This is the Downbeat on ninety seven to one the Freak. All right, So in an hour you'll have a chance to win a pair of tickets to see Steve V and Joe Satriani Music Call at fair Park. You'll call in. You'll choose your horse, Me or Mikey, because Danny is in charge of running the Downbeat Duel today as we give away a pair of tickets to see Steve I and our good friend Joe Satriani. That'll be a five to four May fourth music Call it fair Park. It's time the true og quiz
master of this show got some damn shine. It's your day. It's a big Danny Day. It's a Big Danny Day. Yeah, it really is. Nine o'clock today. I've got an audio bubble bath featuring a lot of things, some of these more recent. And one of these is actually something that I found that I know that Danny and I will really like, and I think you'll enjoy it too, Mike. A new story from nineteen eighty five but involving and it's a really inches the story of how our metroplex has
grown. It's about a local high school who at the time didn't have enough kids past high school, so the football season had to end. And now the idea of that high school having fifteen kids is insanity and much more fun stuff. I promise a listener sent in some audio him doing the skin fart walk captured on a ring doorbell camera. I mean, there's so many good things, all right, audio bubble bath coming for you at nine, But right now we have an argument to make for our young king in sports at
seven. Now, sports MAVs when MAVs, When MAVs when one to eleven to ninety two pretty much crushed the heat from the beginning. They were not playing around on a back to back too. The man have said, screw
it, let's go get win number fifty. I think, first of all, before we talk about the main the subject of this segment, for the most part, I do think for all of the hand ringing and question marks about what this team was fifty games into the season, we should probably take a second and just say, Niko Harrison, Mark Cuban, great job, guys, Holy crap, this is a fifty win team. And I'm not sure that anyone saw that coming. When you make trades to go get PJ.
Washington, Daniel Gafford, and really solidify things. Not to mention the offseason signing of Dante Exhem, because it'd be really easy for a team to go, well, that's okay, We'll just let Josh Green and Jaden Hardy play a ton. We gotta do much here. They're like, no, we have and it's time to win. Now, let's go. And a lot of that is based on the urgency of having Luca. MAVs do good
stuff last night. Twenty nine for Luca, twenty five for Kyrie, a balanced effort from Gafford, Daniel, Derrick, Jones, Junior, PJ. Washington all at twelve, and that's get their fiftieth win of the year, and they can just kind of hang out right now. They're locked in in
a top six seed and it looks like it's gonna be the five. Uh kind of crash coursing for a five with the Clippers, although the Mavericks are just a game back at the Clippers, so technically they could pass them if the Clippers were to lose their last two, the Mavericks were to win their last two. The Clippers are playing who I'm glad you asked Daniel, look at that and Jazz and the Rockets, who are not going to be trying. So the Matvericks are gonna be the five, the Clippers are going to
be the four. Me he asked, uh Tyrone Lou after the game, head coach of the Clippers, are like, when do you start preparing for the Mavericks And he said, already have and he walked off the stage. Yeah, hell yeah, it's a showdown. That's good. I mean, look at it. This is gonna be fun series. And it's I told you as this for last months. The team outside of the probably the Nuggets that I didn't want to play is the Clippers. Now they've had a little
injury though. I do think the Mavericks offense now is going to cook James Harden on defense, so and James Harden might cook us a little bit too. But I that's if I want to talk about that when it's time. The point is right now, we need to talk about Luca. There's a big MVP debate. I just think he's done enough in the last stretch of the season that he should be the MVP. And I don't know that he's
going to get the votes here. Well, all signs point to him not, but I guess so they don't submit their votes till the end of the regular season. Yeah, I don't. I don't understand how. It's almost like you're just sticking with what the odds were a month ago, you know. Yeah, I mean Jokic is a heavy favorite to win the MVP and Luca's I mean, you could find different numbers everywhere, but I mean he's like ten to one some places. Like it seems like they Vegas believes that
it's just a done deal. And it's like, if the voters haven't submitted their votes yet, are you not factoring in the massive charge that the Mavericks have made at the end of this season and one, what the hell is it sixteen or eighteen or something crazy burrow themselves into a quality seed in the West from being right on the brink of the playoffs and doing it behind. Yeah, good play from Kyrie and good play from the new guys, but
essentially, this juggernaut freight train that will be it's undeniable. I don't know how you can't look at that and say, all right, you know, and then forget the fact that he's just a highlight reel and Jokic throw some awesome passes and I'm not trust I mean, Jokic is amazing, but it should matter a little bit, just like the Sports Center highlight plays that the
dude does. He's got everything that the league would want an MVP. So even if if there is anything nefarious, and there is like whispers of you know, what's better for the league, that would all lean toward Luca. He's a sexier MVP, sexier, hasn't won it yet, deserving and then just the best player in basketball over the course of the season. What is it? Thirty thirty five nine and nine? Yes, like the first player
ever? He has thirty four nine for rounding up which they will, isn't it the and since the NBA merger, the highest total if you add points, rebounds, and assists, add the averages together if you're just a box score machine, just production, the highest in NBA history since the ABA merger. I have a notion that the people buy and large that are voting on this are not watching every Nuggets game, They're not watching every MAVs game.
They're probably looking mostly at stats and whatever clips they can find of that whoever's lobbying for their particular players that they're receiving right I mean, there's no way you can consume that much basketball if you're a voter, Yeah, and you've got to do the eyeball test, you know. But if you're an MVP voter, you're entrusted with go ahead and watch fair the candidates that you're going to be voting on, and the fact that the dude is figured out.
And like I said weeks ago, he's not a great defender, but he's a good defender, and he's a vastly improved defender. He's no longer a liability on defense. Luca is trying and he's got We all know he has incredible footwork on offense and that translates with some effort and want to to defense, and it's shown. There's no question he's added elements to his game this year that are now common for him. The QB one passes, you know, we saw a little bit of that last year, but nothing like now.
His assist dude, his his I promise you, the sizzle factor of his passing is better than jokers. Oh yeah, there's no doubt. Now if you're looking at pure numbers, I don't have him in front of me. I okay, what's the numbers? Comparison, Well, you start at points. Yeah, let's start at points, Luca thirty four. I'm gonna round up on the points, Okay, Luca thirty four, Jokic twenty seven, Assist Luca ten, Jokic nine, rebounds Luca nine, Jokic twelve.
Now, I think they're the one seed with fifty six wins, so the five seed with fifty wins. Jokic has played in seven more games than Luca. I mean, if you're gonna say that, you could go there. But Luke also makes three more three pointers a game than Jokic. He shooting percentage is I mean, I'm sure Joki, yeah, philler percentage a little higher, just but not by much. I mean, Joki is fifty eight, Lucas forty nine on the field. That's a pretty big dispair from three
Lucas thirty eight percent just thirty six percent. I mean, look, the argument for Jokic is fine. I think it's just the idea that it's seen as Jokic is the guy. It should not be fair to complete that jok is the Guy's about as even as it's ever been with these guys. I mean, based on stats alone. The only thing I'm seeing there is a better shooting percentage. Keep in mind, Jokic is playing closer to the basket to Luca in most cases and then rebounds. Okay, he's a little bit
bigger than Luca. You gotta also look at what what how valuable he is to the team. I mean, and the Mavericks did not make the playoffs last year, and if they if these guys that these voters are looking at the MAVs and just seeing that, oh they did all this after the trade. This is because of PJ and Gafford, and Kyrie has figured out how to excel with Luca on the floor handling the ball most of the time. That's my opic. That is incredibly my opic if you're watching this team on
a daily basis or consuming them probably more than they are. To me, it's kind of not really even an argument. We're gonna sound like homers. Should we watch the MAVs. Yeah, and there is that, but you can show me stuff too. Murray was out. Jamal Murray was out for good portion of the year two. I just go back to that first half of the season when Kyrie was out and they were trying to keep their head above water, winning games with just Luca. Is it because he's teamed up
with Kyrie? Would that be the only thing that keeps him? Because who's who's you catches Kyrie? It's Jamal Murray. Jamal Murray probably on some nights Michael Porter Junior will get hot and you know, but his but is Murray in the same zone, elite zone as Kyrie. No, okay, that's probably what's keeping Luca from the odds being where they are is because well,
he's playing with Kyrie. Of course on the basketball reference, which to me makes no sense because it seems like his numbers would go down with Kyrie, but they've exceeded. No one's asked to handle the ball more than Luca, no one's asked to do more than Luca. Make more decisions, change the game, and the things he's added, the three point percentage is going up. I mean, just a little thing, like just the little hat tip to the free throw percent throw shooter. Now, dude, he seems to
be adding the full court pass more than he ever has. I mean, that's that's changed the sport type stuff. Not that he invented the full pass, but I mean, you're it throws them very accurately and I saw Jokic's last so Embi won the MVP last year, and then Yokic won the year before that, And all of Luca's numbers are better than Yokic in that season his last MVP, and they were the sixth seed in the West in Jokic's
last MVP. Se yes, so like okay, so all the numbers are better and they were a six seed and Luca's got him up to a five and all the numbers are better. I I don't know, I don't know if they're And this might conspiracy. Maybe the league just doesn't run a reward that one little down shot of Luca of bitch and moaning. I don't know, but how can it not be just even fight right now? And even if Jokic then wins, but you want to give it Jokic his third MVP.
It's not like Yokic is like mister personality, like the league is just salivating. Oh, let's get let's get Nicola Jokic in front of that mike one more time. He's the guy who didn't want to go to his championship parade right, like to go home thing and just the highlights alone and game winners and yeah, Yokic has some of those. I get it. Well, Luca doesn't have a scoop underhand, you know, or a bank shot last second, fourth quarter. You know, it's just endless. And Luca's
not walking a donkey through an airport either. It's not yet. Yeah, but there's a seven point difference in points. Like there rebound difference. Okay, yo, Yokich has two more rebounds a game, assistant, they're even Lucas seven more points per game. We're setting scoring records out here. I mean, I just I sit here and kind of go, okay, sid the NBA, I'm sorry, the Basketball Reference Awards tracker has Yokic at fifty
nine percent probability, fifteen percent for Luca in second place. That's not that's too far. And then you get to Tatum and Shay Gilgess, Alexander and then on I mean, at least shake Yogas. Alexander's sexy and fun and new. Yeah, but that's what some of his numbers are. His numbers clearly don't stack up to Lucas or Jokic's. Like when you think of sex, appeal, newness, the future of the league, all this stuff, I would think those are reversal even yeah, fine, yeah, and hot
like team wise, hot charging. I don't know why all the intangibles don't lean toward Luca, right, yeah, so all the tiebreaker stuff leads to Luca. Then just look at the numbers and yeah, a guy who's seven feet sorry, is out rebounding, you know, a ball handling guard. Essentially. The fact that Luca is one of the league's leading rebounders, yes, is insane. Yeah, top ten, ridiculous for a guy who holds the ball and produces more offense than anyone, and he's yeah leading then rebounds
and steals, he's top ten and steals. And again we've done on this before. But you want to say, oh, is Luca a good defender? A number one? Yes, he's improved a ton number two, tangible numbers, defensive rebounds, Yeah, there you go, it steals, think about and you think about, uh oh, I mean, how many times did Steph win it MVP? A couple one two? I think later the show, Mike's going to read off all the NBA MVPs. I actually haven't
memorized the first one nineteen fifty six. Bob Pettitt please God, and Bob Coosey let's they read off. I didn't read. I worked hard on that. I'm just trying to think about. I'm trying to think of a comparison for staph two for the Greek free steph went back to back fifteen and sixteen. Okay, Lebron won back to back twice two different times. It's four. Yeah, I don't know. Well, if you don't believe us, do you think we're a bunch of Homers. Here's Dirk last night with Kevin
Hart. Kevin Hart does his own like a you know, Manning cast style thing during the game on ESPN two, and he had Dirk on and there, Man, I'm so mad. Yeah, he's breaking every one in my record. Man was it was over uh on trail for him obviously. Uh, I got to know him. So my last year was his first year in the league, and you know, uh, it was just great to see him get to know him a little bit. And I think we saw that in year one that the sky's the limit for him. But I honestly
didn't think he could go there. I mean the way he has no offensive holes in his in his in his game, he can do it all. He can shoot the step back, he can go both ways, he can post, he's got the mid range, he's got the flow, he's got all the horse shots. Every year, I'm saying, this kid can can possibly get better, and then sure enough next year comes back with more in his repertoire and hopefully mass fans enjoying for a long long time. He's got
horse shots, horse shots that should be a quarter of a percent. Is just the bits that Luca does pregame because guess what, we gave you another gift for you to put on your you know, NBA website, Like here's more stuff. Well, the reason I was asking about about Steph, look at it's not like Luca's just camped out beyond the arc, you know, just the fact that he is leading the league or at the I think he's either second or third in free throws attempted. He's not getting to the line
because guys are flicking his pinky when he launches a three. He's banging. He's bleeding every game, getting mauled and going to the line and getting getting rewarded for it, which kind of makes you wonder, why are you arguing so damn much going to the free throw line more than anybody else in the league exact how I heard. So they're finishing that, you're on a sixteen and two run, and in that run, Dallas has the number one defense in the NBA. Yeah, and I guess you can't say Luca is not
the main reason and are a big part of that. He might be hurt by the enforcements because the league does know that Gafford PJ. Washington are good players. They know what you know. Maybe he's getting because of that. Why are you overvaluing a team's final record as much as you are? Because when Dirk Won is MVP, he averaged twenty five points a game, nine
rebounds, three, three assists. Let me tell you something else the twenty nine the league wasn't talking about how great players that PJ and Gafford were before they got here. I mean you you had to kind of be a pretty watch the game fairly closely to even know who those guys were. PJ was a stud in fantasy circles, just putting up points on a bad team, but no one knew Gafford was like the field goal percentage King Gafford with the MAVs. He is an elite big man in this line. I think we're
proving the point, yes, because they're playing with that guy. But we're also proven the other point that just because we didn't know any hardly anything about Daniel Gafford and PJ. Washington means we weren't watching Charlotte. We didn't care. Yeah, Luca's been a name far above either one of those game for a much longer time. I do think it's us staring at Luca every game and everything on. You know, your social media feed is mav centric versus
Hornet centric or nugget centric in this case, that impacts you. So yes, I would imagine on Denver radio they could argue, of course, you Kich is the MVP, like what are you even talking about? Yeah, Luca's done this and this, but they could probably present eight to ten things that we haven't thought of to validate, you know, his candidacy. But when Dirk won, they won sixty seven games and there are one seed. I just don't want it to be best player on best team. Yeah,
I don't know. It's well, it is five days till votes are due, I think, or four days or maybe they're I guess they do. I don't know what he's in the next two games to win them over. I don't know what he would have to do. Yeah, and I'd be okay with that. But is it the league? Is it the league MVP or the I've never understood the the definition of it is. I don't even know what it is, but it seems nebulous at best. I mean, is he the the is it the team MVP? Is the MVP of the
team or is the MVP of the league. Then I guess you do give it to the best team and the best player on that team. Sure, pravy m v P provy Luca. That's the thing that MAVs are pushing. They're trying to wear the shirts. They're wearing shirts like they're starting their own campaign, which I don't know how. It's too late and it's too too late, but prave means top or real in Slovenian, so they're wearing uh provy m VP shirts. I think Luca does care. He wasn't going to
lose to one guy. I don't think he'd mind losing to Jokic. But I also don't know that Luke or that Joki, not that this matters, but I only jokis really care. I don't either, and I think it does, Luca absolutely, I mean you when you're building that portfolio, I mean it he wants helps Dirk that he won the league MVP, even if
it was in a terrible season, a terrible post season. Yeah, I mean that helps build the argument of where Dirk ranks all time, agreed, And if Luca wants to be in the top five of all time, which he absolutely can be or higher. And you know in an argument he's titles obviously, but you also need to rack up some MVPs and the dude deserves this one this year and fingers crossed. But those Vegas ods just it's a legacy bullet point. Yeah, sure, an important one. Yeah, yeah,
but Vegas scares me. Like when when we saw the interview, I guess it was a little Tony Parker and Dirk and Gasol, Is that right? Yeah? They all sat down together. Yeah maybe there was one of the way. Way. Yeah, that's what the guy that hosted it, I forgot him. There's something about sitting at that table, Dirk with the
championship and an MVP. It puts him at those tables. Yeah forever, and Luca, you know, if he doesn't get it this year, I believe he will get one because I don't think his numbers are going to do any type of drastic decline over the next five years. I hope not, but uh, dude, this is his year. This is one hundred percent. He has earned it, earned it. Coming up next DFW Manhunt. Next on the Freak