June 16, 2021 • 36 mins
Jason Smith and Mike Harmon explain why the Milwaukee Bucks need another star alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo, as Giannis clearly can't hold a team up on his own. The guys react to Kedin Durant's postgame comments. The guys look ahead to Game 6 between the Bucks and Nets.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
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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 I Heart Radio app by searching fs R. You're
(00:24):
listening to Fox Sports Radio, Fox Sports Radio The Jason
Smith Show with my bast friend Mike Harmon. Yes, sir,
world is still buzzing over Kevin Durant's legendary performance tonight,
a forty nine point triple double, giving the Nets of
(00:44):
three games to to lead over the Bucks. Meanwhile, Janice,
even though he had a good night statistically, the Bucks
gave this game away for a bunch of different reasons.
And I'll tell you what. We got a big, sobering
truth that could be coming your way about that's gonna
be coming way about Janice. And a couple of seconds, uh,
you watch the Bucks offense basically turn into Hey, the
(01:06):
Nets are coming back and we can't stop Kevin Durant,
So why don't we just give your honest the ball
at the top of the arc and see what he
can do. And we watched the Nets continue to eat
into the Bucks lead. You get to the final minute,
Janice is missing free throws. They give him a pass
underneath that's gonna tie the game with with with ten
seconds left in the game, he fumbles the ball and
(01:28):
can't make the play. The Nets get it, they hit
free throws, and the Nets wind up winning one four
teen to one oh eight. This play is now the
one that defines Janice and the playoffs and the last
couple of years for the Bucks. Middleton, working in the paint,
leaves it all free. Honest, lost it three knocked loose,
and Durant picked it off and the Bucks come in
(01:50):
a phone seconds to go. Nets Radio Network on the call,
not so much you got knocked out as he just
lost the handle on the ball all and Mike, look,
I know it's you know, you don't want to be
prisoner of the moment with things. But the show is
tonight and you're looking at two stars tonight that clearly
(02:10):
have two different skill sets when it comes to closing
down games and being great players. Right, you have Kevin Durant,
who is the closer in the NBA. Right. We talked
about it with Rick Bucker a few minutes ago. There's
a reason why Kevin Durant has the NBA titles in
the NBA Finals MVPs because he is that guy. The
(02:32):
more you watch Janice in a night like tonight, where
he's all over the place with points, he's all over
the place with impact on the game, both physically athletically.
But at the end of the game, you can't go
to him. He's not k D. He's not a guy
that in a tight playoff game you can keep giving
him the ball time after time and get hoops. You
(02:52):
just can't do it, and all the best players in
the NBA can do it. You can live like this
in the regular season if you're the Bucks, because you
know it's it's game one of eighty two, and boy,
here's Janice all over the statue tonight. He had thirty five.
He was twelve and ten. We just couldn't stop him.
But in the playoffs, when you are designed to stop
a player, you are designed to win a game a
(03:13):
specific way. Because we see the uptick defensively, the Bucks
can't just give the ball to Janice and say, go
make a play. Can't do it. He's not that guy
watching tonight seeing him all the different times the top
of the key, y honest missing not making shots. Now
he made shots. I'm not saying he didn't. He did
make some shots in the fourth quarter and when we're
getting a crunch time. But you can't give it to
(03:34):
him like you can give it to Kevin Durant and
expect it to happen. Right. You can't give it to
him like you give it to Trey Young and expect
Trey Young to hit shots that way. You just can't
do it. So when I watch a game like tonight,
and especially see him fumble the ball out of bounds,
but I don't know that you had the two missed
free throws, which were incredibly huge, I go, you know what,
I don't know that it's about somebody teaming up with
Janice and be in the one. A Janice might wind
(03:57):
up being the better one. A to somebody else is
one because when it comes to the end of games,
somebody else has taken shots and we're looking when it's
Chris Middleton, You're not gonna win that many games. You
need a you need a big you need a big, big,
big time player. If you are going one too right,
you need it's gotta be Lebron and a d kind
of situation because I watch your honest and go can
you really still say we're we're gonna build a supporting
(04:20):
cast around him or do you have to say, you
know what you honest, you need somebody else that's really
really good, that can take big shots at the end
of games and maybe take over for you, because I
I don't know that. I don't know that I look
at him and say he's gonna win a championship if
he's a one, I don't know that he can. I mean,
I think the best case scenario f bete. Maybe at
some point, does he have a one Dirk Novitsky type
(04:41):
year where Hey, everything lays out for him and he
has an incredible playoff like he did when he eliminated
the Lakers in a sweep and he goes on and
wins the NBA title. I mean, maybe that happens for him,
but the other stars in the game are just too good.
They all take over games at the end and he
just can't do it. So instead we might be asking
the wrong question instead of hey, who can go play with?
The honest it's well, who should be honest play with
(05:02):
whether it's on the Bucks or somebody else where, the
other player who comes in has to be somebody that
can do things a little bit more and and way
more down the stretch in the game. Well they can
run the offense. I mean we were talking about it before,
just with with Joanna's it was dump into him and
then everybody stood around, and you know that that goes
on holiday, that goes on Middleton h p. J. Tucker
(05:25):
was a non non factor offensively, not that he's usually
a huge contributor, but you know when you played thirty
three minutes and you give a big fat goose egg, uh,
that that's not helping the cause for Joanna as the
other part was. And he's already addressed in the post
game of well why weren't you on Kevin Durant trying
to slow down him and his on slot right. Eventually, yes,
(05:49):
Joanna has followed out with six point five seconds remaining,
But it's that two way energy expenditure thing that we've
talked about in the past. I don't get it, so
that that part still that's a budden holes Er explained
this to me, like I'm five years old kind of moment.
But to your point about Janice in theory, that's what
you brought Holiday in for, right, that you had a
(06:11):
point guard that could distribute, and that's not how you
ran your offense. So part of it is just the
philosophical side of it with Budden holeser with Janice, so
all right, what are we doing? Because if he's not
working down on the low block, he's kind of a
Noman Land right because that fifteen footer is not consistent enough.
(06:31):
And anytime he starts to start raining threes, you can
see the images of Philip symour Hoffman in your head.
I mean, it's just there because sometimes he gets on
a little bit of a role. But for the most part,
it's it's gonna be off and the free throw line
is it's a whole other adventure. But to your to
your larger point, yeah, I think it's a you need
(06:53):
a star with him, not a good player, not a
very good player, another star who can become that the
one you have to double because they don't have that
guy on that roster right now to free Honue up
to go into more one on one coverage. It's not
the barrier two time m V p a bunch of accolades.
You know, he's all first team All NBA Defense today,
(07:17):
so that's great. Uh, And you know all of the
accolades are there, and we talked about the regular season,
but there are two separate seasons, and once the defense
starts flowing, I mean holiday reading some of the quotes
coming out of his press conference, all he's done is
complaining about the referees all night. How's that going to
help you going forward? No, it look, it's it's needing
(07:40):
that star is what it is. I mean, you win.
We talk about this in the NBA playoffs. Who's winning.
The teams that win are the teams that have the
most stars. So okay, now, tonight was Kadi and James Harden.
Really Harden didn't do a lot in the in the
box score, but he did a lot in opening up
the floor for Kevin Durant, which allowed him chances to
go for his legendary night. But it's it's about stars.
(08:03):
And if if Janice was with, you know, if if
Joannice had Chris Paul, or if Janice had another point guard,
if it was Janie and Donovan Mitchell, who was Jonas
and and and Devin Booker or something like that. Oh,
you talk about how unstoppable a duel that would be,
But it's a star because you look Middleton and Holiday,
as you said, they're nice players, right, they're good players.
I like them a lot. They're both really good players.
(08:23):
But is that enough? Is that gonna be? No? You
need stars to win. All teams win that have multiple stars.
That's how it works in the NBA. Now, you know
that's why when we talk about who the favorites are,
everybody defaults to the Nets. Why they got three big stars.
What's gonna default to the Lakers? Why they have two
big stars? The Clippers they have a couple of big stars,
the Jazz have two big stars. That's normally how it goes.
(08:44):
And so when when you look at the Bucks, you
could say, oh, now I see where that comparison doesn't work.
And playing the basketball they had during the regular season,
this is now there one game away from this being
the third post season in a row where it wasn't
enough where a team that had more star power was
able to take advantage. And they can't do in the
(09:04):
playoffs what they can do in the regular season because
games come down to the final minutes and and and
a couple of games are always gonna come down to
the last couple of possessions. And the Bucks don't really
have somebody where he can say, Okay, this guy's getting
the ball, and here's where it goes. Because if you
give it to you honest, you can wind him on
the free throw line. Don't want your honest on the
free throw line, right. But but if he has to
settle for a jumper, that's good. That's a win for
(09:27):
you as well. And how many times do we see
that tonight where hardness in front of him and he's
taking a jumper. It's like, what are you doing? Man?
Hardness in front of you. The guy can't even move,
and even if he can move, he wouldn't do anything.
It's like it's still around him. It's just it's it's
just baffling to see that this is what happens to
this team, as good as they are in the regular season,
(09:49):
what happens to them in the playoffs because they just
don't have that They're they're not a playoff They're not
a playoff tested team or a playoff proof team, is
what I want to say. Because certain teams in the
regular season all right, we're not built for the regular season,
but in the playoffs were built for the playoffs. But
most teams, you see, hey, we are built for regular
season success, and when it comes to the playoffs, things
(10:10):
are different for many different reasons. And the Bucks are
that shiny example the last couple of years of teams that, hey,
they're built for regular season success, right, one night out
of eight, two it happens. But are you built for
the playoffs? Now they're one game away from again we're
going home in the third round of the second round
of the playoffs, and we're falling short again with Janice
and and we don't know what we're doing because we
completely put a new cast in following last year because
(10:34):
it wasn't enough. And now here's a new cast in
still with Middleton, we bring in Drew Holiday and other players,
and still that's not gonna be enough. Are they gonna
change again next season? I mean really, it's it's you know,
the Bucks and the Clippers are kind of the same teams.
Where is this mix good enough? Are we good enough?
Are we playoff good enough? But boy, tonight with the Bucks,
I I mean it, I watched I watched Johannese and
(10:55):
I go, how much does this team just really just
need to say, hey, we we're gonn to move on,
like will trade Middleton and Drew Holiday to go get
an absolute superstar to coming and play. I mean that
that might be what they need. And to give your
honest a little bit less responsibility when it comes to
the end of games of the playoffs, because he's not
that guy, and you're gonna have to win a couple
of games at the end of year, uh and in
(11:16):
the playoffs in a series to be able to move on.
And when you have the closers that can make those shots,
you're gonna win. And isn't that guy getting ready for
a five year, two hundred twenty eight million dollar contract.
We talked about it with Rick Buker last hour, the
idea that maybe he and Budenholzer don't see eye to eye.
It's something we've been talking about for a while. Would
(11:37):
would he become the fall guy no matter how well
they've played in the regular season? Well after this loss,
and you see a little bit of unraveling and the
fact that when he's asked about guarding Durant, be honest
said I'd like that challenge. So you didn't ask for
it in game. You didn't go to coach say, hey,
(11:58):
let me go check this guy. Your first All NBA team,
your first All NBA defense, and you and you don't
ask for that assignment in what could have been a
huge game, right, you got a one leg James Harden
walking up and down the court. Joe Harris is shooting
for nothing, Bruce Brown, our guy did nothing offensively. I mean,
(12:21):
Jeff Green was fantastic second game back from injury, so
good for him. But with the game on the line,
and Game six at home, where you could have been
at a closeout scenario, you gack away a six team
point lead, and you don't ask for the responsibility of
taking on the number one guy slowing him down. It's bad,
bad business and speaks pretty badly of what's going on
(12:43):
on that sideline. M hmm. I'll tell you this. How
about this, how about this three way trade? And who says, no,
you're ready trade? Three way trade? And who says that,
of course the Nicks come on, but this three way trade?
Who says no, Okay, the Knicks get Damian Lillard. Okay,
(13:07):
we'll start off with that. The Knicks get Damian Lillard.
So the Nick send Tom Thibodeau to the Bucks. Okay,
the Bucks send Middleton in Holiday to the Blazers, and
they use some of that money to go out and
sign and stud. They don't have to pay Middleton Holiday
to go out and sign the star to play with
the honest who says, no, that's funny. There we go.
(13:30):
I mean I've just I've just turned three teams into
NBA title favorites. Yeah, but now you you traded the
defensive specialist coach to a team that's just needed a
defensive identity, but you took away the offensive firepower. Come
and got. You gotta give to get, Mike, you gotta
give to get. Come on, man, you gotta listen. I
make fair trades and fantasy man. I'm not one of those.
(13:51):
I'm not Michael Fabiana who calls you up and says, hey,
I need a I need a running back. Okay, Well,
well you know what do you what do you want?
I want Austin Ekeler. Okay, well what are you gonna
give me? Um, I'm gonna give you Ty Johnson and
Wayne Gallman. No, I'm not gonna do that. What what? What? What? No? No, No,
I'll give you a fair to you gotta give you
into the show. Good for you. I'll give to get
(14:15):
in that trade. Look at that. The Knicks get Damian Lillard,
the Bucks get Thibodeaux, and the Blazers get Middleton in
holiday and the Bucks have money to go buy a
new star to pair with you. Honest, you're out of
your mind. Thibodeaux wins and NBA Coach of the Year
award and you're training him around like he's an All
NBA and the wait, what, no, buddy, I gotta trade, buddy.
(14:36):
That's that's the whole thing, the art of the art
of the trade, Buddies. You gotta trade somebody when they're
when their value is at the highest. Okay, you gotta
trade someone in their values. And Tom Thibodeau's value is
never gonna be hired than it is right now. I
mean's course it's gonna It's never gonna be higher as
soon as they tip off next next year. Listen, they're
gonna they're gonna hate him in a year anyway, because
(14:59):
this whole thing. They're games into this next season, So
make a move. And if he holds any workouts during
the heat of a New York summer coach at least
put the a C on. Nope, we're grinding it out.
You guys got a little fat and happy with your
playoff appearance. Let's go twitter it out about a Fresco.
(15:20):
Mike gets swollen down The Jason Smith Show with My
beast friend, Mike Carmen. Nick's get Lillard, Bucks, get Thibodeaux, Blazers,
get Middleton in holiday and the Bucks have money to
go buy a new start appara, You and your fever
dreams already go, man, Come on, man, just think about it,
Just think about it. How great is that? I'm sounding
like James Dolan when I'm talking? Do I have to
(15:42):
sign off on this? Or can I just still play music?
Can I do that? All right? Great? Eight seven seven
Fox is the number? Eight seven seven six six three
six nine. The Jason Smith Show with My best friend
Mike Harmon. Well, what did Kevin Durant have to say
following his legendary performance tonight? Did he cite his own
stats like Lebron? Did he start tweeting at the postgame
(16:04):
press conference under burner accounts? Maybe you'll hear it as
we got a big block of Kevin Durand coming up
next for you. Right here, you're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
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 I Heart
Radio app. Fired in there, Fox Sports Radio, The Jason
(16:25):
Smith Show with my base friend Mike Harmon. Now, before
we hear from Kevin Durand, I'm gonna throw this out
there to be a little bit more serious here, you know,
because hey, that three team trade I threw out there
with Lillard and Thibodeaux and it's pretty fun. But what
about this. Just think about this for a second, because
it's kind of fun to think about the Blazer's trade
Lillard to the Bucks from Middleton and Drew Holiday. The
(16:49):
money will work, well, now, that could be fun. Lillard
Lillard teams. I'm Lillard and Jannice might be unstoppable together.
And the Blazers say, Okay, we lose Lillard, but we
get two really good players. And you know, McCollum is
still really good. All right, we got some good We've
made our team good. Everybody wanted to trade off McCollum man,
what are you doing? No, no, no, no, No, it's look,
(17:10):
I gotta make the deal that's in front of me, Mike,
and this is the one. This is the one that's
in front of me. You know it's CJ. CJ was
active on Twitter two. He was wondering why Janice wasn't
guarding Durant at any point this game to a lot
of NBA players chiming in about the performances here, John
Morant with a the zippered closed mouth talking about some
(17:34):
of the arguments referring to the old who's the best
player in the game. So everybody going, oh, you're going
at Lebron. I'm like, this is good theater. I like
all the young guys raising their hand, going let me
get in on this. Well, I gotta throw this at you.
This shows that you know nothing about the NBA. What
is more important Janice guarding Kevin Durant or making sure
(17:56):
Joe Harris doesn't have a big night. I mean, dude,
gotta talk about what priorities Joe Harris on a lot
of plays. Well, he limited him to one out of
ten from so he did a hell of a job
for anybody that was betting anything, any prop bets on
Joe Harris tonight. Ah, he guaranteed they were losers. Beyond that,
(18:18):
maybe that way he's maybe that was the beginning his
press conference. We wanted to make sure Joe Harris didn't
beat us. Tonight was going to be a non factor.
We're gonna get Kevin Durant whatever he wanted. I just
wanted to make sure those shot spot up shooters that
stand in the corner didn't get their open looks. Tonight
(18:39):
was a victory. Joe Harris didn't beat us. Check I did.
I did my job by do it. I'm sorry. I
think he was two of eleven, two of eleven for
the night, right, Yeah, I just want to make sure
I get that right. He was two of eleven, one
of seven from three point range. Either way, A huge
victory for Janice there. I shut down in the league's
(19:00):
top three point shooter, which is technically true because Joe
Harris was number one in terms of percentage. Right. I'll
tell you you check it's a big victory for you
on It's big victory, but no, but clearly the big
victory tonight for the Nets one fourteen one oh weight
over the Bucks. It's a great night for Kevin Durant,
(19:22):
who was going to get even with all everybody he's
ever wanted to get even with on social media, and
for your honest, he needs to just stay away for
a while and wonder, m this series ends and I
go home and seven again? Am I really a one
A instead of a one player? That's the big thing.
But how about Kevin Durant forty nine seventeen rebounds, ten assists.
(19:42):
Let's listen to some of him as he met the
media just a couple of moments ago, as he talked
about his legendary night, maybe the night he knows where, Hey,
this is the night that me and Harden went for
fifty four points between the two of us. I mean
I scored forty nine, but James also went for five.
Let's hear from k D. Hamstring is one those injuries that, uh,
(20:03):
you know, it takes a while tohill, but he came
out there and thought and and toughed it out, and
you know, yah, eight to six six six rebounds. You know,
miss some good looks all night. And I know it's
only his legs gonna get back under mother, you know,
as time, you know, next few days or so, so
hopefully next game. He started to knock some of those
shots he usually make down, and you know, we gotta
(20:24):
we gotta work cut out for as the game six man,
it's gonna be the toughest game of the year. Great Global, Kevin. Obviously,
James wasn't himself in terms of visibility to drive to
the basket, and that seemed to throw you guys off
in the first half. Was there a conscious decision that
(20:44):
you made, you know, just to to sort of initiate
the offense and to go through you again to get
it going in the second half the way you did. Yeah,
I mean we wanted to. Uh, we know he's coming
off of tough injury and being off for so long,
and we trust James handing the ball and setting people
up so much that we we probably put too much
on him in at first half. And but I think
(21:04):
he settled down in the second, got his legs, got
his rhythm, and I was able to help him a
little bit as well handling the ball. That so did Landry,
so that Bruce, so did Jeff. I think we all
took turns, so um, we're gonna need that going forward.
Kristen Munfield with the New York deleoners Hey Kevin just
how do you feel after having any game like this,
(21:26):
Not necessarily physically, although you played for the eight minutes,
but like mentally and emotionally, how do you feel like
to hanging for the nine and for the events. I mean,
got another game, we gotta travel tomorrow. We got a
game six. I mean, I can't celebrate because we went.
We we won the game, We got another game to
try to finish it up. Fencing, Goodwill Sports. Hey, Kevin,
I'm just curious when you were reading the game early
(21:48):
on and you were being more facilitated than the score.
Was that something that you planned to do from the
start of the game, just sort of to read it
to get jeff in ball, to get easier looks at
everybody else, and then sort of rev it up in
the second half because that's the way it looked like
you played out. Yeah, yeah, it did look that way,
but I didn't playing on doing that. I mean, I
always try to be aggressive to get to my spots
to score, and I think that settles my teammates down
(22:09):
as well. Um, but you know, this team does a
lot of helping and a lot of swarming in the paint,
so you know, let's previous games I made it, forced
a couple of shots over two people and I could
have and you know throughout full hockey assists maybe tonight,
so you know, just keep watching films, keep saying with
the defense coming from and uh, but at the end
of the day, I still gotta be aggressive. Alex Stifford
(22:33):
be athletic than Kevin. I got to for you. You
talked about playing the whole game. Just did you tell
stee you before the game you know, I can go
as long as you need you to or was it
you're looking for one form and realize you're having to
come out and realized you were good? Just I guess
what was the dialogue like, but you're playing the whole
game and Steve said that you were cool with it. Yeah,
we never talked about it. I mean, coach, we always
(22:54):
had dialogue about minutes throughout the season of like, you know,
maybe you should put me here for a couple of minutes,
or maybe you keep me in, And so tonight I
went to him and him and uh, Coach Van just
asked me if I needed a couple and that they
were going to take me out, and I was like, yo,
if y'all don't need to I'm cool, you know, I
think I can. I can kind of tough it out
from here. Um, but I was cool with anything they
(23:15):
wanted to do, and they decided to keep me in.
All right. So there's Kevin Durant, and there lies the
game when it comes to how Durant was able to
play forty eight minutes and score forty nine points? All right? Uh,
much like we always go back to, boy, how did
Kobe Bryant score eighty one points? Well, when you single
cover him the entire game and Kobe gets out, that's
(23:37):
what's gonna happen. How is Steph Curry? How is Steph
Curry knocked out of the playoffs? Because when it comes
down to the end of games, teams rolled coverages towards him,
and he's got to get through two guys. He's a
tiny guy and he's not gonna get his shot off,
so he's got to find a way to facilitate. Kevin
Durant needed to be hounded and exhausted by the Bucks,
(23:58):
and they didn't do it. He brought the ball all up,
didn't matter. You're bringing the ball up, everything's fine, But
we'll get you when he get over half court, when
he would get the ball. You knew he was coming
around looking for some kind of three. He was chased
by one defender. You need to you needed to roll
stuff towards him to exhaust him, because that's the strategy
that's worked all the time with James Harden. You know
why is James Harden failed so much in the postseason
(24:19):
because by the time he gets the end of the games,
James Harden is tired and he said he's too tired
and he can't make shots. He doesn't run for the basketball,
and it's done because they asked him to do too
much and he is hounded by the other team. They
didn't do that with Durant tonight. They let Durant kind
of do his thing one on one. It's like, all right,
I get maybe in the beginning of the game, but
at some point when you realize, Okay, this is Kevin
(24:41):
Durant or nobody else. Okay, yes, I know Jeff Green
is having a good night, but somebody else has to
score a couple of points. But it's not Jeff Green
is not gonna beat us. All right, we have to
make sure that we are exhausting Kevin Durant, especially to
get if they get him out of the game for
three minutes, maybe the game is different. I I don't
get how the best play year on the court, by far,
one of the top three players in the game when
(25:03):
he's healthy, Easy is just allowed to go up and
down the floor and not have to exhaust himself. There's
a reason why guys don't play forty eight minutes a night, right,
There's a reason why Lebron doesn't play forty eight minutes
a night because he can't, because there's too much wear
and tear on him. Because they try to. Other teams
try to throw so many different looks at him to
(25:23):
mentally exhaust him and physically exhaust him. And the Bucks
didn't do it tonight. And I don't get why. I
don't get why they can say, Okay, we're good with
just one guy. We're good with just Middleton on him.
We're good with it. We're good with not putting Janie
on him. At any point nothing else was working. How
do you not put yours on him? In the fourth quarter?
Nothing else was working. We put everybody else on him
we possibly could. We tried to put guys on him
that weren't even on the team anymore, and it didn't
(25:45):
work for us. We try to put Glenn Robinson on him,
it didn't work. We try to put Glenn Robinson too
on him. It didn't work. Anybody named Glenn Robinson. When
they brought in the trilogy, rob we we and and
nothing and nothing worked and and that. You know, when
you get to this point in the playoffs, sometimes I
look at coaching decisions and I go, this is me
(26:06):
watching from two thousand miles away or three thousand miles away.
How do I see this and nobody else does. That's
a full coaching staff that's on there, or you know,
a guys on TV see it as well, whether it's
Barkley or Shack or about how do you not see that?
In the boy? You gotta do something to stop Kevin Durant.
We have we got what what are we gonna do?
We're just like, well, eventually he's gonna start missing. I
mean eventually, it's I mean, that's that's a great strategy
(26:27):
to maybe he'll miss. Now you know why the Bucks
haven't won because they you know, you see a night
like tonight and you go, there were so many things
they could have done to slow Kevin Durant down. And
they didn't do it well. We talked about the stats
he had at halftime. Was already having a monster night,
even even with being down as much as they were.
It's like, all right, they're gonna make a run. It's
(26:49):
the NBA. Very rarely does a team just lie down.
And we've seen it a few times, don't get me wrong,
but there's at least an effort, and you know he's
not going down without at least a big swing or two.
And the shots started falling, pulling up for threes and facilitating.
I love the the use of the term hockey assist. Right,
(27:10):
get the ball around the perimeter, get an extra pass,
get an open man, make a shot. And that just
saw with Jeff Green right, a couple of standing in
the corner. Hey, here's the extra touch, and nobody's rotated somehow.
They're still hanging out around Harden. Hey, good decoy. He
looked good. Maybe they wanted to have a conversation or
seeing what he would do to try to draw a
foul when he couldn't elevate at any level, but uh yeah,
(27:34):
you gotta do anything to get Durant off his mark,
and for a team that prides itself on bullyball and defense.
You didn't see it from the Bucks at all, and
with the advantage that they had coming into the second half,
just didn't make any sense to me. Slow down possessions,
get inside work with Lopez and the other trees, uh
(27:56):
and make something happen. Instead, you got Jana's catching the
ball out to start every possession just inside the three
point arc. It's like, all right, go ahead, do you
want to take a shot? Have at it? And he
went fourteen to twenty two. Good on them, But you
know when when it was crunch time, there was a
lot of standing around and for the nets, they didn't
bother to adjust. And this goes on, Buddenholzer, how do
(28:18):
you not adjust to try to do anything to limit
Kevin Durant and make one of these other guys We
talked about it. Three of your starters between Harden and
Joe Harris and Bruce Brown, they went four of twenty
six and you didn't force the ball into their hands
for shots. It makes no sense. Hey, look, jan has
had to shut down Joe Harris and Bruce Brown. Okay,
(28:40):
that that clearly was what they took out two guys.
That's what the other guy you know, the guy that
actually scores, the guy that's in the conversation as best
player in the NBA when his body is right. And
we have seen him put on a few performances in
these playoffs to get everybody raised in that a brag.
And you know, for got about dre No, you forgot
(29:01):
about Kevin Durant, and he's letting you know it really
And you know, we talked to Rick Bucker and you're
gonna hear from Rip Puker coming up in about forty
five minutes here on the show. Wait, wait when you
hear him say things like you know, you see Janice
and and and and Buddenholzer. They don't talk to each other.
They don't talk on the sidelines about anything. And all
the other stars they talked to their coach about what's
(29:22):
going on, And there's got to be some kind of disconnect.
These guys aren't on the same page. Yeah, there's clearly
something going on, because I don't I don't get how
this was the strategy tonight. You're watching Kevin Durant go nuts,
and he said, Okay, we'll just keep doing the same
thing on him, Just keep doing the same thing. It's
not perfinition of the Maanity Smith. What is it doing
the same thing over and over and expecting a different results?
(29:43):
Do I get a hundred? Do I get an A plus? Yeah?
I will give you full credit for that. Anybody I'm
digging that. Be sure to catch live editions of The
Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern,
seven pm Pacific. Hey, this is Jason McIntyre. Join me
every weekday morning on my podcast, Straight Fired with Jason McIntyre.
(30:06):
This isn't your typical sports pod pushing the same tired
narratives down your throat every day. Straight Fire gives you
honest opinions on all the biggest sports headlines, accurate stats
to help you win big at the sports book, and
all the best guests. Do yourself a favor and listen
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Radio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts.
(30:31):
All right, stop, you're gonna make people just walk into
the ocean chignotic that. I love it. Fox Sports Radio,
The Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harmon. Sure,
I'd like to spank your bald head and lick it.
We have to Fiery takes on James Harden's Night and
Janice is now not James hard on Kevin Durant's Night
(30:52):
and Janice's Night coming up fiery one on James Harden too.
You got a fiery one your fire fall. Yeah, you
know why. Look we're remember the old adage you get
for showing up. Good on man, That's all you gotta
do sometimes, just be the decoy of the night. Forty
six minutes and he was hypnotic to the bucks. They
(31:12):
couldn't figure out what to do. It's like, is he
gonna do something? Remember that Simpsons episode with all the
fights like the mob and and there's and Homer and
Marge are looking through the window and she goes, nothing's happening.
It's like that guy's gonna do something. And all these
guys are fighting around him and he's just standing there
and then all of a sudden you hear the scream
and the thuds, Like I told you he was gonna
(31:35):
do something. Cool? Was that the Was that the one
where Bill Gates bought out Homer's computer company? Buy them
out boys? No, I think it was a different one.
I think this was Fat Tony and uh, you know,
just a battle of different mobs in the larger Springfield area.
And then Homer wanted to watch as an unfold unfolded
on his front lawn and there was one guy that
(31:57):
was just standing there watching the action. It's like he's
gonna do something. I think that's how what the Bucks
were with James Harden. It's like he's gonna do something.
So he really have to pay attention. So we'll have
hard and we'll have Janice, We'll have Kadie coming up
in a couple of minutes. But uh, tonight we watched
something that I just want to shake my head and go, really, Uh,
(32:19):
Marv Albert did the game tonight on T n T
was a thriller and it was an incredible night, and
we watched the Nets honor him that he got a
nice big ovation from the crowd. It was great because
Marv Albert has done Nets and Knicks games for the
past forty five years. So here's the Nets, the Nets
who have honored Marv Albert, and still the Knicks have
(32:41):
done absolutely nothing for a guy who was synonymous with
Knicks basketball for almost fifty years. And James Dolan Nicks
decided not not not gonna do anything marvel the Nets.
When when the Nets do something first, I mean, what
does that tell you? I mean, really, I get that
James Dolan hasn't been around, and that's really been a
great thing, Like you know, because I'm sure what Leon
(33:02):
Rose did was like set them up with a fake
tour and all it was was, look, you go play
all these clubs and we paid. We're gonna give you
money to go on this tour because we know you
like to play music and that's your whole thing, and
just stay away from basketball. So we're gonna put you
on a ten month tour of places like Albania, and
then you're gonna go to Austria, and then we're gonna
have you go to Greenland, and then you're gonna play
in Finland and all these little clubs that nobody's there. Hey,
(33:25):
it's live entertainment. What a week here. We're gonna spend
all this money to keep you away from the NBA.
Look how good the Knicks are when James Dolan didn't
get involved. This year they won forty one games, finished
in fourth place, made the playoffs. But really, nothing from
Marv Albert, nothing from nothing from our not you know
the day after it was all the Knicks are out.
They didn't do anything for him. You think, Okay, there's
(33:46):
gonna be a change. Nope, no, nope, not gonna, not
gonna alter, not gonna pivot and say, hey, here's something
from Marv Albert zero zero A spectacular move by the
Nets tonight, still nothing from the Knicks. Blank them. I
should have never called their games. I should have worked
from Mike Cominski from my entire career. Time out, Marve Albert.
I just got Mike Cominski into this episode. Well done.
(34:14):
I dug the fact. Here's a frame Jersey, here's uh,
we love you, here's a we're not coming back here
for game seven, so let's get it in now. All
of those things are fantastic. I like when I threw
that up at rink. He'll use that tomorrow morning on television.
But he didn't know. He wasn't given me the love
for it here. But just the the idea that you
(34:37):
have to recognize all that time, all those huge moments,
all the calls hell for all of us that had
been watching him since we were babies. I mean, that's
a big deal, and your Nicks couldn't be bothered. No, no,
but everybody even allows you letter or a call. Now.
I took all your pictures off the wall. Patrick Ewings
(35:01):
picture off the wall, John Starks, No, I took down
Charles Oakley gone. Everybody saf you're McDaniel off the wall,
Michael Ray Richardson off the wall. Everyone Ray Williams is
off the wall. All of them are gone. They've now
been replaced by pictures of Edgar Jones and Jan Van
(35:22):
Bretta Coff. Don't forget about the autographed Michael Jackson album
Off the Wall. I was gonna I was gonna go there,
but I couldn't figure out a way to get to
the you know, a sensational album by the King. I
just I just I couldn't get to that. I couldn't
be Okay, well, you know what. I just wanted to
make sure you didn't forget because it because that was
more that would have been then then a Marv Albert.
(35:47):
Anyway it might have been, it might have been. I
think you're right about that. It could have been more
of a Burman than a Marv Albert, but I get
him credit. I think I would have taken to the
microphone at some point, and that at least I got
a jersey from these guys. Where's my Where's my Knicks?
And my TNT send off? It's gonna be epic and
still the Knicks will deny I ever worked for them.
(36:09):
Time out James Dolan, he stinks out loud Twitter And
how about a Fred Scott Mike gets swollen dumb coming
up next? Oh, we got some fiery stuff on Harden
and k D and Janice keep it right here. This
is 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 Fox Sports
Radio dot com, or stream us live every night on
the I Heart Radio app by searching fs R. You're
(00:24):
listening to Fox Sports Radio, Fox Sports Radio The Jason
Smith Show with my bast friend Mike Harmon. Yes, sir,
world is still buzzing over Kevin Durant's legendary performance tonight,
a forty nine point triple double, giving the Nets of
(00:44):
three games to to lead over the Bucks. Meanwhile, Janice,
even though he had a good night statistically, the Bucks
gave this game away for a bunch of different reasons.
And I'll tell you what. We got a big, sobering
truth that could be coming your way about that's gonna
be coming way about Janice. And a couple of seconds, uh,
you watch the Bucks offense basically turn into Hey, the
(01:06):
Nets are coming back and we can't stop Kevin Durant,
So why don't we just give your honest the ball
at the top of the arc and see what he
can do. And we watched the Nets continue to eat
into the Bucks lead. You get to the final minute,
Janice is missing free throws. They give him a pass
underneath that's gonna tie the game with with with ten
seconds left in the game, he fumbles the ball and
(01:28):
can't make the play. The Nets get it, they hit
free throws, and the Nets wind up winning one four
teen to one oh eight. This play is now the
one that defines Janice and the playoffs and the last
couple of years for the Bucks. Middleton, working in the paint,
leaves it all free. Honest, lost it three knocked loose,
and Durant picked it off and the Bucks come in
(01:50):
a phone seconds to go. Nets Radio Network on the call,
not so much you got knocked out as he just
lost the handle on the ball all and Mike, look,
I know it's you know, you don't want to be
prisoner of the moment with things. But the show is
tonight and you're looking at two stars tonight that clearly
(02:10):
have two different skill sets when it comes to closing
down games and being great players. Right, you have Kevin Durant,
who is the closer in the NBA. Right. We talked
about it with Rick Bucker a few minutes ago. There's
a reason why Kevin Durant has the NBA titles in
the NBA Finals MVPs because he is that guy. The
(02:32):
more you watch Janice in a night like tonight, where
he's all over the place with points, he's all over
the place with impact on the game, both physically athletically.
But at the end of the game, you can't go
to him. He's not k D. He's not a guy
that in a tight playoff game you can keep giving
him the ball time after time and get hoops. You
(02:52):
just can't do it, and all the best players in
the NBA can do it. You can live like this
in the regular season if you're the Bucks, because you
know it's it's game one of eighty two, and boy,
here's Janice all over the statue tonight. He had thirty five.
He was twelve and ten. We just couldn't stop him.
But in the playoffs, when you are designed to stop
a player, you are designed to win a game a
(03:13):
specific way. Because we see the uptick defensively, the Bucks
can't just give the ball to Janice and say, go
make a play. Can't do it. He's not that guy
watching tonight seeing him all the different times the top
of the key, y honest missing not making shots. Now
he made shots. I'm not saying he didn't. He did
make some shots in the fourth quarter and when we're
getting a crunch time. But you can't give it to
(03:34):
him like you can give it to Kevin Durant and
expect it to happen. Right. You can't give it to
him like you give it to Trey Young and expect
Trey Young to hit shots that way. You just can't
do it. So when I watch a game like tonight,
and especially see him fumble the ball out of bounds,
but I don't know that you had the two missed
free throws, which were incredibly huge, I go, you know what,
I don't know that it's about somebody teaming up with
Janice and be in the one. A Janice might wind
(03:57):
up being the better one. A to somebody else is
one because when it comes to the end of games,
somebody else has taken shots and we're looking when it's
Chris Middleton, You're not gonna win that many games. You
need a you need a big you need a big, big,
big time player. If you are going one too right,
you need it's gotta be Lebron and a d kind
of situation because I watch your honest and go can
you really still say we're we're gonna build a supporting
(04:20):
cast around him or do you have to say, you
know what you honest, you need somebody else that's really
really good, that can take big shots at the end
of games and maybe take over for you, because I
I don't know that. I don't know that I look
at him and say he's gonna win a championship if
he's a one, I don't know that he can. I mean,
I think the best case scenario f bete. Maybe at
some point, does he have a one Dirk Novitsky type
(04:41):
year where Hey, everything lays out for him and he
has an incredible playoff like he did when he eliminated
the Lakers in a sweep and he goes on and
wins the NBA title. I mean, maybe that happens for him,
but the other stars in the game are just too good.
They all take over games at the end and he
just can't do it. So instead we might be asking
the wrong question instead of hey, who can go play with?
The honest it's well, who should be honest play with
(05:02):
whether it's on the Bucks or somebody else where, the
other player who comes in has to be somebody that
can do things a little bit more and and way
more down the stretch in the game. Well they can
run the offense. I mean we were talking about it before,
just with with Joanna's it was dump into him and
then everybody stood around, and you know that that goes
on holiday, that goes on Middleton h p. J. Tucker
(05:25):
was a non non factor offensively, not that he's usually
a huge contributor, but you know when you played thirty
three minutes and you give a big fat goose egg, uh,
that that's not helping the cause for Joanna as the
other part was. And he's already addressed in the post
game of well why weren't you on Kevin Durant trying
to slow down him and his on slot right. Eventually, yes,
(05:49):
Joanna has followed out with six point five seconds remaining,
But it's that two way energy expenditure thing that we've
talked about in the past. I don't get it, so
that that part still that's a budden holes Er explained
this to me, like I'm five years old kind of moment.
But to your point about Janice in theory, that's what
you brought Holiday in for, right, that you had a
(06:11):
point guard that could distribute, and that's not how you
ran your offense. So part of it is just the
philosophical side of it with Budden holeser with Janice, so
all right, what are we doing? Because if he's not
working down on the low block, he's kind of a
Noman Land right because that fifteen footer is not consistent enough.
(06:31):
And anytime he starts to start raining threes, you can
see the images of Philip symour Hoffman in your head.
I mean, it's just there because sometimes he gets on
a little bit of a role. But for the most part,
it's it's gonna be off and the free throw line
is it's a whole other adventure. But to your to
your larger point, yeah, I think it's a you need
(06:53):
a star with him, not a good player, not a
very good player, another star who can become that the
one you have to double because they don't have that
guy on that roster right now to free Honue up
to go into more one on one coverage. It's not
the barrier two time m V p a bunch of accolades.
You know, he's all first team All NBA Defense today,
(07:17):
so that's great. Uh, And you know all of the
accolades are there, and we talked about the regular season,
but there are two separate seasons, and once the defense
starts flowing, I mean holiday reading some of the quotes
coming out of his press conference, all he's done is
complaining about the referees all night. How's that going to
help you going forward? No, it look, it's it's needing
(07:40):
that star is what it is. I mean, you win.
We talk about this in the NBA playoffs. Who's winning.
The teams that win are the teams that have the
most stars. So okay, now, tonight was Kadi and James Harden.
Really Harden didn't do a lot in the in the
box score, but he did a lot in opening up
the floor for Kevin Durant, which allowed him chances to
go for his legendary night. But it's it's about stars.
(08:03):
And if if Janice was with, you know, if if
Joannice had Chris Paul, or if Janice had another point guard,
if it was Janie and Donovan Mitchell, who was Jonas
and and and Devin Booker or something like that. Oh,
you talk about how unstoppable a duel that would be,
But it's a star because you look Middleton and Holiday,
as you said, they're nice players, right, they're good players.
I like them a lot. They're both really good players.
(08:23):
But is that enough? Is that gonna be? No? You
need stars to win. All teams win that have multiple stars.
That's how it works in the NBA. Now, you know
that's why when we talk about who the favorites are,
everybody defaults to the Nets. Why they got three big stars.
What's gonna default to the Lakers? Why they have two
big stars? The Clippers they have a couple of big stars,
the Jazz have two big stars. That's normally how it goes.
(08:44):
And so when when you look at the Bucks, you
could say, oh, now I see where that comparison doesn't work.
And playing the basketball they had during the regular season,
this is now there one game away from this being
the third post season in a row where it wasn't
enough where a team that had more star power was
able to take advantage. And they can't do in the
(09:04):
playoffs what they can do in the regular season because
games come down to the final minutes and and and
a couple of games are always gonna come down to
the last couple of possessions. And the Bucks don't really
have somebody where he can say, Okay, this guy's getting
the ball, and here's where it goes. Because if you
give it to you honest, you can wind him on
the free throw line. Don't want your honest on the
free throw line, right. But but if he has to
settle for a jumper, that's good. That's a win for
(09:27):
you as well. And how many times do we see
that tonight where hardness in front of him and he's
taking a jumper. It's like, what are you doing? Man?
Hardness in front of you. The guy can't even move,
and even if he can move, he wouldn't do anything.
It's like it's still around him. It's just it's it's
just baffling to see that this is what happens to
this team, as good as they are in the regular season,
(09:49):
what happens to them in the playoffs because they just
don't have that They're they're not a playoff They're not
a playoff tested team or a playoff proof team, is
what I want to say. Because certain teams in the
regular season all right, we're not built for the regular season,
but in the playoffs were built for the playoffs. But
most teams, you see, hey, we are built for regular
season success, and when it comes to the playoffs, things
(10:10):
are different for many different reasons. And the Bucks are
that shiny example the last couple of years of teams that, hey,
they're built for regular season success, right, one night out
of eight, two it happens. But are you built for
the playoffs? Now they're one game away from again we're
going home in the third round of the second round
of the playoffs, and we're falling short again with Janice
and and we don't know what we're doing because we
completely put a new cast in following last year because
(10:34):
it wasn't enough. And now here's a new cast in
still with Middleton, we bring in Drew Holiday and other players,
and still that's not gonna be enough. Are they gonna
change again next season? I mean really, it's it's you know,
the Bucks and the Clippers are kind of the same teams.
Where is this mix good enough? Are we good enough?
Are we playoff good enough? But boy, tonight with the Bucks,
I I mean it, I watched I watched Johannese and
(10:55):
I go, how much does this team just really just
need to say, hey, we we're gonn to move on,
like will trade Middleton and Drew Holiday to go get
an absolute superstar to coming and play. I mean that
that might be what they need. And to give your
honest a little bit less responsibility when it comes to
the end of games of the playoffs, because he's not
that guy, and you're gonna have to win a couple
of games at the end of year, uh and in
(11:16):
the playoffs in a series to be able to move on.
And when you have the closers that can make those shots,
you're gonna win. And isn't that guy getting ready for
a five year, two hundred twenty eight million dollar contract.
We talked about it with Rick Buker last hour, the
idea that maybe he and Budenholzer don't see eye to eye.
It's something we've been talking about for a while. Would
(11:37):
would he become the fall guy no matter how well
they've played in the regular season? Well after this loss,
and you see a little bit of unraveling and the
fact that when he's asked about guarding Durant, be honest
said I'd like that challenge. So you didn't ask for
it in game. You didn't go to coach say, hey,
(11:58):
let me go check this guy. Your first All NBA team,
your first All NBA defense, and you and you don't
ask for that assignment in what could have been a
huge game, right, you got a one leg James Harden
walking up and down the court. Joe Harris is shooting
for nothing, Bruce Brown, our guy did nothing offensively. I mean,
(12:21):
Jeff Green was fantastic second game back from injury, so
good for him. But with the game on the line,
and Game six at home, where you could have been
at a closeout scenario, you gack away a six team
point lead, and you don't ask for the responsibility of
taking on the number one guy slowing him down. It's bad,
bad business and speaks pretty badly of what's going on
(12:43):
on that sideline. M hmm. I'll tell you this. How
about this, how about this three way trade? And who says, no,
you're ready trade? Three way trade? And who says that,
of course the Nicks come on, but this three way trade?
Who says no, Okay, the Knicks get Damian Lillard. Okay,
(13:07):
we'll start off with that. The Knicks get Damian Lillard.
So the Nick send Tom Thibodeau to the Bucks. Okay,
the Bucks send Middleton in Holiday to the Blazers, and
they use some of that money to go out and
sign and stud. They don't have to pay Middleton Holiday
to go out and sign the star to play with
the honest who says, no, that's funny. There we go.
(13:30):
I mean I've just I've just turned three teams into
NBA title favorites. Yeah, but now you you traded the
defensive specialist coach to a team that's just needed a
defensive identity, but you took away the offensive firepower. Come
and got. You gotta give to get, Mike, you gotta
give to get. Come on, man, you gotta listen. I
make fair trades and fantasy man. I'm not one of those.
(13:51):
I'm not Michael Fabiana who calls you up and says, hey,
I need a I need a running back. Okay, Well,
well you know what do you what do you want?
I want Austin Ekeler. Okay, well what are you gonna
give me? Um, I'm gonna give you Ty Johnson and
Wayne Gallman. No, I'm not gonna do that. What what? What? What? No? No, No,
I'll give you a fair to you gotta give you
into the show. Good for you. I'll give to get
(14:15):
in that trade. Look at that. The Knicks get Damian Lillard,
the Bucks get Thibodeaux, and the Blazers get Middleton in
holiday and the Bucks have money to go buy a
new star to pair with you. Honest, you're out of
your mind. Thibodeaux wins and NBA Coach of the Year
award and you're training him around like he's an All
NBA and the wait, what, no, buddy, I gotta trade, buddy.
(14:36):
That's that's the whole thing, the art of the art
of the trade, Buddies. You gotta trade somebody when they're
when their value is at the highest. Okay, you gotta
trade someone in their values. And Tom Thibodeau's value is
never gonna be hired than it is right now. I
mean's course it's gonna It's never gonna be higher as
soon as they tip off next next year. Listen, they're
gonna they're gonna hate him in a year anyway, because
(14:59):
this whole thing. They're games into this next season, So
make a move. And if he holds any workouts during
the heat of a New York summer coach at least
put the a C on. Nope, we're grinding it out.
You guys got a little fat and happy with your
playoff appearance. Let's go twitter it out about a Fresco.
(15:20):
Mike gets swollen down The Jason Smith Show with My
beast friend, Mike Carmen. Nick's get Lillard, Bucks, get Thibodeaux, Blazers,
get Middleton in holiday and the Bucks have money to
go buy a new start appara, You and your fever
dreams already go, man, Come on, man, just think about it,
Just think about it. How great is that? I'm sounding
like James Dolan when I'm talking? Do I have to
(15:42):
sign off on this? Or can I just still play music?
Can I do that? All right? Great? Eight seven seven
Fox is the number? Eight seven seven six six three
six nine. The Jason Smith Show with My best friend
Mike Harmon. Well, what did Kevin Durant have to say
following his legendary performance tonight? Did he cite his own
stats like Lebron? Did he start tweeting at the postgame
(16:04):
press conference under burner accounts? Maybe you'll hear it as
we got a big block of Kevin Durand coming up
next for you. Right here, you're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
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 I Heart
Radio app. Fired in there, Fox Sports Radio, The Jason
(16:25):
Smith Show with my base friend Mike Harmon. Now, before
we hear from Kevin Durand, I'm gonna throw this out
there to be a little bit more serious here, you know,
because hey, that three team trade I threw out there
with Lillard and Thibodeaux and it's pretty fun. But what
about this. Just think about this for a second, because
it's kind of fun to think about the Blazer's trade
Lillard to the Bucks from Middleton and Drew Holiday. The
(16:49):
money will work, well, now, that could be fun. Lillard
Lillard teams. I'm Lillard and Jannice might be unstoppable together.
And the Blazers say, Okay, we lose Lillard, but we
get two really good players. And you know, McCollum is
still really good. All right, we got some good We've
made our team good. Everybody wanted to trade off McCollum man,
what are you doing? No, no, no, no, No, it's look,
(17:10):
I gotta make the deal that's in front of me, Mike,
and this is the one. This is the one that's
in front of me. You know it's CJ. CJ was
active on Twitter two. He was wondering why Janice wasn't
guarding Durant at any point this game to a lot
of NBA players chiming in about the performances here, John
Morant with a the zippered closed mouth talking about some
(17:34):
of the arguments referring to the old who's the best
player in the game. So everybody going, oh, you're going
at Lebron. I'm like, this is good theater. I like
all the young guys raising their hand, going let me
get in on this. Well, I gotta throw this at you.
This shows that you know nothing about the NBA. What
is more important Janice guarding Kevin Durant or making sure
(17:56):
Joe Harris doesn't have a big night. I mean, dude,
gotta talk about what priorities Joe Harris on a lot
of plays. Well, he limited him to one out of
ten from so he did a hell of a job
for anybody that was betting anything, any prop bets on
Joe Harris tonight. Ah, he guaranteed they were losers. Beyond that,
(18:18):
maybe that way he's maybe that was the beginning his
press conference. We wanted to make sure Joe Harris didn't
beat us. Tonight was going to be a non factor.
We're gonna get Kevin Durant whatever he wanted. I just
wanted to make sure those shot spot up shooters that
stand in the corner didn't get their open looks. Tonight
(18:39):
was a victory. Joe Harris didn't beat us. Check I did.
I did my job by do it. I'm sorry. I
think he was two of eleven, two of eleven for
the night, right, Yeah, I just want to make sure
I get that right. He was two of eleven, one
of seven from three point range. Either way, A huge
victory for Janice there. I shut down in the league's
(19:00):
top three point shooter, which is technically true because Joe
Harris was number one in terms of percentage. Right. I'll
tell you you check it's a big victory for you
on It's big victory, but no, but clearly the big
victory tonight for the Nets one fourteen one oh weight
over the Bucks. It's a great night for Kevin Durant,
(19:22):
who was going to get even with all everybody he's
ever wanted to get even with on social media, and
for your honest, he needs to just stay away for
a while and wonder, m this series ends and I
go home and seven again? Am I really a one
A instead of a one player? That's the big thing.
But how about Kevin Durant forty nine seventeen rebounds, ten assists.
(19:42):
Let's listen to some of him as he met the
media just a couple of moments ago, as he talked
about his legendary night, maybe the night he knows where, Hey,
this is the night that me and Harden went for
fifty four points between the two of us. I mean
I scored forty nine, but James also went for five.
Let's hear from k D. Hamstring is one those injuries that, uh,
(20:03):
you know, it takes a while tohill, but he came
out there and thought and and toughed it out, and
you know, yah, eight to six six six rebounds. You know,
miss some good looks all night. And I know it's
only his legs gonna get back under mother, you know,
as time, you know, next few days or so, so
hopefully next game. He started to knock some of those
shots he usually make down, and you know, we gotta
(20:24):
we gotta work cut out for as the game six man,
it's gonna be the toughest game of the year. Great Global, Kevin. Obviously,
James wasn't himself in terms of visibility to drive to
the basket, and that seemed to throw you guys off
in the first half. Was there a conscious decision that
(20:44):
you made, you know, just to to sort of initiate
the offense and to go through you again to get
it going in the second half the way you did. Yeah,
I mean we wanted to. Uh, we know he's coming
off of tough injury and being off for so long,
and we trust James handing the ball and setting people
up so much that we we probably put too much
on him in at first half. And but I think
(21:04):
he settled down in the second, got his legs, got
his rhythm, and I was able to help him a
little bit as well handling the ball. That so did Landry,
so that Bruce, so did Jeff. I think we all
took turns, so um, we're gonna need that going forward.
Kristen Munfield with the New York deleoners Hey Kevin just
how do you feel after having any game like this,
(21:26):
Not necessarily physically, although you played for the eight minutes,
but like mentally and emotionally, how do you feel like
to hanging for the nine and for the events. I mean,
got another game, we gotta travel tomorrow. We got a
game six. I mean, I can't celebrate because we went.
We we won the game, We got another game to
try to finish it up. Fencing, Goodwill Sports. Hey, Kevin,
I'm just curious when you were reading the game early
(21:48):
on and you were being more facilitated than the score.
Was that something that you planned to do from the
start of the game, just sort of to read it
to get jeff in ball, to get easier looks at
everybody else, and then sort of rev it up in
the second half because that's the way it looked like
you played out. Yeah, yeah, it did look that way,
but I didn't playing on doing that. I mean, I
always try to be aggressive to get to my spots
to score, and I think that settles my teammates down
(22:09):
as well. Um, but you know, this team does a
lot of helping and a lot of swarming in the paint,
so you know, let's previous games I made it, forced
a couple of shots over two people and I could
have and you know throughout full hockey assists maybe tonight,
so you know, just keep watching films, keep saying with
the defense coming from and uh, but at the end
of the day, I still gotta be aggressive. Alex Stifford
(22:33):
be athletic than Kevin. I got to for you. You
talked about playing the whole game. Just did you tell
stee you before the game you know, I can go
as long as you need you to or was it
you're looking for one form and realize you're having to
come out and realized you were good? Just I guess
what was the dialogue like, but you're playing the whole
game and Steve said that you were cool with it. Yeah,
we never talked about it. I mean, coach, we always
(22:54):
had dialogue about minutes throughout the season of like, you know,
maybe you should put me here for a couple of minutes,
or maybe you keep me in, And so tonight I
went to him and him and uh, Coach Van just
asked me if I needed a couple and that they
were going to take me out, and I was like, yo,
if y'all don't need to I'm cool, you know, I
think I can. I can kind of tough it out
from here. Um, but I was cool with anything they
(23:15):
wanted to do, and they decided to keep me in.
All right. So there's Kevin Durant, and there lies the
game when it comes to how Durant was able to
play forty eight minutes and score forty nine points? All right? Uh,
much like we always go back to, boy, how did
Kobe Bryant score eighty one points? Well, when you single
cover him the entire game and Kobe gets out, that's
(23:37):
what's gonna happen. How is Steph Curry? How is Steph
Curry knocked out of the playoffs? Because when it comes
down to the end of games, teams rolled coverages towards him,
and he's got to get through two guys. He's a
tiny guy and he's not gonna get his shot off,
so he's got to find a way to facilitate. Kevin
Durant needed to be hounded and exhausted by the Bucks,
(23:58):
and they didn't do it. He brought the ball all up,
didn't matter. You're bringing the ball up, everything's fine, But
we'll get you when he get over half court, when
he would get the ball. You knew he was coming
around looking for some kind of three. He was chased
by one defender. You need to you needed to roll
stuff towards him to exhaust him, because that's the strategy
that's worked all the time with James Harden. You know
why is James Harden failed so much in the postseason
(24:19):
because by the time he gets the end of the games,
James Harden is tired and he said he's too tired
and he can't make shots. He doesn't run for the basketball,
and it's done because they asked him to do too
much and he is hounded by the other team. They
didn't do that with Durant tonight. They let Durant kind
of do his thing one on one. It's like, all right,
I get maybe in the beginning of the game, but
at some point when you realize, Okay, this is Kevin
(24:41):
Durant or nobody else. Okay, yes, I know Jeff Green
is having a good night, but somebody else has to
score a couple of points. But it's not Jeff Green
is not gonna beat us. All right, we have to
make sure that we are exhausting Kevin Durant, especially to
get if they get him out of the game for
three minutes, maybe the game is different. I I don't
get how the best play year on the court, by far,
one of the top three players in the game when
(25:03):
he's healthy, Easy is just allowed to go up and
down the floor and not have to exhaust himself. There's
a reason why guys don't play forty eight minutes a night, right,
There's a reason why Lebron doesn't play forty eight minutes
a night because he can't, because there's too much wear
and tear on him. Because they try to. Other teams
try to throw so many different looks at him to
(25:23):
mentally exhaust him and physically exhaust him. And the Bucks
didn't do it tonight. And I don't get why. I
don't get why they can say, Okay, we're good with
just one guy. We're good with just Middleton on him.
We're good with it. We're good with not putting Janie
on him. At any point nothing else was working. How
do you not put yours on him? In the fourth quarter?
Nothing else was working. We put everybody else on him
we possibly could. We tried to put guys on him
that weren't even on the team anymore, and it didn't
(25:45):
work for us. We try to put Glenn Robinson on him,
it didn't work. We try to put Glenn Robinson too
on him. It didn't work. Anybody named Glenn Robinson. When
they brought in the trilogy, rob we we and and
nothing and nothing worked and and that. You know, when
you get to this point in the playoffs, sometimes I
look at coaching decisions and I go, this is me
(26:06):
watching from two thousand miles away or three thousand miles away.
How do I see this and nobody else does. That's
a full coaching staff that's on there, or you know,
a guys on TV see it as well, whether it's
Barkley or Shack or about how do you not see that?
In the boy? You gotta do something to stop Kevin Durant.
We have we got what what are we gonna do?
We're just like, well, eventually he's gonna start missing. I
mean eventually, it's I mean, that's that's a great strategy
(26:27):
to maybe he'll miss. Now you know why the Bucks
haven't won because they you know, you see a night
like tonight and you go, there were so many things
they could have done to slow Kevin Durant down. And
they didn't do it well. We talked about the stats
he had at halftime. Was already having a monster night,
even even with being down as much as they were.
It's like, all right, they're gonna make a run. It's
(26:49):
the NBA. Very rarely does a team just lie down.
And we've seen it a few times, don't get me wrong,
but there's at least an effort, and you know he's
not going down without at least a big swing or two.
And the shots started falling, pulling up for threes and facilitating.
I love the the use of the term hockey assist. Right,
(27:10):
get the ball around the perimeter, get an extra pass,
get an open man, make a shot. And that just
saw with Jeff Green right, a couple of standing in
the corner. Hey, here's the extra touch, and nobody's rotated somehow.
They're still hanging out around Harden. Hey, good decoy. He
looked good. Maybe they wanted to have a conversation or
seeing what he would do to try to draw a
foul when he couldn't elevate at any level, but uh yeah,
(27:34):
you gotta do anything to get Durant off his mark,
and for a team that prides itself on bullyball and defense.
You didn't see it from the Bucks at all, and
with the advantage that they had coming into the second half,
just didn't make any sense to me. Slow down possessions,
get inside work with Lopez and the other trees, uh
(27:56):
and make something happen. Instead, you got Jana's catching the
ball out to start every possession just inside the three
point arc. It's like, all right, go ahead, do you
want to take a shot? Have at it? And he
went fourteen to twenty two. Good on them, But you
know when when it was crunch time, there was a
lot of standing around and for the nets, they didn't
bother to adjust. And this goes on, Buddenholzer, how do
(28:18):
you not adjust to try to do anything to limit
Kevin Durant and make one of these other guys We
talked about it. Three of your starters between Harden and
Joe Harris and Bruce Brown, they went four of twenty
six and you didn't force the ball into their hands
for shots. It makes no sense. Hey, look, jan has
had to shut down Joe Harris and Bruce Brown. Okay,
(28:40):
that that clearly was what they took out two guys.
That's what the other guy you know, the guy that
actually scores, the guy that's in the conversation as best
player in the NBA when his body is right. And
we have seen him put on a few performances in
these playoffs to get everybody raised in that a brag.
And you know, for got about dre No, you forgot
(29:01):
about Kevin Durant, and he's letting you know it really
And you know, we talked to Rick Bucker and you're
gonna hear from Rip Puker coming up in about forty
five minutes here on the show. Wait, wait when you
hear him say things like you know, you see Janice
and and and and Buddenholzer. They don't talk to each other.
They don't talk on the sidelines about anything. And all
the other stars they talked to their coach about what's
(29:22):
going on, And there's got to be some kind of disconnect.
These guys aren't on the same page. Yeah, there's clearly
something going on, because I don't I don't get how
this was the strategy tonight. You're watching Kevin Durant go nuts,
and he said, Okay, we'll just keep doing the same
thing on him, Just keep doing the same thing. It's
not perfinition of the Maanity Smith. What is it doing
the same thing over and over and expecting a different results?
(29:43):
Do I get a hundred? Do I get an A plus? Yeah?
I will give you full credit for that. Anybody I'm
digging that. Be sure to catch live editions of The
Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern,
seven pm Pacific. Hey, this is Jason McIntyre. Join me
every weekday morning on my podcast, Straight Fired with Jason McIntyre.
(30:06):
This isn't your typical sports pod pushing the same tired
narratives down your throat every day. Straight Fire gives you
honest opinions on all the biggest sports headlines, accurate stats
to help you win big at the sports book, and
all the best guests. Do yourself a favor and listen
to Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre on the I Heart
Radio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts.
(30:31):
All right, stop, you're gonna make people just walk into
the ocean chignotic that. I love it. Fox Sports Radio,
The Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harmon. Sure,
I'd like to spank your bald head and lick it.
We have to Fiery takes on James Harden's Night and
Janice is now not James hard on Kevin Durant's Night
(30:52):
and Janice's Night coming up fiery one on James Harden too.
You got a fiery one your fire fall. Yeah, you
know why. Look we're remember the old adage you get
for showing up. Good on man, That's all you gotta
do sometimes, just be the decoy of the night. Forty
six minutes and he was hypnotic to the bucks. They
(31:12):
couldn't figure out what to do. It's like, is he
gonna do something? Remember that Simpsons episode with all the
fights like the mob and and there's and Homer and
Marge are looking through the window and she goes, nothing's happening.
It's like that guy's gonna do something. And all these
guys are fighting around him and he's just standing there
and then all of a sudden you hear the scream
and the thuds, Like I told you he was gonna
(31:35):
do something. Cool? Was that the Was that the one
where Bill Gates bought out Homer's computer company? Buy them
out boys? No, I think it was a different one.
I think this was Fat Tony and uh, you know,
just a battle of different mobs in the larger Springfield area.
And then Homer wanted to watch as an unfold unfolded
on his front lawn and there was one guy that
(31:57):
was just standing there watching the action. It's like he's
gonna do something. I think that's how what the Bucks
were with James Harden. It's like he's gonna do something.
So he really have to pay attention. So we'll have
hard and we'll have Janice, We'll have Kadie coming up
in a couple of minutes. But uh, tonight we watched
something that I just want to shake my head and go, really, Uh,
(32:19):
Marv Albert did the game tonight on T n T
was a thriller and it was an incredible night, and
we watched the Nets honor him that he got a
nice big ovation from the crowd. It was great because
Marv Albert has done Nets and Knicks games for the
past forty five years. So here's the Nets, the Nets
who have honored Marv Albert, and still the Knicks have
(32:41):
done absolutely nothing for a guy who was synonymous with
Knicks basketball for almost fifty years. And James Dolan Nicks
decided not not not gonna do anything marvel the Nets.
When when the Nets do something first, I mean, what
does that tell you? I mean, really, I get that
James Dolan hasn't been around, and that's really been a
great thing, Like you know, because I'm sure what Leon
(33:02):
Rose did was like set them up with a fake
tour and all it was was, look, you go play
all these clubs and we paid. We're gonna give you
money to go on this tour because we know you
like to play music and that's your whole thing, and
just stay away from basketball. So we're gonna put you
on a ten month tour of places like Albania, and
then you're gonna go to Austria, and then we're gonna
have you go to Greenland, and then you're gonna play
in Finland and all these little clubs that nobody's there. Hey,
(33:25):
it's live entertainment. What a week here. We're gonna spend
all this money to keep you away from the NBA.
Look how good the Knicks are when James Dolan didn't
get involved. This year they won forty one games, finished
in fourth place, made the playoffs. But really, nothing from
Marv Albert, nothing from nothing from our not you know
the day after it was all the Knicks are out.
They didn't do anything for him. You think, Okay, there's
(33:46):
gonna be a change. Nope, no, nope, not gonna, not
gonna alter, not gonna pivot and say, hey, here's something
from Marv Albert zero zero A spectacular move by the
Nets tonight, still nothing from the Knicks. Blank them. I
should have never called their games. I should have worked
from Mike Cominski from my entire career. Time out, Marve Albert.
I just got Mike Cominski into this episode. Well done.
(34:14):
I dug the fact. Here's a frame Jersey, here's uh,
we love you, here's a we're not coming back here
for game seven, so let's get it in now. All
of those things are fantastic. I like when I threw
that up at rink. He'll use that tomorrow morning on television.
But he didn't know. He wasn't given me the love
for it here. But just the the idea that you
(34:37):
have to recognize all that time, all those huge moments,
all the calls hell for all of us that had
been watching him since we were babies. I mean, that's
a big deal, and your Nicks couldn't be bothered. No, no,
but everybody even allows you letter or a call. Now.
I took all your pictures off the wall. Patrick Ewings
(35:01):
picture off the wall, John Starks, No, I took down
Charles Oakley gone. Everybody saf you're McDaniel off the wall,
Michael Ray Richardson off the wall. Everyone Ray Williams is
off the wall. All of them are gone. They've now
been replaced by pictures of Edgar Jones and Jan Van
(35:22):
Bretta Coff. Don't forget about the autographed Michael Jackson album
Off the Wall. I was gonna I was gonna go there,
but I couldn't figure out a way to get to
the you know, a sensational album by the King. I
just I just I couldn't get to that. I couldn't
be Okay, well, you know what. I just wanted to
make sure you didn't forget because it because that was
more that would have been then then a Marv Albert.
(35:47):
Anyway it might have been, it might have been. I
think you're right about that. It could have been more
of a Burman than a Marv Albert, but I get
him credit. I think I would have taken to the
microphone at some point, and that at least I got
a jersey from these guys. Where's my Where's my Knicks?
And my TNT send off? It's gonna be epic and
still the Knicks will deny I ever worked for them.
(36:09):
Time out James Dolan, he stinks out loud Twitter And
how about a Fred Scott Mike gets swollen dumb coming
up next? Oh, we got some fiery stuff on Harden
and k D and Janice keep it right here. This
is Fox
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