Jason McIntyre (4:08)
It was amazing. Okay. Yeah, I was in Salt Lake City over the weekend. Alex and her Dodger Blue Dodgers had a rough weekend. We'll talk about that. I was in Salt Lake City. Youth sports, a lot of fun. Salt Lake City is a beautiful town. I'd been. But I was asked this past weekend, Jason, what's the scariest movie you've ever seen? I said, well, that's easy. The final eight minutes of Duke against Houston. Because Saturday night, folks, I was a wreck, a total train wreck, which is what the Duke offense was down the stretch. Folks, listen, we're going to talk Ovechkin, we're going to talk Lakers, but we have to open with a devastating Duke loss over the weekend at the Final Four. Duke in total control of Houston and just blows it down the stretch in unforgettable fashion. One of those games where you just left scratching your head. I'm at a bar with some dads watching it and I could tell things were not trending well Even though Duke was up 14 with like eight minutes left. Yeah, they got Cooper Flag, the best freshman on the planet. And yes, I will be glazing Cooper Flag later. Despite all the hate we're seeing online. I asked for the check from the bartender. I was like, I got to get out of here. I don't know. This does not look good. And folks, Houston shocks Duke and I mean stuns them. And it shouldn't be that much of a surprise to some of us because like all college basketball season, what have we talked about? It's the veteran teams using the transfer portal to bring 22, 23, 24 year olds onto the court. And those are the teams that have thrived. But not Duke. Duke rode three freshmen in the starting lineup all the way to the Final Four. And their youth showed, folks, on Saturday night. Now, Fox Sports asked me to do a mock draft and I did one. And I had three Duke freshmen in the top 20. They've got a great team, but what did we see win Saturday night? The veterans, the KG Houston veterans, they lean on 23 year old LJ Cryer, who had just an unbelievable six point play during that comeback. Who did they lean on? A 23 year old Roberts, who hits two clutch free throws. And the Duke youth showed, folks, I'm sure you've seen the numbers of the meltdown. It was, oh my gosh, we're up nine with three minutes left. We're good. Cooper flag. Hit that three from the baseline and I'm going crazy. Jay's like, we're going to the title game. And then it just fell apart. The youth show. Look, they can't inbound the basketball. Folks, you guys remember, the greatest singular play of the NCAA tournament so far was Houston. Purdue, 2.8 seconds left and Kelvin Sampson, the veteran older coach, dials up an amazing play. They get the dunk and Houston prevails over Purdue. Fast forward to the Final Four Saturday night, young coach John Shire. And we'll get to John Shire in a moment because if you want to blame anybody, you can blame him. He couldn't inbound the basketball. It was painful to watch. Anybody who's coached basketball at any level or played basketball, you know, inbounds, hey, you got some stuff dialed up. You know, even now they're going with the football play where you just have four players running down the court. Duke had nothing. It was painful to watch. Here's Kelvin Sampson, the great Houston coach, talking about culture and veterans in the victory. There's something to be said about having a culture that's based on how you win. You know, there's some nights when the ball goes in and teams don't have defensive players like Duke does or don't have defensive players like this team does or that team does. But our team is. They think they're going to win every game they play, you know, irregardless of what other people think or say, they think they're going to win. Yeah, listen. Kelvin Sampson with a master class down the stretch, never quitting. Now I do. Listen, you never want to crush anybody when they're. They're young. And John Shire, AKA White Mike. Yes. That was his nickname in high school because he was in Chicago and he was honestly getting buckets like Michael Jordan. Shire just had a brutal season, and our staff dug up an incredible stat I had not seen all weekend until this morning. So in close games this season, Duke was 1 and 3. Close games are 5 points or less. They were 1 and 3, folks. Duke lost four games all season, so in the close games, they kind of sort of melted. Now, some of that is due to three freshmen in the starting lineup. I watch college basketball all season, unlike some people. And I remember in November, they gave it to Flag down the stretch. So I think at the time, he was still technically 17. And flag kind of struggled against Kansas. Couldn't get the bucket, and they lose. But in since John Shire took over in 2022, in games five points or less, John Shire just 11 and 12. Now, I know what you're going to say, Jay. You crushed Lamar Jackson. Why can't you crush John Shire? And listen, if you want to blame somebody, you got to blame Shire. And I don't want to nitpick, but scion James, number 14 on Duke, good player. He hit his head on the hardwood. It looked brutal. He goes down, and you're like, oh, that guy's definitely concussed. You got to get him out. He barely sits out. And what happens a couple minutes later? Dribbling baseline, dribbles it off his leg, out of bounds, turnover. And then Shire had him inbounding the ball. And he looked so rattled, like he didn't know what to do. And. And it was just like, Shire, some situational awareness, please. Now, I know there's a segment of Houston fans out there upset that I have not really talked about the Cougars. I've been focusing on Duke, and that's because Duke lost the game. Houston didn't win it. That's really what happened. And we'll get to Houston because they play Florida tonight. Little preface. I'm On Florida. I like the Gators tonight. It's gonna be a great game. Houston, obviously a tough team, but folks, when you take down Duke and then you gotta go play two nights later, you've just slayed the dragon. I think there will be a little bit of a letdown. And I will kind of close out on this note because I know that people want. Jason, you got a bag on Cooper flag. Why is he fading away like Anthony Davis? Let me just remind you guys, Coach K had RJ Barrett and Zion Williamson, okay? Two top five picks just a few years ago, and they lose in the Elite Eight to Michigan State, okay? So it happens these young guys struggle in March. Barrett and Zion were freshmen. Cooper flag canipple. By the way, where was Kippo in the second half? They were young. They vanished. Congrats to Houston. Now let's get to a positive basketball story from the weekend. And you know, I gotta talk about the LA Lakers. Oh, my gosh. So I was at Lakers Warriors Thursday, and it was a bit of a. A funeral at. At the Crypt. It felt sad. The Lakers just looked out of sorts. Luca had his worst game with the Lakers Thursday night. And all of a sudden it's like, oh, here come the Warriors. We'll get to the Warriors. Had the Lakers bounce back. They beat the Pelicans Friday. Nobody cares. Irrelevant game. So Sunday they go to OKC. Mighty OKC. Everybody's favorite. They got the MVP. They're going to win like 65, 68 games. And what did the Lakers do if you guys were watching, if you switched over when Yukon started destroying South Carolina? You watch the Lakers, they put on a clinic. And I know everybody loves to talk about Lou Dort in the dorture chamber. Well, he tried to guard Luca yesterday, and Luca was getting basically a deep tissue massage at a day spa. He roasted Lou Dort. Chet Holmgren had no chance. Look at that. Step back. Three over the seven footer. Plot out. I mean, folks, the Lakers had one of the great three point shooting days in franchise history. I think they tied a franchise record for threes. At one point in the first half, they were 12 15. But why was that happening? Because Luka Doncic owns the OKC Thunder. He does. I'm sorry, I hate to admit it, but Luca, with Dallas last year, extinguished okc. It was a masterful series for Luca, and he did the same yesterday. They tried the hard doubles. Luca made the right pass. They tried the big guys. Step back. Three just in their face. Lou Dort. One on one. I know. Hey, Cowherd's buddy Bill Simmons is like Lou Dort defensive player of the year. You show that Lakers tape, he didn't do a damn thing. He could not stop Luca. Now few can. But I don't want to hear about OKC going, what is that, like, 22 and one against the east. Who cares? Show me what he's doing against Luca. And again, in these highlights, you put anybody on Luca Doncic, and it was game over. Now, at some point, we're gonna have to talk about sga. I don't. Again, I don't want to be in the business of Monday morning filling in for Coward, and I'm out here hammering players. Okay? But folks, a year ago, I saw one of these AI Internet videos where somebody had sliced, like, you know, fake voice over Anthony Edwards talking about okc. And in the video, they were like, yeah, free throw Merchant, sga. And I thought it was the funniest thing I'd ever seen. So I started using it on the show. Cowherd loved it, he laughed, and it became a running thing. I would say it all the time. Now, I'm not saying I started free throw Merchant, but it's out there now, and everybody calls SGA a free throw Merchant. Well, JJ Redick, who is a young coach with the Lakers, made it a point. We're not letting SGA get to the free throw line. Okay? For the first time in three years, the presumptive mvp. I would give it to Jokic, but that's just me, the presumptive mvp. SGA did not shoot a free throw. And here's the best part. You had to be watching closely. So at one point, SGA takes Luca baseline and does that fade away thing where he kicks his leg out and the ref blows the whistle. And then Luca's like, no, no, no. Replay, replay. Begging J.J. reddick. Reddick's like, all right, we'll replay it. What does the replay show? SGA was not touched. He stuck his leg out and drew the foul. Luca Dante to victory. And I know it's a small point, and it's one data point in a huge game, in a big season, but that proved to me that SGA is the kind of guy who gets all the calls. And if you watch closely, he kept driving all game long, and he would miss his shot. I think he was like 12 of 25. He would miss his shot and look to the refs, where's the whistle? What's going on? He got no free throw attempts. The Lakers sent a message, and I know everybody's Jay, who cares about this game? It. Okay, fair enough. If you want to say it doesn't matter, it doesn't count, that's fine. Here's the reality. The Lakers want to avoid the play in. They've almost done that. They needed a split against okc. They match up again tonight. They needed a split. Now the Lakers got their victory. They were probably out celebrating. I wouldn't be shocked if we saw like the Lakers backups play or a lot of minutes for Bronny and, you know, the end of the bench. Guys, maybe they get a lot of effort tonight. Lakers sent notice to okc. Hey, guys, we're not afraid of you. Now, some of us have been saying that for months. Okc, really, really good regular season team. But I, I don't know if they can do it in the playoffs, folks. We've seen James Harden dominate a regular season. They had to change rules so that James Harden couldn't do that, pull through and keep getting to the line. And what would happen every postseason, inevitably there would be a James Harden meltdown game where he couldn't get to the line, wasn't getting the whistle. It got in his head. I saw that from OKC yesterday. This is a really good regular season team. I don't know if they can do it in the playoffs. And that's why I like the Lakers, who everything, well, went in their favor yesterday, right? The warriors lose, we'll do them soon. The Nuggets lose, Lakers win. Lakers headed for the three seed, headed for the Western Conference finals. Sorry, Houston, I hate to do it. And it's just going to be a glorious postseason run for la. Here we got the standings on the screen. If the Lakers get the three, they would, well, hopefully not face the warriors in the first round. Hopefully it'll be Minnesota. Anybody but the warriors. And then it's Houston and then they're on to the conference finals. But a great, great Sunday for the Lakers. Alex, I don't want to get too excited, but listen, it's Monday, it's the Lakers. It was a great win.
