5.5.23 - JR SportBrief Hour 4

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That's S-E-E-W-H-Y. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. It is the JR Sport Brief show on CBS Sports Radio.

Shout out to everybody listening all over North America. You can tune in on the free Odyssey app. You can lock in on your local affiliate. If you got Sirius XM, put it on 158 or you can listen on a smart speaker.

Ask it to play CBS Sports Radio. I'm going to be hanging out with you for one more hour. It's a four-hour show. I'm here every weeknight. That is Monday night through Friday night, starting at 10 p.m. Eastern Time, 7 Pacific. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Super producer and host Dave Shepherd.

He is coming to you live from New York City. We just had a final go down, folks. In Phoenix, Arizona, the Suns, or should I say Devin Booker and Kevin Durant, they just beat the Denver Nuggets single-handedly. That's four hands.

Look, yeah, let's be technical about it. Four hands, two pairs beat the Denver Nuggets all by themselves, 121 to 114. The Phoenix Suns avoid a 0-3 series hole. Denver now leads this series two to one. There was no Chris Paul available for the Suns tonight. Chris Paul out with a groin injury. Devin Booker lit it up.

I mean, damn. Doing this at the professional level, doing this in a playoff game, doing this when everybody knows there's only two options on the basketball court is even more impressive. Devin Booker finishes tonight with 47 points. He took 25 shots. He made 20 of them. He was on fire.

He was unconscious. Kevin Durant, he didn't have the greatest shooting game himself here to start off, but he finished and had a strong game too. 39 points for Kevin Durant. He was 12 of 31 from the field. This game was nuts, folks.

Let me say this again. Devin Booker's final stat line, 47 points, nine assists, and six rebounds. Kevin Durant, his final stat line, 39 points, eight assists, nine rebounds. The next highest scorer on the Phoenix Suns was Cameron Payne and TJ Warren with seven points apiece. Devin Booker, 47. Kevin Durant, 39. Payne and Warren, seven points each. Booker and Durant single-handedly beat the Nuggets tonight.

That's nuts. I made jokes all day long, all week long since Chris Paul went down about how Durant and Booker needed to score 50 apiece and they damn near did it. Meanwhile, for the Denver Nuggets, they couldn't stop them. It wasn't so much the offense.

They had plenty of points. It was the defense. They could not stop Devin Booker. He was going to the basket. He was hitting layups. He was hitting it from the mid range.

He was five of three from downtown. Denver could not contain the man. A matter of fact, let's listen to a few of those amazing plays from Devin Booker. How about going inside, making it 116 to 107 late in the fourth quarter.

This is courtesy of the Suns Radio Network. The okage on the drive goes to Murray, passes up, now takes the three short. Rebound pull down by Durant. Durant will hang on with a minute 20 remaining in the game. Gets it over on the side to Booker. Booker pulls it over on the right now. Booker waiting with it. Back out to Durant. Durant just inside the three-point strike.

Eight seconds to suit it. Give it to Booker. He's bumped. Goes inside. Scoop shot. Good.

Count it. 116-107 the Suns. And we'll get a timeout called by Denver with a minute five seconds to go. This is the radio guy who goes shazam. Let's see if he can give us a shazam. Kevin Durant.

I told you he got busy himself. Yeah, Booker had 47 points. Durant had 39. Kevin Durant. He had his own little pull-up extending the lead.

Bounce pass goes over on the right. Now they get it into Durant. Durant being pressured defensively. Durant shovels the ball to Warren. Warren back to Durant. He puts up a 17-footer.

Yes indeed. With the shot clock going down. 118-110. Suns in the driver's seat right now. With just over half a minute remaining.

Well, you know what? Let's keep it going. Devin Booker decided to go out there and close it out.

Take a listen to this. Game over. And Booker can equal his playoff high with this next free throw. A couple of bounces. Next free throw. He got it. That's 47 points for Booker. Now the pass comes up in front and driving it there. It's going to be Caldwell Pope and this game is almost over.

It is. Suns win. Suns win. So the Suns break through in the win column. They wanted 121 to 114. A must-win situation.

A must-win to avoid a 3-0 hole. Devin Booker. 47 points. 20 of 25 from the field. 5 of 8 from downtown. He only went to the free throw line twice.

He made all of those. The Suns overall as a team. Yeah, the entire team. Like all the other guys that sucked up some oxygen in the arena. They collectively shot 50% from the field. Tonight was nuts. Devin Booker after the game.

He spoke to Rosalind Gold on WUDA after the game on ESPN. And that's what he had to say. Devin, it wasn't just the 47 points. It was the emotion. To start the fourth quarter in huddles. I saw so much fire from you.

What was the emotion you let out a reflection of? I mean, it's that time of year. We've dropped a few games.

I dropped a couple games on their home floor. We just wanted to protect ours. So come in. This is a really important game for us.

Now we got to turn around and get ready for Sunday. He makes it sound so damn easy. Devin Booker is, he's a killer and he has been a killer. Kevin Durant, he spoke to Scott Van Pelt on ESPN after the game as well. And Kevin Durant basically said, yeah, he didn't just wake up and do this.

He's been doing this for quite some time. And it's facts. You know, Devin Booker can go out there and say, here's 70, here's 60, here's 50, here's 40.

He's a straight killer. And so a matter of fact, looking at this, am I still confident that the Suns are going to win this series? I'd be lying if I told you the answer is yes. Would I be surprised if they can keep this up?

No, I would not. I'm still going to take Denver to win because can you do this every game? Is Kevin Durant going to drop 40 and is Booker going to come drop damn near 50? Are they going to do this every game?

I think you'd be hard pressed to do so. And for the Denver Nuggets, it was all about defense. They ain't had none. They couldn't stop this dude. They couldn't get a scrub off the bench to knock Booker on his ass. He destroyed him.

The Nuggets had no problems. Nikola Jokic, who came in second in MVP voting tonight, he had 30 points to go along with 17 assists and 17 rebounds. That's a hell of a triple double. And then Jamal Murray, 32 points.

He was one of six from downtown. Michael Porter Jr. had a solid game himself. 21 points. Bruce Brown with 11 points off the bench. Denver held up its end of the bargain when it came down to offense or excuse me, offense. When it came down to defense, crap. Somebody, please, anybody hit Devin Booker? I know I'm not trying to be dirty, but it's basketball.

Stop the man from scoring. 855-212-4CBS. It's 855-212-4CBS. Charles is calling from Baltimore. You're on the JR Sport Brief Show. Good morning, JR. How are you doing?

Very well. Yeah, I just want to make a comment about this Phoenix Suns game. It's great that Booker and KD are putting up these numbers, but in order for them to go further, I truly believe that DeAndre Ayton, he's going to have to really start putting up at least some 20-point games. I mean, four points, nine rebounds.

I mean, what's going on with this guy? Well, DeAndre Ayton, and he has said this from the minute that Chris Paul joined the team, he's a beneficiary of having Chris Paul on the floor. Chris Paul is the one who typically sets him up. Can DeAndre Ayton knock down a long jump shot? Yes. Can he get some work in down low?

Yes, but he's ultimately playing off of the dudes who are out there with him, and so I'm not expecting DeAndre Ayton to get the ball and be the guy who just gets you 20 points. That's not happening, man. You could throw that out the window. Do you see them coming back next year in Phoenix?

I know that's false. Well, I mean, they didn't necessarily want to pay him his full extent heading into this season, so I don't think he's going anywhere. I also think it's a little too crazy to think about that right now at this moment. All right, well, let's see what happens in game four.

All right, thank you, Charles, for calling from Baltimore. Hey, every game that I'm watching, I want to know how close to 50 is Devin Booker going to get? How close to 50 is Kevin Durant going to get?

Help me out there. Kevin Durant, he spoke to Scott Van Pelt on ESPN, on SportsCenter, and Scott Van Pelt was just like, oh my God, this guy Devin Booker took his game to a new level, and Durant was like, nah, bro, he been on this. He was a star before, but this playoffs, we've seen something almost new. What are we seeing?

I don't know if there's anything new. I think he's been doing this since he stepped into the league. He's been a high volume, efficient scorer since day one, so this is another showing for him, another day at the office, and we fed off his energy tonight. He's a killer, man.

It's a fun thing to watch. I know we discussed James Harden. We'll get into that next break, but you take a look at what Booker does. There should be no NBA player that's allowed to take 25 shots and knocks down 20 of them. That's not fair. You shouldn't do that in LA Fitness unless you are just going in for layups. You don't do that at any level. 20 of 25 shooting?

This is a tough one here. Head coach Monty Williams is currently talking to the media about what took place, and Shep, what are your thoughts on what this man did tonight? He just played out of his mind, and it's not a shock.

He does this every now and then, quite frequently. Not to be disrespectful, but can we change the description of Devin Booker from a man to a God? I say that obviously a little bit tongue in cheek, but we all thought Kevin Durant was going to be the number one option, the vocal point for the Phoenix Suns.

It's been that way throughout his 16-year NBA career. I don't think we knew we were going to get this version of Devin Booker. The guy that everyone was clamoring was going to be the next Kobe Bryant, fell short in the NBA Finals, fell way short against the Dallas Mavericks in that game seven at home when they got completely wiped off the floor in the first half. We've been waiting for this Devin Booker JR for a long time. The Suns needed every bit of that tonight, and they got it, and he's scoring so effortlessly and so unselfishly and he's so efficient. There's nobody else in the game right now that can score the way Devin Booker did tonight, and why should we be surprised? This guy put up 70-something points when he was 20 years old in Boston Garden, for God's sake. This is exciting. If you were a Suns fan, if you were a Nuggets fan, you let this one slip away.

You cannot afford to do that come Sunday. Yeah, I'm with Durant. It's nothing that he does scoring-wise.

It's surprising. Throughout every single season that he's been in the league, he's only 26 years old, he's going to pop up and have these amazing games. And I think here for Kevin Durant joining the Suns, I don't think it was looked upon as, you know, as a was looked upon as Kevin Durant being the guy. I think Kevin Durant joining the squad was supposed to help put them over the top because wherever Kevin Durant has gone, even if it's with the Warriors or if it's in the case of the Suns, and yeah, Durant is at a different space or level of his career right now in regards to age, experience.

It's to make life easier for everybody. And the fact that he could go out there tonight and compliment, if you want to call it complimenting Devin Booker with 39 points while Devin Booker at 47. Hey, this is why tonight's game was worth checking out.

It's either two things. Can the Suns keep themselves competitive with two dudes going up against five or are the Denver Nuggets going to wipe them out? And the Denver Nuggets did not get the job done tonight. The Suns win the final score 121 to 114. Devin Booker with 47 points. Kevin Durant with 39.

The next highest score campaign and TJ Warren who each had seven. You don't walk into the gym in an NBA game and just get smashed by two games only. And that's exactly what took place tonight to the Denver Nuggets. They, head coach Mike Malone, go talk to your guys, man. That defense, you shouldn't lose this one, bro.

I don't care how good Booker or Durant is. It's the Gerald sport re-show on CBS Sports Radio. We're going to take a break. When we come back on the other side, head coach Monty Williams talking about his two all-star caliber hall of fame talent players with Durant and Booker. We'll hear from him on the other side of the break. We'll give you a recap as well on tonight's victory with the Celtics over the Sixers and Joel Embiid. It's the JR sport re-show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. Don't move. We got more on the other side.

You're listening to the JR sport brief on CBS Sports Radio. Thank you, man. We love you down here in Texas. Okay. Hey, how are you doing, man? I love your show. Love the topic. Thank you. I'll be listening again in the future. This is a great show.

Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. It's the JR sport re-show on CBS Sports Radio. The Phoenix Suns beat the Denver Nuggets tonight 121 to 114. They avoid an 0-3 hole here against Denver and so right now Denver leads this series 2 to 1. Devin Booker with a massive eruption. We know that there was no Chris Paul tonight.

Chris Paul out with a groin injury. The Phoenix Suns, a team already lacking depth. They got 4 points total off of the bench or from the bench in their last game and tonight Devin Booker and Kevin Durant, they did what we thought that they would do.

They did it all by themselves. Devin Booker finishing with 47 points. Kevin Durant finishing with 39. The next highest scorers both had 7. That's TJ Warren and Cameron Payne. Put the team on the back on their backs and they kept it moving. Head coach of the Phoenix Suns Monty Williams. He talked about KD and Booker. Take a listen to what he had to say.

We didn't talk about needing more. They just knew what we had to do to win this game. Kev is still finding his way and his rhythm and he had 39 and that's if you look at the numbers, that's not a typical Kevin Durant efficient game and so we still have that to look forward to, I believe. And book was, he was amazing.

I mean from start to finish. Had he not gotten his fifth, he might have eclipsed, you know, whatever. You know, I don't even want to get into that, but I just thought it was his will, determination, reading the defense, getting off the ball, and even defensively, like just competing. That's something that I noticed when I first came here with him was he just competes every time he steps on the floor. Yeah, Devin Booker, did and went everywhere that he wanted to on the court tonight. Inside, outside, long range, and even more impressive. He had to take a million shots. He took 25 of them. He made 20. Kevin Durant took more shots. Kevin Durant took 31 shots tonight. He made 12. Devin Booker was just a machine. He was impossible to stop and he was just a machine. He was impossible to stop and Mike Malone, head coach of the Denver Nuggets, who has not ever been afraid to call them soft or say that they need to be more aggressive, he had some comments on their defense.

This is what he said. Actually, he thought we did a pretty good job on KD, aside from the fouling. You look at his line, 12 of 31 from the field, but our defense on Devin Booker was unacceptable. He's a hell of a player and I told our guys before the game, you know, no team's ever come back from a 3-0 game. You know, no team's ever come back from a 3-0 deficit.

So, understand what you're getting ready to face. And, you know, I think we had that third quarter was tremendous. We got back in the game being down 15 at halftime, but we were letting him just walk in to pull up threes, you know. So, he was 20 or 25.

I wasn't a math major, but that's a really high percentage. So, we got to be a hell of a lot better. Yeah. Hit the guy, damn it. Somebody hit him, please? Is anybody going to hit the guy?

We see all these fouls in the game now. We can look at an idiot like, what's that guy who won't be having a job? Hey, what's that idiot's name from Memphis? Dylan Brooks on Forsythe. We can look at Dylan Brooks. He's such a bum, I forgot his name.

We can look at Dylan Brooks smacking guys out the air, punching dudes in the groin, just being a complete jerk. At what point in time do you, as another NBA player, understanding that this is a game, you're not looking to assault or kill the man, but at what point do you go, hey, if he comes to the basket, I just got to let him know. I'm not going to murder the man, but I'm going to let him know. You got to think twice.

At what point do you kind of give him a nudge? He was doing everything and anything that he wanted to, getting to any space on the floor or the court. Hey, am I expecting, you know, I don't know, Michael Porter Jr. to be a goon?

No. Aaron Gordon, not so much. Maybe that's what the nuggets are missing. Mike Malone did tell us this about a month ago. We're soft. They need somebody to go out there and foul the living hell out of the other guy.

This is not going to get the job done. I think the Denver Nuggets will still win this series, but you know what? The Suns are capable of Durant and Booker go off. Can they do so? If I was going to place a bet, if Chris Paul does not come back with that groin, and even if he does, groins are ridiculous, man.

You pull that sucker, you just don't wake up and it's better. Phoenix Suns are on an uphill battle. I'm still going to pick Denver to win this series, but I'm not closing the book completely on Phoenix. A matter of fact, I am hoping and wishing to see another performance like what Booker did. Booker is fun to watch.

Durant is fun to watch, but if you're a Nuggets fan, you got to look for a little bit more abuse, a little bit more aggression. It's not the only game that took place tonight. Earlier tonight, this evening I should say, the Boston Celtics beat the Philadelphia 76ers 114 to 102. Joel Embiid got his hands on his first NBA MVP award before the game took place, and he had an MVP caliber performance. 30 points, 13 rebounds, and four blocks. That was the good for Embiid as he accepted his award to go along with that stat line, and it was a lot of love shown, and Joel Embiid showed a whole lot of love to his entire family. His parents surprised him from Cameroon, and his son ran out onto the court to show daddy some love.

Take a listen to Joel Embiid. My family has been a big part of it. Obviously, we went through such a huge tragedy, losing my little brother, but we stuck together. We went through a lot, and my family, my son is somewhere over there. Honestly, he's the main reason why I'm really here.

Becoming a father, change my whole life, and I just want to show him a good example, and I'm glad he's here with us. Yeah, all the pretty stuff, it ended there. Boston leads the series 2-1. James Harden had just a terrible, terrible night. 16 points, three of 14 from the field. He had 16 points, 11 assists, six rebounds, but three of 14 from the field. You want to think about a former MVP in James Harden. Joel Embiid said, you know, what would you tell him after the game, and it's just please continue to be aggressive, and that's not what James Harden did. At one point, he went to the basket. He had a clear shot at a layup, and he passed the ball. He was like two feet from the basket, could have laid it up or kind of put in a floater, and he passed it, and it went right out of bounds, and so a complete lack of confidence from James Harden. He's, I think, five of his last 28.

Maybe he should watch Devin Booker, but I don't think there's a time machine to pull him back. Meanwhile, Jason Tatum, he had a bounce back game. After only scoring seven points in their last victory, Tatum ends up with 27 points to go along with 10 rebounds and five assists. He spoke to ESPN after the game, and Tatum said, yeah, I don't care about playing on the road.

I think it's pretty cool. We were just making plays, honestly, and we felt like we didn't play well. I made a lot of mistakes on defense. We didn't shoot the ball well. We had guys in foul trouble. It's a great win, right? Tough environment.

Come in here, figure it out on the road. This series is far from over, but we just love the way we competed and found a way. And you guys recapture home court, like you said, in a hostile environment, an emotional night. What did this win tell you about you guys? I mean, we knew we could win, right? This is a great team.

The crowd is electric. You know, you love being in that environment, but, you know, we're not surprised. You know, to win a championship, you got one on the road series is far from over, but, you know, we'll take it.

You got to take it any way you can get it. Let's see what happens this upcoming Sunday for both the Phoenix Suns and also the 76ers. Can they bounce back? Can James Harden bounce back three of 14 from the field?

Like that's, that's the best you could do. No layups. Side 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS. Ezra is calling from Atlanta. You're on the JR Sport Brief Show. What's up, Ezra? Hey, what's going on, JR? How you doing, Long? I'm good. How are you? I'm good, man. You guys, you and Shep, this is the Seinfeld show of sports talk radio.

Y'all are the best. All I want to say is this, yo. James Harden, I've been saying this since the OKC days. James Harden is literally the A-Rod of the NBA. And in regards to Devin Booker, I remember this kid named Allen Iverson did somewhat the same thing back in 2000 something, 2001, where it was just like he just took over. What Devin Booker did tonight, it just almost, it just almost put him in the stratosphere of like, yo, he's top five in the league right now, yo, hands down. Well, no, I think for what you have here, he has been one of the best scorers in the league. And I think just moving forward, we all know he is capable of going off any night at any time. And he did that.

But I think more importantly, hey, Ezra, I got I got a beef with you. You ready? Yes, sir. Where the hell you been? When I stopped by the bar, you're never there. You're never there. You told me it's going to be there. You're never there. You lied to me.

I'm there on big games, man. You might, you know what? You come during the day, don't you? No, I don't. Nope. You come, you come.

Nope. I've stopped by. I've stopped by on fight nights, on evenings. I asked you one day specifically, will you be there? You told me yes.

And you played me twice, Ezra. We got beef. Jayar, I'm there tomorrow for the Canelo, Kentucky Derby for the Knicks heat. I'm there for Warriors. And you know what?

I'm going to even extend more than an olive branch. Your tab is on me. You and Shep come down the tab on me. Food, everything. We're talking about Knicks, Hawks, three o'clock, Kentucky Derby.

Then we talk about Warriors Lakers and then the Canelo fight, not to mention the UFC. Hey, Shep, I got you. Shep, so Ezra, Ezra doesn't, well, Ezra might not know this. The studio is about a five minute walk from Ezra. colony square.

Yes. I am right down the block from you. And Shep is in New York. But I want, I want Shep to know this. Hey Shep, you know, he's, he's telling a lie right now, right Shep? He is the most convincing liar I've ever heard of. He's lying right now, Jayar. He is speaking with such conviction and sense of proficiency to hosting us, man.

You sure about this, Jayar? Shep, let me ask you, what time is the Knicks game tomorrow? 3 30 Eastern time? Yeah, Knicks Heat game three, 3 30, I believe in this.

Warriors, Warriors Lakers is at eight, I believe. So this man is telling me he's going to be at the restaurant from 3 30 until like midnight. Shep, should I waste my time and go over to the bar tomorrow?

Do you think I should waste my time, Shep? See Ezra, the thing is like, Jayar, he, I mean, he, he works six, seven days every week, man. Just, just Ezra, I am putting my faith in my utmost trust in you. Don't let this man down, Ezra. Don't let this man down, Ezra. Yes, Jayar, trust, trust in Ezra from Atlanta.

I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt. Jayar, before I hang up, I got to tell you what, I got no mint juleps, okay? Come on down, leave your wallet in the car, okay? Let's watch these Knicks win, then let's watch Steph take over LeBron, and then we can watch Canelo do his thing, okay?

Just leave your wallet at home, man. We'll see, Ezra. Hey, when I pull up and I go, hey, where's Ezra? And they go, he's not here. I'm going to diss you on Monday, all right? Okay. Thank you, Ezra, for calling.

Hey, Shep, that last laugh didn't make me feel all that comfortable or confident, man. I, well, Jayar, is, is, is he like, oh, for one, which is what Booker might've been on like one stretch run tonight, or is he like two for 14 with coming through in terms of like what James Harden was on Friday? So for right now, he is, he is O for two.

Oh, no. And right now, and right now, if I decide to poke my head into his restaurant tomorrow, he's going to be O for three. And so that's why I'm like, hey, what are you, what are you talking about, bro? The thing is, and I'm going to go with your, your mannerisms and your body language and your tone. You read people very well. I mean, I do too, but you read people even better because you've been all around the world and you've met everybody, including the late great payload.

I mean, who haven't you met? And so with that being said, I'm going to trust your gut on this, even though Ezra sounds so sweet and so, you know, receptive to hosting you, I'm going to go with you. He's telling me to show up at three 30. He's going to get there at eight. I know how this goes. He's lucky. He's lucky that I can get there pretty, pretty quickly. Otherwise I wouldn't waste my time. He's on Allen Iverson time, you know, cause that's, that's what time Allen Iverson would show up.

He'd show up four or five hours late to everything in his prime. Now we don't, we don't, we don't need that. I run by it a minute. Hey, Ezra, I'm I'm going to stop by tomorrow, man. If you're not there, don't ever call here again. You are listening to the JR sport brief on CBS sports radio. You are listening to the JR sport brief on CBS sports radio. I just want to convince you, man, kind of what the other caller said.

And man, I just respect so much how professional you are, man, just, you know, mature, you know, I mean, you didn't attack, you took the high ground, you know, just stay professional and stay being a good man. Call in now at eight five five two one two four CBS. Patience of a Saint. I would agree with that. Trust me.

I would agree with that. Eight five five two one two four CBS. That is eight five five two one two four CBS. A good performance.

So this, these were some good things to talk about tonight. Devin Booker dropping forty seven Durant with his thirty nine. Tatum bouncing back with twenty seven. Unfortunately for James Harden, you know, he is a big talking point tonight. Going three of fourteen from the field. Just just pretty, pretty amazing here. Jamal Murray, knowing that they not just they, but yeah, I guess they the entire Nuggets team got smashed. He talked about what he could have done better.

Take a listen to this. I mean, I missed some open shots again, so that sucks. Yeah, that one sucks. One for six from three, you know, a lot of them open, you know, the corner one, I was a lot of balance, so I understand why I missed, but, you know, side step three on Lindell, short, pull up three when they didn't black up, you know, short or long. So, I mean, you know, I got to make those for us to, you know, cut the lead, especially in the fourth. I just went cold in the fourth and that can't happen. No, bro. No, ain't nobody thinking about no stinking offense. Stop Jamal Murray. It's it's well, not Jamal Murray. Stop Devin Booker. That's all it boils down to. And as Ezra from Atlanta said in our last break, if you think about this tomorrow, we have more basketball.

So if you want to become sequestered inside of your own home, Saturday is some more action. The New York Knicks are going to take on the heat. Whoever walks away from that victory will have a two one series lead and the same thing goes for the night game as the Golden State Warriors head to Los Angeles with that series tied at one all. And so we got quite a few redemption games. We have Anthony Davis going to try to bounce back after a 30-20 game. The man had 11 points and seven rebounds.

Pretty pathetic if you ask me. And then on Sunday, we get a rematch of the two games that we saw tonight between the Celtics and the Sixers and the Nuggets and the Suns. 855-2124 CBS. Chris is calling from California. You own the JR Sport Brief Show. Hey JR, how you doing, man? Long time listening. First time calling in. Thank you. Thank you.

Go ahead. Yeah, hey, so, you know, I missed the game tonight, the Denver Phoenix game, but you know, I was leading Phoenix in this game. You know, people like us, their dads, you know, some people like Denver is going to sweep. You know, it's hard to say, man, but I'll tell you what, Jamal Murray and the Joker, these guys are no joke. And then you look at Michael Porter Jr., the length on this guy, the outside shooting ability, Aaron Gordon fighting out of Arizona.

I mean, this is a special squad. And I, you know, I think Jamal Murray, there's a lot of Murrays running around in the league right now. I think he's the top Murray in the league.

Did you have any thoughts on that? Who, who, who's the other Murray? Fill me in. Who am I missing? Well, you got DeJounte Murray. You got Keegan Murray. You got Chris Murray is going to be a lottery pick, maybe top five, top six coming in. There's some other Murrays out there too. You know, you know, I live a long day, man.

I can't name them all. It sounds like it. Yeah. Well, we know Jamal Murray, especially coming off of his blown ACL. He is one of the best Murrays in the league, especially from a scoring perspective, probably the best. But I'll tell you this, it's not about the Denver Nuggets. It's not about their past. It's not about their talent. It's about whether or not they're going to go out there and play defense. And that's something that they could not do tonight. And they have the key in on, on two guys. And so we'll see what takes place, but not about offense, man.

It's about that defense. Let's go to East Lansing. Shout outs to everybody out in Michigan. Let's talk to Joe. You're on CBS Sports Radio. All right.

Thank you, JR, for taking my call. I think, look, I think the Suns are coming back here. I know a lot of people overreacted and that happens with NBA games, right?

In the playoffs, home court advantage. But I like how they played tonight. And I think that the more they play together, the better chance they have. And I like Durant. I honestly think they have the two best.

I know Yokes is good. At least they have the best player in the series. I know that's debatable to you, JR. I think Durant's better than Yokech. I think as a pure basketball player, I would go with Durant being better than Yokech. At this stage of their career, if you want to start MVP this and MVP that, Durant's durability wouldn't put him in the conversation given his age. But I want to go back to something that you said. You said the Suns, they have to, they have to play together to win.

Does that, what does that mean? Look, if they don't play together now, when it like, so in my opinion, like Booker and Durant, and fortunately I think Denver is a more complete team. Yeah, by a long shot.

Yeah, we agree with that. But if I think Phoenix has arguably Booker, we've seen him do it in the playoffs before. He carried them in the finals before. I know Chris Paul, you know, who knows with him with the injuries and stuff, but I think with Booker and Durant, they have more star power.

And if you look at the history of the NBA, I think star power, I mean, you probably agree with this JR. Usually- No, no, no, no, no, I don't. On a two on five? No, man. No, five. Denver does not have five. You have to admit that. Denver has five players and a bench. No, come on.

What do you mean come on? Can you count? How many guys are in a starting lineup?

I know there's five people- You know there are five guys. Okay, have you heard of Aaron Gordon? You know what he can do with a basketball? I've seen him in the dunk contest, that's about it. Oh, well, you don't watch enough. You know about Michael Porter Jr.?

I agree. Okay, and you heard of Contavious Caldwell-Pope? Have you seen him in an NBA finals? He's a great role player.

Yeah, he is. And there's a guy, he's a veteran, Jeff Green? Come on, Jeff, are you serious?

Come on. No, no, no, no, my point. Hey, if you think all Aaron Gordon is some guy in a dunk contest, you're missing my point.

This came out of your own mouth. The Denver Nuggets are a better team. The Phoenix Suns are a basketball team that only got four points off of the bench last game. The highest scorer in the game but for the Phoenix Suns tonight besides Durant and Booker had seven points. Okay, there is not a point to be made here about stars deliver games.

Can I ask you a question? Yes, we saw- No, you can't. Tonight, the Phoenix Suns had Durant and Booker lose their minds. Are they capable of doing this in another game or two more? Yeah, but they will be hard-pressed to go ahead and do this to win the series. If they do it, God bless them, but I'd give the edge to the Nuggets. I don't disagree with you. I think if I was a betting odds person, I'd put the Denver as a favorite, but I think Phoenix is going to win game four and then you got game five and I think Durant's been here before.

Joe, here's the deal and I do have to go now up against the break. Look, the Suns can have amazing performances like tonight. They'd be hard-pressed to do it again.

God bless them if they do it, man, but let's not fool ourselves. The Denver Nuggets are a better team. The Suns have electric stars. It's the JR Sportbreeze Show on CBS Sports Radio. I'm done. Thank you so much to Shep.

Don't move. More here on CBS Sports Radio. Shep, who comes next? Brian Hickey. He's the man.

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