April 30, 2024 • 35 mins
Jason Smith and Mike Harmon react live to the Nuggets eliminating the Lakers on another last-second shot by Jamal Murray. The guys try to make sense of how the Lakers handled the closing minutes and wonder if the Nuggets are in the midst of a dynasty. Plus, Jason believes the Knicks have saved the NBA Playoffs!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
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Speaker 2 (00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Hello, Welcome inside hour three of The Jason Smith Show
with my best friend Mike Harmon. He live from the
tirag dot com studios tyrec dot com. I hope you
get there an unmatched selection, fast, free shipping, free roadhazard protection,
and over ten thousand recommended installers tirack dot com. The
way tire buying should be Lakers and the Nuggets. Fourth quarter,
(00:51):
about nine and a half to go. It is a
two point game. Lebron just hit a big jumper to
cut the Nugget lead to two. This again has been
another game where the Lakers have led, the Nuggets have
slowly reeled the Lakers in. They have the lead here
in the fourth quarter. And look, this is not rocket science,
right like, because so much has been pointing out the
(01:11):
Lakers have led eighty six percent of the time in
this in this series, and the Nuggets are winning all
the games. This is not like the Lakers lack something
that the Lakers are just old. And this is what
happens with older teams. The Lakers, it's everything they can
behind Lebron and Ad who you know on this side
of thirty. Now, whatever you get from Ad, you get
(01:33):
from him. He's been in and out of the game
tonight with a shoulder injury, but he's back in there. Now.
You are still relying on older players to get everything
done for you. And when you do that, what's gonna
happen is by the time you get to the fourth quarter,
you're gonna be tired. I mean, it's no excuse. I mean,
Joellen Bean's different story. But when when you're the Lakers,
there's they expend so much energy and it's so much
(01:56):
to get the lead that eventually, okay, the younger team knows,
we're just gonna wait, and then we're gonna slowly pull
ourselves back into this game, and eventually our athleticism and
our freshness and the mile high air and everything else
is gonna come our way, and we're going to win.
This is what the Nuggets have been doing from the
beginning of this series. Now it is a little scary
because just for a second, the Nuggets don't look like
(02:18):
the the powerful Nuggets of last year, where every game
they've been in trouble with the Lakers, the Lakers at
a twenty point lead they blew in Game two, and
it's been everything the Nuggets can do, you know, to
come back here. So maybe, sure, the Nuggets don't quite
look like the team from last year, so that's a
bit of a concern, but this is not anything that's unexpected. Yeah, hey,
Lakers have a tough time, then we're gonna have to
win one game in Denver and they didn't. Game two
(02:40):
is their game to win. Now it's a tie game
in the fourth quarter. But this is what happens older teams.
You get to that point, especially in the thin air
and mile high, where hey, we just don't have it
and we don't play as crisp and you watch our
jumpers fall short, because that's the biggest sign you look,
you know, Phil Simms can tell you that. Oh sorry,
Phil Simms, Hey, you know, the the short jumpers mean
(03:01):
the guy's getting tired. But you see it. I mean,
it's it's not anything that is We're not reinventing the
wheel by telling you this, but it's for the Lakers
with the lead. This is not oh, the magic secret
sauce Lakers are missing. No, it's just, hey, they had
the lead, playing this way to be competitive, they get tired.
This is what happens. This is why the Lakers are
where they are, the Nuggets are where they are.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Well quick starting for the Nuggets, there's also the larger picture.
They're not playing with the same level of desperation. It
doesn't feel that you've had from the Lakers, certainly the
last game out right, what we saw in the furious
effort to keep the lead and actually close out a
win the Nuggets. After the game, it's like, yeah, didn't
(03:44):
didn't feel it. Michael Malone didn't seem terribly concerned, but
also didn't seem terribly excited about the effort that he
got from his squad early. You know, the level of
urgency of closing out the Lakers last last year, you know,
we had the sweep, but we always joke about how
competitive it was.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
This year, it's been the same thing. This would be
competitive five games right.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Every graphic that we could put up about the Lakers
have led for this amount of this game, of this series,
or at this quarter of all of this stuff, that's
all finding good being able to close out, neither team
getting massive contributions from their respective benches.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
And as we talked about a little bit earlier.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
In the show for Denver, that is I think a
long term concern against these younger teams that want to
get up and run in the Western Conference. And we
were talking about Okay, see talking about Minnesota, and over
the course of a seven game series there maybe not
as quite the tired legs as you see when you've
got injury after itge. God's the other thing here, the
(04:45):
stoppages of play for Lebron or ad And it's not
bashing them unless it is a little bit the All right,
I hurt my shoulder. Now I'm gonna lay here for
seven minutes. Lebron went had a drive. He didn't get
a call on to try to emphasize what happens. He
laid down on the ground. Had he perhaps twisted his
ankle on the return, you know, on the landing, et cetera.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Sure, but he laid down on the ground.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
For a while, like, yeah, all right, like stealing a
few minutes here and there, but it's the body also,
of all right, I need this time to recover, right
a boxer in the later round, I was like, you
know what, I got a six.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
All right, I'm up now, dude. First time I ever
went to Rocky Mountain National State Park. Right our drive
through the country when we moved across country, Pam and
we moved from Connecticut to Los Angeles, went to Rocky
Mountain National State Park. Right we drove it was it's
fifteen thousand feet. We got out of a car at
the top and we had to walk like it was
like thirty yards to the to the lookout point. We
(05:44):
were gonna have lunch. And I walk and I got
a sandwich, and I go and I sit down. I'm like, oh,
I was tired. I'm after eating and going I can't
even eat this sandwich. I'm exhausted. And Pan's like, I
didn't understand. This is one I didn't understand, you know,
the thin air, And I'm like, I'm just so tired.
And luckily the guide said, is this your first time
in this altitude? I said, oh, how many feet up
are this we're about fifteen thousand feet up. I was like,
(06:05):
oh yeah, like I can't even chew a sandwich. So
I had to put my sandwich away until we got
down in there where I was like, okay, now I
can eat a sandwich. Now I can eat my sandwich.
Now that's the thing that fell you. Yeah. We walked
about twenty five yards and sat down to try to
eat a sandwich, and we couldn't do it. Pam and
I were like very exhausted. I said, the guy said,
(06:27):
you need more cardios, sir. No, No, he's like, everybody's tired. Yes,
it's this is what's gonna happen. Of course the guy's
used to it because he lives in But I'm like, man,
and I don't know what it was, but I'm like,
do I try the sandwich at ten thousand feet? I
went to eight thousand feet, seven thousand feet, like I
forget how far down I had to wait for. Okay,
now I'm breathe it. Okay, now I think I can
eat a sandwich. So then we pulled over this. Okay,
(06:49):
I'm okay eating a sandwich here.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
I mean, I'd love to see it because I can
picture it, like the meme of that kid that's sitting
there in his high chair or however he's situated, and
they get cheeseburger, and the cheeseburger looks monstrous as a
little kid but he's half asleep. But it also gives
the impression that it's the greatest burger that's ever been
great because he's eating its so slowly. That's that's you
(07:15):
and your sandwich in that moment.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
You know, it's like it's like I was sitting there.
I was like like trying to breathe and eating like
a big sand can't chew and you know it's like
a probably like a foot long sandwich or so, you know,
just a Deli sandwich, and it's like breathe, trying to chew.
I can't eat. It's all I could do to breathe.
I was like like Mojo and the Simpsons all the all.
(07:39):
The monkey doesn't sit around and struggle to breathe like
I couldn't even could even breathe.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Mojo tapping it out on your phone, I can't be like,
what's wrong with you? I can't you don't even speak,
but he taps out pray for Mojo. Uh.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
So we'll have more on this game coming up, and
if you ben, it's again Lakers in Denver, eighty nine,
eighty nine, about seven minutes to go in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile,
speaking of being in shape and being able to make plays, yeah,
do it. You know we're talking about joellebi. Look, the
Knicks are here to save the NBA playoffs. I don't
know if you know this or not, but they are
(08:17):
here to save the NBA playoffs when the Lakers go out,
the disappointing Boston Celtics, injuries everywhere, the Knicks are here
to save the NBA. They're the basketball Avengers. Yes, they
are here to save us. Not just the unbelievable play
of Jalen Brunson, but the Knicks have become a team
that America can wrap its arms around because what do
(08:37):
we like more than anything, hard work? What worth hard America?
Hard work? And you can see how the other team's
not working hard. It's an easy thing to see. You
could see it and know it's elementary and it's been
talked about a bit, but you can see how badly
the Knicks want to win. You can see how badly
the Knicks want the basketball, and how the seventy six
ers just struggle with everyone. But here's the problem.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
They say that the demographic that really consumes the NBA
is a lot younger. I don't know that they embrace
hard work the same way that you're trying to trying
to contend they do well.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
But there you go at Swollen Dome if you But
people like to see hard work. I don't think people
like to see that guy's laying it up right there.
Look at that guy. He doesn't care. I like him.
He doesn't give a crime. He's not doing anything. Look
at that guy, and what's his name? Embiid? Is he good?
He was the MVP last year?
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Whoa really?
Speaker 1 (09:26):
That guy's exhausted shooting free throws? Yeah? Boy, he stinks
in the fourth quarter. Yeah yeah. He's the guy with
excuses after the game. Oh yeah, everybody's fault. It's the
referee's fault, the fan that the fans are here, they're
cheering for the wrong team. Oh. I love that guy, man,
I love that guy. I want aspire to be an excuses,
not working hard, being tired, Oh, I love that guy.
(09:47):
That's my guy, Joel Embiid, He's my guy. I don't
work hard at all. He's my he's the fathead I
want on my wall. I want the Joelo beid fadea
and the thing about the Joel and bead fat d
You put it up and it just starts curling off
the wall cut and you gotta put it back up
and a curls down again. You put it back up
and it curls down again, but curls down again. Then
finally gotta get tape and you gotta put tape over it.
So it's and it looks awful because you have the
(10:07):
big one piece of tape that goes up, but then
the other sides that aren't taped down start curling, so
it's just that side of the curl comes down. Then
you're gonna put more tape on the wall and it
looks terrible.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Note to self, get Jason Joel embi fat head for
his birthday.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
No, it's it's it's rough to watch, right.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
He's the guy that's the You have two concurrent lanes
of thought on him because part of you is like, ah,
he's really working hard because he's dragging his ass up
and down the court. On the one leg, you have
the report this week Bell's palsy that he had to
deal with and you know the eye drops all long story,
(10:45):
I mean, just conflicted. Missed a lot of time during
the regular season, but then you have this part in
the postseason when it all matters and games get more
physical and tough for forty eight minute battles that you're
complaining about referees at every turn, and as a squad,
you're just getting out worked on the glass by six
(11:10):
seventh eighth men right time and again, like gang rebounding
by the Knicks, the Gangs of New York because it's
so easy to get to wrap your The most hated
team now is saying I will not rest until you
love me.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
That's what was supposed to until you love me. Rockey
was all about work, and now it's nuts. It's like, look,
my dog Benny wants to play with every single dog
he sees in the dog park everywhere else, and he
won't if you don't want to play with him. It
doesn't matter. He is going to wear you down until
you play with him at least a little bit. This
is what the Knicks are doing. The Knicks that you
(11:45):
may not like, No, and I like the Knicks, like
Jalen Brunson. Now suddenly it's Hey, Jalen Brunson's great to watch.
All the Knicks look at their desire and their fire
and sids like we're gonna make you love us. The
Knicks are here to save the NBA playoffs.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Jalen Brunson, the guy that everybody hated his contract mm
hm oh yeah, really disliked him too small. Obviously they
probably should have had some sort of sanctions by the
way his signing ended up going down.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Well, the NBA found what they wanted to find. Everything's done.
Everything's fun like Major League Baseball. Yeah, I look there,
there's no what kind of pedal do you want to?
What do you want to? I'll pay whatever penalty for
Jalen Brunson. My guys work.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
But it's just funny, like all this time later, now
it's the Wow, what a signing and boy, but at
the time it looked like he was over here. It's like, no,
it's the NBA salary, Like you want a free agent,
you have to pay money, especially for a legitimate point
guard in today's NBA.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
And now he's the heart and soul. But I'll tell you, man,
it is really something to watch. This series, which has
become the biggest series like this is where everybody's attention
is jumping to because it's competitive, even though it's a
it's a three to one series lead for the Knicks,
but with Embiid and the fans and all the and
I love seeing Bead complain all the fans it was
(13:01):
it wasn't good that Knicks fans bought the tickets and
were here cheering. You know what? Whose fault is that?
Whose fault is that? You know what? How about you
just you just go go play, right? I know you
and everybody to cheer for you, But this is what happens,
So go play. Your fans don't.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Sell their tickets if they believe that you have hope
for a run, not just to win a game, but
to get out of this series and push forward. So
if I can double my money or pay for my
playoff seats, it's the old rule of supply and demand, right,
If I can sell off my seats to thirsty Knicks
(13:36):
fans that want to come and see this game and
pay off several games of the playoffs or part of
my season tickets for next year, or Johnny or Susie's
birthday bought Mitzvah, bar Mitzvah, whenever we're celebrating in the house.
Summer vacation coming up. Guess what I'm selling the tickets.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
I think this is I think this is America coming
around to my philosophy of putting the six or on
the never again list. They're not gonna win, They're on
Jason's never again list. Yeah, I'll sell these tickets. It's okay,
But the Sixer is looking for every bit of an
excuse why they're not winning, and the Knicks just go
out and make the place right. It's I mean, it's
it's really it's it's amazing to see that on display.
(14:15):
And it's fun to see because you know what, after
this round, the NBA is gonna go Man, no Lakers,
no this, no that we got injuries everywhere, no Johannis
or everything. Boy, really glad we have the Knicks.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Oh so good Man and everybody on Broadway that's a
star that's been in an established movie or TV show,
contact every talk show host who has guests lined up.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Let's get them all out to the garden. What do
you really sell the hell out of it?
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Hey?
Speaker 1 (14:40):
What are the conference finals look like in the NBA? Well,
it's Minnesota, Oklahoma City, and the Knicks and the Celtics. Great,
put the Knicks and the Celtics on every night. Let's
do Best of fifteen, Let's run that and the other series.
We'll just you know, we'll just I don't know, We'll
just laughers on. That's all we'll do. I mean, how
bad is the NBA gonna need the Knicks after this?
Go New York, New York, the post Child and it
(15:01):
all becomes Tom timm Go New York Good all of
a sudden. Oh, he's running his players in the ground.
It's gonna be terrible. Hey, maybe we need more coaches
like Tom Tibodeau.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
We got a hair restoration and a re evaluation of
his hairlines. He's gonna be He's gonna bring sweatsuits back.
People are gonna start wearing sweatsuits again with pockets.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
And I haven't been pockets because I like the pockets
and the sweats you can put it had to be
pretty looking, like Polly Wall that's walking around. Hey, hey,
you know, we go back to the end of the Sopranos.
I didn't say they're gonna be there, but they're gonna be. Well.
I mean, if we're gonna do this let's do it
in sty. The Valor sweatsits are very comfortable. I remember
having Vlora pants. I was like, oh, these are so comfortable,
these feels. I didn't have the jacket though.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
I just want to ensconce myself and now, but like, no, no, no,
but the Valor sweats are nice, like a dark.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Maroon color or or dark gray. Yeah yeah, yeah right orange. Yeah.
Oh yeah, I know that works. Sing it that works.
Go New York, Go New York, Go, go New York,
Go New York, go go right now, Lakers and the
Nuggets under four minutes left to go, tied at ninety nine.
(16:06):
Coming up next. Are we talking about the Lakers forcing
an unbelievable Game five or Game six? Or is it
the end of the year for the Lakers and the Nuggets?
Move on? Keep it right here, all the drama to
com This is Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
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 4 (16:32):
Hey, this is Tom Ferducci from Fox Sports, MLB Network
and Sports Illustrated.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
And I'm Joe Madden, and we're going to be around
to talk a little bit about managerial decisions and what
may have occurred to the dugout maybe in the nineteen eighties.
It's the Book of Joe podcasts. I can't wait for this, Joe.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
We're going to dive into what goes on in the
dugout and behind the scenes in Major.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
League Baseball, cars, wind, whatever else we want to talk about.
Speaker 4 (16:53):
Yeah, well, there are no boundaries, right. Listen to the
Book of Joe podcast on the iHeartRadio app, on Apple
Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Fox Sports Radio the Jason Smith Show with my best
friend Mike Harmon, and we got a little bit of
controversy here at the end. The Nuggets look like they
are walking away with a one to oh eight, one
oh six win over the Lakers. Jamal Murray hits a
runner in the lane with about four seconds left to go.
(17:26):
The Lakers try to inbound it fast. They get the
ball to Lebron near half court, who it looks like,
tries to draw the shooting foul the old Chris Paul
move and I'm pretending I'm shooting from half court. Uh,
And no whistle is blown. The ball is loose, the
Lakers pick it up. I think Hatchimura had a desperation
heave from the other side of half court. It does
(17:47):
not go, and the Nuggets have eliminated. The Lakers buy
a bucket. Jamal Murray into the lane for a floater,
the one hander going away from the hoop. He had
two Lakers around him, and you just have to nod
and say the Nuggets were the better team. They had
guys hitting clutch shots after clutch shots. Murray is second
(18:09):
game winner of the series, and now the Denver Nuggets
move on to the second round of the playoffs. The
Lakers go home forty seven and thirty five for the season.
One to six is the final, Aaron Gordon hitting a
huge three in the final minute for the Nuggets, Lebron
tying the game with a couple of free throws, but
then it's Jamal Murray in the final possession, a fallaway
(18:31):
one hander for his thirty second point of the night,
and the Lakers lose and the Nuggets go on the
drive defending the title. Is still there.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
Not too bad for a guy wasn't supposed to play right,
all those question marks, and for Lebron, he gets challenged
by Jokis.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
The ball ended up in the.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Hands of Torrian Prince, who'd come in as a substitution
for D'Angelo Russell down the stretch. Free throw arity in
this one twenty seven to nine.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Yeah, Lakers went to the free throw line a lot
few times.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
The three point attempt differential is only two, so any
of the Oh they take us outside?
Speaker 1 (19:14):
No, no, no, they tried to work inside quite a bit.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Jokins getting mauled drives down low, no harm, no foul. Uh.
Kind of curious just down the final minutes. But Murray
with that floater, so money in big moments.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Look, it's it's and it's nothing different than what we
talked about earlier. The Nuggets are a younger team, Their
stars are younger, They're fresher at the end of games.
This is why they've won this series. That's why the
Lakers have gone out to a lead in every game.
The Nuggets have reeled them in. The Lakers get tired
because of their age, playing in the mile high air,
and the Nuggets have enough left at the end. Now again,
(19:51):
was this a competitive five games scar, Yes, it might
be the most competitive five game series I've won. Three more,
three more years, and the Lakers will beat the Gets,
who was a competitive sweep. Now it's competitive five games,
next year, competitive six games, next year, competitive seven games.
In the fifth year, competitive seven games, and the Lakers win. Finally,
Lebron at forty four.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Who saw that Lakers squad at that Lebron Durant KD.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Is forty Yeah, look, look that that's what it is.
You can you can sum up the Lakers and Lebron's
gonna get killed and a D is gonna get killed
in all this. And I understand that there's some there's
some things to get to with the Lakers, but the
bottom line is this. The Nuggets are the champs. They're
the better team. They're starting five is better. They get better.
They get more clutch plays from Aaron Gordon and even
(20:38):
even Michael Porter Junior had a huge game tonight. He
had five threes tonight. The Nuggets get more from their
supporting cast. Their stars are a little bit better. They
dominate a little bit more. Jamal Murray is a ball
dominant point guard that can make big shots, and he
lives for the big shots. The Lakers have Lebron and
Ad and and so oftentimes the offense bogs down, it
(20:59):
becomes le Broun Iso plays. The Nuggets are just better.
You can you can cut it out any way you
want to be. And and I know Lebron, look at Lebron.
This here the Lakers all out in the first round. Yes,
we'll get to all that, but right now, this moment
in time, why the Nuggets win and they're moving on
to the second round. The Lakers are going home. The
Nuggets are just better. And and you knew when I'm
watching this final play going, Murray's gonna hit this shot,
(21:21):
because the Nuggets hit every shot right. You know, they're
made for the Lakers. They love going up against the Lakers.
You can see it. It felt like a conference finals
game today, the back and forth, and you just knew
Murray's gonna find the open spot. He's gonna hit a shot.
And that's exactly what he did.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
Yeah, you saw him come off the the Joki screen
and a wide open lane, uh.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
To make the floater.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
You know, you talk about him in big moments and
what he's meant to this squad rise up, especially for
the injury history. Whenever we talk about stars and you
know their paths to to where they you know, climb
the mountain. Uh, he certainly has had few along the way.
And tonight, you know, a lot of expectation. I didn't
(22:03):
see the betting line move much, so the expectation was
he'd give it a go the old college try, which
means you play rope a dope with some of the
injury reports. Ah, it's a lot worse. I'll tell you
he's questionable. And then he's running up and down. And
there was one moment though that he had in the
fourth quarter where he came down after a shot and
they called the time out after he made a shot.
(22:24):
The Lakers did one of the few times Darvin Ham
actually used the time out in that circumstance. Remember that
fourteen to two run they went on. There was no
time out to try to know when Dicky Vital was
back in his heyday really calling up games and wish
him well and good health. Sorry, the White Sox swept
your raise, you know, to get a teo. Scream was
always there, and Laker fans, no doubt, were ready to
(22:48):
throw things through their televisions because they were watching the
game once again start to slip away because they heat
it up. Gordon made a couple of big rebound. He
had thirteen rebounds on the night while he was only
seven points. But for Jamal Murray is thirty two including
that floater. You know, he's a guy that when the
(23:08):
game's on the line. How many how many guys do
we have that that? You say that in the NBA? Yeah,
just get it to him. Yeah, the teams have closers.
That guy's a closer.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
And he doesn't like being called playoff Jamal Murray because
he's but you know he's playof Jamal Murray. What do
people remember? People don't remember what you do.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
He had a random mid January game against the Portland Trailblazers.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
I'm sorry, you can score eighty.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Yeah, you'll get brought up when another guy is close
to score eighty.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Now you want to just now because now we get
to Jamal Murray from it, right, that's the Nuggets are
just better Jamal Murray. You get to the twenty nineteen
twenty twenty season and the series in the bubble with
the Lakers, when I remember talking to this saying, man,
the era of the Nuggets is it may be here,
like it is coming fast. Jokic and Murray is flipping
(23:58):
phenomenal it could be here. The Lakers get the title
in the Bubble, ad hits the Big Three, they beat
the Nuggets and knock them out. Murray then has a
couple of injury plagued seasons and the Nuggets don't win.
And he had a whole season that he missed. He
had missed most of another season. He missed the end
of the season, almost missed, almost like the equivalent of
(24:19):
three playoffs. He almost missed. If he doesn't get hurt,
the Nuggets have at least one, if not two, more titles.
Just to think about injury for a second. If he
doesn't get hurt, this could be a team that, hey,
we're going for our third in a row.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
See now it's the extension of the Marvel universe like
you were doing with your guy Jalen Brunson as Captain America.
Because now we're doing that whole animated what if thing.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Yeah, because Nuggets, Because look, he missed the entire twenty
one to twenty two season. By the time he came back,
he was not the same guy. Took him a while
to come back, but this is where he is now.
They would have at least one more and they'd be
going for a three peat. Maybe they'd have two, but
they'd have at least one more because they would probably
come back. Twenty twenty one, he gets hurt. But twenty
(25:03):
twenty one, twenty one, twenty two definitively last year they win.
I mean it really it could be. It could be
as it could be the last two years, last three years,
they could have won. Remember the first year, it was, hey,
he should be coming back here for the play he
should be coming back, should be coming back. Where wait?
Why is he not coming back? Why is he not
coming back? What's going on? Why can't the guy come back?
Because they thought he would come back for the for
the playoffs? Why where is he? Where's he didn't come
(25:24):
back and play? But I mean that that's really you
talk about injuries and what they do to the playoffs.
Just think about it from that perspective of he doesn't
if he doesn't tear his acl. I mean, we could
be looking at the go right from the Warriors dynasty
into the Nuggets dynasty.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Now we go right to the post game. The first shot.
I mean, you want to talk about really putting on
a brace and a rap and everything to make it
look like you can't walk and that you're totally done.
It's like a magical healing occurred before the tip off.
But you're right, I mean, we have these twists and
turns in history of the NBA and all other sports.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
Right.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
We did a podcast series called Special Teams a couple
of years ago. You can still find it out there
wherever you download your audio, where we'd go through some
of the magical runs of squads, and virtually I would
say at least half of them started with, well this
guy was hurt the year before, or they navigated through
when this guy misses half a season and comes back,
(26:24):
you know, to be a contributor or whatever the case was.
And that's like history is littered with teams at every
level in that regard. And for the NBA when we
often talk about depth in the playoffs and needing to
have a roster that's ready, but we know the bench shortens,
(26:46):
you don't get as much the contribution. What was it
a fourteen to eleven bench lead for the Nuggets in
this one to clinch things off, But you need two
or three superstars and at least that one guy that,
no matter the circumstance, wants the ball and missing a
guy like him and Porter Jr. To think of all
the injuries he's had, right that, because I mean you
(27:08):
could do the Murray line, but add Porter Junior, who
missed a ton of time. Remember coming out of college.
You know, is the basketball equivalent of Rob Gronkowski, Like, well,
if he can stay healthy and avoid extra back injuries,
this guy could be great.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
And now they've both been great.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
But in parallel, you know, with the Jamal Murray side,
is is it Porter Junior is there for all of
that run as well? Perhaps there's that title or two,
but you know, the old to be the man, you
gotta beat the man.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
And it'll be curious. The young guns are really out
in the Western Conference. I mean, just think, just think
about how what Denver could be going for had he
not gotten I mean, I got he got hurt and
it happened, and it took him a long time to
get back, and I get it, But just think about
that for set where they'd be going. Because we talk
about great duos in the league and Lebron and a
D and Giannis and Lillard and all this, but I mean,
(28:00):
really Jokich and Murray and they're both well on the
on the right, you know on the right, on the
left side of thirty, this is a you know, this
is this They're unstoppable when when he is healthy, they're
absolutely unstopped.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
We will say one of my favorite moments of the
game was with the four fifteen left, Murray gets the
ball and dunks on Lebron and then he totally did
the full Lebron most muscular shoulder shrug pose that Lebron
does after dunking, and like he couldn't hold a straight
face after he did it. That's that's where we're at
(28:33):
at this level of chaos in the NBA.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
Play.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
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 (28:44):
Sports Radio, The Jason Smith Show with My best friend
Mike Harmon and The Nuggets with Jamal Murray call him
game making the game winner with three seconds left. The
Nuggets eliminate the Lakers by a bucket one eight, one
oh six. They win the series four games to one.
(29:04):
And yes, we talked about the fact the Nuggets are
just a better team than the Lakers, right, you can
say a lot they're better. Yes, the games were closed
a lot of things happen. But this doesn't matter if
it's Darvin Ham or not. But this is a reason
why Darvin Ham's gonna lose his job as Lakers head coach.
Here's the play by play of the final shot of
(29:27):
the game. Jamal Murray for the second time this series,
hitting a game winner basically at the buzzer to win
it for the Nuggets. Difference of two seconds the game
clock and the shot clock. Worst case scenario, We're going
to overtime.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
You'll get your scream, Murray to.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Try to play the time. They'll talking out about the Lakers.
I gotta go, James A pump for food at hump
shot no zero, seme o'clock, the Nuggets a dance play.
You have won, So Reggie Miller not right. Worst case
scenario going over the This is what's so abominable for
(30:02):
the Lakers on this final play, right, because yes, Nuggets
were better, Lakers have faltered late, but look at what
they do defensively on this play. It is abominable. Okay,
Murray's got the ball on the right side of the court,
about five or six feet behind the three point line.
He drives to the left. Okay, Now, if you are
(30:24):
the Lakers. Who are the two people you do not
want to take this shot? Jamal Murray Nikola Jokis. Right,
these two guys you don't want to see take the shot. Right,
what happens? Murray drifts over to the left and two
things happen. Ruey Hachimura stands there and allows Jamal Murray
even though it's a floater falling away. It's a one
(30:44):
hander from the elbow, and Ruey Hachimura just stands there
like I want to guard against him ditching the ball
off to somebody. Who the hell is Jamal Murray going
to pass it to unless it's Nikola Jokics. Right, So
you got Ruey Hachimura who just stands there and does nothing. Right,
Murray doesn't get anybody in his face, the guy who
you know is gonna take the shot, or Yokic. These
(31:05):
are the guys, so no one's in his face, right?
What does Ad do? Ads On Jokic When the ball
goes to Murray? What does Ad do? He kind of
floats to the side, and you figure, okay, he's gonna
get out on Murray and is gonna go out and
get a hand in his face. Instead, he kind of stands.
He takes a step back under the basket looking for
the rebound. Meanwhile, there's still five seconds left at this point.
(31:29):
If Murray doesn't like this shot, Nikola Jokic is wide
open on the other side because Ad is left Jokic.
AD's just standing there guarding nothing. Ruyachimora is guarding nothing.
So if Murray doesn't like the shot for some reason,
he just has to look to his right and Yoku say, hey,
give it to me. They're not guarding me. Like the
Lakers were so worried. Oh is he gonadition? It like,
(31:49):
it's like, we don't want to give up an easy bat.
We don't want to make it look like we didn't
have this play covered and it's gonna be some kind
of back door playing Aaron Gordon's in there for a
dunk or KCP gets a bass and gets in Lebron's face.
It's like they It's like I felt they were. They
were so they were so focused on we we don't
want to look bad on this play, and instead they
(32:09):
allowed the best player and the second best player on
the team to have carte blanche on the floor. Jamal
Murray has all kinds of room nobody gets in his
face for the last shot, and if he wanted to
pass Jokicic was wide open on the other side. So
I mean, seriously, what are the Lakers doing, Like, whether
it's Darvin Ham or not, that is inexcusable. And this
is this is where you say someone needs to come
(32:30):
in that can say, Okay, I need to get you
guys on this page to play this right way now.
Because again it doesn't matter if it's what Darvin Ham
put out there, it was terrible. If it was the
Lakers freelancing because they listened to Darvinham, that's the same thing.
But like I see that play and I go, what
what are the Lakers saying coming out of this out
of the huddle? What are they saying, Don't let Michael
(32:51):
Porter beat us? What are they saying coming out of it,
Don't let Aaron Gordon beat us? What are they telling
each other when they come out of the huddle. It
makes no sense, makes absolutely no sense that the two
guys we got to make somebody else other than these
two guys beat us. These are the two guys that
would wind up beating them for the game. Yeah, just
watching that play on a loop, right you get the screen.
You got Jokicch and Davis battling. Yokicic comes out screens
(33:13):
off Reeves, so Reeves is trying to recover from that,
and then as you said, he gets towards the elbow
and Hatchamura is there anticipating something and we're not gonna
be sure what until one of them faces the music here.
But you know, coming out of the free throw you
had Lebron James made those two free throws to make
it a.
Speaker 3 (33:33):
Tie ball game. And then there's no time out. The
Nuggets inbound the ball and they're playing because they've got
the two stars to close things out, and so there's
no time to huddle, there's no time to discuss the
defensive arrangement. That's all coming from the bench and your leaders,
(33:54):
right Lebron and Ad and calling it out. So in
the end, Murray gets the the free look and you're right,
Jokicch if you do the freeze frame because Davis had
slumped back into the lane and Jokich just stops by.
All right, ball might come back my way, nice little
easy jump shot, lean in. Maybe he he cuts to
the basket and gets a you know, a quick layup Yeah,
(34:17):
Like if a d.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
Had stayed with Jokic, that I could understand. Okay, you
know what, Hey, I'm gonna stay with Jokic. They're not
going to inbound the ball to him. I'm gonna stay
with him. You have the U four have to worry about,
worry about Jamal Murray making sure he doesn't win the game.
But but even Ad backed off at the end of side,
I had options. I had options like Michael Blone's gotta
walk off a golf well, but that's it. He walked easy.
(34:41):
He didn't use the timeout.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
He still had two timeouts as the game ends, right,
So you'd have the question if if Murray misses the
shot and it goes to ot, it's like then what
And then the Lakers they're out of timeouts. They didn't
call any in pretty obvious situations, but they're still out
of time out, so they go for the quick inbound
and Lebron tries to get into jokicch a bit instead,
(35:06):
it's it's a pass over to Prince who who misses
the forty foot shot.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
If those of them rooting for falls, like Darvin Ham
comes sprinting down looking at that point, if you're Lebron
I try to just dribble and get the foul on Jokic,
And because Jokic is right there and not move trying
to get anyway, he gets it his way and he
makes the pass off to Prince. Well, they couldn't figure
out defense. You think they're going to figure out a
playing a fly right there? Come on, man, coming up next,
(35:35):
we got more on this game. What to make? Is
it the end of an era? In Los Angeles? Fox
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
ten pm to two am Eastern seven to eleven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for
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Speaker 2 (00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Hello, Welcome inside hour three of The Jason Smith Show
with my best friend Mike Harmon. He live from the
tirag dot com studios tyrec dot com. I hope you
get there an unmatched selection, fast, free shipping, free roadhazard protection,
and over ten thousand recommended installers tirack dot com. The
way tire buying should be Lakers and the Nuggets. Fourth quarter,
(00:51):
about nine and a half to go. It is a
two point game. Lebron just hit a big jumper to
cut the Nugget lead to two. This again has been
another game where the Lakers have led, the Nuggets have
slowly reeled the Lakers in. They have the lead here
in the fourth quarter. And look, this is not rocket science,
right like, because so much has been pointing out the
(01:11):
Lakers have led eighty six percent of the time in
this in this series, and the Nuggets are winning all
the games. This is not like the Lakers lack something
that the Lakers are just old. And this is what
happens with older teams. The Lakers, it's everything they can
behind Lebron and Ad who you know on this side
of thirty. Now, whatever you get from Ad, you get
(01:33):
from him. He's been in and out of the game
tonight with a shoulder injury, but he's back in there. Now.
You are still relying on older players to get everything
done for you. And when you do that, what's gonna
happen is by the time you get to the fourth quarter,
you're gonna be tired. I mean, it's no excuse. I mean,
Joellen Bean's different story. But when when you're the Lakers,
there's they expend so much energy and it's so much
(01:56):
to get the lead that eventually, okay, the younger team knows,
we're just gonna wait, and then we're gonna slowly pull
ourselves back into this game, and eventually our athleticism and
our freshness and the mile high air and everything else
is gonna come our way, and we're going to win.
This is what the Nuggets have been doing from the
beginning of this series. Now it is a little scary
because just for a second, the Nuggets don't look like
(02:18):
the the powerful Nuggets of last year, where every game
they've been in trouble with the Lakers, the Lakers at
a twenty point lead they blew in Game two, and
it's been everything the Nuggets can do, you know, to
come back here. So maybe, sure, the Nuggets don't quite
look like the team from last year, so that's a
bit of a concern, but this is not anything that's unexpected. Yeah, hey,
Lakers have a tough time, then we're gonna have to
win one game in Denver and they didn't. Game two
(02:40):
is their game to win. Now it's a tie game
in the fourth quarter. But this is what happens older teams.
You get to that point, especially in the thin air
and mile high, where hey, we just don't have it
and we don't play as crisp and you watch our
jumpers fall short, because that's the biggest sign you look,
you know, Phil Simms can tell you that. Oh sorry,
Phil Simms, Hey, you know, the the short jumpers mean
(03:01):
the guy's getting tired. But you see it. I mean,
it's it's not anything that is We're not reinventing the
wheel by telling you this, but it's for the Lakers
with the lead. This is not oh, the magic secret
sauce Lakers are missing. No, it's just, hey, they had
the lead, playing this way to be competitive, they get tired.
This is what happens. This is why the Lakers are
where they are, the Nuggets are where they are.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Well quick starting for the Nuggets, there's also the larger picture.
They're not playing with the same level of desperation. It
doesn't feel that you've had from the Lakers, certainly the
last game out right, what we saw in the furious
effort to keep the lead and actually close out a
win the Nuggets. After the game, it's like, yeah, didn't
(03:44):
didn't feel it. Michael Malone didn't seem terribly concerned, but
also didn't seem terribly excited about the effort that he
got from his squad early. You know, the level of
urgency of closing out the Lakers last last year, you know,
we had the sweep, but we always joke about how
competitive it was.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
This year, it's been the same thing. This would be
competitive five games right.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Every graphic that we could put up about the Lakers
have led for this amount of this game, of this series,
or at this quarter of all of this stuff, that's
all finding good being able to close out, neither team
getting massive contributions from their respective benches.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
And as we talked about a little bit earlier.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
In the show for Denver, that is I think a
long term concern against these younger teams that want to
get up and run in the Western Conference. And we
were talking about Okay, see talking about Minnesota, and over
the course of a seven game series there maybe not
as quite the tired legs as you see when you've
got injury after itge. God's the other thing here, the
(04:45):
stoppages of play for Lebron or ad And it's not
bashing them unless it is a little bit the All right,
I hurt my shoulder. Now I'm gonna lay here for
seven minutes. Lebron went had a drive. He didn't get
a call on to try to emphasize what happens. He
laid down on the ground. Had he perhaps twisted his
ankle on the return, you know, on the landing, et cetera.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Sure, but he laid down on the ground.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
For a while, like, yeah, all right, like stealing a
few minutes here and there, but it's the body also,
of all right, I need this time to recover, right
a boxer in the later round, I was like, you
know what, I got a six.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
All right, I'm up now, dude. First time I ever
went to Rocky Mountain National State Park. Right our drive
through the country when we moved across country, Pam and
we moved from Connecticut to Los Angeles, went to Rocky
Mountain National State Park. Right we drove it was it's
fifteen thousand feet. We got out of a car at
the top and we had to walk like it was
like thirty yards to the to the lookout point. We
(05:44):
were gonna have lunch. And I walk and I got
a sandwich, and I go and I sit down. I'm like, oh,
I was tired. I'm after eating and going I can't
even eat this sandwich. I'm exhausted. And Pan's like, I
didn't understand. This is one I didn't understand, you know,
the thin air, And I'm like, I'm just so tired.
And luckily the guide said, is this your first time
in this altitude? I said, oh, how many feet up
are this we're about fifteen thousand feet up. I was like,
(06:05):
oh yeah, like I can't even chew a sandwich. So
I had to put my sandwich away until we got
down in there where I was like, okay, now I
can eat a sandwich. Now I can eat my sandwich.
Now that's the thing that fell you. Yeah. We walked
about twenty five yards and sat down to try to
eat a sandwich, and we couldn't do it. Pam and
I were like very exhausted. I said, the guy said,
(06:27):
you need more cardios, sir. No, No, he's like, everybody's tired. Yes,
it's this is what's gonna happen. Of course the guy's
used to it because he lives in But I'm like, man,
and I don't know what it was, but I'm like,
do I try the sandwich at ten thousand feet? I
went to eight thousand feet, seven thousand feet, like I
forget how far down I had to wait for. Okay,
now I'm breathe it. Okay, now I think I can
eat a sandwich. So then we pulled over this. Okay,
(06:49):
I'm okay eating a sandwich here.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
I mean, I'd love to see it because I can
picture it, like the meme of that kid that's sitting
there in his high chair or however he's situated, and
they get cheeseburger, and the cheeseburger looks monstrous as a
little kid but he's half asleep. But it also gives
the impression that it's the greatest burger that's ever been
great because he's eating its so slowly. That's that's you
(07:15):
and your sandwich in that moment.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
You know, it's like it's like I was sitting there.
I was like like trying to breathe and eating like
a big sand can't chew and you know it's like
a probably like a foot long sandwich or so, you know,
just a Deli sandwich, and it's like breathe, trying to chew.
I can't eat. It's all I could do to breathe.
I was like like Mojo and the Simpsons all the all.
(07:39):
The monkey doesn't sit around and struggle to breathe like
I couldn't even could even breathe.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Mojo tapping it out on your phone, I can't be like,
what's wrong with you? I can't you don't even speak,
but he taps out pray for Mojo. Uh.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
So we'll have more on this game coming up, and
if you ben, it's again Lakers in Denver, eighty nine,
eighty nine, about seven minutes to go in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile,
speaking of being in shape and being able to make plays, yeah,
do it. You know we're talking about joellebi. Look, the
Knicks are here to save the NBA playoffs. I don't
know if you know this or not, but they are
(08:17):
here to save the NBA playoffs when the Lakers go out,
the disappointing Boston Celtics, injuries everywhere, the Knicks are here
to save the NBA. They're the basketball Avengers. Yes, they
are here to save us. Not just the unbelievable play
of Jalen Brunson, but the Knicks have become a team
that America can wrap its arms around because what do
(08:37):
we like more than anything, hard work? What worth hard America?
Hard work? And you can see how the other team's
not working hard. It's an easy thing to see. You
could see it and know it's elementary and it's been
talked about a bit, but you can see how badly
the Knicks want to win. You can see how badly
the Knicks want the basketball, and how the seventy six
ers just struggle with everyone. But here's the problem.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
They say that the demographic that really consumes the NBA
is a lot younger. I don't know that they embrace
hard work the same way that you're trying to trying
to contend they do well.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
But there you go at Swollen Dome if you But
people like to see hard work. I don't think people
like to see that guy's laying it up right there.
Look at that guy. He doesn't care. I like him.
He doesn't give a crime. He's not doing anything. Look
at that guy, and what's his name? Embiid? Is he good?
He was the MVP last year?
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Whoa really?
Speaker 1 (09:26):
That guy's exhausted shooting free throws? Yeah? Boy, he stinks
in the fourth quarter. Yeah yeah. He's the guy with
excuses after the game. Oh yeah, everybody's fault. It's the
referee's fault, the fan that the fans are here, they're
cheering for the wrong team. Oh. I love that guy, man,
I love that guy. I want aspire to be an excuses,
not working hard, being tired, Oh, I love that guy.
(09:47):
That's my guy, Joel Embiid, He's my guy. I don't
work hard at all. He's my he's the fathead I
want on my wall. I want the Joelo beid fadea
and the thing about the Joel and bead fat d
You put it up and it just starts curling off
the wall cut and you gotta put it back up
and a curls down again. You put it back up
and it curls down again, but curls down again. Then
finally gotta get tape and you gotta put tape over it.
So it's and it looks awful because you have the
(10:07):
big one piece of tape that goes up, but then
the other sides that aren't taped down start curling, so
it's just that side of the curl comes down. Then
you're gonna put more tape on the wall and it
looks terrible.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Note to self, get Jason Joel embi fat head for
his birthday.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
No, it's it's it's rough to watch, right.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
He's the guy that's the You have two concurrent lanes
of thought on him because part of you is like, ah,
he's really working hard because he's dragging his ass up
and down the court. On the one leg, you have
the report this week Bell's palsy that he had to
deal with and you know the eye drops all long story,
(10:45):
I mean, just conflicted. Missed a lot of time during
the regular season, but then you have this part in
the postseason when it all matters and games get more
physical and tough for forty eight minute battles that you're
complaining about referees at every turn, and as a squad,
you're just getting out worked on the glass by six
(11:10):
seventh eighth men right time and again, like gang rebounding
by the Knicks, the Gangs of New York because it's
so easy to get to wrap your The most hated
team now is saying I will not rest until you
love me.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
That's what was supposed to until you love me. Rockey
was all about work, and now it's nuts. It's like, look,
my dog Benny wants to play with every single dog
he sees in the dog park everywhere else, and he
won't if you don't want to play with him. It
doesn't matter. He is going to wear you down until
you play with him at least a little bit. This
is what the Knicks are doing. The Knicks that you
(11:45):
may not like, No, and I like the Knicks, like
Jalen Brunson. Now suddenly it's Hey, Jalen Brunson's great to watch.
All the Knicks look at their desire and their fire
and sids like we're gonna make you love us. The
Knicks are here to save the NBA playoffs.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Jalen Brunson, the guy that everybody hated his contract mm
hm oh yeah, really disliked him too small. Obviously they
probably should have had some sort of sanctions by the
way his signing ended up going down.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Well, the NBA found what they wanted to find. Everything's done.
Everything's fun like Major League Baseball. Yeah, I look there,
there's no what kind of pedal do you want to?
What do you want to? I'll pay whatever penalty for
Jalen Brunson. My guys work.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
But it's just funny, like all this time later, now
it's the Wow, what a signing and boy, but at
the time it looked like he was over here. It's like, no,
it's the NBA salary, Like you want a free agent,
you have to pay money, especially for a legitimate point
guard in today's NBA.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
And now he's the heart and soul. But I'll tell you, man,
it is really something to watch. This series, which has
become the biggest series like this is where everybody's attention
is jumping to because it's competitive, even though it's a
it's a three to one series lead for the Knicks,
but with Embiid and the fans and all the and
I love seeing Bead complain all the fans it was
(13:01):
it wasn't good that Knicks fans bought the tickets and
were here cheering. You know what? Whose fault is that?
Whose fault is that? You know what? How about you
just you just go go play, right? I know you
and everybody to cheer for you, But this is what happens,
So go play. Your fans don't.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Sell their tickets if they believe that you have hope
for a run, not just to win a game, but
to get out of this series and push forward. So
if I can double my money or pay for my
playoff seats, it's the old rule of supply and demand, right,
If I can sell off my seats to thirsty Knicks
(13:36):
fans that want to come and see this game and
pay off several games of the playoffs or part of
my season tickets for next year, or Johnny or Susie's
birthday bought Mitzvah, bar Mitzvah, whenever we're celebrating in the house.
Summer vacation coming up. Guess what I'm selling the tickets.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
I think this is I think this is America coming
around to my philosophy of putting the six or on
the never again list. They're not gonna win, They're on
Jason's never again list. Yeah, I'll sell these tickets. It's okay,
But the Sixer is looking for every bit of an
excuse why they're not winning, and the Knicks just go
out and make the place right. It's I mean, it's
it's really it's it's amazing to see that on display.
(14:15):
And it's fun to see because you know what, after
this round, the NBA is gonna go Man, no Lakers,
no this, no that we got injuries everywhere, no Johannis
or everything. Boy, really glad we have the Knicks.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Oh so good Man and everybody on Broadway that's a
star that's been in an established movie or TV show,
contact every talk show host who has guests lined up.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Let's get them all out to the garden. What do
you really sell the hell out of it?
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Hey?
Speaker 1 (14:40):
What are the conference finals look like in the NBA? Well,
it's Minnesota, Oklahoma City, and the Knicks and the Celtics. Great,
put the Knicks and the Celtics on every night. Let's
do Best of fifteen, Let's run that and the other series.
We'll just you know, we'll just I don't know, We'll
just laughers on. That's all we'll do. I mean, how
bad is the NBA gonna need the Knicks after this?
Go New York, New York, the post Child and it
(15:01):
all becomes Tom timm Go New York Good all of
a sudden. Oh, he's running his players in the ground.
It's gonna be terrible. Hey, maybe we need more coaches
like Tom Tibodeau.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
We got a hair restoration and a re evaluation of
his hairlines. He's gonna be He's gonna bring sweatsuits back.
People are gonna start wearing sweatsuits again with pockets.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
And I haven't been pockets because I like the pockets
and the sweats you can put it had to be
pretty looking, like Polly Wall that's walking around. Hey, hey,
you know, we go back to the end of the Sopranos.
I didn't say they're gonna be there, but they're gonna be. Well.
I mean, if we're gonna do this let's do it
in sty. The Valor sweatsits are very comfortable. I remember
having Vlora pants. I was like, oh, these are so comfortable,
these feels. I didn't have the jacket though.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
I just want to ensconce myself and now, but like, no, no, no,
but the Valor sweats are nice, like a dark.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Maroon color or or dark gray. Yeah yeah, yeah right orange. Yeah.
Oh yeah, I know that works. Sing it that works.
Go New York, Go New York, Go, go New York,
Go New York, go go right now, Lakers and the
Nuggets under four minutes left to go, tied at ninety nine.
(16:06):
Coming up next. Are we talking about the Lakers forcing
an unbelievable Game five or Game six? Or is it
the end of the year for the Lakers and the Nuggets?
Move on? Keep it right here, all the drama to
com This is Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
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 4 (16:32):
Hey, this is Tom Ferducci from Fox Sports, MLB Network
and Sports Illustrated.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
And I'm Joe Madden, and we're going to be around
to talk a little bit about managerial decisions and what
may have occurred to the dugout maybe in the nineteen eighties.
It's the Book of Joe podcasts. I can't wait for this, Joe.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
We're going to dive into what goes on in the
dugout and behind the scenes in Major.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
League Baseball, cars, wind, whatever else we want to talk about.
Speaker 4 (16:53):
Yeah, well, there are no boundaries, right. Listen to the
Book of Joe podcast on the iHeartRadio app, on Apple
Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Fox Sports Radio the Jason Smith Show with my best
friend Mike Harmon, and we got a little bit of
controversy here at the end. The Nuggets look like they
are walking away with a one to oh eight, one
oh six win over the Lakers. Jamal Murray hits a
runner in the lane with about four seconds left to go.
(17:26):
The Lakers try to inbound it fast. They get the
ball to Lebron near half court, who it looks like,
tries to draw the shooting foul the old Chris Paul
move and I'm pretending I'm shooting from half court. Uh,
And no whistle is blown. The ball is loose, the
Lakers pick it up. I think Hatchimura had a desperation
heave from the other side of half court. It does
(17:47):
not go, and the Nuggets have eliminated. The Lakers buy
a bucket. Jamal Murray into the lane for a floater,
the one hander going away from the hoop. He had
two Lakers around him, and you just have to nod
and say the Nuggets were the better team. They had
guys hitting clutch shots after clutch shots. Murray is second
(18:09):
game winner of the series, and now the Denver Nuggets
move on to the second round of the playoffs. The
Lakers go home forty seven and thirty five for the season.
One to six is the final, Aaron Gordon hitting a
huge three in the final minute for the Nuggets, Lebron
tying the game with a couple of free throws, but
then it's Jamal Murray in the final possession, a fallaway
(18:31):
one hander for his thirty second point of the night,
and the Lakers lose and the Nuggets go on the
drive defending the title. Is still there.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
Not too bad for a guy wasn't supposed to play right,
all those question marks, and for Lebron, he gets challenged
by Jokis.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
The ball ended up in the.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Hands of Torrian Prince, who'd come in as a substitution
for D'Angelo Russell down the stretch. Free throw arity in
this one twenty seven to nine.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Yeah, Lakers went to the free throw line a lot
few times.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
The three point attempt differential is only two, so any
of the Oh they take us outside?
Speaker 1 (19:14):
No, no, no, they tried to work inside quite a bit.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Jokins getting mauled drives down low, no harm, no foul. Uh.
Kind of curious just down the final minutes. But Murray
with that floater, so money in big moments.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Look, it's it's and it's nothing different than what we
talked about earlier. The Nuggets are a younger team, Their
stars are younger, They're fresher at the end of games.
This is why they've won this series. That's why the
Lakers have gone out to a lead in every game.
The Nuggets have reeled them in. The Lakers get tired
because of their age, playing in the mile high air,
and the Nuggets have enough left at the end. Now again,
(19:51):
was this a competitive five games scar, Yes, it might
be the most competitive five game series I've won. Three more,
three more years, and the Lakers will beat the Gets,
who was a competitive sweep. Now it's competitive five games,
next year, competitive six games, next year, competitive seven games.
In the fifth year, competitive seven games, and the Lakers win. Finally,
Lebron at forty four.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Who saw that Lakers squad at that Lebron Durant KD.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Is forty Yeah, look, look that that's what it is.
You can you can sum up the Lakers and Lebron's
gonna get killed and a D is gonna get killed
in all this. And I understand that there's some there's
some things to get to with the Lakers, but the
bottom line is this. The Nuggets are the champs. They're
the better team. They're starting five is better. They get better.
They get more clutch plays from Aaron Gordon and even
(20:38):
even Michael Porter Junior had a huge game tonight. He
had five threes tonight. The Nuggets get more from their
supporting cast. Their stars are a little bit better. They
dominate a little bit more. Jamal Murray is a ball
dominant point guard that can make big shots, and he
lives for the big shots. The Lakers have Lebron and
Ad and and so oftentimes the offense bogs down, it
(20:59):
becomes le Broun Iso plays. The Nuggets are just better.
You can you can cut it out any way you
want to be. And and I know Lebron, look at Lebron.
This here the Lakers all out in the first round. Yes,
we'll get to all that, but right now, this moment
in time, why the Nuggets win and they're moving on
to the second round. The Lakers are going home. The
Nuggets are just better. And and you knew when I'm
watching this final play going, Murray's gonna hit this shot,
(21:21):
because the Nuggets hit every shot right. You know, they're
made for the Lakers. They love going up against the Lakers.
You can see it. It felt like a conference finals
game today, the back and forth, and you just knew
Murray's gonna find the open spot. He's gonna hit a shot.
And that's exactly what he did.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
Yeah, you saw him come off the the Joki screen
and a wide open lane, uh.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
To make the floater.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
You know, you talk about him in big moments and
what he's meant to this squad rise up, especially for
the injury history. Whenever we talk about stars and you
know their paths to to where they you know, climb
the mountain. Uh, he certainly has had few along the way.
And tonight, you know, a lot of expectation. I didn't
(22:03):
see the betting line move much, so the expectation was
he'd give it a go the old college try, which
means you play rope a dope with some of the
injury reports. Ah, it's a lot worse. I'll tell you
he's questionable. And then he's running up and down. And
there was one moment though that he had in the
fourth quarter where he came down after a shot and
they called the time out after he made a shot.
(22:24):
The Lakers did one of the few times Darvin Ham
actually used the time out in that circumstance. Remember that
fourteen to two run they went on. There was no
time out to try to know when Dicky Vital was
back in his heyday really calling up games and wish
him well and good health. Sorry, the White Sox swept
your raise, you know, to get a teo. Scream was
always there, and Laker fans, no doubt, were ready to
(22:48):
throw things through their televisions because they were watching the
game once again start to slip away because they heat
it up. Gordon made a couple of big rebound. He
had thirteen rebounds on the night while he was only
seven points. But for Jamal Murray is thirty two including
that floater. You know, he's a guy that when the
(23:08):
game's on the line. How many how many guys do
we have that that? You say that in the NBA? Yeah,
just get it to him. Yeah, the teams have closers.
That guy's a closer.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
And he doesn't like being called playoff Jamal Murray because
he's but you know he's playof Jamal Murray. What do
people remember? People don't remember what you do.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
He had a random mid January game against the Portland Trailblazers.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
I'm sorry, you can score eighty.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Yeah, you'll get brought up when another guy is close
to score eighty.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Now you want to just now because now we get
to Jamal Murray from it, right, that's the Nuggets are
just better Jamal Murray. You get to the twenty nineteen
twenty twenty season and the series in the bubble with
the Lakers, when I remember talking to this saying, man,
the era of the Nuggets is it may be here,
like it is coming fast. Jokic and Murray is flipping
(23:58):
phenomenal it could be here. The Lakers get the title
in the Bubble, ad hits the Big Three, they beat
the Nuggets and knock them out. Murray then has a
couple of injury plagued seasons and the Nuggets don't win.
And he had a whole season that he missed. He
had missed most of another season. He missed the end
of the season, almost missed, almost like the equivalent of
(24:19):
three playoffs. He almost missed. If he doesn't get hurt,
the Nuggets have at least one, if not two, more titles.
Just to think about injury for a second. If he
doesn't get hurt, this could be a team that, hey,
we're going for our third in a row.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
See now it's the extension of the Marvel universe like
you were doing with your guy Jalen Brunson as Captain America.
Because now we're doing that whole animated what if thing.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Yeah, because Nuggets, Because look, he missed the entire twenty
one to twenty two season. By the time he came back,
he was not the same guy. Took him a while
to come back, but this is where he is now.
They would have at least one more and they'd be
going for a three peat. Maybe they'd have two, but
they'd have at least one more because they would probably
come back. Twenty twenty one, he gets hurt. But twenty
(25:03):
twenty one, twenty one, twenty two definitively last year they win.
I mean it really it could be. It could be
as it could be the last two years, last three years,
they could have won. Remember the first year, it was, hey,
he should be coming back here for the play he
should be coming back, should be coming back. Where wait?
Why is he not coming back? Why is he not
coming back? What's going on? Why can't the guy come back?
Because they thought he would come back for the for
the playoffs? Why where is he? Where's he didn't come
(25:24):
back and play? But I mean that that's really you
talk about injuries and what they do to the playoffs.
Just think about it from that perspective of he doesn't
if he doesn't tear his acl. I mean, we could
be looking at the go right from the Warriors dynasty
into the Nuggets dynasty.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Now we go right to the post game. The first shot.
I mean, you want to talk about really putting on
a brace and a rap and everything to make it
look like you can't walk and that you're totally done.
It's like a magical healing occurred before the tip off.
But you're right, I mean, we have these twists and
turns in history of the NBA and all other sports.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
Right.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
We did a podcast series called Special Teams a couple
of years ago. You can still find it out there
wherever you download your audio, where we'd go through some
of the magical runs of squads, and virtually I would
say at least half of them started with, well this
guy was hurt the year before, or they navigated through
when this guy misses half a season and comes back,
(26:24):
you know, to be a contributor or whatever the case was.
And that's like history is littered with teams at every
level in that regard. And for the NBA when we
often talk about depth in the playoffs and needing to
have a roster that's ready, but we know the bench shortens,
(26:46):
you don't get as much the contribution. What was it
a fourteen to eleven bench lead for the Nuggets in
this one to clinch things off, But you need two
or three superstars and at least that one guy that,
no matter the circumstance, wants the ball and missing a
guy like him and Porter Jr. To think of all
the injuries he's had, right that, because I mean you
(27:08):
could do the Murray line, but add Porter Junior, who
missed a ton of time. Remember coming out of college.
You know, is the basketball equivalent of Rob Gronkowski, Like, well,
if he can stay healthy and avoid extra back injuries,
this guy could be great.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
And now they've both been great.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
But in parallel, you know, with the Jamal Murray side,
is is it Porter Junior is there for all of
that run as well? Perhaps there's that title or two,
but you know, the old to be the man, you
gotta beat the man.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
And it'll be curious. The young guns are really out
in the Western Conference. I mean, just think, just think
about how what Denver could be going for had he
not gotten I mean, I got he got hurt and
it happened, and it took him a long time to
get back, and I get it, But just think about
that for set where they'd be going. Because we talk
about great duos in the league and Lebron and a
D and Giannis and Lillard and all this, but I mean,
(28:00):
really Jokich and Murray and they're both well on the
on the right, you know on the right, on the
left side of thirty, this is a you know, this
is this They're unstoppable when when he is healthy, they're
absolutely unstopped.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
We will say one of my favorite moments of the
game was with the four fifteen left, Murray gets the
ball and dunks on Lebron and then he totally did
the full Lebron most muscular shoulder shrug pose that Lebron
does after dunking, and like he couldn't hold a straight
face after he did it. That's that's where we're at
(28:33):
at this level of chaos in the NBA.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
Play.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
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 (28:44):
Sports Radio, The Jason Smith Show with My best friend
Mike Harmon and The Nuggets with Jamal Murray call him
game making the game winner with three seconds left. The
Nuggets eliminate the Lakers by a bucket one eight, one
oh six. They win the series four games to one.
(29:04):
And yes, we talked about the fact the Nuggets are
just a better team than the Lakers, right, you can
say a lot they're better. Yes, the games were closed
a lot of things happen. But this doesn't matter if
it's Darvin Ham or not. But this is a reason
why Darvin Ham's gonna lose his job as Lakers head coach.
Here's the play by play of the final shot of
(29:27):
the game. Jamal Murray for the second time this series,
hitting a game winner basically at the buzzer to win
it for the Nuggets. Difference of two seconds the game
clock and the shot clock. Worst case scenario, We're going
to overtime.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
You'll get your scream, Murray to.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Try to play the time. They'll talking out about the Lakers.
I gotta go, James A pump for food at hump
shot no zero, seme o'clock, the Nuggets a dance play.
You have won, So Reggie Miller not right. Worst case
scenario going over the This is what's so abominable for
(30:02):
the Lakers on this final play, right, because yes, Nuggets
were better, Lakers have faltered late, but look at what
they do defensively on this play. It is abominable. Okay,
Murray's got the ball on the right side of the court,
about five or six feet behind the three point line.
He drives to the left. Okay, Now, if you are
(30:24):
the Lakers. Who are the two people you do not
want to take this shot? Jamal Murray Nikola Jokis. Right,
these two guys you don't want to see take the shot. Right,
what happens? Murray drifts over to the left and two
things happen. Ruey Hachimura stands there and allows Jamal Murray
even though it's a floater falling away. It's a one
(30:44):
hander from the elbow, and Ruey Hachimura just stands there
like I want to guard against him ditching the ball
off to somebody. Who the hell is Jamal Murray going
to pass it to unless it's Nikola Jokics. Right, So
you got Ruey Hachimura who just stands there and does nothing. Right,
Murray doesn't get anybody in his face, the guy who
you know is gonna take the shot, or Yokic. These
(31:05):
are the guys, so no one's in his face, right?
What does Ad do? Ads On Jokic When the ball
goes to Murray? What does Ad do? He kind of
floats to the side, and you figure, okay, he's gonna
get out on Murray and is gonna go out and
get a hand in his face. Instead, he kind of stands.
He takes a step back under the basket looking for
the rebound. Meanwhile, there's still five seconds left at this point.
(31:29):
If Murray doesn't like this shot, Nikola Jokic is wide
open on the other side because Ad is left Jokic.
AD's just standing there guarding nothing. Ruyachimora is guarding nothing.
So if Murray doesn't like the shot for some reason,
he just has to look to his right and Yoku say, hey,
give it to me. They're not guarding me. Like the
Lakers were so worried. Oh is he gonadition? It like,
(31:49):
it's like, we don't want to give up an easy bat.
We don't want to make it look like we didn't
have this play covered and it's gonna be some kind
of back door playing Aaron Gordon's in there for a
dunk or KCP gets a bass and gets in Lebron's face.
It's like they It's like I felt they were. They
were so they were so focused on we we don't
want to look bad on this play, and instead they
(32:09):
allowed the best player and the second best player on
the team to have carte blanche on the floor. Jamal
Murray has all kinds of room nobody gets in his
face for the last shot, and if he wanted to
pass Jokicic was wide open on the other side. So
I mean, seriously, what are the Lakers doing, Like, whether
it's Darvin Ham or not, that is inexcusable. And this
is this is where you say someone needs to come
(32:30):
in that can say, Okay, I need to get you
guys on this page to play this right way now.
Because again it doesn't matter if it's what Darvin Ham
put out there, it was terrible. If it was the
Lakers freelancing because they listened to Darvinham, that's the same thing.
But like I see that play and I go, what
what are the Lakers saying coming out of this out
of the huddle? What are they saying, Don't let Michael
(32:51):
Porter beat us? What are they saying coming out of it,
Don't let Aaron Gordon beat us? What are they telling
each other when they come out of the huddle. It
makes no sense, makes absolutely no sense that the two
guys we got to make somebody else other than these
two guys beat us. These are the two guys that
would wind up beating them for the game. Yeah, just
watching that play on a loop, right you get the screen.
You got Jokicch and Davis battling. Yokicic comes out screens
(33:13):
off Reeves, so Reeves is trying to recover from that,
and then as you said, he gets towards the elbow
and Hatchamura is there anticipating something and we're not gonna
be sure what until one of them faces the music here.
But you know, coming out of the free throw you
had Lebron James made those two free throws to make
it a.
Speaker 3 (33:33):
Tie ball game. And then there's no time out. The
Nuggets inbound the ball and they're playing because they've got
the two stars to close things out, and so there's
no time to huddle, there's no time to discuss the
defensive arrangement. That's all coming from the bench and your leaders,
(33:54):
right Lebron and Ad and calling it out. So in
the end, Murray gets the the free look and you're right,
Jokicch if you do the freeze frame because Davis had
slumped back into the lane and Jokich just stops by.
All right, ball might come back my way, nice little
easy jump shot, lean in. Maybe he he cuts to
the basket and gets a you know, a quick layup Yeah,
(34:17):
Like if a d.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
Had stayed with Jokic, that I could understand. Okay, you
know what, Hey, I'm gonna stay with Jokic. They're not
going to inbound the ball to him. I'm gonna stay
with him. You have the U four have to worry about,
worry about Jamal Murray making sure he doesn't win the game.
But but even Ad backed off at the end of side,
I had options. I had options like Michael Blone's gotta
walk off a golf well, but that's it. He walked easy.
(34:41):
He didn't use the timeout.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
He still had two timeouts as the game ends, right,
So you'd have the question if if Murray misses the
shot and it goes to ot, it's like then what
And then the Lakers they're out of timeouts. They didn't
call any in pretty obvious situations, but they're still out
of time out, so they go for the quick inbound
and Lebron tries to get into jokicch a bit instead,
(35:06):
it's it's a pass over to Prince who who misses
the forty foot shot.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
If those of them rooting for falls, like Darvin Ham
comes sprinting down looking at that point, if you're Lebron
I try to just dribble and get the foul on Jokic,
And because Jokic is right there and not move trying
to get anyway, he gets it his way and he
makes the pass off to Prince. Well, they couldn't figure
out defense. You think they're going to figure out a
playing a fly right there? Come on, man, coming up next,
(35:35):
we got more on this game. What to make? Is
it the end of an era? In Los Angeles? Fox
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