May 13, 2023 • 40 mins
In Hour 4 of tonight’s edition of the Jason Smith Show, Mike Harmon and Ryan Hollins preview the NBA Western Conference Finals, preview Game 7 between the 76ers and Celtics, and much more!
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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 Foxsports Radio
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Speaker 2 (00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Greetings and welcome in. It is the final hour of
the program. So much to get to as we celebrate, commemorate,
and maybe wave goodbye to so many things here in
our NBA universe. We're broadcasting live from the tire act
dot Com studios tyre act dot com. We'll help you
(00:48):
get there on unmatched selection, fast free shipping, pre road
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The way tire buying should be. The Ryan Hollins tenure
NBA veteran analysts over with the Houston Rockets, and our
NBA analyst here on Fox Sports Radio, joining me Jason
(01:10):
Smith off tonight a fast three hours. Thus far, we've
watched two crazy games, both knockout blows for their respective squads.
The New York Knicks go homes, sent down unceremoniously by
the Miami Heat, an eight seed, and now the seven
(01:32):
seed Lakers in the West, healthy, primed, rested after taking
care of business in the last round, they've vanquished the
wars one twenty two one one the final lot of
hugs and a lot of blank stares. As the future
of the Warriors now in question, but we've got Lakers
(01:53):
and Nuggets, and I think for the NBA it's everything
you could want. Here's Lebron and the old guarden, Anthony
Davis putting to rest some narratives, right, it's a big
game for Anthony Davis, Ryan Hollins, because when he went
down with that injury, what did you have a lot
of snickering, a lot of laughing, a lot of side
eye from folks going, man, get up a d you
(02:15):
can't do this now, it's important. And he came back
and it was almost like he was running around with
a message for everybody with his play tonight.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
He was excellent and you're happy for him. And obviously
you never want to assume about somebody's injury. You never
want to just look at it from the outside end.
You don't know what that feels like. It's nothing to
be played around with. But I love the way that
Anthony Davis responded. You know, he was aggressive, he played hard,
(02:48):
he showed up when his team needed him, and it
was all business man. So I'm happy for him that
this didn't linger. And you know he's had a lot
to prove in LA and stepped up here tonight.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Yeah, this is one again owing to injury histories and
the dissatisfaction and disenchantment with the term load management and
all that it brings. And certainly for the Lakers and
their fans watching the last couple of years. You know,
if you go to a home game and you're missing
ad Or and or Lebron and they're in street clothes,
(03:24):
you know, you get a little salty. But recognizing the
body maintenance something we were talking about before, the ability
to keep getting back up the strain, you can speak
to it better than anyone. When you're looking at someone
with a seven foot frame, the feet, ankle, and knees.
We can chronicle it going back years. And then for
(03:45):
Anthony Davis, you've got all of that to contend with
back stuff, and then you get a blow to the
head that leaves you at least short term questionable for
this game. So to come back and have the effort
that he did seventeen points twenty res in his forty
minutes of work, because that's the other thing you circle,
forty minutes. This was not going to be left to
(04:06):
any second stringers here, Ryan Hollins. They went in looking
for blood here to close out the Warriors, knowing that
any shred of daylight was going to potentially come back
to haunt them.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
No, you're right, and you know, even for Anthony Davis,
this was his series. Man, it has name written all
over it. They were undersized, there was no one there
that can guard him, and you know, he came out
when he dominated, the Lakers were good. You know, he
showed up in Game one and Lakers were able to
steal the game. And after you steal that game on
(04:40):
the opposing team's home court, you just take care of business.
And the Lakers just came out and did their job.
But a large part of that, if not all of it,
was just Anthony Davis being Anthony Davis. And every series
is different, you know, but him staying aggressive was a
huge difference here in this ballgame, and you know, if
you're looking forward to the Nuggets, the Nuggets series, he's
(05:03):
gonna have to do that against Nikola Jokic. He's gonna
have to have Jokic chasing him around that foul line,
and and and and figure things out. But for the
Lakers to win a championship, Anthony Davis has to play
well and above all, he's got to be healthy and
on the floor to be able to do so. And
tonight he showed up when it was in question.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Boy, I tell you, And that's the beauty of this
next round as you go through trying to play the
chess match, and you've got the big three, the term
that we've loved in the NBA for so long, Ryan,
the big three. When you look at Jokic alongside Porter
Junior and Jamal Murray finally healthy, ready to go. You
(05:44):
saw the ancillary players, Aaron Gordon with big games, KCP
showing up with some big minutes for them as well
as they closed out Phoenix in well kind of the
same fashion. I mean, that was a thirty point. This
one got anxious for all of about thirty seconds before
the Lakers went back and took care of business in
(06:07):
a huge way. You had that one sequence where it
looked like, all right, the window could potentially crack open,
and then Clay missed back to back three point shots
on that possession. Lakers come down, get a layup, and
it was never never in doubt thereafter. But I'm eagerly
anticipating next, right, you know, we'll talk about the dynasty
(06:30):
and what you do next if you're the warrior. Steve
Kerr was meeting with the media, echoing some of the
stuff we've been talking about over the course of the night,
because I kept circling games one and four. In those stretches,
you've got leads, and historically you've been a team that
closed out and you couldn't and then you're playing many
(06:51):
weary minutes and you know, really trying to battle. Once
they got the interior game going here just no map, right,
you knew you were undersize, so and anything. As long
as Davis and James were on the court, it was
going to be tough sledding. But the defense of the
Lakers comes through and coming up next, I mean, how
(07:13):
do you go at nikolea Jokic, how do you guard
him to try to keep him from being the facilitator?
First because he's going to get his points right. He's crafty.
I like being able to call a seven foot guy
crafty Ryan. We don't normally get to do that so much.
But in terms of what he does as a facilitator,
(07:34):
how do you run at him? If you're Darvin Ham
to start the next series.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
You got to make him defend. You know, you got
to put him in multiple pick and rolls. You have
to make him move his feet. You want him having
to close out to shooters. You want to take as
many legs as much as his legs away as possible.
You get out and run and transition. See how he
gets back and run. So there's a number of things
(07:59):
in which you are gonna have to do to attack
Nikola Jokic. But if you let him sit back and
get comfortable, I hate to say it, Lakers don't have
anyone to guard him. I mean, I don't know who
is equipped to guard him, and I'm not sure what's
going on with Mobamba. Hopefully maybe he is healthy enough
to come out and play. I don't know, forgive me,
(08:20):
I don't know his injury status. But all hands aren't
gonna have to be on deck and quiet. Possibly you
may have to come out in scenarios where Anthony Davis
is the five, Lebron's the five, and you say, okay,
big fella, come come guard us on the perimeter, you know,
come out and go small and match up here.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Yeah, it's it's a curious kind of flow because we've
seen Murray have a couple of huge games and some
smallish games down the stretch. And you've seen the aforementioned
Gordon and Contavious Caldwell Pope step up with some big
point performances for Denver as well. Well, I'm curious, you're
(09:01):
you know, you know Michael Malone. Well you yeah, you
know him well enough. You can call him Mike. He'd
yell at me, but you get to call him Mike.
And once again, you know, yesterday it was just fun.
Uh when the audio started to surface of him imploring
his team to just finish the job right. They were
up big. It was never in doubt, never in question,
(09:22):
but it was still we need to keep the energy up.
Don't let them even get a second where they they
feel comfortable and that they have any hope uh in
this game. Uh. Well, and they never did. But the
curiosity now flowing through the rest of that squad because
he only ran seven or eight deep most of that series.
(09:45):
You know, for as much as we talked about the
Suns and their their lack of depth, we didn't really
see outside of really Bruce Brown, a bunch Ryan, we
didn't really see the other bench players for Denver have
to take up too big of a task, right, The
starters did the job.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
Yeah, well, I mean, honestly, I may argue and say
the starters and the bench to the job.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
That was a full on beatdown that well, but in
terms of a meaningful like minutes, right, that was an
absolute beatdown yesterday. But series wide, Brown had some big moments,
but it was really the strength of that starting starting
lineup where where Michael Malone didn't have to go as deep.
So the what seemed like an advantage because I.
Speaker 4 (10:36):
Went back to different I mean, Jeff Green played a bunch.
Brown played a bunch. Forgive me, I forget the kid's
name from Kansas. He stepped in and played big minutes
like and And I don't think that's a fair assessment
because the reason coach went so deep and he was
able to do so, is because he wanted to run
(10:57):
the Suns out the building he had there, So to me,
it was really strengthen numbers. And when you you watch
the Nuggets in the offseason, excuse me, in the regular season,
that that's how they play many they get after you. Uh,
they're physical, and that's uh, you know, obviously a large
part of it. But yes, what overshadowed a lot of it.
I think what you're saying is, Okay, the bench did well,
(11:18):
but I mean Jokic was aggressive at Jamal Murray and
Aaron Gordon. Those guys they stepped in and did their job,
but I mean it was listen, man, it was.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
A good old fashioned whippid man.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
Well, and that's and that's the thing, right, you got
it back to to two. But even at that point,
I don't know that anybody felt like there was there
was really a fear uh in Denver. And it's really
kind of a curiosity as well, is because because coming
into the playoffs, right, we talked about it a lot.
While we need to see him do it right, that
(11:50):
Jokic fair unfairly people want to see the playoffs and
you can caveat it out because they hadn't had their
full compliment of players. That's playoff back basketball right, something
you and I have been talking about the last few
times we've gotten together. You can only play with who's available,
and that becomes the story. Uh, excuse making caveating at well,
(12:11):
we didn't have this guy, Well, you play who's there? Right?
Yesterday Devin Booker played for the Suns. You can't you
can't tell me about you know how impacted he was. Whatever,
you're on the you're on the field, you're on the court,
you're on the diamond, you play right, nobody's one hundred
percent at this time of the year. Uh. And for
the Nuggets coming in with Murray and with Porter Junior,
(12:35):
all other players aside, right, Jokic was the all right,
we know what where our baseline is going to be
from him? It's the base line. Is the triple double?
Just a matter of how high he is in each
of those categories. But how much help is he getting?
How well is Jamal Murray gonna shoot? Because he's at
He had some huge games right to where it became
a oh, that's the guy we remember from from a
(12:58):
couple of years ago when they were healthy and we
were looking for them to make a run. And now
they are and in the Western Conference, forgive me, and
maybe I'm looking at from the timelines and what you
hear in the chatter was all right, it's a wait
and see for Denver, but you didn't really trust anybody
(13:18):
in the West as good as they were during the
regular seas, like, all right, let's see him do it
in the playoffs. And for all these other squads, I mean,
now we have the seven seed Lakers that rise up
and through. Right, there were a lot of teams with
questions coming into the playoffs. Right, the King's exciting, but
young and back on the stage after a seventeen year
absence Memphis, a lot of stuff swirling around behind the scenes,
(13:42):
and then Dylan Brooks decides to poke at Lebron James
insert all Grizzly Bear references and Twitter responses. But like
all of those teams, you had those questions of all right,
they were great, but when it comes down to the playoffs,
can the young guns be the upstarts? And to something
we referenced a little bit earlier, so you got a
(14:05):
lot of the old heads of the veterans that are
still hanging around.
Speaker 4 (14:09):
Yeah, you're right about that, man, and it definitely is
the veterans. It's the same old guys. It's it's it's Lebron,
It's Curry and your darted near head. You pretty much
had Durant in the mix there, and you know the newcomers,
so to speak, and that's where the questions are. The
Nuggets are pretty much you can call them maybe maybe
(14:29):
they're healthy now, they're still kind of newcomers to this
and you know, trying to prove themselves. This is new territory.
And if you're you're gonna look over in the East,
it's it's Philadelphia. You know, they got to show that.
You know, they they they can make things happen. So
you know, we're sitting up for an intriguing game and
you know, I know Boston is a little younger, but
(14:49):
they've they've got more experience, you know. But yeah, you
don't have those those young You're right, the Memphis, the Kings,
those teams, it's not quite their time yet. It will be,
and we can see it there. May make no mistake
with the Bonus and Fox and those boys up there
with the Kings, and you know, even like what they're
doing in New York, but you know their time will come.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
He's Ryan Hollins in for Jason Smith. I'm Mike Carmon
here at the Jason Smith Show with Mike Carmon Fox
Sports Radio. We'll go into the Game seven matchup Harden
and Bed Doc Rivers Missoula, the guy that everybody's already
got a bunch of their columns written in case things
go sideways on Sunday. But we've got Brown, We've got Tatum,
(15:35):
We've got all the luminaries. We'll preview Game seven of
the Eastern Conference coming up next at the Ryan Hollins
where you find Ryan. Find me over at Swollen Dome.
Speaker 5 (15:49):
Hey, I'm Doug Gottlieb. The podcast is called All Ball.
We usually talk all basketball all the time, but it's
more about the stories about what made these people love
their sport and all the interesting interactions along the way.
We talked to coaches, we talked to players, We tell
you stories. You download it, you listen to it.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
I think you like it.
Speaker 5 (16:09):
Listen to All Ball with Doug Gottlieb on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern seven
pm Pacific.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Welcome back in Fox Sports Radio Jason Smith's Show with
Me and Mike Harmon. No Jason Smith to night Off
lamenting the Knicks departure from the playoffs by celebrating with
Morris Day in the time. We'll get a full concert
review come Monday, because at this point in the night,
Ryan Hollins he is likely doing a little oe oe
(16:48):
o along and maybe doing a dance. I don't know.
Maybe maybe we'll get some superuta film that finds its
way into our inboxes that swollen dome. If you have
to be at that show here in the greater Los
Angeles area, you could take us wherever you go. The
iHeartRadio app serious XM channel eighty three, four hundred plus
affiliates nationwide. Podcasts will be up in about an hour's
(17:11):
time from now. We've done a lot in the NBA
playoffs injuries and flowing through. We had the rib injuries
AD and the head injury concussion protocol under scrutiny for
the NBA. We certainly are used to it in the NFL,
and certainly no ill effects tonight, as Anthony Davis and
(17:32):
Lebron James and the third man, Austin Reeves take care
of business one twenty two to one oh one, your final.
We'll get back into that game. Some pointed comments coming
out of the Warriors locker room, including one big question
that needs to be answered in terms of roster composition
going forward. We'll do that in a couple of minutes.
But back into the Eastern Conference where we have the
(17:54):
game seven on Sunday, Ryan, We've seen the Celtics, even
with a uneven a's that uneven performance from Jason Tatum
in Game six, able to win ninety five eighty six
on the road at Philly. Tatum would finish with nineteen points,
hitting three huge three point shots down the stretch for
(18:17):
them in the fourth quarter after being dormant. They only
got two points from Al Horford only took five shots,
but did play thirty nine minutes, gave them eleven boards.
Marcus Smart was the leader with twenty two points. They
got twenty five off the bench for the Celtics. I'm
sorry for the sixers in the loss. Tucker and Harris
(18:37):
combined for ten points. He got twenty six and ten
out of EMBIID. We're always still wondering, you know, how
injured is he? As he continues to battle on. He
had some pointed comments in the final minutes about the
final minutes of that game in terms of getting the
ball and going stretches without seeing it, and that I
(19:00):
guess that was one of the more honest like and
embiads usually a guy that talks, because remember he was
very adamant of Hey, I'm the MVP, give me the
damn award? What do I need to do around here?
And he got his MVP. But when he went after
the game and is like, how do we go possessions
where I don't see the ball? I have to inch
(19:21):
up in my seat and say I would like to
hear the response from James Harden and Maxie and Doc
Rivers about that very subject.
Speaker 4 (19:29):
Well, here's the truth. That's how you lose a series.
It's a conversation as should be had in the locker
room and still shows his immaturity. If that If that
is what Embiid said, obviously there's there's angles to things,
or maybe he was being critical of himself saying hey,
(19:51):
I need to do a better job.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Well, he did say I need to be more aggressive
and called for it, but it was more a generalization
of all right, I had a bit start to things
and then down the stretch. I'm not touching it as
much as I should have.
Speaker 4 (20:05):
Yeah, I hope it wasn't a shot at his teammates
that should have been maybe just more so self reflecting
in the game, because that's that never ends up ends up, well,
not at a moment where you know you want to
keep everything kind of in house and you want to
you know, you want to focus on what you and
your team can do versus you know, I guess calling
(20:26):
out somebody else or calling your teammates out, that's definitely
not the time to be doing that. So I hope
that is in perspective. But man, it's gonna take Hey
and James Harden to be on the same page for
them to be able to go go out and get
a big win on the road. And they did it,
but they just didn't have Embiids. So again, I think
(20:46):
what we're saying is, how are those guys gonna mesh
together and get a win and focus and even more
so when things get tight, Boston knows who they are
in these fourth quarters, you know, Embiid and those boys,
they're trying to figure out who they are. And I
think that's the biggest factor that we were gonna look
at here, and that's why you do have to look
(21:07):
at and you do have to go out and you
got to favor, you know, favor the Celtics in this situation,
situation because even though they're still young, they've been there
before as a team. They played hard, and then you
got Jason Tatum who can step up and give you
one of those mega performances as he did in the
last game.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
I did appreciate is I am humbly one of the
best in the game lines. I mean, that was one
I may just tattoo on my back as I walk
around southern California. But because I mean, look, no radio
host is ever uttering those words. You know, the humbling's
not going in. No, I'm the best, best there is,
(21:43):
the best there was. You're stealing from Brett the Hitman
art as you flow through that one. But you know,
to to that point, you know, we've seen the Celtics,
and this is why Missoula has come under fire a
little bit, as well as some of the decision making
by by Brown and by Tatum in stretches. Much like
Steve Kerr in his postgame comments. Now saying, hey, games
(22:05):
won in Game four, we had situations to close out
games and we didn't, and the Celtics if they were
to lose in a Game seven, and you certainly can
look at a couple of games in this series where
they left the door open for the Sixers to come
back and take it. The curiosity for me is James
Harden at this point thirteen points, seven rebounds, nine assists
(22:28):
this last game four of sixteen from the field, just
zero for six from three point range, and as a
team they were eight of thirty four. And I guess
that's the larger question, is James Harden we always had
for years Ryan He worked and had to work as
hard as he did offensively, whether you liked how he
(22:50):
got to the fall line or not, that's kind of
been taken away to a degree right out of his game,
the ability to draw those files and live at the
the free throw line. But we had that explosion in
game one and we really haven't seen that guy but
one since Kenny Muster won one more for the road here.
(23:12):
I think James can.
Speaker 4 (23:14):
I think the big focus for him is just to
be aggressive and people no matter what you know, he
ends up scoring points. Wise, they want to see James
Harden beat James Pardon. So as long as he does that,
I think his team, he'll give his team a shot
to win. But they can't win without him being aggressive
in this ballgame. So you know he's gonna have to
stay aggressive. He's gonna have to keep working, and you
(23:37):
know you can't see him being shy. But more importantly,
like like you heard Embiid say, you got to see
him and Embiid find a way to work. And James
Harden is the guy that gets you know, Embiid and
Maxi and those guys, he gets them those open shots,
he gets them there those good looks.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
Yeah, Embiid here was the quote. Quote. I just think
our offense kind of stalled a little bit. We stopped
moving the ball, we stopped making plays for each other
like we've been doing all night. And that was the
result of not getting good shots and the ball not
moving enough. And he'd spoken a little bit earlier. I
didn't touch the ball the last four minutes of the game,
like I said, missed good looks. I didn't touch the
(24:15):
ball at all. So a lot to come out of that,
and certainly the history him being outspoken Harden's history. Doc's
history means the magnifying glass is certainly there. And for
the Celtics coming into the year, we had a lot
of questions about Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum. Udoka gets
(24:39):
dismissed and they're able to push ahead because you have
some of the other veterans Marcus Smart and Malcolm Brogden
who's been big for them off the bench and stretches,
and then Al Horford has had to play the role
of player coach at times it seems to keep the
young guys together and focused. So he's gonna need to
(25:00):
do that in a big way in a home game seven.
Speaker 4 (25:03):
Yeah, you're you're right, and you know from that Boston side,
you know you got to have Jason Tatum show up
in a in a in a major way again. And
don't be surprised if you don't see him get trapped.
They get the ball out of his hands, because he's
shown you he's good enough to beat you. And you
saw that, uh you know with with Spostra tonight, Brunson
(25:28):
got hot. He was the guy, and they went and
trapped him. They went and got the ball out of
his hands. So that may be something that Doc does.
I played for Doc to where if it's needed, you
get you get the ball out of Tatum's hands and
you know, make somebody else step up, uh and hit
a big shot.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
He's Ryan Hollins in for Jason Smith. We're coming you
Alive from the tirerac dot Com studios the Jason Smith
Show with me Mike Harmon. Want to say thanks to
our guys. They've they've rallied. We got the editing staff
that now that the Laker game is over, they're they're
in fast and furiously getting some of the postgame quotes
and some of the highlights into Yonder System to give
(26:09):
you a full accounting of all the particulars of the
legends that were part of the mix here. Because you
got quotes galore flowing through their body. So hopefully the
caffeine is flowing thanks to our guys in the studio.
Chris Prefet in for Alex ty Shirt. He has a
squirrel suit in the new Zelda. Ryan Hollins making progress here.
(26:33):
In game one of a release, there was a huge
ceremony where I think a kid got a sword. Did
that guy get a sword from the Nintendo guy? Chris?
Is that what I saw at the superstore. Is the
news to me? Okay, I just saw some video that
whoever was the first guy to get it at the
Nintendo store that goes all sorts of pomp and circumstance
(26:55):
and whatever else, And maybe he brought his own sword
and he was cause playing. I didn't think they let
you run around with swords in today's world. And Brandon
Trufa in for Justin Frossberg. Frostburg has no voice left
because he's been yelling Lakers are back all night. That's
the crew. Ryan Hollins in for Jason Smith. And over
at the update desk, we've got our guys, Steve Desager
(27:16):
to give us a look see as do the goings
on in our wide world of sports.
Speaker 6 (27:21):
Hello there. Eight seed Miami to the Conference finals. Seven
seed Lakers to a conference final. Lakers reporter Mike Trudell
points out that with this team, with Lebron James and
Anthony Davis together, they've had seven playoff series. They've won
six of the seven, and the one defeat was after
Ad got hurt against Phoenix a couple of years ago. Tonight,
(27:43):
a game six win, eliminating defending champion Golden State one,
twenty two to one oh one. Lakers led in the
first quarter twenty seven to ten, led by nineteen and
the third Lebron James thirty points, nine rebounds, nine assists,
Anthony Davis twenty rebounds. Game one of the West Finals
starts Tuesday night in Denver as the Nuggets hosts the Lakers.
(28:05):
Andrew Wiggins of Golden State did start despite the ribcage
injury did play, but like a lot of the Warriors,
did not have a great game. He was well six points,
two rebounds at the end. Klay Thompson three of nineteen shooting.
More on that in the moment. Steph Curry had thirty
points their thirty two skews me taking a lot of shots.
But yet again, the Lakers win Game one and then
(28:28):
take the series, and in fact, it's now an NBA
record thirty second straight playoff series the Lakers have captured
after winning Game one, and do you know they still
have divisions in the NBA. Sacramento Kings won the Pacific
Division this year. Second place was Phoenix at forty five wins,
then the Clippers at forty four wins. Golden State won
(28:49):
forty four, Lakers won forty three, they were the last
place team in the Pacific Division. The Lakers. Therefore, this
straight from Stats Inc. Lakers are the first team in
the history of the four major sports to finish last
outright in your division and yet be among the final
four teams left in your playoffs that postseason. They're headed
(29:11):
to Denver for Game one on Tuesday. The Warriors, meanwhile,
it's notable that every time they've made the playoffs under
Steve Kerr, they've always made the NBA Finals. Until tonight,
this was the first time Kerrz Warriors had lost a
series against a Western Conference team. Also, amazingly, they didn't
(29:31):
win a road game in this series. Golden State had
won a road game in every playoff series for well
over a decade as a franchise, twenty eight straight series
with at least one road win. That record street is
over and tonight the Splash brothers Steph Curry and Klay
Thompson each missed ten three pointers in the same playoff game.
(29:55):
That had only happened with James Harden and teammate Eric
Gordon about five years ago. Actually, they did that in
a game in back to back postseasons, but these last
four games Thompson was ten of thirty six from long distance.
Curry was fourteen for forty nine. So the Warriors lose
a road game appropriately to end their season. You may
(30:15):
have known they were, to say the least, not a
good road team this year, including postseason. Golden State went
thirteen and thirty five on the road. Wow Lakers meanwhile
undefeated at home the last month and a half, nine
to zero. Miami eliminated the New York Knicks in a
game six ninety six ninety two. Jalen Brunson forty one
points in the loss. Julius Randall three of fourteen shooting.
(30:38):
Great stat I mentioned on the prior show on Julius Randall.
If you look, compiled a list of NBA players in
postseason the last fifty five years, guys that average at
least ten shots a game. Julius Randall the worst of
anyone on that list in the last fifty five years
(30:59):
of about thirty five percent shooting from the floor. Out
of the four hundred or so players that take regular
shots in the postseason over all these decades, it's just
astoundingly bad, including tonight. So the Heat are in the
Conference finals for the seventh time. Since twenty eleven no
NBA games Tomorrow. Boston hosts a Game seven on Sunday
against Philadelphia. East Finals start Wednesday. Philly, by the Way,
(31:21):
has not won a second round series since two thousand
and one, when it won the East Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Florida eliminated Toronto in overtime three to two. In Game five.
Vegas up three games to two after beating Edmonton four
to three. Dallas by the Way, which is up three
games to two, will play Saturday night in a Game
six in Seattle. The three finalists for NHL MVP include
(31:42):
Connor McDavid of the Oilers. NHL Awards are in late June.
The Vikings are trading pass rushers Zadarius Smith to Cleveland.
The Washington Commanders will be sold to a group led
by seventy six Yers owner Josh Harris. The deal will
likely be presented at this month's NFL owners meetings. Harris
to make the purchase, report is borrowing against his other teams.
(32:02):
He also owns the New Jersey Devils, and he's getting
a loan from the current owner in Washington. Dan Snyder
liv Golf is in Tulsa this weekend. Brandon Grace leads
after a first round sixty one. Scottie Scheffler leads by
one stroke. At the Byron Nelson Baseball The Oakland A's
have ended a five game losing streak with four runs
in the bottom of the tenth, including a game winning
(32:22):
three run shot to beat Texas nine to seven, rain
delay of a couple hours plus at the start in Chicago,
Houston beat the White Sox five to one. White Sox
offense three for thirty wins for the Cubs. In Milwaukee,
Philadelphia with three runs top of the eighth, one at
Colorado six to three, Arizona, and the Dodgers with wins.
Dodgers beat San Diego four two bottom of the seventh,
back to back solo homers for Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman.
(32:45):
Back to you, boy, I.
Speaker 3 (32:46):
Love you, Steve. You not only do you give me
details on the White Sox and the futility of their offense,
then in the next breath say and the Cubs won.
That's right. I hate you, thanks, buddy. I mean, I
know Smith's not here to beat down about the Knicks loss.
Speaker 6 (33:01):
You know, when we talked about the Toronto Maple Leafe franchise,
how they've literally done nothing since the NHL got more
than six teams in its league. That's really the Chicago
Cubs of hockey, are they not? Except the Cubs have
now actually won a World Series.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
They got that World Series. They were not the dynastic
team everybody hoped for, but they got that one.
Speaker 6 (33:20):
They got that one, and it'll last of another eight
ninety years.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
Yeah, damn right, they will because they keep packing them in.
Thanks so much, day, appreciate you this week, buddy. At
the end of your first year, discover credit cards automatically
double all the cash back you've earned. That's right, everything
you earned and doubled. Seriously see terms. Check it out
for yourself at discovered dot com. Slash match. We've got
stats for days as related to the NBA playoffs. Steve
(33:43):
gave you the Julius Randall in my timeline Ryan anything
where his picture is in the Greater New York area,
It's been defaced with thought bubbles like cartoons saying please
trade me, Wow, trade him all over the place. You've
got Lebron James if the stata that I read it correctly,
(34:04):
sixteen straight wins and potential close out games on his
home court. Wow. So there you go, get the job done.
Coffee is for closers and for Lebron James. Now coming up,
we've got the play of the night from our friends
at Progressive as well as a little bit of Steve
Kerr trying to put a bow on this season. And
(34:25):
one big question that we have to answer because well,
one of the stars of the Warriors is saying I'm
not done yet. I'm not done yet. Who is it?
We'll tell you how it all shakes out next here
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
Hey Gudas will lead the charge.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
Not three on two for the Panthers.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
Here's Cousins Hope the offensive line, Cliff.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
Circle Cousins for.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
The next shut stars Big Cousins.
Speaker 6 (34:58):
Hence the game ends the series three two and over time.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
The Panthers win it.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
They take the series in.
Speaker 7 (35:05):
Five, and the Florida Panthers are going to the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 3 (35:10):
Final, dominan victory hero in Game six, the seventh seats
going to the Western Conference Finals.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
The Westerner two.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
Solve here you go. We got big plays both sides.
We talked about the futility of the mapri Leafs with
Steve de Sager. Three to two the final as Florida
moves on, and then of course the Lakers one twenty
two to one oh one final over Golden State, UH
to close them out. The Plays of the night brought
(35:44):
to you by Progressive. Brought to Progressive makes buddling easy
and affordable. Get a multi policy discount by combining your motorcycle, RV, boat,
ATV and more all your protection in one place, bundling
save at Progressive Dot Calm Mike Harmon alongside Ryan Hollins
with you here as we're closing up shop. Bernie Fratto
coming up in ten minutes here on Fox Sports Radio
(36:07):
and Ryan. Some interesting comments from Steve Kerr closing out
his media availability. This series came down to games one
and four. The Lakers out played us down the stretch.
Talking about the team, I think they were maxed out
quote this is not a championship team. If it were,
we'd be moving on. But then also talking about Draymond
(36:31):
Clay Steph our core guys. They have plenty left to offer.
Let's hear from one of those principles. It's Draymond Green
as he met the media.
Speaker 7 (36:42):
Obviously, I have an opt out. Everybody know about that.
I know about that, I'm aware of that. But I've
told you guys for years, I want to be a
warrior for the rest of my life.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
I want to ride Ride out.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
With the same dudes I wrote him with.
Speaker 3 (37:01):
And that's the big question they now have to come
to in terms of the fiscal responsibility and keeping this
team together. You've already paid Jordan Poole, who much maligned
and criticized for his play, particularly on the defensive end
Ryan through this series. The misshot from Game one is
(37:23):
a shot he was open, you had a defender flashing
at him. He took the shot, missed the shot. But
we look at decisions for both he and Klay Thompson
to guys that you need to figure out how to
lock up long term to keep this ride moving. Would
that be prudent or as an executive, you know, because
you owe a history right in terms of what they've
(37:45):
meant to the organization, But you've also got to be
realistic from the dollars the cents and pushing this thing forward.
Do you just let it ride and make sure you
keep them in the fold and run it as long
as their viable options on the court, even if the
returns are lowered. I think.
Speaker 4 (38:07):
What would present the biggest problem is if another organization
comes in and throws a lot of money at Draymond
or Clay Well.
Speaker 3 (38:16):
Because Draymond's got to I mean, YopT out right, go
get a bigger deal or at least avail yourself to offers.
Speaker 4 (38:24):
And is as much as he says, you know, he
wants to be a warrior for a lot. I think
he just showed his value and I think his value
was the most in question. But it was like, if
you want to win, you need me, And there may
be another organization that's on the cusp of winning, or
or someone who has a star and is saying a
(38:47):
young star and saying, hey, come come do what you
did for Stephan Clay for my guy. You know, come
come do it for John Morant, you know, come do
it for or James Harden. Come do it for another
one of these guys. Because you've helped Steph be Steph
and Clay B Clay. So that's the tricky question that
(39:11):
Golden state may have to come to terms with. And
I think whatever you were wondering or whatever you didn't
know about Draymond and the level that he could still
play at, he just showed his value.
Speaker 3 (39:24):
He he was easily.
Speaker 4 (39:26):
The second most valuable warrior in this playoff run.
Speaker 3 (39:31):
And he ain't he ain't.
Speaker 4 (39:32):
Definitely ain't the reason that they lost.
Speaker 3 (39:35):
What if he's a guy that you know, you saw
the long embrace between he and Lebron James and certainly
a lot of cameras on Trey Young who was courtsied
alongside his agent. But what what if he became, you know,
a guy here in Los Angeles.
Speaker 4 (39:52):
That has to be a formidable option. That has to
be something that, of course you would assume he and
you know, Lebron at some point it had talked to.
So there's fear there and Draymond's smart. So obviously Draymond
wants to stay. And I won't be surprised if he
you know, he's able to put himself in a situation
and make a whole lot more money.
Speaker 3 (40:14):
Question about it. Yeah, Clay's the guy that there's there's
a lot of questions concerning going forward. So yeah, tough
series for him. The Warriors bow out, and we'll see
how this team is reconstuted, whether Bob Myers is still
there as we get ready for twenty three, twenty four,
but a lot more basketball still to be played. Ryan,
thanks for hanging with me tonight and breaking this all
(40:37):
down as we get ready for Game seven of Celtics
and seventy six Ers. I'm sure we'll be talking to
you next round. Bernie Frado coming up next here on
Fox Sports Radio. Thanks everybody, have a great weekend.
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
ten pm to two am Eastern seven to eleven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon at Foxsports Radio
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 3 (00:28):
Greetings and welcome in. It is the final hour of
the program. So much to get to as we celebrate, commemorate,
and maybe wave goodbye to so many things here in
our NBA universe. We're broadcasting live from the tire act
dot Com studios tyre act dot com. We'll help you
(00:48):
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The way tire buying should be. The Ryan Hollins tenure
NBA veteran analysts over with the Houston Rockets, and our
NBA analyst here on Fox Sports Radio, joining me Jason
(01:10):
Smith off tonight a fast three hours. Thus far, we've
watched two crazy games, both knockout blows for their respective squads.
The New York Knicks go homes, sent down unceremoniously by
the Miami Heat, an eight seed, and now the seven
(01:32):
seed Lakers in the West, healthy, primed, rested after taking
care of business in the last round, they've vanquished the
wars one twenty two one one the final lot of
hugs and a lot of blank stares. As the future
of the Warriors now in question, but we've got Lakers
(01:53):
and Nuggets, and I think for the NBA it's everything
you could want. Here's Lebron and the old guarden, Anthony
Davis putting to rest some narratives, right, it's a big
game for Anthony Davis, Ryan Hollins, because when he went
down with that injury, what did you have a lot
of snickering, a lot of laughing, a lot of side
eye from folks going, man, get up a d you
(02:15):
can't do this now, it's important. And he came back
and it was almost like he was running around with
a message for everybody with his play tonight.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
He was excellent and you're happy for him. And obviously
you never want to assume about somebody's injury. You never
want to just look at it from the outside end.
You don't know what that feels like. It's nothing to
be played around with. But I love the way that
Anthony Davis responded. You know, he was aggressive, he played hard,
(02:48):
he showed up when his team needed him, and it
was all business man. So I'm happy for him that
this didn't linger. And you know he's had a lot
to prove in LA and stepped up here tonight.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Yeah, this is one again owing to injury histories and
the dissatisfaction and disenchantment with the term load management and
all that it brings. And certainly for the Lakers and
their fans watching the last couple of years. You know,
if you go to a home game and you're missing
ad Or and or Lebron and they're in street clothes,
(03:24):
you know, you get a little salty. But recognizing the
body maintenance something we were talking about before, the ability
to keep getting back up the strain, you can speak
to it better than anyone. When you're looking at someone
with a seven foot frame, the feet, ankle, and knees.
We can chronicle it going back years. And then for
(03:45):
Anthony Davis, you've got all of that to contend with
back stuff, and then you get a blow to the
head that leaves you at least short term questionable for
this game. So to come back and have the effort
that he did seventeen points twenty res in his forty
minutes of work, because that's the other thing you circle,
forty minutes. This was not going to be left to
(04:06):
any second stringers here, Ryan Hollins. They went in looking
for blood here to close out the Warriors, knowing that
any shred of daylight was going to potentially come back
to haunt them.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
No, you're right, and you know, even for Anthony Davis,
this was his series. Man, it has name written all
over it. They were undersized, there was no one there
that can guard him, and you know, he came out
when he dominated, the Lakers were good. You know, he
showed up in Game one and Lakers were able to
steal the game. And after you steal that game on
(04:40):
the opposing team's home court, you just take care of business.
And the Lakers just came out and did their job.
But a large part of that, if not all of it,
was just Anthony Davis being Anthony Davis. And every series
is different, you know, but him staying aggressive was a
huge difference here in this ballgame, and you know, if
you're looking forward to the Nuggets, the Nuggets series, he's
(05:03):
gonna have to do that against Nikola Jokic. He's gonna
have to have Jokic chasing him around that foul line,
and and and and figure things out. But for the
Lakers to win a championship, Anthony Davis has to play
well and above all, he's got to be healthy and
on the floor to be able to do so. And
tonight he showed up when it was in question.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Boy, I tell you, And that's the beauty of this
next round as you go through trying to play the
chess match, and you've got the big three, the term
that we've loved in the NBA for so long, Ryan,
the big three. When you look at Jokic alongside Porter
Junior and Jamal Murray finally healthy, ready to go. You
(05:44):
saw the ancillary players, Aaron Gordon with big games, KCP
showing up with some big minutes for them as well
as they closed out Phoenix in well kind of the
same fashion. I mean, that was a thirty point. This
one got anxious for all of about thirty seconds before
the Lakers went back and took care of business in
(06:07):
a huge way. You had that one sequence where it
looked like, all right, the window could potentially crack open,
and then Clay missed back to back three point shots
on that possession. Lakers come down, get a layup, and
it was never never in doubt thereafter. But I'm eagerly
anticipating next, right, you know, we'll talk about the dynasty
(06:30):
and what you do next if you're the warrior. Steve
Kerr was meeting with the media, echoing some of the
stuff we've been talking about over the course of the night,
because I kept circling games one and four. In those stretches,
you've got leads, and historically you've been a team that
closed out and you couldn't and then you're playing many
(06:51):
weary minutes and you know, really trying to battle. Once
they got the interior game going here just no map, right,
you knew you were undersize, so and anything. As long
as Davis and James were on the court, it was
going to be tough sledding. But the defense of the
Lakers comes through and coming up next, I mean, how
(07:13):
do you go at nikolea Jokic, how do you guard
him to try to keep him from being the facilitator?
First because he's going to get his points right. He's crafty.
I like being able to call a seven foot guy
crafty Ryan. We don't normally get to do that so much.
But in terms of what he does as a facilitator,
(07:34):
how do you run at him? If you're Darvin Ham
to start the next series.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
You got to make him defend. You know, you got
to put him in multiple pick and rolls. You have
to make him move his feet. You want him having
to close out to shooters. You want to take as
many legs as much as his legs away as possible.
You get out and run and transition. See how he
gets back and run. So there's a number of things
(07:59):
in which you are gonna have to do to attack
Nikola Jokic. But if you let him sit back and
get comfortable, I hate to say it, Lakers don't have
anyone to guard him. I mean, I don't know who
is equipped to guard him, and I'm not sure what's
going on with Mobamba. Hopefully maybe he is healthy enough
to come out and play. I don't know, forgive me,
(08:20):
I don't know his injury status. But all hands aren't
gonna have to be on deck and quiet. Possibly you
may have to come out in scenarios where Anthony Davis
is the five, Lebron's the five, and you say, okay,
big fella, come come guard us on the perimeter, you know,
come out and go small and match up here.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Yeah, it's it's a curious kind of flow because we've
seen Murray have a couple of huge games and some
smallish games down the stretch. And you've seen the aforementioned
Gordon and Contavious Caldwell Pope step up with some big
point performances for Denver as well. Well, I'm curious, you're
(09:01):
you know, you know Michael Malone. Well you yeah, you
know him well enough. You can call him Mike. He'd
yell at me, but you get to call him Mike.
And once again, you know, yesterday it was just fun.
Uh when the audio started to surface of him imploring
his team to just finish the job right. They were
up big. It was never in doubt, never in question,
(09:22):
but it was still we need to keep the energy up.
Don't let them even get a second where they they
feel comfortable and that they have any hope uh in
this game. Uh. Well, and they never did. But the
curiosity now flowing through the rest of that squad because
he only ran seven or eight deep most of that series.
(09:45):
You know, for as much as we talked about the
Suns and their their lack of depth, we didn't really
see outside of really Bruce Brown, a bunch Ryan, we
didn't really see the other bench players for Denver have
to take up too big of a task, right, The
starters did the job.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
Yeah, well, I mean, honestly, I may argue and say
the starters and the bench to the job.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
That was a full on beatdown that well, but in
terms of a meaningful like minutes, right, that was an
absolute beatdown yesterday. But series wide, Brown had some big moments,
but it was really the strength of that starting starting
lineup where where Michael Malone didn't have to go as deep.
So the what seemed like an advantage because I.
Speaker 4 (10:36):
Went back to different I mean, Jeff Green played a bunch.
Brown played a bunch. Forgive me, I forget the kid's
name from Kansas. He stepped in and played big minutes
like and And I don't think that's a fair assessment
because the reason coach went so deep and he was
able to do so, is because he wanted to run
(10:57):
the Suns out the building he had there, So to me,
it was really strengthen numbers. And when you you watch
the Nuggets in the offseason, excuse me, in the regular season,
that that's how they play many they get after you. Uh,
they're physical, and that's uh, you know, obviously a large
part of it. But yes, what overshadowed a lot of it.
I think what you're saying is, Okay, the bench did well,
(11:18):
but I mean Jokic was aggressive at Jamal Murray and
Aaron Gordon. Those guys they stepped in and did their job,
but I mean it was listen, man, it was.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
A good old fashioned whippid man.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
Well, and that's and that's the thing, right, you got
it back to to two. But even at that point,
I don't know that anybody felt like there was there
was really a fear uh in Denver. And it's really
kind of a curiosity as well, is because because coming
into the playoffs, right, we talked about it a lot.
While we need to see him do it right, that
(11:50):
Jokic fair unfairly people want to see the playoffs and
you can caveat it out because they hadn't had their
full compliment of players. That's playoff back basketball right, something
you and I have been talking about the last few
times we've gotten together. You can only play with who's available,
and that becomes the story. Uh, excuse making caveating at well,
(12:11):
we didn't have this guy, Well, you play who's there? Right?
Yesterday Devin Booker played for the Suns. You can't you
can't tell me about you know how impacted he was. Whatever,
you're on the you're on the field, you're on the court,
you're on the diamond, you play right, nobody's one hundred
percent at this time of the year. Uh. And for
the Nuggets coming in with Murray and with Porter Junior,
(12:35):
all other players aside, right, Jokic was the all right,
we know what where our baseline is going to be
from him? It's the base line. Is the triple double?
Just a matter of how high he is in each
of those categories. But how much help is he getting?
How well is Jamal Murray gonna shoot? Because he's at
He had some huge games right to where it became
a oh, that's the guy we remember from from a
(12:58):
couple of years ago when they were healthy and we
were looking for them to make a run. And now
they are and in the Western Conference, forgive me, and
maybe I'm looking at from the timelines and what you
hear in the chatter was all right, it's a wait
and see for Denver, but you didn't really trust anybody
(13:18):
in the West as good as they were during the
regular seas, like, all right, let's see him do it
in the playoffs. And for all these other squads, I mean,
now we have the seven seed Lakers that rise up
and through. Right, there were a lot of teams with
questions coming into the playoffs. Right, the King's exciting, but
young and back on the stage after a seventeen year
absence Memphis, a lot of stuff swirling around behind the scenes,
(13:42):
and then Dylan Brooks decides to poke at Lebron James
insert all Grizzly Bear references and Twitter responses. But like
all of those teams, you had those questions of all right,
they were great, but when it comes down to the playoffs,
can the young guns be the upstarts? And to something
we referenced a little bit earlier, so you got a
(14:05):
lot of the old heads of the veterans that are
still hanging around.
Speaker 4 (14:09):
Yeah, you're right about that, man, and it definitely is
the veterans. It's the same old guys. It's it's it's Lebron,
It's Curry and your darted near head. You pretty much
had Durant in the mix there, and you know the newcomers,
so to speak, and that's where the questions are. The
Nuggets are pretty much you can call them maybe maybe
(14:29):
they're healthy now, they're still kind of newcomers to this
and you know, trying to prove themselves. This is new territory.
And if you're you're gonna look over in the East,
it's it's Philadelphia. You know, they got to show that.
You know, they they they can make things happen. So
you know, we're sitting up for an intriguing game and
you know, I know Boston is a little younger, but
(14:49):
they've they've got more experience, you know. But yeah, you
don't have those those young You're right, the Memphis, the Kings,
those teams, it's not quite their time yet. It will be,
and we can see it there. May make no mistake
with the Bonus and Fox and those boys up there
with the Kings, and you know, even like what they're
doing in New York, but you know their time will come.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
He's Ryan Hollins in for Jason Smith. I'm Mike Carmon
here at the Jason Smith Show with Mike Carmon Fox
Sports Radio. We'll go into the Game seven matchup Harden
and Bed Doc Rivers Missoula, the guy that everybody's already
got a bunch of their columns written in case things
go sideways on Sunday. But we've got Brown, We've got Tatum,
(15:35):
We've got all the luminaries. We'll preview Game seven of
the Eastern Conference coming up next at the Ryan Hollins
where you find Ryan. Find me over at Swollen Dome.
Speaker 5 (15:49):
Hey, I'm Doug Gottlieb. The podcast is called All Ball.
We usually talk all basketball all the time, but it's
more about the stories about what made these people love
their sport and all the interesting interactions along the way.
We talked to coaches, we talked to players, We tell
you stories. You download it, you listen to it.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
I think you like it.
Speaker 5 (16:09):
Listen to All Ball with Doug Gottlieb on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern seven
pm Pacific.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Welcome back in Fox Sports Radio Jason Smith's Show with
Me and Mike Harmon. No Jason Smith to night Off
lamenting the Knicks departure from the playoffs by celebrating with
Morris Day in the time. We'll get a full concert
review come Monday, because at this point in the night,
Ryan Hollins he is likely doing a little oe oe
(16:48):
o along and maybe doing a dance. I don't know.
Maybe maybe we'll get some superuta film that finds its
way into our inboxes that swollen dome. If you have
to be at that show here in the greater Los
Angeles area, you could take us wherever you go. The
iHeartRadio app serious XM channel eighty three, four hundred plus
affiliates nationwide. Podcasts will be up in about an hour's
(17:11):
time from now. We've done a lot in the NBA
playoffs injuries and flowing through. We had the rib injuries
AD and the head injury concussion protocol under scrutiny for
the NBA. We certainly are used to it in the NFL,
and certainly no ill effects tonight, as Anthony Davis and
(17:32):
Lebron James and the third man, Austin Reeves take care
of business one twenty two to one oh one, your final.
We'll get back into that game. Some pointed comments coming
out of the Warriors locker room, including one big question
that needs to be answered in terms of roster composition
going forward. We'll do that in a couple of minutes.
But back into the Eastern Conference where we have the
(17:54):
game seven on Sunday, Ryan, We've seen the Celtics, even
with a uneven a's that uneven performance from Jason Tatum
in Game six, able to win ninety five eighty six
on the road at Philly. Tatum would finish with nineteen points,
hitting three huge three point shots down the stretch for
(18:17):
them in the fourth quarter after being dormant. They only
got two points from Al Horford only took five shots,
but did play thirty nine minutes, gave them eleven boards.
Marcus Smart was the leader with twenty two points. They
got twenty five off the bench for the Celtics. I'm
sorry for the sixers in the loss. Tucker and Harris
(18:37):
combined for ten points. He got twenty six and ten
out of EMBIID. We're always still wondering, you know, how
injured is he? As he continues to battle on. He
had some pointed comments in the final minutes about the
final minutes of that game in terms of getting the
ball and going stretches without seeing it, and that I
(19:00):
guess that was one of the more honest like and
embiads usually a guy that talks, because remember he was
very adamant of Hey, I'm the MVP, give me the
damn award? What do I need to do around here?
And he got his MVP. But when he went after
the game and is like, how do we go possessions
where I don't see the ball? I have to inch
(19:21):
up in my seat and say I would like to
hear the response from James Harden and Maxie and Doc
Rivers about that very subject.
Speaker 4 (19:29):
Well, here's the truth. That's how you lose a series.
It's a conversation as should be had in the locker
room and still shows his immaturity. If that If that
is what Embiid said, obviously there's there's angles to things,
or maybe he was being critical of himself saying hey,
(19:51):
I need to do a better job.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Well, he did say I need to be more aggressive
and called for it, but it was more a generalization
of all right, I had a bit start to things
and then down the stretch. I'm not touching it as
much as I should have.
Speaker 4 (20:05):
Yeah, I hope it wasn't a shot at his teammates
that should have been maybe just more so self reflecting
in the game, because that's that never ends up ends up, well,
not at a moment where you know you want to
keep everything kind of in house and you want to
you know, you want to focus on what you and
your team can do versus you know, I guess calling
(20:26):
out somebody else or calling your teammates out, that's definitely
not the time to be doing that. So I hope
that is in perspective. But man, it's gonna take Hey
and James Harden to be on the same page for
them to be able to go go out and get
a big win on the road. And they did it,
but they just didn't have Embiids. So again, I think
(20:46):
what we're saying is, how are those guys gonna mesh
together and get a win and focus and even more
so when things get tight, Boston knows who they are
in these fourth quarters, you know, Embiid and those boys,
they're trying to figure out who they are. And I
think that's the biggest factor that we were gonna look
at here, and that's why you do have to look
(21:07):
at and you do have to go out and you
got to favor, you know, favor the Celtics in this situation,
situation because even though they're still young, they've been there
before as a team. They played hard, and then you
got Jason Tatum who can step up and give you
one of those mega performances as he did in the
last game.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
I did appreciate is I am humbly one of the
best in the game lines. I mean, that was one
I may just tattoo on my back as I walk
around southern California. But because I mean, look, no radio
host is ever uttering those words. You know, the humbling's
not going in. No, I'm the best, best there is,
(21:43):
the best there was. You're stealing from Brett the Hitman
art as you flow through that one. But you know,
to to that point, you know, we've seen the Celtics,
and this is why Missoula has come under fire a
little bit, as well as some of the decision making
by by Brown and by Tatum in stretches. Much like
Steve Kerr in his postgame comments. Now saying, hey, games
(22:05):
won in Game four, we had situations to close out
games and we didn't, and the Celtics if they were
to lose in a Game seven, and you certainly can
look at a couple of games in this series where
they left the door open for the Sixers to come
back and take it. The curiosity for me is James
Harden at this point thirteen points, seven rebounds, nine assists
(22:28):
this last game four of sixteen from the field, just
zero for six from three point range, and as a
team they were eight of thirty four. And I guess
that's the larger question, is James Harden we always had
for years Ryan He worked and had to work as
hard as he did offensively, whether you liked how he
(22:50):
got to the fall line or not, that's kind of
been taken away to a degree right out of his game,
the ability to draw those files and live at the
the free throw line. But we had that explosion in
game one and we really haven't seen that guy but
one since Kenny Muster won one more for the road here.
(23:12):
I think James can.
Speaker 4 (23:14):
I think the big focus for him is just to
be aggressive and people no matter what you know, he
ends up scoring points. Wise, they want to see James
Harden beat James Pardon. So as long as he does that,
I think his team, he'll give his team a shot
to win. But they can't win without him being aggressive
in this ballgame. So you know he's gonna have to
stay aggressive. He's gonna have to keep working, and you
(23:37):
know you can't see him being shy. But more importantly,
like like you heard Embiid say, you got to see
him and Embiid find a way to work. And James
Harden is the guy that gets you know, Embiid and
Maxi and those guys, he gets them those open shots,
he gets them there those good looks.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
Yeah, Embiid here was the quote. Quote. I just think
our offense kind of stalled a little bit. We stopped
moving the ball, we stopped making plays for each other
like we've been doing all night. And that was the
result of not getting good shots and the ball not
moving enough. And he'd spoken a little bit earlier. I
didn't touch the ball the last four minutes of the game,
like I said, missed good looks. I didn't touch the
(24:15):
ball at all. So a lot to come out of that,
and certainly the history him being outspoken Harden's history. Doc's
history means the magnifying glass is certainly there. And for
the Celtics coming into the year, we had a lot
of questions about Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum. Udoka gets
(24:39):
dismissed and they're able to push ahead because you have
some of the other veterans Marcus Smart and Malcolm Brogden
who's been big for them off the bench and stretches,
and then Al Horford has had to play the role
of player coach at times it seems to keep the
young guys together and focused. So he's gonna need to
(25:00):
do that in a big way in a home game seven.
Speaker 4 (25:03):
Yeah, you're you're right, and you know from that Boston side,
you know you got to have Jason Tatum show up
in a in a in a major way again. And
don't be surprised if you don't see him get trapped.
They get the ball out of his hands, because he's
shown you he's good enough to beat you. And you
saw that, uh you know with with Spostra tonight, Brunson
(25:28):
got hot. He was the guy, and they went and
trapped him. They went and got the ball out of
his hands. So that may be something that Doc does.
I played for Doc to where if it's needed, you
get you get the ball out of Tatum's hands and
you know, make somebody else step up, uh and hit
a big shot.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
He's Ryan Hollins in for Jason Smith. We're coming you
Alive from the tirerac dot Com studios the Jason Smith
Show with me Mike Harmon. Want to say thanks to
our guys. They've they've rallied. We got the editing staff
that now that the Laker game is over, they're they're
in fast and furiously getting some of the postgame quotes
and some of the highlights into Yonder System to give
(26:09):
you a full accounting of all the particulars of the
legends that were part of the mix here. Because you
got quotes galore flowing through their body. So hopefully the
caffeine is flowing thanks to our guys in the studio.
Chris Prefet in for Alex ty Shirt. He has a
squirrel suit in the new Zelda. Ryan Hollins making progress here.
(26:33):
In game one of a release, there was a huge
ceremony where I think a kid got a sword. Did
that guy get a sword from the Nintendo guy? Chris?
Is that what I saw at the superstore. Is the
news to me? Okay, I just saw some video that
whoever was the first guy to get it at the
Nintendo store that goes all sorts of pomp and circumstance
(26:55):
and whatever else, And maybe he brought his own sword
and he was cause playing. I didn't think they let
you run around with swords in today's world. And Brandon
Trufa in for Justin Frossberg. Frostburg has no voice left
because he's been yelling Lakers are back all night. That's
the crew. Ryan Hollins in for Jason Smith. And over
at the update desk, we've got our guys, Steve Desager
(27:16):
to give us a look see as do the goings
on in our wide world of sports.
Speaker 6 (27:21):
Hello there. Eight seed Miami to the Conference finals. Seven
seed Lakers to a conference final. Lakers reporter Mike Trudell
points out that with this team, with Lebron James and
Anthony Davis together, they've had seven playoff series. They've won
six of the seven, and the one defeat was after
Ad got hurt against Phoenix a couple of years ago. Tonight,
(27:43):
a game six win, eliminating defending champion Golden State one,
twenty two to one oh one. Lakers led in the
first quarter twenty seven to ten, led by nineteen and
the third Lebron James thirty points, nine rebounds, nine assists,
Anthony Davis twenty rebounds. Game one of the West Finals
starts Tuesday night in Denver as the Nuggets hosts the Lakers.
(28:05):
Andrew Wiggins of Golden State did start despite the ribcage
injury did play, but like a lot of the Warriors,
did not have a great game. He was well six points,
two rebounds at the end. Klay Thompson three of nineteen shooting.
More on that in the moment. Steph Curry had thirty
points their thirty two skews me taking a lot of shots.
But yet again, the Lakers win Game one and then
(28:28):
take the series, and in fact, it's now an NBA
record thirty second straight playoff series the Lakers have captured
after winning Game one, and do you know they still
have divisions in the NBA. Sacramento Kings won the Pacific
Division this year. Second place was Phoenix at forty five wins,
then the Clippers at forty four wins. Golden State won
(28:49):
forty four, Lakers won forty three, they were the last
place team in the Pacific Division. The Lakers. Therefore, this
straight from Stats Inc. Lakers are the first team in
the history of the four major sports to finish last
outright in your division and yet be among the final
four teams left in your playoffs that postseason. They're headed
(29:11):
to Denver for Game one on Tuesday. The Warriors, meanwhile,
it's notable that every time they've made the playoffs under
Steve Kerr, they've always made the NBA Finals. Until tonight,
this was the first time Kerrz Warriors had lost a
series against a Western Conference team. Also, amazingly, they didn't
(29:31):
win a road game in this series. Golden State had
won a road game in every playoff series for well
over a decade as a franchise, twenty eight straight series
with at least one road win. That record street is
over and tonight the Splash brothers Steph Curry and Klay
Thompson each missed ten three pointers in the same playoff game.
(29:55):
That had only happened with James Harden and teammate Eric
Gordon about five years ago. Actually, they did that in
a game in back to back postseasons, but these last
four games Thompson was ten of thirty six from long distance.
Curry was fourteen for forty nine. So the Warriors lose
a road game appropriately to end their season. You may
(30:15):
have known they were, to say the least, not a
good road team this year, including postseason. Golden State went
thirteen and thirty five on the road. Wow Lakers meanwhile
undefeated at home the last month and a half, nine
to zero. Miami eliminated the New York Knicks in a
game six ninety six ninety two. Jalen Brunson forty one
points in the loss. Julius Randall three of fourteen shooting.
(30:38):
Great stat I mentioned on the prior show on Julius Randall.
If you look, compiled a list of NBA players in
postseason the last fifty five years, guys that average at
least ten shots a game. Julius Randall the worst of
anyone on that list in the last fifty five years
(30:59):
of about thirty five percent shooting from the floor. Out
of the four hundred or so players that take regular
shots in the postseason over all these decades, it's just
astoundingly bad, including tonight. So the Heat are in the
Conference finals for the seventh time. Since twenty eleven no
NBA games Tomorrow. Boston hosts a Game seven on Sunday
against Philadelphia. East Finals start Wednesday. Philly, by the Way,
(31:21):
has not won a second round series since two thousand
and one, when it won the East Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Florida eliminated Toronto in overtime three to two. In Game five.
Vegas up three games to two after beating Edmonton four
to three. Dallas by the Way, which is up three
games to two, will play Saturday night in a Game
six in Seattle. The three finalists for NHL MVP include
(31:42):
Connor McDavid of the Oilers. NHL Awards are in late June.
The Vikings are trading pass rushers Zadarius Smith to Cleveland.
The Washington Commanders will be sold to a group led
by seventy six Yers owner Josh Harris. The deal will
likely be presented at this month's NFL owners meetings. Harris
to make the purchase, report is borrowing against his other teams.
(32:02):
He also owns the New Jersey Devils, and he's getting
a loan from the current owner in Washington. Dan Snyder
liv Golf is in Tulsa this weekend. Brandon Grace leads
after a first round sixty one. Scottie Scheffler leads by
one stroke. At the Byron Nelson Baseball The Oakland A's
have ended a five game losing streak with four runs
in the bottom of the tenth, including a game winning
(32:22):
three run shot to beat Texas nine to seven, rain
delay of a couple hours plus at the start in Chicago,
Houston beat the White Sox five to one. White Sox
offense three for thirty wins for the Cubs. In Milwaukee,
Philadelphia with three runs top of the eighth, one at
Colorado six to three, Arizona, and the Dodgers with wins.
Dodgers beat San Diego four two bottom of the seventh,
back to back solo homers for Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman.
(32:45):
Back to you, boy, I.
Speaker 3 (32:46):
Love you, Steve. You not only do you give me
details on the White Sox and the futility of their offense,
then in the next breath say and the Cubs won.
That's right. I hate you, thanks, buddy. I mean, I
know Smith's not here to beat down about the Knicks loss.
Speaker 6 (33:01):
You know, when we talked about the Toronto Maple Leafe franchise,
how they've literally done nothing since the NHL got more
than six teams in its league. That's really the Chicago
Cubs of hockey, are they not? Except the Cubs have
now actually won a World Series.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
They got that World Series. They were not the dynastic
team everybody hoped for, but they got that one.
Speaker 6 (33:20):
They got that one, and it'll last of another eight
ninety years.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
Yeah, damn right, they will because they keep packing them in.
Thanks so much, day, appreciate you this week, buddy. At
the end of your first year, discover credit cards automatically
double all the cash back you've earned. That's right, everything
you earned and doubled. Seriously see terms. Check it out
for yourself at discovered dot com. Slash match. We've got
stats for days as related to the NBA playoffs. Steve
(33:43):
gave you the Julius Randall in my timeline Ryan anything
where his picture is in the Greater New York area,
It's been defaced with thought bubbles like cartoons saying please
trade me, Wow, trade him all over the place. You've
got Lebron James if the stata that I read it correctly,
(34:04):
sixteen straight wins and potential close out games on his
home court. Wow. So there you go, get the job done.
Coffee is for closers and for Lebron James. Now coming up,
we've got the play of the night from our friends
at Progressive as well as a little bit of Steve
Kerr trying to put a bow on this season. And
(34:25):
one big question that we have to answer because well,
one of the stars of the Warriors is saying I'm
not done yet. I'm not done yet. Who is it?
We'll tell you how it all shakes out next here
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
Hey Gudas will lead the charge.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
Not three on two for the Panthers.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
Here's Cousins Hope the offensive line, Cliff.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
Circle Cousins for.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
The next shut stars Big Cousins.
Speaker 6 (34:58):
Hence the game ends the series three two and over time.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
The Panthers win it.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
They take the series in.
Speaker 7 (35:05):
Five, and the Florida Panthers are going to the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 3 (35:10):
Final, dominan victory hero in Game six, the seventh seats
going to the Western Conference Finals.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
The Westerner two.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
Solve here you go. We got big plays both sides.
We talked about the futility of the mapri Leafs with
Steve de Sager. Three to two the final as Florida
moves on, and then of course the Lakers one twenty
two to one oh one final over Golden State, UH
to close them out. The Plays of the night brought
(35:44):
to you by Progressive. Brought to Progressive makes buddling easy
and affordable. Get a multi policy discount by combining your motorcycle, RV, boat,
ATV and more all your protection in one place, bundling
save at Progressive Dot Calm Mike Harmon alongside Ryan Hollins
with you here as we're closing up shop. Bernie Fratto
coming up in ten minutes here on Fox Sports Radio
(36:07):
and Ryan. Some interesting comments from Steve Kerr closing out
his media availability. This series came down to games one
and four. The Lakers out played us down the stretch.
Talking about the team, I think they were maxed out
quote this is not a championship team. If it were,
we'd be moving on. But then also talking about Draymond
(36:31):
Clay Steph our core guys. They have plenty left to offer.
Let's hear from one of those principles. It's Draymond Green
as he met the media.
Speaker 7 (36:42):
Obviously, I have an opt out. Everybody know about that.
I know about that, I'm aware of that. But I've
told you guys for years, I want to be a
warrior for the rest of my life.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
I want to ride Ride out.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
With the same dudes I wrote him with.
Speaker 3 (37:01):
And that's the big question they now have to come
to in terms of the fiscal responsibility and keeping this
team together. You've already paid Jordan Poole, who much maligned
and criticized for his play, particularly on the defensive end
Ryan through this series. The misshot from Game one is
(37:23):
a shot he was open, you had a defender flashing
at him. He took the shot, missed the shot. But
we look at decisions for both he and Klay Thompson
to guys that you need to figure out how to
lock up long term to keep this ride moving. Would
that be prudent or as an executive, you know, because
you owe a history right in terms of what they've
(37:45):
meant to the organization, But you've also got to be
realistic from the dollars the cents and pushing this thing forward.
Do you just let it ride and make sure you
keep them in the fold and run it as long
as their viable options on the court, even if the
returns are lowered. I think.
Speaker 4 (38:07):
What would present the biggest problem is if another organization
comes in and throws a lot of money at Draymond
or Clay Well.
Speaker 3 (38:16):
Because Draymond's got to I mean, YopT out right, go
get a bigger deal or at least avail yourself to offers.
Speaker 4 (38:24):
And is as much as he says, you know, he
wants to be a warrior for a lot. I think
he just showed his value and I think his value
was the most in question. But it was like, if
you want to win, you need me, And there may
be another organization that's on the cusp of winning, or
or someone who has a star and is saying a
(38:47):
young star and saying, hey, come come do what you
did for Stephan Clay for my guy. You know, come
come do it for John Morant, you know, come do
it for or James Harden. Come do it for another
one of these guys. Because you've helped Steph be Steph
and Clay B Clay. So that's the tricky question that
(39:11):
Golden state may have to come to terms with. And
I think whatever you were wondering or whatever you didn't
know about Draymond and the level that he could still
play at, he just showed his value.
Speaker 3 (39:24):
He he was easily.
Speaker 4 (39:26):
The second most valuable warrior in this playoff run.
Speaker 3 (39:31):
And he ain't he ain't.
Speaker 4 (39:32):
Definitely ain't the reason that they lost.
Speaker 3 (39:35):
What if he's a guy that you know, you saw
the long embrace between he and Lebron James and certainly
a lot of cameras on Trey Young who was courtsied
alongside his agent. But what what if he became, you know,
a guy here in Los Angeles.
Speaker 4 (39:52):
That has to be a formidable option. That has to
be something that, of course you would assume he and
you know, Lebron at some point it had talked to.
So there's fear there and Draymond's smart. So obviously Draymond
wants to stay. And I won't be surprised if he
you know, he's able to put himself in a situation
and make a whole lot more money.
Speaker 3 (40:14):
Question about it. Yeah, Clay's the guy that there's there's
a lot of questions concerning going forward. So yeah, tough
series for him. The Warriors bow out, and we'll see
how this team is reconstuted, whether Bob Myers is still
there as we get ready for twenty three, twenty four,
but a lot more basketball still to be played. Ryan,
thanks for hanging with me tonight and breaking this all
(40:37):
down as we get ready for Game seven of Celtics
and seventy six Ers. I'm sure we'll be talking to
you next round. Bernie Frado coming up next here on
Fox Sports Radio. Thanks everybody, have a great weekend.
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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