Hour 3 – Eastern Conference Woes, Jamal Crawford

00:00:00
Speaker 1: You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox Sports Radio Final Hour on this Monday. More of your phone calls, Best and Worst of the weekend. Jamal Crawford, he works for NBC with their NBA coverage.

00:00:14
Speaker 2: He will join us coming up in about twenty minutes from now. Always great to talk hoops with him. Your phone calls always welcome, especially on a Monday. Best and Worst of the weekend. What you saw that you liked you didn't like. I didn't realize that the Orioles had a Tupac Shakur bobblehead night. I did not know this.

00:00:33
Speaker 3: Yeah on Friday, okay, but why so Tupacs from Baltimore originally?

00:00:39
Speaker 2: Okay, so I guess that they had around five thousand bobble How many bobbleheads did they have because fans were lining up four hours before the game on Friday, they.

00:00:51
Speaker 3: Had twenty thousand available, which is about half of the max attendance.

00:00:56
Speaker 2: Okay, there was attendance was thirty nine thousand, and people were lined up for four hours to get their bibblehead.

00:01:09
Speaker 3: So my my fiance, now, actually she went to that game and they got there like an hour and a half early, and there was immediately like no shot like there was. It looked like that Metallica concert they played in Russia where there's like two million people there. Mm hmmm, and people had like flown in from other states just to get the bibblehead. They're like fighting over him and like you know, bartering, trying to sell and trate them like in the stadium. It was apparently it's a little nuts.

00:01:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm seeing some numbers where they went for between one hundred and seventy dollars on eBay after the game. Yeah, thirty nine thousand, but they had, you said, twenty thousand bibble heads.

00:01:51
Speaker 3: Yeah, so you had, like but then again like you had, so there's a fifty to fifty shot like more or less, but you had to get there, I don't know, five hours early to even get in line.

00:02:01
Speaker 2: Yes, Paulie, big.

00:02:02
Speaker 4: Crowd, thirty nine thousand, bigger since the home opener and Tupac's sister throughout the first pitch.

00:02:08
Speaker 2: Oh cool, yeah, all right, yes, Tom at.

00:02:11
Speaker 5: The concession ston you can get a Tupaca nachos and Tupaca hot dogs. They did a whole thing.

00:02:17
Speaker 2: I'm lenient right now, last hour, I'm lenient hip Best and Worse to the weekend. Best and Worst of the Weekend eight seven to seven, three DP show Operator Tyler's Sitting by Take your phone Calls. Stat of the Day is always brought to you by Panini America. The official trading card said, the Dan Patrick Show Tomorrow night Pistons, or I should say no? Is that tonight Pistons and the Calves. That's tonight, It says tune in on tomorrow.

00:02:47
Speaker 6: I don't know who did it.

00:02:48
Speaker 2: Okay, Wait, isn't this your job to take?

00:02:52
Speaker 6: Yes?

00:02:53
Speaker 2: So the game is tonight. It is tonight on NBC and Peacock. It is at eight Eastern correct?

00:02:59
Speaker 6: Okay.

00:03:00
Speaker 2: Pistons are three and a half point underdogs. The Lakers are ten and a half point underdogs at home and what could be the close out game of that series. We spent a lot of time talking about the Knicks. They're doing it right. They are not leaving anything to chance. They are blowing teams out. They beat the Sixers by an average of twenty two points. That's the best in franchise history for a series. The previous best, I think was the series with Atlanta, where they won by I think every game by at least seventeen and averages seventeen points per game. But it's working. And keep in mind though they have to get to the Eastern Conference Finals. They have to win the Eastern Conference Finals because the Knicks have been here before last year with Tom Thibodeau, and then they made the change because they couldn't get by Indiana. Mike Brown has done a really good job, but he's done good jobs in other places. He just doesn't last longer. He gets fired. Now you're taking over for the Knicks. You got to get to the NBA Finals. Now they're not gonna fire Mike Brown. I'm just saying, if we're looking at what Tom Thibodeau did, just remember what they did last year. It just they didn't plan on Tyrese Halliburton being that crazy clutch breakout player. Now hard to even describe what that was all about, because you're thinking, all right, you're watching the Pacers and you're going okay, and all of a sudden game on the line in Tyrese Haliburton is acting like Reggie Miller.

00:04:36
Speaker 7: Yes, Mark, Yeah, last season when the Knicks beat the Celtics in the second round, I was with everybody else, Oh, they're gonna beat the They're gonna beat the Pacers in six, and that's time to go to the NBA Finals. And then meat Nay Smith and neb Hard and Miles turn all these guys came out of nowhere and blew their doors off.

00:04:56
Speaker 2: Well, it seems like a long long time ago. The Pacers were in the NBA. Long long time ago.

00:05:02
Speaker 7: Okay, see to a game seven, I know, long.

00:05:05
Speaker 2: Long time ago, and the Pacers had the league's second worst record. They won nineteen games. But they made a trade when they had thirteen wins in thirty eight losses, and they made the trade with the Clippers of Ika Zubac, and all of a sudden, if it was a top four pick, it was protected. They ended up with the fifth pick after the lottery ended. So that's rough. Clippers made a good deal, good deal, got two first round picks, second round pick, a couple of players as well. They did a good job. But the Pacers, you got thirteen wins and thirty eight losses. I'm not making any trades to try to improve my roster. And Kevin Pritchard admitted, Hey, we took a chance, needed a little luck. We didn't get luck. Well, there's the you're you're trying to get luck. I want you to get good, not lucky. And they end up losing that pick to the Clippers. OKC has another pick. What pick do they have, like the fourteenth or something?

00:06:16
Speaker 6: Believe it's the twelfth pick.

00:06:17
Speaker 2: Oh, twelfth pick. They don't have any room on the roster. You've got guys who were ninth or tenth or eleventh on the depth chart getting in and lighting up. I mean, they're looking like all stars here. Yeah, Paul.

00:06:31
Speaker 4: They have the twelfth pick and the seventeenth pick, and they got three first round picks next year.

00:06:35
Speaker 6: Okasee.

00:06:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, and they don't even have their second best player, Jalen Williams, playing in this series.

00:06:43
Speaker 1: They're so deep.

00:06:44
Speaker 4: They have two guys named Jalen Walls, a backup guy with the same name.

00:06:49
Speaker 6: I know.

00:06:52
Speaker 2: But Lakers at home Lebron's last stand here, ten and a half point underdogs.

00:06:58
Speaker 4: Yeah, Paul, would you be willing to say, and you're a guy who never says no chance or I guarantee, would you be willing to say there's no chance Lebron James retires after the season.

00:07:10
Speaker 2: Oh, I couldn't say that. I couldn't say that around too long. I will I yes, I would be surprised if he would go out this way from the standpoint of let's do a farewell to work. And as I said in the first hour, I would just hire a film crew, maybe do what Michael Jordan did. He had a film crew and Mike owned the rights. And that's why we waited so long for all of that you know, background stuff, all the stuff of him follow and being followed around. I saw that. I didn't know what NBA Entertainment was doing, but they were doing a documentary. They were gathering all of this film, all this footage of Mike, and then it got to the point where Mike then said, Okay, now we can release this. Maybe that's what Lebron does. Maybe he just says, let's do this from training camp to the postseason and whatever happens along the way, let's document it. And you know, maybe Netflix wants to air this. Yes, Dylan, I.

00:08:18
Speaker 3: Mean, Lebron could actually do something cool here and just like randomly in the offseason just be like I'm done, guys, and just sort of that's not Lebron. I know it's not. That's why it would be cool.

00:08:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, yes, Marvin, I.

00:08:30
Speaker 7: Know it's a different sport. But do you think Lebron saw Tom Brady do what he did at the age of forty five and he's thinking to himself, are you keep going?

00:08:39
Speaker 2: Well, he could keep going. The problem is he's not going to win a championship unless he's just patting his stats. I like, now, I know you're getting paid fifty million dollars hard to walk away and you get to play with your son again, because as long as you're on the roster, he's going to be on the roster. But I don't know what would motivate him to continue to play unless they really had a chance to win something.

00:09:03
Speaker 7: Yes, Marv, but if this is what you've done since you were ten years old, and you could still do it at a relatively high level, why wouldn't you keep doing it? Michael Jordan's still looking for something to replace basketball.

00:09:16
Speaker 2: Okay, why is Tom Brady not playing anymore?

00:09:20
Speaker 6: Gott ask Tom, that's a great question.

00:09:22
Speaker 2: He can still play. He probably could have played the last two years. He even talked about coming back. He probably saw Philip Rivers and he went, wait a minute, what are you doing? I can still play and he probably your arm goes for guys who aren't mobile, you still got to rely on your arm. Philip never had a strong arm, Peyton Manning's arm went. Tom still has a strong arm.

00:09:48
Speaker 3: Yes, still, I think Tom though, like he decided to hang it up before it got like ugly ugly obviously, you know that last season wasn't fantastic. He could have just one. That's with Tampa, you know, wrote off of the Sunset, not unretired. But I think he was like, are these next two if I played two more years, is going to get better? Kind of like Barkley said, probably.

00:10:10
Speaker 2: Not Yeah, but same thing with Lebron though, Yeah, in a game that's far more demanding for somebody who's that age of running up and down the floor.

00:10:18
Speaker 3: Is it physically that I mean, like it's more demanding in that sense, But I mean playing football is a more taxing on your body sport. Maybe les quarterbacks.

00:10:27
Speaker 2: Yeah. Tom's not getting hit, Yeah, I mean if he gets hit, you know how many times is he really getting hit? Lebron's running, Lebron's chasing down guys who are twenty. Tom's not chasing anybody. All he has to do is be in the shotgun and just dump the ball off, you throw an interception, go in a fetal position. You don't have to do anything. I mean, I'm kind of oversimplifying the position, but.

00:10:50
Speaker 3: There's slightly more to it than that. But yeah, but.

00:10:52
Speaker 2: Lebron wants to play in all the games, and you know he wants to be the most in shape player out there. Tom is not trying to fool anybody. Lebron wants to fool you. Hey, I can keep up with a twenty year old. I can still play at a high level, which he can. But if the goal is to be the goat in his mind, then you're not gonna win another championship. Unless you go to Cleveland. You might have an easier path because the West is still going to be loaded. Yeah, Marvin, but.

00:11:24
Speaker 7: I think at age forty one, Lebron's legacy is already cementy. I don't think another championship helps his goat case.

00:11:32
Speaker 2: At this age. To win a championship, I think it does.

00:11:36
Speaker 7: No, I don't think he's passing Michael Jordan.

00:11:38
Speaker 2: Oh, I know that, But I still think he's he has to do things that Michael never did.

00:11:45
Speaker 7: He's already doing things Michael never.

00:11:47
Speaker 2: Did, I know, but he could still add to that by playing at a high level at this age. He's not gonna win a championship.

00:11:55
Speaker 7: But I think that's the win right there. Playing at this level at age forty one, you're you're losing to the best team in the NBA.

00:12:02
Speaker 2: But see he's going to get knocked for them getting swept.

00:12:05
Speaker 7: Of course he's going to get more. He's going to get more blamed than Joker did. Well, he got eliminated in the first round.

00:12:09
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, and that's not fair, but that's that's just he knows that he's up against that he's never ever going to be And when you say his legacy is set, I don't know if his legacy is set. Is he the second greatest player of all time? Does he have the greatest resume individual resume of anybody in history? Okay, it feels like Lebron would want more than that. He wants. I think in his mind he feels like he is the greatest player to ever play the game. I do feel that. Now he can't come out and say it. But even if he does, the victory tour where NBA Entertainment, you know, collects all his footage you'll be yeah, well Michael did it, so you're doing the same thing as him, Like he can't win with this, but what he's doing is pretty remark because he is he has to play both and you know Tom's not playing defense. Lebron's going to play both ends of the floor. Yes, Tom, if you're enjoying.

00:13:10
Speaker 5: Yourself and you're still doing it well and you're not even close to embarrassing yourself, and you could add on to your legacy even more from nothing else but stats in all these different categories. So maybe no one ever touches those records ever, or it takes many many years, and then why not do it?

00:13:23
Speaker 6: I do believe there's at.

00:13:24
Speaker 5: Least a small part where I could add that many more games and playoff games and points and everything else. No one's ever going to touch it, just to make sure I'll do another year.

00:13:31
Speaker 2: Are you taking a shot at me as to me and retiring? Why should I retire?

00:13:35
Speaker 5: I have not if you want to put yourself into that with you, this is specifically Lebron, And I'm just going to make the numbers speak so loudly. No one's going to touch any of these numbers ever.

00:13:44
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, Pully Lebron's past season. He had sixty starts, thirty three minutes per game average twenty one, seven and six, down a little bit from the year before, but.

00:13:55
Speaker 2: He was the third option on that team. Any found a way to kind of reinvent himself. That's really like Steph Curry might have to do this where he's the second or third option on a team coming up. I mean, they got to find those players. The Lakers that leave at least have Austin Reeves, they have Luca Golden State doesn't have that. You mean Jimmy Butler is not a number one option. Let me see David in Ohio. Hi, David, what's on your mind today?

00:14:31
Speaker 6: Hey? It was up Dan.

00:14:32
Speaker 8: You guys were talking about the taking. I got a fun idea on how to fix it. Why don't you just line up all the owners of the team's worst record the best and put them out the free throw line and just have him shoot a basket. If they make it, they get that pick. If they don't, they got to loop back around. Put it on TV televised. It'd be good entertainment.

00:14:51
Speaker 6: So thank you, David.

00:14:54
Speaker 2: I'll bring it up to the commissioner. When I talked to her. All right, we'll take a break. Jamal Crawford said, did you join us? Where is Jamal Todd?

00:15:03
Speaker 5: Jamal craffet is still in Minneapolis because he was part of a last night's broadcast. It he'll join us for many.

00:15:07
Speaker 2: Okay, we'll talk to Jamal Crawford. He was there when Wemby got tossed. Does he think there's further discipline coming up from Wemby? Take a break back after this.

00:15:17
Speaker 1: 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 app.

00:15:27
Speaker 9: Hey, this is Jason McIntyre. Join me every weekday morning on my podcast, Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. This isn't your typical sports pod pushing the same tired narratives down your throat every day. Straight Fire gives you honest opinions on all the biggest sports headlines, accurate stats to help you win big at the sportsbook, and all the best guests. Do yourself a favor and listen to Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

00:16:00
Speaker 2: Jamal Crawford on the call last night Game four Mike Tarico, Reggie Miller on NBC in Peacock for the Spurs and the Timberwolves. Also, he'll be on the call in San Antonio Game five. That'll be a tip off at eight Eastern on Tuesday. Great to talk to you again. Let me start at the end and work our way back. Do you think Victor Wembenyama will be suspended for Game five?

00:16:23
Speaker 6: No? I do not think he'll be suspended.

00:16:25
Speaker 10: He definitely should have been ejected for the shot he gave yesterday, but I don't think he's suspended for Game five.

00:16:33
Speaker 2: You what do you think I think if David Stern was the commissioner? Oh, okay, but I I wouldn't be surprised if he's fined. But I think the fact that it took place in the second quarter. If it took place in the fourth quarter with four minutes to go, then I could see him be suspended for Game five.

00:16:55
Speaker 10: So why do you think if Stern was the commissioner, that happens in that right now?

00:17:00
Speaker 2: Because I think we look at this and we want Wenby to play. David Sturge famously scolded me when the Phoenix suns Amari Stottenmeyer got suspended for getting off the bench when Steve Nash got crashed into into the scores table, and I said, but Stottenmeyer didn't do anything, and he said, he got off the bench. Now listen to me, and then he scolded me like, I don't care if you're a star or not. I have to I'm the commissioner. And therefore I think he would have a different look at this because in slow motion it doesn't look good at all. That Wenby that was excessive. He wanted to take somebody out. Was there anything that led up to this in your mind that you could see not warranted? But understand, you know, his frustration.

00:17:53
Speaker 10: It's funny you say that because I may have given him the announcer's jinx, because I just praised him for how he was handled and you know, getting getting pushed and all the extra stuff and thrown to the ground. And I understand, like Minnesota side, you want to keep their best player frustrated, or at least try to frustrate him. And he hadn't shown any emotion all series or really all playoffs in that way, so it could have been, you know, things that led up to it. For sure, but that was not a good look and that what we expected.

00:18:23
Speaker 2: But this is why you have somebody on your roster who can go in and protect you. This happens in hockey all the time. It happens in basketball. Tim Duncan was never going to go after somebody, but he had somebody to do that for him. Michael Jordan didn't go after the Pistons. He had somebody do that for him. I think that's the important part is and that's where Mitch Johnson, the Spurs head coach, I think is wrong to say, hey, I understand it. No, this is a playoff game, like let somebody else bang up Anthony Edwards if that's what you want to do to send a message. I can't have my best player and the most important player on the floor getting caught up in something like this to.

00:19:08
Speaker 10: Kind of have that enforce of that security, huh. I said that last well two years ago. I think it was with Okay, see they saw chet and I'm like, well, no, they kind of need to go through this to see what they do need later on. And I'm sure these guys are going through this process and still can win it. But still you're right, maybe get that enforced or somebody who's gonna bring that like no, no, no, we're not going for that at all. You know that to the roster as well.

00:19:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, I just think that that's I got to keep him on the floor there, you have to.

00:19:39
Speaker 6: I mean, he does so many things well.

00:19:42
Speaker 10: As soon as he went off the court, Minnesota was like, uh oh, free ice cream.

00:19:46
Speaker 6: This is just I can go on the painting time.

00:19:48
Speaker 10: I feel like it, you know, and coordinat did a great job as well, not the same level as Wemby, but it was like drastic, like, Okay, soon as he goes off the court, we're going in there to get paid points at all costs.

00:20:01
Speaker 2: What is it about Anthony Edwards that we really only care about his game in the postseason that I don't think he's a tune in or regular season guy, But man, he has these moments in the postseason where you goim, he is different.

00:20:16
Speaker 10: He's different. He's one of the most competitive people I've seen to be that young. I mean, obviously we know he's been through so much in life, but he has that like that grit, that toughness, that mental fortitude, and he just he wants it. He wants it he wants to be one of the greats, and he understands the responsibility. And one thing I love about Ant is his authenticity. You never feel like he's just saying something to say it. Whatever he says, he feels, he stands on it. And I think his guys, his teammates know that. Like I saw yesterday, I think Io got a and one late and he turned the best like I told you. I told you, almost like he saw something on the court, Like no, I trust him too, and he's amazing, Like he can go and tight spot almost like a jet. He just takes off and he's not even all the way healthy right now, right, but his grit and his heart. He had a moment where he's like, I'm just gonna take over this game. We will not lose this game. And he did what he had to do to tie this thing up.

00:21:12
Speaker 2: But I hate when we do this, you know. He kind of reminds me of Michael Jordan. I'm like, okay, he's not Michael Jordan. No, no one is Michael Jordan.

00:21:20
Speaker 6: No one's Michael Jordan.

00:21:22
Speaker 2: Now you can have some traits right that Mike may have, Like SGA man, he reminds me of Jordan where you know you can score and he's not Michael Jordan.

00:21:33
Speaker 10: I have a problem with that just from the standpoint. Michael Jordan to me is the greatest to ever play basketball, right and it's not even a question.

00:21:41
Speaker 6: But with that, we throw his name around so easily.

00:21:44
Speaker 10: If this guy reminds me of Michael Jordan, well, this is like he's the final Frontier. There's a bunch of other stages and guys you can refer to besides referring to the last like Frontier. Because now we start looking at him and we look at the player a little sideways too. We may not appreciate the player we're looking at because we keep hearing that Michael Jordan comparisons, you know what I mean.

00:22:02
Speaker 6: So we should appreciate this guy as well.

00:22:04
Speaker 2: Talking to Jamal Crawford, he was on the call last night with the Spurs and Timberwolf's going to San Antonio for tomorrow night eight eastern on NBC and Peacott. You think Lebron retires any chance he retires after their next loss?

00:22:21
Speaker 6: I hope not.

00:22:22
Speaker 10: And the reason being he's done so much for the game and we've grown to know him and everything about him just about how famous he is the last twenty five years, right since he was in high school. And I would just hope that he goes out and really receives the love he's shown to everybody all over the world, and he could be appreciating that way. I think it'll be like crazy just to go out quietly and like now I'm retiring now, Like no, like get all the love you possibly can, because you deserve it. And look at the level he's still playing at. I mean to be a forty one year old man and still I'm telling you, I played three days in four days. I played three times in four days the other day. Then I was trashed. The last day I could even walk. I was like, man, it took me forever to try to get loose. So what he's doing is like on a whole another level, and I hope he's appreciated in that way.

00:23:15
Speaker 6: With the NBA closer than the.

00:23:17
Speaker 10: Beginning, why would he come back love of the game. You can just tell how much he loves it. He still gets pissed off if if something small happens. And I'm not saying like in a way of condemning a teammate, but in a way of caring like he still cares so much about everything. Everything I hear is still the first one in the gym. He's still preparing, you know, like he's a youngster just starting out. So that just tells me how much he loves the game. So I think that's why he would come back. Why do you think he would come back or not come back?

00:23:44
Speaker 2: Well, I wonder you come back to a team. It's rare when he had the feeling of his team can't win the championship. Right in his entire career, there was always the man, you know, we could get to the finals in just about every stop. I think he's got to look at the West and be honest, when you look at the Spurs and look at Okac, you're you're not on their level. And even if Luca was healthy, you're just you're not on their level right now. And it's not going to get any better. But I do think I think he's going to go out and he's going to do a documentary on his final year.

00:24:19
Speaker 6: I think I can see that.

00:24:20
Speaker 2: I just think he'll hes not going to go out quietly. It's not going to be one of those oh Lebron retired. I think he wants at once. He wants to get his flowers, and I have no problem with that.

00:24:33
Speaker 10: But then we didn't know the last dance was being recorded in that last year either, you know, like I mean, you probably knew being in the inside, but I know.

00:24:41
Speaker 2: I saw the NBA Entertainment crew following Michael, and I even asked the head of NBA Entertainment and I said, what what is this used for? And he said that Michael wanted it. But I never thought it was going to be used in, you know, a documentary. But I did see these guys. I think I think my Michael Thompson's son or brother I should say, was a cameraman, was a cameraman. Yeah, So I would see him and I'd be like, what are you guys doing? And they were just they were just filming. But I never filed it, never knew. I never knew what was going on, And even those who did know didn't really know. They're like, I don't know.

00:25:22
Speaker 10: Would you be disappointed if he did go out without like gain those flowers?

00:25:27
Speaker 2: Just from your standpoint, I wouldn't be disappointed. I would be surprised, Like, you do what you need to do for you. It feels like lebron is gonna want to make stops in every city, and whether he plays one year, two more years, you know, because as long as he's on the roster, Bronnie's on the roster. And I think he wants to, you know, show that nobody will be able to do what I've done. Right, They're not going to put up, you know, twenty two, twenty three, twenty four years in this sport where Tom you can play quarterback, but you're not playing defense, right all right, I mean lebron is keeping up with twenty year olds.

00:26:07
Speaker 10: Yeah, we'll never see anything like this from a longevity standpoint, a dominance of longevity, Like, I don't think we see anything anything like this.

00:26:17
Speaker 6: I even went back.

00:26:17
Speaker 10: I think since his sophomore year of high school, he's averaged twenty five or more points every year except like three, Like it's ridiculous, three or four maybe in the last you know, twenty five, twenty six years. Whatever it is, like, he's will never see anything like this. That's why I hope he gets his flowers the right way.

00:26:35
Speaker 2: And imagine averaging this, scoring that and not being a great shooter.

00:26:40
Speaker 10: He's just even being a great like a score like not being a great score, not being somebody who plays to score first. Anyway, Yeah, think about that.

00:26:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, the James Harden, how do we right the history of James Harden.

00:26:52
Speaker 10: M that's gonna be interesting because there's no denying what he did in his prime and his prime run of Houston during the course of a regular season, his dominance like he had, like he in some ways, he had mastered the game like in some ways in the regular season. Then the playoffs the struggle came. And that's why it's such a stark contrast. Would you rather have a guy like Wade who didn't have the same peak regular seasons but had more playoff success or would you say, you know what, over the course of six months, this got dominated and then it just didn't go well the last month or whatever.

00:27:33
Speaker 2: Oh I'd rather be d Wade.

00:27:35
Speaker 6: You rather be d Wade?

00:27:35
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:27:37
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah yeah.

00:27:38
Speaker 2: I mean, I think Harden is absolutely fascinating. But why he changed the game he did. There's no denying that he changed the game. And you knew he was going to score. He knew. He would tell you I'm going to go right there and I'm going to do a step back jumper. You know, when you're scoring thirty six and also throwing, you know, the handing out eleven assists. I mean, that's he's built for the regular season. He just not a playoff performer. And da Wade was.

00:28:09
Speaker 10: What's crazy about Harden is what position do you even put him at when it's all when the all time list comes out?

00:28:15
Speaker 6: Is he go as a point? Does he go as a two?

00:28:17
Speaker 10: Like? He was so skilled and so skilled he's the true definition of a comboll guard because he literally could do both at that level. It's just the playoffs never it never looked like the regular season.

00:28:31
Speaker 2: What are the Knicks doing that they didn't do previously?

00:28:38
Speaker 10: Hm, I think they're a little more diverse of how they're using Brunson. To me, they're using Brunson how Ai was used in Philly, and they got him off the ball some, they moved him around, then they got him in.

00:28:51
Speaker 6: You know, pick and roll situations.

00:28:52
Speaker 10: Obviously, you know the playoffs throw down and you want the ball in your best player's hands. But they're a little less predictable and that they're playing a little more free. It seems to be honest with you, And I think Timms gave them a lot of freedom. I think Timms is a heck of a coach and he did an unbelievable job with him. But right now I think they're playing a little more free, and I think that he's a little more diverse in how he's being used himself.

00:29:18
Speaker 2: I find him fascinating though.

00:29:20
Speaker 6: Brunson, Yeah, why he just he moves.

00:29:25
Speaker 2: In tight circles like he's really good in a tight area of just getting that split second less than that separation there. He doesn't strike me as he's like a left handed Chris Paul where he just finds areas. Not the quickest, not the fastest, can't jump to the highest like Chris Paul, but he just knows how to play the game.

00:29:50
Speaker 10: I think both of those guys they play to their smarts first and then they're like with Brunston, his footwork takes over.

00:29:58
Speaker 6: He's not playing to his foot work.

00:30:00
Speaker 10: He's playing too his smart So okay, let me see, Okay, you played me that way, you kept me left. Okay, now I'm gonna go left the first time. The second time I go left, encounter like he's reading everything you're doing. So I think he's playing towards that first he puts his mind in the game first, and then he's just picking you apart. And then he becomes a post player because he plays fifteen feet and in he starts catching at the free throw line. The jab step, shoot the jab step, bump you, and he's even better. Most people with physicality, they get sped up. He's better with physicality because he can feel you and he knows where you're at, so he knows how to counter you. And then you have shooting around him. Cat's playing better. Og is out right now. But those guys, and I think they understand the pressure. Like think about what people are saying about Mike Brown, Well, he has to go to the finals. If he doesn't go to the finals, it's a terrible season. So you know, I think that, And if the Knicks are going to do it, I think this is truly their chance.

00:30:48
Speaker 6: No Boston, right, they're out.

00:30:50
Speaker 10: Who everybody had being there, the best team in the East for most of the year, thought they would go the Furthest. Detroit is in a dog fight right now, so this is the next best chance.

00:31:00
Speaker 2: Why is Steve Kerr coming back to this roster?

00:31:06
Speaker 6: Steph Curry?

00:31:08
Speaker 10: I think I think Steph I think sometimes it's bigger than just I mean, think about it. He's won four championships, I believe three or four, and I think it is for he just it could be bigger than basketball. That could be something like you know what, Steph signed up for this. I'm married to him as far as this. My relationship goes. Draymond, same thing, like I think. And he loves the coach, like just watching him go on games, talking to him, you.

00:31:33
Speaker 6: Know, pregame. He still does that. Zets for coaching like he loves and he would.

00:31:36
Speaker 10: Be unbelievable in TV as we know, or executive he's done all those things.

00:31:40
Speaker 6: But I think coaching is what.

00:31:41
Speaker 10: Really that competitive fabric, that's the part that's lost when you're not in that space.

00:31:46
Speaker 2: But you know you're not going to win there you do. They're a playing team.

00:31:51
Speaker 10: But Steve Kerr has won seven championships totals. He's had his fair share of winning two death.

00:31:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, but you get caught up in it, like you don't go I have one so much, I don't care if I win. When you win, I don't think you can turn it off and go eh, I'm okay.

00:32:07
Speaker 10: Now you don't turn it off, but maybe you sign you find beauty in something else. Think about Steph. This is a guy who is out there actually competing Draymond same thing.

00:32:16
Speaker 6: He could easily be like.

00:32:17
Speaker 10: You know what, my last four or five years, I want to go somewhere else and have a chance to win every single year. But his loyal team may have ruped off on everybody else in the organization. It's almost like the Spurs with Tim Duncan. If Pop yelled, Tim duncany killed anybody. Tim Duncan can be this beacon of light for this organization. You know Steph is doing that. And Steph, we talk about changing the game like he's he is absolutely the way he changed the game where I'll live him because his effect is being unbelievable.

00:32:45
Speaker 2: Your son already got a scholarship offer. What is he a freshman in high school?

00:32:50
Speaker 6: Hes fifteen?

00:32:51
Speaker 10: Actually, yeah, he's a freshman in high school, which is crazy, so crazy.

00:32:55
Speaker 2: So Penny Hardaway reached out and gave him a scholarship.

00:32:58
Speaker 10: He did, and that was full sar or for me because this whole time, even when he was a kid, I'm like, if you could just study one player, I would just have you, you.

00:33:05
Speaker 6: Know, beat Penny hard away. So in my thinking when.

00:33:09
Speaker 10: I was working with him and training him even to this day, and I've told him this, it was Penny because I thought Penny played the game in such an effortless way and his field for the game was next level. So I've been watching film with my son since he was in fifth sixth grade and all those things. So getting that actual offer was like, Wow, that one kind of stopped me.

00:33:26
Speaker 6: For a second. Wow. Yeah, crazy.

00:33:29
Speaker 2: But to study Penny and not somebody else, Yeah.

00:33:33
Speaker 10: No, we study a lot of people, but if it could just be one person, because I knew he'd be a tall guard, it was Penny.

00:33:39
Speaker 6: I thought.

00:33:39
Speaker 10: I thought, if you think about it, after Magic, I thought Penny was going to be like the next here's the baton Magic, you know, you're passing the baton to the next great tall point guard. Penny came with that that heat and the way he played in his field and his personality. And then I had the opportunity to play with him in New York as well, So that one I was like, WHOA like that one?

00:33:59
Speaker 6: Really? I'm off guard?

00:34:02
Speaker 3: Dah.

00:34:02
Speaker 10: Nobody even the high schools around my local city didn't know my name at fifteen years old, so to see where this thing is going is crazy.

00:34:10
Speaker 2: If I had an NBA analyst one on one tournament, who wins?

00:34:16
Speaker 10: I should ask you that I can't vote for myself? Right, So I would say, no.

00:34:22
Speaker 6: You can? I can you think that you would?

00:34:24
Speaker 2: You're the best analyst as far as talent go. I don't even know how to label it.

00:34:31
Speaker 10: Yeah, how to describe it. No, I wouldn't say that part. I'm not that I love Reggie because I'm next to him. I learned from him so much. Tim Lagler, Rji. There's a lot of good people out there. But I think the advantage I have if I was staying my case, not as the best, but just we're for my case to.

00:34:50
Speaker 6: Be in that tournament, win to win, is I think I can.

00:34:56
Speaker 10: I think I can do a pretty good job of bridging this era with the air that came before me. I can kind of intertwine them because I played against John Stockton, I played against Luca, so I've seen how the games kind of evolved. And I remember I come from a time where the off the dribble three was the worst shot in basketball. Don't ever take that shot to see it now be the biggest weapon so I see both of them, who would be up there for you? I'm not saying I'm the best. I'm just saying to be in the tournament. I won't say that when it's even qualified.

00:35:22
Speaker 2: How about who do you like? How would Tracy McGrady do?

00:35:26
Speaker 6: He do great? But he doesn't he doesn't call. He's talking about calling games.

00:35:29
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, just being an analyst.

00:35:32
Speaker 6: Oh, Tam Max is really good?

00:35:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, Mellow, Vince Carter, all.

00:35:40
Speaker 6: Those guys are great, and.

00:35:43
Speaker 10: They're obviously Hall of famers, but they also know how to communicate, communicate the game in a simple way that anybody can understand, being a good analyst.

00:35:51
Speaker 2: So I'm talking about playing one on one here.

00:35:53
Speaker 6: Oh you're talking about one on one? Yeah, and they're player like right now.

00:35:58
Speaker 2: Right now? Are you kidding me?

00:36:03
Speaker 10: Okay, okay, I thought you're talking about Actually.

00:36:08
Speaker 2: I don't care about that. I'm talking don't care about I'm talking about playing hoops.

00:36:13
Speaker 6: Hold on one second, one second, one second.

00:36:17
Speaker 2: What Crawford Hotel room in Minnesota?

00:36:21
Speaker 10: Have my hoops is on the road?

00:36:23
Speaker 6: They come with me?

00:36:23
Speaker 11: Are you kidding me?

00:36:27
Speaker 2: Are you breaking ankles or spraining ankles?

00:36:31
Speaker 10: Well, I've got nicer as I got older, So now I'm just spraying them. I'll sprain them and say, are you all right? Okay, watch all them. I may say that moves coming like I've gotten nicer, unless they start talking trash and then it's old.

00:36:40
Speaker 2: So you think you could take Tracy McGrady one on one.

00:36:44
Speaker 6: Right now today?

00:36:44
Speaker 2: Yeah?

00:36:45
Speaker 10: Yeah, Bench Carter, I would beat everybody right now on.

00:36:51
Speaker 2: On everybody, every analyst in in the NBA.

00:36:54
Speaker 6: I still play all the time. Okay, all right, yeah, all right, who do you think wins?

00:36:59
Speaker 2: I don't know. I'd have to see these guys walking around.

00:37:02
Speaker 10: Oh okay, that is the walk that doesn't.

00:37:05
Speaker 2: Well, I'm gonna know if how you're doing.

00:37:07
Speaker 6: You like my kids.

00:37:08
Speaker 10: If I try to give some new food, they smell it first.

00:37:10
Speaker 6: I'm like, that's not going to affect the taste.

00:37:12
Speaker 2: Right, we'll talk soon. Thank you buy it? Sure? That's Jamal Crawford. Yeah, he's waxing poetic about these guys. I'm like, I don't care you call a game. I want to see you guys play one on one, one on one. Draymond would want to get in on this conversation to say that he could beat everybody.

00:37:32
Speaker 7: No, not against Jamal Crawford.

00:37:34
Speaker 1: All Right, we'll take a break. Last call for phone calls after this. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to listen live. Last call for phone calls. Reggie Miller on the program tomorrow.

00:37:54
Speaker 2: What we learned? Guy in Vegas? Hi, Guy, what's on your mind today?

00:38:00
Speaker 6: Hey?

00:38:00
Speaker 12: Hey Dan?

00:38:00
Speaker 2: How are you guys doing good?

00:38:03
Speaker 6: So I've got a.

00:38:04
Speaker 11: Name for you.

00:38:05
Speaker 12: My name is Guy Fiori from Las Vegas.

00:38:10
Speaker 13: And I had an incident where I forgot to make a Christmas Eve reservation for seven people, and I called a well known steakhouse.

00:38:21
Speaker 12: Here in Vegas begging for a reservation. I used I had the hostess or host asked if she could call me back once I gave her my name. The manager called me back the next day, said Hey, I just need your credit card, No problem getting my credit card, and then turned around he goes, do you mind if I use your name on the reservation?

00:38:45
Speaker 2: And I went, oh, did you still? Did you still take the reservation?

00:38:54
Speaker 10: No?

00:38:54
Speaker 12: They had moved some people around to kind of shoehorn shoehorn me in, and I said, don't worry about it. I'll figure it out. Give those people back their reservations.

00:39:05
Speaker 2: All right, Well not Guy Fieri, Guy FIORI thank you. Guy Denny in Portland, Hi Denny, what's on your mind today?

00:39:14
Speaker 11: I'm morning DP. Hey, I'm calling about your giving your speech your daughter's wedding. And I had the same similar thing. I have twin daughters and my one daughter was getting married and I was practicing by speed. I'm very emotional, just like you, and every time I think about it, I do the crying thing. And I was in law enforcement for many years before I retired. I made the mistake of telling one of the guys I work with that I was having trouble with the speech, and YadA, YadA, YadA, And so we get into a roll call and he goes, hey, why don't you give us the speech you're going to give your daughter at your daughter's wedding. And I kind of froze, and I thought, okay, you know had it written down on a piece of paper, and I started to get through it started crying and somebody said do it again. And they did that for about five or six times, and I finally made it through without crying for the most part, and you know, I was kind of mad at him, but it was it worked.

00:40:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, But here's the problem. Now they're expecting me to cry, and if I don't cry, people will probably be disappointed if I don't cry. This day in sports history, Paul.

00:40:22
Speaker 4: Right On q off. Last week in nineteen seventy seventy, owner of the Braves, Ted Turner, went down and managed one game.

00:40:29
Speaker 2: Once they had lost sixteen in a row. He took over. They lost to the Pirates, and then Major League Baseball said Ted Turner can't manage any future games. Willie May's got traded on this date to the New York Mets fifty thousand dollars and a pitcher named Charlie Williams.

00:40:47
Speaker 5: How do you trade Willie Mays?

00:40:49
Speaker 12: How does that happen?

00:40:49
Speaker 2: How do you trade? Sell Babe?

00:40:52
Speaker 6: Ruth? It's insane? Thank you, Todd?

00:40:54
Speaker 2: All righty go around the room. Oh it is Notre Dame usc And negotiations of keeping this rivalry alive in football, yeah, a.

00:41:01
Speaker 4: Couple of years down the road, but it's uh, there's morsels, it might.

00:41:05
Speaker 2: Happen, okay, all right, Uh, Todd would you learn today. Tyrese Maxie dropped many.

00:41:09
Speaker 5: It sucks when after battle the Knicks fan's taking over. The Sixers are any making you feel like they were at Madison Square.

00:41:13
Speaker 2: Guard Dylan Law one ball Yeah, Lamello's son Marvin.

00:41:19
Speaker 7: You like skill more than luck.

00:41:21
Speaker 4: Paul spraining ankles.

00:41:22
Speaker 2: Good to be back. Thanks for your phone calls, emails, tweets, the all around support. Reggie Miller will stop by tomorrow. I hope you join us as well. For the entire crew, have a great day, everybody,