Chris Plank Previews Rest of NBA Conference Finals & Much More!

This morning on The Fellas, Chris Plank filled in for Anthony Gargano and previewed the rest of NBA Conference Finals games. He gives you a detailed prediction on how he thinks this round ends. Chris & KFigg continue great conversation revolving around the NFL & NHL Playoffs.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Don't listening to Fox Sports Radio radio.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
This was one of those shifts.

Speaker 3 (00:05):
I'm not gonna lie that when the boss man called
this used to be the money shift man, this was it.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
You'd be on.

Speaker 3 (00:13):
Uh, I think what five to nine Central time, six
to ten Eastern. It's it's one of my favorite I
love Saturday morning radio. It's it's some sort of thing
for me as a as a kid growing up. You know,
that's when we would get to listen to sports talk radio.

(00:33):
So I love this show. I love Whenever and gets
a Rest because it's a whole. But I had forgotten
and maybe Ethan you can refresh my memory, kfig, you
can refresh my memory. Good morning everybody. At some point
it moved up an hour, and so it used to

(00:55):
be like five to nine. Now it's four to eight
Central time.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
And this is.

Speaker 3 (00:59):
Weird because you might say, oh, what's the difference in
an hour?

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Come on, what's an hour?

Speaker 3 (01:05):
I don't know why, but the alarm clock going off
at three point thirty or three am Central not trying
to give away that that's loved in a little bit
today boys, as opposed to four am Central time, it
makes a major difference. So Kevin Figures of course, is
the trusted co host. Are are our man with a plan?

Speaker 4 (01:25):
Kay Fike?

Speaker 1 (01:25):
When did this shift?

Speaker 2 (01:26):
Is this a year now that this show had started
this early?

Speaker 1 (01:29):
So this began right around the start of football season
when we had our bet MGM show that started up.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
This is all Knows fault.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
Okay, Yeah, so it's all on Brian Know as as
per usual, it's all Brian Know's fault. He onset the
Apple card, so it was all him.

Speaker 4 (01:44):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (01:44):
Well, you know, kay Fik, I'm really excited today, not
only because I get to hang out with you, not
only because you know we've got a ton on the docket,
but you and I are big college guys. And as
a matter of fact, I shift right from this show
today to doing a little college work the rest of
the day. And I feel like, you know, we've got

(02:05):
to start the show with obviously remembering the great Jim
Brown and talking about the amazing finish for the Heat
last night, the incredible rally for the Vegas Golden Knights,
tons of tons of NFL notes to get to, but
I'm still trying to get to the bottom of the
Mike Bone resignation.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
I feel like We've got a massive college.

Speaker 3 (02:27):
Story on our hands. That is just it's kind, I
don't want to say, being swept under the rug. The
La Times has done an incredible job reporting on this,
but nationally, I don't feel like this story is getting
some of the buzz right now that it deserves. Am
I am I in crazy Town? Or is this something
we can go in depth on next hour? No, No,
we absolutely can.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
It has not gotten a lot of traction nationally for
whatever reason, but certainly this was obviously one of the
more hot, high profile athletic director jobs in the entire country.
A university that had been struggling mightily for about a decade,
especially in the football department, comes in, makes a big
splash in year two in hiring Lincoln Riley to turn
around someone you know well and turning around the USC

(03:08):
football program. And then just a bombshell by the La Times.
First the statement from Mike Bone and he's sides at
the very end almost as a footnote health reasons. Then
we come to find out that well, maybe health reasons,
maybe that's a factor, but it certainly is not the
factor as to why he's leaving.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
Yeah, I just you know this is.

Speaker 3 (03:28):
Athletic directors don't get a lot of publicity unless something
bad happens or unless they're incredible. Right, there's no middle
ground for athletic directors. It's not oh yeah, they do
a good job. It's either he's amazing, she's amazing. They're
among the most incredible eighties in the country and they
run this tight ship and they're making a lot of

(03:48):
money and they're hiring the best coaches, or oh my gosh,
they're terrible, they're a trained There's no reel in the
middle with eighties and Mike Boone had he become that
guy at USC So Kayfig and I are going to
dive into that coming up a little bit later on
in the show, but I don't I don't know what
Anthony's plan is usually for the show.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
But I'd love to hear from you this morning.

Speaker 3 (04:10):
Because I feel like as we get as we play
the hits, as we like to say in this biz
we call show, as we come to your life from
the tyrack dot com studios, tyrack dot com will help
you get there on unmatched the selection, fast, free shipping,
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(04:31):
seven ninety nine on Fox eight seven seven nine nine
six six three six nine.

Speaker 2 (04:35):
You can find us on Twitter.

Speaker 3 (04:37):
Dot com that little bird app that I'm so addicted to.
I'm at Plank Show. Kevin's at KFIG one air body
should be following us at Foxsports Radio.

Speaker 2 (04:48):
But let's play the hits.

Speaker 3 (04:49):
Let's start with the the biggest story from last night,
and that was Miami coming back to beat Boston one eleven,
one oh five. I guess we're calling this the Grant
Williams Game. More on that in just a bit.

Speaker 1 (05:03):
But Kevin, I've got a confession to make after last night.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
I really do.

Speaker 3 (05:07):
And I don't know if I should be admitting this,
but I mean, hell, if Lisa Salters can admit that
Nikola Jokich has been in the league for what five
six years and she's never watched him play but still
gets national gigs working sidelines on games, I guess I
can confess to this.

Speaker 2 (05:23):
I gave up on that game in the fourth quarter.

Speaker 1 (05:28):
Wow. Okay, yeah, yeah, I kind of thought, all right,
you know what.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
I want to watch some hockey.

Speaker 3 (05:32):
I'm a big college softball guy in UCLA was losing
last night, so I thought to myself, you know what,
I'm gonna put this game on Twitter mode. And by
that I mean I'm not rich. I'm not rich like
some of you people in your multiple TVs and your
iPads and things of that nature. I have a phone
and a TV and I have two daughters. It couldn't

(05:53):
care less.

Speaker 1 (05:54):
So so Kevin, I put the daughter to bed and
I started watching hockey and I was following just along
on Twitter, and it just kind of thought, Hey, Boston,
Boston has this in control.

Speaker 3 (06:06):
You know, we're there. They're in good shape. We're ready
to roll. It's at home. Nothing crazy is gonna happen.
Then all of a sudden, people started posting the exchange
between Jimmy Butler and Grant Williams, and suddenly it was
one of those games that demanded your attention because Miami

(06:28):
not only comes back to win one eleven, one oh five,
but they could not have looked worse in the third quarter.
They were outscored thirty three twenty one in the third quarter.
And then all of a sudden, about midway through the
fourth quarter, Jimmy Butler and the Heat come to life
and they have put an absolute choke hold. I probably

(06:48):
not the best analogy to use. They've absolutely put this
thing in control from Miami, and I'm here to tell
you right now, they're not doing it with smoking mirrors.
There's nothing surprising, there's nothing shocking here that's going on.
They're just flat out beating a Boston team that they're
not it right now, the Celtics are. So let's start

(07:09):
with just the general thought on this game. Miami just
went out and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.
You can point a finger at Grant Williams all you want,
but by god, that man is Jimmy Butler and he
is playing like it right now.

Speaker 2 (07:22):
Can't playoff Jimmy Butler. Jimmy Butler. They've been doing it
for years now.

Speaker 1 (07:26):
And you know, the funny thing about this and the
specifics of this game, I think it kind of just
encapslates the entire postseason run for Boston because there are
signs of this happening going all the way back to
the Atlanta Series. I mean, that easily could have gone seven.
I had Jason Tatum not pulled a rabbit out of
his hat in Game six, and they ended up pulling
away that had issues in the Philadelphia series worth a

(07:46):
consistency and a lot of runs going against them.

Speaker 2 (07:48):
Go back to Game one.

Speaker 1 (07:50):
It was a third quarter when Miami pulled away there
and Joe Mizula decided not to take a time out,
and juxtapols that to Friday night when it turn insto
the fourth quarter. For whatever reason, Boston has lacked that edge,
that defensive consistency that they show throughout the majority of
the regular season. It's lacked big time here in the playoffs,
regardless of who the opponent has been. And we know

(08:12):
Miami Heat, the Heat coach everybody wants to talk about.
You know, they're tough, They're not going anywhere. They fought
themselves from being eight seed to make it here for
a reason. And I do think the Grant Williams getting
in the face of Jimmy Butler just immediately lit a fire.
He's not that dude that you want to mess with Grant.
And I know Grant, you know, still in front of
the media and talk some more trash and that's cool
by all means. They just came into your house and

(08:34):
kicked your butt twice. And you have to go to
South Beach now and that place is going to be
rocking for Miami. Miami Heat team that wants to prove
that twenty twenty in the bubble was not a fluke
and they can beat you again in the Conference finals
and make it back to the NBA Finals. I thought Friday,
even more so than Game one, was a statement win,
not only because they won, but how they won in
comeback fashion in the fourth quarter in a tough place

(08:57):
to play that I was overly by how Miami performed
and quite honestly, almost to a certain view with Boston
kind of expecting to melt down because it's happened multiple
times here in this postseason run so far.

Speaker 3 (09:09):
So just to kind of give you the details, if
you know. Again, if you're like me and maybe you thought, oh,
this game's in the bag, so you kind of started
to shop around, because I would say, you know, low key, sneaky,
good sports tonight, some good baseball that took place.

Speaker 1 (09:27):
You got.

Speaker 3 (09:28):
I guess that I'm a big softball guy. I'm not
going to try to cram that down your throat.

Speaker 4 (09:31):
Today.

Speaker 2 (09:32):
You had the return to Britney grinder.

Speaker 3 (09:34):
Last night, you had hockey and the Western Conference Finals
that ended up being a fantastic game, but if you
maybe tapped out and started to look around, Miami trailed
by nine with six minutes to six minutes to go
on the road in game two of a series that
I know we could fight about must wins, Steve Kerr.

(09:55):
But in a must win game, you don't want to
lose both your home games. You don't want to fall
down to ZIP after losing both games and completely destroying
your home court advantage of your Boston. That was around
the time I think I wrote down six I have
six minutes exactly written down. That's when Grant Williams jumped up,

(10:16):
got in the face of Jimmy Butler and to maybe
put it best, poked the bear. From that point forward,
Jimmy Butler was unstoppable. I know he scored all but
maybe one time whenever Grant Williams was covering him, and
it was It was the most Kobe like thing I've
seen from a player in a long time, and I

(10:37):
loved every single moment of it.

Speaker 2 (10:39):
And listen, I'm not trying to sit here. I know ESPN.

Speaker 3 (10:43):
I've got to stop Mike I Malone, the Denver Nuggets coach,
and I need to stop catching the debate shows out
of the corner of her eyes, Mike more than you,
by the way, Oh my gosh, we'll get to that
later on. Holy smokes, dude. But Jimmy Butler, we all
know he's that dude, We've all seen it. But there's
always been controversy, nothing to do with anything off the court,

(11:06):
but just oh, is he a bad teammate? Is he
somebody that's really about team oriented goals? Couldn't care less?
Whenever I see a performance like that last night, I mean,
he looked like that dude. He was there for the moment.
He absolutely took the game over. And I mean Miami again,
a nine point deficit with six minutes minutes to go

(11:28):
is nothing in an NBA game, but still on the
road in that environment, you thought that's tough to overcome.
Jimmy Butler was incredible and he got just enough feel
from Grant Williams to basically push him over the top.

Speaker 2 (11:41):
Now, are we going to overvalue.

Speaker 3 (11:42):
That a little bit because it's a great storyline and
everyone kind of saw it happen and what happened afterwards. Sure,
you know, Boston should be better than allowing that to
happen to him, But k Fake. I just I'm still
in awe of what we saw from Jimmy Butler last night.

Speaker 1 (11:56):
I am too phenomenal performerance by him knowing that he's
gonna be the guy down the stretch to take every
big shot, every tough shot. I mean, these are you know, fadeaways,
three pointers. These are not easy looks that he's getting,
and he was able to dominate the only other you
mentioned Kobe moments. And this is why Boston is not
necessarily out of this series. If you go back to
the Philadelphia series with the Boston Celtics and Jason Tatum

(12:18):
and he just had that horrific I think it was
Game five when he was one for thirteen or whatever
it was, and he just steps back and drills a
three in the face of Joel Embiid and then comes
back the next possession and drills another one and wills
them the victory. Tatum has those sorts of performances in him.

Speaker 5 (12:33):
Now.

Speaker 2 (12:33):
He didn't perform poorly at all.

Speaker 1 (12:35):
He actually was one of the bright spots for Boston
the entire night, with the exception of the fourth quarter
and he talked about Kobe time. That's when Kobe would
step up and do the most. It was in the
fourth quarter, and Jason Tatum was oh for three in
the fourth quarter last night, But he has that sort
of magic in him. So as insurmountable as it seems, look,
the Lakers are on the better side of this because
they lost two on the road in a tough environment

(12:56):
in altitude, and Boston lost both of their games at home.
I would just you still give pauls to saying the
Celtics are completely dead at this point, just knowing the
kind of player that Jason Tatum is.

Speaker 3 (13:07):
I want to add because I don't really know if
I followed that up real well and bringing up hey,
sometimes I need to just move past the debate shows
because when I say comparing that Jimmy Butler moment to
something Kobe like, I caught this on maybe it was
first take, and what was it? Is Jimmy Butler the
closest thing we have to Kobe Bryant. And when I

(13:27):
first saw it, I got a little triggered because I thought,
come on, man, let's let's try to stop comparing people
to everybody. And then you kind of had a Kobe
like a moment he did and what he was doing,
and I know so many times we get caught up
in the stupid Lebron v. Michael Jordan debate, but we

(13:48):
forget what a stone cold killer Kobe Bryant was whenever
it came to moments like that, and Jimmy Butler was
that guy last night. It was really fun to see.
So let's talk about it on Twitter. I'm at Plank Show.
Everybody should be following us at Fox Sports Radio. Kevin
is at KFIG one. We're gonna hear from Jimmy Butler
post game. We'll hear from Grant Williams and kind of

(14:10):
his explanation for what took place. We got numbers, numbers,
numbers galore from that game, and we got tons to
preview tonight coming up in that Lakers game. Three must
win for the Lakers again.

Speaker 2 (14:23):
Miss me? Is that what the kids say?

Speaker 3 (14:24):
Now?

Speaker 6 (14:24):
K FIG?

Speaker 2 (14:25):
Do I still sound cool if I say that? That works? Yes? Okay,
miss me with that?

Speaker 3 (14:28):
Miss me with this whole Oh, it's only a must
win whenever you face elimination. No, no, no, it is
a must win. You're when you're about to go down
three zip And can we please stop gotch I'm trying
to think of the family. Well, we're in a safe
zone here, but I don't want anyone to get in trouble.
Can we please calm down losing our minds in series
where the home team basically did what the home team

(14:49):
supposed to do, you want to lose your mind about
how well a team played. Let's talk about Miami going
on the road and winning the first two games. All
that's happened in the Lakers Nugget series so far is
what's a post to happen? The home team won the
first two.

Speaker 2 (15:03):
Games, and the Lakers have not lost a home game
this playoffs either, by.

Speaker 3 (15:06):
The way, So we'll get to that coming up a
little bit later on more on on even the incredible
finishing hockey last night, and I mentioned we're gonna hear
from Jimmy Butler coming up at the bottom of this hour.

Speaker 2 (15:16):
But when we come back. When we come.

Speaker 3 (15:18):
Back, let's talk about a legend. We lost a legend,
one of the all time greats, Jim Brown. We'll dive
into it as we roll on on a Saturday morning
ahead of a big day in sports right here on
Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 5 (15:34):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.

Speaker 3 (15:47):
All right, so ants got the day off. My name
is Chris Plank, sitting in here on Fox Sports Radio
eight seven seven ninety nine on Fox eight seven seven
nine nine six six three six nine.

Speaker 2 (15:59):
I didn't know if we did calls this early in
the morning.

Speaker 1 (16:02):
I I sure as hell wouldn't.

Speaker 3 (16:05):
I mean, I will be honest, it kind of It
brought me a lot of joy whenever I saw my
buddy at Home Run Tracker on sports set it he's
up at four am smoking two pork shoulders this morning. Now,
I mean, if you're if you're grilling, or if you're
smoking meat or I don't know, I don't know what.

Speaker 2 (16:23):
I'm not a grill guy. But I've always wanted to
be Kevin.

Speaker 3 (16:25):
Like when people talk about, yeah, you know, I got
a buddy of mine that's a competitive barbecue guy, And
when he starts talking about, yeah, so I smoked it
for this long, I just not. I'm like, oh, yeah, yeah,
you know, And I'll have one thing to say, little
charred right there. Yeah, yeah, that's I want to be
that guy. But I've never been able to be that guy.
But knowing that I would have to be up at
four twenty four in the morning to cook.

Speaker 2 (16:47):
It makes it not worth it.

Speaker 1 (16:49):
I'm good. I'm more than happy to be the guy
that says, oh, what's time, will be ready? No, I'll
be there.

Speaker 2 (16:56):
Tell me what bruise you on? I got you cover, brother.

Speaker 3 (16:59):
So I appreciate, appreciate it. But we got more, Jimmy
Butler to come. If you went to bed early last night,
or if you had to be like my guy home
run tracker and you're, uh, you're you're waking up at
four am, so maybe you're still smoking that meat, no
no pun, no ulterior motive in that take, you're literally

(17:19):
making food. Then maybe you went to bed early and
you missed it. Comeback from Jimmy Butler. There is an
incredible exchange in Jimmy's post game press conference last night
that we're gonna bring you coming up at the bottom
of this hour. And for those of you that like
to always be looking ahead like I do, Kevin and
I are going to try to get to the bottom
of what happened at USC. Mike Bone resigned and it

(17:43):
was a mutual parting of ways. According to press release readers.
But then when you dig in a little deeper, there
might have been something more.

Speaker 1 (17:52):
We'll get to that.

Speaker 3 (17:52):
Also, kudos to who is it Vegas that wins in
overtime over the Dallas Stars. One great thing about going
to bed early and as soon as that game was
over last night. I was trying to go to bed
between the Heat and the Celtics, but this Vegas Celtics,
this Vegas Stars game wouldn't allow me to. But I'm
not gonna lie. When they hit overtime, I was like out, yeah, gone,

(18:14):
it's snooz. I'm like, I'll watch it in the morning. Yeah,
fans rehiring it right now.

Speaker 2 (18:19):
Let's go.

Speaker 1 (18:21):
It was just a couple of minutes in.

Speaker 3 (18:23):
Yeah, I know, right Ken forty to go in the
third three to two, Vegas has the lead.

Speaker 2 (18:27):
We'll keep you up to date.

Speaker 3 (18:28):
Spoiler alert ear muffs Vegas does win this game.

Speaker 1 (18:32):
Oh ruined. Sorry, it's like it's not the Olympics. You
know that's over and soch he or something. I'll never forget.
I think we were doing we might have been doing
this show. I might have been filling in. Uh.

Speaker 3 (18:45):
I think Clay was on whenever the Olympics were on
and I got a skating.

Speaker 1 (18:50):
Tweet skating tweet from somebody. It's like, how dare you?
How dare you really? I'm taping these Olympics until I
get home to watch them, and I work, and I
felt terrible, but then I'm like, I can't, dude.

Speaker 2 (19:01):
You're listening to live radio. Come on, you're listening to
national live radio.

Speaker 3 (19:07):
And I'm sorry at Johnny four six ' five in
Atlanta is working the double tonight, so we're not allowed
to give you Olympic updates. It shows you how much
I really felt terrible about it. With now what two
years removed, it's I'm still I'm still upset about I'm like, man,
I feel terrible for that guy, but.

Speaker 2 (19:22):
Oh look, you never want to upset the listening audience.

Speaker 1 (19:24):
I understand. I feel bad too, but it's like, I mean,
let's got let's be realistic here.

Speaker 2 (19:28):
We're doing live radio.

Speaker 1 (19:29):
That's right.

Speaker 2 (19:30):
You got to embrace it.

Speaker 3 (19:31):
So sorry if I ruined that for anybody that's listening
along and watching the hockey as we as we chop
it up here on Fox Sports Radio now KFIG yesterday,
A tragic day is sad day in the sports world,
as we lost a legend in Jim Brown. I don't
I don't know about Jim Brown the football player outside
of the you know, the documentaries and you know, me

(19:52):
being a complete and total sports nerd and a stat guy,
and but that I mean, I wasn't born whenever he
was playing, right his final year in the National Football League,
I was. I was still an apple in my old
dad mom's eye when he retired in nineteen sixty five.
But he's a guy that I loved hearing the stories about,
and you know, to me, he's also one of those

(20:15):
guys that we always say, man, I wish he wouldn't
have retired as early as he did, and which is
kind of crazy because a nine year career for a
running back nowadays is like, oh, well, hey.

Speaker 2 (20:29):
That's spectacular.

Speaker 3 (20:29):
It's a great, great job, right, But Jim Brown was
always one of those guys that, in my world, in
Chris Plank's world, was this incredible running back that was
in an era, you know, kind of kind of pre
Super Bowl era, if you will, yep, a pre me,
you know, really understanding what football was all about. Until

(20:52):
I started to grow up and I started to watch more.
You know, he was the guy that, for me was
an actor. I think what was He was on a
couple of eight teams, he was on a couple of
funny movies as I got older, But that's what he
wanted to do. And I learned about not just the
incredible football player, the funny actor that he was, and
now he took it so seriously, but the guy that

(21:15):
went out and wanted to make a change in society.

Speaker 1 (21:17):
Right.

Speaker 3 (21:18):
It was more than just Hey, I'm a football player.
I'm an activist. I'm someone who cares about my community
and about my race getting the opportunities that they deserve
and having their place that they need in this society,
and I'm going to make sure people know about it.
And to me, that was Kevin something completely different than

(21:38):
what you had seen a lot of times in the
sports world. There was a certain sense of well, you're
playing sports and these opportunities hadn't been there for you know,
a lot of minority groups. So yeah, justin braced Jim
Rowle was like, no, no, no, no, no no no,
that's not going to be me. That's not going to
be this way that I pursue things and I pursue
my life and I got to tell you something. He

(22:00):
really changed the game beyond just you know, the sporting
vehicle of his life, but the activism that he was involved,
and he really changed the game case.

Speaker 1 (22:08):
Fig he was one of the first, i mean major
trailblazers to be outspoken. And you got to look at
the time, like we can talk about Lebron and the
things that he said and tweeted out and all these
movements that are happening now, and they're great. I think
it's amazing that people have platforms and they want to
use their voice. He was doing this in the seventies, right.
We were fresh out of the civil rights movement, like

(22:29):
there was. It wasn't safe for some of these guys
to leave on their own going to certain places. They
didn't know what was going to be said, what was
going to be done to set up the Ali summa
to back up Muhammad Ali, who was a controversial figure
in and of himself at that time, especially being seen
as a draft dodger and all that. And Jim Brown's
the one that put that Ali summa together to get
Kareem Abdul Jabbar, then Luel Sender and all those guys

(22:52):
together to stand with Muhammad Ali. And do that that
was risky for all of them to be able to do.
And Jim Brown was the ahead of the snake on that.
So yeah, to your point. Even more so, I have
no recollection whatsoever of his playing career in Cleveland, and
he was a hell level lacrosse player from want I
understand too back in the day. But I know him
more from you know his film his film work, and
even most of those films were I wasn't even born

(23:13):
when he did most of those either, But I remember
one of my most vivid memories Chris was when I
was in high school out here in southern California, George
Washington Prep in South central LA. My sophomore year. He
actually came and spoke to our school, and after he
spoke to us, he actually sat and we sat, and
he had a giant circle and circle encapsulated around him,

(23:37):
and he sat there for hours and allowed each and
every one individual that wants to come up to him,
come up and spend three or four minutes with him
and ask him whatever he wanted. And I thought that
was one of the most amazing things that an individual
can do. He literally spent the entire day on our
campus to talk to a population that was you know,
at ninety percent black and brown students. It was all

(23:57):
black and brown students for the most part, and talk
about the impact that he had and how to be
impactful in your own lives and your own communities to
sort of do the same things that he did. And
it was one of the most impactful moments of my
entire life that I remember to this day that Jim
Brown took the time out of his day to do that,
and I was forever grateful for him to do that,

(24:17):
to be honest with you, So that was really cool,
one of two interactions that I had with him. Just
an amazing person, an amazing story, and I'm glad he
looked he was able to get a lot of his
flowers while he was still living.

Speaker 2 (24:29):
Thankfully, I had a lot of love.

Speaker 1 (24:30):
And so it's obviously tragic to see him, you know,
pass at the age of eighty seven. But what a
life and what a legacy. And he impacted obviously a
lot of people, and many people obviously who never even
met him. Yeah, I am.

Speaker 2 (24:44):
I was such a fan.

Speaker 1 (24:46):
And as I grew older, more more mature, and you know,
let's and I I grew up in a school in
which we were all white.

Speaker 2 (24:58):
You know, we were all allod Asians, if you will.

Speaker 3 (25:01):
And you know Jim Jim Brown and the Cream Abdul
Jabbars of the world. And I was a big Lakers fan,
so I grew up being a huge Cream fan and
being a huge Magic Johnson fan. And you know, you
study it, but you don't really get it. I just
I never did. And as I got older, hearing Jim Brown,

(25:23):
hearing the plight, the battle, reading about Jackie Robinson, reading
about everything they went through. Kvig, It's it's a world
that we can't even We should understand more, but it's
hard to fathom. Which we still fight these fights today,
absolutely NonStop. But just to think about how challenging that
was and how you should just be grateful that you're

(25:47):
getting to play the game right, No, no, no, no.
I want to make sure that we have equal opportunities,
that the money can be made, that we can invest
in our communities. I mean, Jim Brown opened so many
of our eyes to something that I'm sure there's several
people like me then maybe we had no idea.

Speaker 2 (26:05):
How again, I'm forty.

Speaker 3 (26:07):
Eight, so relatively young, still in to truly understand Jim
Brown in that era, but k fig, I know, we've got.

Speaker 2 (26:15):
To hit our update here.

Speaker 3 (26:16):
But he really opened a lot of people's eyes and
then challenged a lot of minority athletes to say, step up.

Speaker 2 (26:24):
Don't be afraid to say something. You've got to step
up for our people.

Speaker 3 (26:28):
And I just thought, I thought he did some very
courageous things, some things that are probably pretty scary at
the time.

Speaker 1 (26:35):
Yo, you had to do too. Yeah, and look, it's
a situation that everybody is not built for. It's you know,
I go. You mentioned Jackie Robinson a little bit earlier.
I mean, you talked about the epitome of toughness to
go through what he went through in integrated Major League Baseball.
And one of the great stories people say is he
was not one of the best players in the Negro League.
He was a good player, but there were so many
other players that could have come up. But he was

(26:56):
the right player because he had the right mentality to
deal with all the things he had to deal with
and becoming and excel and be a great player through
all of that. And so you could be a great
football player or a great athlete. You can show a
degree of toughness between the lines. But to deal with
all this stuff, all the backlash that you would get
outside of the lines when you decide to take the
steps that guys like Jim Brown took, that that's the

(27:18):
next next level toughness and to be able to carry
that heavy burden, which it really is, because you're really
speaking for I mean, look, you're speaking for an entire
race of people to a certain degree at that point
in time, especially at that point in time when you
know he he was one of the bigger stars, one
of the bigger you know, black athletes. There weren't a
whole lot of them at that point in time who

(27:39):
had giant platforms who people were actually cared to want
to listen to, and they still didn't know Obbuile still
didn't want to listen to them. But to your point,
it's truly remarkable, and it's one of those things that
really unless you lived it, it's hard to really have
a great perspective on it. But as long as you
try to seek to get understanding, that's the most you
can ask for, you know that, And so I appreciate

(28:01):
you for saying that, But it certainly is a testament
to his character that he spearheaded a ginormous movement, and
I don't think you have the athletes who are outspoken
today if it wasn't for someone like Jim Brown who
blaze that trail. And I think Lebron James tweeted that
himself last night, We're.

Speaker 3 (28:19):
Gonna a Cream. Abdul Jabbar had a really good interview
on ESPN. I'm gonna share a little bit of that
with you coming up here in just a bit. We'll
sprinkle in memories of Jim Brown throughout the show this morning.
And I was going through his IMDb here and I forgot,
oh my gosh, that's right. He's in a couple of movies.
And I have a moment to where as a young kid,
you know, I didn't know Jim Brown, right because in

(28:39):
my eighties love of sports, Jim Brown was long retired, right,
But there was one moment that brought him back. And
we'll talk about it coming up here in just a bit.
But first, in addition to bringing us great hot takes
all morning long, Kevin figures also has his eye on
everything going on in the sports role.

Speaker 2 (28:58):
So let's fine. I was trending what's up.

Speaker 1 (28:59):
Kevin Well, the big news still eminating out of Boston
from Friday night. The Heat up two games to none
in the Eastern Conference Final. One eleven to one oh
five was the final score. Jimmy Butler scored twenty seven points.
How about bam out of Baio just missed a triple
double by the way, that gets probably not getting as
much of attention as it should. Twenty two points, seventeen rebounds,
and nine assists head overcoming a double digit fourth quarter deficit.

(29:23):
Jason Tatum led Boston with thirty four points. He was
zero three shooting with two turnovers in the final period. However,
Game three will be in Miami on Sunday. Game one
of the Western Conference Finals in the NHL went in
favor of Las Vegas. They got an overtime goal from
Brett Howden in a four to three victory over Dallas.
Major League Baseball Houston winning gets fifth straight a five
to one victory over Oakland. Josel two of back in

(29:45):
the lineup for the first time this season after he
suffered that thumb injury in the World Baseball Classic. He
was zero for four in his season debut. Mookie Bets
a three run home run for the Dodgers. They beat
the Cardinals five to nothing. Boston have won three straight.
They beat the Padres six to one, Angels, Giants, Braves
and the Cubs with victories as well.

Speaker 2 (30:02):
All right, back to Chris. All right, thanks Kevin.

Speaker 3 (30:04):
As always, we come to you live from the tire
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Speaker 2 (30:15):
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Speaker 3 (30:18):
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and save at Progressive dot Com. All right, we'll get
back to memories of Jim Brown coming up here in
just a bit, but I wanted to share now this
is I don't know, Ethan if you would consider this
to be maybe a cardinal sin in radio. But as

(30:41):
I was chopping up the Jimmy Butler press conference, there
is about two and a half good minutes here of
Jimmy explaining what clicked in the fourth quarter and in
the back and forth between he and Grant Williams. So
as you just heard from KFIG one eleven, one of
five five the heater up two games to none.

Speaker 2 (31:02):
Jimmy Butler went off in the fourth quarter. Wow, how
you're Jimmy Butler.

Speaker 7 (31:08):
I was trying to play the right way the entire game,
and then I feel like in the fourth it's all
about getting a bucket or whether you're taking a contested shot,
wide open shot, it's all about getting shots on goal.
And I can only tell y'all so many times how
much confidence that my teammates put in me, the coaching
staff puts to me to just go out there and hoop,

(31:30):
play care free, and as we'd like to say in
our locker room, take us there, Jimmy.

Speaker 8 (31:37):
Before you got up here, we've been talking about Grant
Williams and what happened there in the fourth quarter, and
Bam even suggested that you occasionally start things like that
to just kind of get yourself going. Can you tell
us what happened in the moment there and did it
fuel you down the stretch?

Speaker 6 (31:55):
Yes, it did, but that's just competition. That is finest.
He hit a big shot, started talking to me. I
like that. I'm all for that.

Speaker 7 (32:06):
It makes me key in a lot more and it
pushes that will that I have to win a lot more,
and it makes me smile. It does when when people
talk to me, I'm like, Okay, I know I'm I'm
a decent player if you want to talk to me
out of everybody that you can talk to.

Speaker 6 (32:24):
But I don't know. It's just it's just competition.

Speaker 7 (32:27):
I do respect him though he's a big part of
what they try to do. He switches, he can shoot
the ball. I just don't know if I'm the best
person to talk to.

Speaker 6 (32:41):
So Jimmy Grant wasn't the answer? Was he the problem?
He wasn't that.

Speaker 3 (32:48):
Now that's in reference. There's there's more to that story,
if you will. As Jimmy was coming off the court,
that he's not the answer was they're not the answer.
I think I'm paraphrasing there. But here's the numbers that
just magnify how maybe the term could be. What triggering

(33:09):
kfig is that that? Is that a fair way to
put you know, I'm not trying to put everything on
Grand Williams here this morning. But when Grant hit that three,
the Celtics went up ninety six eighty seven. There was
six thirty seven left in the fourth quarter, now again
a nine point lead with six thirty seven. I think

(33:29):
we can stop acting like that's some insurmountable lead in
the NBA.

Speaker 2 (33:33):
I mean literally, as.

Speaker 3 (33:35):
Long as there is time left on the clock and
you're not down twenty, you're feeling like you've hell. Even
down twenty in the fourth quarter, you might feel like
you have a chance. The way, he's got to shoot
threes now, right, But so Williams hits his three, it
makes it a nine point game with six thirty seven left.
It's hopping in Boston the heat and outscored in Miami

(33:55):
twenty four to nine. The rest of the way, Jimmy
Butler matched the Celtic, scoring all on his own. I
think I think we've learned now. Kevin not not necessarily
the guy to try to talk trash to is he
don't poke the bear. The funny part is he's so
humble through it too. Yeah, It's like how it's like

(34:16):
on the court, he's a dog.

Speaker 1 (34:17):
You know, we know the infamous story when he got
traded to Minnesota and they said he went into practice
and basically kicked everybody's button and screamed at everybody and
called Karl Anthony town soft and all that.

Speaker 2 (34:27):
But in front of the microphone in front of the camera.
He's like the most gentle, humble person ever.

Speaker 3 (34:32):
Soft behind the mic, and I mean not a nice way, Jesse.
I mean that in a nice way.

Speaker 1 (34:37):
Your face for me? Can your face now, Chris, I
can't get Grant Williams on this show.

Speaker 2 (34:41):
I'm olia fillin, all right when we come back.

Speaker 3 (34:44):
I mentioned there was a moment for me that I
started to really learn about Jim Brown, and it was
at a young age. And I actually have the raiders
to think for that. Dive into it next right here
on Fox Sports Radio. All right, what a night in Sport?
Vegas beats the Dallas Stars in overtime four to three

(35:07):
to take a one zero lead in the Western Conference Finals.
Miami comes back with a wild fourth quarter rally. We'll
hear more from Jimmy Butler and Grant Williams. Tough night
to be Grant Williams. But the Heat win one eleven,
one oh five. Couple good baseball walk offs.

Speaker 4 (35:23):
Man.

Speaker 3 (35:25):
Maybe Kevin figures I'm Chris plankin for Anthony Gargana, who
is out today. But maybe it's because I work with
Arnie every Sunday nights and I love Arnie Spanier. But
he's a fan of the Mets and he's a fan
of the Knicks. And I don't if this is a
New York thing, or at least a New York fan thing.

(35:46):
They win a couple of games in a row and
it's not, Hey, this is a nice little streak.

Speaker 2 (35:50):
They win a couple of games in a row, and
it becomes, oh.

Speaker 3 (35:53):
My gosh, this is what we were supposed to be. Hell,
we might only be five hundred and six games out
a first place, but we've won three games in a row.
I think this is a World Series team. Is that
like a New York thing?

Speaker 5 (36:07):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (36:07):
It is more than anything. It's it's a Mets and
a Knicks thing.

Speaker 1 (36:10):
I mean, look, what if they had, all due respect
to our listeners in New York, and and we're a
lot of New Yorkers who are fans, haven't a lot
to cheer about or look forward to over the last
few years. And the Mets spent all this money and
all this expectation and have been a ginormous disappointed deployment
all season long, And what's the next tease you this year?
I don't think anybody had any designs of them making
a ginormous deep run, but they made it further than

(36:32):
I thought they would same, so I guess I'll give
them credit for that. So if you're an if you
were a Knicks fan and a Mets fan specifically, this
is kind of as good as it gets over the
last twenty years for you.

Speaker 3 (36:42):
So it's always funny to me and and listen, are
any things one move? Every single one of his teams
is going to the super Bowl, the World Series, and
the NBA Finals. And that's fine unless you have to
do a show with him every single Sunday night.

Speaker 2 (36:58):
Yeah, I'm sorry about that.

Speaker 3 (36:59):
It's okay, I drink a lot daring, I'm sure. But
the thing that's impressive to me is just I don't know.
I mean, I've I've dated a few people like this
in my life where it's one thing one day and
it's a completely different world the next day. Married to
it right now, but it's kind of like New York
sports fan, It's like, oh my gosh, this team. They
are gutty, they are gritty, they fight, they're gooding to

(37:21):
the next day. They'll losing games Like these guys are bums. Yeah,
I mean they just stink. I mean, how do you
people live like this. It's a long season.

Speaker 1 (37:29):
Doesn't seem very healthy, to be honest with you. No,
And look, New York sports talk radio is kind of
follows in the same line. I think they kind of
get the same vibe. That's where they get it from.
You know, the sports talk radio host live and die
every single moment. You're the greatest team ever. If you
went to in a row, you lose four in a row,
kick them out, relegate them. It doesn't even exist in
American sports. But let's relegate them to the Knixt to

(37:50):
the G League.

Speaker 3 (37:51):
The Knicks win the Cavs series, all of a sudden,
New York fancy, you know what, Miami and they're not
that good.

Speaker 2 (38:01):
We can beat them.

Speaker 3 (38:02):
And you know what, you already had Milwaukee get beat
in the Eastern Conference finals, so I think we're going
to the finals. And then when they lose, it's like,
you know, Randall sucks, we gotta get a new star
and just poster.

Speaker 1 (38:14):
And you tear it off the wall.

Speaker 2 (38:16):
It's like, geez, it's okay.

Speaker 3 (38:19):
I mean, I know that this isn't a very hot take,
but it's okay to look at a game and say, oh,
we won that game, I feel really good about where
this this team might be going. We're gonna be okay.
But you win one game, it's like, oh.

Speaker 1 (38:31):
Big bong, Yeah, there we go, Bigs all the way,
let's go. What do you it's a two to one series.
What are you doing? So you didn't so you don't
know that Peter Lonzo's gonna hit seventy home runs this
year based off of what he did last night.

Speaker 2 (38:44):
Then after the Gland slam, vent Door is finally living
up to the high.

Speaker 3 (38:48):
I mean, the Lindor's not even there, but you know
what I mean, it's it's all of a sudden, this
this craziness that just takes everything to another level, and
you're like, okay, does a.

Speaker 1 (38:57):
Part of me that appreciates the passion very small part
of me? Then there's another It's like, man, you guys
need to calm down. This ain't good for your heart.
Your star levels are all over the place. Llndor gets
a hit last night and it's it literally gets his
uh oh he went three for six last night to
walk with three for six right had the walk off.

Speaker 3 (39:15):
It got his batting average up to two thirty five,
and people are talking about it. Like, oh, bounce back moment,
We'll we'll never forget the date, and then they got
to struggle to their phone to see what dated was
May nineteenth, when things turned around for the Mets.

Speaker 2 (39:31):
Stop it, Hey, Kevin, I wanted.

Speaker 3 (39:33):
To share my my moment as we roll on here
on Fox Sports Radio from the tirack dot Com studios
with Anthony out.

Speaker 2 (39:40):
I get a chance to hang with Kevin and the
crew this morning.

Speaker 3 (39:42):
That pumps me up, you know. I, Like I said,
I'm forty eight, so I'm an elder statesman, but still
in that same vein a little bit too young. Whenever
Jim Brown was a player, right, I didn't know much,
if anything about Jim Brown the player and kids. We
didn't have YouTube back in the so the only way
you would get highlights wasn't to google him up. You

(40:04):
had to hope that one of the networks would have
a documentary or old newspapers. But my first real true
introduction to Jim Brown as the player. Oh yes, tire
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(40:25):
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Speaker 2 (40:32):
Tire rack dot com.

Speaker 3 (40:34):
All Right, it is a Saturday morning in advance of
a massive day in the sports world. I said this
off the top with Kevin Figures. I'm Chris PLAINKFG. I
feel like it's a sneaky good sports weekend.

Speaker 2 (40:46):
Now.

Speaker 3 (40:47):
I'm a big college guy, so I love the softball.
I love the college baseball that's going on. Diamond Sports
is great right now. If you haven't as a fan, listen,
it's it's six am on the East Coast Central time
and three am in the Pacific time zone. There might
still be some UCLA fans that are healing wounds from

(41:08):
their loss last night. But softball's fun. The Diamond Sports
battle in baseball is fun right now. So if you're
just a college football fan, challenge you to check it
out today. I think you'll enjoy it. We've got the
Western Conference Finals Game three. As the scene shifts to LA,
we through the next I don't know what do we
have three hours? We through the next three hours that

(41:28):
we've got here on Fox Sports Radio are gonna spend
a lot of time talking about Jimmy Butler and the
heat and what happened last night. Hockey has been fantastic.
The NFL has even kind of kindly taken a back seat.
We haven't had any stupid rumors or wild reports over
the last you know, forty eight to seventy two hours,

(41:49):
so it's I don't know, okay, think it's been kind
of nice to focus on the NBA. You know, we're
remembering Jim Brown this morning, sneaky good sports day, and
I'm excited for the.

Speaker 2 (41:59):
Rest of this week.

Speaker 1 (42:00):
Yeah, I'm right there with you, looking forward to Obviously,
it's a night game three in Los Angeles, a de
facto must win. I know some say it's a not
an elimination game, but for all intentsive purposes, I must
win for the Lakers coming up tonight.

Speaker 2 (42:11):
So definitely looking forward to that one.

Speaker 3 (42:13):
I did want to wrap the here Sean, my man
Shady Sean cracks me up. I don't know if anyone
protects the brand more than my man at Shady Sean
for twenty and I don't know if his birthday is
April twentieth or what, but you would think he might
be a little bit more chill. So he hits this
up on Twitter at Plank Show at KFIG one and
of course everybody should be following us at Fox Sports Radio.

(42:37):
He writes, rest in peace, Jim Brown. Now, Chris, can
you please move on to a different subject. I've had
enough hearing about a guy who last played in nineteen
sixty four. Now again, I don't feel like we have
to defend talking about Jim Brown and his legacy. But
Sean so much more than a guy that last played
in nineteen sixty four. Yeah, And I feel like, and

(43:00):
that's the thing here is for some of us. And
I don't know how old Sean is, I don't know
what the demographic is at, you know, this time in
the morning, But I feel like for a lot of us,
Jim Brown represented something that was so unique at the time,
that was so powerful. If I could even say that,
he just he was a guy that wasn't afraid of

(43:21):
the challenging the status quo. He wasn't a guy that
was afraid to take a different path.

Speaker 4 (43:27):
You know.

Speaker 3 (43:28):
He was an athlete that decided I want to be
an actor, and I would assume it worked out for him.
And then in doing that, he was in a lot
of movies. Don't know if all of them were great,
but he was in a lot of movies.

Speaker 1 (43:40):
By the way, Chris, he gave up football to do.
He had had a run in with Art Modell. He'sa liked,
if you're going to do acting, you're not gonna play
for the Browns. And he said, all right, bye bye.

Speaker 3 (43:49):
But I wanted to share this just real Sean for you,
for you, I want to add this story that I
teased at the end of last hour. My first true
understanding of who Jim Brown was came in nineteen eighty four. Okay,

(44:10):
and well, I guess technically it was December of eighty three. Now, Kevin,
you weren't born yet, right, went How old are you?

Speaker 1 (44:19):
Were you born in eighty three?

Speaker 2 (44:20):
Eighty six?

Speaker 3 (44:20):
I was born Okay, Okay, so you weren't born yet.
I don't know if anyone on the crew was born yet,
but I is old. So in nineteen eighty three, times
were good being a Raiders fan.

Speaker 2 (44:31):
People. Mark says he was Mark go producing, Mark Ramsey.

Speaker 1 (44:35):
Oh, Mark Ramsey. Let's go old people Unit, Old people.

Speaker 9 (44:40):
U night.

Speaker 1 (44:40):
Thank you, Mark. Make me feel a little bit better.

Speaker 3 (44:42):
By the way, I just want to tell you guys something,
Mark is like the Silent Assassin, And I mean that
in a good way with this show. He's dropping like
movie updates. He knows all these movies that Jim Brown
was in. One of these days, whenever I'm here, I'll
talk him into talking more on the air because he's
got a wealth of information. So times were good. I
know this is shocking for you. The Raiders in the

(45:04):
eighties were I'm not gonna they weren't like the Chiefs
because they didn't have a Patrick Mahomes, but they were
a team that, you know, every year you could count
on them being in the mix. Shocking based on what
both Kfig and I are experiencing right now. But we
had a young running back. His name was Marcus Allen,
and I loved and to death. And in nineteen eighty

(45:25):
four they were on their way to the Super Bowl.
But on the cover of a December Sports Illustrated there
was a picture of this guy that I'd only heard about.
I'd only heard about Jim Brown. I hadn't really seen
him play. But in December of eighty three, it simply said,

(45:48):
Jim Brown, you serious a comeback at forty seven And
it said, hey, now think about this as far as
the NFL is concerned today, it said, hey, you're just
what the boring NFL needs.

Speaker 2 (46:04):
So so two things there. Number one fast forward.

Speaker 3 (46:08):
Let's see so nineteen eighty three, let's see you carry
carry the one four makes it. You're looking like forty
years ago, is that right? And the NFL was the
no fun league. The NFL was. You know, if there
were debate shows back then, they would be debating what's
wrong with the NFL and why can't they garner more attention?

(46:31):
And here comes a dude at forty seven that's like, hey,
I uh, I want to come back. So the story
behind it was this, Frank o'harris and Walter Payton were
starting to approach Jim Brown's record as the league's all
time leading rusher, and I guess Jim Brown went to
Sports Illustrated at the time and said, who's to say

(46:53):
a forty seven year old can't do it. If Frank
o'harris is going to creep towards my record, I might
as well come back and creep.

Speaker 2 (47:00):
Now.

Speaker 3 (47:01):
Brown wore the jersey of the Raiders because he said
that's the team he wanted to join. I want to
pause right there for a moment. My gosh, can we
go back to those times?

Speaker 10 (47:11):
K thing?

Speaker 2 (47:12):
People wanted to join the Raiders.

Speaker 11 (47:14):
I know.

Speaker 1 (47:15):
Wow, what a concept. Oh geez, oh my gosh. Now
he said he said he wanted to join the Browns.
He retired from them in nineteen sixty six.

Speaker 3 (47:27):
He said he didn't want to join the Browns, he
wanted to join the Raiders because he retired in sixty
six after playing for them for nine seasons, and Al Davis,
being the showman that he was understanding where the league
was as well, didn't dismiss the idea of a comeback.
Quote certainly out of admiration and respect, I would be
willing to listen to whatever he has in mind. But

(47:49):
it never materialized. Brown didn't return. Eventually, his record was
broken in nineteen eighty four. The Raiders went on to
win the Super Bowl that year. Again, I'm gonna be
a shock for a lot of people, I know. And
there was this guy named Marcus Allen who kind of
started to take over in the backfield.

Speaker 1 (48:04):
So yeah, there's a highlight of him, you know, cutting
across reversing field against the Washington football team and known
as a different name back then.

Speaker 3 (48:11):
And which is kind of crazy too, because I didn't
realize this Jim Brown is now eleventh on the all
time rushing list. So uh yeah, just real quick, I
don't think anyone minds me, Emitt Smith, Walter Payton.

Speaker 2 (48:24):
Frank Gore is the third.

Speaker 1 (48:25):
Leading rush Frank Gore, Right, that's just because you win.
Like if you look at his resume, yeah, how does
he not in the Hall of Fame. But when you
look at just do you take the ten thousand foot
step back and say, Frank Gore is a Hall of Famer?

Speaker 2 (48:37):
Yeah, exactly, exactly.

Speaker 3 (48:39):
Frank Gore is the third leading rusher of old time,
followed by Barry Sanders, who again another one of those
guys who you kind of wish you had a few
more years of him in the NFL. Right ye, Adrian
Peterson fifth, followed by Hall of Famer Curtis Martin, Ladanian, Tomlinson,
Jerome Betts, Jerome Bettis. I forgot about Jerome Bettis being

(48:59):
as good as he was the Steelers and the Rams.
Then Tony Dorris said, and finally there's Jim Brown just
to sco shahead.

Speaker 2 (49:05):
Of Marshall fall at Edgar and James.

Speaker 3 (49:07):
Wow, So how funny would it have been if he
would have came back and continue to grow his lead,
but eventually, as time progressed, he had ten guys had
broke your mark.

Speaker 1 (49:17):
Yeah, that's tough, although I will say too, you mentioned
Al Davis. If there was a franchise that would have
done that, brought in a forty seven year old to
play running back, it would have been Now Davis, that's
a perfect one. It's a guy who had bland a
plan until he was ninety years old.

Speaker 4 (49:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (49:31):
So if forty seven years old is now like the
go to for a quarterback, it's like, how's that quarterback? Well,
he's like thirty nine. Can you get to his mid forties' fee?
A little bit better about that?

Speaker 9 (49:40):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (49:41):
Yes, routinely these guys well, especially now that the way
they protect these guys. But look think of the rules
they didn't have in place and how brutal the game
was back then, even in the eighties.

Speaker 2 (49:50):
I can imagine the sixties.

Speaker 1 (49:51):
The problem was if you watch the highlights Jim Brown
as a running back, it is bigger than linebackers.

Speaker 2 (49:56):
Like he was like a physical freak. It wasn't as
bad or as a dramatic of a difference.

Speaker 1 (50:01):
Essay, Wilt Chamberlain of the NBA, when he's playing against
just a bunch of little people. But that's kind of
what it looked like at times when Jim Brown had
the ball.

Speaker 2 (50:08):
It was all real.

Speaker 3 (50:09):
I love watching these highlights. It's it's almost it's almost
as if you're watching a different game, right right. I've
got ESPN on this morning, and you know, I again,
I say this not to be like, man, you're old,
but today if you're like man, I wonder what it
was like to watch Jim Plunkett play quarterback or I

(50:32):
was just Fran Tarkinson. You can go to YouTube, type
up Fran Tarkenton or google him up and you could
probably find a whole damn game of him playing on there.
We didn't have that as kids growing up, right, So really,
the first time I'm watching Jim Brown highlights is when
there's a documentary, or maybe every so often when there's
a Browns game on National TV, which was not very
often when I was a kid. It's like, oh, the

(50:54):
memory Dick Enberg or Don Kriky, he's like, oh, the
memories of Jim Brown stumbling, rumbling, bumbling, And you'd watch
these highlights of a guy that literally is playing what
looks like a different game than what you're watching, not
because of you know, anything negative about him, but just
I mean, it's just flat out four yards and a

(51:15):
cloud of dust and he's running away and running around
people and it was awesome. A couple of notes here,
real quick, statistically, and then we'll move on to some
Jimmy Butler stuff from last night. But I did not
realize just how effective he was. He is the only
player in NFL history to average over one hundred yards
rushing per game. He's the only non quarterback to win

(51:38):
league MVP three times. Now I think Patrick Mahomes has
a chance to break that. He never missed a game
as a running back in an era where you were
not as protected as you are now. There weren't diepads,
there weren't backpads. There were shoulder pads and a helmet,
and you didn't have a visor. And he led the
league in rushing five straight years. No player has five

(52:00):
rushing titles in a career.

Speaker 2 (52:02):
And everybody knew he was getting the ball pretty much
every down, by.

Speaker 3 (52:04):
The way was there wasn't much confusion about what the
Cleveland Browns were doing. He was getting the football, and
it's like, all right, well go stop him. Gosh eight
rushing titles five straight, nineteen fifty seven, Rookie of the
Year and Hall of Famer in nineteen seventy one. Also
nine Pro Bowls in nine NFL seasons, all with the

(52:27):
Browns and Kevin. It's it's more than just the football player.
Where's sports Talk Network? That's what we're focused on. But again,
this was a guy that crossed those boundaries. This was
a guy that you know, wasn't afraid to stand up
for what he believed in. This is a guy that
truly made an epic impact well beyond the football field.

Speaker 1 (52:47):
Like for people like us, you know, and you mentioned
the who is the listener? I don't want to want
to make sure I get his shady Yeah, it's almost
like Muhammad Ali. Like I remember I was sitting at
this very anger desk. Well, you and I were doing
the show again when Muhammad Lee passed away, and it's
kind of the same. I never saw Muhammed a leeb box,
not live right, obviously, but I knew the social impact

(53:07):
that he had. He's more than just an athlete, you know,
for for all he look he and and and Jim
Brown were together at the summit. Obviously we talked about
him not going to the draft and you know, not
agreeing with the war and being a black person being
drafted into it where they didn't want to be involved
in and how bold that was at the time. So
these are these figures. Yes, we appreciate them for the

(53:27):
athletes that they are and that's how they earned the
platform that they have, but they show that there were
more than that, and they blazed trails both in and
outside of the athletic landscape. So that's why we're spending
so much time talking about Jim Brown. Yes, we can
talk about how great of a football player he was,
but there's so many people. Look, Chris and I and
many others never saw him play it down, but we

(53:48):
recognize the social impact that he made as a human
being more so than just being a football player.

Speaker 3 (53:53):
You know, the tributes were pouring in throughout the night,
and I thought, you know, again, for all the criticism
that you know, our competitors, the Four Letter might take,
you know, they bring on poignant guests like Cream Abdul
Jabbar to talk about, you know, the social activism of
Jim Brown. Here's what Cream said last night on Sports

(54:14):
Center when asked to talk about, Hey, what was Jim
Brown like and by the way.

Speaker 10 (54:20):
Personally, he just well, let's start at the beginning. When
I was still in grade school, he was running back.
I wanted to see on Sundays, and I remember going
out freezing out there in the Yankee Stadium watching Jim
Brown run against the Giants.

Speaker 4 (54:40):
But that was a long, going far away.

Speaker 12 (54:43):
After Jim retired, he devoted himself to making a difference
in the black community, and his commitment was just extraordinary.
It was constant. He never ever gave up on his effort.
He's there at the top in terms of the people

(55:06):
that respected him and that followed his lead on so
many issues.

Speaker 3 (55:15):
You mentioned it this morning, k fig you out of
time whenever you were in college where he came and
just sat down and talked to everyone, That's a moment
you'll never forget.

Speaker 2 (55:24):
And that's what he was about it. He was about it.

Speaker 1 (55:27):
Yeah, very few athletes are very few authors will take
their time to do that tory.

Speaker 2 (55:31):
He was high school. I was a sophomore in high school.

Speaker 1 (55:33):
To spend time with high school after already spending twenty
minutes whatever it was, speaking to us, and to spend
another few hours to talk to us individually with something
I'll never forget.

Speaker 3 (55:43):
All Right, We'll come to your life from the tiraq
dot com studios. When we come back about last night,
Jimmy Butler stars Grant Williams kind of labeled as the
goat but in Boston bounce back plus speaking of bouncing back,
is there and an unfocused attention that needs to be
discussed about the Denver Nuggets. We've got a lot coming up,

(56:07):
plus your takes at Plank Show at KFIG one. Everyone
should be following us at Fox Sports Radio. It's a
Saturday morning leading into a great day of sports here
on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 13 (56:21):
Hey, I'm Doug Gottlieb. The podcast is called All Ball.
We usually talk all basketball all the time, but it's
more about the stories about what made these people love
their sport and all the interesting interactions along the way.
We talked to coaches, we talked to players, We tell
you stories.

Speaker 2 (56:38):
You download it, you listen to it.

Speaker 1 (56:40):
I think you like it.

Speaker 13 (56:42):
Listen to All Ball with Doug Gottlieb on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 3 (56:51):
All On with Ethan and Mark. That's Kevin Figures. I'm
Chris Plank, Good and Mart and everybody. Fox Sports Radio
coming to you live from the ti iraq dot com
studios that I mentioned. I'm in for Anthony Gargano and
We're brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Progressive makes bundling
easy and affordable. Get a multi policy discount by combining

(57:12):
your motorcycle, RV, boat, ATV and more all your protection
in one place. Bundle and say at Progressive dot com.
By the way, the tweet of the show has just
come in, So if you were trying to win tweet
of the day, it's not going to happen because my
man Impoperasies.

Speaker 1 (57:35):
Tweeted.

Speaker 3 (57:35):
You want to really shock your audience today and the
kids tell them that Al Davis was considered a genius
in nineteen eighty four.

Speaker 1 (57:43):
Were you around for the Al Davis genius era gay thing?

Speaker 2 (57:47):
Oh no, oh no, no, I was. I was well
past that.

Speaker 1 (57:50):
My first memories of the Raiders were yeah, may have,
but even in Bo Jackson getting injured in that playoff
game against Cincinnati. I was very young at the time,
but I do remember all the hoopla about Bo. That
was kind of like my first foray. Tim Brown was
my guy coming up as a kid watching the Raiders.
So I was I was a kid of the nineties.
My consciousness around sports began in the in the early

(58:10):
early to mid nineties.

Speaker 2 (58:11):
So now Davids and.

Speaker 3 (58:12):
Again this spurns off the Jim Brown conversation where you know,
you go back to did I write down the right
year eighty three? I think it was December of eighty three,
the Sports Illustrated cover that talked about him coming back
at forty seven. Now he didn't, But you know, David
was like, hey, you know, he's one of the greatest
of all time.

Speaker 2 (58:30):
We'd entertain it.

Speaker 3 (58:31):
This is a dude that won three Super Bowls as
an owner, had a championship team as a coach. But man,
some of those decisions late in free agency really.

Speaker 2 (58:43):
Really did not go some word Javon Walker was still smiling.

Speaker 3 (58:47):
Bro, How funny is it that that's the first name
that I think of. It's then I think of disastrous
free agent signings for the Raiders, Javon Walker.

Speaker 2 (58:57):
I mean, we could do.

Speaker 3 (59:00):
A whole summer show now if Aunt takes some time
off in July, k fig, We're spending an hour on
disastrous free agent signings and everyone can jump in, right.
But for us with the Raiders, you know, it starts
with Larry Brown after he won the Super Bowl. Javon
Walker is in there just oh you know, and I'll

(59:23):
say some of the moves recently can't complain about, right,
Maybe out of desperation for some depth, but man, I
would say outside of Dan Snyder's final run with Washington,
no team missed more on free agents than Al Davison
the Raiders.

Speaker 2 (59:44):
Yeah. Well, you know I want high priced ones too, right, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (59:46):
Well, the problem with him was he he would chase
after guys after their their best years are already behind him.
People forget that Eric Dickerson played for the Raiders. Oh
my god, Ronnie Lott played for the Raiders. Need a
lot like for them. You know, all these guys where
at one point where legends, and at those points in
their career they were not. And people said, I don't
know if this is true or not. Go ahead, Al

(01:00:08):
Davis signed these players just so we can say. The
Raiders have so many Hall of famers on their you know,
in their team legacy doesn't matter how great they were
when they wore silver and black, but they were a
Raider and they made it to the Hall of Fame.
So damn it, we're claiming them as Hall of Fame Raiders.
That that's why he was going after Jim Brown at
forty seven. He wanted to go back and claim the

(01:00:28):
great the greatest running back ever played for the Raiders.

Speaker 3 (01:00:32):
All right, all right, p Jim Brown this morning. Okay,
So last night was a fascinating night in the NBA.
If you happen to go to bed a little bit early.
Jimmy Butler went crazy in the fourth quarter, came back,
helped lead the Heat to a win in Game two
over the Boston Celtics on eleven one oh five. Now,

(01:00:53):
I will say, you know, I've already been hearing from
my buddy already Spaniard this morning, and he's mad that
we haven't brought up the fact that the New York
Knicks are going to add Joel Embiid, which is hard
kind does that not fit into what we were talking
about an hour one about.

Speaker 1 (01:01:08):
Nicks and Mets fans know what fits? The Knicks will
be signing James Harden to a two hundred and fifty
million dollars contract.

Speaker 2 (01:01:14):
That's that's a Nick move right there, exactly.

Speaker 3 (01:01:16):
But it's funny because I don't know if Arnie remembers this,
but these will be his final few shows on Fox
Sports Radio because he once again bet his job that
there was no way that the Heat were going to
beat the Celtics, and then in that didn't even have
Jimmy Butler as a as a star player in the league.

Speaker 2 (01:01:34):
Yeah, so I'm not surprised that Arnie would that. I
don't know, Arnie.

Speaker 3 (01:01:38):
There's still time to retract if you want, but Jimmy
Butler has been that guy and it we didn't need
that moment between him and Grant Williams to.

Speaker 1 (01:01:47):
Figure that out last night. He is.

Speaker 3 (01:01:50):
It's funny because he's one of those guys that if
you just read some of the you know, storylines, you
might not lie, right. I mean, you brought it up
earlier and it was great. I mean, who can forget
the story about getting kicked out of Timberwolve's practice, or
kicking everyone out of Timberwolve's practice, calling Karl Anthony town soft.

(01:02:13):
You know, they had the whole where him and Tibbs
were the best of friends and then things kind of
ended a little bit tough in Chicago. But Tibbs went
and got him whenever he was in Minnesota and that
was a disaster. And then all of a sudden the
moment since he got to Miami, and there might be
a diehard Jimmy Butler fan that said, well, this has

(01:02:35):
always been him, and then we just never gave him
the respect that he deserved because we're so caught up
in Okay, which team is making the biggest run or
what is Lebron doing or what's going on here with
ex player or y player. But I mean, k thig,
I'm watching all the highlights this morning. Yep, I want
to go buy a Jimmy Butler jersey run with you.

(01:02:56):
I mean, I'm not even kid, dude.

Speaker 1 (01:02:58):
This guy is.

Speaker 2 (01:02:59):
He's fun.

Speaker 3 (01:03:00):
He doesn't seem like he takes anything too seriously off
the court, but when he's on the court, there's this
flip that switches and it's just dynamic.

Speaker 2 (01:03:09):
Yeah, he's a dog on the court. I say, you're
watching the highlights.

Speaker 1 (01:03:12):
I mean the guy is absolutely amazing and be able
to flip the switch on and off that way. Like
you mentioned the comparisons to Kobe Bryant early on in
the show, Kobe was one of those he turned like
if he was in basketball mode with he whether he
was at the podium, whether he was on the court,
it didn't matter. Jimmy Butler can like kill you on
the court and then smile from ear to ear, you know,
sitting on the podium and talk about like, well, you know,

(01:03:34):
Grant's a good player.

Speaker 2 (01:03:35):
I like him.

Speaker 1 (01:03:35):
I wouldn't have talked trash to me, but whatever, just say.
It's so calm and nonchalantly, I said, makes me love
him even more. Well, really, he's an easy guy to
root for because of that. And it's funny because I
don't know, maybe if mislabeling or misunderstanding or you know,
Alan Iverson was a guy that was a lot like

(01:03:58):
this in his career.

Speaker 3 (01:04:00):
You know, that was a time still where dudes had
tattoos like he did. You're like, whoa, right, what's up
with that? You were right, it's just so misunderstood and
it's just once and then you watch them play and
you're like, okay, all right, this is my god of guy.
Jimmy Butler seems to be that guy, and I hate
it that it took us so long to figure it out.

(01:04:22):
And maybe it took him some time too, right, is
he a different player than he was when he's kicking
everyone out of Minnesota's practice. Probably not, but I'm sure
he's a different dude. He just he seems like he's
having fun. And I love watching people have fun, you
know why. I think it seems like he's having fun.

Speaker 1 (01:04:37):
Doesn't It seem like he just found the perfect place
and the perfect fit to play for Pat Riley and
Eric Spolstra and and be a tough guy in that
culture down there, because you know, you have to be
tough to play for Pat. So I mean, I just
felt like he was in the right environment and in
certain situations. Look, he was in Philadelphia with just the
most entitled players you can imagine. First of all, you know,

(01:04:58):
Brett Brown was still the coach. They were just coming
out of the process. He still had Himbeid Heaven still,
he still had Ben Simmons. So dealing with those guys,
young guys in Minnesota, you know that they had to
deal with too immature. So it's just a I think
he just found a situation that actually fit him in
his personality, no nonsense. Placed basketball is the most important thing.

(01:05:20):
It's a culture that's built on toughness, and I think
those are you know, things that he kind of lacked
in his career, with the exception of Chicago, which I
think is why part of the reason why he thrived
early on in Chicago.

Speaker 2 (01:05:33):
You know, It's funny.

Speaker 1 (01:05:33):
There's two things that happened, and I think is if
we talk about the Miami heat, number one, we really
tried to put a lot on Well, el Eric Spolster
is only having success because he had the Big Three, right,
and he's Patrick Riley. Who's Patrick Riley.

Speaker 3 (01:05:51):
He's pat Riley's chosen guy, so he's gonna get all
the breaks. But I feel like now we're starting to realize, Okay, dude,
tore damn good coach, he's armed his stripes. And then
the second part of it that you kind of step
back and you're like, they're right, boy. The demise of
the demise of pat Riley as a GM once things

(01:06:12):
fell apart for the Big Three greatly exaggerated. Yeah, so
I'm telling you right now, I've loved this story. Now,
on a Celtics side of thing, you should be fired up,
you should be ticked off this morning. We'll dive to
that coming up in just a bit. But I feel
like before we get there, we need to make sure
we give our deserved shine and flowers and love to

(01:06:33):
Jimmy Butler. In fact, more of his press conference coming
up in just a bit, plus Grant Williams reaction as
we come to you live from the ti rack dot
com studios. It's Fox Sports Radio k Fake not only
helping us out with the hot takes, but also all
the information on a busy night in sports.

Speaker 2 (01:06:47):
What's going on?

Speaker 1 (01:06:48):
Kevin figures, Yeah, that Jimmy Butler chriscreds twenty seven points
at eight rebound, six assists, had a couple of steals,
is filling up the stat sheet man out of bio.
Robinson was batman if you want to call it that,
the triple double himself twenty two point seventeen boards and
nine assists as the Heat now a commanding two nothing
series lead over the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Speaker 2 (01:07:08):
One eleven to one oh five was the final.

Speaker 1 (01:07:10):
Miami's won both games on the road to start the series,
Game three in South Beach on Sunday. In the NHL,
William Carlson scored two goals to lee Las Vegas to
an overtime victory over Dallas in Game one, of the
Western Conference Finals. Brett Howd in the game winning goal
with about ninety seconds into the extra period gave me
the Nights the four to three victory. In Major League Baseball,

(01:07:31):
Rafael Devers a couple of home runs for the Red Sox.
They beat up on Blake Snell on the Padres six
to one. Angels a five to four victory over Minnesota.
Houston defeated Oakland for their fifth straight victory. Wins for
the Braves, Dodgers, and the New York Mets. Second round
at the PGA Championship, Scottie Scheffler in a three way
tie for first back to Chris Plaink.

Speaker 3 (01:07:49):
Allright, let's relive a little bit more of Jimmy Butler
from last night. Coming up at the top of the
hour marks, digging through. He's gonna get us all the
highlights of the big plays down the stretch. That incredible
run to finish the game for Jimmy Butler in the
in the Miami Heat, who again, if you went to
bed early last night one eleven, one oh five, The
Heat did come back and win. The Heat outscored the

(01:08:13):
Celtics to close the game twenty four to nine. Jimmy
Butler had nine points during that run and it was
six minutes to go in the game. Whenever you had
that little back and forth between he and Grant Williams.
Here is Jimmy Butler on that trash talking with Grant
Williams down the stretch.

Speaker 7 (01:08:32):
Yes, it did, but that's just competition. At his finest,
he hit a big shot started talking to me.

Speaker 6 (01:08:39):
I like that. I'm all for that.

Speaker 7 (01:08:43):
It makes me ken a lot more and it pushes
that will that I have to win a lot more,
and it makes me smile. It does when people talk
to me. I'm like, Okay, I know I'm a decent
player if you want to talk to me out of
everybody that you can talk to. But I don't know,
it's just competition. I do respect him though. He's a

(01:09:06):
big part of what they try to do. He switches,
he can shoot the ball. I just don't know if
I'm the best person to talk to.

Speaker 2 (01:09:13):
Do you think there was this?

Speaker 1 (01:09:16):
What a line?

Speaker 4 (01:09:17):
You know?

Speaker 3 (01:09:17):
What's funny about it is he got Celtic fans that
are because everyone has their instant reaction videos. Now, I
haven't seen anyone punching a TV yet, which is usually
the kind of you need that video. Someone's got to
destroy an electronic device whenever something like that happens. But
as funny as the fallout has been from it, kfig,

(01:09:39):
in that moment, there was no one freaking out on
Twitter that was like, oh no, we shouldn't say that
to Jimmy. It was, yeah, you let him know about it.
You don't let him come in our house and do that.
You let him know Grant Williams. But as soon as
it's over, you're like, man, what a dummy, how dare
you do that? But in the moment, everyone in Boston
was all about it because he was making a statement.

Speaker 1 (01:10:00):
Oh yeah, well Jimmy had the line to the final statement.
The funny thing about that too is you know, like
you ever get into like an argument with someone and
like the one person is screaming and ranting and Raven
and the other guy's just really calm, And that makes
a guy who's screaming and ranting in and Raven even
more angry that the other guys staying calm. That's what
happened because you listen to what Jimmy Butler said post
game and then listen to what Grant Williams. Greg was

(01:10:21):
like yeah, I'm a bleep this and that, and Jimmy's like,
I really don't think I would talk to me like
that if I was him.

Speaker 2 (01:10:29):
Speaking of that.

Speaker 3 (01:10:29):
Speaking of that, here's a little chunk of what Grant
Williams had to say about his posts are in game
beef with Jimmy Butler.

Speaker 14 (01:10:37):
Yeah, I think he said something and I'll just respond it.

Speaker 4 (01:10:39):
You know.

Speaker 14 (01:10:39):
For me, I'm a competitor. I'm gonna battle. He got
the best of me tonight, and at the end of
the day, it's out of respect because I'm not gonna
run away from it. My mom always taught me that
you get and my dad as well, you get your
ass kicked, you don't come back home until you come
battle again. And if you either come back before you die,
you go back and you go get a win. And
I'm not willing to die in this finals. I'm ready

(01:11:01):
to I'm gonna win, ready to come back, come in
a game through for better mentality. I know this team
is as well. So at the end of the day,
to nice tonight, we got to focus on let it
hurt back the end of the day, we got to
come in tomorrow and really focusing on what's next.

Speaker 2 (01:11:12):
All right, So I'll have a little bit more from
Grant Williams.

Speaker 3 (01:11:15):
I always get a kick out of that kind of
parenting because that really is an old school way of
doing it. I mean, could you imagine what would happen
today if some kids said.

Speaker 1 (01:11:28):
I got hurt, I got bullied.

Speaker 3 (01:11:30):
At school, and my dad and mom drove me back
to the school and said, you're not coming home until
you beat that kid's ass.

Speaker 2 (01:11:35):
It's like nowadays, be like, put.

Speaker 1 (01:11:37):
That poor child in social services, get him or her
out of there immediately.

Speaker 2 (01:11:42):
Now, I mean, here was great wing.

Speaker 3 (01:11:43):
He's like, yeah, you know, my parents told me when
I was growing up, you get a fight, you go
back in there and you don't stop until you win.

Speaker 2 (01:11:48):
They're like, whoa, that's just no different.

Speaker 3 (01:11:53):
See, we wore from a different ilk, we are cut
from a different cloth. This seeps make fun of the
gen X in jin Wires. No, all right, a little
bit more from Grant Williams on what took place afterwards.

Speaker 4 (01:12:04):
Out of the game.

Speaker 15 (01:12:05):
Jimmy obviously thrives like these.

Speaker 1 (01:12:06):
Situations, like a question asked about that's.

Speaker 14 (01:12:09):
Something you kind of It's an emotional game, like are
you thinking about something like that?

Speaker 8 (01:12:13):
When you're on these interactions like you don't want to
kind of light them up or.

Speaker 14 (01:12:16):
Do none of that. You expect to beat the best,
no matter if I let him up or now, he's
gonna do that, And for me, it's a matter of
understanding that, Yeah, sure you did poke a bear quote unquote,
and how are you gonna respond? Because for me, he
makes some tough shots to battle and I'm gonna keep battle.
You know, he's gonna have to make every single tough
shots the rest of the series. And I'm not gonna
turn and look otherwise because I respect him as a
motherfuck player. He's a great man, great great person, great

(01:12:38):
human being known for a while. But at the end
of the day, this team we have a real, real
decision to make, and that decision is gonna be are
we gonna come back and really set the tone on
the rest of this year and we're gonna make a
statement or are we gonna come out and lay down?
And I don't think this team is built for laying down.

Speaker 1 (01:12:53):
Can't tell you something, respect that's awesome.

Speaker 2 (01:12:56):
I like that.

Speaker 1 (01:12:57):
Can we send that to Dylan Brooks?

Speaker 2 (01:12:59):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:13:00):
I mean that's that's this game, man, that's listen I'm
not that's in here. Try to tell Grant Williams, an
NBA player who was a star at Tennessee. I'm not
trying to tell him how to play hoops. And by
no means am I going to tell any NBA player
what they should do. But I think I can be
helpful in crisis management, and this was a crisis last

(01:13:24):
yet night.

Speaker 2 (01:13:24):
No doubts for Grant Williams.

Speaker 3 (01:13:26):
I don't know, you know, and maybe that should have
been the first thing we played today. But listen, come on,
we gott to let Jimmy Butler have his time because
to me, Kevin, that's how you handle getting your ass kicked.

Speaker 1 (01:13:37):
That is true, you know, as trash talkie if you
want to call out that as it was. He has
a much respect nice guy, but we got to get
some fire under us.

Speaker 2 (01:13:45):
I thought from the most part he handled it the
right way.

Speaker 1 (01:13:48):
The colorful language probably wasn't necessary, but I understand he's frustrated.
You lost two games at home that you felt like
you should have won, So I certainly understand it. And
by the way, unlike Dylan Brooks, Grant Williams scored nine points.
I don't think Greg Dylan Brooks what nine points the
entire series against the Lakers, So you know what, it's
okay to get God, yes, it happens. Yep, somebody's gonna lose.

Speaker 3 (01:14:09):
It's funny all of most of the smack talkers, most
of the the the gambling people beyond like our guys
like Todd Furman and Bernie Fratto that you know put
their money where their mouth is, right. They they're just
not there saying, oh, I guarant you know, sorry, aren't you?

Speaker 1 (01:14:25):
I know this is gonna sound.

Speaker 2 (01:14:26):
I guarantee you.

Speaker 3 (01:14:27):
They're gonna win, and if they don't, they should fire everybody.
But you know, that's that's what just happened right there.
From Grant Williams. I know, Boston fan, I know NBA fan.
You're gonna be clowning them today, maybe understandably so much
respect in that post game.

Speaker 1 (01:14:43):
Yeah, that second bite that you played was not that's
not the one that's been making most of the rounds
Friday night.

Speaker 2 (01:14:49):
It's early Saturday morning. I'll say that.

Speaker 3 (01:14:51):
Yeah, that's that's you know, it's sometimes it's it's not
the fun way to actually give you the whole story.

Speaker 2 (01:14:58):
But that's what we do Fox Sports. That's Radio.

Speaker 3 (01:15:00):
All right, when we come back, quick little snapshot of
the Lakers game and what's going on at USC. We'll
try to figure it out right here on Fox Sports Radio.
The week that was coming up. To kick off our
number three and to kick off our four, we'll dive
into the day ahead a lot of really fun stuff,

(01:15:21):
including Lakers nuggets. Is is this a hot take? Kevin Figures?
By the way, in for Anthony Gargano, I'm Chris Plank.
It's Fox Sports Radio, and as always, we come to
you live from the tire rack dot Com studios.

Speaker 2 (01:15:35):
I don't know why I really like Mike Malone.

Speaker 3 (01:15:39):
I think he is a heck of a head coach
and he's done an incredible job. But does he just
happen to every so often catch by I don't know,
first take or something out of the corner of his
eye because I am in utter.

Speaker 2 (01:15:57):
May what's the best?

Speaker 3 (01:15:57):
I don't want to say shock here, but my man
seems to be infatuated with the way that people are
talking about his team. Listen, they're winning, so I can't
really make fun of it too much, but I just
feel like in everything that he says, there is some
sort of frustration with the way the team is portrayed.

Speaker 2 (01:16:17):
Why is that? I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:16:19):
Well, look, I will say during the regular season, for
a lot of people, and Anthony and I have debated
about this on the show, he kind of felt that
they were kind of, to use his words, fugazy and
not a real championship contender. And I said, all season long,
I think they're there for real and depending on the matchups,
they can really, you know, make a deep run here
like they have. The problem is once the playoffs started,
once they won a couple of series, going into the

(01:16:41):
Western Conference Finals, they were favored to win the series
by Vegas and then look, every national pundit that I saw,
and I don't watch a lot of the debate shows
too often, but a lot of the national pundits pick
Denver to win the series. So I don't understand where this,
you know, situation where he feels that Denver is not
getting respect from people favored and people it picked you
to win.

Speaker 2 (01:17:02):
What more do you want?

Speaker 1 (01:17:03):
So a couple of people here or they are going
to say this is what the Lakers need to do,
or they made some adjustments at the end of the
game and it was a blowout. Look they're trying to
sell a narrative here. They're trying to get people to
tune in for the next game and get both to
the other fan base.

Speaker 2 (01:17:14):
That's that's what it is.

Speaker 1 (01:17:16):
I don't think it's any personal site to Mike Malone
or to the Nuggets in general. You're playing against Lebron
James and Anthony Davis and the Laker franchise in general,
so you have that working against you. But everybody, Look,
most people expected you to win the series. So I
really don't understand where the chip on the shoulder of
mentality necessarily comes from, unless it's the Michael Jordan I

(01:17:36):
got cut from a high school, you know, made up motivation,
and maybe that's what it is.

Speaker 3 (01:17:40):
Chris, I don't know, and I'm always interested. Does that
kind of stuff work in the NBA? Here was here
was Mike Malone pre Game two between the Lakers and
the Nuts.

Speaker 16 (01:17:50):
Much is being made of them putting really hatching more
on Nikole Jokic, like we've never seen that before. But
there's this kind of discussion being based at like even
though the Lakers lost, you know, they're walking out of
here last night like they think they've got something. I'll
bet you every redpenny I have that Darvin Ham would
rather be up one zero than down one zero one.
So for us to be able to watch film after

(01:18:13):
a win and show all the things that we did
poorly is a great situation to be in.

Speaker 10 (01:18:19):
Now.

Speaker 3 (01:18:19):
Again, I want to make this very clear. I don't
try to watch the debate shows. They're not a big
thing for me. They never happened. I couldn't even tell
you our lineup on Fox Sports one. But I really
don't remember anyone going over the top to say.

Speaker 1 (01:18:39):
Man, the Lakers found something. They found something.

Speaker 3 (01:18:42):
With Hachima covering Yokich, it worked out okay for the Lakers.
They minimized them. But I mean, I don't know. Did
I miss a lot of radio this past week. I
know it's only like twenty four hours. We get to
overanalyze these games, kfig because the NBA finally figured out
it's okay to play on alternating nights.

Speaker 2 (01:19:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:19:04):
Look, unless unless he's looking like I will say if
from a local standpoint in Los Angeles it was, it
was a major point.

Speaker 2 (01:19:10):
Sure, So unless he's clicking over.

Speaker 1 (01:19:12):
And reading my friend Jovan Buja or my guy Daan
Wookie from the La Times and the narratives that they
wrote saying that the Lakers may have found something.

Speaker 2 (01:19:19):
I really don't. I didn't see Joe.

Speaker 1 (01:19:21):
Varden or one of these major agent and Wargonowski write
anything about that. So unless he's really have rabbit ears,
I mean, because if you're digging deep into the LA
Times and the Athletic and the Daily News, looking at
the press clippings from the local market in Los Angeles
when you're playing in Denver, yeah, you got a lot
more problems on your hands.

Speaker 3 (01:19:40):
I would add this in the final minute we have
here an hour or two on Fox Sports Radio, just
just one other thought on this. As much as I
saw this and thought, oh my gosh, what are you doing,
Mike Malone, there is this And I don't know if
this works in pro sports or not, but we sure
as hell I have seen at work in the college game.
I mean, George's out on the field after they won

(01:20:01):
the national championship, and you have guys talking about nobody
believed in us, nobody picked us, and.

Speaker 1 (01:20:06):
We're like everybody from my body from jy one right exactly.

Speaker 3 (01:20:10):
You have yet the LSU women's basketball team that basically
is there because their coach.

Speaker 2 (01:20:16):
Field them and that nobody believes in you. They all
believe in lsu lest we forget Travis Kelcey after the Super.

Speaker 3 (01:20:21):
Bowl, Travis Kelsey after this nobody believed in us? Yeah
they did, everyone did. Maybe it's brilliance on the part
of Mike Malone, but I don't know. I'm not seeing
that anywhere all right. When we come back a little
bit on the week, that was more on Jimmy Butler
and the day ahead here on Fox Sports Radio US
radio shows just bring you three hours, not Anthony Gargano

(01:20:44):
on Saturday mornings of four hours. Soare we're halfway through
here on Fox Sports Radio with Kevin Figures. I'm Chris
plaank Ethan and Mark running the show. And make sure
we say all the right things and stay on path,
don't get caught up in trash talk like Aunt Williams,
and also don't find ourselves in heartbreak Hotel like did

(01:21:05):
Alis Stars did last night.

Speaker 1 (01:21:06):
Now again kfig with the update. You heard it right there.

Speaker 3 (01:21:10):
Big win for the Miami Heat as they put together
an incredible run down the stretch to beat the Boston
Celtics in Game two. Now, I had to admit not
quite the Lisa Salters, I haven't watched Nicole Yokitch play, which.

Speaker 4 (01:21:25):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:21:26):
Why did that trigger me so much? Kevin?

Speaker 1 (01:21:29):
Why?

Speaker 2 (01:21:29):
Why did that make me so mad this week?

Speaker 3 (01:21:31):
I mean, it's not like I sit and watch every
single Nuggets game. But it's also not like Yo Kitch
is some rookie. I mean, this is a dude that
has been in the league eight years. His first season
was twenty fifteen, and when you've been regularly covering the
association and you step back, you're like, whoa, I haven't

(01:21:52):
seen this youngster.

Speaker 2 (01:21:53):
Play ever before. This is wild. You're like, Lisa, it's
this his eighth season in.

Speaker 1 (01:22:00):
The league, two time MVP by the way, he's won
back to back MVPs heading into this year, arguably should
have won the third straight MVP. But can you tell me,
Lisa Salters, that never has never been assigned a different
Nugget game over to the eight years that he has been.

Speaker 2 (01:22:15):
Or at the very least in eight seasons.

Speaker 3 (01:22:18):
You stumble across and they played for the NBA title, Well,
they played against the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals
in the bubble, right, I mean, and we had nothing
else to watch.

Speaker 1 (01:22:32):
Just how did you miss this in covering the league?
Don't you watch a game here or there? I mean,
I mean, I.

Speaker 3 (01:22:40):
Completely understand if you're like and and maybe I'll go
back and listen to it here during the break, But
I just I don't think there's a lot of times
when there might be a game and I don't get
to watch all of it, right.

Speaker 2 (01:22:54):
It's just it's incredible.

Speaker 3 (01:22:57):
The ability we have to basically catch up on anything
without sitting and watching the whole thing anymore. Number one,
Oh yeah, we're here on Fox Sports Radio to always
recap things.

Speaker 2 (01:23:08):
It's our job to watch it all for you.

Speaker 3 (01:23:10):
Number two, I mean YouTube convinced games are condensed. I'm sorry,
games you know, any website foxsports dot com seem as
sports dot com, ESPN dot com. How yeah, yeahoosports dot com.
You can find something everywhere. How in the world could
you have not seen Nicole Yokic play right?

Speaker 1 (01:23:30):
I'm sorry, Yo, you're right, this isn't and this isn't
Like Shack a couple of years ago talking to Christian Wood,
and it became a meme him saying like, oh, I
wasn't familiar with your game. Good look even like they
make obviously they make fun of it on CNC. They
have the who he played for segment with Charles Barkley
at the first game every year, you know, cause they
know they're more entertainers there. They're not gonna sit around

(01:23:52):
and watch a Houston Rockets Pelicans game on a random Tuesday?
Should they?

Speaker 2 (01:23:56):
Sure? But do they? We know that they don't.

Speaker 1 (01:23:59):
But if you're a reputable reporter, and if that's exactly
Lisa Salters's quote, is that, if that's what she said
that she hadn't seen him play before here.

Speaker 2 (01:24:06):
I found it.

Speaker 3 (01:24:06):
I'm kind of just just because I've the weekend review
kicks off right now.

Speaker 2 (01:24:12):
This triggered me.

Speaker 3 (01:24:13):
Maybe it can trigger me less by really diving into
it whenever. I guess we're sleeping on the back to
back MVP winner from I mean Embeid wanted this year.
This dude wanted him back to back years. I'm sorry, sorry,
go ahead, KNT.

Speaker 2 (01:24:30):
I don't know how you can sleep on a guy
that's averaging a triple double.

Speaker 1 (01:24:33):
But going on, here we are, I have never seen
a place.

Speaker 2 (01:24:37):
Now again, there's a clarification.

Speaker 3 (01:24:39):
I just want to jump in here because that's not
saying I haven't seen a play in person.

Speaker 2 (01:24:44):
That's saying I haven't seen him play period. I have
never seen a place before.

Speaker 9 (01:24:50):
I haven't done a game here in Denver.

Speaker 4 (01:24:52):
And I was trying to figure out when it's been
at least ten years. Maybe I had a game of
theirs in the bubble.

Speaker 6 (01:24:59):
I think maybe I did.

Speaker 1 (01:25:01):
But this is really.

Speaker 4 (01:25:02):
The first time I've had a chance to watch him play.

Speaker 9 (01:25:06):
And I gotta admit I have been slipping on this guy.

Speaker 5 (01:25:09):
He is spectacular.

Speaker 9 (01:25:11):
He is ridiculously good and just unstoppable.

Speaker 3 (01:25:17):
There's this one article from AP that says reveals she
hadn't watched him play in person. She says she hasn't
had his game, but she never says anything about in person.
She just says, yeah, I've never seen him play. Yeah,
and just say if it was in person, totally understand
you haven't. I get it, even like maybe I had
a game in the bubble. I mean, I feel like

(01:25:39):
you maybe recognize if you saw my MVP level player
play in the game. Look, I know you do hundreds
of games a year, and sometimes they can run together.
I like, Chris, do you do college football games? And
there's a lot fewer of those. But I'm sure you
probably don't remember every Oklahoma Texas.

Speaker 2 (01:25:54):
Tech game, that is right, but that's true.

Speaker 1 (01:25:56):
But still, I mean, this is one of the great
players in the league, and you can't recall one time
that you worked a game or happened to sit out
for and watch two quarters of them play on TV.
At some point I had to make you know.

Speaker 3 (01:26:08):
And maybe this is unfair of me because I did
have to make a very shocking confession the other day
because I can't tell the difference between Boomer and Sooner,
the two mascots for Oklahoman. Someone pointed out Boomer has
blue eyes and Sooner has brown eyes.

Speaker 2 (01:26:24):
So maybe it's unfair of me.

Speaker 1 (01:26:26):
To question this. Yes, really down into the minutia there right,
exactly obvious. I mean, I can notice that, Chris, how
do you miss that?

Speaker 17 (01:26:33):
I know?

Speaker 2 (01:26:33):
Jeez.

Speaker 3 (01:26:34):
We'll we come to you live from the Tirack dot
Com studios with Kevin Figures. I'm Chris Plank, before we
hear more from Jimmy Butler, before we talk a little
bit more about Grant Williams, before we go in depth
on a preview of tonight to Lakers Nuggets Game three,
and Kevin and I have a big college football conversation
we need to get into coming up here in just

(01:26:55):
a bit.

Speaker 2 (01:26:55):
I wanted to share some.

Speaker 3 (01:26:56):
Of the highlights of the week that was not just
here on Fox Sports, but in the sports world in general.
I think, you know, one of the first kind of
shocking moments of the week was when Doc Rivers got fired. Now,
I don't even know what's going on in this seventy
six ers coaching search, but it's wild some of the
names that have popped up. First, let's get back to

(01:27:17):
understand the why, Kathink you talked about this earlier. There's
that rumor that's making the rounds that it was James
Harden that really was pushing for Doc Rivers to be replaced,
and Darryl Morey pushed back against that.

Speaker 18 (01:27:32):
The players won't have a direct input in the coach.
You want to look for a coach that is a
fit with you know, how we want to play and
the players we have, But the players wouldn't want to
have an input in that.

Speaker 3 (01:27:43):
And and most importantly, it was a Darryl Morey call
to move on from Doc Rivers.

Speaker 18 (01:27:49):
We felt like that was the best move for helping
us get to our goals going forward. It was carefully
thought out and I recommended its owner and they accepted it.

Speaker 3 (01:28:02):
And then, of course, nothing like shocking your star player, right.

Speaker 18 (01:28:05):
I think it's natural to be very close with the
people in the locker room. He was very close with
coach Rivers. Yeah, he was shocked about to change, and
it's my job to help convince him that the new
coach is someone that he'll have a great relationship with
as well.

Speaker 3 (01:28:19):
That's Darryl Moury talking about Joel and beat So as
we look back on that, I don't know if it
was necessarily too shocking Kfig, but surprising all the doc
Rivers is no longer the coach of the Sixers or
right time.

Speaker 2 (01:28:33):
To go ahead and make this move.

Speaker 1 (01:28:34):
Based on the things that I had heard right after
the season ended, it has certainly sounded like he was safe.
I guess I'm surprised as to look if the reports
are true that James Harden was the one that ushered
it out and Daryl Moury, I don't think what ad
meant to that either way, even if it was true
at his press conference. But then there's reports that James
Harden is opted out of his contractor may go back

(01:28:54):
to Houston anyway, So like, why would you make a
decision on a head coach based on what a player
says when the player might not even return and there's
a high likelihood that he won't. So that tells me
that Philadelphia this they've been stewing on this for a
little bit, and this was probably gonna happen regardless of
what James Harden said or didn't say.

Speaker 2 (01:29:12):
So I guess I'm.

Speaker 1 (01:29:12):
Inclined to believe Darryl Mory to a degree on that,
but I'm not overall, I'm not surprised. Look, I covered
Doc closely out here with the Clippers for for many years,
and his record and resume and three with a series
leads is well documented at this point in time. You know,
outside of the year he had with the Celtics back
in two thousand and eight, you know, he hasn't really

(01:29:34):
done a whole lot, and he's had leads that he's blown,
and a lot of those blown leads have been for
strategic reasons and things that were the fact that he
wasn't able to make adjustments within series and within games.
And I saw an interview with Rashid Wallace, who was
on that twenty ten Celtic team that lost to the
Lakers in seven games, and he says, yeah, he kind
of let the players do their own thing.

Speaker 2 (01:29:55):
He didn't really coach a lot. He didn't adjust a lot,
he said.

Speaker 1 (01:29:58):
He you can say he's a player's coach, and that could
be a good thing in some senses, but it can
be really really bad in others. So I certainly understand that.
So I I I don't begrudge Philadelphia from moving on.
I guess the question is who do you replace them with? Right,
what's your what's your next step? You know, what's your
next move in this process?

Speaker 2 (01:30:14):
All right?

Speaker 3 (01:30:14):
So Doc is out and then I guess it was
it was prior to this. Over the weekend we had
the story that really blew up involving Jahn Morant.

Speaker 2 (01:30:25):
Now do you think that ja Morant used.

Speaker 3 (01:30:29):
Chat GP to basically explain and apologize.

Speaker 2 (01:30:36):
It seems like probably probably. Yes.

Speaker 3 (01:30:40):
The funniest thing is, and again I'm not gonna pretend
like I've got too caught up in the chat GP
world because I don't want to know about chat GP,
because I do not want them to find a way
to have them replace us. Right, absolutely, we're replacing the
replacing writers. I don't need a chat GP update here
on Fox Sports Radio. But with that in mind. During

(01:31:00):
the NBA Draft lottery, which okay, just maybe this is
old man in me, Miss Spurs won the top pick.
Victor Windbinana is on his way to San Antonio. But
can we just can we unveil the teams? I mean,
we spent two hours counting down to this thing and

(01:31:21):
projected everywhere he could go, and then by the time
we finally find out where he's going, it's like that
has a lot of wasted time, right because he's not
going to any of those places That old man I
accept it. I'm not in that demographic anymore that wants
to wait and wait and wait. But Adam Silver finally
had a chance to address jah Morant. It's a little bit,

(01:31:42):
a little bit longer here I might jump in, but
he said he.

Speaker 2 (01:31:45):
Was shocked by the jah Morant video.

Speaker 11 (01:31:48):
We talked directly about the consequences first, before we got
to a subsequent potential to have done something wrong. We
were very focused on the misconduct that was in front
of us at the time, and frankly, most of our
conversation was about how incredibly serious the first incident was

(01:32:10):
of waiving you a firearm, you know, on social media
and again you know, and the consequences there an eight
game suspension was pretty serious and something that he, at
least to me, seemed to take incredibly.

Speaker 6 (01:32:26):
Seriously in that time.

Speaker 11 (01:32:27):
And we spoke for a long time about not just
the consequences that could have on his career, but the
safety issues around it. Could have injured, maim killed himself
someone else with an act like that, and also the
acknowledgment that, as you said, he's a star. I mean,

(01:32:48):
he has an incredibly huge following.

Speaker 4 (01:32:51):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (01:32:51):
I don't really know if we need to go much
more in depth. It sparked a hell of a debate,
and a very interesting one. Right, you know, workplace rights
and what what author tie your employer has over you.
But listen, all of that stops to me. Whenever you've
been warned not to do things, Yep, you have every
right in the world, John Morant to carry a firearm

(01:33:13):
responsibly to protect yourself. To me, it's almost become a
prop in his life. And Adam Silver, I mean, for
as nerdy as that dude is, he hit it right
on the head. It's like he could have really hurt someone,
and it doesn't matter if the gun was fake, and
it doesn't matter if he has a permit.

Speaker 2 (01:33:31):
You were told stop it. And so that.

Speaker 3 (01:33:34):
Major debate took over the sports world because now we
wait Kevin figures to figure out exactly what that punishment
is going to be going forward.

Speaker 1 (01:33:41):
For John Moran, Yeah, you can hear in Adam Silver's voice,
he was almost like flabbergast, like how could this have happened?
We just talked about this. It's like he was almost speechless.
You can hear it in his voice. I don't know
what the NBA ends up doing, like to your point,
because what it is, you're a public figure. So whether
or not he did something illegal or not, you know,
this is something that is puts a black mark on

(01:34:02):
the league and you're one of the young faces of
the league and it's bad pr And I know these
guys have clauses in their contracts for you know, conduct
detrimental to the league, and I'm not sure exactly what
that language is. You've been suspended once, you know what's
the next step, and being suspended again? Is it? You know,
thirty games can does the commissioner have the right to

(01:34:23):
do as many as he wants as the players Union
get involved, I'm not sure, but something needs to be done, obviously,
because clearly he hasn't learned his lesson at this point,
and it's it's just a bad look for the league
to have one of the best players, one of the
faces of the league, continuously do something this reckless.

Speaker 3 (01:34:41):
We're recapping the week that was here on Fox Sports
Radio a couple of other stories that really at least
caught my attention.

Speaker 2 (01:34:48):
Now.

Speaker 3 (01:34:49):
It's wild because there's sometimes when the Draymond Green punch
of Jordan Poole seems like it was last year and
that it was something that probably still wouldn't be a topic,
and then you dig and you realize, oh, yeah, the
Draymond Green punch of Jordan Poole was last year, but
for some reason it became a major talking point when
the Warriors were eliminated from the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (01:35:11):
Here with Steve Kerr May.

Speaker 15 (01:35:13):
There's no hiding from it. The incident with three Month
and Jordan at the beginning of the year played a
role in that it's hard for that not to impact
a team, and so, you know, we feel like we
have a great group of people on the roster, on
the coaching staff, in the front office.

Speaker 2 (01:35:31):
We have a way of.

Speaker 15 (01:35:33):
Doing things that we're very proud of, but those things
were definitely challenged this year. Anytime some trust is lost,
then it makes the process much more difficult. And there
was some trust lost. And that's as blunt as I
can be.

Speaker 1 (01:35:52):
I'm not gonna lie this might be a lease assault.
It's kind of admission.

Speaker 3 (01:35:56):
I had completely forgot that this was during the start
of this and after they had won the title, I
complete in my mind, I felt like this happened, you know,
in the middle of last season at some point. But
it becomes I don't want to say no, I'll say
it becomes an excuse. Right now, all of a sudden,
you get beat. You got the Warrior way, I'm hearing

(01:36:17):
about legendary performances from Steph Curry, and now all of
a sudden, Kevin figures you get beat and something that
happened in October in practice is a reason why you're.

Speaker 2 (01:36:26):
Out of the playoffs. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:36:27):
And I will say throughout the year, this would pop
up every now and then the epic and I mean
epically bad road record that they had and saying like,
oh the road is where you come together and there's continuity.
It's like, well, I wonder if the punch of Draymond
and Jordan Poole had something to do with it, So
that would pop up here and there throughout the season
when they would go through their struggles, particularly on the road.

(01:36:49):
But to your point, after they end up losing ultimately
against the Lakers, everybody's now pointing the fingers squarely on
that and not on the fact that, hey, maybe Klay
Thompson has lost a bit a step, Maybe Draymond Green
is not the same player, despite the fact that he's
still asking for twenty eight million dollars a year. Maybe
Steph is kind of like the only guy left, you know,
who really has anything left in the tank of significance

(01:37:11):
in this dynasty, and it's time to retool.

Speaker 2 (01:37:13):
Nobody's talking about that.

Speaker 1 (01:37:15):
Nobody just wants to talk about a guy getting punched
in the face in practice, like you mentioned in October
in training camp.

Speaker 3 (01:37:20):
And by the way, Adam all right, Draymond Green added
to it just a bit as well as saying that
I think we'd still be playing if I didn't punch him.

Speaker 17 (01:37:29):
When you speak about the filing, when you speak about
all of the slippets that we had as a team
on the road, not being able to come together. None
of those things happens. If that doesn't happen, because the
voice that I am in the departments that I.

Speaker 4 (01:37:44):
Lead this team in, there was a ton of slippers due.

Speaker 17 (01:37:47):
To me sitting back, me not saying anything, me trying
to allow that situation to play itself out and giving
it time to heal.

Speaker 4 (01:37:55):
Well, why you're giving it all of that time? Guess what?

Speaker 17 (01:37:58):
And I would say probably by I started to feel
like myself again to speak more.

Speaker 4 (01:38:02):
But guess what.

Speaker 17 (01:38:03):
There was five months of a season where slippers has
just been occurring, and by February, if.

Speaker 4 (01:38:08):
That slippers has been going on that long, you are
who you are.

Speaker 17 (01:38:11):
At that point. You've built those habits. You've built bad habits.
That is who you are now. So to try to correct.

Speaker 4 (01:38:17):
Them, then it's like, okay, you may get a little better.
We did.

Speaker 17 (01:38:20):
We ended up in the second round of the playoffs,
but not at a championship level. So to answer your question, yes,
we will still be playing.

Speaker 1 (01:38:28):
Can I toe you?

Speaker 2 (01:38:29):
Okay, yeah, I'm sure.

Speaker 1 (01:38:30):
Draymond Green that's doing a speech to the team in
January had a lot to do with Klay Thompson going
four or fifteen from the field and missing all those threes.

Speaker 2 (01:38:37):
Sure, whatever you want to say, Draymond.

Speaker 1 (01:38:39):
Gosh, I come on.

Speaker 3 (01:38:42):
It's funny the Lakers get lambasted for having people overcover
and defend them. But man, the soft landing cushion we've
given the Golden State Warriors for their implosion and the
excuses that we make just stop, just stop, all right,
and a little behind. So let's get a break when
we come back. I've got two more things from this

(01:39:03):
week that I want to recap. Plus, you can't get
enough of Jimmy Butler on this Saturday morning after what
he did last night. Miami is up two games to none.
They beat the Celtics in dramatic fashion, and Vegas takes
Game one of the Western Conference Finals in.

Speaker 1 (01:39:18):
The Stanley Cup playoffs.

Speaker 3 (01:39:20):
And we're talking about it all morning on Fox Sports Radio,
The Anthony Gargano Show eighty six. Aunt who is out today?
He'll be back next Saturday with Kevin Figures. I'm Chris Plank,
Mark and Ethan are making sure we stay on the tracks,
and as always, we love to hear from you on
Twitter I'm at Plank show at k FIG one and

(01:39:41):
everyone should follow us.

Speaker 2 (01:39:43):
At Fox Sports Radio. I saw this from.

Speaker 3 (01:39:47):
A Head News at a Head News one, He writes,
Mike Malone is absolutely correct. All of the undercover Lebron
slash Laker fanboys masquerading as journalist got exposed and now
they're mad at But I'm waiting, my I put my
hand in the air like I'm waiting to be called

(01:40:07):
on to answer question. What has happened in this series
that isn't supposed to happen yet?

Speaker 2 (01:40:12):
The home teams won two.

Speaker 3 (01:40:13):
Games, and you got great Anthony Davis in game one,
and the Laker is a team.

Speaker 2 (01:40:21):
That looked to be out of it. Rallied and that
was tight. That was tight y.

Speaker 3 (01:40:28):
And then in game two, K think they controlled it
early on and just fell apart late. And by the way,
this whole notion, oh, the Lakers just look gassed. The
Nuggets looked gas yea.

Speaker 1 (01:40:38):
By the last three minutes of Game two, both both
teams were huffing and puffing, moving slowly at that point.

Speaker 3 (01:40:43):
I mean, if you want to say, ha fanboy rint
for Lebron, all I've seen is people destroying Lebron.

Speaker 1 (01:40:51):
Yeah, Why are you settling for three pointers? How come
you're not attacking the basket? Why are you? I mean,
Lebron's been getting destroyed by people. I don't I don't
see the Lebron stands. Yeah, Like I don't get it.
I feel like Lebron James for he should be a
guy that we're celebrating. He should be eight. Look at

(01:41:13):
what he's doing at.

Speaker 2 (01:41:14):
Thirty eight years old.

Speaker 1 (01:41:15):
I mean, my god, and the defensive effort one thing
that doesn't get talked about. And I think a big
reason why he was gassed. How many possessions did he
defend Jyokic by himself? Yeah, I mean they're saving ad defensively,
hoping he gives them something on offense, which he didn't do.
You know, by the way in game two, So Lebron
was expending a lot of energy. I'm not making excuses
for him, but it's just the truth. He expended a

(01:41:36):
lot of energy defensively, and I think that war on
him and that's why he started settling for outside shots.
And look even the end of game one, Chris, you know,
they had this furious comeback, they cut it to three.
He comes down and takes an ill advised shot with
thirty seconds left to try to tie the game instead
of driving in and trying to get a foul or something.

Speaker 2 (01:41:51):
It's the look.

Speaker 1 (01:41:52):
The Lakers have had their own share of issues and
shot themselves in the foot in certain senses in this series.
But there's nothing that I've seen in these first two
games to your point. They've held serve. But the Lakers
were right there at the end of both of those games.
You know, they had a furious comeback that Phil shortened
Game one, and Jamal Murray turned into bubble Jamal Murray,
you know, in Game two. And I'm that's I don't
mean that derogatory, like he's great. He's a phenomenal scorer.

(01:42:14):
We know he can score the basketball. It is no
matter what the Lakers did defensively, no matter who was
on him, he just got hot at the right time.

Speaker 2 (01:42:22):
But it's not like it's insurmountable.

Speaker 3 (01:42:25):
I I don't I guess I watched and listen to
different shows, or maybe it's it's what some takeaway. I'm
not necessarily saying that, Oh how dare you ahead?

Speaker 16 (01:42:36):
News?

Speaker 3 (01:42:36):
Everyone's entitled to their opinion, sure, but I don't know
if I see an athlete that is more openly criticized
than Lebron James. I really don't If Lebron James flops,
Oh my gosh, look at him. He's flopping all over
the place. What in the world is going on? And legit,

(01:42:57):
you'll watch the Nuggets do it the next time down
the court.

Speaker 1 (01:43:00):
I mean it's the.

Speaker 2 (01:43:01):
League now, Yeah, that's what everybody does.

Speaker 1 (01:43:04):
Look, if you want to criticize them for missing layups,
he missed three of them. He had the ball slip
through his fingers. Whatever you want to attribute that to.
It was bad and he admitted it was bad. It's
a terrible look. I don't know if that's fatigue. I
don't know what you want to attribute that to. But
to say that people are just being Lebron James stands
and sticking up for him, he gets so much more criticism.
I think because the era that he's in. He gets

(01:43:25):
criticized a lot more. Because you can see every single highlight,
every single thing in HD, find it on YouTube, find
it on social media. No, you couldn't do that back
in the nineties. It's a different landscape and so so.

Speaker 3 (01:43:38):
Over critical of everything that happens to come out of
Lebron James mouth too. It's just I don't know if
we've seen a guy that I feel like we should
celebrate more that gets criticized more than Lebron James. So
that's what I would say I had news just in
my opinion, I feel like that what you've seen is

(01:43:59):
a really good seer soar through two games in Boston
through two games in Denver. The difference is the road
teams won the first two games in the Boston series,
and the home team's done what the home team's supposed
to do in the Lakers Nugget series.

Speaker 1 (01:44:11):
And I will say that's your solace a few of
the Lakers. I mean, I look, I say, coming into
this series, and I said it with ant last week,
I thought the Lakers, excuse me, the Nuggets would win
in seven games. So far our prediction can hold up. Well,
I mean, look, if everybody's a whole server at home,
I'm still right. So I don't like I'm admittedly a
Laker fan. We've talked about it, as are you. I
don't want that to happen. But if I'm just being

(01:44:32):
a objective, I thought Denver was the better team, but
I thought it would be a nip and tuck series.
It will not surprise me at all if the Lakers
came back home and won tonight and one on Monday
as well and pushed it back and we're tied to
two games a piece going back for Game five.

Speaker 3 (01:44:45):
And I like this too from Tibron before we get
your update k fig super Week of Draymond Green talking
about Laye back in January and February instead of owning
up to the responsibility of being the punk who sucker
punched a teammate back in the fall and tour part
team unity, then.

Speaker 1 (01:45:02):
You know, you know it's funny.

Speaker 3 (01:45:04):
As much as we will criticize Lebron James, I don't
feel like there's people that.

Speaker 1 (01:45:10):
Come to his defense in the media, very very small faction.

Speaker 3 (01:45:13):
Draymond Green suddenly has this massive amount of defenders and supporters,
and I don't get it. I don't know if you're
all fanboying out because he gets a lot of views
on his podcast or what, but.

Speaker 2 (01:45:24):
Probably that might be it.

Speaker 3 (01:45:26):
But I listen to Draymond Green and I heard that,
and if I'm a Golden State Warriors fan, I mean
I'm not like, oh, I'm glad, he admitted to it,
I'm pissed.

Speaker 1 (01:45:35):
It sounds like he's patting himself on the back. Well,
i'd like to I didn't do what I was supposed
to do, and so I'm the catalyst. So if it
wasn't for me, we would have been better. So I
take that responsibility because I'm the team leader and everybody
goes off of what I do. So that that's what
it sounded like to me. It was almost like he
was bragging about the fact that, like I'm the guy,
I'm the head of the snake.

Speaker 3 (01:45:55):
Yeah, exactly. Hey, Draymond likes him some, Draymond, he does.
When we come back, we owe you an update on
what's coming up today. Keep those tweets coming, love seeing them.
At Fox Sports Radio, I'm at Plank Show, hit up
Kevin at k FIG one, Jimmy Butler had to night
k fig Scott the details with everything that's going on
in the world of sports and what's trending.

Speaker 1 (01:46:14):
Yeah, Chris, you've been talking about it's an uphill climb
for the Lakers now. Also for the Celtics, LA down
to nothing in their series against Denver, Game three tonight
in LA and now the heat up to nothing over
Boston after winning both games at the TD Garden on
Friday night, Jimmy Butler's going twenty seven points with eight
boards and six assists as the Heat overcame a twelve
point fourth quarter deficit to take an early stranglehold on

(01:46:34):
the series. It now shifts to South Beach for Game
three on Sunday and the NHL Las Vegas druck first
in the Western Conference Finals a four to three overtime
win over Dallas as Brett Howden scored at the game
winning goal one minute and thirty five seconds into the
extra period. Vegas a one nothing series lead there. Second
round of the PGA Championship, Scottie Scheffler in a three

(01:46:54):
way tie for first, Bryson de Shambau two shots back,
Warbrooks Koepka is three strokes off the lead. In baseball,
Blake's newfeld to one in five in the season and
allowed six earned runs as a Red Sox beat the
Padres six to one. Matt Olsen with a home run
to lead Atlanta over the Mariners. Went with the Dodgers,
Angels and the Astros, who got a home run from
Kyle Tucker in a victory over Oakland. All right back

(01:47:15):
to Chris Plink. Thanks Kfig.

Speaker 3 (01:47:17):
We as always are coming to you live from the
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think I mentioned this earlier. We'll help you get there
an unmatched selection, fast, free shipping, free road hazard protection,
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The way tire buying should be so great. Great day

(01:47:38):
in sports, right. We've spent a lot of time this
morning remembering the legend that is Jim Brown. If you
miss any of that, you can find it on the
podcast to simply search Fox Sports Radio Weekends. Kevin and
I spent a lot of time in hour one an
hour two going back over what Jim Brown was all
about and what he meant to so many people.

Speaker 2 (01:47:57):
So we'll sprinkle that in a little bit more.

Speaker 3 (01:47:59):
Come up next hour, and we'll also preview the day ahead,
which has two very low key exciting sporting events that
I think everyone should embrace.

Speaker 2 (01:48:10):
One involves softball. College softball is great.

Speaker 3 (01:48:13):
The other involves a NASCAR The rejuvenation of North Wilkesboro
Speedway is really a cool thing. I feel like k Fig,
if this was, you know, kind of a low hanging
fruit I know Ben Mahlor, he revolts against List season right,
he does not believe in List. But I feel like
with North Wilkesboro Speedway being something that's been rejuvenated by NASCAR,

(01:48:35):
I think this is the first. And it's not a
Cup race, it's an All Star race, So I don't
want to get into a semantics fight with NASCAR fan,
but I think this is the first high level NASCAR
race they've held there since like ninety six.

Speaker 2 (01:48:48):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (01:48:48):
Yeah, So it got me thinking, what are some sporting
venues that you would love to see?

Speaker 2 (01:48:55):
And most of them have been destroyed.

Speaker 3 (01:48:57):
So I would love to see a game in the
old Bush Stadium. Well cool, you would have to rebuild
it because now it's a parking lot. Or I would
love to see a game in the Georgia Dome. Awesome,
no longer there, so in certain instances it's kind of tough.
But I just wonder if there's, if there is a
venue out there that's kind of still standing that we

(01:49:17):
could find a way to rejuvenate. I always wanted to
be the Astrodome, and I think they just tore that
down not too long ago.

Speaker 2 (01:49:23):
Sorry, I haven't got it. While yeah, been a couple
of years, but.

Speaker 1 (01:49:27):
Well, I know a stadium. They should tear it down.
The dump in Oakland. I love you Oakland. I love
you so much.

Speaker 2 (01:49:35):
I love the city.

Speaker 1 (01:49:36):
I think it's devastating what's happened to that city over
the last few years with losing all the sports franchises.
But and look, they have no one to blame but themselves,
Alla County and all that, But that stadium is a
is a piece of crap.

Speaker 3 (01:49:48):
A couple of years ago, I think k fig you
and I were working this show and we're gonna hear
from Jimmy Butler here in just a bit.

Speaker 2 (01:49:54):
But it was right when the Raiders were making their.

Speaker 1 (01:49:57):
Move to Vegas. And I mean, I'm a Raiders fan.

Speaker 3 (01:50:01):
I some people are really good about hiding their allegiances
or basically just not telling you what they're a fan of.

Speaker 2 (01:50:08):
I cannot.

Speaker 1 (01:50:08):
I am glad.

Speaker 3 (01:50:11):
That's why we got into this business to begin with.
So we were like, well, I was a fan. Then
I started covering sports. You're like, like, you're not a
fan anymore.

Speaker 2 (01:50:19):
Miss me with that? Yeah, yes, miss me with that.
But here's what's funny.

Speaker 3 (01:50:24):
I remember having a pretty passionate debate where the callers said, listen,
you don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:50:30):
You don't go to O dot co. You just hear
all the stories. It's not that bad.

Speaker 3 (01:50:34):
And you know this is now going on four years ago,
and in those four years as bad as it was
four years.

Speaker 1 (01:50:40):
Ago, Kevin, they haven't even tried to.

Speaker 3 (01:50:43):
Do anything right to not just any upgrades, which it's
almost as if they've looked at it and said beyond
repair whatever. Right, But every idea seems so high in
the sky. It's like a buddy that calls you with
a pyramid scheme, So you got this great investment plan
for you, Kevin, All I need is twenty thousand dollars.

Speaker 2 (01:51:00):
Okay, That's what I feel like.

Speaker 3 (01:51:01):
Every single one of these ideas that Oakland comes up
with has been for for anything, to save the A's
or to save the Raiders, and there was any I mean,
everyone's just like, oh, yeah, the Warriors are still the
Golden State Warriors, but they're in San Francisco now. So
I mean it's just it's it's really sad. I love Oakland, man,
I just hate it for that that community.

Speaker 1 (01:51:21):
Yeah, the community is It's a tough blow because I look,
I love going up there, I would fly up for
for Raider games a couple of times a season up
until the last couple of years. First, and that stadium
is a dump despite look, maybe it's one of those
things that says, hey, it's a dump, but it's our dump,
So maybe it has a charm to some people who
are up there. I'll mean, look, the A's are still

(01:51:41):
playing there now, you can't tell if you look in
the stands. There's about four people that go to games,
which is also sad because that's a proud franchise too.
That at has a great legacy and a great history.
But yeah, the city the county could not get out
of its own way. So many private projects tried to
get done, they tried to use public money to get
it done.

Speaker 2 (01:52:00):
And there was just too much red tape to cut through.

Speaker 1 (01:52:03):
And it's unfortunate that a city that was that prout,
that had three franchises, you know, playing together in the
epicenter right off of the bart where you had where
the Warriors played right next to the Oakland Alameda Colisseum,
and that place is basically going to be desolate now
there's going to be nothing going on. Sad.

Speaker 2 (01:52:20):
It really is sad.

Speaker 3 (01:52:22):
I'd like to go, though, once the a's are gone,
just walk around. I might cry a little bit, not
because of like a smell or anything, but just for
the memory to sit in there.

Speaker 2 (01:52:30):
Maybe the smell will.

Speaker 1 (01:52:31):
Pick up a piece of SEUWI should take with you
as the as a going away present. I would say,
of all the true fan bases city wide, you know,
I'm I grew up in Saint Louis, I would maybe
try to fight for Saint Louis football fans.

Speaker 2 (01:52:49):
But we're oh for two, so that sucks.

Speaker 3 (01:52:52):
I might, you know, shed a little bit of a
tear for Seattle basketball fans, and it's kind of wild
to see how confrontational this is between Seattle and OKAC.
But it looks like Seattle's going to get another team.
I felt some sadness when the Colts led Baltimore, but
you got the Ravens, and when Cleveland left Cleveland to

(01:53:12):
become Baltimore, and maybe all that, but you got the
Browns back. Oakland is that city though to where it
truly it's sad. I feel terrible because they're great fans
and they're great people. They deserve they deserve to have
a state of the art facility. They deserve to still
have the Raiders there and the A's there, and it's
just it's unfortunate.

Speaker 1 (01:53:31):
Considering the state of you know, where the city is
at this point in time. You know, there was hope,
there was always hope that the NBA could return to Seattle.
I think there's still this liver of hope that the
NFL could eventually learn one more time return to Saint Louis.
Don't you get a feel that they're like, it's like
Oakland is pretty much done done at this point. This
is it, that was it, that's it.

Speaker 3 (01:53:50):
All right, quick break, So when we come back, let's
dive into a little bit more of Jimmy Butler's post game.
So far tonight this morning, it was dark when the
show started out. So far this morning, the main focus
has been on Jimmy Butler versus Grant Williams. But how
about what Miami was able to do as a team
during that final stretch. Sure, Jimmy had nine of the

(01:54:11):
twenty four points, but there were some really good team
things that happened and maybe a little luck. We'll dive
into it next on Fox. All right, Aunt is out
just for today. Fox Sports Radio I'm Chris Plank sitting
in with Kevin figures. All right, let's relift some of
that fourth quarter magic last night for the Miami Heat.

(01:54:33):
Here was the final call. This is courtesy of the
Miami Heat Radio network. Aus Brown fires up the last
shot at Game two belows to the Heat one eleven
one O five. You could hear the discomfort in the crowd.

(01:54:54):
Maybe is a good way to put it, Kevin. Yes,
here's a couple of wild stats the Heater six and
two this postseason when trailing by ten or more points.
The rest of the NBA is will that be forty
five games under five hundred and fifteen and sixty that's incredible.

Speaker 2 (01:55:12):
Six and two when down by double digits, that's unreal.

Speaker 1 (01:55:15):
It makes no sense.

Speaker 2 (01:55:16):
Has an eighth.

Speaker 3 (01:55:17):
Seedees and and we should add Jimmy Butler. For as
much of the conversation that has centered around he V
Grant Williams, he at least, you know, keeps some perspective
on how Miami was able to do what they did.

Speaker 7 (01:55:36):
Honestly, they just missed some shots. That's part of the game.
I think our game plan is kind of simple in
the fourth quarter.

Speaker 6 (01:55:45):
If I'm being brutally honest.

Speaker 7 (01:55:47):
It's kind of like, give me the ball to move,
and I gotta I'm tasked with making the right play,
sometimes to shoot the ball, most of the time to
shoot the ball, and a lot of times it's passed
the ball to the open and I pride myself on
finding that open guy.

Speaker 6 (01:56:04):
I really do.

Speaker 7 (01:56:05):
I want to get all my teammates involved. And I've
never been a guy to say that the player than
I am today isn't because of my teammates. It's always
because of them. They always make shots. It makes my
job so much easier. If I get beat on defense,
somebody's always there. I have so much faith in this
group of guys that we have, and I've said.

Speaker 6 (01:56:26):
It all year along. We're gonna ride with one another
to the little fall.

Speaker 2 (01:56:32):
Incredible.

Speaker 1 (01:56:32):
I still can't believe people don't like him.

Speaker 2 (01:56:35):
What's not to like? I don't get it. It's awesome.

Speaker 3 (01:56:39):
So well, okay, let's we haven't spent a lot of
time talking the Boston side of this from last night, right,
it's been a lot of clowning on Grant Williams, and
I thought he handled it with class. Well, we'll reset
that whole saga from last night coming up here in
just a bit. But it's more than just Grant Williams
talking trash, right. I mean, this is a team that

(01:57:01):
went into a shell in the final few minutes when
you have you know, your shot creator and Jason Tatum,
and you know, I know he struggled for beyond the
three point line, just three of ten, but still finished
with thirty four points. You know where was Jalen Brown
ye down the stretch? He was terrible last night. I mean,
how do you recover right now?

Speaker 1 (01:57:19):
If you're Boston, you have to go back to your principles,
playing tough defense. And look, it's gonna be raucus out
there in Miami, But I think this is one of
those Jason Tatum has to play in this game. You know,
the way he played in the close out game against Boston,
that's what it's gonna take, or excuse me, against Philadelphia,
like he's gonna have to will them to a win. Look,
I know the overall again, his numbers were fine. He

(01:57:42):
was ten of twenty from the field. You mentioned he
didn't shoot the three ball well. With thirty four points,
this might be one of those where he's gonna have
to like go for forty and not just Tomorrow night,
but Tuesday night too, and kind of put the team
on his back because right now the Celtics are not
showing the same level of toughness and want that the
Miami heater that the Miami Miami Heat have. For whatever reason,

(01:58:04):
I don't know why that is. I don't know what's missing.
And again, these are the seeds of something that's been
happening since the beginning of the playoffs. This team has
been leaky since the opening round against Atlanta. There are
times against Philadelphia where they were questionable. So I look,
I certainly coming into this series I expected Boston to win.
I certainly didn't expect Miami to win both games in

(01:58:24):
Boston to start the series, but I certainly would not
have been surprised either. Have Miami found a way to
win the series, because Boston has just shown their inconsistency
all postseason long, and Joe Miszula thinks he's Phil Jackson
or something just will not call time outs when his
team is struggling. I don't know. This happened in Game
one in the third quarter, and it happened last night
in the fourth quarter. I don't understand what Joe Missoula's doing.

Speaker 3 (01:58:47):
You know, it's interesting because I can't help but wonder
how loud the ticking of that clock is right now.
Not just Celtics fans, but you know front office, and
you know you have, oh, I don't know, you have
a fairly strong core. I think in Jason Tatum, you
know Jalen Brown, you got a decision to make as

(01:59:08):
far as his long term viability is concerned. I mean,
Al Horford just turned fifty eight years old, so I
mean you got his future might be you know, unknown,
But I.

Speaker 1 (01:59:18):
Just you're paying your yilk, You're paying Broggen for a
couple of years. Marcus Smart just signs an extension. Derek
White's not going anywhere.

Speaker 3 (01:59:26):
I just I always remember these conversations that we would
have about remember Lob City in LA and it's like, oh,
they're just not gonna win. Remember they gotta blow this
thing up, right, And the response was usually can blow
it up?

Speaker 2 (01:59:38):
What are you gonna do?

Speaker 3 (01:59:39):
And obviously the Clippers made a big swing for the fences,
and so far it's been a swing and a miss.
But I can't I can't help and wonder what that
what would be for the Boston Celtics.

Speaker 1 (01:59:49):
Well, I feel like your only movable asset would be
Jalen Brown, who, by the way, has been outspoken about
his disdain at times for the fan base, so he's
very been very open about that. So if they're looking
at doing a major shakeup in the offseason that everybody
else is pretty much locked in for the next couple
of years. Jalen Brown's an expiring contract at the end
of next season, so that might be something to keep

(02:00:11):
an eye on. All right.

Speaker 3 (02:00:12):
When we come back the Day Ahead, more from Jimmy Butler.
Reaction from Grant Williams is uh is everyone aware that
this is a major horse racing day in the sports
world too? Kind of under the radar. We'll dive into
it next in the final hour right here on Fox
Sports Radio. Like a lot of recapping. Right last night,
the Miami Heat took care of business. We're gonna hear

(02:00:33):
more from Jimmy Butler and Grant Williams. That's a two
games to none series advantage. But kfig. We kicked off
last hour with recapping the week that was and the
night that was. For our final hour, let's get everyone
fired up about the day ahead and obviously Western Conference Finals,
Game three, the series shifts to LA and Laker's been

(02:00:56):
really good at home so far in the playoffs. They
you know, they've done a nice job on the road.
They'd won their series opener on the road. So far
throughout the entire playoffs hasn't happened here. But your thoughts
is someone who's covered this closely. I mean, I just
I feel like I'm Jimmy but Well.

Speaker 1 (02:01:14):
I don't feel like I'm Jimmy Butler.

Speaker 3 (02:01:15):
But I feel like I'm saying the same thing Jimmy
Butler said in the post game right they talked about
Boston missed some shots. I feel like this is Captain obvious,
but Lakers just need to make some shots down the stretch.
I feel like they're doing enough. They're doing a better
job defensively. There's not a lot of easy open looks
for the Nuggets, or at least, you know, not that
I'm seeing.

Speaker 2 (02:01:35):
Jokic is making it look easy at times.

Speaker 3 (02:01:37):
But they've got to be smarter with their shots selection,
and hopefully Austin Reeves can stay hot because he's been
one of their best offensive weapons.

Speaker 2 (02:01:44):
What do you need to see from them tonight?

Speaker 1 (02:01:46):
Yeah, Well, you need to see Lebron and Anthony Davis
step up and give them something offensively, you know. For
you know, the Lakers dominated the majority of Game two,
but one thing that people don't talk about is the
fact that neither Lebron or ad played well offensively. It
was Ruy Hodge and Austin Reeves that carried him offensively.
So it's almost like, you know, I mean, you almost
won that game with two of your best players not

(02:02:07):
even playing that well offensively. So I look, we're beyond
Morol victories. In the postseason. Talked about this after Game one.
You think you found a magic elixir with Hachimura on Jokich,
but you still lost. You're still down oh two, regardless
of how good you may have looked doing it. But look,
the role players typically pay play better at home. I'm
looking at you, D'Angelo Russell, who has been a litmus test,
by the way for them. When he plays well, the

(02:02:29):
Lakers typically win, and they win big. Now, it's been
a tough matchup for him because they've been they've been
pointing him out and attacking him directly because they know
he's not good defensively. So look that might they might
alter the starting lineup again and put d' angelo Russell
on the bench and start Dennis Shrewder. We'll have to
see how that goes. But I expect a better performance
from Lebron James, who I think and I don't think

(02:02:50):
he wouldn't say this, but I think he's embarrassed to
miss layups. He missed that reverse layup that would have
cut it to too late, the ball that slipped out
of his hands settling for the threes. He still hasn't
made it three owner yet in the series. So I
would expect huge performances from both Lebron James and Anthony Davis. Uh.

Speaker 2 (02:03:06):
And I expect them to get a victory tonight.

Speaker 1 (02:03:08):
Now what happens Monday night, we'll see, uh, But I
certainly expect the Lakers to get a victory in Game
three at home tonight.

Speaker 2 (02:03:13):
How do you see it going, Well, it's kind of
the same way.

Speaker 3 (02:03:16):
Here's what Anthony Davis said afterwards about just how this
team hold on ant my bad, how this team needs
to be a little bit more efficient and defensively.

Speaker 9 (02:03:24):
The first second one was background and the next one
in the same exact spot, runs in and out. So
like the all the looks that I got today, a
lot of them short. Now I'm going to continue to
shoot those shots that said I gotta be better, more efficient.

Speaker 3 (02:03:40):
Yeah, and here's what I'm interested to see, which Anthony
Davis shows up, because man, when he is, he's on.

Speaker 1 (02:03:51):
He's been fantastic.

Speaker 3 (02:03:52):
Now, someone could be really negative and say, well, the
Lakers have lost three of their last four playoff games.
Well guess what the all three of those losses have
on the road for the Lakers so far in these playoffs.
I want to see Anthony Davis continue to be the
Anthony Davis that we saw in Game one.

Speaker 2 (02:04:10):
The Lakers lost Game two whenever.

Speaker 3 (02:04:13):
You had a terrible performance from both Anthony Davis and
Lebron James in the.

Speaker 1 (02:04:19):
Second half of that game.

Speaker 3 (02:04:20):
But I'm not one of those guys that buys into
oh they're tired. Everyone looked tired in that game. I mean,
I don't know if we all watch a different game
down the stretch, but everyone looked gasted. I want to
see the forty point Anthony Davis from Game one to where, Yeah,
he struggled on the defensive end, but it was lost
in what Jokich did.

Speaker 2 (02:04:40):
He finished with forty to ten.

Speaker 3 (02:04:41):
That four for fifteen performance with just eighteen points, turning
the ball over four times whenever. I think that's the
most he had turned the ball over since the Game
two loss. Maybe this Game three against the against the
Golden State Wars and I was Game two against the Warriors.

Speaker 2 (02:04:57):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (02:04:58):
I want to see more aggress play from Anthony Davis
and not just settling for that. I get it, it
was a wide open look, but he takes a couple
of dribbles on that finals that not final shot, but
that late shot, he might.

Speaker 1 (02:05:10):
Have an easy layup. I want to see this team
be more aggressive.

Speaker 2 (02:05:12):
Yeah, attack the paint. Well, look, that's what the Lakers.

Speaker 1 (02:05:14):
Look, there's a reason why they have such a wide
free throw differential versus other team in the league. It's
because they attack the rim. They know they're not a
great three point shooting team. If they make threes, that's
a bonus for them. So they're a team that has
to attack the paint. And look, it's not like the
Denver Nuggets have Cammie Matumbo in the middle, you know
what I mean. They don't have a defensive stopper. So look,

(02:05:35):
I think it's incumbent upon Lebron. I think one thing
they can get lost to and I'm not making an excuse,
but I think it's important. The Lakers have kind of
been in playoff mode for like three months now, like
they're fighting for their playoff lives the entire month, a
month and a half before the end of the regular season,
just to make it into the play in or try
to avoid the play in, and they earn the seventh seed.

(02:05:56):
So those guys, these guys are putting up, you know,
thirty eight, thirty nine, and it's for the last couple
of months. So I do think there's a potential cumulative
effect when it comes to guys like Lebron who is
thirty eight years old and Anthony Davis who has the
body of a thirty eight year old as often as
he gets injured. So that's something to look at. But
we've seen them dig deep and be able to do
it before, especially Anthony Davis. You look until in his

(02:06:19):
defense he mentioned it and the clip you just played,
he had some good looks that he typically would make
and he missed him for Maybe he just had had
an off night, maybe he didn't have the legs underneath him.
Who knows what the situation might have been. But the
typical pattern this postseason for Anthony Davis has been for
every dud, he comes back in play spectacular. So if

(02:06:39):
the pattern keep holds true, he should have a good
performance later tonight.

Speaker 3 (02:06:42):
Now, I'm not gonna lie as someone who lives in
God's time zone, the Central time zone. Yes, I love
the seven thirty Central time, eight thirty Eastern tip, but
is it. It's a Saturday, so I don't really know
how problematic it is.

Speaker 1 (02:06:57):
But you okay with it? That five thirty tip on
the West Coast, I'm okay with it on a weekend.
It was a little Thursday at five thirty would have
been was tough sledding. I don't know. I'm guessing. I
think the tip time is the same throughout the entire series.
So yeah, so Monday night at five thirty, it's gonna
be a bit of a late arriving crowd, to say
the least in LA maybe the maybe the lower bowl

(02:07:19):
will be filled in by the start of the second half.
There's a reason why they tip games off at seven
thirty local time. You've you've made trips out here, Chris,
You know how bad traffic can be. It look even
on a Saturday at five thirty, it's it's terrible. Uh So,
but tomorrow will be a little bit better, a better environment.

Speaker 12 (02:07:36):
One.

Speaker 1 (02:07:37):
It's a must win Staple Center, excuse me, Crypto dot
Com Arena. It still timmy a while to get used to.
That is going to be absolutely rocking this year. This
is a franchise. Look, they won the world they won
the championship in twenty twenty in the bubble, not in
front of their own home fans. Uh They didn't have
full capacity when they made the playoffs the year after
that and when they lost to the Suns in the
first round, and this is the first time they've made

(02:07:58):
the postseason since then. But I have to you like
the elimination games. The Game six is against Golden State
in Memphis. That place was insane, absolutely insane, and I
expect the same environments but to take place tonight. So
they're definitely gonna have a home court advantage on Snight,
so they better take advantage of it because they're probably
not gonna have much of it. To start the game

(02:08:18):
on Monday with a bit of a later riving crowd
with a five thirty.

Speaker 3 (02:08:21):
Tip, a thirty Eastern seven thirty Central. ABC has the coverage,
and of course we'll have instant reaction tonight for you
right here on Fox Sports Radio. I think it's Jason
Martin and Aaron Torres who are in tonight, so immediate
post game reaction right here on Fox Sports Radio. Eastern
Conference Finals, Game two in the Stanley Cup. Now again,

(02:08:42):
I'm not gonna I'm not gonna go all Lias Assaulters
on you here are Shack. I was not familiar with
your game, but I can't sit here and pretend like
I've watched the Panthers and the Hurricanes all year long.
But Bagah, when these teams get together, they seem to
bring out the best in each other. You have the

(02:09:02):
four overtime thriller that the Panthers won in Game one.
What could be on tap tonight? TNT has the coverage
for you again, five o'clock Pacific time. Anything more we
need to add on the wonderful sport of hockey here.

Speaker 1 (02:09:14):
I don't think so, but I hope this Conference Finals
continues to play the play out the way that it
has so far through two games. I mean four overtimes
in Game one out East and then overtime in Game
one in the West.

Speaker 2 (02:09:25):
Look, we might not have a hockey.

Speaker 1 (02:09:27):
Royalty, to say the least, right, you know, in these
conference finals, But I look, I think the game in
and of itself, as long as its play beautifully and
we have some competitive matchups, I think that's all you
can ask.

Speaker 2 (02:09:37):
Now.

Speaker 3 (02:09:37):
We brought this up a little bit ago as we
preview the day of the day ahead here on Fox
Sports Radio. That of course is Kevin Figures. You hear
him here every Saturday morning. I'm Chris Plank sitting in
for Anthony Gargano. It is a big day in the
sport of horse racing. Now, let's be honest. Has it
necessarily been banner times for horse racing? I feel like

(02:09:58):
all the news we get is is terrible news in
conjunction to horses losing their lives things of that nature.
But today at four point thirty Eastern, we'll have the
Preakness coverage that starts on NBC. The race is set
for a little bit after seven o'clock Eastern times, so

(02:10:20):
Pimlico will be rocking in Baltimore.

Speaker 2 (02:10:23):
I'm not I gotta be honest with you.

Speaker 3 (02:10:27):
I need I need a rock star horse, right, I do,
because I'm just I'm out. I feel like everyone is
just falling, falling apart. So I kind of like two
pills today, maybe Angel of Empire to keep an eye on.

Speaker 2 (02:10:39):
But the twenty twenty three.

Speaker 3 (02:10:41):
Preakness is this afternoon, this early evening, I guess on
the East coast doing anything for you?

Speaker 1 (02:10:47):
Yuh not real. Look, the star of the weakness is
not a horse. It's the fact that Bob Baffort is back.
So what does that tell you? So I feel like
and look, Bob is like obviously a king on the
sport of horse racing. He's had his share of issues,
to say the least over the last couple of years,
hence the suspensions.

Speaker 2 (02:11:05):
Phenomenal trainer.

Speaker 1 (02:11:07):
But yeah, to your point, we want to see a
horse that would be able to dominate the Kentucky Derby.
You have a chance to win the Preakness and then
make a run of the Triple Crown. But outside of that,
I think that horse racing from a mainstream standpoint kind
of doesn't have the luster as it did some years ago.

Speaker 3 (02:11:21):
Yeah, I would love to sit here and tell you
that we are having your traditional fun Saturday night All
Star race kind of a conversation in my beloved sport
of NASCAR, and I don't. I mean, maybe this is
a decision because there's issues with the track, but NASCAR

(02:11:42):
is not holding any of its All Star festivities until
tomorrow night. So six o'clock East during Tomorrow night with
the All Star Open, they've got truck races today. If
you're a true neck like I am, you'll be all
about it. You get USFL football today. Of course, the
XFL is done, but the USFL is in full swing.
Pittsburgh versus Memphis, Birmingham versus Michigan, and here we are,

(02:12:04):
you know, almost you know, three and a half hours
into the show, and I haven't brought up the PGA
Championship yet. You would think you would think having an
event that's just on the cusp of teeing off as
this show is on the air, that we would be
fired up and talking about it.

Speaker 2 (02:12:21):
But no, no, this.

Speaker 3 (02:12:23):
I love golf right and I'm saying this as someone
who would play every day if they could. I could
not have less interest in what's going on in the
PGA Championship right now. I have no idea why, Kevin
I love major golf events, and it has nothing to
do with live golf.

Speaker 2 (02:12:43):
It's a great course, a.

Speaker 3 (02:12:45):
Lot of neat names at the top of the leaderboard,
and Scottie Scheffler and Corey Connors, and I think I
think it's been cool to see suddenly a slim down
Bryce into Shambeau and the mix.

Speaker 2 (02:12:55):
In fact, here's what he said, gee.

Speaker 1 (02:12:57):
Yeah, looks good. Looks good.

Speaker 2 (02:12:59):
Here's what he said about actually feeling good right now.

Speaker 18 (02:13:01):
Quite a few years where I was like, man, I
don't know if I can hold it for four rounds
and do like I did in wing Foot.

Speaker 2 (02:13:08):
But after today, I feel like I can so a
lot more. I got a lot more years for my career.

Speaker 3 (02:13:11):
Yeah, he's only two shots off the lead and three
under Brooks kept kiz right, there are three shots off
the lead as well.

Speaker 2 (02:13:17):
I don't know why Oka I can't get into this thing.

Speaker 1 (02:13:20):
For some reason.

Speaker 2 (02:13:21):
So not luckless.

Speaker 1 (02:13:21):
So if you're a purist and you just love the
game and love the competition, that's one thing you're in.
But also I do think the live factor has kind
of died down a little bit. Look, Brooks and Bryson
was like a budding robbery two years ago. The guys
hated each other. Well now they're on the Lift Tour.
They're both sitting fat and happy, they're making all their money.
Who cares. Who cares if they win the PGA Championship

(02:13:41):
or not. They're fine, it doesn't matter. So I feel
like there's and then like Roy McElroy, like all of
a sudden, mum is the word when talking about live
when he was one of those outspoken people about it.

Speaker 2 (02:13:51):
Now all of a sudden, he has nothing to say. Unfortunately.

Speaker 1 (02:13:54):
I think golf to a certain degree kind of needs
the added drama of the Live versus the PGA. Are
these guys chirping back at each other and you kind
of don't have that or haven't had that the last
couple of weeks. So I certainly think that from a
mainstream standpoint, if you're not a diehard, that kind of
takes a little bit of the luster out of it
for you.

Speaker 3 (02:14:12):
And then one final thing to look forward to today.
So if I can't sell you on Lakers Nuggets Game three,
seven thirty tips Central time, eight thirty Eastern, if I
can't sell you on Panthers and Hurricanes Game two and
a wild Eastern Conference Finals, if you're like me and
the PGA championship isn't really doing it for you. You

(02:14:35):
gotta wait till tomorrow for NASCAR, or you're you're tired
of seeing Bob Baffort interviewed because apparently he's the biggest
story at the Preakness. Allow me to give you my
beloved sport of college softball, where tonight you could see
one of the top seeds get eliminated, Ucla kfig.

Speaker 2 (02:14:54):
Ucla got beat last night. Incredible.

Speaker 3 (02:14:57):
The number two team in the country got beat in
their regional. They're fighting for their postseason lives today. They
got to play two games to advance to the regional final.
My beloved Oklahoma Sooners, the top team in the country,
play this afternoon at a noon Pacific two o'clock Central time.

Speaker 1 (02:15:15):
Lot of cool stuff. Again, there's a lot going on,
but yeah, it's all over the four letter networks. Give
it a look. I think you'll like it. I think
you'll enjoy it. Okay, yeah, I you have a piece
Ucla fighting for their postseason lives.

Speaker 2 (02:15:27):
Things that are going to be fascinating to follow.

Speaker 3 (02:15:30):
So there is a look ahead at what's on tap
in the sports world today. When we come back. There
is one major story. I mean one massive story in
the college sports world that Kevin Figures and I have
not talked about yet. So when we come back, let's
get into exactly what's going on right now at USC
and the sudden resignation resignation of Mike Bone, plus more

(02:15:52):
from Jimmy Butler around the corner here on Fox Sports Radio,
Nice Jam Nice sitting in for Anthony Gargano. I'm Chris Plank.
That's Kevin Figures here on Fox Sports Radio. You can
catch me tomorrow night with a stinking genius Arnie Spanier.
From what time are we on tim p to one

(02:16:15):
A ten P one A recapping the whole weekend and
getting you ready for the week ahead here on Fox
Sports Radio, But for the next forty minutes or so,
Kevin and I are gonna recap the win for the
Heat last night and look ahead to the Lakers. Got
some good tweets to hit at Plank Show, at KFIG

(02:16:36):
one and of course at Fox Sports Radio. But fascinated
to get your take as somebody who loves college sports
as much as I do, Kevin with what's happened at
USC Mike Bone and Bohn pronounced Bone. Mike Bone resigned Friday,
and the La Times has been chronically and constantly updating this.

(02:16:59):
So I'm very grateful for the reporting work that's done
here by right, was it Ryan Carchi's Yeah, Ryan Carchi,
great job, Brian. But I was shocked by this because
so I went back last night. Mike Bonen has done
a great job at USC. Right spearheaded their move to
the Big ten, hired Lincoln Riley, has kind of brought

(02:17:21):
USC football back to relevance, you know, from Afar. It
really looks like things are cooking for the USC athletic department,
And I thought, okay, are there other issues here? I
went back and watched some old interviews trying to read
into it. But things seem to be really good. But
when things are good, there's not an internal investigation that
has put forth. But what do you make of this?

(02:17:43):
And I guess what some comments that he made had
left some female colleagues feeling awkward.

Speaker 2 (02:17:50):
Is that the reporting we're getting now?

Speaker 1 (02:17:52):
Yeah, And they brought in this outside firm to investigate,
you know, the allegations of I won't go as far
as calling sexual his conduct, but certainly some unwanted advances
comments that he's made towards female staffers that make them uncomfortable.
And look, they brought in a review in Cara Fault,
the president of the university, even talked about a thorough

(02:18:12):
review of the athletic department in her statement. So this
is something that obviously has been percolating for a while.
This doesn't just happen overnight. It just became. It became
public early Friday afternoon, you know, first with Bone releasing
his statement and initially.

Speaker 2 (02:18:27):
And it was kind of a footnote.

Speaker 1 (02:18:29):
And you know, you know, our colleague Petros Papadakas, who
does a show on our local affiliate AM five seventy
LI Sports, brought this up on his local show. He says,
usually if it is indeed a health issue, that's the headline, right,
you say, like, hey, you know, Mike Bone steps down
due to health issues.

Speaker 2 (02:18:44):
It was a footnote.

Speaker 1 (02:18:45):
It was one of the last words in the actual statement,
which makes you raise a couple of eyebrows as to like, well,
I mean, health issues usually would be number one.

Speaker 2 (02:18:53):
So that tells you that there's a lot more at
play there.

Speaker 1 (02:18:55):
So whatever it is, clearly it was a big enough
deal for you as look they're reporting with Ryan Krchy
and you mentioned he keeps updating this on the LA Times.
Was that Mike Bone had been told to stop. I'm paraphrasing,
but he had. These sort of things have been brought
to the attention of to the of the administration. He
was told to stop, and apparently he didn't do that.

(02:19:17):
He was also apparently absentee at times. There was meetings,
important meetings that he didn't show up to, didn't really
pay much attention to football collectives that have been trying
to organize and get together for the department, not paying
much attention to them, just kind of being a little
bit absent as an athletic director, which obviously you can't do.
So all these things have kind of piled up against

(02:19:38):
them to a point where he ends up resigning and
you can't see me doing air quotes, basically a way
for them to say face. He resigns, mutual partying, whatever
you want to call it, but for all intents and purposes,
he was fired. I I don't know.

Speaker 3 (02:19:57):
How you can be told to stop doing something or
you're going to lose your high paying, high profile gig
and you keep doing it.

Speaker 1 (02:20:07):
Right like that, he just tells you how untouchable, he felt,
and by the way, there was even no way to
put it.

Speaker 2 (02:20:12):
A level of defiance to a degree.

Speaker 1 (02:20:14):
In the statement that he released, saying like I brought
USC back to prominence, and the coaches that I've hired
in our graduation rates are the highest they've been. He
basically just ran down his very short resume in the
tenure that he's had at USC and all the great
things that he's done.

Speaker 2 (02:20:30):
He's saying he's.

Speaker 1 (02:20:30):
Leaving the department better in better hands than it was.
But when he got in, you know that that's very interesting,
and light of all the new information that's come out,
it's almost as if like you can talk crap about
me on my way out the door if you want,
But look at all the good things that I did
for this program that was terrible before I came. You know,
if they sales are the worst in history, the worst
the program has ever been. Something to that effect is

(02:20:52):
what he said in his statement.

Speaker 3 (02:20:53):
Before he arrived, I was trying to go year by
year on the usc AD and unfortunate Lee unfortunately, Lookipedia
not helping me out.

Speaker 1 (02:21:04):
I can give you a brief timeline. I mean, you
had the Mike Garrett years, which was not good. Yeah,
I mean, well there, look, he hired Pete Carroll. I apologize,
he r Pete Carroll. But then they got caught up
in the Reggie Bush scandal. He was defiant about that.
In the midst of that was the Tim Floyd scandal
as well with the basketball program, so they were on
probation for a while. So then he gets the boot.

(02:21:25):
They bring in Pat Hayden. Pat Hayden was a disaster.
They bring in Lynn Swan, who was an even bigger disaster.
Then they come out of that to Mike Bone. They
finally go outside of the families for the first time
in fifty years whatever it's been, someone who had no
connections to the program, and it got off to a
good enough start with Mike Bone. Maybe they kept Clay
heldon a little bit longer than they want it. Many

(02:21:46):
people believe that that was a Carroll fault decision more
than a Mike Bone decision. But eventually they got him out.
They went and got Lincoln Riley and everybody was happy,
but apparently things were not, you know, Rosie behind closed doors,
and it got to a head at a certain point
where they just do it anymore with Mike Bone it is.

Speaker 3 (02:22:02):
It is gonna be interesting to see what direction us
he goes. This is a massive story, it is. I mean,
I am, like I said, I'm shifting from Fox Sports
Radio to some college talk whenever I'm done with this
show today. And I would imagine that it's going to
be the foundation of a college based program today. This
is one of the marquee brands in college athletics period.

(02:22:25):
This is arguably the team that has the best player
in college football in Caleb Williams. I know that pains
me to say, too ou fans, but in Caleb Williams
coming back next year and a team that you know
has playoff aspirations, defending Heisman Trophy winner, and oh, by
the way, is on their way to the Big ten.

Speaker 1 (02:22:47):
Right, that's the big thing. You're transitioning into a new
conference in a year, and now you have this hanging
over your head. And look, you're finding a new athletic director.
This is something you just talked to her friend of
yours you're bringing you hire him next Friday.

Speaker 2 (02:22:58):
This is going to take months to figure out.

Speaker 3 (02:23:01):
Here's the other part of the two that I'm fascinated by.
We've seen in athletic well Conference commissioner decisions. We've seen
the Big twelve, the PAC twelve, and the Big Ten
go away from administrative lifers. In other words, the guys

(02:23:21):
and gals they've hired have not come from the college
sports world. They've come from the entertainment world. They've come
from the I say, gambling world. That's a little bit
unfair for George Clive kaff right, because he to work
in MGM. Yeah, but it's gonna be interesting to see
if maybe us he looks at it and says, all right,
and you know, usually the next guy up would be

(02:23:42):
someone that's an associate athletic director or maybe a well
known sitting eighty somewhere else. But Kevin, I'll be interested
to see if they go in a completely different.

Speaker 1 (02:23:51):
Direction with this. Yeah, so they had so his right
hand man the first couple of years he was here
heaping Mike Bone was someone named Brandon Sasna and he's
the one who was credited with really pushing hard and
locking in Lincoln Riley right now.

Speaker 2 (02:24:05):
He has since left and taken a job in the NFL.

Speaker 1 (02:24:08):
I think with the Detroit Lions, maybe that's something they
can circle back to if they like him enough, or look,
maybe he's linked to Mike Bone and some issues within
the program, and maybe that's part of the reason why
Sasna left. No one knows, uh, I know Carol fulton
Er statement says she was they were going to look
internally and externally. From what I know, there really isn't
anybody internally who's even close to qualified for that position.

(02:24:29):
So it's going to have to be somebody from the outside. Yeah,
who that is, What kind of experience they would have,
what background they'd come from. I really don't know.

Speaker 3 (02:24:39):
Life every time Sometimes for me, I just say every time.
Sometimes every time something is going good for me, I
keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. It's like
this is just there's this is too good. Too many
good things are going on. Something bad's got to happen, right,
and you know, inevitably for most of us it doesn't.
You just that's that's kind of our nature. For usc

(02:25:00):
Holy smokes man, the hell this is? This sucks. And
one I don't know we're behind guys. But one quick
thing I wanted to add before he put a rap
on this thought. It fascinating when Mike Bone left Cincinnati
and Luke Fickle was there. Now, I know Luke Fickle
left this offseason to go to Wisconsin. But when Luke Fickle,
or when Mike Bone left Cincinnati to go to USC

(02:25:23):
a lot of people thought, oh, well, that might be
it for Luke Fickle. Because Luke Fickle familiar, highly sought
after head coach, a lot of people were interested, and
eventually he took the Wisconsin job, but he stayed, you know,
two full seasons, three full seasons after Mike Bone left.
And I always kind of thought when Mike Bone left

(02:25:43):
that that meant that Luke Fickle was probably on his
way out. And it's always kind of resonated with me
whenever people that I knew that covered Cincinnati and knew
Luke Fickle said, Nah, don't really know if he's shedding
too many tears over that. Don't really know if that's
something that he's too upset about.

Speaker 2 (02:25:59):
So it's interesting. I had not heard that, So that's interesting.

Speaker 1 (02:26:02):
Yeah, this was a guy that would know.

Speaker 3 (02:26:05):
This was one of my buddies that that covers Ohio
state and is around that quite a bit. So we'll
see what's next for Mike Bone, but more importantly, what's
next for USC and how much damage has been done.

Speaker 2 (02:26:17):
They're on the look for a new athletic director.

Speaker 3 (02:26:19):
All right, when we come back, your tweets have been great,
we'll hit a few of them. But first, from the
tire rack dot Com studios, here's kfig with everything else
going on in the world of sports.

Speaker 1 (02:26:27):
All right, Well, Friday night, Jimmy Butler scored twenty seven points,
leading Miami toy one eleven to one oh five victory
over the Celtics, giving the Heat a two nothing series
lead in the Eastern Conference Finals. They pick up both
of those victories on the road in Boston. Caleb Martin
a big game off of the bench with twenty five points.
Bam Adebio just missed a triple double. Miami, coming in
as the eighth seed, they outscore Boston thirty six to

(02:26:50):
twenty two in the fourth quarter. Jason Tatum did score
thirty four points, but was zero for three shooting into
the fourth quarter. Game one of the Western Conference Finals
in the NHL, the Golden Knights picking up a four
to three overtime victory over the Stars, Brett how then
scoring the game winning goal in the extra period. Third
round of the PGA Championship set to get underway in
a matter of moments. Currently, Scotty Scheffler tied with Victor

(02:27:11):
Hovlin and Corey Connors for the top spot. Bryson Deshamba
was three over for Round two and his two strokes
off the lead. In baseball, Mookie Bets at three one
home run, leading the Dodgers over the Cardinals, Boston all
over the Padres six to one for their third straight victory. Yankees, Mets,
and Angels with the victories and Pro Football Hall of
Famer Actor and social activist Jim Brown passed away on

(02:27:32):
Friday afternoon at the age of eighty seven.

Speaker 2 (02:27:35):
Back to Chris Plank, Thanks k Fig.

Speaker 3 (02:27:37):
Also a big shouts out to the crew back in
our brand new LA Studios.

Speaker 2 (02:27:43):
Great job Mark, great job Ethan.

Speaker 1 (02:27:45):
Did you see there was actually an article written this
week about the studios?

Speaker 2 (02:27:48):
I did not was that. BSM then had that there.

Speaker 3 (02:27:50):
Sportsman a little my buddy Tyler McCombs y, I missed that.
I have to check that out, I said. As soon
as I came into the studios to do the Super
Bowl show back in February, they quickly realized they had
to just destroy that studio.

Speaker 1 (02:28:04):
I'd done too much damage. So oh, it wasn't just you.
Some would say that that studio had a lot of
wear and tear for a lot of years before you
said foot into it.

Speaker 2 (02:28:13):
I'll put it that way.

Speaker 3 (02:28:14):
Many many moons ago, many moons ago, in one of
the many kind of different layers of Fox Sports Radio,
I used to do the weekend overnight show, Bernie Fratto's
shift and Ben did it for a while no was on,
but I used to do overnights. And one holiday weekend
we were invited. My girlfriend at the time and I

(02:28:37):
were invited.

Speaker 2 (02:28:38):
She's my wife.

Speaker 3 (02:28:39):
Now this was actually it's our anniversary, so it was
sixteen years ago, KFEO. We were invited and we did
a show from that studio and my wife fell asleep
in the corner of the studio, like literally just laid
on the floor and fell asleep. And I don't know
if she's truly recovered from what could have possibly been
tracked on, you know, and the floor. So congratulations to

(02:29:00):
all the La based crew at Fox Sports Radio for
the new studio.

Speaker 2 (02:29:04):
Are you like the new digs? I'm loving it.

Speaker 1 (02:29:06):
Finally, finally some new equipment bringing us into the twenty
first century.

Speaker 2 (02:29:10):
I'll take it. I'm curious Ethan, how much chance Ethan
and studio?

Speaker 1 (02:29:14):
I haven't talked to Ethan al I'm right here, Okay,
how much does it change things for you?

Speaker 2 (02:29:19):
You know, it's it's a beautiful setting.

Speaker 8 (02:29:21):
I get to see Kfig get marked to my left,
no issue.

Speaker 1 (02:29:26):
Nice. Yeah, we have a we can actually all see
each other. So it's a it's a what a revelation.

Speaker 3 (02:29:31):
Maybe we should add that that's the weird thing about
our setup at the tirerack dot com studio previously, because
there was some sort of almost barrier where if say
Mark or Ethan would want to talk to you, they
would have to like stand up, got hey, you're good,
and then you couldn't see the person that was hosting.

Speaker 2 (02:29:52):
They would have to walk round the corner. It's like, hey,
are you good?

Speaker 1 (02:29:55):
Kfig?

Speaker 2 (02:29:55):
But now everyone can see everyone, so it's good.

Speaker 1 (02:29:57):
Yeah, hosts couldn't see the anchor. Now I can right
into the studio and look peer right into the eyes.

Speaker 2 (02:30:03):
Love love it. Let's say a couple of tweets here
real quick.

Speaker 3 (02:30:05):
My man Calbert at that damn bear on Twitter rights
talking about sports teams and relocation with Oakland we're about
to experience it in Phoenix with the Arizona Coyotes. Poor
management and bad teams made its turn away. Youth hockey
has grown over the years, but I just wish the
Yoats had a.

Speaker 2 (02:30:25):
Better run organization.

Speaker 4 (02:30:28):
Now.

Speaker 2 (02:30:28):
I can't attest to that.

Speaker 3 (02:30:29):
I can't attest to that on the ground level because
I'm not in Phoenix, but Calbert as a standings viewer,
and it's just feeling like Phoenix has always been in
flux ownership wise. You hate to see that for a
passionate fan like Calbert and those who follow it day
in and day out.

Speaker 1 (02:30:44):
Yeah, because you know, look, there's a sect of people
say like, oh, hockey never took in Arizona.

Speaker 2 (02:30:48):
We didn't want them here anyway, But look, it was.

Speaker 1 (02:30:50):
A very passionate fan base, especially sure if and when
they do well. But yeah, the ownership has been not
been great, not being able to make a rent in
their arena. It's just been a giant issue and it's
unfortunate for the people that are fans. And if youth
participation in hockey has been up over the last decade
or so, then that's just gonna be really disappointing for
a lot of kids who I'm sure their fervor for

(02:31:11):
the sport was spurned on by the fact that they
were able to see a professional franchise, and now that's
no longer going to be the case.

Speaker 2 (02:31:17):
So that is unfortunate.

Speaker 3 (02:31:19):
And the Digital Space Monkey has checked in. Oh right
here from the Digital Space Monkey, let's go.

Speaker 2 (02:31:24):
Let's go.

Speaker 3 (02:31:25):
Draymond does love him some, Draymond, but you're comparing that
to Lebron's insatiable love for himself. Are you listening to yourself?
The reason I'd criticize his flopping is that he said
going into Game three on the Lakers radio that.

Speaker 2 (02:31:40):
We don't flop. Shut your mic off.

Speaker 3 (02:31:43):
I mean, everybody loves them, some them, I think in
the world of the NBA. But hey, I think Draymond
Green is infinitely more irritating than Lebron James's. But then again,
there's some people that if Lebron James breathes wrong, it's like,
what are you doing, dude?

Speaker 1 (02:32:01):
Stop it? And and that's the case for everybody. I think.
I feel like if Draymond Green didn't like hearing himself talk,
he wouldn't have a podcast on Calhurt's podcast, right, So
that's right. Here it was my point.

Speaker 3 (02:32:12):
My point is I feel like we're more likely to
be forgiving of Draymond because he is out there, he
is in the open. He does do a podcast, he
opens himself up. Meanwhile, with Lebron James, every time he
appears to open himself up where he does talk more
like oh well that's fake. Yeah, it's just it's really

(02:32:33):
almost as if he cannot win with that people.

Speaker 1 (02:32:35):
That's a phenomenal point because with Draymond, I think people
would praise him for saying, oh, he keeps it real
and he says, well, he says you know what's ever
on his mind. He speaks from the heart, and the
thought is, no matter what Lebron says or does, it's
calculated and there's some hidden meaning behind whatever he says.
And he has his team of guys behind him just
so we can say something that's either you know, tweak

(02:32:56):
the referees or get some sort of message out in
the media. So I do think Ron James, rightly or wrongly,
that that's kind of a stigma that he's carried over
the last you know, ten twelve years or so.

Speaker 3 (02:33:06):
All right, when we come back, we'll give you some
final thoughts on whether or not the Celtics are done
and can the Lakers bounce back? As we put a
rap on this episode of the Anthony Gargano show The
Fellas on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (02:33:18):
All right, it's the Fellas. I haven't even called it
this show The Fellas.

Speaker 3 (02:33:23):
This morning, I feel I feel unworthy whenever Anthony Gargano
is out with Kevin Figures. I'm Chris Plank. It is
coming to you live from the tire rack dot Com studios,
and we always put a rap with some excitement because
it is time for the progressive play of the day.
Here it is from last night's Western Conference Finals Game one,

(02:33:44):
Back and again to.

Speaker 1 (02:33:45):
The Cornery centered stone.

Speaker 19 (02:33:47):
Shint to the lights side by Howden clebound side.

Speaker 17 (02:33:49):
Of the goal they have stored.

Speaker 1 (02:33:51):
How is it can get home?

Speaker 4 (02:33:53):
Vegas?

Speaker 19 (02:33:54):
Win's it over time, Bret Howden Clivers, Vegas. I'm four
free over victory his first overtime goal. Good Night's victorious
in game one?

Speaker 2 (02:34:07):
How about that?

Speaker 3 (02:34:08):
I got some numbers on that, But first I want
to remind you progressive is making things even easier. It
will help you bundle your home and car insurance together
so you can save on both. Learn Moore at Progressive
dot com r com our call one eight hundred Progressive.
How about this from that game winning goal from Brett

(02:34:29):
Howden last night. It's the first overtime goal of his career,
regular season or playoffs.

Speaker 2 (02:34:35):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (02:34:36):
He hasn't had Kevin a game winning goal in sixty
five games played this season, including the playoffs, and he
had not scored in the first two minutes of any
period since December of twenty nineteen. Thanks to ESPN Stats
and Info for that. That's gonna be a fun series.
I think, what great energy for all four of these
fan bases. I know that you know, we're not going

(02:34:58):
to probably have an in depth hockey break down whenever
I'm on the air unless it involves the Blues or
the Kings.

Speaker 2 (02:35:04):
But at least from this perspective, they got me hooked. Kevin.
I'm in I'm watching some exciting teams.

Speaker 1 (02:35:09):
Like I said, they're not necessarily hockey blue bloods, but
we certainly have had some exciting game one so far
in this series. So I'm looking forward to tonight. As
a matter of fact, going back, going back East, so
it should be fun.

Speaker 3 (02:35:20):
Speaking of looking forward to tonight, seven thirty Central, eight
thirty Eastern in I'm not good at math, but I
believe that's five thirty Pacific time.

Speaker 2 (02:35:29):
You're on the nose.

Speaker 3 (02:35:30):
Lakers Game three against the Nuggets. Now, one other ESPN
stats and Info note, it's a twenty seven time the
Celtics and Lakers have each made the conference or division
finals in the same season. It's just the second time
that both teams have trailed two to oh in a series.
The first time was nineteen fifty four fifty five, when

(02:35:55):
the Celtics ended up losing to the Syracuse Nationals and
the Minneapolis Lakers at the time lost to the Fort
Wayne Pistons. K fig What needs to happen tonight to
ensure that the Lakers don't fall down three zip and
in this series.

Speaker 1 (02:36:11):
Well, I think George Miken needs to really dominate inside
the post and Vern Micholson needs to get his mirror.
I think Anthony Davis and Lebron James, those are the
two heads of the Snakes. Obviously, they played poorly, to
say the least offensively in Game two, and still dominated
the majority of that game. The first three quarters. The
Lakers pretty much maintained a double digit lead until Jamal

(02:36:32):
Murray went off in the fourth quarter. So I think
coming back home, you'll get a better effort from your
role players, guys like D'Angelo Ross, so Ruya Chimurro has
already been playing well, and so as Austin Reeves. You
just need Lebron James and or Anthony Davis. You don't
even need both of them, You just need one to
play at an extremely high level. And I think they
get a win. I think they get a win tonight.
Either way, coming back home. They haven't lost at home

(02:36:54):
in the postseason. They know it's essentially a must win game.
So if they're gonna win one, it's gonna be this
one tonight.

Speaker 2 (02:37:00):
Do you know what we haven't had yet in this series?

Speaker 3 (02:37:03):
That kind of feels like it's almost a necessity in
any Lakers series that takes place anymore. We haven't had
too much outward complaining about the foul discrepancy. Remember whenever
people forgot that the Golden State Warriors were a team
that didn't really attack like the Lakers did, and the
Lakers were one of the teams that shot the most

(02:37:25):
free throws in all the NBA, and everyone was trying
to complain about a free throw discrepancy. Well, it's been
pretty tight. Twenty one fouls called a piece on each
game in Game one. In Game two, the Lakers had
what nineteen fouls called on them, and there were eighteen
called on the Denver Nuggets. The free throws in Game two,

(02:37:47):
eighteen for the Nuggets, twenty six for the Lakers. The
free throws in Game one for the Lakers, twenty two
for the Nuggets, twenty six. So it's really been even,
really been but kfig, aren't we you for people to
have a lose their mind? Lebron and the Lakers get
a bunch of calls kind of a game here tonight.

Speaker 1 (02:38:05):
It'll happen. The Lakers are gonna shoot like thirty three
free throws and uh, you know, Differ is gonna shoot,
you know, sixteen, and there's gonna be some conspiracy theory
about the NBA the Lakers to advance to the next round,
or at the very least them not wanted there to
be a sweep in the conference finals.

Speaker 2 (02:38:20):
That's what it'll be. I want to leave you with this.
This was my highlight of the night.

Speaker 3 (02:38:26):
After Grant Williams got basically destroyed by Jimmy Butler. Here's
what he said about Jimmy Butler and talking trash to him.

Speaker 14 (02:38:35):
Pardud, none of that. You expect to beat the best,
no matter if I let him over or now. He's
gonna do that. And for me, it's a matter of
understanding that, yeah, sure you did poke a bear quote unquote,
and how are you gonna respond? Because for me, he
makes some tough shots in the battle. I'm gonna keep battle.

Speaker 6 (02:38:49):
You know.

Speaker 14 (02:38:50):
He's gonna have to make every single tough shot the
rest of the series. And I'm not gonna turn and
look otherwise because I respect him as a mother player.
He's a great man, great great person, great human being
known for a while. But at the end of the day,
this team, we have a real, real decision to make,
and that decision is gonna be are we gonna come
back and really set the tone on the rest of
this year. I'm going to make a statement, or are
we gonna come out and lay down? And I don't

(02:39:10):
think this stands built for laying down.

Speaker 2 (02:39:12):
I gotta be honest with you.

Speaker 3 (02:39:14):
I know that we've played that a couple of times
this morning and it's bleeped, But man, I still go
in to fight or flight every time that Beap's coming
Up're gonna lie, not gonna lie?

Speaker 1 (02:39:22):
I understand. Uh worked in radio for too long. I
get it how to right there, to handle getting housed.
Good job, well done. I know that Celtic fans are
up in arms, but hey, I'd much rather hear a
player say we got to bounce.

Speaker 2 (02:39:37):
Back than all respect nobody.

Speaker 3 (02:39:39):
So kudos to Grant Williams Kate fig I always love
hanging out with you, man, Have a great rest of
your day. Enjoy the game tonight. Likewise, brother, much appreciate it. Oh,
always a blast. Anthony will be back next week from
Mark for Ethan. I'm Chris Plank. Stick around. We got
coverage of the heat rally all day long on the
Lakers game coming up on Fox Sports Radio.