5.7.24 - JR SportBrief Hour 2

It is the JR Sport Brief Show here on the Infinity Sports Network. Much love to everybody tuned in and locked in all over North America on the free Odyssey app. On your local Infinity Sports Network affiliate. 3SXM channel 158. You got a smart speaker?

Ask it to play the Infinity Sports Network. Man, we got a lot to do. I'm gonna be here with you for the next three hours.

We already got one hour in the books. We got a guest coming up in, I don't know, let's see, 20 minutes to talk about the Nuggets who got smacked down yesterday by the Wolves. Scott Hastings. Maybe you saw him play. Maybe you listened to him on the Altitude Sports Network. He's gonna come through and join us in 20 minutes to talk about what's going on with the Nuggets, the defending champions.

Minnesota beat them last night 106 to 80. About 20 minutes ago, we learned that Rudy Gobert is now a four-time defensive player of the year. We'll hear from Rudy Gobert in a few minutes. We heard from Gilbert Arenas.

He said, ah, it was just a baby. Rudy Gobert should have played yesterday. Uh-huh. We just talked about the New York Knicks and the Pacers, New York Knicks. I don't want to say they got away with one, but they won a close one in Madison Square Garden last night, 121 to 117.

And as we continue on with the show, how about this? In a few minutes, the Cleveland Cavaliers are gonna go up against the Boston Celtics. Cleveland, they just had to get the magic the hell up on out of here in seven games. And the Boston Celtics pretty much have been expected to move all the way to the NBA Finals. This is a team that they haven't played since last Wednesday, the Celtics have, or did, when they eliminated the Miami Heat four games to one. Boston Celtics rusted. No Kristaps Porzingis as he still deals with that calf injury.

I guess we'll see Kristaps Porzingis if the Boston Celtics advance to the East Finals, which I would expect them to do because it took the Cavaliers seven games to beat a young, inexperienced Orlando Magic squad. It took the entire world. It took Donovan Mitchell showing up, dropping 39 points in Game 7 and 50 points in Game 6.

It took it all for them to come out and win. You want to holler at me here on the Infinity Sports Network? It's 855-212-4227.

You can find me online at JR Sportbrief. Thank you to super producer and host Ryan Hickey. You know what? This game is getting ready to get started any minute now. I told you about Donovan Mitchell having to light it up for them to have any hope of winning. And Donovan Mitchell said, yeah, I'm doing a lot of scoring, but like we as the Cavaliers can still do better as a team. Listen to this. We can be better.

I hate to be that guy, but this was great. This was phenomenal as a great win, great series, great test for us mentally, physically, but we can and we will have to be better to beat Boston. It would have been nice if Jared Allen was playing right. Jared Allen will not be playing in Game 1 of this series because Jared Allen is still dealing with busted up ribs. He's not available in Game 1. I mean, this was supposed to be a Twin Towers situation with Jared Allen and Mobley, but Mobley got to go out there and do all the work himself.

And then, I mean, can somebody help? Can Darius Garland help out Donovan Mitchell with the scoring? Donovan Mitchell is a one man game. This is not lost on the Boston Celtics because even somebody like Jalen Brown, who's long, athletic, his defense is crazy.

He says, yeah, no, you know what? We know we got to stop Donovan. Donovan is an explosive, strong, three level scorer. I think his strength gives him an advantage on a lot of defenders. He's good at changing directions. He's a good basketball player. Oh, how sweet. That's nice.

Throw flowers on the opposition before you go out there and you destroy him. This is, you know, I said last series with the Cleveland Cavaliers. I'm like, do I want to watch them in a Magic?

No, not really. Uninteresting. They went to seven games and it's just like, OK, this is nice, but this is just a matter of, oh, if the Cavs lost, you just go, man, y'all suck. Y'all don't deserve to win. The Boston Celtics just need to blow them out of the water. Why are we wasting time here? The Cleveland Cavaliers, they're trying to win their fourth straight playoff series against the Celtics.

But guess what? Ain't no LeBron James here. Ain't no Kyrie Irving here. Between Jason Tatum and Brown and Derek White, I don't know why people don't talk about him.

This guy's like, hey, I got twenty five points to talk about me. They should just wipe them out. Come on, folks. Cavaliers are just here for the experience.

I don't see them winning anything. Donovan Mitchell is going to get upset and he's going to be, man, I got time for this. Just trade me somewhere. I don't want your extension.

Send me somewhere else. Maybe, maybe, maybe the Cavaliers win two games. I think this is pretty much done here.

Hickey, what do you think? Two victories or they get one? I say one. Boston, like, they always kind of lose focus, right? We saw, I mean, the Heat also needed a miracle in Game 2 to hit all those threes. But in every series, you saw last year with your Hawks, pushed them to six games. I think Cleveland gets one.

Nothing more than that. Celtics in five. Gentlemen's sweep. Yeah, let's get the, yeah, get them out of here. I'm with you.

One or two games. Let's keep it moving, folks, OK? What are we doing here? The Celtics are trying to win a championship. They don't got time to play around with the one-man gang, Cavs.

Not expecting anything to change there. Meanwhile, Rudy Gobert, I told you a few minutes ago, he just spoke. The now four-time defensive player of the year, witnessing the birth of his child yesterday, did not play in the ass-whooping that the Timberwolves gave to the Nuggets and me as well. I thought Jokic would go out there and give them the business.

It did not happen. Rudy Gobert is, he's going into the Hall of Fame with four Defensive Player of the Year awards. Rudy Gobert now joins Ben Wallace and Dikembe Mutombo as the only players to win the award four times. And Rudy Gobert, he was just on with TNT. And Rudy Gobert says, listen, folks, it's just, hey, I'm trying to set the tone for how we play as a defensive squad.

Rudy Gobert was asked about the team and listened to him. I think it's great teamwork. We love to give individual awards and all these things. It's great, but you can't do it alone. I really have a lot of gratitude for Tim Conley, Chris Finch, all my teammates for believing in me.

Allowing me to do what I do best every day and just try to change the culture here in Minnesota. It's great to the guys for buying in and coming every single night with the same mindset. We really wanted to be a defensive-minding team and we've been able to do that so far this year.

Oh, yeah. Well, all credit to him, I guess, because Carl Anthony Towns hasn't defended a damn thing in his life. You know, he was asked about that. You got two seven-footers, one plays defense, the other one doesn't like defense.

Rudy Gobert, he was asked on TNT. Did you think that you and Carl Anthony Towns would work out? Listen to what he said.

I never had any doubt. You know, I always say that great things take time. You know, you guys all know winning is not something that happens overnight.

You can put the best players, any type of player together, any type of talent together. You need to overcome adversity. You need to go through some ups and downs as a group and build that resiliency. Last year was exactly that. We had a year with a lot of injuries, a lot of ups and downs, a lot of new things happening. I was really proud of the way we overcame that throughout the course of the year.

We didn't make it past the first round. But we competed hard, you know, through all adversity. And this year, you know, training camp, we came day one, we said we want to be a top defense in this league. Every guy has bought in, you know, everyone has been putting the work every single day.

And now we're here with one goal in mind. Bottom line is Rudy Gobert told Karl-Andy Towns, just shut up and stand over there. That's the easy way to say it. Everything takes time. Just let me handle it and you just stand over there.

Lift your arms up if somebody comes your way. That's simple as that. And we heard from Gilbert Arenas, we heard his comments yesterday or today saying that Gobert should have showed up and played last night because it was just the baby. The baby will be there when he gets back.

Baby ain't doing anything but sleeping, drinking milk and pooping. There's nothing else. You ain't missing nothing. Rudy Gobert did watch the game and they asked him about how it felt to watch his team beat the hell out of the Nuggets. It was incredible. I mean, obviously, as a competitor, you know, you always want to be there for those type of games.

And I told the guys, you know, that's the only potential thing that could make me miss the game was the birth of my son. And it happened. So I really wanted to be there for that and to support my partner. But, you know, the guys really, you know, they did the job. And they not just did the job. I mean, they did it with an incredible fashion, you know, defensively and offensively. And, you know, the love that they showed me, the support that they showed me from a distance, you know, was something that I'll never forget. Wow.

That was Rudy Gobert minutes ago on TNT, having a conversation with the folks on the NBA on TNT after he has just now won his fourth Defensive Player of the Year award. Hickey, I do. I've got to say I am disappointed. I'm disappointed in the fact that he said incredible without an accent. I'm disappointed.

I'm mad about that. You wanted the accent there bad, huh? I wanted incredible. I wanted, you know. It does sound pretty.

It does sound very pretty. Yeah, I'm disappointed in that. Anyway, good for Rudy Gobert. 855-212-4227. It's 855-212-4227. Lee is calling from Cincinnati. Lee, what's up, man? You're on the JR Sport Brief Show. Hey, JR.

Thanks for taking my call. All I have to say is I think the Timberwolves, they're not only going to beat the Nuggets, I think they've got a great chance of winning it all simply because finally, finally Anthony Edwards has decided to show up. I mean, he's a great player, but I think he is the next great player. He's going to take the baton from LeBron, in my opinion.

He's that good. They've got Gobert. They've got Karl-Anthony Towns.

They've got all the pieces, but it's because of Anthony Edwards. Because he has finally decided to turn it up a notch that I think that the Timberwolves are going to win it all. He finally decided to turn it up. He's 22 years old.

I mean, finally you make a sound. No, no, no, that sounded bad, but that shows just how great he is. He's going to be doing this for years, man. We're talking about the Timberwolves are a dynasty in the making right now and a lot of it has to do with him. You're right, he is just 22, but look at how good he is. Look at how much talent he has. Look at what he can do. I know. Absolutely.

We have enough ridiculous comparisons between him and Jordan. It's driving me up the wall. Well, thank you for the clarification, Lee. Thank you so much, man. You're welcome.

OK, no problem. Shout outs to Lee from Cincinnati. I mean, the way that Lee was talking, he's like, hey, finally Anthony Edwards decided to show up. I'm like, he's 22 years old.

Like, what you want from the guy? This is a natural development. I mean, Chris Hine was on with us yesterday from the Minnesota Minneapolis Star Tribune, and he pretty much said the only thing left for him to do is to be consistent. So instead of waking up one day and saying, here's 20 points, he's just out there consistently. He's 30. I mean, nobody's going to drop 30 every single game unless you are Jalen Brunson and you're just dropping 40 every single game.

We'll talk about him later on in the show. But yeah, I think we have reached a point just by watching the Minnesota Timberwolves here in this playoffs where they've been on the road, by the way. Would anybody be shocked if they won a championship? Like at this point in time, I'm not mad if we see a Timberwolves Celtics. Do me a favor, though. Can I have Chris to ask Porzingis?

Can I have that? Hickey, I'm going to be mad if we go to the finals and the Celtics are there and then we don't see Porzingis. I'm going to feel like I was robbed. And this is going to be worse. I guess this is worse. No, it can't be. Remember when Porzingis went for that dunk and blew out his ACL as a Nick? Yes.

Oh, yeah. I feel like Porzingis would rob us twice, and this time he's not even a Nick. I'd be mad.

That would stink. The good news is I don't think we would get teased by Joe Mazula the way we got teased by Doc saying that, you know, at least in the case of Giannis, he's very, very, very, very, very close. And then you hear Giannis say, yeah, I was never really close to coming back. At least Mazula is not going to tell us, hey, KP is very close. He's going to come back and then have it not be reality.

So at least that's good. We won't get a little carrot dangle at the front of our face. Joe Mazula is a robot. He doesn't know how to tell a lie.

He doesn't know anything about humor. He's just an angry coach. Angry coach talks like this. Can't wait for the next game. Waiting for things to over. That's it.

You're right. Kristaps Porzingis. Get well soon, man. Cavaliers will be taken care of. Show up for the Eastern Conference Finals.

Please do that. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here on the Infinity Sports Network. We're going to take a break. When we come back, we're going to have a conversation with somebody who balled out in the league. But right now, he's an analyst. He's a host for the Altitude Sports Network.

He covers these nuggets who are now in an 0-2 hole against the Timberwolves. We're going to be joined by Scott Hastings on the other side of the break. You are locked in to the JR Sport Brief Show on the Infinity Sports Network. Don't move. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief.

It's the JR Sport Brief Show here on the Infinity Sports Network. You just heard the phone number. Don't use it right now.

Use it any other time. We've got a guest that's going to be joining us. Last night in Denver, it was not pretty. The defending champs lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves, 106-80.

It was 61-35 at the half. I haven't seen Nikola Jokic look human in years. Jamal Murray certainly hurt and also frustrated. Head Coach Michael Malone, not the happiest guy.

What's going on? These are the defending champs. And yes, the roster has changed, but we haven't seen this in years. To talk about the nuggets and what has gone wrong, what needs to go right, what can change, joining us right now is someone who balled out in the NBA. He is now an analyst for the Altitude Sports Network.

I think they may need his help on defense. It's Scott Hastings. Scott, thank you for taking the time to join us.

Hey, let me tell you. Last night, from my career standpoint, that would have been a game I would have got to play in. I was sweating. I moved over from TV to radio once the second round starts. Yeah, I was thinking, man, this would be a game I'd get to go in and hit people. Oh, well, I was going to ask, how many fouls do you have right now, Scott?

I got six, but I think I'm so slow right now, I don't know if I could catch anybody. Scott Hastings. I hear that.

Nuggets analyst Scott Hastings is joining us. Well, I know this is a different scene from last year. What is your observation over these first two games?

Well, I can give you kind of an explanation on both. The issue to me last night was, I think the officials, which I was fine with, because that's what playoff basketball is supposed to be, and listen, Denver did not lose because of any officiating, but the officials let them play early. Denver thought they got fouls instead of just adjusting and playing to, okay, this is how we're going to play tonight. I felt last night they let them get into their head, and once they got into their head, once Murray took a charge and probably watching back on replays and stuff, it probably should have been an offensive foul, wasn't called.

You've got to play now. So, okay, that's what they're going to love. That's how physical the game's going to be. Instead, I thought it really got in their head, and once you melt down against another professional team, very unlikely you're going to be able to get it back. They weren't.

They got pounded. Now, saying that, I'll just give some props to Minnesota, and a couple things that people forget about this. Listen, I was worried about Minnesota last year, to be honest with you. When they made their run to the championship, the only team really that they played that I was really concerned with was Minnesota.

And here's the reasoning why. One, the president of basketball operations, Tim Connolly, built this team in Denver. He understands who they are and what they are. He left, went to Minnesota.

I tell him when I see him, he's dead to me now, but he left and went to Minnesota. Their head coach and their assistant coach were both assistant coaches for Denver as they were building this thing up, as they were implementing the offense, as they were making Joker more of a point forward, or guard, or point center, or whatever his position. They were instrumental in development, so you've got the two main guys in control on the floor, understand all the weaknesses, understand where they go. And going back to Tim Connolly, when he went there and I saw this happening, when everybody was questioning Rudy Gobert, doing all this, why are you making this trade, you sold out your future.

Not many people worried about them selling out their future right now. He knew what Denver was. He knew where Denver was going, and I think from day one, he started setting up a franchise, a team that could beat Denver. Can they play with other people? If they play like they did the last two games, they'll get to find out. So they're a scary team. It started last year, they were a scary team. Remember, Nas Reed was hurt, and McDaniel was hurt, so neither of those two guys played.

But they've got long, tall wings that they can always sub in that are both physical, both quick. You put on Jamal Murray, so now you've got size, quickness, and physicality on him. And so Murray, not shooting well, he was 3 of 18 last night. You've got Michael Porter who had a really good series against the Lakers, but again, he's 1 of 7 from 3 last night. He was averaging almost 3 made a game in that Lakers series. He all of a sudden stopped shooting the ball well last night.

And so what that allows you to do, and I think Denver's final number was 25% from 3, but that allows you to do is, I could sell out now, and maybe not traditional double teams on Joker. If you watched last night, whenever he got the ball and started moving the center, there's bodies all around him. Now that congests the passing lane, you've got people leaning on him, which makes it tougher to get to the rim, and they did a good job. You know, it's funny, I was listening to a radio show driving home today, and they were talking about, Joker's got two bad games, and I'm like, well, I think there's a whole lot of guys who would like to have it a playoff game 32-8-9, and then I think last night he was 16-16-8, and he sucked. And this is the same thing with Anthony Edwards, who's an unbelievable player, but if Towns weren't playing good, and if Connolly weren't playing good, and Nas Reed, all these other weapons around him weren't playing good, guess what Denver could do?

Now they could concentrate everything on Ants, and maybe slow him down, and could you change the game? So, one of the keys for Joker is other guys have got to have their games up, and your two best perimeter guys in that starting unit are not shooting the ball and playing well right now. Now, without a shadow of a doubt, we've got former Nugget and current analyst Scott Hastings here with us, the JR sport re-show coast to coast. Well, Scott, there's a couple of guys that we would be talking about, but they're not here, and they were part of the championship squad last year, whether it's a Bruce Brown or you want to look at a Jeff Green. How important is it to this squad that they're not here right now? What effect does it have on this team? Well, what they've lost off the bench, especially in Bruce, but Jeff would have his moments, you lost with Bruce, a guy that with two or three was struggling scoring, and Porter struggled in the postseason for the most part last year, Bruce Brown was eating up a lot of minutes. Bruce Brown was averaging 27 minutes a game off the bench. I think the guys off the bench this year are averaging 12, 14 maybe.

So, not only did he eat minutes, but he ate minutes very productively. You know, they don't probably win Game 4 in the finals in Miami without Bruce Brown, and he did that a number of times throughout, so you miss that guy that all of a sudden maybe somebody's struggling, here comes Brucey and it gets back up and gets going. Jeff Green was your physical guy, he's a little taller than Aaron Gordon, now you can rest Aaron instead of have to make him play the small ball five. Jeff would come in and they would do that, and listen, this is a veteran guy that can still play, he's a fabulous leader. He brought in a little bit of toughness, he was a guy that didn't back down, so to me, you lost a scoring versatile 2-3-1, in fact he played back a point in the postseason, 1-2-3 guy, and you lost another guy who is just the kindest and nicest guy in the world, as far as all the guys I've got to cover. But listen now, you get down to it, he'd have a little dog in him, he wasn't going to back down to anything, and so they missed that coming off the bench, you replace it really with the majority of the guys that played. Reggie Jackson, a point, but he's been banged up for about the last 30 games, hurt his ankle again in Game 2, and then guys that are in their second year, Christian Brown, which I think you've got to go with him, he's got a physicality. Peyton Watson is a young second year player, and they just haven't found any groove and any kind of spark really in the last third of the season that you can count on on a consistent basis.

And that's where the games change. Listen, we talk about stars all the time, and stars win you games, but there's a lot of support around those stars when these other guys, when Upps Takupo is winning an MVP, there's a whole lot of other guys having really good years around him. And Denver just has not had that in these first two games. And to be honest with you, for me, and probably for you watching in the far, is they're the defending champions, and dude, they had their soul taken a little bit last night. So it'll be real interesting, somewhere Tracy McGrady's going, hey, you can go win games 3 and 4 on the road, I know I've done it, you just couldn't win those home games, but you go and you win Game 3, I think all the pressure now flips back over to Minnesota because they cannot lose Game 4, and you play yourself back in the series.

But the discouraging thing is, what sign did you see last night that they were willing to fight through this, they lost their composure and ended up losing the game poorly? And Scott Hastings is here with us, the JR Sport Reshow, the Infinity Sports Network, we just got a little bit of news that's just come in, Jamal Murray fined $100,000 for throwing that heat pad and also that towel towards and on the court last night in Game 2. Are you surprised that he was fined and not suspended, Scott?

I think both are justified. I said on my radio show today, I said at minimum he's going to get a healthy fine. He hasn't had a lot of other, I don't think he's had any other infractions, he's probably frustrated. Maybe they took that into account, they took the account into the seriousness of, you know, I don't want to say you changed the course of a playoff pattern because they've won two games on the road already. But no, I'm not surprised, but to be honest with you, I wouldn't have been surprised had they suspended him either.

I think the punishment would have fit the crime either way, and I know these guys make a lot of money, and I'd like to have one year of it, but I'd like to have the fine money to be honest with you. I mean that's still a big swipe for being a little frustrated. And most definitely is.

Hey Scott, final question for you. You're around this team, you've been around this team, you cover this team, you play for this team. Are they going to turn things around? Are they going back to the West Finals or are they kind of out of luck right now? Well, you know, it's really funny, and I was on the Pistons team the second year they won on their back to back, and there's a difference when you're hungry to get one compared to trying to retain one, you know, do it again.

I think you probably lose a little hunger and you've got to find something within you that sparks that intensity that you had last year. I'll be real honest with you, I didn't think they played very good in that Lakers series, and they handled their business 4-1. But they were down in every game 12-15, you know, came back in the one game two when they were down 20. So they really not played well yet, and I just don't know if that's, you know, if it's fatigue. You know, I was telling somebody the other day about last year, 10 days ago, Minnesota was already done with their season, and Denver played two more months after that. So, you know, is it fatigue?

And it's not physical, although because everybody's tired physically at this time, it's that mental fatigue, grinding the season, you know, time for the best record in the West, and do you just have that mental dog in you right now to say, okay, let's do it again? Are they talented enough to go in and win Game 3? Yes.

But again, like I said a while ago, I just wanted to see a heartbeat late in that game just to give a little hope, and they really didn't show it, so it's discouraging. Do they have the capability? Yes. Will they? Well, Tim Connolly and Chris Finch and Mike Inouye probably got a lot to say about it. Hey, well, Scott, listen, I know you're out there to go out there and hand out some fouls if they need it, so I'll be looking for you sooner than later, okay? Hey, I'll play like that Iowa girls basketball today when they go three on three, you know, defense on one end, offense on the other.

I can do that. I hear you, Scott. We'll be staying tuned.

Hey, I don't think anybody expected this at the start, 2-0 Minnesota. Scott, thank you so much for lending your expertise from both the player and as an analyst. We appreciate you.

Hopefully the Nuggets have so much more basketball in front of them. We'll stay tuned, okay? All right, my brother, appreciate you. No doubt about it. That's Scott Hastings, former Denver Nugget, now current analyst covering them for the Altitude Sports Network.

Hey, thank you, Scott, for taking the time to hop in. On the other side of the break, we're going to talk about the fine that was just handed out to Jamal Murray. We've learned that the fine, as I told you, is only $100,000. Is that justified? I mean, he's sitting on the bench and he threw an object. Damn it, he threw a heating pad onto the court and then more. I will talk about that on the other side of the break. Draymond Green, of course, he had his own thoughts about whether or not he should have been suspended.

And then we'll even hear the description when it took place from Reggie Miller, who was calling the game. It's time to let you know about the Defensive Player of the Week, sponsored by the Navy Federal Credit Union, who proudly serves the Armed Forces, DOD, veterans and their families. Their members are the mission.

You can learn more at NavyFederal.org. The entire Timberwolves team deserves Defensive Player of the Week. They shut down the Nuggets last night.

OK? Team record, 12 blocked shots, 11 steals, held Denver to a season low 80 points without the soon-to-be and now official Defensive Player of the Year in Rudy Gobert. Minnesota Timberwolves doing it big. Defensive player, defensive team of the week. You're listening to the J.R. Sportbrief. It's the J.R. Sportbrief Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network.

Thank you so much to former Nugget current analyst Scott Hastings for joining us in the last break. He says the Nuggets, man, they got to make some changes. They actually got to be tough if they want to come back and beat these Minnesota Timberwolves. They're now in an 0-2 hole.

There's something else that they also need. They need Jamal Murray to show up. And they're actually fortunate right now that Jamal Murray was not suspended after he threw a damn heating pad and a towel on the court. He was on the bench. He couldn't hit a damn thing yesterday. He was three of 18 from the field.

Three of 18. And the one time he hit anything was when he threw the heating pad from the bench onto the court. Somebody could have came down and twisted something, broke something dare I say. Two guys could have, like this could have been catastrophic from a basketball standpoint. The players, the league, the officials, the players, the coaches, the ball boys. People do not play. The security, the staff, people do not play about objects on the basketball court in a general sense, whether it's a tiny speck of confetti that could blow out your knee, your ankle. They get scared about the halftime shows. The court is sacred and I get it.

In a lot of cases you can look about grass. They inspect this court like nobody's business. They pause games.

They stop games. That means Steph Curry is looking for dead spots on the court before the game starts. And you throwing a heating pad out there? Listen to Reggie Miller describe this situation from TNT last night. Jamal Murray right above that State Farm sign right there.

It was a heat pack thrown by Jamal that is what came on the floor here. You see the official, Mark Davis, looking back and that's dangerous. Yeah, that Kevin Harlan is like, that's dangerous.

Yeah, it's hella dangerous. I mean, this guy's in the league. He just got fined.

We found out $100,000 for it. I would have suspended him one game and I get it. The NBA, they actually want to follow the rules and hey, everybody always says they showed up to see the players and you can't eject the players. That guy could have seriously injured somebody. Like where's your frame of mind?

Where is it? I mean, Patrick Beverley, this man threw a basketball at two fans last week. Patrick Beverley, he may not be in the league and an NBA, by the way, is still investigating. Okay, Patrick Beverley, we're going to find out what his punishment is. He's likely going to be suspended to start next season.

And by the way, Patrick Beverley, he apologized, but we'll talk about his ridiculous ass later on back to Jamal Murray. He should have been suspended a game that is ridiculously egregious. He didn't throw it on the sidelines. He didn't throw it towards down the bench. He didn't throw it behind him in the stands that would have cost him probably $25,000. He threw it onto the court of play. And I get it, he's a player, but if a fan would have thrown something on the court, they would have been banned forever. We could have ended up with the same results. Somebody slips and somebody's career can be altered forever.

And why? Because Jamal Murray for a second can't act like an adult? Come on now. Chris Finch is kind of tethered to the bench. He had surgery last Wednesday after blowing out his knee. The Minnesota Timberwolves head coach and finishing things up against the Suns kind of got shoved and pushed and fell into the stands and blew out his knee. It was an accident, right?

Chris Finch saw what took place and he knows this was dangerous. I didn't actually see it happen. But when it was explained to me, you know, the referees didn't see it either. So they're not able to issue a technical unless they see it. We tried to impress upon them that there probably aren't many fans in the building that have a heat pack. So it probably had to come from the bench, which they found logical.

But yeah, it's inexcusable and dangerous. I'm sure it was just a mistake and an oversight. I'm sure there was nothing intentional by the officiating at all, but certainly can't allow that to happen. I just looked at it. The referee, he looked behind him when the players pointed out, hey, there's a heat pack on the court. The referee looked right behind at the Nuggets bench.

So I don't know how true that is. Maybe he was looking up to see it at the basket if somebody got fouled, but he certainly was made aware almost in real time. Hey, there's an object here. Where the hell did it come from?

Nobody sitting in the front row on the baseline has a damn heat pack. It had to come from somewhere. And you know who else charmed in on this?

Everybody's favorite punishment czar. Draymond Green had thoughts about this. We now know the fine for Jamal Murray is $100,000. There is no mention of a suspension of Jamal Murray and Draymond Green felt he didn't deserve one. I was just online and I see people are like, oh, Jamal Murray is probably going to get suspended for throwing the heat pack. I mean, I didn't think he'd get suspended, although that was very dangerous. Somebody step on that A and leaves a West by B can really jack somebody up.

But I didn't see that. And like my first thought was, ah, he gets suspended. It's crazy how people just automatically start calling for suspensions these days. I just don't really understand that. It's worthy of a suspension.

It's dangerous. Calling for a suspension. What? What did he need to do?

Like physically beam somebody in the head? He could have. What happened? And this is like I told you, this is the only time that he actually had good aim last night. What if Jamal Murray hit the referee in the back of the head? He could have. What if he actually hit a player? The stupid heat pad landed on the court.

Just just kind of right under the basket, almost right at guy's feet. Picky, do you think this was justified? Should he got more like what do you think? I think he should have got suspended.

It's for me. It's more about the duplication of the act, right? He not only throw heat pad on the court, I believe it was before he tried to throw a towel at the ref and came up short and like landed behind him. So you have two different times in the same game he threw or tried to throw objects on the court.

I don't want to say I can excuse one time because again, you are right. It's dangerous. Someone slips on it, steps on it.

The whole series has turned their seasons maybe over. Very dangerous. You don't want to condone that. I think you want to set a precedent. This is not acceptable.

But for me, it's the second time as well that you do it. That should have warranted game three him sitting out. Yeah, I agree. And I understand we don't want to punish any more.

We don't want to take the players, the star players out of the game. Sometimes what he did is way too far. He went overboard. And so for Draymond, you don't got to stick up for the guy, Mr.

Suspension. Draymond had a whole lot to say about Patrick Beverley last week. And then today he takes it easy on Jamal Murray. That's too much. What if that was you, Draymond Green?

If Draymond Green was out on the court going for a rebound and jumped up and there was a heat pack at his feet, Draymond Green would have made a beeline to the bench and he would have had his hands around Jamal Murray's neck if he could get there in time. And so just just relax. It's dangerous. Like nobody wants this at any level. I don't care if it's the NBA or high school game.

I mean, it's real simple. Go play basketball outside on the street. I don't care if it's your L.A. fitness or literally the park and go throw something. Go throw a ball. Go throw some marbles. Go throw a heating pad onto the court while the game is going on and just stay on the bench.

Tell me how it ends up for you. Tell me how serious it is. This is real serious for the NBA, and I think they dropped the ball on this one. This man needs to be suspended. $100,000 fine for Jamal Murray. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here on the Infinity Sports Network. We're going to talk some more money on the other side. Dallas, OKC, Kaitlyn Clark and more. Don't move.