January 28, 2024 • 41 mins
Luka Dončić capped a roller-coaster week with a 73-point masterpiece in the most impressive (and efficient) scoring game of his career. On the latest edition of The Saturday Stein Line presented by Panini Trading Cards and Collectibles, Marc Stein reflects on No. 77's scoring outburst, visits with Mavericks radio play-by-play voice Chuck Cooperstein after Coop called the game in Atlanta and also has an interview with FC Dallas goalkeeper Maarten Paes after FCD played host to Lionel Messi and Inter Miami in a recent exhibition game.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:04):
Welcome to the Saturday Steinline with MarkStein, presented by Benini Trading Cards and
Collectibles. On ninety seven to one, The Freak, the official homes all
Dallas Mavericks games, hosted by legendaryNBA reporter and publisher of his substack,
The Steinline. Here's Mark Stein leadand we'll benefit go thirty six. Luca
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Goyas what the double team, andhe does coming down the lane head to
the Reds. Scores of the Bowlhad a three point play. Chats for
Donchets looking for seventy three Everyone,Welcome in to the Saturday Steinline January twenty
seventh edition, presented as always byPanini Trading Cards and Collectibles. Spoiler alert,
(01:02):
Luka Doncic indeed got those seventy threepoints last night, and the Mavericks
can't deny it. Either needed everysingle bit of one of the most spectacular
offensive performances this league has ever seento secure a one forty eight three victory
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in Atlanta. That was Chuck Coopersteinon the call right here. On ninety
seven to one, The Freak Dallasbrings a halt in historic fashion to a
three game losing streak that let's behonest, it led to much unrest,
concern, criticism throughout MAVs. LandI would say when Luka Doncic came to
(01:53):
Dallas and took the number seventy sevenjersey. Of course he wore number seven
at Real Madrid. Number seven wasoccupied when he got here, so he
went with seventy seven. Much wasexpected of the teenage phenom from Slovenia.
Not sure making a run at asingle game point total to match his number.
(02:20):
Not sure that was on the list. He almost did it last night,
and who would be surprised seriously ifDoncic takes it another step farther someday
and joins the late great one ofa kind Kobe Bryant is the only players
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not named Wilt Chamberlain to crack theeighty point mark. As it is only
Wilt and Kobe have scored more ina regular season game now than the young
man from Lubiano, who is notyet twenty five, turns twenty five this
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month, sorry, twenty five nextmonth. We're not in February yet.
He turns twenty five at the endof February. For Doncic this week and
thus for the Mavericks this week,It's been quite a roller coaster. Luca
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put himself under the microscope Wednesday withhow he struggled to control his emotions or
even emotions. Don't know what wordI was trying to pronounce. There Dallas
collapsing in the second and especially thethird quarters in a really bad home loss
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to their old friends from Phoenix.There was a technical foul for lucas the
teams left the court. What gota lot more publicity, of course,
singling out a spectator who had beenheckling him all night. That spectator left
his seat and was essentially removed,although the word is he did stay in
(04:14):
the arena after leaving his seat.It was all night heckling. I'm sure
you guys know all about it atthis point you've read all the accounts.
The heckling culminated with a barb aboutLuca needing to get on the treadmill to
improve his conditioning, and you sawwhat happened after that. And look,
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okay, this is the most worrisomehole in his game. This remains the
area he needs most to address,the comportment with referees, controlling his emotions,
maintaining composure, managing the fiery side, Dantic undoubted has to improve in
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all those areas, and he admittedas much Thursday night when he was in
the TNT studio. It is it'son me, he said, and it
is it is on him. ButI think we also need to underline very
strongly the way he has responded whatwe saw from him over the next forty
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eight hours. I mean, first, keeping the appointment with TNT, that
was an all star thing. TNTmade the request for Luca to come in
studio because they knew the Mavericks wouldbe arriving in Atlanta on Thursday afternoon before
(05:47):
playing the Hawks on Friday, andLuca was obviously going to be named an
all star starter, asked him tocome in, kept the appointment. I
thought he handled himself really well withthe questions that he was forced to field
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because it happened the day after thiswhole Phoenix mess. And then what we
saw last night a near perfect masterpiece. Jason kids go to description for what
Luca does is to invoke Picasso.That was a Picasso painting twenty five for
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thirty three from the field, eightfor thirteen from three, fifteen for sixteen
from the line. He took sixteenfewer shots en route to seventy three points,
sixteen fewer than when Kobe himself famouslyrumbled for eighty one points against Toronto
(06:55):
in January two thousand and six.The great Istak Frank Dallas's second favorite Slovenian
correspondent for d magazine is Talk notedon Twitter today that game wasn't even top
ten in terms of Luca's usage.You know, he moved the ball when
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he was getting double trusted teammates didsome screening. I mean, he cannot
play a more picturesque offensive game andit all slammed home. Why yes,
again, no one is isolated fromcriticism, Not Luka Doncic, not anyone
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who plays professional sports, especially whenlines are crossed that shouldn't be crossed.
But let's be real everyone, heis still very much the last thing with
this team that should be highlighted assome sort of concern or troublesp Even if
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you agree that the compartment with refereesdoes have to be improved and addressed,
no justification for racking up technical fouls. And again, when it comes to
the fan interaction, Luca himself acknowledgedhe was wrong on national TV. When
I'm wrong, he said, Iadmit it the unavoidable, the unavoidable reality
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for this team. Frustration has beenmounting all month, and I think a
lot of it is really down toteam performance, because there are a number
of issues that do need fixing.The Mavericks got off to that promising eight
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and to start, they've made itto seven games over five hundred multiple times
this season. There's still five gamesover five hundred right now at twenty five
and twenty, but I genuinely thinkthe great start raised expectations to an unreasonable
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degree. When you analyze this teamobjectively, I'm not sure that it has
ever been to this point of theseason seven games over five hundred good.
This team is still very small.A nineteen year old Derek Lively, the
(09:30):
second Lively also has a birthday nextmonth in February, but he's still nineteen.
He's the Mavericks' most reliable interior presence. Size is an issue everywhere else
on the roster. The team's otherprimary off season acquisition besides Lively was Grant
Williams, who has, if we'regonna put it charitably, struggled mightily here
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for weeks now, and Kyrie Irving. There have certainly been some promising signs
when he and Luca are together.I was as loud as skeptic as there
was. They have functioned as abackcourt duo much better this season than we
saw last season. And they reallydidn't even have a training camp. They
played seven minutes of preseason basketball together. When they've been together, they've been
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very potent. But if you goback to the trade, it happened almost
a year ago February six, twentytwenty three, Kyrie Irving has been a
Maverick for more than seventy games.At this point, Luca and Kyrie have
only played together in thirty eight games. Hat tipped to my good friend MAVs
(10:39):
Film Room for that stat. SoLuca and Kyrie have only been able to
team up in essentially half the gamessince this backcourt duo was formed. And
there have been ties, especially thismonth, that Kyrie Irving was absolutely brilliant
offensively. He's shooting the ball betterthan forty percent from deep, carried the
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offense when Luca was out recently withan ankle issue, he too. Kyrie
Irving at thirty one can still bea game plan unto himself when he's operating
at full capacity. But there's nogetting around it. We have not seen
the two of them together enough now. Internally, I can tell you when
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I talk to team officials, theMavericks want to believe that injuries are the
main culprit here, that this isa legit top six team in the West,
that they are when we've seen themget to seven games over five hundred,
that that is who they are,and that you can't talk about the
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team struggles without noting that we've veryrarely seen this team at full strength since
the eight and two start. Kyrieplayed eight of those first ten games,
to name one example. So yes, within the organization, there are definitely
some key stakeholders. Some key stakeholdersbelieve that injuries are the issue. I'm
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less sure of it if I'm beingas candid as I can. Derek Jones
Junior on a minimum contract, DanteExHAM on a contract slightly above the minimum.
These guys have played themselves into prominentroles, great stories and huge credit
to both of them, but italso speaks to me to voids in the
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roster that created the opportunities for themto seize roles that realistically shouldn't have been
there. If you have top sixaspirations in the West. Now the trade
deadline is fast approaching. The Mavericksare trying, The Mavericks are searching.
We spoke last week on the showabout Mark Cuban. He dropped by Benin's
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Skin and Mark Cuban still the team'salternate governor, still essentially in charge of
basketball operations alongside GM Nico Harrison andhis team. Cuban told ben and Skin
very plainly that Dallas wants to upgradeat the four. Lively's emergence, it's
been the most significant development for thisteam's future. Honestly, this season,
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he's completely over delivered on expectations asthe number twelve pick. He's not all
the way there, but you cansee the potential he has the He has
the potential to be the rim runningcenter and defensive anchor that would compliment Doncic
so nicely that you couldn't even imaginea year ago at this time. The
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four spot, on the other hand, it is it's the most glaring need
this team has in terms of upgradeupgrades. They need wing help as well,
but it's really the four. Ithink where they've been focused. I
reported earlier this week the Mavericks haveregistered interest in Washington's Kyle Kuzma. I'm
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a huge Kuzma fan. I thinkhe's got a really versatile skill set.
He's got a history with Jason Kidd. Remember Kuzma was on that Laker bubble
team when Kid was an assistant,so they've worked together before. The issue
here is the Mavericks just don't appearto have enough to make a real offer
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that's going to turn Washington's head.The Wizards. It's well known around the
league the Wizards want at least twofirst round picks if they're going to surrender
Kyle Kuzma now before this deadline.And the reality is the Wizards don't have
to trade him now. They cantake a patient stance and don't forget when
Washington traded Bradley Beal and Christops Porzingisthey had no leverage in either case and
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got zero first round picks in thosedeals. They cannot of to repeat.
Kuzma has a lot of fans aroundthe league. The Sacramento Kings, who
are in town tonight. That's anotherteam that would love to acquire Kyle Kuzma.
So the Wizards have incentive to bepatient. Also, don't forget Kuzma
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has a really attractive contract. Itdescends in value. He's making twenty five
plus million this season in year one. In year four, that thing goes
down to nineteen plus million. Sothe Wizards are going to get good offers
for Kuzma. They're already getting them. They're resistant to trading him now and
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again, with the MAVs only havingone first round pick available, I just
don't know that they can cobble somethingtogether that would tempt Washington in the short
term. Can the Mavericks get somethingelse done on the trade front if they
don't acquire Kuzma. We're gonna soonWe're down to less than two weeks to
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go before the February eight trade deadlinehits two pm Local time, a week
from Thursday. What I do knowfor sure, for the rest of this
show, we're gonna put the focusback on these magic athletes who have been
in our misst Leonel Messi was intown earlier this week, in and out
of town very quickly, with alot less fanfare than in August. We're
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going to discuss that in the nextsegment with FC Dallas goalkeeper Martin Pass and
then we're going to bring it backto Luca Vision in the final segment,
where today's focus really belongs Chuck Cooperstein, the aforementioned Coop. He was there
in Atlanta to call the game onthis station. I want to get his
first hand reflections on seventy three forseventy seventy Yes, a seventy three point
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Picasso. All that to come next, You're on ninety seven won the Freak.
This is the Saturday Steinline with MarkStein, presented by Panini Trading Cards
and Collectibles on your official home toall Dallas Mavericks games. The Freak Dallas
(17:15):
trying to play out of pressure,fist in opportunity for Messi out a PIXI
from Lady Pass, got a handto it, Messi's first real look at
goal, and the dutchment is upto the task. Man. What a
wild sporting week in Dallas, particularlywhen it comes to my favorite sports.
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The Saturday Steinline dribbles on now presentedas always by my dear friends at Panini
Trading Cards and Collectibles, except we'regonna do something a little different in today's
second segment before we move back tobasketball, if you can rewind with me
(18:02):
until rewind with me to Monday beforethe messy Phoenix game before Luka Doncic dropped
by the TNT set Thursday night beforeNumber seventy seven erupted for seventy three points
in Atlanta last night. The BostonCeltics were here on Monday, the team
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with the NBA's best record, Celticsmaking their annual appearance for the second year
in a row. Chris Stops Porzingis, now a Celtic, ruled out through
injury, so that has delayed Porzingis'smaiden return to the AAC as a visiting
player for the second time. ButI gotta tell you, I was so
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distracted Monday night. I don't knowthat had Porzingis been out there, that
it would have kept me dialed into what was going on. Because Monday
afternoon cold, drizzly, and LionelMessi was in town. Lionel Messi second
time. Messi has played here sincehe came to MLS last season to join
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Inner Miami, so I naturally wantedto be in two places. Monday.
It was only an exhibition game thistime. The match was played at the
Cotton Bowl, the original home forFC Dallas back when the club was known
as the Dallas Byrne. But listen, I'm still haunted by last August my
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failure to get out to Frisco.On that magical Sunday night five to four
classic, Messi played here, scoredtwice, delivered that free kick where everyone
in the stadium knew where it wasgoing. Everyone in the world was watching
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to see if he could deliver,and the man stepped up and delivered.
Forced the game to peeks. InterMiami went on to win that game on
penalty kicks. There was no wayI was letting this occasion this week game
pass again without covering it on today'sshow, even though I couldn't be there.
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And ever since the match in August, I've been wanting to bring our
next guest on Martin Poss, theFC Dallas goalkeeper. I want to hear
from him, what is it liketo stare Messi down from the goal mouth.
What is it like to play goalkeeperand have to deal with that magical
left foot. As the clip indicatedthat we started the segment with pass and
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FCI Dallas, they fared better thistime. They won the rematch one nil.
Pas denied Messi very smartly down tohis left in that highlight we shared
and then he joined me a fewdays later to talk about it all.
We're going to go to that conversationnow because I want to hear direct from
Martin what the atmosphere was like atthe Cotton Bowl and just give us a
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glimpse of these unique set of circumstancesthat had Lionel Messi, who for some
is the greatest footballer ever, playinga preseason match in Dallas in January on
a Monday afternoon at the Cotton Bowlat five pm. Well, of course
we were looking very much forward toit. Of course, we come from
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a long offseason and then we knowalready like the first game, already the
pressure was on, but a verynice challenge. Of course it was cold,
but I actually didn't mind it.Yeah, luckily some fan showed up,
so that was great as well.I read somewhere it was around thirty
thousand and then. Yeah, itwas just a great match, good challenge,
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and luckily we managed to score oneand concede zero, so that's always
good. And then yeah, it'salways joy when you play against the players
at the highest level. Yeah,yeah, you know that, so was
a yeah, overall great experience.Yeah, no, it killed me not
to be there, but with theMavericks playing just a couple hours later,
I wasn't able to make it.And I have to confess. One of
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the reasons I've been wanting to haveyou on the show for quite a long
time. My son Aaron, isa high school goalkeeper, and I've been
fascinated by goalkeeper psychology ever since hestarted playing the position when he was young.
And you have this unique experience.I think maybe on the outside some
would call it a privilege. I'mnot sure that's the exact precise word when
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you're the goalkeeper who has to faceit. But just facing a messy free
kick, or just facing messy ingeneral, what is that like for a
goalkeeper? Last year I faced oneof the free kicks and it's just something
else. But yeah, you can. You just have to be on top
and still a goal can go in, because I think last year I didn't
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do anything wrong and it was stillan unbelievable free kick. But the thing
is when you when you face aplayer like that, just every single detail
has to has to be correct.And I think I took a big lesson
from last year's game where I wasso close to making two great saves and
I was two goals. And thenthis year all my details were correct and
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I was able to make one ormaybe two good saves and and then there
was a difference to for me fromfrom last year. And you learn from
that. But of course, asthe goalkeeper, you always have a big
responsibility and uh yeah, everything hasto has to be all right otherwise,
yeah, you will get punished alreadyor your your face. So it's the
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pressure is the privilege, but there'salways uh yeah, you always have to
be on top of your game.You can never have a have a break,
take a break before a game,because yeah, you always get punished
for that. Martin Pass, theFC Dallas goalkeeper joining us here on ninety
seven to one, the freak.Not only the FC Dallas goalkeeper, but
he's become a Mavericks fan in histime living in the area. So that
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four to three game against Inner Miamiin August, people still talk about it.
People like me who didn't make itthere that night, we lived with
great regret. I will always wishI could turn my back time and get
myself there. And when when Iask you now to think back on that
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game, what comes to mind whenyou think about that crazy night, Yeah,
I think first of all, whatcomes to my mind is the the
the media press coverage before the game. It was something that we haven't faced
already. Well I've faced it inHolland, but not in America yet.
And then I think, yeah,we had to introduce ourselves to the media.
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So that was kind of funny becauseeveryone came there from MESSI its first
of all, I think every individualplayed a very great match that game where
we showcased yeah Oliver qualities on avery hot night in August. And then
yeah, what comes to my mindis that we should have won that game,
and at the end it went top ks penalty kicks. But you
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know, I think overall we webrought, like, especially for the neutral
supporters, a great game, andyeah, we took lesson from that to
the playoffs. For you, you'reentering your third season here now, but
when you actually came here from theDutch Eradivisi to MLS, you it was
only a six month loan originally.What changed and maybe what was going through
(25:29):
your mind when you first got here. Yeah, so when I first signed
that deal, it was both forme and the club. It was Yeah,
a little bit of a trial sixmonths. Do I like it there?
And do they like me? Andthen I think after six weeks it
was already almost a done deal thatit was for longer and longer stint.
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Yeah, I had a contract aclause where if I played the next amount
of games that they will make itpermanent. And then yeah, very fast,
I became the first goalkeeper, playedevery game, and yeah, I
brought my a game, and thenyeah, very very soon became clear that
it was for longer than six months. Are you a Texan? Now?
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Can we call you a Texan?Yeah? Well, I like to integrate
in the culture. I've done almosteverything. I went to the Texas Motor
Speedway. I'm into the State Fair. I went to every single sport game.
I even throw first pitch just beforethe Texas Rangers playoff games. How
was your first pitch? It wasgood, It was good. It was
actually really good. So I wasvery nervous about that. They went luckily,
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very good. It was against theAstros, and then yeah, it
was just an amazing experience. Andof course I went to the footboard sockyards
and yeah, I basically did everythingto make myself a Dutch Texan. So
that was amazing. Had you evertouched a baseball before that. I've touched
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one, but I didn't know howto throw it. But now I know
with the two fingers, and Ipracticed the day before with one of our
media guys. And then because throwingis my part of my job, it
was actually not that difficult. Butit's different when you're on that mount and
(27:21):
you you it's actually further than youthink, and then yeah, you have
to make it happen. I didn'tgot in the top ten of Sports Center
as a joke, but luckily itwas a good throw. Martin Pass,
the FC Dallas goalkeeper, joining ushere on the Saturday steinline on ninety seven
to one the freak. That Mondaymatch against Lionel Messi and Inner Miami was
(27:44):
a preseason match. The season isabout a month away from getting started.
What are the expectations for you guysthis season? You saw the playoffs last
year and even now with the NFL, you see how much home game advantage
is the advantage. And I believenext year we should create a higher end
the position where we can play morehome games because I think it's very very
(28:07):
important. Is you want to reachfar in the playoffs. So for me
personally and also as a team,I think that that must be a goal
that be For example, our firstyear we ent third and we could have
easily gone all the way. Andlast year, if you saw, our
schedule was very tough because we hadto beat three or maybe four very difficult
(28:29):
opponents away in very different environments inTexas. So I think that is very
important. And I think also wecan score maybe a little bit more goals.
I think last year we lacked alittle bit of goal scoring and productivity,
and on my end, I hopeto have similar good season as last
year and maybe add some more cleansheets. Last thing, before we let
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you go back home in Holland.You know you came here in your twenties.
What do your friends back home,your family back home, what do
they think of you leaving the Dutchera Divisi to come to MLS and now
this is where you've established yourself.And as we said entering year three,
yeah, well it's not easy.Of course. In the first year they
(29:14):
came all to visit and they lovedit, although they thought it was very
hot. But in the second yearyou'll always see that people have seen it,
and then last year almost nobody came. And for example, my mother
she was a little bit emotional whenI was back because she missed me a
lot. And yeah, I thinkthey see when they see me on TV
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and they see me at the games, they are very proud of me.
They see me growing in my game. They see, yeah, every year,
every week I'm taking new steps inmy development, and they're very proud.
But they they sometimes they wish itwill be on a little bit normal
time so they can also see thegames. And yeah, it's just it's
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a different from them because when Iwas playing in Holland, they could see
every game and they were very nervousbefore every game. And now most of
the time they see the score afterthey wake up and then yeah, my
father watched the highlights back for example, So it's different. But they see
how much I grow here and howyeah, how I like it here.
So yeah, they're very proud.And you've mentioned it a couple of times.
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The summer heat June, July,August, September, that is no
joke. I'm guessing you didn't seea lot of that in your previous soccer
life. No, no, AndI think that's also why the MLS is
so hard, but you also learna lot from it, and you have
to be a professional to play herebecause you're play in the heat, you
play on anovation, you play humidityor dry heat. You play now in
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the cold in Canada or Minnesota,for example. You have to adjust very
very good to different environments, differentclimates, and to the travels of course,
because in Holland you drive two anda half hours and you've seen the
whole country. And here, yeah, you fly a lot in different dime
zones and you have to take careof your mind and body very well.
So yeah, that's another difficult,yeah, difficult part, but also something
(31:14):
where you grow into and you learnloves from it. Well, I'm so
glad we did this. Like Isaid, I've been wanting to have you
on for a while to talk aboutthe game, talk about goalkeeping, talk
about facing MESSI so I'm really gladwe could set this up. Wishing you
great success this season with FC Dallas. Thank you and if your sunny any
glows from me or any tips alwaysyou were too kind. There he goes
(31:37):
Martin Pots, the FC Dallas goalkeeper. Lots more to come here on this
edition of the Saturday Steinline. Nexthere on ninety seven won the freak.
This is drtn Lwitzky and you're listeningto the Saturday Steinline. But my guys
Steiny on ninety seven won the freak. I've said this before. You know,
we can't take him for granted.You know, every night as Special
(31:57):
he always does something and sometimes weare a little bit tough on him because
of the wins and losses. Butyou know what he does, you know,
on the court is different than anybodyelse. And so he displayed that
again. Maybe going to see ChuckKenny and those guys in Shaq got him
inspired last night, and so maybewe should see them a little bit more
(32:22):
often. I appreciate you sticking withus here on the Saturday Steinline presented by
Panini Trading Cards and Collectibles. Youheard Jason Kidd. They're reacting to the
seventy three point game that Luca assembled. All right, we do have Chuck
now, and I'm gonna I mean, Chuck was on the call last night,
seventy three for Luca new career high, bettering his previous high by thirteen
(32:46):
points. I needed to talk tosomeone who was there in the house to
see it. Live. Let's dothat now. I know you haven't been
long home long, mister Cooperstein.I know you've got a quick turn around
tonight, second half of a backto back against Sacramento. But I think
we need to properly reflect and genuflecton what we saw last night. So
(33:10):
take us to the scene. What'sgoing to stand out in the memory for
you just how easily it happened.He just did whatever he wanted with the
most ruthless case of efficiency that I'veever seen. I mean, think about
it, Mark, he missed eightshots. He took thirty three. He
(33:32):
missed eight. Think about when Kobehad his eighty one, he took forty
six shots. I mean, Luca, that's seventy three on thirty three shots.
It was just absurd. And youknow what, I guess what made
it all the more dramatic was thatyou know, they needed pretty much all
(33:53):
of them in order to win thegame. I mean, that's I think
that's what you take away that,and and you take away how unselfish he
was in scoring seventy three points.Look, he could have scored well over
eighty last night, and especially latein the game when you know he got
a little arier that maybe the Maverickswould have liked. He has that chance
(34:15):
to drive in the basket, andhe probably would have gotten there, but
he saw Dante x smoking and witha minute sixteen to go and ex nails
at three pointer when really, youknow, Dante, I think is sometimes
reluctant to shoot the ball, andthen Luca's got to encourage him to shoot
the ball, and this was away to do that. I mean,
what a time to encourage him todo it. It was just it was
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phenomenal. Look, I always thoughtthat the best Mavericks individual performance ever was
Dirk's Game one against Oklahoma City intwenty eleven forty eight points, twelve to
fifteen, shooting twenty four to twentyfour line never even tried a three pointer
in that game. But this topsthat. This absolutely tops that. I
mean, look, I mean it'sthe and it's the most points anyone to
(35:00):
scored since Kobe, And even withthe inflation in scoring that's going on around
the league right now, I don'tknow that we're ever going to see that
again, and certainly not in themanner that it was done. To the
point where all the Atlanta fans,who of course are just all been out
of shape for the last six yearsbecause of what happened on Draft Night in
(35:21):
twenty eighteen. I mean, theystarted chanting MVP. I mean, how
remarkable was that. Yeah, Iwanted to get your take on the crowd
because obviously you said it. Theseteams have a lot of history because of
what happened on Draft Night in twentyeighteen. Now, I personally I thought
David Robinson's seventy one point game.That was my first year as an NBA
beat writer at the end of theninety three to ninety four season. But
(35:44):
David was going for the scoring titleand the Spurs that whole game against the
Clippers. The Clippers had nothing toplay for. The Spurs were trying to
get David Robinson the scoring title lastnight. Like you said, I don't
think Luca went out there looking toscore seventy three points. It's just what
had to be done to win thisgame. Yeah, And and you know,
(36:05):
I do think though that he reallywanted to play with purpose given the
events of the week. It wasnot the best week for him. Team
didn't play well. He didn't reallyplay well, even though his numbers looked
okay. Uh, you know,he got a lot of backlash obviously for
what happened with the throwing with thefan in the Phoenix game. And you
(36:28):
know what, I think it actuallystarted with him going on inside the NBA
and addressing it and uh. Andthen you know, I watched him a
shoot around yesterday and he was laughingand just cutting up with his guys,
and you know, he was ina good place. And you know,
I turned to mar follow about theyou know, three quarters of the way
through the practice, and I said, Mark, I think he's going off
(36:49):
tonight. I just see that.I mean, he's so competitive. Number
one, He's got that, I'llshow you gene in him, maybe more
than anyone there were seen, andcertainly in the modern eror of anyone that
I've ever seen. And I justsaid, something big is going to happen
here. And then you're throw inthe fact that when the Mavericks play in
Atlanta, and certainly since the refurishingof the State Farm Arena, strange things
(37:15):
that happened in that building. Paranormalthings happened in that building, and we
saw something certainly out of the ordinarylast night. Yeah, I was expecting
a big game. I think thecoaching staff was as well, but I
think it was more along the linesof forty plus or fifty, not forty
one. At halftime. I know, I got to let you save some
(37:37):
of your voice, what's left ofit for tonight, but I want to
last thing before we let you go. And of course I'm pretty sure you
guys know who we're talking to,But in case you don't recognize the voice,
it is Chuck Cooperstein, the playby play radio voice of the Mavericks,
right here on ninety seven to one, the freak eight pm tip off
tonight, MAV's playing host to Sacramentosecond half of a back to back.
(37:58):
To put it charitably, terriitably,we've both been around a while. I
started watching the NBA in the lateseventies. I think you might have been
a hare before me in starting towatch the league. A lot of scoring
outbursts this week, seventy point gamesfor Luca and Joel Embiid, sixty point
games for Karl Anthony Towns and DevinBooker. We only got about ninety seconds
(38:22):
left. But just tell me howyou're dealing with all this offense. I
mean, it's in the moment.It's great to watch but I'm not really
a fan of it. Not thatI want to see the game go back
to where the Knicks and Heat werein the nineties, or see the Nixon
Rockets in the NBA Finals where nobodyscored one hundred points. I don't want
to see that. But I thinkwe watched that Denver Boston game last week
(38:45):
and it was one two to onehundred, and it was dramatic and it
had everything that you could want.And I just wish that the league would
and the Competition Committee would just goback and try to put a little more
alence into the game, give defensesa chance, because you know what,
the great players are still going toscore. They may not score seventy,
(39:05):
but they're still going to score.And a one ten to one oh five
game is just as exciting and canbe as exciting as a one to forty
to one thirty five game. Uh. You know, I'd love to see
defensive three seconds eliminated. I'd liketo see hand checking come in. I'd
like to see the corner three eliminated. You know, I just think it
would make for a better balanced gameand actually force a little more creativity than
(39:30):
sometimes we see in the NBA.Because pretty much everybody's playing the same way.
Say for Denver and Golden State andto a certain degree, Sacramento teams
that can play out of the highpost. But you know, most of
the time we're seeing pick and rollbasketball, hit the paint, kick it
out, shoot the three. Well, I think you might get some of
that. I don't think you're goingto get all of that. I don't
know that hand checking is coming back. But are they gonna look at defensive
(39:52):
three seconds? Are they gonna lookat restoring some contact. I think there
probably will be some of that discussionat the end of the season. But
man, it is just a crazygame now because so many of these guys
can shoot comfortably from thirty or evendeeper, and it just stretches the court
to a degree we've never seen before. Everyone be sure to listen tonight Chuck
(40:17):
Cooperstein will be back on the callfor MAVs Kings eight pm tip off,
because there's a hockey game first eightpm tip off here on ninety seven to
one. The freak that is goingto do it for this edition of the
Saturday Steinline. Thank you to Grooves, thank you to Maddie, Thank you
for all the help in putting thisshow together, and on this Holocaust Remembrance
(40:43):
Day, I want to dedicate thisshow to my late father, Ruven,
a Holocaust survivor, nearing the tenthanniversary of his passing. Abbah, love
you, miss you everyone that willdo it next up here on ninety seven
one the Freak We've got vsin SportsMap Radio, carrying on with your sports Saturday
Welcome to the Saturday Steinline with MarkStein, presented by Benini Trading Cards and
Collectibles. On ninety seven to one, The Freak, the official homes all
Dallas Mavericks games, hosted by legendaryNBA reporter and publisher of his substack,
The Steinline. Here's Mark Stein leadand we'll benefit go thirty six. Luca
(00:32):
Goyas what the double team, andhe does coming down the lane head to
the Reds. Scores of the Bowlhad a three point play. Chats for
Donchets looking for seventy three Everyone,Welcome in to the Saturday Steinline January twenty
seventh edition, presented as always byPanini Trading Cards and Collectibles. Spoiler alert,
(01:02):
Luka Doncic indeed got those seventy threepoints last night, and the Mavericks
can't deny it. Either needed everysingle bit of one of the most spectacular
offensive performances this league has ever seento secure a one forty eight three victory
(01:27):
in Atlanta. That was Chuck Coopersteinon the call right here. On ninety
seven to one, The Freak Dallasbrings a halt in historic fashion to a
three game losing streak that let's behonest, it led to much unrest,
concern, criticism throughout MAVs. LandI would say when Luka Doncic came to
(01:53):
Dallas and took the number seventy sevenjersey. Of course he wore number seven
at Real Madrid. Number seven wasoccupied when he got here, so he
went with seventy seven. Much wasexpected of the teenage phenom from Slovenia.
Not sure making a run at asingle game point total to match his number.
(02:20):
Not sure that was on the list. He almost did it last night,
and who would be surprised seriously ifDoncic takes it another step farther someday
and joins the late great one ofa kind Kobe Bryant is the only players
(02:42):
not named Wilt Chamberlain to crack theeighty point mark. As it is only
Wilt and Kobe have scored more ina regular season game now than the young
man from Lubiano, who is notyet twenty five, turns twenty five this
(03:02):
month, sorry, twenty five nextmonth. We're not in February yet.
He turns twenty five at the endof February. For Doncic this week and
thus for the Mavericks this week,It's been quite a roller coaster. Luca
(03:24):
put himself under the microscope Wednesday withhow he struggled to control his emotions or
even emotions. Don't know what wordI was trying to pronounce. There Dallas
collapsing in the second and especially thethird quarters in a really bad home loss
(03:46):
to their old friends from Phoenix.There was a technical foul for lucas the
teams left the court. What gota lot more publicity, of course,
singling out a spectator who had beenheckling him all night. That spectator left
his seat and was essentially removed,although the word is he did stay in
(04:14):
the arena after leaving his seat.It was all night heckling. I'm sure
you guys know all about it atthis point you've read all the accounts.
The heckling culminated with a barb aboutLuca needing to get on the treadmill to
improve his conditioning, and you sawwhat happened after that. And look,
(04:40):
okay, this is the most worrisomehole in his game. This remains the
area he needs most to address,the comportment with referees, controlling his emotions,
maintaining composure, managing the fiery side, Dantic undoubted has to improve in
(05:00):
all those areas, and he admittedas much Thursday night when he was in
the TNT studio. It is it'son me, he said, and it
is it is on him. ButI think we also need to underline very
strongly the way he has responded whatwe saw from him over the next forty
(05:27):
eight hours. I mean, first, keeping the appointment with TNT, that
was an all star thing. TNTmade the request for Luca to come in
studio because they knew the Mavericks wouldbe arriving in Atlanta on Thursday afternoon before
(05:47):
playing the Hawks on Friday, andLuca was obviously going to be named an
all star starter, asked him tocome in, kept the appointment. I
thought he handled himself really well withthe questions that he was forced to field
(06:09):
because it happened the day after thiswhole Phoenix mess. And then what we
saw last night a near perfect masterpiece. Jason kids go to description for what
Luca does is to invoke Picasso.That was a Picasso painting twenty five for
(06:32):
thirty three from the field, eightfor thirteen from three, fifteen for sixteen
from the line. He took sixteenfewer shots en route to seventy three points,
sixteen fewer than when Kobe himself famouslyrumbled for eighty one points against Toronto
(06:55):
in January two thousand and six.The great Istak Frank Dallas's second favorite Slovenian
correspondent for d magazine is Talk notedon Twitter today that game wasn't even top
ten in terms of Luca's usage.You know, he moved the ball when
(07:16):
he was getting double trusted teammates didsome screening. I mean, he cannot
play a more picturesque offensive game andit all slammed home. Why yes,
again, no one is isolated fromcriticism, Not Luka Doncic, not anyone
(07:39):
who plays professional sports, especially whenlines are crossed that shouldn't be crossed.
But let's be real everyone, heis still very much the last thing with
this team that should be highlighted assome sort of concern or troublesp Even if
(08:01):
you agree that the compartment with refereesdoes have to be improved and addressed,
no justification for racking up technical fouls. And again, when it comes to
the fan interaction, Luca himself acknowledgedhe was wrong on national TV. When
I'm wrong, he said, Iadmit it the unavoidable, the unavoidable reality
(08:28):
for this team. Frustration has beenmounting all month, and I think a
lot of it is really down toteam performance, because there are a number
of issues that do need fixing.The Mavericks got off to that promising eight
(08:48):
and to start, they've made itto seven games over five hundred multiple times
this season. There's still five gamesover five hundred right now at twenty five
and twenty, but I genuinely thinkthe great start raised expectations to an unreasonable
(09:09):
degree. When you analyze this teamobjectively, I'm not sure that it has
ever been to this point of theseason seven games over five hundred good.
This team is still very small.A nineteen year old Derek Lively, the
(09:30):
second Lively also has a birthday nextmonth in February, but he's still nineteen.
He's the Mavericks' most reliable interior presence. Size is an issue everywhere else
on the roster. The team's otherprimary off season acquisition besides Lively was Grant
Williams, who has, if we'regonna put it charitably, struggled mightily here
(09:54):
for weeks now, and Kyrie Irving. There have certainly been some promising signs
when he and Luca are together.I was as loud as skeptic as there
was. They have functioned as abackcourt duo much better this season than we
saw last season. And they reallydidn't even have a training camp. They
played seven minutes of preseason basketball together. When they've been together, they've been
(10:18):
very potent. But if you goback to the trade, it happened almost
a year ago February six, twentytwenty three, Kyrie Irving has been a
Maverick for more than seventy games.At this point, Luca and Kyrie have
only played together in thirty eight games. Hat tipped to my good friend MAVs
(10:39):
Film Room for that stat. SoLuca and Kyrie have only been able to
team up in essentially half the gamessince this backcourt duo was formed. And
there have been ties, especially thismonth, that Kyrie Irving was absolutely brilliant
offensively. He's shooting the ball betterthan forty percent from deep, carried the
(11:01):
offense when Luca was out recently withan ankle issue, he too. Kyrie
Irving at thirty one can still bea game plan unto himself when he's operating
at full capacity. But there's nogetting around it. We have not seen
the two of them together enough now. Internally, I can tell you when
(11:24):
I talk to team officials, theMavericks want to believe that injuries are the
main culprit here, that this isa legit top six team in the West,
that they are when we've seen themget to seven games over five hundred,
that that is who they are,and that you can't talk about the
(11:46):
team struggles without noting that we've veryrarely seen this team at full strength since
the eight and two start. Kyrieplayed eight of those first ten games,
to name one example. So yes, within the organization, there are definitely
some key stakeholders. Some key stakeholdersbelieve that injuries are the issue. I'm
(12:13):
less sure of it if I'm beingas candid as I can. Derek Jones
Junior on a minimum contract, DanteExHAM on a contract slightly above the minimum.
These guys have played themselves into prominentroles, great stories and huge credit
to both of them, but italso speaks to me to voids in the
(12:35):
roster that created the opportunities for themto seize roles that realistically shouldn't have been
there. If you have top sixaspirations in the West. Now the trade
deadline is fast approaching. The Mavericksare trying, The Mavericks are searching.
We spoke last week on the showabout Mark Cuban. He dropped by Benin's
(12:58):
Skin and Mark Cuban still the team'salternate governor, still essentially in charge of
basketball operations alongside GM Nico Harrison andhis team. Cuban told ben and Skin
very plainly that Dallas wants to upgradeat the four. Lively's emergence, it's
been the most significant development for thisteam's future. Honestly, this season,
(13:24):
he's completely over delivered on expectations asthe number twelve pick. He's not all
the way there, but you cansee the potential he has the He has
the potential to be the rim runningcenter and defensive anchor that would compliment Doncic
so nicely that you couldn't even imaginea year ago at this time. The
(13:46):
four spot, on the other hand, it is it's the most glaring need
this team has in terms of upgradeupgrades. They need wing help as well,
but it's really the four. Ithink where they've been focused. I
reported earlier this week the Mavericks haveregistered interest in Washington's Kyle Kuzma. I'm
(14:09):
a huge Kuzma fan. I thinkhe's got a really versatile skill set.
He's got a history with Jason Kidd. Remember Kuzma was on that Laker bubble
team when Kid was an assistant,so they've worked together before. The issue
here is the Mavericks just don't appearto have enough to make a real offer
(14:31):
that's going to turn Washington's head.The Wizards. It's well known around the
league the Wizards want at least twofirst round picks if they're going to surrender
Kyle Kuzma now before this deadline.And the reality is the Wizards don't have
to trade him now. They cantake a patient stance and don't forget when
Washington traded Bradley Beal and Christops Porzingisthey had no leverage in either case and
(14:56):
got zero first round picks in thosedeals. They cannot of to repeat.
Kuzma has a lot of fans aroundthe league. The Sacramento Kings, who
are in town tonight. That's anotherteam that would love to acquire Kyle Kuzma.
So the Wizards have incentive to bepatient. Also, don't forget Kuzma
(15:20):
has a really attractive contract. Itdescends in value. He's making twenty five
plus million this season in year one. In year four, that thing goes
down to nineteen plus million. Sothe Wizards are going to get good offers
for Kuzma. They're already getting them. They're resistant to trading him now and
(15:41):
again, with the MAVs only havingone first round pick available, I just
don't know that they can cobble somethingtogether that would tempt Washington in the short
term. Can the Mavericks get somethingelse done on the trade front if they
don't acquire Kuzma. We're gonna soonWe're down to less than two weeks to
(16:02):
go before the February eight trade deadlinehits two pm Local time, a week
from Thursday. What I do knowfor sure, for the rest of this
show, we're gonna put the focusback on these magic athletes who have been
in our misst Leonel Messi was intown earlier this week, in and out
of town very quickly, with alot less fanfare than in August. We're
(16:26):
going to discuss that in the nextsegment with FC Dallas goalkeeper Martin Pass and
then we're going to bring it backto Luca Vision in the final segment,
where today's focus really belongs Chuck Cooperstein, the aforementioned Coop. He was there
in Atlanta to call the game onthis station. I want to get his
first hand reflections on seventy three forseventy seventy Yes, a seventy three point
(16:53):
Picasso. All that to come next, You're on ninety seven won the Freak.
This is the Saturday Steinline with MarkStein, presented by Panini Trading Cards
and Collectibles on your official home toall Dallas Mavericks games. The Freak Dallas
(17:15):
trying to play out of pressure,fist in opportunity for Messi out a PIXI
from Lady Pass, got a handto it, Messi's first real look at
goal, and the dutchment is upto the task. Man. What a
wild sporting week in Dallas, particularlywhen it comes to my favorite sports.
(17:40):
The Saturday Steinline dribbles on now presentedas always by my dear friends at Panini
Trading Cards and Collectibles, except we'regonna do something a little different in today's
second segment before we move back tobasketball, if you can rewind with me
(18:02):
until rewind with me to Monday beforethe messy Phoenix game before Luka Doncic dropped
by the TNT set Thursday night beforeNumber seventy seven erupted for seventy three points
in Atlanta last night. The BostonCeltics were here on Monday, the team
(18:22):
with the NBA's best record, Celticsmaking their annual appearance for the second year
in a row. Chris Stops Porzingis, now a Celtic, ruled out through
injury, so that has delayed Porzingis'smaiden return to the AAC as a visiting
player for the second time. ButI gotta tell you, I was so
(18:45):
distracted Monday night. I don't knowthat had Porzingis been out there, that
it would have kept me dialed into what was going on. Because Monday
afternoon cold, drizzly, and LionelMessi was in town. Lionel Messi second
time. Messi has played here sincehe came to MLS last season to join
(19:11):
Inner Miami, so I naturally wantedto be in two places. Monday.
It was only an exhibition game thistime. The match was played at the
Cotton Bowl, the original home forFC Dallas back when the club was known
as the Dallas Byrne. But listen, I'm still haunted by last August my
(19:36):
failure to get out to Frisco.On that magical Sunday night five to four
classic, Messi played here, scoredtwice, delivered that free kick where everyone
in the stadium knew where it wasgoing. Everyone in the world was watching
(19:57):
to see if he could deliver,and the man stepped up and delivered.
Forced the game to peeks. InterMiami went on to win that game on
penalty kicks. There was no wayI was letting this occasion this week game
pass again without covering it on today'sshow, even though I couldn't be there.
(20:18):
And ever since the match in August, I've been wanting to bring our
next guest on Martin Poss, theFC Dallas goalkeeper. I want to hear
from him, what is it liketo stare Messi down from the goal mouth.
What is it like to play goalkeeperand have to deal with that magical
left foot. As the clip indicatedthat we started the segment with pass and
(20:41):
FCI Dallas, they fared better thistime. They won the rematch one nil.
Pas denied Messi very smartly down tohis left in that highlight we shared
and then he joined me a fewdays later to talk about it all.
We're going to go to that conversationnow because I want to hear direct from
Martin what the atmosphere was like atthe Cotton Bowl and just give us a
(21:03):
glimpse of these unique set of circumstancesthat had Lionel Messi, who for some
is the greatest footballer ever, playinga preseason match in Dallas in January on
a Monday afternoon at the Cotton Bowlat five pm. Well, of course
we were looking very much forward toit. Of course, we come from
(21:26):
a long offseason and then we knowalready like the first game, already the
pressure was on, but a verynice challenge. Of course it was cold,
but I actually didn't mind it.Yeah, luckily some fan showed up,
so that was great as well.I read somewhere it was around thirty
thousand and then. Yeah, itwas just a great match, good challenge,
(21:48):
and luckily we managed to score oneand concede zero, so that's always
good. And then yeah, it'salways joy when you play against the players
at the highest level. Yeah,yeah, you know that, so was
a yeah, overall great experience.Yeah, no, it killed me not
to be there, but with theMavericks playing just a couple hours later,
I wasn't able to make it.And I have to confess. One of
(22:11):
the reasons I've been wanting to haveyou on the show for quite a long
time. My son Aaron, isa high school goalkeeper, and I've been
fascinated by goalkeeper psychology ever since hestarted playing the position when he was young.
And you have this unique experience.I think maybe on the outside some
would call it a privilege. I'mnot sure that's the exact precise word when
(22:34):
you're the goalkeeper who has to faceit. But just facing a messy free
kick, or just facing messy ingeneral, what is that like for a
goalkeeper? Last year I faced oneof the free kicks and it's just something
else. But yeah, you can. You just have to be on top
and still a goal can go in, because I think last year I didn't
(22:56):
do anything wrong and it was stillan unbelievable free kick. But the thing
is when you when you face aplayer like that, just every single detail
has to has to be correct.And I think I took a big lesson
from last year's game where I wasso close to making two great saves and
I was two goals. And thenthis year all my details were correct and
(23:17):
I was able to make one ormaybe two good saves and and then there
was a difference to for me fromfrom last year. And you learn from
that. But of course, asthe goalkeeper, you always have a big
responsibility and uh yeah, everything hasto has to be all right otherwise,
yeah, you will get punished alreadyor your your face. So it's the
(23:37):
pressure is the privilege, but there'salways uh yeah, you always have to
be on top of your game.You can never have a have a break,
take a break before a game,because yeah, you always get punished
for that. Martin Pass, theFC Dallas goalkeeper joining us here on ninety
seven to one, the freak.Not only the FC Dallas goalkeeper, but
he's become a Mavericks fan in histime living in the area. So that
(24:02):
four to three game against Inner Miamiin August, people still talk about it.
People like me who didn't make itthere that night, we lived with
great regret. I will always wishI could turn my back time and get
myself there. And when when Iask you now to think back on that
(24:22):
game, what comes to mind whenyou think about that crazy night, Yeah,
I think first of all, whatcomes to my mind is the the
the media press coverage before the game. It was something that we haven't faced
already. Well I've faced it inHolland, but not in America yet.
And then I think, yeah,we had to introduce ourselves to the media.
(24:45):
So that was kind of funny becauseeveryone came there from MESSI its first
of all, I think every individualplayed a very great match that game where
we showcased yeah Oliver qualities on avery hot night in August. And then
yeah, what comes to my mindis that we should have won that game,
and at the end it went top ks penalty kicks. But you
(25:07):
know, I think overall we webrought, like, especially for the neutral
supporters, a great game, andyeah, we took lesson from that to
the playoffs. For you, you'reentering your third season here now, but
when you actually came here from theDutch Eradivisi to MLS, you it was
only a six month loan originally.What changed and maybe what was going through
(25:29):
your mind when you first got here. Yeah, so when I first signed
that deal, it was both forme and the club. It was Yeah,
a little bit of a trial sixmonths. Do I like it there?
And do they like me? Andthen I think after six weeks it
was already almost a done deal thatit was for longer and longer stint.
(25:53):
Yeah, I had a contract aclause where if I played the next amount
of games that they will make itpermanent. And then yeah, very fast,
I became the first goalkeeper, playedevery game, and yeah, I
brought my a game, and thenyeah, very very soon became clear that
it was for longer than six months. Are you a Texan? Now?
(26:15):
Can we call you a Texan?Yeah? Well, I like to integrate
in the culture. I've done almosteverything. I went to the Texas Motor
Speedway. I'm into the State Fair. I went to every single sport game.
I even throw first pitch just beforethe Texas Rangers playoff games. How
was your first pitch? It wasgood, It was good. It was
actually really good. So I wasvery nervous about that. They went luckily,
(26:38):
very good. It was against theAstros, and then yeah, it
was just an amazing experience. Andof course I went to the footboard sockyards
and yeah, I basically did everythingto make myself a Dutch Texan. So
that was amazing. Had you evertouched a baseball before that. I've touched
(27:00):
one, but I didn't know howto throw it. But now I know
with the two fingers, and Ipracticed the day before with one of our
media guys. And then because throwingis my part of my job, it
was actually not that difficult. Butit's different when you're on that mount and
(27:21):
you you it's actually further than youthink, and then yeah, you have
to make it happen. I didn'tgot in the top ten of Sports Center
as a joke, but luckily itwas a good throw. Martin Pass,
the FC Dallas goalkeeper, joining ushere on the Saturday steinline on ninety seven
to one the freak. That Mondaymatch against Lionel Messi and Inner Miami was
(27:44):
a preseason match. The season isabout a month away from getting started.
What are the expectations for you guysthis season? You saw the playoffs last
year and even now with the NFL, you see how much home game advantage
is the advantage. And I believenext year we should create a higher end
the position where we can play morehome games because I think it's very very
(28:07):
important. Is you want to reachfar in the playoffs. So for me
personally and also as a team,I think that that must be a goal
that be For example, our firstyear we ent third and we could have
easily gone all the way. Andlast year, if you saw, our
schedule was very tough because we hadto beat three or maybe four very difficult
(28:29):
opponents away in very different environments inTexas. So I think that is very
important. And I think also wecan score maybe a little bit more goals.
I think last year we lacked alittle bit of goal scoring and productivity,
and on my end, I hopeto have similar good season as last
year and maybe add some more cleansheets. Last thing, before we let
(28:51):
you go back home in Holland.You know you came here in your twenties.
What do your friends back home,your family back home, what do
they think of you leaving the Dutchera Divisi to come to MLS and now
this is where you've established yourself.And as we said entering year three,
yeah, well it's not easy.Of course. In the first year they
(29:14):
came all to visit and they lovedit, although they thought it was very
hot. But in the second yearyou'll always see that people have seen it,
and then last year almost nobody came. And for example, my mother
she was a little bit emotional whenI was back because she missed me a
lot. And yeah, I thinkthey see when they see me on TV
(29:36):
and they see me at the games, they are very proud of me.
They see me growing in my game. They see, yeah, every year,
every week I'm taking new steps inmy development, and they're very proud.
But they they sometimes they wish itwill be on a little bit normal
time so they can also see thegames. And yeah, it's just it's
(29:59):
a different from them because when Iwas playing in Holland, they could see
every game and they were very nervousbefore every game. And now most of
the time they see the score afterthey wake up and then yeah, my
father watched the highlights back for example, So it's different. But they see
how much I grow here and howyeah, how I like it here.
So yeah, they're very proud.And you've mentioned it a couple of times.
(30:22):
The summer heat June, July,August, September, that is no
joke. I'm guessing you didn't seea lot of that in your previous soccer
life. No, no, AndI think that's also why the MLS is
so hard, but you also learna lot from it, and you have
to be a professional to play herebecause you're play in the heat, you
play on anovation, you play humidityor dry heat. You play now in
(30:48):
the cold in Canada or Minnesota,for example. You have to adjust very
very good to different environments, differentclimates, and to the travels of course,
because in Holland you drive two anda half hours and you've seen the
whole country. And here, yeah, you fly a lot in different dime
zones and you have to take careof your mind and body very well.
So yeah, that's another difficult,yeah, difficult part, but also something
(31:14):
where you grow into and you learnloves from it. Well, I'm so
glad we did this. Like Isaid, I've been wanting to have you
on for a while to talk aboutthe game, talk about goalkeeping, talk
about facing MESSI so I'm really gladwe could set this up. Wishing you
great success this season with FC Dallas. Thank you and if your sunny any
glows from me or any tips alwaysyou were too kind. There he goes
(31:37):
Martin Pots, the FC Dallas goalkeeper. Lots more to come here on this
edition of the Saturday Steinline. Nexthere on ninety seven won the freak.
This is drtn Lwitzky and you're listeningto the Saturday Steinline. But my guys
Steiny on ninety seven won the freak. I've said this before. You know,
we can't take him for granted.You know, every night as Special
(31:57):
he always does something and sometimes weare a little bit tough on him because
of the wins and losses. Butyou know what he does, you know,
on the court is different than anybodyelse. And so he displayed that
again. Maybe going to see ChuckKenny and those guys in Shaq got him
inspired last night, and so maybewe should see them a little bit more
(32:22):
often. I appreciate you sticking withus here on the Saturday Steinline presented by
Panini Trading Cards and Collectibles. Youheard Jason Kidd. They're reacting to the
seventy three point game that Luca assembled. All right, we do have Chuck
now, and I'm gonna I mean, Chuck was on the call last night,
seventy three for Luca new career high, bettering his previous high by thirteen
(32:46):
points. I needed to talk tosomeone who was there in the house to
see it. Live. Let's dothat now. I know you haven't been
long home long, mister Cooperstein.I know you've got a quick turn around
tonight, second half of a backto back against Sacramento. But I think
we need to properly reflect and genuflecton what we saw last night. So
(33:10):
take us to the scene. What'sgoing to stand out in the memory for
you just how easily it happened.He just did whatever he wanted with the
most ruthless case of efficiency that I'veever seen. I mean, think about
it, Mark, he missed eightshots. He took thirty three. He
(33:32):
missed eight. Think about when Kobehad his eighty one, he took forty
six shots. I mean, Luca, that's seventy three on thirty three shots.
It was just absurd. And youknow what, I guess what made
it all the more dramatic was thatyou know, they needed pretty much all
(33:53):
of them in order to win thegame. I mean, that's I think
that's what you take away that,and and you take away how unselfish he
was in scoring seventy three points.Look, he could have scored well over
eighty last night, and especially latein the game when you know he got
a little arier that maybe the Maverickswould have liked. He has that chance
(34:15):
to drive in the basket, andhe probably would have gotten there, but
he saw Dante x smoking and witha minute sixteen to go and ex nails
at three pointer when really, youknow, Dante, I think is sometimes
reluctant to shoot the ball, andthen Luca's got to encourage him to shoot
the ball, and this was away to do that. I mean,
what a time to encourage him todo it. It was just it was
(34:37):
phenomenal. Look, I always thoughtthat the best Mavericks individual performance ever was
Dirk's Game one against Oklahoma City intwenty eleven forty eight points, twelve to
fifteen, shooting twenty four to twentyfour line never even tried a three pointer
in that game. But this topsthat. This absolutely tops that. I
mean, look, I mean it'sthe and it's the most points anyone to
(35:00):
scored since Kobe, And even withthe inflation in scoring that's going on around
the league right now, I don'tknow that we're ever going to see that
again, and certainly not in themanner that it was done. To the
point where all the Atlanta fans,who of course are just all been out
of shape for the last six yearsbecause of what happened on Draft Night in
(35:21):
twenty eighteen. I mean, theystarted chanting MVP. I mean, how
remarkable was that. Yeah, Iwanted to get your take on the crowd
because obviously you said it. Theseteams have a lot of history because of
what happened on Draft Night in twentyeighteen. Now, I personally I thought
David Robinson's seventy one point game.That was my first year as an NBA
beat writer at the end of theninety three to ninety four season. But
(35:44):
David was going for the scoring titleand the Spurs that whole game against the
Clippers. The Clippers had nothing toplay for. The Spurs were trying to
get David Robinson the scoring title lastnight. Like you said, I don't
think Luca went out there looking toscore seventy three points. It's just what
had to be done to win thisgame. Yeah, And and you know,
(36:05):
I do think though that he reallywanted to play with purpose given the
events of the week. It wasnot the best week for him. Team
didn't play well. He didn't reallyplay well, even though his numbers looked
okay. Uh, you know,he got a lot of backlash obviously for
what happened with the throwing with thefan in the Phoenix game. And you
(36:28):
know what, I think it actuallystarted with him going on inside the NBA
and addressing it and uh. Andthen you know, I watched him a
shoot around yesterday and he was laughingand just cutting up with his guys,
and you know, he was ina good place. And you know,
I turned to mar follow about theyou know, three quarters of the way
through the practice, and I said, Mark, I think he's going off
(36:49):
tonight. I just see that.I mean, he's so competitive. Number
one, He's got that, I'llshow you gene in him, maybe more
than anyone there were seen, andcertainly in the modern eror of anyone that
I've ever seen. And I justsaid, something big is going to happen
here. And then you're throw inthe fact that when the Mavericks play in
Atlanta, and certainly since the refurishingof the State Farm Arena, strange things
(37:15):
that happened in that building. Paranormalthings happened in that building, and we
saw something certainly out of the ordinarylast night. Yeah, I was expecting
a big game. I think thecoaching staff was as well, but I
think it was more along the linesof forty plus or fifty, not forty
one. At halftime. I know, I got to let you save some
(37:37):
of your voice, what's left ofit for tonight, but I want to
last thing before we let you go. And of course I'm pretty sure you
guys know who we're talking to,But in case you don't recognize the voice,
it is Chuck Cooperstein, the playby play radio voice of the Mavericks,
right here on ninety seven to one, the freak eight pm tip off
tonight, MAV's playing host to Sacramentosecond half of a back to back.
(37:58):
To put it charitably, terriitably,we've both been around a while. I
started watching the NBA in the lateseventies. I think you might have been
a hare before me in starting towatch the league. A lot of scoring
outbursts this week, seventy point gamesfor Luca and Joel Embiid, sixty point
games for Karl Anthony Towns and DevinBooker. We only got about ninety seconds
(38:22):
left. But just tell me howyou're dealing with all this offense. I
mean, it's in the moment.It's great to watch but I'm not really
a fan of it. Not thatI want to see the game go back
to where the Knicks and Heat werein the nineties, or see the Nixon
Rockets in the NBA Finals where nobodyscored one hundred points. I don't want
to see that. But I thinkwe watched that Denver Boston game last week
(38:45):
and it was one two to onehundred, and it was dramatic and it
had everything that you could want.And I just wish that the league would
and the Competition Committee would just goback and try to put a little more
alence into the game, give defensesa chance, because you know what,
the great players are still going toscore. They may not score seventy,
(39:05):
but they're still going to score.And a one ten to one oh five
game is just as exciting and canbe as exciting as a one to forty
to one thirty five game. Uh. You know, I'd love to see
defensive three seconds eliminated. I'd liketo see hand checking come in. I'd
like to see the corner three eliminated. You know, I just think it
would make for a better balanced gameand actually force a little more creativity than
(39:30):
sometimes we see in the NBA.Because pretty much everybody's playing the same way.
Say for Denver and Golden State andto a certain degree, Sacramento teams
that can play out of the highpost. But you know, most of
the time we're seeing pick and rollbasketball, hit the paint, kick it
out, shoot the three. Well, I think you might get some of
that. I don't think you're goingto get all of that. I don't
know that hand checking is coming back. But are they gonna look at defensive
(39:52):
three seconds? Are they gonna lookat restoring some contact. I think there
probably will be some of that discussionat the end of the season. But
man, it is just a crazygame now because so many of these guys
can shoot comfortably from thirty or evendeeper, and it just stretches the court
to a degree we've never seen before. Everyone be sure to listen tonight Chuck
(40:17):
Cooperstein will be back on the callfor MAVs Kings eight pm tip off,
because there's a hockey game first eightpm tip off here on ninety seven to
one. The freak that is goingto do it for this edition of the
Saturday Steinline. Thank you to Grooves, thank you to Maddie, Thank you
for all the help in putting thisshow together, and on this Holocaust Remembrance
(40:43):
Day, I want to dedicate thisshow to my late father, Ruven,
a Holocaust survivor, nearing the tenthanniversary of his passing. Abbah, love
you, miss you everyone that willdo it next up here on ninety seven
one the Freak We've got vsin SportsMap Radio, carrying on with your sports Saturday
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