was beating him.

Speaker 3 (16:27):
Does that make sense?

Speaker 4 (16:28):
Yeah, it does, it does. And I mean, you know,
there's something to be said for playing in the Jordan
era and not being able to be Jordan, like you know,
Carl Malone stocked in those teams, you know, those Knicks
teams that never got sniffed the finals because of that
and all that stuff, Like there's always gonna be that.
So I said, it's a hypothetical history. We can't answer, you.

Speaker 3 (16:47):
Know what, Well, it's interesting.

Speaker 2 (16:49):
You know what's interesting about this is the reverse of Kawhi,
the guy that didn't get the breaks and did get
the Warriors at full strength every time he played them,
very much in his prime with James Harden, you know.
And it's like, that's right, you know, you could actually
have the opposite conversation as well. Is like the Durant
injury happened in the finals, I believe, right, I know,
Clay definitely. So it's like if those injuries happen in

(17:12):
the Western Conference finals, that was also the other that
Chris Paul got hurt in Game five or Game six
or whatever it was.

Speaker 3 (17:18):
It's like, you know, do we think of by.

Speaker 2 (17:20):
The way we spent the first like eight minutes of
the show crushing James Harden. It's like, is the opposite
true as well? Like if those injuries happen around before,
do we have to now defaultly give James Harden a
pass if he had beaten the Warriors and maybe won
an NBA title that year?

Speaker 4 (17:36):
So I just think I think it's interesting how just
minor details or minor days or like one day in
a fifteen year career, oh yeah, for example, can change
so much. Like I think this whole discussion we talked
you just the way you just laid it out about
how we talked about Harden and now we're talking about
all these other things in reverse, like the what ifs

(17:56):
are some of the things that make sports great. It's
why you can sit in a barbers shop, while you
can sit in a bar while you can sit in
a restaurant and just sit there and discuss all these
kinds of things because we understand that each moment alters
history to some degree that otherwise these other timelines that
could have existed and the way we see various athletes

(18:17):
could have changed so dramatically.

Speaker 3 (18:19):
Yeah, it's really interesting. By the way, I'm trying to
find it.

Speaker 2 (18:21):
I'm not, I swear I'm not trying to turn this
into a bass James Harden segment, but I do. I'm
trying to find the game seven against Golden State that year,
because that was the game. There you go, well, one
year he scored thirty five in a deciding game. Here,
that definitely wasn't the year. Let's see here at twenty eighteen.

Speaker 3 (18:38):
Was it twenty eighteen that he twelve for twenty nine?

Speaker 4 (18:41):
Is that right?

Speaker 3 (18:41):
But then you go, oh, here it is two for
thirteen from three against Golden State in twenty eighteen. So anyway,
but I think it's a great conversation. I think it's
very interesting.

Speaker 2 (18:51):
The Clippers do lose, James Harden does come up short,
and I do think it is an interesting thing with
Kawhi is that he is just sort of grandfathered into
this different category where now it's about now, it's about
the injuries, it's about a lot of other things, and
it's not necessarily about you know, hey, maybe he needs
to be doing more as well. But Fox Sports Radio

(19:13):
Aertors Jason Martin broadcasting live from the Fox Sports Radio Studios.
Come back, Jamart. I do want to talk to the
other side of this conversation. Denver Nuggets fired, Mike Malone,
did it work out? And I kind of want to,
you know, just where are they at with the Western
Conference as they now get set for the second round.

Speaker 3 (19:29):
We'll discuss it all next. Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 5 (19:31):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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listen live.

Speaker 2 (19:43):
Welcome back, everybody, Fox Sports Radio aer Tors Jason Martin,
broadcasting from the Fox Sports radio studios for the best
pregame show every weekend, be sure to tune into Fox
Sports Radios Countdown presented by Bet MGM every Saturday and
Sunday morning eight to nine, excuse me, nine to noon
Eastern six to nine Pacific, we will count you down

(20:04):
to all of the biggest games. Tune in a Countdown
presented by Ben MGM every Saturday and Sunday morning right
here on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app. Do
want to continue the conversation on Game seven in the
Western Conference Playoffs. We're gonna do that in just a moment,
but want to toss it over to news desk first
time this evening. Steve Desager let the world know what
happened in Game seven so Jmar and I can just

(20:27):
keep bashing the Clippers.

Speaker 6 (20:29):
Well, it was talked about last hour, the stat that
came out that James Harden has now lost to Game
seven with four different teams. In fact, Associated Pressed did
a really deep dive on everyone who's played Game seven's
in the last fifty years of NBA postseason history. They
came up with a list of about fifty players who've
been regulars in Game sevens in other words, You've taken

(20:50):
at least seventy shots in your game seven career, what's
your shooting percentage? Well down near the bottom would be
James Harden at thirty five percent. The only one below
him in Game seven history the last fifty years Scottie
Pippen and Marcus Smart. James Harden and the Clippers wound
up losing one twenty to one oh one in the

(21:10):
Game seven at Denver tonight. Thirteen assists for James Harden,
most of that in the first half, when it was
a competitive game. He was two of eight shooting from
the floor. The Nuggets with a seventeen to oh run
in the third quarter. Denver goes to Oklahoma City for
a Game one on Monday. But if you thought Harden's
Game seven history was bad, allow me to introduce you
to the Colorado Avalanche, who had a two nothing lead

(21:33):
in Game seven at Dallas in the third period Tonight,
give up four straight goals in the third. The Stars
advance four to two the final. I have seen the
list going back to Colorado's postseason in two thousand and two,
when they won a Game seven to advance. You see
a couple weeks after that, they lost to Game seven
at Detroit seven to nothing. That has started a stretch

(21:56):
where the Avalanche have not won a Game seven in
over twenty years. It's been seven straight game sevens that
they dropped, even tonight's Game seven, where again they led
to nothing in the third. Sovereignty won the Kentucky derby
beating the favorite journalism on a muddy track. Scotti Scheffler

(22:17):
leads by eight strokes. In Texas and Major League Soccer
San Diego has shut out Dallas five nothing to Major
League Baseball show Hey Otani with his eighth home run
of the season. The Dodgers are leading at Atlanta three
to one in the top of the fourth. This was
supposed to be the game for most of the country
on Fox Sunday Night Baseball, but rain to lay at
the start of over three hours, and we did hear

(22:39):
from our beloved co hosts that no, Atlanta's not carrying it,
but La most certainly is carrying the Dodgers.

Speaker 3 (22:45):
On the local Fox affiliate, Where'd.

Speaker 4 (22:48):
You find It? FS two?

Speaker 3 (22:50):
Whoa here?

Speaker 4 (22:52):
So yeah?

Speaker 6 (22:53):
John Smoltz and the booth, the regular Fox booth was
there and the cameras were ready to go. It was
just thunderstorms all night, and some people were very let's say,
not positive that this game was gonna happen tonight, but
they so didn't want to play two tomorrow that they
just waited till literally after ten to twenty Eastern time

(23:14):
to start this game. So now top of the fourth
and Otani has just singled. It's a three to one
Dodger lead, and again only fourth inning. By the way,
an RBI single for ta Oscar Hernandez of La. He
has thirty three RBIs already. He's tied with Aaron Judge
for the most runs betted in in all of baseball
so far this season. In Anaheim, I would say this

(23:36):
is the late game, but this game's already in the
top of the eighth inning. The Angels have lost seven
in a row. They're leading five to one over Detroit.
Seattle won its six straight game two to one at
Texas with a run in the top of the ninth inning.
San Diego with a run in the top of the
ninth on a wild pitch, two to one winners at Pittsburgh,
rain out for the Mets at Saint Louis. They'll play

(23:58):
a doubleheader tomorrow, and before we pass it back the
folks at stats and say, in all of major pro
sports history in North America, the Colorado Avalanche are the
first team to lose seven straight Game sevens beg to woh.

Speaker 2 (24:17):
Makes James Harden look like Bill Russell over there. Goodness, gracious,
Thank you very much. Steven sag Or, Fox Sports Radio
Erra Tors Jason Martin broadcasting live from the Fox Sports
Radio studios. Jam mart really quickly, just want to get
into the other side of Game seven. We talked a
lot in the first segment at eleven Eastern about the
Clippers losing Game seven.

Speaker 3 (24:38):
What does it mean all of that?

Speaker 2 (24:41):
My question for you does Denver winning this series and
certainly winning Game seven in commanding fashion, does it change
any of the things that you thought about Denver. I mean, obviously,
they fired Mike Malone in the waning days of the
regular season. Adamman comes in and you know it. Listen,
we talked about it. I'll admit that I basically I

(25:03):
felt like they were basically punting on a season, in
what should be another Nicole Jokic MVP season. I thought
it was weird to fire the head coach. Does this
actually change anything for you or was this just Hey,
they had Game seven at home, they won in seven.
Let's not over exaggerate this thing.

Speaker 4 (25:19):
I thought they were going to win the series before
it started. I did not think they were punting on
the season. I think that they thought things were so
ugly behind the scenes between the GM and Mike Malone,
that it was toxic, that it was affecting everything else
that was happening in that building, and that the season
was lost if something didn't happen. So I actually think

(25:40):
it was a salvage job. But I also think that
they knew. I don't feel like ownership felt great about
their chances to win a championship, so I don't think
that it mattered the timing of it, but they thought
they might have a better shot if they could put
some kind of fresh air in it and let the
players start to play a little more. But in terms
of how I see them going forward, it's not a

(26:02):
team like I'm a Thunder fan, so I'm not thrilled
that it's the Nuggets because it's a team that has
won a title. It's a team that has maybe the
best player in the world on it in Jokic, and
it's a team that when they get hot, they can
be incredibly difficult to beat. But I do not think
they will beat the Thunder. And the reason why is

(26:24):
because there's an inconsistency problem with the way that they operate.
And I don't generally mean Jokic when I'm talking about this,
but there's way too many streaky guys and there's way
too much inconsistent basketball. That's what they're going to have
to figure out when they make the permanent higher and
kind of try to get things nailed down during this
all season. But this is where it's going to bite them,

(26:44):
because the consistency of the Thunder is what's been so
impressive about the run. It's not the fifty point game
from Sga. It's the fact that he's almost never off
and they play great defense on top of that, and
they're full of youth, and they're not full of guys
that played me first basketball. They're not full of aloof guys.
I just think it's a bad matchup for Denver, and

(27:08):
so I think that they've kind of maxed out with
what you would expect from them this year based on
everything that they've gone through and just kind of the
cycle of things. They're a good veteran team that has
one that I think is about to run into a
buzzsaw of a kind of almost like a Philadelphia Eagles
ish kind of team. That's just it just feels like

(27:28):
it might be their moment.

Speaker 3 (27:30):
Yeah, so I'm actually with you.

Speaker 2 (27:32):
I think that it will be very easy to kind
of default to, Oh, you know, one, it was the
definitive best thing to fire Mike Malone, and you know,
they've turned a corner and they figured it out. To me,
I think it's an interesting talking point. I would also
sit here and say, you know, they win in seven games.

Speaker 3 (27:51):
Obviously, they were.

Speaker 2 (27:52):
Trailing two to one when the Aaron Gordon you know,
miracle dunk goes through to win Game four, and oh,
by the way, they won Game one in overtime. So yeah,
I was just more curious for your perspective. And again,
I know part of it too is that you obviously,
being a Thunder fan, you're obviously going to see the
Nuggets in the second round. But yeah, I guess I
guess what I would say is that from my perspective,

(28:13):
I would like to say that this is good because
you know, listen, at their best, they're an incredible team
and they're so for sure to watch, but I was,
you know, I was curious if you felt like it
was a big thing, And to.

Speaker 3 (28:26):
Me, it really isn't.

Speaker 4 (28:28):
Great.

Speaker 3 (28:29):
Great series win.

Speaker 2 (28:30):
Credit to credit where it's due, but I also think
it's hard to see them beating Okay c But again
based on the fact that seven game series, UH winning
overtime in Game one, miracle winning Game four, I'm not
I'm not excited, and I don't think they've necessarily turned
any incredible corner.

Speaker 4 (28:46):
No, I mean it was too too in the regular
season between those teams, right, and they opened up the
season against one another. And again it's a team that
the one thing that you can't generally count out as
the heart of a champion once you get into the playoffs,
Like if they start to feel it and they start
to remember those days from a few years ago when
they were dominating and when they won a title, you know,
all bets can be off in that situation because right

(29:09):
now the thunder are starting to enter that rarefied air
that they haven't been in before. Like the guys that
are on this roster aren't used to this, and the
Nuggets are in large part so that you know, that's
always kind of the it's it's the X factor. It's
the thing that you can't that you have to just
kind of wait and see how it all plays out.
I do think it should be a dramatic series. I

(29:29):
don't think it's gonna be some kind of a blowout
series or anything like that. I just think the thunder
are ready for the moment. But I'm looking forward as
a basketball fan to watching it, even though you know
it might be my heart might not be able to
take it quite as well. But it's a really nice,
really enticing semi final matchup. It really is just like
on the flip side, that Nick Celtics series is gonna

(29:51):
be outstanding.

Speaker 2 (29:52):
Nick Celtic's Game one will be Monday night, Denver, OKC.
Game one will be Monday night. Obviously, on Sunday, we'll
have Game one of Indie Cleveland and Game seven of
Golden State in Houston, which we will discuss later in
the show. Fox Sports Radio Aeron Torris Jason Martin broadcasting
live from the Fox Sports Radio Studios.

Speaker 3 (30:10):
We'll come back when we.

Speaker 2 (30:11):
Do, j mart We're gonna go full on TMZ because
you know the relationship that's sweeping America. I gotta hear
your take. Bill Belichick. Jordan Hudson, good, Oh, that's right.
We'll discuss it next. Fox Sports Radio. Welcome back, everybody,
Fox Sports Radio, Aaron Torris, Jason Martin. We are broadcasting

(30:34):
live from the Fox Sports Radio studios. Mary mac aj
nothing but a number banger. I mean, well, there's more
than one way I can perceive what you just said,
given that we will be talking about Bill Belichick AJ
nothing but a number. Mary calls it a banger. The song, well,

(30:57):
I'll tell you what. It's trub Bill in Paradise right now,
because goodness, gracious, okay, so let's talk goodness.

Speaker 4 (31:02):
I just wait a second. Did you say trub Bill.

Speaker 3 (31:05):
Oh it's troub Bill in Paradise.

Speaker 4 (31:06):
Yeah, oh my god.

Speaker 2 (31:07):
We went from Chapel Bill to treub Bill in Paradise
very quickly.

Speaker 3 (31:12):
What angle do you want to take? So here's the thing.
We all saw the.

Speaker 2 (31:16):
CBS interview at this point that was a week ago.
Now we've done that news cycle.

Speaker 3 (31:24):
Then we find.

Speaker 2 (31:25):
Out all this other stuff that basically there was supposed
to be a college hard knocks with UNC and she
was basically it wasn't her.

Speaker 3 (31:35):
This is the girlfriend Jordan Hudson.

Speaker 2 (31:36):
I know everybody listening knows, but twenty four year old
girlfriend of Bill Belichick. She wanted to come on as
like an executive producer or whatever, and she wanted creative
control and HBO basically told her to kick rock. So
she screwed that up or she was heavily involved with
that being screwed up.

Speaker 3 (31:52):
Then we also found.

Speaker 2 (31:53):
Out that she's got eight million dollars in real estate
holdings in the state of Massachusetts. So I think there's
a lot of different ways. I'll let you take it
wherever you want. And by the way, I'll just say
very quickly, I'll give the caveat because some people why
you talk about somebody's personal life, Well, he's the highest,
he's a ten million dollar year head coach at State University,

(32:15):
and she clearly has some role in the athletic department,
whether it's official on the books for the university or not.
So now the personal life is seeping into the professional life,
and that's why I feel like it's totally fair game
to talk about. And so with that, Jamart, I will
let you take Bill Belichick, Jordan Hudson wherever you'd like.

Speaker 4 (32:35):
My friend all right, So I'm not going to talk
about his personal life at all, because in terms of
the personal side of it, I mean it's too consenting adults, right, Like,
I mean, whatever, it's their relationship. You know, there are
certain moral sides of that that this isn't the time
to get into. But I just want to look at
it from the perspective of Bill Belichick's career because that's

(32:58):
what we're paid to do, is analyze and talk about that.
And this just screams to me that Bill Belichick is
just off. Like there's something that's been off about this
the entire time, and it kind of just makes me
wish he was still just on TV doing those hits
and having a blast. Like it looked like he was
living his best life on the Manning Cast and he

(33:19):
was just having a good time. It's just like I
enjoyed that Bill Belichick. I enjoyed the one that just
showed that he loved football by talking about it and
even you know, it gave a little bit of the
business back to ELI and stuff like that. Like I
had a good time watching that Bill Belichick, and I
thought he was really good on TV and just enjoyable.
It was very raw, but it was raw in a

(33:40):
good way. To me, this whole thing, like taking the
North Carolina job, Jordan Hudson and everything that's surrounding that,
it's hard not to look at that and just say,
I mean, she's using him. It's hard not to look
at that. And I understand the real estate holdings and
all this other stuff, but it's just like Bill Belichick.
It can't be the only one that doesn't realize this.

(34:02):
And if he does realize it, then he just doesn't
care because he is getting something out of this that
he wants in general. But I look at it just
from a work standpoint and say, Jordan Hudson is a
major obstacle for North Carolina to deal with. It's not
about the media, it's not about CBS. It's about what

(34:25):
kind of control does she have over Bill? What decision
making power does she have when there aren't cameras around
and when it's not official decisions. How much is he
listening to her? What has she convinced him to give
her when it comes to professional side stuff, That to
me is and I don't know that we're ever going
to get the answers to that, But this whole thing

(34:47):
just rings false to me, and I have seen the
mid life crisis and all this other mess and all
that stuff. I just feel like this Bill Belichick is
just kind of all over the map, sort of in
a like you don't really understand any of what's going on,
is where I am on it. It's just kind of
there's very much. I'm very skeptical that her motives are

(35:09):
anything but self absorbed, and just like the way in
which she's trying to control this situation. None of this
is good for Bill. None of this is good for
Belichick from a legacy standpoint, from a reputation standpoint, any
of those things. Yet she hasn't really wavered on any
of it. She's making herself, she's putting herself more in

(35:31):
front of people than she needs to be, and it's
reflecting badly on him. And if she cared about him,
she would stop doing that. But it doesn't seem to
be the way that she's going.

Speaker 2 (35:40):
Well, yeah, and on the professional side, I would say
it's clear that you know, I just think it's obvious
she's in over her head in terms of the responsibilities
that she's taken on. You know, I mean, I know
you're not on social media, but there was even I
think Stuart Mandel from The Athletic pointed out she has
a Twitter account that she had not tweeted from in
like five years, and then all of a sudden she

(36:00):
went on Twitter, you know, a day or two after
the CBS Sport CBS News thing, and all of a
sudden she's retweeting support of herself from her own count
So on the professional side, it's clear that she is
in over her head. From the Belichick side, I'll be real,
is you know the thing that stood out to me
and I think you kind of just framed it as
you know, it's just weird and whatever. Is like first

(36:21):
time that I ever remember Belichick seemed weak to me,
and it's like, you know, you sat there and you
watched him and he was sort of on it, you know,
because listen, we can all go back to a million
press conferences in New England.

Speaker 3 (36:35):
Doesn't get a question. He likes, we're on the Cincinnati.

Speaker 2 (36:38):
Boom done, end of story, deal with it. This one,
it was like, I don't really want to answer that.
I don't should I answer that I'm gonna and he
starts and then she's jumping in saying no, no, we're not
answering that, we're not talking about it. We're and she's
And that was the thing that stood out, is like,
like you said, is that the Belichick that we knew.
You know, we'll figure out between the white lines, if

(36:59):
he's still got any degree of whatever, uh you know,
coaching magic left in him, But the Belichick that we
knew personality wise. That and I think it's the point
that a lot of people have brought up, but that
you know, do your job, no distractions, no days off
like that is not the Bill Belichick. That it appears
as though the North that North Carolina got Jmartin.

Speaker 4 (37:19):
Yeah, I think that's right. I think that's that's uh,
that's well said. I think that. And he's always been
somebody's been so meticulous about control, and he's been so
meticulous about detail. Not that he's going to divulge that detail,
but he's always been a thinking man in terms of
the way he's strategized, almost diabolically to some degree, and

(37:42):
to like it. That's why it's so like the record skips,
you get the voot in that moment where she's like,
we're not going to answer that, like we yep, but
when has Bill Belichick needed someone to speak for him.
He would prefer to say things in like incomplete sentences
and then move on, like you mean on to Cincinnati,
Like she doesn't need to be the one that is

(38:04):
speaking up in those moments. That's where it's like how
much control does this person have over Bill Belichick? That
she seems to be like defining what he's doing, Like
is she his agent in some way? Is she his
attorney in some way? And I just mean, like how
she's being like perceived. Obviously she's not an attorney, but

(38:26):
what is she doing? What is her public relations role?
When you talk about her being out of her depth,
she's completely out of her depth. She has no idea
what she's doing. And I just have to wonder if
North Carolina, if the powers to be there are just
kind of like what have we done here? Because this
wasn't part of the deal We signed Bill Belichick. We
didn't sign assistant coach Hudson or assistant athletic director Hudson

(38:51):
like and I think the other problem with this is
when you see things like this, none of this has
anything to do with football whatsoever. That's it's not gonna
be good for North Carolina this year. The focus, the attention,
everything seems to be exactly where it doesn't need to
be right now. And that again is very anti Bill Belichick.

(39:11):
And that would give me a lot of pause to
feel like this is going to be any kind of
a success in Chapel Hill.

Speaker 3 (39:16):
Well and really quickly. And I think that there's two
things there.

Speaker 2 (39:19):
One that's why we should be talking about it is
because she's clearly taken on some sort of administrative role
at North Carolina. Whether she's an official employee or not,
you know that she's clearly taken on some role that
it was not anticipated. As far as the football stuff,
I'm curious, just like you are. If he goes eleven
and one, it's all forgotten. I just don't think any
of us think he's going eleven and one at this point.

(39:41):
Fox Sports Radio Aeron Torris, Jason Martin broadcasting for the
Fox Sports Radio Studs. We'll come back from a Hall
of Fame coach and Bill Belichick to one who's definitely
not JJ Reddick.

Speaker 1 (39:50):
Next, you're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio.

Speaker 2 (39:54):
Welcome in everybody, Hour two Tourism Martin. Fox Sports Radio.
We broadcasting live from the Fox Sports Radio Studios. Busy, busy,
busy week in sports. By the way, NFL Draft is
in the rearview mirror Draft coverage. Fox Sports Radio was
brought to you by Shipstation Calm the chaos with the

(40:14):
shipping software that delivers use Code Sports for a free
trial at shipstation dot com. At shipstation dot com, Code
Sports er tors Jason Martin taking you up till two
am Eastern. Bernie Fritto as always will follow us, but
we got a lot take it to jmart.

Speaker 3 (40:30):
Including Story of the week. It's in the NBA. Not
a great week for pretty.

Speaker 2 (40:40):
Much anybody involved with the Lakers. You know, you and
I have joked the greatest dynasty that never was. There's
been some incredible revisionist history how this team was never
built to win an NBA title, which runs it runs
completely counter to everything that I saw on TV for
about a month stretch after Luka Doncic made his Lakers

(41:02):
debut and I was told that this was the best
team in the league, they were gonna win a title. Whatever,
I'll tell you where it wasn't revisionist history where Jay
Mark this time slot right here on that let's go.
So you mean to tell me that you and I, well,
I mean, we must be the best basketball analyst on
the planet because we saw a team with a forty
eight year old star, another star that's out of shape,

(41:26):
no rim protection at all, no real interest in playing defense.
So you mean to tell me that you're not surprised
that the Lakers five games gone NBA Playoffs gentlemen sweep,
not quite the sweep, but Minnesota wins in five. In
all seriousness, I'll give you the Florida take this wherever

(41:47):
you want. There are twenty five different angles that we
can and will cover between now and two am Eastern
when we hand the baton to Bernie Fratto. But I'll
just say this is that we can joke about how
this team was never built to win an NBA championship.
But at the same time, I still think this is
one of the great meltdowns in playoff history, considering the hype,
considering who's on the roster, and oh, by the way,

(42:10):
you know what the craziest part is, And in the
grand scheme, it's probably not that important, but it is
at least worth noting. Minnesota didn't even play well on
Wednesday Night, seven of forty seven from three the lowest
shooting percentage ever in a closeout game, and despite it,
they go to Los Angeles beat the Lakers to win
that series for to one.

Speaker 4 (42:30):
The one problem with the hype machine for the Lakers
is it makes the fall even worse because that revision
is history that you're talking about. There's a lot of
people that get paid seven figures to run their mouth
and say stuff that we all know in our heads
is not true, and you wonder whether or not they

(42:52):
think it's true. And I think some of them do,
and some of them find their way to look at
some stat and misread it to prove a poor But
the problem is that eventually the games have to be played,
and forty eight minutes are going to be played a
number of times in each series, and the better team
is going to win, The better condition team is going
to win, the team that is playing more together is

(43:14):
going to win, and the team that has a functioning
head coach is going to win. And so all of
the bluster and all of the talk about the Lakers,
I don't think anybody could beat them in a seven
game series. I got Lakers in five, no matter what.
Like all that did was make this even worse. It

(43:35):
makes this It emphasizes just how big a failure this was,
and it kind of destroys your own credibility if you've
been running your gums about this for two months, about
how this team is a juggernaut that basically should be
handed to Larry O'Brien and we don't even need to
put them through the rigors of the playoffs. Let's just
hand them the championship. And then the minute things start

(43:55):
to go wrong, Luca is no good, he's a bad team.
He can't play defense. Lebron has no help. Look, going
back to twenty ten, every single time that Lebron has
lost a playoff series, at least five or six different times,
he has immediately talked about we just had a ton

(44:17):
of injuries, and a lot of them are his own
little nagging things that don't bother him when he's scoring forty,
but then the next game when he comes out and
he shoots terribly or he struggles defensively or whatever like that,
it's not a problem, Like, here's the problem. You can
talk about him being forty all you want, but understand
that it's his decision to play at forty, and so

(44:37):
we have to evaluate him against the rest of the
league the same way, like, because he's playing at forty,
that means I'm not going to give him an excuse
because he's forty. If he's forty and he's playing, then
I expect him to be worthy of being on the
floor at that point. I expect him to give me all.
And when he doesn't, then it's not going to be
always forty. What can you expect, well, I can expect

(44:59):
him to in a championship or retire, right, I can
expect him to give me enough, or I'm going to
put somebody else in the problem is that there was
nobody else even close to how good he was, and
so to me, I hate it when the excuses come out.
I hate it when you can't just lose because you
just weren't quite good enough. The team wasn't good enough.
We talked about this over and over. Lebron and Luca

(45:21):
both had to be outstanding every night, and then you
had to have Austin Reeves get you about twenty or
Ruy Hachimura gets you fifteen, like you had to have
some other contributions and you had no size on the inside.
And I can't remember who it was that said this.
I believe it might have been maybeen Kenny Smith. I'm
not sure it was one of the TNT guys. But
the idea was that Lebron had to end up playing

(45:43):
the four way too often and he's not capable of
doing that anymore. Like he's still like him playing the
three and guarding the three is better for where he
finds himself than where he had to play. He had
to play a little bit out of position in this
series and all that. So there's there's there's a lot
of blame pie here. I get that, and I think
that all of it is worthy to some degree. But

(46:06):
the thing that stood out the most in the wake
of this loss was the rush to find everybody else
to throw this at, with the exception of Lebron James,
which look, now we can say this and who knows
how long this is going to go. Buckle up, folks.

(46:29):
The coach stinks. In this series. The coach was terrible.
And if you were going to blame one person overall,
it's not Luca, it's not the bench, it's not Lebron James,
it's JJ Reddick. Reddick to me, was abysmal in this series.
And I have no qualms in saying that, because we

(46:50):
also said nice things about him during the regular season, said,
you know what, he's doing a pretty good job. But
everything about the way he handled this playoffs showed you
why a podcast host probably shouldn't go to coach the
Lakers immediately having no coaching experience.

Speaker 2 (47:06):
Well, i'll tell you what, you know, how I knew
that they listen independent of there were so many things
that happened over the course of the series. Obviously, he
came under a great deal of criticism after Game four
starters essentially don't come out entire second half, all that
I knew the Lakers were cooked. In Game five, when
he goes to the podium for his pregame media availability

(47:27):
and it ends sounding.

Speaker 7 (47:28):
Like this, is there an assistant or someone maybe that
you'll lean on tonight, maybe to try to get you know,
some other guys involved if that opportunity presents.

Speaker 8 (47:38):
Are you saying that because I'm inexperienced and that was
an inexperienced decision that I made. Do you think I
don't talk to my assistance about substitutions every single timeout?

Speaker 7 (47:48):
No, I just think there's a lot of coaches lean
on their assistance in those situations.

Speaker 8 (47:52):
As do os a lock every single time. That's a
weird assumption.

Speaker 2 (47:58):
So a couple of things. One, first of all, I
don't know if you stayed up for inside the NBA.
I did to soak in every moment on the uh
you know, one, two three can coon picture that they
had They had, you know, all the guys hanging out
by a boat and on the boat. The boat you
know how boats have a name. The name of the
boat was weird assumption. So Ernie Johnson pointed that out.

(48:19):
None of the other guys figured it out. But two,
I knew they were done right. There is that And listen,
by the way, I do think there is a quite
literal they put all of their chips into winning game four.
By the way, even if you win game four, it's
still two to two, but you'll lose Game four you
don't win. I know they had three days off between
Sunday and Wednesday, but when your head coach goes to

(48:42):
the podium, And by the way, j Mart, you know,
if a media member, I'm not somebody that's always going
to defend the media. If the media, if the media
asked a dumb question, you are responsible for that question.
And if an athlete or a coach or somebody you know,
you know, shoves you in a locker, I'm not gonna
feel bad for you. Considering how JJ Reddick coached in

(49:04):
Game four, that was a perfectly logical question. And as
soon as I heard that response, I said, the Lakers
are cooked. In Game five, they are not winning this game,
by the way. That's I want you. I want your
take on the pregame. But that's another thing about Game five.
The Timberwolves were trying to give the Lakers the game
that they couldn't take it. But I knew they were

(49:24):
cooked going into Game five. When I heard that response,
before the ball was even tipped. I heard that, I
was like, Lakers, there's zero percent chance that they're winning tonight.

Speaker 4 (49:32):
Yeah. So, and I can vouch for what you just
said being true because we were in a text thread
and you said it before the game, and I went
and watched it because I hadn't seen it at that point,
and when I watched the pregame comments, I was just like, Oh, okay, yeah,
this is not gonna go well. And it didn't. And

(49:53):
it's really strange, Like I liked JJ Reddick when he
played like I I thought he got the most out
of his career. I thought he was a better NBA
player than maybe a lot thought he was going to
be coming out of Duke. I didn't really understand all
the hatred that he got at Duke other than just
playing at Duke, but I didn't think he was deserving

(50:13):
of a lot of that. But the post playing career
for JJ Reddick, he's becoming more unlikable by the moment,
Like he's like the way he responds to critique, he
just has this air of I'm smarter than you, and
I want you to know it, and I'm also going

(50:35):
to do it in a way that almost makes it
feel like you should be ashamed for daring to talk
to me. And what that question was asking JJ essentially
was do you have somebody that can give you some
common sense so that you don't bonehead this thing? Like
it wasn't an unfair question at all. It's the same
thing that happens when there's clock management issues in the NFL,

(50:57):
and we always have that take of like, well, there
needs to be some kind of a dude that's responsible
for nothing but common sense and logic because the coach
is so he's so worried about what's happening on the field,
sometimes other details can get lost. There should be somebody
that's in charge of those details, like, hey, coach, you
need to do this right now, but immediately. Reddick couldn't it.
Reddick couldn't just you know, accept a question to say,

(51:18):
of course I'm gonna I'm gonna check in with him.
I do that on it, I do that in every game.
But you know, I do think maybe we got that
one wrong. He can't be wrong, and so instead of that,
the problem is just saying that you're never wrong doesn't
mean you're right. Like we all knew he was wrong.
You know how we knew he was wrong because when
you talk, we talked about already Lebron's forty, Luca's out

(51:41):
of shape, plus he was coming off of, you know,
a stomach virus. You didn't have much depth at all.
You had no rim protection, you had no center play
since like January, like, you had no depth, so you
weren't bringing guys off the bench, and so you play
all these dudes all these minutes. And that was the
first time in the history of the NBA that that

(52:02):
had been done, the first time ever. That's how we
know it was not a particularly smart choice, that it
didn't make any sense, and Reddick's response gave away it
was a tell man, like we knew at that point
that he didn't have the hand and we were gonna
take this thing to the river. Like he basically revealed

(52:24):
like he couldn't take the criticism, but he knew it
was true, and so he got very holier than now
about it. Of course, I talked to my assistance and
then he stormed off and all this stuff, and then
they went and proceeded to lose the game. Like he
basically told us in that moment that he screwed up.
The way he responded gave it away. And your reaction
to me that night was he's gonna try and do

(52:46):
that this time. He's gonna try and make substitutions and
they're gonna lose the game. Little did we know that
Rudy gobert Well was gonna become Bill Russell for a
night well and just embarrass them.

Speaker 2 (52:58):
That was part of it, though, the Grand substitution and
you said this, you said this before one of the
worst coaching jobs you ever. It really was because the
grand idea for substitutions in game seven, was first of all,
publicly admit that you're not going to play your seven
foot Jackson Hayes.

Speaker 3 (53:17):
And I'm not saying that he's the perfect player, and
if they had played to me would have won.

Speaker 2 (53:20):
But you publicly basically now you were going to play it,
and then you decided to play Maxy Kleeber, whose last
game was a one point performance on January twenty fifth
as a member of the Dallas Mavericks, I moved.

Speaker 4 (53:37):
I never even heard that man's name in my life
until he came in that game.

Speaker 2 (53:43):
I asked Brandon Deutsch, this our ap in the back.
I would love for somebody to look this up.

Speaker 3 (53:49):
We don't have.

Speaker 2 (53:49):
Unfortunately, we would have a researcher on staff here at
twelve fifteen am on a Saturday and a Sunday. I
would love to know if any player has ever made
their debut for a team in a close out game
of the playoffs, and certainly not under the like, yeah,

(54:10):
maybe there was a rookie who got in, you know,
in a forty point blowout. I can't imagine there was
a guy playing big minutes for the first time in
his career with a certain organization in a closeout game. So,
by the way, we're gonna come back and talk about
some of the stuff JJ said after the series was over.

(54:30):
But you know, you talk about just a game in
which the coach just embarrassed himself. N Again, I'm not
saying Jackson Hayes is Bill Russell. I'm not saying he
would have been the Rudy Gobert stopper, but to basically
acknowledge you're not gonna play him. By the way, for
the x's and o's nerds, there was the Anthony Edwards
double team that led to a wide open shot every

(54:51):
single time that the that the Timberwolf just couldn't knocked down.
And then Maxi Kleeber makes his Laker debut.

Speaker 3 (55:00):
That was the.

Speaker 2 (55:00):
Big grand substitution idea. And by the way, for people wondering, well,
maybe he was good with Dallas and that was why
you decided to play him. He averaged three points and
two point eight two point eight points per game this
season in thirty four games for the Dallas Mavericks. So
this wasn't a guy that was hurt that was averaging
eighteen a game that he decided to bring in three

(55:23):
points two point eight rebounds per game in thirty four
games with the Dallas Mavericks before he was traded with.

Speaker 3 (55:28):
What I'd like to know is where was Browny America's wondering?

Speaker 4 (55:34):
I mean, he had seventeen he did, like, I mean,
you could have used a few of those points, right,
I mean, that wasn't a wasted pick, and it definitely
wasn't just a pick for no apparent reason. And he's
been tearing it up in the G League. So I mean,
you got depth issues. You got dudes that are huffing
and puffing. You got a forty year old that you
know he's going as hard as you can, and all

(55:55):
this stuff, Like where's brawny? I mean, he's a rookie,
he's got all that, he's got, all the mileage still left.
He didn't have a on a basketball miles on him,
Like where is he? Where's your second round draft pick
at that point in time. I know I'm speaking as
if this is like I'm trolling at this point, but
at the same time, it's just kind of like, I mean,

(56:15):
somebody else in the uniform needs to be on the
floor for you, and it should not take a duke
education to understand that doing what you did in that
second half, not only harmed you in that second half,
but also made sure your guys were gonna have less
gas in the game that came afterwards, which turned out
to be the closeout game where Rudy Gobert pretty much

(56:38):
put himself into the Hall of Fame in one night
because he set like four Timberwolves records in that game
because the Lakers apparently just wanted to help him. That
was the nicest gesture I've seen since Brett Farve allowed
Michael Strahan to break the sack record.

Speaker 2 (56:55):
Well, I'll tell you what, J mart You may think
it was coaching, but according to JJ Redick, it had
nothing to do with coaching and to do with something else,
very much different. The good news is the buck is
completely off JJ Reddick. According to JJ Redick and on
to someone else, We're gonna go ahead and discuss that
next Eritors, Jason Martin, Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 5 (57:16):
listen live.

Speaker 3 (57:28):
Welcome back, everybody, Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (57:31):
Ertors Jason Martin broadcasting live from the Fox Sports radio
studios tell you what JJ Redick trying to come up
with a clever, sweet escape from blame after what happened
on Wednesday night. In that series, we'll get to JJ
Redick in just one moment and some comments that he
made after Game five.

Speaker 3 (57:53):
Before we do, though, let's get over the news desk.

Speaker 6 (57:57):
Steve de Seger Canello Alvarez is one is fight by
unanimous decision tonight. And by the way I figured this out,
we were talking about the TV with Dodgers in Atlanta
was due to be for most people the Fox MLB
game tonight rain delay at the start of over three
hours they are playing, but only on the Fox affiliate
in LA. For the rest of the country, it is

(58:18):
you're correct, Jason on FS two and available. Why not
on FS one because right now FS one is carrying
the final round of Live Golf live from South Korea
right now, early in the final round, Bryson De'shambo has
a three stroke advantage. By the way, ABC is apparently
not caring even a second of the Golden State Game

(58:39):
seven tomorrow. It's cable only. And it's been pointed out
that when MBC takes over its portion of NBA coverage.
Starting next year, They're due to have at least fourteen
early round playoff games per year, which is more than
ABC has ever carried going into a finals.

Speaker 4 (58:56):
You know what the you know what else NBC is
going to happen?

Speaker 3 (58:58):
Oh I answer the trivia round ball Rock Rabi Yes
snouts it.

Speaker 6 (59:02):
Today John Tesha's old song is going to be back
as the NBA on NBC n Peacock theme song. If
you've heard it, you know it's and it reminds us
all of nineteen ninety NBA Quite frankly, it was you know,
it wasn't on five different channels back then. That was it,
and you heard it every week. By the way, ABC's

(59:25):
carrying Formula one instead of an NBA game seven tomorrow.
And while we talk about NBC, they had the Kentucky
Derby today. Mike Tarico was not on it for most
of the time. He had to step away from the booth.
Initially they said he's feeling under the weather, and then
later said he did have a nut allergy a reaction earlier. Today.

(59:45):
He's feeling fine now, but he wound up, as they
put it, staying on the sideline. Sovereignty won the Kentucky
derby beating Favorite Journalism on a muddy track. Meanwhile, lots
of rain in Atlanta tonight, but finally, at about ten
twenty East they started this game, so it's only top
of the seventh at this hour. Dodgers lead seven to
three over the Braves. Roki Sasaki, the LA starter, went

(01:00:08):
the first five innings almost one hundred pitches. Show Hey
Otani hit his eighth home run of the season. Metsic
Cardinals was rained out. They'll play a doubleheader tomorrow. Minnesota
and Philadelphia got wins. Washington and Seattle as well. The
Mariners have won six in a row. They got a
run in the top of the ninth for a two
to one victory at Texas. Cubs six two winners at Milwaukee,

(01:00:30):
beating Jose Kintana, who had been four and oh and
the Angels in Anaheim, they'd lost seven in a row.
Did get a win over Detroit tonight, five to two.
Kyle Hendricks was zero to three with an ERA of
six point sixty five, but got the win here over
Detroit's Jack Flaherty in La.

Speaker 3 (01:00:46):
Native one in four.

Speaker 6 (01:00:47):
Is his record now as far as the PGA tour,
I mentioned livgal So on FS one PGA Tours in
Texas at the Byron Nelson and it's an eight stroke
lead for Scotti Scheffler after the third round. Fifty four
hole lead eight strokes is the largest on the PGA
Tour in over a decade since Rory McElroy won the

(01:01:08):
US Open in twenty eleven.

Speaker 3 (01:01:10):
Back to you, Thank you very much, Steve Seger.

Speaker 2 (01:01:12):
This is Fox Sports Radio, Fox Sports Sunday now on
the East Coast eron Torres. Jason Martin broadcasting live from
the Fox Sports Radio studios. Want to go back to
the story of the week, you know, once we move
past the Shador Sanders news of the NFL Draft, story
of the week was the meltdown of the Lakers in
the NBA playoffs. In the first segment of this hour,

(01:01:36):
we talked about the meltdown, JJ Reddick, everything that went wrong.
It's amazing what a difference twenty four hours can make, though,
because JJ Redick probably feeling some heat after that loss
in the first round of the playoffs in five games.
Twenty four hours later, though, wasn't feeling heat and was

(01:01:57):
ready to pass the buck to somebody else.

Speaker 3 (01:02:00):
Mary Mack played the sound.

Speaker 9 (01:02:02):
I'll start with the off season and the work that's
required in an off season to be in championship shape.
And you know, we have a ways to go as
a roster, and certainly there are individuals that were in
phenomenal shape. There's certainly other ones that could have been

(01:02:22):
in better shape. That's where my mind goes immediately is
you know, we have to get in championship shape.

Speaker 2 (01:02:29):
That was JJ Redick, jmart after losing in round one.
Now let me well, you know what, I was gonna
make a joke, but I want to jump right into
this JJ Reddick saying we need to get into championship shape. First,
he says, well, that applies to the whole team. But
then he says, well, there are some guys that are
in plenty good shape, but there are some guys that
aren't good enough.

Speaker 3 (01:02:49):
And I guess I'll toss it over to you by saying, this.

Speaker 2 (01:02:53):
Sounds like a pretty direct shot at Luka Dacic, and
I think in life two things can be true. Yes,
Luca needs to be in better shape. No, he is
not the reason that he that they lost. And this
certainly sounds to me like JJ Reddick is trying to
make Luka Doncic, the fall guy. Do you hear the

(01:03:14):
same thing when you hear that sound chamber?

Speaker 4 (01:03:16):
Yeah? Men. The only reason why is because I have ears.
Like it's really obvious. It was almost telegraphed. And you
you mean like he said at first, and then he
made sure to like specify, there's some people who are
in good shape, Lebron, I'm talking about you, buddy, don't
I'm not. I'm not including you in this like he's
talking about everybody else and he's we know what he's doing.

(01:03:38):
He's going with the media narrative, like the media has
already told us that and Nico Harrison essentially they've told
us that Luka Doncic is a fat slob, like that's
that's essentially what we've heard. That he's in hookah lounges
and that he snacks on donuts all the time basically,
and he's in bad shape and that's why he's hurt
all the time. He's got no stamina and da da

(01:03:59):
da da da, And so read it goes straight with that,
and honestly, whether true or not, that could be the
most disrespectful way that you could possibly behave twenty four
hours after your team loses because you basically made sure
it wasn't on the star that's protected at all costs.
The only reason you go with the job, by the way,

(01:04:21):
the only reason exactly yeah, exactly right. And you don't
just say, you know what, Minnesota's a good team and
they got us this year, or you know, I'd had
a lot of respect for you JJ if you had
just started off and said, you know what starts with me.
I got to coach better, I've got to be better
at my job. I got to make sure that our
guys are more ready next year. There's work that we're

(01:04:44):
going to have to do as a team, and it
starts with me, and it starts with our staff. Just
say it like no one is going to critique you
for that comment. I don't understand why more people don't
realize that sometimes when you humble yourself, or sometimes when
you you show that kind of contrition, that kind of
self awareness, you get grace from people, and people see

(01:05:07):
you in a different light and it doesn't hurt you.
It doesn't make you look weak, it doesn't make you
look soft, it doesn't do anything but make you look
real because we all saw it like what was true
was true. And if you just start out by taking
some of the blame on yourself, that's going to be
appreciated not only by the people watching, but also the

(01:05:28):
guys that you're coaching, from Lebron and Luca on down.
But this whole thing needs to be pinned on somebody
specifically so that other people are shielded. And the problem
for JJ Reddick is he's not willing to actually take
any of that shrapnel. He's not like he can't handle it.

(01:05:49):
You could tell by the way he responds to questions
that are asked, and he immediately jumped to the lowest
hanging fruit that all his friends in the media have
already been pushing out for months. Anytime the Lakers lost
the game, it was because Luca was out of shape.
And anytime they won, when Luca had thirty seven, it
was Kendrick Perkins on television saying, yeah, he had thirty seven.
I want to talk about you thirty seven points. I

(01:06:11):
want to talk about the little things to help you
win that you don't do, Luca. It's just like, this
is so tired and it becomes so easy to root
against these Lakers, not because of anything about the personalities
of a bunch of the guys on this team, but
because there's just some insufferability that is just surrounding this
squad all the time, both in the press and on

(01:06:33):
the sidelines, and of course with Lebron in the way
that he kind of passively aggressively make sure that the
buck never even comes close to him. But Reddick's response
right here again just reveals this this whole thing is
beyond him right now. It has nothing to do with
his x's and o's knowledge or how many insider basketball
terms that he can use to declare that he understands

(01:06:55):
what he's saying. It's like the stock it's like using
the stock market is no, we're near as complicated as
people make it out to be, but they use a
completely different language so that it looks like they're the
only ones that can handle it, that they're the only
ones that can handle it. So when you go in
and you start to look at investment banking, they use
derivatives and credit default swaps and all this other kind
of stuff. It's terminology that actually is pretty simple, but

(01:07:19):
if you just say it out loud, you sound like
an expert. So when JJ Reddick's like, yeah, I could
talk about all the reds that we could do, and
this and this, and he starts using all these terms
that you know are invented in that are like basketball
parlance that no one actually speaks like. It doesn't all
of a sudden make you a brain, Like what makes
you a coach is leading. It is not leading to
sit there and say, well, starts with us being in shape.

(01:07:42):
And I don't want to say his name, but his
name is Uka Doncic. Actually let me change that, it's
Luca Ancic. Like he's giving it away without giving it away.
And the fact that he doesn't name it actually is
worse than him just calling Luca out by name. The
whole thing is just gross and it shows again a
very immature And you say that because I'm in experienced, Absolutely,

(01:08:05):
JJ Reddick, That's exactly what I'm saying, And honestly, you
should know better. As long as you played in the
league and then in the media. I guess technically you
covered in NBA Finals, although I only heard you speak
for about a quarter's worth of that entire series when
you were on commentary. But you were in the media
and you saw this, and you saw the critique from

(01:08:25):
a player's perspective, But here in this moment, you seem
completely tone deaf to what it takes to actually lead
and earn the respect of the people in your own
locker room.

Speaker 3 (01:08:35):
By the way, the guy that he didn't say was
out of shape but did say was out of shape.
Luka Dancic finished the.

Speaker 2 (01:08:40):
Series averaging thirty points, seven rebounds, five point eight assists
on thirty five percent shooting from three, led the team
in scoring and assists, and obviously was second to Lebron.
All I'll say really quick because I want to ask
you a different question. When I heard that sound what
it sounded like to me, And I'm not somebody who
has ever watched the show Survivor, but I know that

(01:09:03):
they make alliances on that show all the time, and
that sounded like I am on I am, I am
making an alliance with Lebron where he is not gonna
publicly criticize me, but I'm not publicly gonna criticize him,
and Luca is gonna be the fall guy. And oh,
by the way, we didn't even get to the Lebron
comments about oh you know, yeah, well, i'd say we
need more size, but my boy ad ask for a

(01:09:26):
center and he got So it's like, okay, so we'll
blame that one on Polenka, but this is on Donchets.
And so let's go back to Luca really quick, because
I gotta ask you. Listen, I know that Lebron is
forty going on forty one, and he's obviously on borrow time.
Luca is under contract for the twenty five to twenty
six season, and then he has a player option for

(01:09:47):
next year.

Speaker 3 (01:09:50):
I know we're a year away, and I.

Speaker 2 (01:09:51):
Know there's a possibility that at this time next year
Lebron could be retiring and walking away from the NBA.
I'll also say, if I'm Luka Dacic, and can I
hear that in the exit interview that JJ Reddick has
with the media. I'm now spending the next six months
sitting here saying is this an organization I want to
be part of? Is this the guy I want to
be coached by? I think it completely changes the cat

(01:10:13):
because I listen, we all assume you trade for Luca,
you're keeping him long term. He's gonna want to sign
in LA. If I'm Luca, I'm like, I want to
play for this guy when he just threw me under
the bus after I averaged thirty seven and six in
a five game series.

Speaker 3 (01:10:28):
I think it had I think Luca's.

Speaker 2 (01:10:29):
Gonna spend the next six months sitting there saying, is
this something I want to be part of beyond the
twenty five to twenty six season.

Speaker 4 (01:10:35):
So listen. I said this from at least like three
four games into his tenure with the Lakers. I remember
texting you this, and it has not changed. My opinion
on this hasn't changed. He doesn't look happy, he doesn't
look like he wants to be there. He didn't want
to be there. He didn't want to get traded, he
didn't want to leave Dallas. He certainly I don't think

(01:10:56):
he wanted to go to LA I don't care whether
Lebron knew it in advance or not, and all this,
I don't really buy that he didn't, by the way,
but past all of that, like, I don't think he
wanted to be in the Lakers' uniform. I don't think
that he wants to play for JJ Reddick. I don't
think that he wants to play with Lebron James. I
don't think that any of this is what he ideally
wants as a basketball player. So what I would love

(01:11:17):
to see from Luka Doncic because here's here's the other thing,
and we haven't really talked about this. Yeah, Luca's not
in great Jake like that. That is legitimately true. You know,
his physics, he may never be ripped to shreds. That
may just not be the way that his body is
built and all of that, and that's fine, but he's
carrying too many pounds and there are some things that

(01:11:39):
that can affect and I completely get all of that.
What I really like to see Luca do is throw
the deuces to La go somewhere else and play and
get in shape. Yeah, and just be like, no, you know,
you guys have me, but the way you treated me,
thanks for waking me up. But I'm gonna be in
I'm gonna be in a different bed, Like I'm not

(01:12:00):
gonna play for you. I'm not gonna be here. And
then it ruins them for the future because when Lebron
then retires, then what do you have? And the Lakers
would have earned it. But yeah, if you want the
best out of Luca, I don't think that this is
the method that does it. I don't think that trying
to shame him publicly. I don't think that even being.

Speaker 2 (01:12:18):
Trying to shame publicly when he was awesome and you
sucked by the way, but keep.

Speaker 4 (01:12:22):
Going, Yeah, all that true. Like, I don't think that
any of the way that the messaging has come across
is the way to maintain a relationship or Luca doesn't
strike me as a kind of guy that, like, you
go negative with him and it's gonna make him do
the right thing. He feels like to me, the guy

(01:12:43):
that if you go negative with him and treat him
like dirt while he's there, he's just gonna shut down
and be like, I'm gonna go get mine. But I
don't care about the rest of this, Like I just
the whole situation to me reads like you talk about
the next six months. I actually think there is a
really good chance that Luca will be wearing a third jersey.

(01:13:05):
He's gonna go somewhere else because the Lakers have done
everything in their power to throw the book at him now.
And I don't know that he ever wanted to be
there in the first place. In fact, I am on
record saying I don't think he did, and I don't
think he has ever looked down. I don't even mean comfortable,
like he hates all his teammates or anything like that.
He just this is not a situation that he asked for.
It's not a situation that he wanted. And I think

(01:13:28):
now that he's gotten there, he knows it's not where
he wants to be, Like there's nothing for him.

Speaker 2 (01:13:33):
Here, nothing for him here. I think it'll be I
think it'll be interesting. He's obviously not gonna do anything
public for a long time. But I'll tell you what,
if I was a Lakers beat writer, that'd be the
first question that I'd be asking.

Speaker 3 (01:13:44):
Him the next time he has a media availability.

Speaker 2 (01:13:46):
Fox Sports Radio ra Tords Jason Martin, broadcasting live from
the Fox Sports Radio studios. Will come back, Steve Desager.
He's in championship shape. Every time I throw it over
to him, he'll have you get you caught up on
everything that you've missed throughout the day.

Speaker 3 (01:13:59):
This is Fox Sports Radio. Welcome back, everybody. Fox Sports
Radio Er Tors Jason Martin, broadcasting live from the Tyrek
dot Com studios.

Speaker 2 (01:14:07):
Don't want to waste any more time. It was a
wild Saturday in sports. Let's get it into the news desk.
To saga, the floor is yours.

Speaker 6 (01:14:12):
My friend, and time permitting, we will certainly get to
those game sevens. Dallas winning in the NHL, Denver winning
in an NBA Game seven. We brought up the fact
that there is a Game seven tomorrow in the NBA
with Golden State at Houston. It's not only going to
be on cable, not a regular network channel, it is
also going to be on the Warriors' own cable network

(01:14:33):
with their announcers and Houston's own regional cable network with
their announcers ring I'm right, uh oh recorrect. He was
on earlier today with Dan Byer. He does the Houston games.
But the final NBA playoff telecast ever on a regional
sports network, aren't tomorrow because in the new deal for

(01:14:55):
NBA television starting next year, all the first round games
are exclusive to nash TV.

Speaker 4 (01:15:01):
Interesting.

Speaker 6 (01:15:01):
Back in the eighties in baseball, you could still get
the local announcers once the National League Championship Series start
at National TV. Finally said what is going on here?
We're paying money, we want everybody to watch us. Finally,
the NBA, starting next year, is doing that. What was
today in the world of sports, and speaking of TV
this deserves mentioned was the Kentucky Derby, sovereignty the winner

(01:15:25):
on a muddy track. The audience for the Kentucky Derby
on TV a year ago was enormous, about sixteen million viewers,
meaning among non football sports telecasts in the past year,
that was one of the largest audiences. It was exceeded
only by, for example, Dodgers Yankees World Series clincher last year,

(01:15:45):
the March Madness Final we recently had, and of course
the Olympics in Paris, because my goodness, that just went
through the roof with ratings the Paris Olympics. If you
add up all the NBC platforms per day, they were
averaging thirty million viewers a day, which just I remember
that is still astonishing. That just doesn't happen in television anyway.

(01:16:07):
I'm sure the Kentucky Derby will be getting a nice number,
as it usually does, but it's nothing like the story
that I came across. And thanks to Sporting News for
reading an article in the Louisville Courier Journal and pointing
this out. They said that every horse due to run
in the Derby today is a descendant of Secretariat.

Speaker 4 (01:16:28):
I saw it.

Speaker 6 (01:16:29):
Every one Secretariat, the legendary Triple Crown winner of nineteen
seventy three. If you haven't seen the movie, see it.
But amazingly, and apparently this is for horses about six
generations down the line. They say, this is not shocking
for such lineage to exist. And Secretariat, they say, is
known to have sired more than six hundred and sixty folds.

(01:16:51):
But still to say it out loud that in the
largest field of the Triple Crown races, it's usually almost
twenty horses every year, every horse a descendant of Secretary.

Speaker 2 (01:17:03):
I was gonna ask I saw somebody who knows more
about horses, like this is actually not a good thing,
And I could see where quite literally it feels incestuous.
But I'm not enough of a horse expert to know
if it's actually a big deal.

Speaker 6 (01:17:14):
And you know the amount of money they pay just
for a chance at one of the kids from any champion,
much less Secretary. It's it's to say the least, Well,
apparently it's not that big of a deal if there
it's a large amount of money involved. So mister whoever
king whatever from the Middle East that won today and
a couple other big races, this weekend. A lot of

(01:17:34):
money is spent on this type of thing and it
always doesn't come through like it did for him this weekend.
We do have an update on the Pirates fan who
fell out of the stands and onto the warning track
in a game this week. If you haven't seen the
brief video that exists, he tumbled over the outfield railing
and landed like a rag doll on the warning track
and it's been in the hospital since about a twenty

(01:17:55):
foot fall from the seat over the railing onto the field.
Still has a long road ahead, according to family, but
is awake and alert. A go fundme for him has
already raised thousands. This fan's girlfriend said he's awake and
continuing to work toward making his body stronger each day.
The girlfriend's mom says long road ahead, but the progress

(01:18:18):
so far feels nothing short of miraculous. Apparently, according to witnesses,
you had a fan, a twenty year old, taking off
his shirt, pouring beer on himself before the star player
comes to bad in Pittsburgh and then immediately tumbles over
the railing and is now in the hospital. And there were,
for example, articles that said it's unclear how a twenty

(01:18:40):
year old procured a beer at the ballpark. The person
who organized the GoFundMe says, we know the young man
very well. Please be considerate during this tragic time. And
then there was the NHL playoff game tonight, a Game
seven at Dallas, and the home team was losing two
nothing in the third and still won four to two
over Colorado, which means a red hour back mark has

(01:19:03):
been broken. He had been undefeated eight to zero in
game sevens in his long Celtics career. Tonight, hockey coach
for Dallas, Peter de Boor now nine to oh in
game seven's in history. That's the best in any of
the pro sports in North America.

Speaker 3 (01:19:17):
So the reverse, James Harden, is what you're telling. Bring
it back full circles Fox.

Speaker 4 (01:19:21):
I knew about the hockey score because of Charles Barkley.
He was kicking us up today. I was like, oh yeah,
I'm gonna flip over that. I forgot about that.

Speaker 3 (01:19:28):
I'll tell you what.

Speaker 2 (01:19:29):
It was a busy day and we will come back.
We thank you, by the way, to Sager. We'll come back.
Talk James Harden, talk the Clippers. This is Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (01:19:37):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio.

Speaker 2 (01:19:40):
Welcome man, everybody our three tours and Martin Fox Sports Radio.
We are broadcasting live from the Fox Sports Radio studios.
We are taking it till two am Eastern. Bernie Fredo
of the Bernie Frado Show, I cannot Bernie always has
the takes and there were no shorta just storylines this week,

(01:20:02):
the Lakers obviously the fallout from the NFL Draft. Bernie
Frado an hour from now will take over for us.
Should mention, by the way, can stream this show and
all of our Fox Sports Radio shows live twenty four
to seven in the new and improved iHeartRadio app. Just
search Fox Sports Radio in the app to stream us live.
And one of the newest features in the app is

(01:20:23):
you can select Fox Sports Radio as one of your presets,
just like the presets on a radio dial. So be
sure to preset Fox Sports Radio in the iHeartRadio app
and it will always pop up at the top of
your screen. J Mart, it is early Sunday on the
East Coast and in the Central time Zone. The big
story on Saturday among many We do have one more

(01:20:43):
NBA Series Final Game seven in Denver. Denver Nuggets take
down the Los Angeles Clippers one twenty to one oh one.
Start out well for the Clippers, up five after the
first quarter. Unfortunately it didn't last. They were down eleven
at halftime. They were down twenty seven going into the
fourth quarter. A big fourth quarter made it a quote

(01:21:06):
unquote respectable nineteen point loss. I got a lot of takes,
some of it positive for Denver, but certainly plenty of
it negative for the Los Angeles Clippers, who are again
bounced in the opening round of the playoffs. And should
just mention James Harden in a closeout game two of
eight from the field, one of four from three seven points,

(01:21:28):
did have thirteen assists. How about this a negative twenty
nine in the plus minus category. Now, of course, when
you lose by nineteen, it's never gonna be pretty. But
James Harden another dud as the Los Angeles Clippers are
eliminated in round one.

Speaker 4 (01:21:44):
Yep, the problem is that this played out exactly the
way that you would assume it would based on history.
There's not any there's not any kind of like brilliant
new piece of analysis to put forth here. This is

(01:22:05):
what James Harden does in games like this generally throughout
his career, he can be counted upon to not show
up the way he needs to. He had ten assists
in the first half. I felt like he was making
some good basketball decisions, that he was putting guys in
position to succeed. A few of those didn't go down
that should have. But the biggest problem was the Nuggets

(01:22:27):
kind of open up an eleven point lead in the
second quarter and then they never looked back. Their largest
lead was thirty five in this game. And then with
Harden and Kawhi on the bench, when they were pretty
much done for there was like a fifteen to two run.
They tightened it up a little bit, and by tightening
it up, I mean got it to you know, seventeen
eighteen points. Of course, it ends up being a nineteen

(01:22:48):
point win. But James Harden goes for seven points on
two for eight shooting. He's one to four from three.
The biggest problem isn't even the fact that it was
like twenty five percent from the field. He only took
eight shots. Yep. That's the problem with Harden in a
lot of these games is he's not even being aggressive

(01:23:10):
towards being this like lethal assassin scorer that he can be.
And if they were going to have a chance in
this game. He was going to have to be that guy.
He was going to have to be aggressive, and I
understood the assists side, but he had to get to
points as well. And he just didn't seem to be
looking for a shot particularly often. A few of the
times that he went to the rim, he had no chance,

(01:23:31):
and I'm not sure what he was doing in those spots,
but this looked like one team that actually wanted to
play and wanted to keep playing, and another one that,
once this thing became it was going to be pretty
daunting to come back. They just went ahead and cashed
it in. They went and packed it in, said we're
going to do the Gune fishing. Send us to Cancun, guys,

(01:23:51):
And that's what it was. And James Harden can be
counted upon to do this on a regular basis. That's
the problem with the makeup of the team and why
I had twenty two in a game. And I mean,
we understand how great a basketball player he is, but
at the same time, he hasn't done much of relevance
when it comes to the postseason in a very long
time either. This team was flawed from the outset because

(01:24:14):
it's built on guys you can't trust. I mean, Ben
Simmons is on this rock our guy. Yeah, I mean
there are some talented guys, but I'm looking at like
Nick Batoum lumbering down the floor in the second half,
and Powell is out there and all this is just like,
I'm not sure why this game, why this series even
went seven, And that just makes me wonder because I mean,

(01:24:35):
the Nuggets should have been able to dispense them earlier,
and like I picked Denver before the series started. I
understand the analytics seem to favor the Clippers, but I
just I don't care about your analytics when I look
at the guys that you have to rely upon with
the Clippers, and I'm just like, I don't know if
Kahi's going to be healthy. I understand how good he is,
but Harden I just can't trust. And that's exactly what

(01:24:57):
you got here. I think Tyler's an outstanding head coach,
I really do. But James Harden being your star in
this moment, it's just it's it's a recipe for disaster.

Speaker 2 (01:25:05):
Let me ask you a question. What do you It's
really a two part question. One, how do you think
Steve Balmer feels. I mean, I would saying about this.
You're worth you literally have the dream of every human
being on planet Earth, which is you have more money
than you can ever spend, but you have invested it
in this asset that brings you nothing but pain and misery.

Speaker 4 (01:25:30):
Now.

Speaker 2 (01:25:30):
I know they won a bunch of games in the
regular season, whatever, but Steve Palmer ain't in it to
just make the playoffs. And I guess it's really a
two part question, is you know do you do you
like James Harden, by the way, is gonna be thirty
six this year? Kawhi is not far behind? Like are
they just gonna run it back and hope that somehow

(01:25:52):
next year, in you know, year eighteen or whatever it
is for James Harden, he figures it out, and in
year thirteen for Kawhi that he stays healthy. I know
it's a tough question to ask, and there's no obvious
answer the night that you're eliminated from the playoffs, But
it's like, how many more years can coho? I signed
in the summer of twenty nineteen. That was a long

(01:26:13):
time ago, and you know, definition of insanity is doing
the same thing over and over, inspecting a different result.

Speaker 3 (01:26:20):
Last offseason. Obviously they let Paul George go.

Speaker 2 (01:26:24):
I just I don't know what they do, you know,
And this is the cliche that we talk about in
all sports of you know, you're good enough to not
be an embarrassment. But also, as her Edwards once said,
you play to win the game. Oh that was that,
Denny Green or Herm Edwards, whoever. You play to win
the game, and they win enough games where you can

(01:26:44):
justify running it back. But I don't think anybody actually
thinks that anything will be different if you do. I
just don't even know what you do. If you're Steve Palmer,
because this has to be driving the man insane.

Speaker 4 (01:26:55):
Yeah, and lucky they've got the brand new building and
everything else, but they are fairly flawed. To your point,
this cannot end in a championship, and it will not
end in a championship. So I mean, what do you do?
Do You just blow it up completely and start from
scratch and go San Antonio style and wait for your

(01:27:17):
own Wimby down the road and be pretty much irrelevant
for the next few years. That may be what it takes,
because I still don't know what destination you are if
you're the Clippers. I don't know what the penalty is
and how fast you can rebuild and all of these
other kinds of things. But this ain't gonna work. Like
You're just going to continue to be the Pittsburgh Steelers.

(01:27:38):
Yeah at this pointgy, yep, you're gonna continue to be
that second tier team that like is just good enough
to break your heart repeatedly. They're just good enough, but
they're not good enough, and so what do you do?
You have to bottom out almost and I don't know
if they're willing to do that. I don't know what

(01:28:00):
all of that would look like. I don't know all
the contract specifics and everything else. I do know that
there is absolutely no chance in the world in the
current NBA where this roster, where this team, even with
a few tweaks, is a real championship contender. And I
never bought it because again, it's just flawed from the

(01:28:23):
outset in terms of its construction and in terms of
who you have to rely upon on a regular basis.

Speaker 3 (01:28:28):
Well, i'll tell you what it looks like.

Speaker 2 (01:28:30):
James Harden has a player option for next year, and
obviously something that he will take up. Kawhi is under
contract through twenty six twenty seven, so two more full seasons,
and he is set to make one hundred point three
million dollars, So one hundred million, three hundred thousand dollars
fully guaranteed for Kawhi in his year age thirty four

(01:28:54):
and thirty five seasons. So it feels as though nothing
is going to change very quick. He is an unrestricted
free agent in twenty twenty eight, James Harden in twenty
twenty seven, So tell you what we're getting at least
one more year of this. But I'm right there with you.
Is is you know, can you feel terrible for a
guy that's got one hundred and twenty billion dollar net

(01:29:14):
worth like Steve Balmer? I don't think you can. But
I think it's clear that you know, he has put
everything into this franchise and it has not paid him
back very very nicely. Here, because the Clippers do lose
in round one, I'll defend the Clippers a little bit
if things go a little bit different obviously the Aaron
Gordon situation. If that, if that doesn't go that way,

(01:29:37):
you go to overtime, maybe you win. You know, if
they had won that game, they would have been up
three to one, and they did lose Game one in overtime.

Speaker 3 (01:29:44):
But I'm still with you.

Speaker 2 (01:29:46):
I just think James Harden again will be thirty six
this year, Kawhi will be thirty four, and at some
point you just kind of are who you are as
the Los Angeles Clippers.

Speaker 3 (01:29:56):
You are who you are is the Los Angeles Lakers
as well.

Speaker 2 (01:29:58):
J mart And I don't know do you have anything,
by the way, do you have anything else on the Clippers,
because there's still more to peel back on the Lakers onion,
including the lebron era, Nico Harrison how he's feeling. Is
there anything else really quickly that you want to get
to on the Clippers before we turn our attention back
to the uh you know what show that is the Lakers?

Speaker 4 (01:30:17):
Yeah? No, not really. I mean I think that I
think the post mortem is pretty simple, and I think
that the fix, unfortunately, is going to be very painful
for the Clippers organization because I just don't know that
the I don't know that the fix is available right now.
I think it's going to take stages, but it is.
I think at this point you have to just accept
that this is about the ceiling for a team that

(01:30:40):
is reliant upon James Harden and a kind of unreliable
Kawhi Leonard when it comes to his availability during the
regular season, zero doubt.

Speaker 2 (01:30:50):
Clippers lose Game seven in Denver one twenty one oh one.
Denver advances to play Oklahoma City. That game will be
Game one will be on Monday night in Oklahoma City.
Fox Sports Radio Air tours Jason Martin broadcasting live from
the Fox Sports Radio studios. We will come back. When
we do, we'll go back to the other team in
Los Angeles. We got to talk about the big picture

(01:31:13):
of the Lebron era. We got to talk about the
big picture of Nico Harrison, who probably had a couple
good nights sleeps here over the last couple of days.

Speaker 3 (01:31:19):
We'll do all that.

Speaker 2 (01:31:19):
Next should mention, By the way, draft is over, But
Draft coverage on Fox Sports Radio was brought to you
by Shipstation Calumn the chaos with the shipping software that
delivers Use code Sports for a free trial at shipstation
dot com. At shipstation dot com, Code Sports come back.
More on the Lakers meltdown, what does it mean going

(01:31:39):
forward and what does it mean for everyone involved?

Speaker 3 (01:31:43):
That's next Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 5 (01:31:46):
listen live.

Speaker 3 (01:31:57):
Welcome back everybody, Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (01:32:00):
Errtors Jason Martin broadcasting live from the Fox Sports Radio studios.
Be sure to check out the Fox Sports Radio YouTube
channel a ton of great videos from all of our
Fox Sports Radio shows. Just go to YouTube search Fox
Sports Radio. You'll see a bunch of video highlights from
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sure to subscribe so you have instant access to everything

(01:32:20):
that happens here on Fox Sports Radio only on YouTube.
J mart do you want to go back to the
Lakers situation Lakers losing five? If you By the way,
if you missed any of I mean, we dove deep
into what happened JJ calling out Luca, make sure to
download the podcast and check it out. I do want

(01:32:41):
to ask you, though, Jamart Nico Harrison, how do you
think he slept on Wednesday night? Because you know, I'll
say this is you know, I led the Luca segment
probably about an hour ago now by saying two things
can be true Luca is out of shape. I also

(01:33:03):
don't think that's the reason they lost, and JJ Reddick
should be calling him out publicly.

Speaker 3 (01:33:07):
I bring it up because it feels like it. I'll
shut up.

Speaker 2 (01:33:11):
It was a good week for Nico Harrison. How do
you think he feels after what happened? And do you
think he's absolved at all for the trade that obviously
shook up the NBA over the last couple of months.

Speaker 4 (01:33:22):
See, No, I don't because the only people that are
going to absolve him, the ones that he can actually
get absolution from, are Dallas Mavericks fans. Sure, in my opinion,
is he gonna get something? Yeah? I mean, like, what
was it Stephen A saying, you know, maybe we need
to back off on Nico a little bit after crucifying

(01:33:43):
him for months. I don't think it changes how I
perceive him. I don't think it changes how most people
perceive him. I think we already knew if there were
some downsides to Luca what those downsides were. I think
that in terms of how he slept or whatever, just
a figurative way, Yeah, there's probably some. I don't think

(01:34:04):
i'd call it vindication, but I don't think he wanted
to see Luca go succeed because it was going to
make things a lot tougher on him. I think that
if you wanted to, he could look at that and say, yeah,
that's why I got rid of him. But I don't
think that that washes with the Mavericks fans who've been
crying and you know, fire and Eco Chance and all
the rest of that kind of stuff. I don't think

(01:34:25):
it changes anything for them, and I think that it doesn't.
It doesn't really change anything for me because we've been
pretty consistent with how we felt about this from the start,
which was this wasn't going to be enough. This was
for the future, not the present. When it came to
La because they didn't have everything set and I wasn't
sure that those two guys were were going to be

(01:34:47):
a particularly good match, and did Luca want to be there,
So all those things kind of play into it. I
don't think that it's fair to evaluate the trade itself,
because I still think it's insane to have gotten rich
of Luka Doncic period from Dallas, because of what he
meant to the franchise and the fact that he was
coming off a finals run and all this other kind

(01:35:07):
of stuff, So I don't think it changes anything there.
I think, if anything, it just shows that Luca's not
one of those stars that you just plug and play
anywhere and he's going to win. He's not like there's
things have to be built around him because he needs
to be ball dominant, and well Lebron wants to be
Paul dominant too, so it wasn't gonna work. Surprisingly enough,

(01:35:28):
it worked great with Kyrie, you know, like even though
Kyrie always wanted a ball like that was just a
match that worked really really well down there. But they
had great role players to play defense and did the
dirty work and let those guys do everything else, and
they didn't have any of those kind of guys in
LA And I think that that made a pretty consistent difference.

Speaker 2 (01:35:49):
Yeah, you know, I said, like I said, I think
two things can be true about Luca. Out of shape
doesn't mean that he's the reason that they lost or
that he should be the fall guy for JJ Reddick.
And I, you know, I go back to a lot
of what I said on Nico Harrison last week when
he did that interview where he said, yeah, you know,
I didn't realize how much Luke meant to this fan base.
It's like, even if he didn't know, don't say it publicly.

(01:36:14):
But I will also defend Nico Harrison on on what
he also said in that in that whatever it was
interview press conference as well, where he did say, like, hey, listen,
we still believe that Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson, PJ Washington,
Derek Lively, and Anthony Davis is a championship caliber team. Now,

(01:36:34):
I think it's it's fair, like I think it's fair
to question, hey, are you ever gonna get a d
Kyrie Clay all these guys well over thirty healthy at
the same time. That's that's a different conversation. But yes,
on paper, it makes sense. And so I'm kind of
with you. I don't really think it absolves the trade
because I think at the very least I think that

(01:36:55):
you know a little self awareness on what Luca.

Speaker 3 (01:36:59):
Meant to that organization.

Speaker 2 (01:37:00):
I mean, and I think the other thing too, is
even if you felt like in your heart of hearts
that Luca was out of shape and this and that,
just don't love the way that you treated him on
the way out he was, he did just lead you
to the finals last year. All that real quick. Let
me ask you this different, different conversation on this topic.
What do you make of we are now?

Speaker 9 (01:37:20):
What?

Speaker 3 (01:37:21):
Let me see here eighteen nineteen twenty one.

Speaker 2 (01:37:24):
I think we're seven years into the Lebron James Lakers experiment.
Let's see here, So Lebron James got to the Lakers.
I should have had this up ready to go. I
apologize he gets there in the summer of twenty nineteen,
twenty eighteen, excuse me, misses the playoffs in twenty nineteen,

(01:37:46):
twenty twenty of course is the Bubble Championship. Twenty twenty one,
they lose in the first round. Twenty twenty two, they
missed the playoffs. Twenty twenty three, they of course make
the Western Conference Finals. Last year they lose in round one,
and of course this year they lose in round one.
What would you grade the Los Angeles Lakers and now

(01:38:08):
in year seven with Lebron one NBA title one Western
Conference Finals, did miss the NBA playoffs twice during that stretch.

Speaker 4 (01:38:16):
Though, see yeah, something like that. I mean, he still
didn't feel like a Laker to me, now, I know,
I'd like when you mentioned how long he'd been there,
that kind of baffled me, even though obviously that yeah,
that does check out when I think about it, but like,
it doesn't feel like that to me. He still feels
like a foreigner every time I watch him in a
Lakers uniform. I also thought about like if he had

(01:38:39):
never gone to LA, had stayed where he was, even
if he never won again, I think that I think
he would still I don't think I think it actually
would have more basketball respect from a lot of people
if he had retired in Cleveland instead of even going
to LA. If he retired at the time that he
chose to go to LA and just stop playing basketball,
I think he would be seen better than he is

(01:39:00):
at this point. I mean, I don't think he can
give it any higher than the see because they have
done all these things for him, you know, all the
roster construction that he wanted, brought in his guys, all
this other kind of stuff. I mean, look at how
many coaches that they've run through, look at just the
perception of that franchise as a whole, and just I mean,
the only thing that's happened is Lebron's made himself a

(01:39:22):
bigger star. No one else has been better for it.
I don't think. I mean, Anthony Davis won a championship there,
so I guess you could say he has to. But
he was also the easy fall guy too. He became
the other guy that you could blame, that you could
assess blame too if need be, if Lebron needed that
break glass in case of emergency, scapegoat. But I just

(01:39:45):
kind of look at the whole thing and it's just
like I just kind of shrugged my shoulders. Like he's
been phenomenal to watch. I love watching him play basketball,
but I also think he's been self destructive to his
own legacy because he has a really he has a
real knack for not being able to read the room
in a lot of these circumstances when he makes decisions,
and even the way in which he makes these decisions.

(01:40:07):
But if you ask Lakers fans, you're gonna get seven
years of Lebron James, six years of Lebron James so far,
he's going to bring you one championship in the bubble.
Would they consider that to have been worth it? Would
they have considered that to have been a successful run?
And I believe, honestly because it's the Lakers, Like, if

(01:40:28):
this was the Grizzlies, we would see it differently, But
the Lakers have won championships in every era, and so
for them to have won just one and kind of
in a weird way, almost an asterisks championship on top
of that, I don't think you can give that higher
than a C because I think that's like, bottom line,
that's the baseline of what he should have been able

(01:40:50):
to accomplish. And so I'll give him like the passing grade,
the average grade, but not the one that you want
to come home and run and say, here's what I
got on my test, mom.

Speaker 3 (01:40:58):
So I agree with everything.

Speaker 2 (01:41:00):
Yeah, No, I think there's no doubt about it is
that you know, one title.

Speaker 3 (01:41:05):
And by the way, I was never oh, it's a
Mickey Mouse tyle.

Speaker 2 (01:41:08):
The more time goes on, the more it kind of
was though, like I'm just sorry, but you know, you
have a six month you know, three month, four month
break in the middle of the season. That's ironically basically
the only reason that Anthony Davis state the only season
that Anthony Davis stays healthy because.

Speaker 3 (01:41:22):
He got a two month break right before the playoffs.

Speaker 4 (01:41:25):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:41:25):
That playoff bubble was kind of this weird war of
attrition where you know, the older team seemed to handle
themselves better. You know, given the extreme circuit, what I'm
trying to make feels more and more like an extreme.
By the way, I think the year that they made
the Western Conference finals, they were like a six seed.
So I'm with you. I just think it's been a

(01:41:45):
weird era. And you know, another first round playoff loss,
first round playoff loss last year. And oh, by the way,
this year you had Luca.

Speaker 4 (01:41:55):
Not very good.

Speaker 2 (01:41:56):
Fox Sports Radio air towards Jason Martin, broadcasting live from
the Fox Sports Radio studios, will come back. The other
big news, jmart We probably should discuss very quickly retirement
or at least the moving of chairs of a legend
in San Antonio. We'll do that next Before we do
though final time this evening, Steve de Seger my Man,
what's treining?

Speaker 6 (01:42:14):
In other words, Lebron with seven seasons with the Lakers,
five of the seven years he was out in the
first round or missed the playoffs. Sometimes crazy when you
think about it. Yeah, I mean, it's a dot, it's
a dut and please on behalf of all intelligent listeners.
I wish other people heard what you just said, thank
you for breaking down and not just throwing out the

(01:42:34):
championship too many whatever the topic. Too many times in
sports talk radio people throw out the baby with the bathwater.
In this case, like the twenty twenty sports seasons, I
would completely separate Dodgers title and Lakers title because the
Lakers really kind of needed time off for Anthony as
you mentioned. Whereas the Dodgers playing a shortened regular season.

(01:42:57):
Are you telling me they wouldn't have bade the postseason?
Are you telling me they wouldn't have won somewhere close
to one hundred games that year?

Speaker 4 (01:43:03):
Honestly, this is.

Speaker 6 (01:43:04):
Not at all the same type of thing too many people.
You know, it got talked about with the stolen bases
being slightly larger, literally just a few inches largers, and
now some people don't even consider the stolen base a
thing anymore, or winning the stolen base.

Speaker 4 (01:43:19):
What are you talking about. It's the same role for everybody.
It's not like anyway we.

Speaker 3 (01:43:24):
Uh yeah, so we're the smartest talk radio hosts on it.

Speaker 4 (01:43:27):
It's okay.

Speaker 6 (01:43:28):
I'm just saying I wish other hosts heard what you
just did and actually think counts.

Speaker 4 (01:43:34):
Folks.

Speaker 3 (01:43:35):
It does just just a thought.

Speaker 6 (01:43:37):
By the way we talked about how Canelo Alvarez was
fighting tonight, it is Sinko Tobaio weekend. He won his
fight by unanimous decision. The fight was in Saudi Arabia,
so in order for the North American audience to have
it on the regular Saturday night time slot six thirty am.
When the fight started in Ria, Saudi Arabia, which are

(01:43:59):
remind finds me famously about fifty years ago the Rumble
in the Jump when Ali beat Foreman that started local
time in Africa four am. Wow, so that it could
be in a primetime audience here in the state.

Speaker 2 (01:44:15):
Real quick, do we know the purse that Alvarez got
or is that technically contingent on pay per view buysor
I mean I gotta imagine got.

Speaker 6 (01:44:22):
I do not, but it sounds like Crawford next and
people are saying, well, this wasn't very impressive against whoever
he was fighting today, So by the end of the year,
maybe he won't be holding this title. That was kind
of the gist coming out of this fight tonight.

Speaker 3 (01:44:35):
A quick search the AI overview tells me eighty million.

Speaker 2 (01:44:40):
Dollars expect this is unreal. If you believe ai on
Twitter or on Google.

Speaker 6 (01:44:46):
I'm just saying, well, he's one of the few in
recent years that could still command that type of thing.

Speaker 3 (01:44:51):
And it's in Saudi Arabia too. That was what piqued
my interest.

Speaker 6 (01:44:54):
Speaking of which, what have we got going on FS
one right now?

Speaker 4 (01:44:59):
Live?

Speaker 6 (01:44:59):
Goal Fight round from South Korea Live. It's down to
a two stroke advantage for Bryson de Shambos. They're roughly
halfway through this final round. Meanwhile, the PGA event in
Texas has Scotti Scheffler leading by eight strokes. By the way,
the Baltimore Ravens signed offensive lineman Joe Noteboon from the Rams,
and they signed sixth round kicker Tyler Loop. Yes, Baltimore

(01:45:19):
drafted a kicker number one ranked. Arena Sabalanca won Tennis's
Madrid Open, sweeping Coco Goff in the final. The French
Open starts in three weeks. In Major League Soccer, San
Diego shutdown Dallas five nothing. Miami won for to one
against New York. A reminder, NASCAR's next three Sunday races
will be on FS one this Sunday from Texas three

(01:45:39):
thirty pm Eastern time. IndyCar returns to Fox TV Sunday
from Birmingham one thirty pm Eastern Time. Sovereignty took the
Kentucky Derby, beating the favorite Journalism on a muddy track
Sovereignty seven to one odds. This was the seventh straight
derby where the favorite did not win. What a comeback
In the NHL playoffs a Game seven, Dallas down two

(01:46:00):
to nothing in the third gets four straight goals to
win four to two and eliminate Colorado. In fact, the
Dallas Stars are the first team in the history of
the Stanley Cup Playoffs to be trailing by multiple goals
in the third period of a Game seven and not
just win, but win it in regulation. The Star Miko Rantinen,

(01:46:21):
used to play for Colorado. He had three goals one
assist in the final twelve and a half minutes, the
first ever third period game seven hat trick in the
history of the NHL. Colorado's lost seven straight game sevens
dating back to two thousand and two. We had a
Game seven of the NBA Playoffs at Denver Nuggets with

(01:46:41):
a seventeen to zero run against the Clippers in the
third quarter after outscoring him by sixteen in the second quarter.
One twenty to one to Oho one the final. James
Harden thirteen assists in the lost two of eight shooting
from the floor. Denver goes to Oklahoma City for a
game one on Monday, and the late ballgame is over
in Atlanta. Freddy Freeman hit a three run homer at

(01:47:01):
about one am Eastern Time, eventually Dodgers ten to three
over the Braves the final rain delay at the start
of that one of over three hours. The Dodgers have
won seventh straight. The Padres, though, won again two to
one at Pittsburgh on a run in the top of
the ninth on a wild pitch, and San Francisco got
a grand slam in the sixth from Matt Chapman to
beat Colorado six to three. The Rockies record is six

(01:47:23):
and twenty seven. Miami won on a grand slam bottom
of the ninth against the A's closer, Mason Miller, nine
to six. Cleveland won on a grand slam in the
top of the ninth, five to three at Toronto. Seattle
won at sixth straight game with a run in the ninth,
two to one at Texas and to save to Andres Munos.
The closer for the Mariners has twelve saves and still

(01:47:44):
an ERA of zero. The Angels ended a seven game
losing streak, beating the Tigers and Jack Flaherty five to two.

Speaker 2 (01:47:51):
Back to you, Thank you very much, Steve Sagre to Saga,
have a great evening. Be back on Sunday with Arnie
Spaniard and the Gang, Chris Plank, et.

Speaker 4 (01:48:00):
Cetera, et cetera.

Speaker 2 (01:48:01):
Fox Sports Radio error towards Jason Martin. We're taking it
till two am Eastern. You know, Jay mart I want
to talk about obviously another story in a busy news
cycle for the NBA. Greg Popovich don't think it's really
a surprise to anybody, you know, had a stroke in
the middle of the season. You know, you never want
to see anybody go out this way, but you know,

(01:48:23):
certainly understand it's.

Speaker 3 (01:48:24):
Seventy six years old.

Speaker 2 (01:48:26):
It was announced that he is not out, but he's
retiring as the head coach of the San Antonio Spurs,
will still take on a front office role. Twelve hundred
wins five NBA titles will be replaced by thirty eight
year old interim head coach Mitch Johnson. I have some
thoughts more on Mitch Johnson that's that side of things.

(01:48:48):
But I am curious for your perspective on Greg Popovich
and everything that happened in San Antonio last couple of days.

Speaker 4 (01:48:55):
It was kind of stunned when I went back in
reality had been he was an assistant for four years
from eighty eight to ninety two, and since that point
was the head coach. I mean, that's a long long tenure,
and he's been one of the stalwarts in the sport
for such a long time, and of course famous for

(01:49:15):
the sideline interviews and everything else. But a wonderful head coach,
no question about it. A thoughtful guy, even though a
lot of times, in my opinion, he waited into things
beyond his depth and said some things that revealed he
needed to stick to basketball. But that notwithstanding, he's a
legend and he had to do what was right for
his health in this case. And the more you read

(01:49:37):
into it, the bigger that challenge appeared. Him staying kind
of in an executive role where he can still be
a part of that franchise and still help kind of
shape it for the future is the right choice, provided
that's what he wanted to do, which I assume it
would be it's just a the legacy at least behind
and what he was able to do. Thing kind of

(01:50:00):
thinks about it is in those last handful of years,
they were just not a good basketball team and they
ran through some really lean years, and so the last
years of his career are completely and entirely forgettable, not
because of his inability to coach or him losing a step,
but just they didn't have stars. And then once they

(01:50:22):
did get you know, women and Yanna, they still they
were gonna need more. They didn't have the role players,
they didn't have the structure at that point in time.
And so we can remember and appreciate all that, all
that he already accomplished, but it's unfortunate that it kind
of ended with a whimper instead of a bang when
it comes to what he was able to do on
the Sidebinds.

Speaker 2 (01:50:41):
Yeah, and you know, I think everything you said is accurate,
fair to wonder. I think if, if you know, maybe
he would have retired. Of course, when when they got
the lottery rights to win Manyama, he basically announced that
he was going to be staying for the foreseeable future.
I will say this really quick and we can maybe
even tag it on the other side, because we're up

(01:51:01):
against it here. But I'll tell you what, as a
matter of fact, let's continue this conversation, you know, for
half a second on the other end, because I do
think there's an interesting other element to Greg Popovich retiring,
and that's who's going to replace him.

Speaker 3 (01:51:15):
So I'll tell you what. We'll come back.

Speaker 2 (01:51:16):
We will do that next erin Torris, Jason Martin taking
you till two am Eastern, Fox Sports Radio. Welcome back everybody,
Fox Sports Radio, Aeron Torris Jason Martin broadcasting live from
the Tirack dot Com studios. Hey, shortly after our show
which ends at two am Eastern, about fourteen minutes from now,
podcast is going up. If you missed any of the show,

(01:51:37):
and we talked a lot about Luca, the Lakers, Reddick,
the Clippers, on and on, make sure to download the
podcast to search Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcasts.
Be sure to follow and review the podcast, give it
a quick five stars. Again, just search Fox Sports Ready
wherever you get your podcasts, and you'll see today's show
posted as soon as we get off air. J Mark,

(01:52:01):
really quick, we're talking before the break about Greg Popovich.
We'll put a ball on this conversation because I want
to preview the game seven on Sunday.

Speaker 3 (01:52:11):
Greg Popovich leaves or retires.

Speaker 2 (01:52:14):
I will say this, I understand that Mitch Johnson did
a you know, did a commendable job as the interim
head coach, and you know, took over under unfortunate circumstances,
and then obviously you get a couple injuries kind of
shut it down to try to get in position to
really draft one more star, maybe a Cooper Flag before

(01:52:36):
obviously we all expect the Spurs to to really, I
think take off over the next couple of years. With
that said, on the one hand, I guess like I
think it's sort of commendable. You're sticking with the guy
that was there that kind of got you through some
tough times. On the other hand, I also think it's
flat lunacy because I think that and I haven't taken

(01:53:01):
the time to think about what would have been the
most coveted.

Speaker 3 (01:53:03):
Jobs in NBA history.

Speaker 2 (01:53:05):
But I think the Spurs, with back to back rookies
of the year a lottery pick, dearon Fox would have
to go down on the short list of best jobs available.
And so you have Mike Malone, who won an NBA title.
You have Taylor Jenkins, who had success as an NBA
head coach. By the way, Dan Hurley, maybe he's not

(01:53:25):
built for the NBA, but he clearly has some degree
of interest in the NBA if you want to go
that route, you know, listen, Becky Hammond was an assistant
coach for this team that has now gone on and
won championships in the WNBA.

Speaker 3 (01:53:39):
I don't know who it is.

Speaker 2 (01:53:41):
I guess I'm just surprised that they made this decision knowing,
by the way, not just what this what this next
few years could be, but what it might not be
if you put the wrong person in position as the
NBA as the head coach of this organization.

Speaker 3 (01:53:58):
I'm just surprised. Maybe I shouldn't be.

Speaker 2 (01:54:00):
I don't know, but this would have been such a
coveted job if you opened it and actually did a
real coaching search.

Speaker 4 (01:54:07):
Yeah, it's hard to know because I don't know enough
about Mitch Johnson. I don't know enough to make the
call in terms of what he can be. I don't know.
What I do know is that what you laid out
right when it comes to women, Yanna, when it comes
to the Aaron Fox Castle like, what you're looking at

(01:54:29):
for their future is bright, and so you want the
right guy at the helm that's going to make that work. Now,
you would assume, with him already being in house, that
some of the guys that I just mentioned, the guys
that you mentioned have talked to Popovitch. I've talked to
people in the Spurts organization and either given the rubber

(01:54:52):
stamp to this or said yeah, we're okay with this.
But yeah, you would think that this would be opened
up even if you were good I want to end
up with Mitch Johnson. You feel like you would still
open it up because a lot of people would be
interested in that job, and certainly you would want to
talk to them. But I think the most important thing

(01:55:13):
is making sure when Bignanna is happy, making sure Dearon
Fox is happy, making sure that the core nucleus there
is right. When you mentioned Malone, and Malone's can be
a hot name everywhere because he won a championship in
recent years, and he won it with great players, one
of the greatest players of all time, for instance. But
you really think about it, Malone has been able to
win with talent and so You've got talent there, and

(01:55:35):
the question is what can you surround it with and
how do you coach it? You get him out of
the situation with the GM that he absolutely despised, where
they seem to be just doing things to upset the
other as opposed to trying to win basketball games, and
that feels like the easiest move that you could make,
the smartest move that you can make, is to marry
him to another young superstar, another young big as a

(01:55:57):
matter of fact, but a versatile big that plays on
both sides of the floor, and then you have some
other guys that can go out there and score for you.
It seems like what he did in Denver is very
It's something you could duplicate in San Antonio just by
the way that that team is made up. So I'm
with you, it's a it's a curious, questionable decision if

(01:56:19):
indeed that's the final choice.

Speaker 2 (01:56:22):
Yeah, and so we'll see. I would think that, and
I think it's pretty clear we're not an anti Mitch
Johnson show. Here a touris and Martin at one fifty
one Eastern on a Saturday here into Sunday.

Speaker 3 (01:56:36):
But I would say that the least should be pretty short.

Speaker 2 (01:56:39):
It almost reminds me of like a college where you
have the legendary head coach and it's like, you know,
you hire the the either longtime assistant or the lead
assistant because you want continuity. But it's like, you know,
you could see those things at the college level go fast,
really sideways.

Speaker 3 (01:56:54):
And this is what it's like.

Speaker 4 (01:56:55):
Bill Guthridge when he took over for Dean Smith, exactly
like when it's there's a number of examples and sometimes
it works out, Like I think Michigan got the right
guy to replace Jim Harbaugh, but you know, you look
at even the same thing with Notre Dame, right, Marcus
Freeman sticks around against that gig. I think he was
the right guy for that job. But I think there's
probably many more examples where that does not work than

(01:57:18):
when it does work. And certainly it's not it's by
no means a guarantee.

Speaker 2 (01:57:24):
No, it's not a guarantee. And like I said, nobody's
ruined against him. I think there will be a short
leash given that you have so much young talent, and
you really have a huge window here if you get
it right. And maybe Mitch Johnson is the guy we'll
find out really quickly. We do have a Game seven
on Sunday. By the way, should mention calvs. Pacers Game
one at six Eastern, But I do want to talk
very quickly. Game seven in the Western Conference opening round.

(01:57:48):
Rockets are actually a two point favorite at home against
Golden State. Golden State, of course, was up three to
one in this series, have lost the last two, including
Game six on Friday night at home. Do you have
any big thoughts on seven Sunday night, J.

Speaker 4 (01:58:01):
Martin, I mean, I have a hard time picking against
the Vets. I have a hard time believing that in
a Game seven, where they've been there and done that
so many times that they're not gonna be ready. And
it just feels like the Rockets are a team that
we're gonna be paying attention to in the years to come,
and I think this offseason is gonna be critical for
them when it comes to I mean, the Houston's could
be a really nice landing spot for a couple of

(01:58:23):
big free agents or one big free agent, or they
go make some big time splash move because they have
a lot of pieces that you like there. I'm gonna
pick Golden State to win a game even on the road,
just because I have a hard time seeing a Steph
Curry perform. I have a feeling Steph Curry goes off.
But I also think that a couple of his running
buddies are really gonna be ready to play. And if

(01:58:44):
there's anybody that shows up on the road in a
game seven, I would think it's guys that have multiple
rings on their fingers.

Speaker 3 (01:58:50):
Yeah, it's hard to pick against Golden State. I know
they've lost the last two.

Speaker 2 (01:58:53):
I know that the they really struggled late in the
game on Friday night. Obviously, excuse me, uh Houston outscoring
them late. I will go ahead and go Golden State
as Well'll tell you what we gotta get out of here.
I want to thank the crew, Mary mack on the board,
producer Brie Steve De Saga, from my partner Jason Martin.
I am heir Torres. Make sure to download the podcast.

(01:59:14):
A lot of good stuff on the Lakers, Clippers and more.
But after the podcast, also make sure you're checking out
Bernie Freddo.

Speaker 3 (01:59:21):
He is following us next.

Speaker 2 (01:59:23):
Bernie was so many great things to talk about in
a busy week in sports.

Speaker 3 (01:59:27):
Bernie Freddo Next, This is Fox Sports tradi

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