May 10, 2023 • 36 mins
Mike Harmon and Ryan Hollins update you on the Celtics collapse to the 76ers in Game 5 of the East Semis. The guys’ breakdown Anthony Davis game saving defense on Steph Curry at the end of Lakers/Warriors last night. And Julius Randle said maybe the Miami Heat want it more than the Knicks.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
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Speaker 2 (00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Great eggs.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Welcome in a beautiful Tuesday night here Fox Sports Radio,
Jason Smith's Show with me Mike Harmon.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
No Jason Smith. Tonight, we go and we tap into.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
The mind of a man who's been around the NBA
quite some time, ten years as a player, now as
an analyst. We'll get his thoughts on the upcoming draft lottery,
how you build a roster, and what the hell is
going on with some of these teams that we're supposed
to just walk towards the NBA Finals. It's Ryan Hollins,
my guy at the Ryan Hollins on Twitter.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
What's going on, Buddy man?
Speaker 4 (01:00):
What was going on? Dude?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Shot out of a cannon? Watching?
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Uh well, another poorly played game at home, as we've
seen so many times in these playoffs, Like, all right,
they're taking it back home and they'll get things back
because they've had a couple of big up.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
No.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
No, the Philadelphia seventy six Ers, led by Joel Embiid
and Tyrese Maxi, said nah, not so fast, hold my beer.
We got this thing, and they rolled to a pretty
easy victory. Some big, heroic block shots and chase downs
down the down the wire. Here Joel Embiid at times
looking like he's lumbering, but giving it the everything he
(01:38):
has on the court, ryot allins, and as you did
for a decade in the NBA, you got to appreciate
the effort of the big man rumbling up and down
the court.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
Man Joel Embiid was excellent, and this was a game
that he took over. And you you were waiting for
this Embiid like performance, and obviously, you know the Sixers
took their time getting him back and getting him healthy.
But guys, but all due respect, this wasn't supposed to happen.
Speaker 5 (02:05):
Phil was supposed to be a walk for the Celticsy man, listen,
Philadelphia was not supposed to come in and beat the
Celtics in their house.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
This is a team that a lot of people projected
to be NBA CHAMPCE because they're depth, and they're they're
three point shooting, and because the inconsistencies of the Philadelphia
seventy six ers. But Mike, am I not mistaken. This
is starting to look like this sixer team that everybody
had envision when James Harden signed and went oprah and said, man,
(02:37):
you know this is the one two punch. It's the
Kobe in shack that talk to him alone. They are
starting to look like everything that we expected.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Well, I think a lot of it comes down to
and remember the betting odds before tonight was the Celtics
were eight to five to win it. Well, now we
kind of flipped things away and the Sixers plus two
eighty now in terms of getting finals odds. But Tyrese
MAXI a huge factor in this one. As I mentioned,
(03:08):
Get gets his thirty points. In the prior three games,
He'd a mass forty total points while shooting.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Thirty three percent from the field. So a huge effort here.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
And as you mentioned with the Sixers, and we talk
about it, Smith and I quite a bit of all right,
in its best form, this is what you expect.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Kind of like what we've been doing with the Lakers
for quite a while.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Well, if it breaks right that the other way, and
every one of them has the parenthetical if they stay
healthy to it all. And with the Sixers, that's been
a lot of it. Tonight the Celtics, Al Horford goes
oh for seven, oh for seven for three point range,
giving you nothing. He Marcus Smart and White, three members
(03:51):
of your starting roster, go four for twenty from the field.
Brown takes till towards the end of the game to
heat up, and the bench is a non factor, which
is supposed to be one of the great advantages for
the Celtics, particularly on the home court. But for the Sixers,
you got sixteen from Harris, you had thirty three from
Embiid with his seven rebounds, three assists, the huge four
(04:14):
block shots, thirty from maxi As he goes six to
twelve from three point range. And then James Harden doesn't
need to be big from the field, just four of
eight fundamentally sound basketball in his thirty nine minutes, only
two turnolders. That's always the stat I want to look
at for James Harden. First, how many lazy passes did
he make? That cause problems going back the other way.
(04:36):
But would you ever think you'd have Philly go up
three to two in a series. James Harden only took
two to three point shots in a game to get
you there.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
I think that's the real value, as you mentioned it.
But this was a different performance from Harden. It's not
that he was scared to take the shots or he
was out of rhythm. I thought when I watched Philly
tonight it might correct me if I'm wrong. I thought
they were in a flow, in a.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Real more methodical to it, right, for he just if
he had an open guy just said all right, I'm
just facilitating, didn't try to force as we've seen him
do in the past.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
Well, sometimes what happens in Philly you get caught because
of his greatness. You get kit watching Embeid, you get
caught watching Harden. But they hadn't quite looked like a team.
And you talked about Maxie's development and his contribution to
the game and how he's he's come along. To me,
that's that's the huge difference in this ball club. They're
just playing basketball and it's not this standing and watching.
(05:33):
And if you watch Tarrek's Maxie he gets the ball
and he pushes in transition and he goes and he
looks for buckets, and it's not standing and saying, oh okay, James,
where are you, James? You take a shot, or oh okay, Joel,
it's your turn. His development and many pointed to that
and noted that is the biggest difference in their ball
club coming into the season. It looks like he's ready
(05:55):
right on time.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Yeah, he got Tobias Harris goes for sixteen and a
less Evan, giving you eleven big rebounds.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Nine on the defensive end. PJ.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Tucker also added seven rebounds. Everybody, every starter at least
plus ten in your plus minus column. But the maxim
thing is interesting because just taking some notes, right, we'll
watch game to game and there's that I'm going to
kill this possession type thing where he's on a roll. Right,
(06:26):
we've seen maybe the confidence or willingness because he's got
him beat, he's got James Harden at times, or maybe
he deferred today, it was none of that. It was
decisively even down the stretch where it's like, wow, he's
taking that shot a little early in the shot clock.
As they're winding this thing down, It's like, nah, he's
at the top of the arc and he's feeling it.
(06:46):
So it's just another dagger towards the Celtics. And I
like that mentality that he was going to be assertive
and they were going in to not only win this game,
but see if they couldn't stomp out a little bit
of the will for the Celtics to finish this thing off.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
I like that you noted some of those shots were
early in the clock. That's where the Philadelphia seventy six
ers role players were hesitating. And with Maxie staying aggressive
taking those shots, you know, being in rhythm, that's the
biggest difference, because if I'm game planning for Philadelphia, I
don't want the other role players, those other guys to
(07:25):
step up and be aggressive. And Maxie, even more so
than Tobias Harris, who you kind of slated to be
that guy, is staying aggressive with the basketball. And like
I said, they looked in the flow tonight. The Celtics
just never looked comfortable. It looked like they couldn't find
their offense. And a lot of times their defense turns
into their offense and then they're free flowing into their
(07:45):
you know, driving kit game and they never got going.
And then you look up and Joel embiid the biggest nightmare.
And we'll dive into PJ. Tucker a little later in
the show. PJ. Tucker gave the confidence to Joel and
Bid to go out and be Joel and b And
he looked like the MVP tonight. He looked like the
guy that we had all been looking for in a
monster game on a row. So it's scary this team
(08:08):
getting confident at the right time or wrong time, depending.
Speaker 6 (08:11):
On your.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Right, depending on which end you're on.
Speaker 4 (08:15):
There.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
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up here in the Nightcap, We've got Phoenix, We've got
Denver again. Another series tied to to the kiss and
(08:39):
makeup thing between the owner and Jokic as he went
to the tunnel after warmups. That was all warm and
fuzzy as we get underway and Booker controls.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
But to go back to the Celtics for.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
A minute Hereron talking about the lack of continuity and
flow to this game.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
They shoot sub forty.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
For this one, and we'll get into it a lot
as we look at the Lakers and the Warriors. Extensive
note in what I've set to you and Frostburg who
little random thoughts rewatching it a little bit on the
treadmill this morning, because I gotta, you know, point out
that the road to swall is on, because you know
you can't be you know, bloated and all sodium filled
(09:22):
like a normal radio host and what have been for
all these years? Ryan, I gotta get lean and mean
like you. But the idea that you didn't have this flow,
you didn't get the contributions from the bench. Most of
the twenty what is it, twenty two points scored from
the bench came in garbage time. After this thing was decided, right,
(09:42):
Prichard gets in and puts in some a couple of
buckets and whatever. But Brogden, who had been a factor
early on, Grant Williams before he had his face stomped
by and Joel and Beat a couple of games ago.
Those were a couple of guys that were giving you
some important minutes and some contributions that actually showed up
in the Botto score.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
None of that today.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
And if Al Horford's going to go zero for seven
for three, it just clogs everything else up.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
It does. But like I said, this is a team
that was focused on their defense getting their offense going,
because they can be inconsistent. You know, Jason Tatum, I
thought he played well tonight, but sometimes you know, I
don't want to say he doesn't show up. He just
may not get in rhythm. But this is a team,
make no mistaken. You know, Boston turned the corner when
their defense started turning into their offense, and they struggled
(10:29):
to do that tonight. You know, Philadelphia hit just enough
shots to keep them off ballot, to never let them
get comfortable. And we talk so much about pace being important.
Philadelphia controlled the pace here tonight hard and getting the
ball up court and getting the balls to his teammates,
and Max he pushing when he opportunistically needed to. But
the pace favored Philadelphia, and when you went on the road,
(10:52):
that's important. So you say, what's pace. Pace is taking
shots when you want to take them. Pace is defending
and dictating with the other team was going to do offensively,
So it's you controlling the basketball, and Philadelphia played at
their pace, and especially with Joel Embiid with you know
that that need not necessarily one hundred. You are not
(11:13):
having him run up and zip up and down the floor,
so that pace being controlled is a huge part also
why the Sixers were able to take care of business.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Plenty more to talk about with this game, Plenty more
to preview for tomorrow's activity, and we'll keep an eye
on Denver and Phoenix as.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
They get it going.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
We've already got guys going to the trainers and having
bloody lips and stuff, so it has begun already, Ryan Hollins,
We've got flopping arms and people getting after it already.
But coming up next, Yeah, there was well snubs, maybe not.
We can argue that Ryan Hollins and Justin Frossberg in
a slap fight over such. But last night's defensive effort
(11:54):
and the shrinking of Steph Curry, we'll do that next
here on Fox Sports Radio. Hey, at the end of
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Speaker 2 (12:12):
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 3 (12:22):
Welcome back in Fox Sports Radio Jason Smith Show with
Me Mike Harmon. No Jason Smith Tonight, it's Ryan Hollins
in his stead. Find him on Twitter at the Ryan Hollins.
Find me over at Swollen Dome readying for a big nightcap.
Here the Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns getting after it.
Denver with a seventeen to nine lead. About a little
(12:44):
more than midway into this first quarter. We're at about
seven minutes remaining. We've got the Dodgers beating up on
the Brewers and the funky Cole Medina is getting after it.
So there's so much going on. Oh yeah, and we
got some playoff hockey while we're at it. Here to Ryan,
a veritable Pope Prie the dog show going on. I mean,
I can hardly stand it.
Speaker 4 (13:06):
Hey man, there is no greater time than playoff basketball.
And here's the thing. I know, you super bowled Sunday.
You get basketball every night. And for those of you
who complain about load management and gotta yet they're playing hard.
They have to play all right, Mike, If I'm wrong,
(13:28):
If they don't play hard, there is no tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
And for some of those guys, you can see it
on their face, they're okay with them not being tomorrow
somehow towards the ending.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Come on, you've seen some of these efforts.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
We're down twenty see on Sunday, Oh, conserve the energy.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Tell me I'm wrong.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
Come on now, these playoffs have been pretty good. The
only people we make I'm gonna say it. You're you're
trying to make me say it, and I'm not trying
to say it.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Up it up.
Speaker 6 (14:00):
You know.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
I'm doing it with more efficiency and less of a
rainbow than that Steph Curry arc trying to get it
over Anthony Davis last night.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
Jason's New York Knicks don't look too involved. No, they
don't look too you know what.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
We need to talk about that.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
In Arnest we brought up the Julius Randall quote yesterday
about they want it more, which is kind.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Of a throwaway in some ways.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
In others it's a larger locker room discussion of whether
Julius Randall should be that guy. Tell you what we'll
do that coming up in about say twenty minutes from now.
But going back to last night, Lakers take the commanding
three to one lead on the Warriors. Warriors went into
the fourth quarter with a seven point lead. Hey, where
have we seen this before? A big Warrior lead that evaporates?
(14:50):
This time it was the Lonnie Walker the fourth game.
But there's a sequence I wanted to highlight because today
we get all NBA defensive teams. We see Alex caruz
So Anthony Davis left off and then the fights begin
over how many games do you need to play to
do this? Here's a picture of Rudy Gobert winning the
Player of the Year defensive Player of the Year award
(15:10):
when he played fifty eight and all of those arguments.
I know they've changed the rules going forward to where
it's got to be sixty five, trying to figure out
what that proper percentage is and all of it. But
on this particular night, down the stretch, Anthony Davis just
wouldn't go away, and length and his tenacity comes into play.
(15:31):
As Steph Curry continues his well scoreless streak on shots
in the playoffs that could give him a go ahead late.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Hey, Curry, Dad's with Davis lost the handle keeps, the
tribles tend to shoot.
Speaker 4 (15:43):
Curry doing it himself. Here one foot fade away, No good,
it's leading with a rebound by Wiggins.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
What another chance for Golden State? Curry long three, no.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
TNT on the call, So twenty six seconds left, Curry
takes that one foot eighteen foot shot.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Draymond Green with the rebound.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Steph immediately calls for it back, thinking he's got an
opening because you see Anthony Davis start to slump back
into the lane thinking, hey, maybe Steph's gonna cut instead.
He's going to set up for another three, and Davis,
because of his length, he comes right back on him
to alter the shot. You see the moon ball that
goes up from Steph Curry, one of the greatest arcs
you'll ever see on a basketball. But the shot is
(16:32):
a miss and you get the defensive rebound. And for
Steph Curry, you know we've seen the stat ninety seven
times today. Oh for twelve on go ahead shots inside
the final forty five seconds of playoff games for his
career so that one's certainly starting to hang around with him.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
But for Anthony.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Davis wasn't a big big part of the game in
the second half offensively, Ryan, but defensively he was a terror,
altering shots at the rim and in this case just
chasing around Steph Curry.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
He was. And you saw where Anthony Davis is special.
He's got excellent feet. He has a monster wingspan. And
for those are going, what's wingspan? Why is that important?
Your wingspans? How long your arms are?
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Go back to the old Michael Jordan poster that everybody
had on their wall you've seen in countless eighties movies
or TV retro shows.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
Yes, so that wingspan means he can cover more ground
than you and I. So Ryan Hollins has about I
got cheated. I have about it. Even though people think
I have a longer wingspan, it's about seven feet seven
to one. Anthony Davis is more like like seven six
seven seven.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
If he ever got enough speed on those do you
think he can take off if he started flapping like
a bird.
Speaker 4 (17:51):
I mean potentially, I mean you get him enough air wind,
a little head speed made if something there right right,
But nonetheless, that wingspan lets him block shots, lets him
get tipped back dunks. So where you and I have
to you know, jump three or four inches just to
get to a certain point, he's already there with his
hands in the air. So that is what helps him
(18:13):
be so elite defensively. And Anthony Davis not just he
has the wingspan of a center, but he moves like
a guard and that's what makes him elite. And that
last possession on Curry was just special because he took
away the three, he took away the drive. Earlier in
the game, he got burnt, but when it mattered, he
(18:33):
was there defending and he was able to keep Steph
Curry right in front of him.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
I just love the just the the visual of it.
Where Steph's calling for the ball, thinking he's got a window,
and how quickly that door shut right. Yeah, just he
goes to retrieve the ball and Anthony Davis it took
one step and a reach of his arms and all
of a sudden he's back in his space and alters
the shot.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Is he anywhere close to blogging it?
Speaker 4 (18:58):
No?
Speaker 3 (18:59):
But Steph, given you know his his height and where
he is on the court, he can't step into the shot. Instead,
he's stepping backwards and I try to make sure he
gets the shot up and over.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
I do want to address this also because I heard
it was it was said that, you know, Steph Curry,
you know, doesn't you know, hit these clutch shots. At
some point Steph is going to have limitations. So when
you say, hey, Steph Curry, shoot over someone, if you
can keep up with him, it's gonna be hard for
him to get his shot off. The challenge is keeping
(19:32):
up with him. So the guys who normally hit those
clutch shots, those tough shots, and I don't think by
any means it should be a knock to Steph. They're
the bigger guys. They're bigger guards, the guys with the
mid range. So it's the Kevin Duranz, the Bookers. You know,
Lebron has the size to hit those shots. But for
a bigger guard, you've got to for the most part,
(19:52):
be able to jump up and over someone. So that's
where at a certain point, just you know, genetics catch
up with Steph Curry. But everything else, man, he's spectacular.
But I tell you one thing, if you leave him open,
he's gonna be knocking down a shot and be drilling
it right in your face.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Well, but but I guess that goes to the to
the end of it, right, You're not always gonna blow
teams out. And here's a couple of games in this
series in particular where he can't get a shot off
and has to give either give up the ball, and
we saw Jordan Poole and after that shot, I mean,
he's on the side of a milk carton with the
amount of minutes and effort he's getting in this series.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
And that's a.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
Larger talking point for a guy that they just gave
a giant pile of money to Ryan moving forward as
to the next iteration of what the Warriors are, but you.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Know it's the uncomfortable thing, right.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
We had the the meme and Robert Ghara, producer for
the odd couple like going back because Giann has put
out the you know, the disrespect and you know I'm
coming kind of thing, and everybody immediately here is like
future Laker or.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Stuff like that, and I laugh.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
I got, you know what it might have been me
because we've seen the cracks in the happy go Lucky
Giannis facade these last couple of weeks. The same thing
here with Steph Curry. Sometimes you got to have the
hard truth of all right, for all the greatness in
the game, not being able to hit or get a
shot off without some help. And this is where I
think the Warriors have also failed in multiple circumstances. Here,
(21:21):
go to coaching, go to what was supposed to be
the veteran acumen and court intelligence, whatever else you want
to call it basketball. Like you that they're not running
someone out to get Anthony Davis away from Steph Curry
or calling a time out to set up a play
to run him off. Somebody just leaves me a bit confused.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
Ryan, we talked about this. When you look at this
Lebron led team and when Lebron's teams have had success,
they've been able to defend. And this is a team
that can defend. Not to mention, I mean, Lannie Walker
was absolutely amazing, But who do you who else put
Do you put Lebron on that island? You put Lonnie
(22:03):
Walker on the island.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Don't forget before you gotta make sure we gotta Botnie
Walker the.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
Fourth There you go. But my point is this team
can defend, and that's something that these Lebron Laker teams
had been missing since he won a championship. Yeah, you
moved up from KCP and Caruso and Danny Green and
those boys. But the defense is something that had been missing,
and now you get that back and the Lakers are
(22:28):
starting to look dangerous again. So I bring that up
to say, hey, you're saying, well, why it was Ad
on the island? Ad was there? Because who else are
you going to call out or put in that situation?
And if you watch the game, Ad got burnt by
Staph about two or three possessions prior, so I know
everybody's throwing this parade about Anthony Davis defense, and by
(22:49):
no means am I calling that into question. But that
was a successful play, pulling him out from the basket
and going around Staph, and he just locked in on
that possession and said, I gotta find a way to
get a stop and win this game for my team,
and he.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Did getting the job done.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
Talking about the Lakers will continue down that path as
we look at their squad.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Lottie Walker.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
The fourth a huge game, as we saw Austin Reeves
rediscovered his jump shot, which had gone extinct for several games.
It looked like his confidence to some level had gone
and his trust from his teammates. D'Angelo Russell was a
non factor Offensively, he was one of ten for the night.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
He was terrible.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
Now he's making noise because of you know, talking about
past experiences and past teams. I don't know that he
should be addressing any of that in the middle of
a playoff run, but hey, to each his own, keep
your name in the news and throw some shade at
places where you've played before. But for the Lakers, a
lot of the season was if Ad and Lebron can't
(23:52):
lead offensively, where is the offense gonna come from? And
every night there's been a different third man and popping
up Ruy Hachimura for a few games last series, giving
you I mean, he's still shooting what fifty seven percent
for these playoffs or something like that. So you're getting
contributions from guys that nobody would have believed. And for
(24:16):
Lebron and Ad, I thought the communication to circle it
back to the defensive point you made was when they
forced the turnover from Draymond as he was under the
basket trying to get it out to Clay or whomever
in that corner, and you had Lebron point ad to
go pick up Klay Thompson, thereby causing another turnover and
(24:39):
more disparaging of the late minute plays and championship medal
of these Warriors. But just that continuity with those two
guys on the court, you're always gonna have a puncher's chance.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
You're right. And here's the game plan for the Lakers
as you watch the game, and this is as they
I hate that there's any question to with Steph Curry.
The game plan for the Lakers right now is don't
let Steph beat you. Give somebody else a shot. Obviously
you don't want to give Clay an open shot, but don't.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Right now you could give Clay an hit that anything.
Speaker 4 (25:12):
Clay and getting open shots, Clay has people running and
diving at him. Man, I don't we We're not going
to do that, people running and diving at him and
then trying to run him off the line, and that
it shots. Now, maybe he's missing shots that he he
hits uh normally even through an over a contest, but
there are people they are The Lakers game plan is
(25:34):
saying somebody else has to beat us, and it's not
going to be Steph. And that's what we're seeing right
now and right now for the for the Lakers, it's working.
It absolutely is. So you don't want to say that
Steph Curry by any means isn't doing his part just
because he didn't hit a last second shot or get
get something to go in that situation.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
Still own for twelve Ryan, I mean now that that
is going to follow him until he hits one.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
It just is.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
But it has an opportunity for redemption. That's the beauty
of playoff basketball. You got to win four and we
have best of three with two of them, well, they've
got to win all three.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
I should say you got to win three straight.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
Two of them are at home, though, and you've had
a lead, You've had opportunities, but you've had these issues
down the stretch that you haven't been able to close out.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Is this series over?
Speaker 3 (26:29):
History says five percent chance that you can come back
from it.
Speaker 4 (26:33):
I think you'd be a fool to think that this
series is over. We know hell can be and concern
or an issue if you really look at this game.
Golden State was winning this game and Lonnie Walker showed up,
and if we were betting men, With all due respect
to Lonnie Walker and I'm so happy for him. Man,
(26:55):
Lonnie has an amazing story. I don't think we would
have seen that Lonnie would have been the hero of
this ballgame, and he was. And he deserved every bit
of his glory for staying ready. And you're looking at
Golden State and saying, you know, who's gonna be that
guy for them that shows up in this next game?
And you know it's funny, Steve Kerr got Steve Kurr.
(27:20):
You know, it was him putting Jamichael Green in and
Jamichael Green had the big start and to win, and
he was the X factor. And normally Kerr is the one,
you know, Gary Payton gets the start and plays well.
You know, normally Kerr is the guy that is, you know,
testing his lineup and rosters and finding something that works.
(27:40):
And I don't think, with all due respect, anybody's pointing
at Darvin Ham and putting respect on the job that
coach Darvin Ham did to put his guys in position
to win this ball game. They were down and very
characteristically of this Laker team, they were gonna lose this ballgame.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Yeah, I think that's been one of the.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
Under talked about I mean, we talk a lot about officiating,
and we'll get into that as related to comments that
Kerr and other have made as we go with illegal screens,
and it's a larger talking talking point for these NBA playoffs.
Ryan the blocker charge made so famously in the Twitter
sphere of what is this different circumstances in our lives.
(28:25):
But legitimately, we've had a lot of collisions where you've
got referees looking at each other trying to figure out, all, right, well,
what are we calling at this stage of a game,
first quarter, second quarter and down the stretch. Are we
just going to let guys play collide into each other
or where we're at.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
But we did have Draymond Green.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
He got to the podcast world as he often does,
and you know, he back to you saying you'd be
a fool because, well, circumstances were kind of weird.
Speaker 6 (28:52):
I thought we did an incredible job of wearing both
a D and Lebron down. They played a tonne of
men as very high usage. In turn, they went to
Lonnie Walker and fourth quarter most cases, that's a win,
and it's still a win by the way, like if
you can stop Lebron from getting what shots he wants
stop Ad from getting what shots he want. Lonnie Walker
beat you. You kind of got to live with it.
Lonnie Walker had a huge fourth quarter. Fifteen points in
(29:14):
the fourth quarter, which was all the points that he
scored in the game.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
You Draymond on his podcast with the Vibe, Yeah, Unfortunately
the Giant l hangs over Game four. As much as
you can take the moral victory of slowing down Lebron
and Ad.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
It does. And Draymond's not wrong and that, but that's
just it right Philosophically, it's not wrong.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Unfortunately, this isn't game seventy five of the regular season.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
You know what, however you want to put it. If
you look at both these teams, the Lakers technically had
the better team. Golden State is the team that overachieves.
They're well coached and they work their tails off, and
in this moment, the Lakers and their coaching staff are
doing a good job. And now you've seen talent takeover.
(30:04):
And we can make excuses for both organizations. But Lonnie
Walker stayed ready. Lonnie Walker was given his opportunity. And
it's funny that Draymond has said, well that guy beats you,
that's good, because that's their story. Draymond Green had twenty
one points in a big game against the Kings. Who
would have expected that? Hey, man, Jamichael Green started and
(30:26):
play well, you know, there's strength in numbers. I just
don't think you've seen that from a lebron led team
in a very long time. And that's where you're looking
at it and going, yeah, I'll take that. But at
the end of the day, it's going let's give respect
where it's due. And the challenge is, can this become
your culture? Because guess what it's been Golden State's culture.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific. There it is, It's so true. One on nine.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
One on one was the final yesterday in a huge
game for everybody trying to rule the world.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
It's all Jimmy's world now.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
Hey, At the end of your first year, Discover credit
cards automatically double all the cash back that you've earned.
That's right, everything you've earned doubled. Seriously see terms. Check
it out for yourself at Discover dot com. Slash match
Mike Carbon alongside Ryan Hollins, The Jason Smit show with me,
Mike Carmon here from the tyrack dot Com, Fox Sports
Radio Studios, and Ryan as we joke, Justin Frosberg, our
(31:30):
executive producer, and I the time. The end is nigh
for the New York Knicks tomorrow, the last gasp efforts
to stave off elimination what we always talk about here
in the sporting universe Jimmy Butler. At one point, my
partner Smith tried to say, well, you know what missing
a game with Butler's like missing a game with Julius Randall. Well,
(31:52):
I don't know that you want to go one to
one of that particularly, and I want to bring these
comments back from last night knowing you are we know
about the series right now. Julius Randall had one of
the more curious stat lines ever. He had four offensive
fouls called on him. Three of them happened within the
opening fifteen seconds of a quarter. I don't know that
(32:14):
that's ever been done. That might be a Guinness Book
of World Records kind of thing. But here's his comments
in the post game that had us looking at each
other and just shaking our heads. Even Jason the Nicks
apologist had to tap out on this one.
Speaker 4 (32:28):
Maybe they wanted more Hono. You know, that's been who
we are all year. We got to find a way.
Speaker 6 (32:34):
To step up and make those plays if we want
to keep this season alive.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
Talking about fifty to fifty balls, hustle plays, defensive intensity,
the intestinal fortitude, all of that stuff, and just said, yeah,
maybe the heat wanted more to the interview or as
he throws it out there when you're struggling as he
has done in both health and went on the court
with some level of effectiveness and cottony inconsistency, Ryan, I
(33:02):
don't know that he's the guy that puts that message
out into the press or that's how you want to
answer that.
Speaker 4 (33:07):
No, I listen, I think that Julius has deserved the
right to speak up for this ball club. Uh. I
think it's just frustration setting in. And if you're the
next you knew you blew opportunities. You darned there, darnair
lost the game when Jimmy Butler sat out, he came
back and and it's looking like, well, you know, they
(33:30):
they're almost it's almost like the heater toying with the
knicks at this point, you know, and they're just spewing
with confidence, and right now it's a it's a tough
matchup because how do how do the next win? They
grind you out, they defend, they pick you up there.
They're physical defensively, and you know it from what we're watching,
you're not going to out physical the Miami Heat.
Speaker 3 (33:52):
Well, I mean they're the same team. Yes, And you've
got spools draw and pulling the strings.
Speaker 4 (33:59):
Yes, and they're just as well coached. Shout out to
timms Man and Tims are doing an amazing job. But yeah,
they're they're well coached. So this is a this is
not the and and here's the reality. Nobody wants to
hear the Miami Heat. Hear me when I say this.
They're the team that nobody wants to see.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
Let's go my Heat.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
You can go back and find the records before the playoffs.
I picked the Heat.
Speaker 4 (34:23):
They're the team that's gonna grab, they're gonna hold, they're
gonna talk trash, and they got a dude who can
turn into Michael Jordan on any given night. I'm gonna
say it one more time.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Can we get the Bubble title matchup back?
Speaker 4 (34:40):
The Miami Heat have a guy who can turn into
Michael Jordan. On any given night. He's not Michael Jordan.
It's not what I'm saying he can turn into Michael Jordan.
So they're a team that you don't want to play
against Tellia.
Speaker 3 (34:57):
And what's interesting is the contribution that you're getting consistently
from Kyle Lowry off the bench. You know, and we
quote the old Toby Keith song, Ain't as good as
I once was, But man, I'm as good once as
I ever was. And Kyle Lowry time and again will
find that one sequence in a game where he gives
(35:17):
you some some offense off the bench and bam Adebayo
back to playing like the guy we remember, right, the
guy that going back to the bubble that everybody was
so excited about his breakthrough. So you get him and
Jimmy Butler, add Lowry off the bench, even with you know,
Struce stepping up in the absence of a Tyler hero,
and you got an intriguing squad. And unfortunately it looks
(35:39):
like Tibbs and Company are meeting their match.
Speaker 4 (35:42):
Now.
Speaker 3 (35:42):
We have no idea how hurt Brunson is at this point.
I think his ankles both need to be just putting
ice for a while, ice up as it were. I mean,
a bunch of these guys. It's like boxers, you know,
cut me, I gotta get back out there for one
more round.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
That's kind of where we're at in these players.
Speaker 4 (36:00):
Ryan, Yeah, you know you're right about that. And I
think it's tough at this point. Everybody's hurt, everybody's got
something they're dealing with, and it just boils down to
it's a tough matchup. And Jimmy Butler was able to
sit out. They're a team that's gotten confident. They're next
man up type mentality, and you don't you don't get
(36:20):
rest losing Jimmy. You don't get rest losing Tyler. Hero
In fact, like you said, you're getting career basketball from
Kyle Lowry, who's been there before. And then you think
about experience. Miami's got ten times to experience that this
Knicks team has. But hats off to New York. We're
happy for him. It's good to see it, but this
ain't a good matchup.
Speaker 3 (36:42):
Probably we'll have Jason crying in his McDonald's tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
He's no.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
Probably, he's Ryan Hollins. I'm Mike Carmon. Coming up next,
we explore the world of officiating come playoff time. A
lot of questions that I have for Ryan
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
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 Foxsports Radio
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iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Great eggs.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Welcome in a beautiful Tuesday night here Fox Sports Radio,
Jason Smith's Show with me Mike Harmon.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
No Jason Smith. Tonight, we go and we tap into.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
The mind of a man who's been around the NBA
quite some time, ten years as a player, now as
an analyst. We'll get his thoughts on the upcoming draft lottery,
how you build a roster, and what the hell is
going on with some of these teams that we're supposed
to just walk towards the NBA Finals. It's Ryan Hollins,
my guy at the Ryan Hollins on Twitter.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
What's going on, Buddy man?
Speaker 4 (01:00):
What was going on? Dude?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Shot out of a cannon? Watching?
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Uh well, another poorly played game at home, as we've
seen so many times in these playoffs, Like, all right,
they're taking it back home and they'll get things back
because they've had a couple of big up.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
No.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
No, the Philadelphia seventy six Ers, led by Joel Embiid
and Tyrese Maxi, said nah, not so fast, hold my beer.
We got this thing, and they rolled to a pretty
easy victory. Some big, heroic block shots and chase downs
down the down the wire. Here Joel Embiid at times
looking like he's lumbering, but giving it the everything he
(01:38):
has on the court, ryot allins, and as you did
for a decade in the NBA, you got to appreciate
the effort of the big man rumbling up and down
the court.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
Man Joel Embiid was excellent, and this was a game
that he took over. And you you were waiting for
this Embiid like performance, and obviously, you know the Sixers
took their time getting him back and getting him healthy.
But guys, but all due respect, this wasn't supposed to happen.
Speaker 5 (02:05):
Phil was supposed to be a walk for the Celticsy man, listen,
Philadelphia was not supposed to come in and beat the
Celtics in their house.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
This is a team that a lot of people projected
to be NBA CHAMPCE because they're depth, and they're they're
three point shooting, and because the inconsistencies of the Philadelphia
seventy six ers. But Mike, am I not mistaken. This
is starting to look like this sixer team that everybody
had envision when James Harden signed and went oprah and said, man,
(02:37):
you know this is the one two punch. It's the
Kobe in shack that talk to him alone. They are
starting to look like everything that we expected.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Well, I think a lot of it comes down to
and remember the betting odds before tonight was the Celtics
were eight to five to win it. Well, now we
kind of flipped things away and the Sixers plus two
eighty now in terms of getting finals odds. But Tyrese
MAXI a huge factor in this one. As I mentioned,
(03:08):
Get gets his thirty points. In the prior three games,
He'd a mass forty total points while shooting.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Thirty three percent from the field. So a huge effort here.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
And as you mentioned with the Sixers, and we talk
about it, Smith and I quite a bit of all right,
in its best form, this is what you expect.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Kind of like what we've been doing with the Lakers
for quite a while.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Well, if it breaks right that the other way, and
every one of them has the parenthetical if they stay
healthy to it all. And with the Sixers, that's been
a lot of it. Tonight the Celtics, Al Horford goes
oh for seven, oh for seven for three point range,
giving you nothing. He Marcus Smart and White, three members
(03:51):
of your starting roster, go four for twenty from the field.
Brown takes till towards the end of the game to
heat up, and the bench is a non factor, which
is supposed to be one of the great advantages for
the Celtics, particularly on the home court. But for the Sixers,
you got sixteen from Harris, you had thirty three from
Embiid with his seven rebounds, three assists, the huge four
(04:14):
block shots, thirty from maxi As he goes six to
twelve from three point range. And then James Harden doesn't
need to be big from the field, just four of
eight fundamentally sound basketball in his thirty nine minutes, only
two turnolders. That's always the stat I want to look
at for James Harden. First, how many lazy passes did
he make? That cause problems going back the other way.
(04:36):
But would you ever think you'd have Philly go up
three to two in a series. James Harden only took
two to three point shots in a game to get
you there.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
I think that's the real value, as you mentioned it.
But this was a different performance from Harden. It's not
that he was scared to take the shots or he
was out of rhythm. I thought when I watched Philly
tonight it might correct me if I'm wrong. I thought
they were in a flow, in a.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Real more methodical to it, right, for he just if
he had an open guy just said all right, I'm
just facilitating, didn't try to force as we've seen him
do in the past.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
Well, sometimes what happens in Philly you get caught because
of his greatness. You get kit watching Embeid, you get
caught watching Harden. But they hadn't quite looked like a team.
And you talked about Maxie's development and his contribution to
the game and how he's he's come along. To me,
that's that's the huge difference in this ball club. They're
just playing basketball and it's not this standing and watching.
(05:33):
And if you watch Tarrek's Maxie he gets the ball
and he pushes in transition and he goes and he
looks for buckets, and it's not standing and saying, oh okay, James,
where are you, James? You take a shot, or oh okay, Joel,
it's your turn. His development and many pointed to that
and noted that is the biggest difference in their ball
club coming into the season. It looks like he's ready
(05:55):
right on time.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Yeah, he got Tobias Harris goes for sixteen and a
less Evan, giving you eleven big rebounds.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Nine on the defensive end. PJ.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Tucker also added seven rebounds. Everybody, every starter at least
plus ten in your plus minus column. But the maxim
thing is interesting because just taking some notes, right, we'll
watch game to game and there's that I'm going to
kill this possession type thing where he's on a roll. Right,
(06:26):
we've seen maybe the confidence or willingness because he's got
him beat, he's got James Harden at times, or maybe
he deferred today, it was none of that. It was
decisively even down the stretch where it's like, wow, he's
taking that shot a little early in the shot clock.
As they're winding this thing down, It's like, nah, he's
at the top of the arc and he's feeling it.
(06:46):
So it's just another dagger towards the Celtics. And I
like that mentality that he was going to be assertive
and they were going in to not only win this game,
but see if they couldn't stomp out a little bit
of the will for the Celtics to finish this thing off.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
I like that you noted some of those shots were
early in the clock. That's where the Philadelphia seventy six
ers role players were hesitating. And with Maxie staying aggressive
taking those shots, you know, being in rhythm, that's the
biggest difference, because if I'm game planning for Philadelphia, I
don't want the other role players, those other guys to
(07:25):
step up and be aggressive. And Maxie, even more so
than Tobias Harris, who you kind of slated to be
that guy, is staying aggressive with the basketball. And like
I said, they looked in the flow tonight. The Celtics
just never looked comfortable. It looked like they couldn't find
their offense. And a lot of times their defense turns
into their offense and then they're free flowing into their
(07:45):
you know, driving kit game and they never got going.
And then you look up and Joel embiid the biggest nightmare.
And we'll dive into PJ. Tucker a little later in
the show. PJ. Tucker gave the confidence to Joel and
Bid to go out and be Joel and b And
he looked like the MVP tonight. He looked like the
guy that we had all been looking for in a
monster game on a row. So it's scary this team
(08:08):
getting confident at the right time or wrong time, depending.
Speaker 6 (08:11):
On your.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Right, depending on which end you're on.
Speaker 4 (08:15):
There.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
We're broadcasting a lot for the tirack dot Com studios,
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way tire buying should be. Getting ready to tip it
up here in the Nightcap, We've got Phoenix, We've got
Denver again. Another series tied to to the kiss and
(08:39):
makeup thing between the owner and Jokic as he went
to the tunnel after warmups. That was all warm and
fuzzy as we get underway and Booker controls.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
But to go back to the Celtics for.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
A minute Hereron talking about the lack of continuity and
flow to this game.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
They shoot sub forty.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
For this one, and we'll get into it a lot
as we look at the Lakers and the Warriors. Extensive
note in what I've set to you and Frostburg who
little random thoughts rewatching it a little bit on the
treadmill this morning, because I gotta, you know, point out
that the road to swall is on, because you know
you can't be you know, bloated and all sodium filled
(09:22):
like a normal radio host and what have been for
all these years? Ryan, I gotta get lean and mean
like you. But the idea that you didn't have this flow,
you didn't get the contributions from the bench. Most of
the twenty what is it, twenty two points scored from
the bench came in garbage time. After this thing was decided, right,
(09:42):
Prichard gets in and puts in some a couple of
buckets and whatever. But Brogden, who had been a factor
early on, Grant Williams before he had his face stomped
by and Joel and Beat a couple of games ago.
Those were a couple of guys that were giving you
some important minutes and some contributions that actually showed up
in the Botto score.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
None of that today.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
And if Al Horford's going to go zero for seven
for three, it just clogs everything else up.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
It does. But like I said, this is a team
that was focused on their defense getting their offense going,
because they can be inconsistent. You know, Jason Tatum, I
thought he played well tonight, but sometimes you know, I
don't want to say he doesn't show up. He just
may not get in rhythm. But this is a team,
make no mistaken. You know, Boston turned the corner when
their defense started turning into their offense, and they struggled
(10:29):
to do that tonight. You know, Philadelphia hit just enough
shots to keep them off ballot, to never let them
get comfortable. And we talk so much about pace being important.
Philadelphia controlled the pace here tonight hard and getting the
ball up court and getting the balls to his teammates,
and Max he pushing when he opportunistically needed to. But
the pace favored Philadelphia, and when you went on the road,
(10:52):
that's important. So you say, what's pace. Pace is taking
shots when you want to take them. Pace is defending
and dictating with the other team was going to do offensively,
So it's you controlling the basketball, and Philadelphia played at
their pace, and especially with Joel Embiid with you know
that that need not necessarily one hundred. You are not
(11:13):
having him run up and zip up and down the floor,
so that pace being controlled is a huge part also
why the Sixers were able to take care of business.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Plenty more to talk about with this game, Plenty more
to preview for tomorrow's activity, and we'll keep an eye
on Denver and Phoenix as.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
They get it going.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
We've already got guys going to the trainers and having
bloody lips and stuff, so it has begun already, Ryan Hollins,
We've got flopping arms and people getting after it already.
But coming up next, Yeah, there was well snubs, maybe not.
We can argue that Ryan Hollins and Justin Frossberg in
a slap fight over such. But last night's defensive effort
(11:54):
and the shrinking of Steph Curry, we'll do that next
here on Fox Sports Radio. Hey, at the end of
your first year, discover credit cards automatically double all the
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com slash Match.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
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 3 (12:22):
Welcome back in Fox Sports Radio Jason Smith Show with
Me Mike Harmon. No Jason Smith Tonight, it's Ryan Hollins
in his stead. Find him on Twitter at the Ryan Hollins.
Find me over at Swollen Dome readying for a big nightcap.
Here the Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns getting after it.
Denver with a seventeen to nine lead. About a little
(12:44):
more than midway into this first quarter. We're at about
seven minutes remaining. We've got the Dodgers beating up on
the Brewers and the funky Cole Medina is getting after it.
So there's so much going on. Oh yeah, and we
got some playoff hockey while we're at it. Here to Ryan,
a veritable Pope Prie the dog show going on. I mean,
I can hardly stand it.
Speaker 4 (13:06):
Hey man, there is no greater time than playoff basketball.
And here's the thing. I know, you super bowled Sunday.
You get basketball every night. And for those of you
who complain about load management and gotta yet they're playing hard.
They have to play all right, Mike, If I'm wrong,
(13:28):
If they don't play hard, there is no tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
And for some of those guys, you can see it
on their face, they're okay with them not being tomorrow
somehow towards the ending.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Come on, you've seen some of these efforts.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
We're down twenty see on Sunday, Oh, conserve the energy.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Tell me I'm wrong.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
Come on now, these playoffs have been pretty good. The
only people we make I'm gonna say it. You're you're
trying to make me say it, and I'm not trying
to say it.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Up it up.
Speaker 6 (14:00):
You know.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
I'm doing it with more efficiency and less of a
rainbow than that Steph Curry arc trying to get it
over Anthony Davis last night.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
Jason's New York Knicks don't look too involved. No, they
don't look too you know what.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
We need to talk about that.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
In Arnest we brought up the Julius Randall quote yesterday
about they want it more, which is kind.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Of a throwaway in some ways.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
In others it's a larger locker room discussion of whether
Julius Randall should be that guy. Tell you what we'll
do that coming up in about say twenty minutes from now.
But going back to last night, Lakers take the commanding
three to one lead on the Warriors. Warriors went into
the fourth quarter with a seven point lead. Hey, where
have we seen this before? A big Warrior lead that evaporates?
(14:50):
This time it was the Lonnie Walker the fourth game.
But there's a sequence I wanted to highlight because today
we get all NBA defensive teams. We see Alex caruz
So Anthony Davis left off and then the fights begin
over how many games do you need to play to
do this? Here's a picture of Rudy Gobert winning the
Player of the Year defensive Player of the Year award
(15:10):
when he played fifty eight and all of those arguments.
I know they've changed the rules going forward to where
it's got to be sixty five, trying to figure out
what that proper percentage is and all of it. But
on this particular night, down the stretch, Anthony Davis just
wouldn't go away, and length and his tenacity comes into play.
(15:31):
As Steph Curry continues his well scoreless streak on shots
in the playoffs that could give him a go ahead late.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Hey, Curry, Dad's with Davis lost the handle keeps, the
tribles tend to shoot.
Speaker 4 (15:43):
Curry doing it himself. Here one foot fade away, No good,
it's leading with a rebound by Wiggins.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
What another chance for Golden State? Curry long three, no.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
TNT on the call, So twenty six seconds left, Curry
takes that one foot eighteen foot shot.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Draymond Green with the rebound.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Steph immediately calls for it back, thinking he's got an
opening because you see Anthony Davis start to slump back
into the lane thinking, hey, maybe Steph's gonna cut instead.
He's going to set up for another three, and Davis,
because of his length, he comes right back on him
to alter the shot. You see the moon ball that
goes up from Steph Curry, one of the greatest arcs
you'll ever see on a basketball. But the shot is
(16:32):
a miss and you get the defensive rebound. And for
Steph Curry, you know we've seen the stat ninety seven
times today. Oh for twelve on go ahead shots inside
the final forty five seconds of playoff games for his
career so that one's certainly starting to hang around with him.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
But for Anthony.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Davis wasn't a big big part of the game in
the second half offensively, Ryan, but defensively he was a terror,
altering shots at the rim and in this case just
chasing around Steph Curry.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
He was. And you saw where Anthony Davis is special.
He's got excellent feet. He has a monster wingspan. And
for those are going, what's wingspan? Why is that important?
Your wingspans? How long your arms are?
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Go back to the old Michael Jordan poster that everybody
had on their wall you've seen in countless eighties movies
or TV retro shows.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
Yes, so that wingspan means he can cover more ground
than you and I. So Ryan Hollins has about I
got cheated. I have about it. Even though people think
I have a longer wingspan, it's about seven feet seven
to one. Anthony Davis is more like like seven six
seven seven.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
If he ever got enough speed on those do you
think he can take off if he started flapping like
a bird.
Speaker 4 (17:51):
I mean potentially, I mean you get him enough air wind,
a little head speed made if something there right right,
But nonetheless, that wingspan lets him block shots, lets him
get tipped back dunks. So where you and I have
to you know, jump three or four inches just to
get to a certain point, he's already there with his
hands in the air. So that is what helps him
(18:13):
be so elite defensively. And Anthony Davis not just he
has the wingspan of a center, but he moves like
a guard and that's what makes him elite. And that
last possession on Curry was just special because he took
away the three, he took away the drive. Earlier in
the game, he got burnt, but when it mattered, he
(18:33):
was there defending and he was able to keep Steph
Curry right in front of him.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
I just love the just the the visual of it.
Where Steph's calling for the ball, thinking he's got a window,
and how quickly that door shut right. Yeah, just he
goes to retrieve the ball and Anthony Davis it took
one step and a reach of his arms and all
of a sudden he's back in his space and alters
the shot.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Is he anywhere close to blogging it?
Speaker 4 (18:58):
No?
Speaker 3 (18:59):
But Steph, given you know his his height and where
he is on the court, he can't step into the shot. Instead,
he's stepping backwards and I try to make sure he
gets the shot up and over.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
I do want to address this also because I heard
it was it was said that, you know, Steph Curry,
you know, doesn't you know, hit these clutch shots. At
some point Steph is going to have limitations. So when
you say, hey, Steph Curry, shoot over someone, if you
can keep up with him, it's gonna be hard for
him to get his shot off. The challenge is keeping
(19:32):
up with him. So the guys who normally hit those
clutch shots, those tough shots, and I don't think by
any means it should be a knock to Steph. They're
the bigger guys. They're bigger guards, the guys with the
mid range. So it's the Kevin Duranz, the Bookers. You know,
Lebron has the size to hit those shots. But for
a bigger guard, you've got to for the most part,
(19:52):
be able to jump up and over someone. So that's
where at a certain point, just you know, genetics catch
up with Steph Curry. But everything else, man, he's spectacular.
But I tell you one thing, if you leave him open,
he's gonna be knocking down a shot and be drilling
it right in your face.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Well, but but I guess that goes to the to
the end of it, right, You're not always gonna blow
teams out. And here's a couple of games in this
series in particular where he can't get a shot off
and has to give either give up the ball, and
we saw Jordan Poole and after that shot, I mean,
he's on the side of a milk carton with the
amount of minutes and effort he's getting in this series.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
And that's a.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
Larger talking point for a guy that they just gave
a giant pile of money to Ryan moving forward as
to the next iteration of what the Warriors are, but you.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Know it's the uncomfortable thing, right.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
We had the the meme and Robert Ghara, producer for
the odd couple like going back because Giann has put
out the you know, the disrespect and you know I'm
coming kind of thing, and everybody immediately here is like
future Laker or.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Stuff like that, and I laugh.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
I got, you know what it might have been me
because we've seen the cracks in the happy go Lucky
Giannis facade these last couple of weeks. The same thing
here with Steph Curry. Sometimes you got to have the
hard truth of all right, for all the greatness in
the game, not being able to hit or get a
shot off without some help. And this is where I
think the Warriors have also failed in multiple circumstances. Here,
(21:21):
go to coaching, go to what was supposed to be
the veteran acumen and court intelligence, whatever else you want
to call it basketball. Like you that they're not running
someone out to get Anthony Davis away from Steph Curry
or calling a time out to set up a play
to run him off. Somebody just leaves me a bit confused.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
Ryan, we talked about this. When you look at this
Lebron led team and when Lebron's teams have had success,
they've been able to defend. And this is a team
that can defend. Not to mention, I mean, Lannie Walker
was absolutely amazing, But who do you who else put
Do you put Lebron on that island? You put Lonnie
(22:03):
Walker on the island.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Don't forget before you gotta make sure we gotta Botnie
Walker the.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
Fourth There you go. But my point is this team
can defend, and that's something that these Lebron Laker teams
had been missing since he won a championship. Yeah, you
moved up from KCP and Caruso and Danny Green and
those boys. But the defense is something that had been missing,
and now you get that back and the Lakers are
(22:28):
starting to look dangerous again. So I bring that up
to say, hey, you're saying, well, why it was Ad
on the island? Ad was there? Because who else are
you going to call out or put in that situation?
And if you watch the game, Ad got burnt by
Staph about two or three possessions prior, so I know
everybody's throwing this parade about Anthony Davis defense, and by
(22:49):
no means am I calling that into question. But that
was a successful play, pulling him out from the basket
and going around Staph, and he just locked in on
that possession and said, I gotta find a way to
get a stop and win this game for my team,
and he.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Did getting the job done.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
Talking about the Lakers will continue down that path as
we look at their squad.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Lottie Walker.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
The fourth a huge game, as we saw Austin Reeves
rediscovered his jump shot, which had gone extinct for several games.
It looked like his confidence to some level had gone
and his trust from his teammates. D'Angelo Russell was a
non factor Offensively, he was one of ten for the night.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
He was terrible.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
Now he's making noise because of you know, talking about
past experiences and past teams. I don't know that he
should be addressing any of that in the middle of
a playoff run, but hey, to each his own, keep
your name in the news and throw some shade at
places where you've played before. But for the Lakers, a
lot of the season was if Ad and Lebron can't
(23:52):
lead offensively, where is the offense gonna come from? And
every night there's been a different third man and popping
up Ruy Hachimura for a few games last series, giving
you I mean, he's still shooting what fifty seven percent
for these playoffs or something like that. So you're getting
contributions from guys that nobody would have believed. And for
(24:16):
Lebron and Ad, I thought the communication to circle it
back to the defensive point you made was when they
forced the turnover from Draymond as he was under the
basket trying to get it out to Clay or whomever
in that corner, and you had Lebron point ad to
go pick up Klay Thompson, thereby causing another turnover and
(24:39):
more disparaging of the late minute plays and championship medal
of these Warriors. But just that continuity with those two
guys on the court, you're always gonna have a puncher's chance.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
You're right. And here's the game plan for the Lakers
as you watch the game, and this is as they
I hate that there's any question to with Steph Curry.
The game plan for the Lakers right now is don't
let Steph beat you. Give somebody else a shot. Obviously
you don't want to give Clay an open shot, but don't.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Right now you could give Clay an hit that anything.
Speaker 4 (25:12):
Clay and getting open shots, Clay has people running and
diving at him. Man, I don't we We're not going
to do that, people running and diving at him and
then trying to run him off the line, and that
it shots. Now, maybe he's missing shots that he he
hits uh normally even through an over a contest, but
there are people they are The Lakers game plan is
(25:34):
saying somebody else has to beat us, and it's not
going to be Steph. And that's what we're seeing right
now and right now for the for the Lakers, it's working.
It absolutely is. So you don't want to say that
Steph Curry by any means isn't doing his part just
because he didn't hit a last second shot or get
get something to go in that situation.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
Still own for twelve Ryan, I mean now that that
is going to follow him until he hits one.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
It just is.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
But it has an opportunity for redemption. That's the beauty
of playoff basketball. You got to win four and we
have best of three with two of them, well, they've
got to win all three.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
I should say you got to win three straight.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
Two of them are at home, though, and you've had
a lead, You've had opportunities, but you've had these issues
down the stretch that you haven't been able to close out.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Is this series over?
Speaker 3 (26:29):
History says five percent chance that you can come back
from it.
Speaker 4 (26:33):
I think you'd be a fool to think that this
series is over. We know hell can be and concern
or an issue if you really look at this game.
Golden State was winning this game and Lonnie Walker showed up,
and if we were betting men, With all due respect
to Lonnie Walker and I'm so happy for him. Man,
(26:55):
Lonnie has an amazing story. I don't think we would
have seen that Lonnie would have been the hero of
this ballgame, and he was. And he deserved every bit
of his glory for staying ready. And you're looking at
Golden State and saying, you know, who's gonna be that
guy for them that shows up in this next game?
And you know it's funny, Steve Kerr got Steve Kurr.
(27:20):
You know, it was him putting Jamichael Green in and
Jamichael Green had the big start and to win, and
he was the X factor. And normally Kerr is the one,
you know, Gary Payton gets the start and plays well.
You know, normally Kerr is the guy that is, you know,
testing his lineup and rosters and finding something that works.
(27:40):
And I don't think, with all due respect, anybody's pointing
at Darvin Ham and putting respect on the job that
coach Darvin Ham did to put his guys in position
to win this ball game. They were down and very
characteristically of this Laker team, they were gonna lose this ballgame.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Yeah, I think that's been one of the.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
Under talked about I mean, we talk a lot about officiating,
and we'll get into that as related to comments that
Kerr and other have made as we go with illegal screens,
and it's a larger talking talking point for these NBA playoffs.
Ryan the blocker charge made so famously in the Twitter
sphere of what is this different circumstances in our lives.
(28:25):
But legitimately, we've had a lot of collisions where you've
got referees looking at each other trying to figure out, all, right, well,
what are we calling at this stage of a game,
first quarter, second quarter and down the stretch. Are we
just going to let guys play collide into each other
or where we're at.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
But we did have Draymond Green.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
He got to the podcast world as he often does,
and you know, he back to you saying you'd be
a fool because, well, circumstances were kind of weird.
Speaker 6 (28:52):
I thought we did an incredible job of wearing both
a D and Lebron down. They played a tonne of
men as very high usage. In turn, they went to
Lonnie Walker and fourth quarter most cases, that's a win,
and it's still a win by the way, like if
you can stop Lebron from getting what shots he wants
stop Ad from getting what shots he want. Lonnie Walker
beat you. You kind of got to live with it.
Lonnie Walker had a huge fourth quarter. Fifteen points in
(29:14):
the fourth quarter, which was all the points that he
scored in the game.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
You Draymond on his podcast with the Vibe, Yeah, Unfortunately
the Giant l hangs over Game four. As much as
you can take the moral victory of slowing down Lebron
and Ad.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
It does. And Draymond's not wrong and that, but that's
just it right Philosophically, it's not wrong.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Unfortunately, this isn't game seventy five of the regular season.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
You know what, however you want to put it. If
you look at both these teams, the Lakers technically had
the better team. Golden State is the team that overachieves.
They're well coached and they work their tails off, and
in this moment, the Lakers and their coaching staff are
doing a good job. And now you've seen talent takeover.
(30:04):
And we can make excuses for both organizations. But Lonnie
Walker stayed ready. Lonnie Walker was given his opportunity. And
it's funny that Draymond has said, well that guy beats you,
that's good, because that's their story. Draymond Green had twenty
one points in a big game against the Kings. Who
would have expected that? Hey, man, Jamichael Green started and
(30:26):
play well, you know, there's strength in numbers. I just
don't think you've seen that from a lebron led team
in a very long time. And that's where you're looking
at it and going, yeah, I'll take that. But at
the end of the day, it's going let's give respect
where it's due. And the challenge is, can this become
your culture? Because guess what it's been Golden State's culture.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific. There it is, It's so true. One on nine.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
One on one was the final yesterday in a huge
game for everybody trying to rule the world.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
It's all Jimmy's world now.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
Hey, At the end of your first year, Discover credit
cards automatically double all the cash back that you've earned.
That's right, everything you've earned doubled. Seriously see terms. Check
it out for yourself at Discover dot com. Slash match
Mike Carbon alongside Ryan Hollins, The Jason Smit show with me,
Mike Carmon here from the tyrack dot Com, Fox Sports
Radio Studios, and Ryan as we joke, Justin Frosberg, our
(31:30):
executive producer, and I the time. The end is nigh
for the New York Knicks tomorrow, the last gasp efforts
to stave off elimination what we always talk about here
in the sporting universe Jimmy Butler. At one point, my
partner Smith tried to say, well, you know what missing
a game with Butler's like missing a game with Julius Randall. Well,
(31:52):
I don't know that you want to go one to
one of that particularly, and I want to bring these
comments back from last night knowing you are we know
about the series right now. Julius Randall had one of
the more curious stat lines ever. He had four offensive
fouls called on him. Three of them happened within the
opening fifteen seconds of a quarter. I don't know that
(32:14):
that's ever been done. That might be a Guinness Book
of World Records kind of thing. But here's his comments
in the post game that had us looking at each
other and just shaking our heads. Even Jason the Nicks
apologist had to tap out on this one.
Speaker 4 (32:28):
Maybe they wanted more Hono. You know, that's been who
we are all year. We got to find a way.
Speaker 6 (32:34):
To step up and make those plays if we want
to keep this season alive.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
Talking about fifty to fifty balls, hustle plays, defensive intensity,
the intestinal fortitude, all of that stuff, and just said, yeah,
maybe the heat wanted more to the interview or as
he throws it out there when you're struggling as he
has done in both health and went on the court
with some level of effectiveness and cottony inconsistency, Ryan, I
(33:02):
don't know that he's the guy that puts that message
out into the press or that's how you want to
answer that.
Speaker 4 (33:07):
No, I listen, I think that Julius has deserved the
right to speak up for this ball club. Uh. I
think it's just frustration setting in. And if you're the
next you knew you blew opportunities. You darned there, darnair
lost the game when Jimmy Butler sat out, he came
back and and it's looking like, well, you know, they
(33:30):
they're almost it's almost like the heater toying with the
knicks at this point, you know, and they're just spewing
with confidence, and right now it's a it's a tough
matchup because how do how do the next win? They
grind you out, they defend, they pick you up there.
They're physical defensively, and you know it from what we're watching,
you're not going to out physical the Miami Heat.
Speaker 3 (33:52):
Well, I mean they're the same team. Yes, And you've
got spools draw and pulling the strings.
Speaker 4 (33:59):
Yes, and they're just as well coached. Shout out to
timms Man and Tims are doing an amazing job. But yeah,
they're they're well coached. So this is a this is
not the and and here's the reality. Nobody wants to
hear the Miami Heat. Hear me when I say this.
They're the team that nobody wants to see.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
Let's go my Heat.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
You can go back and find the records before the playoffs.
I picked the Heat.
Speaker 4 (34:23):
They're the team that's gonna grab, they're gonna hold, they're
gonna talk trash, and they got a dude who can
turn into Michael Jordan on any given night. I'm gonna
say it one more time.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Can we get the Bubble title matchup back?
Speaker 4 (34:40):
The Miami Heat have a guy who can turn into
Michael Jordan. On any given night. He's not Michael Jordan.
It's not what I'm saying he can turn into Michael Jordan.
So they're a team that you don't want to play
against Tellia.
Speaker 3 (34:57):
And what's interesting is the contribution that you're getting consistently
from Kyle Lowry off the bench. You know, and we
quote the old Toby Keith song, Ain't as good as
I once was, But man, I'm as good once as
I ever was. And Kyle Lowry time and again will
find that one sequence in a game where he gives
(35:17):
you some some offense off the bench and bam Adebayo
back to playing like the guy we remember, right, the
guy that going back to the bubble that everybody was
so excited about his breakthrough. So you get him and
Jimmy Butler, add Lowry off the bench, even with you know,
Struce stepping up in the absence of a Tyler hero,
and you got an intriguing squad. And unfortunately it looks
(35:39):
like Tibbs and Company are meeting their match.
Speaker 4 (35:42):
Now.
Speaker 3 (35:42):
We have no idea how hurt Brunson is at this point.
I think his ankles both need to be just putting
ice for a while, ice up as it were. I mean,
a bunch of these guys. It's like boxers, you know,
cut me, I gotta get back out there for one
more round.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
That's kind of where we're at in these players.
Speaker 4 (36:00):
Ryan, Yeah, you know you're right about that. And I
think it's tough at this point. Everybody's hurt, everybody's got
something they're dealing with, and it just boils down to
it's a tough matchup. And Jimmy Butler was able to
sit out. They're a team that's gotten confident. They're next
man up type mentality, and you don't you don't get
(36:20):
rest losing Jimmy. You don't get rest losing Tyler. Hero
In fact, like you said, you're getting career basketball from
Kyle Lowry, who's been there before. And then you think
about experience. Miami's got ten times to experience that this
Knicks team has. But hats off to New York. We're
happy for him. It's good to see it, but this
ain't a good matchup.
Speaker 3 (36:42):
Probably we'll have Jason crying in his McDonald's tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
He's no.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
Probably, he's Ryan Hollins. I'm Mike Carmon. Coming up next,
we explore the world of officiating come playoff time. A
lot of questions that I have for Ryan
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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