June 23, 2021 • 38 mins
Jason Smith and Mike Harmon are joined by NBA analyst Ric Bucher and react to the Suns beating the Clippers in game 2 of the Western Conference Finals. The guys react live to the closing minutes of the Suns game 2 victory, and tell you who is to blame for the Clippers loss. Plus the guys explain why this game changed the entire shape of the NBA Finals.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
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(00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Well, hold onto your
hats and it ain't over yet. My goodness, I know
what we're gonna talk about for the next two hours.
Absolute insanity in Phoenix. Right now, the Sun's lead the
Clippers one oh four, one oh three with point seven
(00:48):
seconds left to go. What has happened is something that
you never see happen in the NBA or in college basketball,
no matter how many times you see it tried. It
actually worked for the Sons, which you can say, Hey,
Clippers gonna clip. Uh. It was a big heroic play
by DeAndre Ayton. It was a great screen by Devin Booker.
(01:11):
It was an epic failed by the Clippers, who were
not ready for the alley oop inbounds play that gave
the Sons the lead with seven tenths of a second
left to go. Uh. Now the Clippers have the basketball
and they have one last chance for a shot that
could potentially change this series or they're going home down
to zip. This is all made possible because Paul George
(01:33):
missed two free throws seven free throw shooter and he
missed two free throws with a chance to get the
Clippers a three point lead with seven seconds left to go.
So this is where we sit right now, seven tenths
of a second left to go. The NBA, the referees
are trying to figure everything out. Scott Foster is saying, hey,
is there anyway we can get the Clippers to the
(01:54):
free throw line? Because boy, you know, I'm I'm here
to make sure that things go okay for the But
there's not a lot I could do right there. I
could have called DeAndre Ayton for his hands in the
cylinder were for that dunk. But you can't not a goal,
not a goaltend on that play. So that's wrong. Uh.
Fantastic screen by Devin Booker. He eight and helped Zubatch
(02:18):
into his path a little bit, uh, and he just
puts it down now. Uh. The normal rule is that
any shots got to be point three seconds at least,
but only point two seconds comes off here. But one
of the other rules is, you know, while the review,
you can't substitute. Uh. And then the Clippers were trying
to get on the all their shooters like no, no no, no,
(02:38):
no, no no no, no no. Cousins and Zubatch have to be
back out there. That was the fight for the last
four or five minutes of all right, what ten guys
were on the court, we have to bring them back.
And I mean, just what a great inbounds call out
of the time out from Monty Williams, just absolutely huge.
We're gonna break it down in the second. But again,
seven tenths of a second left to go and they're
(02:59):
getting ready to start. It's gonna have to be a
length of the floor pass by the Clippers to try
to make this happen. And uh, there was a caught ball.
Paul George throws it up, it is no good and
the Phoenix Suns hold on to beat the Clippers one
oh four, one oh three in a game filled with
(03:21):
heroes and goats, and I mean goats of the old
boy goat you cause us the game. Uh, this was
some kind of ending. This last play. Just to give
you a general breakdown, it really didn't have a chance.
They threw it all the way down the floor. Paul
George caught it as he was facing away from the basket.
I don't know that it would have counted even if
when it went. He shot from just inside the coach's box,
(03:44):
and uh, it did not go. And the Phoenix Suns
now lead this series two games to none. Going back
to l A, there was some skirmish after the dunk
by DeAndre Ayton. Booker got pushed by Patrick Beverley after
the game was over and kind of a scrum on
the law and cooler heads finally prevailed. But this is
the Son's winning a game that they look to have
(04:06):
no reason to win, and they win it one oh
four to one oh three. Now we're gonna take you
back to the play that changed everything all right. Now,
it was a one point lead by the Clippers and
Paul George, as we said, miss both free throws and
and that that is that has been on brand for
Paul George for most of his career. At the end
of games, Paul George doesn't make the shots. The thing is,
(04:28):
it was crazy because Paul George was making the shots tonight.
He was everything in the final three minutes of this
game for the Clippers. He would every big shot, he
at three's, he had jumped, He's hit the big twenty
two ft to give him the one point lead. He
was hitting everything. And then Devin Booker turns the ball
over and Paul George biffs both free throws, the second
one all the way in the back of the iron.
(04:50):
That gave the Sons a chance to win this game.
So that's the first thing we're gonna talk about, is that, Hey,
for all the good that Paul George does, boy missing
these two free throws, because at the very least, we'd
be going to overtime and then they'd be getting to
play again. At the most, it would have been, hey,
how are we gonna get a three pointer off with
seven tenths of a second left to go? But both
free throws missed, and Paul George, as much as you
(05:12):
can say, hey, Paul George had a really great last
three minutes, it's oh my goodness, Paul George and miss
both those free throws. So it's like one step forward
and two steps back from Mike Harmon with as he
tries to rewrite his playoff legacy. Well, he went five
a ten from the line for the night, missed three
shots in the fourth quarter from the file line. As
we mentioned before, three point arc was not kind to
(05:35):
him either. One for eight there, six assists, six rebounds,
three turnovers, Uh, twenty six points. It's all finding good
in his forty one minutes. But when you needed him,
you know, he left you just when you needed him most.
And this was a game that you had to had
to steal, as you were mentioning earlier. Now you have
(05:56):
no Chris Paul on the court. I know obviously Kauhaid
Leonard missing, but we found other heroes that have stepped up. Uh.
And the rotations have been strong for ty Lou and
the Clippers. Um. Devin Booker wasn't particularly good the strategy
of just be aggressive and not giving him easy looks.
(06:16):
For Beverly Rondo, whoever rotated out his way, Uh, they
did a good job. Five of sixteen from the field,
nine of nine from the file line, four rebounds, five assists,
seven turnovers. Right we were highlighting the turnovers as they
started to mount. Beverly with quick hands forcing some big,
big moments in this game and long reviews. By the way,
(06:38):
fourth quarter was like the fourth quarter of any college
football game. Incomplete passes, long commercial breaks, uh, and anything
can happen because while clock stops after every first down,
all of those things. That's what I felt like. There
didn't seem like a whole lot of flow to this game,
even early on. But because defend both teams. Defenses played
(07:02):
pretty well first half, second half, open looks, but tired legs.
It would seem in and waiting, uh a hit like
you were a quarterback in the pocket. Uh So, a
lot of a lot of stoppages of play and officials,
reviews and and everything else. But the son's escape. They
did everything they could to Devin Booker, your guy, and
(07:23):
uh well it didn't matter. He still got his twenty
and pain with his twenty nine leading the way. But
more on DeAndre and DeAndre Ayton. I mean, we did
a lot over the course of these playoffs about eighton
and he's the hero of the day. Now here's the
play now, so we we tick took care of Paul George.
You know, clips gonna clip the final play of the
game because there's eight tenths of a second left to
(07:46):
go or nine tenths of a second left to go.
The the three that was taken uh by Bridges goes
out of bounds. The Sons keep the ball, so they
have to inbound and they have less than a second
to try to make this work. And we have seen this.
I've seen this a thousand times in the NBA and
college basketball, where there's only a second lesson they try
(08:06):
to throw it up for an alley you play and
it never works. It never works, but it works here.
Here's the call, here's the thoughts up from Jake Crowder
to DeAndre Ayton for the alley you that wins the game,
waiting with blobs it under. Yes, it's good DeAndre as
far as the basket and end. DeAndre put it over
(08:28):
the rem and end. So there it was. That's exactly
what happened. Ayton comes in and he grabs the alley
you dunks it and that is the final margin of victory.
One oh four, one oh three. Now, a couple of
things about this play, because this play is going to
be diagrammed and broken down a thousand different ways. First
things first, and this I gotta give credit to Doug
(08:49):
Gottlieb on this because look, Dougs, you know, played basketball's
whole life, high levels of sport. He says, it looked
like that zoo Bots wanted to play a little bit
closer to the basket, but the the Clippers moved him
up to be closer to eighton and this allowed that
play to happen because Zubots had to follow eight and
he winds up getting uh messed up with the pick
(09:09):
that was thrown by by uh Devin Booker. So it
looked like he wanted to play low, and the Clippers
put him up to be next to DeAndre Ayton. And
so then when you see him try to get around,
that's what gave Eton that little bit of daylight to
get the basketball and dunk it. When he tried to
make up for it. Now it's a big push off
by Eton, who you know, pushes off to try to
(09:30):
get by, pushes u Bots way off him to try
to get there. That wasn't called. And then you're wondering
his hands above the cylinder was the ball in the
cylinder when he caught it, It was right there. I mean,
like you can look at and see the replay and go, boy,
that ball was right there and his hands. We were
right above it. And so now you're talking about a
couple of different bits of controversy. Can't goaltend on an
(09:53):
inbounds pass right by roots? Right, It's different. It's different
when you're there's different rules for different parts when you're
inbounding the ball and when when you are uh throwing
it in from from a pass. So there's different rules
when you're coming in from from out of bounds and
coming in from inbounds. But still it looked like the ball.
I don't know if the ball would have hit the rim.
I mean, that was like a line drive throw by
(10:13):
Jake Crowder. Looked like it might have hit the rim
if they didn't get there. But the bottom line is
that you watch this play and go I've seen this
so many times and it's never worked. I've never seen
this work. And now it works, and not only does
it work, but it works in the Clippers lose and
the Sun's win. I've never seen it work. And if
it's gonna happen to anybody, it would usually happen to
the Knicks. But it happens to the Clippers, you would say, yeah, okay,
(10:34):
it happens to the Clippers. Makes sense. Yeah, it's just
another paragraph on the Wikipedia page at this point. Remember,
because the as you mentioned, the bridge is three point shot.
They were able to get a time out right and
and talk it over and and discuss what what that
final inbounds play would be, and well, low and behold
(10:58):
it works to perfection and every but he does their job.
Jim Jackson on the broadcast actually said that he quoted
the great BELICHICKI in response and team slogan of do
your job, and you know, the Sons ran it perfectly.
Monty Williams Coach of the Year. Uh, what a fantastic
call he made. M hm. Twitter at how about a
(11:19):
Fresco might gets swollen on the Jason didn't even defend
you there, but not It's okay, buddy, It's okay, It's okay, buddy. Um,
you know, because the thing is is that because I
wanted to get to with the way this game ended,
and and it's probably fitting that eighton was the one
who made who made the final play. And I'll tell
you the more I look at I think that Paul
might have hit the rim if he didn't touch it. Um.
(11:40):
The difference in the Suns the last three weeks. Okay,
we can point to Devin Booker and the star turn
that he has and Chris Paul's impact on the on
the Sons, they they have been really big. We've had
a big up and you mentioned Cameron Payne who was
really taken advantage of the opportunity, whether he is starting
(12:01):
for Chris Paul or coming off the bench. I mean,
he has been terrific. But the difference in this team
and why they're winning and how they're they're such a
title threat right now is the continued assension of DeAndre Ayton.
I mean, there's a reason why this guy was the
number one picking the draft a couple of years ago,
and in the last three weeks he has seen his
stock rise because in a year where he had kind
(12:23):
of an okay uh regular season, what he's done in
the last two rounds of the playoffs, you know, still scoring,
neutralizing Nicola Yoki to the point where it wasn't even
a series where you know, they couldn't even win a
game and Yokich winds up getting frustrated and gets thrown
out of the final game eighton was huge. And now
you see him so far in this series as well.
He is the guy that the Clippers can't account for.
(12:46):
But they were able to account for Devin Booker pretty
well in this game. He had a bad game. You know,
Devin Booker had a bad turnover at the end and
it could have been the end of the game. I
mean he you know, he had a big game in
Game one. Okay, that's great, but here in too, they
really took care of him. And and Booker was gonna
be the goat, and I mean the goat of the
guy's given the game away and instead you look at
(13:08):
what Aton has done and they couldn't stop him tonight
and with a final night, you know, his numbers were terrific.
Aton is the guy that now is the difference maker
in this team. Twenty four and fourteen twelve out of
fifteen from the floor. The Clippers can't stop him. It's
really it's it's it's become a point where DeAndre Ayton
has gone from hey, someone we have to account for.
(13:29):
He's a pretty good, you know, third third best player
on the team to um he is starting to control everything,
all right. He he is twenty two for twenty nine
from the floor in this series. Right, he's out. He's
got twenty three rebounds. Uh, he has been a guy
that the Clippers. What are you gonna do? He's the
difference in this team, the reason they're winning. And then
the Sons are winning where they are beating the Nuggets
(13:50):
the way they did up to zip over the Clippers.
It's DeAndre Ayton and all the other guys are just
kind of around him right now. You know what I mean.
I'm celebrating where we actually is iron positions to get
none of this positionless crap. Uh, You're a shooting guard
and I don't care if they try to list you
as a point guard. You're a shooting guard. And DeAndre Ayton,
he's ruling for the big men. The center came to play.
(14:14):
I love it, Uh, Twitter, and how about a fresco
Mike gets swollen, dumb. It is absolutely outstanding. And let
me just throw this right here because we've got Rick
Buker coming up next. Uh. The Iron Cheek weighed in
at the end of this game. Oh boy, Iron Cheeks
weighed in. I can't say everything, but I will, I will,
(14:35):
I will. I will describe it for you bet as
I can. The Iron Cheek just tweeted out, Wow, Clippers
blanked up in all Capitalists. That's the iron cheek. He
also wants to supplex and break the blah blah blah
blah back of Scott Foster. So that's good. Can you
imagine if Scott Foster, just like you know, called the
(14:56):
ball at the end off the off the Sun's or
or or called some kind of offensive foul on DeAndre Ayton,
it's just got okay, sorry, Offen's a foul Clippers basketball.
Scott Foster would need he would need to be teleported
out of the arena like he's in the Avengers. They
would not have allowed him to leave. So this is
some kind of game. We're gonna break it down. We
(15:17):
got Rick Buker coming up next. Keep it right here.
Phoenix up two games to none over the Clippers. And
like I said before the show started, when the show started,
if the Clippers can't win games when Chris Paul's not playing,
how are they gonna win games when he is? And
I look, I picked the Clips to go to the finals. Boy,
I don't know, man, I really I don't know how
they're gonna win a game if they couldn't win this one.
(15:39):
Keep it right here. Our breakdown has just started. That's
coming up next right here, Jason and Mike Fox. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith Show
with Mike harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio
app Fox Sports Radio. The Jason Smith Show with my
best friend Mike Carli Phone, It's not that and my goodness,
(16:04):
did we just see a thriller between the Sons and
the Clippers. The Clippers with a one point lead with
a few seconds left. Paul George misses two free throws,
the Son's missed three, but with a second left to
go on the clock, they throw the out of bounds
alley oop. DeAndre Ayton pushes off, gets the dunk, and
the Sun's win it one oh four to one oh
(16:27):
three in an incredible ending. We're just starting to break
it all down now, joining us now on the hotline
Fox Sports One. NBA Insider Extraordinary. You can fall him
on Twitter at Rick Buker, that is at Rick Buker. Rick,
I gotta say, I gotta start with you where I
started this hour. How many times have I seen that? Well,
there's one second left on the clock. We're gonna throw
(16:49):
the alley you play in. I've never seen it work. Ever,
I've never seen it work, and of course it works
against the Clippers and the Sons win the game. Yeah,
it's certainly helped the ang. You don't normally, very rarely
are you throwing it in where you can throw it
where you're almost throwing it to the front of the
rim and all the guy has to do is is
(17:10):
go up and and flush it um. A lot of
times it's coming from a high angle, right you call
the time out, and now you're inbounding it from up
above by the hash mark and so. But look, Clippers
had a half dozen different ways to to win this
game or to put it out of reach, and ultimately didn't.
(17:34):
And I think that these these kind of losses stick
with not only stick with you, but they loom larger
in series than the ones where you get blown out
because you did everything necessary and then somehow found a
way to end up with with an l. And they're
gonna remember, They're gonna remember this one. However, this series goes.
(17:57):
If this different, if they lose this series, this is
the one that they're going to remember the most. Well.
I mean, they literally bloodied Devin Booker and kept him
in check. Chris Paul's not there. Everything's laid up for
you and and well to to lose this way. But
the thing that I think I'm gonna remember most though, Rick,
is the fact that the final two minutes took over
a half hour to play. Yeah, no doubt, I mean,
(18:21):
but you know what, Ultimately they did get the replays right.
I don't think there was a replay there where I
you know, I take issue with what the final result was. Um,
I wish there was a way to speed it up
because I do think that it impacts the the general
flow of the game. But they got it right and
(18:43):
and ultimately that's what you want instant replay to do.
The greatest issue I have when in through instant replay,
other than we use it far too much and it
does change the tempo of the game, is when they
when they use it and you're still looking at and
going I don't think they got that right. That's got
to be the most frustrating part of when we all
spend five minutes looking at its slow motion and they
(19:05):
come up with a result that uh that that us
at home or or in the building, anybody watching instant
replight doesn't agree with uh. When it comes down to it.
We watched the Sun's execute and again a play that
we never see happen, but it was made possible because
Paul George misses two free throws. And I get that
it's free throws, and we see guys miss free throws
(19:27):
all the time. But Rick missing two free throws in
that situation, the last one was off the back of
the iron. I mean, he's got to make at least
one of those. I mean that, I mean, I I
know what's elementary to say, but missing those two free
throws Rick, well, there's no question. I mean, he that's
that you You are the go to guy, and he's
a good free throw shooter. Uh, it is, there's no
(19:49):
I don't have any excuse or explanation, especially the way
he lost. He missed them. Look, sometimes you're gonna have
them rim out, sometimes you're gonna but he didn't. He
did not, and normally he shoots them and it's all net.
I mean, he's pretty he's pretty clean with his free throws.
The the moment, the pressure, it's hard to say that
(20:11):
it did not get to him and and affected those
shots because of the kind of free throw shooter he is,
and the way that he ultimately missed them. But you know,
there are a lot of and I'm sure the coaches,
I wouldn't be surprised if ty Lou says, you know,
the game wasn't one or loss of there there were
a lot of other things they could have done different.
(20:32):
And I agree to a certain extent Reggie Reggie Jackson
inconsistent in in his he was hesitant in in situations
that created problems and turnovers. Again the same as Game one,
Paul George, same thing like just not being decisive and
what he wanted to do and resulted in turnovers. And
then you know, Devin Booker comes back, bloody, he's got
(20:54):
his nose stuffed with gauze, and you put him on
the free throw line to get a rhythm and to score.
Make the dude having you know, been knocked upside the note,
looking like he has a broken nose, having its stuffed
with with gause, like, make him make a shot, make
him show you that he can make a shot after
(21:17):
all of that trauma, and don't send him to the
free throw line. And that's not what they did. They
gave him I think five straight free throws just to
like feel good about where he was in the game.
And so those are those are the little decisions. There's
a little mistakes, there's a little errors that make the
difference once you get to this level of the playoffs
(21:38):
in the NBA. Be remiss if we didn't at least
acknowledge Paul George throwing the ball off of zobach Is
back for a turnover as well. Yeah, yeah, again, I
mean those it is what it is the thing that
scares me about the Clippers and that you are now
asking Paul George and um and Reggie Jackson to make
(22:02):
a lot more decisions than they normally would. Without Kauai
Leonard there, the ball would be in his hands. And
certain in this game, the ball would have been in
Kauai's hands a lot, obviously in the last minute or two,
and you can just you're secure with him. Even with
Paul doesn't turn it over. There are times when he's
on the dribble and he dribbles himself into bad spaces.
(22:25):
He's kind of loose with the ball. He You know,
if if if you're a Clippers fan, there have to
be times where he scares the hell out of you
in the final in the final minute or two. And
for where they are without Kawhi Leonard, that's that's who
they're gonna be. They're they're going to rely on Reggie
and Paul, and unless they're more decisive and more secure
(22:46):
with the ball than they were in the first two games,
then I don't see a way in which they're gonna
win this series. Well, I look at it this way, Rick,
is that if you can't, I think it's more simple
than that. You just had these first two games. You
were missing Kawai Leonard. Okay, you knew that was happening.
The Sons are missing Chris Paul. We know Chris Paul
is going to be coming back. Kawhi Leonard probably not.
I know you're playing on the road, But if you
(23:08):
can't win a game where the Suns are missing their
floor leader, even though you had guys step up and
and and and pain stepping up, and we'll get to
eight in a couple of minutes as well. But if
you can't win these games, what game are you gonna win?
I mean, Scott Foster even officiated the game, and you
still like you still when finally wound up winning a
game that he officiated. You know, I get that, But
(23:29):
because the Clippers have been so good at finding matchups
and mismatches within their matchups, and Campaign has been so
dominating as a scorer, I think in a game like this,
you certainly miss Chris Paul. But if it becomes more
of an offensive game, if the Clippers going home can
(23:52):
make the game a little more up tempo, then And
because for every minute that Chris Paul plays, Campaign is
not And so I like the security of Chris Paul
when you have a lead. So I think Chris Paul
is going to score as well as Campaign has, particularly
where he scores from on the floor. And what's that
(24:14):
battle going to be between Pat Bev and Rajon Rondo?
Like Rajon Rondo is having a hard time guarding anybody
right now because of the way Chris Paul plays, doesn't
play as fast, Rosen Rondo has the opportunity now to
stay on the floor and defend Chris Paul. So I
I hear what you're saying, and in most cases, and
(24:36):
you may be right, You may be right, but I
need to see how the matchups are affected when Chris
Paul gets back, largely because Campaign has been just so good,
and he's going to play less if Chris Paul's back
and playing more. Yeah, but the slogans are all written.
Campaign with a huge night to night Fox Sports Rady
(25:00):
Jason Smit Show with Mike Garment. Here, Rick Buker joins
us box ahead. Yeah, I need to apologize to the
listeners for laughing at that. That was so bad. You
caught me off guard. I laughed. That was horrendous. That
was horrendous. I am, but you laughed. I'm embarrassed that
I laughed. I really am. That's better than that wreck
(25:22):
on me. At Rick Buker on Twitter where you find him.
I'm not plugging anything else now. On the Ball podcast,
Rebound the Book with Brian Grant. I picked that up
Barnes and Noble, Amazon dot Com, Prime Day, you got it.
You got deals out there, make rebound one of them
as you flow through. So let's get to DeAndre Ayton.
(25:43):
I like when Dinosaurs roam in the Earth and we
had true centers, and I like watching DeAndre Ayton play
because he's he's a kid. He's still growing, but boy,
he's really grown the last couple of weeks. Oh, there's
no there's no doubt. About it. I mean, to me,
he's probably the most difficult matchup that they have. He
to me, is really has been the difference because not
(26:06):
only does he finish with such efficiency around the rim,
but he's got that little mid range and time and
again we saw tonight where they didn't have anything going
late in the clock, he's got it at fifteen feet.
He knows he can't drive on Zubats, Zubatch is laying
off him, and he's knocking down that mid range jumper
and that's something that the Clippers simply don't have. I
(26:29):
think Zoo Zoo Batch is good. I think he's contributed,
but DeAndre age Aton has the edge on him in
the same way that he had in the previous series.
And it without question, um and I don't know that
we necessarily expected that, so uh yeah, to me, DeAndre
(26:51):
Atan is the real puzzle that they have to figure
out or or they're going to have to dominate some
other matchup. Now the one way they can do it,
And I saw at one point because I almost forgot,
I was like, oh, Nick, the tomb can shoot threes,
Like if they can, if they can flip that where
the tomb is in or Paul George is guarding DeAndre Ayton,
(27:12):
and they can win the three point versus two point
battle because DeAndre is not going to step out that
far and he's not he's not gonna defend that far
and he's not gonna shoot that shot. That's where you
may be able to exploit him a little bit. But man,
with the dude shooting on two's, you're going to have
to knock down some threes in order to flip that.
(27:34):
Rick Buker with US Fox Sports one NBA inside you
can fall on Twitter at Rick Buker. All right, Rick,
when it comes I mentioned Chris Paul. Look what we've gotten,
like no information after he's been out COVID protocols. First
it was he tested positive for COVID, but he's got
his vaccine. All that stuff has gone out the window. Now, Like,
what what are you hearing? Is is the likely situation
(27:54):
right now and when he could wind up coming back? Yeah,
I mean I have not heard anything specific about when
he's coming back. Obviously the ten to fourteen days is
the quarantine, So going going by that, UM trying to
think dates now, I believe he could potentially be back
(28:15):
for the next game if we're on the short end
end of that. I don't know exactly when the clock started,
but you know, honestly, we're not getting We're getting the
same thing from from when it comes to Kawuhi Leonard.
And I'm surprised by all of this, to be honest
with you, because the NBA used to have a more
clear protocol about, uh defining, you know, what what's going
(28:37):
on with guys and and giving everyone a better read
and considering, you know, the level of gambling that's now involved,
I'm really surprised that they're they're doing this kind of
smoking mirrors, uh job on where these guys are physically
(28:57):
and when when they're going to be available. So I wish,
I wish I could tell you. I mean, everything that
I've heard about uh Kauai's is you should probably not
expect to see him again. But he hasn't been definitively,
definitively ruled out. And that raises the other question. When
I'm hearing that, it's like, okay, so if that's the case,
or is this just gamesmanship um on the part of
(29:20):
the Clippers, And if it's a league rule, you would
think there would be this is not up to the
Suns to to announce when he could be back or
when they expect him back. This would be league protocol
that you're following, and I would expect from the league
to be giving us a clear review of where of
where Chris Paul is. But we haven't gotten it getting it.
(29:42):
And I will say this is I find this a
little bit unusual for the way that the NBA normally operates,
particularly in the postseason. That's okay, we'll get another couple
of coaches fired and we'll pay attention to that. But
tomorrow Atlanta at Milwaukee Game one, what do we expected here?
A couple of superstars that are that are pushing forward
(30:04):
and Nate McMillan still trying to lose the interim tag. Yes,
I know, yeah right, Um, if I'm Nate at this point,
I'm not signing anything with Atlanta because there's a lot
of jobs out there. I want to go to the
highest bidder at this point if I can, let's let's
let's get into into a bidding war. That said, Um, look,
(30:25):
I don't know. I'll be interested to see what the
ratings do overall, but I am fascinated as I am
with this series I'm gonna be just as fascinated with
the Hawks and the Buck um because I it's I
hate to say it, but it's going to come down
to matchups. A lot of people are saying that the
Bucks are gonna win this. I've seen a lot of
(30:46):
people predicting the Bucks are gonna win in four or five.
I have the Bucks in the finals, had them from
the beginning of the year, but I I don't see
it as as being, you know, a a landslide by
any means um, largely because I haven't been impressed with
how Mike Blutenholzer has utilized his team. They have a
(31:08):
six man rotation, uh they did at the end of
the last series. That's not going to be good enough.
They're gonna have to get something out of Brent Forbes.
They're gonna have to get something out of Bobby Tortoise
and Jana Santa to Compo is going to have to
play consistent basketball and and you can get two feet
in the paint, operate from the midpost in the pinch post,
(31:29):
and then I could see, you know, potentially the Bucks
winning the series and winning it in five or six.
But there are so many unanswered questions the Bucks have
played so up and down that, um, I do think
they decide which way it goes. But if they give,
if they show us what what was their worst against
(31:50):
the Nets, that I think there's an opening for the Bucks.
I mean for the Hawks to win. And this is
the other with the one last element is the fact
that the three point shooting, particularly for the Hawks, has
really had a huge influence on every game that they've
won or lost. When they come out and they're knocking
down threes, um, they're a different team and when they're not,
(32:10):
they're a different team too. So that's going to be
an element. And the Bucks do not shoot, has not
shot the three as well, and have not defended the
three particularly well. So that leaves the opening for the Hawks.
Let's see how they shoot it from the ark. So
there it is, Rick Buker. Rick. By the way, I
just wanted to remind you know, if you know this
or not, but before the season started, I picked the
Hawks to go to the Eastern Conference Finals. If you
(32:32):
know that. But I picked the Hawks to go. They
were my surprise heat team of the year. So I
just wanted to let you know that because yeah, I did,
I did not know that I would have thought that
if you had made that pick, that we would have
heard of some kind of campaign out there about your selection. Well,
he jumped off, I'm really quickly. It's not my fault,
like I say it all the time, and I say
(32:55):
it all the time. He's on Twitter at Rick Buker,
that is at Rick Buker, Fox Sports one MB inside
of the book Rebound with Brian Grant. Pick it up.
It's an awesome read. Rick is always buddy, Thanks so much.
We'll talk to you next week. You got it. You
didn't get my campaign joke. That was good, but I
got it. But Harmon gave the campaign, the whole campaign
(33:15):
thing to I mean, I though he brought it back.
That's what I got it. You are my hero. Wait,
you're my guy. Thank you, thank thank you. Somebody appreciates me.
Damn it. Yeah, this is a guy who wanted to
(33:36):
not I want to take back the laugh I had
at the other joke because I didn't like it so much.
Work shop one of his own. I'm gonna workshop, all right,
I think it's ready. I'm ready to put it up
as a scene. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten
pm Eastern seven pm Pacific. Hey, it's Ben host The
(33:58):
Fifth Hour with Ben Aller along with my trustees sidekick
David Gascon. Would meet a lot to have you join
us on our weekly auditory journey. You're asking one in
God's name is the Fifth Hour? I'll tell you it's
a spin off of the Ben Maller Show. Cold Hit
Overnights on fs ARE Why should you listen? Picture if
you will? A world will we chat with captains of
industry in media, sports and more every week Explorer some
(34:21):
amazing facts about a human nature and more. Let'sten to
the Fifth Hour with Ben Mallow or the I Heart
Radio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast,
Fox Sports Radio, The Jason Smith Show with my best
friend Mike Harmony. Body, my goodness, still buzzing over the
sun's last second inbound alley oop to beat the Clippers
(34:42):
one oh four to one oh three, uh and take
a two games to non lead in the Western Conference Finals.
And you know, Mike, here's the thing right now, I'm
gonna make a statement. And it's weird because it's it
doesn't have to do with any of my teams, right,
because I picked the Clippers to go to the finals.
I picked the Bucks to go to the finals. It
was by Bucks. Clipper was my That was your legitimate
once you actually had to commit to somebody, right, that
(35:05):
was my legit pick for the for the brackets, it
was it was Bucks Clippers in the NBA Final. And
before the season started, I picked the Hawks to go
to the Eastern Conference finals. So you know, it pains
me to say this. The one team I didn't pick
for anything was the Suns. And I'm looking right now going, uh,
the Suns have shown and if you're doing some kind
of power rankings right now, the Suns have been the
(35:27):
best team in the playoffs and it's not even close
with how they're able to win. They're the teams that
aren't having trouble with anyone. They even even going through injuries,
it doesn't matter, it doesn't affect them. The Clippers are
so up and down. The Bucks are winning games, losing games,
they're blowing games. All these other teams, you know, the
Hawks are. The Suns have clearly shown that, Hey, you
(35:47):
want to talk about the best team in the NBA,
it's us, and then it's everybody else because you gotta
go by what the proof has been out there since
the playoffs began, and nobody is playing at the Sun's
level right now. No, every other teams are there and
they're winning, they're doing their job, but nobody is playing
at the Sun's level now when you start talking about
the the addition of what campaign is doing, and not
(36:08):
to make the joke, but Cameron pay and just ridiculous.
Guy was playing in China, who's out of the league
and he comes back and has this huge performance. We
talked about the growth of Eton getting more contribution to
off the bench and even on a down night for
Devin Booker, he's instrumental on a couple of players and
he got a broken nose for the effort as well.
You know, I saw the joke going around like nobody,
(36:30):
uh you know, you're not really a member of the
city until you've literally bled for it. Well you're now
officially for Phoenix. And there was this shot of these
folks sitting near the front and the woman had on
a Steve Nash t shirt that was it said playoffs.
You know, it's the playoffs in big bold letters, and
it's the giant picture of him with the cotton up
(36:52):
his nose, that he's all blood and black and blue,
so uh, you know, related all together, but on all
on both sides of the ball, it's just been ridiculous.
And even with Chris Paul out Monty Williams pulling all
the right strings, uh and dominating, there was a stat
I was trying to find, but I got an hour
to figure it out Twitter, And how about a fresca
(37:12):
Mike gets swollen dome the Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon.
I mean, it is really something. The one team that
we didn't talk about at all in the Western Conference
the Lakers. The Lakers are gonna win and clearly Lakers
had injury problems with Anthony Davis not being healthy. But
the Lakers are gonna win, or it's gonna be the
Nuggets or here come the Clippers and the Sons. But yeah,
(37:32):
the Sons are a nice story, but they're really good enough.
It's oh man, no, the Sons are good enough and
it's and it really it's not been close out. But
they were the team that I was all excited about
coming out of the bubble and everything else. But I
I listen to what you're saying to me, instead of
tweeting at what I said. Well, either that or I
gotta hire an intern about that. Yeah, like Cramer America. Yeah,
(37:52):
like like Parker had his own. Rob Parker had his
own personal intern for a while, didn't he. Yeah, he
traveled around with him, like a year and a half
ago he had it was Cray America. That's right. He
had a whole team of guys that were writing stuff
for him. Researchers. Man, what a what a gig? Twitter
(38:13):
it out about a fresca. Mike gets swollen down the
Jason Smiths with Mike Carmen. Hey, don't forget. Our best
of podcast goes up right after the show is over
on iTunes, the I Heart Radio app wherever you listen
to podcast, that's there, uh downloaded, subscribe, Give us five stars,
will love you forever and ever and ever. H incredible
insight on this game coming up next. Doug Gottlieb gonna
(38:35):
stop buy with us and break it all down. We
got something special next right here on Fox
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every week
night ten pm to two a m Eastern seven to
eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local
station for The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon at
Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every
night on the I Heart Radio app by searching fs R.
(00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Well, hold onto your
hats and it ain't over yet. My goodness, I know
what we're gonna talk about for the next two hours.
Absolute insanity in Phoenix. Right now, the Sun's lead the
Clippers one oh four, one oh three with point seven
(00:48):
seconds left to go. What has happened is something that
you never see happen in the NBA or in college basketball,
no matter how many times you see it tried. It
actually worked for the Sons, which you can say, Hey,
Clippers gonna clip. Uh. It was a big heroic play
by DeAndre Ayton. It was a great screen by Devin Booker.
(01:11):
It was an epic failed by the Clippers, who were
not ready for the alley oop inbounds play that gave
the Sons the lead with seven tenths of a second
left to go. Uh. Now the Clippers have the basketball
and they have one last chance for a shot that
could potentially change this series or they're going home down
to zip. This is all made possible because Paul George
(01:33):
missed two free throws seven free throw shooter and he
missed two free throws with a chance to get the
Clippers a three point lead with seven seconds left to go.
So this is where we sit right now, seven tenths
of a second left to go. The NBA, the referees
are trying to figure everything out. Scott Foster is saying, hey,
is there anyway we can get the Clippers to the
(01:54):
free throw line? Because boy, you know, I'm I'm here
to make sure that things go okay for the But
there's not a lot I could do right there. I
could have called DeAndre Ayton for his hands in the
cylinder were for that dunk. But you can't not a goal,
not a goaltend on that play. So that's wrong. Uh.
Fantastic screen by Devin Booker. He eight and helped Zubatch
(02:18):
into his path a little bit, uh, and he just
puts it down now. Uh. The normal rule is that
any shots got to be point three seconds at least,
but only point two seconds comes off here. But one
of the other rules is, you know, while the review,
you can't substitute. Uh. And then the Clippers were trying
to get on the all their shooters like no, no no, no,
(02:38):
no, no no no, no no. Cousins and Zubatch have to be
back out there. That was the fight for the last
four or five minutes of all right, what ten guys
were on the court, we have to bring them back.
And I mean, just what a great inbounds call out
of the time out from Monty Williams, just absolutely huge.
We're gonna break it down in the second. But again,
seven tenths of a second left to go and they're
(02:59):
getting ready to start. It's gonna have to be a
length of the floor pass by the Clippers to try
to make this happen. And uh, there was a caught ball.
Paul George throws it up, it is no good and
the Phoenix Suns hold on to beat the Clippers one
oh four, one oh three in a game filled with
(03:21):
heroes and goats, and I mean goats of the old
boy goat you cause us the game. Uh, this was
some kind of ending. This last play. Just to give
you a general breakdown, it really didn't have a chance.
They threw it all the way down the floor. Paul
George caught it as he was facing away from the basket.
I don't know that it would have counted even if
when it went. He shot from just inside the coach's box,
(03:44):
and uh, it did not go. And the Phoenix Suns
now lead this series two games to none. Going back
to l A, there was some skirmish after the dunk
by DeAndre Ayton. Booker got pushed by Patrick Beverley after
the game was over and kind of a scrum on
the law and cooler heads finally prevailed. But this is
the Son's winning a game that they look to have
(04:06):
no reason to win, and they win it one oh
four to one oh three. Now we're gonna take you
back to the play that changed everything all right. Now,
it was a one point lead by the Clippers and
Paul George, as we said, miss both free throws and
and that that is that has been on brand for
Paul George for most of his career. At the end
of games, Paul George doesn't make the shots. The thing is,
(04:28):
it was crazy because Paul George was making the shots tonight.
He was everything in the final three minutes of this
game for the Clippers. He would every big shot, he
at three's, he had jumped, He's hit the big twenty
two ft to give him the one point lead. He
was hitting everything. And then Devin Booker turns the ball
over and Paul George biffs both free throws, the second
one all the way in the back of the iron.
(04:50):
That gave the Sons a chance to win this game.
So that's the first thing we're gonna talk about, is that, Hey,
for all the good that Paul George does, boy missing
these two free throws, because at the very least, we'd
be going to overtime and then they'd be getting to
play again. At the most, it would have been, hey,
how are we gonna get a three pointer off with
seven tenths of a second left to go? But both
free throws missed, and Paul George, as much as you
(05:12):
can say, hey, Paul George had a really great last
three minutes, it's oh my goodness, Paul George and miss
both those free throws. So it's like one step forward
and two steps back from Mike Harmon with as he
tries to rewrite his playoff legacy. Well, he went five
a ten from the line for the night, missed three
shots in the fourth quarter from the file line. As
we mentioned before, three point arc was not kind to
(05:35):
him either. One for eight there, six assists, six rebounds,
three turnovers, Uh, twenty six points. It's all finding good
in his forty one minutes. But when you needed him,
you know, he left you just when you needed him most.
And this was a game that you had to had
to steal, as you were mentioning earlier. Now you have
(05:56):
no Chris Paul on the court. I know obviously Kauhaid
Leonard missing, but we found other heroes that have stepped up. Uh.
And the rotations have been strong for ty Lou and
the Clippers. Um. Devin Booker wasn't particularly good the strategy
of just be aggressive and not giving him easy looks.
(06:16):
For Beverly Rondo, whoever rotated out his way, Uh, they
did a good job. Five of sixteen from the field,
nine of nine from the file line, four rebounds, five assists,
seven turnovers. Right we were highlighting the turnovers as they
started to mount. Beverly with quick hands forcing some big,
big moments in this game and long reviews. By the way,
(06:38):
fourth quarter was like the fourth quarter of any college
football game. Incomplete passes, long commercial breaks, uh, and anything
can happen because while clock stops after every first down,
all of those things. That's what I felt like. There
didn't seem like a whole lot of flow to this game,
even early on. But because defend both teams. Defenses played
(07:02):
pretty well first half, second half, open looks, but tired legs.
It would seem in and waiting, uh a hit like
you were a quarterback in the pocket. Uh So, a
lot of a lot of stoppages of play and officials,
reviews and and everything else. But the son's escape. They
did everything they could to Devin Booker, your guy, and
(07:23):
uh well it didn't matter. He still got his twenty
and pain with his twenty nine leading the way. But
more on DeAndre and DeAndre Ayton. I mean, we did
a lot over the course of these playoffs about eighton
and he's the hero of the day. Now here's the
play now, so we we tick took care of Paul George.
You know, clips gonna clip the final play of the
game because there's eight tenths of a second left to
(07:46):
go or nine tenths of a second left to go.
The the three that was taken uh by Bridges goes
out of bounds. The Sons keep the ball, so they
have to inbound and they have less than a second
to try to make this work. And we have seen this.
I've seen this a thousand times in the NBA and
college basketball, where there's only a second lesson they try
(08:06):
to throw it up for an alley you play and
it never works. It never works, but it works here.
Here's the call, here's the thoughts up from Jake Crowder
to DeAndre Ayton for the alley you that wins the game,
waiting with blobs it under. Yes, it's good DeAndre as
far as the basket and end. DeAndre put it over
(08:28):
the rem and end. So there it was. That's exactly
what happened. Ayton comes in and he grabs the alley
you dunks it and that is the final margin of victory.
One oh four, one oh three. Now, a couple of
things about this play, because this play is going to
be diagrammed and broken down a thousand different ways. First
things first, and this I gotta give credit to Doug
(08:49):
Gottlieb on this because look, Dougs, you know, played basketball's
whole life, high levels of sport. He says, it looked
like that zoo Bots wanted to play a little bit
closer to the basket, but the the Clippers moved him
up to be closer to eighton and this allowed that
play to happen because Zubots had to follow eight and
he winds up getting uh messed up with the pick
(09:09):
that was thrown by by uh Devin Booker. So it
looked like he wanted to play low, and the Clippers
put him up to be next to DeAndre Ayton. And
so then when you see him try to get around,
that's what gave Eton that little bit of daylight to
get the basketball and dunk it. When he tried to
make up for it. Now it's a big push off
by Eton, who you know, pushes off to try to
(09:30):
get by, pushes u Bots way off him to try
to get there. That wasn't called. And then you're wondering
his hands above the cylinder was the ball in the
cylinder when he caught it, It was right there. I mean,
like you can look at and see the replay and go, boy,
that ball was right there and his hands. We were
right above it. And so now you're talking about a
couple of different bits of controversy. Can't goaltend on an
(09:53):
inbounds pass right by roots? Right, It's different. It's different
when you're there's different rules for different parts when you're
inbounding the ball and when when you are uh throwing
it in from from a pass. So there's different rules
when you're coming in from from out of bounds and
coming in from inbounds. But still it looked like the ball.
I don't know if the ball would have hit the rim.
I mean, that was like a line drive throw by
(10:13):
Jake Crowder. Looked like it might have hit the rim
if they didn't get there. But the bottom line is
that you watch this play and go I've seen this
so many times and it's never worked. I've never seen
this work. And now it works, and not only does
it work, but it works in the Clippers lose and
the Sun's win. I've never seen it work. And if
it's gonna happen to anybody, it would usually happen to
the Knicks. But it happens to the Clippers, you would say, yeah, okay,
(10:34):
it happens to the Clippers. Makes sense. Yeah, it's just
another paragraph on the Wikipedia page at this point. Remember,
because the as you mentioned, the bridge is three point shot.
They were able to get a time out right and
and talk it over and and discuss what what that
final inbounds play would be, and well, low and behold
(10:58):
it works to perfection and every but he does their job.
Jim Jackson on the broadcast actually said that he quoted
the great BELICHICKI in response and team slogan of do
your job, and you know, the Sons ran it perfectly.
Monty Williams Coach of the Year. Uh, what a fantastic
call he made. M hm. Twitter at how about a
(11:19):
Fresco might gets swollen on the Jason didn't even defend
you there, but not It's okay, buddy, It's okay, It's okay, buddy. Um,
you know, because the thing is is that because I
wanted to get to with the way this game ended,
and and it's probably fitting that eighton was the one
who made who made the final play. And I'll tell
you the more I look at I think that Paul
might have hit the rim if he didn't touch it. Um.
(11:40):
The difference in the Suns the last three weeks. Okay,
we can point to Devin Booker and the star turn
that he has and Chris Paul's impact on the on
the Sons, they they have been really big. We've had
a big up and you mentioned Cameron Payne who was
really taken advantage of the opportunity, whether he is starting
(12:01):
for Chris Paul or coming off the bench. I mean,
he has been terrific. But the difference in this team
and why they're winning and how they're they're such a
title threat right now is the continued assension of DeAndre Ayton.
I mean, there's a reason why this guy was the
number one picking the draft a couple of years ago,
and in the last three weeks he has seen his
stock rise because in a year where he had kind
(12:23):
of an okay uh regular season, what he's done in
the last two rounds of the playoffs, you know, still scoring,
neutralizing Nicola Yoki to the point where it wasn't even
a series where you know, they couldn't even win a
game and Yokich winds up getting frustrated and gets thrown
out of the final game eighton was huge. And now
you see him so far in this series as well.
He is the guy that the Clippers can't account for.
(12:46):
But they were able to account for Devin Booker pretty
well in this game. He had a bad game. You know,
Devin Booker had a bad turnover at the end and
it could have been the end of the game. I
mean he you know, he had a big game in
Game one. Okay, that's great, but here in too, they
really took care of him. And and Booker was gonna
be the goat, and I mean the goat of the
guy's given the game away and instead you look at
(13:08):
what Aton has done and they couldn't stop him tonight
and with a final night, you know, his numbers were terrific.
Aton is the guy that now is the difference maker
in this team. Twenty four and fourteen twelve out of
fifteen from the floor. The Clippers can't stop him. It's
really it's it's it's become a point where DeAndre Ayton
has gone from hey, someone we have to account for.
(13:29):
He's a pretty good, you know, third third best player
on the team to um he is starting to control everything,
all right. He he is twenty two for twenty nine
from the floor in this series. Right, he's out. He's
got twenty three rebounds. Uh, he has been a guy
that the Clippers. What are you gonna do? He's the
difference in this team, the reason they're winning. And then
the Sons are winning where they are beating the Nuggets
(13:50):
the way they did up to zip over the Clippers.
It's DeAndre Ayton and all the other guys are just
kind of around him right now. You know what I mean.
I'm celebrating where we actually is iron positions to get
none of this positionless crap. Uh, You're a shooting guard
and I don't care if they try to list you
as a point guard. You're a shooting guard. And DeAndre Ayton,
he's ruling for the big men. The center came to play.
(14:14):
I love it, Uh, Twitter, and how about a fresco
Mike gets swollen, dumb. It is absolutely outstanding. And let
me just throw this right here because we've got Rick
Buker coming up next. Uh. The Iron Cheek weighed in
at the end of this game. Oh boy, Iron Cheeks
weighed in. I can't say everything, but I will, I will,
(14:35):
I will. I will describe it for you bet as
I can. The Iron Cheek just tweeted out, Wow, Clippers
blanked up in all Capitalists. That's the iron cheek. He
also wants to supplex and break the blah blah blah
blah back of Scott Foster. So that's good. Can you
imagine if Scott Foster, just like you know, called the
(14:56):
ball at the end off the off the Sun's or
or or called some kind of offensive foul on DeAndre Ayton,
it's just got okay, sorry, Offen's a foul Clippers basketball.
Scott Foster would need he would need to be teleported
out of the arena like he's in the Avengers. They
would not have allowed him to leave. So this is
some kind of game. We're gonna break it down. We
(15:17):
got Rick Buker coming up next. Keep it right here.
Phoenix up two games to none over the Clippers. And
like I said before the show started, when the show started,
if the Clippers can't win games when Chris Paul's not playing,
how are they gonna win games when he is? And
I look, I picked the Clips to go to the finals. Boy,
I don't know, man, I really I don't know how
they're gonna win a game if they couldn't win this one.
(15:39):
Keep it right here. Our breakdown has just started. That's
coming up next right here, Jason and Mike Fox. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith Show
with Mike harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio
app Fox Sports Radio. The Jason Smith Show with my
best friend Mike Carli Phone, It's not that and my goodness,
(16:04):
did we just see a thriller between the Sons and
the Clippers. The Clippers with a one point lead with
a few seconds left. Paul George misses two free throws,
the Son's missed three, but with a second left to
go on the clock, they throw the out of bounds
alley oop. DeAndre Ayton pushes off, gets the dunk, and
the Sun's win it one oh four to one oh
(16:27):
three in an incredible ending. We're just starting to break
it all down now, joining us now on the hotline
Fox Sports One. NBA Insider Extraordinary. You can fall him
on Twitter at Rick Buker, that is at Rick Buker. Rick,
I gotta say, I gotta start with you where I
started this hour. How many times have I seen that? Well,
there's one second left on the clock. We're gonna throw
(16:49):
the alley you play in. I've never seen it work. Ever,
I've never seen it work, and of course it works
against the Clippers and the Sons win the game. Yeah,
it's certainly helped the ang. You don't normally, very rarely
are you throwing it in where you can throw it
where you're almost throwing it to the front of the
rim and all the guy has to do is is
(17:10):
go up and and flush it um. A lot of
times it's coming from a high angle, right you call
the time out, and now you're inbounding it from up
above by the hash mark and so. But look, Clippers
had a half dozen different ways to to win this
game or to put it out of reach, and ultimately didn't.
(17:34):
And I think that these these kind of losses stick
with not only stick with you, but they loom larger
in series than the ones where you get blown out
because you did everything necessary and then somehow found a
way to end up with with an l. And they're
gonna remember, They're gonna remember this one. However, this series goes.
(17:57):
If this different, if they lose this series, this is
the one that they're going to remember the most. Well.
I mean, they literally bloodied Devin Booker and kept him
in check. Chris Paul's not there. Everything's laid up for
you and and well to to lose this way. But
the thing that I think I'm gonna remember most though, Rick,
is the fact that the final two minutes took over
a half hour to play. Yeah, no doubt, I mean,
(18:21):
but you know what, Ultimately they did get the replays right.
I don't think there was a replay there where I
you know, I take issue with what the final result was. Um,
I wish there was a way to speed it up
because I do think that it impacts the the general
flow of the game. But they got it right and
(18:43):
and ultimately that's what you want instant replay to do.
The greatest issue I have when in through instant replay,
other than we use it far too much and it
does change the tempo of the game, is when they
when they use it and you're still looking at and
going I don't think they got that right. That's got
to be the most frustrating part of when we all
spend five minutes looking at its slow motion and they
(19:05):
come up with a result that uh that that us
at home or or in the building, anybody watching instant
replight doesn't agree with uh. When it comes down to it.
We watched the Sun's execute and again a play that
we never see happen, but it was made possible because
Paul George misses two free throws. And I get that
it's free throws, and we see guys miss free throws
(19:27):
all the time. But Rick missing two free throws in
that situation, the last one was off the back of
the iron. I mean, he's got to make at least
one of those. I mean that, I mean, I I
know what's elementary to say, but missing those two free
throws Rick, well, there's no question. I mean, he that's
that you You are the go to guy, and he's
a good free throw shooter. Uh, it is, there's no
(19:49):
I don't have any excuse or explanation, especially the way
he lost. He missed them. Look, sometimes you're gonna have
them rim out, sometimes you're gonna but he didn't. He
did not, and normally he shoots them and it's all net.
I mean, he's pretty he's pretty clean with his free throws.
The the moment, the pressure, it's hard to say that
(20:11):
it did not get to him and and affected those
shots because of the kind of free throw shooter he is,
and the way that he ultimately missed them. But you know,
there are a lot of and I'm sure the coaches,
I wouldn't be surprised if ty Lou says, you know,
the game wasn't one or loss of there there were
a lot of other things they could have done different.
(20:32):
And I agree to a certain extent Reggie Reggie Jackson
inconsistent in in his he was hesitant in in situations
that created problems and turnovers. Again the same as Game one,
Paul George, same thing like just not being decisive and
what he wanted to do and resulted in turnovers. And
then you know, Devin Booker comes back, bloody, he's got
(20:54):
his nose stuffed with gauze, and you put him on
the free throw line to get a rhythm and to score.
Make the dude having you know, been knocked upside the note,
looking like he has a broken nose, having its stuffed
with with gause, like, make him make a shot, make
him show you that he can make a shot after
(21:17):
all of that trauma, and don't send him to the
free throw line. And that's not what they did. They
gave him I think five straight free throws just to
like feel good about where he was in the game.
And so those are those are the little decisions. There's
a little mistakes, there's a little errors that make the
difference once you get to this level of the playoffs
(21:38):
in the NBA. Be remiss if we didn't at least
acknowledge Paul George throwing the ball off of zobach Is
back for a turnover as well. Yeah, yeah, again, I
mean those it is what it is the thing that
scares me about the Clippers and that you are now
asking Paul George and um and Reggie Jackson to make
(22:02):
a lot more decisions than they normally would. Without Kauai
Leonard there, the ball would be in his hands. And
certain in this game, the ball would have been in
Kauai's hands a lot, obviously in the last minute or two,
and you can just you're secure with him. Even with
Paul doesn't turn it over. There are times when he's
on the dribble and he dribbles himself into bad spaces.
(22:25):
He's kind of loose with the ball. He You know,
if if if you're a Clippers fan, there have to
be times where he scares the hell out of you
in the final in the final minute or two. And
for where they are without Kawhi Leonard, that's that's who
they're gonna be. They're they're going to rely on Reggie
and Paul, and unless they're more decisive and more secure
(22:46):
with the ball than they were in the first two games,
then I don't see a way in which they're gonna
win this series. Well, I look at it this way, Rick,
is that if you can't, I think it's more simple
than that. You just had these first two games. You
were missing Kawai Leonard. Okay, you knew that was happening.
The Sons are missing Chris Paul. We know Chris Paul
is going to be coming back. Kawhi Leonard probably not.
I know you're playing on the road, But if you
(23:08):
can't win a game where the Suns are missing their
floor leader, even though you had guys step up and
and and and pain stepping up, and we'll get to
eight in a couple of minutes as well. But if
you can't win these games, what game are you gonna win?
I mean, Scott Foster even officiated the game, and you
still like you still when finally wound up winning a
game that he officiated. You know, I get that, But
(23:29):
because the Clippers have been so good at finding matchups
and mismatches within their matchups, and Campaign has been so
dominating as a scorer, I think in a game like this,
you certainly miss Chris Paul. But if it becomes more
of an offensive game, if the Clippers going home can
(23:52):
make the game a little more up tempo, then And
because for every minute that Chris Paul plays, Campaign is
not And so I like the security of Chris Paul
when you have a lead. So I think Chris Paul
is going to score as well as Campaign has, particularly
where he scores from on the floor. And what's that
(24:14):
battle going to be between Pat Bev and Rajon Rondo?
Like Rajon Rondo is having a hard time guarding anybody
right now because of the way Chris Paul plays, doesn't
play as fast, Rosen Rondo has the opportunity now to
stay on the floor and defend Chris Paul. So I
I hear what you're saying, and in most cases, and
(24:36):
you may be right, You may be right, but I
need to see how the matchups are affected when Chris
Paul gets back, largely because Campaign has been just so good,
and he's going to play less if Chris Paul's back
and playing more. Yeah, but the slogans are all written.
Campaign with a huge night to night Fox Sports Rady
(25:00):
Jason Smit Show with Mike Garment. Here, Rick Buker joins
us box ahead. Yeah, I need to apologize to the
listeners for laughing at that. That was so bad. You
caught me off guard. I laughed. That was horrendous. That
was horrendous. I am, but you laughed. I'm embarrassed that
I laughed. I really am. That's better than that wreck
(25:22):
on me. At Rick Buker on Twitter where you find him.
I'm not plugging anything else now. On the Ball podcast,
Rebound the Book with Brian Grant. I picked that up
Barnes and Noble, Amazon dot Com, Prime Day, you got it.
You got deals out there, make rebound one of them
as you flow through. So let's get to DeAndre Ayton.
(25:43):
I like when Dinosaurs roam in the Earth and we
had true centers, and I like watching DeAndre Ayton play
because he's he's a kid. He's still growing, but boy,
he's really grown the last couple of weeks. Oh, there's
no there's no doubt. About it. I mean, to me,
he's probably the most difficult matchup that they have. He
to me, is really has been the difference because not
(26:06):
only does he finish with such efficiency around the rim,
but he's got that little mid range and time and
again we saw tonight where they didn't have anything going
late in the clock, he's got it at fifteen feet.
He knows he can't drive on Zubats, Zubatch is laying
off him, and he's knocking down that mid range jumper
and that's something that the Clippers simply don't have. I
(26:29):
think Zoo Zoo Batch is good. I think he's contributed,
but DeAndre age Aton has the edge on him in
the same way that he had in the previous series.
And it without question, um and I don't know that
we necessarily expected that, so uh yeah, to me, DeAndre
(26:51):
Atan is the real puzzle that they have to figure
out or or they're going to have to dominate some
other matchup. Now the one way they can do it,
And I saw at one point because I almost forgot,
I was like, oh, Nick, the tomb can shoot threes,
Like if they can, if they can flip that where
the tomb is in or Paul George is guarding DeAndre Ayton,
(27:12):
and they can win the three point versus two point
battle because DeAndre is not going to step out that
far and he's not he's not gonna defend that far
and he's not gonna shoot that shot. That's where you
may be able to exploit him a little bit. But man,
with the dude shooting on two's, you're going to have
to knock down some threes in order to flip that.
(27:34):
Rick Buker with US Fox Sports one NBA inside you
can fall on Twitter at Rick Buker. All right, Rick,
when it comes I mentioned Chris Paul. Look what we've gotten,
like no information after he's been out COVID protocols. First
it was he tested positive for COVID, but he's got
his vaccine. All that stuff has gone out the window. Now, Like,
what what are you hearing? Is is the likely situation
(27:54):
right now and when he could wind up coming back? Yeah,
I mean I have not heard anything specific about when
he's coming back. Obviously the ten to fourteen days is
the quarantine, So going going by that, UM trying to
think dates now, I believe he could potentially be back
(28:15):
for the next game if we're on the short end
end of that. I don't know exactly when the clock started,
but you know, honestly, we're not getting We're getting the
same thing from from when it comes to Kawuhi Leonard.
And I'm surprised by all of this, to be honest
with you, because the NBA used to have a more
clear protocol about, uh defining, you know, what what's going
(28:37):
on with guys and and giving everyone a better read
and considering, you know, the level of gambling that's now involved,
I'm really surprised that they're they're doing this kind of
smoking mirrors, uh job on where these guys are physically
(28:57):
and when when they're going to be available. So I wish,
I wish I could tell you. I mean, everything that
I've heard about uh Kauai's is you should probably not
expect to see him again. But he hasn't been definitively,
definitively ruled out. And that raises the other question. When
I'm hearing that, it's like, okay, so if that's the case,
or is this just gamesmanship um on the part of
(29:20):
the Clippers, And if it's a league rule, you would
think there would be this is not up to the
Suns to to announce when he could be back or
when they expect him back. This would be league protocol
that you're following, and I would expect from the league
to be giving us a clear review of where of
where Chris Paul is. But we haven't gotten it getting it.
(29:42):
And I will say this is I find this a
little bit unusual for the way that the NBA normally operates,
particularly in the postseason. That's okay, we'll get another couple
of coaches fired and we'll pay attention to that. But
tomorrow Atlanta at Milwaukee Game one, what do we expected here?
A couple of superstars that are that are pushing forward
(30:04):
and Nate McMillan still trying to lose the interim tag. Yes,
I know, yeah right, Um, if I'm Nate at this point,
I'm not signing anything with Atlanta because there's a lot
of jobs out there. I want to go to the
highest bidder at this point if I can, let's let's
let's get into into a bidding war. That said, Um, look,
(30:25):
I don't know. I'll be interested to see what the
ratings do overall, but I am fascinated as I am
with this series I'm gonna be just as fascinated with
the Hawks and the Buck um because I it's I
hate to say it, but it's going to come down
to matchups. A lot of people are saying that the
Bucks are gonna win this. I've seen a lot of
(30:46):
people predicting the Bucks are gonna win in four or five.
I have the Bucks in the finals, had them from
the beginning of the year, but I I don't see
it as as being, you know, a a landslide by
any means um, largely because I haven't been impressed with
how Mike Blutenholzer has utilized his team. They have a
(31:08):
six man rotation, uh they did at the end of
the last series. That's not going to be good enough.
They're gonna have to get something out of Brent Forbes.
They're gonna have to get something out of Bobby Tortoise
and Jana Santa to Compo is going to have to
play consistent basketball and and you can get two feet
in the paint, operate from the midpost in the pinch post,
(31:29):
and then I could see, you know, potentially the Bucks
winning the series and winning it in five or six.
But there are so many unanswered questions the Bucks have
played so up and down that, um, I do think
they decide which way it goes. But if they give,
if they show us what what was their worst against
(31:50):
the Nets, that I think there's an opening for the Bucks.
I mean for the Hawks to win. And this is
the other with the one last element is the fact
that the three point shooting, particularly for the Hawks, has
really had a huge influence on every game that they've
won or lost. When they come out and they're knocking
down threes, um, they're a different team and when they're not,
(32:10):
they're a different team too. So that's going to be
an element. And the Bucks do not shoot, has not
shot the three as well, and have not defended the
three particularly well. So that leaves the opening for the Hawks.
Let's see how they shoot it from the ark. So
there it is, Rick Buker. Rick. By the way, I
just wanted to remind you know, if you know this
or not, but before the season started, I picked the
Hawks to go to the Eastern Conference Finals. If you
(32:32):
know that. But I picked the Hawks to go. They
were my surprise heat team of the year. So I
just wanted to let you know that because yeah, I did,
I did not know that I would have thought that
if you had made that pick, that we would have
heard of some kind of campaign out there about your selection. Well,
he jumped off, I'm really quickly. It's not my fault,
like I say it all the time, and I say
(32:55):
it all the time. He's on Twitter at Rick Buker,
that is at Rick Buker, Fox Sports one MB inside
of the book Rebound with Brian Grant. Pick it up.
It's an awesome read. Rick is always buddy, Thanks so much.
We'll talk to you next week. You got it. You
didn't get my campaign joke. That was good, but I
got it. But Harmon gave the campaign, the whole campaign
(33:15):
thing to I mean, I though he brought it back.
That's what I got it. You are my hero. Wait,
you're my guy. Thank you, thank thank you. Somebody appreciates me.
Damn it. Yeah, this is a guy who wanted to
(33:36):
not I want to take back the laugh I had
at the other joke because I didn't like it so much.
Work shop one of his own. I'm gonna workshop, all right,
I think it's ready. I'm ready to put it up
as a scene. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten
pm Eastern seven pm Pacific. Hey, it's Ben host The
(33:58):
Fifth Hour with Ben Aller along with my trustees sidekick
David Gascon. Would meet a lot to have you join
us on our weekly auditory journey. You're asking one in
God's name is the Fifth Hour? I'll tell you it's
a spin off of the Ben Maller Show. Cold Hit
Overnights on fs ARE Why should you listen? Picture if
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(34:21):
amazing facts about a human nature and more. Let'sten to
the Fifth Hour with Ben Mallow or the I Heart
Radio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast,
Fox Sports Radio, The Jason Smith Show with my best
friend Mike Harmony. Body, my goodness, still buzzing over the
sun's last second inbound alley oop to beat the Clippers
(34:42):
one oh four to one oh three, uh and take
a two games to non lead in the Western Conference Finals.
And you know, Mike, here's the thing right now, I'm
gonna make a statement. And it's weird because it's it
doesn't have to do with any of my teams, right,
because I picked the Clippers to go to the finals.
I picked the Bucks to go to the finals. It
was by Bucks. Clipper was my That was your legitimate
once you actually had to commit to somebody, right, that
(35:05):
was my legit pick for the for the brackets, it
was it was Bucks Clippers in the NBA Final. And
before the season started, I picked the Hawks to go
to the Eastern Conference finals. So you know, it pains
me to say this. The one team I didn't pick
for anything was the Suns. And I'm looking right now going, uh,
the Suns have shown and if you're doing some kind
of power rankings right now, the Suns have been the
(35:27):
best team in the playoffs and it's not even close
with how they're able to win. They're the teams that
aren't having trouble with anyone. They even even going through injuries,
it doesn't matter, it doesn't affect them. The Clippers are
so up and down. The Bucks are winning games, losing games,
they're blowing games. All these other teams, you know, the
Hawks are. The Suns have clearly shown that, Hey, you
(35:47):
want to talk about the best team in the NBA,
it's us, and then it's everybody else because you gotta
go by what the proof has been out there since
the playoffs began, and nobody is playing at the Sun's
level right now. No, every other teams are there and
they're winning, they're doing their job, but nobody is playing
at the Sun's level now when you start talking about
the the addition of what campaign is doing, and not
(36:08):
to make the joke, but Cameron pay and just ridiculous.
Guy was playing in China, who's out of the league
and he comes back and has this huge performance. We
talked about the growth of Eton getting more contribution to
off the bench and even on a down night for
Devin Booker, he's instrumental on a couple of players and
he got a broken nose for the effort as well.
You know, I saw the joke going around like nobody,
(36:30):
uh you know, you're not really a member of the
city until you've literally bled for it. Well you're now
officially for Phoenix. And there was this shot of these
folks sitting near the front and the woman had on
a Steve Nash t shirt that was it said playoffs.
You know, it's the playoffs in big bold letters, and
it's the giant picture of him with the cotton up
(36:52):
his nose, that he's all blood and black and blue,
so uh, you know, related all together, but on all
on both sides of the ball, it's just been ridiculous.
And even with Chris Paul out Monty Williams pulling all
the right strings, uh and dominating, there was a stat
I was trying to find, but I got an hour
to figure it out Twitter, And how about a fresca
(37:12):
Mike gets swollen dome the Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon.
I mean, it is really something. The one team that
we didn't talk about at all in the Western Conference
the Lakers. The Lakers are gonna win and clearly Lakers
had injury problems with Anthony Davis not being healthy. But
the Lakers are gonna win, or it's gonna be the
Nuggets or here come the Clippers and the Sons. But yeah,
(37:32):
the Sons are a nice story, but they're really good enough.
It's oh man, no, the Sons are good enough and
it's and it really it's not been close out. But
they were the team that I was all excited about
coming out of the bubble and everything else. But I
I listen to what you're saying to me, instead of
tweeting at what I said. Well, either that or I
gotta hire an intern about that. Yeah, like Cramer America. Yeah,
(37:52):
like like Parker had his own. Rob Parker had his
own personal intern for a while, didn't he. Yeah, he
traveled around with him, like a year and a half
ago he had it was Cray America. That's right. He
had a whole team of guys that were writing stuff
for him. Researchers. Man, what a what a gig? Twitter
(38:13):
it out about a fresca. Mike gets swollen down the
Jason Smiths with Mike Carmen. Hey, don't forget. Our best
of podcast goes up right after the show is over
on iTunes, the I Heart Radio app wherever you listen
to podcast, that's there, uh downloaded, subscribe, Give us five stars,
will love you forever and ever and ever. H incredible
insight on this game coming up next. Doug Gottlieb gonna
(38:35):
stop buy with us and break it all down. We
got something special next right here on Fox
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