March 6, 2026 • 40 mins
Jason and Mike welcomed Senior NBA Writer/Insider Marc Stein to talk about all things NBA as it comes down the stretch run. Plus, the Nuggets needed a hoop late in 4th quarter and Jokic gets it twice. Lakers needed a hoop late and twice LeBron passed out to Smart off of drives for missed 3's. COME ON.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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 2 (00:12):
Hello, Welcome in Side hour three The Jason Smith Show
with my bass friend Mike Harmon. We'll get to the
big NFL trade today in a second, but first I
gotta say my dad texted me a few minutes ago.
We were talking about the you know, we talked about
the tap off in baseball today and my dad said, hey,
(00:33):
you're gonna talk about how I can get more Yankee games?
Come up? She wait, wait, wait what the other big
baseball news today? The Yankees announce Amazon Prime is going
to be the exclusive home to twenty one Yankee games
this year. That was announced earlier today, and my dad
(00:55):
was like, okay, so what what streaming do I need
to watch all the Yankee games? I said, oh, Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad,
this is just you can see this coming a mile away.
We told you that eventually all of the sports that
we have come to love that we get when you
talk for free because you buy you you're buying cable.
(01:17):
That's not gonna be enough anymore. Leagues are all saying
all the money, We're gonna take money where we can
get it, and of course streaming this is where it's going.
Now again your line of how much will you pay
for something you used to get for free? You know
it's it's gonna be. It's not gonna be something where
it's all of a sudden going to change. It's gonna
be something that gets leached out over time. Today is
(01:39):
another big moment in it where the Yankees number one
draw in Major League Baseball, Yankees and Dodgers, two most
popular teams. Twenty one games now available exclusively on Amazon Prime. Now, yes,
network is gonna do the games, but Amazon is paying
for it. Like okay, this is how it's gonna work.
And every year there's gonna be more and more teams saying, hey,
we're gonna give these games here to streaming. Oh don't worry,
(02:01):
you're still gonna get one hundred and thirty games. It's okay.
And then no, okay, oh we're still getting one hundred
and fifteen games, still getting one hundred games, still getting
half the games, And in five or seven years is
gonna be oh wow, only eighteen games are over free
television or are gonna be on cable now everything else
you're gonna have to pay the stream for. This is
just the way of the world. That's why we like
to tell you it's coming. Get used to it. You
(02:23):
can't stop the future. Streaming sports is getting here. All
of your team's games are eventually going to be there.
They're gonna be streamed. It's gonna be produced by locally
where you get it, and it's gonna be available on
a streaming app. And that's what you're gonna have to do.
You have to get the Yes Network games for the
Yankees on Amazon Prime or wherever it's going to be.
This is the way it's going plus side. Last report
(02:45):
this was as of early twenty twenty six estimated about
eighty nine million people already have Amazon Prime, so you
know about a quarter of your your population little less then,
so that's good. But all of it to say, I
mean again, it goes back to our when we were
growing up. Yeah, I lived in Chicago, so I had
the Cubs on every day, and then certainly for national
(03:08):
games we only got a couple of weeks. We've talked
about this for the NFL, same idea, you had your
local squad and then whoever the Steelers, Cowboys or forty
nine Ers were playing, uh, and then the advent Monday
Night Football, eventually Thursday Night Football, et cetera. But I
just got ding down, you know, my my one hundred
and fifty bucks for my MLB TV package. Yeah, it's
(03:30):
just the cost of doing business. And either either you
decide it's still that important to you or you find
other uses for your time, you know. And that's unfortunately,
maybe unfortunate, just a different reality. The the only the
what I the only if I'm looking for a pothole
for the streaming uh surf streaming services, is that the
(03:54):
NFL is its own thing. Everybody does fantasy football. Everybody
cares about all the teams. You get me a good game.
It's people care about their teams, and they care about
the league in jackals gambling, and they will go watch
everything right, gambling, all of it. But baseball basketball to
the point where if you're getting to to watch games
(04:15):
in the NBA and see how every game is a
blowout and teams are tanking, I don't care nationally anymore.
I'll get whatever games they put on once in a while.
But baseball is really a locally driven sport. It's every
single night, and people want to see their teams. I
don't know that. Look, Yankee fans don't care about seeing
anybody else other than the Yankees. But overall is big
(04:35):
baseball fan as I'm look, I'm coming out of for
I want to see them all one hundred and six
two games of the Mets. Do I care if I
see all of the other games? No, I don't, right,
I'll get. I'll get what I need to either off
of cable, off of the internet, somewhere else. So I
think where where if you're a streaming service, you kind
of bite off more than you can chew if you
really want to go full national with baseball, because baseball
(04:58):
is really region liked. Even college foot ball is still regionalized. Well, yeah,
there's big games, but with sixteen teams or twelve teams
soon to be sixteen making the playoffs every year? Okay,
how must see? Are all the big national games are
not nearly as much? NA give me the regional stuff
what I want. There's certain sports where streaming is gonna
bite off more than they can chew, and I think
baseball is definitely one of them. Yeah, the biggest question
(05:19):
is I'd love to see the latest reports of the
average number of streaming services that people have. Right, I'm
certainly take the over in terms of where that is
for me, There's no question about it. So when they say, hey,
here's some game on Peacock, all right, I already got it.
Here's some games on Prime, yeah, early adopter, fine, yeah,
(05:40):
Disney plus what I like, I have them all. So
I'm I'm the mutant on the other side. So I
just kind of shrug and go, all right, I have
to remind myself where this game is, right, Like even tonight,
you know, the Lakers game is a Prime game. We're
here in Los Angeles, which means we've got to go
find one of those off channels in the the sports
(06:01):
packages and whatever. But for the average person, the curiosity
of where where's the breaking point, right of how many
the different services you'll subscribe to, not just necessarily because
it becomes a ten dollars a month or twelve dollars
a month, costs more, just the all right, I'm tired
of having to search these damn things out. That's the thing, man, right,
(06:22):
depend Like for your dad, it's like, all right, you're
gonna have to tell me how to program that. Tell me,
tell me all the streaming services I need. Tell me
what's the website I have to go to and when
and how? And you're gonna have to have the the
service friendly uh schedule. It's not just Magnet schedule day,
it's streaming service Magnet schedule with the little logo attached
(06:43):
to what am I get? What do I need for
that Friday game? The Jason Smith Show with Mike Carmen
Live from the Fox Sports Radio Studio. So just understand,
we like to talk about this because the future is coming.
It's gonna be here, and this is how it's gonna go.
Sing a few bars and be prepared like you're Jeremy Irons.
Go now, I've giving you an hour because we had
a discussion in a disagreement last hour and has given
(07:04):
you an hour to understand and come around to the
fact that I think you're too close to your take
on the Bears, the trade today of DJ Moore, what
they got back, where they sit and where they are
because the Bears, you don't have any problems. You have
no problems. Man. Look at the year you had last year.
(07:24):
You realized you got the right quarterback. You have the
right head coach, you have the right talent in there.
You were able to spin off a wide receiver today
in Dj Moore, who really was no longer a number
one receiver, had jogged his way out of town because
of the interception that cost you a shot at the
Super Bowl against the Rams, and you have play makers
(07:46):
that can make up for him. Right, it's romadone'sday ascending.
It's maybe Luther Burden is really good. We saw Colson
Lovelin is probably very good. You saved a lot of
money a couple of other moves out. You had a
retirement that didn't really go that you didn't think that
was going by okay, good for Harry May decided that
at twenty seven he was done. You've pay back some
of that bonus money. You've saved forty five million dollars.
(08:07):
You can now spend money in free agency. Look at
how far you went last year. You are in the
era of good feeling and you are upset, and you
feel like it's almost like you're like, I feel like
you're you're at the point where you feel like the
Bears are coming off of four and thirteen season. No, no, no,
it's just the reality of what that season was, right,
(08:27):
and doesn't take away the wins that they had, but
the fact that you needed so many two minute comebacks
and close out and wow, the defense just gave up enough.
Hey you got another seven points in you over there, Caleb. Yeah,
but that's your quarterbacking it. That's your quarterback doing it.
Like that's what I'm That's like, I don't think Patriots
fans are upset, going, oh, we needed Brady to pull
it out for us again. No, because Brady is great.
(08:49):
Like maybe you think that Caleb Williams is gonna be
great because he's the guy doing this. Is not where
you need a ball to bounce off a defender or
hit the overhead cam and come down or you know, hey,
we're gonna defend the Hail Mary this time, like you.
It's Caleb Williams winning games so well. And Dj Moore
was a guy on the receiving end of a couple
of those big plays. If we're gonna do that. But
but yeah, was he superfluous in the grand scheme based
(09:12):
on the receiving corps that has been assembled? Absolutely, Now,
did you lose some component parts to your coaching staff?
That you have to make up for. Yeah, you have
a little bit of change there coming out of what
was a top, top notch season, no question about it.
But you're looking at an offensive line. Your center retired
(09:32):
and Trapillo got hurt and he's gonna be out of villa.
He was fantastic. He was a guy that we were
talking about all the time, you and I and I'd
bring him up and you're like, stop talking about the line,
and we talk about it Cosell and I on Sundays.
You're watching the tape and going through the way he
analyzes games and how good a player Trapillo had become. Well,
(09:53):
those are two of your five guys are now gone
from your offensive line. You needed a lot of heroics,
You needed a lot of big plays, and they created
a lot of turnovers. Al Harris in that back unit. Great,
a couple of those guys are leaving. You got rid
of Edmunds. Okay, cool salary cap savings, but you still
need to fix that. But you also have what five
picks in the first three Yeah, yeah, that's great, and
(10:15):
you and you and you're talking with the Raiders from
Max Crosby is gonna come in and just be the
Tasmanian devil on your defensive mind. Maybe he's there, maybe
he's not. This is just normal. See, this is this
is this is what I look at as this is
the cost of doing business in the NFL. It's it's
no longer, you know, obviously the days are long gone.
Were Hey, we were great this year. We keep the
we keep everybody together, we go forward. No, this is
(10:36):
every year you kind of have to piece meal stuff
together because you're gonna lose guys at some point, whether
it is a trade, whether it's a surprise retirement and injury.
But you have the most important things you need. You
have the head coach, you have the quarterback, you have
the weapons, you have what you need to anyway, the
(10:57):
sorry I had to hire everybody. It's like you're in
the era of good feeling. Like the base is there everything.
There's a lot of work. There's a lot of work
that needs to be done for this team to get
to that next level. That's what I'm trying to I
don't I don't want you to see. I think you're
too close to it. I think because you live it
every time. Seven points, living twenty doesn't matter in a row.
(11:18):
But again, Okay, you are gonna make moves to get
better this year. You have the draft picks, you have
the money to now make that. Every team has holes.
Even even the Seattle Seahawks have holes. They're gonna have
to replace Kenneth Walker. They're gonna have to figure out
who they want to pay because JSN is gonna want
a contract extension. Right. But these are things that go.
(11:39):
This is cost of doing I can celebrate to find
your wins. Don't get me wrong, there's still upset, buddy.
I want you to set I feel like there's still
holes here. I think you've been kept down for so
long with bad bears, Like you're you're afraid to celebrate. Hey,
you deserve this man, you deve I do. There's nothing
(12:01):
to be afraid about. Just embrace the happiness that the
Bears had a great year. This was a great trade
for them. They get they get out from under money,
they get away from a guy that had to get
rid of. They have guys to replace them. Like everything
is good. It's enjoy it. Do you know that twenty
twenty four trade looks joy by the day? You nill
you it? It's a filet mignon kind of thing. There's
(12:22):
no quite yon trade keeps getting better really bad. I
want to know, I want a Frosty, But it's it's
the kind of to off my pallet here, But it's
it's the idea that there's still a lot of work
to be done. The division isn't going away and after
and maybe it is being snake bitten for some fifty
(12:42):
years of my life that I'm waiting for the other
shoe to drop and for the the coin flips that
went right in twenty twenty five to not quite go
so right in twenty six. But I'm giving you a
virtual hug right now. I appreciate that. Hey, it's a
let go. It's okay to be happencause you're sitting there going,
(13:02):
what's it like to have that one year of success?
You're trying to ask me, buddy, that was a great
year through you. I'm never gonna enjoy it. Come on,
Exit out bout a Fresca, Exit swalling Dome. Jason Smith
Mike Harbon live from the Fox Sports Radio Studios. Coming
up next, NBA insider Mark Stein stops by, what does
(13:23):
he make of the big story today, Jason Tatum's return,
Luca complaining to officials, the Big Rookie of the Year
battle and more. Keep it right here, Mark Stein always
must listen Radio. That's next, Jason to Mike, Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Hey, it's Rob Parker and Kelvin Washington from The Odd
Couple on Fox Sports Radio. And in addition to hearing
us live week nights from seven to ten pm Eastern
on Fox Sports Radio, we are excited to announce brand
new YouTube channel for the show.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
You can now watch The Odd Couple live on YouTube
every day. Oh, you gotta do search on couble fs
on YouTube again YouTube, just search Odd Couple FSR.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Check us out on YouTube and subscribed Fox Sports Radio
The Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harmon
Quick Update Nuggets and the Lakers. Four minutes ago, in
the fourth quarter, Nuggets holding on to a five point lead,
Lebron James has just left the game with an injury.
(14:24):
Now this usually sometimes we get Lebron goes down, it
looks awful and he stays on the court. He has
been helped off the floor. He is flexing and unflexing
his left arm, left hand. He's sitting on the bench
right now. He's not being looked at Yeah, he had
(14:45):
medical attention with him, but right now he is having
his left arm flexed. He is flexing it. He's still
on the bench, which tells me he's still a chance
to come back in the game. It is a left
arm situation. It was flexing his wrist flexing. Is his
his arm right now. So we'll let you know what
happens the rest of the game here. If there's more,
we'll bring it to you. But again, this is where
(15:06):
we are right now, Lakers down by four or three
minutes left. Lebron is flexing on the bench. Well, it
makes me feel like a jerk, but it kind of
look like when you're trying to jack up a car
when you got a fly. It was what the trainer
was doing there. Yeah, joining us now on the hot line.
Nobody to bring a breakdown all the big news in
the NBA. Longtime NBA insider is on Twitter at the Steinline.
(15:28):
Friend of the show. Check him out on substack. It
is Mark Stein Mark. What's happening man? How are you?
Speaker 4 (15:35):
If you guys keep playing rocky music, I might keep
coming back, all right, not.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
A mo Well, we want you to start flexing like
Lebron is and you know that suddenly get your blood
pumping even more.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
I don't think that will do much even on radio.
You don't want to see.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
All right, Well, speaking of comebacks, look no bigger story
in the NBA today than Jason Tatum coming back for
the Celtics. And obviously, look, we talked to this early
in the show. Hey, big deal for Tatum coming back
now and a huge boost for the Celtics. But Mark,
he's coming back to a different team than the one
he left. This was kind of his team and and
Jalen Brown was his one A. But now seeing what
(16:15):
they've done without him, this is Jalen Brown's team, and
now maybe it might be a little awkward with Jason
Tatum coming back.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
Come on, man, you're not really buying into this nonsense,
are you, Dude.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
I've seen Jason Tatum worry about his status and he
likes what when people say good things about him. He
is someone that what's one thing when you leave when
it's your team and you come back and try to
figure it out. It's a different thing.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
If you have Jason Tatum in your program, in your organization,
and he's healthy enough to go, and he's met all
the required benchmarks. How do you not bring him back
because on his first take, they're going to talk about
whose team it is?
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Oh no, look for this year, I think it's right
now here.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
But the East, the East is so wide open, like
they don't need him to be Jason Tatum fulcrum of
the whole operation. They're gonna ease him back in. I'm
sure he's gonna have some level of minute restrictions. You
don't throw him into back to backs. But if he
just becomes you know, seventy five eighty percent of the
(17:23):
Jason Tatum that we know. I mean, think about the
trade deadline. You know we saw a lot, we saw
a zillion trades, but not by the contenders. I mean,
this is like, think about what a trade deadline acquisition.
This is to be able to add excuse me, to
be able to add, to be able to add Tatum
(17:45):
mid stream when really nobody else, no other tops. You know,
the Thunder brought in McCain and he's been great for them.
But other than that, you really didn't see the title
contenders make moves. It's the Wizards and the Pacers who
made trades that were really about next season. So I mean,
I just and by the way, Lebron is back in
(18:07):
the game. After your dramatic reading to start the segment.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
What It's Like, we played music for it. Man I
was describing what was happening. They were working out his
arm a lot, and he was wincing like Lebron normally does.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
The East is wide open as long as Jason Tatum
is not rushing back, as long as he has been
medically deemed to be ready to go, it would be
foolish not to. I mean, the Celtics have been an
incredible story. They could actually win the East.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
To that end, mark, how deep do you think it
really is in terms of contending, How far down would
you go to say, hey, I wouldn't be shocked, Iffer.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
I mean, honestly, I'm probably my list is probably shorter
than most. I think like Detroit, they've they've been they've
just been too good to not put them in that category.
But let's face it, led by Cad Cunningham, they've played
in one playoff series. You know, they have a lot
(19:10):
to learn and achieve on the big stage. I think Boston,
by virtue of the fact that they do have guys
who've been all the way to the finish line. We
really do have to take them seriously. Even this was
supposed to be a gap year and they've just made
a mockery of that notion. I still have Jason's knicks
(19:31):
in that mix, and that's really as far down as
I'm willing to go. In the East, you know, the
Cavs swung big, and you know, they broke up their
core four and they brought in Harden. I'm just I'm
not there yet in really seeing them as a team
that can win the East. Maybe they can prove me
wrong and shut me up, but I mean, the Calves
(19:52):
just don't have a good playoff history, and I don't
know that that's the move that's going to rectify. And
in the East, that's as far down as I'm willing
to go. And then in the West, I mean, obviously
the defending champions lead the list. The Spurs are like
(20:13):
the Pistons. They've been incredible this season and they have
to be regarded as a contender. But I mean, you know,
the next the next playoff minute, Wenby Loves is his first.
I mean, there is going to be some semblance of
a learning curve there, but I think it's so wide
open that the Spurs have to be the Spurs and
the Pistons. Normally we would dismiss them both because of experience,
(20:35):
but I think this season it is so wide open
that I'm not gonna just say, well, they haven't been there,
so they can't. I'm not going to take that step.
But then, Denver, who should be the team that we
regard as the foremost threat to the defending champions. I mean,
the Nuggets just have not been whole all season long,
and they can't get whole every something. Some new injury
(20:59):
crop up every time we turn around with them, and
it does make you wonder, is this just not the
year for them? You know?
Speaker 2 (21:08):
And to take it a step further, I think we
watched a night what could be an NBA Finals preview.
If it's the Pistons and the Spurs, Oh man, I
don't know that that's not gonna be a Spur sweep
because the Pistons just do not match up well. Wenby
does whatever he wants to when they put Cad Cunningham
in a blender like, I don't know that I'd be
looking forward to that matchup. Mark. As far as seeing
a seven game series.
Speaker 4 (21:28):
Yeah, see, that's one you know, there has been You
really have to have nothing but praise for the Pistons
to think about. They're not even two whole years removed
from going fourteen and sixty eight and the twenty eight
game losing streak, and so many of the key guys
there cade during Thompson isaiaht stort like they they were
(21:52):
part of that. They lived through that and got to
the other side. I just I love the Pistons as
a story to have bounce back that so amazingly last
year and to take it even a step further this year.
But they took the OKAC approach. They said, you know what,
We're not going to make a deadline splash. We're not
(22:12):
going to go out and find someone for our roster.
We're gonna let these young guys keep going the playoffs
and then we're going to evaluate them. That's what OKC did.
Renumber then Okay, see got Hartenstein and they went all
the way. But I do wonder if the Pistons are
going to kick themselves and say, maybe we should have
(22:32):
gotten a shooter, maybe we should have put assets on
the table to get Michael Porter Junior too, because they
just they're the burden on kaid to run that team
create offense without the shooting around him that he had
last season. And Duncan Robinson's been good there. But you know,
they missed Malie Beasley. They could have used an extra
(22:53):
shooter at the deadline, and I just wonder are they
going to come to regret that they weren't more active
at the deadline.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Mark Stein our guest here Fox Sports Radio Jason Smith
Show with Me, Mike Carmon. Find him on substack, find
him in the Twitter verse at Mark Stein, Marc st
Ei and for those out there that want me to
spell it out, because well that's what we try to
do to send you to the right place, because there
might be a one with a K that sends you
down a deep, dark rabbit hole that you'll never recover from.
(23:22):
As we're watching the NBA here on a Thursday night,
our long time friend, an NBA insider now happy returns
tonight almost for Cooper Flag eighteen and a narrow loss
to Orlando. Got of fun watching he and his former
college teammate Conka Nipple getting after it in terms of
the Rookie of the Year stuff, but acquitting themselves and
(23:44):
becoming big time players right away as we look at
Charlotte creeping towards a top six finish in the East,
Charlotte's been.
Speaker 4 (23:54):
A ridiculously good story. I did not I really didn't foresee.
I don't think anybody did could foresee the kind of
run that they've been on. And that's the thing. Like
Cooper Flag is the best rookie in the NBA, I
(24:15):
don't think there's any question about that. I don't think
there's any dispute about that. But as he had the
best season, and because of the way Canipple is playing
and what Charlotte has done as a team. Typically team's
success doesn't become a factor in the Rookie of the
Year race, but the run that Charlotte is on, the
(24:38):
team with the longest playoff drought in the league to Nipple,
is going to be really hard to beat as the
rookie of the year. Now, Flag missed eight games because
of this mid foot sprain. He came back tonight. He
had some spectacular defensive plays. Didn't shoot it great, but
considering three weeks of rust, he was very good. And
(25:00):
you know, the MAVs have basically made this decision that
if tonight went well, they're going to let him go
tomorrow night. He grew up a Celtics fan in Maine
and Jason Tatum was his favorite player. So Friday night,
this Mavericks at Celtics game, which otherwise would have been
a pretty nondescript deal with the tanking MAVs on the
second night of a back to back, going into the
(25:20):
East number two team going into their building. Now it's
Cooper Flag and Jason Tatum's likely comeback, So tomorrow Night's
going to be pretty interesting.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
All right, Mark, let's get to the latest drama. You know,
we saw it again tonight with Luka Doncic, you know,
a couple of times complaining to the referees about calls,
and all the talk has been about his relationship with
JJ Reddick and where the Lakers are. If I said
to you, you know, make sense of the last couple
of weeks in Lakerland. They had won a bunch of games,
but you know, we don't know where things actually are
(25:52):
with Luca and JJ Reddick. Where are you on the
state of the Lakers.
Speaker 4 (25:57):
I think most of this discourse is absolutely non sensical.
First of all, there are no major issues between Luca
and his coach, it's a clip. It's like, it's so
overblown to me. But put that aside. The Lakers, you know,
(26:18):
they they obviously, when you get offered the trade they
were offered, you'd take it every day and twice on Sunday.
But when they traded for Luka Doncic, they were they
that's not something they planned for and because of the
state of their payroll, this summer is going to be
their first chance to actually put a team around him.
(26:41):
They knew very well going into this season that this
was not a roster well constructed around Luca. They didn't
have any flexibility. They had a little bit of you know,
they made the best moves they can make. They got
Marcus Smart, they got eight, and they got La Rabia.
You know, they did well with very limited flexibility. But
(27:01):
they knew to have any chance this season, Luca, Lebron
and Austin Reeves were gonna have to be and just
an otherworldly offensive trio. It hasn't happened. It hasn't worked
out that way now. I think if you go back
early in the season, Luca and Austin Reeves were actually
very good as a duo. When Lebron was out when
they'd had all three of them. It hasn't worked, but
(27:24):
that was like, that's not the plan. That wasn't the plan.
Like next season, after they get all this cap flexibility
and they actually can build a roster with intent around
Luka Dancic, if they're having the same kind of season
next February in early March, then all this criticism and
noise you could say it would be valid and justified.
(27:46):
Right now, it's like it is I can't believe some
of the stuff that's been flying around out there. But
then look, this is Charles Barkley always says it, and
he is absolutely right. This is the NBA. The stars
get all the credit, the star get all the blame,
and Luca moving to Los Angeles, He's in the brightest
(28:08):
possible spotlight he could be in, and this is what happens.
But if you're asking me for my take, I just
I really I scoff at most of it because I
just think it's nonsense.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
He is on Twitter at the Steinline. Strong stuff as
always from Mark Stein. Check him out on substack as well.
Mark has always appreciate your time, man, We'll talk to
you next week.
Speaker 4 (28:30):
Enjoy the games, all right, kids, be good.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
Say Mark, there you go fired up. Look, and we've
talked about this with Luca that when the trade deadline
came and went the lait, Look they get Luke Canard,
who is you know, subbed out of the game against
the Nuggets night. We'll have more on this game coming
up in a few minutes, because boy was there really
big drama at the end of this one. Martin Weiss
has more coming up in a minute. But like we said, look,
I feel great about the Lakers for next year because
(28:55):
they're gonna get out from under Lebron and and again
it's going to be when they can build a Luca.
We've talked about this for a long time. So I'm
okay with the Lakers and where they are now because
not like, hey, you know Lucas thirty five, you know,
it's like okay, you know, no, you finally get it.
They've only had him for a year, right, They've just
had him for a little bit over a year, and
with Lebron kind of holding the team back with his
(29:16):
salary and his status, do we keep them do we not?
I feel great about them next year. I feel great
they'll be able to go out in the offseason and
get what they need for him. I feel great about
the Lakers next year, and I've said this for a while.
This year is gonna be what it's gonna be. Next
year is gonna be the year. No, that's it. You
get to reload, reboot things with a lot of money
available to your cap space. Right, Lebron James, when he
(29:38):
opted in, he changed the entire dynamic, not only on
court but off court of what you were gonna be
able to do. He did three million dollars that you
didn't have at your disposal. Not that you necessarily would
have been able to go and buy all the free
agents she needed to pair up with Luca, but she'd
be further along in that direction. You're making the best
of it as it stands, and need Austin Reeves to
(30:01):
go free throw merchant full on and hit some more
shots because his shot has been off. Let's find out
what's trending right now in the wide world of sports
from someone who's been called the Lebron James of Fox
Sports Radio. He didn't take any shots in the final
minute either, gets more nice, you know.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
Lebron also went out for a moment late in the
fourth quarter with that elbow injury did return to the game.
Nuggets beat the Lakers one twenty to one thirteen. The
Cooliokus with a thirty eight point, twelve rebound, thirteen assists
triple double. Luca Doncons finished with twenty seven points, eleven
rebounds and seven assists. Cooper Flag returned to the Mavericks lineup,
(30:41):
but Orlando beat Dallas one fifteen to one fourteen.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Klay Thompson twenty four points off the bench for Dallas.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
He was the only player in the game to score
over twenty points. The Warriors beat the Rockets and oversign
one to fifteen to one thirteen. Brandon Spozemski led the
Warriors and scoring with twenty six no Steph Curry no
Christaps Porzingis. The Timberwolves got their fortieth the year, beating
the Raptors one to fifteen to one oh seven. Rudy
go Bart with the points rebounds double double, and Victor
winbin Yama had thirty eight points, sixteen rebounds of five
(31:08):
blocks as the Spurs beat the Pistons one twenty one
to one oh six. The NFL News the Bears released
linebacker Tremaine Edmonds. Also traded wide receiver dj Moore to
the Bills along with a fifth round pick. They get
a second round pick back. The Texans and daneil Hunter
have agreed to a one year, forty million dollar extension.
The Rams have agreed to a two year extension with
(31:29):
tight end Tyler Higbee, and and men's college basketball. Third
ranked Michigan Basketball goes undefeated on the road, beating Iowa
seventy one to sixty eight. The Big Ten champs and
eighth Michigan State won ninety one to eighty seven against
Rutgers Fellas back to you, Thank.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
You bunch, Jason Smith, Mike Harmon Lave from the Fox
Sports Radio studios, As Martin just told you a big
win for the Nuggets holding off the Lakers late. Yes,
Lebron James turned out to be okay. Right after grimacing
my arm, flexing it, he came back into the game
and this is when the crazy ass drama really started.
(32:06):
We break down the final ninety seconds of a game
that's gonna get a lot of attention the next twenty
four hours. Why We'll tell you next right here, Jason
and Mike Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific, Fox.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with My best friend
Mike Harmon. Take your shirt off, Jay five Second Dance Party,
Please don't Jason's Super Bowl We take off the shirt,
please don't. Hi drama. Nuggets beat the Lakers, hold on
to beat the Lakers. It was a niptuck two point
(32:47):
game late, but Nikola yelkinch comes up with a couple
of big hoops when the Nuggets needed the most surprised surprise,
are you gonna start singing those lines? They hold off
the Lakers. He came through just when they needed him,
just win. I needed JUMO one one thirteen is the
final And this is where the frustration level the Lakers
(33:11):
must have with Lebron James and really probably the Cavaliers
had with limit points two and the heat had them
at some points too. Gets to the forefront and you go,
come on, man, this is a close game late, right
that the Nuggets had a five to seven point lead
most of the way and the Lakers make it all
the way back. Right, It's it's a pretty it's a
pretty big comeback by the Lakers. It's a tie game. Late,
(33:33):
you had a big game from Luca. He had twenty seven,
eleven and seven. Look, Lebron had sixteen and eight and
five and thirty four minutes. But this is a one
point game in the final ninety seconds, okay. And when
it's a one point game, the Nuggets need a hoop.
Who are they gonna go to? Of course they're going
to Jokic, and the Lakers single cover Yokic. Jokic gets
(33:56):
into the lane twice and he gets two big buckets. Right,
So just understand the Nuggets know at the end we
go to Jokic. What do you do, Jokic? You go
to the hoop and get a basket or you get
to the free throw line. Either way, it doesn't matter.
Jokic had two big baskets. Lad he had twenty seven
on the game. I'm sorry, Yo, Yokic had twenty eight
on the game. But still minute and a half left
(34:18):
to go. Two possessions. Jokic gets the ball, goes to
the rack, gets the bucket twice, and this is what
won the game. The Lakers now need to answer after
Jokic gets these buckets. Now Lebron James had left the game,
right It hurt his arm, but he had it worked
on flex sideline, came back, came back in the game
with a couple with two and a half minutes left
(34:39):
to go. In the final ninety seconds, Lebron had the
ball twice, charging towards the hoop. And this is where
for his whole career, Lebron James has never understood that
sometimes the best play is you trying to muscle your
way to the hoop to either get a bucket or
(35:00):
get to the free throw line. But he has always
been obsessed with making the right basketball play. Now that
can mask a little bit of a lack of confidence,
because I want to make the right basketball play. The
right basketball play isn't always finding the open guy. Sometimes
the right basketball play is a guy who has been
your best player or your second best player getting the
ball to the hoop. Lebron twice gets the ball off
(35:24):
of feeds from Luka Doncic steaming towards the basket, where
it's either a bucket, it's contact, it's him getting to
the free throw line. But again, what does he do
both times, I'm passing out to Marcus Smart for a three.
Right now, in theory, the right basketball play passing to
an open team, and Lebron is always gonna say that
and say, what do you mean, I passed to an
(35:46):
open teams wide open? I have all the confidence in
the world in Marcus. And again this just masks when
you do something that's not the right basketball play, because
Marcus Smart taking threes is not the shot you want
at that point when you're down three, Hey, I want them.
There's it's still time left to get a bucket, be
down one, get a defensive stop. Marcus Smart for three
is not the way to go right. Marcus My again,
(36:07):
Marcus My again. Yet he had a good night shooting.
But at the end of the game, it's different, man.
It is christ It is you or Luca that has
to be taking these shots at the end. The only
way it's another player is if somehow I can get
you the ball and you have a layup or you
have something, you have a bunny from three feet and
in that you're gonna be able to make. Going out
to a guy that is option seven on the team
(36:28):
is not the right basketball player. Yet Lebron does this
all the time. So what happens. I get the ball
out to Marcus Smart twice, Marcus Smart bricks up to
threes and that's the game, and the Lakers can't come
back from that. The Nuggets get a couple of free
throws near the end and they win this by seven.
Like this is so frustrating. The Lakers have to be
frustrated with. We get Lebron the ball, He's got a
drive to the hoop, he has a way he can
(36:50):
get there. He's one on one. It's Joki Steh. You're
gonna get contact. Man, go up. Try But either I'm
I want to make the right play or I want
to make the right play, asked with, I don't have
the angle I feel like I have. I don't know
that I can make the basket. I'm not gonna be
someone that misses a last minute shot. So I pass
them all out to Marcus Smart. That's got to be
so incredibly frustrating for the Lakers. Does he use the
(37:12):
injury and the arm issue as an excuse, Oh my arm,
it's broken, shot broken, But I can be out there
to open space for my teammates. I missed get twenty
seven foot of the first time and a twenty three
foot of the second. The two Smart three point shots. Yeah,
I mean that that's it because the first question is like, so,
(37:33):
on a night where you set the record for most
field goals made in the final minute and a half,
you passed out twice. I don't know. I don't know
what to say with at the end of a game
like this, your best players between Lebron and Luca. It's
one shot in the final ninety seconds and Luca takes
a three and misses it. Yeah, maybe now getting the
(37:56):
ball to Okay, you're doing what your Luca getting the
ball of Bron. If I'm not taking the shot, it's
Lebron and he got him the ball twice and instead
I'm pass to an open teammate. Why do you think
the Nuggets are allowing you to pass to an open teammate?
Do you think the Nuggets defensively just don't know what
they're doing? Oh man, we left market.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
No, they know.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
Hey, if you if we get if we can we
can hold off Lebron, get him one on one, leave
a teammate open and he's gonna pass to him. I
guarantee you that's what That's what said in the in
the huddles. Leave that guy open, Michael Malone. I need
Mike Malone. Leave that guy open. Lebron will pass to him.
Because I guarantee you if you ask any team, what
(38:34):
would you rather have at the end of the game
for a game winning shot for the Lakers? Would you
rather have Luca with the ball, Lebron with the ball,
or anybody else? They're all saying, anybody else, what if
it's an open shot, Give me an open shot? Anybody
else will open Marcus mart three point, Yes, let's see it.
Give it to him. Well, see it's a true question,
because Lebron's gonna pass it. Yeah, I him coming down
(38:56):
with a full ahead of Steve and say, all right,
get to the rack. Maybe you get the and one,
or you go to the free throw line instead. Marcus
Smart like he's got a good look at it, And yes,
it would have tied the game and all of that,
but there's still a minute left. You still have to
stop Jokich at the other end. There's still other possessions
to be had, right, this isn't last second. Okay, this
(39:20):
is it, and and Marcus Smart either ties it and
sends us to overtime or we go home. There's still
several possessions in an NBA game in a final minute.
I mean, it's not like it's down to one play,
and it's not. It's it's sometimes the best play is
your best player making something happens. Why I always say, Hey,
(39:40):
if the Knicks lose because Jalen Brunson misses a contested
three with two guys in his face, I'm okay with that.
I'm okay with it because he's our best player and
I will lose my best player taking it. If you
at least have three or four guys, you can okay.
Lakers do not have that many guys. But like the
Lakers have to be okay. To be okay, either Luca
(40:01):
or Lebron take these shots, right, yo, get just not
passing out of these plays in the final ninety seconds
to give the ball to a teammate. He's not passing
out to Alex English on the wing for a three,
like that's where the iceman's not coming down for the
finger roll in the lane. He's going in to make
that shot. And and Lebron does this all the time. Oh,
(40:21):
exit out by a freshcoo, exit swollen dome. Jason Smith,
Mike Harmon, we have big stuff out of the NBA
and NFL. Next right here, Fox
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 2 (00:12):
Hello, Welcome in Side hour three The Jason Smith Show
with my bass friend Mike Harmon. We'll get to the
big NFL trade today in a second, but first I
gotta say my dad texted me a few minutes ago.
We were talking about the you know, we talked about
the tap off in baseball today and my dad said, hey,
(00:33):
you're gonna talk about how I can get more Yankee games?
Come up? She wait, wait, wait what the other big
baseball news today? The Yankees announce Amazon Prime is going
to be the exclusive home to twenty one Yankee games
this year. That was announced earlier today, and my dad
(00:55):
was like, okay, so what what streaming do I need
to watch all the Yankee games? I said, oh, Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad,
this is just you can see this coming a mile away.
We told you that eventually all of the sports that
we have come to love that we get when you
talk for free because you buy you you're buying cable.
(01:17):
That's not gonna be enough anymore. Leagues are all saying
all the money, We're gonna take money where we can
get it, and of course streaming this is where it's going.
Now again your line of how much will you pay
for something you used to get for free? You know
it's it's gonna be. It's not gonna be something where
it's all of a sudden going to change. It's gonna
be something that gets leached out over time. Today is
(01:39):
another big moment in it where the Yankees number one
draw in Major League Baseball, Yankees and Dodgers, two most
popular teams. Twenty one games now available exclusively on Amazon Prime. Now, yes,
network is gonna do the games, but Amazon is paying
for it. Like okay, this is how it's gonna work.
And every year there's gonna be more and more teams saying, hey,
we're gonna give these games here to streaming. Oh don't worry,
(02:01):
you're still gonna get one hundred and thirty games. It's okay.
And then no, okay, oh we're still getting one hundred
and fifteen games, still getting one hundred games, still getting
half the games, And in five or seven years is
gonna be oh wow, only eighteen games are over free
television or are gonna be on cable now everything else
you're gonna have to pay the stream for. This is
just the way of the world. That's why we like
to tell you it's coming. Get used to it. You
(02:23):
can't stop the future. Streaming sports is getting here. All
of your team's games are eventually going to be there.
They're gonna be streamed. It's gonna be produced by locally
where you get it, and it's gonna be available on
a streaming app. And that's what you're gonna have to do.
You have to get the Yes Network games for the
Yankees on Amazon Prime or wherever it's going to be.
This is the way it's going plus side. Last report
(02:45):
this was as of early twenty twenty six estimated about
eighty nine million people already have Amazon Prime, so you
know about a quarter of your your population little less then,
so that's good. But all of it to say, I
mean again, it goes back to our when we were
growing up. Yeah, I lived in Chicago, so I had
the Cubs on every day, and then certainly for national
(03:08):
games we only got a couple of weeks. We've talked
about this for the NFL, same idea, you had your
local squad and then whoever the Steelers, Cowboys or forty
nine Ers were playing, uh, and then the advent Monday
Night Football, eventually Thursday Night Football, et cetera. But I
just got ding down, you know, my my one hundred
and fifty bucks for my MLB TV package. Yeah, it's
(03:30):
just the cost of doing business. And either either you
decide it's still that important to you or you find
other uses for your time, you know. And that's unfortunately,
maybe unfortunate, just a different reality. The the only the
what I the only if I'm looking for a pothole
for the streaming uh surf streaming services, is that the
(03:54):
NFL is its own thing. Everybody does fantasy football. Everybody
cares about all the teams. You get me a good game.
It's people care about their teams, and they care about
the league in jackals gambling, and they will go watch
everything right, gambling, all of it. But baseball basketball to
the point where if you're getting to to watch games
(04:15):
in the NBA and see how every game is a
blowout and teams are tanking, I don't care nationally anymore.
I'll get whatever games they put on once in a while.
But baseball is really a locally driven sport. It's every
single night, and people want to see their teams. I
don't know that. Look, Yankee fans don't care about seeing
anybody else other than the Yankees. But overall is big
(04:35):
baseball fan as I'm look, I'm coming out of for
I want to see them all one hundred and six
two games of the Mets. Do I care if I
see all of the other games? No, I don't, right,
I'll get. I'll get what I need to either off
of cable, off of the internet, somewhere else. So I
think where where if you're a streaming service, you kind
of bite off more than you can chew if you
really want to go full national with baseball, because baseball
(04:58):
is really region liked. Even college foot ball is still regionalized. Well, yeah,
there's big games, but with sixteen teams or twelve teams
soon to be sixteen making the playoffs every year? Okay,
how must see? Are all the big national games are
not nearly as much? NA give me the regional stuff
what I want. There's certain sports where streaming is gonna
bite off more than they can chew, and I think
baseball is definitely one of them. Yeah, the biggest question
(05:19):
is I'd love to see the latest reports of the
average number of streaming services that people have. Right, I'm
certainly take the over in terms of where that is
for me, There's no question about it. So when they say, hey,
here's some game on Peacock, all right, I already got it.
Here's some games on Prime, yeah, early adopter, fine, yeah,
(05:40):
Disney plus what I like, I have them all. So
I'm I'm the mutant on the other side. So I
just kind of shrug and go, all right, I have
to remind myself where this game is, right, Like even tonight,
you know, the Lakers game is a Prime game. We're
here in Los Angeles, which means we've got to go
find one of those off channels in the the sports
(06:01):
packages and whatever. But for the average person, the curiosity
of where where's the breaking point, right of how many
the different services you'll subscribe to, not just necessarily because
it becomes a ten dollars a month or twelve dollars
a month, costs more, just the all right, I'm tired
of having to search these damn things out. That's the thing, man, right,
(06:22):
depend Like for your dad, it's like, all right, you're
gonna have to tell me how to program that. Tell me,
tell me all the streaming services I need. Tell me
what's the website I have to go to and when
and how? And you're gonna have to have the the
service friendly uh schedule. It's not just Magnet schedule day,
it's streaming service Magnet schedule with the little logo attached
(06:43):
to what am I get? What do I need for
that Friday game? The Jason Smith Show with Mike Carmen
Live from the Fox Sports Radio Studio. So just understand,
we like to talk about this because the future is coming.
It's gonna be here, and this is how it's gonna go.
Sing a few bars and be prepared like you're Jeremy Irons.
Go now, I've giving you an hour because we had
a discussion in a disagreement last hour and has given
(07:04):
you an hour to understand and come around to the
fact that I think you're too close to your take
on the Bears, the trade today of DJ Moore, what
they got back, where they sit and where they are
because the Bears, you don't have any problems. You have
no problems. Man. Look at the year you had last year.
(07:24):
You realized you got the right quarterback. You have the
right head coach, you have the right talent in there.
You were able to spin off a wide receiver today
in Dj Moore, who really was no longer a number
one receiver, had jogged his way out of town because
of the interception that cost you a shot at the
Super Bowl against the Rams, and you have play makers
(07:46):
that can make up for him. Right, it's romadone'sday ascending.
It's maybe Luther Burden is really good. We saw Colson
Lovelin is probably very good. You saved a lot of
money a couple of other moves out. You had a
retirement that didn't really go that you didn't think that
was going by okay, good for Harry May decided that
at twenty seven he was done. You've pay back some
of that bonus money. You've saved forty five million dollars.
(08:07):
You can now spend money in free agency. Look at
how far you went last year. You are in the
era of good feeling and you are upset, and you
feel like it's almost like you're like, I feel like
you're you're at the point where you feel like the
Bears are coming off of four and thirteen season. No, no, no,
it's just the reality of what that season was, right,
(08:27):
and doesn't take away the wins that they had, but
the fact that you needed so many two minute comebacks
and close out and wow, the defense just gave up enough.
Hey you got another seven points in you over there, Caleb. Yeah,
but that's your quarterbacking it. That's your quarterback doing it.
Like that's what I'm That's like, I don't think Patriots
fans are upset, going, oh, we needed Brady to pull
it out for us again. No, because Brady is great.
(08:49):
Like maybe you think that Caleb Williams is gonna be
great because he's the guy doing this. Is not where
you need a ball to bounce off a defender or
hit the overhead cam and come down or you know, hey,
we're gonna defend the Hail Mary this time, like you.
It's Caleb Williams winning games so well. And Dj Moore
was a guy on the receiving end of a couple
of those big plays. If we're gonna do that. But
but yeah, was he superfluous in the grand scheme based
(09:12):
on the receiving corps that has been assembled? Absolutely, Now,
did you lose some component parts to your coaching staff?
That you have to make up for. Yeah, you have
a little bit of change there coming out of what
was a top, top notch season, no question about it.
But you're looking at an offensive line. Your center retired
(09:32):
and Trapillo got hurt and he's gonna be out of villa.
He was fantastic. He was a guy that we were
talking about all the time, you and I and I'd
bring him up and you're like, stop talking about the line,
and we talk about it Cosell and I on Sundays.
You're watching the tape and going through the way he
analyzes games and how good a player Trapillo had become. Well,
(09:53):
those are two of your five guys are now gone
from your offensive line. You needed a lot of heroics,
You needed a lot of big plays, and they created
a lot of turnovers. Al Harris in that back unit. Great,
a couple of those guys are leaving. You got rid
of Edmunds. Okay, cool salary cap savings, but you still
need to fix that. But you also have what five
picks in the first three Yeah, yeah, that's great, and
(10:15):
you and you and you're talking with the Raiders from
Max Crosby is gonna come in and just be the
Tasmanian devil on your defensive mind. Maybe he's there, maybe
he's not. This is just normal. See, this is this
is this is what I look at as this is
the cost of doing business in the NFL. It's it's
no longer, you know, obviously the days are long gone.
Were Hey, we were great this year. We keep the
we keep everybody together, we go forward. No, this is
(10:36):
every year you kind of have to piece meal stuff
together because you're gonna lose guys at some point, whether
it is a trade, whether it's a surprise retirement and injury.
But you have the most important things you need. You
have the head coach, you have the quarterback, you have
the weapons, you have what you need to anyway, the
(10:57):
sorry I had to hire everybody. It's like you're in
the era of good feeling. Like the base is there everything.
There's a lot of work. There's a lot of work
that needs to be done for this team to get
to that next level. That's what I'm trying to I
don't I don't want you to see. I think you're
too close to it. I think because you live it
every time. Seven points, living twenty doesn't matter in a row.
(11:18):
But again, Okay, you are gonna make moves to get
better this year. You have the draft picks, you have
the money to now make that. Every team has holes.
Even even the Seattle Seahawks have holes. They're gonna have
to replace Kenneth Walker. They're gonna have to figure out
who they want to pay because JSN is gonna want
a contract extension. Right. But these are things that go.
(11:39):
This is cost of doing I can celebrate to find
your wins. Don't get me wrong, there's still upset, buddy.
I want you to set I feel like there's still
holes here. I think you've been kept down for so
long with bad bears, Like you're you're afraid to celebrate. Hey,
you deserve this man, you deve I do. There's nothing
(12:01):
to be afraid about. Just embrace the happiness that the
Bears had a great year. This was a great trade
for them. They get they get out from under money,
they get away from a guy that had to get
rid of. They have guys to replace them. Like everything
is good. It's enjoy it. Do you know that twenty
twenty four trade looks joy by the day? You nill
you it? It's a filet mignon kind of thing. There's
(12:22):
no quite yon trade keeps getting better really bad. I
want to know, I want a Frosty, But it's it's
the kind of to off my pallet here, But it's
it's the idea that there's still a lot of work
to be done. The division isn't going away and after
and maybe it is being snake bitten for some fifty
(12:42):
years of my life that I'm waiting for the other
shoe to drop and for the the coin flips that
went right in twenty twenty five to not quite go
so right in twenty six. But I'm giving you a
virtual hug right now. I appreciate that. Hey, it's a
let go. It's okay to be happencause you're sitting there going,
(13:02):
what's it like to have that one year of success?
You're trying to ask me, buddy, that was a great
year through you. I'm never gonna enjoy it. Come on,
Exit out bout a Fresca, Exit swalling Dome. Jason Smith
Mike Harbon live from the Fox Sports Radio Studios. Coming
up next, NBA insider Mark Stein stops by, what does
(13:23):
he make of the big story today, Jason Tatum's return,
Luca complaining to officials, the Big Rookie of the Year
battle and more. Keep it right here, Mark Stein always
must listen Radio. That's next, Jason to Mike, Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Hey, it's Rob Parker and Kelvin Washington from The Odd
Couple on Fox Sports Radio. And in addition to hearing
us live week nights from seven to ten pm Eastern
on Fox Sports Radio, we are excited to announce brand
new YouTube channel for the show.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
You can now watch The Odd Couple live on YouTube
every day. Oh, you gotta do search on couble fs
on YouTube again YouTube, just search Odd Couple FSR.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Check us out on YouTube and subscribed Fox Sports Radio
The Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harmon
Quick Update Nuggets and the Lakers. Four minutes ago, in
the fourth quarter, Nuggets holding on to a five point lead,
Lebron James has just left the game with an injury.
(14:24):
Now this usually sometimes we get Lebron goes down, it
looks awful and he stays on the court. He has
been helped off the floor. He is flexing and unflexing
his left arm, left hand. He's sitting on the bench
right now. He's not being looked at Yeah, he had
(14:45):
medical attention with him, but right now he is having
his left arm flexed. He is flexing it. He's still
on the bench, which tells me he's still a chance
to come back in the game. It is a left
arm situation. It was flexing his wrist flexing. Is his
his arm right now. So we'll let you know what
happens the rest of the game here. If there's more,
we'll bring it to you. But again, this is where
(15:06):
we are right now, Lakers down by four or three
minutes left. Lebron is flexing on the bench. Well, it
makes me feel like a jerk, but it kind of
look like when you're trying to jack up a car
when you got a fly. It was what the trainer
was doing there. Yeah, joining us now on the hot line.
Nobody to bring a breakdown all the big news in
the NBA. Longtime NBA insider is on Twitter at the Steinline.
(15:28):
Friend of the show. Check him out on substack. It
is Mark Stein Mark. What's happening man? How are you?
Speaker 4 (15:35):
If you guys keep playing rocky music, I might keep
coming back, all right, not.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
A mo Well, we want you to start flexing like
Lebron is and you know that suddenly get your blood
pumping even more.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
I don't think that will do much even on radio.
You don't want to see.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
All right, Well, speaking of comebacks, look no bigger story
in the NBA today than Jason Tatum coming back for
the Celtics. And obviously, look, we talked to this early
in the show. Hey, big deal for Tatum coming back
now and a huge boost for the Celtics. But Mark,
he's coming back to a different team than the one
he left. This was kind of his team and and
Jalen Brown was his one A. But now seeing what
(16:15):
they've done without him, this is Jalen Brown's team, and
now maybe it might be a little awkward with Jason
Tatum coming back.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
Come on, man, you're not really buying into this nonsense,
are you, Dude.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
I've seen Jason Tatum worry about his status and he
likes what when people say good things about him. He
is someone that what's one thing when you leave when
it's your team and you come back and try to
figure it out. It's a different thing.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
If you have Jason Tatum in your program, in your organization,
and he's healthy enough to go, and he's met all
the required benchmarks. How do you not bring him back
because on his first take, they're going to talk about
whose team it is?
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Oh no, look for this year, I think it's right
now here.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
But the East, the East is so wide open, like
they don't need him to be Jason Tatum fulcrum of
the whole operation. They're gonna ease him back in. I'm
sure he's gonna have some level of minute restrictions. You
don't throw him into back to backs. But if he
just becomes you know, seventy five eighty percent of the
(17:23):
Jason Tatum that we know. I mean, think about the
trade deadline. You know we saw a lot, we saw
a zillion trades, but not by the contenders. I mean,
this is like, think about what a trade deadline acquisition.
This is to be able to add excuse me, to
be able to add, to be able to add Tatum
(17:45):
mid stream when really nobody else, no other tops. You know,
the Thunder brought in McCain and he's been great for them.
But other than that, you really didn't see the title
contenders make moves. It's the Wizards and the Pacers who
made trades that were really about next season. So I mean,
I just and by the way, Lebron is back in
(18:07):
the game. After your dramatic reading to start the segment.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
What It's Like, we played music for it. Man I
was describing what was happening. They were working out his
arm a lot, and he was wincing like Lebron normally does.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
The East is wide open as long as Jason Tatum
is not rushing back, as long as he has been
medically deemed to be ready to go, it would be
foolish not to. I mean, the Celtics have been an
incredible story. They could actually win the East.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
To that end, mark, how deep do you think it
really is in terms of contending, How far down would
you go to say, hey, I wouldn't be shocked, Iffer.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
I mean, honestly, I'm probably my list is probably shorter
than most. I think like Detroit, they've they've been they've
just been too good to not put them in that category.
But let's face it, led by Cad Cunningham, they've played
in one playoff series. You know, they have a lot
(19:10):
to learn and achieve on the big stage. I think Boston,
by virtue of the fact that they do have guys
who've been all the way to the finish line. We
really do have to take them seriously. Even this was
supposed to be a gap year and they've just made
a mockery of that notion. I still have Jason's knicks
(19:31):
in that mix, and that's really as far down as
I'm willing to go. In the East, you know, the
Cavs swung big, and you know, they broke up their
core four and they brought in Harden. I'm just I'm
not there yet in really seeing them as a team
that can win the East. Maybe they can prove me
wrong and shut me up, but I mean, the Calves
(19:52):
just don't have a good playoff history, and I don't
know that that's the move that's going to rectify. And
in the East, that's as far down as I'm willing
to go. And then in the West, I mean, obviously
the defending champions lead the list. The Spurs are like
(20:13):
the Pistons. They've been incredible this season and they have
to be regarded as a contender. But I mean, you know,
the next the next playoff minute, Wenby Loves is his first.
I mean, there is going to be some semblance of
a learning curve there, but I think it's so wide
open that the Spurs have to be the Spurs and
the Pistons. Normally we would dismiss them both because of experience,
(20:35):
but I think this season it is so wide open
that I'm not gonna just say, well, they haven't been there,
so they can't. I'm not going to take that step.
But then, Denver, who should be the team that we
regard as the foremost threat to the defending champions. I mean,
the Nuggets just have not been whole all season long,
and they can't get whole every something. Some new injury
(20:59):
crop up every time we turn around with them, and
it does make you wonder, is this just not the
year for them? You know?
Speaker 2 (21:08):
And to take it a step further, I think we
watched a night what could be an NBA Finals preview.
If it's the Pistons and the Spurs, Oh man, I
don't know that that's not gonna be a Spur sweep
because the Pistons just do not match up well. Wenby
does whatever he wants to when they put Cad Cunningham
in a blender like, I don't know that I'd be
looking forward to that matchup. Mark. As far as seeing
a seven game series.
Speaker 4 (21:28):
Yeah, see, that's one you know, there has been You
really have to have nothing but praise for the Pistons
to think about. They're not even two whole years removed
from going fourteen and sixty eight and the twenty eight
game losing streak, and so many of the key guys
there cade during Thompson isaiaht stort like they they were
(21:52):
part of that. They lived through that and got to
the other side. I just I love the Pistons as
a story to have bounce back that so amazingly last
year and to take it even a step further this year.
But they took the OKAC approach. They said, you know what,
We're not going to make a deadline splash. We're not
(22:12):
going to go out and find someone for our roster.
We're gonna let these young guys keep going the playoffs
and then we're going to evaluate them. That's what OKC did.
Renumber then Okay, see got Hartenstein and they went all
the way. But I do wonder if the Pistons are
going to kick themselves and say, maybe we should have
(22:32):
gotten a shooter, maybe we should have put assets on
the table to get Michael Porter Junior too, because they
just they're the burden on kaid to run that team
create offense without the shooting around him that he had
last season. And Duncan Robinson's been good there. But you know,
they missed Malie Beasley. They could have used an extra
(22:53):
shooter at the deadline, and I just wonder are they
going to come to regret that they weren't more active
at the deadline.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Mark Stein our guest here Fox Sports Radio Jason Smith
Show with Me, Mike Carmon. Find him on substack, find
him in the Twitter verse at Mark Stein, Marc st
Ei and for those out there that want me to
spell it out, because well that's what we try to
do to send you to the right place, because there
might be a one with a K that sends you
down a deep, dark rabbit hole that you'll never recover from.
(23:22):
As we're watching the NBA here on a Thursday night,
our long time friend, an NBA insider now happy returns
tonight almost for Cooper Flag eighteen and a narrow loss
to Orlando. Got of fun watching he and his former
college teammate Conka Nipple getting after it in terms of
the Rookie of the Year stuff, but acquitting themselves and
(23:44):
becoming big time players right away as we look at
Charlotte creeping towards a top six finish in the East,
Charlotte's been.
Speaker 4 (23:54):
A ridiculously good story. I did not I really didn't foresee.
I don't think anybody did could foresee the kind of
run that they've been on. And that's the thing. Like
Cooper Flag is the best rookie in the NBA, I
(24:15):
don't think there's any question about that. I don't think
there's any dispute about that. But as he had the
best season, and because of the way Canipple is playing
and what Charlotte has done as a team. Typically team's
success doesn't become a factor in the Rookie of the
Year race, but the run that Charlotte is on, the
(24:38):
team with the longest playoff drought in the league to Nipple,
is going to be really hard to beat as the
rookie of the year. Now, Flag missed eight games because
of this mid foot sprain. He came back tonight. He
had some spectacular defensive plays. Didn't shoot it great, but
considering three weeks of rust, he was very good. And
(25:00):
you know, the MAVs have basically made this decision that
if tonight went well, they're going to let him go
tomorrow night. He grew up a Celtics fan in Maine
and Jason Tatum was his favorite player. So Friday night,
this Mavericks at Celtics game, which otherwise would have been
a pretty nondescript deal with the tanking MAVs on the
second night of a back to back, going into the
(25:20):
East number two team going into their building. Now it's
Cooper Flag and Jason Tatum's likely comeback, So tomorrow Night's
going to be pretty interesting.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
All right, Mark, let's get to the latest drama. You know,
we saw it again tonight with Luka Doncic, you know,
a couple of times complaining to the referees about calls,
and all the talk has been about his relationship with
JJ Reddick and where the Lakers are. If I said
to you, you know, make sense of the last couple
of weeks in Lakerland. They had won a bunch of games,
but you know, we don't know where things actually are
(25:52):
with Luca and JJ Reddick. Where are you on the
state of the Lakers.
Speaker 4 (25:57):
I think most of this discourse is absolutely non sensical.
First of all, there are no major issues between Luca
and his coach, it's a clip. It's like, it's so
overblown to me. But put that aside. The Lakers, you know,
(26:18):
they they obviously, when you get offered the trade they
were offered, you'd take it every day and twice on Sunday.
But when they traded for Luka Doncic, they were they
that's not something they planned for and because of the
state of their payroll, this summer is going to be
their first chance to actually put a team around him.
(26:41):
They knew very well going into this season that this
was not a roster well constructed around Luca. They didn't
have any flexibility. They had a little bit of you know,
they made the best moves they can make. They got
Marcus Smart, they got eight, and they got La Rabia.
You know, they did well with very limited flexibility. But
(27:01):
they knew to have any chance this season, Luca, Lebron
and Austin Reeves were gonna have to be and just
an otherworldly offensive trio. It hasn't happened. It hasn't worked
out that way now. I think if you go back
early in the season, Luca and Austin Reeves were actually
very good as a duo. When Lebron was out when
they'd had all three of them. It hasn't worked, but
(27:24):
that was like, that's not the plan. That wasn't the plan.
Like next season, after they get all this cap flexibility
and they actually can build a roster with intent around
Luka Dancic, if they're having the same kind of season
next February in early March, then all this criticism and
noise you could say it would be valid and justified.
(27:46):
Right now, it's like it is I can't believe some
of the stuff that's been flying around out there. But
then look, this is Charles Barkley always says it, and
he is absolutely right. This is the NBA. The stars
get all the credit, the star get all the blame,
and Luca moving to Los Angeles, He's in the brightest
(28:08):
possible spotlight he could be in, and this is what happens.
But if you're asking me for my take, I just
I really I scoff at most of it because I
just think it's nonsense.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
He is on Twitter at the Steinline. Strong stuff as
always from Mark Stein. Check him out on substack as well.
Mark has always appreciate your time, man, We'll talk to
you next week.
Speaker 4 (28:30):
Enjoy the games, all right, kids, be good.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
Say Mark, there you go fired up. Look, and we've
talked about this with Luca that when the trade deadline
came and went the lait, Look they get Luke Canard,
who is you know, subbed out of the game against
the Nuggets night. We'll have more on this game coming
up in a few minutes, because boy was there really
big drama at the end of this one. Martin Weiss
has more coming up in a minute. But like we said, look,
I feel great about the Lakers for next year because
(28:55):
they're gonna get out from under Lebron and and again
it's going to be when they can build a Luca.
We've talked about this for a long time. So I'm
okay with the Lakers and where they are now because
not like, hey, you know Lucas thirty five, you know,
it's like okay, you know, no, you finally get it.
They've only had him for a year, right, They've just
had him for a little bit over a year, and
with Lebron kind of holding the team back with his
(29:16):
salary and his status, do we keep them do we not?
I feel great about them next year. I feel great
they'll be able to go out in the offseason and
get what they need for him. I feel great about
the Lakers next year, and I've said this for a while.
This year is gonna be what it's gonna be. Next
year is gonna be the year. No, that's it. You
get to reload, reboot things with a lot of money
available to your cap space. Right, Lebron James, when he
(29:38):
opted in, he changed the entire dynamic, not only on
court but off court of what you were gonna be
able to do. He did three million dollars that you
didn't have at your disposal. Not that you necessarily would
have been able to go and buy all the free
agents she needed to pair up with Luca, but she'd
be further along in that direction. You're making the best
of it as it stands, and need Austin Reeves to
(30:01):
go free throw merchant full on and hit some more
shots because his shot has been off. Let's find out
what's trending right now in the wide world of sports
from someone who's been called the Lebron James of Fox
Sports Radio. He didn't take any shots in the final
minute either, gets more nice, you know.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
Lebron also went out for a moment late in the
fourth quarter with that elbow injury did return to the game.
Nuggets beat the Lakers one twenty to one thirteen. The
Cooliokus with a thirty eight point, twelve rebound, thirteen assists
triple double. Luca Doncons finished with twenty seven points, eleven
rebounds and seven assists. Cooper Flag returned to the Mavericks lineup,
(30:41):
but Orlando beat Dallas one fifteen to one fourteen.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Klay Thompson twenty four points off the bench for Dallas.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
He was the only player in the game to score
over twenty points. The Warriors beat the Rockets and oversign
one to fifteen to one thirteen. Brandon Spozemski led the
Warriors and scoring with twenty six no Steph Curry no
Christaps Porzingis. The Timberwolves got their fortieth the year, beating
the Raptors one to fifteen to one oh seven. Rudy
go Bart with the points rebounds double double, and Victor
winbin Yama had thirty eight points, sixteen rebounds of five
(31:08):
blocks as the Spurs beat the Pistons one twenty one
to one oh six. The NFL News the Bears released
linebacker Tremaine Edmonds. Also traded wide receiver dj Moore to
the Bills along with a fifth round pick. They get
a second round pick back. The Texans and daneil Hunter
have agreed to a one year, forty million dollar extension.
The Rams have agreed to a two year extension with
(31:29):
tight end Tyler Higbee, and and men's college basketball. Third
ranked Michigan Basketball goes undefeated on the road, beating Iowa
seventy one to sixty eight. The Big Ten champs and
eighth Michigan State won ninety one to eighty seven against
Rutgers Fellas back to you, Thank.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
You bunch, Jason Smith, Mike Harmon Lave from the Fox
Sports Radio studios, As Martin just told you a big
win for the Nuggets holding off the Lakers late. Yes,
Lebron James turned out to be okay. Right after grimacing
my arm, flexing it, he came back into the game
and this is when the crazy ass drama really started.
(32:06):
We break down the final ninety seconds of a game
that's gonna get a lot of attention the next twenty
four hours. Why We'll tell you next right here, Jason
and Mike Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific, Fox.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with My best friend
Mike Harmon. Take your shirt off, Jay five Second Dance Party,
Please don't Jason's Super Bowl We take off the shirt,
please don't. Hi drama. Nuggets beat the Lakers, hold on
to beat the Lakers. It was a niptuck two point
(32:47):
game late, but Nikola yelkinch comes up with a couple
of big hoops when the Nuggets needed the most surprised surprise,
are you gonna start singing those lines? They hold off
the Lakers. He came through just when they needed him,
just win. I needed JUMO one one thirteen is the
final And this is where the frustration level the Lakers
(33:11):
must have with Lebron James and really probably the Cavaliers
had with limit points two and the heat had them
at some points too. Gets to the forefront and you go,
come on, man, this is a close game late, right
that the Nuggets had a five to seven point lead
most of the way and the Lakers make it all
the way back. Right, It's it's a pretty it's a
pretty big comeback by the Lakers. It's a tie game. Late,
(33:33):
you had a big game from Luca. He had twenty seven,
eleven and seven. Look, Lebron had sixteen and eight and
five and thirty four minutes. But this is a one
point game in the final ninety seconds, okay. And when
it's a one point game, the Nuggets need a hoop.
Who are they gonna go to? Of course they're going
to Jokic, and the Lakers single cover Yokic. Jokic gets
(33:56):
into the lane twice and he gets two big buckets. Right,
So just understand the Nuggets know at the end we
go to Jokic. What do you do, Jokic? You go
to the hoop and get a basket or you get
to the free throw line. Either way, it doesn't matter.
Jokic had two big baskets. Lad he had twenty seven
on the game. I'm sorry, Yo, Yokic had twenty eight
on the game. But still minute and a half left
(34:18):
to go. Two possessions. Jokic gets the ball, goes to
the rack, gets the bucket twice, and this is what
won the game. The Lakers now need to answer after
Jokic gets these buckets. Now Lebron James had left the game,
right It hurt his arm, but he had it worked
on flex sideline, came back, came back in the game
with a couple with two and a half minutes left
(34:39):
to go. In the final ninety seconds, Lebron had the
ball twice, charging towards the hoop. And this is where
for his whole career, Lebron James has never understood that
sometimes the best play is you trying to muscle your
way to the hoop to either get a bucket or
(35:00):
get to the free throw line. But he has always
been obsessed with making the right basketball play. Now that
can mask a little bit of a lack of confidence,
because I want to make the right basketball play. The
right basketball play isn't always finding the open guy. Sometimes
the right basketball play is a guy who has been
your best player or your second best player getting the
ball to the hoop. Lebron twice gets the ball off
(35:24):
of feeds from Luka Doncic steaming towards the basket, where
it's either a bucket, it's contact, it's him getting to
the free throw line. But again, what does he do
both times, I'm passing out to Marcus Smart for a three.
Right now, in theory, the right basketball play passing to
an open team, and Lebron is always gonna say that
and say, what do you mean, I passed to an
(35:46):
open teams wide open? I have all the confidence in
the world in Marcus. And again this just masks when
you do something that's not the right basketball play, because
Marcus Smart taking threes is not the shot you want
at that point when you're down three, Hey, I want them.
There's it's still time left to get a bucket, be
down one, get a defensive stop. Marcus Smart for three
is not the way to go right. Marcus My again,
(36:07):
Marcus My again. Yet he had a good night shooting.
But at the end of the game, it's different, man.
It is christ It is you or Luca that has
to be taking these shots at the end. The only
way it's another player is if somehow I can get
you the ball and you have a layup or you
have something, you have a bunny from three feet and
in that you're gonna be able to make. Going out
to a guy that is option seven on the team
(36:28):
is not the right basketball player. Yet Lebron does this
all the time. So what happens. I get the ball
out to Marcus Smart twice, Marcus Smart bricks up to
threes and that's the game, and the Lakers can't come
back from that. The Nuggets get a couple of free
throws near the end and they win this by seven.
Like this is so frustrating. The Lakers have to be
frustrated with. We get Lebron the ball, He's got a
drive to the hoop, he has a way he can
(36:50):
get there. He's one on one. It's Joki Steh. You're
gonna get contact. Man, go up. Try But either I'm
I want to make the right play or I want
to make the right play, asked with, I don't have
the angle I feel like I have. I don't know
that I can make the basket. I'm not gonna be
someone that misses a last minute shot. So I pass
them all out to Marcus Smart. That's got to be
so incredibly frustrating for the Lakers. Does he use the
(37:12):
injury and the arm issue as an excuse, Oh my arm,
it's broken, shot broken, But I can be out there
to open space for my teammates. I missed get twenty
seven foot of the first time and a twenty three
foot of the second. The two Smart three point shots. Yeah,
I mean that that's it because the first question is like, so,
(37:33):
on a night where you set the record for most
field goals made in the final minute and a half,
you passed out twice. I don't know. I don't know
what to say with at the end of a game
like this, your best players between Lebron and Luca. It's
one shot in the final ninety seconds and Luca takes
a three and misses it. Yeah, maybe now getting the
(37:56):
ball to Okay, you're doing what your Luca getting the
ball of Bron. If I'm not taking the shot, it's
Lebron and he got him the ball twice and instead
I'm pass to an open teammate. Why do you think
the Nuggets are allowing you to pass to an open teammate?
Do you think the Nuggets defensively just don't know what
they're doing? Oh man, we left market.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
No, they know.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
Hey, if you if we get if we can we
can hold off Lebron, get him one on one, leave
a teammate open and he's gonna pass to him. I
guarantee you that's what That's what said in the in
the huddles. Leave that guy open, Michael Malone. I need
Mike Malone. Leave that guy open. Lebron will pass to him.
Because I guarantee you if you ask any team, what
(38:34):
would you rather have at the end of the game
for a game winning shot for the Lakers? Would you
rather have Luca with the ball, Lebron with the ball,
or anybody else? They're all saying, anybody else, what if
it's an open shot, Give me an open shot? Anybody
else will open Marcus mart three point, Yes, let's see it.
Give it to him. Well, see it's a true question,
because Lebron's gonna pass it. Yeah, I him coming down
(38:56):
with a full ahead of Steve and say, all right,
get to the rack. Maybe you get the and one,
or you go to the free throw line instead. Marcus
Smart like he's got a good look at it, And yes,
it would have tied the game and all of that,
but there's still a minute left. You still have to
stop Jokich at the other end. There's still other possessions
to be had, right, this isn't last second. Okay, this
(39:20):
is it, and and Marcus Smart either ties it and
sends us to overtime or we go home. There's still
several possessions in an NBA game in a final minute.
I mean, it's not like it's down to one play,
and it's not. It's it's sometimes the best play is
your best player making something happens. Why I always say, Hey,
(39:40):
if the Knicks lose because Jalen Brunson misses a contested
three with two guys in his face, I'm okay with that.
I'm okay with it because he's our best player and
I will lose my best player taking it. If you
at least have three or four guys, you can okay.
Lakers do not have that many guys. But like the
Lakers have to be okay. To be okay, either Luca
(40:01):
or Lebron take these shots, right, yo, get just not
passing out of these plays in the final ninety seconds
to give the ball to a teammate. He's not passing
out to Alex English on the wing for a three,
like that's where the iceman's not coming down for the
finger roll in the lane. He's going in to make
that shot. And and Lebron does this all the time. Oh,
(40:21):
exit out by a freshcoo, exit swollen dome. Jason Smith,
Mike Harmon, we have big stuff out of the NBA
and NFL. Next right here, Fox
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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