The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Rockets Tonight ! Can They Bring It Back Home To Play Game 7? Ime Udoka & Vanessa Richardson Join The Show.

Episode Date: May 2, 2025

Rockets Tonight ! Can They Bring It Back Home To Play Game 7? Ime Udoka & Vanessa Richards

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So much larger than life. Yeah. You said. Lunch timers. I'm on my way. Matt Thomas. Ross. This is the Matt Thomas show with Ross.

1002 in H-town. Good morning. And welcome to a Friday edition of the Matt Thomas show with Ross. This is Sports Talk 790. I want to apologize for the thought of me defecating on a letter from the HOA, Ross. That's one of an early I'm sorry that will have officially at 1130. Yeah, Matt, you need to apologize to your HOA. I'm going to do that.

You're going to mail him a bag of poop and set it on fire. I didn't say I was going to set on fire. I just going to spend it. I don't even know what's worse. I don't know. That's a good question. Good morning, everyone. Here from San Francisco, or tonight it's game number six of the Western Conference First Round Series between your beloved Houston Rockets and the hated, I mean hated Golden State Warriors.

It isn't anything goes Friday here on the radio program. Which means, well, you know, Ross does a, talking about this for 15 years now. Ross, explain the essence of it, anything goes Friday. Yes, Matthew. Well, some of the essence of it, anything goes Friday is what you just heard in that Friday open. Oh, yeah. It's just that we can get to anything. We have fun.

It's jovial times. We're ready for the weekend. We're ready for Rockets, Game 6. Anything you want to get to, we got day drunks. Now, not normally at 10 a.m. They start trickling in about noon. But if you want to get on the phone lines now and before the day drunks or at any time, You call 713-212-5-790.

7-13-212-5-7-90. The longest leash in the biz gets even longer on a Friday here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross with sometimes Matt Thomas. Well, I'm here today. That's good. I'm proud of you. Full-four? You'd be all right. I can't control the Rockets to travel schedule.

I mean, I would like to calling me and say, can we wait till 2.30 to leave? But they don't like to typically listen to me. We'll get you some electrolytes in that third hour. I know you're going to be tired. Oh, stop. I got to pace myself, Ross. I got a playoff game to call tonight. I know.

You were like two and a half days this week. I'm proud of you. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. You know what? When I work four or five Saturdays in the next two months, when you're sitting there relaxing at the jazz club, I'm going to be like, what are you doing, Ross?

All right. I'm listening to some great jazz. I'm working Astros versus A Saturday. Back off, Buster. Well, that day is not here yet, Matt. I know. Hopefully it's not for a while. Well, we'll see.

All right. Must win Friday night. Let's go. It is an absolute must win Friday. Now, I did put a poll question up on the Twitter account at SportsMT. I sent my very simply who you got in game six. 128 votes are in in the last 36 minutes. I have 31,800 followers.

So I would assume I'd get 31,800 votes. No. It's a lot of their bots, porn bots, scammers. Correct. Nigerian princes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All these people. Also, these young kids are the class of two.

thousand, 28, there are 5,6, athletes. I'm like, Brut. If you're 5, six, you're not playing college sports.

I'm sorry. I got terrible news for you. Yeah. So, 128 votes are in. 68% rockets, 32% Warriors. That's lower than your last couple of polls, correct?

It is the lowest of the last three. That would be fairly accurate. Thanks for bringing that up. I mean, it is on the road. And you're in their, yeah, they're in their house, their backs against the wall.

They got a little bit of rest. Traymond Green didn't see much action in the second half. He's rested. Nope. I will say I did watch the morning sports shows because I couldn't sleep. Oh, come on, man. I mean, I just, I'm sorry. I'm guilty.

You want to watch Mike Greenberg set a record for how many times he can blink in a minute? No, I don't watch my greenberg. Why is he blink so much? He's my most annoying Mariniya person. I mean, I would take Stephen A. Smith over my Greenberg. He just, he drives me crazy. He's so pretentious. I just, ugh.

I'm sure he's a wonderful human. being and i and i'm totally mischaracterizing him i apologize but if i want jett's conversation i go to espn you know i don't i don't need that so my point is this they've had jason williams on they've had some other people on i went looked at some twitter accounts zach low had some people on his thing today i feel like american media now that grand their their opinion means no more than any of you listen to show right now or for that matter ross and myself but most americans sports media have the Warriors winning this game tonight.

They are five and a half point favorites. Give me the Rockets plus five and a half. It bumped, it went from five and a half to four and a half, then it bumped back up to five and a half. Correct. That's fine. That's a Vegas house everything. Yeah.

Yeah. Rockets were minus three and a half on Wednesday. They won by 16. Yeah. Or 15. And the number one thing, the storyline that I'm hearing about is, it's going to be Jimmy Butler.

that he that step's thumb whatever hand is not 100% he's going to score because he was born to score woke up scoring but if jimmy butler can take over the game in the midrange especially get to the basket get to the free throw along like he did 12 times in game number four the rockets will have a hard time beating that and we will discuss that with e-may ad docket when he joins us today at what the coach at win matt sorry i screamed over it 1215 1215. 1215, central time. Well, no, it's 1215 Hawaiian time, Ross.

Come on what you talking about? I don't know. I'm just making sure. I mean, I'm the one in the scurry times. Yeah, that's why I'm just making sure. 1215 Houston time, your head coach of your Houston Rockets, coaching game six tonight on this show. Wow.

Yeah. I mean, a huge must win game six. So if you want to put your vote in, go to at SportsMT on Twitter. Follow me, by the way. Good things will happen to you. Your blood pressure will go down. Your 401k will resume its high number, and you'll be liked to my more people.

I mean, it really is no negative in following me on Twitter at SportsMT. Well, I have a response to that Jimmy Butler thing. He looks gassed. The hip injury, I think, is limiting him severely, and it's going to be another every other night game. Now we're talking, what, fourth game in seven days now? Ross. Saturday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Oh, yeah.

It was strange series. You had the two days off in between each one of the first two, games and then you went boom boom boom boom boom up to that it's weird and the the warriors have looked progressively more sluggish as every other day games have been happening so i mean i i i don't think i don't see the openings i don't see i mean i actually last night rewatch both games four and five and i i don't see jimmy butler getting open i don't see him getting those free runs at the basket he can make some moves here and there but i mean he he's been extremely limited as far as his mobility yeah yeah all right i'm gonna give you one thing and you can write this down you can tell

your friends, you can tell your neighbors. If the Rockets win this tonight, they're winning game seven. I'm with you. Hey, you're stealing my thunder. I said that yesterday. I apologize. Come on, man. Gosh. I mean, I'm used to you running over and stealing my bits,

but man. Okay. Let's freaking go. Yeah, put your name on it. I'm putting my name on it. You heard me? I didn't lie. If the Rockets win tonight, it's a coin flip game. We'll make a prediction later. If the Rockets win night they're winning game seven

but tonight's the biggest hurdle absolutely tonight is the biggest hurdle that to me it means Ross that means hitting free throws that means non silly turnovers

now to be a turnover free game is ridiculous it just doesn't happen doesn't mean that I think you need to reiterate I think the thing you said for one needs to be one two and three yeah hitting free throws now again you would like to hit all of them but that's not practical

I mean this is a team that again even if they hit at their season average, which was a low 74% compared to everybody else, I can live with that. They're still below that, even though they went 84% or whatever on one. They're still at 69% for the series. So some regression can still happen. They can make the free throws tonight. Right.

Silly turnovers need to be aborted under most circumstances. And Rossi, and Jalen is fine. The knee is okay. Nothing to worry about. Ross, he's got to step up. You just don't want to play with Fool's Gold here if he's scoring in low numbers for a second consecutive game and try to win it.

Yeah, I think the last couple of games, you've gotten huge help by what Fred Van Vleet has done. With Jalen Green not doing much of anything offensively, it's been kind of shorn up by what Fred Van Vleet has done offensively and Amin Thompson. Now, I think I can kind of bank on him in Thompson, and scoring because he's so aggressive and he's been getting downhill and all that type of stuff, I honestly cannot bank on Fred Van Fleet having another hot shooting night.

It would be probably out of the ordinary for Fred to hit his many threes in three straight games like he's in the last two, but I'm here for it. I mean, I don't... I mean, hey, yeah, I want it to happen, but I think banking on it is foolish. You need easier buckets at the basket. And one of the ways that the Throckett's offense opens up that way, whether it be Jalen Green at the rim or finding others like he did when he found Tari Isson on a corner three in game number five and he was making a couple of plays

is yeah, him getting to the basket, staying under control and taking care of the basketball. And just look like he's vested. Look like he wants to go to the lane, doesn't mind drawing the traffic, get to the foul line, because Jalen Green, one of the things that makes him so much better this year as compared to previous years,

he can't use a free throw line to his advantage. 713-212-5-790 to join our show. It's an anything goes Friday. Literally anything you want to talk about today, you can do so up until 2 o'clock. It is an anything goes Friday at 1020. Matt here in San Francisco, Ross back in Houston. Man, you know, I'm a four-you-a-holic and it's a terrible thing. I can't find anybody who has a Rockets winning tonight.

I just can't. In fact, somebody just said that Zach Lowe and his podcast is already previewing Timberwolves Warriors round two already. Oh, no. Is he really? You have to have an opinion. I mean, I get it. You have to have it. And, I mean, if you and I were doing Orlando radio,

would we probably pick the worst because it's a game six, it's a home, it's Steph, it's Butler, it's Draymond, it's, you know, it's being in San Francisco. I mean, I get it. I mean, I can't crush. It's not stupid. I think we as sporting public, though, too, is we're not sometimes paying attention to the details and we get caught up in the names.

I think that's why the, the Lakers were two to one favorites and the series price. And I don't I didn't think that was the right price. I think that's why, I mean, Luca Donchich and LeBron James and I think that's happening here. It's Jimmy Butler, it's Steph Curry,

it's Dremont Green. But yeah, LeBron James is 40 years old and he can't play a lick of defense. Neither can Luke Donchich. This Warriors team is on every other night again now for a fourth straight game. Jimmy Butler's hip injury is

limiting him severely. If they had either A, two days rest or B, Jimmy Butler was more healthy, I'd be more apt to agree with the America's sports betting or watching public. But I just think this is going to be another knockdown dragout game. Steph Curry can rise above it. But the Rockets have been limiting him all series long. And he looked worn down and completely gassed in game number five. And same thing for Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler. So, Yeah, maybe Brandon Projemsky goes off and has a big game. Or Buddy Heald knocks down five, six, threes and really helps them rise above. Or Fred Van Vlider, the Rockets can't hit a lick from three like that happened in game one when they went six of 29.

It can happen. But to act like this is just going to be some runaway coronation from the Golden State Warriors, I do not see that at all. Yeah, and again, we've got the local bias to it. And I understand that. No, I'm completely unbiased, Matt. As I'm wearing a Dunkernot Rocket shirt right now. Yeah. Is it white or is it red?

It's the red dunks, you're not shirt. Oh, good. I mean, so it's got no collar, which is no surprise typically for you. That's fine. It's radio. What do I need to wear a collar for? I'm not on TV. We could get you on TV.

You've been on TV before in the old Space City Network. Yeah, I wore a colored shirt, or I think at least a black t-shirt. I want to go Steve Jobs and just wear a black t-shirt every day. I'm tired of deciding what to wear every day. It thins you out a little bit is what it is what you're saying. Yeah, it's slimming. No, that's not why I'm going to do it, but yeah. You lose weight.

No, just put on a black ture. shirt. I think it works. Thanks. Okay. 713-212-5-7-9 if you want to turn them in. You 10 o'clockers, Ross and I were talking about this today. You 10 o'clockers slow to wake up a little bit. I mean, were you not entertained the previous show? I mean, come on. We're here for you. Well, our day drunks, potheads, and slackers don't normally get up until afternoon, Matt. We appreciate them. It's funny when the show moved to 10 o'clock, we didn't wake the strippers

up at 10, they're still sleeping. That's what I'm saying. They got an hour and a half. They're still sleeping. And that alarm is not set yet. the guys that were getting dances from them at 3 a.m. are still sleeping. That is true. That is fair. All right. Other things going on, Astro, start a weekend series with the Chicago White Sox in Chicago

at Bate Field, which is maybe the worst name in sports right now. Uh-huh. Lance McCullers will throw on Sunday. Very curious to figure out what's going to happen on that. Yeah, that's a huge story, I think. Let's write it down, and just for blanking giggles. Oh, okay. Let me give you some over-under.

and you take the overs and the unders on this. Let me put it this way. As long as you don't hear the word discomfort or setback, I'm happy. I'm going to say, let me just say that first. Just happy to be out there as what you're looking to hear. Seriously. All right. Four innings, over or under.

Oh, my God. Literally, we did gut feelings one of the many days you were out. And I said four innings exactly for him. So that's a good line in my opinion. I'm going to go over and be optimistic. But I could see him go out there, walk a couple of guys, rack up like 30 pitches in the first inning, give up a run or two, and then kind of settle in and go four. I think four is probably a very, very good line.

65 pitches. Over. Well, the runs, hits walks. We can't guess. I mean, either the white's actually hitting or not, yeah. I mean, um. Strikeouts over 15. Let's go.

Okay. Now you're high. Well. Yeah, I would say, if you get, it four from him, that's a win. Now the issue is going to be. What's your prediction?

I'm going to go, oh, man. That four number is so good. It's Chicago. Do it, yeah. It's the White Sox. It's the White Sox. I will go under slightly.

Oh, come on. I think Pitch Count will wind up being his biggest detriment. Yeah, that could happen. I mean, look, he ran walks. I mean, I think it could be like three and two thirds giving up two runs, four hits, four strikeouts, two walks, pitch count at 76. They're like, you're done. Well, let me boost your confidence.

Do you know where the Chicago White Sox rank in Team OPS? I do not. They are 30th, Matt. How many teams are there in Major League Baseball? Last time I checked, there are 30. So you're saying that in the Astros White Sox series all weekend, take the unders. Well, yeah. Astros are 23rd.

Like I said, kicking the enders could be your friend. No, it's time to wake up, baby. Okay. Time to destroy, rate field. I mean, what a wretched name. That's, no one, nobody cares about the white side. It's too close to a very dangerous word.

Is it with a letter P? All right. Okay. I'm just saying. Well, I'm saying south side of Chicago is, you know, we're not going to say anymore. Lance of colors Jr. on Sunday, I'm going over the four innings,

but I think it's going to be exactly four. All right. Put in the car before the horse on this one. How long? When are we going to see a stretch where that becomes 80, 85 pitches? I would not expect at any point this year

to Lance for throw 100 pitches. I just think the body's going to say, you know, well, you've worked two and a half years to get your butt back on the... Anywhere in the year? No, I think he has to at some point. If he's going to stay in this, rotation to actually be a contributor. He's got to get around there at some point.

You really think so? Yeah. I will gut feeling this for next Tuesday. He doesn't throw 100 pitches in a game this year. Just because it has taken so long to get back if they don't want to take any, any chance. That's a long year. It's May 2nd. I mean, if they throw him out, if he's, I don't know, like 75 one inning and they put him back out there,

it could happen. All right. 713, 21, 2, 5 o'clock. 7.13, 2,1, 790. you 10 o'clockers wake up let's go and it goes friday 1033 it is the matt thomas show with ross here from san francisco california ross uh i was just telling this to my wife before he came on the show today this is probably as an expensive as a city as new york is to eat and drink and enjoy yourself so if you're coming to california especially the northern side be ready to spend to mula yeah i'm curious what the highest cost outside of you know like hamptons or something something niche like, you know, Palm Beach or something.

Right. Like major metro cities. Yep. Probably New York, San Diego, San Francisco, somewhere in there. I think if you took the entire state of New York and the entire state of California and you went against the field, you probably went with those two states. Yeah. Oh, wow. It says here, Galveston's number two.

In what? I'm just kidding. Oh, my God. Look at the Galveston hate coming in already. Who's that hate? I'm just making a joke. All right. Manhattan number one, this list says Honolulu,

two, San Jose, and then San Francisco. Oh, yeah, so two of the Bay. San Jose is expensive like that? I think it's just because all the tech companies, I guess. I mean, you've got to realize from San Jose North all the way up here to San Francisco, it is nothing. Like, you know, Pinterest is here, Google is here. Yeah.

Who else is here? Is Apple around there somewhere? Apple's not far. Uber. Uber. is here, lift is here. Tesla used to be there. I don't know if they're over there. I think they moved to Austin, right?

I almost Wade mode for the first time yesterday. Almost. Way mode. That's where the driverless cars. Oh, okay. I'm staying out of that. I think for a short drive like within, I mean, I wouldn't go to the airport from here with those things, but I think it'd be kind of fun just for a couple

miles if you're staying in around the city. Speed's okay. Well, I don't want to get in a wreck. And then also you're supporting the workforce, Matt. You're supporting those Uber drivers who need to make a living. Yeah, but some of those Uber drivers don't like to take a used deodorant.

And so that's an issue for me. Well, then put that in the comments section. Oh. Say this brother smells like a bag of onions. Just put it in there. So in the comments, bring some right guard? Yeah. Put in the comments.

Degree cool rush is your friend. I don't know. I just, I wouldn't do it on the regular. Put it that way. But I do want to do at least one time. You can do it anonymously. I'm talking about the Waymo. Oh.

Yeah, I'm staying off of it. They are very popular here. I mean, now here, there's, a lot of people are saying, well, you don't have to tip the driver anymore. But the Waymo, the rates are more expensive than the... They're more expensive? I'm definitely not taking it now. Yeah. I think we should do it once just to say we did it.

I mean, I wouldn't be one of those regular things. No. Bye. All right. Yeah. I just don't need body odor and obnoxious music in my car, in the car. I would say 85% of my Uber driver is just fine. I would say 85 is a good number.

That's a fair number. But that 15, mm. It's like in that episode of Seinfeld where the guy has B.O. And you can't shake the B.O. It's not that bad. You're being dramatic. Oh, it is. Oh, it's been bad.

Trust me. Yeah. Okay. You've been in cars before with B.O. drivers. You know. Yeah. But it doesn't stick on.

you like in that episode of the show. Maybe not. All right. 713212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-9-0. Ross had a little bit of Astros. We've got a little bit of the rockets, and we're going to lot to that.

Again, E-Maid Doug is going to join it to 1215 today. I just glanced. Is Shador Sanders and his crew already making enemies in Cleveland? I did not see that. I saw them putting videos of him running up a hill, talking about how he's grinding, hard and getting to work. Wow.

So they're going to sell him. This is going to help him throw a football and she's running up a hill? Yeah. I really think, and we've talked about it very briefly over the weekend on Monday, I really do think this is going to be a headache for the Cleveland Browns. That I think his PR team is going to do everything inhumanly possible to say, you are on the NFL goofed up. As compared it as going down with his head down, going to training camp,

like most fifth round picks do Ross. I think the social media campaign, the energy behind him, I think his dad will be saying a lot of things. There'll be a lot of things that a lot of NFL teams will say, this is the reason why we didn't draft the guy until, or didn't draft him at all. Yeah, I think they're already running like a counter PR campaign, and what they need to do is just stay in the shadows. They just need to let him quietly work and improve and get better.

As you know, Matt, real G's move in silence like lasagna. And that's what he needs to do on this. What did you just say? Real G's moving silence like lasagna. Where is that from? I respect it. I just don't know where it's from. It's from American poet laureate Louis Wayne. Come on, Matt.

Don't you come on me. You don't even know who the BGs were three days ago. Shut up. I know who Louis Lain is, though. No, so that's what he needs to stay in the shadows on this. I don't know if they're going to do it. I don't know if he hasn't has the capability, the way that he's grown up and been in the forefront. and maybe he just either needs to do that or thinks that's just how things go, but he just

needs to quietly work, put his head down. He obviously there was a lot of embarrassment with the draft, but your career starts at the draft, it doesn't end at the draft, so he can still improve and get better. Because here's the thing. No one needs him at this point to prove anything.

The storyline is already written. You're a fifth round draft pick. Now, you go into training camp Ross or you go into the preseason or you figure out a way to to get on the field some point in 2025 and you start doing things, then you can do the social media campaign, then you can do the I told you so, then you can do the, you know, here I am working. But right now, you should be an afterthought.

There is no other fifth round pick in the NFL among the 32 teams that is getting any attention. And my guess is Ross in the last, I don't know, 50 years of the NFL draft, fifth round draft picks don't get media attention in early May. No, you're correct. why I think he ultimately and I don't think there's any chill factor to him I think he has to chill out because again if he's good I'm okay with that I don't I mean the player itself is fine but all this I mean the entire weekend of the draft was just what it's going on whose fault is the fault is it's the it's the he just can't turn it off he can't be low key for a while

and now you got ESPN radio hosts in Cleveland fighting with the members of the sherdura Sanders team. It's just... I didn't know that. You just... What happened? I just saw that one of his group members or whatever his... In his entourage? His entourage was like... Can you afford an entourage on a fifth round salary?

Well... That's a little tough. It's a little tight, guys. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, guys, we're having chicken nuggets tonight for dinner. I got to... You mean the Colorado Buffalo salaries, what you're talking about. Yeah, that's true still, but I mean, that's got to dry up at some point, man. So, all right, guys. We're eating... Everybody get five pieces off the 50-piece nugget from Chick-fil-A.

Yeah, but those nuggets of Chick-fil-A are too small. I know. That's what I'm saying. Times is tough on that fifth-round salary, Matt. You've got to go almost a plate full of nuggets, don't you? Well, at least you can get some good veteran mentorship from Deshawn Watson. I mean, of all places for him to go, that probably wasn't the top spot. Although, do you even think that Deshawn will be in the facility much this year? I mean, he's rehabbing all year long. Wouldn't you just tell him go away for a while?

Yeah. And, by the way, why would Deshawn want to be around that? because all they've done is brought in four quarterbacks in the last 12 months. Yeah. I don't think he would. All right. So just, you know, I think the more and more we see of him, maybe this was just a one-off, but the more and more of the videos we see and the constant headlines,

I think more and more NFL executives are going to say, this is the reason why and wake us up when you're relevant. Yeah. But maybe this is a, Ross, maybe this is also a byproduct of what has turned. into the segue between college athletics, NIL, and the NFL. It's some of it, but also I think he's a special case because of who he is and who his father is.

Yeah, yeah. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-790 is how he reaches. 1046, Sports Talk 790. Is Gordy in our studios? No. Okay. This is his Friday segment typically.

Well, he must be very busy. Are you serious? I don't know. Maybe he's applying for locked on something. He's got a lot to do. Are they really? Mm-hmm. He's programming three stations now.

Give him a break. Yeah, he did work the six to eight portion of the Sean Salisbury show. Yeah, he did? So he did six to eight, okay. Yes. And yesterday he filled in for a certain host on this show who left early. Yeah. And then he also was in for Adam Wexer.

He's programming three stations. Give him a break. Where do Wex go? Wexler missed the first couple of hours. I think it was, honestly, I think it was a personal matter or something. I can't remember. Okay. All right.

We understand that Gordy is on his satellite line, joining us from the compound on the Lockedown SEC. Now, Gordy, what's going on? What's up? You guys got me? Yes, sir. We do. Yeah, sorry.

I didn't really, somebody said it to me yesterday. One of the guys working on my house, actually, yesterday. He goes, dude, were you on all three shows today? because he listens to 790 all day long and I was like, I think I was on with Sean I was on with you guys I was on with the 18 did the triple header yesterday

well Gordi did you explain how deep our debt chart is at 790 did you explain to the guy that that's part of the reason why is we we just need you in so many different avenues yeah soon in the next five years we will just be the station will just be

Gordy Matt and Ross that's what the station will be Ooh. I love it. I'll stay in this 10th newsline. Matt will take the afternoon until 7. I'll do overnights. Oh, very good. Love it.

All right. So what are you working on these days? What brings you to the table on this glorious Friday? Well, look, you guys have been all over the rocket. Some of us are going to be doing some Astros stuff this weekend. And it's an important series for the Astros going up against the White Sox who stink. but I don't know. Like Dan asked me earlier, is it too much to ask the Astros to go sweep? Yes, it is too much to ask the Astros to go sweep

because they're going to face Jonathan Cannon tonight. Do you guys remember that name from last season? No. Jonathan Cannon. Nearly pitched a complete game shutout against the Astros last year. He went eight and two thirds against them, couldn't get the last out. And somebody else came in and got it.

But he absolutely dominated. this team and that was a lineup with bregman and tucker now it's a line up with christian walker christian strikeout walker and oh he's been hitting home runs lately man you are why i don't need you bring in this certainliness to the show right one can tell me the wars are going on by 19 tonight too is that what you want to bring to the table what's going on with you gorty well you're the one saying mccullors will never touch a hundred pitches again yeah i mean get him got him that's not a crazy take and you guys know I'm right.

He threw 71 in his last rehab start. He's building up. He's ramping up, baby. Okay. If he's not going to throw 100 pitches, he doesn't even be on his team. I think you could be a starter and not throw 100. I mean, it's 2025.

There was a certain coach, host on the station who used to build a board. I think McCullors is going to build up. He's going to build to that 100 pitches over the season. Who used to build a board? you remember who Rick Smith used to build a board That's all I remember

Apparently Nick Casario has no board Because they just They never draft for need They just take whoever's there Yeah I know Yeah no he just wanted to grab Iowa State receivers

Because that's what the league needs more of But that's fine Okay so We got a weekend series with the White Sox Then they go to Milwaukee to take on The Brewers for three And then finally maybe some home games coming up and the Reds will be in next week.

So, you know, ultimately, hey, they're hanging around. Oh, by way, have you guys noticed the Rangers suck right now, which is terrible news, just terrible news. That's a shame. Yes. And that's the crazy part. The AOS has been a pretty tight race here so far out of the gates. And yes, like the Rangers in fourth place, but there's still only three game backs, three games back of Seattle. The Angels have lost six in a row.

They're now six back. I think they may be fought like this thing, they may fall. completely out of this. And maybe in a month from now, guys, we're talking about just a two-horse race between the Meritors and the Astros. And, oh, by the way, Mike Trott going back on the injured list from what I understand. So... For real? Death taxes and that.

Geez. Poor Mike Trout. That's to be expected. And Ron Washington, how are things going there since they hired him? Fantastic. I mean, look, I don't want to be an agist, but the reality

is Dessie Baker got the Astros job because they needed some stability. He'd also had almost 2,000 wins. He won everywhere where he went. Ron Washington did have some success in Texas. But what were the angels thinking? I mean, were they thinking the guy that had been out of the baseball as a bench coach for the last handful of years

was going to be a guy who was going to all of a sudden reinvigorate the angels? They can't keep people healthy. And Mike Trott, as great as he is, can't stay healthy. They saw Dusty Baker and they saw Bruce Bochy and I said hiring old is in and yeah and they said maybe if we can just keep his nose clean he can be a good manager. All right. Come on. That was 10 years ago. God, seriously. You were surly when I got in the car yesterday to listen to you talking about Aaron Holiday making a super big difference in the series. And now you're certainly with Ron Washington in his nose. I think they just wanted to hire an old manager that could get there until the team gets better.

All right. So if we're going to listen to the Rockets tonight on KTRH and listen to the Astros and 70, how are we going to pair it with Chris Gordy? How are we going to handle that? Well, hopefully you guys are drinking ice cold Crawford-Bock from our friends at Carbock Brewing. I had a friend in town this past weekend. I took him to an Astros game. It's first Astros game ever.

And he said, what's this interesting beer served at the ballpark? I said, my friend, you were in for a treat. It's the Crawford Bock from Carbock Brewing. We had a lot of fun out there last Friday with Ross and I at the Watchmen. party on Friday night with all the Astros fans out there and fun to be back at the ballpark in just a couple days. We'll be drinking that ice, Cole Crawford Bach,

watching the Astros, written them on and expecting wins. Got a win. Got a win for Lance McCullors on Sunday. Got to beat Jonathan Cannon tonight. I'm going to call it, Matt. They're getting a series sweep. Oh, I love that. Is that a gorty gut feeling right there? Is he putting his name on it?

I'm going to write that down. I like it. We have some breaking news when it comes to what's happening with the San Antonio Spurs. I think we should hit the sounder, Ross. Oh, oh, really? How many? I didn't see it. Don't look. Don't look. Okay, by the way, just a bone bruise for Mike Trout.

Nothing serious. That was two. Well, that was one and a half kind of. Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa. Okay, we got to educate the young man. Jonathan, you don't get to decide. We decide. He did it three. That's because I think I know the news. You know what, though? I'm going to go ahead and agree with him on three.

Oh, wow. See? Okay, can I guess? I promise I have, oh, now I actually... Well, the problem is I gave it away some of it already, I think. Well, it's also up on the ESPN board. You're not going to believe I didn't guess. I was going to guess Popovich's, it was stepping down.

He is stepping down. I mean, he's old, and he's had multiple strokes. What, I mean, this is... I mean, I guess for the history of basketball, it's a three, but for like the amount of shock, it's like a zero. No, no, no. Shock, zero, but still, he's the all-time winning his... coach in the NBA. That's pretty good. It's five

championships. Pretty good. There's a surly MFer, uses politics in his media press conferences. That's when he started giving zero Fs. Mm-hmm. He said, what are they going to do? Fire me? And fired the coach that took the, during the late 90s,

and then he left to be... Was it John Lucas, or was that different? No, no, I think it was PJ Carlissimo or something? Brian Hill, maybe? Not Brian Hill. Greg, oh, what, which, who did he replace? I'm staring at him right now. I can't remember his name, but it was not, no, it was not. It wasn't PJ Carlisimo?

No, it was not on PJ Carlysmoh. Oh, Bob Hill? Bob Hill. There's Bob Hill and Brian Hill. Bob Hill had the glasses. Brian Hill did not. Brian was a short of course. Okay, John Lucas was just before that.

I got you. And PJ Carlisimo was one of his assistants. That's what I was thinking of him. Yeah. So Pop is stepping down. My guess is his health is not in great condition. And that's the reason why. He's going to transition to team president,

which my guess is would probably be just a name. Why is he even going to do that? that he's 76 and he just had multiple strokes hang him up pop well because I think there's a lot of money attached to his name still at this point in that contract yeah he's probably made literally like a hundred million dollars in his career

but he was up but didn't he get a new deal a few years ago was paying him obscene amounts of money yeah that's what I'm saying and life's too short pop hang him up uh... Eme Adokin popper very tight so we'll talk to him about that call out about 10 at 1215 so there you have it so Greg Greg Popovich officially stepping down

five NBA titles, six NBA appearances, 1,422 regular season wins. What do you put that Spurs team all time among the greats? It's not, I don't think it's Showtime. I don't think it's Celtics. I don't think it's Bulls, but could that be the fourth greatest group of guys collectively together? It's somewhere up there.

I mean, they broke through the Kobe Shack Lakers. beat them up, took them out, put them to the side. Now, the 2002 to 2008, 9, 10 area of basketball was just, it wasn't it was horrible, quite frankly. It was horrible. It was borderline

unwatchable. They had to make a lot of rule changes. LeBron hadn't kind of risen to the heights or Kobe was kind of just doing it. But then they also broke through and and they destroyed, they destroyed the LeBron Headles. So is that group better than

check? Kobe led Lakers. And they should have beat him in 2013 when Ray Allen hit that shot in game six. Yeah, I mean, when you're winning all those five times, you've got to be the fourth-gradeous group. You just do. I think by just by pure number of NBA championships, even if the league was down. And it was, yeah, kind of two different errors. That last one they won in 14 was Kauai Leonard was on his assent.

He won that NBA finals. Tony Parker, Man of Genobley and Tim Duncan were kind of on their way out. But that was a great team. was it like boris diao tiago splitter like the the the ball movement on that team is one of the all-time greats and it's not what it that group of guys today i don't think could win right now honestly because it's so it's so in uh dependent so such a three to league league three point shot dependent league yeah it's just the ball the basketball is way different now but i'll say this um you you have to play to the what i mean somebody's got to be the best in something every year right

yeah if they're the best usually you need to get credit for being the best you're There were still 30 teams in the league, and they ended up the best. Yeah. And they beat the LeBron. I mean, LeBron Wade and Bosch team. Yeah. All right. 1058 on Sports Talk 790.

In one half hour, you're going to call in and apologize with the things you said this week and done. I feel like my list is fairly long. I feel like every Friday my list is long. But it's a cleansing. Yeah, no, you usually apologize for other people or things that other people did. You never admit falls on anything on this segment. All right. The first three things I will do this week and half an hour will be things that I have done. We'll apologize.

All right. Matt and Ross with you here on the midday show. We call the Matt Thomas Show Ross. Time is 1103. 713-212-2-5-7190. 7-1-3-2-1-2-5-790. We're going to do our sorries coming up in about 25 minutes. We'll have the news at noon.

It'll be a shorter edition of the news at noon because we've got EMA-Doka joining us at 1215 today. getting you ready for game number six, Rockets v. Warriors. Ross, before we go to the phones and talk to the great people of Houston, Texas, 173 votes are in. 66% say Rockets win tonight, 34% say the Warriors. That's not a positive chuckle. That's a creepy chuckle. It's a worried chuckle. But I get it.

You're on the road. It's game six. It's a seven-game series. I'm sure the if we're on Warriors Radio, Matt, it's a must-win game tonight for the Golden State Warriors. They can't send this series back to Houston.

Yeah, I'm going on one of the San Francisco radio stations as soon as I'm on done with us today. Really? I'm sure I'll be hearing that. Okay. Tell them I said, suck it. Really?

No. Just ask them if they're hiring. Do you really want to move here? Probably not. I mean, if you came to me, and this is an honest, and you know I've had this conversation off here many times, if you came, you've come to me with a, hey, what do you think about this or what do you think about that? Uh-huh.

And I've been very honest with you. San Francisco is a really, really great sports market. But doesn't necessarily mean it translates into a great media market. Does that make sense to you? I guess so. I think there's been one. There's massive layoffs everywhere. Let's see.

You're talking Niners, Warriors. Giants. Giants are huge here. Niners are huge here. Warriors are, the hockey team doesn't really resonate. They have a hockey team? The San Jose Sharp. Oh, okay.

And then the colleges don't really resonate here either. So it would be minimal of zero college. Breaking down Cal Bears like a mudda? You're not talking about the upcoming Stanford, for an Oregon State game straight ahead. Okay. It is so weird that Callan and Stanford are in the ECC. That's like you're not always breaking down Houston versus the Akron Zips around here.

That happens. Yeah. Yeah. I think the only city that probably balances pro in college like 50-50. Can you guess what do you think of it is? The only major city? I shouldn't say the only one. The one that comes to mind of a city that balances its college sports and its pro sports 50-50.

Can you think what it would be? that would be inaccurate. The Wahina probably does get some coverage, but there's no pro teams in Honolulu, so that wouldn't be moot. I don't know. Atlanta. I thought it was Philadelphia.

No. College basketball? Nova? I've never really heard much Philadelphia sports radio talking college basketball. Yeah, Bill Cosby calling in about the temple. Owls? Oh, right.

Go ahead. Let's hear Bill Cosby calling in about the Temple Owls. Temple Owls are in the American Conference, but man, if we had a couple of more put-in-pops, they could be in the Big Ten with the rest of the Penn States and the

aisles and the other schools, and maybe we go to the ACCC, we could play SMU and Georgia Tech Roob-de-Brew! Hi, my name is Ross, and I'd like to personally apologize for what just happened on the last 20 seconds of

these airwaves here on Sports Talk 790. What just happened is not normal. We're dealing with somebody who is off as meds and we're looking to correct the situation as quickly as possible. You know why? I guess I've been in San Francisco too much. I think it's the reason why. What? So you start talking about

you do Bill Cosby impressions and eat rice oroni? The air is different here in the Bay Area. It is nice and cool. You bring your jacket? It is cool. Yeah, I brought a couple of sweatshirts, yeah. And there's weed smell here constantly. constant weed smell.

That's in Houston, Texas now, too, pal. I know, but I mean, I can go to downtown Houston and not smell it too quick. You get the loud clouds everywhere you drive. Some of you guys were lighting up at the Toyota Center internet. I'm just saying. Yeah. It's going to happen. Did somebody let a skunk in here?

Biscuit, 1107 on 790. Biscuit, good morning. Cougar, Matt. Yes, sir. First of all, Matt, you heard coach find a big-time assistant coach from OK State. right? Uh, yeah, assistant coach, yes. And he got a, uh,

recruiting a seven footer from the 20, 26 class, man. Okay, can't wait. Man, Samson's sitting on the gold mine over there, man. I hope so. But let me say this, man, man. Can we give a young fella a chance, man? Listen, man, I, if we hear a report

the Shadour is not listening to the coaches or he ain't in the playbook or he's out of the color, or, you know, he put some hands or somebody, that's fine. But if he's running up a hill and we're going to get mad because he'd run up a hill? No, no, no, no, no, not mad. Who got mad? Who got mad? I mean, this is, but if we quit criticizing him for doing it.

I think he needs to know as well. I think he didn't learn anything from the draft this past weekend. And when you know what, you have to learn by your mistakes. How you know, we'll see. Let's see if he get into the playbook. Let's see if he laid the movie. meetings. Let's see if he disrespectful to his teammates.

Not if he I've seen the clip he went to inner city school and talked to some youth. Is that you got a problem with that? Well, of course not. Okay, some people do man. Some people Somebody's got a problem for him going to

somebody got mad he went to his school. Biscuit you're just making stuff up. I'm just saying, man. If you listen on social media, you'll see it. You'll see it. You'll see it. He got high jersey yourselves too. There's going to be people mad because of that. And that's not his fault. Why would be mad about that?

I mean, people are allowed to use their money the way they want to. They're Shadur Sanders fans. They're Shudor-Sanders fans. I'm just saying that I think if you have not learned that the 24-hour 7 PR machine doesn't help you, then turn the machine off for a while. That's all I'm saying. All I'm saying is Matt, let's judge him on what he does on the field. him what he does football related. In his off time, he has he can do whatever. Long as it's not detrimental to his football, I can give a fine flip what he do.

Let's judge him on his football. Let's judge him. Let's see what he does when he actually gets to the facility. But Biscuit, that's what we're doing. We didn't bring up his football. We didn't bring it up. I'm telling you three days after being put to the fifth round because he was considered a PR machine and his dad got in the way and the interviews were bad.

and the lack of preparation going into it, he's out there doing this to try to rebuild his image. It's not going to happen. No one cares. Just go away and go to camp and do with the things you're just saying and go earn a spot on the football team, and then you can have all your shine. But right now, be low-key.

There's nothing low-key about anything that you know-Sahner-Sanders or his family has. That's all I'm saying. Nothing. I'm saying to you, Matt, why does he have to be low-key as long as he's handling his business? He is handling his business. He's a fifth-round draft pick.

He's going to be a backup in the NFL in 2025. That's handling his business. No, what I'm saying to you, Matt, going forward from now. We understand that he didn't handle the interview process, all that. We understand he dropped. Didn't work out. Didn't go to the combine. He could not have screwed it up any worse.

And so guess what? You screw up the pre-draft process and you get the reward of being a fifth-round draft pick. Learn from your mistakes. That's all I'm saying. All I'm saying to you, Matt, is, in his off time. He does not have to stay at home. He can,

long as he's not doing something detrimental, he's not doing it. Of course not. But you don't need to get your camera on and film it. You don't, you don't need to put the camera on. You don't need to go run to social media for,

if you're having a chicken sandwich, you don't need to put a video up there. If you're running around and doing your workouts and pumping iron, you don't need video of it. Just go do it. That's what today's problem with today's kids are. All they want to do is they want to do is they want to

run to their videos and show you how what they're doing is compared to just doing it. I've seen Jalen Hurts squatting in the field of Eagles thing. That's not okay. Man, I'm saying to you, Matt, it's not, if he does it, okay, but the main thing is, what does he do when he's on the field? What does he do in the locker room? What is he late to meetings? Is he late to the stuff?

Is he not paying attention? That's what I can, whatever he do off the field in his free time, it don't even matter to me. Well, then stop talking about it then. If that mattered, then, when you can stop talking about it. I'm done with it. Because it's my show. I get to talk about topics. I'm sorry, Biscuit, it's my show.

I get to bring up the fact that a guy who didn't learn his lesson from the draft is out there trying to rebuild his image. Image is built. Sorry, it is built. Sorry, it is. It just is. Okay. He can change it by his performance on the field.

He can be low-key. You know, the kids, Rossi, they use this term called low-key. He don't have to be low key. Biscuit, I'm not, Biscuit, I'm done talking about this. Nobody, the audience is, I'm losing audience members by this right now. What else you got? And the Rock is the night, you got to hold down to others. Presensky, Buddy Hill. Yes.

I don't think go to stake can score enough points if they can hold those guys down. God, I hope so. All right, Biscuit, I got to roll. Thank you for the phone call. That's good. I'm good. Thank you, Biscuit. Appreciate it.

Always good, appreciate the debate. Rossi, if Brandon Projemsky scores 26 points, the rockets are in trouble. I could agree with that. They can win with Jimmy Butler doing Jimmy Butler things. If they can keep Curry under 30, put Jimmy at the 20 to 25 category, and then the combination of Moody, Peyton, with a couple baskets here and there. But if Brandon Projempsey is hitting six three-pointers, the rockets are toast. And they shouldn't let that happen because Brandon isn't that good of a shooter.

He's good, not great. Yeah, I think they're going to do a pretty. good job of what they've been doing and focusing on certainly Steph Curry number one and then Jimmy Butler and I think the key to a warrior's victory if we're going to that side would be Buddy Heald or Brandon Pajemski or both getting around 1520 points or more. Yeah, I mean I don't even count Moses Moody. The 25 he had that are night doesn't even count to me. It just doesn't. That was all in garbage time. 713-212-5-790. 7-7-90. 7. 713-212-2-5-7-90.

Eme Adoka in one hour. If you want to say, I'm sorry, anybody, to yourself, to your radio partner, to your girlfriend, to your wife, to the neighbor down the street. That's coming up in 15 minutes at Sports Talk, 790. 1117. It is Matt and Ross. I'm here in San Francisco for game number six. Tonight, Rockets and Warriors. We'll have a free beginning over on our sister station, News Radio 740KTRH.

Ross, you get the launch pad at 7, which I will feature a conversation, I'm sure, with Eme Addoca, who will be with us in one. hour here on the I'm ready I figured you'd be ready on that all right in the circle of trust when it comes to reporters where do you put the Brian

windhorst in that I would say comfortably I mean shams and wodge with the OGs and he's right these next tier but I mean just a small step down he gets things right

I would say pretty regularly he was on one of the morning shows today and they were talking about Janice of Tentacumpo's future and they said there are about four or five teams that would like to kick the tires if yannis wants to leave milwaukee because milwaukee's in salary cap trouble they have no draft picks lillard's going to be out probably another full season because of his injury that he suffered last week in the playoffs

so they're cash strapped their salary cap they need come they need some draft capital two teams that have come out of the group according to win hers more than anybody else the san antonio spurs and the houston rockets Hmm. Hmm. Now that's just him throwing stuff against the wall. That's what he's hearing. That could be... No, no, I don't think he's making that up.

No, no, I don't think... No, he's... I shouldn't say throwing it's a wall. I would say he's got phone calls. Okay. That are he's taking or making, and he's hearing this. Mm-hmm. And I think he understands in his position that if he throw something like that out,

he's not doing it just because he's trying to incite a deep conversation. He's saying, hey, I've got this information and I think I'm going to be I can say with somewhat certainty that those teams will be very interested if indeed Janice wants to leave Milwaukee. Now everything that has been told so far

at least of what I've seen is that it's got to be up to the honest to tell Milwaukee I want to move. He's 30 years old. He is in the prime of his NBA career. He scored 30 points per game this year. 12 rebounds, 6 and a half. Here's the only two things that drive me nuts.

He can't shoot free throws and he's not a good three-point shooter. Well, he's shooting 60% from the field and scored 30 points per game. Maybe would you say the best downhill NBA player in today's NBA? I think there's an argument for NBA history on that. And when we're in by downhill, meaning the ball goes to him at the top of the key or near the free throw line, he puts the ball in his hands he takes one dribble he goes the lane

literally one dribble he hangs he slams it in front of you he makes you look bad one dribble top of the key free throw line and scores with incredible efficiency that's when we talk about downhill

yeah like you might as well just start heading the other way not a pull-up guy I mean he can and has taken fewer threes in the last couple of years than he has earlier in his NBA career. What is he about 31% I would say, give a... 28.4% in his career, 22% this year. He took under one per game, though.

Oh, I apologize. I gave him actually too much credit. He was around 30, 31% early. Yeah, earlier in his career when he was taking four or five a game. Now it's gone down every year. He took 0.9 3-pointers per game this year. Okay, so he knows his limitations, and I respect that. As you get older, you get more mature and know what you can bring to the table, what you cannot. Yeah, I mean, goes to free throw line a lot and misses quite a bit, which is aggravating to those that are maybe, not necessarily Janus detractors, but Janus realist.

Yeah, he's been horrible. 61% this year, 69% is his career, his career, early his career, he was making him. He should 77% early in his career. Yeah, what are Ross, what are his defensive metrics? I mean, great. I mean, he's, well, let's see. I mean, what do you want? Like defensive winchairs, Matt? No, no.

We don't need to get that crazy. You said defensive metrics. Oh, you just mean like steals and blocks? Yeah, I mean, when I watch, when I'm calling the honest game, which I only call two games a year because they're in the Eastern Conference, obviously. And I want to watch a little bit here and there. I mean, for his physical stature, you would think he'd be a guy that would be tough to score on. Yeah, about a steal a game and about a block, 1.2 blocks per game.

Ooh, I'll take 1.2 blocks per game. That's really good. All right. To the phones we go. Let's talk to EZ at 1122 on 790. Easy, good morning to you. Good morning, Mr. Thomas. I don't know what the Gold Estate Ayer is doing to you,

but that call with Biscop was a little, ooh, cringy. Speaking about the John is, who would you give up to pick up that? And the second thing I was going to bring up, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, man. And the second thing I was going to bring up, do you all see Martin Malthanado out there in San Diego? He ain't going to do this thing? I'll hang up and listen, gentlemen. All right.

I know he was in town when the Padres were here recently. I honestly don't pay attention to San Diego Padre baseball, so I don't know. How is he doing? Who? Sorry. Martin Maldonado. Not well? Well, I mean, you're presuming.

Let's take a look at the old, let me look at Martin Maldonado. Oh, yeah, I'm sure he's hitting 350 with an OPS of 900. Well, I mean, that's, now, if you were listening to that last call from my buddy EZ, you would presume that he's saying look what he's doing out there in San Diego. He's hitting 209 with an OPS of 506. He's got a negative war, negative point three. Okay, so easy, my friend. We went out and looked at what he was doing out in San Diego.

209, nine hits, one home run, 43 at bats. Okay, so he's basically martin. It has been a negative player. Yeah, all right, so there's your answer. Great for him. As far as John, this is concerned, I don't know. Do you want to hear the athletics proposal? Please.

Alpern Shingoon. Jalen Green. Cam Whitmore. Jock Landale. Amin Thompson? Not happening. Stop right there. 2025 lottery pick.

That would be this year's and then a 27 Phoenix pick. Here's the one I'm seeing. This is from clutch fans that put it an hour ago. Amen, Jalen, Cam, Donovan Klingin, 2025 Phoenix first, 2027 Phoenix first, 2029 first. Yeah, that's the same trade.

That's from the athletic. It's the same trade. Blazers end up with Shingoon, yeah. Yeah, Rockets get Entente Gumpo and Jeremy Grant. That's actually not bad. Here's a problem. Jeremy can't stay healthy, but when he's healthy, he scores.

I like Jeremy. Grant. Blazers get Alperin Shingoon and Jok Landell. Can I be very, very honest with you? And not that under any circumstance, Rafael Stone and I break bread when it comes to talking about who he's keeping who he's not. I feel very confident telling you, a man, Thompson's untouchable. I feel extraordinarily confident in telling you that a man's untouchable. I get untouchable, but you're hoping he develops into the player, Janus already is.

I think you are. I mean, he's not, okay, first of all, he's not going to be Janus. But I'm talking about the style of type of player, downhill transition, scores in the pain, I mean, are we thinking that I'm in Thompson two years in he's shooting like 20% from three. Are we thinking he's going to be like a 35, 38% shooter at some point? I'm going to use this comp.

And maybe most people in the NBA would not, at least Houston fans wouldn't know. A more effective score a better Andre Aguadala. A higher scoring Andre Aguadala. A better Andre Guadala. Yes. who was basically a six man of the year candidate several times,

did win a finals MVP. Yeah, an MVP of the finals for holding LeBron to like 36 points per game. We're all proud of you, Andre. I think defensive intangibles for EMA Adoka make a huge difference. Well, Janus has been defensive player of the year. So you're saying, if you're moving, if you're getting Janus here, and a man has to be a part of the trade. Now, I don't want it to me.

I know. It's a gas. It's got to hurt. It does have to hurt. Alperin would hurt. Alperin's a literal All-Star. You'd have to find somebody who believes Jalen Green's got more ceiling to pry open. Alpy is a double-double machine now. He's officially in the category of a double-double.

You are going to be able to grab a double-double machine as part of the train. He's a double-double machine whose field goal percentage has gone down in three straight years from 55. percent all the way to 49.6. Okay. Yeah, I guess there should be no untouchables ever. It's what you're trying to say. I'm not really, look, I'm scoffing at this too, but I'm just trying to think out loud here. We love.

You're saying if you're getting Janus and prime 30-year-old Janus, which is right now, it has to stink. It has to absolutely go, oh, I don't want to do this, but Janus is that is worth, is what you're saying. I think. and what he's already proven at the NBA level is higher than what the ceiling of any of those players individually is. I don't think Amin Thompson's ever going to be a good, I don't think he's going to be an MVP. Janice is literally won an MVP, right? Or two.

How many MVP's has he won? I think Amin Thompson's very good and he will improve and he'll get better and he can be around a 20 point per game score. He's at 14 now. Can he get to 25? Can he get to 30? Can he get to 30 while being a defensive player of the year, candidate year and year out? That's what the honest is. He's also, what, 20 years old? Yes.

So you're looking at potentially 10 years of 20 points, eight rebounds, four steals, two blocks, and being your best defensive player. Right. And he... You want to give all that up. I'm just saying I'm just throwing it out there. For right now a prime 30-year-old who's probably got three to four years of being that

that's the question that's what you mull over I will tell you I can say with confidence that Janus is what Janus is right now is better than Amen Thompson will ever be yeah because Janus is a generational player a man is an excellent basketball player

Janus is scoring 30 points per game at 60% shooting 12 rebounds a game six and a half assists a game I'll put it this one I think I get to a break. I think when you trade for Durant, it stings. If you trade for Janus, it has to hurt. Does that

make sense to you? No, I think Janus has way more value than Durant does at this point. No, no. Sting and hurt is two different things. Okay, well, sting sounds worse. Oh, no, sting is a bee sting. It's like you're breaking a bone. Okay. So I'm sorry if I didn't relate the two of them. Yeah, I misunderstood.

Sting is a mosquito bite. Oh, okay, like a bee sting. Yeah, a bee sting. Heard is like you've cracked your skull. Heard is you get a right cross from Mike Tyson. Oh. All right. Let's get some more phone calls in. Then we'll get to I'm sorry's after that.

1129, sports talk, 790. All right. Get the lines ready to go because in a matter of moments, we're going to ask you guys to call in and ladies too to say, I'm sorry. It's a Friday's table of the Matt Thomas Show with Ross here from San Francisco. 713212-5-790. 7-1-3-2-1-790. Before we get to some I'm sorry's, let's go back on the phones and talk to the wonderful people

that our audience and we say hi to Blake on 790. Blake, good morning. Morning. Hey, I just wanted to come in on the Janus conversation. I know that we want to upgrade somewhere in the Power 4 position. I mean, what's the potential in maybe upgrading point guard? I know Fred has a huge contract if we take that team option. Right.

you know, potentially we get a better, more consistent three-point shooter and a guy who can dole out a lot of assist to help with our floor spacing. So what are you saying? Somebody to replace Fred or somebody to backup Fred or combination. Probably replace. To me, to me, if you are replacing Fred, which I'm not sure that's what they want to do. I mean, I think there's going to have to be a serious conversation about. money and what Fred wants to do and extensions and refinancing. But I would like to see amend Thompson with a ball in his hands running point for the team.

I think Ross, he can do it. He's got to limit the turnovers, get a little out of control sometimes. He's getting better at that, for sure. But, yeah, if you're having the heir apparent to be your point guard, I think I'm in Thompson is a logical choice unless you're a big Reed Shepard believer. And again, I think Blake that Reid will get every opportunity to make his way in the rotation next year. I think he's going to have to have a very aggressive, hard offseason to get his mojo back. I think it's lost a little bit. I think that's not atypical

for guys that play one year in college basketball to have a tough start. But I don't think the Rockets have given up on him. I think just this year was just the moment may have been too big. And I think he'll have an opportunity to get that shot to what we're talking about. So could I see a, if you were to move on from Fred, whether that's through trade or just not resigning him or you know like i could see if it works out properly a man backed up by reed as as you're kind of your starting point cards or backup card yeah i can agree with that uh hopefully we are able to restructure fred because what is that cap at 44 million team option it's big and like i said i don't know what the dollars and cents are on this um because they've got stephen adams as a

free agent coming up not that he would take a huge chunk of that but uh you know and maybe you know and thank you for the phone call, Blake. This has been a popular opinion by some, but there's going to be contract Ross in the NBA with every team that people are going to go head scratcher. I think if Fred comes back on that dollar amount, people are going to be like, he's not shooting well.

He's sporadic. He's getting a little longer in the tooth. His minutes have gone down a little bit. I still believe there is that EMA deals in value beyond what's on the paycheck. check. And there's a stat sheet. And there's crazy, crazy trust in Fred Van Bleet.

He's playing what Rossi, 39 minutes a game in this series. There's a reason why he may trust him to run his basketball team. And there's a reason why when he's out and misses time, they struggle even more offensively. Yeah.

So again, they're not going to give out any information and they're not telling anybody what they're going to do with that. But I do believe there will be a serious closed door heart to heart with the Rockets' front office press and say, can we afford to do this? Or does a Fred bringing back on a team option, does that limit us with doing something on the greater big picture? Remember, the Rockets can also do

none of the above. They cannot kick the tires. I mean, I think they'll kick. I think they will not be interested, you know, they may not go after Durant. If Yonis says he's committed to Milwaukee, it's a non-starter. I do think they're going to figure out, what the next step is, or they very easily could say, our five best players, Rossier, 25 years and younger. And look what we are right now. Yeah, they're ahead of schedule. The philosophy of, hey, we're ahead of schedule anyways.

These young players can get better. Jalen Green can get better. Alperin-Goon is already an all-star. Give Reed Shepherd another year of development. Same thing for a men, Thompson, and let's run this bad boy back. I could see that, and I would be okay with that. Because realistically, who are we to be afraid of next year in the NBA?

And here we are looking way ahead. Are we to assume, now you can say yes to this, are we to assume the Oklahoma City is going to be a potentially a dynastic team? Yeah, I'd have to look at their payrolls and what they got going forward because they don't like spending money long term at Oklahoma City, but right now, yes. Now, they will be why not paying Shaggildos Alexander $70 million a year with supermax. I mean, Chet is young, still on a rookie deal. Here's my point.

Jalen Williams. I don't know. The Lakers, unless they retool, are not going to be in that group to be fearful of. The Clippers, James and Hart and Kauai

are long of the tooth. Denver doesn't know what their coaching situation is, and they're about to be bouncing. They could be bouncing the first round. That's a game seven. It is a game seven, so I lose on that.

Help me out. Anybody else in the West, Dallas, I don't know what they're thinking. I think of Timberwolves. Timberwolves could be a threat. Edwards and how long are to go bear is going to be. effective in Julius Randall? Yep.

But point being is this. There is nobody that's again, Oklahoma City has had the best team all season long and they just finished off Memphis and 4, but they haven't still have done it yet. They haven't won their they haven't even won a Western Conference yet.

Much less put together several championships. So if you were of the belief to keep it right where it is with a with a tink or a slide adjustment here and there, that wouldn't be the worst thought the Rockets could do. either. Because again, their five best players are 25 under.

You'd be hoping on internal development. That would. Time for you to say, I'm sorry. 12.0.4 H-town. Good. And welcome to the third hour of the Matt Thomas Show with Ross. This is Sports Talk 790. Jackie. No Jackie either. Like Jackie Wilson. There's no men called himself Jackie.

Oh, you tell Jackie Robinson that. I can't. Well, Matt hates Jackie Robinson. More on and then the next second. Is that I used to pick up the ladies? It works, it works. I'm a hot mess, baby. But I want you to be a mess with me. You know who taught me that line. I like that. Jonathan did back in the bay.

Oh, he did? When he was an embryo? I would never talk something like that. He's thinking about having a beer in the middle of a game, You know Luke's thinking about it. Yeah. He's tapping the Rockies. Yeah.

I mean, some guys are drinking vitamin juices at halftime. Some guys are drinking vitamin juices at halftime. Luke is looking for a PBR. Yeah. Closest place. It's not. Readers. Merit, Rill.

Readers. I don't know. It's fine. It's burgers, chicken sandwiches. Sure, why not? I don't know. Velma underrated. Velma underrated, by the way.

Exactly. Who Velma was? No way. I'm Daphne for the win. Daphne won and then the Jets and daughter number two. Okay, this is getting weird. You know, I'm a scarity cat. I would take a loss if I was won the 100.

I'd run away from the situation as fast as possible. No, you don't have a choice, man. You got to pick being eye poker or a nag kicker get him. You must speed as fast as humanly possible. Your cars... Speed them in 60, man? No, no, no. You've got to go minimum 78.

Minimum. By the way, Judy Jetson was a hotie. Jane wasn't bad looking either back in the day when you think about it. It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross on this Friday. We've got EMAID doca coming up at 8 minutes. Ross, if we present to the audience right now at 1207. The News at noon. And we present to you the Keith Oberman of Sports Journalism in Houston.

It was Ross for the Real. Did he wet himself on air or something? Yeah, he did urinating himself. I don't want to be associated with that. And anyways, all right, man. A lot of stuff going on. We will hear from Coach Udoka. We'll ask him about what's going on with Game of Six tonight.

The Rockets taking on the Golden State Warriors. That will be on Sister Station News Radio 740 KTRH. It will be a 7 o'clock Rockets launch pad with yours truly. here was what Udoka said after game five about the message to the team for game six. It's not just when the game is when the possession, the quarter, the half, and stay locked in as far as that, you know, however long it takes, whether it's a quick start like tonight or grinding them out like we have before and gotten back into games. We have to figure out how to get it done. And so with our group, I don't look at the home and away thing.

I look at how we're playing and how we're starting and what our focus level is. and so go to go and stay, do it, and put some real pressure on them, bringing it back here. Got to lock in, Matt, for game six tonight. I'm locked in. I was locked in yesterday. If you say so. Four hour flight. All right, Astro's settling in

for a weekend set in the south side of Chicago. Frumber tonight. Hunter Brown, tomorrow, 1.10 to start. And then Sunday, 110. Lance McCullors Jr., Matt, Did you make your official predictions for his line? Slightly under four innings. I'm thinking three and two-thirds somewhere in that range.

I got a complete game shut out. I love that idea. That's optimism. I'm feeling really optimistic. Okay, maybe I'm lying. All right, elsewhere in the news, Matt, as we mentioned, Greg Popovich stepping down as the Spurs head coach, interim coach Mitch Johnson, already named as the head coach of the San Antonio Spurs to usher in their new era.

with Victor Wimbunyama coming back from deep vein thrombosis and Brian Winhorse saying they're in the mix for a possible Ionis trade. So you're telling me the Spurs next year in theory, possibility, not probability, but a possibility of Deeran Fox, Victor Wembenyama, Stefan Castle, and Yazza Denguma?

Castle's got to be part of that trade. I would think so. Again, it's got to not sting. It has to hurt. Which is worse? Yeah, hurt's way worse. Stang is temporary. That's true.

Well, I mean, you pinch your arm, you could hurt. I don't know. What if I hit you with a two-by-four? You know, that's called assault, Matt. You'll be going to jail. It still hurts. I will sue you to the full extent of the law. That seems fair.

That king would a stake going to be mine. All right. We'll put it on the market. All right, anyways. Are we done here, or you want one more news item? No, one more for sure. Okay, let's go. Where's John?

Yeah, well, you know, we're trying to get early out early for Yudoka. I know, just one more thing. Okay, one quick thing. Jalen Brunton with a big three-pointer. Whoa! Oh, hey, volume control. Let's go. The Knicks defeat the Pistons.

Three-point game winner from Jailen Brunson. He scored 40 points in the contest. They eliminate the Pistons. Nuggets lose at the Clippers. We are on to game seven in that series. Who wins that series? I think Denver wins that game seven. And once again, James Harden will not go,

I believe, a one in five in game seven. in his line? Well, he had 28.6, 28.6 rebounds, 8 assists last night. So James Arden was pretty good. Took over in that third quarter as well. And if we get, will we get another game seven in the first round, Matt? Yes, because the Rockets are going to win the night.

Yeah, we've got two game sevens. And that's your news. It's a double loss for me. That's your news. Thank you very much. All right, let's get to E. May I doka. He joins us in less than five minutes here on the Matt Thomas Show with Ross. We're going to grab coach EMAidoca right now for a few minutes

before he gets ready for the team shooter round, which will be getting ready for tonight's game number six. Rockets and Warriors will start it off at 7 o'clock on KTRH tip time at 8 o'clock here from the Bay Area. Coach, first of all, congratulations on a spectacular win in game number five. The must win the mantra, obviously in effect. How are the boys approaching and everybody feeling leaning into tonight's game in terms of coming here, two close games, two winnable games, and now you've got to get one here to send it hopefully back to Houston? Yeah, guys, they're feeling confident.

Obviously, to your point, we had some really close games, and I had opportunities in both of them, and now it's time to flip the script. Obviously, you've got to win these games and make a few subtle adjustments to come out with a different outcome. The subtle adjustments, obviously, you want to keep those close to the vest as best you can. Have you been surprised by the different number of lineups that Steve has put out there against you guys so far in this series?

No, I wouldn't say that. Obviously, Butler being injured was part of it, but some of the things we're doing with our matchups have given them some problems, and so they want to put more threats out there and try to pick on Alpi and pick on different guys and not have the favorable matchups that we like. And so we've adjusted well to them, and it's just a chess match back and forth. Our big lineups, they're small lineups and everything in between. And obviously the team that adjusts on the fly quicker and obviously in game will have an advantage.

You're such a smart man when it comes to staying away from social media, and for that I applaud you. I cannot do that. So what I've done is looked around, and everybody's giving me their expert opinions on what's going to have to happen for them to win the game or what's going to happen for you guys. It feels like to me the overall sentiment is

that Jimmy Butler is going to have to have a bigger role offensively. You would like to curtail that. What's the most effective thing you think you guys have done to make him a non-affactor the last couple of games? Well, attention to detail with what he likes to do, but the main thing is keeping him off the free throw line. Obviously, the game, He had 27.

He had 12 free throws, 12 for 12 there. And other than that, we guard him okay. I think he was 7 for 16 from the field. And if you don't put him at the free throw line, nine of his 12 were not even on shots. They were just fouls. We gave him off ball. I mean, the one three-pointer obviously late, heard us,

but keep him off the free throw line, stand down on the pump fakes and understand he's trying to bait foul is a big thing. And he has his big games traditionally across the board when he gets the free throw line. And he can get his rest. He can get everybody else set defensively. And so we got to keep him off the line. line.

Rocket Tech coach, Ema Doka with us here on Sports Talk 790. Coach, one thing that people don't really talk about a lot nationally is when this series shifted from a couple of days off between games to just one day off in between games, I feel like that gives

the younger team in your squad the advantage. Would you agree with that? And just in general, adjusting when a series does go to the every other day? Yeah, I think, you know, the fresher, younger team does have an advantage there.

You've got their main three players are 35 and over. And so the way we want to be aggressive defensively and physical and have attention to detail on these guys, you want to make a tough on them every possession. And so physically that starts to wear on you, obviously, mentally as well. And the freshness goes away when you don't have two days of rest. And so we like where we're at right now.

Like I said, we can duplicate what we did last game and be physical there without fouling. That's a benefit to us. and you would think part of the reason they shut it down early was to try to get rested up for this game. Jalen Green looked like he had a bit of a knee issue at the beginning of the game. How is he feeling?

And what are your expectations for him in game six? He's good to go. Jalen is always good. He's going to play through everything. He cut baseline and bump knee to knee with Curry. And so literally came out, got some ice and heat on it, and it was good to go from there. So a minor bump that he's going to play through, as you know,

and just a quick step. finger in the game. Eme, the free throws were going down, the jump shots were going down. Fred's had two really good games. Honestly, to me, if you guys win this series, I don't think it has to be out being Jalen by himself. I love the balance scoring, and obviously you want to get everybody involved, but that had it been as pleasing of a box score for you to look at to see so many different

guys contribute in that game five victory. No, definitely. I think we've always been really good when we have balanced, and anybody can be the leader, you know, as far as scoring that night, but to your point, Alp, he had 15-9-9-9. Obviously, you're not scoring a ton like he has in his 30s, but the nine assists are because of the double teams, the attention he draws, and he's making the right play there. And so, um, starters all in double figures. You had Aaron with nine off the bench, Tari with nine, Jabari with seven. Those guys all obviously played significant role. And so we're, we're hard when we come with

that, with that balance and come in those waves. And so, um, anybody's night, I mean, obviously, Dylan, for 24. A man with 25 and Fred were 26 is huge, but our team really attacks well together, and when the ball is moving around the gym, guys are all sharing the ball and finding those shots. Like I said, it makes us that much harder. Look, you need to win

a game based off of 48 minutes, but there were two stretches in game four here that really hurt. The early start, and then the 18 to 1 start for them in the third quarter. Obviously, you want to erase that. Is there anything... Do you chop up games like that? I have actually, before, but do you think about those

five or six-minute integral parts of games that go, hey, this separates us from winning a close game like we can do against his Golden State team? Definitely. A big part of this series is to avoid the runs. They're a big momentum team that gets going off of turnovers and things of that nature,

putting them at the free throw line, and we did all the above. Obviously, at the start of the game, we had too many turnovers that get out ran, and then to start the third quarter, it was a little bit more of the same. But I love how we bounced back last game, obviously 40 to 24 in the first quarter. So we guard extremely well and we were obviously scoring at a high level. So bounce back from that. I loved how the starters came out there and then did the same thing in the third quarter. This has been a very physical series, a lot of

trash talk, which I'm sure you love. And there's been a lot of reviews for altercations. But what is it like for you as far as talking to the team about you want to keep that physical and mental edge, but you don't necessarily want to give up free points with technical foul and you also don't want anybody getting ejected? Yeah, it's a balance. You understand both teams are being aggressive. You can play physical without being dirty or anything like that. And so for us, we know who they are.

They know who we are. And you got to avoid the antics from certain guys and not get caught up. And then I think our guys have done a decent job of that overall. There's going to be some physicality and things that happen as far as that. But for the most part, if you do get a technical or something, you move on to the next play, but not getting bait into things. That's the main thing. And so a big, big thing going into a series was not getting caught up in certain things by certain players.

And I think we've done a decent job of that. For a let your run, Coach, Pop announcing officially he's going to step down as head coach. I know you have been in contact with him over the last few months in his recovery. Just from what I learned from the guy as a coach, as a man that has been a huge part of your life, just a thought or two about the legacy that he will leave San Antonio as a coach of a multiple times. championship team. Yeah, you know,

bittersweet, obviously, and, you know, I talked to him last week and knew it was coming. And so for him,

just happy that he's, you know, moving on at a piece and can spend time with the family and he's in a good place. And so, yeah,

I mean, he means everything in my career as far as, as a player, you know, the place I played for the most of my career, two and a half years there,

and then spent seven as a coach, but they have the lessons. It's funny. You take these lessons, you hear about them all these years and then just random times during the game, you start thinking about things that he's either said or things you've witnessed with him and they go into your mind in live game time. So so many things, obviously, the best to do it in my opinion. And I got

to learn from the best and it's an honor. And like I said, we'll continue to. I'll go visit them after the season and we'll continue to do what we've always done, have that relationship. But, you know, someone I owe everything to honestly. Emay, thank you for the visit. Best of luck for you in the squad tonight and looking forward to getting us game seven back in Houston, Texas. Thank you. You got it.

Ema And Doka with us here on to the Matt Thomas show at Ross, and they are literally about to step on the court for shoot-rounds. We appreciate him grabbing a few minutes of his time before they do that. 1226, Sports Talk, 790. If you want to chew on anything that E-May had to say, 7-13-212-5-790, 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. And Ross, honestly, maybe the best thing that happened out of all the fracas is that Dylan Brooks is trying to stop fights, which is something that you just don't see very often in Dylan Brooks's career. He was pulling a Min Thompson off of, I can't remember who it was that he dunked on.

Yeah. Yeah, that was good times. Yeah. All right. We are with you until 2 o'clock. We have non-Florida stories coming up in an hour for now. Ross, where is your non-Flority story from? Oh, that would be outside of the state of Florida, Matt?

I just texted Vanessa Richardson. and she's going to be at shoot-around. So we're going to see if she can join us late in the 1 o'clock hour as well before we get to those non-floor stories. Kind of give us a perspective of what's happening today at shoot-around. And then, believe it or not, today we go on all things, Ruth Buzzy. Who? I knew you're going to say that.

A physical comedian, she was best known for her days on Laughing. She was 88 years old. She passed away today. May she rest? I would hope so. I was thinking Greg Popovich? Greg Popovich. I mean, I can throw on a couple Ruth Buzzy's

I was kidding. If you know who Ruth Buzzy is, let us know. I don't think many of you do, but just saying, no, yeah, all things Greg Popovich is he retires officially as the head coach of the San Antonio Spurs. Paul question is up on the Twitter account. I did it about, uh, I did three hours ago, Ross. Dang.

Should I pin it, do you think? Why not? Sure, why not? Yeah, I'm going to pin this tweet. Who got in game number six? Only 195 votes. Do we have that lackluster of interest in just making a simple poll question? Yeah, it's just your account's not that big.

I don't doubt that, frankly. I'm trying to get rid of, I think I've blocked close to 10,000 people. I'm very happy about that. Stop doing that. Just let it happen. No, I don't like to have fake accounts out there in cryptos and porn stars and just fake bot accounts. I like to be authentic. That's what they call me Mr. Authentic.

Ooh. Jonathan, you can not comment. You got no, you didn't know your role. I was clear. I was happy you of. Yeah, he thought that that was a great line, Matt. Oh, okay. John.

Jeez, don't be so defensive, Matt. Well, I was like, oh, I heard a, oh, oh. It was giving you praise. Oh, it was a praise. You know what I mean? Okay, that's a nice. Yeah, he went cross-eyed. I don't know.

It was weird. I mean, I'm 60 hundred miles away. away from you guys. I don't know. I can't see your right. Rockets, 67% of you have the Rockets winning tonight. 33% Warriors. Okay. And again, I put the tweet

at the very top of my Twitter account, at SportsMT, who you got. Rockets in game six. Rockets still holding a five and a half point underdog. Not that that matters. It only takes one point to win. Hey, Faye. What? Why are you pausing?

Because I'm just mulling things over. I mean, are we going to be real or are we going to be blind homers? Well, we can do both. All right, let me give you the blind homer take, okay? The rockets are physically more gifted than the Golden State. Yes. Okay, let me give you that system. Let's make that number one.

Number two, I don't believe Steph Curry's 100%. Even if the legs are okay, I think the hand is not okay. And the rockets are going to do whatever they can, just like anybody would do. if you were to exploit something that wasn't working or hurt or injured or ailed. I mean, that's today's NBA. Number three, I still choose to have glass half full on Jalen having a special game to continue this series. And I'm trying to even one more thing. Go ahead.

I can't imagine John the Kempigranca. that Brandon Pajemski is going to hit six-th threes in a game again. He could. Butler's going to get 25. Curry will be in this 25-26. You know what? If Gary Payton and Moses Moody and Brandon Pajemski and Quentin Post and all these other guys are going to win,

then you have to give them their flowers. I don't think they can do it. So there's the blind homer of me. The realistic viewpoint is this. Rockets have had a couple of opportunities to win games in this series in this building and have not done so. Free throws have been a season-long issue, and in games that are close, you need to be able to get to your number, and the Rockets have still not shot their percentage even during the course of the regular season.

Curry does special things in the big moments when the lights are brightest. Jimmy Butler has been held and checked the last couple of games. You would expect playoff Jimmy to come back out there. As I mentioned to you yesterday, Ross, those mid-range jumpers at Alpi was getting the front rim, the back rim, the side, and dropping, those tend to fall. in a home building than they don't fall on the road building. So he's got to be even more confident in that mid-range shot and have it with confidence. Staying out of foul trouble. And again, history does play a factor.

Golden State's been there, done that, and the Rockets have not. Yeah, it starts with me with free throws, free throws, free throws. Paint scoring, especially in minutes when Draymond Green is not on the floor, whether it be a men, Thompson, out of British and Gung, I don't even care. Stephen Adams putbacks, whatever. get to the paint, especially when Draymond is not on the floor and continuing to just have that physical defense without fouling.

And Draymond's going to get, it's going to have an opportunity to get into the heads of the rockets at some point in this game tonight. And communicate, well, hopefully not. Yeah, keeping your cool in those moments and then communication during the zone defense, I think a few times. Honestly, they got lucky a little bit in games four and five, to where everybody was getting lost in the zone defense

and there were wide open threes that weren't going down. And the reality is, if you're going to deal in realities, the percentages have said that Fred giving you three straight games of a highly efficient threes is not on the betting side of things. Yeah, I'd love to see it. But I'm going to say this, and I said this earlier in the show. If they can pull this off today,

the Rockets are going to go to game seven, and they're going to win the series. I'm 100% with you. But you got it. But that's way in the distance as far as I'm concerned. Yeah. In this series, Fred has had a two for 12 night from three. He's had an eight for 12 night from three.

So let's get closer to the latter. That's why to me, and I know the balance scoring is something I brought up with you may just a few minutes ago, there's a certain part of me that says, Jalen, come on. We got to get you to take off tonight. Yeah, they have to be ready for blitzes. They have to be ready for, I mean, he's got to be, he can't be, oh, I'm just going to get blitz. I'm going to throw the ball away and then I'm out of the possession. He can't do that.

He's got to reset. He's got to cut to the basket. He's got to move around. He's got to be, you can't just get shut down by simple, quick, double teams. She's got to go around those. He's got to try to split them. You can't just allow that. You can't just say they're taking the ball out of my hands.

I can't do anything. Throw your hands up and throw it to somebody else. He's got to move without the ball. Got to be aggressive. Yeah. And moving without the ball. Yes. Let's go to Willie in Cyprus at 1238 on 790.

Willie, good afternoon to you. Matt, good afternoon. Ross, appreciate your effort. Matt, briefly, just to point out something, and you're at liberty to do so, right? You mentioned you kind of delete orange stars. Byproduct of calling out the strippers is kind of a little bit in the network of that, you know, I guess job choice. So, you know, give that thought. Here, let me do to make those choices.

And kudos for you to doing that. With that said, just a little bit on Jalen Green, and I appreciate sports thought because you get the many-faceted perspectives from fans. My perspective, that being, I did take close attention to Jalen Green the last three games of the season. I know that's the time to get healthy,

people to get, you know, ready for the playoffs. That said, if you look at some of the greats, maybe it's right to do this, maybe it's not to compare them to those, but a Kobe mindset, even as Steve Nash, in preparation of the playoffs, If you are the man, your mindset has got to be, I've got to do this. If no one's with me, a chagoon, I've got to be ready mentally to go out and attack,

figure out what I'm going to do. That said, yes, progression does need to happen to Biscuit's point. He does need to go through it to persevere. But mindset, mentality, if you just look at Jalen Green, just overall, that's something I was concerned about going into the playoffs. I wanted to see that, go get it mentality. And that kind of plays into your point. other areas of contribution that he can make,

just haven't been consistent enough. And that's kind of why the indictments out there. I think, obviously, he still has to grow, but part of that was what is his mentality going into a situation where he's just a man by himself? Shagoons not there. Others aren't there. What are you going to do?

And from that, I'd like your perspective on that point. And I'll hang up and listen. Appreciate it. Thanks for the phone call. Yeah. I don't need him to score 30 Ross. I don't. but I

20 to 25 efficiently well problem is like 3 of 8 from 3 even Jalen isn't even even when he gets to the 20 to 25 it may take a more shots you probably want well he's gonna have to

no he's got to get to the free throw line he's going to have to be aggressive honestly he's going to have to get calls I think just in his career for whatever reason he sometimes because he looks a little out of control and they won't call it even though he is fouled

but you cannot in this series right now Shingoon is leading you in basically everything points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, whatever. Jalen Green is fourth in points. That cannot do... That's not a recipe for success for this Rockets team. All right, I'll make it simple.

I don't think the Rockets can win tonight if he's under 20 points. Hmm. I mean, in theory, anything is possible. I get that. Yeah, I know. But the... Your key to victory. The...

The I feel better about things is that he's... and I'm not saying he's disinterested, at least mentally, but the box score can't lie. If you're only taking eight shots and you're just out there. And look, I may can feel it. If he may knows it, he's pulling him. And he did. And he's done it before in a playoff series.

He's pulled him. In a playoff series, there's 11 seconds left in the game. The Rockets were down one. Coach Udoka said this young man cannot help me win the game. Carr easy was out there instead. Yes. Yeah. I think it really comes down

to the starters. I really do. And look, Stephen Adams has been fantastic in this series of offensive rebounds. Tarisen has had its moments. Who else am I forgetting about? Oh, Jabari. Amin's been good. A men's have some good moments. Yeah.

I kind of want to Jalen Green, because I do root for Jalen. And if you guys got to know Jalen, you would root for him. But the other evidence is if he if he's four of 16 the night and is not an integral part of his team and turns the ball over there were some the turnovers he had in game four was it rossi with buddy heel guarding him right at the midport line three turnovers right away a bad pass alpern shingoon buddy heel pokes one away and then he's just like spinning dribbling doing and one dribbling drills at the top of the

key and loses the ball and and yeah i think two of the maybe two of those resulted in buckets just can't happen. Not trying to put too much on Jalen Green's plate, but Jalen Green's about to be a $100 million. Focus up and don't lose your mind. Yeah, exactly. He's making $100 million. He's not making, you know,

max, max money, but you were drafted number two overall, and he's got to be better. You cannot have three out of four. Well, four out of five or 11 points or fewer. We call it double digits. I mean, that's 10. He got 11. It's not like he was going off.

Right. So four out of five, 11 points or fewer in this series. That is not acceptable. And you know what? He knows it. He's not watching a different game that we're watching. I promise you on that. 1243. Matt and Ross with you here.

I'm here in San Francisco for game 6. 713-212-5-79 if you want to jump in. We'll talk to Jimmy and DePaul. We come back. We want you guys involved as well. And ladies, don't be afraid of the call to show you there. 7-13-212-5-7-9. Vanessa Richardson is going to join us at 120.

130 we have now in Florida stories and at 150 today it is hell yeah or not all things about Greg Popovich you've not heard he is officially retired as a head coach of the Houston Rockets taking on a team of the San Antonio Spurs I should say taking on a presidency

is it named Mitch Johnson is that the new coach Rossi is that who it is? Oh I said it earlier I think that's correct yeah yeah Mitch Johnson took over for Pop when he left because of the stroke 1243 Sports Talk 790 Ladies and gentlemen, every Tuesday we do gut feelings on this radio show,

and we usually will save the bragging for said gut feeling hits to Tuesday, but I just felt like since the calendar month turned yesterday. Rossi, remember I told you that Alex Brevin was going to about 800 OPS in a month of April? How'd that go? You've got to be over, right? I originally had it at 850, but I downgraded to 800. You're right. I talked to you down. You talked to me down. My bad.

He finished the month of April with an OPS of 978. All right. Well, that's going to dive bomb. Seven home runs, 26 RBI. Oh, my God. Stolen base. 326, the batting average. He's hitting 326.

He's never hit 300 in his career for a season. His career batting average is 274. He's 320 next six. And again, it's only one month. Yeah, he's going to cool off. He's going to cool off or he's opting out and getting a big-time deal. They're only two games above 500. I mean, they didn't make them that big of a difference.

Well, just think of where they would be without him. Poof. And where the Astros would be with him. Although, Aesac's doing okay, Mr. Triples Power. Yeah, Esock. Yeah, Triples Power. Esock Parades has been good. Yeah, and batting averages isn't great, but he's still doing his thing.

I mean, still hitting the Crawford Box home runs. Fielding his position probably a lot better than we thought he was going to, be honest with you. Yeah, he's been good. He's been a little, now he's not been super ranging, but a little bit more ranging than I was expecting. Yeah. Jimmy and Tom Ball at 1250 on 7-90. Jimmy, thank you for wedding and good afternoon.

Good afternoon, guys. Happy Friday. And, but Matt, I know it's a couple of segments late, but I'm going to just issue, and I'm sorry ahead of this comment. But I got to call you out. You were talking about Sting versus Hurt, and you said Hurt is worse. Well, eBay Yatoka just now. said that, you know, Jalen bumped knees with Curry and got a little bit of ice and heat and just a little stinger. I mean, if he was hurt, he'd have come out of the game.

A little, he specifically said just a little stinger. So basically, it's actually furthering at my point. Sting means he can't play. I mean, he can play. Hurd is he can't play. Sting is out there. He's playing. It's just a sting.

It's good. I'm right. You're wrong. I apologize. Say you're sorry. Oh, sorry. Stings hurt. Do stings hurt or do it hurts sting?

No, stings hurt. Well, what about a hurt sing? A hurt sting means you're probably closer to just being generally hurt. But what if it hurts after it stings? Then you're definitely hurt. Hmm. But it's not just a sting. Anything else, Jimmy?

I believe not. I think he took his own left. Thank you, Jimmy. Appreciate you? Yeah, he said it was a sting. So stings mean, he gets back on the court. So you're saying sting is worse? No, hurt is worse than sting.

Go to the original, how you said it the first time, because now I'm confused. If a bee stings you, okay, that's a sting. You put some neospor on it, you're done, you get back to doing your deadly life. If you hurt your ankle, it swells up and you probably can't walk and you're in pain. That hurts. What if it's just a little hurt? I still say a little bit. little hurt is greater than a sting.

What if it's a big hurt? That'd be Frank Thomas then. Come on now. I said, Come on now. You thought that softball. I'm going to hit it. Let's go to Paul and Myerland.

Anything that goes Friday. Hi, Paul. Hey, what's going on? Ross. I miss you on the nightcap. I'm sorry, Paul. That show was not successful. First of all, it was a high.

successful show. The ratings were pretty good. I'm just saying. Hey, hey, I'm just throwing the facts out there. I'm just throwing the facts out there. The ratings are pretty good, but they tacked on an extra hour to this show, Paul. So that's my four hours a day. Yeah, and I'm sorry to hear you having to get up so much earlier in the morning. I know you're like me here. A night person. I like to sleep in. If I have to wake up before noon, it's early for me, Paul. That's what I'm talking about. But I just wanted to pay my respects out to Ruth Buzzy, watching her. slap Artie Johnson upside to head with her purse when he'd make a pass at her on that park bench. One of the best parts of Laugh-In.

So, y'all have a great weekend, and let's go Astros and let's go Rockets. There you go, Paul. Thank you very much. Yeah, Ruth Buzzy would hit Artie Johnson all the time on Laughn. Artie Johnson. It was also another comedian on that show. Oh, okay. Do you don't even know what Laugh-in is?

Do you really know what it was? It was a comedy-variety sketch kind of show? Yeah. It was basically Saturday Night Live in the late 60s. Hmm, but was it live? No. Oh. It was before its time.

All sketches. It was like he-ha, but not country? No, no, no, no, no, no. Way, clob, way funnier. Way more edgy. Like Saturday Night Live, edgy, but for prime time in the late. Again, I never saw it, obviously live or on record it. I always saw the YouTube videos or old shows.

perhaps it's most famously known for Richard Nixon was the I believe was president at the time when he made a guest appearance on the show and his most famous line was Sokutumi on that show And he was Wasn't that the million dollar question? The first guy that won a million dollars?

Oh, who wants to be a millionaire? You might be right about that. Yeah. And the guy called his dad is like, hey dad, I'm good. Just want to let you know I'm going to be a millionaire. How good is that? You ever called your dad like that before? No. I've always called my dad and said,

Dad, can I borrow a million dollars? Forgetting about getting money the million dollars. Yeah. I think it was Richard Nixon said Socket, and I don't know if Socket Timmy was on that show with a lot of people singing, but yeah, he was on it.

That was his most famous moments in TV history was having a current president go on a sitcom and do that. The most famous laugh-in star, can you guess who that would have been of all the stars on that show? Uh, that would be Dom Deloies. No, I'll give you a hint. Female, blonde, movie star of the...

Goldie Hawn. Oh, you got it right. How did you get it? You looked it up. I did my hands are up. There's no way you would have just randomly said Goldie Hawn. No, because you... You don't want to tell you how I knew.

I'll be the witness. Yeah, you want to tell you how I knew. You brought it up before, like years ago. Oh, did I? Okay. Yeah. How do we feel about Goldie Hawn's daughter, Kate Hudson? Big fan. She seems great.

How do you feel about her? Terrific. Yo, ATX, Hobo Gross says everybody used to say it on the show, sock it to me, so she knows. So I guess it would get celebrities to come out on the show and say sock it to me. Okay. Like I said, I don't think I've ever watched a full episode. Yeah, and diesel fuel cost a nickel. Don't go Old Weston.

It was 1968. It wasn't that far. I mean, it was a long time ago. It was a while ago, Maddie. But you went 1933 on it. And the number one car was the Ford Fairlane. We loved our Ford Fair Lanes. You know what?

I'm going to have you do your voice here. We've got one minute left in a second. Why don't you give me your 1968 at Woodstock voice? What's up, man? You're watching Laughan? That's more like what's his name, Brewer. Jim Brewer. Yeah, Jim Brewer.

Tommy Chong. Yeah, yeah. Peace, man. You know, Cheech and Chong are reuniting for a movie. Yeah, I think Is Cheech 86? There's somewhere Somebody's 86

Gordy Sin is hurt and sting And it's Jalen Hertz and Derek Stingley We were supposed to say the semantics battles for two to six Matt What am I don't get this hurt sting what does this mean Jalen Hertz and Derek Stingley We've been arguing about hurts and sting this whole time Oh oh my God Yeah come on Gordy

I'm thinking about Sakatumi on laughing Nobody's thinking. Well, you and the octogenarians everywhere. I'm thinking about you going back to your 1968 voice. All right. Do you want to just talk like this, man? Mamas and the papas are playing. We've got to go check them out.

They're groovy. That's horrible, too. That was a great, man. What was worse? My Bill Cosby of two hours ago were that right there. Bill Cosby about the show to a screeching halt. No, it didn't. I could hear the dials turning.

No, they don't. In Houston. Listen up to Texans draft evaluators? at this point still no they listen to this show got to all right um yeah hurt or stingly hmm good job gordy let's gordy stepping up his game listen to the show god love him all right final hour of the matt thomas show with ross coming up here we're going to check him with venezza richmond in 20 minutes non florida stories in 30 and hell yeah or not all things about gregg popovitch plus your phone calls at 713212 5 790 104 sports talk 790 we are now

to 56 minutes of this radio program. I want you to come say hi to us. 713-212-5-7-90. Ray and Spring will start with you at a matter of moment. 7-13-212-5-7-90. Ross. Poll question is up. 258 votes are in.

Still six hours and 26 minutes left to vote if you so choose. Who you got in game six? Rocket 71 percent. So far, the Warriors, at 29 percent, which is a little bit closer to what people had had in the previous games of this series. Rossi, time to put your number. name on it. I'm going to clearly put it on the Rockets because that's my team.

I call their games. They're absolutely zero interest in me watching them. The Warriors went on this home floor. So the purely bias in me steps in and says Rockets win it by five. I hate you. I was going to say 104 to 99. All right. Taking those two numbers and

subtracting it, it's five points. All right, fine. 103 to 99. Okay. So lower scoring than what we saw, obviously, in game number five of the series. Yes. Okay. Pick to click.

I'll let you go first. I'm going to keep it simple. Alper and Shingoon. You know what? We've got a problem, ladies and gentlemen. Ross and I just think way too much alike, and he, though, is embarrassed by it. Now I'm embarrassed by it.

Okay, fine. I'll swap. I'll pivot to him in Thompson. Like a late steel, dunker, He had 20 points, three steals, 20 points close to a triple double. We'll do 20 points, 8, rebound, 7 assists. I think Alpi has more success against Draymond Green than he's had so far in the series. I think Alpy will find Quentin Post and try to posterize him multiple times.

Okay. That's a play on words. I see you there. See you working. I think Dylan's Dylan. I think Fred probably doesn't. Not probably. More than likely wouldn't give you the type of offensive numbers,

although he's still got to hit some threes. Yeah, that's okay. Just don't go two for 13. Yeah, I mean, he's going to get his looks. I could see maybe Tari Easton having a little bit more of an explosive game offensively the time he's on the floor. Just kind of just trying to find some little things here and there.

Okay. Yeah, I'm going to go, I don't know the number, but I'm going to go Rockets by five, because I am purely biased. I want them to win. I don't like the Warriors. They're my hands-down least favorite team in the NBA and are even close.

I think it's so cute that Steve Kerr wants to change the rules about players being able to hit hands after shots are taken after they've been doing this in the NBA for, I don't know, 60 years. Oh, man, the whining, you know what? I forgot what a bunch of whiny punks warriors fans were. And their broadcasters, are too. Oh my God. Zach Lowe, who's an NBA expert, he's been around a long

time. I think most people that follow him. He loves Zach Lowe. He goes on his podcast is like, isn't it rich? The Golden State Warriors are, he says the hands down most biased NBA television crew out there. I could see that. And that for a team that

employs as many I mean, we can say thugs, because Dramon's a thug, right? Thuggish player. Not a thugge as human being, but a thuggey's a player. He's an enforcer, Matt. Well, he's a dirty player. Draymond's certainly a dirty player. Enforcer dirty player.

That they're the ones complaining about how people will go for swipes. And if there's swipes and they're fouls, they're fouls. And Steph's had plenty of those in his life as well. Jimmy's going to score a bunch of points tonight. I feel confident in that. I don't know. I'm not so sure about that. He's a hit.

He's not moving. I don't know. He's still hurt. He's playing hurt and they're playing every other day. Yeah. Curry is still going to get his points. I just don't need Brandon Pajemski to score 26 points. Yeah, I think not a key to victory because there's nothing you can do.

Like if Buddy Heald and Brandon Pajemski start going off, it is what it is. But I think on the flip side, a key to victory for the Warriors, if we were doing Warriors radio, would be those guys need to do something. One of those guys needs to go for like 20. Because I'll take my chances with Moody. I'll take my chances with Gary Payton kind of in the lane like he did. But he'll could be a sneaky pick as a third go-to guy. I would just say if they have three big scores as compared to their normal two,

Rockets in trouble. You get single digits from everybody else. Like, for instance, Draymond Green scores those early threes, sets a momentum, and then he kind of goes back into his normal shell. I don't need Draymond Green knocking down three-three. Keep taking threes. I'm okay with that. I mean, keep taking them.

I just don't even make any of them. Let's go to the phones and talk to people. with Vanessa Richardson coming up in about 10 minutes from now as well. Let's go to Ray on 790 at 109. Ray, thanks for holding and good afternoon. Good afternoon, guys. Wonderful show. Great take on Jalen Green. We just need to see him show up strong and maybe everybody else to do their jobs. Hey, I don't know how you guys got on the Ruth Buzzy thing, but actually there's a sports angle to this comment. The funniest thing Ruth Buzzy, I think, ever did, was the Dean Martin celebrity roast of Muhammad Ali. If you have not seen that, it is unbelievable Howard Cosell is totally Howard Cosell.

Billy Crystal makes his first appearance on television doing his Howard Cosell and Billy Crystal, excuse me, and his Muhammad Ali. Apparently him and Muhammad became very, very close after that. But anyway, she, Ruth Buzzy goes off on Muhammad Ali, and it is whole. hilarious. And she's in character, correct? And she's in that bag woman character? She hasn't left, she hasn't left character since the 60s. Okay, but anyway, she, it's a, you just YouTube, Dean Martin's Celebrity Roast, some of the humor is a little bit dated, you know, because they were ruined, they were like the Mel Brooks humor in that you, you're out overt because you're trying to make fun of racism. So some of the humor is a little bit, but my God, Billy Crystal. is everybody went nuts. That was the start of Billy's career

by standing up there and doing his feel with Muhammad Ali. And of course, everybody tries to rap and try to be Muhammad Ali. But it is definitely must-see YouTube. Okay. Well, Ross got something to do at 2 o'clock today. Ray, thank you for the

phone call. Did you, is there another radio show on the marketplace? That's going to give you two Ruth Buzzie calls in one show. Probably for the better for the other shows. Would you rather cuss and discuss Texans linebackers or get into a Ruth Buzzy deep dive? Texans linebackers.

All right. Let's go to Vince in Midtown at 111-7-0. Hi, Vince. Hey, how are you guys doing? Good. Hey, you got to, I'm wondering, I've got a follow-up, too. I'm wondering why Gabari Smith isn't playing more in this series.

I feel like when the Rockets made their last run during the season before they sat out all their players, he was one of their most effective, efficient players. And it's like he's barely getting any minutes, in my opinion, this series. I don't think barely is a term I would use. He's played 25, 24, 26, 22, and then 15 in the blowout. Yeah, I wouldn't say barely.

I don't know if I I don't think the Rockets need Jabari to play 30 minutes He just I mean He's just the The fourth go-to guy on an offense right I mean yeah he's he's good He's doing his playing his role

He's knocking down threes Okay well let me ask you this So let me ask you this So let's just say the rocket The difference this Let's say the offseason The difference between whether they get knocked out The first round

Or if they advance of the second and round. How do you think the front office will proceed? That is a great question. I'm going to tell you this, and I've mentioned this a bunch, and thank you, Vince, for the phone call. Just the sense I get is they're going to go on a sabbatical, Ross, you know, maybe go to like two, two Creeks Crossing Resort. I don't if they'll go there or not, whatever. And they will... Or a tropical island. Or they'll go to Vegas, or they go somewhere nice, and they're going to, they want to get away from it all.

And they'll have this super high. A nice week in Galveston, Texas. Exactly. At the San Luis, that's one of Timmons' properties. They'll open up a conference room and they are going to have some really tough, hard, brutally honest conversations. But they're good problems to have. You know, if you're Phoenix, you're like, what do we do with Duran? What do we do with Booker? If you're Milwaukee. Milwaukee is sunk.

You know what I'm saying? Those are tough, uninteresting, painful. Yeah. This is fun and interesting. But still, I don't know if opinions could shift on a game-to-game basis, a season-to-season basis. But I think literally they're going to put everything on the table. And I think you're going to probably have some people in the room that could be Tillman. It could be Patrick Fratita.

It could be EMA. It could be Rafeel. it could be any one of the many lieutenants that are going to come up with a compelling case to say I think we can do this and I mean and I'm not trying to cop out I'm just telling you that is the sense I get when Rafael and I have talked about this

very informally he's like Matt we're going to talk about everything and that does include keeping the core together they don't have an itchy trigger finger but the question is going to be when this season is done whenever it's done, Ross, it's how close did we get and how far are we with the current group we have to get to over the next level to get to the top of this Western Conference?

Yeah, I mean, to me, it's very simple. Is Alper and Schengen can continue to grow and get better? I think the answer is yes. Is Jalen Green going to continue to grow and get better? I think the answer is yes. But are they going to get enough better, men Thompson, I'll throw in there as well, to win us a championship. And that's what they have to decide. they don't have to do anything.

They could run this team back, and I don't think that's like general managing malpractice. They run this team back. They're a 50-win team next year again. I think so. And if you get more improvements, they're already ahead of schedule. This is the thing. We're talking about them and had a schedule.

We won a championship. How do we come for the Thunder? They were barely supposed to be in the playing this year. Because if you, Ross, if you get anything from Reed Shepard next year, that's that permanent jump shot off the bench you're looking for. It'd be nice. All right, let's check him with Vanessa next. 115. It is a Matt Thomas Show at Ross.

This is Sports Talk 790. 121 Sports Talk 790, Matt and Ross with you. I'm here in San Francisco for game number six, Rockets and Warriors. Radio is 740 KTRH. Television is Space City, and you need to watch Vanessa Richardson, who's going to join us right now on the show. She is at a shoot-around. Vanessa, before we get to the Rockets, I got an email from a friend of mine, says, So ask Vanessa who her favorite sex in the city character is.

So go ahead and answer that first. Interesting. Hey, I have never seen it. But I feel like I would connect with who's the one that's really funny? The one that you like, right? I like Samantha. Samantha's my favorite. Okay, yeah, I've never seen it.

Somehow, once again, you have more female tendencies than I do, so I'm sorry that I let you down. That feels personal, and we'll discuss this all. fair here shortly. All right. You are at Shootaround. Give us the vibe right now. Okay, so I just left Shootaround, and I'm actually at the mall, because that's what women do. We shop. The vibe was good. The vibe at Shooteround was very, very focused. I think when you take inventory of what we've seen so far, these guys are growing game by game. And not only are they focused, but they're very self-aware. And they know what they need to do. They know that they need to be aggressive.

They know that they need to hit first. And so I'm excited to see tonight. You know, it's on the road. It's going to be a very hostile environment, but I know that our guys can handle it. You know, the things that we've been trying to diagnose this thing throughout the course of the show today, I need better free throw shooting.

I want jail-invested early in the contest. You've watched his body language, obviously being on the court as much as you have been. What are you sensing from him as you will watch him through these last couple of games and obviously getting ready for today when you were at a shoot-around. Is he wearing it? Is he trying to be business as usual?

What's going through his mind do you think? I think the good thing is he understands what he has to do. And myself and Lisa Salters, who is sideline, of course, tonight for ESPN, you know, we were able to interview Jaylon after shoot-around, and Lisa actually asked him to, you know, self-scout. And he's not happy with his performance in the playoffs so far, you know, minus, of course, That one game, I believe it was game two, in Houston, where he absolutely went off. So, look, you and I are both around Jalen.

We know how good of a person he is. We know how hard these guys work. And, you know, it's not just showing up and playing basketball. They have a whole routine all day. So I believe in Jalen. And there's something to be said about this being the first playoff series for so many of these guys. And I remember Amin telling me, a men Thompson told me he didn't feel like he played like himself. until the end of the fourth quarter of game four.

I mean, it's like it's taking some of these guys a while to adjust. That's part of having a young team. So I very much believe in Jaylen. He's focused. He's very self-aware. And I think he knows he needs to come out aggressive tonight. That's what he said in the interview. So look for that for sure.

You have been on the floor for these games in this series, and we've seen so many technical fouls and flagrant fouls. what is your, as you watch this from your vantage point, how ridiculously intense and maybe at times absurd has things gotten between these two guys in terms of mouthing off and talking and trying to get each other's minds? Well, you know me. I love old school basketball. I mean, I love aggressive, intense. I love the double triple big. I love, you know, the trash talking, I think is a lost art. And so I love it. You know, look, like, call it both ways is my only thing with anybody that's refereeing a game. And I'm not saying they haven't done that. I'm not, but I just, I would like the whistle, you know, being consistent, I think is something that the guys look for.

But I, I've enjoyed the fact that it's intense. I've enjoyed the fact that the rockets have not backed down against a veteran established team. And, you know, the fact that Dylan Brooks had to hold a men Thompson back the last game, I thought was really funny as well. So I like it. I really like, you know, and obviously I'm fortunate to have a very good seat, you'd be surprised at the things that are said that the broadcast does not pick up on.

And so, you know, we are not a, you and I do not cover a team that's known to be quiet, and you could take that, you know, whatever way you'd like, but it's, it's there on camera. E. May chirping at LeBron last year and, you know, Dylan and LeBron and then E. May and Steph and Jimmy Butler and Dylan, Like, we do not cover a team full of guys that are shy and quiet. So I really enjoy it and hope to see more of it as long as everybody's safe, of course. I don't want anybody to get hurt. Right. You know, it's funny that because you would think you could go to EMA or any of the players and say,

man, what do you think about all this Draymond and stuff? And you got Pat Spencer headbunning, and they're kind of ambivalent to it because that's kind of how they're built in a certain respect. Yeah, I mean, I think I, you know, I didn't realize EMA and Dremont were as close and had as much respect for each other as they did until I interviewed EMA before the playoffs began. And he couldn't say enough good things about Dremont and called him the heart and soul of the Warriors team. And, you know, obviously Emey worked with Dremont a little bit with Team USA as well. So I think these guys have a respect for each other. And I think the other thing people need to keep in mind and fans need to keep in mind. Sometimes what is said at the podium or what is said in interviews,

sometimes there's a little bit of a strategy there, right? So, you know, take that whatever way you want. But whether it's saying something to maybe ignite the other team or ignite your guys, you know, there's a little bit of a mental game as well. But EMA has said you have to beat Dremont physically and mentally. That's going to be a big thing tonight. All right. last question because obviously we were all kind of putting our names on it and how what's going to

happen close your eyes as long as you're not driving which you're not you're at the mall uh give me the scenario give me if the rockets win how does it happen how close of a game is it and give me like the last 30 seconds of what's going to happen tonight if the rockets win pretty much pretty much all of these games have been close um i think it's going to come down to let's make the free throws so the rockets give themselves a chance um you know you've heard the Rockets have their motto sometimes you, sometimes me, always us. So it either needs to be a very, very balanced scoring sheet, or you need Jalen slash Alpi slash Amen or like Fred just, you know, makes nine threes. You either have to have the balanced scoring sheet that the Rockets team has

thrived under or you need one guy to just step it up and make every shot. So I'm really looking forward to it. I think there's a lot of scenarios that could happen. But again, the coaching staff has said, not just a physical series. This is a mental series. And I think our guys, I very much believe in them. And I'm saying Rockets and Seven. Oh, from your mouth, the basketball gods' ears. Thank you, Vanessa, so much. Enjoy your shopping,

and we'll see you at the arena later on this afternoon. Thank you again. Okay. See you. Thanks, Matt. See it. That's Vanessa Richardson with us from Space City Home Network at the mall. Enjoying a little pre-game shopping. And it's the Rockets and Warriors play tonight. Again, it's going to be 7 o'clock on KTRH,

with the Ross Villarreal lead launch pad, which is going to be, I believe you've got a chance to make a Pulitzer Prize winning a performance out of that. Well, I don't know. It's very difficult to win a Pulitzer Prize, Matt. But I don't even give it away for radio. You are the Kendrick Lamar or pregame host host. No, not quite.

Not quite up to that level, Matt, but I'm trying. I'm trying to be stronger every day. 730 network pregame with Adam Clinton, then I'll have the call at 8 o'clock here from Chase Center. non-flora stories are up next we find interesting stories that occur outside the state of Florida and share them with the people of Hughes

it's time for non- excuse me get a little bit of punter time now for a weekly second we call non-flora stories this is where we go find stories that we think are interested to you the only one rule is they cannot be from the state of Florida unless one of us is in the state of Florida. Ross, mine's a short story this week.

It's not gross. I guess in some respects it could be gross. Mine are usually working a little blue, but that's neither here nor there. Ross and Jonathan, do you guys brush your teeth on a regular? I would hope you guys did too. Yes, twice a day? Well, I'm glad to hear that.

Usually you do it once at night before you go to bed and once probably when you wake up the morning, it can go on with your day, correct? Mm-hmm. And you know what? There's always that minty fresh. There's always that bubble gum maybe. There's just generic.

You're always trying to figure out ways to really add flavor to your toothpaste, correct? Okay. All right. There is a website called His Mite. It's actually His Smile, H-I-M-L-E. It's a website, and I did look at it's legit. And it was recently selling a flavor of toothpaste. that sold out in 48 hours.

The flavor Kentucky Fried Chicken. The product is currently available only in the United States, but it's already sold out. The toothpaste is a blend of 11 herbs and spices. So it's original recipe and not extra crispy. That's disgusting. Design to deliver, quote,

the irresistible feeling of biting into a piece of hot, juicy original recipe chicken. Now, I do like original recipe chicken. I'm way more than I like the extra crispy. I'm with you on that. But I do not want to brush my teeth and have the breath of 11 original herbs and spices on my breath all damn day long. This sounds disgusting.

And it's sold out. And it sold out in 48 hours. Kentucky fried chicken toothpaste. That's disgusting. Why are we doing this? This same company in 2013 created a cupcake flavor toothpaste, which I somewhat get. The second flavor they also came up with in 2013, which is hard for me to understand, is bacon. Why do you want to smell like bacon all day long?

Why do you want to smell like Kentucky Fried Chicken all day long? I put a little bacon grease behind my ears every day. That is nasty. I'm just kidding. And that, my friend is, friends are, is my non-Flority story. the KFC toothpaste currently unavailable selling out in 48 hours. Hmm. Ooh.

Thank you, Matt. That was an amazing story. You're welcome. Incredible. Gripping, as they say. You know what? I'm going to go next, Matt. Okay.

Man, are you familiar with the military conflict off the coast of Yemen? I am not. Please inform me. Not really. I'm not really informed on it either. But apparently out there is the USS Harry. S. Truman. It is an aircraft carrier off the coast of Yemen where apparently, you know, there's stuff going down.

Missile attacks, fire, all that type of stuff. That's terrible to hear. Well, while the aircraft carrier was under attack, unfortunately, they had to make a hard turn. And an FAA 18 Super Hornet fighter jet fell off the aircraft carrier into the water. a $60 million fighter jet just completely fell off the boat has sunk and now is lost at sea.

Taxpayers dollars are gone. The aircraft carrier was making a zigzag tactic. Unfortunately, the fighter jet was not secured and it just rolled off the boat into the water. Okay. First of all, this is a terrible story. because as Jonathan brought up, we're losing money on this, right? This is going to cost us significant dollars.

And submarine should never zigzag, correct? No, well, yeah, it's an aircraft carrier. Aircraft carrier. They should not be zigzagging anywhere. Who gets fired for that? I don't know. There's an investigation underway right now. Who's running this?

Do we have a corporal's name? We have a lieutenant's name. We have a captain's name. We need names. Captain? I don't have to. have the captain's name unfortunately for you right now, Matt. Okay.

So what's the end result on this? I think we're just out $60 million is what I'm reading. Is this going to affect my 401k under any circumstances? I don't think so. Have you invested in Boeing or Raytheon or whoever? Highly depressing. I'm sorry, Matt. No, we should all be sorry.

I am. So what's the end result? where is this missile? Do we know where it is? It's a fighter jet. It's a whole fighter jet. No, I thought it was a missile. No, with the whole jet. Where is it, is it like down with the Titanic? Yeah, it's underwater now.

We're getting a movie out of it? Hopefully. With a girl in the car naked, getting a portrait made of her? What? Like in Titanic. Didn't see it off the coast of Yemen? You haven't seen Titanic? Well, I guess that makes sense. It's four hours. I ain't trying to do it.

It is very long. It's not that long. It's not four hours. Oh, it's like three and a half. No, come on. Oh, yeah. Let's see. Titanic runtime.

Let me look. Three hours and 15 minutes. Yeah, so you were embellishing a little bit. You got to put into like the ads and like, you know, pauses and stuff. Hey, you can get two weekend at Bernie's movies in and one, one Titanic, Matt. And you can also get a popcorn in a box. We talked about that yesterday, remember? Well, I told you.

I saw that movie at the Magic Johnson Theater. I didn't realize it was three and a half. hours long almost and I was holding that's the most I ever had to pee at a movie theater I was like I'll hold it oh you didn't you need to go to the bathroom during it no I was like ah movies almost over it's been an hour and a half we're probably good right a little did I know

shout out to the magic Johnson theaters on the north side I wonder if they do the popcorn bucket may they rest I think that they're folded is there any magic Johnson theaters left in the world I don't think so I don't think so all right Jonathan what do you got All right, I got a guy from Darren McConakey, 30 from Glasgow, Scotland. The story goes, he assumed that he was dead and had an ear infection for a couple of years,

and his hearing had became impaired. The Daily Record reported on April 15th, but one night he had woke up with a surging feeling of pressure on his head and something starting to move. He had thought his ear had ruptured. He felt something small and hard sort of pop out, and he was absolutely terrified. I thought he was a bug. So when he checked it on his phone light, it turned out to be a tiny one-by-one piece of Lego

covered in wax, digged into his, all the way down in his ear. McCona Key said he hadn't played with Legos since he was a child, and he's been having this ruptured, this ear infection for at least 10 years. Oh my God.

Wait a wait a minute. You would have a 10-year earache and you wouldn't have it looked at before then? It was 20 years he had it, apparently. Oh, my. And he says, I don't remember sticking the brick in my ear. I genuinely had no clue

it was in my ear all that time. You ever had anything stuck in your ear, boys? Ear wax. A woman's tongue? It wasn't stuck. That's true. I didn't think of it quite that way. Jonathan, I'm sorry this man is corrupting your brain. No, he finished the line. I just threw the question out of him. He finished it.

So there was a Lego in his ear for 20 years. Give or take. He doesn't, he's been there. He's had that pain for it since like 12 years. So who knows how long that thing was in the year. All right. There you have it. So we have Kentucky fried toothpaste.

We have an aircraft carrier that's going to be a major L for our American government. And we have a Lego stuck in guys ear for 20 years. We just gave you the essence of the non-Florida stores. Thank you very much. By the way, Chuck Sports Bar says the. carrier's CO and the air ball should be relieved of duty. I think that feels a robot right. Greatest movie involving a submarine and an airship.

I mean, are we going to go with what? McHale's Navy. Top Gunn. Starring Kelsey Grammer. Ooh, that was a bad movie. You went with a Kelsey Grammar movie in the middle on this show? And you're complaining about the Ruth Buzzy talk. You're going to go with U-571.

That was a classic. Crimson Tide. Never saw it. Oh, geez. Here we go. Me and Jonathan are in the same category. We always can go to the... I never saw it card way more than anybody else can. What about Das Boot? Das boot.

All right, let's play Hellier. Doss Boot was a classic. Yeah. Oh, the Life Aquatic was Steve Zissu, Wes Anderson film? Nope. It's kind of depressing, honestly. Oh, here we go.

Down Periscope. Oh, that's a comedy. That was Kelsey Grammer. What did I say? What did I say? You said the Cal's Navy. That was Tom Arnold, right? Oh, hell of all that. Wasn't there a show?

And then there was a remake? Yeah, the show was popular in the 60s. I never watched it. Oh, man. Oh, yeah, the 1997 film starred Tom Arnold, David Allen Greer, Deborah Messing, Tim Curry, and Ernest Borgne. Sneaky hot, by the way. What's sneaky about it? She's gorgeous.

Well, I just think people wouldn't mean. You always say sneaky, and this woman's like one of the hottest women on the planet. I don't think Debra Messing and hottest woman in the same sentence. Okay, she's not one of the hottest woman in the planet, but she's hot. She's very attractive. There's no sneaking around about it. Oh, that's good. I'm glad.

I'm glad you and I agree on that. Let's play a hell yeah or not next. 713-212-5-790. All things about Greg Popovich. Next, we play Hellier or not. 146, Sports Talk, 790. Three quick things, Rossi. Number one.

Paul question. Still have five hours to vote. Rockets or Warriors, 73% Rockets, Warriors 27%. That's more like the line we saw earlier in the previous games of the series. How about that? Okay. Number two, what do you think about JJ Redick saying that his team's got to get in better shape? He was basically calling out one person.

He's not wrong. He's not wrong. I think Luca got doier in L.A. I think, yeah. How did he get fatter in L.A.? Was Rico right? The food's good out there. The food's good, but it's all a bunch of workout freaks.

Yeah. It's a lot of beautiful people. You think you look like, oh, you feel like I'm here in Houston? I feel like, all right, yeah, I could lose a few. You go to L.A., you're like, my God, it's time to turn bulimic. Yeah, if you don't, if you're carrying 10 pounds of pounds of belly fat, you're not going to make it. Yeah, in Houston, yeah. In Houston, yeah, I'm probably below average in Houston, quite frankly.

You go to L.A. Oh, Ross, that's why you're stuck in here in Houston. Yeah, you're right. And lastly, tribute question. With Popovich retiring, who is the most, who is the most longer tenured coach in professional sports in America right now? In professional sports in America? Five, four.

Steve Kerr, I don't know. Doug Rivers. It wasn't a bad choice, two, one. Mike Tomlin, about to enter his 19th year as a coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Cool, good for him. It's a long time. In the NFL, 19 years, are you kidding me? He's very, very lucky.

Five minutes left to go on the show. What should we do? We should play America's fastest-growing sports radio game show Monday through Thursday. We call it, believe it or not, but on Fridays, we call it a hell yeah or not. And here's how it works. You call 713-213-5-790. 7-13-212-5-7-90.

Today's edition of Believe or not is all things about Greg Popovich. I'll read your statement about Coach Pop. Statements completely utterly accurate. You'll say this. Hell yeah! If the statement's erroneous photo bonk and made up, you'll say this. Not. Two hell yeah or nots on all things about Greg Popovich win you a prize.

What are you playing for today? Jonathan. Sports Talk 790 T. Sherlock, as always, and a pair of tickets to see Billy Idol and Joan Jett and the Black Hearts live on May 3rd at the Woodlands Pavilion. Nick on 790. Nick, you're ready to play Hell yeah or not? Hell yeah. Greg Popovich graduated the U.S. Air Force Academy with a degree.

in Soviet Studies and even toward the Soviet Union with an Air Force basketball team. Hell yeah, or not? Not. He did. Why will we make that up? He's trying to take care of the Cold War. Terrible. Ken on 790, Ken, what was your favorite part of today's 10-2 radio show?

Oh, the rocket saw. Greg Popovich was invited to the 1972 U.S. men's basketball Olympic team trials, but did not make the team. Hell yeah, or or not? Hell yeah. That is correct.

Hell yeah! For the win. Greg Popovich has the most coaching wins in NBA history, both regular season and playoffs. Hell yeah. Or not? Not. That is also correct. He's third in the postseason wins behind Bill Jackson and Pat Rowley.

No, he got it right. He's right. He won. Don't knock him. He won. There you go. Much better. Let's talk to Paul on 790.

Paul. play hell yeah or not? Hell yeah. Greg Popovich is considered a product of the Larry Brown coaching tree. Hell yeah or not. Not. He is. How do you not?

Hell yeah. Sorry. Greg and Laporte on 790. Greg, you're ready to play hell yeah or not? Hell yeah. A declassified FBI profile from 1976 investigated Greg Popovich as a possible Soviet spy, but Popovich, judged as, quote, no specific or credible threat.

Hell yeah, or not? Not. Yeah, that's made up. That was funny, though, Ross. Nicely done. Statement number two for the win. Greg Popovich was known as a prankster in the Spurs' inner circle, even once having the city of San Antonio put a boot on Tim Duncan's car.

Hell yeah or not? Hell yeah. No, he had no sense of humor whatsoever. Did that the guy? Listen to the guy? Not funny. 713-212-5-790 Dave on 790

Dave you ready to play hell yeah or not Hell yeah The first time Greg Popovich spoke publicly On behalf of a presidential candidate When he showed up for his support for Bill Clinton back in 1996 Hell yeah or not Hell yeah No he was ambivalent that time

Thank you though blank Felipe on 790 Felipe what was your fair part of today's 10-2 radio show As always, waking up the strippers, man. Greg Popovich is a huge wine enthusiast. His massive wine cellar has over 3,000 bottles and is renowned across the country. Hell yeah or not. Hell yeah.

Congratulations, my friend. Thank you very much. You're a winner. Nicely done. Ross, final score tonight? 104-100 Houston Rockets. Game 7 final score? 135 to 60 rockets.

on that note Rockets Game 6 KTRH 740 8 o'clock tip time you must listen you must enjoy you must love up next

two men we love Wexler and Clinton they are the team They're on the way here on 7-9