Well, how hard is it just to absorb a loss like this after going
ahead by twenty? The season's over. That's what's hard, being up twenty
season's over. You don't understand that the season's over. It's hard. Stupid
ask questions. Nicole and Jamal coach carried a lot of the burden offensively for
you guys, So what did you what sort of broke down between them within
the second half, just within those actions? Well, I think so much
is being placed on their shoulders. I mean it was you were expecting Nicola
and Jamal can to continue to pull rabbits out of their hat man and somebody
else got to get some help. I mean, you know, Joker thirty
four, Jamal thirty five, and you know we just struggle to make shots.
You know, they're a really good defense. I thought, I guys
play stremely hard tonight to hold that team to ninety eight points thirty nine from
the field, twenty nine from three. But as I said, old series,
long, are we gonna be able to score enough in this series?
And once again in the four losses, we couldn't score. Okay, So
look, so you're down fifteen and a half, You're down twenty early in
the third. How did you maintain some poise, be patient and make this
happen. It was tough, man, because I couldn't find myself my rhythm
tonight. So I just had to trust my teammates. Man. They kept
trapping me even though I was off, So I just had to make the
right play throughout the rest of the game, man, And I did that,
and my teammates made shots. Man, So big, big shout out
to those guys and vcior congratulations to you. Let's talk about the fourth quarter.
Well throughout the three quarters, they made it tough for you, double
team, and you see, like you said, you trusted your team and
you found life in the fourth where you saw a couple of baskets go through
you got the big steel to the dunk. Tell me about that. I
mean, you know, it's more ways to win a basketball game when you
just not when you're just not an offensive player. Man, I'm not want
to mention I'm not just a guy who can score. I'm a guy who
can go whoever they best guard is, I can go lock him down.
So I feel like I did that on Jamal in the fourth quarter, and
that's what in the third quarter and fourth quarter, and that's what turned the
game around. A good post games sound from Mike Malone, the head coach
in the Denver Nuggets, and then Anthony Edwards, the star for the Minnesota
Timberwolves after Minnesota beat then gets in Denver ninety eight to ninety. It's a
couple of things there, Ben. I don't know how you feel about this,
Mike Malone. It's this is where it's very difficult, right, very
very hard to get coaches or players you know, within ten minutes or so
after a hard loss. The emotion of it, all the roy emotion,
it's it's really hard. But say it. It's a dumb ass question is
ridiculous too, because it's not. How hard is it, Mike, to
accept, especially when you had a twenty point lead, the season's over.
That's what you don't understand. Now. The reporter understands it's over. He
understands. He knew going to the arena that it was Game seven and that
one of the teams was going to lose and that team season would be over.
He knew while he was at the game, charting the game, writing
about the game, that the season was about to end for one team.
He knew when the buzzer sounded that your season is over. That's a given.
Mike. It'd be great to have one reporter say dumbass answer, wouldn't
it. Yeah, that'd be great. Yeah, seriously, I mean that's
me being a little protective of the media. I think we asked some really
stupid questions too. I do absolutely. The Vince Carter question is one of
them. You know, tell me about that. One of my biggest pet
peeves been in the media is talk about when you hear somebody say, talk
about or tell me about that, ask the question. It's not that hard.
It's really not. Asking a question is easy. Asking a good question
is difficult, And if you ever worried about it, go back to the
basics. I know that's hard in our business and in life. Who what,
When? Where? Why? But I digress. Minnesota Wins ninety eight
ninety Mike Malone's saying that we rely too much on two guys, Then how
many times have we talked about in the NBA you need at least you need
the three guys. Now, in the past we thought it was two right,
Well, now it's obviously with three you need three guys to elevate their
games a little bit. Two did. They could not score yesterday. Michael
Porter Junior was three for twelve. Combined, Yokitch and Murray were twenty six
of fifty five. Now, yo Kitch was terrible from three he was two
of ten, but he had thirty four points and nineteen boards. I'm not
sure what more you want from a guy like that. He also had seven
assists. By the way, he looked tired. Did you watch that at
all? Ben? He looked super tired, man like he was spent.
Murray, in the meantime, had thirty five points. So combined they scored
sixteen. They scored seventy seven percent of their points sixty nine of ninety seventy
seven percent of the point scored by two guys. Couldn't get it done.
Hats off to Minnesota. By the way, Minnesota was down twenty in the
third. If you didn't watch this game, you would be reading the storyline
today, and that has to be part of the storyline. Don't read an
article that doesn't bring up the fact that they won on a fifty four to
twenty four second half run in Denver against two of the better players in the
league. Yokichen Murray against the defending world champions. I said this the other
day. There's that old cliche right about heart of a champion. Never underestimate
the heart of a champion. Well, Minnesota wasn't afraid. Give him a
ton of credit. Really impressive. Largest comeback in a half game down at
the half, down fifteen at half, largest comeback at the half in an
NBA playoff game in history, which surprises me. I'll tell you who is
really good from Minnesota, and we can get caught up in the names all
we want, and I do for a good reason, because you look at
the way Anthony Edwards plays. He's an absolute beast. He didn't lead him,
not in scoring anyway. Karl Anthony Towns had a double double twenty two
points, twelve boards. That's the guy I would have wanted to talk to
postgame. I get that Anthony Edwards is the star, but talk to the
guy who was the best, Jaden McDaniels. He was pretty damn good too,
He had twenty three. But the guy who caught my eye is the
sixth Man of the Year, Naz Reid eleven points. Fine, it's the
two blocks that were most impressive. Two blocks and one of them on Jokic
late, So minnesot it was on too. The Western Conference Finals and they
get home court and they will take on Dallas. Count me as one of
the surprise people. I had Okay seeing Denver in the Western Conference Finals,
and I would have been wrong in both. I had Boston and New York
in the Eastern Conference Finals. Now, I did not anticipate Jalen Brunson getting
hurt. I did not anticipate og Ananobi unable to play. This is before
all the playoffs began, by the way, but that's exactly what New York
had to deal with. It's not an excuse, it's an explanation. What
Indiana did was one of the more impressive playoff games you will have witnessed.
What he did, or what Indiana did, was shoot a playoff record sixty
seven percent from the floor. Here's the reason it's so impressive what Indiana and
Minnesota did. Folks, home teams in the NBA playoffs in history, home
teams in game seven now one over seventy two percent of the games. And
we saw two road teams buck that trend in the same day. Indiana blows
out the next one thirty to one oh nine. Great stuff. We got
some golf I need to get to, including who I think is the best
golfer in the world right now, Yes, Scotti Scheffler. For the men's
side, the big story is at the PGA Championship, but it probably shouldn't
be. We'll talk of that on Exis and Bros. When we rolled on
right after this. Across the great state of Michigan, huge chere for the
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from land Sing twenty four to seven at MHSAA dot com, at mhsa A
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to seven from the Michigan High School Athletic Association. Log onto MHSAA dot com,
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That's MHSAA dot tv twenty four to seven. Everything you need to know about
high school sports in Michigan. Log onto MHSAA dot com. We're teeming off
our tenth year at the Meyer LPGA Classic for simply gives. Get ready for
the best who are yet to help neighbors in need while enjoying food and family
fun. Join us June thirteenth through the sixteenth at Blakefield Country Club for fabulous
food, discoveryland for kids, and of course, elite women golfers from around
the world competing to help feed our neighbors. Get your tickets now admire LPGA
Classics dot com. At that point of the game, the challenge is basically
free, so could have been blocking. It was pretty close to being blocking.
Tucker did a good job of kind of holding this spot. Then you
never know what the video is going to say, so I didn't even really
wait for the video. It's a free challenge, like I said going into
the seventh inner. At the end of the seventh so tough play in a
close play and didn't go our way. No, I mean he's getting better
pitches to hit. I mean it's going to be the same answer every time
you get asked about when guys get better, they get better pitches to hit,
they don't miss him. I mean, he hit a ball a long
way in this park, working himself to a three to two count and got
a good pitch to hit. So better pitch that we get to hit,
the better we're gonna do. Aj Hinch after his team's loss in Arizona yesterday
six to four. We'll get to that coming up, because there's some thoughts
on the type of managing style that he has and why it may be attractive
slash supportive to a lot of his players. We'll get to that coming up.
And you think it's bad for Detroit, it's a lot worse for a
team that spends a lot more money, has a lot higher expectation, but
isn't getting it done. You could argue they are the biggest disappointment in baseball.
Would love your thoughts on that. Welcome back, x'es and bros.
Thirty six after the Hour. Barely got through the headlines because there are so
many good storylines. Yesterday, by the way, Guardians won to Detroit loses
six to four. Guardians win again. Will Brennan, Who exactly will Brennan?
A three run walk off homer of f Juan Durand to sweep the Twins.
Anybody see that coming? Anybody see what Cleveland has done? Did you
see that coming. Did you see a team that would be thirty and seventeen
at this stage of the year. Not me, No way. More wins
than Baltimore, would not have thought it. More wins than Texas, No
way, more wins than Atlanta. Call me surprised. More wins than San
Diego, Absolutely not. And yet Cleveland is there. How do you stand
the fact that San Diego is five hundred? Sorry, something's just popping into
my head. Ben's like, wait a minute, I thought this is where
we were going. Some things just popping in my head. Why the hell
are the San Diego Padres five hundred? You want to piste off fan base?
That's that should be it right there. Honestly, I mean I could
go into a couple other teams, but that's got to be it. They
spend way too much money to be doing that. I don't think they're the
biggest disappointment. We'll get to that here coming up on Exis and Bros.
Real quick. In case you missed it over the weekend. Xander Shaftley,
you like that. Xander Shaffley wins his first major. He does so by
laying claim to the twenty twenty four PGA Championship good for him. So a
hell of around and a hell of an eighteen, that's what it was.
The number eighteen he birdied to break the tie he had with Bryson Deshambo.
So he wins it a twenty one under par. They said this. This
surprised me a little bit. His two sixty three total is the lowest seventy
two hole score in a major championship. That surprised me a little bit.
He's not the best story in golf. The best story in golf is Nelly
Corda. You know, the same young lady who won the Mayer Classic at
Blainfield Country Club not too long ago, that Nelly Korda. I don't know
if she'll be there this year in the middle of June, June thirteenth through
the sixteenth, but if so, you get a chance to see one of
the greatest golfers in the world right now. She won in New Jersey yesterday
at Liberty International Golf Course by a stroke on eighteen, and has now won
six of her last seven tournaments that she's entered. She's held up a trophy
six times. In the last time she's teed it off. The other time
she finished seventh, So still a top ten finish. There are only four
women in the history of the LPGA Tour who have done what she has done
in a seven tournament stretch. Two of those women did it in the nineteen
fifties. Okay, since nineteen eighty, her fourteen LPGA champion chips are the
most by an American golfer. That's how good she is. She's the real
deal. Not that Xander Schoffley isn't. This is not to take anything away
from him. You win a major, it's unbelievable, especially with how many
people, you know, if you're a golf fan out there, how many
people thought, Oh, he's going to fade, he's going to choke.
Pressure will be too much for him. Because remember at the Wells Fargo against
Rory McElroy, he did not hold the lead on the final day. I
thought Colin Morricala was going to I'm kind of sharing with you how often I'm
wrong. I guess. I thought Colin Morricala was going to be the guy.
He has been there, He's won a couple of pgh But I told
you on Wednesday when I said to you the PGA Championship tease it up tomorrow.
This was on Wednesday, I said, this is a course that lays
out well for who did I say, Bryson Deshambo using his length, and
he finished a twenty under par one shot back. He put together a heck
of a Sunday, really fun to watch, all right. Let me get
to some baseball stuff, all right, because I'm sure not everybody plays golf
out there, although you know, I was excited to watch it, and
I hope you get an opportunity to go out to the Tenthaniel Myer Classic in
June. It's gonna be awesome. And like I said before, Nellie Korda
has won it before and it's a great cause for simply give all right,
Tigers lose, granted, aj Hinch you heard him, Ben played his comments
coming back. Somebody had asked us a couple of weeks ago the type of
manager that he is. Here's what he does as well as any man that
you're a coach. I've ever seen Jim Caldwell pretty good with this from a
Detroit perspective. The communication that he delivers is vital and really impressive on what
he has done. Sometimes it's too easy. Sometimes it's way too easy to
think, well, all you got to do is communicate. Not everybody's a
great communicator. Not everybody's honest. They're so worried about feelings, this,
that and the other thing. What aj Hinch does as well as anybody is
communic communicate to his players. He tells them straight. Now, there's a
lot of head coaches and managers who are who tell it to you straight.
But are they keeping you in the loop along the way? Are they telling
you going in about what they're witnessing, what you need to do, how
you stand. Aj Hinch has done that, and he does it very regularly.
He also does it with Javier Bias. Now, I know what you're
thinking, because I was thinking the same thing. Here's what he said.
Here's how he's handled Bias. We told you last week he's going to play
a lot, you know, we'll get him back on track, so on
and so forth. We've got to try and find a way to get more
out of him. No, at bats is not going to be the answer.
Has to keep getting his rhythm at his timing, hopefully get into a
position to produce offensively. That's the goal. That's what aj Hinch said about
Howvi or Bias BIA's response the other day and he had a huge day in
the thirteen to nothing win, big, big offensive day, and I know
it came in one game, and maybe that's not how you folks want to
see it. You want to say a guy who does it over a solid
stretch at time. So do I Okay, I really do. Bias said
this about Hinch's comments, Well, it means a lot that somebody's got his
back. Hinch has shown that he's willing to support Bias, and Bias is
saying, I appreciate what the manager is doing for me. He says he
knows how hard I've been working to be out there and to be back.
Feel better with my timing, feel better on my low back. I play
hard and not to make excuses about my body situation, but he knows if
I'm locked in, he's going to push me out there every day. We've
got really good communication. He's done a great job. Here's what you're probably
thinking thinking, because I thought the same thing when I read it. When
you're doing ninety three million dollars after this year, I think it's close to
seventy three. When you're doing ninety eight, sorry, ninety eight million dollars,
he's doing seventy three after this year. When you do that much,
what else the hell? What else is the manager you're going to do?
I thought the same thing. Yep, you got to play it. But
the comments we hear from people a lot, and I get it because it's
an emotional response. The comments you get is, this is a guy who's
hitting a buck eighty five, he's got one homer, he doesn't walk,
he's only got five. He strikes out a lot, twenty eight times into
thirty eight game stretch. So just cut him. I was at a wedding
Friday night, and that's what I got from people. How's it going good
to see you? Yeah? Yeah, listen, what are they gonna do
with Baiaz? You're gonna play him, is what you're gonna do? Oh
okay, well, why don't think just cut him? Here's why. I
mean, you owe a lot of money, man, I mean, would
you just throw a hundred million dollars out the window? Well? Ill it,
just got it? I said, just because you got it doesn't mean
you do it right. I mean, I don't think that's the logic that
you use. Well, if you want to win, you got to bench
him. They have benched him and they're at five hundred. Not that he's
the key, but he's one of them. I want everyday players. I've
said that time and time again. I'll say it at nauseum. I want
everyday players for the Tigers. However, one of those everyday players that I
want is at shortstop. I've told you before I didn't necessarily want how your
bias, but that's who they have. You've got to fix him. He's
got to be better. He himself has to make the greatest improvement. He's
the one who I know it's easy. Lay off the sliders. Okay,
it's not just sliders, folks. I mean he's been laid on fastballs too.
I mean it's not just one pitch. My favorite is Man, if
I were a pitch, I just throw him slider after slider after a slader.
Eventually he's going to recognize that and you're not going to do that.
The reason he's getting fooled on sliders is because of some of the other pitches.
But Ajh somebody who's complaining about aj Hinch and I understand that. I'm
not saying you don't have a right to. I think you do have a
right to. This team has underachieved so far. Doesn't mean they will for
the year, but so far they have. That falls on and he'd be
the first to admit it. The manager and the front office in my belief,
but the manager. But you're not able to put a lot of other
different lineups out there. You're you're not playing Zach McKinstry at shortstop every day.
You're not going to reconvert when so Perez back to the infield. You're
not putting Gee or Schella there. Colton Keith isn't going to play shortstop for
you. You are limited and what you can do. So the best thing
to do from a franchise standpoint is work with Biez and hope that he gets
better. There's a couple of things about him. To say what you want,
he'll work at it. I'm not saying he puts the most work in
of any Tiger, but it's not like he doesn't work. Nobody understands more
their struggles than the guy who's going through it, Javier Bias. But I
thought that was important to bring up because A. J. Hinch is a
really good communicator with his players. Now it hasn't been good enough. I'm
not making excuses for him, and I'm sure as hell not going to cover
for him. That's not what it's about. I just wanted to give you
an idea of what he does well as a manager, in addition to communication,
in addition to what I think is very good in game decisions. For
the most part. You don't like that he pulls pictures too early. Neither
do I. That's something that matters to me. That bothers me. Let
a guy keep going. He does have research that he falls back on.
He does have a guy like Chris Fetter that he relies on. But to
me, that move is all on the manager. So there's plenty not to
like. I'm just telling you some of the things that are a positive.
It could be worse. Sure, I don't care about other teams. I
don't care about the disappointment in certain other teams so far. You care about
Detroit. So what did Chicago's underachieving? So what did Houston's under five hundred?
I don't care that the Mets are under five hundred. It's spend it
as much money as they do. It doesn't matter to me that a team
that went to the World Series a year ago is under five hundred. In
Arizona. What matters to me and what matters to you our friends out there
listening throughout the great state of Michigan is the Detroit Tigers and what they're doing.
But there was a statement made by a member of some team's front office
that was pretty poignant, and they did it at a time that too many
people feel like, well, it's early in the season. Not anymore.
It's not when you have front office personnel, general managers in this case coming
out and expressing concern or maybe a vote of confidence, which is oftentimes followed
by a but then you know it's not too late. We will explain what
we're talking about when we come back on x'es and Bros. And kind of
a funny little segment two that I want to get to from another baseball player
coming up. All that, plus, we could be seeing the makings of
the next fifty million dollar quarterback in the NFL. Well, a guy who
does not deserve it. I told you last week when Jared Goff signed his
extension and people were complaining about it, I said, it's the going rate
quote unquote, and you're going to see somebody top it. We'll think of
this team situation and their fan base. We'll explain coming up on Exus and
Bros. We get the second hour right around the corner on a Monday morning
throughout the great state of Michigan. Stay with us. Hey, Michigan,
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best who are yet to help neighbors in need while enjoying golf, food and
family fun. Join us June thirteenth through the sixteenth at Blakefield Country Club for
fabulous food, discoveryland for kids, and of course, elite women golfers from
around the world competing to help feed our neighbors. Get your tickets now at
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