May 15, 2018 • 42 mins
Doug reacts to Rockets/Warriors game 1 and why James Harden did exactly what the Warriors wanted him to do. He's not buying Robinson Cano's excuse for failing a drug test and getting suspended 80 games. Plus long time NBA veteran Jim Jackson joins the show to preview game 2 of Cavaliers/Celtics.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the best of the Doug Gotlip Show on
Fox Sports Radio. Boom, What Up America, Doug Gottlieb Show,
Fox Sports Radio, Coming to you from the beautiful city
of Los Angeles, California. Where we get you ready for
a Game two in Boston. We recap Game one in Houston.
(00:21):
The Halos are in first place. What What life is
generally generally good unless you're a Rockets fan, and maybe
maybe at the end of the night you're a if
you're a Cavaliers fan. NBA Draft lottery upon us. If
(00:42):
you have a question or a comment about guys coming
out in the NBA draft or who should be drafted,
where you call us. We may take some work in
some calls. Eight seven seven nine on Fox. Eight seven
seven ninety nine on Fox Do Do Do Do Do
Do Do Do Do Do Do do do Um. Look,
(01:03):
sometimes I love to think that we're smarter than dogs,
like we're human beings were smarter than dogs. But some
of our innate instincts are just like the canine variety, right,
Like my dog. I take my dog for a little
jaunt in the park every single morning, so much so
(01:26):
that at four fifteen in the morning, this morning. My
dog is like, I'm bumping into the bed. Hey, dude,
time to get up. And I was like none. But
usually my dog I don't use the leash. I take
him to the park. He does his lap. I'm sorry
(01:47):
it takes a dump in the bushes, but they are
in the bushes and on the grass. It's on the grass,
I pick it up. It's in the bushes. I do
not well with any dog. If I get a little treat,
my dog doesn't even like that. The crazy thing is
he doesn't really like human food. So I'll get little
pieces of left over grissa, left over steak that he
doesn't even necessarily like, and he will make a b
(02:10):
line for other dogs because he just wants to play.
I will be sniffing around. I can't I break out
those treats. Oh, oh, your god, oh treats, or as
we say in our house, squirrel. You guys know the
movie Up, Remember when there's the gold Retriever named Doug.
One of the dog named Doug, and he's got the
(02:32):
he you can hear his actual voice. He's got the
translator on. He's having a conversation about his owner and
a squirrel. There are things that we all fall for
three card Bonnie. Do you ever play three car Bonnie?
You in Times Square, You're like three card mine, Like,
I can do this. I can just I've done it
(02:53):
on the jumbo tron at Petco Park. I've done it
on the jumbo tron at at the UH at the
Arizona Cardinals football game. I've done this before. I've been
to Dolphin Stadium. I've seen three card Monty. I know
where it is. And all of a sudden, the guy
starts talking and moving around and next thing you know,
you're like, you put down twenty bucks. They're like, WHOA,
(03:15):
what happened? That's what happened to Houston Rockets last night. Right.
The Rockets are, in fact an is so heavy team.
They do have one, actually two incredibly dominant is SO
ball handler guys in Chris Paul and James Harden. And
(03:41):
just like I can lure my dog into anything with
a treat, even if it's one that he's not going
to eat, the Golden State Warriors, all they did was
lure James Harden into the exact kind of game they
wanted James Harden to play, where no one else gets
the ball, he goes one on one and he had
forty one points each. I doesn't even know what hit him.
(04:03):
He's like, well, you know, we turned it over too much.
Thirteen turnovers, not that many turnovers. He shot a good percentage.
What What in the hell happened? How did this happen?
What happened? I was watching them go around with the
three card monny with the shell the Sheller shell game,
and and I knew I had the right one, and
(04:25):
I and that what happened. I think even Mike D'Antoni
doesn't know what happened. Here's D'Antoni after the game, asked
if he's gonna make any changes. Oh my gosh. There.
That's all we do, and that's what we do best.
We scored like six percent of time on It's like, so, hold,
I don't pass everybody saying two games. That's what we do.
(04:47):
We are who we are and we're pretty good at it.
And we can't get off who we are. We are
who we are. No, this is a bad incarnation of it,
bad incarnation of it. This happens in television. I said
it earlier on Coward. There's a lot of guys that
are super talented on TV, and they have this kind
(05:09):
of little alter ego where they have something they stay
are a little bit of stick, if you will. But
the stick can't be the main thing that makes you
the substances once you get, once you become all stick,
you're all had no cattle. And that's what's happened to
the Houston Rockets. They're like, look, the best thing we
(05:31):
do is ISO game. So the words like cool, why
don't you do that all the time. They had more
isolations in that game than any game this year in
the NBA. Crazy stat right, And all it was was
the Golden State Warriors going like, hey, you know we're
gonna do. We're gonna make James Harden beat us by himself.
(05:54):
And though it may end up causing us to give
up thirty forty to James Harden, we got three dudes
that can score. We can spread it around, we can
beat you in transition, we can frustrate everybody else to
where now they don't play as hard defensively, they're not
as bought in, and they're not as useful because they're
(06:15):
not getting the basketball. They walked right into a trap.
I needed a Admiral Akbar to be sitting there behind
the bench with Mike D'Antoni, Hut tramp tramp man. I've
got a lot in here. I've gotten three card money,
I've gotten my dog, I've got an Admiral act Bar
(06:37):
who got a lot in and we're only six and
a half minutes in the show. Doug got the show
Fox Sports Radio. Like, I'd like to think that Golden
State will play worse, and they probably will and lose
a game, but remember that was the least close like
what was was a final score ten ten point game
(06:58):
I can remember. Instead, Curry didn't even play well. Third
team point game, third team point game, Steph didn't play well,
and James Harden shoots a good percentage and has what
forty one points? It's crazy. So, um, look, there's some
(07:24):
things game and here's the last thing. Does anybody outside
of Houston Rocket fans actually like watching James Harden play basketball.
I'm not sitting here telling you that James Harden isn't awesome.
He is. He can make shots and make play, has
a unique style of playing of driving to which he
draws fouls. He's a great step back move. Yes, sometimes
(07:47):
he does in fact travel on it and gets away
with it. He's got clever, creative shots. He's willing to
pass the basketball. He throws a cool alley to to
Clint Capella every now and again. But the overuse of
the dribble, the lack of self awareness, and how sometimes
he looks in terms of his body language, like he's
(08:09):
disconnected from the game or from his teammates. There's a
lack of emotion there at times. I'm not saying that
it's the flopping or throwing the head back, it's the culmination.
It's it's all of it to get the the manifestation
in my mind of throwing the head back, lack of
(08:32):
understanding for what you know, how how he looks to us,
over dribbling, jumping in, drawing foul, some of the flopping.
The manifestation is my feeling that he's really really hard
to watch. It's it's not I'm not saying he's not good,
he's not great, but I don't like watching it. I'm
(08:57):
sure all of you have a there's a band like that.
Oh you gotta go see. I'll tell you who mine is.
Are you ready for it? Bruce Springsteen? Oh man, Bruce Springsteen.
All those songs it's just written. I feel like just
for me, he's up there two and a half, three
hours sweating. He's unbelievable. Like, yeah, I'm not disputing that
(09:20):
he's not great for you. He's not an all timer
in terms of concert performer. He's got some ridiculous albums.
They just don't speak to me. I'm not into him,
Nor am I really into sitting into a concert for
three hours. Like that's just too long for me. I
don't have that type of attention span. Just play me
(09:41):
your ten best hits, Go off stage, pretend like you're
not coming back, come back and play the encore, and
play your two biggest songs ever, good Night, Drive home safely.
Like that's all I ask. This is not that hard.
Bruce Springsteen is like a super likable Aimes Harden and
that I'm not disputing that they're great. But I've never
(10:03):
once thought to myself, you know what, I gotta go
see this summer the Boss. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Doug Gottlieb Show weekdays at three p m.
Eastern noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I
Heart Radio app. Jim Jackson joins us on The Doug
Gottlieb Show. Of Course, superstar high school college pro player
currently covers All Sports and basketball and the Big Three
(10:24):
for Fox Sports and joins us down Fox Sports Radio.
Athlete Musician movie that you know is great. You know
it is great, but you just you just you can't
get into uh athlete Musician? And what was the other
one movie? Yeah, I just said this. I said, you
know what, I couldn't get into Paul Fishing really tried it.
(10:49):
I couldn't. I couldn't get into it. Man, I just
I tried. I tried, but for whatever reason, it didn't
push your right It didn't push your right button for me.
Everybody was raving over it. Yeah, yeah, listen, I watched
The Adventures this this past weekend. I just too much death,
you know, too too many side stories about stuff that
(11:10):
I don't know about because I didn't I had a
life as as a child, I did not read comic books.
But anyway, I mean it was visually pleasing, but it
was a lot. And I brought my nine year old
son and there's just dead bodies everywhere in that movie.
But anyway, that's that's like, uh, John Wick, do you
see John Wick? Two have to say I didn't see
(11:31):
the first one, but I want to tell a second one.
I mean, it was so many people getting killed in
that movie didn't even make sense. Man, I mean it
was just like literally body everywhere. Yeah. I love that
we make like comic book movies that we wonder why
we have so many problems with people shooting so many people, Like, man,
where were where were they get these ideas? I don't
even know? All right? Uh I said this. I said
this about James Harden, Like, look, I get it, he's awesome, okay,
(11:54):
But I just the body language, the over dribbling, and
I don't know whether he's war out from playing offense
or he just doesn't care about defense. But it's one
of those he'll get in the stands and look like
he's gonna do something and then they go right around him. Um,
I just I struggled to get into James Harden. Tell
me what I'm missing? Well, you you're missing the fact
that the coach is allowing to get away with it.
(12:15):
Does I mean you kill your father coach? You came
up in a system where in college you were held
to a certain higher level, not just being the point
guard of distributing, but you had to be the leader.
You had to play defense, all these things. The great
players are great coaches hold their best players accountable, accountable.
That's what Papa Villi does. You've seen him rail on
(12:38):
Tony Parker, on Genoblee, on Tim Duncan. Same thing with Riley,
with Phil Jackson, h the List, Larry Brown, went Ai.
They hold their players that come out. Yeah, I want
you to be our offensive juggernaut. I want you to
go out and score. But at the same time, if
you're gonna be our leader, lead in different aspects, you
don't have to be the best defensive player. Look at
(12:58):
Steph Curry, he's at the bet Steve Nash, but man,
you know what, they gave the effort. And from a
teammate's perspective, I'm not always looking over my shoulder, like, man,
we gotta cover from you all the time. At least
give me the effort. And that's the issue that I
have with James Harden because from an offensive perspective, I mean,
come on, man, totally gifted. But it's like when I
(13:21):
get a puppy, Okay, I gotta I'm not comparing James
hard on anybody back. I understand gets okay, keep going,
but I gotta train them earlier, so they don't go
to the bathroom in the house. Now, if I don't
train them and they keep going to the bathroom, then
I punish them. They're looking at me like, well, bro,
you let me get away with this this whole time.
Now you want to get upset. I mean you can't.
(13:43):
Can't do that, okay, So help me out with the
puppy thing. Just listen this to the side. There said
nothing new with James Harden. When you would have a
puppy and you would be house training it, would you
put their nose in it? Would you hit him with
the paper? Would you just put them out? Like? What
was your what's your routine? Well? Quick things? If you
with a dog, you'd understand something. You have to be
(14:04):
able to correct them right there because five two minutes,
three minutes, five minutes later they don't know what they did.
So you gotta be right there. So two things. One
a loud no, because that that that that startles them
to Yes, you put their nose in it. But I'll
also use a technique. I use a little shot collar
where I would put litteral things around the house and
I would go high. Okay, So as soon as they
(14:25):
want to go pick up something that would pack them
just a little bit, because what they would do is
they would take this what Yeah, they would take the
association of that little pain with that item and wouldn't
take it back up. There you go. Jim Jackson, Uh,
he's also what is He's also the dog whisper he
joins us join the show? Was was was it me?
(14:46):
Or was that seemingly the game plan which is like, hey,
I'm not saying let James Harden get his, but make
him fight for his and let's and let's stay stay
you know, stay locked on to everybody else so they
can't get those lives, they can't get those open threes.
It almost felt like, I don't know, if you saw
the stat there are more ice os in that game
than in any other game this season. It felt like
(15:08):
they almost played I know that's what they do, but
they almost did it way more so than ever before.
Played into the Warriors hands. Well what they did? You
think about it? They're thirty if in the league and
passing the basketball and here's the thing, and there are
two wins during the regular season against Golden State Houston.
Eric Gordon was a big part of that. He had thirty,
thirty one and thirty. I believe it was in those
(15:30):
two games. So he had an okay game, but not
the same kind of impact. If I'm Golden State, I
felt it's easy. Do you know it's easier to play
structure defense against a team that's standing still because now
I can sink in a little bit more take away
In Lang if you going to score, James Harden had
to work so hard to get a shots compared to
Kevin Durant or even Clay with their constant ball movement
(15:54):
and body movement. It's way more difficult to guard a
Golden State team because they move the ball as compared
to Houston. And I'm gonna tell you something that I
played in Phoenix with Mike D'Antoni um. Steve Nash did
control the ball a lot, but he dribbled with purpose.
The ball moved around the perimeter so effortlessly. The pitching
(16:16):
roles were quick and decishive. It was tough to guard
the three best players for Houston pays. The three best
players for Golden State catch and shoot off, the dribble,
back door, cut, multiple move and that's why it's tough
to guard Jim Jackson joining us in the Doug Got
Lip Show. What was was lebron limited in terms did
(16:37):
he just not have it in terms of going by
guys or did he The only thing I can offer
up is the possibility that they get down. And he
thought to himself, all right, look, let me see kind
of how they're playing. It's gonna take way too much
energy to try and come back and win this game. Instead,
let me conserve my energy. Just kind of go out
and try some things and try and win game too.
(17:00):
I just gotta win one of these two games. Which
which which of it was? It? Was he really just
limited or did you kind of put himself in self check?
I think it's a combination of both. I think early
on the lack of the three point shot being effective
for Cleveland played into the fact now all to could do?
(17:21):
I'm sure, Oh, losing Jim somewhere do we call it?
Was he on a golf course or a cigar bar,
or maybe it's his his dog got a hold of
his phone, right, He's like, oh, you shot colored me.
I'll take care of your cell phone, is what I'll do.
Let's bring back in Jim Jackson. Okay, Jim so um,
(17:43):
what do the what do the Calves have? What do
the Calves do tonight in order to try and beat
the Celtics. Well, one, they gotta shoot the ball better
from the hind three George Hill, cal Corver Kevin loved.
They were three for eleven. I mean, I just can't happen.
This is a three point student team. Is not like
when they had the luxury of having Kyrie as you know,
Doug somebody else that can really break you down and
(18:05):
get to the gap. And it gets this Boston team
that's really good defense. If you don't have someone that
can break you down, then they're gonna have to be
able to one not down deep shot to defensively, get
some stops and get out in transition and get some
easier baskets because Boston's defense, I mean from a half
court perspective, they got body, they got limped, they got tided.
(18:26):
So to me, it's about those two combinations right there.
And regardless of knocking down shots, but having the ability,
as you know, and in playoff games, how can we
squeeze out points and buckets outside of our conventional offense,
whether that's you know, underneath out of bounds turnovers, in
transition things like that, those little things that think can
(18:49):
help the calves. As you go into tonight's game to
try to get a w it's it's fascinating. Al Horford
is one of those guys that I remember when he
signed his big deal and moved over from the Hawks,
people freaked out. And now I think they're finally starting
to understand why he can play the four. He can
play the fives more than five nowadays, but he can
(19:09):
defend multiple positions. He can shoot well enough to keep
you honest, You can score. Kevin Love couldn't guard him.
Um Like, is it is it just a good matchup?
Or is Al Horford a lot better than the respect
he traditionally gets. He's a lot better because in Atlanta
you've got a chance to see a little bit of
what he could do. You know, he could always shoot
(19:31):
the basketball, picking pop. He wasn't overly athletics, he didn't
pay attention to him. But in this Boston system, surrounded
by the players in the course brass Stephen, he's been
able to open up his offensive package and he actually
looks a little bit more athletic, ironically, you know, in
this in this series, but doesn't your question, who's game
(19:52):
Game two is more important than who Boston or the Cave.
I think the cast, to be honest with you, you
think so. I know that Boston is undefeated at home
and it's super important to them. It's super important to them. Uh,
they're they're still under Yeah, I mean, I understand you're
gonna say Cleveland, but man, Cleveland gets down OH two
would be the first time since O six or down
(20:14):
O two. Uh, It's it's fairly equal. But I would
say Cleveland because they're still the favorite. Yeah, I mean
I struggled with that, but I like to switch and
look at it from this perspective, from Boston's perspective, because
they haven't had success in the playoffs on the row
that you can't go into this and give up home
court events. Because now if you're talking about going one one,
(20:37):
okay with with Cleveland, they lose to Night. Now you're
on the road for two. Yeah, you won a game
on the road against Philly, but throughout this playoffs this year,
you haven't really been a really good role team. But
to me, it's so important that they go up to Oh.
Could not have to worry about that part of coming
back to Boston possibly down three one think about the
(21:01):
mindset behind that aspect of it playing so well but
then give that up and not being able to win
on the road. I don't know. It's it's gonna be
also draft lottery tonight. We've seen some of these teams tank.
But oh it's I mean, like I saw people being
critical like, oh, Phoenix shouldn't get it because they test,
Like dude, Memphis won one one road game in two
(21:22):
thousand eighteen, Like Dallas stay shut down. You should see
the guys at Dallas is throwing out there in the
in the fourth quarter to try and lose games. Uh,
if you had to put your salary, which is a
lot of money, would one guy being an All star
in this draft too to be in mis draft? Oh?
(21:42):
I didn't say one of the all time greats. I
just said an all stars. No, no, no, that's the
thing because it's always a guy that slips under the
radar that you're not paying it not necessarily. I mean,
like sometimes the best answer is the most obvious answer. Well,
I mean, okay, you can say DeAndre but gets the
game today in today's world where you're gonna feet badly,
and then in his world, Trey Young I don't know.
(22:03):
You couldn't be a Miles Bridget. That's a good question, man.
If I had to put my money, I ain't putting
my money anywhere. Uh. Would you draft Trey Young? Uh?
You know the big question in the league is getting
his body hold up, you know for eight two games.
I mean that's that from from scouts and what I'm getting.
(22:25):
I love the way he plays. I think he picked
up a lot of bad habits from mon Krueger. But
if I'm an up and down game, I don't know
if I draft him real high, though, I'd rather if
I can get him late first round, I'll take him.
But he's not He's not gonna He's not gonna go
late first round. Some owners owner is gonna elbow you
and go, hey, dude, like Orlando, Like why would you
go to Orlando Magic game? So you're gonna draft him?
(22:47):
And of course if you draft him top five, top ten,
you're gonna play him right away. I think drafted Jimmy
for death took. Look what happens. I know you drafted
him for the wrong reason. So let's go back. Would
you drift? Would you would you drive him a top ten? No,
(23:10):
somebody's gonna somebody's gonna of course, are we ever gonna
play golf? Are you just gonna play golf? And then
say you should play golf? Sometimes you don't play seko.
I didn't let you know. I don't know if you
knew that you play shinniko? Did you did? You did?
Was it Jimmy Jackson proof like Tiger proofed? No, he listened.
They didn't even really they were letting. They were letting
(23:31):
the rough girl because of the US Open. Next, the
greens were a little meaty. They didn't shave because you know,
they got a lot of false fronts, so they didn't
shave them yet. So it was still a little forgiving.
But it didn't matter with my game. I mean, spent
eighty four was great. It was unbelievable. Way you shot
eighty four playing it down from the tips. No, no, no, no,
(23:53):
I just I had no idea. What you like? You
play golf all the time. You're an infredibal athlete like
I just go, okay, I don't have an ego when
it comes to golf. I know my lane. Okay. I
would love to have played the fact that I would
have been could have been sick, Okay, So So what
what what did you play from the blues? You play
from the worst? Were playing? We played one up, we
(24:13):
played one up from the back, okay, and you shot
eighty four playing it down, playing it down, putting it out, Yeah,
putting it out. And I'm missed at least two birdie
putts in about three power puts that I should have made.
How about that. I'm sure you watched. I'm sure you
watched Sunday. I'm I'm all in on Tiger because he's
driving the straight and long. Are you what he's driving?
(24:36):
Not only that, putty, think about how many putts he's
able to make. What was the six out of ten
holes he had birdie? So that to me, when Tiger
was really on top of the game, because remember he
wasn't as accurate driving the ball. It was the second
shot and then once best iron player in the history
of golf. And he's also unbelievable six to ten feet
in he he's unbelievable. My thing is, for years he'd
(25:00):
and drive the ball straight like he drew it, drove
it long when he was first dominant golf, but then
he struggled with the driver. He's actually now hitting his
driver straight and and his three wars two No remember two.
Early on he would spread, but he was still had
giving himself a shot. When he was going through this
reconstruction of the swing, I mean, he was missing fat,
putting himself in positions where he really couldn't recover versus
(25:23):
when before he could at least recover out of those
against golf is a product of how good How good
are your bad shot? You know what I mean? Yep,
second shot? Game? Hey, great Jim, great stuff as always,
Thanks for joining us talking hoops and and devolving into golf.
Appreciate you. We'll see in the league soon. Alright, pleasures
(25:43):
mind Jim Jackson joining us on the Doug Gottlieb Show.
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox sports
Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app.
Let me just do this on Robbie Cannell. All right,
Robbie Canell tested positive for a die eretic and he's like, look,
I got it from a doctor in the d R.
(26:03):
I didn't know. That's the worst bunch of bull you
know what I've ever heard? All Right, it's the type
of diuretic that is used as a masking agent unless
he has heart, kidney or liver issues. Here's the problem
with the heart, kidney or liver issues. If he had heart,
kidney or liver issues, and that's why he took the substance,
(26:25):
he wouldn't have played or be playing baseball. Correct. It's
like when Brian Cushing. Remember when Brian Cushing tested positive
and he was like, look, I might have had a tumor.
You were working in Houston where M. D Anderson is located.
If you've got popped for something that might have thought
you had a tumor, wouldn't you have gone and gotten
(26:47):
it checked out? It's not a tumor. And look, I
was called every name in the book by uh Rangers
people and baseball people when I said, hey, Adrian Beltrey
this before he got hurt last year. Still ridiculously productive,
more so productive late thirties. Am I allowed to wonder?
(27:08):
And I did link in the fact that he's from
the d R where Robbie Cano reportedly get this doctor's
note from there you go. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Doug Gottlieb Show weekdays at three p m.
Eastern noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I
Heart Radio app. Let's welcome in the legendary the one
and only Brent Musburger. Of course he worked for v
(27:31):
SN Live most my guys in the desert is the
name of the show. Uh, Brent. Your reaction yesterday when
the news came down that the Supreme Court was going
to overturn that law Christmas and May Mr gottlieb Christmas
in May? Lad? Uh, you know it's about time. Uh.
(27:54):
You and I both know that any time over the
last in your case maybe thirty and in my case,
maybe fifty years, if we want to make a bet,
you could certainly do it. But much of it was
made with the black market. And now we're bringing out
of the back alley's moving up front with the state
legislatures are screw it up in some states, as I'm
(28:16):
sure they will, because we put politicians in charge of
sports gambling. So what could possibly go wrong? Yeah? I mean, look,
my there is a red herring there right that we
knew at your phone. No one I know who want
to bet on sports didn't bet on sports because it
was illegal before yesterday. So I guess I guess My
(28:38):
only question, Brent is and I hate to be the
guy that what about the kids, but is ultimately legalizing it.
Good good message for high school kids, you know, for
for people who are not of age to bet, because
there are some people that when they become adults or
even the children, they make decisions that and they can't
handle that gambling can become an addiction. Alright. Let me
(29:01):
let me just say this that certainly you always have
to be on the alert, but the United Kingdom, Austrasia,
Hong Kong, they have existed for decades, if not forever,
with legalized sports betting, and people have been raised satisfactory
and not everybody turns into a problem gambler, just like
(29:25):
everybody's in turn to a problem drinker once they they
outlawed prohibition. Probably didn't work with alcohol, didn't work with
sports gambling, and so you're better off living with the consequences,
trying to educate and go from there. What happened? How
does this affect Vegas, the place that you live, the
place that your network is, the place that that you
(29:47):
have had a great amount of affection for for years. Well,
I think for the big event such as and I'm
a list of the two biggest where tourists flock in
from all over one the super Bowl obviously, and the
others March madness. I would think that the volume would
drop off, not significantly, especially as we wait to see
(30:12):
what California is gonna do. They've already got a battle
between the Indian casinos and the race tracks brewing over
in that stage, so people in California will still dropped
by for the big event. Vegas does not depend on
sports gambling, uh. I know the rest of the country
would like to believe that, but the revenue from slot
(30:34):
machines and table games is significantly higher. And most of
the major corporations which own the casinos now, and we
take for an example m g M, they taken the
bulk of their revenue now from hotels, entertainment, shows, and restaurants.
(30:54):
I know that people might find that hard to believe,
but this is still going to be a convention capital.
But I would say, Doug to your question that probably
the crowd for the Super Bowl be off a little bit.
If you have an opportunity. Let's say that you live
in Connecticut, and let's say that you have flown out
here because you like the Super Bowl parties in Las Vegas.
You like to bet on the game, you'd like to
(31:15):
see some of your old friends. I would guess at
least at the beginning, Atlantic City gets it up and
going with a couple of good casinos. It's so much
quicker to get there that that crowd would navigate to
see what what are they going to do down Atlantic City.
Let's compare with what they've got out in Las Vegas
and then and then we'll see what happens. Brent Musburger
from Vegas Stats and Information Network joining us on the
(31:36):
Doug Gottlieb Show. This is just the perfect time to
have you on because not only were you the host
of the NFL today back in the day, but used
to call these NBA these these the greatest NBA series
of my life. Used to be on the call for
um alright, So comparing contrast the NBA basketball we're seeing
now with the golden era of modern NBA basketball in
(31:59):
the eight East, which you were calling all the great
play by play off, how would you compare and contrasted?
You know, Doug, it is so different back in the
day that you referred to when you were a youngster
growing up and following in love with basketball, and the
players worked together as a team. Uh, they were not
as good athletically as the athletes are now, And of
(32:23):
course the three point shot was not in vogue, so
that you see an entirely different game. I don't recognize
it when Houston comes down with Harden on the ball,
or he's on the bench, Paul on the ball, and
you've got Capella running the pick and roll and you
keep everybody out of the middle over on the wings
and you go from there and you either shoot threes
(32:44):
or you shoot layups. Uh, So it's a significantly different game.
But but I want to make it perfectly clear that
I think the overall athletic ability of the guys in
the NBA today superior to when I was covering it
on a daily basis. And back in that day, it
was entertaining from a different standpoint because five guys were
(33:04):
working together, coming off the screens, trying to get open.
There was hand checking. It was a little more physical
than it is today. So it's just an entirely different game, Doug.
I I enjoyed both of them. I loved it back
in the day with the Celtics, Magic coming up with
the Lakers and that wonderful, wonderful era of Larry Bird
and that. But I but I'm equally uh entertained by
(33:27):
watching the Golden State Warriors, for example, get on a
twelve old run, which they seem to do interest about
every game that I've ever watched them in, and I'm
I'm fascinated, for example, tonight, to see if the athletic
ability about very young Boston Celtic team can continue to
thrive against Superman and the rest of the Cavaliers. And
it's a it's a team basketball that the Celtics tend
(33:50):
to play a little bit more of that, and of
course the Cavaliers went in doubt, as that great Saturday
Night Live cartoon depicted, give the ball back to Lebron
as quickly as you can and get out of his way,
all right, So I I before you joined us, I
was talking about that with about Lebron, which is like
tonight feels like a night to which you don't know
(34:11):
he will He'll never go James Harden, but he has
to almost go James Harden, right Like we didn't see
that that killer instinct in and we didn't see the
takeover Lebron. The Jordan asked Lebron come out the other
night tonight to night to which he has to. He
has to go fall in on winning, doesn't he. I
absolutely agree. Right from the very beginning, Doug, I was very,
(34:34):
very impressed by what the Celtics did defensively. First of all,
Morris put his money where his mouth is. He said
he could do a job defensively. But it was interesting
that the game plan was, don't pick him up with
Morris right away, let Morisco with somebody else in the wing,
and then when you get to pick and roll to
let him decide what to do on top, make sure
(34:55):
Morris switches on him. And I thought it was very effective.
And as you know, because you've been around basketball a lot,
how the coaches designed a different game plan and we'll
see a different plan on the part of the Cavaliers tonight.
But to your point, you're right, from the very first series,
they've got to go through Lebron tonight to get themselves
(35:18):
a win in Boston and go home. Even with this
series at one on one, I have been fascinated that
Van Gundy on the broadcast said before Game one started
that he thought the Celtics were a better team. Obviously,
nobody's as good as Lebron, but I and I tend
to agree with that. If I had to vote right
now Doug on the Rookie of the Year, it would
(35:39):
be beyond the shadow of a doubt Jason Tatum over
anybody else. I'm very, very impressed he he plays beyond
his years as far as I'm concerned. No, it's it's
it's absolutely crazy, absolutely crazy, um that here's a guy. Now. Look,
going into the draft last year, Bret I told everybody
would listen, he's the most ready to play. I just
(36:00):
didn't know he'd be this ready to play, especially as
you know, playoffs are a higher level, and for a
guy who's twenty years old to be playing at this
high level competition and playing this well is is remarkable.
Mean's not you know, Magic nineteen when you covered him
with the Lakers. But outside of that, it's it's it's
really really incredible what what they're able to do. All Right,
(36:20):
So the big question is we would always wonder when
you we were watching a game that you would call
who does Brent have? Right? It's a game that everybody
played at home, who does Brent have to done? I'm
well aware of that. And the truth of the matter is,
and Dennis wants at an executive I had at ABC,
Ducky and I talked about it, and he asked me
(36:41):
not to bet on games that I was broadcasting, and
I agreed. I I thought it was it was a
good idea on his part. Any other games, fair game,
my friend. When I was looking for scores and watching
another monitor, I might have action on all of those games,
but I I stayed away. But I was always very
aware of what the numbers or and I always knew
where we were headed. Way way back in the day,
(37:05):
back before the magic era, I bet a director, a
CBS director. He and I were doing a game in
Portland on a tape delay, and I bet dinner for
the production crew. I think it's about a half dozen
back in that day. And um, I jumped all over
a Laker player who took what I thought was a
bad shot at crunch time for me trying to cover
the spread. And afterwards, when I walked out, I said,
(37:27):
you know, that's unbecoming, That's not part of what you
should be doing with the game. Shame on you. And
and I really never did it again. So who do
you have tonight? I have the Celtics to win the
series at plus two forty five when it opened in
the way you put up a hundred, it's down to
(37:51):
about one thirty. Interesting though, that the Calves are still
favorites even though there's a blowout in Game one. Yeah,
I think that the book He's Doug believed that, uh,
there's more Betty money coming in Lebron. It's simply because
it's Lebron. And you pointed out you should take the
game over right away tonight, so you know, they always
(38:13):
factor and where's the public going to go on this?
And they might not have caught up with the Boston Celtics.
I think a lot of them were in on the
Philadelphia seventies sixers thought that they might win the Eastern Conference.
So I don't I don't have an individual bet I
a full disclosure. I split last night. I took the
Golden Nights thinking that it might be time for an
(38:34):
emotional letdown for a very outstanding Winnipeg Jets team. Cash
on that, but I lost. I took Houston in Game one,
gave gave a point and a half I think was
a number that I got split for the night, but
because it was plus one, uh laid one ten, so
I won ten dollars for the night. So you can
see that even the best supporting the last last thing
(38:59):
for for people who don't And look, I almost never
talked about hockey. I just I just don't. Just national radio,
it doesn't resonate, but I do. I have a bunch
of friends, have a bunch of friends, not just you,
friends that live in the desert, and they all tell me, like,
the hockey thing is unbelievable, you gotta go. It's it's
taken over the town. What what is this really like
to be a guy who's in Vegas and the hockey
(39:20):
thing is this big. Your friends are right, it has
taken over the town. They came last fall at a
at a very low point in the morale of this
city because of the tragedy of the shooting incident down
there at the music festival, and they had doug what
(39:41):
I thought was one of the most moving ceremonies that
I have ever watched prior to their first game of
the season. The first responders, the nurses, the doctors, some
of the police officers. Each of the Knights came out
just prior to dropping the puck with one of those
first responders. And then we have Uh England is a
(40:02):
defenseman on the team who has lived in Las Vegas
for the last decade, and he spoke to the crowd
and and emphasized how they were going to be behind him,
and then the hockey players Doug. They went out of
their way to go to the hospital to visit some
of the survivors. Uh they went to fundraisers for the
families afterward. They have proven to be such really good
(40:24):
citizens here and they sort of united Las Vegas. It's
very hard to unite around a slot machine, but in
came this the first big time professional sports team in
this city. And then they went out. I think they
went about eight of their first nine or ten games,
and they went from there, and so people got caught
up in the eu fouria. I have friends who bought
(40:46):
twenty fifty tickets on them to win the Stanley Cup
at two hundred and three hundred to one, thinking they
were just betting souvenirs. Instead of souvenirs, they could have
pure gold if they keep it going. It has been
my wife very seldom gets emotionally involved with the team.
She wouldn't miss one of their games either in person
(41:06):
or watching it on television, and I know she's not
alone in this community. It's been a rallying point. But
it also I see Mr Davis, the owner of the Raiders,
here for many of their games, and he is so
encouraged by how the town has rallied around the hockey
team because his stadium is going up here in his
football team, the Raiders will be moving in here and
(41:29):
in about three seasons, so it's it's really a something
to behold. The handle is the highest ever in the
history of this town for the overall hockey wagering and
UH lead of course by the Vegas Gold of Nights,
and it is worth everybody should go by and see
one game, even if you're not a hockey fan. It's
(41:51):
very enjoyable. And they got the park outside and you know,
you can buy food, you can buy beer and people.
People are so jovial. We got a lot of out
of town fans come in and it has been great
for the city of Las Vegas. Great stuff, Brent, Brent,
thanks so much for joining us again. It's the UH
Vegas Stats and Information Network. You can check them out
over on serious XM and of course follow him on
(42:13):
Twitter at Brent Musburger, the Great Brent Musberker. Brent, thanks
so much. You gotta dug anytime. Thanks. Pressure's mind. It
is one of those things to which if you're me
and Brent Musburger knows you by name and knows something
about you, you like. I know. I've been doing this
a while and I shouldn't. Mostly cool moment. It's Brent Musburger, right,
(42:37):
Brent Musburger
This is the best of the Doug Gotlip Show on
Fox Sports Radio. Boom, What Up America, Doug Gottlieb Show,
Fox Sports Radio, Coming to you from the beautiful city
of Los Angeles, California. Where we get you ready for
a Game two in Boston. We recap Game one in Houston.
(00:21):
The Halos are in first place. What What life is
generally generally good unless you're a Rockets fan, and maybe
maybe at the end of the night you're a if
you're a Cavaliers fan. NBA Draft lottery upon us. If
(00:42):
you have a question or a comment about guys coming
out in the NBA draft or who should be drafted,
where you call us. We may take some work in
some calls. Eight seven seven nine on Fox. Eight seven
seven ninety nine on Fox Do Do Do Do Do
Do Do Do Do Do Do do do Um. Look,
(01:03):
sometimes I love to think that we're smarter than dogs,
like we're human beings were smarter than dogs. But some
of our innate instincts are just like the canine variety, right,
Like my dog. I take my dog for a little
jaunt in the park every single morning, so much so
(01:26):
that at four fifteen in the morning, this morning. My
dog is like, I'm bumping into the bed. Hey, dude,
time to get up. And I was like none. But
usually my dog I don't use the leash. I take
him to the park. He does his lap. I'm sorry
(01:47):
it takes a dump in the bushes, but they are
in the bushes and on the grass. It's on the grass,
I pick it up. It's in the bushes. I do
not well with any dog. If I get a little treat,
my dog doesn't even like that. The crazy thing is
he doesn't really like human food. So I'll get little
pieces of left over grissa, left over steak that he
doesn't even necessarily like, and he will make a b
(02:10):
line for other dogs because he just wants to play.
I will be sniffing around. I can't I break out
those treats. Oh, oh, your god, oh treats, or as
we say in our house, squirrel. You guys know the
movie Up, Remember when there's the gold Retriever named Doug.
One of the dog named Doug, and he's got the
(02:32):
he you can hear his actual voice. He's got the
translator on. He's having a conversation about his owner and
a squirrel. There are things that we all fall for
three card Bonnie. Do you ever play three car Bonnie?
You in Times Square, You're like three card mine, Like,
I can do this. I can just I've done it
(02:53):
on the jumbo tron at Petco Park. I've done it
on the jumbo tron at at the UH at the
Arizona Cardinals football game. I've done this before. I've been
to Dolphin Stadium. I've seen three card Monty. I know
where it is. And all of a sudden, the guy
starts talking and moving around and next thing you know,
you're like, you put down twenty bucks. They're like, WHOA,
(03:15):
what happened? That's what happened to Houston Rockets last night. Right.
The Rockets are, in fact an is so heavy team.
They do have one, actually two incredibly dominant is SO
ball handler guys in Chris Paul and James Harden. And
(03:41):
just like I can lure my dog into anything with
a treat, even if it's one that he's not going
to eat, the Golden State Warriors, all they did was
lure James Harden into the exact kind of game they
wanted James Harden to play, where no one else gets
the ball, he goes one on one and he had
forty one points each. I doesn't even know what hit him.
(04:03):
He's like, well, you know, we turned it over too much.
Thirteen turnovers, not that many turnovers. He shot a good percentage.
What What in the hell happened? How did this happen?
What happened? I was watching them go around with the
three card monny with the shell the Sheller shell game,
and and I knew I had the right one, and
(04:25):
I and that what happened. I think even Mike D'Antoni
doesn't know what happened. Here's D'Antoni after the game, asked
if he's gonna make any changes. Oh my gosh. There.
That's all we do, and that's what we do best.
We scored like six percent of time on It's like, so, hold,
I don't pass everybody saying two games. That's what we do.
(04:47):
We are who we are and we're pretty good at it.
And we can't get off who we are. We are
who we are. No, this is a bad incarnation of it,
bad incarnation of it. This happens in television. I said
it earlier on Coward. There's a lot of guys that
are super talented on TV, and they have this kind
(05:09):
of little alter ego where they have something they stay
are a little bit of stick, if you will. But
the stick can't be the main thing that makes you
the substances once you get, once you become all stick,
you're all had no cattle. And that's what's happened to
the Houston Rockets. They're like, look, the best thing we
(05:31):
do is ISO game. So the words like cool, why
don't you do that all the time. They had more
isolations in that game than any game this year in
the NBA. Crazy stat right, And all it was was
the Golden State Warriors going like, hey, you know we're
gonna do. We're gonna make James Harden beat us by himself.
(05:54):
And though it may end up causing us to give
up thirty forty to James Harden, we got three dudes
that can score. We can spread it around, we can
beat you in transition, we can frustrate everybody else to
where now they don't play as hard defensively, they're not
as bought in, and they're not as useful because they're
(06:15):
not getting the basketball. They walked right into a trap.
I needed a Admiral Akbar to be sitting there behind
the bench with Mike D'Antoni, Hut tramp tramp man. I've
got a lot in here. I've gotten three card money,
I've gotten my dog, I've got an Admiral act Bar
(06:37):
who got a lot in and we're only six and
a half minutes in the show. Doug got the show
Fox Sports Radio. Like, I'd like to think that Golden
State will play worse, and they probably will and lose
a game, but remember that was the least close like
what was was a final score ten ten point game
(06:58):
I can remember. Instead, Curry didn't even play well. Third
team point game, third team point game, Steph didn't play well,
and James Harden shoots a good percentage and has what
forty one points? It's crazy. So, um, look, there's some
(07:24):
things game and here's the last thing. Does anybody outside
of Houston Rocket fans actually like watching James Harden play basketball.
I'm not sitting here telling you that James Harden isn't awesome.
He is. He can make shots and make play, has
a unique style of playing of driving to which he
draws fouls. He's a great step back move. Yes, sometimes
(07:47):
he does in fact travel on it and gets away
with it. He's got clever, creative shots. He's willing to
pass the basketball. He throws a cool alley to to
Clint Capella every now and again. But the overuse of
the dribble, the lack of self awareness, and how sometimes
he looks in terms of his body language, like he's
(08:09):
disconnected from the game or from his teammates. There's a
lack of emotion there at times. I'm not saying that
it's the flopping or throwing the head back, it's the culmination.
It's it's all of it to get the the manifestation
in my mind of throwing the head back, lack of
(08:32):
understanding for what you know, how how he looks to us,
over dribbling, jumping in, drawing foul, some of the flopping.
The manifestation is my feeling that he's really really hard
to watch. It's it's not I'm not saying he's not good,
he's not great, but I don't like watching it. I'm
(08:57):
sure all of you have a there's a band like that.
Oh you gotta go see. I'll tell you who mine is.
Are you ready for it? Bruce Springsteen? Oh man, Bruce Springsteen.
All those songs it's just written. I feel like just
for me, he's up there two and a half, three
hours sweating. He's unbelievable. Like, yeah, I'm not disputing that
(09:20):
he's not great for you. He's not an all timer
in terms of concert performer. He's got some ridiculous albums.
They just don't speak to me. I'm not into him,
Nor am I really into sitting into a concert for
three hours. Like that's just too long for me. I
don't have that type of attention span. Just play me
(09:41):
your ten best hits, Go off stage, pretend like you're
not coming back, come back and play the encore, and
play your two biggest songs ever, good Night, Drive home safely.
Like that's all I ask. This is not that hard.
Bruce Springsteen is like a super likable Aimes Harden and
that I'm not disputing that they're great. But I've never
(10:03):
once thought to myself, you know what, I gotta go
see this summer the Boss. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Doug Gottlieb Show weekdays at three p m.
Eastern noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I
Heart Radio app. Jim Jackson joins us on The Doug
Gottlieb Show. Of Course, superstar high school college pro player
currently covers All Sports and basketball and the Big Three
(10:24):
for Fox Sports and joins us down Fox Sports Radio.
Athlete Musician movie that you know is great. You know
it is great, but you just you just you can't
get into uh athlete Musician? And what was the other
one movie? Yeah, I just said this. I said, you
know what, I couldn't get into Paul Fishing really tried it.
(10:49):
I couldn't. I couldn't get into it. Man, I just
I tried. I tried, but for whatever reason, it didn't
push your right It didn't push your right button for me.
Everybody was raving over it. Yeah, yeah, listen, I watched
The Adventures this this past weekend. I just too much death,
you know, too too many side stories about stuff that
(11:10):
I don't know about because I didn't I had a
life as as a child, I did not read comic books.
But anyway, I mean it was visually pleasing, but it
was a lot. And I brought my nine year old
son and there's just dead bodies everywhere in that movie.
But anyway, that's that's like, uh, John Wick, do you
see John Wick? Two have to say I didn't see
(11:31):
the first one, but I want to tell a second one.
I mean, it was so many people getting killed in
that movie didn't even make sense. Man, I mean it
was just like literally body everywhere. Yeah. I love that
we make like comic book movies that we wonder why
we have so many problems with people shooting so many people, Like, man,
where were where were they get these ideas? I don't
even know? All right? Uh I said this. I said
this about James Harden, Like, look, I get it, he's awesome, okay,
(11:54):
But I just the body language, the over dribbling, and
I don't know whether he's war out from playing offense
or he just doesn't care about defense. But it's one
of those he'll get in the stands and look like
he's gonna do something and then they go right around him. Um,
I just I struggled to get into James Harden. Tell
me what I'm missing? Well, you you're missing the fact
that the coach is allowing to get away with it.
(12:15):
Does I mean you kill your father coach? You came
up in a system where in college you were held
to a certain higher level, not just being the point
guard of distributing, but you had to be the leader.
You had to play defense, all these things. The great
players are great coaches hold their best players accountable, accountable.
That's what Papa Villi does. You've seen him rail on
(12:38):
Tony Parker, on Genoblee, on Tim Duncan. Same thing with Riley,
with Phil Jackson, h the List, Larry Brown, went Ai.
They hold their players that come out. Yeah, I want
you to be our offensive juggernaut. I want you to
go out and score. But at the same time, if
you're gonna be our leader, lead in different aspects, you
don't have to be the best defensive player. Look at
(12:58):
Steph Curry, he's at the bet Steve Nash, but man,
you know what, they gave the effort. And from a
teammate's perspective, I'm not always looking over my shoulder, like, man,
we gotta cover from you all the time. At least
give me the effort. And that's the issue that I
have with James Harden because from an offensive perspective, I mean,
come on, man, totally gifted. But it's like when I
(13:21):
get a puppy, Okay, I gotta I'm not comparing James
hard on anybody back. I understand gets okay, keep going,
but I gotta train them earlier, so they don't go
to the bathroom in the house. Now, if I don't
train them and they keep going to the bathroom, then
I punish them. They're looking at me like, well, bro,
you let me get away with this this whole time.
Now you want to get upset. I mean you can't.
(13:43):
Can't do that, okay, So help me out with the
puppy thing. Just listen this to the side. There said
nothing new with James Harden. When you would have a
puppy and you would be house training it, would you
put their nose in it? Would you hit him with
the paper? Would you just put them out? Like? What
was your what's your routine? Well? Quick things? If you
with a dog, you'd understand something. You have to be
(14:04):
able to correct them right there because five two minutes,
three minutes, five minutes later they don't know what they did.
So you gotta be right there. So two things. One
a loud no, because that that that that startles them
to Yes, you put their nose in it. But I'll
also use a technique. I use a little shot collar
where I would put litteral things around the house and
I would go high. Okay, So as soon as they
(14:25):
want to go pick up something that would pack them
just a little bit, because what they would do is
they would take this what Yeah, they would take the
association of that little pain with that item and wouldn't
take it back up. There you go. Jim Jackson, Uh,
he's also what is He's also the dog whisper he
joins us join the show? Was was was it me?
(14:46):
Or was that seemingly the game plan which is like, hey,
I'm not saying let James Harden get his, but make
him fight for his and let's and let's stay stay
you know, stay locked on to everybody else so they
can't get those lives, they can't get those open threes.
It almost felt like, I don't know, if you saw
the stat there are more ice os in that game
than in any other game this season. It felt like
(15:08):
they almost played I know that's what they do, but
they almost did it way more so than ever before.
Played into the Warriors hands. Well what they did? You
think about it? They're thirty if in the league and
passing the basketball and here's the thing, and there are
two wins during the regular season against Golden State Houston.
Eric Gordon was a big part of that. He had thirty,
thirty one and thirty. I believe it was in those
(15:30):
two games. So he had an okay game, but not
the same kind of impact. If I'm Golden State, I
felt it's easy. Do you know it's easier to play
structure defense against a team that's standing still because now
I can sink in a little bit more take away
In Lang if you going to score, James Harden had
to work so hard to get a shots compared to
Kevin Durant or even Clay with their constant ball movement
(15:54):
and body movement. It's way more difficult to guard a
Golden State team because they move the ball as compared
to Houston. And I'm gonna tell you something that I
played in Phoenix with Mike D'Antoni um. Steve Nash did
control the ball a lot, but he dribbled with purpose.
The ball moved around the perimeter so effortlessly. The pitching
(16:16):
roles were quick and decishive. It was tough to guard
the three best players for Houston pays. The three best
players for Golden State catch and shoot off, the dribble,
back door, cut, multiple move and that's why it's tough
to guard Jim Jackson joining us in the Doug Got
Lip Show. What was was lebron limited in terms did
(16:37):
he just not have it in terms of going by
guys or did he The only thing I can offer
up is the possibility that they get down. And he
thought to himself, all right, look, let me see kind
of how they're playing. It's gonna take way too much
energy to try and come back and win this game. Instead,
let me conserve my energy. Just kind of go out
and try some things and try and win game too.
(17:00):
I just gotta win one of these two games. Which
which which of it was? It? Was he really just
limited or did you kind of put himself in self check?
I think it's a combination of both. I think early
on the lack of the three point shot being effective
for Cleveland played into the fact now all to could do?
(17:21):
I'm sure, Oh, losing Jim somewhere do we call it?
Was he on a golf course or a cigar bar,
or maybe it's his his dog got a hold of
his phone, right, He's like, oh, you shot colored me.
I'll take care of your cell phone, is what I'll do.
Let's bring back in Jim Jackson. Okay, Jim so um,
(17:43):
what do the what do the Calves have? What do
the Calves do tonight in order to try and beat
the Celtics. Well, one, they gotta shoot the ball better
from the hind three George Hill, cal Corver Kevin loved.
They were three for eleven. I mean, I just can't happen.
This is a three point student team. Is not like
when they had the luxury of having Kyrie as you know,
Doug somebody else that can really break you down and
(18:05):
get to the gap. And it gets this Boston team
that's really good defense. If you don't have someone that
can break you down, then they're gonna have to be
able to one not down deep shot to defensively, get
some stops and get out in transition and get some
easier baskets because Boston's defense, I mean from a half
court perspective, they got body, they got limped, they got tided.
(18:26):
So to me, it's about those two combinations right there.
And regardless of knocking down shots, but having the ability,
as you know, and in playoff games, how can we
squeeze out points and buckets outside of our conventional offense,
whether that's you know, underneath out of bounds turnovers, in
transition things like that, those little things that think can
(18:49):
help the calves. As you go into tonight's game to
try to get a w it's it's fascinating. Al Horford
is one of those guys that I remember when he
signed his big deal and moved over from the Hawks,
people freaked out. And now I think they're finally starting
to understand why he can play the four. He can
play the fives more than five nowadays, but he can
(19:09):
defend multiple positions. He can shoot well enough to keep
you honest, You can score. Kevin Love couldn't guard him.
Um Like, is it is it just a good matchup?
Or is Al Horford a lot better than the respect
he traditionally gets. He's a lot better because in Atlanta
you've got a chance to see a little bit of
what he could do. You know, he could always shoot
(19:31):
the basketball, picking pop. He wasn't overly athletics, he didn't
pay attention to him. But in this Boston system, surrounded
by the players in the course brass Stephen, he's been
able to open up his offensive package and he actually
looks a little bit more athletic, ironically, you know, in
this in this series, but doesn't your question, who's game
(19:52):
Game two is more important than who Boston or the Cave.
I think the cast, to be honest with you, you
think so. I know that Boston is undefeated at home
and it's super important to them. It's super important to them. Uh,
they're they're still under Yeah, I mean, I understand you're
gonna say Cleveland, but man, Cleveland gets down OH two
would be the first time since O six or down
(20:14):
O two. Uh, It's it's fairly equal. But I would
say Cleveland because they're still the favorite. Yeah, I mean
I struggled with that, but I like to switch and
look at it from this perspective, from Boston's perspective, because
they haven't had success in the playoffs on the row
that you can't go into this and give up home
court events. Because now if you're talking about going one one,
(20:37):
okay with with Cleveland, they lose to Night. Now you're
on the road for two. Yeah, you won a game
on the road against Philly, but throughout this playoffs this year,
you haven't really been a really good role team. But
to me, it's so important that they go up to Oh.
Could not have to worry about that part of coming
back to Boston possibly down three one think about the
(21:01):
mindset behind that aspect of it playing so well but
then give that up and not being able to win
on the road. I don't know. It's it's gonna be
also draft lottery tonight. We've seen some of these teams tank.
But oh it's I mean, like I saw people being
critical like, oh, Phoenix shouldn't get it because they test,
Like dude, Memphis won one one road game in two
(21:22):
thousand eighteen, Like Dallas stay shut down. You should see
the guys at Dallas is throwing out there in the
in the fourth quarter to try and lose games. Uh,
if you had to put your salary, which is a
lot of money, would one guy being an All star
in this draft too to be in mis draft? Oh?
(21:42):
I didn't say one of the all time greats. I
just said an all stars. No, no, no, that's the
thing because it's always a guy that slips under the
radar that you're not paying it not necessarily. I mean,
like sometimes the best answer is the most obvious answer. Well,
I mean, okay, you can say DeAndre but gets the
game today in today's world where you're gonna feet badly,
and then in his world, Trey Young I don't know.
(22:03):
You couldn't be a Miles Bridget. That's a good question, man.
If I had to put my money, I ain't putting
my money anywhere. Uh. Would you draft Trey Young? Uh?
You know the big question in the league is getting
his body hold up, you know for eight two games.
I mean that's that from from scouts and what I'm getting.
(22:25):
I love the way he plays. I think he picked
up a lot of bad habits from mon Krueger. But
if I'm an up and down game, I don't know
if I draft him real high, though, I'd rather if
I can get him late first round, I'll take him.
But he's not He's not gonna He's not gonna go
late first round. Some owners owner is gonna elbow you
and go, hey, dude, like Orlando, Like why would you
go to Orlando Magic game? So you're gonna draft him?
(22:47):
And of course if you draft him top five, top ten,
you're gonna play him right away. I think drafted Jimmy
for death took. Look what happens. I know you drafted
him for the wrong reason. So let's go back. Would
you drift? Would you would you drive him a top ten? No,
(23:10):
somebody's gonna somebody's gonna of course, are we ever gonna
play golf? Are you just gonna play golf? And then
say you should play golf? Sometimes you don't play seko.
I didn't let you know. I don't know if you
knew that you play shinniko? Did you did? You did?
Was it Jimmy Jackson proof like Tiger proofed? No, he listened.
They didn't even really they were letting. They were letting
(23:31):
the rough girl because of the US Open. Next, the
greens were a little meaty. They didn't shave because you know,
they got a lot of false fronts, so they didn't
shave them yet. So it was still a little forgiving.
But it didn't matter with my game. I mean, spent
eighty four was great. It was unbelievable. Way you shot
eighty four playing it down from the tips. No, no, no, no,
(23:53):
I just I had no idea. What you like? You
play golf all the time. You're an infredibal athlete like
I just go, okay, I don't have an ego when
it comes to golf. I know my lane. Okay. I
would love to have played the fact that I would
have been could have been sick, Okay, So So what
what what did you play from the blues? You play
from the worst? Were playing? We played one up, we
(24:13):
played one up from the back, okay, and you shot
eighty four playing it down, playing it down, putting it out, Yeah,
putting it out. And I'm missed at least two birdie
putts in about three power puts that I should have made.
How about that. I'm sure you watched. I'm sure you
watched Sunday. I'm I'm all in on Tiger because he's
driving the straight and long. Are you what he's driving?
(24:36):
Not only that, putty, think about how many putts he's
able to make. What was the six out of ten
holes he had birdie? So that to me, when Tiger
was really on top of the game, because remember he
wasn't as accurate driving the ball. It was the second
shot and then once best iron player in the history
of golf. And he's also unbelievable six to ten feet
in he he's unbelievable. My thing is, for years he'd
(25:00):
and drive the ball straight like he drew it, drove
it long when he was first dominant golf, but then
he struggled with the driver. He's actually now hitting his
driver straight and and his three wars two No remember two.
Early on he would spread, but he was still had
giving himself a shot. When he was going through this
reconstruction of the swing, I mean, he was missing fat,
putting himself in positions where he really couldn't recover versus
(25:23):
when before he could at least recover out of those
against golf is a product of how good How good
are your bad shot? You know what I mean? Yep,
second shot? Game? Hey, great Jim, great stuff as always,
Thanks for joining us talking hoops and and devolving into golf.
Appreciate you. We'll see in the league soon. Alright, pleasures
(25:43):
mind Jim Jackson joining us on the Doug Gottlieb Show.
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox sports
Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app.
Let me just do this on Robbie Cannell. All right,
Robbie Canell tested positive for a die eretic and he's like, look,
I got it from a doctor in the d R.
(26:03):
I didn't know. That's the worst bunch of bull you
know what I've ever heard? All Right, it's the type
of diuretic that is used as a masking agent unless
he has heart, kidney or liver issues. Here's the problem
with the heart, kidney or liver issues. If he had heart,
kidney or liver issues, and that's why he took the substance,
(26:25):
he wouldn't have played or be playing baseball. Correct. It's
like when Brian Cushing. Remember when Brian Cushing tested positive
and he was like, look, I might have had a tumor.
You were working in Houston where M. D Anderson is located.
If you've got popped for something that might have thought
you had a tumor, wouldn't you have gone and gotten
(26:47):
it checked out? It's not a tumor. And look, I
was called every name in the book by uh Rangers
people and baseball people when I said, hey, Adrian Beltrey
this before he got hurt last year. Still ridiculously productive,
more so productive late thirties. Am I allowed to wonder?
(27:08):
And I did link in the fact that he's from
the d R where Robbie Cano reportedly get this doctor's
note from there you go. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Doug Gottlieb Show weekdays at three p m.
Eastern noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I
Heart Radio app. Let's welcome in the legendary the one
and only Brent Musburger. Of course he worked for v
(27:31):
SN Live most my guys in the desert is the
name of the show. Uh, Brent. Your reaction yesterday when
the news came down that the Supreme Court was going
to overturn that law Christmas and May Mr gottlieb Christmas
in May? Lad? Uh, you know it's about time. Uh.
(27:54):
You and I both know that any time over the
last in your case maybe thirty and in my case,
maybe fifty years, if we want to make a bet,
you could certainly do it. But much of it was
made with the black market. And now we're bringing out
of the back alley's moving up front with the state
legislatures are screw it up in some states, as I'm
(28:16):
sure they will, because we put politicians in charge of
sports gambling. So what could possibly go wrong? Yeah? I mean, look,
my there is a red herring there right that we
knew at your phone. No one I know who want
to bet on sports didn't bet on sports because it
was illegal before yesterday. So I guess I guess My
(28:38):
only question, Brent is and I hate to be the
guy that what about the kids, but is ultimately legalizing it.
Good good message for high school kids, you know, for
for people who are not of age to bet, because
there are some people that when they become adults or
even the children, they make decisions that and they can't
handle that gambling can become an addiction. Alright. Let me
(29:01):
let me just say this that certainly you always have
to be on the alert, but the United Kingdom, Austrasia,
Hong Kong, they have existed for decades, if not forever,
with legalized sports betting, and people have been raised satisfactory
and not everybody turns into a problem gambler, just like
(29:25):
everybody's in turn to a problem drinker once they they
outlawed prohibition. Probably didn't work with alcohol, didn't work with
sports gambling, and so you're better off living with the consequences,
trying to educate and go from there. What happened? How
does this affect Vegas, the place that you live, the
place that your network is, the place that that you
(29:47):
have had a great amount of affection for for years. Well,
I think for the big event such as and I'm
a list of the two biggest where tourists flock in
from all over one the super Bowl obviously, and the
others March madness. I would think that the volume would
drop off, not significantly, especially as we wait to see
(30:12):
what California is gonna do. They've already got a battle
between the Indian casinos and the race tracks brewing over
in that stage, so people in California will still dropped
by for the big event. Vegas does not depend on
sports gambling, uh. I know the rest of the country
would like to believe that, but the revenue from slot
(30:34):
machines and table games is significantly higher. And most of
the major corporations which own the casinos now, and we
take for an example m g M, they taken the
bulk of their revenue now from hotels, entertainment, shows, and restaurants.
(30:54):
I know that people might find that hard to believe,
but this is still going to be a convention capital.
But I would say, Doug to your question that probably
the crowd for the Super Bowl be off a little bit.
If you have an opportunity. Let's say that you live
in Connecticut, and let's say that you have flown out
here because you like the Super Bowl parties in Las Vegas.
You like to bet on the game, you'd like to
(31:15):
see some of your old friends. I would guess at
least at the beginning, Atlantic City gets it up and
going with a couple of good casinos. It's so much
quicker to get there that that crowd would navigate to
see what what are they going to do down Atlantic City.
Let's compare with what they've got out in Las Vegas
and then and then we'll see what happens. Brent Musburger
from Vegas Stats and Information Network joining us on the
(31:36):
Doug Gottlieb Show. This is just the perfect time to
have you on because not only were you the host
of the NFL today back in the day, but used
to call these NBA these these the greatest NBA series
of my life. Used to be on the call for
um alright, So comparing contrast the NBA basketball we're seeing
now with the golden era of modern NBA basketball in
(31:59):
the eight East, which you were calling all the great
play by play off, how would you compare and contrasted?
You know, Doug, it is so different back in the
day that you referred to when you were a youngster
growing up and following in love with basketball, and the
players worked together as a team. Uh, they were not
as good athletically as the athletes are now, And of
(32:23):
course the three point shot was not in vogue, so
that you see an entirely different game. I don't recognize
it when Houston comes down with Harden on the ball,
or he's on the bench, Paul on the ball, and
you've got Capella running the pick and roll and you
keep everybody out of the middle over on the wings
and you go from there and you either shoot threes
(32:44):
or you shoot layups. Uh, So it's a significantly different game.
But but I want to make it perfectly clear that
I think the overall athletic ability of the guys in
the NBA today superior to when I was covering it
on a daily basis. And back in that day, it
was entertaining from a different standpoint because five guys were
(33:04):
working together, coming off the screens, trying to get open.
There was hand checking. It was a little more physical
than it is today. So it's just an entirely different game, Doug.
I I enjoyed both of them. I loved it back
in the day with the Celtics, Magic coming up with
the Lakers and that wonderful, wonderful era of Larry Bird
and that. But I but I'm equally uh entertained by
(33:27):
watching the Golden State Warriors, for example, get on a
twelve old run, which they seem to do interest about
every game that I've ever watched them in, and I'm
I'm fascinated, for example, tonight, to see if the athletic
ability about very young Boston Celtic team can continue to
thrive against Superman and the rest of the Cavaliers. And
it's a it's a team basketball that the Celtics tend
(33:50):
to play a little bit more of that, and of
course the Cavaliers went in doubt, as that great Saturday
Night Live cartoon depicted, give the ball back to Lebron
as quickly as you can and get out of his way,
all right, So I I before you joined us, I
was talking about that with about Lebron, which is like
tonight feels like a night to which you don't know
(34:11):
he will He'll never go James Harden, but he has
to almost go James Harden, right Like we didn't see
that that killer instinct in and we didn't see the
takeover Lebron. The Jordan asked Lebron come out the other
night tonight to night to which he has to. He
has to go fall in on winning, doesn't he. I
absolutely agree. Right from the very beginning, Doug, I was very,
(34:34):
very impressed by what the Celtics did defensively. First of all,
Morris put his money where his mouth is. He said
he could do a job defensively. But it was interesting
that the game plan was, don't pick him up with
Morris right away, let Morisco with somebody else in the wing,
and then when you get to pick and roll to
let him decide what to do on top, make sure
(34:55):
Morris switches on him. And I thought it was very effective.
And as you know, because you've been around basketball a lot,
how the coaches designed a different game plan and we'll
see a different plan on the part of the Cavaliers tonight.
But to your point, you're right, from the very first series,
they've got to go through Lebron tonight to get themselves
(35:18):
a win in Boston and go home. Even with this
series at one on one, I have been fascinated that
Van Gundy on the broadcast said before Game one started
that he thought the Celtics were a better team. Obviously,
nobody's as good as Lebron, but I and I tend
to agree with that. If I had to vote right
now Doug on the Rookie of the Year, it would
(35:39):
be beyond the shadow of a doubt Jason Tatum over
anybody else. I'm very, very impressed he he plays beyond
his years as far as I'm concerned. No, it's it's
it's absolutely crazy, absolutely crazy, um that here's a guy. Now. Look,
going into the draft last year, Bret I told everybody
would listen, he's the most ready to play. I just
(36:00):
didn't know he'd be this ready to play, especially as
you know, playoffs are a higher level, and for a
guy who's twenty years old to be playing at this
high level competition and playing this well is is remarkable.
Mean's not you know, Magic nineteen when you covered him
with the Lakers. But outside of that, it's it's it's
really really incredible what what they're able to do. All Right,
(36:20):
So the big question is we would always wonder when
you we were watching a game that you would call
who does Brent have? Right? It's a game that everybody
played at home, who does Brent have to done? I'm
well aware of that. And the truth of the matter is,
and Dennis wants at an executive I had at ABC,
Ducky and I talked about it, and he asked me
(36:41):
not to bet on games that I was broadcasting, and
I agreed. I I thought it was it was a
good idea on his part. Any other games, fair game,
my friend. When I was looking for scores and watching
another monitor, I might have action on all of those games,
but I I stayed away. But I was always very
aware of what the numbers or and I always knew
where we were headed. Way way back in the day,
(37:05):
back before the magic era, I bet a director, a
CBS director. He and I were doing a game in
Portland on a tape delay, and I bet dinner for
the production crew. I think it's about a half dozen
back in that day. And um, I jumped all over
a Laker player who took what I thought was a
bad shot at crunch time for me trying to cover
the spread. And afterwards, when I walked out, I said,
(37:27):
you know, that's unbecoming, That's not part of what you
should be doing with the game. Shame on you. And
and I really never did it again. So who do
you have tonight? I have the Celtics to win the
series at plus two forty five when it opened in
the way you put up a hundred, it's down to
(37:51):
about one thirty. Interesting though, that the Calves are still
favorites even though there's a blowout in Game one. Yeah,
I think that the book He's Doug believed that, uh,
there's more Betty money coming in Lebron. It's simply because
it's Lebron. And you pointed out you should take the
game over right away tonight, so you know, they always
(38:13):
factor and where's the public going to go on this?
And they might not have caught up with the Boston Celtics.
I think a lot of them were in on the
Philadelphia seventies sixers thought that they might win the Eastern Conference.
So I don't I don't have an individual bet I
a full disclosure. I split last night. I took the
Golden Nights thinking that it might be time for an
(38:34):
emotional letdown for a very outstanding Winnipeg Jets team. Cash
on that, but I lost. I took Houston in Game one,
gave gave a point and a half I think was
a number that I got split for the night, but
because it was plus one, uh laid one ten, so
I won ten dollars for the night. So you can
see that even the best supporting the last last thing
(38:59):
for for people who don't And look, I almost never
talked about hockey. I just I just don't. Just national radio,
it doesn't resonate, but I do. I have a bunch
of friends, have a bunch of friends, not just you,
friends that live in the desert, and they all tell me, like,
the hockey thing is unbelievable, you gotta go. It's it's
taken over the town. What what is this really like
to be a guy who's in Vegas and the hockey
(39:20):
thing is this big. Your friends are right, it has
taken over the town. They came last fall at a
at a very low point in the morale of this
city because of the tragedy of the shooting incident down
there at the music festival, and they had doug what
(39:41):
I thought was one of the most moving ceremonies that
I have ever watched prior to their first game of
the season. The first responders, the nurses, the doctors, some
of the police officers. Each of the Knights came out
just prior to dropping the puck with one of those
first responders. And then we have Uh England is a
(40:02):
defenseman on the team who has lived in Las Vegas
for the last decade, and he spoke to the crowd
and and emphasized how they were going to be behind him,
and then the hockey players Doug. They went out of
their way to go to the hospital to visit some
of the survivors. Uh they went to fundraisers for the
families afterward. They have proven to be such really good
(40:24):
citizens here and they sort of united Las Vegas. It's
very hard to unite around a slot machine, but in
came this the first big time professional sports team in
this city. And then they went out. I think they
went about eight of their first nine or ten games,
and they went from there, and so people got caught
up in the eu fouria. I have friends who bought
(40:46):
twenty fifty tickets on them to win the Stanley Cup
at two hundred and three hundred to one, thinking they
were just betting souvenirs. Instead of souvenirs, they could have
pure gold if they keep it going. It has been
my wife very seldom gets emotionally involved with the team.
She wouldn't miss one of their games either in person
(41:06):
or watching it on television, and I know she's not
alone in this community. It's been a rallying point. But
it also I see Mr Davis, the owner of the Raiders,
here for many of their games, and he is so
encouraged by how the town has rallied around the hockey
team because his stadium is going up here in his
football team, the Raiders will be moving in here and
(41:29):
in about three seasons, so it's it's really a something
to behold. The handle is the highest ever in the
history of this town for the overall hockey wagering and
UH lead of course by the Vegas Gold of Nights,
and it is worth everybody should go by and see
one game, even if you're not a hockey fan. It's
(41:51):
very enjoyable. And they got the park outside and you know,
you can buy food, you can buy beer and people.
People are so jovial. We got a lot of out
of town fans come in and it has been great
for the city of Las Vegas. Great stuff, Brent, Brent,
thanks so much for joining us again. It's the UH
Vegas Stats and Information Network. You can check them out
over on serious XM and of course follow him on
(42:13):
Twitter at Brent Musburger, the Great Brent Musberker. Brent, thanks
so much. You gotta dug anytime. Thanks. Pressure's mind. It
is one of those things to which if you're me
and Brent Musburger knows you by name and knows something
about you, you like. I know. I've been doing this
a while and I shouldn't. Mostly cool moment. It's Brent Musburger, right,
(42:37):
Brent Musburger
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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