June 2, 2023 • 34 mins
Jason Smith and Mike Harmon try their best to hype up Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the Nuggets and the Heat even though its already looking pretty one sided. Tom Brady made it clear that he will not be returning to the NFL outside of ownership or commentating, and the future of the Ja Morant after Adam Silver said a punishment will be coming down after the NBA Finals!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
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Speaker 2 (00:24):
Listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Fox Sports Radio Greetings. Hello, Welcome inside hour two The
Jason Smith Show with my bes friend Mike Harmon. I'm
gonna ask man. We're live from the Tirack dot Com
studios tyrack dot com. I'll help you get there at
unmatched selection, fast free shipping. Free road has a protection
at over ten thousand recommended installers tirack dot com. The
(00:49):
way tire buying should be. The Nuggets take Game one
over the heat in a breeze one O four ninety
three is your final. The Nuggets were never in trouble.
Right now, Nicola Jokic is on set, uh talking about
Game one. I really want to see Mark Jackson with
Shaq and and and and Charles and everybody. Hey, Mark, Hey,
(01:11):
look at Nicola Jokic first guy to ever debut in
the NBA finals of the Triple Double. Boy, wouldn't he
be the MVP? Don't you think? Easy?
Speaker 3 (01:18):
I really think there was a missed opportunity, not only
to have Mark Jackson show up and and have that
one on one confrontation photo by Mark Jackson.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
He's just standing behind Yokid till he's getting interviewed. Well,
why didn't Scottie Pippen get a suit to show up?
Come on?
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Oh dude, it's you know what I know? Jokic is
better than Jordan. Hang on, Michael was a hang on,
hang on.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
I think it's too soon for Scottie Pippen because I
don't think he's quite at that point where we can
have him on TV and we know things will be okay.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
How many how many people you think would show up
courtside with pictures of Michael Jordan's Oh.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
So many, so many? They might show up just themselves,
Jordan's son and Lars might show up to that. Hey,
Scotty Pippins with a Scotty what do you have to say? Hey? Thanks, Charles?
You know you sucked too, You were terrible, You were
just everybody liked you, but you were just funny. You
were fun on the you were fun, beat to say things,
but you never won a championship. You sucked Charles and
(02:16):
then suck. There's a huge fight and Shaq. You were
only good because you were tall. I mean that was it,
and everybody knew what you were about. You never tried
to get better. You never tried to make free throws,
none of that stuff. All you guys you suck. Ernie
Johnson you sucked too. I can't believe anybody actually gave
you a job, put you on TV. All you other guys,
you all suck. I don't know that's about right. Can
(02:36):
you trust Scotty?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
But he might know. He might soften it a little
bit by spitting a few of Shack's rhymes from back
in the day. I don't a tisk and a tasket,
I tear down the basket. I don't think that at work.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
I'll hit you like Spielberg. You get your ass kicked
in the park. Jalen Rose, you peaked in nineteen ninety
when you were at the Fab five. Yes, you had
black sneakers, you were the frats. Great. You didn't win
a championship either, Okay, clos as you got was the finals?
Once you suck too? Where's everybody else?
Speaker 4 (03:02):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Jj jj redd jj reddick. I'm just just walk away, man,
just walk away j Redick. The hate watching and they
hate being spit back and forth.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Man.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
I mean, I'd be like any epic, you know, Jedi
Fight and All the Star Wars.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Hey, if this is going to be a four game sweep,
but try kept telling you it's going to be. You
may need to interject like hey and have Scotti pipper.
I don't know. Maybe I'm coming around to that now,
just in the last couple of minutes. See what I
did there? Yeah, that might have been a good idea.
Well that's it, you know because sometimes when you hear
an idea and it doesn't speak to you right away,
you think, okay, why not, But then you reason it
out through it. That's why I'm a great leader, because
(03:44):
I'm someone that Hey, if it's not my idea, I
can listen to it, you know what. I like that,
and then you'll take credit for it. I like exactly. Hey,
you know what, dude, when it's not an NBA Finals night,
do I have a story for you about something like that?
In my radio career, do I have a story like that. Trust.
But one O four ninety three a huge victory by
the Nuggets who were never in trouble in this game.
(04:07):
And nothing I saw tonight takes me away from my Nuggets,
and four nothing because.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
I might be retracting my my Nuggets, and six I
might be giving a game back.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
You know what.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Let's let's push that one down, all right, Like game
one is the game where you expect the heat to
come in with something a little bit different and try
to cause problem.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
But it's one one or the other. Right, Either it's
inspired and there's something you've never seen before, or the
altitude gets no. I'm sure the altitude rest.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
This was so so hard to breathe See, I'm always
on the side, you know. In the NBA, I am
now fully on the side of rest over rust because
you see teams wear down at the end because they
play too much. Even younger teams they wear down because
they play too much. So yeah, give me, give me
(04:58):
rest over rust all the time, all the time. Now,
certain sports like baseball, which is predicated on every day,
I don't know about rest versus rust, because that's something where, boy,
if you get out a rhythm for a game a
game one, you're just not there. And maybe because you're
a starting pitch you haven't pitched in nine days. Yeah,
that might be a little difficult, and you have trouble
locating in the first couple of innings and team gets
(05:19):
five runs, you lose five to one. Suddenly you're losing.
That's up in the air, just because baseball is in
everyday sport, but something like this, yeah, completely rest over rust.
Which is why I knew no matter what you saw tonight,
the Nuggets were gonna take game one. There was no
way the heat We're gonna come in into the altitude
with some kind of game plan after seven games of
what they went through, the heat against the Celtics, seven games,
(05:41):
what they went through to get here. And I mean,
I go back to what I said the beginning of
the show. The height advantage and the size advantage of
the Nuggets is just too big to ignore. And they're
not only big, but they're fast. There's nothing the heat
can do. I don't know. Eric spuls is a great
head coach, but I don't know how you out scheme there.
This is this is a game where the Nuggets kind
(06:02):
of had like a like a B B plus type game.
Jokics was a had a triple double, but he was
a huge distributor early. He didn't dent the scoreboard a lot.
Didn't matter. They were out to a twenty twenty two
point lead. The Nuggets were able to hold on to it,
and they never got that. He never got to within
more than eight at any time, and the game was
over from the middle of the second quarter. Yeah, they
bludgeoned them.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
I mean so B plus, I mean, you're you're just
a harsh grader man, like, no partial credit of any
of that. Uh, seventeen point lead at half, and we'd
seen the distribution. We talked about it earlier. Points in
the paint. Thirty two points for Denver in that first half.
That was a fourteen point differential, thirty two eighteen outscoring
(06:43):
their points in transition the easy buckets. I don't think
there's an extra category for that, but a lot of
those thirty two points in the first half were easy
feeds from Jokic, quick layups or dunks, and you saw
just feasting at the rim. The night. You had five
players for the Nuggets in double figures, including Bruce Brown,
(07:04):
who just wore the greatest cowboy hat to the podium,
So extra points for him. So good job there. The
thing if you're the heat, you had eight turnovers, so
you took care of the ball. Well, you had eleven
offensive rebounds, some long rebounds off some terrible shots, off
of some easy looks, and that was I think probably
(07:25):
the most frustrating thing. We saw it with Duncan Robinson,
and we sure as hell saw it from Max Strus
between he and Martin they go one of seventeen tonight,
and yes, we can celebrate defense wherever we want, right.
Remember the Lakers, the vaunted Laker defense that kind of
got steamrolled game after game. Same thing here, Nuggets give
(07:50):
them credit like misshots, they count as a defensive stat
We'll see how many of those looks get made in
future games, especially the ones that you just saw, the
extra step, the extra bounce. Duncan Robinson calling him out
specifically because I think he might have killed a man
if anybody had been down on the low block crashing
for a board. Made a good job, did a good
(08:12):
job stide stepping, the defender sized up, and for him,
he's got to catch in rhythm. That's what we're learning
more and more on Duncan Robinson if he thinks about it,
he's missing badly. He was one of six on the night,
one of six from three point range. So, guys, you
were banking on to at least give you some level
of contribution. Martin Struce and Robinson combined to go two
(08:34):
of twenty three. You ain't win him many ball games
that way.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Yeah, But is that something that you can remedy. Is
that something where you can say it's as simple as
misshots or is it how are you going to get
these shots up over this Nuggets defense? That's a tough thing, man,
It's really really difficult. Again, there's a reason why the
Nuggets were the best team in the NBA from start
to finish, right, They were all peaks, no valleys, well,
and they were healthy the whole way, Right, Which is it?
Speaker 4 (09:00):
This?
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Like, why did I say if they're ever going to
win the title, this has to be one hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
But you know, when we talk about the regular season,
and I'll die on this hill, I'm banging my trash
can and sending my electronic signals to anybody that'll listen.
Like they were one of the few teams that actually
cared about the regular season this year because they had
everybody back and they needed the long lead to get
Murray and Michael Porter Junior, especially him. His attitude is
(09:26):
one hundred and eighty degrees from what it was in
the bubble anything else. And there was a great article
I forget who wrote it, but just kind of talk.
It was like, look, physically, I've been I've been to
hell and back right because he's had back injuries, he's
missed a lot of time. He's had to be humbled
because the shot didn't fall. All the expectations coming out
(09:46):
of college that he was going to be the guy.
Then he's fighting with Jamal Murray for the number two
slot behind Jokic, and then you see what Murray has
become so kind of reconciling that and accepting his role
on this squad pretty big deal. And they needed a
full season to ferret that out and to really make
that work. Right now, Steve Kurr is going.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
See this is how young guys who are supposed to
ascend ascend right to go that way. Our guys go
the other way. And that's why we got a trade Clay, Yeah,
we gotta trade Draymond, and why Bob Meyer's quit.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Okay, just so you know, well, when we got rid
of all those young guys except we paid Jordan Poole,
Bob Myers is at his final blank you to Steve
Kerr Company. He got a guy you will played defense
and his teammates want to punch him in the face.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Good night, everybody. So now I want to I gotta
ask you this because nothing is Nuggets in four. I've
said it all along. You said Nuggets in six. Are
you ready to officially give a game back and say
Nuggets in five? Yeah, I think I'll give a game back.
A game back. Now, give a game you're gonna have
to give it.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
I still think they win one. It's like my insurance
and blackjacket like this, as I've pointed out pretty much
everything that could go wrong in this game.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Scott Foster and Tony Brothers can get on a plane
right Legitimately, two falls. I need to go.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
We're doing the show, so I'm paying attention, but I'm
not watching how guys are getting bodied in the paint.
And by the time you and I actually came on air,
it was already a seventeen point swell.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
But first half, I can't believe there's not more physicality
that maybe you don't you get a call here and
there that you didn't today, like.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Two free throws.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
How is that possible?
Speaker 3 (11:24):
You shot ninety six shots for the game, the only
thirty nine of.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Which were three pointers.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
That's a lot of extra shots where there could have
been contact. You're telling me there was a cloak of invisibility,
There was a shield, There was a barrier that the
Denver Nuggets neither with their hand, their forearms, their shoulders,
their bodies ever penetrated.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Come on, man for Nuggets.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
In four fol when's Luther Campbell singing the national anthem.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
He'll get that game at home this hour The show
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Speaker 2 (12:16):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific, Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
The Jason Smith Show with My best Friend Mike Harmon.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
What's in the bag for Shark or something.
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A dismantling of the heat and heat culture. One O
four ninety three is your Nuggets victory. The game was
(12:52):
never in doubt from the middle of the second quarter on.
I've been telling you Nuggets in four Nothing is getting
me off that. See what our next guest has to think?
Maybe is their door open for the Miami Heat a
little bit. He's on Twitter at Rick Buker, Fox Sports
one NBA Insider check out on the Ball podcast Rick,
What's Happening?
Speaker 4 (13:12):
Rick?
Speaker 1 (13:12):
I said Nuggets in four. You got any hope for
the heat?
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (13:16):
You look like a smart man. I said Nuggets in five.
But I was just trying to be gracious because the
Heat or my my daughter's favorite team, so I needed
to throw one the one their way. But I may
have been too generous. Faith on what we saw.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Family. Family, Yeah, here's what I want you to do.
Here's what I want you to do. I want you
to go in tonight. I want you to sit down
with a daughter. Go, hey, something very importing to talk
to you about. Sit down, and I want you to
hold her hand, and I want you to say, listen,
I really overestimated things.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
What is it?
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Don is it? I have to take away that win
from the Heat And I'm saying nuggets in four and
hopefully he's okay with it.
Speaker 4 (13:57):
You don't know my daughter. I would have to hold
both hands or I get punched in the face.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
See, our households are not very dissimilar. Rick's daughter is
Xavier McDaniel. Everybody there, we go pretty much and if.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
You will pretty much?
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Yeah, all right, So where do you want to begin?
Speaker 3 (14:18):
The ineptitude of the shooting percentages, all the role players
who couldn't hit the broadside of the bar, and the
height advantage Michael Malone, who did his best sell job
of Hey, this is going to be a fair fight.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Where do I go?
Speaker 4 (14:34):
Yeah? Well, look, I mean I think they're I think
maintaining the Nuggets focus and not relaxing. You saw it.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Look.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
The one thing I will say with the Miami Heat,
they are not going to stop playing I think you
saw that at the beginning of the fourth quarter they cut.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
It to ten.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
The problem is that the z their z own defense
is what really gave the Celtics problem because they didn't
have anybody to put in the middle of that zone.
Nikola Jokic is the ideal guy to put in the
middle of that zone because he can he can it
(15:11):
could attack the rim, he can hit the mid range,
he can shoot the little floater. And the Denver Nuggets
are evolved enough offensively that you're gonna have cutters and
you're gonna have guys who can hit open three. So
if you collapse on Jokic, they're gonna get other looks.
And they didn't play the He didn't play the zone
until Jokic went off the floor, and then they played
(15:33):
it and Jeff Green and Christian Brown flashed to the middle,
got the ball. They still got good looks. They even
even with their backups, they played zone offense ten times
better than anything that we ever saw from the Boston Celtics.
And then at the end of the game, I think
I think Eric Spolzer was just saying, well, let's see
(15:54):
what happens. Let's just play the zone. When Jokic is
out there, and it took him a couple of possessions,
but they they basically got the same thing. I just
I'm not gonna I'm not gonna blame the Heat for
anything because I think that the run that they made
to get here, and then to to like criticize them
because they're overmatched with a team that is just as athletic,
(16:20):
just is as just as well coached, and is bigger
and longer athletically or physically, I mean, it's just it's
why someone would say that they're going to get sweeped,
and why someone else would say that they're going to
lose five games. I hate being critical of the Miami
(16:40):
Heat because I think they've overachieved and now that they're
facing an opponent that they just don't have any answers
against that I can see. It's hard for me to
be critical of them because I don't know that there's
anything that they can do. They could play the perfect game,
and if Denver plays anywhere close to their abilities, we're
going to get the same outcome.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
What did you think tonight? NBA Finals record lowest free
throw attempts in a game, The Heat just two for
two from the free throw line. Was this the Nuggets defense,
you saw the size advantage was this? Hey, Tony Brothers
and Scott fosterft to get on a plane for Game two?
Like where where where do you see this?
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (17:19):
No, I mean honestly, in watching a game, there weren't.
There weren't situations where I'm going to Oh, that's a foul,
or that's a foul, or that's a foul. I mean,
the heat said it. I think gave Vincent said it
uh to least assaulters after the first quarter, that they
had to put more pressure on the rim, and I
think that's true. But because of that length and that
(17:40):
size and the switch ability that that the Nuggets have,
it was really hard for them to attack and get
and and and get contact or to force contact and
get shots up. I mean, you're gonna you're gonna take
the open shot. And you know that's why again, you
(18:03):
know Aaron Gordon and Jeff Green trading off guarding Jimmy Butler.
They're two long, athletic guys who are just as taller
and longer than Jimmy. So that's going to be difficult.
It's going to be difficult for him to get to
the line and then everybody else. I don't see the
matchup where you go, this guy's gonna turn the corner
(18:26):
and either get to the rim or he's going to
draw a fout. I don't see that guy on the
Miami Heat. And as much as I think they've played
better without Tyler Harrow, him coming back potentially in Game
three maybe, like I mean, we're grasping its straws at
day point, but he's one guy offensively who maybe can
(18:50):
can can create a mismatch where you get that, but
I don't. I don't think that they got an unfair whistle.
I just think the shots that were available were for
the most part, jump shots and three pointers. And even there,
Denver Nuggets are a discipline defensive team. I mean, you
saw like it got cut to twelve and I said,
(19:12):
I'm watching the game with my daughter, I go, Mike
Malone's ballistic. Right now, they just took three casual threes
and they didn't defend twice down the floor. Mike Malone's
going to call a timeout and he's going to rip
them because he's not playing the score. He is playing
how what he expects from them, And to me, it's
the biggest difference between Mike Malone and Joe Mizzula, who,
(19:34):
to my knowledge, I don't know that he ever challenged
his team to play better than they did.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Rick Berger with us at Fast one Analyst on the
Ball podcast is what you can find as well with
Rick wherever you get your audio at Rick Berger, ri
c bu ch e Er where you find have joined
us each and every week here at the Jason smit
Show with me Mike Harmon live fromthty rack dot com Studios.
You bring up Joe Missoula because I've is going to
do a lot more straw grasping there for us. Rick
(20:04):
to be labor the point, but let's go to Missoula.
He gets the vote of confidence. Fourteen million still guaranteed
on that contract.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Jalen Brown also, hey, let's get the band back together.
Jason and I were looking at each other going all right,
committing to that. What can you do differently other than hey,
you've got the added time of an off season.
Speaker 4 (20:25):
Yeah, I mean that's essentially it is that you hope that,
I mean, we can back up and take a look
at what the Boston Celtics have done over the last
few years, and it's been, you know, been one of
the most successful teams overall in the Eastern Conference, if
not in the entire league. It's hard to look at
that and be disappointed in the performance in certainly in
(20:47):
this last series in the Eastern Conference finals, and say
let's tear it up and go in another direction. I
understand why they would with the first year head coach
and a twenty six year old in Jalen Brown, that
they would say let's let it incubate and will get better.
Especially with Brad Stevens as the GM team president now
(21:11):
one he's going to be very reluctant to make a
quick decision on a young head coach that he chose. Clearly,
he chose Joe Mizzula to replace or to succeed em
Odoka for a reason, so I understand why he's staying
with that, and it really is going to be a
matter of, you know, can can these guys grow? Now?
(21:32):
My feeling is I've seen enough of Jalen Brown and
Jason Tatum as the nucleus of your team, but I
don't think that that is the nucleus that's going to
take you to a championship. In the same way that
when we looked at Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. We
could respect their individual talent, we could respect the overall
achievements that they made, but Sam Presty was constantly trying
(21:54):
to find the ancillary, complimentary pieces to put around them
to make them I'm a championship duo and I feel
like the Boston Celtics are doing that and have done that,
and it hasn't been good enough. Why hasn't it been
good enough? If it was like we don't have the
role players to get it done, then I would say, Okay,
(22:18):
keep experimenting until you find it. But the heart of
it has been that Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown haven't
gotten the job done as arguably the best players on
your team. And when that happens and your support crew
gets you there, then to me, you have to look
at that, at that nucleus and change it. It's a
(22:39):
huge gamble because you don't know that the next nucleus
is going to be more successful than this one. But
if you're the Boston Celtics and it's all about winning
championships and getting ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers, then
I don't know that you have a choice that they're
not going that direction. I understand it. I just don't
(22:59):
agree with it if winning titles is really the benchmark
of your franchise, Rick.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Buker with us here The Jason Smiths Show with Mike Carmen.
All right, we get outside the game now, because we
had a really interesting statement from Commissioner Adam Silver in
regards to just saying we have additional information. You know, Morant,
who's been away from the team now since the latest
gun video. Saying we have additional information on this doesn't
sound like, hey, hey, guess what, guys, things are gonna
(23:26):
be all good. I don't want to make this announcement
to take away from the Nuggets and the heat, which
I get, because it's like, boy, it's gonna be a
really bad headline in the middle of the NBA Finals.
I gotta think, Rick, this is going to be a
season long suspension for I.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
Yeah, it's hard for me to argue with that. It's
hard not to believe that this isn't really bad news
for John Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies. It also doesn't
really surprise me to be to be fair, because look,
we had half a dozen incidents the idea that those
(24:04):
were the only incidents. We have a pattern that is
very clear, and this is what my you know, this
was my greatest issue with the whole mia culpa. I
went away for a couple of days. I got some counseling,
and now I'm going to sit down with one of
the broadcast partners and I've learned my lesson and I'm
(24:26):
a different person and all that. I'm like when we're
talking about the issues that we've heard the half a
dozen issues, I don't know that things change that immediately,
because if you recognize that these things that this was undo.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Oh no, you know what, Rick's daughter hung up because
the heat loss. You had enough of them talking bad
about the heat and said, Dad, I'm hanging up your
height in But it did sound like he's calling from
like one of those old style landlines, right like the
dial tone the end, he's gonna be calling back. I
missed it. Gotta go back to beginning. I hit the
(25:09):
wrong operator. Who can connect you to Murray Hill? Five
five five one coming right up? Thank you very much.
Just the moment, big swiz boards going on. But as
Rick was alluding to, all right, well, let's gate Rick
back on Rick, we said, your daughter heard too many
(25:30):
bad things you said about the eat and hung up
your phone on you. Is that what happened?
Speaker 4 (25:33):
Pretty much? Oh, pretty much. I probably got across the room.
I was holding her off with one.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Arm as much good boxing out, Old Julius, I'm gonna
hold you off with one arm and turn the ball
over the other. Or was it the rocky mister t
thing with the palming of the mohawks.
Speaker 4 (25:47):
So whatever it was, it only lasted so long. My
daughter actually is a better athlete than I am at
this point. For the fact that I was able to
do that for for a little bit, was I'm counting
his points in my favor victory.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
So you had been on the John Morant and going,
and that there is no before you got before your
daughter hung up your phone. It was there was look
all the things that he said. There has been no
real taking of responsibility for what's done so far. Now
going forward, it's gonna have to be a bigger thing.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
Yeah, I mean, this really requires I mean, honestly, my
big thing is but not the length of the suspension
or you know, it should be fifty games, or should
be a season or whatever. I would hope that whatever
time it is, that it is time that is utilized
(26:42):
to get to the core problem, whatever it might be.
Because this is the thing that what I know about Jamrant,
what I've seen about Jahm Moran, is that I don't
get the sense that this is common behavior for him,
like this is a this is who he is as
a person, which means which makes me lead to leads
(27:06):
me to believe that there are underlying issues that are
prompting this kind of behavior and that that's what needs
to be addressed, whether it's the people around him, whether
it's him himself, but understanding I've just I've seen too
many things that tell me that that Ja Moran, John
Morant has the capability of being an upstanding guy. And
(27:30):
and yet we've we've heard of this array of incidents
that do not speak of somebody who is upstanding and
this and it's not just like one incident or two incidents.
It's not it's not you know, brandishing a gun in
a in a strip club. It's not beating up a
(27:50):
security guard or a kid in a pickup game. It's
like it's all of these things, like and at some
point you got to go, Okay, what's going on because
at times I see it guy who I wouldn't associate
with that kind of behavior, and yet we've got multiple
incidents of that behavior. So what is it that's causing
the flip or the switch with Jah Morant where he
(28:14):
can be two different people. We can have this Jekyl
and Hide personality, and I just hope that it's more
about let's help him resolve those issues so that we
can get the best of Ja Morant all the time,
as opposed to let's punish him and hope he figures
it out. Bottom line is I hope the NBA and
(28:36):
I hope the Memphis Grizzlies are in partnership with John
Morant to find the solution as opposed to just meeting
punishment and saying I hope you figure it out so
you can come back and win games for us. I
hope that there's more. I hope that this is handled
on a more personal level and a more concern is
(28:56):
with John Morant the person than Ja Moranth the player.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
He's on Twitter at Rick Buker, that is at Rick Buker,
Fox Sports One analyst. Check out the On the Ball podcast,
in which Rick discusses a pretty sweet Kyrie Irving trade
rumor the LINKTA page as well. I see it right there,
The on the Ball podcast Kyrie Irving Where could he
be headed? Check it out ricks always buddy, appreciate it man.
(29:22):
We'll talk to you soon. Sweep yo, sweep yo. Hey
you tell.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
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 (29:38):
Very much you too, Fox Sports Radio. The Jason Smith
Show with my best friend Mike Harmon. I'm an ass
man live from the tire rack dot Com Studios. We'll
have more NBA on the way in a few minutes.
But Tom Brady is not playing again. Did an interview
in which, you know, ever since there was news broke,
he was going to buy into the Raiders. Well, Jimmy
(29:59):
Garoppolo foot injury, hasn't been cleared to play, had to
sign a waiver for the Raiders to sign him. Sure. Hey,
if Garoppolo's not there, Tom Brady, come up. We told
you a week ago this wasn't gonna happen all right again, Hate,
I told you so. Yeah, I mean, it's fun before
but we told you a week ago wasn't happening, he
said an interview today. I am certain I am not
(30:20):
playing again. That means he's not playing. The reason I
knew this a week ago is because Tom Brady, if
he wanted to go to the Raiders, he would have
done it already. He would have gone in the off season.
He's not someone that's gonna come in and say, oh,
I'll play because Jimmy Garoppolo is hurt. No, he's not
if he wanted to play and listen, I talked to
(30:40):
a lot of people who told me, Hey, the Raiders
plan initially was Brady, and that's why they let Derek
Carr go two games before the end of the season,
sent him away. Their plan was Brady. It didn't work out.
But even if that wasn't the case, Brady knew if
he wanted to go play for Vegas he could have
done it. But he didn't. And he's not. He's not
suddenly now gonna go, oh, Jimmy GAROPPI, that's not who
(31:02):
Tom Brady is. He's either going to continue his career
or he's not. So no, this was never happening. We
told you a week ago. It wasn't gonna happen, and
now Brady has basically said it's not happening again. Tomorrow's
takes the night before or before a guy even says something,
we knew what they were going to say.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
Yeah, just don't see a guy taking five months away
and then suddenly decided like him at this point in
his career now even ten years ago, not that guy,
but certainly not at this stage with what it takes
physically and as much as you may know what McDaniels
did in the past, different wrinkles, different personnel, different everything.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
That you have to acclimate to.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
He's not gonna go on a shortened window to go
do that, and he sure as hell isn't gonna do
it with a team that's subpar, right, not.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
In that division. He's not in that division with a.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
Team that is by far outside of what three or
four guys Crosby, Adams, Jacob's stills, Nash Young that, yeah,
I mean ten soldiers and Nixon com in, I mean
all those things.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
I actually heard that on the way in on my playlist.
That was pretty good.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
But the idea that he would go to that squad
in the AFC West to continue his career. When you
know everybody has the poison pens out, everybody has the
daggers ready to go to it. Try to attack his
legacy history and who he is, because that's the other
part of it, right. You can always try to do
(32:29):
your slings and arrows at the career. He's just gonna
hold up seven fingers and laugh at you, or maybe
he tells you, hey, I got to ten, so beat it.
But when it's my performance starts to go down, and
you can now attack the guy in terms of his
decision making and whatever else. He's not gonna let that.
He will not stand for that. Take your shots at
(32:50):
his involvement with FTX. That's about as close as you're getting.
The only thing that I can say about Brady. My
only worry is, yes, I have a worry about Brady,
not that he's not gonna do his contract with Fox
anything else.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
Sandy was looking forward to it today. Yeah, he's never
taken He's never taken retirement seriously enough as a big
change for him. It's like I'm going from playing football,
I'm retiring now, I'm coming back. I'm retiring on a
beach at five o'clock in the morning and now I'm
onto what's next, and I'm doing my podcast with Jim Grant.
I'm onto this and I get the whole keeping busy
(33:24):
thing that that's what it is. But when you retire
from the NFL, man, especially with the career that you
just had as the greatest quarterback any of us have
ever seen more Super Bowl titles, where you've been about
football playing for the last twenty years, you need a
little bit of time to go, Okay, I need to
stop and make sure I have what my life after
football is going to be. And I feel like he
(33:46):
hasn't done that. He's done the whole I'm jumping from
something to something to stay busy, but that doesn't help
you cope with what it's gonna be now that you're
away from the field. That's my only worry about Brady
is he's never taken it seriously. Hey, I need some
time away. No, No, Now, I'm what's next, what's next,
What's next? What's next?
Speaker 3 (33:59):
Well, but I think part of that is to stay
of off elimination. He's afraid of what happens, right. I
remember when my dad he had gotten sick the second time,
and they told him, it's like you know, you stay
in Chicago, this doesn't end well and it ends quickly.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
So he had to pack up and move to Florida.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
We were terrified because so many of his friends that
had retired didn't have long runs. And I'm not talking
about you know, his mortality when it comes to Brady,
but just you know, you want to push out any
of that thought.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
Keep yourself busy as long as you can. We'll have
more on this and more on Game one of the
NBA Finals, one of the biggest takeaways we could possibly
give you next on 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
dot com, or stream us live every night on the
iHeartRadio app by searching fsrle you're.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Fox Sports Radio Greetings. Hello, Welcome inside hour two The
Jason Smith Show with my bes friend Mike Harmon. I'm
gonna ask man. We're live from the Tirack dot Com
studios tyrack dot com. I'll help you get there at
unmatched selection, fast free shipping. Free road has a protection
at over ten thousand recommended installers tirack dot com. The
(00:49):
way tire buying should be. The Nuggets take Game one
over the heat in a breeze one O four ninety
three is your final. The Nuggets were never in trouble.
Right now, Nicola Jokic is on set, uh talking about
Game one. I really want to see Mark Jackson with
Shaq and and and and Charles and everybody. Hey, Mark, Hey,
(01:11):
look at Nicola Jokic first guy to ever debut in
the NBA finals of the Triple Double. Boy, wouldn't he
be the MVP? Don't you think? Easy?
Speaker 3 (01:18):
I really think there was a missed opportunity, not only
to have Mark Jackson show up and and have that
one on one confrontation photo by Mark Jackson.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
He's just standing behind Yokid till he's getting interviewed. Well,
why didn't Scottie Pippen get a suit to show up?
Come on?
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Oh dude, it's you know what I know? Jokic is
better than Jordan. Hang on, Michael was a hang on,
hang on.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
I think it's too soon for Scottie Pippen because I
don't think he's quite at that point where we can
have him on TV and we know things will be okay.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
How many how many people you think would show up
courtside with pictures of Michael Jordan's Oh.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
So many, so many? They might show up just themselves,
Jordan's son and Lars might show up to that. Hey,
Scotty Pippins with a Scotty what do you have to say? Hey? Thanks, Charles?
You know you sucked too, You were terrible, You were
just everybody liked you, but you were just funny. You
were fun on the you were fun, beat to say things,
but you never won a championship. You sucked Charles and
(02:16):
then suck. There's a huge fight and Shaq. You were
only good because you were tall. I mean that was it,
and everybody knew what you were about. You never tried
to get better. You never tried to make free throws,
none of that stuff. All you guys you suck. Ernie
Johnson you sucked too. I can't believe anybody actually gave
you a job, put you on TV. All you other guys,
you all suck. I don't know that's about right. Can
(02:36):
you trust Scotty?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
But he might know. He might soften it a little
bit by spitting a few of Shack's rhymes from back
in the day. I don't a tisk and a tasket,
I tear down the basket. I don't think that at work.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
I'll hit you like Spielberg. You get your ass kicked
in the park. Jalen Rose, you peaked in nineteen ninety
when you were at the Fab five. Yes, you had
black sneakers, you were the frats. Great. You didn't win
a championship either, Okay, clos as you got was the finals?
Once you suck too? Where's everybody else?
Speaker 4 (03:02):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Jj jj redd jj reddick. I'm just just walk away, man,
just walk away j Redick. The hate watching and they
hate being spit back and forth.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Man.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
I mean, I'd be like any epic, you know, Jedi
Fight and All the Star Wars.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Hey, if this is going to be a four game sweep,
but try kept telling you it's going to be. You
may need to interject like hey and have Scotti pipper.
I don't know. Maybe I'm coming around to that now,
just in the last couple of minutes. See what I
did there? Yeah, that might have been a good idea.
Well that's it, you know because sometimes when you hear
an idea and it doesn't speak to you right away,
you think, okay, why not, But then you reason it
out through it. That's why I'm a great leader, because
(03:44):
I'm someone that Hey, if it's not my idea, I
can listen to it, you know what. I like that,
and then you'll take credit for it. I like exactly. Hey,
you know what, dude, when it's not an NBA Finals night,
do I have a story for you about something like that?
In my radio career, do I have a story like that. Trust.
But one O four ninety three a huge victory by
the Nuggets who were never in trouble in this game.
(04:07):
And nothing I saw tonight takes me away from my Nuggets,
and four nothing because.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
I might be retracting my my Nuggets, and six I
might be giving a game back.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
You know what.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Let's let's push that one down, all right, Like game
one is the game where you expect the heat to
come in with something a little bit different and try
to cause problem.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
But it's one one or the other. Right, Either it's
inspired and there's something you've never seen before, or the
altitude gets no. I'm sure the altitude rest.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
This was so so hard to breathe See, I'm always
on the side, you know. In the NBA, I am
now fully on the side of rest over rust because
you see teams wear down at the end because they
play too much. Even younger teams they wear down because
they play too much. So yeah, give me, give me
(04:58):
rest over rust all the time, all the time. Now,
certain sports like baseball, which is predicated on every day,
I don't know about rest versus rust, because that's something where, boy,
if you get out a rhythm for a game a
game one, you're just not there. And maybe because you're
a starting pitch you haven't pitched in nine days. Yeah,
that might be a little difficult, and you have trouble
locating in the first couple of innings and team gets
(05:19):
five runs, you lose five to one. Suddenly you're losing.
That's up in the air, just because baseball is in
everyday sport, but something like this, yeah, completely rest over rust.
Which is why I knew no matter what you saw tonight,
the Nuggets were gonna take game one. There was no
way the heat We're gonna come in into the altitude
with some kind of game plan after seven games of
what they went through, the heat against the Celtics, seven games,
(05:41):
what they went through to get here. And I mean,
I go back to what I said the beginning of
the show. The height advantage and the size advantage of
the Nuggets is just too big to ignore. And they're
not only big, but they're fast. There's nothing the heat
can do. I don't know. Eric spuls is a great
head coach, but I don't know how you out scheme there.
This is this is a game where the Nuggets kind
(06:02):
of had like a like a B B plus type game.
Jokics was a had a triple double, but he was
a huge distributor early. He didn't dent the scoreboard a lot.
Didn't matter. They were out to a twenty twenty two
point lead. The Nuggets were able to hold on to it,
and they never got that. He never got to within
more than eight at any time, and the game was
over from the middle of the second quarter. Yeah, they
bludgeoned them.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
I mean so B plus, I mean, you're you're just
a harsh grader man, like, no partial credit of any
of that. Uh, seventeen point lead at half, and we'd
seen the distribution. We talked about it earlier. Points in
the paint. Thirty two points for Denver in that first half.
That was a fourteen point differential, thirty two eighteen outscoring
(06:43):
their points in transition the easy buckets. I don't think
there's an extra category for that, but a lot of
those thirty two points in the first half were easy
feeds from Jokic, quick layups or dunks, and you saw
just feasting at the rim. The night. You had five
players for the Nuggets in double figures, including Bruce Brown,
(07:04):
who just wore the greatest cowboy hat to the podium,
So extra points for him. So good job there. The
thing if you're the heat, you had eight turnovers, so
you took care of the ball. Well, you had eleven
offensive rebounds, some long rebounds off some terrible shots, off
of some easy looks, and that was I think probably
(07:25):
the most frustrating thing. We saw it with Duncan Robinson,
and we sure as hell saw it from Max Strus
between he and Martin they go one of seventeen tonight,
and yes, we can celebrate defense wherever we want, right.
Remember the Lakers, the vaunted Laker defense that kind of
got steamrolled game after game. Same thing here, Nuggets give
(07:50):
them credit like misshots, they count as a defensive stat
We'll see how many of those looks get made in
future games, especially the ones that you just saw, the
extra step, the extra bounce. Duncan Robinson calling him out
specifically because I think he might have killed a man
if anybody had been down on the low block crashing
for a board. Made a good job, did a good
(08:12):
job stide stepping, the defender sized up, and for him,
he's got to catch in rhythm. That's what we're learning
more and more on Duncan Robinson if he thinks about it,
he's missing badly. He was one of six on the night,
one of six from three point range. So, guys, you
were banking on to at least give you some level
of contribution. Martin Struce and Robinson combined to go two
(08:34):
of twenty three. You ain't win him many ball games
that way.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Yeah, But is that something that you can remedy. Is
that something where you can say it's as simple as
misshots or is it how are you going to get
these shots up over this Nuggets defense? That's a tough thing, man,
It's really really difficult. Again, there's a reason why the
Nuggets were the best team in the NBA from start
to finish, right, They were all peaks, no valleys, well,
and they were healthy the whole way, Right, Which is it?
Speaker 4 (09:00):
This?
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Like, why did I say if they're ever going to
win the title, this has to be one hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
But you know, when we talk about the regular season,
and I'll die on this hill, I'm banging my trash
can and sending my electronic signals to anybody that'll listen.
Like they were one of the few teams that actually
cared about the regular season this year because they had
everybody back and they needed the long lead to get
Murray and Michael Porter Junior, especially him. His attitude is
(09:26):
one hundred and eighty degrees from what it was in
the bubble anything else. And there was a great article
I forget who wrote it, but just kind of talk.
It was like, look, physically, I've been I've been to
hell and back right because he's had back injuries, he's
missed a lot of time. He's had to be humbled
because the shot didn't fall. All the expectations coming out
(09:46):
of college that he was going to be the guy.
Then he's fighting with Jamal Murray for the number two
slot behind Jokic, and then you see what Murray has
become so kind of reconciling that and accepting his role
on this squad pretty big deal. And they needed a
full season to ferret that out and to really make
that work. Right now, Steve Kurr is going.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
See this is how young guys who are supposed to
ascend ascend right to go that way. Our guys go
the other way. And that's why we got a trade Clay, Yeah,
we gotta trade Draymond, and why Bob Meyer's quit.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Okay, just so you know, well, when we got rid
of all those young guys except we paid Jordan Poole,
Bob Myers is at his final blank you to Steve
Kerr Company. He got a guy you will played defense
and his teammates want to punch him in the face.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Good night, everybody. So now I want to I gotta
ask you this because nothing is Nuggets in four. I've
said it all along. You said Nuggets in six. Are
you ready to officially give a game back and say
Nuggets in five? Yeah, I think I'll give a game back.
A game back. Now, give a game you're gonna have
to give it.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
I still think they win one. It's like my insurance
and blackjacket like this, as I've pointed out pretty much
everything that could go wrong in this game.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Scott Foster and Tony Brothers can get on a plane
right Legitimately, two falls. I need to go.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
We're doing the show, so I'm paying attention, but I'm
not watching how guys are getting bodied in the paint.
And by the time you and I actually came on air,
it was already a seventeen point swell.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
But first half, I can't believe there's not more physicality
that maybe you don't you get a call here and
there that you didn't today, like.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Two free throws.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
How is that possible?
Speaker 3 (11:24):
You shot ninety six shots for the game, the only
thirty nine of.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Which were three pointers.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
That's a lot of extra shots where there could have
been contact. You're telling me there was a cloak of invisibility,
There was a shield, There was a barrier that the
Denver Nuggets neither with their hand, their forearms, their shoulders,
their bodies ever penetrated.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Come on, man for Nuggets.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
In four fol when's Luther Campbell singing the national anthem.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
He'll get that game at home this hour The show
brought you by Progressive Insurance again Scott Foster and Tony
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Speaker 2 (12:16):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific, Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
The Jason Smith Show with My best Friend Mike Harmon.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
What's in the bag for Shark or something.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
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A dismantling of the heat and heat culture. One O
four ninety three is your Nuggets victory. The game was
(12:52):
never in doubt from the middle of the second quarter on.
I've been telling you Nuggets in four Nothing is getting
me off that. See what our next guest has to think?
Maybe is their door open for the Miami Heat a
little bit. He's on Twitter at Rick Buker, Fox Sports
one NBA Insider check out on the Ball podcast Rick,
What's Happening?
Speaker 4 (13:12):
Rick?
Speaker 1 (13:12):
I said Nuggets in four. You got any hope for
the heat?
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (13:16):
You look like a smart man. I said Nuggets in five.
But I was just trying to be gracious because the
Heat or my my daughter's favorite team, so I needed
to throw one the one their way. But I may
have been too generous. Faith on what we saw.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Family. Family, Yeah, here's what I want you to do.
Here's what I want you to do. I want you
to go in tonight. I want you to sit down
with a daughter. Go, hey, something very importing to talk
to you about. Sit down, and I want you to
hold her hand, and I want you to say, listen,
I really overestimated things.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
What is it?
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Don is it? I have to take away that win
from the Heat And I'm saying nuggets in four and
hopefully he's okay with it.
Speaker 4 (13:57):
You don't know my daughter. I would have to hold
both hands or I get punched in the face.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
See, our households are not very dissimilar. Rick's daughter is
Xavier McDaniel. Everybody there, we go pretty much and if.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
You will pretty much?
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Yeah, all right, So where do you want to begin?
Speaker 3 (14:18):
The ineptitude of the shooting percentages, all the role players
who couldn't hit the broadside of the bar, and the
height advantage Michael Malone, who did his best sell job
of Hey, this is going to be a fair fight.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Where do I go?
Speaker 4 (14:34):
Yeah? Well, look, I mean I think they're I think
maintaining the Nuggets focus and not relaxing. You saw it.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Look.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
The one thing I will say with the Miami Heat,
they are not going to stop playing I think you
saw that at the beginning of the fourth quarter they cut.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
It to ten.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
The problem is that the z their z own defense
is what really gave the Celtics problem because they didn't
have anybody to put in the middle of that zone.
Nikola Jokic is the ideal guy to put in the
middle of that zone because he can he can it
(15:11):
could attack the rim, he can hit the mid range,
he can shoot the little floater. And the Denver Nuggets
are evolved enough offensively that you're gonna have cutters and
you're gonna have guys who can hit open three. So
if you collapse on Jokic, they're gonna get other looks.
And they didn't play the He didn't play the zone
until Jokic went off the floor, and then they played
(15:33):
it and Jeff Green and Christian Brown flashed to the middle,
got the ball. They still got good looks. They even
even with their backups, they played zone offense ten times
better than anything that we ever saw from the Boston Celtics.
And then at the end of the game, I think
I think Eric Spolzer was just saying, well, let's see
(15:54):
what happens. Let's just play the zone. When Jokic is
out there, and it took him a couple of possessions,
but they they basically got the same thing. I just
I'm not gonna I'm not gonna blame the Heat for
anything because I think that the run that they made
to get here, and then to to like criticize them
because they're overmatched with a team that is just as athletic,
(16:20):
just is as just as well coached, and is bigger
and longer athletically or physically, I mean, it's just it's
why someone would say that they're going to get sweeped,
and why someone else would say that they're going to
lose five games. I hate being critical of the Miami
(16:40):
Heat because I think they've overachieved and now that they're
facing an opponent that they just don't have any answers
against that I can see. It's hard for me to
be critical of them because I don't know that there's
anything that they can do. They could play the perfect game,
and if Denver plays anywhere close to their abilities, we're
going to get the same outcome.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
What did you think tonight? NBA Finals record lowest free
throw attempts in a game, The Heat just two for
two from the free throw line. Was this the Nuggets defense,
you saw the size advantage was this? Hey, Tony Brothers
and Scott fosterft to get on a plane for Game two?
Like where where where do you see this?
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (17:19):
No, I mean honestly, in watching a game, there weren't.
There weren't situations where I'm going to Oh, that's a foul,
or that's a foul, or that's a foul. I mean,
the heat said it. I think gave Vincent said it
uh to least assaulters after the first quarter, that they
had to put more pressure on the rim, and I
think that's true. But because of that length and that
(17:40):
size and the switch ability that that the Nuggets have,
it was really hard for them to attack and get
and and and get contact or to force contact and
get shots up. I mean, you're gonna you're gonna take
the open shot. And you know that's why again, you
(18:03):
know Aaron Gordon and Jeff Green trading off guarding Jimmy Butler.
They're two long, athletic guys who are just as taller
and longer than Jimmy. So that's going to be difficult.
It's going to be difficult for him to get to
the line and then everybody else. I don't see the
matchup where you go, this guy's gonna turn the corner
(18:26):
and either get to the rim or he's going to
draw a fout. I don't see that guy on the
Miami Heat. And as much as I think they've played
better without Tyler Harrow, him coming back potentially in Game
three maybe, like I mean, we're grasping its straws at
day point, but he's one guy offensively who maybe can
(18:50):
can can create a mismatch where you get that, but
I don't. I don't think that they got an unfair whistle.
I just think the shots that were available were for
the most part, jump shots and three pointers. And even there,
Denver Nuggets are a discipline defensive team. I mean, you
saw like it got cut to twelve and I said,
(19:12):
I'm watching the game with my daughter, I go, Mike
Malone's ballistic. Right now, they just took three casual threes
and they didn't defend twice down the floor. Mike Malone's
going to call a timeout and he's going to rip
them because he's not playing the score. He is playing
how what he expects from them, And to me, it's
the biggest difference between Mike Malone and Joe Mizzula, who,
(19:34):
to my knowledge, I don't know that he ever challenged
his team to play better than they did.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Rick Berger with us at Fast one Analyst on the
Ball podcast is what you can find as well with
Rick wherever you get your audio at Rick Berger, ri
c bu ch e Er where you find have joined
us each and every week here at the Jason smit
Show with me Mike Harmon live fromthty rack dot com Studios.
You bring up Joe Missoula because I've is going to
do a lot more straw grasping there for us. Rick
(20:04):
to be labor the point, but let's go to Missoula.
He gets the vote of confidence. Fourteen million still guaranteed
on that contract.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Jalen Brown also, hey, let's get the band back together.
Jason and I were looking at each other going all right,
committing to that. What can you do differently other than hey,
you've got the added time of an off season.
Speaker 4 (20:25):
Yeah, I mean that's essentially it is that you hope that,
I mean, we can back up and take a look
at what the Boston Celtics have done over the last
few years, and it's been, you know, been one of
the most successful teams overall in the Eastern Conference, if
not in the entire league. It's hard to look at
that and be disappointed in the performance in certainly in
(20:47):
this last series in the Eastern Conference finals, and say
let's tear it up and go in another direction. I
understand why they would with the first year head coach
and a twenty six year old in Jalen Brown, that
they would say let's let it incubate and will get better.
Especially with Brad Stevens as the GM team president now
(21:11):
one he's going to be very reluctant to make a
quick decision on a young head coach that he chose. Clearly,
he chose Joe Mizzula to replace or to succeed em
Odoka for a reason, so I understand why he's staying
with that, and it really is going to be a
matter of, you know, can can these guys grow? Now?
(21:32):
My feeling is I've seen enough of Jalen Brown and
Jason Tatum as the nucleus of your team, but I
don't think that that is the nucleus that's going to
take you to a championship. In the same way that
when we looked at Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. We
could respect their individual talent, we could respect the overall
achievements that they made, but Sam Presty was constantly trying
(21:54):
to find the ancillary, complimentary pieces to put around them
to make them I'm a championship duo and I feel
like the Boston Celtics are doing that and have done that,
and it hasn't been good enough. Why hasn't it been
good enough? If it was like we don't have the
role players to get it done, then I would say, Okay,
(22:18):
keep experimenting until you find it. But the heart of
it has been that Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown haven't
gotten the job done as arguably the best players on
your team. And when that happens and your support crew
gets you there, then to me, you have to look
at that, at that nucleus and change it. It's a
(22:39):
huge gamble because you don't know that the next nucleus
is going to be more successful than this one. But
if you're the Boston Celtics and it's all about winning
championships and getting ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers, then
I don't know that you have a choice that they're
not going that direction. I understand it. I just don't
(22:59):
agree with it if winning titles is really the benchmark
of your franchise, Rick.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Buker with us here The Jason Smiths Show with Mike Carmen.
All right, we get outside the game now, because we
had a really interesting statement from Commissioner Adam Silver in
regards to just saying we have additional information. You know, Morant,
who's been away from the team now since the latest
gun video. Saying we have additional information on this doesn't
sound like, hey, hey, guess what, guys, things are gonna
(23:26):
be all good. I don't want to make this announcement
to take away from the Nuggets and the heat, which
I get, because it's like, boy, it's gonna be a
really bad headline in the middle of the NBA Finals.
I gotta think, Rick, this is going to be a
season long suspension for I.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
Yeah, it's hard for me to argue with that. It's
hard not to believe that this isn't really bad news
for John Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies. It also doesn't
really surprise me to be to be fair, because look,
we had half a dozen incidents the idea that those
(24:04):
were the only incidents. We have a pattern that is
very clear, and this is what my you know, this
was my greatest issue with the whole mia culpa. I
went away for a couple of days. I got some counseling,
and now I'm going to sit down with one of
the broadcast partners and I've learned my lesson and I'm
(24:26):
a different person and all that. I'm like when we're
talking about the issues that we've heard the half a
dozen issues, I don't know that things change that immediately,
because if you recognize that these things that this was undo.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Oh no, you know what, Rick's daughter hung up because
the heat loss. You had enough of them talking bad
about the heat and said, Dad, I'm hanging up your
height in But it did sound like he's calling from
like one of those old style landlines, right like the
dial tone the end, he's gonna be calling back. I
missed it. Gotta go back to beginning. I hit the
(25:09):
wrong operator. Who can connect you to Murray Hill? Five
five five one coming right up? Thank you very much.
Just the moment, big swiz boards going on. But as
Rick was alluding to, all right, well, let's gate Rick
back on Rick, we said, your daughter heard too many
(25:30):
bad things you said about the eat and hung up
your phone on you. Is that what happened?
Speaker 4 (25:33):
Pretty much? Oh, pretty much. I probably got across the room.
I was holding her off with one.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Arm as much good boxing out, Old Julius, I'm gonna
hold you off with one arm and turn the ball
over the other. Or was it the rocky mister t
thing with the palming of the mohawks.
Speaker 4 (25:47):
So whatever it was, it only lasted so long. My
daughter actually is a better athlete than I am at
this point. For the fact that I was able to
do that for for a little bit, was I'm counting
his points in my favor victory.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
So you had been on the John Morant and going,
and that there is no before you got before your
daughter hung up your phone. It was there was look
all the things that he said. There has been no
real taking of responsibility for what's done so far. Now
going forward, it's gonna have to be a bigger thing.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
Yeah, I mean, this really requires I mean, honestly, my
big thing is but not the length of the suspension
or you know, it should be fifty games, or should
be a season or whatever. I would hope that whatever
time it is, that it is time that is utilized
(26:42):
to get to the core problem, whatever it might be.
Because this is the thing that what I know about Jamrant,
what I've seen about Jahm Moran, is that I don't
get the sense that this is common behavior for him,
like this is a this is who he is as
a person, which means which makes me lead to leads
(27:06):
me to believe that there are underlying issues that are
prompting this kind of behavior and that that's what needs
to be addressed, whether it's the people around him, whether
it's him himself, but understanding I've just I've seen too
many things that tell me that that Ja Moran, John
Morant has the capability of being an upstanding guy. And
(27:30):
and yet we've we've heard of this array of incidents
that do not speak of somebody who is upstanding and
this and it's not just like one incident or two incidents.
It's not it's not you know, brandishing a gun in
a in a strip club. It's not beating up a
(27:50):
security guard or a kid in a pickup game. It's
like it's all of these things, like and at some
point you got to go, Okay, what's going on because
at times I see it guy who I wouldn't associate
with that kind of behavior, and yet we've got multiple
incidents of that behavior. So what is it that's causing
the flip or the switch with Jah Morant where he
(28:14):
can be two different people. We can have this Jekyl
and Hide personality, and I just hope that it's more
about let's help him resolve those issues so that we
can get the best of Ja Morant all the time,
as opposed to let's punish him and hope he figures
it out. Bottom line is I hope the NBA and
(28:36):
I hope the Memphis Grizzlies are in partnership with John
Morant to find the solution as opposed to just meeting
punishment and saying I hope you figure it out so
you can come back and win games for us. I
hope that there's more. I hope that this is handled
on a more personal level and a more concern is
(28:56):
with John Morant the person than Ja Moranth the player.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
He's on Twitter at Rick Buker, that is at Rick Buker,
Fox Sports One analyst. Check out the On the Ball podcast,
in which Rick discusses a pretty sweet Kyrie Irving trade
rumor the LINKTA page as well. I see it right there,
The on the Ball podcast Kyrie Irving Where could he
be headed? Check it out ricks always buddy, appreciate it man.
(29:22):
We'll talk to you soon. Sweep yo, sweep yo. Hey
you tell.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
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 (29:38):
Very much you too, Fox Sports Radio. The Jason Smith
Show with my best friend Mike Harmon. I'm an ass
man live from the tire rack dot Com Studios. We'll
have more NBA on the way in a few minutes.
But Tom Brady is not playing again. Did an interview
in which, you know, ever since there was news broke,
he was going to buy into the Raiders. Well, Jimmy
(29:59):
Garoppolo foot injury, hasn't been cleared to play, had to
sign a waiver for the Raiders to sign him. Sure. Hey,
if Garoppolo's not there, Tom Brady, come up. We told
you a week ago this wasn't gonna happen all right again, Hate,
I told you so. Yeah, I mean, it's fun before
but we told you a week ago wasn't happening, he
said an interview today. I am certain I am not
(30:20):
playing again. That means he's not playing. The reason I
knew this a week ago is because Tom Brady, if
he wanted to go to the Raiders, he would have
done it already. He would have gone in the off season.
He's not someone that's gonna come in and say, oh,
I'll play because Jimmy Garoppolo is hurt. No, he's not
if he wanted to play and listen, I talked to
(30:40):
a lot of people who told me, Hey, the Raiders
plan initially was Brady, and that's why they let Derek
Carr go two games before the end of the season,
sent him away. Their plan was Brady. It didn't work out.
But even if that wasn't the case, Brady knew if
he wanted to go play for Vegas he could have
done it. But he didn't. And he's not. He's not
suddenly now gonna go, oh, Jimmy GAROPPI, that's not who
(31:02):
Tom Brady is. He's either going to continue his career
or he's not. So no, this was never happening. We
told you a week ago. It wasn't gonna happen, and
now Brady has basically said it's not happening again. Tomorrow's
takes the night before or before a guy even says something,
we knew what they were going to say.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
Yeah, just don't see a guy taking five months away
and then suddenly decided like him at this point in
his career now even ten years ago, not that guy,
but certainly not at this stage with what it takes
physically and as much as you may know what McDaniels
did in the past, different wrinkles, different personnel, different everything.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
That you have to acclimate to.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
He's not gonna go on a shortened window to go
do that, and he sure as hell isn't gonna do
it with a team that's subpar, right, not.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
In that division. He's not in that division with a.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
Team that is by far outside of what three or
four guys Crosby, Adams, Jacob's stills, Nash Young that, yeah,
I mean ten soldiers and Nixon com in, I mean
all those things.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
I actually heard that on the way in on my playlist.
That was pretty good.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
But the idea that he would go to that squad
in the AFC West to continue his career. When you
know everybody has the poison pens out, everybody has the
daggers ready to go to it. Try to attack his
legacy history and who he is, because that's the other
part of it, right. You can always try to do
(32:29):
your slings and arrows at the career. He's just gonna
hold up seven fingers and laugh at you, or maybe
he tells you, hey, I got to ten, so beat it.
But when it's my performance starts to go down, and
you can now attack the guy in terms of his
decision making and whatever else. He's not gonna let that.
He will not stand for that. Take your shots at
(32:50):
his involvement with FTX. That's about as close as you're getting.
The only thing that I can say about Brady. My
only worry is, yes, I have a worry about Brady,
not that he's not gonna do his contract with Fox
anything else.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
Sandy was looking forward to it today. Yeah, he's never
taken He's never taken retirement seriously enough as a big
change for him. It's like I'm going from playing football,
I'm retiring now, I'm coming back. I'm retiring on a
beach at five o'clock in the morning and now I'm
onto what's next, and I'm doing my podcast with Jim Grant.
I'm onto this and I get the whole keeping busy
(33:24):
thing that that's what it is. But when you retire
from the NFL, man, especially with the career that you
just had as the greatest quarterback any of us have
ever seen more Super Bowl titles, where you've been about
football playing for the last twenty years, you need a
little bit of time to go, Okay, I need to
stop and make sure I have what my life after
football is going to be. And I feel like he
(33:46):
hasn't done that. He's done the whole I'm jumping from
something to something to stay busy, but that doesn't help
you cope with what it's gonna be now that you're
away from the field. That's my only worry about Brady
is he's never taken it seriously. Hey, I need some
time away. No, No, Now, I'm what's next, what's next,
What's next? What's next?
Speaker 3 (33:59):
Well, but I think part of that is to stay
of off elimination. He's afraid of what happens, right. I
remember when my dad he had gotten sick the second time,
and they told him, it's like you know, you stay
in Chicago, this doesn't end well and it ends quickly.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
So he had to pack up and move to Florida.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
We were terrified because so many of his friends that
had retired didn't have long runs. And I'm not talking
about you know, his mortality when it comes to Brady,
but just you know, you want to push out any
of that thought.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
Keep yourself busy as long as you can. We'll have
more on this and more on Game one of the
NBA Finals, one of the biggest takeaways we could possibly
give you next on Fox
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Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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