Best of the Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon

Jason and Mike tell you why there's no more "Must-See TV" player in MLB right now than paul Skenes. The Knuckleheads dish out their NBA Finals MVP picks. And the optics of the Dallas Cowboys right now is awful. Plus, a NBA Finals preview with the GREAT Marc Stein!  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Carmon podcast. Be sure to catch us
live every weeknight from ten pm to two am Eastern
seven to eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find
your local station for The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every night on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
This is the best of The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
Gratings.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
Welcome inside Happy NBA Finals EVE, The Jason Show with
my bass friend Mike Harmon, live from the Tirack dot
Com studios tirect dot com. We'll help you get there
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Speaker 4 (00:52):
Well, we made it. We made it.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
It's been a long when was it?

Speaker 1 (00:55):
The conference finals finished sometime in early March, right before
the tournament began, and now we're a day away unless
something happens and they get postponed a day.

Speaker 3 (01:05):
We made it to the NBA Finals. NBA Finals EVE.
Mike Carbon well, he.

Speaker 4 (01:09):
Just got twenty four hours, buddy, I mean that's true.

Speaker 3 (01:11):
Something you never know.

Speaker 4 (01:12):
It's a lot of time for someone to decide. You
know what. The Lakers announced the coach, so we can't
play the finals now, oh sorry, we.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
Got to push this game the Lakers out of JJ Redick. Now, yeah,
sorry about that.

Speaker 4 (01:25):
Well, you know, I mean there's lots of crazy things
that can happen along the way. I mean, that's that's
just it. Until that tips off, it's all just the
waiting game of hungry hungering your hippos.

Speaker 3 (01:35):
Well tell you what. We'll get to that in a second.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
Well, we're gonna start with a bang tonight, Mike and
I with our NBA Finals coverage here. But first, yeah
we go, Oh Frostburgan R. I'm glad you're here tonight.

Speaker 5 (01:47):
Three two tiny t saw straight away, center field disc.

Speaker 4 (01:52):
Polls, gone.

Speaker 6 (01:57):
Balls games.

Speaker 4 (02:00):
Bang.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
Yeah, that was a big home run by show Haltani,
part of the Pirates ten six win over the Dodgers.
So you trust frostburg trust me. You don't want to
see the Pirates in October.

Speaker 6 (02:11):
We don't want to see the guy when he's worth
watching SS in old towny man.

Speaker 4 (02:15):
Well, do we get the Worsday strikeout audio.

Speaker 3 (02:18):
Well listen, well do you show your ma that?

Speaker 1 (02:21):
Come on, man, he doesn't have that, he doesn't have
Otani looking so incredibly overmatched against something about balance here
against the guy who's the next Steven Strasburg. I mean, look,
you what I mean, you would stop, we would listen.
We're in a time and.

Speaker 6 (02:34):
He was talking about you can take the heat.

Speaker 3 (02:37):
Oh yeah, you know, No, if you're talking to Mike,
that's fine.

Speaker 4 (02:39):
Oh hell, we're win win more than one where the
got his many World Series wins zaygat since nineteen eighty eight.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
The Mets can't lose and the Dodgers can't win. What
kind of world do we live in?

Speaker 7 (02:49):
In?

Speaker 4 (02:49):
Right, it's kind of great.

Speaker 6 (02:50):
Well, we got Skeens Otani.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
But that and that is the thing, right, you know,
Mike talks about playing hungry, hungry hippos.

Speaker 3 (02:55):
That's fun.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
But the drama of Schemes and Otani today was just incredible.

Speaker 3 (03:03):
Look, Paul Skeen's has come in.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
There's nobody that's come into the league with this kind
of hype and interest in Stephen Strasburg and I remember Strasburg,
MANI where it was Wow, it was more immediate though
with Strasburg, because we followed him coming up in the
minors how long till he debuted. Skeens is more, he's here,
Look how hard he throws, and now pick him up.
So there was more lead up to uh to Strasburg.

Speaker 3 (03:25):
But Skeen's in now. I mean, this is kind of
what it's like.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
This is kind of a different a different version of
of what Strasburg MANI was like. And now this you
see this kid, people are seeing him for the first time.
It's like, oh my god, he's incredible. I mean he
throws one o two, one oh three, you know, and
like effortlessly with a great mustache.

Speaker 4 (03:45):
I mean, come on, shit, he.

Speaker 1 (03:46):
Looks like Doug drey Beck out there and he start
I'm gonna say, wow, look at this Pirates picture.

Speaker 3 (03:49):
With a mustache.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
But that first at bat with Otani where I have
not seen O'tani look so overmatched in that bat in
a long time, where it's just here's three mile an
hour fastballs and good luck. And then of course the
next time he comes up, he keeps throwing the fastballs
because hey, I'm throwing him by him a one.

Speaker 3 (04:06):
Hundred miles an hour.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
Well you can only sneak so many before Otani's gonna
take it deep.

Speaker 4 (04:11):
But three two.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
Straightaway center field.

Speaker 4 (04:16):
Disc Ball's gone.

Speaker 1 (04:21):
First time up to strikeout and Otani looks like he's
going back to dug out, like I've never seen a
guy like that before. Next time up, heh's a big
home run. It's too bad it was a blowout game
at that point because James Paxson was knocked out of
the game early. A horrible night for him and the
Pirates already up at that point seven nothing but this.
You know, the Skins will call Otani drama is fantastic.
And I'll tell you I.

Speaker 3 (04:40):
Know it's Pittsburgh.

Speaker 1 (04:41):
I know Pittsburgh is not quite the Pittsburgh it was
in the nineties, but you know there's right now there's
no more must sy TV and baseball than skiens because
of what he can do on the mountain.

Speaker 4 (04:50):
Well, I dig that. You went all the way back
to the nineties. You got Doug dre Beck and his
perm in. Yeah that was good. Yeah, so he got
that now I don't forget. You know, you got kids
that are dressing up like this guy already with the
mustache and shooting their shot at Livy Dunn. So that's good.
That's another part of it. No, no hell, and look,
you only live once, take your ship, never know what's

(05:11):
gonna happen if nothing else should go viral and and
somebody else comes, uh comes a galling. But you know,
for skiings, it's funny, you know, watching it from you know,
obviously Pirates young stars looking for new guys to break through,
but also from the card memorabilia side, fellas. I mean,
we're talking about multiple sales of his stuff, the low

(05:31):
numbered that have crept towards six figures in some of
this stuff. So the excitement and anticipation of his arrival
was huge. And yes, it makes us follow Pittsburgh Baseball
at least once every fifth day.

Speaker 1 (05:46):
Yeah, I mean, because it's it's more than just hey,
it's Pirates baseball. It's this is the guy who is next.
This guy has electricity, He's got anything you want, right,
because look we talk about show to Imonaga, right, who's
been a bigger MVP the first two plus months of
the seas and until you know, he had a bad
start the last time out, but yeah, yeah, but he
was great, but what does he do? You know, Show

(06:07):
to missus batts. You know, it's kind of like you
have to be a real big baseball fan to watch that,
because that's like watching Greg Maddox paint, right, It's like, Okay, yeah,
Maddix is fantastic, and you you really can understand that
the world of sports is always going to belong to
those who swing from the heels and can throw one
O two. And when you have a guy like this
who comes up with that kind of skill set and

(06:29):
with this kind of push behind him in this desire
to see him play, uh yeah, there's no more musty
guy right now. Every five days, every fifth day, it's
gonna be his schemes, pitching. Got to see some of
him today, got to see what he's got. He's got
the he's got the high Prie's a high profile power
couple already with Livy Dunn who makes headlines all the time.
Like this is really something and it really really it

(06:51):
reminds me a lot of what Strasburg Mania was like,
except for the except for the part about like I
said about the lead up to it, because when Strasburg
hit the Majors, we were already foaming at.

Speaker 3 (07:00):
The mouth to see him. Skenes comes up to the
major gums.

Speaker 1 (07:02):
Okay, now we can see him for the first time,
so it's kind of like he's still building towards his
legendary you know the part where Strasburg was where we
kind of knew, Hey, here's Strasburg's first game, here's the
second game, here's his third game. Now we're just killing
time in between Strasburg starts. Because he could strike out
fifteen any single game he plays. That's kind of where
we're at right now. And now with this game tonight
against the Dodgers, this is going to be the game where,

(07:25):
because of the strikeout the first time to Otani, Otani
gets in the second time, but look three and zero again,
he throws one hundred miles an hour. This is the
game that launches him into that next stratosphere of Okay,
now he's at that level of I got to see
this guy play whenever he pitches.

Speaker 4 (07:40):
Yeah, I mean, you look at the strikeouts per nine innings,
just absolutely overwhelming coming into today's game, six strikeout per walk,
like all those things you want to check the boxes on.
And then add the fact that he's twenty two and
he's six to six. So I mean we're talking when
we have the commanding presence on the mound. Right, there's

(08:02):
a lot of guys you can get crafty. You mentioned Maddox,
uh and you can. You could be an artist on
the mound. But is it exciting? Nah? Right? I mean
he got to some really ridiculous overall numbers, including his
strikeouts or whatever else, but they were the aggregate. It
wasn't the overpowering, you know. It was all right, Let's
show you a minute of Greg Maddix working the side

(08:24):
to side up down, like, nah, I'm done with that.
Whereas now it's like, all right, strikeout of Otani. People
will forget about the home run except for Justin Yeah, sure,
and except for Dodger fans because nobody his revenge.

Speaker 1 (08:38):
Nobody likes to point out home runs in games that
team lost more than Justin does. Joey Gallows home run
against the Mets the other night when the Mets won,
uh Otani's home run tonight when they lost to the Pirates, off.

Speaker 6 (08:48):
Dude, was exciting than your whole season. Dude, We are
you kidding what you watch?

Speaker 4 (08:56):
Dude?

Speaker 1 (08:56):
I think we're now a game and a half back
of the Dodgers for best record.

Speaker 6 (08:59):
I think we're the that's what pretty game behind the A's.

Speaker 4 (09:03):
Listen, we're ahead of the A's. Smart guy.

Speaker 1 (09:06):
Okay, don't think I don't watch that every day because
I know I owe you a steak dinner if that happens.

Speaker 6 (09:11):
Randwich from McDonald's.

Speaker 4 (09:13):
We're ahead of the A's. Wait, they sell steak sandwiches.

Speaker 3 (09:16):
Now, when the McRib comes back, I'll.

Speaker 4 (09:18):
Just Okay, that's kind of a steak. What the hell
is it from? Doesn't matter? Got it makes no difference now.
But I mean, this was a fun one though, right,
I mean, look, obviously you guys were dawn a little
bit about it, uh, and we we have fun with
with the Dodgers night tonight because let's face it, it's
it's the long payoff to October, like the Night to

(09:41):
Night basis. Outside of all right, where are we at
in terms of our milestones? They don't really matter, you
know what I mean, Like it's a blip on the radar.
So when you have a game against the guy like schemes,
and you have those monumental matchups and and you get
a couple of highlights one good one bad from the
kid that you know it's good for the game, right,

(10:01):
because we keep trying to find next in all these
other places. We do it in the NBA seemingly every
other night, Who's next, that guy didn't play well last night,
Who's who's taking his place? Right? Look out quickly everybody
turned out Anthony Edwards.

Speaker 5 (10:14):
So with baseball, he stinks someone else, someone else, someone else.
But to the point of prospecting, right, you know this
as a Mets fan, justin you've seen it a ton.

Speaker 4 (10:25):
It's a Dodger fan. I'd kill to have someone come
up through the minor leagues with the with the White
Sox that anybody gave a damn about. Uh, that happened
once upon a time. But how many of those guys
are They come up and they're serviceable for a minute,
and then they either become a trade chip or they
lose their playing time and orn never seen again. You
know this, especially Mets Yankees for many many years like

(10:47):
this is gonna be the guy. And part of it's
the New York media and you know that concentration. But
there's always that next thing. And in baseball, all the
prospects we go through the draft, and while we don't
give it a ton of credence in the moment. Everybody
likes to go to the you know, who's the top
thirty in an organization, who's the top thirty in Major

(11:08):
League Baseball? And the prospects coming out of spring training?
And this was the guy that had all the eyeballs,
even though he had the insignia on his hat. That
just says, who's gonna care? Oh everybody cares.

Speaker 1 (11:21):
Yeah, Well, listen now, and I can understand why Frostburg
is so excited at this is gonna be a Dodger exactly,
Dodger uniform, that he's a future Laker one or the other.

Speaker 6 (11:34):
He's Fullerton's finest.

Speaker 1 (11:35):
No, that's right from El Toro High School. Right in
three years, the Dodger rotation is gonna be schemes hot.

Speaker 4 (11:46):
Yeah, they're not gonna be able to afford him, so
he's gonna end up in a Dodger uniform. Have you
already done the mock up there, Frostburg? He got that
a bunderscreen now.

Speaker 1 (11:55):
To just think about it, right, because they're gonna have
to pay to get schemes right there. I mean not
gonna be able to do another one of those. Hey,
how about you take a million dollars a year? Now
and then in the year three thousand, we give you
one hundred million, Like, there's not gonna You're not gonna
do that Otani deal. But they're gonna have money because
Otani's not taking any of this cash until I'm sure
the Guggenheims sell the team, and you know in ten
years when it's time to pay him forty million dollars

(12:16):
a year. So they're gonna be able to go out
and keep spending on guys like this. It's gonna happen
because it's not like, well, look at all the stars
I have. They're paying guy this amount of money and
this amount of money and this amount of mighty Tani
two million a year.

Speaker 3 (12:27):
It's gonna be fine.

Speaker 1 (12:29):
They go out and get five fall schemes if they
want to look at what you just did.

Speaker 4 (12:34):
I know you have Dodger fans everywhere. Yeah, getting excited
and thinking about the think about the future. Yeah, I mean,
look he is. He is so exciting to watch.

Speaker 1 (12:44):
And there's there's something about that because as much as
look baseball, as much as it belongs to the hitters, right,
we always say, what's more fun to watch when you
see teams hitting the ball? We love to see home runs.
We like to see lots of runs. You know, the
two to one pitchers, duels aren't things that we go
crazy about. Who are the most must see guys that

(13:04):
come up that have this kind of aura around them.
It's the pictures. It's the starting pictures. It's the guys
that throw one hundred, the guys at every fifth day
go out there and you don't know what they can do.
I mean not that, not that you you dismiss what
a guy can do every day. It's just you have
to think about just exactly what just what the jazz
is around players and what gets people to the TV
and watching and seeing what happened.

Speaker 3 (13:26):
And it's the starting pictures.

Speaker 1 (13:27):
It's Strasburg, it's de gram you know in his heyday,
you know, four years ago, when every time you could
go out he could pitch a no hitter, And it's schemes.
Now with what's going on, it's those starting pitchers that
throw and strike people out. Those are always going to
be the ones that cut through that everybody wants to
pay attention to. Power Power Wins, Exit Out about a
Fresca exit swollen Dome. The Jason Smith Show with My

(13:48):
best Friend Mike Carmon, Liverom the Tirac dot Com studios.
Just think about that. Paul Skeens number one must see
TV player.

Speaker 6 (13:54):
In baseballurgh fast.

Speaker 3 (13:57):
We can still see him though it's Will Dodger. This
is not nineteen eighty three.

Speaker 1 (14:01):
We can see him anytime we won.

Speaker 4 (14:02):
I got my MLB TV every fIF k, sell me
my Pirates package. Let's go.

Speaker 1 (14:08):
I don't have to worry about. Hey, a sports channel tonight,
You're gonna have the highlights at eleven thirty after the.

Speaker 4 (14:13):
Game at you Sports channel tonight.

Speaker 1 (14:17):
You know what I read? Remember Sports Channel always favorite.
I never knew what it was till I worked on TV.
But at the end of an inning, when you know,
the announcer would say, okay, that was three up through
down for the Cardinals. At the end of four, uh,
Mets lead at three to two, coming up top of
the order for the Mets. We'll be back. And you
heard that, right? You always like, yeah, who is that?
At the end of every inning And I never knew
until I worked in TV. It's oh, that's telling all

(14:38):
the the uh, the television stations across that are getting
the game roll your commercials Like once you hear that
you can roll your commercials. I'm like, oh, I always
wondered what that was. I didn't know, and now oh
it did tell you roller commercials.

Speaker 4 (14:51):
And you had someone going hold hold go.

Speaker 1 (14:55):
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Mike and I are going to give you our picks

(15:17):
for who's gonna walk away with the NBA Finals MVP.
And if you want to know the guy, the one
Guy ty Shirt is one guy that was a TV show.
It was and he was a cartoon character yet not
a real guy.

Speaker 6 (15:31):
So you're saying cartoons aren't real.

Speaker 1 (15:33):
Uh, it depends. It depends what world you live in.
Cartoons can be real.

Speaker 6 (15:36):
Huh.

Speaker 1 (15:36):
Okay, there you go. Uh so you want a value
pick for NBA Finals MVP, we got it for you.
Coming up next, Jason and Mike Fox Sports Radio. Fifty
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is hitting a Paul Skeins fastball, but it's also finding
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Speaker 2 (16:15):
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 8 (16:26):
Hey Gang Listen is Jay Glazer, host of Unbreakable, a
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(16:48):
some sort of adversity to get to the top.

Speaker 4 (16:50):
We've all used different tools.

Speaker 8 (16:52):
Listen to Unbreakable with Jay Glazer and Mental Wealth podcast
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Speaker 3 (17:03):
Can Keanu Reeves sue you, ty Shirt?

Speaker 6 (17:06):
I'm sorry? Say again?

Speaker 3 (17:07):
Can he sue you? I think he might be able
to sue you? Who?

Speaker 6 (17:09):
He's dead?

Speaker 1 (17:11):
Okay?

Speaker 4 (17:12):
First of all, there's gonna be John Wick five.

Speaker 1 (17:13):
Secondly, does I mean he's in it? He had Dog
Star is on tour this year? All come on, you
really think he's not gonna be in it?

Speaker 7 (17:19):
Dude, I've watched all these fast and furious is how
long has most of these people lasted?

Speaker 1 (17:23):
They're gonna take John Wick out. It's like it's gonna
be Jeremy Renner is gonna take over? Is that?

Speaker 3 (17:27):
What's gonna know?

Speaker 6 (17:28):
It's probably like a zombie John Wick or something.

Speaker 1 (17:30):
It's a zombie John Wick.

Speaker 4 (17:33):
That's not a bad idea. I got five dollars for that.

Speaker 7 (17:37):
Oh, Mike, you remember they showed the grave. I was
waiting for his hand to pop out.

Speaker 3 (17:41):
That's true, zombie John Wick.

Speaker 1 (17:43):
All right, I I kind of dig that.

Speaker 6 (17:45):
I think she could be Jason. You're ready?

Speaker 1 (17:46):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (17:47):
Okay.

Speaker 7 (17:47):
Number one, he's either a zombie, or it goes twenty
years in the future and now his daughter's seeking revenge
for the revenge he was seeking.

Speaker 4 (17:54):
Uh okay, but he doesn't have any kids.

Speaker 6 (17:56):
He might well, he had to.

Speaker 1 (17:57):
Don't know that he had a dog. Why they didn't listen?
John Wick is not about meeting John's about avenging the
death of his wife and his dog.

Speaker 3 (18:06):
And that's it.

Speaker 1 (18:07):
That's all he does.

Speaker 4 (18:08):
A whole other universe. I mean, you might have needed
some love and comfort every now and again.

Speaker 1 (18:12):
How do you know the guy hasn't even had eighty
lines of dialogue in four movies.

Speaker 3 (18:16):
How do you know what he wants.

Speaker 4 (18:17):
There's a lot of people that get by without having
to say too much.

Speaker 3 (18:20):
They can give it the smolder, give him the smolder.

Speaker 1 (18:24):
Looked that I got atone, and the smolder give him
the smoulder.

Speaker 6 (18:28):
Braves, you had more lines than the Mets had hits.

Speaker 1 (18:30):
Oh stop, we've won three in a row for you
got to save it when the Mets lose me.

Speaker 6 (18:34):
You're still twenty games under five hundred. We would imagine
if you won twenty in a row.

Speaker 1 (18:38):
Were less than almost we're eight games under.

Speaker 3 (18:41):
We're eight games on it. That's like twenty It's okay,
it's it's not you.

Speaker 1 (18:45):
You walked to the Pittsburgh are You're getting swept by
the pirates.

Speaker 6 (18:48):
And we're still twenty games over.

Speaker 3 (18:50):
Yeah, but we're talking about now. We're talking about now.

Speaker 1 (18:56):
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Speaker 3 (19:10):
So we are now.

Speaker 1 (19:12):
Set finally for Game one of the NBA Finals tomorrow night,
and we'll have stuff coming up later on. Porzingis allegedly
is going to play, not sure though he says he
looks like he's ready to go, but we'll know more tomorrow.
If you're looking for who's gonna dominate, who our picks
are for NBA Finals MVP, look, Mike and I have

(19:33):
already told you. We talked about it last week. I
like the Celtics, He likes the Mavericks. If I had
to say, and I feel I feel better about this
pick than I think I felt about a lot of
when we try to pick Finals MVP or Super Bowl
MVP or Words Series MVP. I feel really good and
it's a value pick because this guy is plus.

Speaker 3 (19:53):
Sixty six hundred.

Speaker 1 (19:54):
But give me Drew Holliday as NBA Finals MVP.

Speaker 3 (19:59):
They explain why.

Speaker 1 (20:01):
First of all, there's going to be a Jason Tatum
bias and an anti Tatum movement that as soon as
the guy has a bad quarter, all of a sudden,
social media and the daytime shows and TV shows we
lit up with, Ah, we do Jason Tatum. Was this
all he's got to do is have one bad game
in the finals.

Speaker 3 (20:20):
Oh, this is Jason Tatum. You knew you can't trust
Jason Tatum.

Speaker 1 (20:23):
It's like they're waiting for the guy to fail, right,
They're waiting for him to fail. So how is he
going to win NBA Finals MVP? Even if he has
even have five great games. He didn't do well in
the second half of the second quarter of Game three.
I can't give it to him. Can't give it to him.
So you have the anti Tatum Finals move And so
now if I'm looking at the Celtics winning the title,

(20:44):
this is why I'm going with Drew Holliday. The big
story that I see developing over the course of this
finals is obviously how do you stop Luca and Kyrie Irving?
And if I'm Joe Mizula, this what I do. And
I got a feeling this is what you're gonna see.
You are gonna see Luca do Luca things the entire finals.

(21:07):
They know, the Celtics know, if one of Luca or
Kyrie goes off, then hey, guess what we can win
if we can win the finals. If they both go off,
we can't. It's gonna be really, really difficult because we
see what they both could do. So are they did
the Timberwolves defense. They've been able to figure out a
way to out fox every team, uh with whatever defensive

(21:29):
combination they came up with. Right, So they're gonna let
Luca kind of do his thing and be a volume shooter,
and you're gonna see Drew Holliday and Kyrie Irving's hip
pocket the entire series. And as long as that's the case,
I don't know why you would move around, don't don't beat,
don't be stupid, don't move, don't move stuff around and
put stuff in it risked like they tried a little

(21:51):
bit last series. Drew Holliday on Kyrie Irving, and that's
gonna be the storyline. Drew Holliday in Kyrie's hip pocket,
he will hold kayle redown. Look, Kyrie is a great player,
So it's not like suddenly Kyrie's gonna go three for
twenty five every game. But you hold Kyrie to twenty
points like that's that's the win. Like that's the win
right there. If Kyrie's averaging twenty nine to thirty one

(22:13):
points a game, you're in trouble. But if Kyrie is
at twenty, you're talking about the second best player on
the team, and you have him down where he can't
really impact the game or hit the big threes or
get to the rack and get what he wants. That's
the thing, and that's gonna be the big through line
story about how, hey, look at what the Celtics are
doing slowing down the Mavericks. Look at Drew Holliday, the

(22:34):
job he's done on Kyrie. It's easy to look at
the box score and see a Kyrie at a time
six for seventeen tonight, you know, eight for twenty three here,
and look at how the Celtics are winning these games.
And yeah, it's nice that Tatum's scoring twenty five, and
maybe Jalen Brown is scoring twenty four. That's great, But
the story's gonna be Drew Holliday and his defense on
Jason on Kyrie Irving. So give me Drew Holliday at

(22:56):
plus sixty six hundred for NBA Finals MVP.

Speaker 4 (22:59):
I like the cutting your gym, and this is always
a reminder to go out and do a little more shopping.
Because I found him at one hundred to one.

Speaker 1 (23:07):
Did you really? Oh my goodness, where did you find that?
I found him at sixty six hundred and sixty seven hundred.
I went with the lower one, just you know.

Speaker 3 (23:14):
Because on that show, guy, you're not betting it? What
if I did? What if I?

Speaker 1 (23:19):
What if I put Zoe's college fund on the line
for Drew Holiday to the NBA Finals MVP.

Speaker 4 (23:24):
You said you didn't have one, that you lost it
on the Mets.

Speaker 3 (23:29):
Oh come on, I'd be pretty stupid if I put
all my money on the Mets.

Speaker 6 (23:31):
Come on, man, bet Mets overs.

Speaker 4 (23:34):
Maybe Jet's futures last year? I don't know, whatever do you?

Speaker 3 (23:37):
What do you think? I was like, what's his name?

Speaker 1 (23:38):
On Pittsburgh? I kept betting Pittsburgh to win Pittsburgh to win,
Pittsburgh to win. I lost four percent success rate. Yeah,
there you go.

Speaker 4 (23:45):
All right, So of the reset Tatum minus one twenty
five Doncic either plus two hundred plus two ten depending again,
not a lot of variants there. Same thing with Jalen Brown,
He's he's six and a half to seven to one
at pretty much every book. Kyrie at eighteen or twenty
to one. I mean when you talk about the principles,
I mean there's there's your They're big four right there

(24:07):
at eighteen to twenty to one. I mean, that's that's
pretty good odds for for Kyrie as you go. But
we're all about finding some value as we go down
down the world. So if we're gonna go long shot,
and I mean it really becomes long shot, then if
it's not one of the big two, then we look
at the potential for a guy like PJ. Washington to

(24:28):
have to come up big scoring twenty a night if
it's not Luca uh and Kyrie at the top. And
you know that's a tall order. So that's that's getting
a little fool hardy. So you know, going with the
Dallas pick, that leaves me having to say Kyrie and
he's only eighteen to twenty and that's not sexy at all.
So for the purpose of this exercise of let's go

(24:50):
off the grid a bit, Yeah, it's PJ. Washington and
the three point shooting.

Speaker 9 (24:54):
Oh look at you, pee jay, pee jay, pee jay
pee jay.

Speaker 1 (24:58):
Oh, he's going to have hit a lot of threes
though he's no, that's the point, right, He's gonna have
to be a guy that is.

Speaker 4 (25:04):
That is on fire and he's actually three hundred to one.
That's how crazy. But I mean, that's how how much
and overweighted I should say overweighted because maybe that's too technical,
the uh, the side of it. But you've only got
six or seven guys that are really considered when you
look at where most of the money has been laid,
and that that includes you know, Derek White at thirty

(25:26):
to one. Poor zingis anywhere from thirty five to one
to fifty to one, and that's where we get down
to holiday than at.

Speaker 1 (25:35):
Holiday holiday to one hundred holiday.

Speaker 4 (25:37):
Right, Otherwise you know Al Horford two fifty to one,
Gafford three hundred to one, Garry Jones three hundred one,
Larry Bird coming down from the rafters, potential for much
more chaos.

Speaker 3 (25:49):
How about Dave Collins about that? Uh, you know, it's
funny you.

Speaker 1 (25:52):
Bring up poor Derek Harper and oh wow, you bring
up poor Zingis and boy, I would love to, you know,
to put a flyer on him for finals MVP. If
I just had any idea of what we were gonna
get from him, I mean, you really just have no idea.
Because he's been out five weeks now with this calf injury.

(26:13):
He says he's gonna go, he says he feels good.
But in the end, when he says things like yeah,
we have another couple of days, like he said yesterday,
how we get know, a couple of days and I
think that I'll be better by then, It's like, dude,
it's been five weeks. In the next two days, suddenly
it's gonna be great. I mean, how is that gonna go?
I mean, I don't think he knows what he can do.
So if he knew what he could do, I would

(26:34):
feel better about that. But just seeing that, I feel
like he doesn't know what he's gonna be able to do.
The Celtics don't know. It's hard for me to say, yeah,
all right, yeah, this is guy's gonna be the big
X factor of the finals. He's gonna come through and
do it because I could see him playing really well,
having a big impact. I could see him playing and
after a few minutes in a couple of games, it's
you know what, You're out of the rotation because.

Speaker 3 (26:54):
It's just not working. You're not the same guy, You're
not helping.

Speaker 1 (26:57):
We need to give other guys more minutes, We need
to figure out our matchups a little bit better, and you,
not being one hundred percent physically, can't do that right now.
I mean, I could see any of those things because
we just have no idea, And the fact that the
Celtics still don't know and Porzinga still doesn't know tells
me that I'm not expecting him to have a kind
of finals where he really impacts things.

Speaker 4 (27:18):
Yeah, that's the biggest curiosity, right. We get little clips
of film there he is shooting, there he is doing
some footwork drills or whatever, but like full contact, full on,
how many minutes are we talking? Can we get him
to fifteen and twenty to where he's comfortable and it
doesn't have an aggravation effect, to where he's then got
to sit right back out. I mean, he's got to

(27:39):
get through essentially two weeks or maybe four. I forget
how spaced out some of these games are. But when
you get down to it, it's that the curiosity of
what he brings at his best, right. You remember it
from your Nick world, and we've seen it in spots
here this season, But coming off of a five week

(28:02):
run where he's been off the court, you've made all
these adjustments, changed up how your offense is run and
the defensive sets for that matter. To try to re
implement him and assume he's going to have his cardio
and everything ready to go is a tall order. I
can't wait to see how Missoula mixes it up as

(28:23):
they go forward.

Speaker 3 (28:24):
Exit out about a Fresca exit swollen Dome.

Speaker 1 (28:26):
The Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harmon Live. Look,
here's the thing, you know, in talking about Porzingis and
looking at the finals, right with the Celtics, there's a
lot of unknown with him coming in, And I really
not that they don't need him, but I don't think
that if they don't have Porzingis it's gonna be that

(28:48):
big a deal. They've gotten along pretty well without him.
They've got through every round of the playoffs without him. Yes,
he was big during the regular season, but hey, sometimes
that happens. Everybody deals with injuries in the playoffs. I
don't think it's that big deal that he's there. And conversely,
when you widen this point out, who are the two
teams left in the NBA Finals, the two teams with
the least number of injuries in the playoffs? Right, you

(29:10):
had Porzingis that's been out. Okay, you're talking about their
fourth best player, and the Mavericks who have been healthy, healthy, healthy, right, Like,
these are the guys that are left. Right, So when
we talk about how hey, yeah, Jason, when you say
being healthy, what does it mean? Like, if you're healthy,
you make it to the finals. Look at the teams
that make it. Now, if you're missing a star, if
you're missing people, you don't get there. Eventually you wind
up running up against teams that are healthy that can

(29:31):
do more than you.

Speaker 3 (29:32):
And that's just how it goes.

Speaker 1 (29:34):
And look at this, the Mavericks are the healthiest team
in the West and the Celtics. I mean, this tells
you you're missing your fourth best guy, but you're the
healthiest team. In the East because everybody else in the
East just started falling apart when the playoffs started. This
is how it goes. This is what I mean when
I say, if you want to make it to the
NBA Finals, being healthy is fifty percent of it.

Speaker 4 (29:54):
No, that's where we're at in the league at this point,
with the fact that you've got a three month playoff.
Absolutely right, you gotta run the gauntlet and get through
the battles of an eighty two game season. Plus I
mean that you're at ninety eight if you sweep through
the playoffs, and we know that doesn't happen even when
you're the Celtics beating inferior busted up squads, right nick.

Speaker 1 (30:17):
Yew ah, yes, just buy. But look, see, this is
what I mean. Like, I can't even be that upset
because the Knicks would have got rolled by the Celtics' like.

Speaker 3 (30:26):
That, then that Knixt team, I.

Speaker 1 (30:27):
Mean, let's let's just say somehow they get out of
Game seven and Jalen Brunson doesn't break his.

Speaker 4 (30:31):
Hand, they would have got rolled by the Celtics.

Speaker 1 (30:34):
Man, it took them all they could to try to
get by the Pacers in seven games, and the Pacers
were just threw up on themselves and the Celtics blew
them out. You know, yes, competitive five, yes, competitives, we
have competitive competitive but I mean you see how the
Knicks would have come, would have fallen short. So I'm
okay with that now. I really I was okay with
at the time. I'm even more okay with it now.

Speaker 4 (30:52):
I just wanted to get the Nixon obviously, the Pacers
and their ninety percent win rate probability in the final
minutes of three of those four games. But you know, hey,
it's all it's all fuzzy math because you gotta heard the.

Speaker 1 (31:06):
No no no, no, no, no, no, no no no
that we have. That's out of the system. We don't
have that in the system right and refreshing it right now. No,
I don't think I think you put the Otani home
running over that. I don't think it's all I'm looking
for it. I got it here in a second Thoroughbred
Racing as a new independent regularly to HAISA that's implementing
comprehensive reforms and the sport is combining hands on care

(31:28):
with cutting edge technology to help keep US athletes safe.
To learn more, visit Safety Runs First DOT com that
safety runs first, dot com that safeorun runs first dot com. Well,
coming up next, we got a big story out of
the NFL to run by you and boy one team.
I start really just shaking your hands that things are
starting to get shaky for them even in OTAs.

Speaker 3 (31:49):
Keep it here, that's next.

Speaker 1 (31:50):
Jason to Mike, I found it breaks.

Speaker 3 (31:52):
No, no, no, you've we'll hear it later.

Speaker 1 (31:54):
We hear it later.

Speaker 2 (31:55):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike harmon weekdays at pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific,
Fox Sports.

Speaker 1 (32:03):
Right here, Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Armin.

Speaker 4 (32:08):
We're I.

Speaker 9 (32:08):
I want to shoose somebody else. So there, Alex Tyshirt,
this is Keanu. Meet me outside alone in five.

Speaker 6 (32:19):
Minutes for number five. My daughter will be present.

Speaker 1 (32:24):
He's got no kids. You can't just cut on kids
because he does it. There's the guy's only thing is
avenging deaths of a his wife and be his dog
and see.

Speaker 7 (32:33):
Not in that Orgay, Jason, how do you not know
before number one there was a prequel, and in that
one it was his daughter who went missing.

Speaker 1 (32:39):
How do you know, Well there is a prequel, now
there is a prequel coming up now that he is
in called The Ballerina, which is very yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, focus, no,
no no. It focuses on the Remember when he goes
to visit Angelica Houston and she gives him the in
the third one to get passage and.

Speaker 6 (32:57):
Answer the question.

Speaker 1 (32:58):
Well, I'm just telling explaining who the who? The ballerina
is a kid with her and he's talking no, no, no,
and he's talking to Angela Houston and the woman on
stage there's a ballerina that she's watching like they're making
a whole movie about her character. And it's uh Anna
dearmis and and Canu Reese.

Speaker 3 (33:13):
Is in it.

Speaker 6 (33:14):
And this guy still dodging the question, Mike telling.

Speaker 3 (33:16):
You what's the question?

Speaker 4 (33:16):
He did He did give us the the detail that
everybody cared about that Anna de Armis is part of
this cast man. That's kind of a big deal.

Speaker 1 (33:24):
Hey, I will speaking listen, just speaking of top five
I am gonna have in a half hour, I will
give you a great sports television bold prediction. I will
give you a great bold sports prediction about.

Speaker 3 (33:38):
A TV show.

Speaker 6 (33:38):
Did you watch clip?

Speaker 1 (33:39):
How about that? Now? I did not watch I have
seen the first two clip I have not watched.

Speaker 4 (33:44):
Clip was fantastic.

Speaker 1 (33:46):
Yeah, every everybody says that O'Neill is great.

Speaker 6 (33:50):
Put his waist.

Speaker 4 (33:53):
Peg peg Has he been watching the studio camera?

Speaker 1 (33:58):
All right? Listen, listen. Ed's you can't sit on the
couch of their hand in your pants. That was an
old show. Yeah, but it works so well.

Speaker 3 (34:04):
Now I'm sorry, we can't do that week.

Speaker 6 (34:06):
Why was Donald Sterling neighbors with Marcy Darcy?

Speaker 3 (34:08):
We can't.

Speaker 4 (34:09):
Yeah, you know, but you know, look it's been out
forty eight hours now, so I'm not spoiling. We really cared.
You'd have seen the first two episodes. Uh, there is
someone portraying clip.

Speaker 1 (34:19):
Donald Sterling gets fine, Donald Sterling loses control of the Clippers.

Speaker 3 (34:22):
Are you spoiling that for spoiler?

Speaker 4 (34:24):
The other is Clifton Davis gives us our requisite any
given Sunday connection as well.

Speaker 3 (34:31):
So oh nice, all right, very good, very good.

Speaker 1 (34:33):
Well again, we'll have more Sports TV coming up at
it because, like I said, I got a Big Bowl
prediction after Big News today.

Speaker 4 (34:39):
It was good cast.

Speaker 1 (34:40):
Yeah, uh already I can tell and we've we've talked
about this a little bit, but just another domino that
kind of got lost in the shuffle of Justin Jefferson's
big contract the other day is now you're wondering what's
gonna happen with Ceedee Lamb, and Jerry Jones had said
I'm gonna wait and see what happened with Justin Jefferson

(35:01):
before I signed CD Lamb. You know, Cede Lamb wants
the same money because they're gonna look and say our
first few years are sort of mirror.

Speaker 3 (35:09):
Images of each other, right, I mean you could see that.

Speaker 1 (35:11):
Okay, yeah, in theory it is Justin Jefferson is still
a better receiver than Cede Lamb is, but I can
see it. He's gonna want that kind of money. Jerry
Jones is not gonna pay him. And right now, what
is going on in Dallas Cowboys OTAs who is not
there was reported yesterday CD Lamb is not at OTAs.
The vibe of the Dallas Cowboys right now is awful.

(35:34):
They are headed for a bad twenty twenty four And look,
we've talked about how from a field standpoint, they didn't
do any improving in the off season. Usually when teams
don't improve, you get passed by teams that that and
you wind up playing worse and at the East. Yeah, no,
it's good. It's good news. It's good news. It's definitely
the division to play in. But you're gonna wind up

(35:54):
getting passed, which is which is obviously what Jerry Jones
is okay with doing. He's okay with hitting the rece
button and letting Dak hit free agency and getting rid
of Mike McCarthy after this year. He is gonna be
okay with blowing it up, which the first time he's
ever done it. But they would have signed act that
would have given him money if they wanted to. But
you can see that Jerry Jones is looking to do this.
But what he is not taking into account and what

(36:16):
he needs to is that he is he is putting
a horrible aura around this twenty twenty four season for
the Cowboys because when you start with your all in comments,
and that gets misconstrued again by the Dallas players, not
by us, but Dak gets misconstrued. Now there's a lot
of upset and griping going on in Dallas because you know, well,
we're not happy with what went on this offseason. We

(36:37):
didn't fill any holes we needed to get. Yeah, we
brought Zeke back, great he's washed. Now you have an
upset quarterback in Dak Prescott that didn't get his money.
You have an upset wide receiver in ced Lamb, and
whether Ceedee Lamb gets paid or not, it doesn't matter
because you held out paying him. So he'll be upset,
but he'll sign eventually, all right, Denny's Denny's happy. Then
Dak Prescott's unhappy because wait, you paid him, but you

(36:57):
didn't pay me. If he doesn't pay Ceedee Lamb, guess what,
Prescott's still unhappy, then Seee Lamb is unhappy. Like It's
like Jerry Jones has to realize that, dude, you are
fostering a really bad entrance into the twenty twenty four year.
How excited you are are You want the players excited
coming to training camp. You want Michael Parsons to be
stepping up and being a leader, not saying, hey, I've

(37:18):
heard that maybe people don't like me, or that I
don't know if I'm gonna get paid.

Speaker 3 (37:23):
You need to go in and be it.

Speaker 1 (37:24):
Have some excitement going into the year, and there is
no excitement about the Dallas Cowboys twenty twenty four season
because Jerry Jones decided I'm laying off spending and I'm
laying off paying people, and then there's a bad energy
around around the team because of that, and now you're
gonna live it for the whole twenty twenty four season.
I don't think he knows how bad of a situation

(37:45):
optic wise he has put the Cowboys in going into
this summer.

Speaker 4 (37:48):
Well, it becomes the if you're gonna go all do
the all in thing that you're expecting movement, and in
the absence of movement, we're at least taking care of
the guys that propel us forward. And you've done none
of it. You've been in absentia evidently, just you know,
watching the rise of all the other Dallas area teams
and negotiating larger business deals on behalf of the NFL

(38:12):
and yourself. So yeah, it's a curiosity when you've had
three straight thirteen win seasons. I mean, you're a team
that's in the NFC, you're at the party, you're at
the dance, and now you're gonna have three guys that
are doing the Spider Man meme going well you're first, No,
I'm first, and trying to figure out how you get
paid and keep that locker room together. Good luck, Mike McCarthy,

(38:34):
oh Man, Jerry.

Speaker 1 (38:35):
Jones doesn't know the hell he has wrought on his
team already this early in the off season. Yea more
NFL on the way. We got a big basketball story
on the way coming up next. Jason Smith Mike Harmon.
You are listening to Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (38:52):
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
Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (39:04):
The Jason Smith Show with My best friend Mike Harmon
Live from the ti iraq dot Com studios. Well, we've
made it to NBA Finals eve, after the Mavericks and
Celtics clinched their conferences way back in January, with all
this time off her, finally here.

Speaker 3 (39:22):
The night before the NBA Finals. How's it gonna shake out?

Speaker 1 (39:26):
Nobody better to talk to longtime NBA insider Check them
out on substack as well on Twitter at the Steinline.

Speaker 3 (39:32):
It is Mark Stein. Mark. What's happening man?

Speaker 1 (39:34):
How are you?

Speaker 3 (39:36):
Jens?

Speaker 10 (39:36):
I'm good, I'm good.

Speaker 3 (39:38):
So did you get to go away last week? Did
you get in like vacation like go to Cabo.

Speaker 1 (39:42):
Or something while we waited, like, you know, forty five
days for the NBA Finals to start.

Speaker 10 (39:47):
There are no days off in the NBA, not till
maybe maybe end of August, early September. But come on,
this is the twenty four seven three sixty five leagues.

Speaker 1 (40:00):
Well, I just keep waiting for the Lakers to do
something because, like I mean, I'm waiting for some news
because you know what this week going on, Lebron was
gonna have something going on.

Speaker 3 (40:07):
Like I kept waiting for something big with Lebron to drop.

Speaker 10 (40:12):
I've noticed you are obsessed with the Lakers. That is
that is another That is another twenty four to seven
three sixty five facts.

Speaker 4 (40:24):
The machine that keeps giving Mark to show my mark.
Lebron is good. You know, Lebron is good for business?
Is that?

Speaker 10 (40:30):
Am I wrong? Is that unfair?

Speaker 4 (40:33):
Well?

Speaker 3 (40:33):
Is Lebron good for business or not?

Speaker 1 (40:35):
Lebron's pretty good for business.

Speaker 4 (40:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 10 (40:39):
Look, I think this week, I don't know about the
wide I don't know the Lakers. I think are getting
probably a little bit more attention than we need on
the eve of the edge of the NBA Finals. But
look say it, they have a coaching vacancy, and I
know that, I know that if I come on the show,
I'm contractually obligated to talk about this. So any any

(40:59):
Lakers stress want to fire up means go ahead. I'm ready,
all right.

Speaker 1 (41:03):
So before we get in the big question, obviously, JJ
Reddick says he's waiting until after the finals to address
reports he's going to be the Lakers head coach? Is
there any way it's somebody that's not JJ Reddick when
it's all said and done.

Speaker 10 (41:17):
I mean, look, it's hard to see that that, certainly,
I think is the league wide assumption at this point,
But the Lakers behind the scenes have tried to insist
that no decision has been made, and you know there
are there is, I would say, some level of support
for the James Barrego candidacy. I think it's fair to

(41:40):
say that the two of them have separated themselves from
anybody else that the Lakers were considering. But it's interesting
there is a what if scenario that has been making
the rounds this week that if underline, if I want
to make sure that the word if is not omitted
or obscured here, but I have I've heard from I

(42:02):
would say more than one source within the coaching community
this week posing the what if question what happens if
Detroit were to part company with Many Williams, Because if
you go back to two coaching searches to go in Lakerland,
the Lakers first wanted to Ron lou those negotiations broke down,

(42:23):
they wanted money Williams. Mani Williams chose the Phoenix job
over the Lakers job, and then the Lakers pivoted and
hired Frank Vogel and won a Bubble championship in year
one with Frankvogel. But they had very serious interest in
Mani Williams back in the twenty nineteen off season, And

(42:44):
if the Pistons and Mani Williams were to part company,
obviously that would it's a what if that would depend
on you know, doesn't even happen in time. I mean,
the Lakers are moving slowly and deliberately, but I don't
know if they're moving that slowly and that deliberately. I
guess that is the long winded, long way route to

(43:04):
saying yes. A J. Reddick is widely considered the favorite
with good reasons.

Speaker 4 (43:11):
Yeah, if I'm Monnie Williams I'm also checking out every
box and making my agent make sure that I'm not
losing any money that I got off of that giant
eighty million dollar deal I got with the Pistons. All right,
So let's get to the main event, finally, to the
finals tomorrow. Kyrie Irving lots of talk and Missoula. Hey,
we're all the villain in somebody's eyes. You know, he

(43:32):
seems at peace and happy with however this all flows,
which is one of the interesting subplots of this as
he tries to take his place, you know, in that
next level of NBA history.

Speaker 10 (43:43):
Look, I think there's a great deal of curiosity toward
you know, what kind of reception he'll get in Boston,
because obviously it ended in pretty messy fashion. But it's interesting.
I did a podcast this week with the legendary Bob Ryan,
who has covered the Celtics for longer and from closer
range than anyone you could nominate, and Bob's view was

(44:08):
that he doesn't think the vitriol is going to be
as bad as forecasted. And I think Kyrie at this
point is such a vet that he prepared for whatever
unfriendly reception might come. And you know, I can't imagine
that it's going to phase him at this point. But look,
you guys know, I'm based in Dallas. I've had a

(44:29):
front row seat for this season and the partnership that
Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving has struck. I don't remember many,
if any, who are predicting that things would go this smoothly,
but you know, the two of them have really built

(44:50):
this double team into something special, and I think the
MAVs have to get some credit here for really building
an atmosphe that gets the best out of Kyrie irvings
with Jason Kidd, a coach that he really really respects.
I would go so far as saying that that Kyrie
Irving's never had a coach that he's as fond of

(45:12):
as Jason Kidd. Nico Harrison, the GM with the Mavericks,
had a long standing relationship with Kyrie Irving from their
days working together at Nike. And it's just I wrote
a massive piece about this in March, just what this
ride has been like to kind of get Kyrie to
this point, and I think you're hearing it now. Whenever

(45:34):
he takes the podium and he talks about comfort level,
he has in doubt, but it's just it's just little stuff,
like they let him wear whatever he wants a practice.
I mean when you see pictures of Kyrie when they
emerged from practice, like he's always wearing an Anta shirt
or just something that's personalized. Like, you know, I don't

(45:55):
know that every NBA team, every NBA team would let
that happen, but the maths it happened, and they're just like,
it doesn't matter who cares, and it's just little stuff
like that, but it goes a long way. That's just
one small example. And Mark Cuban, who's still around the
team at every game, you'll see him. You'll see him
in a prominent spot sitting near the bench in these finals.

(46:17):
You know, he has said it to me multiple times
and it's kind of become his stock line that. You know,
our philosophy with Kyrie has been listening to him and
not telling him, and that strategy has worked. And you've
seen how productive Kyrie Irving has been this season and
especially in the second half and especially in the playoffs.
Is both he and Luca they are both given there.

(46:39):
Neither one is going to make an all defensive team,
but they are giving their Max on defense. And that's
to me another hat ship to Jason Kidd. I mean,
he is getting maximum buy in from these guys. They've
got defenders around him, They've got length around the two
of them now with the trade deadline moves. But Luca
and Kyrie are giving as much on the defensive end

(47:00):
as they ever have.

Speaker 1 (47:02):
NBA insider Mark Stein our guest to Jason Smith and
with Mike Carmon live from the tirec dot com studios.
All right, Mark, so as you said, look, you've been
around this team, you covered this team all year. You
saw what they did at the trade deadline to improve
and really get where they are right now.

Speaker 3 (47:16):
If I said to you, complete the sentence.

Speaker 1 (47:19):
The thing that you think should worry the Mavericks most
about the NBA Finals is what what's their biggest worry,
biggest concern going into the finals.

Speaker 10 (47:29):
That every Celtic can shoot it and shoot it from deep.
And that's just not a scenario they had to deal
with against the Thunder or the Wolves in the last
two rounds. Boston, they are a three point threat the
minute they crossed half court, no matter who ends up
with the ball. And that's going to require a different

(47:49):
defensive scheme and approach. And you know, again, Lively and
Gaffard have become such a good two headed monster, and
they offered a rim presence that Minnesota didn't see in
the Denver series, and it met with the Timberwolves who
don't shoot it as well from deep as Boston can.

(48:12):
But you have to think that Moxie Cleeve is going
to play a bigger role in this series for Dallas.
They're going to need a five man who can get
out on the floor because it's not going to be
played all at the rim. And so what Dallas, how
Dallas defends the three is going to be a significant

(48:35):
significant issue for them and for them to win this series. Now, look,
I have to say Jason Kidd and Sean Sweeney, his
defensive coordinator, They've pried a lot of different stuff. They've
applied a lot of good strategy and they've you know,
that's I think one of their hallmarks. I think Jason
kiddd his core. He does care more as a coach

(48:56):
about the defensive side of the ball. So the Mavericks
have been effected be creative with their defensive game planning.
In the first three rounds of this series, but this
will be another test for sure.

Speaker 3 (49:07):
Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (49:08):
All right, Mark, So when you take it from the
other side, Now, if I said to you, what should
the Celtics' biggest.

Speaker 4 (49:13):
Concern for the Mavericks being, what would you tell me?

Speaker 10 (49:16):
You know that crunch time execution. Like the Celtics have been,
they have been the team of the season. But we've
talked about it all seasons that in crunch time do
we trust them? And I guess to a degree, I
have to say that I'm still questioning it, and I'm

(49:36):
gonna want to see it in this series because you know,
I don't think they should apologize for how comfortable the
path was to the finals, because they're playing under this
championship or bust pressure that no other team in the
league has to face. They have to win it all
to validate their season, so they don't care that they

(49:56):
had it easier in the first three rounds and that
everybody they play they had injuries like they just needed
to get to the finals. And if this is where
they're going to see their first true adversity, they will
take that deal every day of the week. But now
they have to deliver. There are gonna be some crunch
time games, and look, the Mavericks have been fantastic in

(50:17):
crunch time in the regular season. In the playoffs, I'm
really curious about, you know, who, how many roads wins
are we going to see in this series. We know
Boston is only eighteen and fifteen at home the last
four years in the playoffs since the bubble. After the Bubble,
they are eighteen and fifteen at home in the playoffs.

(50:38):
That's really middling for a team with this much talent
and the aspirations that the Celtics have and the massive
one five road games in a row they become. And
you know, home court advantage has been evaporating steadily all
season long, and it's just this is the way, this
is where we are in the NBA. But after these

(50:58):
you know, we saw we've come Minnesota win three times
in Denver. We saw Dallas win three times in Minnesota.
And now I'm just curious, you know, how many who's
gonna hold? Are we gonna see some teams actually hold
serve in these finals?

Speaker 4 (51:13):
So that maybe that's why they only get Donnie Wahlberg
to show up and not a bunch of other celebrities
there At eighteen and fifteen, Mark, what are your expectations
from what you're hearing for Porzingis and his availability in
minutes at all?

Speaker 10 (51:27):
Well, availability, I don't think the question he's going to play,
he's had I mean, he hasn't played for almost forty days,
so he's going to be able to play. But if
you're asking me minutes and effectiveness, I mean, let's face it, Christops,
for Zingis has a very limited playoff resume as it is.
We just haven't seen a ton of him in the
playoff and we've certainly never seen him on this stage.

(51:50):
So all season long when the Celtics were rolling, the
talk was always can the Celtics just get Porzingis for
sixteen wins in the playoffs? And then they didn't even
have him for two rounds, so now they only really
need him for four. They got to win four more
games to win the title. And it's astounding when you
do the math and think about it. Since Larry Bird retired,

(52:12):
this franchise has only won one title in thirty one years.
Like they are, you know, it's been a long time
they've had sustained the kind of sustained success that Celtics
fans expect, but they get four more wins and they
get this championship. And Porzinga is going to be a

(52:33):
huge factor in this series because I do think Dallas
will try to attack him at the other end to
see how sturdy he is. But look, he has to
shake off. He hasn't played in thirty eight days. That's
a lot of rough to chip away.

Speaker 4 (52:47):
He's on Twitter at the Steinline. That is at the Steinline.

Speaker 1 (52:50):
Check out this League Uncut Mark's podcast as well. Mark
is always thanks for preview in the finals. We'll talk
to you as the final goes on.

Speaker 10 (52:57):
Enjoy all right, guys, talk to Thanks for it.

Speaker 3 (53:00):
There goes Mark Steide.