00:00I want to pay a compliment to the man who's about to join us, his daughter.
00:05I am always mindful when a Game 7 type situation happens,
00:12I immediately look for who's up for this moment and who's not.
00:17Like, who has the demeanor to handle this?
00:21And you can tell emotions are running high and the jitters are all over
00:26and Veronica Burton immediately comes out with just a buttery little fall away
00:31from the left wing for the first bucket of the game.
00:34And I'm like, all right, Veronica's here tonight.
00:37Yep.
00:37And I love that.
00:39And she has been, I think, a stabilizing force for this team all year long.
00:44Veronica's dad, Steve Burton, is the sports director for WBC-TV CBS affiliate in Boston
00:51and joins us now live on the River Islands guest line and on YouTube.
00:56Steve, thank you for coming on, and congratulations to you and your family.
01:01Well, then, Dibs, I'll tell you, man, you guys got a great show,
01:04and I appreciate you guys taking a moment to talk to me.
01:07But I'll tell you one thing.
01:08If you go back in time, what this organization has done,
01:12starting from the bottom and getting to the top, it's been an amazing run.
01:18And what Ohema and Natalie and Joe have put together, it's just an incredible story.
01:24And they really should make a movie about it.
01:27That's an interesting thought.
01:29I mean, it really is unprecedented.
01:31This is year two of existence, and we've actually been playing with this concept a little bit.
01:36You know this.
01:38Fan bases, when they win a title, they're usually like,
01:40finally, I've been through the wars and through the years and all this.
01:43Right.
01:44They just started a handful of months ago, Steve.
01:47So, like, a very unique dynamic, I think, that this team has brought to the table.
01:53No question about it.
01:55It reminds me of the 1980 Olympic hockey team with Michael Ruzzi and those guys.
01:58Nobody expected them to do anything.
02:00And they're doing a bunch of no-name people, but they all came together with love,
02:04and they brought it all together.
02:06But as you go back in that series, though, especially against Atlanta,
02:11I went, and I got to share the story with you guys because I was very tough on Veronica.
02:16I said, you know, you guys won game one, Veronica.
02:18You did okay.
02:19And game two, Veronica, you lost the game, and you need to look in the mirror
02:25because you're the reason why they lost.
02:27Woo!
02:28And I'm like, am I getting through to you?
02:30We rebound for you.
02:32You take 1,000 shots a day.
02:34You took three shots in the game.
02:36And I'm not getting through to you.
02:38I said, you got to be attacked.
02:40You got to be more aggressive.
02:41And game three, she does the same thing.
02:45And I'm like, what am I doing wrong as a parent that I'm not getting through to my kid?
02:50I'm serious.
02:51I really said that.
02:52So, I said, you know what?
02:53You are the reason.
02:55You want to look to everybody else?
02:57You need to look in the mirror.
02:58You are the reason why this team is getting beat.
03:02And I'm not going to sugarcoat it.
03:04You have to attack and become more aggressive.
03:07And you know what she said to me that really stopped me in my tracks?
03:11She goes, Dad, do you trust me?
03:16Huh.
03:16That's all she said.
03:17And what did you say back?
03:18She goes, do you?
03:19I said, Veronica, I trust you.
03:23That's all I said.
03:24And it stopped me.
03:25I never had a kid say that to me before.
03:27She goes, Dad, do you trust me?
03:29I said, Veronica, I trust you.
03:30She goes, that's all I need.
03:32And I saw Chris Paul.
03:34And I told Chris Paul, I said, go talk to my daughter.
03:38Tell her to start attacking and get everybody else involved.
03:44Because you may not get back to a game seven again.
03:46Yep.
03:47Let's get this done while we're here.
03:50And they did.
03:51Everybody stepped up, which was awesome.
03:54An incredible performance.
03:56I'm just so struck by the way your daughter plays with such toughness.
04:00And, you know, not that she's completely undersized, but at 5'8", she is somewhat undersized.
04:05And yet she goes out and gets 10 rebounds in game seven.
04:08Where does that toughness come from?
04:10And has she always had that?
04:12Well, she grew up in an atmosphere.
04:14We were on a camp.
04:15My dad, a short version of this, my dad used to play for the Patriots.
04:19And his dream was, if you ever made it, you want to give it all back.
04:21So we built a village for kids.
04:23So she grew up playing against boys.
04:26And that's where she got her toughness.
04:28When she was younger, she was the only girl in an all-boys league.
04:32And she became MVP of the league.
04:34Because she could outscore the boys.
04:36And she just got a toughness to her through that.
04:38But we were like, we were real with her.
04:41You know, when she did well, we told her she did well.
04:43When she did bad, we didn't sugarcoat it.
04:45You got to step up.
04:47You know, people are counting on you.
04:49A lot of fans.
04:50The fans out Bahala, man, there's nobody like them.
04:54They just are awesome.
04:56And they're counting on you.
04:57And this is on you.
04:59It's on your teammates as well.
05:01But it starts, you're the quarterback of this team.
05:03You're the point guard.
05:04It starts with you.
05:06Steve Burton, Veronica's dad, who is the sports director at WBZ Television in Boston,
05:12is with us here with it in Dibs 95.7 The Game.
05:15Steve, I'm interested if these are the kinds of interactions that you have with Veronica.
05:20Very, very tapped in and tight, obviously, with every play.
05:25I would love to hear you describe the first interaction you had directly with her after they won.
05:33I went up to a great question, and I just hugged her, and I said, I trusted you.
05:41Wow.
05:42That's what I said.
05:44I trusted you, and you delivered.
05:46I trusted you, and you delivered.
05:49And she had the biggest smile on her face.
05:52But I said, you know what?
05:54Your road to get here, and I love it.
05:57My dad taught me this.
06:00The struggle makes you stronger.
06:02He goes, think about a muscle.
06:03A muscle gets stronger when it has to lift weights.
06:05And, Veronica, your struggle has made you stronger.
06:09You were built for this.
06:11And it's not just about her.
06:12It's about anybody on that team.
06:14You know, Veronica's not bigger than the team.
06:17It's everybody on that team.
06:18But the struggle, everybody had their own struggle to get there.
06:22And the struggle makes you stronger.
06:24And you can't have a testimony without a test.
06:27And you know what?
06:28Two years ago, you didn't have a team.
06:30And the fact that you have a coach that believes in you, you couldn't have picked a better place to
06:35go.
06:37Yeah, it's incredible when you think about, you know, the totality of the individuals like you're describing.
06:42And I wonder what your emotions were as you're watching this game.
06:46And it was, you know, kind of a rock fight, as we say in the business.
06:49It was never going to be an easy game either way.
06:52When was it that you kind of got the sense that this actually might happen for your daughter?
06:58Well, you know, I think that in game seven, we started out the game on an 8-0 run, right?
07:07And I know it's a game of runs.
07:09And then Atlanta came back and fought back, and they were up nine.
07:13But we were in the ballgame at halftime.
07:15I said, you know what?
07:16The second half, you got to take over.
07:19You got to take over.
07:20And Veronica missed a lot of shots in the second half.
07:22And she went to Gabby at halftime.
07:24And she said, Gabby, we need to shoot the ball.
07:29We need to, you know, because Gabby only had two points in the first half.
07:32And Veronica goes, I'll get the rebounds.
07:34We need you to start shooting.
07:35And Gabby took over the game.
07:37She took over the game.
07:38And it was so much fun watching this team with the love that they had for each other
07:42and the faith that they had in each other that these guys came together.
07:46And they rocked the house.
07:49Steve, we know you got to run.
07:51And I wonder, did you take a moment for you to just sort of reflect in that moment
07:57on what had happened and the journey that took you guys as a family to this moment?
08:04What does it feel like when your daughter achieves something like this?
08:10It's a blessing, and I'm very thankful for it.
08:13And, you know, I just want to make sure she stays humble, use this as a platform to build
08:17everybody else up around her, to build younger kids up, because God has really blessed her.
08:22And you know what?
08:23And you don't want to forget how you got there.
08:25Don't forget your roots.
08:26I also told her if she missed those two foul shots, she was grounded for life.
08:32Nothing like grounding a 26-on.
08:34I love you guys, but hey, hey, this is real, man.
08:37That's it.
08:38I just want to ask you about seeing Steph Curry warm up for his game in your daughter's jersey.
08:44Oh, man.
08:44Like, what kind of a full-circle moment was that for you as a dad?
08:49You know, so I'm so glad you asked me that question, because he's my favorite player.
08:54Steph Curry is my favorite player.
08:57And to see him wear the 22 jersey, you know why she wears 22?
09:02Because my dad was number 22 on the Patriots.
09:04So she changed her number to 22 when she got here.
09:08And to see Steph Curry wear her number as he's warming up, it just brought chills to my mom.
09:16It brought chills to my family.
09:18And there's no one like Steph.
09:20I mean, Steph's just on a completely different level.
09:22And I guess Veronica, they were on it at the Warriors game last night.
09:26And Steph made eye contact with Veronica.
09:29Veronica made eye contact with Steph.
09:31And they just smiled at each other.
09:32And it was just, she told me that today on the phone.
09:36She goes, Dad, he's just unbelievable.
09:39But Steph and Chris Paul, Chris Paul played a big part in helping this team get over the hump.
09:45But Ohema and Natalie, those coaches.
09:48I'll tell you one other thing that Natalie did for Veronica.
09:50That's why she's such a great coach.
09:53She put together a lot of Veronica's highlights, okay?
09:58Added them together and had Veronica watch the positive things she was doing.
10:03To get her confidence going when she played game seven.
10:07Love it.
10:08They've all done just an amazing job.
10:10Steve, thank you for a few minutes of your time and sharing that experience.
10:14Congrats again to your whole family.
10:16You guys got the best show.
10:17I love you guys.
10:18Keep it going.
10:20Thank you, sir.
10:21Steve Burton, Veronica's dad.
10:23Had 10 points, 10 boards, 5 assists.
10:275 assists.
