May 5, 2025 • 54 mins
On a Monday edition of The Best Of The Doug Gottlieb Show: Doug talks about Stephen Curry's greatness in game seven of the Warriors-Rockets series as Golden State advanced to the conference semi-finals, and Doug explains why he would rather have Steph as a player than Lebron.
Doug and the crew share what they loved most and hated most about the sports weekend in this installment of "Love AND Hate".
Doug explains why Lebron James is the boy who cried wolf. Doug welcomes FSR NBA Insider Ric Bucher onto the show to talk about the Warriors, Lakers and all of the other major headlines around the NBA.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlieb
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
three to five Eastern twelve two Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
Find your local station for The Doug Gottlieb Show at
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on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR Boom. What Up America.
Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio Coming to you from
(00:25):
Parts Unknown. No, I'm kidding from our Fox Sports Radio studios. Hey,
welcome in. You know, I think this is it's interesting.
You know, there's so many people who have so many
negative things to say about the NBA and that you're like,
all right, well did you actually you know, did you
(00:47):
actually watch the NBA playoffs? Well? No, but you know,
the NBA is so this is so that like, I
don't know, maybe it's because you guys know how I
feel about basketball kind of my favorite sport, and maybe
it's because of recency bias. I don't know why it is,
(01:09):
but I think the basketball has been great, especially in
the important parts of it, in that it's been great
because yes, you have the storylines in the drama, but
you also have these historically significant figures that either perform
or don't perform when it matters most. I remember being
(01:33):
at Game one of the Warriors versus the Calves with
kd's first year, and Lebron was unbelievable in the first
half of Game one, just like he was unbelievable in
the first half of most that entire series, and yet
(01:53):
he struggled in the second half. And Kevin Durant, I
think it was Game three in Cleveland, or made it
his Game four in clean when he hit that kind
of dagger pull up jump jump shot in transition. And
one of the things that I think Kevin Durant has
struggled with and the reason that he this is where
(02:14):
Kevin Durant started moving around the country to different teams,
was he thought he was the best player on earth.
He beat Lebron James, and we created this narrative about
Kevin Durant. You're like, well, he joined a seventy three
win team, Like, no, he didn't. First of all, the
seventy three win team.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
That's great.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
That team didn't win a championship, so it's not anywhere
near anywhere capable of being considered the greatest team ever,
but he didn't join a seventy three win team because
they had to make changes and they parted ways with
Harrison Barnes and others and kind of remade themselves. Right,
(02:55):
Andrew Bogan wasn't on that team, and you're like, oh,
why was Andrew Bogut important? If you looked at their fall,
their collapse from being up three games to one against
the Calves, it coincided with Andrew Bogan being out for
the series due to injury. So he was a great passer,
a great screener, and a tremendous defender, and he was
(03:16):
part of the seventy three wins, but he wasn't part
of when they lost up three games to one because
of injury, and he wasn't part of that next team.
The point is that if you want to really get
down to it and brass tacks, Kevin Loves going to
be a Hall of Famer, Kyrie Irving's going to be
a Hall of Famer. Lebron James is going down, by
some people's estimation, greatest player of all time. And then
(03:39):
you compare that to the Warriors, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant,
Steph Curry, and again, if you want to go, Hey,
Draymond's better than Tristan Thompson in his prime. All agree
with you as a passer, but you make the argument
Tristan a better rebounder. The sides were not that different.
(04:00):
The difference was KD was the best player on the court.
And I bring up KD being the best player on
the court because we made excuses for Lebron at the time.
Hey they just have a better team. Hey he still scored.
But the difference to me was it's always what you
do in the fourth quarter. So fast forward to last
(04:23):
night and I'm watching the Warriors take down the Rockets,
and for whatever reason, I know the coach is different,
the players are different. I actually think im Adoka does it. Really.
I think it's a tremendous coach. I think their team
is okay, it's young, but they're not great. They got
(04:44):
a lot out of that crew. But I thought Steph,
I thought Steve Kerr's defensive tactics and what they were
doing was outstanding. They change up some offensive things and
put different players in different spots of some of their
same offensive sets. It was brilliant and staph was scoreless
for much of the first half. Right, and yet in
(05:05):
the fourth quarter, Steph Curry takes over and the Warriors
boat race the Rockets, they win the series, and they
move on. So Steph was great in the fourth quarter,
and I know he hadn't been great at times in
NBA Finals into their last NBA Championship where he was
finally Finals MVP. So I use that as a jumping
off point. And here's the question. I kind of asked
(05:27):
it on social media and welcome in. Dan Byer heard
you hosting yesterday. I was driving around. I was driving
from Dallas to Oklahoma City with my son playing an
AU tournament, and I was listening to you guys yesterday,
and I don't think anybody who if you catch your breath,
you go, hey, Steph Curry's an amazing player. You could
make the argument he changed basketball. I don't think anyone
(05:51):
would say he's the greatest player of all time. I
just don't because though he's tougher than he looks, and
he does make defensive plays, they've had to hide him defensively,
and he's gotten better and better. He's good, but I mean,
like he's not. Michael Jordan was a great defensive player.
Lebron James was a great defensive player in his prime.
They're not. They weren't at the end. But so I'm
(06:15):
not making the argument Steph Curry is a better player
than Lebron James. What I would make the argument, and
I'd love your eads feedback. Here's the argument, Steph Curry is,
and I live through the Kobe era, and we and
I got to be friends with Kobe and end up
growing to really really like and appreciate Kobe. I didn't
(06:38):
love Kobe as a player for a long time, not
because he wasn't tough and smart, but he could be selfish,
he could be ornery, he could be a bad teammate,
and he wasn't terribly efficient. He was a little bit
of a shot out of the past. But he was
incredibly successful and tough, and that there's parts I did
love about him, but I don't. I don't think that
(07:00):
Kobe ever got to level that Steph's at, nor Lebron.
I don't know he's been right there. The enjoyable or
can't miss nature of a Steph Curry game is unlike
anything you've ever seen. And I think that they both
(07:22):
have four titles right. Obviously, Lebron went on a run
of what nine straight finals appearances. Like we can make
an argument about Lebron and when he's clutch and makes
the big shot, whatever, but the consistency of success was remarkable. Remarkable.
But if you ask yourself honestly, wouldn't you rather have
(07:44):
Steph for this career than Lebron for this career? And
this is me admitting that Lebron's a better player. I
mean I said this on social media and people go crazy,
like Kevin Rant was the best player on that team.
If we think back to even when they lost to
(08:05):
the Toronto Raptors, right, they were kind of doing nothing
in that series. Then Kad comes in and all of
a sudden, the game he tours Achilles Tenon in. He
was the best player on the court, with Kawhi Leonard,
with Klay Thompson, with Steph Curry guy, and he was
the best player. It wasn't really close. And I know
that the best player doesn't mean you just score the
most points. But for Staph, he doesn't affect the game
(08:29):
much defensively and kd and affected it more defensively at
the time. But I think it's one I don't know.
My argument would be He's the most thrilling watch since
Michael Jordan. And two, I think I'd rather have the
(08:50):
Steph Curry experience even if there wasn't the same consistency
of success, then I would the Lebron James experience.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
What do you think, Dan, it's pretty heavy Doug in
what you're saying, and I don't want to put poo it,
but I would take Lebron James. Okay, I just think
the grand scope of it. I just I think that
there has been so much on lebronze shoulders from day one,
and to see what he is, I guess risen to
(09:24):
the level of even surpassing expectations. Yes, I don't think
that that's something that Steph had to deal with, and
I still would. I think your points are valid. I
see everything that you're saying, but I still would take
Lebron in that.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Listen and part of the benefit of what Steph gets
is and your subtle go through this when he starts
playing youth basketball, right, which is the big guy always
gets all the fouls called on him right and gets
no benefit of doubt, whereas the littlest guy, the scrappiest
guy right gets got to get away with murder, right,
(10:03):
and because Steph Curry was the classic underdog story that
some of his flaws, I mean, no, WA's perfect, we
overlook you know, we're like, ah, eh, he's not great defensively,
but he's better than he used to be, right, Like,
where's Lebron James was an unbelievable defensive player? The Chase
(10:24):
down block is the Lebron block, but Lebron James because
he's six eight six nine, two hundred and sixty pounds,
he looks like, I don't know what a basketball player
is supposed to look like, but that seems like if
you point out, like basketblay, like let's start there, right,
looks like a Greek god. I think some of that
hurts him, right because we think, like we were taught
(10:46):
as kids, you're the biggest guy, good other and score
in the post. Right, That's not who he is as
a player, and we do because there's a recency bias
of losing here again early with the Lakers, that at
forty years old, that we hold it against him when
we forget the nine straight NBA Finals, Like, nine straight
NBA Finals appearances is ridiculous, ridiculous, And until he got
(11:10):
to la. He never got hurt. Ever, it was crazy.
So you're not wrong, right, Like, as a player, you would,
I just here's when when we were losing the season,
you're like, oh, you're lost. Like no, when we were
in the losing streak, we would before every game, you know,
(11:34):
you'd tell the guys like, play with joy, just play
with joy. And then you know, game starts and calls
Starkle on your way and you start. You know, it's
hard to keep it play with joy. But he's done that,
Like he's kind of brought that to basketball, and it's
just a fun watch, whereas it can be a heavy
(11:55):
watch when it's Lebron's.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Like, yesh, yeah, I get it. Yeah I think. I
don't and I don't even think. And this may be
a Chris Rock, this is what you're supposed to do.
But the way that Steph's body is physically changed throughout
(12:17):
his career, again, probably that should happen. But you know,
he's not scrawny Steph from Davidson anymore, like and he's
not Lebron big obviously, but I think that he's done
a really good job in keeping himself. Obviously, I don't
know physically relevant if that's I just made up a term,
(12:41):
but I mean he's really done it and it's allowed him,
i think, to continue to play at this level for
as long as he has as well.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Here's his head coach, Steve Kerr on Steph's impact.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
I thought Steph was brilliant tonight. I know he got
off to a slow start shooting the ball, but the
whole key to the game was taking care of the
ball and he managed the game beautifully and you know
it's just a matter of time before his shot goes in.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
But the reason we had the eleven.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Point lead at half or whatever it was twelve was
because of the way Steph took care of the ball,
got us into our offense and settled the game down.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
He's Steph himself. Here's here's first. I'm talking about how
they're able to win the game.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
A lot of resilience, everybody stepping up.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Everybody's been talking about.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
Our team, and last you know, two games, it turns
our execution, energy.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
All that.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
We kind of blocked it all out and just understood
we had forty eight minutes to you know, dig deep.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Everybody contribute.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
Our defense was to hold them under ninety after how
the last few games gone.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
That was it.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Buddy Heel, unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
Jimmy's some big time shots, Draymond playing way bigger than
the size.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Everybody stepped up was great, the great to see. Here's Stephan.
He had this exchange about his reputation.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
You've won five series now in Houston. What you think
your reputation is in the city.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
I'm a winner, winter, powerful, powerful. I just again like
we're going to look back when we're older. And I
did hear your your your take on us being too
harsh on James Harden and other guys yesterday, And we
are going to look back and go like, man, that
(14:18):
was pretty cool when we had those guys playing. Like
when they're done playing, the talent is going to be better.
This is we are going to go through and probably
not for a year or two, probably like two years away.
Like people don't remember early two thousands basketball, that was
Bird and Magic went away and then it was Jordan
(14:42):
right and once but it was Bird, Magic, Isaiah Thomas,
Julius Irving. But then you had Jordan, Yeah, you had Barkley,
had other guys. But when Jordan went away, there was
that stretch and there was great players. Alan Iverson's a
great talent, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, Young, Tim Duncan, Young Shack,
(15:06):
Young Kobe. But it wasn't. These guys are special, unique, different.
I do think that we are gonna take it for
granted they what they are like in these moments when
they're no longer playing in the in the NBA. But
the step thing, I do wonder if I'm prisoner of
the moment. But part of it is like, man, that
(15:29):
was unbelievable to watch, to watch him just manage the game,
kind of game manage, you know, like Trent dil for
handing the ball off for three quarters and then all
of a sudden step back, three whush, another three whosh,
he posts up and scores. Have you ever seen Steph
Curry pote like nope, but apparently he can do it right.
(15:50):
And then the one more pass at the end to
Buddy Heal to seal the game was amazing.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
I do want to say this because I look at
and Doug when you're watching the game. I look at
stats and at some point I'm like, Okay, something's gonna
even out now. Last night it didn't for Buddy Healed,
and it really didn't for the Houston Rockets. But at
some point, you're saying yourself, because Houston wasn't hitting a
lot of their threes. They only shot thirty three percent,
(16:15):
only shot eighteen of them last night, but still they
weren't making a lot of them early on, and I thought, well,
at some point they're going to make shots. But then
the other side of that coin was, at some point
Steph's going to get his So what he had three
points at halftime, It felt like when they were going
on that run at the end of the first half
that he felt left out. So we needed to launch
a you know, a logo three to be able to
(16:37):
get in on the act to give them that separation
near near the end of the half. But then yeah,
then when the game's on the line, like to the
point of the stat thing in the fourth quarter, then
it's okay, Steph Curry's not going to finish with five
points or ten points or whatever it was entering the
fourth quarter. He's going to end up getting his, and
(16:58):
he did when they needed it to close out Game seven.
And that's that's pretty amazing because some guys, you know,
we talked about you mentioned James Harden, you know, there's
guys who maybe aren't getting things going early on, and
they won't get it going at the end. But at
some point you knew Steph was going to get his,
and he ended up getting his and sealing the deal
(17:18):
and they end up cruising to a double digit win.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
It was crazy. Doug Gottlep Show here on Fox Sports Tradler.
That's voice of Dan Bayer. You got to Jay stew
and of course from in Sam.
Speaker 5 (17:29):
This is the best of the Don gott Leap Show
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Hey, what up put you? Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports
Radio coming to you from the confines of Green Bay,
Wisconsin and Los Angeles, California. Welcome in Hope, you're doing great.
The Doug Gottlieb Show broadcast live every day. This is
year well it is eighteen eighteen in this time slot. Wow,
(17:57):
eighteen in this time slot. I've been I've been doing
this for a minute. Got a good second hour show
or mind of the podcast to be up at the
end of the show. Just type in Doug Gotley every
download podcast. You can get our podcast again, It's Doug
Gottliebever we get podcast and of course you can also
listen to us in the iHeartRadio app every Monday. We
do this, Okay, we bring in, We bring in different
(18:20):
perspectives of the world of sports, sometimes not even the
world of sports. Things we love from the weekend, Things
we hated the weekend. We call it love and hate.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
What did you love?
Speaker 1 (18:29):
God? I love you?
Speaker 2 (18:30):
And what did you hate?
Speaker 1 (18:31):
We need these player hay is love love, love, hate,
hate hate. We know who our resident hater is, our
resident lover? Well, that's one, Dan Bayer Dan, what'd you
love from the weekend?
Speaker 2 (18:47):
You guys ready for this? I'm gonna tell you something
that you may not have known were about uch stuff.
I cheer for Canadian teams in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
I want them to cup. I want a team to
win a Cup. I have said on the show before
that if I was a hockey fan, there's a pretty
(19:07):
good chance that'd probably be a Maple Leafs fan, the drought,
everything that comes with them. But I also have an
affinity for the six other teams, specifically the Winnipeg Jets,
and I'm so glad that Winnipeg got a team, you
know what a decade or so ago, and the Atlanta
Thrashers moved back to Winnipeg after they had previously left
(19:30):
for Phoenix. So the Winnipeg Jets are back and last night,
sorry Saint Louis, but to have Winnipeg score at home
in a Game seven with under two seconds left, the
force overtime, and then in double overtime to score the
(19:51):
game winner, have that placer up to see, I feel
like the NHL has been the I know Kansas City did.
It was soccer, but when you have the fans gather
on like a certain spot, I feel that's also been
like a kind of an NHL thing as well. They
were gathering in Winnipeg and you see them celebrating when
it's still light out, and you see him still there
(20:13):
three and a half hours later because it's in double
overtime and it's nighttime. But to see Winnipeg survive and
win Game seven when they were a second and a
half away from being eliminated amazing. And right now the
eight teams left, three are from Canada, so we'll see
(20:33):
if Edmonton, Winnipeg or Toronto can finish it off. But
I was I was very happy to see that. I
wanted Winnipeg to win that series and they rallied and
scored a couple of late goals, including the one with
the second left, and then won in and overtime.
Speaker 6 (20:48):
Cole Perfetti, Yep, he had the game tire no two goals.
No relation to Chris Purfett here at Fox Sports Radio. Yes,
just adds an eye on the end. You know, he
is not a huge guy. He's only about five eleven. No,
Cole Profetti kind of looks like a ball boy, but
very good hockey player, but not huge, not a big dude.
Speaker 7 (21:07):
I personally have love for Winnipeg boys. I personally have
love for Winnipeg. I spent a weekend there once shooting
a scene with Gina Gershaan for everything she ever wanted,
a mini series for a lifetime, you lucky dog. So
because of that experience, I root for Winnipeg.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Is it? Can we see that anywhere? Can we see
the clip on on YouTube? Or I'll send you guys
a quip right now. Okay, I'm told it was a
love scene.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (21:36):
If you don't like it or reshare it, then I'll
just assume you hated it.
Speaker 6 (21:42):
Oh well, I'm a geography guy. I love geography. That's
actually my major in college. But I don't know where
Winnipeg is.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Winnipeg is basically like, do you know where Grand Forks,
North Dakota is Fargo North?
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Sure?
Speaker 7 (21:55):
Sure?
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Like Grand Forks is north fo do north straight north? Yeah? Okay.
My buddy based in the Air Force in Grand Forks
for a while. He goes they'd go up to Winnipeg
and party because the drinking age there was eighteen back
in the day. Okay, I've been to Ontario and I've
been to Toronto one time.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Far How far drive is it from Grand Forks?
Speaker 2 (22:15):
I don't know. I didn't I didn't make the drive myself.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
But it's on the road to Regina, is it? Yes?
Speaker 2 (22:23):
What was that?
Speaker 1 (22:24):
Regina?
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Winnipeg's in Manitoba, Regina's in Saskatchewan.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
It is, but it's the same like road. Yeah, you
go down this road. I just part of it is
everybody likes you go Winnipeg, Regina.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
That's how it's pronounced.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
It's Regina, Calgary or Calgary which is over now Berta.
Speaker 7 (22:46):
It's like a two and a half hour drive according
to Google Maps, two and a half hour drive.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
From Winnipeg to Regina. How many times can I get
in Regina into the show.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Okay, So Regina is due west of Winnipeg, Yes, and
Grand Forks is basically due south of west.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Yes. And then there's Lake Winnipeg, which looks gigantic, probably
beautiful in the summer.
Speaker 6 (23:10):
I've been meaning to get up to that that Banf.
Is it called Bam Bam Banf. It's that lake that's
like crystal blue clear Blue band National.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
I think it's Banff.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Where is what's Also it's very close to Lake Manitoba
as well. Lake Manitoba Manitoba.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Pipe still frozen up there in Manitoba about this time
of year.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Probably probably no, Sammy, what do you got?
Speaker 7 (23:39):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (23:40):
They make it snow.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
It's like we are the we are teenage boys.
Speaker 6 (23:45):
They I I I remember, I remember listening to some
news piece and they're like, our pipes are frozen half
the year, that's what they say. But sure it gets
very nice up there. But a little buggy in Alaska
gets buggy, and a lot of those bugs they just
sort of laid dormant for a while. Uh big price here, guys.
My love of the weekend was Caitlin Clark's return to
Iowa City with the Fever playing the Brazilian national team
(24:07):
that I assume did not have any of its real
stars because they're probably with their respective WNBA teams. So
it was not a good game, but it was a
lot of fun too, especially before the game started. A
lot of people there. It was a sellout, you know,
tickets sold out real fast. And again, not a great game.
(24:27):
It was like one oh six. It was a sixty
point beat down. But Kaitlyn Clark had some fun shots.
She had a thirty six footer which made it like
ninety to thirty three or something. So it was fun
for three quarters and then you know, it was a
good time.
Speaker 7 (24:41):
Though any of you guys know what the uh? I
don't know what do you call it? The theme of this
year is for the WNBA because last year was more
than a moment. The alliteration was appreciated, but it was
also kind of a shot at Caitlin Clark. You know,
this league is more than this moment, And what's the
(25:02):
theme this year?
Speaker 2 (25:04):
I got nothing continuing the moment.
Speaker 7 (25:05):
We admit it was just a moment. Do you think
that's the theme?
Speaker 2 (25:10):
I think it's just them. I think it's just the
two of us, because again, there were two people who
rose the game of women's basketball, not one, there were two,
so just the two of us. I think.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Sam, that was Sam? What about you, Jase?
Speaker 7 (25:27):
Do Russell Westbrook? And I know every listener right now
is like banging on their dashboard because I used Russell
Westbrook as my love just two weeks ago. I don't
mean to be redundant, but he keeps doing fun things.
I'm gonna say this again, Doug has an issue with
him as a coach, and he probably is a very
flawed basketball player. But I don't know if there's anyone
(25:50):
that I go out of my way to watch more
than Westbrook. So that's something like.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
You'd rather watch him than Step Yeah.
Speaker 7 (25:58):
The energy, that the way he disrupts. I know that's
a trigger word for the left. Now he's a disruptor.
He's a disruptor, but he's so fun to watch. Like again,
you could always bring energy, effort, and hustle to a
game and he he encapulates, capsulates that.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
I think on the heels of that, And Doug, I
don't know if you can appreciate this or not from
your coaching position.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
I can't appreciate anything.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
Well, you don't know what I'm gonna say, but there
are people who like college sports more than pros because
it's not as clean, Like there's a there's an up
and down with that, and I think, like with Russell Westbrook,
there's also the good and the bad with it. Isn't
that appealing as well? Like when was it? I can't
remember the game exactly, but wasn't there a game where
(26:45):
he missed the layup threw the ball away at the end,
Like you're waiting for that moment, And I think that
can't appeal to people. I don't know, Jason, if that's
your exact thing, but some people like college because, yeah,
it's eighteen to nine year olds. They're not perfect, They're
gonna make mistakes.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
I don't think that's why people like college, but I
do understand what you're saying.
Speaker 6 (27:04):
No, there are that is. I'm not saying that's the
only right to hear Dan on that one. There are some.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
People who prefer the college game to say watching the
pros because it isn't perfect, It isn't as clean, it's flawed. Yes, so.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
It's very natural as opposed to like eighties on natural,
as opposed to women. Now what we're talking.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
About, you just feel like you don't know what's going
to happen. There's more drama because the unthinkable could happen
because they're not maybe maybe as it's just not as
perfect as clean, unpolished, unpolished.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
I mean, I I don't know how you couldn't love
the Warriors and the and the win last night and
watching Steph Curry and it did just trigger the what
what happened with the Olympics last year with the four
straight threes? Right where in that game he didn't play
well and then you get to the fourth quarter and
(27:57):
all of a sudden, he hits these four straight threes,
like well, okay, And last night I thought he played well,
played a good floor game, but didn't score well, and
then all of a sudden, just a barrage of points
and assists and it was incredible. I loved every second
of that game and just a way in which they
(28:18):
handled the pressure of the moment and smiled through it. Yes,
Draymond Green can be an annoying player. I totally get it.
But his a younger, more annoying, annoying version of him
was on the other side, So it made Draymond, for
whatever reason, less annoying. Yes, let's get the way he
hated from the weekend. A resident hater is other than
(28:41):
Jason Stewart, who will begin Jase Tuo.
Speaker 7 (28:47):
I saw this over the weekend. I know this was
growing through last week, but the news on this item,
and Dan probably has all the details on this, he
was hosting shows all weekend. But I want to say
that Abdull Harder from Penn State either asked for phil
Simms number eleven or phil Simms offered it, and then
there was a discussion within the family and they're like, no,
(29:08):
we don't want to give the rookie our number. It's retired.
The keyword is retired. This was after Abdua Carter asked
Lawrence Taylor for number fifty six and was rejected. Well done.
You know what, I'm going to shove a lot of
this take and just save it for in the bonus.
It just speaks to how gen z is. I was
(29:31):
having a dinner with a couple over the weekend, and
their couple was The couple was bemoaning the fact that
their sixteen year old didn't want to use the same
starter car that their eighteen year old did. He wanted
a better car, he wanted a different car. And the
reason shouldn't you want to make me happy? And that's
what Abdua Carter's thing is. Gen Z is all about
(29:53):
their own happiness as opposed to thinking of what happened
before them or what's happening around them. It's about meat
and this is a great example of that.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
I I I think it's disrespectful to the guys that
were really good Giants as well in terms of Okay,
I'm better than than justin talking Michael Strahan O Cumanora
like I'm already past them. I'm at LT's level. It's absurd.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
No, you should have a couple of good years, like
a couple of incredible years, And people go like, man,
maybe you should. You know, I'm all for the Hey,
best linebacker on the Giants wearing fifty six if they're
anywhere near the level of LT. But like, dude, you
just got drafted.
Speaker 6 (30:41):
I'd like to introduce a new word to our common
vernacular or lexicon, gen z. You say, hey, that's gen
z like gen z, but it's jens. That's a little
gen z, gen zing, gen z, jensing, gen.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Z jen sing still a thing. You still take that
for energy? Yeah, I mean, you know what I'm back,
and I took it in high school, and I didn't
take it in college, and it wasn't as good as
shooting basketball in college. It was high school. Maybe it's
the gen sing Is gen singh still a thing?
Speaker 7 (31:10):
I don't know if it is. I think I just
got a call on the hotline from Metres. The gen
Singh is still a thing.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
I think you can go to GNC to get some
gin sing. I feel like any open field in Wisconsin,
like in two thousand and and maybe nineteen nineties, was all, oh,
they're putting gensing in gensing field. Oh, actually like raise
it as a crop. Yeah, you grow it?
Speaker 6 (31:32):
Yeah, yes, it goes into like energy drinks.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
Very popular back in the day. I don't see as
many Jensen fields are out.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
No, the fields are filled up with a different sort
of herbal substance.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Maybe.
Speaker 6 (31:42):
But if a kid is doing something gen Z could
say that's gen Z Gen's new word.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Okay, thank you? Was that part of your things? You
hate it from the Weekend?
Speaker 6 (31:49):
No, but he's got other contributions to the show. Doug,
you just wait, Oh, perhaps we'd like to start with Dan.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Go ahead, Dan, So Doug, you weren't privy to this
group to because you weren't privy to this conversation about
Christopher Cross and yacht rock in the and the the
genre that we've had over the last over the weeks. Sorry,
And it was Christopher Cross's birthday on Saturday, turned seventy
(32:19):
four years old.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
I had an idea, why was I not privy to that?
I love yacht rock.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
But you're not. You weren't in on our conversations because
you're in Green Bay and we're here in southern California.
So that's why. So Sam sends a picture of the
Christopher Cross tweet saying many thanks for all the birthday wishes.
Sam goes, weren't you guys talking about this dude?
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Like the disrespect, the disrespect of Chris Cross.
Speaker 6 (32:42):
Got this dude, you say Chriss Cross. I think of
the I think of that Joe that.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
We don't say because you're kissing, we say Christopher Cross
with their pants on. That's it's Christopher Cross. We didn't
say Chriss Cross. And so you're disrespect to I wasn't
privy to his work. I didn't know it was.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
Like dude, Like, Heyross a dude, he's a dude.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
He's a very gen z. Yeah it is gen z,
I said, but we agree. Listen.
Speaker 6 (33:13):
I saw this on social media and then I photo
I photo grabbed it and I sent it to you guys.
So I actually was thinking of Christopher Cross, and I
was almost like trying to be hey, guys, look at
who I saw.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
Weren't you guys talking about him? Yeah, perfectly, But this dude,
he's just some random guy. He was a guitarist for Ringo.
Speaker 7 (33:33):
Saw the tweet, No, I thought it was very I
thought it was very dismissive, and I encourage I encouraged
Sam and our listeners to watch the yacht Rock documentary.
It explains just how big a deal Christopher Cross's debut
album was. It won like nine Grammys, It sold a
ton of units. It was an incredible like thing. It
(33:57):
was a phenomenon back in nineteen eighty. Is that what
it came out. Yeah, that didn't even include the Arthur's theme,
which that's another tangent. I have seen Arthur have seen that.
I don't remember the theme though, So I'm gonna I'm
gonna listen to.
Speaker 6 (34:10):
This Christopher Cross, the Duke, new Chris Cross Duke and
new this Chris Cross to him when.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
I get up, But then the moon and New York Dad.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
That seems more like my I can't rap.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
I'm not done yet, Sam.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
I haven't said although I want you to rap like Chris.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
Although, although I hate that you were hating on Christopher Cross,
I wasn't hating.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
I just didn't know about that. I wasn't born yet.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
Live through, okay, But just because you weren't born yet, it's.
Speaker 6 (34:41):
Like, Hey, I'm one who I love history and I
go back and listen to music all the way back
to forties. But I did not know about this Christopher Cross.
Speaker 7 (34:47):
Gentlemen, if you're keeping score at homes, Sam has like
five five straight things in this segment.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
I'm on a Robert Palmer binge right now. That's who
I've been listening. I did a great METROCS joke and
he just stepped all.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
He has no idea what you're talking about.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Go ahead and say it again. I missed it. I'm sorry.
Speaker 7 (35:02):
That's not worth it.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
It doesn't actually doesn't. What What did I hate? What
did I hate? I hate the Lebron James knee thing.
I just do. It reminded me we brought it. It
came out Friday, and I said it Friday. It reminds
me of when he lost the NBA Finals in his
last year with the Calves, and all of a sudden
he pops into the press conference and he's got like
(35:25):
a thumb thumbrace on. All of a sudden, it's like, oh, hey,
my thumb was hurt all along. You're like, dude, he's
that guy. He's I'm sorry, he's that guy, and uh,
like I get it. I believe he truly hurt his knee.
(35:46):
But now like, I'm not gonna go with the met
Gala because my knee hurts so bad. Like what you
can't put on a you can't put on a tucks.
I mean, what exactly what athletic and ever is there?
And walking up the steps at the met Gala?
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Come on, man, he could have made the knee brace.
Speaker 6 (36:05):
He could have used the knee brace and made it
like really glitzy, you know, like everyone shows up the
metal brings to.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
The knee brace, over.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
Over the pants, diamonds on it. You mean, did Claire
Huxtable hurt her toe and then she had her style
off with Cliff and they did this show and her
cast was all dressed up in emeralds and root lights. Yeah,
very good, I remember that.
Speaker 7 (36:28):
I do like how Lebron's tweet today said that his
wife will still be there. Oh cool. So we all
know who is going to be asked by the photographers.
Who is that the most tonight.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
Unless someone is dressed so absurdly that we don't know
who they are. I get what you're saying. There are
a lot of steps to climb, though. In Lebron's defense
as well, there.
Speaker 1 (36:57):
Are a lot of steps to climb, no question. But
I mean somehow I think he would survive it right somehow,
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Speaker 5 (37:17):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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Speaker 1 (37:26):
It's the Doug at Gottlieb Show. It's Fox Sports Radio.
So uh, I'm trying to think. When the news, I
feel like it was Saturday, or maybe it was Friday.
After the show, it came out to Lebron James had
a spraying mcl and had they won against the Timberwolves,
(37:49):
he wouldn't have been able to play the rest of
the series anyway because the knee injury. And you know,
people go back and they show the video after he
collided with Dante DiVincenzo and they're like, yeah, he was fine,
and then after the game he was limping some when
he was in street clothes and Sibby's walking out, and
(38:12):
then today he tweets out, Unfortunately, because of my knee
injury I sustained at the end of the season, I
won't be able to attend the met Gala in New
York tonight, as so many people have been asking and
congratulating me on hate to miss a historical event. My beautiful,
powerful Queen will be there holding the castle down as
she always has done. That's from Lebron James. So everyone
(38:36):
remembers the fable of the Boy who Cried Wolf, right,
the boy who cried Wolf, and Lebron James earlier in
the series against the Timberwolves acted like he got hit
in the face, had both hands over his face like
he got hit, and then the camera caught him peeking
with his right eye to see if he got a call.
(38:59):
We've all seen it right by. Are you seeing that?
Speaker 2 (39:02):
I'm looking at it right now as we speak. Yes,
it's become a meme.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
It as it should. It is, and so here's that.
Here's the thing. It's like we were taught this as kids.
Boy who cried wolf, and when there's really a wolf,
we don't believe you. And I think you know how
the fab winds. Do I think Lebron James is legitimately hurt? Yeah,
(39:27):
I think he's actually I think he's injured. I think
there's a Do I think he would have played? I
do think he would have played, And I honestly think
part of the I can't go to the Met gala
because I sprained my knee. Honestly, stop stop now now
(39:51):
I'm more than rolling my eyes. Now I'm cackling and
I'm laughing at you. You can't go to the Met
game even if you just you know, I've torn my ACL,
You tear your ACL, you could walk, You're fine a walk? Right.
The MCL is the medial collateral ligament, like it's he
(40:16):
didn't have his leg amputated. He was not. He didn't
tear his achilles tendon. He had a sprain, a Grade
two sprain of the mcl A sprain, by the way,
is a partial tear. But again, I do think he's hurt.
Do I think he's injured to the extent that he
(40:37):
can't go to the met Gala? Stop it right now?
Stop it right now. It's the Doug Gottlieb Show here
on Fox Sports Radio. It's a Monday, it's playoff season.
It's Rick Buker time. Buke joins us here on the
Doug Gottlieb Show. Of course, you see you on Fox
Sports One. You read his work at Fox sports dot com.
Where to begin, Let's start at the end and work
(40:59):
back to the early part of the weekend. Where have
I seen this before? The Warriors going to Houston and
beat the Rockets. Obviously very different coaches, very different style
from when it happened previously, but the same result and
kind of in weird fashion, right Staph barely scores early
in the game, and then late in the game he
takes over Buddy healed ends up with nine threes, you know,
(41:22):
nine threes, and the Warriors boat raced the Rockets in
the fourth quarter. Your lasting takeaway from that game is
what rebuker.
Speaker 8 (41:36):
I mean, ultimately, that Game seven experience matters, and I
don't care where you're playing that game. I know a
lot of people felt like the Houston Rockets they were young,
but hey, you get Game seven on your home floor,
facing that pressure for the first time as key pieces
of that team in alphren S Gone and Jalen Green,
(41:57):
who had already demonstrated that the playoffs leveling up, that
they weren't quite ready for that. And then you take
it into a Game seven where Steve Kerr relied on
his veterans and that's why Buddy Heal Healed was there
and the Rockets over emphasized stopping Steph and Steph knew
(42:22):
enough had enough experience. I think a lesser player or
someone not quite experienced is not getting the looks that
they want or missus some early shots and they would
begin to press and and he didn't do that. He said,
I'm going to absorb all of the attention and I'm
going to trust that Buddy held being wide open, is
(42:43):
going to be able to knock down shots, and that
the rest of the team collectively, I'm going to do
I'm going to do my part defensively and h and
then at some point they're gonna weaken because they're not
gonna be able to do this for they're not gonna
be able to do it. As long as I can
do it, I'm I'm just gonna wait for my opening.
And that's exactly what he did, and so it required
(43:05):
other guys stepping up. But a lot of this is
built over the course of the season. You know, it's
it's the Warriors culture, and they're unflagging belief. Even now
with with Jonathan Kaminga for everything that's going on, they've
done everything possible to still try to make him feel
like it's this. You know, it's unfortunate. This isn't on you.
(43:29):
It's just the circumstances that you're not playing, even though
I would say it's on him that he's not playing.
But they never they never throw anybody overboard, and that's
such a rare thing, and as a result, they squeeze
the absolute most out of whatever they have on the roster,
and that's what got them through against the Rockets.
Speaker 1 (43:51):
Okay, I asked this. I asked this question to start
the show, and I understand that Lebron's team getting swept,
and you know, LA for the most part has not
been a stunnic success. But he is four years old.
And you know, if you're not a hater and you're
just a realist, like for forty is still predamn good. Sure,
(44:14):
but uh, and he's had I think how I would
word it is you could argue where he stand where
he stands all time, and we can have a great
argument about it. But I don't think you can argue
in terms of the length of dominance in his career
is unlike anything we've ever seen, right, Like, it's just
(44:34):
remarkable how long he's been able to be essentially, you know,
from anywhere from the best to whatever he is this
year the twentieth twenty fifth best player in the NBA.
Like he's in conversations of a top thirty player at
forty years old, and he's probably a little better than that. Right,
So no, you can't argue with that. But I guess
here's the question, right, and he went to does he
(44:55):
go to ninth straight finals or ten straight finals or something?
Speaker 8 (44:59):
Yeah, there was ten, but.
Speaker 1 (45:01):
It was crazy, right, it is crazy, And so we
can say whatever we want about the Eastern Conference being
inferior to the Western Conference. Still every single year he
was there. But if you were to ask NBA people,
I'll just ask you Steph or Lebron. There's suddenly becomes
(45:23):
some who's the greatest of all time conversation. I don't
think that's the appropriate one. But if I'm honest with myself,
who would I rather have on my franchise for the
life of their career? Who would be?
Speaker 8 (45:38):
Oh? For me, it's Steph Curry without question. And it's
because of the culture that he creates and his ability
to be great wherever you put him on the scale.
And it's a little bit of what I talked about,
you know, and there beating the rockets, and that he
gets the most out of he makes room for for
(46:00):
everyone around him, and and and just has a spirit
and a belief about him that I don't think that
you can put a price tag on that. Guys love
playing with him, they love working with him, They believe
in him above and beyond, you know, for all that
(46:20):
Lebron is, and as great as he is, it's amazing
how I'm not sure that he engenders the same confidence
and belief in his teammates that if we can just
get this, if we do our jobs, you know, Lebron
is going to find a way to get the job done,
as opposed to, you know, whether he does or not,
(46:43):
the unflagging belief that everyone I've seen play with Steph
believes if we just if we do our jobs, that's
going to find a way. That little magician. We don't
know how he does it, but that little magician is
going to find a way to win this game. And
not that he always has or always does, but he
has this unflagging confidence in himself and figuring it out,
(47:06):
and as a result, his teams do as well. And
I think that that is at the heart of it.
What's what's difficult with Lebron is that because he has
moved around and his excellence or his uniqueness is is
just different because of the way that he's done it.
(47:28):
You know, he's I don't the fact that he has
gone to three different franchises and he's utilized his leverage
and power to have those teams shape the way he
wants some shape, Like I admire that that that's that's
utilizing your power and your influence. And by the way,
(47:48):
it is nine to nine consecutive because the seven run
was separate from all the other ones. But I I
just in terms of I guess I look at it
if I were wanting to be part of a team,
you know, what's the culture and the group that I
(48:10):
would most want to be with, you know, and being
around Death and the warriors and seeing the impact and
the environment that he has always created, the spirit that
he's created. It it goes to like, yeah, you can win,
you know what, you can win and be miserable, and
(48:32):
you can lose and feel like, you know, what we
did the best that we could. We got the most
out of what we are. You can come away somehow,
you know, satisfied as opposed to winning and hating it.
And I think that you know, there are times where
where winning with Lebron wasn't always that. You know, guys
(48:56):
were making sacrifices and they were willing to do it
because they wanted to win. But there's there's just something
different about what what Steph creates an engender. So and
again the other part is that's gonna let me do
my job, Like Lebron's not gonna tell me what to do.
If it's my team and I'm running it. Steph trusts
(49:20):
the people around him and says, you know what, I'll
take care of my end, you take care of yours,
and we'll and we'll meet, we'll meet in the middle.
I just that's why I would never want to be
a GM that has Lebron James, because if we lose,
it's gonna be my fault.
Speaker 1 (49:37):
And if we win, everybody's fault but his. That that's
that's my biggest issue is it's everybody's fault but his. Yeah,
you know, and and.
Speaker 8 (49:47):
He and he doesn't do anything like it's one thing
for his fans and people around him to to try
to make that argument.
Speaker 9 (49:55):
But Lebron does nothing, absolutely nothing cake responsibility or to
to to take to reduce that that idea that he
somehow above.
Speaker 1 (50:11):
What is that? What is that about?
Speaker 8 (50:16):
I mean, I mean from him.
Speaker 1 (50:18):
From him, from him, from his side, because because the
most powerful thing you know, obviously coaches do it all
the time. You know when when and I buye by
this philosophy, when you lose, you make it about yourself.
When you win, you make it about the players. Right,
but the the and and I do understand that when
(50:38):
you're as good as quickly when you get in the
NBA and never really there is no real adversity. There's
no major injury, there was no need to go to college,
there was no nothing like his first game, I think
he had thirty against the Kings, right, so you're immediately
but the just the reading of a room that every
once in a while you go, hey, my bad, I
(50:59):
wasn't good enough tonight. You've never heard him say that
when they've been eliminated. Ever.
Speaker 8 (51:05):
Well, if I'm not mistaken, was it thirty and they
lost or twenty eight and they lost?
Speaker 1 (51:10):
Yeah, And so it was.
Speaker 8 (51:14):
The you know, it was the celebration of Lebron James
getting twenty eight and losing. And so I think someone
that is the culture that was created around him, which
was he was you know, he was the chosen one
from the very beginning. And so if there is any
I mean, how can you blame the chosen one? Especially
(51:37):
if the numbers look good? How could it be his call?
And then you know, I mean I put my doctor
phil hat on. You know, I do think there's there's
always been a certain degree of insecurity that I've seen
in Lebron. You know, he's always looking for the cameras
and he's always always one thing was crafted in a
(52:01):
certain way, and I can't you know, at some point
everybody kind of grows out of that. And I just
have gotten the sense that he he never really did.
He never got to a place where, you know, we
all we all accept our frailty, right, we all accept
that we're I mean, look, he's still saying I'm good
(52:21):
as I ever was, and I'm like, dude, no you're not.
You're like, that's an insult to what you were at
your peak. And why do we have like, why do
you feel compelled to say that? I mean that Curry
doesn't even suggest that, and and he has as much
(52:41):
you know again it probably has as much ability to
say that and make a case for it. But he
knows better as we all do. So it is one
of the more perplexing things about about Lebron and that,
you know, I just I don't know that the way
he's approached things and opted thing and view things as
(53:02):
and operator has has changed over these some twenty two years.
Speaker 1 (53:07):
Really quickly got about a minute left. Uh. The Nuggets
absolutely based the Clippers. So much of the discussion on
radio TV is about the Clippers shouldn't be about the Nuggets.
Speaker 8 (53:18):
It certainly should be about the the their their chalverging,
their their season. You know a lot of people were
hyper critical about when they when they fired Mike Malone
and and how they did it, and you know, you
can debate all that, but the reality was, anybody who's
around that team knew that if they were to have
(53:39):
any chance of doing anything, I don't know that they
win the series if if they don't make the change
and they put the onus on the players and they're
playing with h you know, in a way that reminds
me of their their championship run. I don't think that
they have enough to repeat, but the collective effort and
(54:01):
the chemistry has certainly has has improved. They're they're they're
showing me their championship medal once again.
Speaker 1 (54:09):
You are the best. Really appreciate your time. We'll talk
next Monday. Thanks for our guest.
Speaker 8 (54:13):
Thank you,
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlieb
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
three to five Eastern twelve two Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
Find your local station for The Doug Gottlieb Show at
Foxsports Radio dot com, or stream us live every day
on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR Boom. What Up America.
Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio Coming to you from
(00:25):
Parts Unknown. No, I'm kidding from our Fox Sports Radio studios. Hey,
welcome in. You know, I think this is it's interesting.
You know, there's so many people who have so many
negative things to say about the NBA and that you're like,
all right, well did you actually you know, did you
(00:47):
actually watch the NBA playoffs? Well? No, but you know,
the NBA is so this is so that like, I
don't know, maybe it's because you guys know how I
feel about basketball kind of my favorite sport, and maybe
it's because of recency bias. I don't know why it is,
(01:09):
but I think the basketball has been great, especially in
the important parts of it, in that it's been great
because yes, you have the storylines in the drama, but
you also have these historically significant figures that either perform
or don't perform when it matters most. I remember being
(01:33):
at Game one of the Warriors versus the Calves with
kd's first year, and Lebron was unbelievable in the first
half of Game one, just like he was unbelievable in
the first half of most that entire series, and yet
(01:53):
he struggled in the second half. And Kevin Durant, I
think it was Game three in Cleveland, or made it
his Game four in clean when he hit that kind
of dagger pull up jump jump shot in transition. And
one of the things that I think Kevin Durant has
struggled with and the reason that he this is where
(02:14):
Kevin Durant started moving around the country to different teams,
was he thought he was the best player on earth.
He beat Lebron James, and we created this narrative about
Kevin Durant. You're like, well, he joined a seventy three
win team, Like, no, he didn't. First of all, the
seventy three win team.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
That's great.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
That team didn't win a championship, so it's not anywhere
near anywhere capable of being considered the greatest team ever,
but he didn't join a seventy three win team because
they had to make changes and they parted ways with
Harrison Barnes and others and kind of remade themselves. Right,
(02:55):
Andrew Bogan wasn't on that team, and you're like, oh,
why was Andrew Bogut important? If you looked at their fall,
their collapse from being up three games to one against
the Calves, it coincided with Andrew Bogan being out for
the series due to injury. So he was a great passer,
a great screener, and a tremendous defender, and he was
(03:16):
part of the seventy three wins, but he wasn't part
of when they lost up three games to one because
of injury, and he wasn't part of that next team.
The point is that if you want to really get
down to it and brass tacks, Kevin Loves going to
be a Hall of Famer, Kyrie Irving's going to be
a Hall of Famer. Lebron James is going down, by
some people's estimation, greatest player of all time. And then
(03:39):
you compare that to the Warriors, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant,
Steph Curry, and again, if you want to go, Hey,
Draymond's better than Tristan Thompson in his prime. All agree
with you as a passer, but you make the argument
Tristan a better rebounder. The sides were not that different.
(04:00):
The difference was KD was the best player on the court.
And I bring up KD being the best player on
the court because we made excuses for Lebron at the time.
Hey they just have a better team. Hey he still scored.
But the difference to me was it's always what you
do in the fourth quarter. So fast forward to last
(04:23):
night and I'm watching the Warriors take down the Rockets,
and for whatever reason, I know the coach is different,
the players are different. I actually think im Adoka does it. Really.
I think it's a tremendous coach. I think their team
is okay, it's young, but they're not great. They got
(04:44):
a lot out of that crew. But I thought Steph,
I thought Steve Kerr's defensive tactics and what they were
doing was outstanding. They change up some offensive things and
put different players in different spots of some of their
same offensive sets. It was brilliant and staph was scoreless
for much of the first half. Right, and yet in
(05:05):
the fourth quarter, Steph Curry takes over and the Warriors
boat race the Rockets, they win the series, and they
move on. So Steph was great in the fourth quarter,
and I know he hadn't been great at times in
NBA Finals into their last NBA Championship where he was
finally Finals MVP. So I use that as a jumping
off point. And here's the question. I kind of asked
(05:27):
it on social media and welcome in. Dan Byer heard
you hosting yesterday. I was driving around. I was driving
from Dallas to Oklahoma City with my son playing an
AU tournament, and I was listening to you guys yesterday,
and I don't think anybody who if you catch your breath,
you go, hey, Steph Curry's an amazing player. You could
make the argument he changed basketball. I don't think anyone
(05:51):
would say he's the greatest player of all time. I
just don't because though he's tougher than he looks, and
he does make defensive plays, they've had to hide him defensively,
and he's gotten better and better. He's good, but I mean,
like he's not. Michael Jordan was a great defensive player.
Lebron James was a great defensive player in his prime.
They're not. They weren't at the end. But so I'm
(06:15):
not making the argument Steph Curry is a better player
than Lebron James. What I would make the argument, and
I'd love your eads feedback. Here's the argument, Steph Curry is,
and I live through the Kobe era, and we and
I got to be friends with Kobe and end up
growing to really really like and appreciate Kobe. I didn't
(06:38):
love Kobe as a player for a long time, not
because he wasn't tough and smart, but he could be selfish,
he could be ornery, he could be a bad teammate,
and he wasn't terribly efficient. He was a little bit
of a shot out of the past. But he was
incredibly successful and tough, and that there's parts I did
love about him, but I don't. I don't think that
(07:00):
Kobe ever got to level that Steph's at, nor Lebron.
I don't know he's been right there. The enjoyable or
can't miss nature of a Steph Curry game is unlike
anything you've ever seen. And I think that they both
(07:22):
have four titles right. Obviously, Lebron went on a run
of what nine straight finals appearances. Like we can make
an argument about Lebron and when he's clutch and makes
the big shot, whatever, but the consistency of success was remarkable. Remarkable.
But if you ask yourself honestly, wouldn't you rather have
(07:44):
Steph for this career than Lebron for this career? And
this is me admitting that Lebron's a better player. I
mean I said this on social media and people go crazy,
like Kevin Rant was the best player on that team.
If we think back to even when they lost to
(08:05):
the Toronto Raptors, right, they were kind of doing nothing
in that series. Then Kad comes in and all of
a sudden, the game he tours Achilles Tenon in. He
was the best player on the court, with Kawhi Leonard,
with Klay Thompson, with Steph Curry guy, and he was
the best player. It wasn't really close. And I know
that the best player doesn't mean you just score the
most points. But for Staph, he doesn't affect the game
(08:29):
much defensively and kd and affected it more defensively at
the time. But I think it's one I don't know.
My argument would be He's the most thrilling watch since
Michael Jordan. And two, I think I'd rather have the
(08:50):
Steph Curry experience even if there wasn't the same consistency
of success, then I would the Lebron James experience.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
What do you think, Dan, it's pretty heavy Doug in
what you're saying, and I don't want to put poo it,
but I would take Lebron James. Okay, I just think
the grand scope of it. I just I think that
there has been so much on lebronze shoulders from day one,
and to see what he is, I guess risen to
(09:24):
the level of even surpassing expectations. Yes, I don't think
that that's something that Steph had to deal with, and
I still would. I think your points are valid. I
see everything that you're saying, but I still would take
Lebron in that.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Listen and part of the benefit of what Steph gets
is and your subtle go through this when he starts
playing youth basketball, right, which is the big guy always
gets all the fouls called on him right and gets
no benefit of doubt, whereas the littlest guy, the scrappiest
guy right gets got to get away with murder, right,
(10:03):
and because Steph Curry was the classic underdog story that
some of his flaws, I mean, no, WA's perfect, we
overlook you know, we're like, ah, eh, he's not great defensively,
but he's better than he used to be, right, Like,
where's Lebron James was an unbelievable defensive player? The Chase
(10:24):
down block is the Lebron block, but Lebron James because
he's six eight six nine, two hundred and sixty pounds,
he looks like, I don't know what a basketball player
is supposed to look like, but that seems like if
you point out, like basketblay, like let's start there, right,
looks like a Greek god. I think some of that
hurts him, right because we think, like we were taught
(10:46):
as kids, you're the biggest guy, good other and score
in the post. Right, That's not who he is as
a player, and we do because there's a recency bias
of losing here again early with the Lakers, that at
forty years old, that we hold it against him when
we forget the nine straight NBA Finals, Like, nine straight
NBA Finals appearances is ridiculous, ridiculous, And until he got
(11:10):
to la. He never got hurt. Ever, it was crazy.
So you're not wrong, right, Like, as a player, you would,
I just here's when when we were losing the season,
you're like, oh, you're lost. Like no, when we were
in the losing streak, we would before every game, you know,
(11:34):
you'd tell the guys like, play with joy, just play
with joy. And then you know, game starts and calls
Starkle on your way and you start. You know, it's
hard to keep it play with joy. But he's done that,
Like he's kind of brought that to basketball, and it's
just a fun watch, whereas it can be a heavy
(11:55):
watch when it's Lebron's.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Like, yesh, yeah, I get it. Yeah I think. I
don't and I don't even think. And this may be
a Chris Rock, this is what you're supposed to do.
But the way that Steph's body is physically changed throughout
(12:17):
his career, again, probably that should happen. But you know,
he's not scrawny Steph from Davidson anymore, like and he's
not Lebron big obviously, but I think that he's done
a really good job in keeping himself. Obviously, I don't
know physically relevant if that's I just made up a term,
(12:41):
but I mean he's really done it and it's allowed him,
i think, to continue to play at this level for
as long as he has as well.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Here's his head coach, Steve Kerr on Steph's impact.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
I thought Steph was brilliant tonight. I know he got
off to a slow start shooting the ball, but the
whole key to the game was taking care of the
ball and he managed the game beautifully and you know
it's just a matter of time before his shot goes in.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
But the reason we had the eleven.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Point lead at half or whatever it was twelve was
because of the way Steph took care of the ball,
got us into our offense and settled the game down.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
He's Steph himself. Here's here's first. I'm talking about how
they're able to win the game.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
A lot of resilience, everybody stepping up.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Everybody's been talking about.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
Our team, and last you know, two games, it turns
our execution, energy.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
All that.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
We kind of blocked it all out and just understood
we had forty eight minutes to you know, dig deep.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Everybody contribute.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
Our defense was to hold them under ninety after how
the last few games gone.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
That was it.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Buddy Heel, unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
Jimmy's some big time shots, Draymond playing way bigger than
the size.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Everybody stepped up was great, the great to see. Here's Stephan.
He had this exchange about his reputation.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
You've won five series now in Houston. What you think
your reputation is in the city.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
I'm a winner, winter, powerful, powerful. I just again like
we're going to look back when we're older. And I
did hear your your your take on us being too
harsh on James Harden and other guys yesterday, And we
are going to look back and go like, man, that
(14:18):
was pretty cool when we had those guys playing. Like
when they're done playing, the talent is going to be better.
This is we are going to go through and probably
not for a year or two, probably like two years away.
Like people don't remember early two thousands basketball, that was
Bird and Magic went away and then it was Jordan
(14:42):
right and once but it was Bird, Magic, Isaiah Thomas,
Julius Irving. But then you had Jordan, Yeah, you had Barkley,
had other guys. But when Jordan went away, there was
that stretch and there was great players. Alan Iverson's a
great talent, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, Young, Tim Duncan, Young Shack,
(15:06):
Young Kobe. But it wasn't. These guys are special, unique, different.
I do think that we are gonna take it for
granted they what they are like in these moments when
they're no longer playing in the in the NBA. But
the step thing, I do wonder if I'm prisoner of
the moment. But part of it is like, man, that
(15:29):
was unbelievable to watch, to watch him just manage the game,
kind of game manage, you know, like Trent dil for
handing the ball off for three quarters and then all
of a sudden step back, three whush, another three whosh,
he posts up and scores. Have you ever seen Steph
Curry pote like nope, but apparently he can do it right.
(15:50):
And then the one more pass at the end to
Buddy Heal to seal the game was amazing.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
I do want to say this because I look at
and Doug when you're watching the game. I look at
stats and at some point I'm like, Okay, something's gonna
even out now. Last night it didn't for Buddy Healed,
and it really didn't for the Houston Rockets. But at
some point, you're saying yourself, because Houston wasn't hitting a
lot of their threes. They only shot thirty three percent,
(16:15):
only shot eighteen of them last night, but still they
weren't making a lot of them early on, and I thought, well,
at some point they're going to make shots. But then
the other side of that coin was, at some point
Steph's going to get his So what he had three
points at halftime, It felt like when they were going
on that run at the end of the first half
that he felt left out. So we needed to launch
a you know, a logo three to be able to
(16:37):
get in on the act to give them that separation
near near the end of the half. But then yeah,
then when the game's on the line, like to the
point of the stat thing in the fourth quarter, then
it's okay, Steph Curry's not going to finish with five
points or ten points or whatever it was entering the
fourth quarter. He's going to end up getting his, and
(16:58):
he did when they needed it to close out Game seven.
And that's that's pretty amazing because some guys, you know,
we talked about you mentioned James Harden, you know, there's
guys who maybe aren't getting things going early on, and
they won't get it going at the end. But at
some point you knew Steph was going to get his,
and he ended up getting his and sealing the deal
(17:18):
and they end up cruising to a double digit win.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
It was crazy. Doug Gottlep Show here on Fox Sports Tradler.
That's voice of Dan Bayer. You got to Jay stew
and of course from in Sam.
Speaker 5 (17:29):
This is the best of the Don gott Leap Show
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Hey, what up put you? Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports
Radio coming to you from the confines of Green Bay,
Wisconsin and Los Angeles, California. Welcome in Hope, you're doing great.
The Doug Gottlieb Show broadcast live every day. This is
year well it is eighteen eighteen in this time slot. Wow,
(17:57):
eighteen in this time slot. I've been I've been doing
this for a minute. Got a good second hour show
or mind of the podcast to be up at the
end of the show. Just type in Doug Gotley every
download podcast. You can get our podcast again, It's Doug
Gottliebever we get podcast and of course you can also
listen to us in the iHeartRadio app every Monday. We
do this, Okay, we bring in, We bring in different
(18:20):
perspectives of the world of sports, sometimes not even the
world of sports. Things we love from the weekend, Things
we hated the weekend. We call it love and hate.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
What did you love?
Speaker 1 (18:29):
God? I love you?
Speaker 2 (18:30):
And what did you hate?
Speaker 1 (18:31):
We need these player hay is love love, love, hate,
hate hate. We know who our resident hater is, our
resident lover? Well, that's one, Dan Bayer Dan, what'd you
love from the weekend?
Speaker 2 (18:47):
You guys ready for this? I'm gonna tell you something
that you may not have known were about uch stuff.
I cheer for Canadian teams in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
I want them to cup. I want a team to
win a Cup. I have said on the show before
that if I was a hockey fan, there's a pretty
(19:07):
good chance that'd probably be a Maple Leafs fan, the drought,
everything that comes with them. But I also have an
affinity for the six other teams, specifically the Winnipeg Jets,
and I'm so glad that Winnipeg got a team, you
know what a decade or so ago, and the Atlanta
Thrashers moved back to Winnipeg after they had previously left
(19:30):
for Phoenix. So the Winnipeg Jets are back and last night,
sorry Saint Louis, but to have Winnipeg score at home
in a Game seven with under two seconds left, the
force overtime, and then in double overtime to score the
(19:51):
game winner, have that placer up to see, I feel
like the NHL has been the I know Kansas City did.
It was soccer, but when you have the fans gather
on like a certain spot, I feel that's also been
like a kind of an NHL thing as well. They
were gathering in Winnipeg and you see them celebrating when
it's still light out, and you see him still there
(20:13):
three and a half hours later because it's in double
overtime and it's nighttime. But to see Winnipeg survive and
win Game seven when they were a second and a
half away from being eliminated amazing. And right now the
eight teams left, three are from Canada, so we'll see
(20:33):
if Edmonton, Winnipeg or Toronto can finish it off. But
I was I was very happy to see that. I
wanted Winnipeg to win that series and they rallied and
scored a couple of late goals, including the one with
the second left, and then won in and overtime.
Speaker 6 (20:48):
Cole Perfetti, Yep, he had the game tire no two goals.
No relation to Chris Purfett here at Fox Sports Radio. Yes,
just adds an eye on the end. You know, he
is not a huge guy. He's only about five eleven. No,
Cole Profetti kind of looks like a ball boy, but
very good hockey player, but not huge, not a big dude.
Speaker 7 (21:07):
I personally have love for Winnipeg boys. I personally have
love for Winnipeg. I spent a weekend there once shooting
a scene with Gina Gershaan for everything she ever wanted,
a mini series for a lifetime, you lucky dog. So
because of that experience, I root for Winnipeg.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Is it? Can we see that anywhere? Can we see
the clip on on YouTube? Or I'll send you guys
a quip right now. Okay, I'm told it was a
love scene.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (21:36):
If you don't like it or reshare it, then I'll
just assume you hated it.
Speaker 6 (21:42):
Oh well, I'm a geography guy. I love geography. That's
actually my major in college. But I don't know where
Winnipeg is.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Winnipeg is basically like, do you know where Grand Forks,
North Dakota is Fargo North?
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Sure?
Speaker 7 (21:55):
Sure?
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Like Grand Forks is north fo do north straight north? Yeah? Okay.
My buddy based in the Air Force in Grand Forks
for a while. He goes they'd go up to Winnipeg
and party because the drinking age there was eighteen back
in the day. Okay, I've been to Ontario and I've
been to Toronto one time.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Far How far drive is it from Grand Forks?
Speaker 2 (22:15):
I don't know. I didn't I didn't make the drive myself.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
But it's on the road to Regina, is it? Yes?
Speaker 2 (22:23):
What was that?
Speaker 1 (22:24):
Regina?
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Winnipeg's in Manitoba, Regina's in Saskatchewan.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
It is, but it's the same like road. Yeah, you
go down this road. I just part of it is
everybody likes you go Winnipeg, Regina.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
That's how it's pronounced.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
It's Regina, Calgary or Calgary which is over now Berta.
Speaker 7 (22:46):
It's like a two and a half hour drive according
to Google Maps, two and a half hour drive.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
From Winnipeg to Regina. How many times can I get
in Regina into the show.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Okay, So Regina is due west of Winnipeg, Yes, and
Grand Forks is basically due south of west.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Yes. And then there's Lake Winnipeg, which looks gigantic, probably
beautiful in the summer.
Speaker 6 (23:10):
I've been meaning to get up to that that Banf.
Is it called Bam Bam Banf. It's that lake that's
like crystal blue clear Blue band National.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
I think it's Banff.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Where is what's Also it's very close to Lake Manitoba
as well. Lake Manitoba Manitoba.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Pipe still frozen up there in Manitoba about this time
of year.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Probably probably no, Sammy, what do you got?
Speaker 7 (23:39):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (23:40):
They make it snow.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
It's like we are the we are teenage boys.
Speaker 6 (23:45):
They I I I remember, I remember listening to some
news piece and they're like, our pipes are frozen half
the year, that's what they say. But sure it gets
very nice up there. But a little buggy in Alaska
gets buggy, and a lot of those bugs they just
sort of laid dormant for a while. Uh big price here, guys.
My love of the weekend was Caitlin Clark's return to
Iowa City with the Fever playing the Brazilian national team
(24:07):
that I assume did not have any of its real
stars because they're probably with their respective WNBA teams. So
it was not a good game, but it was a
lot of fun too, especially before the game started. A
lot of people there. It was a sellout, you know,
tickets sold out real fast. And again, not a great game.
(24:27):
It was like one oh six. It was a sixty
point beat down. But Kaitlyn Clark had some fun shots.
She had a thirty six footer which made it like
ninety to thirty three or something. So it was fun
for three quarters and then you know, it was a
good time.
Speaker 7 (24:41):
Though any of you guys know what the uh? I
don't know what do you call it? The theme of this
year is for the WNBA because last year was more
than a moment. The alliteration was appreciated, but it was
also kind of a shot at Caitlin Clark. You know,
this league is more than this moment, And what's the
(25:02):
theme this year?
Speaker 2 (25:04):
I got nothing continuing the moment.
Speaker 7 (25:05):
We admit it was just a moment. Do you think
that's the theme?
Speaker 2 (25:10):
I think it's just them. I think it's just the
two of us, because again, there were two people who
rose the game of women's basketball, not one, there were two,
so just the two of us. I think.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Sam, that was Sam? What about you, Jase?
Speaker 7 (25:27):
Do Russell Westbrook? And I know every listener right now
is like banging on their dashboard because I used Russell
Westbrook as my love just two weeks ago. I don't
mean to be redundant, but he keeps doing fun things.
I'm gonna say this again, Doug has an issue with
him as a coach, and he probably is a very
flawed basketball player. But I don't know if there's anyone
(25:50):
that I go out of my way to watch more
than Westbrook. So that's something like.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
You'd rather watch him than Step Yeah.
Speaker 7 (25:58):
The energy, that the way he disrupts. I know that's
a trigger word for the left. Now he's a disruptor.
He's a disruptor, but he's so fun to watch. Like again,
you could always bring energy, effort, and hustle to a
game and he he encapulates, capsulates that.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
I think on the heels of that, And Doug, I
don't know if you can appreciate this or not from
your coaching position.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
I can't appreciate anything.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
Well, you don't know what I'm gonna say, but there
are people who like college sports more than pros because
it's not as clean, Like there's a there's an up
and down with that, and I think, like with Russell Westbrook,
there's also the good and the bad with it. Isn't
that appealing as well? Like when was it? I can't
remember the game exactly, but wasn't there a game where
(26:45):
he missed the layup threw the ball away at the end,
Like you're waiting for that moment, And I think that
can't appeal to people. I don't know, Jason, if that's
your exact thing, but some people like college because, yeah,
it's eighteen to nine year olds. They're not perfect, They're
gonna make mistakes.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
I don't think that's why people like college, but I
do understand what you're saying.
Speaker 6 (27:04):
No, there are that is. I'm not saying that's the
only right to hear Dan on that one. There are some.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
People who prefer the college game to say watching the
pros because it isn't perfect, It isn't as clean, it's flawed. Yes, so.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
It's very natural as opposed to like eighties on natural,
as opposed to women. Now what we're talking.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
About, you just feel like you don't know what's going
to happen. There's more drama because the unthinkable could happen
because they're not maybe maybe as it's just not as
perfect as clean, unpolished, unpolished.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
I mean, I I don't know how you couldn't love
the Warriors and the and the win last night and
watching Steph Curry and it did just trigger the what
what happened with the Olympics last year with the four
straight threes? Right where in that game he didn't play
well and then you get to the fourth quarter and
(27:57):
all of a sudden, he hits these four straight threes,
like well, okay, And last night I thought he played well,
played a good floor game, but didn't score well, and
then all of a sudden, just a barrage of points
and assists and it was incredible. I loved every second
of that game and just a way in which they
(28:18):
handled the pressure of the moment and smiled through it. Yes,
Draymond Green can be an annoying player. I totally get it.
But his a younger, more annoying, annoying version of him
was on the other side, So it made Draymond, for
whatever reason, less annoying. Yes, let's get the way he
hated from the weekend. A resident hater is other than
(28:41):
Jason Stewart, who will begin Jase Tuo.
Speaker 7 (28:47):
I saw this over the weekend. I know this was
growing through last week, but the news on this item,
and Dan probably has all the details on this, he
was hosting shows all weekend. But I want to say
that Abdull Harder from Penn State either asked for phil
Simms number eleven or phil Simms offered it, and then
there was a discussion within the family and they're like, no,
(29:08):
we don't want to give the rookie our number. It's retired.
The keyword is retired. This was after Abdua Carter asked
Lawrence Taylor for number fifty six and was rejected. Well done.
You know what, I'm going to shove a lot of
this take and just save it for in the bonus.
It just speaks to how gen z is. I was
(29:31):
having a dinner with a couple over the weekend, and
their couple was The couple was bemoaning the fact that
their sixteen year old didn't want to use the same
starter car that their eighteen year old did. He wanted
a better car, he wanted a different car. And the
reason shouldn't you want to make me happy? And that's
what Abdua Carter's thing is. Gen Z is all about
(29:53):
their own happiness as opposed to thinking of what happened
before them or what's happening around them. It's about meat
and this is a great example of that.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
I I I think it's disrespectful to the guys that
were really good Giants as well in terms of Okay,
I'm better than than justin talking Michael Strahan O Cumanora
like I'm already past them. I'm at LT's level. It's absurd.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
No, you should have a couple of good years, like
a couple of incredible years, And people go like, man,
maybe you should. You know, I'm all for the Hey,
best linebacker on the Giants wearing fifty six if they're
anywhere near the level of LT. But like, dude, you
just got drafted.
Speaker 6 (30:41):
I'd like to introduce a new word to our common
vernacular or lexicon, gen z. You say, hey, that's gen
z like gen z, but it's jens. That's a little
gen z, gen zing, gen z, jensing, gen.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Z jen sing still a thing. You still take that
for energy? Yeah, I mean, you know what I'm back,
and I took it in high school, and I didn't
take it in college, and it wasn't as good as
shooting basketball in college. It was high school. Maybe it's
the gen sing Is gen singh still a thing?
Speaker 7 (31:10):
I don't know if it is. I think I just
got a call on the hotline from Metres. The gen
Singh is still a thing.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
I think you can go to GNC to get some
gin sing. I feel like any open field in Wisconsin,
like in two thousand and and maybe nineteen nineties, was all, oh,
they're putting gensing in gensing field. Oh, actually like raise
it as a crop. Yeah, you grow it?
Speaker 6 (31:32):
Yeah, yes, it goes into like energy drinks.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
Very popular back in the day. I don't see as
many Jensen fields are out.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
No, the fields are filled up with a different sort
of herbal substance.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Maybe.
Speaker 6 (31:42):
But if a kid is doing something gen Z could
say that's gen Z Gen's new word.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Okay, thank you? Was that part of your things? You
hate it from the Weekend?
Speaker 6 (31:49):
No, but he's got other contributions to the show. Doug,
you just wait, Oh, perhaps we'd like to start with Dan.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Go ahead, Dan, So Doug, you weren't privy to this
group to because you weren't privy to this conversation about
Christopher Cross and yacht rock in the and the the
genre that we've had over the last over the weeks. Sorry,
And it was Christopher Cross's birthday on Saturday, turned seventy
(32:19):
four years old.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
I had an idea, why was I not privy to that?
I love yacht rock.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
But you're not. You weren't in on our conversations because
you're in Green Bay and we're here in southern California.
So that's why. So Sam sends a picture of the
Christopher Cross tweet saying many thanks for all the birthday wishes.
Sam goes, weren't you guys talking about this dude?
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Like the disrespect, the disrespect of Chris Cross.
Speaker 6 (32:42):
Got this dude, you say Chriss Cross. I think of
the I think of that Joe that.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
We don't say because you're kissing, we say Christopher Cross
with their pants on. That's it's Christopher Cross. We didn't
say Chriss Cross. And so you're disrespect to I wasn't
privy to his work. I didn't know it was.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
Like dude, Like, Heyross a dude, he's a dude.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
He's a very gen z. Yeah it is gen z,
I said, but we agree. Listen.
Speaker 6 (33:13):
I saw this on social media and then I photo
I photo grabbed it and I sent it to you guys.
So I actually was thinking of Christopher Cross, and I
was almost like trying to be hey, guys, look at
who I saw.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
Weren't you guys talking about him? Yeah, perfectly, But this dude,
he's just some random guy. He was a guitarist for Ringo.
Speaker 7 (33:33):
Saw the tweet, No, I thought it was very I
thought it was very dismissive, and I encourage I encouraged
Sam and our listeners to watch the yacht Rock documentary.
It explains just how big a deal Christopher Cross's debut
album was. It won like nine Grammys, It sold a
ton of units. It was an incredible like thing. It
(33:57):
was a phenomenon back in nineteen eighty. Is that what
it came out. Yeah, that didn't even include the Arthur's theme,
which that's another tangent. I have seen Arthur have seen that.
I don't remember the theme though, So I'm gonna I'm
gonna listen to.
Speaker 6 (34:10):
This Christopher Cross, the Duke, new Chris Cross Duke and
new this Chris Cross to him when.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
I get up, But then the moon and New York Dad.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
That seems more like my I can't rap.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
I'm not done yet, Sam.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
I haven't said although I want you to rap like Chris.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
Although, although I hate that you were hating on Christopher Cross,
I wasn't hating.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
I just didn't know about that. I wasn't born yet.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
Live through, okay, But just because you weren't born yet, it's.
Speaker 6 (34:41):
Like, Hey, I'm one who I love history and I
go back and listen to music all the way back
to forties. But I did not know about this Christopher Cross.
Speaker 7 (34:47):
Gentlemen, if you're keeping score at homes, Sam has like
five five straight things in this segment.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
I'm on a Robert Palmer binge right now. That's who
I've been listening. I did a great METROCS joke and
he just stepped all.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
He has no idea what you're talking about.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Go ahead and say it again. I missed it. I'm sorry.
Speaker 7 (35:02):
That's not worth it.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
It doesn't actually doesn't. What What did I hate? What
did I hate? I hate the Lebron James knee thing.
I just do. It reminded me we brought it. It
came out Friday, and I said it Friday. It reminds
me of when he lost the NBA Finals in his
last year with the Calves, and all of a sudden
he pops into the press conference and he's got like
(35:25):
a thumb thumbrace on. All of a sudden, it's like, oh, hey,
my thumb was hurt all along. You're like, dude, he's
that guy. He's I'm sorry, he's that guy, and uh,
like I get it. I believe he truly hurt his knee.
(35:46):
But now like, I'm not gonna go with the met
Gala because my knee hurts so bad. Like what you
can't put on a you can't put on a tucks.
I mean, what exactly what athletic and ever is there?
And walking up the steps at the met Gala?
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Come on, man, he could have made the knee brace.
Speaker 6 (36:05):
He could have used the knee brace and made it
like really glitzy, you know, like everyone shows up the
metal brings to.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
The knee brace, over.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
Over the pants, diamonds on it. You mean, did Claire
Huxtable hurt her toe and then she had her style
off with Cliff and they did this show and her
cast was all dressed up in emeralds and root lights. Yeah,
very good, I remember that.
Speaker 7 (36:28):
I do like how Lebron's tweet today said that his
wife will still be there. Oh cool. So we all
know who is going to be asked by the photographers.
Who is that the most tonight.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
Unless someone is dressed so absurdly that we don't know
who they are. I get what you're saying. There are
a lot of steps to climb, though. In Lebron's defense
as well, there.
Speaker 1 (36:57):
Are a lot of steps to climb, no question. But
I mean somehow I think he would survive it right somehow,
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Speaker 5 (37:17):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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Speaker 1 (37:26):
It's the Doug at Gottlieb Show. It's Fox Sports Radio.
So uh, I'm trying to think. When the news, I
feel like it was Saturday, or maybe it was Friday.
After the show, it came out to Lebron James had
a spraying mcl and had they won against the Timberwolves,
(37:49):
he wouldn't have been able to play the rest of
the series anyway because the knee injury. And you know,
people go back and they show the video after he
collided with Dante DiVincenzo and they're like, yeah, he was fine,
and then after the game he was limping some when
he was in street clothes and Sibby's walking out, and
(38:12):
then today he tweets out, Unfortunately, because of my knee
injury I sustained at the end of the season, I
won't be able to attend the met Gala in New
York tonight, as so many people have been asking and
congratulating me on hate to miss a historical event. My beautiful,
powerful Queen will be there holding the castle down as
she always has done. That's from Lebron James. So everyone
(38:36):
remembers the fable of the Boy who Cried Wolf, right,
the boy who cried Wolf, and Lebron James earlier in
the series against the Timberwolves acted like he got hit
in the face, had both hands over his face like
he got hit, and then the camera caught him peeking
with his right eye to see if he got a call.
(38:59):
We've all seen it right by. Are you seeing that?
Speaker 2 (39:02):
I'm looking at it right now as we speak. Yes,
it's become a meme.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
It as it should. It is, and so here's that.
Here's the thing. It's like we were taught this as kids.
Boy who cried wolf, and when there's really a wolf,
we don't believe you. And I think you know how
the fab winds. Do I think Lebron James is legitimately hurt? Yeah,
(39:27):
I think he's actually I think he's injured. I think
there's a Do I think he would have played? I
do think he would have played, And I honestly think
part of the I can't go to the Met gala
because I sprained my knee. Honestly, stop stop now now
(39:51):
I'm more than rolling my eyes. Now I'm cackling and
I'm laughing at you. You can't go to the Met
game even if you just you know, I've torn my ACL,
You tear your ACL, you could walk, You're fine a walk? Right.
The MCL is the medial collateral ligament, like it's he
(40:16):
didn't have his leg amputated. He was not. He didn't
tear his achilles tendon. He had a sprain, a Grade
two sprain of the mcl A sprain, by the way,
is a partial tear. But again, I do think he's hurt.
Do I think he's injured to the extent that he
(40:37):
can't go to the met Gala? Stop it right now?
Stop it right now. It's the Doug Gottlieb Show here
on Fox Sports Radio. It's a Monday, it's playoff season.
It's Rick Buker time. Buke joins us here on the
Doug Gottlieb Show. Of course, you see you on Fox
Sports One. You read his work at Fox sports dot com.
Where to begin, Let's start at the end and work
(40:59):
back to the early part of the weekend. Where have
I seen this before? The Warriors going to Houston and
beat the Rockets. Obviously very different coaches, very different style
from when it happened previously, but the same result and
kind of in weird fashion, right Staph barely scores early
in the game, and then late in the game he
takes over Buddy healed ends up with nine threes, you know,
(41:22):
nine threes, and the Warriors boat raced the Rockets in
the fourth quarter. Your lasting takeaway from that game is
what rebuker.
Speaker 8 (41:36):
I mean, ultimately, that Game seven experience matters, and I
don't care where you're playing that game. I know a
lot of people felt like the Houston Rockets they were young,
but hey, you get Game seven on your home floor,
facing that pressure for the first time as key pieces
of that team in alphren S Gone and Jalen Green,
(41:57):
who had already demonstrated that the playoffs leveling up, that
they weren't quite ready for that. And then you take
it into a Game seven where Steve Kerr relied on
his veterans and that's why Buddy Heal Healed was there
and the Rockets over emphasized stopping Steph and Steph knew
(42:22):
enough had enough experience. I think a lesser player or
someone not quite experienced is not getting the looks that
they want or missus some early shots and they would
begin to press and and he didn't do that. He said,
I'm going to absorb all of the attention and I'm
going to trust that Buddy held being wide open, is
(42:43):
going to be able to knock down shots, and that
the rest of the team collectively, I'm going to do
I'm going to do my part defensively and h and
then at some point they're gonna weaken because they're not
gonna be able to do this for they're not gonna
be able to do it. As long as I can
do it, I'm I'm just gonna wait for my opening.
And that's exactly what he did, and so it required
(43:05):
other guys stepping up. But a lot of this is
built over the course of the season. You know, it's
it's the Warriors culture, and they're unflagging belief. Even now
with with Jonathan Kaminga for everything that's going on, they've
done everything possible to still try to make him feel
like it's this. You know, it's unfortunate. This isn't on you.
(43:29):
It's just the circumstances that you're not playing, even though
I would say it's on him that he's not playing.
But they never they never throw anybody overboard, and that's
such a rare thing, and as a result, they squeeze
the absolute most out of whatever they have on the roster,
and that's what got them through against the Rockets.
Speaker 1 (43:51):
Okay, I asked this. I asked this question to start
the show, and I understand that Lebron's team getting swept,
and you know, LA for the most part has not
been a stunnic success. But he is four years old.
And you know, if you're not a hater and you're
just a realist, like for forty is still predamn good. Sure,
(44:14):
but uh, and he's had I think how I would
word it is you could argue where he stand where
he stands all time, and we can have a great
argument about it. But I don't think you can argue
in terms of the length of dominance in his career
is unlike anything we've ever seen, right, Like, it's just
(44:34):
remarkable how long he's been able to be essentially, you know,
from anywhere from the best to whatever he is this
year the twentieth twenty fifth best player in the NBA.
Like he's in conversations of a top thirty player at
forty years old, and he's probably a little better than that. Right,
So no, you can't argue with that. But I guess
here's the question, right, and he went to does he
(44:55):
go to ninth straight finals or ten straight finals or something?
Speaker 8 (44:59):
Yeah, there was ten, but.
Speaker 1 (45:01):
It was crazy, right, it is crazy, And so we
can say whatever we want about the Eastern Conference being
inferior to the Western Conference. Still every single year he
was there. But if you were to ask NBA people,
I'll just ask you Steph or Lebron. There's suddenly becomes
(45:23):
some who's the greatest of all time conversation. I don't
think that's the appropriate one. But if I'm honest with myself,
who would I rather have on my franchise for the
life of their career? Who would be?
Speaker 8 (45:38):
Oh? For me, it's Steph Curry without question. And it's
because of the culture that he creates and his ability
to be great wherever you put him on the scale.
And it's a little bit of what I talked about,
you know, and there beating the rockets, and that he
gets the most out of he makes room for for
(46:00):
everyone around him, and and and just has a spirit
and a belief about him that I don't think that
you can put a price tag on that. Guys love
playing with him, they love working with him, They believe
in him above and beyond, you know, for all that
(46:20):
Lebron is, and as great as he is, it's amazing
how I'm not sure that he engenders the same confidence
and belief in his teammates that if we can just
get this, if we do our jobs, you know, Lebron
is going to find a way to get the job done,
as opposed to, you know, whether he does or not,
(46:43):
the unflagging belief that everyone I've seen play with Steph
believes if we just if we do our jobs, that's
going to find a way. That little magician. We don't
know how he does it, but that little magician is
going to find a way to win this game. And
not that he always has or always does, but he
has this unflagging confidence in himself and figuring it out,
(47:06):
and as a result, his teams do as well. And
I think that that is at the heart of it.
What's what's difficult with Lebron is that because he has
moved around and his excellence or his uniqueness is is
just different because of the way that he's done it.
(47:28):
You know, he's I don't the fact that he has
gone to three different franchises and he's utilized his leverage
and power to have those teams shape the way he
wants some shape, Like I admire that that that's that's
utilizing your power and your influence. And by the way,
(47:48):
it is nine to nine consecutive because the seven run
was separate from all the other ones. But I I
just in terms of I guess I look at it
if I were wanting to be part of a team,
you know, what's the culture and the group that I
(48:10):
would most want to be with, you know, and being
around Death and the warriors and seeing the impact and
the environment that he has always created, the spirit that
he's created. It it goes to like, yeah, you can win,
you know what, you can win and be miserable, and
(48:32):
you can lose and feel like, you know, what we
did the best that we could. We got the most
out of what we are. You can come away somehow,
you know, satisfied as opposed to winning and hating it.
And I think that you know, there are times where
where winning with Lebron wasn't always that. You know, guys
(48:56):
were making sacrifices and they were willing to do it
because they wanted to win. But there's there's just something
different about what what Steph creates an engender. So and
again the other part is that's gonna let me do
my job, Like Lebron's not gonna tell me what to do.
If it's my team and I'm running it. Steph trusts
(49:20):
the people around him and says, you know what, I'll
take care of my end, you take care of yours,
and we'll and we'll meet, we'll meet in the middle.
I just that's why I would never want to be
a GM that has Lebron James, because if we lose,
it's gonna be my fault.
Speaker 1 (49:37):
And if we win, everybody's fault but his. That that's
that's my biggest issue is it's everybody's fault but his. Yeah,
you know, and and.
Speaker 8 (49:47):
He and he doesn't do anything like it's one thing
for his fans and people around him to to try
to make that argument.
Speaker 9 (49:55):
But Lebron does nothing, absolutely nothing cake responsibility or to
to to take to reduce that that idea that he
somehow above.
Speaker 1 (50:11):
What is that? What is that about?
Speaker 8 (50:16):
I mean, I mean from him.
Speaker 1 (50:18):
From him, from him, from his side, because because the
most powerful thing you know, obviously coaches do it all
the time. You know when when and I buye by
this philosophy, when you lose, you make it about yourself.
When you win, you make it about the players. Right,
but the the and and I do understand that when
(50:38):
you're as good as quickly when you get in the
NBA and never really there is no real adversity. There's
no major injury, there was no need to go to college,
there was no nothing like his first game, I think
he had thirty against the Kings, right, so you're immediately
but the just the reading of a room that every
once in a while you go, hey, my bad, I
(50:59):
wasn't good enough tonight. You've never heard him say that
when they've been eliminated. Ever.
Speaker 8 (51:05):
Well, if I'm not mistaken, was it thirty and they
lost or twenty eight and they lost?
Speaker 1 (51:10):
Yeah, And so it was.
Speaker 8 (51:14):
The you know, it was the celebration of Lebron James
getting twenty eight and losing. And so I think someone
that is the culture that was created around him, which
was he was you know, he was the chosen one
from the very beginning. And so if there is any
I mean, how can you blame the chosen one? Especially
(51:37):
if the numbers look good? How could it be his call?
And then you know, I mean I put my doctor
phil hat on. You know, I do think there's there's
always been a certain degree of insecurity that I've seen
in Lebron. You know, he's always looking for the cameras
and he's always always one thing was crafted in a
(52:01):
certain way, and I can't you know, at some point
everybody kind of grows out of that. And I just
have gotten the sense that he he never really did.
He never got to a place where, you know, we
all we all accept our frailty, right, we all accept
that we're I mean, look, he's still saying I'm good
(52:21):
as I ever was, and I'm like, dude, no you're not.
You're like, that's an insult to what you were at
your peak. And why do we have like, why do
you feel compelled to say that? I mean that Curry
doesn't even suggest that, and and he has as much
(52:41):
you know again it probably has as much ability to
say that and make a case for it. But he
knows better as we all do. So it is one
of the more perplexing things about about Lebron and that,
you know, I just I don't know that the way
he's approached things and opted thing and view things as
(53:02):
and operator has has changed over these some twenty two years.
Speaker 1 (53:07):
Really quickly got about a minute left. Uh. The Nuggets
absolutely based the Clippers. So much of the discussion on
radio TV is about the Clippers shouldn't be about the Nuggets.
Speaker 8 (53:18):
It certainly should be about the the their their chalverging,
their their season. You know a lot of people were
hyper critical about when they when they fired Mike Malone
and and how they did it, and you know, you
can debate all that, but the reality was, anybody who's
around that team knew that if they were to have
(53:39):
any chance of doing anything, I don't know that they
win the series if if they don't make the change
and they put the onus on the players and they're
playing with h you know, in a way that reminds
me of their their championship run. I don't think that
they have enough to repeat, but the collective effort and
(54:01):
the chemistry has certainly has has improved. They're they're they're
showing me their championship medal once again.
Speaker 1 (54:09):
You are the best. Really appreciate your time. We'll talk
next Monday. Thanks for our guest.
Speaker 8 (54:13):
Thank you,
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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