July 2, 2021 • 35 mins
Jason Smith and Mike Harmon focus their eyes on Milwaukee and recap the Bucks win over the Hawks in Game 5. Plus, things gets worse for Trevor Bauer, and Former 15 Year NBA Veteran and Eighth Overall Pick Olden Polynice joins the show to discuss the NBA Playoffs and why so many stars have found themselves in street clothes.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
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(00:24):
listening to Fox Sports Radio Fox Sports Radio The Jason
Smith Show with My base friend Mike Harmon. And the
Bucks take a three game to to lead in the
Eastern Conference Finals. They beat the Hawks one three to
one twelve, a game they dominated from the start. There
(00:45):
was no Janice tonight from Milwaukee. There was no Trey
Young for the Atlanta Hawks. And to pick up the
scoring slack, we got thirty three from Brook Lopez from Bugdanovich,
including seven out of sixteen from three point range. But
this is a game that was decided in the first quarter.
The Hawks could never really get closer than ten most
(01:06):
of the way, and the Bucks win it. And you know, look,
it's it's such a crazy playoff, Mike right now looking
at this series and and clearly Janice and and no
Jannie No Trey plays havoc with everything right, Like it's
hard to you know, from one game to the next.
We thought Trey Young was gonna play, he's not. We thought,
you know, we didn't know about Johanna's he was ruled
(01:27):
out earlier in the day today that he was on
the sideline tonight and he looked okay, and you know,
didn't what, didn't have a brace on or anything, just
you know, cheering the Bucks on like normal. Um, the
way the playoffs go and your support players generally play
better at home. It could just be as simple as
the home team is just gonna win these games when
the Stars don't play, and you're gonna see the Bucks
(01:49):
win this series in seven. Because if I had to
say how this series is going to go right now,
I would say it's gonna go like the last two
games have gone. Alright, No Joannie, no Trey. Doesn't matter.
The Hawk at home, they win that big game. Okay,
Now we come back to Milwaukee for Game five, No Jannie,
no Trey. The Bucks went at home, their support players
play great. I'm sure we'll go back for Game six
(02:11):
in Atlanta. It'll be the Hawks support players who will
play great. Red Velvet will start hitting some shots. Luke
Williams will hit more shots. Capella will be better than
he was tonight. And we're gonna go back to Milwaukee
for Game seven. We're gonna get exactly what we saw tonight.
Middleton will score twenty five or thirty. You had a
big night from Drew Holiday. Uh. That's kind of how
(02:31):
I see this because in in series, look, this is
how it goes. You're supporting your bench players play better
at home. And if that's the case and there's no stars,
that's clearly how the last two games have gone. And
so if I had to say how the next two
games are gonna go, Atlanta wins games six, Bucks win
Game seven, just what we thought. And coming out of
the the last game, it's like, all right, they came
(02:52):
and slept, walk through the early part of the game,
no energy, no emotion. Jannice goes out and if possible,
from zero, they went into negative emotion and played even
poor uh more poorly, will go more poorly because it
sounds poorly, Yeah, more poorly. It just sounds better. Negative emotional.
I think Negative Emotion was a Dire Straits album. And
(03:15):
if I'm not copyrighted I'm I'm going to and I'll
have some spoken word like shatterer, uh at some point
that I'll work off of that. I posted that I
tell you on my social media today and that really
uh little fuse for folks that never knew that rocket
Man had been done quite the way Shatner did it.
But that's for another time. Um. Look, the Hawks just
(03:38):
got blitzed out of the gate twenty two to seven
after six minutes of play, and we saw that Holiday
was gonna have a day. Middleton comes up huge again. Right.
It's the I joked about it with the saber Hagen analogy.
Those that remember eighties baseball or have studied it a
little bit. He'd have a cy Young Award winning season,
(03:59):
that he'd mediocre to bad, then he'd come back with
another cy Young Award winning season. That's what Middleton's doing
in these playoffs twenty six, thirteen, and eight in his
forty five minutes played start contrast to the guy that
didn't didn't give you a no show, uh last time out.
So you have that, and then when you can find
(04:20):
thirty three points from Brook Lopez, I mean you've got
your lottery ticket. Everybody that left that arena right now,
go to the Piggy Wiggly, go to whatever the different um,
you know, get yourself a a slushy, uh, maybe a
little snack cake and a couple of scratchers because you're
all winning tonight off of that performance. You have fifty
(04:41):
five between Lopez and Portis for crying out. Yeah, that's
that's that's a pretty big night. That that's where the
money was. And I want to bed fifty five points
between Bobby Portis and Brook Lopez. Wait, really is that
what you want to do? Okay? I would be I
would be curious what the pregame line was if you
were to build your own prop bet uh the points
to where it got into the plus category, because I guarante,
(05:05):
damn t any nowhere near fifty five Twitter and out
about a fretska might get swollen done the Jason Spread
Show with my best friend Mike Harmon. Now, if we
wind up getting the stars back, that changes things. But
this is one of those NBA final enter Conference finals,
(05:26):
and uh to think that, well, people watch no matter what,
and the NBA is not a star driven league. Not
that this matters, right, not that this is something that's
always an indicator. But anytime there's a big game and
or when you get to this point in the Eastern
Conference finals, there's a game that people want to talk about. Uh.
You see that reflected in social media all the time, right,
You see that the top trending topics are always you know,
(05:48):
Chris Paul and then it's Pat Bev and then it
is Devin Booker and all of these things. Right that
that's normally what what you see. And you take a
look at what the trending top pix on Twitter are
right now, and it's a it's a it's a it's
a music uh topic, it's uh a, it's a track
(06:09):
and field topic, it is another music topic. Then it's
Michael Phelps. Then it's jam, then it's the women's national team.
Then it is is Bucks in six, Okay, bucks in six,
al right, that and then you go to the Braves
and Lugo and and then this isn't trending. This is
not sports tron. This is just trending all over. So
how many people just saw this game tonight and said,
(06:30):
you know what, oh there's no stars playing. Yeah, I'm done.
I know it's I know it's a game, but it's
just a game at this point because there's no stars
to to tell you just for a second, how much
the NBA relies on their stars and their star power. Uh,
just just the way the the interest level in this
game is and what it sits at right now compared
(06:51):
to what it is on a normal night is completely different. Yeah.
I don't know if you hacked my machine like people
hacked Diken de motone mos email all those years ago.
But my top what's happening is Mets Braves. Yeah, Mets
Braves is right there, buddy, Mets Christians Later, what the
hell is happening with Christian Slate? Oh, it's just Chris
Evans just put out a funny tweet. And if I
(07:13):
met Christian Slater and didn't know his name, I would
say it was Christian Slater. That's it. That's that's why
it's trend that's that's trending more than than Brook Lopez. Wow,
that's that's not even funny. But hey, you know, it
is what it is. Uh, you run with it as
best you can. Know it'll be curious to see because
ratings overall have been good, and you know, when you
(07:33):
start getting into the social media interaction, metrics. It's all
been positive, even if it's an incredulity uh and curiosity
of what the hell you're watching because we've had a
lot of games that really haven't made a lot of
sense in these playoffs. And it's great for you and
I on the radio as we sit in our catbird
seats and and pontificate about the good, the bad, the
(07:54):
ugly that we see on a on a nightly basis,
you know, praising the heroes and and mocking the vanquished.
As we do that, you know, it's good for us,
it's good for involvement. But curious, you know how much
they can they can push it forward if neither of
the big stars returns. That's a huge question as you
(08:15):
finish off this series and get ready to start promoting
your NBA Finals Twitter, and how about a Fresca Mike
gets swollen done the Jason Smith here with Mike Carmen
live from the Fox Sports Radio studios. We'll have more
on the game, uh, and and the and the series
and the Sun's coming up in a few minutes as
Olden Polonies is gonna stop by with us and break
things down. But hey, today was a big day for
(08:39):
what should the destinations now be for Kawhi Leonard. Right
the day after the Clippers get eliminated Kawhi Leonard, who
reportedly is upset with the Clippers medical team over what
happened and and treating his injury. This is the second
time he's upset allegedly with the medical team of a team.
The last one was the Spurs and you saw how
that ended with him leaving. Uh So, today was full
(09:00):
of hey, where should Kauai Leonard go? Where's the next
place Knicks that he could wind up going? And now
you know I'm being serious about this because I'm not
saying he should go to the Knicks. Um where Kauai
Leonard should go is he should stay in l A
with the Clippers. It's not like the Clippers underachieved. They
got to the Western Conference Finals. If they had lost
(09:22):
early again, I would have said, you know what, maybe
it's not gonna work. Here's the second iteration in two years,
with different players, a second head coach. But you get
all the way to the Western Conference Finals, all right,
you did all this to try to get home, you know,
to Southern California, which you did. The Clippers are a
deep team, are you gonna go someplace and try to
(09:42):
start over. It doesn't make sense. Yes, he's thirty years old,
he's got a lot of good basketball left, but for
this year and for next year, it doesn't make sense.
He's got the opt out. It's hard to see who
can sustain success after this year because the playoffs were
so wacky and we saw a lot of injuries and
don't really know what teams are for real. Are the
Knicks gonna be great next year? Are they have one year? Wonder?
(10:04):
Are the Hawks gonna be great next year? Are they
have one year? Wonder They're gonna be like the Heat
next year? It's very difficult. There's so many things in
the first year back from COVID. It's too risky if
he went somewhere now, So the best for him do
another year and see where you're at. Then if you
don't get any closer, if you don't feel that okay
things are getting better, if the Clippers aren't improving, and
(10:25):
then go someplace else. Then your thirty one, and you
still have a lot of good time left. You go
someplace else for the for the back half of your prime,
and it's great, But to leave I feel like he'd
be really taking a chance when I did all of
this to get here, and look how far we got.
And if I didn't get hurt, maybe we're still playing,
Maybe we're in the NBA Finals at this point, maybe
would have won the series by now. But missing me
(10:48):
really really hurt. And and Okay, I see how close
we got when I wasn't there. So you add me
to this equation next year, and it could wind up
being better if Kauai comes acone is healthy. The Clippers
are at the top of the teams that are gonna
be favorite in the West next year because you know
they're gonna retool their roster a little bit. They will
bring somebody in the Clippers or a destination. They'll be
(11:09):
right with the best teams. Look, the Lakers aren't gonna
be a favorite, you know, because they're gonna be a
year older and who knows about Lebron. The Jazz will
be a favorite. The Nuggets coming back with Jamal Murray
will be a favorite, certainly, the Son's will, and the
Clippers will be right there with them because of how
far they got this year, and Kauahi Leonard didn't play,
and that's why they lost to the Suns. So the
best thing for him to do is stay for one
(11:30):
more year and then if it doesn't work, then go,
But you got one more year instead of opting out,
see if you can make it work and then go.
I like that in theory, but that's not good for
sports dock radio. So I'm gonna go. Well, the names
that are out there one are Dallas and Miami are
the two that have leapt to the forefront. Obviously, going
to work with Jimmy Butler could be fun because you've
(11:52):
got another guy with that same mentality on the court.
Uh that that it could work, but cut through the
nonsense and and the hot takes. Yeah, he's got to
re up do the two and one. Stay for another year,
let tylu keep cooking, talk to Balmer. Whoever needs to
be fired gets fired right that and that you have
(12:14):
that clout if you didn't like the way the medical
staff and the trainers were operating and you didn't trust them,
which seems to be a theme for him. So that's
you know, hold that with a grain of salt, uh
in this process. But in the end, if if that's
a problem, then the Clippers, if they want to keep
him around, are going to have to make those concessions.
(12:37):
But obviously you have a coach who's now regarded as
a brilliant tactician that that showed through this process and
and all those winds on the brink of elimination. Not
sure I want to go down that hole. Hey, let's
keep going oh two and see how we can do
from there. As we've now got tape on everybody that
(12:58):
that's really not a way to in a long term success.
But I think for Kauai Leonard, it seemed to have
been important to get back quote unquote home. Right, you
think there'd be some value of being the guy for
a team that if you win, and you win it all,
(13:18):
you get to hang your bann or not just the
Indianapolis Colts participation banner for being in a conference finals. No,
but you're gonna get a new arena here. You can
help Chris and that en it's your team hands down, right,
which is something that even even in Toronto, right, he won,
But who got the love Kyle Lowry? You were just
(13:40):
seeming like a rental player. So if you want this
to be your home and Paul George now has a
lot of good will after his efforts in the playoffs.
So now you've got a little bit of chaos there,
and you gotta get the reins back and show that
you were actually with this team and not a guy
up in a sky box, because that's another image that
looms large in this decision process. Twitter at how about
(14:03):
a fresca? Mike gets swollen don the Jason Smith Show
with my best friend Mike Harmon. See that's why I zag.
When you think I'm gonna zig, where should Kauai go?
Nicks And I tell you no, he's got to stay
because the best place. I'm proud of you for that
that you you didn't try to just come up with
an ass and I Knicks argument good. So well, listen,
if they just plopped in a small forward like Kawhi Leonard,
(14:23):
they I mean, look, they'd be close to a championship.
I mean, I'm just saying, but I didn't say that
right there. I didn't say. I didn't. I didn't give
you that that. Hey, you just plopped down a small
forward that can score, because you know you can't have
a guy scoring eight points a night at small forward
like the Knicks half. But you PLoP them right in
and things would be great. Couldn't just listen to the
musical que? Could you know? I do? But I but
I'm telling you, But that's why my growth. I didn't
(14:44):
say that. I didn't say that. I hate all of you,
every single person right now, all of you, every single
one e eight seven, seven ninety nine on Fox, The
Jason Smith Show with Mike carbon If you miss any
of the show tonight, don't forget. You can always download
our best of podcast on iTunes wherever you listen to podcasts.
(15:06):
It's available right after the show. You can subscribe rate
us will love you forever and ever and ever. But
coming up next, do the Bucks have control of this series?
Are we gonna see Joannice? Are we gonna see Trey Young?
I'll find out all the answers to the biggest questions,
straight ahead, Jason and Mike Happy, Bobby Bene a day.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
(15:27):
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart
Radio app Fox Sports Radio. The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon. As we look back at the bucks dominant
one three one twelve win over the Hawks no Janice,
no problem. Brook Lopez like it was two thousand and
(15:48):
seven scores over thirty points, leading all scores tonight with
thirty three. Uh Bugdanovich with eight not nearly enough for
the Hawks. So now the Bucks go to Game six
with a chance to close it out and head to
the NBA Finals, joining us now on the hot line
to break it all down fifteen years in the NBA.
(16:09):
Fox Sports NBA analysts. You can follow on Twitter at
Olden Polonese one. That's at Olden Polonese one. I hope Pee.
What's happening? Ma, Man, I'm good. How are you guys doing? Dude,
I gotta I gotta tell you, with all these stars
getting hurt, eventually you can get activated. Man, you get
some more right here in one of these games. Yeah,
these stars, I ain't getting hurt, man, you know, it
(16:30):
is what it is. That's part of the game. And
I think you know everybody's coming with this, this narrative
of yeah, all these stars is the most All Stars
that's been hurt. I'm like, no, stop it, Okay. The
bottom line is injuries are part of sports, and you
just gotta play your game because no one's broken anything.
(16:50):
You know, if I'm not mistaken, it's like sprain ankles
here in their hamstring. I mean, you know, not to like,
you know, get on guys in this current general, but
we played with those injuries. You know, you just take that,
take it up tighter and played. But in this day
and age, everybody wants to be and there's no such
(17:10):
thing in basketball. Oh pie. When you see the way
the league is now with with with the in because
some of them are soft tissue injuries that that that
that nag, like hamstrings, Like why do you see why
do you think the players are getting hurt? You know? Why?
Why do you think is it? Is it they're playing
too much basketball? Like well, what do you see that
as as the reason behind it. Yeah, well they played,
(17:31):
they played too much basketball. And it's not the current
It's not because of you know, the short offseason. No,
it's what they did in AU when that whole explosion
of AU basketball. Because I remember when I played the
AU we played maybe two three tournaments the whole summer.
You know, we go to Phoenix and play a tournament.
We played Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. One game you win,
(17:53):
you move on. Next game you win, you move on
and that was it. And so I played twelve sixty
games total the whole summer. Now they're playing Plust sixteen
games a weekend, and so to me, that's where the
problem starts. And also, we're not building up tough like
we used to. Let's just be honest about it. These
(18:14):
guys are not being built tough. They don't they don't
know about playing on asphalt, they don't know about getting
hit and just sucking it up. It's like every little
thing hurts. Oh, I'm gonna take time off, and people
are allowing them to do that. You know, we created
this whole load management thing, you know when Papavis started
doing and um in San Antonio. But I understood why
(18:35):
he was doing it because he had an aging team.
Now everybody's doing load management. So it's all that stuff
where codling guys said, just say, man, listen, let's play.
All right, that's the bottom line. Like I said, nothing,
I can understand Kade terran is achilles. I can understand
Clay tearing his you know, his knee. But these things are,
(18:57):
like you say, they saw tissue injuries. Come on, stuck,
it can play. Well. We didn't get to see the
stars come out tonight, but the big men roaming free.
And did you think you had a thirty three point
game from brook Lopez in the offing tonight for the
Boxes they win handily over Atlanta, No Young, no Janie,
(19:17):
and well we we had to make the best of it. Oh, definitely,
because he's done it. He's an all star. Brook Lopez
can play people forget that you know you you're you're
in the shadow of Johannice and tend to coopo, so
you're gonna be a forgotten man. But that guy can
play inside and outside. But I like what he did.
He stayed around the basket for most of the night.
Dominator destroyed them on the Office of Glass and just
(19:40):
really gave a performance that the Bucks really needed. And
that's not to say that they don't need Yannie, but
it's just that, you know, when it was time to
step up, he did a great job. Bobby Porters Junior
as well did a great job. Again. They knocked the
Hawks in the mouth early and that kind of like
rattled them to the point where they never could catch
their footing. And a defensive intensity was at a good level,
(20:03):
and that's you know, you want to see that from
the team at home. You know, in a situation where
the best player goes down, so great effort by the
whole team. You know, what do you think about this?
O P. Let's just say no Trey Young and no
Yannis the rest of the series. Right, Let's just say,
because obviously with one of them plays, the other one
doesn't a huge adventage. Let's just say neither of them play.
(20:26):
Can we expect it just to be the home team
is gonna win? You know, the players are gonna play
better at home, and then that we're gonna see the
Hawks win Game six and the Bucks win Game seven.
I would I would think that I would assume that,
But then I think about it, for man, realize that
Milwaukee still has the better team, and so I believe
they'll probably end it in six because they're free rolling
(20:47):
right now, you know, so I think they're gonna come
out there. Budenhole is gonna do what he did, you
know for Game four. He I think he's gonna both
those guys to really play like they did tonight. Just
step step under the gas, knocking the mouth thoroughly, come
way to play basketball and get it done. Because you
don't want a game seven. I don't say if it
(21:08):
is in Milwaukee. Anything can happen in the game seven.
And that's the threaded that's the thing you dread the most.
You don't. You just don't want to be in that situation.
So I believe they're gonna try and knock him out
early and often and get it done in Atlanta. Let
me let me circle back to Janice and the injury
he sustained. Old while no ligament damage and structurally everything sound,
(21:33):
I sit here wringing my hands, wondering, uh, you know
where where if there's another shoe to drop, would you
still put him out? If he can do the pain
management to get out on the quarters? Is this one
where you gotta be careful with your start? Why not
play him? He's getting paid to play. If he's wound
the bends, jumping up and down, giving instructures everything else,
(21:53):
walking around like it's like is doing not, then get
out there and play. I get tired watching these guys
on the bench jumping up and down. I really do.
If y'all hurt, you're the thing about these guys, you know?
And again I saw what happened, and it looked bad,
and you know, my heart goes out to him because
(22:14):
I was like, you don't ever want to see anybody
get hurt. But there's a difference between being hurt and
being injured, and so that's the thing. Yes, and my
hurt and might feel a little painful, but you can
you can play through stuff. I just haven't seen these
guys do that. Everybody, like I said, everybody wants to
be and it's not gonna be the case. So you know,
(22:38):
Yannie can play. I would play them because you got
the whole offseason to rest and get better. Oh when
you wonder who's gonna come out of here? Does it
really matter? I mean, shouldn't Shouldn't the Sons win the
championship easily? Should I mean that they're playing better than
anybody throughout the entire playoffs, They're healthy, they got everything rolling.
(23:02):
Shouldn't it be? It doesn't matter who the Son's play,
they're gonna win. But I do believe the Sons will
win the championship. And it's because of the fact that
they have a great overall team. You know. Bringing Chris
Paulin was uh stroke of genius because they needed a
veteran leader and they brought one of the best leaders ever,
(23:24):
and then couple with a young talent like Devin Brooker,
a young stud in DeAndre Aiden mcael Bridges, Who's I mean,
he's one of the best defenders young and long wing
defender Jay crowd of veteran um. Then you have a
resurgent cam In Payne, uh starting to making Cam Johnson
(23:45):
come on, man, they have everything. And so to me,
it's it's up to them right now because Janice is
not gonna be a let's get that straight, Okay, So
now he's gonna come back and play, but he's gonna
he's not to say good about that leg, you know.
And so Phoenix has enough firepower and enough defense to
(24:07):
hold Milwaukee at bay. But let me ask, going out
of the recently vanquished Clippers, Jason and I were chopping
up a little bit earlier, all the questions of what
does Kauai Leonard do next? And look, to his credit,
you didn't want guys on the bench except for one
game he wasn't. Uh, So I guess he's got that
for him. But the question of whether he opts in
(24:28):
and stays with the Clippers, re upping with them, or
or seeks greener pastures elsewhere Um, it's funny with Kauai.
You never know what he's thinking and so, which is
an understatement of a year. But it's funny how the
one game he was on the bench was the clincher
(24:49):
game and so. But that is the elephant in the room.
That's the magic you know, magic question. What's Kauai donna do?
But he has those ship you know. I don't know
is he going to be the guy that runs away
from the challenge of getting this team where it needs
to be, you know, to go somewhere else, or is
he gonna just say you know what? Hey, you know,
(25:10):
I had the injury and I heard what Paul Jorge
said if if he had played, they would have won.
I don't believe that wholeheartedly because I think they play
less inspired basketball when cow is there because they fall
dependent on him. And so to me, when he went out,
they played their best basketball. I think they just got tired.
(25:33):
Olden Polonie with us. He's on Twitter at Olden Polonie one.
Now before we let you go, Op, I saw that
you put out on on Twitter yesterday. You're ready to
be interviewed by the Wizards or Magic for their head
coaching position. I need you to do me a solid.
If you get the Wizard's job, you gotta trade Bradley
Bild of the Knicks because the Knicks really need Okay,
you can do that, So I really appreciate that. Oh
(25:56):
my god, that's funny. That's where you want Bradley to go. Well,
come on, I'm a Knicks fan, of course I wanted
to That would be a nice situation from Bradley Bell.
That would really be a bad situation. So you get
to return who the Knicks given return? Oh, I'll give
you anybody but Julius Randall, anybody but Julius. All right.
I like that combination. I'm making a trade right now. Harmon,
(26:20):
I'm making a trade right now. And that comes into
that situation is not in charge. That's either the best
of gigs or the worst. Exact Opie has always Buddy appreciated,
my friend. We'll talk to you next week. Is we
get into the final. Okay, care thanks, old great stuff
(26:44):
there from olden policy says always that you want that job,
you're not gonna be in charge. It's how it works. Uh,
you know that that's the that's the thing about this
finals going into it is that the Sons are such
an overwhelming favorite that eventually I think everybody's got to
come around to that they're the ones with all the
pressure in the world now, as great a story as
they are, and the Sons are a great story, right.
(27:05):
It hadn't been to the final since ninety three. Here's
Chris Paul. We didn't even know if he had anything left,
and now here he is that the finals are all
about him. Devin Booker has become a star. DeAndre Ayton's
become a stud big man. He got guys like campaign
coming off the bench. I mean all suddenly there. But
now it's hey, now here's the pressure because you because
anybody else you're playing against is coming in less than
(27:27):
against you. The Bucks can win this series and we
may not see, honest the rest of the playoffs, like
they could win the series and six. I think they'll
win in seven, but they could when they could win
this playoff easy get in there and then it's a rollover.
But the pressure is all on the sun. So it's
gone from Hey, everything feels great. I'm happy. It's sunshine,
lollipops and rainbows too. Hey man, we don't win, this
(27:49):
is gonna be a huge gag Fest Man the whole
seasons of failure because they have to win. There the
team that should win, whoever comes out of the East,
is playing with house money. Right, the Hawks are in
the finals, Ay Young is banged up saying that whoever,
it's house money. But but hey, the Suns, it's out.
We gotta win. That's how much things have changed for
the Suns. Well, you got a guy and Chris Paul
(28:09):
who could also leave, right, We've been talking about his
contract and what might be offered by another suitor in
that forty million dollar range. Maybe he finally makes it
to the Laker locker room. Who knows. Although he did
celebrate Billy Crystal last night that was great. But but
just the idea that you've got these young players you're
(28:32):
never guaranteed to get back. That's what we talked about
it all the time, and particularly in the NFL. But
let's let's do it. When it comes to the NBA,
how many teams have had their shot deep in the
conference playoffs and then someone takes a free agent deal
and leaves, or a guy gets hurt the next year
and it derails things. I mean, the history is littered
(28:52):
with it. So for Chris Paul. It's it's the final
chapter of his book to be written, at least for
this part of his career, to finally put away some
of the demons. Although everybody that spent a lot of
time talking about, oh, look in the mid range game
isn't dead. He did hit seven three pointers yesterday. Okay,
that was a pretty big part of his performance. His performance.
(29:15):
What do you think about his performance? I had seven
threes against us. You're talking about his performances performance. But yeah,
neither the Bucks nor the Hawks are gonna come in
full strength because Trey Young is still gonna have issues
with the foot and Janice. I'll be uh sitting there
at the edge of my seat, just hoping we get
(29:36):
we get through to the final buzzer. Each game that
he would play the rest of this season, You'll just
have to rely on more efforts from the big men
like Lopez and Portois tonight. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays
at ten pm Eastern seven pm Pacific. Hey, what's up, everybody.
It's me three time Pro Bowl Little Warrington, and I
(29:59):
couldn't be more excited to announce a new podcast called
Up on Game. What is up on Game? You asked,
along with my fellow pro bowler t J. Hudshman's Otta
and Super Bowl champion. That's right, Plexico Birds. You can
only name a show with that type of talent on it.
Up on Game We're going to be sharing our real
(30:19):
life experiences loaded with teachable moments. Listen to Up on
Game with Me, LaVar Arrington, t J. Hudgmansatta and Plexico
Birds on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast or
wherever you get your podcast from Fox Sports Radio, The
Jason Smith Show with my bast friend Mike Harmon. The
(30:42):
Trevor Bower story gains more twists and turns and gets
weirder and more difficult to talk about as every passing
hour grows. Uh Bower, who has been accused of sexual assault,
still on track to make his next start on Sunday.
That's a warning to the Dodgers manager Dave Roberts today,
uh starts gonna come in Washington on the fourth of July.
(31:05):
Unless something changes, He gets moved up, gets moved back.
What's been happening with Trevor Bauer has been a story
that every hour, it seems we get more and more
of the details that are very difficult to talk about.
Bower has been accused of by a woman of choking
her until she lost consciousness, punching her and several areas
of her body uh she was injured that required hospitalization
(31:29):
over the course of two sexual encounters with Bauer earlier
this year that according to both parties, they were both
into some form of rough sexual encounter. And now today
we have the text messages going back and forth that
have been made public between the two of them over
the course of these two sexual encounters, and it's just
(31:51):
a story that, look, it's hard to talk about because
of the the the general the content of it, because
it gets the details are so huch out there. Um.
But the thing is is that he keeps coming down
to should Trevor Bauer keep pitching? And I told you
that it's it's really I can't believe that it's a
good thing that he's gonna pitch on Sunday, all right?
(32:13):
Is it really good for the league that he's out
there pitching while this is going on and being investigated.
Major League Baseball could put him on some kind of
seven day list while they figure things out, but they
have not. And if I'm reading into the Dodgers, it
seems like the Dodgers probably wanted to do that, but
we're talked out of that by Major League Baseball. Because
here was Dave Roberts when he was asked about it today. Uh,
(32:37):
first it was the question was about the the being
able to be on a seven day list and not
have to pitch. That was something that Major League Baseball said, No,
go forward as it is. We're investigating, and we'll let
you know when when we have our investigation finished. Then
Robert bothered that Bauer is gonna start on Sunday. That
was the question that bother you, Bower is gonna start
on Sunday, given what's happened, and he said, quote, it's
(32:59):
out of our hands, regardless of what direction the organization
wanted to do. It's something that this is what has
to happen. It's out of everyone's hands. I choose to
follow kind of their lead what Major League Baseball wants
us to do. I'm in the position of following the
lead of MLB. So if I'm reading Dave Roberts right,
it feels like he wants us to know, Hey, you know,
(33:19):
maybe we would have had a different decision, but Baseball
has told us keep going like this until until we
until we figure out our investigation, then go go forward.
Let him start on Sunday. I mean, I I don't.
I don't think Dave Robert said, Look, it was easy.
He knows what to say. Look, I can't say this.
I can't say this, but to say, it's out of
our hands. And regardless of what direction we wanted to do,
(33:40):
this is what Baseball wants. We're gonna do it. It's
I I take that as the Dodgers wanted to sit
him down, but Baseball said, no, keep going just like
this until we figure it out. Yeah, as best I
understand it is, the Dodgers can't discipline him in this
way other than to just take the ball out of
his hands and start somebody else, right exactly, would be
something where he can't suspending. They can't do any of that.
(34:02):
It's just a someone else pitches, you know, on July four.
So you've got all of that symbolism and everything going
into it. UH. The Dodgers will also visit the White
House as part of this this weekend's UH festivities as well.
But yeah, they're they're couching it. I don't know if
major League Baseball is waiting until we're at that seven
(34:23):
day point where the All Star Break gets included there in,
you know, for for that one seven day administrative leave
that they could put them on, seeing what else comes out.
You talked about the the text messages that have been
made public, very graphic and trying to you know, it's
being played out in the court of public opinion, all
of it graphic, and you know, whatever it got to
(34:46):
an extreme, whatever was agreed to in the first place.
Twitter at how about a fresca? Mike gets swollen down
the Jason Smith's with Mike Harmen coming up next. Hey,
why today became a day that's gonna be celebrated. It
will for the rest of time. It's next 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 base friend Mike Harmon. And the
Bucks take a three game to to lead in the
Eastern Conference Finals. They beat the Hawks one three to
one twelve, a game they dominated from the start. There
(00:45):
was no Janice tonight from Milwaukee. There was no Trey
Young for the Atlanta Hawks. And to pick up the
scoring slack, we got thirty three from Brook Lopez from Bugdanovich,
including seven out of sixteen from three point range. But
this is a game that was decided in the first quarter.
The Hawks could never really get closer than ten most
(01:06):
of the way, and the Bucks win it. And you know, look,
it's it's such a crazy playoff, Mike right now looking
at this series and and clearly Janice and and no
Jannie No Trey plays havoc with everything right, Like it's
hard to you know, from one game to the next.
We thought Trey Young was gonna play, he's not. We thought,
you know, we didn't know about Johanna's he was ruled
(01:27):
out earlier in the day today that he was on
the sideline tonight and he looked okay, and you know,
didn't what, didn't have a brace on or anything, just
you know, cheering the Bucks on like normal. Um, the
way the playoffs go and your support players generally play
better at home. It could just be as simple as
the home team is just gonna win these games when
the Stars don't play, and you're gonna see the Bucks
(01:49):
win this series in seven. Because if I had to
say how this series is going to go right now,
I would say it's gonna go like the last two
games have gone. Alright, No Joannie, no Trey. Doesn't matter.
The Hawk at home, they win that big game. Okay,
Now we come back to Milwaukee for Game five, No Jannie,
no Trey. The Bucks went at home, their support players
play great. I'm sure we'll go back for Game six
(02:11):
in Atlanta. It'll be the Hawks support players who will
play great. Red Velvet will start hitting some shots. Luke
Williams will hit more shots. Capella will be better than
he was tonight. And we're gonna go back to Milwaukee
for Game seven. We're gonna get exactly what we saw tonight.
Middleton will score twenty five or thirty. You had a
big night from Drew Holiday. Uh. That's kind of how
(02:31):
I see this because in in series, look, this is
how it goes. You're supporting your bench players play better
at home. And if that's the case and there's no stars,
that's clearly how the last two games have gone. And
so if I had to say how the next two
games are gonna go, Atlanta wins games six, Bucks win
Game seven, just what we thought. And coming out of
the the last game, it's like, all right, they came
(02:52):
and slept, walk through the early part of the game,
no energy, no emotion. Jannice goes out and if possible,
from zero, they went into negative emotion and played even
poor uh more poorly, will go more poorly because it
sounds poorly, Yeah, more poorly. It just sounds better. Negative emotional.
I think Negative Emotion was a Dire Straits album. And
(03:15):
if I'm not copyrighted I'm I'm going to and I'll
have some spoken word like shatterer, uh at some point
that I'll work off of that. I posted that I
tell you on my social media today and that really
uh little fuse for folks that never knew that rocket
Man had been done quite the way Shatner did it.
But that's for another time. Um. Look, the Hawks just
(03:38):
got blitzed out of the gate twenty two to seven
after six minutes of play, and we saw that Holiday
was gonna have a day. Middleton comes up huge again. Right.
It's the I joked about it with the saber Hagen analogy.
Those that remember eighties baseball or have studied it a
little bit. He'd have a cy Young Award winning season,
(03:59):
that he'd mediocre to bad, then he'd come back with
another cy Young Award winning season. That's what Middleton's doing
in these playoffs twenty six, thirteen, and eight in his
forty five minutes played start contrast to the guy that
didn't didn't give you a no show, uh last time out.
So you have that, and then when you can find
(04:20):
thirty three points from Brook Lopez, I mean you've got
your lottery ticket. Everybody that left that arena right now,
go to the Piggy Wiggly, go to whatever the different um,
you know, get yourself a a slushy, uh, maybe a
little snack cake and a couple of scratchers because you're
all winning tonight off of that performance. You have fifty
(04:41):
five between Lopez and Portis for crying out. Yeah, that's
that's that's a pretty big night. That that's where the
money was. And I want to bed fifty five points
between Bobby Portis and Brook Lopez. Wait, really is that
what you want to do? Okay? I would be I
would be curious what the pregame line was if you
were to build your own prop bet uh the points
to where it got into the plus category, because I guarante,
(05:05):
damn t any nowhere near fifty five Twitter and out
about a fretska might get swollen done the Jason Spread
Show with my best friend Mike Harmon. Now, if we
wind up getting the stars back, that changes things. But
this is one of those NBA final enter Conference finals,
(05:26):
and uh to think that, well, people watch no matter what,
and the NBA is not a star driven league. Not
that this matters, right, not that this is something that's
always an indicator. But anytime there's a big game and
or when you get to this point in the Eastern
Conference finals, there's a game that people want to talk about. Uh.
You see that reflected in social media all the time, right,
You see that the top trending topics are always you know,
(05:48):
Chris Paul and then it's Pat Bev and then it
is Devin Booker and all of these things. Right that
that's normally what what you see. And you take a
look at what the trending top pix on Twitter are
right now, and it's a it's a it's a it's
a music uh topic, it's uh a, it's a track
(06:09):
and field topic, it is another music topic. Then it's
Michael Phelps. Then it's jam, then it's the women's national team.
Then it is is Bucks in six, Okay, bucks in six,
al right, that and then you go to the Braves
and Lugo and and then this isn't trending. This is
not sports tron. This is just trending all over. So
how many people just saw this game tonight and said,
(06:30):
you know what, oh there's no stars playing. Yeah, I'm done.
I know it's I know it's a game, but it's
just a game at this point because there's no stars
to to tell you just for a second, how much
the NBA relies on their stars and their star power. Uh,
just just the way the the interest level in this
game is and what it sits at right now compared
(06:51):
to what it is on a normal night is completely different. Yeah.
I don't know if you hacked my machine like people
hacked Diken de motone mos email all those years ago.
But my top what's happening is Mets Braves. Yeah, Mets
Braves is right there, buddy, Mets Christians Later, what the
hell is happening with Christian Slate? Oh, it's just Chris
Evans just put out a funny tweet. And if I
(07:13):
met Christian Slater and didn't know his name, I would
say it was Christian Slater. That's it. That's that's why
it's trend that's that's trending more than than Brook Lopez. Wow,
that's that's not even funny. But hey, you know, it
is what it is. Uh, you run with it as
best you can. Know it'll be curious to see because
ratings overall have been good, and you know, when you
(07:33):
start getting into the social media interaction, metrics. It's all
been positive, even if it's an incredulity uh and curiosity
of what the hell you're watching because we've had a
lot of games that really haven't made a lot of
sense in these playoffs. And it's great for you and
I on the radio as we sit in our catbird
seats and and pontificate about the good, the bad, the
(07:54):
ugly that we see on a on a nightly basis,
you know, praising the heroes and and mocking the vanquished.
As we do that, you know, it's good for us,
it's good for involvement. But curious, you know how much
they can they can push it forward if neither of
the big stars returns. That's a huge question as you
(08:15):
finish off this series and get ready to start promoting
your NBA Finals Twitter, and how about a Fresca Mike
gets swollen done the Jason Smith here with Mike Carmen
live from the Fox Sports Radio studios. We'll have more
on the game, uh, and and the and the series
and the Sun's coming up in a few minutes as
Olden Polonies is gonna stop by with us and break
things down. But hey, today was a big day for
(08:39):
what should the destinations now be for Kawhi Leonard. Right
the day after the Clippers get eliminated Kawhi Leonard, who
reportedly is upset with the Clippers medical team over what
happened and and treating his injury. This is the second
time he's upset allegedly with the medical team of a team.
The last one was the Spurs and you saw how
that ended with him leaving. Uh So, today was full
(09:00):
of hey, where should Kauai Leonard go? Where's the next
place Knicks that he could wind up going? And now
you know I'm being serious about this because I'm not
saying he should go to the Knicks. Um where Kauai
Leonard should go is he should stay in l A
with the Clippers. It's not like the Clippers underachieved. They
got to the Western Conference Finals. If they had lost
(09:22):
early again, I would have said, you know what, maybe
it's not gonna work. Here's the second iteration in two years,
with different players, a second head coach. But you get
all the way to the Western Conference Finals, all right,
you did all this to try to get home, you know,
to Southern California, which you did. The Clippers are a
deep team, are you gonna go someplace and try to
(09:42):
start over. It doesn't make sense. Yes, he's thirty years old,
he's got a lot of good basketball left, but for
this year and for next year, it doesn't make sense.
He's got the opt out. It's hard to see who
can sustain success after this year because the playoffs were
so wacky and we saw a lot of injuries and
don't really know what teams are for real. Are the
Knicks gonna be great next year? Are they have one year? Wonder?
(10:04):
Are the Hawks gonna be great next year? Are they
have one year? Wonder They're gonna be like the Heat
next year? It's very difficult. There's so many things in
the first year back from COVID. It's too risky if
he went somewhere now, So the best for him do
another year and see where you're at. Then if you
don't get any closer, if you don't feel that okay
things are getting better, if the Clippers aren't improving, and
(10:25):
then go someplace else. Then your thirty one, and you
still have a lot of good time left. You go
someplace else for the for the back half of your prime,
and it's great, But to leave I feel like he'd
be really taking a chance when I did all of
this to get here, and look how far we got.
And if I didn't get hurt, maybe we're still playing,
Maybe we're in the NBA Finals at this point, maybe
would have won the series by now. But missing me
(10:48):
really really hurt. And and Okay, I see how close
we got when I wasn't there. So you add me
to this equation next year, and it could wind up
being better if Kauai comes acone is healthy. The Clippers
are at the top of the teams that are gonna
be favorite in the West next year because you know
they're gonna retool their roster a little bit. They will
bring somebody in the Clippers or a destination. They'll be
(11:09):
right with the best teams. Look, the Lakers aren't gonna
be a favorite, you know, because they're gonna be a
year older and who knows about Lebron. The Jazz will
be a favorite. The Nuggets coming back with Jamal Murray
will be a favorite, certainly, the Son's will, and the
Clippers will be right there with them because of how
far they got this year, and Kauahi Leonard didn't play,
and that's why they lost to the Suns. So the
best thing for him to do is stay for one
(11:30):
more year and then if it doesn't work, then go,
But you got one more year instead of opting out,
see if you can make it work and then go.
I like that in theory, but that's not good for
sports dock radio. So I'm gonna go. Well, the names
that are out there one are Dallas and Miami are
the two that have leapt to the forefront. Obviously, going
to work with Jimmy Butler could be fun because you've
(11:52):
got another guy with that same mentality on the court.
Uh that that it could work, but cut through the
nonsense and and the hot takes. Yeah, he's got to
re up do the two and one. Stay for another year,
let tylu keep cooking, talk to Balmer. Whoever needs to
be fired gets fired right that and that you have
(12:14):
that clout if you didn't like the way the medical
staff and the trainers were operating and you didn't trust them,
which seems to be a theme for him. So that's
you know, hold that with a grain of salt, uh
in this process. But in the end, if if that's
a problem, then the Clippers, if they want to keep
him around, are going to have to make those concessions.
(12:37):
But obviously you have a coach who's now regarded as
a brilliant tactician that that showed through this process and
and all those winds on the brink of elimination. Not
sure I want to go down that hole. Hey, let's
keep going oh two and see how we can do
from there. As we've now got tape on everybody that
(12:58):
that's really not a way to in a long term success.
But I think for Kauai Leonard, it seemed to have
been important to get back quote unquote home. Right, you
think there'd be some value of being the guy for
a team that if you win, and you win it all,
(13:18):
you get to hang your bann or not just the
Indianapolis Colts participation banner for being in a conference finals. No,
but you're gonna get a new arena here. You can
help Chris and that en it's your team hands down, right,
which is something that even even in Toronto, right, he won,
But who got the love Kyle Lowry? You were just
(13:40):
seeming like a rental player. So if you want this
to be your home and Paul George now has a
lot of good will after his efforts in the playoffs.
So now you've got a little bit of chaos there,
and you gotta get the reins back and show that
you were actually with this team and not a guy
up in a sky box, because that's another image that
looms large in this decision process. Twitter at how about
(14:03):
a fresca? Mike gets swollen don the Jason Smith Show
with my best friend Mike Harmon. See that's why I zag.
When you think I'm gonna zig, where should Kauai go?
Nicks And I tell you no, he's got to stay
because the best place. I'm proud of you for that
that you you didn't try to just come up with
an ass and I Knicks argument good. So well, listen,
if they just plopped in a small forward like Kawhi Leonard,
(14:23):
they I mean, look, they'd be close to a championship.
I mean, I'm just saying, but I didn't say that
right there. I didn't say. I didn't. I didn't give
you that that. Hey, you just plopped down a small
forward that can score, because you know you can't have
a guy scoring eight points a night at small forward
like the Knicks half. But you PLoP them right in
and things would be great. Couldn't just listen to the
musical que? Could you know? I do? But I but
I'm telling you, But that's why my growth. I didn't
(14:44):
say that. I didn't say that. I hate all of you,
every single person right now, all of you, every single
one e eight seven, seven ninety nine on Fox, The
Jason Smith Show with Mike carbon If you miss any
of the show tonight, don't forget. You can always download
our best of podcast on iTunes wherever you listen to podcasts.
(15:06):
It's available right after the show. You can subscribe rate
us will love you forever and ever and ever. But
coming up next, do the Bucks have control of this series?
Are we gonna see Joannice? Are we gonna see Trey Young?
I'll find out all the answers to the biggest questions,
straight ahead, Jason and Mike Happy, Bobby Bene a day.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
(15:27):
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart
Radio app Fox Sports Radio. The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon. As we look back at the bucks dominant
one three one twelve win over the Hawks no Janice,
no problem. Brook Lopez like it was two thousand and
(15:48):
seven scores over thirty points, leading all scores tonight with
thirty three. Uh Bugdanovich with eight not nearly enough for
the Hawks. So now the Bucks go to Game six
with a chance to close it out and head to
the NBA Finals, joining us now on the hot line
to break it all down fifteen years in the NBA.
(16:09):
Fox Sports NBA analysts. You can follow on Twitter at
Olden Polonese one. That's at Olden Polonese one. I hope Pee.
What's happening? Ma, Man, I'm good. How are you guys doing? Dude,
I gotta I gotta tell you, with all these stars
getting hurt, eventually you can get activated. Man, you get
some more right here in one of these games. Yeah,
these stars, I ain't getting hurt, man, you know, it
(16:30):
is what it is. That's part of the game. And
I think you know everybody's coming with this, this narrative
of yeah, all these stars is the most All Stars
that's been hurt. I'm like, no, stop it, Okay. The
bottom line is injuries are part of sports, and you
just gotta play your game because no one's broken anything.
(16:50):
You know, if I'm not mistaken, it's like sprain ankles
here in their hamstring. I mean, you know, not to like,
you know, get on guys in this current general, but
we played with those injuries. You know, you just take that,
take it up tighter and played. But in this day
and age, everybody wants to be and there's no such
(17:10):
thing in basketball. Oh pie. When you see the way
the league is now with with with the in because
some of them are soft tissue injuries that that that
that nag, like hamstrings, Like why do you see why
do you think the players are getting hurt? You know? Why?
Why do you think is it? Is it they're playing
too much basketball? Like well, what do you see that
as as the reason behind it. Yeah, well they played,
(17:31):
they played too much basketball. And it's not the current
It's not because of you know, the short offseason. No,
it's what they did in AU when that whole explosion
of AU basketball. Because I remember when I played the
AU we played maybe two three tournaments the whole summer.
You know, we go to Phoenix and play a tournament.
We played Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. One game you win,
(17:53):
you move on. Next game you win, you move on
and that was it. And so I played twelve sixty
games total the whole summer. Now they're playing Plust sixteen
games a weekend, and so to me, that's where the
problem starts. And also, we're not building up tough like
we used to. Let's just be honest about it. These
(18:14):
guys are not being built tough. They don't they don't
know about playing on asphalt, they don't know about getting
hit and just sucking it up. It's like every little
thing hurts. Oh, I'm gonna take time off, and people
are allowing them to do that. You know, we created
this whole load management thing, you know when Papavis started
doing and um in San Antonio. But I understood why
(18:35):
he was doing it because he had an aging team.
Now everybody's doing load management. So it's all that stuff
where codling guys said, just say, man, listen, let's play.
All right, that's the bottom line. Like I said, nothing,
I can understand Kade terran is achilles. I can understand
Clay tearing his you know, his knee. But these things are,
(18:57):
like you say, they saw tissue injuries. Come on, stuck,
it can play. Well. We didn't get to see the
stars come out tonight, but the big men roaming free.
And did you think you had a thirty three point
game from brook Lopez in the offing tonight for the
Boxes they win handily over Atlanta, No Young, no Janie,
(19:17):
and well we we had to make the best of it. Oh, definitely,
because he's done it. He's an all star. Brook Lopez
can play people forget that you know you you're you're
in the shadow of Johannice and tend to coopo, so
you're gonna be a forgotten man. But that guy can
play inside and outside. But I like what he did.
He stayed around the basket for most of the night.
Dominator destroyed them on the Office of Glass and just
(19:40):
really gave a performance that the Bucks really needed. And
that's not to say that they don't need Yannie, but
it's just that, you know, when it was time to
step up, he did a great job. Bobby Porters Junior
as well did a great job. Again. They knocked the
Hawks in the mouth early and that kind of like
rattled them to the point where they never could catch
their footing. And a defensive intensity was at a good level,
(20:03):
and that's you know, you want to see that from
the team at home. You know, in a situation where
the best player goes down, so great effort by the
whole team. You know, what do you think about this?
O P. Let's just say no Trey Young and no
Yannis the rest of the series. Right, Let's just say,
because obviously with one of them plays, the other one
doesn't a huge adventage. Let's just say neither of them play.
(20:26):
Can we expect it just to be the home team
is gonna win? You know, the players are gonna play
better at home, and then that we're gonna see the
Hawks win Game six and the Bucks win Game seven.
I would I would think that I would assume that,
But then I think about it, for man, realize that
Milwaukee still has the better team, and so I believe
they'll probably end it in six because they're free rolling
(20:47):
right now, you know, so I think they're gonna come
out there. Budenhole is gonna do what he did, you
know for Game four. He I think he's gonna both
those guys to really play like they did tonight. Just
step step under the gas, knocking the mouth thoroughly, come
way to play basketball and get it done. Because you
don't want a game seven. I don't say if it
(21:08):
is in Milwaukee. Anything can happen in the game seven.
And that's the threaded that's the thing you dread the most.
You don't. You just don't want to be in that situation.
So I believe they're gonna try and knock him out
early and often and get it done in Atlanta. Let
me let me circle back to Janice and the injury
he sustained. Old while no ligament damage and structurally everything sound,
(21:33):
I sit here wringing my hands, wondering, uh, you know
where where if there's another shoe to drop, would you
still put him out? If he can do the pain
management to get out on the quarters? Is this one
where you gotta be careful with your start? Why not
play him? He's getting paid to play. If he's wound
the bends, jumping up and down, giving instructures everything else,
(21:53):
walking around like it's like is doing not, then get
out there and play. I get tired watching these guys
on the bench jumping up and down. I really do.
If y'all hurt, you're the thing about these guys, you know?
And again I saw what happened, and it looked bad,
and you know, my heart goes out to him because
(22:14):
I was like, you don't ever want to see anybody
get hurt. But there's a difference between being hurt and
being injured, and so that's the thing. Yes, and my
hurt and might feel a little painful, but you can
you can play through stuff. I just haven't seen these
guys do that. Everybody, like I said, everybody wants to
be and it's not gonna be the case. So you know,
(22:38):
Yannie can play. I would play them because you got
the whole offseason to rest and get better. Oh when
you wonder who's gonna come out of here? Does it
really matter? I mean, shouldn't Shouldn't the Sons win the
championship easily? Should I mean that they're playing better than
anybody throughout the entire playoffs, They're healthy, they got everything rolling.
(23:02):
Shouldn't it be? It doesn't matter who the Son's play,
they're gonna win. But I do believe the Sons will
win the championship. And it's because of the fact that
they have a great overall team. You know. Bringing Chris
Paulin was uh stroke of genius because they needed a
veteran leader and they brought one of the best leaders ever,
(23:24):
and then couple with a young talent like Devin Brooker,
a young stud in DeAndre Aiden mcael Bridges, Who's I mean,
he's one of the best defenders young and long wing
defender Jay crowd of veteran um. Then you have a
resurgent cam In Payne, uh starting to making Cam Johnson
(23:45):
come on, man, they have everything. And so to me,
it's it's up to them right now because Janice is
not gonna be a let's get that straight, Okay, So
now he's gonna come back and play, but he's gonna
he's not to say good about that leg, you know.
And so Phoenix has enough firepower and enough defense to
(24:07):
hold Milwaukee at bay. But let me ask, going out
of the recently vanquished Clippers, Jason and I were chopping
up a little bit earlier, all the questions of what
does Kauai Leonard do next? And look, to his credit,
you didn't want guys on the bench except for one
game he wasn't. Uh, So I guess he's got that
for him. But the question of whether he opts in
(24:28):
and stays with the Clippers, re upping with them, or
or seeks greener pastures elsewhere Um, it's funny with Kauai.
You never know what he's thinking and so, which is
an understatement of a year. But it's funny how the
one game he was on the bench was the clincher
(24:49):
game and so. But that is the elephant in the room.
That's the magic you know, magic question. What's Kauai donna do?
But he has those ship you know. I don't know
is he going to be the guy that runs away
from the challenge of getting this team where it needs
to be, you know, to go somewhere else, or is
he gonna just say you know what? Hey, you know,
(25:10):
I had the injury and I heard what Paul Jorge
said if if he had played, they would have won.
I don't believe that wholeheartedly because I think they play
less inspired basketball when cow is there because they fall
dependent on him. And so to me, when he went out,
they played their best basketball. I think they just got tired.
(25:33):
Olden Polonie with us. He's on Twitter at Olden Polonie one.
Now before we let you go, Op, I saw that
you put out on on Twitter yesterday. You're ready to
be interviewed by the Wizards or Magic for their head
coaching position. I need you to do me a solid.
If you get the Wizard's job, you gotta trade Bradley
Bild of the Knicks because the Knicks really need Okay,
you can do that, So I really appreciate that. Oh
(25:56):
my god, that's funny. That's where you want Bradley to go. Well,
come on, I'm a Knicks fan, of course I wanted
to That would be a nice situation from Bradley Bell.
That would really be a bad situation. So you get
to return who the Knicks given return? Oh, I'll give
you anybody but Julius Randall, anybody but Julius. All right.
I like that combination. I'm making a trade right now. Harmon,
(26:20):
I'm making a trade right now. And that comes into
that situation is not in charge. That's either the best
of gigs or the worst. Exact Opie has always Buddy appreciated,
my friend. We'll talk to you next week. Is we
get into the final. Okay, care thanks, old great stuff
(26:44):
there from olden policy says always that you want that job,
you're not gonna be in charge. It's how it works. Uh,
you know that that's the that's the thing about this
finals going into it is that the Sons are such
an overwhelming favorite that eventually I think everybody's got to
come around to that they're the ones with all the
pressure in the world now, as great a story as
they are, and the Sons are a great story, right.
(27:05):
It hadn't been to the final since ninety three. Here's
Chris Paul. We didn't even know if he had anything left,
and now here he is that the finals are all
about him. Devin Booker has become a star. DeAndre Ayton's
become a stud big man. He got guys like campaign
coming off the bench. I mean all suddenly there. But
now it's hey, now here's the pressure because you because
anybody else you're playing against is coming in less than
(27:27):
against you. The Bucks can win this series and we
may not see, honest the rest of the playoffs, like
they could win the series and six. I think they'll
win in seven, but they could when they could win
this playoff easy get in there and then it's a rollover.
But the pressure is all on the sun. So it's
gone from Hey, everything feels great. I'm happy. It's sunshine,
lollipops and rainbows too. Hey man, we don't win, this
(27:49):
is gonna be a huge gag Fest Man the whole
seasons of failure because they have to win. There the
team that should win, whoever comes out of the East,
is playing with house money. Right, the Hawks are in
the finals, Ay Young is banged up saying that whoever,
it's house money. But but hey, the Suns, it's out.
We gotta win. That's how much things have changed for
the Suns. Well, you got a guy and Chris Paul
(28:09):
who could also leave, right, We've been talking about his
contract and what might be offered by another suitor in
that forty million dollar range. Maybe he finally makes it
to the Laker locker room. Who knows. Although he did
celebrate Billy Crystal last night that was great. But but
just the idea that you've got these young players you're
(28:32):
never guaranteed to get back. That's what we talked about
it all the time, and particularly in the NFL. But
let's let's do it. When it comes to the NBA,
how many teams have had their shot deep in the
conference playoffs and then someone takes a free agent deal
and leaves, or a guy gets hurt the next year
and it derails things. I mean, the history is littered
(28:52):
with it. So for Chris Paul. It's it's the final
chapter of his book to be written, at least for
this part of his career, to finally put away some
of the demons. Although everybody that spent a lot of
time talking about, oh, look in the mid range game
isn't dead. He did hit seven three pointers yesterday. Okay,
that was a pretty big part of his performance. His performance.
(29:15):
What do you think about his performance? I had seven
threes against us. You're talking about his performances performance. But yeah,
neither the Bucks nor the Hawks are gonna come in
full strength because Trey Young is still gonna have issues
with the foot and Janice. I'll be uh sitting there
at the edge of my seat, just hoping we get
(29:36):
we get through to the final buzzer. Each game that
he would play the rest of this season, You'll just
have to rely on more efforts from the big men
like Lopez and Portois tonight. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays
at ten pm Eastern seven pm Pacific. Hey, what's up, everybody.
It's me three time Pro Bowl Little Warrington, and I
(29:59):
couldn't be more excited to announce a new podcast called
Up on Game. What is up on Game? You asked,
along with my fellow pro bowler t J. Hudshman's Otta
and Super Bowl champion. That's right, Plexico Birds. You can
only name a show with that type of talent on it.
Up on Game We're going to be sharing our real
(30:19):
life experiences loaded with teachable moments. Listen to Up on
Game with Me, LaVar Arrington, t J. Hudgmansatta and Plexico
Birds on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast or
wherever you get your podcast from Fox Sports Radio, The
Jason Smith Show with my bast friend Mike Harmon. The
(30:42):
Trevor Bower story gains more twists and turns and gets
weirder and more difficult to talk about as every passing
hour grows. Uh Bower, who has been accused of sexual assault,
still on track to make his next start on Sunday.
That's a warning to the Dodgers manager Dave Roberts today,
uh starts gonna come in Washington on the fourth of July.
(31:05):
Unless something changes, He gets moved up, gets moved back.
What's been happening with Trevor Bauer has been a story
that every hour, it seems we get more and more
of the details that are very difficult to talk about.
Bower has been accused of by a woman of choking
her until she lost consciousness, punching her and several areas
of her body uh she was injured that required hospitalization
(31:29):
over the course of two sexual encounters with Bauer earlier
this year that according to both parties, they were both
into some form of rough sexual encounter. And now today
we have the text messages going back and forth that
have been made public between the two of them over
the course of these two sexual encounters, and it's just
(31:51):
a story that, look, it's hard to talk about because
of the the the general the content of it, because
it gets the details are so huch out there. Um.
But the thing is is that he keeps coming down
to should Trevor Bauer keep pitching? And I told you
that it's it's really I can't believe that it's a
good thing that he's gonna pitch on Sunday, all right?
(32:13):
Is it really good for the league that he's out
there pitching while this is going on and being investigated.
Major League Baseball could put him on some kind of
seven day list while they figure things out, but they
have not. And if I'm reading into the Dodgers, it
seems like the Dodgers probably wanted to do that, but
we're talked out of that by Major League Baseball. Because
here was Dave Roberts when he was asked about it today. Uh,
(32:37):
first it was the question was about the the being
able to be on a seven day list and not
have to pitch. That was something that Major League Baseball said, No,
go forward as it is. We're investigating, and we'll let
you know when when we have our investigation finished. Then
Robert bothered that Bauer is gonna start on Sunday. That
was the question that bother you, Bower is gonna start
on Sunday, given what's happened, and he said, quote, it's
(32:59):
out of our hands, regardless of what direction the organization
wanted to do. It's something that this is what has
to happen. It's out of everyone's hands. I choose to
follow kind of their lead what Major League Baseball wants
us to do. I'm in the position of following the
lead of MLB. So if I'm reading Dave Roberts right,
it feels like he wants us to know, Hey, you know,
(33:19):
maybe we would have had a different decision, but Baseball
has told us keep going like this until until we
until we figure out our investigation, then go go forward.
Let him start on Sunday. I mean, I I don't.
I don't think Dave Robert said, Look, it was easy.
He knows what to say. Look, I can't say this.
I can't say this, but to say, it's out of
our hands. And regardless of what direction we wanted to do,
(33:40):
this is what Baseball wants. We're gonna do it. It's
I I take that as the Dodgers wanted to sit
him down, but Baseball said, no, keep going just like
this until we figure it out. Yeah, as best I
understand it is, the Dodgers can't discipline him in this
way other than to just take the ball out of
his hands and start somebody else, right exactly, would be
something where he can't suspending. They can't do any of that.
(34:02):
It's just a someone else pitches, you know, on July four.
So you've got all of that symbolism and everything going
into it. UH. The Dodgers will also visit the White
House as part of this this weekend's UH festivities as well.
But yeah, they're they're couching it. I don't know if
major League Baseball is waiting until we're at that seven
(34:23):
day point where the All Star Break gets included there in,
you know, for for that one seven day administrative leave
that they could put them on, seeing what else comes out.
You talked about the the text messages that have been
made public, very graphic and trying to you know, it's
being played out in the court of public opinion, all
of it graphic, and you know, whatever it got to
(34:46):
an extreme, whatever was agreed to in the first place.
Twitter at how about a fresca? Mike gets swollen down
the Jason Smith's with Mike Harmen coming up next. Hey,
why today became a day that's gonna be celebrated. It
will for the rest of time. It's next Fox
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