The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - The Matt Thomas Show 12-4-19

Episode Date: December 4, 2019

The Matt Thomas Show w/ @SportsMT, @SportsRV, and @ProNickLow 12/4/19Guest Co-Host @ChronBrianSmithWhat the hell happened in Rockets v Spurs? (0:00)What should NBA do about the Missed Dunk Call (39:33)Watchu Talkin Bout Bill O'Brien (49:54)Zack Wheeler signs with Phillies (1:01:27)The Texans Not Pursuing A GM (1:11:33)

Much larger than life. Yeah. Lunch timers is the Matt Thomas show. 1202 in H-town. What's happening, lunchtimers? Matt Thomas is out. It's still the Matt Thomas show. Ross, Villarreal, with you for the next three days.

Matt Thomas. Well, he's jet-setting off to Toronto, A? and going to be there for the Rockets game with the Toronto Raptors coming up the next couple of days. So he is out. He is traveling. He's doing fancy mad stuff. So it's me, Ross Villarreal, and it is Brian Smith of the Chronicle. If you want to get in, 713, 2, 1,25790.

The phone number 713, 2,1, 2, 5, 790. We got a lot of stuff to get to. I definitely need Brian's fresh dots. One of the things about having you here, Brian, is we can kind of have a fresh look at some old. takes and stuff. We were, of course, reacting to the Patriots and Texans and what happened there on Sunday night football on Sunday. But of course, we also have to talk about this Rockets game last night. There was a lot of angles to this. So Rockets come into the game last night as clear favorites. And then where do we even start with this one? They get up big on the San Antonio Spurs late. There's the controversy with the dunk. We can spend some time on that. There's the double over time. We can spend time on that. There's the San Antonio Spurs making threes like nobody's business at the end of the game. And then eventually, at the end of the day, James Hardin tries to drive into the lane. Like, do you, have you ever seen that giff of that guy where it's like for the, uh, for the car

washing infomercial? And he's carrying like a bucket of water. He's carrying like a bucket of water in five hoses and water hoses and sponges. And he just falls all over himself. That's exactly what James Harden looked like going into the lane last night. and then he doesn't score and then he doesn't get a foul call and the Rockets lose last night to the San Antonio the hated San Antonio Spurs

Ah It's good to be back at 790 Ross Welcome back It's beautiful day Sun is out It's there's a bit of a chill It's not cold

I'm gonna work in the lawn When I get back home I had the windows down driving here I was listening to Kat Stevens cranking some old school 70s Cat Stevens just soaking in the positivity of life in Houston

and December beautiful day. Just a beautiful day to be alive. Hell happened in that game. I don't know. What the bleep was that? I don't know. What was that?

That's why I turned to you. For 20 examples. What was that? What was that finish? What the heck happened to their defense and over at the end of Regulation first overtime got a little better and second overtime. The Rockets, okay, there are 20 levels to this.

The Rockets should have won that game. The Rockets really should have won that game. The Rockets blew that game. The refs blew that call. That dunk happened, and it was a dunk. Yes, it was a dunk. That dunk happened with 750 left in regulation. Not the end of regulation, not the first overtime, not the second.

over time and to do it to the Spurs and the Spurs are 8 and 14 and they're really not any good and they just owned you on their court and you've got to go up to Toronto and Matt Thomas is being fancy mad and he's taking it easy while the rockets are just having their hearts broken. We're discussing this right now and it's all over ESPN and they're doing a national investigation about this. Yeah, is this outside the lines? Yeah, because outside the lines, they literally have nothing to talk about anymore. So this is what they do. It's an investigation. Well, yeah. The end?

When the captain is not making news, there's hard to have a lot of topics on outside the lines. So the dunk that James Hardin made, it goes through the basket, I guess bounces off his shoulder or whatever, comes back out around. It's what you would do on the, what are the little goals? A Nerf? Like a Nerf goal. Okay. It's what you would do in a dorm room on a Nerf goal or on your little brother when you're 10. When you're dunking on his head.

And he's five and you're dunking on his head. That's what happens to the ball. It was patently. obviously to everybody except for the three referees on the court that the ball went through James Hardin starts arguing Mike Dan Tony's arguing he immediately wants it challenged and they eventually

tell Mike Dan Tony that they can't get it looked at and so now the Rockets which is like let's just get this out of the way because there's so much more I want to get it. That in itself is stupid right and I'm trust me you're going to listen for the next three hours we want you to call in 713, 2, 1, 2, 5, 790 we really want your calls

today because I would love to hear from everybody because the I don't use the word take but the takes the the ideas the opinions will be all over the place and I'm all for that today because I know exactly what I think and I'm 100,000% right on this

but in itself how in the world can that not be reviewed when you have challenges and you have replay in the NBA this isn't 195 this isn't 1995 how is that not reviewed and overturned this is the yeah this is the huge problem with that

what is the point of basketball, Brian? Like, how do you score points? Well, the point of basketball ultimately is to make money, right? It's to make money and for the warriors to win it all and the rockets to screw the refs, the refs to screw the rockets annually.

Other than that, the point is to score the ball. Okay, so how do you score the ball? You score, let me think about this. Hold on. You score the ball by putting or shooting the ball in the basket. Into the hoop. The basket has to go into the hoop.

No points are scored in basketball unless the basket, unless the ball goes through the hoop. That is correct, Ross. That would be like not being able to review a ball going across the goal line in football. Or now they have it in soccer. You can review the ball going across the line. That's how you score. How can you not review it? It would be like majoring baseball.

It's the world series. And you have a play at the plate and like, oh, we can't review that part. The time elapsed. We were talking to Anteux. We have 30 seconds. You have to get it in. Sorry, dude. The time elapsed.

Move on. Yeah. It's the whole crux of the sport. You can't review what exactly the sport is brakated on. I'm raising my voice. I'm starting to sound like CP over here. It's 2000. It's almost 2020.

It's barely even 2019 anymore. It's 2020. Every Bullard, I was just watching the game last night. Lying on the couch. I'd file my Texans column. I'm like, okay, this game is over. I'm going to be honest. really so much pay attention in the first half because I was

doing other things. I wasn't, you know, it was in San Antonio. I was keeping, you know, keeping track. I knew going into this game. There's no way the Rockets lose this game. The Spurs sort of suck right now. They're up by 15, 16. They're up the whole game. They're up by 22 points late in the third quarter. I don't even know what to say. I heard that they said that the ball hit James and went back through. So it was goaltending on James. So I said, I

challenged that. Then I didn't get a response. And another guy said it wasn't goal to, just went out of bounds on us. And I said, well, I challenge that. And they go, I can't do that. You know, I don't know. I didn't get an explanation. And I got nothing.

How would it be golden in? You can challenge Golden. You can challenge Golden. You can challenge Goldstein. How would the refs say it's Goldton? Is it an incredulous Mike Dantone after the game with no answer? So I will say this, though. That's not necessarily the reason the rockets will lost the game.

Here's the thing. This is what I wrote in the Chronicle this morning. I woke up early to write this. It is not why the Rockets lost the game. That would have put them up 15. You're still up 13 against a far inferior team, basically one of the worst teams in the Western Conference. So the Rockets should have won that game.

You can't just allow, I mean, Lonnie Walker the 4th. Lonnie Walker the 4th. That sounds like someone, that sounds like one of the characters off a Major League 2. Or somebody in the last Skywalker or the rise of Skywalker or whatever. Okay. Yeah. A new Star Wars movie.

It's Louny Walker the 4th. Luke's lazy cousin. Well, at least you're not like your lazy cousin, Lonnie Walker the 4th. That guy is a deadbeat. And I wish I knew Star Wars enough to make some good references with those jokes. I can't. I can make all the references you need. Yeah, he's hanging out with Ewarks.

I don't know. That's all I got. Lonnie Walker of the 4th. Baby Yoda would have known that that was a dunk. Baby Yoda would see immediately that was a dunk. Two more points for the Rockets. But here's why the Rockets lost this game. So we want to, what's the point of basketball to score the ball?

James Hardin did that. He scored 50 points. You know what James Hardin and Russell Westbrook did? And this is becoming a bit of a problem. And I've heard you and Matt talk about it. I've written about it several times already in the Chronicle. I'm not overreacting. I'm not really reacting.

It is what it is. It's a fact. They're a quarter of the way through the season. They've got a pretty good record. They're 13 and 7. I don't fully believe in the Lakers. I think right now the Clippers may end up being the best team in the West. shocking. Denver's good. Dallas is a nice surprise. Donchers have been amazing. Utah, Minnesota. Okay,

whatever. Rockets, I still believe, will be, should be number two, number three. Could even get hot and get number one in the West because you get Eric Gordon back at some point. All that being said, we're 20 games in the season, Ross. That's a quarter of the way through the season. Russell Westbrook, and I've liked, you know, he's been good to deal with and he's, he's Russ. Russell Westbrook, how should I say this is not shooting very well and last night Russell Westbrook and James Hardin I believe I don't know the stat in front of me

I believe was a combined 18 of 68 It was like the first time in NBA history that two players in the same team took 30 field goals and made 30% or less or something like that Russell Westbrook in a game that came down at 135 133 he only hit seven shots he was one of six and threes he was seven of 30

from the feet field. You don't play the next day on some teams and you would never get to take those 30 shots. Hardin scored 50, but because he was 24 or 24 from the free throw line, I mean, you want to talk about getting calls, Hardin gets some calls, a lot of them he deserves. He was 11 of 38 from the field. If you go 18, if you're two star players against a bad team, go 18 of 68 from the field, you deserve to lose that game. Yeah, we got to, we'll talk about Russell Westbrook and James Hardin and they're shooting when we come back, but we got to take a break here. It is the Matt Thomas show with out Matt Thomas.

713212-125-790 is your phone number. 7-1-3-2-125-7-90 tweet to at Crom, Brian Smith. And at Sports RV, Matt Thomas Show continues. After this short break, don't go anywhere. Yo, this is Bunby. And my wife is the biggest fan of the whitest man in America. Matt Thomas, Matt Thomas. Reckless, ratchet, and don't give a fuck.

Matt Thomas. Ross Fierreau, Brian Smith. Nick Lowe with you up until 3 o'clock. heavy on the Rockets talk this morning as they lost 135 to 133 in double overtime against the San Antonio Spurs. They're now 13 and 7 on the season. A little bit of a bigger picture on this, Brian. Of course, we'll get into what

we're talking about going to the break. This is just not good for the Western Conference standing. You can't afford when you're going against the Lakers, you named all these teams. You know, the Lakers and the clippers who are ascending and the Nuggets who are really good as well. Mavericks, who you just lost to, those teams are all ahead of you in the standings. And we're going to end up, I mean, look no further than last year in the situation with the two seed and blowing games and all the time. Like, these games matter. You get up 13 late against a crappy Spurs team. You got to put your foot on the gas and put your foot on their throat and finish this bad boy off. And you know who knows that more than anyone? And more than, I can tell me here.

More than Tillman for Tita. Daryl Morey. I will always remember the. Kevin McHale fired, now it feels like, 20 years ago, fired 11 games into the season. With Darry doing his press conference with the faraway look in his eyes. Although, I guess so he does most of his press conference. That's how he does all of his press conference. Shout out, shout out DM.

Here's the deal. They have all of this already projected. They, I mean, they have, speaking of the asteros and algorithms, they have algorithms and stats and analytics and all this stuff. and they know this and it hurts them because they went through what they went through last year.

The Western Conference is wide open. A couple games can make the difference between the fourth or fifth seed, the first or second seed, who you're playing in the second round. And they've had two games in their initial 20, and this isn't overreacted. And these are just, again, these are just facts, Ross.

They've had two games that immediately springed to mind in their initial 20. the Clippers road loss about two weeks ago that they should have won. They had that game at the end. They got up five with a minute to go. And they closed horribly down the stretch and they shot that game away. I can also go back to 10 days ago a week ago playing the Mavericks at home. They had that horrible 2.30 start on a Sunday.

That was actually how I was able to go out to the game. They didn't even show up for the first quarter. back, made a run, got within five, lost that game. Last night, though, that's the kicker. It's not even for me that it's a spurs and, you know, you're on the road and it's WOT. It's a spurs team that they're getting better, but they are not a good spurs team. I mean, they have injuries, they have issues. They're still figuring out their rotation. Their best player by the end of the night was, you know, barely playing a few games ago. You have to win that game because you're going to Toronto. And Toronto's actually been very good

without Kauai. You have a good Phoenix team following that. You give away three or four of those games and you're trying to be elite. I mean, it's not about making the playoffs. It's about trying to win a title for the first time. Terrell Mori knows right now how painful those losses are.

Yeah, it's going to matter a lot. A single game put you from the two seed to the four seed last year. So I don't want a situation where I'm thinking like if you end up in a four or five, well you can cost yourself home court advantage. Like I feel like at the end of the day, if the rocket's getting the top four,

it's going to, that's where you want to be. Because you're going to obviously. They've got to get top four this year. You're going to have to go through the Lakers, Clippers, and Nuggets anyway. So it would obviously be a behoove you to be second or first, but I don't know that that's going to be likely because those other teams are just really good and have a head start already. So you definitely need to get top four.

You're number five right now and every win matters. And that was a big one for the rocket. So on the subject of Russell Westbrook. and last night going 7 of 30 from the field. I remember when I was going up into the mountains in the Sequoia National Forest. And you saw a bear. And I was well, no, we didn't see any bears luckily. They have bear lockers where you can keep your food.

That was very helpful. Shout out to the National Park System. And as we were going up in the mountains, we knew we were going to lose cell phone service for a few days. I see on my phone. Somebody texted me. I know where this is going. Russ, exclamation point. I was like, what's going on here?

I was actually at dinner on vacation with my wife when it came through. Oh, then you had to go to work after that, didn't you? Did you leave the dinner? I left dinner. You had to leave dinner. I was on vacation. No, no, no. I was on vacation.

It was a week-long vacation. And I knew the trade might happen probably before just about anybody. But nobody thought it was going to happen. Darryl Moore didn't think it was going to happen. No, so I'm so we sat I mean this was about as bad as it gets and it had been a long day and my I think my wife was a little you know Tipsy no no I think she was already like okay no ready no ready go I don't know I'm sorry I'm used to Matt it always takes a turn to the sexual with Matt I think she was pretty much like all right dude uh you've been working already you said you weren't gonna work she was over yeah she's like you said you weren't gonna work on this vacation you've already been working you know blah blah blah blah, so we sit down to dinner and no exaggeration.

The server pulled out, pulled out, pulled out the chair for me to sit down. And I was like, let me just check, you know, I'll do the phone thing. Oh, wow, where are you chose? No, we were at this nice restaurant in, in Florida. And I checked my phone and I had a text and I was just like, holy bleak, they're going to trade for Russell Westbrook. And I had to leave dinner. We didn't eat dinner for like three more hours. Wow.

How was the wife feeling about that one? Oh, it went great. I'm sure she loved it. She actually was very understanding. That's why she's awesome. I mean, keep telling your bear story. That's like a top five story in Rocket's history. So you have to go and you have to go with that one.

Yeah. And so I start scrambling and looking at Twitter and I see Adrian Wojnerowski tweets. The Houston Rockets have traded for Russell Westbrook. And I quadruple check. I'm like, this can't. I thought it was fake Woge. And I see the checkmark. And I go to Woge.

And I look at his other tweets. And I'm like, this is Woj. this is real. And then boom, I lost cell service for the next three days. And I have a friend of mine who I was with. And they didn't just trade for Russell Westbrook.

They traded Chris Paul. He's a Lakers fan. And you would have thought the way that I reacted, if I'm being totally honest, you would have thought that like my dog had died. I wasn't really, I wasn't excited about this trade. A lot of fans were not.

And I try, you know, I thought about it over the summer. I tried to convince myself because I love, you sound like, I mean, basically it's the Adam Clanton universe.

You know, you've had, you were, you went from shocked to stun to not happy to skeptical. And then over time, you convince yourself is going to be okay. No, over time, you convince you. And then, you know, they have the press conference and you see the personality and Russ is turning over a cliche new leaf in a good way. Yeah. And you start to convince yourself. And James Hardin's putting up 50, 60 and not, you're like, okay, this could work. Mm-hmm.

It hasn't really worked after 20 games. And this is the thing. I said they're going to win 50 games by accident because they're going to be more talented. Russell Westbrook is talented. Nobody's denying that. James Harden is to the point in his career, and he's still got issues, as we saw last night. But James Harden is to the point as a score. I truly believe you could put him on a bad team, and they would still win 35 to 41 games a year.

Yeah. They would. So that's what I'm saying. The Rockets have talent. They're going to win 50 games on accident. My concern is anybody, not anybody, but a lot of teams win 50 games. Rockets have won 50 games, but they've been second-tier contenders. To be that first-tier contender, you have to be better defensively,

you have to be more efficient offensively. And efficient offense and efficient in Russell Westbrook don't necessarily go together, especially late in games, especially in big games. I mean, these are just facts. They haven't for years. This is not some new trend. They haven't for years.

And he's, you know, there was a cut, and I don't want to be bullied right now. I think it was first overtime. Rockets were down. It was close. Harden had the ball. And I want to say he was isolating or he drove. And Russ made a cut that you don't really see Westbrook make in that situation. And it was fantastic.

He made the cut, got to the rim, laid it up. They played off of each other. Russ had some, you know, and I'm not here to bag on Russ. Russ had some fantastic passes last night, laid an OT. to Capella, setting up Capella. But if you shoot 7 of 30, if you are shooting 41% from the field, and Ross, 22.9%

Like, you can't legally shoot 22.9% in the NBA and be a full-time starter and play 34 minutes a game and be the number two player on the team. And win a championship, those things don't go. together. So it's 20 games. I'm reacting to facts. You're saying the same thing. A lot of fans are seeing it.

They've got to find, I'll be positive here. They've got to find some way to improve this, you know, gradually or it's going to be what everybody thought it was going to be, which is you're out in the first or second round. That's what it's looking like right now. All right, we've got to take a break here.

What do you guys think? How are you feeling about the Rockets last night, not last night, but the entire season and Russell Westbrook in the it's just it's not working in the words of Brian Smith what do you think? 713 2125 790 713 212 5790 tweets

to at Sports RV at Cron Brian Smith Zeb will get to you after the break so don't go anywhere and you the listener don't go anywhere short break here Here come the Rockets Hey it's Joe Green man this is Ace Time This is my town

This is Sports Talk 7-9 Home of your Rockies Oh, off-air discussion, sometimes better than most of the times actually better than on-air discussions. Especially when Brian Smith comes into town here on the Matt Thomas show without Matt Thomas. Ross, we're out with you folks here on Sports Talk 790, talking to Rockets, a couple, first couple of segments. And just to finish up the thought, I came into the season optimistic. Like I said, I was convincing myself. Last year, Russell Westbrook's three-point shooting wasn't great, but once he had recovered from a shoulder injury, it was better.

His catch and shoot numbers were at least about league average. His wide open numbers were about league average. And maybe those would come up. He's probably not going to shoot 22. You would hope he wouldn't shoot 20%. We're 20 games in the season. So this is not panic. They're still in a good spot in the Western Conference and they don't have Eric Gordon.

So, yeah, I mean, with all those, here's the other thing, though, the God bless him, the stateners want to throw out whatever, effective field goal percentage. No, no, no. They were doing that last year because Hardin's field goal percentage was a little down. He was overall, he was, you know, big picture. Effective field goal percentage is a, I mean, it should be a base number, I think. Right. I fully agree. That's also down for Westbrook and Hardin this year.

And I was looking it up this morning. I have a piece at Chronicle.com just laying out where Westbrook and Hardin are as a pair. Because that was a factor in the fourth quarter. And O.T. and OT2 last night, and that was a factor against the Clippers and against the Mavs. I mean, some of the recent games that I've covered. in person or watch that have kind of been symbolic for this season. Like, yeah, you can beat Atlanta by 50. You know, the Warriors didn't beat Atlanta, but the Warriors could beat Atlanta.

It's about a championship. It has been for several years. Well, Hardin has not shot this poorly from the field. It's only 20 games since his second NBA season, I believe, or rookie season. Three Point is his second season. Russell Westbrook has not shot this poorly from the field. since his rookie season. I mean, you're going back 10 plus years for these guys.

So they're 13 and 7. If they get that dunk last night, if they close better, we're not having this discussion. Hey, the Rockets won. It was a tough game. Hard and dropped 50. That conversation swinging like that. But 20 games is a decent enough sample size

when you're playing all the time and shooting all the time. And if you're shooting 22% on threes, and you are a three reliant team, a three dependent team. If you're jacking threes at times, and they were taking the ball in, I'm just continuing to not see how this works like it has to. It's not about making the playoffs. It's not about 50 wins like you were saying, Ross. It's about winning a title.

They're going to have to continue to tweak this thing and find some openings here. Maybe it's as simple as getting Eric Gordon back or it's just not going to work. Yeah, I mean, they simply have to shoot better. You have to hope that he's not going to shoot 20 percent. And you can shoot 22 percent from three if you're like Clint Capellan, you took like three the whole season. Or, I mean, five the whole season, whatever. He's a volume three shooter. If you're taking five a game, you can't do that.

You just simply can't do that. Let's go to the phone lines here, folks. 713, 2, 1,2, 5, 790. Zeb in Katie holding longest. What's up, Zeb? Hey, guys. Listen, thanks for taking my call. Yeah.

A couple of things troubling me. That dunch shouldn't matter. Number one, I agree. It blew a substantial lead. That's not the first time, like you, as you folks have mentioned earlier. Number two, when is Capella? Capella going to start coming into his own. And my thing I want to say...

Really quick, and then it's all yours. Capella had 22 and 21 last night and had eight offensive rebounds, and he was actually four or six from the line. Cunk played 45 minutes. He was nine and nine from the field. Clint Cappella was not the problem last night. I just don't see him holding his own inside. I mean, that's just my idea, my opinion.

I actually, the thing is, I kind of laughed about this last thing. What happens when Hardin ends his career tied with Lou Alcindra is the all-time leading score? Minus the two points. Well, hopefully the 0.000-0-0-1% chance of that happening doesn't come through that. That's funny. Thanks a lot, Zad. Thanks for the call. I appreciate you making the call and getting in.

7-13-212-5-7-90. Should we just get Elwood as a voice of reason regarding Westbro? Well, let's see. The voice of reason. Please convince us, Elwood, that everything's going to be okay. Yeah, how you doing, Ralph? I'm good. Just being a voice of reason, I think Westbrook, if they can get to do to, I mean, because we got him because we all think we needed to change.

And so I thought, yeah, I was thinking that he would bring him different dynamic as far as driving. But even his driving to the hole sometimes He shies away from contact If you notice when he drives and elevates It goes to the plastic And he does some old Crazy angle, or whatever

And his spin is very terrible But I think the most of the reason being Is that our problem is when we get up big To me that's when I mean I've been watching the rockets for a while Like everybody else But to me it feels like that's when we play out worse And sometimes that can very much

That can very much be true Because there's It's in their DNA. They're still going to take threes. They're not working it inside. You know, if it's, if it's a Capella, if Capella is taking a shot, it's a putback or a slam, or it's a pick and roll. It's not like they're working it inside and Capella's making moves. The game doesn't slow down for the Rockets. And so Warriors dealt with us too. I mean, even when the Warriors are winning titles in the NBA finals five straight years, they continually, I mean, I remember last year throughout the

playoffs, they would continually give up leads because that's kind of how the, the rhythm of the game's going to go. Yeah, I agree with that, but I'm just saying, like, as far as coach, that Tony, why don't they, I mean, I know his offense is the three and all that stuff, but why don't he do like a plan B and emphasize driving to the bad. I think Cardin has a pretty good post-up game. From what I remember back in the day, I don't know if Westbrook does it again, and you probably don't want him doing it. But I think he has a pretty good post-up game.

He used to, I mean, having watched him for so long, he actually had a pretty nice game where you could back you down and, you know, turn around and shoot one over you. Yeah. Yeah. So when we get these big leads, it'll kind of stop the bleeding. At the very least, I mean, I know we don't want to slow down the clock and play boring when we are big because that's not the way of 2019. You know, everybody wants to showtime.

But just being smart about it, just backing down and opposed to drawing some files, you know, don't shoot with 20 on the clock when you're up 20 because, you know, that's time to plan it to the opposition's hands. So I think we can utilize Westbrook a little better. Now, he's shooting, you know, I can't really say nothing. net. But I think we can utilize him better where we get up big leads or whatever. And that's my thing. That's why

I was kind of excited when he was here because I thought that would help because I've seen, like the caller said before, we've seen this before. You get up 20 and lose a game or whatever. And I just think it could be fixed with just a little small, subtle change in

philosophy during like situational basketball, like they say situational football. So I hang up and listen. I appreciate it. Thanks. I appreciate it. I'll say this. number one is 20 games, so it's a quarter of the season. And if I'm going to continually Ross write and say, we all knew it was going to take time, it's going to take time, it's about where they're at in April, not where...

That holds true. I do believe, like the caller said, they are too smart and have too much talent. The rest of this team has pretty much been together. I mean, even Austin Rivers now, but you're looking at Tucker and Capella, Austin Rivers being a part of that. They're missing Eric Gordon, that's big.

but it's just it's going to be it's going to be an experiment the entire season because we can say this and this and this about Chris Paul and he's getting older on and on but there was variation between Hardin and Paul and it does feel like through 20 games they're not it's not that they're not getting the best out of Russell Westbrook I'm not sure though at all that they figured out how they really want to use him and get the best out of him playing off Hardin because here's the thing Hardin is shooting more Hardin is scoring more than he ever has before. And at the end of that game last night, end of regulation, first OT, second OT. That was clearly, clearly James Hardin's team. And you can say it should be.

And he is the MAP. Yes, I agree. But you need a counterpart. You need a number two. And it did not feel or look like Russell Westbrook was the number two. He was kind of like a guy who was occasionally going to jack up threes or occasionally going to drive. And it was basically they were going to win with James Harden or they were going to lose with James Hardin and they didn't finish well. Yeah, they got some kinks to work out. We'll talk about that. Time for a break again here on the Matt Thomas show without Matt Thomas. That's Brian Smith. I'm Ross, Villar. We all if you want to get on the discussion, 713-1-2-5-7-19. 97-1-3-2-125-79. We got some Rockets talk. We've got to get into the Texans. Haven't talked about that with Brian. We also got what you're talking about

Bill as he just had his press conference. So a ton of stuff coming up here on the Matt Thomas show that you do not want to miss. So keep it right here. This is Craig Vigio. Vigio! Vigio! Back to Matt Thomas on Sports Talk, 790. Oh, we're having some fun. Your home of the Stroes.

Matt Thomas show continues. Sports Talk, 790. Without Matt Thomas. Fancy Matt is jet setting up to Toronto. Last I heard, he's got his passport in order, so he is not getting hassled by the Mounties or whatever customs or anything like that. Hopefully he didn't try to smuggle any illegal bologna or anything up to Canada. So hopefully he's going to be okay.

And he will be back actually next week. So you have me and Brian Smith of The Chronicle today tomorrow and Friday. It's like a three-day weekend of Brian Smith on The Matt Thomas show. I love it. Can I do something really important? Yes. Because we've been, you know, analytical and critical and factual. Oh, you got something to complain about it.

No. Yeah, no, I'm not complaining. I love when you bring something to complain about, though. I do, and that's still to come. But I'm also, you know, very positive. Shout out to Greg, who, It was announced Monday. He's leaving 790.

Friday, I believe it will be his last day. It'll be an honor to walk in this room on Friday after him and ND do their final show together in the trenches. But since I started being affiliated with 790 years ago when I first met Greg, and this is all impromptive. I'm thinking of it as I say it. I mean, just dealing with him, occasionally co-hosting with him. He's always been. fantastic, easygoing professional.

For somebody who could kick my ass and throw me against the wall and put me at a headlock and give me a suplex and be like, you have no idea what you're effing talking about. You've never even played. You know, in the NFL, he could do all those things, but he never has. And just best of luck to him moving forward. And I hope he's got 40 great years still to come.

So shout out to Greg. Shout out to Uncle Greg. A final show this Friday. So keep an eye out. Keep listening in the trenches. if you want to keep tuned in for that here on Sports Talk 790. So we've been talking a lot of Rockets. We're going to get to some Texans in the next segment because we have some Bill O'Brien audio that we're going to play.

Sweet. You know how what you're talking about Bill works, right? I totally do. Okay, yeah. I mean, I know you're an avid listener of the Matt Thomas show. I hear you do it once a week. Because you are very smart. So we'll do that coming up.

That should be really fun. I'm looking forward to sitting in the Alex Trebek chair like Matt always does and acting like, oh, you have no idea what you're talking about, even though I'm not, you're the one having to sit there and answer. You're usually right. What's the rating system? Is it five stars? Up to five stars. You're, whenever I'm driving around town and I'll tune in to 790, and I do it on the HD,

by the way, what is it, 94.5 or something? It is, which one is it? Is it 94-5-2? I should know this. Yeah, I think it is. I believe it's so much better. Like, if you're in your car and you have HD, I don't even know my car at HD radio. Yeah.

And I stumbled upon it. It's a lot, it's a lot higher quality. It is. We sound really good on that. It's 10,000. No, I'm not just saying it's 10,000 times better. So find out if your car. on my

HD. I can hear your hair glistening if the sleep in your eyes I can find out if your car is HD

because if it does I'm serious whatever station you're listening to by the way doesn't have to be this one no it should be this one

though 94.5 dash two. It sounds a thousand times better anyways

you'll be doing the what you're talking about Bill we'll be pretty on every time and Matt will be like that's a two Thank you.

That's a 1.5. I think he's very harsh. That's a 2.5. And I'm like, he pretty much got it. I'm driving and I'm, I'm like fighting with Matt on the air playfully. Like, Matt, get off Ross's back, man. Thank you.

I think sometimes he's a little bit hard. That's okay. We'll play that game in a couple of minutes. That should definitely be fun. But just so the last couple of thoughts in the Westbrook thing, look, all my biggest fears, like I said, they're going to win 50 games.

Don't be afraid, Ross. They're going to. But all my biggest fears were crazy Russ at the end of games. Who's going to be handling the ball? and in Russell Westbrook's shot selection. And we've seen that. I figured we get him in here, the Rockets culture and all this type of stuff. You get him wide open looks.

He's going to make him. The shot selection is going to be better. He's not going to be doing a bunch and pull up 20 footers. And he's doing all of that. All of it is he's regressing into crazy Russ. And I honestly feel like it's happening more in the last few games. And we have. And we're not in the locker room all the time.

But everything seems to be also prefaced by saying, Everyone swore everything was great with Hardin and Paul, you know, for two years. And then, boop, got to get Chris Paul out of town immediately. But everything seems to be just fine with Hardin and Westbrook and there's mutual respect there. And it's going, it is going to take time. I mean, specifically with two ultimate, highly competitive, still have a ton to prove alpha, and I hate the term alpha dogs, number ones, right? It's going to take time. Where they are at in early December is not where they're,

going to be, hopefully, theoretically, in mid-April. And that's what matters. But I thought we would have seen a little more of an either or thus far, and we really have not. And it's glaring in end-of-game situations when they lose the games. I will say this as well. We're just talking about Russell Westbrook in a vacuum. The Rockets and Darryor Mory aren't operating in a vacuum.

We're talking about one replaced the other. I still think they're better off than Chris. Paul is shot. I mean, I like Chris Paul. They had Pete for Chris Paul. They, they, you know, game seven Western Congress finals up, up in the first half. Right now, I would rather have Russell Westbrook this season. I would too. I would too. That's another thing that we have to address. So I mean, we're complaining about Russell, Russell Westbrook and, you know, all this type stuff and what he's, he has issues obviously. But last year, Chris Paul couldn't get by me on the dribble. It was just, you could beat Matt Thomas, but you couldn't, he couldn't get past

you. You could tell that he was having issues, getting to the basket. And that That's really what a lot of this offense is predicated on. So Chris Paul was shot. His only thing that he could do was... Ultimately, James had lost respect for him on the court in some key ways and maybe even off of it. And if that's gone, you're not winning the NBA finals. They had to do something.

And here's the thing, too. You're right. It's not... This isn't like back on Westbrook again. Hardin can't shoot 11 of 38. Four of 20. Hardin can't do that. And he does it a lot.

He doesn't like... He's had a two for 18. I really like James Hardin. Yeah. I've written so many good things about him. have been very critical. I say the same thing every time because we're in James Hardenland.

It's 2019 and we are in James Hardin World. He was 24 of 24 from the line, but here's the thing. He's not going to get all those calls in the playoffs. I mean, we are watching this on an endless loop for like the last five years. And he's better than ever, and he shot four of 20 on threes,

and they lost the game by two. And they also should have the dunk. So, yeah. The rockets. The rockets. Yeah, I mean, but look, I mean, we can, get excited after big wins. But of course, a loss after that. Everything, the sky is falling.

But that's just how it goes over the course of an 82 game. And the sky's still up there. I'm sure, I'm sure the Rockets will be fine. Yeah, the 13, they're 13 and 7 as the season goes along. 713, 2,125790 is the phone number 713, 2,1, 2, 5, 790. So if you want to get in in the Rockets discussion, we can talk about that. We also got to talk about the Texans

and their win over the Patriots. And, of course, looking ahead against the Denver Broncos. Oh, what a game. That's going to be, man. A huge. A team. that was in a rotten five last week. I just can't wait to get it out to Energy Stadium on Sunday. Well, they took care of business

to get the Patriots. What good teams do is they follow that up and you just take out the trash and beat the brakes off of the bad team. So that's what the Texans need to follow up and do. We'll talk about that. Next hour or second hour of the Matt Thomas show is next with what you're talking about, Bill. Is the Matt Thomas show. Matt Thomas show here on Sports Talk 790.

What's happening late lunchers? Ross Villarreal with you. Alongside Brian Smith, Matt is out doing fancy Matt stuff. He is traveling jet setting to Toronto in Canada. He is probably exchanging his American dollars for Canadian dollars and getting very confused. So hopefully he can deal with that. And he's got the Toronto Raptors versus Rockets game tomorrow. So he'll be traveling.

He'll be doing the game tomorrow, traveling on Friday. And he will not be back until Monday. So the Matt Thomas show in its regular form will resume Monday. But right now you got me and you got Brian Smith at 7132, 1,2, 125-7-90. 7-1-3-2-1-2-5-7-90. Talking a lot about the Rockets and the loss last night, 135 to 133 to the San Antonio Spurs in double overtime. Tragic, man.

Controversial call. We haven't really hit on this a little bit. We got to get to what you're talking about Bill in just a second. but what do you make of this idea that the Rockets may protest that game? I was going to mention that. If so if you're not aware, if you didn't catch a game last night, James Harden made a bucket with about seven. He made a slam dunk.

It went off his shoulder and rolled back up on top of the rim. The refs thought it'd go in. There was a confusion that Dantone tried to challenge. They couldn't challenge, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Rockets ended up going overtime and losing in double overtime. So now there is Taka. according to Tim McMahon of ESPN. He tweeted last night that a rocket source seems to think that they are optimistic that something could happen with this.

Clutch is optimistic. Is Clutch his source? Clutch is always McMahon's source. A rocket source is optimistic that the NBA office will take action regarding James Harden Dunk that didn't count either awarding the wind of Houston, which seems like a zero. It ain't going to happen. That is a very optimistic. That is not going to happen. They're going to say, let's just ignore the final 750 and five minutes of the first overtime and five minutes of the second time.

We're just going to pretend none of that happened. Hey, Rockets, you won that game. Was this Rocket Source like a drunk, Rusty Hardin at the bar or something? It was a clutch. Come on. I think they're going to give them to win. Like, no, it's, I don't think they're going to give them the win. That's what I would do.

Yeah, or ordering that the final 750 would be replayed, which I believe there is precedent for games being replayed. There is something with, I think the Suns with Shaq or something like that. that from 2010, but I believe it was toward the end of the game and the game was closer. I'd have to look it up. That's the thing. When that dunk happened, they were still up by like 13 or something like that. Anyway,

so here's the thing. This is what is fun, though, and this is the fun part of radio. Much better than Twitter. 713, 212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-790. Pick up your phone right now. Be careful if you're driving. Use the Bluetooth, whatever. You're at work, you're at the office, you're jogging, you're walking around.

you're at the record store, whatever you're doing. Seriously, what should happen? Not what do you want? Let's not go Super Rockets blogger fan homer right now. What should happen? How should the NBA handle this? They are going to look into it. I acknowledge 1,000% Ross.

The refs blew it. I mean, blew it. The ball went in the basket. It was a dunk. They're going to have to do something. I'm going to have to issue an apology, which doesn't really do anything. they could maybe in some world award the wind of the rockets,

which would be absolutely insane, instead of horrendous precedent. They could play the final 750 again, and then the overtimes don't exist. What should the NBA do? 713, 212, 5790. What would you do? Yeah.

What would Ross? I don't know the ins and outs of the NBA and of the precedent, but I think they should replay the game from that point. Really? I do. I'm not saying you're wrong. That was a real. That was a conversational really.

A bucket was scored. The main question I have is why was there no review? Yes. Because the challenge. Yes. The way that they've set up this challenge system, they should have just taken a two seconds to look at the tape. Mike and Tony should have thrown a fit on the court. He should have started dancing around and taking his glasses and broke his glasses in the refs face.

And going to half court and just start like a spinning in circles or something. Doing handstands. Doing push-ups. I don't know. Every time there's contact going towards the basket, why would you not review this? That's what I said. To reiterate what I said earlier, the entire point of basketball is to put the ball in the hoop. The ball went through the hoop. How can we not review the entire point of the game? It doesn't make sense. And it wasn't even like debatable. The second you watch it, the second it comes up on the screen on SportsCenter, whatever it is, you see that. You see that. You're up. It was a dunk.

You have Sean Elliott. So what was the controversy? Sean Elliott, the biggest Spurs Homer in the history of basketball, even on the call, I heard the audio for me. He's like, yeah, that's a bucket. Like, everybody knows. There's nobody that can deny that wasn't a bucket. So, but the problem is, what do you do? What? Uh, I think they should replay the game from 750.

I really do. I wouldn't do that. You got robbed of it. That's like, I know, but I'm not, here's my problem. I don't, and I rarely ever say this, I don't have a good answer. I don't think they should replay the game. Thank you. I agree.

Because you're going to set a further precedent. and then every time the refs screw up. No, you're not setting a further precedent. This is, to me, is unprecedented. This is a foul call. This is an actual bucket that was scored that went up on the scoreboard briefly. Like, it went up on the scoreboard.

So here's the thing, I hate contrarians. I know some people who are like unprofessional contrarians. So everything you say, no matter, they don't believe it at all. They're just like, well, no, no, I'm not playing that game. I would call myself a troll, not a contrarian. You're a little bit of a troll contrarian. I'm not playing that game.

That's, blow me. I will say how. However, that there's no right answer with this because I agree with Nick. I do not think that, I mean, I'm just speaking from the heart rateer, the game should not be replayed. That's stupid. You cannot award the wind of the rockets. That's double stupid. You also cannot ignore the fact that James Harden dunked the bleeping ball and it was a basket.

And the game went in overtime, he scored the score was tied. And the rockets had a basket taken away with them from them. You know, you could say, hey, it's time and score, and there were $750 left, so you don't know how the last $750 would play out. There's no easy answer. You know what I think will happen? The NBA will issue an apology. Maybe somebody, you know, is suspended for a couple games. It probably doesn't happen.

In terms of a ref, they will say we are dedicated to, you know, getting, you know, figuring this out and turning an example. But I don't think you can replay it, you should not replay it because you had two overtimes. And you can't award the Rockets the win. I'm afraid they're just going to get screwed here. But they also lost because they shot so poorly. So it's a bleep fest. That's my answer. It's a bleep fest.

The thing is they screwed it up. And this is so, like, I don't think it is a slippery slope situation. I think this is kind of a one-off. This is, I can't recall this ever happening in an NBA game ever. Can you? Hell no. No, I mean, it's a dunk. And this is obviously, look, I keep making the point that they should have planned for this

and it should be reviewable, but this is such a special situation as well. you would never expect three referees to not meet, to completely miss, that the ball went through the hoop. There was no contact. There was nobody around him. What were they doing? Were they checking their Apple watches? Or, I mean, what were they doing? They were looking at their stocks.

I don't know what they were doing. They were figuring how much they bet on the game. No. Right. I mean, that's the thing. I don't say that stuff. They're making me saying. I know.

It's. I got it. The NBA installs those ball return devices that everyone has in their driveway, just to make sure. This just never, it never really happened. So I'm sure, I mean,

there'll be some kind of league memo or something like this. I think there'll be, you know, yeah, there'll be a league memo and it'll be a turning point and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But I don't see how you can give them.

You can't just give the Rockets the win. Yeah. You can't. And now you could replay it. But man, that is, I mean, I'm,

I'm not, I would never take the Spurs side. God, if you are the Spurs, like, you want to talk about Rockets fans being livid? you would be livid if they say we're playing the final 750 of the game because then there's no guarantee it goes in overtime. I mean, you're taking two overtimes off the board.

You start it with the Rockets up 15 fresh with eight minutes ago. I think it sounds great. I think it's a good idea. Let's talk to Sam in the East in here on the Matt Thomas show. What's up, Sam? Hey, so I don't, man, that was tough. I don't know what should be done, but when is it going to be enough? for these refs.

Like, they completely took the rockets out of that. Once that happened, they completely took them out of the game. And people can say that we would have been up by two. But on the Spurs side, they completely missed and over and back with Russell Westbrook. Right before the half, we robbed it up to Tyson, and people, Spurs fans and they can't really tell her out. But, like, when is enough going to be enough with these reps? It certainly has to come down where they can stop putting themselves in these games

because they are ruining momentum and ruining games because, like, I saw it. I saw it all go downhill after that, and it was, we can chalk it up to that, to that miss bucket, but Lonnie Walker, yeah, Lonnie Walker put in 19 points in the fourth quarter. You can't blame that on one missed dunk. Yeah. So I just think the refs really screwed them and just their momentum went downhill. Thanks for the call. Appreciate it.

All right, Sam. Appreciate you getting in. All right. We've got to take a quick break here on the Matt Thomas show. Definitely want to talk to you guys about some rockets at 713, 2,1, 2,15790. 1.7.90. We also got to get to what you're talking about, Bill. So a ton of stuff coming up.

Short break here. Don't go anywhere. Left side to Westbrook on the baseline for the tie. He makes it. And he's fouled. This is Russell Westbrook. One thing is for sure, I did not get my amazing style from Matt Thomas. Oh, Hammer job.

Yeah. I'm always in for a liner taking a shot at Matt Thomas. 11.m. here on Sports Talk 790. Ross v. Reall, the Matt Thomas show without Matt Thomas. He is traveling. Brian Smith sitting in with me alongside our producer, Nick Lowe. We'll have what you're talking about, Bill, in just a second. Let's quickly get to Claudia in Sugarland, however. Claudia, go ahead. Yeah, hi. I just have a quick two cents to yesterday's play. By far the worst I've ever seen. I mean, we always laughed about KDs. out of bounds last year, you know, playing against Golden State.

But one thing I noticed on TV, I watched the game, and it was 102 before Hardin's dunk. He did the dunk, and then it was 104. They showed the score on TV as 104. But then some discussions was going around. Harden made immediately clear that the ball went through, and you could see Mike Dantonie being very specific about the ball went through, and he took a time out for the Reds to review it. So I don't know why he should have taken a challenge on this because they told him he didn't take the challenge within 30 seconds.

I don't think anybody believed that they couldn't see it was a dunk. The ball went through the nets, you know, it was, I mean, unbelievable. And after the break on TV, when I came back, they took it away. They took the two points away that they initially added to the score. So it was very weird. And I honestly believe it was like the rest, you know, letting the spurs win the game. and I think it should be, I don't think they would give a win to the rockets, but I do believe, like you said before, they should repeat the seven or eight minutes

that we're left on the time. Thank you very much. Thanks for the call. Yeah, she's referencing. So crew chief James Capers was asked at the end. All right, this is kind of lengthy. Just give me any random music, Nick, so I can just read this. I'm going to have a snack way to do this.

The question was, why did James Hardin's dunk not count, and is it a review play? All right, when the play happened, James Harden goes in for a dunk, and then the ball appears to pop back through the net. When that happens, it's basket interference. To have a successful field goal, it must clear the net. We have since come in here and looked at the play. He dugged it so hard that the net carried it back over the rim a second time. I love that he says he dunked it so hard.

So, in fact, it did clear the net, and it should have been a successful field goal. That is very key to me. It should have been a successful field goal. Like, use common sense, just put two points on the board and go on. Like, is what's going to, is Adam Silver going to revoke their, their privileges to referee games if they go ahead and make the right call. I'm serious. I don't know what the NBA is going to do.

I feel like the refs should have just been like, all right, two points, whatever. We saw it. I mean, let's not review it. Let's not worry about procedures. Anyways, also the play could have been reviewed. It is a reviewable matter, but you have the window of 30 seconds to challenge the play during that time out. That whole part is just stupid. And while they're protesting and call trying to get clarification,

that window passed. Therefore it elapsed and they were not able to do it. Did they attempt to ask for a review who's asked? They were asking later at the end of the timeout, is it a review all matter, but it was too late. Can you explain to them that it was too late? I can't remember if I told them or not. I just told them we had a ruling on the floor. It's a very lengthy explanation.

Very lengthy explanation that I think is BS. I don't think any 30, like immediately after it happened, they're like, hey, what's going on? Let's review this. They need to fix that. I don't think Mike Dantoney, like, tied his shoe for 30 seconds and then say, hey. Where's the running clock? Does Dantone have a stopwatch? You already got 30 seconds to figure this out.

Doesn't make any sense. And if you're having the conversation, then the 30 seconds starts after the conversation. You know, it's a freaking NBA. It's a gazillion dollar league. Figure it out. Do better. Yeah, I think they should have just said, you know what? Let's just put two points on the board and then go from there.

But anyways, at the end of the day, the Rockets lost the game. Let's go ahead and get to a game that we love to play here on the Matt Thomas show. Normally, I'm in the hot seat. We're going to put Brian Smith in the hot seat. I'm not ready for this. speaking to the media today, of course, the big win over the Patriots on Sunday. I'm sure he's going to talk a lot about how he's just focused on Denver. So that's always a good hint for you, Brian.

So let's go ahead and play a rousing edition of... What you're talking about, Bill? What's you talking about, Bill? All right, I'm always really happy to be in this one. So the way the game works, I will give you the slug. You will run through the soundbite and then we will play the soundbite, and then we will judge how well... you guessed what Bill O'Brien is going to say.

You should be pretty good at this. I mean, does anybody go to more Bill O'Brien press conferences than you? It's a short list if there is. You know, I'm going to, I'll be completely honest. I haven't, I've gone to a lot. I haven't been to as many this year as normal because we had the Astros, and the Rockets and da-da-da-da-da-da. But yeah, yes, I've been to rough estimate, I don't know,

350 Bill O'Brien press conferences, 400 in the last six years, yes. So Nick told us beforehand that, These are bad questions. I'm going to agree with them. But let's go ahead and run with what we have. Let's start it with, all right, the, this is 36 seconds. Deshaun is not running as often, and he's asked why. This is why you don't eat mid-segment.

This is not your first rodeo, Brian. I didn't know if you put up on the spot like this, man. It's literally the segment where you get put on the spot. How did you not know that? All right, I'm sorry. Let's let Brian chew his food that he took mid-segment. It's not your first radio show. Come on, man. Let's see. Follow pro Nick Lowe on Twitter.

Follow Cron Brian's man. Stop laughing. I got to choose. Our phone lines are 7-1-3-21, 2-5-7-90. I'm ready. I'm ready. I don't want a joke. All right, 36.7 seconds. Deshawn not running as often.

Why? Brian? You know, Deshawn is our quarterback. He's doing a fantastic job for us. He's a team player. It's not really just about one person. is about this whole team. These guys work really hard. We have a great locker room. This is not bad. We have a great locker room. We're really just focused on Denver here. We have to protect Deshaun, and he's just been a great player for us this season.

Yeah, I mean, look, I think that the protection's been better. I think that... Who I missed. You know, he's had... He has so much experience now and reading coverages and knows where to go with the ball. That's going to be a whole other ball game this week. You know, like, you go up again. against Vic Fangio's defense, you're going to have to do a good job of knowing where to go with the ball because you got Von Miller rushing. You got some really good guys up front and then you got some good DB. So, again, we've got to do a good job protecting and guys got to do a good job running routes.

And Deshawn's got to make great decisions. Ooh, Nick with the buzzer. How many stars, Nick? I mean, I'll give you one. I was going to get him one and a half. See, this is the thing. So you're in the seat. I'm in a lot.

I haven't done this in a long time. Is he going to answer it or is he going to deflect? You went with full deflection and he kind of turned into it a little bit. It was a very easy question. He didn't go full deflection. I'm ready now. Now this one should be layup. I set you up with a little bit of a hard one.

This one should be much easier. 16 seconds. Oh, boy. Do you have to worry about a letdown after such a big win? You know, every game is difficult in the NFL. It's a really, really hard league. Every team is good. I don't care about Denver's record.

We're focused on the Broncos. We have to find a way to win this game. And we're just moving on to the Broncos because any team can win in this league every Sunday. That's what he's going to say. We try to move on after every week, win or loser. He's going to say something like that, I bet. I mean, no. I mean, we turn on the tape, you know.

We watch Denver got going on this morning with these guys. Guys are pros. It's all about Denver. I gave you I was close I saw it four stars on that one Very nice I love that he started with no

If you had mentioned Turn on the tape That would have been like A 10 out of five stars That would have been amazing He started saying Turn on the tape more The last couple years

Yeah he has He hadn't been saying it as much this year But he was saying it a lot He was saying it a lot when they were losing Yeah All right how about another one These should be Pretty easy

We'll do two more How challenging it is it To go up against Kareem Jackson Bill Kareem was a great player For us He did a lot of good things for us. He was great in the locker room, great in the community.

I have a lot of respect for Kareem Jackson. But, you know, we respect the entire Broncos team. Just turn on the tape. It's a fantastic team. This is one of the best opponents we're going to face all season. And I just don't have enough good things to say about Kareem Jackson. He's a total pro. Yeah, no, he's playing well.

He's playing well. He's playing safety. He's playing aggressive, good tackler. He's doing a good job in coverage. He plays in the deep part of field. He plays down near the box. he's he's uh he's playing at a really high level he's playing very well and we shouldn't let him go why don't you put that part in that bill all right

i'm giving you how many stars there nick yeah i'll give you uh four that's a solid four i will say he was more specific about cream and i went big picture yeah yeah it's fine i understand it's tough being in that seat i've been there i've been there brian you just never know what bill's going to say you never know what he's going to say but now shaking it up all the time this should be another layup drill Cortland Sutton, the opposing number one wide receiver for the Denver Broncos. Go ahead, 21.6 seconds. Oh, these are short answers.

Very talented, talented guy, plays hard, great hands. You just look at the numbers and, you know, just put on the tape. Denver's a great team. We have a work cut out for us this week. We've moved on to the Broncos and just put on the tape. Really good team over there. Got a lot of respect for Vic Fangio and that defense at an offense. and Cortland's just having a fantastic year for them.

Very good player. Yeah, no, we looked at him a lot. I mean, 6-4, 216 pounds. I mean, very good player. That was very specific. A physical guy. He can run routes. The 50-50 ball is tough to defend with him.

He's really good at contested catches. So, yeah, he's a, he's a very difficult challenge for us this week, no doubt. Five out of five stars. Very nice. So here's one observation because I've spent, and I, I mean this respectfully. Spent way too much time around Bill O'Brien in the last six years. Bill has gotten a lot more specific this year.

Like, you're still getting very vague, you know, general coach-speak answers. But when he talks about players, the opponents, yeah. King O'Brien, GM O'Brien has gotten a lot more specific breaking down the players. I'm serious. Right. He's like 6-4-215. That's not a quick... His short shuttle was his three-cone drill was 7-86.

Frosted Flakes is his favorite cereal. he grew up watching Batman on TV. Personnel bill, getting more specific. No, we're getting a lot more personnel bill behind the podium. That's not a coincidence. He's showing you what he knows. Well, it's good. I'm glad he's knowing a little bit because they're not going to hire a general manager. You know what? I want your thoughts on that when we come back. Time for a quick break here on the Matt Thomas show.

Brian Smith, Ross, Vioriel. It is the Matt Thomas show without Matt Thomas. And we'll continue. Don't go anywhere. Hey, Joe Green from Clutch City. fires another three. To Crest City. And the Astro! This is Sports Talk 7-night. Home for your home teams.

Do you know what's trending? Number one in the United States on Twitter. Brian Smith filling in with myself, Ross, here. I'm not the Matt Tom of Show. It is not you. No, what is? I don't know. Well, number two trending is Cole Hamels, by the way.

He signed a deal with the Braves. Yeah, it's kind of a lot of money to Cole Hamils. Number three, trend. You know what? I come up with a segment that we never use with Matt, where we do something called trend roulette, I would just say something, and then you tell me, you try to guess why it's trending. Well, that's because it would be a modern, hit, contemporary new segment.

Yeah. Not based around game shows from the 1970s. So that can be difficult for Matt. Right. I bought it up both. I'm like, we should do that, man. That's good. I think it's a good idea.

Thank you. Eli Manning is trending number one in the entire United States, because he is going to start this week with Daniel Jones with a high ankle sprayed for the. the New York football giants. Are they really the football giants anymore? They're just kind of

like a football team that plays in New York happens to play in New York. They just happened I said this during a break and it was a rant I admit it was a random thought.

Yeah. And I'm not taking it very seriously so I'm sure I'll get some Twitter hate. Why even play Eli Manning? And I'm not trying to be that guy or that person

since we're in 2019. I can't say that guy. Why even play Eli Manning. Like, he's not going to play for you anymore after this season. He's done. He's not your quarterback. Why not have a better option, whether it's your number three

quarterback, whether you sign somebody, a veteran who you might want to be your backup. Next year, I'm serious. There's so many guys out there. A younger, you know how many, are you calling for Colin Kaepernick to be New York Giant? Don't start. Don't start. Don't correct. You know how many

number, like third round picks, fifth round picks, second round picks that are a year out of the league? are just waiting on a phone call, you can't find anybody better than Eli Manning. And my point being, you've already moved on from him. It's over. Your season is over. So why have Eli Manning ever played for you again?

It's like a, it's like a Dwayne Wade or Kobe Bryant, Miami Heat in the Lakers deal. He's going to go on his, he's going to go on a farewell tour. But it's the NFL. There's four games left. I mean, like, he plays the Eagles, the, then they're home. for the dolphins, and so they can win that one. It's so sad that just the Giants are such a

sad organization. They play the Eagles twice in the last four games. Yeah, so that's theoretically two more wins for the Eagles. By the way, I still believe. Who wins the NFC East? Oh, Cowboys by default? You're still going Eagles? I still think the Eagles, even after that atrocity that was last Sunday

against the Dolphins. I still just lost to the Dolphins. Yeah, their schedule's really easy down the stretch. Yeah. Uh, let's see. Well, they do play the Giants twice. Those are both winnable games. Because I have a, I think, Cowboys go to the Bears.

I think the Cowboys are going to lose on Thursday night at Chicago. They, yeah, they go to Chicago on Thursday. Then they have the Rams at home. They can lose that game. At the Eagles home for the Redskins. So they'll beat the Redskins. They won't go one in three. They'll probably go two and two.

They could go one and three down the stretch. How about that Cowboys? Yeah. And let's see. Yeah, the Eagles have the Giants twice in the Redskins and then the Cowboys. Yeah. So that Cowboys Eagles won at home. I mean, Eagles probably go three and one, but they could go four and out on the stretch if they suddenly got their bleep together.

Yeah. That's the thing. If they suddenly get their bleep together. It's like crazy Jerry Joe. I mean, think God. Like, think the Lord. I'm not working in the Dallas media because I would not be able to handle Uncle Jerry right now when your team is just getting humiliated weekly. Whoa, we actually have a little breaking news.

Yeah. I'd sing it because I'm a baseball person. Let me hit the breaking news sounder here, Nick. We're starting to fire up the hot stove. You feel that heat? You feel that heat coming off? I'm feeling it. What's happening? Oh, that's scorching.

Just saw it on the ticker. And I believe I had this right. So I apologize profusely if this is wrong because I just saw this on TV. Zach Wheeler, who had very loosely been attached to the Astros. I need to check Twitter, but it looks like five. five years, Ross, can you get the facts? Five years? $120 million. To the Philadelphia Phillies, who that's surprising, and they got Bryce Harper last year.

So they had some pitching to that. Very interesting move. Hot stove starting to warm up. Winter meetings don't start until Friday, and the hot stove's already... It's supposed to be the part of the one-two punch with Aaron Wheeler. I mean, not with a he's... Aaron Nola. He's who's pretty good.

Yeah. Huh, interesting move. That's a big pitching name off the board. I mean, he was number... I would have Cole, Strasbourg, and then maybe Wheeler, and Wheeler's already gone before the winter meetings. That's interesting. Hmm.

Yep. Yeah, you said Cole Hamill's gone, Wheeler, and who else? No, no, I'm saying my rankings of the best pitchers on the market. Cole Hamill has signed, so I thought you were saying guys who got signed. Yeah, Garrett Cole, Stephen Strassberg, and then Zach Wheeler. The other Cole, Cole Hamels is a brave. Yeah. But that's a big signing.

That is. Yeah. Huge for the Phillies. And that's, I mean, that's a lot of money. So they can finish their division or where do they even finish? I think they were third. Behind the board. They complete, well, I mean, the Braves and the nationals are decent.

Yeah, they completely faltered. They were behind the Mets as well. That's right, because the Mets were actually better in the second half. But the Mets fired their manager, Mickey Callaway, the Phillies fired, Gabe Kepler, who's now managing the Giants. Yeah, the San Francisco Giants. And Zach, I mean, Zach Wheeler and Bryce Harper on the same team, interesting. Well, hopefully, you know, they can get something going there in the NFC.

I'm going to say NFC East. We were just talking about the NFL East. NL East, whatever it's called over there. But what were we talking about? Jerry Jones, but I would have such a hard time dealing with Jerry right now because he is just off the reservation. And he's talking about we're going to win the Super Bowl. I'm like, nobody's talking. Nobody is talking about the Super Bowl, Jerry.

If it happens, it won't be. because you're saying it could still happen. It'll be because you discover a miracle and your team gets it together and Jason Garrett becomes a good coach all of a sudden, you know, et cetera, et cetera. It won't be because when you go on the radio, you still say, well, I still think we can win the Super Bowl and it would be a damn shame to change it all right now. What are you talking about? I won't make some glory hope.

What? At least, I will say right now, at least Cal McNair doesn't talk. Because if Cal McNair said that, we would all be going crazy in Houston. I can stand in a zoo and look at them all the long and die laughing. I am a monkey fan. He shouldn't come out and visit my monkeys. Zek, Zek who? Zek who?

Oh, man. I think he was like plus 50,000 to name himself head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, so I'm still waiting for that to happen. I want to put down a few bucks on that. That's really funny. So you got the, I just, I'm going with the Cowboys just because there's four games left. And they should, they're a better team. They have, that's why I would have fired Jason Garrett's ass.

All respect to Jason Garrett seems like a very nice guy. You want to have over for Thanksgiving or help you work on some projects around the house. But do I want him to be the coach of the Cowboys after 25 years and your, whatever, six and six and you got human. humiliated on national TV. You've got Dak Prescott, solid off. The offensive line isn't what it once was. It's still good. The talent is unquestionably there.

DeMarcus Lawrence. Randall Cobb. Michael Gallup. Vander, blah, blah, blah. Yeah. How in the world are they not better? They should be a Super Bowl contender.

Oh, it might be your coach, Jerry. Wake up. Coach is probably holding him back on it. I heard Ron Rivera is available. That's true. Well, they need a defensive coordinator, maybe. But see, like, Ron Rivera would be too solid for the Cowboys. You either need a pushover or, you know, you need somebody that Jerry can just, like, snap the whip out every once in a while.

Or you need, like, the most controversial, you know, young up-and-comer, the next Jimmy Johnson. It'll be one of the two. Lincoln Riley. Yeah, it'll either be a total pushover or it'll be Urban Meyer or Lincoln Riley or one of those deals. I thought Troy Aitman, who's actually said some sensible things lately, nailed it. I believe he said on radio today or recently that if you really look what Jerry said lately and what Garrett has said lately, they're just absolute, what Garrett's focused on,

they're absolute polar opposites. I mean, Jason Garrett's just somehow trying to get his team to win a freaking football game with all the talent that they have. And they've got Thursday night. I mean, they're playing tomorrow night at Chicago, which isn't easy in. mid-December and Jerry is still talking about the Super Bowl. And it's just like, I agree. If I was a coach, I would hate that.

I would hate that my owner is even mentioning the Super Bowl right now where you're just trying to save your season. Luckily, they're in a very mediocre division, so they're probably going to make the playoffs. Sounds like another Texas football team I know. All right. Let's take a quick break here on the Matt Thomas show. That's Brian Smith. I'm Ross Villarreal.

You want to get in on the discussion. 713, 2, 1,2, 5, 790. 7.1.3, 1, 2, 5, 790. We'll be back in a minute. On the trail, it's hard. And it drops it down with a left hand hammer. This is Coach Dan Tony. Matt Thomas is a great guy.

And I always listen to the radio show. On mute. What a shot. That Thomas show rolling along here on Sports Talk 790 without Matt Thomas. Ross Vueh, Brian Smith, with you. mentioning Zach Wheeler five years, 118 million. The number's coming out now. Ken Rosenthal tweeting that out.

And good point from, Astros County, who was an Astros blogger who I follow, said, that high-pitched scream you heard eight minutes ago was Garrett Cole realizing how much money he's going to make. Yep. Yep. Yep. How much money if Zach Wheeler... Yep. Who is a fine young man? Yep. Good starter.

Not even a number one on a, you know, on a really good team last year. If he's getting five years 118 million, what are we going to see Garrett Cole? Yeah, he's the second. I mean, DeGrom's the best pitcher on the Met, So he's the second, and he had Cinderguard. He has Cindergarde as well. Yeah, second best pitcher, let's say. Let's be, you know, on the Mets.

Garrett Cole is going to get about $800 million. Yeah, right, if you want to do something comparable. I mean, if I just want to, like, lay out the numbers right now. About 800 minutes. Scott Bored, does he just say, it's like his office just a pile of money, Scott Boris. He's like Scroogement duck. Yeah, exactly. I will always say, and there are so many things to say about Scott Boris.

And I've spoken with him several, many times. and he's a professional agent. He's got, I love his logo on his hats. Right. You know, he does, he's like, whatever, Rusty Hardin. I mean, he is who he is. That's what he does. Not saying good or bad.

You know, they both look the part, right? Well, the best part about Scott Bors to me always will be outside of all the, you know, stuff he says and the meetings with the media and on and on and that Jerry McGuire showing the money part of him and control. major league baseball on a ways. It's just a simple fact, Ross, that, and it happens every game, every home game. The Los Angeles Angels are playing a game, and sometimes the Astros are playing them late night. And Mike Trout's at the plate, or the Angels are playing, you know, whatever. Albert Poles, and you just, you're watching TV and who is basically right behind home plate, right outside of Los Angeles, Scott Boris.

It's just, you would never see that anywhere else. You would never see that from any other agent. If an agent's at the game, you'd have no idea if you're a fan watching TV. But Scott Boris has that box that's basically a field level box right behind home plate. He's often not paying attention to the game. He's on his phone. He's talking to somebody. But, you know, he's dressed pretty nicely.

And he is just there basically letting you know that other than Rob Manfred, he runs Major League Baseball. It's kind of be, yeah, like the most powerful agent that you could ever, I mean, ever. And by far on pro sports. And any sport. There's, you know, you'd have. Drew Rosenhouse in the NFL, but he's not what he used to be. From a perceptive. And then he was dealing with Antonio Brown and that was a whole.

How about him continuing to defend Antonio Brown throughout that whole mess? Who looked worse? Antonio Brown or Drew Rosenhouse? Drew Rosenhouse did. NBA, people now know Rich Paul, but Rich Paul's not nearly on that level. By far out of, we don't talk hockey, by far out of the big three, the one agent who carries infinitely more name recognition power, Every decent baseball fan knows Scott Boris's name and could probably recognize him in a, you know, in a Google lineup.

A Google lineup? Do they do those? I just made that up. Okay, thank you. I was very confused. I was like, is that a thing? Are you hip to something I hadn't heard of yet? It's like some new millennial turn. So, Zach Wheeler getting a ton of money.

Garrett Cole, probably going to get a ton of money as well. 713, 21, 25, 790. The phone number 713-1-2-1-25-790. Something we mentioned earlier, wanted to get to you with Brian. I hadn't really talked to you about this either. This is one of the good things about having on the show. The story over the weekend coming out like at a Saturday is basically news dump time. Was it like Friday afternoon or Saturday after the story from I think Ian Rappaport.

Oh, yes. The Texans are not. Nick Casario is not in their cross. I wonder where Ian got that information. Probably from a guy named. Hmm, very interesting. Probably somebody who knows Bill O'Brien. A lot of stuff keeps going national with the Texans instead of local.

It's very interesting. I'm sure there's no. connection at all. Very interesting. So what do you make of this story? How do you, I mean, just grading. No, I'm glad you asked me. Bill O'Brien as a general manager.

He's, I mean, the results so far have been there for as far as on field, but of course you don't have a whole lot of draft picks. Right. And the players have been productive, but you gave up a lot of draft capital for them. So just your overall thoughts. Nick Casario, not going to be in the Houston, Texas organization next year, as I predicted. Do I have two segments to answer this? Oh, yeah, we can go. We can spill over.

My favorite term, my favorite two words to describe many situations lately are interesting or fascinating. It is both. Number one, and I'm so glad you asked me about this, Ross. Number one, we don't know that they won't

hire Casario or they won't have a GM, right? I mean, that's a report coming from a respected national reporter who puts a lot of stuff out there, and he's not known. He's not Like one other semi-national reporter who's known for being wrong, what he's known for being right,

rap report for the most part is right. I mean, that's why he has that job. The timing, the timing made sense in that it was Casario, and they were playing the Patriots on Sunday night football. I actually had written a piece earlier that week, setting up the whole Easterby O'Brien, Patriots, tampering, blah, blah, blah thing on Monday.

So that platform made sense. The timing, though, you are right. It, again, looked like a bit of a, a weird news dump to put that out there. A couple of questions. Number one, is it a smokescreen, right? Are you putting it out there and then, you know, doing favors. I'm not saying rap reporter specifically, but that's how it goes in this, in that business,

in the national business. That's how they often get all that stuff. Are you putting that out there and then, you know, hoping to create some mirage, the sources? And then it ends up happening? I mean, no one's going to remember in March, in February, in April, whenever Casario's contract expires, that there was a report that he wasn't coming. Because all we've heard the last few months, I think, you'd have to, someone could Twitter it for me. But I believe there was a report, another national report just a couple months ago, Ross, that the plan was for Casario would still join the Texans. The second part of that is the Texans haven't addressed it.

You know, Cal McNair doesn't talk to us. So Cal hasn't spoken about it. Easterby hasn't spoken to the meeting of the entire season, hasn't been available. And Bill speaks semi-daily, but Bill's not going to address that. He's on to Denver. So we have no clarity from the Texan side. Then the much larger question. I like where the Texans are at right now, right?

I'm not be a bleepin idiot to dog on anything currently after they just beat the Patriots. And they beat the Patriots. It wasn't ugly. They didn't get lucky. It was actually much worse than the score looked. They're clearly the better team. They beat the damn Patriots. That night.

And record this and save it. Bill O'Brien, out coach Bill Belichick. I wrote that in The Chronicle, and that is 100% true. So credit to that, they are 8 and 4. They still should win the AFC South. Tennessee is tough right now, and I would really like what they're doing with Tanny Hill and Derek Henry. If they split against the Titans, they're winning the NFC South. So they'll be in the playoffs.

here is the question. Are they going to end up any better than they were, and I seriously mean this, in 2016, I believe it was, when they went up to New England, and they actually played them very tough for three quarters, and who was their quarterback? Brock Osweiler.

So you have your quarterback, you have Deshawn Watson. He was fantastic on Sunday Night Football. He took the next big step. He is the one from everything that we've seen, and he's not even three full. years into his career. But they still have holes and they still have questions.

And as you just said, Ross, they don't have the first round picks and they've given up a lot. And their salary cap is going to get very interesting, very quickly. Once we hit this off season, and I'll be writing about the Sunday's Chronicle, everyone's forgetting that a couple quarterbacks are going to get massive,

massive extensions this summer. Or this offseason. Patrick Mahomes, and Deshawn Watson. And Watson won't get Mahomes money, but really? Like right now, Deshaun Watson, Deshaun Watson's more of an MVP candidate than Patrick Mahomes.

Mahomes won it last year, but I mean, Deshawn Watson is up there. So there's a lot in play. They're 8 and 4. They have to finish. He has to win a real playoff game. And I can say that very strongly.

And that doesn't fix the fact that he's got to get to the Dame AOC championship. and he's got to prove that he can win a Super Bowl in the next couple years or just win it. I mean, let alone. The AFC South. The Titans are still in this thing, by the way. Right, right. So, again, it's the Texans.

It all comes with qualifiers. They have to finish strong. They won nine straight last year and then totally fell apart in that wildcard game and didn't finish well down the stretch. So the book is still out. And the question is still out there. And theoretically, in NFL land, 99% of teams, 99.9.9% of teams Ross

would have a general manager. There are many, many reasons why. Yeah, some of this stuff's worked out, but we don't know the answers because you've got to see how it finishes with Tunsell and, you know, where Clowny ends up this year. And, you know, you don't, it's harder to keep your team at that elite, at that 11 and 5 level and get them to the next stage if you don't have first round picks.

and, you know, if you've mortgaged your future pretty heavily, and you still have Deshawn Watson under a rookie contract, and that's going to end very soon. So in no way is doom and gloom. I'm also not going to sit here and blindly sing the praises and be like, hey, everything's great and they don't need a GM. No, there's a reason that everyone has a GM, and the only person who doesn't is Bill Belichick,

and yes, you just beat him, but he's also got six freaking rings. Bill O'Brien is not Bill Belichick. We all know that. Doesn't matter, Brian. Thank you very much. mean to interrupt you. So it's interesting. It's fascinating.

And we're watching it play out in real time. I believe, I'll wrap it up by saying, I believe more in these Texans than I have since Bill O'Brien took over. And Deshawn Watson is the one. But can they get to that next level? And by that next level, Ross, I just mean simply winning a meaningful playoff game. They have never, they haven't done that. in five years.

And just because you win that first one, I mean, do they have enough with O'Brien running the show to win a Super Bowl? Go find me somebody that would say that right now with utter confidence. I don't think there is anybody. All right. We've got to take a quick break here on The Matt Thomas show.

We'll talk more about that in the Bill O'Brien wrestling as much power as he has in the Texans organization. But it was a hell of a win on Sunday. 7-13-1-2-5-7-9. If you want to talk about it, 7-13-1-2-1-5-7-9. final hour, two hours in the books already. Final hour of the Matt Thomas show next.

Is the Matt Thomas show. The Matt Thomas show here on Sports Talk 790. Brian Smith is with me, Ross Villarreal, and he's pointing out that they're showing Russell Westbrook with a bunch of bricks in his hand like he's on a construction site. Poor Russ. On ESPN and the jump right now. Well, he was throwing bricks last night. Is the Rockets lost in double overtime?

We'll talk more about that in a little bit, but we were talking about. The Texans and the story from this weekend that they are not going to be hiring a general manager. I'm trying to find this out, Brian. As far as head coaches, the only one in the league that's a general manager and a head coach is Bill Belichick and Bill O'Brien, right? To the best, I mean, I would, things always change. And they don't specifically list that on every team website because it's not regulated by the NFL. It's a little more of a team thing and how it's phrased. I would have to, you know, to say that 100% affirmatively.

I would have to do a little research, but yes, to the best of my knowledge, that is true. Okay. One of these is not like the other. Right. And we've been saying that. Right. How does he? I look, I think, okay, Bill O'Brien is doing a good job as a head coach this year.

Bill O'Brien as a general manager, I think it remains to be seen because right now, you're paying, what if you rob Peter to pay Paul or whatever they're. Yeah. And if you're, like, that's the problem. Whatever the phrase is. you know, Texans blogger, Homer, or if you are, you know, whatever, Texans fan, Texans Karen, whatever. And you're like, he's doing great, they're doing great. No, slow the rule.

Like, you do not say that about anybody, any GM after a few months on the job. And you've had major trades and traded first round picks and on and on. I mean, Tunsel's been seemingly good. Tunsel hasn't been, you know, he also deals with them holding in false starts. Tonsel hasn't been the all pro. He hasn't been to be Dwayne Brown. He hasn't been Dwayne Brown. And no matter what the story is, and it's a very complicated story,

Dwayne, yeah, Dwayne Brown was on your team and you had him under contract and could have resigned him. So this whole part, and it's a key part, I mean, I've been writing about on Sunday's Chronicle, it's a big part moving forward. Because that is the question. It's not, you know, beating the Patriots. That's great.

I'm not knocking that at all. Nobody is. Fans were screaming coming in energy. Stadium. That was the biggest win of Bill O'Brien's career. They've got a fantastic shot in these last four games to finish 11 and 5, maybe even went out and go 12 and 4. They've got a shot to get a first round by. But there's a whole other level at play because it's not about winning the AFC South. It's about truly raising the bar for this team that they've never done before. And they're trying. They're trying. I mean, it's not going to happen overnight. But they have Cal McNair,

the Texans franchise increasingly bet and bet harder and deeper with Bill O'Brien and if they are not bringing in the GM if Gassarie will not join them and this is already basically a done deal when they're the organization they're doubling down again. That's the thing.

It feels like... And here's the thing. Why decide now? Like that report came out for a reason. Right. But if it has been decided, wouldn't you want to wait until you see how your team does in the playoffs and

you know see how you know and then set up the draft i mean why do you have to decide now what going i'm not saying it is but according to this report it's like and at that time they were seven and four beating the colts like you beat a beat up colts team at home barely and that tells you you don't need a gym that sounds fishy to me yeah that's i'm trying to figure that out because i think this is because the report came out before came out last week it came out before they beat the patriots i think this is a mistake i i i think this is a mistake i i

I just think the general managerhip of Bill O'Brien is going fine right now, but you have robbed Peter to pay Paul. You have given away all your draft picks. And Sean Watson's going to cost a boatload more very soon. Yes, and Laramie Tunsell. And you have to extend Tunsel. Tunsel's going to have to get paid. And you're going to have to pay all them. And I understand that's why you didn't want to play clownie and you had to trade them way and all that type of stuff, et cetera.

You don't have a first round pick this year. you have a third round pick that you got from the Browns. You traded away a fourth round pick. Oh, I'm sorry. No, you get a fourth round from the dolphins. But in 2021, you don't have a first round pick or a second round pick. So I'm just wondering, I think in long term, I'm thinking big picture. Right now, everything's fine and hunky dory for the Texans.

They're eight and four. AFC South champions, four years out of five. Let's go. I just don't see this working out long term. Maybe I'm wrong. They traded two first round picks, too. That's what I'm saying. You're missing this one and next one and you're missing a two.

I think the second rounder. Second rounder in 2021. And then for Duke Johnson, because he's whatever, the 10 game thing, they'll give up the third. But then they got the third back in the Oakland deal, I believe, or something. I don't have it in front of me. I'm not. Look, it's very. Trader Bill's made a ton of trades.

And I'm focused. I've moved on to Denver. So I don't have the call sheet in front of me. You're going to Belichet? Oh, we're on a dead. Yeah. Okay. Thanks.

Just put on the tape. You're like Bill. He's moving on to Denver as well. but I just I'm trying to figure out like I said Bill Belichick and Bill O'Brien to my knowledge the only two NFL head coaches who have have total control over personnel and normally we've seen guys where it doesn't work out I mean I think Andy Reid had some say when Chip Kelly Chip Kelly

Bill Parsells if you want to go back in the day Bill O'Brien's been a lot better NFL coach and Chip Kelly well that's just let's just throw out the volcano that's a low bar he's been he was better in college at Penn State, then Chip Kelly's been at UCLA as well. But I just, I'm trying to figure out where we go from, from Bill O'Brien, just being the head coach, to doing basically everything and now having personnel decisions and being the end all, like he's talked about it and he's like, look, we got a lot of guys looking at stuff and blah, blah, blah, blah. There's somebody, somebody has to have the final say. Any structure, it's got to be Bill O'Brien.

And for them, there is no somebody. there is a one body. There's a panel or what? No, no, no, no, there's a one. It's Bill O'Brien. It's Bill O'Brien. You go Jack Easterby and what's his name, Olson, Chris Orson.

No, bro. It's Bill O'Brien. What do you say to that one question? No. It's Bill O'Brien. I think, yeah, here we go. Jack, yeah. I mean, no.

That's it. That's him. And has he earned it? I mean, no. No. But have they given it to him? Yes. Yes, and if they don't hire a G.

I mean, part of this is it's a in motion, live in the moment situation, right? So they just beat the Patriots. It was a very convincing win, right? I don't know if there was anything false to that. I mean, I didn't think, I didn't, who thought their defense? And a lot of inflated numbers at the end, but I mean, the Texas defense was fantastic after that first drive. and the offense was more aggressive and creative

against a really good team than we've ever seen before. So it all worked. Well, it worked for the next four games in the place. We'll find out that. I mean, how do we even know that? Yeah, not really thinking about that. That's great stuff. Here's the thing, Ross.

How this is viewed, your view of it, my view of it, fans' views of it, the national view, will swing. This is just a fact, based off how they finish. I don't mean the regular season in the playoffs. I'm not even thinking about that. as far as him being a general manager. No,

but I'm saying, like, is it working and is this good? That will affect it. If this team wins, most likely play in a wildcard game, if they win the wild card game and let's say that, let's say they get to the AFC,

all right, you tell me this. They get to the AFC championship game this year, which is a possibility. No, it's not a likelihood, but okay, go ahead.

Answer the, ask the question. It's harder. Yeah, I mean, it's, but if it was 5%, one percent,

I mean, I'd put it at like 20, 25% right now. That's just my feeling. You would have to need, so let's see. You probably have to win it at New England or at Baltimore. You would need one of them have to have gotten upset, but even then it's going to reseed. No, I'm not even thinking about the upset. I'm saying that let's just go off what we expect to happen. I expect New England.

No, New England and Baltimore should get the buys. Yeah, they're going to get the buys, I think. Right. So they, no upset, the Texans would be playing, I believe I'm right, at New England or at Baltimore. No, yeah, you're right. Because they get by. Yeah, you don't have to, you would have to upset them. That's what I'm saying.

So can they, can they beat either of those teams? This is, you know, set up 90% right now on the road. Thus, you're in the AFC championship. If the tech, okay, but let's, let's say it's at 20%. I don't know. Good answer. I don't know. I'm trying to figure it out, though.

Let's say it's a 20%. If they reach the AFC championship, though, that will unquestionably be considered a win on Kirby in the front office and the ownership's chair and Janice, you know, how Janice McNair sees it, they're going to say, you know what, we lost JJ Watt and Lamar Miller and nobody really expected us anything out of us this year except maybe when the AFC South again.

And we reached the AFC championship after firing our GM and not having a job, they're going to say, He's going to get a 10-year extension. That's what I'm saying, man. And it will also swing the local view. You're going to start getting a lot more colors. Like, O'Brien really knows what he's doing. And why mess?

That's what you're going to get. Why mess it up? Why mess up a good thing? That's how it'll go. I agree with you. I agree there's a whole other part to this that we have no idea where this is going. And they're making us watch it play out. But before we can say anything definitive, it's got to play out.

I'm not optimistic about it long term. All right. We've got to take a quick break here. It's the Matt Thomas show. That's Brian Smith. I'm Ross Vioriel. Matt Thomas is out. Jet setting up to Toronto, A? So he will be out until Monday. But you got me. You got Brian. You got Nick Lowe. So keep it right here. The Matt Thomas Show with you all the way up until 3 o'clock.

The Houston Lunchtime Sports Conversation most respected by head coach Bill O'Brien. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Matt Thomas. In his career here in Houston. Of sorts. The Matt Thomas Show. 219 at the p.m. Sports Talk 790. Matt Thomas Show continues from the benevolent clear. I almost said clear channel. I heart radio empire studios here in beautiful, wonderful Houston, Texas. Very nice outside. Pleased to have Brian Smith of the Houston Chronicle filling in as Matt Thomas is out. He is traveling around the country. He'll be out today. Tomorrow and Friday. He will be back Monday as the Matt Thomas show. We'll resume in full.

Then talking a lot of stuff. Last couple of segments, mostly on Bill O'Brien and the Texans and the general manager job that he is just basically held on to. Nick Casario, the story coming out over the weekend. He is not going to be a Houston Texan. But we were talking about it. You're running through the scenarios of the Texans.

And that's my question to you, Brian. Where do you have the Texans? as far as contenders and as far as in the AFC and where do you have them? I mean, it's because if I ask you who's the second best team in the AFC, you probably want to say the Patriots, they just beat the Patriots comfortably. You might even want to say the Chiefs, they went to Arrowhead and beat the Chiefs. Yes. So where do you put the Texans?

Yes. It's a long season, Brian. Thank you, Bill. He's very true. Yeah. He really likes calling your name out. Yeah. I will say it's always an honor, but it's not just me.

He does that. Of course not. other people too. It's not my job to do that. He doesn't mark and John. Yeah. Number three, right now, and I feel like that's fair. Part of me wants to say number four, because of Kansas City.

Look, right now, Baltimore without question, I still believe the Patriots are a better team than the Texans. And when it matters, when mid-January rolls around, I believe the Patriots offense. will start to find its way. And I do. I believe the chiefs are better than the Texans. But it's very close in there. And there's other than the Ravens, and the Ravens haven't proven anything

when it matters in January with Lamar Jackson, right? I mean, that's, you can, they can go 14 and 2. They have to prove it in January. Get into February. It's sounded like an NFL coach right now. It's all about, you know. But I'd have the Texans number three,

number four. The interesting, part of this, Ross, is that right now they will be playing a wildcar game. They'll be playing a white car game in home. They've lost a couple of those under Bill O'Brien, but they're playing the Steelers with whatever, duck

as their quarterback, expect the Texans to win. That Bill's game could be very interesting. I mean, number one, you know, Ed Freak and Oliver inside Energy Stadium playing Bill O'Brien's team in his rookie season. Bill's offense okay. They just beat the Cowboys. Great defense. bit of a game management team,

but well-coached team, that would be a tough game. I would pick the Texans in that game. It probably comes down to, can they go, and we were saying this last segment, can they go on the road and win at Baltimore?

Can they go on the road and win at New England? That will most likely be the test that defines this season. We can't do that. Yeah, so I mean, if you want to go by, I mean, I like Vegas odds and stuff like that. So the Baltimore Ravens are the favorite right now to win the AFC.

And they should be. They're plus 120. Then the New England Patriots are about two to one. Then the Chiefs at four to one. And then they have the Texans at 12 to one. And that feels fair. I mean, I'm going to say,

clear number four. Yeah, I'm going to say they're number three. I think they're number, I mean, I'm going to professionally say they're number three right now. I think they're number four. Thanks guys.

And if you say, well, they just, and not to you, Ross, but in general, if someone says, they just beat the Patriots. They're most likely not playing that game of energy stadium. They're playing it in mid-January at Foxborough.

and that's a completely different situation. You would need to win out and then you would need the Patriots to drop two more games. And that's probably not happening. I'm sure there's some mix of the Jets, Jets and Dolphins. Yeah. And I think they have one more against the Bills. No, and I believe the Patriots play the Bingles, I want to say. Yeah, they do have these.

Sonian like, look, they're most likely going three and one. It's the Chiefs this week. They could lose that one. They could. Then it's the Bingles, Bills. You would need them to lose. You would need to win. out and you need them to lose the chiefs and the bills

because they're never playing the bingles and the dolphins. That could happen but I don't I don't think the Texas are going to win out. They could. They should beat. They definitely should beat Denver and they definitely should be Tampa at home. Tampa. So that's scrappy though. Tampa's been interesting lately. Tampa can go, Tampa will score like five points

one week and then go out. They scored 55 against the ranks. James Lee to throw five interceptions or five touchdowns or both in the same game. But I believe they split against the Titans at best. I'll be pleasantly surprised if the Texans both games are getting the Titans because the Titans are playing very well right now

Yeah, I think a split is probably fair I don't know, I just need to see more I just it's just it just seems like it's every year with this If the Texans go 3 and 1 They are 11 and 5 Yes I'm doing quick math on the air Which I shouldn't do and if the Patriots go

two and two, which is probably worst case in it, by far worse case number of the Patriots. You need them to go one and three. Yeah, it ain't happening. You need them to lose to either the Bengals or the, so the Texans have to win out. And the Bill's at home.

Yeah. So, I mean, it's, it's slim. Which means the whole season will come down to can, because if it's the Patriots and the Ravens, they're getting buys, and you're playing them on the road. And can you do what

nobody thought you would have done at the start of the season, which is win at Foxborough and mid-January, or can you beat what appears to be by far the best team in the NFL right now, which is Baltimore? Where is the threshold for the Texan season being a success? If they beat the Steelers at home, they go up to Foxborough and they play well or something. They lose like 27 to 24.

Yeah, you know what? Probably be lower scoring than that. Some people are going to hate me for this and some people like me. Would that be a failure? Would not be a failure? Would not be a, step forward. Would be a disappointment. Wouldn't be a disappointment.

It would not be a... They did that in 2016 with Brock Osweiler. They did. And they had a much... Now, that was a deep... They had a great defense that year. But they played New England really tough for three quarters. I mean, I'm sorry.

Like, I'm going to keep the bar decently raised for this team. They win a meaningful playoff game. Beating whatever, Mr. Duck. that means Bill O'Brien's two playoff victories would be over Duck and Connor Cook who's now with the XFL team here you can go get Connor Cook's autograph

he'll pay you what's it gonna be at like a local local barbecue joint no I think he's at like TDECU Stadium oh okay I don't think you guys really care what I say just like I don't really care what you say that was that was a good press conference he was so mad that day that was a good press conference that was one of the best

it was probably after something you asked me yeah I think it was you got to win a meaningful playoff game. I mean, and I'm going to get the one person on Twitter. It's like, that's your bar? I mean, it's about winning the Super Bowl. No, bleep, bleep, bleep. But I'm being realistic this year. Coming into this year, everyone would have said, you know, 10 and 6, 11 and 5, maybe 9 and 7. Offensive line at that point was still a huge question mark. They do the tonsil trade right for the season. They also trade away Clownie. If they go 11 and 5 and win a real playoff game, that is a clear step

Ford and you've got Deshawn Watson and you've lost Lamar Miller and you lost JJ Watt. Obviously maybe Watt comes back for the divisional game. Maybe J.J. Watt comes back for the divisional game at Foxborough and he knocks Tom Brady on his bleep and Tom Brady's careers over and the Texans beat the Patriot. Maybe that happens. And they put him at running back and he re-tares his peck as he's running into the goal line. He's celebrating the game winning touchdown is his fullback.

DJ Reader would be a badass fullback. J.J. Watt celebrates. rating the game winning touchdown and tears his back again. Yeah, that's what's going to happen. That's not funny. That's not funny at all. I would say anything short of that, though, right? Anything short of that would be a disappointment.

Anything short of winning one playoff game. I don't care. I mean, I'm sorry. I don't care if they win a wild card game and they beat the third string quarterback. That's what they did in 16 against Oakland after Derek Carr went down and Matt, I think Matt McGloin was hurt. So it's a FC championship or bust. AFC championship or bust.

Ooh, all right. Go to get to the guy. because to get the AMCZ championship, you've got to win a divisional round day. That's true. On the road, most likely. 713, 2, 1,25. Sorry, that's how I see it. Your phone number if you want to weigh in.

713, 2, 1-2-5-790. Matt Thomas Show. Without Matt Thomas, show continues after this. Hi, this is former running back of Herschel Walker. You're listening to Matt Thomas on Sports Talk 790. Matt Thomas Show continues here on Sports Talk 790. 94.5 dash due on 2 on your HD radios, if you'd like to get in on that. Brian Smith, Ross v. Real with you up until 3 o'clock before handing it off to the A team.

Nick Lowe is our producer. He is along for the ride as well. And you are listening. And if you'd like to call 7132-1-2-5-790, 7-19. 7-1-3-2-5-7-90 tweets to at Sports RV. Talked a lot early on the show about the Rockets and the 135 to 133 loss to the San Antonio Spurs. so at 7.50, if you're not aware, if you've just been, you know, too busy, living under a rock, didn't care about the game or whatever. 750 left on the clock. James Hardin makes a dunk that goes through the net so hard,

it rolled back over on top of the rim, but it went through the net that would have put the rockets up 15, 104 to 89, I believe, with 750 left. Then immediately, the ball just goes like to the, basically into the paint. James Hardin starts going after it. and knocks it out of bounds.

And then there's, this is where all the hell breaks loose at this point. You have James Hardin arguing that the ball went through the hoop. Then Mike Dantone is going nuts. He's making the, this is the universal bucket. That's a sign. The finger pointing down,

the universal bucket sign in the NBA. Then there's arguments with the refs. They say they can't challenge it. Then the rockets proceed to just let some guy named Lonnie Walker the fourth, knock down threes like crazy. and Bryn Forbes? What are we calling him? I think it's Bryn Forbes.

He knocks down a ton of threes. He scores 25. The Rockets give up the lead. They lose in double overtime. And now there's talk of the Rockets possibly filing a protest with the league. Yeah, they're considering it. So I...

You think by close a business today, the NBA is going to have to say something. I think there's no good solution on this, but I am of the opinion that they should replay the game. Because miss calls happen all the time. Replay the full game or the final game. The final 750.

The final 750. I looked at the schedule. This is the problem. So I was hoping there would be some kind of like in two weeks they would play in San Antonio again. You can play like 750 before then, then start the real game. And then whatever happens in that first game counts. Like an old school doubleheader. Yes.

Like in baseball. Let's play two. Let's play too. They're going to go full Ernie Banks. It's going to be James Hardin saying let's play too. I'm sure Hardin will be into that. Well, he likes to play basketball. He does.

He does. They can actually limit his minutes in the second game because they never do it in a regular game. Load management. I wish they would... I'm not going to finish that sentence. I wish they would monitor James Hardin's minutes. Don't look at me like that.

Nick, I didn't say it. You were just looking to make a hotkey. I wish they would manage his minutes better as the season goes along. He played too long last night, but they were trying to win a double-up game. This is my problem, though. I mean, we've seen miss foul calls. We've seen miss traveling calls. I mean, there's a miss over and back that Spurs fans are crying about.

But I have never, ever in my life. life of consuming basketball and watching sports, seen a ball go through the hoop and it not be called a bucket. You know why you haven't seen that? Because nobody has. Because this is unprecedented. Because it doesn't happen. That's why I think something has to happen.

And now I'm not going to, you know, bang my drum in the NBA. This is a conspiracy theory. If they don't do it, if they say, you know what, we screwed up, but we're going to treat it like a miscall, we're not replaying the game. It is what it is. But I think the right thing to do is to replay the game. I understand why you and the Rockets and Rockets fans would say that. I fully get it.

I would not replay the game. I believe the last precedent for them replaying a game was 2008, when Shaquille and Neil may have been on the Phoenix Suns, and they replayed the end of a game, and this is how much time was left, 51 seconds. 750 is almost a quarter, and they played, and here's the kicker, the game didn't just go into OT,

went in a double overtime. So you wouldn't just be changing the outcome of an official game thus far. And yes, I'll get in the other part of that in a second, Rockets fans. You wouldn't just be doing that. You'd be erasing the two overtimes. I don't want to say

it's too much. It's too much. Well, what if there were no overtimes? To me, that's immaterial that there were two overtimes. If it just went to 750 and they lost. But it did. Yeah. But what, I'm saying that doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if there's five minutes played or 15 minutes

played to me. No, because it does to me. You can feel that way. Right. But to me, they played 17 minutes and 17 minutes and 50 seconds, which is a long time. That's almost a half in the NBA of official recorded basketball,

three pointers, dunks, missed shots, Russell Westbrook, Jack and threes, all that stuff. You're just, that's gone? You're just going to race that? Yeah, I think their field goal percentage. Their field goal percentages would go up. We wouldn't be complaining about Westbrook's field goal percentage. If they took that away, we have our answer. Right. I mean, because like I said, because this is something we've never seen. That's what I keep harping on.

This is something we've never seen. This is what basketball is. It's putting the ball into the hoop. Yes. But, and I'm not, I'm not being the contrary in here. This is, I believe this. But it is ultimately, it can be the worst blown call in the history of blown calls, but it is still just a blown call. and there were blown calls all the time in the NBA. They happen all the time. Spurs fans are going to tell you that James Harden only should have gotten 14 free throws last night and, you know, 10 of his free throw shots weren't deserved as well. There were blown calls all the time.

This was absolutely egregious, unbelievable. How in that bleep did that happen? It's just a blown call. It happened with 7.50 minutes left. And Ross, you have said, and I have said, and many people on Twitter have said, that is not the reason the Rockets lost the game. That's true. If it was the final player and the last.

last minute. I would have a much, much easier time agreeing with you. But there were 750 left. And they played two overtimes. But you say just a blown call into me. It's not just, it's not a blocker charge that got missed. It's not, you know, somebody out of bounds or a foot on the three point line. I know. I know.

No, you're right. And I think you're right. It's, to me it's a different, I don't want to go like you all holier than that, like sanctity of the game like people talking about. But, but I mean, clutch fans made a good point as well. And the very unbiased, the unbiased observer. Oh, the most, the unbiased. biased observers.

They talked about how, like, after games, the NBA will go back. And if somebody's foot was on the line, they will take the point away. They will, they will change the scores. Hold on, hold on. Let me get some clarification. I'm not saying that's wrong. They'll do that during a game, during a game. If someone, like they did that when the Rockets played the Mavericks a couple weeks

to go on Sunday. Someone hit a three. I think it was Tucker. I think PJ Tucker took a shot late in the game. It was ruled a three. we could all see his foot was on the line. It turned number two and they took the point back in between the quarter. I don't think they'll take points back after the game.

They will change stat. Okay, well, you know what? I think you're right. I think I'm getting confused with them changing. They'll change like rebounds. They will change. They will change stuff after the game. They will change all that stuff.

They'll change all these stats. They needed to change one made basket. So that's what makes it different to me. Okay, so if, okay, hold on. Maybe I have a solution here. I just thought of this. I'm not, maybe I have a solution. Okay.

you swayed me a little not to replay the game okay fine I came up call me up Adam Silver I just figured this out on the spot give the Rockets the basket

it was a basket if you give the Rockets the basket the game is tied I'm not this is for real the game wouldn't ever went to overtime we can't replay that don't be a jerk

don't ruin this moment for me I'm sorry go ahead the game is tied Rockets get the basket NBA came to comes I'm serious so one more overtime It's not replaying the game.

You're continuing in. I like that. Thank you very much. We do that in April. I just came up with this. So they play in the- I have to trademark this right now. I need to call the league office.

I have the number. You need to call up my old guy, Tim Frank. Yeah. That way you're not taking away any basketball. No, it's all official. Okay, it's all official.

I just tweet that out. Triple overtime. Yeah, play five minutes. You want to replay. We don't need 750 into race history. And you can do it before. You can even do it. I mean, you can do it before.

Five minutes. They play in April. That's what they should do. So right before the game. So then you fix the call. It's like a little appetizer. Yes. You get a little appetzer.

You get a little appetizer. You get the triple overtime. Best team wins. They can pump it up and sell tickets. And then they can rest for like 10, 15 more minutes. And then you'll hype it up. You'll have outside the lines investigating it. Game starts at 730.

Triple overtime starts at 705. I'm very serious. The Rockets deserve that basket. I'm not messing. I'm not trying to, I'm not being anti-Rocates. I'm nothing. The Rockets deserve that basket. It's a blown call.

I do not believe. They do not. They do not deserve to win that game. You can't award them a win. And I'm not in favor at all of racing two overtimes and replaying the Regulation 750 that was remand. I like that. I like that. Give them the basket.

Bam, game is tied. Five more minutes. Triple overtime. Because that's what should have, I mean, now, the game should have been over, but we can't, we can't fix. It's a little late to fix that now. Bam. Done. Interesting.

I like that solution. I think it's compromised. I'll take 50% of the profits. Of the concessions profits or the, you do, like, a. home in for Tita happy hour during the game or something like that. Okay. And then Brian Smith wants the profits. All right.

We got to take a quick break. Final segment. It's a Matt Thomas show. Without Matt Thomas, you want to get in and weigh in on any of that. 713, 2125.790. 7.9. 7.10. 719. Final segment next.

Don't leave Matt Thomas in your car. Take him with you. Download the free IHeart Radio app for your phone at Sports790.com. Just remember you'll have to feed him. Pimpin, baby. Very nice, Nick. There was a tweet. Hi, Rossi, you're out with you.

Brian Smith, Matt Thomas Show, final segment. Matt Thomas is out. He'll be back Monday. There was a tweet that the ringer put out. What is the, it's Jay-Z's 50th birthday. I know you're excited. I know you're over the moon. You're celebrating.

I've been celebrating all day. His entire catalog now is available on Spotify. It wasn't before. It used to be only available on his own little thing title that nobody uses. Right. So the question was asked, the best. Jay Z song and the answer is clear and simple and obvious It is big pimping, but that's only because it's really a UGK song

More than a Jay Z song I agree you can cut the JZ versus out yeah, I'm good More importantly hey, do we have the audio? And I'm putting Nick on the spot of The real story last night and last night's Rockets game Of Hardin, going back at a fan Do we have that audio? That audio is amazing we have it yet

I don't think it's FCC friendly either. Yeah, I don't know. So, Spur, it's not. We would have to bleep it. Okay. That is just priceless. I mean, Hardin's going to the free throw line.

And so it appears some Spurs fan yells kind of casually like, nobody wants to watch a free throw shooting contest. And the live Mike catches Hardin. And he basically says, then stop fouling. Nobody wants any GD fouls is what he said. Yeah. He's like, hey, yeah, he's not. You foul me. Last I checked, the NBA, at least, I don't know if maybe in the Naismid days,

it hasn't been call your own unless you're on the playground or unless you're on the blacktop. It's not call your own. James Harden. Some of them are questionable and he does encourage fouls, but he's not calling him. Sometimes he's looking to draw foul like when he went full bulldozer on the final position. But James Hardin for all the things he does or doesn't do, to this point, James Hardin does not run the court with a whistle on his mouth. Right.

He can't call his own fouls. Right. And I don't care if you're Michael Jordan or Jimmer Furdett or James Hardin. If somebody, if you have the ball and a refs says, hey, that's a fowt. You're not going to go to the free throw line? Let's get a couple quick phone calls here in the last segment. Nigel in the gallery here on Sports Talk 790, Neal. Go ahead.

Hey, guys. How are you? Well, what's got? So I got one thing on the, and I know this is not going to be a popular take on the call from last night's game, and it has nothing to do, honestly, with the amount of time that was left. But I've seen games in the final two minutes with goaltending calls or not called that definitely affected the outcome of the game. So as much as it sucks, I mean, this call is really no different than one of those calls

because if you award the basket or don't award the basket, that completely changes what the other team is going to do on the next possession. So, you know, replaying the game or that portion of the game over that call, it's just really no difference than a goal 10. All right, Nigel. I disagree with that. I think the ball went through the hoop, and that was clear. And you can challenge Gold Tans now, correct?

I believe so. So you can challenge that. That's a challengeable call. So the NBA, why did they make the challenge system? Yeah, I don't think you can do it like in the final two minutes or whatever, because that would, I guess, be a ref. The point of the challenge system is to get a right. You're right?

Yep. And they did not. Let's get Derek and Conroe real quickly here. Derek, what's up? Yes. To add a third, another overtime, it would be ridiculous. Adding the two points after the game. That would be so much fun.

Yeah, but Lonnie Walker missed the last free throw because the Rockets didn't have time out on purpose. Right, right. If he would have known this could have been a possibility, he would definitely, Coach Pot would have definitely made him make that last. What if he would have made him? missed it, though. What if he would have tried to make it and missed it? So we don't know. Right. And there are 85 other examples we could give. I mean, it's a time score. Bobby Walker was hot that night. He was a- Is Derek a Spurs fan? Of course. Oh, my gosh.

It's a big state, big radio station. Good stuff. Good stuff. It's ridiculous what you are thinking right now. The Rockets. Don't worry. We won't take away your win. We won't take one again. You're only going to get about 20. Your little 8 and 14 team. We won't take it away.

You're only going to get about 30 of them this year anyway. So we'll let you have one, I guess. Good call. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. The problem is there's no, this is one of those things where there's, it's just a complete mess. There's no right solution. And the problem is you just needed to go back and fix it when it happened.

You have, I mean, like you said, they have the review system where they go and look at the timeout, whether or not, they should have looked at the timeout, whether or not. whether or not the ball into the basket. So I just had this thought. Another random thought. So in the NFL, which they screw up a lot, but in the NFL,

there's Al Riveron or whatever, right? How come there's, there's, you're telling me there's nobody in New York, I think it's a caucus, or that's Jersey. Secaucus. There's nobody who was paid

probably $200,000 to be in that room that night and they're watching, you know, they're paid to watch. There's like four games going on at once. They couldn't make a phone call and be like,

hey, nope, basket, fix that. I don't even think they need to make a phone call. But I'm, you know, I think they need to show some judgment. Yes. And not just bow down to the, do you think the league or Adam Silver would have complained if the referee's gotten a huddle and said, hey guys. Hell no. Hey, guys, the ball went through the basket.

We got to give them the two points. That's it. I mean, we understand, we understand there's rules and procedures and a challenge this and all this. We screwed up. Yep. It's a dunk. Two points. And he can just tell the, he can just tell the scores table to give the rockets two points.

and Dan Tony is doing the hand-down thing. Two points. Who's going to complain? Nobody. And you move on. The Spurs have no complaint. We're not spending the whole day talking about this nationally. Right.

It just, they should have gotten it right when it happened. And now it's just all getting compounded. And now we're having to think of all these hypotheticals and triple overtimes and replay the game. Talking to Derek and Conroe. Maybe they can have a three-point shootout. Don't get Russell Westbrook involved in that, please.

Which, by the way, I submit, for regular season NBA games after two timeouts after two overtimes you gotta go to something else I was thinking last night when the rockets were I was like okay

I just need the rockets to lose nobody wants to see nobody wants triple overtime on a December an early December night in San Antonio Texas nobody needs triple over time it rarely ever happens

in the NBA I covered one I believe when I was a jazz beat ready they played the Hawks in Atlanta it was like 2011 or something like that it was a great game it was so exhausting like by the time

it gets to triple overtime Those guys, it was like the Paul Millsap, I think they already traded Darren Williams, keeling over. I mean, nobody wants triple overtime in the NBA. Did you, yeah, and did you see the, I mean, the energy they were playing with last night? That was the sloppiest, as I compared it to. It was like two trunk people going at it trying to get after it. And that's basically what we saw last night. And James Harden on that last position, just like falling down, bowling himself in the defense,

looking for a ball. He was a fullback. It's not basketball by the time you're triple over time anyways. So how about just like a horse? Like somebody's knocking in like a half court hook shots or something like that. A game of horse, a three point shootout, something. Because the game just has to end. It is amazing that. So we can just all go home. We all say NBA athletes are, you know, the greatest athletes in the world. Maybe you can put soccer in there, but NBA guys do way more than soccer people. Let's even start that. But you give five more minutes in the game. They just, they're done.

They're all exhausted. They're done. Clint Capel's playing, just got out, hopped out of a hospital bed and played 45 minutes last night. He's got an IV drip going on. Like, we just don't, we don't need three over times. James Harden had a party you go to. In regular season. Now, playoffs, playoffs you play until somebody dies.

Yes. Because you don't want playoff games being decided by, by a shootout or whatever. But that's what I'm proposing. I will say, imagine if this had happened to the Lakers. Or how about this? And LeBron had the don't. You know LeBron would have the don't. You send one guy up, make it, take it, play to five.

Hardin versus Rudy Gay. Have a pop a shot on the side. Jonte Murray or something. Skiball. You could ski ball it out. Who would be the best player in the NBA in that situation? Pop a shot or ski ball? No, no, the one on one, like a one on one.

Probably Janus? Yeah, I would have said Steph Curry, but he doesn't play anymore. Janus. Probably Janice. Yeah, Janus. Although Janus isn't a great shooter. Yeah, he's just going to go. He's going to just go.

on a one-on-one situation. He can dunk from the three-point-wise. He's gonna leap his whole body over your head. All right, that's gonna do it. Maybe Hardin, because Hardin can get fouled. On that note, yeah, hard, yeah, are there, but there's call your own, so Hardin's gonna call foul every time. Oh man, that sucks. All right, that's gonna do it. Fun show.

For the Matt Thomas show, yes, Brian. Thank, very many thanks to you for showing up. I'll be back tomorrow and Friday. He'll be with us tomorrow. Because Matt's getting his nails done. Friday. Matt is getting pampered in Toronto right now. A? He's hanging out with the primary. minister and throwing

out Canadian dollars. Thanks to Nick Lowe, producing doing a great job as always. My sincere, thanks to all of you who listened, called, tweeted, got involved in the show. We'll be back with you tomorrow at noon. Right now you get to A team. Adam Wexler, Adam Clinton, here on Sports Talk 790.