Cleveland Cavaliers Fire Coach JB Bickerstaff Unexpectedly
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00:00All right. Let's start off with a surprise this morning and it just keeps happening in
00:07professional sports. J.B. Bickerstaff, the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, who
00:13got the team into the playoffs, into the semifinals, beat the Orlando Magic, got fired today, according
00:20to ESPN. He's out. I mean, it's sort of crazy. 99 regular season wins the last two seasons
00:27and, you know, right now they'll figure it out. But, you know, 517 win percentage with
00:31Cleveland without LeBron James. So, again, they'll be looking for a new head coach in
00:36Cleveland as Bickerstaff at the end of the season said he wanted to stay, but Cleveland's
00:40going to go in another direction. And the Lakers also looking for a new head coach too.
00:46It just seems like maybe, you know, just winning games is not enough. I don't know what more
00:49you want these coaches to do in the NBA. I guess if you don't win a championship, you're
00:54out. So does that mean Malone's getting fired by Denver next? I don't know. I guess we'll see.
00:59All right, let's get to the recap of last night. The Timberwolves led at the half,
01:03led throughout the game. Fourth quarter comes, Mavs take over. They capture a road win in the
01:08Western Conference Finals in game one. 108 to 105 the final, mostly thanks to Luka and Kyrie.
01:14They are what gets this team going. 30-point performances from both of them. 33 from Luka,
01:2030 from Kyrie. The Mavericks, of course, cover the four and a half. If you bet them on the money
01:24line, they win as well. Very impressive road win, especially for a team like Minnesota that's played
01:30great defense throughout the playoffs. Not so much last night as naturally this went over the total
01:36of 206 and a half. And also Dallas went over their team total as well. So bottom line,
01:42great offensive performances for two players. Let's hear from Kyrie Irving who said they had
01:48to get aggressive and that's what led them to the win. I mean, we just had to start off the game
01:53with an aggressiveness and just make sure we bring Rudy away from the basket as much as possible.
01:59We understand that's defensive player of the year. They got first team, second team,
02:02all defensive guys. So as much as we can attack them in transition before they set their defense,
02:08which I got a few opportunities to do, got a few end ones to go. So I was feeling good
02:13in their first quarter and just settling, you know, where we are in this Western Conference
02:17Finals. A lot of anxiety, some nerves. I've been here before, so a little bit more poise on my
02:22hand. Just being able to start the game with the confidence and that aggression, you know.
02:28You've talked about Ant as being one of those kids with no fear. You know, he's on TNT after
02:32game seven talking about, I got Kyrie. You know, what did you think of that matchup and kind of
02:38that game within the game? Yeah, no, as a pair, man, I love that. I love it, man. It's nothing
02:43better. You know, when Ant was a little bit younger, I'm sure he was watching me. And, you
02:48know, when he was in high school, I was watching him. So for me, it's more of those exciting
02:52matchups that I look forward to, too. Right after the game, it was funny because he said it right
02:56then and there. And I think the whole world was looking like, OK, you know, you better know what
03:01you're talking about. And, you know, and I respect that. And that no fear mentality that he has is
03:06what is why I love him as a competitor and why I love him as a person. But we're on that court.
03:10I know he's going to give his all. I'm going to give my all. And at the end of the game,
03:15you know, it's all love and we're in between those lines. He knows what it is and I know what it is.
03:19Yeah. And fair to say Kyrie Irving probably having his best playoff series since his days
03:22with Cleveland and LeBron James. Kyrie playing some great basketball right now. As far as the
03:26Timberwolves are concerned. Yeah. I mean, it's been defense that has carried them in the regular
03:31season in the playoffs, but not so much last night, which is a concern, says Carl Anthony Towns.
03:36Carl, you you guys have so much success on the offensive boards and you crashed from the
03:42court and everything. But as you mentioned, they had a couple of leak outs at a couple of
03:46quick transition buckets. How do you balance that out of being that team on the offensive boards,
03:50but still managing to get back and making sure you protect that? Yeah, I mean,
03:58just being you got to be a little more aggressive on the offensive end of offensive rebounding,
04:02especially on a night like tonight when we're not shooting our best. So
04:07you want to have defensive balance. You want to be able to execute a cover to getting back
04:11on defense, especially against a team that has a passer like Luka Doncic. So
04:18yeah, it's disappointing. Is this tonight's disappointing? Britt says we gave up a lot
04:24of points in the paint. And if anything, with our team and our defense, the way that we're built,
04:31the length and size that we have, we can't allow points in the paint. If anything,
04:37that's our biggest advantage in the league is the three big lineup that we have. And
04:46we can't allow that. So we got to be tougher in there.
04:50Have to play better defense. That's going to be the key for Minnesota. We'll talk about,
04:53of course, Celtics extensively tonight to see if they can play better defense against the Indiana
04:58Pacers, although it's really tough tonight. Total, folks, 225 in an Eastern Conference
05:04Finals game. That's right. 225 tonight. Celtics minus nine in this game this evening. And if this
05:11one goes over the total, I don't know what they're going to make game three in Indiana,
05:14but that is the situation tonight as they play game two. All right, let's get to some basketball
05:18news and notes besides the game tonight. The New York Knicks had all kinds of injuries at the end
05:22of the season. Jalen Brunson, Bojan Bogdanovic going to both have surgeries, respectively,
05:28not together. And Brunson was hurt, by the way, in the third quarter of Indiana's win,
05:33130 to 109 over the Knicks. And so they'll both be fine for the regular season, which is, by the
05:37way, coming up soon. As soon as the season ends, the NBA starts again. 2026 is the time that
05:43Toronto will have their new expansion team in the WNBA. It's the first team awarded in the WNBA
05:50outside the United States. It will be the WNBA's 14th franchise. Golden State was awarded the
05:57Valkyries. They will play next year. And meanwhile, Kaitlin Clark off to an 0-5 start with the
06:05Indiana Fever. Great game, by the way, last night, 85 to 83 against Seattle. But Kaitlin Clark said,
06:11quote, she's trying to be as positive as possible. I guess that's what you say when you are 0-5
06:17to start the season. All right. Philadelphia Phillies are playing the best baseball of
06:21anybody in the big leagues. They're now off to their best start through 50 games. They won again
06:25yesterday, crushed the Rangers 11 to 4. And they have never been better than 35 and 15 ever. But
06:33here they are. They won their fifth straight game. They've won 17 out of their past 20. And right now,
06:38the leaders in the National League East, as you see, Alec Boehm, Bryson Stott, they're off to great
06:42starts there. San Diego Padres going to be without Xander Bogarts. He fractured his shoulder. He is
06:47expected to miss significant time. He has really struggled, by the way, as a member of the Padres.
06:52219 for home runs, 14 runs driven in. Won a Silver Slugger five times with Boston, but thus signing
06:59that $200-plus million contract has not worked out for him as of yet in San Diego. Meanwhile,
07:04yesterday in the battle of aces between Detroit and Kansas City, the Royals end up winning. Cole
07:09Reagans, my gosh, is he great. 12 strikeouts yesterday. Kansas City beats Detroit by a final
07:15of eight to three. Reagans and Terese Schuble, two of the favorites to win the American League
07:19Cy Young. We got afternoon baseball today. Mariners, Yankees, Giants, Pirates, Paul Skeens,
07:241235 Eastern, by the way, if you're interested. Rangers, Phillies, 110 Eastern. Padres, Reds at
07:28110 Eastern as well. All right, TNT Sports may be losing the NBA, but getting college football,
07:33sort of. What they're doing is negotiating this new sub-license contract with ESPN,
07:38five-year deal. So TNT Sports is going to pick up the college football games now that they've
07:43expanded from ESPN to first-round college football games during 2024 and 2025. TNT will
07:50be the primary network televising the, again, sub-licensed college football games through TNT.
07:57In the Eastern Conference Finals last night, it was an unbelievable performance from Florida as
08:04they take on the New York Rangers. They led one to nothing after the first, two to nothing after
08:09the second, scored another goal in the third and shut them out. It was a final, three to nothing
08:14last night as the Panthers take game one on the road. Meanwhile, the Devils have hired Sheldon
08:20Keefe as their new head coach. And also the NFL Draft is going to be held in Pittsburgh,
08:26Pennsylvania in 2026. Next year, they head to Green Bay, Wisconsin.