Best of the Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon

Jason Smith and Mike Harmon weigh-in on the Knicks striking out seven times so far on head coaches.  Steelers OC Arthur Smith talks about combining a historically run-heavy OC with a pass-happy QB named Aaron Rodgers. And the guys explain why 2025 is just the Pacers year!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Carmen 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 bes friend Mike Harmon, Well Dressed Hobo also known
as Happy David Peterson Complete game Night. How about that
Hall of Fame? I mean that puts you into the
metal stand as a contender for the cy Young just
like Yeah, Buddy Sanga, Sure, Robbie Ray, Okay, Sale Sale

(00:58):
Peterson Yeah, you know me. I'm just a believer of it.
If you can actually go seven plus innings in a game.
An extra doffing of the cap. Also Game three of
the NBA Finals and Met's best record in baseball Night.
So there's that going on. Oh, the Dodgers took the
series from the Padres.

Speaker 3 (01:17):
That was kind of Wait a second, I think another
coach just rejected the NIX.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
No, do you have proof of that? Do you have
proof of that? We need every coach. All the coaches
are done except for Doc. But what did I do
about Billy Donovan? Right because he was the number three
longest tenured coach. And then what do we get from
k C hoops? Yeah, but now you can throw anybody
out there. People would believe it. You can anybody else

(01:40):
a liar. You could throw anybody out there. They rejected
the nick.

Speaker 3 (01:44):
I'm just waiting for Luke Walton to tell you guys
to beat it.

Speaker 1 (01:46):
It's eventually going to get down to Doc or nobody.
It's Doc. I mean, now I'm going to that point
where it's the only only Doc is the only going.

Speaker 3 (01:53):
You asked everybody else, everybody else said no, you know, Okay,
I'm here.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
I'm waiting ahead of the good you can tell. I mean,
at this point, really, it would be better for the
Knicks if they just blanketly send out a note to
every NBA team saying we'd like to talk to your
head coach and see what you get back. That would
be more, That would least be less labor intensive than
getting told no individually by all of these coaches every

(02:19):
five bleep in minutes. Seems like you gotta just set
down a mass email BCC and everybody and see who
were responded in the affirmative. Okay, you know what, we'll
get to. We'll get to say I'm still stand no,
we gotta do this now, uh Doc, we'll get to
the NBA five. I mean, really it is. I'm I'm
now convinced it's gonna get down to that the Knicks
are gonna go get done. But if that means because
I mean the Bucks have been selling the idea that

(02:42):
they need Doc to keep Yannis happy. If Doc leaves
for the Knicks comes with Doc, boy, I don't know.
You know what, give me. Let me think about that
for a couple of minutes. Let me think about it.
You've got to love about it. But I get Doc
because I just watch what Doc has done with Jannis,

(03:04):
and that was nothing. Close your eyes, what do you see? Nothing?
So if Yannis comes with Doc, how do I think
that's gonna work? I just watched Doc for two years,
completely under it. H Jalen Bruns with him. It doesn't matter, man,
it's you didn't have Chlamy. It's gonna be down to
It's not gonna be down to doc or re hiring
TIBs like that's where the Knicks are eventually gonna get

(03:25):
negotiate a higher pay rate. Okay, so till me thirty million,
but I'm not coming back for a pennies. You have
to take his out in the paperback. Yeah, and that
long goodbye. I mean, didn't you have the violins playing
for you as you read that one? I need to
have a personal intervention here for a second. Again, we'll
get to the NBA FI. They're at halftime right now,

(03:45):
four point lead for the Pacers. Yeah, but James Dolan
is lee putting up some tasty licks right now. The
Knicks have now been told no from teams who they
want to interview their head coaches. They've been told no
by the Rockets for you Donka. They've been told no
by the Mavericks for Jason Kidd. They've been told no

(04:07):
by the t Wolves for Chris Finch. Chris Finch, Chris Finch,
Chris Finch. They've been told no by the Atlanta Hawks
for Quinn Snyder. Yeah. Now they've been told no by
the bulls for Billy Donovan like they think it's two
thousand and nine. Okay, let me just say this. Stop

(04:29):
doing this. All you're doing is embarrassing yourself. What did
I say last night? You can't keep doing this because
eventually you get to the point where you think, do
people even want the job? Does anybody? Does anybody want
this job? Because being told no by the teams is
like being told no by the coach, because if the
coach wanted the job, he would say now wait, now, wait, no, wait,
I know you don't know you want to give permission,

(04:50):
but I really want that job. And what have we
said when a coach says If a coach said I
want to talk to the Knicks about the job, guess what,
he's not coming back to that team. It's done. Whether
he gets the job or not, it's done. You can't
bring a guy back to coach when he says I
want to go coach, and go and go coach that team.
So if you get a coach saying yes, then what
you're doing is figuring out the compensation, which is what

(05:12):
you're doing anyway if someone said yes, so it doesn't matter.
Nicks are being told no. These are coaching teams that
are telling the Knicks no, and the Knicks are embarrassing
themselves by continuing to ask and say no, I'm sorry,
but just because you're single, you're not going to get
people to break up with their prom dates so you
can take them to the prom. It's not going to
happen in one day. In twenty four hour span, the

(05:36):
Knicks have gone from what a destination, what a job?
This is? How many people are going to be clamoring
and climbing a lot of each other get this job,
and now it's nobody wants it. They can't get anybody,
and they're embarrassing themselves with an interview because basically now
they've been told no five times six. If you want
to count Jay, right, you say em, I'm kind of
happy staying in retirement. So you've been you oh, you're

(05:56):
oh for six? Now you are oh for six? Right,
you are one Soto like two months ago you are
oh for not one Soto now because he's great, but one.
So you are zero for six. It's so embarrassing, and
I want the Knicks to just stop. No one is leaving.
No one is leaving their job to come coach the
team Okay, I know you think that maybe it's not
embarrassing because well, we're just accurate bishops. But no, but

(06:17):
now it looks like you really don't know what you're doing.
You don't know what coach you want. And oh, by
the way, what coach is gonna say yes? Because coaches
want to feel like they're special, right Like if you say, hey,
we want to talk to you about talking to your coach. Hey,
if the first guy at Chris Finch, hey, I feel
pretty pretty uh special because they want to talk to
me about this job. Now you feel like, oh I
did the right thing, because now the Knicks just asked

(06:38):
like seven other people if they want the job. Everybody
wants to feel special. How special do you feel if
you're a coach, because you know, if you say you're interested,
you want to know that you're gonna get that job
because you're not going back to where you are. So
now who's gonna say yes? Because the Knicks have now
asked six coaches? Hey do you want this job? You
want this job? You want this job? Want six teams?
You want to know that if you're gonna say hey,

(07:00):
I want to talk to you, you're gonna hire me.
But now I don't feel special. I don't feel special
if I'm Jason Kidd, I don't feel specially I'm Chris Finch.
I don't feel special if I'm Miles Finch. I don't
feel sad because and peaches are vulnerable. I don't feel
special from any of these guys because, like, well, all
we've done is biff this. I don't feel special if
I'm emai U Dook, itta feel special. I'm Billy Donovan.
Right now it's like, oh, hey, Billy, you want to
leave the Bulls and come coach a realty. No, not

(07:22):
gonna happen. Like it's so it's embarrassing on on on
two completely different levels that the Knicks now don't look
like a destination, they don't look like a place people
want to go, and they're completely biffing the search. Stop
this and go find the guy you want that obviously
doesn't have a head coaching job. And if it's Mike Brown,
it's Mike Brown. I like Mike Brown. He's got a

(07:42):
great offensive system that will work with the Knicks. He's
a great defensive coach. Go get Mike Brown. I said
him from the beginning. The guy that doesn't have a job,
head coaching job. The guy want is Mike Brown. Go
get him and stop this embarrassing run of the last
few days. Okay, I like the head and he runs
a good defense. Like he doesn't get a remote control
to operate the legs of Brunson and Towns. You recognize that,

(08:03):
So let's just put that out there. But this would
be a much different search and your feeling, I believe
for you and for well for the rest of the
basketball loving world, would be much different if it was
a cattle call for all of the non tenured coaches,
i e. Everybody that's out in the free agent market

(08:24):
looking for their next job in between fishing trips, right,
Because then it's a we can bring guys in, talk
to them and have some learnings and maybe glean some insight.
What did they see? What you know, philosophy of how
they would utilize the roster we have. And for Leon Rose,
that's what you want, right, You want them throwing flowers
at your feet because they can find because every one

(08:47):
of them is gonna come in and tell you how
great their role players could be in their system, right,
Because that's why you got rid of Doc top tibotus.
See I'm bringing Doc Rivers in his thibodeau. Is that
he didn't utilize the roster you thought you'd assembled that
was a more complete roster. No, he went five and
then occasionally plus two, plus three depending on the game,
sometimes not at all. Right, So all of that to say,

(09:11):
you're going back to all of these coaches with jobs.
I don't think it's untenable for a guy to go
have a conversation, cause in the end you have to.
You can't hold him a hostage. Say no, you're not
talking to them. And if you're the coach, look you're
hired to be fired, you know that it's going to
end for you in that spot at some point anyway.

(09:32):
So have the conversation. And then you come back and
in Calmber heads until it's number five, number six, number
now serving number fourteen, which is now we're at the
deli counter with the Knicks, and you're all out of turkey, roast,
beef and anything you actually wanted. Now we're getting into
the you know, jar of pickled meats and things of

(09:53):
that nature. That's all that's left because you've sold out.
So for the Knicks, you you're in that horrible spot.
And we talked about it when the odds first came out.
A lot of big names, a lot of guys with
great resumes, former Coach of the Year candidates and winners,
great assistant coaches that you can go and talk to. Uh,
And now you've just become the laughingstock to where anytime

(10:16):
there's a no, you have to make sure it's Central
versus Centel, you have to make sure it's Shans versus Charms.
Because I really had to look for the Billy Donovan
when I'm like, okay, now wait, let me make sure
this is real. Yes, I know, because you thought I
said I'm a bogus account to try to trick you. Yeah,
since I put it out in the universe yesterday, I

(10:36):
know you have a lot of free time during the day.
And I said, that's exactly something Harmon would do, is
try to get Billy Donnov into the Knicks. So I deliver.
Was wheeling in d like that's that's a legitimate source.
That's legitis gets a meat. Now it's Billy Donnovan, I'm
being told. The Knicks reached out to coach Carter. The
Knicks reached out to Gene Hackman, and I said, Hey,

(10:58):
what's going I was gonna say the greatest fictional football
coach was Herman Boone, according to one website, at this point,
at this point, don't the Nicks just call Greg Burholter?
I mean, really, don't you just do that now? At
this point? Really? I mean, if you're there, you're embarrassing
yourself so much. If the coaches wanted the job, they
would they would let you. You would find a way and
you would ask back channel. You just keep communication. Told no,

(11:22):
being told no by the team is like being told
no by the coach. And now it seems like we're
not a destination and it's and and they're and they're
completely biffing this, like in twenty they've done this in
twenty four bleeping hours. Man. Well, the funny thing with
the Jason Kidd was the report that if they reached out,
they would get an emphatic no. So reach out anyway
so much someone put up to big the votes. So

(11:44):
this report, So you you wanna yeah, no, okay, good
but asked an answered, moving on, get it over Now
you're just you're you're the guy at the end of
the bar. You're just shooting shots, figuring eventually you get
the one. You go one for forty. Still it's gonna
still scored that night again, it's gonna be Doc is
gonna be the last guy standing, going, may as well

(12:05):
ask me? Is he wearing that middle uh man as well?
You know, a little hat like Elton John. He's got
a cane. He's like he'll like the last guy at
the party, like everything all the you know, there's all
kinds of smears on the floor and beer has been spilled,
and it's messy everywhere and you gotta clean up. And
Doc's the last guy sitting on the couch going, Okay,
I'm the last one here. I'm sorry, everybody else is gone.

(12:27):
You may as well ask me. Uh. Here's Charles Barkley
pregame on the Knixt coaching situation.

Speaker 4 (12:34):
The Knicks gotta be the stupidest dawn people in the world,
Like you don't find no good coach, Like no, we
heard enough that sense, I don't know that we needed.

Speaker 1 (12:44):
The end of that sentence now is a Knix.

Speaker 4 (12:48):
The Knicks gotta be the stupidest down people in the world.

Speaker 1 (12:51):
It is. It's I can't believe this is how it's
been run. What you do is you have you have? No,
you have. You're not in a rush, right, You're not
in a rush. Back channel the hell out of it.
And then you hear one or two names, right, and
that's it. Now it's the oh for six man. This
is this is like I don't know, this is like
me at my first freshman party in college. Oh for

(13:13):
six man, Oh for you're oh for six man, Just
go home, just go back, just go home. No, you're done.
It's not your knight. No conscience, man, it's not your night.
This is this is a coach says, not your night.

Speaker 5 (13:22):
Man.

Speaker 1 (13:23):
Take a seat, take a seat, come back tomorrow. Work on.
It's like pizza, work even if it's bad. Nah, good dude,
you're oh for six guys. Sit here, Sit here. You're
not you're not saying you're not doing well with the
ball in your hands. Okay, we're gon we're gonna take
it away from you. Okay, not not happening. For over
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(13:44):
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nix just it should have called me. I'd had been
doing it better for them. Call somebody doesn't have a job.
Apparently all the guys with jobs don't want to call somebody.
I've had coaching jobs. How works there? You go call
Mike Brown, He'll take it. I'm sure it's still it's

(14:05):
still one of a very small number of jobs that
are open at this level in the world. People who
don't have one of these jobs will want one of
these jobs. Call a guy that's not a head coach.
It sounds crazy, but maybe that's just me. Well maybe
they just said no, I don't want to be your
eighth option. I'm waiting for Mike Krzyzewski to say no.
I've turned down the Knicks in retirement. I'm done. I've

(14:25):
turned them down, Nick Saban, all coaches that are offed away,
they're all done. They're all one after another. I'm out, unreal, unreal, Bud.
The Knicks just find a way to continue to empara
all the box. Uh yeah and again again it's it's
gonna be down to doc. But why even they called anybody?
Call hey, hey, Uh mister Cole, anybody call anybody call
Nicks call No, okay, all right, appreciate it like the

(14:49):
like in every episode of Deep when Julie Lees Drives
always say did the president call? No man? All right?
Thank you?

Speaker 3 (14:54):
Doc?

Speaker 1 (14:54):
Is every day the NIXT call the next call, no,
no call from all right? Thanks a lot. I appreciate it.
Thank you? Is he like on the chain call of
would be like when you have to cancel and practice
or move it. He's the last guy on the list,
like all right, everybody got the message, well except Doc.
So we have more on big stories out of the NBA,
including what we have seen so far. Game three of

(15:18):
the NBA Finals coming up next right here. Jason and
Mike Fox Sports Radio, Johnny Quato, bruce Hurst, Howie Kendrick,
twenty eighteen playoff hero all Famous. Forty sevens. Why is
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Speaker 2 (16:49):
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.

Speaker 1 (17:01):
Fox Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with My best
friend Mike Harmon. Ready for a new job? Let Express
Employment professionals help. While Express helps people in all industries
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we'll get to the pacers on the funder in a second.
But you know, I, you know, in the movie when

(17:27):
let's see What's What's a What's a good movie? I
can I'm going through the roller decks in my head
where a person you know, Okay, remember in Guardians of
the Galaxy too, when Rocket puts Groot in charge of
the button the thing. Don't press it by I am grout, No, no,
don't press that button. You're and you're kind of nervous
because hey, he's in charge of something and doesn't really

(17:48):
know what he you know what he could be responsible
a shiny red button. Yeah. I walked in straight out
of ren and stimpy. I walk into the control room.
You know, four minutes ago and Froxburgh says to me,
don't make me do it, And I said what and
he shows me his phone, doc Rivers and doc rivers
phone number. I said, do not call him.

Speaker 4 (18:07):
Do we? No?

Speaker 1 (18:08):
No, not you. That was almost like we asked also
because didn't look like normally. It's like small letter like
NET was like reading a billboard. Doc Rivers like staring
you in the as like yeah in the movie went
when when the bad guy grabs a hostage and holds
him puts a gun to their head, like oh you
can't and the hero goes, okay, I'll put my gun down,

(18:30):
like I walking in front, don't make me do I'm like, okay, okay, okay,
put the phone down. Let's put the phone down. I
want to ask Doc Rivers. We're not calling Doc and
telling him to go to that. We're not doing that.
We want to keep him away from the Knicks. We
don't want Doc there, and let's let's talk about this. Hey, hey,
put the phone down, justin and we'll talk about it. Okay,
we'll talk about it. It call him under the guys

(18:50):
can talk about the NBA Finals from a guy who's
been an NBA champion and then go all right, Doc.
For the rest of the series, the over under how
long it takes the Knicks to get to you in
their roll of decks? Wait? Wait late, hang on, let
me hang on, let me see my phone. Hang on, refresh. No,
nothing for the Knicks in the last fourteen seconds. Give

(19:12):
me give me the thirty seconds. Hang on and refresh. No,
that's still nothing. But then he starts to scroll and
suddenly sees a two to one two. Wait a minute, wait,
I found out the Bucks actually have given permission to
talk to me. Oh oh that's great, but hang on,
hang on, the Knicks have denied that permission. Okay, all right,
well it's not working. All right, no good, all right,

(19:33):
I'll move on. Now we call the real doc. Now
we're not put the phone down. Don't call that. Don't
you call doc rivers. Do not call doc rivers. Do
not call this. What happens when you tell me to
do it? You will cross There is just shocking news.
Okay that that that will cross the rubicon. That's worse
than Tysher continuing to play Tears for Fears every single night.
You're in the will though, don't worry, No, I don't

(19:53):
want to be in the will, will not. I don't
want to be in the will. I don't want to
be in the will do not do it. But he's
got his phone number. I mean he's got he said,
Doc River. I'm like, oh wow, okay, that's a oh boy, Okay,
all right, let's understand here, of all the people that
Knicks can hire, who they will vent you get, let's
not let's not you too, because maybe somebody jumps in
and says, oh, you know, I want the job. Oh yeah, great,
mc cronin sure, come on in now whatever.

Speaker 5 (20:15):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (20:16):
I'm just saying there's a lot of people. I mean,
Mick Cronin, Moore, Doc Rivers would be at the bottom.
Tom Thibodeau in terms of dealing. You're hiring the same
guy except a guy that coached college. Except you know
it doesn't that is an it. Wow, I didn't. I
didn't even make that leap. That's that's fun. I'd rather
have Aaron Boone, I think, than get Doc rivers in.

(20:38):
I don't know there's anybody you could tell me that
I'd rather have. But here's here's what you now have
to do. You really have to talk about the brilliance
of the other Doc Dave Robertson and what he did
last night setting up today's game and everything. Uh, that's
the only way you're gonna get back on his good
side and have him put that phone away. Otherwise he's
gonna be sitting there with a finger over that hovering

(21:01):
over that button. Yeah. No, it's awful, it's awful. But
speaking of the Dodgers today, Time now for the play
of the day. For over forty years, tire Rack's been
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Tire rack dot Com is the way tire buying should

(21:23):
be well. The best rivalry in all of baseball and
a top five rivalry in all of sports. Had this
round end earlier today and thanks to one big swing,
this guy gets to be the play of the day.

Speaker 2 (21:38):
On a two to one. Her name is sends one
in the ear to deep center field.

Speaker 1 (21:42):
Merril's going back here it is gone. Tay Oscar roars again.
Joe Davis, Dodgers TV on the call. Ti Oscar Hernandez,
the big jack that gives the Dodgers the win over

(22:04):
the Padres and just really quick for a guy who
needs that hit. He needed that hit well. But that's
the thing Joe Davis call is misleading to Oscar hitting
it a whole lot. No, but he's excited again again.
He's only hitting a day, has it? Howard it forever?
It's like, no, I tell you he didn't. Look you look.

(22:26):
We talked about Andy pa Has the other night and
how I'm really coming around to him being on the
All Star team. And even if he doesn't make it
this year, it looks like he'll be one of those
Midsummer Classic staples as a center fielder for a while.
But I'll tell you the Dodger lineup, they needed that. Listen,
in the fight to be the second best team in baseball,
the Dodgers needed this win today over the Padres last

(22:48):
sixteen game, I needed it. And I bet now the
Dodgers may, hey, they may have the mantle of the
second best team in baseball. That they may have it right,
you know what happening? They might They might. He's gonna
keep keep you know, he's gonna do it anyway. He's
gonna do it any Yeah, Yeah, he's Yeah, I'm going
to answer my phone tomorrow and just say unknown call,

(23:09):
I'm gonna hello, Hi, this is stuck. Oh come on,
this is Jason.

Speaker 4 (23:13):
Hey.

Speaker 1 (23:13):
Do you know anybody at MSG I'm trying to get through? Uh,
Prike caller, Pride caller, who gave you this number? Tell
him to call into the hotline. Then we'll say, let's
go to the phones eight seven seven, and there it is.
It's you called me. Uh time out to find out
what's trending in the wide world of sports. So someone
have been waiting for a big update on for the

(23:34):
last half hours. Okay, yeah, because she and I have
a lot in common when a team, when one of
our teams does something good, retail right, tail in by something.
Moncey Belanos really likes the overrate that saying that has
been going on with Tyrese Halibert and the Pacers for
the last month or so since Hey, thirteen people said

(23:54):
I'm overrated. I'll show you, and then it was the
majority in a poll of ninety guys. He hit a
three in the first half to give the paces, Like,
just hit a three in the first half to give
the paces well, and then he smack talk to defender. No,
that's good. He hits a first half three, and Montsy says,
I went to Puma, I got the overrated, overrate that

(24:16):
T shirt and put it in my cart and I'm
gonna buy it. So now I gotta know you've had
a half hour. Did you go buy that T shirt
just because Tyree's Holliburton hit a three?

Speaker 5 (24:26):
I have not, but I'm going to see here's the thing.

Speaker 1 (24:29):
I wanted to buy it already and it's sold out,
so I had like forgotten about it.

Speaker 5 (24:33):
So then he hit the three like you just said,
and I went back and it was back and I'd
mentioned this too much?

Speaker 1 (24:38):
Was there until he hit the three? How did some
other company not just co op that? They said, sure
they did, don't worry. I looked into that.

Speaker 5 (24:47):
I also when it was sold out, I looked into it.
But I wanted the Puma one. You know what I'm saying.
But I had to text Carrie Rhodes, my co host
from the Weekend, because I had told him that I
wanted to get the shirt, and he's like, if you
get it, get me one. So I sent him the
link and once he responds, I'm either purchasing one or
purchasing two.

Speaker 1 (25:05):
It's happening overrate That also all right, But for those
that don't understand it outside of our little sports world,
it really is a statement walking up and down the street.
Oh yeah, no, what hell are you talking? Overrate?

Speaker 5 (25:16):
What?

Speaker 1 (25:17):
I can't I can't tell you. How are you trying
to rate? The Mets or the Jets win it big
in I'm like, I'm getting a T shirt, yes, shorts,
let's go, let's go.

Speaker 2 (25:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (25:26):
No, I'm only getting one. I'm only getting one. And
by the time the T shirt gets here, the Pacers
lose the final. I can't wear this anymore.

Speaker 5 (25:34):
I'm solute to wear But you're right, that's exactly that
is exactly what's going to happen. Actually, after three quarters
of play in Game three of the Finals, the thunder
I have been eighty nine to eighty four lead over
the Pacers. It's been back and forth since, like the
second quarter because okayse had an early lead. Cheded Holmgren
came out to a hot start twelve quick points in
the first quarter.

Speaker 1 (25:53):
He's got eighteen. Jalen Williams has twenty points for Okay.

Speaker 5 (25:57):
See shake Gil just Alexander eight of seventeen, and he's
got twenty one points for Indiana. Tyres haller Brand nineteen points,
eight assists, five rebounds, Pascal Siakom's got seventeen points off
the bench, Benedict Mathern has seventeen points, So eighty nine
to eighty four after three quarters. We'll see how this
one ends. In baseball, just so you know, I know
they Alsotta had struggled, but still is the leading is leading.

Speaker 1 (26:21):
In RBI's RBI whatever for the Dodgers. Sure, still sure,
he's still the leader.

Speaker 5 (26:26):
So even though you like that, even I don't know,
even though he sucked for so for like a little bit,
he's still the leader in in that, in that so
he needed that, you're right, he absolutely needed and so.

Speaker 1 (26:39):
Did Michael Conforto.

Speaker 5 (26:40):
He was the one who hit the Tye solo home runty.

Speaker 1 (26:43):
Yes speak speaking of RBI's, Yeah, leads the majors in
rb an RBI. Okay, gotcha, Okay, yeah, So I.

Speaker 5 (26:54):
Mean go Pete Alonso, who didn't hit a home run
today along with Brandon Nimmo also hit a home run. Yes,
and Mets, like you mentioned your Mets. They shout out
the Nationals five zero.

Speaker 1 (27:03):
The Dodger home run.

Speaker 4 (27:05):
I forgot about.

Speaker 1 (27:08):
I forgot he was a met for like a hot second.
The Dodgers cheat the fine to two in San Diego.
I'll contribute for that, thank you.

Speaker 5 (27:19):
And so the Yankees are up on the Royal sixty three,
bottom of the ninth. They even in Kansas City, Aaron
Judge with this twenty fifth homer. The Astros are up
on the White Sox ten to two, bottom of the eighth,
Rockies with the sixty three lead over the Giants. Yeah,
they were down, not anymore. It's the top of the
seventh in Colorado. No other teams have denied the nixt
requests in the.

Speaker 1 (27:38):
Last half hour. Sure about that. Yes, I'll go and yeah,
I'll check again, But nobody else yet. You just got
to keep hitting refreshed exactly. Yeah. I typed the search
in the Twitter, and I got to type the Nicks
and denyed Nick and I keep waiting to see what
comes up. And we see what comes up. Came in

(28:00):
tumbo no no, no oh, yeah, yeah, that's what he's saying.
The Knicks they found a way. Hey, we're a destination. No,
now you're laughing stock.

Speaker 4 (28:08):
If you get the email sides from them.

Speaker 1 (28:12):
Do not answer.

Speaker 4 (28:14):
My email was crazy.

Speaker 1 (28:17):
If you can get it from the Knicks and they
want to talk to your head coach, do not answer. Yes,
hang up everyone. I'm glad we get to play that
all right, Thank you, Monsie. Good luck with your retail therapy.
Thank you, very good, very good. Just sitting there with
her finger hovering over the button. You buy? Now? Do

(28:38):
I buy it? Do I the shirt for him? Doc Rivers?
Do I buy?

Speaker 4 (28:44):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (28:44):
He'll call doc Rivers first. Yeah, because if this game
doesn't finish well for the for the patient, Haliburton MANSI
will let again. No, no, no, not doing it, guys.
A loser couldn't win this game. No, guys, was not
going to do it. But maybe she wants some of
that stuff, you dude, My well, I can't tell you
how much my wife hates you. Oh, I know for

(29:05):
showing me the player's trunk. Hates you. She hated me before,
that hates you now she only pretend hated you. Now
she really hates you. It's like, did he really have
to show you all of that? I feel like it's
a commercial. Where can I get all those songs in
one place for one low price? Just did he really
show you a place where you can buy real Syracuse
team issued gear for football? Yes, yes he did. He

(29:28):
showed me exactly where I could do that. And then
you said, but but there's also Michigan stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I said, well, I gotta say I gotta say, well,
I gotta save that for birthday, Christmas stuff like that.
I can save that. Yeah, no, but this is and
now you spent what but honey, it's it's Michigan. Yeah.
And I just have to make sure that the players
who wind up selling stuff and having stuff out there

(29:49):
are my height, because that's the problem. Like I can't
buy John Balla Jack stuff because he's you know, seven
feet tall. I can't buy his pants because I mean,
it would be like to be like double pants. I
can't wear them. I gotta get Oh, I mean you
can walk it on still try pain who transferred it
went to Penn State. He's five eleven. Okay, Okay, now
we're working on it. Okay, that's what I can get. Yeah,

(30:10):
let's go have to see where the different logos and
it's to be something if you had to have them hemmed, yeah, yeah,
that would become problem. I get that. She hates you,
absolutely hate you. No, it's okay, I wear it. She's
not alone. I mean, there's a list right now in
the fourth quarter, eleven and a half left to go. Look,
great game so far between the Thunder and the Pacers.

(30:31):
Eighty nine eighty seven. And I'll tell you what doesn't
make any sense. One thing we told you was gonna happen.
One thing that doesn't make any sense. What did I
tell you last night? Hey, if the Pacers can hit
threes at a forty to forty five percent rate three
more times in the series, they'll win this series. All
the stuff it breaks down to, that's because that's what
the Pacers do. It's how they cut into leads, it's

(30:51):
how they they do what they can. It's how they
open up their offense because everybody on the floor can
hit threes. Right, it's a two point game. And tonight
the Pacers are six out of twenty two for three
point range, six out of twenty two, and still somehow
it's a two point game. Well, you've done a really
good job of taking care of Thunder turnover, the Thunder
have four players in double figures, doesn't matter, doesn't matter. Somehow,

(31:14):
it's a it's a two point game and they can't
hit a three to save their lives like that, like
that that show. But I look at this and I go, okay, this,
this doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense. Well, late
in the third they had seventeen points off turnovers, a
couple of easy walk in layups. Uh chet, Holmgren got
out to that huge start. That was all fun, Yeah, Cheolk,

(31:34):
he was a chelmer. I mean, look, my two guys, Hey,
I want to I want to bet the first quarter
that Homegren scores double digits and SGA doesn't score. That's
what I want. And then Matherin goes nuts in the
second quarter. And you and I were joking before the show, right, Look,
that's fourteen. That's the other part of it is late
in the last like month, Bettett Mathren has proved, Hey,
he's the best sixth man in the NBA. And he's

(31:56):
not even the first guy off the bench. He's got
twenty two right now in eighteen minutes. This is the
fourth or fifth time in the playoffs. You can go,
how does the guy have this many points in this
amount of time and shoot this well, Mathern is keeping
them in the game like he's the guy like Halliburton's
having a good game. Is he having an incredible great game?
Nobody's having a good game, right, he's yeah, and Siakam's

(32:19):
having a good all around game. But Mathron with twenty
two and eighteen, he's eight out of ten from the floor. Man,
it's like all of a sudden, he's he's Vinnie Johnson
on steroids. You know what the thing about it, I
don't get anything for the Vinnie Johnson reference. I mean,
come on, man, wave, I gotta explain to gen X
who Vinnie Johnson is. Oh, you're gonna have to do
that anyway. The microwave red microwave heats up in an instant.

(32:39):
That's Benediic Mathrin. He's the new Vinnie Johnson microwave chicken
because I just had that right before dinner. Oh but
a guy that can that can fill it up. An
unheralded hero of those teams made folk hero. Yeah, but
on the grander scand he never gets included at any
best of No. But now I'm just thinking about the
microwave chicken I had before the show. That was reatten,

(33:00):
thinking about thinking about eating chicken for dinner. Yeah, but
Matherin's that one of those, clearly. Mike Harmon feels like
Chicken Tonight. Like Chicken Tonight. You want to what that
commercial Chicken Tonight, DJ, because that's a commercial. I think
people know when I do Berman. It's an old reference
from something in pop culture that I don't quite know about.

(33:21):
Do you think it's not the AI kind of like, uh,
what was it? Uh? The guy from Captain America who
they've saved him and he's in the computer? Is it
Doc Rivers? No, not Rivers. I'm in the computer like
a coach. Can't kill me. I'm still here. Exit up

(33:41):
about a Fresco exit swollen down. The Jason Smith Show
with My Best Friend Man had a point again, a
two point lead for the Thunder right now, still a
long way to go in the fourth quarter, but coming
up next, a bold statement by an NFL team today,
But leave it what I actually see it. That's next

(34:02):
Jason and Mike Fox.

Speaker 2 (34:06):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific, Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (34:15):
The Jason Smith Show with My Best Friend Mike Harmon.
I don't know what he just said, if you're ready
to lose weight, get the expert help a phdweight loss.
No injections or prescriptions, fast weight loss results. They work
for me and Mike, they'll work for you. Call and
schedule a console today. Visit my phdweight loss dot com.
That's ny phdweight loss dot com. Uh ninety eight ninety eight.

(34:37):
Seven minutes to go in the fourth quarter, Thunder and
the Pacers, Game three of the NBA Finals. Hey, it's close,
it's fun. Don't ask for too much. It's all in
the middle of the fourth quorder. It's close's late, it's
been chippy. Yep, that's all right. Physical, I mean both
ends of the court. We got guys yelling to the ground.

(34:58):
That's everything we want.

Speaker 3 (34:58):
Yep, one hundred percent. Seven minutes. Two more guys could
reject the Knicks in that time.

Speaker 1 (35:03):
Come on, man, seven minutes, like five guys could reject
the Knicks. Why do you sell it so short? Two
guys reject the Knicks? Come on, it's a kid giving
out over under a two and a two guys too, guys.
Since I just said come on, man, we've had three
people say no. John Calipari said no, you just keep
hearing bing. Jim Layernega said no, tom Izzo said no.

(35:27):
Beheim said, I'm not coming back to this. You know
who won't say no, no, no, no, no, no, Okay,
go ahead say it. Doc Rivers all right.

Speaker 4 (35:37):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (35:37):
We'll have more NBA coming up in a few minutes,
but something that now I really can't wait for because
today Arthur Smith, the Steelers offensive quarter met the media.
Talked about what it's going to be like having Aaron
Rodgers in now that he is the Steelers quarterback. And
we've told you for a while, Look what kind of
fit is this going to be? The Steelers hate throwing

(35:59):
the foot ball. Mike Tomlin wants to run the football,
whether or not the Steelers are good at it. They're
bad at running the football. They don't they're a volume
running team. They have the lowest yards per carry average
in the NFL last year. And Agie Harris was like
three because he's just a rive, He's just a guy.
Jar is a little bit better. But all they do
is run the football to just keep time off the clock.

(36:23):
That's all they do. They don't run the ball particularly well.
You can't win games ultimately and win big in the NFL.
This is how you're playing. But now you're bringing Aaron Rodgers, right.
And Arthur Smith met the meetia to say, they said, hey,
how are you going to work Aaron Rodgers into the
offense assistant? He says, well, when you sign Aaron Rodgers
and you trade for DK Metcalf, you're not bringing these
guys in to run the wishbune, which is it's a

(36:44):
great Smith's done something. She got there now just thinking
back to like Oklahoma in the eighties with like Jamel
Holloway running the option and how great that was. Let's go,
oh mag Mel Hollowy was so good. Uh now, okay,
that's a great thing to say, but you're not gonna

(37:07):
do it because Aaron Rodgers. Aaron Rodgers is not gonna
be happy handing the football off twenty five times a game,
maybe more. But guess what, that's what he's going to
do suddenly. Mike Tomin's not suddenly gonna say, oh, we
have Aaron Rodgers, let's throw it fifty times. Not gonna happen.
Rogers is going from a team that at least threw
the football more than anybody out The Jets had the

(37:29):
fewest rushing attempts of anybody in the NFL, mainly because
they stunk and were playing from behind most of the time.
But they didn't run the football. Rogers got to throw
it a ton. That's not happening in Pittsburgh. Man. This
is why this whole Rogers Steelers marriage doesn't make sense.
He needs to throw the football. He likes to do it.
Mike Tomlin likes his quarterbacks to be necessary evils. We're

(37:50):
not gonna suddenly. There's not gonna be all these games
where there's forty five fifty passes being thrown. They're simply
not gonna do it. Rogers needs the reps he needs
and it's not gonna happen. And this is a marriage
Maide in Hell. Right, you've heard of a marriage made
in heaven. This is a marriage Maide in Hell. This
is Mephistopheles. Do you take piezzlebub I do I do?
Go play football? This is not going to work. Right,

(38:13):
For all you talk about Rogers great, put them on
a good team. Yeah, yeah, this is not good. There
is one There is one style and philosophy of how
to how to call plays offensively that Mike Tomlin Arthur
Smith have all the way over on the other side,
drink your milkshake all the way. On the other side
is Aaron Rodgers with, Hey, I don't like Candon. I

(38:34):
want to throw it all the time. Yeah, good Lee's
gonna anna pull the hell out of it. Good luck
when it goes well, you're gonna have the begrudging lead
the Mike Tomlin nod behind the sunglasses and move on.
I give you this as evidence that this can uh
and and could work in the Aaron Rodgers let's air

(38:55):
it out mode. The final three regular seasons of Ben
Rothlisberger's career, Yeah, six hundred and seventy five pass ense.
Oh yeah, yeah, six hundred and eight pass attempts. Yeah,
not doing that again. Six hundred and five passes, not
doing that again. He wanted out. He wanted out from
the Ben Roethlisberger aerial Show. But that was also the

(39:17):
end of Ben Roethlisberger, where he was no longer the
guy that could extend plays with his legs. He was crumbling. Well,
this is this is how he explained to Mike Tommy said, listen,
I know you like to run the football. I can't
throw the ball more than five yards, so it's really
like a running play. I'm accurate. I'll complete the ball.
It may only be a three yard game, but it's
like a running play. Oh well we'll do that then. Okay, great,

(39:37):
But we've talked about that a lot. That's been the
NFL for the last decade. Those are running plays essentially, right,
the quick flanker scream. Don't you think that's Tomlin going
from Okay, I hated the end of this era. What
do you think it's a coincidence that the quarterbacks they picked,
they have gone at the bargain basement guys that have
the last chance hotel to come play. Yeah, because I

(40:00):
want to make sure you're not gonna be some guy
to try to spray the football all in the field.
That's not what we do. You think there's a coincidence
that that's what they've been going after and now this
is just gonna be a disaster. It's gonna be an
I mean, you think about it. I told you taking
the underage as I told you by December, and thanks
to Mike Tanneboun for stealing our take that we've had
like like months ago. By December, it's gonna be Can

(40:20):
Aaron Rodgers finish the season as a starting quarterback or
as Will Howard gonna get reps. That's what it's gonna be.
And now you know that that take was today. Congratulations,
we had that take like a month ago. You're welcome Steelers.
I'm so intrigued. But this is so good because it
takes all the air out of the balloon and people going, Hey,
is t J. Watt getting signed? Are you guys gonna

(40:40):
fight all off season? Like what's going on over there? No,
let's keep talking about Aaron Rodgers. But Arthur Smith getting
to go to the podium. How great is that? And
Mike Tom was going, uh, wishbone, all right, that's the
last time you're at the podium for the next three months.
That was great. Banned from the podium. Coming up next?
Are we talking about a Pacers two to one lead

(41:02):
despite the fact they can't hit a three? That's next. Fox.

Speaker 2 (41:06):
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.

Speaker 1 (41:17):
Fox Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with My best
friend Mike Harmon. Be sure to check out the Fox
Sports Radio YouTube channel just search Fox Sports Radio on YouTube.
You'll see a whole bunch of video highlights from our shows.
Be sure to subscribe so you never miss our very
best Fox Sports Radio videos on YouTube. Well, the Pacers
win it over the Thunder one sixteen to one oh seven,

(41:41):
and they take a two games to one lead in
the NBA Finals, and the team that goes up to
one wins the NBA Finals eighty one percent of the time.
Eighty one percent. Eighty one percent, Terrell Owens Andre Reid
eighty one Yeah, was he eighty or anyone? Eighty one

(42:02):
percent of the time. Now, two big things coming off
this game. We just watched the Pacers beat the Thunder
and a game in which the Pacers didn't do their
A and B things really well, which is hit threes
and get superstar games from their star players. But it
doesn't matter. They were still able to win. Benedict mathern

(42:24):
off the bench with twenty seven points. TJ McConnell had
ten and five, right Obi Toppin had eight and seven.
They're eight to no. Now with Caitlin Clark in attendance
and games, that's a big deal. She showed up and
you knew you were in trouble. Here's the first one
that gets us to the bigger point, right. The first
one is I kind of said this half kidding lye
last week, but now it really you look at this again,

(42:47):
eighty one percent chance to win the finals. Doesn't it
look like the Pacers are a team of destiny? This
entire NBA Playoffs, the comebacks in the first round against
the Bucks, the second round going out the Calves, the
way they did that incredible series with the Knicks and
the greatest comeback in the history of the NBA, and
Halliburton making the choke side, and Halliburton's dad getting banned

(43:09):
from games because he stood in front of Giannis and
was mocking him and trolling him. Then he gets to
come back to the games and they still find ways
to hit shots and win, and the small market team
feel good story. Like last week it was eh, yeah,
but now it feels like, oh, we've been missing it
all along. They look like a team of destiny. Whatever
they need, they're gonna get. Hey, good game from Halliburt tonight,

(43:31):
Really good game? Was he over the top dominant?

Speaker 4 (43:33):
No?

Speaker 1 (43:33):
Really good game from Siakam tonight? Was he over the
top dominant?

Speaker 5 (43:36):
No?

Speaker 1 (43:36):
But Hey, doesn't matter because you had Matherin off the
bench for twenty seven points. I think it feels like
anything they want when they need to, they get it,
and it doesn't matter who they play. They should have
probably lost to the Bucks, doesn't matter if Bucks where
the Bucks were hamstrung, but they still need the big
comebacks they want, not the better team against the calves Caves,
better regular season team, doesn't matter. They beat the Calves

(43:58):
Nick's higher seed, more excite, I mean, better starting five,
doesn't matter. They wind up winning this thunder best team
in the NBA, stars everywhere, perfectly a place team when
it comes to how it's constructed, doesn't matter. Up two
games to one, they find a way even when they
don't have an A plus night like they seem like
a team of destiny, destiny destinies. I don't know if

(44:19):
you're supposed to pluralize it or not. The team team
of destiny, team of destiny, Indiana Jones and the Dial
of Destiny. The Indiana Pacers are the team of destiny. Yeah,
I was just thinking, maybe we need a different word,
because clearly that got co opted shortly after we said it.
But all of that to say it has been a
magical run, no question about it. In terms of balance

(44:42):
and definition, right, steal a little from Arnold Schwarzenegger and
pumping iron while I'm at at it, right, always work
for balance and definition and finding guys off the bench.
And this is where we talked about the team, Depp
coming into the series to give them a little better
than the what minus seven hundred I believe were the
series odds for the Thunder coming in. I mean, I

(45:03):
got it to six. Looks like I could be wrong,
it could be six going the other way, but that
it wasn't going to be a walkover by any by
any in any way, shape or form. Just the team's
too good, too creative and fast paced, right, They're gonna
make you pay. And we watched it tonight. You look
at Shay Gilders, Alexander playing a little bit recklessly with

(45:28):
the basketball. He ends up with six turnovers. I think
that was a career playoff high. You look at Alex Cruso,
who's been money for them off the bench. He's minus
fifteen and got worked in time and again. And you
just watch all these secondary players show up and it's
not to diminish them, it's just saying your headliners are Siakam,

(45:49):
your leading scorer in the regular season, and Haliburton, who
filled the stat sheet in every category today. But you
got the huge bench contribution of the second quarter. What
you got out of Matherin and McConnell was just ridiculous
and that helped carry you towards this victory. When you

(46:09):
got a great start from Chat On the other side,
you got three point acumen from lou Dort, didn't matter.
They took care of your turnovers and turned them into points,
something that both teams have struggled doing earlier in this series.
Jason Smith Mike Harmon live from the Fox Sports Radio Studios.
Now the big read, because now the thunder have gone
from Boy, they're a fun story. I hate the Knicks,

(46:30):
so hey, I'm glad they beat the Knicks. Boy, Halliburton's
kind of fun. Now, it's whoa. This team is on
the cusp of winning the NBA title, right, this team's
on the cut and kind of playing off the team
of Desney. Thing a little bit is that when we talk,
and really Halliburton is at the forefront of this, right,
but it gets much bigger than him. Right. You want to, hey, listen.

(46:50):
I'll tell you take this and use this in conversations
with your friends to mark cause I'm sure're gonna see
it on TV and on the radio. Halliburton has been
a player whos off of the you overlook me, you
overrate me? Right, that'll the thirteenth sell said he was
the most overrated player. Moncey Bolanos is buying T shirt.
It's probably hit. Bonzi bought like ten of those Halliburton

(47:14):
T shirts. She's got the next decade overrate this right,
And Halliburton's been at the forefront of that. Right. He's
been hey, you know what I am. When when you
when you overlook me or you think I'm not great,
that's motivation for me. And I talked about how you
listen when you're truly one of the greats. You got
to do it every game, right. You can't just hey now,

(47:35):
I'm motivating right now. You got to give it to
me every game. But overall, why are the Pacers this good? Right?
Why are the pick They're a fifty win team, they
get into the playoffs and all of a sudden they
play like they have a chip on their shoulder because
you know why, because most of their players do. Right,
you'd want to talk about a team that's filled with
guys that have been overlooked or not getting the attention

(47:58):
they deserve. Right. You have Halliburton, right, who was drafted
by the Kings, gets traded to the Pacers, and he
had a pretty good first year and a half of Sacramento.
But then he gets traded the Pacers. All of a sudden,
he blossoms, right, scores six more points a game, and
now he's an All NBA type player, right back to
back years. Completely overlooked. Pascal Siakam, Right, Okay, Siakam was
a really good player, but well, Kawhi Leonard is better

(48:20):
and Fred Van Vliet was better. Ska was kind of
a glue guy. Hey, really talented, No, guess what overlooked
his career. Look at where he is right now and
he plays He's playing like peek Kevin Durant over the courses. Right.
You have Matherin, of course, coming off the bench. Who
you know, he's playing for a big contract someplace else
where I can go and be a starter. Right, this

(48:41):
is Matherin being motivated because hey, I'm overlooked. I should
be a starter somewhere in the league. TJ. McConnell's been
overlooked his entire career. And I play like I'm the
guy in the pickup game that you absolutely hate because
my motor always goes, and I treat you with disdain,
and you are the most hated player. Just seeing TJ.
McConnell dribble the ball on the court, you hate him, right,
But we said that going back to the for long

(49:03):
before he vanquished your Knicks. But he's everything you want
in a player like that. It's everything you want in McConnell,
who comes in and his motor is at a million.
Obie Toppin right, overlooked by the Knicks. Why hey, first
round pick came in. The Knicks you know, brought him
along really slow. But then it was what are we
gonna do because we have Julius Randall playing in your position.
Obie Toppin never got the chance to play enough minutes.

(49:25):
Overlooked goes to the Pacers, Right, These are these are
their most These are some of their most important guys
who are here that that are that are that are
able to play and are able to succeed. Right, And
then you have guys like Nee Smith and and and
I can't say his name because of the three less
times is right, But I mean like and and even
even got still miracle three from last year. But now,

(49:47):
but you have a guy like Miles Turner who's played
his entire career in Indiana, right, and and he's came in, Hey,
he could might maybe he could be the next superstar player.
But instead he's been a nice thirteen to fifteen point
a game guy for his career. But still, hey, now
I am here in the spotlight for the first time
in the finals. And even though he has a bad game,
it seems like he always hits a three at some

(50:08):
point in the game. That makes no sense, right, But
you know that's to a lesser extent. But you look
at some of the guys you just talked about, they've
all been overlooked, they've all been overrated or all, yay,
maybe you're not as great as we think you are,
and they all feed off of that. I look at
a team that when I see the Pacers play, they
are hungrier than the other team on the court at
all times. And it doesn't matter, Hey, Halliburton and Siakam

(50:31):
come out of the game, doesn't matter, because here comes topping,
here comes McConnell. Here comes Matherin and they pick up that.
They kick into that next gear when they come on
the court. Okay, great, and they keep playing. They keep
reving that engine at the top and when the fourth
quarter comes, everybody's fresh because they play rotation. So it's
not like boy Halliburton looks like Brunston at the end
where he's dribbling up the ball, it was like a

(50:52):
fifty five year old man because he's been playing heavy
minutes the whole game. No, they are there at the
end and they're all fresh because everybody contributes. They they
are just hungrier. The overlooked players are always hungrier. And
this is a perfect moment in time where the Pacers
have all of these players at one time and you're
seeing it right now. Yeah, I think to pull it
back just to that next level is then you look

(51:14):
at Rick Carlile. I don't know that Adam Silver wants
to hear this because I know he's been doing his
media rounds so that it's like it's showing again your
regular season. We shouldn't really read a whole lot into it,
and there's a lot of basketball to be played. I'm
not vanquishing the Thunder, But we're encapsulating things where we
stand in this moment. The eighty one percent likelihood of

(51:36):
finishing again, the Thunder came into the series minus seven
hundred favorites. You should triple underscore that as you will.
But the Rick Carlisle appreciation post and recognizing again it's
all about pacing and being ready for your second season. Right.
While they finished in the middle of the pack as

(51:58):
far as playoff teams go for the Eastern Conference, they've
had the best record other than the Thunder since the
first of January, Right, So fifty wins doesn't matter, right,
Look what happened with Cleveland, Ah a lot of wins.
Nobody cares you go home, You play hard, you finish.
So it's something we've been talking about a little bit
behind the scenes, right in terms of load management and

(52:20):
all those other things in terms of pulling the strings.
When we look at Rick Carlisle, maybe there's a greater
appreciation for the coach he is coming out of this run,
win loser, draw, whatever this series ends up at this point,
and what he's been able to do with this roster.
Whatever the motivation is. Externally, Yeah, Halliburton's had plenty of
things and bulletin board material and thought pieces off TV

(52:42):
and sports talk radio and in the blog is sphere
that we've seen. But being able to know when to
insert maconn right when we need that energy Matherin, all right,
go get it right, it's now your time and just
keep shooting right. And he's been highly a f in
his minutes. But to trust that you're going to be

(53:03):
able to spell where there's not the anxious bone. How
many times do we see say your knicks. Brunson's there
like he's he's waiting for the bell to ring, like
all right, let me back in, let me come on,
tag me back in already, whereas Haliburton's just sitting down waiting.
It's like, all right, you ready, Yeah, it's your time,
go back in. Like there's a it's a more measured
approach versus break glass in case of emergency. Well yeah, hey,

(53:25):
we we were lying. Look and Jalen Brunson is a
bigger superstar. But but the Pacers they have a numerous
guys that can make you druses of that balance. Halliburton
is the big one, but it doesn't matter. The end
of the game could be Sika, it could be a.
Halliburton is great at getting his own shot, even in
tight covered so that's why you default to him. Jalen.

(53:46):
Be's why the Knicks to fault to Jalen Brunson. But
Brunson's not giving the ball up like Halliburton. Give it
up to give it up to Nembark, give it up
to Nismith, give it up to to anybody, right, Matt,
I'd be happy if Matherick has taken the final shot
of it. Give it off to Toby, and we're gonna
keep going on. I mean, he's but it's there's a
there's a difference. You see, everybody wants the ball, right,

(54:06):
Everybody wants the ball, right, look Sga wants the ball, right,
Chet wants the ball. Everybody wants the ball. But I
see I don't see that absolute blood in your eye,
hungriness at give me the ball. Then I'm seeing from
the Pacers And again it's a big moment in time
for them, because clearly, look as time goes on, Obie
Toppin is gonna want a big contract. He wants to
start somewhere. Mathern's gonna want a big contract, start somewhere.

(54:27):
All these things are gonna have to happen. But right
now they have that great mix of a great rotation
that we can go eight nine deep and that pace
of play doesn't change at all. There's no Hey, we
hope to steal a couple of minutes, right Like, Let's
use the Knicks for an example. When Brunson goes to
the bench, the Knicks hope, hey, can we steal three
or four minutes and keep the score of the way

(54:48):
it is, let's keep where the pacers they change. It's like, hey,
McConnell and topp In and Matheren committed and say, let's
push this lead out. It's almost like like the the
Warriors in the very beginning of their dynasty, where hey,
you feel like you're getting a breather when Stephan Clay
go to the bench, but no, here comes Sean Livingston
and and Igwidala and suddenly it's hey, their bench comes

(55:11):
in and a twelve point lead. When the when the
starters come back in, oh, it's a sixteen point lead,
Like this is what that reminds me of, And it's
the their absolute hunger and they're playing at that pack.
This is a perfect moment in time for them for
the way this team has been put together, and I
give Rick Carlyle a lot of a lot of credit.
In fact, I can't believe in the postgame press conference
James Dolan's not going to be there asking Rick Carlyle, hey,

(55:33):
do you want to leave me become my head coach? Now?
Is that James Dolan and the beard and glasses? No,
it's not meaning start playing harmonica. He's wearing a trench
coat like a boom box over his head with some song.
I expect that to happen. Hey, Rick, do you want
to come? Do you want to come come coach the
next next year?

Speaker 4 (55:47):
Really?

Speaker 1 (55:47):
I mean, I mean, I know, can come mister the
finals and they they're the next to deny the request, right, yeah,
I mean, hey, I know you're down to one. But hey,
we got okay, I will wait wait wait, okay, that's fine,
We'll wait a little bit. We'll wait a little bit.
It's okay, it's okay. I mean, look at even Rick Carlile.
When you want to talk about guys who have been overlooked,
like Rick carl has been a great entire career, but

(56:09):
Rick Carlile's that you know. Did you mentioned Rick Carlile's
name when its name of great coaches in the NBA. No,
we talk about Kerr and we talk about Spolstra and
Jason Kid's gotten a lot of run the last week games.
You talk about Greg Popovic, But does Rick Carlyle get
a lot of run known? He's been a great day
a long time, right, right? He is a champion. Is
a guy with a lot of fifty win seasons under
his belt. I mean there's a lot. There's a lot

(56:29):
to there's a lot to say for putting a bunch
of talented guys together who are overlooked. And you can
buy in for that, right. You can't buy in for
a long period of time, Like that's not a four
or five year buy in. It's more of a moment
in time. But that's all the pacers care about right
now is this moment in time? Right, And then you
find the next batch of guys. If you have that
run of continuit Ian Carlisle still getting after it, you

(56:51):
go find the next batch of guys that have been
discarded and are disgruddled and get them to play the
same way. Exit out about a Fresco exit swalling down
the Jason Smith Show with a best friend Mike Harmon