April 21, 2025 • 48 mins
On a Monday edition of The Best Of The Doug Gottlieb Show: Doug addresses concerns about the city of Green Bay being ready for all of the people that will pour in for the NFL draft this week. Doug gives his thoughts on the first weekend of the NBA playoffs.
Doug and the crew share what they loved most and hated most from the weekend in this version of Love AND Hate.
Doug reacts to Nico Harrison's most recent answer about the Luka deal. Doug welcomes FSR NBA Insider Ric Bucher to talk about the weekend of NBA playoff action.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlieb
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
three to five Eastern twelve two Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
Find your local station for The Doug Gottlieb Show at
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Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio coming to you from
(00:24):
beautiful Green Bay, Wisconsin, site of the upcoming NFL Draft
and my adopted hometown. Now getting closer and closer to
years and years in the making of hosting this event
should be really really cool, and we're broadcasting live from
(00:44):
It's the Legacy Hotel. It's a it's a block from
Lambeau It's a block. How do I know? There's actually
one street which I can see and it's the same
street that little kids give their bikes to for to
ride their bike to practice. The Don Hudson Center, which
is in between here and Lambeau Field is where they
(01:08):
ride their bikes too, or the outdoor fields that are
right there across from that. Hey, if you're left to right,
if you're watching on the dal is the Resh Center.
That's where we play our home games, or portion of
our home games. And you know, I can clearly see
the g which is on the back of one of
the jumbo trons at lambeau Field. And to the I
guess that's the north east corner of the parking lot.
(01:32):
And on the street that on Lombardy Street or Lombardy Avenue,
I don't know. The street avenue I don't know is
the stage where Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday all day
the NFL Draft will be taking place. So pretty cool
stuff and to be a part of it and to
live here, it's kind of interesting.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
You know.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Mark Murphy is the outgoing president of the Green Bay Packers.
He's also a good friend and a guy who when
he leaves his position is actually going to take over
an emeritis role as athletic director for our school for
for green Bay. But it's really interesting, right he had
this quote, I'm disappointing. I was hoping we'd get train
(02:16):
service from Milwaukee. It's kind of ridiculous that the National
Railroad Museum is in green Bay and we don't have
train service. Yeah, so this is a town, truthfully, Green Bays,
the town of one hundred thousand people. The surrounding area
is bumping up to a couple hundred thousand. If you
count the Fox Valley, you're getting to a million people.
But it's just like a college town. But instead of
(02:38):
having Division I college football, got the Green Bay Packers,
and you're going to bring in somewhere between two hundred
and fifty and four hundred thousand people reportedly for the weekend,
and there's five to six thousand hotel rooms plus people
running out their houses and he's like, yeah, we could
use train service from Milwaukee. Seems like a bit of
(03:00):
an oversight from from the folks at Amtrak, right, Like
you couldn't couldn't just make sure you arrange it. Nonetheless,
my guess is that at the end of the day,
it'll go off without a hitch. NFL things have a
tendency to do, so they just do. And it's a
weird NFL draft. It's weird. There's no other way to
(03:21):
describe it. When you have two maybe three quarterbacks that
are first round draft picks and the second two people
are like and even cam Ward, if you compare cam
Ward to last year's class, I'm not sure he's the
top five guy, And then you factor in that there's
fewer and fewer early entries into the NFL draft. Why
(03:43):
would you go in the NFL draft early if you
can stay in college and make as much, if not
more money as you're going to make in the NFL.
So you have a smaller field of people to choose from.
We have a depletion of the quarterback position, and you
still have some of these players who have are a
(04:04):
little bit older because they've had COVID year, either senior
years in high school or freshman years in college, which
is allowed to play more and more college football. So
you have this weird s Morgasborg of potential guys who
are anyone anywhere from twenty years old, twenty one years
old to twenty four to twenty five years old. It's
(04:25):
really interesting. Give me interesting draft. All right, Let's get
to the NBA this weekend, which NBA playoffs in full swing.
The Warriors, it felt like they stole Game one. It
doesn't mean that I don't think the Warriors will win
the series. I do, but part of the Warrior's success
was you have all those guys that have played in
the NBA finals, A couple of guys that have won
(04:46):
NBA championships multiple before, whereas the Houston Rockets at collectively
as a not just counting all their years of experience,
but counting their years of experience together no playoff appearances.
And I don't know if the Rockets looked tight or
the Rockets struggle with the physicality of the playoffs, but
(05:08):
they you score in the thirties in the first half,
your lowest point total four a half overall, and you're
quite obviously not ready to play. Meanwhile, the Lakers, well,
they look like they couldn't guard the Timberwolves, which was
the problem that everyone saw when you eliminated Anthony Davis,
the best defender on the Lakers, and you replaced him
(05:30):
with Luka Doncik. Here's JJ Reddick talking about what went
wrong in their first matchup against the Timberwolves.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
They're great opponent, They're one of the best teams in basketball.
There's I think it's not to say our guys weren't
like ready to withstand like a playoff level basketball game.
We were mentally ready. I thought our spirit was right.
I thought even when they made runs, our huddles were great.
You know, the communication was great. I mean I'm not
(06:00):
sure physically we were ready and if that makes sense,
And really when they started playing with a lot of
thrust and physicality, like we just didn't respond immediately to that.
And then that stretch to start of the second through
you know, five four or five minutes to go in
the third, you know, we lost that stretch by thirty four.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
So you know that's a blowout.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Yeah, I mean you're talking about the thrust and the
strength and whatever, like, I just tell me where the
Lakers are definitively better. I understand. Name Wise, you're sitting
there going, hey, Lebron James, all time great, Luka Doncik,
arguably best player offensive player in the league, Austin Reeves,
(06:44):
top twenty five offensive player in the league. And then well,
what else do you have out there? Remember, there's nothing
special about their bench and the Timberwolves. Whatever you think
of Gobert, he's an elite level defensive player. But then
they've built this roster. I don't know if Jade McDaniels
is ever eleven of thirteen from the floor and three
(07:07):
of three from three point range, but Jade McDaniels will
always be on that floor because he's six foot nine
with long arms, great great intelligence defensively, you know, and
Julius Randall is the guy who's just too physical, too
strong for any of their players, not name Jackson Hayes
to guard. And then Anthony Edwards, frankly is was the
(07:27):
best athlete on the court. You're throwing nas Reed off
the bench, you hit six threes, and I think it's
a little bit of both. Do I think the Lakers
can win a couple of games? I do do. I
think generally the Timberwolves are a bad matchup for the
Lakers and are just better.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
I do.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Whereas the Warriors, I don't think we're truly gonna know
until we get through Game two what that series looks like.
I think the Warriors win the series. I think the
Timberwles will win the series. But that one feels a
little bit more like, Hey, the Rockets weren't sleeping, but
(08:09):
the Rockets hadn't really played playoff basketball, and it's just different.
And the Warriors were ahead of the curve because they
had played their playing game. But they're playing game got
a metric ton to get to, including getting you ready
for this upcoming draft. Rick Buker is going to join
US at what twenty five after the hour, Yeah, Buke's
(08:32):
can join us twenty five after the hour. We'll get
his thoughts on this firing in Atlanta which just took place,
and on the playoffs that we've seen so far and
some of the ones we're going to see tonight live
from Green Bays Doug Gottlieb Show here on Fox Sports
Radio Fox Sports Radios. Draft Night Live throughout the first
round of the Draft on Thursday night is brought to
(08:53):
you by Dollar Shave Club, your place to get everything
you need to stay smooth and smell great. Visit Dollar
Shave club dot com slash Draft. Use the promo code
Draft for twenty percent off of your order of twenty
dollars and more, plus free shipping. That's dollarshaveclub dot com
slash Draft. Be sure to tune in to Fox Sports
Radios Draft Night Live, which is Thursday night at eight
(09:14):
pm Eastern. Throughout the first round of the draft, insider
j Glazer, former General Jets Centeral manager Joe Douglas, college
Football Hall of famer LeVar Arrington. Foxsports Lead college football
reporter Jenny Taff will have covered all thirty two picks
and predictions. And reactions. That's Thursday, eight Eastern throughout the
first round right here on Fox Sports Radio with live
(09:34):
video simulcast on Fox Sports Radios YouTube channel. Brought to
you by Dollars Shave Club.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
This is the best of the Done dot Leaf Show
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
What I Butt You Dog Got Leave Show, Fox Sports
Radio coming to you from the tyrat dot Com Studios
tyrack dot com. Well we get there, unmatched selection, fast
free shipping. Oh sorry about that. It just gets it.
Just I just did it. H Fox Sports Radios Draft
Night Live, the first round of the Draft on Thursday night,
(10:08):
is brought to you by Dollars Shave Club. Your place
to get everything you need to stay smooth and smell great.
Visit dollarshaveclub dot com slash Draft. Use the promo cod
Draft for twenty percent off of your order twenty dollars
and more plus free shipping. That's dollarshave club dot com
slash Draft. Be sure to tune in to Fox Sports
Radios Draft Night Live, which is Thursday night at eight
Eastern throughout the first round. The Draft insider j Glazier,
(10:30):
former Jets gentle manager, Joe Douglas, College Football Hall of
famer LaVar Arrington, Fox Sports League College football reporter Jenny Taft,
We'll have you covered for all thirty two picks with
predictions and reactions. That's Thursday, eight pm Eastern throughout the
first round the Draft, live right here on Fox Sports
Radio and the live simulcast on Fox Sports Radios YouTube
page as well. Brought to you by Dollars Shave Club.
(10:50):
We do this every Monday. It's our own kind of
personal and professional recap of the weekend. We call it
love it Hey.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
What did you love?
Speaker 5 (10:59):
God?
Speaker 1 (10:59):
I love you and what.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Did you hate?
Speaker 1 (11:02):
These player is ah love love love, love, love lovete hate. Hey, hey, hey, hey,
you gotta express what you really loved about something. You
gotta express what you really hated about something. You got
to advocate for your own feelings, right. A resident lover
is Dan Byer. He loves golf, Seahawks, Ohio State football,
(11:28):
the Bucks, his family. Not in that order, not that order,
not in that order. I'm just listening out things, okay.
Mountain Dew also loves loves Mountain Dew. Dan by what
do you love for the.
Speaker 6 (11:40):
Weekend, Doug, I was almost gonna trade in my love
for two hates.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Today. I don't know if we can do trade not
like that is so.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
You know, Jason, you're rubbing off on Dan.
Speaker 6 (11:52):
B Would you, Jason, do you have two things that
you love or would somebody like to trade there?
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Jason has two things that he loves.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
I don't know he loves his Well, yes he does.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
There's only two things he loves, maybe three on earth. Jase,
you're smoking our girlfriend, your son, and Dodger baseball. And
really it's only in a good won the World series,
huh and.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
A good book and a good book all true. I
I can't tell you that I that I liked.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Wait one more thing he likes the opposite of BS. Yep,
there's a little one, sorry, Dan.
Speaker 6 (12:27):
I did like the golf this past weekend RBC Heritage.
It's at Hilton Head. I've been fortunate enough to play
that course once about a decade ago. It's not a
humble brag.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
I A you see that course, great course. I believe
I played that course.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
It's just unique.
Speaker 6 (12:46):
It's not like a lot of courses that you see
anywhere South Carolina that South Carolina southern feel, the the
tight fairways and the trees.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
And justin Thomas coming out on top.
Speaker 6 (12:56):
I know certain people aren't fans of the signature events
PGA Tour because of what it's doing to the I
guess lesser tour player if you will, But again, a
great leader board. Justin Thomas wins for the first time
since twenty twenty two the PGA Championship that he won
at Southern Hills and breaks through wins in a playoff yesterday,
(13:17):
and I like watching those tournaments. And it's one of
the cool things about when you play golf, and I
recommend anybody do that, is if you can remember the
shots that you hit and you see pros hit, there's
something so unique about that.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
You can't do no shot that I ever hit that
somebody says reminds you of a pro.
Speaker 4 (13:36):
No.
Speaker 6 (13:37):
But when you could say, well, this is what I
did on sixteen, or this is the putt that I hit,
or this is where the chip goes. Because I was
in that I short sighted myself, it's gonna roll away
from you. I think, as someone who plays golf and
someone who enjoys golf, there's a neatness to it. And
I would say that anybody that likes to play the game,
it's pretty neat When you can say that you played
(13:58):
a course that is used for the PGA Tour or
is a tour event, And that's why I take advantage.
It's got one of a few of my favorite holes
in golf on the course. And so yeah, I am
a fan. I am a fan of what they do
at the RBC Heritage and Justin Thomas want in an
exciting playoff with a big putt on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Okay, Jay Stu, what'd you love on the weekend?
Speaker 7 (14:26):
I love watching Russell Westbrook. He gets a lot of
negative feedback by the press and by fans, and I've
never quite understood that one. And you're a coach, Doug.
You know more about basketball than I will ever know.
But like what I do know is that if I'm
(14:46):
just sitting on the couch, I love watching the guy
play on Saturday. If he's not on the court, the
Nuggets don't beat the Clippers. There were hustle plays, fifty
to fifty balls. He wasn't intimidating with his energy. He
was like he was annoying. He was that guy and
pick up basketball that tries really hard on defense and
(15:08):
then you just want to give up. And it felt
like the Clippers were doing that because he was trying
so hard. He personifies that cliche that I've been hearing
from coaches forever. Someday you're going to show up and
you're not going to be able to make contacts. Some
days you're going to show up. You're not gonna be
able to feel the balls. It's just we have our
bad days. One thing that can never take a day
off is hustle and energy and enthusiasm. And Westbrook personifies that.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Okay, I think some of it is made for TV,
some of his bull but okay, okay, Ryan, you guess
I loved from the Weekend.
Speaker 8 (15:48):
Yes, yes, I do, Doug. This thing only happens once
a year. It makes me very happy because it only
happens once a year. I'm talking about WrestleMania. That's right,
my man, two great main events except for the you know,
the ending. John Cena is now the all time winning champion.
(16:09):
Uh love it? Yes, I'm sure you do. Thank you
for the whole comments.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
So John Cena has had the best scripts of anybody
in the.
Speaker 8 (16:17):
Pretty much pretty much. And if you've gotten that ring,
you'd probably tear a cl Doug. But as I was saying,
he's won the world titles seventeen times, but unfortunately he
pulled to Tom Brady and cheated to get this title.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
That's why cheat to get the title.
Speaker 8 (16:33):
Uh, he kicks someone where you shouldn't kick someone. I'll
just say it like that since we're on the radio.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
So he fake kicked somebody in their junk, and because
he fake kicked somebody in their junk, he's he cheated
to get to the world.
Speaker 8 (16:46):
Yeah, we're not supposed to do that. You're not supposed
to do that. I know what you're getting at. Do
you think you do somebody and they do things in
the ring that you could never do, Doug, you wouldn't
last five days.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
I think Ryan's like really sensitive for like, yeah, what
is yeah? What is what's the deal?
Speaker 6 (17:02):
Like seriously, Like you say like it's the greatest event,
but the ending stunk. So I make a comment about it,
and you're trying to make Doug never claimed to be
hul Cogan or Jimmy Superfly Snooka at any point. We
all want to appreciate the wrestling. Why are you being
so sensitive about this?
Speaker 1 (17:19):
I like actual wrestling, Yeah, this is it.
Speaker 6 (17:22):
No one said one crack about wrestling until you come
in and then start thinking that everybody's against him.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
I said, I said, it's not it's not actually wrestling.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Well, here's the thing. Two things, they jump.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Off large objects. They're stuntman. They're really really talented.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
They're very very talented.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Answer really talented answer stunt men go, they're really really good.
Speaker 8 (17:42):
To answer dance question. What's annoying me is I keep
I keep getting interrupted? And Two I used to be
a professional wrestler, so I'm a little touching on the
subject when people are like try to like look down
on it.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
So when you lost as a professional wrestler, were you
mad at the opponent or are you mad at the
guy who wrote the script?
Speaker 8 (17:59):
I was mad if I didn't look good in the ring,
if I made mistakes in the ring. Because these things
are graded, Doug Dougie.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Your your law. Your loss is graded.
Speaker 8 (18:10):
The match, putting the match together, how the crowd reacts.
It's graded.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
I don't know if why.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
So you loved you loved Russell many or hated it?
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Uh it was good overall. It made me happy.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
I loved it, Yes, okay, good enough? Good enough?
Speaker 2 (18:27):
What I what?
Speaker 1 (18:28):
What I loved I'm a huge fan of Mike Conley.
I just am. I like Mike Conley. I don't. It's
so it's so amazing. I mean, Dan, you you can
relate to this. Remember go looking back at the Final
Four when it was Roy Hibbert and Georgetown against Ohio
State and Greg Odin. And if you would have at
(18:52):
polled one hundred percent of the people over hey, which
one of these guys on this court in this four
are going to be playing basketball the best and the longest,
Mike Conley would not have made the top three or five.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
That's true.
Speaker 6 (19:08):
Jeff Green is still around for Georgetown, hanging around. But
to your point, yes, fully agreed.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Yes, And I'm watching Mike Conley. And then he did
something which I just love, which during the big run
that they made in the second half against the Lakers
in transition, he just stops and shoots the three instead
of driving in there where there's a bunch of trees.
And I can guarantee Barkley was throwing up in his
mouth back in studio in Atlanta. But it's actually the
(19:36):
right play. But more than anything, this is just my
love for Mike Conley. I hope he gets to an
NBA Finals. Oh, he wins an NBA championship. I've never
heard anybody say anything bad about the person that is
Mike Conley. Plus he has that really cool gym at
his house. But I thought I thought the house was
back when he was in Utah. So did he sell
that thing? I don't know. If you guys remember back
in COVID he was doing like full games there, he
(19:59):
did interview there or whatever he like. Literally, well, it
doesn't affect me. I can still go to the Jim
Jim's my house. I don't know. My thing is. I
just like Mike Conley. He's playing great timble, has got
the win. I loved it. Let's get to what we
hated from the weekend. Clearly Ryan hates anybody who questions
the validity of the fake sport for wrestling.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Not a sport.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Hold on Ryan.
Speaker 8 (20:23):
It's not a conversation with There's no conversation, nauseam, there's
no convers.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Hold on Ryan.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
No is wrestling a sport? Sports entertainment?
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Is wrestling a sport?
Speaker 2 (20:35):
I'll explain it to you off air.
Speaker 8 (20:36):
Maybe there's no Maybe is professional answer that I'm going
to give you. Maybe next time I'll write it in crayon?
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Okay, is professional.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Question?
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Senata? Senator? Senata? Is era? Is professional wrestling in your opinion,
a sport?
Speaker 8 (20:58):
That's not the segment we're playing. We're playing love and Hate,
not if wrestling is a pro little spot.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Okay, let's get to and does get to Jason Stewart,
Jay Stu? What j hate from the weekend?
Speaker 7 (21:10):
I hate scorekeepers who ruin big moments. Scorekeeper Bill Matthews.
A lot of people knew his name this weekend. And
there's one reason why Max Freed took a no hitter
into the eighth inning, or people thought he took a
no hitter into the eighth inning until it was revealed
that an error three innings prior was turned into a
(21:34):
hit by scorekeeper Bill Matthews. A no hitter was broken
up by the scorekeeper. An unwritten rule in baseball is this,
If you have a fifty to fifty error or hit
in baseball, it can't break up the no hitter, So
it's an error until the no hitter is broken up.
Then you can go back and reverse the error into
(21:56):
a hit. So Bill Matthews violates an unwritten rule. Michael
k Off, he pretty much pissed everybody off is my generation,
because you need to know the unwritten rules.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
I just I don't understand how you can go back.
I you and I talked about this. It's like when
a when there's something that goes wrong in a basketball game,
there does come a point where you can't go back,
you know, five plays earlier and go like, hey that
was a shot clock violation, or hey, his toe was
on the line right, his toe was online.
Speaker 5 (22:34):
So.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Yeah, I he had not that A no hitter is
the is the world. We've talked about no hitters, not
like he no hitters in the past, but the idea
that two innings later you're like, oh, hey, by the way,
that was a hit. That's weak sauce, weak sauce. Uh byer.
You said you had two things you hated.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Yeah, and I have four. So just from what we've done.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
So yeah, don't put Ryan. Don't don't say I hate Ryan.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
I don't hate Ryan.
Speaker 6 (23:00):
I don't like when Ryan and his wrestling brethren like
try to separate and try to make this I don't
know chasm if you will between the two sides wider.
I also, dug, don't like your argument towards Ryan about
is wrestling a sport, Like, I think we can appreciate
(23:20):
the extreme athleticism of it, but anything with a predetermined
outcome of a script is it's not competition. And therefore,
in my in my mind, it's it's not a sport
in that way.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Correct. But again, Dan, that's the flaw in the argument, right.
The argument is do they do some things that I
wouldn't want to do? Sure, yeah, absolutely, but like putting
yourself in harm's way, jumping you know, off the top
rope onto a table, you know, and finding just the
right way to land without hurting yourself or land on
(23:53):
another human being where you don't hurt yourself, Like that
is an absolute art. What it is not. It is
not a sport. It is not. It is a predetermined
outcome makes it so it's not a sport, and no
one would for otherwise. And so the idea of like, oh,
this guy's a champion, like he got written into the script.
It's not like anybody can go off script to go
like now I want to be a champion, I'm just
gonna kick everybody's ass. So I don't know what that
(24:17):
does for it.
Speaker 6 (24:17):
And I touched a little in this on my Sunday
Show yesterday with Mike Harmon. But the point that got
me was when Sports Center was revealing the outcomes. It's like, well,
you could just do it once you got the list
from Triple H, right, Like you could just put it on,
put it on the news, But it's a TV show.
It's while we got so mad when Darren Ravel revealed
the when a Jeopardy streak ended, he said that it
(24:38):
was news because it was aired in Huntsville, Alabama at
ten AM on a day when nobody had seen that
night's episode. And it's like, no, there's drama to it.
It just it doesn't belong on Sports Center. But they are,
in my mind, so gifted and to be able to
put on a show for as long as wrestlers do
in the ring, in front of in front of that crowd.
In all the documentaries, I think that we've seen is
(25:00):
ultimate warrior, just like had had no skills and just
would run out of gas, and so like these other
guys that have to carry him. I think there's a
deep appreciation for that, and so I don't ever want
to be put in a group where I would not
appreciate the show. And anytime you could get seventy thousand
people on back to back nights to show up, whether
(25:20):
you're a musician or you're a wrestler or you're a
football team.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Is I am a okay with it?
Speaker 6 (25:27):
I was also just going to say the other hate
that I have is that the Bucks for some reason
are just I don't know why they're in this rivalry
and this tiff with the Pacers, but it's always something
about the Pacers.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
It's Terry's Halbert, it is, but it's also Tyry's Haliburton
is from Milwaukee, and all he does is run his
mouth the whole game, and they they you know.
Speaker 6 (25:49):
Yeah, gosh yeah nine to two. Oh absolutely, Tyr's Haliburton
oschcosh North. I believe, I get it. But this is
the team that won a championship for years ago, and
they get into it like in the in the playing
tournament last year. Obviously Indiana ousted them again, but like
enough already, and then they got in Damian Lillard's having
(26:10):
words with Haliburton again the end of game one, like
just move on, there should be nothing to you, Please
move on from it.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
That's my hate.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Uh whit I get I get to I get to
hold on, now, I get to give my hate from
the weekend, don't I?
Speaker 7 (26:34):
I do, no doubt we got.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
I hate the way the NBA Playoffs are covered. I
just do. I hate that Jeff Van Gundy is not
covering the NBA playoffs and Mark Jackson and Mike Breen.
That was the best broadcasting team that that we had,
And you know, I feel bad for I know, Jay
(26:59):
Billis has covered the NBA Chase a really really good
college basketball analyst, but the NBA world is different and
the things that are happening and the rotations like he's,
it doesn't make him look his best as opposed to
he's in any conversation of the best in terms of
college basketballs. They're finally losing using Tim Legler. You may
(27:21):
be better off in studio. It's just it's just hard.
And then I just, you know, I get Reggie's done
it for a long time and there are other teams.
I just I don't like watching the NBA playoffs when
you don't have Jeff Van Gundy and Mike Breen and
Mark Jackson cover together. That was a great broadcasting team
(27:41):
that understood the sport, worked together well, awesome play by
play awesome and analysis and just enough personality to make
it all work together. So I hate it. I hate it.
That's a little love and hate from the weekend.
Speaker 4 (27:55):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation yet. Catch all of our shows at Fox
sports radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
It's a Doug Otlieb show. You're on Fox Sports Radio.
We'll get to Rick Buker upcoming after we get an
update from from Dan Bayer.
Speaker 7 (28:14):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
You know, Nico Harrison had that behind closed doors meeting,
and though when you listen to it, none of his
comments were that outlandish. Some of it you just kind
of needed some context too, and they're just kind of
(28:37):
standalone quotes. But the fact that it was behind closed
doors and there were no recording devices in it just
seemed weird, like what are you exactly hiding from? So
what he did was he spoke in front of a
live camera and recording devices. Earlier today, here's what Nico
Harrison said about the Luca deal.
Speaker 9 (28:58):
I didn't know that Luca was important to the fan base.
I didn't quite know it to what level. But really
the way we looked at it is, you know, if
you're putting on the if you're putting a team on
the floor, that's Kyrie, Clay, PJ, Anthony Davis and Lively.
We filled that's a championship caliber team and we would
(29:19):
have been winning at a high level and that would
have quieted some of the outrage. And so unfortunately we
weren't able to do that, so it just continued to,
you know, go on and on.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
You can find fault with his logic behind the trade,
you can find fault with a lot of the commentary.
I don't think you can find fault with the idea
that we never saw his true team. Now the naysayer
and honestly, if you want to even be down the
middle and be fair, would say like, okay, well you
were if your issue was with Luka Doncik being hurt.
(29:53):
Anthony Davis has been hurt seemingly more than he's been
healthy as an NBA player. He's always hurt up up
up until the last year and a half. Then of
course when you get him he had the groin injury
that he had had with the Lakers. That sets him back.
But his point is, hey, if we're fully healthy, we're
actually pretty aren't good And though there still would have
been complaining. It would have been the same. I actually
(30:15):
agree with that. I actually agree with that. The problem
is we'll never know, And the issue is that Luca
was so popular that the all the equity Nico Harrison
should have because he built a team to go to
(30:37):
the NBA Finals last year, doesn't seem to be cashing
in and have any sort of value in the DFW.
Right now, it's the Doug Gottlieb Show here on Fox
Sports Radio. Let's let's welcome in Rick Buker all Things
NBA from Fox Sports dot Com and Fox Sports One.
(30:58):
Buke let let's start with the Timberwolves. I mean, obviously
they made a ton of shots. You're making fifty percent
of your threes. But there was this sense from some,
especially Laker fans, that this is a good matchup for
the Lakers. Were they wrong or was it just a
one off in your opinion?
Speaker 5 (31:16):
No, I'm not feeling that this is a good matchup
for the Lakers. I understand that ceiling going in, and
I thought along the same lines.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
I was.
Speaker 5 (31:25):
I favored the Lakers to win the series, but that
was based on the Timberwolves team that I've seen in
the past. In general, and the Anthony Edwards that I've
seen in the past in particular, which is just a
high wire act, whether it's Jade McDaniel's, you know, punching
a wall and breaking his hand or ant just getting
(31:48):
too caught up in the emotion and one on one battle.
And I didn't see any of that in this in
the first game. And what impressed me most is the
fact that they kind of looked like that out of
the gate. They looked like they looked they were they
were validating every reason I had to doubt the Timberwolves
in the first five or six minutes of the game.
(32:12):
But then they settled down and and I look at
their depth, and I look at their athleticism, and uh,
and the matchups and and it's hard for me not
to say this, this version of the Timberwolves, Uh, if
they keep their their heads about them. Uh. They exposed
a lot of things about the Lakers that we've always
(32:35):
known that we're there. We just I wasn't certain that
the Timberwolves were capable of exposing them. But you know,
the matchup size wise, the ability to dribble penetrate, having
multiple dribble penetrators, that's really what's set up the three?
So it puts guys like Lebron James in particular, in
a in a difficult position. Can you can you help
and then recover to the UH to the three point shooters?
(32:59):
When those three point shooters are your size, can defend
you one on one and UH and at the same
time be able to knock down the three. That that
creates a puzzle for the Lakers that I'm not sure
they have the personnel to solve.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
Yeah, yeah, I'm I'm with you. I didn't get it
to begin with. UH. And obviously, well, here's what I
think the ministate people make is you look at the
raw numbers and you're like, well, you know if they
shoot that, well, those were wide open shots. And they're
wide open shots because because they're putting them in position.
(33:36):
You know, Lakers three best players are poor defenders, and
and so if when they get by a man, if
you put a guy in help, Nasried is going to
be wide open. Now, well he make as many in
a row as he made in a row. Maybe not right,
but the idea you're those those open shots were created
because of mismatches elsewhere. And the other thing is I
don't like the Lakers offense. You know, I think you know,
(34:00):
Saint gene Is is calling most of the offense, and
he's a mismatch hunter, and I just again, I don't
think that that works as well for this team as
maybe it maybe it would in the past, because, as
you pointed out, the Timberwolves actually have guys that match
up size wise with Luca, with Lebron, with Austin Reeves,
(34:22):
so that it's not as dramatic of a mismatch, right.
Uh So, Yeah, but again, it's one game, and we've
seen NBA series look like one thing and become the other.
But it's also we haven't had a game yet when
Anthony Edwards decides I'm just gonna win no matter what.
So this thing goes too. Oh it looks bad. Uh Okay,
(34:44):
let's let's discuss the Warriors there. The defense was outstanding
in the first half, and they keep the Rockets at
arms distance. But a good portion of it is Hey,
most of those Warriors have been in playoff series before,
not all of the Rockets have. How much of that
is just a one off? How much of that is matchups?
Moving forward?
Speaker 5 (35:03):
I still feel like it's going to be an interesting series.
That the Rockets are certainly capable of it. I thought
that they showed their playoff naivete or nerves or whatever
however you want to look at it. But Jalen Rowe,
Jalen Rose, Jalen Green, I would expect that he will
(35:26):
be better than three for fifteen and seven points. I
don't know that that was the the Warrior stopping him
as much as he just looked like he was kind
of out of sorts, you know, going too fast to
the rim, a little bit like I've seen Anthony Edwards
in the past, those doo fast to the rim, little
(35:47):
too unsure about when he's pulling up and taking a
jumper like this. Didn't look very composed, and I would
not expect Fred van Vliet, a thirty six percent shooter
from three in the postseason, to have another two for
thirteen game. The Warriors let the Rockets back in, and
(36:07):
that's what the Warriors do. Their defense isn't so good
that they can keep a team at Bay almost. I
don't know if there's a team out there that they
could keep at Bay. It's what they do. And so
you had Steph Curry hitting some magical shots and the
(36:27):
Warriors essentially beating the Rockets at their own game in
terms of it was really just out hustling them in
the second half, winning the fifty to fifty balls. But
Houston had twenty two offensive rebounds. If they make good
on that, then I think it's a different game. So
I have the Warriors winning, but I think it's going
(36:48):
to be a long series, and the longer it goes,
the more it favors, it favors Houston.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
Stuck Gottlieb Show here on Fox Sports Radio. Rick Bucker
is our guest cover. Of course, he's synonymous uh with
the NBA. The Oklahoma City Thunder have been waiting all
year patiently to show us that they're different in the playoffs. Yep,
(37:16):
noted right, like it's the old Like damn, I don't know.
I don't know how much of it was that the
was the Grizzlies fault, but that was that was impressive.
Speaker 5 (37:27):
Well some, I mean, some of it is just coming
you come off of the play in yep and uh
and and it's it's tough to make that that turnaround
for a team. You know, if they could have caught
a team sleeping, it might have been different. But the
Thunder to, to your point, were not they were ready
to prove something out of the gate, even though they
(37:48):
had uh the best record in the league this year.
The question that I have with the Thunder and the
big picture is not you know what they're going to
do against the Grizzlies. But they had the fewest games
this season by far decided by three points or less. Sure,
and in those games, they played a total of five
(38:10):
games that were decided by three points or less. They
were one and four in those games, and uh and
went too and two against Denver, who they could see
in the next round and lost the game exactly like that,
one twenty four two UH to to the Nuggets. And
so that's my question, That's the one that's the question
I need answered as far as what their capabilities are,
(38:35):
which is if you get into if they get into
a possession by possession game in the last two minutes, which.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
Is going to which is going to happen in the playoffs?
Speaker 2 (38:43):
Right?
Speaker 1 (38:44):
What's that which is going to happen? It might not
happen in this series, but it's going to happen.
Speaker 5 (38:48):
Yeah, They're going to face that situation, and how are
they going to respond? How good are they going to
be because that's kind of the you know, that's that's
a downside of being as dominant as they were during
the during the regular season is that you didn't get
a whole lot of experience in what are we doing
(39:10):
in these in these make or break situations. They haven't
had a whole lot of practice at that. I do
think we've become a little gun shy with teams that
had the best record in the league and really trusting
them because honestly, outside of the Celtics last year, how
many how.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
Many of those teams have actually performed? Yeah, yeah, so
I'm with you, and we still don't know. But that was.
Speaker 5 (39:35):
Oh no, I mean no question. And you know that
that that they did it with Shay not really being
a significant factor, gives you just an indication of how
of how strong and deep they are and and committed
to letting everybody know, hey, we're as real as our
regular season records to just do we were.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
Landfield's as far as GM of the UH of the
Atlanta Hawks. Yeah, and you know, when you're watching trade.
Speaker 5 (40:02):
After traded DeAndre Hunter to the Cleveland Cavaliers, that's a
that's an interesting that is an interesting firing though, because
it wasn't as if he was the one that They've
been committed to Trey Young well before Landry took over,
and they've traded away everybody who kind of gets tired
(40:24):
of playing with Trey Young. So my big question is
not necessarily who comes in next, but are they still
committed to the Trey Young experience? Experience?
Speaker 1 (40:34):
Yeah. I I talked about this last weekend when in
watching them play there for their final game, I thought
the same thing, which is, I love Trey Young. There's
a lot of great things he does, but I'm just
not convinced you can win the playoffs with Trey Young.
Is your best or even your second best player. Just
the defense and a little bit of the overball dominance
just doesn't seem to work there. He's a fantastic player,
(40:55):
but it just he just doesn't unless it's constructed completely
differently around him or has been any changes, I don't
I don't see that working.
Speaker 5 (41:03):
Go ahead very much Test twenty two with him, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (41:06):
Yeah. Can the Clippers even and up?
Speaker 5 (41:12):
They certainly can. I mean, look they have they have
the talent and the roster and the defense, and the
Nuggets are you know, I mean, they had four of
their five starters play forty five plus minutes. Obviously it
went into overtime, so that was a factor, But I
don't know if that is sustainable. I have Denver winning
(41:32):
the series. But the great advantage they have is that
if it's a close game, Jamal Murray and Jokic know
how to play play off of each other, and they're
going to with their chemistry, they're going to create the
best shot and it doesn't matter which one of them
is taking it. With the Clippers for having two accomplished
(41:57):
finishing players or you know closers in Kawhi Leonard and
James Harden, the problem is that those two don't have
a symbiotic relationship. At the end of games, it's one
or the other, and that makes them fairly predictable in
terms of where the shot is going to come from
(42:19):
or what you know, what James is trying to do,
you know what Kawhi is trying to do. And for
playoff teams, that predictability makes it a little easier to defend.
And then there's just this this weird thing that the
Clips have that their execution when the game gets tight,
it's they just they shoot themselves in the foot so consistently,
(42:42):
and I've seen that all year long, so I think
that's where Denver has the edge. I think again, this
could be a long series, but I just believe Denver's
familiarity with each other and ability to execute down the
stretch is going to be the difference.
Speaker 1 (42:58):
Awesome stuff as always, Rick Buker, Fox Sports One, Fox
Sports dot Com playoffs roll on and he joins us
every week. Buker the best, Thanks for joining us please,
It's Doug Gottlieb Show here on Fox Sports Radio. Buyer,
The NBA playoffs are really hard. Uh, I know Jay
Stu doesn't he? Jay? What's what's your expression with things
(43:21):
you hate? Like you hate the predictions?
Speaker 5 (43:23):
Right?
Speaker 1 (43:23):
Like predictions are dumb? Right? But I would also is
that is that an accurate way of saying? Or like,
not predictions but picks, like you hate people's picks. That's
just dumb dumb radio.
Speaker 7 (43:33):
I just think it's lazy. I think it doesn't serve
the listener. I think it serves the ego of the host.
Speaker 2 (43:40):
I second, by the way, I agree.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
With that, I totally agree with it. I think that
I also don't like the halftime analysis of guys that
don't tell me anything like they gotta step up, this
team's ready to play like that doesn't that's not really analysis,
like tell me why something is happening specific. But I
also think that you got to be really careful with
(44:04):
the NBA Playoffs of going too crazy over one game,
because we've been doing this a long time and you
can watch game one of the NBA Playoffs and watch
Game two of the NBA Playoffs and it's almost like
there's two completely different teams from one game to the next.
Is that buyer? Is that fair?
Speaker 2 (44:22):
I think that's fair, and I feel you have more
to say otherwise I'll jump in.
Speaker 1 (44:28):
No, you can jump in. Might just again, so when
I see when I see the Lakers really struggle with
the Timberwolves, I don't want to go crazy and go like, hey,
it's a terrible matchup. This series is a rap, because
that's frankly dumb, dumb talk when you consider how many
series have looked this way. Game one and then game
two looks opposite. But I do think that there's a
(44:51):
portion of it's like are we really kidding ourselves? Do
we really think that the Lakers can win four of
the next six games against the timber Wolves, who look
so much more athletic and connected defensively than the Lakers do.
Speaker 6 (45:07):
Yeah, I thought that that game, in that outcome and
how it played out, was by far the biggest statement
of the weekend.
Speaker 2 (45:14):
And there weren't statements made in every game.
Speaker 6 (45:17):
Certain stuff played out, like sure, we didn't think the
Thunder were gonna win by fifty, but they swept the
Grizzlies in their season series. Thunder made it through the
first round last year, so they have bigger fish to fry.
As you were just talking with Rick Buker, however, Doug, like,
there is something that stands out about what happens Saturday
night with the Timberwolves, And yeah, to your point, like
(45:39):
I got the sense of, like, wow, I don't know
if the Lakers can do this, especially because I still
think Minnesota will be able to get some of the
shots that that they got. And it's not like they
shot sixty five percent from three. Yeah, they made twenty
twenty one threes, shot fifty percent from three point range.
Speaker 2 (45:57):
They could do that again, that's it's not unheard of,
you know, to do that.
Speaker 6 (46:01):
And if the Lakers aren't going to make any changes
to stop naz Reed from getting his looks, then I
think that there could be continued problems. But what I
also think of when we talk about these Playoffs series,
you have to take something from them, because otherwise, if
we just pushed the cart down the road, the next thing,
you know, the series is over and we're like, oh,
(46:22):
well that was that. And then because the next series starts,
we're not even talking about happened previously because now we're
onto the next series. So I do think that there
is this happy medium in finding out, you know, like,
of what happened. And I think each game this weekend
had a little something like, for some reason, the Bucks
and I'll just use them because nobody's talking about them,
and this could be, you know what, I'm going to
(46:44):
save it for love and hate because I actually actually
I hate this about the Milwaukee Bucks. I'll save it.
But Piston's next perfect example. We thought that the Pistons,
new to the Playoffs, everything is going to be new,
right this, how are they going to adjust? And for
three and a half quarters they were magnificent, and then
all of a sudden it completely falls apart. And I
(47:07):
would love to just chalk it up to be like, yeah,
that's the first time in the playoffs, Like they got
that one out of the way. But did they get
that out of the way or not? Or is this
the Knicks showing their metal that maybe they thought they
were gonna be able to cospass the Pistons and then
they didn't do it. And guess what, Doug Garden magic
is back. The magic of Madison Square Garden is back. Like,
I think there's something to take from that Saturday night.
(47:30):
So using that example of I don't want to overreact
to game one, but I definitely want to grab something
from it because otherwise we're just gonna ignore the series.
Speaker 1 (47:39):
That's the way to do it. That's the way to
do it, right, because the point that she made is
is and I'm using more of the Lakers series analogy,
which is, I don't think it's as much about shutting
down nas Reed because naz Reid was open because other
Lakers couldn't guard their guys, so somebody has to help.
(48:01):
And then by design, he's opening the corner and he
hit three after three after three, right, the breakdown occurred elsewhere,
and uh, it's it's like with with diseases, right, you're
you're cutting down the symptom, not the actual cause. If
you say, hey, we're going to take away NASERI well,
(48:22):
that's like the symptom of the bigger issue at play.
So to use your way of doing it, which I
do think is the right way is and I'm not
going to sit here and go the Lakers are done, right,
The Lakers are done. They're cooked. What I would say is, boy,
they got. The takeaway is that the Timboleves were really ready,
(48:43):
that Anthony Edwards did not have to score fifty, and
that they were in complete and total control against the
Lakers and their bench, mostly because the Nazri but others
appear to be far better than the Lakers. One game,
one game
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlieb
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
three to five Eastern twelve two Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
Find your local station for The Doug Gottlieb Show at
boxsports Radio dot com, or stream us live every day
on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR Booming Up America.
Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio coming to you from
(00:24):
beautiful Green Bay, Wisconsin, site of the upcoming NFL Draft
and my adopted hometown. Now getting closer and closer to
years and years in the making of hosting this event
should be really really cool, and we're broadcasting live from
(00:44):
It's the Legacy Hotel. It's a it's a block from
Lambeau It's a block. How do I know? There's actually
one street which I can see and it's the same
street that little kids give their bikes to for to
ride their bike to practice. The Don Hudson Center, which
is in between here and Lambeau Field is where they
(01:08):
ride their bikes too, or the outdoor fields that are
right there across from that. Hey, if you're left to right,
if you're watching on the dal is the Resh Center.
That's where we play our home games, or portion of
our home games. And you know, I can clearly see
the g which is on the back of one of
the jumbo trons at lambeau Field. And to the I
guess that's the north east corner of the parking lot.
(01:32):
And on the street that on Lombardy Street or Lombardy Avenue,
I don't know. The street avenue I don't know is
the stage where Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday all day
the NFL Draft will be taking place. So pretty cool
stuff and to be a part of it and to
live here, it's kind of interesting.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
You know.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Mark Murphy is the outgoing president of the Green Bay Packers.
He's also a good friend and a guy who when
he leaves his position is actually going to take over
an emeritis role as athletic director for our school for
for green Bay. But it's really interesting, right he had
this quote, I'm disappointing. I was hoping we'd get train
(02:16):
service from Milwaukee. It's kind of ridiculous that the National
Railroad Museum is in green Bay and we don't have
train service. Yeah, so this is a town, truthfully, Green Bays,
the town of one hundred thousand people. The surrounding area
is bumping up to a couple hundred thousand. If you
count the Fox Valley, you're getting to a million people.
But it's just like a college town. But instead of
(02:38):
having Division I college football, got the Green Bay Packers,
and you're going to bring in somewhere between two hundred
and fifty and four hundred thousand people reportedly for the weekend,
and there's five to six thousand hotel rooms plus people
running out their houses and he's like, yeah, we could
use train service from Milwaukee. Seems like a bit of
(03:00):
an oversight from from the folks at Amtrak, right, Like
you couldn't couldn't just make sure you arrange it. Nonetheless,
my guess is that at the end of the day,
it'll go off without a hitch. NFL things have a
tendency to do, so they just do. And it's a
weird NFL draft. It's weird. There's no other way to
(03:21):
describe it. When you have two maybe three quarterbacks that
are first round draft picks and the second two people
are like and even cam Ward, if you compare cam
Ward to last year's class, I'm not sure he's the
top five guy, And then you factor in that there's
fewer and fewer early entries into the NFL draft. Why
(03:43):
would you go in the NFL draft early if you
can stay in college and make as much, if not
more money as you're going to make in the NFL.
So you have a smaller field of people to choose from.
We have a depletion of the quarterback position, and you
still have some of these players who have are a
(04:04):
little bit older because they've had COVID year, either senior
years in high school or freshman years in college, which
is allowed to play more and more college football. So
you have this weird s Morgasborg of potential guys who
are anyone anywhere from twenty years old, twenty one years
old to twenty four to twenty five years old. It's
(04:25):
really interesting. Give me interesting draft. All right, Let's get
to the NBA this weekend, which NBA playoffs in full swing.
The Warriors, it felt like they stole Game one. It
doesn't mean that I don't think the Warriors will win
the series. I do, but part of the Warrior's success
was you have all those guys that have played in
the NBA finals, A couple of guys that have won
(04:46):
NBA championships multiple before, whereas the Houston Rockets at collectively
as a not just counting all their years of experience,
but counting their years of experience together no playoff appearances.
And I don't know if the Rockets looked tight or
the Rockets struggle with the physicality of the playoffs, but
(05:08):
they you score in the thirties in the first half,
your lowest point total four a half overall, and you're
quite obviously not ready to play. Meanwhile, the Lakers, well,
they look like they couldn't guard the Timberwolves, which was
the problem that everyone saw when you eliminated Anthony Davis,
the best defender on the Lakers, and you replaced him
(05:30):
with Luka Doncik. Here's JJ Reddick talking about what went
wrong in their first matchup against the Timberwolves.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
They're great opponent, They're one of the best teams in basketball.
There's I think it's not to say our guys weren't
like ready to withstand like a playoff level basketball game.
We were mentally ready. I thought our spirit was right.
I thought even when they made runs, our huddles were great.
You know, the communication was great. I mean I'm not
(06:00):
sure physically we were ready and if that makes sense,
And really when they started playing with a lot of
thrust and physicality, like we just didn't respond immediately to that.
And then that stretch to start of the second through
you know, five four or five minutes to go in
the third, you know, we lost that stretch by thirty four.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
So you know that's a blowout.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Yeah, I mean you're talking about the thrust and the
strength and whatever, like, I just tell me where the
Lakers are definitively better. I understand. Name Wise, you're sitting
there going, hey, Lebron James, all time great, Luka Doncik,
arguably best player offensive player in the league, Austin Reeves,
(06:44):
top twenty five offensive player in the league. And then well,
what else do you have out there? Remember, there's nothing
special about their bench and the Timberwolves. Whatever you think
of Gobert, he's an elite level defensive player. But then
they've built this roster. I don't know if Jade McDaniels
is ever eleven of thirteen from the floor and three
(07:07):
of three from three point range, but Jade McDaniels will
always be on that floor because he's six foot nine
with long arms, great great intelligence defensively, you know, and
Julius Randall is the guy who's just too physical, too
strong for any of their players, not name Jackson Hayes
to guard. And then Anthony Edwards, frankly is was the
(07:27):
best athlete on the court. You're throwing nas Reed off
the bench, you hit six threes, and I think it's
a little bit of both. Do I think the Lakers
can win a couple of games? I do do. I
think generally the Timberwolves are a bad matchup for the
Lakers and are just better.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
I do.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Whereas the Warriors, I don't think we're truly gonna know
until we get through Game two what that series looks like.
I think the Warriors win the series. I think the
Timberwles will win the series. But that one feels a
little bit more like, Hey, the Rockets weren't sleeping, but
(08:09):
the Rockets hadn't really played playoff basketball, and it's just different.
And the Warriors were ahead of the curve because they
had played their playing game. But they're playing game got
a metric ton to get to, including getting you ready
for this upcoming draft. Rick Buker is going to join
US at what twenty five after the hour, Yeah, Buke's
(08:32):
can join us twenty five after the hour. We'll get
his thoughts on this firing in Atlanta which just took place,
and on the playoffs that we've seen so far and
some of the ones we're going to see tonight live
from Green Bays Doug Gottlieb Show here on Fox Sports
Radio Fox Sports Radios. Draft Night Live throughout the first
round of the Draft on Thursday night is brought to
(08:53):
you by Dollar Shave Club, your place to get everything
you need to stay smooth and smell great. Visit Dollar
Shave club dot com slash Draft. Use the promo code
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dollars and more, plus free shipping. That's dollarshaveclub dot com
slash Draft. Be sure to tune in to Fox Sports
Radios Draft Night Live, which is Thursday night at eight
(09:14):
pm Eastern. Throughout the first round of the draft, insider
j Glazer, former General Jets Centeral manager Joe Douglas, college
Football Hall of famer LeVar Arrington. Foxsports Lead college football
reporter Jenny Taff will have covered all thirty two picks
and predictions. And reactions. That's Thursday, eight Eastern throughout the
first round right here on Fox Sports Radio with live
(09:34):
video simulcast on Fox Sports Radios YouTube channel. Brought to
you by Dollars Shave Club.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
This is the best of the Done dot Leaf Show
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
What I Butt You Dog Got Leave Show, Fox Sports
Radio coming to you from the tyrat dot Com Studios
tyrack dot com. Well we get there, unmatched selection, fast
free shipping. Oh sorry about that. It just gets it.
Just I just did it. H Fox Sports Radios Draft
Night Live, the first round of the Draft on Thursday night,
(10:08):
is brought to you by Dollars Shave Club. Your place
to get everything you need to stay smooth and smell great.
Visit dollarshaveclub dot com slash Draft. Use the promo cod
Draft for twenty percent off of your order twenty dollars
and more plus free shipping. That's dollarshave club dot com
slash Draft. Be sure to tune in to Fox Sports
Radios Draft Night Live, which is Thursday night at eight
Eastern throughout the first round. The Draft insider j Glazier,
(10:30):
former Jets gentle manager, Joe Douglas, College Football Hall of
famer LaVar Arrington, Fox Sports League College football reporter Jenny Taft,
We'll have you covered for all thirty two picks with
predictions and reactions. That's Thursday, eight pm Eastern throughout the
first round the Draft, live right here on Fox Sports
Radio and the live simulcast on Fox Sports Radios YouTube
page as well. Brought to you by Dollars Shave Club.
(10:50):
We do this every Monday. It's our own kind of
personal and professional recap of the weekend. We call it
love it Hey.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
What did you love?
Speaker 5 (10:59):
God?
Speaker 1 (10:59):
I love you and what.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Did you hate?
Speaker 1 (11:02):
These player is ah love love love, love, love lovete hate. Hey, hey, hey, hey,
you gotta express what you really loved about something. You
gotta express what you really hated about something. You got
to advocate for your own feelings, right. A resident lover
is Dan Byer. He loves golf, Seahawks, Ohio State football,
(11:28):
the Bucks, his family. Not in that order, not that order,
not in that order. I'm just listening out things, okay.
Mountain Dew also loves loves Mountain Dew. Dan by what
do you love for the.
Speaker 6 (11:40):
Weekend, Doug, I was almost gonna trade in my love
for two hates.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Today. I don't know if we can do trade not
like that is so.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
You know, Jason, you're rubbing off on Dan.
Speaker 6 (11:52):
B Would you, Jason, do you have two things that
you love or would somebody like to trade there?
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Jason has two things that he loves.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
I don't know he loves his Well, yes he does.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
There's only two things he loves, maybe three on earth. Jase,
you're smoking our girlfriend, your son, and Dodger baseball. And
really it's only in a good won the World series,
huh and.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
A good book and a good book all true. I
I can't tell you that I that I liked.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Wait one more thing he likes the opposite of BS. Yep,
there's a little one, sorry, Dan.
Speaker 6 (12:27):
I did like the golf this past weekend RBC Heritage.
It's at Hilton Head. I've been fortunate enough to play
that course once about a decade ago. It's not a
humble brag.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
I A you see that course, great course. I believe
I played that course.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
It's just unique.
Speaker 6 (12:46):
It's not like a lot of courses that you see
anywhere South Carolina that South Carolina southern feel, the the
tight fairways and the trees.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
And justin Thomas coming out on top.
Speaker 6 (12:56):
I know certain people aren't fans of the signature events
PGA Tour because of what it's doing to the I
guess lesser tour player if you will, But again, a
great leader board. Justin Thomas wins for the first time
since twenty twenty two the PGA Championship that he won
at Southern Hills and breaks through wins in a playoff yesterday,
(13:17):
and I like watching those tournaments. And it's one of
the cool things about when you play golf, and I
recommend anybody do that, is if you can remember the
shots that you hit and you see pros hit, there's
something so unique about that.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
You can't do no shot that I ever hit that
somebody says reminds you of a pro.
Speaker 4 (13:36):
No.
Speaker 6 (13:37):
But when you could say, well, this is what I
did on sixteen, or this is the putt that I hit,
or this is where the chip goes. Because I was
in that I short sighted myself, it's gonna roll away
from you. I think, as someone who plays golf and
someone who enjoys golf, there's a neatness to it. And
I would say that anybody that likes to play the game,
it's pretty neat When you can say that you played
(13:58):
a course that is used for the PGA Tour or
is a tour event, And that's why I take advantage.
It's got one of a few of my favorite holes
in golf on the course. And so yeah, I am
a fan. I am a fan of what they do
at the RBC Heritage and Justin Thomas want in an
exciting playoff with a big putt on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Okay, Jay Stu, what'd you love on the weekend?
Speaker 7 (14:26):
I love watching Russell Westbrook. He gets a lot of
negative feedback by the press and by fans, and I've
never quite understood that one. And you're a coach, Doug.
You know more about basketball than I will ever know.
But like what I do know is that if I'm
(14:46):
just sitting on the couch, I love watching the guy
play on Saturday. If he's not on the court, the
Nuggets don't beat the Clippers. There were hustle plays, fifty
to fifty balls. He wasn't intimidating with his energy. He
was like he was annoying. He was that guy and
pick up basketball that tries really hard on defense and
(15:08):
then you just want to give up. And it felt
like the Clippers were doing that because he was trying
so hard. He personifies that cliche that I've been hearing
from coaches forever. Someday you're going to show up and
you're not going to be able to make contacts. Some
days you're going to show up. You're not gonna be
able to feel the balls. It's just we have our
bad days. One thing that can never take a day
off is hustle and energy and enthusiasm. And Westbrook personifies that.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Okay, I think some of it is made for TV,
some of his bull but okay, okay, Ryan, you guess
I loved from the Weekend.
Speaker 8 (15:48):
Yes, yes, I do, Doug. This thing only happens once
a year. It makes me very happy because it only
happens once a year. I'm talking about WrestleMania. That's right,
my man, two great main events except for the you know,
the ending. John Cena is now the all time winning champion.
(16:09):
Uh love it? Yes, I'm sure you do. Thank you
for the whole comments.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
So John Cena has had the best scripts of anybody
in the.
Speaker 8 (16:17):
Pretty much pretty much. And if you've gotten that ring,
you'd probably tear a cl Doug. But as I was saying,
he's won the world titles seventeen times, but unfortunately he
pulled to Tom Brady and cheated to get this title.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
That's why cheat to get the title.
Speaker 8 (16:33):
Uh, he kicks someone where you shouldn't kick someone. I'll
just say it like that since we're on the radio.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
So he fake kicked somebody in their junk, and because
he fake kicked somebody in their junk, he's he cheated
to get to the world.
Speaker 8 (16:46):
Yeah, we're not supposed to do that. You're not supposed
to do that. I know what you're getting at. Do
you think you do somebody and they do things in
the ring that you could never do, Doug, you wouldn't
last five days.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
I think Ryan's like really sensitive for like, yeah, what
is yeah? What is what's the deal?
Speaker 6 (17:02):
Like seriously, Like you say like it's the greatest event,
but the ending stunk. So I make a comment about it,
and you're trying to make Doug never claimed to be
hul Cogan or Jimmy Superfly Snooka at any point. We
all want to appreciate the wrestling. Why are you being
so sensitive about this?
Speaker 1 (17:19):
I like actual wrestling, Yeah, this is it.
Speaker 6 (17:22):
No one said one crack about wrestling until you come
in and then start thinking that everybody's against him.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
I said, I said, it's not it's not actually wrestling.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Well, here's the thing. Two things, they jump.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Off large objects. They're stuntman. They're really really talented.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
They're very very talented.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Answer really talented answer stunt men go, they're really really good.
Speaker 8 (17:42):
To answer dance question. What's annoying me is I keep
I keep getting interrupted? And Two I used to be
a professional wrestler, so I'm a little touching on the
subject when people are like try to like look down
on it.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
So when you lost as a professional wrestler, were you
mad at the opponent or are you mad at the
guy who wrote the script?
Speaker 8 (17:59):
I was mad if I didn't look good in the ring,
if I made mistakes in the ring. Because these things
are graded, Doug Dougie.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Your your law. Your loss is graded.
Speaker 8 (18:10):
The match, putting the match together, how the crowd reacts.
It's graded.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
I don't know if why.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
So you loved you loved Russell many or hated it?
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Uh it was good overall. It made me happy.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
I loved it, Yes, okay, good enough? Good enough?
Speaker 2 (18:27):
What I what?
Speaker 1 (18:28):
What I loved I'm a huge fan of Mike Conley.
I just am. I like Mike Conley. I don't. It's
so it's so amazing. I mean, Dan, you you can
relate to this. Remember go looking back at the Final
Four when it was Roy Hibbert and Georgetown against Ohio
State and Greg Odin. And if you would have at
(18:52):
polled one hundred percent of the people over hey, which
one of these guys on this court in this four
are going to be playing basketball the best and the longest,
Mike Conley would not have made the top three or five.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
That's true.
Speaker 6 (19:08):
Jeff Green is still around for Georgetown, hanging around. But
to your point, yes, fully agreed.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Yes, And I'm watching Mike Conley. And then he did
something which I just love, which during the big run
that they made in the second half against the Lakers
in transition, he just stops and shoots the three instead
of driving in there where there's a bunch of trees.
And I can guarantee Barkley was throwing up in his
mouth back in studio in Atlanta. But it's actually the
(19:36):
right play. But more than anything, this is just my
love for Mike Conley. I hope he gets to an
NBA Finals. Oh, he wins an NBA championship. I've never
heard anybody say anything bad about the person that is
Mike Conley. Plus he has that really cool gym at
his house. But I thought I thought the house was
back when he was in Utah. So did he sell
that thing? I don't know. If you guys remember back
in COVID he was doing like full games there, he
(19:59):
did interview there or whatever he like. Literally, well, it
doesn't affect me. I can still go to the Jim
Jim's my house. I don't know. My thing is. I
just like Mike Conley. He's playing great timble, has got
the win. I loved it. Let's get to what we
hated from the weekend. Clearly Ryan hates anybody who questions
the validity of the fake sport for wrestling.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Not a sport.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Hold on Ryan.
Speaker 8 (20:23):
It's not a conversation with There's no conversation, nauseam, there's
no convers.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Hold on Ryan.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
No is wrestling a sport? Sports entertainment?
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Is wrestling a sport?
Speaker 2 (20:35):
I'll explain it to you off air.
Speaker 8 (20:36):
Maybe there's no Maybe is professional answer that I'm going
to give you. Maybe next time I'll write it in crayon?
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Okay, is professional.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Question?
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Senata? Senator? Senata? Is era? Is professional wrestling in your opinion,
a sport?
Speaker 8 (20:58):
That's not the segment we're playing. We're playing love and Hate,
not if wrestling is a pro little spot.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Okay, let's get to and does get to Jason Stewart,
Jay Stu? What j hate from the weekend?
Speaker 7 (21:10):
I hate scorekeepers who ruin big moments. Scorekeeper Bill Matthews.
A lot of people knew his name this weekend. And
there's one reason why Max Freed took a no hitter
into the eighth inning, or people thought he took a
no hitter into the eighth inning until it was revealed
that an error three innings prior was turned into a
(21:34):
hit by scorekeeper Bill Matthews. A no hitter was broken
up by the scorekeeper. An unwritten rule in baseball is this,
If you have a fifty to fifty error or hit
in baseball, it can't break up the no hitter, So
it's an error until the no hitter is broken up.
Then you can go back and reverse the error into
(21:56):
a hit. So Bill Matthews violates an unwritten rule. Michael
k Off, he pretty much pissed everybody off is my generation,
because you need to know the unwritten rules.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
I just I don't understand how you can go back.
I you and I talked about this. It's like when
a when there's something that goes wrong in a basketball game,
there does come a point where you can't go back,
you know, five plays earlier and go like, hey that
was a shot clock violation, or hey, his toe was
on the line right, his toe was online.
Speaker 5 (22:34):
So.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Yeah, I he had not that A no hitter is
the is the world. We've talked about no hitters, not
like he no hitters in the past, but the idea
that two innings later you're like, oh, hey, by the way,
that was a hit. That's weak sauce, weak sauce. Uh byer.
You said you had two things you hated.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Yeah, and I have four. So just from what we've done.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
So yeah, don't put Ryan. Don't don't say I hate Ryan.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
I don't hate Ryan.
Speaker 6 (23:00):
I don't like when Ryan and his wrestling brethren like
try to separate and try to make this I don't
know chasm if you will between the two sides wider.
I also, dug, don't like your argument towards Ryan about
is wrestling a sport, Like, I think we can appreciate
(23:20):
the extreme athleticism of it, but anything with a predetermined
outcome of a script is it's not competition. And therefore,
in my in my mind, it's it's not a sport
in that way.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Correct. But again, Dan, that's the flaw in the argument, right.
The argument is do they do some things that I
wouldn't want to do? Sure, yeah, absolutely, but like putting
yourself in harm's way, jumping you know, off the top
rope onto a table, you know, and finding just the
right way to land without hurting yourself or land on
(23:53):
another human being where you don't hurt yourself, Like that
is an absolute art. What it is not. It is
not a sport. It is not. It is a predetermined
outcome makes it so it's not a sport, and no
one would for otherwise. And so the idea of like, oh,
this guy's a champion, like he got written into the script.
It's not like anybody can go off script to go
like now I want to be a champion, I'm just
gonna kick everybody's ass. So I don't know what that
(24:17):
does for it.
Speaker 6 (24:17):
And I touched a little in this on my Sunday
Show yesterday with Mike Harmon. But the point that got
me was when Sports Center was revealing the outcomes. It's like, well,
you could just do it once you got the list
from Triple H, right, Like you could just put it on,
put it on the news, But it's a TV show.
It's while we got so mad when Darren Ravel revealed
the when a Jeopardy streak ended, he said that it
(24:38):
was news because it was aired in Huntsville, Alabama at
ten AM on a day when nobody had seen that
night's episode. And it's like, no, there's drama to it.
It just it doesn't belong on Sports Center. But they are,
in my mind, so gifted and to be able to
put on a show for as long as wrestlers do
in the ring, in front of in front of that crowd.
In all the documentaries, I think that we've seen is
(25:00):
ultimate warrior, just like had had no skills and just
would run out of gas, and so like these other
guys that have to carry him. I think there's a
deep appreciation for that, and so I don't ever want
to be put in a group where I would not
appreciate the show. And anytime you could get seventy thousand
people on back to back nights to show up, whether
(25:20):
you're a musician or you're a wrestler or you're a
football team.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Is I am a okay with it?
Speaker 6 (25:27):
I was also just going to say the other hate
that I have is that the Bucks for some reason
are just I don't know why they're in this rivalry
and this tiff with the Pacers, but it's always something
about the Pacers.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
It's Terry's Halbert, it is, but it's also Tyry's Haliburton
is from Milwaukee, and all he does is run his
mouth the whole game, and they they you know.
Speaker 6 (25:49):
Yeah, gosh yeah nine to two. Oh absolutely, Tyr's Haliburton
oschcosh North. I believe, I get it. But this is
the team that won a championship for years ago, and
they get into it like in the in the playing
tournament last year. Obviously Indiana ousted them again, but like
enough already, and then they got in Damian Lillard's having
(26:10):
words with Haliburton again the end of game one, like
just move on, there should be nothing to you, Please
move on from it.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
That's my hate.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Uh whit I get I get to I get to
hold on, now, I get to give my hate from
the weekend, don't I?
Speaker 7 (26:34):
I do, no doubt we got.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
I hate the way the NBA Playoffs are covered. I
just do. I hate that Jeff Van Gundy is not
covering the NBA playoffs and Mark Jackson and Mike Breen.
That was the best broadcasting team that that we had,
And you know, I feel bad for I know, Jay
(26:59):
Billis has covered the NBA Chase a really really good
college basketball analyst, but the NBA world is different and
the things that are happening and the rotations like he's,
it doesn't make him look his best as opposed to
he's in any conversation of the best in terms of
college basketballs. They're finally losing using Tim Legler. You may
(27:21):
be better off in studio. It's just it's just hard.
And then I just, you know, I get Reggie's done
it for a long time and there are other teams.
I just I don't like watching the NBA playoffs when
you don't have Jeff Van Gundy and Mike Breen and
Mark Jackson cover together. That was a great broadcasting team
(27:41):
that understood the sport, worked together well, awesome play by
play awesome and analysis and just enough personality to make
it all work together. So I hate it. I hate it.
That's a little love and hate from the weekend.
Speaker 4 (27:55):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation yet. Catch all of our shows at Fox
sports radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
It's a Doug Otlieb show. You're on Fox Sports Radio.
We'll get to Rick Buker upcoming after we get an
update from from Dan Bayer.
Speaker 7 (28:14):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
You know, Nico Harrison had that behind closed doors meeting,
and though when you listen to it, none of his
comments were that outlandish. Some of it you just kind
of needed some context too, and they're just kind of
(28:37):
standalone quotes. But the fact that it was behind closed
doors and there were no recording devices in it just
seemed weird, like what are you exactly hiding from? So
what he did was he spoke in front of a
live camera and recording devices. Earlier today, here's what Nico
Harrison said about the Luca deal.
Speaker 9 (28:58):
I didn't know that Luca was important to the fan base.
I didn't quite know it to what level. But really
the way we looked at it is, you know, if
you're putting on the if you're putting a team on
the floor, that's Kyrie, Clay, PJ, Anthony Davis and Lively.
We filled that's a championship caliber team and we would
(29:19):
have been winning at a high level and that would
have quieted some of the outrage. And so unfortunately we
weren't able to do that, so it just continued to,
you know, go on and on.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
You can find fault with his logic behind the trade,
you can find fault with a lot of the commentary.
I don't think you can find fault with the idea
that we never saw his true team. Now the naysayer
and honestly, if you want to even be down the
middle and be fair, would say like, okay, well you
were if your issue was with Luka Doncik being hurt.
(29:53):
Anthony Davis has been hurt seemingly more than he's been
healthy as an NBA player. He's always hurt up up
up until the last year and a half. Then of
course when you get him he had the groin injury
that he had had with the Lakers. That sets him back.
But his point is, hey, if we're fully healthy, we're
actually pretty aren't good And though there still would have
been complaining. It would have been the same. I actually
(30:15):
agree with that. I actually agree with that. The problem
is we'll never know, And the issue is that Luca
was so popular that the all the equity Nico Harrison
should have because he built a team to go to
(30:37):
the NBA Finals last year, doesn't seem to be cashing
in and have any sort of value in the DFW.
Right now, it's the Doug Gottlieb Show here on Fox
Sports Radio. Let's let's welcome in Rick Buker all Things
NBA from Fox Sports dot Com and Fox Sports One.
(30:58):
Buke let let's start with the Timberwolves. I mean, obviously
they made a ton of shots. You're making fifty percent
of your threes. But there was this sense from some,
especially Laker fans, that this is a good matchup for
the Lakers. Were they wrong or was it just a
one off in your opinion?
Speaker 5 (31:16):
No, I'm not feeling that this is a good matchup
for the Lakers. I understand that ceiling going in, and
I thought along the same lines.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
I was.
Speaker 5 (31:25):
I favored the Lakers to win the series, but that
was based on the Timberwolves team that I've seen in
the past. In general, and the Anthony Edwards that I've
seen in the past in particular, which is just a
high wire act, whether it's Jade McDaniel's, you know, punching
a wall and breaking his hand or ant just getting
(31:48):
too caught up in the emotion and one on one battle.
And I didn't see any of that in this in
the first game. And what impressed me most is the
fact that they kind of looked like that out of
the gate. They looked like they looked they were they
were validating every reason I had to doubt the Timberwolves
in the first five or six minutes of the game.
(32:12):
But then they settled down and and I look at
their depth, and I look at their athleticism, and uh,
and the matchups and and it's hard for me not
to say this, this version of the Timberwolves, Uh, if
they keep their their heads about them. Uh. They exposed
a lot of things about the Lakers that we've always
(32:35):
known that we're there. We just I wasn't certain that
the Timberwolves were capable of exposing them. But you know,
the matchup size wise, the ability to dribble penetrate, having
multiple dribble penetrators, that's really what's set up the three?
So it puts guys like Lebron James in particular, in
a in a difficult position. Can you can you help
and then recover to the UH to the three point shooters?
(32:59):
When those three point shooters are your size, can defend
you one on one and UH and at the same
time be able to knock down the three. That that
creates a puzzle for the Lakers that I'm not sure
they have the personnel to solve.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
Yeah, yeah, I'm I'm with you. I didn't get it
to begin with. UH. And obviously, well, here's what I
think the ministate people make is you look at the
raw numbers and you're like, well, you know if they
shoot that, well, those were wide open shots. And they're
wide open shots because because they're putting them in position.
(33:36):
You know, Lakers three best players are poor defenders, and
and so if when they get by a man, if
you put a guy in help, Nasried is going to
be wide open. Now, well he make as many in
a row as he made in a row. Maybe not right,
but the idea you're those those open shots were created
because of mismatches elsewhere. And the other thing is I
don't like the Lakers offense. You know, I think you know,
(34:00):
Saint gene Is is calling most of the offense, and
he's a mismatch hunter, and I just again, I don't
think that that works as well for this team as
maybe it maybe it would in the past, because, as
you pointed out, the Timberwolves actually have guys that match
up size wise with Luca, with Lebron, with Austin Reeves,
(34:22):
so that it's not as dramatic of a mismatch, right.
Uh So, Yeah, but again, it's one game, and we've
seen NBA series look like one thing and become the other.
But it's also we haven't had a game yet when
Anthony Edwards decides I'm just gonna win no matter what.
So this thing goes too. Oh it looks bad. Uh Okay,
(34:44):
let's let's discuss the Warriors there. The defense was outstanding
in the first half, and they keep the Rockets at
arms distance. But a good portion of it is Hey,
most of those Warriors have been in playoff series before,
not all of the Rockets have. How much of that
is just a one off? How much of that is matchups?
Moving forward?
Speaker 5 (35:03):
I still feel like it's going to be an interesting series.
That the Rockets are certainly capable of it. I thought
that they showed their playoff naivete or nerves or whatever
however you want to look at it. But Jalen Rowe,
Jalen Rose, Jalen Green, I would expect that he will
(35:26):
be better than three for fifteen and seven points. I
don't know that that was the the Warrior stopping him
as much as he just looked like he was kind
of out of sorts, you know, going too fast to
the rim, a little bit like I've seen Anthony Edwards
in the past, those doo fast to the rim, little
(35:47):
too unsure about when he's pulling up and taking a
jumper like this. Didn't look very composed, and I would
not expect Fred van Vliet, a thirty six percent shooter
from three in the postseason, to have another two for
thirteen game. The Warriors let the Rockets back in, and
(36:07):
that's what the Warriors do. Their defense isn't so good
that they can keep a team at Bay almost. I
don't know if there's a team out there that they
could keep at Bay. It's what they do. And so
you had Steph Curry hitting some magical shots and the
(36:27):
Warriors essentially beating the Rockets at their own game in
terms of it was really just out hustling them in
the second half, winning the fifty to fifty balls. But
Houston had twenty two offensive rebounds. If they make good
on that, then I think it's a different game. So
I have the Warriors winning, but I think it's going
(36:48):
to be a long series, and the longer it goes,
the more it favors, it favors Houston.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
Stuck Gottlieb Show here on Fox Sports Radio. Rick Bucker
is our guest cover. Of course, he's synonymous uh with
the NBA. The Oklahoma City Thunder have been waiting all
year patiently to show us that they're different in the playoffs. Yep,
(37:16):
noted right, like it's the old Like damn, I don't know.
I don't know how much of it was that the
was the Grizzlies fault, but that was that was impressive.
Speaker 5 (37:27):
Well some, I mean, some of it is just coming
you come off of the play in yep and uh
and and it's it's tough to make that that turnaround
for a team. You know, if they could have caught
a team sleeping, it might have been different. But the
Thunder to, to your point, were not they were ready
to prove something out of the gate, even though they
(37:48):
had uh the best record in the league this year.
The question that I have with the Thunder and the
big picture is not you know what they're going to
do against the Grizzlies. But they had the fewest games
this season by far decided by three points or less. Sure,
and in those games, they played a total of five
(38:10):
games that were decided by three points or less. They
were one and four in those games, and uh and
went too and two against Denver, who they could see
in the next round and lost the game exactly like that,
one twenty four two UH to to the Nuggets. And
so that's my question, That's the one that's the question
I need answered as far as what their capabilities are,
(38:35):
which is if you get into if they get into
a possession by possession game in the last two minutes, which.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
Is going to which is going to happen in the playoffs?
Speaker 2 (38:43):
Right?
Speaker 1 (38:44):
What's that which is going to happen? It might not
happen in this series, but it's going to happen.
Speaker 5 (38:48):
Yeah, They're going to face that situation, and how are
they going to respond? How good are they going to
be because that's kind of the you know, that's that's
a downside of being as dominant as they were during
the during the regular season is that you didn't get
a whole lot of experience in what are we doing
(39:10):
in these in these make or break situations. They haven't
had a whole lot of practice at that. I do
think we've become a little gun shy with teams that
had the best record in the league and really trusting
them because honestly, outside of the Celtics last year, how
many how.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
Many of those teams have actually performed? Yeah, yeah, so
I'm with you, and we still don't know. But that was.
Speaker 5 (39:35):
Oh no, I mean no question. And you know that
that that they did it with Shay not really being
a significant factor, gives you just an indication of how
of how strong and deep they are and and committed
to letting everybody know, hey, we're as real as our
regular season records to just do we were.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
Landfield's as far as GM of the UH of the
Atlanta Hawks. Yeah, and you know, when you're watching trade.
Speaker 5 (40:02):
After traded DeAndre Hunter to the Cleveland Cavaliers, that's a
that's an interesting that is an interesting firing though, because
it wasn't as if he was the one that They've
been committed to Trey Young well before Landry took over,
and they've traded away everybody who kind of gets tired
(40:24):
of playing with Trey Young. So my big question is
not necessarily who comes in next, but are they still
committed to the Trey Young experience? Experience?
Speaker 1 (40:34):
Yeah. I I talked about this last weekend when in
watching them play there for their final game, I thought
the same thing, which is, I love Trey Young. There's
a lot of great things he does, but I'm just
not convinced you can win the playoffs with Trey Young.
Is your best or even your second best player. Just
the defense and a little bit of the overball dominance
just doesn't seem to work there. He's a fantastic player,
(40:55):
but it just he just doesn't unless it's constructed completely
differently around him or has been any changes, I don't
I don't see that working.
Speaker 5 (41:03):
Go ahead very much Test twenty two with him, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (41:06):
Yeah. Can the Clippers even and up?
Speaker 5 (41:12):
They certainly can. I mean, look they have they have
the talent and the roster and the defense, and the
Nuggets are you know, I mean, they had four of
their five starters play forty five plus minutes. Obviously it
went into overtime, so that was a factor, But I
don't know if that is sustainable. I have Denver winning
(41:32):
the series. But the great advantage they have is that
if it's a close game, Jamal Murray and Jokic know
how to play play off of each other, and they're
going to with their chemistry, they're going to create the
best shot and it doesn't matter which one of them
is taking it. With the Clippers for having two accomplished
(41:57):
finishing players or you know closers in Kawhi Leonard and
James Harden, the problem is that those two don't have
a symbiotic relationship. At the end of games, it's one
or the other, and that makes them fairly predictable in
terms of where the shot is going to come from
(42:19):
or what you know, what James is trying to do,
you know what Kawhi is trying to do. And for
playoff teams, that predictability makes it a little easier to defend.
And then there's just this this weird thing that the
Clips have that their execution when the game gets tight,
it's they just they shoot themselves in the foot so consistently,
(42:42):
and I've seen that all year long, so I think
that's where Denver has the edge. I think again, this
could be a long series, but I just believe Denver's
familiarity with each other and ability to execute down the
stretch is going to be the difference.
Speaker 1 (42:58):
Awesome stuff as always, Rick Buker, Fox Sports One, Fox
Sports dot Com playoffs roll on and he joins us
every week. Buker the best, Thanks for joining us please,
It's Doug Gottlieb Show here on Fox Sports Radio. Buyer,
The NBA playoffs are really hard. Uh, I know Jay
Stu doesn't he? Jay? What's what's your expression with things
(43:21):
you hate? Like you hate the predictions?
Speaker 5 (43:23):
Right?
Speaker 1 (43:23):
Like predictions are dumb? Right? But I would also is
that is that an accurate way of saying? Or like,
not predictions but picks, like you hate people's picks. That's
just dumb dumb radio.
Speaker 7 (43:33):
I just think it's lazy. I think it doesn't serve
the listener. I think it serves the ego of the host.
Speaker 2 (43:40):
I second, by the way, I agree.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
With that, I totally agree with it. I think that
I also don't like the halftime analysis of guys that
don't tell me anything like they gotta step up, this
team's ready to play like that doesn't that's not really analysis,
like tell me why something is happening specific. But I
also think that you got to be really careful with
(44:04):
the NBA Playoffs of going too crazy over one game,
because we've been doing this a long time and you
can watch game one of the NBA Playoffs and watch
Game two of the NBA Playoffs and it's almost like
there's two completely different teams from one game to the next.
Is that buyer? Is that fair?
Speaker 2 (44:22):
I think that's fair, and I feel you have more
to say otherwise I'll jump in.
Speaker 1 (44:28):
No, you can jump in. Might just again, so when
I see when I see the Lakers really struggle with
the Timberwolves, I don't want to go crazy and go like, hey,
it's a terrible matchup. This series is a rap, because
that's frankly dumb, dumb talk when you consider how many
series have looked this way. Game one and then game
two looks opposite. But I do think that there's a
(44:51):
portion of it's like are we really kidding ourselves? Do
we really think that the Lakers can win four of
the next six games against the timber Wolves, who look
so much more athletic and connected defensively than the Lakers do.
Speaker 6 (45:07):
Yeah, I thought that that game, in that outcome and
how it played out, was by far the biggest statement
of the weekend.
Speaker 2 (45:14):
And there weren't statements made in every game.
Speaker 6 (45:17):
Certain stuff played out, like sure, we didn't think the
Thunder were gonna win by fifty, but they swept the
Grizzlies in their season series. Thunder made it through the
first round last year, so they have bigger fish to fry.
As you were just talking with Rick Buker, however, Doug, like,
there is something that stands out about what happens Saturday
night with the Timberwolves, And yeah, to your point, like
(45:39):
I got the sense of, like, wow, I don't know
if the Lakers can do this, especially because I still
think Minnesota will be able to get some of the
shots that that they got. And it's not like they
shot sixty five percent from three. Yeah, they made twenty
twenty one threes, shot fifty percent from three point range.
Speaker 2 (45:57):
They could do that again, that's it's not unheard of,
you know, to do that.
Speaker 6 (46:01):
And if the Lakers aren't going to make any changes
to stop naz Reed from getting his looks, then I
think that there could be continued problems. But what I
also think of when we talk about these Playoffs series,
you have to take something from them, because otherwise, if
we just pushed the cart down the road, the next thing,
you know, the series is over and we're like, oh,
(46:22):
well that was that. And then because the next series starts,
we're not even talking about happened previously because now we're
onto the next series. So I do think that there
is this happy medium in finding out, you know, like,
of what happened. And I think each game this weekend
had a little something like, for some reason, the Bucks
and I'll just use them because nobody's talking about them,
and this could be, you know what, I'm going to
(46:44):
save it for love and hate because I actually actually
I hate this about the Milwaukee Bucks. I'll save it.
But Piston's next perfect example. We thought that the Pistons,
new to the Playoffs, everything is going to be new,
right this, how are they going to adjust? And for
three and a half quarters they were magnificent, and then
all of a sudden it completely falls apart. And I
(47:07):
would love to just chalk it up to be like, yeah,
that's the first time in the playoffs, Like they got
that one out of the way. But did they get
that out of the way or not? Or is this
the Knicks showing their metal that maybe they thought they
were gonna be able to cospass the Pistons and then
they didn't do it. And guess what, Doug Garden magic
is back. The magic of Madison Square Garden is back. Like,
I think there's something to take from that Saturday night.
(47:30):
So using that example of I don't want to overreact
to game one, but I definitely want to grab something
from it because otherwise we're just gonna ignore the series.
Speaker 1 (47:39):
That's the way to do it. That's the way to
do it, right, because the point that she made is
is and I'm using more of the Lakers series analogy,
which is, I don't think it's as much about shutting
down nas Reed because naz Reid was open because other
Lakers couldn't guard their guys, so somebody has to help.
(48:01):
And then by design, he's opening the corner and he
hit three after three after three, right, the breakdown occurred elsewhere,
and uh, it's it's like with with diseases, right, you're
you're cutting down the symptom, not the actual cause. If
you say, hey, we're going to take away NASERI well,
(48:22):
that's like the symptom of the bigger issue at play.
So to use your way of doing it, which I
do think is the right way is and I'm not
going to sit here and go the Lakers are done, right,
The Lakers are done. They're cooked. What I would say is, boy,
they got. The takeaway is that the Timboleves were really ready,
(48:43):
that Anthony Edwards did not have to score fifty, and
that they were in complete and total control against the
Lakers and their bench, mostly because the Nazri but others
appear to be far better than the Lakers. One game,
one game
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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