June 6, 2025 • 40 mins
Doug reacts to Game 1 of the NBA Finals and breaks down how the Pacers were able to stage the late comeback leading to Tyrese Haliburton's go-ahead basket. Former NBA C Ryan Hollins joins Doug to give his thoughts on the Knicks' interest in Jason Kidd for their head coaching vacancy. Doug gives his thoughts on Aaron Rodgers finally joining the Steelers.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlieb
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
three to five Eastern twelve two Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
Find your local station for The Doug Gottlieb Show at
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on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR boom Up America
Doug Gottlieb Show FICK Sports Radio. You're welcome, Noga, thank you,
(00:31):
thank you, thank you. Welcome in. It's a Friday, and
I'm working with geniuses. No, I mean it, We'll play
for you. The genius that is Dan Byer with the
completely accurate prediction of the end of Game one of
(00:52):
the NBA Finals upcoming. What a game, What a life? Right?
I was watching the last night's game, and it's kind
of fascinating to watch right where you're you're watching and
you're like, it's not really that close to basketball game.
But the the Pacers. Here's the cliche. They do what
(01:17):
they do, right. That's like the worst, worst cliche ever,
But in this particular case, it actually makes sense. They
do what they do. The other thing that's crazy about
the game is that Tyrese Haliburton. He's just kind of
(01:38):
a guy. Most of the game, he really didn't do much.
But then he hits the game winner, and holy cow,
Tyrese Halliburton, Oh my goodness, what are we going to
do there? The final score is one eleven to one ten.
Haliburton hits the game winner with point three seconds to
go as they rallied from Ore they down fifteen in
(02:03):
the fourth quarter. It's craziness, craziness. Here's what I want
to do. Like we can do the formatic radio show,
or I killed the Glass with the big hot take
and then we take calls or something, or we can
just talk. I'll give you something I saw that's kind
(02:24):
of interesting here. Okay, so I love Alex Crusoe. We
do know why Alex Crusoe has bounced around the league
and had to earn his way into league from the
G League before becoming such a gigantic part of the
Oklahoma City Thunder's. It's like the do you remember what
(02:44):
election was? It was it when Clinton won where it's
it's the economy stupid, right when when George H. W.
Bush lost to Bill Clinton, the line was it's the
economy stupid, Like to me, it's the it's the shooting
stupid right that as much as he's become a a
(03:08):
consummate professional, a very good shoot, a very good player,
he checks back into the game for Cason Wallace ninety four,
ninety nine, ninety four, ninety nine. But Caruso missing two
threes late in the game that kind of triggered the run.
(03:30):
Triggered the run was he missed two open threes, and
Alex and then lou Dort missed one late, and you're like,
why does it matter that Crusoe misses two threes? Why
does it matter that lou Dort misses misses a three late?
Because those are your worst shooters. And in trying to
(03:52):
figure out, okay, how did this happen, How did they
make all these shots, how did they score, et cetera.
Think about the comeback, right, You had Pascal Siakam, he
had two different trips to the free through line. He
made three out of four. You had Andrew Nebhart making
a three. Uh, you had Miles Turner making threes. You
(04:17):
had Obi Toppin making threes. Now, it doesn't mean that
Obi Toppin is a is a great shooter. Doesn't mean
Miles Turner is a great shooter, but that's what they
have molded their NBA careers into. They have improved dramatically.
Turner has always been a good shooter, made himself into
(04:38):
a forty percent three point shooter, right Aaron Nay Smith
forty nine and a half percent three point shooter. Toppin's
only at thirty four, but he was running a fever
last night. And the big story to me is that
they got Oklahoma City to have their non shooters shoot,
(05:01):
and then they came down and smartly made threes late,
and they had one put back and a couple of
free throws late as well. In other words, perfect analytics
basketball up until that last kind of pull up jump shot.
But doesn't really matter, hey, tremendous analytics basketball at both ends,
(05:21):
making the sub thirty five three point shooters shoot and
not allowing shots at the rim only two's after the
non shooter shooting to three, and then taking threes and
layups yourself. But I mean that one was weird because
(05:41):
that one seemed another one seemed over and even the
Oklahoma City crowd like wasn't freaking out, and then it
happened so fast, Bang bang bang, bang bang, topping with
a bunch of threes, Miles Turner a couple of threes,
and now of a sudden, you're like, that's getting kind
of close, and then lou Dort fires off when it
misses and they come down and can another one, and
(06:02):
you're like, oh my gosh, we have ourselves a game bayer.
You will play it for people. We put it on
social media. You literally predicted this thing, like to the
t on what could or would happen with the Pacers
having a lead late When I say game one NBA Finals,
(06:23):
what's the first thing that comes to your mind as
to what you actually saw.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Yeah, it was the Pacers doing it again. And you
try to find points in the game, Doug where you're like, Okay,
this is where it turned. That's where it turned. I'm
a big fan of the twelve point lead because it's
never as big as you think, and it's never as
small as you think, because sure of the three point shot,
you could be at eighteen and you know, two possessions
(06:48):
and it gave me down to a six point game
and the same sort of breath. But we were hovering
around that area. So the nine point lead at that
three minute Mark was big, and again three point shot.
Nie Smith hits it, and now it's a six point game,
and it's a close game throughout the crazy part that
I thought what was was big. You mentioned Caruso. Remember
at the end of the first half, Caruso had a
shot at the buck at the right at the bucket
(07:10):
and it didn't go down, but they still led by twelve.
But that was a half where the Pacers had nineteen
turnovers and they only led by twelve, Like Indiana was
only down at that point. And it's at that point
that I'm thinking to myself, well, this is still a
ballgame if Indiana just decides to hold on to the basketball.
And the reason why yesterday I said what I said
(07:33):
was because I felt that that is the turning point
of it. If you navigate that stretch the final six
minutes in, you're Oklahoma City, You're you're in a really,
really good spot. Note not only are the overwhelming favorite,
but you have done something that the other teams have
not been able to do when they faced Indiana. But
if Indiana does it, now, I feel that the series
(07:54):
has turned. Because you can look at all the bad
things that Indiana did in Game one, and said, Wow,
they still were able to in and steal it. So
that's why the stretch, it just felt, was so important
because it just felt like a tone setter for the
series that it's going to go one way or the other.
Either Oklahoma City is going to end the Pacers' streak
of comebacks and kind of right or wrong of their
(08:16):
own from what happened in the Denver series, or now
Indiana is fully into the series with a legit chance
to bring home the NBA title.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Hmm yeah. This is one where I can never understand,
nor any of us can, the mentality of each individual team.
I do think that for the Pacers moving forward, their
their thought process has to be we could not have
played any worse than the first half. We played fine
(08:46):
the second half, and then we caught a heater and
we did we did, we came back and win the game.
Imagine what happens if we actually play a good first
half of could clean first half mm hm. For Oklahoma
City again, you would think the thought process is what
you want. Positive is hey man, we were up nineteen,
like we're the better team. All we gotta do is
(09:07):
just step on their throat next time. On the other hand,
there's never going to be a part in the game
where you're looking up at the lead thinking we're good, right,
It's just never like we did, never, never goold. And
as much as you can say, well, hey, maybe that
makes Oklahoma City a young team, step on their throat
and make a fifteen point game a thirty point game
(09:28):
next time, maybe, or maybe you're up that magic number
of twelve what you're talking about, and Nie Smith hits
a three and all of a sudden, Diagno's gonna take
quick time out and they kind of start freaking out
and get tight. But none of us know what's gonna happen.
We just know, like psychologically, it could literally go either way.
And that's why. And I know Jay's off, he's up
(09:49):
hiking in Big Bear today, jays Doo. But that's why
he hates the stupid prediction game because you can't tell
the mentality, You can't tell how one ball goes in
what doesn't go in. But I have to tell you
that that was one of the most thrilling endings. Look,
every part of me should want Oklahoma City to win.
(10:09):
And just again, as you guys know, my kids all
live in Oklahoma now, right, I'm close with some people
in that organization. I know people in the Pacers organization too.
I think it'd just be great for the city, great
for the organist, and the people I know in the
organization tell me that the people above them in the
organization are all like great people, like there's just no
bs to them. I like everything about it. So my
(10:35):
ties should be to Oklahoma City. But watching a team
kind of methodically, not freak out, not panic, hit a three,
you get a stop at a three, you get a
stop at a three, you get a stop. And then
watching that crowd get tight, watching the thunder get tight,
watching the officiating get to be totally even right, that's
(10:55):
a big thing. Like it got cut to six and
Shay got kind of a he got one of those
free throw merchant fouls. He's like, all right, they're gonna
give him a couple of calls to get him. But
that was the last call he got. Then the next
two pull up jump shots he got nothing on normally
regular season get called a foul, and it was not.
And that was one of the most thrilling comeback wins
(11:18):
I can think of. In the NBA Finals, And again
I end up rooting for the Pacers only not because
of the contrarian to me, but I just I appreciate
how hard it is what they've been doing, and how
smartly they execute what they're doing.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
And I would even say that the comebacks that they
had in the other games were more miraculous than this
one was, because this was this was closer than over
the final ninety seconds to two minutes than it was,
say in the Cleveland series or in the Bucks series,
where the Thunder did have to make plays. They didn't
make a bucket for the final ninety seconds of the game.
(11:57):
You like, there's another one for Oklahoma City, and you wonder,
now how that creeps in.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Well, Jellen Williams too big, missus they're late, right, and
as he goes, so goes to Thunder. Obviously, Shane misses
what could have been the game Seiler could have put
them up up three. Here's Tyrese Halliburton on how his
team performed overall this game.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
If you look at all the numbers, it's not the
recipe to win. We can't turn the ball over that much.
We got to do a better job of beating gaps,
gotta do better job of rebounding. You gotta do a
better job all over the floor. But come May in June,
it doesn't matter how you get him, just get him,
you know.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
So we'll take it.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
You know, we'll enjoy this one tonight. But I understand
we got another game coming up in this tough building,
and we got to be prepared for that. So, like
I said, we're just a confident group. We got each
other's back.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Here's the league's MVP and how the Thunder ended up losing.
Speaker 5 (12:47):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (12:47):
It happened so fast. I feel like we got matched.
He got down going right, pulled up from the MIDI
and knocked down the shot. I don't know. It didn't
feel like anything crazy. He just made up play with
the time time winding down. We had control of the
game for the most part of it. Now, it is
a forty eight minute game, and they teach you that
(13:07):
lesson more than anyone else in the league the hard way.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
He's right, It does go fast. And then you know,
Indiana doesn't call time out in the last possession. So
oftentimes NBA teams have I've been in that situation and
I've had the opposite thing happen right where you don't
call time out, just let him go make a plane like,
oh man, should I have called the timeout or not?
There Ah, just dying over it. But it does. It
happens really fast, right, you hit three, You're like, all right,
(13:35):
it's nine. Then you missed the shout and he hit three,
Like okay, it's six. That that happened fast. They eat
the faut line. You're like, oh, okay, it's eight. Then
he hit it three and it's five, Like whoa, whoa,
what what happened?
Speaker 5 (13:47):
Now?
Speaker 1 (13:48):
We're in a game. Happens so fast, so fast? And
I love what Alburton said. He's basically like, we didn't
really play well enough to win, but that matter, which
to Dan, you're my point, which is like Indiana's got
to be sitting there thinking, imagine if we actually played well,
(14:08):
you know, we won a game on their home court,
and we were do do for the first twenty four minutes.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Yeah, and selling the Pacers are without faults because that
is one of their faults defensively as well. They yeah, yeah,
I mean they haven't been as strong, but boy, last
night it sure came through and they needed to. The
nineteen first half turnovers is absurd. Was it to only
be down twelve at that point.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Yeah, yeah, And that's one of the reasons though that again,
you know thunderplay. Both teams play a lot of guys.
I thought it hurt both teams playing a lot of guys.
I thought of Oklahoma City would have played a little
bit more of a condensed rotation last night. They could
have maybe stepped on the throat of the Pacers in
the first half. It's time for the Tyrek Play the Day.
(14:54):
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Day comes to your courtesy of the Pacers Radio Network Rebound, Indiana.
Eight seconds to go. The Pacers are not gonna call
a time out. Caddleburton has it with three driving, with
(15:17):
two pulling up ahead heading with three tenths of a
second to go.
Speaker 4 (15:23):
How many more times can this.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Team do that? Soweets babies? Have you have you seen
the Haliban tweets out there? Have you seen those? Have
you seen it. Those are amazing, and it's like, I will,
I refuse to be the guy who gets offended right
because anything Taliban related whatever, like we're supposed to. But
(15:50):
it's so good and so funny that I gotta tell people.
If you're bothered by it, then you know what, just
stay out of this one. We're all gonna have a
good time and enjoy basketball and understand it's not that deep.
Thanks for listening to The Doug Gotleb Show podcast. Be
sure to catch us live every weekday three to five
Eastern twelve two Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your
(16:10):
local station for The Doug Gottlieb Show at Foxsports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every day on the
iHeartRadio app by searching FSR. This's Doug Gottlieb Show. It's
Fox Sports Radio. Ryan Hollins is our guest. Course, you've
heard him on weekends with Dan Byer. You've heard him
on this show with Dan Byer filling in for me.
He's the NBA vet, He's our Fox Sports Radio NBA analyst, Ryan.
(16:33):
What did we just watch last night?
Speaker 5 (16:37):
And this is something that halla Burton has been doing
all playoffs long. I think Doug it's time for us
to start believing in what goes on. And Doug, we've
talked about this on the show, and you almost saw
the script as playing out. Indiana executes for four quarters,
the rest of the NBA probably three quarters, and then
(17:00):
you put the ball in the hands of your best player.
But they just truly believe and it's tough. And what
you're seeing is SGA one on one, SGA one on one.
Hopefully we get a steal. Hopefully we created deflection, and
that's going against Indiana. Pick and roll ball moment, second side,
pick and roll attack, drawn kick three, three to three,
(17:23):
and once Indiana starts hitting threes, now the game confidence
offensively and the scary part, Doug, I don't know how
you feel about this, the fact that Indye turned the
ball over so much in the first half and the
fact that the Thunder didn't win that game. You got
to be shaking in your boots.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
We just discussed this, like the Pacers have to be
sitting there going We played poorly for two thirds of
the game, definitely half the game, play poorly and yet
still end up winning a game, and we did so
on the road. Imagine what happens when we just play
average in the first half. What about the what about
(18:05):
the Oklahoma City thunder? How hard is it going to
be for them to convince themselves. Hey, guys, we were
up nineteen, like we had we had a double digitally
late in the fourth quarter. But again, that's really hard
to convince yourself when that league evaporated in the last
two minutes.
Speaker 5 (18:24):
Doug, I think the biggest problem for Oklahoma City is
trying to match up with Indiana, and I think they've
got to be the best versions of themselves. If it's
Shay shooting the ball fifty times, you go big and
you just attack the glass and muddy the game up
and make it really physical. That's what it's going to
have to be. But you go small at Cason Wallace
(18:48):
and you try to match up with the three point shooting,
and your advantage, in my opinion, is chet Holmegren blocking shots.
And then you know, looking in inside the paint and
you know Hartenstein hitting the glass, creating second chance opportunities
him and pick and roll him, and you know DHL
(19:09):
actions like I think you kind of got away from
what you've done in Hartenstein. You can argue, you know
he'd been the best Thunder member outside of Shade, you know,
the most reliable at least in many of these opportunities.
So I think you gotta be the best version of yourself.
And I didn't like trying to match up with Indy
(19:30):
because you're not going to out Indy Indy, I don't.
I don't know if that makes sense, do.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
No, it does?
Speaker 1 (19:36):
It does? Yeah, I completely completely understand. I thought again,
and maybe this is too deep into basketball talk for
other people. Here we go Jayla Williams too big, missus
late okay, but also lou Dort shooting a three late,
Caruso two wide open threes late. You mentioned the execution again,
(19:57):
it's not just in what you execute, but it's the
Pacers had their shooters shooting threes and the Thunder had
their non shooters. I'm talking about lou Dort and Crusoe
shooting those three streets. Like, how big a factor is
that in the overall scheme of things.
Speaker 5 (20:13):
It's huge, And that's why I said, you know, that's
by designing. We're going boxes and elbows on Shay and
we're gonna come out with a good contest on the
three and we're going to live with those guys. Are
they capable shooters? Yes, but you know who I trust,
Nie Smith, nim Hard Siakam with those same shots. So
it's gonna be my offense for your offense. And can
(20:35):
those guys shoot, Yeah, of course they can. But with Indy,
they just trust the ball movement and they move the
ball better than anybody in the NBA right now. They
play as a team and they're not horrific defensively. So
if you're in the locker room, Doug, like you're saying like,
don't turn the basketball over, like, don't don't give them
(20:55):
any light, don't turn the ball over. Be strong with
the catch. And I say one thing, like since the
days of Durant and Westbrook being there, when I played
against those guys with the Clippers and whoever, Oklahoma City's
a tough place to play. So when you talk about
having to Pahonas to hit that shot, to go get
it and Rick Carlout doesn't go time out in Halibert,
(21:16):
it's that, dude, it doesn't get any more deflating. And
I've been calling this, but I'm shocked. They just they
just got down like that against the man you talk
about just deflating.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Dub gotta be incredibly inflating. Doug Gottlieb show here on
Fox Sports. Tradier, let's talk to some other NBA news
in your mind, who's the best fit for the Knicks.
Speaker 5 (21:43):
I'm shocked. I think Jason Kidd because he's a former Nick.
He's gonna have to be on the table. I guess
they got permission to talk to him. You got to
bring in the name, dude, because that's all that is
all the It's the most pressured job outside of being
the Lakers head coach in the world. You know, you
got a little excuse maybe if you're coaching Lebron that
(22:04):
you can say, hey, Lebron's smart enough, he's going to
do his deal. You know, there's not much I'm going
to be able to fine tune. But that's a lot
of pressure. You got to get a veteran coach, You
got to get somebody you know, willing to step in
and you know, win now. But I'm still just blown
away that they got rid of TIBs, and I think Doug,
in my opinion, it's unless there's something that I don't know.
(22:26):
I think you send the wrong message of basketball that
you can have the best season that new York has
had in decades. You can lead this team, you can improve,
you get guys to believe, and then we fire you
and we say somehow it's your fault, somehow we need
to strive something different. And I can acknowledge something needs
to change, but I don't see that being Tom Thibodeau
(22:47):
called me crazy.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Yeah, I'm with you, but that that was how the
decision was made. And you just sit there scratch your
head like are you are you kid me? Minnesota Timberwolves,
we had in tucks and stay lost. There's a lot
of people like, hey, you need to make Anthony Edwards
be able to score out of the post. And I've
(23:09):
heard lots of suggestions you didn't just play in the NBA.
You cover it with the with the Rockets as well
as for us here in Fox Sports Radio. If you
are running the Minnesota Timberwlels, what would you do to
take that next step?
Speaker 5 (23:23):
I teach how to play pick and roll. I take
a page out of Luca dacci to Lebron's book James Harden,
and I teach him how to hey, like, hey, that's
that power for in the corner. That's the mismatch you
want bring him into action because they can't switch. You're
too good offensively and play with your bigs, learn how
to play with Rudy Gobert. It's probably disgusting the lack
(23:47):
of assists that he has to Rudy Gobert. Rudy Gobert
is one of the better screen setters that we've had
in the NBA screen assist but it means when he
sets the screen, you get a good shot or he
ends up getting the wide open dunk. When he learns
how to play with Rudy, when he learns how to
play with his bigs, when he learns how to pick
out the mismatch on the floor and call those guys
(24:08):
in the pick and roll, you're gonna see Anthony Edwards
game take leaps and bounds. I do agree with the
posts efficiency in action. He's so good he can get
to a spot, pull up and shoot right over you.
But I think the patience who's going to have to
be there, and I think as he takes those leaps,
I don't think it's necessarily spreading the floor with the
guy who can create or over contested shot. I believe
(24:31):
that you play with two bigs, I think you get
in another big, another shot blocker, another kind of spore
inside with size to where they sure up the paint
and you'll allow him as a volume shooter to go
make some missus. Just talk with McIntyre on Collins Show,
and I said, not playing check and Hartenstein was the
silliest thing Oklahoma City could have done because you got
(24:53):
a volume spor in Shaan gilgis Alexander. At least you
can command the paint. Maybe you get more offensive rebounding
opportun tunities in your lamp. Is what makes you different
than than Indy. So I think my challenge with Minnesota
is to play bigger and learn how to play pick
and roll. But in that process, you hit the heck
out of the glass and you give them more shots.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Stug Gottlieb Show Here on Fox Sports Radio. Ryan Hollins
is our guest. Ryan's Giannis. What do you think he
plays next year?
Speaker 5 (25:29):
I think for Giannis and I'm pretty sure they're gonna
look to work with him. I think he's got to
look and he's got to try to one get to
a big market and then he's got to have a
chance to go out and win and for Milwaukee. You
know what, Dub they're gonna be greedy, They're gonna be like, man,
Damian Little is gonna be out next season. We need
(25:51):
all the youth, all the picks that we can get. Ultimately,
at the end of the day, so the largest market
team that can bring that to the tables, I think
you got to be excited. And I think if there's
enough chemistry there, it could be san Antonio. I think
we'd like that to see him and winby But I
don't know if Giannis want to be san Antonio because
(26:12):
the one thing we've heard from him is that I
want to go to a large city, you know, I
want to have a chance to shine as the other
superstars in the NBA. Do you saw the news about
the Knicks willing to throw everything at him, And I
think if you're the NIXT, you kind of have to
because if you're getting rid of tives, it means you're
willing to move forward in the direction and have a
superstar and a guy to build around. So that could
(26:35):
be a move. I don't know if Milwaukee wants to rebuild,
they want to, you know, try to step into another
forty or fifty win season. Ultimately, at the end of
the day, you know we've seen different teams go different ways.
If it's a Clippers, you know, a large market, they
know there's a chance and a pill for him to
want to be there. And I think Houston from a
(26:57):
talent perspective and youth and kind of win now would
probably be the best option. But would that be best
for Houston because you may have to go out and
cut a team. This is the asking price for Durant
is a lot lower than asking and I don't speak
from any type of knowledge, Doug than asking for Gianni's
because you're gonna want the whole house, the keys of
the car, the kids. You don't want everything in return
(27:18):
for Giannisuth to pupo Doug.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
Last thing, Ryan, before the series, who'd you think would
win it?
Speaker 5 (27:24):
I said, Indy, I'm gonna take my ball movement rus
your defense because all I have to do is not
turn over the ball and see how you struggle offensively.
I think that's what we saw in Game one, and
I feel even stronger after Indiana sole that game because
if I'm a player in that locker room, I'm dejected, dude,
and I'm questioning coach. While we switch up the lineup,
what are we doing. How do we kind of recover
(27:46):
from this because it feels like we're doing the same
thing over and over again and it's tough. I remember
the National Championship playing against Florida and they moved the
ball Forrey Brewers hitting threes. Joke Kim Noah's dunking on us.
We're doing all this stuff and are all was so
stagnant we couldn't play against them. So at the end
of the day, I think I think that Indy is
(28:07):
looking to run away with this in look man hit
all hands on deck. Oklahoma City better final way with
their defense to win game two, but I think it's
too far, too gone after that first game.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Awesome stuff as always, Hey, Ryan, great stuff, Let's talk
as a series rolls on. Thanks for being our guest
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 5 (28:25):
Inside Up all Right.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Pleasure is completely and totally mine. Thanks for listening to
The Doug Gotleep Show podcast. Be sure to catch us
live every weekday from three to five eastern twelve two
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for
The Doug Gotleep Show at Foxsportsradio dot com, or streamers
live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR
what aw about you. Doug Gotleep Show Fox Sports Radio
(28:48):
coming to you from We're sort of by coast. I'm
on the coast of Wisconsin. Dan Byer's close to the
close coast of California, so too is Ryan Burschinger and
our guy Iowa, Sam's Doug Gottlieb Show broadcasting every day
here on Fox Sports Radio. Do Do Do Do Do Doo?
(29:10):
So the way I look at it with with sports
radio is let's not over complicate it. Hey, it's two
stories today, and only two that matter. We addressed the
first one, which is unbelievable come back by the Pacers
and when what happens dow in Oklahoma City, all those things,
and we'll get to some of that too in in
hour two. But the other thing is Aaron Rodgers is
(29:33):
a Pittsburgh Steeler. He's a Pittsburgh Steeler. That happened yesterday,
and I do think it's it's funny that Aaron Rodgers
was kind of shown up by the President. Elon Musk.
Going at it yesterday, you're like, hey, hey, I signed
(29:54):
I'm going to Pittsburgh, not official but released, and everybody
knows what's gonna happen. But because Elon is tweeting about
Potis and then Potus is apparently giving back the tesla
that he got that he received on the White House lawn.
(30:15):
That's amazing theater and it out shown Aaron Rodgers back
into the nash Football League. But I just I don't
know how anyone thinks this is not a great thing
outside of for Mason Rudolf, and even Mason Rudolf, you're
sitting there going like, yeah, this sucks, but you would
have to think that Mason and the Steelers knew a
(30:38):
long time ago. And oh yeah, by the way, there's
no definite that Aaron Rodgers plays every game or that
Aaron Rodgers finishes the season because he has had health
issues and he is older. But outside of Mason Rudolf,
who wouldn't be crazy excited about this? Not because it
makes the Steelers great, it makes the Steelers really interesting.
(31:00):
And you can say whatever you want to say about Rogers.
You don't like his appearances on McAfee, you don't like
his defiance on that in vaccines are some of the
things he says. You're entitled to your opinion. You're enteled
your opinion about how good he was, how good he is.
Now you are entitled to that. What you're not entitled
(31:22):
to do is say, yeah, I'd prefer to see Mason
Rudolph play to Aaron Rodgers play again. Mason's a friend
of mine, literally hung out text whatever. He's good dude,
And I told him and I tell everybody, like, I
want to see Aaron Rodgers play. It's one of the
best quarterbacks to ever play football, and he's trying to
(31:45):
defy so many of the odds age still off of injury.
The Jets get that off me. I mean took Sam
darvald a couple of years to get that Jets muck
off Geno Smith. He had to get that Jets off him, Like,
I got Jets on me? Is that Jets on your shirt?
(32:06):
I got jets? Oh? Oh? Having Jets on your resume
as a quarterback. Outside probably of Brett farv it's kind
of like stepping in dog poop. You're like poop again.
(32:27):
You ever have the like like, and you have just
like a little speck on your shoes. You're like checking
your shoes like I'm good, I'm good, and then there's
this little tiny in the crevice of your shoe. You're like, oh, God,
that's what it is. Then you hose it down and
you're like, I'm good. That's the Jets you got. I
gotta get that Jets off me. Todd Bowles took him
(32:51):
a couple of years to get the Jets off him
working with the Buccaneers. Now he's their head coach.
Speaker 5 (32:57):
Right, So.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
I just again, you don't have to like Aaron Rodgers.
Dan Byer doesn't like Aaron Rodgers. I know he doesn't.
It's not personal. He's just never been a Rogers guy.
He's never one of these just he just kind of Dan.
Is it fair to say you were over Aaron Rodgers
a good while ago?
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Yes, that's fair, okay, fair nothing nothing personal. But no, yeah,
there's just as hard to be extra. There's always something extra.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
Yeah, yes, yes, with Aaron it's it's a lot like
the West side of Los Angeles. It's a lot like
midtown Manhattan right where it's not bad, but god, it's
a lot. It's just a lot seemingly unnecessarily, so unnecessarily,
(33:47):
and that's Aaron Rodgers. Like, look, dude, it's quarterback. This
is not that hard of Gee, get a lot of money,
try to win games, work with your guys be the representative,
essentially the mayor of the city. Do it again, do
it again, do it again, and it just got increasingly difficult, or,
at least outward appearances, it's just a difficult. I think
I thought Mark Murphy had the best way to express
(34:13):
how most people view Aaron Rodgers. Do you remember what
he said by her?
Speaker 2 (34:18):
I can't remember the exact word, but so I'm going
to say no, because there were a couple in my
mind and I can't remember the exact I.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
Think he said he's a complicated fellas.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Okay, I didn't think it was complicated. I didn't think
it was difficult.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
I thought it was complicated, right, which is a complicated
is such a great word because it doesn't actually mean
what it's defined as mean. It's not like mediocre Like
people say mediocre and they always mean bad. But mediocre
is average? Is average? An average by definition is not bad.
(34:56):
It's average. It's average. How is your dinner mediocre? If
you say me mediocre, be like, wow, what was wrong
with it?
Speaker 4 (35:01):
Like?
Speaker 1 (35:01):
Nothing? It was mediocre? It was average. But mediocre has
a negative connotation, Is that fair?
Speaker 5 (35:07):
Dan?
Speaker 1 (35:08):
Yes? Okay, So I think complicated, same thing like complicated
is just well, it's complicated. But the truth is it's
a great code word for he's a pain in the ass,
right right, How is she like, I want to set
you up with this girl? Like as she's tell me better, eh,
(35:31):
better tell better her dating history? It's complicated? Whoa red flags?
Speaker 2 (35:36):
What's going on with you guys?
Speaker 1 (35:37):
Right now?
Speaker 2 (35:38):
Wow, it's complicated.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
Complicated, Yes, yes, yes there is. There has never been
a healthy relationship that anyone has ever described as complicated.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
Fair fair, okay, agree, second motion carries.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
So the point is that when Mark, when Mark Murphy,
the outgoing president of the Green Bay Packers a couple
of years ago, said, it's a complicated fella, everybody's like,
got it, he's a pain in the ass, really talented,
but God, just take the snap, throw the ball, score
(36:20):
the touchdown, shake the shake the hands, kiss the baby,
signed the autographs. Not that hard. But it just again
everything sort of complicated and again complicated by dictionary definition
means just that, Hey, it's not an easy year. There's
no one easy word to define somebody super bright, super engaging,
super charming, super talented. There are people that really, really,
(36:42):
really really like and appreciate him there are people that don't.
But again, the complicated by dictionary definition is hey, it's
not good, it's not bad, it's just there's there's layers
to it. Complicated in urban terms in normal discussion is ohoy,
it is compling, which is it's a lot. So again,
(37:07):
my challenge is for anybody to reasonably say the reason
we say, I'm not going to pay attention and like, look,
this is one of those With the Pittsburgh Steelers, I
would say that not the last year of Ben Roethlisberger,
the next to last year of Ben Roethlsberger was the
last year they had competent quarterback play. And look, Mason
(37:31):
I thought did a good job a couple of years
ago of getting them to the playoffs. That was probably his,
you know, his best year. But it was really like, hey,
let's just let's just do the best we can. And
maybe that was coordinator. I don't know. They've changed coordinators
since then, but Ben Roethlisberger really probably you go back
(37:51):
to twenty eighteen, right, so we're talking twenty eighteen, which
is seven eight years ago, right, he threw for five
thousand yards. I mean, he was a he was a star.
I mean, if you go to twenty twenty, like he
was still they were twelve and three, he was thirty
(38:12):
three touchdowns, ten receptions. I'd be willing to say twenty ten,
twenty twenty, so even that is five seasons ago. This
was the last time they had compety quarterback play, yes, dam.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
Yeah, And I would even say even before that, like
I think the five thousand season, and twenty eighteen was
the one that's probably best because his elbow injury forced
him to miss most of twenty nineteen. He played a
game again. He only played two games that year, one
of itch was Week two against the Seahawks. It was also,
by the way, the infamous game where the pass interference
penalty kind of where you could call replay on pass
(38:43):
interference and remember that after the Rams Saints debacle. But
Roethlisberger's elbow kind of was shot in that Week two
game and didn't return that year. And I don't think
that he was the same in twenty twenty, even though
the numbers you know, are respectable, but yeah, that last
season was not good.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
Yeah, And you probably even could go back to seventeen,
when they're twelve and three, twenty eight fourteen, four thousand
yards balanced attack really really good. Right, So we're talking
about more than half a decade since the Pittsburgh Steelers
had had competent quarterback play, probably a Hall of Fame
quarterback player.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
Yeah, and Doug to even just make the point about
Kenny Pickett, just when they took Kenny Pickett, which I
think was around nineteen somewhere in that ballpark, in the
first round, that's not addressing your quarterback situation. It's just
it's not. If Kenny Pickett was that sought after, that
much of a solution, he would have been picked way
(39:39):
earlier in that draft. So, like, even to that point
of them taking Kenny Pickett first round, I don't think
they ever then really truly addressed their situation. But it
felt like, hey, went to pitt that's the right deal.
He's still there. Look at what he did. Steelers need
a quarterback, Let's make it work. But I don't think
that that was a really viable solution as a general rule.
(40:02):
I don't think it's a viable solution that you're addressing
your quarterback play if you're taking him outside the top fifteen.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
A general rule, Although like Jordan Love Aaron Rodgers, right,
I think that was the model. They tried to Hey,
we got a guy that maybe slipped through the cracks,
and we get and Kenny Pickett remember played in the
same stadium. They felt like they had a better working
knowledge of him than anybody else.
Speaker 2 (40:28):
You know, actually makes it worse.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
I get it, you know, like, yes, you should have known.
There's no surprise. You should have known. You should have
known twentieth pick overall, you could have filmed every practice
and it wouldn't have been illegal. And yet you you
did not, and you still swung and missed.
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlieb
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
three to five Eastern twelve two Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
Find your local station for The Doug Gottlieb Show at
Foxsports Radio dot com, or stream us live every day
on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR boom Up America
Doug Gottlieb Show FICK Sports Radio. You're welcome, Noga, thank you,
(00:31):
thank you, thank you. Welcome in. It's a Friday, and
I'm working with geniuses. No, I mean it, We'll play
for you. The genius that is Dan Byer with the
completely accurate prediction of the end of Game one of
(00:52):
the NBA Finals upcoming. What a game, What a life? Right?
I was watching the last night's game, and it's kind
of fascinating to watch right where you're you're watching and
you're like, it's not really that close to basketball game.
But the the Pacers. Here's the cliche. They do what
(01:17):
they do, right. That's like the worst, worst cliche ever,
But in this particular case, it actually makes sense. They
do what they do. The other thing that's crazy about
the game is that Tyrese Haliburton. He's just kind of
(01:38):
a guy. Most of the game, he really didn't do much.
But then he hits the game winner, and holy cow,
Tyrese Halliburton, Oh my goodness, what are we going to
do there? The final score is one eleven to one ten.
Haliburton hits the game winner with point three seconds to
go as they rallied from Ore they down fifteen in
(02:03):
the fourth quarter. It's craziness, craziness. Here's what I want
to do. Like we can do the formatic radio show,
or I killed the Glass with the big hot take
and then we take calls or something, or we can
just talk. I'll give you something I saw that's kind
(02:24):
of interesting here. Okay, so I love Alex Crusoe. We
do know why Alex Crusoe has bounced around the league
and had to earn his way into league from the
G League before becoming such a gigantic part of the
Oklahoma City Thunder's. It's like the do you remember what
(02:44):
election was? It was it when Clinton won where it's
it's the economy stupid, right when when George H. W.
Bush lost to Bill Clinton, the line was it's the
economy stupid, Like to me, it's the it's the shooting
stupid right that as much as he's become a a
(03:08):
consummate professional, a very good shoot, a very good player,
he checks back into the game for Cason Wallace ninety four,
ninety nine, ninety four, ninety nine. But Caruso missing two
threes late in the game that kind of triggered the run.
(03:30):
Triggered the run was he missed two open threes, and
Alex and then lou Dort missed one late, and you're like,
why does it matter that Crusoe misses two threes? Why
does it matter that lou Dort misses misses a three late?
Because those are your worst shooters. And in trying to
(03:52):
figure out, okay, how did this happen, How did they
make all these shots, how did they score, et cetera.
Think about the comeback, right, You had Pascal Siakam, he
had two different trips to the free through line. He
made three out of four. You had Andrew Nebhart making
a three. Uh, you had Miles Turner making threes. You
(04:17):
had Obi Toppin making threes. Now, it doesn't mean that
Obi Toppin is a is a great shooter. Doesn't mean
Miles Turner is a great shooter, but that's what they
have molded their NBA careers into. They have improved dramatically.
Turner has always been a good shooter, made himself into
(04:38):
a forty percent three point shooter, right Aaron Nay Smith
forty nine and a half percent three point shooter. Toppin's
only at thirty four, but he was running a fever
last night. And the big story to me is that
they got Oklahoma City to have their non shooters shoot,
(05:01):
and then they came down and smartly made threes late,
and they had one put back and a couple of
free throws late as well. In other words, perfect analytics
basketball up until that last kind of pull up jump shot.
But doesn't really matter, hey, tremendous analytics basketball at both ends,
(05:21):
making the sub thirty five three point shooters shoot and
not allowing shots at the rim only two's after the
non shooter shooting to three, and then taking threes and
layups yourself. But I mean that one was weird because
(05:41):
that one seemed another one seemed over and even the
Oklahoma City crowd like wasn't freaking out, and then it
happened so fast, Bang bang bang, bang bang, topping with
a bunch of threes, Miles Turner a couple of threes,
and now of a sudden, you're like, that's getting kind
of close, and then lou Dort fires off when it
misses and they come down and can another one, and
(06:02):
you're like, oh my gosh, we have ourselves a game bayer.
You will play it for people. We put it on
social media. You literally predicted this thing, like to the
t on what could or would happen with the Pacers
having a lead late When I say game one NBA Finals,
(06:23):
what's the first thing that comes to your mind as
to what you actually saw.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Yeah, it was the Pacers doing it again. And you
try to find points in the game, Doug where you're like, Okay,
this is where it turned. That's where it turned. I'm
a big fan of the twelve point lead because it's
never as big as you think, and it's never as
small as you think, because sure of the three point shot,
you could be at eighteen and you know, two possessions
(06:48):
and it gave me down to a six point game
and the same sort of breath. But we were hovering
around that area. So the nine point lead at that
three minute Mark was big, and again three point shot.
Nie Smith hits it, and now it's a six point game,
and it's a close game throughout the crazy part that
I thought what was was big. You mentioned Caruso. Remember
at the end of the first half, Caruso had a
shot at the buck at the right at the bucket
(07:10):
and it didn't go down, but they still led by twelve.
But that was a half where the Pacers had nineteen
turnovers and they only led by twelve, Like Indiana was
only down at that point. And it's at that point
that I'm thinking to myself, well, this is still a
ballgame if Indiana just decides to hold on to the basketball.
And the reason why yesterday I said what I said
(07:33):
was because I felt that that is the turning point
of it. If you navigate that stretch the final six
minutes in, you're Oklahoma City, You're you're in a really,
really good spot. Note not only are the overwhelming favorite,
but you have done something that the other teams have
not been able to do when they faced Indiana. But
if Indiana does it, now, I feel that the series
(07:54):
has turned. Because you can look at all the bad
things that Indiana did in Game one, and said, Wow,
they still were able to in and steal it. So
that's why the stretch, it just felt, was so important
because it just felt like a tone setter for the
series that it's going to go one way or the other.
Either Oklahoma City is going to end the Pacers' streak
of comebacks and kind of right or wrong of their
(08:16):
own from what happened in the Denver series, or now
Indiana is fully into the series with a legit chance
to bring home the NBA title.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Hmm yeah. This is one where I can never understand,
nor any of us can, the mentality of each individual team.
I do think that for the Pacers moving forward, their
their thought process has to be we could not have
played any worse than the first half. We played fine
(08:46):
the second half, and then we caught a heater and
we did we did, we came back and win the game.
Imagine what happens if we actually play a good first
half of could clean first half mm hm. For Oklahoma
City again, you would think the thought process is what
you want. Positive is hey man, we were up nineteen,
like we're the better team. All we gotta do is
(09:07):
just step on their throat next time. On the other hand,
there's never going to be a part in the game
where you're looking up at the lead thinking we're good, right,
It's just never like we did, never, never goold. And
as much as you can say, well, hey, maybe that
makes Oklahoma City a young team, step on their throat
and make a fifteen point game a thirty point game
(09:28):
next time, maybe, or maybe you're up that magic number
of twelve what you're talking about, and Nie Smith hits
a three and all of a sudden, Diagno's gonna take
quick time out and they kind of start freaking out
and get tight. But none of us know what's gonna happen.
We just know, like psychologically, it could literally go either way.
And that's why. And I know Jay's off, he's up
(09:49):
hiking in Big Bear today, jays Doo. But that's why
he hates the stupid prediction game because you can't tell
the mentality, You can't tell how one ball goes in
what doesn't go in. But I have to tell you
that that was one of the most thrilling endings. Look,
every part of me should want Oklahoma City to win.
(10:09):
And just again, as you guys know, my kids all
live in Oklahoma now, right, I'm close with some people
in that organization. I know people in the Pacers organization too.
I think it'd just be great for the city, great
for the organist, and the people I know in the
organization tell me that the people above them in the
organization are all like great people, like there's just no
bs to them. I like everything about it. So my
(10:35):
ties should be to Oklahoma City. But watching a team
kind of methodically, not freak out, not panic, hit a three,
you get a stop at a three, you get a
stop at a three, you get a stop. And then
watching that crowd get tight, watching the thunder get tight,
watching the officiating get to be totally even right, that's
(10:55):
a big thing. Like it got cut to six and
Shay got kind of a he got one of those
free throw merchant fouls. He's like, all right, they're gonna
give him a couple of calls to get him. But
that was the last call he got. Then the next
two pull up jump shots he got nothing on normally
regular season get called a foul, and it was not.
And that was one of the most thrilling comeback wins
(11:18):
I can think of. In the NBA Finals, And again
I end up rooting for the Pacers only not because
of the contrarian to me, but I just I appreciate
how hard it is what they've been doing, and how
smartly they execute what they're doing.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
And I would even say that the comebacks that they
had in the other games were more miraculous than this
one was, because this was this was closer than over
the final ninety seconds to two minutes than it was,
say in the Cleveland series or in the Bucks series,
where the Thunder did have to make plays. They didn't
make a bucket for the final ninety seconds of the game.
(11:57):
You like, there's another one for Oklahoma City, and you wonder,
now how that creeps in.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Well, Jellen Williams too big, missus they're late, right, and
as he goes, so goes to Thunder. Obviously, Shane misses
what could have been the game Seiler could have put
them up up three. Here's Tyrese Halliburton on how his
team performed overall this game.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
If you look at all the numbers, it's not the
recipe to win. We can't turn the ball over that much.
We got to do a better job of beating gaps,
gotta do better job of rebounding. You gotta do a
better job all over the floor. But come May in June,
it doesn't matter how you get him, just get him,
you know.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
So we'll take it.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
You know, we'll enjoy this one tonight. But I understand
we got another game coming up in this tough building,
and we got to be prepared for that. So, like
I said, we're just a confident group. We got each
other's back.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Here's the league's MVP and how the Thunder ended up losing.
Speaker 5 (12:47):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (12:47):
It happened so fast. I feel like we got matched.
He got down going right, pulled up from the MIDI
and knocked down the shot. I don't know. It didn't
feel like anything crazy. He just made up play with
the time time winding down. We had control of the
game for the most part of it. Now, it is
a forty eight minute game, and they teach you that
(13:07):
lesson more than anyone else in the league the hard way.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
He's right, It does go fast. And then you know,
Indiana doesn't call time out in the last possession. So
oftentimes NBA teams have I've been in that situation and
I've had the opposite thing happen right where you don't
call time out, just let him go make a plane like,
oh man, should I have called the timeout or not?
There Ah, just dying over it. But it does. It
happens really fast, right, you hit three, You're like, all right,
(13:35):
it's nine. Then you missed the shout and he hit three,
Like okay, it's six. That that happened fast. They eat
the faut line. You're like, oh, okay, it's eight. Then
he hit it three and it's five, Like whoa, whoa,
what what happened?
Speaker 5 (13:47):
Now?
Speaker 1 (13:48):
We're in a game. Happens so fast, so fast? And
I love what Alburton said. He's basically like, we didn't
really play well enough to win, but that matter, which
to Dan, you're my point, which is like Indiana's got
to be sitting there thinking, imagine if we actually played well,
(14:08):
you know, we won a game on their home court,
and we were do do for the first twenty four minutes.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Yeah, and selling the Pacers are without faults because that
is one of their faults defensively as well. They yeah, yeah,
I mean they haven't been as strong, but boy, last
night it sure came through and they needed to. The
nineteen first half turnovers is absurd. Was it to only
be down twelve at that point.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Yeah, yeah, And that's one of the reasons though that again,
you know thunderplay. Both teams play a lot of guys.
I thought it hurt both teams playing a lot of guys.
I thought of Oklahoma City would have played a little
bit more of a condensed rotation last night. They could
have maybe stepped on the throat of the Pacers in
the first half. It's time for the Tyrek Play the Day.
(14:54):
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The way tire buying should be. Today's Tyrect Play the
Day comes to your courtesy of the Pacers Radio Network Rebound, Indiana.
Eight seconds to go. The Pacers are not gonna call
a time out. Caddleburton has it with three driving, with
(15:17):
two pulling up ahead heading with three tenths of a
second to go.
Speaker 4 (15:23):
How many more times can this.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Team do that? Soweets babies? Have you have you seen
the Haliban tweets out there? Have you seen those? Have
you seen it. Those are amazing, and it's like, I will,
I refuse to be the guy who gets offended right
because anything Taliban related whatever, like we're supposed to. But
(15:50):
it's so good and so funny that I gotta tell people.
If you're bothered by it, then you know what, just
stay out of this one. We're all gonna have a
good time and enjoy basketball and understand it's not that deep.
Thanks for listening to The Doug Gotleb Show podcast. Be
sure to catch us live every weekday three to five
Eastern twelve two Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your
(16:10):
local station for The Doug Gottlieb Show at Foxsports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every day on the
iHeartRadio app by searching FSR. This's Doug Gottlieb Show. It's
Fox Sports Radio. Ryan Hollins is our guest. Course, you've
heard him on weekends with Dan Byer. You've heard him
on this show with Dan Byer filling in for me.
He's the NBA vet, He's our Fox Sports Radio NBA analyst, Ryan.
(16:33):
What did we just watch last night?
Speaker 5 (16:37):
And this is something that halla Burton has been doing
all playoffs long. I think Doug it's time for us
to start believing in what goes on. And Doug, we've
talked about this on the show, and you almost saw
the script as playing out. Indiana executes for four quarters,
the rest of the NBA probably three quarters, and then
(17:00):
you put the ball in the hands of your best player.
But they just truly believe and it's tough. And what
you're seeing is SGA one on one, SGA one on one.
Hopefully we get a steal. Hopefully we created deflection, and
that's going against Indiana. Pick and roll ball moment, second side,
pick and roll attack, drawn kick three, three to three,
(17:23):
and once Indiana starts hitting threes, now the game confidence
offensively and the scary part, Doug, I don't know how
you feel about this, the fact that Indye turned the
ball over so much in the first half and the
fact that the Thunder didn't win that game. You got
to be shaking in your boots.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
We just discussed this, like the Pacers have to be
sitting there going We played poorly for two thirds of
the game, definitely half the game, play poorly and yet
still end up winning a game, and we did so
on the road. Imagine what happens when we just play
average in the first half. What about the what about
(18:05):
the Oklahoma City thunder? How hard is it going to
be for them to convince themselves. Hey, guys, we were
up nineteen, like we had we had a double digitally
late in the fourth quarter. But again, that's really hard
to convince yourself when that league evaporated in the last
two minutes.
Speaker 5 (18:24):
Doug, I think the biggest problem for Oklahoma City is
trying to match up with Indiana, and I think they've
got to be the best versions of themselves. If it's
Shay shooting the ball fifty times, you go big and
you just attack the glass and muddy the game up
and make it really physical. That's what it's going to
have to be. But you go small at Cason Wallace
(18:48):
and you try to match up with the three point shooting,
and your advantage, in my opinion, is chet Holmegren blocking shots.
And then you know, looking in inside the paint and
you know Hartenstein hitting the glass, creating second chance opportunities
him and pick and roll him, and you know DHL
(19:09):
actions like I think you kind of got away from
what you've done in Hartenstein. You can argue, you know
he'd been the best Thunder member outside of Shade, you know,
the most reliable at least in many of these opportunities.
So I think you gotta be the best version of yourself.
And I didn't like trying to match up with Indy
(19:30):
because you're not going to out Indy Indy, I don't.
I don't know if that makes sense, do.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
No, it does?
Speaker 1 (19:36):
It does? Yeah, I completely completely understand. I thought again,
and maybe this is too deep into basketball talk for
other people. Here we go Jayla Williams too big, missus
late okay, but also lou Dort shooting a three late,
Caruso two wide open threes late. You mentioned the execution again,
(19:57):
it's not just in what you execute, but it's the
Pacers had their shooters shooting threes and the Thunder had
their non shooters. I'm talking about lou Dort and Crusoe
shooting those three streets. Like, how big a factor is
that in the overall scheme of things.
Speaker 5 (20:13):
It's huge, And that's why I said, you know, that's
by designing. We're going boxes and elbows on Shay and
we're gonna come out with a good contest on the
three and we're going to live with those guys. Are
they capable shooters? Yes, but you know who I trust,
Nie Smith, nim Hard Siakam with those same shots. So
it's gonna be my offense for your offense. And can
(20:35):
those guys shoot, Yeah, of course they can. But with Indy,
they just trust the ball movement and they move the
ball better than anybody in the NBA right now. They
play as a team and they're not horrific defensively. So
if you're in the locker room, Doug, like you're saying like,
don't turn the basketball over, like, don't don't give them
(20:55):
any light, don't turn the ball over. Be strong with
the catch. And I say one thing, like since the
days of Durant and Westbrook being there, when I played
against those guys with the Clippers and whoever, Oklahoma City's
a tough place to play. So when you talk about
having to Pahonas to hit that shot, to go get
it and Rick Carlout doesn't go time out in Halibert,
(21:16):
it's that, dude, it doesn't get any more deflating. And
I've been calling this, but I'm shocked. They just they
just got down like that against the man you talk
about just deflating.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Dub gotta be incredibly inflating. Doug Gottlieb show here on
Fox Sports. Tradier, let's talk to some other NBA news
in your mind, who's the best fit for the Knicks.
Speaker 5 (21:43):
I'm shocked. I think Jason Kidd because he's a former Nick.
He's gonna have to be on the table. I guess
they got permission to talk to him. You got to
bring in the name, dude, because that's all that is
all the It's the most pressured job outside of being
the Lakers head coach in the world. You know, you
got a little excuse maybe if you're coaching Lebron that
(22:04):
you can say, hey, Lebron's smart enough, he's going to
do his deal. You know, there's not much I'm going
to be able to fine tune. But that's a lot
of pressure. You got to get a veteran coach, You
got to get somebody you know, willing to step in
and you know, win now. But I'm still just blown
away that they got rid of TIBs, and I think Doug,
in my opinion, it's unless there's something that I don't know.
(22:26):
I think you send the wrong message of basketball that
you can have the best season that new York has
had in decades. You can lead this team, you can improve,
you get guys to believe, and then we fire you
and we say somehow it's your fault, somehow we need
to strive something different. And I can acknowledge something needs
to change, but I don't see that being Tom Thibodeau
(22:47):
called me crazy.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Yeah, I'm with you, but that that was how the
decision was made. And you just sit there scratch your
head like are you are you kid me? Minnesota Timberwolves,
we had in tucks and stay lost. There's a lot
of people like, hey, you need to make Anthony Edwards
be able to score out of the post. And I've
(23:09):
heard lots of suggestions you didn't just play in the NBA.
You cover it with the with the Rockets as well
as for us here in Fox Sports Radio. If you
are running the Minnesota Timberwlels, what would you do to
take that next step?
Speaker 5 (23:23):
I teach how to play pick and roll. I take
a page out of Luca dacci to Lebron's book James Harden,
and I teach him how to hey, like, hey, that's
that power for in the corner. That's the mismatch you
want bring him into action because they can't switch. You're
too good offensively and play with your bigs, learn how
to play with Rudy Gobert. It's probably disgusting the lack
(23:47):
of assists that he has to Rudy Gobert. Rudy Gobert
is one of the better screen setters that we've had
in the NBA screen assist but it means when he
sets the screen, you get a good shot or he
ends up getting the wide open dunk. When he learns
how to play with Rudy, when he learns how to
play with his bigs, when he learns how to pick
out the mismatch on the floor and call those guys
(24:08):
in the pick and roll, you're gonna see Anthony Edwards
game take leaps and bounds. I do agree with the
posts efficiency in action. He's so good he can get
to a spot, pull up and shoot right over you.
But I think the patience who's going to have to
be there, and I think as he takes those leaps,
I don't think it's necessarily spreading the floor with the
guy who can create or over contested shot. I believe
(24:31):
that you play with two bigs, I think you get
in another big, another shot blocker, another kind of spore
inside with size to where they sure up the paint
and you'll allow him as a volume shooter to go
make some missus. Just talk with McIntyre on Collins Show,
and I said, not playing check and Hartenstein was the
silliest thing Oklahoma City could have done because you got
(24:53):
a volume spor in Shaan gilgis Alexander. At least you
can command the paint. Maybe you get more offensive rebounding
opportun tunities in your lamp. Is what makes you different
than than Indy. So I think my challenge with Minnesota
is to play bigger and learn how to play pick
and roll. But in that process, you hit the heck
out of the glass and you give them more shots.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Stug Gottlieb Show Here on Fox Sports Radio. Ryan Hollins
is our guest. Ryan's Giannis. What do you think he
plays next year?
Speaker 5 (25:29):
I think for Giannis and I'm pretty sure they're gonna
look to work with him. I think he's got to
look and he's got to try to one get to
a big market and then he's got to have a
chance to go out and win and for Milwaukee. You
know what, Dub they're gonna be greedy, They're gonna be like, man,
Damian Little is gonna be out next season. We need
(25:51):
all the youth, all the picks that we can get. Ultimately,
at the end of the day, so the largest market
team that can bring that to the tables, I think
you got to be excited. And I think if there's
enough chemistry there, it could be san Antonio. I think
we'd like that to see him and winby But I
don't know if Giannis want to be san Antonio because
(26:12):
the one thing we've heard from him is that I
want to go to a large city, you know, I
want to have a chance to shine as the other
superstars in the NBA. Do you saw the news about
the Knicks willing to throw everything at him, And I
think if you're the NIXT, you kind of have to
because if you're getting rid of tives, it means you're
willing to move forward in the direction and have a
superstar and a guy to build around. So that could
(26:35):
be a move. I don't know if Milwaukee wants to rebuild,
they want to, you know, try to step into another
forty or fifty win season. Ultimately, at the end of
the day, you know we've seen different teams go different ways.
If it's a Clippers, you know, a large market, they
know there's a chance and a pill for him to
want to be there. And I think Houston from a
(26:57):
talent perspective and youth and kind of win now would
probably be the best option. But would that be best
for Houston because you may have to go out and
cut a team. This is the asking price for Durant
is a lot lower than asking and I don't speak
from any type of knowledge, Doug than asking for Gianni's
because you're gonna want the whole house, the keys of
the car, the kids. You don't want everything in return
(27:18):
for Giannisuth to pupo Doug.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
Last thing, Ryan, before the series, who'd you think would
win it?
Speaker 5 (27:24):
I said, Indy, I'm gonna take my ball movement rus
your defense because all I have to do is not
turn over the ball and see how you struggle offensively.
I think that's what we saw in Game one, and
I feel even stronger after Indiana sole that game because
if I'm a player in that locker room, I'm dejected, dude,
and I'm questioning coach. While we switch up the lineup,
what are we doing. How do we kind of recover
(27:46):
from this because it feels like we're doing the same
thing over and over again and it's tough. I remember
the National Championship playing against Florida and they moved the
ball Forrey Brewers hitting threes. Joke Kim Noah's dunking on us.
We're doing all this stuff and are all was so
stagnant we couldn't play against them. So at the end
of the day, I think I think that Indy is
(28:07):
looking to run away with this in look man hit
all hands on deck. Oklahoma City better final way with
their defense to win game two, but I think it's
too far, too gone after that first game.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Awesome stuff as always, Hey, Ryan, great stuff, Let's talk
as a series rolls on. Thanks for being our guest
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 5 (28:25):
Inside Up all Right.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Pleasure is completely and totally mine. Thanks for listening to
The Doug Gotleep Show podcast. Be sure to catch us
live every weekday from three to five eastern twelve two
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for
The Doug Gotleep Show at Foxsportsradio dot com, or streamers
live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR
what aw about you. Doug Gotleep Show Fox Sports Radio
(28:48):
coming to you from We're sort of by coast. I'm
on the coast of Wisconsin. Dan Byer's close to the
close coast of California, so too is Ryan Burschinger and
our guy Iowa, Sam's Doug Gottlieb Show broadcasting every day
here on Fox Sports Radio. Do Do Do Do Do Doo?
(29:10):
So the way I look at it with with sports
radio is let's not over complicate it. Hey, it's two
stories today, and only two that matter. We addressed the
first one, which is unbelievable come back by the Pacers
and when what happens dow in Oklahoma City, all those things,
and we'll get to some of that too in in
hour two. But the other thing is Aaron Rodgers is
(29:33):
a Pittsburgh Steeler. He's a Pittsburgh Steeler. That happened yesterday,
and I do think it's it's funny that Aaron Rodgers
was kind of shown up by the President. Elon Musk.
Going at it yesterday, you're like, hey, hey, I signed
(29:54):
I'm going to Pittsburgh, not official but released, and everybody
knows what's gonna happen. But because Elon is tweeting about
Potis and then Potus is apparently giving back the tesla
that he got that he received on the White House lawn.
(30:15):
That's amazing theater and it out shown Aaron Rodgers back
into the nash Football League. But I just I don't
know how anyone thinks this is not a great thing
outside of for Mason Rudolf, and even Mason Rudolf, you're
sitting there going like, yeah, this sucks, but you would
have to think that Mason and the Steelers knew a
(30:38):
long time ago. And oh yeah, by the way, there's
no definite that Aaron Rodgers plays every game or that
Aaron Rodgers finishes the season because he has had health
issues and he is older. But outside of Mason Rudolf,
who wouldn't be crazy excited about this? Not because it
makes the Steelers great, it makes the Steelers really interesting.
(31:00):
And you can say whatever you want to say about Rogers.
You don't like his appearances on McAfee, you don't like
his defiance on that in vaccines are some of the
things he says. You're entitled to your opinion. You're enteled
your opinion about how good he was, how good he is.
Now you are entitled to that. What you're not entitled
(31:22):
to do is say, yeah, I'd prefer to see Mason
Rudolph play to Aaron Rodgers play again. Mason's a friend
of mine, literally hung out text whatever. He's good dude,
And I told him and I tell everybody, like, I
want to see Aaron Rodgers play. It's one of the
best quarterbacks to ever play football, and he's trying to
(31:45):
defy so many of the odds age still off of injury.
The Jets get that off me. I mean took Sam
darvald a couple of years to get that Jets muck
off Geno Smith. He had to get that Jets off him, Like,
I got Jets on me? Is that Jets on your shirt?
(32:06):
I got jets? Oh? Oh? Having Jets on your resume
as a quarterback. Outside probably of Brett farv it's kind
of like stepping in dog poop. You're like poop again.
(32:27):
You ever have the like like, and you have just
like a little speck on your shoes. You're like checking
your shoes like I'm good, I'm good, and then there's
this little tiny in the crevice of your shoe. You're like, oh, God,
that's what it is. Then you hose it down and
you're like, I'm good. That's the Jets you got. I
gotta get that Jets off me. Todd Bowles took him
(32:51):
a couple of years to get the Jets off him
working with the Buccaneers. Now he's their head coach.
Speaker 5 (32:57):
Right, So.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
I just again, you don't have to like Aaron Rodgers.
Dan Byer doesn't like Aaron Rodgers. I know he doesn't.
It's not personal. He's just never been a Rogers guy.
He's never one of these just he just kind of Dan.
Is it fair to say you were over Aaron Rodgers
a good while ago?
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Yes, that's fair, okay, fair nothing nothing personal. But no, yeah,
there's just as hard to be extra. There's always something extra.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
Yeah, yes, yes, with Aaron it's it's a lot like
the West side of Los Angeles. It's a lot like
midtown Manhattan right where it's not bad, but god, it's
a lot. It's just a lot seemingly unnecessarily, so unnecessarily,
(33:47):
and that's Aaron Rodgers. Like, look, dude, it's quarterback. This
is not that hard of Gee, get a lot of money,
try to win games, work with your guys be the representative,
essentially the mayor of the city. Do it again, do
it again, do it again, and it just got increasingly difficult, or,
at least outward appearances, it's just a difficult. I think
I thought Mark Murphy had the best way to express
(34:13):
how most people view Aaron Rodgers. Do you remember what
he said by her?
Speaker 2 (34:18):
I can't remember the exact word, but so I'm going
to say no, because there were a couple in my
mind and I can't remember the exact I.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
Think he said he's a complicated fellas.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Okay, I didn't think it was complicated. I didn't think
it was difficult.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
I thought it was complicated, right, which is a complicated
is such a great word because it doesn't actually mean
what it's defined as mean. It's not like mediocre Like
people say mediocre and they always mean bad. But mediocre
is average? Is average? An average by definition is not bad.
(34:56):
It's average. It's average. How is your dinner mediocre? If
you say me mediocre, be like, wow, what was wrong
with it?
Speaker 4 (35:01):
Like?
Speaker 1 (35:01):
Nothing? It was mediocre? It was average. But mediocre has
a negative connotation, Is that fair?
Speaker 5 (35:07):
Dan?
Speaker 1 (35:08):
Yes? Okay, So I think complicated, same thing like complicated
is just well, it's complicated. But the truth is it's
a great code word for he's a pain in the ass,
right right, How is she like, I want to set
you up with this girl? Like as she's tell me better, eh,
(35:31):
better tell better her dating history? It's complicated? Whoa red flags?
Speaker 2 (35:36):
What's going on with you guys?
Speaker 1 (35:37):
Right now?
Speaker 2 (35:38):
Wow, it's complicated.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
Complicated, Yes, yes, yes there is. There has never been
a healthy relationship that anyone has ever described as complicated.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
Fair fair, okay, agree, second motion carries.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
So the point is that when Mark, when Mark Murphy,
the outgoing president of the Green Bay Packers a couple
of years ago, said, it's a complicated fella, everybody's like,
got it, he's a pain in the ass, really talented,
but God, just take the snap, throw the ball, score
(36:20):
the touchdown, shake the shake the hands, kiss the baby,
signed the autographs. Not that hard. But it just again
everything sort of complicated and again complicated by dictionary definition
means just that, Hey, it's not an easy year. There's
no one easy word to define somebody super bright, super engaging,
super charming, super talented. There are people that really, really,
(36:42):
really really like and appreciate him there are people that don't.
But again, the complicated by dictionary definition is hey, it's
not good, it's not bad, it's just there's there's layers
to it. Complicated in urban terms in normal discussion is ohoy,
it is compling, which is it's a lot. So again,
(37:07):
my challenge is for anybody to reasonably say the reason
we say, I'm not going to pay attention and like, look,
this is one of those With the Pittsburgh Steelers, I
would say that not the last year of Ben Roethlisberger,
the next to last year of Ben Roethlsberger was the
last year they had competent quarterback play. And look, Mason
(37:31):
I thought did a good job a couple of years
ago of getting them to the playoffs. That was probably his,
you know, his best year. But it was really like, hey,
let's just let's just do the best we can. And
maybe that was coordinator. I don't know. They've changed coordinators
since then, but Ben Roethlisberger really probably you go back
(37:51):
to twenty eighteen, right, so we're talking twenty eighteen, which
is seven eight years ago, right, he threw for five
thousand yards. I mean, he was a he was a star.
I mean, if you go to twenty twenty, like he
was still they were twelve and three, he was thirty
(38:12):
three touchdowns, ten receptions. I'd be willing to say twenty ten,
twenty twenty, so even that is five seasons ago. This
was the last time they had compety quarterback play, yes, dam.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
Yeah, And I would even say even before that, like
I think the five thousand season, and twenty eighteen was
the one that's probably best because his elbow injury forced
him to miss most of twenty nineteen. He played a
game again. He only played two games that year, one
of itch was Week two against the Seahawks. It was also,
by the way, the infamous game where the pass interference
penalty kind of where you could call replay on pass
(38:43):
interference and remember that after the Rams Saints debacle. But
Roethlisberger's elbow kind of was shot in that Week two
game and didn't return that year. And I don't think
that he was the same in twenty twenty, even though
the numbers you know, are respectable, but yeah, that last
season was not good.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
Yeah, And you probably even could go back to seventeen,
when they're twelve and three, twenty eight fourteen, four thousand
yards balanced attack really really good. Right, So we're talking
about more than half a decade since the Pittsburgh Steelers
had had competent quarterback play, probably a Hall of Fame
quarterback player.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
Yeah, and Doug to even just make the point about
Kenny Pickett, just when they took Kenny Pickett, which I
think was around nineteen somewhere in that ballpark, in the
first round, that's not addressing your quarterback situation. It's just
it's not. If Kenny Pickett was that sought after, that
much of a solution, he would have been picked way
(39:39):
earlier in that draft. So, like, even to that point
of them taking Kenny Pickett first round, I don't think
they ever then really truly addressed their situation. But it
felt like, hey, went to pitt that's the right deal.
He's still there. Look at what he did. Steelers need
a quarterback, Let's make it work. But I don't think
that that was a really viable solution as a general rule.
(40:02):
I don't think it's a viable solution that you're addressing
your quarterback play if you're taking him outside the top fifteen.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
A general rule, Although like Jordan Love Aaron Rodgers, right,
I think that was the model. They tried to Hey,
we got a guy that maybe slipped through the cracks,
and we get and Kenny Pickett remember played in the
same stadium. They felt like they had a better working
knowledge of him than anybody else.
Speaker 2 (40:28):
You know, actually makes it worse.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
I get it, you know, like, yes, you should have known.
There's no surprise. You should have known. You should have
known twentieth pick overall, you could have filmed every practice
and it wouldn't have been illegal. And yet you you
did not, and you still swung and missed.
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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