The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Houston... Curry Is A Problem. Rockets Fall 0-1 vs Golden State, Astros Getting The Hang Of Things?

Episode Date: April 21, 2025

uston... Curry Is A gettyProblem. Rockets Fall 0-1 vs Golden State, Astros Getting the Hang Of Things

Launch timers. This is the Matt Thomas show. I have PTSD for the Warriors. I told you all that a month ago, and I wanted to change my viewpoint of things. Yeah, but PTSD is post-traumatic stress disorder. I mean, current. We are currently being traumatized.

Yeah, I'm currently traumatized. Will this ever end? Can Steph Curry please stop torturing us? I'm sitting there in the arena. He's got like people draped all over him, falling away to his right, throwing up prayers, and they... You know what the worst part is, Matt?

They swish. They don't even hit the rim. Yeah, it doesn't hit the back iron. It doesn't it at the front iron. It just goes right through like it was organized. Get right through like an arrow through your heart. It hurts. And I'm over it. And I'm sick of it. And how many guys in NBA history

in rhythm shoot 35 footers and it's just nothing? That's what he does. The greatest shooter ever walked the planet. He just is. The Rockets actually did a really good job on him. You look at the box score. You wouldn't think so. But they played pretty good defense on Steph Curry.

Well, the first quarter, he couldn't buy a shot outside the ark. And then he decided in the second quarter, I'm going to go in there and just get everything in the paint. I think he had made three or four consecutive. And then third quarter just went off. Yeah. People think he's just a shooter aren't paying attention. He can get to the basket. Yeah, the little underhand flip that he does.

He does. It's high off the backboard. It's got English. It's got, I mean, now he'll put up some goofy ones and he'll turn the ball over like he did last night before. But, I mean, 31 points after scoring just three the last time these two teams met. Now, of course, that was a regular season, but that's by, that is long in the rearview mirror. What we're staring at right now is the Golden State Warriors in a rocket debut playoff-wise for a bunch of different folks and including everybody at least working. Rockett for the first time. Fred Van Vleet

in his first playoff game Dylan Brooks in his first rocket playoff game and then you had a man

Alpi Jalen Tari Jabari in their first game I mean honestly

and your most experienced playoff that was horrible yeah yeah Fred was terrible

terrible and I'm a huge Fred Van Vleek guy off and on the court I defend him on air

I defend him on Twitter and he went to bed He just did. It was bad. Four of 19. And here's the problem. I listened to you on the Rocket Drive.

I figured I'd be the one. Thank you, Matt. You were the one. Yeah. We got a couple calls. There were very few contests in-miss shots, boys, and girls. There were a lot of in-stride, open looks, good passes. Fred at a couple on a break.

Top of the key three missed. Long rebound goes right back to him, shoots it up again. I mean, you have to knock down open shots. in the association, no matter who you are. Yes. If you don't, you can play,

you can be the best offensive rebounding team in the NBA, which the Rockets have been. Yes, they have. And I tell you what, Dremont Green, and you know,

I'm not a fan of his, but boy, he had a pretty poignant comment last night. He said, and the best offensive rockets has last night was the offensive rebound. That is correct. 22 offensive rebounds.

And they still lost by 10 because you went six of 29 from three? That's 21% for the. those are you playing at home. Yeah. You cannot do that. Also, you can't miss nine free throws. 55%.

But unfortunately, that's who the rockets are. The rockets have been, I mean, I know they're, they've been about 74% all year long. They really probably since the counter turn is probably even worse than that. They're dead last in free throws, 21st and three point percentage. So what has been a problem for them all year long was a problem for them in game one. Couldn't make a three, missed a bunch of free throws. You lost the game. Yeah.

it's frustrating and Jalen tried the outside didn't work tried the inside didn't work the angles he was taking on those layups which usually is a pretty good finisher he couldn't get to he also was didn't get a lot of calls

in a low block but you know against those trees but that's just what the NBA playoffs are about I didn't think officiating had anything to do with anything last night except just be there no there's a couple of bad calls on the Pajemski travel and the what was it off Dremont

instead of Stephen Adams on the sideline But there was, I mean... Not a non-factor. No, Steph Curry got fouled a bunch of times when he shouldn't have. There were some other questionable calls on the other side. And the Rocket's second quarter, I mean, they just couldn't hold on to the basketball. Turned the ball over 17 times. There was like a stretch in about three minutes, so he turned it over five times.

I mean, and Golden State, to its credit, turned those into points. They scored 25. As bad, I mean, let's go glass half full if you want to for a second, if you don't mind. As bad as the rocket shot. And I mean, woeful from three, woeful from the free throw line, and at a hard time holding out of the basketball, especially in the first half,

it got to a one possession game in the fourth quarter. It just did. And I don't want to say clean things up, but it just shows you that it's a lot closer of a series that maybe you want to think it can be, especially after what you saw last night, but it could be because Curry was excellent.

Jimmy Butler got to the mid-range like he normally does, but there was nobody else on goal. state that really scared me. But Jemskine was human yesterday. Dremont Green doesn't shoot a whole lot. Gary Payton was okay. I mean, they only shot 38% from three. That's not great for them.

They also turned the ball over 14 times. So it came down to, not to oversimplify things, it came down to, shots have got a fall. They just do. And if you just, if you, if you're starting back court goes seven for 34 and two, of 17 from 3, you're not going to win any basketball games. I don't care if it's the Golden State Warriors in a playoffs or Charlton a preseason game. Yeah, the good thing

is the things that went well for the Rockets are repeatable. Alper and Shingoon, there's nobody that can guard him down low for the Golden State Warriors. He had 26 points. He had eight of their first 13. He had a really good game. Stephen Adams crashing the boards. You can crash the boards on this Golden State Warriors team if you make a point to do so, which E. Mediode does.

So those things you can do again. It's not like they just just shot out of their heads. It was the exact opposite. And like you said, it was a three-point game at one point in the fourth quarter. You got down as much as 23, I think. Yeah, yeah, 23. And it was a three-point game in the fourth. The second quarter did him in. And you spent basically the entire second half climbing that hill to get back close to where you were. And all you needed was a key three or a key jump shot or a finish or an N-1. A man, Thompson, I thought, struggled last night in terms of, of just looking comfortable. He looked like he looked like he was losing his playoff virginity on the floor last night. Yeah, I think.

Jabari, I thought, had a better second half than he had his first half. He turned the ball over a lot in the first half. And it's been somewhat of an offensive struggle for him in when he's not being found on basket cuts, which he was a couple of times to pass it and get there, and he was there for a couple of cuts and he wasn't found. He can't, he's not a great creator of his own offense,

especially when the other team's backing way off of them, which now that teams all have a scouting report on him, and now you're into the playoffs, nobody's getting up on him in Thompson at the three-point line. It's going to be rare. Well, he's got to hit the elbows, and that's when those elbow jumpers were not falling for him last night. He's going to hit those fadeaways,

and I mean, those are tough shots. I mean, it's just what it is. And if those aren't falling and he's not getting into the basket, he's not going to score because it's not like he's going to light it up from three. He's just not. And I will say this, and I brought this up on the broadcast last night. These scores, this 95-85 will not be abnormal.

We will see low-scoring, games throughout the series. I think so. The four of the five games, the winning team in the regular season, the four of the five matchups, the highest point total was 106, which is in today's NBA world is very, very low. All right. On the radio program today, we will have your opportunity to chime in on all things about the Rockets playoff game last night.

If you want to get in on the Astros set back to the San Diego Padres, it didn't win the series two games out of three. And we actually had a two-game winning trick for the first time to you. That was kind of nice. We'll get to that. We've got NFL draft coming out of play with this week. We have what I thought people said last night that I didn't see any of it was a very disappointing WrestleMania. So we'll get into Ross's deep dive on that.

Yeah, I wrote a thousand words on it. I'm going to be published. You did a thousand words? My gosh. I can't remember the last time I wrote a thousand words. I don't think I wrote a thousand words in college. And then we also have, what else, NBA playoffs. I've all for the weekend, baseball.

We have a UCLA's got the quarterback of their dreams now, if they went and got to the portal. Yes. I think I don't even pronounce his name bright, and I probably should because he'll be talking about him over the course of the year. But the former-L-A-Yava? That sounds good. Former Tennessee quarterback now in UCLA, we'll get to that as well. And we have to tell the truth today at 1130 plus Pope Francis.

Today's edition, I believe it or not, he passed away. For real? Yeah. You must literally just woke up. I did literally just wake up. Well, you were working late. I was on air until after midnight. I'm just saying.

It happened really random, so don't feel that. Okay, thank you. I don't think it random would happen. I didn't know. I didn't even hear that he was like a middle of the night, no? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Was he on his death bet?

Yeah. He had been fighting, I want to say, pneumonia for quite some time. Respiratory issues. Okay. So. May he rest? Well, of course, yeah. I mean, yeah.

I was at about everybody that passed away. Okay. So. He was big into Legos, by the way. It's going to be unbelieve it or not. That is a complete 100% lie. Name a Pope who loved Legos. I'm going to go John Paul the second.

was a big fan of Legos back of the day. 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-7-90. Those are the phone numbers if you want to chime in today. All things about the Rockets Lost, the Padres Astros series on the weekend, and you at 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. In tremendous spirits,

especially the first four minutes. That was fun. There were a lot of curry jerseys there, but I didn't feel like they drowned out those that were pro-rockets. Yes, it's always Early on, there was a lot of Warriors fans But the visiting team fans always get there earlier

That's just how it is Right, because they want to see their guy And Rockets fans get there late That's just how it is So yeah, I'm with you I thought especially relative to earlier in the season There was some Warriors fans But it was minimal

And they weren't as loud as they have been In previous times in that building And the crowd was great, the energy was good I mean, the air kind of came out of the building When the Warriors went on that 24 to 7 run between the first and second, but that can happen anywhere. For sure. Good sports time for Houston. I mean, 31,000 at the ballpark, full arena at the Toyota Center last time, 50,000 people. Well, I didn't win a game, though. Nobody won. That's fine. Could have been better. Could have been better.

So, it was at least that they were both on the same page. Anemic offenses everywhere. 85 points for the rockets, two runs for the Astros. You know, I'm just kind of getting used to two runs for the Astros. Although it was a better offensive weekend Friday and Saturday. Slightly. Your boy, Taylor, Scott, giving up the home run as a game winner. Yeah, he's not my boy. He did get...

Oh, apparently he's a friend of the show. Apparently he hates me. Oh, that's true, actually. Well, he was a big part of the game on Saturday when he held it down for six outs and was able to let the Astros stay in the game and get the victory late there. But I didn't know he gave up the home run yesterday. I had the game on when I was in the arena. but I wasn't paying super close attention.

Somebody went two for four with a double in a single yesterday. Third multi-hit game in his last five. Hitting 444, 8 for 18 with two runs, two doubles, and two RBIs in that span. Somebody had his sixth multi-hit game of the season, and during the series against the piders, he went five for ten. That person is... Would that be Rick Myers? That's Rick Myers.

Feeling pretty good. Fan club is up, folks. We welcome you all with open arms to the Jake Myers fan club. I actually know the answer to this. Go ahead. But I don't have the exact number. Who's slugging more? Christian Walker or Jake Myers?

Oh, it's got to be... Well, slugging. Jake Myers only has like three doubles, I think. Okay, OPS. Maybe I should say that. OPS definitely. It's not even going to be close on that one. Yeah.

It'll be Jake Myers because he's drawn a couple of walks too. But slugging is probably still even Jake Myers, but he didn't have any home runs and Walker has a couple. I mean, they're kind of just a... Good old fashioned 500 baseball team right now. Yeah. At least they won two in a row for once. And thank you to the Dodgers for knocking off the Rangers 2 out of three.

Could have been very easily a sweep for the Dodgers at all. Yeah. They got the walk off with Adoles Garcia. Yeah. So look, American League West is mid? Mm-hmm. It's basically the AFC south of baseball. It's there for the taking.

Yeah. So, I mean... You wake up in June like you did last year. It's fine. I'm under no panic. Frankly, my brain is focus primarily on basketball. I'll be in baseball mode tomorrow doing the Astros

pre-impost, but you'll be doing it tonight. Wonderful. But, yeah, I'll really start to live and die on every move they make. But it was enjoyable watching the games on Friday to come back on Saturday and the win, you know, it was close yesterday.

Robert was good. Luis, our eyes got hurt. Boy, he really did. A bad collision with DuBond, but apparently he's okay. Yeah, thankfully. I mean, when you have to bring a stretch around and delay the game as long as they did yesterday? Yeah, that was really nuts. And then they didn't even want to, yeah, the cart, they didn't even drive it because they wanted

to make sure they didn't jostle them around. And then they were, so they were pushing it. That was when it was like, uh, is he okay? I thought it was a problem when they went with a rickshaw so early. Oh, with a rickshaw? Yeah, Rickshaw. I thought when the priest came out and was giving last rights, I thought that was a bad sign. Yeah.

When the beads were out, I was like, this is a rosary. He started doing a rosary. Rosary means. Let's talk to Jenny on line two at 1024. It's nice to start with a lady here on the show. Hi, Jenny. Yeah, actually my name is Jimmy. Oh, Jimmy.

Oh. Yeah. Hold a, hold, hold, hold, hold, hold, hold, hold. Jonathan. Okay, hold on, hold on. No, no, no, no, I can explain this. I can't explain this. Yeah, I can't wait to hear this.

I asked, because I didn't hear him a press, right? And I was like, is it Jenny? And I didn't, I didn't pronounceate my own words. And whenever he said, and it sounded the same, I said, okay, and I just wrote down that. And I, you know what? you know, a little funny. Does it sound like a Jenny to you? How many men in your life do you know by the name of Jenny?

I'm going to go zero. You know, maybe it was a nickname. I don't know. Oh, okay. So you know what? Guess what? Jill? You're on the show.

I'm just kidding. Jimmy, what do you got today? Man, I listen to your takes, man, real good. I'm telling you, I'm feeling good about the Rock. The reason being Jalen, you had Amin, you know, Jabari, all these guys, first game, first time in the prehist. playoffs. I think they'll come back. I cannot see Fred being that bad again ever. I think he'll be good. But, you know, I was just curious to know, you know, Holiday's been 39.8% on the three points this

year. I would have loved to see him in there, possibly in place of when he had Jay on a push, but Holiday in there. Put him in there in place with Van Fleet. Let's see if we can get a few more shots, two more three-pointers going in for us. But all in all guys came back. We were in and in the fourth quarter. I think we'll be fine in this series and I'd love to see some Tate in there as well. Well, Tate's hurt so that won't be happening for a while. Oh, I didn't know that.

I didn't know that. I really do think the way we were rebounding that ball man, I think we can impose our wheel on these guys. You know, Steph is who he is. I think the jitters are gone now. I think the Rockets will be darn fine, man,

in this playoff series. I sure hope so because I'll be at the ball game on Wednesday. it. All right. Thank you, Jimmy. Tell Jenny, we send our best. We appreciate the phone call. All right. First of all, playoff rotations, tighten up. Does it mean that you can't go to a 9th or 10th guy if you need to, especially if someone is hurt or someone is really struggling or foul trouble?

But generally speaking, your playoff rotations are 8 or 9 guys. I know Goldenstein went with 10 yesterday, but the last two guys just were minimal. I don't really see the rockets going, Aaron Holiday, saves our bacon. Now, if Jalen struggles out of the get-go again, now remember Jalen has had really rough go. He's had, I think they've played now six times this year. He's had one good game against Golden State of the Six. You need some perimeter work. I know somebody's going to call, but I'm sure call for it whether or not Kim, Whitmore gets in the mix as well.

I got one of those last night. Same kind of thing. It would have to be where the guys slumped as bad as they did. like in the second quarter last night in order for E-made to kind of shift up of what he thinks are his most important guys. Yeah, I think a couple of things. First of all, I don't think we're going to see Cam Whitmore at all. Aaron Holiday maybe is a possibility,

but Coach Udoka clearly has shown he doesn't trust Cam Whitmore to do the right things to not just play for himself and rather than the team. So I don't think we're seeing Cam Whitmore. Aaron Holiday, I honestly would be open to because when they went on that bad run where they only scored seven points over however many minutes,

it was the guys on the floor. There's just no one that was off. You go to that big lineup and it's fun, but when it's Stephen Adams and Shingoon and Jabarsman Jr. and the paint is getting mucked up. You need some shooting out there. And I mean, Thompson was on the floor as well. So you're talking about three guys on the floor who are non-shooters.

So if you want to stretch in space a little bit with Aaron Holiday, who is not a lockdown defender, but it can at least you put him in there for five minutes a half or something like that and get him to make two, three-threes. I don't think that's the worst thing in the world because they are definitely lacking scoring punch off the bench. Yeah, I would agree with you. The bench does not have a perimeter guy.

Eason and Smith are not known as perimeter guys. They combined, well, Tari went 0 for 4. Tari's going to do most of his damage, like he did a couple times yesterday with the steals, mid-court, his aggressiveness on the defensive end, and it turns into points on the offensive side. But he's got to make those open corner three, so he got a couple of them, and he went 0 for 4.

Yeah, and I think if you're Golden State, you're going to continue to live and die by that. You'll allow, frankly, if I'm Golden State, I zoned the rocket to death in game two. I just would say, you know what? Let's see the three-point shot of yours. Yeah, I mean, I think that would just keep on with your own. And that's where maybe Iron Holiday could come in a little bit again.

I just, to me, in small doses, Aaron could certainly help out, especially if you're back-courted, struggle as badly as it did from three yesterday. 1029. It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-7-9. We're with you all the way until 2 o'clock this afternoon. So we are here to hang out with y'all. Talk some sports, get into your life, how you're weekend.

Oh, by the way, it's a group chat Monday. What's in your group chat? A lot of rocket stock. In my group chats. I'll run through my group chat and come back. Okay. Because I want to leave by example. So if you have a group, if you were in group chat this weekend of any sort,

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hear every Rockets game on Sports Talk 790 and streaming on the IHeart radio at home of Rockets basketball 1032 on Sports Talk 790 it is a group chat Monday if you're new to the show you're like what the hell is a group chat Monday's what's on your group chat I'm just going to look at mine and I can I have to protect those names um do I hear music in the background or is that just something okay um I have one group chat. That was a big cough. I'm sorry. I have one group chat about a person on Twitter who is bemoaning officials.

Mm-hmm. Officials to me had zero impact on the game last year. That's not why the Rockets lost this game, to me. Yeah. Maybe it was painted a different picture on the TV broadcast, Matt, because we were in the arena. I don't know. Somebody can let us know if they just thought that the officials were jobbing the Rockets. There were some missed calls, but I thought for the most part it was missed both

ways. Rockets were allowed to be extremely physical with the Golden State Warriors. More fouls were called on Golden State than they were against Houston. They were mugging Steph Curry. A lot of times, they quite frankly, on screens, they were clutching, holding, and grabbing and getting away with a lot. I thought there was a time or two where Steph Curry wasn't allowed a place to land and there was no foul called. I thought he was slapped on the wrist on some shots and no fouls were called. And some calls were missed the rockets way for sure. But I didn't think this was, oh my God, the refs are giving the rockets a zero chance. They went six of

29 from three. That's why they lost. Yeah, I mean, sometimes it just comes down to elementary, my dear, was it, my dear Betsy? No, my dear Watson. My dear Watson, yeah. Betsy. That's his, that's the... Maybe that's in Nashville, Tennessee, man. That's the metro sector version of that. Elementary, my dear

Watson, it's, you know, you hit shots. It's just, it comes out of making shots. It's a make or miss league. Yeah, especially in the playoffs, really. You don't get half points for hitting the back of the board, in a backboard. You don't get, you don't get quasi-credit. You should. I got a group thread going about a friend of mine's boss being completely tone deaf. All right.

So I hate to hear about that. Huh. Friend. I have a tweet sent to me of a light night TV show. I can't read that one. That's nice. I can't see. This is this group chat thing I can't do because it's really rude.

In my group chats, I would say pound for. pound of the Rootis in America. Okay. Like, how many sweet group chats are you in? Sweet, like nice ones? Like, my family group chats. You should do. Like, we did a happy Easter to everybody yesterday.

We should start one. We should start a group chat where we can only say nice things. I don't want any part of that. No. You need some positivity in your life, Matt. You're too petty, too much of a hater. I don't know. Can we get you a little sunshine?

I'm worried about you. I don't know. First of all, I can't even get you to go on vacation. I know. I just I live for these group chats because I want to see if people have as much you know what in vinegar as I do

and the answer is yes. No, you're the worst though. Oh, there's no question about that. You and one other. Yeah. Let's see. Ooh, there's a lot of, there's a Fred Van Vleet hate run.

There's a Jalen Green. He is not doing so hot on Rocket's Twitter. Neither is the Alperin Shinguniacs versus the Jalen Greenies. Is that we're calling? them? They're in a full-on war right now on Rockets Twitter. At Love Puddle

says on our group chat, we went through players from our high school B team that would have been better than Fred Harden. Oh, God. That's terrible. Oh, they're calling Fred Van Vleet, Fred Hardin, I guess. That's terrible. I mean, two for 13 is kind of a James Hardin line. That's enough for you. In the playoffs, it's happened. He also comes saying this is...

Who's he, one of 11 in that 2017, horrible game against the Spurs? A lot of puddles coming through today. When I saw the smoke coming out of the chimney in Italy yesterday, I knew the Erez injury was bad. What a great cross-reference from what's happening at the Vatican to what's happening at Diken Park. Man, Pope Francis. All right.

God, but not forgot. If you are willing to let us know what's in your group chat, we would like to hear it because, again, you probably have to protect the names of those that are in the group chat, as I've had to do. It's a sensitive conversation. I'm just saying it was just a tough night for anybody that was looking forward to get, I mean, people in the arena, people wore the t-shirts,

and the arena had a nice buzz to it. And then first five minutes were really fun. And then just could not hold out of the basketball in the second quarter. That second quarter, they got outscored 29 to 13. Yeah, but a lot of those turnovers were, it was, I mean, it wasn't because like the warriors were doing these, playing great defense and stuff like that. It was just because the offense was too disorganized.

They were too, you were just lacking in direction. And they weren't being aggressive. everybody's just kind of standing around and then they would just kind of go to the basket and there'd be three people they're like oh here you take the ball it was just it was bad offense well i'm going to choose because my glasses half full especially when it comes to that basketball team that i love to call i'm going to choose that is to men thompson is going to grow up quite a bit from last night to what he'll play in his second playoff game i'll say the same thing about jalen green yeah um jillering definitely has to be better amen thompson i don't know what's going to be there for him offensively He needs to be found on some more of those basket cuts. And that's just, I mean, that's basketball. It is what it is. And I would say, honestly, Ross, be more physical with Curry.

Continue to double team. I mean, again, you don't want him to go to the free throw line because he's a 90% free throw shooter. But at least makes him passing lanes difficult because as awesome as Steph is, he will turn the ball over like a mother. He can be as lack and physical with taking care of the basketball as anybody else in the NBA. And another thing Jalen Green has to be better at is he has to be better at when they were hunting.

They were hunting Steph Curry. They were finding him on switches against Jalen Green, one-on-one in space. And credit to Steph Curry, he held his own. He did a great job defensively. But Jalen Green, you got to get by Steph Curry. You got to figure it out. In-out, dribbles, fakes, whatever. And you can't get locked up by Steph Curry if you're Jalen Green.

You just cannot. This series is not going to go your way. Yeah, you should be able to score against Steph. Yeah. Now, do you want to go mono-mono? I don't think you have to do that, but you cannot... You can't hunt the guy in the nuts going on him. Right.

Come on now. Especially if you get inside five feet of him. When you put him in the paint, he's useless. Yeah, but he was doing a good job on the perimeter a number of times, so... Yeah, get him inside of there. And then again, I talked about this on the pregame show yesterday. I still think you have to figure out somehow, some way to keep Jimmy Butler outside of about 17 feet, because inside it's pretty damn good.

because he's so crafted, he's so good with the mid. I mean, how many shots did he make when there was people draped all over him? He's just freaking good, man. Isn't it crazy? Jimmy Butler had this terrible stigma attached to him because he got sideways in Miami. He got sideways in Philadelphia. He got sideways in Chicago. I mean, everywhere he's gone, he has eventually worn on his welcome.

He goes to Golden State, and I mean, he could run for mayor of San Francisco the way he's playing right now, because he's legitimately the second score that Andrew Wiggins couldn't be. for the Golden State Warriors. Yeah, there's a honeymoot period right now. And then when he's in the playoffs, that's when he really shines. 25.7 rebounds, six assists, five steals.

Matthew, five steals. I got news for you, and you're going to be mad at me, but it's too bad. Okay, I'm mad at you. You're typically mad at me anyway. Oh, I know what you're going to say. Whatever.

It's a semantics thing. It is a semantics thing. You have to win game, too. Rossi, I do not want to go on a plane on Friday. Nobody does. Down O2 with two games in that building. Okay. Say it. You say it with me. No.

Come on. Nope. Nope. I swear I got to make you feel better. No. It won't. It'll make me more nervous, actually. Well, you should be nervous. Yeah. Yeah, you're down 01. You don't want to go down O2. Game one at home like that, man. You can't shoot six to twenty-nine from three. So bad. Game two. Must win. Okay. Oh, it feels good.

Game two, very important for the Rockets. Very important, of the utmost importance. I think a must win is easier on a t-shirt than a game of utmost importance. Okay. Well, I'm not making t-shirts. If you're printing them up, let me know. I'll give you one of mine. I got some extra t-shirts.

I'm going to print one for you. Every game is a must-win game. That's what happens if you ask the players. Yeah, game one, must-win game. They all believe that. Yeah. Game two, must-win game. Got to have it.

Game three, must-win game. It's the playoffs. Oh, you know that they're going to be said in L.A., the Minnesota up won nothing in that series. too. Must win game for the Lakers. I like it. I like how you think. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-790. Let's talk to Biscuit at 1041 here on my software's right. I got it for you. Thank you very much. I appreciate you. Hello, Biscuit. You're on 790 and good morning. Morning, my brothers. Hi.

Hey, Ross, Matt. One of the things that, the comments goes under the radar with the rockets. And I don't know, Ross, you agree with me. They're not one of the better ball handling teams. And what it was happening is people are saying, they don't have finishers. Yeah, but the problem is they're getting into their plays too late in the shot clock.

And so you only have one or two things you can do because it's, you know, nine, ten seconds left. And what Golden State is doing to Jalen because that's not his really natural position, but now he's the de facto main guy handling the ball. They pressuring him. They up on him. They pressure and pressuring it. And next thing you know, you got

turnovers on the perimeter. Here they go. And Golden State is the best in league in transition. And so, but I say all that to say this, Matt. It's growing pains. Go look back at Golda State when Steph Curry and Matt, they first time in the playoffs, see how they did. Go look at Shea Gilder's when he was with O.K.C. And they first run around in the playoffs.

It's growing pains, man. You know, it's just something that you have to, you can't, there's no shortcuts. You can't go, you got to go through it. And so, game, yeah, game Wednesday night is going to be a must-win game, and it's going to be interesting to see how Jalen responds in particular. It's not just Jalen, but I'm just using the example of you have an offensive football. And if the quarterback is, the guy that is supposed to initiate all, it matters not the receivers down field.

open, the guy that initially the guy who has the ball on his hand, he has to be precise. He has to be on time. He has to have good passes to get everybody in rhythm. And when that's not happening, you're going to have some run droughts where you don't score.

And that's the only thing I would say but it's growing pains, man. I'm not, Matt. I don't think KD being added to this roster makes them the winner of the NBA championship. I just don't. It's just got to be more growth with the guys you got.

And then maybe add a KD. But you're about two years down the line for me, for you talking serious championship caliber team. And so let's pump the brakes. Let's see how Jalen respond. Let's see how he. Well, I think everybody should be, yeah, people should be a pop of the brakes. I mean, you're not, if you're, anybody's indicting him for the series loss after one game,

that's foolish. I don't think anybody's doing that. You just, I mean, I, I think there are some people that want to see Jalen take the next step in his NBA career. And I think when you're in a playoff series, you are defined by what you do. And especially against a team that you've struggled with mightily, that the struggles continue. So those that are not the biggest Jalen Green Factor fans out there are going to say, hey, this is we expected this. We're not surprised by this.

And we can't get to the next level unless somebody else is the second is the main go-to score. The number one thing I kept seeing all weekend long when we can get to a break is who's the go-to guy? Maybe can Alper? Is it too easy for us that is a fine Alperin as a go-to guy? Because it felt like every time they went to him last night, Ross, he came through for him. Yeah, I think it's the go-to guy's his matchup dependent. When you're in a seven-game series, guess what?

It's the same matchup for seven games. And in this matchup, absolutely Alperin-Singun is the go-to guy. Yeah. All right, 7-1-3-2-790. 7-1-3-2-2-5-7-90. we are with you today until 2 p.m. this afternoon. We welcome you. We've got a gorty stop by coming up in a couple of minutes. We also want to tell you that we've got to tell the truth coming up at 1130 today. And believe it or not, which is all things about Pope Francis. 713-212-5-7-90.

Hey, a little gorty stop by. Well, you know, you can't, you can't be a stop-by and then leave. Well, you made it sound like you had other thing pressing issues to get to you. No, no, you're always a part. You don't care what you talk about. Okay. What do you got? What do you, I mean, oh, let's talk about your boy going to UCLA. You really want to do college?

Well, just really quick. Okay. First of all, say his name again. Nico Yamaliava. Okay. I'm going to just give that up. So do we know how much UCLA, he, again, for those that don't know, he was making two at Tennessee, one and four.

Tennessee told him shut their bum ass up, his bum ass up. Then he puts his name out there, and all these colleges around the country, he said, yeah, we'll talk to you, but we're going to wait until the dollar amount goes down. Do we know what a dollar amount at UCLA? he's getting? First of, it was two and a half a year at Tennessee, because it was going to be 10 million over four years if he played all four years. Okay. So,

yeah, the report is it's between one and two million. He's getting ACLA. And for Los Angeles, that's more like 300,000 with taxes. Oh, yeah. Yep. He's definitely going, he took the loss on that. And he's not playing in nearly as good of a conference. Yeah. I mean, the Big Ten's good, but it's

in any of the ASEC. I think Clay Travis said he hit the trifecta. He got less money, less talent, less better team and less better coaching. Like he downgraded everything. Less better coaching. You know what I mean?

He downgraded across the board. Worse? Yeah. Worse, worse and worse. Yama Ljava. And you know the story with the brother, right? Maybe it's easier to say Hervey Villalachase. His younger brother whose name is Madden.

Like John Madden. M-A-D-D-E-N. All right. E-M-A-M-A-M-A-M-L-Li-A-A. he was committed to UCLA on signing day last year, or this past December, flipped on signing day to Arkansas. So the brother left them at the altar, and now the older brother is coming to play for them.

Yeah, it's fine. This is, he might be the poster boy, but this feels like to me, boys, it's going to be a one-off. Most kids leaving that are that kind of ilk, first of all, are not going to make their demands public. They're just going to privately get more money elsewhere. Did you see the bad?

news for the coogs over the weekend? There couldn't be any possibly bad news. Starting corner and starting safety both into the portal. That's fine. Whatever. Come on, Willie Fritz. All Connor Wingman did was just throw touchdown after touchdown after touchdown.

Against who? His team. Oh. It was the red white gamer, black red gamer, red... Okay, so he was tearing up that secondary and they just had people transfer out? It's fine. Hey, we're known for 58-54 games, by the way. Astros, you worked Astros over the weekend, yes? I did, yes.

And? They look good Friday and so, I mean, they look good yesterday. We got a good Framber last night, gave him a chance six, six innings to run ball. They just, the timely hitting still is not, it's not all the way there, but do you know the Jose L. Tuvae is batting 302?

He is no longer the Astros leading hitter of batting average. Do you know who it is? Jake Myers. It is Jake the Rake Myers. Woo! Now there's no slug, but at least he's getting batting average. He's their ninth. Well, supposed to be your ninth place hitter. He has several multi-hit games this season, guys. He's got two or three hit games. We're not going to have Cam Smith bat

ninth all year, are we? No. No. I mean, you don't about a slow-line. How about this? He better not. Yeah, that's right. That's right. But that's fine. He had the two home runs on Friday. That was outstanding. Yeah, it was great. Yeah. He's going to be just fine. He's just having to learn on the job. Look, everybody does that. Sometimes you get jobs before you're training qualified. And that's Sam Smith right now. There was a ball.

Well, he made one great play last night running on the run, arm outstretched, so that was a good defensive play. But he had one that was, the ball was ripped right down the line, and it went right back into that corner, and he didn't know how to play it just yet.

He was like, oh, is it going to hit the wall? Oh, no, it went all the way to the back wall. This is a mood conversation a couple of years. He's an athlete. He'll be just fine. He's going to be fine. All right, so what I was looking forward to, honestly, on the Astros,

was the how did Lance McCullors like hanging out with his bros in Midland? Okay. There was just one problem. Stomach flu. Yes. Ahe. Ahe. Got the poops. Didn't go to Midland.

Yeah, I got a stomach butt. He was apparently he had an IV and everything. Hopefully he's okay. Would you call that a setback? Did he have a setback? No, no setback for Lance McCullors Jr. It's a little stomach bump. What's my gut feeling on his major leg's debut?

I think you had his arm falling. Yeah, you had gangrene in his arm by now. That's not even true. That's not nice. But any hope of him... You said he's going to the bullpen, which is not happening. He was supposed to be joining them in Kansas City this weekend. I think that's... No, I think it's not like to push that back now.

That Dana said that it's going to be probably one-starter. Which is fine, because Gusto's been doing well, so you're okay there. Hey, I mean, honestly, boys, with a bunch of no-name relievers and spot starters. Yeah. They're piecing it together. I don't have the... And granted, I'm not watching every pin. hitch living life or death with it.

But to me, hanging around 500 is we're trying to figure out these waters that are murky in terms of replacing Bregman and replacing and putting a new left fielder and a new right fielder out there. I mean, Paredes has defended his position well. Things could be a lot worse than they are right now. Yeah, I saw somebody tweeted out over the weekend about, oh, do you see what Kyle Tucker is doing? He is crushing. Baddick 300, six home runs for the Cubs.

But look at what Paredes is giving you so far. Look at what Cam Smith is giving you. Hayden Wisnski, five innings of two-run ball on Saturday, they get the win. The trade is an even trade right now. We can gush all we want over Tucker, but the trade has worked out so far. It's going to be one trade, because you still have Wesnesey under control Paratus as well, and then obviously Cam Smith is under control for several years. In theory, the only way the Astros lose the trade is if Kyle Tucker signs a long-term extension.

And they still don't lose, because they weren't going to do that anyways. But, I mean, you really start to be. That's how the Cubs win the trade. But the Astros can't lose it with what's going on right now. No, because Kyle Tucker was no way, no chance, know how I'm going to be here after 2025. Well, they could get in on him again if they want, if he's a free agent. That's true.

Okay. You're spending way too much time on Astros' Twitter. You know what you should be spending time on. And we got the Astros and the Toronto Blue Jays in for a three-game series starting. It's nice, by the way, to see some American League competition. What is all this National League crap we're seeing so far? Yeah, Steve Sparks brought up. They'd seen the Mets.

I mean, it was like all the best teams in the NL you've played outside of the Dodgers so far. Yeah, Cardinals and Giants so far. getting on of that taken care of. And by the way, shout out again to the Dodgers, beating the Rangers 2 out of 3. So Astros gained a little bit of ground on Texas in the America League West. It is 1101 on Sports Talk 790. Great to have all of you with us here today. On the hour number two, we go to 2 o'clock this afternoon. Sports Talk 790 at 713. 212-9-7-190.212-5-7. It's here. I'm a little choked up.

The WrestleMania has got you all choked up. It does. You can't get enough of Pat Mac. Yeah, turn that off immediately. You want support on what happened last night at the main event? I don't know. Should you give people a warning? Well, I didn't see it.

All I can tell you is I saw the video highlight. Okay. You read it out in the papers? You mean on the dirt sheets? Yeah. You know what? Let's screw it. If you don't want to know what happened and it happened yesterday.

If you don't know by now, you just don't remember going to know. three, two, one. John Cena is the new WWA champion. Oh my gosh. Unbelievable. I didn't think he could do it via the script. Apparently Travis Scott came in and helped interfere in the match. Travis Scott again? Yeah.

Why? Did he go trample somebody? So universally Travis Scott is hated by anybody that's a wrestling fan for being involved in this. Oh, really? So what segment, what part of the population does WWE go, you know what? We need to add a Travis Scott. Because Travis Scott, let's face it, it's been a tumultuous last couple of years. The whole Asterold situation was bad over there.

Help me what he brings to the table. Obviously, there's something. I don't know. He's very well known and famous, but he is a controversial figure. I mean, George Clooney's very well-known and famous. They didn't bring him out there. I don't think he's going to be showing up at WWE. Maybe, I mean, Travis Scott, I imagine, is he a big WWE fan?

wants to be involved? Couldn't tell you. I mean, I want to be in the WWM being involved. I'm, you know, I didn't ask me. So, yeah, John Cena, who had not been in a major wrestling match in years. Why not? Because he's been acting? He's been acting, yeah.

I think he's very funny. He's going to have a nice career when it's all said and done when it comes to acting. Didn't he get mixed up in some controversy with China and Taiwan? He had to, like, apologize to the people of China or something like that? These are things that I don't even know. Okay. I just know that he hooked up with one. one of the Bella twins, and that's a great conquest on his part. Oh, good for him. Oh, is he married?

He's married now, not to, not to her. There's Nikki and, uh, Bree, and he was hanging out with Nikki. That's the one she got the work done on her breast. She's more ample than Bree. Isn't that, uh, isn't that dangerous to be a wrestler and to have? Well, they haven't wrestled in a while. Didn't, didn't a wrestler have something pop before? That seems dangerous. Yeah, China way back in the day, may she rest. She's dead? Her finishing move was called the rack attack. Are you serious? Could I make that up? Yeah, of course I could.

The rack attack? Yeah. But it wound up hurt. And she would suffocate you with her breasts? It wound up hurting her back. This is going to conclude a wrestling conversation for the day. She's out there slipping a disc with the rack attack? I think it's a great name for a finishing move.

Oh my God. All right. Everyone was like, please, no, don't give me the rack attack. This is the worst. I mean You are accurate You don't Once you get hit by the rack attack

You don't get up from that I don't know Apparently Travis Scott has been pushing for this The Rock did not make an appearance yesterday I just put wise Travis Scott And W.E. And one of them that says There was entirely too much Travis Scott

At WrestleMania Yeah I mean what did George Strait called AAA And said hey I want to be involved in this Not AAA Triple H He would say it was his last match and then he'd do five more. Hey, that's not nice.

Guys filling up major stadiums. Yes, he is. He said, you're cutting that check. I'm out of retirement. We should really, in all honesty, in sports and an entertainment, when someone says they're going to retire, just don't believe them. I don't. I mean, when I grew up, Sugar Ray Leonard was retiring every other day and he came back a bunch of different times. We've seen Elton John do a multitude of reunion tours and come back.

And same thing with Cher. Paul Simon's currently on tour again, which I don't know how, because you and I went a few years ago and we were like, Jesus, how is he still alive? When they putting him in a shipping container? How am they getting them out there? You didn't even move? I guess he was so popular on the 50th edition of the Saturday Night Live anniversary. They said, you know, let's go on a 15 or 20 city tour. Okay, good for him. Yeah. All right. So, yeah, John Zinnett, congratulations, is now the new WWE champion. Oh, wonderful. Planting Cody Rhodes, the American nightmare.

Unbelievable. A passing of the baton. This is like Ali beating Frazier. It's funny because Cameron, my oldest, who's still a huge wrestling fan, I said, do you know what's going on? I saw him at halftime of the game last night. He goes, no, I got my phone on mute. Let me tell you what a sacrifice that is to tell a 24-year-old young man not to look at his phone for multiple hours. Not because he's focused on the game in front of him. No.

Not because he is at church. or spending time with his family. It's because he doesn't want to see the results of WrestleMania. There's today's generation in a nutshell right there. Good for him. You bite your tongue over there. I'm always bite my tongue on this show. Good for you.

You've learned. 713-212-5-790. The Rockets last night fall 95-85 to the Golden State Warriors. Golden State is up one game to none. Steph Curry last night, 31 points, 25 from Jimmy Bunner. You know, we talked about this on Friday. you stop those two guys you win. You just couldn't stop them.

No. I mean, they combined for 56 of their 95 points. We also talked about in playoff games, the difference can often be, it's like, you know what, we did everything we could. That guy was just too good. He rose above it. And we said the rockets are really lacking in somebody like that. Yeah. And the Warriors have two like that.

And they did it both in the same game. Jimmy Butler was knocking down tough shots. He was great. And then Steph Curry was just, I mean, it was vintage Steph Curry, knocking some of those shots that he was knocking down. It was ridiculous. The operating was awesome last night, 11 of 18, 26 points, nine rebounds and assist. Three steals.

He just had one problem as well as did much of the team. Turnovers, especially clogging up the low block, putting the ball on the floor, losing the ball. Five turnovers for him. The Rockets last night had 17 and Golden State to their credit. Leak out on those turnovers. Gary Payton got a couple layoffs. off of them, and they turned them into 25

warrior points last night. Yeah, turnovers, turning into transition points and missed threes, and miss free throws. All of that, why the Rockets lost last night. And I wish, I don't if we had the comment from Draymond Green, but he basically, and I'm paraphrasing here this a little, but he says, look,

the best part of the Rockets offense is their offensive rebounding. It's almost like they regather themselves a little bit after taking that initial shot. Yeah, that was the best part last night. I mean, it can be better if they just knocked down some shots, please. Let's knock some shots down, Big Babies. That'd be cool.

Yeah. Big Benis. Let's go. Let's talk to Dwayne and El Paso at 1108 on 790. Dwayne. Dwayne, thanks for holding and good morning. Good morning, guys. I got a question for y'all.

This year, Anthony Edwards and Jalen Brunson, and there was one other player that were voted as clutch players of the year. But my question is, the Rockets and the Cleveland Cavaliers both played the most clutch games in the NBA this year. And there's not one on the list of clutch players as far as the Houston Rockets are concerned. And at least eight of those Houston Rockets players were in every one of those clutch games that they played this year. Who does the voting on this thing, man? I don't know.

I've never heard of Clutch Player of the Year. No, it's not a vote. be some sort of metric that's attached to it. And if it is a vote by human beings, I've never heard of it. It's not really recognized by the NBA. It feels like that's just

silly fodder. I mean, honestly, Dwayne, I couldn't care less who is a clutch player or not. I watch the NBA. I watch my team. I watch other games. I know who's clutch and who's not. And last night, Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler were the two

most clutch players on the floor last night for their respective team. Right. Okay. Yeah. Thank you, Dwain. I appreciate it.

I have no idea what that is. Is this a real award? Jerry West Trophy? NBA clutch player of the year? Deeran Fox won it in 23?

I had never heard it. Steph Curry won it last year? I think they just started it when Deer and Fox won it. I had never heard of that. I think it came out when I was in college, like 21. The clutch player.

Yeah. 23 was the first time it was handed out. I mean, doesn't Golden State play more clutch five points or less games and five minutes left to go games, anybody else in the NBA? Probably. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know if I put, I mean, that's a nice award, but do I put it on the mantelopee? Like, six man, cool. All NBA team.

It doesn't hurt. All defensive. I mean, yeah. Your finalists are Jalen Brunson, Anthony Edwards, and Nicola Yokic this year. All with three, to me, would be guys that I would go to in the fourth quarter of basketball game for me. Probably Yokicch probably over the other two. Although Anthony Edwards was really good Saturday night for the Minnesota Timberwolves. They beat up. Luca did great, but LeBron, and I don't like to use... He's just okay.

I don't say this is very often about LeBron. He did look his age yesterday or on Saturday night. Yeah, he's 40 years old. I mean, he's every bit of 40. That's why when the Mavericks, when the Lakers made the move, they didn't necessarily have to dial up LeBron. Say, hey, man, do you mind if Luca comes over here? Guys, you know, 15 years younger than you are,

and it's a future franchise player of this team, and we love and appreciate what you've done, but we need somebody to be the alpha dog and I think Luke is going to be that for them. He will. When they need to get a better team around them. They're not good defensively. I think Minnesota is going to score on them all series.

Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't be surprised Minnesota wins that series, really. I think they will. I'm kicking myself because I wanted to get in on that series price. By the way, you know, there is a contest out there. And I was thinking about this for a second. I don't think the odds are good. But could you see someone getting at, every bracket right?

Every, you know, perfect bracket. They're giving away a million dollars in that. Really? It feels like it's a lot easier in the NBA. I don't know what the odds are, I guess. Well, first of all, there's only 16 teams competing against compared to 68. Yeah, and then there's a gimmies like, oh, Oklahoma City, boom, done, gimmie.

Well, you've got, you've got the gimmies. You've got probably two gimmies in the mix, maybe even as many as three. And then you then you have to start, like if, let's say Minnesota plays the Rockets, that wouldn't be a gimmie on either side. If Minnesota plays the Golden State Warriors, that wouldn't necessarily be a gimmie on it either. I mean, I can see no one getting it right, but at least it feels like you've got a punch a chance,

especially because first of all, you've only got 16 teams competing in it. And second of all, you have to win a game a best of seven. Usually the best team wins out of a best of seven. Yeah. Yeah, the college one is impossible. Impossible. Impossible.

Impossible. All right, 1113 on Sports Talk 7.90. It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. We've got to tell the truth coming up at the bottom of the hour. I have four takes, Ross. I believe three of them. Okay. One, I do not believe.

Three you believe. This is getting harder and harder, by the way. I know. It's a tough segment. Whenever you're out, I'm like, dang, I'm going to skip it. But I'm going to do it today. Sometimes when you're out, I just skip it. Yeah, no, you skip a lot of segments.

Did you do NFL rewind last Tuesday? Yep. I don't believe that for a series. I don't think so at all. It was fantastic, man. It was one for the ages, quite frankly. You know what? go air, check it. See how good it does?

If you would like to be a part of this radio show, we would thank you very much. Because, look, Ross and I have a few things we want to say, but we do involve listener interaction. We do believe that most of you, not all of you, but most of you have a decent or two comment. If you think you can contribute to the radio program, 713-212-5-790, 7-1-3-212-5-7-9. It's how you reach the show. If you want to reach out to us via Twitter, you may do that as well. at SportsMT and at Sports RV. The Red Sox are playing their, I think they call it the Patriots Day game, I think.

It's 4 to 1 already in the bottom of the fourth. Can we do something like that here? Wouldn't that be fun to have like a game at like 1105 local time? I think that would be fantastic. I know how you're thinking. But I do, and I have, there's no, we have no dog on a fight on this because it's the, it's a New England holiday. Well, no, let's go white socks. Oh, I see what you're saying.

But you know what I'm saying? I mean, we don't have a, do we have a special, like, you know, like when we were kids, we go texting day, you used to get the day off from school? No, I didn't get the day off from school. Oh, we did all the time. You'd have to wear your cowboy hat. Yeah, matter of fact, I think we got day off for Katie FFA Rodeo day. You get some square pizza and some chocolate milk and have a good day.

Big roll in those big east rolls? Yeah. I just, I want, I want a strange start time for one game. Like, you know, like a kid's day. 11.05 first pitch. Like the Cubs? Yeah. No, I'm not telling you know, because I always play, they play a lot.

They do whatever, yeah. They play whatever they feel like it. This bad boy started two hours ago in Boston. Well, it is Eastern time. Yeah. But it's still 11.05 on a Monday seems really randot. Yeah. We didn't think of a definitive, like what kind of, you know, they're always a rocket.

The Astros are always trying to think of new things to do. That's true. New promotions. Yeah, but they want people in the. building. If you schedule something like June 12th. Yeah, you'd have to do it during the... I get your win schools out.

Yeah. Okay, what would it be? I don't know. Brunch with the Astros? I don't know. Brunch tros? I like that. Whatever. We'd figure something out. Go get hammered on some mimoses.

We could do the pregame show out there. You got new and the Nago sit out in the Crawford boxes and watch the game out there. Thrown up by the sixth inning? Let's go. I don't think we need to vomit. I mean, I guess it would be part of the core requirement. Yeah, unfortunately. All right, 713, 212, 570.

So we will say, go White Sox. Go White Sox. By the way, tough of the White Sox. They have to travel into Boston to play an early game like that. Rob Manfred said, shit your bum ass up and get in there. Yeah. White Sox. By the way, have you been watching any of the Rays games in Tampa?

I mean, they're trying. Not really. I mean, I've seen highlights. Yeah. I mean, it looks like it's a raised ballpark. It's small. No seats in there. It's the exact dimensions of Yankees.

Yankee Stadium. Yeah, exactly. It's Steinbrenner Field. Right, right. So now when you go to look and see how many home runs, this was a ball, and how many ballparks something was a home run in, it's like, it's two. Meanwhile, if you watch the A's, it looked like they're playing at a 1975 softball field. And nobody seems to care.

And it's only going to be like 110 degrees before you know it. Ooh. Good luck A's. Get those electrolytes up. Seriously, and I saw this on Twitter the other day. Do you think Rob Manfred is embarrassed or could give two craps about the fact that two of his baseball teams are not playing in major league stadiums? I think it's two different situations in a way. Like the Tampa Bay situation is a bigger mess.

At least this is just a band-aid for the A's that are going to eventually be in Las Vegas. They should be able to be successful. Right. Should be good with sponsorships to make the league more money. Tampa Bay, what the hell's going on over there? They got to figure something out because they were going to build that new stadium. Now they're not. They're repairing the old stadium, correct or no?

Yeah. And by the way, if you want a piece of the tarp, that cover the stadium, you know, like the whatever that... What? Yeah, you can get a piece for... They're selling pieces of that nasty tarp? 15 bucks. Hey, you want to see that you're going to have a piece of the tarp

where 15,000 people watch this play a playoff game and lose. Oh, yeah, I can't wait to... Yeah. All right. Bit on that. Speaking of people wasting their money on pieces of ballpark, does anybody buy those oranges from Minutemade? You know what?

I will take one as a June 5th birthday gift. No, it's like, it's like one piece. Unless you're going to have somebody to lop one off. Yeah, I'll take a, I'll take a part of an orange. Huh. Like those little ones, they buy the grocery store, what do they call those ones? A little miniature. Mandarin's?

The tangerines, but they're like the cuties? Cudies, yeah. I'll take a cutie. You were really proud of yourself for that one. No, that's what I say. I said, I'm taking cutie. You were really proud of yourself for that one. You're terrible.

I'm trying to find out what happened with these occupies. Because when I was growing up, when teams were moving around, especially in basketball, Ross, the commissioner wore it. Look at all these teams folding or moving from city to city. And it made the commissioners look bad. I mean, do you think Rob Manfred's like, what could I have done? Should have been way more proactive on this situation. All right. Orange is still for sale.

Bit is up to $2,800. For how many? Look, it's a one p. It's like a big thing of oranges with the ladybug on it. $2,800? $100? Just buy me dinner in Lake Charles instead. I'm not buying you anything. I don't even that bad.

This is ridiculous. By the way, I've had my software and my car updated multiple times on my screen. I keep waiting to say Dyken Park and it still says Minutemate. Yeah, that's going to be a problem for you. No, I think there's an end of problem.

I know where it is. I don't know if you do. But it is kind of strange that I don't know if you've got a nice enough car that has this, But we have a big screen that's got like the photos of different downtown buildings. And it makes Minutemen look nice, but it's not Minuteman anymore. No, I don't have that. I got my 8-track. Do you really?

Yeah. Yeah, he said, loved 8 tracks. We got some Skinnered in there, some credence. You know, I'll get you a cassette date. And then for your birthday, I'm going to buy you a VCR. Love it. People are buying that stuff. You've got a bunch of old VHS tapes in the attic.

Sell them. One of my best friends that lives in Charlotte's got about 3,000 DVD. Yeah. Well, DVDs aren't hot on the market, but VHSs are coming back. To do what? People get nostalgia. People are buying them. CDs, too? I would think that the, I would think the VCR tapes would be just cumbersome and hard to store away. In video games. You go find PlayStation 2 games at like Goodwill or something. Our old producer, Jacob used to do this. He would go and find some video games and then he would flip them on eBay for $100 of dollars. him. Yeah. People Louisiana actually make money doing something? Well, yes. It's usually Crawdady farming, but he was doing

pretty well. I think he owns a cracklin farm. Yeah. You don't farm cracklings, Matt. You don't know that. You don't know. You don't know. A lot. It's got a big crackling farm community. Hi, Bob. You're on 790. Good morning. Bob. Good morning. Hi. Hey, can you hear me okay? Yes.

Okay, good. Hey, I'm a Red Sox man. I know that's my problem. But one thing first, I wasn't real, I wasn't real fond of the idea in the beginning. You know, they have a pretty good farm system and they had a lot of good prospects. But bringing in a guy for that much money, they could have spent it elsewhere like on pitching. But anyway, the reason I called was I heard you guys talking about the Patriots Day game that they're having up there. Yeah, by the way, Patriots Day officially was Saturday. It was a marathon yesterday.

Is that when it was or was it today? It's today. That's why the game is at 11 o'clock. So the idea is that the game's over before the finish of the marathon. Okay, I got you. The traffic kind of things out. That was the methods of the madness. But it became an institution.

When I grew up, that was a cool thing to do, was to go into Boston and go to the game and then get caught up in the craziness of the marathon afterwards. Well, thank you, Bob, for the phone call. I appreciate the information. I knew it was around Patriots today. I didn't know that the marathon was attached to it. But, yeah, that's...

Maybe we should do it with marathon then. 11.05, Astros versus whomever. And then go do a marathon right after that. Run it? No, I'd sit and watch it. I wouldn't run it. Oh, okay. You're going to pull up a chair?

Watch sweaty people run by? No, I would probably just say that, hey, I'll be there to support you on mile 14 and then just say I get lost. Uh-huh. Okay. We can work on this. Although for marriage, I don't want a marathon bit steel. Could we tie it to something rodeo related maybe? Maybe.

No, the problem is the rodeos in February, so it doesn't know it was any good in April. What could we do around here? Texas Independence Day? Okay. Think of something. We got to do something. A little 12-05 first pitch. When is Texas Independence Day?

I'm coising you. Should I know this? No, I don't know it. I was going to say, is it November or something? Don't even throw that out there. There are people yelling at their radios. Of course, Texas Independence Day is this. Of course it is on March 2nd.

1836. We're watching the game right now. It's completely sold out. Middle of the day. Yeah, well, Boston Red Sox fans are, you know, it's one of the most popular fan bases. big fan bases? Yeah.

Alex Bregman at the plate. Uh-oh. O.P. Oh, look at his OPS. 878. Woo. That's because he had a couple of walks. Damn, dude.

And he just popped out. It's going down. You never know. You don't know that in Fenway. Yeah, Fenway. All right. To tell the truth is up next. You ready for that?

No. But I do. And I'm going to tell the truth. Three times out of a possible 4. By the way, shout out to a lot of our audience. I'm my buddy Wade, Mark, Pedro, Tom and downtown. Today is San Jacinto Day. Rossi, we can play at 1105 with Happy San Jacinto

Day. Oh, why? Was it the Battle of San Jacinto? Well, I would assume so. 189 years ago, 900 fearless Texans secured victory at the Battle of San Jacinto. They won our independence and forever shaped the bold spirit of Texas. That same courage lives on in the millions who call the greatest date in America home. That's from our Governor Greg Abbott. How about this?

Thanks, Greg. Astros Rangers rotate every other year. We play an 1105 first pitch on a Monday on San Jacinto Day. And you know what? Amble stations at Minut Mane Park, or the Diken Park. Yes. We'll celebrate the war started because the Texas settlers wanted to keep their slaves. Great stuff.

I'm going to let you editorialize. I can't speak to this. All I'm going to say is that I would like to have fresh orange juice, an omelip bar, and I will be also handling Waffle Station outside of Section 123. Okay. For an 1105 first pitch. Happy San Jacinto Day. All those that celebrate, those that don't.

Those that celebrate. I was going to say, if you don't celebrate, I'm going to judge you. Chris and Troy Hight will get to you just a couple of seconds. Trust me. I can't get this segment fast enough. All right. Here's how it works to tell the truth. This is where Ross and Jonathan have to decide which one of the four I'm not telling the truth.

Three of the four gentlemen, I'm telling the truth. One I'm not. Do you understand said rules? Only one is false. Only one is false. One is false. One is false. Here we go.

Number one. I watched a little bit of almost every playoff game this weekend in the NBA playoffs. there will not be a single game seven in any of the playoff series. A playoff series? None of them go to the seventh game. Huh. Okay. That's kind of a randle one, but I'd throw it out there.

Okay. Number two. I took the comments from Nick Assyrio last week about, you know, what, we're not, we don't feel for need in our draft. I think I would not be surprised if next, This Thursday coming up, the Texans trade out of the first round. There will be no breakdown like a muddha of the first round pick. I would not be surprised if Casario trades out of the first round.

Okay. Okay. That's number two. Number three, Aaron Rogers can't find the team right now. He's mulling it over with his new girl, taking some downtime, away from his weekly appearances in the Pat Mac if he show a parent. you're very lucrative. Very lucrative.

I think Aaron Rogers ultimately, boys, is going to call it a career. He is going to retire. I think he knows that the writing is on the wall. He can't start anymore. He doesn't want to be a clipboard holder. And I think he is going to retire

and not come back and play the NFL in 2025. Okay. And number four. I believe Chas McCormick needs a change of scenery. Oh. I am 100% endorsed. the Astros trade Chas McCormick for something. He's not playing very much.

You give Zach to send him an opportunity to be the extra outfielder. Jake Myers clearly is playing center. You've got Jordan Alvarez playing quite a bit in left field. You don't need him. Chas, I think, can still play in the big leagues at a very small level, fourth, fifth outfielder. I think it changes Henry's in his best interest. If I were the Astros, I would start taking offers to trade one Chaz McCormick.

For what? nothing matter. Just to, you know what, something you just got, like Raphael Montero. You didn't, a pitching machine? They moved him to Atlanta.

Yeah, but they had to ship like $9 million with them. You get my point. Just needs a new change of scenery. Okay. So my four takes are, there will not be a seventh game in any of the eight playoff series. Okay.

Number two, I would not be surprised if the Texans trade out of the first round. Number three, I do believe because Air Rogers has not received the love that he's so richly thinks he deserves. He will be returned.

tiring. Okay. And number four, I think Chaz McCormick needs to change the scenery. The Astros should start exploring a trade to move Chaz out of Houston. Which one of the four am I not telling the truth? Okay. Let's talk this out, Jonathan. All right.

First of all, it's ridiculous to say that there's not going to be a single seven-game series out of all the series. But see, that's not the question, Jonathan. Matt often has ridiculous opinions. It's does he believe this ridiculous opinion? That's what we have to figure out.

I think number two, I'm throwing out. I wouldn't be surprised Nick Casario trades out of the first round either, especially with... I heard the same thing Matt heard. It sounded like Nick Casario was kind of open to trading back and getting more picks.

And all we have his defense right now on second day? I think there's no way Aaron Rogers retires. He's just loving and lapping up all this... All this attention, and then he'll eventually play somewhere. I don't know where. All these options are kind of running low. But he is old, though. Like, he's, he's like, what, 40 now?

Close to that? 41, yeah. He could retire. Yeah, he's old and ancient, yes. And then Chas McCormick retiring? No, not retiring. I mean, well, he might need to. He just turned 30.

You're not going to get anything for him in a tray, but he is kind of just sitting on the bench. But it's not like Zach DeZenzo is some great shakes. I think you still need Chas McCormick to play everywhere. He's been a defensive replacement as well. And Jake Myers isn't going to hit 300 all season. I'm sorry to tell you, folks. And he's valuable as a trade option. All right.

So, you know, I mean, these takes are, there's some decent ones and there's some really bad ones. Thanks, Ross. That's a nice thing you've ever said about this. I'll go before you, Ross. Okay. I really, you know, I know Matt, love basketball. I don't, I'm seeing, he really thinks the Pacers and Bucks ain't going to go to seven or just the Knicks and the Pistons. I don't, I don't think, I think it's going to be a game seven on.

Yeah, but he makes rash decisions like this. I'm going to take one. I'm going to go with three. I do believe Chas McCormer needs to change the scenery. Again, you've got replacements coming up at the minor league level. You've got a fact that you are playing Yordon Alvarez occasionally once, twice, week, and left field. Chaz has owned the center field spot. You're going to give Zach to Senzo.

Jake, excuse me. You're going to give Zach to Senzo. I'm not saying that you should do it, but I wouldn't be against it. But you did say you should. Well, they're going to listen to it. I mean, I'm not saying they're going to pull the trigger. but I think Chas McCormick's best days as a Houston Astros, a major leaguer, are long gone. Okay.

And I hope I'm wrong because I like Chas. What do you like about them? Versatility, the things you just talked about. Okay. But I just think sometimes you just, you got to get out. And I think the Astros will try to find some low-end prospect and get returned for it. Just a thought. Okay.

Number two, Pacers Bucks to me, the Bucks just look like, they don't have any interest to playing any defense. I don't know if Dame Lillard's going to come back. If there was any series that might go seven, it might be that one. But I watching what I saw this weekend, I don't think anybody's going seven games.

Okay. Somebody will go seven games. Okay. That's all you do is prove it to me. I know. I'm going to write this one down. You should write it down. And number three, the one I do believe, to be false. Aaron Rogers' ego is too incredibly big.

There's no way no how he's just going to just go off and run off in the sunset because no one wanted him. If he's going to leave, he's going to leave on the football field. So yeah, Aaron Rogers is not going to retire. I would not be surprised at the Texans straight out of the first round. So unfortunately

and I mean this in all sincerity, Ross, you were able to figure out which one I was not tone. See, Jonathan, you got to get in the mind of a madman. How odd was Brady when he retired? 44 or something, but he's also an exception, not the rule. Yeah. That's why I'm, but he's a freak of nature. No, yeah, you're right.

I understand. Like I said, Jonathan, you got to think unreasonably. That, wait a minute. I'm in the room. It's like when you're in the FBI and you're tracking down a serial killer. You've got to get in the mind of a madman. That's really mean. At least Jonathan, for all the mistakes you've made,

and you don't mean to me. This one over here. Now, let's tell the truth. Now, again, these are harder to come up every week. I know. You want to take a week off? Do you give me one? Just give me some notice.

No, you do a lot of prep. No, no, no, no. I can do this at least once a week. Okay. I just got to start thinking he's a little bit more ahead of time. Okay. But I, you know, I do believe that Chas McCormick's best days as an Astro are long gone. I don't think Aaron Roger's ego is going to allow him to just say, yeah, it's been a good run.

And Casario's just, I think he's very proud of his offensive line that he picked up in the off season. I don't think he's in any sort of. super hurry to replace it right away. What the heck he's watching? And maybe he does. Well, as I'm saying, he may do it with the second round guys. CJ Stroud might disagree. I think so. By what did you see how? What did you think about CJ and Steph Curry hanging out at the game

last night? Isn't CJ from California? Okay. I'm from Texas. I mean, I'm going to run around and talking about Dallas Cowboys fans and stuff. I think he grew up a Steph Curry fan. He's 23 years old. I think the Texans should trade CJ Straout because of his affinity for Steph Curry.

Oh, my gosh. That's that had been a terrible. Can we please stop people? Can we stop? I'm not saying you, Matt. because I know you're kind of. you're trolling. Can we stop not treating these people like human beings? Yes,

he's in Houston, and he can switch his allegiance to Houston only if he wants. He grew up a Steph Curry fan. Steph Curry was, I mean, one of the greatest basketball players of all time. Who cares if he's chopping it up with Steph Curry, please? Does he still throw up the Hs, though? That's all I I think so. That's all.

That's what Bun B was throwing up when he made that first shot. He did make it, didn't he? Yes, he did. All right. Chris and Troy, hang tight. We'll get to you guys coming up in the next time. I promise. You two are straight ahead here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross 713-212-5-790 with a... We appreciate you spending your Monday with us. Tomorrow, Joe Espite will be with us for a Tuesday visit. We will get more into the NFL draft.

Ross is going to find us an NFL draft guru expert. I ask you to get one guest a year. That's it. Yeah, during their most busy week of the year. Look, we run 95 promos for, people. We can at least find somebody. All right. I'll reach out to some folks. I'm going to send you a text and an email backup.

I'll forget. I know. That's why I'm doing both. Thank you. All right. 713-212-579. If you want to jump into the conversation, 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. In terms of longest wait, we go to, let's say hello to, well, the screen went away. You're right? No. Troy and Humble on line one on 790. Troy, thank you for holding and good morning to you.

Good morning. Thank you for taking my call, Jim. Sure. We were so frustrating about the Rockets game last night was. Steph had a very good game. Jimmy Butler had a very good game. You have the 95 points that you lost at home. That was the most frustrated part of that game.

And I get it, it's a first playoff for the Rockets, so there's jitters. But you just can't lose that game. You scored 85 points in a playoff game at home. that still doesn't i still can't fathom that um your starting back court was was terrible like that but they've had games like this all season long that's why you keep hearing the little rocks go trade for devon booker the person that could stop that would be jalen green and to have seven points jane green is so talented nobody should hold you to seven points in the game period i don't care who's playing against you you mean tell me step curry and i can't take the poor game put zimski or whatever's

name and Moses Moody, they shutting you down those guys? Well, it was just fresh. Jayland has had a bad season against Golden State. I mean, this is yesterday was on a one-off. He's, he's had a, he has they played six times and he's had one

good game against him in six tries. Granted, but that's really, that's still not a good thing. You know what I mean? Well, I mean, yeah. I mean, no one's going while. You know, they're overcoming that. I mean, I hope it's not a trend. And it's got to be better. I mean, if, if the

Rockets back court continues to perform like I did yesterday. This will be a very short series. And they're the first ones that would tell you that. Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, everything else, they remind the Rockets remind me so much to the universities. The Cougars is a shame. Their coach is pretty much the same.

We're going to play physical. We're going to rebound. Nobody's going to outpunk us. But we're not a good shooting team like that. And the same thing for the Cougars. They play the same way. But in the playoffs, you have to have somebody that can get you a bucket. Singung can get you a bucket down low.

But you've got to have some. about to have big shots on the perimeter. And pretty much for the all season, long, the Rock has a bit of portion of 15. And I'm just, another question, I'm just kind of surprised that you have, I'm not saying Aaron Holliday is a savior, but he's your best three-point shoot off the bitch

from the guard position. Cam Luke, I'm saying Cam, forgive me Lord. Cam Whitmore is a scoring threat off the bench. And Jeff Green has a playoff experience, and he can shoot three-point. They can't get any minutes in the game which you're a challenge for scoring. That was kind of surprised me.

But all said and done, we're going to win the next game. We're going to go one in one back to go to the state. All right. I thank you, Troy. I appreciate the positivity on that. I mean, again, it was woeful. The entire back court,

well, for that matter, the starting five not named Alpern-Shingun couldn't at the broadside of a barn. Three points. I mean, the rockets got nothing off their bench. They were one of five from three off the bench. they went six or 29 from three overall. It was terrible. It was absolutely awful to watch.

But it shows you what the fine line is on this. As bad as they were, Ross, it was a one possession game mid-fourth quarter last night. Yes. So if you get something, anything out of your starting back court. Can we stop having to look for silver linings and everything in Houston sports right now? It's called the Warriors, Ron. Oh, my God.

I got an idea. Win. Knock down some threes. So we don't have to say, yeah, the bats are going to get better. Yeah, C.J. Stroud's going to bounce back. Yeah, the rockets are going to make some threes. Just go out there and win, please. And I didn't even mention the Cougars.

Good. I'm not going to. I'm sick of the Warriors. I'm sick of the Warriors. I hate Steph Curry. I hate Dramon Green. I hate Steph Curry. I respect Jimmy.

butler, but I just don't want to watch him knock down any more tough shots against the Rockets. Those dorks in Boston doing the wave, by the way. Good. And the guy struck out. Service your right. See, Matt, the wave is everywhere. Boston's a good baseball town. Well, first of all, there's not real fans there today.

It's a day off for them, so it's fine. Okay. You dorks at Astro games still doing the wave, it was a three, two game on Friday on or something like that? One-run game? It was a one-run game. Brian of Brayu was in the game. It was the eighth inning. You should be engaged, hanging on every pitch, watching the game, and people are doing the wave.

Doing the wave. They're doing it right now in Boston. Chris, on 790 at 1157. Hello, Chris. Brother, I'm calling from San Francisco, and I can't stand these warriors. I hate Raymond Green. But I'm going to give you the formula. If you wanted rockets, only if you want it.

Okay, you adopt the facade of your head coach. Wow, mean, tough guy, tough guy. Y'all played soft last night. You forgot to use a legal blind pick, which is a legal pick. You can knock the hell out of a lot of players. It's a legal pick. It's called a blind pick. You can dislodge Draymond Green from the game and or Steph Curry.

Double-team Steph. Don't let him run around. And you've got one guy chasing him, double-team him, take the ball out of his head. let someone else beat us instead of standing. Oh, Kerry, he's so great. Man, you can't let this guy run around the court like that. And the warriors, when we bring the ball across half court, Podinsky and GP2, they take their hand and they push and grab our ball

when it comes across the court. Officials is not going to call it. Don't worry about the officials. Don't look for them to help us. We've got to get tough, and we're soft. Heart of a champion, I'm looking for it. These guys are wine drinkers and cheese and nippers out here. I give them hell, brother.

Believe me, I give them hell. The Rock has got to step up or go lay down somewhere. You got to fight fire with fire. What do you think? I want to hit some jump shots. Because let me tell you something. If you get into a screen war, the officials are going to call fouls, a lot of them. Yeah, but Stephen Adams was sending those blind screens that he was talking about.

It was happening. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I'm not, this is a very good pick and roll basketball team. I'm not worried about screens, not enough screens being set. All right, let's get to the news at noon. You want to? Yes. And then Gerard's coming in.

Oh, man. We should, we just have him do the news at noon. Gerard could just break it all down. Girac could do the last two hours of the show. Yeah, I think so. Hour number three, we're going till two o'clock today on the Matt Thomas show at Ross 713-212-5-790. 7-13-2-1-790. We present to you as we've.

every day at 1204. The News at Noon. And handling things, the Steve Smith of sports television journalism and radio for that matter, Ross, Villarreal. Thank you, Matt. I'll appreciate you having me here with the news at noon. Sports Talk 790.

Of course, the headline of the sports news here in Houston, Texas, game one loss to the Golden State Warriors. Jimmy Butler between the rings has Shangoon in front of him. Shock lock. It's set. Right elbow

16 footer for Butler is up in Double-Ligit lead and that will give Golden State a game one victory I just like the between the rings when you say that It's just such a radio basketball call I don't know why it makes me feel like it But anyway Is it despair of my voice by the way? What's that?

You hear the despair of my voice? Yeah you don't seem too happy And that's okay Because that was I what you said is what I thought too It was like well there's the dagger This game's over I really thought they were going to come back man got down by as much as 23, got it within one possession in the fourth quarter on a night where they were horrible from three, six of 29, that's 20.7%. 11 of 20 from the free throw line, that's 55%.

I mean, if just one of those numbers could have changed, you're talking about a completely different game. But Seth Curry goes off for 31 points on 12 and 19 shooting. Jimmy Butler with 25 points, seven rebounds, six assists, five steals. Rockets lose Game 1 to the Golden State Warriors Very unfortunate Making game 2 Oh here we go

Making game 2 A very important Of course we've seen here in Houston Teams get down O2 and head on the road And still win the series So it has happened before So you can call it whatever you want

I'm going to say it's a very important game For the Rockets they don't want to go on the road But they can beat this Warriors team Even four in a row And it's not where you want to beat but it can happen. A lot of work, Rossi. A lot of work to be done.

And a lot of shooting of themselves out of the game last night. Still, though, they were good on the offensive boards. Stephen Adams was a madman. Alperin Shungoon was still good. I think he's going to thrive in this series as well. But game one, the loss for the Houston Rockets. It's Coach Udoka talking about the big problems they had last night with the half-court offense. Alpi obviously was having a dominant game inside, and you got

some scoring from your bench there in the third quarter, but what did you think about the half-court offense creation in general? Not our best, obviously. You only score 85. It's not a great offensive night, and the numbers show that, but I think it was six for 29 from 3, 11 for 20 from prethal line and 17 turnovers that gave up 25 points. So not our best offensive night by any means, like I said.

Hold somebody in 95 you'd expect to win if you have a decent offensive night. And not only his shots, but like I said, turnovers playing in the crowd. The misses in the crowd are the same as turnovers basically. So had our chances. Got it to a four point game with 234, I think, and gave up a three there. But, you know, guarded well enough to win. Guarded well enough to win, did not play offensively well enough to win. And a lot of that going on in Houston, Matt, the Astros do win the series over the weekend against the San Diego Padres.

Exploding for six runs on Friday. Just three runs on Saturday. win just two runs on Sunday against the pause. Fernando Tatis with a big home run as the Padres beat the Astros 3 to 2. Good news is Framber was very good despite giving up the seven hits. It was just two earned runs, three walks, a couple of strikeouts as well. And the Astros now 10 and 11 on the season. They are just mediocre.

Any way you put it, 6 and 6 at home, 10 and 11 on the season, alternating wins and losses for 14 games. now we don't have to do a really big standings watch but two and a half games behind the Rangers it's only but nothing that's nothing but it'd be cool if they could win some games

how's Toronto by the way the Toronto Blue Jays they are 12 and 10 they have a negative run differential that's good I think is it has a is Joy Lo Perfito in town Joey Loporffito I believe is

struggling in Buffalo that's gonna happen Last I looked. I never been to Buffalo, but I bet others have struggled there before, too. Okay. I'll take your word for it. Let's see. You want your mound matchups for this Toronto Blue J series?

It starts to be in a made mark. It's Hunter Brown versus Kevin Gousman, the former Cy Young winner. He's having a good season so far with a 2.49 ERA. Then it's Renal Blanco over Old Astros' nemesis, Chris Bassett. Astros have touched him up over the years, but also he's had some good starts against them. And then it's Orion Gusto against Bauden-Francis, from Tallahassee,

of course, his name is Bowden, and he's from Tallahassee. That'll be the third game of the series. The rubber match, if you will, that's a 640 start because it's on all-night games this week. Yeah, all-night games and a 640 start on Wednesday. Astros welcoming the Blue Jays into town. But good news is they won a series against the best team in baseball. Yeah.

And they can define it. playing with America League teams. I'm very pleased about that. Yes. Also, by the way, last night in the game, Luis Arias was in a collision with Maricio Dubon at first base. It was a very scary situation. But the latest is Arias is back from the hospital. He was even in the clubhouse at the end of the game. He should be okay. I think it was he had a laceration on his jaw line. And they said they were also worried about his cervical region. Ooh, that got kind of looked dark at the very last second. But everything clear, apparently, and stable on initial testing.

All right. Okay, elsewhere, on the news at noon, Matt, you got NBA playoff action over the weekend. As you mentioned, you don't think anybody's going to seven games. We'll see what happens there. All right, let me ask you this. If I say that none of them are going to seven, which one do you think is going to seven? Or which ones? So let me look at the...

How about the Rockets and the Warriors? Okay. Yeah, that means it's in Houston, Texas. I could see the Clippers and Nuggets easily going seven. That's a closely matched up. By the Russell Westbro played well for them. Russell Westwood did. Clippers made a ridiculous three at the end of the game to cover two and a half on that one.

That doesn't mean it's counting. Very upsetting. But anyways, I don't think Nick's Pistons is going seven. I think Lakers Timberwolves could. I think there's three series I just laid out with potentially could go seven games, Matt. Okay. One else will be right. One of us will be wrong. Yeah, we'll see. We'll see what happens.

Congratulations, John Cena. He's your new WWE champion. Oh, sure. Why not? And the Pope Francis has passed. And he'll be on today's edition. Well, not he will be, but the subject of his life will be on, believe it or not. I mean, okay, he went into the missionary, and then he was Pope. Believe it. I mean, there's something else you want to go to? He was also in a motorcycle gang, and he liked bungee jumping. You want to do John Cena, believe it or not?

And he kept a pigeon coop. You could do a... Look, I can make up six things about the Pope. I mean, I can do it. Well, that I'm not going to hold you to Pope Francis, believe it or not, then. Your choice. We'll see. And that was the news and noon.

All right. If you miss any part of the rocket scheme, I mean, a complete breakdown is coming up in a matter of moments. It's fair to say? It is? 713-212-5-790. 713-212-5-790. It is the Matt Thomas Show with Ross. 1220 Sports Talk 790. It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross.

D'emico Ryan is speaking right now to the media. First day of Texans OTAs. Guess what? He's feeling great about the energy in the building. Can't wait? We're looking for guys who want to play hard, play Texas football, play for each other. Yes. Swarm mentality.

Correct. All right. Somebody's going to work hard, live for football. Those are the kind of going to love. good players in this draft and I think we're going to have a good one. Yeah. Unbelievably matched everything you just said. How about just win? I want wins.

I didn't get wins of my cougars. I got my rockets losing last night because I can't hit three point shots. I want wins. You got 10 of them and a playoff win. It's true. I want wins. I know. Some people thought they were going to lose.

The charges were favored in that game. Texans took charge. Well, as soon as the McNarris sell, you'll get to sure. going to sell. Hades running things. All coin on the stadium front. That's fine. Stadium runs, it operates.

It's not dilapidated. It has not been condemned. You know, Hannah's going to like, man, can we find some things wrong with it, more things wrong with it? Well, we'll see. It really is going to be a back burner for a while. But once it hits Ross,

you best be ready. You love stadium talk. I just love how people, I love, because I've been there and done that. I've listened to the complete crap that owners tell you about how they can't afford it and whatnot. If anybody can afford it, it's the National Football League owners. Yes. I mean, the NBA is doing really, really well.

Anybody wants to cry for? I mean, baseball's doing really well. Right. But NFL football is doing it to epic proportions. Yeah, the last people that should be crying poor is them. Correct. All right. Let's go to the phones and talk to the great people of Houston, Texas.

713212, 5, 7.9. I will actually read a few to me. Nico statements here. But first, let me get my phone ready. First, Ross. 713212-5-790, 7-13. Oh, I got you. 212-5-7-90. Let's talk to our friend Gerard on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Gerard, good afternoon to you. Good afternoon to you, Matt. How's it going, Ross? Going great.

Yeah, speaking of the Texan before I break down this game, Cal McNeil was at the Rocket Game last night, so was CJ Strauss. So the Texan was definitely in the house supporting the local team. It just came up a little bit short. Now, when I can't call you guys, I think it was Friday, kind of break this game down. I kind of told you that Stephen Adams was going to be a integral part of the game plan because he's a veteran.

He's been in a lot of big games. He's a guy that go crash the boards, get offensive rebound. And this is where the Rockers do have advantage overgo the state as far as side, though. They got to pay their strengths and try to minimize their weakness. Now, the back court did not do anything for the most part. of this game. Jalen Green was bad, but you got to give a dope a lot of credit. He saw that he was bad, and he put him on the

bench for large stretches of this game. So I think that's what you're going to see in this series. If he don't have it going offensively and Green, you've got to put him on the bench, because he's one of those players when he ain't got it going on the officer of end, it affects his defense. You know, and that actually shouldn't be like that. With his athleticism, he should be

above-level defensive player, but time and time again, and when his offense is bad, he don't play the type of defense that he normally plays when he's scoring. So again, he's got to make shots. Because what the state's going to do, they're going to pack the pain. They're going to dare him to dare him to beat them from the outside. If he's not making shots on a consistent basis, he's going to struggle throughout this series.

So as you know, the time that he did get to the rim, you know, with some contact, but they didn't call that. So this is a learning experience for Jaylin Green. You've got to play through contact. You're not going to get those calls like you've got in the record season where you go to the basket, any kind of contact. You're going to the free throw line. They're not going to give you the most of the game. type of call, so you got to go there and try to

dunk everything at the rim. That's my advice to Jaylon Green. Now, as far as his back court running mate, Van Fleet, Van Fleet, ain't really been the same since he came off that ankle injury. Outside of the game here and there, he's really struggling with his shot. They definitely going to need to get him going

because I think a lot of these games going to be close in the fourth quarter, and I think the go-to-guys for the Rockers got to be Sagoon and Van Fleet in the picking road. Those got to be your main go-to-guide in the to combat what Golden State going to bring to the table in a fourth quarter with Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler.

Now, like I said, when I'm going to this city, I do believe one of the services going to the Western Conference finals to play Oklahoma City. I think both these teams are elite-level with defensive teams. But the difference is the Rockets sometimes come down there. They don't really know what they want to do. In certain situations, Golden State seems to have more of a plan on what they want to do. I think their offense is probably a little bit more versatile than the Rocket's offense. and it seems to be the difference

of veterans veterans on Golden State team and their offense is a little bit more versatile. You know, they run a little bit form of their piston-style offense where they run a lot of sets and get a lot of backdoor screens and they got still coming off with multiple picks. Draymond Green don't get a lot of credit for this, but he's a great for

setting picks. Him and Stephen Adams, you'd probably looking at the two best guys for setting screens in the series of Stephen Adams and and my boy and the sister's name. And then in the center, Draymond Green. They're probably the two best Greens,

and what Steve Krupp's going to actually do is he's going to play Sagoons straight up. They don't want to double Sagoons and give open looks to the rocket shooter. So they don't tell Drayman to play them straight up. If Sagoon go off, he go out, but they're not going to lead their shooter. So they're going to need Sagoons to continue to put up numbers, and they're going to need Jalen Green to come to the party, man. Jalen Green don't have a good series. The Rockers are going to be in trouble, man,

because he's got to be a guy that gives you something on the perimeter. Either him or Van Fleet. Van Fleet is the guy I'm really looking at because he's been in this situation before won a championship with Toronto that's the guy I'm really looking at but Jayling Green's got to step up to the place so this is a good series as far as getting

a gauge on what the Rockers is going to do here going forward maybe what the Rockers might need next year so I'm kind of glad they're going to get the experience either if they lose we're going to get a good barrage to get a good baroners to oh okay Rockers need to do this in the offseason they got a good team they got a bright future they're going in the right direction

but maybe they don't have that guy that can get a bucket in a four-quarter when your offense getting stagnant. They can clear the floor and let them go one-on-one and get a good shot for himself or for his teammate. Maybe they don't have that guy. Damon Green could be that guy, but so far, he has got to get a guy. So good learning experience, got to win game two, play defense, go with the big lineup, like I said, going into the series with Stephen Adams, Saddam and Jabar Smith play well, and your back court probably got to be a mean Thompson and Van Fleet. I know a lot of people say it's not going to be enough offense,

but it's obvious that a dog are going to go with the guys that play defense and a guy that at least going to try to be aggressive and take it to the basket and look for their office and play a elite level of defense. That's what he got to line up he's going to go with. If come push up, come hill or come high water, he's going to go with that lineup. So again, look for the defense to be like it was

and hopefully we get fed up for room with the play. I think that would be the key to victory for game too. Coming up next to the A team here on Sports Talk 7. Thank you, Gerard. Show's over, folks. Let me tell you something, pealing the curtain back. Holy smokes. That was an old, that's got to be a record.

This is good. Please call, please call Guinness Book of World Records. 4.55. Good night. I have been. You started after the greeting. Yeah, I never start to the greeting is done. I have been in broadcasting for, since,

1991 and on air since 1992 so we're looking at 33 years okay and I have I've done speeches before I've called play by play and I've also had to monologue during a segment during a show uh huh

455 without a breath is flat out remarkable you should be a pearl diver let me tell you about Gerard first of all I love his for it. Yes. Secondly,

when he goes scuba diving, he doesn't need oxygen. I mean, I don't know what else I could there is absolutely nothing that he could possibly add to that conversation. I had a cigarette.

I don't even smoke. You got a fold-up shop. You know what? We all, we take time off occasionally. I think Girard just come in just do the shit. Like, Girard, five segments.

five rotating topics rotate, repeat, shows done. I think they could use him on the Senate floor when they need a filibuster. I mean, Wax is actually jealous of this guy. That's an all-timer. That's a got to be a record. That is an all-timer right there. Ash is game one of the playoffs.

Imagine if a mention of game two was a must win, Rossi. Oh, well, we can discuss. 713-212-5-790 7-1-3 if you want to let me ask you this is there anything that that that gerard said that you disagree with in it at 455 I don't remember 7-13 212-790 it's 1230 on sports talk 790 1234 sports talk 790 Matt and Ross with you till 2 o'clock we believe it or not today coming up at 150 it wasn't going to be on Pope Francis but Ross believes it's too full of knots to do that. So we'll leave it up to you, whatever you want to do, whatever tickles your fancy.

Yeah, he was a really good youth baseball player, actually. Both sides of the plane, ironically enough. It's the Vatican City record for home runs in the Little League. Hmm. Straightaway center field was only 275, though. They called them the miracle, man. They did. Yeah.

No wonder he moved on to the clergy. All right. 713-212-5-790 is how you reach a show if you want to get in. 7-1-3-2-1-2-5-7-90. A couple things from Jonathan Alexander, who covers the Texans for The Chronicle. These are quotes coming off of his Twitter account. Domingo Ryan's OTAs began today.

Said that it's an energy lifter being in the building on the first day, seeing some old and some new faces. That seems about right, right? Okay. Nothing crazy. there. Demico says at this point the culture is set. They have players who have been with the franchise for three years, who established

the culture and teaches the newer players. Wonderful. Culture establishment. That's why Laramintzel's going on. What is the culture right now? The culture is supposed to be playing for one another and team first, not me first. Let me ask you this. I didn't feel like Laramette Tunsel

fit that bill. It doesn't seem like to me. Are there 32 teams that are practicing in OTAs this week? They have bad culture. today. I mean, if you have bad culture right now in April, not saying the Texans do, but I think I would assume that everybody is saying the culture in their building is really, really good. I think culture is a real thing. I think we've seen it with the rockets. I think we've seen it with the Astros, and I think you're seeing it with the Texans, that there can be a culture of either complacency or things. I think you see it in college football as well all the time.

Right. I think the Tom Herman, to Tom Herman culture and the Steve Sarkeesian culture, way different for the Texas longhorns. Yeah, never being happy and just settling. On the message that he told his team today, quote, be where your feet are. Let's be connected. Let's talk to our teammates. Let's not be on our cell phones, heads down.

Let's have lunch with each other. You know what? That's a message to be sure for every child under the age of 20 in America today. Yeah, Matt, let's have lunch with each other. No, I don't, I'm talking about my children, not you. Oh. As concerning the draft,

Miko says, quote, we won't pass up a top player on our board just because we have a need of a certain position. See? We have a broad view of how we want to enhance our team. If it's a position there, a player that can change our team, we're going to take that guy. Well, I would assume so. I mean, yeah, these are nothing overly profound. Yeah, they're not going to draft on need.

They're going to draft best player available, except for quarterback. That would be something, though. That's not going to happen. No. Well, I'd be shocked. Well, and then after the first round, I should say. After that, honestly, you shouldn't be shocked. What is Davis Mills contract status?

He was a Damico first year. He was a Cassaria first year. He's got to be his last year. Yeah. You know these backup quarterbacks are making $5, $6 million a year? Some of them more. I mean, it's the greatest insurance policy in sports today. Because even if you're a left-handed reliever, Ross, you still have to go pitch.

You still have to go get outs. And you still are leaving yourself up susceptible to potential injury, Tommy John, elbow injury, forearm injury. Your backup quarterback, as long as your quarterback is in front of you is decent and upright, you're playing. Justin Field signed a two-year $40 million contract. What's Russell Wilson getting paid?

Aren't they paying him decent money? And what's his name? The 30 for 30? James Winston. Yeah, well, me and Kirk Cousins made good money to eventually be a backup to Michael Pennix in Atlanta. Just have some semblance of some sort of career and you're going to make a lot of money.

You know what it is? Being a quarterback in the NFL is like being a one-hit wonder. Hmm. You can have one or two hits as a performer and then go run around at casinos across this country and make money. You're back on a quarterback. You throw for one 300-yard game in your NFL career, you're set for the next five or six years. You don't even need that. Some of them.

Yeah. By the way, James Winston's only making $4 million, so I thought it was more than that. But, I mean, that's still a pretty good chunk of change for not to actively ever step on the field unless you're in mop-up duty or because somebody needs a break. break. Now, the question is, how much do you want to spend that a backup quarterback in case your number one guy gets hurt and how far drop off is it between one and two? C.J. to Davis Mills is a significant drop off. Yes. And C.J. knows that, right? And Davis knows that, correct? No, Davis thinks he's ready for his time to shine. It's been working hard. If we went to lunch, you're talking about going to lunch with people. If we went to lunch with Davis Mills right now,

do you think he's thinking, man, I got to get out of here, get myself my mojo back, because I was a starting quarterback at one point in the NFL? Or do you think, you know what? You think you'll wear a turtleneck? Do you think, well, yeah, without going, without saying. Or do you think he's thinking, look, I know my name, my egg, my brain cells are not scrambled up, I'm able to walk and talk and chew gum at the same time. Yes.

I've made a pretty good chunk of change. Yes. And I don't have the wear and tear that most NFL quarterbacks go through. I'm pretty blessed. I think Davis Mills is living a good life. I think he knows that. I think he thinks he can help the team win if C.J. Strowd gets hurt. If he doesn't believe that, he shouldn't be on an NFL roster.

Right. No, I don't disagree with that. But how much is the inner burning of I want to go start one more time? Or do quarterbacks, and this is a man, I guess it would be a better question for Sean Salisbury. Do you then go, you know what? I know who I am. I've got a nice, comfortable spot as a backup. I just know that if they need me for a couple of series here or a game there, I can help. but the reality is I'm maybe not a 17 game

starter in the national football league. I think, yeah, at some point, I don't know if he's accepted reality, but everybody at some point in their life, and unless you're the greatest of all time at something, have to accept the reality that somebody out there is better than you. Mm-hmm. I realize that all the time tended to two. Yeah. I know. I know you do.

That's what I'm here for, Matt. Yeah. It's like, I'm in 10th grade on the football team. I'm like, I think I've hit my limit. I am getting crushed every day in practice, and it is 104 degrees out here. It's time to switch to tennis. And that's what I did. I was like, I don't think I'm going to make the NFL. Yeah. You know, I hit my...

Same way for track for me. Yeah, for track. Is that what happened? You're like, you know what? These guys are faster than me. I was dying hit, man. You hit it point? Oh, that's where you switched to track from football? You're like, this is terrible. Yeah, middle school was rough. Yeah. So you went from middle school football to track and field. Yes. Because you could run. You just couldn't catch. No, you know, yeah, exactly. I played safety. So I could only hit and I was too small. Yeah, you just, you find it out.

So Davis Mills at some point, I would imagine, except the reality, I am not a starting quarterback in the NFL. Oh, I'm sure he's had that reality in his head for a couple of years now. Maybe in the back of his mind, he's convincing himself he can still do it. Who knows? That's what I'm saying. I mean, at what point do you go, you know what? I think I can do it, but I'm making a real nice living and I'm able to walk and not have to use a cane.

There's something to be said for that. Look at Case Keenon. You think Case Keenum is now what? He went to back up somewhere in the Midwest. Did he go back to the Bears? There's the Iowa Barnstormers. No, no, no. It was somebody in the NFL.

But he's in the same spot. He's like, I guess I could start a couple of games here and there, but I'd rather just move around from team to team to team and make a lot of money. Yeah, didn't Colt McCoy hang him up last year? Yeah. It was a Chase Daniel made a 15-year NFL career doing that. I mean, there's something to be said for that. Having just enough athletic ability to do it,

but yet know that you just can't do it. it week in and week out. And let's see Jay Stroud where all, you know, where the, you know, now granted, the difference between starting quarterback money and backup is, is seismic, but. Yeah. I mean, CJ Stratt, look, you've seen this offensive line?

He can go down and you might need Davis Mills for a couple of games, and he's capable. You can win games with Davis Mills. Are we going to spend all year talking about that offensive line again, aren't we? I think so. Because two years ago, we felt great about it. even though we get a last year I felt pretty good right right right yeah

but Shaq Mason took a step back you had some injuries the thing that's hard the hardest for people to comprehend and I get it especially on the outside is that you had a porous offensive line your worst offensive line maybe since the early Texans days

and certainly one of the five wars in the NFL this past year and you got rid of your best guy for culture that's an if then statement that typically doesn't make sense now you know I've not been the biggest learning I know, you hate him. I didn't hate him. I just think it was vastly overrated.

Not a team guy. But short of that, he was great. No, he wasn't, and that's why he's gone. Yeah. But you can have all that team and culture and swarm and play for you and play for us, but I don't matter when Miles Garrett's landed up on the other side. That's what I'm worried about. Do you think CJ is like, is this, like, do he text?

Is this real? Does this really happen? It's not that bad. It's not like the Luca trade. He texts over to Damico, walk me through this. Yeah. Maybe I think he knew. I think he knows.

I think C.J. Stroud has absolutely bought in and a big part of somebody, as somebody who fosters this culture of everybody playing for each other. Yeah. And part of it, too, is that he knew he had people on the defensive side that had to get paid. And then he knows at some point he has to get paid. Yep. So when in doubt, in C.J.'s mind, he's probably going, just give me a decent offensive line to keep me upright.

I don't need five seconds of protection. I'm elusive. I can do some things. I can move around in the pocket. I've done it before. I haven't had a great offensive line ever. Just keep me upright. And more importantly, get me paid in a couple of years.

Because his time's coming pretty soon. It really is. 1244, Sports Talk, 790. It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Rockets falling last night to Golden State and Game 1 of the NBA Western Conference first round series. The Astros fall to the San Diego Padres. That's on the United States.

topic of a conversation. If you want to jump in, 713-212-5-7-90. All right, it's 1251 on the Matt Thomas Show at Ross. We are taking this program until 2 o'clock today. So the building was full last night. There weren't a whole lot of Steph Curry fans out there. There were a few. I mean, look, every team's going to have other teams and Steph's one of the greatest jump shooter of all time and very popular and Golden States won a bunch of championships. So I would be naive not to think that there weren't going to be a fair number of Golden State jerseys in the building. But I thought relatively speaking, compared to previous years, that if you went to the Rockets game, you did your job. You were

loud, you were rooting for the right basketball team, you had the good vibe going, and then unfortunately, you just had a big problem with the second quarter and how Golden State pulled the way after outscoring the Rockets 29 to 13. I want to ask this question to those of you that you would consider yourselves to be fringe NBA or fringe rocket fans. And this was that I was somewhat afraid of. And I hope that you guys are smarter than what I'm about to describe. But sports fans can be finicky. Did I grab some of you and then lose your?

you because of the game one loss. Now, if you're a rocket fan through and through, yesterday was not a shock. It was not an upset. Golden State is a team that has been there, done that, a team with plenty of a playoff experience, and they're not acting like a seven-seated team. But there are quite a few people that don't necessarily

gravitate towards the NBA until it comes postseason time. And I understand that. My question I wanted to throw out there was, if this was your first impression, your first glimpse of a rocket team in a while, did you go, oh, same old rockets? Or did you go, you know what? I know last night was bad,

but there was a nice vibe in the building. The crowd looked like they're engaged. It's nice that playoff basketball again. What I'm afraid of Ross is is that we got a fringe group of people out of. there. Look, we're not a great in Bay City. We're just not. It's going to have to take a championship for that to happen. And just like, just like

the Astros, like we weren't on a great baseball town in 2013. We just weren't. No, they weren't. We weren't in Houston. No. I mean, ultimately, when you become great in anything, it's because your team has had some sort of championship success. The reason why the Dodgers are better than the Angels in Los Angeles is because the Dodgers

have won a World Series. Yeah, Yankees' Mets. I mean, I mean, And the Bulls were made Chicago a basketball town for the longest time because the Bulls had Michael Jordan winning almost championship. Championships breed what you are as a town. I've never been to a sports city in my life that go, man, the New England Patriots have won three Super Bowls,

but they're not real big on them. It usually takes winning to get to these things. My point is that I'm afraid that the fringe got in last night watched it as they were settling in and were like, I can't shoot, can't make the three, turn the ball over, same old rock as a round, I'm afraid some of that crept in. Well, it might have, but that's on the team.

You've got to play better. You've got to knock down threes. I mean, what was their problem last night was a lot of what has been their problem this year. And that is the three-point shooting. That is the free throw shooting. And it is the lack of offense. It's exactly, I mean, it,

kind of is what we saw from this. They played great defense. They played really well and the crassy offensive boards. They couldn't shoot. They couldn't hit a lick. Fred Van Vleet went two for 13 from three. We've seen that before. We've seen that all season long. So, I mean, I don't think that was some kind of gross misrepresentation of who the

Astro, I mean, who the rockets are. I got to win. I would just like to have more of an NBA buzz and I just felt like there was a group of people last night that probably had just checked in for the first time in a while and said, yeah, I know they are. Yeah. Well, don't. And that's all they can change.

Yeah, that's what you change. You have to win those games. You have to be different than what people, what you think the perception is, you got to be better than the perception. Yeah, don't talk about how you're disrespected and the Warriors and buy their favorite in season prize and Rockets are going to get this done.

The crowd was there. The crowd showed up. The crowd was energetic. Everybody, they did their part. And the Rockets didn't. Fred Van Vliet and Tar Heeson and Jalen Green, they didn't. Alper and Shingoon did his part.

Stephen Adams did his part. And from there, it was just a lot of question. marks and or bad performances. I hope that the learning curve between game one and game two of a playoff is significant for a man, Thompson, for Jabari Smith, even for Opren Shingoon. I can't imagine. I can't, well, but I mean, but he may has coach 25 playoffs.

Yeah, he has, but I mean, I don't know where he thinks the offense is going to come from. I'm not saying he doesn't know what he's doing, but it's, I think the leash on Fred and Jalen will be significantly shorter on. went tonight. It was not an accident that they went on the bad scoring spell they did with the lineup that they had out there, not a ball ball handlers and shooters. But that's also

kind of the roster that's out there. So I mean, it's not like Stephen Adams all of a sudden he would come Nicoliochich. It's not going to work. Yeah. I mean, he gets you offensive rebounds, he facilitates, he sets picks, he does the screening, all that good stuff. But the negative

about Stephen being out there is he just, you don't, he's not considered an offensive threat. And for the right reason. Right. Because that's not who he is. There is a role for him. And by the way, he played amazing last night in terms of keeping balls alive and doing something that the Astros or the Rockets have done all season long.

And that is keep possessions alive with their offensive rebounding. And if you got an off-night shooting like Jaylin and Fred had, you need more nights like Stephen Adams. But at some point, you've got to knock the shots down. Wide open looks. Wide open looks, man. All right. Let's get this final hour of the show started.

We'll start with the Yankees Keith. He's Rockets, Keith, too. Is he Rockets Keith? And Texans, Keith? I always get confused of what Keithy is these days. That's fine. It is very confusing. We believe it or not coming up in 55 minutes, what is the topic?

I don't know. The topic is, where's my lunch? What do you have? What are you going to have? I just lost. I don't want to talk about it. All right, it sounds fair. 713-212.

I ordered to the wrong place, I guess. There's two cafes next door right next to each other, and I ordered from the wrong one and they're not picking up the phone so i'm just out like 25 bucks do you've now here's a problem made you've got what they don't know by the same group either are they no they have the same name and they have basically the close to identical address i'm stupid i'm very upset right you want a hug no all right it is a group chat monday ross and i are in a group chat within our own offices if you're new to the show you're saying what is a group chat monday that's where you send us your group chats.

Yeah, you don't have to tell us exactly what's in it, but you can give us the general subject. My group chats today involving referee officiating in the game last night, which I thought was a non-issue. Fake members of the media bragging about how hard they work. Okay. Oh, the delicious salmon and brisket that was served at the media meal at the TOTA Center last night. Salmon and brisket. Yeah, salmon and brisket. I'm not a big salmon guy.

Matter of fact, I'm not anti-saman. I will eat salmon, but I like smoked salmon. I don't like... I don't like the taste of salmon in general. Yeah. For the most part. It's got a... It tastes like, you know, when they put it on cedar planks, it's like, yeah, let's eat some wood. It's like what?

I'm not a beaver. It's pungent, a bad term on that? Oh, pungent, okay. Yeah, I'm just going with that. It's kind of fishy, gamey? Fish is the only food when you describe it as it is, it's a bad thing. Oh, this fish is too fishy. It's fish.

Except a filial fish. Delicious white. I promise you, I just had this argument with my mother. Okay. I was telling her, I said, what does it mean it's too fishy as fish? And she had, she was grilling me in. Yeah, but I understand when it's too fishy. It's just like.

Real quick. Like funky fish. Catfish, yes or no. I like every fish. Flounder? For the most part. Yeah, flounder is delicious. Yeah, flounder's good.

I don't eat the... Filet of? No, thank you. You may give me a flay on the way home All right, good I know you're hungry Yeah Let me buy you some fish

No, I'm upset I'm upset right now I'm upset at myself I don't want to talk about it I'm tired I've been working all these games I'm working at night too It's fine

And you get to hang out with me For four hours ago Yeah I mean I'm like your Life is good I'm your sabbatical I complain but life is good man Yeah it's good

Hey we want you to be a part of a show here today We are with you till 2 o'clock We believe it or not Come up in 45 minutes from now 713-212-5-790 if you want to join our conversation at 7-13-212-5-790. Game 2 of the Western quarter-finals, first round series is Wednesday. Astros opened up a series with Toronto tonight. We'll have it for you with the On-Dex show at 6 o'clock.

First pitch will be at 7-10. Joe Spato will be with us tomorrow on the radio program. We've got gut feelings as well tomorrow as well. And NFL Rewind. The return of NFL Rewan. Mm-hmm. Can't wait. Should be good.

We've got a, we're going to PowerPack show. Later on this week, we're getting an NFL draft analyst on. Maybe. Tomorrow, maybe. We'll say, possibly. Thursday's a possibility. I don't know. I've got a lot going on right now.

Check it out during the game. Okay. 713-212-5-790. Keith is where they've said. 106. Keith, thanks for holding in. Good afternoon. Hey, good afternoon.

Good. Okay, so last night. We only use, like, a little portion of our bits. We use Adams. We use Jabari and we use Tari. What happens to Holiday? Holiday is our best shooting three-point shooter. Also, even Whitmore can make three.

Why didn't, I mean, well, I know just the first game. So I'm hoping that during the series, they're going to get some play. Because if Jalen can't shoot them, Jailen keeps running into the brickwood. over and over again, not getting files. They need to pull his ass out. And, and, uh, Van Fleet, if he can't, if he can't shoot,

like, what was he like four for, for 20 last night? You need to pull his ass out too. Okay, I'm just going to be brutally honest with you for a second, Keith. If Van Vlead and Green aren't successful, the Whitmore holiday combo in your own definition, not mine,

will not overtake the Golden State Warriors. You have to get Jalen Green and Fred Vanbley vested in successful in the series. If they're not successful, simply replacing them will not be good enough. The Rockets will not win a playoff series, whether

it's Golden State or anybody else, unless those two gentlemen are key contributors. That's just a flat-out truth. And you're speechless. He said I'm done. Thank you, Keith. I think it's a safe bet we're not going to see Cam Whitmore, at least in non-garbage time minutes,

unless it's just a complete desperation move. Aaron Holiday, I could see, but it's very clear to me that E.M. Adoka is going with guys that he can trust, especially on the defensive end. He is a defensive coach. That's why you're only bench players right now, Jabarizman Jr. Tar East and Stephen Adams.

I may tell you something. The Houston Rockets are proud of their 95 points they all out last night. Coach Udoka thinks he can win with the guys he put on the floor last night, and he's right. They have to play better. Jalen Green's got to be more aggressive. He's got to not go over from three. Same thing for Tari Isson. You get hot from three, and we're talking about a completely different game.

Well, I would even take mid from three. I mean, they were six of 29. If I get that to 35, 36 percent and take the turnovers down from, say, 17 to where they normally are, about 11 or 12, of Ross, that's a difference maker. And the reality is, I can't use a free throw line to my advantage. They are who they are. They can't go 55%.

You can't go 0 for 4 if you're in Thompson. That has to improve. And we keep saying 6 of 29 is correct. That's what they ended up with. A couple of those are made when the game was over. They went into the fourth quarter, three for 21. Three for 21.

In an NBA game. You can't do that in the playoffs. This again, I'm going to bring up to the point I brought up to Keith a second ago before he lost this connection or whatever. This isn't about benching. This is about who got you to 52 wins and say what you will about Fred's three point percentage this year, which is down previous year. I think it's one of his lowest ever in his career. They trust Fred with the basketball in the hand to run the offense. The offense got in a log jam yesterday. The offense did not move with the fluidity

that it has moved so much of the time over the course of the year. And it's up to the Rockets coaching staff to make those adjustments to make sure that happens. Ultimately, Jalen Green's going to have to shoot better. Ultimately, Ross, I don't know if Fred Van Vleet should be taking 19 shots in a basketball game.

But remember, those were open looks. And coaches, no matter if it's EMAIDOCA, whether it's Red Awebock, may he rest in peace. They're going to tell their players, if you are open, take the shot. Yeah, and you have to hop. And most of the missed shots yesterday by both those gentlemen, maybe more so on Fred than it was on Jalen, were largely with not a hand in the face.

Very few contested three-point looks. There was one that Fred Van Vliet was thrown up like a heat check. It was weird. And they didn't go in. But other than that, yeah, most of it was, most everything was in the rhythm of the offense. Because, I mean, put it this way. I can't imagine. Now, it could happen, but I'm going to say I can't.

I can't imagine you're starting back court going seven for 34 again. It may not be fluid. It may not be fluid 54% between the two of them. But, Ross, I can't imagine seven for 34 and two of 17 from three in back-to-back games. Or for that matter, a second time in this series. They're going to be better. They're going to be better.

It's going to be a short trip. They're going to be better. And if it's short, you know what's going to be talked about. A lot. just win, baby. Let's go. And somebody asked me this off air. What do you think about that certain player in Phoenix?

I said, you know what? My guess is everybody that's going to have the capital, either through players, money, or draft picks, is going to kick the tires on Duran. That'd be foolish not to do that. Do I think there is an affinity for the Rockets in Kevin Duran? Yeah. But I also don't believe it's such a strong offensive.

that if this team was to win a playoff series or at least make this thing a seven game set or at least show signs that you know what you're just really close with the core that your hair there that it would not be a working on the phone as soon as we humanly can to talk to Phoenix but I'll say this if they go out and four and those two guys don't come through and the back court does struggle from a shooting perspective then that that's going to be a hard conversation not to at least have a more deeper visit among Rockets' front office personnel. Because you are who you are playoff-wise. It just is what it is.

And it's not fair because Jaylon's only been in one of them, but you've got a lot of money coming his way. He had a much better regular season. He showed signs of being way more consistent than he was inconsistent, which is something that plagued him early in his career. But if you fail on the playoffs, that goes on your resume. go ask James Arden about that for the most part of his NBA career. For as great of things that James has done offensively,

when you think about James Hardin, you think of, what is the phrase you hear all the time? Playoff James Hardin. And he hasn't been able to avoid that because he's not been able to get over the hump and be the kind of score and leader and have productivity like he's had for 99% of his regular season career. I mean, seriously, if you went into a room and said,

let's debate Kevin Durant, You could clearly go either way on this. I would rather not. He's just too old now. I do think his best days are behind him. I think he hurts you defensively. He turns it all over way too much. But it would be automatically immediately your second best score,

if not your best score. It would be great, but for how long? I don't know. Whatever. Look, if it happened, I'm not saying it's like a horrible move. I'd be excited. But it also depends on what you have to give up. 114. Sports Talk 790. It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross.

713-212-5-7-90. 7-13-212-5-7-90. Believe it or not, coming up in 35 minutes right here on 790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. You upset about Paul Heyman's heel turn during WrestleMania night one, Rossi? I haven't been able to sleep. I'm distraught. Didn't you predict that?

Yeah, of course. It was a no-brainer. Oh, okay. I think I'm going to quit the business and go become a WWE writer. I think I can write pretty good stuff. That's fine. I mean, yeah, you're entertaining 12-year-olds. Can't be that difficult.

Hey, they had 61,000 back-to-back nights at Allegiance Stadium in Las Vegas. Mm-hmm. That event made $60 million probably for a WWE by itself that night. Wow. That's incredible. I just don't get it. And Clinton didn't pay any tickets. He sat in the press box, and of course he was eight miles away from the site.

Yeah, I think he packed his telescope, correct? A little bit, a little bit of a cheap skate there, but that's fine. That was Matt Thomas saying that, not me. You were faking it, though. No, I wasn't. Oh, okay. I wasn't really that concerned. I forgot that he was at WrestleMania.

He's like shooting him the best. He's like shooting photo. Like, you literally can't see the ring. They're like a little lance. Step up your game, Clinton. You make a lot of money. Lord knows probably too much for this company. Step up your game and actually go.

Go get down close, you can see the event. I paid good money to see my... Where did you see these pictures? Is it on Instagram or something? Okay. Let me find him. Adam Clanton on Instagram. Go look how far he is.

He can't see a jack squat. I mean, if I... Imagine me going to the final four to see my Cougars lose to Florida and being that far away from it. At least I was closing up close to see the final 15 seconds. You're going to brag about being close to watch them with choke in the championship game. She's strong of a turn, Rossi. But it also is accurate. I don't believe that to be accurate.

Yeah. Very questionable officiating. You watch the same. Oh, questionable officiating. When Daniel Sharps does watch the ball just hang out at his feet. That's got to be really tough. Sorry, Matt.

Yeah, that's fine. Always next year. There is next year. Team's going to be stacked. Yeah. Top five preseason. Number one. And the South Regional, I think,

is going to be here in Houston next year. Because of the breaking news that the Cooper flag is now declared. Yeah. Huge breaking news it was. Not a surprise, right? No. And I always feel like I argued, not argued, debate this.

Cooper Fly, just a guy, really good guy, superstar. I think really good player. Superstar, the thing is he's young. He is a baby. He's barely a college player, yeah. It was very tough. The question is how polished is he? How close is he to his ceiling?

He's obviously very polished and good, but sometimes with guys like that, that means maybe they're close to their ceiling already. Yeah. it takes guys two to three years. Look at Cade Cunningham, former 1-1 finally becoming a star in Detroit. Yes. I don't know if Zachary Richache

of the Atlanta Hawks will be that guy, but he's on the he's like on the runway for Adam Clinton. That's not his seat. Yeah, but he's getting down there. He's getting access. That's cool. That's probably stock photo. 713-212-5-790.

Martin and Engleton. This ought to be a treat. Hello, Martin. Hey, to everyone. and I'm up here in East Texas, but I'm coming down tonight. But I know that I'm listening to Gerard breakdown of the rockets. I know y'all timed him today at 455, and I was thinking what y'all could do is y'all could time him

when he's having relations with his lady friend. And he could call in, Gerard could call in, and y'all could break down the rockets and his relationship. with his lady friend all at the same time. Matt, I apologize. No, it's not you. Martin's been calling in with really bad jokes and takes for years. That bad, always?

I mean, Martin might be one of the dumbest human beings alive. And I don't use that term loosely. Thank you, Martin, for the call. Matt, why don't you head to Girard's house? And time him to... No, I'm not timing anybody doing anything. I guess he's trying to compare the two? I don't know.

It's interesting. That's where Martin's mind went. No, Martin's been banned. I mean, I'd expect that from you, really. Martin's kind of banned from the show now. Is he? He's stupid. Okay.

I mean, I hate to call people stupid. I'm all right with it. But he's stupid. And I would hate to be called stupid. But that was stupid. Love you, Martin, but you're stupid. We appreciate you. Not really.

All right. Is there any possible where we can rebound from that phone call? I don't think so, but I would like to have someone. We can try to come in and have a nice, decent sports conversation. If you are able to do that, 713212-5-7-90. I mean, it won't take much. No. 7-13-212-5-7-90. Please, if you have an IQ, what would you say? What do you have to have minimum IQ to call? average, I believe. Yeah. I think 75 and below is... Yeah, I know.

Yeah, don't say it. We're thinking it, though. So I would say if you have an IQ of above 100, you're more than welcome to call the show. 713-212-5-7-90. Astros getting ready for a series starter with the San Diego Padres tonight, and excuse me, the Toronto Blue Jays,

after winning two out of three. It was crazy that they had won the Friday and Saturday game, and people are like maybe that's a turnaround and then baseball happens. Look, if you went two out of three at every series, you'll take that every day of the week. Yeah, but they're not doing that. No.

They got a sweep in there somewhere against the Giants. Yeah. But other than that, they're playing about 500 baseball right now. Hunter Brown on the mound today. Let's go. Hunter Brown's like, you know what? I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing, and then we're going to have a nice little conversation

in the offseason. Might be early for that. Might be early. but might be warranted, especially because guess who's going to be leaving at the end of this year? Yes. I mean, I'm sure the Astros will try to... I mean, the stars are lining for Hunter to do quite well for himself, right?

He's going to make a lot of... He's not going to be... I don't think he's going to be eligible arbitration until... Is it this year? This all season... But you can buy arbitration years out? Yes, you can, but that would... Say it.

Hunter Brown's going to bet on them. self, I think. So Hunter Brown's like, this is really cute you're trying to do this, but it's not going to happen. I would love if he did. I mean, a lot of big star players have had arbitration years bought out. Usually with young baseball teams that don't spend a significant amount of money, money on free agents.

Like the Kansas City's will do that with Bobby Wood Jr. St. Ego before they became a big free spending team would do a lot of that arbitration buying out. Yeah, but you remember who Hunter Brown hired. in the offseason. Scotty B. That is correct. Scottie B's last haste of facing the talk of the Astros?

Not getting returned text. Yeah. You think Scottie B. is going to be like, oh yeah, let's do a team-friendly deal. Let you guys buy out a couple of years arbitration. Tack on a little bit. Put it this way. The Astro.

Let me put, this is the cart well before the horse, and I apologize for it. Well, do you think there's pressure to actually get a Scott B not named Jose Al-Tube client signed here? To show that... Pressure from whom? From the Astros of an organization

and from Boris to say, we've got to figure this out. Because if every time I have a free agent that isn't really being courted by the team, why do I want my players to go there? Well, it's not really a big problem because the owner doesn't want to sign big long-term contracts. So...

It's all good. And that's fine. I'm not saying that's an indictment of Jim Crane. No, no. I mean, he's had this philosophy. been good for him. Most of the players who have left on big deals. I guess what I'm saying to dumb and down is I'm saying, I would like to see a Scott Boris client

signed with the Astros not named Jose Al-Tube. Because I think Jose Al-Tube was a one-off. If he gets more journeyman relievers and over the hill first baseman, we got a shot. I knew you went that way. 130 on sports talks.

We're not going to pay anybody to know 35, 36, unless they're already 34. The reason you sign those big deals because you're buying the prime and you know you're going to take it on the back end. Jim Craze accelerating it. He's like, no, I'll just take the back end decline years. It hasn't worked out well lately.

Let's go, Christian Walker. Come on, baby. Turn it around. Let's go, Christian. He's going to turn it around. We're team Christian to walk. He is. We're team CW.

Me too. 134 Sports Talk 790. Matt and Ross with you till 2 o'clock. Let's talk to Chris with us on 790. Hello, Chris. Hey Matt, how are you doing today? Good, what's going on? Ross got me fired up.

Ross, you saying that the Cougars choked was just not right. You got to go back and look and see that Florida did the same thing to Tech. They did the same thing to Auburn, and then they did it to us. It seems to be their MO. But as far as Matt's comment about the referee, I won't say that the referees cost us a game, but I will say they ruined the second half of that game. They called four foul in the first half and 26 in the second half. And after Todd Golden's technical, they called 11 in a row against the Cougars.

And that just ruined the second half. It took the flow of the game away and everything. But we had our plenty of chances to win. We did not choke in Florida won. So I just wanted to let you know that, Ross. We didn't choke. He says that he doesn't think that the Cougars choked. Oh, okay.

Well, they were up late in that game, and then they didn't get a shot off in the last second. That's tomato potato. I mean, we got, what happened to us is we did the Duke, appearing into story. Yeah, Duke choked at the end of that game. And then? We couldn't get a shot off. You don't get a shot off at the end. That's a joke.

Sorry. You know, and this is what I said originally. Choke's a tough word. Because there's pressure. This was... But you know what? I gotta be honest. I never wanted to use the word choke,

but I don't consider. to these athletes amateur anymore. And if pro players choke, college players can choke. And the reality is, we couldn't have played a worst 30 seconds. I should have won that game. They were the better team. Better team that doesn't always win.

Nope. It's a one-off good situation. Honestly, Duke was a better team than Houston. Just say. Better team didn't win that game. But we had two terrible, hard-to-imagined turnovers. Yeah, you turn the ball over all, like what, in the last three or four possessions or whatever, and don't get a shot off at the end, that's a choke. I'm sorry.

Yeah, it's... It's... It just choked a tough word. I know. And it is. And it's hard for me to say it. I'm here to give you the harsh truth, Cougar fans. And Lord knows, if Texas chokes at a game, we will be happy to let you, you know... Yeah, that's fine.

Guess what? I'm not going to be some dumb blind homer who's not going to say that my team choked. My team chokes, they choke. It happens. It was a regrettable 30 seconds. It was terrible. I mean, it was the ball going off the foot, and then the travel, the ball loose kept up to the... Yeah.

Well, I know. No sun shines and rainbows. You're turning the ball over and not getting shots off with the lead. I guess another semantics argument. You can call whatever you want to call it. I'm going to call. I got no ring. I got no celebration.

I got no a hitter wins for Calvin Samson. And you were they were going to give you a ring? No. Oh. That was metaphorically speaking. Oh, okay. Maybe if you up your donoes. I'm not donate anymore.

Donate my time, my talents, my positivity. We'll be fine. But it was a long way to go, Rossi. I got COVID over it. Not only did I not win, but I got a COVID out of it. Okay. 60,000 mangy people in Alamo Doma, Dumpfest. Needs to be cleansed.

It was dirty? Yeah, of course. What was the facility like in there? It's been a few years. It's old and decrepit. I spent a lot of time in the Alamo Bowl, as you know, Matt. I know. I actually sat in your seat in the first half.

You did? Yeah, it's gold-plated. They still haven't? That's great. Here's where Ross has been for a better part of the last 10 years of his life. It's great. Well, I mean, honestly, I mean, think about it. As a Cougar fan, the three most defining moments for me, two of the three are losses. one going to beat Florida State and the Peach Bowl was cool because that was a BCS Buster. But the other two are as an 11-year-old kid watching Fy Samajama and lose the national championship on a buzzer beater.

And then being as an adult in the building watching the last 30 seconds and watching the blue and orange confetti fall from the top of the Alamo dome. That's got to hurt. And me having to wait in order to sit in the stadium for thousands of people to exit and then walked like three miles to my car. parking spot. Nothing enjoyable. And then I get on a plane and go to, uh, to the Bay, to, LA where I get sick for five days. And that thing's great. I'm sorry, Matt. It's fine. What do they say, Ross? It's never, it's, uh, to, uh, it's better to love and lost than ever to love before. Yeah. So I kind of feel. Reaching those heights. Would you rather be the Buffalo Bills or, geez, I don't even know. Calana Panthers.

My bad, Texans are better off because they didn't even taste it. That's what I'm saying. The Texas have never even been to a championship game. At least the bills went to four Super Bowls. That's pretty crazy. Yeah. And could have won one of them. Wide right.

Jerry Golf Gate 140 on 790. Hello, Jerry. Hey, hello again. Great show as usual on this beautiful day. Hey, you know what? I'm amazed, Rorty, and how coaches, no longer called plays. We saw an ideal example of a play being called at the end of that.

What was that Purdue they played, where picks were set for L.J. Cryer, and all of a sudden he's wide open, and the defender has to make a decision, should I leave wide open LJ Cryer? Yeah, I better go get him. Forgetting about the Usan down low. But that all was just,

generated by a play call. You know, LJ had two or three picks. They ran behind. I had the guts, my goodness, to actually have a quick conversation on more than one occasion with a coach of the Cougars. And I mentioned to him that it will be good, great. No, I'll tell you what I say. I said if you set picks for players on the low block, you went a national championship. Well, now, that took a lot of guts in it.

Wait, wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, you told him to say, to drop that play? Well, no, no, no, no. His response was what was important. He said, yeah, we already got, we already got plays like that. In his last radio show, you know, they allowed people out in the audience to stand up and have a mic and say something to him. And I was the first one up there. And I, on this occasion, this was actually the third occasion, I said, you set picks for players without the, no, I asked him, do you, do you have plays that set

picks for people without the ball? I swear to God, I said that. And so I found out, I said, that's the best way to say that, you know what I mean, just ask him. His response was, check this, his response was, next question, you know. He wants to know part of him. He's like, you know what, I've been doing this for a long period of time. Thank you.

Thank you very much for the call, Jerry. Yeah, my. Yeah, that was at play. I mean, it was out of timeout play. Coach Udoch runs out of timeout plays. Every coach in the NBA runs. Yeah. They call them ATOs.

Yeah, that's good. They work to perfection. They call them slob, sideline out of bounds, and all that stuff. Help be Purdue. Larry, New Orleans at 142. Hello, Larry. Matt, yes. Hey, thanks for taking the call.

I'm a 1970 grad lifetime alumnus. not an alumni, that's several people. How many people misspeak that? I was in the pit in 83. It was pretty bad. I went straight denial. I said, okay, well, that doesn't count. We need to

go overtime. Why are we going to overtime? If you want to talk about, man, I hate, the sea word is terrible, but the cooks the cooks choked. That was terrible. But on the only way, I'm going to at is they were lucky to get there.

Hey, great for reviving the program. Your show is great. I've been in, actually, the year after the pit, I flew from Venezuela to Seattle and see them try to

try to do that. Maybe you're the bad curse. Thanks, Larry, for the phone call. Larry, not invited to go any more tournament games. beaten, then Patrick Ewing beat us the next year for that. That seems harsh. No, Larry's a good guy. 1970, Prague, Houston Cougar graduate.

All right, let's take a time out, come back and play, believe it or not. Are we going with Pope Francis on this? No, I'm doing John Cena. Nico Harrison, the Dallas Mavericks General Manager is meeting with the Dallas Media, apparently everybody. When asked about Luca Donchich, he said, quote, I did know Luca was important to the fan base. I didn't know quite to this level. Are you stupid?

Are you Martin Angleton stupid? Seriously. Now, obviously, this general manager, Nico Harrison, is the fall guy for the ownership group. There's no way fans of butts this guy's taking it like he is. But my God, how do you miss read how important Luca Donchich is to your organization? He is a all-MBA player.

He is a walking 25, 30 point guy, 12 rebounds, 5 assist. He is a generational talent. And oh, by the way, he helped you go to the West NBA finals last year. You won the Western Conference. What do you mean? I didn't know Luca was important to the fan base. I didn't know quite to this level. Are you some kind of stupid?

My God. I am so tired of falling down and praying to these. front office executives and these owners and these general managers who think they're the smartest guys in the room when really they're not very, very bright. That move, Luca Donchich being traded to Los Angeles might ultimately cost the Dallas Mavericks 10 years, 10 seasons. I didn't realize how important he what do you mean? What were you watching? What were you watching that made you think, now granted, is he doughie? Yes. Does he bitch and moan about officials? Yes. Does he like cheeseburgers and beer? Yes.

Smoke too much hookah? Smok a little hookah? Who doesn't? All you do was put up 37 on Saturday night. That's it. Just 37. And all by we got you the finals last year. My God. I'm not going to give default. You're the smartest guy in the room to general managers and coaches anymore

because they're not very bright. Five minutes left to go on the show. What should we do? We should play. America's fastest growing sports radio game show, we simply call it B. Believe it or not, and here's how it works. You call 713212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-790.

Today we honor the brand-new 17-time W-WE champion John Sina. I read your statement about John. Sam is completely utterly accurate. You'll say this. Believe it. They're the same as Hieronym. He's full of Uncumkin. You'll say this.

Two, believe it or not, in a row. Win your prize. What are you playing for today, Jonathan? Today we got played with the obviously the 790 t-shirt and a pair of tickets to see Alice Cooper and Judas Priest live on October 26 at the Woodlands Pavilion. Bill, you hate Judas Priest

you hate Alice Cooper. What do you need? Man, I know when that call you had called the name of Jerry. You can't tell me he don't sound like far as drunk, man. Thank you very much. Have a nice day. 7-13-212-5-7-90. Brian on 7-90, Brian. You're ready to play, believe it or not? Yes, sir.

Growing up, John Cena's favorite wrestler was Rick Flair, and he considers Flair the greatest of all time. Believe it or not? Not. No, he believes that Hulk Hogan is the greatest of all time. Statement number two for the way. John Cena's early career, he wrestled in flea markets as the prototype, a half-human, half-robot character.

Believe it or not? Not. That is a believe it. Not. Hmm. Duh. I never saw him on Harwin. I don't know what that is.

How on Street? What the flea markets are? I'll take your word for it. Let's go to Felipe on 790. Felipe, you're ready to play, believe it or not? Believe it. Before turning to wrestling, John Cena tried a career in bodybuilding. Believe it or not?

Believe it. That is correct. Believe it. Believe it. Statement number two for the win. John Sina played college football for Division 3 Springfield College in Massachusetts, where he was an All-American Center. Believe it or not?

Believe it. That is a believe it. Congratulations. have a good time at Alice Cooper. School's out for the summer. Joe on 790. Joe, what was your favorite part of today's 10-2 radio show? Well, I didn't like the part about the cougars choking, but everything else I like, Mike. I'm sorry, Matt.

You call me, Mike. That's fine. John Cena's a five-time winner of the Pro Wrestling Illustrated Wrestler of the Year Award, which is a record. Believe it or not? That is, believe it. No, the only won twice. Thank you, though. Duh. Poor kid. Matt on 790, Matt, you're ready to play, believe it or not?

In 2005, John Sina defeated JBL to win his first WWE championship. Believe it or not? That's right. Statement number two for the win. John Sina was signed for a multimillion dollar campaign for X to FTX crypto, but backed out of the deal shortly before the exchange collapsed. Believe it or not? That's also a knock.

Congratulations. Your winner. Thank you. Chris and Tom Ball on 7-9. Chris, your favorite part of today's 10-2 radio show. Oh, believe it or not. John Cena has a massive car collection that includes everything from classic muscle cars to European sports cars. Believe it or not. Believe it. He does. Congratulations. Another winner is on.

We have a full house for that Alice Cooper concert coming up in the not too distant future. All right. A reminder tomorrow, Joe Espada be with us. Got feelings tomorrow with us. NFL rewind and you never know what else is going to pop up between 10 o'clock until two. Up next, it is, I believe, just Adam Wexler by himself with friends. Clanton still enjoying his WWE championship run in Las Vegas. Up next, the AT. Right here on Sports Talk 790.