May 18, 2023 • 34 mins
Jason Smith and Mike Harmon breakdown Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Why is Michael Malone so focused on making it publicly known his disdain about the Lakers potentially putting Rui on Jokic and how he seems to want credit for seeing this strategy before?
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
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Speaker 2 (00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Greetings and welcome inside our three of The Jason Smith
Show with my base friend Mike Harmon, live from the
tirag dot com studios tirack dot com. We'll help you
get there and unmatched selection, fast free shipping, free road
hazard protection at over ten thousand recommended installers tiraq dot com.
The way tire buying should be So. Game one of
(00:51):
the Eastern Conference Finals goes to the Heat. They beat
the Celtics. Who needs to win game two more? The
Celtics Lakers eight seven?
Speaker 2 (01:02):
But look, why are you stealing all of tomorrow's topics
right now?
Speaker 1 (01:07):
What are you doing? Desperate producers are going, oh, that's
a good idea. Who needs to win game two more?
Who needs to win game two more? Let's let's do that.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Well, I mean, that's only crowned and and and trumped
if we're playing a game of cards by saying what
Superstar needs this title?
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Most what I saw tonight from the Celtics was offensive.
It was awful. It was about as bad a perform
as you could possibly see. I was embarrassed for Jason Tatum.
I was embarrassed for Jalen Brown. But let me but listen,
I think you've noticed it. Just just to give you
a little bit of a maybe. Uh you like you
like when I do the dial down Stephen? A right,
you like to dial down Stephen because you gotta slow
(01:46):
it down. It's like almost a guy standing in the
corner with a stand up base. I was embarrassed for
r J. Barrett. I was embarrassed for Julius Randall. I
was embarrassed for Tom Tibodeau. I was awful. It was
the worst potential that I've seen out of a team
and was one of the worst outcomes. I can't forgive
him for that at all. Sometimes I gotta do the
dial down version, you know, when.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
I give you that and then he pauses and then
he starts screaming.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
But not that this is kind of like a a
social experiment. But think about this, Just think about this.
You listen to the show every night, you listen to
the shows the I know a girl who goes to shows.
Last night, the Lakers and the Nuggets game one, when
(02:29):
that game is going on and that game is ending,
how hot and heavy we were talking about it, the nuances,
the ins and outs and different plays of the game,
and and and and how everything fell together, and what
the Lakers needed to do afterwards, and how the nugget
should have felt if.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
We dive of that fails, and you know Lebron James
with shots selection and chucking up threes, and jokicch and
the countering of Ruiy and and Malone recording No.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
I got We'll get to We'll get to Ruy and
Michael Malone. That's that's a big Miclonem. Michael got some
respect on his name? Your down one's it to it?
Put some respect on it? Respect?
Speaker 2 (03:11):
No? Is it better when you win? Are you Michael?
Or does that elevate you from Mike to Michael?
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Why don't you just go by Mike?
Speaker 2 (03:21):
What?
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Why should I change?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
My name gets squeaked by?
Speaker 3 (03:25):
They barely won.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
They beat yours but you notice how everything changes and
when that game ended, we go into a full breakdown
of this game, and we hear we hear from from
Anthony Davis and Lebron James and Joki twenty Talks, because
that's the caliber of game, because that's kind of the
attention that game deserves. There's certain games that when it happened,
(03:51):
just takes over. Right, we come on after Monday, the
Monday Night football game is over. We're talking hot and
heavy about the Monday Night football game for the last
two hours of the show. Right, it ends around nine
o'clock anywhere between eight forty five nine to fifteen our time,
and that becomes the rest of the show because that's
all anybody has taught, as much as the NFL everything
we had on Sunday Monday. Hey, this is the game
going on. This is what people want to hear. And
(04:12):
certain playoff games, whether it's Major League Baseball playoff game,
certain games merit you throwing out what you were doing.
And this is what we talk about now for the
last two hours and finding new angles and new ways
to talk about it and bringing new ways to consume,
new things to consume. Every few minutes on the show
spidering effect that we've talked about on the show for
a decade. That is that is Lakers Nuggets. That is
(04:36):
not Celtics heat. It just isn't what It's just I mean,
we got playoff Jimmy.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Is he the greatest playoff basketball player in NBA history?
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Wait, we got that, Wait till that topic gets.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Some What we got to Celtics are eleven and eleven
in their last twenty two home games in the playoffs.
It's Missoula can't win in games designed by five or
left and again five hundred t I mean, we got
it all.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Let's just make stuff up. Look, it's it's I can't
even pretend not all stories are created equally. Are the
Eastern Conference Finals a big deal? Yeah, we're talking about
him a lot tonight, but we're also talking about other things.
We're talking about John Morant, We're talking about James Harden,
We're talking about Superstar Billy Graham rest in peace. There's
lots of other things with the the now. The solving
of the Aaron Judge controversy which is now over, which
(05:26):
we'll get to again coming up in a few minutes.
At there's so many other no one's gonna dot Aaron Judge.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
That's why I said all the time it was nonsense.
He didn't need to lie.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Can I just pretend I threw the ball near you
and you were down the first base? I don't.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
I could have just looked straight into the camera and said, yeah,
I sneak to be killed.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Look, I can't even pretend that it's it's the same.
It's not even close. Yes, it's a big deal and
we're talking about it, but it doesn't take over. This
is why I say the Western Conference funnels dwarf anything
going on in the East. Not just because the Western Conference,
of two teams left, are the two best teams in
the NBA, even though they're a little flawed. The teams
(06:06):
in the East are tremendously flawed.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Well, the fact that you're not saying the Lakers are
one of the two best teams in the NBA, the.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Two best teams left. Right now, We've got four teams left.
Right now, there's four teams left. They're either the first
or the second or the third.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Do I get I get the coach with him. We're
talking about the coach counting too.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
He's alive or he's dead or the cops got him,
or that's what I see. What you did.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Find up a little too swollen.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
I like that beef and Ham and salt. Right, guys
didn't even be sweats. You didn't even know you did that.
I don't dig on swine Ham sweats. That sounds like
a pretty good name for a band Ham.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Sweats, sweats man, sweats man.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Yeah, but no, you can't even pretend.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
But the larger, all the other story you do yet
that are much speaker Lebron and Dan Anthony and what
Darvin Ham has been able to do and what Rob
Polenka wanted to do and had to do because remember
before the season was they're not doing anything because they
want to stick it to Lebron, Right, that was the
(07:17):
narrative that was running around, certainly here in Los Angeles
and nationwide. It got some legs of they're going to
force him to play it out with Russell Westbrook. That's
the team they wanted, even if they struggle. Blah blah
blah blah blah. Come trade deadline, all of a sudden
you got Rob Polinka. Is what was the the Rob
Low switch? Remember the good Rob Low and the bad?
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Yeah, yeah, the DirecTV versus table NFL logo hat wearing
Rob Low versus the other way. But that idea. So,
I mean, there's a lot more narratives and Jokich how
nobody wanted him to win a third m VP. Here
it's playoff Jimmy and uh I guess Tatum and Brown
(08:01):
are getting along well enough.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Look and watch and watch you also see this because
I'm telling you, even though many shows are going to
try to make it seem like it's the same, even
they know they can't fake it, right, because what trust me,
watch tomorrow. Right, here's the thing. Think about this. If
you watch TV today, if you watch any of the
daytime shows, or or listen to the radio, you heard
(08:23):
a lot of very descriptive takes and talks about specific
plays in the Nuggets game against the Lakers.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Right.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
You would hear about Jokic's three at the end of
the third quarter, Lebron missing the three, getting the ball
stolen at the end of regulation, very specific plays, things
that happened, Hachimoora coming in and guarding Jokic a little
bit better, and maybe that's what the Lakers try to do.
Very very specific things about the game. Why specific because
we cared about the game. More more people watch that game,
(08:52):
and more people care. So that's again, Hey, we have
to get in depth on this watch the broad general
topics of Celtics heat. Are they gonna talk about any
specific plays from this game? No, they're not. It's gonna
be trust me, Is Jimmy Butler the best most clutch
playoff performer in NBA history? And someone's gonna do it,
and it's gonna be a huge hot take and people
are gonna just say I'm embarrassed for the guy, but
(09:13):
the person's gonna go look at me. I get a
lot of attention on Twitter. They're all saying this. They're
all saying Jordan, Jordan had a better team. He didn't
have Jimmy Butler's never had a good team around him.
Jordan had Scottie Pippen. He's got Bam out of bio.
See I'm making this argument already. That's the type of
discussion you're going to get. Is Eric Spoulster the best coach?
In the end? Stuff that we do on an off night,
(09:34):
You're gonna see how do we react to that game tomorrow?
And it's gonna be much more broad generalization because there's
just not the story. There's just not the overall interest
in the game. Trust me, you're not gonna see one
game breakdown of anything going on from what we saw tonight.
It's gonna be the excellence of Jimmy Butler. What's wrong
with the Celtics? How can they? Actually?
Speaker 2 (09:54):
That's what you're gonna see. I want a preview of
game two, which is tomorrow nights. You get right back
into you can lean right back into Lebron Jams. How
does he respond? You know, the shooting woes that he's
had from the outside will be a talking point. He'd
take game one. Let's take a look at game two
of the Lakers and the Nuggets, right, But that's exactly it. Hey,
Jimmy Butler, what another clutch performance. Look at him? Fill
(10:16):
the lane. You'll have the b roll with a couple
of the steals and big finishes, finishes with a huge night,
great work from the supporting cast. I mean, you had
a good, good balance behind Jimmy Butler tonight. But it's
a narrative that already has legs. You've already got some
of that copy written from past playoff performances. You can
(10:36):
just push it forward it's nice and easy Lakers, how
do they respond? I mean, look, you got to know
where the sizzle is, my man. I mean, the Celtics
are fun and obviously history as a brand, but as
much as we love Tatum and Brown and we celebrate
and we've talked about that combination and what they are
(10:57):
all along, change out the coach. You've got some bad
narratives about close games that are there and what's the
better story all that we let out with the principles
in the Western Conference, Like it just it just rights itself.
Take the segment you did from Tuesday Tuesday night into
(11:20):
Wednesday morning, and then just layer on whatever you think
may happen in game. Like Anthony Davis, for instance, It'll
be it's like, well, you know he's had some huge games,
but then he's also shrunk a taz. Can they get
another forty performance out of it? Which guy is Austin Reeves?
Remember his jump shot didn't fall early, but boy he
(11:42):
finished with a flurry and the ice in the veins motion.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Can he do it again?
Speaker 2 (11:47):
And bigger still? Can the Lakers retain him?
Speaker 1 (11:51):
You just there's nothing. You can't pretend there's any sort
of equality in the breakdown in the quality of game,
in the interest between the West and the East. He can't.
And look, it's why I keep saying. And I also
say everybody knows, whether you know it or you know
it obliquely, the Nuggets and the Lakers are the two
best teams left, and the Celtics and the Heat are
(12:12):
both extremely flawed. Look, all the teams are flawed, but
the Celtics in the Heat are more flawed than anybody else.
Are more flawed than either the Nuggets or the Lakers.
So people know, I'm watching this game. I'm watching the
real NBA Championship. Now, injuries can always happen, and somebody
goes down and somebody gets hurt, and then that changes everything.
But you can only go by what's on the court
right now. And that's the way it is. Those are
(12:32):
your top two teams.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
See, you just did what you were just excoriating. I
just made it because last round you said that was
the round it was Lakers Warriors.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Let's go unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
How you just moved down to the Netakers. Let's say
the way you did that.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Mikey also had the Mets in the gutter right before
that home run.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
How about p Alonzo tonight with that big home run.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
I had to bring it back to the Mets, didn't you,
Monty Belang you just did.
Speaker 4 (12:57):
Doesn't count though Mike he had them in the gut,
or he cursed his team out. He's that he said
the season was over incorrect, the home runs irrelevant. I
started sketching a picture forget about it. I got her
all if that.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Is incorrect, all that all, it's not all incorrect. You're
all you're stretching the truth.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
We do not know.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
We lie in the studio.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
We can all see each other. We know what happened.
Were locked eyes watching, I had your mind. I had
nothing but throwing kings. Can I say what my thoughts were?
So are you guys? Guys?
Speaker 1 (13:30):
You guys are like my own AI with our own eyes.
I did not disparage Peter on camera.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
No, no, no, no no, but you you curb. You
tried to trade off every member of your pitchings. Yes, well,
I remember moms. Verlander sure, and then Escobar can cursed
out their moms. They didn't give them.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
The problem of all the over thirty five guys. No,
those guys, I did.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
You went to any guy over thirty five. You disparaged them,
you age his son of a gun? Hey the kids,
dare you play?
Speaker 1 (14:05):
The kids play the.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
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 (14:16):
Fox Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with My best
friend Mike Harmon. This time it counts live from the
tire rack dot Com studios. As we are less than
twenty four hours away from Game two of the Western
Conference Finals Nuggets and the Lakers, and now we are
getting I don't want to say bulletin board material, but
(14:38):
we're getting strategy bulletin board material from both teams. All
right now, this is I'm gonna give the Lakers a
lot of credit on this because what I've seen seems
too seems too easy to say take it face value
right now. Remember what I've said in the beginning of
this whole playoff was is the key to be stopping
(15:00):
Nikola Jokicic. No Jokic is gonna get his points, right.
You're hoping every night is not gonna be thirty nine,
twenty one and fourteen like he had last night. But
even if he does have a night like that, as
long as it's not Murray with thirty one and you know,
Michael Porter Junior with twenty and ten, or as long
as that's not the night from the other guys, that's
(15:21):
who you have to slow down. Right, Yokic'll get his points.
You could just stop him from dominating the game. If
he's scoring, he's scoring. But it's the other guys you
have to control. And you should be able to control
Jamal Murray a little bit more than you did. Should
be able to control some of the guys that had
pretty good nights. KCP shouldn't be scoring eighteen a game.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
You can't stop KCP. How dare you now?
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Let me strow much? Let me throw this out here
because this is the preamble you did right there. That's
pretty good with a k you should have done. Yeah,
it's radio, So let me throw this out there, because
immediately after the game, there was the sentiment that was
talked about that maybe the Lakers are better off putting
Ruey Hachimura on Nikola jokicch right, because when they did
(16:02):
that in the fourth quarter, Jokic was zero for three
from the floor. The Lakers came back ad was able
to roam the paint, and that's something that was discussed.
The Lakers talked about it a little bit, and then
Michael Malone spent a lot of time today talking about
what if the Lakers put Ruey Hachimura on Nikola Jokic,
And he just didn't give the one answer, Hey, that's
(16:25):
their strategy, we're gonna adopt.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
No. No.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
He went into great detail about how upset and affronted
he was that this is a strategy being talked about right.
Think about this, he said, quote much is being made
of them putting Ruey Hachimura on Nikola Jokic, Like we've
never seen that before. WHOA, Okay, there's this kind of
discussion being based on that. Even though the Lakers lost,
they're walking.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Out of here.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
They think they've got something. I'll bet you every red
penny I have that darvinham would rather be up one
to oh than down oh. One rushed to be able
to watch film after win and show all the things
we did poorly. Is a great situation to be in,
Andy Michael Porter Junior. As a team, we've seen everything
there is to see on our teams. We'll try to
guard Nikola Jokic. It might surprise a little bit in
(17:08):
the beginning, but we've seen it. We've seen it. We've
seen it, we've seen him. We're gonna be ready. We'll
be ready, We'll be ready. This is a lot of
talk for a team that really felt, hey, we have
a lot going on. We're in control of everything. Whatever
you throw us with Jokic, we're gonna be able to
counterattack again. A lot, a lot of detail, a lot
you think putting Ruya like suddenly Malone's gonna say, oh,
(17:30):
we heard you're gonna put Riya Chimora on on Jokich
and Darmenham's gonna go great, the secrets out now, We're
not gonna do it. He knows it's coming now. It's like,
that's how Malone is talking here. It's very weird for
a guy to be up one zip to try to
defend and say I try to win a battle or
a war of words in between game one and game
two of oh yeah, you think you're gonna put Timor on?
(17:51):
Why what do you see what Jokic does? Why do
you care so much?
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Well, it's finny, I care so much because you talked
about it after the game. Uh and Darvin Ham we hey,
you think they haven't seen it all yet? Like he
had that smile on his face, like he had some
random mystery player that was suddenly gonna be able to
come out and change the equation. We joked about all
the famous Laker defenders of the pass, wondering if Michael
(18:16):
Cooper could give him a couple of good minutes mixed
they're in. But for the Nuggets, I think to some
level they just got into the everybody's still excited about
the Lakers. What the Lakers were able to do. It's like,
did they not watch what we just did there? And
did they think we're a bunch of dopes. We're not
gonna CounterPunch again. Something we talked about yesterday, right because
(18:37):
you watched it even as the game was flowing on
and we're keeping a prize of social media and what
NBA pundits and players and former players are all saying,
and a lot of us, oh, look, how much does
this game change once Ruey is like, Okay, so now
they've seen it, what's the next counter Because Michael Malone's
not just throwing up his hand going oh they had
(18:57):
Ruy Hatcham.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
Or damn it are foiled. That's it.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
No, it's still gonna be about discipline to the other players.
You mentioned Jamal Murray, you got Michael Porter Junior, Aaron
Gordon was flying around for a bunch of the game
on the outlet passes from Jokic getting some clean looks
or being the distributor himself, and then KCP and Brown
off the bench that you had other guys active. And
(19:25):
if you collapse and commit to bringing even a feigned
double on Yokic, he gets the ball out fast enough
to where they're getting a shot up and they hit
shots time and time again. Can you be disciplined and
just say, all right, if Yoki is gonna decide to
go one on one here and whether it's Ruey or
you go back to Anthony Davis or who's in the
(19:48):
mystery box over there, that the other players are gonna
have stuff up. But yeah, they're spending an awful lot
of time. Does protest too much about you think you
gotta figure it out, don't you?
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Why is he like, why is he spending so? Why
does he spend so? Why is he spending this kind
of intent time? But we haven't seen that before. It like, dude,
what do you keep by that?
Speaker 2 (20:08):
But I have sam token. It's also about five seconds
of his life. Like it's magnified here but you and I.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
But he talks for a living. He knows what he
says is going to be made a lot. There's a
lot of.
Speaker 4 (20:20):
Right.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
But he but he went out of his way to
draw attention to this. He could have just given a
regular well hey hey, you know, hey, Ruy did a
great job on Nicola. But we've seen this and you know,
will adjust instead of we haven't seen that before. They're
gonna do that, guarantee you Darwin. He would rather be
up one zip. The Lakers think they walk out of
here with something. It's dude, aren't you up one zip?
You're he's he's up one zip and he's talking like
the team that's down oh one, And he makes reference
(20:43):
to the team being down on one rather being what
he is up one. Oh. It's just weird.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Everybody wants what they're doing. Michael Malone I think is
a Mike and it is you know you can call Mike.
Is that perhaps he's feeling a little disrespected, like we
we just ludgend them for three quarters of this game
kind of going the opposite, you know, the uh the
Missoula quote of a we won three quarters, well you
(21:07):
lost the game. Uh, they lost the fourth quarter and
it got dicey.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
They won the game.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
So from Michael Malone, I think he's he's looking at
the national talking heads that have jumped on board the Lakers, saying, see,
look even with how bad it was, look what a
game it was like. No, they played pretty pretty poorly
for a good chunk of the game, and yes it
got close, but it doesn't dismiss the rest of that game.
It doesn't dismiss that the team that had this great
(21:36):
defensive rating was eviscerated.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
Nuggets barely won.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
Now, now knowing all of this, right, the Jason Smiths
are with Mike Carmon knowing to go back to what
we just did a few minutes ago and the preamble
about the Lakers are gonna winde up. They really need
to shut the other guys down. Jokic get his points.
Do you really think this is the I know that
we look at coaches and go, this guy's stupid, this
guy doesn't know, this guy's dumb, this guy's re let's
(22:01):
give coach is left let's give the coaches left. Oh,
I tell you it's not my fault. Let's let's give
the coaches left a little bit. He is not a
little bit of credit. Here's this story today of the
Lakers eight. We could see a lineup change ruy Ha Chimura.
It's become the story of the day. How are the
Lakers going to adjust how they're going to attack?
Speaker 2 (22:23):
You a big deal going into games bay. Right, there's
a substitution that they made putting fruit in.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
And now here's this story that somehow gets leaked out
publicly that oh, the Lakers are thinking of putting ruy
Ha Chimura on Nikola Jokicic And now the Nuggets are
spending a lot of time going, oh, you think you're
gonna yeah, we'll be ready for that. We'll be ready
for that. What if? And I'm just saying what if?
This is exactly how the Lakers wanted the Nuggets to react.
(22:50):
This story gets out, and this is exactly how they
wanted them to react. Oh you think we haven't seen
that before? You watch you ready for Rutchmora And it's
something that's not even close to that for the adjustment
for Game two that it's not gonna be about Hatchamura
on on Yokich and it's gonna be more about a
d doing something different or Lebron out on Jamal Murray
on the premter something different than what this is going
(23:11):
to be. And they have the Nuggets focused on this
because this is a topic. It came out, they spent
a lot of time talking about it. I'm gonna give
the Lakers credit and Darbnham credit. Okay, good good. They're
focused on exactly what we want to be focused on.
You're focused on this, and we're gonna give you something else,
and now good luck adjusting to that on the fly.
It's one thing to be able to have a film
session to go okay. So if Rui's on you, this
(23:32):
is what we're gonna do, this, this, this, this, this, this,
and this. What if it's something different and it doesn't
even evolve that or it involves somebody different what they
try to do with Yokic, that's not there. I'm gonna
give the Lakers credit that this is exactly what they
wanted the reaction to be. We're gonna have you focus
on this side, but on this side, we really got
something for you.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
So you're saying The reporters that asked the questions to
elicit these responses were plants.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
Yes, the Lakers if you know, if if the story,
if the story gets what's out. No, if they listen,
if you're a reporter and the story gets out, you're here. Hey,
the Lakers may put Ruy on Nikole yolkicch after what
happened last night, aren't you asked? Don't you? Aren't you
gonna ask Michael a loan and that? And of course
you're gonna say, hey, what if they wind up doing that?
(24:16):
What if they wind up doing that? What are you
gonna do? You know that's gonna get out? You know
what is right?
Speaker 2 (24:19):
But again, i'd like to think, and this is me
wishing for the best of our four remaining coaches here
in this NBA that they're smart enough to say, you
know what, behind Dorton number two, beyond Rui Hachimura, here's
another look in what they can do with a d
Let's go back to, you know, before the changing out
(24:40):
of this roster of what kind of looks we got
from the Lakers before. Let's see what they did defensively
against the Warriors. Again, different structured team, different points of emphasis,
et cetera. But let's go back through that. It's not
just a all right, we really need to solve the
stuff that went down in the fourth quarter. You know
when we tried to get Jokinch on the bench for
(25:02):
a couple of minutes and you guys let him off
the hook.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
I'm gonna go I'm gonna go on a limit. I'm
gonna say, you're gonna see the Lakers do something defensively tomorrow.
That's not nearly what is going to be expected, what
you think is gonna be out there, It's gonna be
something a little bit different. But boy, what a great
movie here, because suddenly if you seen see Hochmore in
the starting line, what's we're gonna do now?
Speaker 2 (25:25):
You know? You know, like the mystery guy, he comes
out like he's one of the masked wrestlers, Mystery guy,
the mystery It's suddenly mobim.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Like that from the Mass Singer is gonna come out.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
But that's what I mean, like the way this is
being built up, like I don't know, they've got something
you've never seen. It's the same damn guys in uniform
that have been sitting there for the last couple of rounds.
It's gonna be kareem in a mass singer that I
think that's written down now. I think that I remember
when Hulk Cogan was Captain America. It might be he
was suspended because Captain America one of the pative machine.
(25:59):
He was asking alongside Andre the Giant.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
What if I were to tell you addressed as Batman
to guard the Joker?
Speaker 1 (26:06):
That would be that would be fantastic. That was that,
That would be that.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
He's gotta have the right cowl though, so that he
can move his neck.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
Now, hang on a second, we gotta we gotta stop
this right now. Were gonna stop this right now? So obviously,
Alex Tyshert, you meant to hit that theme song, but instead,
for some reason, you hit Olivia Newton john song Physical.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
What are you doing in the other room? I'm just
having fun.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
I hate all of you.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Like all of a sudden.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
I mean, this is also a key to the defense
of the Lakers. Are gonna play Whit's so fortuitous for
us that this song is playing in this moment. You
gotta get physical. You can't let him roam the paint,
you can't let him work in space because he's gonna
cut you up. Now, that's that sounds great in theory,
but this is tight shirt.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Just not thinking that. I don't know why.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
No, I mean, Mike is his own face.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
I'm just waiting because I know the Batman theme is
coming in.
Speaker 5 (27:08):
Instead, here comes Olivia Newton John in a song that
she's wearing a headband on and like all the ultra
bright colors you know the people wore in the eighties,
like like magenta legwarmers and like a like an aqua top,
and all of a sudden, that comes up.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Instead of Batman. I'm going, what the hell is Tysher
doing on the other side of the glass? What the hell?
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
I hear this song and suddenly I'm thinking about Happy
Hour back in Syracuse when I was going to school there,
they would always play what I Like About You and
I Melt with You, which is one of the best
songs in the eighties. But there's certain songs they would
play all the time at happy Hour that I just
take me right back to, like sophomore junior year of college.
This as one of them.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
It's gonna be once I open my bar in anytown,
USA in a couple of years. Let's hear the romantics again.
Bring them romantics into play. Hi what growing up here?
It was the It was in the commercial for Knots
Berry farm No, no, no, not really no no.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
The song was yeah that that that that No, that
was Magic Mountain, that six fight with the guy, the
old guy bottle bottle glasses.
Speaker 5 (28:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
That that Verry David's dad, Keip waiting for someone.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
The rock bottom is a Verry David's dad. So this
was in that commerce. This was not very farm Okay, wow,
that's crazy what I like about? Okay, I could play
all day. I could see that's sure. I could see that.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
And then it became all about Snoopy.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
Yeah and Snoop yeah yeah yeah yeah and well and
then you hang your green out Mike, six flags and
Magic Mountain and then universal and all then suddenly nots
Mary Farmers. That's very far.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
You have the old guy at Knots. What are you doing?
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Yeah that sometimes you want to do that? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (28:53):
That that that the run?
Speaker 1 (28:57):
Yeah that that that that that I just like that. No, Yiki,
one of the biggest controversies of the last seventy two
hours is now over because we have the reason behind it.
Aaron Judge, who got a lot of flak for looking
out of the side of his eye up towards the
Yankee dugout into that bat in which he hit a
home run a couple of days ago. It was noticed
(29:18):
by the Blue Jays television crew and a lot was
made of it. Aaron JUDGEA no, no, no. I was
looking to see who was chirping from the dugout, which
is a lie. You can't look like that and see
into the dugout. So I knew it was a lie
right away. I knew he was getting some kind of help.
He was getting some of help on the pitch. I thought, Okay,
he's looking, he's seen where the catcher's lining up, the
(29:39):
catcher is sliding out. I'm gonna get a pitch on
the outside part of the plate. But now we kind
of know what it is because the Blue Jays threw
this out there yesterday where they talked about what happened
with Aaron Judge to Major League Baseball, and you heard
the quote from the Blue Jays that hey coaches are
supposed to say in the coach's box for a reason.
It's like, oh, okay, so maybe Aaron Judge is getting
(30:01):
something from the first base coach, but what could it be?
Today we get the final part of this trilogy, right,
We had Aaron Judge looking, we had the Blue Jays
responding yesterday, and now you get pitcher Jay Jackson, who
was the guy on the mound for the Blue Jays,
who has since been optioned to Triple A. He said
that after the game was over, he was told by
many people in both major minor league organizations he was
(30:24):
tipping his pitches that not, and even talked about how
he was tipping them, not in the way he was gripping,
not in the way he was throwing it, but in
how he was taking time on gripping the baseball. Uh no,
I believe it because this now this makes sense, because.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
But it takes all the at least a lot of
the problem away from the Yankees. Me. No, no, no, me,
I mean, look, I was doing that, so then I
waved at the guy before I threw.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
The Yankees were still getting signs. But it's but look,
I'm gonna tell you this is absolutely okay because what
this story looks like now, is that Jay Jackson was
trying to find a grip on a pitch. And obviously
it's hard to see when you're the batter because you're
hiding the glove in front of you, or that your
the hand is behind your back and it's tough to see.
(31:11):
But who can see because of the angle the first
base coach can. So if the first base coach is
picked up on, hey, you're doing something when you're finding
a grip and he's giving a sign to Aaron Judge
that it's a slider coming, whether it's how he's standing.
I'm standing towards you. My right arm is out, my
left arm is out, and that's what Aaron Judge was
trying to pick up. So throw yes, or he's just
(31:33):
yelling slider slider. You know I like Top Gun because
slider was in it. My fingoze.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
My favorite group is.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
Fastball because if I like the songs the way I
like Fastball. So now you know this is what it was.
He was tipping his pitches, the first base coach saw it,
and Aaron Judge was getting a little bit of help,
which honestly is one hundred Okay, I get Judge, given
that crazy ass answer, Oh, look at Sep because he
doesn't want to be in the middle of a sign
(32:00):
stealing controversy. But honestly, this is on the field. This
is how baseball works. This is how all sports work.
If you can steal something on the field, that's fine.
This isn't we were beaming this back into the clubhouse
where there was a there was a buzzer that would
go off, or we were hitting a trash can or
using an Apple watch or anything. This was on the field.
(32:22):
If we can steal signs and get him to our guy, yeah,
that's baseball and that's how it works. This is absolutely okay.
I get Judge not wanting to be part of Hey,
you were stealing signs. We're still thinking about the Astro
sign stealing scandal, so I get that part of it.
But it really isn't that big a deal. It's fine
if that's what it is. You're stealing signs on the field.
This is on the Blue Jays, Hey, figure out a
(32:43):
way so you're not tipping your pitches, and this is
on them to change so the Yankees can't do that.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
Well. It's funny because the way he describes it is
if he'd been doing this for a while and he
just hadn't gotten bludgeoned by a big blow from Aaron
Rodgers or Aaron Rodgers now premire of Judge, you know,
and hitting a home run after the side eye and
and what was up in the booth. We had John
(33:08):
Palm Morosi on. And first thing I'm asking is is
that something that came up as a a you know,
keep an eye on X, Y Z, and well, at
least and here it's asked, answered and move on. He
had his kakamamie explanation. Maybe the coach was up and
down the baseline and where the coach is boxes. We
(33:29):
know that that's not a hard and fast rule in
every sport, right there's the suggested area for a coach,
and unless you really get out of out of control
and start getting into the action, they don't normally do
much of anything to you. But okay, maybe this is done.
Maybe it's not option to triple a. I was just
looking at the Yankee schedule to see if Judge was
(33:49):
making up an excuse. So perhaps if they saw the
Blue Jays again on a home and home that he'd
still be around. But it looks like they've got plenty
of time to rectify that before they meet again.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
Twitter at how about a fresco Mike and Swollen down
the Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harman.
This is what it is. It's absolutely fine Yankee and
you know I'm telling the truth. It's about the Yankees,
So you know what I'm telling you, the truth.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
Crazy coming up and that happened. You walk out to you.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
You want to see what kind of hot takes you're
going to see tomorrow coming off of the heat Celtics.
We'll tell you
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 (00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Greetings and welcome inside our three of The Jason Smith
Show with my base friend Mike Harmon, live from the
tirag dot com studios tirack dot com. We'll help you
get there and unmatched selection, fast free shipping, free road
hazard protection at over ten thousand recommended installers tiraq dot com.
The way tire buying should be So. Game one of
(00:51):
the Eastern Conference Finals goes to the Heat. They beat
the Celtics. Who needs to win game two more? The
Celtics Lakers eight seven?
Speaker 2 (01:02):
But look, why are you stealing all of tomorrow's topics
right now?
Speaker 1 (01:07):
What are you doing? Desperate producers are going, oh, that's
a good idea. Who needs to win game two more?
Who needs to win game two more? Let's let's do that.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Well, I mean, that's only crowned and and and trumped
if we're playing a game of cards by saying what
Superstar needs this title?
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Most what I saw tonight from the Celtics was offensive.
It was awful. It was about as bad a perform
as you could possibly see. I was embarrassed for Jason Tatum.
I was embarrassed for Jalen Brown. But let me but listen,
I think you've noticed it. Just just to give you
a little bit of a maybe. Uh you like you
like when I do the dial down Stephen? A right,
you like to dial down Stephen because you gotta slow
(01:46):
it down. It's like almost a guy standing in the
corner with a stand up base. I was embarrassed for
r J. Barrett. I was embarrassed for Julius Randall. I
was embarrassed for Tom Tibodeau. I was awful. It was
the worst potential that I've seen out of a team
and was one of the worst outcomes. I can't forgive
him for that at all. Sometimes I gotta do the
dial down version, you know, when.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
I give you that and then he pauses and then
he starts screaming.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
But not that this is kind of like a a
social experiment. But think about this, Just think about this.
You listen to the show every night, you listen to
the shows the I know a girl who goes to shows.
Last night, the Lakers and the Nuggets game one, when
(02:29):
that game is going on and that game is ending,
how hot and heavy we were talking about it, the nuances,
the ins and outs and different plays of the game,
and and and and how everything fell together, and what
the Lakers needed to do afterwards, and how the nugget
should have felt if.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
We dive of that fails, and you know Lebron James
with shots selection and chucking up threes, and jokicch and
the countering of Ruiy and and Malone recording No.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
I got We'll get to We'll get to Ruy and
Michael Malone. That's that's a big Miclonem. Michael got some
respect on his name? Your down one's it to it?
Put some respect on it? Respect?
Speaker 2 (03:11):
No? Is it better when you win? Are you Michael?
Or does that elevate you from Mike to Michael?
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Why don't you just go by Mike?
Speaker 2 (03:21):
What?
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Why should I change?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
My name gets squeaked by?
Speaker 3 (03:25):
They barely won.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
They beat yours but you notice how everything changes and
when that game ended, we go into a full breakdown
of this game, and we hear we hear from from
Anthony Davis and Lebron James and Joki twenty Talks, because
that's the caliber of game, because that's kind of the
attention that game deserves. There's certain games that when it happened,
(03:51):
just takes over. Right, we come on after Monday, the
Monday Night football game is over. We're talking hot and
heavy about the Monday Night football game for the last
two hours of the show. Right, it ends around nine
o'clock anywhere between eight forty five nine to fifteen our time,
and that becomes the rest of the show because that's
all anybody has taught, as much as the NFL everything
we had on Sunday Monday. Hey, this is the game
going on. This is what people want to hear. And
(04:12):
certain playoff games, whether it's Major League Baseball playoff game,
certain games merit you throwing out what you were doing.
And this is what we talk about now for the
last two hours and finding new angles and new ways
to talk about it and bringing new ways to consume,
new things to consume. Every few minutes on the show
spidering effect that we've talked about on the show for
a decade. That is that is Lakers Nuggets. That is
(04:36):
not Celtics heat. It just isn't what It's just I mean,
we got playoff Jimmy.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Is he the greatest playoff basketball player in NBA history?
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Wait, we got that, Wait till that topic gets.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Some What we got to Celtics are eleven and eleven
in their last twenty two home games in the playoffs.
It's Missoula can't win in games designed by five or
left and again five hundred t I mean, we got
it all.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Let's just make stuff up. Look, it's it's I can't
even pretend not all stories are created equally. Are the
Eastern Conference Finals a big deal? Yeah, we're talking about
him a lot tonight, but we're also talking about other things.
We're talking about John Morant, We're talking about James Harden,
We're talking about Superstar Billy Graham rest in peace. There's
lots of other things with the the now. The solving
of the Aaron Judge controversy which is now over, which
(05:26):
we'll get to again coming up in a few minutes.
At there's so many other no one's gonna dot Aaron Judge.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
That's why I said all the time it was nonsense.
He didn't need to lie.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Can I just pretend I threw the ball near you
and you were down the first base? I don't.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
I could have just looked straight into the camera and said, yeah,
I sneak to be killed.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Look, I can't even pretend that it's it's the same.
It's not even close. Yes, it's a big deal and
we're talking about it, but it doesn't take over. This
is why I say the Western Conference funnels dwarf anything
going on in the East. Not just because the Western Conference,
of two teams left, are the two best teams in
the NBA, even though they're a little flawed. The teams
(06:06):
in the East are tremendously flawed.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Well, the fact that you're not saying the Lakers are
one of the two best teams in the NBA, the.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Two best teams left. Right now, We've got four teams left.
Right now, there's four teams left. They're either the first
or the second or the third.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Do I get I get the coach with him. We're
talking about the coach counting too.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
He's alive or he's dead or the cops got him,
or that's what I see. What you did.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Find up a little too swollen.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
I like that beef and Ham and salt. Right, guys
didn't even be sweats. You didn't even know you did that.
I don't dig on swine Ham sweats. That sounds like
a pretty good name for a band Ham.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Sweats, sweats man, sweats man.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Yeah, but no, you can't even pretend.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
But the larger, all the other story you do yet
that are much speaker Lebron and Dan Anthony and what
Darvin Ham has been able to do and what Rob
Polenka wanted to do and had to do because remember
before the season was they're not doing anything because they
want to stick it to Lebron, Right, that was the
(07:17):
narrative that was running around, certainly here in Los Angeles
and nationwide. It got some legs of they're going to
force him to play it out with Russell Westbrook. That's
the team they wanted, even if they struggle. Blah blah
blah blah blah. Come trade deadline, all of a sudden
you got Rob Polinka. Is what was the the Rob
Low switch? Remember the good Rob Low and the bad?
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Yeah, yeah, the DirecTV versus table NFL logo hat wearing
Rob Low versus the other way. But that idea. So,
I mean, there's a lot more narratives and Jokich how
nobody wanted him to win a third m VP. Here
it's playoff Jimmy and uh I guess Tatum and Brown
(08:01):
are getting along well enough.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Look and watch and watch you also see this because
I'm telling you, even though many shows are going to
try to make it seem like it's the same, even
they know they can't fake it, right, because what trust me,
watch tomorrow. Right, here's the thing. Think about this. If
you watch TV today, if you watch any of the
daytime shows, or or listen to the radio, you heard
(08:23):
a lot of very descriptive takes and talks about specific
plays in the Nuggets game against the Lakers.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Right.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
You would hear about Jokic's three at the end of
the third quarter, Lebron missing the three, getting the ball
stolen at the end of regulation, very specific plays, things
that happened, Hachimoora coming in and guarding Jokic a little
bit better, and maybe that's what the Lakers try to do.
Very very specific things about the game. Why specific because
we cared about the game. More more people watch that game,
(08:52):
and more people care. So that's again, Hey, we have
to get in depth on this watch the broad general
topics of Celtics heat. Are they gonna talk about any
specific plays from this game? No, they're not. It's gonna
be trust me, Is Jimmy Butler the best most clutch
playoff performer in NBA history? And someone's gonna do it,
and it's gonna be a huge hot take and people
are gonna just say I'm embarrassed for the guy, but
(09:13):
the person's gonna go look at me. I get a
lot of attention on Twitter. They're all saying this. They're
all saying Jordan, Jordan had a better team. He didn't
have Jimmy Butler's never had a good team around him.
Jordan had Scottie Pippen. He's got Bam out of bio.
See I'm making this argument already. That's the type of
discussion you're going to get. Is Eric Spoulster the best coach?
In the end? Stuff that we do on an off night,
(09:34):
You're gonna see how do we react to that game tomorrow?
And it's gonna be much more broad generalization because there's
just not the story. There's just not the overall interest
in the game. Trust me, you're not gonna see one
game breakdown of anything going on from what we saw tonight.
It's gonna be the excellence of Jimmy Butler. What's wrong
with the Celtics? How can they? Actually?
Speaker 2 (09:54):
That's what you're gonna see. I want a preview of
game two, which is tomorrow nights. You get right back
into you can lean right back into Lebron Jams. How
does he respond? You know, the shooting woes that he's
had from the outside will be a talking point. He'd
take game one. Let's take a look at game two
of the Lakers and the Nuggets, right, But that's exactly it. Hey,
Jimmy Butler, what another clutch performance. Look at him? Fill
(10:16):
the lane. You'll have the b roll with a couple
of the steals and big finishes, finishes with a huge night,
great work from the supporting cast. I mean, you had
a good, good balance behind Jimmy Butler tonight. But it's
a narrative that already has legs. You've already got some
of that copy written from past playoff performances. You can
(10:36):
just push it forward it's nice and easy Lakers, how
do they respond? I mean, look, you got to know
where the sizzle is, my man. I mean, the Celtics
are fun and obviously history as a brand, but as
much as we love Tatum and Brown and we celebrate
and we've talked about that combination and what they are
(10:57):
all along, change out the coach. You've got some bad
narratives about close games that are there and what's the
better story all that we let out with the principles
in the Western Conference, Like it just it just rights itself.
Take the segment you did from Tuesday Tuesday night into
(11:20):
Wednesday morning, and then just layer on whatever you think
may happen in game. Like Anthony Davis, for instance, It'll
be it's like, well, you know he's had some huge games,
but then he's also shrunk a taz. Can they get
another forty performance out of it? Which guy is Austin Reeves?
Remember his jump shot didn't fall early, but boy he
(11:42):
finished with a flurry and the ice in the veins motion.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Can he do it again?
Speaker 2 (11:47):
And bigger still? Can the Lakers retain him?
Speaker 1 (11:51):
You just there's nothing. You can't pretend there's any sort
of equality in the breakdown in the quality of game,
in the interest between the West and the East. He can't.
And look, it's why I keep saying. And I also
say everybody knows, whether you know it or you know
it obliquely, the Nuggets and the Lakers are the two
best teams left, and the Celtics and the Heat are
(12:12):
both extremely flawed. Look, all the teams are flawed, but
the Celtics in the Heat are more flawed than anybody else.
Are more flawed than either the Nuggets or the Lakers.
So people know, I'm watching this game. I'm watching the
real NBA Championship. Now, injuries can always happen, and somebody
goes down and somebody gets hurt, and then that changes everything.
But you can only go by what's on the court
right now. And that's the way it is. Those are
(12:32):
your top two teams.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
See, you just did what you were just excoriating. I
just made it because last round you said that was
the round it was Lakers Warriors.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Let's go unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
How you just moved down to the Netakers. Let's say
the way you did that.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Mikey also had the Mets in the gutter right before
that home run.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
How about p Alonzo tonight with that big home run.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
I had to bring it back to the Mets, didn't you,
Monty Belang you just did.
Speaker 4 (12:57):
Doesn't count though Mike he had them in the gut,
or he cursed his team out. He's that he said
the season was over incorrect, the home runs irrelevant. I
started sketching a picture forget about it. I got her
all if that.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Is incorrect, all that all, it's not all incorrect. You're
all you're stretching the truth.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
We do not know.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
We lie in the studio.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
We can all see each other. We know what happened.
Were locked eyes watching, I had your mind. I had
nothing but throwing kings. Can I say what my thoughts were?
So are you guys? Guys?
Speaker 1 (13:30):
You guys are like my own AI with our own eyes.
I did not disparage Peter on camera.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
No, no, no, no no, but you you curb. You
tried to trade off every member of your pitchings. Yes, well,
I remember moms. Verlander sure, and then Escobar can cursed
out their moms. They didn't give them.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
The problem of all the over thirty five guys. No,
those guys, I did.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
You went to any guy over thirty five. You disparaged them,
you age his son of a gun? Hey the kids,
dare you play?
Speaker 1 (14:05):
The kids play the.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
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 (14:16):
Fox Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with My best
friend Mike Harmon. This time it counts live from the
tire rack dot Com studios. As we are less than
twenty four hours away from Game two of the Western
Conference Finals Nuggets and the Lakers, and now we are
getting I don't want to say bulletin board material, but
(14:38):
we're getting strategy bulletin board material from both teams. All
right now, this is I'm gonna give the Lakers a
lot of credit on this because what I've seen seems
too seems too easy to say take it face value
right now. Remember what I've said in the beginning of
this whole playoff was is the key to be stopping
(15:00):
Nikola Jokicic. No Jokic is gonna get his points, right.
You're hoping every night is not gonna be thirty nine,
twenty one and fourteen like he had last night. But
even if he does have a night like that, as
long as it's not Murray with thirty one and you know,
Michael Porter Junior with twenty and ten, or as long
as that's not the night from the other guys, that's
(15:21):
who you have to slow down. Right, Yokic'll get his points.
You could just stop him from dominating the game. If
he's scoring, he's scoring. But it's the other guys you
have to control. And you should be able to control
Jamal Murray a little bit more than you did. Should
be able to control some of the guys that had
pretty good nights. KCP shouldn't be scoring eighteen a game.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
You can't stop KCP. How dare you now?
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Let me strow much? Let me throw this out here
because this is the preamble you did right there. That's
pretty good with a k you should have done. Yeah,
it's radio, So let me throw this out there, because
immediately after the game, there was the sentiment that was
talked about that maybe the Lakers are better off putting
Ruey Hachimura on Nikola jokicch right, because when they did
(16:02):
that in the fourth quarter, Jokic was zero for three
from the floor. The Lakers came back ad was able
to roam the paint, and that's something that was discussed.
The Lakers talked about it a little bit, and then
Michael Malone spent a lot of time today talking about
what if the Lakers put Ruey Hachimura on Nikola Jokic,
And he just didn't give the one answer, Hey, that's
(16:25):
their strategy, we're gonna adopt.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
No. No.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
He went into great detail about how upset and affronted
he was that this is a strategy being talked about right.
Think about this, he said, quote much is being made
of them putting Ruey Hachimura on Nikola Jokic, Like we've
never seen that before. WHOA, Okay, there's this kind of
discussion being based on that. Even though the Lakers lost,
they're walking.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Out of here.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
They think they've got something. I'll bet you every red
penny I have that darvinham would rather be up one
to oh than down oh. One rushed to be able
to watch film after win and show all the things
we did poorly. Is a great situation to be in,
Andy Michael Porter Junior. As a team, we've seen everything
there is to see on our teams. We'll try to
guard Nikola Jokic. It might surprise a little bit in
(17:08):
the beginning, but we've seen it. We've seen it. We've
seen it, we've seen him. We're gonna be ready. We'll
be ready, We'll be ready. This is a lot of
talk for a team that really felt, hey, we have
a lot going on. We're in control of everything. Whatever
you throw us with Jokic, we're gonna be able to
counterattack again. A lot, a lot of detail, a lot
you think putting Ruya like suddenly Malone's gonna say, oh,
(17:30):
we heard you're gonna put Riya Chimora on on Jokich
and Darmenham's gonna go great, the secrets out now, We're
not gonna do it. He knows it's coming now. It's like,
that's how Malone is talking here. It's very weird for
a guy to be up one zip to try to
defend and say I try to win a battle or
a war of words in between game one and game
two of oh yeah, you think you're gonna put Timor on?
(17:51):
Why what do you see what Jokic does? Why do
you care so much?
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Well, it's finny, I care so much because you talked
about it after the game. Uh and Darvin Ham we hey,
you think they haven't seen it all yet? Like he
had that smile on his face, like he had some
random mystery player that was suddenly gonna be able to
come out and change the equation. We joked about all
the famous Laker defenders of the pass, wondering if Michael
(18:16):
Cooper could give him a couple of good minutes mixed
they're in. But for the Nuggets, I think to some
level they just got into the everybody's still excited about
the Lakers. What the Lakers were able to do. It's like,
did they not watch what we just did there? And
did they think we're a bunch of dopes. We're not
gonna CounterPunch again. Something we talked about yesterday, right because
(18:37):
you watched it even as the game was flowing on
and we're keeping a prize of social media and what
NBA pundits and players and former players are all saying,
and a lot of us, oh, look, how much does
this game change once Ruey is like, Okay, so now
they've seen it, what's the next counter Because Michael Malone's
not just throwing up his hand going oh they had
(18:57):
Ruy Hatcham.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
Or damn it are foiled. That's it.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
No, it's still gonna be about discipline to the other players.
You mentioned Jamal Murray, you got Michael Porter Junior, Aaron
Gordon was flying around for a bunch of the game
on the outlet passes from Jokic getting some clean looks
or being the distributor himself, and then KCP and Brown
off the bench that you had other guys active. And
(19:25):
if you collapse and commit to bringing even a feigned
double on Yokic, he gets the ball out fast enough
to where they're getting a shot up and they hit
shots time and time again. Can you be disciplined and
just say, all right, if Yoki is gonna decide to
go one on one here and whether it's Ruey or
you go back to Anthony Davis or who's in the
(19:48):
mystery box over there, that the other players are gonna
have stuff up. But yeah, they're spending an awful lot
of time. Does protest too much about you think you
gotta figure it out, don't you?
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Why is he like, why is he spending so? Why
does he spend so? Why is he spending this kind
of intent time? But we haven't seen that before. It like, dude,
what do you keep by that?
Speaker 2 (20:08):
But I have sam token. It's also about five seconds
of his life. Like it's magnified here but you and I.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
But he talks for a living. He knows what he
says is going to be made a lot. There's a
lot of.
Speaker 4 (20:20):
Right.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
But he but he went out of his way to
draw attention to this. He could have just given a
regular well hey hey, you know, hey, Ruy did a
great job on Nicola. But we've seen this and you know,
will adjust instead of we haven't seen that before. They're
gonna do that, guarantee you Darwin. He would rather be
up one zip. The Lakers think they walk out of
here with something. It's dude, aren't you up one zip?
You're he's he's up one zip and he's talking like
the team that's down oh one, And he makes reference
(20:43):
to the team being down on one rather being what
he is up one. Oh. It's just weird.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Everybody wants what they're doing. Michael Malone I think is
a Mike and it is you know you can call Mike.
Is that perhaps he's feeling a little disrespected, like we
we just ludgend them for three quarters of this game
kind of going the opposite, you know, the uh the
Missoula quote of a we won three quarters, well you
(21:07):
lost the game. Uh, they lost the fourth quarter and
it got dicey.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
They won the game.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
So from Michael Malone, I think he's he's looking at
the national talking heads that have jumped on board the Lakers, saying, see,
look even with how bad it was, look what a
game it was like. No, they played pretty pretty poorly
for a good chunk of the game, and yes it
got close, but it doesn't dismiss the rest of that game.
It doesn't dismiss that the team that had this great
(21:36):
defensive rating was eviscerated.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
Nuggets barely won.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
Now, now knowing all of this, right, the Jason Smiths
are with Mike Carmon knowing to go back to what
we just did a few minutes ago and the preamble
about the Lakers are gonna winde up. They really need
to shut the other guys down. Jokic get his points.
Do you really think this is the I know that
we look at coaches and go, this guy's stupid, this
guy doesn't know, this guy's dumb, this guy's re let's
(22:01):
give coach is left let's give the coaches left. Oh,
I tell you it's not my fault. Let's let's give
the coaches left a little bit. He is not a
little bit of credit. Here's this story today of the
Lakers eight. We could see a lineup change ruy Ha Chimura.
It's become the story of the day. How are the
Lakers going to adjust how they're going to attack?
Speaker 2 (22:23):
You a big deal going into games bay. Right, there's
a substitution that they made putting fruit in.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
And now here's this story that somehow gets leaked out
publicly that oh, the Lakers are thinking of putting ruy
Ha Chimura on Nikola Jokicic And now the Nuggets are
spending a lot of time going, oh, you think you're
gonna yeah, we'll be ready for that. We'll be ready
for that. What if? And I'm just saying what if?
This is exactly how the Lakers wanted the Nuggets to react.
(22:50):
This story gets out, and this is exactly how they
wanted them to react. Oh you think we haven't seen
that before? You watch you ready for Rutchmora And it's
something that's not even close to that for the adjustment
for Game two that it's not gonna be about Hatchamura
on on Yokich and it's gonna be more about a
d doing something different or Lebron out on Jamal Murray
on the premter something different than what this is going
(23:11):
to be. And they have the Nuggets focused on this
because this is a topic. It came out, they spent
a lot of time talking about it. I'm gonna give
the Lakers credit and Darbnham credit. Okay, good good. They're
focused on exactly what we want to be focused on.
You're focused on this, and we're gonna give you something else,
and now good luck adjusting to that on the fly.
It's one thing to be able to have a film
session to go okay. So if Rui's on you, this
(23:32):
is what we're gonna do, this, this, this, this, this, this,
and this. What if it's something different and it doesn't
even evolve that or it involves somebody different what they
try to do with Yokic, that's not there. I'm gonna
give the Lakers credit that this is exactly what they
wanted the reaction to be. We're gonna have you focus
on this side, but on this side, we really got
something for you.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
So you're saying The reporters that asked the questions to
elicit these responses were plants.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
Yes, the Lakers if you know, if if the story,
if the story gets what's out. No, if they listen,
if you're a reporter and the story gets out, you're here. Hey,
the Lakers may put Ruy on Nikole yolkicch after what
happened last night, aren't you asked? Don't you? Aren't you
gonna ask Michael a loan and that? And of course
you're gonna say, hey, what if they wind up doing that?
(24:16):
What if they wind up doing that? What are you
gonna do? You know that's gonna get out? You know
what is right?
Speaker 2 (24:19):
But again, i'd like to think, and this is me
wishing for the best of our four remaining coaches here
in this NBA that they're smart enough to say, you
know what, behind Dorton number two, beyond Rui Hachimura, here's
another look in what they can do with a d
Let's go back to, you know, before the changing out
(24:40):
of this roster of what kind of looks we got
from the Lakers before. Let's see what they did defensively
against the Warriors. Again, different structured team, different points of emphasis,
et cetera. But let's go back through that. It's not
just a all right, we really need to solve the
stuff that went down in the fourth quarter. You know
when we tried to get Jokinch on the bench for
(25:02):
a couple of minutes and you guys let him off
the hook.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
I'm gonna go I'm gonna go on a limit. I'm
gonna say, you're gonna see the Lakers do something defensively tomorrow.
That's not nearly what is going to be expected, what
you think is gonna be out there, It's gonna be
something a little bit different. But boy, what a great
movie here, because suddenly if you seen see Hochmore in
the starting line, what's we're gonna do now?
Speaker 2 (25:25):
You know? You know, like the mystery guy, he comes
out like he's one of the masked wrestlers, Mystery guy,
the mystery It's suddenly mobim.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Like that from the Mass Singer is gonna come out.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
But that's what I mean, like the way this is
being built up, like I don't know, they've got something
you've never seen. It's the same damn guys in uniform
that have been sitting there for the last couple of rounds.
It's gonna be kareem in a mass singer that I
think that's written down now. I think that I remember
when Hulk Cogan was Captain America. It might be he
was suspended because Captain America one of the pative machine.
(25:59):
He was asking alongside Andre the Giant.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
What if I were to tell you addressed as Batman
to guard the Joker?
Speaker 1 (26:06):
That would be that would be fantastic. That was that,
That would be that.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
He's gotta have the right cowl though, so that he
can move his neck.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
Now, hang on a second, we gotta we gotta stop
this right now. Were gonna stop this right now? So obviously,
Alex Tyshert, you meant to hit that theme song, but instead,
for some reason, you hit Olivia Newton john song Physical.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
What are you doing in the other room? I'm just
having fun.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
I hate all of you.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Like all of a sudden.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
I mean, this is also a key to the defense
of the Lakers. Are gonna play Whit's so fortuitous for
us that this song is playing in this moment. You
gotta get physical. You can't let him roam the paint,
you can't let him work in space because he's gonna
cut you up. Now, that's that sounds great in theory,
but this is tight shirt.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Just not thinking that. I don't know why.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
No, I mean, Mike is his own face.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
I'm just waiting because I know the Batman theme is
coming in.
Speaker 5 (27:08):
Instead, here comes Olivia Newton John in a song that
she's wearing a headband on and like all the ultra
bright colors you know the people wore in the eighties,
like like magenta legwarmers and like a like an aqua top,
and all of a sudden, that comes up.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Instead of Batman. I'm going, what the hell is Tysher
doing on the other side of the glass? What the hell?
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
I hear this song and suddenly I'm thinking about Happy
Hour back in Syracuse when I was going to school there,
they would always play what I Like About You and
I Melt with You, which is one of the best
songs in the eighties. But there's certain songs they would
play all the time at happy Hour that I just
take me right back to, like sophomore junior year of college.
This as one of them.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
It's gonna be once I open my bar in anytown,
USA in a couple of years. Let's hear the romantics again.
Bring them romantics into play. Hi what growing up here?
It was the It was in the commercial for Knots
Berry farm No, no, no, not really no no.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
The song was yeah that that that that No, that
was Magic Mountain, that six fight with the guy, the
old guy bottle bottle glasses.
Speaker 5 (28:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
That that Verry David's dad, Keip waiting for someone.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
The rock bottom is a Verry David's dad. So this
was in that commerce. This was not very farm Okay, wow,
that's crazy what I like about? Okay, I could play
all day. I could see that's sure. I could see that.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
And then it became all about Snoopy.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
Yeah and Snoop yeah yeah yeah yeah and well and
then you hang your green out Mike, six flags and
Magic Mountain and then universal and all then suddenly nots
Mary Farmers. That's very far.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
You have the old guy at Knots. What are you doing?
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Yeah that sometimes you want to do that? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (28:53):
That that that the run?
Speaker 1 (28:57):
Yeah that that that that that I just like that. No, Yiki,
one of the biggest controversies of the last seventy two
hours is now over because we have the reason behind it.
Aaron Judge, who got a lot of flak for looking
out of the side of his eye up towards the
Yankee dugout into that bat in which he hit a
home run a couple of days ago. It was noticed
(29:18):
by the Blue Jays television crew and a lot was
made of it. Aaron JUDGEA no, no, no. I was
looking to see who was chirping from the dugout, which
is a lie. You can't look like that and see
into the dugout. So I knew it was a lie
right away. I knew he was getting some kind of help.
He was getting some of help on the pitch. I thought, Okay,
he's looking, he's seen where the catcher's lining up, the
(29:39):
catcher is sliding out. I'm gonna get a pitch on
the outside part of the plate. But now we kind
of know what it is because the Blue Jays threw
this out there yesterday where they talked about what happened
with Aaron Judge to Major League Baseball, and you heard
the quote from the Blue Jays that hey coaches are
supposed to say in the coach's box for a reason.
It's like, oh, okay, so maybe Aaron Judge is getting
(30:01):
something from the first base coach, but what could it be?
Today we get the final part of this trilogy, right,
We had Aaron Judge looking, we had the Blue Jays
responding yesterday, and now you get pitcher Jay Jackson, who
was the guy on the mound for the Blue Jays,
who has since been optioned to Triple A. He said
that after the game was over, he was told by
many people in both major minor league organizations he was
(30:24):
tipping his pitches that not, and even talked about how
he was tipping them, not in the way he was gripping,
not in the way he was throwing it, but in
how he was taking time on gripping the baseball. Uh no,
I believe it because this now this makes sense, because.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
But it takes all the at least a lot of
the problem away from the Yankees. Me. No, no, no, me,
I mean, look, I was doing that, so then I
waved at the guy before I threw.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
The Yankees were still getting signs. But it's but look,
I'm gonna tell you this is absolutely okay because what
this story looks like now, is that Jay Jackson was
trying to find a grip on a pitch. And obviously
it's hard to see when you're the batter because you're
hiding the glove in front of you, or that your
the hand is behind your back and it's tough to see.
(31:11):
But who can see because of the angle the first
base coach can. So if the first base coach is
picked up on, hey, you're doing something when you're finding
a grip and he's giving a sign to Aaron Judge
that it's a slider coming, whether it's how he's standing.
I'm standing towards you. My right arm is out, my
left arm is out, and that's what Aaron Judge was
trying to pick up. So throw yes, or he's just
(31:33):
yelling slider slider. You know I like Top Gun because
slider was in it. My fingoze.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
My favorite group is.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
Fastball because if I like the songs the way I
like Fastball. So now you know this is what it was.
He was tipping his pitches, the first base coach saw it,
and Aaron Judge was getting a little bit of help,
which honestly is one hundred Okay, I get Judge, given
that crazy ass answer, Oh, look at Sep because he
doesn't want to be in the middle of a sign
(32:00):
stealing controversy. But honestly, this is on the field. This
is how baseball works. This is how all sports work.
If you can steal something on the field, that's fine.
This isn't we were beaming this back into the clubhouse
where there was a there was a buzzer that would
go off, or we were hitting a trash can or
using an Apple watch or anything. This was on the field.
(32:22):
If we can steal signs and get him to our guy, yeah,
that's baseball and that's how it works. This is absolutely okay.
I get Judge not wanting to be part of Hey,
you were stealing signs. We're still thinking about the Astro
sign stealing scandal, so I get that part of it.
But it really isn't that big a deal. It's fine
if that's what it is. You're stealing signs on the field.
This is on the Blue Jays, Hey, figure out a
(32:43):
way so you're not tipping your pitches, and this is
on them to change so the Yankees can't do that.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
Well. It's funny because the way he describes it is
if he'd been doing this for a while and he
just hadn't gotten bludgeoned by a big blow from Aaron
Rodgers or Aaron Rodgers now premire of Judge, you know,
and hitting a home run after the side eye and
and what was up in the booth. We had John
(33:08):
Palm Morosi on. And first thing I'm asking is is
that something that came up as a a you know,
keep an eye on X, Y Z, and well, at
least and here it's asked, answered and move on. He
had his kakamamie explanation. Maybe the coach was up and
down the baseline and where the coach is boxes. We
(33:29):
know that that's not a hard and fast rule in
every sport, right there's the suggested area for a coach,
and unless you really get out of out of control
and start getting into the action, they don't normally do
much of anything to you. But okay, maybe this is done.
Maybe it's not option to triple a. I was just
looking at the Yankee schedule to see if Judge was
(33:49):
making up an excuse. So perhaps if they saw the
Blue Jays again on a home and home that he'd
still be around. But it looks like they've got plenty
of time to rectify that before they meet again.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
Twitter at how about a fresco Mike and Swollen down
the Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harman.
This is what it is. It's absolutely fine Yankee and
you know I'm telling the truth. It's about the Yankees,
So you know what I'm telling you, the truth.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
Crazy coming up and that happened. You walk out to you.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
You want to see what kind of hot takes you're
going to see tomorrow coming off of the heat Celtics.
We'll tell you
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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