05-05-25 KOA Sports Hour 1 with Orlando Franklin

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Round, loop it up, the sleeve it down Aaron Jordan
River style.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Westbrook another cham.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
Technical foul out Westbrook for hanging on the rim, but the.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
Fiery Russell Westbrook the car.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Kept it in play.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Put Lintel didn't get good on on it.

Speaker 4 (00:27):
Let's tag and cut.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
It out, rapped it in again.

Speaker 4 (00:31):
Below the hole, the log of Joy performs jaxtae fier
team legendary. Yeah, actually kind of was kind of was impressive.
All right, Well there you go. That is that is
what went down this weekend.

Speaker 5 (00:51):
On Saturday Nights, the Nuggets with an emphatic one twenty
to one one game seven win over the La Clippers.
Thanks to team for the sound there and the opposite
feels of the Avalanche, who lose four to two in
Game seven to the Dallas Stars, who now advance to
play the Winnipeg Jets. Welcome to it on a Monday.

(01:14):
Dave Logan, Ryan Edwards, Orlando Franklin is study what's up?

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Oh chilling man? Uh a little a little bit, a
little frustrated, but chilling. I mean, you know, we come in,
we start the show right and we're playing the sound
from both Game seven. I'm just like you hear the
Russell Westbrooks out and yeah, yeah he bone headed, play
right there, technical, but you love his energy, you love

(01:38):
what he brings for the Nuggets. And then all of
a sudden you hear to Miko Ranton and I'm just
like dang man, he was just right here a couple
of months ago.

Speaker 4 (01:46):
It's the get in the egg man. It's just part
of it. What's oh, Dave, you'll get very.

Speaker 3 (01:52):
Or yang?

Speaker 4 (01:53):
Which one is the good one? Well, neither one of them.
It's not a it's not a good bad thing, get right,
it's not because you have the I'd have to go back.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
And really delve in the dark. Yeah, yin Yang.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
No, I'm good, Uh doing good? Good seat good man. Yeah,
I got a thing at the broncos. Uh.

Speaker 3 (02:13):
The show will be in great hands. But I will
leave here a little bit early.

Speaker 5 (02:17):
And oh okay, yeah, okay, well we'll do what the
best you guys, you guys would be got well, listen, man,
we just played the highlights as we're coming in from
the good, which was the Nuggets win emphatic win over
the Clippers, and the bad obviously watching a former AV
put a hat trick on you in an elimination plus
in this Yeah, in one, not that I was watching

(02:40):
that we were paying attention. Yeah, yeah, that's back to
back games for him with four point periods were Eagle,
Ranton and so yeah, what's your thoughts.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
Man, Well, I mean it was it was obviously, uh,
really disappointing for the Avs when they get that early
third period goals in the first, like thirty seconds of
the third period. I do something I hardly ever do,
and I said, that's it. There's no way Dallas scores.

(03:09):
I mean, Dallas essentially we'd have to score three third
period goals. I'm rationalizing in my own mind, and that
ain't gonna happen. And then of course I'm flipping back
and forth. Nuggets are, Nuggets are playing great. It was
only the the Avs. I don't know if I would
call it a collapse, but the Avs losing that game

(03:32):
in the third period after leading by two goals only
the fourth time that ever happened in Stanley Cup playoff history.
I mean, how many games, how many playoff games have
we seen? How many years of Stanley Cup playoff history?
Only the fourth time ever in the playoffs as a
team lost a two goal lead in the third period.

(03:54):
So and then to make it worse, it's it's ranting,
and you know, it's like, oh, man, is this I mean,
you couldn't if you're Miko Ranton, you couldn't write and
you couldn't write a better conclusion to that series. And oh,
by the way, I got up this morning checked guess
who are the favorites right now to win the Cup?

Speaker 3 (04:16):
Are the Stars?

Speaker 2 (04:17):
Yep?

Speaker 1 (04:18):
The Stars are the odds on favorite to win the Cup.
So the you know to me, and I'm anxious to
see what you guys think about this too. I mean,
the Stars were down a couple of pretty good players,
so there's no excuse for the Avs not being and
I realized the Stars have sort of had their number.

(04:39):
It's a difficult matchup, the size of the defenseman. There's
a lot of things they do well. They're well coached,
for sure, But this was an opportunity, not only to
win this series. I think it's this was an opportunity,
a really good opportunity to compete Pete for the Cup
and those things. You know, it's not like you say, well,
you know, we'll get back there next year. Yeah maybe, so,

(05:01):
you know, just a devastating devastating loss.

Speaker 3 (05:04):
I'm not sure what they do.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
I was asked earlier today, what do you think is
going to happen to Jared Bednar? And my answer was,
you know what, I really don't. I don't know what
do you guys think. I think it'll be back. I
don't think this is a Jared Bednar situation.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
I think Chris McFarland was absolutely surgical this year and
how many different players and how he shook up the
roster and how many different guys skated out there for
the ABS. I would like to try to keep this
group together as much as possible. But I'll tell you
what we're missing. We're missing that person it's going to do,
or those persons that are going to do the dirty

(05:41):
work in front of the other team's goaltender for three
periods because you know, I'm watching this thing the other
night and I'm not gonna lie. I got up and
jumped in the shower. They were up to nothing. All
of a sudden, I come out of the showers too too.
I'm like, your faults just happened.

Speaker 4 (05:55):
You're supposed to stay in the same place if it's working.

Speaker 2 (05:59):
Yeah, Jersey, Yeah, not superstitious.

Speaker 4 (06:03):
Pregame exactly. That's what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (06:06):
Absolutely maybe so, And I will take some of that
blame because I'm a hockey guy. But you know, when
I go back and I watch it, and I look
at the two goals that that Dallas scored, and you know,
I like to rewatch the game as well and just
see kind of what happened. We watched the second and
third period, and for me, it's they lack like that

(06:28):
you know, kind of grit your teeth, battle it out toughness. Now,
I look at Dallas as a team that when they
were firing on all cylinders in that third quarter, in
that third period, that the passes, everything was just on
the money. Everything it had touched, It had everything that
you needed in order to succeed. Where sometimes with the ads,

(06:48):
and that might be because of just the all gas,
no breaks and beating people with their athleticism. All of
a sudden, the puck is, you know, an inch or
half an inch this way, and all of a sudden
it goes over the blue line and everybody has to
come out and clear it. Right. So it's just those
little things that I think another year with this group
could definitely they will be better next year at this

(07:10):
time with this group than they were at any point
this year.

Speaker 5 (07:14):
Mark, I like that glass half full approach. Yeah, I
agree with everything saying type of the little things. You
were three for twenty two in the power play. I
mean that that's a staggering stat for this team.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
But that's always looking for that perfect shot.

Speaker 3 (07:27):
Oh sure.

Speaker 5 (07:30):
And a perfect example that was even just this last
game where one of the shots from Miko Ranton in
the wrap around went off the Gerards skate.

Speaker 4 (07:38):
So I'm with you on that. I would not fire
either of them.

Speaker 5 (07:42):
Again, I know it's not a popular opinion right now
because Abs fans are hurting.

Speaker 4 (07:47):
They want their pound of flesh.

Speaker 5 (07:49):
They feel like the Chris McFarland made a huge mistake
trading away Miko rant and of course it ended up
hurting you with the Dallas Stars.

Speaker 4 (07:55):
But he didn't trade him to Dallas. He traded him
to Carolina.

Speaker 5 (07:58):
Now, if you do want to find some fault in
the process, maybe trading him six weeks before the deadline,
which opens up a possibility of a second trade. But
I mean, how often does does that even happen?

Speaker 4 (08:09):
Right?

Speaker 5 (08:10):
I mean with all the assets that Carolina shift over
to the Avalanche. I wouldn't have thought the very next
move would they'd be like, hey, buyer's remorse, he's not
signing with us, We're gonna go ahead and ship him
again now to Dallas, so that there may be some
flawed process there.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (08:28):
I I don't know how you hang that on Chris MacFarlane, Dave,
I don't.

Speaker 1 (08:32):
It's real simple. Uh, it's professional sports. I mean, that's
that's not even I'm not even being a smart ass
about it. I mean, I mean, in professional sports, it
just depends on what the what the realistic expectation level
was of ownership of Josh Cronky, and.

Speaker 3 (08:54):
That that's why I I just don't have a feel.

Speaker 1 (08:57):
I think you guys bring up a valid about how
the team was built in the job that Jared Bednar
has done. I mean, Bednar took over a tough situation.
This was a team that had I think forty eight
points or thereabouts when he when he took over. But
he's won one Cup. He's been knocked out in the

(09:20):
first round. I think both of those, both of those defeats,
you could say no surprises.

Speaker 3 (09:26):
He's lost. He's lost four times in the second round.

Speaker 1 (09:33):
So I think it just made it. It's real simple.
It's it's the National Hockey League. Those guys get paid.
It's professional sports, and it's a cutthroat business. And when
if the expectations were higher than we think they realistically were,
then I don't think.

Speaker 3 (09:50):
I'm not sure anybody really is safe. Now.

Speaker 1 (09:53):
Would have surprised me if he brought every if Josh
Cronky brought everybody back. No, No, because I think I
think you could make a valid case that hey, we're
we're close.

Speaker 4 (10:04):
I like the core.

Speaker 1 (10:06):
There's a few things I would do differently, you know,
the Rantnam thing. I mean, that thing just got put
right into the face of everybody in the AVS organization.
I mean, just you know, I mean, Miko Ranton and
might have might as well have bought the penthouse next
to Josh Cronkey in Lodo, and it's a bigger penhouse

(10:28):
and he's sitting there, you know. And then and I
don't care either way, but don't let the Stars win
win the Stanley Cup, because then I'm just telling I mean,
it'll be it's already a bitter pills to swallow with
how not only the fact that the ABS lost, but
the way that Rantnan was able to get off in
that final game, if the Stars go on and win

(10:49):
the Cup, I mean who knows.

Speaker 2 (10:51):
Yeah, no doubt, there needs to be there needs something
has to happen here. But at the same time, I
just look at you when you talk about firing people.
I look at Betsy and yeah, you won the Cup.
And then after that, guess what as an organization, you
they decided to move forward with na Chushkin rather than

(11:12):
nas well Godrey, yeah, yeah, Godre. I don't think I
think everybody realizes that probably wasn't the best move. I
think everybody realizes what Cadri brought that the physicality, the toughness,
the just attitude that he brought while he was out
there on the ice.

Speaker 3 (11:31):
He just wanted too much money in too many years though.
That's yeah, then you look, but you.

Speaker 2 (11:35):
Look at Nachushcin's deal, right, and it's a younger player
and all these different things. Right, But now its would
have took he would have took less. He definitely would
have took less.

Speaker 3 (11:42):
Yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (11:43):
Oh, I'm not I'm not I'm not sure he would
have taken let so okay, all right, but what was
what was the deal that he signed, So he.

Speaker 2 (11:53):
Got paid Caygary, Calgary back to the brink struck. He
got paid, and it becomes a bit and Warren when
you're not going back. But everybody understands like the value
of being on a good team and winning right And
NAS was in Toronto for many, many years and was
losing a ton of games out there and there were
some miserable times. So I just think that after you

(12:14):
win the Cup, you got to look at the years
the Avs had and whether it be you know, gabes
heard and the three years it took him to get
back healthy, or the different things that were going on
with Nachushkin. It was always shifting around for that hockey team.
So that's why I don't think they move from GM
or head coach in this situation. Now, players we know

(12:36):
how that is. That's a dime a dozen. So players
are you better be if you think that players are
not going to get moved or they're not going to
try to put together something different. You bumped your head
because that's just professional sports.

Speaker 4 (12:50):
Certainly.

Speaker 5 (12:51):
Well, and again, as you mentioned, Dave, you're playing arguably
the best team in the West, maybe even the best
team in hockey right now, and they're hurt, hurt, and
they're still considered one of the best teams in hockey.
And so maybe if your ownership you talk yourself into
the fact that it was a tough draw. I mean,
it was a tough draw. Now again the fans. That's
not going to be an excuse for the fans. I
totally respect that. It's just to understand, like, do you

(13:12):
blow it all up as and we're not cutting in
the right direction when you could arguably say the Ads
were the better team throughout the series.

Speaker 4 (13:18):
They lost a couple of overtime games that in a
lot of ways.

Speaker 5 (13:21):
I mean, they had the lead for everything but sixty
two seconds for the first four games of the series.

Speaker 1 (13:26):
I mean, but something about what you just said, and
I agree with it. The ABS were the better team
in the series. The Ads lost the series, and we
all agree the Ads were a better team in the series.
When those two things merge, fingers get pointed where coach
GM coach ship owners coach and I think Jared Bednar's

(13:48):
done a good job. I mean I really so. I'm
not sitting here advocating him being fired. I just you know,
if you've if you've been involved or around or both
professional sports, you just know, you just know how it is.
It's a cutthroat business and sometimes emotions play a part

(14:09):
in it, and all of a sudden, man, somebody, somebody
gets whacked, so to speak.

Speaker 2 (14:14):
And they're owned by the same owners and the Nuggets
by ourselves, right, so.

Speaker 3 (14:19):
It can go that way.

Speaker 2 (14:20):
We just saw it with a couple of games remained
in an NBA season where head coach n GM for
this town, the city's one of their professional teams get
acted and that's the same ownership. But is there any
brownie points for the fact that in previous years we
saw Dallas kind of just beat the heck out of

(14:42):
the Aves and that did not happen in this series.
Any brownie points on that?

Speaker 5 (14:46):
No?

Speaker 1 (14:47):
Not usually, Like hell no, especially what you know better
than that? How many how many years you plays?

Speaker 2 (14:53):
Right now, it's Monday. I don't want it to be
a long week looking for the little wins.

Speaker 4 (14:59):
Yeah of the opose I believe have a solid team.

Speaker 2 (15:02):
I believe. Oh yeah, like last year's team. I wouldn't
feel good about that team.

Speaker 5 (15:06):
Well, if they would have won this series, we'd probably
be sitting here saying that the Avs are the favorite
to win the Cup next.

Speaker 1 (15:13):
We talked about it last year, last year, last week,
and I said, hey, game before Game seven, this game
can affect so many people's careers, livelihoods, residences this one game,
because if they can find a way to beat Dallas,
you know, it's it looks like it's a little bit

(15:36):
of smooth sailing. Not that it would be easy, but
I think it'd have been easier. Right, the Abs in
the three three games, in three of those games that
they lost, they had they had third period leads in
three games.

Speaker 5 (15:50):
That's right, you lost it overtime and then last one
on seven And yeah, I mean, honestly, if I'm told
you heading into it, the Avs are going to have
a two nothing lead about midway through the third period.

Speaker 1 (16:01):
At a month's salary, I mean I really would have.
I didn't do like, oh and come back when it's
two too, But I flipped over the nuggets, right, and
then I flip back it's two to one. As soon
as I saw two to one with nine minutes to go,
I'm like, ah, damn, because that just I'm sure just
energized the hell out of that arena.

Speaker 2 (16:18):
Oh yeah, no, arena was rocket. You could tell everybody
was standing up and getting it done. But this team
has to figure out a way to stop always looking
for that perfect shot. And I think that's going to
be that's going to be the downfall. You know, they
have the opportunity and sometimes you know, you put one

(16:40):
on that and goaltender just mishandles it and you're able
to get that second chance or that second opportunity. And
we saw what Gabe brought specifically just in front of
the goaltender and being able to hold his ground and
hold this position. We need more of those grinder. It's
more of those guys that could do it for three periods.

Speaker 4 (16:58):
And to your point, maybe that'll be better next year. Yeah,
that'll be the case.

Speaker 1 (17:02):
Did you see that the story just broke the Ravens
justin soccer is Justin Tucker.

Speaker 3 (17:07):
Yeah, no surprise there.

Speaker 5 (17:10):
They drafted a kicker, Tyler Loop I think was the
kicker they ended up drafting, And yeah, he had one
year left.

Speaker 4 (17:16):
They're going to a post une.

Speaker 5 (17:17):
First, he's accused of sixteen instances of inappropriate behavior with
massage therapists in the Baltimore area. Now, the Ravens Dave
are maintaining this is a football decision.

Speaker 2 (17:29):
It's sixteen massage therapists.

Speaker 5 (17:32):
Yeah, so sixty different sixteen different before massage therapists in
the Baltimore area that are accusing him of inappropriate behavior.
But they keep maintaining it's a football decision. You did
draft a kicker, right, did you. I guess you as
an organization can say something to that effect.

Speaker 3 (17:51):
But well, I also I also will say this. I mean,
Justin Tucker fell off dramatically last year. He did.

Speaker 1 (17:57):
He did not have a Justin Tucker like season at all.
Justin Tucker, you could make the case, certainly in his
playing time, in his playing career was the best kicker
in the NFL, and it might not have been all
that close on a consistent basis last year though I
don't have his numbers in front of me, but he

(18:18):
missed kicks. You're like, wow, Well, my theory behind that
is that he knew some of this was getting ready
to come out. To be honest, I mean this came
out what a little bit after the season finished. And
you know, when you have sixteen.

Speaker 2 (18:31):
Different people saying, you know, inappropriate behavior during massages or whatever,
the case may be. I think that you know, you
kind of get the sense of feeling that something like
this is coming. And you know, me and you Dave,
we've played football. If your mind ain't all the way
in that thing, you're just not going to be able
to have success.

Speaker 5 (18:50):
Yeah, I hit a seventy three point three percent conversion rate,
which was a career low, twenty two of thirty and
he went, I mean, you know, usually the long balls
like his bread and.

Speaker 4 (19:00):
In the best fifty yard and beyond kickers until last year.

Speaker 5 (19:03):
He was five to eight from forty to forty nine,
and he was six for eleven in fifty or more,
which again that's what he's known for.

Speaker 4 (19:11):
Ye to be able to do those things.

Speaker 5 (19:13):
But you I mean images his resume, I mean, eight
time All Pro, seven time Pro Bowler, All Decade team,
longest field goal in NFL history of sixty six yards,
highest career field goal percentage in NFL history.

Speaker 1 (19:26):
He's he's one of the kickers in my years of
calling games that when he lined up at the end
of the game, you just knew the kick was going
to be good.

Speaker 2 (19:38):
Yeah, it's over, it's all, it's all done, game over.
It's got to get him mid.

Speaker 5 (19:42):
Range and that level of confidence for any team, I mean,
to have that, Yeah, it's it's immeasurable.

Speaker 4 (19:47):
Really. But once again for the Ravens, who I don't know.

Speaker 5 (19:52):
I mean, they'll say for football reasons, but I think
we can all be honest about this, right, I mean,
and we'll have even rap Rapport joining us here about
ten minutes. I'm sure he'll some five on the decision
to do this, But this sort of felt like an
inevitability once they drafted a kicker, they were able to
lean on that perspective. Yeah, the sixteen cases, man, Yeah,
I think that could he have been released.

Speaker 1 (20:15):
Had all those things not surfaced, all the allegations not surfaced?

Speaker 3 (20:20):
I think yes. The answer to that was yes.

Speaker 1 (20:22):
So it gives the Ravens plausible deniability because I do
think based on the kind of year he had and
his age and the money he was making, they're like, Okay,
we need to be thinking about who his replacements going
to be. But the sixteen allegations that I think certainly
may have sped up that process.

Speaker 2 (20:40):
I think this is cya cover year, you know what,
because they didn't release him after it came out, or
a couple of weeks after once they were able to
dig into it and you let it go on and
it's like, oh, okay, let's draft a kicker and then
we can release them because the kicker that you drafted,
I don't care how that kid has performed in college.
You never know until that Forson plays in NFL games

(21:03):
where that mindset's gonna be. Does he have ice in
his banes?

Speaker 3 (21:06):
Can you know?

Speaker 2 (21:07):
Can he go out there under pressure and go get
it done? Especially when you get paid billions of dollars?
By the way, Ian's actually at four.

Speaker 4 (21:13):
That's my bad.

Speaker 5 (21:14):
So he's at four. We're gonna co back. We'll talk
aout Nuggets.

Speaker 3 (21:16):
Holy caw.

Speaker 4 (21:17):
So we get we spend some time on the abs.
I think it's appropriate.

Speaker 5 (21:20):
But the Nuggets they got a game to night. We
gotta talk about Game seven. Gotta get to tonight's game
against Oklahoma City. This hour's chance one a thousand dollars
coming up that next five minutes. Thanks to Maverick, it
wasn't all bad this weekend. As our Denver Nuggets, who
are playing tonight in the second round versus the Oklahoma
City Thunder on the road, they get a big as

(21:42):
I said at the beginning of the show, Dave an
emphatic win over the LA Clippers. It was fascinating. I
was listening to some national sports talk people talking about
that game before it happened, and a lot of them
were were very pro LA, thinking the LA Clippers they
had everything to I mean, I think that's a little
bit of a national a Lakers or I'll the everybody
talks about the Lakers, that type of thing, but the

(22:03):
Clippers were the team that they were like, Oh, this
is a legacy game for Kawhi, for James Harden. He's
gonna show He's going to show up in this game.
Seven points, Dave seven.

Speaker 3 (22:14):
I well, and.

Speaker 1 (22:15):
I've never been a James Harden guy, especially even I
mean he gets his numbers in the regular season.

Speaker 4 (22:21):
He's certainly adept at scoring.

Speaker 1 (22:24):
I mean, for a guy that really doesn't operate in
the in the post at all, rarely ever gets in
the blocks. Either beat you from three with sort of
a little shifty kinda He's cage with the ball. He's
either going to knock down three pointers or shoot a
million free throws. That has been his game forever. But

(22:45):
I think, yeah, I heard the same thing. I mean
from a couple of national shows. I mean, even when
the Nuggets were even with the Nuggets one game they
went Game four in l A, even when it was
two to two. I can't wish I could remember exactly

(23:06):
who was guaranteed Clippers.

Speaker 3 (23:09):
Are gonna win this series.

Speaker 1 (23:10):
Three game series, three game series now, even though the
Nuggets had two of the three at home and so
it didn't work out. LA better be very lucky they
had the Dodgers and show hate Otani. Yeah, no doubt,
right when you stopped thinking about everything else going on
out there, right, Clippers are done, Lakers are done, Rams
were okay last year, got into got into the playoffs.

(23:33):
Chargers got into the playoffs, lost the opener. So but
I don't think anybody, honestly, I don't. I think there
were very few people that thought the Nuggets would beat
the Clippers.

Speaker 2 (23:45):
You guys know what, James Harden is the only player
or NBA history to lose a Game seven with four
different teams.

Speaker 3 (23:54):
I did not. I didn't know that either.

Speaker 2 (23:56):
Wow, four different teams, He's lost a game seven with.
I love how Nuggets came out the other night. I
thought they were very aggressive. I thought that they you know,
they put their money where their mouth was, But this
one scares me. This series coming up right now, it
does scare me against Oka See, and I hope they're
able to get it going early and fast. The depth

(24:17):
of OKC is incredible. They've been playing defense all year,
and what they did to the Grizzlies, I mean from
Game one all the way through the sweep, was just like,
are you kidding me? For a young basketball team, you know,
you look at Sga, he is the oldest player in
their start in five and the cat is twenty six

(24:37):
years old. Like, this is nuts. What they could do
over the next couple of years, It's unbelievable, And honestly,
they kind of deserve it because the last time they
were this good, they did have James Harden and Abaka
and Russell Westbrook and who Kevin Durant was there, like
Paul Jeorde, Like they were loaded back in the day,

(24:58):
and that team got blown up and and they sucked
for quite a long time, and but now they are rolling.

Speaker 4 (25:04):
Yeah, it's gonna be a tough match up.

Speaker 5 (25:05):
We were talking about it a bit during the break,
but just to go back to Game seven for just
a moment before we kind of turned the page.

Speaker 3 (25:11):
I would.

Speaker 5 (25:12):
I loved about it for so many reasons. You know,
the first quarter, Jamal and Joker were over five from
the field, like they stay struggled. It was not actually
overall wasn't a great game for either of them. But
this is the thing we've been wondering all along. If
Joker has a bad game, what's this team? If Jamal also,
especially in the postseason, has a bad game, what is
this team? And I had done a hit on a

(25:34):
national show in the morning, and I said, to win
this game, they're gonna need not only Joker Jamal to
have a good They're gonna need a third guy. They're
gonna need somebody else to show up, whether it's Westy
off the bench.

Speaker 3 (25:43):
I heard this somewhere.

Speaker 4 (25:45):
You were just rolling your eyes. But lesty, we you
and I talked about it last week, right guy?

Speaker 2 (25:50):
Yes?

Speaker 4 (25:51):
Yeah, well I mean so much.

Speaker 2 (25:54):
It was a watch.

Speaker 4 (25:55):
It was it was meant to uh honor. Yeah, yeah,
but the third guy.

Speaker 5 (26:01):
So I thought if I would have bet like you
talked about it when they were the AS up two oher,
I would have bet a lot of money saying the
AS we're gonna finish that game. I would have bet
a lot of money that the Nuggets with the numbers
that Joker and Jamal ended up with for.

Speaker 4 (26:14):
The game, Joker at eleven, sixteen, sixteen.

Speaker 5 (26:18):
They put him back into the game late, which was
kind of an interesting situation, and Jamal had sixteen, So
the two guys combined for thirty two points.

Speaker 1 (26:26):
I thought the difference in the series started in Game five, right,
so they come home tied it to I think the
Nuggets probably to a man, realized, hey, if we don't
get this done, we got to go back to LA
down three to two. That that's it's not impossible, but

(26:49):
it's going to be really tough. And I thought their
defensive mentality changed starting in Game five. They got up
into the clip, they exerted effort on the defensive end,
they contested rebounds, they just were much more aggressive and
active to the point, and that was that was you know,

(27:11):
that wasn't really a close game Game five, to the
point that we talked about it after and I said, hey,
if they will play I don't know they can play
that way exactly in LA, but if they play that
way in LA, they're going to be in a position
to win the game, Now, that wasn't quite as what
I would say there wasn't. There wasn't quite the level
of ferocity on defense in LA. But they came back
here in Game seven and you could see it again.

(27:34):
You could see you could see Anthony excuse me. You
could see ag picking up Kawhi like thirty feet from
the basket, making him move, making anym work. You could
see Brown picking up the beard thirty five feet from
the basket. Everything was difficult for the Clippers in the

(27:55):
half court. Now, this game tonight I think may be
a little much for the Nuggets because the Clippers have
been resting, and so I think the Clippers will be
all excited and whatever happens happens. But I think the
Nuggets I want to see if they come out and
play with that same kind of Again. I labeled it
ferocity on defense really challenging Oak City because I do

(28:20):
think this is going to be a long series. I
don't think this is going to be a walk in
the park for Oak City. And I do give the Nuggets.
I mean they're the decided underdog. There are seven hundred
the thunder is minus seven hundred in Vegas. If you
want to win one hundred dollars. You got to risk
seven hundred if you think Oak City is going to win.

(28:40):
So they're a decided favorite in this series. But I
give the Nuggets more than just a puncher's chance in
this thing, Dave.

Speaker 2 (28:47):
I like the fact that you brought up game five
because that's that's when Jamal snapped and he had to
eight three, right, and he just went berserve forty three
in order to get and you know, get a couple
in and win this series. I think Jamal has to
be big from the three point line as well, because
when you look at you know, drive in the basketball

(29:08):
and getting into the lane, well, okay, see they can
theense that defense. It got some towers, right, they make
it very difficult for you to get in the lane
and go find your shot. But if you could force
them to defend the three pointer and force them to
come up on you, now that's where you could find
some pay. So I think that that's what you got
to do. And then you mix that pick that high

(29:28):
screen game, the two man game between Joker and Murray
with some slashers on the baseline, because you know, you
also have to worry about the rotation of defense when
you go with that high screen game. But if they
could get the movement going offensively, they could now force
it or get some easy points. But everybody's got to
think about the defensive side of it, whether you're on

(29:49):
offense or playing defense, and that's rebounding. Rebounding will be
key in this series as well.

Speaker 4 (29:55):
Oh that's massive.

Speaker 5 (29:56):
And once again, as we talked about it a lot
during the course of the season, Oklahoma City is the
best events in the NBA for a reason. But yeah,
I mean, listen, it's certainly not impossible. It's the death
that Oklahoma City is going to bring. It's the rest.
Now is that rust not rest rust or is that
going to be valuable to them? That's been sort of
the debate today as far as on Twitter is like, Okay, well,

(30:18):
this team's been waiting.

Speaker 4 (30:19):
They've swept Memphis have been waiting basically a week team.

Speaker 5 (30:22):
Ye young team and they don't have as much experience
in the postseason as the Nuggets do.

Speaker 4 (30:27):
How much? How does that factor into the series.

Speaker 1 (30:29):
Yeah, it's It's going to be a fascinating series. I
think I think Jokic will prove to be a big,
big difference. I don't necessarily think for his athletic and
long as Oak City is on the perimeter, I don't
think it's a great matchup for them inside. And I
think again, just the overall sort of mentality of play,

(30:53):
whether the Nuggets win tonight, lose tonight, whatever, I want
to see him come out and establish how this thing
is going to go for the next couple of weeks.
With respect to how we're going to play defense. You
guys may get us tonight, it's it's going to be
a long series. But the defensive mentality that they have shown,
and I give David Adamans some credit here because you

(31:16):
know you saw a little bit of it the last
three games when he took over. But if you fire
coaches and you blame him when the team doesn't play hard,
then I'm gonna give a little bit of credit when
the team does play hard that in like Oh said,
Jamal's got to come out, be super aggressive, coming off screens,
catch and shoot.

Speaker 3 (31:36):
He did all that in Game five. Hadn't seen that
on a consistent basis this year.

Speaker 4 (31:41):
This one.

Speaker 5 (31:42):
Don't disrespect Christian Brown. He and Westbrook were the two highest.
They were phenomenal. Listen, they don't win that series without
those guys and Russ after the game, this was phenomenal.
This was also outstanding. He was asked about sort of
the Russ experience. I don't know if you saw this one, David.
He was sort of asked about like what he brings
out there in the floor, and here's what he said.

Speaker 6 (32:03):
As much as people may not think I'm very smart
and I understand the game, I understand what's going on.
So I am thinking and I also not. I just
just a force, man. I think it's uh, you know,
my ability to be able to be a force of
nature on the floor is what I pride myself phone.

(32:24):
So whatever that looks like, it may be a turnover,
it may be a misshot, but it may be a steal,
maybe a dunk, maybe a mystere, maybe a may three.

Speaker 2 (32:32):
It's gonna be all of that. It's gonna be everything.
So you just take it, take it. But how it
comes and whatever happens, you go with it. And I've
always been like that.

Speaker 6 (32:40):
As long as I leave on the floor and God
willing to be able to go out and continue to compete,
I'm grateful for it.

Speaker 3 (32:46):
That's perfect.

Speaker 5 (32:47):
Perfect, Like imagine encapsulating everything you do and what's stupid.

Speaker 1 (32:52):
Well, first of all, that's sort of how I think
me and Orlando come into work every day with that
right there in mind.

Speaker 2 (33:00):
A percent.

Speaker 1 (33:00):
You know what I mean, might be good, might be bad,
might be some of this, might miss a break, might
but I'm gonna leave it. I'm gonna leave it all
in the studio. No, I think he I do think
he's I think he's smart. I think he understands the game.

Speaker 3 (33:15):
But and he he said it.

Speaker 1 (33:18):
You know, might make a three, might miss a three,
might turn it over, might have a steal, might play
great defense. Might But here's what I know for sure
he's gonna do. He's going to rebound. He's going to
bring you effort, He'll bring you intensity and energy. Now
everything else, a little bit of the craft. Shoot, No,

(33:38):
what's gonna have? No, you know, I'm not sure. You
you know, in a game of horse, I feel like
i'd have a chance. But you know, I also you know,
they need him, they need him.

Speaker 2 (33:51):
I would take Russell Westbrook's mentality and his effort and
what he looks like over the beard, over the beard,
over Michael. I would take him over sixty percent of
the NBA to be honest with you because I know
what I'm getting with him. Effort requires no talent. That's
what my offensive line coach told me when I was
in the University of Miami back in two thousand and

(34:13):
seven when I got there, and that is very true
in my opinion. Are you going to give that effort
when things don't go right?

Speaker 3 (34:20):
Who cares?

Speaker 2 (34:21):
You have to be able to move on. And that's
one thing about Russell to a fault. Sometimes it pisses
you off, but he is going to move on and
he's going to give you everything he has on the
next play. Yeah, but there will be three or four
plays a game where you're saying, what the heck is
going on? And I love the fact that he says,
I am a very smart player contractor what people may think,
because he knows the narrative out there on him and

(34:44):
that is what people do. They question his decision making,
But I've never once questioned his effort.

Speaker 4 (34:50):
Oh No, I don't think we have either.

Speaker 5 (34:52):
I mean, even the moment after the Minnesota Timberwolves loss,
we can't he missed the layup and we came in
and sort of debated that. There have been moments this
season where there's been head scratching plays, but I don't
think we've ever questioned efforts. I think it's just an
understanding of sort of narrowing in and focusing that energy
to the good side of Russ versus the I have
no idea what it's going to be, but I guess

(35:13):
you have to accept that, right, you have to accept
even tonight, Like I have no idea what he's going
to do. I mean, this is a former team. He's
considered maybe the greatest player in Thunder history. He's up
there in that conversation, won an MVP there. But then again,
what are we going to get out of him tonight?
A lot of effort, a lot of energy off the bench.
I have no idea what to equate that to.

Speaker 1 (35:33):
I mean, you're going to get there's there are constants
in his game. You're gonna get those things tonight. You're
gonna get a lot of energy, You're gonna get tremendous effort.
You'll get maybe the best undersized guard for a rebounder
as we've ever seen in league history. The dude is

(35:56):
six he's about six three, But I mean, maybe you
can think of a guy six three and under that's
been a better rebounder throughout his career.

Speaker 3 (36:05):
I don't know you're gonna get all those things.

Speaker 1 (36:08):
If he knocks down a couple shots, it is so
beneficial to his mindset, right, So let's just hope that
he knocks down and he did. He did in Game seven,
you know, hit a couple couple perimeter jumpers, and then
all of a sudden, Christian Brown is hitting a couple
of perimeter jumpers. An AG's offensive game I think is
really working at a high clip right now. Nice mid

(36:32):
range game, looks very comfortable in a pull up. We've
seen him at times where it's like, oh, don't shoot
this one, not anymore. So that's why I think the Nuggets.
I think the Nuggets have a big time puncher's chance
in this series.

Speaker 2 (36:48):
When you don't have guys that will consistently rebound, like
you know, we love what Joker does, but at the
same time, that draws him out of the key, that
takes away opportunities for getting rebounds at times. So you
have to have a guy like Russell Westbrook that's going
to attract the ball and go down there and do
some of the dirty work.

Speaker 4 (37:05):
But gott Ian rapport join us next,