Mark Willard & Ephraim Salaam React To Timberwolves vs Nuggets Game 7, Caitlin Clark's First Week In WNBA, And More!

Mark Willard and Ephraim Salaam react to the Timberwolves vs Nuggets Game 7 with the Timberwolves stunning Denver to advance to the Western Conference Finals. Mark and Ephraim also talk shop on Caitlin Clark's first week in the WNBA. Plus, the guys talk shop on a fun Jokic vs LeBron debate, charlie horses in the studio, and more!!

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Episode Transcript

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

Speaker 2 (00:04):
From the listening audience may or may not know this
by now, they're listening to two people who, at least
at this point in their lives, and maybe this was
true all along.

Speaker 3 (00:13):
We're not really.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
At the front of the line when it comes to partiers's.
That's That's just an admission I'm willing to make. And
but with that said, I think I know a thing
or two about it. I'm told most of it happens
on Friday and Saturday nights, but this is Sunday night
and it's about to happen.

Speaker 3 (00:33):
Here's what I mean. This series is on drugs.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
You're not gonna hear a prediction from me at all
at any point now or into the next three hours
as the Nuggets and Timberwolves get together, because I and
many others have already sounded too ridiculous. Too many times.
This series has been I've never done this before. I've

(00:58):
never seen this before.

Speaker 3 (00:59):
Have you.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
The series has been declared over twice, once in each direction,
yet both times it was categorically false. Here we go
into Game seven and I hear a lot of people going, well,
I just can't see Denver losing at home, and every
time I go, you haven't been able to see anything

(01:22):
that's happened in this series before it's happened.

Speaker 3 (01:26):
Why are we going to start now? Good evening to you.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
That's my way of saying, I got no idea about
what's about to happen.

Speaker 3 (01:36):
Nina, and I'm right along with you. I I Hey, man,
your guess is as good as mine. I guess people
tune in to us for that, uh you know that
guest and the information, But I got nothing for you,
not this one. All right, show's over there.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
It is really appreciate the interaction tonight was great. Want
to remember No, I just look, I have a rule.
We're radio hosts. Therefore we sound like idiots more often
than most because we talk more than most.

Speaker 3 (02:17):
So that's fine.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
I have no issue with being wrong, but I don't
want to sound like a fool more than twice in
one week.

Speaker 3 (02:25):
That's my limit.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
And when the Wolves were up to nothing in Denver,
this thing was over. And then Denver adjusted in one
three in a row, and this thing was over. And
if Minnesota had eked out Game six, I might still
feel a certain way about Denver, but they didn't eke
it out.

Speaker 3 (02:45):
They won by.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
Two thousand points in Game six, and so, sure, conventional
wisdom tells us Denver should win tonight. But how often
has conventional wisdom been right in this series?

Speaker 3 (03:00):
Not very much. And you said that you've reached your quota,
you must not be married anymore. How'd you know?

Speaker 2 (03:12):
Goodness, well, that's amazing.

Speaker 3 (03:17):
That's the first thing that popped into my head. I
was just like, I wonder what that feels like. Yeah, yeah,
not bad. Sometimes we all got to answer to somebody.

Speaker 2 (03:31):
Oh god, Well, anyway, we're broadcasting live from the ty
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great NFL stuff to get to tonight. The schedules are out,

(03:52):
there's great w NBA stuff to get to. We're overreacting
to someone setting a screen on Caitlin Clark.

Speaker 3 (03:59):
We're gonna get to all of this.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
Plus, we had a Game seven earlier this afternoon that
some including Stephen A. Smith, might might find embarrassing. But anyway,
we're gonna get to all of that. But but let's
stay right here for a minute. We've established that you
and I don't feel like making a prediction right now,

(04:21):
But I tell you what I do feel like.

Speaker 3 (04:23):
I feel like watching this one.

Speaker 2 (04:25):
Because I think I think it's probably Ah, this might
be a touch of an overstatement, but I bet if
if a Vegas insider an odds maker was looking at
this game tonight, fair or foul to say the winner
of the game we're about to watch is probably gonna
win the title.

Speaker 3 (04:45):
H M Okay, yeah, what do you think? I yeah,
that I would. I would say whoever's coming out of
the West winning the title?

Speaker 2 (05:02):
And do you like either of these teams whoever is
coming out against Luca and and Kyrie?

Speaker 3 (05:09):
Yes, yeah, I like both of them. Actually they have
something that Dallas doesn't have, and that size, and that's
it's going to matter. It's it's going to matter. And

(05:30):
I mean, this is a fight. When you get to
Game seven like this, this is what I envisioned the
Lakers doing. Did not work. So I've moved on. I've
moved on from that O. I'm okay with it. I
love the energy of Anthony Edwards. I think he's amazing.
I think he's he loves this arena. I think he

(05:54):
fits this arena. I can't wait to see him in
this arena more and more every year. Yep. And I
love the IQ and the flat out dominance of Nikola Jokic.
It's nothing like it in the league. He has the
highest basketball IQ of any player in the league. And
it's evident, and it's a beautiful thing to watch for

(06:17):
someone who doesn't look like they're trying very hard to
make everyone else who's trying very hard. And oh, by
the way, are the greatest athletes in the world look
like they have the wrong test because they have no answers.
It's a great observation.

Speaker 2 (06:33):
Let's let's unpack that for a second, because I like
he's wonderful. You're right, he's the highest IQ player in
the league. He's got multiple MVPs, he's already got a ring.
He may be on his way to getting another one.
But I'm not one hundred percent sure. This is gonna
sound crazy now, I'm not one hundred percent sure that

(06:54):
he's great for the league. Here's what I mean by
that phenomen ballplayer.

Speaker 3 (07:01):
But you just said it.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
He literally looks like he doesn't care and if you
call him out on that, he'll tell you you're right. I
don't and that's a little bit different.

Speaker 3 (07:16):
Now.

Speaker 2 (07:17):
I can't necessarily quantify why that's a problem.

Speaker 3 (07:22):
I just know it's not what we're used to.

Speaker 2 (07:25):
Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and today you just brought up
Anthony Edwards, who looks like he's got the half a
cup of crazy about basketball.

Speaker 3 (07:33):
Going on as well.

Speaker 2 (07:35):
I don't know that he'll have any career anywhere near
those other two, but he's got that thing. He's got
that dog, that drive, that maniacal competitiveness thing, and that's.

Speaker 3 (07:47):
What we're used to, and we really identify with it.

Speaker 2 (07:50):
Fans obviously eat it up to the point where we're
still buying his shoes. The man is like sixty years old, Okay,
so we eat that up.

Speaker 3 (08:01):
How we doing? If the face of the league is.

Speaker 2 (08:04):
Like, I really just work here, and that's the vibe
we get, it's not the best, it's really not.

Speaker 3 (08:11):
Well, I'll tell you what it is. I think that
speaks to his greatness because obviously we all know how
important it is to him. We do know it matters
and it cares, and this is one of those things
where you can say actions speak louder than words. Okay,
you may not hear it from him like a Jordan

(08:34):
or Kobe or Lebron or any other face of the league.
But if you turn on a game, if you didn't
even know him or watch basketball, and you turned on
a game and watched him play, you'd be like, oh, oh,
that's that's something different. That's special. So the way he

(08:55):
can control the game from a position that the lead
gets made obsolete and the era has made obsolete in
terms of the center position. I mean, he's the point guard.
He's the best rebounder, the best score, the best assist,

(09:15):
like all of the things you want your general, your
floor captain to be. He just happens to have it.
And you know, the form of seven foot two ninety
with very what perceives to be limited athletic ability. But

(09:36):
as you know, that's not the case.

Speaker 2 (09:41):
Fair point, You don't do this if you're not working
your ass off.

Speaker 3 (09:45):
You can't. You can't. In that package, you can't.

Speaker 2 (09:49):
You certainly cannot. So I'm gonna agree with you there.
But the packaging is the packaging.

Speaker 3 (09:55):
The packaging is it? You do you get have the
greatest gift ever and give it to you.

Speaker 2 (10:00):
If you just mentioned your wife, if you get a
beautiful anniversary set of earrings.

Speaker 3 (10:05):
For it, paper bag, what's she gonna say? These are
what you're gonna say. And that's what I would I
would recommend that as a test, right, because it's it's
not about the outside, it's that's in life. What does

(10:25):
it say? What is it saying? Don't judge a book
by its cover.

Speaker 2 (10:30):
Well, but in entertainment, you're you're you're an entertainer. You're
in entertainment.

Speaker 3 (10:34):
Yes, like the packaging, the packaging, there is a lot.
It matters. It's a lot, right, it matters. You got
to market. You gotta be able to market the package.
I get it, and I understand.

Speaker 2 (10:44):
When right when Simon is sitting there in the old
days on American Idol, like yes you can you sing,
and what's your packaging?

Speaker 3 (10:53):
But look look looking at the young European players around
the league, look at the bonus and sack until one
of the things they say, it's like he's a younger
Nicoleakic that now is becoming a thing. That's that's right.
Remember that. Oh he's the next MJ. Oh, he's the

(11:14):
next doctor J. He's the next Magic. It's becoming a
thing now because of the abilities on the court. Now,
that's the heck of a compliment for Young It's a
big compliment.

Speaker 2 (11:32):
I'm not going to disagree with that, but yeah, the
next MJ, the next Kobe, and the next Nicola.

Speaker 3 (11:41):
Honestly, that's a little bit of a different ring to it.
Does it does? Know?

Speaker 2 (11:46):
You're like, all your points are completely fair. The game
is underway. We'll call it the ephrom Cast, and uh,
we're going to take you through this one every step
of the way. When anything noteworthy is happening, we'll dive
off whatever we're talking about to get to it. That's
just the way this is all going to roll tonight,
although we're not done talking about it even though it's underway,

(12:06):
because they do want to get to the Anthony Edwards.

Speaker 3 (12:08):
Side of this as well.

Speaker 2 (12:10):
He said something before the game tonight that I think
only adds to that sort of maniacal vibe that he
is starting to put off. We'll explain that to you
coming up. It's e from salam Mark Willard. It is
Fox Sports Sunday, Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (12:26):
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Speaker 4 (12:38):
Hey, it's Ben, host of the Fifth Hour with Ben Maller.
Would mean a lot to have you join us on
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Speaker 3 (12:45):
What in God's name is the Fifth Hour?

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About human nature and more.

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Listen to the Fifth Hour with Ben Maller or the
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Speaker 2 (13:08):
All right, we're Livingthetirack dot com studios. Mark Willardy from
salam Sometimes that Game seven vibe like you going up
against the home energy. It can get away from you quickly.
Minnesota has at least weathered that. We're inside of four
minutes to go in the in the first quarter, and

(13:31):
they're all nottted up at twelve apiece, and everybody looks
as tight as double knotted shoelaces. Right now, I just
want to tell you that. Think about that now, twelve
to twelve, I mean three minutes to go in the
first quarter, it's twelve to twelve. That tells the whole story.
They are right there.

Speaker 3 (13:52):
Yeah, it's one of those in your mind as an athlete,
you're like, everything has to be perfect. And if you're
thinking like that opposed to just letting it go, then
that takes away from, you know, the actual mission because
there's no way for everything to be perfect. It just

(14:13):
doesn't work like that. And so they'll even out second quarter,
come out second half, and then it'll just be a game.
It'll just be flowing and there'll be ebbs and flows,
they'll be you know, runs and stops. But that's what

(14:34):
makes for a good game seven unlike what we had earlier.

Speaker 2 (14:39):
Hey hey, yeah exactly, although sometimes sometimes it doesn't, you know,
like I hear what you're saying.

Speaker 3 (14:49):
But if the thing is still close in the.

Speaker 2 (14:52):
Fourth quarter, then it just it becomes unbelievably tight. The
gravity of the situation starts to way on people.

Speaker 3 (15:00):
And you can see it now.

Speaker 2 (15:01):
Granted this is only the conference semi finals, but the
first one that pops to mind is and you'll remember
this years ago, on Father's Day the Cat when the
Calves beat the Warriors, Yes, game seven and it's tied
with a minute to go, and you're just like, how
can you handle the gravity of this situation? And the

(15:23):
answer was they couldn't and like nobody could hit a
shot until Kyrie finally, finally that had one and that
was it, like you very rarely as a buzzer beater
happened with forty five seconds to go, but that, like,
that's what it was like has that They're just gonna
keep shooting till what are you make it?

Speaker 3 (15:40):
And then that's the end of the game.

Speaker 2 (15:42):
So h so anyway, we'll see.

Speaker 3 (15:45):
It's funny we talk about that because sorry about my voices.
Was two things, Uh, for whatever reason, I want with
my brother to Vegas this weekend. And oh hey even
though he's my older brother, he's an idiot. And so.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
I mean, I'm like, you can't be an idiot in Vegas,
then where can you be an do bro?

Speaker 3 (16:05):
We are in our first you're fifty, Well happens if
you have the energy to needless to say, I had
a baseball game playoff game to coach this morning, so

(16:27):
I've yet to be to sleep is basically what I saying.

Speaker 2 (16:31):
Okay, wait a minute, did you fly back this morning
before the game?

Speaker 3 (16:35):
Drove to the game? Oh and YouTube playoff, must win
playoff game? Did you win? So I understand when we're
talking about the tightness close game. It's the sixth inning, right,

(16:56):
we're the road team. We're up first. It's one to one,
number one team in the league. They we're going against
the number one team in the league. One to one,
sixth inning, we're up. Get some hits, get on base,
score no runs. They're going crazy. They've won the game

(17:18):
in their mind already. Come out. They get a hit,
boom on base. Oh gosh, what are we doing here?
All right? Next batter, pop fly, Next batter boom, get
to hit first and second, third, batter one one strike,

(17:42):
next pitch file tip third one boom got him. I'm
like on the edge of my seat. That's good, right,
it's good. I'm on my seat. Two different things the
game in Vegas. But all right, so now look we're
in the bottom or well now that was the bottom.

(18:02):
Now we're back at the top of the seven. This
is I mean, we gotta put something on the board.
Gotta put something on the board. Come up, boom. First
batter strike out. Second batter right, pop fly. Third batter
back hits that thing, right, base hit. Now we're on.

(18:28):
Now we're on. Got a kid coming up, bless his heart,
tremendous kid. He's gotten so much better. He was on
our championship team last year. Comes up, smacks the cover
off the ball all the way back to the wall.
We score, right, we score off that hit. He gets

(18:49):
all the way to second, he steals third, steals home
on a wild pitch. Bro that next the batter who
was up at the plate struck out, struck out. It's
now three to one, three to one. Okay, bottom of
a second, bottom of the seventh, bottom of the seventh. Okay.

(19:11):
Do you want to know the faces on these nine
to ten year crowles. It's the faces I'm looking at
the NBA players. Oh god, yeah. The moment is the moment,
all right. It doesn't matter how old you are. The
moment is the moment. And so I get it right,

(19:34):
They got it. We're doing breathing exercises as they're out
there warming up. Just in there, hold it for four seconds,
let it out for four Say it's okay, it's okay.
We come out man one two three boom, game over blouses,
game blouses come all yeah man, seriously.

Speaker 2 (19:56):
So well first, okay, so first off, congratulations, thank you
that and I'm betting in your post game speech you
did not tell them you know what about twenty years
you're not even don't care about this, don't you wish
you could pull them aside when they can't breathe.

Speaker 3 (20:13):
And you're like, it's little leak, but this is. But
I also, I know right, they don't know what life
has got in store for.

Speaker 2 (20:23):
They don't know in their sphere there's nothing bigger. There's
nothing bigger. Right, take take food from a baby, the
baby will lose its mind. I get it, right. So okay,
so that's amazing. I think I need to hear more
about this flight though. Oh goodness, Grace. Wait so wait
a minute, man, I mean, but you're blaming your brother.

Speaker 3 (20:43):
I am up though, But you set this up. No
last night, No, no, we weren't supposed to be out
the way we were last night. That's the pribb. But
you could have gone to bed. No, no, it doesn't work,
It doesn't work like that. What do you mean? We
were all out there? Right, they're playing in this lifetime

(21:06):
fitness as it's like these basketball tournaments they come for.
People come from all over the country to Vegas playing
his basketball tournament. So we're out there. You know, I'm supporting.
I'm just I'm not playing. I'm supporting. And after the games,
three games in one day on Saturday was crazy to
me at their age, He's like, look, this is the plane.

(21:30):
We're gonna listen to eat and we're gonna go here
and then boom, that's it. Right after we get back
to the hotel after eating, he says, meet down here
thirty minutes, we're gonna go out. You guys can stay out.
I'm only gonna go out for an hour and then
I'm coming back because me and Ethan got a flight
in the morning. Right, that sounds like a responsible That
is exactly what and I was. That is what I

(21:51):
wanted and that's what we're doing. Yes, that would have
got us back to the room at twelve twenty, plenty
of time to sleep. But then Zach gallop back four
forty five.

Speaker 2 (22:08):
They're the three best friends that anyone could ever have.

Speaker 3 (22:12):
Like, what happened, My gosh, what happened? Why didn't you
go in the room. My brother knows too many people,
so when people find out he's somewhere, then invitations start
to happen. And if he replies back, that's like saying
I'm coming. Yeah, that's what happened. And I was rude

(22:37):
driving back. I was so mad at him. I'm like, man,
I hate you because what would you do this man?
Forty eight years old? What do you know? What?

Speaker 2 (22:48):
I get the whole idea of it's a wingman and
is your brother. But I know there are some people going,
why don't you just break off? I know, I know
those people don't have friends exactly.

Speaker 3 (23:01):
No, your family. You gotta protect your people. Are we
all in this together? Man? So I'm just putting that
out on the airways. Man, I'm mad at you. Okay,
but you but you sound sexy? Gossh you sound smoky
right now? Yes? You know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (23:20):
When I hear when I hear vocal tones like that,
I normally think Steve to say.

Speaker 3 (23:25):
The only person you can think about sexy undertones.

Speaker 2 (23:29):
Right, like like the smoky vibe of a bottom of
the hour steam.

Speaker 3 (23:35):
Hey is right, that's kind of that's my thing.

Speaker 5 (23:39):
Hi, Steve, Hello, I don't know about the word smoky,
but hello, you're right about the jitters for this game seven,
Minnesota is visiting Denver to finish the NBA second Round
of the playoffs tonight. In the first six minutes, there
were six baskets combined, six of twenty four from the floor.
They've now finished the first quarter. It's the Nuggets, two
seeds in the West, leading it home twenty four to

(24:01):
nineteen over Minnesota as Anthony Edwards one of five shooting
in the first quarter, and he played every minute, playing
all twelve minutes so far. For Denver, Jamal Murray thirteen points,
five of ten shooting, the rest of his team five
of thirteen combined. You want to talk shooting, let's talk
Indiana Pacers today. They had the best offense regular season,

(24:21):
and my goodness, did they pile up the points at
New York today, a blowout win on the road in
a Game seven at the two seed Nicks, one thirty
to one oh nine. I feel like it wasn't even
that close. Sixty seven percent shooting from the floor for
the Indiana Pacers. They had been one and five on
the road this postseason, and they led by twenty two

(24:44):
in the first half today. Tyrese Haliburton with twenty six points.
By the way, that sixty seven percent shooting as a
team an NBA playoff record. Dante DiVincenzo with thirty nine
points in the loss. In the Sunday night ballgame, the
Padre scored three runs in the top of the first
Atlanta and now four in the fourth. They go to
the bottom of the fourth leading the Braves seven to nothing.

(25:05):
Bryce Elder was the Braves starting pitcher. He allowed the
seven runs six earned in three plus innings. He was
due to be last night's starter against you Darvish and
the Padres, but last night was rained out in Atlanta,
so they're due for a double header these two tomorrow.
As for the late afternoon games, the Dodgers got a
game winning single in the tenth from shohe Otani and

(25:26):
beat the Reds three to two. Diamondback six ' four
winners over the Tigers. Giants beat the Rockies again four
to one. Angels were winners for to one at the
Texas Rangers. Royals beat the A's eight to four. I
know we have bashed on the Oakland A's last year
and a bit this year, but they're not terribly bad. Actually,
they're roughly twenty and thirty so far this season. There

(25:49):
are teams with let's say larger payrolls. The Mets come
to mind, that are not doing well this year.

Speaker 3 (25:56):
Nothing against them.

Speaker 2 (25:57):
There's never been anything against the players, certainly, never anything
against the players on the Oakland Age.

Speaker 5 (26:03):
This is what's been handed to them. It's kind of
like the Padres had a season years ago where you
felt like it was a triple A roster out on
the field and it was just in their case, temporarily
the case. It's not quite temporarily the case. But no,
you can't blame the players. Yankees won again, or should
I say the White Sox lost again. Yankees beat the
White Sox seven to two. The White Sox here we

(26:24):
are past mid May. They've won four road games this year,
four and nineteen in the away games, and the Red
Sox won at Saint Louis eleven to three. Programming note
on FS one, NASCAR's All Star Race is just underway.
In fact, there's already a caution on lap three out
of the two hundred scheduled. And yes, we did get

(26:45):
some golf news today. It's one to day for Xander Schaffley.
Wasn't he the guy that would always get named you know,
the best golfer that's never won a Major's probably well,
he's won a major enough. His first major victory comes
at Vauhalla Golf Club. It's the PGA Championship in Louisville, Kentucky,
and he wins it by one stroke over Bryson de'shambo.
And he wins it with the lowest seventy two hole

(27:07):
scoring total in major championship history to sixty three, just
for the record, and yeah, lowest to par as well.
In fact, I was seeing I mentioned this on last
night's show. Just through the first couple rounds this weekend,
there there were so many great scores. Through two rounds
that were seventy eight players under par, the most ever

(27:28):
in the history of any major, and heading into today
there were fifteen players already double digits under par, over
twice as many as ever.

Speaker 3 (27:37):
Did you see anything about this?

Speaker 2 (27:38):
Like this thing played like a like a Palm Springs
weekend PGA Tour stop. Like you're right, I'm looking at
the final leaderboard now seventy two players broke par.

Speaker 3 (27:52):
What the hell is that? That's not a major championship.

Speaker 5 (27:54):
It's I don't know. It's not the US Open, that's
for sure. So PGA Championship victory for Saffley, and congratulations.
I mean, everybody was playing the same course. I certainly
don't mean to take away anything, but I heard, for example,
after CBS left the airways yesterday, they had a local
sports show in LA and they were talking golf heavily,
and the analyst, a former player, was talking about Tiger Woods,

(28:18):
and he actually started a paragraph with, well, it's a
tough course.

Speaker 6 (28:23):
Tough course. Have you not been watching golf this weekend?
Tiger was seven over par for two rounds. Again, through
two rounds, seventy eight players were under par, the most
ever in the history of any major.

Speaker 5 (28:38):
Anyway, Shaffley from San Diego State and ASTEC wins a
major everywhere.

Speaker 2 (28:44):
Yeah, yep, Noaners, Xander's a hal of a player. Xander's
a hell of a Player's got a six. Fife had
a sixty five on the card. Yeah, good dude, congrats
to him. Oh and Steve, before you go, I'm thinking
of something tonight that I bet you'll remember off the
top of your head. Oh, last day of the NBA
regular season. The jockeying for seeding in the Western Conference.

Speaker 5 (29:08):
Oh yeah, Denver could have been the one seed.

Speaker 2 (29:10):
Right right, But they lose and SODA's Minnesota on their
home floor, blown out by the Phoenix Suns. Played a
full complement of starters, thirty five minutes that night for
Anthony Edwards, twenty nine minutes for Karl Anthony Towns, and
thirty two for Rudy Gobert, blown out by the Phoenix Suns.

(29:33):
That result, if it goes the other way, correct me
if I'm wrong. They're the one seed and this game
to night's being played on their floor.

Speaker 5 (29:44):
It's that right, just last night. Now, I think Denver
would have had a couple of things have to happen,
not just their win on the last day to get
the one seed, but with Dallas advancing last night. It
was pointed out by ap that it was a year
ago at the end of the regular season. Dallas tanked
at the end, even though they had a chance for
the playing because they wanted to keep the draft choice,

(30:04):
and the draft choice wound up being Derek Lively, who
at fifteen rebounds off the bench yesterday, and the draft
choice came from the team they beat yesterday, Oklahoma City Odd.

Speaker 3 (30:17):
So tanking works, is what you're saying.

Speaker 5 (30:19):
I'm saying tanking has certainly worked in NBA history.

Speaker 3 (30:22):
Absolutely.

Speaker 5 (30:23):
Can you imagine if Cleveland had won one or two
games the year before they drafted Lebron and played themselves
out of that number one pack, they'd still be the
Calves that we knew and loved for decades.

Speaker 3 (30:35):
Yes, yes they would.

Speaker 2 (30:38):
Well, they'll always have Craig Elow, so they would have
still had that. But anyway, Okay, interesting stuff. Steve, thank
you as always talked to you. Next hour, the smoky
sounds of Steve de seg only thank you only to
be found in one place, and it's Fox Sports Radio
ephrom Just here.

Speaker 3 (31:01):
Is this what it's?

Speaker 2 (31:02):
Is this what your AirPod sounded like like, I don't know,
eleven hours ago.

Speaker 3 (31:07):
Yeah, so it sounded like on your way to the airport.
Oh my gosh, I was. He was sitting there with
his eyes closed, and I said, oh no, no, no, no,
you don't get to close your eyes on the right
to the airport. No no, no no, you're going to
stay up and you're going to be in this with me.
I'm impressed by you. Oh man, hey, wait a minute,

(31:28):
when was the little league game. It was what time
this morning? At eleven o'clock, so it was over what one? No,
we went into extra innings, I know, and a half
hours had right and then so the team we play
next played after us. One of the two teams had
a scout, so we did a little scouting.

Speaker 2 (31:49):
I thought, I thought, you know, maybe you could take
a nap.

Speaker 3 (31:53):
Well, the Knicks game was also on, and I have
a job to talk about said game. You do, so,
uh don't know when any of that was gonna happen.
So here we are. I'm impressed. I'm very very impressed.

Speaker 2 (32:17):
We are live in the Tirak dot com studios, and
a bright eyed and bushy tailed Ephram Salam is here,
and a very well rested Mark Willard is also here.
And we have more to say about Anthony Edwards and
Nicola Jokicic as this game continues to unfold. Nuggets have
opened up an eleven point lead here in the second quarter,

(32:39):
so we'll keep hacking it out right here on Fox
Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (32:43):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to listen.

Speaker 2 (32:54):
Live Okay Live ty Rak dot Com Studios, Mark Willand
and Barry White with you on Fox Sports Radio. We
got some we got some Caitlin Clark stuff for you
here at the top of the oltun Oh yeah, you know.
But Anthony Edwards is becoming a more and more interesting

(33:22):
television character as well. And by the way, he is
one for six with two points so far in this
basketball game Denver by nine in.

Speaker 3 (33:33):
The second quarter. Did you catch his comments earlier when
they asked him, like.

Speaker 2 (33:38):
Mike Conley, I guess is zero for four in game
seven's in his career.

Speaker 3 (33:43):
And so they asked Anthony.

Speaker 2 (33:44):
They said, you guys want to win this one for Mike,
and Anthony goes, I'd like to win it for me.
He's like, when Mike lost those four to seven games,
I wasn't on the team. Anthony is starting to answer
questions and he's welcoming this. He's starting to answer questions

(34:07):
as if he is or wants to be the next
big thing. He has brought up Michael Jordan's name in
interviews recently, and I wonder how that grabs people. He's
clearly a phenomenal player. You and I have talked even
recently about how this guy he's got a chance as

(34:28):
far as a guard or a wing player, he's got
a chance to maybe be the.

Speaker 3 (34:33):
Next big thing.

Speaker 2 (34:36):
But ah, I always struggle when the words come first,
because it's not that I have an issue with it.
I think it's great, it's wonderful content do it, tell
us who you are, say it, it's great. I just
think sometimes it makes it a little harder on people.
I'm thinking of Jason Tatum of the Boston Celtics going

(35:00):
into some of the major series situations He's gone into
and openly saying I'm channeling Kobe for this game, and.

Speaker 3 (35:09):
Then you go out and lay an a. You know,
it's like that didn't work.

Speaker 2 (35:17):
So you know, got a lot of eyes on him tonight,
that's for sure, got a lot of eyes the world.
I wonder though, you know, I like, I'm always reminded
I won't I won't share who the player was. But
I had a conversation once upon a time with agent
Lee Steinberg, and he was there was a player that

(35:39):
he had brought through the draft, and then that.

Speaker 3 (35:42):
Player in Lee broke up and.

Speaker 2 (35:45):
Lee just kind of off air conversation was like the
player wanted to put the cart before the horse. The
player wanted ad campaigns, the player wanted to talk a lot.

Speaker 3 (35:59):
The player wanted to be in the media.

Speaker 2 (36:01):
And I kept suggesting to the player that why don't
we go do football first and and and then then
we can when that goes well, then we can do media.

Speaker 3 (36:16):
Yeah. Sometimes, especially I mean with the access that people
have now, sometimes you can put the cart before the horse. Right,
Being great and having something to say and having something
people you know, want to hear comes with the work first. Now, look,

(36:37):
Anthony Edwards has been putting in work, for sure. He
just in Minnesota. I gotta keep trying to tell you, right, like,
it's just what it is. But that can't be your
catch all. It's not my catch all. But what I'm
saying is Minnesota doesn't get a lot of national games. Right.
So case in point, watching the Orlando Magic Cleveland series,

(37:03):
right when you watch the Orlando Magic play and I
watched a lot of basketball, were you familiar and locked
in on that team that roster? What was going like
I was? I really sat there and found myself going like, oh, snap,

(37:25):
hum hmm, this player is really good this play. Oh
I was surprised. And this is someone who's in the
sports business. So when I'm talking about that, I'm not Look,
I'm just letting you know in terms of that's why
the playoffs are so important because everybody's watching and people

(37:49):
barely watched that series because it was mostly on NBA TV.
But that's the point. Look at those two markets, Orlando Cleveland, right,
they would come on the same time, the tn T
game would come, the early game would come on. But
on NBA T that's all I'm talking. They would never
put the Lakers the Celtics or they would never put

(38:12):
them on like that. That's what I mean by that.
And it's it's a tangible it's a real thing, no doubt.
Like Paulo ben Benero is a monster. He's a monster.
He can go get it. And most people, most people

(38:37):
don't know that because they're stuck on regional television or
NBA TV. Right, That's that's I get. That's all the
side of it. Yeah, I get I get that side
of it. I I get that side of it.

Speaker 2 (38:55):
I just mean even with like I guess, okay, I'll
ask it as a question, are you saying that Anthony
is now by design kind of going over the top
because he's in Minnesota.

Speaker 3 (39:10):
No, I think people are even with them, jocking all
year for first or second or third this third seed.
Nobody was talking about it, sure, not sure, Sure, No
one believed it. Nobody. They were just like, all right, no, cool,
what that's what I mean by something like that? Right,

(39:32):
Because the fact of the matter is if Anthony Edwards
had come to the Knicks or Boston or LA or
even Chicago from the outset, that more people would be
enthralled and just how good this young man is.

Speaker 2 (39:52):
I agree with you completely, although I still think I
think it can be done.

Speaker 3 (39:57):
Yeah, you gotta be, you got like you gotta mean him,
duncan you gotta be in San Antonio. Well, you got
to do it in games like tonight. Yeah, this is
this is your stage. You're absolutely right, this is your stage.

Speaker 2 (40:10):
Right now, Jamal and Jamal Murray is out playing him significantly.

Speaker 3 (40:14):
Oh yeah, but this takes us back to Jamal Murray's
younger days in him and Spider were going at it
in the bubble. Remember that Dovin mention you to put
those two guys on the map. Now, Jamal got hurt
and couldn't follow up on that yet, but now we're
seeing a different guy. All right.

Speaker 2 (40:32):
We'll get to the Caitlin Clark stuff here in just
a second on Fox Sports Radio. Who social media is
alive in the Game seven, that is for sure, and
so the takes are flying and we'll follow along as
the Denver Nuggets have the early advantage first half against

(40:54):
the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Speaker 3 (40:55):
That and much more.

Speaker 2 (40:56):
We haven't even gotten to the Game seven that took
place early. We're broadcasting live from the ti rag dot
com studios. Tyre rag dot com will help you get
there on unmatched selection, fast free shipping, free road hazard
protection and over ten thousand recommended installers, tyraq dot com
the way tire buying should be all of that on tap.

(41:18):
But you got to help me with something Caitlin Clark related.
I am very clearly on one side of the fence
when it comes to the conversation around this young budding star,
and you and I have had the talk already. I

(41:39):
get the hurt feelings, I get all of the different
pieces to this puzzle, and people definitely have points. Is
it fair that Caitlin has been dubbed the face when
she hasn't even played a game. Is there jealousy, There
is there a race factor. I get all of it,

(42:01):
and it's acknowledged. I also know, though, that when it
comes to the established players in the w n b A,
it is my opinion that they are kicking themselves in
the shin if if they try to keep her and
her stardom at bay, because, as I said to you,
I think just last week, she has the opportunity to

(42:24):
be the.

Speaker 3 (42:24):
W NBA's Tiger Woods.

Speaker 2 (42:27):
She has the opportunity to change everyone's bank account. So
let her. That's that's number one. And cow Hurt had
an interesting take on that that I want to sort
of roll around with you on that one. However, I
brought up social media for this reason. Have you seen
the the really hard screen she took the other night?

Speaker 3 (42:50):
Yeah, okay, who was that? Superb? Who said? Who said
the screen that was? I actually, I'm not even straight honest,
I'm not sure. I'm not sure was it super Bird? Okay?
So it's been captured on social media and used as
an example of like ooh.

Speaker 2 (43:12):
WNBA is like right, it's almost like they got a
bounty on on her. They're they're look at the way
they're shoving her around. I'm like, that was a screen.
It was a completely legal screen. There was absolutely nothing
vicious which with it whatsoever. So that's something else I'm

(43:33):
watching out for. There is controversy around Caitlin Clark, and
when there's controversy surrounding something.

Speaker 3 (43:39):
People like to make it even bigger than it is.

Speaker 2 (43:43):
And so like the fact that she might have hard
moments as a rookie, Duh, that's sports.

Speaker 3 (43:50):
Brianna Stewart, who was at the screen, that's right, thank
you there, Brianna Stewart. Look, man, professional basketball is completely
are professional sports are completely different than collegiate sports. When
you remember when Alonso Ball got drafted to the Lakers

(44:18):
and all the hype was around him, the ball, the
you know big ball of brand Dad on TV the
whole time, and you know, guys were like, I remember
that first game. I can't remember who they were playing,
but Pat Beverly was on that team and he told
him right, I mean he laid into him and he
was like, your dad got you this one, right, Like

(44:41):
these professional athletes are coming for your neck, okay, because
you're stepping into their world. Now. Yeah, you will earn
your stripes and you will become one of them. She's
a tremendous player. She's too great to not continue to
be great. It's a learning process and an adjustment. But

(45:03):
I get the point of y'all tripping trying to make
it out to be personal or whatever that is. It's
crazy because she's literally one of the reasons why you know,

(45:25):
you guys are now chartered flight attention all of these things.
And so you know, I don't want to say it's
a bounty or is it anything like that, like and granted, look,
they're gonna make her own earn her stripe, just like

(45:45):
everybody else had to earn her. Sure, I get it,
but yeah, you can tell just by watching they like, yeah,
it ain't gonna be you. And that's okay because she's
got to learn how to fight and push through that.
She's not on a very good team. There's that. And

(46:06):
we talked about this. This is the same team that
had the number one pick in the draft last year.
So she's now on two number one draft picks playing together.
And they were rivals in college as well, Iowa eliminating
South Carolina and what was at the final four I
believe the year before last, And so you're watching I

(46:34):
said this, I said, is the hype going to survive
a couple of twelve point games, high turnover games and
the team being three and twelve when you look up?
Is the hype going to survive that? And that's a

(46:54):
difficult thing to do unless she's going what Jordan was
doing is remember what Jordan came into the league was doing. Sure,
everybody was like, oh, I mean they're not winning, but
goodness gracious, so it's got it's too much pressure on

(47:15):
her to to try to carry the league. And now
the players will be like, well, she's not carrying the league.
We understand that, ladies, We're not. We're just saying in
terms of the notoriety she shined on in TAA basketball
and now the WNBA, which is what was needed because

(47:39):
the world needs to see how talented you guys are
in the masses like we do for men's sports. That
makes sense, like it's it's one hundred percent.

Speaker 2 (47:52):
And what I would I encourage the entire WNBA to do.
And I you're right, you can't do this all the
way down at the player level. The players are going
to play and this is the way athletes are. They're
going to make people earn it. They're competitive, They're going
to try to win. I'm not asking anyone to do
anything other than that, but the league as a whole,

(48:13):
and this does go even to the media covering it.

Speaker 3 (48:17):
You have to cheat a little bit.

Speaker 2 (48:19):
I mean, in my opinion, you do, and it's not
really cheating, but like create landing spots, think of all
the people out there who have achieved major fame and
think about how they got started.

Speaker 3 (48:35):
How did they first get their name out there.

Speaker 2 (48:39):
I'm not going to bring any specific people up because
I don't want to get everyone's feathers all ruffled, but
think hard. Some of the biggest names out there go
even beyond sports, and how did you first hear about
their name? And the likelihood is is that doesn't matter
anymore now, even if it was not for the most

(49:01):
savory reasons. And so what I'm saying about that is
is if I'm running the w NBA lean into this.
That's what Cowherd's point was earlier this week when he
said this was dumb to give Caitlin Clark's team. Her
first four games of her career are against two of

(49:23):
the absolute best teams in the league who play the
hardest defense.

Speaker 3 (49:27):
Why would you do that? Put a cream puff out there.

Speaker 2 (49:32):
Look at the way college basketball and college football teams
their schedule.

Speaker 3 (49:37):
That I'm sure the ladies will take offense. I don't
believe that any of them think they're cream buffs. You
know what I'm saying. No, it's not.

Speaker 2 (49:44):
But they're they're they're the players, They're not the ones
making the schedule.

Speaker 3 (49:47):
Got you do you know what I mean?

Speaker 2 (49:50):
The NFL is not going to have their Thursday night
opener with the Chiefs hosting it, and they're gonna be like, well,
we're gonna give the Chiefs the Tennessee Titans.

Speaker 3 (50:02):
Why would you do that?

Speaker 2 (50:03):
They play rock fight football and they're not interesting.

Speaker 3 (50:08):
No glitz it up, glamour it up.

Speaker 2 (50:11):
Give us something that's gonna get everybody all excited about
the season, because that's entertainment. So, whether that's the perfect
example or not, like the first four games of her schedule,
the whole thing. And again, I'm not even asking any
media member to not be real, be real with your opinion,

(50:33):
that's fine. But anything that sounds like jealousy, anything that
sounds like, well, we're gonna shove her all over the
place until she's you know, got bruises everywhere, and then
we'll see how she reacts.

Speaker 3 (50:50):
What are you doing?

Speaker 2 (50:52):
This isn't like, this isn't about fairness, This isn't about
any of the things that you want it to be.

Speaker 3 (50:58):
This is about your league. It's entertainment.

Speaker 2 (51:01):
Make it that and UH and sometimes you have to
take a back seat to UH to get an effective
ride somewhere.

Speaker 3 (51:13):
Yeah, it's it's definitely. I was watching my brother and
I were having this conversation. We were like, he flat.
I was like, man, they tripping right, like, this is
not and I will We did also notice that it's
also the scheme she's in as well, so all of

(51:35):
that plays into it. She's a ball dominant guard. That's
what she was in college, right, She's a ball dominant guard.
Now if she's at a place where that's not conducive
for they have something else that they want to do
that doesn't fit into you know, her willhouse and how

(51:56):
special she is. You got to remember this is not
a very good team. So I equate it to a
team drafting a quarterback and not developing or designing an
offense that accentuates that quarterback's abilities. If you have a
dual threat quarterback and you have an offense just purely

(52:22):
effective with a pocket passer and you refuse and is
this out used to be? You refuse to make concessions
to take advantage of the talent that you drafted first,
then that's an ego thing. Kyle Shanahan, Mike Shanahan did
it in Washington when they drafted RG three. The read

(52:50):
option or any of that was never in the Shanahan playbook.
I played a lot of years in that offense, and
knowing the talent that they they had an RG three,
they you know, at a time where this is not
what happened. They threw all of that out and designed
an offense around the type of quarterback they had got it.

(53:15):
And that's how you get the best out of that player.
Don't bring a super beyond talented player in and that's
what Caitlyn Clark is and relegate her to trying to
fit in a system that may not be conducive to
her talent. Now we've seen her run the show, get

(53:37):
everybody involved, score point like we've seen her do her
think right, that's the one thing Cleveland didn't do. They
didn't get Lebron and was like, Okay, well, look, Lebron,
look the point guard, bring the ball up the court.
You not the point guard, So give it to the
point guard. Want you to go at the high poles.
I want you to set the screen. They didn't do that.
They just gave a dude the ball and was like,

(53:59):
hey man, let's go.

Speaker 2 (54:00):
Kid.

Speaker 3 (54:00):
What we got came out against the Kings twenty five,
eight and eight or something like that as a kid.
So sometimes coaches gms, they just got to get out
of the way and let the talent be the talent.

Speaker 2 (54:20):
Listening to you say that brings one specific NFL team
to mind. I wasn't even thinking of this until just
listening to you talk about that, And there's one specific
NFL team in mind that I think this year is
going into an absolutely critical season for the parties in place,

(54:43):
and I want to ask you how you would play
out that season if you were that coach and that quarterback.
I'll tell you who we're talking about in just a
second with Ebram Salama, Mark Willard.

Speaker 3 (54:53):
It's Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (54:56):
Okay, we're live tyrack dot Com Studios, second half on
away in Denver, Denver, up by seventeen already, come on.

Speaker 3 (55:04):
Make it a good game. I wouldn't love to see one.

Speaker 2 (55:07):
Minnesota thirty eight points in the third quarter. Get out
of here anyway, we'll see.

Speaker 3 (55:16):
Can I share something with you? Of course? Do you
have to do your read? You want to do your
read first, and then I share.

Speaker 2 (55:21):
Didn't already do it? I think I already did it. Okay,
I can't even remember what I said twenty two seconds ago.
I think I already did it. But Retireck dot Com
Studios did it again. They had double plug. So I've
been in this business over twenty five years. I've been
doing it for a long time, and something happened to me.

(55:41):
It's happening to me right now that's never happened before.
Told them me paint a picture.

Speaker 3 (55:48):
I'm sitting in my chair in the studios, you know where,
I got all the TVs on, watching the game, set
my leg up on the on the on the table
right in here by myself. I got the it's off.
I create a mood when I'm on the air, goes
with the timber of the voice. You know what I'm yelling,

(56:10):
timber go ahead. So I'm sitting in here, Minnesota down
by twenty now, and I'm like, oh wait, a minute
and not pop up. I jump up, and I have
a Charlie horse. Have you ever you caught in the
Charlie horse before? Of course yes. So all through the break,

(56:32):
I'm like, oh god, don't move, don't just nope. I
got some water here, I'm drinking the water. I'm like, no, no, no, no,
just breathe and let it go. Oh, don't sit down, don't,
can't sit down, it's gonna lock up again. Bend over
and just slightly bend and try to touch your toes
and just breathing and take your time. Well, it's taken

(56:57):
a little longer than I anticipated. Yeah, man, let me
mm hmm. Okay, if you could see this now, I'm
hunched over the right now. Oh, I'm just lightly stretching. Okay, look,
I'm gonna stand up. I'mt me see if I'm gonna

(57:18):
stand all away, I'm to stand up. Okay, we're good.

Speaker 2 (57:20):
I mean, from everybody listening, especially if they've listened to
the majority of the show tonight, ooh no, not ready yet. Yeah,
they're all sitting there saying the same thing. I know
what I'm thinking. You know, did we decide that you're
forty eight years old?

Speaker 3 (57:34):
Is that right?

Speaker 7 (57:35):
Yes, man, okay, and we'll be next month, and okay,
not to be forty eight years old, and just a
couple of resume items if I may thirteen years of
NFL football.

Speaker 3 (57:48):
Yeah, correct, Yes, I know you're not at playing weight,
but you remain a large man. Yes, yes, height, and
wait please if you if your ego will allow, Yeah,
that's so.

Speaker 2 (58:11):
And then did I hear correctly that you have not
slept since the calendar date of Friday?

Speaker 3 (58:22):
Is that right? Yes? Okay.

Speaker 2 (58:26):
In addition to an all night bender in Vegas, we
also have spent two times in the last three days
on a plane flight all tucked in.

Speaker 3 (58:38):
Under your little cabin there, and.

Speaker 2 (58:43):
A stressful trip to the youth ballpark. All right, So
let's just put all that into our little bucket and
shake it up and pour it out on the floor.
And I am shocked that it's taken this law for

(59:03):
your body to say, you know.

Speaker 3 (59:09):
No, no, we're not doing this. And the crazy I
don't like, so I don't even drink like, I don't
drink alcohol, never have.

Speaker 2 (59:19):
Like when when you're rolling in the casino, what is
it You're just hitting sparkling waters?

Speaker 3 (59:23):
What are you doing? You know, I get some water,
I if I need a little cake bright, you know,
but it's I don't drink. I don't drink alcohol. I
never have. So it's not even like, oh, you know, no,
it's my body saying, hey, you fool, that's right, that's right.
If you're not going to do it, we're going to

(59:44):
make you do it. What's the what's the line from
the song?

Speaker 2 (59:47):
Uh, my mind is saying no, but my body's saying yes.
You're the other way around telling me your mind is
mind saying sitting back down.

Speaker 3 (59:59):
We've got bodies saying no, I think we got past it. No, okay,
good and just you know, so you know, you know
we have the we have the windows here and you know,
you know, crew can look in at me. They're just
they're just chuckling. They're giggling. They're having a good old time.
Why wouldn't that Yeah, well all of them are in
their twenties. They don't just chuckle away. Go ahead, you can,

(01:00:21):
I know you want to say. Sound it's hilarious. It's hilarious.
Oh my god, got you take a take a picture
of the beause you can't even see through the glass
because remember the studio is dark, so you got a
light off in there. Yeah, you're here, so we don't
even know he's in pain right now, we're we're just
chilling in the back. You were here to me flip

(01:00:43):
over the table. Then just remember everything is everything is
sound proof, so we can't even we can't even hear
I'm gonna be in here on air. You could scream
and we really need for help. They have no proof
that you're even there. I know that's true.

Speaker 2 (01:00:58):
They're just like, I mean, right us hosted Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 3 (01:01:04):
I think the audience knows this. We're all over the
damn country, all over the mess. We're all over the country.

Speaker 2 (01:01:09):
They have no proof that you keep saying you're there,
I am here.

Speaker 3 (01:01:13):
Like we don't see him, we don't hear him. He
says he's there. Okay, Okay, I can breathe. I'm good,
I'm good. Okay, man, that was crazy, Listen.

Speaker 2 (01:01:28):
I was about to unveil me because now like we
you know, I had a big fancy tease and then
uh sorry, I had to come No, it's okay, it's okay,
it's okay.

Speaker 3 (01:01:36):
We're just hanging out there. You know, you know why
I needed to say that because if you heard me scream,
then you I wanted to give some context on what
was going on.

Speaker 2 (01:01:50):
Look, that's why we we always have everything covered here
at Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 3 (01:01:57):
I can't remember if it was.

Speaker 2 (01:01:59):
You or Kyle Rudolph or Kerry Rhoades or whoever I've
been hanging out with for the majority of the last
six months. But we had unprecedented storms that rolled through
the area maybe a couple three months ago, and Wi
Fi explosion out. I had to hop in the car,

(01:02:26):
drive down the street to where my lovely lady lives,
and I hopped into her house and I was able
to get back on the air. I tell the story though,
because for a segment or two I was out, and
you know what happens when we do that, we go
to Steve de Sager and so Aphraim if you need
a minute, You've always got the smoky sounds take it away.

Speaker 5 (01:02:50):
So, I mean, you're reported, he's questionable, but he did
participate fully.

Speaker 2 (01:02:55):
It's basically that's a practiced in FULLTD GTD.

Speaker 5 (01:03:02):
You know we're going on about this in part because
for crying out loud, we got another NBA playoff blowout
happening here. And you properly reference this. We'll get to
the Knicks loss in just a moment, but here it
was a fifteen point Denver lead at the half against Minnesota.
They're still up fifteen in the third fifty eight forty three,
about nine minutes to go in the third quarter of

(01:03:24):
this game seven. According to statues, teams that in a
game seven are leading by fifteen or more at the
half are undefeated all time. Oh yeah, you think twenty
one to zero? Okay, so still up fifteen? Make it
sixteen now? Ap points out, and this game isn't even
finished yet, but they point out the record for most

(01:03:47):
playoff games decided by twenty or more in a single
NBA postseason is twenty four games. This would be game
number twenty one already this postseason decided by twenty points
or For the Minnesota Timberwolves, they are one step away
from a conference final, and yet it looks so far
away now as Anthony Edwards is one of eight shooting

(01:04:09):
from the floor.

Speaker 3 (01:04:10):
Yes, air bolts of fifteen three, that's one of nine.

Speaker 2 (01:04:14):
I'm giving him two misses for that because he missed
a shot and then he missed everything else.

Speaker 5 (01:04:18):
Too, So he has four points and the other starting guard,
Mike Conley, is one of seven shooting for three points. Meanwhile,
Jamal Murray, to say the least, has shown for this
game twenty nine points for the Denver Nuggets, the two
seeds winning at home, and Nikola Jokic had fifteen boards
at the break. He's up to fourteen points sixteen rebounds
in this game, a lead for the Nuggets in the third,

(01:04:41):
looking to take on Dallas in the Western Conference Final,
which Denver is a two seed, would start as host
on Wednesday. In the Eastern Conference, the Pacers go to
Boston to begin that series on Tuesday. Indiana starters at
New York today. From three point range, We're thirteen of
twenty two. They were just great shoes. Foing All told
one thirty to one oh nine. The final score. Nixer

(01:05:03):
out Pacer shot sixty seven percent from the floor. In
NBA playoff record, Nick shot forty two percent. Tyrese Haliburton
with twenty six points. Indiana's in the conference finals for
the first time in ten years. The franchise hadn't won
any series in the playoffs in ten years until this year.
In the WNBA just one game Seattle won at Washington

(01:05:25):
eighty four to seventy five. Each team had started oh
to two Indiana's oh to three at host Connecticut tomorrow.
The NHL Playoffs resumed tomorrow with a Game seven and the
second round Edmonton at Vancouver. Xander Schaffley won the PGA Championship,
his first major victory, by one stroke over Bryson Deshambeau,
who shot sixty four. Colin Morikawa fell to a tie

(01:05:45):
for fourth place, six shots back after starting the day
tied for the lead. He shot seventy one in Louisville,
which sounds sounds like a bad score the way that
it's have been scoring this weekend. At Valhall at number
one ranks, Scottie Scheffler tied for eighth place, which Thomas
and others number three ranked. Rory McElroy tied for twelfth
plays showtly by the way now number two, and Nellie

(01:06:07):
Corda took LPGA event in Jersey City by one stroke.
She's won six of her last seven tournaments she's ranked
number one. Corda is the first LPGA player in over
a decade to win six times in a single season.
Needless to say, in May, the season is not over.
She's the first American to do so since nineteen ninety,
when Beth Daniel had won seven in a season. NASCAR's

(01:06:30):
All Star Race is well underway on FS one. Joey
Logano is in the lead to Major League Baseball. The
Padres are destroying the Atlanta Braves, you Darvish on the
mound and at San Diego nine to nothing in the
lead in the bottom of the seventh. The Dodgers in
ten edged the Reds three to two, Shoeyo Tani the
game winning single. The Giants won their fourth game in

(01:06:51):
a row, four to one over Colorado. Winning pitcher Jordan
Hicks now four and one victories for Arizona and the Angels.
Yankees won their seventh in a Baltimore won again Philadelphia
one again. The Phillies have the best record in the
Major leagues thirty four and fourteen. They beat Washington again
eleven to five. Washington's loss five straight twins, have lost

(01:07:12):
six in a row, lost at Cleveland five to two,
Kansas City said Oakland to an eighth straight loss eight
to four victories for Houston and Pittsburgh, And sometimes when
there's a live golf event, you know, we talk about
prize money. I hesitate to bring it up here because
Xander Schaffley is going to remember today literally for the
rest of his life, his first major victory, and congratulations.

(01:07:34):
He wins three point three three million dollars. Bryson Deshambo
does not get into that three hole playoff at the
end because Schaffley birdied the final hole of the day
and took the title. Shaffley wins nearly two million dollars
as the runner up. Brooks Koepka won four million dollars

(01:07:55):
at the last live golf event in Singapore. Just for
the record, there is no major that's scheduled to give
out four million dollars. Just for the record, the Master's
winner that prize check for first was up to three
point six million. I mentioned three point three mil for
taking the PGA. Last year's US Open winner took three
point six mil. It was about three million for the

(01:08:16):
Open champion winner last summer. Every live golf tournament gives
four million dollars to the winner, and it's not four
rounds of golf and they don't play every weekend.

Speaker 2 (01:08:26):
Back to you, okay, yep If money is what you're after,
and most of us are, then then live golf is
for you more money, less work what yep. Yes, but
no one will remember anything you did ever, which is
part of sports.

Speaker 3 (01:08:41):
It is part of sports.

Speaker 2 (01:08:43):
It is absolutely I'm not again, there's no criticism here,
but go ahead and give me your favorite live golf moment.

Speaker 3 (01:08:53):
My favorite is every week hearing right, who's changed their
fortune right? And who's grind it on the PGA Tour
for decades. You're not wrong now, all of that. That's
my favorite part of.

Speaker 2 (01:09:10):
I can't feel like Live Golf and Greg Norman sat
in a boardroom and then when they put this whole
thing together, Mickelson raises his hand and goes listen. The
other thing is every week Steve de Sager will make
fun of us at the bottom of the hour on
Fox Sports Radio and people will love it and people
will remember it like nobody knows what the hell happened

(01:09:32):
out there other than making money.

Speaker 5 (01:09:34):
Or you can be like a Bryson de Shamba and
have the best of both worlds.

Speaker 3 (01:09:38):
Yes, you could do that. That could do that.

Speaker 2 (01:09:41):
Steve awesome as always, Thank you very much, tyrack dot
Com Studios.

Speaker 3 (01:09:45):
Mark Willardy from salam.

Speaker 2 (01:09:47):
Okay At long last, I do I have to say
this football team out loud, because you were talking earlier
about Caitlin Clark and the WNBA, and you started making
comparisons with the idea of tailoring your approach, your offensive approach,

(01:10:08):
what you do as a coach to your players and
who you have out there, and the good ones obviously
do that. And I've got my eyes so squarely on
one NFL team this year because I can't wait to
see if they finally do it. I think one of
the most head scratching starts to a career that I

(01:10:30):
can remember in recent memory is happening right now, and
it's happening with the Los Angeles Chargers because you cannot
find anyone in this league who doesn't think Justin Herbert
is elite.

Speaker 3 (01:10:47):
Elite.

Speaker 2 (01:10:48):
If you wanted to draft five quarterbacks, he'd be one
of them, says every analyst, every coach, everyone I talk to, They.

Speaker 3 (01:10:57):
All agree, and I'm who the hell am I to disagree?

Speaker 2 (01:11:00):
I think he looks fantastic, But it's not normal in
sports for us to do that when a player this
many years into his career has a sum total of.

Speaker 3 (01:11:09):
Hang on, let me count them, carry the three zero
playoff wins. Yeah, none, none, and then Jim Harbaugh gets
hired and he's fantastic. But what does Jim love to do?

Speaker 2 (01:11:27):
He loves to go four yards and a cloud of dust.

Speaker 3 (01:11:32):
Oh well, just before that, Yes, I got six point game.
Mannesota is roaring back fift.

Speaker 2 (01:11:43):
What did we say off the top of the show,
he from like, just as soon as Steve de Seger says,
any game seven where there's been a fifteen point lead,
no one's ever won before. The first thing that went
through my head was one because because every time you
count someone out in this series, they come back.

Speaker 3 (01:12:03):
That's the series.

Speaker 2 (01:12:04):
So it wouldn't surprise me at all. But anyway, let's
get into that. Coming up next. Is Jim Harbaugh going
to change his ways and tailor his team to supposedly
an elite player who many of us feel we really
haven't gotten a chance to see him get going yet,
even though it's years into his career. So we can

(01:12:27):
get into that coming up next on Fox Sports Radio
Tyrack dot Com Studios. Four point game, four point game,
going to the free throat line to make it a
two point We asked for it, we got action.

Speaker 3 (01:12:48):
Just give me a game.

Speaker 2 (01:12:49):
I don't even care if It looks like a Yukon
Final where both teams are struggling to get to eighty.

Speaker 3 (01:12:55):
I don't care.

Speaker 2 (01:12:56):
Just give me a close game seven and the timber
have responded and the Nuggets have got the lemon booty
in full of fact.

Speaker 3 (01:13:07):
Clinchet. Tighten it up, Clinchet.

Speaker 2 (01:13:12):
Three point game. Keep you up to date. The Timberwolves
are back in this thing. Late third quarter, Nuggets by three,
cat at the line for one more. Definitely keep you
up to date as that's unfolding.

Speaker 3 (01:13:28):
Though. What do you think the career of Justin Herbert?

Speaker 2 (01:13:33):
This is a little random, but I like this guy
has everyone's attention. One of the tops in the league,
but not even the best in his own division.

Speaker 3 (01:13:43):
And that's part of this.

Speaker 2 (01:13:45):
Like did he show up in a division at a
time where you're just not allowed to ever win it
for ten years?

Speaker 3 (01:13:50):
Maybe?

Speaker 2 (01:13:51):
But the Jim Harbaugh hire is an interesting one. It's
high profile. I think he's a fantastic coach. He's proven
that he knows how to change a cult culture. He's
done that a couple of times, few times in his career.
But he loves to ram things down the throat of
the defense, even as a quarterback, a former quarterback, So

(01:14:15):
that's interesting. But with Justin Herbert as your quarterback, how's
this going to look? Is that guy going to get
the offense that he needs Taylor to him?

Speaker 3 (01:14:29):
I bet he will, look, I don't think Jim Harbaugh
has had a quarterback quite like Justin Herbert, someone who

(01:14:49):
in four seasons has seventeen thousand passing yards, one hundred
and fourteen touchdowns, nine passing nine passing rating to forty
two intercept Like, I don't know if he's ever had
this quarterback. Yeah, probably not, So you'd be more advantageous

(01:15:13):
to try to take advantage of that because in a
quarterback driven league, I mean, we saw what it did
in the draft with the with the receivers and like
they're they're trying to put these pieces around him to
give him an opportunity to take that knee, and he is.
He's in a division where hey man, you're just happen

(01:15:38):
to have the goat in the next goat in it.
What are you gonna do? What are you gonna do?
And you gotta step up and you gotta fight, you
gotta you know, you gotta put yourself in position to
go out there and you gotta slang and you catch
him on it. You know, remember that although they weren't

(01:16:01):
in the same division, in the same conference, there was
a couple of times Peyton got Tom right. So you
got you gotta start building that into your your resume.
And you know, I think in this case in point,
he hasn't had a coach since he's been in the league.

(01:16:23):
Let's just be clear. No, let's got players, but he
has not had a coach because that disaster that was
Brandon Staley. I mean, hey man, we talked about it
every year. Yep, every single year with the same every
week every week. You can't possibly be a defensive coach

(01:16:43):
and you can't stop anybody. And so now we're at
sit Look, I knew this kid had it when his
first game he wasn't supposed to start, he came up Patrick.
It just it took Patrick Mahome this year, this past
season to beat him for the first time. Most people
don't know that. So you're going head to head with

(01:17:03):
our new goat, our eventual goat, and he couldn't even
do anything with you, not that they play against each other,
but you know how we set this thing up. So
now you have a coach that is going to do
his darnedest to give you a fighting chance. And Garners

(01:17:29):
the respect of the locker room and and and and
his peers around the league. That's the whole thing. Nobody
respect to Brandon State. And look, I don't want to
be disparaging to him as a coach. I don't. This
is not what this is about. We're talking about Justin Herbert,
his development and can he take that next step? And
that matters. It matters who's on that sideline with you. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:17:53):
Look, I think that who he is is evident, and
I don't think that I don't think it's fair to
go overboard on the he hasn't won a playoff game.
We get a little bit too black and white with
our thinking sometimes in sports, in the age of social media.
I think Justin Herbert is every bit of what Matt
Stafford was before him, You know what I mean. Matt

(01:18:17):
Stafford was always he was always a walking stat machine
and could never win in the playoffs. And for years
we went is it Stafford or is it Lions?

Speaker 3 (01:18:29):
And our friend Rob.

Speaker 2 (01:18:30):
Parker named him and nicknamed him stat Padford. And I
don't know if we've heard have we heard a national
apology for that nickname. Yet I don't think we have
all text Rob and ask him because Matt was all
made of stats and had wonderful skill position players around
him and could never win. And then he got out

(01:18:51):
of there and what happened super Bowl Championship bang right away.
I do I agree with you. I do think that's
who j Herbert is. He's He's that guy. I'm excited.
That's one of the most things, especially being in LA,

(01:19:11):
I'm excited about it. I'm gonna take my kids, not
that they follow football much, to a couple of games,
and because the energy you go to the ballpark, man,
the energy is unmatched. We go to a lot of
Laker games and stuff like that, but when you go
to a football game, it's like it's a thing thing.

(01:19:32):
And so I'm gonna take him down there, let him
run around on the field, you know, and just enjoy
themselves and bring them into part of my world they
never got to see. This will be the first year
I'm doing that, and they'll be you know, when the
season starts, they'll be ten and thirteen.

Speaker 3 (01:19:50):
So I'm excited about that. But I'm really pulling for
the Chargers, although they were my enemy for quite some time.
But I'm pulling for him because I do like Justin,
I do like hardball, and I do like what they're
trying to get accomplished.

Speaker 2 (01:20:07):
No doubt about it. To me, I squarely on them
one of the more interesting teams. The skill position players
you've heard of are mostly all gone and replaced with
a very high profile coach, but a better coach, no
two ways about it.

Speaker 3 (01:20:21):
All right.

Speaker 2 (01:20:21):
Coming up next, we're heading into the fourth quarter of
a delicious Game seven. We're not done with the Caitlin
Clark conversation yet either. With Ephraim Salaam Mark Willard. That's
ahead on Fox Sports Radio from I don't always get
it right, I really don't. But when I told everybody
to throw their Bingo cards away before the night even started,

(01:20:42):
I think I got it right because nobody had Minnesota
falling down by twenty on the road.

Speaker 3 (01:20:50):
In Game seven, we got action and roaring back to
take a five point lead fourth quarter.

Speaker 2 (01:20:58):
Yeah, this is good. You did not have that on
your Bingo card. If you did, your Bengo card is
a misprint. We are broadcasting live from the ti rack
dot Com studios tyrack dot com will help you get
there an unmatt selection, fast free shipping, free road aser protection,
and over ten thousand recommended installers.

Speaker 3 (01:21:15):
Ty rack dot com the way tire bydy should be.

Speaker 2 (01:21:18):
We're getting to the point on this one where it
does feel like big time legacy stuff is on the line.

Speaker 3 (01:21:27):
But I also I also feel.

Speaker 2 (01:21:29):
A like this is one of those series where you
start to wonder about what the winner has left in
the next round.

Speaker 3 (01:21:40):
Oh no, I you know what is? These teams aren't
particularly old, that's true, So yeah, I'm not there like
if this is a brutal series with an older team,
and because the playoffs are NonStop like they I think
the big the first game of this of the Western

(01:22:01):
Conference Finals, I believe it's Wednesdayday or Wednesday, Yeah, right,
either one, right, but once like these teams they can go,
all right, they can go. Just think about this Minnesota, Yes, Wednesday, Minnesota.
I know what I'm doing here, Okay, I just want

(01:22:21):
to I do. But but look how Minnesota has been
able to perform at the altitude in Denver, we watched
the Lakers run completely out of gas in the in
the fourth. Right, can control the whole game in the
fourth they run out of gas. It's hard to play
up there. Minnesota's they're they're going right. So when you

(01:22:45):
talk about, you know, is this gonna take it out
of them? I think they're young enough, uh to be okay.
And and if Denver is the one that makes it through.
You look at Nicola Joki. When things get hectic, they
give them the ball. He controls the pace of the game.
It now flows through his pace, which is a slower,

(01:23:06):
more methodical pace. So I think moving forward, either one
of these teams will be aok going on and still
playing at this level of intensity. I hope you're right.

(01:23:26):
I think you're right.

Speaker 2 (01:23:27):
I get it, but starting to wonder just because of
the nature of it's not just seven games, it almost
does feel like two. When you do the let's fall
down by twenty, let's claw back now you're starting, you're
ramping the whole thing back up again.

Speaker 3 (01:23:46):
And there's been a bunch of this, you know, Like
I said, the.

Speaker 2 (01:23:48):
Emotions of this series absolutely feel like two because Minnesota
had it and then they lost it, and then Denver
had it and then.

Speaker 3 (01:23:58):
They lost it, and so.

Speaker 2 (01:24:00):
There's all of this, like the mental gymnastics and warfare
that's happening within these players is both difficult and and
kind of impressive, Like I want to I want to
shout out in a way both of these teams and
this will serve them well going forward if they've got
anything left. But the wherewithal it takes to lose games

(01:24:23):
one and two on your home floor and just brush
it off like that's fine, Well, just go win the
next three in a row unbelievable, and then the wherewithal
to have the champs do that to you come back
and win the next one by a billion and then
fall down in their building by twenty in Game seven

(01:24:46):
and come back and take like wow, wow, like Draymond's
been on inside the NBA taking shots at Minnesota's you know,
mental toughness. Drey was wrong, Like wow, Yeah, what these
guys are doing.

Speaker 3 (01:25:04):
This is high level basketball. But this is what you
want in the playoffs. You don't want what we just
had earlier today. Right that that and the look, granted,
the Knicks are walking wounded, they're tired, they ran out
of gas. Yes, they only play about six players. Gee,
I wonder why they ran out of gas. But anyway, go, yeah,
we'll get to it. They only play up us and

(01:25:26):
you got to og. I don't know. We came in,
he hit his first two shots, and then five minutes
he's done. He wasn't back. You could tell by the
way he was running down the court that his hamstring
wasn't right. And so now you're in a situation where
Josh Hart was hurt. Right, he fought through it. Brunting

(01:25:47):
hand foot, they just wore down. We get it right.
And guess what I talked about it in the Minnesota series, Indiana,
they up and down. They're gonna put the ball in
the air. They are going to shoot, shoot and shoot,
and so that puts a lot of pressure on you.

(01:26:08):
And when you don't have an adequate bench, then you
get one of those games right at home, Game seven,
everything on the line and you just physically don't have it.
I don't see that in this series. I see two
teams that are heavyweight fighters and they're punching each other

(01:26:31):
in the face over and over again. They are a
heck of a chin, and it's I mean, this is exciting.
I'm so happy that this turned around because I was like,
oh goodness, gracious.

Speaker 2 (01:26:46):
All right, I got another take though, and this is
going to go back to what we discussed this in
the first hour, the difference between Yokich as the best
player in the NBA versus the guys who have held
that title in our lifetime. I'm the MJ's, the Kobe's,
the Lebron's. Okay, I don't know who's going to win

(01:27:07):
this basketball game, but if it's with them, but if
it's the Minnesota Timberwolves. If the Timberwolves win this game
on Denver's floor in Game seven having been down by twenty,
what would we have said if Lebron James did that.

(01:27:31):
I wanted to think about that for a second. What
does Twitter look like that night? Sunday night at eight
Pacific and eleven pm Eastern?

Speaker 3 (01:27:43):
What does Twitter look like that night?

Speaker 2 (01:27:46):
If a Lebron James team, when he's in his absolute prime,
he's just won MVP, he's got a three to two
series lead on whoever, and in Game seven on his
home floor, is up by twenty.

Speaker 3 (01:28:05):
And loses the basketball game, what are we doing? Going
at his neck? Okay, going that happened?

Speaker 2 (01:28:17):
That happened tonight to Nicola Jokics Minnesota. Now, look they're
only up by three. Yeah, but no, it does this
game go either way? They nobody's going at his neck.
Nobody's saying anything.

Speaker 3 (01:28:28):
No, because they don't even they don't, They're not even
viewed with the same lens. Gotta remember Lebron James, as
great as he has been for twenty one years, his
greatness started far earlier. For sure, This, of course, flight
has been on him. No one even knew who Nicola

(01:28:52):
Jokic was when he came into the league, so most
people outside of his first MVP still didn't know who
he was. This is fair. So the the expectation and
the scrutiny and critic uh being critical of him, it's

(01:29:17):
just not there. This has been brewing since Lebron was
on the cover of Sports Illustrated as the Chosen One
as a teenager. So that's why that's so. Nobody's comparing
Nicola Jokic to Michael Jordan. No, but that's not what

(01:29:37):
I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (01:29:38):
But if you're gonna be the best player in the league,
if you're gonna be the defending champion, you're gonna be
the multi time MVP. That Like, No, no one's saying
Nicola is is Lebron or or or MJ.

Speaker 3 (01:29:51):
But that's your logo right now, that's your label.

Speaker 2 (01:29:54):
Yeah, you're's what it is. You're the best player in
the league. And I just I know what that what
that looks like. Forget if it was Lebron or or
or MJ. But like, what would we even say if
Jason Tatum did this? And Tatum hasn't one squat, Like.

Speaker 8 (01:30:14):
Well, I know it, say'd my My My point is
is kind of what I was talking about off the
off the top of the show when I'm like, I
don't know how great Nicola.

Speaker 2 (01:30:26):
Is for the NBA because he he acts like he just.

Speaker 3 (01:30:30):
Works here and and and whenever.

Speaker 2 (01:30:32):
It's like, dude, the MVP, and he's like, yeah, whatever,
piece of hardware, is this over yet so I can
go home and sit down on my couch. Maybe he's kidding,
but there. Maybe it's because he's not from here. Whatever
the reasons you want to think of, his connectivity with
the fans of the NBA is.

Speaker 3 (01:30:53):
Is not much. No, it's not it's not much.

Speaker 2 (01:30:56):
And that's why because if he loses this game, there
won't be there because quite frankly, nobody really cares exactly.

Speaker 3 (01:31:03):
So let me tell you this, who's the face of
baseball Aaron similar situation, right, great player, unbelievable player, unbelievable talent.
There's no connectivity, you think you know why.

Speaker 2 (01:31:22):
I think the fans are so much more connected to
him than it's.

Speaker 3 (01:31:26):
So you got to look at the arena, right, number one.
But in terms of let's just say, right, take out
your upper your older middle American fans, right, you know
you know what I mean, and let's go to the youth. Right,
Let's go to the up and coming youth. Relatability is

(01:31:55):
what marketing is, correct, Sho Hay has really one or
two commercials New Balance with a whole bunch of other people.
Most people watching the commercial don't know who they are, right.
I do want to say that's in this country, right,
but I'm only talking about this country, Okay, I'm marketing.

(01:32:15):
Is marketing dollars actually dwarf any other player. But you
get it because that's you know, and you got to
understand this as well. Basketball is a global enterprise. If
basketball weren't as popular as it was overseas, because we

(01:32:36):
know what the ratings are, we talk about them on
this show all the time. A lot of people here
aren't watching these games like that until around this time,
right right after March Madden is then you get into
but everywhere else. Why do you think that the the
the these TV deals are about to get crazy because now

(01:32:57):
the streamers and and that's that's universal. It's worldwide, millions
and millions of eyeballs. So whether nine hundred thousand people
are watching an NBA game, just think about what's going
on all over the world, similar to baseball. Right, Baseball
is just global phenomena. They play it everywhere, all right,

(01:33:21):
Football has a stronghold here in this country. So you
got to just take that out of the equation. But
I say that to say show hey, with the gambling
thing and all of that, it was like, oh oh
this oo, guess what it went away? Nobody talking about that.
It's gone. But if that was an American player and

(01:33:45):
people have more connectivity to him, right then it would
be a different situation. It's so hey, they're just talking
it up, like, oh, he probably doesn't even know you
get what I'm saying, Well, they can't even nobody can
even hear what he has to say. That's what I'm
talking about. We're not wrong, We're not wrong.

Speaker 2 (01:34:03):
But hoops is also different than baseball when it comes
to how an individual wears a loss.

Speaker 3 (01:34:10):
Yes, you know what I mean, yes, yeah, yes, yeah.
And so with Nicola Jokic, people have fallen in love
with his lasz fair approach. They think it's endearing. Oh
look at this. He doesn't look he's just like, he's
just like, ah, whatever, I'm just gonna do my thing, right,

(01:34:30):
care right, He's just like yeah, but of course we
know he cares. Right. That's why if you've watched these
last few minutes, he's picked it up.

Speaker 2 (01:34:41):
Yeah, yeah, it's getting intense, right, He's picked it because
it does matter.

Speaker 3 (01:34:46):
He does. He does know what this means.

Speaker 2 (01:34:49):
You can't succeed at this level if you don't care, right,
But it's just not as relatable as the other superstars
and an American league.

Speaker 3 (01:35:01):
That's the word. That is absolutely the word.

Speaker 2 (01:35:04):
So look, y'all, gits five minutes to go down by five.
So we're gonna keep watching this unfold and talking this out.
Coming up next Also shortly after the show, the podcast
goes up. If you missed any of today's show, be
sure to check out the podcast just search Fox Sports
Radio wherever you get your podcast, and then also be

(01:35:24):
sure to follow and rate and review the podcast. If
you please again to search Fox Sports Radio wherever you
get your podcast, you'll see the show posted right after
we get off the air. But we're not done yet.
That's e from Salama Mark Willard. It's Fox Sports Radio.
All right, brother, I just drafted the tweet. I'm not
gonna hit send yet, not gonna hit send. We're live

(01:35:46):
on the tie rack dot com studios. There's still over
two minutes left to go in the game. But the
Timberwolves are up by ten. They're up by ten, So
here's the tweet that's gonna go out. The best player
in the NBA just blew a three to two series
lead at a twenty point lead on his home floor

(01:36:07):
in Game seven.

Speaker 3 (01:36:08):
Oh, here's a pre tweet. Haven't hit sinn yet, Okay'
is the pre tweet. The best player in the NBA
just blew a three to two series lead and a
twenty point lead on his home floor in Game seven.
If his name was Michael Kobe, Lebron or Steph what
would Twitter look like tonight? Man? That's a good tweet.

Speaker 2 (01:36:34):
Just checking checking in on America. See how everybody is doing.
Woh eight point Game two five to go. Oh, obviously
we will uh, we'll be all over this as it
unfolds here.

Speaker 3 (01:36:51):
But they've got it.

Speaker 2 (01:36:52):
Man, if they just execute in these final two minutes,
it's gonna be pretty hard to uh, it's gonna be
pretty hard to get him.

Speaker 3 (01:37:02):
Well, these officials they trying, you know, they trying to
do something else. I don't know what is I'm watching
this game, like, how is that not a foule? And
how is that this? This last two minutes have been
kind of weird.

Speaker 2 (01:37:17):
They're gonna swallow They're like they're gonna swallow it.

Speaker 3 (01:37:20):
This this this is I mean, they just joker reached
across yes, Mike Conley to tap the BA. Really, you
can get your arm all the way across a small
guard and tap the ball without fouling him. No, you can't.
It's impossible. You can't. Bert did not initiate the contact

(01:37:41):
and look down the call another jump ball, Ben. This
is crazy. They just fil I mean, they filed Rudy
out right like it's it's this. This is weird. A
lot of weird energy going on right now.

Speaker 2 (01:37:54):
It's a lot. It's a lot. Yeah, second jump all
a row jump. All the leads to a jump off,
you know.

Speaker 3 (01:38:00):
But what I like is I like the eff you
look at these guys, Man, look at you crazy here? Yep, yep, guys,
a dive in. I mean, this is what it is.
It means something, I'm telling you.

Speaker 2 (01:38:11):
If Minnesota wins this series, ifrom I'm not kidding. I mean, look,
I have to sit here on the internet for the
next few hours to go back and remember every series
that's unfolded in my lifetime. I can't remember a more
mentally tough series than this.

Speaker 3 (01:38:26):
Yeah. Yeah, if you like.

Speaker 2 (01:38:29):
To even waltz into Denver and have the gall to
win those two games to start the series is one thing.
But then to get smacked in the mouth three times
in a row, not give up, come back, win a
game by a lot, then be down by twenty in
game seven at altitude against the MVP, and have the

(01:38:49):
snootiness that it would take to be able to do
what they've done here. This is all time stuff in
terms of collective mental toughness, especially for a team that
has had that questioned by many.

Speaker 3 (01:39:04):
Yeah, this is this is a woof man. Oh that's
a foul. Oh this is good. I'm sorry, I'm caught
up in it just like everybody else. I'm sure if
you're listening to the show, you're watching the game with
the with the volume down. But thank you for for
you know, listening to it as if you're catching this

(01:39:25):
on the podcast after the show. Thank you again for
checking in on on how we react to to these
things live. But Mark and I are fans, right, We're
fans of all sports. We get caught up in it
when our teams are playing and we're watching what we're
just like you guys, right, We're invested with with there,
We're part of it. And when we see a good

(01:39:45):
game like this a game seven, come on, Mike Cony,
gotta make the free throws, man, Well now these free
throws matter, yep. Here Game seven, mic hey man, this
is it. Don't do it. The only way to break
the curse is to break the curse, all right, So
you know a lot on the line there we go,
got one right back to nine, three possession game right,

(01:40:11):
gotta play ball. Minute seventeen left, ninety three eighty four Minnesota.
It's gonna be hard for them to lose this game. Now.

Speaker 2 (01:40:19):
Well, look, hey man, that's that'd be a hell of
a minute seventeen if they overcome a nine point deficit.

Speaker 3 (01:40:25):
Well, it's off seven point deficit.

Speaker 2 (01:40:28):
Yep, yep, Minnesota's just gonna have to make some freaking
and then.

Speaker 3 (01:40:35):
Then just throw the ball away. So now it has
an opportunity to be a four point deficit, all in
the span of three seconds, just like that, Like I said, right,
like I said.

Speaker 2 (01:40:49):
Yeah, Well again, every time this series looks over, it's not.

Speaker 3 (01:40:56):
Guess what, no longer nine point four quick points? Yeah, yeah, no,
it's good.

Speaker 2 (01:41:08):
So, by the way, as we get into the final
minute of this one, to see how it all plays out,
we are we are flying through the show without having
spent a.

Speaker 3 (01:41:19):
Whole lot of time.

Speaker 2 (01:41:21):
We have not spent a whole lot of time on
the other game seven today. Well yeah, no, but no, no, no,
I'm just saying, because this one's coming down the stretch's
gonna Seger's gonna jump in here in about thirty seconds.

Speaker 3 (01:41:34):
No, right now, get him in right now so we
can get in.

Speaker 2 (01:41:37):
Okay, take it away, it's smoky, Steve. Hit the music, Ah, Steve,
there you go.

Speaker 5 (01:41:45):
Okay, foul committed with twenty seconds left. It looks like
Minnesota is going to the Western Conference Finals. Oh good
Lord Dallas awaits that series starts Wednesday. Keep in mind
Anthony Edwards did not shoot well for much of the
night this evening and then late third.

Speaker 4 (01:42:02):
Pull up for the Loring and Brandon was seven tenths
of a second left to play in the third quarter,
three quarter court shot at the buzzer is no good
by Jokis, and the Timberwolves storm toward their bets.

Speaker 5 (01:42:13):
They are fired up Timberwolves Radio. They're k fan one
hundred point three, and my goodness, that got things going.
We can update the stat we brought up an hour
ago in Game seven. History in the NBA, any team
leading by more than eleven at the half always won.
It was a fifteen point halftime lead for Denver, in fact,

(01:42:34):
a twenty point advantage. Early in the third fifty eight
thirty eight back came Minnesota, and in fact they were
about to take the lead in the fourth greed parachute
and check Emmonds at town Kevin Harlan on TNT with
that call, and then with about three minutes to go,

(01:42:56):
corner Edwards and shoots that made it a ten point
Minnesota advantage with three to zero five to go right now,
nine seconds left, Minnesota at the line and in the
league ninety six ninety these Minnesota teammates have talked about
the fact that when Jade McDaniels is on, they go.

(01:43:19):
And he's got twenty one points in this game, twenty
three for Karl Anthony Towns. Anthony Edwards six of twenty
four shooting for his sixteen points for the Denver Nuggets.
A hot first half for Jamal Murray in fact, he's
up to thirty five points, Nikola Jokic with thirty four.
Jokich also with nineteen rebounds. But it's a final. The

(01:43:39):
Minnesota Timberwolves are headed to the Western Conference Finals. They
have won at Denver ninety eight to ninety coming from
twenty points down early in the third quarter. In the East,
the top seed Boston will be hosting the Pacers to
start a best of seven. On Tuesday, Indiana, sixth seed,
eliminated the Knicks in New York, one thirty to one

(01:44:01):
oh nine. The Pacers shot sixty seven percent from the
floor and NBA playoff record Nicks forty two percent. The
NHL playoffs resumed tomorrow. Xander Schoffley won the PGA Championship,
his first major victory. Nellie Corda took the PGA event
in Jersey City by one stroke. NASCAR's All Star Race
on FS one went to Joey Logano. Denny Hamlin finished

(01:44:23):
second after the race of fight between Ricky Stenhouse and
Kyle Busch. Baseball Sunday night game was no contest. Padres
nine to one winners at Atlanta. Another great outing for you.
Darvis seven scoreless innings, nine strikeouts and the Dodgers beat
Cincinnati in ten three to two. Sho Hey Otani game
winning single. He had two hits. He's betting three point
fifty three, believe it or not. The Minnesota Timberwolves, not

(01:44:46):
often you say this out loud, are going to the
Western Conference Finals after the comeback win at Denver ninety
eight ninety Back to you.

Speaker 2 (01:44:55):
Steve, thank you for having tonight awesome stuff live in
the tyrec dot com studios. Mark Wiarty from salam We
got a lot to unpack here, man. And by the way, Steve,
you could I wonder if in all your research you
saw this. How many times in the history of the
league have we had two road game seven victories on
the same day. I wonder if that's I wonder if

(01:45:18):
that's ever happened before. You don't see that a lot
like the whole game seven at home thing is supposed
to be a thing.

Speaker 3 (01:45:26):
Not today.

Speaker 5 (01:45:27):
No, it is more likely that we would have the
two blowouts we were talking about early in this night.

Speaker 2 (01:45:31):
Yeah, right, and especially with one of them being down
by twenty in the second half.

Speaker 3 (01:45:40):
Could lord, could lord?

Speaker 2 (01:45:43):
What an absolute collapse by the Denver Nuggets.

Speaker 3 (01:45:47):
Did you hit? Did you hit sand? I hit send?
I hit send.

Speaker 2 (01:45:53):
Actually I hit send before the buzzer went off. I
hit send once they were up by eight with twenty two.

Speaker 3 (01:45:58):
Seconds to go. That's it. That's it.

Speaker 2 (01:46:03):
This is one to remember, man, This is this is
this is a game to remember in the NBA.

Speaker 3 (01:46:10):
Yeah, this was exciting. I mean, I'm glad we got
to watch it together. I'm glad we got to watch
it on the air.

Speaker 5 (01:46:15):
You'll remember the last time the Timberwolves were in a
conference final with Kevin Garnet twenty years ago, Lakers twenty
years ago, and so now it's still the Knicks. It's
been over twenty years since they were at a conference
final Philly, since Iverson Sacramento, since they were playing the Lakers,
not Minnesota on that list, anymore.

Speaker 3 (01:46:35):
No, they did that. Man, here's a here's a fun stat.

Speaker 2 (01:46:40):
With Denver's elimination, there will be a new NBA champion for.

Speaker 3 (01:46:44):
The sixth straight year.

Speaker 2 (01:46:47):
The last time we had six different champions in six
straight years were my first six years of life, nineteen
seventy five to nineteen eighty is the last time that
happened in the NBA. And it happens again here in
twenty twenty four.

Speaker 3 (01:47:05):
That's that's crazy. Now, Look how about that. I've always
asserted the last few years about to me what the
most important piece of the Denver Nuggets team and road
to victory is. Now we know Nicola Jokic and what

(01:47:27):
he brings. That's an expectation to play at that level
triple double, high you know, high point, triple double.

Speaker 5 (01:47:34):
All of that, and sometimes Jimal Murray.

Speaker 3 (01:47:37):
Jim Jamal Murray in the playoffs. We know he's a
shot maker.

Speaker 5 (01:47:40):
Mark, you are correct, by the way AP says today
is the first time in NBA history. Wow, two teams
won a Game seven on the road on the same day.

Speaker 3 (01:47:48):
Look at that. That was just a guess.

Speaker 2 (01:47:50):
But I mean, like I have we know Game seven's
on the road, Like that's rare enough to have them
happen twice from lunch to dinner.

Speaker 5 (01:47:58):
Good God, and memory any team up by more than
eleven at the half in a game since.

Speaker 3 (01:48:03):
It over, it's right been twenty and oh yep, and
look watching this game, and Joki was doing this thing
and Murray was doing especially in the first half. Murray
was on fire. Right, So they end with thirty four
at thirty five, respectively. They both almost took the same
amount of shots. They almost shot for the same percentage

(01:48:23):
from the field, thirteen for twenty eight for the Joker,
thirteenth for twenty seven for Murray. I've always asserted that
if Michael Porter Junior doesn't show up, there's gonna be
a problem because he's the real matchup nightmare for teams

(01:48:44):
at six ' ten. His ability to shoot, it's a
it's a hard matchup, yeah, because you can't affect the shot.
And so looking at him play thirty four minutes, go
three for twelve, one for six for seven points. We
understand why the tide shifted in this game.

Speaker 5 (01:49:07):
And even Aaron Gordon has had some twenty point games.

Speaker 2 (01:49:10):
But that's exactly what I was just going to bring up,
is there's a similar aspect of those two players. If
they go off, the Nuggets become unbeatable. But you're looking
at this right now, Ephraim. The unbelievable number here, Yo,
Kitchen Murray today combined for sixty nine points. The rest

(01:49:30):
of the team, whole team had twenty one point five
points from the bench. Good god, wow, that's unbelievable. That's unbelievable.
Twenty one points from the rest of the team.

Speaker 5 (01:49:47):
And by the way, the previous record for coming back
from biggest halftime deficit to win a game seven was
Golden State against Houston twenty eighteen. They were down eleven
at the half and still one.

Speaker 2 (01:49:58):
When the Rockets went oher for from three and all three.

Speaker 5 (01:50:04):
Golden State with Rick Berry nineteen seventy five had a
similar halftime game seven comeback. This is the new record.
Down fifteen at a half, down twenty early third quarter.

Speaker 2 (01:50:13):
I'm telling you, man, this is this is a memorable day.
May nineteenth, twenty twenty four. This is a memorable day
in the NBA.

Speaker 3 (01:50:23):
Oh, this is great. This was a great game. Yeah yeah, Well,
I tell you what coming up next.

Speaker 2 (01:50:29):
We got to handicap a whole new damn NBA this
is not the final four I think most people thought
was coming. No, but but here we are. The Timberwolves
will host the Mavericks. The Celtics will host the Pacers.
What holy smoke. So yeah, let's let's get into it
with eat from Salama Mark Willard.

Speaker 3 (01:50:48):
That's coming up next on Fox Sports Radio. So these
are the.

Speaker 2 (01:50:55):
Tirag dot com studios. That's e from Salama Mark Willard.
And the Denver Nuggets are out. The Minnesota Timberwolves will
host the Western Conference Finals against the Dallas Mavericks. And
uh oh, by the way, the Celtics have the Indiana

(01:51:18):
Pacers coming to town.

Speaker 3 (01:51:21):
All right, so rehandicap this thing for me. Now, the
Porzingis injury is going to be huge in this series,
I know, because you know, stretch centers cancel each other
out with uh you know, Porzingis is a stretch center

(01:51:44):
and so is Miles Turner. So they're both comfortable playing
away from the basket, which opens up the lane for
people who can you know, attack the rim and so
on and so forth. So that to me, uh leans
in Indiana's favor because they're fast paced, they're up and down,

(01:52:06):
they're going to get shots up on makes on missus. Uh.
So this will be interesting because you know, the Celtics
have two bucket getters. They can get to the rim,
they can shoot, and their defensive intensity with with Holiday
didn't slip when they you know, let their previous glue

(01:52:27):
guy go and smart. So Al Horford is the old
man is gonna have to He's gonna have to play
long and hard, which you know, the way Indiana gets
up and down the court, it's gonna be tough over
you know, a series. Yep. So I think Prazenkis is

(01:52:50):
out for sure the first two games. Uh, and then
we'll see. But like I said, I mean, I said
it when I saw the injury happen. Oof. When you
grab that that that calf and sit down right, you
can have a calve strain. But we we've heard what
calve strains turned into when you come back too early

(01:53:12):
as KD right, that thing's super connected and and so
look we're asking honest he we would well you know,
Will said no he didn't come back. So that that
that'll be really interesting, uh, coming down the stretch. But
Minnesota's got to shoot a chance because that's what they do.

(01:53:34):
They gotta They let the league in in scoring.

Speaker 2 (01:53:37):
I'm trying to actually pull up right now, Uh what
Vegas actually favors up up up to the second Let
me see if I can, if I can find this
right now, do.

Speaker 4 (01:53:55):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:53:55):
Game lines.

Speaker 2 (01:53:57):
Yeah, I'll keep looking for this to Vegas has this's
the favorite because I sort of feel and maybe this
is just going to be reflective of the moment, because
right now I think that the NBA fandom is going
to be a little bit inspired in this moment, if
you will. But I feel like the Minnesota Timberwolves might

(01:54:19):
be the favorite to win this thing right now.

Speaker 3 (01:54:20):
I would think so, Yeah, I would think so. I
mean going through Denver and fighting the way they were,
winning three games on the road, the defending champions. We
get the Denver was ten and one last year at
home in the playoffs, so going up there, like, look,
I keep mentioning it because I know what it feels like.
I've been there. I've played there, and I've played, you know,

(01:54:44):
for the Broncos, and I've played against the Broncos. Being
in that altitude, at that level, playing that hard, it
literally makes you feel like your inside are on the
outside of your buyer. And they have this team go
up there and play at that clip, that style of defense,

(01:55:05):
especially late in the games, that means something. They're going
to sea level. They're going to sea level. They're going home.
They're going home. They're going home.

Speaker 2 (01:55:16):
By the way, I found them, the favorite to win
the NBA Championship right now at minus one fifty five.

Speaker 3 (01:55:25):
Is the Boston Celtics.

Speaker 2 (01:55:27):
I figured that the second favorite is obviously the Minnesota
Timberwolves at plus two forty. Next the Dallas Mavericks at
plus for eighty five, and the Indiana Pacers are plus
three thousand.

Speaker 3 (01:55:42):
Man put something on that wolf.

Speaker 2 (01:55:44):
Hundred bucks gets you three gees, three g's if the
Pacers win it all. I mean, I think that's actually,
in this moment, a little bit more reflective of two things.
It's more reflective of who the opponent is next, because
Minnesota's got to deal.

Speaker 3 (01:56:02):
With Dallas and that's a squad now.

Speaker 2 (01:56:04):
And I'm not taking anything away from Indiana, but no
one expected them to be here.

Speaker 3 (01:56:08):
That's number one and number two.

Speaker 2 (01:56:09):
It's also just reflected Boston's got a home court advantage
throughout the playoffs, including the finals.

Speaker 3 (01:56:15):
So but boy, you look at that board, I can tell.

Speaker 2 (01:56:19):
You if I if I had a couple of C
notes to throw around, I'd be putting them on Minnesota
at plus two forty.

Speaker 3 (01:56:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:56:29):
Yeah, that's a good bet. Yeah, that's a good bet.
I think that's where I would put them. Yeah, I
wish I had I wish I had done it four
days ago. But good god.

Speaker 3 (01:56:39):
Well look man, look we didn't know which Minnesota team
was gonna show up because in this series we saw
the jekal and hide of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Sure, we
saw their youth shine through in some parts, and then
we saw their erratic play on the defensive in on

(01:57:00):
some parts between Cat and Rudy Gobert, like dumb fouls
and just not stepping up and and and and stepping
up to the challenge. But look, this this series will
season you real fast. So going into the next series,
you now, it's just not playing chicken in the pot.

(01:57:22):
You gonna put some seasoning on it, some Lorry's right,
everything you don't know lorryes, you ain't cooking. But I'm
just gonna throw that out. If I run out of Lowry's,
I'm like, are we gonna hating out? Cancel the day
I forgot that's my bad if I can't go exactly.

(01:57:48):
But look, this is this is a this is a
fun time, man, this is great. We got two teams
in each of the conference finals that nobody really saw coming. Right.
They felt like whoever was going up against Denver and
the Semis were going to struggle and probably lose that series.

(01:58:08):
Rightfully so, but somebody forgot to tell Minnesota that. And
I think the edge that they took from winning the
first two games played a big part in this game.
They didn't have any fear coming into Denver and playing now.
The game started out going back and forth, and then

(01:58:32):
Denver stretched their legs on them. Third quarter, up by twenty,
and we saw something happen. We saw the call of
time out go over and they picked up their defensive
intensity and Edwards got on the attack. I think he
had you know, he was one for whatever in the

(01:58:55):
first half, and he just got on the attack and
put invert on their heels and that was you know,
that was everything before you knew it. You know, remember
they were climbing in order. They only down by five,
and then you turn around up by ten. It's like, whoa,
what just happened? No doubt, no doubt Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:59:17):
And by the way, you know who was really excited
about what Minnesota just did.

Speaker 3 (01:59:21):
The Knicks.

Speaker 2 (01:59:24):
Kind of kind of saved him from getting towards here
for a minute. I think people are going to be
talking about Minnesota more than they're going to be talking about.

Speaker 3 (01:59:32):
New York except for in New York. I mean people
except in New York.

Speaker 2 (01:59:36):
Yeah, I mean, you know, stephen A might might might
put up a rating tomorrow's ability.

Speaker 3 (01:59:42):
Yeah. Hey, that was fun, brother, that was fine.

Speaker 2 (01:59:45):
Okay, yep, we'll talk from salam Ma, Mark Wllard Plank
and spend your next Fox Sports Radio