Best of the Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon

Anthony Edwards is terrific. But he's being Mac Jones'ed by the media as being "next.” Caitlin Clark is going to hit a rough patch coming up. Jason and Mike tell you if it’s really the end of Inside the NBA. Plus, NBA Insider Marc Stein joins the show and react to the Dallas Mavericks taking a 1-0 series lead over the Timberwolves!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Carmon podcast. Be sure to catch us
live every weeknight from ten pm to two am Eastern
seven to eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find
your local station for The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every night on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
This is the best of The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
Greetings, Welcome inside, Happy Wednesday, the Jason Smith Show with
my base friend Mike Harmon.

Speaker 3 (00:36):
Well Dressed Cobo.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
We're live from the Tirack dot Com Studios Tirec dot com.
I'll help you get there an unmatched selection, fast, free shipping,
free road hazard protection, and over ten thousand recommended installers
tirec dot com The way tire buying should be Now, tyser,
let me tell you. Twelve minutes and thirty seconds into
Unfrosted the Jerry Seinfield, which is really funny. Yes, uh,

(00:59):
there's a lot where Jim Gaffigan says, you can't say
hobo's anymore, you have to say bums. So let's get
that and let's have that maybe kind of coexist with
Frank the tanks well dressed over.

Speaker 4 (01:09):
I don't know. I like hobo though, Mike, what do
you think.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
Well, we're still sitting homes, We're hobo in there, We're
still hobo is still a better word. Yeah, but it's
a way to freshen it up a little bit. It's like,
you know, a really good soff like when you take
Who's the Band? Do you want to play all the
remakes of its?

Speaker 5 (01:27):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:27):
Like when Royal otis redes a famous I was like, oh,
I like it kind of freshet.

Speaker 4 (01:31):
And his voices of a saint. You stop that.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
What would be.

Speaker 6 (01:33):
Better if it was the Otis that is ned Batty
from Superman.

Speaker 7 (01:38):
See, I'm just thinking it was just a bunch of
those lines. It's Otis he loves us?

Speaker 6 (01:43):
Or with Garfield the movie Coming Back. I mean otis
the dog, right?

Speaker 7 (01:46):
No, that is true?

Speaker 1 (01:47):
No, Odie ode Odie yeah close to get you got
to get your Garfield right, it's Odie.

Speaker 7 (01:53):
Oh yeah, same same thing? O d I e Odie
od Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
It is the Jason Smith Show with my best friend
Mike Carmon. We are Live for the Tireck dot com
studios tyrec dot com. I'll help you get there an
unmatched election, fast, free shipping, free road hazard protection over
ten thousand recommended in stallers.

Speaker 7 (02:11):
Tyrack dot com is the way tire buying should be.

Speaker 8 (02:15):
Well.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
Apparently, Mike Carmon Kyrie Irving listens to the show, and
not only that, he took what I said last night
personally when you and I picked the Western Conference Finals,
I said, look the Timberwolves defense. You look what it
did in the last round when they were able to
do it to Dallas. They'd have it figured out. They
know when what they can do, what they can get
away with physically. This is going to be a dominant

(02:36):
showing against the Mavericks. I have a tough time seeing
the Mavericks win a game, and honestly, I think Kyrie
might be cooked. He's not played well. This is the
most basketball he has played in a long time. I
wouldn't be surprised if he's just hit the wall because
he hasn't played this much basketball in years. Right now,
it's a two point game, middle of the third quarter,
and Kyrie's got twenty four on eleven to fifteen shooting.

Speaker 7 (02:58):
He's got the.

Speaker 1 (02:59):
Beds Hey, I took that, Jason Smith. I took that personally.
So far, no wall, If there is any wall, he
has broken through it. And it is a two point
game six minutes to go on the third.

Speaker 6 (03:09):
Well, he's gone and given you all the scoring, right,
he and Luca combining for nine assists. So that's where
it comes together, thirty eight points between them. But yeah,
Kyrie irving from the outset more or less just saying
blank you Jason Smith, I've not done yet.

Speaker 7 (03:26):
Well, he took it personally. It's absolutely taken the personally.

Speaker 6 (03:28):
And that's good because we need guys to, you know,
really up their game based on things they hear from
the show or things that are echoed as our show
is throughout Eternity and other talk show mediums.

Speaker 1 (03:44):
Now, I will say this all right again, seventy five
seventy one is a score of five and a half
to go on the third. Yes, Kyrie's got twenty four.
McDaniel's leading the way from Minnesota twenty one. Michael Jordan
has thirteen on four of nine shooting. I will say this,
I feel good if I'm Minnesota right now because Dallas
has played out of their shoes the first two and

(04:06):
a half quarters.

Speaker 7 (04:07):
They have run up and down the floor.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
They have taken on the challenge of Minnesota's defense and
one of the best backcourts we've seen in the NBA.
I still am gonna have confidence that when we get
to the fourth quarter, Luca and Kyrie are probably gonna
be dragging. Minnesota's defense is gonna put their will on
the game a little bit more. And even though it's
a two to three point game now, I expect middle fourth, final,

(04:30):
four minutes, Minnesota to pull away on this a little bit,
because it is a lot to maintain this for forty
eight minutes. Even though Luca and Luca and then Kyrie
have both had their minutes cut a little bit. They're
not gonna wind up playing overly busy minutes, not gonna
be in the forties. But still you get to the
fourth quarter with this kind of defense of what they're
gonna do, I still feel good right now if I'm Minnesota, well, I.

Speaker 6 (04:51):
Mean, four point game right, seventy seven to seventy three
inside a six minutes remaining, Luca complaining with the referees,
yelling at teammates, all of those things, had a little
spat at the end of the first with Gafford that
was pretty well chronicled and looking for foul calls. But
eventually Dallas might actually hit a three point shot too, though, right,

(05:13):
two of seventeen.

Speaker 1 (05:14):
From the field, crazy, don't get crazy, that's that's far.

Speaker 7 (05:18):
Two of seventeen.

Speaker 6 (05:19):
They're shooting fifty four percent as a team, but just
eleven percent from three pointers.

Speaker 1 (05:23):
Yeah, not not great from behind the air, not not great.
And just how long until if Dallas starts losing and
we then start seeing Luca limping? How long un till
he starts limping when they're losing by five points, eight point?

Speaker 7 (05:35):
How long till he starts limping.

Speaker 6 (05:36):
He's looking pretty spry. He's taking a couple of big
hits and got it right back.

Speaker 7 (05:39):
In the game. It's a two point game in there
in it.

Speaker 1 (05:41):
I mean, if they start getting down by a lot,
what we're going to see the limping?

Speaker 6 (05:45):
Yeah, but normally if you if you take a big hit, right,
he just drove to the lane and was looking for
a call that didn't come. They got the put back,
so but he glared at the referee. I mean, that's
normally a spot to get up and go, you know,
do your Peter Griffin kind of moment.

Speaker 7 (05:58):
No, he got right back up and was ready to
go back on the defensive ends.

Speaker 6 (06:01):
So he's had a couple of moments where he really
could have milked it. Instead he's been spry and and
bouncing into the lane. So you know the fact that
you just want to perpetrate hate on Luka Dacics.

Speaker 7 (06:14):
Oh no, no, I'm not saying I'm just saying that it's.

Speaker 1 (06:16):
Hey, usually when when they're not playing, whether they live,
that's when the limping starts.

Speaker 7 (06:20):
That's that's when we get the Luca limping. That's when
it happens.

Speaker 6 (06:22):
Well, but I mean it's the gamesmanship, just like Rick
Carlyle last round, trying to make sure you knew that
he didn't think he was being officiated properly.

Speaker 1 (06:31):
Yes, and the small market teams are not being given
a fair shake. I have I have mountains still crying
about this. I have mounted I didn't bring it up.
Harmon brought it up.

Speaker 7 (06:39):
Well, you could have just let it go, Harmon Bright.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
No, you're the one that you can't bring up Rick Carlyle.
Not expect me to say, hey, Rick Carlyle, ric moaned
and cried.

Speaker 6 (06:49):
Right right right, you want to get a nem hard
whining thing in.

Speaker 1 (06:54):
I don't need to see that three pointer you want
to hear it.

Speaker 7 (06:57):
I do not know.

Speaker 1 (06:58):
No, no, no, I do not know. Come on, they're
not gonna have that ready?

Speaker 7 (07:01):
What are you kidding me? What are you new here? Kmonica?

Speaker 4 (07:03):
I do have that ready.

Speaker 1 (07:05):
Look of course it don't have that. Make you wear it.

Speaker 6 (07:10):
You be careful, you'll get it fourteen times in a row,
you know, talking about my team.

Speaker 1 (07:15):
Like that first shirt, ty Shirt has to get rid
of all the Fortnight stuff off the computer. Then he's
got to load all the sound on.

Speaker 4 (07:22):
The Fortnight and then they think twelve.

Speaker 1 (07:26):
It's just a better story if people think you're playing okay, yeah,
doing the show, it's a much better story.

Speaker 8 (07:31):
Everyone.

Speaker 6 (07:31):
I really thought, you know it was no never mind,
it's like ty Shirt, so it's like it's his own
Twitch channel.

Speaker 1 (07:38):
You know what, I'm doing the show. I'm watching a
horror movie and I'm i'm I'm I'm playing a video game. Yes,
I'm doing all these things.

Speaker 6 (07:47):
As long as nothing suffers in the work displayed should
be society to the global audience that we've called together here,
the community we built.

Speaker 7 (07:58):
On Fox Sports Radio. Hey, all the power to him, buddy.

Speaker 1 (08:01):
Uh Now, one other thing to get into with this game, right,
because we got some we got some big game. We
got big off the court NBA news to get into.

Speaker 7 (08:07):
People are going crazy.

Speaker 1 (08:08):
About the potential end of inside the NBA. Oh, let
me just.

Speaker 7 (08:12):
Say this, right with lord, Let me just say this.
It's like what left the air and you started crying.
All right, go ahead.

Speaker 1 (08:18):
You gotta fill a void.

Speaker 7 (08:19):
You have to be if there's a void, you have
to fill it. TJ.

Speaker 1 (08:22):
If people expect certain things and they look Anthony Edwards
tonight is having a fine game, right. He's not having
an overly great game. He's got thirteen points, nine rebound,
six assists. He's not shooting particularly well. He's got a
couple of threes, you know, going into this finals and
from here on out. The one thing that that that

(08:45):
is top of mind with him now after the last
couple of weeks, is that, Wow, everybody is trying so
hard to make him happen. I mean it is, it is,
Gretchen Wieners. I'm gonna keep saying fetch until somebody picks
it up. Like everybody's trying so hard to make Anthony
Edwards superstar happen. He's Michael Jordan, he says, he's being

(09:07):
Mac Jones. You know everything you see, all the coverage
of the Western Conference Finals, all the cover to the timber. Oh,
he's just look at what he's doing, Look at what
do Yeah, Anthony Edwards is a fantastic player, but all
of a sudden, he's Michael Jordan. I mean, come on, man,
let's just stop right, let's stop with that for a second.
If it's meant to be for him, and he's meant
to be next and he's meant to be speak superstar,
we're gonna see it, right, But coming off of game seven,

(09:30):
going into this game, what did you see, hey, Anthony Edwards.

Speaker 7 (09:34):
Let's ignore the fact he shot six or twenty four
in game seven.

Speaker 1 (09:36):
Let's just say but defensively, the game they had, you know,
it's all five guys defensively, it's not just Anthony Edwards
and what he did in other aspects of the game.

Speaker 7 (09:44):
It's like, okay, we're moving.

Speaker 1 (09:45):
The goalpost just so we can always say incredible things
about Anthony Edwards. And you know what, sometimes the guy
has a bad game. Sometimes he's a little bit invisible
kind of like he's been tonight for long stretches in
this game. Right, he's not nearly the high scorer and
other guy having big games, and defensively, Dallas is playing.
Dallas has been able to do what they needed to

(10:06):
do against their defense so far. But it's like to
the point where I feel like he's being mac Jones,
where he's all of a.

Speaker 7 (10:12):
Sudden, we need him to fill this role.

Speaker 1 (10:15):
We need him to fill the role of who is next,
because we don't have that Who's next superstar. Jalen Brunson's
not physical enough, he doesn't dunk. He's smart and he's
crafty and he's quick, and I don't like it because
it's not something I could go wow about. So here's
Anthony Edwards, and everything you see is awe. Look how
he's Jordan. He's like, hang on a second. He's a
really good player and he's accomplished a lot by.

Speaker 7 (10:36):
The time he's twenty two.

Speaker 1 (10:38):
Right, he is the guy coming out of college he
was pretty good, he stayed pretty good, he's gotten even better.
He's gonna be.

Speaker 7 (10:43):
A terrific player for a long time.

Speaker 1 (10:45):
But wow, trying to make this happen, I mean, just
coming off of Game seven.

Speaker 7 (10:49):
I said, there's nothing the guy can do.

Speaker 1 (10:51):
If the guy if he shoots one for thirty in
a game, but his bucket happens to come in the
final four minutes, it's gonna be And Anthony Edwards, what
you gonna say about that one bucket? Man? Hey, the
other twenty nine shots he missed, but look at that
big hoop he made with less than four minutes left
to go. It's like they're they're pushing so much to
make Anthony Edwards happen. The media is doing it, the
fans is doing it, and I'm like, you know what

(11:13):
this is where if it's gonna happen, it's gonna happen,
even as trash say, hey, we'll see you guys back
here in game seven. That's some of the most benign
trash talk. But yet it's been thrown out there like
he guaranteed a win in front of the entire press
corps and the world. After again, we're gonna win. We're
down three, is that we're gonna win this series? Like
there's so much trying to make him happen that there's

(11:33):
nothing he can do that's going to be judged as Ah,
Maybe he should have played better, he should have done this,
and instead of just letting him happen, it's it's it's
the mac Jones situation all over again. Well, I think
he's gonna have a much better career than mac Jones,
is it. I mean, that's what that's what I see
with this and now where he is at after the
last couple of weeks, going into the Western Conference Finals.

Speaker 7 (11:52):
A couple of things.

Speaker 6 (11:53):
It would have made a better SoundBite and more noteworthy
for me had he said, yeah, I told the clubhouse
attendance left the envelopes with their season tips because we
ain't getting back. That would have been far more entertaining
to me saying, hey, I'll see it for Game seven
because we're gonna win. Nah, he's guaranteeing a loss. So
that sucked. That was a non story and whatever. But

(12:13):
we're hanging on every word. I would say it runs
in parallel a lot to Caitlin Clark and hear me
out on this, is that there's gonna be a certain
percentage of folks just ain't gonna care no matter how
much you try to make them right. They're not gonna
talk about the WNBA, the numbers, the attendance, sales, any
of that stuff and her play unless it's a corporate

(12:35):
mandate or they're going to try to prove themselves right.
But look how terrible she was, and look at her
complaint with Anthony Edwards. It's the comparison to Jordan here.
Let's do some side by side and look, Lebron's getting older,
so we really need to start pushing faces of the game,
especially with new blood in these conference finals, right it's

(12:56):
the Celtics, and then we got three new teams that
we can really push and everybody he already knows who
Luke is, so uh, let's go to that guy. Uh,
and really let's beat that drum as often as we can.
And again, it either happens or a dozen You either
want to watch or you don't. Just like Caitlin Clark
and the w NBA, Angel Reese and Brink and everybody else,

(13:18):
I can't make you watch, I can't make you care.
Hopefully you do. Hopefully you can open up a little
bit with Anthony Edwards. Bit by bit you see things
in his game, but it's it's not gonna happen overnight,
and the oversell gets a bit nauseating. But again, this
becomes now coverage of the game, and you know, we've

(13:38):
got a couple of guys that that's all they do
with their careers. Now, I still have sports to diagnose
rather than the media's coverage of it.

Speaker 1 (13:46):
I mean, he's Matt, Matt Jones ants go dude, just
understand what people are saying about you. It ain't always great,
but I'm better than you were.

Speaker 7 (13:54):
Mac.

Speaker 1 (13:54):
Okay, that might be true, but still okay, Bunny, They're
not hiring a defensive the ordinator to teach him how
to run a pick and roll.

Speaker 4 (14:02):
Jason, you tried to make Jalen Brunson happen.

Speaker 1 (14:04):
Dude, Jalen Brunson just happened. Man, I don't have to
do anything triganic. That was organic. Like, I'm going through
the produce isle and I just found organic spinach.

Speaker 7 (14:12):
It was so organic. Everything was organic.

Speaker 6 (14:14):
I mean, what would you know about organic spinach except
by stock in a show.

Speaker 1 (14:17):
I buy organic stuff all the time. We don't buy
anything it's not organic. Look at tight shup like, wow, Jason,
you're my hero. Any any any vegetable we buy always organic.

Speaker 7 (14:26):
And every person in America listening and in the studio
all the fruit we get is organic?

Speaker 6 (14:31):
All they just get a full ron burgundy. You know, no,
the hand of the nose going. I don't believe you
hundred percent?

Speaker 7 (14:37):
You know what? We could? You know what? I will
try to weigh in on this. I'm bobcat Gulfweight.

Speaker 1 (14:43):
All of a sudden, I'll have my wife weigh in this,
and she'll tell you everything is. You got to bring
her on to lie for you. Come out organic, don't
buy no, no, no, come on, man, I tell the truth.

Speaker 7 (14:53):
I can't lie.

Speaker 1 (14:53):
What's what's the purpose of being on the air every
night if I'm gonna lie? Come on, man, that some
let some other people do.

Speaker 4 (14:59):
There you have the Mix Finals.

Speaker 7 (15:00):
I'm gonna lie about stuff. Yeah, the Lions winning the
Super Bowl?

Speaker 1 (15:03):
Everybody?

Speaker 7 (15:04):
How close did I get to a? Okay a, how
close did I get to? The Lions?

Speaker 1 (15:07):
It was just bad Dan Campbell decisions for twenty minutes
to stop that from happening, and the Knicks almost got there,
but the entire team got hurt. I feel pretty good.
I don't lie to anybody, which.

Speaker 6 (15:17):
Means you get people up towards the finish line and
then you abandon them. Why do you forsake them when
you're about to win, when you're about to get over.

Speaker 1 (15:25):
It's like, hah yeah, fools.

Speaker 7 (15:28):
Whenever taking you, you're the guy at the crossroads. Yeah,
you're the devil.

Speaker 1 (15:33):
When I drive Zoey's friend zone after they if they're
hanging out here and drive, Hey, I'm gonna let you
off right here.

Speaker 7 (15:38):
But my house is three blocks away. It's really not
well lit. Nah, I take you.

Speaker 1 (15:41):
I take as close as I can, and you gotta
do the rest of yourself. But really there's no lights on,
and I think there's some wolves over there. Nah, just
keep walking, you'll.

Speaker 7 (15:48):
There's no lesson. If I take you straight to the door,
what happens?

Speaker 1 (15:52):
You get home and you're safe. What do you learn
from that? Suddenly I feel like Dwight shrewed. What do
you learn from that? You don't go through any kind
of adversity?

Speaker 4 (15:59):
Zipping, I'll play the name hard three.

Speaker 1 (16:02):
You gotta find it first exit out about a Fresca exit,
swollen doll that shut cluck down, a Calliverton double teem
shut clucking for MOR's gotta put it up, step back
P's three quarters.

Speaker 2 (16:20):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Paullie Fusco Here with Tony Fusco, you know, as the
host of the number one rated Paully and Tony Fusco Show.
We get tons and tons of fan mail everyday, piles
of it.

Speaker 1 (16:40):
In fact, Tony, why don't you open up one of
those letters right now and read what's inside?

Speaker 5 (16:44):
Hey, listen to this. Dear Paulie and Tony, your sports
takes the dumbest and most terribly.

Speaker 1 (16:49):
Not Wait, open this other one.

Speaker 5 (16:52):
Dear Pauli and Tony, you suck more than anyone.

Speaker 2 (16:55):
Wait, try this one.

Speaker 5 (16:56):
Dear Paulie and Tony, you guys are the absolute best.
There you go, coming up with the stupidest take against.

Speaker 1 (17:05):
Tony Fusco show on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts
or wherever you get your podcasts. Yeah, Fox Sports Radio,
The Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harmon.
Fourth quarter, just underway in Minnesota, two Wolves with a
four point lead over the Mavericks eighty six eighty two. Again,
a lot of basketball left to go. We'll keep you

(17:26):
updated on this. Kyrie going to the free throw line,
continuing the masterful game that he has.

Speaker 7 (17:31):
Had so far because he hates you. Yeah, well listen
if he listen.

Speaker 1 (17:35):
I think if if Dallas wins, they win the title,
they owe me then because I said, oh, he's gonna
he's hitting the wall. How much basketball can you have
left in him? He hasn't played this much basketball in
four or five years. Narius and I playing great. So okay, man,
if I'm the guy that did spur him moment, I'm
okay with that. I get a ring, Cuban, Cuban, come
give me a ring and get mad at me and
throw it. But I still get a ring.

Speaker 7 (17:55):
Would be pretty impressive. I mean, who hates you more
right now?

Speaker 9 (17:58):
Him?

Speaker 7 (17:58):
Or or a Herscheizer?

Speaker 1 (18:00):
Ooh, it's gonna be tough, Oral orls Nah, I think
it's still Aurel.

Speaker 7 (18:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (18:04):
The other game plays out there, like if Kyrie plays
a great game and Dallas winds up losing, No, but no,
Oral still doesn't land on.

Speaker 7 (18:12):
It's still Oral right there? Okay.

Speaker 8 (18:14):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (18:14):
Meanwhile, speaking of basketball elsewhere another day, because apparently Caitlin
Clark is going to play every other day, which shorts
into what we're going to talk about here, the uh,
the Indiana Fever. Caitlin Clark playing at Seattle right now
on a West coast road trip. They got Seattle, they
have Los Angeles, Las Vegas all.

Speaker 7 (18:30):
Coming up in the next few days.

Speaker 1 (18:32):
Right now, Seattle's leading Indiana twenty five sixteen.

Speaker 7 (18:36):
End of the first quarter. So far, Caitland Clark is scoreless.

Speaker 1 (18:41):
It's played nine minutes oh for four from the floor,
oh for three from three point range, minus five on
the night. It has not been a great start. She's
not been able to hit anything. Now, look, I'm not
I told you how fine everything is because now you've
seen very quickly boom WNBA has become part of the
sports landscape just like everything else. Right, So so all
that stuff has gone. But let me just say this

(19:01):
for Caitlin Clark, because she's fine. Everything's gonna be fine.
If she has a bad couple of games here and there,
I'm gonna understand. Because they gave the Indiana Fever seven
games in the first eleven days of the season. She's
gonna play a game on the fourteenth, sixteenth, eighteenth, twenty,

(19:21):
which he's done today the twenty second. Then she's got
Friday against Los Angeles and then Saturday back to back
they're playing Vegas. Oh, by the way, Vegas the best
team in the league. So you're talking about seven games
in the first eleven days of the season, like, there's
nobody that's gonna be able to play. Well, if you
put a schedule like that out there every other day

(19:42):
and then two nights you're gonna play back to back.
I'm telling you that that's gonna hasten the rut that
she's gonna inevitably fall in because she's played a lot
of basketball right now. I get the players play aau
all the time getting into college, I understand, but this
is where she has gone from a full entire college
basketball senior year where they made it all the way

(20:03):
to the championship game, and eight hours later she gets
drafted number one overall by the Fever, and a day
and a half after that she's playing her first game.
This is the most basketball we talk about Kyrie and
playing a lot of basketball hitting the wall. Kaitlyn Clark's
gonna hit the wall at some point pretty soon in
this season. Well, I would say, well, there's gonna be
a lot of what's wrong with Kaitlyn Clark just because
she's not gonna be performing because this is a ton

(20:25):
of basketball. It's a lot, and you can get past
the the initial excitement of the newness of the WNBA
and that little bit of energy in that burst, And
that's great.

Speaker 7 (20:35):
She's she's shown that her game translates. Everything is fine.

Speaker 1 (20:38):
But when it happens, because it's gonna happen, she's gonna
have bad games. She's gonna stack bad games. It's just
that there's too much basketball. That she's had to play
too much, high profile basketball where there's no rest. Is
not like well players play overseas. Yeah, but the the
overall commitment level of what they need to be doing
outside of the game, and that's said, they're kind of
out of the spotlight.

Speaker 7 (20:58):
It's it's kind of okay.

Speaker 1 (21:00):
So, but Caitlin Clark has been a front page story
pulled in a lot of different directions for a long time. Yeah,
she's gonna hit the wall. It's gonna happen, she's gonna struggle.
She'll bounce back eventually. But boy, I'll tell you, these
seven games eleven days aren't helping matters at all.

Speaker 6 (21:14):
Yeah, it's it's the curiosity though, right, is that you know,
the way this schedule is, it's a breakneck pace. I
mean WNBA season, it's a fast, fast season right to
roll into as the summer months go on, so you know,
the curiosity becomes you know, and I haven't looked further

(21:35):
down the schedule. How many breaks there are, you know,
where you get multiple days off. I mean they get
help now that they're getting chartered, so I mean that
helps a little bit, cuts down on that airport lag
time and all that fun stuff. But legitimately it is
something to monitor and not the best of things for
the WNBA in terms of the early schedule, which we

(21:58):
talked about just as a whole, not just the teams,
but this type of pace of as you have the
struggles where you're trying to capture eyeballs and get in
and sell, sell, sell, and for those that are on board,
it's it's not going to not gonna matter, right, folks
bought their tickets, they bought their advance and we've watched

(22:21):
it in the secondary market. It's the folks that are
on the fence that if you're tuning into the product
right now and you're seeing a bit of unevenness between
the ankle injury, h and the schedule perhaps having its weight,
not to mention the fact that what's that key thing
you keep saying about the fever.

Speaker 1 (22:38):
It's only one thing. It's only one thing. Remember, it's
only one thing about the fever. It's only one thing.
It's only one thing. They stink that's the only but
that's the only thing that's.

Speaker 6 (22:49):
Been nuts only and bit by bit, I mean, they've
gotten better, and they've had some stretches where it looks
like they're starting to communicate better on the court, recognize
things a bit better. But again, you know, if you
tune in for some clips of these, right, she's eleven minutes,
one of six, right now, finally hit a shot. It's

(23:12):
it's it's a tough watch for you, right, if you're
expecting her to come in and dominate. Now, if you're
one of those people that just wants to hate watch,
good luck to you. But you know, for the WNBA
as a whole, when you're trying to sell you can say, well,
she had nineteen points, but people are gonna dig a
little deeper in the.

Speaker 7 (23:27):
Box score, yeah, right, and things of that nature, and
it's gonna be fine.

Speaker 1 (23:31):
Look, the haters are gonna come out and there's gonna
be all kinds of stuff going on.

Speaker 7 (23:35):
It's it's just it's just too much basketball.

Speaker 1 (23:37):
And I don't mean like saying, oh, here's the No,
it's just the the one time only when you're gonna
go from hey, I've played all this basketball. There's no break,
and now I'm going right into a high profile season
without any break. And oh, by the way, may look
at the Olympics coming up later on, she's gonna wind
up playing the Olympics.

Speaker 7 (23:55):
You're gonna have a lot of stuff, and it's just
a lot of basketball.

Speaker 1 (23:58):
So anything you see, because it's gonna come and there's
gonna be a rough patch, you're gonna see, Oh she's overrated,
and maybe she's not the best rookie, all these crazy
ass things, which, oh, by the way, nobody gets any
more attention in the league than defensively than Caitlin Clark.
So just understand that as a rookie, nobody gets that.
Angel Reese doesn't get it. Cameron Brink doesn't get it much.

Speaker 7 (24:17):
No, no, no, much different players though, right, but much different.

Speaker 1 (24:20):
But but how nobody is having their entire close to hers,
but nobody's having an entire defensive scheme before the game
of this is what we do to stop Caitlyn, Like, no, no,
you're not doing You're not even I know you're doing
that for Brianna Stewart like you did. This is what
we are doing. Our entire defensive meeting is gonna be
about stopping Kitlyn Clark, Like, I mean, that's a that's

(24:40):
a huge deal that that she's gonna deal with as well,
and all this is part of it, right, all this
is part of it. But it's just that's gonna happen,
and she's gonna hit the wall a bit, and that's
all it's gonna be. And when when she gets used
to the schedule, hits your second win, starts hitting more shots,
it's gonna be back to where it is and Caitlyn
Clark is gonna be the show like it was right now.

Speaker 7 (25:00):
And it's tough for right now. Yeah.

Speaker 6 (25:02):
July seventeenth, their final game. I had of a one
month break, July seventeenth at Dallas. They come back on
the sixteenth against Phoenix. So you've got the Olympic break,
or perhaps the ability to just go sleep in a
hyperbaric chamber for a month.

Speaker 1 (25:17):
Maybe you do both. Maybe you play in the Olympics
and sleep in the hyper Barrick Well, I mean she's
got enough endorsements and sponsorships and all of those things
to come together to where, you know, you just have
a little extra cargo on the jet.

Speaker 7 (25:29):
We got room down there.

Speaker 4 (25:32):
Games to fall asleep.

Speaker 1 (25:34):
Hi, I'm Caitlin Clark. Have a trouble sleeping. Need your
body recover? Well, put on these TB twelve pajamas and
then either flip on the Mets game or get into
cryo sleep therapy. Hey, here's what it is, right, Let
me show you how easy it is to just get
inside this hyperbaric chamber, close your eyes and breathe.

Speaker 4 (25:50):
Don't get how you home runs two days in a
row and still lose.

Speaker 6 (25:55):
Historically. Did you see that stat Smith? Historically? Yeah, it
hit three arm in a game. You win almost four
out of five, Just like your damn dentist making a recommendation.

Speaker 1 (26:06):
Yeah no, no, really, I You're you're like someone You're
like a lifeguard of the beach telling me, you know
the ocean is pretty deep. I know how deep the
ocean is. I know the Mets steak. I know we
thinking we should be selling our players right now. You
don't have to work. You have to warm them into
every conversation. To Caitlyn Clark, conversation specialist, we don't need

(26:27):
that here.

Speaker 6 (26:28):
No, that was a good work by frost All. Bring
in something that would put you to sleep. We don't
get it gone for the easy, easier joke of the
White Sox.

Speaker 7 (26:35):
We can't because nobody cares about the White Sox. Well,
nobody cares about the Mets. Sure you keep jamming them down.

Speaker 1 (26:40):
Of course they do, because they spend a lot of
money and they lose. That's all what happens to It's
not about the Knicks either, Frostburg.

Speaker 4 (26:46):
You're trying to make them happen.

Speaker 1 (26:48):
Your team has been home for so long. People forget
the colors of the Lakers.

Speaker 4 (26:52):
Dude, how many times?

Speaker 7 (26:54):
What's there? I've seen it enough?

Speaker 4 (26:55):
Good basketball.

Speaker 1 (26:57):
Yeah, when you need a break.

Speaker 7 (26:58):
And when you get Doc Rivers your head coach, you're
not going to see anymore Doc. Yeah, that was just
means that was just.

Speaker 6 (27:06):
You wait for doctor was so far over the line
you can't even see the line.

Speaker 1 (27:11):
Yeah, the line is way behind me, right, I mean
I went so far over I don't even see it.

Speaker 4 (27:15):
I even said hi to you today. Yeah, and you
hit me with doc rivers.

Speaker 1 (27:21):
You well you you say you said to me high,
I said hi, You said see the Mets game. I
mean that's the first thing you said, said, I see
the Mets game.

Speaker 7 (27:27):
Like that's what it was. Well, he cares about you
and your mental well being.

Speaker 4 (27:32):
I was going to celebrate the three home runs and
then tear you down.

Speaker 7 (27:34):
Yeah, sure, hey the metsa three runs? They did they win?
Of course?

Speaker 1 (27:38):
Not man, they got doubled up. Oh all right, great,
not even they lose. It wasn't like they we lost
nine to eight or like eleven ten. I was like, no, no, no, no,
this is a game where hey, every every every game
now someone's breaking something, right, Jake Deekman broke a Gatorade
cooler last game today, Adam Outovino broke an iPad.

Speaker 7 (27:56):
He was so upset, like the metsa just break.

Speaker 1 (27:58):
This is how bad it is.

Speaker 7 (27:59):
It's May and.

Speaker 1 (28:00):
They're already throwing stuff and breaking things every single game.

Speaker 7 (28:05):
No they shouldn't.

Speaker 1 (28:06):
You just say, come on, man, dude, come.

Speaker 4 (28:08):
On, guy's not even a real guy.

Speaker 1 (28:11):
Come on, you'd love to have Adam. You want Adam
out of Vito. I give him to you whatever you want.

Speaker 7 (28:15):
Anything.

Speaker 1 (28:16):
Everybody is available from the Mets. Everybody's slicer and the
smells of a Jersey Mix him too, Tommy cutlets, let's go.

Speaker 7 (28:28):
Hey.

Speaker 1 (28:29):
So I'm here and I got extra cheese on my
jersey mis I just love that he's whispering and all
those camera I'm here at Jersey Mikes.

Speaker 4 (28:38):
How badly do you drool at that commercial when he
puts the extra cheese on?

Speaker 7 (28:42):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (28:42):
I love it.

Speaker 7 (28:43):
Oh you're kidding. I love the Jersey Mice commercials.

Speaker 4 (28:45):
Man, It's like that's how they hypnotize you.

Speaker 1 (28:46):
He's sitting there holding on I go. The thing is
I just I don't get it Mike's way, because it's
with you know, onions.

Speaker 7 (28:52):
I love. They like put tomato and and all kinds.

Speaker 1 (28:56):
Of of lettuce and like okay, and then they put
like vinegar and oil.

Speaker 7 (29:00):
I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, come on, man,
don't give me that.

Speaker 1 (29:02):
Give me give me mayonnaise, Give me some kind of
aoli that that's the sandwich right there.

Speaker 7 (29:06):
Man.

Speaker 4 (29:07):
So you basically tell them no fancy craft.

Speaker 2 (29:09):
You take away the healthy stuff and give me mayo.

Speaker 1 (29:12):
No, come on, man, I need some viscosity on this sub.

Speaker 7 (29:16):
Man.

Speaker 1 (29:16):
I can't just hear it, oh, because then you pick
up the sub and your hands are all greasy and
it's called that you're gonna wipe them off, and then
the bread just kind of soaks a little bit. Noa,
noa on a perfect sandwich, the number two, the turkey
with extra provolone onions, mayo and mustard on both sides.
There's your sub. That's all you need. It's perfect sandwich
right there. I'd always tell the guy too. I always

(29:37):
tell the guy anything else, I go, no, he goes,
that's all you want? Like they always like, you don't
wantny Moore. I go, it's a perfect sandwich. And they
all feel like, oh okay, because it is a perfect sandwich.
If I wanted something more, I would tell you, but no,
this is what do you want? A MIC's way, Why
would I want vinegar and oil or to Why would
I want that? Comes it's tasty and delicious. No it's
and it's not mayonnaise.

Speaker 7 (29:55):
No, it's just it's not no mayonnaise manaise mayonnaise.

Speaker 4 (29:59):
T Come on, as Mike, you don't dip your fries
and ma'am, no, mayonnaise.

Speaker 1 (30:04):
All the time. Come on, he has mayonnaise and poutine
all the time.

Speaker 4 (30:10):
That's I mean the okay, well, hey.

Speaker 1 (30:14):
Poutine, poutine? Poutine is that putin when I went to
When I went to Canada a couple of years ago,
I was like, what would you like to I want
to go somewhere and get poutine.

Speaker 7 (30:22):
That's what I want to have that right now. I
gotta have it right now. I gotta have it. I
gotta have cheese, I gotta have gravy, I gotta have
French fries. I gotta have it right now, right now,
right now.

Speaker 1 (30:32):
The Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harmon again.
Four point lead now for Dallas over Minnesota. Minnesota does
have the ball just over six minutes left to go
in this one, so we'll have more on this. But
coming up next. Yes, there's a we had to get
into sandwiches, and unfortunately that happens sometimes. But coming up next,
people think one of the most beloved things in basketball

(30:54):
is gonna go away, and I'm here to tell you
it's not gonna happen.

Speaker 7 (30:57):
What is it? We'll tell you next right here Jason
and my Fox.

Speaker 2 (31:02):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific, Fox.

Speaker 1 (31:09):
Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with My best friend
Mike Harmon, Live from the Tireck dot Com Studios. Two
minutes to go in the fourth quarter, Minnesota with a
one oh two, one oh one lead over Dallas. It
has been the Carl Anthony town Show. He has been
on a heater the last couple of minutes. In fact,
if anybody says, hey, what's an example of when someone says, hey,

(31:34):
it's a heat check three point attempt, that's Karl Anthony
Towns a thirty foot like Kimmy, I'm hot man, Kimmy,
I got it, and he hits a three pointer that
gives Minnesota the lead with a couple minutes left to go.

Speaker 7 (31:45):
However, we just watched a three from PJ. Washington.

Speaker 1 (31:48):
He now has thirteen and now it is Dallas with
a two point lead with about one forty left to go.

Speaker 6 (31:53):
Yeah, bad turnover gives an opportunity for a break the
other way. Washington set up beautifully in the corner, wide
open look.

Speaker 7 (32:01):
So we'll have more on this game coming up in
a couple of minutes.

Speaker 1 (32:03):
But look, there's a lot of talk today, a lot
of people upset.

Speaker 7 (32:07):
Hey, the end of inside the NBA is.

Speaker 1 (32:10):
Coming, Like wait wait wait wait wait wait wait now,
if you've been paying attention, it's a very big deal.
The last couple of weeks that it looks like the
TNT is going to lose their NBA package. They have
the B package right now, and it looks like they're
gonna get outbid by NBC, who is going to then
have the rights to the NBA that Turner used to have.

(32:30):
They're gonna want to put on a Sunday Night basketball
in America after football season's over, like they've been doing
with football. So they have big plans, and with more
and more time going on, especially today, it felt like
with the with the reports that this deal is all
but done inside the NBA is going to go away,
not in inside the NBA anymore.

Speaker 7 (32:49):
Tn T is not gonna have it. Hold on, hold on,
hold on, hold on.

Speaker 1 (32:53):
Everybody just stopped for one second. Do you really think
no one's gonna try, No one's gonna keep this in
side the NBA TV crew together, it's still the gold
standard show. No matter how many athletes want to give
us Land of a thousand podcasts. This is still the
gold standard for what people want. People watch game. There's
blowout games during the season where people watch just to

(33:15):
see what Kenny and Charles and Shack have to say
to each other and Ernie. Of course, someone's gonna try
to pick this up. Maybe it's Amazon who has all
kinds of money to spend. Maybe it's ESPN because ESPN's
wanted some of these guys for years. Yes, I know
that Ernie Johnson's the key, And Charles Barkley said, I
don't know if he's gonna go. If he's gonna leave
a network, he's gonna go someplace else. Maybe he's gonna

(33:35):
retire soon. Okay, that could happen. But also somebody Amazon
could say, Ernie, you want twenty million dollars a year
to host inside the NBA. I mean it could be
that simple, or it could be where Ernie Johnson does retire,
in which case then it'll be those guys on with
another host. It'll be somebody else on with them. But
inside the NBA is going to live at some point.

(33:56):
It's going to live on. We're not gonna lose it.
It's going to be different, sure, and it'll be different
on another network. I'm sure they're gonna want to put
their own spin on it, or Amazon will do it,
or ESPN would do it. But we're still going to
get the guys. These guys aren't going anywhere. They're not
gonna be done. They want to stay together. They understand
the strength of the group, and whether it's all of
them with Ernie Johnson or them with somebody else, they'll

(34:16):
have somebody else that everybody recognizes. It'll be a fun
person to put on the set. Everybody they've put on
the set has worked to an extent the last fifteen years.
So I'm feeling pretty good about the future of Inside
the NBA.

Speaker 6 (34:28):
Yeah, in the end, if it goes the way of
the Dodo, it's just another great thing to remember that
was once on television. Everything goes away, Guys take other jobs,
Guys retire. Ernie Johnson's sixty seven years old. He may
be done, may have had a good run, and just
look at it from a contractual standpoint, and maybe he's
a lifer there that he still has contractual obligations that

(34:50):
you know, they'd have to do a bunch of buyouts
and all that kind of fun stuff. And you know
they have a deal now where they've sublet, which is
where it really gets kind of fun, sublet some college
football games or whatever. I don't I don't know what
his interest is in moving right, you get used to
your institutionalized as it works. Take my Shawshank redemption notes

(35:12):
as we go through. But even if it were to
go away, we've had a hell of a run with it.
I mean, everything comes to an end, buddy. I mean,
I'd like to think there's enough money, interest, et cetera
for everybody to want to rally together, bring all sorts
of producers and assistance with because that's the other part
that needs to be we need to be mindful of.

Speaker 7 (35:31):
As much as we.

Speaker 6 (35:31):
Love Shack and Charles and Kenny and Ernie together, that
crew has been there a long time that they've worked
with to make that show what it is as well.

Speaker 7 (35:41):
I mean, really it's going to be different.

Speaker 1 (35:43):
But to think it's gonna go and it's gonna go
away completely, that's not gonna happen. And I think in
the end, if it comes down to it, Ernie Johnson
is either gonna retire, he's gonna go. And I know
some of it's posturing, all of its negotiation, everything is
on the table. I can't believe he's not gonna go
for a little bit to be with the guys. I mean,
I really, I really, I can't believe he's not gonna

(36:04):
go for them. Maybe he doesn't, but in that case,
and it's it's somebody else there with with with everybody, that.

Speaker 7 (36:08):
Becomes a real coveted seat.

Speaker 1 (36:10):
Uh, but it's it's throwing my hat and there's a
you're you're not tall enough to be on the set.

Speaker 7 (36:15):
I'm sorry, dude.

Speaker 6 (36:16):
I mean, look, they got guys six phone books Anthony
Davis every day.

Speaker 1 (36:21):
They can't they will. You won't even see the top
of your head to show a big headed's not gonna fit.
Maybe we'll get just get the top of your eyes
and we won't see your mouth moving, but just be
the top of your eyes and a jaunty hat while
you're talking.

Speaker 6 (36:34):
And then here's Shaq and Charles and there and Kenny
become a sexy man of mystery. Who's the parade? Come
on now?

Speaker 7 (36:41):
I think that would get old pretty fast. You know what,
you shut your faces.

Speaker 1 (36:47):
I only see the top of his head on the TV,
his eyes wait, he doesn't have any eyebrows. Coming up next,
we have an amazing finish in Minnesota. Come in your way.

Speaker 7 (36:56):
This is Fox.

Speaker 1 (36:59):
Fox Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with my best
friend Mike Harmon live from the tire rack dot Com studios.
Were an absolute stunner in Game one, Kyrie Irving taking
my take from last night. Personally, Hey, I think Kyrie.
I think Kyrie's hit the wall. He's not looked good
that last series. He did not look good. This is

(37:19):
too much basketball. He hasn't played this much basketball in
five years. And then Kyrie Irving goes and leads the Mavericks.

Speaker 7 (37:26):
By the t Wolves one, eight, one five. He has thirty.

Speaker 1 (37:30):
Meanwhile, Luka Doncic catches fire in the fourth quarter to
finish with thirty three. So the back court of the
Mavericks enough to beat the team defense of the Minnesota Timberwolves,
and boy, t Wolves have a lot to get back
to for Game two if they're gonna win this series,
because clearly, watching tonight, this was not the same Timberwolves

(37:51):
defense that we saw. And I gotta say on and
off at this point, right, I gotta say on and
off because you'd think after the first two games against
the Nuggets, Okay, we're going home, We're gonna be able.

Speaker 7 (38:01):
To do this.

Speaker 1 (38:02):
They couldn't. And then they did it again late in
the series and tonight. I just I just didn't see
that from them. I thought it was I thought it
was too easy for Kyrie and Luca.

Speaker 6 (38:12):
You know, it was too Well, you want a stat
that's gonna wow you no, give me one, gimme Mavericks
points in the paint sixty two to thirty eight. Who
how about that twenty one of twenty seven in the
restricted area shooting seventy seven point eight percent against the trees.

Speaker 4 (38:28):
Mike, you know why that is? Why is that because
Kat lives at the three point line?

Speaker 7 (38:34):
This is true.

Speaker 1 (38:34):
Yeah, but look, come on, it's not like it's cool on.
It's not like the Timberwolves have like the you know,
the defensive player of the year on the team.

Speaker 7 (38:41):
Oh wait, oh wait a minute, wait to hang on,
hang on. They do.

Speaker 6 (38:45):
Actually I spoke to but I did in the first
half they put up that stat and I wrote it
off off in the corner of my sheet, and I'm like,
all right, let's go see if we get the updated
final stats.

Speaker 7 (38:58):
There you go, sixty two thirty eight points in the paint.
Just unbelievable.

Speaker 1 (39:03):
I mean that that is. You know, watching this game,
I thought, Okay, the Timberwolves are gonna settle in, right,
They're gonna settle in, and this great start by Dallas
is gonna peter around. Right we came on there. I said, look,
it's it's middle of third quarter, right now, the game
is tied, but I expect Minnesota's defense is gonna wind
up throwing the hammer down by the time we get
to the midway.

Speaker 7 (39:24):
Point of the fourth quarter. And instead it never happened.

Speaker 1 (39:27):
You know, buckets were tough to come by in the
final four or five minutes, but for six in the
seventh quarter, yeah, off.

Speaker 7 (39:36):
But you know, really, you know, the one thing you
think is.

Speaker 1 (39:38):
That, hey, defense travels right, def every game, defense, right,
no matter what, you can have a bad game offensively,
but defense, you're gonna wind up having a great, consistent effort.
And I don't know, I just I just didn't feel
like we saw it from Minnesota tonight. And it was
like it was kind of on and off during the
the Nuggets series, because how do you have two games
like that on the road in Denver? And go home

(39:59):
and get hasted like that, where it doesn't even you
don't even look like the same team, Like what is that? Like,
I don't think Denver adjusted. It was Yo kitchen Murray.
I mean, what's not like suddenly guys are showing up
all we didn't know they had Alex English was.

Speaker 7 (40:12):
Gonna come play.

Speaker 1 (40:12):
I mean, come on, it's you know, I don't know
that that two thousand and eight Melow was gonna show
up again. So it really, you know, it's it's kind
of shocking to say that, but I feel like the
defense of the Timberwolves is is kind of a ratic
where it's it's just not always there. And you see
some games where it's everywhere and the other team they

(40:33):
struggle to even get the ball across half court and
never mind get the ball into the paint. And then
nights like tonight where it's boy Luca's slidestep in his way,
they have one player on him, they're not they're not
very active across the floor. And that was another thing,
like they weren't really active and and it shocks me that,
but that's kind of I think the most apropros way
to say is that defensively, they were really inconsistent tonight,

(40:54):
and that's been kind of a thing that's happened to
them in the playoffs.

Speaker 6 (40:57):
Maverick shooting nearly fifty percent for the game, just six
of twenty five from three point range. On the other side,
and this is where you know, we talk points and
points in the paint sixty two to thirty eight advantage, Dallas,
Minnesota shoots forty two percent from the game, thirty eight
makes overall, eighteen of those eighteen of those from three

(41:18):
point range. They made three times as many three point
shots as the Mavericks did. They got out rebounded by
eight and they were still in this game, right and
they still three times as many three point makes and
they lose. I mean, Dallas can't possibly shoot as poorly

(41:38):
from the outside. Now, I would expect some evening out
in that points in the paint category, again owing to
the size and perspective. But I mean, Anthony Edwards had
six makes on the night, Jason, five of them were
three point shots. Yeah, nothing inside, only got to the
line once two for two.

Speaker 1 (41:56):
I mean, look now, and that's the other part of this, right,
you have the defensive part for the Timberwolves, and then
let's get into Anthony.

Speaker 7 (42:02):
Edwards here for a couple of minutes. Okay, because we
talked about this off the top.

Speaker 1 (42:05):
Of the show. It's why, man, hey, I'm not afraid
to talk about it while the game is going on,
and people like to say, oh, you spoke too soon.
I don't give a crap. The show is going on.
You see so much of the media really trying to
make Anthony Edwards happen as the next face of the league,
not not not a next great superstar, but Michael Jordan

(42:27):
the face LT. I mean, all of a sudden, he's
He's had a breakthrough year and he's Jordan who went
six for six and NBA Finals and is going down
as as one of the number one or number two
greatest player of all time depending on on where you are,
and that in that debate, and all of a sudden,
he's this. Anthony Edwards has had some stinkers in the playoffs.
He had a stinker in Game seven, but the t

(42:49):
Wolves defensive effort was there, and all I saw coverage
after was, oh, you know, I despite a part shooting
at but he was great defensively.

Speaker 7 (42:56):
You know.

Speaker 1 (42:56):
Now the whole team was playing great defeat. One guy
can't just play great defense and you win. The other
players picked him up. But no matter what kind of game,
Anthony Edwards has all the guys. Jordan the guy says,
quit trying to make him happen. Everybody's trying. He's being
Mac Jones like this is I feel like the same
thing is going on, except Edwards is a better player
than Mac Jones is. But it's okay, Hey Brady retired,

(43:19):
with what are we gonna do? I'll look at Mac
Jones right training camp. He's doing things that Brady didn't
do as a rookie, like light, Like what carry other
somebody else's shoulder pads because they don't haze like that anymore.
Like what is he doing that Brady didn't do something?
We want him to be Tom Brady so bad. Fans
and media want him to be a Tom Brady so bad,
so bad, And now we get the same thing with

(43:40):
Anthony Edwards. They want him to be Jordan so bad.
I'm like, I'm sorry. When he has a stinker, you
gotta say it. He had a stinker in Game seven
and tonight. There were large swaths of the game where
he was invisible.

Speaker 7 (43:51):
The end of the game.

Speaker 1 (43:52):
Where was he at the end the end of the
game was Karl Anthony Towns trying to make it's Mike
Conley throwing up all kinds of crazy shots. Me. Come on,
Mike Conley is thirty seven. He's a nice player, seven man.
I mean, really, this is where you're at if you're
in Minnesota. So let's just be fair.

Speaker 7 (44:07):
We talk about Anthony Edwards.

Speaker 1 (44:08):
Hey, the guy's a terrific player. He's phenomenal, but wow,
I really keep trying to make him happen, and when he.

Speaker 7 (44:14):
Has a bad game, you got to call it out
for it.

Speaker 1 (44:17):
Jason Smith Mike Carbon live from Thetirack dot Com Studios
phone number eight seven seven ninety nine on Fox. We
continue this debate right now. Nobody'd better help us break
it down. Longtime NBA insider, you can follo him on
Twitter at the Steinline, Friend of the show. Check him
out on substack as well. Mark Stein Mark, what's happening, man,
how are you guys?

Speaker 9 (44:36):
I'm good.

Speaker 1 (44:37):
I'm good, Hey, Mark, I mean, this is an absolute
thriller tonight. But we'll get to the goaltend call in
a second. But let's bring you in here on the
Anthony Edwards conversation tonight. What did you make of his
game tonight? I really was surprised in the fourth quarter,
how what little presence he had.

Speaker 7 (44:54):
Especially in crunch time when they need hoops.

Speaker 8 (44:56):
Well, I think the defensive work he had to do
tonight look it out of him to some degree. I
think you're being a little too hard on him. I'm
with you on the next Georgi stuff. I think it's
gone too far with that, and I think even Anthony
Edwards has said it's gone too far with that. But
you know, tonight he was taxed on the defensive end

(45:17):
to a much higher degree than he was in the
Denver series. I mean, this was Apex, Luka, Doncic, and
Kyrie Irving together. Kyrie Irving in the first half was majestic,
and then what Luca did in the fourth quarter. I mean,
when those guys rumble for more than sixty points, you know,
the Mavericks are really tough to beat with the defense

(45:40):
they've built now. And that's really the thing. I know
you want to talk about. Edwards and Minnesota was at home,
and you know they're the new favorites, at least in
the West. When you go to Denver and you win
three times. But I just I can't get over the
defense that the Dallas Mavericks now play. I've been around

(46:01):
this franchise for more than twenty five years. I've covered
them in more than two hundred playoff games, and look,
they've had some sensational teams. I mean, they were an
automatic fifty win for years in the Navitki era, and
the twenty eleven team that won it all was a

(46:22):
very good defensive team. You had Sean Marion who could
guard every position on the floor. You have Deshaun Stevenson
coming off the bench as a wing defender, and most
of all, you had Tyson Chandler, who snapped next to
Naviki better than any center who ever played with him.
But in the Navitki era, that team was still always
known for its offense and always known for what Dirt

(46:46):
could do and what a difficult matchup he was. This
Mavericks team, even with this dynamic duo, they have just reached.
You know, Minnesota's still the best defensive team in the league.
But the Mavericks are an elite defensive team, and you
can't win a game like this unless you are an
elite defensive team.

Speaker 6 (47:06):
Well, that was the impressive that we were talking about
a little bit before. Mark, you know, the stat that
stood out all game long, just the domination and the
points and the paint and Dallas is interior defense showing
up big.

Speaker 8 (47:19):
Yeah. Look, Jokic's fealing with Jokic is something that you know,
that's that puts pressure on a defense like nothing else
in the NBA. And Minnesota just cope with it fantastically
well to win that series. But Denver is not a
team that's teaming with deterrents at the rim. And the

(47:43):
Mavericks are and you know they, like I said, they have,
they have so swiftly become a good defensive team because look,
another thing history tells us mid season trade don't typically
lead to tight So we had Clyde Drexler going to
Houston in ninety five, but the Rockets were the defending

(48:05):
champions when they got Clyde Drexler. In two thousand and four,
you had the Pistons acquiring Rashid Wallace and they want
it all. And then twenty nineteen you had the Raptors
getting Mark Gasol from Memphis on you know, they got
him at the deadline and then went on to win
the championship. But it's not often that a deadline deal
changes a team so dramatically, and the Mavericks the changes

(48:27):
they made in February, and it is just a completely
different look that they give you. And like I said,
it's a completely different look from what we've seen from
this team for years and years and years.

Speaker 7 (48:43):
Mark Stein with us here on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (48:45):
All right, so from the defensive side offense, And I'll
tell you what surprised me the most about this game
is how Kyrie Irving led them until Luca takes over
in the fourth, because Kyrie didn't have a great last
round and I'm wondering, hey, maybe he's hitting the wall
a little bit. It's the most basketball he's played in
four or five years, and I'm worried that he might

(49:05):
be a little bit easier to control in this series,
especially with the fat Minnesota being as great as our defensively,
And all of a sudden, like he took that personally
and suddenly he's out of the gate and saying get
on my back, And that really surprised me.

Speaker 7 (49:18):
I did not see that from Kyrie coming tonight.

Speaker 8 (49:20):
Well, I would say he didn't have a good series
or a standout series against Oklahoma City offensively, but the
defense that he consistently played in these playoffs. You know,
I personally have never seen him give more at the
defensive end than we've seen in this postseason run. But yes,
throughout the playoffs, Kyrie Irving has been a second half player,

(49:43):
and especially in the Clippers series. Multiple times he was
very quiet early and then went off in the second half,
and a lot of times, you know, became the closer
that Luka donc It so relished because Luca carries such
a big load every single night for this team. So
to be able to have another closer he can hand

(50:04):
the ball to and turn to, it's a tremendous luxury
that Luca has enjoyed all season long. But tonight, yes, Look,
this is the sixth playoff series that the Mavericks have
had under Jason Kidd as their coach. They were zero
and five in Game one. They've won four of those
five series, but they had never won a Game one.

(50:24):
To see Kyrie Irving come out tonight after the Oklahoma
City offensive struggles, you reference and score twenty four in
the first half. That gave the Mavericks a huge foothold,
and they needed it because Dallas did not have the
three ball going at all tonight. So to get this
win without making what were they six for twenty five
is from three I'm not looking at a stat sheet

(50:46):
in front of it. Was they were parable from the
three point line. So to find a way to win
under those circumstances, I mean, this was the blueprint of
what this duo is at its best. I mean they
and you saw with the hug that those guys shared
when they finished off Oklahoma City. And I'll put my
hand up and say I was right there at the

(51:07):
front of the line with skeptics all over the NBA
map about what this duo could do. And last season
they didn't know. They by no means came close to clicking.
They were only five and eleven when those two were
in uniform together. But it's just a year. Two has
been a completely different toy. And what's so remarkable about it.

(51:28):
Everybody in Dallas here where I live, thought it's going
to be great. These guys are going to get a
training camp this time. They played less than seven minutes
together in the preseason because both got hurt. They didn't
have a training camp this season either, but they have
become a duo that just knows how to play off
each other. And tonight you saw them. I mean that

(51:49):
was the peak script.

Speaker 7 (51:52):
Mark, was it goaltending on Kat?

Speaker 8 (51:55):
I only got two looks at it. I mean, they
called it so quickly that I thought they got it right.
But look, I you know, it seems like when we
get those kind of plays that we typically get six
seven eight looks at it afterwards to sure be a
lot smarter than the referees who have to call it
in real time, But they so quickly wave the basket

(52:16):
off that, you know, I think they got it right.
But like I said, I've only seen it twice. All right, Mark,
what do you guys think?

Speaker 1 (52:23):
You know, it's weird because the one angle from overhead,
it's almost like an optical illusion because you could see
the ball kind of clear the front of the rim,
but it comes up and right back down and clearly
when when Towns grabs it, it's the vast majority of
the ball is in the cylinder. I completely get them
making that call, you know, I get that we want
to say, oh, maybe not how do you make in

(52:44):
that situation? But that's something you go back and look
at final two minutes and I see it.

Speaker 7 (52:48):
It kind of goes straight up and straight down. I
get them making the call.

Speaker 8 (52:52):
I think they did the right thing because just by
calling if they invoked the replay. So I, you know, again,
on two looks at it, I tend to think they
got that one right.

Speaker 7 (53:03):
He's on Twitter at the steinline.

Speaker 1 (53:05):
That is at the steinline, NBA insider Mark Stein joining
us throughout the NBA playoffs. Mark has always appreciate your time,
appreciate your insight. We will talk to you soon. Have fun,
enjoy the night.

Speaker 8 (53:15):
Sounds good guys, stick care, Thanks Mark.

Speaker 1 (53:17):
Tick care, Aaron, great stuff there from well, look asking
us what we thought about that?

Speaker 7 (53:20):
About it?

Speaker 1 (53:21):
You know?

Speaker 7 (53:21):
Absolutely? Yeah.

Speaker 6 (53:22):
The only other question that remains. You got a team
that shot seventeen more three pointers tonight than they averaged
in the regular season in what was a one or
two possession game virtually all night.

Speaker 1 (53:34):
It's a weird game. One to say, how do you
feel going into Game two? But we'll have more on
that coming up in ninety seconds. Right now, we have
a very happy Manciy Belangios because she took home fifteen
thousand dollars who she bet there would be an offensive
goaltending call in the final five minutes of regulation. MONSI, congratulations,

(53:56):
you won.

Speaker 3 (53:57):
Where do I get this money? Jason?

Speaker 1 (53:59):
You told me about it?

Speaker 3 (54:00):
I know I did. I just tell me where to
go get it?

Speaker 1 (54:05):
Called Todd Furman.

Speaker 4 (54:08):
That was the other.

Speaker 7 (54:11):
Was like, goppel Ganger, baby, let's go spoil it.

Speaker 4 (54:15):
But she is wearing a Laker hat to.

Speaker 3 (54:17):
No, I am not.

Speaker 8 (54:20):
Not.

Speaker 4 (54:20):
She is on crack.

Speaker 3 (54:22):
Told it's no, it's a rug Rats hat. He's on crack.

Speaker 7 (54:27):
Wow, I went straight to crack. Crack.

Speaker 6 (54:32):
He's not seeingphroom rests.

Speaker 1 (54:40):
Crack Yeah, twice crack, not once, but twice.

Speaker 9 (54:44):
Cuckoo bananas. Let's start at the NBA. You guys were
just talking about it. Game one, the Mavericks win it
in Minnesota against the Timberwolves one o eight to one
oh five. You know the Timberwolves who have like you know,
the quote unquote twin towers, right, those really tall guys.

Speaker 3 (55:01):
They did not out rebound Dallas.

Speaker 9 (55:03):
You would think that they would have out rebounded Dallas,
but Dallas actually had forty eight rebounds compared to Minnesota's forty.

Speaker 3 (55:10):
You guys talked about the three pointers.

Speaker 9 (55:11):
That was also something that I wasn't expecting to see
from Minnesota. It was really Kyrie Irving in the first
half he ended with thirty points, and then Luka Doncic
in the second half. He ended with thirty three points.
Fifteen of those points came in the fourth quarter. Jadon
McDaniels was a leading scorer for Minnesota twenty four points.
Minnesota also had five turnovers in the fourth quarter. Again,

(55:32):
Dallas takes Game one of the Western Conference Finals.

Speaker 3 (55:35):
In the WNBA, the Fever were.

Speaker 9 (55:37):
Winning for a hot second guys against the Seattle Storm.
They actually outscored them in the third quarter twenty to fourteen,
but then the Storm came out to a seven to
zero run in the fourth quarter.

Speaker 3 (55:48):
So now it is a tie game.

Speaker 9 (55:50):
Sixty seven sixty seven with less than seven minutes to
go in the fourth quarter. Kitlin Clark now tied for
the leading score for the Fever. She's got fourteen points
and less than seven minutes to go in this one.
Let's move on to the NHL Game one of the
East Finals. It was all Florida as the Panthers beat
the Rangers in New York three zero. And then in
Major League Baseball, we've got two games still going on today.

(56:13):
The Rockies still up on the A's two to one.
They're about to start the ninth inning, and the Diamondbacks
have scored three runs in the fifth inning. They're beating
the Dodgers in LA three zero. It's the bottom of
the fifth inning. Earlier today, the Braves defeated the Cubs
nine to two. Max Free tossed a complete game. The
Giants came back from behind to beat the Pirates nine
to five to ten innings, scoring four runs in that

(56:34):
tenth inning, and the Phillies are now thirty six and fourteen,
the best star after fifty games in Phillies' history.

Speaker 3 (56:40):
They outscored the Rangers eleven to four.

Speaker 9 (56:42):
Bryce Harper with the home run, and of course the
Yankees Aaron Judge another homer, number fourteen on the season,
but Juan Soto hit two homers and they beat the
Mariners seven to three. And then very very early this morning,
very early on the Pacific Pacific coast, but yeah, West
Coast baseball happened. The Twins edge of the Nationals three
to two. The Guardians defeated the Mets six to three

(57:03):
to complete the sweep the Cardinals. They swept the Orioles
of five to four win. The Orioles streak of not
getting swept in the regular season has ended one hundred
and six series. This is the first time they've been
swept since May of twenty to twenty two. And the
Angels they beat the Astros two to one, two to one,
and the Royals outscored the Tigers eight to three.

Speaker 3 (57:24):
The mornings, what.

Speaker 4 (57:25):
When that's getting swept at one?

Speaker 3 (57:27):
Yes, I was like, where's he going with this?

Speaker 1 (57:31):
I'm not sure your streak is longer than that streak
of days the Lakers have not been in the playoffs.
That's a big streak.

Speaker 4 (57:39):
Count to seventeen champion.

Speaker 7 (57:41):
What else is a streak?

Speaker 1 (57:42):
How many innings has it been since the Dodger have
scored a run against the Diamondbacks? That's another one In
a hot second.

Speaker 4 (57:48):
Look up at the division, the Dodgers are like twelve
games ahead.

Speaker 9 (57:51):
Okay, all true things, all true things, all true, all true.

Speaker 7 (57:56):
Go collect your winnings, Go call to for the winnings.

Speaker 1 (57:59):
The Jason's The Show with my best friend Mike Harmon
coming up next. Yes, we'll have more on Anthony Edwards
and more on what to expect. Game two from Luca
and Kyrie and the te Wolves as the shocker in
Game one goes to the Mavericks keeper Right here, Jason
and Mike Fox Sports Radio,