Robert Horry, 7-time NBA Champion

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Visit your neighborhood store to make the switch today. It is the Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network. We should be joined momentarily by Robert Ori, the seven time NBA champion, as the NBA finals is set. They will commence coming up on Thursday evening as the Boston Celtics go up against the Dallas Mavericks. And Robert Ori is here courtesy of Bet Online. Check out Bet Online for updated NBA finals series and MVP odds along with game by game lines and props. Robert, appreciate the time as always.

Thanks so much for it. How you been, my man? Man, I'm blessed, man. You know, I'm getting ready to watch the NBA finals. NBA basketball is finally back.

Yeah, it's crazy. After the long layoff with how quickly the series did go and we had to wait all this time and I'm ready for that ball to get thrown up in the air on Thursday evening. Let me start you off with the Mavericks. Before the season, I would not have predicted that they would have been here before the NBA postseason. I'm like, all right, they got a great dynamic duo, but I was thinking it was going to be Denver.

How about what the Mavericks have accomplished winning the West to get into the NBA finals? You know, let's start with, you know, Cuban, Nico, Mike Finley, all of them doing a great job of, you know, doing it, you know, trade them like getting PJ and Gaffer two pieces that they needed to make solidify that team. You know, you think about you got two dynamic guards.

You need something else to add to that team. And they was able to add, you know, PJ Washington, which was was a huge huge deal for them. And he's been, you know, clutch for them. And then you take a look at Kyrie. That, to me, is the biggest impression of this Mavericks team, because in Brooklyn and in Boston, Kyrie was a problem. And now it seems like he's fully locked in. And everyone remembers now that Kyrie's back to being a top 10 player in the league when he's fully locked in.

How about what Kyrie's been able to do in the last few months? I think when you look at certain players, you know, Kyrie, you know, when he was in Cleveland, you know, one year college came into this league, you know, a superstar and won a championship quickly. And then he became where he was big head, let's say.

And now he's been brought about on the earth. Now we can see how great he really is. And I think now he's at a point in his life where he's matured mentally and he's just happy to be playing his game. Because think about it, you get paid to play basketball, and this is one of the best basketball players you ever see playing a game. And now we're able to see it on display with no issues off the court, on the court, just him and his peers playing great basketball. I know you went up against Jason Kidd quite a few times. Now he has this team in an NBA Finals. He won a championship with the Mavs as a player. I think the Jason Kidd component of this is also very big because I don't know how many people know this, but Kyrie grew up as a Nets fan and Kyrie, his favorite player growing up was Jason Kidd. So I think Kidd's been able to get Kyrie back on track.

But how about the job of Jason Kidd so far? I think we have Robert Horry frozen on the Zoom. So hopefully we can reconnect with him. Robert, you got me back?

There we go. So let's take him off just the board, guys, and hopefully we can reconnect with him and spend a few more minutes with Robert Horry. I did see earlier today that Shams Sharania did post that Christos Porzingis is expected to return for Game 1 of the NBA Finals barring a setback. So good news coming for the Boston Celtics.

Hopefully we can continue that conversation with Robert Horry in just a bit as we're having a little bit of a connection issue. But if they get Christos Porzingis back, there's no excuses for the Celtics. There's no excuses anyway. Because what they had to go up against in the first three rounds, they basically, I don't want to diminish what they did, but they had to buy to the NBA Finals. And they were never tested in the first three rounds and give them credit for taking advantage of that. But I'm curious to see what happens if they're going to have to sweat in these NBA Finals. And it feels like, I know that it may not reflect in the Vegas world, but just by the people out here talking about it, it feels like a lot of people are in Dallas for this series. I am leaning Boston in this series with the Celtics and I think they're going to win. I just think it's Tatum and Brown's time.

But you look at that duo and that dynamic duo with Luka and Kyrie, it just feels like in the NBA postseason. Whenever you identify the team this year, like we identified Denver, right, the defending champs, get them back there, they were going to do it. Then they lose to Minnesota. Then Minnesota becomes the team.

And now Dallas becomes the team. And because of Boston, they've been so close but yet so far for all those years. Boston's never going to get praised until they win that championship. So it feels a little bit like Boston's getting disrespected, but I wouldn't fully say that just because we know it's championship or bust for the Boston Celtics. Robert Horry's back with us. He's here courtesy of Bet Online.

Check out Bet Online for updated NBA Finals series MVP odds along with game-by-game lines and props. Robert, right before we got disconnected, we were talking about the importance of Jason Kidd, the coach of this team. Just what's really impressed you being a former player in this league with what Jake Kidd's been able to do with his Maverick squad? There's so many coaches that are afraid to make moves during the playoff run. You think about how Hardaway is one of his key players all year. And for him to say, you know what, you don't have it.

We'll put Hardy in and Hardy's been playing fantastic. His ability to adjust and not be afraid to have his players go to the basket. And I think when you got, like you mentioned, Kyrie grew up a huge Jake Kidd fan. He's going to trust him. He's going to believe in him. And when you got your veteran of the team and he's leading that team and he trusts the coach, everybody's going to follow suit. So I think that's the biggest key for them. The trust factor and Jake Kidd's been there, won championships in a Dallas uniform.

He's able to have their trust and their ability to follow him. If Luke is able to get four more victories and raise that Larry O'Brien trophy, would you consider him the best player in the NBA or is it someone else right now? You know, I look at it totally different. Will he be one of the best offensive players? Yeah. Best player? No, because, you know, Luke ain't going to be stopping nobody defensively or blocking those shots. And I always view players who haven't played on both ends. That's why I still think it's the best player in the league is Giannis because he plays defense and offense. And we get so caught up in points these days that we forget that this is not football, where you can pull someone off the field and make them play defense and put them back on the field to play offense. So I just think, for me, I look at it in a totally different aspect that you got to play both ends of the court for me to be the best player in the NBA. How about Nikola Jokic when you get in that conversation, the three-time MVP? Is it just that you don't think he's as great of a defender as he could be, maybe?

I think that boils down to it, too. Don't get me wrong. Both those guys make their teams really, really good. But for me, I need someone who's going to play defense and stop. If I'm picking a player at his healthiest right now in the league, I'm probably going to pick the Greek Freak because he's going to give me something on both ends of the floor. Now, are we talking about offensively? I ain't got to worry about the defensive end.

I might pick Luka. I'll tell you this, though, Robert Horry. I'm still shocked that Denver isn't here because they were down 2-0. Everyone pulled out on them, and then you see that series go in favor of tied up at 2-2, and I'm thinking, okay, Denver's going to find a way, especially when they took that 3-2 lead to get the job done. They lose Game 6, that's one thing, but I'm still stunned by how poor of a performance they gave in that Game 7 of the second half of the Nuggets. For me, sometimes it's all about matchups, and you look at the way the Minnesota Timberwolves matched up with them.

They had three bigs to compete with the Jokers, and now when you go to the next series against the Mavs, your bigs are in the way because they don't have those type of bigs that can hang with those athletic bids the Mavs have. It's all about matchups, and people don't understand that. You think about all the great teams. You think about the Spurs. The Spurs usually get beat by the Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns all the time because of the matchups. And you think about when I was with the Rockets, Seattle Supersign used to beat us all the time, but this is matchups.

And certain teams have your number. Let's talk about the Lakers and Denver. The Denver own the Lakers because it's about the matchups. They don't have another big to contend with the Jokers. So at the end of the day, it's about matchups. It ain't about what's on the paper. It's about how you matchup and you compete against each other.

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Hyundai, there's joy in every journey. How do you view Jason Tatum as a player, just wondering? I feel like he's probably one of the most disrespected players in the league. You think about it, you have your Boston Celtics, one of the best records in basketball. You don't even get it mentioned for MVP. And to me that's disrespectful. And then they go out and they say, yo, is Jason Tatum's, you know, is his series a bust?

No, it's the Celtics' series a bust. You forgot. You've got a guy out there making more money than him than Brown.

You've got a guy at Hartford who's been there forever. You've got Drew Holliday who's been a champion. You've got White who's an all-defensive team. Basketball, that's the wonderful thing about basketball.

It's a team sport and you've got to play it on both ends of the floor. There's a lot of players that do shine, but at the end of the day it's a team effort. Do you feel like it's Jason Tatum's time? Do you think the Celtics are going to win this series? I don't think they're going to win this series because I just think, you know, when the boys are on their matchup, I just think the Mavericks have better bigs. And I think it's going to be, you know, athletic bigs. And you think about Harford, you know, I don't think Porzingis is going to be ready. He's going to be ready, but he's not going to be, you know, midseason Porzingis. And I think Harford, he just wants to shoot threes now.

I think that's going to kill them at the end of the day. Yeah, what can we realistically expect from Christoph Porzingis? As we're talking to Robert Horry, I saw Shon Sharani has said today that barring a setback, he's going to play Game 1.

He's missed that time, you know, several weeks, and now you get thrown into the high-pressure situation of the NBA playoffs. What do you expect from a player, and how much is Rust really a thing? I think Rust is a big thing, especially when you think about the way the Celtics have been playing. They had a nice little groove, nothing they had to readjust because he brings a different aspect to the game than other players do because he's, you know, think about it, he was our first quote-unquote unicorn. And so now you look at this, and is he going to be in shape? Because it's different when you hurt a shoulder or something.

You're able to still run and stay in keeping condition. You know, he had an ankle, so it's going to be very interesting to see if he can, you know, have his winners up, his stamina is going to be up, even his ability to play with the guys who are used to playing without it. You know, last thing I'll ask you, and you said Jason Tatum is one of the more disrespected players in the NBA, I do agree with you. You do believe the Mavericks are going to win the Finals.

You know what's going to happen. If that does occur, that the Mavericks win, everyone's going to say the Celtics' season is a failure because, hey, let's call for what it is. They were that much better than every team in the East. But then you get to the NBA Finals, this truly feels like a championship or bust team. So what would you say to maybe people that are going to be down on Tatum and down on the Celtics if they end up losing the series? Hey, let me just say there's like, what, 28 other teams who failed this season. You know, I know for me, I look at if you don't win, you fail. And there's nothing wrong with failure, you learn from your failure. And I think if the Celtics, they do fail again, they're going to get scrutinized a lot just because, you know, think about it, they expect Tatum, they expect so much out of Tatum, but he doesn't get recognized for the MVP.

They expect so much out of Tatum, you forget there's four other guys on that courtroom that need to step up. So for me, it's a failure regardless if whoever loses this series, it's a failure. And that's just how I view it. And people are like, it's not a failure. Yes, it is. If you don't win, you fail.

And so you learn from your failures and you move on that and try to improve on that failure. Why do you think Tatum isn't as respected as maybe you think he should be? I think because his game is so smooth.

It's almost like a Paul George game. When guys do stuff effortless, they feel like they're not playing hard. They feel like it's too easy. And there's so many things that are thrown at them, you know, and he's not a big antics guy.

You look at guys over the years, like, you know, who bang on their chest and they beat the monster with their play. They yell and scream. They get to say, oh, they're competing.

They're a competitor. They got the heart of a champion. Just because it's easy and smooth for him doesn't mean he doesn't have the heart of the champion or he's not a competitor. It just looks really good when he does it.

And everybody hates a pretty boy. He is Robert Horry. He's here courtesy of Bet Online.

Check out Bet Online for updated NBA Finals series MVP odds along with game by game lines and props. Robert, appreciate the time. Thanks so much.

Shine those rings for us. All right. My bad on the connection, but thank you for having me. You got it. This is Robert Horry.

You probably just couldn't hear us on some of the connection because when you have seven rings could be a little bit difficult sometimes. I'm going to drive so I can hit the trail without a worry in the world. Heck, with three rows and best in class rear cargo space, I can pack the whole family in with all our gear.

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