The Mismatch - Giannis Plays but the Suns Take Game 1 of the Finals. Plus: Looking Forward to the Rest of the Series

Episode Date: July 7, 2021

Immediately following Game 1 of the NBA Finals, Verno and KOC discuss Chris Paul taking over and pushing the Suns to a Game 1 win over the Bucks (2:18), how well Giannis played despite his injury (14:10), and how will the Bucks adjust for the rest of the series (24:15)? Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O'Connor Producer: Carlos Chiriboga Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The NFL draft may be over, but the Ringer NFL show isn't going anywhere. On Mondays, join Kevin and Nora as they look ahead to the 2021 season. And on Wednesdays, check out Flying Coach Season 2 with NFL Network's Peter Shreger and Rams head coach Sean McVeigh. The two longtime friends are joined by guests from around the sports and entertainment world to discuss the latest NFL news, tell stories from their careers, and break down the game from their unique perspectives. Check out the Ringer NFL show on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome to The Misfatch. Martin and joining me as he does every Tuesday from the runger.com is Kevin O'Connor, aka Kevin O'Bomber, Kevin O'Connor, Kevin O'Col, Kevin O'Colm, Kevin O'Cleon, Kevin O'Cly and Kevin O'Clymer, Kevin O'Cly and a game that we just watched as they played against the Milwaukee Bucks. It was very late in the day until we realized that Yanisanta Ticumpo was going to be available for this game. I was honestly shocked by that news that he was going to be available for the game. And so I think that kind of set the stage for everybody had to make predictions about this, give opinions about this leading into it, what you think's going to happen between the

suns and the bucks. And much like, I guess it's got a par for the course for what these plays. playoffs have been, by the time the game tips off, whatever you had kind of baked into your prediction of this was already screwed up because I didn't know if we'd see Janice at all. I didn't know if we'd see Janice for five games. I didn't know if we'd see him for six games. I didn't know. But I sure didn't think we'd see him for seven games.

But I was glad that he was available for this game tonight. Chris, we might not see him for seven games after. what we saw in tonight's game, though. It might not last seven. It might not last seven. We'll see, though. It's only one, only one game. Yeah, it is only one game. This was, again, a continuation of game six of the Western Conference finals. This was about Chris Paul. And this was about a third quarter just taking over a game. And then in the fourth two, Chris, You know, the Bucks made their push. They had a burst early in the fourth campaign was the only guy doing anything for Phoenix at that point.

And then Chris Paul comes in and says, enough, enough of this. This is my game tonight. Chris Paul, I thought it was funny after the game. He said to Malika Andrews in the interview post game, he's like, you know, I'm the old dog on this team. All these young guys try to tell me to push the pace, push the pace. And he was in complete control the entire game against that switching bucks defense. or if they dropped Brooke Lopez, it didn't matter. It didn't matter.

Chris Paul was dominant. And I think he had, I think he had zero in the first quarter. And then, so all of his points were in the last three quarters of this game. But I thought at the end of the first quarter, I was like, man, that's a really good pace. Not a ton of fouls. Now, it got slowed down a little bit as the game went on. And you could tell the bucks felt like they got a bad whistle. And I do think they did for.

a good portion of the game. They flashed up that number at the end of the, I believe going into the fourth, and it was like 19 to 6. And you remember at least four of the six because of the countdown that was going on within the arena every time I shot those free throws. Now they ended up,

it was a little bit better. But, you know, up and down the line, do you look at this box score, Kev? And it's kind of crazy because the bucks had more rebounds than Phoenix. The Bucks had more assists than Phoenix. This was not a big block shot game. They did have a few more turnovers. A field goal percentage is close.

They actually shot threes extremely well. And that has been a massive problem for them in these playoffs. They've shot 31% as a team, even though here they are as the Easter Conference representative. And then that free throw number and the free throw percentage, are both horrible. Phoenix is able to get 25 out of 26 on the line, and Milwaukee's getting 9 of 16 from the line.

So they got outscored 16 points just at the free throw line. Yeah. And I mean, I understand the way Bucks fans might be angered by that. I think overall it was more a representation of the way the NBA calls files now. It's like they don't call a lot of files on drives to the rim. There are certainly instances. Chris Middleton was fouled.

driving to the basket. But that's the way it is oftentimes the NBA for better or for worse. Jump shooters draw a little bit of contact, get calls. Driving to the basket, you might get a lot of contact, no whistle. And so that's just the way it is right now. And I would expect that, you know, Devin Booker might not draw four or five files off of jump shots in game two or again at all moving forward the series. But forget about the files. Like that's not why the Bucks lost this game.

that's not why the sons won the same. I'm not saying that to you. I'm saying that like in general, I mean, there's much bigger problems for Mike Boodenholzer and that Bucks Coaching staff to look at. And there's much other stuff to feel good about it. If you're the sons. Yeah, what I'm saying is that box score is not indicative of what you would usually think for a double. Usually there would be things to really point out and be like, they got beat here. They got beat here. They got beat here. But they really didn't. Well, yeah, because the box score doesn't tell you a lot off. times. They got beat in pick and roll defense because Chris Paul and Devin Booker getting whatever they wanted against the buck switching defense. They started off with the switch one through five had Brooke Lopez on Chris Paul or Devin Booker for far too many instances it seemed far too many. So, you know, at one point during that game in the second half you try with the drop pick and roll coverage where

Brooke Lopez kind of saggs a little bit more towards the paint and Chris Paul is still getting whatever he wanted. I wonder, you know, also, Boone Holzer did try Janus at the five a bit in that fourth quarter. Are we going to see more of that? Because in tonight's game, Brooke Lopez was a minus 17. And like minus 17 also in the box score isn't always indicative of what happens in a game. But in this instance it was. It was a bad defensive game for Brooke Lopez, not because of him as an individual. It's just the way in which that he can be exploited. Well, and the crazy thing to me, Kev is, you know, they did hit on something for a stretch there where they were small. And with the honest at the five.

Yeah. But that was after they had already went through a short period of time where they said, okay, we're pulling Lopez. This is unplayable. We can't live like this anymore. And then they do this thing and they did this a couple other series lead into this where they put Portis in. They have Portis do the same damn thing.

Lopez does. It's the craziest thing. I'm like, why? You're just doing this. You're doing, you're having him play like Brooke Lopez, except he's smaller and maybe a little more nimble, but he's still not, you still can't have him on an island against the bookers and the Chris Pauls of the world. And it happened too often. It seems like it happened every couple minutes. Oh, they were going to just do that all night. They were going to do it all night. And they did. It was really simple basketball, what the sons were doing at certain points during. Well, here's the problem, though. And this is the problem the bucks are going to have. So you decide, all right, we are not going to let you target Brooke Lopez anymore. Okay, fine.

So then they tried the Portis thing and that stunk. Then they went to the Janus 5 thing. The problem there is when they do Janus 5 because of, you know, they would typically have Devincento they don't have enough. They're playing Forbes and Conaton and they're going to just target them. Exactly. Pick your poison. Like so who you want to get targeted? Do you want Brooke Lopez to get targeted or you want the because when you go small, they're all of a sudden putting in more guys that they're just going to say, all right, now this guy. And we're going at your ass every single time. Exactly. And that's the thing. Like the DeVincenzo injury, he wouldn't necessarily be a solution for the bucks. But he's not a target. But not a target. Exactly. Not a guy that a team is going to go out of their way. to attack relentlessly, possession after possession. And that's the thing with the Suns team, right?

They are, even if there were instances in which Chris Paul or Devin Booker wasn't generating an open mid-range jumper or getting to the basket, they were creating passing lanes, forcing the defense to help because they were getting by somebody. And that was creating instances in which I remember, I think it was the first half, Cam Johnson had a cut towards the free throw line and quickly passed it to Aiton on a dive to the rim like just these quick rapid decisions because even though chris paul and devon booker are the guys with their with the ball and their hands a lot everybody on that team everybody on the court all five guys know how to make quick decisions they know how to read the floor and this sun's team like

watching the game i just found myself saying chris the sons look like a hard team to defend the bucks look like an easy team to defend that's what it felt like at times i know it's more you know complicated than that but that's the way it felt because even when they went on their little run. That was like, it was Middleton being sensational. Exactly. It's Middleton catching fire like we've seen before.

It wasn't like the ball was popping around and they were getting wide open shots. That was just individual greatness. And Middleton was, and he made some hard shots. And he was going to the rim. He got his own rebound on one of them. And I, I mean,

if it's not him, it's the honest. And Drew Holiday, obviously, has got to give them more. Oh, yeah. Horrible tonight. Drew Bledso tonight.

Drew had been outstanding in those last couple of games when they needed him to be really good without Janus. He stepped up. Brooke stepped up. Middleton stepped up for them to be in this position and be able to beat Atlanta. But I mean, how many times did you even think about Drew Holiday offensively tonight? It's very weird the way they function because I've always fan. Mancied Milwaukee as a team that does kind of play for the greater good, pop it around, you know, don't really play ISO basketball, but they do. They do play a lot of ISO.

And that's where you, I think you also have to have to credit the Phoenix Sun's defense tonight. DeAndre Aiton and Jay Crowder. Like, Jay Crowder had one point. Oh, for eight from the field, O for five. But he played a really good game. It was his birthday. It was. Hey, hey. Jay Crowder's birthday. I mean, I hope he's happy about his great defensive performance because he did a sensational job in his possessions against Janice. DeAndre Aiton had a sensational performance, period, on both ends of the court. He did it all again. I mean, we've talked about Aitin time and time again throughout this entire son's postseason run here,

but he was great again. And when you have two guys Aiton and Crowder who can do a solid job, if not a good or great job against Yonis and Acupun containing his penetration, getting to the basket, that limits a lot of what you can do. And I also thought, you know, everybody on that team, Devin, Booker, McHale Bridges, all these guys that are very good job, regardless of who was on Drew Holiday or Chris Middleton, even though Chris Middleton got numbers, 12 to 26, 29 points, I thought they made it hard on those guys.

And that's where, like, the Sons, everybody talks about this team like they would have lost in the first round to the Lakers or they would have lost in the second round to the Nuggets, or they would have lost in the third round of the Clippers if those teams were healthy. And maybe they would have. Maybe they would have. But I did think in game one, they showed why they were a complete basketball. ball game top to bottom on the roster all of these guys can defend all of these guys are smart make great decisions and almost all of them can shoot i mean this is a complete team and they showed

why in game one yeah i'm not going to count out the bucks because no way you can you know they brought they brought yonis back and one of the things it was a few things that were immediately noticeable in this game as the finals got started was the crowd was absolutely unbelievable that like it's First finals game at 28 years, but they were, I mean, the whole night fever pitched and they were great. And that can, you know, there's been a bunch of studies on this and they say it's not as much teams as it is crowds that can affect officiating, right? That crowds really get on top of you. And if they did play a part, now look, the same is going to be true in Milwaukee. We saw that.

I mean, you may have seen, it was so fun to see this and see. the genuine excitement. This was one of the blessings of having teams that aren't there and that are taking that this is the biggest deal to them, right? Because you saw Phoenix and that crowd bananas all night

and then they were showing those clips. 9,000 people in the arena in Milwaukee. And then who knows how many thousand outside in that thing they were calling the deer district that was out. I mean, there's just people outside standing watching

a road game. And I was like, this is unbelievable. And so now they'll inevitably, you know, they'll play this second one in Phoenix. We'll see what make of that. But both these teams, it feels like they're going to have a real legitimate home court advantage. For sure. And I think, you know, for the bucks, they have the guy who looked good tonight.

Janus did look good tonight. That was shocking. That he looked this good? Oh. I mean, he looked like himself, right? If you would not have told me he had been hurt? No idea. No way.

You'd have no idea. Yeah. Like he had the chase down block. He had multiple great rebounds. I mean, like you know what Janus does. Doesn't need to require description. But I mean, he looked like Janice under the Coupil. And it felt like they were.

I didn't know if they were playing possum or what. Like they kept, you know, kind of downplaying it. Exactly what they were doing. That's exactly what. Like Chris Haynes reported it on Friday, on Friday. Friday, Chris Haynes from Yahoo said in the event of a game seven, it's likely there's optimism that Yonis will play. And that game seven wouldn't have been on Tuesday. It would have been on Monday.

So, I mean, naturally there would be optimism for game one. And he ended up playing the fact he looked as good as he did as normal as he did, that part is shocking to me. Well, because here's a thing, Kev, I know they call him the green freak. What happened to his knee? I saw the way his leg bent. It went backwards. How did nothing come of that? I don't know.

I don't know. I hope for the bucks and I hope for Rihanna's that it continues, you know, like over the course of a long series, I mean, he had some time off to rehab. I hope, you know, he can turn around quickly for Thursday night and still be at peak condition. That's the next challenge now, getting ready in 48 hours for the next one.

And he'll be better than he was tonight. There'll be other days where, offensively, he should be. Yes. as this goes on. He, they played one possession games in the season. They only met twice. But he had 80 points in those games with a 68% true shooting percentage.

And that's with the same personnel, right? Like, they just, the truth is he can provide a tremendous advantage for the bucks. They really don't have somebody. Like, you even saw a body Aiton in that first quarter and just, I mean, he's so strong and so big. He can just push even the Aitans of the world out of the way. lay it in. But there was, as the game wore on, I think you saw some of the, and I'm talking about the second half, some of the conditioning stuff that would inevitably come.

It probably stiffened up on him a little at halftime. And not, that was, you know, Middleton was going to try to get him home. And so he wasn't getting the ball, therefore wasn't like crazy aggressive down the stretch of that game. And I do think you'll probably see him be more aggressive throughout the course of entire games going forward, assuming, you know, he didn't do anything to it tonight. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. And we really, really, really, I saw the series flash before our eyes on the stupid Brooke Lopez foot where Chris Paul lands on it. I was like, oh, do, no. I was so scared. I was so scared. Chris. Because his ankle really twists.

And I was like, oh, for God's sake, this is what's going to happen. Right? We just, it's been every series, literally every series. Like we just went through one where in the Western Conference, there was no Kauai Leonard for the series. And in the Easter Conference, there was no Trey Young. And then there was no Yonis. And then they got a hobbled version of Trey back.

And it was like, this can't happen in game one of the finals. Because I do think this could set up to be a. great finals. I do. I do think this could end up being really good. I don't think Phoenix is going to make quick work of them, you know, even though they did get game one. But that's, again, it's kind of part for the course. I saw my buddy Jorge Sedano put up that home teams since 0203, home teams are 17 and two now in game ones. And if they've gotten two days of rest, which they got five days of rest, they're on a 14 and 0 streak 14 straight so you mentioned that long rest before game one are you would all surprise how crisp both teams looked right out of the gates i thought there'd be some

sluggishness with the only real mistake we got with mark was mark davis on the jump ball to start the game ref screwing up i thought it would be nerves yeah but we that's what i thought yeah no nerves no sluggishness well because i think they said uh i think they said uh i think they said crowder's the only one that played the finals game. The only one, yeah. Well, that was last year. And he's the one who went 038. Huh?

He's the one who went 0.3. He's the only player on the sons who missed the free throw tonight. He is the only one that missed a free throw. So much for that veteran example, huh? Yeah, right. Oh, you're real finals experience coming through for us, huh? It's crazy to think about because they did, they did have, he was so afraid.

he's the only guy who's playing the finals. You said earlier how you think this will be a deep series. I do. I'm with you. I mean, I pick Sons and Six. I'll stay with that. Did the Sons or the Bucks show anything tonight that could suggest that it will be a short series?

I think that because the reason I think that is because they got, they got, uh, Yonis back. Right. And I think that the Bucks get beat up every, round every time they lose people jump on boodinthauser but they've done a good job of being resilient and figuring things out and they were up against a wave tonight they were up against an amazing

chris paul performance and an unbelievably lit arena and and they were coming in on short arrest with their best player you just say lit arena you say yeah yeah after they were good short interesting choice there, Chris. What? You didn't think it was lit? It's just funny to hear, you know, you say the word lit. That's all. Why? It's just funny. That's all. You didn't think it was lit? I mean, it feels like that word. I heard Mike Breen say it on a broadcast recently. I think that word is starting to, you know, ease until the 40 plus range. I'm just, just saying. Travis Scott is, that's not exactly 16. He's the one that barks it all the time. You don't know who Travis Scott I mean, I just say I have not heard the word lit from a 40 plus year old until Mike Breen said it.

Oh, that's not true. And now I just heard it. That's the only time I've ever heard it. Are you serious? That's it. A lit arena? You and Mike Breen. That's the only time I've heard of the word lit from someone over the age of 40.

That's all I'm saying, Chris. That's ridiculous. Well, you don't know anybody over the age of 40. Who would say it? Your mom? Yeah. You're going to walk in. She's going to say this breakfast is lit.

You got to remember, I'm around an 11-year-old. I know. I know. That is my impression. William must be saying it. He has an effect on me. He walks around the house. They do all the kids do the same thing. Every parent out there will know. They go, she. That's their new thing. Shee. Every kid from 11 to 14 just run around saying she now. But yeah. They were up against it. Look, I know you love the sons with every ounce of your heart. But. A lot of okay performances, not great performance. They got one amazing performance, and they went to the line a million times. I do think the Bucks will have an answer.

I did not see something tonight that made me think that they're going to just wipe this team because I think the Bucks are going to have some answers for it. And I think the Bucks will have an equally lit arena. I mean, look, there are 70,000 people that look like in the deer district. So I think that's going to have a profound effect. These teams are all going through it for the first time. Now, I had Sons in Seven just because I figured it'd be a home court advantage type series. Maybe you get a couple, you know, games that are stolen here and there.

But I think probably, you know, I'm not. a big believer in what I talked to you about a couple weeks ago, which is guys that win this thing are usually at an age. Now, Paul is extreme because he's 36, but if Janus does it, it will be a real rarity. Usually it's a little bit later in their careers when the best player on the team is typically 27 or older. And so we talked about that a couple rounds ago. And when we kind of outlined the teams, here's the guys that fit this criteria of the majority. of NBA finals winners over the course of many years. So I think Paul probably does is the one that could get him over the hump. But at least for this game, he was the best player on the floor by a wide margin. For sure. And I think that part, you know, the fact Chris Paul was as dominant as he was. And Devin Booker, I know take out the 10 free throws for a second.

He was still only 8 for 21 from the field, one of eight from three. The sons are going to get a big Devin Booker game. or two or three the rest of the way. And I think, you know, Devin Booker in that first half, he had multiple possessions throughout the first quarter and second quarter where he got by Brooke Lopez, he got by Chris Middleton,

he got by whoever was in front of him, except for Drew Holiday. And at some point, that's going to translate into more buckets that aren't free throws. And I think for the bucks, there's a real challenge here. I mean, the drop pick and roll coverage didn't work, the switching pick and roll coverage,

didn't work. Do you hedge? Do you blitz? Do you get a little bit more aggressive? Do you just switch it up more? Do you not switch with Brooke Lopez, but switch one through four? I look for, I think the bucks do have some answers, Chris, but the sons are a really, really, really hard problem to solve, though, just because of the amount of ways that they can beat you. And I think the point you brought up earlier about the lack of Devencinzo, which means you've got to go to Forbes, you've got to go to Teague. That hurts a lot. Like, that really does, even though it's only 10, 12, 13 minutes per game, those guys are going to get picked on. And if you have to go to them more than that, because you're not playing Brooke Lopez for

25, 30, I mean, I don't know. I don't know what the answer is there for the bugs, except riding Janus at the five even longer than you do. And it's crazy how Booker ended up because early in that game, I thought, oh boy, this is going to be a huge Booker night. I thought that too. double digits quick. And so he must, I mean, and they,

Holiday did match up with him a lot, you know, tonight. And so now, you know, on those do you say, all right, we're willing to just, if Booker kills us, Booker kills us, but we've got to, Drew's just got to be on Chris. End of story. You know. I don't, we don't have the tracking stats yet, but I look forward to looking up what percentage of Chris Paul's points

came against somebody not named Drew Holiday. Yeah. It's got to be like 90%. I mean, it's really high. It might even be 100. It might be, I don't know what it is. It felt like a lot.

It's a lot. Well, there were some of them where he was like, he was coming down the court and they had like, like say like Connaton would pick him up. And I mean, he just dribbled straight into like a 20 footer. Like he's been in the league for 100 years.

Like you know you got to crowd him. Like make him drive. on you. What you can't do is just let him two dribble pull up right in your face. Like this is ridiculous. And so, yeah, but it is a pick your poison thing and they did a great job on Booker, but they got demolished by Paul. And so it feels like there's a lot of those choices that Booneholes are and that we're going to have to figure out in this.

Let me tell you something about Booker. You're going to love this story. So, and I'm going to be a little bit. I'm not ashamed of this, but I am, I was shocked to learn. So when I was a kid, as you know, I'm old, but when I was a kid, we had moved to St. Louis. And so I lived in St. Louis growing up. And we didn't have an NBA team. Everybody loved Michael Jordan and whatever.

And college basketball was only big, you know, you only heard it get talked about a lot when it was Missouri and them doing really well or it was St. Louis University and then doing really well. It's like a big city. It's probably like not unlike where you grew up, right? Because you grew up at Boston. That's not a college sports town. It's a pro sports town. The only time I can remember really seeing a lot of Boston college basketball was like the Jared Dudley days. know, when they face those great Duke teams, JJ Redick back when I say hate JJ. Yeah. So my, even though I lived there, my favorite team was Memphis State and Penny because my father had gone to Memphis. And so my dad still kept up with Memphis basketball. But anyway, like any kid, when something becomes like really popular, all the kids get

into it, you start root for it. So if the team started going to the tournament. And so St. Louis had this guy named Irwin Claggett. And so when you're playing out back with all your friends, you know, people would, they'd pull their socks up. He wore his socks up. So you'd act like Earl would claggart, whatever. But Missouri, their star, and this is early 90s, okay, like maybe like 91, 92, 93, whatever.

I was in, I was still juvenile. Now, their big star that we used to act like in the backyard was a guy who ended up becoming Big 8 player of the year, which is now the Big 12, Melvin Booker. I didn't find out until two days ago that Melvin Booker is Devin Booker's dad. I would, I saw, I keep up with the St. Louis right. so I could keep up with the Cardinals and I could keep up with the blues. And I saw an outstanding columnist in St. Louis, Benjamin Hockman. He tweeted out this article about Melvin Booker.

And I'm like, why the hell are they talking about Melvin Booker now? And I'm like, no, it was like that Chas Palmetary dropping the coffee glass moment. And I'm like, Melvin Booker is Devin Booker's dad? I never, ever put it together. Now, Melvin Booker wouldn't be famous to a lot of people because a very, very short amount of time in the NBA, went and really was an overseas basketball player. But I will tell you, for a kid that grew up in St. Louis, those Missouri teams, when he's the conference player of the year, Melvin, I acted like I was Melvin Booker in my driveway.

Because Melvin Booker was unbelievable as a college basketball player. Does it look like Devin Booker is imitating Melvin Booker on the court? I, I, the story style, no. It's all happened so fast. How about this? So I'm telling this story today to my buddy. He looks up Melvin Booker on a like YouTube or something, right?

Just like, he finds him playing in a pro am like a couple weeks ago, demolishing people. They're like, this guy is still getting buckets, Melvin Booker. So as the story goes, so, of course, I. I deep dove into it. So Devin Booker's mom and Melvin never got married. Her name is Gutierrez. So I guess he could be theoretically Devin Gutierrez. But his father was playing overseas and his father was going to sign another contract.

This is not unlike the Morant deal. But he decided he moved back. And so he was a big high school player in Mississippi. he went back to his town, to his old high school. They were living in Michigan, and he convinces mom to bring Devin down to Mississippi, and he's going to help him, you know, become advanced in basketball. And he plays at his dad's old high school.

By his senior years, he's averaging 30 points a game, as you know, he goes to Kentucky. The rest is all history. But it's really a crazy story. And I'm here to tell you, that Melvin Booker was friggin' awesome. And I had no idea that that was Devon's dad. Maybe I would have been a way bigger fan all these years

if I had known who his dad was. But I was a fan of his dad when I was a kid. It's so crazy. Maybe back in 2016, our first year during the pod, I should have told you this. And then maybe. Oh, my God. If you would have told me Melvin Booker was his dad,

I'd be like, no. You would have been on the bright future some bandwagon would be, Chris. I'd have been like, I love Melvin Booker. What did Melvin Booker play like, Chris? Huh? You score too. He's like an 18 point per game guy.

Yeah. Got buckets. Look, you've got to get buckets. Fluid for mid-range. You have to get buckets in order to be a player of the year in college, right? They don't give those awards to non-scorers. And also, a kid like me in suburban St. Louis is not going in their backyard acting like Melvin Booker unless he scores, right?

That's who any kids only like people that put the ball in the bucket, too. For what it's worth, his senior season, 18.1 points per game, this is the surprising stat to me. 5.1, 3 point attempts per game back in 1993, 94. That's a lot for that time.

That's a real lot. Yes. And so I read this whole article. He said, um, the moment he said he knew Devin Booker was going to be a big time, like, that he really had a chance was that he, um, they were watching basketball and, uh, the Pistons traded Chauncey Billups and ended up with Alan Iverson. And Devin

Booker was so mad about it because he just knew how how great Chauncey Billups was. And he's like, I knew he wasn't going to be some kind of flashy guy, even at that point, because he knew basketball. Like he knew the game and he knew what to properly appreciate. And it's because his dad recognized not only does this kid have some talent. Yeah. He has the passion for it. Yes.

Yes. That's why Booker turned into the player that he is, right? It's that passion. Oh yeah. Oh, look. And we've talked about that Sun's team and all these cool stories. One of the stories, I don't know if you saw like all these interviews that were going on prior to the finals, but you know, they all take to the podium. And One of the things Cameron Payne talked about was being completely out of it and whatever else. And I heard a story yesterday because he said he had come back to Memphis to get his career on track.

And somebody was telling me a story yesterday that he went and one of the things he did was went over to the Memphis University gym and worked out with Penny Hardaway. And Penny Hardaway took the, he was like out of shape and everything, took the ball away from. from him when he came into workout and he said, no ball and just ran him like over and over. And then the next day did it again. Just had it ran him. No basketball. And he said, I knew if he came back, he wanted it. And he came back and helped. And so he helped, he helped him along the way to get back to the NBA. That's a great test. That's a really good test by Patty. Seriously. That's a great tests. Yes. He said, I knew if he came back that he's serious. He wants this. Yeah. It says a lot. It really is. Well, because otherwise, he kind of felt like it wasn't going to be worth

his time. But I mean, you have these guys that, like, you do have a, like, sometimes the backstory of these guys, you never know, right? And who knows? What if Melvin Booker stays over in Europe and plays it out and doesn't come back and coach Devin in high school? And like, you know what I mean? Push him and prod him. He said he had to get his diet right. And he said that's how he knew with Devin too. He said he was eating like a normal teenager or whatever.

But I mean, he's pretty hardcore on him. It's the type of thing where like, you know, your path is different. You might end up in the same place, but your path is just different to get there. Like having that guidance of a former professional player or anybody who knows about health and nutrition and how to take care of your body. I mean, I can't imagine how valuable it is, especially for a high school kid. know it, right, to learn that at that time because most people don't until college, if not the NBA. Yep. Those are kind of cool stories that do come only now because the teams get highlighted in a way. They're the only two teams left. So we will inevitably end up learning a lot more about the participants involved in this in a way that maybe we hadn't seen that focus before.

because I don't know how many, you know, for somebody like Chris Paul, the story we know very, very well, right? And he's 36 years old. And I got to be honest with you. I don't know how the hell he is still. Like, between game six against the clippers on the road and then this first NBA finals game,

how is he the best guy on the floor? that's what's insane. He's clearly the best player. Like if you took somebody that didn't know anything about basketball and watch that game, they'd choose him. And he's 36.

Unbelievable, man. Like, and he hasn't missed shots either. What was he? 12 for 17 tonight. 12 for 19, 4, 7 from 3, hit some tough ones, too. Look, when you think about Chris Paul,

do you think about scoring? He's got 70-something points in the last two games he's played. You think about passing. Like that's the first thing you think about with Chris Paul. But this series, I wonder if the scoring is going to continue. I wonder if we're going to see Chris Paul be a score every single night. Like, I don't think that would be too shocking.

If they give him 17 footers, you will. I mean, I mean, I don't know if that's going to change. If he could just dribble into a 17 footer with Brooke Lopez, you know. I mean, like Chris, it's like this isn't even a new thing necessarily. He averaged 24 points against the clippers, 25 points against the Nuggets. It was really just back against the Lakers when he was working through the injury

that he didn't score a lot. I feel like this is the way the Sons are going to ride him. He took 21 shots per game in that Clipper series. I think we're going to see this game out, game out for the Sons here. Yeah, you're probably right. Well, and I think it's his moment in his career

where he's like, look, I love y'all. I got to take advantage. I love y'all. You guys have all followed my lead, but you are not going to decide my destiny. Jay Crowder, you, you shot enough. My guy, you're old for eight. That's enough. I'm going to let you get a couple.

I'm going to let you get a couple. But like, when it comes down to it, you guys are not. I'm going out firing if I'm going out. Now that you say that, Chris, it's making me think about, I forget, Mikkel Burgess is at one point during the game. I forget who he passed the ball to it. It was either Booker or Paul. but he dribbled it a couple of times.

And it was an instance in which, like, I would have got it if he took a three-point jumper off the dribble or drove to the basket. You never see that from the suns, really, where, like, someone takes a heat check shot. They get the ball at the end of the clock to Chris Paul or David Booker and just get out of the way and spot up for three. Like, they know what to do. No, we're taking a timeout real quick on this one. Drake Roder, you're going to say?

When you say you don't see it. Crowder? No. Well, Crowder. He doesn't hit it. You can't heat check a miss. Well, he took one after he got a defensive stop. He took a pull up three.

I promise you. Let campaign make one shot. Oh, yeah. I mean, were he checking the next time? Yeah, but he doesn't play a ton. I mean,

you know, with, but he gets him up. He's going to get those shots. He does. I made more like wings and big. Sorry. I should clarify that.

Like, I think the responsibility of the guys in this team is for the guards to generate offense. Like it's pretty apparent by the decisions a lot of the wings make. But I should have clarified like non-guards. The other thing is he'll jump on them if they do something goofy. Like they know Chris is going to yell at them. No doubt. And you know what? You know who could use that? The bucks. Because they get that thing to seven or 10 or whatever. And frigid Bryn Forbes is shooting baseline fadeaways. And I'm like, you know, if Chris Paul was that team he would choke him out in the huddle like this is outright what are you doing like we're

just they're just coming back in the game how are you what are you doing brin forbs you shoot threes or you pass the ball that's what you do we're not we're not doing the the baseline little fadeaways these Kobe shots. I didn't, I didn't understand. Like, there's got to be somebody that, that lets them know that this is unacceptable. Yeah. And again,

I didn't think they're that bad, honestly. No, I thought they were up against the tsunami tonight with Chris Paul and that crowd and everything else. And they weren't winning that game. And maybe game two will be different. I mean, like, the only thing I'd say about the fall situation we talked about earlier is

Chris Middleton should have more than zero free throws. That's terrible. He did go to the basket too. He did. Exactly. He's not the, he's not, he doesn't talk. He doesn't say anything. Yeah.

He looks at the refs, you know, like. It doesn't talk though. Yeah, but it's like he's disappointed. Yeah. Not angry. Oh, come on, guy. You know, like Chris, he's got to, he's got to yell at somebody or he's got to, I know he's never going to yell.

You know, you know, Chris, though, like, that's unfair. It shouldn't be that way. It shouldn't matter. if you complain or flop or flare your arms or say anything. Oh, but a fall is a fall. And I wish so much. And I know it's hard. Like, you know, the referees are humans too.

But you react to see someone falling or flaring their arms up. But I really wish like that stuff wasn't rewarded. It shouldn't be that way. Like you shouldn't have to do that, you know? I agree with you. I would just say with him. The other thing is Bud's got a, I mean, that's a coach's job. And I know he's, you know,

red-faced yelling at him. But again, like, get a tech. If that's what it's going to take, then take a tech on it. Because your guys go into the basket. He's at least, he's at least getting the same bumps as Paul and Booker and the others are. And he's not getting the whistle. Here's the one thing I'll say, though, Chris. You know, and Bucks fans might not like this.

Chris Middleton isn't a guy that gets to the line that often. Like he's not someone who draws a ton of contact that drives to the rim and finishes through that contact. So like it's possible tonight's game where like it felt like he wasn't getting those whistles. There might not be another situation where it feels like he should be getting a ton of whistles because he's not in those situations. I don't know. And I thought that that was a, I thought in the, it was at the beginning of the fourth quarter. And when they started to come back and make that little run, I thought there was a consideration. inserted effort for them to put pressure on the officials because they went to the basket over and over and over and over.

They stopped taking jumpers. They went to the basket damn near every time they got the ball as to say, you will. And they actually did. I think they got to the line 10 times in the fourth quarter. I mean, they got to the line because that made it look less egregious. They only made nine of them. but they had six in three quarters. And they had 10 in the last quarter of that game.

But I thought they made a concerted effort. We're just going to keep going to the basket. Do you think it is more likely we see Brooke Lopez 30 minutes or we see Brooke Lopez 10 minutes? I mean, I'll go with 30. 30. 10's too low. Too low. Too low, yeah.

Maybe 17. You know what they need. There's only 23 tonight. And it did happen in Atlanta. They need him to do the Morris thing and catch a heater from three. Something to pull Aiton away from the basket. Three to five tonight, though, Chris. I know.

I know. And Ait and wasn't always on it, though. Like sometimes they had Aiton Aonis. Which is a problem too. It's like it's almost like Phoenix was constantly switching. It felt like Crowder, Ait and Crowder. eight and Crowder eight and like you didn't know what to expect that makes it hard to plan for the offense it really does be and especially when Crowder's so strong he can hold up yeah you know you talked

about the job he did on yonis he can hold up i mean this guy he he's had to wrestle around with lebron you know i mean he's he's it doesn't matter how big you are j crowder will try to fight you for it you know and they do have a bit of an issue there because i don't know what they do with that position. I don't know what the best mode of operation is. Is there any chance that the Bucks watch the film of this game and they come away saying,

we're going to switch again because they did force a lot of mid-range jumpers, many of them contested. Maybe it's just a gamble. It's a roll of the dice. You know, you get a super hot Chris Paul night. You don't get a super hot Devin Booker night. But maybe next game, Chris Paul isn't 12 for 19, not

four for seven from three. Maybe he's two of seven from three and maybe he's not hitting all his mid-range jumpers. Because like there's no easy answer for what you do against those guys. If you blitz, you do, that's one thing. If you switch, it's one thing. It's dropping. Like there's a counter or everything and the sons are a team. They're always prepared for whatever it is that you're doing.

So I mean, I just wonder like maybe they go back and say, let's, we'll do it again. Try it again for game two and then reevaluate. This is how, you know, how married are you to your process? as they say. You know, it'll be interesting to see what that shot quality, um, says,

you know, because in terms of, because they are the ones that can really, it feels like they could screw that up because, yes, you, you are forcing them to take a lot of shots, which are typically not of great redeemable value.

That's what Chris Paul's not taking it. Like Chris Paul shooting an elbow jump. is different than the league taking an elbow jumper. I feel like he makes 95% of them. That's a nice thing about that shot quality staff that you're referring to from Second Spectrum is it factors in who's taking, you know, that shot, you know, for what like a defense is deciding to do or forcing or, you know, vice versa. Offense or what Chris Paul, what works for Chris Paul might not apply to, you know, somebody else.

Yeah. And they're not a big three point shooting team, you know, the sons aren't. And what's weird is the bucks finally made some damn threes. And they got beat by double digits. So maybe that is that would be if you were going to ask me again, like, is there a real cause for pause? Maybe that. Maybe that. I mean, they've shot 30% man.

Yeah. And they've won a lot of games doing that. And they shot 44% tonight from three. And still. Yeah. I mean, they finally made some frigging three. They haven't made three since the Miami game. I don't feel like.

It really does feel that long. To your point, though, Chris, I think it's that, you know, for the downside. The upside is Drew Holiday has to be better than this, you know, the what we just saw. But he's also had a lot of stinkers like this. It wasn't until the close of the series where he had a big night. So for the bucks here, you know, Drew Holiday needs to do more offensively. That goes about saying. Well, you know what's scary?

Let me just stop. It's, it's that's when Janus was out. Yeah. That's what's scary. Yeah. Why is he only awesome when Giannis isn't there? Yeah. You know, and that's true for the offensive side on defense.

Like he just needs to be in, within more situations to make a play at the end of the clock. Like, it can't be Brooke Lopez on Chris Paul so often. It can't be, you know, Bryn Forbes on David Booker. Like, there needs to be way more situations in which we see Drew Holiday on the ball at the end of the clock defending a one-on-one. Like, however you get there, whatever style of defense you're playing, it should get to that point where you have Drew Holiday on the ball at the end of the clock. And offense, like, yeah, you're right. It's concerning that it's really been in games when Yadis is out or off the floor. The Drew Holiday just starts going off for whatever reason.

The two crazy high percentage things. Well, Aiton was, was he eight for ten? Eight for ten, yeah. And it was mostly, you know, finishes and being around the basket like he is. He had a couple plays where he had a tough, you know, floater hook shot. He had some nice buckets too mixed in there. Just want to give him credit there because, like, that's what go. bear couldn't do, you know, against the Clippers defense. That's what we've seen some players fail to do.

Say it again. I like, I like when you, I like when you talk about the Gobert thing. That's fun. You like that? You like, you like negative Gobert Talker? Yeah, I like that. People, let's, let's do that for a little bit. I never got, I'll bring up his. All these series moved so fast, I never really got to do it. So anytime you're, you're willing to harken back to that, I love hearing it. I mean, look, it wasn't a big day. It was like minus 35 in the second half of a, you know, game that they're on their home floor that they needed to win. But, I mean, that's not going to respond right now. The greatest defensive player of a generation is minus 35 in a half, in a half, in a half.

A half. He's minus 35 and a half. That is impossible. It's impossible. What did I do? What did I just do? I'm so sorry, jazz fans. You were subject to this right now.

No, that's this year's Bill Russell. Last year's Bill Russell got played off the court tonight. Last year's Bill Russell. The big lug is dead. And Bill Russell's still alive. How he's having to watch this after he's been compared to frigging Brooke Lopez and now Rudy Gobert. I'd rather have Bill Russell out there tonight. now. Put Bill out there now.

What did I just do? You walked into a world of shit. Back to how shitty Gobert was, though. I'm nothing to say. I'm no about it. Oh, yeah. Okay. So DeAndre Aiton did something that Gobert couldn't do, make some shots. But I will say, insane. high percentage from the free throw line. Even if they did get a lot of free throws, rightfully,

25 for 26 is amazing. I mean, it's 96% as a team. And then Paul is like 80% from the field. That's really the only two things that were absolute killers. Like, I mean, I would, I don't know if you take 8 for 10 out of 8th and, but I mean, it's certainly not extreme. like okay maybe he should have you'd like to have him have a few more misses but I'd and I'd kind of chalk him up for about that if he makes eight shots he makes eight shots

there's going to be 90 something possessions probably but those other things those are extremes the free throw number and the Chris Paul number are extremes and so maybe you could take some silas in that when we talk about veteran teams and veteran guys usually winning this thing. You know, they show that bench a lot. And man, that, that whole team is locked on to what he's saying. They rally. Yeah. Like they, you see him go over to Aiton, you know, and he's bumping heads with him. At the end of the game, they show that afterwards. Yeah, I saw that. Yeah. And he's talking, there's real love. There's love. Yeah. And he's talking all these guys all the time. And I think, like we were talking about not taking the goofy shots, because they're going to hear

about it. Like, that is eventually, and maybe honest becomes that guy, maybe he doesn't, but they don't have that guy in Milwaukee. There's not that guy that that's going to come to the bench and say, and start barking at everybody and really kind of get everybody online. And you even saw

Malika Andrews asked Moni some question after the game, and he said something like, I just I just get out of Chris's way. You know what I mean? Like, you know what I mean? Like, he knows what to do. Like, this is his team, man.

And they're going to go. And when he's got something like he's going tonight, then you just, you let it be, you know? And there's a brilliance in that as a head coach. And it's just, here's a guy that's like, it doesn't matter what the game plan was. This is the game plan now. This guy is going to throw this team on his back,

And just like he won game six of the West finals, he's going to win game one for the NBA finals. And he did it again. Pretty special getting to watch Chris Paul in NBA finals, Chris. Pretty wild. I mean, after all these years. Yeah, it's great. After all these years to get to see. It is cool stories.

There's some good stories in this finals. And I'm actually, I thought it was entertaining game. I like the matchup, actually. and there's a lot of chess things that can happen, and I'm not really sure which way, I'm not really sure which way you go, but inevitably the bucks will come at this differently the next game, probably be more competitive in the next game,

and even if they don't steal it, they get to go back to their home arena where hopefully those people will go home and then come back because I wouldn't want them to stand outside for four days. But my God, I can't believe how many people are outdoors. standing. I can't stand for that long. I really can't.

Can you? Can't do a concert anymore, Chris? For that long? For two and a half hours? And probably much longer before that, maybe an hour, or two hours, three hours. I'm past my standing days.

Not doing Bonaroo. Hell no. How about Lollapalooza? Like a V. Stay in a hotel in Chicago. I'm actually, I'm actually going to be in town when that's going on.

Really? Lollapalooza. We looked at it, yeah. Oh. I am. Because I'm going to the National Sports Collectors Convention. It's there. That's happening at the same time as Lollapalooza.

It is. 29th to August 1st. Yeah, but it's outweighing the burbs. I see. There's a bunch of like the, look, there's a bunch of the younger guys that are on there. I think like Polo G's on there, Jack Harlow. Well, that's what I was going to ask, Chris. Of the headliners, the four number one headliners,

Miley Cyrus on Thursday, Tyler, Creator on Friday, Post Malone on Saturday, foo fighters on Sunday. You can go to one. Which one are you going to? I've seen foo fighters. A bunch of my buddies went to Post Malone, and they said it was awesome. I feel like I'd see, I could see Tyler at a smaller venue. I don't care about seeing Miley Scyrus.

So it would be between Post Malone and Food Fighters. I guess I'd go to Post Malone just because I've seen the Food Fighters. I love the food fighters. But I guess that would be the one I haven't seen. Yeah. You know what I mean? And I heard it was really good. For sure.

That makes sense. I think similar mindset for me. I've seen Tyler creator. Yeah. I feel like I'd go see Food Fighters at like an arena. I'd want to see them there for whatever reason than a festival. I'd go see Miley Cyrus, Chris. Of course you would.

I would go see Miley Cyrus. Of course you would. You want to put your hands up. They're playing my song. I bet every time you fly out to L.A., you put that on. Hop on a thing on L.A.X. With my band in my card again. Not true.

I play going to California by Led Zefflin. I have a range of taste here, Chris. You want to go see Miley Cyrus, huh? Yeah, I go see Miley. She puts on rock shows, dude. Oh, is that right? That's what she does nowadays, rock shows. You don't want to see party in the USA?

She plays that? She plays that, too. She mixes it up, man. She's got to play that. Of course she does. That's probably the encore. It's a great pop song. It's a great track, Chris.

Have you heard a new album? You know how much I pay to watch you sing Party of the USA? You don't want to hear me sing anything. I want to see you at a concert. Bobber along. I put my hands up to play my song. I can see that. No, I haven't listened to her last album.

It's got some good songs on there. Plastic cards? Yeah, it does. I don't like her voice very much. Really? Yeah. I feel like you would like it. Nah, I don't like her voice that much.

I typically like good singers. Oh, she's, come on. It's just kind of, I don't know, it's kind of a weird voice to me. It is a different voice. Yeah, yeah. I understand. It's a type of voice like, you know,

either you grow used to it. It's like Neil Young. Some people hate Neil Young's voice. Some people love Neil Young. It's just like I love him or a hater voice. I get it. I understand what you're saying. I love it about my science.

Neil Young is objectively not a great voice. Sure. You may like his lyrics. You may like his, you know, singing, you know, and like that it's different, that it's distinct. But it is objectively not good. Yeah. It's not like. I mean, come on.

It's not like, if Neil Young was just not famous. is and he got up in your church and sang, you'd be like, why is this guy the song leader? Like, surely, there's somebody in here that could sing better than this guy. I mean, Neil Young's real true talent was his writing. Yeah. Songwriting, lyrics, like, all of that. I mean, like, that's, that's, that was the skill that got him to where he did, you know? No, it reminds me if I saw the, not even the guitar solo. He's not a great guitar soloist, either for that matter. Yeah. I love his style. He figured out who he was as a player. He's like, I'm not Jimmy Hendricks. There you go.

But he does his thing. He makes sound that makes you feel something. No. It's not always about skill. No. Yeah. Maybe you should have just given those songs to good singers. I'm kidding.

I'm kidding. Because years ago, I went and saw the Rolling Stones. There's like 40 minutes where Big Jagger just like leaves. He just like leaves the stage. And I guess he just goes and like changes clothes, probably takes shower, whatever he does. But like it's like it was way too long. And he just like let Keith Richards play. songs. And so Keith Richards played his songs and I was like, oh my God. Oh my God. You've got me thinking,

Chris, last thing about Neil Young. I'm sorry for everybody who doesn't care about Neil Young. But oh, I'll get all day. There's going to be a lot of hipsters hitting me up. For sure. But I can't, like you mentioned like you sarcastically said, give him a great songs to a great singer. Yeah. I can't imagine like, like, Harvest Moon without Neil Young's voice though. I can't imagine like rocking in the free world. Like these great songs. I can't imagine it with like a great vocalist singing that. Really? No, I just can't.

But just imagine it, but better. I don't know. Like Paul, I understand what you're saying. Paul Rogers singing Neil Young. No. I don't know. No.

I understand, but it is distinct. Yeah. Well, like you saw. It's distinct. You saw Pearl Jam play rocking in the free world. You've seen that before, right? For sure. So that's what it sounds like.

Somebody else plays it. And then they'll like bring in Neil Young and like all of a sudden like and it's like bro, why? It's like, yeah. Yeah, oh, okay. We like that, huh? Last thing before we get out of here, maybe Neil Young was a big fan of a fisherman's friend.

There has never been a non-sports conversation that I think we've gotten more feedback about damn fisherman's friend and it's obviously not America but every other country. People were like, oh yeah, it's big here in Germany. Obviously, it's huge in Canada. Oh, yeah. It's like. Just like Neil Young. Just like Neil Young. It's exactly like Neil Young. So it's Fisherman's friend and Neil Young. No, but they have a, evident. just to follow up on our last podcast, Nick Nurse, who just got ousted as the coach of Canada. He didn't get ousted, but the team did, which is rather disgraceful, to be honest, when the other team had Thomas Sataranski and no one you've heard of, and Canada had like eight NBA players.

That was pretty terrible. Your boy, Andrew Wiggins, too. But anyways. Hey, thanks for those 100 bucks, Chris. Nick Nurse is a spokesperson, like legitimately a spokesperson for fisherman's friend. And Matt Devlin, an old friend of mine, who is the voice of the Raptors. Matt Devlin is one of the first people I ever met in broadcasting.

So when I had a lot of Raptors fans saying Matt Devlin is always rep in Fisherman's friend, I was like, no way. because I met Matt Devlin probably 20-something years ago. But evidently he hocks him a lot. And Nick Nurse is like in commercials for fishermen's friend. I texted you over the weekend. I'm like, this is the funniest crap ever. Like I just thought it was this random, odd product that a broadcaster had mentioned to me.

But there are places in our... world, and I'm proud to say that our podcast reaches to, that fishermen's friend is a much bigger deal than I gave it credit for. I did not expect this, Chris, any of it. The Nick Nurse part? What? Unbelievable. Nick Nurse is a spokesperson.

He is a spokesperson for Fisherman's friend. What an amazing thing. You texted me about that, the tweet we got about it, the first one. We got many of them, many tweets about it. And I was like, what's he talking about? I go to Twitter and my mentions, I'm like, what? Did you go buy them? No, I got to do it for Thursday.

I did it. It was a busy weekend. I'm doing some draft guide profiles. We get a big update next week. There is nothing more important than Fisherman's friend. I promise for Thursday. I'm going to buy him tomorrow or today whenever you're listening on Wednesday. I'm going to purchase them and be ready to report back Thursday night after game two, Chris.

I promise everybody listening. Your throat's going to feel amazing. Okay. I'm sure. All right. Suns go up 1-0, and we're going to get to do a podcast right after game two.

So it's perfect. I'm looking forward to it, man. Right? So there will be nothing in between and obviously in these next couple of weeks we'll get more into the draft and then you're going to be doing updates on a lot of your draft stuff on the ringer.

So pay attention to that, everybody. Because we're now getting stretch run stuff, right? We got what, about three weeks until the draft. And so there'll be. a lot of updates, I'm sure, as the weeks go on. Thank you to Carlos for filling as our producer again. And Kevin, I'll talk to you on Friday. I'm looking forward to it, Chris.