May 20, 2026 • 30 mins
Jason Smith and Mike Harmon break down the upcoming game two between the Spurs and the Thunder as Jason is begging for the Spurs to win so they can Face Wemby in the Finals!!!!
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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
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. Jesus.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Hello, Welcome inside final Hour tonight The Jason Smith Show
with my bes friend Mike Harmon.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Nixon for Nixon for Nixon.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
For I gonna tell you you know, this is now
like the about the fourth or fifth time I watch it,
I kind of really dig the end one mixtape of
Just the Knicks just using James Harden the entire fourth
quarter in overtime.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Well, we talked about it as it was happening, going stout,
you know, stop, It's like it's it's done, Come on,
what are you doing? Who is that guy? For the Professor?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Right?
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Was the big guy from the N one league that
would make all those crazy places like it was almost
like watching the Professor mixtape was watching just Jalen Brunson
just absolutely cook James Harden.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Well, this becomes at some point you have someone just
cut into the middle of it. Let me remind you,
this is all in a quarter and a half of
the same game. This is not an amalgam of Brunson
and Harden going after each other over a period of time. No, no, no,
this is one game and a microcosm of what you
(01:38):
just see the train wreck and you watch it happen,
possession after possession, and yes, that that video clip. I'm
sure you'll watch a million times. You'll sync it up
with our crack staff and our guys Alex and Justin
and their Nixon for tribute that they paid to you
at the start of the show.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
I'll tell you, man, as they were all in with
you the entire time. I'll tell you this, this comeback
that we have now detailed from many different angles.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Now we're gonna give you a different one.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Now, fire the coach. Well, yeah, we'll get We'll get
to Kenny Akasa later on this hour. I just stand
that thesis statement out there. Now, let it marinate. Playoff
Harden showed up again in a large way. Okay, Now,
generally we talk about Playoff Harden in that here's Harden.
We've seen it throughout the playoffs his entire career. He
(02:30):
plays pretty well, the game gets close near the end,
he gets tired as the as the series go on.
In the playoffs, he plays worse.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
He plays a lot of minutes now and always does.
And that's part of it is that he doesn't take
a lot of regular season games off. So you're playing
forty plus a night at thirty seven.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Yeah, thirty seven in a row in a row. Hey,
happy anniversary road house. And look at the look at
the last round. First two games against the Pistons was terrible,
the next three games fantastic, last two not so much.
Even the game they blew him out on Sunday, the
Pistons didn't show up. Harden another bad game, So four
bad games out of seven, but still the Cavaliers were
(03:09):
able to overcome that.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Tonight.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Harden not only plays terrible offensively, defensively, he gets absolutely
lit up. And a lot of it is you got
to put it in the blame on Kenny Atkins and
because he didn't change the defense at all, Like, dude,
they are absolutely cooking Jays. They are cooking him. James
Harden is being like his beard might catch fire. He
is getting burnt so badly, throw the damn towel every
(03:33):
single play. I don't know why they didn't do it
earlier in the game, but once the fourth quarter hit.
Midway through the fourth quarter, everything they did was at
James Harden.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Well, part of it is the equation of with the
many a weary minute, if you at least can get
back within striking range, he's gassed.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
And you think I'm lying to you. Here's Knicks head
coach Mike Brown following the game tonight talking about the
Knick strategy in the fourth quarter in overtime. We have
to try to figure out that guard Harden and and Mitchell.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
They got to figure out different ways.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
To guard Jalen.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
But we were there is no secret we.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
Were attacking hard.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
It's no secret we were attacking Harden at my signal unleash,
attacking Harden, and that's playoff Harden, right Like you you
watch this mixtape and you see a guy that just
seems like I have one one quick effort every time
down the fly, have one one move in me and
then I'm done. Right then I'm not gonna stay with
(04:30):
my guy. I'm not gonna be able to stick with him.
I have, you know, whether it's trying to pick up
Jalen Brunson across half court, whatever it is, I have
one kind of move in me and then I'm not
getting there, right, Because it's not just the fact that
the Knicks were hunting Harden with Jalen Brunson. There were
times where they hunted Harden knowing that he was gonna
be near, and it was Brunson finding Landry Shammitt for
(04:50):
a three, finding Ogian Unobi underneath when Harden would stray away,
like it's it's so embarrassing watching Harden just kind of
stand around and the Valiers not do anything about it,
Like they were like, okay, yeah, hey, yeah, well well
we'll get him. We'll get him, but don't worry about it. Oh, James,
get him better the next time. Like watch watch the mixtape, man,
watch the Professor's mixtape.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Right, watch what happened?
Speaker 1 (05:13):
You would say, what the hell are the Cavaliers doing, man,
Because it's not like James Harden has found the fountain
of youth. It's not like all Harden is playing at
a better level he's ever played out in the playoffs. No,
this has been James Harden his entire career. The deeper
the playoffs go, the more tired he gets. He's not
going to affect the game and this series offensively because
(05:33):
the Knicks are not gonna send him to the free
throw line.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Right.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
That's why Josh Hart, who guarded Mitchell tonight for the
first half of the game, the Knicks realize, we can't
do it. We can't do that because he was blowing
by Josh Hart, Right, Josh Hart's more of a guy
to put on Harden where he's not going to the
veteran who's not gonna fall for his moves, not gonna
get to the free throw line as much, because that's
what James Harden has offensively in this series because again,
thirty seven tons of minutes. It's why teams don't build
(05:57):
around guys who are thirty seven, because you can't win
when a thirty seven year old is your second best player.
So I knew offensively he wasn't gonna be able to
affect the score sheet as much because the Knicks were
gonna guard him pretty well, and they did, but now defensively,
it's like, wow, can we even have the guy out there?
So now your second best player who you relied on
for those three games, and he was terrific against the Pistons.
(06:18):
Those three games, he was terrific. The other four games
he was terrible. But yet tonight here's another game, more
turnovers that then field goals awful defensively when you've taken
your second best player, And now the Cavaliers, if you're
being truthful, is saying, what do we do? What do
we do with Harden out there? What can we do defensively?
Like the Knicks have such a huge advantage right now
because this is the guy when when he comes in
(06:41):
and takes on such a big role. At the trade deadline,
I know the Cavaliers thought, well, Harden's coming in and
he's gonna be you know, we're not gonna he's not
gonna be our second best player. He'll be our third
or fourth best player. But what he can still do
veteran still a great passer, still a great distributor down low.
He's gonna hit some threes, but that's not now he's
taken on such a big role because Jared Allen sometimes invisible. Right,
(07:01):
you can't count on anybody else to pick up the
slack scoring wise, for Donovan Mitchell, And that's why tonight
was a perfect game for them the first three quarters
because Mitchell is able to get down low and distribute
where the ball needed to go because the Knicks were
over pursuing defensively. Now with Harden, it's what do you do, Like,
I don't know if you're the Cavaliers, if you can
rely on Harden distributing the ball and being your main
(07:24):
your your main ball a dribbler or and defensively, what
are you gonna do to hide him on the floor? Like,
I don't know what you can do with Harden now.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
At this point, Yeah, you got a little bit of
a boost from Merrill off the bench. He finished with
twelve points. But to your point, with Harden, I'm gonna
show you the shot chart. You can have a pretty
good laugh at this when you when you get down
to the final three quarters, we get to third quarter,
fourth quarter, in our overtime period, uh he was all
(07:53):
of two of eleven, including uh for seven from three
point range. So you have that already chronicled the fun
and excitement that was Donovan Mitchell. He was three of
ten in the second half and overtime number of turnovers
and then defensively, we've really taken the baseball bat and
(08:15):
Galu leaed James Ard in every move, just like Mike
Brown did in his post there. But you've got no
place to hide him right. Even Atkinson was asked about, well,
did you think about substituting him out for defensive purposes
down the stretch, and his response was no, He's been
really good for us defensively and at times he has,
even go back to Game seven, he didn't shoot well
(08:37):
in the finale against the Pistons, but six assists, won turnover,
and did have a couple of plays that he made
down the stretch that aren't going to show up necessarily
in the box score to get you over. But for
this one, he's Donovan Mitchell's lucky because his disappearing act
in the second half is not going to he's on
(08:58):
the metal stand, but he's third.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
He made, got shot to him a twenty two point lead.
Last points he scored in the game.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Eight nineteen left in the fourth quarter. That was it,
and then nary a shot opportunity thereafter. We saw the turnovers,
we saw the terrible play in the interior, but settling
for three point shots like you need, like you were
desperately trying to come back as opposed to either running
(09:24):
shot clock and then getting a good possession. Talked about
the end of regulation, which was unconscionable with the amount
of time that they had left after the Brunson make.
But yeah, you're in a tough spot right now when
you're looking at James Harden and the turnover ratio certainly
remains problematic overall. But here's your blueprint, right who's gonna
(09:46):
step up for you and give you meaningful minutes to
try to slow down Brunson off the dribble. I don't
know who that becomes, Like your fine defensive interior, That's
not who you gotta worry about. It's about Jalen Brunson
being able to break you down off the dribble and
either make a shot as he's so adept at doing,
and we've chronicled, you know, his his brilliance in the
(10:08):
lane and getting the lay. He had won three point
make for the thirty eight points, didn't live at the
foul line, had his share. But overall, it's a bunch
of blue dots in the interiors. So making play after
play or finding the open man, I don't know that
Cleveland has an answer for it.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
No, it's it's like I said, sometimes when you lose
a game, your faults get laid bare, and once in
a while we see it. And tonight Cleveland's loss. Okay,
we played, they played great basketball. Second quarter, third quarter, right,
they played where they played really good. First half of
the first quarter, the Knicks came back. But second quarter,
third quarter, early part of the fourth quarter, they owned
(10:45):
the game. But when they needed something, when they need
and again, you know, hey, if merrill shot is maybe
four inches different, maybe he hits that shot at the
end of regulation and they win. But the bottom line is, now, okay,
Mitchell wasn't hitting shots, didn't score again again past that
point in the game. Where else you gonna go? Who
else are you going to?
Speaker 5 (11:06):
You're go.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
It's the same thing with the Pistons. Why did the
Pistons get knocked out by the Cavs Because who was
there gonna Jalen Durrant supposed to be their number two
guy behind Kate Cunningham. Kate Cunningham didn't shoot well the
entire playoff. When you don't have somebody else that's expected
to pick up that scoring slack, all of a sudden,
you look like a team that's struggling. You don't know
where to go with the ball. Who's gonna get hot
for you? All of a sudden, there's nobody else now
(11:29):
besides Donovan Mitchell and this the Knicks are licking their
chops going into Game two. F off.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
Yeah. The other things out of this, for you know,
the the macro approach to it is shameful free throw
shooting on both sides now for you, mostly the fun
and excitement of Mitch Robbinson. That's why I want to
give Mike Brown really big credit here. Uh. He was
not gonna be useful to you because you would have
had no chance to come back if he was still
(11:55):
on the court for any length of time, because they
would have just wrapped him up and just hugged every
time down the court and put him to the vall line.
So you have that, they miss eleven free throws. Now
Cavaliers trying to put the game away, they miss seven themselves.
Yeah right, So that's that stands out. But finding that
secondary option that's going to be consistent scoring because his
(12:16):
heart went absolutely broke, shooting the basketball right, a couple
of drives early, but from three point range. He had nothing.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
I mean, I'm not worried you're tired. I'm not worried
about James. You need Donovan Mitchell to play superhuman every
game the rest of the series to even win a game,
right Nixon four?
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Nick?
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Oh, come, I need him to play superhuman like he
did in the first three and a half quarters this game.
Also six deals tonight for Donna Mitchell. The guy was
phenomenal in the first night. He came in tonight and
you knew, I'm wearing my Mets hat. You know, local
guy New York loves the Mets. Impossibly for you to hate
Dono Mitchell because he loves the Mets as much as
I do. But you could tell, hey, I'm trolling, I'm
coming back home, and you watch the game. I have
(12:55):
again another one of those players where hey, I'm one player,
but when MSG is I'm a different guy. I'm a
superhero when I go walk into MSG. And he was
that guy for the first three and a half quarters.
He needs to be that guy, and I don't think
you can do that for an entire series.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Can two other guys that I want to just make
mention of, Karl Anthony Towns not massive statistically, but thirteen
and thirteen we chronicled the three point make that really
made us all kind of chuckle. But off the bench,
Landry Shaman, he was plus twenty five and a three
that bounced three times off the rim and bounced through
like but he had his number called for a shot
(13:33):
four times. He knocked down three big three pointers and
picked up where Mitchell Robinson could not. In you knows
of being a clutch player and allowing you to go
and orchestrate your offense. I'm glad you brought up that
sham with three because to finish here on this is
that there's sometimes where your team makes a shot where
you go it's its destiny, right Like when Halliburton made
(13:57):
that shot last year for the Pacers, you go, wow,
you know it's destiny. When Shammitt when you're down three
in the final minute and he's the guy and it's
a wide open three and he's made plenty of right,
he's been great off the bench.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
But when he makes the three, but it's one that
bounces front of the rim, back of the rim, backboard
rim and through, you say, I.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Think it's our time. I think that this might be
our time. Yeah, it's it's funny, right you talk about
the we get into the officiating, your guy Scott Foster
on the call whatever. There was only one that I
really just disagreed with hugely, and it ended up leading
to a Bridge's three point shot because they retained possession.
It was a loose ball file where there really wasn't
(14:38):
a whole lot there, but all right, Nick's retained possession.
And the shot of Adkinson at that point was like
he knew the wave was coming. Yeah, oh call, It
was just at the right moment to kind of give
you that gallows humor laugh on the sideline, and they
stayed with it for a moment. It's like I was
a guy that looked like, all right, this is getting bad,
(14:59):
like when you're.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Wave pulling a water parking. Then you hear the siren going,
you know, here comes the way, here it go.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
But it was like the crowd started getting jacked again
and then Bridges hits that three and it's it was
on from there.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Exit ut vouta Fresca exit, swallowing down the Jason Smith
Show with my best friend Mike Harmon.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Coming up next.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Evidence that I am from the future and I knew
the octor of tonight's game, even when the Knicks were
down by twenty.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Two or the fourth quarter, Well yet that you made
eighty to one plus.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
You will hear what you think is an AI quote
about someone from tonight's game that someone said it is
not is a real quote.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
It happened Magic Johnson. You'll hear it next. Fox very much.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
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 6 (15:52):
So that got here. I have a podcast empire. It
continues to grow, and I have brought it here to iHeart.
I'm also doing a live radio show from three to
five pm Eastern because my.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
Wife wanted to kick me out of the house.
Speaker 6 (16:06):
It's called Stu Gotson Company Live, which is available in
podcast form right when the show finishes every single day.
Some of the biggest names in sports. A lot of phone.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
Calls, I love you guys.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
You show it's one of my favorites.
Speaker 6 (16:19):
A lot of interaction, sit guys not taking themselves too seriously.
Those are just some of the things that you can
expect from Stu Gotson Company. And ste Gotson Company Live.
So listen to Stu Gotson Company Live and our original podcast.
Please subscribe, rate and review Stu Gotson Company and God
Bless football. Taylor's livelihood depends on it. You do it
(16:41):
today and you can check all of those out on
the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
It keeps getting louder Foxports Radio, The Jason Smith Show
with my bass friend Mike Carmen Brew.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
If the Knicks win the title, I mean, you just
get to the finals, there will be T shirts that
say ninety two seventy one seven fifty two?
Speaker 3 (17:28):
Is that a locker combination? What it is? That is
that at the bus stop? And that was the there.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
That was the score of this game in the fourth quarter,
ninety two to seventy one with seven fifty two left
to go. No sorry, ninety three seventy one, ninety three
seventy one with because my math was bad too uh
even to go in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
Yeah, Kenny, that's gonna be a T shirt of the
math either.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
That's gonna be a T shirt right coming back from
that twenty two down to win this game in overtime,
they run away from the Cavs one to fifteen one four?
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Are you gonna do your parody of twenty five us? Steve?
Speaker 1 (18:04):
No, no, no, I was thinking more of the odds
of the Knicks winning was ten thousand, five thousand, four
hundred and seventy four odds to one, like whatever. The
song from the Office Rent was Yeah, there you go. Yeah,
But I want to tell you, because you know, no
matter what happens, I want to tell you that I
am from the future and I know how things go. Okay,
And you say, I don't know, but I know how
(18:25):
things go. When we came on the air tonight seven o'clock,
seven oh one point thirty, it was a twenty point
lead for the Cavaliers, right, I think it was ninety
three seventy three at that point. And you know, Justin
and Alex who you know, find no opportunities or every
opportunity to say, hey, let's give Jason some flak and
(18:45):
let's twist the knife on him. Uh, you know, wanted
to kind of mock my Nixon four that I've been
saying for the better part of the last week and
a half. Right, Hey, no matter who comes out of this,
Cavaliers pistons doesn't matter, right, Nix and four Nix and
four no mocking. So now the Knicks are down twenty
with seven minutes to go in the game. It feels
(19:05):
like it's over. This was what happened. This was how
the show opened tonight. The first two voices you will
hear are Justin Frostberg and Alex Ticscher. Then the voice
of the hammer comes in, which is me. This was
the open of the show tonight at seven o'clock.
Speaker 6 (19:23):
Nixon for Nixon, for Nicks, In for Nick in far Nixon.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
It's still the third quarter. It's quarter of the game.
It's the third quarter. Fo okay, save this.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
So when the Knicks come back and win, we play
at the beginning of next hour, so we're never gonna play,
they say, Now, it was funny.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
The bargaining into the anger. We've played the two things
we got from you. They were showing you support. I'm
they were still believing I'm.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
From the future. I told you, And what do we
do the beginning of next hour? We played it because
they at that point the game was then over by
the time we got to the eight o'clock Pacific Coast
hour of the show, and we played it off the top.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
There, I'm from the future. Now, you and I have
been in these chairs at Fox Sports Radio's done many
an hour of great sports talk radio and and interviews
and conversations, a lot of laughs, pop culture, everything mixed in.
But we have seen a lot of thrilling games, a
lot of big moments. Last night we we did the
Wemby game, and that was insane. I don't know that
(20:27):
I've ever had an hour feel so long because the
pendulum just swung completely in the entire other direction, like
we're coming on air, you making some notes, all right,
here's the ineffectiveness, here's here's how terrible and flat footed
they've been. And then all of a sudden, oh wait,
now it's the Cavaliers turn to do that, and just
(20:48):
like that. Yeah, but it was funny because you were
getting quiet. Yeah, and we see a lot of you know,
the the highlights and and and all of the chaos,
and when there's it's a serious topic, it's like, well,
you know, it is a terrible news out of here,
And that's kind of where you were for the first
fifteen minutes almost was. And then as soon as they started.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Yeah, I'm watching the comeback and I don't know what
it was, but part of me was like, Okay, don't
get too crazy. It's a fifteen point game, all right,
don't get too crazy. It's a twelve point game. It's
a nine point game. All that back out to ten. Okay,
it's a seven point game. Art's a five point game.
Art's a seven point game. It's a six point game,
it's a three point game. It's the game is tied.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
Well, and then you say DiCaprio and you know once
upon a time in Hollywood where he's sitting in the
chair and he's pointing at the TV because you saw, Hey,
they're going after James Harden again.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
And then I didn't really get over the top excited
until the game went to overtime, because that's what I knew. Hey,
the Cavaliers are cooked, they are done, burnt to a crisp.
The Knicks were gonna win, and they won, but it
was really close. As we mentioned, Hey, uh if that
three at the buzzer and look a nice pass by
(22:02):
James Harden behind the back to Meryl. This ball goes
in and out going to overtime. This is Mike Breen,
longtime NIXT play by play man, he of the bang call.
He gave you a nearly premature bang, but the ball
bounced out and we went to overtime.
Speaker 5 (22:23):
Meryl pre Punter, bag no no, no, hit it out,
hit it out, bang no no, no stop Pree punter,
but no no bang no bang.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Yet it wasn't wasn't big enough for a Mike Breen
double bang. But I equate it to remember when Ruy
Hachimura was standing on the sidelines waiting to come back
in and and they drew up a perfect place, great
sho same thing here, as good as Merril has been.
(22:59):
He had twelve off the bench for him here and
he's wide open. He gets a good look. Yeah don't,
I don't. I don't discount that. But you had a lot.
You had nineteen seconds on the clock to work to
that three point shot by the guy coming off the bench,
Y pre Potter. And I know he was a hero
(23:19):
in Game seven, don't get me wrong, But that that's
the shot that that's what you settle for. That you
don't decide to penetrate and try to attack the rim
or get hard into the line, or get the ball
in Mitchell's hands, You acquiescent. That's the shot you get
to well, I will tell you this pre Potter, but
(23:41):
not a great game for Kenny Atkinson. I'm just gonna
go out there. I'm just gonna say it. I'm gone
for firing all night the sign.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
How great would it be to see him getting fired
and Tibbs coaching the team in game two?
Speaker 3 (23:54):
Well, they played defense, but they'd be equally or more
tired than they were in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
TIB's wearing the Cavaliers all black jumpsuit with his arms
folded watching the game.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
Go like, I mean, how great would that be? Your fired? TIBs,
You're hired. We're firing you, Kenny.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Because Kenny Atkinson had that bad a game, that bad
a game, the Knicks could not have come back if
Atkinson did not do his part, he might get a
game ball. In fact, if I'm Brunson after the game,
I go, I go to the locker room, knock on
the door, Hey, I know he just won game. Coach
wanted to give you a game ball.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
Decisions here, Giannis can run in and gravit, say that's
my ball, that's my ball, that's my ball.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
Uh, Kenny Atkinson. A couple of things. Number One, we
talked about it a few minutes ago. The refusal to
do anything defensively to move James Harden off of Jalen Brunson.
Mike Brown even said it, we were hunting hard and
defensively help the ball at least. Uh really and and
doesn't use any timeouts. He had timeouts, had the user
(24:52):
to lose at timeouts that he did not use. As
the Knicks were eating into this lead, they were like
pac Man, just go walk, I walk walk, walk walk.
We're more like plants versus zombies. Just the zombies just
eating them.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
I started thinking about Fazzy Bear walk walk walk.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Uh did not use the timeouts. So thank you to
Kenny Atkinson for this. Now, if you think I'm lying,
we're gonna play the sound bite. Now, this is not
a I no, you think this is an aid.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
All of us betted this to make sure that it
was not a foe account.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
He didn't really said no, no, no, he said this.
This is Kenny Atkinson talking about his timeouts, why he
didn't use him, and then we'll tell you why this
was like one of the worst things you can do
as a head coach.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
Yeah, well, I like to hold my timeouts. I mean,
you know, I didn't want to have one time out
of the end of the game, one or two point game.
I try to hold him, you know, because.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
If you're going to play the game Boy because.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Game too, they're gonna use those time outs used them before,
They're gonna use them like in the middle of plays,
Like that's gonna be able to them. They're gonna use
them for a four point play and you say, no, no, no,
I called that timeout before the four point play.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
Oh, wipe it off the board?
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Does that come out? I love my timeouts. I like
to hold them them. I like to hold them, count them.
They're timeouts. I love them. I love my timeouts.
Speaker 5 (26:24):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Now, there's a couple of reasons why you would use
your timeouts. And you know, while while you're seeing your
lead just get eaten away. And this is where a coach,
and we mentioned this earlier in the show, sometimes coaches
get caught up watching the game and not coaching it.
And that's what happened to Kenny Atkinson tonight because there
was nothing other than come on, guys, in the last
(26:45):
seven minutes that you saw. There was no plays drawn
up offensively, There's none of this timeouts are used for
many different reasons. Now one, Okay, when another team is
going on a run, you want to stop their momentum. Right,
you can be a believer in momentum or not. Some
people believe in it, some people don't. But you could
see that, Hey, the energy in Madison Square Garden had changed.
And this is where you use your timeouts to get
(27:07):
your guys heads in the right spot. Okay, I know
we're losing the game. Don't go crazy. Let's make sure
that we know what we need to do out there.
We play our game. Or hey, let me set up
an easy bucket force or an easy chance in a
bucket force coming out of this timeout. Right, we're gonna
call a timeout. We're gonna use this here. We're gonna
is O'Donovan On Jalen Brunson, get him to the hoops
something where we're gonna get a hoop and we're gonna
(27:30):
calm things down a little bit. There was none of that.
There was none of that. And there's so many reasons,
but it's why you use your timeouts. It's why it's
not just to advance the ball at the I want
to have a time out at the end. Had you
use your time out. Maybe you could have gotten an
extra bucket and that might have been the difference. But
the fact that he just he basically watched the end
of the game. He watched the end of the game
not using your timeouts because I like to hold onto them.
(27:50):
What what that's the worst thing you can say is
I like to hold onto my timeouts. You know, you
run out Vic Fangio uses more timeouts and that's a
good pull, uses more timeouts. To Kenny Atkinson did like,
that's where you look at and go, man, I don't
know that we have the guy that can get us
through this round, but.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
We're watching possession after possession where in the a few
good men kind of over at the sideline hel how
someone's got a defensive scheme that can help James Harden,
who is now being dusted time and time again by
Jalen Brunson. You have had that super cut of those
(28:28):
possessions on a loop for the last two hours, grinning
like an idiot over there because it was just so
obvious that you had to do something. You didn't call
a time out, nor did you get your defensive wizardry
and your news team assemble to come up with some
kind of plan to stop the bleeding.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Okay, so there's your big epic fail for during the
game going to be screwed. Well, all the time out.
Cavs could win by fifty with those two extra time outs.
You'll blow your mind for coming that you would think
that at the end of the game. This is where
I pick up my team, I pick things up, and
I talk about game two and what we did well
(29:08):
in all of these. Instead, listen to Kenny Atkinson. This
is stuff you say when the series is over, when
you're eliminated and you're going home, when you go home
in the final four, when you lose game seven of
a playoff round, listen to Kenny Atkinson. He sounds like
he knows the series is done.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
We guarded James Harden when it's over. I'm just leaving
hardened out there. This was Atkinson.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
I mean, he sounds like a guy that's just yeah, hey,
you know, end of senior year. Good luck everybody, Well
see all in school. In the fall.
Speaker 4 (29:42):
They had some really tough shots in that fourth quarter,
you know, those two threes, prayer threes and the shot clock.
We got a little unlucky, quite honestly, Brunson obviously took
over at the end, and you know, we started a
double team and I'm gonna try to try to do
some different things. But I said, I'm super proud of
the way our group played. We played great basketball tonight
(30:03):
for you know, three quarters. Unfortunately fourth quarter they dominated
us in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
I mean, really, hey, we got unlucky with Brunson. While
you look at the shots they made. I'm super proud
of our guys like that. You say that when it's over,
when it's done, and a we're gonna have our exit interviews.
I love what all the guys did. We had a
great year. It's game one and it sounds like, yeah,
I'm done.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific.
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. Jesus.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Hello, Welcome inside final Hour tonight The Jason Smith Show
with my bes friend Mike Harmon.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Nixon for Nixon for Nixon.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
For I gonna tell you you know, this is now
like the about the fourth or fifth time I watch it,
I kind of really dig the end one mixtape of
Just the Knicks just using James Harden the entire fourth
quarter in overtime.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Well, we talked about it as it was happening, going stout,
you know, stop, It's like it's it's done, Come on,
what are you doing? Who is that guy? For the Professor?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Right?
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Was the big guy from the N one league that
would make all those crazy places like it was almost
like watching the Professor mixtape was watching just Jalen Brunson
just absolutely cook James Harden.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Well, this becomes at some point you have someone just
cut into the middle of it. Let me remind you,
this is all in a quarter and a half of
the same game. This is not an amalgam of Brunson
and Harden going after each other over a period of time. No, no, no,
this is one game and a microcosm of what you
(01:38):
just see the train wreck and you watch it happen,
possession after possession, and yes, that that video clip. I'm
sure you'll watch a million times. You'll sync it up
with our crack staff and our guys Alex and Justin
and their Nixon for tribute that they paid to you
at the start of the show.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
I'll tell you, man, as they were all in with
you the entire time. I'll tell you this, this comeback
that we have now detailed from many different angles.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Now we're gonna give you a different one.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Now, fire the coach. Well, yeah, we'll get We'll get
to Kenny Akasa later on this hour. I just stand
that thesis statement out there. Now, let it marinate. Playoff
Harden showed up again in a large way. Okay, Now,
generally we talk about Playoff Harden in that here's Harden.
We've seen it throughout the playoffs his entire career. He
(02:30):
plays pretty well, the game gets close near the end,
he gets tired as the as the series go on.
In the playoffs, he plays worse.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
He plays a lot of minutes now and always does.
And that's part of it is that he doesn't take
a lot of regular season games off. So you're playing
forty plus a night at thirty seven.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Yeah, thirty seven in a row in a row. Hey,
happy anniversary road house. And look at the look at
the last round. First two games against the Pistons was terrible,
the next three games fantastic, last two not so much.
Even the game they blew him out on Sunday, the
Pistons didn't show up. Harden another bad game, So four
bad games out of seven, but still the Cavaliers were
(03:09):
able to overcome that.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Tonight.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Harden not only plays terrible offensively, defensively, he gets absolutely
lit up. And a lot of it is you got
to put it in the blame on Kenny Atkins and
because he didn't change the defense at all, Like, dude,
they are absolutely cooking Jays. They are cooking him. James
Harden is being like his beard might catch fire. He
is getting burnt so badly, throw the damn towel every
(03:33):
single play. I don't know why they didn't do it
earlier in the game, but once the fourth quarter hit.
Midway through the fourth quarter, everything they did was at
James Harden.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Well, part of it is the equation of with the
many a weary minute, if you at least can get
back within striking range, he's gassed.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
And you think I'm lying to you. Here's Knicks head
coach Mike Brown following the game tonight talking about the
Knick strategy in the fourth quarter in overtime. We have
to try to figure out that guard Harden and and Mitchell.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
They got to figure out different ways.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
To guard Jalen.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
But we were there is no secret we.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
Were attacking hard.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
It's no secret we were attacking Harden at my signal unleash,
attacking Harden, and that's playoff Harden, right Like you you
watch this mixtape and you see a guy that just
seems like I have one one quick effort every time
down the fly, have one one move in me and
then I'm done. Right then I'm not gonna stay with
(04:30):
my guy. I'm not gonna be able to stick with him.
I have, you know, whether it's trying to pick up
Jalen Brunson across half court, whatever it is, I have
one kind of move in me and then I'm not
getting there, right, Because it's not just the fact that
the Knicks were hunting Harden with Jalen Brunson. There were
times where they hunted Harden knowing that he was gonna
be near, and it was Brunson finding Landry Shammitt for
(04:50):
a three, finding Ogian Unobi underneath when Harden would stray away,
like it's it's so embarrassing watching Harden just kind of
stand around and the Valiers not do anything about it,
Like they were like, okay, yeah, hey, yeah, well well
we'll get him. We'll get him, but don't worry about it. Oh, James,
get him better the next time. Like watch watch the mixtape, man,
watch the Professor's mixtape.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Right, watch what happened?
Speaker 1 (05:13):
You would say, what the hell are the Cavaliers doing, man,
Because it's not like James Harden has found the fountain
of youth. It's not like all Harden is playing at
a better level he's ever played out in the playoffs. No,
this has been James Harden his entire career. The deeper
the playoffs go, the more tired he gets. He's not
going to affect the game and this series offensively because
(05:33):
the Knicks are not gonna send him to the free
throw line.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Right.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
That's why Josh Hart, who guarded Mitchell tonight for the
first half of the game, the Knicks realize, we can't
do it. We can't do that because he was blowing
by Josh Hart, Right, Josh Hart's more of a guy
to put on Harden where he's not going to the
veteran who's not gonna fall for his moves, not gonna
get to the free throw line as much, because that's
what James Harden has offensively in this series because again,
thirty seven tons of minutes. It's why teams don't build
(05:57):
around guys who are thirty seven, because you can't win
when a thirty seven year old is your second best player.
So I knew offensively he wasn't gonna be able to
affect the score sheet as much because the Knicks were
gonna guard him pretty well, and they did, but now defensively,
it's like, wow, can we even have the guy out there?
So now your second best player who you relied on
for those three games, and he was terrific against the Pistons.
(06:18):
Those three games, he was terrific. The other four games
he was terrible. But yet tonight here's another game, more
turnovers that then field goals awful defensively when you've taken
your second best player, And now the Cavaliers, if you're
being truthful, is saying, what do we do? What do
we do with Harden out there? What can we do defensively?
Like the Knicks have such a huge advantage right now
because this is the guy when when he comes in
(06:41):
and takes on such a big role. At the trade deadline,
I know the Cavaliers thought, well, Harden's coming in and
he's gonna be you know, we're not gonna he's not
gonna be our second best player. He'll be our third
or fourth best player. But what he can still do
veteran still a great passer, still a great distributor down low.
He's gonna hit some threes, but that's not now he's
taken on such a big role because Jared Allen sometimes invisible. Right,
(07:01):
you can't count on anybody else to pick up the
slack scoring wise, for Donovan Mitchell, And that's why tonight
was a perfect game for them the first three quarters
because Mitchell is able to get down low and distribute
where the ball needed to go because the Knicks were
over pursuing defensively. Now with Harden, it's what do you do, Like,
I don't know if you're the Cavaliers, if you can
rely on Harden distributing the ball and being your main
(07:24):
your your main ball a dribbler or and defensively, what
are you gonna do to hide him on the floor? Like,
I don't know what you can do with Harden now.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
At this point, Yeah, you got a little bit of
a boost from Merrill off the bench. He finished with
twelve points. But to your point, with Harden, I'm gonna
show you the shot chart. You can have a pretty
good laugh at this when you when you get down
to the final three quarters, we get to third quarter,
fourth quarter, in our overtime period, uh he was all
(07:53):
of two of eleven, including uh for seven from three
point range. So you have that already chronicled the fun
and excitement that was Donovan Mitchell. He was three of
ten in the second half and overtime number of turnovers
and then defensively, we've really taken the baseball bat and
(08:15):
Galu leaed James Ard in every move, just like Mike
Brown did in his post there. But you've got no
place to hide him right. Even Atkinson was asked about, well,
did you think about substituting him out for defensive purposes
down the stretch, and his response was no, He's been
really good for us defensively and at times he has,
even go back to Game seven, he didn't shoot well
(08:37):
in the finale against the Pistons, but six assists, won turnover,
and did have a couple of plays that he made
down the stretch that aren't going to show up necessarily
in the box score to get you over. But for
this one, he's Donovan Mitchell's lucky because his disappearing act
in the second half is not going to he's on
(08:58):
the metal stand, but he's third.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
He made, got shot to him a twenty two point lead.
Last points he scored in the game.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Eight nineteen left in the fourth quarter. That was it,
and then nary a shot opportunity thereafter. We saw the turnovers,
we saw the terrible play in the interior, but settling
for three point shots like you need, like you were
desperately trying to come back as opposed to either running
(09:24):
shot clock and then getting a good possession. Talked about
the end of regulation, which was unconscionable with the amount
of time that they had left after the Brunson make.
But yeah, you're in a tough spot right now when
you're looking at James Harden and the turnover ratio certainly
remains problematic overall. But here's your blueprint, right who's gonna
(09:46):
step up for you and give you meaningful minutes to
try to slow down Brunson off the dribble. I don't
know who that becomes, Like your fine defensive interior, That's
not who you gotta worry about. It's about Jalen Brunson
being able to break you down off the dribble and
either make a shot as he's so adept at doing,
and we've chronicled, you know, his his brilliance in the
(10:08):
lane and getting the lay. He had won three point
make for the thirty eight points, didn't live at the
foul line, had his share. But overall, it's a bunch
of blue dots in the interiors. So making play after
play or finding the open man, I don't know that
Cleveland has an answer for it.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
No, it's it's like I said, sometimes when you lose
a game, your faults get laid bare, and once in
a while we see it. And tonight Cleveland's loss. Okay,
we played, they played great basketball. Second quarter, third quarter, right,
they played where they played really good. First half of
the first quarter, the Knicks came back. But second quarter,
third quarter, early part of the fourth quarter, they owned
(10:45):
the game. But when they needed something, when they need
and again, you know, hey, if merrill shot is maybe
four inches different, maybe he hits that shot at the
end of regulation and they win. But the bottom line is, now, okay,
Mitchell wasn't hitting shots, didn't score again again past that
point in the game. Where else you gonna go? Who
else are you going to?
Speaker 5 (11:06):
You're go.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
It's the same thing with the Pistons. Why did the
Pistons get knocked out by the Cavs Because who was
there gonna Jalen Durrant supposed to be their number two
guy behind Kate Cunningham. Kate Cunningham didn't shoot well the
entire playoff. When you don't have somebody else that's expected
to pick up that scoring slack, all of a sudden,
you look like a team that's struggling. You don't know
where to go with the ball. Who's gonna get hot
for you? All of a sudden, there's nobody else now
(11:29):
besides Donovan Mitchell and this the Knicks are licking their
chops going into Game two. F off.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
Yeah. The other things out of this, for you know,
the the macro approach to it is shameful free throw
shooting on both sides now for you, mostly the fun
and excitement of Mitch Robbinson. That's why I want to
give Mike Brown really big credit here. Uh. He was
not gonna be useful to you because you would have
had no chance to come back if he was still
(11:55):
on the court for any length of time, because they
would have just wrapped him up and just hugged every
time down the court and put him to the vall line.
So you have that, they miss eleven free throws. Now
Cavaliers trying to put the game away, they miss seven themselves.
Yeah right, So that's that stands out. But finding that
secondary option that's going to be consistent scoring because his
(12:16):
heart went absolutely broke, shooting the basketball right, a couple
of drives early, but from three point range. He had nothing.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
I mean, I'm not worried you're tired. I'm not worried
about James. You need Donovan Mitchell to play superhuman every
game the rest of the series to even win a game,
right Nixon four?
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Nick?
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Oh, come, I need him to play superhuman like he
did in the first three and a half quarters this game.
Also six deals tonight for Donna Mitchell. The guy was
phenomenal in the first night. He came in tonight and
you knew, I'm wearing my Mets hat. You know, local
guy New York loves the Mets. Impossibly for you to hate
Dono Mitchell because he loves the Mets as much as
I do. But you could tell, hey, I'm trolling, I'm
coming back home, and you watch the game. I have
(12:55):
again another one of those players where hey, I'm one player,
but when MSG is I'm a different guy. I'm a
superhero when I go walk into MSG. And he was
that guy for the first three and a half quarters.
He needs to be that guy, and I don't think
you can do that for an entire series.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Can two other guys that I want to just make
mention of, Karl Anthony Towns not massive statistically, but thirteen
and thirteen we chronicled the three point make that really
made us all kind of chuckle. But off the bench,
Landry Shaman, he was plus twenty five and a three
that bounced three times off the rim and bounced through
like but he had his number called for a shot
(13:33):
four times. He knocked down three big three pointers and
picked up where Mitchell Robinson could not. In you knows
of being a clutch player and allowing you to go
and orchestrate your offense. I'm glad you brought up that
sham with three because to finish here on this is
that there's sometimes where your team makes a shot where
you go it's its destiny, right Like when Halliburton made
(13:57):
that shot last year for the Pacers, you go, wow,
you know it's destiny. When Shammitt when you're down three
in the final minute and he's the guy and it's
a wide open three and he's made plenty of right,
he's been great off the bench.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
But when he makes the three, but it's one that
bounces front of the rim, back of the rim, backboard
rim and through, you say, I.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Think it's our time. I think that this might be
our time. Yeah, it's it's funny, right you talk about
the we get into the officiating, your guy Scott Foster
on the call whatever. There was only one that I
really just disagreed with hugely, and it ended up leading
to a Bridge's three point shot because they retained possession.
It was a loose ball file where there really wasn't
(14:38):
a whole lot there, but all right, Nick's retained possession.
And the shot of Adkinson at that point was like
he knew the wave was coming. Yeah, oh call, It
was just at the right moment to kind of give
you that gallows humor laugh on the sideline, and they
stayed with it for a moment. It's like I was
a guy that looked like, all right, this is getting bad,
(14:59):
like when you're.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Wave pulling a water parking. Then you hear the siren going,
you know, here comes the way, here it go.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
But it was like the crowd started getting jacked again
and then Bridges hits that three and it's it was
on from there.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Exit ut vouta Fresca exit, swallowing down the Jason Smith
Show with my best friend Mike Harmon.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Coming up next.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Evidence that I am from the future and I knew
the octor of tonight's game, even when the Knicks were
down by twenty.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Two or the fourth quarter, Well yet that you made
eighty to one plus.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
You will hear what you think is an AI quote
about someone from tonight's game that someone said it is
not is a real quote.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
It happened Magic Johnson. You'll hear it next. Fox very much.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
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 6 (15:52):
So that got here. I have a podcast empire. It
continues to grow, and I have brought it here to iHeart.
I'm also doing a live radio show from three to
five pm Eastern because my.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
Wife wanted to kick me out of the house.
Speaker 6 (16:06):
It's called Stu Gotson Company Live, which is available in
podcast form right when the show finishes every single day.
Some of the biggest names in sports. A lot of phone.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
Calls, I love you guys.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
You show it's one of my favorites.
Speaker 6 (16:19):
A lot of interaction, sit guys not taking themselves too seriously.
Those are just some of the things that you can
expect from Stu Gotson Company. And ste Gotson Company Live.
So listen to Stu Gotson Company Live and our original podcast.
Please subscribe, rate and review Stu Gotson Company and God
Bless football. Taylor's livelihood depends on it. You do it
(16:41):
today and you can check all of those out on
the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
It keeps getting louder Foxports Radio, The Jason Smith Show
with my bass friend Mike Carmen Brew.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
If the Knicks win the title, I mean, you just
get to the finals, there will be T shirts that
say ninety two seventy one seven fifty two?
Speaker 3 (17:28):
Is that a locker combination? What it is? That is
that at the bus stop? And that was the there.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
That was the score of this game in the fourth quarter,
ninety two to seventy one with seven fifty two left
to go. No sorry, ninety three seventy one, ninety three
seventy one with because my math was bad too uh
even to go in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
Yeah, Kenny, that's gonna be a T shirt of the
math either.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
That's gonna be a T shirt right coming back from
that twenty two down to win this game in overtime,
they run away from the Cavs one to fifteen one four?
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Are you gonna do your parody of twenty five us? Steve?
Speaker 1 (18:04):
No, no, no, I was thinking more of the odds
of the Knicks winning was ten thousand, five thousand, four
hundred and seventy four odds to one, like whatever. The
song from the Office Rent was Yeah, there you go. Yeah,
But I want to tell you, because you know, no
matter what happens, I want to tell you that I
am from the future and I know how things go. Okay,
And you say, I don't know, but I know how
(18:25):
things go. When we came on the air tonight seven o'clock,
seven oh one point thirty, it was a twenty point
lead for the Cavaliers, right, I think it was ninety
three seventy three at that point. And you know, Justin
and Alex who you know, find no opportunities or every
opportunity to say, hey, let's give Jason some flak and
(18:45):
let's twist the knife on him. Uh, you know, wanted
to kind of mock my Nixon four that I've been
saying for the better part of the last week and
a half. Right, Hey, no matter who comes out of this,
Cavaliers pistons doesn't matter, right, Nix and four Nix and
four no mocking. So now the Knicks are down twenty
with seven minutes to go in the game. It feels
(19:05):
like it's over. This was what happened. This was how
the show opened tonight. The first two voices you will
hear are Justin Frostberg and Alex Ticscher. Then the voice
of the hammer comes in, which is me. This was
the open of the show tonight at seven o'clock.
Speaker 6 (19:23):
Nixon for Nixon, for Nicks, In for Nick in far Nixon.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
It's still the third quarter. It's quarter of the game.
It's the third quarter. Fo okay, save this.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
So when the Knicks come back and win, we play
at the beginning of next hour, so we're never gonna play,
they say, Now, it was funny.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
The bargaining into the anger. We've played the two things
we got from you. They were showing you support. I'm
they were still believing I'm.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
From the future. I told you, And what do we
do the beginning of next hour? We played it because
they at that point the game was then over by
the time we got to the eight o'clock Pacific Coast
hour of the show, and we played it off the top.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
There, I'm from the future. Now, you and I have
been in these chairs at Fox Sports Radio's done many
an hour of great sports talk radio and and interviews
and conversations, a lot of laughs, pop culture, everything mixed in.
But we have seen a lot of thrilling games, a
lot of big moments. Last night we we did the
Wemby game, and that was insane. I don't know that
(20:27):
I've ever had an hour feel so long because the
pendulum just swung completely in the entire other direction, like
we're coming on air, you making some notes, all right,
here's the ineffectiveness, here's here's how terrible and flat footed
they've been. And then all of a sudden, oh wait,
now it's the Cavaliers turn to do that, and just
(20:48):
like that. Yeah, but it was funny because you were
getting quiet. Yeah, and we see a lot of you know,
the the highlights and and and all of the chaos,
and when there's it's a serious topic, it's like, well,
you know, it is a terrible news out of here,
And that's kind of where you were for the first
fifteen minutes almost was. And then as soon as they started.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Yeah, I'm watching the comeback and I don't know what
it was, but part of me was like, Okay, don't
get too crazy. It's a fifteen point game, all right,
don't get too crazy. It's a twelve point game. It's
a nine point game. All that back out to ten. Okay,
it's a seven point game. Art's a five point game.
Art's a seven point game. It's a six point game,
it's a three point game. It's the game is tied.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
Well, and then you say DiCaprio and you know once
upon a time in Hollywood where he's sitting in the
chair and he's pointing at the TV because you saw, Hey,
they're going after James Harden again.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
And then I didn't really get over the top excited
until the game went to overtime, because that's what I knew. Hey,
the Cavaliers are cooked, they are done, burnt to a crisp.
The Knicks were gonna win, and they won, but it
was really close. As we mentioned, Hey, uh if that
three at the buzzer and look a nice pass by
(22:02):
James Harden behind the back to Meryl. This ball goes
in and out going to overtime. This is Mike Breen,
longtime NIXT play by play man, he of the bang call.
He gave you a nearly premature bang, but the ball
bounced out and we went to overtime.
Speaker 5 (22:23):
Meryl pre Punter, bag no no, no, hit it out,
hit it out, bang no no, no stop Pree punter,
but no no bang no bang.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Yet it wasn't wasn't big enough for a Mike Breen
double bang. But I equate it to remember when Ruy
Hachimura was standing on the sidelines waiting to come back
in and and they drew up a perfect place, great
sho same thing here, as good as Merril has been.
(22:59):
He had twelve off the bench for him here and
he's wide open. He gets a good look. Yeah don't,
I don't. I don't discount that. But you had a lot.
You had nineteen seconds on the clock to work to
that three point shot by the guy coming off the bench,
Y pre Potter. And I know he was a hero
(23:19):
in Game seven, don't get me wrong, But that that's
the shot that that's what you settle for. That you
don't decide to penetrate and try to attack the rim
or get hard into the line, or get the ball
in Mitchell's hands, You acquiescent. That's the shot you get
to well, I will tell you this pre Potter, but
(23:41):
not a great game for Kenny Atkinson. I'm just gonna
go out there. I'm just gonna say it. I'm gone
for firing all night the sign.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
How great would it be to see him getting fired
and Tibbs coaching the team in game two?
Speaker 3 (23:54):
Well, they played defense, but they'd be equally or more
tired than they were in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
TIB's wearing the Cavaliers all black jumpsuit with his arms
folded watching the game.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
Go like, I mean, how great would that be? Your fired? TIBs,
You're hired. We're firing you, Kenny.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Because Kenny Atkinson had that bad a game, that bad
a game, the Knicks could not have come back if
Atkinson did not do his part, he might get a
game ball. In fact, if I'm Brunson after the game,
I go, I go to the locker room, knock on
the door, Hey, I know he just won game. Coach
wanted to give you a game ball.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
Decisions here, Giannis can run in and gravit, say that's
my ball, that's my ball, that's my ball.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
Uh, Kenny Atkinson. A couple of things. Number One, we
talked about it a few minutes ago. The refusal to
do anything defensively to move James Harden off of Jalen Brunson.
Mike Brown even said it, we were hunting hard and
defensively help the ball at least. Uh really and and
doesn't use any timeouts. He had timeouts, had the user
(24:52):
to lose at timeouts that he did not use. As
the Knicks were eating into this lead, they were like
pac Man, just go walk, I walk walk, walk walk.
We're more like plants versus zombies. Just the zombies just
eating them.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
I started thinking about Fazzy Bear walk walk walk.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Uh did not use the timeouts. So thank you to
Kenny Atkinson for this. Now, if you think I'm lying,
we're gonna play the sound bite. Now, this is not
a I no, you think this is an aid.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
All of us betted this to make sure that it
was not a foe account.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
He didn't really said no, no, no, he said this.
This is Kenny Atkinson talking about his timeouts, why he
didn't use him, and then we'll tell you why this
was like one of the worst things you can do
as a head coach.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
Yeah, well, I like to hold my timeouts. I mean,
you know, I didn't want to have one time out
of the end of the game, one or two point game.
I try to hold him, you know, because.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
If you're going to play the game Boy because.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Game too, they're gonna use those time outs used them before,
They're gonna use them like in the middle of plays,
Like that's gonna be able to them. They're gonna use
them for a four point play and you say, no, no, no,
I called that timeout before the four point play.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
Oh, wipe it off the board?
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Does that come out? I love my timeouts. I like
to hold them them. I like to hold them, count them.
They're timeouts. I love them. I love my timeouts.
Speaker 5 (26:24):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Now, there's a couple of reasons why you would use
your timeouts. And you know, while while you're seeing your
lead just get eaten away. And this is where a coach,
and we mentioned this earlier in the show, sometimes coaches
get caught up watching the game and not coaching it.
And that's what happened to Kenny Atkinson tonight because there
was nothing other than come on, guys, in the last
(26:45):
seven minutes that you saw. There was no plays drawn
up offensively, There's none of this timeouts are used for
many different reasons. Now one, Okay, when another team is
going on a run, you want to stop their momentum. Right,
you can be a believer in momentum or not. Some
people believe in it, some people don't. But you could
see that, Hey, the energy in Madison Square Garden had changed.
And this is where you use your timeouts to get
(27:07):
your guys heads in the right spot. Okay, I know
we're losing the game. Don't go crazy. Let's make sure
that we know what we need to do out there.
We play our game. Or hey, let me set up
an easy bucket force or an easy chance in a
bucket force coming out of this timeout. Right, we're gonna
call a timeout. We're gonna use this here. We're gonna
is O'Donovan On Jalen Brunson, get him to the hoops
something where we're gonna get a hoop and we're gonna
(27:30):
calm things down a little bit. There was none of that.
There was none of that. And there's so many reasons,
but it's why you use your timeouts. It's why it's
not just to advance the ball at the I want
to have a time out at the end. Had you
use your time out. Maybe you could have gotten an
extra bucket and that might have been the difference. But
the fact that he just he basically watched the end
of the game. He watched the end of the game
not using your timeouts because I like to hold onto them.
(27:50):
What what that's the worst thing you can say is
I like to hold onto my timeouts. You know, you
run out Vic Fangio uses more timeouts and that's a
good pull, uses more timeouts. To Kenny Atkinson did like,
that's where you look at and go, man, I don't
know that we have the guy that can get us
through this round, but.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
We're watching possession after possession where in the a few
good men kind of over at the sideline hel how
someone's got a defensive scheme that can help James Harden,
who is now being dusted time and time again by
Jalen Brunson. You have had that super cut of those
(28:28):
possessions on a loop for the last two hours, grinning
like an idiot over there because it was just so
obvious that you had to do something. You didn't call
a time out, nor did you get your defensive wizardry
and your news team assemble to come up with some
kind of plan to stop the bleeding.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Okay, so there's your big epic fail for during the
game going to be screwed. Well, all the time out.
Cavs could win by fifty with those two extra time outs.
You'll blow your mind for coming that you would think
that at the end of the game. This is where
I pick up my team, I pick things up, and
I talk about game two and what we did well
(29:08):
in all of these. Instead, listen to Kenny Atkinson. This
is stuff you say when the series is over, when
you're eliminated and you're going home, when you go home
in the final four, when you lose game seven of
a playoff round, listen to Kenny Atkinson. He sounds like
he knows the series is done.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
We guarded James Harden when it's over. I'm just leaving
hardened out there. This was Atkinson.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
I mean, he sounds like a guy that's just yeah, hey,
you know, end of senior year. Good luck everybody, Well
see all in school. In the fall.
Speaker 4 (29:42):
They had some really tough shots in that fourth quarter,
you know, those two threes, prayer threes and the shot clock.
We got a little unlucky, quite honestly, Brunson obviously took
over at the end, and you know, we started a
double team and I'm gonna try to try to do
some different things. But I said, I'm super proud of
the way our group played. We played great basketball tonight
(30:03):
for you know, three quarters. Unfortunately fourth quarter they dominated
us in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
I mean, really, hey, we got unlucky with Brunson. While
you look at the shots they made. I'm super proud
of our guys like that. You say that when it's over,
when it's done, and a we're gonna have our exit interviews.
I love what all the guys did. We had a
great year. It's game one and it sounds like, yeah,
I'm done.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific.
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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