June 13, 2026 • 32 mins
Jason Smith and Steve DeSaegher filling in for Mike Harmon discuss Team USA's dominant performance and why they haven't had a player like Folarin Balogun in decades.
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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
ten pm to two am Eastern seven to eleven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon at Fox Sports
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Speaker 2 (00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon Live from the Fox
Sports Radio Studio. Special delivery Steve de Seger In tonight
he had Powaguay getting three and a half goals. He
is a very happy man right now.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Not true, I'm calling that in right before. Absolutely happy.
Maybe not for that reason. I just I saw something
tonight I haven't seen from an American soccer team in
a couple of decades.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
I was singing the national anthem because Jesse Marsh says,
you know they're bad at it. Do you see that?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Yeah? I did hear about that.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Look, no bigger story tonight than the United States winning
their opener in the World Cup for to one over Paraguay.
And it was as dominant a night as it sounds.
The best way to look at this right. You know,
there's been so many things to saying. We're gonna get
to the guy who has been the difference and was
(01:22):
the difference in the United States to night in a second.
But after one game, there's prisoner of the moment. There
is wondering how big this is. It's one game, after all,
how big is as well? You know, you only get three.
It's not like it's you know, it's not like Major
League Baseball where it's one game. Now you get three
and you got to move on to the next round
of the World Cup. The United States did everything to
(01:46):
the near best of expectations that you could possibly have
hoped for. The entire first half was spent entirely in
Paraguay's and it was a three to nothing lead at halftime.
They passed the ball through the middle of the field, well,
they moved the ball, and the wings well well, the
goalie was never tested, which is always the best game
in soccer. When you don't know if your goalie played
well because you didn't get a lot of chances, those
(02:07):
are always the best games. That's always why I would
tell I would tell my team's coaching, the All Stars
and the extra teams and the Clyde would say, yeah, No,
the best games is when I don't know if you
played well, how did they play today? Coach the best?
I don't know, but that's that's the best way because
we kept the ball away from you, right, that's everybody
doing their job. Yes, Paraguay scored a goal. Okay, just
you know, I don't like to say this too often,
(02:28):
but you know, hey, I'm kind of a USMNT whisper
because I told you last night, the United States is
waiting for this series to be waiting for this competition
to begin. They're going to score a goal in the
first ten minutes. They're going to win four to one.
What happened. They scored a goal in the first ten
minutes and they won four to one. Anything you want
to know, Steve Ashley, I have the answers. Anything you
want to know.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Magic often does happen to a post country at a
World Cup that is well established in World Cup history.
The thing is, when we were hosting the World Cup
in nineteen ninety four, I'll say it allowed. We barely
had a team in comparison. Back then, Major League Soccer
didn't exist. We didn't have a major league in this
sport in nineteen ninety four when we hosted the World Cup.
(03:11):
So the magical thing that happened was Columbia putting a
goal into its own net instead of a pass back
to the goalie, you know, going back to the goalie,
and the Americans wound up advancing and actually playing a
close one nothing loss to Brazil in the round of sixteen.
So that was the magic Nothing like this.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
That honestly was because my lifetime of soccer just really quick,
before we get to we get to Balligan because he's
too important, Like my lifetime of soccer was was okay.
The Cosmos were a huge team in the seventies when
Pele went there and there were a big traveling road
show and it was amazing. They traveled across the country.
The Cosmos was a big deal. You had major indoor
(03:53):
soccer league in the eighties which was really fun to
watch and that was always on TV. But the nineteen
ninety four World Cup was the beginning of you want
to talk what the real birth of soccer in this
country was. It was the ninety four World Cup team
that somehow found a way to get to the next round,
get to the knockout round again, lost a one nothing
game to a really bad goal given up by Tony Meole.
That was a really, really bad goal.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
The Brazil team that wound up winning this tournament.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
I mean, that's an awful guy. Yeah, Roberto Bagio hit
the crossbar on penalties for team Italy, you know, back
when Italy would make the World Cup, and like a
really bad goal by Meal against Brazil.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
By the way, Bogio was in attendance in Mexico yesterday.
Oh was he that rarely recognized?
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Oh wow? Did people throw the ball off.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Of the I know there's a joke to be had.
It's going to follow him the rest of his life.
But keep in mind nineteen ninety four. The US had
qualified for the previous World Cup in nineteen ninety but
you know, we got destroyed in our three games, and
then we hadn't made any World Cup the previous forty
years in a row until nineteen ninety.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Yeah, and it's a huge run in ninety four and
the game against Columbia, which you've heard of, the you know,
the the own goal by Colombia.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
There's a superb documentary exactly about that.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
I mean, really it's it was I remember covering it
for ESPN and it it was the Star like it
was that and the Knicks Rockets final going on at
the same time, right like the like the last time,
like two times ago, and the Knicks were in the
finals for the last time. It was the Knicks Rockets
in the World Cup, and I was like every day.
It was one of those stories.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Same month as the OJ stories June of nineteen ninety four.
By the way, not to make people feel bad, but
for all who spent over one thousand dollars for this
incredible US game tonight, I believe I believe tickets were
forty dollars at the Rose Bowl for US. Yeah, play
back then.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Yeah, I mean after beating Colombia, things got really exciting
for the United States, right beating Colombia and moving on, Wow,
we can get into the next round of the World Cup.
And these are the guys that that you've heard of
that have been telling Eric Winalda, who is you know?
Alexi Lallis was the was a defender on that team.
Like all the names you hear now talking about Tony Mayo,
John these are guys that all played in nineteen ninety
(06:03):
four and that's when the excitement level really hit a
fever pitch that I had never seen for soccer before.
I remember covering it for ESPN, and it was it
was something that's like Wow, it was brand new. And
the big takeaway from tonight is really to say, Okay, Paraguay,
how good are they? Paraguay's not bad, right, They're not
one of the bottom feeders. They're not one of the
(06:25):
elite teams in the World Cup, but they're not a
bad team.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Well, let me put it this way. They were I
mentioned earlier in the show. They were just about all
the teams that aren't Argentina but made the World Cup
out of South America. They all pretty much tied for
second place, well back of Argentina, but that includes Paraguay.
In their eighteen qualifying games over the last couple of years,
they only scored fourteen goals, but they only allowed ten
(06:51):
in eighteen games. And they won at home against Brazil
and they won at home against Argentina. That team gave
up three in the first half in La Tonight to
the US.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
And it looked like they looked like a team that
didn't deserve to be on the same field as the
United States. The women they were doing. It's like what
other countries had done to us in the past, and
so coming off of this game and seeing how it
worked for the United States and Christian Polisic was absolutely
fantastic in the half he played, and it looks like
(07:24):
he's okay. He got kicked in the calf. They kept
him out a little bit of precautionary reasons, but with
a week between games, I'm pretty sure he'll be okay.
But look, Baligan was phenomenal, and you know, everything went
right for the United not right, but everything. The United
States made their own luck, They made their own breaks.
They attacked for ninety eight minutes, they did not get tired.
They were the dominant team. And I think that's a
(07:46):
big wake up call for a lot of the other
nations watching them tonight, going oh wow, Poachattino's got them
exactly where he needs them. There is no reason to
not be incredibly excited about what the next few weeks
can bring us here at the World Cup. The way
they're playing end with it being the reality of we're
in a really easy group, right, you know, Turkey and Australia.
(08:09):
This should be a group we get out of and win.
Rather easily, which gives us an advantageous matchup in the
knockout round, which means, hey, all of a sudden, we're
looking at the quarterfinals, which whoa the quarterfinals. There is
no reason to not be that excited and optimistic about
what we could see. There's nothing holding us back. There's
no drama off the field. There is nothing that you
(08:30):
didn't see tonight that you shouldn't feel great about going forward.
And this is whether you're a huge soccer fan, middle
of the road paying attention to the World Cup. They
were absolutely outstanding tonight.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
And US once we get to the knockout stage, assuming
they advance out of this group, and I think tonight
convinces most everybody that the US will, whether they win
the group or not, be advancing out of this group
and therefore still playing around July first or so in
still on the West coast. By the way, that's the
way it's scheduled. US is playing in LA and then
(09:02):
up in Seattle, and then back to LA against Turkey
A and then maybe like Bay Area for a round
of thirty two games something like that. It might be
US against an easier team, yeah, as a group winner,
and then against Belgium or somebody like that who they
faced in round of sixteen before. If you win that
(09:22):
round of sixteen just after July fourth, you're in the
World Cup quarterfinals. For Cradlud. The US has only made
the World Cup quarterfinals once since the first World Cup. Once.
That was when and you referenced this earlier. A young
Landon Donovan was on the two thousand and two team
that not only beat Portugal but wound up advancing and
(09:44):
beating Mexico two nothing the famed Dos a Sero game
in the round of sixteen and we nearly had the
best of a German side that made the final that year,
lost one nothing.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Yeah, that was that was close. And Oliver ConA that
was a great That was when Germany started their big
run as a big power, when even they're like their
junior teams would beat the crap out of everybody right
like they had.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
You know, it's amazing Germany's women's team was winning the
World Cup back then. Remember Oliver Kahann at goal, he
was like a wall at gold.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
What a great villain he was. He was like Ivan Drago,
like what a great villain he was. Yeah, he was
so much fun. But to be excited is one thing.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Fall Ballagan tonight playing the nine striker position for the
United States. You've heard this over the better part of
the last one twenty some odd years for the United
States is why can't we find a striker? Right? Why
can't we find a striker that can be a superstar,
that can not just be someone that can score, but
(10:59):
the difference between winning and losing and advancing in the
World Cup and going home is Hey, in a tight
nothing nothing game or a one to one game, you
need your striker. You're nine to be able to make
a play where I'm creating space and I am beating
the goalie because I have a special set of skills
that nobody else has. Right. We've seen Messi do that.
We've seen rinaldo do that. We've seen all the great
(11:22):
players in Bape, We've seen him all do that.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
The United States don't forget skills.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
He have very special set of skills and succeeded well
outside of the country.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
He did well in France.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
He did very well in France. So we've never had
that guy like Clint Dempsey. He would score goal, but
he wasn't that guy, right like Landon Don was a midfielder.
The goal against Algeria, which will live forever, he wasn't
that guy. We've never had that one player. We've not
have an Earling Holland that is going to be able
to just do what a physically I can get us
(11:56):
a goal when there's no goals out there, and the
post player.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
In the NBA they can literally just say give me the.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
Ball and yeah, could be we can be wimby uh
and Balligan tonight showed that he can be that guy
like it's it's I'm laughing going.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
I feel like we've been waiting twenty five years for
fall Balligan and and the brace he had in the
first half to gives a three to nothing lead was incredible.
You're gonna hear the goals right now. It's the second
goal that got me more excited than anything. Ty should
go ahead, the great ball.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Holistic a holistic.
Speaker 5 (12:34):
Time it's time, the fly is jacking down.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Time it's to the United States.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
As you said, appreciated by the.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
Fans right, the lowest prinster Pochettino can get inside.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Still val.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Big Fox on the call there. I mean, yeah, we
definitely had home field advantage tonight. That was pretty sweet.
I gotta say, not that it wasn't expected, but it's
nice to see that that was an overwhelming home field
advantage for us in this game.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
And look at what we have at this forward spot
with the variety, because there was well too long a time,
frankly in US soccer history where they had maybe one
reliable guy that could be the goal scorer. Here, look
what Polisic creates. We know he's finished in the past.
Balligan had two goals in the first half. They had
(13:32):
Tim Way off the bench, Ricardo Peppi off the bench
like Diego Lunda didn't make the team.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Gio Raina off the bench and he scores in the
ninety eighth minute to make it for to one Like
this is we finally have the firepower most goals we
scored in a World Cup game ever, correct? I mean,
but the goal by Baaligan, that third goal where he
does exactly what I said. He creates space and he
hits a hell of a bender in the top corner
of the net. That that is a goal scorers goal,
(13:59):
and that's a goal that probably shouldn't have happened, but
it only happens because your striker is that talented. Like
that's the difference. That's gonna be the difference in a nothing,
nothing game against Belgium in the quarterfinal round or in
the in the round of sixteen, where you can score
a goal like that. He's twenty four. He could have
played any He could have played for England, You could
(14:19):
have played for them. He could have played for three
different countries, the United States. Thank you for playing for
the United States. Mighty Balligan, by the way, so much.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
It's not just what you mentioned. An American team had
never scored four goals in any World Cup game, and
the tournament has existed for almost one hundred years. They'd
never won a game by three or more ever in
US soccer history, going back to the first World Cup.
And then the fat that this really killed me, the
fact that the US men scored less than four goals
(14:50):
total for the entire World Cup tournament in.
Speaker 5 (14:54):
Half of their previous trips to the World Cup. That
is smashed by this team. In one game tonight, it
was three to not think at the half and a
four to one. Finally, we can't overstate how impressive this was.
You want to know how impressive. You mentioned earlier how
the US defense was, to say the least, not tested
(15:14):
in the first half because the offense was so consistently great,
foot on the gas pedal the entire first half. It
was so reassuring though, to have US defender Chris Richards
back in the starting lineup. He just returned to full
practice on Monday in southern California. He had missed both
of the recent exhibitions with the ankle injury he'd suffered
(15:35):
with his club team in England last month, and hadn't
played at all.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Then.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
The stat at the end of the game Chris Richards
attempted eighty three passes in the game, completed all eighty
three passes one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Smith is going to do for the Jets this year.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Okay, you had me up until I heard the word,
but to complete a accurately that many passes had not
been done by any player in a World Cup match
since nineteen sixty six. Yeah, astounding offense and defense. What
was on display for the USA in a World Cup match?
Speaker 1 (16:17):
I mean he looked he was, and he was big
on cornerkicks, had a couple of headers that near missed.
Now he was he was part of that uh you
know that that gaggle of players that got caught watching
on Paraguay's goal. He got beat for that. But okay,
you know what three No, the good he had played,
he had done was better, especially since he missed the
friendlies that they played against Senegal in Germany. But the
(16:37):
fact that Poach picked him for the team saying yes,
everything is fine, knowing full well that he's got a
bit of an overloaded a couple at one position and
you're kind of worried where injuries could take him. He
played really really good tonight, right like you got. I mean,
this is that's what I say. There's no reason to
not be excited about everything you have seen from this
team going forward. But man, I'll tell you what, when
(16:58):
we're in one of those nothing games where you're just
I just you know, guy has to come through. Nobody,
nobody's going to score for us. We're not getting anything.
We just got to hope to take it all the
way through.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
All the against England, willed a goal in and that's
the only offense they had that day. You're right, there
are games like that when you get to better opponents
in other rounds.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
And that instead of saying, well, we just have to
wait to get to penalties hopefully and pull it out.
It's maybe Balligan could be a guy to get one
of those goals.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Don't wait for that. That's why Italy is not in
this World Cup, well not in the last one one before. Yeah, exactly.
By the way, no US men's player had ever had
a multi goal game in a World Cup until tonight
with Flegan. It's just silly the kind of history compared
to what US soccer has been in the last hundred
(17:48):
years of what was on display and last nation and
again we say, we know that there's usually a boost
for any home team in a World Cup. In in
the entire history of the World Cup, a home team
has lost its opening game only once and that was
when Katar got shut out in Katar four years ago.
And by the way, Katar is probably the worst team
(18:08):
in this year's tournament. But this wasn't just a w
This was complete and total dominance against a team from
South America. It was unbelievably impressive exit.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
How about a Fresca. Jason Smith Steve de Sager in
for Mike Harmon will have more on the World Cup
coming up as well as today. The Spurs finally spoke
after blowing that twenty nine point lead in Game four.
I don't know that they should have. We'll tell you
why next right here at Fox Sports Radio. Hey, the
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Speaker 2 (20:28):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith Show.
With Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern seven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Fox Sports Radio Jason Smith Show with Steve Desager in
for Mike Harmon, your selfish Bastard. I tried to get
Boba Schett, but he was unavailable after hitting two home
runs tonight. Uh, we'll get back into the World Cup
in a few minutes. There is a big story out
of the World Cup today. I think can help the
(21:01):
world well figure World Cup, big store out in the world.
But in advance of Oh, by the way, this pesky
thing called Game five of the NBA Finals tomorrow night.
Remember I said Nixon five beginning of the series, Nix
and five. I told you United States's gonna score in
the first ten minutes. They were gonna win four one.
I've told you Nixon five. I want to stay hot,
Steve de Seger, I want to stay hot.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Well, we've mentioned it was like everything coming up, Jason,
and now it's turning into another Summer of George, if
you will.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Yeah, this is summer of George. This summer of George. Uh.
Ahead of tomorrow's game. Now, there's there's one big thing
to say is that coming off of Game four, I thought,
you know, going into this, I'm not gonna be surprised
if the Spurs win this game. Look, they've gotten out
to a big lead every game this seri has been
(21:49):
a double digit lead at the end of the first quarter.
And certainly they they talk pretty well, especially today, which
we're gonna get to. But the more I see this
game and hear them talk and see how this is
going out, Now, this story that supposedly fifty percent of
the tickets for tomorrow's game have been bought by fans
in the New York, New Jersey area, and now TMZ
(22:11):
is reporting that they're canceling some of those sales because
they don't want New York fans being in the building. Now,
you can't do anything about that in the secondary market,
but they're supposedly only allowing people within one hundred mile
radius of the arena to buy tickets. One hundred fifty
mile radius, I feel a little bit better about tomorrow
(22:31):
night than I did going in and just knowing that, Look,
it's a different situation when the NBA Trophy, when the
Larry O'Brien Trophy is sitting there in front of you
and for me, the game is going to come down
tomorrow to the first quarter because the Spurs have gotten
out to a big lead, and they I know, they
(22:52):
expect to get out to a big lead, and the
Knicks have to figure out a way at some point
to play a good first quarter, right Like, at some
point you got to think they're not gonna every game
is not gonna start down twelve to two and the
first quarter is thirty four to twenty two, right, you
gotta think that if the first quarter starts out tomorrow
in the knicks favor, the Spurs will fold. They will
(23:12):
fold because it will be enough because what else can
the Spurs say? What else can we do? We cannot
kill this team. Twenty point lead in Game one doesn't matter.
Twenty nine point lead in Game four, biggest blown comeback
in NBA history. I'm sorry that that that affects you mentally.
I don't care what you say. It affects you mentally.
And like they're gonna say, we just can't do it,
(23:33):
and now we can't even start out the way we
got to. If the Knicks start out and they have
a good first quarter tomorrow, they're winning the It's gonna
be a twenty five point burial, and it's gonna be
a march to the to the championship tomorrow. Tomorrow is
gonna be a party in San Antonio for the Knicks.
But to me, it's gonna come down to the first
quarter because if the Spurs get out to a big lead,
I can see where. Look, the NBA knows who they're
(23:55):
sending officials. Whise every game is a is setting a
record big NBA Finals game in twenty years.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
It's two games in a row at twenty million viewers,
including me out of home viewing.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
I mean more people are watching this and watching the
Oscars right like, I mean you have I mean you
have a perfect combination of the most watchable star in
the game in Wemby and the Knicks, right like, you
have everything you want. So I get the NBA knows
who they're setting to officiate these games tomorrow. I think
Karl Anthony Town's just picked up his first foul, so
I do. But if they don't come out of the
first quarter with the lead, it's going to be the Knicks,
(24:28):
and it's gonna be the Nicks winning the title.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
Remember how well the Knicks have done on the road
this year. It's this postseason specifically. Remember they had not
just a streak of winning games, it was seven straight
road wins, all by double figures, the longest Sutch run
in NBA playoff history. And then when they won an
eighth straight, the one point game at San Antonio in
Game number two, home or road doesn't seem to matter.
(24:53):
And we've seen the New York fans show out on
the road and you talk, man, I'm very curious about that.
I've seen what you were talking about as well. Is
it possible that it could actually be a fifty to
fifty split in an NBA Finals game where you're going
up against somebody else in a different time zone. That
would be something.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
Yeah, this is not Joel Embiid saying please buy the tickets,
Please buy the tickets so the Knicks fans don't come
and party on our floor. Nope, we're gonna do that.
Sorry about that, Joel Embiid. Yeah, sorry, No, this is different, right, And.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
I understand after last game a ticket holder in San
Antonio might be completely disheartened and oh yeah, would get
the financial offer of his life to part with said tickets.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Oh yeah. It's like like if somebody on the secondary
market is saying, hey, I'll pay you three thousand dollars
for your ticket, or you know, five thousand dollars for
your two tickets. Yeah sure, he go, yeah, I'll sell that. Yeah.
Oh I love the Spurs. But that's five thousand dollars
and we're down three to one. So I mean that
those would be the first two thoughts to go three
people said, well, it is five grand and we are
(25:58):
down three to one. So and you know what, we've
won four We won with Duncan, we won with Robinson.
We want you know, yeah, we've seen a lot. We're
all good. I've won a lot, I've won a lot.
But the thing that gets me about tomorrow right that
makes me feel even better about tomorrow, not just the
fact that hey, you know, here's here's how the game
could start, is that the Spurs spoke today for the
(26:19):
first time since blowing that twenty nine point lead. And
I give them credit because nobody I've not seen any
team talk like they're not in trouble more than this
Spurs team. It's a three to one series lead and
they're talking like, hey, this is a long series. It's
one one or this is the beginning of the playoffs. Right.
You had Devin Vessel say today, you know, we didn't
(26:41):
really practice, but we looked at game film. We'll be
all right. Oh okay, I'm glad you're gonna finish it.
You'll be all right. Mitch Johnson said, look, what's going
on this series more of what we're doing than what
the Knicks are doing. Oh okay, you know you're down
three to one, right, I mean you want you understand
that that the I don't know if you're taking phone
calls from Kenny Atkinson, who's telling you that, Hey, analytically
(27:01):
you're winning this series. The guys are good. But but
there's there's one of your there's one of your guards,
there's your head coach. Uh, basically saying yeah, we're good,
we're good, we feel good. And here's Wemby today asked about, Hey,
you guys talking about winning, winning tomorrow, winning the series,
and here's what vinc wenbin Yama had to.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Say two days later.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Do you have a better sense of whether or not
the group actually thinks they can pull this off?
Speaker 6 (27:25):
Yeah? Absolutely, Yeah, everybody thinks. Everybody knows we're gonna do it.
But uh, I don't know if I agree with you.
I feel like we need to we need to isolate
that one game and take it one game at a time.
I think it'd be a mistake to waste energy on
one different you know, on multiple games. It's one game
at a time.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
You mean, like the mistake you just made by saying,
everybody knows we're gonna win it. Everybody knows we're gonna
win it, all right, Like they like they get it
fast forward on the DVR button and get to the
end all right, Like I don't. I honestly, I don't
think the Spurs believe they're in trouble in this series.
Like I I I needed more from them. Look, and
as a Nick fan, I love hearing that. I love
hearing that the Spurs are saying, yeah, we're fine, We're fine,
(28:05):
We're fine, dude, it's three to one. What you are
doing at the end of games in the second half
is not working out. I need a little bit more
of a sense of urgency that our backs are to
the wall and we are gonna fight tooth and nail
more than just yeah we got this, we got the
next three games. We're good. We're good. Like nobody talks
that way. In fact, you asked the Knicks, Like when
Jalen Brunson was asked today about winning the title, he
just said, zero zero. The series is zero zero. Where
(28:29):
we have to go, we have to go in one game.
It's like, I'm hearing the talk from the Knicks I
expect to hear from the Spurs, and I hear the
talk from the Spurs I expect to hear from the
Knicks right And the fact that the Spur I don't
know if this is whistling through the graveyard or if
they really feel like they're in control of the series.
But I'm like, I don't know how I can take
what they're saying it with a grain of with there like, yeah,
(28:54):
I know, I don't know that I could take what
they're saying seriously enough to know that they sat down
and talked to each other and said, hey, we are
in a lot of trouble. I kind of feel like
they had more of a hey when they do this,
you do the yeah, yeah, yeah, we got it, we
got it, we got it, we got it. Like this,
I love the confidence, and the confidence is great. You
need to have that think you're winning. But the fact
they're talking about winning the title and winning and we're
(29:15):
gonna be okay, Like you understand where you're at right now,
right you understand this is this is one game and
your season is over. They're not going to extend the
series for You're not gonna get to play five out
of nine because you have wemby right. And I don't
get that sense at all from the Spurs that they
feel like our backs are to the wall and we
need to play with a desperation that we have not
(29:35):
played with before. And they almost feel like, hey, the
first thirty minutes of the game, that's what we have
to do. Okay, yeah, you do, but you also need
a way different last eighteen minutes of the game, which
you cannot do. You've blow, You've blown. Yes, I agree
you have blown this series. But it's like you're not
really taking into account what's happened or what you need
to do. I really, I mean, it's so odd hearing
(29:57):
this that I almost wanted to fall to They're just
whistled through the graveyard, are trying to convince themselves that
they still feel confident. That's kind of where I come to.
More than just they have a real deep confidence they
can win the series. It's like they're trying to convince
themselves that they can win the series.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
Well, first off, if you'd think they would have been
intimidated by this opponent, because as we know, they lost
the NBA Cup Final to these New York Knicks.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Trying to go back to back, yes, trying to go back.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
In Las Vegas. But a more serious point, how did
they lose that NBA Cup Final in Las Vegas? It
was three quarters of a lead for the Spurs and
then the Knicks outscored him by sixteen in the fourth quarter.
Have we seen this before? Actually, we've seen this in
the next postseason a year ago, the big comebacks correct,
(30:43):
and now we keep seeing it this year and now
we keep seeing it against San Antonio. It's amazingly when
you have that context that this happened between these teams
in a game with something on the line mid season,
that now it's happening at this level in the final
and more than once.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
Yeah, if there is a small part of me right
like being the paranoid Knicks fan that like, boy, if
the Spurs really come back and win this, all they're
gonna do is say, yes, we knew at three to
one that we could win our confidence never wavered. We
love each other, we believe in this group. And I'm
gonna go I'm gonna want to throw up hearing that.
But by and large, you know, being the sports talk
(31:23):
radio host, being the guy that's covered sports for twenty years, like,
I know false confidence when I hear it. And I
give the Spurs a lot of credit because they talk
great for a team down three to one that thinks
there's no problems, right, like, hey, that's awesome. I give
a lot of credit for that. But wow, I don't
know that that's what they need to get back in
the series and win even tomorrow and force a game
six back in Madison Square Guard.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Or talk too much for a team that is not
just down three to one facing elimination of their season,
but the way they got to three to one.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
Yeah, I mean, nothing that the Knicks said today made
any news, and it should have been right the team
up three, This is the Knicks that can win the
title for the first time is nineteen seventy three and
be the biggest story of the year in sports. Nothing
anybody said today made headlines. Everything the Spurs said made headlines.
I mean, just think about just think about where both
of these teams are mentioned right now, going into this
(32:11):
game right crazy uh time. How to find out what's
trending in the wide world of sports and specially delivery.
Steve Desager has more
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
ten pm to two am Eastern seven to eleven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon at Fox Sports
Radio dot com, or stream us live every night on
the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon Live from the Fox
Sports Radio Studio. Special delivery Steve de Seger In tonight
he had Powaguay getting three and a half goals. He
is a very happy man right now.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Not true, I'm calling that in right before. Absolutely happy.
Maybe not for that reason. I just I saw something
tonight I haven't seen from an American soccer team in
a couple of decades.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
I was singing the national anthem because Jesse Marsh says,
you know they're bad at it. Do you see that?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Yeah? I did hear about that.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Look, no bigger story tonight than the United States winning
their opener in the World Cup for to one over Paraguay.
And it was as dominant a night as it sounds.
The best way to look at this right. You know,
there's been so many things to saying. We're gonna get
to the guy who has been the difference and was
(01:22):
the difference in the United States to night in a second.
But after one game, there's prisoner of the moment. There
is wondering how big this is. It's one game, after all,
how big is as well? You know, you only get three.
It's not like it's you know, it's not like Major
League Baseball where it's one game. Now you get three
and you got to move on to the next round
of the World Cup. The United States did everything to
(01:46):
the near best of expectations that you could possibly have
hoped for. The entire first half was spent entirely in
Paraguay's and it was a three to nothing lead at halftime.
They passed the ball through the middle of the field, well,
they moved the ball, and the wings well well, the
goalie was never tested, which is always the best game
in soccer. When you don't know if your goalie played
well because you didn't get a lot of chances, those
(02:07):
are always the best games. That's always why I would
tell I would tell my team's coaching, the All Stars
and the extra teams and the Clyde would say, yeah, No,
the best games is when I don't know if you
played well, how did they play today? Coach the best?
I don't know, but that's that's the best way because
we kept the ball away from you, right, that's everybody
doing their job. Yes, Paraguay scored a goal. Okay, just
you know, I don't like to say this too often,
(02:28):
but you know, hey, I'm kind of a USMNT whisper
because I told you last night, the United States is
waiting for this series to be waiting for this competition
to begin. They're going to score a goal in the
first ten minutes. They're going to win four to one.
What happened. They scored a goal in the first ten
minutes and they won four to one. Anything you want
to know, Steve Ashley, I have the answers. Anything you
want to know.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Magic often does happen to a post country at a
World Cup that is well established in World Cup history.
The thing is, when we were hosting the World Cup
in nineteen ninety four, I'll say it allowed. We barely
had a team in comparison. Back then, Major League Soccer
didn't exist. We didn't have a major league in this
sport in nineteen ninety four when we hosted the World Cup.
(03:11):
So the magical thing that happened was Columbia putting a
goal into its own net instead of a pass back
to the goalie, you know, going back to the goalie,
and the Americans wound up advancing and actually playing a
close one nothing loss to Brazil in the round of sixteen.
So that was the magic Nothing like this.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
That honestly was because my lifetime of soccer just really quick,
before we get to we get to Balligan because he's
too important, Like my lifetime of soccer was was okay.
The Cosmos were a huge team in the seventies when
Pele went there and there were a big traveling road
show and it was amazing. They traveled across the country.
The Cosmos was a big deal. You had major indoor
(03:53):
soccer league in the eighties which was really fun to
watch and that was always on TV. But the nineteen
ninety four World Cup was the beginning of you want
to talk what the real birth of soccer in this
country was. It was the ninety four World Cup team
that somehow found a way to get to the next round,
get to the knockout round again, lost a one nothing
game to a really bad goal given up by Tony Meole.
That was a really, really bad goal.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
The Brazil team that wound up winning this tournament.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
I mean, that's an awful guy. Yeah, Roberto Bagio hit
the crossbar on penalties for team Italy, you know, back
when Italy would make the World Cup, and like a
really bad goal by Meal against Brazil.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
By the way, Bogio was in attendance in Mexico yesterday.
Oh was he that rarely recognized?
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Oh wow? Did people throw the ball off.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Of the I know there's a joke to be had.
It's going to follow him the rest of his life.
But keep in mind nineteen ninety four. The US had
qualified for the previous World Cup in nineteen ninety but
you know, we got destroyed in our three games, and
then we hadn't made any World Cup the previous forty
years in a row until nineteen ninety.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Yeah, and it's a huge run in ninety four and
the game against Columbia, which you've heard of, the you know,
the the own goal by Colombia.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
There's a superb documentary exactly about that.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
I mean, really it's it was I remember covering it
for ESPN and it it was the Star like it
was that and the Knicks Rockets final going on at
the same time, right like the like the last time,
like two times ago, and the Knicks were in the
finals for the last time. It was the Knicks Rockets
in the World Cup, and I was like every day.
It was one of those stories.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Same month as the OJ stories June of nineteen ninety four.
By the way, not to make people feel bad, but
for all who spent over one thousand dollars for this
incredible US game tonight, I believe I believe tickets were
forty dollars at the Rose Bowl for US. Yeah, play
back then.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Yeah, I mean after beating Colombia, things got really exciting
for the United States, right beating Colombia and moving on, Wow,
we can get into the next round of the World Cup.
And these are the guys that that you've heard of
that have been telling Eric Winalda, who is you know?
Alexi Lallis was the was a defender on that team.
Like all the names you hear now talking about Tony Mayo,
John these are guys that all played in nineteen ninety
(06:03):
four and that's when the excitement level really hit a
fever pitch that I had never seen for soccer before.
I remember covering it for ESPN, and it was it
was something that's like Wow, it was brand new. And
the big takeaway from tonight is really to say, Okay, Paraguay,
how good are they? Paraguay's not bad, right, They're not
one of the bottom feeders. They're not one of the
(06:25):
elite teams in the World Cup, but they're not a
bad team.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Well, let me put it this way. They were I
mentioned earlier in the show. They were just about all
the teams that aren't Argentina but made the World Cup
out of South America. They all pretty much tied for
second place, well back of Argentina, but that includes Paraguay.
In their eighteen qualifying games over the last couple of years,
they only scored fourteen goals, but they only allowed ten
(06:51):
in eighteen games. And they won at home against Brazil
and they won at home against Argentina. That team gave
up three in the first half in La Tonight to
the US.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
And it looked like they looked like a team that
didn't deserve to be on the same field as the
United States. The women they were doing. It's like what
other countries had done to us in the past, and
so coming off of this game and seeing how it
worked for the United States and Christian Polisic was absolutely
fantastic in the half he played, and it looks like
(07:24):
he's okay. He got kicked in the calf. They kept
him out a little bit of precautionary reasons, but with
a week between games, I'm pretty sure he'll be okay.
But look, Baligan was phenomenal, and you know, everything went
right for the United not right, but everything. The United
States made their own luck, They made their own breaks.
They attacked for ninety eight minutes, they did not get tired.
They were the dominant team. And I think that's a
(07:46):
big wake up call for a lot of the other
nations watching them tonight, going oh wow, Poachattino's got them
exactly where he needs them. There is no reason to
not be incredibly excited about what the next few weeks
can bring us here at the World Cup. The way
they're playing end with it being the reality of we're
in a really easy group, right, you know, Turkey and Australia.
(08:09):
This should be a group we get out of and win.
Rather easily, which gives us an advantageous matchup in the
knockout round, which means, hey, all of a sudden, we're
looking at the quarterfinals, which whoa the quarterfinals. There is
no reason to not be that excited and optimistic about
what we could see. There's nothing holding us back. There's
no drama off the field. There is nothing that you
(08:30):
didn't see tonight that you shouldn't feel great about going forward.
And this is whether you're a huge soccer fan, middle
of the road paying attention to the World Cup. They
were absolutely outstanding tonight.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
And US once we get to the knockout stage, assuming
they advance out of this group, and I think tonight
convinces most everybody that the US will, whether they win
the group or not, be advancing out of this group
and therefore still playing around July first or so in
still on the West coast. By the way, that's the
way it's scheduled. US is playing in LA and then
(09:02):
up in Seattle, and then back to LA against Turkey
A and then maybe like Bay Area for a round
of thirty two games something like that. It might be
US against an easier team, yeah, as a group winner,
and then against Belgium or somebody like that who they
faced in round of sixteen before. If you win that
(09:22):
round of sixteen just after July fourth, you're in the
World Cup quarterfinals. For Cradlud. The US has only made
the World Cup quarterfinals once since the first World Cup. Once.
That was when and you referenced this earlier. A young
Landon Donovan was on the two thousand and two team
that not only beat Portugal but wound up advancing and
(09:44):
beating Mexico two nothing the famed Dos a Sero game
in the round of sixteen and we nearly had the
best of a German side that made the final that year,
lost one nothing.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Yeah, that was that was close. And Oliver ConA that
was a great That was when Germany started their big
run as a big power, when even they're like their
junior teams would beat the crap out of everybody right
like they had.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
You know, it's amazing Germany's women's team was winning the
World Cup back then. Remember Oliver Kahann at goal, he
was like a wall at gold.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
What a great villain he was. He was like Ivan Drago,
like what a great villain he was. Yeah, he was
so much fun. But to be excited is one thing.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Fall Ballagan tonight playing the nine striker position for the
United States. You've heard this over the better part of
the last one twenty some odd years for the United
States is why can't we find a striker? Right? Why
can't we find a striker that can be a superstar,
that can not just be someone that can score, but
(10:59):
the difference between winning and losing and advancing in the
World Cup and going home is Hey, in a tight
nothing nothing game or a one to one game, you
need your striker. You're nine to be able to make
a play where I'm creating space and I am beating
the goalie because I have a special set of skills
that nobody else has. Right. We've seen Messi do that.
We've seen rinaldo do that. We've seen all the great
(11:22):
players in Bape, We've seen him all do that.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
The United States don't forget skills.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
He have very special set of skills and succeeded well
outside of the country.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
He did well in France.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
He did very well in France. So we've never had
that guy like Clint Dempsey. He would score goal, but
he wasn't that guy, right like Landon Don was a midfielder.
The goal against Algeria, which will live forever, he wasn't
that guy. We've never had that one player. We've not
have an Earling Holland that is going to be able
to just do what a physically I can get us
(11:56):
a goal when there's no goals out there, and the
post player.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
In the NBA they can literally just say give me the.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
Ball and yeah, could be we can be wimby uh
and Balligan tonight showed that he can be that guy
like it's it's I'm laughing going.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
I feel like we've been waiting twenty five years for
fall Balligan and and the brace he had in the
first half to gives a three to nothing lead was incredible.
You're gonna hear the goals right now. It's the second
goal that got me more excited than anything. Ty should
go ahead, the great ball.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Holistic a holistic.
Speaker 5 (12:34):
Time it's time, the fly is jacking down.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Time it's to the United States.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
As you said, appreciated by the.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
Fans right, the lowest prinster Pochettino can get inside.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Still val.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Big Fox on the call there. I mean, yeah, we
definitely had home field advantage tonight. That was pretty sweet.
I gotta say, not that it wasn't expected, but it's
nice to see that that was an overwhelming home field
advantage for us in this game.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
And look at what we have at this forward spot
with the variety, because there was well too long a time,
frankly in US soccer history where they had maybe one
reliable guy that could be the goal scorer. Here, look
what Polisic creates. We know he's finished in the past.
Balligan had two goals in the first half. They had
(13:32):
Tim Way off the bench, Ricardo Peppi off the bench
like Diego Lunda didn't make the team.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Gio Raina off the bench and he scores in the
ninety eighth minute to make it for to one Like
this is we finally have the firepower most goals we
scored in a World Cup game ever, correct? I mean,
but the goal by Baaligan, that third goal where he
does exactly what I said. He creates space and he
hits a hell of a bender in the top corner
of the net. That that is a goal scorers goal,
(13:59):
and that's a goal that probably shouldn't have happened, but
it only happens because your striker is that talented. Like
that's the difference. That's gonna be the difference in a nothing,
nothing game against Belgium in the quarterfinal round or in
the in the round of sixteen, where you can score
a goal like that. He's twenty four. He could have
played any He could have played for England, You could
(14:19):
have played for them. He could have played for three
different countries, the United States. Thank you for playing for
the United States. Mighty Balligan, by the way, so much.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
It's not just what you mentioned. An American team had
never scored four goals in any World Cup game, and
the tournament has existed for almost one hundred years. They'd
never won a game by three or more ever in
US soccer history, going back to the first World Cup.
And then the fat that this really killed me, the
fact that the US men scored less than four goals
(14:50):
total for the entire World Cup tournament in.
Speaker 5 (14:54):
Half of their previous trips to the World Cup. That
is smashed by this team. In one game tonight, it
was three to not think at the half and a
four to one. Finally, we can't overstate how impressive this was.
You want to know how impressive. You mentioned earlier how
the US defense was, to say the least, not tested
(15:14):
in the first half because the offense was so consistently great,
foot on the gas pedal the entire first half. It
was so reassuring though, to have US defender Chris Richards
back in the starting lineup. He just returned to full
practice on Monday in southern California. He had missed both
of the recent exhibitions with the ankle injury he'd suffered
(15:35):
with his club team in England last month, and hadn't
played at all.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Then.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
The stat at the end of the game Chris Richards
attempted eighty three passes in the game, completed all eighty
three passes one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Smith is going to do for the Jets this year.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Okay, you had me up until I heard the word,
but to complete a accurately that many passes had not
been done by any player in a World Cup match
since nineteen sixty six. Yeah, astounding offense and defense. What
was on display for the USA in a World Cup match?
Speaker 1 (16:17):
I mean he looked he was, and he was big
on cornerkicks, had a couple of headers that near missed.
Now he was he was part of that uh you
know that that gaggle of players that got caught watching
on Paraguay's goal. He got beat for that. But okay,
you know what three No, the good he had played,
he had done was better, especially since he missed the
friendlies that they played against Senegal in Germany. But the
(16:37):
fact that Poach picked him for the team saying yes,
everything is fine, knowing full well that he's got a
bit of an overloaded a couple at one position and
you're kind of worried where injuries could take him. He
played really really good tonight, right like you got. I mean,
this is that's what I say. There's no reason to
not be excited about everything you have seen from this
team going forward. But man, I'll tell you what, when
(16:58):
we're in one of those nothing games where you're just
I just you know, guy has to come through. Nobody,
nobody's going to score for us. We're not getting anything.
We just got to hope to take it all the
way through.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
All the against England, willed a goal in and that's
the only offense they had that day. You're right, there
are games like that when you get to better opponents
in other rounds.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
And that instead of saying, well, we just have to
wait to get to penalties hopefully and pull it out.
It's maybe Balligan could be a guy to get one
of those goals.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Don't wait for that. That's why Italy is not in
this World Cup, well not in the last one one before. Yeah, exactly.
By the way, no US men's player had ever had
a multi goal game in a World Cup until tonight
with Flegan. It's just silly the kind of history compared
to what US soccer has been in the last hundred
(17:48):
years of what was on display and last nation and
again we say, we know that there's usually a boost
for any home team in a World Cup. In in
the entire history of the World Cup, a home team
has lost its opening game only once and that was
when Katar got shut out in Katar four years ago.
And by the way, Katar is probably the worst team
(18:08):
in this year's tournament. But this wasn't just a w
This was complete and total dominance against a team from
South America. It was unbelievably impressive exit.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
How about a Fresca. Jason Smith Steve de Sager in
for Mike Harmon will have more on the World Cup
coming up as well as today. The Spurs finally spoke
after blowing that twenty nine point lead in Game four.
I don't know that they should have. We'll tell you
why next right here at Fox Sports Radio. Hey, the
Cup has taken over the US, and only DraftKings has
(18:42):
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Speaker 6 (19:56):
Hey, it's Rob Parker and Calvin Washington from The Odd
Couple on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 7 (20:00):
And in addition to hearing us live week nights from
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are excited to announce brand new YouTube channel for the show.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
That's Right. You can now watch The Odd Couple.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
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Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith Show.
With Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern seven pm
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Speaker 1 (20:40):
Fox Sports Radio Jason Smith Show with Steve Desager in
for Mike Harmon, your selfish Bastard. I tried to get
Boba Schett, but he was unavailable after hitting two home
runs tonight. Uh, we'll get back into the World Cup
in a few minutes. There is a big story out
of the World Cup today. I think can help the
(21:01):
world well figure World Cup, big store out in the world.
But in advance of Oh, by the way, this pesky
thing called Game five of the NBA Finals tomorrow night.
Remember I said Nixon five beginning of the series, Nix
and five. I told you United States's gonna score in
the first ten minutes. They were gonna win four one.
I've told you Nixon five. I want to stay hot,
Steve de Seger, I want to stay hot.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Well, we've mentioned it was like everything coming up, Jason,
and now it's turning into another Summer of George, if
you will.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Yeah, this is summer of George. This summer of George. Uh.
Ahead of tomorrow's game. Now, there's there's one big thing
to say is that coming off of Game four, I thought,
you know, going into this, I'm not gonna be surprised
if the Spurs win this game. Look, they've gotten out
to a big lead every game this seri has been
(21:49):
a double digit lead at the end of the first quarter.
And certainly they they talk pretty well, especially today, which
we're gonna get to. But the more I see this
game and hear them talk and see how this is
going out, Now, this story that supposedly fifty percent of
the tickets for tomorrow's game have been bought by fans
in the New York, New Jersey area, and now TMZ
(22:11):
is reporting that they're canceling some of those sales because
they don't want New York fans being in the building. Now,
you can't do anything about that in the secondary market,
but they're supposedly only allowing people within one hundred mile
radius of the arena to buy tickets. One hundred fifty
mile radius, I feel a little bit better about tomorrow
(22:31):
night than I did going in and just knowing that, Look,
it's a different situation when the NBA Trophy, when the
Larry O'Brien Trophy is sitting there in front of you
and for me, the game is going to come down
tomorrow to the first quarter because the Spurs have gotten
out to a big lead, and they I know, they
(22:52):
expect to get out to a big lead, and the
Knicks have to figure out a way at some point
to play a good first quarter, right Like, at some
point you got to think they're not gonna every game
is not gonna start down twelve to two and the
first quarter is thirty four to twenty two, right, you
gotta think that if the first quarter starts out tomorrow
in the knicks favor, the Spurs will fold. They will
(23:12):
fold because it will be enough because what else can
the Spurs say? What else can we do? We cannot
kill this team. Twenty point lead in Game one doesn't matter.
Twenty nine point lead in Game four, biggest blown comeback
in NBA history. I'm sorry that that that affects you mentally.
I don't care what you say. It affects you mentally.
And like they're gonna say, we just can't do it,
(23:33):
and now we can't even start out the way we
got to. If the Knicks start out and they have
a good first quarter tomorrow, they're winning the It's gonna
be a twenty five point burial, and it's gonna be
a march to the to the championship tomorrow. Tomorrow is
gonna be a party in San Antonio for the Knicks.
But to me, it's gonna come down to the first
quarter because if the Spurs get out to a big lead,
I can see where. Look, the NBA knows who they're
(23:55):
sending officials. Whise every game is a is setting a
record big NBA Finals game in twenty years.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
It's two games in a row at twenty million viewers,
including me out of home viewing.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
I mean more people are watching this and watching the
Oscars right like, I mean you have I mean you
have a perfect combination of the most watchable star in
the game in Wemby and the Knicks, right like, you
have everything you want. So I get the NBA knows
who they're setting to officiate these games tomorrow. I think
Karl Anthony Town's just picked up his first foul, so
I do. But if they don't come out of the
first quarter with the lead, it's going to be the Knicks,
(24:28):
and it's gonna be the Nicks winning the title.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
Remember how well the Knicks have done on the road
this year. It's this postseason specifically. Remember they had not
just a streak of winning games, it was seven straight
road wins, all by double figures, the longest Sutch run
in NBA playoff history. And then when they won an
eighth straight, the one point game at San Antonio in
Game number two, home or road doesn't seem to matter.
(24:53):
And we've seen the New York fans show out on
the road and you talk, man, I'm very curious about that.
I've seen what you were talking about as well. Is
it possible that it could actually be a fifty to
fifty split in an NBA Finals game where you're going
up against somebody else in a different time zone. That
would be something.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
Yeah, this is not Joel Embiid saying please buy the tickets,
Please buy the tickets so the Knicks fans don't come
and party on our floor. Nope, we're gonna do that.
Sorry about that, Joel Embiid. Yeah, sorry, No, this is different, right, And.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
I understand after last game a ticket holder in San
Antonio might be completely disheartened and oh yeah, would get
the financial offer of his life to part with said tickets.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Oh yeah. It's like like if somebody on the secondary
market is saying, hey, I'll pay you three thousand dollars
for your ticket, or you know, five thousand dollars for
your two tickets. Yeah sure, he go, yeah, I'll sell that. Yeah.
Oh I love the Spurs. But that's five thousand dollars
and we're down three to one. So I mean that
those would be the first two thoughts to go three
people said, well, it is five grand and we are
(25:58):
down three to one. So and you know what, we've
won four We won with Duncan, we won with Robinson.
We want you know, yeah, we've seen a lot. We're
all good. I've won a lot, I've won a lot.
But the thing that gets me about tomorrow right that
makes me feel even better about tomorrow, not just the
fact that hey, you know, here's here's how the game
could start, is that the Spurs spoke today for the
(26:19):
first time since blowing that twenty nine point lead. And
I give them credit because nobody I've not seen any
team talk like they're not in trouble more than this
Spurs team. It's a three to one series lead and
they're talking like, hey, this is a long series. It's
one one or this is the beginning of the playoffs. Right.
You had Devin Vessel say today, you know, we didn't
(26:41):
really practice, but we looked at game film. We'll be
all right. Oh okay, I'm glad you're gonna finish it.
You'll be all right. Mitch Johnson said, look, what's going
on this series more of what we're doing than what
the Knicks are doing. Oh okay, you know you're down
three to one, right, I mean you want you understand
that that the I don't know if you're taking phone
calls from Kenny Atkinson, who's telling you that, Hey, analytically
(27:01):
you're winning this series. The guys are good. But but
there's there's one of your there's one of your guards,
there's your head coach. Uh, basically saying yeah, we're good,
we're good, we feel good. And here's Wemby today asked about, Hey,
you guys talking about winning, winning tomorrow, winning the series,
and here's what vinc wenbin Yama had to.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Say two days later.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Do you have a better sense of whether or not
the group actually thinks they can pull this off?
Speaker 6 (27:25):
Yeah? Absolutely, Yeah, everybody thinks. Everybody knows we're gonna do it.
But uh, I don't know if I agree with you.
I feel like we need to we need to isolate
that one game and take it one game at a time.
I think it'd be a mistake to waste energy on
one different you know, on multiple games. It's one game
at a time.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
You mean, like the mistake you just made by saying,
everybody knows we're gonna win it. Everybody knows we're gonna
win it, all right, Like they like they get it
fast forward on the DVR button and get to the
end all right, Like I don't. I honestly, I don't
think the Spurs believe they're in trouble in this series.
Like I I I needed more from them. Look, and
as a Nick fan, I love hearing that. I love
hearing that the Spurs are saying, yeah, we're fine, We're fine,
(28:05):
We're fine, dude, it's three to one. What you are
doing at the end of games in the second half
is not working out. I need a little bit more
of a sense of urgency that our backs are to
the wall and we are gonna fight tooth and nail
more than just yeah we got this, we got the
next three games. We're good. We're good. Like nobody talks
that way. In fact, you asked the Knicks, Like when
Jalen Brunson was asked today about winning the title, he
just said, zero zero. The series is zero zero. Where
(28:29):
we have to go, we have to go in one game.
It's like, I'm hearing the talk from the Knicks I
expect to hear from the Spurs, and I hear the
talk from the Spurs I expect to hear from the
Knicks right And the fact that the Spur I don't
know if this is whistling through the graveyard or if
they really feel like they're in control of the series.
But I'm like, I don't know how I can take
what they're saying it with a grain of with there like, yeah,
(28:54):
I know, I don't know that I could take what
they're saying seriously enough to know that they sat down
and talked to each other and said, hey, we are
in a lot of trouble. I kind of feel like
they had more of a hey when they do this,
you do the yeah, yeah, yeah, we got it, we
got it, we got it, we got it. Like this,
I love the confidence, and the confidence is great. You
need to have that think you're winning. But the fact
they're talking about winning the title and winning and we're
(29:15):
gonna be okay, Like you understand where you're at right now,
right you understand this is this is one game and
your season is over. They're not going to extend the
series for You're not gonna get to play five out
of nine because you have wemby right. And I don't
get that sense at all from the Spurs that they
feel like our backs are to the wall and we
need to play with a desperation that we have not
(29:35):
played with before. And they almost feel like, hey, the
first thirty minutes of the game, that's what we have
to do. Okay, yeah, you do, but you also need
a way different last eighteen minutes of the game, which
you cannot do. You've blow, You've blown. Yes, I agree
you have blown this series. But it's like you're not
really taking into account what's happened or what you need
to do. I really, I mean, it's so odd hearing
(29:57):
this that I almost wanted to fall to They're just
whistled through the graveyard, are trying to convince themselves that
they still feel confident. That's kind of where I come to.
More than just they have a real deep confidence they
can win the series. It's like they're trying to convince
themselves that they can win the series.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
Well, first off, if you'd think they would have been
intimidated by this opponent, because as we know, they lost
the NBA Cup Final to these New York Knicks.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Trying to go back to back, yes, trying to go back.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
In Las Vegas. But a more serious point, how did
they lose that NBA Cup Final in Las Vegas? It
was three quarters of a lead for the Spurs and
then the Knicks outscored him by sixteen in the fourth quarter.
Have we seen this before? Actually, we've seen this in
the next postseason a year ago, the big comebacks correct,
(30:43):
and now we keep seeing it this year and now
we keep seeing it against San Antonio. It's amazingly when
you have that context that this happened between these teams
in a game with something on the line mid season,
that now it's happening at this level in the final
and more than once.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
Yeah, if there is a small part of me right
like being the paranoid Knicks fan that like, boy, if
the Spurs really come back and win this, all they're
gonna do is say, yes, we knew at three to
one that we could win our confidence never wavered. We
love each other, we believe in this group. And I'm
gonna go I'm gonna want to throw up hearing that.
But by and large, you know, being the sports talk
(31:23):
radio host, being the guy that's covered sports for twenty years, like,
I know false confidence when I hear it. And I
give the Spurs a lot of credit because they talk
great for a team down three to one that thinks
there's no problems, right, like, hey, that's awesome. I give
a lot of credit for that. But wow, I don't
know that that's what they need to get back in
the series and win even tomorrow and force a game
six back in Madison Square Guard.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Or talk too much for a team that is not
just down three to one facing elimination of their season,
but the way they got to three to one.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
Yeah, I mean, nothing that the Knicks said today made
any news, and it should have been right the team
up three, This is the Knicks that can win the
title for the first time is nineteen seventy three and
be the biggest story of the year in sports. Nothing
anybody said today made headlines. Everything the Spurs said made headlines.
I mean, just think about just think about where both
of these teams are mentioned right now, going into this
(32:11):
game right crazy uh time. How to find out what's
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