Scott Hastings | Former NBA Big Man; Altitude TV Nuggets Analyst

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That's betterhelp.com slash positive. It's always our privilege to welcome Scott Hastings to the show. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. I know you've done a bunch of interviews, you've been working, getting ready for the NBA Finals. After all this time, and you spent a couple years of your career there in Denver to wrap up, after all this time waiting, what was it like inside ball arena for the first Finals game in franchise history, Scott?

Well, Amy, I'll tell you what. First of all, the fans all playoff long have just been unbelievable, as loud as I've ever seen it. It's like every game we said, well, it can't get any louder and somehow it does.

Tonight was just stupid crazy, to be honest with you. They were ready. I talked to a guy who was doing a stand up, we do a pregame for altitude. So I'm outside with fans and so on and so forth.

This guy comes by and he's kind of a little scooter like thing. And he's been a season ticket holder for 40 years, for 40 years, and he was 90 years old. So it's reached a whole new level. I mean, this, you know, this team since, you know, goes all the way back to the ABA days and one of the teams that came over the merger.

So I mean, this is 50 plus years in the, in the baking, if you will. And it was pretty special tonight. And, you know, your first game in the playoffs, you get your first win. Well, you were part of the Detroit Pistons when they won in the late eighties.

So what does it mean to a franchise to win a championship? Well, I was fortunate enough to come up and carry a lot of players bags, land beer, let me carry the bag in the airport. So I was on the second of the back to back. And it was, I mean, it was special. I mean, until you, as a player, until you kind of live in that moment, until you get into a game and realize I got in and got to play in game three in Portland, it's just different. And it's a game that you played. You know, when I played in the playoffs, my birthday was game seven of the playoffs that I turned 30.

And that was the Scottie Pippen migraine day. And so I'm 30 year old playing in my first finals, my only finals after a while. I mean, at first, you know, you might be dribbling down your leg a little bit, but then all of a sudden you realize it's just basketball. It's no different than junction city, Kansas playing in the state championship, but it's intense.

Every place seems to matter. I think these guys have figured that out. This, this is a focused basketball team.

I can tell you that. And I know a lot of people on the East coast don't get to see it much, but this is a really talented focused basketball team. You know, your, your best player, Nicole Jokic, you'll turn 28 in the season. Jamal Murray, you're, you know, an all star caliber player is 27. Michael Porter is 24. Christian Brown played tonight as the rookie.

I think he's 22. This is a focused, good team. And they're also young. When you think about all the different pieces that had to fall into place for this team to not only win the top scene, but to run through the playoffs, the way that they have, why is this the year in which it seemingly is coming together for them, or at least enough for them to get to the finals? Well, I'm not sure.

And I think that's probably good for everybody. I think COVID slowed everybody's progress down a little bit. They did play in the Western conference finals in the bubble. And, you know, everybody who said he was down there, it wasn't, you know, we started a conversation.

You're not, you're not having a crowd. Like we saw tonight in the bubble or like, we'll see next week in Miami. I mean, they started to do something then, but then all of a sudden, you know, the next year and Jamal Murray late in the season and you're rolling, I mean, it looks like, Hey, here's your chance.

Maybe do something special this year. And Jamal Murray tears the ACL late in the season. And then you get, you know, so he's out the whole next year, Porter plays nine games and has to get out and has another back surgery.

So it was, it's just, it's, they're healthy to be honest with you. That's first and foremost, Gordon's played dividends. And that was a trade they, they, they had a few years ago, the year that Murray gets hurt. And that was the place to play against the big boards that they were going to play. Like if the Lakers and the Clippers, but then your next year without Murray, you're playing, you're playing Steph Curry, gold state, you know, whole lot different.

I mean, it's not a easier, but it's a whole lot different chasing Kawhi when you're similar size than, than chasing Steph Curry. So, so then you get back, Murray comes back, he's getting more healthy. And then the management ads, you know, contagious Caldwell Pope, who's been a godsend in a trade.

And then somehow I, and I think Amy, to be honest with you, you can look this up. I'm not sure the most, most positive, most, maybe, I think it's the best free agent pick up as far as helping the team win with Bruce Brown, getting him, getting him on the market and, and getting him fairly cheap, you know, an NBA standards. I mean, I'll take a $6 million salary. Now all of a sudden guess what, Gordon could go guard the bigger guys and you've got KCP and Bruce Brown and a rookie and Christian Brown that now you can slot, you know, all three of them could guard, you know, basically one, one to four. We're so excited to have Scott Hastings with us from Denver after the Nuggets first NBA finals game in franchise history.

He's part of altitude TV, spent some time interviewing players after the game and is jumping on with us here after our CBS sports radio, former big man himself in the league. What did the players have to say about a couple of things? Number one, waiting nearly 10 days to get back on the court, because that's a long time and it's out of routine, but also about getting a chance to participate in essentially this promised land where every NBA player wants to go. You know, I almost like the 10 days now, especially the way they, they kind of came out and really through three quarters, you know, took it to Miami.

I think it helped them. Nicola had been fighting most playoffs with the, with the sore wrist Murray ain't claiming to get, you know, an ACL, even though he's had all year, just bore rest. Cause I thought there was a time his legs were getting a little tired in that Phoenix series. He got rest.

KCP is banged up a little bit. So I think from that standpoint, it was good. And then I watched and maybe you guys could go back and look at it. Jamal Murray had a press conference.

I think it was yesterday. And I watched him speak and listen, I I've covered all their 82 of their games this year. So I'm around them a lot. And I watched him talk and I went, Oh God, they're focused. There wasn't a, you know, read our press clippings, be satisfied with what we did, uh, through these first three rounds and so on and so forth. And I'm like, Oh, Oh, listen, I got a chance to cover, um, the Denver Broncos, their first two Superbowl with color analysts on radio for that. And, and I remember that team, the Broncos finally winning their first, um, Superbowl and, and being around those guys the week before the Superbowl, that was the focus I'd ever seen.

And it's very similar to reminds me a little bit of what this team is going on right now. I love though that Jamal Murray still has the emotion that's associated with it to telling a story about doing NBA final shots at his driveway when he was a kid for the championship, but also the fact that he did have to sit out and didn't have an opportunity to get back to the post season until now and how much it means to him to be healthy and, and of course out there shooting the lights out. He's unbelievable.

I've, I've always said it, and I said it, uh, the, the year he, and he was rolling the year he tore his ACL before he tore ACL up. Nicole Yogi is Denver's best player. And it's not close, especially when you, I mean, if you're really honest, you probably is the best player in the world right now, but Jamal Murray is Denver's heart and soul. He's he, he is Denver's emotion. Um, he's the guy that, that the crowd is just waiting for him to put him to give them a glance so they can just explode when he's in that zone, make a shot.

And all of a sudden that confidence goes, you know, from a, uh, a Cub lion to a full grown timber daddy lion, it becomes pretty special. Scott Hastings is with us from Denver following game one of the NBA finals. Yes, a double figure win though, as you point out, they were up by 20 something and the heat made a run there in the fourth. It's after hours on CBS sports radio, Nicole Yogi, he definitely is a guy who can dominate in many facets. And he had double figure assists in the first half of this game long before he ever took a shot. And yet there are some who would say he really just fills up a stat sheet. He's not that good. You see him all the time. What makes him so effective and so good on the court?

Scott is intelligent level is off the chain. Um, if you go back to the first part of the game on Miami is playing him and you got to choose what you're going to do, uh, with them. And that's why he's so good. Do you want to, you know, let him score and then lock everybody down or find that he'll get 53 or 54 points on it.

Do you want to double keep him away from scoring? Then you better be, he better be good on the weak side because he's going to find people. He's the only star I've ever been around.

I've been around a lot of them that honestly doesn't care if Denver would have won today. And he had eight points, 10 or 12 rebounds and 10 or 12 assists. He'd have been just as happy as anybody, you know, in the world. And it's not, there's no 40 to them. Numbers don't mean a thing to him.

It's coming out. You know, the ledger says a W lot of guys say that Amy, uh, and you've been around a lot of them that, you know, and I know you, you get off the interview and go, well, that was a crock of, you know, what, um, that, that a joker joker joker doesn't care about anything except winning, but now he's also seven, one and 280 pounds. He's got the hands of, of, and, and the vision of a magic Johnson. He's got a Tim Duncan, a touch around the basket. He can shoot it, but his form looks a little bit like Larry bird at times. He just, there's nothing phony about this cat.

He's not phony. Um, and anybody that don't think he's any good and it's all about staff, then you really not watched him play. As we've heard more and more from Michael Malone, because he's been in the spotlight more and more, two things have impressed me about the coach. Number one, he is the first guy to say, if we don't win a title, all of this is wasted.

All of this was for nothing. We're not happy with just getting the one C we're not happy with just getting to the West finals or the NBA finals. So I really liked that about him, but also the fact that he is salty. Now he's got this chip on his shoulder in part because of Nicola Jokic and the fact that he doesn't get the respect that Mike thinks he deserves, but also he's finding bulletin board material everywhere.

Scott, it cracks me up. This guy, he'll use any tool available right now. Well, and sitting there in New York somewhere as his dad, who, you know, has got 20 plus years, 30 years coaching in the NBA. So I'm sure, I'm sure there are some, uh, um, information being passed around, but, but I, you know what we've seen people and teams use this. No one respects us. Tom Brady used it in Tampa Bay, the year they won a super bowl.

And I'm like, you're Tom Brady. No, no one disrespects you or, or makes you an underdog. No one. Uh, but they use it.

If you go back and remember, they, they use it that year for motivation. So I, Denver has a legitimate case. I, uh, and I won't say his name, uh, but he writes for a major publication that just had a swimsuit issue come out. Um, and he's sitting there talking about Nicole and why didn't vote. He goes, well, you know, I watched him play, uh, you know, I checked in the last month of the season. Well, last month she was with April. They'd already basically clinched the Western conference and, and, and basically didn't play anybody their last five games. They played nobody. I mean, we're getting paid Watson, who was, uh, uh, one of their draft picks this year had been down the G league, you know, he's ball and he actually played pretty good.

In fact, I think it up to his stock or next year. Um, but they played absolutely nobody. Well, if that's the only time you watch these guys or you watch the Cola play, you know, 14 minutes in a game and thinking, well, what's so special then, you know, you've done him a service. It was the same guy that in January was the player of the month and the same guy in February, that was the player of the month. He didn't take time to watch that part.

So, and I think that there's a legit storm about it. Uh, Lisa Salter after their first game against the Laker, she was on a podcast of, yeah, I haven't seen those nuggets plays. They're, they're as good as people say, you know what, even if I, even if that were true about me, I would never admit it. Never, because we got experience. And I said on the radio, even that's the truth.

You never say thank you. All right, Scott, before I let you go there, just one game in there's obviously a long way to go. We know what Miami is capable of. They are resilient. They're tough. They will find a way to recalibrate. What do the nuggets need to do to win the series?

What are some of the keys? I think they got to play fast. I think they're a better team. Play a fast, um, Miami end up changing the game in that second half and the fourth quarter anyway.

Um, and, and slowed the game down and kind of got it grinded the game up and got back in it. That's how they can win the, the, uh, game or I don't think you're going to win a series, but I think they can win a game or so, but if Denver plays quick and they get, they get Miami moving, they don't have enough sides. I think it's shocked Miami tonight because Eric Gordon's been kind of quiet offensively through this whole series. And they said, well, okay, some guards going to have to guard Eric Gordon.

Who's a grown man. And Eric Gordon was just destroying people in that first quarter. Um, so I, I think they got to play quick.

I think that's your best. And then with Miami, you can't turn it over. You get possession. Whoever wins the possession battle, I think, you know, is going to win. You watch Boston, those games that they beat Boston. They, they, they outshot them from three and they, they turned them over. If Denver keeps their turnovers down, they've been a good three point shooting team all year. They're a top five all year.

I think their top three, uh, during the postseason, if they continue to shoot and don't turn the ball over, I think it's going to be rough for Miami Denver off to a good start with a double figure win and their first NBA finals game in franchise history there in the mile high city, Scott Hastings, part of altitude TV as an analyst, covering the team all year long, former NBA big man himself with a ring. It's always good to catch up with you. Thank you so much for a couple of minutes. You know what?

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