May 17, 2023 • 39 mins
Jason Smith and Mike Harmon react to Game 1 of the Western Conference finals between the Nuggets and Lakers, the must win game 2 for the Lakers, and the reason a major player will be on the free agent market soon!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Carmen podcast. Be sure to catch us
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seven to eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find
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Speaker 2 (00:20):
Wow. This is the best of the Jason Smith Show
with Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Happy Tuesday, The Jason Smith Show with My bass friend
Mike Harmon, Well Dressed Hobo live from the ti iraq
dot com Studios, Tirec dot com. I'll help you get
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way tire buying should be well. I will say this,
(00:51):
Mike Carmon, if you're if you are looking for a
glass half full for the Lakers after that first half,
can't get any worse, can't get Denver, can't play any better,
and it can't get anywhere outside of that.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Yij J. Well, you know what was interesting is coming
out of the first quarter you're sitting there going I
would have said the same thing.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Right.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
It's like, hey, you're only down twelve. You have out
rebounded what like twenty twenty two to six, and Denver
had nine offensive rebounds in the first quarter, obviously, Jokic eight,
twelve and five, all of these things, and Anthony Davis
six points one rebound. They're like, hey, dude, the Lakers,
(01:31):
you're feeling pretty good. Well Davis now has eighteen. It
doesn't matter because there's no answer. And you look at
the up and down game, Lebron James doing a lot
of driving to the bucket and shots just aren't falling.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
They've had a lot of open.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Looks and that's the one thing for Darvin Ham and
company going back into the locker room. All right, we're
getting the opportunities off of Lebron drives. Now we just
have to finish. But yeah, that was boy, that was something,
wasn't it.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Oh? Man? I'll tell you know. The thing is it
kind of breaks down pretty easy, right, like sometimes there's
this there's what we're talking about the first half of
the game. To take it easybody first. I don't know.
It could be the best that it ever gets for me,
so I'm doing it right now. But but here's the
thing is that sometimes you can say, well, I'm watching
(02:22):
this and the Lakers on off their foot, But it
basically comes down to this is the Lakers came into
the game and you could see them play their body language,
their focus. There was a let's stick to the plan mentality. Right.
There was no let's grab the series right away. It's
let's stick to the plan. We've seen this happen before
during the playoffs. They start out slow, but teams can't
put them away and they eat back away at it. Right.
(02:44):
They came into a let's stick to the plan mentality,
and Denver came out with a blank all of you,
we are going to be at a out of eleven
on a scale of one to ten in intensity and physicality.
And there's just so much more want to and more
electricity with the Nuggets in the first half than there
is with the Lakers. Like you could tell the Lakers
start where the way they played this first say okay,
(03:05):
let's just stay in striking distance. We'll get it into
ten and a halftime, and that's where going and it
didn't happen. Yokic is dominant and the exact thing that
happening that can't happen is Jokic's dominant, and you're getting
it from other sources as well. Right, you saw Michael
Porter Junior at ten, Murray's got seventeen, and Brown off
the bench with fourteen, five out of nine from the floor. Like,
(03:27):
this is what's killing the Lakers. It's not Jokics. Look,
Yokic is great that he's proving that he's the real MVP,
not Joel EmpId, but it's the other guys that are
killing the Lakers. It's Brown off the bench with fourteen
and you can't let Murray go nuts too. I expect
the defense on Murray to be a little bit better
than it was. So that's kind of where it is.
It can't get any worse for the Lakers. But wow,
everything that the Lakers have been coming into this game,
(03:50):
they have not been able to do any of it
according to plan. And it's been the Nuggets who have
just had They've just had a better everything in the
first half so far.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Yeah, I mean, you hangar had on your team defense,
you start shrewder thinking you need a little bit more
offense with with Vanderbilt off the court and He looked
really good, though we'll see if he returns those clothes
to a Denver luxury story here tomorrow. But especially that
man bag he was carrying. But you know, the extra passes,
(04:22):
and we saw a little bit from Lebron and the
quick hands or whatever. But with the the Nuggets, they're
just getting out and running and in transition, you're you're
going with the extra man uh making the extra pass.
And I know a lot's made of Jokic and and
what he does getting up and down the court, and
I was waiting for more pictures of him as the
(04:42):
little kid that we see so often, kind of like
the Andy Reid punt pass kick video that's always thrown
in that we'd be seeing, you know, young Jokic uh
sitting there eating a chocolate bar or whatever that picture was.
But he's getting out in transition and he's got multiple
options with him at all times. And for the Lakers,
(05:03):
they just didn't match that intensity. And saw four minutes
in people talking about the altitude. I'm like, four minutes in,
come on, you want to tell me in the third quarter,
fourth quarter it's kicking in, but you're telling me you
got punched in the face that fast, dude, that's come on, Yeah,
that's for me.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Like, hey, I'm I'm like Matt Damon at the end
of air. Why it's running. I can't run. I'm not right,
I'm so funny. That's it, man, this is I'm stupid.
This is running. That's exactly me how I feel about running.
This is just stupid. Why would Anyboddy run? This is dumb.
Like that's like me getting off the plane and like
walking to the baggage plane going hey man, I'm a
(05:41):
I need to stop for a second. Man, I'm not
this is this This is not for the Lakers getting
ready to play there, you know, get play in the
first quarter. Hey, the altitude's getting us man, nah, not quite,
not quite on that. I was just laughing about it.
But like I started seeing that on socials immediately, and.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
It's really come on, man, it's like fourth quarter and
you want to see, Hey, they've got an eight point lead.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
That balloons to eighteen. All right, let's talk about it.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Let's get a heavy feed, heavy legs, whatever, But that
early in a game. Come on, now, let's be real
about it. But you know, the hyperbole is there for
yo kitchen and you're gonna read all the thought pieces,
you know, whether you're online now, and certainly you know,
we got to do a little bit of the fawning
and gushing over what he does as a big man
(06:26):
to facilitate. But to your point, the fact that there's
been no answer for Murray, there's been no answer for Brown,
who's run the floor with reckless Vanda. He got one
of the halftime interviews and like, well, what's working for
He's like, I'm getting everything.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Everything.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
He's like, I'm getting space and he's finding me. It's like,
what else can I tell you? Like, because that was
the big thing transition buckets. I mean, they moved the ball,
the extra pass, a little quick flip out to the
to the edges.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
It was a thing of beauty to watch.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Sorry prosper but I mean it was The reality was
they moved the ball well and they played a perfect
half of basketball. They can they sustain because Lebron James
driving in. The opportunities are going to be there. This
is gonna be incumbent upon these other guys to cash in.
You had ad Lebron and Ruy Hachimura in the first half.
(07:21):
They did the job. Everybody else was six of twenty,
including a number of open looks from Austin Reeves where
towards the end of the half he had a couple
of open looks and he was reticent to shoot. That
effect is real.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Tonight, Joe. Brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Progressive makes
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We'll have more on Game one of the Western Conference Finals.
The Lakers have cut it to sixteen. So the Nuggets
lead right now seventy eight to sixty two. They are
(07:54):
very early in the third quarter, still nine and a
half to go. TV time out now elsewhere. And let
me just say, because we talk about this every year
and every year the NBA, I failed to understand how
they don't take advantage of this. The other big story
if to well, Doc got fired, Oh it's my fault.
Apparently that's my fault. The other big.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Story, like we didn't call that coming a week again,
the spur. You know what though at the end of
the year evaluation, he met expectations, I met him, but
Apparently it was exactly what we thought he was.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
How was that my fault? I don't know why it's
my fault. I coached greaton game one. In Game four
when James scored forty, I won. What do you want
the other nights I did. It's not my fault, he
kept saying. But you're saying it's my fault. Now the
Spurs win the draft lottery. Many many upset NBA fans
who were sitting here going Remember the old commercial for
the NBA Playoffs for TNT when it was Tuesday Wednesday Thursday.
(08:47):
All the players one of the games, Tuesday Wednesday, Thursday,
Tuesday Wednesday, Thursday lot He was in it, Tuesday Wednesday, Thursday.
Everybody he's going. Everybody is going. Robinson Duncan, Victor Robinson, Duncan.
How do they get the best big men of their generation?
David Robinson, Oh, Tim Duncan. Now they've got Victor Wembin Yama,
all of these things. Everybody is wrapped up. It's such
(09:08):
a big deal. Right, Why does this now have to
take a back seat to a game that is going
to blow the importance of the draft lottery out of
the water. Right, you have game one of the Western
Conference Finals and Nuggets and the Lakers. Why are you
jamming in the draft lottery before a game in the
(09:29):
Western Conference? I don't understand. And every year they do this.
You have a night nothing going on, make it Draft
lottery Night. Now, some years it's gonna be better than others,
because some years you're gonna have a great one time
all the greatest prospects since Lebron and Wembin Yama and
he's that good when I thought Zion was anyway, No,
some years is gonna be great. Some years it's gonna be. Well,
(09:50):
who's the number one? Picking a B We're open to trades,
we're looking for this. But some but the NBA Draft
Lottery is a thing. It is and has been a thing,
and it can more than stand on its own. Why
would you not have this on a night when you
would be able to own the news cycle? And last
yesterday you have the draft lottery. It's the story all night,
it's the story all day today. And then we're into
(10:11):
the Western Conference Finals. Why the NBA's we're gonna shoehorn
this thing? And I don't get it. And every year
they do it, Every year they do it. They don't
have to. They can easily make that change. If the
NBA called me and said, Jason, we need you to
to really consult with us on things, what would you do.
I would say, give me draft lottery drawing night, bake
it on a night where there's no game, and they
would all go, oh, that's a good idea. This guy's
(10:32):
pretty smart. While we should have hired this guy earlier. Man,
what else do you think? Get the Knicks into the
Western Eastern Conference finals every year and look those two things,
the league will be great. But I mean, seriously, you
look at tonight and Wembin Yama is such a big story,
and here's and all the all the frozen envelope theories
come up, and it's so much fun. It's a great
day for everybody.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Top of it around for another couple of years. Gives
him a reward for being a good, good guy for
the league all these years.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Blah blah blah. There's a lot of them out there,
you know, like like why do we do it? You know?
If I you know, let's just say this. There's things
we all do with our kids, right, I'm not gonna
plan to take my daughter to the mall on a
shopping spree on a day we're going to six flags, Like,
why would you do? Why? No, let's let's have the
special day to go shopping. Let's have the special day.
(11:19):
Why are we gonna go go shopping in the morning
and then six flags after? Why are we doing this?
Why we're taking away from the day. We're rushing through things.
We're not getting the shopping spree at the mall that
we were supposed to we're not getting. We're gonna get
there late and not be able to ride all the rides.
Why does the NBA do this? Why does the NBA?
Every single year they do this? And this is a
year where they could have had a three hour pre show.
We can learn all about Victor wembin Yama and why
(11:41):
he plays for a team called the Mets, which I
thought was pretty cool. Hey plays to the met Mets
ninety two by the Jersey. No, but because the ninety
two Mets were terrible, that was like Jeremy Burnitt's and
Dallas Green was out of the ninety two Mets were
awful and they were just yeah, no they didn't. Twenty
twenty three Mets are bad too, So there's that as well.
(12:02):
But why. I don't understand how the NBA doesn't do it.
I really don't get why they did they do this.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
I think the curiosity to me would be to get
in the room. It's like you guys spin around like
you're you're doing the curly shuffle and you're you're on
the floor going chasing your tail, trying to figure out
how you make more made for TV events because you're
watching the NFL eat your launch on Christmas Day now
and everything else. You're having this in season tournament that
(12:30):
you're so excited about. Yet you've got the planest day
made for TV event every year that you don't take
advantage of. I really following all over yourself. How do
we do this? Well, let's change the start time. Maybe
fifteen minutes earlier will be good for us. We can
do this. We can now all these different parts of
the equation that you're trying to manipulate. And even when
(12:53):
there's no quote generational talent, even when there's none of
those guys, it's still of interest enough to bastetball fans
for footage and content on a day off if nothing else,
you start tying all these guys back in and start
talking about your superstars and who they fit best with
or who they compare To grab a few of those
(13:14):
guys that have been bounced from the playoffs that aren't
being recruited overseas by Dwight Howard and bring them in
and talk to them right about all the different young
players and how they fit into the NBA.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
It's just asinine. It's just such a waste.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
They even sent a Windhorst over there to do a
seventy second interview.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Well, the Lakers come back late, but not enough. The
Nuggets take Game one of the Western Conference Finals one
thirty two to one twenty six over the Lakers. And
let me just say this before we get onto the
NBA Draft lottery, this is what I mean, Mike went
you see this performance they have tonight where Jokic goes
ridiculous thirty four, twenty one and fourteen, and Murray scores
(14:07):
thirty one, and kcp's got twenty one and Gordon's got twelve,
and Michael Porter Junior's got fifteen and ten and oh,
by the way, off the bench, sixteen points tonight for
Bruce Brown, who Darvinham talked about before the game, saying, hey,
he's a big X this team. You watch the Nuggets play,
and yes, anything they wanted to do tonight they did.
(14:27):
You want to think the Lakers are gonna be able
to adjust. But this is why I say it's now
or never for the Nuggets, Like this is the year,
this is they win the time. They don't win the
title this year, I don't know when they can. It's
now or never. They have the best pedigree of any
team left in the playoffs. They are the most talented,
they are the healthiest. All of this is true for
(14:48):
Denver and this is their time because if when else
are you gonna do it? When you gotta go on
the road more when you have to, when you don't
finish the time they finish number one in the NBA
And here they are in the Western Conference Finals and
they have home court advantage and they win Game one.
If you saw they had all their tools on display tonight.
They were focused, they were physical, they were everything we
talked about. This is it. It's now or never for Denver.
(15:10):
I no, no, no, I know that he's still young
as cross. But if you're not gonna do it here
with this team, when are you ever gonna do it?
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Start singing here it's now or never by Elvis, let's
get after it or never. Yeah that's right, good, nicely
there you go. Yeah, I got you right into that
that flow. Uh, but I think you triple underscore the
healthiest that you've been because this is the team you've
been waiting to see with the Denver Nuggets in meaningful
games down the stretch and into the playoffs. Jamal Murray
(15:41):
at his best, Michael Porter Junior playing like the guy
they expected, because remember he's he's a guy that's had
some uneven times. They're defensively, health wise, attitude wise, all
of that playing in as to wanting to maybe be
the one A and now seemingly settled in and okay
with the fact that most nights he's going to be
(16:01):
the third guy, but he's got to come ready to
play fifteen to ten tonight.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Jamal Murray healthy, ready to go.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
We'd seen glimpses of this guy, and you know what
Jokich is so ADKCP add Gordon, who was out on
the break and making things happen as he and with
Jokich as the trigger man, that you've got things flowing
and you've got the home court advantage. Take the altitude
thing and try to ascribe whatever value you think there
(16:31):
is to it. Certainly the crowd fantastic and into it
from the outset in this one, some anxious moments, but
usually Denver had an answer to get the crowd right
back on their feet. But it's it's set up beautifully
between all the injuries that other teams have sustained, the
even looking at their current opponent, with the Lakers like
(16:53):
what they've done defensively until tonight, you'll like what you've
got both Ad and le Bron on the court. Okay,
a huge win, but trying to figure out which of
the others are going to be consistent for you and
maybe Hachimura on Jokic is the thing that propels things forward. Right,
very quiet fourth quarter for Nikola Jokic as the Lakers
(17:16):
clawed back into this game. So maybe they found a
little bit of something and maybe that's why Darvin Ham
was smiling, going, yes, excellent, trust me, we've got this.
We've got things we haven't even shown you yet it's
Game one of the Western Conference Finals. Don't worry, we
got more. But maybe it's Mobamba all of a sudden,
he's activated and ready to fly around, just so we
(17:38):
can say Mobamba. But it is for the Nuggets because
you have no idea how long this stretches, right, big men,
and Jokic has been healthy. Knockwood that that continues. But
as we know all teams, everybody wants to get not
only they're re upped, but their opportunity to be the
one or the two without question and having everybody fawn
(18:03):
all over them. When you're playing in Denver alongside Jokic,
you're only gonna get so many headlines and how long
does that last before you know they break them up?
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Now, the other part of it is this because already
you're seeing tons of Hey the Lakers, boy, I feel
good after the Lakers loss. Right, This is kind of
the way that I feel like in college football if
my team is playing a big power and they play
pretty well and lose a game like twenty eight to fourteen,
Oh hey, hey, Syracuse played Clemson really tough man. We
(18:37):
were thirty point underdogs. You wound up with hey, twenty
eight to fourteen. That's a pretty good loss. I'm pretty excited.
Maybe the rest of the season will win some of
the games we have to. Yes, there are moral victories
and sports, there are such thing as good losses. Something
like that is a good loss. If your team in
the NFL has a young quarterback and you know, Week two,
(19:01):
he throws for three seventy five and four touchdowns, but
you lose thirty seven to thirty five, you can say, hey,
that was a good loss. Man, the future is bright.
I'm digging our quarterback. I man was waiting for that
to be Zach Wilson, but it just never happened. I'm
digging that fat.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
No.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
That okay, that is a good loss. That's there are
no such things as moral losses or good losses. In
the NBA playoffs. There is either a win or a loss.
And that's what happened tonight. And there's gonna be a
lot of you're gonna see this in the next twenty
four hours. Hey, I feel proud of the way the
Lakers fought back, and hey, the Nuggets aren't gonna make
shots like that again. And you gotta think you're feeling
(19:37):
pretty good if you're the left. Every game is its
own thing. You see in the NBA playoffs a team
win by thirty and then lose by thirty the next game.
It happens that way. You are what you are. I'm
gonna go Bill Parcels on you. You are what you are.
This series is one nothing Nuggets into a must win
Game two for the Lakers, and what we saw was
the Nuggets do anything they wanted to offensively, and the
(20:00):
Lakers have to claw back to get back in this game.
You are what you are. It's one nothing Nuggets and
it's nothing else. It's not all it's gonna be. Even
say oh, it's gonna be a long series. Now, it
doesn't have to be a long series. There is unless
the script is out there that I don't have, and
Arian Foster knows, Hey, the script is out there. Unless
you don't have to sit here and say, oh, it's
gonna be. No, because it doesn't have to be a
long series, doesn't have to be. You can think it's
(20:21):
going to be because the game was close, but does
that really mean the series is gonna be close. No
deep can lose four close games. We've seen it many
times before. The Lakers lost a close game tonight, the
Nuggets won a close game, and the Nuggets win another
close game, and they win the third close game where
people are gonna say, oh, it's still a seven game series,
because look it's these are three close games and Nuggets win.
(20:42):
Now the series is over. This comes in the Game
two is everything for the Lakers, all right. No such
thing as a good loss, no moral defeats. A loss
is a loss, and a win is a win. It's
one nothing Nuggets, and it's a must win Game two
for the Lakers. That's what to take away from this game.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
I would say that in the most retaining part of
it coming out of this is well, the Lakers will
make an adjustment here here here, Yeah, and Mike Malone
or Mike.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Call Michael, gotta call him Michael. Why why do I
gotta call them Michael? No, it's Mike tonight, Jason, Mike. Yeah. Yeah,
he's gonna sit on his ass and do nothing.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
They're not gonna look at the tape and see anything
that might have allowed the Lakers to get back into
the game.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Yeah, now, canceling practice next to that, Hey, guys about practice.
You know what?
Speaker 3 (21:29):
You can go to Vegas for the next twenty four
or forty eight hours. Go go find a nice spa day,
Go find yourself, you know, a little espresso martini or
two roll.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Some craps have at it.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
You know, just go go crazy, uh and we'll see
you know, just get here about an hour before tip off.
I think we should be good. Come on, man, like
be better than that, Like, because that's the analysis. Look
at all the things the Lakers are gonna do. It's like, okay,
point counterpoints. The Nuggets realized they almost gave this game
away despite some historic numbers earlier enough to hold on.
(22:05):
And when the chips are down, if you can keep
Lebron James out of the lane and relegate him to
taking three point shots, I think you're.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Feeling pretty good about that.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
However, a lot of things to work on for the
way that the fourth quarter went, especially the coverage on Jokic.
What they're gonna just say, well, you know what, he's
gonna get neutralized in the fourth, So we're really gonna
need a big lead because Ruy Hachimura is gonna come
in and shut him down or in certain defender here
just asinine like it's not one sided.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Everybody makes adjustments in game after. I mean they acclimated
at halftime, like, what what happened? Lebron? What are we doing? Then? Listen,
the Lakers are gonna play Webbin Yama. They're gonna start
him next game. It's gonna be fine. That's that's how
it's gonna work. If only they'd been in the lottery,
they might have found it now. And now, look, it's
(22:56):
gonna play point guard instead of Dennis Shrewder and that
you're gonna get a lot better.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
Well, here's just another big man for the Spurs, Popovich,
you might retire, he might be done. Hey, Pop, how
about the guy from all Right, let's go, let's ride.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
I'm glad you brought that up right because now, because
the NBA game one of the Western Conference Finals shares
the spotlight tonight with the NBA Draft LTD. We've talked
about why the NBA doesn't have the Draft Lottery on
a different night. It doesn't make any sense. Why would
you not have it on a night where can stand
by itself and be its own news cycle. No, the
NBA blows this, but they have the Draft Lottery tonight,
(23:32):
and look, the prize is Victor Webbin Yama and you
saw today all the plaudit's coming his way. I think
Woj called him these the greatest prospect to come into
the game since Lebron. I'm like, we said that about
Zion a couple of years and we kind of do that,
so I understand, Hey, this is a guy with us
the seven to four, with a skill set unlike anything
(23:53):
we've seen. He could be an even better Yannis. The
guy's like a real life Transformer and he could be great.
And you're gonna say, oh my god, Jason, you always
get excited the littlest thing. But let me just say this, right,
because when we talk about guys coming into the league,
it's exciting that you win the draft lottery. And here
are the Spurs who every ten to twenty years are
gonna draft the generational big man, right, David Robinson. Then
(24:16):
they win for Tim Duncan. Now they win for Wembinyama. Right,
you're gonna say, Jason, you're insane. I like getting excited,
and it's excited at the prospect that you're getting a
guy that everybody thinks is gonna be great. Sure, the
thing is he could be honest, he could be Zion.
He could end up being Greg Odin. I mean, that's
(24:37):
the whole thing. Yes, this guy is the size, the strength,
he's the whole package, and he could be great, but
he also might not be. And that's where you have
to sit here and say, I need to see it
on the field before I go absolutely crazy over a guy.
I need to see it on the court before I
go absolutely crazy over a guy. I was excited about Zion,
wanted the Knicks to get him. But in the end,
(24:58):
it's like, Okay, let's see. Hey, wow, guy runs up
and down the floor. It's unbelievable. Feel he'll he's gonna
lead the league and field goal percentage every single year.
But guess what, he can't stay on the floor. And
it could be and I'm not saying he needs to
be an injury thing, but it could be an effective
it could be I don't know, right, but it's exciting.
But to sit here and say he's transforming the league,
he's doing all these things. I thought Kay Cunningham was
(25:20):
going to transform the Pistons put him in the playoffs, right,
That obviously has not happened. And and there's so many
things because either a guy can't stay on the floor,
he's an effective in the end, he's a prospect, and
it's great to have a good one because you want
to be excited about things.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
Is a beautiful and dangerous thing.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
But be realistic that, Okay, he's supposed to be great.
Maybe he is, maybe he's not. And that's kind of
where I am when I when you win draft lotteries
and be able to pick where you can and go
for the go from there. Hey, he got the long
road begins with the first step.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
And if you can get people just all in in
a giant synchronized, uh swimming kind of thing, all the
NBA insiders to kiss this guy's ass and welcome into
the league. I mean, it's good for the league. Let's
get the hype machine going rigged.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern seven
pm Pacific.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
On the Hotline. Longtime NBA insider friend of the show,
Mark Medina, you can follow him on Twitter at Mark
g Underscore Medina covering the Western Conference finals, Mark, what's
happening to my man? How are you?
Speaker 4 (26:29):
I am doing well? You want to hear some magic?
Johnson tweets no, no, no, we played.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
The game in a few minutes. No no, no, no no,
we play the game. We play the game. I don't
want to hear them yet. Okay, unless you've written one yourself, I.
Speaker 4 (26:40):
Will do the opposite that. I don't have sharp opinions
and strong analysis. I won't state the obvious.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Well, that's why we have the Magic Johnson twitter game.
I give you a really vanilla and obvious tweet. You
have to decide if it's me making up the tweet
or if it's a real Magic Johnson tweet.
Speaker 4 (26:56):
Oh my gosh, that is one great game, and it's
honestly one game. But I also played on the Lakers foot.
Always fun times.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
All right, So here's where I'm at following Game one. Yes,
I get that the Lakers were able to come back.
There's no moral victories in the NBA playoffs. The Lakers
defense got embarrassed and you kind of are what you
are and this is one nothing Denver, how are you
on this?
Speaker 4 (27:21):
No moral victories? But I also don't think the series
is over. I think that, you know, what appeared to
be an overwhelming dominant performance by the Nuggets suddenly became
a competitive game, and so I think that's going to
be the theme of the series throughout, where it's just
going to be a lot of murkiness, a lot of
you know, competitive basketball that may look ugly at times,
(27:43):
pretty at other times, and a lot of unpredictability unpredictability
in between. And so, yeah, the Nuggets are in the control.
They won Game one, but there certainly is a recipe
for the Lakers not only to make this competitive, but
to actually win it. So yeah, Buck Goldens strap up
for a seven gamer.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
Mark the coming out of this game. Jason and I
were just talking about a little earlier. Ruy Hachimura becomes
the most important man for the Lakers, palysshay.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
Let's build a statue outside of Crypto dot com marial
while with Austin Reeves, I mean, I think they've already
been been compliants for him anyway, so why not include
two role players.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Well, they can't afford him, so he's not going to
be there long enough.
Speaker 4 (28:26):
To Oh yeah, you know what's really disappointing, all these
plays and performances that he's showing, it's ultimately just going
to end up in the tribute video next season.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
That's true. You know something you wrote about I wanted
to get to here your your latest five takeaways for
the for game one on Sports Not. You can get
it right now at sportsnot dot com. The beginning of
the game, the Lakers looked like, hey, we're a stick
to the plan kind of team, and the Nuggets came
out with fire and physicality and a sense of focus
(28:56):
and desperation, and the Lakers spent most of the game
chasing it. I was really surprised that this is how
the series started. And I know we're going to hear
about altitude and all kinds of stuff. What do you
think of how this game began and the Nuggets get
out to a lead that they don't give up.
Speaker 4 (29:11):
Yeah, I wasn't surprised with how tired they looked. You
hit the nail on the head with the altitude, but
I think that it's one of those things that as
much as they can overcome that eventually, That's usually what
happens when teams visit Denver. The reality is the condensed
nature of the schedule now kicks in. You know they're
going to start playing every other day and that's going
to start providing more wear and tear. And I think
(29:33):
the other thing is the Lakers were hoping that having
three days of recovery, having an extra day of practice
in Denver could help mitigate that. But I think to
their credit, they fought through it. They obviously were able
to adjust to it later in the game, but I
also was a little disappointed for the Laker's sake that
they didn't do themselves any favors. Look like, no one's
(29:54):
going to stop Nikola Yoka. She's a two time MVP
first season, but why start the game with a small
lineup where you're just going to get owned on the
boards and inside. To the Lakers credit, they adjusted those
different things. Anthony Davis I thought had a tremendous performance
on both ends of the floor. But I think that
this illustrates that there's very little margin for error against
(30:17):
a team like the Nuggets. There is the number one
seed for reasons, so again, strap up your seatbelts. It's
going to be a turbulent ride.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Yeah, Mark to that point, the smaller lineup looking for offense,
I mean Lebron James with a lot of addition and
open looks that just didn't fall early to help build
the giant bucket with no rebounding it falls, but eventually
shots starts, so I guess it kind of evens itself out.
(30:46):
But when you're clawing back from such a big deficit,
you know you're just for Darvin Ham. The early decisions
just come back to haunt him.
Speaker 4 (30:56):
Yeah, and I presume that Darvin Ham made needs to say, thinking, Hey,
when they're gonna zig, we're gonna zag. You know, trying
to match up size for size is harder for Jokics
because he's just a dominant big. But I think that
that played inst the Nuggets' hands because he could kick
it out to shooters. They're draining it from three. And
(31:16):
while it's not like these players are like dramatic game changers,
it showed that every little thing matters in the series.
When they matched up against the Nuggets in the Bubble
three years ago, they had some physical big men like
Dwight Howard and Javelle McGee to throw bodies at Nikola
Jokic with the idea of just giving them multiple looks,
(31:37):
trying to wear them out. And so this idea of
trying to beat the Nuggets with size and speed, it
just didn't seem to cut it. Now. Again, they did
change some things later on where they're having Ad become
the help defender as opposed to the primary defender, but
they still only played Jared Vennerbilt ten minutes. I mean,
he is their best interior defender hind Ad, Winy and Gabriel.
(32:02):
I know he's a young player, but he's at least
a tall body that they can throw at. So maybe
that's a wrinkle they do in game two, But I thought,
why not just see that from the beginning?
Speaker 1 (32:11):
Look, why not just play web Minyama. If he's that good,
just grabman put him in the game. He's the greatest
prospect in the history of the NBA's him in.
Speaker 4 (32:20):
Yeah, they could. They could have flown to France and
kidnapped him before Pop could get them and treat him
to wine. Right the way with web min Yama, I mean,
I know that we know that the Spurs are going
to draft him, but I just found it hilarious that
everyone's just saying the quiet part out loud. You know,
the telecasts is asking Victor, how do you think about
the Spurs drafting you? Like they just landed the number
(32:42):
one pick. It's not like they selected him, but you
know everyone knows that's inevitable. It was amusing.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
It would be kind of funny if Pop decided to
out think the room though. Yeah, here I got this gift,
but you know what, forget it.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
I'm out.
Speaker 4 (32:54):
All of a sudden, they become the Oklahoma City Thunder
and they decide, you know what, what's stock up on
a you know, treasure chest of draft picks? So we
can use this at some point down the line instead of,
you know, use the draft pick for a generational talent.
That would be pretty funny.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Now here's the thing. So when we look at the
and I go through this all the time, mark because
I just don't understand why the NBA has an off
night last night, right, Why don't you have the Draft
lottery night on a night where there's no game. Why
you can own the night. It's a big enough thing
where you can have this be the story all day
(33:32):
yesterday leading up to the Draft lottery, when by some
years it's going to be bigger because some years there's
a great guy at number one, other years there isn't.
But it's such a big deal, and yet every year
the NBA just tries to shoehorn it in the same
night as game one of one of the conference finals
and it gets dwarf because we're talking Lakers Nuggets when
the NBA. I don't know why they didn't do this
(33:52):
last night. I don't understand.
Speaker 4 (33:54):
Yeah, I agree with you completely. Now, it's not like
the NBA hasn't thought of these things. I think that
they're Why is the same idea that you know, a
lot of shows want to show a really good episode
after the Super Bowl, right like people are still going
to be having the TV on and they might tune
in out of curiosity. Same idea, have the draft lottery
(34:14):
take place before a Marquee game that people are going
to watch. But I'm with you that whatever advantage that
has with promoting the game, it's going to just get
lost in the news cycle. And they can build up
even more of a news cycle with having it the
day before and last I checked. If you have it
a day before, you can promote the following game the
next day. Right, So I'm with you one hundred percent.
(34:37):
But it just goes to show that, you know, maybe
this doesn't change. I mean, just think years from now
when they have this amazing, you know, mid season tournament
that no one understands how it works. Don't worry, They're
going to have the draft lottery announcement before it happens, as.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
We were talking about it before, right, you're having your
lunch eaten by the NFL, who'd take a chance for
every date possible. And then here it's like we're gonna
have this a mid season tournament. But you know what,
this will just jam in for ten minutes ahead of
a game.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
So I don't know. I don't understand how this works.
It doesn't matter. We're having the draft lottery. It's all
right now, it doesn't.
Speaker 4 (35:11):
Exactly it is. It is a diversion. It's a perfect diversion, and.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
It's all gonna be decided by kids on big wheels
or a baby crawling race. As we go, Mark Medina
with us here, Jason Smith Show, Mike Carmon with you
from the tiraq dot Com Fox Sports Radio studios. So,
who's the next superstar to get a coach fired? Do
we have anybody left that can still get get ousted
(35:36):
based on a no show? I say this obviously facetiously,
as we have Doc Rivers and Monty Williams unceremoniously domped
to end the week.
Speaker 4 (35:45):
Yeah, well, look, Jason, he might be worried about Tom Thibodeau,
what he's gonna do right now. I don't worry Timms
is there to stay. He's a culture changer. He's elevating
the best the best out of the group. But you
don't just wait till next year. My friend.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
Art Joel Embiid next year, I'm fine, he's going to
one out of Philadela. If you're gonna get Embid, it's
gonna be great.
Speaker 4 (36:12):
Wow that Jalen Brunton Joel Embiid duo amazing. I don't
know if it's enough though for Victor Webbnama against San Antonio,
you know, to answer your.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
Question about hey, he's going one on five, Mark, Come.
Speaker 4 (36:26):
On now, how about this answer your question about the
head coaches. Look, it's all wait and see. I don't
think that of the remaining teams that you know, Darvin
Ham's not going anywhere. He just got hired. First year
head coaches don't get fired. I don't think Michael Malone's
going to go anywhere. I don't think Eric Spolsu is
going to go anywhere because the Miami Heat actually values
(36:46):
head coaches. You know, last I checked, Lebron James even
flowed the idea of him getting tossed and they weren't
having that Joe Mizzool first year head coach. But I think,
you know, look at ty Lou as the possible domino
to fall out of it with the Clippers. The Clippers
have made it clear that, you know, he's not going
anywhere as far as they're concerned. They gave him vote
of confidence after the first round exit, saying it had
(37:09):
more to do with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George being
heard and that even though the Clippers were struggling, he
did a good job with handling rotations, doing adjustments, et cetera.
But you know, maybe the Sons go after them the
same way that the Clippers went after Doc Rivers when
he was with the Celtics, and they wind up negotiating
negotiating a trade. Now, I think to the Son's disadvantage,
(37:31):
they don't have a lot of assets to offer, you know,
the Clippers, unless they just want to give away Kevin
Durant and Devin Booker for free. But you know, that
is a thing that could start some serious conversations. But
other than that, I think the other head coaches are
here to stay. But I think the ironic part is
of all the fired coaches, it's inevitable that some of
(37:54):
them are going to become the new we hired coaches
for the other vacancies. So, you know, Manti Williams just
got fired by the Suns. Now all of a sudden,
he might be a favorite for the Sixers coaching vacancy.
Maybe Mike Bordenholzer is a favorite for the Sun's vacancy
after the Bucks fired him. It shows that, you know,
all these coaches I think did a reasonably good job,
but they're always the first scapegoat. But it's also the
(38:17):
nature that you know, doesn't take long for other teams
to then recycle them through.
Speaker 1 (38:22):
Maybe you're on the list again. You didn't get the
Lakers job last year, you're on the list again.
Speaker 4 (38:26):
You know what? I think that the thing that I
have going against me is that a few things. If
they asked the Lakers for reference checks, they're going to say, ah,
he was so bad in the interview process, and then
they're going to hear my takes on your show. Or
I'm just giving my opinion about any team and not
caring what the reaction is. So it's a double whammy here.
(38:48):
I already withdrew myself by default with all these things.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
He's on Twitter at Mark g Underscore Medina. That's at
Mark g Underscore Medina, longtime NBA reporter and insight. Check
out his latest the five Big Takeaways of the Nuggets
Game one win over the Lakers, right there on Sports
Not Mark as always, buddy, appreciate it, man, We'll talk
to you soon.
Speaker 4 (39:10):
I appreciate you guys and hanging there from New York.
It's gonna work out.
Speaker 3 (39:13):
Okay, all right, thank you, saying Mark, he do you
have to drive by on your knicks exit? But I mean,
with all these high profile coaches, former Coaches of the
Year and contenders on the marketplace, I think I'd be
nervous hour as a head coach. I'm probably gonna get
called to do another power point before it's all said
none to continue to keep my job.
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Carmen podcast. Be sure to catch us
live every weeknight from ten pm to two am Eastern
seven to eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find
your local station for The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every night on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Wow. This is the best of the Jason Smith Show
with Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Happy Tuesday, The Jason Smith Show with My bass friend
Mike Harmon, Well Dressed Hobo live from the ti iraq
dot com Studios, Tirec dot com. I'll help you get
there an unmatched selection, fast, free shipping, free road hazard protection,
and over ten thousand recommended installers Tirec dot com the
way tire buying should be well. I will say this,
(00:51):
Mike Carmon, if you're if you are looking for a
glass half full for the Lakers after that first half,
can't get any worse, can't get Denver, can't play any better,
and it can't get anywhere outside of that.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Yij J. Well, you know what was interesting is coming
out of the first quarter you're sitting there going I
would have said the same thing.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Right.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
It's like, hey, you're only down twelve. You have out
rebounded what like twenty twenty two to six, and Denver
had nine offensive rebounds in the first quarter, obviously, Jokic eight,
twelve and five, all of these things, and Anthony Davis
six points one rebound. They're like, hey, dude, the Lakers,
(01:31):
you're feeling pretty good. Well Davis now has eighteen. It
doesn't matter because there's no answer. And you look at
the up and down game, Lebron James doing a lot
of driving to the bucket and shots just aren't falling.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
They've had a lot of open.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Looks and that's the one thing for Darvin Ham and
company going back into the locker room. All right, we're
getting the opportunities off of Lebron drives. Now we just
have to finish. But yeah, that was boy, that was something,
wasn't it.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Oh? Man? I'll tell you know. The thing is it
kind of breaks down pretty easy, right, like sometimes there's
this there's what we're talking about the first half of
the game. To take it easybody first. I don't know.
It could be the best that it ever gets for me,
so I'm doing it right now. But but here's the
thing is that sometimes you can say, well, I'm watching
(02:22):
this and the Lakers on off their foot, But it
basically comes down to this is the Lakers came into
the game and you could see them play their body language,
their focus. There was a let's stick to the plan mentality. Right.
There was no let's grab the series right away. It's
let's stick to the plan. We've seen this happen before
during the playoffs. They start out slow, but teams can't
put them away and they eat back away at it. Right.
(02:44):
They came into a let's stick to the plan mentality,
and Denver came out with a blank all of you,
we are going to be at a out of eleven
on a scale of one to ten in intensity and physicality.
And there's just so much more want to and more
electricity with the Nuggets in the first half than there
is with the Lakers. Like you could tell the Lakers
start where the way they played this first say okay,
(03:05):
let's just stay in striking distance. We'll get it into
ten and a halftime, and that's where going and it
didn't happen. Yokic is dominant and the exact thing that
happening that can't happen is Jokic's dominant, and you're getting
it from other sources as well. Right, you saw Michael
Porter Junior at ten, Murray's got seventeen, and Brown off
the bench with fourteen, five out of nine from the floor. Like,
(03:27):
this is what's killing the Lakers. It's not Jokics. Look,
Yokic is great that he's proving that he's the real MVP,
not Joel EmpId, but it's the other guys that are
killing the Lakers. It's Brown off the bench with fourteen
and you can't let Murray go nuts too. I expect
the defense on Murray to be a little bit better
than it was. So that's kind of where it is.
It can't get any worse for the Lakers. But wow,
everything that the Lakers have been coming into this game,
(03:50):
they have not been able to do any of it
according to plan. And it's been the Nuggets who have
just had They've just had a better everything in the
first half so far.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Yeah, I mean, you hangar had on your team defense,
you start shrewder thinking you need a little bit more
offense with with Vanderbilt off the court and He looked
really good, though we'll see if he returns those clothes
to a Denver luxury story here tomorrow. But especially that
man bag he was carrying. But you know, the extra passes,
(04:22):
and we saw a little bit from Lebron and the
quick hands or whatever. But with the the Nuggets, they're
just getting out and running and in transition, you're you're
going with the extra man uh making the extra pass.
And I know a lot's made of Jokic and and
what he does getting up and down the court, and
I was waiting for more pictures of him as the
(04:42):
little kid that we see so often, kind of like
the Andy Reid punt pass kick video that's always thrown
in that we'd be seeing, you know, young Jokic uh
sitting there eating a chocolate bar or whatever that picture was.
But he's getting out in transition and he's got multiple
options with him at all times. And for the Lakers,
(05:03):
they just didn't match that intensity. And saw four minutes
in people talking about the altitude. I'm like, four minutes in,
come on, you want to tell me in the third quarter,
fourth quarter it's kicking in, but you're telling me you
got punched in the face that fast, dude, that's come on, Yeah,
that's for me.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Like, hey, I'm I'm like Matt Damon at the end
of air. Why it's running. I can't run. I'm not right,
I'm so funny. That's it, man, this is I'm stupid.
This is running. That's exactly me how I feel about running.
This is just stupid. Why would Anyboddy run? This is dumb.
Like that's like me getting off the plane and like
walking to the baggage plane going hey man, I'm a
(05:41):
I need to stop for a second. Man, I'm not
this is this This is not for the Lakers getting
ready to play there, you know, get play in the
first quarter. Hey, the altitude's getting us man, nah, not quite,
not quite on that. I was just laughing about it.
But like I started seeing that on socials immediately, and.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
It's really come on, man, it's like fourth quarter and
you want to see, Hey, they've got an eight point lead.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
That balloons to eighteen. All right, let's talk about it.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Let's get a heavy feed, heavy legs, whatever, But that
early in a game. Come on, now, let's be real
about it. But you know, the hyperbole is there for
yo kitchen and you're gonna read all the thought pieces,
you know, whether you're online now, and certainly you know,
we got to do a little bit of the fawning
and gushing over what he does as a big man
(06:26):
to facilitate. But to your point, the fact that there's
been no answer for Murray, there's been no answer for Brown,
who's run the floor with reckless Vanda. He got one
of the halftime interviews and like, well, what's working for
He's like, I'm getting everything.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Everything.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
He's like, I'm getting space and he's finding me. It's like,
what else can I tell you? Like, because that was
the big thing transition buckets. I mean, they moved the ball,
the extra pass, a little quick flip out to the
to the edges.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
It was a thing of beauty to watch.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Sorry prosper but I mean it was The reality was
they moved the ball well and they played a perfect
half of basketball. They can they sustain because Lebron James
driving in. The opportunities are going to be there. This
is gonna be incumbent upon these other guys to cash in.
You had ad Lebron and Ruy Hachimura in the first half.
(07:21):
They did the job. Everybody else was six of twenty,
including a number of open looks from Austin Reeves where
towards the end of the half he had a couple
of open looks and he was reticent to shoot. That
effect is real.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Tonight, Joe. Brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Progressive makes
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protection of one plays bundle and save at Progressive dot com.
We'll have more on Game one of the Western Conference Finals.
The Lakers have cut it to sixteen. So the Nuggets
lead right now seventy eight to sixty two. They are
(07:54):
very early in the third quarter, still nine and a
half to go. TV time out now elsewhere. And let
me just say, because we talk about this every year
and every year the NBA, I failed to understand how
they don't take advantage of this. The other big story
if to well, Doc got fired, Oh it's my fault.
Apparently that's my fault. The other big.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Story, like we didn't call that coming a week again,
the spur. You know what though at the end of
the year evaluation, he met expectations, I met him, but
Apparently it was exactly what we thought he was.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
How was that my fault? I don't know why it's
my fault. I coached greaton game one. In Game four
when James scored forty, I won. What do you want
the other nights I did. It's not my fault, he
kept saying. But you're saying it's my fault. Now the
Spurs win the draft lottery. Many many upset NBA fans
who were sitting here going Remember the old commercial for
the NBA Playoffs for TNT when it was Tuesday Wednesday Thursday.
(08:47):
All the players one of the games, Tuesday Wednesday, Thursday,
Tuesday Wednesday, Thursday lot He was in it, Tuesday Wednesday, Thursday.
Everybody he's going. Everybody is going. Robinson Duncan, Victor Robinson, Duncan.
How do they get the best big men of their generation?
David Robinson, Oh, Tim Duncan. Now they've got Victor Wembin Yama,
all of these things. Everybody is wrapped up. It's such
(09:08):
a big deal. Right, Why does this now have to
take a back seat to a game that is going
to blow the importance of the draft lottery out of
the water. Right, you have game one of the Western
Conference Finals and Nuggets and the Lakers. Why are you
jamming in the draft lottery before a game in the
(09:29):
Western Conference? I don't understand. And every year they do this.
You have a night nothing going on, make it Draft
lottery Night. Now, some years it's gonna be better than others,
because some years you're gonna have a great one time
all the greatest prospects since Lebron and Wembin Yama and
he's that good when I thought Zion was anyway, No,
some years is gonna be great. Some years it's gonna be. Well,
(09:50):
who's the number one? Picking a B We're open to trades,
we're looking for this. But some but the NBA Draft
Lottery is a thing. It is and has been a thing,
and it can more than stand on its own. Why
would you not have this on a night when you
would be able to own the news cycle? And last
yesterday you have the draft lottery. It's the story all night,
it's the story all day today. And then we're into
(10:11):
the Western Conference Finals. Why the NBA's we're gonna shoehorn
this thing? And I don't get it. And every year
they do it, Every year they do it. They don't
have to. They can easily make that change. If the
NBA called me and said, Jason, we need you to
to really consult with us on things, what would you do.
I would say, give me draft lottery drawing night, bake
it on a night where there's no game, and they
would all go, oh, that's a good idea. This guy's
(10:32):
pretty smart. While we should have hired this guy earlier. Man,
what else do you think? Get the Knicks into the
Western Eastern Conference finals every year and look those two things,
the league will be great. But I mean, seriously, you
look at tonight and Wembin Yama is such a big story,
and here's and all the all the frozen envelope theories
come up, and it's so much fun. It's a great
day for everybody.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Top of it around for another couple of years. Gives
him a reward for being a good, good guy for
the league all these years.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Blah blah blah. There's a lot of them out there,
you know, like like why do we do it? You know?
If I you know, let's just say this. There's things
we all do with our kids, right, I'm not gonna
plan to take my daughter to the mall on a
shopping spree on a day we're going to six flags, Like,
why would you do? Why? No, let's let's have the
special day to go shopping. Let's have the special day.
(11:19):
Why are we gonna go go shopping in the morning
and then six flags after? Why are we doing this?
Why we're taking away from the day. We're rushing through things.
We're not getting the shopping spree at the mall that
we were supposed to we're not getting. We're gonna get
there late and not be able to ride all the rides.
Why does the NBA do this? Why does the NBA?
Every single year they do this? And this is a
year where they could have had a three hour pre show.
We can learn all about Victor wembin Yama and why
(11:41):
he plays for a team called the Mets, which I
thought was pretty cool. Hey plays to the met Mets
ninety two by the Jersey. No, but because the ninety
two Mets were terrible, that was like Jeremy Burnitt's and
Dallas Green was out of the ninety two Mets were
awful and they were just yeah, no they didn't. Twenty
twenty three Mets are bad too, So there's that as well.
(12:02):
But why. I don't understand how the NBA doesn't do it.
I really don't get why they did they do this.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
I think the curiosity to me would be to get
in the room. It's like you guys spin around like
you're you're doing the curly shuffle and you're you're on
the floor going chasing your tail, trying to figure out
how you make more made for TV events because you're
watching the NFL eat your launch on Christmas Day now
and everything else. You're having this in season tournament that
(12:30):
you're so excited about. Yet you've got the planest day
made for TV event every year that you don't take
advantage of. I really following all over yourself. How do
we do this? Well, let's change the start time. Maybe
fifteen minutes earlier will be good for us. We can
do this. We can now all these different parts of
the equation that you're trying to manipulate. And even when
(12:53):
there's no quote generational talent, even when there's none of
those guys, it's still of interest enough to bastetball fans
for footage and content on a day off if nothing else,
you start tying all these guys back in and start
talking about your superstars and who they fit best with
or who they compare To grab a few of those
(13:14):
guys that have been bounced from the playoffs that aren't
being recruited overseas by Dwight Howard and bring them in
and talk to them right about all the different young
players and how they fit into the NBA.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
It's just asinine. It's just such a waste.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
They even sent a Windhorst over there to do a
seventy second interview.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Well, the Lakers come back late, but not enough. The
Nuggets take Game one of the Western Conference Finals one
thirty two to one twenty six over the Lakers. And
let me just say this before we get onto the
NBA Draft lottery, this is what I mean, Mike went
you see this performance they have tonight where Jokic goes
ridiculous thirty four, twenty one and fourteen, and Murray scores
(14:07):
thirty one, and kcp's got twenty one and Gordon's got twelve,
and Michael Porter Junior's got fifteen and ten and oh,
by the way, off the bench, sixteen points tonight for
Bruce Brown, who Darvinham talked about before the game, saying, hey,
he's a big X this team. You watch the Nuggets play,
and yes, anything they wanted to do tonight they did.
(14:27):
You want to think the Lakers are gonna be able
to adjust. But this is why I say it's now
or never for the Nuggets, Like this is the year,
this is they win the time. They don't win the
title this year, I don't know when they can. It's
now or never. They have the best pedigree of any
team left in the playoffs. They are the most talented,
they are the healthiest. All of this is true for
(14:48):
Denver and this is their time because if when else
are you gonna do it? When you gotta go on
the road more when you have to, when you don't
finish the time they finish number one in the NBA
And here they are in the Western Conference Finals and
they have home court advantage and they win Game one.
If you saw they had all their tools on display tonight.
They were focused, they were physical, they were everything we
talked about. This is it. It's now or never for Denver.
(15:10):
I no, no, no, I know that he's still young
as cross. But if you're not gonna do it here
with this team, when are you ever gonna do it?
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Start singing here it's now or never by Elvis, let's
get after it or never. Yeah that's right, good, nicely
there you go. Yeah, I got you right into that
that flow. Uh, but I think you triple underscore the
healthiest that you've been because this is the team you've
been waiting to see with the Denver Nuggets in meaningful
games down the stretch and into the playoffs. Jamal Murray
(15:41):
at his best, Michael Porter Junior playing like the guy
they expected, because remember he's he's a guy that's had
some uneven times. They're defensively, health wise, attitude wise, all
of that playing in as to wanting to maybe be
the one A and now seemingly settled in and okay
with the fact that most nights he's going to be
(16:01):
the third guy, but he's got to come ready to
play fifteen to ten tonight.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Jamal Murray healthy, ready to go.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
We'd seen glimpses of this guy, and you know what
Jokich is so ADKCP add Gordon, who was out on
the break and making things happen as he and with
Jokich as the trigger man, that you've got things flowing
and you've got the home court advantage. Take the altitude
thing and try to ascribe whatever value you think there
(16:31):
is to it. Certainly the crowd fantastic and into it
from the outset in this one, some anxious moments, but
usually Denver had an answer to get the crowd right
back on their feet. But it's it's set up beautifully
between all the injuries that other teams have sustained, the
even looking at their current opponent, with the Lakers like
(16:53):
what they've done defensively until tonight, you'll like what you've
got both Ad and le Bron on the court. Okay,
a huge win, but trying to figure out which of
the others are going to be consistent for you and
maybe Hachimura on Jokic is the thing that propels things forward. Right,
very quiet fourth quarter for Nikola Jokic as the Lakers
(17:16):
clawed back into this game. So maybe they found a
little bit of something and maybe that's why Darvin Ham
was smiling, going, yes, excellent, trust me, we've got this.
We've got things we haven't even shown you yet it's
Game one of the Western Conference Finals. Don't worry, we
got more. But maybe it's Mobamba all of a sudden,
he's activated and ready to fly around, just so we
(17:38):
can say Mobamba. But it is for the Nuggets because
you have no idea how long this stretches, right, big men,
and Jokic has been healthy. Knockwood that that continues. But
as we know all teams, everybody wants to get not
only they're re upped, but their opportunity to be the
one or the two without question and having everybody fawn
(18:03):
all over them. When you're playing in Denver alongside Jokic,
you're only gonna get so many headlines and how long
does that last before you know they break them up?
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Now, the other part of it is this because already
you're seeing tons of Hey the Lakers, boy, I feel
good after the Lakers loss. Right, This is kind of
the way that I feel like in college football if
my team is playing a big power and they play
pretty well and lose a game like twenty eight to fourteen,
Oh hey, hey, Syracuse played Clemson really tough man. We
(18:37):
were thirty point underdogs. You wound up with hey, twenty
eight to fourteen. That's a pretty good loss. I'm pretty excited.
Maybe the rest of the season will win some of
the games we have to. Yes, there are moral victories
and sports, there are such thing as good losses. Something
like that is a good loss. If your team in
the NFL has a young quarterback and you know, Week two,
(19:01):
he throws for three seventy five and four touchdowns, but
you lose thirty seven to thirty five, you can say, hey,
that was a good loss. Man, the future is bright.
I'm digging our quarterback. I man was waiting for that
to be Zach Wilson, but it just never happened. I'm
digging that fat.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
No.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
That okay, that is a good loss. That's there are
no such things as moral losses or good losses. In
the NBA playoffs. There is either a win or a loss.
And that's what happened tonight. And there's gonna be a
lot of you're gonna see this in the next twenty
four hours. Hey, I feel proud of the way the
Lakers fought back, and hey, the Nuggets aren't gonna make
shots like that again. And you gotta think you're feeling
(19:37):
pretty good if you're the left. Every game is its
own thing. You see in the NBA playoffs a team
win by thirty and then lose by thirty the next game.
It happens that way. You are what you are. I'm
gonna go Bill Parcels on you. You are what you are.
This series is one nothing Nuggets into a must win
Game two for the Lakers, and what we saw was
the Nuggets do anything they wanted to offensively, and the
(20:00):
Lakers have to claw back to get back in this game.
You are what you are. It's one nothing Nuggets and
it's nothing else. It's not all it's gonna be. Even
say oh, it's gonna be a long series. Now, it
doesn't have to be a long series. There is unless
the script is out there that I don't have, and
Arian Foster knows, Hey, the script is out there. Unless
you don't have to sit here and say, oh, it's
gonna be. No, because it doesn't have to be a
long series, doesn't have to be. You can think it's
(20:21):
going to be because the game was close, but does
that really mean the series is gonna be close. No
deep can lose four close games. We've seen it many
times before. The Lakers lost a close game tonight, the
Nuggets won a close game, and the Nuggets win another
close game, and they win the third close game where
people are gonna say, oh, it's still a seven game series,
because look it's these are three close games and Nuggets win.
(20:42):
Now the series is over. This comes in the Game
two is everything for the Lakers, all right. No such
thing as a good loss, no moral defeats. A loss
is a loss, and a win is a win. It's
one nothing Nuggets, and it's a must win Game two
for the Lakers. That's what to take away from this game.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
I would say that in the most retaining part of
it coming out of this is well, the Lakers will
make an adjustment here here here, Yeah, and Mike Malone
or Mike.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Call Michael, gotta call him Michael. Why why do I
gotta call them Michael? No, it's Mike tonight, Jason, Mike. Yeah. Yeah,
he's gonna sit on his ass and do nothing.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
They're not gonna look at the tape and see anything
that might have allowed the Lakers to get back into
the game.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Yeah, now, canceling practice next to that, Hey, guys about practice.
You know what?
Speaker 3 (21:29):
You can go to Vegas for the next twenty four
or forty eight hours. Go go find a nice spa day,
Go find yourself, you know, a little espresso martini or
two roll.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Some craps have at it.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
You know, just go go crazy, uh and we'll see
you know, just get here about an hour before tip off.
I think we should be good. Come on, man, like
be better than that, Like, because that's the analysis. Look
at all the things the Lakers are gonna do. It's like, okay,
point counterpoints. The Nuggets realized they almost gave this game
away despite some historic numbers earlier enough to hold on.
(22:05):
And when the chips are down, if you can keep
Lebron James out of the lane and relegate him to
taking three point shots, I think you're.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Feeling pretty good about that.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
However, a lot of things to work on for the
way that the fourth quarter went, especially the coverage on Jokic.
What they're gonna just say, well, you know what, he's
gonna get neutralized in the fourth, So we're really gonna
need a big lead because Ruy Hachimura is gonna come
in and shut him down or in certain defender here
just asinine like it's not one sided.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Everybody makes adjustments in game after. I mean they acclimated
at halftime, like, what what happened? Lebron? What are we doing? Then? Listen,
the Lakers are gonna play Webbin Yama. They're gonna start
him next game. It's gonna be fine. That's that's how
it's gonna work. If only they'd been in the lottery,
they might have found it now. And now, look, it's
(22:56):
gonna play point guard instead of Dennis Shrewder and that
you're gonna get a lot better.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
Well, here's just another big man for the Spurs, Popovich,
you might retire, he might be done. Hey, Pop, how
about the guy from all Right, let's go, let's ride.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
I'm glad you brought that up right because now, because
the NBA game one of the Western Conference Finals shares
the spotlight tonight with the NBA Draft LTD. We've talked
about why the NBA doesn't have the Draft Lottery on
a different night. It doesn't make any sense. Why would
you not have it on a night where can stand
by itself and be its own news cycle. No, the
NBA blows this, but they have the Draft Lottery tonight,
(23:32):
and look, the prize is Victor Webbin Yama and you
saw today all the plaudit's coming his way. I think
Woj called him these the greatest prospect to come into
the game since Lebron. I'm like, we said that about
Zion a couple of years and we kind of do that,
so I understand, Hey, this is a guy with us
the seven to four, with a skill set unlike anything
(23:53):
we've seen. He could be an even better Yannis. The
guy's like a real life Transformer and he could be great.
And you're gonna say, oh my god, Jason, you always
get excited the littlest thing. But let me just say this, right,
because when we talk about guys coming into the league,
it's exciting that you win the draft lottery. And here
are the Spurs who every ten to twenty years are
gonna draft the generational big man, right, David Robinson. Then
(24:16):
they win for Tim Duncan. Now they win for Wembinyama. Right,
you're gonna say, Jason, you're insane. I like getting excited,
and it's excited at the prospect that you're getting a
guy that everybody thinks is gonna be great. Sure, the
thing is he could be honest, he could be Zion.
He could end up being Greg Odin. I mean, that's
(24:37):
the whole thing. Yes, this guy is the size, the strength,
he's the whole package, and he could be great, but
he also might not be. And that's where you have
to sit here and say, I need to see it
on the field before I go absolutely crazy over a guy.
I need to see it on the court before I
go absolutely crazy over a guy. I was excited about Zion,
wanted the Knicks to get him. But in the end,
(24:58):
it's like, Okay, let's see. Hey, wow, guy runs up
and down the floor. It's unbelievable. Feel he'll he's gonna
lead the league and field goal percentage every single year.
But guess what, he can't stay on the floor. And
it could be and I'm not saying he needs to
be an injury thing, but it could be an effective
it could be I don't know, right, but it's exciting.
But to sit here and say he's transforming the league,
he's doing all these things. I thought Kay Cunningham was
(25:20):
going to transform the Pistons put him in the playoffs, right,
That obviously has not happened. And and there's so many
things because either a guy can't stay on the floor,
he's an effective in the end, he's a prospect, and
it's great to have a good one because you want
to be excited about things.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
Is a beautiful and dangerous thing.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
But be realistic that, Okay, he's supposed to be great.
Maybe he is, maybe he's not. And that's kind of
where I am when I when you win draft lotteries
and be able to pick where you can and go
for the go from there. Hey, he got the long
road begins with the first step.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
And if you can get people just all in in
a giant synchronized, uh swimming kind of thing, all the
NBA insiders to kiss this guy's ass and welcome into
the league. I mean, it's good for the league. Let's
get the hype machine going rigged.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern seven
pm Pacific.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
On the Hotline. Longtime NBA insider friend of the show,
Mark Medina, you can follow him on Twitter at Mark
g Underscore Medina covering the Western Conference finals, Mark, what's
happening to my man? How are you?
Speaker 4 (26:29):
I am doing well? You want to hear some magic?
Johnson tweets no, no, no, we played.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
The game in a few minutes. No no, no, no no,
we play the game. We play the game. I don't
want to hear them yet. Okay, unless you've written one yourself, I.
Speaker 4 (26:40):
Will do the opposite that. I don't have sharp opinions
and strong analysis. I won't state the obvious.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Well, that's why we have the Magic Johnson twitter game.
I give you a really vanilla and obvious tweet. You
have to decide if it's me making up the tweet
or if it's a real Magic Johnson tweet.
Speaker 4 (26:56):
Oh my gosh, that is one great game, and it's
honestly one game. But I also played on the Lakers foot.
Always fun times.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
All right, So here's where I'm at following Game one. Yes,
I get that the Lakers were able to come back.
There's no moral victories in the NBA playoffs. The Lakers
defense got embarrassed and you kind of are what you
are and this is one nothing Denver, how are you
on this?
Speaker 4 (27:21):
No moral victories? But I also don't think the series
is over. I think that, you know, what appeared to
be an overwhelming dominant performance by the Nuggets suddenly became
a competitive game, and so I think that's going to
be the theme of the series throughout, where it's just
going to be a lot of murkiness, a lot of
you know, competitive basketball that may look ugly at times,
(27:43):
pretty at other times, and a lot of unpredictability unpredictability
in between. And so, yeah, the Nuggets are in the control.
They won Game one, but there certainly is a recipe
for the Lakers not only to make this competitive, but
to actually win it. So yeah, Buck Goldens strap up
for a seven gamer.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
Mark the coming out of this game. Jason and I
were just talking about a little earlier. Ruy Hachimura becomes
the most important man for the Lakers, palysshay.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
Let's build a statue outside of Crypto dot com marial
while with Austin Reeves, I mean, I think they've already
been been compliants for him anyway, so why not include
two role players.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Well, they can't afford him, so he's not going to
be there long enough.
Speaker 4 (28:26):
To Oh yeah, you know what's really disappointing, all these
plays and performances that he's showing, it's ultimately just going
to end up in the tribute video next season.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
That's true. You know something you wrote about I wanted
to get to here your your latest five takeaways for
the for game one on Sports Not. You can get
it right now at sportsnot dot com. The beginning of
the game, the Lakers looked like, hey, we're a stick
to the plan kind of team, and the Nuggets came
out with fire and physicality and a sense of focus
(28:56):
and desperation, and the Lakers spent most of the game
chasing it. I was really surprised that this is how
the series started. And I know we're going to hear
about altitude and all kinds of stuff. What do you
think of how this game began and the Nuggets get
out to a lead that they don't give up.
Speaker 4 (29:11):
Yeah, I wasn't surprised with how tired they looked. You
hit the nail on the head with the altitude, but
I think that it's one of those things that as
much as they can overcome that eventually, That's usually what
happens when teams visit Denver. The reality is the condensed
nature of the schedule now kicks in. You know they're
going to start playing every other day and that's going
to start providing more wear and tear. And I think
(29:33):
the other thing is the Lakers were hoping that having
three days of recovery, having an extra day of practice
in Denver could help mitigate that. But I think to
their credit, they fought through it. They obviously were able
to adjust to it later in the game, but I
also was a little disappointed for the Laker's sake that
they didn't do themselves any favors. Look like, no one's
(29:54):
going to stop Nikola Yoka. She's a two time MVP
first season, but why start the game with a small
lineup where you're just going to get owned on the
boards and inside. To the Lakers credit, they adjusted those
different things. Anthony Davis I thought had a tremendous performance
on both ends of the floor. But I think that
this illustrates that there's very little margin for error against
(30:17):
a team like the Nuggets. There is the number one
seed for reasons, so again, strap up your seatbelts. It's
going to be a turbulent ride.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Yeah, Mark to that point, the smaller lineup looking for offense,
I mean Lebron James with a lot of addition and
open looks that just didn't fall early to help build
the giant bucket with no rebounding it falls, but eventually
shots starts, so I guess it kind of evens itself out.
(30:46):
But when you're clawing back from such a big deficit,
you know you're just for Darvin Ham. The early decisions
just come back to haunt him.
Speaker 4 (30:56):
Yeah, and I presume that Darvin Ham made needs to say, thinking, Hey,
when they're gonna zig, we're gonna zag. You know, trying
to match up size for size is harder for Jokics
because he's just a dominant big. But I think that
that played inst the Nuggets' hands because he could kick
it out to shooters. They're draining it from three. And
(31:16):
while it's not like these players are like dramatic game changers,
it showed that every little thing matters in the series.
When they matched up against the Nuggets in the Bubble
three years ago, they had some physical big men like
Dwight Howard and Javelle McGee to throw bodies at Nikola
Jokic with the idea of just giving them multiple looks,
(31:37):
trying to wear them out. And so this idea of
trying to beat the Nuggets with size and speed, it
just didn't seem to cut it. Now. Again, they did
change some things later on where they're having Ad become
the help defender as opposed to the primary defender, but
they still only played Jared Vennerbilt ten minutes. I mean,
he is their best interior defender hind Ad, Winy and Gabriel.
(32:02):
I know he's a young player, but he's at least
a tall body that they can throw at. So maybe
that's a wrinkle they do in game two, But I thought,
why not just see that from the beginning?
Speaker 1 (32:11):
Look, why not just play web Minyama. If he's that good,
just grabman put him in the game. He's the greatest
prospect in the history of the NBA's him in.
Speaker 4 (32:20):
Yeah, they could. They could have flown to France and
kidnapped him before Pop could get them and treat him
to wine. Right the way with web min Yama, I mean,
I know that we know that the Spurs are going
to draft him, but I just found it hilarious that
everyone's just saying the quiet part out loud. You know,
the telecasts is asking Victor, how do you think about
the Spurs drafting you? Like they just landed the number
(32:42):
one pick. It's not like they selected him, but you
know everyone knows that's inevitable. It was amusing.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
It would be kind of funny if Pop decided to
out think the room though. Yeah, here I got this gift,
but you know what, forget it.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
I'm out.
Speaker 4 (32:54):
All of a sudden, they become the Oklahoma City Thunder
and they decide, you know what, what's stock up on
a you know, treasure chest of draft picks? So we
can use this at some point down the line instead of,
you know, use the draft pick for a generational talent.
That would be pretty funny.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Now here's the thing. So when we look at the
and I go through this all the time, mark because
I just don't understand why the NBA has an off
night last night, right, Why don't you have the Draft
lottery night on a night where there's no game. Why
you can own the night. It's a big enough thing
where you can have this be the story all day
(33:32):
yesterday leading up to the Draft lottery, when by some
years it's going to be bigger because some years there's
a great guy at number one, other years there isn't.
But it's such a big deal, and yet every year
the NBA just tries to shoehorn it in the same
night as game one of one of the conference finals
and it gets dwarf because we're talking Lakers Nuggets when
the NBA. I don't know why they didn't do this
(33:52):
last night. I don't understand.
Speaker 4 (33:54):
Yeah, I agree with you completely. Now, it's not like
the NBA hasn't thought of these things. I think that
they're Why is the same idea that you know, a
lot of shows want to show a really good episode
after the Super Bowl, right like people are still going
to be having the TV on and they might tune
in out of curiosity. Same idea, have the draft lottery
(34:14):
take place before a Marquee game that people are going
to watch. But I'm with you that whatever advantage that
has with promoting the game, it's going to just get
lost in the news cycle. And they can build up
even more of a news cycle with having it the
day before and last I checked. If you have it
a day before, you can promote the following game the
next day. Right, So I'm with you one hundred percent.
(34:37):
But it just goes to show that, you know, maybe
this doesn't change. I mean, just think years from now
when they have this amazing, you know, mid season tournament
that no one understands how it works. Don't worry, They're
going to have the draft lottery announcement before it happens, as.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
We were talking about it before, right, you're having your
lunch eaten by the NFL, who'd take a chance for
every date possible. And then here it's like we're gonna
have this a mid season tournament. But you know what,
this will just jam in for ten minutes ahead of
a game.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
So I don't know. I don't understand how this works.
It doesn't matter. We're having the draft lottery. It's all
right now, it doesn't.
Speaker 4 (35:11):
Exactly it is. It is a diversion. It's a perfect diversion, and.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
It's all gonna be decided by kids on big wheels
or a baby crawling race. As we go, Mark Medina
with us here, Jason Smith Show, Mike Carmon with you
from the tiraq dot Com Fox Sports Radio studios. So,
who's the next superstar to get a coach fired? Do
we have anybody left that can still get get ousted
(35:36):
based on a no show? I say this obviously facetiously,
as we have Doc Rivers and Monty Williams unceremoniously domped
to end the week.
Speaker 4 (35:45):
Yeah, well, look, Jason, he might be worried about Tom Thibodeau,
what he's gonna do right now. I don't worry Timms
is there to stay. He's a culture changer. He's elevating
the best the best out of the group. But you
don't just wait till next year. My friend.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
Art Joel Embiid next year, I'm fine, he's going to
one out of Philadela. If you're gonna get Embid, it's
gonna be great.
Speaker 4 (36:12):
Wow that Jalen Brunton Joel Embiid duo amazing. I don't
know if it's enough though for Victor Webbnama against San Antonio,
you know, to answer your.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
Question about hey, he's going one on five, Mark, Come.
Speaker 4 (36:26):
On now, how about this answer your question about the
head coaches. Look, it's all wait and see. I don't
think that of the remaining teams that you know, Darvin
Ham's not going anywhere. He just got hired. First year
head coaches don't get fired. I don't think Michael Malone's
going to go anywhere. I don't think Eric Spolsu is
going to go anywhere because the Miami Heat actually values
(36:46):
head coaches. You know, last I checked, Lebron James even
flowed the idea of him getting tossed and they weren't
having that Joe Mizzool first year head coach. But I think,
you know, look at ty Lou as the possible domino
to fall out of it with the Clippers. The Clippers
have made it clear that, you know, he's not going
anywhere as far as they're concerned. They gave him vote
of confidence after the first round exit, saying it had
(37:09):
more to do with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George being
heard and that even though the Clippers were struggling, he
did a good job with handling rotations, doing adjustments, et cetera.
But you know, maybe the Sons go after them the
same way that the Clippers went after Doc Rivers when
he was with the Celtics, and they wind up negotiating
negotiating a trade. Now, I think to the Son's disadvantage,
(37:31):
they don't have a lot of assets to offer, you know,
the Clippers, unless they just want to give away Kevin
Durant and Devin Booker for free. But you know, that
is a thing that could start some serious conversations. But
other than that, I think the other head coaches are
here to stay. But I think the ironic part is
of all the fired coaches, it's inevitable that some of
(37:54):
them are going to become the new we hired coaches
for the other vacancies. So, you know, Manti Williams just
got fired by the Suns. Now all of a sudden,
he might be a favorite for the Sixers coaching vacancy.
Maybe Mike Bordenholzer is a favorite for the Sun's vacancy
after the Bucks fired him. It shows that, you know,
all these coaches I think did a reasonably good job,
but they're always the first scapegoat. But it's also the
(38:17):
nature that you know, doesn't take long for other teams
to then recycle them through.
Speaker 1 (38:22):
Maybe you're on the list again. You didn't get the
Lakers job last year, you're on the list again.
Speaker 4 (38:26):
You know what? I think that the thing that I
have going against me is that a few things. If
they asked the Lakers for reference checks, they're going to say, ah,
he was so bad in the interview process, and then
they're going to hear my takes on your show. Or
I'm just giving my opinion about any team and not
caring what the reaction is. So it's a double whammy here.
(38:48):
I already withdrew myself by default with all these things.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
He's on Twitter at Mark g Underscore Medina. That's at
Mark g Underscore Medina, longtime NBA reporter and insight. Check
out his latest the five Big Takeaways of the Nuggets
Game one win over the Lakers, right there on Sports
Not Mark as always, buddy, appreciate it, man, We'll talk
to you soon.
Speaker 4 (39:10):
I appreciate you guys and hanging there from New York.
It's gonna work out.
Speaker 3 (39:13):
Okay, all right, thank you, saying Mark, he do you
have to drive by on your knicks exit? But I mean,
with all these high profile coaches, former Coaches of the
Year and contenders on the marketplace, I think I'd be
nervous hour as a head coach. I'm probably gonna get
called to do another power point before it's all said
none to continue to keep my job.
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Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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