6/13/24 Hour 1 Segment 2

Episode Transcript

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It's the Craigway Show with the Voiceand the Texas Longhorns in Hall of Fame
Broadcasting Craig Way Thursday afternoon here onthe program on Sports Radio AM thirteen under

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the Zone. Glad to have youalongside, Called Dixon, the producer today.
A lot of things to get to. Like I said, we'll keep
you updated on the US Open leaderboard as well. Patrick can't lead leader
right now. Shot at five anda round sixty five at Pinehurst number two,
and we'll keep you posted on that. Okay, NBA Finals now,

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the Celtics demonstrated a couple of thingslast night against the Mavericks. One that
they demonstrated that in the NBA Finals, no lead is really and truly completely
safe. They had a twenty onepoint lead in the fourth quarter at ninety
one to seventy. They gave upa twenty two to two run and the

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Mavericks came storming back. But thenthey also demonstrated they have enough finishing kick.
We've seen that in all three gamesfrom them, and Jason Tatum and
Jaylen Brown had a lot to dothat. Tatum at thirty one points,
Brown had thirty, Brown had eightrebounds, e'd assist. I think he's
probably going to be the finals MVPwinner if they do that. But boy

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did he have his game going whenhe had to have it and Tatum in
the first half, draining the threesand really really was I'm not going to
say he wasn't defended, because hewas, but they couldn't defend him once
he got a lot of downhill motiongoing with his aggressive drives into the paint,
and it seemed like no Maverick couldreally stop it. No, not
at all. And I think theiggestthing was Luca. That's the storyline of

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game three. I mean, youcannot foul out in almost a must win
game in a sense, you can'tgo down three zero because we know what's
going to happen. Now, Yeah, the odds are stocked against you,
right. He had twenty seven pointsand six rebounds, But that's ann Luca
like number because he fouled out withfour minutes to go when the Mavericks were
in their push and the sixth foul. I thought it was a foul,

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but I could see where folks mightmake a case one it's it's a couple
of the earlier fouls that that reallyhurt him and hurt the Mavericks of it,
some reaching fouls as they say thatsometimes, I know Luca feels like
he's got to put a lot ofit on his shoulders other than what they
get from Kyrie. Irving net afabulous first half and the Celtics did a
better job on him in the secondhalf. But you got to keep yourself

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eligible. That's the biggest thing.Yeah, yeah, what's the best ability?
Availability? Yeah yeah, And tryingto draw a charge with five fouls
four minutes left in the fourth andyou're down, I think, yeah,
yeah, that's bad. By theway, did you get that out like
out of a search for a jobseminar thing about the best best ability is
availability. I think I've heard thatbefore, but it's yeah, yeah,

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yeah, yeah, it makes sense. So the Celtics now are seven to
zero on the road this season,and they're tied, of course with the
Lakers for the most NBA championships.I think they got sixteen each. And

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here's the other thing that's impressive.For all of those great Boston teams,
great great Boston teams won eight straighttitles in the sixties, and I did
well in the seventies and eighties aswell. They extended a franchise record with
ten consecutive playoff wins. No Bostonteam had ever done that until they did

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it last night. Uh. Andso even though they were up by twenty
one with eleven minutes to go,they you know, they they hunkered down
when they had to. It wasan interesting quote from Tatum after the game
about that lead that almost got away. It would have been the biggest blown
lead in NBA Finals history in thefourth quarter. His quote was not really

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trying to look too much into it. The game of basketball is about runs.
It's never going to go like youexpected. If you want to be
a champion, you have to beresilient in those situations. And we did
that tonight. Yes, that theydid. They they came through what they
absolutely had to have and it hadthey not done it. And here's the
other thing. They did it withoutChris tops persingis that's the thing too.

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But if you noticed in the inthe first quarter, boss or sorry,
the Mavericks were pounding the inside Christops Is, He's missed incredibly because I
mean, what was he seven toone? Yeah? When they when when
the Mavericks got up twenty two,to nine, I said, de Linda,
they're I said, they're pounded itinside right now because Porzingis isn't there.

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But credit the Celtics for adjusting insidebrowned So and Tatum really stepped up
to do that, and that wasbig. So you know they This was
thirteen years after the biggest fourth quarterrally in the play by play era of

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the NBA Finals since nineteen ninety seven, when Dallas had a fifteen point comeback
in Game two against Miami and cameback and ended up winning. To this
data is they're only NBA World Championshipthat was twenty eleven, so it was
thirteen years ago, and they theyalmost pulled it off again but they didn't,
and so now they're down three nothing. Here's another interesting factoid, and

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this is going to get me intoconversation about three zero leads. The Celtics,
with all of the world championships,have only led three games to none
in the NBA Finals one time,and it was the second of their eight

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in a row, and it wasin let's see fifty six. No,
it was the first of their eightin a row because they beat the Lakers,
who were then in Minneapolis, ina sweep in nineteen fifty nine.
That's the only other time the Celticsled three games to none in the NBA
finals. So that would be youknow, amazing for the Celtics if they

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wind up doing that. Now,about three o leagues, and I've mentioned
that this is you know, it'svirtually impossible. So I did a little
checking because I've heard it happened inthe NHL. And you know, obviously
we know about the Red Sox againstthe Yankee So how many teams in pro
sports history, major American pro sportshistory have overcome three nothing series? Deficut

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deficits? All right, I'll tellyou you know, the three major North
American professional sports leagues have playoff seriesthat can reach the seventh game of Major
League Baseball, the NBA, inthe NHL. In the history of these
leagues, teams that were down threeto zero in the series have come back
to win the series five times totalall time in all major pro sports.

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Four times that's happened in the NHLonce in Major League Baseball. The most
recent example, in case you're wunning, it's been ten years, but it
did happen. The Los Angeles Kingsdid it in the playoffs into twenty fourteen.
The only instance in the Major LeagueBaseball. In Major League Baseball that
happened was the Red Sox of theYankees. That was twenty years ago,

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two thousand and four. The onlyinstance that it's happened in a championship final
in final series, see when theRed Sox beat the Yankees. That was
American League Championship Series. It's neverhappened in the World Series and in the
NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. It's happenedone time in the Stanley Cup Finals.

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You gotta go the way back tonineteen forty two. Toronto Maple Leafs were
down three games to none to theDetroit Red Wings. They came back and
they wanted four games to three.Now, so that's just so you know
how difficult it is to try tocome back from that. Now, ten

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teams after trailing three to zero ina best of seven series have overcome have
overcome a total of a three tonothing deficit to force a game seven.
It's happened five times in the NHL, four times in the NBA, and

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once in Major League Baseball. Themost recent example last year Celtics Heat.
Celtics were down three games and nonecame back forced a Game seven in Boston,
but Bami won it. No teamhas overcome multiple three to zero deficits
in a single postseason. The seventyfour to seventy five New York Islanders almost
did so. They came back froma three to zero series deficit against Pittsburgh

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and the quarterfinals in seventy five,and then they were down three games done
to the Flyers in the seven finalsbefore they lost a seven game and so
while seven game series traditionally apply reallyonly to the final series of postseason,
Major League Baseball, of course,adopted a best of seven format in eighty
five for the LCS. The NHLfollowed suit in eighty seven. The NBA
did so as well in two thousandand three. So outside of the noted

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North American leagues, various other leaguesacross multiple sports have used seven game postseason
series and their cases like the SwedishHockey League that has a seven game series,
but it's it's rare. The onlytimes that's happened in the NHL successful
comebacks, successful comebacks, it's onlyhappened in the NHL. Of the major

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pro sports leagues, and obviously RedSox Yankees and baseball in the NHL nineteen
forty two Stanley Cup Finals to runover Detroit only time in the Stanley Cup
Finals, and the comeback was completedat home. Seventy five quarterfinals Islanders over
Pittsburgh. They won eight straight gameswhile facing elimination. The Eastern Conference Semifinals,

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the Flyers were down to the Bruinsthree games to nine, and they
overcame a three to nothing deficit ingame seven. And in twenty fourteen to
ten years ago, the Los AngelesKings were down to your San Jose Sharks,
Cole Dixon. It's been set onthis program that Cole is a Sharks
long suffering he says Sharks fan.The Sharks had a three nothing lead in

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the series and Los Angeles won endedup winning three game sevens during that playoff
season, and they hold the recordfor the most elimination games won in a
single playoff year for a Stanley Cupchampion with seven. So it's happened there.
It also the unsuccessful comebacks forcing agame seven has happened five times in

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the NHL. In baseball, onlyone successful comeback Red Sox over the Yankees
in the NBA four times a Gameseven has been forced, but not accomplished.
From down three to zho once inthe finals nineteen fifty one, New
York Knicks were down three to ozhoto the Rochester Royals. You know who
the Rochester Royals are now Cole Dixon. No, they'd be here Sacramento Kings.

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Oh, because they moved to Cincinnatiin the mid fifties, became Cincinnati
Royals, who then moved to KansasCity and became Kansas City Omaha Kings in
the early seventies, then just shortenedit to Kansas City Kings, and then
in the late eighties is when theymoved to Sacramento, gotcha okay, and
became Sacramento Kings. Rochester Royals wontheir only NBA title nineteen fifty one,

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nearly blew the three to nothing LeagueNicks, even at Royals won game seven.
Ninety four Western Conference Semifinals, Nuggetswere down three to oh to the
Jazz and rallied back to force gameseven, but lost. I saw a
game of this series two thousand andthree, Mavericks hosting Portland. The Blazers
had a twenty one to nothing runin the third quarter of Game four to

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avoid being swept, and I wasat Game two when the Mavericks went two
games and and then and then theycome all the way back and forced game
seven, but the Mavericks won that. And then last year, the Celtics
forced a Game seven and they becamethe first team to host a Game seven
after trailing three nothing. But Miamiwon Game seven. So there's your three

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to zero odds against the Dallas Mavericks. We have Inconceivable up next on sports
Radio AM thirteen under the zone ofthe iHeartRadio app.