You're tuned into Heat Check with Trista Krick.
This episode of the Heat Check, We've got a special bonus episode with the Voice of the Sun's John Bloom. He drops some inside about the Sun's Nugget series, whether Yoki should have been suspended for pushing owner Matt Ishpia, and his thoughts on whether Phoenix can out last Denver. Great conversation that happened with my co host and I, Ryan Horvaught on bet MGM tonight. I hope you enjoy.
Did you think this team was in trouble just because obviously you have Kevin Durant, you have Devin Booker, But it almost kind of feels like, or felt like this team was trying to like figure things out on the fly.
No doubt, you know, because it's almost unparalleled territory for a team to put together, you know, this group when you have a star like Kevin Durant, you know, joining a team this late in the game, and the fact that he was injured when they got him obviously kept
him from playing for a while. Then he finally joined him and then got nicked up, so they had to you know, kind of watch it and make sure that he was ready to go when the playoffs came, and that left a lot of us wondering, well, how good can they be?
You know, how good is this team?
And I think everybody, including the Denver Nuggets, were wondering that before the series started. And when the series got started here in the Mile High City, the Nuggets definitely made a statement. I thought they played very, very good basketball. Game one, they ran us out of the gym pretty much, and then Game two, you know, it was a different story.
We got a little bit murky there for a while.
Neither team was really firing offensively, get credit to both defenses. But then the offenses came alive in the second half, and more so for Denver, the home team, and they rode the wave of their crowd and they got the job done. And Chris Paul got injured in the third quarter and that kind of changed the dynamic for the Suns. They were able to adjust, but not well enough to beat a very good Denver team. And I don't want to sell that short. I do think Denver is legit.
I mean, they were number one for a reason almost the entire season. But here we are wondering, you know, how good could this Devin and Kevin show Be, and you know, during those losses there were you know, kind of glimpses of brilliance between them and their supporting cast. But then we waited to get back to Phoenix and see if they could get it done at home, and they were able to.
They even the score.
It was a fascinating couple of games in the Valley, no doubt about it. If you got a chance to watch it, I would guess that you would agree with that.
What do you think the biggest changes were with the supporting cast that sort of flipped the script in terms of how Phoenix was able to compete with Denver, who's been one of the deeper teams in the West.
You know, there's that whole old axiom of the role players always step up at home. So I guess that may have played a role that they were more comfortable at home. But there's another part to this, and that is through this entire process, Manti Williams and his entire coaching staff have been trying to figure out what the
best groups are to put on the floor together. It's understandable because you took not just Michel Bridges, who had a phenomenal season, not just in Phoenix, but also when he went to Brooklyn and Cam Johnson two starters off the floor, but you had Jay Crowder not playing all season, and they were used to those three guys playing a huge amount of minutes at the forward spots. So all season long has been this project of trying to determine which groups work well. And I guess that's part of
chemistry right on the floor. And so I give the coaches credit because during the entire season what they did do was they make sure made sure that everybody was engaged and in that room right now, They've got a.
Lot of different types of players.
It's not just like replicated, you know, long athletic wings that you see in some markets around the NBA. You go to these teams, You're like, man, they've got like eight of the same guy right in this specific locker room.
It's not like that.
Everybody kind of has their own skill set. And I think that's made it even more challenging for the Sun coach is to figure out when and where to put guys into the lineup. So now they've inserted TJ. Warren and Terrence Ross. Those guys weren't playing against the Clippers in Round one and now they and they weren't playing in Denver, but the last two games of Phoenix they made a definite impact. Jock Landale as well, stepping in as a backup center to DeAndre eight and has been huge.
And Campaign coming back from his injury was obviously timely considering now Chris Paul dealing with the with the groin that he's going to be out with again tomorrow night for Game five.
I just found that out right before we jumped on this call.
You know, you talk about like the playoff environment being different than you know, the regular season, but to me, it feels like what has and maybe you can just give me your insight since the Chris Paul injury, it feels like the Phoenix Suns want to play with much more pace, which gets them You're just out into transition, getting easier buckets versus Chris Paul, who wants to bring the ball up a little bit more methodically set the offense,
and maybe that makes it difficult against a Denver team that's playing really good defense. Do you think that that that's been like a key piece in terms of getting guys like Campaign who play a little faster, Terrence Ross who wants to get out into transition as well.
Yeah, I mean, I think in essence, it was kind of a forced adjustment, wasn't it, because you had to make a move with no Chris Paul available, so Campaign comes in. He's always been that change of pace guy. You know, he uses his speed as a weapon, and he's he's kind of crafty around the hoop. He likes to get to the basket, but he can also shoot the three, and he's one of those streaky three point shooters, but for the most part through this season was a
solid three point shooter. So you would hope if you're the Suns, that he can kind of regain the form he had when he stepped in for an injured Chris Paul two years ago in the playoffs, actually played fantastic ball for the Suns and led them to many wins. He averaged something like fifteen points and eight assists a game, very low turnovers, just like his predecessor and CP three does. So you know, the hope is that Chris gets back
as soon as possible. I'm not going to try to tell you the Suns are better without one of the best point guards to ever play, but what it's done is It's made the Nuggets adjust to what the Sons are doing with campaign. With those hit ahead passes, it's not just about Cam, you know, changing the pace. That hit ahead pass that Devin Booker hit Kevin Durant with right before the half last night was massive, and they've done that a handful of times on both ends. KD
hitting Book and Book hitting KD. So that's a big weapon that I think they'll continue to use with or without Chris Paul on the floor.
Do you think this is sustainable? I mean, I don't know that Devin Booker is gonna be able to shoot eighty percent from the floor and drop forty five points. But for them to win this series, would you agree they need one big game? I'd say from DeAndre et In like four points in Game two, eight points yesterday, I'm three or six shooting. I know that he probably he misses Chris Paul probably the most, not being able
to get put in that pick and roll situation. But do you feel like they're gonna need him to go off one game or do you think this is sustainable to win games with just you know, Durant, Devin Booker and then you know, pick your role player off the bench, whether it Shimmet or Landry Shamet or anybody else.
Yeah, it's a good question.
Right now, I would say that, do I think that the Sons can win this series the way they're playing currently? Yes, I think they proved to me the last couple of games. You know, you had Nikola Jokic come for fifty three and they still beat him. The game before that, he went for thirty, seventeen and seventeen and lost. So to me, yes, we're talking so much about Devin Booker and Kevin Durant, it is it sustainable? Well, Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokics
are playing just as many minutes. Is it sustainable for them? So that's why I feel confident that if the Sons can continue to play their game as they played the last couple games, they can get it done against the Nuggets. Now ask me again, who they're playing next? Is it the Warriors? Is it the Lakers? Totally different ball of wax, And we're gonna have to see, you know, what the game plan looks like for that next opponent. And I'm just hopeful that we get there.
Fiery rhetoric from John bloom Hope to continue it. Michael Malone came on in the presser and said that it was ridiculous that Jokic got a technical foul for a very dangerous shove of owner and fan Matt Ishbia stripped the ball from his hands. I heard you feel just a little differently about that, and whether you know how your take is on that Jokic Ishpia interaction.
I do.
I mean I was there obviously watched it from my own angle where we broadcast the games from a little bit above the floor. You know, my first emotion, slash hope was that he would not get suspended. I just want to get that clear and out out there that you know, my hope is that Nikola Yokich is going to play. These teams have been putting forth their best efforts. It's been classic. It's been an amazing series so far, and I wanted to continue. So yeah, that was my hope.
And I am a fan, by the way, in addition to being a broadcaster for the team for fifteen years, I've been a fan of the Sun since I was thirteen years old. It's been thirty plus years of chairing for this team, so you know, I can look at it from multiple angles. Part of my job is taking phone calls from fans after games at home, and I do the play by play on the road because we've got a ninety year old Hall of Famer Al McCoy still calling the home games in his final season is
fifty first as the voice of this team. But another elements in my life. I'm surrounded by attorneys. Okay, I'm married to one, I'm the son of one, I'm the son in law of one, and the brother in law of one. Okay, they're all around me, and so my brain goes to what those folks were probably thinking. And I'm talking about the attorneys that are surrounding Adam Silver and the NBA in those offices today as they decided it deliberated whether or not to suspend Nikola Jokicic for
what happened with matt Ishbia. And I want to take matt Ishbia out of this conversation, not because he's my boss, but because I just think in general, the idea of this play is it's a fan with the ball in his hands having it ripped out of his hands by a player. A player should never make any sort of contact.
With a fan. We all know this, Okay, it.
Should never happen. It can't happen because it leads to horrible things, and we've seen them happen in the past. It doesn't lead to anything good. And in fact, you could think about how everything went on last night and how lucky we are that it went the way it and I'm glad the fan got taken care of that. Reached down and tried to attack with Nakola. I don't think he was in bounds either, that's out of bounds.
But what I'm trying to think about is how can the league keep something horrible like the malice from the mouse in the Palace, which I happen to be covering the Pistons at the time. I wasn't at that game. I was out of town for that game, But yeah, I mean that I have a lot of friends who are right in the middle of that, and that was horrifying. And if you haven't seen the documentary, go watch it.
You'll see how horrifying that was. But last night could have led to something even worse, and I don't want to see that in the NBA, and the NBA certainly doesn't want to see that. So my mind is thinking those attorneys are right now probably turning out. I'm silver, Look, we've got to lay down a law here. By the letter of the law, he should be suspended. The other angle of this in my own brain, as I told you, I'm a fan, right, so I got to come clean
with you. Even though this is our first conversation as a group. I'm thinking of my mind. Fifteen to six teen years ago, the Sons got completely screwed by the league when they had Amari Stanenmeyer and Boris da get suspended for leaving the bench to try to aid their teammate who just got belted into the side, right into the scorers table.
That was that storyline.
They got suspended, they end up losing to the Spurs and Suns fans have never ever forgiven the league for that, and I don't blame them, okay, because.
I'm one of them.
So these are all the emotions flitting around in my head, like, oh, well, maybe the Sons will get a solid out of this because that went down.
This will all be karma kind of turning itself upside down. But it didn't.
He got fined twenty five k is what I read. Yeah, I'm fine with that. I still want him to be suspended elite.
Flopper though, yes, elite flopper.
That was clearly Yeah. You know, here's the thing, he's still balls.
He plays, you know, in like a league with his mortgage company, So he's out there probably trying to draw fouls on his subordinates.
John if Marcus smart, if I have to watch him do it for two and a half hours every single time the Celtics play, then he could do it himself.
All right.
So I'm a gambling and I have some money to play around with.
Real quick, go on, can I ask you, guys, because I really am curious, what did you think should have happened.
I don't think he should have been suspended just because I thought that there was one You're right, the letter of the law, but I think it would have been a really really bad look for a two time MVP to get suspended in a crucial game five. I think at that point there's an integrity of the game thing, and if the Suns end up winning this inn seven or whatever it is, you don't want an asterisk for game five.
Okay, So if I'm a Suns fan, I'm super pissed because growing up, like I remember the series between the Heat and the Knicks where guys like Ewing are getting the Ewing isn't even available. He's in street clothes and he gets suspended for game five or game six or whatever. You know, PJ. Brown, all those guys, and you remember that. But I want to see the best product, and I want to see the best players, and if the Suns are gonna win, I want to see, you know, Durant
beat Jokich. So yeah, I'm fine with it, but I would get the where the beef would be.
That's all the time that we have for the Heat. Check check back with us Friday for an all new episode. Check back for bonus episodes that happened intermittent like this one. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you Friday.