May 28, 2024 • 53 mins
On today's Dan Patrick Show, DP pays tribute to the late Bill Walton. ESPN College Basketball Analyst Jay Bilas joins the show to reflect on the life of his friend Bill Walton. Plus, NBA Hall of Famer Reggie Miller recaps the weekend in NBA Playoffs.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox
Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hope you had a great weekend. Everybody, Gang's all here,
ready to go. Reggie Miller stops by next hour and
Jay Billis reflects on his friendship with Bill Walton. I'll
have that for you coming up as well. We'll recap
everything that happened Timberwolves Mavericks Game four tonight, the Celtics
sweep the Pacers, Jalen Brown wins your Eastern Conference MVP,
(00:25):
the MAVs up three to zero in the Wolves, and
the big headline sports headline from yesterday, Bill Walton passing
away at the age of seventy one. We say good
morning to those watching on Peacock, thank you for downloading
the app and our radio affiliates around the country. We'll
have whole question play at the day stat of the day.
We weren't here yesterday obviously, so best and worst of
(00:46):
the weekend. You can dial up Tyler standing by eight
seven seven three DP show.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
You know.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
I started my Memorial Day in a reflective mood, as
I try to do every Memorial Day. Remember relatives who
served in wars from World War Two to Afghanistan and
went to visit the graveside of my father in law
who was in the Air Force. So I started in
a reflective mood and then I ended my night day
(01:15):
with a reflective mood with Bill Walton, and you know,
different emotions there. It hit me hard when I first
heard that Bill had passed away, because I didn't know
he was battling cancer. But knowing Bill, he's not going
to let anybody know that he was battling cancer. And
if you've been a fan of this show, you know
for over twenty years we've had Bill on back at
(01:38):
the Mothership. Days Bill would call in, I'd say Hi, Bill,
how are you? And he would talk for eight to
twelve minutes stream of consciousness. I'd just let him go.
I rarely had time to ask him another question because
I didn't have another eight to twelve minutes and I
had to move on with programming. But Bill would call
in give a stream of consciousness, and I don't have
(01:59):
those art those are owned by ESPN, or I would
give you a sampling of just what it was like.
I had no idea what Billy was going to talk about,
but so many positive memories. I was sad, but then
I started to think about man. Bill would be so disappointed.
Why are you crying?
Speaker 4 (02:18):
I'd be like, I.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Don't know, you know, And then I started thinking about
all the positives, and there's so many of them because
Bill went out of his way to make you feel good,
make you smile, and he did that. And I had
so many interactions with him, and I don't even know
where to begin with my relationship with him. My intermural
(02:42):
team in college was named the Walton Gang after Bill.
I love the way he played basketball. I love the purity,
the simplicity he understood the game. He understood that. He
was great in high school, grade, in college, and of
course great in the NBA when he was healthy. But
he was when you thought of college basketball, Bill Walton
(03:03):
was the name, the face, and Kareem and Bill are
the two greatest centers of all time in college. Now
you can put in Bill Russell obviously a winner as
well at San Francisco, but Bill and Kareem are the
two greatest centers that I ever saw. But he was
so much more than that. He went to almost nine
hundred Grateful Dead concerts. He had almost forty different operations.
(03:26):
He would call them procedures. And you know, he thought
about committing suicide. He had had so many back surgeries,
he was in so much pain. And you know, Jim
Gray was going to find the best spinal surgery doctor
in the world, and he did and helped prolong Bill's life.
(03:47):
And Bill was in extreme pain, and he even came
on the show and thought about suicide. But after that,
it felt like he had a new lease on life
and he was going to squeeze every ounce of every topic,
every person, every game, every moment. And you can't help
but have a smile on your face when you think
about Bill. The story that I tell often, we did
(04:11):
a show called NBA's Greatest Games at NBA Entertainment, and
so we look back on a game in the nineteen
eighty six NBA Finals and Bill came in as the guest.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
We watched the game, we get opinions, and then you know.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
We close it up and I'm getting ready to go
into New York City and he goes, can I get
a lift? And I go, Bill, I'm driving a Volkswagen Jetta,
And he didn't care. He got in the car and
he could arrested his chin on his knees. That's how
little space he had but he didn't care. He goes,
(04:48):
you got Twun's and I go, yeah, I said, I
got Dylan Greatest Hits Volume one. He goes, Dylan, Mozart
and Beethoven geniuses. So we're driving into New York. We
go through the Lincoln Tunnel and Bill goes, can you
put on blowing in the wind? I said yes, so
(05:13):
put on blowing in the wind. So we're going through
the Lincoln Tunnel. Bill is crammed in there and the
windows are down and he is singing the answer My
friend is blowing in the wind, blowing.
Speaker 5 (05:25):
In the wind.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
And then he turns to me.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
He goes, that's a metaphor, and I go and he
could not have been happier.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
And here he is squeezed in there.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
He always wanted to be listed at six eleven because
he was told that seven footers are freakd so Billy
he was not. He was probably seven to but he
sent me a bunch of gear when we moved into
the man Cave, sent me his autograph jersey and autograph basketball.
I was there for his first pro game when he
faced Kareem at the University of Dayton his rookie year.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
Waited for him.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
He came out of the locker room and I walked
across the parking lot with him. He had a red
plaid shirt and he had jeans, and he had a bandanna.
He had long hair. He had a bag, and I
remember saying, what's in the bag, and he goes nuts
and berries. He was vegan before vegan, and I just
(06:19):
remember walking and watching him and I don't know why,
And then you know, he was fortunate to have Jack
Ramsey as his head coach. That seventy seven Blazer team
blazer Mania. It's one of the finest performances of a
selfless team I've ever seen in my life. And Bill
did not care about scoring. He did not care. He
(06:41):
would rather have a block shot or a great pass
than you know, a dunk. He was selfless. That whole
team was in some of the best basketball unless you're
a Philadelphia seventy six er fan that I've ever seen,
as far as team goes. But I can't help but
think of great things when I think of Bill, and
you know, in a lot of ways, he's similar to
(07:01):
John Madden that people forget that John Madden was a
Hall of Fame coach with the Raiders. They know him
from the Madden video game. Bill's one of the great
centers college basketball history. Had a lot of injuries, won
two titles in the NBA, but they know him as
a broadcaster. And then nineteen eighty six he's sixth man,
you know, for the Celtics, coming off the bench, winning
(07:23):
a title, playing with Larry Bird. Bill was Larry's idol
let that sink in. But Bill was as good a
passer as when he saw the game. You know, he
didn't have a great shot, but he was so active,
so springy, and great offensively and defensively, but understanding the
(07:43):
concepts of the game. There were very few who saw
it better than he did. He just couldn't play. He
was even the following year after they won the title.
I think they were fifty to ten after six sixty games.
And then he got injured and his career was really
marked by those injuries. Foot injuries, back injuries as well.
(08:05):
He was a character, and I remember talking to John
Wooden about him, and you know, John Coach would have
a smile, that smile that's like, boy, he put me
through the wringer, and it would say, oh, Billy Bill,
And you know, but they all had such reverence for
coach woulden't. So Bill passing away at the age of
(08:25):
seventy one, and if you came in contact with him,
you were a better person because he was going to
make sure you had to smile on your face. So,
Billy passing away at the age of seventy one, thanks
to those who did reach out, because it did hurt.
It stung me hard, and then I kept thinking, God,
he'd be so disappointed. She knew I was sad, and
(08:48):
that's true. So we celebrate Bill Walton. I'm going to
bring back an interview. I think this might have been
the last interview that Bill did with us. I'll play
that a little bit later on, just so you get
a sense of and he came on and stream of
consciousness because there'd be times I would want to ask
him things, but he had other things that he wanted
to talk about. You know, it could be understanding and
(09:09):
explaining the confluence of three rivers to was Gungha dinn
a great athlete, Like you're just going, wait, what where
are we going with this? But he didn't grow up
in his sports household because his mom was a librarian,
his dad is social workers. Brother Bruce played for the
Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman. But I don't think sports was
education was what was stressed. Bill had a stutter till
(09:34):
he was close to twenty eight years of age. And
I joke with him one time, I said, you had
a hard time talking, now you have a hard time
shutting up, and.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
He goes, isn't it wonderful?
Speaker 2 (09:45):
So I had that great voice, booming voice, and he
loved the game.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
He always talked.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
I remember saying to him, God, you had that series
against Kareem and you went down the lane and dunked
on and he goes, oh, my idol, like it almost
hurt him that he was dunking on his idol, Kareem
in a playoff game. But for those of you in Portland,
you're very, very fortunate you got to watch some of
the greatest basketball ever played, in my opinion, in Blazer
(10:13):
media when you beat Doctor J.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
They lost the first two and then they won the
next four. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
That's I was trying to sum up how I could
put this into words and not get emotional, and hopefully
I've encapsulated. But imagine when we all want to have
an impact, we all want to leave people thinking that
person was this Billy did that. Bill left an impression
(10:42):
that puts a smile on your face, and that's a
damn good legacy. All Right, we'll get to pull question today.
Phone calls are always welcome. Reggie will join us a
little bit later on. He will be on the call
for Timberwolves in the MAVs Game four coming up tonight
and the Celtics over the pace. I know we're going
to look at degree of difficulty and we're gonna go, well,
(11:04):
the Celtics didn't really face anybody. They can only play
who's in front of them. That's it. Now there, you know.
They trailed again. They trailed in the last two games.
The Pacers blew a nine point lead in the fourth
quarter of both games three and four. Should it be
could it be to two?
Speaker 4 (11:23):
Yes, but it's not. They swept.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Now they move on and now you have a chance
for a sweep with the Timberwolves at the Mavericks and
then you're gonna have nine games if that were to
happen before the NBA Finals. Is it nine days that
that'll happen, I believe Fritzy.
Speaker 5 (11:40):
Yeah, Thursday, June sixth, Game one.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Yeah, so nine days before they'll start the NBA Finals.
If that is a sweep coming up tonight? All right, seatan,
let's pull question today.
Speaker 6 (11:52):
Uh, which is worse Dan getting swept or losing Game
seven at the buzzer? I would say getting swept. I got,
I got to.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
Be in the game.
Speaker 6 (12:05):
It's like losing at the buzzer in game seven is
more heartbreaking, yes, but it's worse to get swept, yes, right, yeah, yes,
one of them is more painful. The other one is
just like, well, we got crush.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Yeah, I don't want to. I want to be in
the game. And if we lose, we lose, and yes
that's crushing. But then I take my takeaway is God,
we're that close as opposed to we're not close at all.
So I would say losing at the buzzer in game seven.
By the way, stat of the Day is always brought
to you by Panini America, the official trading cards for
(12:39):
the Dan Patrick Show. This first hour brought to you
by the great folks at Express Employment Professionals. If you're
looking for a job, they'll help you. A local job,
they'll help you, and no fees for job seekers. Visit
expresspros dot com to find the location nearest you. That's
expresspros dot Com upy birthday to one of my idols,
(13:01):
Jerry West eighty six years of age today.
Speaker 6 (13:04):
Nott be birthday talking about a fellow who's not gonna
put up with that.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
Nonsense, No he will know, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Nonsense, no, no, no, nope, nope, no time for birthday. Yeah,
I don't have time. I'm the logo. He's busy being
awesome somewhere.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
He always looked like he came out of a catalog.
You're like, damn, you look great, hair combed, you know,
color coordinated outfits, just walking in like whoa right out
of a catalog of.
Speaker 6 (13:34):
James Bondish, but also like could be your coach.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Yah, yeah, you look like he was out of the movies.
What else do you have there?
Speaker 4 (13:42):
Seaton?
Speaker 6 (13:42):
What a boss? What an absolute boss?
Speaker 4 (13:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (13:44):
You know, we stumbled on one that we're gonna save
for hour two.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Okay too, but we could tease it, okay, all right.
Speaker 6 (13:52):
Uh, we're talking earlier about professional race car drivers.
Speaker 5 (13:56):
Hmmmm.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Watched Little Indy five hundred.
Speaker 6 (13:59):
Yeah, yes, there's a little bit of a debate about
whether or not you could do that with a year's practice.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Year's practice not be in the race. Just drive the
car two hundred and twenty five miles now right, not
become someone like on the circuit or whatever. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, okay,
so we'll save that one. Yeah, we'll save that one.
Yeah yeah, all right, so Jay Billis will join us. Also,
(14:25):
you had Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic. There was some
pretty high praise. That may be the greatest backcourt and
the most talented backcourt NBA history.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
All right, we'll discuss that.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
And for those of you who are piling on Anthony
Edwards because he's not Michael Jordan, Michael Jordan failed the
first four years. Wrong, Yes he did, Anthony Edwards. See
this is what the media does. We go, oh, he's
the next Michael Jordan. He reminds me of Jordan. Oh
he's no Jordan. Look he's gonna verge of being swept
the media is doing. Anthony Edwards didn't say, hey, by
(15:01):
the way, I'm the next Jordan. No, he even said stop,
I'm not Michael Jordan. He has characteristics, maybe a style,
maybe the aggressiveness, the uh I'm gonna kill you type mentality.
It would help if Karl Anthony Towns hit a shot
because the average margin of victory for Dallas so far
(15:22):
has been a little over four points per game.
Speaker 4 (15:25):
Carl Anthony.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Stell of a day, Style of a day, Start of
a day, Style of to day.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
This is the style of the day.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Scat of Today brought you by Panini America, the official
trading cards of the program. We'll get phone calls on
this Tuesday, best and worst of the weekend. What you
saw that you liked, you didn't like? But up next
we'll talk to Jay. Billis his thoughts on working with
Bill Walton and he'll join us next.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
Dan Patrick Show.
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Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk up in
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To NBA Insiders podcasting twice a week to plug you
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All happening in only one place. This League Uncut, the
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Chris Haynes and me Mark Stein join us.
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As we team up to expound on everything we're covering.
Hearing and Chason.
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Listen to This League Uncut with Chris Haynes and Mark Stein.
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On the iHeartRadio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get
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Speaker 4 (16:40):
Best and worst of the weekend.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
We'll get to your phone calls coming up AH seven
to seven three DP show settle on a poll question.
Today's Mercedes Benz Interview of the Day brought to you
Buy Mercedes Benz Luxury SUVs now come with the luxury
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Learn more at MBUSA dot com. Slash Special offers. Jay
(17:02):
billis college basketball analysts and Jay had a wonderful letter
column that he wrote on ESPN dot com yesterday, his
tribute to Bill Walton, and I thought, you know what,
if you didn't read it, I'd love for Jay to
recap some of that that feeling you had when you
worked with Bill. I brought up the fact that he's
sort of like John Madden to a different generation, that
(17:25):
they know John Madden as the broadcaster or the video
game guy. They didn't realize he was a Hall of
Fame coach. I had to tell somebody yesterday, a thirty
three year old guy that I was talking to, how
great Walton was as a basketball player, and they said
that guy was a great basket I said, yes, one
of the greatest centers in college basketball history. How would
you sum up working with Bill Jay.
Speaker 10 (17:49):
A glorious adventure that every time you were around Bill,
he made it about you.
Speaker 11 (17:57):
He made it a tremendous amount of fun.
Speaker 5 (18:00):
Uh.
Speaker 11 (18:00):
And he was so generous and kind uh.
Speaker 10 (18:04):
And and he had a spirit that was hard to define.
You know, you always wound up laughing, you know, sometimes
at him, so most of the time at what he
was saying. He was very self deprecating.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
Uh.
Speaker 11 (18:19):
And he he had he could.
Speaker 10 (18:20):
Bring the needle out, which I love he you know,
he called me Jake. He never called me by my name,
and and I loved it.
Speaker 11 (18:28):
You know. It was like Walton, you know, is bringing
me in.
Speaker 10 (18:32):
And even on broadcast that I wasn't on, he would
refer to me as Jake.
Speaker 11 (18:36):
And some people got it, some people didn't. But he was.
He was wonderful.
Speaker 10 (18:41):
And he would always uh if you tried to talk
to him about what may happen on the air, about
content or some eventuality, he would immediately give you that
big paw heisman stay it for the air, Jake, like
you know, he he wanted no part of discussing it
before h and just just fantastic and you know, he
(19:03):
couldn't wrestle a check away from him. He was always interested.
If you're sitting with him around a table, he was
the guy everybody wanted to hear from, to hear his stories,
his perspective, you know, because he lived such a rich life,
basketball and otherwise. But he wanted to know about you
(19:25):
and and your family and your hopes and dreams and
things like that. And he but he was genuinely interested.
Speaker 11 (19:32):
Uh. He was. He was really a wonderful human being.
Speaker 10 (19:36):
And for me, growing up in southern California, you know,
I idolized him. I was in I first started playing
basketball third fourth grade. So he was national player of
the year and at UCLA they were winning championships and
and all that and uh. And when you meet your
idol and he exceeds your expectations, that's got to be
(19:59):
pretty rare, at least in my experience. And he exceeded
every one of the expectations I had of him, which
were really high.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
And I talk about you know, I named my intermural
team after Wolton, called the Walton Gang, and because it
was a tribute to the teamwork that he had that
he expected that he hoped for. He had that simplicity.
He wanted perfection, but he knew what simplicity meant, and
having John Wooden there as his coach, and I just
(20:30):
I fell in love with the ability to be selfless
but be the best player in college basketball, which is
really hard to do. And you know, taking that style
into that Portland team in seventy seven, that's the most
selfless you know, champion I've ever witnessed, and didn't have
really star power, had Bill and Molucas and Jack Ramsey,
(20:53):
but that ability, that inate ability to see a game differently.
I mean we marvel at Joker. Now Bill did Joker
like things, you know fifty years ago.
Speaker 10 (21:05):
Yes, aside from bringing the ball up court. I think
maybe you put west Unseld in this category, maybe even
Kevin Love. But to me, he was the best outlet
passer that ever lived. You know, he could he could
go up and get a rebound adder above the square
of the backboard and turn in mid air and that
(21:26):
ball was gone down court for a break. He could
really run before he was injured. And I think his
NBA career, Dan, I mean you were about to say
age you remember that stuff, like he was probably the
Sandy Kofax.
Speaker 11 (21:42):
In a way of the NBA that.
Speaker 10 (21:45):
When he was when he was healthy, it was him
and Kareem were the best centers and that was it.
And I think it was him and Kareem as the
best players, not just the best centers, but the.
Speaker 11 (21:55):
Best players to ever play college basketball. I mean, he
was eighty six and four in his college career.
Speaker 10 (22:02):
In three years he went thirty and oh, thirty and
oh twenty six and four. And his senior year in
nineteen seventy four, they lost. They called the Lost Weekend
in sports Illustrated. They lost back to back to Oregon
and Oregon State, Digger Phelps and Notre Dame ended that
eighty eight game winning streak. And then they lost in
double overtime to David Thompson at NC State in the
(22:23):
Final four in Greensboro, North Carolina. That was it.
Speaker 11 (22:26):
And teams used to stall against them. You name it.
Speaker 10 (22:30):
But I remember, you know, my coaches when I got
to college. You know, the trainer at Duke was a
guy named Max Crowder, and he insisted Bill Walton's the
best player I've ever seen, and they all talked about
him being the best. And then you get to know
him later on, and he was he was such a
(22:52):
Later on his career he became a showman, but he
wasn't necessarily like that off the court. He was goofy
and fun. But hey, can I read you a text message?
Speaker 11 (23:01):
He sent one time? Sure is that you have time
for that?
Speaker 4 (23:04):
Absolutely?
Speaker 10 (23:05):
So he's a I played golf with a high school
buddy of mine named Steve Howard, and Steve was a
deadhead there still is a deadhead, has gone to dead
shows for thirty five years, and he and Bill became
friends through dead shows. So Steve and I played golf
this last summer, and while we're playing, we decided, hey,
let's let's send a a video to Big Red. So
(23:25):
we sent a video to Bill and this was his response,
and I'll do it in his voice. Awesome, terrific. Step
and Jake, two of my heroes. Thanks for your kindness,
patience and my life. On your golf adventure, Jake mentioned
going low. Please remind him I'm much better going high.
(23:49):
May the four winds blow you safely home. May you
stay forever young, May you stay forever Steven Jake, with
eternal gratitude and boundless everything.
Speaker 11 (24:00):
I miss you. I salute you.
Speaker 10 (24:02):
I thank you BW from the bright side of the road.
I'm the luckiest guy in the world. Like that's his response.
And he sent that kind of stuff to everybody. I
mean everybody that I've shared this was said, oh, they
sent one back to me. They got something similar. I
mean he was one of them.
Speaker 5 (24:20):
Guy.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Great to talk to you, Jay, thank you for sharing.
And if you didn't see it, please go to ESPN
dot com. And Jay's letter to Bill Walton signed love Jake,
Thank you, Jay, thank you brother. That's Jay Bills, ESPN
college basketball analyst and he liked me growing up watching Bill.
(24:44):
First time I saw just anything about Bill was faces
in the crowd in Sports Illustrated. Now that was a
real small picture and it have a little bit of
a bio of an athlete. Could it be Division one
baseball player, track and field? And it said Bill Walton
Helix High and La Mesa, California. They had won forty
nine in a row and Bill was going to UCLA.
(25:05):
And I thought, all right, because I was a big
UCLA fan and couldn't play his freshman year, and then
all of a sudden, you saw him a sophomore year,
and you go Okay, they're going to win three more
national titles, and they won two that senior year. I
think there were a lot of distractions going on with Bill,
and I don't know if he and John Wooden were
(25:27):
in sync, but you know, he couldn't play his freshman
year at UCLA or he would have been part of
another national title team.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
But you got to see him.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Had one of the greatest title game performances against Memphis State.
I think he missed one shot and that was an
offensive goaltending. I think he was twenty one to twenty two.
He missed more free throws than he did field goals
of that game. I think he was twenty one to
twenty two, two for five from the line, something like that.
But a wonderful player, never as good. You know, we
(25:59):
talk about Bo Jackson if he had stayed healthy, Like
there's a few at Kirby Puckett. There's certain athletes where
you go, boy, if they had stayed healthy, what could
they have been? And Bill's certainly in that very very
small category of greats who could have been even greater,
you know, historically great, had he been able to stay healthy.
Speaker 4 (26:20):
All Right, we'll get to some phone calls yeah, Pauline, some.
Speaker 7 (26:22):
Of us because of our age, saw Bill Walton as
an I think he's coming off the bench with the Celtics,
and you'd heard about the Ucla days, but we didn't
see them. I went back and I've been looking at
some videos and some pictures. His head is hitting at
the rim often and his arm is, you know, a
foot and a half over the rim. He was a
very athletic guy, but we never saw that if you're
at a certain age.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
No, he was really athletic at UCLA, and then he
suffered a back injury and was really never the same
from that. He had had a cracked vertebrae. I think
that he felt that he was intentionally injured. I don't
know what game, but I think it might have been
his sophomore year. But he had all these back injuries,
foot injuries and was never the same. But you know,
(27:06):
you leave a mark, and he left a mark in
a variety of ways, and that says something about the person,
something about the athlete as well.
Speaker 9 (27:13):
Yes, Mark, is there anybody that you know that matched
his passion for life? It seemed like he had a
passion for music as much as he had a passion
for basketball.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
No, because I mean there's nobody like him. Just when
you meet him, he overwhelms you. It's this tsunami of
what is he thinking. You know, he's out in the galaxy,
and you know it was and he was always that way.
It wasn't like, oh, you know Bill's quiet. Bill was
(27:46):
always that way. You know, he just was able to
bring opinions, insight, enthusiasm, appreciation. He just had a spirit
about him that was awesome. Brian in Portland, Hey Brian,
what's on your mind?
Speaker 12 (28:05):
Hey Dan, thanks for Holden and calling me back. Yeah,
six foot two fifteen, a little soft Walden. I got
to meet him at one of his he was pitching
tequila later in his career, and guy who went to
a little event and there is nobody. I mean, you
just felt like you were his best friend. He just
(28:28):
he deflected everything. If you wanted to tell him how
great he was, he would just say, well, Kareem was
the greatest. Julius, you know, was unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
I mean Larry Bird.
Speaker 12 (28:38):
Was the best. He would never talk about how great
he was. And that's seventy seventeen. I mean that was Peake,
doctor j I mean that guy was amazing and ferocious
and Walton, you know, we all saw what he did.
But the incredible thing is that, of course Portland traded
Moses Malone, you know in the preseason. Is they had
(28:59):
both Malone and Lucas out of the ABA draft, and
you think that, oh my god, if they keep him
alone and then maybe draft Larry Bird instead of Michael
Thompson and that seventy eight draft, Yes, that's perfect hindsight.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Let it go, Brian, let it go, Let it go,
Madden Riverside. I'm att with's on your mind.
Speaker 3 (29:20):
Hey, good morning, Thanks for calling back. My condolences to
you and the Walton family. I got a quick story
and then an ask for seating in the boys and
the T shirt manufacturers. I had a great interaction with
Bill back in twenty ten when I was working at
UCLA once when Coach Wooden passed, I got to walk
him and his wife to their seats, and I, you know,
(29:43):
I of course was saying, hey, sorry for your lot.
He looked at me and said, law, we're going to
celebrate Coach Wooden's life today. And that still sticks with me,
and I think that he would want us to do
the same moving forward. My after seating the boys. Was
we just y'all just had Jay Bellison. We had a
great Bill Walton's shirt on one year when he was
(30:04):
out here on the West Coast, and I was wondering
if we could possibly mass produce that shirt so we
can purchase online with Bill's stream of consciousness. I'll hang
up the list and y'all have a good two today.
Speaker 11 (30:16):
Thanks.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
All right, you know what, I'll talk to our research
and development there, Seeton O'Connor.
Speaker 6 (30:21):
It's a picture of yeah, Jay billis has this T
shirt on and it's like a caricature of Bill Walton
and he's got like a tide eyed headband on, tight
eyed shirt. It's a really it's a great shirt. It's
really great. I don't know who made the design, but
it's really really good.
Speaker 4 (30:36):
Yeah, we have to be careful with those things.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Don't want to take too many liberties here other than
what we already do, yes, Paul.
Speaker 7 (30:46):
In the nineteen seventy seven NBA Playoffs, in six games,
Bill Walton there which nineteen points, nineteen rebounds, five assists,
and four blocks.
Speaker 11 (30:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (30:53):
Can you imagine if we were discussing a big man
in the NBA doing that, right, now in a series
nineteen five and four.
Speaker 4 (31:01):
Yeah, and his name would be Joker.
Speaker 7 (31:04):
Yeah, I guess he's he's in that ILK.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
But there. You know, this is where it's tricky when
you're comparing. And Bill would hate me for doing this. Oh,
a Joker is far more talent. I mean, he would
never ever ever embrace his greatness. He would not because
I remember when I talked to him about doctor J.
I was like, man, I can't believe you beat doctor
(31:26):
Jay Goes. I didn't we meet doctor J. He would
never ever ever entertain that he was. He deflected, and
he admired Kareem so much, and Kareem sent out a
tweet yesterday saying, I lost, you know, a great friend.
To picture those two guys together. But he admired Kareem
(31:48):
so much, and you know, but they were rivals. So
you know, it's a wonderful legacy. And my thoughts to
Laurie and certainly the boys. You know what your dad
left to Mark, that's a great, great and delible Mark.
Speaker 4 (32:02):
Take a break.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan
Patrick Show weekdays at nine am Eastern six am Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio WAPP.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Reggie Miller will be on the call tonight in Dallas,
Game four Western Conference Finals Timberwolves and the Mavericks. Tip
Off time is eight thirty Eastern on TNT. Reg will
be with Kevin Harlan, stan Van Gundy and Ali LaForce.
Great to see you, Reg. We were just talking about
best scoring backcourts NBA history. Stan Van Gundy brought this up.
(32:35):
You got a reaction. You were like, whoa, that is
this the best scoring backcourt in NBA history with Luca
and Kyrie.
Speaker 5 (32:44):
And let me clarify exactly what he said, the best offensive,
like you said scoring, Throw either one of them the
ball and they can go win you the ballgame. And
I agree with him. Others that are in the Congress
station because we brought this up to the studio guys
and they were absolutely destroying Coach Fancy on this assessment
(33:08):
because obviously Draymond said Stephan and Clay and we're like, whoa, Steph, Yes,
you're just not throwing the ball to Clay and say
go win me a ball game. Though he's had huge games,
but you're not throwing him the ball like Kyrie and Luca.
So Isaiah and Joe comes into the conversation in terms
(33:29):
of scoring the basketball, but I don't think they're scoring
it at such a high clip like Luca and Kyrie,
Earl the Pearl and Clyde maybe, but after that then
I couldn't think of anyone else. So to answer your question, yes,
I am in agreement with coach the best offensive scoring
(33:54):
duo in basketball history. Yes, we're not saying the best duo,
the best offensive scoring duo. Yes.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Okay, could I have Lebron and Kyrie and Cleveland Mins.
Speaker 5 (34:09):
A power forward? He's not. He's not a guard. He's
a power forward.
Speaker 4 (34:13):
No, he handles the He's listed as a power forward.
Speaker 5 (34:16):
He's listed as power forward. We're talking Luca is the
point guard and Kyrie is the shooting guard on this
Dallas team. They're listed as point guard and shooting guard.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Why did Lebron want to get listed as a power
forward or three? It's center one year?
Speaker 5 (34:35):
I think probably to show his talents. And he's not
really a power forward either. I think when it goes down,
when he's going into the Hall of Fame, I think
he's going to go in as a small forward.
Speaker 4 (34:46):
Okay, when you think of.
Speaker 5 (34:47):
Lebron James, I think of him as him and Larry
Board Larry Burzanirio the greatest small forwards of all time.
He's not a power forward. He's a power forward in
today's game in a twenty one years in the league,
but in his heyday he's a small forward.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
All right, let me turn our attention to tonight's game.
If you were Karl Anthony Towns teammate or coach, what
would you say to him?
Speaker 5 (35:13):
Don't listen to all the noise because there's a lot
of it right now, and continue to try to get
to your spots in your shots. He's struggling right now,
right let's face it, and it very well could be
a sweep if he doesn't find his shot. I'm gonna
throw some numbers out at you for it. For if
(35:33):
Minnesota wants to continue this series and get it back
to Minnesota, Anthony Edwards's got to have thirty five plus
eight and eight. Carl Anthony Towns has to have just
twenty five in fifteen, all right, sixty between the two
of them. If they can get to that number, to me,
that means that number one they're scoring the basketball. But
(35:57):
that means Dallas is gonna have to double that at
some point in time, and Jane Daniels will get off
a little bit. Mike Conley, who's played well the last
two games, will continue to eat. But if if Anthony
doesn't get thirty five plus, if Kat doesn't get twenty
five plus, then this series is going to be over.
But if I'm Karl Anthony Towns, You've got to block
(36:21):
out the noise because you're in the final four situation
and things get highlighted a little bit more and you
are struggling. But he's got to stop settling for threes.
Theodore right when he got going, it was when he
was driving the basketball and he got a couple of
layups going. But he's settling for too many threes and
(36:42):
they are not falling.
Speaker 4 (36:43):
For m Yeah, when they let you shoot a three,
that should be a show.
Speaker 5 (36:47):
Telling you you're going for a reason.
Speaker 4 (36:49):
Yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
If you had your pick though game on the line,
Luca or Kyrie with the ball, who would you TAKEO.
Speaker 5 (37:03):
We see them both be successful in this role.
Speaker 4 (37:07):
Yeah, but you're Jason Kidd, You're drawing up a play
game on the line tonight.
Speaker 5 (37:12):
I'm probably gonna go with Luca because he plays at
such a unique pace it's very difficult for you to
block his shot, and it is very especially when he's
going to that step back three that we saw in
Game two for the game winner. You're not blocking that.
So I would probably go with Luca, but it would
(37:34):
be more, probably more entertaining to have the ball in
Kyrie's hands and to see the handles. Both would be fun,
very much the same way that left hand game winner
against Denver this regular season. Both have shown that they
can produce in the biggest moments. That's why they all
are the best offensive duo in the NBA history.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
See, I would love to see Kyrie because then I
know Anthony Edwards would be guarding him, So I would
get I mean would be I don't world, Yeah, yeah,
who's guarding Luca? Like, Okay, you're gonna have somebody, But
I know.
Speaker 5 (38:07):
You could have Anthony Edwards on Luca too. I know
Jada McDaniels has kind of been the guy that's supposed
to be guarded him most of the time, but it
has guarded him in very small stretches in this series.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
Talking to Reggie Miller, He's on the call tonight Game
four Western Conference Finals Timberwolves and the Mavericks Timberwolves getting
too I feel like Minnesota is gonna win this game.
I don't know why, probably no reason to think that,
but that's what happens with these crazy thing scenarios.
Speaker 4 (38:39):
What do you think, Well, let me.
Speaker 5 (38:40):
Just let me just say this. It's very difficult to
beat a team four times in a row. We just
saw it last night with the Celtics beating Indiana four straight.
But come playoff times, you don't look at it like
there's no way we're gonna lose for in a row
because each game in the series he takes on the
life of its own. And tonight again I threw up
(39:05):
those numbers. Those two guys have to play well, and
they have to play well on the road, and Anthony
Edwards did a lot of that in the fourth quarter.
In the second half. It was the reason why they
took the lead. It's just or excuse me, Kat didn't
come along for the ride. They both have to play
well on the road for them to force this game
(39:27):
back to Minnesota. If one is on and the other
is not, I don't think they have enough, especially the
way Kyrie and Luca have been dominating the fourth quarter.
But I say one thing they do have a silver lining.
Derek Lively not playing tonight is a huge boost for
Minnesota because he has been absolutely destroying them and he's
(39:50):
been the silent killer for them on the offensive, glass,
blocking shots, being a facilitator when they double those two guys.
Him not being in the game is an advantage for Minnesota.
Let's see if they can take advantage of it.
Speaker 2 (40:04):
Like Boston sweeps. It wasn't that easy, but they do sweep.
What stands out as Boston moves on.
Speaker 5 (40:12):
Let me let me say this about the Boston and Celtics,
Drew Holiday and Derek White. It's almost unfair. Seriously, those
two dudes do every single little thing that impact winning,
and they take the temperature of their team whatever their
(40:35):
team will need that night. I know all the headlines
go to Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown, and rightfully, so
those dude gets done. They're they're all stars. Brown was
the Eastern Conference MVP. I get it. But this team,
the bread and butter to me is Holiday and White.
Those guys they do everything, almost to the point if
(40:59):
I was an East Your Conference team, I'm I'm serious.
I don't know when Derek White's contract is up. I
would offer him the max so they so Boston cannot
sign and they can't sign everyone. He is that good man.
He does everything. They do everything. It's almost not their
(41:22):
really is it.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
Do you think Jalen Brown does he think this is
his team? I know we give credit to Jason Tate.
It's almost like Jalen Brown. I hear it in his voice.
Speaker 5 (41:39):
You kind of heard it when he was on the
Days talking about I never win anything, you know, because
most of the shine does go to Jason Tatum. He
gets all the commercials, he's, you know, a brand Jordan
and you know he gets all that.
Speaker 2 (41:51):
But the mentality though, to be the man does Jason Tatum.
Speaker 5 (41:55):
It's a little bit different. Okay, night in and night
out when the mark Mett and we're finding that in Edwards. Look,
just ten days ago we were saying he was Michael Jordan.
You know, he's a cross between Goby Dwayne Wade. I
was throwing that out. Let's stop it, right. It's the
difference when you've got to be the man and you've
(42:17):
got to shine when the lights are the brightest, and
both Tatum and Brown have done that. They've had their
moments who cares whose team it is right now. Their
main objective should be winning a championship, and they're four
games away from that. But they are loaded. And truthfully,
I know Porzingis is on the clock and he's gonna
be back at some point in the NBA Finals. I
(42:40):
hope that doesn't mess up chemistry. They are playing that good.
Al Horford. This is probably the best we've see Al
Horford over the.
Speaker 4 (42:47):
Last Hall of Hall of Fame.
Speaker 5 (42:51):
Excuse me, I'm so sorry, mister future Hall of Famer.
Speaker 4 (42:57):
Yes, yes, Al Horford.
Speaker 5 (42:59):
This is probably the best he has played and shot
over the last four or five years. Right now, chemistry
is an all time high. The Celtics the team to beat.
But I will say this, if it is Dallas, they've
got two nuclear weapons waiting on him. But the problem
(43:19):
with Dallas is Boston has a lot of guys that
can defend those two dudes.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
Yeah, you got Holiday and you got Derek White, who
you know. They can play a little defense.
Speaker 5 (43:30):
And if you remember the two regular season games that
were played between Dallas and again, Dallas has to finish
business night. Let me get this out. There's no script.
Minnesota kids still come back, but it's highly unlikely. It's
never been done. But if it is Dallas, if you
remember the two regular season games Jalen Brown put on
a clinic versus Doncic, so go back and watch those games,
(43:54):
and he made it kind of personal, So that would
be a fun matchup to watch if it is Dallas in.
Speaker 2 (44:02):
Boston thirty two after the hour, which seems appropriate. That
was Bill Walton's number, thirty two, at least when he
was playing at UCLA, I believe.
Speaker 4 (44:12):
And when you.
Speaker 2 (44:13):
Were a kid, how A where were you of Ucla
with Bill Walton?
Speaker 5 (44:19):
I think everyone was aware of UCLA. I mean growing
up in Riverside, Bruins were everything for us on KTLA
Channel five. That's all we used to watch was the Bruins.
So for me to be fortunate to have an opportunity
to play for UCLA and have those legends come back
(44:39):
and give us clinics speeches, life lessons. Bill was always
the first one in the gym and at that time
he was playing for the Celtics by the time I
got to UCLA, so it was those little robberies between
the Lakers and the Celtics and he was a part
of that. And to have him come back and work
(45:00):
with surfing Jack Hayley and Stuart Gray and Kenny Fields,
and just to have his because we wanted to know, like,
what was it really like in those locker rooms and
on the court when Magic and Bird and it was
cool to hear those stories. And our friendship kind of
(45:22):
grew even more so once Larry Bird became our coach
in Indiana because he was around all the time then
because he was also working with NBC during those mid
nineties as well. So we've had a great relationship. It's
a sad day in ruined Nation, but we know he's
in a better place. We know we have Guardian angels.
(45:43):
And he lived life to the fullest. I mean, that's
kind of all what you want. You want a full
life where people loved you, you did what you love
to do, and you know, he was success at every
level he played at.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
It's not it's weird to be intense on the floor,
but off the floor he was not. And I don't understand,
you know, at like Troy Polamalu. He would come on
the show and he'd have this very soft voice and
he'd go out there and he takes somebody's head off
and you'd be like, and Bill would be out there
and be really intense, and then he'd be off the
(46:20):
floor and he'd be like, oh, you know Bob Dylan,
you know, and he'd be singing songs and I don't
know that. I mean, some guys can turn it off
when they get off the floor.
Speaker 4 (46:30):
Uh, but was Jordan like that? I mean, Jordan was
intense off right.
Speaker 5 (46:36):
Jordan had that aura still does. Look with Bill, he
knew what basketball meant to him and what you know,
you talk about Bob Dylan and you know how what
the grateful dead and Jerry Garcia, who you know, he
was a deadhead and followed him around. He was a
(46:57):
groupie and he knew that, Yes, basketball was just a
small part of my life. There's so many other things.
Speaker 11 (47:07):
You know.
Speaker 5 (47:08):
It's funny because recently, over the last ten years, he
and I really bonded over two wheels. He was a
huge cyclist enthusiasts as well as I am, and a
lot of our times was spent on bikes, mileage, training plans.
So there was so many layers to build basketball a musician, cyclist, activists,
(47:34):
you know, people forget you know. He got in a
lot of hot water back at UCLA. You know, words
about the Vietnam War and you know, sticking up for
for the vets and things like that. So there was
lots of layers to him, and he was very unique
and it came across as an unbelievable broadcaster as well.
(47:57):
So yes, he will be missed, but he will definitely
never be forgotten.
Speaker 2 (48:02):
That feeling of getting swept or getting or losing at
the buzzer in the final game of a series. Like
if I said you could get swept or you lose
in dramatic fashion game seven at the buzzer.
Speaker 5 (48:19):
I would probably want to be swept because if I
lose at game seven at the buzzer, there's so many
To this day, Theodore, I still think about some games
game sevens, if I could have, would have should have
We should have done this, I should have done that
with more I should have done this. So to be swept,
(48:41):
I mean, that's under the rug and you move on.
You get another chance when you lose those game sevens
or game six is at the buzzer and another team advances. Look,
it's how many years have I been out twenty plus
years and I'm still thinking about a lot of games.
So it's I'd much rather be swept than lose at
(49:03):
the buzzer or a tight game, because if I could
or would have should have, they just g noad you.
Speaker 2 (49:08):
Yeah, but if I get swept, we had no chance.
I'm in it to win it. And if I get.
Speaker 4 (49:13):
Crushed at the buzzer, well at least got to the buzzer.
Speaker 5 (49:18):
I will say. That's about my beloved Pacers. They can
say all they want, and they spend it very well,
but they never recovered from Game one. They gift wrapped
that Game one. You can't be up three with the
ball ten seconds left and lose the game, You can't
(49:39):
they And coming into game two we're moving past that.
We know we could play with them, or we got
to keep the pace up. They never recovered from that,
and you can't give wrapped games in the playoffs and
expect to get them back. They easily could have won
Game three at home, should have won Game four last night,
(50:00):
but the better team won, And that's why we're all
getting ready for Kanku together.
Speaker 4 (50:07):
What is it like, though, when you know somebody's getting
the ball games on the line and there's really nothing
you could do.
Speaker 5 (50:17):
As a player, You you kind of loved it because
they're pretty much at your mercy. I've been on the
flip side of that too, going to get some unbelievable
players like Kobe and m J. Joe Dumars back in
the day, his bad boy Pistons. There's just really enough.
You're you're hoping for the best, but you know, bad
(50:42):
things happen to good people. From right, I consider myself
a good person that.
Speaker 4 (50:51):
I just can't imagine.
Speaker 2 (50:52):
Kobe's got the ball and you know he's gonna he's
gonna shoot you know it?
Speaker 5 (51:00):
The game three, the game four when Shaq fouled out
and we're thinking, yes because it was two to one, Yes,
because we had no answer for Shock zero fouled out,
we got this and that damn kid, he just he
(51:24):
turned into well Kobe, there was nothing I could There
was nothing I could do. So yes, I have felt that.
Speaker 4 (51:35):
Sorry, sorry I brought that up.
Speaker 2 (51:37):
Yes see, and you didn't you take Jordan's bowls to
a game seven?
Speaker 4 (51:43):
Was that nineteen ninety seven? Maybe?
Speaker 5 (51:46):
And uh, yes we did, Yes, we did. And here's
the thing we going into that we were. This is
how cocky I think I've told you this. We were
cocky enough to saying we want to retire in That
was our motto. And the play that the play that
changed everything jump ball rough six. It's Rick Smith's and
(52:10):
Scotty they win the jump ball. Scotty wins it gets
the ball to cur hits a three and it goes
downhill after that. It's little things. Why do I remember this?
And why are you making me really this? I don't know,
but it's it's those That's why I say I'd much
(52:30):
rather be swept because who can if and plus Indiana
was a sixty, Boston has the overall best record. They
were supposed to beat them. Maybe not a sweep, but
they were supposed to win. I'm reliving the bulls all
the time that jump ball, like if we could have
(52:52):
won that score got up eight or nine. Jesus Theodore.
Speaker 4 (52:57):
Hope you have a great day.
Speaker 5 (52:59):
Oh yeah, it'll be really great.
Speaker 2 (53:01):
Preparing ask ask Van Gundy tonight who would he rather
have the ball in the hands of game on the
line between Luke?
Speaker 4 (53:12):
Yeah, Mark my word? Okay, now that will come up.
Speaker 5 (53:16):
I want to hear his answer.
Speaker 2 (53:17):
All right, Uh, we'll be watching. Thanks about talk to
you next week. All right, that's Reggie Alowicious Miller. I'm
bringing out all these PAT scenarios there. Yeah, Reggie's like, man,
damn hit me with the punches here. Game four tonight
on TNT at eight thirty Eastern Reggie with Kevin Harlan,
(53:39):
stan Van Gundy, and Alley Look Force
You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox
Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hope you had a great weekend. Everybody, Gang's all here,
ready to go. Reggie Miller stops by next hour and
Jay Billis reflects on his friendship with Bill Walton. I'll
have that for you coming up as well. We'll recap
everything that happened Timberwolves Mavericks Game four tonight, the Celtics
sweep the Pacers, Jalen Brown wins your Eastern Conference MVP,
(00:25):
the MAVs up three to zero in the Wolves, and
the big headline sports headline from yesterday, Bill Walton passing
away at the age of seventy one. We say good
morning to those watching on Peacock, thank you for downloading
the app and our radio affiliates around the country. We'll
have whole question play at the day stat of the day.
We weren't here yesterday obviously, so best and worst of
(00:46):
the weekend. You can dial up Tyler standing by eight
seven seven three DP show.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
You know.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
I started my Memorial Day in a reflective mood, as
I try to do every Memorial Day. Remember relatives who
served in wars from World War Two to Afghanistan and
went to visit the graveside of my father in law
who was in the Air Force. So I started in
a reflective mood and then I ended my night day
(01:15):
with a reflective mood with Bill Walton, and you know,
different emotions there. It hit me hard when I first
heard that Bill had passed away, because I didn't know
he was battling cancer. But knowing Bill, he's not going
to let anybody know that he was battling cancer. And
if you've been a fan of this show, you know
for over twenty years we've had Bill on back at
(01:38):
the Mothership. Days Bill would call in, I'd say Hi, Bill,
how are you? And he would talk for eight to
twelve minutes stream of consciousness. I'd just let him go.
I rarely had time to ask him another question because
I didn't have another eight to twelve minutes and I
had to move on with programming. But Bill would call
in give a stream of consciousness, and I don't have
(01:59):
those art those are owned by ESPN, or I would
give you a sampling of just what it was like.
I had no idea what Billy was going to talk about,
but so many positive memories. I was sad, but then
I started to think about man. Bill would be so disappointed.
Why are you crying?
Speaker 4 (02:18):
I'd be like, I.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Don't know, you know, And then I started thinking about
all the positives, and there's so many of them because
Bill went out of his way to make you feel good,
make you smile, and he did that. And I had
so many interactions with him, and I don't even know
where to begin with my relationship with him. My intermural
(02:42):
team in college was named the Walton Gang after Bill.
I love the way he played basketball. I love the purity,
the simplicity he understood the game. He understood that. He
was great in high school, grade, in college, and of
course great in the NBA when he was healthy. But
he was when you thought of college basketball, Bill Walton
(03:03):
was the name, the face, and Kareem and Bill are
the two greatest centers of all time in college. Now
you can put in Bill Russell obviously a winner as
well at San Francisco, but Bill and Kareem are the
two greatest centers that I ever saw. But he was
so much more than that. He went to almost nine
hundred Grateful Dead concerts. He had almost forty different operations.
(03:26):
He would call them procedures. And you know, he thought
about committing suicide. He had had so many back surgeries,
he was in so much pain. And you know, Jim
Gray was going to find the best spinal surgery doctor
in the world, and he did and helped prolong Bill's life.
(03:47):
And Bill was in extreme pain, and he even came
on the show and thought about suicide. But after that,
it felt like he had a new lease on life
and he was going to squeeze every ounce of every topic,
every person, every game, every moment. And you can't help
but have a smile on your face when you think
about Bill. The story that I tell often, we did
(04:11):
a show called NBA's Greatest Games at NBA Entertainment, and
so we look back on a game in the nineteen
eighty six NBA Finals and Bill came in as the guest.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
We watched the game, we get opinions, and then you know.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
We close it up and I'm getting ready to go
into New York City and he goes, can I get
a lift? And I go, Bill, I'm driving a Volkswagen Jetta,
And he didn't care. He got in the car and
he could arrested his chin on his knees. That's how
little space he had but he didn't care. He goes,
(04:48):
you got Twun's and I go, yeah, I said, I
got Dylan Greatest Hits Volume one. He goes, Dylan, Mozart
and Beethoven geniuses. So we're driving into New York. We
go through the Lincoln Tunnel and Bill goes, can you
put on blowing in the wind? I said yes, so
(05:13):
put on blowing in the wind. So we're going through
the Lincoln Tunnel. Bill is crammed in there and the
windows are down and he is singing the answer My
friend is blowing in the wind, blowing.
Speaker 5 (05:25):
In the wind.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
And then he turns to me.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
He goes, that's a metaphor, and I go and he
could not have been happier.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
And here he is squeezed in there.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
He always wanted to be listed at six eleven because
he was told that seven footers are freakd so Billy
he was not. He was probably seven to but he
sent me a bunch of gear when we moved into
the man Cave, sent me his autograph jersey and autograph basketball.
I was there for his first pro game when he
faced Kareem at the University of Dayton his rookie year.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
Waited for him.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
He came out of the locker room and I walked
across the parking lot with him. He had a red
plaid shirt and he had jeans, and he had a bandanna.
He had long hair. He had a bag, and I
remember saying, what's in the bag, and he goes nuts
and berries. He was vegan before vegan, and I just
(06:19):
remember walking and watching him and I don't know why,
And then you know, he was fortunate to have Jack
Ramsey as his head coach. That seventy seven Blazer team
blazer Mania. It's one of the finest performances of a
selfless team I've ever seen in my life. And Bill
did not care about scoring. He did not care. He
(06:41):
would rather have a block shot or a great pass
than you know, a dunk. He was selfless. That whole
team was in some of the best basketball unless you're
a Philadelphia seventy six er fan that I've ever seen,
as far as team goes. But I can't help but
think of great things when I think of Bill, and
you know, in a lot of ways, he's similar to
(07:01):
John Madden that people forget that John Madden was a
Hall of Fame coach with the Raiders. They know him
from the Madden video game. Bill's one of the great
centers college basketball history. Had a lot of injuries, won
two titles in the NBA, but they know him as
a broadcaster. And then nineteen eighty six he's sixth man,
you know, for the Celtics, coming off the bench, winning
(07:23):
a title, playing with Larry Bird. Bill was Larry's idol
let that sink in. But Bill was as good a
passer as when he saw the game. You know, he
didn't have a great shot, but he was so active,
so springy, and great offensively and defensively, but understanding the
(07:43):
concepts of the game. There were very few who saw
it better than he did. He just couldn't play. He
was even the following year after they won the title.
I think they were fifty to ten after six sixty games.
And then he got injured and his career was really
marked by those injuries. Foot injuries, back injuries as well.
(08:05):
He was a character, and I remember talking to John
Wooden about him, and you know, John Coach would have
a smile, that smile that's like, boy, he put me
through the wringer, and it would say, oh, Billy Bill,
And you know, but they all had such reverence for
coach woulden't. So Bill passing away at the age of
(08:25):
seventy one, and if you came in contact with him,
you were a better person because he was going to
make sure you had to smile on your face. So,
Billy passing away at the age of seventy one, thanks
to those who did reach out, because it did hurt.
It stung me hard, and then I kept thinking, God,
he'd be so disappointed. She knew I was sad, and
(08:48):
that's true. So we celebrate Bill Walton. I'm going to
bring back an interview. I think this might have been
the last interview that Bill did with us. I'll play
that a little bit later on, just so you get
a sense of and he came on and stream of
consciousness because there'd be times I would want to ask
him things, but he had other things that he wanted
to talk about. You know, it could be understanding and
(09:09):
explaining the confluence of three rivers to was Gungha dinn
a great athlete, Like you're just going, wait, what where
are we going with this? But he didn't grow up
in his sports household because his mom was a librarian,
his dad is social workers. Brother Bruce played for the
Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman. But I don't think sports was
education was what was stressed. Bill had a stutter till
(09:34):
he was close to twenty eight years of age. And
I joke with him one time, I said, you had
a hard time talking, now you have a hard time
shutting up, and.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
He goes, isn't it wonderful?
Speaker 2 (09:45):
So I had that great voice, booming voice, and he
loved the game.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
He always talked.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
I remember saying to him, God, you had that series
against Kareem and you went down the lane and dunked
on and he goes, oh, my idol, like it almost
hurt him that he was dunking on his idol, Kareem
in a playoff game. But for those of you in Portland,
you're very, very fortunate you got to watch some of
the greatest basketball ever played, in my opinion, in Blazer
(10:13):
media when you beat Doctor J.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
They lost the first two and then they won the
next four. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
That's I was trying to sum up how I could
put this into words and not get emotional, and hopefully
I've encapsulated. But imagine when we all want to have
an impact, we all want to leave people thinking that
person was this Billy did that. Bill left an impression
(10:42):
that puts a smile on your face, and that's a
damn good legacy. All Right, we'll get to pull question today.
Phone calls are always welcome. Reggie will join us a
little bit later on. He will be on the call
for Timberwolves in the MAVs Game four coming up tonight
and the Celtics over the pace. I know we're going
to look at degree of difficulty and we're gonna go, well,
(11:04):
the Celtics didn't really face anybody. They can only play
who's in front of them. That's it. Now there, you know.
They trailed again. They trailed in the last two games.
The Pacers blew a nine point lead in the fourth
quarter of both games three and four. Should it be
could it be to two?
Speaker 4 (11:23):
Yes, but it's not. They swept.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Now they move on and now you have a chance
for a sweep with the Timberwolves at the Mavericks and
then you're gonna have nine games if that were to
happen before the NBA Finals. Is it nine days that
that'll happen, I believe Fritzy.
Speaker 5 (11:40):
Yeah, Thursday, June sixth, Game one.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Yeah, so nine days before they'll start the NBA Finals.
If that is a sweep coming up tonight? All right, seatan,
let's pull question today.
Speaker 6 (11:52):
Uh, which is worse Dan getting swept or losing Game
seven at the buzzer? I would say getting swept. I got,
I got to.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
Be in the game.
Speaker 6 (12:05):
It's like losing at the buzzer in game seven is
more heartbreaking, yes, but it's worse to get swept, yes, right, yeah, yes,
one of them is more painful. The other one is
just like, well, we got crush.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Yeah, I don't want to. I want to be in
the game. And if we lose, we lose, and yes
that's crushing. But then I take my takeaway is God,
we're that close as opposed to we're not close at all.
So I would say losing at the buzzer in game seven.
By the way, stat of the Day is always brought
to you by Panini America, the official trading cards for
(12:39):
the Dan Patrick Show. This first hour brought to you
by the great folks at Express Employment Professionals. If you're
looking for a job, they'll help you. A local job,
they'll help you, and no fees for job seekers. Visit
expresspros dot com to find the location nearest you. That's
expresspros dot Com upy birthday to one of my idols,
(13:01):
Jerry West eighty six years of age today.
Speaker 6 (13:04):
Nott be birthday talking about a fellow who's not gonna
put up with that.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
Nonsense, No he will know, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Nonsense, no, no, no, nope, nope, no time for birthday. Yeah,
I don't have time. I'm the logo. He's busy being
awesome somewhere.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
He always looked like he came out of a catalog.
You're like, damn, you look great, hair combed, you know,
color coordinated outfits, just walking in like whoa right out
of a catalog of.
Speaker 6 (13:34):
James Bondish, but also like could be your coach.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Yah, yeah, you look like he was out of the movies.
What else do you have there?
Speaker 4 (13:42):
Seaton?
Speaker 6 (13:42):
What a boss? What an absolute boss?
Speaker 4 (13:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (13:44):
You know, we stumbled on one that we're gonna save
for hour two.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Okay too, but we could tease it, okay, all right.
Speaker 6 (13:52):
Uh, we're talking earlier about professional race car drivers.
Speaker 5 (13:56):
Hmmmm.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Watched Little Indy five hundred.
Speaker 6 (13:59):
Yeah, yes, there's a little bit of a debate about
whether or not you could do that with a year's practice.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Year's practice not be in the race. Just drive the
car two hundred and twenty five miles now right, not
become someone like on the circuit or whatever. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, okay,
so we'll save that one. Yeah, we'll save that one.
Yeah yeah, all right, so Jay Billis will join us. Also,
(14:25):
you had Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic. There was some
pretty high praise. That may be the greatest backcourt and
the most talented backcourt NBA history.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
All right, we'll discuss that.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
And for those of you who are piling on Anthony
Edwards because he's not Michael Jordan, Michael Jordan failed the
first four years. Wrong, Yes he did, Anthony Edwards. See
this is what the media does. We go, oh, he's
the next Michael Jordan. He reminds me of Jordan. Oh
he's no Jordan. Look he's gonna verge of being swept
the media is doing. Anthony Edwards didn't say, hey, by
(15:01):
the way, I'm the next Jordan. No, he even said stop,
I'm not Michael Jordan. He has characteristics, maybe a style,
maybe the aggressiveness, the uh I'm gonna kill you type mentality.
It would help if Karl Anthony Towns hit a shot
because the average margin of victory for Dallas so far
(15:22):
has been a little over four points per game.
Speaker 4 (15:25):
Carl Anthony.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Stell of a day, Style of a day, Start of
a day, Style of to day.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
This is the style of the day.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Scat of Today brought you by Panini America, the official
trading cards of the program. We'll get phone calls on
this Tuesday, best and worst of the weekend. What you
saw that you liked, you didn't like? But up next
we'll talk to Jay. Billis his thoughts on working with
Bill Walton and he'll join us next.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
Dan Patrick Show.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk up in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 7 (16:09):
To NBA Insiders podcasting twice a week to plug you
right into the NBA grapevine.
Speaker 8 (16:15):
All happening in only one place. This League Uncut, the
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Speaker 4 (16:21):
Chris Haynes and me Mark Stein join us.
Speaker 8 (16:25):
As we team up to expound on everything we're covering.
Hearing and Chason.
Speaker 9 (16:29):
Listen to This League Uncut with Chris Haynes and Mark Stein.
Speaker 8 (16:33):
On the iHeartRadio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get
your podcasts.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
Best and worst of the weekend.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
We'll get to your phone calls coming up AH seven
to seven three DP show settle on a poll question.
Today's Mercedes Benz Interview of the Day brought to you
Buy Mercedes Benz Luxury SUVs now come with the luxury
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Learn more at MBUSA dot com. Slash Special offers. Jay
(17:02):
billis college basketball analysts and Jay had a wonderful letter
column that he wrote on ESPN dot com yesterday, his
tribute to Bill Walton, and I thought, you know what,
if you didn't read it, I'd love for Jay to
recap some of that that feeling you had when you
worked with Bill. I brought up the fact that he's
sort of like John Madden to a different generation, that
(17:25):
they know John Madden as the broadcaster or the video
game guy. They didn't realize he was a Hall of
Fame coach. I had to tell somebody yesterday, a thirty
three year old guy that I was talking to, how
great Walton was as a basketball player, and they said
that guy was a great basket I said, yes, one
of the greatest centers in college basketball history. How would
you sum up working with Bill Jay.
Speaker 10 (17:49):
A glorious adventure that every time you were around Bill,
he made it about you.
Speaker 11 (17:57):
He made it a tremendous amount of fun.
Speaker 5 (18:00):
Uh.
Speaker 11 (18:00):
And he was so generous and kind uh.
Speaker 10 (18:04):
And and he had a spirit that was hard to define.
You know, you always wound up laughing, you know, sometimes
at him, so most of the time at what he
was saying. He was very self deprecating.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
Uh.
Speaker 11 (18:19):
And he he had he could.
Speaker 10 (18:20):
Bring the needle out, which I love he you know,
he called me Jake. He never called me by my name,
and and I loved it.
Speaker 11 (18:28):
You know. It was like Walton, you know, is bringing
me in.
Speaker 10 (18:32):
And even on broadcast that I wasn't on, he would
refer to me as Jake.
Speaker 11 (18:36):
And some people got it, some people didn't. But he was.
He was wonderful.
Speaker 10 (18:41):
And he would always uh if you tried to talk
to him about what may happen on the air, about
content or some eventuality, he would immediately give you that
big paw heisman stay it for the air, Jake, like
you know, he he wanted no part of discussing it
before h and just just fantastic and you know, he
(19:03):
couldn't wrestle a check away from him. He was always interested.
If you're sitting with him around a table, he was
the guy everybody wanted to hear from, to hear his stories,
his perspective, you know, because he lived such a rich life,
basketball and otherwise. But he wanted to know about you
(19:25):
and and your family and your hopes and dreams and
things like that. And he but he was genuinely interested.
Speaker 11 (19:32):
Uh. He was. He was really a wonderful human being.
Speaker 10 (19:36):
And for me, growing up in southern California, you know,
I idolized him. I was in I first started playing
basketball third fourth grade. So he was national player of
the year and at UCLA they were winning championships and
and all that and uh. And when you meet your
idol and he exceeds your expectations, that's got to be
(19:59):
pretty rare, at least in my experience. And he exceeded
every one of the expectations I had of him, which
were really high.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
And I talk about you know, I named my intermural
team after Wolton, called the Walton Gang, and because it
was a tribute to the teamwork that he had that
he expected that he hoped for. He had that simplicity.
He wanted perfection, but he knew what simplicity meant, and
having John Wooden there as his coach, and I just
(20:30):
I fell in love with the ability to be selfless
but be the best player in college basketball, which is
really hard to do. And you know, taking that style
into that Portland team in seventy seven, that's the most
selfless you know, champion I've ever witnessed, and didn't have
really star power, had Bill and Molucas and Jack Ramsey,
(20:53):
but that ability, that inate ability to see a game differently.
I mean we marvel at Joker. Now Bill did Joker
like things, you know fifty years ago.
Speaker 10 (21:05):
Yes, aside from bringing the ball up court. I think
maybe you put west Unseld in this category, maybe even
Kevin Love. But to me, he was the best outlet
passer that ever lived. You know, he could he could
go up and get a rebound adder above the square
of the backboard and turn in mid air and that
(21:26):
ball was gone down court for a break. He could
really run before he was injured. And I think his
NBA career, Dan, I mean you were about to say
age you remember that stuff, like he was probably the
Sandy Kofax.
Speaker 11 (21:42):
In a way of the NBA that.
Speaker 10 (21:45):
When he was when he was healthy, it was him
and Kareem were the best centers and that was it.
And I think it was him and Kareem as the
best players, not just the best centers, but the.
Speaker 11 (21:55):
Best players to ever play college basketball. I mean, he
was eighty six and four in his college career.
Speaker 10 (22:02):
In three years he went thirty and oh, thirty and
oh twenty six and four. And his senior year in
nineteen seventy four, they lost. They called the Lost Weekend
in sports Illustrated. They lost back to back to Oregon
and Oregon State, Digger Phelps and Notre Dame ended that
eighty eight game winning streak. And then they lost in
double overtime to David Thompson at NC State in the
(22:23):
Final four in Greensboro, North Carolina. That was it.
Speaker 11 (22:26):
And teams used to stall against them. You name it.
Speaker 10 (22:30):
But I remember, you know, my coaches when I got
to college. You know, the trainer at Duke was a
guy named Max Crowder, and he insisted Bill Walton's the
best player I've ever seen, and they all talked about
him being the best. And then you get to know
him later on, and he was he was such a
(22:52):
Later on his career he became a showman, but he
wasn't necessarily like that off the court. He was goofy
and fun. But hey, can I read you a text message?
Speaker 11 (23:01):
He sent one time? Sure is that you have time
for that?
Speaker 4 (23:04):
Absolutely?
Speaker 10 (23:05):
So he's a I played golf with a high school
buddy of mine named Steve Howard, and Steve was a
deadhead there still is a deadhead, has gone to dead
shows for thirty five years, and he and Bill became
friends through dead shows. So Steve and I played golf
this last summer, and while we're playing, we decided, hey,
let's let's send a a video to Big Red. So
(23:25):
we sent a video to Bill and this was his response,
and I'll do it in his voice. Awesome, terrific. Step
and Jake, two of my heroes. Thanks for your kindness,
patience and my life. On your golf adventure, Jake mentioned
going low. Please remind him I'm much better going high.
(23:49):
May the four winds blow you safely home. May you
stay forever young, May you stay forever Steven Jake, with
eternal gratitude and boundless everything.
Speaker 11 (24:00):
I miss you. I salute you.
Speaker 10 (24:02):
I thank you BW from the bright side of the road.
I'm the luckiest guy in the world. Like that's his response.
And he sent that kind of stuff to everybody. I
mean everybody that I've shared this was said, oh, they
sent one back to me. They got something similar. I
mean he was one of them.
Speaker 5 (24:20):
Guy.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Great to talk to you, Jay, thank you for sharing.
And if you didn't see it, please go to ESPN
dot com. And Jay's letter to Bill Walton signed love Jake,
Thank you, Jay, thank you brother. That's Jay Bills, ESPN
college basketball analyst and he liked me growing up watching Bill.
(24:44):
First time I saw just anything about Bill was faces
in the crowd in Sports Illustrated. Now that was a
real small picture and it have a little bit of
a bio of an athlete. Could it be Division one
baseball player, track and field? And it said Bill Walton
Helix High and La Mesa, California. They had won forty
nine in a row and Bill was going to UCLA.
(25:05):
And I thought, all right, because I was a big
UCLA fan and couldn't play his freshman year, and then
all of a sudden, you saw him a sophomore year,
and you go Okay, they're going to win three more
national titles, and they won two that senior year. I
think there were a lot of distractions going on with Bill,
and I don't know if he and John Wooden were
(25:27):
in sync, but you know, he couldn't play his freshman
year at UCLA or he would have been part of
another national title team.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
But you got to see him.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Had one of the greatest title game performances against Memphis State.
I think he missed one shot and that was an
offensive goaltending. I think he was twenty one to twenty two.
He missed more free throws than he did field goals
of that game. I think he was twenty one to
twenty two, two for five from the line, something like that.
But a wonderful player, never as good. You know, we
(25:59):
talk about Bo Jackson if he had stayed healthy, Like
there's a few at Kirby Puckett. There's certain athletes where
you go, boy, if they had stayed healthy, what could
they have been? And Bill's certainly in that very very
small category of greats who could have been even greater,
you know, historically great, had he been able to stay healthy.
Speaker 4 (26:20):
All Right, we'll get to some phone calls yeah, Pauline, some.
Speaker 7 (26:22):
Of us because of our age, saw Bill Walton as
an I think he's coming off the bench with the Celtics,
and you'd heard about the Ucla days, but we didn't
see them. I went back and I've been looking at
some videos and some pictures. His head is hitting at
the rim often and his arm is, you know, a
foot and a half over the rim. He was a
very athletic guy, but we never saw that if you're
at a certain age.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
No, he was really athletic at UCLA, and then he
suffered a back injury and was really never the same
from that. He had had a cracked vertebrae. I think
that he felt that he was intentionally injured. I don't
know what game, but I think it might have been
his sophomore year. But he had all these back injuries,
foot injuries and was never the same. But you know,
(27:06):
you leave a mark, and he left a mark in
a variety of ways, and that says something about the person,
something about the athlete as well.
Speaker 9 (27:13):
Yes, Mark, is there anybody that you know that matched
his passion for life? It seemed like he had a
passion for music as much as he had a passion
for basketball.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
No, because I mean there's nobody like him. Just when
you meet him, he overwhelms you. It's this tsunami of
what is he thinking. You know, he's out in the galaxy,
and you know it was and he was always that way.
It wasn't like, oh, you know Bill's quiet. Bill was
(27:46):
always that way. You know, he just was able to
bring opinions, insight, enthusiasm, appreciation. He just had a spirit
about him that was awesome. Brian in Portland, Hey Brian,
what's on your mind?
Speaker 12 (28:05):
Hey Dan, thanks for Holden and calling me back. Yeah,
six foot two fifteen, a little soft Walden. I got
to meet him at one of his he was pitching
tequila later in his career, and guy who went to
a little event and there is nobody. I mean, you
just felt like you were his best friend. He just
(28:28):
he deflected everything. If you wanted to tell him how
great he was, he would just say, well, Kareem was
the greatest. Julius, you know, was unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
I mean Larry Bird.
Speaker 12 (28:38):
Was the best. He would never talk about how great
he was. And that's seventy seventeen. I mean that was Peake,
doctor j I mean that guy was amazing and ferocious
and Walton, you know, we all saw what he did.
But the incredible thing is that, of course Portland traded
Moses Malone, you know in the preseason. Is they had
(28:59):
both Malone and Lucas out of the ABA draft, and
you think that, oh my god, if they keep him
alone and then maybe draft Larry Bird instead of Michael
Thompson and that seventy eight draft, Yes, that's perfect hindsight.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Let it go, Brian, let it go, Let it go,
Madden Riverside. I'm att with's on your mind.
Speaker 3 (29:20):
Hey, good morning, Thanks for calling back. My condolences to
you and the Walton family. I got a quick story
and then an ask for seating in the boys and
the T shirt manufacturers. I had a great interaction with
Bill back in twenty ten when I was working at
UCLA once when Coach Wooden passed, I got to walk
him and his wife to their seats, and I, you know,
(29:43):
I of course was saying, hey, sorry for your lot.
He looked at me and said, law, we're going to
celebrate Coach Wooden's life today. And that still sticks with me,
and I think that he would want us to do
the same moving forward. My after seating the boys. Was
we just y'all just had Jay Bellison. We had a
great Bill Walton's shirt on one year when he was
(30:04):
out here on the West Coast, and I was wondering
if we could possibly mass produce that shirt so we
can purchase online with Bill's stream of consciousness. I'll hang
up the list and y'all have a good two today.
Speaker 11 (30:16):
Thanks.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
All right, you know what, I'll talk to our research
and development there, Seeton O'Connor.
Speaker 6 (30:21):
It's a picture of yeah, Jay billis has this T
shirt on and it's like a caricature of Bill Walton
and he's got like a tide eyed headband on, tight
eyed shirt. It's a really it's a great shirt. It's
really great. I don't know who made the design, but
it's really really good.
Speaker 4 (30:36):
Yeah, we have to be careful with those things.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Don't want to take too many liberties here other than
what we already do, yes, Paul.
Speaker 7 (30:46):
In the nineteen seventy seven NBA Playoffs, in six games,
Bill Walton there which nineteen points, nineteen rebounds, five assists,
and four blocks.
Speaker 11 (30:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (30:53):
Can you imagine if we were discussing a big man
in the NBA doing that, right, now in a series
nineteen five and four.
Speaker 4 (31:01):
Yeah, and his name would be Joker.
Speaker 7 (31:04):
Yeah, I guess he's he's in that ILK.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
But there. You know, this is where it's tricky when
you're comparing. And Bill would hate me for doing this. Oh,
a Joker is far more talent. I mean, he would
never ever ever embrace his greatness. He would not because
I remember when I talked to him about doctor J.
I was like, man, I can't believe you beat doctor
(31:26):
Jay Goes. I didn't we meet doctor J. He would
never ever ever entertain that he was. He deflected, and
he admired Kareem so much, and Kareem sent out a
tweet yesterday saying, I lost, you know, a great friend.
To picture those two guys together. But he admired Kareem
(31:48):
so much, and you know, but they were rivals. So
you know, it's a wonderful legacy. And my thoughts to
Laurie and certainly the boys. You know what your dad
left to Mark, that's a great, great and delible Mark.
Speaker 4 (32:02):
Take a break.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan
Patrick Show weekdays at nine am Eastern six am Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio WAPP.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Reggie Miller will be on the call tonight in Dallas,
Game four Western Conference Finals Timberwolves and the Mavericks. Tip
Off time is eight thirty Eastern on TNT. Reg will
be with Kevin Harlan, stan Van Gundy and Ali LaForce.
Great to see you, Reg. We were just talking about
best scoring backcourts NBA history. Stan Van Gundy brought this up.
(32:35):
You got a reaction. You were like, whoa, that is
this the best scoring backcourt in NBA history with Luca
and Kyrie.
Speaker 5 (32:44):
And let me clarify exactly what he said, the best offensive,
like you said scoring, Throw either one of them the
ball and they can go win you the ballgame. And
I agree with him. Others that are in the Congress
station because we brought this up to the studio guys
and they were absolutely destroying Coach Fancy on this assessment
(33:08):
because obviously Draymond said Stephan and Clay and we're like, whoa, Steph, Yes,
you're just not throwing the ball to Clay and say
go win me a ball game. Though he's had huge games,
but you're not throwing him the ball like Kyrie and Luca.
So Isaiah and Joe comes into the conversation in terms
(33:29):
of scoring the basketball, but I don't think they're scoring
it at such a high clip like Luca and Kyrie,
Earl the Pearl and Clyde maybe, but after that then
I couldn't think of anyone else. So to answer your question, yes,
I am in agreement with coach the best offensive scoring
(33:54):
duo in basketball history. Yes, we're not saying the best duo,
the best offensive scoring duo. Yes.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Okay, could I have Lebron and Kyrie and Cleveland Mins.
Speaker 5 (34:09):
A power forward? He's not. He's not a guard. He's
a power forward.
Speaker 4 (34:13):
No, he handles the He's listed as a power forward.
Speaker 5 (34:16):
He's listed as power forward. We're talking Luca is the
point guard and Kyrie is the shooting guard on this
Dallas team. They're listed as point guard and shooting guard.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Why did Lebron want to get listed as a power
forward or three? It's center one year?
Speaker 5 (34:35):
I think probably to show his talents. And he's not
really a power forward either. I think when it goes down,
when he's going into the Hall of Fame, I think
he's going to go in as a small forward.
Speaker 4 (34:46):
Okay, when you think of.
Speaker 5 (34:47):
Lebron James, I think of him as him and Larry
Board Larry Burzanirio the greatest small forwards of all time.
He's not a power forward. He's a power forward in
today's game in a twenty one years in the league,
but in his heyday he's a small forward.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
All right, let me turn our attention to tonight's game.
If you were Karl Anthony Towns teammate or coach, what
would you say to him?
Speaker 5 (35:13):
Don't listen to all the noise because there's a lot
of it right now, and continue to try to get
to your spots in your shots. He's struggling right now,
right let's face it, and it very well could be
a sweep if he doesn't find his shot. I'm gonna
throw some numbers out at you for it. For if
(35:33):
Minnesota wants to continue this series and get it back
to Minnesota, Anthony Edwards's got to have thirty five plus
eight and eight. Carl Anthony Towns has to have just
twenty five in fifteen, all right, sixty between the two
of them. If they can get to that number, to me,
that means that number one they're scoring the basketball. But
(35:57):
that means Dallas is gonna have to double that at
some point in time, and Jane Daniels will get off
a little bit. Mike Conley, who's played well the last
two games, will continue to eat. But if if Anthony
doesn't get thirty five plus, if Kat doesn't get twenty
five plus, then this series is going to be over.
But if I'm Karl Anthony Towns, You've got to block
(36:21):
out the noise because you're in the final four situation
and things get highlighted a little bit more and you
are struggling. But he's got to stop settling for threes.
Theodore right when he got going, it was when he
was driving the basketball and he got a couple of
layups going. But he's settling for too many threes and
(36:42):
they are not falling.
Speaker 4 (36:43):
For m Yeah, when they let you shoot a three,
that should be a show.
Speaker 5 (36:47):
Telling you you're going for a reason.
Speaker 4 (36:49):
Yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
If you had your pick though game on the line,
Luca or Kyrie with the ball, who would you TAKEO.
Speaker 5 (37:03):
We see them both be successful in this role.
Speaker 4 (37:07):
Yeah, but you're Jason Kidd, You're drawing up a play
game on the line tonight.
Speaker 5 (37:12):
I'm probably gonna go with Luca because he plays at
such a unique pace it's very difficult for you to
block his shot, and it is very especially when he's
going to that step back three that we saw in
Game two for the game winner. You're not blocking that.
So I would probably go with Luca, but it would
(37:34):
be more, probably more entertaining to have the ball in
Kyrie's hands and to see the handles. Both would be fun,
very much the same way that left hand game winner
against Denver this regular season. Both have shown that they
can produce in the biggest moments. That's why they all
are the best offensive duo in the NBA history.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
See, I would love to see Kyrie because then I
know Anthony Edwards would be guarding him, So I would
get I mean would be I don't world, Yeah, yeah,
who's guarding Luca? Like, Okay, you're gonna have somebody, But
I know.
Speaker 5 (38:07):
You could have Anthony Edwards on Luca too. I know
Jada McDaniels has kind of been the guy that's supposed
to be guarded him most of the time, but it
has guarded him in very small stretches in this series.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
Talking to Reggie Miller, He's on the call tonight Game
four Western Conference Finals Timberwolves and the Mavericks Timberwolves getting
too I feel like Minnesota is gonna win this game.
I don't know why, probably no reason to think that,
but that's what happens with these crazy thing scenarios.
Speaker 4 (38:39):
What do you think, Well, let me.
Speaker 5 (38:40):
Just let me just say this. It's very difficult to
beat a team four times in a row. We just
saw it last night with the Celtics beating Indiana four straight.
But come playoff times, you don't look at it like
there's no way we're gonna lose for in a row
because each game in the series he takes on the
life of its own. And tonight again I threw up
(39:05):
those numbers. Those two guys have to play well, and
they have to play well on the road, and Anthony
Edwards did a lot of that in the fourth quarter.
In the second half. It was the reason why they
took the lead. It's just or excuse me, Kat didn't
come along for the ride. They both have to play
well on the road for them to force this game
(39:27):
back to Minnesota. If one is on and the other
is not, I don't think they have enough, especially the
way Kyrie and Luca have been dominating the fourth quarter.
But I say one thing they do have a silver lining.
Derek Lively not playing tonight is a huge boost for
Minnesota because he has been absolutely destroying them and he's
(39:50):
been the silent killer for them on the offensive, glass,
blocking shots, being a facilitator when they double those two guys.
Him not being in the game is an advantage for Minnesota.
Let's see if they can take advantage of it.
Speaker 2 (40:04):
Like Boston sweeps. It wasn't that easy, but they do sweep.
What stands out as Boston moves on.
Speaker 5 (40:12):
Let me let me say this about the Boston and Celtics,
Drew Holiday and Derek White. It's almost unfair. Seriously, those
two dudes do every single little thing that impact winning,
and they take the temperature of their team whatever their
(40:35):
team will need that night. I know all the headlines
go to Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown, and rightfully, so
those dude gets done. They're they're all stars. Brown was
the Eastern Conference MVP. I get it. But this team,
the bread and butter to me is Holiday and White.
Those guys they do everything, almost to the point if
(40:59):
I was an East Your Conference team, I'm I'm serious.
I don't know when Derek White's contract is up. I
would offer him the max so they so Boston cannot
sign and they can't sign everyone. He is that good man.
He does everything. They do everything. It's almost not their
(41:22):
really is it.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
Do you think Jalen Brown does he think this is
his team? I know we give credit to Jason Tate.
It's almost like Jalen Brown. I hear it in his voice.
Speaker 5 (41:39):
You kind of heard it when he was on the
Days talking about I never win anything, you know, because
most of the shine does go to Jason Tatum. He
gets all the commercials, he's, you know, a brand Jordan
and you know he gets all that.
Speaker 2 (41:51):
But the mentality though, to be the man does Jason Tatum.
Speaker 5 (41:55):
It's a little bit different. Okay, night in and night
out when the mark Mett and we're finding that in Edwards. Look,
just ten days ago we were saying he was Michael Jordan.
You know, he's a cross between Goby Dwayne Wade. I
was throwing that out. Let's stop it, right. It's the
difference when you've got to be the man and you've
(42:17):
got to shine when the lights are the brightest, and
both Tatum and Brown have done that. They've had their
moments who cares whose team it is right now. Their
main objective should be winning a championship, and they're four
games away from that. But they are loaded. And truthfully,
I know Porzingis is on the clock and he's gonna
be back at some point in the NBA Finals. I
(42:40):
hope that doesn't mess up chemistry. They are playing that good.
Al Horford. This is probably the best we've see Al
Horford over the.
Speaker 4 (42:47):
Last Hall of Hall of Fame.
Speaker 5 (42:51):
Excuse me, I'm so sorry, mister future Hall of Famer.
Speaker 4 (42:57):
Yes, yes, Al Horford.
Speaker 5 (42:59):
This is probably the best he has played and shot
over the last four or five years. Right now, chemistry
is an all time high. The Celtics the team to beat.
But I will say this, if it is Dallas, they've
got two nuclear weapons waiting on him. But the problem
(43:19):
with Dallas is Boston has a lot of guys that
can defend those two dudes.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
Yeah, you got Holiday and you got Derek White, who
you know. They can play a little defense.
Speaker 5 (43:30):
And if you remember the two regular season games that
were played between Dallas and again, Dallas has to finish
business night. Let me get this out. There's no script.
Minnesota kids still come back, but it's highly unlikely. It's
never been done. But if it is Dallas, if you
remember the two regular season games Jalen Brown put on
a clinic versus Doncic, so go back and watch those games,
(43:54):
and he made it kind of personal, So that would
be a fun matchup to watch if it is Dallas in.
Speaker 2 (44:02):
Boston thirty two after the hour, which seems appropriate. That
was Bill Walton's number, thirty two, at least when he
was playing at UCLA, I believe.
Speaker 4 (44:12):
And when you.
Speaker 2 (44:13):
Were a kid, how A where were you of Ucla
with Bill Walton?
Speaker 5 (44:19):
I think everyone was aware of UCLA. I mean growing
up in Riverside, Bruins were everything for us on KTLA
Channel five. That's all we used to watch was the Bruins.
So for me to be fortunate to have an opportunity
to play for UCLA and have those legends come back
(44:39):
and give us clinics speeches, life lessons. Bill was always
the first one in the gym and at that time
he was playing for the Celtics by the time I
got to UCLA, so it was those little robberies between
the Lakers and the Celtics and he was a part
of that. And to have him come back and work
(45:00):
with surfing Jack Hayley and Stuart Gray and Kenny Fields,
and just to have his because we wanted to know, like,
what was it really like in those locker rooms and
on the court when Magic and Bird and it was
cool to hear those stories. And our friendship kind of
(45:22):
grew even more so once Larry Bird became our coach
in Indiana because he was around all the time then
because he was also working with NBC during those mid
nineties as well. So we've had a great relationship. It's
a sad day in ruined Nation, but we know he's
in a better place. We know we have Guardian angels.
(45:43):
And he lived life to the fullest. I mean, that's
kind of all what you want. You want a full
life where people loved you, you did what you love
to do, and you know, he was success at every
level he played at.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
It's not it's weird to be intense on the floor,
but off the floor he was not. And I don't understand,
you know, at like Troy Polamalu. He would come on
the show and he'd have this very soft voice and
he'd go out there and he takes somebody's head off
and you'd be like, and Bill would be out there
and be really intense, and then he'd be off the
(46:20):
floor and he'd be like, oh, you know Bob Dylan,
you know, and he'd be singing songs and I don't
know that. I mean, some guys can turn it off
when they get off the floor.
Speaker 4 (46:30):
Uh, but was Jordan like that? I mean, Jordan was
intense off right.
Speaker 5 (46:36):
Jordan had that aura still does. Look with Bill, he
knew what basketball meant to him and what you know,
you talk about Bob Dylan and you know how what
the grateful dead and Jerry Garcia, who you know, he
was a deadhead and followed him around. He was a
(46:57):
groupie and he knew that, Yes, basketball was just a
small part of my life. There's so many other things.
Speaker 11 (47:07):
You know.
Speaker 5 (47:08):
It's funny because recently, over the last ten years, he
and I really bonded over two wheels. He was a
huge cyclist enthusiasts as well as I am, and a
lot of our times was spent on bikes, mileage, training plans.
So there was so many layers to build basketball a musician, cyclist, activists,
(47:34):
you know, people forget you know. He got in a
lot of hot water back at UCLA. You know, words
about the Vietnam War and you know, sticking up for
for the vets and things like that. So there was
lots of layers to him, and he was very unique
and it came across as an unbelievable broadcaster as well.
(47:57):
So yes, he will be missed, but he will definitely
never be forgotten.
Speaker 2 (48:02):
That feeling of getting swept or getting or losing at
the buzzer in the final game of a series. Like
if I said you could get swept or you lose
in dramatic fashion game seven at the buzzer.
Speaker 5 (48:19):
I would probably want to be swept because if I
lose at game seven at the buzzer, there's so many
To this day, Theodore, I still think about some games
game sevens, if I could have, would have should have
We should have done this, I should have done that
with more I should have done this. So to be swept,
(48:41):
I mean, that's under the rug and you move on.
You get another chance when you lose those game sevens
or game six is at the buzzer and another team advances. Look,
it's how many years have I been out twenty plus
years and I'm still thinking about a lot of games.
So it's I'd much rather be swept than lose at
(49:03):
the buzzer or a tight game, because if I could
or would have should have, they just g noad you.
Speaker 2 (49:08):
Yeah, but if I get swept, we had no chance.
I'm in it to win it. And if I get.
Speaker 4 (49:13):
Crushed at the buzzer, well at least got to the buzzer.
Speaker 5 (49:18):
I will say. That's about my beloved Pacers. They can
say all they want, and they spend it very well,
but they never recovered from Game one. They gift wrapped
that Game one. You can't be up three with the
ball ten seconds left and lose the game, You can't
(49:39):
they And coming into game two we're moving past that.
We know we could play with them, or we got
to keep the pace up. They never recovered from that,
and you can't give wrapped games in the playoffs and
expect to get them back. They easily could have won
Game three at home, should have won Game four last night,
(50:00):
but the better team won, And that's why we're all
getting ready for Kanku together.
Speaker 4 (50:07):
What is it like, though, when you know somebody's getting
the ball games on the line and there's really nothing
you could do.
Speaker 5 (50:17):
As a player, You you kind of loved it because
they're pretty much at your mercy. I've been on the
flip side of that too, going to get some unbelievable
players like Kobe and m J. Joe Dumars back in
the day, his bad boy Pistons. There's just really enough.
You're you're hoping for the best, but you know, bad
(50:42):
things happen to good people. From right, I consider myself
a good person that.
Speaker 4 (50:51):
I just can't imagine.
Speaker 2 (50:52):
Kobe's got the ball and you know he's gonna he's
gonna shoot you know it?
Speaker 5 (51:00):
The game three, the game four when Shaq fouled out
and we're thinking, yes because it was two to one, Yes,
because we had no answer for Shock zero fouled out,
we got this and that damn kid, he just he
(51:24):
turned into well Kobe, there was nothing I could There
was nothing I could do. So yes, I have felt that.
Speaker 4 (51:35):
Sorry, sorry I brought that up.
Speaker 2 (51:37):
Yes see, and you didn't you take Jordan's bowls to
a game seven?
Speaker 4 (51:43):
Was that nineteen ninety seven? Maybe?
Speaker 5 (51:46):
And uh, yes we did, Yes, we did. And here's
the thing we going into that we were. This is
how cocky I think I've told you this. We were
cocky enough to saying we want to retire in That
was our motto. And the play that the play that
changed everything jump ball rough six. It's Rick Smith's and
(52:10):
Scotty they win the jump ball. Scotty wins it gets
the ball to cur hits a three and it goes
downhill after that. It's little things. Why do I remember this?
And why are you making me really this? I don't know,
but it's it's those That's why I say I'd much
(52:30):
rather be swept because who can if and plus Indiana
was a sixty, Boston has the overall best record. They
were supposed to beat them. Maybe not a sweep, but
they were supposed to win. I'm reliving the bulls all
the time that jump ball, like if we could have
(52:52):
won that score got up eight or nine. Jesus Theodore.
Speaker 4 (52:57):
Hope you have a great day.
Speaker 5 (52:59):
Oh yeah, it'll be really great.
Speaker 2 (53:01):
Preparing ask ask Van Gundy tonight who would he rather
have the ball in the hands of game on the
line between Luke?
Speaker 4 (53:12):
Yeah, Mark my word? Okay, now that will come up.
Speaker 5 (53:16):
I want to hear his answer.
Speaker 2 (53:17):
All right, Uh, we'll be watching. Thanks about talk to
you next week. All right, that's Reggie Alowicious Miller. I'm
bringing out all these PAT scenarios there. Yeah, Reggie's like, man,
damn hit me with the punches here. Game four tonight
on TNT at eight thirty Eastern Reggie with Kevin Harlan,
(53:39):
stan Van Gundy, and Alley Look Force
Hosts And Creators
Todd "Fritzy" Fritz
Dan Patrick
Patrick "Seton" O'Connor
Paul Pabst
Marvin Prince
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