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April 17, 2024 23 mins
Our Dallas Mavericks Pre/Post Game Host joins The Downbeat to talk Mavs in the playoffs. 
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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
This is the downbeat on ninety sevento one, the freak five four three
two one. Level up, levelup up, leve level up, level
up up up, leve it up. But this room just got a lot
more handsome once we turned on thebig screen. That lord audio only please

(00:22):
get to him in one second.Uh, it's our our Kevin of the
day, as Kevin Turner not withus today. I've been tracking this flight
it is. It was just fiveminutes and now it's switched to arriving shortly
our sweet Kevin Turner destination Barcelona.He's going to be uh planes hitting the
ground or I've just landed. Hejust landed, land taxing to terminal one.

(00:47):
All that conversation, all the concernand sweet Cavio and Roxy just landed
in the last one minute. Ididn't notice. This is a connector flight
to get him to uh Milan.Yeah, Barcelona to Milan. He's going
to have to fly over yet anotherbody of water to complete Yeah, to
complete his trip. It looks likewe might be toasted. Yeah we do.

(01:10):
Have We replaced one Kevin with another. Stay tuned for tomorrow when we
have former medieval warrior Kevin Sorbo.Yeah. Joining us, Kevin Sorbow will
join us, and fake Kevin Costneris probably gonna call in early in the
show too. But we're all goodtoday because we've got a good Kevin.
It is our friend, Kevin Gray. He is the host of the MAVs
Free and Postgame Show. Here onninety seven on The Freak, excuse'se a

(01:34):
YouTube sensation? The guy ever?I look, I see Kevin Gray covering
something in this town, making quitethe name for him. Sophomore. Honored
to have you with us on thedownbeat on ninety seven on the Freak.
What's up baby? Good morning fellas. How are you We're doing good?
Man? I'm glad we don't havea camera in here because you are looking
sharp? What are you doing withPepper? If I had hair? There's

(01:56):
plenty of assualt represented these days.Yeah, man, you want to have
you on? I guess to talksome MAVs and whatever else is on your
mind. How you kind of covereverything in this town? But we're going
MAVs crazy. We're the home ofthe Mavericks and you work with us here.
I guess. First things first,how do you like in a ninety
seven to one man? You madethe jump, I was life treating you
I did. I love it,man. It's it's been a new way

(02:17):
for me to be able to showcasemy broadcasting chops, if you will,
and going through I was It's funnyyou asked me that, because I was
thinking about it the other day,that the pace of an eighty two game
season and going through that for thevery first time throughout the most of the
regular season, you get an appreciationfor the preparation that goes into the daily
work of you know, not onlythe broadcasts themselves, but covering the team

(02:40):
on a daily basis and being ableto put together, you know, a
presentation that fans and you know,folks who listen can enjoy, to be
able to bring you know, someflavors, some different things to you know,
these broadcasts. So I've enjoyed myself. It's tapped into another creative side
for me that didn't necessarily know,you know, I thought I had,

(03:00):
but I was able to really,you know, dive into it and it's
been great. So I'm really lookingforward to this postseason and really being able
to have some more fun because thisMAVs team has given us a lot of
things to have a lot of funwith, So I'm excited about it.
You know, we were talking earlierabout just the absolute vast skill set that
voice of the Mavericks, Mark Followellhas and his ability to retain knowledge,

(03:23):
to to remember data and information,and I was curious, like for you,
you know, obviously you were tunedin and dialed in on any and
all things MAVs related, But howmuch time are you spending just absorbing and
taking in information on the rest ofthe NBA. How much time does that

(03:43):
consume on your day to day justto make sure that you are connected with
this entire league, not just theMAVs. If that is something which I
assume that you're you're pretty locked inon. Yeah, it's it's a full
time job. I mean being ableto try to have a working knowledge of
the rest of the other twenty nineteams in the league. Obviously super heavy

(04:04):
in terms of covering the Mavericks ona daily basis, but I mean this
team plays everyone else as well,so you've got to be able to have,
you know, a working knowledge andunderstanding of what these other teams are
doing as well. So, yeah, I'm constantly watching games or reading articles
and that kind of thing. Tobe able to keep myself locked in on
what's going on outside of the Mavericksso that, you know, it enhances

(04:26):
what I do from a broadcast standpoint, and when these teams do see the
Mavericks, be able to add thatmuch more depth and knowledge to what you
know, these game previews look likeand everything else. So it's it's definitely
a full time job, but atthe same time, it's something that I
love to do. I tell peopleall the time, these are the days
that I pray for to be ableto be this kind of busy and doing
this kind of work. And itdoesn't feel like work necessarily because I enjoy

(04:50):
it so much because I get toimmerse myself in something that I love and
enjoy, which is sports. Soit's it's a dream come true for sure.
But yeah, the worl and thegrind that goes into it, you
definitely have to be able to havethat kind of preparation and now is to
be able to kind of go throughwhat these teams are doing on a daily
base, but also be able toconnect it to what the Mavericks are obviously

(05:11):
doing. All right, sorry buddy, Kevin Gray jumping in with us.
I want to jump in a littlebit here, and I guess let's just
start with the state of the WesternConference as the playing games started last night.
And this is something Danny and Italked about earlier. It's like,
for maybe a casual fan, whatis the state of the West, because
we had like, you see theLakers win last night, like, all
right, that's Lebron. Then yousee the Warriors you eliminated. I'm like,

(05:32):
all right, that's good for us. You don't necessarily fear the even
the thunder who's a damn number oneseed, or Minnesota Timbers, like these
other teams that are making the jumpbacked by incredibly high level, like MVP
level stars like SGA and Anthony Edwards. And I just think it's built into
us to think Lakers, Warriors,even Nuggets. Fine, I'm scared of

(05:53):
all them. But as we dreamabout what the Mavericks postseason run could be,
we got a lot of oddly oddlyhurdles in front of us that we
haven't seen for the last few years. So, just even before we go
to hardcore MAVs specific in the MAVsClippers series, what do you think about
the West right now and the changinglandscape of it. Yeah, it's interesting

(06:13):
because you know, you mentioned withthe Thunder, you know, with SGA
for s Say, Gilgas Alexander,you know, legitimate MVP candidate, the
youngest team to ever get the numberone seed. They've been spectacular this year.
Chet Holmgren's a Rookie of the Yearcandidate. Victor Wimenyam obviously, I
think is going to win the awardfor what he put together in San Antonio.
But I mean the Thunder have beenputting this thing together for the last
couple of years and SGA was ableto supercharge it with how good he was,

(06:39):
and now they're sitting there at thenumber one seed in the West.
And you know, with Minnesota andDenver. Denver obviously the reigning NBA champs,
Nicola Yoki is looking like he's gonnawin his third MVP in the last
four years. He's got a greatduo with Jamal Murray, really good supporting
cast obviously with you know, MichaelPorter Junior and Aaron Gordon and could tave
his callwell, Pepe. They areobviously the rainy chance for a reason.

(07:00):
Minnesota is incredibly interesting because they playreally big with Karl Anthony Towns now that
he's back, of course, andRudy Gobert, and you mentioned Anthony Edwards,
who's turning into legitimately one of myfavorite players in the league. He's
so athletic, he can get tothe rim, he can put the ball
on the deck like he can dopretty much everything, and he loves to
defend. Which I love about himis that he loves to defend on the

(07:21):
other end. So they're a dangerousteam because of how big and how well
defensively that they play. Obviously withthe Clippers, who haven't been able to
fulfill the expectations of what they've puttogether with Paul George and Kawhi Leonard over
the years for you know, thekind of playoff run that would have lead
to an NBA championship. Now youthrow James Harden into the mix, Russell

(07:43):
Westbrook as well, maybe this iskind of it for them as far as
this group is concerned on whether ornot they can you know, win a
championship. They getting ready to moveinto a new building, you know,
next season. Obviously the Mavericks andwhat they're doing. The Suns are an
interesting team because they gone all inwith Kevin Durant Bradley Beal and of course

(08:03):
Devin Booker there and they've got theirteam for a while now because they can't
really spend outside of what they've gotten. They did sign Grayson Allen to an
extension, but that's just to keephim obviously, you know, internally there.
But yeah, the Suns with theirtop three guys, they can score
with anybody, but they've been terriblein the fourth quarter. So how does
that translate, you know, intothe postseason? And you mentioned the Lakers

(08:24):
as well. The Lakers over thelast month or so have really kind of
figured it out with Lebron and AnthonyDavis, who's been healthy relatively all year
long, as well good role playerswith Ruyatra Mora and Austin Reeves. Like,
the West is incredibly deep and it'sas talented as it's ever been.
All ten teams you know who madethe play in and playoffs finished you know,

(08:45):
ten games or more above five hundred. The West was incredibly deep and
difficult this year. So if youget out of the West this season and
represent the West in the NBA Finals, you have went through a gauntlet to
get there because of how incredibly goodand talented and deep as conferences this year.
But you're right, there's a lotof incredible storylines going into these playoffs

(09:07):
for sure. Okay, staying onthe West, Kevin, and this is
a fascinating conversation to me, andMikey brought this up just moments ago,
talking about maybe the passing of thetorch from the teams that we kind of
think of as super relevant right now, But mainly it's based on reputation and
old fears of these teams, namelythe Lakers the Warriors. Now you have

(09:31):
these kind of mystery guests in Sacramentoin Oklahoma City, which brings me to
this and we're gonna have to useour imaginations here a little bit to answer
this question, I think. Butthe Mavericks have just been otherworldly since the
trade. What do you think?Where do you is it unrealistic to speculate
that had the Mavericks started this eightytwo game season with the roster they have

(09:54):
right now, having it figured outthe way they have it right now,
is it unrealistic to think that theycould just as easily be the number one
seed in the West had they hadeverything in place from Game one. I
don't think it's unrealistic. What's funnyabout that is is I think people forget
that the Mavericks started not in threethis season, Like through their first twelve

(10:15):
games, they were pretty pretty dogone good themselves with the version that they
had after acquired you know, GrantWilliams and obviously with Darren Jones Junior dantexem
as well. But you know,they were pretty good through the first you
know, twelve games of the season. You know, it got to a
point where this team was only threegames above five hundred after forty nine games
at twenty six and twenty three,and we're looking around, like, is

(10:37):
this really the group that can reallyget them to where they want to go.
And then, as you mentioned,with the trades of PJ. Washington
and Daniel Gaffer, they finally gotguys that fit what Jason Kidd wanted to
do from especially a defensive standpoint.With that LinkedIn that athleticism that they brought,
and it really turned things around.I mean, in the most meaningful

(10:58):
games that they played when they werejust three games above five hundred at twenty
six and twenty three, I meanthey won twenty four out of thirty one
games to get to fifty and thirtytwo. Of course, the last two
games, you know, the startersin deep preserves didn't play, so those
games didn't obviously, you know,matter, But that's how good this team
was and that kind of pace thatthey were were on. Yeah, it's

(11:20):
not unrealistic to think that this groupwould have been challenging for the number one
seed potentially if this group had beentogether. Obviously would take some time for
them to gel and put things togetherand learn how to play with one another.
But no, I think that's Ithink that's fair that this group,
based a way that they played inthe second half, they have been together
all year, they could have possiblychallenged for the number one seed for sure,

(11:41):
So that kind of you know,using that logic, I think it's
safe to say that where they areat number six, they're probably a little
bit better than their seeding as itstands right now is. And I think
we should expect a little more thanyou would expect from a normal sixth seed
in the West for them moving forward. Well, I mean they got to
the five, so I mean they'rea five mass yeah, yeah, no,

(12:05):
no, no, yeah, yeah, I mean, look, yeah,
I think where they are is basedoff of what they were able to
achieve, especially in that second half. And you're right, this there's that
should raise expectations for this team,given what they've been able to do and
the kind of pace of winning thatthey've been on to give you a confident
idea that, yeah, they havea chance to legitimately challenge to get to

(12:28):
the Western Conference finals this year.And I think for a lot of Mavericks
fans they feel good about that becausethis is this is the best roster that
Luca has been surrounded with, youknow, and now his first six seasons
in the league. So Mavericks fansshould feel good about what they should see
hopefully in this postseason going forward.Here's Kevin Gray, hosts to the MAVs

(12:48):
pre and posts and all things Maverickshere on ninety seven won the Freak.
I am and talk me down ifyou need to. I am so bullish
on what this team can achieve thisyear. I'm talking of the Mountain.
I think they have a chance.I'm not you know, Hell Boston who
knows, and Denver obviously, andthe teams we mentioned fine. I know
Kyrie has got something in his headwhere he wants to show that their last

(13:11):
departure playoff departure in Brooklyn was afluke, he said, I can't wait
to show him Luca. You know, he steps up his game when it
matters more. I mean, I'mjust big bullish, but it's one step
at a time, and we dostart with the Clippers, who, again,
casual fan might be like, look, these are kind of some old
heads. Phase one is the teamis night and day better with Kawhi Leonard

(13:33):
on the floor. He hasn't playedin a couple of weeks. He's got
some sort of leg injury. Yougot anything on the status of Kawhi Leonard
going into this thing, and thenanything else on the clips alone? Man,
I feel like they don't love eachother. I think Paul George kind
of disappears. Sometimes there's some headbuttinggoing on there. I heard this from
a Clippers blogger just last night.I was listening to all this stuff.
So I guess your thoughts on howphase one of a deep playoff run for

(13:56):
the mass is going to look againstthe LA Clippers. Yeah, I mean
Kawhi Leonard's you know, knee injuryis shrouded in mystery, and I think
the Clippers honestly don't mind that becauseit doesn't really serve them to, you
know, advise on his status untilthey absolutely have to by the time we
get to game one, you know, on Sunday at two thirty in the

(14:18):
afternoon. So I think as theweek goes on, we'll try to get
a better idea. But there reallyhasn't been much of an update, you
know, on Kawhi in terms ofhis status. But I would anticipate,
like if I'm the Mavericks, I'manticipating him to play in Game one and
attacking my game plans with the ideathat Kawhi is going to play. And
even at this stage in his career, he's still one of the best two

(14:41):
way players in the league. We'veseen what he's been able to do against
the Mavericks, you know, intwenty and twenty one, you know,
particularly in twenty one, where hereally put the Clippers you know, on
his back to help them, youknow, take out the Mavericks, you
know, in seven games. Butat the same time, you know,
for Luca, you know, theexample that I keep coming back to is
that, and you guys could appreciatethe reference. You know, Michael Jordan

(15:05):
had to go through the Detroit Pistonsto eventually get to a title all those
years that he battled the bad Boysand you know the Jordan rules that were
created for him, and you know, with Isaiah Thomas and all those guys,
it feels like for Luca, theClippers are his version of the Detroit
Pistons. At some point, He'sgot to go through Kawhi Leonard and Paul
George to eventually get to where youknow, he wants to go, much

(15:26):
like how Michael had to get throughIsaiah to get there. And even in
the Western Conference final run that themass made a couple of years ago,
you know, they took out theUtah Jazz and of course they took out
you know, the Phoenix Suns beforelosing to the Warriors. And the Clippers
are in an interesting place because youknow, there's no guarantee that this group,
as constructed as they are right now, you know, returns next year.

(15:48):
Paul George has not signed an extensionthere, James Harden is going to
be an unrestricted free agent at theend of the year, and they've got
a lot riding on this in termsof this era. So I wonder how
much of the pressure plays into whatthis team has to achieve based on who
they are and what changes could becoming for them at the end of this
year. And for the Mavericks,they've kind of relished that role of kind

(16:11):
of sending teams packing, you know, into dysfunctional offseasons because I mean,
the Utah Jazz were broken up afterhave the Mavericks you know, dispatched to
them. The Suns were never thesame after the Mavericks you know, took
them out, you know, inthe West semi. So maybe the Mavericks
can relish another opportunity to send anorganization into dysfunctional chaos, if you will,

(16:33):
by taking them out. And I'msure Luca and Kyrie and you mentioned
I love the point about Kyrie becauseyou know, his Celtics and Nets playoff
runs weren't necessarily great, but Ithink at this stage in his career,
he's extremely motivated to show that he'sstill that guy based on not what he
just did in the regular season,but how much in how good he's been
in the postseason in years past tobe able to now showcase that once again,

(16:57):
especially alongside Luka Doncic. Now,okay, I'm I'm encouraged just based
on you know, Mikey and I'vebeen talking about this all morning and breaks
and before the show and having youon. I'm encouraged that I don't feel
like a myopic Homer MAVs fan havingthe expectation that this team maybe should,

(17:18):
but likely could go to the WesternConference finals, which brings me to another
point and help help us through this, because this is something Mikey and I've
been battling all morning. Are webeing myopic Homer MAVs fans thinking that it
is criminal if Luca doesn't win theMVP? You've seen everything. I know

(17:42):
you've seen everything we watched. Weall watched the Mark Followell breakdown with demeris
about going over every element of thisseason? Are we Are we so just
glued in to Luca because we watchhim on a daily basis and we live
in the same city, and we'rejust missing something from Oklahoma City in Denver

(18:03):
that they're seeing that that is probablymaybe a little bit better than what we're
seeing here. No, I thinkthis has been The three candidates that you
have in Luca, Yokich, andSga are all deserving of the award.
For me, particularly though, andto your point, you know, Luca
for me is the MVP. Imean, look, the guy, We've

(18:25):
never seen a thirty four, nineand nine season. He finished top fifteen
in points, rebounds, assists,in steals per game. He's one of
only four players to ever do thatin NBA history. You know, they
get fifty wins, they get atop five seed in the West. He's
got the most consecutive you know,thirty point triple doubles, thirty five point

(18:47):
triple doubles, like any way thatyou slice it, whether it be the
advanced numbers or the regular counting numbers. I mean, he put together arguably
one of the most historic offensive seasonsthat we've ever seen. And even the
criticism of his defense he started toalleviate because he finished top ten and steals
him was one of the better,you know, isolation defenders. And that's

(19:07):
something that folks who have been complainingabout. Well, he's not a legitimate
MVP candidate until he shows he coulddo it, you know, on both
sides of the floor. Well hedid that and then some this season.
So I tweeted out the other day, I said, you know, just
the idea of having a thirty fournine and nine season, something we've never
seen before and winning fifty games todo it, and a team that I

(19:30):
believe, if I remember corrected,was forty six and twenty four in the
games that he played like he's affectingwinning in a way that would lead to
an MVP type of year. Butif you tell me that NICOLEA. Yokis
based on some of the you know, nerdy advanced numbers, that, yeah,
you could legitimately give him the MVP. Again, that's fine. What

(19:52):
I don't want people to do,fellas, is I don't want folks to
give Nicola Yokis to the MVP becauseof quote unquote trying to make up for
what they didn't give him last yearin terms of the MVP because embiid closed
the way that he did. Idon't want that narrative to be built if
you're gonna build it based off ofwhat these players did this year. Yeah,
for me, it's Luka Doncic andit honestly it's close, but in

(20:14):
my mind really shouldn't be that close. I love I'll let you go.
Last thing. I'm going to Vegasthis weekend. I'm putting one hundred bucks
on the MAVs to win the title. It's sixteen to one any reason that's
a bad idea. I mean,I'm not saying they're gonna win, but
sixteen to one, I feel likethat. I feel pretty value mac the
league. You're about to get aVenmo for me for for a hundreds show

(20:37):
them right, Like, I mean, things go poorly, What's why would
they go poorly for the MAVs Becauseoptimism couldn't be higher around here. I
mean, if they go poorly forthe MAVs, it's because the Paul George,
no, particularly the James Harden.I think James Harten is the X
factor in this series because you know, you believe what you're gonna get from

(21:00):
in the most part from Kawhi andfrom Paul George. But James Hard to
me is the X factor because hisability to distribute as a passer, you
know, still a good score.He can do a lot of different things
that could put the Mavericks in abind. But the way that the Mavericks
would lose this series is that theywould just fall apart and collapse defensively that
we've seen at times this year,but haven't really seen since the beginning of

(21:22):
February, where they've been, youknow, arguably the best defense you know
in the league. So I thinkthis series will go at minimum six games,
if not the full seven. Butyeah, I would definitely, I
mean sixteen to one for them towin the title. Yet I think that's
pretty good, pretty good value there. So look, it's gonna be a
hell of a series. The factthat we're doing this again is just kind

(21:45):
of wild to begin with. Butwhere these two teams are versus what they
have been in the first two timesthey've met is night and day. So
it should be one hell of aseries for sure. Kevin Gray, he's
the best. He's on ninety seven, the freak for all the Mavericks.
Coridge pub your YouTube for me,please, Yeah, you can go subscribe
to my YouTube channel at Kevin GraySports as it's my name and sports,

(22:08):
and you can follow me the sameon Twitter or ex or whatever we call
it, the same at Kevin GraySports as well. So like you're approaching
six thousand subs on YouTube something likethat, let's go happy for you.
Yeah, yeah, I appreciate you, all right, Kean, thanks for
jumping in. Man. We'll haveyou on in the next couple of weeks
regularly if you don't mind, Man, we need to keep our heads right
as hopefully a long playoff run isa foot for your Dallas Mavericks this Sunday

(22:30):
in Los Angeles. Thank you,Kevin. Thanks for the time. K
That is the best Kevin we've everhad on There's no question. That's a
good Kevin. That's a good Kevin. Let's get him in here. Yeah
every morning. They don't need EuropeanKevin trades around. You need Kevio,
who has got to be struck.Okay, so strutting off the airplace,

(22:51):
I know you have been so MAVsforny today and that was just a shot
of testosterone having KG on Yep.I'm so ready for this. I need
That's why I asked him. Ineed someone to tell me to not bet
more. I think they're gonna winthe fing NBA Championship, and I know
that's that's way too much. Iknow way too much. What are the
odds for Western Conference Finals? Sixto one? Okay? Do two two

(23:15):
bets? I am yeah, becausethey could run through the West and then
get smacked by Boston. Okay,I want will you bet one hundred for
me? Yes on the Western Conferenceand another one hundred on the finals.
To win it, to win itall if you agree to another hundred on
one spin of roulette, one number, all right, I'll vent Okay,
all right, you're gonna do this. I'm do it. My proxy gamblers,

(23:36):
Weddy comb over shale. Is Igoing to be screaming in Vegas getting
it done the most we could win? Okay, we win the roulette.
That's one hundred. Well let's dothe math in yeah, right and discuss.
Next we have some of your talkbacks. I think we've got birthdays,
d'jore and bandal. Okay, wegot bandle. Everything can be yours.
Next on ninety seven to one,The Freak
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