So here we are with Milwaukee in Phoenix tonight in this Sleepless in Seattle NBA Finals.
So many human storyliness which aren’t measured by a bunch of nerdy geeks on a metric scale.
But this isn’t about anyone else right now except Chris Paul and his legacy as one of the best point guards in NBA history.
I like the Bucks more in a Game 7 than I do tonight in Phoenix.
For the sake of Chris Paul’s legacy…. I just cannot fathom he will not pull it together enough with those great fans in Phoenix to get a win in Game 5.
Real NBA Playoff basketball is what we’re experiencing right now. Not bubble basketball. The raw human emotion of the ups and downs …the ebbs and flow of confidence or the lack of confidence.
This is why we play, coach, and blog sports. This is why we compete. This is what drives us to compete as humans.
Chris Paul has had a lot to think about these last two days.
It was a good night for my obscure little underground blog. I picked the Bucks to win exactly by six points and for Khris Middleton to have the game’s biggest imprint. I also said Jrue Holiday would have a secondary imprint in this game and he did even though he had a tough night shooting the ball.
Jrue hounded Chris Paul and on the night CP3 had five turnovers and several times looked like Russell Westbrook out there being detonated by dynamite.
Circle this one in red…in the last three games Chris Paul has a combined 15 turnovers. That’s a storyline as we prepare for Game 5 in Phoenix on Saturday night.
Can Jrue Holiday continue to get under Chris Paul’s skin and create turnovers and points in transition for the Milwaukee Bucks?
The Monty Williams story is a beautiful human story. It’s like Sleepless in Seattle with an NBA head coach having his team in the Finals.
But I like the Bucks. I think they have the better team. Giannis, Khris, Jrue, Patrick, Brook Lopez, and Bobby Portis have grown on me. I like them. Nothing against the Suns…I just like the Bucks a little more. They beat Brooklyn on the road in a Game 7….don’t sleep on that.
This series is reminding us of how lame the NBA Bubble Finals were last year. It’s been tough sledding for both of these teams on the road in this series.
Jrue Holiday knows he needs two more wins to become an NBA champion…and for that to happen he has to disrupt and shut down Chris Paul. That’s Jrue Holiday’s job in what now is a best two out of three series for the NBA World Championship and the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
And from an offensive standpoint both Giannis and Khris have to score the ball while getting enough help from Connaughton, Lopez, and the likeable Bobby Portis from Arkansas.
This Game 5 could be epic. I need to kick back and drink some wine and sing some with Sting before I make my Game 5 prediction.
Tuscany and Deer Creek..there’s not really all that much difference.
Chris Paul, buddy…this is a song for you from the Milwaukee fans in Deer District.
And this is why Sam Presti would never allow someone like Mike Jackson to have a press credential for OKC Thunder media pressers.
Namely—instead of having pet puppets in the room like Little Nick Gallo and Low Energy Royce Young asking the questions…he would have to be dealing with someone who actually knows both college and NBA hoops.
Near death and in a state of coma….I’ve forgotten more hoops than the two Presti Pups. But they are adorable aren’t they?
I called it by Milwaukee by six in my rambling pregame and it was the Bucks by six in what I would describe as an instant classic.
This game had everything.
If Milwaukee ends up winning the O’Brien Trophy the city of Milwaukee and Deer District will look back to early in the fourth quarter of this game and say …”This Game 4 was a defining moment amongst many for the 2021 Milwaukee Bucks.”
The Bucks were down by nine early in the fourth period and Khris Middleton and Giannis simply willed their team to win on a night in which Jrue Holiday could have been standing next to the Pacific Ocean and not been able to hit it with a basketball.
If you love basketball and I love basketball…this was like a hoops drug. This was pure cocaine. This wasn’t about X’s and O’s — this was about Milwaukee in essence staving off elimination and drawing even at two games apiece in these NBA Finals.
There was so much raw humanity out there in Game 4 it will require much more thought as we near Game 5 in Phoenix on Saturday night.
Here’s what I’m circling in red…Jrue Holiday was simply horrific shooting the basketball in Game 4 and yet the Bucks still won.
I’m circling that in red on my Beat Vegas Like A Stepchild clipboard.
But on this night Jrue’s two buddies…Khris and Giannis and maybe even Pat Connaughton bailed him out.
I look at Jrue Holiday kind of like I looked at Howie Kendrick on that Washington Nationals championship team.
I look for the basketball Gods to be saving a moment for Jrue Holiday before everything is said and done in these NBA Finals.
What a great basketball game.
I have to admit…I’ve fallen in love with Deer District. This is one for Deer District after Game 4.
I’ve been watching the games, but the never ending rains in Oklahoma have worn me out to the point that I’ve lost my energy to blog. I’ve lost my blogging mojo due to rain fatigue.
16.8″ of precip in the rain gauge out here at the Deer Creek Weather Reporting Station in the last six weeks and the sometimes clueless Mike Morgan says another 3″ of precip headed our way late Thursday into Friday morning.
That would make for 20″ of precip in a seven week reporting cycle. That is stunning.
Meanwhile the Pacific Northwest is on fire and Lake Mead is at 35% capacity elevaton-wise. Be sure and explore some natural gas stocks since that part of the country won’t be able to rely on their hydro-plants for their energy production needs. Be bullish on the LNGs. Nice moves by Devon of late as well. Nice to see them back on the path to becoming an energy company again.
But you Pencers and Trumpsters and Little Tucker Carlsons will never admit there is climate change.
Phoenix has been a road warrior in these playoffs. They need a road win on Wednseday to put a death grip on these Finals.
It’s amazing how much better both Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton played at home in Game 3. I think that will continue in Game 4. I’m bullish on Jrue and Khris to both make significant imprints in Game 4.
Tampa repeated as Stanley Cup champions as we all knew they would once we saw they would be playing the Montreal Canadians. Kind of like seeing a 1-15 Bedlam Mike Gundy coached team on the other sideline. Just saying.
I find it somewhat odd that since Tom Brady moved to Tampa the Boston Bruins have become irrelevant and the Tampa Bay Lightning have won back to back Cups.
I easily voted for Andrei Vasilevskiy as my Conn Smythe winner. He was simply the best player on the ice. Congrat, Vas.
Although I love Monty Williams there is a part of me which is very fond of Jrue and Khris. They are both solid seasoned NBA pros who’ve payed their dues to be playing in these NBA Finals. You never see either one of those guys acting like knuckleheads.
I like the Bucks in Game 4 by six points.
I’ve been watching Peyton Manning host the College Bowl Series. I like the way he handles himself. You know… Peyton and his family now live in Denver.
Why can’t you dumbass Trump people get on board with someone like Peyton Manning and not degrade yourself or our country any longer.
Peyton 2024.
Why not?
Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Giannis, Khris, and Jrue—this is your moment. Embrace the journey.
Game 4 Pregame—Running Down A Dream, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. Seems appropriate.
I’ve been very busy since the deluge of rains whoch have overtaken Ok;ahoma. I’ve been watching the Finals, but haven’t had the energy to blog about the games so far.
Obviously…the Suns are a great story.
Chris Paul and Devin Booker have combined for 113 points in the first two games in Phoenix.
Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday need to pick it up tonight in Game 3 in Milwaukee if they want to turn this series around.
I’m sure Mike Pence from Indiana is a big hoops guy so here’s a look at his new podcast to get in a mood for the game tonight in Milwaukee.
I always want to reach out and make sure the Trump and Mike Pence people feel loved on my blog.
We move onto Montreal with the defending champ Lightning leading these Finals 2-0.
Montreal played much better in Game 2, but still lost 3-1 despite out shooting Tampa 43-23, despite carrying the pace of the game, depite in fact playing about as good as they can hope to play…they still lost.
They gave up a goal in the waning seconds of the second period, then basically gift wrapped the Tampa third goal when defenseman Joel Edmonton made a non-chalant blind pass behind net to Tampa.
That’s now two goals in two games in which a Canadian defenseman has made the knucklehead play of the game or the equivalent of Shaqin’ the Fool. Two horrible hockey plays.
Those type of plays simply cannot occur for Montreal to have a chance.
Carey Price played better in Game 2, but Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy played even better and was the No. 1 Star of the Game.
Vasilevskiy is my Conn Smythe leader in the clubhouse as we head into Game 3. He’s been Tampa’s most valuable player and that isn’t a shock based on how he’s played all season long.
We’ve now played 120 minutes in these Stanley Cup Finals and the Canadians have been outscored a collective 8-2 and have never had the lead for a singular second so far.
I would think Montreal scoring the first goal tonight would be paramount for the Canadians to have some success tonight.
I don’t need to play the Al Pacino video because Montreal played very hard and at a high level in Game 2 minus the dumbass turnover on the third goal.
Tampa just played better.
Montreal has to figure out how to put the puck in the net against Andrei Vasilevskiy tonight. Someone wearing a Canadian jersey needs to score some goals and finish a play or two.
Maybe being in front of a home crowd will help Montreal score some goals.
It was one of those nights for Milwaukee center Brook Lopez. With Giannis out with his left knee injury someone on the Bucks had to be special to make up the production.
Enter Brook Lopez from Stanford who had a career post season game with a 33 point, 7 rebound, 4 assist night. From the opening tip Atlanta never really had an answer for Lopez in the paint…which is somewhat unusual.
It’s an unusal outlier because Lopez is known more for his perimeter game as a big who can hit the perimeter three and stretch the other team’s perimeter defense. The most telling stat in this game was how the Bucks destroyed the Hawks with an onslaught of points in the paint.
But this game wasn’t just about the career night from Brook Lopez who’s brother Robin ‘Uni-Bomber’ Lopez is one of my favorite off the beaten path players in the league currently. BTW…back in the day at Stanford—the Lopez Brothers eliminated Kevin Durant and DJ Augustin in the second round of the NCAA Tournament with an easy lopsided win over the Longhorns. He may look like a Uni-Bomber, but he speaks like a Stanford MBA grad. Interesting guy.
But back to my thought…four Milwaukee starters in this game accounted for 102 points. So this wasn’t just Brook Lopez Night. Khris Middleton played like an NBA All-Star which he is. Jrue Holiday played like the best pickup in the Eastern Conference this season. Bobby Portis got the start in the absence of Giannis and was in a word… superb.
Unlike the situation in 2016 in Okahoma City in Durant’s free agency season…Milwaukee’s GM made the moves to give Giannis the very real chance of advancing to the NBA Finals.
The three additions of Jrue Holiday, Bobby Portis, and PJ Tucker have all been prescient so far for the Bucks who are now one game away from meeting the Phoenix Suns in the NBA Finals.
Back in 2016 in Oklahoma City in Durant’s free agency season…Sam Presti went with Andre Roberson and Dion Waiters as his primary two guys to play the shooting guard slot.
No one in Oklahoma City who covers the team in this market and wants off the record access would ever write that, but I have an obscure off the beaten path underground blog so I can write it. It is what it is. Besides…Barry Tramel is a good guy.
I ask Barry a question once on an online lunch chat about whether he had many dealings with my scribe hero Dan Jenkins back in the day and he literally gave me a two page answer which I will always remember. I owe Barry Tramel a lunch. Plus… if you call Tramel on his number which he lists after every story he returns every call…which I think is refreshing in these days of the internet.
So…Game 6 back in Atlanta on Saturday night. We’ll see if Giannis and Trae can go.
If you’re one of those who voted for Trump twice…this is for you. From an American presidential history standpoint…this is why it will be tough for Trump to ever be voted the absolute worst POTUS ever.
It would be like some contemporary basketball player winning their seventh ring to pass Michael Jordan as the GOAT. Just saying.
I doubt Trump knows who James Buchanan is… so in his delusional world he’ll be okay regardless. His main dilemma right now is whether he goes with Lindsey Graham or Melatonin with the next prenup.
Phoenix is in the Finals and waiting. Chris Paul is resting his body. Monty Williams is probably on a couch with some of his kids and pretty much just hanging out. Devin Booker is giving his broken nose a break.
If you’re a Phoenix Sun…life is good.
But in Milwaukee its Game 5 tonight with the series tied at 2-2.
Who knows what to think with Giannis and Trae probably both out tonight.
Phoenix has been a road warrior in this post season and so have the Atlanta Hawks.
I think this will be a highly entertaining game.
Lou Williams in his start played around 34 minutes and gave Nate McMillan what he needed.
Can Khris Middleton be ‘the guy’ when he’s the singular shutdown focus of the other team?
For all of us hoops junkies this is fascinating stuff.
Do we really need a team in Oklahoma City to love these NBA Playoffs?
Like the guy on this video I consider myself a presidential historian. I have a second degree in history and have read at least one biography on each of our presidents.
Where would I rank Trump?
He’s definitely the overall worst human to ever be POTUS. But I’m not certain we can define Trump as the worst POTUS ever. This is tricky because Andrew Johnson during the early stages of Reconstruction was even a more zealous racist than Trump.
But where would I place Trump historically?
Somewhere in a group of the three worst presidents teamed with James Buchanan and Andrew Johnson is where I would place the posterboy for Russian Golden Showers. Now…if Trump and his domestic terrorist groups like the Proud Boys had actually overthrown the United States government on January 6th…then I’d probably have him alone as the worst president in U.S. presidential history standing by himself.
But like everything Trump….thankfully the Proud Boy insurrection on Jan. 6th failed.
A recent poll was just released by CSPAN and somehow Trump ranked ahead of Franklin Pierce, William Henry Harrison, Andrew Johnson, and James Buchanan placing him in 41st place.
Actually…a pretty good showing. You have to think he must have either extorted or bribed some of the voters to place this high. Maybe he took some of the voters to Moscow and took them to a Russian strip bar for an Official Trump Presidential Pee Party. Maybe.
Ironically for Trump…Barack Obama surged in this ‘fake news’ CSPAN poll and is now ranked in the 10th spot and ranked as our greatest living president.
This won’t deter Trump and his followers though I’m sure as they congregate throughout the country in the coming months attending Trump rallies while embarrassing themselves and our country in the process.
Job well done, former President Donald Trump—at least in this poll you didn’t clearly finish as the worst American POTUS ever.
This video is just for you sir from me as a token of my affection for you.
Don’t worry, sir. The white hate groups will always have you as their greatest POTUS. They’re yours forever. They are your presidential legacy.
It was a very emotional night in LA as the Phoenix Suns defeated the LA Clippers in Game 6 by a score of 130-103 to advance to their first NBA Finals since 1993.
The human storylines are abundant.
Chris Paul as one of the league’s premier point guards the past sixteen years led his team with a 41 point night to get them over the hump. Just when the Clippers had closed to within seven points….Chris Paul took over the game while Paul George and his team collapsed.
It was a glorious ending for the Suns and another Greek tragedy ending for the tormented LA Clippers.
The manner in which Patrick Beverly left the game was pathetic and if I were Adam Silver I’d suspend his ass for at least two games at the beginning of next season.
Patrick Beverly, I love your passion and toughness, but some class here and there would be nice. Grow up.
It was a special night for Devin Booker as well. We all now know he’s not just a chucker on a perennial bad team. He’s the real deal. A complete two zone basketball player with a quiet championship toughness about him.
In the postgame…Chris Paul said ‘Book’ was the reason he came to Phoenix. To play with Devin Booker. As a Thunder follower this immediately made me think to myself what does that say about what Chris Paul privately thinks about Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s potential.
It was Thunder night in LA actually. Chris Paul, Cameron Payne, Monty Williams, Abdel Nader, and former big man assistant coach Mark Bryant were all at the party.
So were Paul George and Reggie Jackson who played gallantly in these playoffs without Kawhi Leonard. With the exception of the last period in Game 6 the Clippers were a feel good story themselves.
Reggie Jackson was crying in his postgame interview and I felt for him. His heartfelt honesty about what this post season run meant to him was touching. It was a nice offset to Patrick Beverly’s exit.
It will be another long summer for Paul George as the way this game ended will fuel the talk he can’t get it done in big games. It comes with the territory. It’s a result oriented profession, deal with it, PG.
You wanna run a hot dog stand and not be criticized about your craft…then give up being a max player in the NBA and go buy a hot dog stand.
But for me the night was about Monty Williams. I love Monty Williams. He may not know it, but he played a part in my life in 2016 while my father was fighting his battle with terminal pancreatic cancer.
My wife in her profession came to know Monty and his children. And thru my wife crying and telling me what an incredible person Monty was it inspired me to deal with my father’s situation with as much positive hope and love as I could.
And when Monty Williams gave that speech at his wife’s memorial it became a turning point for me. He has no idea he had this impact on me from what he said that day, but he did. I may need to write him a private note at some point thanking him for what he said about his wife and his commitment to his children.
I think you can probably guess who I’m going to be rooting for in these upcoming NBA Finals.
Sometimes sport gives us a chance to see the best in others and hopefully ourselves.