06/20/2021 - FOX Sports Sunday with Steve Hartman and Ryan Hollins - Fox Sports Radio

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports. Ah, Yes, living the dream
on a beautiful Father's Day Sunday, Hartmann and Hollins with
you on what is going to be an extremely busy
day in the world of sports. Find around of the
US Open, and of course another huge day in the

(00:24):
NBA playoffs, Ryan, Happy Father's Day to you. Yeah, here
we are. I see you got your nourishment? Is that
more lobster bisk here? You are addicted to that stuff?
Now when you find a good yeah, you hang with
it like you feel me? You feel me, I feel it.

(00:47):
I feel well, Ryan, I tell you what. We got
a lot of ground to cover, as you mentioned, find
around the U s Open down at Torrey Pines. Will
continue to update you throughout the show today as the
leaders are still a few hours off before they will
tea things off. But the NBA Playoffs, you know, right
just before we get into some of the specifics of
where we stand right now with these playoffs, a quick

(01:08):
overview as we go into Game seven today between the
Sixers and the Hawks. If the Hawks win this game,
and certainly it is a possibility, no question about that,
imagine a Final four in which you have an Eastern
Conference finals matchup between the Bucks who have not won

(01:29):
a championship since nineteen seventy one, the Hawks, who haven't
won a championship since they were the St. Louis Hawks
and Bob Pettit in nineteen fifty eight, And of course
the Western Conference you have the Phoenix Suns born in
nineteen sixty seven, they've never won a championship, and the
Los Angeles Clippers that were born the Buffalo Braves in

(01:52):
seventy they haven't won a championship either been there before exactly,
So what are we looking at right now? Is and
and again just a quick overview before we get to
the specifics. Is this a positive for the n b
A that we would have a final four with some

(02:12):
complete unknown teams or is this gonna be a ratings
nightmare with so many of the star players that we
have seen year in and year out in the NBA
finals eliminated. Steve, You've been a professional far longer than
I have, probably double tripled my time. And you know what,
sometimes in the business you take a step back to

(02:34):
take a step forward in regards to the NBA. So
know the ratings are not gonna be high. It's not
gonna be you know, it'll probably great to watch because
these guys are gonna be getting after it. But ultimately
a star will be born. There's no greater a privilege
or title that you have than being an NBA champ
let alone a Finals m v P. The name still

(02:54):
sticks with you years later, whether you loved it or not.
When Kawhi Leonard went to Toronto, what we get he
was a former Finals Finals you know, we kept saying that. So,
whether it's gonna be Trey Young, Duel and Bead, Devin Booker,
Paul George, one of these guys will be anointed. And

(03:14):
I feel like we're at a place where there's a
changing of the guard in the n b A. I
remember when Lebron came into his own and we had
this golden era with Duncan and Kobe and Garnett and
a young Lebron and Kevin Durant and these guys in
Westbrooks that were coming into their own. And the n
b A is saturated with stars, and you're looking for

(03:36):
a John Miranda is one of these guys is gonna
take this next step? Now we're wondering who's gonna be.
But at this point it's got to be somebody, so
I think a step back, ratings will be low. But
now one of these guys becomes Musty TV Steve well. I. Ultimately,
this season is a product of an ambitious schedule the

(03:59):
back fired. It was an ambitious schedule based on a
very limited off season for many of the teams that
played in the Bubble, and of course for the Lakers
and Eat that went all the way to the finals,
almost no off season at all. Jamming in this season
seventy two games, despite starting six weeks later than normal,
all to accommodate the Olympics. This was all to make

(04:21):
sure that the NBA had a presence in the Olympics
in Tokyo. Had the Olympics been in Rio de Janeiro,
I don't think there would been as much urgency to
have great NBA representation. But because it's in Tokyo, and
because so much money is being funneled in throughout Asia
into the NBA, there's a certain obligation that we get
our top stars out there for the Olympics. But we

(04:45):
have seen more injuries to more major stars and we've
ever seen before. I mean, just as we get ready
for this Western cop well, I'm getting ahead of myself,
because I do want to start with what happened with
the Nets last night. But really, this is this is payback,
This is the giving What do you? What do you?
What are you're asking for? Playing every other night trying

(05:06):
to jam a season in on the heels of obviously
a very unique season with the bubble and everything else.
The end result was a combination of predictable injuries that
just happened when you're trying to play night in, the
night out, and I also think an overall reaction from
some of the stars in the league that say, no,
I'm not gonna do this, you know this load management.

(05:28):
I'll play when I want to play, I'll pace myself
best I can. And still we saw them break down.
I mean this NETS team and that's where I want
to start today. This NETS team had the potential obviously
to be one of the all time great teams, especially
when they acquired James Harden and the possibility of Kevin
Durant and James Harden and Kyrie Irving. Then all of

(05:49):
a SUDDENY bring in a Blake Griffin, and you know,
they started adding pieces to it to create essentially a
super team. And I'm watching that game yesterday and Durant.
I again, I don't know what can you say about
Kevin Durant. I mean, the guy is literally giving everything
he possibly can just by his tippy toes, he misses

(06:11):
what could have been a game winning shot instead of
a game time shot to go into overtime. But when
I saw Durant and overtime take that last shot, an
airball at five ft short, and the look of his
face there's just no gas left in the tank. I mean,
he has given everything he has. But that, to me
really was symbolic of this season. Like you ask so

(06:35):
much of your star players to go the extra mile
in an abbreviated schedule, jamming in these games, and when
Durant airball that shot, you can only imagine in the
NBA office, like, all right, now we've lost Durant. Now
we've lost Durant, we've lost Harden, the possibility of Kyrie
coming back. We just lost the nets from our marquee,

(06:58):
and we're in trouble. Because rating standpoint, no matter how
entertaining the basketball is gonna be, you gotta be a
hardcore NBA fan to take interest in what's for many
in these NBA playoffs. So I just I was watching
that air ball and it wasn't just I sort of
felt sorry, like as he stared at the ball like
he couldn't believe, like I I just, I mean that

(07:18):
five feet short of the basket, I airballed it. But
to me, that's was very symbolic of this entire and
I'm gonna use the word abomination of a season that
the NBA tried to put together this year. No, it
was tough to watch, and Steve correct me if I'm wrong.
That was one of the better games last night that

(07:41):
we had seen in sports in a very very long time.
I mean, uh, Lebron's fifty point triple double against Golden
State that was capt off with the blender of J. R. Smith.
That was amazing to watch for a Game one in
the finals. Uh, you know, maybe they didn't have the
star power, but you Tall versus Denver that series was

(08:02):
ecstatic last year. Uh in the bubble. But yeah, that
last night's game, they had everything that we asked for. Um,
the frustrations built from Janice kind of you know settling
and shooting threes. He attacked the rim, Chris Middleton had
timely shot after timely shot James Harden banked into three
by the side. I mean these guys were laying. I

(08:24):
mean the camera kept panning over and you just kept
seeing guys just exhausted. Right. It's even when you think
of a game seven, I think as a fan, as
a former player, that's what you want. You gave me everything,
and there's a mental mind over matter, the mental over
physical that you have to you have to love watching

(08:45):
this was a game. And then obviously the focus is
on Durant and the amazing effort he had and the
gutsy performers hard and obviously not a no shot, but
he's out on the court. But this was a huge
game for the Milwaukee Bucks. This is a Bucks team.
And I've compared this Bucks team in a lot of
ways with the early Cleveland Cavaliers team with Lebron, where

(09:06):
they just seemed to they do well in the regular season,
but they couldn't get over the hump in the postseason.
It seemed like they were missing a piece or two.
And then he took his game to Miami, and then
when he got back to Cleveland, he got k Love,
you got Kyrie, and all of a sudden, he's got
a little help. I've been looking at this and and
Middleton with that turnaround jump shot. Middleton is is a

(09:27):
nice complimentary piece and you gotta Drew Holiday. These guys
have been all Stars. The question though, are they the
level of All star that a guy like Jannie needs
to win a championship? And I felt like had Milwaukee
lost this series to the Nets, that they were gonna
have to take a step back. Obviously, they made the
huge investment in Jhannice, but do you really have the

(09:48):
right circle of players around you to win a championship.
This could be what catapults him right now as we
sit here in the moment, the Milwaukee Bucks are favored
by many people to win this NBA Championship because they
have the best player left in Janice onto the compo,
he is the best player remaining. We don't know about

(10:08):
Kauai situation, obviously, but when you look at what Janice
has done the last several years back to back m
v ps, this is his time. This is where Janice,
much like a young Lebron, had a chance in Cleveland
but couldn't get there. But Janie has had opportunity now
to sort of emerge from the shadows of a of

(10:28):
a guy with a last name that has more letters
in it than the actual alphabet UH known as the
Greek three. We know that the analytics put this guy
at a level way above all other players at both
ends of the court. But you talked about this is
an opportunity for someone who emerge as the new face
of the league. And if that win last night for

(10:50):
the Bucks catapults them eventually to an NBA championship, and
Janice is the big star all the way through, then
then that's it. Then it's suddenly officially the world of
Janice in the n b A and now everyone's gonna
have to catch up to him, and you hope. So
I felt that the last two years the league, the

(11:12):
media had looked too and deservedly so, to annoint Iannie,
but they forgot the ability to close out basketball games,
you know, to hit free throws, to be able to
hit contested shots. You know, you've gotta be able to
make contested shots. You can't make contested dunks in big moments.
And if you're right, if Janice wins a championship right now,

(11:35):
for one of the opportunities there. But he's catabolted and
he's given this star tag that I believe he's gaining
experience that's helping push him to the next level. I
don't know if I can rightfully just say he's there,
But at the end of the day, you can't deny
a championship. See. It always reminds me of you know
you we talked all the time in studio off air,

(11:55):
you talked about this. You know, if you didn't lose
the job or an opportunity, you never thought of being
a whole story analysts like that wasn't your plans. And
for Jannice, this is his opportunity to be catapulted to
the next level because we mentioned Kevin Durant and Lebron
James and these guys as you mentioned earlier, and you

(12:16):
don't mention Janice, And I feel like he can be
on the cusp of that. Every star had growing to
do and hopefully this is his moment to grow. I
don't know if I'll still be sold all the way,
just to be honest, if everyone was healthy, is he's
still that man, Is he's still the guy? If if
Kyrie Irving is in the lineup, But at the end
of the day, you're gonna take your hat off and
give respect to him. And I thought he had just

(12:37):
showed tremendous heart and he did a great job of
just sticking to the game plan. They had no one
to guard him, and he took advantage. I remember a
guy named Michael Jordan's didn't win a championship, didn't get
to the NBA finals, to his seventh season the league.
He was this guy that was leading the league and scoring,
winning m vps, doing all these fabulous things, but he
couldn't get over the hump. Once he got over the hump, obviously,

(12:59):
the course of be a history change forever. All right.
On the other side, I got a lot of things
to talk about with a game seven today between the
seventies sixers and the Hawks. How do we get here?
And a couple of factors that will go against the
home team today. We'll tell you about it coming up
next Steve Harmon and Ryan Hollins. A happy Father's Day

(13:23):
out there, by the way, is your dad's razor older
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store near you or as part of a gift set
at Dollar shape club dot com slash jonas. That's Dollar
shave Club dot com slash jonas. Alright, we're very early

(13:47):
in the final round of the US Open again. The
leaders will not be teeing off until two hours from now,
a little over two and a half hours from now,
so I've got a ways to go. There will be
an interesting day out of Tory Pines, very jammed eater
board at the top. We're talking plenty of NBA playoffs
right now, and we have yet another Game seven today.
And I don't think anyone could have predicted this that

(14:09):
the Atlanta Hawks would take the one seed the Philadelphia
seventies sixers all the way to a Game seven. And Ryan,
there are two reasons that we have a Game seven
in this series. Reason number one, Ben Simmons can't make
a free throw. Not only can he not make a
free throw, he is making history at the free throw

(14:31):
line shooting thirty. No player in the history of the
NBA with as many free throw attempts as he has
had has had this luw of a percentage. Not shock nobody,
that's how bad it is for Ryan Hollins. That's reason
one why Philadelphia finds himself in this mess right now.
Reason number two is there coach Doc Rivers. Doc Rivers

(14:56):
has been an NBA head coach for twenty two consecutive years, Okay, Orlando, Boston, Clippers,
and now Philadelphia. So when you ever run of twenty
two straight years as a head coach in the NBA,
you're thinking, well, this guy is doing some pretty good things.
But here's the reality of Doc Rivers a Everyone in

(15:17):
the media loves him because Doc is that kind of guy.
He's one of those guys. He's insanely accommodating to the media.
He is well loved. But the one thing that is
undeniable about his coaching record is his inability to make
adjustments when things go bad for his team. We saw

(15:39):
it on full display last year at the Clippers where
they blow that three one serious lead against the Nuggets,
and they had double digit leads blown in three consecutive games.
He is a guy when you look at his career,
that one championship with the Celtics, it was essentially handed
to him, by the way. Remember they went from a
twenty four win to a sixty six and team overnight

(16:01):
when Garnett and Ray Allen joined forces of Paul Pierce,
but after that they didn't want anything again. After that
in Boston, he took over a fifty five win team
with the Clippers from Vinnie delle Negro and kept him
right there. They never moved. Is that a coincidence? The
second eight leads they get to their first ever Western
Conference Finals, and now he's got the Philadelphia seventies Sixers.

(16:24):
They blow a twenty seven point lead, they blow an
eight team point lead. Okay, they won game six to
force a Game seven, But how about the fact that
the Sixers are only two point favorites today at home
against the Atlanta Hawks. I'm telling you right now, if
they lose that game today, if Philly loses, he could
be gone. He might be a one and done considering

(16:46):
the investment they have in their players and the uncertain
future for Simmons and then Beads. So critical game today
for Doc and the Philadelphia seventies Sixers, and to say,
even though they're at home, they're shoeing no way. They
got some major things going against them. Ryan. Now, you
you couldn't have said it better. And there's a lot

(17:07):
of unpack and unfold here. You're not I played for Doc,
and I'll say the one thing Doc does is you
know he later in the games or or in a series,
you know, he tightens up that rotation. He gets tighter
and tighter, and when the guys that he trust make mistakes,
sometimes they don't get an opportunity to clear their head. Um,

(17:29):
am I gonna give Doc a hunted present of this claim.
You know, the captain does go down with this ship,
but I think he's done. The next llentcho out there
we've seen, uh, at least Joel and Bead grow. Ben
Simmons was good as he always was. But you just
fall into this tough predicament with Ben Simmons, who in
my mind is a heck of a player. Let's not
get that mistaken. But deeper into the playoffs, a Pete

(17:53):
teams takeaway transition. They forced you to play in a
half court. They know your plays, they know your sets.
You can't get any more gimmeas or easy baskets. And
this is not the time for the Atlanta Hawks. What
I mean, they're young, they're up and coming, they play hard,
they're still extremely inexperience. Philly has been waiting for this

(18:14):
moment and tanking for this moment and darn their ruining
there probably the reason we had the playing game okay,
so that teams aren't just have a reason to play
down into the temps seed and it's been so demonstrative,
so for them to again not get over to hump
or lose right now, I don't know where they go
from here, because it's been on the table for a while.

(18:37):
Do you move on from Joel Embiad or do you
move on from Ben Simmons? And here's the reality at hand.
The fear is you move on from Joel Embiid, who
clearly is the better player and and Ben Simmons can't
make free throws, or you move on from Ben Simmons
and Joel Embiid who you put all your eggs in
that basket. The Joel Embiad basket ends up hurt and

(19:01):
Ben Simmons is somewhere healthy and playing excellent. The biggest
fear of a front office exact is that you trade
away your young star talent and he has a fruitful
career somewhere else. That is the fear of letting go
of Ben Simmons because you twinkle with putting him on

(19:22):
the market and guess what, every single team in the
league comes calling. But you get into the playoff time
and his free throw shooting has regress. His shooting hasn't improved,
and in the regular season he's a walking triple double.
Become playoff time, Steve, this is tough. This is tough.

(19:44):
I mean, think about this game today as far as
Simmons is concerned. And again, when you talk about the
all around game of Ben Simmons, he was runner up
for Defensive Player of the Year. There's so many positives
in the game for Ben Simmons as a playmaker. But
we know his reluctance. He doesn't take three point shots.
He's like, the only is he that he takes a

(20:06):
few or three point shots and centers, I mean, he
doesn't shoot them. He doesn't even dare shoot him. But
right now in this playoff series against Atlanta, he is
shooting thirty two points six percent free throws. He was
ten for twenty eight free throw shooting against Washington and

(20:26):
he's fourteen of forty three in the series against Atlanta.
So let me ask you, just you. You just talked
about how Doc Rivers tightens the screws of the rotation.
Late in the game. Let's say we get in the
last two minutes and we're in a tie game. It's
a tie game. Do you Dara Ben Simmons on the court,

(20:49):
knowing that Atlanta will foul him, should foul him and
force him to knock down free throws? If Philadelphia is
gonna win this game. This is a problem you have
at the end of games. This is what happened when
Shack was suddenly he couldn't make a free throw. Any
prominent players suddenly gets in that rout where they can't
make a free throw. But this is different. This is

(21:12):
your point guard, this is the captain of your ship
on the court, and you're in the fan of a
couple of minutes. And if he's on the court and
it's a tie game or a one point game, what
do you think Atlanta is gonna do? They're gonna foul
him and say, hey Ben, good luck. What do you
do if you're Doc Rivers under those circumstances in a

(21:35):
game seven? Well, let me break it down for you.
I played in Boston for Doc, and I played in
l a for Dot and with Rondo, everyone went under
the screens. But here's the thing. Rondo made free throws.
You couldn't put Rondo on the line. He beat you
and the gift and the curses. Yeah, they'd go onto screens. Yeah,
they sacked back because they didn't want him to blow

(21:57):
by him. It was to safe play. But guess what
for a guy who's an incredible passer, Now Ryndal picks
you apart, there's no ball pressure. He doesn't have to
think about anything. So Ben Simmons at a minimum not
being able to make free throws. You can't run offense
through him as you brought out. And now you're in
a sticky situation because now you've got your best passer
in the dunker. Case in point. They ran a play

(22:21):
uh towards the end of the Atlanta game needed at
three point shot they were down three. Curry was cooking,
who do you have to put on the ball? Maxie
the young kid, right, because he's a much better shooter.
You're not gonna sack off of him. But guess what,
he's extremely in experience seth Curry runs into the pick
and roll, slips it in his but naked open on

(22:44):
the three point line. Go back and watch the clip,
and Max is in experience, so he runs the play
through rather than swinging him the basketball, which Ben Simmons
probably would have done. So now you have to look
at it and say, Ben Simmons, it's not your three
point shooting that lost is the game. It's not your
mid range, it's the free throws because you would have
hit Curry right in his bread basket and you guys

(23:06):
would have been winning, win the game or tied it
up and been celebrating. But they have become if you
watched the game, Philadelphia has become so ineffective down the
stretch of games because you have to ask yourself, okay,
shoot on the other foot, all right, Doc, who do
you draw the playoff for? Who do you draw the playoff?
Because when you go the way center, it's easy to
double team. You can get more physical with a center,

(23:29):
and it's less likely that Joel Embiide gets to the
foul line in in big time situations because he's not
a wing as excellent as he is. Steve, this is
gonna be an amazing game of chess if it gets
down to the end of the game like we saw
last night, between the nets and the box. If this
becomes a final two minutes to decide game seven to

(23:52):
move on to the Eastern Conference Finals. It is gonna
be absolutely fascinating. All right, we'll get back to much
more NBA playoff to Whales up Game one of the
Western Conference Finals Sons and Clippers. But first let's find
out what's trending right now as we welcome in the
one and only Mr Ralph Irvan Ralphie, how are you today?

(24:12):
I'm doing excellence, Aloha to you boasts. Yes, yes, yes,
And it's funny you talk about those late game just
determinations by the coach. Maybe that's why the Clippers are
still alive versus where they've been in past years. Well,
I coach was making the right decisions. I said at
the end of last year, after they lost that series

(24:33):
to Denver the way they did, and it wasn't immediate
that Doc was fired. I just said, how is it
possible he could survive? He's blown three three one series
leads over the course of his coaching career twice with
the Clips, And I'm like, and then they did fire
and they bring in Tyler, far more understated than Doc.
And look where they are right now, where they've never
been before. So indeed, well it all gets started in

(24:57):
the Western Conference Finals. It up about two hours from
now three thirty Eastern, Game one with the Clippers in
Phoenix to take on the Suns. No Kawhi Leonard. He
didn't even make the trip with the team. He may
join them for Game two, but as of now he
is out for today. Chris Paul in the COVID nineteen protocols,
he is out for this contest again. It starts at

(25:18):
three thirty Eastern. You talked about in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
Game seven, Atlanta playing at Philadelphia tip off. There will
be at eight o'clock Eastern. The final round of the
US Open his under way at Torrey Pines. Our leaders
Mackenzie Hughes, Louiers Tays and Russell Henley sitting at five
under par, two shots ahead of Bryson d. Shambo and
Rory McElroy. Those top five players will begin their round

(25:40):
starting around at three thirty eastern. Baseball going on right
now four games. Oakland gets an early home run from
Matt Olson. They have but one nothing lead at the Yankees.
That's in the second inning the Mets playing at Washington.
Kyle Schwarber goes long for the Nationals. Kevin Polar for
the Matts. It's tied at one there in the second inning,

(26:01):
still scoreless Cleveland at Pittsburgh. There in the third in
Baltimore gets a tree Man Senior home run. They have
an early one nothing leader for Toronto. That's in the
second inning. But right now we sent it back. It
is Steve Hartman, Ryan Hollins talking some hoop. You're on
Fox Sports Radio very much so on this Father's Day,
Thanks so much, Ralph, and talked to you a little
bit later on. By the way, in the next hour,

(26:22):
John Paul Morrossi is gonna be joints a little earlier
than he normally does. We'll get into Major League Baseball
and a key week this week in Major League Baseball.
Starting tomorrow, umpires will be told it is time to
now enforce the rules against these pictures using the sticky stuff.
So we'll get to that a little bit later on.

(26:42):
We're focused in on the NBA playoffs right now and
for the first time ever, and he's a proud Clipper
sitting next to me here, Ryan Hollis, the Clippers finally
got to the promised Land. And I haven't had a
chance to talk to you since that Game six, which
was it was almost inexplicable would happen in Game six. So,

(27:03):
first of all, the dynamic at Staples Center. After playing
in front of cardboard cutouts in the playoffs, I didn't
even think about that Game six. They were packed in
at Staples all right, no more cardboard cutouts. They opened
up the doors green light in California for all the
sporting events. They jammed him in the Staples Center, and

(27:26):
the Clippers could not have played any worse. I mean,
it looked like a team just mailing it in. We'll
go to a Game seven, down twenty two and a half,
Mitchell hits a thirty foot bomb to put them up
seventy five to fifty, seventy five to fifty, No Kauai,
and you're looking around like, wow, wait, way to show

(27:47):
up clips for this big game. And then they rattled
off seventeen straight points. They're down three going the fourth quarter,
and they win going away, and they get to the
Western Conference Finals for the time in history. It was
the best moment in Clippers history. It really was. When
you think of the setting fans returning jam Staples Center.

(28:11):
They were oh and eight all time in games where
had they won, they would have gotten to the Western
Conference Finals, oh and eight all time. Here we go again, Vibe,
and it's like you did it. They actually did it,
and they did it without Kawhi Leonard. So before we
get to Kauai, let's just talk about what we saw

(28:32):
in that game. Let's start with one guy, Terrence Man
m thirty nine points. The kid hits seven threes. I'm sorry,
I'm not even all that familiar with Terrence Man, but
now everyone is buzzing about him, like, where did that
come from? Thirty nine points to get his team into

(28:52):
the Western Conference Finals all time, hitting seven three point shots?
Was that a complete anomaly for this guy? Or is
that all of a sudden, Hey, a star just emerged
that we didn't know about in the Clippers uniform. Terrence
Man is the star, but he's not a knock down shooter.
So what happened was Utah wants to keep the defensive

(29:16):
player of the year on the floor in Rudy Gobert.
So you go, Uh, Marcus Morris, Now I can't guard him. Uh,
Paul George not, I don't really want to guard him.
Luke Carnard, Now I don't really want to guard him. Okay,
you you'll guard the kid that shooting probably under from three.
Don't quote me. I'm not a hundred percent on that.
That's the least likely shooter. You have to worry about
Terrence Man, who hadn't been shooting the ball well and

(29:38):
you know, would get a wide open three and pass
it up for the drive. Where do you put your
your non shooter the best three of their corner three?
And Tyler, what a fantastic job, A guy who I've
been in I consider a friend who who would coach me,
And you know, I definitely had spent my time in
the summertimes with Tyler. Puts him in the corner and

(29:59):
and put faith unto him and says, hey, man, if
you're open, this is your shot. And he absolutely demolished
Rudy Gobert the game prior. He shot fakes, drives baseline
and dunks over his head. And these were stands still
threes because Morris Senior had been shooting the ball so
lights out that he was getting these stands still threes.

(30:20):
And that was the play that the off the defense
dictated here that point again, that was the play the
defense dictated when Paul Georgia Reggie Jackson would drive. Okay,
the help would come and Rudy Gobert would go help
because he's a helper. Morris Senior is on the wing
who had been shooting the lights out, and the rotational

(30:42):
man said, Quinn Snyder's game plan. Don't rotate to man
take our odds. Rudy, you just recover late and man
got hot. He made him pay. He's an NBA player
left open with a wide open shot. But hats off
to the Clippers for finding that shot. Another guy, Mr
Tober himself, Reggie Jackson. This guy has been around and

(31:05):
in this series against Utah shot fifty percent threees eighteen
of thirty six, made every free throw he attempted in
the series, shot six in the series, average eight teen
points in the series. Now when we say Reggie Jackson,
no one's thinking NBA basketball player, but maybe they should.
This is another guy that only highlights what NBA people

(31:29):
already know about this roster for the Clippers. They're deep.
They got a lot of guys, whether it's Terrence Man
or Reggie Jackson or Morris. So much focus on Kauai
and PG. But this is what to me separates the
Clippers from all the other teams. Remaining in the playoffs.
Right now, they got a number of players they could

(31:52):
put up twenty on you. They can knock down threes.
Remember this, This team this year had the highest three
point shooting percentage of any team in the NBA. And
at the free throw line, they said, an all time
record highest free throw percentage by a team over the
course of an entire season in the history. It was

(32:17):
as a team. So when Nick, when you talk about
different weapons where you're not completely depended on a KAUAI
or a PG, become up big. The one team left
in these playoffs they can do that are the Los
Angeles Clippers. And they got the right coach. Now they've
got the right coach and Tyler no in Thylu. You know,

(32:40):
I can't say enough about him. He's a big advocate
of you know, when i'd be uh, you know, on
the bench. I've been a role player in my career.
You know, he'd let me know, hey, man, this is
a big game for you. You know you'd be ready
to play. You know, your your length athleticism is gonna
affect the game for us. It's something that we need.
So whether I was playing sparing minutes, a lot of
minutes in l a. Tyler understood there was something to

(33:02):
be brought to the table. If you watched the way
that ty coach. He put Terrence a man in the
game who sometimes just did not get minutes. Luke Kahnard
who was on ice. We've seen Rondo bench Patrick Beverley
and he couldn't guard Luca. They're they're going the Clippers
are going home. If if Patrick Beverley doesn't get benched,

(33:23):
and then Patrick Beverley this is a better series for him.
He plays big minutes and has some huge shots in
the stretch that you just spoke up, Steve. So hats
off to Tyler for digging into that bench. It's the
next man up mentality. I tell you, I've been in
the locker room with Tyler. There was no fear of
going down, oh to the Utah. It was like, Yo,
they're weak, We're gonna go ahead and make things happen.

(33:44):
And I mean, you talk about a gentleman sweep. I
don't think we saw this. And we're talking about how
great Utah is. And then the Clippers radle off four
in a row. That's a tough deal. Normally our Clippers
were on the other side of things when we played,
when I played, But just going to Terence Man playing
Kennard who got hot a couple of those games. You

(34:05):
can't say enough by the way clip the Clippers are playing,
and defensively they're much better equipped to guard the Chris
Paul pick and roll once he's healthy. I mean, you
talk about a debacle Chris skin. I'm man prayers up
for Chris. Hopefully he gets back in the lineup soon.
I know how how much this opportunity means for him.
But this is a tough one. All right, I'm gonna
pick it up where you just left off with Chris Paul.

(34:25):
So we go into Game one of the Western Conference
Finals today and there is no Chris Paul and there's
no Kauai Leonard, which one of those two missing pieces
we'll have the bigger effect on the game today. We'll
break it down with Ryan coming up next. Hey, this

(34:48):
is Jason McIntyre. Join me every weekday morning on my podcast,
Straight Fired with Jason McIntyre. This isn't your typical sports
pod pushing the same tired narratives down your throat. Every day.
Straight Fire gives you honest opinions on all the biggest
sports headlines, accurate stats to help you win big at
the sports book, and all the best guests. Do yourself

(35:08):
a favor and listen to Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre
on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast or wherever
you get your podcasts, Steve Harbin and Oriyan Hollins. As
we mentioned, the final round the US Open today at
Torrey Pines. Early action going on. Still got a couple

(35:32):
of hours to the leaders go off. Should be an
interesting final round. There got some baseball news coming up.
John Paul Morosi are MLB Insider MLB Network will join
us in the next hour. We're talking NBA playoffs because
well there's just so much going on with the NBA playoffs.
And we got Game one of the Western Conference Finals,
the Phoenix Suns taken on the Los Angeles Clippers, and

(35:55):
this game will feature no Chris Paul out with COVID
protocol return unknown and Kauai Leonard who has a knee
spring and I'll get to his situation in a moment,
but just kicking it off right now, Ryan, when you
talk about what is a bigger factor in game one

(36:17):
of the series, the Clippers without Kawai Leonard or the
Sons without Chris Paul, which absence has a bigger impact
on Game one Sons without Chris Paul. Chris Paul's impact
has been absolutely amazing this year, and that's a large
part in reason we're gonna have to credit Kawhi Leonard

(36:38):
because Kawhi Leonard said, go get me a Paul George, like, what,
go get me a pot? Why? Because when I'm not
a or i'm out, I need someone to carry the load.
And I know things didn't start off excellent, but you
gotta Paul applaud Kawuhi Leonard for saying, go get me
another guy. Maybe not maybe not a superstar, but he's

(37:01):
got superstar like like qualities. He can be a superstar
in moment. And Paul George was that the Clippers moved
the ball excellently. They got this kind of like you know,
they talk about the wars that we believe, like the
Clippers kind of had this we believe us against the
world right mentality, and in some ways people don't want

(37:24):
to hear this. I thought they looked better without Kawhi Leonard.
I thought the ball moved, I thought it hopped. I
thought there's a sense of uh, sense of urgency from
guys like Reggie Jackson, who you spoke about greatly in
that last segment, just hitting timely shots, clutch shots. Reggie
Jackson was a young boy in a gym with us
when he was coming into draft. Him and Paul George

(37:47):
and Reggie Jackson can hit some of everybody. Where did
this come from? Reggie Jackson in the gym with this
would hit with all all the better Kevin Garnette put
all these guys in, he would hit some of the
toughest shots that you have ever seen. And you just
didn't see it on the main stage. So when Reggie
goes off like that, it doesn't surprise me. I've seen
it before. But you're getting these guys who play at

(38:08):
a higher level with Kawai leon or not in the lineup.
Not to say they're better without Kawhi Leonard, but the
Clippers are still a very deep team, even losing lou
In Montrez and how great that team was in the past,
It's still a very very good team and you're seeing it,
and even more so Steve on the defensive end of
the floor. All Right, I want to ask you about

(38:29):
Kauai because you know Kauai well, and we've explained his
whole dynamic with the Clipper organization. So this knee sprain
and we saw the play. I mean there was a
little twist or something. They're kind of our Kauhi. You
you make the san diego to Lhra I have well,
I do, I can understand, but here's here's here's Okay,
call me cynical about the Kauai injury situation, but there's

(38:50):
a couple of things. Hey, we know about load management
and how important it is for Kauahi. Leonard b when
he was being asked about, you know, trying to get
to the Western Conference, fine knows for the first time
in franchise history, he completely dismissed that. He goes, the
goal here is to win a championship. And so my
feeling when he set out Game five was, Okay, it's

(39:13):
it's not a door die game. Win or lose Game five.
It's not a do or die game. If they lose
that game, then my guess is he's gonna be there
for game six. But they won game five, so he
didn't show for Game six, and I thought, you know
what if they lose game six and it goes to
Game seven, we're gonna see Kauai, but they won Game six.

(39:34):
Now you start off a series where as you just said,
they can win this series against Phoenix. Without Kawhi Leonard,
they can win this series. So I'm thinking people are saying,
is an a c L. Is he out for the
rest of the playoffs. I just think that Kauai is

(39:55):
going to sit back on his own time when he's
need it, and if this team can get through this
Western Conference Finals without him, I'll be that more arrested
for those NBA Finals. So I don't know if you
have any insight on the injury, but based on his
track record and how he operates, and it's always operated.

(40:17):
Go back to his last season in San Antonio where
he just sat out the rest of the year. He
just said no, I'm not coming back and everyone's like,
where are you? So that's that's my guests. Am I
off or do you think this isn't kind of injury
where we've seen the last of Kawhi Leonard this season?
I'll say, once you hear a c L, we fear

(40:39):
that he's done and it may be one of those
deals where he needs surgery and they're just seeing if
somehow they can kind of get him going around the surgery,
but he is very likely Kawhi Leonard has done for
the playoffs. If a c L is accurate, and I
haven't seen the m alright know my medical professional myself

(41:01):
um in San Antonio, he didn't know what was going on.
And if we want to compare him to another case
of sitting out a regular season or certain game, maybe
we say Anthony Davis. But I will say, all right,
well on the other side, we'll finish this thought right now.
More NBA playoff talk coming up next. Fox Sports Radio

(41:21):
has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch
all of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot com
and within the I Heart Radio app search f s
R to listen live. All right, rolling along here on
this Father's Day, Hartmann and Hollins we Um, we had
a little bit of a glitch as we went to
the top of the r. Ryan's getting into the meat

(41:43):
of the seremon and the way we do it here.
If you don't understand on a national radio broadcast, we
got a lot of wiggle rooms throughout the hour, but
when it comes to the top of the hour, to
get in sync with all of our stations across the
country and around the world. We have a mark we
have you know, Sam said there he's counting down, and
Ryan's always go with this and so you know, finish

(42:04):
your thought will get some more on the other side.
So I'm I'm listening to your breaking it down. I'm like, wow,
he's really gonna break this down quick ten seconds, you know.
And I'm like and you're like, all right, so let's
let's really start talking about this. And I'm like, wow,
this is gonna be a really quick point five seconds.
You're like yeah, and then I'm looking at you like hello, right,
um so yeah, see yeah, the the you were like yeah,

(42:28):
and you know it's for those at home listening. Steve
is a professionals professional like he doesn't take a minute
in the day that is off track. Yeah, So I
just took nails to a chalkboard talking to that out.
I wasn't going to interrupt you because you had a
really good thought going there. Uh. If we were talking
about the Kauai Leonard situation, and are we gonna see

(42:51):
a Kauahi Leonard back in the playoffs through these Clippers,
and if he has had a season ending injury Why
hasn't he been shut down? Why haven't they put it
out there? Then indeed he's done. I mean, he's he's
got an a c L situation. We're gonna get surgery,
we're gonna get him ready for next season, and we're
gonna have to proceed without him for the balance of

(43:12):
these playoffs and as well as they played these last
couple of games, Paul George getting a huge monkey off
his back, the criticism of not being able to perform
at a high level in big games. I guess they
do forget his days in Indiana when he played pretty
well for the Pacers in a couple of Eastern Conference
finals against better teams. But that aside, Uh, I'm just

(43:33):
curious of where we are with Kauai and and why
they let this linger, other than the fact that there
may still be a possibility if they get let's say,
get through these Western Conference finals against Phoenix without him,
could we see it Kawhi Leonard in the NBA Finals,
where you know he wants to be. He's been there.

(43:54):
He's a two time NBA Finals m v P. He
would love nothing better than joining Lebron is a time
NBA Finals m v P. If he's physically able to
do so. So at what point do you think we'll
actually get a definitive answer on the status of Kawhi Leonard.
If I'm the Clippers and he's not gonna play, you

(44:17):
gotta let this thing linger as long as you can.
You wanna know why, because when you're on the other side, Steve,
when you're on the other side, there's always the threat
there all there's always the I don't know if this
guy is gonna play. Is he not gonna play that
that you know tv D the you know we'll see
in warmups. It drives you crazy as a coach. Why

(44:39):
would that be? When Kawhi Leonard plays, you shift your
entire defense, You shift your entire walkthrough. And I'm gonna
tell you, I know one thing from Monty Williams that
never played for him, I played against him. He's walking
through plays for Kawhi Leonard with him, and he's walking
through plays without him, and shoot around because it's that
darn't stressful and he's that impactful to your lineup. See,

(45:03):
we talked about it during the break. Kawhi Leonard has
a win percentage of the highest hold on the highest
in the NBA. He's won seventies seven point eight percent
of his games. When he plays, he wins. This man
does not want to sit out, and he knows how
to play through injury. So when he missed it, he
brought up when he missed games seven. Oh gosh, when

(45:23):
he missed game seven. So I'm fearful he does not play.
I think if you're the Clippers in Tyler, it lingers
on and it's the chests, the chess match behind the
scenes that we are not talking about. But I'm gonna
tell you as a player from the other side, it
is crazy because you're walking through with them, and you're

(45:44):
walking through it without him. All Right, experience a big
factor in this Western Conference finals because without Chris Paul,
we're talking like zero experience. I mean the Suns when
he missed the playoffs twelve straight years. And without Chris
Paul in the court, you got a bunch of kids
on a seven game winning strenk playing some really good basketball.

(46:05):
The layoff factor. Just just look at the dynamic of
today's game. By the way, I get sidetrack a lot
because I got a lot of thoughts in my head.
Tylu is not happy. Then this is a day game.
He's upset, like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on here,
their day game record sucks and they're like, why why,

(46:28):
what's the hurry here? Why why are we playing so quickly?
But the Suns have been gone for a while right now,
So what's the bigger factor? The Sun's being laid off
as long as they have after the sweep against Denver
or according to Tylu, the unreasonable turnaround quick turnaround for
the Clippers going on the road in Phoenix. I would say,

(46:51):
ultimately the quick turnaround, you can go both ways. The
quick turnaround is gonna affick Paul George. Paul George is
a little older, you know, had the ball in his
hands a lot. Reggie Jackson had to do a lot
those guys. Is gonna affect. That's where you love the
fact you got Terence Man and Cannard getting some minutes.
You wanna know why, because they got fresh legs, they
got energy. Here's Man, if you watch, he looks like

(47:13):
he can run. He hit a three point and spent
to the other end before anybody was down there. Okay,
he can run four days. But for the Phoenix Suns,
they're out of rhythm that you know that that dog mentality.
They may not have it the same way. They gotta
you know, read tool and no Chris, no, Chris Paul,
and you gotta to figure things out. Camera. Paine is excellent,

(47:35):
he's been playing excellent. But yeah, how does this how
does this Phoenix Son's offense operate with Chris Paul? Give
me the dynamic. Chris Paul, A guy who played what
He's gonna come down the court. He's gonna look at you,
he's gonna call to play. And he is a technician.
He doesn't want to turn the ball over. I think
he's he's like a one or whatever. Ridiculous right now,

(47:57):
everything he does on the court is very kids calculated.
DeAndre eight knows he's hitting the ball rolling. Devin Booker knows,
you know, the sets that are gonna be running for him.
So you take that out. Now what he got. Cameron
Paine's gonna have to be vocal. You know, he's gonna
have to have the respect of Devin Booker to say, hey,
I'm gonna put you in the position to be successful. Uh.

(48:18):
Cameron Payine is also gonna have to hit shots. We're
asking a lot and Karen Payne had been excellent, by
the way, just as to Los Angeles Lakers. He demolished
him in the minutes that he played. And even with
Chris Paul missing some of the lineup and what you know,
what's was really tough for Chris. We know that he
played through that shoulder injury when he really shouldn't have
played and put them over the edge against the Lakers.

(48:39):
But COVID, you can't fight through this one. You have
to come back and it's the most frustrating thing to
get that negative test. He's gonna have to test negative.
I think one, two or three times whatever. I'm not
the medical professional again to be able to get on
the floor. So, man, we're talking to somebody here. You
had COVID. You had COVID, bad dude. I've worked out
fortified times times a week in great shape in COVID.

(49:03):
Almost I'm not gonna say it almost kill I saw death.
You know, he's something happens. You're like, yo, I saw death,
like I could die from it if I don't take
care of this or I get loose. I'm thirty six
years old, I'm thin. I'm not a heavy guy. I
saw that I was moving around my house like a
seventy year old man. And I hope and I pray
that Chris Paul did not get the strand of cold
because we all know those listening who had it, who

(49:25):
haven't had it. Some days, some people get the one day,
the two My wife, my wife, God bless her. Man.
She she got positive on a Friday and negative on
a Sunday. Man, I don't know. She breathed through COVID
like nothing. Those women just keep on ticking me. Oh,
I was laid out, man, I was knocked out. My
daughter lost her since the tasting smell, and I'm right
back to it. My son was a little sleepy one day,

(49:47):
then he's bouncing around the house. But man, COVID almost
knocked me out. So in terms of Chris Paul, I
hope that he got the you know, the one day
or the two day and out type of COVID because
you gotta think, what's frustrating. He's not training right now,
He's not training, he's probably not working out, you know,
he's probably losing some cardio, some conditioning, you know. And
I just hope Chris will be back in the lineup

(50:08):
because this is not something where you can go to
your head coach Monty Williams and say, Monty, I'm playing.
I put me on the floor. There are regulations in
which he has to pass in order to get on
the floor for the safety of everybody, not just himself,
but everybody that he's gonna be around in the organization.
Can I can I ask you a question here? And
we were talking about this yesterday, Jeff Schwartz and I

(50:29):
and of course you have a former NFL player, so
we're talking about testing. And I want to get a
little more in depth on the other side about this,
but I want to get it started right now. So
we had a situation Colt Beasley of the Buffalo Bill's
wide receiver saying, basically, the hell do you I'm not

(50:50):
I'm not getting vaccinated, period exclamation point. I'm doing it myself.
I'm not gonna get vaccinated. And the NFL has put
down the law. Here's here's the lack of restrictions. If
you get vaccinated, basically you're free to do whatever you
want to do. But if you don't get vaccinated, you

(51:12):
will be tested every day, you will wear a mask
at all times, you will not be allowed to work
out in certain his situations. It was a stark trask,
a one eighty from if you're vaccinated to if you're
not vaccinated. And by all estimates, talking to Jeff Schwartz,
at least with the NFL players unit, he estimates a

(51:33):
third of the players are not vaccinated. And let's face it,
if you're not vaccinated yet, knowing that it's been availably
to you for quite a while, that means you've already
pretty much made up your mind. I'm not going to
get vaccinated. And we know this is going on in
the NBA right now as well. This is across the board.
So it's a free country. And we just had guidelines

(51:54):
at my TV station where you check a box that
says you've been vaccinated, you're no longer required to wear
a mask in the workplace, but if you haven't been vaccinated,
you you will keep that mask on. So this contrast
of rules for those that are vaccinated and are not vaccinated,
and there's no law that requires you to get vaccinated.

(52:16):
But from a team standpoint, how do you operate around that?
I mean, how frustrated could it be if you're have
a teammate or several teammates they are key members of
your team that said no, I'm sorry, there's nothing you
can tell me that's gonna change my mind about getting vaccinated. Well,
for one, you're gonna have to respect every man or

(52:37):
woman's right to choose to be vaccinated or not. You know,
we don't know, dude. We've been at this about a
year year, and we don't know what COVID is. Man,
all of us who got vaccinated, we may come down
with something else. We may not. Who knows. We just
don't know it. Don't forgive me for putting it fear
in anyone's mind. We don't know. This thing is too new,
this is not this isn't the cold, this isn't the flu.

(52:59):
So from a players standpoint in the locker room, you
gotta respect somebody's wishes. But as far as the safety precautions,
they become tedious. They get frustrating because as a player
in the moment, you're not thinking that, hey, man, I
could I could really if if I passed COVID onto
our head trainer, I could knock him out of our equipment. Guy,

(53:20):
I could put him in the real harm or real danger.
It is that serious. But you're just trying to go
to your job and do what you have to do.
You know, you can't see friends and family the same.
I'm sure travel guidelines are extremely different. The amount of
access is different. We're seeing zoom calls, so it's tough,
and as things start to open back up, that danger comes.

(53:43):
Who in God's green Earth would have imagined that in
the midst of the playoffs, Chris Paul was gonna come
down with COVID, And like I said, we hope it's
not the bad COVID because he's gonna have to test
negative just to get back on the floor, and we're
hoping there's just a one game deal. But we don't
know how long this thing can lot do my COVID love,
he's if he has symptoms, and if he's asymptomatic, that's different.

(54:04):
But if he's had symptoms, even if he's passing the clearance,
it's still gonna take him time to come back. I
had three four weeks, three or four weeks minimum of
of positive test even when I was over at positive tests.
Still that thing will can linger with you, man, And
I know I know the NBA is not about to
be doctor and the test stuff for any player. You know,

(54:25):
all right, I know I want to continue on this
because it can create friction in the locker room. I mean,
we're in the midst of the NBA playoffs right now,
and if you have players and I don't know whether
Chris Paul has been vaccinated or not. People have been
vaccinated and still have gotten COVID. Uh. Again, the vaccination
isn't a guarantee that you're not gonna get COVID. It's
like the flu shot. It's gonna give you added immunity

(54:49):
toward COVID, but it's not gonna prevent you from necessarily
getting COVID. Maybe the symptoms will be less if you
have uh, if you've been immunized. All right, So we'll
get a little bit more into that and just the
dynamic on how it can fracture a locker room when
a key player could be lost and maybe cost a
team a championship. Coming up next Steve Hart Ryan holl Is,

(55:12):
Happy Father's Day out there, and by the way, as
your dad's razor older than you are, get him something
new for Father's Day. A D S C six plade
razor is perfect for an extra close for Si Sha.
Get one now to store near you or as part
of a gift set at Dollar Shave Club dot com
slash jonas. That's Dollar Shaved Club dot com slash jonas.

(55:35):
All right, we're talking about COVID. Hard to believe. It's
amazing when you think about where we were. This was
like the low ebb of the sports scene. Exactly a
year ago this time in mid June. At this time,
we still did not have a definitive answer about the
NBA season, or the NHL season, or Major League Baseball

(55:55):
or the NFL or college football. We were talking in terms, Sam,
you remember this. We were literally a year ago at
this time mid June, almost riding off like we're not
gonna see any sports in none zero. We're not gonna
see a conclusion of the NBA, NHL, no Major League

(56:17):
Baseball season, no NFL, no college football, no golf majors,
no tennis majors, no Indie five hundred, no Derby nothing.
That's where we were, and yet all of those things happened,
with the exception of Wimbledon and the Open Championship. We
got everything in and here we are a year later.

(56:38):
I don't know about you, Ryan, So when I like,
like Thursday night here in California. They finally on June
fift open up the doors to open up the floodgates
for fans to attend sporting events. And during the week,
I'm in San diegoing on Thursday at Peco, full crowd,
forty thousand plus, just like that. But and then, and

(57:00):
they even did like a reopening night. They had a flyover,
they had the team's line up down the base line
like it was opening day. And it turned out to
be an amazing day for the Padres that came back
in the bottom of the ninth and won the game
on a walk off. But I'm watching forty thousand fans.
Nobody's wearing a mask, nobody, They're all jammed together, and

(57:21):
the weird dynamic of that game was. Now, I wasn't
at the game, but I buddies of my in the media.
I said, how was in the press box? They said,
like it's been throughout the pandemic. We were all required
to wear a mask, We had a socially distance, and
they weren't serving any food. So I'm going, so let
me get this straight. You're in the press box and
you see forty thousand people, I'll see you people. No

(57:43):
one wearing a mask, endless lines to get food, endless
lines in the bathroom, like business as usual. But in
the press box you show under restrictions. How does that work?
So when you're watching now, these big crowds in these
arenas during the NBA playoffs all packed in again, I'm
watching the game last night between games seven, he got

(58:05):
the nets and box and the fans are like on
the court, just like we've seen in the past, there
there on the edge of their seats, Games seven going
into overtime and everything else. Are you uncomfortable watching that
right now? Or are you excited to see all these fans?
Feelings so comfortable? A couple more people are wearing masks,

(58:25):
overwhelming majority are not. How do you feel about that
whole visual dynamic you're feeling right now? As these arenas
and stadiums are being filled to capacity, I feel like
there's an excitement to see people there, people in a
in a crowd, you know, uh, the chairing um And
if you think about it too, there's everyone has opened

(58:47):
up differently. There aren't the floor seats. If I'm not
mistaken with with the Clipper games, you know, I'm seeing
seeing in a big space or you know, there's a
gap between the players. But you think about last night's game,
the Nets game. You know, Kevin Durant, some mom was
close enough to have some words when p J Tucker,
you know, really cool moment. The war area was packed

(59:07):
for that game last night. So I think as a player,
I'd be really skeptical to be close to people. It's
a former player, you know, obviously you you're excited to
see them there. Um. I think it also depends on
your comfort level being vaccinated or not. You know, some
people are under the belief that COVID isn't real. Some
I believe it's real. It's all you know, up in

(59:27):
the air. But I think as an athlete I would
be scared because of the situation right now we're seeing
with Chris Paul. You don't know that you could shake
someone's hand or something flies around and you get it
and now you're missing time even think about the situation.
When the when the whatever? The idiot, I don't have
a better word for him, forgive me, I don't. He

(59:49):
may be really smart, but it was an idiotic move
that's been on Trey Young. What if this guy was
asymptomatic and sprays everyone in front of him. So there
are fears to see in that. I think we realize
how how poor of higing habits that a lot of
our fellow friends and family or fellow human being, fellow humans. Okay,

(01:00:09):
uh so I think as an athlete, i'd be very scared. Um.
But for me, you know, I'm staying away, but watching
on TV, I don't freak out watching you know, are
you ready to take your family? Could you do that
right now? Could you sit in a big crowd with
your family maskless and feel Okay, No, I'm not big
on that. Man. If I'm around people, I'm putting on

(01:00:30):
the mask. You know, I just still feel that extra
level of protection. And Steve, you notice, you know we're
still coming in the studio. We're staying spaced away from
each other. We wear our masks, you know, like like
we're professionals. Like for me, I can't have something getting
the way of the way that I feeled my family.
You know, when I got COVID, I I was you know,
I was working from home doing college basketball, and for me,

(01:00:54):
I had to miss like like two and a half
three weeks of work like from home and then and
like I don't miss for anything, So like, I'm dying
inside with COVID and even more so every day I
gotta tell them, hey man, I'm not feeling better. I
can't come in. You know, it was crazy time. So
for me, if there's anything that comes in the way
of me providing or me working, it's inexcusable. You miss

(01:01:17):
for for life and you miss for death. So me
shaking someone's hand or going out to the picnic and
not being responsible, it is gonna coming away. So I'm
not with it all right. So you're deep into the
playoffs right now, and obviously the Phoenix sense have been
on this role, and all of a sudden boom, COVID
hits Chris Paul And maybe it's going to be the
difference between the Sun's being eliminated in the playoffs or

(01:01:39):
an opportunity to win the first championship in franchise history.
They may never get this opportunity again. There are no guarantees.
We know this. Everyone's like, well, wait till next year,
Wait till next year. What do you mean, wait till
next year? If everything is working for any team to
win a championship in a teen sport, everything's gotta work right,
everything to navigate through and be the one team standing

(01:02:03):
in the end. Do you know how many things have
to go right for that to happen? Even if you
suffered an injury or somebody's out, somebody's got to step
in and fill the void. There's so many components. There's
no guarantee. Well we didn't get it, there will win
it next year. No, it doesn't work that way. So
when you have a situation like the Suns have right now,
they may never have this opportunity again. And then we

(01:02:26):
got a situation with COVID with Chris Paul. So if
your management right now and you want to avoid a
Chris Paul's situation and you're looking around the locker room
and there's still guys that are not vaccinating, you're like, guys, guys, guys,
we have a chance to do something as a team,

(01:02:48):
as a something that is going to define your career forever.
You will be known as a world champion. But we
got to get to the finish line. We can't take
any chances. And you've got a couple of players saying, well,
I don't care, I'm I'm sorry, I'm not gonna get vaccinated.
Here's the truth. And then and suddenly they get it

(01:03:10):
and you lose. I don't know how you handle that
as a teammate. I mean, you want to as a team.
You've got to be on the same page, right. Think
about this though, Think about this. The This wasn't uh,
you know, Javon Carter coming down Phoenix Suns player with
with COVID. This was Chris Paul. That's the point. This

(01:03:30):
was Chris Paul. And I tell you one thing even
bigger than the Suns. You know, the league is definitely
analyzing this situation in tracing back and going okay, like, Chris,
how did you get this? Are we getting too loose? Uh?
You know? And you're not that mad now when you're
looking at the NFL situation, I don't know off hand
the NBA's guidelines. And in the playoffs there's only a

(01:03:51):
few teams playing of saying, hey, this is you vaccinated
versus you not being vaccinated because by all means bigger
than the Phoenix Suns. The NBA wants to avoid their
stars coming down with COVID. And we found out just
when we thought we're free, Chris Paul is out. And
this is monumental, man. It has been a playoff nightmare
for the NBA losing their stars for a variety of reasons,

(01:04:12):
but the last thing you want to lose one is
through COVID al Right on the other side, we're gonna
check in with John Paul Morosi. Big week in Major
League Baseball, but first let's find out what it is trending.
Here is Ralph Irban once again, Ralphie, Well, gentlemen, we
are making our way towards three thirty Eastern time. That's
just one hour from now when we will get started

(01:04:32):
with NBA basketball on his Father's Day. Game one of
the Western Conference Finals, the Clippers in Phoenix. You've been
talking about it. No Chris Paul, no Kauai Leonard. They're
still gonna play this game, though quite theoretically could be
back for it game number two. But right now it's
just all up in the air again. At three thirty
Eastern time, it gets underway Games seven of the Eastern

(01:04:53):
Conference Atlanta at Philadelphia that will tip off at eight
o'clock Eastern tonight. The final round of the USA Open
is under way. We're about an hour away from the
top players hitting the course right now, a three way
tie atop the leader board as you have Mackenzie Hughes,
Louis Ustas, and Russell Henley all sitting at five under par,

(01:05:16):
two shots ahead of Bryson de Shambo, the defending champion,
and Rory McElroy, the twenty eleven champion, as they are
both at three under par, so far the best players
on the course right now. That would be a handful
of players sitting at even par, five shots off the pace.
Major League Baseball Scoreboard, Oakland continues to lead at the

(01:05:36):
Yankees one nothing. Washington is added another run. They have
three one lead over the Mets in the fifth in
Cleveland and Pittsburgh tied at one in the seventh. Toronto
putting together a big fifth inning. They have a four
one lead over Baltimore. Now that's in the fifth and
Nolan Arronado which who run bomb, gives St. Louis and
early to nothing lead over Atlanta. Finally, euro final game

(01:06:00):
of group play for this group is Italy a one
nill win over Wales, Switzerland three one over Turkey. But
we'll send it back now it is Steve Hartman, Ryan Hollins, gentlemen, Hi, Ralph,
thank you very much. Well, guess what Johnny us right?
Now is a man that rarely needs an introduction what
we do it anyway because he is so accomplished. He is,

(01:06:20):
of course our Fox Sports Radio MLB insider works with
the MLB, never works with the NHL network. But more
importantly to him, he's a dad. Happy Father's Day, j P.
John Paul Morosi's joining us right now. So kids, uh,
living up to their end of the bargain on this
Father's Day. Well, Stephen Ryan, A pleasure has always to

(01:06:42):
be with you both. I would say this. I am
actually in Montreal covering hockey. So while I am not
with them physically, they sent me beautiful videos and messages.
Was able to speak with them earlier today and uh,
a lot of great wishes going back and forth. And
they are with my parents today. My wife was working
at the hospital and they made sure my parents did that.

(01:07:04):
The girls were watching today as Italy began their game
against Wales, and so my daughters could hear frate the
Italia and be able to hopefully sing it quietly as
they were watching the Asuri play. Now perfect in group
play seven nil the aggregate score. I believe, as I
did before, the Asuri will win the European Championship. A right,

(01:07:26):
you got a lot going on right now with the
Stanley Cup playoffs, the euro Championships. But this is going
to be a big weekend major League Baseball, as Major
League Baseball will order umpires to enforce the foreign substance rules,
which by the way, have been on the books for decades.
But this is the week they're gonna hammer the pictures

(01:07:46):
about these foreign substances. How is this going to look?
Are they going to come out on fire early on
to send the message that we're serious about this. What
is going to happen this week around Major League Baseball?
As far as in four we're seeing these roles on
the foreign substances. Well, Steve, it's an excellent question. Uh.
The quick and Canada answer is that we don't yet

(01:08:08):
know the full extent of how many players, how many
pictures more specifically, have already modified their behavior to the
point that we would hopefully see broad compliance with the
new stepped up enforcement. Let's hope that's the case. Let's
hope that pictures have taken the advice that they have adapted,

(01:08:30):
that they have worked in their bullpend sessions. They've obviously
had a couple of weeks to get used to this
now that they are now comfortable with how they're going
to have to legally throw the baseball. Now, the other
interesting part of this and and Bust Rollings reported on this,
and it doesn't surprise me what he has reported, which
is that there is a divergence of opinion about whether

(01:08:52):
or not we will see some teams basically refer umpires
to check pictures on the other team. And that is
where things are going to get very interesting, because it
seems as though from busters reporting and what others have
said in the industry that the old time agreement about

(01:09:12):
never really calling the attention of the umpire to the
opposite team that is gone, and and you might actually
see people in the dugout saying, hey, we think this
guy is using a substance, please check him. And obviously,
once you start doing that, there's always the possibility of

(01:09:34):
of the game becoming u a back and forth and
a little bit of a little bit of a calamity
of of acquisitions flying back and forth across the field.
But that's where we're at right now, guys. It is
a possibility that that will become commonplace until people who
are cheating and those who are enabling them, are are

(01:09:57):
held to account publicly. This is a very very delicate
time for the game, and we don't know what tomorrow
is gonna bring. I mean that that's that's the quickest
answer is we don't know. But I also think that
if based on what Buster has reported, if if your expectation,
generally speaking is that this is going to be umpire
enforced only without input from the opposite team, it seems

(01:10:20):
that's not going to be the case. And there's gonna
be some naming of names on the field between the teams,
which has a chance to get very interesting. Indeed, as
the game's go on, JP, I got a bit of
a loaded question here for you. For one, what is
spider tack? For two, what brings this uh competitive advantage

(01:10:43):
from it? And as you just alluded to teams snitching
on other players guys getting called out? Is this good
for baseball? Could this? Could this be another big, huge
not to baseball Again? Obviously, we know that the game
hasn't been the same since the steroid allegation. I want
to don't want to dive into that, but help me
break down the effects of spider tech. Sure, so, spider

(01:11:07):
tech is an industrial hauling material substance. It is a
super super sticky, tacky substance that initially was was pioneered
for help with with hauling boulders and large items that
you need to have stuck down to something that you're

(01:11:30):
you're hauling around because they're so massive that you you
can't afford from a safety standpoint to have them rattling
around in the back of a truck. I mean this
is this is industrial large distance shipping material, industrial grade
adhesive if you will, and pictures over time because this

(01:11:50):
is part of the I suppose has been part of
the culture of baseball for a long time. Uh, this
substance became known as something that would really help the
grip on just and by the way, Ryan, not just
at the major league or even the minor league level.
This is something that has been used at the youth
levels too. How how long have they been Yeah, I

(01:12:11):
mean kids. Yeah, I've been told that that there are
teenagers who use substances like this in youth baseball. And
what it does the the the sort of quick explanation
is by tack ifying your hands more, it allows you
greater control and greater spin as you're releasing the ball.

(01:12:32):
If you think about back when we were kids when
we would use yo yo's kind of like that when
you think when you think when you would spin the
yo yo off your hand and you had a little
bit of extra tug, it felt like that's kind of
what this does. And I think that for for a
lot of pictures, it gives them enhanced spin movement, not

(01:12:53):
so much velocity, but more placement of the ball, and
and that to me is a real uh it's a
real good feditive advantage. And the the end goal of
this is that we're going to get the game back
to being the way that we grew up with it,
where there are more balls in play and it's a
more level playing field. Right now it is tilted heavily
towards pictures. And let's see Ryan and Steve if this

(01:13:16):
has the desired effect. And I think we'll know in
the next month or six weeks once once you have
a little bit of data. By the end of July,
I think we have a pretty good sense of just
how effective these changes have been. All Right, I got
you get your thoughts. John Paul MORROSSI is joining us
about Tyler Glass now and everything he had to say
about going cold Turkey pitching what he said was one
of his best games of the year. We get up

(01:13:38):
the next day feeling pain in his arm because of
the fact that he had to grip the ball more
so than when he was using a certain level of
adhesive to have a grip on the ball. And then
he and then he gets shut down. Um, if we
suddenly and and and and the big question I think
this was legit. Why now, in the middle of the season,

(01:13:58):
you're asking all these major league pitchers, by some accounts,
ninety percent of which are using some kind of substance
to get a better grip in the baseball, to suddenly
rid themselves of all of that. Um, if we suddenly
have a flurry a picture is getting injured because they
have to grip the ball differently without some sort of adhesive. Um,

(01:14:20):
what what's the potential fallout for Major League Baseball? And
why was it so critical from major League Baseball to
do this? Now? Glass now said, if you told me
in the off season that we had to change things,
and I would have adjusted, I would add an off
season to figure this out. But to do it in
the middle of the season. I thought of the points

(01:14:41):
he made that one was the most legitimate. Well, Steve,
and and you raised some good points. One of one
of the realities here is that teams and players were
notified of this monitoring back in spring training, and there
was at that point in time a memo that went
out and said, we're going to collecting jerseys, balls, caps,

(01:15:04):
everything in an effort to discern how widespread these issues are,
and reminding all the pictures that it was illegal to
do that and that if if things got to be egregious,
that enforcement of this kind would be put into the game.
And that's exactly what's happened. So I don't think it's

(01:15:26):
totally fair for any picture anyone to say, well, we
didn't know either. We didn't know this was against the
rules because it has been for a long time, and
we didn't know that Baseball was going to be disciplining
for this, because that was what started back in spring training.
Maybe they didn't say exactly what the penalty was going
to be, but that they reminded everyone that this is

(01:15:48):
against the rules, and it it's against the rules, and
that is that is I think where it's important to start.
I realized it is unfortunate if if a change in
in the the enforcement brings about injuries. Of course, Baseball
does not want that to happen. No one wants that
to happen. I think at the end of the day,

(01:16:11):
the the idea of what the game needs to look like.
You know, we have we have had conversations going back
to the spring. We've had conversations before this year about
the trends in the game where the game is right now,
the lack of contact, the increased strikeouts, the diminishment of
balls in play, and we say, generally speaking, well, things

(01:16:32):
have to change in the game. Well, they're trying to.
They're trying to make an adjustment here. And so I
think that while it is painful, and while there is
a human cost on this, if if pitchers feel like
they can't perform without grip, uh, if they can't perform
without the substances there, if they get injured, that that
is a legitimate cost and one that the game has

(01:16:53):
to reckon with. But I think got the same token.
It's it's a difficult job because they're trying to balance
the individual will well being in performance of each individual
player with understanding that if they believe at the at
the league office that the product on the field, which
is what they're selling is no longer appealing to the audience.
You have to change your product. And and they're trying

(01:17:16):
to adjust around the margins here what what is okay
to do on the field? And again I I reiterate,
this is against the rules today, and it was last year,
and the year before that, and the year before that,
and so on some level. Well, while there were eight
of pictures using this, according to Stephan Nasty Stephan the

(01:17:38):
Apstein's Report and in Sports Illustrated, it's that doesn't make
it right. And and so while there were a lot
of people who were using we we now have to
realize that that broadly speaking, a lot of people now
have to make an adjustment because Baseball has has determined,
with consultation of the Union, that that the rules and

(01:17:58):
the issues have gotten to a spot where they are untenable. Wow,
all right, I'm fascinating And how this is all gonna
play out? It will start tomorrow. We'll see how many
pictures get busted. Who's gonna face a suspension if any uh,
as you would say, at tit tat where you know, hey,
you're gonna look at my picture about this guy? Start
checking them out. Uh, it could be a nightmare for
Major League Baseball. It's never a nightmare though, when we

(01:18:21):
bring on the great John Paul MOROSSI have a great
rest of your father's day. Good time. You will be
able to get into the country, no problem. Right, they're
not on exile here or you're you're okay. As far
as I know, my friends, I've been. I've been adhering
to all the quarantine that I need to be here
in label province at the gorgeous day of Montreal. But
I I cannot go outside and I'm in my hotel

(01:18:43):
talking to you guys. It's all good. It's all part
of the deal. I'm glad to be here and I'm
following the rules. All right. We'll check in with you
next week. John Paul always appreciate it. Thanks so much,
John Paul Rosy. Very interesting. It's gonna be an unbelievable
weekend baseball. This is gonna get crazy. See all right,
we'll get right back. In fact, we're gonna get you
set for Hey, we're only forty five minutes away from

(01:19:05):
tip off of Clippers Sons coming up next. Alright, a
little time here, so we head toward the top of
the hour. By the way, is your dad's razor older
than you are? Give him something new for Father's Day
at d SC six blade razor perfect for an extra close,
precise shape. Get one now at a store near you,

(01:19:27):
or as part of gifts set at Dollar Shave Club
dot com slash jonas. That's Dollar Shave Club dot com
slash Jonas. Alright, so we are still about an hour
away from the leader's team off at the US Open
out at Tory Pines. No one is making a serious
run this morning, although I did see brooks Kepka just Bertie,
the second old to get to red numbers. He's at

(01:19:49):
one under par. I'm gonna guess winning score maybe about
five or six or at five hundred right now. But
no one is shooting lights out. So the course is
tough today, so it's gonna be tough for anyone four
or five shots back to make any kind of run.
Not impossible, but tough. Meanwhile, we're also a little over
half an hour away of tape tip off between the
Suns and the Clippers, Game one other Western Conference Finals.

(01:20:14):
We'll talk plenty about this, will continue to do so
once the game gets underway, But for the Phoenix Suns
after missing the playoffs for twelve straight years to find
themselves in the Western Conference finals. You talk about a
coach you know, well, even though you didn't play for him,
Money Williams, what kind of impacts is he had on
the Sun's team. It's been huge and uh, you think

(01:20:36):
about the job that he did in New Orleans. You know,
Monty Williams did a great job, whether he gets credit
for it or out of developing Anthony Davis, and I
feel like he's given Devin Booker, particularly in DeAndre uh In,
Deandrey eighton roles. You're our score, Devin Booker, DeAndre eight,
and you are a roller. You catch here, you finished,
you rebound. You're good with us. And they're just doing

(01:21:00):
their jobs. And I'm telling you there's the energy and
Phoenix that I'm loving right now. Whether you're in on
the Suns or not, they're just playing with a different
type of his as Let me ask you this, what
is your defensive strategy if Devin gets into a rhythm
like we saw against the Lakers and and really against
Denver as well, what is the Clippers defensive strategy if

(01:21:21):
suddenly he gets hot? You gotta go get the ball
out of his hands. And you know it's tough for
Devin Booker. He's not a guy who plays around with
the ball a lot. You know, he's one to jibble
into his pull up. So you're gonna have the double
team him. You gotta keep length on them, and even
more so with a great player, you wear them down. Yeah, well,
so we're gonna be breaking down more on that game. Obviously,
we also have a Game seven to determine the final

(01:21:45):
a team that's gonna be in the final four. As
the Sixers get ready for the Atlanta Hawks, you're gonna
break that all down. And as we mentioned, we're keeping
our eyes on this golf situation and a really changing
environment for the world a golf post Tiger Woods. All
of that. Keep it here on Fox Sports Radio. Fox
Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.

(01:22:07):
Catch all of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot
com and within the I Heart Radio app search f
s R to listen live. All right, here we are
once again on this Father's Day. Hope everyone's having a
great Father's Day, guys. Yeah, no, Father's Day. Let's face it,
Father's Day is not Mother's Day. They're very different holidays.

(01:22:29):
Mother's Day that's a biggie. That's a biggie. Father's Day
a little bit of an afterthought. But hey, if you
just get sort of away from the kids, say hey dad,
happy father. That's good enough. Just just acknowledge the day.
I actually got a little more than that. I got
some Daddy, I got some thoughtful cards. I got a
couple of gifts this morning. Not big stuff. I don't

(01:22:49):
want to see any big stuff. Don't spend a lot
of money, I mean, nothing like that. Had a nice
breakfast this morning, so I was I'm very happy with
my Father's Day today, Steve, you spent a lot of
money on your kids, so and they return the favorite. No,
I don't want them, know no, I do not. Well
what father? What father? Doesn't spend a lot of money
on your kids? Yeah, well there are some. There aren't many,

(01:23:12):
are you? Are you? Ryan? Now? You spent a lot
of money on your meal in the morning. Here we
know that because you've got a lot of food. You
got everything going on today. By the way, what is
that is that a dessert? The contrawberry? Strawberry that's gone.
The watermelon is pretty much gone. You've gone through that
you do have a big, big juice. There got my

(01:23:34):
vegan meatballs in there, Bill hanging. Um, are you an
elaborate guy or do you do you like a lot
of material things? Is that important to you or how
do you operate? I'm simple, man, Yeah, I'm basic. I'm
playing Jane. You know that if I didn't have to
wear suits like on you know, the TV gigs like

(01:23:55):
you know, you probably never see me in a suit
when I have one. I don't know how you are
because you and I are cut from the same cloth
in that respect. I always look at it when I'm
wearing a suit on teams like a costume. I wait
till the until I actually have to put the suit on.
I'm not gonna put the suit. I don't come in
a suit to work. I bring it with me, and
then when I got to get into the suit, I do. Um.

(01:24:16):
But when you when you you've had a lot of
teammates over the years, that man, they they they have
all the bling, they got, they got it all going on,
and they spend huge money on suits and everything else.
I don't know. My attitude is sometimes I sort of
wish maybe I had been a little more liked I've
worked with people like like like Pat O'Brien, he was
always immaculate with his gear and everything. A producer I

(01:24:39):
had still works with Sam Patash another guy, close guy.
He turned me onto where I could get suits that
actually fit me properly, and I have to admit they
look much better on me than some of the suits
I wore in the past. But but you sort of
look at guys like maybe I wish I was more
like that, or you're just like, I know, I know
what I am. I'm too cheat man, Like if I

(01:25:01):
spend it like I'm getting spins out of it, like
it's getting warned. Like I know. There's a couple of
guys like you know, Mike Connley when I played with
you have a stylist and a guy like nah, man,
I can't. I'm not the you know, different outfit every
day like I've got to, you know, I gotta get
my suits are getting spins, Okay, they're worth there. You
get a nice pair of Italian shoes, Steve there, those

(01:25:22):
things are gonna last few decades. Man, I'm gonna hand
them down to my son one day, Okay, right, So
which one of your teammates over your decade long NBA career,
What what Who stood out as far as just bringing
it fashion, making a statement every time they walked into
the arena. CP and Blake and then DJ came along.

(01:25:42):
Those were all like had their stylist and the whole
bang with that. You know, they were saying, hey, man,
right and you get a little more STYLI ever trying
to get the guy's pretty much figured out. I was
playing Jane, you know, kind of drove the same car
every day, you know. I I love looking the cars
at Staples Center. I always when when there there's an

(01:26:03):
area where when the players come into Staples Center, like
the Lakers are the Clippers, and they parked their cars
in the underneath, and man, you see some interesting rides. Man. Wow. Yeah.
They'd remove my car and put it out somewhere else
and then kind of drive up when needed. Like you know,
the the nice cars get to sit, you know what
I'm talking about. Steve sat down there, unbelievable. No, I'd

(01:26:24):
have to wait about thirty minutes for mine to come around.
It's all good with me. I was always one of
the later guys out, you know, I'm cold tubbed or
work out after the games. And just you know that
was I deal. So so you you usually drive a truck. Yeah,
so you got your truck and everything else. But here
comes one of those you know, two hundred thousand dollar jobs,

(01:26:46):
you know, rolling in. They're like, okay, we gotta we
gotta make room for this. Yeah. I would just run out.
You know they know those are my guys at the
Staples Valley. You still Steve, you know what I'm talking about. Yeah,
rides and as Paul's Bentley, all those things they got
to just sit around not much. Know there used to
be we we could exit through that when we after
the games. We could walk up through that you know ramp,

(01:27:10):
you know, exit out to go to our cars in
the you know, the low rent district. But you you
walk by some of these rides and they're like wow, yeah,
because I would. I just would be so nervous in
a ride like that. For two fold. One, I mean
if you put it out in public, man, you know,
people want to get their hands on those things quick. Uh.
And two, I just would anybody breathe on me. I

(01:27:33):
would get so nervous. Well, it's a lifestyle. You know,
you're your valet parking or you're parking. You know, those
cars get to sit in the ram Okay, they sit
in the front. Okay, So you know the escalade that's
so much. Oh man, Well, I'll tell you what all
of that has put aside when these guys get on
the court and we are counting down to tip off
here of game one of the Western Conference Finals between

(01:27:54):
the Phoenix Suns and the Los Angeles Clippers. One guy
we haven't talked much about today is Paul George. And
this has been a redemption run for Paul George. When
the Clippers went down two oh against the Jazz, a
lot of people say, well, that's a lot different than
going down two oh against Dallas. Ok Hey, Jazz our

(01:28:16):
next level. And the way that Jazz won those two games,
and Donovan Mitchell had his a game and it just
it didn't look good. And then they come back and
the Clippers have these dynamic games three and four. They
get sixty five in one game with Kauai and PG,
and then sixty two in the other game. And I
said at the time, hey, if we get that PG

(01:28:38):
along with Kauai, then the Clippers have a serious chance.
And then all of a sudden, what what do you mean,
no Kauai in game five? What are you talking about?
And it was put on the shoulders of Paul George.
You know Paul George, you know what he's all about.
He's one of those guys that been sort of an
overachiever from what was initially expected of him in the NBA.

(01:29:02):
But he's a guy that failed a year ago. I mean,
he had a horrific series in that collapse of a
three game to one game against Denver, and suddenly people
were talking about playoff p and they're mocking the guy
and saying he can't get it done. And he has
gotten it done. He's gotten plenty of help, plenty of

(01:29:24):
from the Terrence Bands and the Reggie Jackson's and a
lot of guys stepping out for that Clipper team. But
he's the leader on the court. So as we head
into this series right now with a very uncertain future
for Kawai Leonard in these playoffs, how do you think
he's gonna hold up? What do you expect to see
from Paul George in this series against the Phoenix Suns.

(01:29:47):
I think Paul George is gonna have an excellent series.
You know, He's gonna get a heavy dose of Mchal Bridges,
who's an dynamic defender. But I just don't think defensively
Phoenix has enough a Crowder is gonna be able to
get in the mixing. He's really good, you know, he
he had He had a heck of a series the
m v P. In my mind against the Los Angeles

(01:30:07):
Lakers guarding Lebron James that you talk about a heavy load.
So I think that Paul George is gonna have to
recognize his mismatches, you know, get on the block and
post up at Jake Crowder. You know, maybe you know,
take Devin Booker off of the bounce, but he's gonna
have to be living in the lane. And I thought
the difference in this season. I always said this, Paul

(01:30:28):
George is best when he gets downhill. Why would I
say that when Paul George attacks the basket, he gets
to the foul line, he puts pressure on your defense.
Then when a double team comes, he's six eight, he
can kick out two shooters. And Steve we spoke about this.
He asked me, Hey, what what excites you about the Clippers.

(01:30:50):
I said, it's because they're seemingly getting better as the
playoffs go along. Now I'd be lying to you if
I told you without Kawhi Leonard they beat Utah and
breathe through it. But this is a team under Tyler
that is continuing to improve. And one of the main
players I'm watching do this and grow into his own

(01:31:11):
is Paul George. It's amazing, so many different storylines here
involving players that have a golden opportunity, and three of
them come in mind of the teams that are still
in this right now. Three players they can take their
profile there are NBA profile to the next level. We

(01:31:33):
talked earlier about Janice two time regular season m v P.
But if he goes all the way through and wins
the championship, Chris Paul, I mean, Chris Paul is arguably,
at least in terms of resume, one of the top
five point cards in the history of the NBA. When
you look at his resume both ends of the basketball, offensively, defensively, playmakers, steals,

(01:31:59):
anything else he could be on you could make an
argument top five. But but he has no championship and
that's been that big X factor. And then we got
Paul George, another guy that people say, yeah, he's he's good.
You know he's he's an All star, but is he
kind of guy that can lead a team? Is he

(01:32:20):
a franchise guy? So when I look, assuming Chris Paul
can come back healthy from the COVID situation and obviously
understanding the uncertain dynamic with KWHI Leonar right now Janice,
Chris Paul, Paul George, three guys that if they championship?
Who else? Trey Young? I think you're just not giving

(01:32:43):
Atlanta a shot, which is fair. They still got to
get past today and the line, the line, by the way,
is six and a half. Right now, Philly's favored by
six and a a half. That line is skyrocket. Let me
let me give you a case when you whenever you're
drafted with a guy and then a great player, you're
always going to be compared, you know, Lebron James, Yeah,
de Wayne Waite. Right, you're talking about Trey and Luca,
Tray and Luca and if lucally been out the first

(01:33:05):
round and and Trey gets a ring, right or heck
makes it an Eastern Conference finals. I mean, right, there's
a lot to gain. I feel like Trey has already gained.
He's not in a bad place. But if you're comparing
him to Luca. Now that debate may come back around. Honestly,
he said, is he Steph Curry? You're like, no, he's
not Steph Curry. But hey, he gets a championship, you're

(01:33:28):
gonna have to compare him to these grades. And no,
right now, those those numbers aren't empty. I don't know
you with me, Steve. I remember when Dirk and the
Mavericks won that championship inn and don't forget Jason Kidd
on that team as well. They upset the Heat. He
had all the hype going into those NBA finals. What
did that championship mean for a guy like Dirt Novitski?

(01:33:49):
He had been a regular season m v P, but
that was year they went up belly up in the
first round of the playoffs. He had over thirty thousand
points in his career. But if he doesn't have that championship,
does that take him above a Karl Malone or Charles
Barkley or other guys that put up huge resumes simply
by winning a championship. Absolutely? You know, Dirk Navitsky certified

(01:34:11):
himself and he had a rep by a lot of
guys because shooting wasn't a shooting big wasn't popular. He
was soft. He frayed away from contact. You know, he
couldn't win. He just spelled all of those rumors. He
shut all the haters up with that championship because, like
I said, this isn't today's NBA. We're jump shooting. A

(01:34:32):
jump shooting big comes at a premium or three points.
You were soft. Dirk was soft, okay, And when he
made that run and got a championship, there was nothing
in his career that anybody could question, not another day.
He was an m v P. Like you said, he
did everything under the sun except for the championship. And
when he did that, man, hats off the Dirk. There's

(01:34:55):
no but there's no if there's no win, there's no
maybe's involved with Navinski now because you got that championship,
no doubt. If you're wanted the elite elite, I'm not
just talking about and also I'm talking about elite players,
regulars on the All Elite team year in and year out.
You want to check every box. Have I been a

(01:35:15):
League MVP, have I been a Finals MVP? Have I
won a championship? I've been an All Star Game and
V If you want to check the list, check, check, check,
and at the end if you check all of them. Okay, Now,
now you're what I call a true Hall of famer.
A lot of guys in the Hall of Fame that
we're not Hall of famers. They're affwarding that to a
lot of different guys that were, you know, good supporting

(01:35:36):
players on so you don't think everybody in the Hall
of Fames. Okay. On the other side, I'll explain that
to you. Coming up next, it's an All Fathers Day
music bonanza courtesy of Iowa Sam Today. What's the what's this?
What's this one here? This is a big bad voodoo daddy. Hello.
So we're just playing a little word association here, whether

(01:35:59):
it's the band name or the song name. Everybody calls
me daddy. That's right. My ex wife calls me that.
She calls me daddy. In fact, I got daddy on
my card from her today. Daddy. Every who's your daddy?

(01:36:19):
I'm everybody's daddy. By the way, for water that never
runs out, go Tankles and Navvy and Navy and Tankles
water heaters provide endless hot water for spalight comfort. Visit
Tankless made Simple dot Com and save hundreds with local
rebates tankless made simple dot Com. All Right, as we
progress through these NBA playoffs, it is a reminder that

(01:36:42):
it is a team effort and if you're a a
player that contributes, not as the main guy, but you're
definitely making an impact as far as the team winning
a championship, can that l of eight that player to
a Hall of Fame status. Now, when it comes to

(01:37:06):
the basketball Hall of Fame, this is rough for me, Ryan,
because and I've talked about this before, but it just
gets to me when when a ten year at a
ten right now? What's that one to ten year at
a ten right now? I'm sorry, what hall of fame?
Your irritation level? Oh it's it's a ten. You. Let

(01:37:28):
me explain why. Let me explain why. There is a
college basketball Hall of Fame, a separate college basketball Hall
of Fame. There is a separate women's basketball Hall of Fame.
There is a separate European basketball Hall of Fame, International

(01:37:49):
Basketball Hall of Fame. You know what, there's not an
NBA Hall of Fame. Wow, you put the name Smith.
Hall of Fame is you know, is all inclusive. You
have international airs, you have women in it. You have
high school coaches, high school coaches that never go to
at at the NBA or college level, that are in

(01:38:10):
the Basketball Hall of Fame. So when he judged an
NBA career, let me give any example. This year they
announced that Bob Dandridge was elected to the Basketball Hall
of Fame. Who's that? All right? Let me tell you
about Bob Dandridge. He was a wing guy for Kareem
when the Milwaukee Bucks won the championship in seventy one,

(01:38:32):
they had Kareem Abdul Jabbar, they had Oscar Robertson, and
their third best player was Bob Dandridge. And then later
he played for the Bullets when they had Elvin Hayes
and West Unsold and their third best player was Bob Dandridge.
And now he's in the Basketball Hall of Fame. And

(01:38:53):
I'm thinking to myself, like if I were to say,
let's say Milwaukee wins the championship and Chris Middleton is
one of those guys maybe makes four or five All
Star teams and he win a championship, I mean, would
you look at a guy like Chris Middleton as a
Hall of Famer to the you know, to the thought

(01:39:16):
of what you're saying. No, but let me ask this,
how much does high school your high school and college
career factoring? All right, I let's say he's like a
four time state champ. But this is the whole point.
In other words, your college career an NBA, you could

(01:39:37):
be a great college player, really great. I mean, let
me let me talk about my dear friend, Bill Walton. Okay,
I love Bill, I've done shows a Bill. He's a
u c L a guy like us. He is arguably
either the first or second greatest college center of all time.
It really it's either him or as he was then known,

(01:40:00):
Oll Sindor. These were the two most dominant centers in
the history of college basketball. Some people say, if you
want to go back to Bill Russell at USF FIN,
I'll put him in the conversation. But we're talking about
Bill Walton as a college player. Was on the Mount Rushmore.
If you have a Mount Rushmore college players, there he is.
Bill Walton did miss a shot in the championship, So

(01:40:21):
now he gets to twenty one out of twenty two.
He was twenty one. He missed one shot against Memphis State,
twenty one of twenty two in a championship game. Points.
All right, let's move on to his NBA career. From
the get go, he had some injuries and then finally
his third year he got healthy and Portland went on
a rampage to win the championship. The following year, they're

(01:40:44):
off to eating even a better start. Sixty games in there,
like fifty and ten, and Bill Walton is now the
player in the NBA and he goes gets hurt. That's it.
He goes on the shelf for several years. He has
one brief comeback, here is a six man off the bench,
or that great Celtics team wins another championship. But if

(01:41:06):
you were to have a separate NBA Hall of Fame,
even though he won an m v P Award, he
played three years of healthy basketball, not even that really
two years. That's not a Hall of Fame career. But
when you bring in his college career, well, he's no brainer.
This is why I have a hard time they need
a separate NBA Hall of Fame. I I just to see,

(01:41:28):
you know, a women's basketball coach side by side with
Phil Jackson. I mean, I'm I'm missing something here. There's there.
It's not the same sport. Gino R. E. M A
coaches women's basketball. He stands on his own right what
he's done at Yukon all these years. But to put
him in the same Hall of Fame as pat Riley,

(01:41:51):
it's apples in origins and they have in football. You
have a Pro football Hall of Fame, you have a
college football Hall of Fame. You can be a great
college player and be a Washington on the NFL. You're
recognized for both. This lumping in of your basketball career,
I forget it. I want an NBA Hall of Fame.
The question is, though, let's say you do it all right.
Let's say Adam Silver is like, hey, enough is enough?

(01:42:12):
You know, Kobe Bryant should be in there with high
school coaches. Okay, like he goes in. Do you kind
of go out and hand pick the older players? Do
you start fresh? Here's how does this one grand opening?
How about this? I want to deal right now for you.
I've already thought about this. Okay, you start a new
you know, hall of fame that did as well as NASCAR,

(01:42:34):
Like they had this initial class and then they limited
how many guys to start to catch up? Okay, you
can't put everybody in all at once. You've got to
sort of established the first ten, and then you start
bringing in five a year, and then it's the numbers
go down that you bring in fewer and fewer. Here
will be the first ten guys to go into an
NBA Hall of Fame. According to Steve Hartman, you ready
for this. The two most dominant players in the early

(01:42:56):
years of the NBA where George, Mike And and Bob Zy.
They represent that era, Mike and and Kuzy. Next two guys,
I'm putting in Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain. There's four.
The next two guys, I'm putting in Oscar Robertson and
Jerry West. That's six. The next guy decade only two.

(01:43:17):
The next guy's next. I'm only putting in ten guys
in my initial class. The last four guys that are
going in our Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson,
Michael Jordan's that's it. That's the initial inaugural class of
the Basketball Hall of Fame. I'm only going ten. Now,
you said, where's Kobe wears All? The guy r West? No,

(01:43:40):
Jerry's in, No, no, no, no again, Kuzy, Mike and
Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Jerry Kareem, Larry, Magic, Michael.
That's my first ten nuys and then after that you
might go another ten. But that's how I would put

(01:44:00):
it together, and it would only take a few years
to sort of get caught up. But also I'm saying
this these fringe guys that are just there were like
sixteen people like to the Basketball Hall of Fame this year.
Are you kidding me? No? No, I haven't talk with
Carlos Boozer. We're doing NBA TV. I said, Booze, you're

(01:44:20):
Hall of Famer. I said, Booze, you got a college championship.
You know, you got NBA All Star Wards. You wont
He's got a college, high school in in uh you know,
no NBA championship, Olympic gold medal. Booze has got a
gold messet Boozer. I said, Booze, you're in Okay, got
a LIMP gold medal. He's got a high school championship.

(01:44:45):
And what to do? I got a name on the
other side. IM gonna throw away to again. You played
in this league, you played against these guys. I want
to get here and put but first let's bring back
you know who, give us a little update on everything
that's going on, what is trending right now. Ralph Irvan,
I'm excited now. I'm on my way to go into
the Basketball Hall of Fame because I want a high
school state championship fame. I will say this, Steve, I

(01:45:10):
like your idea. If you're not opening the building right away,
like in other words, if it's gonna take a few
years to build the building right then you release it
ten at a time for the few years building up.
That's what they did with the Baseball Hall of Fame.
That's what they did with the Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame. I will counter, if you do have a building,
you already have a list the NBA's Top fifty that
they did years ago. That's your list. That's your You

(01:45:33):
have this list that you compiled. All those guys are
gonna go in. I'm saying, if you're opening the building tomorrow,
nobody wants to go and see ten people. He doesn't
want to see fifty people. He doesn't want Scottie pippins
On that doesn't want You can't have fifty people at
one time. I mean what he got fifty speeches by
who there's not fifty alive, Steve, so maybe about are

(01:45:58):
alive of that fifty Okay, well that's that's yeah, it's
too many. Just take your time, take your time. Well,
you know what, we're not going to take our time
because we got stuff going on. It's about to start
Game one of the NBA Western Conference Finals, Phoenix hosting
the l A Clippers. No Chris Paul he's in COVID

(01:46:19):
nineteen protocols. No Kawhi leonardis out with the knee injury,
and so they will get it started the next few
minutes in the Valley of the Sun. Meanwhile, the leaders
are headed to the t at the US Open. Your
top three, well, that's Mackenzie Hughes, Louise Tas, and Russell Henley.
They all sit at five under part two shots ahead
of Bryson de Shambo and Rory McElroy. Again, those players

(01:46:43):
will start hitting that first t in the next few minutes.
On the Major League Baseball Scoreboard, Kyle Schwarber has hit
three home runs already for Washington. The Gnats with a
five to lead over the Mets. There in the eighth inning,
the Yankees have taken a two one lead over Oakland.
That's in the seventh Kansas City at three run third inning,
they have a four two lead over Boston. That's in

(01:47:05):
the fourth inning in Houston, exploding to a six two
lead over the White Sox. That's in the fourth Plenty
of Major League Baseball, golf, NBA lots to stick around four.
They'll send it back to Steve Hartman and yes, Bryan Hollins,
all right, thank you very much, or Ralph all right,
so we are ready to tip off, tip off, Uh,

(01:47:26):
the big game coming up here between the Clippers. We're
getting a little side track here. But I love to
do this. I want to talk some Hall of Fame
right now with you. With you, let me ask you this.
I'm gonna give you guys that were just elected here
to the Hall of Fame. Hall of Fame, all right.
And one of the guys who was elected to the

(01:47:48):
Hall of Fame this year's Chris Webber. All right. So
Chris Webber had two big years in Michigan, leading the
Fab Five to the championship Game. But I'm sorry, Chris,
You're best known for a time out. I mean, when
you when you really think about Chris Webber's career at

(01:48:09):
Michigan and he was the best player on that team.
What is what is the lasting memory of his two
years at Michigan, It's the time out against North Carolina
and the championship game. As far as his NBA his
career is concerned, if you had an NBA only Hall
of Fame, would you consider Chris Webber a Hall of

(01:48:33):
Fame player? No? No, If it was NBA only, it
would be comparative to like like NFL, n F the
guys that are going in, Like you've broken records, you
got champions like you are. You are on that top ten,
you know yards list or passing or kept receiving. So no,

(01:48:53):
what Webber and a lot of these names wouldn't be in.
How about Chris Bosh? No, Box wouldn't be you. No, no, no, no, listen,
I'm not because I like the Hall of Fame. How
about Paul Pierce? Is that a Hall of Fame player
based solely on his NBA career. I think Paul could
get him my Hall of Fame, and I'd have to

(01:49:14):
look at it and compare. Look, Steve, I'm not as
tight as you are because I mean he was the
finals m v P. You're cutting Tim Duncan off the list,
you know, like, OK, what's more impressive to you a
regular season m v P award or an NBA Finals MVPs.
Isn't it right? Like why isn't Chauncey Billips in the
Hall of Fame? He was a final Chauncey is a

(01:49:37):
finalist if I'm not missing now, he wasn't even a
finalist this year. He's eligible, he hasn't been a finalist.
I remember seeing him on the list. He Chauncey will
get in. These things are going I'm not I'm not
sure how to high school in college careers, would you
consider Chauncey Billups a better NBA player? Then let's say
Chris Bosh. I'd have to look at it. Here's the deal,

(01:50:02):
Boss was. I always fascinated to get a player's perspective
on the impact players actually have. Understanding there's you know,
an All Star status and All League status, and then
there's Hall of Fame. I gotta go really look at
the resumes when you break it down, because when you
look at Chris Boss's resume, then the numbers are there.

(01:50:24):
I think he's over a ten time All Star, you know,
definitely all rookie stuff. He just getting automatically every year,
not Toronto. He earned his way in. I would say
give him out, Well, he made it every year he
was with the Heat. Is he deserving every year? Is
with the Heat? He made the All Star team average?
I think he average right around twenty points. That's that's

(01:50:44):
a tough dude for what the number one team in
the in the East. You're gonna reward the best team
with three spots at all So what is the buzz?
Because you know as well as I do when the
All Star teams are announced. So you got the fans
vote for the five top Actually it's a combination and
a fans vote, players vote, media vote. They determine the
five starters, but then the next seven guys to get

(01:51:06):
in to fill out the roster comes from the league
and they seem to pick the same guys every single year.
How does that play with the players? Where you're looking
at one guy saying, look at his numbers, Look at
this guy's numbers, just because he's been there before he
gets in. Is that something players discuss? Is this a

(01:51:29):
factor for players on who's being tapped an All Star
because obviously there could be bonuses involved, there's a lot
of different things involved two attain All Star status. But
is that something that players talk about. Yeah, it's tough
when you see a guy getting snubbed, or when you
feel like a player isn't that good, but he's gotten
in just because he kind of gets it. There's some

(01:51:50):
guys that would have empty numbers we call where you
just go out and get your numbers even though your
team isn't winning. So, you know, I would say it's
a bit up and down. I remember I played with
Demark his cousins. You know, the year he made it
to the All Star Game, but he felt like, you know,
two or three years prior he should have been in.
You know, he was, he was the best big man
in the league for a while, but couldn't make it

(01:52:10):
to an All Star Game. So you understand the the
ups and downs of it. So obviously you're gonna have
a great as a player. To be quite frankly frank
with you, we complained about a lot like anything, like
like nothing is fair, Like nothing is fair. We're upset
all the time. But there would be certain guys you'd

(01:52:30):
question you knew that, hey, if you know when Chris
Paul was hot, if he just had a decent year,
He's going in. Even if the numbers weren't there. You know,
Tony Parker, uh, when the Spurs were rolling, you know,
if he just did decent, you know he'd get in.
You knew Kobe Bryant because of his body of work
was a shoeing, whether he was the same Kobe or not.
So there's certain guys you understood the name and the

(01:52:53):
longevity was there, and they're just kind of granted to remember.
Was it Uh? Was it was it Duncan or no?
It was way to Dirk correct that were in the league,
was like, no, you're in, Like, yeah, they added a
spot for them, like a career situation. I remember. The
fan vote can be irritated. There was one year where
in the Western Conference A C Green of the Lakers

(01:53:15):
beat out Karl Malone for a starting spot, didn't it.
And Carl Malone bailed out on the game whole like
he he he got named as a reserve obviously, and
he's like, no, I'm hurt. He was so angry he

(01:53:35):
was not starting. He goes, let me get this straight.
I play in Utah. A c With all due respect,
the great iron man of the n B A. He
plays in l A and he gets all these votes
come in Yao Ming. All eight years yell Ming played
in the NBA, he started the All Star Game. He
used to bury shock in the voting. All these votes

(01:53:56):
coming in from around the world, and all eight years
that yell Ming played in the n b A he
was a starter, voted a starter in the All Star
Game and playing a couple of the games, but he
won the vote every single year. In fact, Shaq kidded
when he left the Lakers to go to Miami, he
was relieved. He goes, now I can start games again
because he was in the East and he got voted
in the starting but he couldn't touch him. I don't know.

(01:54:18):
I just I just I mean a lot of people
argue how much validity he is, but there's no question
when you're filling out resumes, especially when you're trying to
consider guys as the Hall of Fame. What do you
look at? All star games, all leaks? You know, these
things do factor in. Reputation plays in. You know, there's
the unwritten rules where a guy deserves to get that spot.

(01:54:41):
He's been around, he's tenured in, and you're gonna you know,
if he's healthier, has a decent run out of he's
he's going to be in. You know, certain guys they
get those names, and there's a level where you pay
your dues where a guy like a let's say, like
a Kobe Bryant, I mean, he just grinded through the
best player in the league for some time. So, but
remember about Kobe his second year in the league, when

(01:55:03):
he was still a six man, he got voted as
starter in the All Star Game. And when he showed
up in ninety eight of that All Star Game, he
got a lot of looks like, dude, you haven't earned
this yet. And now we know Kobe and learned it.
It wasn't but he he got a little shut out,
so to speak, by some of the guys saying, no, kid,
you're I mean, the fans voted to you in a starter,

(01:55:26):
but frankly, you don't. You haven't earned it yet. Yeah,
I mean that that. The fan vote is extremely tough,
and we saw it this year with the m v
P race that you know, we were like, we love
Derrick Rose, but Derrick Ross would have told you, like, dude,
I didn't need an m v P vote, like I
love you guys. But you didn't have to do that.
I mean, he goes in the record books forever. Who

(01:55:48):
you're like, what media member voted Derrick Ross. It wasn't
a media member. It was the fan of fan vote
Derrick Ross first place for m v P. All right,
we're getting ready to tip off right now, this game
in Phoenix Clippers Sons. Would continue to update you throughout
the day, plus what's going on at the US Open
coming up next. Steve Harvan and Ryan Hollins on this

(01:56:12):
Father's Day Sunday. All right, we're off and running here.
Clippers and Sons clips off to an early lead, fourteen
to ten halfway through the first quarter. Paul George or
he's got seven points in this game. Clippers shooting sixt
the Sons are shooting just thirty eight percent, and they
are over four from three point land. So early impressions here, Ryan, Predictably,

(01:56:37):
Sons look rusty, certainly on their outside shooting. They can't
knock down anything. Eton's gotten a couple of shots inside
that have gotten them on the board. But from what
you've seen early on, what do you make so far
of this matchup? By the way, the Sons came in
as a four point favorite. Well, it looks like early
on both teams are sitting here filling each other out.

(01:56:59):
But I like what I'm seeing here from the Clippers.
The biggest worry for me is Paul George still gonna
be Paul George. Is Reggie Jackson still gonna be Reggie Jackson?
So far, so good? Uh. Paul George getting downhill that's
one of my big keys for him and playing in
the paint. There's no guards that can kind of keep
up with him size wise, and if he can attack

(01:57:22):
that matchup when Jay Crowder ends up being the primary
on him, that is smooth selling for Paul George. So
the fact he's off to an early start, he's got
seven early points a three pointer made. Uh, That is
definitely bodes well for the Los Angeles Clippers. What are
you this line up? I mean it's a small line
up he got, but toomb you got Morris, Jackson, George

(01:57:44):
and Man in your starting lineup. How do you like
that strategy against the Suns? Well? I love it in
the sense that DeAndre Ayton isn't in a situation where
they post him up a lot, so it's not like
they're gonna come out, drop him on a post and
he's gonna tear you up. Now you do have to watch.
And you mentioned this earlier see the boards. He is
a monster on the glass. I mean he had some
crazy stat line seventeen and fourteen, sixteen and sixteen against

(01:58:08):
the Los Angeles Lakers, and and he was a real key.
You know, we spoke about this with with Steve remember
against Nicola Yoakis the m v P the league. He said, well,
that's guy's the m v P that's going on here.
But nonetheless, he's not a post up guy. And you
take out a primary part of the Phoenix offense, you

(01:58:29):
might say, what is that? What's their primary part? The
pick and roll? They run a lot of pick and roll,
especially when Chris Paul is back. So this small lineup
could really pay dividends with the tune plan five more
senior plan five and now you can switch everything and
hold on, might I add you didn't bring this up
seat there goes that man, you know, Terrence Man inserted

(01:58:50):
into the starting lineup, and just his size makes this
a really really big team across the board and taking
the challenge Guarden, Devin Booker, Jay Crowder, well, all those
guys you hate playing against, but boy, you love having
him on his team. What kind of factor can he
be in this series? He can be a huge factor man,
just being a spacing defending his experience. We really saw

(01:59:10):
his toughness on display against Lebron. James is untimely knocks
down an open three point shot. But Jake crowd is
just tough as nails man. He he can play for
any team. It amazes me how he's just bounced around
from kind of Boston and then things were weird and
Utah and now here landing in Phoenix. But Jake Crowder

(01:59:31):
is a championship not just a piece of championship piece
of any team. And that shooting. Think about how last year,
how good he was. I thought he would have been
going back to the Heat, he was a big piece
of about what's wrong with what's wrong with the Heat?
You didn't sign Jake Crowter back, That's what's wrong with you.
Guys need that kind of toughest, especially when we talk
about the playoffs and you think about the role Draymond

(01:59:51):
Green playing on that great run by Golden Stay getting
into five straight finals. He gotta have guys like that.
You gotta have those grinders. I I always looked at
Derek Fisher having that roll back in the day with
the Lakers, just doing the dirty work. You know. He
was one of those guys that you just you did,
those those things that don't really show up in a
box score, but at the end they end up helping

(02:00:13):
you win championships. A very basic concept into all the
kids at home listening. A guy who makes an open shot, Yeah,
you're getting the ball, like you said there Fisher, Like
like Steve you you saw your first hand with all
the Laker chap how important was the guy who just
made the open shot. He wanted the shot, He had
no hesitation. That was the beautiful thing of a guy

(02:00:35):
like a Derek Fish or a Robert Or. When you've
got players like that, See, I can make an easy
argument about Robert or being in the Hall of Fame.
The only guy that won multiple rings with three different franchises.
Seven seven seven rings, seven big shot rob Man. As

(02:00:55):
far as we qualify the Hall of Fame, Rio is
in Man. That's a that was a no. Who was
that was that McHale that went up and said, you know,
was Robert Horry not up here? Yeah? Seven rings and
and not just like a guy, I mean a guy
that either started early in his career with Houston or
was a guy coming out the bench for San Antonio
and obviously with the Lakers. All right, so sixteen thirteen,

(02:01:18):
right now, Clippers are leading the sense a little over
five minutes ago in the first quarter. Meanwhile, they're finally
getting to the point where the leaders are team off.
At the US Open at Tory Pines, we got some
big names in the mix. We see Rory McElroy out
there and John Ram out there in Bryson to Shambo
and Justin Thomas is still lurking around right now, Xander

(02:01:39):
Schafle and and Brooks Kepco is trying to get into it.
But this is you know, it's the US Open. This
this is a brutal course. Nothing is given in today
and at some point, obviously at the end of the day,
someone is gonna be crowned a major golf champion. You
just have those life moments, whether you're in a teen

(02:01:59):
sports game for a championship or an individual sport, it's
all about that, right, being a champion. Yeah, that man,
that that's what it's for. And uh, you know you
you gotta take your hat off to an NBA champ
or or football like you gotta be healthy as we've seen,
which is unfortunate the theme of the playoffs. You gotta

(02:02:20):
play hard, you gotta play together like you gotta like
each other. You know, you gotta have synergy. There's so
much that goes into an NBA championship. Well, in golf,
you just gotta be good. The best of you that
you can be. Is there's something to be said about
not having to look around and saying, Okay, it's all
on my shoulders if I'm gonna win this thing. By
the way, Devin Booker just knocked down his first three

(02:02:41):
of the game to tie it up, and that's gonna
be the key for the Suns today. If Devin Booker
gets hot, how will the Clippers counter? With much more
on this matchup. Also Game seven between Sixers and Hawks
coming up next. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports
talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our show,
said Fox sports Radio dot com and within the I

(02:03:03):
Heart Radio app search f s R to listen live. Alright,
rolling on on this beautiful Father's day out there, Yeah,
say something nice to dad. We're just laughing during the break,
there's Tony Baker. Shout out Tony Baker Man. Funny funny, funny, funny, funny,
really funny. And what makes it so funny is it's

(02:03:25):
so true, right, I mean, no Father's Day gifts, by
and large or not great. My dad, God rest his soul.
He had a wonderful life. But he was big into
crossword puzzles. So you could get him one of those
crossword puzzle books and he'd be happy with that. You know,

(02:03:49):
your dad's a little hard to be, like, what do
you get the guy? Like, maybe your dad's a golfer, right,
and you get them some golf balls or you know,
the new golf glove or you know, you know what
an old were spent on fathers. Nobody wanted something for
the effort. I mean that's always what I say, you know,
something to acknowledge the effort. As a dad, his dad's give, give, give,

(02:04:09):
and they and usually most dads aren't really expecting much
of anything in return. But yeah, I just sort of
like a little thought was into it. Now you you
understand what I actually am interested in, and then give
me a little trinket to represent Yeah, I know you
like that, And that's that's usually give me and my
dad had a weird dynamic. We would like kind of

(02:04:30):
switch rolls of like kind of like like that like
you know, you're the servant. You're like so like you know,
like I remember like in high school, like hey Dad,
like I need these shoes today. He'd go stand in line,
get me shoes. And at the same token, you know,
when I made some money, people like hey, man, I
need my floor done. Go do it, like like all right,

(02:04:50):
like I gotta get higher contract everything, get this, get
us floor done, or like he's like, hey, I want
to go here. All right, we're here. Just do it
like it wasn't a question. But we would ask each
other when I think that incredibly disrespectful, like hey, I'm hungry,
bring food, go go to go in and out for me,
go do it like it wasn't like a please, like no,
you just do it. I don't. I did the same

(02:05:14):
thing with my dad, absolutely yeah, I mean all the
way pretty much to the end, like I would you
mentioned in and out like he i'd see him, he
goes take me to in and out. I want to
go right now, and I'm not asking all right, I'll
take it to in and out, Sure, let's go, and

(02:05:35):
and he'd sit there and I go get the order
and bring it back to him and everything else I'm
not going. Yeah, I guess it is a weird man.
I don't know with my with my with my kids,
my boys especially, you know, I just I do ask him,
like you know, like the thing that drives me nuts
about them. I'm pretty much a guy that keeps things

(02:05:58):
in order pretty much. I've only got over the top,
but I just like to keep things sort of in
their place. And well, the thing about it is if
you sort of put things back, then it's easy to
find him the next time around. So on the weekends
when I rotate and come in, and I walk into
the boy's bathroom, and I'm looking at like a towel, right,

(02:06:20):
and I see a towel. Instead of just hanging it
on the hook with the same amount of they just
sort of threw it in like in a bundle on
on the hook, right. And of course what happens. The
towels still wet because it doesn't dry out. So I'm like, guys, guys,
come here, get just I'm gonna I'm gonna play this
out for you. I'm gonna do what you just did.

(02:06:42):
And then I'm gonna do what I do and see
if it actually takes any more time. All right, so
here I am, I've dried off. I'm throwing the towel
on the hook and the hook sort of grabs it. Okay,
it's all bunched up. Okay, that was your way. Same time.
I'm gonna take the towel, hold it up, and then
put it on the hook so it actually hangs and
dries out. Did that take any more time? It was

(02:07:04):
this exactly. No, there was no difference in time, but
the end results different because your bunch up towels gonna
stay wet and my hung towel is actually gonna dry out,
so that the next time when I have a towel,
I got a dry towel instead of a wet towel.
I'm just like it is this every week, same thing,

(02:07:27):
over and over again. These boys have to be taught
these things. I mean, it's it's a matter of these
are life skills, you know, hang your towel correct, and
then when you guys are on your own, if ever,
you know I haven't commenced. My dad didn't give me
an option, Like you're out the door, right, but you
didn't get like a maybe like a no no, no

(02:07:47):
no hang the first couple of years at U c
l A. And and we were going into the summer
of my third year going into U c l A.
And he's like, where are you gonna live? This fall
in my room and he goes, uh, that's that's off.
You're done and no money and just figure it out
there you go have a good time. So your team
option got declined. Step in a living at home was

(02:08:11):
no longer not but my boys got a lapse of luxury.
So but I throw it out there. I said, when
you ever, if ever moved out of this house, Um,
are you gonna be slobs? A You're gonna like, are
you gonna live in filth? Are you're gonna actually clean
up after yourself or waiting for the maid egga your
mother to pick up after you or your father? I mean,

(02:08:33):
how is this all gonna work? I don't know. So
these are the things fathers do. Right, If your dad
out there, you probably sympathize with a lot of this.
Oh my god, Marcus Cousins wouldn't throw down. Marcus Cousins
is in the game. I was looking at the Clippers roster.
By the way, Clippers are up to in this game. Now,

(02:08:54):
just started the second quarter and I was thinking looking
at the bench. So the first guys off the bench,
they go big, remember when they started small? And then
you bring him Boo Boogie and Zoobots off the bench.
They also brought in Rondo and Beverly and so what
do you didn't get that? This is the depth when

(02:09:15):
you look at that. When we talked about the starting
lineup for the Clippers, which was but two Morris, Jackson,
George and Man and then your second wave is Boogie, Zoobots, Rondo,
Beverly and Canard. It's a pretty good lineup in itself.
No it is, and again, no Kauai in any of this.

(02:09:36):
Here's here's the thing, credit Tyler. We talked about the
next man up mentality. So it wasn't like, okay, Kauai,
You're thirty shots, are just gonna go to Reggie Jackson.
Now we're gonna play the same way. Look at can
knocking down threes. Where has he been all year? Each
and every one of these guys give him a huge contract.
He did as he did and if you question that,

(02:09:56):
he made good in the Utah series. You did, maybe
not the defender, but we're seeing what he can do well.
And now everyone's getting a piece of the pie, which
keeps them, you know, really engaged. And I'll tell you,
for another team, on a scouting report, the last thing
you want to see is all ten guys involved in
a basketball game, because I don't want to have to
scout for ten guys. It's easy to scout for one

(02:10:18):
or two guys that I gotta worry about, but ten
guys on the floor, and that's really making the Clippers
dangerous because now I'm not leaning on Paul George and
Reggie Jackson and Coa's absence. The same way as Boogie
comes off the bench for four and you're watching Boogie
Cousins and you always are reminded that before the Achilles

(02:10:42):
and all these other injuries, and this guy is really
an unstoppable offensive force in the post. I mean, you
just watch that. I mean, who's guarding this guy. Nobody's
gonna guard this guy. He gets underneath the basket and
unless you're hammering him. So they're feeding Boogie Cousins right now,
and he's either going to the foul I'm picking up

(02:11:03):
fouls and the Suns don't have an answer for the
big guy. And you know, this really kind of messes
up your rotation because Tyler is playing a chess match.
We talked about the chess match. He's going Dario SARTs.
Oh you're coming off the bench, Okay, book, he go
annihilate him because he can't guard you into paint. No,
he doesn't want to guard you. And now do you
want to bring back DeAndre Aytan? So against DeAndre Ayton

(02:11:24):
they went small and now you go big with Sarche
And excuse me, DeMarcus has twelve points, He's five of
ten and seven rebounds. Excuse me. That was against Dallas.
But so far, yeah, he's first of all excellent. Do
not play a single game against Dallas. Yeah, I'm not sure.
Played a total of fifteen minutes in the season. In

(02:11:45):
the series against the Jazz. Okay, he's got six points, correct,
He's got six points when assist one rebound for the night.
Sorry guys, right, so, but he didn't play one minute
in the series against the MAVs. He played a total
of fifteen minutes in the series against the Jazz, and
now all of a sudden, he's getting big minutes and
destroying Phoenix as he's coming to the game early here. Well,
the Clippers second unit had really struggled to create offense

(02:12:09):
at times. So now you step in with the guy
who can give you offense, and you've got a really
favorable matchup a guy who's once arguably the best big
man in the league, of former teammate of mine and
DeMarcus Cousins posting up of a forward in Dario Sorry,
So you know, big play there, and now you know
sorry is not gonna be the great, great offensive threat

(02:12:31):
to attack him on the other end, and that pick
and roll is not gonna be as potent because if
you're playing against Bookie Cousins, his weakness right now is
putting him in the pick and roll. But this isn't
a pick and roll lineup necessarily that Phoenix has on
the floor. Excellent job, tylu Alright, Zarich did pick up
a foul and Bookie Cousins there he's going to the
free throw line. Sons leading in this game thirty one
to thirty. Coming up. Of course, we got a game

(02:12:53):
seven between the Philadelphia seventies sixers and the Atlanta Hawks.
What will it take for the Hawks to pull the
upset and move on to the Eastern Conference Finals. We're
gonna tell you coming up next. Oh yeah, feeling good
on a Father's Day, Steve Hartman, Ryan Hollins, Hey, is

(02:13:15):
your dad's razor older than you are? Get him something
new for Father's Day at DSc six blade razor perfect
for an extra close, precise shave. Get one now at
a store near you, or as part of a gift
set of Dollar Shave Club dot com slash jonas. That's
Dollar Shave Club dot com slash jonas. All right, The
Clippers are leading the Son's forty to thirty seven because

(02:13:39):
of Boogie Cousins. Again that that's that's a fact right now,
the difference between the Clippers and the Sons Boogie Cousins, Now,
how is this happening? How is it happening? The Boogie Cousins,
who did not play one second for the Clippers in
the Dallas series and played a total of fifteen minutes

(02:14:02):
in six games in the Utah series, is suddenly a
major factor Game one against the Phoenix Suns. Book. Excellent
job from Tyler. You know, Boogie Cousins never lost his
ability to score the basketball. He just can't move the
same way on the defensive end of the floor. So
the one thing Tyler did, and we talked about it earlier,

(02:14:23):
he put him in a situation where he had favorable
matchups and that Clippers second unit really really struggled to
score the basketball with Rondo in there. So now knowing
that you had the short rest, you're right back at it.
Tyler is getting the most out of that bench at
the right time. So Bookie has been posting, he's rebounded.

(02:14:45):
You know, playing with Rondo, Rondo is going to find you,
uh so, honestly excellent, excellent job. And those two have
a rapport from playing with the Lakers, so you know,
Boogie Cousins scoring the basketball in this situation is at excellent.
I think Tyler inserted him at the at the correct time.
And now just you know, you just want to buy

(02:15:06):
Paul George some rest. But you know, right now he's
the second leading score for the Clippers, So that's big time. Steve.
It is Cannard, by the way, He's had a couple
of threes for the Clips. Meanwhile, early on, Devin Booker
has been quiet. He only got five points so far,
has only made a couple of shots on the field
one three point attempt that he made. So that's the

(02:15:28):
thing to keep your eye on. Right there, Johnson is
the guy that's actually had the most points for the
Suns right now off the bench with ten so Clippers
leading in this game forty thirty nine. Let's go to
the second game today, Game seven. The winner this game
will move on to the Eastern Conference Finals. The surprising
Atlanta Hawks trying to knock off the one seed, the
Philadelphia seventies sixers. What has to happen? I mean, obviously

(02:15:52):
you can say, well, Trey Young's gotta have a big game,
but he has to have a big game just for
in them to stay in the game. What has to
come from it Atlanta that at the end of the day,
if they win this game against Philadelphia in Philly Game seven,
what will be the difference in favor of the Hawks?
Pace paces everything for the Hawks that they can create

(02:16:12):
an up and down game. Uh, it absolutely favors them.
Why would you say that Joel Embiad is too good
to let him sit and pound you out in a
half court. But if you make Joel Embiid have to
show on the pick and roll, split and transition, spit
right back. They're gonna have a tough outing. And now
if you can make them play in the half court,

(02:16:33):
even though Joel Embiat would like to, you can kind
of expose Ben Simmons. So if Atlanta can keep the
game high pace, they can get up and down. It
might I add, if they start knocking down three pointers.
That's the huge difference. You know, when the Hawks hit threes,
it opens the entire floor. And the one thing that
Doc Rivers had done, at least defensively, Philly has been

(02:16:56):
good enough to win. It's just the offensive in where
they stink. They've been forcing Trey Young to drive to
the basket and score oversize. Is he gonna score, Yes,
But Trey Young getting three pointers and getting the rim
will absolutely eat you a part. So if you're Philadelphia,
you know you want to control the pace and you
don't want those those young boys out running. And honestly,

(02:17:17):
that experience should went out for Philadelphia. If it doesn't,
boy Steve As will roll some somebody, somebody gotta go. Oh,
there's no doubt. I mean, if if Philadelphia loses this
game at home, and you know how vicious Philly fans
can be, and it's just unacceptable. This is a team,
as you remember the seventies, Sixers tanked year after year

(02:17:39):
after year, Tank Tank tank, tank tank to get some
of these elite players to get on their roster, which
is why a year ago they finally said enough, we
need a coaching change. I don't know why they brought
in Doc Rivers based on his resume. I don't know
why they felt like Doc is the guy that takes
us to another level because he's not that kind of
a coach. The best coaching job that Doc Rivers ever

(02:18:02):
did when it was his very first year at Orlando.
Remember that team. This was a team that was as
bad as any team in the league, and somehow we
got a five hundred season out of It's one of
the great coaching jobs are a single season, I think
in NBA history. But he's not the coach when he
needed team to get next level he couldn't do with
the Clippers. Um, you know, even though the Celtics won

(02:18:23):
a championship, once they won one, they couldn't get to
another level. So it'll be interesting if the Sixers lose
this game today, how long is Doc Rivers gonna stick
around in Philadelphia? All right, So I my gut feeling
is in the line just keeps going up. Man, serious
money is going down on the sixers right now. Line's
gone all the way up to seven and a half.

(02:18:44):
So there's nobody believe in Atlanta. What about Capella, I mean,
what do you make of his game? How does he
match up inside? I know he's gonna get his boards,
but what other impact can he have for Atlanta in
this game? Well, Clinton has the toughest job. He's gotta
contain all em Bead and the one thing he's doing,
if you watch the matchup, he's really just forcing and
bad to shoot jumpers. When Bead shoots his jumpers, they

(02:19:07):
annihilate their team. But the one thing is Clint Compella
has gotta finish strong in the paint. Sometimes he's he's
looking to get fouled, you know, he's he's not really
uh getting the contact, you know, buying into grabbing contact,
and and I think that he has suffered uh for it.
But when Compella is active and running and he makes

(02:19:27):
Joel have to move, he's extremely effective. So he's a
big focus. But you know he I mean, he's getting
his lunch eating whenever he wants to go out and
play against uh, Joel and b That's just a very
very tough matchup. As we see Phoenix getting up forty
five to forty, looks like they're starting to get going.
Boogie Cousins gave me be a little too fast for

(02:19:49):
him right now. I tell you one thing, the Clippers
are a little slow getting back on defense right now.
And this is something that Tyler, their coach, said he
wasn't happy about this early start on a Sunday after
wrapping up a series on Friday in Los Angeles that
wasn't much of a turnaround time. And they look a
step slow. Yeah, and it's tough. And like I said,

(02:20:10):
Tyler understands it. You know, he's dug into the bench.
Great job putting Boogie Cousins out at the floor. Sometimes
the guys, if they're not physically tired, they're gonna be
emotionally tired. Um. But I thought, excellent minutes so far
from Boogie. And now you see the starters back in
the small lineup out there. So I think this is
gonna be a bit of a nail biter. But I'm

(02:20:32):
gonna tell you one thing. We know Chris Paul on
the floor. You have to get this win of the
year the Clippers, because you do not want to give
Phoenix confidence saying well, wow, we beat you without Chris Paul.
Wait till he gets back on the floor, and see
how we do now. Terence Man, the surprise star of
game six of their series against the Jazz, putting him

(02:20:52):
thirty nine points, started today. He's only played seven minutes
and he hasn't made a shot. So you know, we
were wondering in the aftermath of Game six, as a
star born with Terrence Man. I mean, is this thirty
nine points in a playoff game to close out a series.

(02:21:14):
You know, if you're a Clipper fan, you're thinking, wow,
we just we find a new star. And early on
this game he has been a zero factor. No, I wouldn't.
I can't say he's a zero factors. Defense on Devin
Booker has been really good, but the defense dictated Man's offense.
So when Rudy Gobert is helping off of him, he's
hitting threes. So I don't think it was that he

(02:21:36):
was just breaking down Utaw one on one and you know,
put it on this highlight show. He hit open shots.
They dared him to shoot corner threes, he hit quarter threes.
You know, he ran in transition, did the little things.
So Terence Man is playing his role, and sometimes his
role is not to just be a one on one score.
So I like the way that he fits. A star

(02:21:57):
is born, he's good enough to to start in this league.
And sometimes there's just a value Steve on a guy,
and you covered the Lakers championship, I'll compare him maybe
to a Trevor Reason, you know someone there's no place
run for Trevor Reason, but he was an integral part
of that championship. Then what the Lakers did, there was
no place run for Metal World Piece, or as he

(02:22:19):
was still known as, run Our Test in Game seven
of the NBA Finals, and he saved the day when
Kobe had an offshooting day that day, and the Lakers
won another championship. Phoenix leading this game six right now,
inside three minutes to go in the first half, so
it looks like we're gonna be entertained to it back
and fourth game, Paul George is knocked out of Big Three. Yeah,

(02:22:39):
that's a tough shot right there, but you shine for
the Clippers just in a since Steve of you need
Paul George to be active. You need him hitting shots,
you need him on the rim. He's got to be
flowing because you know, like any player, he can flow
into a stump slump. But with no Kauai Leonard there
there's no Oh, Paul George, you're having a backup, you know,
back game. You know, Kauai. It's time for you to

(02:23:01):
take over. There's no choir right now. And as much
as we love Reggie Jackson, Paul George has to be
that guy. And it looks like so far he shouldered
that load because when I assessed this Phoenix roster, there's
no one to guard Paul George. You know, he's six eight,
he's got a great frame, he can get his shot
off over anybody in the league. And now you've got

(02:23:23):
a team that is playing hard and believing in the
Los Angeles Clippers. This is the best Clipper basketball I've
seen in the last two years. With Steve. They look
like a team against Utah, and I can't have always
said that about the way they played. All right, So
there's back and they're gonna be a back and forth game,
no question about that. Also, we got the US open

(02:23:43):
rolling on right now, and I can tell you this,
this is gonna be a tight leaderboard, no question about that.
In fact, let's jump in a little bit earlier. Right now.
I just gotta I gotta hear from Ralph Irvan because
I've been talking a lot about how great the Clipper
roster is and the garbage that is the Lakers, and
how the Clippers have taken over l A because they
have a much deeper team. Plenty of thoughts always rolling

(02:24:06):
off Ralph's tongue about what's going on with the US
Open Golf. You've got a lot of opinions to share,
Ralph on this Father's Day, no doubt about that. You
you put some words in my mouth. I never said that.
I never said that the Clippers took over l A.
I've never said any such thing you said. I said

(02:24:27):
they have a better roster. I said they've had overall
a better decade, especially playing at Staples Center in the season. Yes,
and how many who's won more championships in the last decade,
Clippers or Lakers? Again, I don't recognize things that happened.
Oh why not? Dodger still haven't won a World Series
since night when I saw that. Let me ask you

(02:24:50):
this about the bubble. Was it an equal playing field
for everybody? It wasn't. How was it an equal because
in different they put people in different resorts and they
treat teams differently. This is all documented. Come on, they
all played and I know, and I know where they
were staying, and I know the differences. Okay, diminished one's knowledge.

(02:25:12):
Look at there was no whole court advantage. There was
no road cord rogue, the disadvantage. It was an equal
situation for everybody involved in the bubble, and the Lakers dominated.
They dominated after three months of rest. Sure, Uh, interesting, Okay, alright,
it goes in the books, because just like the Astros

(02:25:33):
winning the World Series, it's in the books. It's in
the books. I don't know for I'll phil Let it
probably not, but I will tell you that right now.
The Clippers, the Clippers have a fifty four fifty three
lead over Phoenix inside a minute to play in the
first half of this contest, back and forth affair, but
one thing's for sure. Paul George came ready to play
seventeen points in the first half, another eleven for DeMarcus

(02:25:56):
Cousins coming off the bench. As for Phoenix, they're being
let on the score sheet by DeAndre Ayton. He has
fourteen points ten for Cam Johnson coming off the bench
and again thirty seconds to play Phoenix now with a
fifty five fifty four lead. Meanwhile, activity at the US
Open at Tory Pines, your leaders Russell, Henley, Louis Use
tasting at five under par Henley through four holes. It

(02:26:19):
was tasting through three, one shot ahead of Mackenzie Hughes.
He broghed the first hole. But there's also at four
under par Rory McElroy, who just dropped in a long
birdie put on number four and he is again one
shot back, two shots off the face. You'll find brooks
Kepka through nine holes, Colin Morrikwa through five, John Ron
through five, and Bryson deshambo to the defending champion. He's

(02:26:41):
at three under through four holes. And on the Major
League Baseball Diamonds, the Yankees of one five or six
babet Oakland to one, Bobachette to rb I Toronto a
seven four win over Baltimore. As we send it back
now to somebody just sometimes Stevie, just you just take
their you take the legit it a little bit. Never exaggerate. Now, yes,

(02:27:05):
you do for way too long. So I'm gonna give
you five names right now. These five golfers are all
at three under par as we speak right now, Rory McElroy,
Bryson to Shambo, John rom Collumurkawa and Brooks. Captain Glory
McElroy is at four under. Part oh now he's at
four listening all right, So now we go back to

(02:27:27):
those guys that I gave you. Which one of those
guys will finish with a low score at the end
of the day for the tournament. I still have a
feeling it's gonna be the Shambo because of the way
he plays this course, and it'll suit well. Oh by
the way, those mentioned, he's the only guy that's not
under par for his round today. He's at even for them.

(02:27:47):
He's also played the fewest number of holes. Uh well,
actually that's not true. Mcilroys played the fewest. McRoy and
Himmer played the same number. Okay, there you go, all right,
very good, all right, so we'll keep it right and
it's gonna be a very interesting day out at the
US up and Ralph, thank you very much. Clarifying once again,
he said, I'll ask you this question. He asked me,

(02:28:10):
name any Laker player other than Lebron or a D
that would start for the Clippers from the roster that
we saw this past season, Name any other Laker player
other than Lebron and a D that would start for
the Clippers. I mean, the Clippers don't have five like
solid starters though, so any of those guys I would say,

(02:28:35):
could start. You know, clearly Zoobosch was a former Laker
and starting as as a shared starts, So that's not
like a that's not a big, you know, throw out.
You know, k c P could start. You know that.
It's like a rotating spot there now. And by the way,
it's that way with the Clippers as well. You got
Kauai and PG and you got a lot of rotating

(02:28:56):
pieces right pretty much, and then everybody rotates, right, So
there you go. By the way, the one thing Clippers
can't argue over the Lakers. Lakers have not won a
season series over the Clippers. Thanks for the shout out, Steve, Yeah,
there you go. That was a part of that, I know,
did you? And by the way, a lot of your

(02:29:17):
winds were just blowouts when the Lakers were just bad.
When the Lakers were down, the Clippers would pour it on.
We would last Kobe's Lakers love Kobe, but we would
admit something it was that was that's a lot of
those games, right, I mean, like thirty point forty point
blow out. It felt good, it felt really good. City

(02:29:42):
would just do a number and coming from the to
the floor. Next the Los Angeles Clippers, we love just
putting hands on the lake up telling you. And then
when they would always ask Kobe about the rivalry with
the Clippers, He's like, what every even when they'd be
losing every game, He's like, what's library Cobe would be, man, Well,

(02:30:08):
the thing is, you knew Kobe would be upset, he'd
get his he'd go off, and then you know, we
just we just tried to box them in a little bit.
But you know, it was this was older Kobe too.
This wasn't like Kobe Kobe, you know, like Shack wasn't
on the other side and Rick Fox and those guys.
But nonetheless, a beat down a beat down. All right.
It is halftime and the Suns are leading the Clippers

(02:30:30):
by a score of fifty seven to fifty four. Some
of the numbers in this game that stand out. Devin
Booker after a slow start, did get eleven points, eight
and seven of eight fourteen points. Those are the kind
of numbers that we saw him put up against the Lakers.
So suddenly the Clippers find themselves in the same predicament

(02:30:51):
that the Lakers did. Now I know that Eton has
a high shooting percentage because he's not gonna take any
shot that isn't almost an automatic. But that's not an
umber you want to see, right if you're the Clippers
eight and with fourteen points in the first half, No,
it isn't. And what it means even more so because
DeAndre Eighten is not a post threat right now, it

(02:31:12):
means that they're moving the basketball and hitting him on rolls,
getting him in the pocket in the short corner, in
the dunker spot, and he's catching and finishing well, which
means the ball movement is there. And what you'd like
to force a Phoenix Scene Suns team into is to
make Devin Booker just be a volume score. Make Devin
Booker have to feel like he has to do it

(02:31:34):
all on his own. And he's been really good sharing
the basketball, getting into the lane, getting to the foul line,
and so far Devin Brooking eleven points, but three good
assists moving the basketball and six rebounds. So that's a
good sign for the Suns. Clearly, they're up fifty fifty
four with no Chris Ball, all right. So if you
look at this game again, fifty seven fifty four, some

(02:31:55):
of the numbers early on. It's interesting because this game
is tied to twenty one in the first quarter, both
teams sort of shaking off the rust. Thirty six thirty
three second quarters a dramatically different offense. And we saw
in the second quarter of this game Reggie Jackson just
one of five from three point land, Marcus Morris just

(02:32:17):
oh for four from three point land. And this is
the strength of this Clippers team. Now the rest of
the team shot well from three point land. So as
we look ahead now to this second half, what adjustments
do you see on both sides? If you're the Clippers
right now, you put up you gave up fifty seven.
That's a pretty big number for this Sum's team. What
adjustments are you making defensively? What adjustments are you making

(02:32:39):
offensively right now? If you're the Clippers, well, you're gonna
have to keep Devin Book out of the middle of
the floor. When he gets in the middle of the floor,
he can shoot. He's scoring with the little floater and
he's been able to get eight Deandree eight in some
open backs to get a fit attempts. I think you
go back to Bookie Cousins in the second half, but
I would not play him against Deandree eight. And it
just wasn't good minutes, uh for the Clippers. But I

(02:33:02):
think for the Clippers, the defense is gonna be the
key because they're getting anything that they want to on
the offensive end against Phoenix, So they're gonna have to
find a way to get some stops. And you want to,
like I said, you want to force Booker into one
on one. You wanted to be the one man show
out there because maybe you can figure things out or

(02:33:23):
that's very tough to beat a team by yourself and
without Chris Paul. You know that Phoenix roster just got
a little bit shorter. All right. Do you ever look
at the plus minus stat? Yeah, that was my stat, Steve.
You were always a big plus when you're on the court.
I had to be a plus. Hey you look at
that that see see what I did when I was
on the floor. Yeah, our team. We win when I'm

(02:33:43):
on the floor. All right. Well, it's interesting because the
biggest minus right now for the Clippers he played ten
minutes in the first half for Gan Rondo. What is
Rondo's role for this Clippers team? What is his role
right now for this Clipper team in the playoffs? Make
sure that locker room is shirt up, you know, share
the championship experience and you get out on the floor.

(02:34:05):
He's got to be able to run a unit. Uh,
you know, And I think that his importance you'll see
behind the scenes. Think about a team that just fell
down O two twice that could have folded, Clippers team
in the past that would have folded. Think about the
difference in the Lakers this year. They just the mental
toughness wasn't there. And you see that shift. Who else
can we point to region Rondo? So no, I'm not

(02:34:27):
necessarily seeing the playoff Rondo that we we've been used to.
And Steve, I know you love to shout out, but
but ultimately his uh, his uh, his presence is much
so behind the scenes. And I remember playing with Rondo.
You know he was he was a guy that would
instill confidence in you using against the world mentality, and
that's what we had in Boston. And I remember how

(02:34:48):
good Anthony Davis was when they swept the Trailblazers. You know,
he he brings the dog out of you, as they
would say that the tough mentality. So I believe that
region Rondo's effect is behind the scene right now. And honestly,
he's a guy if he wants to in in things today,
he could step into be a head coach somewhere. He
has that type of i Q believe me, trust me,

(02:35:08):
I know it well. I felt that trading Lou Williams
get Rondo is a huge plus for this Clippers team,
that they needed that kind of veteran presence. Been there,
done that in the playoff run Ron and I played
a significant role in the Lakers win into the championship
a year ago. By the way he's played, tim As
hasn't scored, that's not his game, but he does have
five assists in just ten minutes of play. So Rondo

(02:35:30):
is a big part of this. Uh, we're gonna get
on the other side of some thoughts on how this
game is gonna go, how this series is gonna go,
and ultimately who's gonna come out of the East. And
one other quick note before we get there, is just
where the NBA is right now? I feel like you
mentioned earlier, we're talking about new faces, new teams, new

(02:35:52):
names advancing in this year's playoffs. Is this an aberration?
Are we gonna get back to normal next year? Rant
and Lebron and Golden State with Clay Thompson coming back.
Are we gonna see those names re emerge after what
has been at best a disjointed season the n B
A or are those names part of the past and

(02:36:15):
a new future in the NBA. We're gonna break it down.
Coming up next, all right, Steve Harbin and Ryan Holland's
coming down the stretch for us right now. I want
to thank Iowa Sam. He is well nutrition this morning,
feeling good, feeling tired to burritos? Alright, just one one yourself.

(02:36:37):
You're not supposed to eat all of your days a
lotment of food in one meeting space. It out. I
have no control, no control, no control at all. Ralph Herbon, alright,
final prediction from Ralph as far as who's going to
win the Ralph, who is going to win the US Open? Today?
Your final prediction? Do we have Ralph? Where is he?

(02:36:59):
Did he it? Ralph? There he is? Hello? It's hard
of you, Steve. I know, no, he's not decide all right, Ralph.
Ultimately let's get your final prediction on who is gonna
win the US Open. I still think it's gonna be
to Shambo. I mean, he just has that length that
allows for makes up for a lot of mistakes and
mistakes or what kill you in the US Open? All right,

(02:37:22):
rare to win back to back US Opens. But obviously
we just saw brooks kept can do it, Steve. One
might say it's strange, Oh, Curtis strange? Did it been
Hogan back in the day? I could rattle off the list,
But all right, so and brooks Kept I said that,
thank you very much for listening. But there you go
a prediction that Bryson to Shambo will win his second
cassecutive US Open, courtesy of one Ralph Irvin. Of course,

(02:37:45):
Ryan coming in taking care of all business today. Ryan,
you had a rush in here today, rush in here today.
You know what I did. That's run a little bit behind,
but hey, but you know what you got here in
time and you've got all the work done. Is usual.
Great job there, Ryan. Alright, so let's get some final
predictions here from Mr Hollins on what's happening not only today,

(02:38:08):
but uh in fact, back up a little bit here
before your predictions on the games, I want to get
a quick overview on the NBA. This has been a
difficult season, no question, and things have not exactly worked
out as I'm sure the league office would have liked
as far as these playoffs concerned. A lot of big
names are now watching instead of being on the court
likely normally. See are we in a good spot right now?

(02:38:32):
Is this a reset time? Are we looking at a
dawn of a new era in the NBA with these
teams that are still playing right now? Or are we
gonna get back to business as usual with hopefully a
normal season next year. We're gonna have a new champ.
We're gonna have a new champ. You gotta understand, there's

(02:38:53):
gonna be a new name that we can get behind,
whether it's Joel Embiid, whether it's Trey Yall. Will it
be an accidental to consider it as an accidental champion?
Heck yeah, But we're gonna celebrate them. But that's what
I'm saying. I mean when Golden State broke through and
won that first championship, were you convinced the next the

(02:39:17):
next year they would rattle off seventy three wins? I mean,
did you think that when Golden State had their first
breakthrough and what would turn out to be five consecutive
trips to the NBA Finals, were you sold year one
that this was going to be one of those type
of teams that would rattle off multiple championships or did

(02:39:37):
you think at the time, Well, that was a little
bit of a uh, I don't know. Things sort of
worked out in their favor. I was because when we
played against them, Golden State was so much faster than
the rest of the league. We would have to change lineups,
we run different plays. The rest of the league was
just so uncomfortable playing Golden State, and it honestly showed,

(02:39:58):
you know, you you felt that. So that didn't surprise me, Steve.
All Right, So when we look at the NBA history,
if you look at the NBA champions you know what
you see a lot of repeat champions. The NBA has
always been that way. It seems like when a team
wins one, they most often win another. And we've seen
a lot of that over the years in the NBA.
Right now, Phoenix leading the Clippers by a score of

(02:40:20):
six one. So when you look at this series right now,
and of course there's the huge assumptions about what's gonna
happen with Chris Paul, what's gonna happen with Kawuahi Leonard.
We talked earlier about which one's absence would have the
bigger impact. You said Chris Paul's absence would have a

(02:40:40):
much bigger effect on Phoenix than Kauai Leonard's absence for
this Clippers team. Now that Phoenix is again in this
back and forth, so over a seven game series, do
you believe that if you were to take Chris Paul
and Kawhi Leonard both out of this entire series, what's
the effect on this series? I think that I would actually,

(02:41:02):
you know, favor the Clippers. You know, you saw is
a really good team that they just beat four straight
times and walked down you know, uh, Now Phoenix is
playing good inspired basketball. See, if you know what, I'm
a big believer in energy, I'm a big believer in
team and you saw those Laker championships. All the little
things have to go right. The guys have to like
each other behind the scenes. They just played it well

(02:41:23):
together and I'm starting to see that here with with
the Clippers. So I feel like when no Chris Paul,
how is this Phoenix team gonna finish games down the stretch.
But the one thing I'll say about Phoenix, they play hard,
They're tough, They're believing in themselves, and that's the biggest
factor right there. But I like the Clippers versatility when
things start getting tight. All right, let's talk about the

(02:41:46):
other game today, Game seven between the Sixers and the Hawks.
Who's gonna win that game? And can either one of
those teams? Would you favor either one of those teams
in a matchup against Milwaukee in the Eastern Conference Finals. Well,
if I'm gonna look at it, you know, Philly is
gonna have the best shot. They're more talented on paper,
they just have holes because of Ben simmons lack of

(02:42:10):
shooting that start to glare in moments. I mean absolutely glare.
So Bias Harris is excellent because either Simmons or Embiid
are drawing a doubled and kicking hitting him and then
he's playing downhill. So I'm extremely concerned for Philadelphia. But
Philly is the team that would challenge the Milwaukee Bucks.
And the Bucks are great defensively, but they don't wow

(02:42:32):
you on offense. And Philly has the size to bother
uh Janice, Janice would struggle against Philadelphia, maybe not so
much against the Hawks. Alright, five teams that are still
alive right now waiting for the outcome of this game
seven between the Sixers and the Hawks. Which team right
now is the best team left in these playoffs? I'm
let's stay with the Clippers, man. I just like the

(02:42:53):
Clippers versatility. I think Paul George, if he's gonna be
the real Paul George, is in enough of a closer.
But I just really there's something about the Clippers. I
like their activity, and that's something I couldn't be. We
have been able to say uh in a while about
the Clippers, but they just there's a certain pizzas I
saw the thing I'm seeing right now in this game,

(02:43:15):
and Eton is just eating them alive. There's no way
Zoo Bots is gonna stay with him? Is there aggressive
to the hoop? And I look back at Devin Booker.
I love his game. You talk about a breakout star
and look, Devin Is. He's been like an alternate an
All Star Game, but he might be the big breakout star.
It's gonna be an unbelievable week, plus, of course, major

(02:43:36):
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06/20/2021 - FOX Sports Sunday with Steve Hartman and Ryan Hollins

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