June 12, 2025 • 40 mins
The guys react to the Indiana Pacers taking a 2-1 Finals lead over the Oklahoma City Thunder. Doc Rivers is going to be the last one standing and be the next head coach of the Knicks. And Jason explains that Kevin Durant is not the missing piece for these 6-10 contenders who think he is.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 1 (00:30):
Hello, Welcome in side hour too the Jason Smith Show
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Harmon wherever you get your podcast from. Uh. Thank you
for all of your support. Mike and I love putting
this content out for you every single night. Well, here
we are with two and a half left to go
in the fourth quarter, and it is a one ten
one oh two lead for the Pacers over the Thunder.
(01:13):
They finally started hitting a couple of threes and it
looked like it could have been lights out for the
Thunder after a big turnover Tyre's Halliburton breaking down court,
it's an eight point lead. A hoop would make it
ten with just over two minutes left to go, and
Alex Caruso absolutely picks Tyre's Halliburton's pocket at mid court.
(01:36):
He picks up the ball, goes in for the layup.
They're looking at it right now to see if it
is a flagrant foul because he was kind of tomahawked
from behind. This could not only just cut it to
a six point lead, but it could be even closer
than that. So you go in this This possession is
absolutely huge because this was it could have been ten
points and that's it right like it's over, okay, and
(01:56):
instead now it could wind up being a five point
game when it's all said and done, off of what
goes on, depending on how this has ruled off this position.
There was no attempt at the ball, No, it's it's
a two hand chop over the top on Caruso trying
to grab both arms and Andy and he grabs it,
grabs him around the groin too, like he gets the
shot like like that, like I gotta think that's gonna
(02:18):
that's gonna be the call there. Look, that would be
the and the bonus. Look Nee Smith comes back and
he tries to make the play and I you know,
you panic a little bit because it's an eight point lead,
Like okay, you know Halliburton turns it over and they
go in for the layup, all right, but you got
to not make a bad play worse. And that's what
Neie Smith did by going in. Clearly, you could do
it with one hand, go in and try to Anthony arm.
(02:39):
But when you go in, both hands over the top,
over both of Caruso's shoulders, like I don't think you
have any choice but to make that make the ground
be absolutely shocked. If this wasn't ruled unintentional, I mean,
and creates chaos, right, that's that's against the extra shot.
As you said, the arm extended all the way down.
That that's just not right. He did it get wrong.
(03:01):
Now you wonder because so far tonight the calls have
not been going the thunder way. And I'm not saying
that this is something that no, No, not what I'm saying,
are you What what I'm saying is that is that
you look at you look at a situation which SGA
has been to the free throw line six times, right,
(03:21):
and they they just showed he had a turnaround jumper
where he got he got clubbed on the court, you know,
and and they didn't blow the whistle. He winds up
hitting the jumper. So this is a game in which
he doesn't get to the free throw line, uh, you know,
more than six times. So okay, they're already not getting it.
And Frostburg's telling me right now, somehow they're not calling
that a flagrant foul. I don't understand how that's not
(03:44):
going wowed. I mean, look, maybe the NBA wants the
Pacers to win this game because it's like, hey, it
looks like it could wind up being a series. I
don't know, but uh, that's incredible. That really is incredible.
That's not a flagrant fowl. That really is Well it's funny,
right because we're in the studio obviously, show on, so
no audio for us, and there was no real reaction
(04:04):
from the crowd one way or another. Like I really
can't tell if you said hey, bet which way you
think this is being called? As the official is literally
in the camera giving the explanation, like all the people
behind him. There's no reaction, no cheering, no booing, no
nothing like, well that was that was widd very crazy.
But Cruso gets the line, hits both shots, and we're
(04:25):
back to game action. But that that's not intentional with
some of the what we've seen over the course of
the playoffs, like they've allowed a lot of physicality, don't
get me wrong, But then you've had a number of
these reviews like, oh yeah, that's intentional. It's like really
and this one it seems clear as day and doesn't
get the call, you know, just like in uh in
(04:47):
in the in the Thunderbolts asterisks where at the end
sorry spoiler where some might know it as the New
Adventures exactly where where where you see this? Uh you know, hey,
oh wait wait they're the Thunderbolts. They're the new Avengers. Okay, great,
(05:07):
like like like Tony Brothers has become like the new Extender,
you know, like true, I mean, look, you need more
than one, you got you gotta have an extra, you know,
the Avengers aren't available. No, that is true. That is true.
That is true. Yeah, yeah, you know you're right, right,
I mean right to stay with the Thunderbolts theme. I
mean they might not be available other battles. The Avengers
(05:31):
not coming us. Scott Foster is not coming. You need
Julie Luis Rafe is saying, Scott Foster is not coming. Okay,
he is not coming to this game, right, just just
we might be able to get her to put some
vocals to that. Can you do me a favorite jo?
Like you regret that Scott for what are you talking about?
Sure you're gonna pay me? Yeah? All right, then I'll
(05:51):
say I don't care. All right, I'll say that's fine,
that's absolutely fine. Well, I mean, is she on a
cameo or any of those services? Hey? Could you read
these lines for me? What's it for? Is it for
commercial purposes? Baby? My goodness? So again one ten one four, Uh,
Indiana with the lead and the thunder with the basketball
(06:13):
SGA just put up a really bad force jumper that
was off by a lot boy. It cut like the
back iron side of the rim Pacers go pace. They
go down the floor for a layup, and it's a
one to twelve one oh four lead for Indiana with
a minute nine left to go, and it looks like,
barring disaster, it's the Pacers taking Game three of the
(06:34):
NBA Fund and the Thunder due to the Pacers what
we've seen them do so many times. I was trying
to get away from the word do uh. But that
was just an awful effort defensively by Sga too, because
he's back on Nismith and just watch watches him walk
to the rim. But this is this is when we
when we talked about this last night and I said,
(06:55):
how do I see this series right? And there's there
was a you know, the big push from from experts
and analysts were well, the Thunder really figured figured it
out in game two and boy they should be up
two games to none and now they know what the
Pacer are doing. No, this is a series again. The
series is going seven right because each team is gonna
have their nights where they can impose their will on
(07:17):
the game. And so far tonight the Pacers are imposing
their will on the game, mainly because Benedict Mathern is
still scoring twenty five a game off the bench. I mean, look,
the guy's got a gun. He's got twenty five tonight,
he's nine out of twelve. He's keeping them in this
game on a night where they can't hit any threes.
They've hit nine threes tonight and somehow he's kept them
in the game and they have the lead. Like this
(07:38):
is just how it's going to go. Now, this is
a game the PACER's playing at home. We told you
their bench was gonna play better at home. Obviously they
would play better in Game three, and that is clearly
the case because you got twenty five from Matherin, you
got ten and five assists from TJ McConnell, eight and
six from Obi Topping, clearly out playing the entire bench
of the Thunder. Right, But now this next game. We
(07:58):
watched the Thunder adjust from game one to game two.
They will adjust here. It's not gonna be another day
where SGA gets the free throw line six times. I'm
sure they'll impose their will on the game. In game four,
we're gonna be tied going back to Oklahoma City and
it's gonna go seven Like this is This is not
a series where it's, oh, hey, the Pacers are gonna
be able to throw the hammer down on the Thunder
(08:18):
or vice versa. That's not. Just watching the first two games,
you can tell that's not how it's going to go.
Thunder sloppy with the basketball tonight in Indiana making them pay,
which makes up for the lack of three point acumen. Today,
we've seen some very curious decision making on some of
these late offensive possessions by SGA that we've chronicled along
(08:39):
the way. But for the Pacers, you know, the key
for the the McConnell line. He's got ten points, he's
got five steals, right, so create a havoc taking away possessions,
making the most of free throws more or less a
wash at this point in the game. But when we
(08:59):
talk about the bench, it's the mathering game, right, because
they were doing this early early ont of the game.
It's like the bench scoring is this, Like, yeah, it's
all mathern. Okay, Now you know top and had that
big flush. You heard MONSI play it before, right, So
now you know he's gotten involved and you're looking at
a total of forty seven points from the bench. They
got thirty nine going back to game one, right, in
(09:21):
addition to the six of nine shooting from three point
range when Okac went broke the bench did come to
play that game and obi top and was great from
the three point arc there. Now you're looking at at
a Pacer squad and Halliburton, you know, he's up over
twenty points on the game, but he's really affected it
(09:41):
in so many ways. He had that terrible turnover and
we're talking about whether it should have been an intentional foul,
but assists, rebounds and controlling pace of play all night long.
Uh So one twelve, one oh five, the Thunder have
the basketball after a missed free throw with thirty five
seconds left to go, and yes it's the matherin game. Right,
(10:01):
we've seen Halliburton series against and look, you want to
go through and talk about this because you want to
talk about the the biggest players that the Pacers have
had the entire playoff. Right, Siaka has been really good.
He's had a couple of games Halliburton obviously getting all
the attention, but he's had games where he has looked ordinary.
But like, if you say, what, what's the biggest juice
that is that that has hit this team, this is
(10:22):
that Matthick who's had been a really good, you know,
really good bench guy, and you have aged sixteen points
a game, which is terrific. But he has been otherworldly
off the bench in this playoffs, right, He's had like
seven or eight games where it's like, dude, you can't
stop the guy right like that. You know. Usually, you know,
you want you want your bench to come out and
be able to contribute, but you're not expecting one player
(10:44):
to get incredibly hot, not in a finals game, not
not deep in the playoffs, when hey, we're playing you
night after night, you know, and when you're one out
of eighty two, Hey, guys comes off the bench. Hey,
we're not we're not into you know. Obviously we're working
on Halliburton and Siakam. Matherin's a guy that, hey, we're
not really good planning for him. He can have big games.
You do that during the season, but in the playoffs
when when now you're game planning for Okay, when he
(11:05):
comes in, we have to do X, Y and Z.
The fact that he can still have these games is
insane and like he's the he's the X factor when
you say, how do the Pacers get this far? And
how then he be able to be on the cusp
of a two to one lead in the finals and
beating the Knicks, because yeah, as great heroics as Halliburton
has had, it's it's Mathron. When when you have a
guy like what can you do when you say, Okay,
(11:28):
we've done enough to hold the Stars down as best
as we can. Right, Siakam hasn't taken over. Halliburton hasn't
taken over. This is a game we have to win instead. Nope,
Bennett Mathron off the bench for twenty five points like that,
Like that's just such backbreaking stuff. Man, Like he needs
to be getting way more attention than he should. Sixth
pick in the twenty twenty two draft, averaging about sixteen
(11:48):
points per game for his career. So you look at
what he's been as a consistent contributor. The thing I
like about him and we watched it, you know, last
series as well, Like he's not afraid to get into it. Right,
he's a scorer, but he's an agitator. And he's one
of those guys that becomes a fan favorite if he's
your guy and the guy that you hate seeing check
(12:09):
in if he's the opponent. Oh yeah, yeah, right, it's
not just oh, you know, their second unit. As a
guy that can score, it's like No, this guy will
also go and he'll have the hard fall. He'll play
you tight on d and he's gonna smile at you
the whole way. Yeah. I mean, really, the the Pacers bench,
the Pacers rotation has been absolutely perfect. I didn't think
they could keep it up in the NBA Finals. I
(12:30):
didn't think they win more than one game, and here
they are about to take game their second game of
the series, take a two games to one lead and
really put the Thunder in a must win or basically
the series is over type deal for Game four goes
into that final year of his rookie deal after these
final finals end. You know, I talk about a guy
who's making himself a lot of money, right, restricted free
(12:51):
agency and all that fun stuff. But what he's showing
in these playoffs and now into the finals, three point
acumen and toughness and all of that is on display.
And for the Pacers, we talked about it very and
chronicled even before the Knick series was just how they
had heroes stepping up. Haliburton doing his base right, you
(13:13):
want you called for more and tonight he gave you
the scoring to go with it. Right. He's a rebound
shy of a triple double. But seeing all the ancillary
players come up big. Yeah, I mean look wait time
after time, look you know, but but for a guy
like math and it's like, yes, we saw him be
this big scorer in Arizona, right, he was really good. Right,
It's not like all of a sudden, who is this guy? Like, no,
(13:33):
he was terrific in Arizona. And now you know, you're
joining this Pacers team that has a lot of guys. Right,
we got dudes, right, we got dudes that did that
need the ball and take shut and he's still able
to do this Like this is this is one of
the most stunning, you know, individual performances just because of
the numbers the ship. It's not like, hey, I'm averaging
(13:54):
twelve a game off the bench or sixty. Hey guess
what you know? No, this is like instead of sixteen,
it's you got to keep it to sixteen. Like when
he's at twenty five twenty eight, like what can you do? Right?
Like that spurt ability that that second quarter was ridiculous, right,
Like what do you have? What do you have twenty
four and twelve minutes against the Knicks? I mean, come on,
I mean it's it's that's insane. So here we are
(14:14):
the Indiana Pacers are seconds away from a two games
to one lead in the NBA Finals. We break it
down coming up next. Right here, Jason and Mike. You're
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Speaker 2 (15:20):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
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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,
(15:54):
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, Terrell Owens Andre Reid eighty one? Yeah,
was he eighty or eighty one? Eighty one percent of
(16:16):
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. Benedick mathern off the
(16:38):
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 at 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 kiddingly last week, but now it
(16:59):
really you look at this again, 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 blowing out the Cavs, 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 sign,
(17:21):
and Halliburton's dad getting banned 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.
(17:43):
Good game from Haliburt tonight? Really good game? Was he
over the top dominant?
Speaker 3 (17:47):
No?
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Really good game from Siakam tonight? Was he over the
top dominant? No? But hey doesn't matter because you had
Matherin off the bench for twenty seven points. 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 a big
comebacks they want, not the better team against the Calves Caves,
(18:09):
better regular season team doesn't matter. They beat the Calves,
Knick's higher seed, more excitement, 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.
(18:31):
Destiny destinies I don't know if you're supposed to pluralize
it or not. The team team of deston 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
(18:53):
question about it. In terms of balance and definition, right,
steal a little from Arnold Schwarzenegger and pumping iron. 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 depth coming into the series,
to give them a little better than the what minus
seven hundred I believe were the series odds for the
(19:15):
Thunder coming in. I mean I got it to six.
Looks like I could be wrong. It could be six
going the other way. But then it wasn't going to
be a walk over 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
(19:35):
we watched it tonight. You look at Shay Gilgers, Alexander
playing a little bit recklessly with 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
(19:56):
these secondary players show up and it's not to it's
just saying your headliners are Siakam, your leading scorer in
the regular season, and Halliburton, who filled the stat sheet
in every category today. But you got the huge bench
contribution in the second quarter. What you got out of
Matherin and McConnell was just ridiculous, and that helped carry
(20:20):
you towards this victory. When you 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 the series. Jason Smith
Mike Harmon Life from the Fox Sports Radio Studios. Now
the big reason because now the thunder have gone from Boy,
(20:41):
they're a fun story. I hate the Knicks, 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,
(21:04):
I'll tell you take this and use this in conversations
with your friends to mark because I'm sure're gonna see
it on TV and on the radio. Uh. Halliburton has
been a player who feeds off of the you overlook me,
you overrate me, right, that'll the thirteen sell said he
was the most overrated player. Moncey Bolanos is buying T shirt.
He's probably hit. Bonzi bought like ten of those Halliburton
(21:28):
T shirts. She's got the next decade. Overrate this, right,
And Halliburton's been at the forefront of that. Right. He's
been of 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'll
listen when you're truly one of the greats, you gotta
do it every game, right, You can't just hey, now
(21:48):
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
(22:11):
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 back to back years,
completely overlooked. Pascal siakam right, Okay, Saka was a really
(22:31):
good player, but well, Kawhi Leonard is better and Fred
Van Vliet was better. Siaka 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 course of right, do
you have Matherin of course coming off the bench, who
you know, he's playing for a big contract someplace else
(22:53):
where I can go and be a starter. Right, This
is Mattherin being motivated because hey, I'm overlooked. I should
be a starter somewhere in the 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,
(23:15):
But oh we said that going back to the fort
long 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. Obi Toppin right, overlooked by the Knicks. Well,
I 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
(23:35):
your position. Obi Toppin never got the chance to play
enough minutes. 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 hard right, but I mean like and and
(23:56):
even even the still miracle from last year. But now,
but you have a guy like Miles Turner who's played
his entire career in Indiana, right, 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
(24:17):
in the finals. And even though he has a bad game,
it seems like he always hits a three at some
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 who 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
(24:39):
are hungrier than the other team on the court at
all times. And it doesn't matter, Hey, Halliburton and Siakam
come out of the game, doesn't matter because here comes Topping,
here comes McConnell, here comes Matherin, and they they pick
up that they kick into that next year when they
come on the court. Okay, great, and they they keep playing,
They keep reving that engine at the top and when
the fourth quarter comes, every buddy's fresh because they play rotation.
(25:02):
So it's not like, boy Halliburton looks like Brunton at
the end where he's dribbling up the ball, it looks
like a 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 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
(25:23):
you're seeing it right now. Yeah, I think to pull
it back just to that next level is then you
look at Rick Carlisle. 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.
(25:43):
I'm not vanquishing the Thunder, but we're encapsulating things where
we stand in this moment. The eighty one percent likelihood
of 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
(26:04):
all about pacing and being ready for your second season. Right.
While they finished in the middle of the pack as
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.
(26:29):
So it's something we've been talking about a little bit
behind the scenes, right in terms of load management and
all those other things. In terms of pulling the strings.
When we look at Rick Carlile, 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
(26:53):
bulletin board material and thought pieces off TV and sports
talk radio and in the blogg Is sphere that we seen,
but being able to know when to insert macom 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 he's been highly efficient in his minutes. But
(27:15):
to trust that you're going to be able to spell
where there's not the anxious moment. 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
(27:37):
glass in case of emergency. Well yeah, hey, we we
were lying. Look and Jalen Brunson is a bigger superstar.
But but the Pacers, they have a numerous guys that
can make trust of that balance. Halliburton is the big one,
but it doesn't matter. The end of the game. Could
be Siakam, it could be Halliburton does is great at
getting his own shot, even in tight covered so that's
(27:58):
why you default to him, Jalen. That's why the Knicks
to fault to Jalen Brunston. But Brunson's not giving the
ball up like Halliburton. Give it up to Siakam, give
it up to Nen Bark, give it up to to Nismith,
give it up to to anybody, right, Matt, I'd be
happy if Mathern's taking the final shot of it. Give
it off to We're gonna keep going on. I mean,
he's mad, but it's there's a there's a difference. You
see that everybody wants the ball, right, Everybody wants the ball, right,
(28:21):
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's gonna want a
big contract. He wants to start somewhere. Matherin's gonna want
a big contract, start somewhere. All these things are gonna
(28:42):
have to happen. But right now they have that great
mix of a great rotation that we can go eight
to 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 to use the Knicks for
an example, when Brunson goes to the bench, the Knicks hope, hey,
can we steal or four minutes and keep the score
the way it is still, let's keep where it is.
(29:06):
Where the pacers they change, it's like, hey, McConnell and
Toppin and Matheren committed and say let's push this lead out.
It's almost like like 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 iguidala and suddenly it's Hey,
their bench comes in and a twelve point lead. When
(29:26):
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 pad. 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,
(29:46):
do you want to leave me become my head coach? Now?
Is that James Dolan in the beard and glasses? No,
it's not mean he starts 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 coach
the next next year? Really? I mean, I mean, I know,
come the finals and when they're the next to deny
the request, right, yeah, I mean, hey, I know you're
(30:10):
down to one, but hey, we got okay, I will wait,
We'll wait. Okay, that's fine. We'll wait a little bit.
We'll wait little bit. It's okay, It's okay. I mean, look,
and even Rick Carlile when you want to talk about
guys who have been overlooked, Like Rick carl has been
a great coach entire career. But Rick Carlile's that you know?
Did you mentioned Rick Carlile's name when its name of
great coach in the NBA? No, we talk about Kerr
and we talk about Spolstra and Jason Kidd's gotten a
(30:30):
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 idea is a long time right, alright?
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 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,
(30:52):
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 continuity and Carlisle still
getting after it, you go find the next batch of
guys that have been discarded and are disgrundled and get
them to play the same way. Exit out about a
Fresco exit swollen down the Jason Smith Show with my
(31:14):
best friend Mike Harmon. Time got to find out what's
trending in the wide rule of sports with someone who's
been called the Obie Top in a Fox Sports Radio
She can dunk?
Speaker 3 (31:29):
What's that brand?
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Fisher Price?
Speaker 1 (31:31):
A Fisher Price? Yeah, I was like, what's the toy brand? Yeah?
I can definitely don't want you dunk on a six
foot rim? Maybe fe okay, you can jump. I can't jump.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
I can jump.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
I've never, I've never. You know, I don't know at
least the mini basketball, whether we're there the controls there
for the full Yeah, yeah, I think honestly, Yeah, five
and a half foot rim.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
Let's do it. Then at that I'm going, you know,
under my leg and doing a.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Sixty with a slam dunk contest. That's what I'm saying.
That's what I'm saying. Yeah, going to a courtyard near you. Oh,
let's do it.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
Let's do it.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
It's like Kenny sky Walker, just between your legs exactly,
helicopter dunch, show.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
That or a little maybe, you know, Vince Carter put
my whole elbow in it. I could do all those things.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Okay, let's do it. Let's do it.
Speaker 3 (32:21):
I'm gonna basically perform as well as the Pacers did
in the fourth quarter against the Thunder in Game three
of the NBA Finals. You know, Thunder were up going
into the fourth quarter, not by a lot, but they
were up with five or six points or something like that.
But the Pacers ended up outscoring them thirty two to
eighteen to win Game three. Indiana takes a two to
one series lead. Uh. Pacers also protected the ball way
(32:42):
better than they did and especially in Game one, only
thirteen turnovers while OKC the TV had eighteen turnovers. ESPN
has seventeen turnovers. But yeah, a lot of turnovers for
OKAC in this one. Other NBA news, the Sons and
Kevin Durant, along with his reps, have begin talks and
moving him out of Phoenix this offseason. Some of the
teams that could be possible destinations Rockets, Spurs, Timberwolves. He
(33:07):
and the Necks. Hey, the Knicks.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
Looking for a coach, maybe.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
Everybody.
Speaker 3 (33:13):
Maybe they get KD and he can be a coach too.
At the same time, you.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
Think he would say no to that. He would say, yeah,
let's go, let's get contract Ray.
Speaker 3 (33:24):
So they're still looking for a coach, but they've been
denied permission to speak to Bulls head coach, MAVs head coach,
and Hawk's head coach, so they're still looking. Celtics guard
Jalen Brown had author Scopprick surgery on his knee, but
he's expected to be ready by the start of training camp.
In Major League Baseball, one game that was still going
on and it is still Giants on top of the
(33:44):
Rockies ten to seven. It is the bottom of the
ninth inning in Colorado and the Rockies have a man
on first base, but they are down to their final out.
The Astros all over the White Sox ten to two
was the final score. The Twins outscore the Rangers six
to two. The Yankees defeated the Royal six to three.
Aaron Judge with home run number twenty five on the season.
The Mets shut up the Nationals five zero. They have
(34:04):
a record of forty four and twenty four, and it
edges the Tigers, who have a record of forty four
and twenty five. They lost today to the Orioles ten
to one.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
It edges them for what, Monci. It edges the Tigers
out for what.
Speaker 3 (34:17):
For the best record in base one? Ah record in
base fine.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
Just beat the Padres in San Diego five to two.
Back to you, guys, play you runch MONSI, Jason Smith,
Mike Harmon live from the tire rack dot Com Studios.
Coming up next, we stick with the NBA. Yes, still
more breakdown of what we saw from the Thunder and
the and the Pacers tonight. But straight ahead, there is
one player who has now unanimously been named as this
(34:46):
is the guy that's gonna solve all your problems next year.
He's not tell you why. Jason and Mike Fox call
the Bucks four Doc, Just call the box for Doc.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific Fox.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with My best friend
Mike Harmon. We get back in the Game three of
the NBA Finals coming up in ten minutes, A fearless
bold prediction for Game four, after we just watched the
Pacers take Game three, two games to one lead. Winner
of Game three, people go to one. You win the
(35:34):
finals eighty one percent of the time. Eighty eighty one.
But how about that big bull prediction ten minutes away. Meanwhile, look,
there's three stories in the NBA all going on. Concurrently,
you have the NBA Finals, the Nicks incredibly embarrassing search
for a head coach that continues to show you there's
(35:55):
no such thing as rock bottom. We hit the floor
and we continue to dig, and with free agency trades
coming up around the corner, Kevin Durant apparently is going
to solve everybody's problem. Right, no matter what your team is,
and whatever the composition is, he's the guy, right, it
doesn't matter. Today we saw the story break that Kevin
(36:16):
Durant and the Suns are weighing trade options right. Teams
that potentially are interested in Kevin Durant include the Rockets,
the Spurs, the Heat, the Timberwolves, the Knicks. Also, according
to Sean Stranias, several other suitors made inquiries on Durant
the past seven to ten days. Okay, Now I want
to tap the brakes on this for a second, because
(36:36):
I look, I'm clearly clearly the Knicks are gonna wind
up with with Kevin Durant. So, okay, I saw him
shopped into a pistage jersey or hey, Piston, why not, right, Pisson?
Is he to score like that or what? I don't
understand the all the the sudden belief that Kevin Durant
can help all these teams to a title like this
(36:58):
is not twenty nineteen, Okay, this is gonna be a
thirty seven year old Kevin do thirty seven in a row,
who was still a terrific scorer. Right, Kevin does still
terrific scorer, still a good enough defender. Okay, But how
do you think suddenly you're gonna PLoP him on your
team and suddenly you're going to win. Kevin Durant hasn't
been a difference maker in six years. Six years. Last
(37:22):
time was a difference maker was with the Warriors, then
blew out his achilles, went to Brooklyn. Was he a
difference maker there?
Speaker 3 (37:29):
No?
Speaker 1 (37:29):
And he had great players he played with, right, didn't
work out? It was him and it was Harden and
it was Simmons and it was Kyrie. Didn't work. Okay,
I go to Phoenix, Guess what, you got great players there,
you got Booker, and now you bring in Bradley Beale.
Guess what. They couldn't do anything either. So it's not
like he went to teams that he's their lone star
and I can't lift them because it's just me. He
(37:49):
was on teams with other stars. Did they have any
playoff success. I don't know why people suddenly think, just
because he potentially wants out of Phoenix, that he's going
to be a big difference maker. I don't understand. I
don't get I guess he is a terrific scorer. He
is still a terrific player. But he's played on teams
with really good talent the last six years and they
haven't gone anywhere. But suddenly he's gonna show up in
(38:11):
Houston and San Antonio and Miami or the Knicks in
Minnesota and they're gonna be great because KD is there.
I'm sorry, I've seen it. He's a guy that gets
his points, he gets his numbers, he gets his stats right.
It's kind of like Lebron James up until when when
when the Lakers traded for Luca Hey, Lebron gets his,
But is he leading the Lakers anywhere? No, he wasn't.
And KD KD gets his, but is he leading teams anywhere?
(38:35):
He's not. But just because KD wants out something, he's
really any team could have had him when he went
to the w went to the Suns and was like, yeah,
I don't know about it. But now suddenly a couple
of years later and he's older. Yes, Kevin Durant's the guy.
I'm sorry. KD is still a terrific scorer, right, great
player his entire career. But I'm looking at my team.
I want to take that next level jump, and all
(38:55):
these teams I just talked about want to take that
next level jump. Right, The Rockets want to become a
title contender, the Knicks one to become an NBA Finals winner.
So do the Tea Wolves. Kevin Durant's that guy. I'm sorry,
he's not. I what last six years I've watched he
doesn't raise teams level of play enough to do it.
But even he circle back a couple of years ago, right,
even in Brooklyn, they won at a pretty decent clip
when he played, looking at two thirds of their games,
(39:18):
What does it matter when you're playing over one hundred
games on the year. How many is he missing? Is
he ready for prime time? And what's it take to
bring him in at this point in terms of roster
composition where you're going, Would it be intriguing to watch
him with San Antonio and the rozah Ghoul Wemby, Hell yeah,
Taron Fox and what they've assembled there, Vassal, I mean,
(39:41):
you've got a pretty good squad that's been put together. Sure,
I'd love to watch it, but does it win? I
don't know how many of those guys are available for
a full season and going through the rigors of the
Western Conference? Right if he goes to New York intriguing?
What's that roster composition look like? How many games am
I getting out of him? All of these things? No
(40:03):
matter what? Like that's the the ultimate question. Hey, what's
he looking like in April and May? What's that roster
look like in April? Yeah? I mean, look, yeah, you
worry about his help, But I'm just saying, just if
he's healthy, let's save he's out. What does he done?
How does he he hasn't fit in with any team
to take them anywhere. Right Like he get he gets
his points. That's what he does. He gets his points
(40:24):
at this point. That's what he does in his career.
Is Hee a guy willing to come in and be
like a fourth or fifth option to where you've got
team depth. I don't know, like Indiana or O Casey. No,
I mean really, but everybody thinks suddenly, oh, Kevin Durants
the guy. Go get Kevin Ray. Yeah, okay, good luck
he's good for us, though, good luck. It's grat He's
always been blunt. You don't like it, He's great. No,
you don't like it. Don't watch Exit about a Fresca
(40:46):
exit swollen dome. Jason Smith Mike Carman live from the
Fox Sports Radio Studios. Coming up next, a Big Bowl
prediction for Game four and boy are we going bold?
That's next. Jason and Mike, you're listening
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
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Speaker 2 (00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Hello, Welcome in side hour too the Jason Smith Show
with my bes friend Mike Harmon. Our best of podcast
goes up right after the show is over. Don't forget
you miss any of our big content tonight. Right after
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(00:52):
ever again. Wherever you get your podcasts from. Right after
the show is over, just search Jason Smith and Mike
Harmon wherever you get your podcast from. Uh. Thank you
for all of your support. Mike and I love putting
this content out for you every single night. Well, here
we are with two and a half left to go
in the fourth quarter, and it is a one ten
one oh two lead for the Pacers over the Thunder.
(01:13):
They finally started hitting a couple of threes and it
looked like it could have been lights out for the
Thunder after a big turnover Tyre's Halliburton breaking down court,
it's an eight point lead. A hoop would make it
ten with just over two minutes left to go, and
Alex Caruso absolutely picks Tyre's Halliburton's pocket at mid court.
(01:36):
He picks up the ball, goes in for the layup.
They're looking at it right now to see if it
is a flagrant foul because he was kind of tomahawked
from behind. This could not only just cut it to
a six point lead, but it could be even closer
than that. So you go in this This possession is
absolutely huge because this was it could have been ten
points and that's it right like it's over, okay, and
(01:56):
instead now it could wind up being a five point
game when it's all said and done, off of what
goes on, depending on how this has ruled off this position.
There was no attempt at the ball, No, it's it's
a two hand chop over the top on Caruso trying
to grab both arms and Andy and he grabs it,
grabs him around the groin too, like he gets the
shot like like that, like I gotta think that's gonna
(02:18):
that's gonna be the call there. Look, that would be
the and the bonus. Look Nee Smith comes back and
he tries to make the play and I you know,
you panic a little bit because it's an eight point lead,
Like okay, you know Halliburton turns it over and they
go in for the layup, all right, but you got
to not make a bad play worse. And that's what
Neie Smith did by going in. Clearly, you could do
it with one hand, go in and try to Anthony arm.
(02:39):
But when you go in, both hands over the top,
over both of Caruso's shoulders, like I don't think you
have any choice but to make that make the ground
be absolutely shocked. If this wasn't ruled unintentional, I mean,
and creates chaos, right, that's that's against the extra shot.
As you said, the arm extended all the way down.
That that's just not right. He did it get wrong.
(03:01):
Now you wonder because so far tonight the calls have
not been going the thunder way. And I'm not saying
that this is something that no, No, not what I'm saying,
are you What what I'm saying is that is that
you look at you look at a situation which SGA
has been to the free throw line six times, right,
(03:21):
and they they just showed he had a turnaround jumper
where he got he got clubbed on the court, you know,
and and they didn't blow the whistle. He winds up
hitting the jumper. So this is a game in which
he doesn't get to the free throw line, uh, you know,
more than six times. So okay, they're already not getting it.
And Frostburg's telling me right now, somehow they're not calling
that a flagrant foul. I don't understand how that's not
(03:44):
going wowed. I mean, look, maybe the NBA wants the
Pacers to win this game because it's like, hey, it
looks like it could wind up being a series. I
don't know, but uh, that's incredible. That really is incredible.
That's not a flagrant fowl. That really is Well it's funny,
right because we're in the studio obviously, show on, so
no audio for us, and there was no real reaction
(04:04):
from the crowd one way or another. Like I really
can't tell if you said hey, bet which way you
think this is being called? As the official is literally
in the camera giving the explanation, like all the people
behind him. There's no reaction, no cheering, no booing, no
nothing like, well that was that was widd very crazy.
But Cruso gets the line, hits both shots, and we're
(04:25):
back to game action. But that that's not intentional with
some of the what we've seen over the course of
the playoffs, like they've allowed a lot of physicality, don't
get me wrong, But then you've had a number of
these reviews like, oh yeah, that's intentional. It's like really
and this one it seems clear as day and doesn't
get the call, you know, just like in uh in
(04:47):
in the in the Thunderbolts asterisks where at the end
sorry spoiler where some might know it as the New
Adventures exactly where where where you see this? Uh you know, hey,
oh wait wait they're the Thunderbolts. They're the new Avengers. Okay, great,
(05:07):
like like like Tony Brothers has become like the new Extender,
you know, like true, I mean, look, you need more
than one, you got you gotta have an extra, you know,
the Avengers aren't available. No, that is true. That is true.
That is true. Yeah, yeah, you know you're right, right,
I mean right to stay with the Thunderbolts theme. I
mean they might not be available other battles. The Avengers
(05:31):
not coming us. Scott Foster is not coming. You need
Julie Luis Rafe is saying, Scott Foster is not coming. Okay,
he is not coming to this game, right, just just
we might be able to get her to put some
vocals to that. Can you do me a favorite jo?
Like you regret that Scott for what are you talking about?
Sure you're gonna pay me? Yeah? All right, then I'll
(05:51):
say I don't care. All right, I'll say that's fine,
that's absolutely fine. Well, I mean, is she on a
cameo or any of those services? Hey? Could you read
these lines for me? What's it for? Is it for
commercial purposes? Baby? My goodness? So again one ten one four, Uh,
Indiana with the lead and the thunder with the basketball
(06:13):
SGA just put up a really bad force jumper that
was off by a lot boy. It cut like the
back iron side of the rim Pacers go pace. They
go down the floor for a layup, and it's a
one to twelve one oh four lead for Indiana with
a minute nine left to go, and it looks like,
barring disaster, it's the Pacers taking Game three of the
(06:34):
NBA Fund and the Thunder due to the Pacers what
we've seen them do so many times. I was trying
to get away from the word do uh. But that
was just an awful effort defensively by Sga too, because
he's back on Nismith and just watch watches him walk
to the rim. But this is this is when we
when we talked about this last night and I said,
(06:55):
how do I see this series right? And there's there
was a you know, the big push from from experts
and analysts were well, the Thunder really figured figured it
out in game two and boy they should be up
two games to none and now they know what the
Pacer are doing. No, this is a series again. The
series is going seven right because each team is gonna
have their nights where they can impose their will on
(07:17):
the game. And so far tonight the Pacers are imposing
their will on the game, mainly because Benedict Mathern is
still scoring twenty five a game off the bench. I mean, look,
the guy's got a gun. He's got twenty five tonight,
he's nine out of twelve. He's keeping them in this
game on a night where they can't hit any threes.
They've hit nine threes tonight and somehow he's kept them
in the game and they have the lead. Like this
(07:38):
is just how it's going to go. Now, this is
a game the PACER's playing at home. We told you
their bench was gonna play better at home. Obviously they
would play better in Game three, and that is clearly
the case because you got twenty five from Matherin, you
got ten and five assists from TJ McConnell, eight and
six from Obi Topping, clearly out playing the entire bench
of the Thunder. Right, But now this next game. We
(07:58):
watched the Thunder adjust from game one to game two.
They will adjust here. It's not gonna be another day
where SGA gets the free throw line six times. I'm
sure they'll impose their will on the game. In game four,
we're gonna be tied going back to Oklahoma City and
it's gonna go seven Like this is This is not
a series where it's, oh, hey, the Pacers are gonna
be able to throw the hammer down on the Thunder
(08:18):
or vice versa. That's not. Just watching the first two games,
you can tell that's not how it's going to go.
Thunder sloppy with the basketball tonight in Indiana making them pay,
which makes up for the lack of three point acumen. Today,
we've seen some very curious decision making on some of
these late offensive possessions by SGA that we've chronicled along
(08:39):
the way. But for the Pacers, you know, the key
for the the McConnell line. He's got ten points, he's
got five steals, right, so create a havoc taking away possessions,
making the most of free throws more or less a
wash at this point in the game. But when we
(08:59):
talk about the bench, it's the mathering game, right, because
they were doing this early early ont of the game.
It's like the bench scoring is this, Like, yeah, it's
all mathern. Okay, Now you know top and had that
big flush. You heard MONSI play it before, right, So
now you know he's gotten involved and you're looking at
a total of forty seven points from the bench. They
got thirty nine going back to game one, right, in
(09:21):
addition to the six of nine shooting from three point
range when Okac went broke the bench did come to
play that game and obi top and was great from
the three point arc there. Now you're looking at at
a Pacer squad and Halliburton, you know, he's up over
twenty points on the game, but he's really affected it
(09:41):
in so many ways. He had that terrible turnover and
we're talking about whether it should have been an intentional foul,
but assists, rebounds and controlling pace of play all night long.
Uh So one twelve, one oh five, the Thunder have
the basketball after a missed free throw with thirty five
seconds left to go, and yes it's the matherin game. Right,
(10:01):
we've seen Halliburton series against and look, you want to
go through and talk about this because you want to
talk about the the biggest players that the Pacers have
had the entire playoff. Right, Siaka has been really good.
He's had a couple of games Halliburton obviously getting all
the attention, but he's had games where he has looked ordinary.
But like, if you say, what, what's the biggest juice
that is that that has hit this team, this is
(10:22):
that Matthick who's had been a really good, you know,
really good bench guy, and you have aged sixteen points
a game, which is terrific. But he has been otherworldly
off the bench in this playoffs, right, He's had like
seven or eight games where it's like, dude, you can't
stop the guy right like that. You know. Usually, you know,
you want you want your bench to come out and
be able to contribute, but you're not expecting one player
(10:44):
to get incredibly hot, not in a finals game, not
not deep in the playoffs, when hey, we're playing you
night after night, you know, and when you're one out
of eighty two, Hey, guys comes off the bench. Hey,
we're not we're not into you know. Obviously we're working
on Halliburton and Siakam. Matherin's a guy that, hey, we're
not really good planning for him. He can have big games.
You do that during the season, but in the playoffs
when when now you're game planning for Okay, when he
(11:05):
comes in, we have to do X, Y and Z.
The fact that he can still have these games is
insane and like he's the he's the X factor when
you say, how do the Pacers get this far? And
how then he be able to be on the cusp
of a two to one lead in the finals and
beating the Knicks, because yeah, as great heroics as Halliburton
has had, it's it's Mathron. When when you have a
guy like what can you do when you say, Okay,
(11:28):
we've done enough to hold the Stars down as best
as we can. Right, Siakam hasn't taken over. Halliburton hasn't
taken over. This is a game we have to win instead. Nope,
Bennett Mathron off the bench for twenty five points like that,
Like that's just such backbreaking stuff. Man, Like he needs
to be getting way more attention than he should. Sixth
pick in the twenty twenty two draft, averaging about sixteen
(11:48):
points per game for his career. So you look at
what he's been as a consistent contributor. The thing I
like about him and we watched it, you know, last
series as well, Like he's not afraid to get into it. Right,
he's a scorer, but he's an agitator. And he's one
of those guys that becomes a fan favorite if he's
your guy and the guy that you hate seeing check
(12:09):
in if he's the opponent. Oh yeah, yeah, right, it's
not just oh, you know, their second unit. As a
guy that can score, it's like No, this guy will
also go and he'll have the hard fall. He'll play
you tight on d and he's gonna smile at you
the whole way. Yeah. I mean, really, the the Pacers bench,
the Pacers rotation has been absolutely perfect. I didn't think
they could keep it up in the NBA Finals. I
(12:30):
didn't think they win more than one game, and here
they are about to take game their second game of
the series, take a two games to one lead and
really put the Thunder in a must win or basically
the series is over type deal for Game four goes
into that final year of his rookie deal after these
final finals end. You know, I talk about a guy
who's making himself a lot of money, right, restricted free
(12:51):
agency and all that fun stuff. But what he's showing
in these playoffs and now into the finals, three point
acumen and toughness and all of that is on display.
And for the Pacers, we talked about it very and
chronicled even before the Knick series was just how they
had heroes stepping up. Haliburton doing his base right, you
(13:13):
want you called for more and tonight he gave you
the scoring to go with it. Right. He's a rebound
shy of a triple double. But seeing all the ancillary
players come up big. Yeah, I mean look wait time
after time, look you know, but but for a guy
like math and it's like, yes, we saw him be
this big scorer in Arizona, right, he was really good. Right,
It's not like all of a sudden, who is this guy? Like, no,
(13:33):
he was terrific in Arizona. And now you know, you're
joining this Pacers team that has a lot of guys. Right,
we got dudes, right, we got dudes that did that
need the ball and take shut and he's still able
to do this Like this is this is one of
the most stunning, you know, individual performances just because of
the numbers the ship. It's not like, hey, I'm averaging
(13:54):
twelve a game off the bench or sixty. Hey guess
what you know? No, this is like instead of sixteen,
it's you got to keep it to sixteen. Like when
he's at twenty five twenty eight, like what can you do? Right?
Like that spurt ability that that second quarter was ridiculous, right,
Like what do you have? What do you have twenty
four and twelve minutes against the Knicks? I mean, come on,
I mean it's it's that's insane. So here we are
(14:14):
the Indiana Pacers are seconds away from a two games
to one lead in the NBA Finals. We break it
down coming up next. Right here, Jason and Mike. You're
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Speaker 2 (15:20):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Fox Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with My best
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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,
(15:54):
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, Terrell Owens Andre Reid eighty one? Yeah,
was he eighty or eighty one? Eighty one percent of
(16:16):
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. Benedick mathern off the
(16:38):
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 at 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 kiddingly last week, but now it
(16:59):
really you look at this again, 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 blowing out the Cavs, 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 sign,
(17:21):
and Halliburton's dad getting banned 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.
(17:43):
Good game from Haliburt tonight? Really good game? Was he
over the top dominant?
Speaker 3 (17:47):
No?
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Really good game from Siakam tonight? Was he over the
top dominant? No? But hey doesn't matter because you had
Matherin off the bench for twenty seven points. 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 a big
comebacks they want, not the better team against the Calves Caves,
(18:09):
better regular season team doesn't matter. They beat the Calves,
Knick's higher seed, more excitement, 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.
(18:31):
Destiny destinies I don't know if you're supposed to pluralize
it or not. The team team of deston 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
(18:53):
question about it. In terms of balance and definition, right,
steal a little from Arnold Schwarzenegger and pumping iron. 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 depth coming into the series,
to give them a little better than the what minus
seven hundred I believe were the series odds for the
(19:15):
Thunder coming in. I mean I got it to six.
Looks like I could be wrong. It could be six
going the other way. But then it wasn't going to
be a walk over 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
(19:35):
we watched it tonight. You look at Shay Gilgers, Alexander
playing a little bit recklessly with 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
(19:56):
these secondary players show up and it's not to it's
just saying your headliners are Siakam, your leading scorer in
the regular season, and Halliburton, who filled the stat sheet
in every category today. But you got the huge bench
contribution in the second quarter. What you got out of
Matherin and McConnell was just ridiculous, and that helped carry
(20:20):
you towards this victory. When you 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 the series. Jason Smith
Mike Harmon Life from the Fox Sports Radio Studios. Now
the big reason because now the thunder have gone from Boy,
(20:41):
they're a fun story. I hate the Knicks, 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,
(21:04):
I'll tell you take this and use this in conversations
with your friends to mark because I'm sure're gonna see
it on TV and on the radio. Uh. Halliburton has
been a player who feeds off of the you overlook me,
you overrate me, right, that'll the thirteen sell said he
was the most overrated player. Moncey Bolanos is buying T shirt.
He's probably hit. Bonzi bought like ten of those Halliburton
(21:28):
T shirts. She's got the next decade. Overrate this, right,
And Halliburton's been at the forefront of that. Right. He's
been of 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'll
listen when you're truly one of the greats, you gotta
do it every game, right, You can't just hey, now
(21:48):
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
(22:11):
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 back to back years,
completely overlooked. Pascal siakam right, Okay, Saka was a really
(22:31):
good player, but well, Kawhi Leonard is better and Fred
Van Vliet was better. Siaka 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 course of right, do
you have Matherin of course coming off the bench, who
you know, he's playing for a big contract someplace else
(22:53):
where I can go and be a starter. Right, This
is Mattherin being motivated because hey, I'm overlooked. I should
be a starter somewhere in the 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,
(23:15):
But oh we said that going back to the fort
long 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. Obi Toppin right, overlooked by the Knicks. Well,
I 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
(23:35):
your position. Obi Toppin never got the chance to play
enough minutes. 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 hard right, but I mean like and and
(23:56):
even even the still miracle from last year. But now,
but you have a guy like Miles Turner who's played
his entire career in Indiana, right, 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
(24:17):
in the finals. And even though he has a bad game,
it seems like he always hits a three at some
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 who 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
(24:39):
are hungrier than the other team on the court at
all times. And it doesn't matter, Hey, Halliburton and Siakam
come out of the game, doesn't matter because here comes Topping,
here comes McConnell, here comes Matherin, and they they pick
up that they kick into that next year when they
come on the court. Okay, great, and they they keep playing,
They keep reving that engine at the top and when
the fourth quarter comes, every buddy's fresh because they play rotation.
(25:02):
So it's not like, boy Halliburton looks like Brunton at
the end where he's dribbling up the ball, it looks
like a 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 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
(25:23):
you're seeing it right now. Yeah, I think to pull
it back just to that next level is then you
look at Rick Carlisle. 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.
(25:43):
I'm not vanquishing the Thunder, but we're encapsulating things where
we stand in this moment. The eighty one percent likelihood
of 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
(26:04):
all about pacing and being ready for your second season. Right.
While they finished in the middle of the pack as
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.
(26:29):
So it's something we've been talking about a little bit
behind the scenes, right in terms of load management and
all those other things. In terms of pulling the strings.
When we look at Rick Carlile, 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
(26:53):
bulletin board material and thought pieces off TV and sports
talk radio and in the blogg Is sphere that we seen,
but being able to know when to insert macom 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 he's been highly efficient in his minutes. But
(27:15):
to trust that you're going to be able to spell
where there's not the anxious moment. 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
(27:37):
glass in case of emergency. Well yeah, hey, we we
were lying. Look and Jalen Brunson is a bigger superstar.
But but the Pacers, they have a numerous guys that
can make trust of that balance. Halliburton is the big one,
but it doesn't matter. The end of the game. Could
be Siakam, it could be Halliburton does is great at
getting his own shot, even in tight covered so that's
(27:58):
why you default to him, Jalen. That's why the Knicks
to fault to Jalen Brunston. But Brunson's not giving the
ball up like Halliburton. Give it up to Siakam, give
it up to Nen Bark, give it up to to Nismith,
give it up to to anybody, right, Matt, I'd be
happy if Mathern's taking the final shot of it. Give
it off to We're gonna keep going on. I mean,
he's mad, but it's there's a there's a difference. You
see that everybody wants the ball, right, Everybody wants the ball, right,
(28:21):
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's gonna want a
big contract. He wants to start somewhere. Matherin's gonna want
a big contract, start somewhere. All these things are gonna
(28:42):
have to happen. But right now they have that great
mix of a great rotation that we can go eight
to 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 to use the Knicks for
an example, when Brunson goes to the bench, the Knicks hope, hey,
can we steal or four minutes and keep the score
the way it is still, let's keep where it is.
(29:06):
Where the pacers they change, it's like, hey, McConnell and
Toppin and Matheren committed and say let's push this lead out.
It's almost like like 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 iguidala and suddenly it's Hey,
their bench comes in and a twelve point lead. When
(29:26):
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 pad. 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,
(29:46):
do you want to leave me become my head coach? Now?
Is that James Dolan in the beard and glasses? No,
it's not mean he starts 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 coach
the next next year? Really? I mean, I mean, I know,
come the finals and when they're the next to deny
the request, right, yeah, I mean, hey, I know you're
(30:10):
down to one, but hey, we got okay, I will wait,
We'll wait. Okay, that's fine. We'll wait a little bit.
We'll wait little bit. It's okay, It's okay. I mean, look,
and even Rick Carlile when you want to talk about
guys who have been overlooked, Like Rick carl has been
a great coach entire career. But Rick Carlile's that you know?
Did you mentioned Rick Carlile's name when its name of
great coach in the NBA? No, we talk about Kerr
and we talk about Spolstra and Jason Kidd's gotten a
(30:30):
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 idea is a long time right, alright?
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 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,
(30:52):
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 continuity and Carlisle still
getting after it, you go find the next batch of
guys that have been discarded and are disgrundled and get
them to play the same way. Exit out about a
Fresco exit swollen down the Jason Smith Show with my
(31:14):
best friend Mike Harmon. Time got to find out what's
trending in the wide rule of sports with someone who's
been called the Obie Top in a Fox Sports Radio
She can dunk?
Speaker 3 (31:29):
What's that brand?
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Fisher Price?
Speaker 1 (31:31):
A Fisher Price? Yeah, I was like, what's the toy brand? Yeah?
I can definitely don't want you dunk on a six
foot rim? Maybe fe okay, you can jump. I can't jump.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
I can jump.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
I've never, I've never. You know, I don't know at
least the mini basketball, whether we're there the controls there
for the full Yeah, yeah, I think honestly, Yeah, five
and a half foot rim.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
Let's do it. Then at that I'm going, you know,
under my leg and doing a.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Sixty with a slam dunk contest. That's what I'm saying.
That's what I'm saying. Yeah, going to a courtyard near you. Oh,
let's do it.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
Let's do it.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
It's like Kenny sky Walker, just between your legs exactly,
helicopter dunch, show.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
That or a little maybe, you know, Vince Carter put
my whole elbow in it. I could do all those things.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Okay, let's do it. Let's do it.
Speaker 3 (32:21):
I'm gonna basically perform as well as the Pacers did
in the fourth quarter against the Thunder in Game three
of the NBA Finals. You know, Thunder were up going
into the fourth quarter, not by a lot, but they
were up with five or six points or something like that.
But the Pacers ended up outscoring them thirty two to
eighteen to win Game three. Indiana takes a two to
one series lead. Uh. Pacers also protected the ball way
(32:42):
better than they did and especially in Game one, only
thirteen turnovers while OKC the TV had eighteen turnovers. ESPN
has seventeen turnovers. But yeah, a lot of turnovers for
OKAC in this one. Other NBA news, the Sons and
Kevin Durant, along with his reps, have begin talks and
moving him out of Phoenix this offseason. Some of the
teams that could be possible destinations Rockets, Spurs, Timberwolves. He
(33:07):
and the Necks. Hey, the Knicks.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
Looking for a coach, maybe.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
Everybody.
Speaker 3 (33:13):
Maybe they get KD and he can be a coach too.
At the same time, you.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
Think he would say no to that. He would say, yeah,
let's go, let's get contract Ray.
Speaker 3 (33:24):
So they're still looking for a coach, but they've been
denied permission to speak to Bulls head coach, MAVs head coach,
and Hawk's head coach, so they're still looking. Celtics guard
Jalen Brown had author Scopprick surgery on his knee, but
he's expected to be ready by the start of training camp.
In Major League Baseball, one game that was still going
on and it is still Giants on top of the
(33:44):
Rockies ten to seven. It is the bottom of the
ninth inning in Colorado and the Rockies have a man
on first base, but they are down to their final out.
The Astros all over the White Sox ten to two
was the final score. The Twins outscore the Rangers six
to two. The Yankees defeated the Royal six to three.
Aaron Judge with home run number twenty five on the season.
The Mets shut up the Nationals five zero. They have
(34:04):
a record of forty four and twenty four, and it
edges the Tigers, who have a record of forty four
and twenty five. They lost today to the Orioles ten
to one.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
It edges them for what, Monci. It edges the Tigers
out for what.
Speaker 3 (34:17):
For the best record in base one? Ah record in
base fine.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
Just beat the Padres in San Diego five to two.
Back to you, guys, play you runch MONSI, Jason Smith,
Mike Harmon live from the tire rack dot Com Studios.
Coming up next, we stick with the NBA. Yes, still
more breakdown of what we saw from the Thunder and
the and the Pacers tonight. But straight ahead, there is
one player who has now unanimously been named as this
(34:46):
is the guy that's gonna solve all your problems next year.
He's not tell you why. Jason and Mike Fox call
the Bucks four Doc, Just call the box for Doc.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific Fox.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with My best friend
Mike Harmon. We get back in the Game three of
the NBA Finals coming up in ten minutes, A fearless
bold prediction for Game four, after we just watched the
Pacers take Game three, two games to one lead. Winner
of Game three, people go to one. You win the
(35:34):
finals eighty one percent of the time. Eighty eighty one.
But how about that big bull prediction ten minutes away. Meanwhile, look,
there's three stories in the NBA all going on. Concurrently,
you have the NBA Finals, the Nicks incredibly embarrassing search
for a head coach that continues to show you there's
(35:55):
no such thing as rock bottom. We hit the floor
and we continue to dig, and with free agency trades
coming up around the corner, Kevin Durant apparently is going
to solve everybody's problem. Right, no matter what your team is,
and whatever the composition is, he's the guy, right, it
doesn't matter. Today we saw the story break that Kevin
(36:16):
Durant and the Suns are weighing trade options right. Teams
that potentially are interested in Kevin Durant include the Rockets,
the Spurs, the Heat, the Timberwolves, the Knicks. Also, according
to Sean Stranias, several other suitors made inquiries on Durant
the past seven to ten days. Okay, Now I want
to tap the brakes on this for a second, because
(36:36):
I look, I'm clearly clearly the Knicks are gonna wind
up with with Kevin Durant. So, okay, I saw him
shopped into a pistage jersey or hey, Piston, why not, right, Pisson?
Is he to score like that or what? I don't
understand the all the the sudden belief that Kevin Durant
can help all these teams to a title like this
(36:58):
is not twenty nineteen, Okay, this is gonna be a
thirty seven year old Kevin do thirty seven in a row,
who was still a terrific scorer. Right, Kevin does still
terrific scorer, still a good enough defender. Okay, But how
do you think suddenly you're gonna PLoP him on your
team and suddenly you're going to win. Kevin Durant hasn't
been a difference maker in six years. Six years. Last
(37:22):
time was a difference maker was with the Warriors, then
blew out his achilles, went to Brooklyn. Was he a
difference maker there?
Speaker 3 (37:29):
No?
Speaker 1 (37:29):
And he had great players he played with, right, didn't
work out? It was him and it was Harden and
it was Simmons and it was Kyrie. Didn't work. Okay,
I go to Phoenix, Guess what, you got great players there,
you got Booker, and now you bring in Bradley Beale.
Guess what. They couldn't do anything either. So it's not
like he went to teams that he's their lone star
and I can't lift them because it's just me. He
(37:49):
was on teams with other stars. Did they have any
playoff success. I don't know why people suddenly think, just
because he potentially wants out of Phoenix, that he's going
to be a big difference maker. I don't understand. I
don't get I guess he is a terrific scorer. He
is still a terrific player. But he's played on teams
with really good talent the last six years and they
haven't gone anywhere. But suddenly he's gonna show up in
(38:11):
Houston and San Antonio and Miami or the Knicks in
Minnesota and they're gonna be great because KD is there.
I'm sorry, I've seen it. He's a guy that gets
his points, he gets his numbers, he gets his stats right.
It's kind of like Lebron James up until when when
when the Lakers traded for Luca Hey, Lebron gets his,
But is he leading the Lakers anywhere? No, he wasn't.
And KD KD gets his, but is he leading teams anywhere?
(38:35):
He's not. But just because KD wants out something, he's
really any team could have had him when he went
to the w went to the Suns and was like, yeah,
I don't know about it. But now suddenly a couple
of years later and he's older. Yes, Kevin Durant's the guy.
I'm sorry. KD is still a terrific scorer, right, great
player his entire career. But I'm looking at my team.
I want to take that next level jump, and all
(38:55):
these teams I just talked about want to take that
next level jump. Right, The Rockets want to become a
title contender, the Knicks one to become an NBA Finals winner.
So do the Tea Wolves. Kevin Durant's that guy. I'm sorry,
he's not. I what last six years I've watched he
doesn't raise teams level of play enough to do it.
But even he circle back a couple of years ago, right,
even in Brooklyn, they won at a pretty decent clip
when he played, looking at two thirds of their games,
(39:18):
What does it matter when you're playing over one hundred
games on the year. How many is he missing? Is
he ready for prime time? And what's it take to
bring him in at this point in terms of roster
composition where you're going, Would it be intriguing to watch
him with San Antonio and the rozah Ghoul Wemby, Hell yeah,
Taron Fox and what they've assembled there, Vassal, I mean,
(39:41):
you've got a pretty good squad that's been put together. Sure,
I'd love to watch it, but does it win? I
don't know how many of those guys are available for
a full season and going through the rigors of the
Western Conference? Right if he goes to New York intriguing?
What's that roster composition look like? How many games am
I getting out of him? All of these things? No
(40:03):
matter what? Like that's the the ultimate question. Hey, what's
he looking like in April and May? What's that roster
look like in April? Yeah? I mean, look, yeah, you
worry about his help, But I'm just saying, just if
he's healthy, let's save he's out. What does he done?
How does he he hasn't fit in with any team
to take them anywhere. Right Like he get he gets
his points. That's what he does. He gets his points
(40:24):
at this point. That's what he does in his career.
Is Hee a guy willing to come in and be
like a fourth or fifth option to where you've got
team depth. I don't know, like Indiana or O Casey. No,
I mean really, but everybody thinks suddenly, oh, Kevin Durants
the guy. Go get Kevin Ray. Yeah, okay, good luck
he's good for us, though, good luck. It's grat He's
always been blunt. You don't like it, He's great. No,
you don't like it. Don't watch Exit about a Fresca
(40:46):
exit swollen dome. Jason Smith Mike Carman live from the
Fox Sports Radio Studios. Coming up next, a Big Bowl
prediction for Game four and boy are we going bold?
That's next. Jason and Mike, you're listening
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