June 12, 2022 • 40 mins
Bernie Fratto talks about the NBA Finals, as the Warriors and Celtics are knotted at two-a-piece! NBA writer Mark Medina joins the show to talk about the Finals, and a preview of the hottest games of the college football season!
#fsrweekends
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is straight out of Vegas with the voice of
Biggest your host r J Bob play that money. You
are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge
live from the Veggat Strip, the pregame show America has
always wanted. Here's Bernie Fretto. You know, Nietzsche says, out
(00:26):
of chaos comes order, okay, And as I said many
times before, sports are the greatest reality show invented. And
you can script everything but the outcome, and seemingly that
is more prevalent now than ever. And on that note,
I'm Bernie Fretto. Will come to you alive from the
Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio Studios tonight. We'll focus on
(00:50):
the NBA Finals. It's it's it's getting down with the
short strokes. So we've got some in depth analysis and
reviews and what you need to know from here on out.
Heading into Game five and about fifteen minutes, we'll be
joined by NBA guru Mark Medina. He's joining us from
the side of the NBA Finals, right in the belly
of the beast. He'll take us behind the curtain and
we'll chop up some other pertinent issues as well. I've
(01:13):
got some thoughts on Darwin Hamm's press conference and among
other NBA issues along the way. We'll have some Vegas
stuff as uh as it's interesting how the Browns betting
market has reacted to the Deshaun Watson hijinks and other
stuff like that that you will you will enjoy, you know,
the Vegas stuff we do giving you some numbers and
(01:35):
the significant live movement, and we'll give you the four
win one so you can see what the pros thing too,
by the way, and some key college football games. It's
not too early to start thinking about that. We're just
a few weeks away from ground zero sports and entertainment.
They're more than that. There are shared experience as such,
people want to talk about them. So you know, you've
come to the right place. We've got a lot to
talk about tonight. This is straight out of Vegas. The
(01:57):
pregame show you always wanted. And as they say in
George roy Hill Minnesota, google it. He's a pretty famous guy.
If you like movies. It's gonna be lit. By the way,
in about an hour, I'm gonna have some significant commentary
on the l I V. Golf Tour. You know, here's
what's interesting. Here's the hook and the p G A.
(02:19):
You gotta sing for your supper, not so much. In
the l I V will break it down, tell you
everything you wanted to know, and maybe a few things
you didn't care about. So week ago, there had only
been one game played so far in the NBA Finals.
Boston won convincingly, and of course everybody overreacts. It's what
they always do. They over reacted after game two, three,
and four. I'm gonna give kind of a chronological look.
(02:40):
But as I told Arnie and Jason Martin last Sunday
Saturday Night, that the only bet I placed at that
time was that this series would go seven, and I
got it at plus one seventy five. You tell me
now if you think that's a good bet, because I
don't think either one of these teams that win the
next two in a row. Well, there you have it.
(03:01):
But let's talk about what I think has been the
recurring theme here. You know, there's an old story back
in the late eighties early nineties, when Magic Johnson he
had already been to nine out of twelve NBA Finals,
and Michael Jordan's was establishing himself as the next guy
to hand the torch. There was an argument as to
whether or not if Jordan were to play Magic one
(03:22):
on one, who would win that contest? And it got
around the chicker and legendary long time played by a
play announcer of the l A Lakers and Chickerrento response
was simple, he says, don't bother me with dumb questions.
Basketball is a team sport and see to me, that's
the recurring theme of these playoffs with each of these teams,
(03:42):
either the Celtics or the Warriors, have functioned as a
whole greater than some of their parts. They win that night.
So the beauty of though we can show like this,
even though it's one day a week, I get to,
you know, review what took place heading up to tonight
in preview, what's the head? So I want to give
you a quick chronology as to what got us to
(04:03):
this point. So let's go back to the blow by
a blow following Game two. Right, Game two of the
Warriors are coming off a loss, but there were no
fourth quarter shenanigans for the Warriors to worry about on
Sunday night. Remember Game one Boston had there was reigning
threes and Draymond dismissed it. The Warriors performed their third
quarter routine on during Game two last week, and they
(04:24):
beat Boston by nineteen on the Celtics this time, they
did not squander a big league neither did Golden State.
I guess you should expect this kind of response from
the three time champs getting up off the mat. So
there you have it. The series was tied one one
after a great game Sunday, and at that point even
the punisher starting to say, this looks like this might
(04:44):
be destined for a Launder series. By the way, a
couple of pivot points game to Jordan Poole did what
he was supposed to do. Not so much since, but
that night he did. Okay, he's a young dude, he's
a key backcoord player, but he struggles on defense and
he didn't have the off sens to balance on every night.
But last Sunday, seventeen points five or nine from behind
the ark and he balanced out of four or nineteen
(05:06):
night from Clay Thompson, there's your team effort picking each
other up. By the way, Boston's role players this happened
sometimes on the road. They crashed back down to earth. Horford,
Marcus Smart, Grant Williams, they combined for just ten points.
Derek White had twelve, but he was minus twelve plus
minus on the night. The Celtics. Okay, this was the
narrative heading into Game three. They cannot win this series
(05:28):
relying on Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown alone. That was
the narrative heading into Game three. And the other narrative
was the Celtics must have been happy with the split
in San Francisco because they literally gave Game two to
the Warriors by allowing thirty three points on nineteen turnovers.
Hold that thought. That's gonna be a theme something to
monitor heading into Game three. The rest of the way,
(05:49):
Boston was the best team in the NBA over the
last six months. Every time they lost in the postseason,
it was their own fault, turnovers galore, and Friday's win.
Uh Game one win they absorbed the Warrior's best haymaker.
Still one Sunday they look lost okay, disastrous third quarters.
So the question heading in the Game three which Boston
(06:10):
team would show up already been established. The NBA finalance
had become a bizarre watch because for long stretches, the
Celtics look like the Jordinara Bulls. They bull those teams.
They hammered an excellent Warriors team, shot by ship, shot
by shot, rebound by rebound. Then in a flash, they're
going to walk about. It looks like they forget how
(06:31):
to play basketball. However, in Game three, the Celtics win
by sixteen, and it featured all the above. Boston not
paced Schoolden State through the first half, predictably, predictably lost
their grip on the third that's Golden State best third
quarter team in basketball, but then reclaimed the win in
the fourth. Again, the threesome, Jayson Tatum, Jalen Brown, Marcus Smart.
(06:55):
They they all had at least twenty four points. Golden
State had almost no help for Steph Curry in Game
three at thirty one Clay, but the rest not so much.
Celtics went by sixteen. They go up two games to one,
and then all of a sudden, now people said, wait
a minute, the rest of this series could hinge John
Curry's ankle, which he tweaked Wednesday night in the collision
(07:16):
with Al Horford, and the Warriors, well, silently, they admitted
they could use a little boost from Draymond Green after
what he said, he played like, you know, what. It's
a four letter word, but that's Stramon, you know, if
we can just get him to come out of the
shyness to be just fine. So if you just put
these two in a vacuum after Game three, I don't
(07:38):
think anybody would disagree that on paper it looks like
the Celtics are the better team. They're deeper and better defensively,
who can who can deny that the Warriors frankly are
a week in the low post their week inside. However,
the games aren't played on paper, they're played in the hardwood.
So then the question became Boston's up to one. I've
been saying it for some reason, they don't. They don't
(08:01):
handle prosperity. Well, there were seven oh on now they're
seven oh coming off a loss, and they took care
of business a game three. The question would be which
Boston team shows up for Game four? And this is
the most recent game. Meanwhile, by the way, not for
nothing at Game four meant that if the Warriors didn't
answer in kind in Boston Garden, they would be heading
(08:23):
home Monday night down three games to one. For what
it's worth, however, Warriors had this going for them heading
into the game Friday night. The Golden State Warriors had
won at least one road playoff game in their last
twenty six series. And another fact toy Golden State not
for nothing. They were also in these playoffs in five
(08:47):
and oh coming off a loss. And for those who
thought Boston's athleticism was simply too much, here's my response.
I know it's against a lot of practice pechology without
a license, but here's what I think. I know alpha
dogs always react the same after failure, but after success. See,
there's no rhyme or reason. Everybody handles that differently. I
(09:07):
told Arnie and Jason two weeks ago, this series is
going seven for all the Celtics greatness. For some reason,
they can't stand prosperity. So Friday night, given Stephen Curries
forty I think it was forty three points. By the way,
that by the way, I said that, I said that
too many times. By the way, By the way, that's
Curry's ten thirty plus point performance in the NBA Finals.
(09:30):
For perspective, no other player in NBA history has more
than two thirty plus point performances in the NBA Finals.
Curry had now ten, and after being outscored cumulatively by
forty points to the fourth quarter in the first three
games the Warriors won the fourth quarter nineteen closed the
deal Friday night, one oh seven seven. By the way,
(09:52):
Stephen Curry give may have read about it in all
the papers. Some sports shows argue about it. This He's
never been a finals m v P in his career.
He starts three games with at least thirty points in
this series, and it is by far the leading score
on either side. When the hundred and thirty seven points.
You hear Jason Smith talking about this. Even if the
Golden State Warriors lose, Curry should probably be the m
(10:13):
v P. I think there's some merit to that. Okay, Now,
this Friday Night was the second most point he's ever
scored in the finals game, and the most points he
scored in the entire postseason. By the way, it was
also the eleventh finals game and when Steph Curry had
at least six threes. Other than that, I think he
delivered popcorn, delivered a baby, and did the halftime show.
(10:33):
Here's the key stat, and that's the stat that continues
to be the telltale all be all end all telltale
for the Celtics and this entire post season the Celtics
finished was sixteen turnovers. Easy for me to say, try
that again. The Celtics finished with sixteen turnovers Friday night,
gave up nineteen points off of those turnovers. So not
(10:53):
who was their playoff record this year to one and
six when they turned the ball over at least fifteen times.
When it's fifth, the interviewer the Celtics, you're thirteen and two.
More goes into this. Obviously it's not the only thing,
but the Celtics were sloppy with the ball early in
the game and often, and it allowed Golden State to
avoid getting down big and keep up with Boston. You know,
(11:18):
the Warriors kept up with Boston blow for blow. Now,
the Celtics quite possibly handed the ball to the Warriors
with ten of those coming off live ball turnovers. They've
got to clean that up. But you knew this game
was over the minute the Warriors went on that seventeen
to three run after Marcus Smart put them down four
points on the three pointer after an offensive rebound. This
(11:39):
is a fun series to watch. I don't care what
anybody says. The Celtics only three points during this run
by Golden State happened on an alpha at Horford corner
three pointer to cut a six point deficit down to three.
But then the Warriors came back like heavyweight champs. Give
him credit, love more hat um. They responded with a
Looney bucket on a on a nicestis from Draymond Green
(12:01):
and then forth Jalen Brown into another turnover with a
five point game. This was the spread at the time.
Curry drove the whole drew a file on Horford. The
Celtics challenged it and lost. Curry hits two free throws
to push the lead to seven with forty seven point
(12:21):
seven seconds left, Game set match. Now he had to
game five. There will be some questions head again into
Game five. What kind of game are you going to
get out of Clay Thompson? What kind of game are
you going to get out of Draymond Green? Why do
I ask? Because you've got a figure that Boston is
(12:42):
gonna be lying and wait for Steph Curry. No free
catches in space. They're gonna ride him like a stick horse.
Clay Thompson, he hasn't been his usual self during the
NBA Finals, but he's still a guy who I think
can rise up at any given moment. How will he do?
Draymond Green? I tip my cap to him. He handed
(13:04):
himself very professionally after being taken out, came back and uh,
we'll see what he does. I think he's a hothead.
I think there's a fifty shot he gets ejected game five,
He's gonna play crazy and from the home crowd, you'll
get at least one technical. And the truth of the
matter is I kind of sort of expect I'm not
predicting it, but it feels like although these two teams
(13:25):
have been trading wins all series long. You know, Boston
comes into Chase Center and beats Golden State game one,
the Dubs come back and win game to Boston wins
Game three, and then Golden State wins one on their floor.
You get the picture. You wonder if the Warriors can
break this pattern Monday night, it's gonna be fun to watch.
Coming up, Coming up, we got to our fan favorite
(13:45):
here on Straight out of Vegas. He's our NBA groo
Fox Sports Radio. He's at the belly of the Beast
up during up there in San Francisco for the NBA Finals.
Of course, I'm talking about Mark Mdinas, So keep it
locked right here. I'm Bernie Frata. Where coming do you?
From the Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio Studios. This is
the pregame show you always want it. If you don't
go away, you're listening to Straight out of Vegas, the
(14:10):
great Vernie Frado. Folks. Fox Sports Radio has the best
sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our
shows at Fox Sports Radio dot com and within the
I Heart Radio app. Search f s R to listen live.
Hey it's me Rob Parker. Check out my weekly MLB podcast,
Inside the Parker for twenty two minutes of piping hot
(14:33):
baseball talk featuring the biggest name to newsmakers in the sport.
Whether you believe in analytics or the I tast We've
got all the bases covered. New episodes drop every Thursday,
So do yourself of favor and listen to Inside the
Parker with Rob Parker on the I Heart Radio app
or wherever you get your podcast. We're back on Straight
(14:54):
out of Vegas, the pregame show you always wanted on.
Bernie Frodill come in your life from Las Vegas Fox
Sports Radio Studios at this time is welcome and a
gentleman become a fan favorite on this show. He's at
the Belly of the Beast up in San Francisco for
the NBA Finals, ready to go for Game five. Say
hello to our NBA guru, Mark Medina, Marko, Areybuddy Berne,
You know the answer. I'm always good when I'm chatting
(15:16):
with you, my van appreciate you right back at you, hey,
Right before I dive into the finals, I want a
little house cleaning. I covered the two thousand four pistons
Darvin him. I like Darvin Ham, but uh, you know,
if if I was a cynical person, I would have
listened to his press commence the other day and felt
like a lot of his narratives pre programmed, in formulaic formally. Fortunately,
(15:39):
I'm not a cynical person. But are we to believe
that Russell Westbrook is really going to have a major
rule next year? Wait and see. I don't fault darvn
Ham for his rhetoric. I think that you know he's
doing what a head coach, especially a new one, is
supposed to do of you to make the best of
your circumstances. Um So I think all this to this
(16:00):
system should be directed toward the front office, and they
should not be declaring definitively that Russell Westbrook would be
on the team because they got to shop him hard.
They got to move the goalposts, get role players. The
willing to part ways with that draft pick in because
the reality is this, Russell Westbrook isn't going to change
(16:22):
his stripes this late in his career, even if there's
a new head coach. And the second part is this
is the only way that the Lakers can really upgrade
the roster. They only have a six million dollar trade exception.
The rest is on veteran minimum deals. They have some
other young players like Kalen Horton Tucker, but I don't
think that he'll get much value. So dealing Russell Westbrook
(16:44):
is really the only avenue they can do to improve
the team. But as far as Darvin Ham, I think
he's a great higher um. You know, I think he'll
check all the boxes. But the reality is, no matter
if you're a good or a bad coach, um, you're
mostly only as good as of the players you have,
And in that case, the Lakers need to trade Russ
as soon as I can. You covered a lot of
(17:06):
great ground there, and I'm glad you made the distinction.
It's just that I got this impression Mark that as
Darvin Ham was watching Philosophical about Russell Westbrook in the
way that you expect, he would precisely that moment, the
front office is working the phones, figuring we got to
move this guy. So I'm glad you made that distinction.
Thank you. Um Quinn Snyder, what really happened there in Utah? Yeah,
(17:32):
it's interesting. Um. I believe part of the statement. I
also don't believe part of the statements. I'll break it down. Um.
I believe that the Utah Jazz version that this was
Quinn Snyder's decision. It wasn't like he was being pushed out.
I believe that that is to be accurate. Now, I
don't quite buy Quinn's explanation that there weren't philosophical differences. Um.
(17:57):
You know, clearly, if false things were good, he would
can the need to be coaching, right. Um, But I
think that Quinn Snyder concluded that this is the best
that the Jazz can do as far as their playoff potential,
So why continue to go down this road of just
running into a brick wall? And so I think Quinn decided,
you know, what I'll get out ahead early, I'll reach charge.
(18:20):
I'll you know, maybe do some consulting and and see
the landscape the next year and then wait for better
opportunities to open up. Um. So, while I do think
that there is credence to it, you know, I don't
think that there any like philosophical key differences or clashes
with the front office. You know. I also don't buy
the idea that there weren't any issues at all, or
(18:42):
else he would still be there. Yeah, we think. I
like talking with Mark Medina, are NBA guru here on
Fox Sports Radio. Okay, let's look ahead to Game five
of the NBA Finals. A couple of thoughts on my mind.
I'm looking squarely at Clay Thompson. I've got to believe
Boston makes an extra f to contain Stephen Curry, which
should mean Thompson will have plenty of shooting opportunities. What
(19:05):
are you seeing heading into the game. Yeah, I think
that there's gonna be plenty of shooting opportunities for him,
for Jordan Pool, for Angel Higgins, because man, that's Steph
Curry player. He is unbelievable, and I think that he
posted the best performance ever in his NBA career, regular
season or playoffs with his forty three point effort in
(19:25):
Game four, So obviously the sellers are going to just
continue to the further kitchen sink at him, and that
requires his supporting cast to be dependable in elevating him
and complimenting him. And the reality is, whether it's a
familiar guy like Klay Thompson or a young up and
comer like Jordan Poole, the Warriors just haven't quite known
what they're going to get. And in Clay's case, I think,
(19:48):
unlike prior to his injuries, um you could always count
on him for being that ultimate sidekick as another splash brother.
But um, with Way this season, he's had moments of
you know, the old Kay Thompson, but it's been very
hard for him to then carry that over into the
next game. So even though he's shown some flash in
(20:11):
the last two games he's been able to make some
key shots, that doesn't mean that that momentum is going
to carry forward. Same thing with Jordan Pole for different reasons,
just he's a young guy figuring out the roller coaster
the NBA Finals. So while the Warriors should feel good
about themselves with tie in the series getting them home quarterback. Uh,
(20:33):
nothing was guaranteed, particularly against this really resilient Celtics team
that become used to having to bounce back from tough losses. Good,
good stuff, Mark, I agree with all. I were talking
to Mark Medina, r NBA guru here Fox Sports Radio.
He's up San Francisco and the ability of the Beast
the NBA Finals. Let's talk about Draymond Green. I believe
Draymond Green is going to leave it all on the
(20:55):
floor in Game five. Why I don't think you'd like
being benched? He hand, Well, he knows the Warrior's feet
off his energy and tenacity. Here's the thing, Mark, that
could be a good thing or it could be a
bad thing. I believe it at least one technical. I
believe you might do something stupid and get booted and
that might fire up the Warriors. What do you expect
how to Draymond Green Monday night? Yeah, I think it's
(21:15):
a good point. Um, Well what you said that this could,
you know, work both ways? I think that if nothing else,
Draymond is gonna bring the kind of energy and effort
that he tried to show in Game two. Because let's
just face it. I don't think his podcast exercises after
each game have been the issue. But the reality is
Draymond has not played well for most of the series.
(21:38):
I think you do make a great point that I
think that he's going to use that benching as you know,
a source for motivation. But I think in this finals
it's been very unpredictable how uh much the officials give
him rope um and leeway, and so you know, I
think that while I while I do think that Draymond
(21:59):
usually knows how to draw the line um, sometimes he
he also crosses it and he can't handle himself. And
because he's such a fiery competitor, and so there could
be a scenario that he gets ejected, and there could
be a scenario that two things happened. The Warriors suddenly
miss him because of all the fiery intensity that he has,
(22:21):
or they feed off of it. Keep in mind, burning
he got ejected in the Grizzlies series in the second round,
and you thought, Okay, the Warriors are really in trouble.
But the Warriors felt like he got screwed over and
then just really decided to buckle down and almost became
a rallying cry. So it's very unpredictable with Draymond green
(22:41):
booth for veteran for worse. But I think, if nothing else,
he's not going to be a no show like he
was for most of Games three and four. Wrapping it
up in Mark Medina, Mark's final question, these two teams
have been trading blows there too too. It seems like
the Warriors, it feels like, given their town and their experience,
(23:02):
they shouldn't falter at home Monday night at Boston's pesky
gun to your head, who do you like? Yeah, it's
tough A gun in my head, I'll take the Warriors,
But look, I don't feel comfortable enough that I would
go to Vegas and put some money down because this
has been a competitive series. The Celtics overall have actually
been a better road team in the playoffs than at home.
So I think all things can happen, but again have
(23:22):
to make a prediction with the gun in my head.
I think that the Warriors can continue to obviously rely
on Steph Currier's brilliance, but I think they're they're really
going to tap into their defensive intensity, the home crowd
and know that, hey, they already blew home court advantage
in game one, so they're not going to do that
again in game five. Those are those are kind of
my sentiments as well. But to your point, I'm not
laying the four points. Mark great stuff is always enjoy
(23:44):
your time in San Francisco. I appreciate you, sir, thanks
so much. It's Mark Medina. He's written for multiple modalities
in the NBA. He's our NBA guru here at Fox
Sports Radio. You hearing him all around the network coming up,
got macking on sports from the KNTY Rivers. But first
let's go to the man. Well, he actually turned down
(24:05):
a chance to play in the Live Tour because he's
dating Live Tyler. It's Brian filling with the latest. Let's
jump right into it, and let's start with the NHL,
where the Lightning our winners against the Rangers to one,
and that isn't a Game six Eastern Conference Final, meaning
for the third straight season, Tampa is on to the
Stanley Cup Final and they flick away the Rangers and
(24:28):
send them home. Steven Stankost, by the way, had two
goals in the Game six on Saturday, and the Stanley
Cup Final will get going on Wednesday in Denver, where
the Lightning will take on the Avalanche as far as
Major League Baseball is concerned. The Mariners fight back in
the end and when thanks to a Dylan Moore walk
off base knock in the bottom of the ninth, so
(24:50):
they take down the Red Sox seven to six. The
Angels crossed off the Mets eleven to six to home
runs from Mike Trout one from Shohi Otani. The Rocky
and Padres they split a double header. Colorado won the
second part. The Giants of Earth the Dodgers three to to.
Clayton Kershaw on the bump for the first time in
about a month, and he struggles in that he has
(25:13):
served up the y l The Yankees blank the Cubs
eight to nothing to home runs for Air and Judge,
both for solo home runs, but twenty four jacks on
the year for him and that leads the majors. The
Tigers staying out against the Lui Jay's three till one
as Toronto left ten men on base. The Braves are
winners of ten straight. They got a Grand Slam and
(25:35):
they win against the Pirates tend to four. The Marlins
are victorious against the Astros five to one. Braxton Garrett
on the bump for Miami five and two thirds, inning
six hits nowhere and runs. The Nationals beat the Brewers
eight to six. Milwaukee has lost eight in a row.
The Phillies of one nine in a row after taking
down the Diamondbacks forts nothing and the Cardinals gotta walk
(25:56):
off home run from Tommy Edmund as they did grace
the Reds five to four. Speaking of golf, Rory McElroy
and Tony Final share the lead at the PGA Tours
Canadian Open through three rounds. Both are at minus eleven,
a two shot advantage. Lived Tour Charles Schwartzel earns just
south of five million dollars after he wins the three
(26:19):
day event, the inaugural Lived to Our event, which took
place in England and a forty eight man field. Phil
Nicholson finished thirty third and Schwartzel, as we mentioned, four
point seven five million dollars, four weeks worth of work
with that, Let's get it back to our man in
Las Vegas. Bernie Fratto, all right, thanks so much, Brian,
and we bring you back on to Las Vegas. Let's
(26:41):
go to macin on sports. McKenzie rivers McKenzie Steph Curry
is the name front and center in this playoff series
so far, and you found an angle that can enable
the betting market to profit. Yes, this series is unlike
any step series, Steph Curry series, we have ever seen
in multi bowl ways. And there's some conflicting trends because
(27:03):
never before has Steph Curry's teammates played this poorly. Yet
you could argue this is Steph Curry's best series of
his career. Never has he played this well, and never
have the Warriors lost when he's played anywhere close to
this level. But let me go back to something I
heard just a minute ago. Uh, Steph Curry's best game
of his career. Okay, forty three points in a win
(27:25):
on the road, one of the loudest atmospheres that you know,
we've heard at Boston. One of the best statistical teams
we've seen the last six months, beaten teams about about
fifteen points per game. I'm gonna take it a step further. Yes,
that was Steph Curry's best game. I'm gonna say it
might be up there with the game of the century.
I mean, I got a list here players in the finals,
(27:45):
because that's obviously if you're gonna be anything of the century,
you have to be in the finals when it matters
at least twice as much as any other point of
the season. In the finals most points in a win
wasn't that long ago. Janice set this record this century,
fifty points to clinch it. Sixty wins. Alan Ivers, who
one of my favorite games every year, had ever had
scored forty eight points to beat the Lakers the one
(28:06):
time they lost in two thousand one, and then Steph Curry,
Steph Curry forty three points in the finals win. It
does not happen that often. But what's really interesting is
the way that he's doing it. So I want to
get into Daming Damning with faint praise, which is what
I've heard all across the the media airwaves, Kendrick Perkins saying, yeah,
(28:27):
this is the game that he needed on his resume,
as if he hadn't scored forty in the finals before,
as if he hadn't scored thirty three, and then said, hey,
Kendrick Perkins, why are you on the bench talking You're
not playing. I'm setting a record for most threes in
the game. I want to go back to something that
A J Hoffman said earlier this week when he said, Hey,
Jayson Tatum isn't hurting the Boston Celtics with his play.
(28:49):
Obviously he's only shooting thirty five percent of the game.
So before I go back to praising Steph Curry, let
me ask you do you think Jayson Tatum is or
not hurting the Boston Celtics with his play so far?
You know, only scoring about twenty three game eight assists,
but not shooting well. Well, I think we're off track, McKenzie.
I'm looking for the betting angle that you have on
Steph Curry, and I think part of the reason is
(29:11):
performance is so superb. He's not faced the defense like
that they place Cleveland twice. So let's kind of move forward.
What do you what is your betting angle on Steph
Curry based on his performance? The Warriors that can't keep
this up? I'm sorry Steph Curry fans like myself. The
fact that he's shooting sixty seven percent true, shooting thirty
four a game. We have to ask ourselves what's more reliable?
(29:33):
Is it the fourteen data points we have with Steph
Curry's teammates or with one shooter and if one shooter
regresses even a little bit to the mean is already
elite Hall of Fame level. Mean, then we have to
look at these numbers at Steph Curry's teammates that we've
never seen before. He scoring step Cursey teammates are going
seventy one points of the game. That's four points lower
than they've ever scored before. You look at their field
(29:56):
goal shooting for worse than any Steph Curry's team team,
he has the least support that he's ever had. It's
kind of miraculous that it's too too in this finals.
And if you look at their team total, they've gone
under one oh five and a half is their average.
They've gone under their team total each in every game,
and yet there's been no adjustments. It's one oh eight
(30:16):
and a half tomorrow or on Monday. So it's been
literally historically excellent performance by one player and then fourteen players, Yeah,
and then four team players are falling short. What's going
to be more reliable? It's it's it's only logical to
think that even as we get later into series and
(30:37):
we've seen historically totals drop, combined scoring drop, Steph Curry
has excellent as he's been how can he maintain it?
And even if he does maintain it, we've seen three
in a row, three times they've suited up three times.
Vegas said, this is how much they're supposed to score
their team total, and they've gone under actually four times.
I'm sorry, it's been four games in this series. Steph
(30:57):
Curry has been excellent all of them, and their offense
is under a formed in all of them. Their offensive
rating nine three in the half court would be bottom
ten percentile in the in this NBA season. That's like
Detroit Pistons territories. So yeah, Boston Celtics setting records defensively.
And here's another thing. Boston Celtics since January fourteen and
(31:18):
one straight up, thirteen and two against the spread. Awful loss.
And why is that? We talked about it on this
show before. Mental sharpness, mental acuity, staying focus to the
game plan, which you know there are some Celtics and
some Celtics teammates and coaches up right now, almost midnight
in San Francisco thinking about this. And there's one number
that really shows it. Turnovers per game. That's been their bugaboo.
(31:41):
If you look at off wins in the playoffs. How
do they do with turnovers per game? Sixteen turnovers per
game would lead the league terrible numbers off losses that
goes to eleven per game would be one of the
best numbers in the league. Less turnovers, the Warriors have
had a great, great, great transition an offense. That's what
Steph Curry does. He's an instant three point transition Number
(32:04):
one in the NBA would be a D twenty three
offensive rating when they're in transition. They're not gonna be
in transition as much of the Celtics. Celtics will do
what they do off a loss, which is not turned
the ball over and again in the half court. They
have a bottom ten ten percentile offense this Warrior's team,
even with Steff shooting as well as he is. So
that's why I think there's a lot of reasons. It
makes a lot of sense. My team total best bet
(32:26):
is under the Warriors want to wait and a half.
What do you think about that burning I'd have to
analyze it more. It's gonna be dependent on um on
how effective Boston swarms and blitches Steph Curry and if
in fact the other thing too, of course, is if
in fact that Clay Thompson and Jordan Pool and Andrew
(32:46):
Wiggins can make up the slack, so we'll see it happens. Okay, mackenzie,
very good, Thank you. Sorry. One more thing is that
Steph Curry is taking a second longer per touch whyted
to get that stat in there in this final than
he ever has before. I think the way he's playing,
it's one on one and it's amazing to watch. Very good,
all right, thanks so much, mackenzie. Coming up, we're gonna
(33:08):
talk about the week the Shawn Watson had. What did
that do to affect the Browns and their futures numbers
heading forward? Which famous athlete placed a hundred thousand dollar
bet lost and the book refunded his money. Anyway, that
plus a few things more, we're bringing back on to Vegas.
I'm Bernie Fradder come to you live from Las Vegas,
Fox Sports Radio Studios. This is the pregame show you
(33:30):
always wanted to. Don't go away. You're listening to Straight
out of Vegas, one of the best in the business.
Bernie Frattle. We're back on Straight out of Vegas, the
pregame show you always wanted. I Bernie Fradder come to
be Alive from the Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio Studios.
Before I go any further, I want to thank my
broadcast team back in Los Angeles, Chris Perfette, Brian Finley
on the updates, and the new Father Bo Benson. Great
(33:53):
job tonight, guys, could not do this show without your teamwork. Alright,
busy week in the world of Vegas stuff. You might
be interested in this story that happened that actually happened
last year, but it came to light this week. One
of the favorite events for athletes and luminaries is the
Celebrity Golf Tournament led TAHA, which is coming up here
in a couple of weeks. And last year, guy by
the name of Charles Barkley may have heard of him,
(34:15):
placed a hundred thousand dollar bet on himself to finish
in the top seventy of the celebrity golf tournament that
again is held in l Tahoe Department of Redundancy Department.
There were seventy six players in the pool. Barkley finished
in a time for seventy six, but he said the
sports book refunded is losing wager because due to a
(34:38):
Nevada State regulation. It prohibits customers from betting on an
event in which they participate. So actually Barkley was disappointed
when his hundred thousand bet, which lost at least you
know last year celebrity golf tournament, was refunded due to
the gaming regulation. Goes Hey, what if he had won? Right?
But he didn't. So Charles Barkley, being the the conniving height,
(35:01):
you know, a madcap individual that he is, he said
he's planning to bet on himself again at this year's tournament,
which again is coming up in early July. But he
said when he was reminded of the regulation bribing prohibiting it,
he said, I'm gonna give some money to one of
my friends and have him bet on me. So there
you have it. Will look for someone and disguise his
heading into the Renal sports book. Alright, DeShawn Watson had
(35:24):
a big week, if you can call it that. We're
gonna get into this heavily here uh later later in
the evening. But what did it do to affect the
Cleveland Browns betting futures? Well, frankly, it did a lot.
Uh I'm calling it the Deshaun Watson effect. Now the
Browns were favorites to make the playoffs before Browns, before
(35:47):
this whole debaco continues to continue smiling downward. Now the Browns,
if you want to bet the Browns just to make
the playoffs, it's plus two sixty five. That doesn't bode
well in terms of those odds. That's that's leading you
to believe they have less than a chance and obviously
to do it. So that is happening because the betting
(36:10):
markets are shifting, and they're shifting because there's great uncertainty
as to what the twenty season is gonna look like
for Deshaun watching as such. Before when the over underwind
totals were posted back in April, Cleveland opened up at
eight and a half and they were shipped minus one,
meaning that they were a favorite to go over that
(36:31):
to get that ninth win, you had to lay a
hundred and forty d it's flipped. Now the total is
straight eight minus forty minus one forty shifted to the under,
which now means if you want to believe it, it's
a free roll, all right, But if you're betting the over, no,
actually it's not. Actually it is. Yes, if you're betting
(36:53):
the over, eights a free roll. But if you're betting
the under you get to eight, you can't when you
can only lose. So you're betting on the Browns to
be seven and ten. If you want that action, you
currently have to lay minus one forty and by the way,
not for nothing, just to win the division. Okay, the
Browns went from plus one in five two plus two
thirty to win the a f C North. What does
(37:14):
that mean? Well, Cincinnati is the favorite to win the
f C North. Their plus two hundred between two hunter
to bring back two hundred, and Baltimore went from plus
two ten to plus one seventy five, which means they
have leap fraud Cleveland. So Cincinnati is now the favorite
to win the f C North, Baltimore's favored to win
a second finished second, and Cleveland is now a distant third.
(37:38):
That's what the Deshaun Watson effect has been on the
betting markets. Stay tuned. The belief is it could get
worse before it gets better, and we'll talk about it
at length a little bit later in the show. One
of the great traditions here in Las Vegas is on
Memorial Day week and a couple of sports books South
point and golden nugget. They post betting lines on what
(38:00):
they call the college football games of the Year. They
select ninety nine college football games of the year and
they put them on the board, and based on those
opening lines, you can sure bet that the sharp betters
promptly show up in droves and pound these numbers. As
a matter of fact, the sports book director Chris Andrews
said that the action at the South Point was quote sharp,
(38:23):
the sharp money. You hear that term a lot. It's
the respected money, okay. And with that respected money can
cause the sports book to move the line based on
who's making the bet. And of those ninety nine games,
thirty of the lines moved by at least two points,
and nine lines by four points or more. Some of
the big movers. Alabama opened up minus twelve at Texas.
(38:46):
They're now up to minus sixteen. Iowa opened up laying
thirteen at Iowa State. Or check that versus Iowa State,
they're not down to minus seven. Virginia Tech moved five
points or games September twenty second and against West Virginia
and they went from minus eight to minus three. Here's
another big mover. The in state Bribal Brigham Young and Utah.
(39:10):
Brigham Young was laying twenty four. They're now down to nineteen.
But the one the pros loved that jumped on immediately
hair Force October one. They're laying nineteen points. They're now
laying twelve. Yes, the sharpest. The pros moved that line
seven points. Another big game in SEC action, Alabama visits
Tennessee in October. The game opened up at Alabama laying
(39:30):
six and a half. They're now minus ten and a half.
Another game, Notre Dame host Stanford in mid October. They
were laying twenty there down to fifteen and a half.
And Utah hosting USC and Lincoln Riley. Get this, Utah
was laying twelve. That was the opening line. Pros wasted
no time pounding that. If you want Utah now they're
(39:51):
down to minus seven. If you want USC, you waited
too long most likely, unless you think there's value at seven.
Some of the other games. Look the pros, as I mentioned,
they loved Navy plus nineteen. They're playing air Force October one.
Within an hour that line was down to minus twelve.
And then that was the biggest line move on the board.
(40:12):
The second favorite bet as I mentioned Iowa State plus
thirteen over Iowa September t i Will was quickly beat
down to minus seven. We're gonna talk about this is
a bunch more obviously in future shows in college football,
but it is that time of the year in the
meantime that's gonna do it for Straight out of Vegas,
the pregame show you always want. If don't go anywhere
and keep it locked. Coming up, we've got three more hours.
(40:33):
Do not touch that dial. This is Bernie Fratto. You're
heading into Fox Sports Sunday on Fox Sports Radio.
This is straight out of Vegas with the voice of
Biggest your host r J Bob play that money. You
are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge
live from the Veggat Strip, the pregame show America has
always wanted. Here's Bernie Fretto. You know, Nietzsche says, out
(00:26):
of chaos comes order, okay, And as I said many
times before, sports are the greatest reality show invented. And
you can script everything but the outcome, and seemingly that
is more prevalent now than ever. And on that note,
I'm Bernie Fretto. Will come to you alive from the
Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio Studios tonight. We'll focus on
(00:50):
the NBA Finals. It's it's it's getting down with the
short strokes. So we've got some in depth analysis and
reviews and what you need to know from here on out.
Heading into Game five and about fifteen minutes, we'll be
joined by NBA guru Mark Medina. He's joining us from
the side of the NBA Finals, right in the belly
of the beast. He'll take us behind the curtain and
we'll chop up some other pertinent issues as well. I've
(01:13):
got some thoughts on Darwin Hamm's press conference and among
other NBA issues along the way. We'll have some Vegas
stuff as uh as it's interesting how the Browns betting
market has reacted to the Deshaun Watson hijinks and other
stuff like that that you will you will enjoy, you know,
the Vegas stuff we do giving you some numbers and
(01:35):
the significant live movement, and we'll give you the four
win one so you can see what the pros thing too,
by the way, and some key college football games. It's
not too early to start thinking about that. We're just
a few weeks away from ground zero sports and entertainment.
They're more than that. There are shared experience as such,
people want to talk about them. So you know, you've
come to the right place. We've got a lot to
talk about tonight. This is straight out of Vegas. The
(01:57):
pregame show you always wanted. And as they say in
George roy Hill Minnesota, google it. He's a pretty famous guy.
If you like movies. It's gonna be lit. By the way,
in about an hour, I'm gonna have some significant commentary
on the l I V. Golf Tour. You know, here's
what's interesting. Here's the hook and the p G A.
(02:19):
You gotta sing for your supper, not so much. In
the l I V will break it down, tell you
everything you wanted to know, and maybe a few things
you didn't care about. So week ago, there had only
been one game played so far in the NBA Finals.
Boston won convincingly, and of course everybody overreacts. It's what
they always do. They over reacted after game two, three,
and four. I'm gonna give kind of a chronological look.
(02:40):
But as I told Arnie and Jason Martin last Sunday
Saturday Night, that the only bet I placed at that
time was that this series would go seven, and I
got it at plus one seventy five. You tell me
now if you think that's a good bet, because I
don't think either one of these teams that win the
next two in a row. Well, there you have it.
(03:01):
But let's talk about what I think has been the
recurring theme here. You know, there's an old story back
in the late eighties early nineties, when Magic Johnson he
had already been to nine out of twelve NBA Finals,
and Michael Jordan's was establishing himself as the next guy
to hand the torch. There was an argument as to
whether or not if Jordan were to play Magic one
(03:22):
on one, who would win that contest? And it got
around the chicker and legendary long time played by a
play announcer of the l A Lakers and Chickerrento response
was simple, he says, don't bother me with dumb questions.
Basketball is a team sport and see to me, that's
the recurring theme of these playoffs with each of these teams,
(03:42):
either the Celtics or the Warriors, have functioned as a
whole greater than some of their parts. They win that night.
So the beauty of though we can show like this,
even though it's one day a week, I get to,
you know, review what took place heading up to tonight
in preview, what's the head? So I want to give
you a quick chronology as to what got us to
(04:03):
this point. So let's go back to the blow by
a blow following Game two. Right, Game two of the
Warriors are coming off a loss, but there were no
fourth quarter shenanigans for the Warriors to worry about on
Sunday night. Remember Game one Boston had there was reigning
threes and Draymond dismissed it. The Warriors performed their third
quarter routine on during Game two last week, and they
(04:24):
beat Boston by nineteen on the Celtics this time, they
did not squander a big league neither did Golden State.
I guess you should expect this kind of response from
the three time champs getting up off the mat. So
there you have it. The series was tied one one
after a great game Sunday, and at that point even
the punisher starting to say, this looks like this might
(04:44):
be destined for a Launder series. By the way, a
couple of pivot points game to Jordan Poole did what
he was supposed to do. Not so much since, but
that night he did. Okay, he's a young dude, he's
a key backcoord player, but he struggles on defense and
he didn't have the off sens to balance on every night.
But last Sunday, seventeen points five or nine from behind
the ark and he balanced out of four or nineteen
(05:06):
night from Clay Thompson, there's your team effort picking each
other up. By the way, Boston's role players this happened
sometimes on the road. They crashed back down to earth. Horford,
Marcus Smart, Grant Williams, they combined for just ten points.
Derek White had twelve, but he was minus twelve plus
minus on the night. The Celtics. Okay, this was the
narrative heading into Game three. They cannot win this series
(05:28):
relying on Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown alone. That was
the narrative heading into Game three. And the other narrative
was the Celtics must have been happy with the split
in San Francisco because they literally gave Game two to
the Warriors by allowing thirty three points on nineteen turnovers.
Hold that thought. That's gonna be a theme something to
monitor heading into Game three. The rest of the way,
(05:49):
Boston was the best team in the NBA over the
last six months. Every time they lost in the postseason,
it was their own fault, turnovers galore, and Friday's win.
Uh Game one win they absorbed the Warrior's best haymaker.
Still one Sunday they look lost okay, disastrous third quarters.
So the question heading in the Game three which Boston
(06:10):
team would show up already been established. The NBA finalance
had become a bizarre watch because for long stretches, the
Celtics look like the Jordinara Bulls. They bull those teams.
They hammered an excellent Warriors team, shot by ship, shot
by shot, rebound by rebound. Then in a flash, they're
going to walk about. It looks like they forget how
(06:31):
to play basketball. However, in Game three, the Celtics win
by sixteen, and it featured all the above. Boston not
paced Schoolden State through the first half, predictably, predictably lost
their grip on the third that's Golden State best third
quarter team in basketball, but then reclaimed the win in
the fourth. Again, the threesome, Jayson Tatum, Jalen Brown, Marcus Smart.
(06:55):
They they all had at least twenty four points. Golden
State had almost no help for Steph Curry in Game
three at thirty one Clay, but the rest not so much.
Celtics went by sixteen. They go up two games to one,
and then all of a sudden, now people said, wait
a minute, the rest of this series could hinge John
Curry's ankle, which he tweaked Wednesday night in the collision
(07:16):
with Al Horford, and the Warriors, well, silently, they admitted
they could use a little boost from Draymond Green after
what he said, he played like, you know, what. It's
a four letter word, but that's Stramon, you know, if
we can just get him to come out of the
shyness to be just fine. So if you just put
these two in a vacuum after Game three, I don't
(07:38):
think anybody would disagree that on paper it looks like
the Celtics are the better team. They're deeper and better defensively,
who can who can deny that the Warriors frankly are
a week in the low post their week inside. However,
the games aren't played on paper, they're played in the hardwood.
So then the question became Boston's up to one. I've
been saying it for some reason, they don't. They don't
(08:01):
handle prosperity. Well, there were seven oh on now they're
seven oh coming off a loss, and they took care
of business a game three. The question would be which
Boston team shows up for Game four? And this is
the most recent game. Meanwhile, by the way, not for
nothing at Game four meant that if the Warriors didn't
answer in kind in Boston Garden, they would be heading
(08:23):
home Monday night down three games to one. For what
it's worth, however, Warriors had this going for them heading
into the game Friday night. The Golden State Warriors had
won at least one road playoff game in their last
twenty six series. And another fact toy Golden State not
for nothing. They were also in these playoffs in five
(08:47):
and oh coming off a loss. And for those who
thought Boston's athleticism was simply too much, here's my response.
I know it's against a lot of practice pechology without
a license, but here's what I think. I know alpha
dogs always react the same after failure, but after success. See,
there's no rhyme or reason. Everybody handles that differently. I
(09:07):
told Arnie and Jason two weeks ago, this series is
going seven for all the Celtics greatness. For some reason,
they can't stand prosperity. So Friday night, given Stephen Curries
forty I think it was forty three points. By the way,
that by the way, I said that, I said that
too many times. By the way, By the way, that's
Curry's ten thirty plus point performance in the NBA Finals.
(09:30):
For perspective, no other player in NBA history has more
than two thirty plus point performances in the NBA Finals.
Curry had now ten, and after being outscored cumulatively by
forty points to the fourth quarter in the first three
games the Warriors won the fourth quarter nineteen closed the
deal Friday night, one oh seven seven. By the way,
(09:52):
Stephen Curry give may have read about it in all
the papers. Some sports shows argue about it. This He's
never been a finals m v P in his career.
He starts three games with at least thirty points in
this series, and it is by far the leading score
on either side. When the hundred and thirty seven points.
You hear Jason Smith talking about this. Even if the
Golden State Warriors lose, Curry should probably be the m
(10:13):
v P. I think there's some merit to that. Okay, Now,
this Friday Night was the second most point he's ever
scored in the finals game, and the most points he
scored in the entire postseason. By the way, it was
also the eleventh finals game and when Steph Curry had
at least six threes. Other than that, I think he
delivered popcorn, delivered a baby, and did the halftime show.
(10:33):
Here's the key stat, and that's the stat that continues
to be the telltale all be all end all telltale
for the Celtics and this entire post season the Celtics
finished was sixteen turnovers. Easy for me to say, try
that again. The Celtics finished with sixteen turnovers Friday night,
gave up nineteen points off of those turnovers. So not
(10:53):
who was their playoff record this year to one and
six when they turned the ball over at least fifteen times.
When it's fifth, the interviewer the Celtics, you're thirteen and two.
More goes into this. Obviously it's not the only thing,
but the Celtics were sloppy with the ball early in
the game and often, and it allowed Golden State to
avoid getting down big and keep up with Boston. You know,
(11:18):
the Warriors kept up with Boston blow for blow. Now,
the Celtics quite possibly handed the ball to the Warriors
with ten of those coming off live ball turnovers. They've
got to clean that up. But you knew this game
was over the minute the Warriors went on that seventeen
to three run after Marcus Smart put them down four
points on the three pointer after an offensive rebound. This
(11:39):
is a fun series to watch. I don't care what
anybody says. The Celtics only three points during this run
by Golden State happened on an alpha at Horford corner
three pointer to cut a six point deficit down to three.
But then the Warriors came back like heavyweight champs. Give
him credit, love more hat um. They responded with a
Looney bucket on a on a nicestis from Draymond Green
(12:01):
and then forth Jalen Brown into another turnover with a
five point game. This was the spread at the time.
Curry drove the whole drew a file on Horford. The
Celtics challenged it and lost. Curry hits two free throws
to push the lead to seven with forty seven point
(12:21):
seven seconds left, Game set match. Now he had to
game five. There will be some questions head again into
Game five. What kind of game are you going to
get out of Clay Thompson? What kind of game are
you going to get out of Draymond Green? Why do
I ask? Because you've got a figure that Boston is
(12:42):
gonna be lying and wait for Steph Curry. No free
catches in space. They're gonna ride him like a stick horse.
Clay Thompson, he hasn't been his usual self during the
NBA Finals, but he's still a guy who I think
can rise up at any given moment. How will he do?
Draymond Green? I tip my cap to him. He handed
(13:04):
himself very professionally after being taken out, came back and uh,
we'll see what he does. I think he's a hothead.
I think there's a fifty shot he gets ejected game five,
He's gonna play crazy and from the home crowd, you'll
get at least one technical. And the truth of the
matter is I kind of sort of expect I'm not
predicting it, but it feels like although these two teams
(13:25):
have been trading wins all series long. You know, Boston
comes into Chase Center and beats Golden State game one,
the Dubs come back and win game to Boston wins
Game three, and then Golden State wins one on their floor.
You get the picture. You wonder if the Warriors can
break this pattern Monday night, it's gonna be fun to watch.
Coming up, Coming up, we got to our fan favorite
(13:45):
here on Straight out of Vegas. He's our NBA groo
Fox Sports Radio. He's at the belly of the Beast
up during up there in San Francisco for the NBA Finals.
Of course, I'm talking about Mark Mdinas, So keep it
locked right here. I'm Bernie Frata. Where coming do you?
From the Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio Studios. This is
the pregame show you always want it. If you don't
go away, you're listening to Straight out of Vegas, the
(14:10):
great Vernie Frado. Folks. Fox Sports Radio has the best
sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our
shows at Fox Sports Radio dot com and within the
I Heart Radio app. Search f s R to listen live.
Hey it's me Rob Parker. Check out my weekly MLB podcast,
Inside the Parker for twenty two minutes of piping hot
(14:33):
baseball talk featuring the biggest name to newsmakers in the sport.
Whether you believe in analytics or the I tast We've
got all the bases covered. New episodes drop every Thursday,
So do yourself of favor and listen to Inside the
Parker with Rob Parker on the I Heart Radio app
or wherever you get your podcast. We're back on Straight
(14:54):
out of Vegas, the pregame show you always wanted on.
Bernie Frodill come in your life from Las Vegas Fox
Sports Radio Studios at this time is welcome and a
gentleman become a fan favorite on this show. He's at
the Belly of the Beast up in San Francisco for
the NBA Finals, ready to go for Game five. Say
hello to our NBA guru, Mark Medina, Marko, Areybuddy Berne,
You know the answer. I'm always good when I'm chatting
(15:16):
with you, my van appreciate you right back at you, hey,
Right before I dive into the finals, I want a
little house cleaning. I covered the two thousand four pistons
Darvin him. I like Darvin Ham, but uh, you know,
if if I was a cynical person, I would have
listened to his press commence the other day and felt
like a lot of his narratives pre programmed, in formulaic formally. Fortunately,
(15:39):
I'm not a cynical person. But are we to believe
that Russell Westbrook is really going to have a major
rule next year? Wait and see. I don't fault darvn
Ham for his rhetoric. I think that you know he's
doing what a head coach, especially a new one, is
supposed to do of you to make the best of
your circumstances. Um So I think all this to this
(16:00):
system should be directed toward the front office, and they
should not be declaring definitively that Russell Westbrook would be
on the team because they got to shop him hard.
They got to move the goalposts, get role players. The
willing to part ways with that draft pick in because
the reality is this, Russell Westbrook isn't going to change
(16:22):
his stripes this late in his career, even if there's
a new head coach. And the second part is this
is the only way that the Lakers can really upgrade
the roster. They only have a six million dollar trade exception.
The rest is on veteran minimum deals. They have some
other young players like Kalen Horton Tucker, but I don't
think that he'll get much value. So dealing Russell Westbrook
(16:44):
is really the only avenue they can do to improve
the team. But as far as Darvin Ham, I think
he's a great higher um. You know, I think he'll
check all the boxes. But the reality is, no matter
if you're a good or a bad coach, um, you're
mostly only as good as of the players you have,
And in that case, the Lakers need to trade Russ
as soon as I can. You covered a lot of
(17:06):
great ground there, and I'm glad you made the distinction.
It's just that I got this impression Mark that as
Darvin Ham was watching Philosophical about Russell Westbrook in the
way that you expect, he would precisely that moment, the
front office is working the phones, figuring we got to
move this guy. So I'm glad you made that distinction.
Thank you. Um Quinn Snyder, what really happened there in Utah? Yeah,
(17:32):
it's interesting. Um. I believe part of the statement. I
also don't believe part of the statements. I'll break it down. Um.
I believe that the Utah Jazz version that this was
Quinn Snyder's decision. It wasn't like he was being pushed out.
I believe that that is to be accurate. Now, I
don't quite buy Quinn's explanation that there weren't philosophical differences. Um.
(17:57):
You know, clearly, if false things were good, he would
can the need to be coaching, right. Um, But I
think that Quinn Snyder concluded that this is the best
that the Jazz can do as far as their playoff potential,
So why continue to go down this road of just
running into a brick wall? And so I think Quinn decided,
you know, what I'll get out ahead early, I'll reach charge.
(18:20):
I'll you know, maybe do some consulting and and see
the landscape the next year and then wait for better
opportunities to open up. Um. So, while I do think
that there is credence to it, you know, I don't
think that there any like philosophical key differences or clashes
with the front office. You know. I also don't buy
the idea that there weren't any issues at all, or
(18:42):
else he would still be there. Yeah, we think. I
like talking with Mark Medina, are NBA guru here on
Fox Sports Radio. Okay, let's look ahead to Game five
of the NBA Finals. A couple of thoughts on my mind.
I'm looking squarely at Clay Thompson. I've got to believe
Boston makes an extra f to contain Stephen Curry, which
should mean Thompson will have plenty of shooting opportunities. What
(19:05):
are you seeing heading into the game. Yeah, I think
that there's gonna be plenty of shooting opportunities for him,
for Jordan Pool, for Angel Higgins, because man, that's Steph
Curry player. He is unbelievable, and I think that he
posted the best performance ever in his NBA career, regular
season or playoffs with his forty three point effort in
(19:25):
Game four, So obviously the sellers are going to just
continue to the further kitchen sink at him, and that
requires his supporting cast to be dependable in elevating him
and complimenting him. And the reality is, whether it's a
familiar guy like Klay Thompson or a young up and
comer like Jordan Poole, the Warriors just haven't quite known
what they're going to get. And in Clay's case, I think,
(19:48):
unlike prior to his injuries, um you could always count
on him for being that ultimate sidekick as another splash brother.
But um, with Way this season, he's had moments of
you know, the old Kay Thompson, but it's been very
hard for him to then carry that over into the
next game. So even though he's shown some flash in
(20:11):
the last two games he's been able to make some
key shots, that doesn't mean that that momentum is going
to carry forward. Same thing with Jordan Pole for different reasons,
just he's a young guy figuring out the roller coaster
the NBA Finals. So while the Warriors should feel good
about themselves with tie in the series getting them home quarterback. Uh,
(20:33):
nothing was guaranteed, particularly against this really resilient Celtics team
that become used to having to bounce back from tough losses. Good,
good stuff, Mark, I agree with all. I were talking
to Mark Medina, r NBA guru here Fox Sports Radio.
He's up San Francisco and the ability of the Beast
the NBA Finals. Let's talk about Draymond Green. I believe
Draymond Green is going to leave it all on the
(20:55):
floor in Game five. Why I don't think you'd like
being benched? He hand, Well, he knows the Warrior's feet
off his energy and tenacity. Here's the thing, Mark, that
could be a good thing or it could be a
bad thing. I believe it at least one technical. I
believe you might do something stupid and get booted and
that might fire up the Warriors. What do you expect
how to Draymond Green Monday night? Yeah, I think it's
(21:15):
a good point. Um, Well what you said that this could,
you know, work both ways? I think that if nothing else,
Draymond is gonna bring the kind of energy and effort
that he tried to show in Game two. Because let's
just face it. I don't think his podcast exercises after
each game have been the issue. But the reality is
Draymond has not played well for most of the series.
(21:38):
I think you do make a great point that I
think that he's going to use that benching as you know,
a source for motivation. But I think in this finals
it's been very unpredictable how uh much the officials give
him rope um and leeway, and so you know, I
think that while I while I do think that Draymond
(21:59):
usually knows how to draw the line um, sometimes he
he also crosses it and he can't handle himself. And
because he's such a fiery competitor, and so there could
be a scenario that he gets ejected, and there could
be a scenario that two things happened. The Warriors suddenly
miss him because of all the fiery intensity that he has,
(22:21):
or they feed off of it. Keep in mind, burning
he got ejected in the Grizzlies series in the second round,
and you thought, Okay, the Warriors are really in trouble.
But the Warriors felt like he got screwed over and
then just really decided to buckle down and almost became
a rallying cry. So it's very unpredictable with Draymond green
(22:41):
booth for veteran for worse. But I think, if nothing else,
he's not going to be a no show like he
was for most of Games three and four. Wrapping it
up in Mark Medina, Mark's final question, these two teams
have been trading blows there too too. It seems like
the Warriors, it feels like, given their town and their experience,
(23:02):
they shouldn't falter at home Monday night at Boston's pesky
gun to your head, who do you like? Yeah, it's
tough A gun in my head, I'll take the Warriors,
But look, I don't feel comfortable enough that I would
go to Vegas and put some money down because this
has been a competitive series. The Celtics overall have actually
been a better road team in the playoffs than at home.
So I think all things can happen, but again have
(23:22):
to make a prediction with the gun in my head.
I think that the Warriors can continue to obviously rely
on Steph Currier's brilliance, but I think they're they're really
going to tap into their defensive intensity, the home crowd
and know that, hey, they already blew home court advantage
in game one, so they're not going to do that
again in game five. Those are those are kind of
my sentiments as well. But to your point, I'm not
laying the four points. Mark great stuff is always enjoy
(23:44):
your time in San Francisco. I appreciate you, sir, thanks
so much. It's Mark Medina. He's written for multiple modalities
in the NBA. He's our NBA guru here at Fox
Sports Radio. You hearing him all around the network coming up,
got macking on sports from the KNTY Rivers. But first
let's go to the man. Well, he actually turned down
(24:05):
a chance to play in the Live Tour because he's
dating Live Tyler. It's Brian filling with the latest. Let's
jump right into it, and let's start with the NHL,
where the Lightning our winners against the Rangers to one,
and that isn't a Game six Eastern Conference Final, meaning
for the third straight season, Tampa is on to the
Stanley Cup Final and they flick away the Rangers and
(24:28):
send them home. Steven Stankost, by the way, had two
goals in the Game six on Saturday, and the Stanley
Cup Final will get going on Wednesday in Denver, where
the Lightning will take on the Avalanche as far as
Major League Baseball is concerned. The Mariners fight back in
the end and when thanks to a Dylan Moore walk
off base knock in the bottom of the ninth, so
(24:50):
they take down the Red Sox seven to six. The
Angels crossed off the Mets eleven to six to home
runs from Mike Trout one from Shohi Otani. The Rocky
and Padres they split a double header. Colorado won the
second part. The Giants of Earth the Dodgers three to to.
Clayton Kershaw on the bump for the first time in
about a month, and he struggles in that he has
(25:13):
served up the y l The Yankees blank the Cubs
eight to nothing to home runs for Air and Judge,
both for solo home runs, but twenty four jacks on
the year for him and that leads the majors. The
Tigers staying out against the Lui Jay's three till one
as Toronto left ten men on base. The Braves are
winners of ten straight. They got a Grand Slam and
(25:35):
they win against the Pirates tend to four. The Marlins
are victorious against the Astros five to one. Braxton Garrett
on the bump for Miami five and two thirds, inning
six hits nowhere and runs. The Nationals beat the Brewers
eight to six. Milwaukee has lost eight in a row.
The Phillies of one nine in a row after taking
down the Diamondbacks forts nothing and the Cardinals gotta walk
(25:56):
off home run from Tommy Edmund as they did grace
the Reds five to four. Speaking of golf, Rory McElroy
and Tony Final share the lead at the PGA Tours
Canadian Open through three rounds. Both are at minus eleven,
a two shot advantage. Lived Tour Charles Schwartzel earns just
south of five million dollars after he wins the three
(26:19):
day event, the inaugural Lived to Our event, which took
place in England and a forty eight man field. Phil
Nicholson finished thirty third and Schwartzel, as we mentioned, four
point seven five million dollars, four weeks worth of work
with that, Let's get it back to our man in
Las Vegas. Bernie Fratto, all right, thanks so much, Brian,
and we bring you back on to Las Vegas. Let's
(26:41):
go to macin on sports. McKenzie rivers McKenzie Steph Curry
is the name front and center in this playoff series
so far, and you found an angle that can enable
the betting market to profit. Yes, this series is unlike
any step series, Steph Curry series, we have ever seen
in multi bowl ways. And there's some conflicting trends because
(27:03):
never before has Steph Curry's teammates played this poorly. Yet
you could argue this is Steph Curry's best series of
his career. Never has he played this well, and never
have the Warriors lost when he's played anywhere close to
this level. But let me go back to something I
heard just a minute ago. Uh, Steph Curry's best game
of his career. Okay, forty three points in a win
(27:25):
on the road, one of the loudest atmospheres that you know,
we've heard at Boston. One of the best statistical teams
we've seen the last six months, beaten teams about about
fifteen points per game. I'm gonna take it a step further. Yes,
that was Steph Curry's best game. I'm gonna say it
might be up there with the game of the century.
I mean, I got a list here players in the finals,
(27:45):
because that's obviously if you're gonna be anything of the century,
you have to be in the finals when it matters
at least twice as much as any other point of
the season. In the finals most points in a win
wasn't that long ago. Janice set this record this century,
fifty points to clinch it. Sixty wins. Alan Ivers, who
one of my favorite games every year, had ever had
scored forty eight points to beat the Lakers the one
(28:06):
time they lost in two thousand one, and then Steph Curry,
Steph Curry forty three points in the finals win. It
does not happen that often. But what's really interesting is
the way that he's doing it. So I want to
get into Daming Damning with faint praise, which is what
I've heard all across the the media airwaves, Kendrick Perkins saying, yeah,
(28:27):
this is the game that he needed on his resume,
as if he hadn't scored forty in the finals before,
as if he hadn't scored thirty three, and then said, hey,
Kendrick Perkins, why are you on the bench talking You're
not playing. I'm setting a record for most threes in
the game. I want to go back to something that
A J Hoffman said earlier this week when he said, Hey,
Jayson Tatum isn't hurting the Boston Celtics with his play.
(28:49):
Obviously he's only shooting thirty five percent of the game.
So before I go back to praising Steph Curry, let
me ask you do you think Jayson Tatum is or
not hurting the Boston Celtics with his play so far?
You know, only scoring about twenty three game eight assists,
but not shooting well. Well, I think we're off track, McKenzie.
I'm looking for the betting angle that you have on
Steph Curry, and I think part of the reason is
(29:11):
performance is so superb. He's not faced the defense like
that they place Cleveland twice. So let's kind of move forward.
What do you what is your betting angle on Steph
Curry based on his performance? The Warriors that can't keep
this up? I'm sorry Steph Curry fans like myself. The
fact that he's shooting sixty seven percent true, shooting thirty
four a game. We have to ask ourselves what's more reliable?
(29:33):
Is it the fourteen data points we have with Steph
Curry's teammates or with one shooter and if one shooter
regresses even a little bit to the mean is already
elite Hall of Fame level. Mean, then we have to
look at these numbers at Steph Curry's teammates that we've
never seen before. He scoring step Cursey teammates are going
seventy one points of the game. That's four points lower
than they've ever scored before. You look at their field
(29:56):
goal shooting for worse than any Steph Curry's team team,
he has the least support that he's ever had. It's
kind of miraculous that it's too too in this finals.
And if you look at their team total, they've gone
under one oh five and a half is their average.
They've gone under their team total each in every game,
and yet there's been no adjustments. It's one oh eight
(30:16):
and a half tomorrow or on Monday. So it's been
literally historically excellent performance by one player and then fourteen players, Yeah,
and then four team players are falling short. What's going
to be more reliable? It's it's it's only logical to
think that even as we get later into series and
(30:37):
we've seen historically totals drop, combined scoring drop, Steph Curry
has excellent as he's been how can he maintain it?
And even if he does maintain it, we've seen three
in a row, three times they've suited up three times.
Vegas said, this is how much they're supposed to score
their team total, and they've gone under actually four times.
I'm sorry, it's been four games in this series. Steph
(30:57):
Curry has been excellent all of them, and their offense
is under a formed in all of them. Their offensive
rating nine three in the half court would be bottom
ten percentile in the in this NBA season. That's like
Detroit Pistons territories. So yeah, Boston Celtics setting records defensively.
And here's another thing. Boston Celtics since January fourteen and
(31:18):
one straight up, thirteen and two against the spread. Awful loss.
And why is that? We talked about it on this
show before. Mental sharpness, mental acuity, staying focus to the
game plan, which you know there are some Celtics and
some Celtics teammates and coaches up right now, almost midnight
in San Francisco thinking about this. And there's one number
that really shows it. Turnovers per game. That's been their bugaboo.
(31:41):
If you look at off wins in the playoffs. How
do they do with turnovers per game? Sixteen turnovers per
game would lead the league terrible numbers off losses that
goes to eleven per game would be one of the
best numbers in the league. Less turnovers, the Warriors have
had a great, great, great transition an offense. That's what
Steph Curry does. He's an instant three point transition Number
(32:04):
one in the NBA would be a D twenty three
offensive rating when they're in transition. They're not gonna be
in transition as much of the Celtics. Celtics will do
what they do off a loss, which is not turned
the ball over and again in the half court. They
have a bottom ten ten percentile offense this Warrior's team,
even with Steff shooting as well as he is. So
that's why I think there's a lot of reasons. It
makes a lot of sense. My team total best bet
(32:26):
is under the Warriors want to wait and a half.
What do you think about that burning I'd have to
analyze it more. It's gonna be dependent on um on
how effective Boston swarms and blitches Steph Curry and if
in fact the other thing too, of course, is if
in fact that Clay Thompson and Jordan Pool and Andrew
(32:46):
Wiggins can make up the slack, so we'll see it happens. Okay, mackenzie,
very good, Thank you. Sorry. One more thing is that
Steph Curry is taking a second longer per touch whyted
to get that stat in there in this final than
he ever has before. I think the way he's playing,
it's one on one and it's amazing to watch. Very good,
all right, thanks so much, mackenzie. Coming up, we're gonna
(33:08):
talk about the week the Shawn Watson had. What did
that do to affect the Browns and their futures numbers
heading forward? Which famous athlete placed a hundred thousand dollar
bet lost and the book refunded his money. Anyway, that
plus a few things more, we're bringing back on to Vegas.
I'm Bernie Fradder come to you live from Las Vegas,
Fox Sports Radio Studios. This is the pregame show you
(33:30):
always wanted to. Don't go away. You're listening to Straight
out of Vegas, one of the best in the business.
Bernie Frattle. We're back on Straight out of Vegas, the
pregame show you always wanted. I Bernie Fradder come to
be Alive from the Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio Studios.
Before I go any further, I want to thank my
broadcast team back in Los Angeles, Chris Perfette, Brian Finley
on the updates, and the new Father Bo Benson. Great
(33:53):
job tonight, guys, could not do this show without your teamwork. Alright,
busy week in the world of Vegas stuff. You might
be interested in this story that happened that actually happened
last year, but it came to light this week. One
of the favorite events for athletes and luminaries is the
Celebrity Golf Tournament led TAHA, which is coming up here
in a couple of weeks. And last year, guy by
the name of Charles Barkley may have heard of him,
(34:15):
placed a hundred thousand dollar bet on himself to finish
in the top seventy of the celebrity golf tournament that
again is held in l Tahoe Department of Redundancy Department.
There were seventy six players in the pool. Barkley finished
in a time for seventy six, but he said the
sports book refunded is losing wager because due to a
(34:38):
Nevada State regulation. It prohibits customers from betting on an
event in which they participate. So actually Barkley was disappointed
when his hundred thousand bet, which lost at least you
know last year celebrity golf tournament, was refunded due to
the gaming regulation. Goes Hey, what if he had won? Right?
But he didn't. So Charles Barkley, being the the conniving height,
(35:01):
you know, a madcap individual that he is, he said
he's planning to bet on himself again at this year's tournament,
which again is coming up in early July. But he
said when he was reminded of the regulation bribing prohibiting it,
he said, I'm gonna give some money to one of
my friends and have him bet on me. So there
you have it. Will look for someone and disguise his
heading into the Renal sports book. Alright, DeShawn Watson had
(35:24):
a big week, if you can call it that. We're
gonna get into this heavily here uh later later in
the evening. But what did it do to affect the
Cleveland Browns betting futures? Well, frankly, it did a lot.
Uh I'm calling it the Deshaun Watson effect. Now the
Browns were favorites to make the playoffs before Browns, before
(35:47):
this whole debaco continues to continue smiling downward. Now the Browns,
if you want to bet the Browns just to make
the playoffs, it's plus two sixty five. That doesn't bode
well in terms of those odds. That's that's leading you
to believe they have less than a chance and obviously
to do it. So that is happening because the betting
(36:10):
markets are shifting, and they're shifting because there's great uncertainty
as to what the twenty season is gonna look like
for Deshaun watching as such. Before when the over underwind
totals were posted back in April, Cleveland opened up at
eight and a half and they were shipped minus one,
meaning that they were a favorite to go over that
(36:31):
to get that ninth win, you had to lay a
hundred and forty d it's flipped. Now the total is
straight eight minus forty minus one forty shifted to the under,
which now means if you want to believe it, it's
a free roll, all right, But if you're betting the over, no,
actually it's not. Actually it is. Yes, if you're betting
(36:53):
the over, eights a free roll. But if you're betting
the under you get to eight, you can't when you
can only lose. So you're betting on the Browns to
be seven and ten. If you want that action, you
currently have to lay minus one forty and by the way,
not for nothing, just to win the division. Okay, the
Browns went from plus one in five two plus two
thirty to win the a f C North. What does
(37:14):
that mean? Well, Cincinnati is the favorite to win the
f C North. Their plus two hundred between two hunter
to bring back two hundred, and Baltimore went from plus
two ten to plus one seventy five, which means they
have leap fraud Cleveland. So Cincinnati is now the favorite
to win the f C North, Baltimore's favored to win
a second finished second, and Cleveland is now a distant third.
(37:38):
That's what the Deshaun Watson effect has been on the
betting markets. Stay tuned. The belief is it could get
worse before it gets better, and we'll talk about it
at length a little bit later in the show. One
of the great traditions here in Las Vegas is on
Memorial Day week and a couple of sports books South
point and golden nugget. They post betting lines on what
(38:00):
they call the college football games of the Year. They
select ninety nine college football games of the year and
they put them on the board, and based on those
opening lines, you can sure bet that the sharp betters
promptly show up in droves and pound these numbers. As
a matter of fact, the sports book director Chris Andrews
said that the action at the South Point was quote sharp,
(38:23):
the sharp money. You hear that term a lot. It's
the respected money, okay. And with that respected money can
cause the sports book to move the line based on
who's making the bet. And of those ninety nine games,
thirty of the lines moved by at least two points,
and nine lines by four points or more. Some of
the big movers. Alabama opened up minus twelve at Texas.
(38:46):
They're now up to minus sixteen. Iowa opened up laying
thirteen at Iowa State. Or check that versus Iowa State,
they're not down to minus seven. Virginia Tech moved five
points or games September twenty second and against West Virginia
and they went from minus eight to minus three. Here's
another big mover. The in state Bribal Brigham Young and Utah.
(39:10):
Brigham Young was laying twenty four. They're now down to nineteen.
But the one the pros loved that jumped on immediately
hair Force October one. They're laying nineteen points. They're now
laying twelve. Yes, the sharpest. The pros moved that line
seven points. Another big game in SEC action, Alabama visits
Tennessee in October. The game opened up at Alabama laying
(39:30):
six and a half. They're now minus ten and a half.
Another game, Notre Dame host Stanford in mid October. They
were laying twenty there down to fifteen and a half.
And Utah hosting USC and Lincoln Riley. Get this, Utah
was laying twelve. That was the opening line. Pros wasted
no time pounding that. If you want Utah now they're
(39:51):
down to minus seven. If you want USC, you waited
too long most likely, unless you think there's value at seven.
Some of the other games. Look the pros, as I mentioned,
they loved Navy plus nineteen. They're playing air Force October one.
Within an hour that line was down to minus twelve.
And then that was the biggest line move on the board.
(40:12):
The second favorite bet as I mentioned Iowa State plus
thirteen over Iowa September t i Will was quickly beat
down to minus seven. We're gonna talk about this is
a bunch more obviously in future shows in college football,
but it is that time of the year in the
meantime that's gonna do it for Straight out of Vegas,
the pregame show you always want. If don't go anywhere
and keep it locked. Coming up, we've got three more hours.
(40:33):
Do not touch that dial. This is Bernie Fratto. You're
heading into Fox Sports Sunday on Fox Sports Radio.
Fox Sports Radio News
Host
Jonas Knox
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.