The running joke once Christian fixated on Kansas? “So whenever I had my kids, I went all-in.” “I felt like nobody invested in me,” said Lisa, prior to arriving at Missouri and playing under legendary women’s coach Joann Rutherford. After all, Lisa said she harbored resentment looking back at her high school basketball days because her coach was akin to a co-ed gym teacher and may have just been punching a clock. Christian knew it came from a good place and understood his mother was trying to instill a work ethic in him. After a bad game, according to Christian, it wasn’t rare to “hear it the whole ride home.”īut the tough love had benefits. On one occasion, she kicked him out of the gym for acting up. Lisa admitted she was tough on Christian, perhaps, at times, too tough. It didn’t matter, football, baseball, basketball.” “I was young, but I was ornery, for sure,” Christian said when he was relayed a story about smashing Missouri ornaments from the family Christmas tree, leaving only Jayhawk decorations to dangle. If he lost, he inevitably asked to run it back. Christian earned the nickname “The Lawyer,” because he wouldn’t ever concede. Family card games, board games and one-on-one games - all activities seemingly immune to interpreting a winner - were up for debate, according to Lisa. “I was raised that way, but I wanted my kids to be that way, too, because if you don’t have any fight in you, you don’t go anywhere,” Lisa said.Ĭhristian hated to lose. In other words, no one got away with much. With a military background, her dad was also her high school principal. Lisa was the youngest of seven kids, three of whom went on to play basketball at Missouri. More than a year younger than Parker, Christian had played “up” on the team and channeled his mom’s feistiness. Years later, under Lisa’s strict guidance, the team won a national tournament for sixth graders. It’s not the way I wanted to raise my kids. “I don’t care what age you’re teaching your kid, but not everybody gets a trophy. “At first, me and my husband were going to do it together, and I let him take over, but everybody played, and it wasn’t about winning, and I’m like, ‘That ain’t life,’” Braun told The Denver Post. Lisa, a standout college basketball player at Missouri, had a problem with the early direction of the program. When her two oldest sons – Parker and Nuggets first-round pick Christian – were in elementary school, she and her husband started a traveling basketball team near Burlington, Kansas, in an effort to promote their boys’ budding hoop dreams. LAS VEGAS - Lisa Braun doesn’t believe in participation trophies. And nothing’s changed (since then).Digital Replica Edition Home Page Close Menu And I say that because he’s always in the right spot, he’s in the right place at the right time. “He’s very rare … That’s a rare rookie right there, man. “It’s rare,” the veteran said of the rookie sitting to his right. (Tonight), I just felt the confidence oozing out of him.”Īaron Gordon laughed at the very question. He’s stayed mentally ready the whole year - very calm, cool, collected young man. It speaks to him being a winner, he’s been a winner at every level. “And he’s in the rotation to end the season, he’s been in the rotation through these 18 playoff games now, and if you look around, there’s no many rookies playing meaningful minutes in the NBA at this time of year. “Yeah, I mean, Christian has proven himself all year long,” Malone continued. The former Jayhawk finished only four points off his regular-season high (19 points), which also came against the Timberwolves. The bumps discombobulated Butler so much that the Kansas native had enough space to bank the rock off the backboard with his right hand and give the visitors a 93-72 lead.īraun’s previous playoff scoring high was nine points, in Game 3 of the Minnesota series. He should be … we believe in him, we drafted him, he’s everything we hoped for and more.”īraun announced his presence in a big way with 8:32 left in the game, crashing the lane and dribbling with his left hand while bodying Heat star Jimmy Butler not once, but twice, with his right shoulder. “That young man, when you win three straight high school state championships and when you win (collegiate) national championships - he’s very confident. “He showed up with that,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said of his first-year wing out of Kansas. “So when I get in the game, I try to defend, do the little things … obviously, (the stars) make it easier on me, my job’s not very hard.” “I mean, the guys just trusted me all year,” Braun said after his second-half showcase - 15 points and four rebounds in 19 minutes - in the Nuggets’ Game 3 win Wednesday night. Digital Replica Edition Home Page Close MenuĪccording to ESPN Stats and Information, he’s the youngest player in NBA Finals history to put up at least 15 points in under 20 minutes.
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