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This crowd rises to its

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mee, what's barrow slam it? Oh?

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Darl left wing free ball.

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Perfect Darlin pop

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there halift block the shot at the rim?

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How with the left hand and a

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fowl. Welcome to the Chase

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0:32

Ah. The Calves

0:35

complete the biggest comeback win since

0:37

Night the ninety seven ninety eight UH

0:40

season, biggest Game seven comeback win

0:42

that is. I can't even speak. I'm so excited.

0:44

I'm so relieved, and I'm so happy to be talking

0:46

to my co host, Carter Rodriguez. Carter, how

0:49

you doing, buddy, Donovan Mitch, he's a bad

0:51

man. Oh my god, you shit?

0:54

This isd for me. This is.

0:57

Holy crap. That

1:02

was banana pan

1:04

cakes, my friend. They this

1:07

team, you know, first off, huge

1:10

kudos fir, first time winning

1:12

a playoff series that did not involve Lebron

1:14

James since the early nineties for

1:17

this team, a huge, huge moment

1:19

for the team. You're down eighteen,

1:22

and what did we criticize this team for doing in games

1:24

three and four? Letting go of

1:27

the rope? Yep, and it

1:30

looked like it was gonna happen. You know,

1:32

you gave such a good punch in game six,

1:35

Donovan scores fifty. You had that game

1:37

in control, and you kind

1:39

of fumble the game away and you and

1:41

so you think, Okay, Orlando just has

1:44

their number. This was one mountain

1:47

to climb too many, and they

1:50

just ground away. I actually I

1:52

tweeted at the end of the first half something to the tune

1:54

of, you're not going to just hit a knockout

1:56

punch. You have to just grind this Orlando

1:59

team down. And you're not gonna

2:02

just magically solve their defense. You're

2:04

not just gonna suddenly be dropping forty point

2:06

quarters. You're just gonna

2:09

have to win possession by possession, by

2:11

possession by possession, and that's exactly

2:13

what they did. I'm so proud of this team. I

2:15

feel like it's a major, major moment for this

2:18

team to have kind

2:20

of overcome that as a group together.

2:24

You know, we're gonna talk about individual

2:26

contributors. Obviously, how

2:29

about eighty nine points the last two games for Donovan

2:31

Mitchell. But overall, I'm

2:34

just so so dang proud that this team didn't

2:36

quit and that this team had

2:40

the kind of togetherness to

2:43

the ropes slipped out of their hands, they grabbed

2:46

it and they yanked those dudes across

2:48

the line. I almost said some curse

2:51

words because I'm so excited.

2:54

Well, you know, they were down forty nine

2:56

to thirty one with four minutes to go in the second quarter,

2:58

and then as a nice fit tribute to mister

3:01

Cavalier or Austin Carr, they got it down to ten.

3:03

They got it to ten, They got it to ten,

3:05

and you know that that is the magic that

3:07

fixes it all. But from that moment on,

3:10

you know my hope and you

3:12

know what again, I've I've mentioned

3:14

this before. The best ability is accountability,

3:17

and I will be accountable. I was spessimistic

3:19

heading into this one. I was nervous when

3:21

the Cavs went down. You know, all those

3:24

demons from the past were coming up and being like,

3:26

oh, is this going to be like Game five? Last year

3:28

where you know, you just you wanted

3:30

to see that fight. You you want to see

3:33

them kind of overcome some adversity.

3:35

And you know, there were plenty

3:38

of excuses there in

3:40

terms of Jared Noiun's out with the rib injury,

3:42

Donovan Mitchell is playing his ass off, but

3:44

you know he's clearly battling through that knee

3:47

injury. Garland's been dealing with his back

3:49

issue. Cares Lavert JB mentioned that he's

3:51

been dealing with a knee injury throughout

3:54

this series. Like the

3:56

reasons and like the context

3:58

is just kind of stacking up, And I think it

4:01

would have been really easy, and I

4:03

think people would have predicted, all, are they

4:05

going to fold in that spot, But

4:07

then for them to not only grab

4:10

the rope and kind of regain kind

4:12

of a grip on the game, they

4:15

turned it around. They yanked it out

4:17

of the Magic's hands, and the Magic couldn't

4:20

grab the rope anymore. They went from

4:22

not only overcoming that deficit

4:25

of eighteen points to dominating

4:27

to you know, winning the possession battle.

4:30

You know, anytime you give up an offensive

4:32

rebound, continuing to battle and make

4:34

sure that the defense is compensating for

4:36

that right to if they're getting second chance

4:39

opportunities, making sure that they're not quality

4:41

opportunities if you can avoid it right like it

4:43

was. Just to go from down eighteen

4:46

to winning by twelve is

4:49

as impressive as it gets, especially

4:51

for a team that you know, yes,

4:54

Maxters and Donovan Mitchell and Jeorde Nyang

4:56

have been in these situations, but everybody else

4:58

on this Cavs team have not.

5:00

Yeah, it's uh, it's

5:03

unreal resilience. Man.

5:04

I should have mentioned Christan, which, you know, shout

5:07

of Tristan doing the damn things.

5:09

I had a couple huge plays, you

5:11

know, like he didn't have a long shift, but that

5:13

shift was really really important to

5:16

you know, to give MOBILEI the seven minutes a blow

5:19

he needed to to,

5:21

you know, get through this one. You

5:25

just kind of look at the way that the tables

5:28

turned, you know, I tweeted after Game six, another

5:31

fifteen point fourth or another

5:33

fifteen point quarter, You're just not

5:35

gonna win having huge

5:38

droughts for that long. And guess

5:40

what, oh how the

5:42

turntables because because

5:45

the Magic score fifteen in the third, well, the Cavs

5:47

score thirty three. They won the second half

5:49

sixty three to forty one. Yeah, I mean,

5:51

I don't think they had a better half

5:54

in the series than that. Offensively,

5:57

I don't think they had a better more than sixty three.

5:59

I think they had six at one point or something near

6:01

that. But you know, certainly

6:03

not in the second half of any of these games. That

6:06

even in the Cavs three prior wins,

6:09

the second half were rock fights. So

6:12

the fact that they just kept you know, they

6:14

were able to get to the line, which which helps

6:16

you know, they finally started to get that favorable

6:18

whistle. You know, obviously, you know, six

6:21

or seven of those final free throws were of

6:23

the magic trying to keep it in, you

6:26

know, trying to extend the game territory.

6:29

But they got the magic into the bonus they

6:32

met their physicality. Uh and

6:35

and you know, eventually the whistles kind

6:37

of started turning in their favor in

6:40

a series where even in their wins

6:43

that really hasn't happened at a significantly

6:45

high level. So again,

6:49

they they just fought and fought and fought.

6:51

They they kept plugging in different

6:53

you know, different lineups, different guys,

6:56

trying to make this thing

6:58

work. But you know, I think you

7:01

just look at Donovan, I think you just have to

7:03

start with Donovan because you

7:06

know not and again

7:08

not a crazy efficient game from the field, eleven

7:10

of twenty seven from the field, two of

7:12

eight from three, but fifteen of seventeen

7:14

from the line, five assists, only

7:17

one turnover, which really really matters

7:19

because at their worst in this series,

7:21

there was a lot of Donnie driving

7:23

into stack defenses and

7:27

just handing the ball of the other team. Ye

7:30

you know, only one turnover there, the five

7:32

assists, The play making was great, but how about eight

7:34

defensive rebounds? Just

7:37

huge, huge, huge plays from him. And

7:40

I want to start by saying how

7:44

effing impressed I am with Donovan

7:46

as a leader. Darius

7:49

is having an absolute nightmare game. He's

7:53

competing hard on defense, he's competing

7:56

hard on the boards, but like he

7:58

cannot get things going on offense at all,

8:02

you know, at at best invisible,

8:04

at worst, you know, just smoking layups. And

8:07

you get to that time out and Donovan

8:10

has like basically his whole body

8:12

envelops Darius to to

8:15

try to to you know, to try to build

8:17

him up and and and like gas

8:19

him up and tell him that you know, hey man,

8:22

I'm here for you. And then you

8:24

get to that play where Darius gets

8:26

a wide open three. The game is almost

8:28

blown open. Darius gets a wide

8:31

open three and he misses it. Yeah, Ocral

8:33

gets a great board, Donovan

8:35

gets gets the gets the kickout,

8:38

he drives, He has other options,

8:40

He has the option to force up a tough shot, and

8:43

instead he says, I'm gonna trust my dog.

8:46

I'm gonna trust him, and he's gonna and he's

8:48

gonna pay me off. He hits Darius

8:50

in the corner.

8:51

Darius bottles

8:53

nothing but a much more contested three

8:56

two, which was great to see, absolutely,

8:58

and Darius hits it. And no

9:01

one is more excited for Darius in

9:03

the middle of this nightmare game than

9:06

kind of his backcourt made. Who you know,

9:08

we've seen contentious back courts

9:11

in Cleveland before. You know, We've seen guys

9:14

kind of start to reject

9:16

the other when they have a bad game. The

9:19

fact that Donovan was so in Darius's

9:21

corner there, I thought was some

9:24

of the coolest leadership I've seen for a

9:26

Cavs player. And that trust

9:28

is I think in a lot of ways why they were

9:30

able to close this game out the way they did. Yeah,

9:33

and you know, he's talked about how he felt

9:35

like he didn't go down swinging against

9:37

the Knicks. And this has been the furthest

9:39

thing from this, right, like, this is the type

9:42

of leadership. This is the I'm

9:44

going to put the team on my shoulders and carry

9:46

us through the lulls that you wanted to see.

9:49

And you know, that was something I

9:52

think it was after game four where we

9:54

were talking about how we wanted to see

9:56

a little more of that that he had kind of got away from

9:58

that, and he talked about it himself. But absolutely,

10:02

I think the leadership has been outstanding from

10:04

him. I think the understanding of what he can

10:06

and can't do physically is improving.

10:09

And you know, I was worried about

10:11

this game. I was really really worried coming

10:14

off just a thirty six hour kind of turnaround

10:16

time. How you

10:18

know how much he had to battle through

10:21

what he was dealing with in game six.

10:23

Just wonder like can that knee bounce back

10:25

in time? And I thought, you

10:28

know, even after having a rough start, I believe he

10:30

started two of nine or something like

10:32

that, two of ten from the field, he just kept

10:34

kind of going at it, and you know, thirty nine

10:36

points on twenty seven shots was getting to the line.

10:39

Finally, a lot of that kind of grabbing

10:41

it and shoving that was kind of allowed

10:44

to occur earlier in the series was finally

10:46

being called tonight. And

10:48

you know, just as you said, from from a leadership

10:51

standpoint, I thought he was outstanding. I

10:53

continue to be. I think that's

10:55

the thing that's impressed me the most about

10:58

Donald Mitchell and his tenure in Cleveland is that

11:00

was the aspect I didn't know was coming

11:02

along with it, And I think the level

11:05

of buy in that he has consistently shown, just

11:08

the complete level the way that he has invested

11:11

in making everybody else better, Like that's

11:14

really really important because even though you

11:16

know, he's only four years older than Garland

11:19

and you know, it's not a

11:21

massive match of age gap. Me

11:24

and Macro talked about this on the last podcast,

11:26

that is still kind of a gap in terms of, you

11:29

know, one player probably being two three

11:31

years away from his prime and one player firmly

11:33

in it. It's not quite two timelines,

11:36

but there's a different level of

11:38

understanding. There's a different level of experience

11:41

and a gap that exists kind

11:43

of within this roster between Donovan and

11:45

these younger pieces. But you know, that

11:48

level of effort helps bridge the

11:50

gap, and it also shows his understanding

11:52

that he's going to need these guys to

11:54

step up. He's going to need a fourth quarter

11:57

like we got from Darius Garlett. If this team

11:59

is going to a comp push its ultimate goals, which

12:01

shows that he has invested in this

12:04

roster and invested in his teammates

12:06

and understands what needs to be done to

12:08

win at the highest level.

12:10

And you want to see investments pay dividends,

12:12

right, you know, And like that's where

12:15

the where the teammates kind of need

12:17

to come into play. And like Darius does have

12:19

this amazing fourth He has ten points,

12:21

it was five or six from the line, his that dagger

12:24

three hits, the floater, finds Evan

12:26

a couple times in the pick and roll to give Donovan

12:28

a break and playmakes

12:31

he gets the steel coming out of the magic

12:33

time out and then finishes

12:35

with that floater. Like that stuff was so

12:38

important, you know, Like I still

12:40

you know again, like I wouldn't say Darius had a good game

12:42

by any means. I'd say he had a bad game.

12:44

But it was honestly, it was the inverse

12:47

of Game six. Like we need to cut

12:49

and paste the game the

12:51

fourth quarter with his first three in Game

12:54

six, because honestly, I was coming on. I was ready

12:56

to come on here and say that this was the

12:58

most disappointing game that I've seen from Garland

13:00

because I disagree with your assessment that

13:03

you know, he is kind of invisible. Earlier in the game,

13:05

I thought he was pressing like you want.

13:07

I said, at best invisible on the.

13:11

Fair fair and you know, I didn't

13:13

love I thought he was kind of being set

13:16

up too frequently in the corner playing off

13:18

ball. I still would like to see him get the

13:20

ball in his hands more. I think that's going to be

13:22

necessary. As good as Drew Holiday

13:24

is defensively, he Garland's

13:28

had success against him in the past and

13:30

seems to be able to get by him. I have

13:32

no doubt that Drew's going to make things difficult.

13:34

But I think it's a little difference than

13:37

the physicality of a Jalen Suggs or

13:39

even you know, Gary Harris when he's locked

13:41

in. But I what

13:44

I saw from Garland was, yeah, the field

13:46

goal attempts were going up, but he was pressing

13:49

so much right like he was driving without

13:51

creating advantage, getting caught in

13:53

the air, you know, driving into the teeth

13:55

of the defense, not really like

13:58

doing it to create advantage and

14:01

having an idea of where the teammates are supposed

14:03

to be, just kind of getting caught in the air and throwing

14:05

the ball away. And you know, only two turnovers

14:07

on the night, but you felt both of them,

14:10

and some of the field goal attempts felt like a

14:12

turnover, right because there just wasn't a real chance

14:14

to even get the ball up on the rim. And

14:17

you know, for him one,

14:20

obviously, I think credit has to go to him

14:22

because he's the one that ultimately turned it around.

14:24

But again going back to you

14:27

know, the encouragement of Donna Mitchell, it's nice

14:29

to see that it did pay dividends because

14:31

in the fourth quarter for Garland ten points

14:35

three assists, got the steal two

14:38

to four from the field, zero turnovers,

14:40

and got those kind of buckets that those game

14:42

ceiling buckets that helped keep that advantage,

14:45

and you know, the dish to Mobili driving to the

14:47

basket, like it was nice to see both

14:49

Garland and Mobley actually, you know, step up

14:51

in the fourth quarter and kind of have those significant

14:54

moments to you know, meet the moment

14:56

and to take advantage of the opportunity

14:59

that the phenomenal performance from Donovan

15:01

Mitchell put them in.

15:03

Yeah, and like you just

15:06

were waiting on just little

15:08

bursts of help over the course

15:10

of the series. And you know, if the

15:12

fourth was Darius's, the third

15:15

was certainly Max Struce. Yeah, who

15:17

drops eleven points. It was three of three in

15:19

the quarter, plays great

15:22

defense on Franz all game.

15:25

Franz has an absolute nightmare outing

15:28

Struce and o'coro played all twelve minutes of the third

15:30

quarter, by the way, Yeah, literally

15:32

did not sit.

15:34

I mean in the in the second half, you

15:36

have a total possible one hundred

15:38

and twenty minutes and you

15:40

know, six players played one hundred and seventeen

15:43

of that. The only other guy was was Justin

15:45

Thompson who played some. But it was the same

15:48

six seconds are getting cheated right now? Fair,

15:52

fair, But yeah,

15:54

like it was definitely a short in rotation

15:56

and it was nice to, you know, at least have

15:58

a couple of guys come off the bench and step

16:01

up in this.

16:01

One, especially with guys who

16:04

I feel in the past have

16:07

shown their fatigue a little more. Like we've talked

16:09

about how Lebron kind of broke our brains

16:11

on what it means to play, you

16:13

know, such long shifts of

16:16

like, oh man, you know, normal humans

16:18

get tired and start making mistakes.

16:21

And I just don't feel like I ever saw the calves

16:23

legs get heavy in that second half.

16:25

They were so focused, they were so

16:28

clinical, and you

16:30

know, again, Struce just really

16:33

really was I think part of breaking that open.

16:36

You know, he finally gets

16:38

a little space in semi transition on

16:40

some of those flare screens where he's not getting

16:42

super duper wide open looks, but they are open.

16:45

Yeah, And like that is

16:47

such a meaningful difference from the first half, where

16:50

every Streus shot was like are

16:52

you sure about that, buddy? You know, there

16:54

was a lot of that where it's like you could

16:56

tell he was kind of pressing too on the

16:58

offense and the defensive end. You picked up three thousand,

17:01

like three minutes in the second quarter, So

17:04

like I thought, Strus was a was an absolute

17:06

hero in that

17:08

third quarter, And like it kind

17:11

of just goes to the fact that the cast

17:13

started moving. Man, they're

17:15

getting into their offense so quickly, you

17:18

know, I mean some of that and like it

17:20

does go to show how much this team's offense

17:22

is fueled by their defense because

17:24

Paolo went, uh,

17:27

he went I think one of seven in

17:29

the in the quarter, uh, Franz goes,

17:31

oh of six. And those are guys

17:33

that are burrowing deep under their

17:36

own basket to try to get

17:38

these shots. Even Palo shots

17:40

that were jumpers, a lot of them were like on the baseline.

17:43

Yeah, and so their floor balance

17:46

wasn't great on those possessions, and the Cavs

17:48

were getting into early offense and

17:50

operating in the space that you

17:53

just can't get when you when

17:55

you over penetrate deep, even when you get

17:57

a switch like Polo on Darius, where

18:00

the whole defense is set behind you and you you

18:02

have to beat him and immediately

18:04

get a good look up before the help comes.

18:06

Like, the Calves weren't letting the Magic do that

18:08

in a third quarter, and that's

18:11

why they were able to take

18:13

control of the game. Yeah, And you

18:15

know, one thing that

18:18

I definitely felt in this series was just

18:20

the Calves struggles to generate

18:22

open looks, and you know, some of that comes

18:25

down to execution. Some of that, you know, comes

18:27

down to the individual performances. And

18:29

I feel like there's been times where Reeds have been

18:31

missed. But the Orlando Magic

18:34

also just do a great job of that, right, Like

18:36

they allow the third fewest wide open threes

18:38

in the league, which is fifteen

18:41

point nine. It's going to be a little different

18:43

against Boston, Like Boston allows twenty

18:45

wide open threes per game, and you

18:47

know, you just kind of hope that guys

18:50

like Max Strus that that had trouble getting open

18:52

and you know, kind of found a little bit of a rhythm

18:54

hitting some of these tough shots against Orlando

18:56

the last couple of games. You hope that that can be

18:59

something that can be carried forward. And

19:01

the Cats are going to have to recognize that Boston's

19:04

going to give you that, so you have to take them. You're

19:06

going to have to make shots at a much higher clip

19:08

than you did in this series. But you know, the

19:11

defensive rock fight that was promised

19:13

in this series definitely occurred.

19:16

Like this is as physical of a team

19:18

as you'll see. You know, this is

19:20

probably one of the only teams in the league where going

19:23

from this team to Boston, it

19:25

is a difference in terms of, oh, Boston's

19:28

not going to be as big, They're not going to be as

19:30

physical, They're like it's there

19:33

an absolute dynamo on the offensive

19:35

end. Even without Kristaps porzingis like they

19:37

still win at an insanely high

19:39

clip. This is probably the best

19:41

team in the NBA, and it's going to take a lot

19:44

to challenge them. But in terms

19:46

of kind of freedom of movement and the quality of looks,

19:49

you kind of hope that the confidence

19:52

that you gained it and your execution that

19:55

you started to figure out against Orlando

19:58

can carry itself forward and

20:00

hopefully, you know, an increase in

20:03

shock quality is going to help kind

20:05

of kickstart this offense back to life.

20:07

Yeah, and I certainly have a lot

20:09

of Boston thoughts we shouldn't

20:12

get there yet, but I don't want to save them a

20:14

little bit for because there's

20:16

still some contributors we want we

20:18

really need to talk about from

20:20

this game, because man, again,

20:23

it's even it's

20:25

weird because I don't think any role

20:27

player had a great

20:30

game start to finish. Yeah,

20:33

but they just all contribute. Like but like

20:36

every role player did contribute in

20:38

like a five minute pocket that the team really

20:40

really needed, or I guess, in the case

20:42

of Isaac, a twenty four minute pocket

20:45

of the most insane defense

20:47

that you'll ever see on Palo Bancaro

20:50

to talk about.

20:51

Amazing, Like, honestly, I think his first

20:53

shift was rough, and then it was

20:56

like he went to the bench, had a reset,

20:58

and was light out from there on

21:01

out. Like he absolutely

21:03

changed this game. Sorry to cut you off, Yeah,

21:06

I mean he was.

21:07

He was unbelievable. And I kind of I

21:11

maybe can't say this because I didn't go that hard

21:13

against it during

21:16

earlier in the series when everyone was like, why

21:19

wouldn't you put Mobili on you know, like

21:22

game five, Palo goes nuts and a

21:24

lot. There was a lot of kind of people

21:26

saying that they should have had Mobili on him earlier

21:29

to try to shut his water off, and that they

21:31

needed to start the future games with

21:33

Mobii on him. And I was a little bit like, you're

21:37

kind of under selling how good Isaac is on

21:39

him. You know, he was great on him.

21:42

On Pallo in the regular season. I

21:44

thought he was great on him, even in the game where he scored

21:46

thirty nine, Like, Pallo is

21:48

such a super duper star right now that

21:53

in showing those that level

21:55

of a leap, that like you're gonna

21:58

just have games where he has really nice stat

22:00

lines. And I thought

22:02

Isaac played good defense on him all series.

22:05

I thought he got even better at getting

22:07

at not biting on the fakes and getting

22:10

underneath him so he couldn't get to his dribble

22:12

in this game in the second half, where he

22:15

was doing a lot of pivots to nowhere

22:17

with Isaac on him, and in

22:19

the difference between that and letting him

22:21

get his dribble to get a little bump in a

22:24

stop and start, and Isaac has

22:26

to make up a little bit more distance

22:28

on the on the contest, and

22:30

this instance, he's already right up in his jersey,

22:33

so it's it's Ben Carrol that's having

22:35

to change his launch angle and

22:37

having to fade away really really aggressively.

22:41

And these are not rhythm shots

22:43

that he was getting. So I thought Isaac's

22:46

on ball defense was unbelievable. It's funny.

22:49

Normally we give Isaac the most flowers

22:52

when he is the box score stuffer, you

22:55

know, when he's not kind of doing the the

22:59

you know, six point zero rebound zero

23:01

systs. He kind of had one of those games.

23:03

You know, he was okay on offense, but he only had

23:05

eight three to one and one and in thirty

23:08

three minutes and this

23:11

was one of those games where the on

23:13

ball defense was so impactful that

23:15

I didn't care. I didn't care that he didn't

23:18

have allowed rebounding or playmaking or

23:20

driving game because he was just

23:22

so bananas on Paalo

23:25

in that second half. I mean, four

23:27

of fifteen from the field and

23:30

zero assists is

23:32

as good as you can guard Palo Banco.

23:35

Yeah, And honestly, like I think,

23:38

when it comes to guarding someone like Palo,

23:40

your defense before the shot matters more

23:43

than your contest, right, especially in kind

23:45

of the modern NBA where you're not allowed

23:47

to get like right in front of a guy because

23:50

if they put their foot out even slightly, it's

23:52

going to be a foul. You kind of have to contest from the side.

23:55

What you do to disrupt the rhythm prior

23:58

to the shot going upten makes

24:00

a much larger difference than the contest

24:02

itself. It's what we saw in the

24:05

past when Tony Allen giving up, you know, seventy

24:07

eight inches to Kevin Durant was the

24:10

most effective Kevin Durant defender because

24:12

he got up into his space, he interrupted

24:14

his dribble, he anticipated

24:17

the pivots in the footwork that he was going to do. And

24:19

there were plenty of times where Palo's trying

24:21

to go from you know, right

24:23

to left and Okoro's already on that

24:25

left hip, disrupting the dribble. So Palo

24:28

kind of has to snatch it back and kind of change

24:30

what he was anticipating to do on that play.

24:33

And for a Magic team that was struggling

24:35

to have pace and struggling to execute

24:38

in the half court, if that slight

24:41

little adjustment happens with seven seconds

24:43

left on the shot clock, you've burned two

24:46

of those seconds just him trying

24:48

to readjust to where Okorro is. Then

24:51

all of a sudden, the clock becomes your sixth defender

24:53

on the court, and it interrupts

24:55

what he's trying to do. And don't get me wrong,

24:58

Palo was special, you special series.

25:01

I probably fall

25:03

on the side of the equation where I would have liked

25:05

to see Mobley on him more. But the reality

25:08

is, with Jared Allen out of the lineup, you can't

25:10

have Evan Mobley on Paolo unless

25:12

somebody is able to provide the rim defense,

25:15

and you know, unless Tristan's out

25:17

there or maybe Marcus Morse. At times,

25:20

Mobley has to play that role, and to

25:23

his credit, he absolutely stood

25:26

up and was up to the task defensively as

25:28

a five in this game.

25:29

And isn't that really the crux

25:32

of why you keep Ocoro

25:34

on him, because if you put

25:37

Mobili on him, mobile guards Paolo

25:39

one on one. If

25:41

you if you put o'coro on him on the

25:43

sae at the same time Mobley's on the

25:46

floor, you get to guard him with Okoro and

25:48

Mobley, right, and and how

25:50

many times win because

25:52

Paolo because o'koro was on Pallo,

25:55

so like White on Rice, Paolo

25:58

had to do that kind of these burrow

26:01

dribbled drive attacks where

26:04

you know he had to kind of protect the ball almost

26:06

like a running back, trying to kind

26:08

of you know, dive into the pile to get

26:10

close to the hoop to try to generate

26:13

a good angle. And when you have to work that hard

26:15

to get to the hoop, it just gives Evan really

26:17

clean contests. Yeah, and

26:20

Evan like packed a lot

26:22

of shots in this game where because

26:24

the Cabs point of attack defense was

26:27

on point, and like

26:30

that's where I thought Orlando

26:32

killed them in their wins is

26:34

when they kind of were set

26:37

setting that tone in this

26:40

game. I thought everyone in the caves, you

26:42

know, whether it was guarding Jalen Suggs, whether it was

26:44

guarding Gary Harris, whether it was guarding

26:46

Cole Anthony or Markel

26:48

Folts who had you know, Anthony and Folds had great

26:50

games off the bench. Yeah, hitting

26:53

a lot of really tough shots. But I thought their point

26:55

of attack defense was really really together, especially

26:58

in that second half, and

27:01

it was just really really fun to see. I mean,

27:03

and I guess that probably does segue us into

27:06

to Evan right, who you know has

27:09

a quiet offensive you know, a

27:11

bad offensive game, I would say is the Loan big

27:14

in game six, and then game seven has

27:16

another kind of a rough offensive

27:19

game. You know, he goes five of eight for eleven points,

27:21

which isn't really the volume I want to see any

27:23

of six turnovers to only one assayst. But

27:27

man, was he special on the defensive

27:29

end, and like sometimes

27:32

that you know, game game goes both

27:34

ways. Man.

27:35

Yeah, and obviously the sixteen rebounds

27:37

was significant.

27:39

I was including the sixteen.

27:40

Yeah, it's you know, I

27:44

still think I think this

27:46

game is an example of Mobiley still

27:48

being a very strong defender when

27:51

he is at the center position, like

27:53

he's able to anchor the defense. We saw

27:55

it this year where you know, in the past,

27:58

the defense would fall off when Mobile would there

28:00

without Alan. That is not the case

28:02

this year. It has remained steady

28:04

and he more than held his own on

28:07

that end of the court. I still think there's

28:09

times where you know, because

28:11

he still needs to add strength and he still needs

28:13

to add some of that assertiveness that that

28:15

Jared has on the role offensively

28:18

as a center, he's just not as effective as

28:21

when he's at the four and he can kind of attack

28:23

some of the smaller defenders and finish over

28:25

them. That's something I'm definitely keeping

28:27

an eye on heading into this Boston series. If

28:29

Jared Allen isn't able to play at the start. Al

28:32

Horford's someone that's really kind of bothered Mobily

28:34

when he's playing as a five, and that's

28:36

been someone that he's very He's had some of

28:39

his worst games offensively against

28:41

Al Horford.

28:41

So that's going to be something we employ one of

28:44

Owl's family members.

28:45

That's true. I

28:47

can't believe we're getting Tristan versus Al again.

28:50

Like that just makes me so that's unbelievable.

28:53

It's every I can't believe

28:56

it's twenty twenty four and we're

28:58

talking Tristan Thompson versus Al Horford

29:01

again. Man, that is a throwback

29:03

to the early days of this year podcast.

29:06

But yeah, like I think, you

29:09

know, that's still a part of his game that needs to develop.

29:11

There's a few times where you know, you could argue

29:14

the ball was thrown behind him and for that reason, he

29:16

wasn't really looking at the basket on the catch. But

29:18

he's got to be ready. He's got to be ready

29:20

to go up right away and catch those

29:23

defenders off guard it and be a little more

29:25

assertive offensively. But you know, this

29:27

goes to show that even with a

29:29

developing offensive game as a twenty

29:32

two year old, I will remind people again he is

29:34

twenty two years old. Even with

29:36

a developing offensive game, his

29:39

floor in terms of how he impacts

29:41

the game is already so damn

29:43

high. He is one of the most dominant defensive

29:45

players in the league. And I think you saw

29:48

in this game the difference that he can

29:50

make. And honestly, in game six two, like I

29:52

thought, his defense has been outstanding these

29:54

last two games, and it's

29:57

just really nice to kind of see him hold his own

29:59

and you know, I set

30:01

it up at the top, but Jared

30:03

Allen had been the Cavs most consistent player

30:05

through four games. It's you know, obviously

30:08

he's in a really tough situation where there

30:11

I know Jason Lloyd tway that he's inexcruciating

30:13

pain. Apparently it hurts when

30:15

he breathes. It hurts to raise his arm.

30:18

Anytime you're dealing with a rib Bruce too, you're

30:20

always running the risk of a fracture if it gets

30:23

hit again. So you know, I totally

30:25

understand not expecting much Jared in

30:28

this series to be Yeah, and even if

30:30

he's able to play, you know, it's a question

30:32

of how effective he is. But for

30:35

the Calves, when people have questioned

30:38

their toughness, to lose kind of the toughest

30:40

player through four games and to get

30:42

hit in the mouth a couple times, to be down eighteen

30:45

in this game and respond in the way they did, that's

30:48

the type of stuff that you

30:50

know, if if ultimately

30:53

this is as far as they go in and you know they

30:55

lose to Boston, as many people are

30:57

going to be picking Boston, if this is

30:59

as far as they go, what they managed

31:02

to accomplish to overcome this hump

31:04

I think speaks to some growth

31:06

in the core. It speaks to, you know, learning

31:09

something about this team that we didn't necessarily

31:11

know was there. Like I, you know, I mentioned

31:13

that I was skeptical, right, Like, I learned

31:16

that the Calves have this in them, and

31:19

until you really see it, there's no

31:21

way to know. You can hope, I I like,

31:23

I consume tons of opium, right like I'm

31:26

I'm, I'm here. I want to see the best happen

31:28

for the Calves, But until you

31:30

actually see them go out and you know, have

31:32

one of the biggest comebacks into Game seven that

31:36

in recent NBA history, Like that's

31:39

that's a pretty damn significant thing, and

31:41

that's a significant kind of feather in

31:43

their cap this season.

31:46

Yeah, just super proud of them. And

31:48

I know that we're kind of running

31:51

through the through the box score, but I think it's

31:53

we got to give Keris some flowers before

31:55

we move on to talking about Boston. An

31:58

absolute nightmare series thus

32:01

far for Keras, where you know,

32:04

he just wasn't able to really even

32:06

get shots up for the most part. I think he

32:08

had one game where he got up thirteen, and for the most part he

32:10

had been pretty invisible. You know Orlando size

32:13

and discipline

32:15

was really really hard, and I thought, frankly,

32:20

he saved their asses in the first half. Yeah,

32:23

he comes out and drops

32:26

ten points in the first four

32:28

of six from the field, grabs four big rebounds,

32:31

and like was the only guy who was able to get

32:33

any real momentum going towards the hoop.

32:36

And he gave you some good defensive possessions on Palo

32:39

too, Like, he gave you really good possessions

32:41

on him, and he gave you a lot of good defensive

32:43

possessions on Franz as well. When Oco

32:45

is you know, taking the Palo assignment,

32:48

Like the fact that both of them were able to lock

32:50

in it as they did, and you know you got six seven

32:53

Karris Lavert out there, you got six five

32:55

six six Issaco Coral on Palo right,

32:57

like they're holding their own against these two kinds

33:00

six offensive

33:02

engines for the magic and for Franz

33:05

to go one of fifteen from the field, like

33:08

Caroslvert was a big part of that equation. Yeah,

33:11

absolutely, and Max drus We should credit

33:13

Max Strews for his defense on him as well.

33:15

Yeah, just yeah, super proud

33:17

of keras a series. Again, he didn't

33:19

have a perfect game start to finish, but

33:22

like you just didn't need it. You needed minutes.

33:24

You needed Sam Merrill to come in and hit

33:26

two threes to help

33:28

close the gap and

33:31

get to the line, and you know, just

33:34

just do his job. Man. There was a real

33:36

shortage on offense frankly for these for

33:39

this Cavs team of guys just being able

33:41

to do their job, and in

33:43

this game they got it in

33:46

fits and starts and their star

33:48

player carried them and that was all

33:50

they needed to be a really,

33:52

really tough Magic team. Before we look towards Boston

33:55

and any kind of eulogizing you want to

33:57

do for Orlando, like what you take

34:00

aways from that that team.

34:02

Well, first of all, I'm going to eulogize

34:04

my segue because I I was fully ready

34:07

to mention that not everyone can be perfect

34:09

from start to finish, quite like Zoom support

34:11

from this podcast and the following message comes from

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Zoom. Half a million businesses connect using

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events, apps, and video. Zoom enables

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real time collaboration for teams around the globe. Zoom

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how the world connects, Carter, If I didn't

34:24

get it in there, like it was just going to be it

34:27

was.

34:27

Going to be too far.

34:28

In the podcast, I had to kind

34:30

of ram it in, and you know, it is

34:33

what.

34:33

It is, the Orlando's offense.

34:36

Yes, well, first of all, from

34:38

a eulogizing standpoint, I

34:40

am glad to avenge the nine

34:43

Calves. I've talked about this before, but that

34:45

was my most painful sports memory. I

34:48

think it still is the most pain that I've

34:50

been in in as a fan. It killed my innocence

34:52

as a fan. So to you

34:54

know, get some revenge on the ghosts

34:56

of Mikhail Peatrice and Hroo Turklou and Rashard

34:58

Lewis and all those guys, that feels great.

35:01

Feels absolutely great, especially when

35:04

you know, even as an optimistic

35:06

person I lost confidence at time. For

35:09

this Cavs team to do it, to do it

35:11

with, you know, to win a series with without

35:13

Lebron, to come back in this game, I think it was

35:15

all significant. I think the

35:17

Magic have a bright future though. You

35:20

know, I talked about like

35:22

even going back to draft season, I said,

35:24

you know, Jalen Suggs, I liked

35:26

him, obviously, I feel Evan Mobile

35:28

He's on a different tier as a game changer,

35:30

but I said, you know, in two three years,

35:33

when the jump shot comes around, he's going to be a very

35:35

good kind of combo guard. He's going to be a good off

35:37

guard, off ball guard. And I continue

35:39

to say that even when he was banged up those first

35:42

couple of years, and I think you see,

35:45

you know, the difference maker that he can be. He's probably

35:48

like, honestly, it's a compliment and not

35:50

an insult to the guys who were about to see next

35:53

series, But in terms of point of attack defense,

35:55

it's going to be a little bit easier going from Jalen

35:57

Suggs to Derek White and Drew Holiday, even

36:00

if those guys are kind of second and third

36:02

in terms of point of attack defenders in the league.

36:05

Jalen Suggs, I think just flat out is

36:07

the best at that right now, particularly

36:09

guarding point guard. So he's a very

36:11

good player.

36:12

Wendell Carter Junior.

36:13

Is someone that you and I have both liked for

36:16

a long time, and you know, credit to him

36:18

for you know, changing the complexion

36:21

of the series and changing the geometry of the series

36:23

by kind of being that stretch big for Orlando.

36:26

I thought he had a very strong series

36:28

and then of course, Palobank Caro is just an

36:30

absolute superstar, A big,

36:33

big fan of him. You know, as

36:35

much as Okoro did a great job on him

36:37

and holding him to thirty six percent shooting, he

36:40

still did what stars need to do, which is go

36:42

out and get you thirty eight points in sixteen rebounds,

36:45

right like that. That guy is a difference maker. That

36:47

guy is going to be a problem for a long time

36:49

and hopefully a team that we're going to have future

36:52

matchups against in future battles,

36:54

because I think the longevity

36:56

of both of these teams is something that in

36:59

an NBA it's uncertain. It is probably

37:02

a decent.

37:03

Thing to to to bad on. I

37:05

could take a year off from the the Orlando

37:08

Magic with that, like I

37:10

would else having to deal with this

37:13

h this team. I mean, I you know, going

37:16

into this series, I loved this Magic team. I

37:18

did not want to play them in the first round

37:20

because I thought they would you know, I

37:22

thought they would pose a lot of the problems that they

37:24

ended up posing. You

37:26

know, Palo is unbelievable. You

37:29

know, the thing about Palo

37:31

and Franz that that's kind of interesting to

37:34

me is this is a terrible

37:36

matchup for them, Like the Calves have

37:38

a really great personnel to

37:41

mess with those guys, and

37:45

they still at various times absolutely

37:48

killed the Calves in this series. Obviously Franz

37:50

much more so at home than on the road. Calves

37:53

did a much better job with him in Cleveland.

37:55

But like you look

37:57

at you look at a one one fifteen

38:00

night for him and to close out, and I'm sure he's gonna lose

38:02

a lot of sleep about that long term.

38:05

But like I will say, I think

38:07

if they were playing the Indiana Pacers in the first

38:10

round, talk about a different kind

38:12

of series for Franz, Wagner and Ballo Bancaro

38:14

where they wouldn't have had the personnel to throw

38:17

out those guys. I actually think

38:19

Orlando would have beaten Indy in a first round

38:21

series.

38:21

I think they would have won in five, like honestly,

38:24

and you know, I mean Indy struggled

38:26

against the Bucks without Joannison, without Dame,

38:29

Like they got blown out in a game without both of those guys,

38:31

right, Like that's I

38:33

think that was probably the weakest team

38:35

in the playoffs if you're not counting you know, Miami

38:37

with the injuries that they had. But

38:41

I do think that Orlando

38:44

presented the Cavs with tests that

38:47

were important for us to see

38:49

them pass. Like playing

38:52

Indy wouldn't have presented any of those same challenges.

38:54

But the Magic tried to beat the Cavs

38:57

in the same ways that the Knicks did. He

39:00

has had lower lows, right, Like those blowout

39:02

losses in Orlando were much

39:04

larger than anything we saw at

39:06

Madison Square Garden. Right Like, there was a

39:09

lot of times where they could have

39:11

kind of, you know, packed their bags and called it a season

39:13

and you know, just kind of falling

39:16

into the excuses or the context

39:19

of injuries, and they didn't do that. Like,

39:21

they kept being tested and they kept

39:24

learning from their failures, even within series

39:26

and within games. Right like Darius struggling

39:29

to the extent that he did and calming

39:31

himself down in the fourth quarter where he

39:33

was I'm pressing and you know, not calming

39:36

down as in, I'm going to stand in the corner and

39:38

kind of be a spectator on these possessions,

39:41

being in an act of participant in the Cavs

39:43

win. Like that's something we

39:45

need to see. Like that that's something that he needs

39:48

to work on. He needs to work on his

39:50

composure in a lot of these moments to not

39:52

press and to make sure that everything

39:55

he's doing on the court is

39:57

with intent, because he has the ability to get

39:59

where he wanted on the court. But it's

40:01

about, you know, maximizing all of those

40:03

movements and not unnecessarily

40:06

killing the clock and whatnot. So I think

40:08

the testa that Orlando presented are

40:12

something that the like that

40:14

doesn't exist unless that's a well built

40:16

team. That's that's a team that is capable

40:19

of challenging a

40:22

team at this level right like there. I

40:24

think that that is. You

40:27

know, it's an impressive group. I think that they're

40:29

going to be around for a while. And man,

40:32

that defense is going nowhere. Like the

40:34

physicality, the length that they have, like

40:37

that is the biggest team that I've seen. And

40:39

you know, I think for the Cavs to rise

40:43

to the occasion makes me pretty damn happy.

40:45

Yeah, but oh

40:48

boy, the next round is

40:50

going to be hard. If you are

40:52

looking for a scout

40:55

on the Boston Celtics, it's

40:57

that they're good at pretty much everything.

40:59

Yep. They are the number one offense

41:02

in the NBA. They are the number two defense

41:04

in the NBA. They are they

41:06

are you know, near the top of the league

41:09

in assist to turnover a ratio. They are

41:11

one of the best rebounding teams in

41:14

the NBA. They

41:16

do everything well. They defend

41:18

at the point of attack, they defend on a

41:20

string. They switch, they

41:23

kill you when you switch. They

41:25

bomb away from three. They took more threes per one

41:27

hundred possessions than any team in the

41:30

league. And

41:33

you know, you really can't dissuade them because they take

41:35

a ton of pull up threes with their big

41:37

wings that are really really

41:39

hard to stop. They kill you, kill

41:42

you, kill you when you put two on the ball. The

41:46

only thing they don't do is

41:48

get to the rim a ton. But

41:51

like it's gonna be, you

41:54

know, it gets no easier

41:56

for the Fellas, I'm afraid. Yeah, the only

41:59

thing you want to you can really look at as

42:01

they don't. You know, one thing that will be very

42:03

different in this series is that because they don't

42:05

go to the rim, they don't get the line they're

42:08

they're twenty sixth in the league in free

42:10

throw attempts per game. But

42:14

man, it's going to be a tough series and you

42:17

kind of just have to bet on tricking

42:20

them into their worst impulses. Which is kind

42:23

of these no past possessions, but that's

42:26

easier said than done. Man.

42:27

Yeah, and you know, really

42:30

hope that Dean Wade can be available because he's done

42:32

such a good job on Jason Tatum in the past,

42:34

and you know, he would have made a big difference in this

42:36

Magic series, Like we forgot

42:38

to list him among kind of

42:40

the injury context of that series.

42:43

Like it's a big time difference maker, man,

42:45

Like how much uncertainty

42:48

have we had kind of going between you know, George Nang

42:50

and Marcus Morrison and kind of some of the other options

42:53

playing really small. You don't have to

42:55

do any of that with Dean. Like, when he's available,

42:57

he's going to give you a rebound, he's going to give you defense, he's

42:59

going to give you three point shooting. Like all

43:02

of the boxes that you need to check from that backup

43:04

position are there, defender,

43:07

like you he would be starting, He would

43:09

be starting. If you know Jared

43:11

Allen's out and he's available,

43:13

I'm certain he would be the

43:15

starting power forward for the Cavs, right, So hopefully

43:18

he can come back at some point in this series. Hopefully

43:20

Jared can come back at some point in the series. But

43:23

I've seen people talk about, you know, Boston

43:26

bad fourth quarter team, and you know, they

43:29

suck in the clutch and that kind of stuff. They

43:31

kind of fall into what we

43:34

saw last year with the Cavs, where people

43:36

remember the bad moments more than reality.

43:39

Like last year, the Cavs were the best fourth quarter team in

43:41

the league. This year, Boston's the best fourth quarter

43:43

team in the league. In the clutch. Boston's

43:45

the fourth best in terms of net rating

43:47

in the clutch. As you mentioned, they can fall

43:49

into some of their worst habits. We saw it in that

43:52

win over the Celtics, the

43:54

Dean Wade game, you

43:56

know, baiting into those kind of long

43:59

twos and those can has a shot and the no pass

44:01

possessions. Offensively, that's what you're

44:04

going to want from them. But in

44:06

the aggregate over the course of a season,

44:09

this is not a team that's had those type of problems.

44:11

This is the best team in the league

44:13

in my opinion. Yeah, I mean by

44:16

the numbers, this is a historically good team.

44:18

Uh, And you know it's one of those there.

44:20

There's also the fallacy of they net

44:23

you know, their point differential was so bananas,

44:25

which means that they when

44:27

they won, they typically won by one hundred

44:30

and when they lost, they typically lost like two

44:33

by two or three.

44:34

So like all their quote unquote close

44:36

you know, a lot more of their quote unquote close games are

44:39

going to look like losses because most of their

44:41

wins they didn't have to win close. Yeah,

44:43

So, like you know, there is a bit of a kind

44:45

of a gambler's fallacy there on on

44:48

kind of their their

44:50

quote unquote limitations there. But you're gonna

44:52

need to like lean in on some small sample

44:54

stuff. You're gonna need to hope that Drew

44:57

Holliday doesn't just absolutely kill you from

44:59

three or that Derek White don't absolutely

45:01

kill you from three, which they might. They might.

45:04

They're really really they didn't want.

45:06

To hold off on jokes because I've cursed us too many

45:08

times in the past, and.

45:09

Well and they did, and they killed Miami. They

45:11

absolutely killed Miami from distance, and

45:15

so I I think it's going to

45:17

be an uphill battle. I think the Cavs have an

45:20

interesting conundrum, especially without

45:22

Alan. You know, my

45:25

question to you is, how do you guard these guys.

45:28

Let's say you don't have Alan for the first couple of games.

45:30

Is it just do your best and don't help.

45:33

Yeah, I think you have to guard it straight up,

45:35

and you have to be aware that as

45:38

a team that takes a lot of threes, like

45:41

I think their three point volume

45:43

and their ability to get long rebounds

45:46

as a result of that really don't doesn't

45:48

make me want to, you know, bring two to the ball

45:50

too much and to you know, overly

45:53

rely on show and recover because they

45:55

just they burn you before you couldn't

45:57

recover and if you're in a scramble, that's

45:59

going to make it harder for you to get those defensive

46:02

rebounds. Like I think you're just going to have to kind

46:04

of play them straight up and live with

46:06

the results, kind of understand that, Yeah, like

46:08

this team is this damn good and

46:11

on the other side, and you got to get that three

46:13

point volume up.

46:14

Like their ability to.

46:17

Deter teams from taking threes is

46:19

not in the same league as the Orlando Magic, Like they

46:21

give up among the most wide

46:24

open shots in the league. They

46:26

just are better at taking and making those

46:28

themselves.

46:29

Right.

46:29

So you've seen the Cavs have a

46:32

lot of you know, high volume three point

46:34

shooting games against them, where you

46:36

know, those two games in Boston when

46:39

Evan Mobley was out, like the Cavs would

46:41

shot them from three a couple of those games. That's

46:43

going to need to be what they do. You're going to have to

46:45

match that volume and kind of live with the results

46:48

and hope that, you know, the openness

46:50

of those shots is going to turn things around

46:52

a little bit. But obviously I'm going to have a little

46:54

bit of a concern with that when Donovan's

46:56

battling through the knee and you know, his effectiveness

46:59

from deep hatsn't necessarily been there and

47:01

they.

47:01

Get no bricks this every other day

47:04

this series.

47:05

Right, and Boston's been off since Wednesday and

47:07

we're playing Tuesday. Like at least

47:09

the benefit of this being an afternoon game is you

47:11

get a little bit more rest, you

47:14

know, if I'm going to look for the sunny

47:16

side there. But I think Darius in particular

47:19

is going to need to take a lot of threes, especially

47:21

if Donovan's going to be, you know, struggling

47:24

and battling through what he's dealing with it with his knee.

47:26

I know that the Garland's got the back

47:29

issue that's been acting up, but

47:31

he's going to still need to take them. Levert's

47:33

going to need to take them even though he's battling through the knee,

47:36

and Max is going to need to be a high

47:38

volume three point shooter as well, So I think matching

47:40

that volume and playing them straight up defensively

47:43

is probably my plan of attack.

47:45

Yeah, and you know, again to your point, they

47:47

do give them up. You know, Miami is a really

47:49

really crafty team generating those

47:52

kinds of looks. They got thirty seven point one

47:54

threes per hunder possessions up

47:57

in their first round series. That would put

47:59

them fifth in the playoffs so far.

48:02

So you know, I think ultimately, like

48:04

you're seeing, you're seeing the signs

48:07

of there are cracks here, the

48:09

caves are just you know, what I will

48:11

say is the Calves can't

48:13

dilly dally. You know, they have to play a

48:16

perfect series if they want to make this competitive.

48:19

They cannot. They have to hit open threes when

48:21

they generate them. They have to be unbelievably

48:24

minimally sharp. That has not been a strength of this

48:26

team. You know, we've seen them again

48:28

and especially on the road, not play their

48:31

best basketball, not their most focused basketball.

48:33

You only got to win four, you know, you don't,

48:35

You don't got it doesn't really make you know, there is

48:37

a degree of like doesn't matter, you

48:41

know, how you win, It just matters how many

48:43

you win. So you can have a game or

48:45

two where you get run off the floor. But like you

48:47

in the games you're trying to compete in, you have

48:50

to play forty eight good minutes and

48:52

we'll see if the Calves are up to it, because Boston is

48:55

a different test, but a much

48:57

stauncher test than the Magic in

48:59

the.

49:00

Yeah, and you're going to keep your composure because

49:02

odds are with the firepower that they have,

49:05

like there's going to be a game that Boston has

49:07

a blowout win, Like it's going

49:09

to happen at some point, Like it's impossible

49:11

to play a series where they don't have that.

49:14

You know, I think even looking back at the last few years,

49:16

even in series that they lost, like they've

49:19

had blowout wins. You

49:21

know, you obviously hope that with them

49:23

being off since Wednesday, maybe that some russels

49:26

in. I think you're going to want to try to

49:28

attack the Rim as much as possible. Not having

49:30

kristapsupportsingus for the series is going

49:32

to impact the Rim defense and.

49:34

He might not be out the whole series. Correct, I

49:37

thought it was almost I

49:39

don't know.

49:40

I actually don't know. I think I saw reporting

49:42

that the conference finals would be the earliest

49:45

that he could possibly return. And even that's

49:47

not necessarily a given. He's

49:49

got the same injury that Giannis had and apparently

49:51

honest wasn't particularly close.

49:53

So we'll see.

49:55

But you know, attack the rim, we're going to need

49:57

Donovan to play downhill like he was playing

49:59

in a series. You're you're going

50:01

to need to kind of test out Horford in those spots,

50:04

right, and from Evans.

50:05

You better win the Luke Cornett minutes, let

50:08

me tell you that much, chief. Yeah.

50:10

And from Evan's standpoint, given

50:13

the struggles he's had with Horford, like, I don't want to see

50:15

him posting up and going one on one on al Horford,

50:17

Like, I just don't think that that's an advantageous matchup.

50:20

But he's going to need to be assertive

50:22

and ready to go up right away when he's getting the

50:24

ball, expecting the ball the guards.

50:27

For Garland's part, like, he's going to need to get him

50:29

the ball up high so he can go up quickly

50:31

rather than some of those passes a little lower at

50:33

the knees that we've seen at times, and

50:36

obviously same goes for Donnovan Mitchell, right, Like, you

50:38

know that's still been a feeling out process.

50:42

But man, like this is a real, real test.

50:45

Like you said, you're going to need to play damn

50:47

near well, you're going to need to

50:49

play damn near prefort at least to

50:52

win games in this series. I don't think

50:54

you're going to play a perfect series against them. I think

50:56

it's going to be hard to not lose your grip

50:58

of the rope at some point. Hey, the

51:01

fun thing about you know, being the lower

51:04

seed in a series, which we haven't seen with this group,

51:06

is you're kind of playing with house money in those

51:08

first two games, right, Like all the pressure was

51:10

on the Calves against the Knicks and against

51:12

Orlando in games one and two. Calves

51:15

can now say, hey, we got two cracks at this,

51:17

Like we have two chances to steal

51:19

home court and to upset

51:21

Boston. Maybe we can catch them off off

51:24

guard in Game one

51:26

with them having so much time off. You

51:29

know, that's that's an opportunity

51:31

for them. But it's going to be a real test,

51:34

and you know that's again that's

51:36

what we want to see. Like, I think you

51:38

know, an Atlanta Hawks Eastern

51:40

Conference Finals run where you know, you kind

51:42

of get the lucky breaks and you weren't really

51:44

testing whatnot, Like you don't learn anything about the team.

51:47

I want to see the Calves tested against the best. I

51:49

want to see them tested against teams like Orlando Jick

51:52

that have strengths in areas

51:54

that the Calves can be weak and historically

51:56

have been weak at times, so that the Calves

51:58

can overcome that. And I want to see

52:00

how close we are to the Boston Celtics,

52:03

right Like, I want to see can we push

52:05

them in a series and start

52:07

to think, okay, well, you know we

52:10

let's say they lose in six. Are you sitting

52:12

there saying Garland

52:14

gets a little better, a little healthier, if we're healthier

52:17

overall, if we make some tweaks,

52:19

we have our mid level exception here, we have a first

52:21

round pick to play with, Like, we can make some roster

52:24

adjustments here and there and we're

52:26

right there. Or do they get out

52:28

classed in a way that you know, makes you question

52:31

the core infrastructure of this

52:33

team, right Like, that's going to be the real

52:36

test and hopefully the core is available for it.

52:38

But that's you know, obviously still be to be

52:40

determined.

52:42

Yeah, it's gonna be Oh man,

52:44

it's gonna be a fun, tough series. You're

52:48

right, it'll be kind of nice to be playing with house money.

52:50

No one's going to expect the GAVs to win this series,

52:53

and you know, hopefully there

52:56

there guys can get healthier a little

52:59

faster than since guys, you are

53:01

correct. I checked. There's a Chris Haynes

53:03

report from May first where he said prizingis

53:06

would do would be expected to miss all of round

53:08

two. So chalk

53:10

one up for Justin Rowan on that opening.

53:13

That opening line is not fun. Boston's

53:15

favorite by ten and.

53:16

A half points. That sounds right,

53:18

Yeah, sounds right. I mean, and I will to

53:20

that.

53:21

I will say Donovan Mitchell's low quote here.

53:24

I'm sure you all think that Boston will come in here and

53:26

kick our ass and we're going to remain level

53:28

headed and stay calm.

53:30

Yep, it's it's it's gonna be a tough series.

53:33

I got to ask you, Justin, we didn't make official

53:35

series predictions last time on our pod

53:37

that we did on the Garage Beers pod and count

53:39

one for Carter Caves and seven. I

53:42

win. I win Round one of the prediction

53:44

battle? What is your prediction for

53:47

Round two against the Boston Celtics.

53:49

Like I all my Homer instincts are

53:51

kicking and to you know, say that the Cats.

53:53

I'll say this. I think the Cats can win this series.

53:56

I think Boston has shown in the past

53:58

that they are willing and able to beat

54:00

themselves. I think the Cristaps injury is

54:02

big. If the Cavs were

54:04

fully healthy and Kristaps was out, I think

54:06

I'd be feeling myself a little bit and

54:09

I would be ready for it. I think

54:11

this series goes six games and

54:13

and that Boston will win. So

54:16

I guess you can call that Boston and six. Look

54:18

how cowardly I am. I don't even want to say it.

54:21

You say words, yeah, like a human

54:23

I am.

54:24

I'm just you know, muddling, muddling it

54:26

all up. Yeah, yeah,

54:28

I'm I'm you

54:31

know, I want to look stupid. I want to look stupid. I'm

54:33

going to root to look stupid. But Boston

54:35

and six I hate it.

54:37

I'm going to operate on two assumptions

54:40

that are not backed by any

54:42

reporting. Assumption. One is

54:44

that we're not going to see Jared Allen in this series

54:48

assumption two.

54:49

And if Jared is healthy, it feels so much better.

54:51

Like that Session two is that I don't think we're

54:54

going to see Dean Wade in

54:56

the first couple games of this series, okay,

54:59

because the Calves ruled them out for all of

55:01

Round one. I just don't see how like it just

55:03

magically is is back.

55:07

So given that context, given

55:10

the fact that Evan has to play five now

55:13

and we have to downshift and guard

55:15

Tatum and Brown with smaller players,

55:20

based on those assumptions, I am going to say

55:22

Celtics in five, I

55:26

think that it's just a tough I think they're

55:28

They're very, very, very good. I think

55:30

the Calves best chance to

55:33

make me wrong is to go steal game

55:35

one. So we're in rhythm.

55:38

You're not you're not expecting

55:40

you know, we struggled with a team that maybe the

55:43

national media didn't expect us

55:46

to struggle with, and.

55:48

Oh they did. They Here's the thing. I'm

55:50

not going to allow revisionist history

55:52

there because guys like Tim bon Temps were

55:54

sitting and.

55:55

They don't care about Tim Bontemps. I'm talking about

55:57

the wider.

55:58

First of all. No, absolutely, yeah,

56:00

and I liked Tim bon Temps as a person good

56:02

hanging in those opportunities,

56:04

but his statement to start the series where

56:06

he picked the Orlando Magic and then added

56:09

to the end that if the Cavs win, it

56:11

doesn't mean anything. You don't get to pick the other

56:13

team and then say it means nothing. If

56:15

the Calves win, that that

56:18

is slippery. That's more slippery than

56:20

I am. And we just got to witness me being

56:22

a.

56:23

Coward with you were being real slippery. At

56:25

least I'm saying it with my chest. Yeah,

56:28

you know, I think I think that, like

56:31

I think that there's a real shot to if

56:33

you get Boston on the back foot, that

56:36

changes everything. I agree

56:38

with you that there is a road for the Calves to win this

56:40

series, especially if I'm

56:42

being overly pessimistic with Alan and

56:44

Wade. I'm kind of protecting my own heart a little bit

56:46

there. Yeah.

56:48

Oh, if they were healthy, If they were healthy, I'd

56:50

be picking the Cavs right now. I think

56:52

if was healthy, if Darius was healthy, Wade,

56:55

Alan, like all them, Like I I

56:57

would definitely be going full the.

56:59

Same reason I picked Calves in seven, even

57:01

though I thought they were more talented than the Magic

57:03

by you know, you know, I think if the Calves

57:05

have been in good form going into the Magic Series, I

57:07

would have probably picked them in five or six. Instead

57:10

I picked seven. I still don't think we're in great

57:12

form or great health. So you

57:14

know, if they were in great health and the Celtics

57:17

weren't, I would say maybe Calves in

57:19

seven, Celtics and seven. But in this instance,

57:22

you know, I think the most likely outcome is

57:24

Celtics in five. But I mean, this is

57:26

a playoff series, huge ranges

57:28

of outcomes, and boy would

57:31

I be geeked if I'm wrong in a big

57:33

way and the Calves you know, are up

57:35

to one going into game four or something like

57:37

that. That would be amazing.

57:39

And as the man that edits this podcast, will

57:41

be sure to clip out my prediction

57:44

and then just make sure we're hammering

57:46

yours, just hammering the hell out of yours.

57:48

I'm going to go back and erase history.

57:50

Luckily I hold the YouTube, right, so you know,

57:53

I have at least half the narrative in my favor.

57:55

You win some, you lose them, but yeah, it's going

57:58

to be interesting. And you know, I think think

58:00

it's important to take this back

58:02

to what we asked

58:05

at the start of the season, which was what were the goals

58:07

for this year? And what did we say? Went

58:09

around and be competitive against

58:11

the top team, and you know, if you can

58:13

win that series, even better, if not,

58:16

you want to show that you're on the same level

58:18

as them.

58:19

I don't think either way, even if the Celtics win

58:21

in five, the Cavs can do that. Yeah,

58:23

it can be a twenty seventeen you know,

58:25

five games. It could be like that Magic

58:28

Nuggets. I'm sorry that Lakers Nugget series

58:30

where I thought that Lakers played great

58:33

in that series. Yeah, you know, if if

58:35

they execute ten percent better, they might

58:37

win that series.

58:38

Yeah.

58:39

So, like, I think you can have a very

58:41

compet I'm not one of these like consolation prize.

58:44

Oh you can't. You lost in for to one,

58:46

you can't say it was a good Like I'm gonna

58:48

just follow what my eyes tell me. Yeah,

58:51

no matter what any serious.

58:52

Score is, I still believe that the

58:54

twenty seventeen caz was the best team that was ever

58:56

assembled by this organization. And you

58:59

know, Kyle Korver, it's a three, it's

59:02

you know, changed everything. It's

59:04

a two to two series rather than you know, losing four

59:06

to one, so you know you're

59:09

you're completely correct, and I think that's an important

59:12

point to bring up because that's what we want to

59:14

see. Remember at the start of the year, I said,

59:16

would you rather lose in

59:18

the second round in a tight six to seven

59:21

game series or would you rather make the Eastern

59:23

Conference finals and get swept? And my answer

59:25

was six seven in the second round

59:27

because I don't think. I don't want to

59:30

see this team get out classed by an opponent again.

59:32

And obviously, you know, the health situation makes

59:34

this muddy, but I fully believe

59:36

that the Cavs are capable of giving Boston a tough

59:39

series, even in the state that they're in. It's

59:41

going to come down to execution a lot of those

59:43

same themes that we've seen from this Magic series,

59:46

of not taking yourself out of the game,

59:49

sticking with what you do well, you

59:52

know, understanding your identity

59:54

as a team, and hammering your strengths.

59:57

That's what it's going to come down to, and Boston

59:59

is a that can get away from their own strengths.

1:00:02

The Cavs need to do a better job of that

1:00:04

because if they execute at their

1:00:06

level more consistently, that's

1:00:08

going to give them chances to steal games.

1:00:11

And if you steal a game in Boston, you

1:00:13

just got to protect home court.

1:00:15

Absolutely, Buddy, Kylie is yelling at me. She's

1:00:17

hungry. We gotta wrap It's all right

1:00:19

time, Let's.

1:00:20

Wrap it up. Kylie's hungry,

1:00:22

just like the Cavs were when they were down eighteen. Closing

1:00:25

this one out, winning a playoff

1:00:28

series. It feels great. But thanks to everyone

1:00:30

that tune in live on YouTube. Make sure you like and subscribe.

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Click the notification bellt so you know when we're going live.

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If you're listening via podcast, leave us rating, clear

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Pott gmail dot com. However, you just the support

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if we really do appreciate it. Make sure you guys

1:00:47

are staying safe out there until next time.

1:00:49

Go can

1:01:01

Saddam

1:01:11

sta