April 19, 2019 • 37 mins
Doug reacts to the Raiders sending all their scouts home less than a week before the draft and why it’s not that big of a deal. He also welcomes all the NBA fans onto his “Kevin Durant is the best player in the league” bandwagon. Plus, Trail Blazers analyst Lamar Hurd joins the show to break down game 3 against the Thunder and if they can build on their 2-0 lead.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlieb
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
from three to six pm Eastern Time, that's twelve to
three Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station
for the Doug Gottlieb Show at Fox Sports Radio dot com,
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Radio app by searching fs R. This is the best
(00:21):
of the Doug got Leave Show on Fox Sports Radio. Boom,
What Up America, Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio, coming
to you from the level Senday City of Angels. Um
the worst stat and all of sports will get to that.
(00:42):
K D in slim reaper mode. Gotta get to that.
My laptop which will not die. We gotta get to that.
Actually I want to start there, I really do. I
I have some thoughts on this latest Raider story. Um
in a moment, but um first I want to I
just I gotta tell you this story real quick. Ramos said,
(01:04):
of music, you remember what happened at the Super Bowl
two years ago in the Twin Cities with my laptop?
Uh yeah, I was left in a uber Okay, but
that's not actually what I what had happened or what
we thought happened right um, or maybe we did think
it was left in the uber. I don't remember exactly
our last show in the Twin Cities we had. We
(01:28):
were at the Mall of America and we were in
the food court, which is on the third third level,
and so, um, I had my laptop and this is
one that I got right when I first started working
at Fox. So it's it's two years old, and um,
I don't even remember what happened to my old one
when I died, or I just like that one got
(01:49):
that one got lost. I don't remember. What I do
remember is when I got it and we're at the
Mall of America and we get ready to do the show,
and I'm like, where's my where's my backpack? And I'm like,
what do you talking about, you idiot, you don't have
a backpack? Back, Well, there's all my bags. Because we
were going straight to the airport after the show, and
I realized they didn't have it, I thought, well, maybe
somebody lived. Then we were then we did realize it
(02:10):
was in an uber. I didn't know if I'd get
it back, so I went to best Buy and got
a similar laptop and actually used it that day and
I had a basketball game that night. Um lo and behold,
we actually tracked down the Uber driver. Our boss, Scott Shapiro,
who's from Minneapolis, end up picking up the laptop of
(02:31):
the backpack whatever brought it back. Crazy story is a
week and a half ago. I'm at the Final Four.
The last night at the Final Four, I had a
rental car, so I drive to the show. I had
my son with me. We drive this pregame party. We
instead of parking there, we go and park it at
the hotel and the hotel has the hotel has its
(02:54):
own lot, and um, I just figured it well, leave
my backpack and his backpack in the car because we
were leaving early in the morning, could have running up
to the hotel room. Car gets broken into and the
steals our backpacks overnight and I get a call earlier
this week. Hey, we worked for the city of Minneapolis
(03:18):
and we found a computer and an iPad in a
trash can and it has your name on it and
it's locked. Can we send it to you? So fast
forward to today, I have the same lab the laptop
that twice has gone missing in only in one city
in America and I have it back with me. It's
a pretty pretty exesty story. Doug gotlip show brought you
(03:40):
by Farmers. At Farmers, we've seen almost everything, so we
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Farmers and Farmers is interesting because they're actually my insurance carrier,
and I filed a claim and now I have to
adjust the claim to not include the laptop and I
had that we're missing. Instead, I got a bunch of
(04:01):
other stuff that's missing. Anyway, they're they're phenomenal to work with.
So did you guys see this story from Ian Rappaport
about the Raiders. So the story that came out today
is that the Raiders sent home all of their all
of their scouts because between Mike Mayok and John Gruden,
(04:24):
they don't know who to trust. That's the story that
that was out there. They don't know who to trust,
so and trust and instead what they've decided to do is, Hey,
we're just gonna send you all home. We'll figure it
out on our own. Thanks, but no thanks. We're at
and so when you hear that story, you immediately think,
what a mess. This reminds me of the Trump administration,
(04:50):
and not in nearly the bad way that people assume
it is. Like, look, there's always turnover in administrations, grant it,
people being indicted is a little bit different than many
previous organizations. But any sort of news that comes out
of the Trump organization, a person resigning to go back
into uh, you know, into their daily life and walk
(05:14):
away from it, suddenly is seen as some sort of
declaration that it's a mess at Pennsylvania Avenue. That's the
same thing with the Raiders. Look, I've talked to five
front offices already and they've told all five have said,
you know, it's actually really really normal to not show
your scouts the board, to not show the scouts the board,
(05:36):
because some of those guys look at it and they think, wait,
you're not taking you don't believe what I said, You're
not taking my word for instead, you're going basically, this
is all I do for a living. And while sending
them home and a lack of trust and that leaking
out might look bad, the fact is that be one
(05:56):
of those scouts, and maybe two of those scouts whoever
was at home, somebody called the Rapp Report and leaked
that story, meaning they were right to not trust him, Right.
I can't believe that John Gruden's not trusting us, Mike
Mack's not trusting us. You know what I'm gonna do.
I'm gonna call Ian Rappaport or text him and tell
him what they're doing, because they're not showing that they
(06:18):
don't think we're trustworthy. Like, hey, dude, you just leaked
that you didn't have any info because they blocked you
from seeing the big board, of course, and you're not
being trustworthy. Of course they don't trust you, you dope.
So I don't think this is even this, This doesn't
rise to level of any sort of interesting story to me.
(06:40):
What is interesting is that any sort of story out
of the Raiders becomes a big story. And the only
thing I can draw that back to, and the only
possible possible logical explanation as to why that's interesting is
because of John Gruden's contract. Right, everything you do is
(07:01):
judge differently once somebody knows how much you make. We've
discussed this several times over from Parade magazine to NFL
to NBA to college coaches. Once we know what you're making,
we judge you totally different. I can't believe that's what
we get for ten million dollars a year. You kidd me,
that guy makes million dollars a year. You should be
(07:23):
out there playing, Right, there's a cost associated with UH.
Whatever we assume to be the perception of your potential
and the likelihood of success, And that's not really the
(07:44):
way in which it works, right. How much you make
is not necessarily determined and mostly not determined based upon
if we think you're going to be successful. It's it's
based upon the market. You're paid what the market will bear. Period.
End of story. Remember, the Raiders had to one get
John Gruden out of UH, out of the TV world
(08:07):
where he was making six seven million dollars and didn't
have to work much during the week, and didn't have
to work much during the offseason outside preparing to know
every name and stat for the NFL Draft. So he
had a lifetime appointment to be the color guy Monday
night football. He was gonna make more money, So you're
gonna have to pay him more money than he was
(08:27):
currently making to get take a harder job to walk
away from a cake job, and you had to give
him more years. You had to give him some sort
and he had to give him some sort of security,
and the team was moving to Las Vegas, so you
wanted to make sure that he felt secure through the move.
John Greden didn't get paid ten years somewhere in the
(08:49):
hundred million dollar category because they expected to win it.
A certain number of Super Bowls are doing. No, it
was because you had to give him more years, You
had to give him more money, and you had to
backload the deal because the Raiders didn't have the money
to when they got into Vegas and they became stable.
But we associate the amount of money he makes with well,
he's got to be better than everybody else, when we
(09:11):
don't even know what what Bill Belichick makes, no idea.
Do you know how much it makes? I don't. It's
not released. No that it works. Most people think it's
in the twelve and thirteen million dollars and he's worth it.
I guess could he command more? Of course he could.
But once you find out what somebody makes, it dramatically
(09:31):
changes you. It just does. I brought this up so
many times since. Really sometimes a hard translation to somebody
who hasn't gotten a newspaper but Sunday's. If you get
a Sunday paper, you know that there's a pullout called
Parade Magazine and once a year they have the what
people make and you'll you'll go through it. It's like
(09:53):
a day's entertainment. Wait. A spiritual healer makes forty dollar
in Wyoming? How do they live? Like? Wow, you know
it's Wyoming. How much? But who makes? Who are they
spiritually healing? A stockbroker in Chicago makes five thousand dollars.
(10:14):
That sounds like I really like Chicago. An insurance salesman
in Austin, Texas makes seventy sounds like a lot of money.
In Austin, it's not as more nearly as much money.
So John Gruden and Mike Mayok sent home a bunch
of scouts. Guys are gonna get rid of anyway. Their
jobs are in fact done. This is a non story,
(10:38):
But it's only a story because it's John Gruden. Much
like any of these stories that come out of the
White House. It was if it was from any other
position of leadership in the United States, we wouldn't discuss it.
But Gruden's become like Trump, any news, good, bad, neutral
becomes front page news, and Mike us would be, like,
(11:00):
the logic behind why it's like that is because of
how much money he makes and how many years he
makes that much money, And we don't know years and money,
and we haven't seen contracts like this in professional sports
for guys that run franchises and coach teams. Be sure
to catch live editions of The Doug dot Leap Show
weekdays at noon Eastern three pm Pacific on Fox Sports
(11:22):
Radio and the I Heart Radio app. I've told people
for the better part of two years, Kevin Durant is
the best player on Earth about two years ago. Um
during his first year two and a half years ago,
his first year with the Warriors, he seemed to buy
(11:43):
in defensively to using his length, blocking shots, becoming a
more active player to fit now. It didn't sustain itself
the entire year. It wasn't like he was Bruce Bowen
out there locking dudes up every night, but he had
become a much um, a much more engaged defensive player,
and he had to be based upon the fact that
(12:05):
the Warriors what they do defensively is as important as
what they do offensively. Because my understanding that that the
sale to Kevin Durant was a good one from Golden State,
which is, hey, look, you could keep fighting this battle
in Oklahoma City. That's your place. You got a good team,
get a good organization, and some years eventually you're gonna
(12:28):
get there. He almost had us beat last time. But
if you come to our place, we're gonna get there
every year. And unlike when you play in Oklahoma City,
don't have to always beat two or three guys to
get to the basket or get to a pull up
jump shot. And oh yeah, by the way, it gives
you a clear path to matching up with Lebron James
in the NBA Finals every year. Do you think you're
better than Lebron James? And Kevin Durant, without any question,
(12:50):
believes he's better than Lebron James. The only way to
prove it it's on the same floor during the NBA
Finals and everybody's watching, and you know what he did.
They proved it. Now people will get caught up in
the when I had seventy three wins the year before.
They didn't actually win, but they did have seventy three wins. Well,
you got Steph Curry and he might be Okay, Stephen
(13:12):
Curry is great. It's two times m VP. No one
is arguing his greatness. But there were two players that
played the same position that guard each other, and one
was pronouncedly better than the other in the second half
of probably four of the five games in both years.
I know who that guy was, Kevin Durant. And it's
(13:34):
funny what happened two nights ago with Kyrie Irving happened
last night with Kevin Durant. We're like, Oh, Kevin Durant's awesome.
That's why everybody wants him to leave the Warriors and
go to the Knicks so the Knicks can be awesome,
(13:54):
because when he was with the thunder they were awesome.
Now is that the Warriors are awesome? If he went
to the Knicks, they'd be awesome. But if you are
and I won't I won't name names, but one rhymes
with sullen loud Herd, And suddenly you're throwing out, hey,
Kevin Urad's the best player in the NBA. You know what,
(14:15):
I think it's a hot take. He's the best player
in the NBA. You're the guy that's like, hey, there's
this really cool place called Buffalo Wild Wings. You can
go and drink some beer and eat some wings. I
know you've never heard of it. It's a small little
joint and they have like all the games on like
a hall. And remember Chucky cheesemare a kid. There's a
(14:36):
place called David Busters kind of the same thing for adults.
And you you know, there's a TV show it's on
HBO on Sunday nights called Game of Thrones. You should
totally check this out. Like I'm not. I'm not sitting
here telling you I was first to the party, but
(14:57):
it feels like I was at least on the first
bust to the party, whereas guys coming around now, we're
we're late to get to this thing. We just are.
We're late to get to the Kevin But yeah, he's
been the best player in the NBA. He has and
he can, in fact turn it on and turn it off.
(15:17):
That's actually the skill to it where he can, like,
you know, this game depending on how they played me.
I'm just gonna feed and let everybody else get it.
Take a listen to Steve Kerr after the game last night.
He had a different mindset tonight than he had the
other night, and uh set a tone right away, and
our guys loved it. As teammates were excited about the
(15:38):
way he started the game, and I think that was
infectious and carried over to our defense too. I thought
our defense was fantastic tonight. Yeah, I mean, he just
decided to go like hey, and I said, sixty point
game kind of tongue in cheek, but I basically said, like, look,
there's gonna be a game like this where Kevin Urran
goes like, you know what, I'm just going to decide.
(15:59):
I'm just gonna go when I want to go, and
I'm gonna be a good teammate as much as I can.
But every once in a while, I gotta remind you
who I am. This is pick your favorite guitarist, and
they're like, every once in a while, fellas, I know,
we gotta get to the playlist, but I'm gonna go
on at tim and a guitar solo just so everybody
knows that I'm Slash, right, I'm sure Slash does that.
(16:22):
They're like, yes, Slash, we gotta move on, like nah,
and they need to know they came to a Slash
show last night. Clipper fans need to come like, what
is all the Kevin Durrands. Oh, oh, he can score
whenever he wants to. They literally can just he can
get a shot off and he I was trying to
(16:45):
be nice before. Now I'm not going to be nice, right.
It's it's it's the same people that thought Matthew Delavadova
could shut down Steph Curry. Right, eventually they'll actually guys
figured out, you know, first couple of games, the officials
are like, wait, how do we call this thing? Like,
(17:07):
you know, Patrick Beverley's kind of foul, h not fouling him,
and then all of a sudden, Durant kind of pushes
him and he falls down, Like how do we It's
it's like, finally, if I rept just like you know
what we're gonna do. We're not gonna call any of that.
We're not gonna call any of the pushops, and we're
gonna call the initial fouls and give him a little
because people came to see that guy play, not the
little nat playing defense. And eventually Steph Curry waxed Matthew Delavadova,
(17:31):
and eventually that's what happens with all of the l
A Clippers so if you're if you're late to the party,
guy like, it's okay. You're like, Hey, there's this new
kind of clothing for women. Lulu Lemon. They got some
guy stuff too, super comfortable, a little price e like, yeah,
(17:53):
half my wardrobe, Lulu Lemon. We're good not telling me much.
You know. You know there's these new AirPod things. They're
really hot that Apple has. They've got chords, wireless headphones,
(18:14):
wireless headphones like, thanks dude. Be sure to catch live
edition so the Doug Dot Leaps Show week days at
noon eastern three pm Pacific. Lamar heard his uh color
analysts for the Portland's Trailblazers games. Also a longtime friend
of mine play to oorg in state and tremendous at
his job. Lamar, I'm I'm wondering when Nurkic went down
(18:35):
and was out for the year. I don't know, on
Mike off, Mike, what did you think for this team? Well, Um,
the first thing we thought is, uh that that's going
to be a huge blow to any type of run
the team might be able to have in the playoffs.
We didn't think that automatically that the team would be
counted out, but we just knew with the void that
(18:58):
he field in the middle both offensively and defensively, that's
a tough ask for any of the remaining centers to
fill that void. Uh so, honestly that we we didn't
know what to think. Of course, everything was grim that
night just by nature of the injury. You know, guy's
legs snapping right in from in front of you. That
break anybody's spirits, and it just took a couple of
(19:20):
days for everybody to I guess, I don't I don't
even want to say get back to normal because I
don't know if normalcy was restored that quickly. But we
had to hit the road, go on a road trip
immediately after, and uh, you know, it was our darkest
plane ride of the season. Um for players, coaches, media, everybody.
It was a tough time. But in that road trip,
(19:42):
the team ended up going three and one, bouncing back.
The leadership with Damian Lillard really made itself obvious. Guys
stepped up and its cancer becomes the starter and ever
since and it has been in that role along with
Seth Curry, who was also a starter. At times, He's
played a minutes to see them and columns out for
a while. Uh, Seth Curry has picked up his play
(20:04):
Rodney Hood. So that's a that's a roundabout way to
answer your question is saying, Um, it was grim. We
didn't know exactly what to expect, but guys ended up
stepping up filling the gaps. And uh, the team is
where they are now because of everything that I just
talked about. Yeah, and it's it's pretty amazing what they've
been able to do. Um, and it's a little bit
(20:24):
of Honestly, they decided let's just go with some offense, right, Like,
like Seth is not a great defender, but he can
really really shoot and can pass. And then as Cantor
who you know. I mean, Oklahoma City's whole game plan
is let's just go out and as Cantor as much
as possible. But it gives you, frankly more offensively than
even Nurkis gave you. Like, so the they kind of
(20:45):
shifted to let's go, let's go offense. Let's just try
and stabilize it with offense instead of defense. Correct. Well,
I would say this two things, Um, you're not all
the way off, but I don't know if I fully agree.
And this is why there were times when Nurkics was
when its offensively, But to your point, there were sometimes
the Nerk maybe the cast the ball in the paint,
throw up a shot that his teammates his coaching staff
(21:06):
would deem a little bit soft, and you you rarely
to never see that. Samanas cancer so um in its
overall is a better option offensively consistently. But but Nerk
was tapping into some of that stuff. He has some
really special nights. Um. But as it relates to Seth Curry,
you're exactly right. I mean, Seth has been a dead
eyes shoot all season, number three in the league and
(21:27):
three point percentage, and his defense hasn't been as bad
as I think people would think from the outside. And
that applies to Ennis as well. You know, Ens had
an Ennis had a rap coming into the team that
he was a guy that didn't even put the fourth
the effort defensively. Well, that that's not the case. He's
put the fourth effort. He doesn't do he doesn't have
the impact of Nerk. Hast Dirk was elite at what
he did and protecting the paint, protecting the rim. But
(21:48):
Ennis has put in the effort and his teammates, you
know they've made up for places where he is deficient,
and that's where you rely on Zach Collins, who maybe
as the Blazer's best defensive center. With the guys remaining,
even Miners Leonard and his stop minticine, he's played, he's
been really good. Um, so I agree with I guess
the overall sentiment of what you're saying, But I would
say Seth has been better than I think people expected defensively,
(22:12):
and uh and us as well. Uh. De Meyer's Leonards
survived the plane flight because it was his. He's the
one who didn't call screen right when when Steven Adams
almost decapitated dam Lillard. Lillard was mad at Steven Adams.
But I'm sure they're like, dude, that that's Meyers Leonard's fault.
I just want to make sure he's he's okay and
he's safe. Yeah, Meyers is safe. I'm sure they talked
about it afterwards. Uh. For for anyone who doesn't know
(22:34):
Meyers and Dane, they came in the league at the
same time. They were part of the same draft. So uh,
those two guys are two longest tenured Blazers on the roster. Um.
You know that that's not the first time something like
that has happened, so they know how to go about
it and talk about it and make it right move forward. Yes,
but you and I have both been guards. It would
be a problem. Oh no, no, no, We're gonna have
(22:55):
a conversation. We're going to have the conversation. And I'm
sure Doug before I haven't asked Myers this, but I
got a strong feeling that before Damien even have to
say something to him, Myers went to him and said,
my bad, bad dog, My bad dog. Here's my per
diem my bad lamar heard joining us covers the Portland
Trailblazers for for a living as their color analyst. Are
(23:18):
the are the thundertaking bad shots? Are they not making
good shots? Is the pressure of the moment? Like, what's
you're like? Look, they're not a good shooting team, and
any of us who have watched them like they did,
they just there's a flaw in the construction of the roster.
But they're not this bad of a shooting team. Why
do you think they've shot sup poorly? I've said this
(23:38):
dog ever since I started in this job, in this role.
You know you hear the phrase of the makeo misleague,
and I don't agree with that for all teams because
I don't I don't believe that all teams can get
the shots that they want when they want. The Blazers
are one of those teams by nature of the offense
they run and the freedom Serius Stocks gives his guys,
and then the backcourt that can get the shots from
(23:59):
everybody want too well okay See. Throughout the regular season
they were a maker miss team as well because Paul
George is playing like an m v P every time
he played the Blazers. He after thirty eight a game
against the Blazers, he shot forty five percent from the
three point line in bolk I'm not talking about two
or three May three. In the four games he made
(24:19):
seven team out of thirty seven, so he was able
to get his shot any time, and as he made him,
okay See found success not only PG but the thunder
As a team. They shot right under forty from the
three point line in the regular season. The Blazers, on
the other hand, shot twenty eight and a half percent
from the three point line, so that's a huge reason.
(24:40):
That was a big deal why okay See won the
regular season series. Four. Oh. Now you add to the
fact as well the two games at okay See in
the regular season, it was the second out of a
back to back for the Blazers. So they're coming in
their fatigue playing against the team that leads the league
and steals for game turnovers forced per game second in
points offer turnovers. That that's a recipe for disaster for
(25:02):
the Blazes. So what's happened so far in games went
into the playoffs is all the numbers I just talked
about flipped. Now the Blazers who are lighted up from
the three point line, Damian Lillard. You might have heard
this number already. Dame has nine three point shots made
on the series so far. Okay See as a team
has ten. They have been historically bad in their first
two games. So they're getting the same shots, Doug that
(25:25):
they got in the regular season. They're just not making them.
People thought us because of Paul George's injured shoulder in
the first game. Uh. In the second game, Paul George
looked pretty good. He even kind of flexed, uh literally
after a shot made to go to say I'm all right,
you know, I'm back with me again. But it just
wasn't enough, and a big reason for that is really
(25:46):
right now, the Blazers backcourt is just completely out playing
Okay sees, and then the Blazers are still getting those
contributions from that supporting cast that I talked about stepping
up once Snark went down. Hey Man and Oaklahoma City, UM,
I know you got Tomorrow's the Tomorrow's the day off
should be an interesting night at the peak and appreciate
(26:08):
join us, my plasure man. Good to talk to you.
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
search f s R to listen live. Ethan Strauss covers
the NBA for the uh and the Warriors for the athletic.
He joins us on the Doug Gottlieb Show here on
(26:31):
Fox Sports Radio. UM, let me let me welcome in
and Ethan, what was your reaction to how k D
played the first two games of the of the playoffs. Um,
My reaction was that he didn't seem like he was
at his most engaged. And I know that in the
aftermath of this, you've seen it. All that happened was
(26:53):
the Warriors drips new place for him. I mean, maybe
that's slightly true. I don't think that's overall what occurred,
But he didn't seem to be engaged. He was in
that background role, that facilitator roles that he was doing
in the last few weeks of the season, and that
come worked in the regular season with so many weapons
on this Warriors team, but in the playoffs and the
defense ratchets up, you get fewer system buckets, and they
(27:14):
kind of need Katie to be Katie. Uh, the guy
who we all know who he is, and that's what
he was last night. Um he uh that that that was?
Was that you who asked him the question about about
how he was playing when he said, you know who
I am, I'm Kevin Durant. Was that was that your question?
Or was that somebody else? I think that might have
been Mark Medina. I think that might have been Mark Medina.
(27:37):
I I can't quite recall who was that yet in
exchange with Medina, but no, it was not me. I
did not ask that question, um, but he he did
give it a thoughtful and kind of thorough answer, and
it felt like like, look, he's been asking to keep
it to basketball questions. That was a basketball question and
he gave it a legit basketball answer. So do we
take him at his word that? Like if you asked
(27:58):
asked him when he deems to be a did basketball question,
he'll actually be throwing his response, Well, I don't, yeah,
I don't. I don't know about any of that. I
don't know about what qualifies as a basketball question and
what doesn't qualify as a basketball question. He tends to
get basketball questions after these practices, and that the shoot
around them, what whatnot. It was a detailed answer. I
was laughing a little bit. I don't know what your
(28:20):
reaction was, as somebody who knows the game pretty well.
I was laughing a little bit about how much of
media reacts when a player in this context uses some
terminology and says top locking um and they go, oh
my god, Oh he's explained why. Oh he's revealed exactly
why what's happening is happening. The Warriors did not feel
that way. They just wanted him to bust Landry Shammon,
(28:42):
Patrick Beverley. And that's what he did last night, and
it's what he was fully capable of doing when he
wants to do it, and This is why he is
so great and also such an enigma. You don't know
why he does what he does. You just know that
he when he wants to do it, nobody can stop.
It was that fun for him last night. Did he
seem like he It seemed to me like he was
in fun. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes that he's been dominant, there's
(29:03):
almost been a sneer to it, or not even a smile.
It looked like he was smiling last night. It looked
like he was getting a lot of gratification out of
performing after the stage was set, After all the obsessing
over him versus Patrick Beverly and everything else, it seemed
like it unburdened him. I do wonder if it unlocks
him a little bit, if he finally gets what he
(29:24):
maybe hasn't been getting out of this season in the postseason.
Now more of the focuses on him, And I think
another aspect of all of this is we're not talking
about Lebron right now. Lebron's love in the playoffs right now,
So there might be a bit of a heralding of
Kevin Durant like there hasn't been before. If he keeps
coming with the energy he came with last night. I
could see such a thing happening, and I could see
(29:45):
him feeding off of it. Um. How do you think
the DeMarcus Cousin's injury affects him? Um? I think it
makes it a little less tricky for him to get
his offense. Uh, those two weren't exactly the best fit
on the floor for whatever reason. I remember in Houston
when Durant did not play that game, that's when Cousins
(30:07):
went off. It seems that there's only so much basketball
to go around, and the Warriors added another score to
the starting lineup, and that seemed like a great idea.
It seemed almost like when you put a hat on
a hat that it was almost two decadent. And I
think it's a little easier for Kevin Durant to find
his offense with Andrew Bogant on the floor, then with
DeMarcus Cousins on the floor. That that that doesn't mean
(30:29):
that the Warriors love that this devastating, awful injury happened.
It means that they can't use Cousins in the specific
matchups that they might really benefit from. In addition to
how it's just awful for him on a personal level
and for the people who know him. But as per
Kevin Durant, I think that it's just easier for Kevin
Durant to get his offense and flanked with Bogus Um. Okay,
(30:52):
but can Bogan's body hold up right? Like he looks
Everybody's like, well, he looks really good, he's moving really well.
Like Okay, but here there's a reason that he was
allowed to walk out the door. There's a reason that
the Lakers, who loved him as a teammate and as
a guy, cut him. Um as good as he was
in Australia, you know, they didn't win the championship in Australia.
There's other things I know that play in it, like
(31:13):
when they get to legit high level Rockets series, what
can we legitimately expect from Andrew Bogan. Yeah, that's always
going to be a concern, and that is why when
Cousins goes down, h it shrinks your margin for That's
that's another reason why it's concerning that if anything happens
to both those bigs are pretty important right now, Bogan
(31:35):
and Looney, and if something happens to either of them,
you could be in a bad way against the better
opponent than the Los Angeles Clickers. So while DeMarcus Cousins
did not fit as well as maybe the numbers said
the offensive members because of the defense, it wasn't there.
The plus minus had something to say about that. His
going down I think might put the Warriors in a
(31:57):
in a bad way against teams that could potentially bullet them.
But here's the other thing that mitigates it a little bit.
Some of those teams they're not looking so hot. You know,
they got bogged in part because they anticipated the playoff field.
That would have Rudy Gobert, that would have Yo kick,
that would have Steven Adam. Right now, it's not looking
(32:17):
like they're gonna have to play any of those teams,
So they might have dodged a bullet in that respect.
I agree with you. Um. On the other hand, last
time they matched up, but the Rockets, wasn't it DeMarcus
Cousins who demolished the Rockets. That's very true. That's the
DeMarcus Cousins. So again, when Katie wasn't there, which gets
the ball in his hands and he's more comfortable, and
(32:39):
he was just dominating p J. Tucker, and he was
used dominating Capella as well, and it seemed like they
could get something out of that matchup. But against the Rockets,
they can also go small. You know, in the Western
Conference finals they played Capella off the floor. So it's
still a matchup where they can they can have some success,
and I don't think it's matchup where they necessarily need
(33:02):
that braun inside as much as they do against other teams.
It's gonna be tough, no maoutter what though the Rockets
are really good, Yeah they are. They are are really good,
There's no question about it. And I think it's going
to honestly going to be fascinating to see how these
two teams match up because the Rockets are not the
same as they were last year. Some parts are better,
maybe they're deeper, but I don't think they're starting lineup
(33:23):
is as good. But they might be playing their best basketball.
On the other hand, maybe the Jazz just aren't that good.
So I think there's a there's a there's several different
layers to it. Now. I think there are a ton
of a ton of layers to it, and it's going
to be a fascinating series if it happens. They shouldn't
skip to win I should say if, because things can
be a little unpredictable in the playoffs. I think the
(33:43):
Rockets they have to be hungry. They've been beaten by
this Warriors team a few times now. They were so
tantalizingly close last time. And this Warriors team I don't
think is as together as passed incarnations, even if they
looked completely unbeatable last night. So that's the NBA Finals
as far as I'm concerned. If it happened, that is
(34:05):
the NBA Finals right there in the Western Conference semifinals.
It's a little weird to have it so early, but
that will be the toughest challenge, in my opinion, if healthy,
that these Warriors face. I think first time finals teams
are often completely out of sorts. It's an underrated factor.
They so rarely win when they're playing their finals team
that has been there before. So I don't expect the
(34:26):
biggest challenge to come from the East. I do expect
the biggest challenge to come in the Western semi Um.
Let me ask you about Steph Curry. Uh, you know
last year he wasn't fully healthy the entire playoffs. Previous
years he has been fully healthy. He did kind of
tweak his ankle right at the end of the season.
But am I wrong to think this is the healthiest
he's been at this point in the playoffs in a
(34:48):
couple of years. Yeah, yeah, I think it's a it's
it's he looked great last night, and really we didn't
notice because the stage was set for for I'm Kevin Durant,
that that was the main story in the main takeaway,
and and it was hard to talk about anything else,
you know, I wasn't gonna write about how Andre Goodala
Gavon Looney shut down the Lou Williams kicking role last night.
(35:08):
That just was not the story. But Steph looked fantastic
and he's looked i mean, other than the end of
that game, after we got that long bench period in
the big thirty one point come back. Over the three games,
he's looked fantastic And that's got to be encouraging to
a lot of Warriors fans. And it just shows you
that when Katie is engaged and when stuff is at
(35:30):
the peak of his powers, it almost just does not
matter what else is going on. I know, it's it's
hard to look in the side Kevin Durant's head any
sense for what's going on in terms of his future.
I mean, I said what I said, and I got
yelled at when I said it, and I haven't really
heard anything to change change my story on it. Most
(35:52):
League insiders expect him to go to New York. That's
what has been subsequently reported on and and uh what
what people have said since that point. Now, maybe you
could see some scenes from last night and wonder if
minds could be changed. You know, you see Rich climb
In sitting with Maverick Carter, You wonder what they're talking about.
You see Kevin Durant going back and forth in the
(36:15):
friendly manner with Bob Myers and with the Warriors owner
Joe lake Up. You wonder what they're talking about. And
so there's always that chance, and the decision rests inside
the mind of a man. There's always a chance that
whatever has been agreed upon, uh can potentially be changed.
So you never want to say that it's done, that
it's finished. But what I reported on what I wrote
(36:35):
back in February, I don't see any reason to change
on that. Ethan Strouss he covers the NBA for the Warriors,
and I believe is writing a book currently on the
on this Uh, let me see what I said. Sorry
for the Athletic for the Warriors. He covers the Warriors
for the Athletic. It's Friday eight and I apologize to you.
It was fun game last night. Um. You can fall
(36:55):
on Twitter at Sherwood Strauss. That's with two s s
at the end st R a U S S eighth
and great stuff. Man. Thanks for joining us and enjoy
your weekend you too, man, Thanks for having me
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlieb
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
from three to six pm Eastern Time, that's twelve to
three Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station
for the Doug Gottlieb Show at Fox Sports Radio dot com,
or stream us live every day on the I Heart
Radio app by searching fs R. This is the best
(00:21):
of the Doug got Leave Show on Fox Sports Radio. Boom,
What Up America, Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio, coming
to you from the level Senday City of Angels. Um
the worst stat and all of sports will get to that.
(00:42):
K D in slim reaper mode. Gotta get to that.
My laptop which will not die. We gotta get to that.
Actually I want to start there, I really do. I
I have some thoughts on this latest Raider story. Um
in a moment, but um first I want to I
just I gotta tell you this story real quick. Ramos said,
(01:04):
of music, you remember what happened at the Super Bowl
two years ago in the Twin Cities with my laptop?
Uh yeah, I was left in a uber Okay, but
that's not actually what I what had happened or what
we thought happened right um, or maybe we did think
it was left in the uber. I don't remember exactly
our last show in the Twin Cities we had. We
(01:28):
were at the Mall of America and we were in
the food court, which is on the third third level,
and so, um, I had my laptop and this is
one that I got right when I first started working
at Fox. So it's it's two years old, and um,
I don't even remember what happened to my old one
when I died, or I just like that one got
(01:49):
that one got lost. I don't remember. What I do
remember is when I got it and we're at the
Mall of America and we get ready to do the show,
and I'm like, where's my where's my backpack? And I'm like,
what do you talking about, you idiot, you don't have
a backpack? Back, Well, there's all my bags. Because we
were going straight to the airport after the show, and
I realized they didn't have it, I thought, well, maybe
somebody lived. Then we were then we did realize it
(02:10):
was in an uber. I didn't know if I'd get
it back, so I went to best Buy and got
a similar laptop and actually used it that day and
I had a basketball game that night. Um lo and behold,
we actually tracked down the Uber driver. Our boss, Scott Shapiro,
who's from Minneapolis, end up picking up the laptop of
(02:31):
the backpack whatever brought it back. Crazy story is a
week and a half ago. I'm at the Final Four.
The last night at the Final Four, I had a
rental car, so I drive to the show. I had
my son with me. We drive this pregame party. We
instead of parking there, we go and park it at
the hotel and the hotel has the hotel has its
(02:54):
own lot, and um, I just figured it well, leave
my backpack and his backpack in the car because we
were leaving early in the morning, could have running up
to the hotel room. Car gets broken into and the
steals our backpacks overnight and I get a call earlier
this week. Hey, we worked for the city of Minneapolis
(03:18):
and we found a computer and an iPad in a
trash can and it has your name on it and
it's locked. Can we send it to you? So fast
forward to today, I have the same lab the laptop
that twice has gone missing in only in one city
in America and I have it back with me. It's
a pretty pretty exesty story. Doug gotlip show brought you
(03:40):
by Farmers. At Farmers, we've seen almost everything, so we
know how to cover almost anything. When it's game time.
Have an experienced player help you stay out of the game.
Put their experience in the plan at Farmers dot com.
Farmers and Farmers is interesting because they're actually my insurance carrier,
and I filed a claim and now I have to
adjust the claim to not include the laptop and I
had that we're missing. Instead, I got a bunch of
(04:01):
other stuff that's missing. Anyway, they're they're phenomenal to work with.
So did you guys see this story from Ian Rappaport
about the Raiders. So the story that came out today
is that the Raiders sent home all of their all
of their scouts because between Mike Mayok and John Gruden,
(04:24):
they don't know who to trust. That's the story that
that was out there. They don't know who to trust,
so and trust and instead what they've decided to do is, Hey,
we're just gonna send you all home. We'll figure it
out on our own. Thanks, but no thanks. We're at
and so when you hear that story, you immediately think,
what a mess. This reminds me of the Trump administration,
(04:50):
and not in nearly the bad way that people assume
it is. Like, look, there's always turnover in administrations, grant it,
people being indicted is a little bit different than many
previous organizations. But any sort of news that comes out
of the Trump organization, a person resigning to go back
into uh, you know, into their daily life and walk
(05:14):
away from it, suddenly is seen as some sort of
declaration that it's a mess at Pennsylvania Avenue. That's the
same thing with the Raiders. Look, I've talked to five
front offices already and they've told all five have said,
you know, it's actually really really normal to not show
your scouts the board, to not show the scouts the board,
(05:36):
because some of those guys look at it and they think, wait,
you're not taking you don't believe what I said, You're
not taking my word for instead, you're going basically, this
is all I do for a living. And while sending
them home and a lack of trust and that leaking
out might look bad, the fact is that be one
(05:56):
of those scouts, and maybe two of those scouts whoever
was at home, somebody called the Rapp Report and leaked
that story, meaning they were right to not trust him, Right.
I can't believe that John Gruden's not trusting us, Mike
Mack's not trusting us. You know what I'm gonna do.
I'm gonna call Ian Rappaport or text him and tell
him what they're doing, because they're not showing that they
(06:18):
don't think we're trustworthy. Like, hey, dude, you just leaked
that you didn't have any info because they blocked you
from seeing the big board, of course, and you're not
being trustworthy. Of course they don't trust you, you dope.
So I don't think this is even this, This doesn't
rise to level of any sort of interesting story to me.
(06:40):
What is interesting is that any sort of story out
of the Raiders becomes a big story. And the only
thing I can draw that back to, and the only
possible possible logical explanation as to why that's interesting is
because of John Gruden's contract. Right, everything you do is
(07:01):
judge differently once somebody knows how much you make. We've
discussed this several times over from Parade magazine to NFL
to NBA to college coaches. Once we know what you're making,
we judge you totally different. I can't believe that's what
we get for ten million dollars a year. You kidd me,
that guy makes million dollars a year. You should be
(07:23):
out there playing, Right, there's a cost associated with UH.
Whatever we assume to be the perception of your potential
and the likelihood of success, And that's not really the
(07:44):
way in which it works, right. How much you make
is not necessarily determined and mostly not determined based upon
if we think you're going to be successful. It's it's
based upon the market. You're paid what the market will bear. Period.
End of story. Remember, the Raiders had to one get
John Gruden out of UH, out of the TV world
(08:07):
where he was making six seven million dollars and didn't
have to work much during the week, and didn't have
to work much during the offseason outside preparing to know
every name and stat for the NFL Draft. So he
had a lifetime appointment to be the color guy Monday
night football. He was gonna make more money, So you're
gonna have to pay him more money than he was
(08:27):
currently making to get take a harder job to walk
away from a cake job, and you had to give
him more years. You had to give him some sort
and he had to give him some sort of security,
and the team was moving to Las Vegas, so you
wanted to make sure that he felt secure through the move.
John Greden didn't get paid ten years somewhere in the
(08:49):
hundred million dollar category because they expected to win it.
A certain number of Super Bowls are doing. No, it
was because you had to give him more years, You
had to give him more money, and you had to
backload the deal because the Raiders didn't have the money
to when they got into Vegas and they became stable.
But we associate the amount of money he makes with well,
he's got to be better than everybody else, when we
(09:11):
don't even know what what Bill Belichick makes, no idea.
Do you know how much it makes? I don't. It's
not released. No that it works. Most people think it's
in the twelve and thirteen million dollars and he's worth it.
I guess could he command more? Of course he could.
But once you find out what somebody makes, it dramatically
(09:31):
changes you. It just does. I brought this up so
many times since. Really sometimes a hard translation to somebody
who hasn't gotten a newspaper but Sunday's. If you get
a Sunday paper, you know that there's a pullout called
Parade Magazine and once a year they have the what
people make and you'll you'll go through it. It's like
(09:53):
a day's entertainment. Wait. A spiritual healer makes forty dollar
in Wyoming? How do they live? Like? Wow, you know
it's Wyoming. How much? But who makes? Who are they
spiritually healing? A stockbroker in Chicago makes five thousand dollars.
(10:14):
That sounds like I really like Chicago. An insurance salesman
in Austin, Texas makes seventy sounds like a lot of money.
In Austin, it's not as more nearly as much money.
So John Gruden and Mike Mayok sent home a bunch
of scouts. Guys are gonna get rid of anyway. Their
jobs are in fact done. This is a non story,
(10:38):
But it's only a story because it's John Gruden. Much
like any of these stories that come out of the
White House. It was if it was from any other
position of leadership in the United States, we wouldn't discuss it.
But Gruden's become like Trump, any news, good, bad, neutral
becomes front page news, and Mike us would be, like,
(11:00):
the logic behind why it's like that is because of
how much money he makes and how many years he
makes that much money, And we don't know years and money,
and we haven't seen contracts like this in professional sports
for guys that run franchises and coach teams. Be sure
to catch live editions of The Doug dot Leap Show
weekdays at noon Eastern three pm Pacific on Fox Sports
(11:22):
Radio and the I Heart Radio app. I've told people
for the better part of two years, Kevin Durant is
the best player on Earth about two years ago. Um
during his first year two and a half years ago,
his first year with the Warriors, he seemed to buy
(11:43):
in defensively to using his length, blocking shots, becoming a
more active player to fit now. It didn't sustain itself
the entire year. It wasn't like he was Bruce Bowen
out there locking dudes up every night, but he had
become a much um, a much more engaged defensive player,
and he had to be based upon the fact that
(12:05):
the Warriors what they do defensively is as important as
what they do offensively. Because my understanding that that the
sale to Kevin Durant was a good one from Golden State,
which is, hey, look, you could keep fighting this battle
in Oklahoma City. That's your place. You got a good team,
get a good organization, and some years eventually you're gonna
(12:28):
get there. He almost had us beat last time. But
if you come to our place, we're gonna get there
every year. And unlike when you play in Oklahoma City,
don't have to always beat two or three guys to
get to the basket or get to a pull up
jump shot. And oh yeah, by the way, it gives
you a clear path to matching up with Lebron James
in the NBA Finals every year. Do you think you're
better than Lebron James? And Kevin Durant, without any question,
(12:50):
believes he's better than Lebron James. The only way to
prove it it's on the same floor during the NBA
Finals and everybody's watching, and you know what he did.
They proved it. Now people will get caught up in
the when I had seventy three wins the year before.
They didn't actually win, but they did have seventy three wins. Well,
you got Steph Curry and he might be Okay, Stephen
(13:12):
Curry is great. It's two times m VP. No one
is arguing his greatness. But there were two players that
played the same position that guard each other, and one
was pronouncedly better than the other in the second half
of probably four of the five games in both years.
I know who that guy was, Kevin Durant. And it's
(13:34):
funny what happened two nights ago with Kyrie Irving happened
last night with Kevin Durant. We're like, Oh, Kevin Durant's awesome.
That's why everybody wants him to leave the Warriors and
go to the Knicks so the Knicks can be awesome,
(13:54):
because when he was with the thunder they were awesome.
Now is that the Warriors are awesome? If he went
to the Knicks, they'd be awesome. But if you are
and I won't I won't name names, but one rhymes
with sullen loud Herd, And suddenly you're throwing out, hey,
Kevin Urad's the best player in the NBA. You know what,
(14:15):
I think it's a hot take. He's the best player
in the NBA. You're the guy that's like, hey, there's
this really cool place called Buffalo Wild Wings. You can
go and drink some beer and eat some wings. I
know you've never heard of it. It's a small little
joint and they have like all the games on like
a hall. And remember Chucky cheesemare a kid. There's a
(14:36):
place called David Busters kind of the same thing for adults.
And you you know, there's a TV show it's on
HBO on Sunday nights called Game of Thrones. You should
totally check this out. Like I'm not. I'm not sitting
here telling you I was first to the party, but
(14:57):
it feels like I was at least on the first
bust to the party, whereas guys coming around now, we're
we're late to get to this thing. We just are.
We're late to get to the Kevin But yeah, he's
been the best player in the NBA. He has and
he can, in fact turn it on and turn it off.
(15:17):
That's actually the skill to it where he can, like,
you know, this game depending on how they played me.
I'm just gonna feed and let everybody else get it.
Take a listen to Steve Kerr after the game last night.
He had a different mindset tonight than he had the
other night, and uh set a tone right away, and
our guys loved it. As teammates were excited about the
(15:38):
way he started the game, and I think that was
infectious and carried over to our defense too. I thought
our defense was fantastic tonight. Yeah, I mean, he just
decided to go like hey, and I said, sixty point
game kind of tongue in cheek, but I basically said, like, look,
there's gonna be a game like this where Kevin Urran
goes like, you know what, I'm just going to decide.
(15:59):
I'm just gonna go when I want to go, and
I'm gonna be a good teammate as much as I can.
But every once in a while, I gotta remind you
who I am. This is pick your favorite guitarist, and
they're like, every once in a while, fellas, I know,
we gotta get to the playlist, but I'm gonna go
on at tim and a guitar solo just so everybody
knows that I'm Slash, right, I'm sure Slash does that.
(16:22):
They're like, yes, Slash, we gotta move on, like nah,
and they need to know they came to a Slash
show last night. Clipper fans need to come like, what
is all the Kevin Durrands. Oh, oh, he can score
whenever he wants to. They literally can just he can
get a shot off and he I was trying to
(16:45):
be nice before. Now I'm not going to be nice, right.
It's it's it's the same people that thought Matthew Delavadova
could shut down Steph Curry. Right, eventually they'll actually guys
figured out, you know, first couple of games, the officials
are like, wait, how do we call this thing? Like,
(17:07):
you know, Patrick Beverley's kind of foul, h not fouling him,
and then all of a sudden, Durant kind of pushes
him and he falls down, Like how do we It's
it's like, finally, if I rept just like you know
what we're gonna do. We're not gonna call any of that.
We're not gonna call any of the pushops, and we're
gonna call the initial fouls and give him a little
because people came to see that guy play, not the
little nat playing defense. And eventually Steph Curry waxed Matthew Delavadova,
(17:31):
and eventually that's what happens with all of the l
A Clippers so if you're if you're late to the party,
guy like, it's okay. You're like, Hey, there's this new
kind of clothing for women. Lulu Lemon. They got some
guy stuff too, super comfortable, a little price e like, yeah,
(17:53):
half my wardrobe, Lulu Lemon. We're good not telling me much.
You know. You know there's these new AirPod things. They're
really hot that Apple has. They've got chords, wireless headphones,
(18:14):
wireless headphones like, thanks dude. Be sure to catch live
edition so the Doug Dot Leaps Show week days at
noon eastern three pm Pacific. Lamar heard his uh color
analysts for the Portland's Trailblazers games. Also a longtime friend
of mine play to oorg in state and tremendous at
his job. Lamar, I'm I'm wondering when Nurkic went down
(18:35):
and was out for the year. I don't know, on
Mike off, Mike, what did you think for this team? Well, Um,
the first thing we thought is, uh that that's going
to be a huge blow to any type of run
the team might be able to have in the playoffs.
We didn't think that automatically that the team would be
counted out, but we just knew with the void that
(18:58):
he field in the middle both offensively and defensively, that's
a tough ask for any of the remaining centers to
fill that void. Uh so, honestly that we we didn't
know what to think. Of course, everything was grim that
night just by nature of the injury. You know, guy's
legs snapping right in from in front of you. That
break anybody's spirits, and it just took a couple of
(19:20):
days for everybody to I guess, I don't I don't
even want to say get back to normal because I
don't know if normalcy was restored that quickly. But we
had to hit the road, go on a road trip
immediately after, and uh, you know, it was our darkest
plane ride of the season. Um for players, coaches, media, everybody.
It was a tough time. But in that road trip,
(19:42):
the team ended up going three and one, bouncing back.
The leadership with Damian Lillard really made itself obvious. Guys
stepped up and its cancer becomes the starter and ever
since and it has been in that role along with
Seth Curry, who was also a starter. At times, He's
played a minutes to see them and columns out for
a while. Uh, Seth Curry has picked up his play
(20:04):
Rodney Hood. So that's a that's a roundabout way to
answer your question is saying, Um, it was grim. We
didn't know exactly what to expect, but guys ended up
stepping up filling the gaps. And uh, the team is
where they are now because of everything that I just
talked about. Yeah, and it's it's pretty amazing what they've
been able to do. Um, and it's a little bit
(20:24):
of Honestly, they decided let's just go with some offense, right, Like,
like Seth is not a great defender, but he can
really really shoot and can pass. And then as Cantor
who you know. I mean, Oklahoma City's whole game plan
is let's just go out and as Cantor as much
as possible. But it gives you, frankly more offensively than
even Nurkis gave you. Like, so the they kind of
(20:45):
shifted to let's go, let's go offense. Let's just try
and stabilize it with offense instead of defense. Correct. Well,
I would say this two things, Um, you're not all
the way off, but I don't know if I fully agree.
And this is why there were times when Nurkics was
when its offensively, But to your point, there were sometimes
the Nerk maybe the cast the ball in the paint,
throw up a shot that his teammates his coaching staff
(21:06):
would deem a little bit soft, and you you rarely
to never see that. Samanas cancer so um in its
overall is a better option offensively consistently. But but Nerk
was tapping into some of that stuff. He has some
really special nights. Um. But as it relates to Seth Curry,
you're exactly right. I mean, Seth has been a dead
eyes shoot all season, number three in the league and
(21:27):
three point percentage, and his defense hasn't been as bad
as I think people would think from the outside. And
that applies to Ennis as well. You know, Ens had
an Ennis had a rap coming into the team that
he was a guy that didn't even put the fourth
the effort defensively. Well, that that's not the case. He's
put the fourth effort. He doesn't do he doesn't have
the impact of Nerk. Hast Dirk was elite at what
he did and protecting the paint, protecting the rim. But
(21:48):
Ennis has put in the effort and his teammates, you
know they've made up for places where he is deficient,
and that's where you rely on Zach Collins, who maybe
as the Blazer's best defensive center. With the guys remaining,
even Miners Leonard and his stop minticine, he's played, he's
been really good. Um, so I agree with I guess
the overall sentiment of what you're saying, But I would
say Seth has been better than I think people expected defensively,
(22:12):
and uh and us as well. Uh. De Meyer's Leonards
survived the plane flight because it was his. He's the
one who didn't call screen right when when Steven Adams
almost decapitated dam Lillard. Lillard was mad at Steven Adams.
But I'm sure they're like, dude, that that's Meyers Leonard's fault.
I just want to make sure he's he's okay and
he's safe. Yeah, Meyers is safe. I'm sure they talked
about it afterwards. Uh. For for anyone who doesn't know
(22:34):
Meyers and Dane, they came in the league at the
same time. They were part of the same draft. So uh,
those two guys are two longest tenured Blazers on the roster. Um.
You know that that's not the first time something like
that has happened, so they know how to go about
it and talk about it and make it right move forward. Yes,
but you and I have both been guards. It would
be a problem. Oh no, no, no, We're gonna have
(22:55):
a conversation. We're going to have the conversation. And I'm
sure Doug before I haven't asked Myers this, but I
got a strong feeling that before Damien even have to
say something to him, Myers went to him and said,
my bad, bad dog, My bad dog. Here's my per
diem my bad lamar heard joining us covers the Portland
Trailblazers for for a living as their color analyst. Are
(23:18):
the are the thundertaking bad shots? Are they not making
good shots? Is the pressure of the moment? Like, what's
you're like? Look, they're not a good shooting team, and
any of us who have watched them like they did,
they just there's a flaw in the construction of the roster.
But they're not this bad of a shooting team. Why
do you think they've shot sup poorly? I've said this
(23:38):
dog ever since I started in this job, in this role.
You know you hear the phrase of the makeo misleague,
and I don't agree with that for all teams because
I don't I don't believe that all teams can get
the shots that they want when they want. The Blazers
are one of those teams by nature of the offense
they run and the freedom Serius Stocks gives his guys,
and then the backcourt that can get the shots from
(23:59):
everybody want too well okay See. Throughout the regular season
they were a maker miss team as well because Paul
George is playing like an m v P every time
he played the Blazers. He after thirty eight a game
against the Blazers, he shot forty five percent from the
three point line in bolk I'm not talking about two
or three May three. In the four games he made
(24:19):
seven team out of thirty seven, so he was able
to get his shot any time, and as he made him,
okay See found success not only PG but the thunder
As a team. They shot right under forty from the
three point line in the regular season. The Blazers, on
the other hand, shot twenty eight and a half percent
from the three point line, so that's a huge reason.
(24:40):
That was a big deal why okay See won the
regular season series. Four. Oh. Now you add to the
fact as well the two games at okay See in
the regular season, it was the second out of a
back to back for the Blazers. So they're coming in
their fatigue playing against the team that leads the league
and steals for game turnovers forced per game second in
points offer turnovers. That that's a recipe for disaster for
(25:02):
the Blazes. So what's happened so far in games went
into the playoffs is all the numbers I just talked
about flipped. Now the Blazers who are lighted up from
the three point line, Damian Lillard. You might have heard
this number already. Dame has nine three point shots made
on the series so far. Okay See as a team
has ten. They have been historically bad in their first
two games. So they're getting the same shots, Doug that
(25:25):
they got in the regular season. They're just not making them.
People thought us because of Paul George's injured shoulder in
the first game. Uh. In the second game, Paul George
looked pretty good. He even kind of flexed, uh literally
after a shot made to go to say I'm all right,
you know, I'm back with me again. But it just
wasn't enough, and a big reason for that is really
(25:46):
right now, the Blazers backcourt is just completely out playing
Okay sees, and then the Blazers are still getting those
contributions from that supporting cast that I talked about stepping
up once Snark went down. Hey Man and Oaklahoma City, UM,
I know you got Tomorrow's the Tomorrow's the day off
should be an interesting night at the peak and appreciate
(26:08):
join us, my plasure man. Good to talk to you.
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
search f s R to listen live. Ethan Strauss covers
the NBA for the uh and the Warriors for the athletic.
He joins us on the Doug Gottlieb Show here on
(26:31):
Fox Sports Radio. UM, let me let me welcome in
and Ethan, what was your reaction to how k D
played the first two games of the of the playoffs. Um,
My reaction was that he didn't seem like he was
at his most engaged. And I know that in the
aftermath of this, you've seen it. All that happened was
(26:53):
the Warriors drips new place for him. I mean, maybe
that's slightly true. I don't think that's overall what occurred,
But he didn't seem to be engaged. He was in
that background role, that facilitator roles that he was doing
in the last few weeks of the season, and that
come worked in the regular season with so many weapons
on this Warriors team, but in the playoffs and the
defense ratchets up, you get fewer system buckets, and they
(27:14):
kind of need Katie to be Katie. Uh, the guy
who we all know who he is, and that's what
he was last night. Um he uh that that that was?
Was that you who asked him the question about about
how he was playing when he said, you know who
I am, I'm Kevin Durant. Was that was that your question?
Or was that somebody else? I think that might have
been Mark Medina. I think that might have been Mark Medina.
(27:37):
I I can't quite recall who was that yet in
exchange with Medina, but no, it was not me. I
did not ask that question, um, but he he did
give it a thoughtful and kind of thorough answer, and
it felt like like, look, he's been asking to keep
it to basketball questions. That was a basketball question and
he gave it a legit basketball answer. So do we
take him at his word that? Like if you asked
(27:58):
asked him when he deems to be a did basketball question,
he'll actually be throwing his response, Well, I don't, yeah,
I don't. I don't know about any of that. I
don't know about what qualifies as a basketball question and
what doesn't qualify as a basketball question. He tends to
get basketball questions after these practices, and that the shoot
around them, what whatnot. It was a detailed answer. I
was laughing a little bit. I don't know what your
(28:20):
reaction was, as somebody who knows the game pretty well.
I was laughing a little bit about how much of
media reacts when a player in this context uses some
terminology and says top locking um and they go, oh
my god, Oh he's explained why. Oh he's revealed exactly
why what's happening is happening. The Warriors did not feel
that way. They just wanted him to bust Landry Shammon,
(28:42):
Patrick Beverley. And that's what he did last night, and
it's what he was fully capable of doing when he
wants to do it, and This is why he is
so great and also such an enigma. You don't know
why he does what he does. You just know that
he when he wants to do it, nobody can stop.
It was that fun for him last night. Did he
seem like he It seemed to me like he was
in fun. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes that he's been dominant, there's
(29:03):
almost been a sneer to it, or not even a smile.
It looked like he was smiling last night. It looked
like he was getting a lot of gratification out of
performing after the stage was set, After all the obsessing
over him versus Patrick Beverly and everything else, it seemed
like it unburdened him. I do wonder if it unlocks
him a little bit, if he finally gets what he
(29:24):
maybe hasn't been getting out of this season in the postseason.
Now more of the focuses on him, And I think
another aspect of all of this is we're not talking
about Lebron right now. Lebron's love in the playoffs right now,
So there might be a bit of a heralding of
Kevin Durant like there hasn't been before. If he keeps
coming with the energy he came with last night. I
could see such a thing happening, and I could see
(29:45):
him feeding off of it. Um. How do you think
the DeMarcus Cousin's injury affects him? Um? I think it
makes it a little less tricky for him to get
his offense. Uh, those two weren't exactly the best fit
on the floor for whatever reason. I remember in Houston
when Durant did not play that game, that's when Cousins
(30:07):
went off. It seems that there's only so much basketball
to go around, and the Warriors added another score to
the starting lineup, and that seemed like a great idea.
It seemed almost like when you put a hat on
a hat that it was almost two decadent. And I
think it's a little easier for Kevin Durant to find
his offense with Andrew Bogant on the floor, then with
DeMarcus Cousins on the floor. That that that doesn't mean
(30:29):
that the Warriors love that this devastating, awful injury happened.
It means that they can't use Cousins in the specific
matchups that they might really benefit from. In addition to
how it's just awful for him on a personal level
and for the people who know him. But as per
Kevin Durant, I think that it's just easier for Kevin
Durant to get his offense and flanked with Bogus Um. Okay,
(30:52):
but can Bogan's body hold up right? Like he looks
Everybody's like, well, he looks really good, he's moving really well.
Like Okay, but here there's a reason that he was
allowed to walk out the door. There's a reason that
the Lakers, who loved him as a teammate and as
a guy, cut him. Um as good as he was
in Australia, you know, they didn't win the championship in Australia.
There's other things I know that play in it, like
(31:13):
when they get to legit high level Rockets series, what
can we legitimately expect from Andrew Bogan. Yeah, that's always
going to be a concern, and that is why when
Cousins goes down, h it shrinks your margin for That's
that's another reason why it's concerning that if anything happens
to both those bigs are pretty important right now, Bogan
(31:35):
and Looney, and if something happens to either of them,
you could be in a bad way against the better
opponent than the Los Angeles Clickers. So while DeMarcus Cousins
did not fit as well as maybe the numbers said
the offensive members because of the defense, it wasn't there.
The plus minus had something to say about that. His
going down I think might put the Warriors in a
(31:57):
in a bad way against teams that could potentially bullet them.
But here's the other thing that mitigates it a little bit.
Some of those teams they're not looking so hot. You know,
they got bogged in part because they anticipated the playoff field.
That would have Rudy Gobert, that would have Yo kick,
that would have Steven Adam. Right now, it's not looking
(32:17):
like they're gonna have to play any of those teams,
So they might have dodged a bullet in that respect.
I agree with you. Um. On the other hand, last
time they matched up, but the Rockets, wasn't it DeMarcus
Cousins who demolished the Rockets. That's very true. That's the
DeMarcus Cousins. So again, when Katie wasn't there, which gets
the ball in his hands and he's more comfortable, and
(32:39):
he was just dominating p J. Tucker, and he was
used dominating Capella as well, and it seemed like they
could get something out of that matchup. But against the Rockets,
they can also go small. You know, in the Western
Conference finals they played Capella off the floor. So it's
still a matchup where they can they can have some success,
and I don't think it's matchup where they necessarily need
(33:02):
that braun inside as much as they do against other teams.
It's gonna be tough, no maoutter what though the Rockets
are really good, Yeah they are. They are are really good,
There's no question about it. And I think it's going
to honestly going to be fascinating to see how these
two teams match up because the Rockets are not the
same as they were last year. Some parts are better,
maybe they're deeper, but I don't think they're starting lineup
(33:23):
is as good. But they might be playing their best basketball.
On the other hand, maybe the Jazz just aren't that good.
So I think there's a there's a there's several different
layers to it. Now. I think there are a ton
of a ton of layers to it, and it's going
to be a fascinating series if it happens. They shouldn't
skip to win I should say if, because things can
be a little unpredictable in the playoffs. I think the
(33:43):
Rockets they have to be hungry. They've been beaten by
this Warriors team a few times now. They were so
tantalizingly close last time. And this Warriors team I don't
think is as together as passed incarnations, even if they
looked completely unbeatable last night. So that's the NBA Finals
as far as I'm concerned. If it happened, that is
(34:05):
the NBA Finals right there in the Western Conference semifinals.
It's a little weird to have it so early, but
that will be the toughest challenge, in my opinion, if healthy,
that these Warriors face. I think first time finals teams
are often completely out of sorts. It's an underrated factor.
They so rarely win when they're playing their finals team
that has been there before. So I don't expect the
(34:26):
biggest challenge to come from the East. I do expect
the biggest challenge to come in the Western semi Um.
Let me ask you about Steph Curry. Uh, you know
last year he wasn't fully healthy the entire playoffs. Previous
years he has been fully healthy. He did kind of
tweak his ankle right at the end of the season.
But am I wrong to think this is the healthiest
he's been at this point in the playoffs in a
(34:48):
couple of years. Yeah, yeah, I think it's a it's
it's he looked great last night, and really we didn't
notice because the stage was set for for I'm Kevin Durant,
that that was the main story in the main takeaway,
and and it was hard to talk about anything else,
you know, I wasn't gonna write about how Andre Goodala
Gavon Looney shut down the Lou Williams kicking role last night.
(35:08):
That just was not the story. But Steph looked fantastic
and he's looked i mean, other than the end of
that game, after we got that long bench period in
the big thirty one point come back. Over the three games,
he's looked fantastic And that's got to be encouraging to
a lot of Warriors fans. And it just shows you
that when Katie is engaged and when stuff is at
(35:30):
the peak of his powers, it almost just does not
matter what else is going on. I know, it's it's
hard to look in the side Kevin Durant's head any
sense for what's going on in terms of his future.
I mean, I said what I said, and I got
yelled at when I said it, and I haven't really
heard anything to change change my story on it. Most
(35:52):
League insiders expect him to go to New York. That's
what has been subsequently reported on and and uh what
what people have said since that point. Now, maybe you
could see some scenes from last night and wonder if
minds could be changed. You know, you see Rich climb
In sitting with Maverick Carter, You wonder what they're talking about.
You see Kevin Durant going back and forth in the
(36:15):
friendly manner with Bob Myers and with the Warriors owner
Joe lake Up. You wonder what they're talking about. And
so there's always that chance, and the decision rests inside
the mind of a man. There's always a chance that
whatever has been agreed upon, uh can potentially be changed.
So you never want to say that it's done, that
it's finished. But what I reported on what I wrote
(36:35):
back in February, I don't see any reason to change
on that. Ethan Strouss he covers the NBA for the Warriors,
and I believe is writing a book currently on the
on this Uh, let me see what I said. Sorry
for the Athletic for the Warriors. He covers the Warriors
for the Athletic. It's Friday eight and I apologize to you.
It was fun game last night. Um. You can fall
(36:55):
on Twitter at Sherwood Strauss. That's with two s s
at the end st R a U S S eighth
and great stuff. Man. Thanks for joining us and enjoy
your weekend you too, man, Thanks for having me
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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