May 17, 2023 • 35 mins
Jason Smith and Mike Harmon react to the Philadelphia 76ers firing Doc Rivers after being eliminated by the Celtics. And the Denver Nuggets take Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals over the Los Angeles Lakers!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
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Speaker 2 (00:22):
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Speaker 1 (00:28):
Hello and welcome inside our two of The Jason Smith
Show with my bas friend Mike Harmon.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Well dressed Hobo.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
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dot com. The Way tire buying should be well five
and a half to go. It is a thirteen point
lead for the Denver Nuggets, one twenty three to one ten.
(00:59):
The Nuggets have been doing everything in their power and
they haven't been able to put the Lakers away. Lakers
just cut it to eleven, but eventually Lakers have to
cut it to more than that, or that's gonna be
it because the time's gonna run out no matter how
close the Lakers get it. Ad now has thirty eight
for the Lakers. After a slow start in which Jokic
out rebounded him basically by himself, round rebounded the Lakers
(01:24):
by himself in the first quarter, ad Is bounced back,
but still it is a eleven point lead from the
Nuggets with about five and a half to go.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
Yeah, through the first quarter, the rebounding differential was twenty
two to six. The Nuggets had three more offensive rebounds
than the Lakers had total. You're not gonna see that
kind of statistical break in many games. But Lakers hanging
around got to give him credit for the fight. Haven't
(01:52):
been able to close the gap any closer than that
eight that they did after a big Reeves three earlier
in the quarter. But thirty eight for Davis, twenty two
ten and seven for Lebron Reeves now is fifteen Hatchamura
with seventeen off the bench. But you're looking at the
(02:13):
three point shot fifteen of twenty eight for the Nuggets,
six more made threes than the Lakers. That's the tail
of the tape. Because the free throw percentages and everything
all work out the same three point mirage and those
open looks that Denver keeps knocking down.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
So we'll have more on this again. Just under five
minutes left to go, twelve point lead by the Denver Nuggets,
one twenty four to one twelve. Well, let me just
say this. We talked about Doc Rivers a few minutes ago,
and Doc Rivers gets dismissed as head coach of the
Philadelphia seventy six ers. It's likely James Harden is going
to wind up going back to the Rockets. We have
(02:53):
seen that many reports, and then today you saw a
lot of NBA insiders. The Ringer had this New York
Post had a big article that the Knicks are loading
up for Joel Embiid and now it's okay, well, that's right,
the Knicks are loading up for Joel. Oh, okay, thanks letter
for Joel Bee. Hang on a second. I'll tell you
(03:14):
right now now, this is not going to be a
NIX conversation. We can make it a NIX comment. Do
you want to make it a next conversation? We can
make it.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
You know what, we never had the other Knicks conversation.
It doesn't have to You artfully skated away from that one.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
It doesn't have to be. But Joel Embiid is going
to be gone, all right. He is going to be
the prize of the NBA off season. It's all going
to be about who is going to make a move
for the reigning MVP. Because Philadelphia is not just in
for a reload on the fly. This is a complete reboot.
(03:50):
You're talking about the guy they brought in to be
the number two behind Embiid is now going to wind
up leaving you fired the head coach that Joel Embiid
really liked. Right after the after they lost Game seven,
one guy said, yeah, me and Doc are okay. That
was James Harden. The other guy loved Doc Rivers. That
was Joel Embiid. Is he really gonna want to stick
(04:10):
around for whatever the Sixers try to do. They don't
have a lot of money, They're stuck there. Is he
really gonna stay where he's been for a while and
not been able to get anywhere? Of course not. He's
gonna be someone who in the off season very strongly
but quietly, says it's time for me to go someplace
else because he's gonna have his Shack legacy moment, right,
(04:32):
You know, you know, how do big men suddenly start
winning middle of their careers. Yeah, you have that legacy
moment where it's, yeah, it's great, great as I am,
as good as I am, I really need to be
doing something a little bit more. And Shaq had that
moment he said, I can't do it in Orlando. I
gotta go someplace else. I go to the Lakers, and
I wind up doing it, and I wind and I
wind up winning. He gotta have that legacy moment, and
(04:54):
that's exactly what he has. And that's what you're gonna
see from Embiid in this office season. He's not gonna
be a guy that demands it. He's not gonna say,
oh oh, I have to go, or you have to
let me get me out. It's gonna be quietly, behind
the scenes. That's how Embid's going to do it. And
he is going to go, and it's gonna be a free,
(05:14):
a feeding frenzy for teams to try to trade for
him because he knows, now, I've been as far as
I can get with Philadelphia, whether it's Doc Rivers or not,
this is as far as I'm going to get. He's
going to be available and that's gonna be the big
story of the off season. Just watch.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
Well, that's interesting because I add a different person who's
going to be the prize of the off season, and
he wears a suit.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
In Bob Myers.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
But let's stick with mbid here for the moment. In
terms of wantless, yeah, plenty of teams will try to
look at him. He's got a long term deal that's
in place. Player option is until twenty twenty six, twenty seven,
so that's certainly a ways away. And you're trying to
think of who are already hasn't traded away all their
(06:01):
number one picks to go and get some other asset
in these last couple of years. Certainly trading him to
the Knicks seems like it would be a bit far fetched.
But look, he can send back Randall a bevy of picks. Sure,
and Randall, I like how you think Randall? Right away, Randall,
(06:22):
Let's get rid of Randall, get right? I think Unfortunately,
you know, he is a great example of the hey
you gotta have a fall guy, right because I'm not
saying he was great, but they had plenty more problems
than just Julius Randall in that series. You can go
down to RJ. Barrett and r J Barrett, you look
(06:44):
at that twenty nineteen draft. None of those guys really
getting it done anymore. Three Hatchamura is the star out
of the twenty nineteen draft anymore, with Jah Moran's issues
and Zion can't get on the court, and then r J. Barrett,
no showed for your Knicks when just when you needed him.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
And the thing is, look, I would normally say, Okay,
there's no way the Sixers will trade him to the Knicks.
But let's just say, and this doesn't need to be
the Knicks, right, I'm just using the Knicks. People use
them as a base so you can get excited. Yeah. Yeah,
but just nobody's untouchable anymore. No, no, no, but it's
not being untouchables. You would say, well, there's no way.
Come on, man, he's not gonna trade. They're not gonna
trade him to the Knicks. Come on, if Joel Embiid
(07:25):
says I want to go to the Knicks, that's where
I'm gonna go. You get what you can guess what
Joella bid is. He would never say that. All right,
James Harden, I want to get to Brooklyn. Okay, we'll
trade you to Brooklyn. We'll get what we need from you. Well,
that's where you're gonna wind up going. I mean that
can happen. Forget about Oh, they're never gonna do it. No,
this is the NBA. This is the NBA. It works
exactly this way. So to think he can't uh uh,
(07:49):
but make no mistake, Joe l Embiid is going to
be on the block this offseason. You will be able
to go get him. He's not gonna have the patience
whatever they're going to try to rebuild around him in Philadelphia.
He's gonna have to go somewhere where look, we're already
good and now I'm the missing piece and a team
where he won't have to lead. That's the best part
about the Knicks, all right, we'll make it about the
(08:09):
Knicks now, is that he doesn't need to go and
be Hey, I'm a superstar. You know, I'm the guy,
I'm the leader. No, no, no, He's got to go
there and just do whatever. Jalen Brunson says, Hey, I
got it, man, Do you just be you and I'll
get you the ball. Because Julius Randall found a way
to be third team All NBA and you're better than him,
So I'll find a way to keep you first team
all NBA, an MVP. But I will be the guy.
(08:29):
He is the leader, and he doesn't need to be anymore,
and he doesn't need to have to worry about him
being that kind of guy. He can just be. I'm
Joel Embiid, I'm going out, I'm making plays, and that's
all I have to worry about. So a team like that,
that's a great fit for him. Well, but that's just
it is. Is he satisfied? Now?
Speaker 4 (08:47):
I like that you're pivoting because I think your thing
on Embiid was that he would be satisfied. He got
his mvp'd, he shut up. So if he's looking for
more and wants the legacy play of the title, well
now docs out Harden is gonna be gone. So how
do you retrofit it? Because you do have Maxi there,
(09:08):
you do have a I mean, you've got a decent squad.
It is the Eastern Conference. Nobody running away and hiding. Look,
your number one seed got bounced by the heat, which
means you know, the only thing you really need to
do is figure out a way to get rid of
Spolstra and then the path clears up. Now, I'm just
joking because obviously it's all about Jimmy Butler, but just
the idea that in the East, I don't know that
(09:31):
you necessarily shake it up to that level because there's
public comments and there's all behind the scenes comments and
weather emb truly back dock right well, because couldn't have
all been just about the roster, as we outlined yesterday
in breaking down his postgame comments, right the one that
(09:54):
people took a bit out of context with, they can't.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Just beat the two of us, No, they are pretty good.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
They had a pretty big, decent roster, pretty good depth,
just not as good a depth as the Celtics had built.
So there's the team you're emulating, there's the team you're chasing.
But you're not that far off. You did battle him
in that series, including one game you didn't play in,
So I don't know that it's an easy solution or
(10:21):
necessarily that he forces his way out, But I like
the theoretical because you know what you can do now
A veritable potpourri of AI mockups of him and other jerseys.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Get right, like all the Wembin Yama ones today. Hey,
he's a spur. Hey he's a rocket. Hey he's a piston.
He's all we've got. We're gonna do them all for
joelmb here we go. Well, well it's funny with you.
You mentioned we Yama. Just to do it really quickly.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
A couple of things in the memorabilia world, right, he's
got a couple of products where he's gonna have signatures
and one that is like, hey, this is the first
card I've ever signed.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Hah, All right, cool, that's great.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
But then people are going into libraries and stealing a
copy of the winter version of the SI for Kids,
because one thing in that magazine is they've always had
a sheet of nine cards of players and figures from
different teams and sports all over the globe. And there
was a women Yama. So everybody's going in, it's stealing
the magazines.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Twittering out about a Fresco Mike has swollen up. Let
me get that magazine.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
I'm gonna well, you know what if you can get
even an eight, right, a graded eight, so near mint,
uh not not even get into the mint's or gems.
They're something for like a thousand bucks right now, So yeah,
go find those SI for kids, but leave a donation
for the kids in the library.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Will you the one that Martha Stewart's not for kids? No,
that's not not for you. No, it can't have a
now is that comes out on the eighteenth? By the
way I saw it for.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
The fact that you know that is scary, well you
know what.
Speaker 4 (11:55):
It showed up in a bunch of timelines today and
it was actually something that my daughter referenced.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
So there right now, the Nuggets are saying to the Lakers,
why won't you just die? Why won't you just die?
It is a three point game, make it a five
point game now? With two minutes left to go, Denver
leads the Lakers one twenty nine to one twenty four.
(12:20):
Austin Reeves has just hit a three. He's now got
eleven points in the fourth quarter, and the Lakers are
trying to make a run at this year. With two
minutes left to go, again, it is a five point
lead for the Nuggets. They do have the basketball, uh
and are trying desperately to hold on to this game.
I mean, this is a game where if the Nuggets
lose this game, I don't know where how you come
(12:42):
back from it, but I think you fire everybody. I
don't know, man, I don't know how you come back
from this. If you wind up blowing this game where
you played as well as you possibly can and you
still don't wind up winning. I don't know, man, I
don't know another game you're gonna win. I really don't.
It's gonna be it's gonna be impossible.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
They should wait, wait should the Lakers? Is the altitude
an issue now or not?
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Well? Now, it's not.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
I don't think we get to use that as a
half assed excuse anymore, do we.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Well, no, because they actually moved the game because the
altitude was too high for the Lakers, and how they
moved it lower, and that's why the Lakers are coming
back now.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
So it's actually a moving arena. It's now with the
mole people in the earth.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Yes, with the mole people. That's gonna be a horror
movie at some point, the mole people. So I think
it's already out there. This guy, I don't think so.
Do you think Hans Moleman will be the star of it?
Could be?
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 (13:44):
Fox Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with my base
friend Mike Harmon. I'm an ass man live from the
tiraq dot Com studios, where the Denver Nuggets have just
taken a one to zero lead in the Western Conference Final,
a game that was much t'o close for the Nuggets,
comfort because it was a game they had led by
(14:04):
twenty throughout, but it was a furious fourth quarter by
the Lakers. Anthony Davis ends up with forty for the Lakers.
Lebron twenty six, twelve and nine, but it's not enough,
as the Nuggets so much firepower, every one of their
starters in double figures. Nikola Jokic thirty four points, twenty
one rebounds, and fourteen assists as the Nuggets win Game one,
(14:28):
one thirty two to one twenty six. Now, despite the
fact they had this big lead, this came down to
the last couple of possessions in the game. Lebron missed
a couple of threes. Lebron had the ball stolen in
the lane when they were down six, eating a bucket.
So you can sit here and say wow, if you're
the Nuggets and go man. I feel good about the
Lakers because, look, this is as good as the Nuggets
(14:51):
could possibly play, and the Lakers still almost won. But
you know what, in the end, you are what you are.
Either you win the game or you lose the game.
And the Nuggets take Game one, and now all the
pressures on the Lakers to get Game two. I feel
good for the Lakers that they were able to come
back a little bit and it didn't get blown out.
But in the end, yeah, still the Nuggets up one zip,
and you know they can play this good. You know
(15:12):
they can play this well. You gotta think they'll get
a little bit of a bounce. But you know, is
Ad gonna score forty in the next game, as Austin
Reeve's gonna have eleven in the fourth quarter, Well he
scored twenty three. Again, you kind of are what you are.
And right now the series is one oh and the
Nuggets have the league.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
Well, and you got the fact that Jokic only scored
three points three free throws down the stretch in the
fourth quarter. It was a non factor at least in
the scoring column. And you look at he was at
thirty one, nineteen and twelve heading to the fourth quarter
finished with thirty four, twenty one and fourteen, so three
(15:48):
two and two augmented pretty quiet fourth quarter as the
Lakers close things out. And if you're the Lakers, to
take a little bit of consolation, only had seven turnovers,
including that big one on that pass to the lane
to Lebron James, and one of those if they really
wanted to get get after it, Jokic did slap at
(16:08):
his offhand. They're not the one with the ball, but
so they could have gotten that ahead of the steal,
but goes the other way. The curious moment for the
Nuggets there, Jason and that they had what was seemingly
a pretty easy transition bucket and instead they pull it
back out. Jokic gets files, goes to the line and
(16:29):
then splits a pair. He's like, all right, you left
the door cracked open instead of taking the two points,
because you only got like another one point four seconds
off the clock. It's not like they let you go
and just dribble it out. So a little bit of
a curiosity there. But all at all, six players in
double figures for the Nuggets. They shoot fifty four point
(16:50):
nine percent for the game.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
And again, let's go back to what we've talked about
with because you spent a lot of time talking about
the Lakers. They're come back here tonight again. I go
back to the beginning of the playoffs. You look at
how crazy it's been the Nuggets getting knocked out or
the the Memphis Grizzlies getting knocked out by the Lakers.
We've seen, you know, we watch the Bucks go out
(17:14):
in the first round, and you see all these big
contenders are are falling by the wayside. If the Nuggets
don't get to the finals this year, I don't know
when they're going to. If they don't win the title
this year, I don't know when they're going to. Everything
is going right for them. They're healthy, they're playing extremely well.
You look at what they're able to do tonight. I mean,
my goodness, this is like. This is like if you
(17:35):
if you did fantasy basketball and you had a nugget starter,
you had a great night, doesn't matter. Yeah, you had
yourself some fun, you had an unreal night. If they
don't win it this year, they're not going to. I mean,
this is it. Even though Joki is someone who should
have won the MVP, but whatever, you know, he doesn't
get it, doesn't get enough votes, doesn't win. You see
(17:56):
right now who the MVP is, who's got his team
playing deep in the playoffs, and who's at home. But
this is their year. I mean they they have to
see that this is it. It's never gonna line up
for us again any better. We are the highest seeded
team left. We have the best record we have. You know,
we're playing a team that that we we should beat,
that we beat a couple of times during the regular season,
that we just beat them in Game one. If we
(18:17):
don't do it this year, we're never gonna do it.
This is that time for the Denver Nuggets.
Speaker 4 (18:21):
Well, there's a couple of things to go through it
right as you break break it down and and look
at the Lakers, the calling card is the defense. Are
we just going to say, hey, they were on one
tonight or are you gonna wrect you guys? So some
failures in being able to close out shots and that
that extra skip pass really bit them in the ass
(18:43):
repeatedly into the corners. So tightening up there the way,
whether Shrewder starts game two or we see Vanderbilt back
in Reeves found his shot late, it wasn't much of
a factor early Shrewder Russell six of fourteen from the
field for fourteen points between them all of those.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
But the Nuggets have the rotation.
Speaker 4 (19:07):
There's not a deep rotation in terms of who's bringing
you points off the bench. It's really just Brown. You've
got green and brawn that saw minutes, but really more
just ay, all right, how quickly can you guys, you know,
get your wind and get back in their kind of
moments for the Nuggets there.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
So.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
Yeah, you've got everybody healthy, right, this is what we
go back to the bubble and the final for their
the expectations of what Murray and Porter Junior what we're
going to become. And Porter Junior hit some big shots
today six to twelve from the field, three of six
three point range, but fifteen and ten Murray gives you
(19:49):
another thirty point outing. He's the guy that you know,
as we previewed the series, Jason, you were wondering how
you can you slow him down? Twenty from the field
and a lot of those are wide open looks. That
that's the curiosity for the Lakers defensively, you know, getting
their spacing and being able to close out and give
(20:11):
Murray credit. He hit a couple of shots right in
lebron James face. Lebron was even giving him the thumbs
up on a couple of possessions, like yeah, you got me. Yeah,
damn it, you got me.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
But you know, but that's the thing is that I'm
already seeing on social media the trend of hey, what
a great loss this was by the Lakers. Oh yeah,
no exactly. You know, let's just stop once you say
you can't have moral victories and that there's no moral
victories in the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (20:35):
Okay, there's certainly not in the conference finals, like you
know you're telling me, you guy, you know you had
the old college try when you were the playing team,
because I think that's what people are going to try
to couch this as well. They shouldn't have gotten there, Jason,
So I may look. No, it's all grading on a curve.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Now. No, there are no moral victories in the playoffs.
You either win or you lose. And oh yeah, can
you sit here and say, oh, it's great we didn't quit. Yeah,
but I don't expect you to quit it. So Western
Conference finals, is it great that we came back, Yeah,
but it wasn't enough because didn't play well enough on defense,
and the Nuggets were able to do whatever they wanted to.
That was the biggest surprise to me was that the
(21:11):
Lakers defensively just got absolutely worked by the Nuggets, not
by Jokic, but by everybody all night. That's s Yes,
it's a big shot. And you want to think, oh,
the Lakers can just turn the screw a little bit
and then Game two is gonna be completely there. No,
there's no moral victories. You lost. You lost, and you
look bad. All right, stop just think about this. You
look bad defensively. The Nuggets did whatever they wanted to.
(21:33):
Did they make a couple of big shots. Yes, Jokich's
three at the end of the third quarter was a
miracle shot. You saw the big the banked in three
from the from the side. That was a miracle shot.
But you know what, that's gonna happen over the course
of the game. You're gonna get something back and forth.
But the more I sit here and see, hey, oh
it was a good like, No, there's no good losses
in the playoffs. There's a win and a loss. There's
(21:53):
a win and loss. Player that's it. There's no there's
no moral of it, and there's none of this. But
yet that's gonna be a very big narrative after today.
Oh but the Lakers looked the now they can try. No,
it's still one zip and the pressure is all on
them to change the narrative for game two. Oh yeah,
you just let Jokic put up a stat line that
that is that's like a sandwich with quadruple meat and
(22:14):
cheese in it. You just let Jamal Murray do whatever
he could do. Usually it's one or the other. You
let them both. You let a guy come off the
bench and look like he was a sixth Man of
the Year. You let all of these things happen. You
can't just suddenly say, oh, we'll fix this for game two.
Wait what we mean. No, a loss is a loss.
This is desperation time for the Lakers because you did
(22:35):
not come up with anything you thought was gonna happen tonight,
and you look bad doing it. You got exposed. You
came back awesome, that's great, but in the end, it's
a loss.
Speaker 4 (22:45):
Right, You still gotta go figure out what the hell
went wrong to start it right, because no team sustains
for forty eight minutes on that hot at streak and
if they do well, then you just fold up the
ten go home because the calling card of hey, we
played d fens and we're the best, you know in
all these metrics, uh, just goes to hell and Anthony
Davis forty points, all all of that's fine and finding
(23:08):
good first quarter. They got owned on the board and
it's a it's a good frand to come back some
anxious moments and let's face it, you know, this goes
back to the old tagline of the NBA playoffs, the
NBA it's fantastic?
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Is this really? Look you go to halftime, Hey, like,
all right, it's an eighteen point game.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
Wow, this sucks, right, I mean Murray Murray hits the
shot with one second left, Davis gets it, chucks it,
it goes off the backboard, and you're like, all right,
eighteen point game, all right, Jason locking.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Forward joints to you know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (23:44):
It's it's that kind of sequence. Let's let's go through
the process. And then but you didn't think it was
sustainable and it wasn't right. Eventually you start chipping in. Uh,
you get to the end of the third quarter, Lakers
win that quarter by four points, and then the fourth quarter.
I said, Jokic didn't have a huge impact offensively on
(24:05):
the stretch, which you wouldn't expect a guy otherwise we're
looking at one of the all time great performance still
is I'm sure, I'm sure it's statistically there. But you know,
with Darvin ham he's got to come up with some
solutions really quick.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Well, you said, Darvin ham he has met the media.
Let's take a listen to see what he had to
say following the Lakers game one loss. This is Lakers
head coach Darvin Hamy.
Speaker 4 (24:27):
Definitely, I think the offensive ree bombs at nine and
there are eleven first shots.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
How did their size, especially against your spiral lineup?
Speaker 3 (24:36):
Perfect game?
Speaker 1 (24:38):
If you think that, would you reevaluate those five?
Speaker 3 (24:41):
I mean, my first inclination is not even a size factor.
It's a mobility factor, meaning like bodies. We had guys,
multiple bodies just standing around. No one is seeking out
a hit, no one is no one person getting to hit,
one person selling out going after the bat. Basketball. A
(25:01):
couple of times the ball just dropped to the ground
and someone swooped them from their team and grab it.
But you know, at first glance, just coming off the
game without having to watch it again. That's what I
feel like was happening. Too many possessions where we had
bodies in the vicinity of the rebound which just never
put a body on their body or went just made
a deliberate attempt to go grab the ball.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Can you put a ball? The statement?
Speaker 4 (25:29):
You put.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
Four more an? What was that sort of thing to
put me down?
Speaker 4 (25:35):
You've got to see that.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
Well, I mean again, it's it's not any one coverage
that you're going to be able to stay in versus
that kid, Like, there's no one person that's gonna stop them.
It has to be done by committee, and you have
to switch up you have to switch up matchups at times,
and you have to switch up coverages. And so we
didn't want to go too deep into the end game adjustments.
(26:01):
And you know, it's it's still that that the ultimate
chess game. So we were comfortable with the results. Gave
us a chance to get back into the game, and
you know, it's one of the things we know we
need to go back to it. It's there, but along
with several other things that we didn't unveil tonight.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Darby, I agree, Well, I mean, it's the Western Conference Finals.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Darm all right, so there, I kind of loo, how
was the end of that sentence? I kind of look
I kind of like, I kind of like what he
said there. It seemed like Darvin Ham had the right
tone of Hey, this wasn't enough, and and that's kind
of how it had to be. You know, how was
he going to be? Was he going to be someone who, hey,
you know hey we played with that. No? No, he
seemed upset, and I liked that. That's the tone he had,
(26:46):
and hopefully that's the tone he can take to the Lakers.
That's how you have to be after this. You have
to look at this as boy, we really blew this.
We were terrible, and you need that sense of urgency
for game two, one hundred percent, just the end.
Speaker 4 (26:57):
Like right right as he finished his answer, he said,
and some things we haven't unveiled.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
What the hell are you waiting for? Well, Matt, my
own my mom's the old thing to play in game two.
I can't believe I'd have ruined it for you. Magic's
gonna start a point alert.
Speaker 4 (27:12):
Why you know you had You didn't even let Ty
Shirt hit the horn before you gave me the excited utterance.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
I you know, I can't. You know, I was saving
that for a whole thing. But Magic's playing Game two.
But now you have to be mister what does he mean?
What does he What does he mean? Magic's playing Game two? Okay,
Cap is also going to play in Game two. I
might as well give you that one as well.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
If Cap has a couple of good updowns with him
still a vent little come on now, tell me James
Worthy doesn't want to get out there. Maybe a little
defense from Michael Cooper. That's what they were missing today. Well, Cooper,
get after it.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific, Fox.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with My best friend
Mike Harmon live from the tire rack dot Com Studios,
where the Nuggets hold off the Lakers one thirty two
to one twenty six. They take Game one of the
Western Conference Finals, and there's a lot of stuff to
dig into on this game. I mean, we saw all
(28:10):
kinds of video game numbers tonight from Jokich was thirty
four twenty one rebounds, fourteen assists. Jamal Murray at thirty
one a d was forty and ten Lebron a near
triple double at twenty six, twelve and nine. This was
a heavyweight matchup. And if I could play Darvinham now
(28:32):
for the next game, right, So now let's take a
look and see after game one, what did the Nuggets
do well? Well? The Nuggets did everything well. Right, they
did absolutely everything well. And I go back to what
I said from the beginning of before the playoffs. The
Lakers have to turn Jokic into a guy who gets
his points and they have to shut the other guys down. Well,
(28:54):
the problem is he did that and they still score no.
But that's where the Lakers fit. That's where the Lakers
is really fail tonight, right, because you had Jokic thirty four,
twenty one and fourteen. What are you gonna do? The
guys this great? Right, some people are tuning in and going, boy,
is he this good all the time?
Speaker 4 (29:09):
Yes, he's this good every single well. I mean that's
the problem. When he plays in Mountain time, you don't
get to see him.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Right, But here's where the Lakers fail. Right. You saw hey,
Jamal Murray with thirty one. Okay, really a night where
Yokic goes thirty four, twenty one and fourteen, Murray's got
thirty one, KCP goes for twenty one, right, Porter is
fifteen and ten. All right, Brown goes for sixteen off
the bench, and he's six out of eleven from the floor.
(29:36):
That's where the Lakers fail. That was their epic fail,
Not Jokic. I'm not expecting for a second AD to say, hey,
you know what you know he did with Yoki Jokic
went No, no, No, Jokic is gonna be But it's
the it's the other stat line. It's the other guys
that you can't let that happen to. You can't have
a night where Yokicic goes with thirty four and Murray's
got thirty one, right and clearly not when if those
(29:59):
guys have thirty four thirty one, where KCP and Porter
and Gordon are each in double figures and they're each
shooting at least fifty percent from the floor, No, that
was the big epic failing. And you're throwing in Brown
with with sixteen points off the bench, that's where the
Lakers fail to That was what surprised me was that
the support players for the Nuggets we're able to have
such a big night, Yokic. I get right, I get it.
(30:20):
Maybe not every night is thirty four to twenty one
and fourteen, but I get Jokic. The big failure for
the Lakers was the other guys. That's you gotta focus on.
I don't want to see one thing about, Hey, we
gotta do this for you. No Jokic is gonna be that.
It's it's you know, if he scores thirty four and
the other guys are down a little bit more, you
keep them a little bit more to where they're supposed
to be, you're gonna win the rest of the games
in this series. That's where it needs me. It's not
(30:41):
about Jokic. It's about the other guys.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (30:43):
I mean you look at just the number of shots
they were able to make in transition, the extra pass
skip passes, number of shots from the corner and three
point makes and those just outside the arcs so they're
getting open looks. And I think that's the biggest. Biggest
thing is the defense that you expected to be able
(31:04):
to close out and force more on the shots, things
that you were credited with last round, which I kind
of disagreed with to a large extent. And I think
Rick Buker, who joined us yesterday, he was kind of
in the same thing, and there were a lot of
open looks that the Warriors just didn't make. Nuggets had
open looks, and they made him today. So how you
(31:25):
respond out on the perimeter, how you get in and
keep that defensive intensity up is really going to be
the key to this. Jokis is gonna get his. It's
kind of like, you know, when you're defending and trying
to set up how you're going to defend the Lakers,
all right, you can't let Lebron get into the lane,
right because now he's either taking you to the hole
or he's creating a wide open look, and he did
(31:48):
that early in this game, and the Lakers weren't able
to cash in. You saw Austin Reeves before he was
ice in the veins guy, which is now amongst the
things like chewing mouthpiece guy that I've really had enough of.
I can't I can't deal with either at this point.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
The same gesture.
Speaker 4 (32:05):
But you know, you you always stipulate that Lebron's gonna
get his, and then it's all right. How big a
game is Anthony Davis and which which guy is the
third guy today? Well, in this case you got both
Reeves and Ruey who came up big. But it wasn't
enough defensively. Just got to be commitment to close out
and and not lose guys getting down into the corners, right,
(32:28):
because that's the the shortest shot, easiest shot, and they
were making those all night long.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
Yeah, look, you're you're gonna see some adjustments and you
need the Lakers to keep throwing different looks.
Speaker 4 (32:39):
Darvin Ham said, he's got stuff you haven't even seen.
He's like Julia Roberts and my best friends winning.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
I've got moves you never seen. Yeah, if the hey,
Darvin Jason Smith Fox Sports Radio, is the move to
put Ruy Hachama more on Jokic because he was much
better on him than Ad was. I'll just sit down,
you know, Look, it's it's it's not as simple. But
when you when you throw different looks at a team
and it's something, you've got to find something that works,
right I was. I mean, really, if you say to me,
(33:06):
what was I surprised at the most, I'm not surprised
the Nuggets won the game. I'm surprised they shot fifty
five percent from the floor and forty five percent from
three point range. That's the biggest surprise to me. I
thought the Lakers defense was gonna show up because they've
showed up all postseason. Long defense usually travels well even
in the NBA. And for the Nuggets to have this
kind of night, big time shock, they do have to
(33:28):
have some kind of desperation in Game two, because I
could see Game two being a worst played game and
the Nuggets coming out with a one oh one ninety
two victory because something happens outside the Lakers in their adjusting,
they they lose a little bit. Because this is how
it goes when you need to have big time adjustments
between games. Maybe you catch something in a bottle, but
you also give something up. And I mean, this is it.
(33:50):
I mean, this is a this is a must win,
this is an absolutely. You can't say, oh, this is
a don't worry, it's a long series. All No, it
doesn't have to be a long series because if the
Nuggets win Game two, suddenly the Lakers don't get one
of the next two in LA. Guess what the series
is over right? This is everything is in Game two.
Game two is always the most pivotal game of the series.
And if the home team wins game, do you they
(34:11):
win the first two games, they're gonna win the series.
That's usually how it goes. You don't get teams saying, oh,
we're back, we're forth. You win the first two games,
you win the series. There's too much pressure on the
other team to make it all the way back and
continue to grab the lead. That's kind of how it goes.
Speaker 4 (34:24):
Truly good though, that the altitude wasn't an issue in
the second.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
Half, not at all. You know, normally when you're.
Speaker 4 (34:30):
Sucking wind and having issues, you know, hey, they really
acclimated to training and working in that and that altitude
really fast.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
They acclimated. They acclimated for them. Eight seven seven ninety
nine on Fox is the number The Jason Smith Show
with my best friend Mike Carmon. Hey, if you miss
any of our show, our best of podcast goes up
right after the show is over. On iTunes, you can
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(35:02):
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Coming up next, we break down Game one with a
very special NBA insider, Fox
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
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 Foxsports Radio
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Speaker 2 (00:22):
LEAs give this parties you're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Hello and welcome inside our two of The Jason Smith
Show with my bas friend Mike Harmon.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Well dressed Hobo.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
We're live from the tirack dot Com studios tirec dot com.
We'll help you get there an unmatched selection, fast, free shipping,
free roadhazard protection, and over ten thousand recommended installers tirack
dot com. The Way tire buying should be well five
and a half to go. It is a thirteen point
lead for the Denver Nuggets, one twenty three to one ten.
(00:59):
The Nuggets have been doing everything in their power and
they haven't been able to put the Lakers away. Lakers
just cut it to eleven, but eventually Lakers have to
cut it to more than that, or that's gonna be
it because the time's gonna run out no matter how
close the Lakers get it. Ad now has thirty eight
for the Lakers. After a slow start in which Jokic
out rebounded him basically by himself, round rebounded the Lakers
(01:24):
by himself in the first quarter, ad Is bounced back,
but still it is a eleven point lead from the
Nuggets with about five and a half to go.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
Yeah, through the first quarter, the rebounding differential was twenty
two to six. The Nuggets had three more offensive rebounds
than the Lakers had total. You're not gonna see that
kind of statistical break in many games. But Lakers hanging
around got to give him credit for the fight. Haven't
(01:52):
been able to close the gap any closer than that
eight that they did after a big Reeves three earlier
in the quarter. But thirty eight for Davis, twenty two
ten and seven for Lebron Reeves now is fifteen Hatchamura
with seventeen off the bench. But you're looking at the
(02:13):
three point shot fifteen of twenty eight for the Nuggets,
six more made threes than the Lakers. That's the tail
of the tape. Because the free throw percentages and everything
all work out the same three point mirage and those
open looks that Denver keeps knocking down.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
So we'll have more on this again. Just under five
minutes left to go, twelve point lead by the Denver Nuggets,
one twenty four to one twelve. Well, let me just
say this. We talked about Doc Rivers a few minutes ago,
and Doc Rivers gets dismissed as head coach of the
Philadelphia seventy six ers. It's likely James Harden is going
to wind up going back to the Rockets. We have
(02:53):
seen that many reports, and then today you saw a
lot of NBA insiders. The Ringer had this New York
Post had a big article that the Knicks are loading
up for Joel Embiid and now it's okay, well, that's right,
the Knicks are loading up for Joel. Oh, okay, thanks letter
for Joel Bee. Hang on a second. I'll tell you
(03:14):
right now now, this is not going to be a
NIX conversation. We can make it a NIX comment. Do
you want to make it a next conversation? We can
make it.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
You know what, we never had the other Knicks conversation.
It doesn't have to You artfully skated away from that one.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
It doesn't have to be. But Joel Embiid is going
to be gone, all right. He is going to be
the prize of the NBA off season. It's all going
to be about who is going to make a move
for the reigning MVP. Because Philadelphia is not just in
for a reload on the fly. This is a complete reboot.
(03:50):
You're talking about the guy they brought in to be
the number two behind Embiid is now going to wind
up leaving you fired the head coach that Joel Embiid
really liked. Right after the after they lost Game seven,
one guy said, yeah, me and Doc are okay. That
was James Harden. The other guy loved Doc Rivers. That
was Joel Embiid. Is he really gonna want to stick
(04:10):
around for whatever the Sixers try to do. They don't
have a lot of money, They're stuck there. Is he
really gonna stay where he's been for a while and
not been able to get anywhere? Of course not. He's
gonna be someone who in the off season very strongly
but quietly, says it's time for me to go someplace
else because he's gonna have his Shack legacy moment, right,
(04:32):
You know, you know, how do big men suddenly start
winning middle of their careers. Yeah, you have that legacy
moment where it's, yeah, it's great, great as I am,
as good as I am, I really need to be
doing something a little bit more. And Shaq had that
moment he said, I can't do it in Orlando. I
gotta go someplace else. I go to the Lakers, and
I wind up doing it, and I wind and I
wind up winning. He gotta have that legacy moment, and
(04:54):
that's exactly what he has. And that's what you're gonna
see from Embiid in this office season. He's not gonna
be a guy that demands it. He's not gonna say,
oh oh, I have to go, or you have to
let me get me out. It's gonna be quietly, behind
the scenes. That's how Embid's going to do it. And
he is going to go, and it's gonna be a free,
(05:14):
a feeding frenzy for teams to try to trade for
him because he knows, now, I've been as far as
I can get with Philadelphia, whether it's Doc Rivers or not,
this is as far as I'm going to get. He's
going to be available and that's gonna be the big
story of the off season. Just watch.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
Well, that's interesting because I add a different person who's
going to be the prize of the off season, and
he wears a suit.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
In Bob Myers.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
But let's stick with mbid here for the moment. In
terms of wantless, yeah, plenty of teams will try to
look at him. He's got a long term deal that's
in place. Player option is until twenty twenty six, twenty seven,
so that's certainly a ways away. And you're trying to
think of who are already hasn't traded away all their
(06:01):
number one picks to go and get some other asset
in these last couple of years. Certainly trading him to
the Knicks seems like it would be a bit far fetched.
But look, he can send back Randall a bevy of picks. Sure,
and Randall, I like how you think Randall? Right away, Randall,
(06:22):
Let's get rid of Randall, get right? I think Unfortunately,
you know, he is a great example of the hey
you gotta have a fall guy, right because I'm not
saying he was great, but they had plenty more problems
than just Julius Randall in that series. You can go
down to RJ. Barrett and r J Barrett, you look
(06:44):
at that twenty nineteen draft. None of those guys really
getting it done anymore. Three Hatchamura is the star out
of the twenty nineteen draft anymore, with Jah Moran's issues
and Zion can't get on the court, and then r J. Barrett,
no showed for your Knicks when just when you needed him.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
And the thing is, look, I would normally say, Okay,
there's no way the Sixers will trade him to the Knicks.
But let's just say, and this doesn't need to be
the Knicks, right, I'm just using the Knicks. People use
them as a base so you can get excited. Yeah. Yeah,
but just nobody's untouchable anymore. No, no, no, but it's
not being untouchables. You would say, well, there's no way.
Come on, man, he's not gonna trade. They're not gonna
trade him to the Knicks. Come on, if Joel Embiid
(07:25):
says I want to go to the Knicks, that's where
I'm gonna go. You get what you can guess what
Joella bid is. He would never say that. All right,
James Harden, I want to get to Brooklyn. Okay, we'll
trade you to Brooklyn. We'll get what we need from you. Well,
that's where you're gonna wind up going. I mean that
can happen. Forget about Oh, they're never gonna do it. No,
this is the NBA. This is the NBA. It works
exactly this way. So to think he can't uh uh,
(07:49):
but make no mistake, Joe l Embiid is going to
be on the block this offseason. You will be able
to go get him. He's not gonna have the patience
whatever they're going to try to rebuild around him in Philadelphia.
He's gonna have to go somewhere where look, we're already
good and now I'm the missing piece and a team
where he won't have to lead. That's the best part
about the Knicks, all right, we'll make it about the
(08:09):
Knicks now, is that he doesn't need to go and
be Hey, I'm a superstar. You know, I'm the guy,
I'm the leader. No, no, no, He's got to go
there and just do whatever. Jalen Brunson says, Hey, I
got it, man, Do you just be you and I'll
get you the ball. Because Julius Randall found a way
to be third team All NBA and you're better than him,
So I'll find a way to keep you first team
all NBA, an MVP. But I will be the guy.
(08:29):
He is the leader, and he doesn't need to be anymore,
and he doesn't need to have to worry about him
being that kind of guy. He can just be. I'm
Joel Embiid, I'm going out, I'm making plays, and that's
all I have to worry about. So a team like that,
that's a great fit for him. Well, but that's just
it is. Is he satisfied? Now?
Speaker 4 (08:47):
I like that you're pivoting because I think your thing
on Embiid was that he would be satisfied. He got
his mvp'd, he shut up. So if he's looking for
more and wants the legacy play of the title, well
now docs out Harden is gonna be gone. So how
do you retrofit it? Because you do have Maxi there,
(09:08):
you do have a I mean, you've got a decent squad.
It is the Eastern Conference. Nobody running away and hiding. Look,
your number one seed got bounced by the heat, which
means you know, the only thing you really need to
do is figure out a way to get rid of
Spolstra and then the path clears up. Now, I'm just
joking because obviously it's all about Jimmy Butler, but just
the idea that in the East, I don't know that
(09:31):
you necessarily shake it up to that level because there's
public comments and there's all behind the scenes comments and
weather emb truly back dock right well, because couldn't have
all been just about the roster, as we outlined yesterday
in breaking down his postgame comments, right the one that
(09:54):
people took a bit out of context with, they can't.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Just beat the two of us, No, they are pretty good.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
They had a pretty big, decent roster, pretty good depth,
just not as good a depth as the Celtics had built.
So there's the team you're emulating, there's the team you're chasing.
But you're not that far off. You did battle him
in that series, including one game you didn't play in,
So I don't know that it's an easy solution or
(10:21):
necessarily that he forces his way out, But I like
the theoretical because you know what you can do now
A veritable potpourri of AI mockups of him and other jerseys.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Get right, like all the Wembin Yama ones today. Hey,
he's a spur. Hey he's a rocket. Hey he's a piston.
He's all we've got. We're gonna do them all for
joelmb here we go. Well, well it's funny with you.
You mentioned we Yama. Just to do it really quickly.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
A couple of things in the memorabilia world, right, he's
got a couple of products where he's gonna have signatures
and one that is like, hey, this is the first
card I've ever signed.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Hah, All right, cool, that's great.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
But then people are going into libraries and stealing a
copy of the winter version of the SI for Kids,
because one thing in that magazine is they've always had
a sheet of nine cards of players and figures from
different teams and sports all over the globe. And there
was a women Yama. So everybody's going in, it's stealing
the magazines.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Twittering out about a Fresco Mike has swollen up. Let
me get that magazine.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
I'm gonna well, you know what if you can get
even an eight, right, a graded eight, so near mint,
uh not not even get into the mint's or gems.
They're something for like a thousand bucks right now, So yeah,
go find those SI for kids, but leave a donation
for the kids in the library.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Will you the one that Martha Stewart's not for kids? No,
that's not not for you. No, it can't have a
now is that comes out on the eighteenth? By the
way I saw it for.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
The fact that you know that is scary, well you
know what.
Speaker 4 (11:55):
It showed up in a bunch of timelines today and
it was actually something that my daughter referenced.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
So there right now, the Nuggets are saying to the Lakers,
why won't you just die? Why won't you just die?
It is a three point game, make it a five
point game now? With two minutes left to go, Denver
leads the Lakers one twenty nine to one twenty four.
(12:20):
Austin Reeves has just hit a three. He's now got
eleven points in the fourth quarter, and the Lakers are
trying to make a run at this year. With two
minutes left to go, again, it is a five point
lead for the Nuggets. They do have the basketball, uh
and are trying desperately to hold on to this game.
I mean, this is a game where if the Nuggets
lose this game, I don't know where how you come
(12:42):
back from it, but I think you fire everybody. I
don't know, man, I don't know how you come back
from this. If you wind up blowing this game where
you played as well as you possibly can and you
still don't wind up winning. I don't know, man, I
don't know another game you're gonna win. I really don't.
It's gonna be it's gonna be impossible.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
They should wait, wait should the Lakers? Is the altitude
an issue now or not?
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Well? Now, it's not.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
I don't think we get to use that as a
half assed excuse anymore, do we.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Well, no, because they actually moved the game because the
altitude was too high for the Lakers, and how they
moved it lower, and that's why the Lakers are coming
back now.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
So it's actually a moving arena. It's now with the
mole people in the earth.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Yes, with the mole people. That's gonna be a horror
movie at some point, the mole people. So I think
it's already out there. This guy, I don't think so.
Do you think Hans Moleman will be the star of it?
Could be?
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 (13:44):
Fox Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with my base
friend Mike Harmon. I'm an ass man live from the
tiraq dot Com studios, where the Denver Nuggets have just
taken a one to zero lead in the Western Conference Final,
a game that was much t'o close for the Nuggets,
comfort because it was a game they had led by
(14:04):
twenty throughout, but it was a furious fourth quarter by
the Lakers. Anthony Davis ends up with forty for the Lakers.
Lebron twenty six, twelve and nine, but it's not enough,
as the Nuggets so much firepower, every one of their
starters in double figures. Nikola Jokic thirty four points, twenty
one rebounds, and fourteen assists as the Nuggets win Game one,
(14:28):
one thirty two to one twenty six. Now, despite the
fact they had this big lead, this came down to
the last couple of possessions in the game. Lebron missed
a couple of threes. Lebron had the ball stolen in
the lane when they were down six, eating a bucket.
So you can sit here and say wow, if you're
the Nuggets and go man. I feel good about the
Lakers because, look, this is as good as the Nuggets
(14:51):
could possibly play, and the Lakers still almost won. But
you know what, in the end, you are what you are.
Either you win the game or you lose the game.
And the Nuggets take Game one, and now all the
pressures on the Lakers to get Game two. I feel
good for the Lakers that they were able to come
back a little bit and it didn't get blown out.
But in the end, yeah, still the Nuggets up one zip,
and you know they can play this good. You know
(15:12):
they can play this well. You gotta think they'll get
a little bit of a bounce. But you know, is
Ad gonna score forty in the next game, as Austin
Reeve's gonna have eleven in the fourth quarter, Well he
scored twenty three. Again, you kind of are what you are.
And right now the series is one oh and the
Nuggets have the league.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
Well, and you got the fact that Jokic only scored
three points three free throws down the stretch in the
fourth quarter. It was a non factor at least in
the scoring column. And you look at he was at
thirty one, nineteen and twelve heading to the fourth quarter
finished with thirty four, twenty one and fourteen, so three
(15:48):
two and two augmented pretty quiet fourth quarter as the
Lakers close things out. And if you're the Lakers, to
take a little bit of consolation, only had seven turnovers,
including that big one on that pass to the lane
to Lebron James, and one of those if they really
wanted to get get after it, Jokic did slap at
(16:08):
his offhand. They're not the one with the ball, but
so they could have gotten that ahead of the steal,
but goes the other way. The curious moment for the
Nuggets there, Jason and that they had what was seemingly
a pretty easy transition bucket and instead they pull it
back out. Jokic gets files, goes to the line and
(16:29):
then splits a pair. He's like, all right, you left
the door cracked open instead of taking the two points,
because you only got like another one point four seconds
off the clock. It's not like they let you go
and just dribble it out. So a little bit of
a curiosity there. But all at all, six players in
double figures for the Nuggets. They shoot fifty four point
(16:50):
nine percent for the game.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
And again, let's go back to what we've talked about
with because you spent a lot of time talking about
the Lakers. They're come back here tonight again. I go
back to the beginning of the playoffs. You look at
how crazy it's been the Nuggets getting knocked out or
the the Memphis Grizzlies getting knocked out by the Lakers.
We've seen, you know, we watch the Bucks go out
(17:14):
in the first round, and you see all these big
contenders are are falling by the wayside. If the Nuggets
don't get to the finals this year, I don't know
when they're going to. If they don't win the title
this year, I don't know when they're going to. Everything
is going right for them. They're healthy, they're playing extremely well.
You look at what they're able to do tonight. I mean,
my goodness, this is like. This is like if you
(17:35):
if you did fantasy basketball and you had a nugget starter,
you had a great night, doesn't matter. Yeah, you had
yourself some fun, you had an unreal night. If they
don't win it this year, they're not going to. I mean,
this is it. Even though Joki is someone who should
have won the MVP, but whatever, you know, he doesn't
get it, doesn't get enough votes, doesn't win. You see
(17:56):
right now who the MVP is, who's got his team
playing deep in the playoffs, and who's at home. But
this is their year. I mean they they have to
see that this is it. It's never gonna line up
for us again any better. We are the highest seeded
team left. We have the best record we have. You know,
we're playing a team that that we we should beat,
that we beat a couple of times during the regular season,
that we just beat them in Game one. If we
(18:17):
don't do it this year, we're never gonna do it.
This is that time for the Denver Nuggets.
Speaker 4 (18:21):
Well, there's a couple of things to go through it
right as you break break it down and and look
at the Lakers, the calling card is the defense. Are
we just going to say, hey, they were on one
tonight or are you gonna wrect you guys? So some
failures in being able to close out shots and that
that extra skip pass really bit them in the ass
(18:43):
repeatedly into the corners. So tightening up there the way,
whether Shrewder starts game two or we see Vanderbilt back
in Reeves found his shot late, it wasn't much of
a factor early Shrewder Russell six of fourteen from the
field for fourteen points between them all of those.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
But the Nuggets have the rotation.
Speaker 4 (19:07):
There's not a deep rotation in terms of who's bringing
you points off the bench. It's really just Brown. You've
got green and brawn that saw minutes, but really more
just ay, all right, how quickly can you guys, you know,
get your wind and get back in their kind of
moments for the Nuggets there.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
So.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
Yeah, you've got everybody healthy, right, this is what we
go back to the bubble and the final for their
the expectations of what Murray and Porter Junior what we're
going to become. And Porter Junior hit some big shots
today six to twelve from the field, three of six
three point range, but fifteen and ten Murray gives you
(19:49):
another thirty point outing. He's the guy that you know,
as we previewed the series, Jason, you were wondering how
you can you slow him down? Twenty from the field
and a lot of those are wide open looks. That
that's the curiosity for the Lakers defensively, you know, getting
their spacing and being able to close out and give
(20:11):
Murray credit. He hit a couple of shots right in
lebron James face. Lebron was even giving him the thumbs
up on a couple of possessions, like yeah, you got me. Yeah,
damn it, you got me.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
But you know, but that's the thing is that I'm
already seeing on social media the trend of hey, what
a great loss this was by the Lakers. Oh yeah,
no exactly. You know, let's just stop once you say
you can't have moral victories and that there's no moral
victories in the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (20:35):
Okay, there's certainly not in the conference finals, like you
know you're telling me, you guy, you know you had
the old college try when you were the playing team,
because I think that's what people are going to try
to couch this as well. They shouldn't have gotten there, Jason,
So I may look. No, it's all grading on a curve.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Now. No, there are no moral victories in the playoffs.
You either win or you lose. And oh yeah, can
you sit here and say, oh, it's great we didn't quit. Yeah,
but I don't expect you to quit it. So Western
Conference finals, is it great that we came back, Yeah,
but it wasn't enough because didn't play well enough on defense,
and the Nuggets were able to do whatever they wanted to.
That was the biggest surprise to me was that the
(21:11):
Lakers defensively just got absolutely worked by the Nuggets, not
by Jokic, but by everybody all night. That's s Yes,
it's a big shot. And you want to think, oh,
the Lakers can just turn the screw a little bit
and then Game two is gonna be completely there. No,
there's no moral victories. You lost. You lost, and you
look bad. All right, stop just think about this. You
look bad defensively. The Nuggets did whatever they wanted to.
(21:33):
Did they make a couple of big shots. Yes, Jokich's
three at the end of the third quarter was a
miracle shot. You saw the big the banked in three
from the from the side. That was a miracle shot.
But you know what, that's gonna happen over the course
of the game. You're gonna get something back and forth.
But the more I sit here and see, hey, oh
it was a good like, No, there's no good losses
in the playoffs. There's a win and a loss. There's
(21:53):
a win and loss. Player that's it. There's no there's
no moral of it, and there's none of this. But
yet that's gonna be a very big narrative after today.
Oh but the Lakers looked the now they can try. No,
it's still one zip and the pressure is all on
them to change the narrative for game two. Oh yeah,
you just let Jokic put up a stat line that
that is that's like a sandwich with quadruple meat and
(22:14):
cheese in it. You just let Jamal Murray do whatever
he could do. Usually it's one or the other. You
let them both. You let a guy come off the
bench and look like he was a sixth Man of
the Year. You let all of these things happen. You
can't just suddenly say, oh, we'll fix this for game two.
Wait what we mean. No, a loss is a loss.
This is desperation time for the Lakers because you did
(22:35):
not come up with anything you thought was gonna happen tonight,
and you look bad doing it. You got exposed. You
came back awesome, that's great, but in the end, it's
a loss.
Speaker 4 (22:45):
Right, You still gotta go figure out what the hell
went wrong to start it right, because no team sustains
for forty eight minutes on that hot at streak and
if they do well, then you just fold up the
ten go home because the calling card of hey, we
played d fens and we're the best, you know in
all these metrics, uh, just goes to hell and Anthony
Davis forty points, all all of that's fine and finding
(23:08):
good first quarter. They got owned on the board and
it's a it's a good frand to come back some
anxious moments and let's face it, you know, this goes
back to the old tagline of the NBA playoffs, the
NBA it's fantastic?
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Is this really? Look you go to halftime, Hey, like,
all right, it's an eighteen point game.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
Wow, this sucks, right, I mean Murray Murray hits the
shot with one second left, Davis gets it, chucks it,
it goes off the backboard, and you're like, all right,
eighteen point game, all right, Jason locking.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Forward joints to you know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (23:44):
It's it's that kind of sequence. Let's let's go through
the process. And then but you didn't think it was
sustainable and it wasn't right. Eventually you start chipping in. Uh,
you get to the end of the third quarter, Lakers
win that quarter by four points, and then the fourth quarter.
I said, Jokic didn't have a huge impact offensively on
(24:05):
the stretch, which you wouldn't expect a guy otherwise we're
looking at one of the all time great performance still
is I'm sure, I'm sure it's statistically there. But you know,
with Darvin ham he's got to come up with some
solutions really quick.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Well, you said, Darvin ham he has met the media.
Let's take a listen to see what he had to
say following the Lakers game one loss. This is Lakers
head coach Darvin Hamy.
Speaker 4 (24:27):
Definitely, I think the offensive ree bombs at nine and
there are eleven first shots.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
How did their size, especially against your spiral lineup?
Speaker 3 (24:36):
Perfect game?
Speaker 1 (24:38):
If you think that, would you reevaluate those five?
Speaker 3 (24:41):
I mean, my first inclination is not even a size factor.
It's a mobility factor, meaning like bodies. We had guys,
multiple bodies just standing around. No one is seeking out
a hit, no one is no one person getting to hit,
one person selling out going after the bat. Basketball. A
(25:01):
couple of times the ball just dropped to the ground
and someone swooped them from their team and grab it.
But you know, at first glance, just coming off the
game without having to watch it again. That's what I
feel like was happening. Too many possessions where we had
bodies in the vicinity of the rebound which just never
put a body on their body or went just made
a deliberate attempt to go grab the ball.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Can you put a ball? The statement?
Speaker 4 (25:29):
You put.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
Four more an? What was that sort of thing to
put me down?
Speaker 4 (25:35):
You've got to see that.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
Well, I mean again, it's it's not any one coverage
that you're going to be able to stay in versus
that kid, Like, there's no one person that's gonna stop them.
It has to be done by committee, and you have
to switch up you have to switch up matchups at times,
and you have to switch up coverages. And so we
didn't want to go too deep into the end game adjustments.
(26:01):
And you know, it's it's still that that the ultimate
chess game. So we were comfortable with the results. Gave
us a chance to get back into the game, and
you know, it's one of the things we know we
need to go back to it. It's there, but along
with several other things that we didn't unveil tonight.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Darby, I agree, Well, I mean, it's the Western Conference Finals.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Darm all right, so there, I kind of loo, how
was the end of that sentence? I kind of look
I kind of like, I kind of like what he
said there. It seemed like Darvin Ham had the right
tone of Hey, this wasn't enough, and and that's kind
of how it had to be. You know, how was
he going to be? Was he going to be someone who, hey,
you know hey we played with that. No? No, he
seemed upset, and I liked that. That's the tone he had,
(26:46):
and hopefully that's the tone he can take to the Lakers.
That's how you have to be after this. You have
to look at this as boy, we really blew this.
We were terrible, and you need that sense of urgency
for game two, one hundred percent, just the end.
Speaker 4 (26:57):
Like right right as he finished his answer, he said,
and some things we haven't unveiled.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
What the hell are you waiting for? Well, Matt, my
own my mom's the old thing to play in game two.
I can't believe I'd have ruined it for you. Magic's
gonna start a point alert.
Speaker 4 (27:12):
Why you know you had You didn't even let Ty
Shirt hit the horn before you gave me the excited utterance.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
I you know, I can't. You know, I was saving
that for a whole thing. But Magic's playing Game two.
But now you have to be mister what does he mean?
What does he What does he mean? Magic's playing Game two? Okay,
Cap is also going to play in Game two. I
might as well give you that one as well.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
If Cap has a couple of good updowns with him
still a vent little come on now, tell me James
Worthy doesn't want to get out there. Maybe a little
defense from Michael Cooper. That's what they were missing today. Well, Cooper,
get after it.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific, Fox.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with My best friend
Mike Harmon live from the tire rack dot Com Studios,
where the Nuggets hold off the Lakers one thirty two
to one twenty six. They take Game one of the
Western Conference Finals, and there's a lot of stuff to
dig into on this game. I mean, we saw all
(28:10):
kinds of video game numbers tonight from Jokich was thirty
four twenty one rebounds, fourteen assists. Jamal Murray at thirty
one a d was forty and ten Lebron a near
triple double at twenty six, twelve and nine. This was
a heavyweight matchup. And if I could play Darvinham now
(28:32):
for the next game, right, So now let's take a
look and see after game one, what did the Nuggets
do well? Well? The Nuggets did everything well. Right, they
did absolutely everything well. And I go back to what
I said from the beginning of before the playoffs. The
Lakers have to turn Jokic into a guy who gets
his points and they have to shut the other guys down. Well,
(28:54):
the problem is he did that and they still score no.
But that's where the Lakers fit. That's where the Lakers
is really fail tonight, right, because you had Jokic thirty four,
twenty one and fourteen. What are you gonna do? The
guys this great? Right, some people are tuning in and going, boy,
is he this good all the time?
Speaker 4 (29:09):
Yes, he's this good every single well. I mean that's
the problem. When he plays in Mountain time, you don't
get to see him.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Right, But here's where the Lakers fail. Right. You saw hey,
Jamal Murray with thirty one. Okay, really a night where
Yokic goes thirty four, twenty one and fourteen, Murray's got
thirty one, KCP goes for twenty one, right, Porter is
fifteen and ten. All right, Brown goes for sixteen off
the bench, and he's six out of eleven from the floor.
(29:36):
That's where the Lakers fail. That was their epic fail,
Not Jokic. I'm not expecting for a second AD to say, hey,
you know what you know he did with Yoki Jokic
went No, no, No, Jokic is gonna be But it's
the it's the other stat line. It's the other guys
that you can't let that happen to. You can't have
a night where Yokicic goes with thirty four and Murray's
got thirty one, right and clearly not when if those
(29:59):
guys have thirty four thirty one, where KCP and Porter
and Gordon are each in double figures and they're each
shooting at least fifty percent from the floor, No, that
was the big epic failing. And you're throwing in Brown
with with sixteen points off the bench, that's where the
Lakers fail to That was what surprised me was that
the support players for the Nuggets we're able to have
such a big night, Yokic. I get right, I get it.
(30:20):
Maybe not every night is thirty four to twenty one
and fourteen, but I get Jokic. The big failure for
the Lakers was the other guys. That's you gotta focus on.
I don't want to see one thing about, Hey, we
gotta do this for you. No Jokic is gonna be that.
It's it's you know, if he scores thirty four and
the other guys are down a little bit more, you
keep them a little bit more to where they're supposed
to be, you're gonna win the rest of the games
in this series. That's where it needs me. It's not
(30:41):
about Jokic. It's about the other guys.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (30:43):
I mean you look at just the number of shots
they were able to make in transition, the extra pass
skip passes, number of shots from the corner and three
point makes and those just outside the arcs so they're
getting open looks. And I think that's the biggest. Biggest
thing is the defense that you expected to be able
(31:04):
to close out and force more on the shots, things
that you were credited with last round, which I kind
of disagreed with to a large extent. And I think
Rick Buker, who joined us yesterday, he was kind of
in the same thing, and there were a lot of
open looks that the Warriors just didn't make. Nuggets had
open looks, and they made him today. So how you
(31:25):
respond out on the perimeter, how you get in and
keep that defensive intensity up is really going to be
the key to this. Jokis is gonna get his. It's
kind of like, you know, when you're defending and trying
to set up how you're going to defend the Lakers,
all right, you can't let Lebron get into the lane,
right because now he's either taking you to the hole
or he's creating a wide open look, and he did
(31:48):
that early in this game, and the Lakers weren't able
to cash in. You saw Austin Reeves before he was
ice in the veins guy, which is now amongst the
things like chewing mouthpiece guy that I've really had enough of.
I can't I can't deal with either at this point.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
The same gesture.
Speaker 4 (32:05):
But you know, you you always stipulate that Lebron's gonna
get his, and then it's all right. How big a
game is Anthony Davis and which which guy is the
third guy today? Well, in this case you got both
Reeves and Ruey who came up big. But it wasn't
enough defensively. Just got to be commitment to close out
and and not lose guys getting down into the corners, right,
(32:28):
because that's the the shortest shot, easiest shot, and they
were making those all night long.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
Yeah, look, you're you're gonna see some adjustments and you
need the Lakers to keep throwing different looks.
Speaker 4 (32:39):
Darvin Ham said, he's got stuff you haven't even seen.
He's like Julia Roberts and my best friends winning.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
I've got moves you never seen. Yeah, if the hey,
Darvin Jason Smith Fox Sports Radio, is the move to
put Ruy Hachama more on Jokic because he was much
better on him than Ad was. I'll just sit down,
you know, Look, it's it's it's not as simple. But
when you when you throw different looks at a team
and it's something, you've got to find something that works,
right I was. I mean, really, if you say to me,
(33:06):
what was I surprised at the most, I'm not surprised
the Nuggets won the game. I'm surprised they shot fifty
five percent from the floor and forty five percent from
three point range. That's the biggest surprise to me. I
thought the Lakers defense was gonna show up because they've
showed up all postseason. Long defense usually travels well even
in the NBA. And for the Nuggets to have this
kind of night, big time shock, they do have to
(33:28):
have some kind of desperation in Game two, because I
could see Game two being a worst played game and
the Nuggets coming out with a one oh one ninety
two victory because something happens outside the Lakers in their adjusting,
they they lose a little bit. Because this is how
it goes when you need to have big time adjustments
between games. Maybe you catch something in a bottle, but
you also give something up. And I mean, this is it.
(33:50):
I mean, this is a this is a must win,
this is an absolutely. You can't say, oh, this is
a don't worry, it's a long series. All No, it
doesn't have to be a long series because if the
Nuggets win Game two, suddenly the Lakers don't get one
of the next two in LA. Guess what the series
is over right? This is everything is in Game two.
Game two is always the most pivotal game of the series.
And if the home team wins game, do you they
(34:11):
win the first two games, they're gonna win the series.
That's usually how it goes. You don't get teams saying, oh,
we're back, we're forth. You win the first two games,
you win the series. There's too much pressure on the
other team to make it all the way back and
continue to grab the lead. That's kind of how it goes.
Speaker 4 (34:24):
Truly good though, that the altitude wasn't an issue in
the second.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
Half, not at all. You know, normally when you're.
Speaker 4 (34:30):
Sucking wind and having issues, you know, hey, they really
acclimated to training and working in that and that altitude
really fast.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
They acclimated. They acclimated for them. Eight seven seven ninety
nine on Fox is the number The Jason Smith Show
with my best friend Mike Carmon. Hey, if you miss
any of our show, our best of podcast goes up
right after the show is over. On iTunes, you can
use the iHeartRadio app wherever you listen to podcasts. It
is there. The Jason Smith's with Mike Carmon. Listen, download
(35:02):
rate us. We'll love you forever and ever and ever
again wherever you Listen to podcasts. You can get it
The Jason Smith Show with Mike carmon iTunes, anywhere. We'll
love you forever. Just please remember to subscribe and rate.
Coming up next, we break down Game one with a
very special NBA insider, Fox
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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