Eddie Johnson, Former Phoenix Suns Player/Current TV Analyst

Eddie, I know it's been a while. How you been? I'm doing well.

Yourself? Well, I'm doing fantastic. So, I guess this was a good outcome today. I didn't think the Koliokic was ever going to be suspended, but when it did come down that he was only fined $25,000 for the incident last night with Matt Ishbia, just how did you respond to that? Well, again, I mean, okay, good that he didn't get suspended.

And I don't think that's the issue at all. I think more so, I think, you know, and this is coming from a guy that was, you know, I wouldn't say I was middle class when I played in the league, but I was maybe a little bit above it, okay? But I was never that quote-unquote star. And let's face it, the stars get a little bit more leeway than the other guys. And I get it. They've earned it. They have to carry teams. They have more responsibility. I get it.

But they also have the, you know, the letter of the law, right? And, you know, I want you to just understand the mindset of a Phoenix Suns fan. In 2007, when the Suns had just finished off a victory against San Antonio and the time was running out, the game was pretty much at, Robert Horry, hip-checked Steve Nash into the scoreboard.

And that elicited a response. And the response was for his teammates to go to the aid of, obviously, the MVP. And in doing that, Boris Deisle and LaMari Stoudemire got off the bench and they walked towards Steve Nash.

Not towards Robert Horry, but they walked towards Steve Nash. And the league suspended them. And then the Suns had to come home, game five, without, arguably, you know, their most dynamic player, offensively, Amari Stoudemire, the second best passer, post-up player, Boris Deisle. And San Antonio beat them.

And it cost them a series. So Suns fans don't want to hear it. Like, you know, the letter, and David Stern said at the time, that's the letter of the law. That's what it is. If you do it, you get suspended again. Well, if you go into the stands and you put your hands on a fan, regardless if you think the fan was wrong, you got some suspension.

And so for me, I just want it to be consistent. And it's more of me protecting the middle class of players that doesn't make the kind of money that some of these stars make. And if they're going to get suspended because of stuff like that, and granted that Bruce Brown had done that, how do you think that would have worked out? But here's the other part of this too. If you're the owner of the team, now, I don't think Jokic had to run up and go grab the ball, but if you're the owner of the team, it's like, why was he trying to hold on to the ball?

That's the part that I didn't get. If you watch the video and I went through it on CSX on my show with Justin Turnley today, if you watch the video, Matt Istia didn't even see Jokic walking toward him. His first concern was to help Josh Okogie up and he had the ball in his arms. And then the next thing you know, Jokic was grabbing at the ball and that you watch Matt Istia's head turn around and see who it was. He saw it was Jokic. And then, you know, I guess his competitiveness, he tried to hold on to it and then the ball escaped both of them and it went into the crowd deeper than what it was. Why didn't Jokic basically tell the official or tap him on his shoulder and say, hey, hand me the ball? He went over aggressively to take the ball. And so for me, and people were saying, well, he was rushing over there to get the ball to get it out of bounds.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Because once he got the ball, he would have to hand it to the official and the official would have given Josh Okogie an opportunity to get back into the playing circle. So that's not true.

He would not have had five on four. So Jokic has a history of having anger against guys. And that's okay. But you can't protect guys. He was wrong for doing what he did.

Okay. And good to him that he didn't get suspended. But you don't go in the crowd with aggressiveness towards fans.

You just don't do it. Do you think the league told Matt Istia to release that tweet pretty much today to try to nip this in the bud? Because I would be surprised if he just did this just out of nowhere on his own.

No, I don't think they told him to do that. I think Matt Istia is a competitor. And I truly believe what he said. I don't think anybody wants to beat Denver without Jokic. I truly don't. And some people might think, oh, yeah, you do. No, no. I just want rules to be enforced the way they're supposed to be enforced. That's it. You know, and that's just the way of life.

And so I don't want to have, you know, any adjustment because of who the person is. You know, and so that's just the way I look at it. But no, I think Matt pretty much laid that out on his own. That's really good. And Matt probably gets ejected if he just wasn't a regular fan, like if we're being honest, too.

Yeah, that's fine. But you know what, it's no interaction if Jokic does not walk over there. See, and that's the problem.

That's the problem I'm having with people when they keep bringing that up. If Jokic just stood there and told the official, hey, man, go get the ball. It would not have been an issue. He went over there. He wasn't even the one involved in the play. He went over there and he grabbed the ball.

So he initiated whatever happened after that. And I think that that has to be stated. You know, other than that, you know, I can say that I'm glad that he's not suspended because I think it would be a travesty if he had to sit out again.

But again, he's got to be careful with that because how many chances do you get? Eddie Johnson here with us. You know, something that gets lost in this because everyone's talking about this incident from yesterday. I know Durant and Booker with were great. But man, what a performance Landry Shamet had yesterday.

Eddie Johnson. Well, I mean, look, the son of a bitch has been maligned. And look, I've gone down that road before, man. And, you know, when you're counting on to come in and you're playing behind stars and, you know, I went through it with Houston and, you know, the pressure was on us. And it's not easy, man.

It truly isn't. And, you know, those guys have been maligned lately. And, you know, Terence Ross and T.J. Ward had not been playing. And, you know, for me, I was glad Monty decided to play them because I know I mean, when I look at those guys, I look at myself like that's huge, man.

When you when you are walking bucket and you're out there with those two, they're not doubling like just my reputation alone. There was not going to double off Terence Ross. And so because of that, it's allowed Devin Booker and Katie to get more one on one coverage.

And I think it's paid dividends without a doubt. Eddie Johnson, when you look at at this series, the rest of the way, what do you think is ultimately going to decide it? What do you think is going to be the difference between these two teams?

I think, well, obviously getting stopped. I mean, it's two very gifted offensive teams. And, you know, we haven't seen many 8 0 10 0 runs. So it's like, you know, whoever can get the get the lead and get an 8 0 10 0 run and get some compatibility, then they're going to have a chance to win. You know, the sons are committed to not allowing the okies to have an impact overall on the game, meaning score points and then dish out and find a fit for a teammate. They're telling them, OK, we're going to guard you mano mano and you just waste that energy and go score 50. But, you know, as you saw yesterday, he had 50, but he only had four rebounds.

And and the song was able to win the game. And I think that old school approach is the way to look at it. I mean, because if you allow your kids to score and pass, then he'll just eat you up.

And I think that's the mentality there for the sons and dealing with him. When you look at Devin Booker, we all know how great of a player he is. This is not the first time this comparison has been thrown out there. But when people talk and compare Devin Booker to Kobe Bryant, just what goes through your mind?

They're on they're on par. Look, I've known I've seen this kid who's 19 years old, son's uniform. This is no accident. This kid is maniacal, man. And and he's highly efficient and he's even more efficient because, yeah, he's got Kevin Durant on the scene. He's not getting as doubled as much as he used to. And yeah, I think it's an advantage for him.

But you still got to put that orange ball in the basket. And right now he's doing it at a highly efficient clip. I mean, you're telling me to 60 percent, 51 from three and then 87 from the line. I mean, it's in the numbers he's putting up.

This is simply amazing. But I'm not shocked that he's able to go on a run like this because he has that old school mentality where, you know, if he has one good game, he doubles down on two, three, four or five good game. So I'm not shocked by it at all. I think he's that special. Are you concerned about the Celtics when you look at that Celtic six or series? Well, I just I hate that everybody's trying to, you know, put the point the thing at Joe Mizzou. Like, look, the man stepped into a coaching job for a guy that took the team to the finals the year before. I think he's done a tremendous job. Is he perfect? No, he's not.

But I don't think people should put the blame on him now. You know, because what I've heard is when you talk about Jason Tatum, you talk about Jaylen Brown, what do you hear? You hear that they've been winning since they've been late. They've had a lot of success.

They've won a lot of games. And so now they're not kids anymore. They're adults.

They're mature. And they should be able to really make great decisions at the end of the game. And I don't see a problem with him not calling the time out. I mean, where's the ball?

It's in the ball of the guy that you're going to call a time out for and get the ball too. And that's Jason Tatum. So Jason has to be a better decision maker. He's got to make sure that if he doesn't have the shot, he's got enough time to find a teammate. And so I think, you know, and Jason Tatum took that too. You know, it wasn't like he deflected blame. But I just, you know, everybody wants to point the finger at Joe Mizzou. And I'm like, this is a veteran basketball team.

They should be able to make it work. And, you know, right now, it's a two two series. So it makes it very interesting.

What type of hard and do you think you'll see the rest of the way in this series? That's funny, right? I mean, but I think more so.

I think you know, I think the same. I don't know to the level 40 points where I think you'll be the same. I think it's always adjustment when your star player comes back. And you got to sink back into the role that you were playing with him. And I think hard and finally realizing that he's got to be more aggressive.

And he's got to go for it. And I think it takes a lot of pressure off of Joelle. So great opportunity for feeling I think Boston has been vulnerable at home this year. They've been able to get beat on their court. And as Joelle's knee is starting to feel better because I do think he's playing on one and a half legs.

I do. I don't think that he's 100% in but great opportunity for Philly to go still one in Boston just based on the criticism that these guys have dealt with really throughout throughout the playoffs. Not just not just in this series, but in the Atlanta series as well. The heat at halftime are up on the Knicks Eddie Johnson 56 to 48. We'll see what happens the rest of the second half of Miami ticket three one seriously just wondering what the East with Milwaukee down and doubt after losing to Miami, the Celtic Sixers not knowing which way this series going to go is Boston. So the team you trust the most in the east or do you go with the heat maybe? Well, they got the most experience without a doubt. And you know, and that's why I say yeah, it's kind of weird that they've made some of the mistakes they've made. But you know, they know exactly what to do to get to a final. And I would probably just still lean on them, but I'm not counting on Philly.

I'm not at all. I think Phillies defenders and create problems and make Boston work and I think it's silly can get out of this series against Boston, you know, they'll get to the final. I just happen to believe the winner of this series Boston Philly is going to the finals and all due respect to what the heat has done.

I'm going with Boston the first before we let you run big game tonight Warriors and Lakers. What do you look for here as the Warriors try to go take a 3-1 series are the Lakers try to go take a 3-1 series lead and really put a dent in into the Warriors dynasty? Well, the one thing the Lakers are forced to occur to do is continue to make changes and that lets me know that Darwin Ham right now has the upper hand right now Gary Payton the second I think it's going to start tonight and and so, you know, the Lakers left the size the speed and quickness the multiple ball handlers even without LeBron handling this is created a problem for Golden State. So usually, you know, you remember back in the past when they used to play LeBron led team. They would just concentrate on really forcing and putting pressure on LeBron because they knew he was the only facilitator but now Austin Reeves can pass the Angelo Russell can pass through to compare. So now they got multiple players that can make decisions and I think it's really taking advantage of the Warriors and you know in their game plan in regards to really focusing on LeBron and Anthony Davis comes out and he plays like he did the last game.

I just can't see the Warriors beating them unless they just lights out from three and to me it seems like that's what they're counting on by putting Gary Payton in the lineup they're going ultra small and it seems to me that they're going to rely on their ability to make that three and unfortunately they're facing the team in the Lakers as good as anybody in the league at defending the three. Eddie Johnson, how'd you react to the the boot and holes they're firing last week? I was you know I was surprised I was shocked a little bit because I know he made his mistake but then you find out you know a sibling passed away and and so you you couldn't have a straight and balanced mind going through what he did. Yes, he's been I think you know criticized in the past few years and doing some things and doing it his way and I think it maybe just reached a point but ultimately I think the players did not push back on it. Are you going to tell me that they're going to make a coaching change with a guy that won a title for them and he honestly didn't know about it? You're 100% right and this is something I thought about I don't know if it'll happen because he's under contract with another team but you know a trade could go down. I wonder if Ty Lue who unfortunately injuries unfortunately have derailed the Clippers I wonder if he tries to get a part of that Bucks organization. I wouldn't be shocked I wouldn't be shocked if he did I mean because you would like to go to a game knowing that your players are going to beat their players. I mean last few years he hasn't known even up to game time if his team would be healthy to play. And that's got to be frustrating. Yeah well without a doubt. Eddie Johnson great to catch up with you appreciate the time thanks so much. Hey always take care of yourself.